Title: Kiss It Better

Author: WriterGirl89

Fandom: Mindy Project

Rating: T

POV: Third-Person

Pairing: Danny/Mindy

Summary: After running away from her own feelings for Danny, Mindy finds herself alone and contemplating life with Masterpiece Theatre and ice cream – only to get a phonecall from the hospital.

Author's Note: Okay, so, I just got this idea and I hope you guys are on board because this could go badly and I say this because I'm always nervous when it comes to writing these two and I wanna write them perfectly but, it doesn't always turn out that way and well, there you go. Anyway, this is a sort of pre-established relationship fic where our couple have already gotten together but, things aren't on the up & up quite yet. Enjoy!

Music: Is Your Love Strong Enough? by How To Destroy Angels. Sharp, haunting tune that fits the more serious tone of this fic.

Disclaimer: Uh-uh… Not gonna say it.

…

It was a cold, lonely Friday night when Mindy got the call.

She was sitting, alone, on her couch working on a large tub of ice cream and catching a (belated) episode of Downton Abbey, swiping at her chin to get at the last drips of cold milky vanilla with an even bigger wooden spoon whilst simultaneously tissue drying the tears staining her cheeks.

When her phone rang.

She felt a twinge of surprising relief instead of the light irritation that usually went through her at the sound because yet another baby had to be born and take away from her off hours.

Anything to not think about her problems and this stupid lonely, heartach-y feeling that she'd had for the past few days.

See, she had been kind of secretly seeing Danny (yes, that Danny) going on a full month.

Why? Well, it was pretty damn simple: He had asked her out.

Well, kind of. Sort of.

A couple of mornings after the Josh/Christmas Party fiasco (bastard), Danny had waltzed into her office and asked if she wanted to catch coffee with him sometime. Which shouldn't have shocked her that much because he had been nicer since that night but, she felt what she felt.

She had simply stared at him for what seemed like a long time before hearing herself say that she had a free early morning on that Saturday.

He had simply smiled and walked away.

It had basically gone from there.

They had more mornings after that. And more mornings. And it was... nice.

Danny turned out to be a lot more of a fun guy than she'd ever woulda thought. He made her laugh. Like a lot. Dry and sarcastic to her over-the-top humor and she found herself warming to it quickly. And he was actually almost... sweet, in a his own way. He made small, meaningful little compliments about how she looked, which wasn't really new to her, yet was somewhat of a novelty coming from him.

Not that he ever said she was ugly. Just, it's a little strange to hear the man who once told you lose 15 pounds and often made cracks at your eating habits, tell you with, what seemed like, complete sincerity that you looked pretty that day.

Or, you know, everyday you saw each other for breakfast.

After almost two weeks of this, he sent her flowers.

And not just any flowers. They were tea roses.

Her favorites.

How the man knew was beyond her.

The roses had come with a card asking her out for dinner.

And she had said yes.

The dinner had been at a nice, decent restaurant and to her infinite shock, she was the one to kiss him at the end of the night, boldly grabbing his face before she could overthink it and going to town.

And yeah, he turned out to be an awesome kisser. Strong, aggressive, and confident. Which didn't really surprise her, really.

She found out three dinners later that his skills far surpassed the make-out department and she took a while to process said fact as she lay breathing heavily across his naked torso, his broad, clever, pleasure-inducing fingers stroking at her hair.

She'd woken up that morning alone, feeling an odd sense of disappointment before she had heard singing and followed the foreign sound to her kitchen, where she had been greeted by the sight of Danny, with bedhead and bare feet, making an omelete at her stove.

Suffice it to say, it was a rare occasion where she came home and woke up alone since and before she could question it loud or label anything, it had become a kind of thing with them where any night they had free for each other would be spent either going to dinner or grabbing take-out or (in his case) cooking at one another's place.

Well, either way, it all ended the same way (unless, of course, if they were both too exhausted or really not in the mood).

With lots and lots of sex.

Like crazy, marathons-worth of sex (the man had startling stamina was all she could say).

It was quickly hitting the three week mark when she realized that he had basically moved himself in. Unofficially but, still. His stuff was basically all over her apartment. His favorite coffee next to her tea tins. That cardboard cereal he liked tucked between her Cocoa Puffs and nut bars. Some of his clothes in an empty drawer. His gunmetal gray toothbrush next to her baby pink one in the bathroom.

And she felt like she coulda said something.

But, didn't.

Beause she found she absolutely did not mind.

She liked having him around more often than not. She enjoyed knowing he was coming home to her more than he was going back to his place by himself and that he seemed to like it, too. She loved seeing a side to him that he shielded from most people, the smiles he saved for her, the looks. She loved his touch and the way he seemed to lose himself in her when they had their most intimate moments.

Things were, for once, amazing.

It had been a Tuesday when she had decided to screw it all up.

The night before she had arrived home to a beautiful candlelit dinner of delicious Italian food and him waiting for her, dressed to the nines and handing her a glass of red wine as she gaped at him in her dirty scrubs and messy ponytail.

But, it hadn't bothered him at all.

The evening had been wonderful and after they ate, she allowed him to make love to her on her bed for a long time, her heart in her throat as he gazed into her eyes, moving above her, a feeling like an elephant was sitting on her chest already present before he even said the words.

"I love you." He had whispered as he took her to heights she'd only ever experienced with him. Body thrashing and contracting around him in wild flutters as he held her and did it over and over again.

She was gone the next morning before he could wake up.

She was a stupid woman.

And ever since then, they hadn't seen each other and it had taken a while for her to realize that a man like Danny Castellano wasn't built to broadcast his emotions to the world unlike most and that he wouldn't yell at her or demand an explaination at their workplace.

But, then he didn't come back to her place, neither. Not to get his stuff. Not even to talk to her.

God knows, she deserved it.

And now here she was, watching freaking Masterpiece Theater and wallowing in self-pity over ice cream and then, to top it all off, feeling immense relief that she had a delivery to take her mind off her troubles instead of annoyance that it was intruding on her private time.

She answered with a flick of her wrist, putting her cellphone to her ear. "Hello?"

"Is this Dr. Mindy Lahiri?"

"Yes, this is she."

"We have Dr. Castellano here-"

Her heart skipped a beat. "Wait, what? Danny's there? Why?"

She knew that there was two explainations: He was either there working and asking for her even after everything or he was-

"He's been admitted."

She was out of her apartment with her phone still pressed to her ear.

...

Turned out Danny had been admitted with a mild head wound and a few scrapes and bruises following an altercation with one big lump of idiot who had decided to try to mug him, only to get his comeupance and then some, ending up a little more than worse for the wear after getting his ass handed to him by a guy inches shorter than him.

But, that was Danny for you. And Mindy barely hid a smile at the thought of him, scrappy and angry, defending his own honor.

And as to why they had called her? Well, it also came out that she was one of his emergency contacts.

A gnawing thought as to if she ended up there before or after her major fuck-up passed through her mind quickly as she headed towards the direction of the examination room he was housed in. Thinking he maybe wouldn't wanna see her, much less talk to her or deal with her.

Or that, irrationally, he was currently moving on with some hot nurse in that room.

She shook her head at her ridiculousness and just took several deep breaths to calm herself before raising her hand to open the door and carefully, cautiously, opening it.

And there was Danny.

He was hunched over a bit so, she couldn't see if he was really injured all that much but, her throat hurt all the same when she saw him cradling his hand against his body.

Her voice wavered without her permission when she called out to him. "Danny?"

He looked up at her and the surprise in his eyes made her want to go find a bathroom to cry in. "Mindy." He said her name as if it were a term of endearment and the deep affection in his eyes caused an ache in her.

She was a stupid, stupid woman.

"You're hurt." She stated the very obvious now that she saw him clearly, stepping forward to him without her own permission upon seeing the bruise on his jaw and the slight discoloration at his temple, not mention his open shirt showing his bandage wrapped torso.

"Yeah." He touched at the head wound, wincing. "You should see the other guy."

She had, actually. On the way in, she'd seen a few police officers louting around a semi-nasty-looking fella with a bald head that was half-covered in headwrap, almost his entire face covered in black and blue bruise with his arm in a sling.

She didn't what it said about her that she felt extremely pround of a man who could cause that much damage.

"They called me." She pointed out as he stared at her with dark, penetrating eyes. "I'm your emergency contact, apparently."

He only nodded as he gazed at her with unsettling intensity, making her a little anxious.

"Well..." She turned for the door. "I'm gonna go and wait outside if you need-"

"Mindy. Stop."

She did, her hand grasping the door knob, frozen in place and terrified by the emotions swirling inside her.

"Turn around."

Exhaling shakily, she turned on her heel and looked at him.

"Come here." His voice was a bit pleading, which was new. "Please."

She walked over to him slowly, still scared but, so incredibly turned on beyond belief of being in the same room with him again.

It was inexplicable. This affect he had on her.

Before she knew it, there she was, in front of him, trembling as he raised a hand and settled it on her cheek, eyes fluttering as he caressed her skin.

"Ah." His voice close up was husky and warm to her eardrums. "You're so beautiful."

She met his eyes then and saw it all. The pain. The sadness. The adoration. The desire.

The love.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, her throat closing on a sob. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I was confused, I-"

"Mindy." He interrupted again, pressing his forehead to hers, dark eyes twinkling. "I love you. I'm not gonna hide from that anymore." His thumb stroked at her jawline and her breath hitched at the touch. Like it always did. "And I think it would do us all a great service if you could just except that and not overthink it like you usually do."

She surrendered as he closed the gap between them and kissed her. Tenderly. Softly.

When they pulled aaway, she peered into his face, seeing the tired lines there. The shadows there. The tightness at his mouth that she wanted to kiss soft again. "You look tired." She uttered softly.

He looked her in the eye again with open sincerity. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too."

She did end up telling him she loved him, too, for the record.

Many times over the years, in fact.