Chapter Text
The memory of the first kiss he and his ex-wife shared is a hazy one. He thinks it took place at a night club in Staten, but it could have also been at a party much like this one. He knew it had to be good enough to make him want to tempt fate, but the exact details just weren’t that important in the grand scheme of things, especially when his main focus was making a relationship work literally against all odds. His spotty memory didn’t taint the love he had for her; it just shined a discerning light on his priorities back then. He really was focused on all the wrong things when he was with Christina.
The little time he spent with Mindy felt beyond right. For once he felt like destiny was more than a concept, but something tangible that he felt coursing through his veins as it bonded him to this woman that he just met moments ago. He knew virtually nothing about her, but he already had no desire to go back to a life without her. Somehow that didn’t feel like a side effect of The Tell. This felt like something that just came with meeting Mindy. Mindy Whatever-Her-Last-Name-Was.
After the kiss the party seemed superfluous. He felt like Colin and Anna would forgive them if they left without saying goodbye just this once, so he grabbed her hand and quietly led her out of the condo and into the street. Then they were left in front of the stoop with the sudden task of figuring out where to go from here, which applied to both the bigger picture as well as where to settle in for the night. He could feel his nerves mounting.
“So…” Danny dragged awkwardly. “I brought my car. I live in Tribeca, so I’m a ways away.”
“I actually took a cab!” she answered over-enthusiastically, as if she were stating a really interesting little known fact. Danny guessed that she was just as nervous.
“Well, I can drive you wherever you’d like to go. Your place, my place…I’d like to be with you, though, wherever you decide.” That last part, his heaviest of thoughts, was meant to remain in his head. He was beginning to think that this could be a new problem. Would he ever have thoughts that were just his own anymore, now that he had her?Did he have her? There was a lot to clarify here, he realized.
He noticed that her eyes fluttered open and her mouth slightly rounded whenever he said anything that took her by surprise. It was very endearing.
“Well, I’d feel much more comfortable at my place, to be unintentionally honest,” she tried to joke. “But I want to be around you, too. I hope you don’t mind staying the night at a place that I call charming to hide the fact that it’s kind of a pig sty.” When she squeezed her eyes shut and blew out a sigh, he immediately understood that she was having the same problems with her private thoughts as he was. He appreciated the solidarity there, even if it was a problem they were going to have to work around.
He tried to give her a kind smile. “I’d be happy to spend time with you at your place, messy or not.”
Mindy smiled softly. “Good.”
“My car’s just over here.”
They continued to look at each other for a moment longer before moving towards the car. It was hard to tear his eyes away from her. He wondered when he was going to believe that this was actually happening to him. There was this lingering fear that she could disappear at any moment.
When they reached his silver Chrysler, Mindy looked over the vehicle approvingly.
“It’s cool that you own a car in the city,” Mindy complimented as she slid inside. “I, for one, am a terrible driver.”
Danny settled into the driver’s seat. “Was that another thing that you didn’t really want me to know?”
“Oh no, I tell everyone that. It’s just something I feel people should know about me almost immediately in case they ever try to stick me with DD duties.”
“Ah.” He slid the key into the ignition, thinking about all the little things he could learn about Mindy as he pulled out of the parking spot with ease. Which reminded him… “Hey, what’s your last name?”
“Oh, right! Uhm, Lahiri. It’s Lahiri.”
“Mindy Lahiri,” he said wondrously. “Wow. Mindy Lahiri.”
Mindy nodded unnecessarily and let out a shaky laugh. "That's me! And you're Danny Castellano. Wow."
They drive was mostly silent with the occasional direction from the passenger's seat. It was difficult to engage in something natural when the circumstances were so extraordinary. Small talk felt disingenuous. Deeper discussion felt premature. Where was the middle ground? He feared over-thinking it, lest he wanted to open his mouth and spew more word vomit against his will.
They reached her building in fifteen minutes. Mindy told him where to park and led her through the front door and to the elevators towards the back of the building, offering tidbits of trivia about the residence. He didn't mind; she seemed more comfortable spouting inconsequential facts. At least it was interesting.
"There are rumors that this building used to be one of the first burlesque parlors in the 1800s," she informed him as they boarded the elevator. She quickly punched the fourth floor button before settling against the back wall. "I'm hella skeptical, though. I just can't see anything that cool happening here."
"Maybe it was a secret thing," he offered optimistically. "Like, bakery by day, burlesque by night."
"A bakery-slash-burlesque establishment sounds incredible," she said with a laugh. He laughed along at the absurdity of it all. For a second he'd forgotten how nervous he was.
They entered the fourth floor and Mindy immediately took the lead. "So I really hope you're not a complete neat freak," she called over her shoulder.
"I am, actually," Danny answered without hesitation. "I don't know if I'd label it freakish, but I like things in their place."
"Oh." She didn't say anything else until she reached her door, keys held aloft. Before sliding the key into the lock she turned around to face him, biting the corner of her lip. "So you should know that behind this door is a very adorable mess. It's pretty much always like this, unless my parents are visiting or the hot carpet cleaner is scheduled to come by. Cleaning's just not a strong point of mine. I'd totally understand if you wanted to bail."
Danny was beginning to see that talking to Mindy might require the occasional leaping and bounding, even when she's being thoroughly honest. How she managed to go from a courtesy warning to giving him an option to leave her behind entirely was beyond him. He'd have to learn to keep up, but that was in no way a deal breaker to him.
"It's fine, Mindy, I can handle a little mess. There's not, like, anything living and breathing in there without your permission, right?"
"No!" she answered proudly with a look of mild relief. "Not rodents. We got the sonofabitch out of here two days ago."
That wasn't quite the answer he was looking for, but he chose to reserve his judgment. When she finally opened the door he took a cursory look around. It truly wasn't that bad. There were more dishes than he would have tolerated in his home and there appeared to be clothes everywhere, but it was fine. It was bright, warm, and welcoming like its tenant. As they entered Mindy shucked off her coat and tossed it on a nearby chair. As it slid to the floor, he was beginning to see how the clothing got everywhere in the first place.
"So!" she called from the kitchen. "Do you want anything to drink? Water? Rum?"
"Oh, I'm not a big rum drinker. I'll take the water, though."
"Dammit," she groaned. "I was kind of hoping you'd say rum. Then I'd have an excuse to take a shot of tequila."
"Well, I don't want to stop you, if that's what you want!"
"No, I'm not even sure that is what I want," she moaned as she leaned forward against her countertop. "I just wanted something to calm these horrendous nerves. I'm shocked that I'm not gassy. When I get nervous, trust me. I stink up the place. FUCK. WHY AM I TALKING?!"
"Hey, heeey," he cooed, taking two quick steps forward in order to rest calming hands on her upper arms. "It's alright! Just breathe for a second, here. Look, I promise you I'm nervous too, okay? Do you wanna talk about it?"
Mindy closed her eyes and let her head lull to the side. "I really don't want to, but we should, shouldn't we?"
"Yeah, I think so," he agreed, gently rubbing her arm up and down. The urge to comfort her was strong. "I think that's why we're making asses out of ourselves. The more we try to fight it, the worse it gets."
She nodded absently. "You're probably right. Wanna sit?" She nodded towards the couch in the living room, currently covered in bras. He let a hand slide down her arm until his fingers reached hers. He pulled her over to the couch and noticed that there were even more bras on the cushions. All different colors, mostly lace. It amused him greatly.
"I'm gonna move your bras to the side. Is that alright?" He couldn't keep the jest out of his voice and was relieved to see the corner of her mouth pull upward.
"You're judging me."
"A little, but I'm still very much into it."
Mindy and Danny worked together to clear spaces for the both of them before sitting down. Mindy crossed her legs on top of the cushion and Danny faced her, careful to bend his leg only enough to get comfortable and not let his feet rest on the couch itself. It was then that he realized that his shoes were still on. He thought about taking them off, but decided against it. She could end up asking him to leave. He’d wait for her to give him the go-ahead to comfortable. He really hoped she’d give him the go-ahead.
They sat in silence for a moment, which he understood. Where do you start? Danny cleared his throat.
“Do you want me to start?” he asked.
“No, it’s not that,” she shook her head. “It’s just…before all this there really wasn’t much to think about. I’d see a cute guy, we may or may not hit it off, then I’d just move on to the next one. And I liked that. I liked that there was something I didn’t really have to think about. I liked that I didn’t have to invest in anything accept cute underwear for the occasion.”
Though he empathized with her entirely, there was sharp, persistent jolt of something that felt like both insecurity and a little bit of jealously. He tried to write the feeling off as silly with little success.
“I won’t miss it,” she rushed to assure him, which he appreciated. “I promise. It’s just now I feel bombarded with a thousand disjointed thoughts and about 998 of them involve you. I just learned your name maybe forty minutes ago. I don’t even know your middle name or what you do or if you have any pets, but I know that you’re going to be such an important part of my life…or at least you could be. Or you can decide that you don’t want me – “
“Mindy, how could you think that?”
“It’s possible!” she cried. “Like my friend, Maggie. She knows who her One is. She can call him, go to his house, sleep with him every night and never be lonely again and she chooses not to because after she met him she just decided that she’d rather be alone. Danny, we’ve met, but we haven’t met met yet. After spending a week with me you could decide that you don’t want any of it, you know? You can see the drama and all my crazy obsessions and selfishness and decide that you want no part of it! Then what? Just because we're soul mates, doesn't mean we have to be together."
The last word came out almost broken as tears pooled against her reddening lower lids. He never felt comfortable being in the same room with a crying woman, but this time he wanted to cocoon her in his arms and just be her rock.
"Hey," he murmured just as his hand reclaimed one of hers. "to be fair, you could end up not wanting to deal with me. I can be kind of closed off and stuck in my ways. I'm blunt. You could up and decided that I'm not what you want. What if you get to know me and decide that you'd rather just have the occasional steamy night with the hot carpet cleaner?"
He meant it as a joke, but voicing the possibility left him suddenly hollow. What if she did choose to be by herself, like her friend? There wasn't another soul mate to defer to if things with Mindy fell apart. She was it. He had no other options, nor did he want any.
"Danny?" Her voice was soft and croaky. "What did you feel when we kissed?"
"Everything," he replied quickly and simply. The earlier mortification that came with his intrusive honesty had faded away. "I felt everything, like it was too much and not enough all at once. Like I was afraid to come up for air because I didn't want to find out that it was some elaborate dream. I also felt like my life had changed into something way more complicated, but...I wanted that complication."
Mindy looked like she was struggling to fight off a smile. Danny felt her squeeze his hand while she rested her head against the back of the couch. She didn't take her eyes off of him. And he didn't dare look anywhere else.
"What about you?" he asked.
Her eyebrows quirked as she relived the moment before him, a soft smile illuminating across her face.
"I felt like you were mine," she said dreamily, sniffling. "And like I was yours. I felt very scared that this wouldn't be mine to keep. I'm still afraid of that."
Danny scooted forward, feeling a sudden rush to be closer to her, even if it was only by an inch. "I'm afraid of that, too, Mindy."
"You are?"
"Of course I am. I've known soul mates that linked in a non-romantic sense. Like, they were destined to teach each other big life lessons and just be best friends. And while the life lessons would be fine, I guess...I want it all with you. I don't know how I know this - like you said, we barely know each other - but I just know."
Mindy nodded emphatically. "Me too, Danny. I guess I always thought that the universe kind of did all the work for you. But we're gonna have to work at it. And God, I hate work, but I want to work at it with you. I really do."
"I do, too," Danny agreed breathily. He watched her sit up so that she was perfectly square with him. Mindy held onto his hand and their knees overlapped. She looked up at him with a tender brand of determination.
"Should we come up with a game plan?" Mindy asked softly. "You know...vows or something?"
"I think vows come a little later." Danny reached out and tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear. "And we have no clue what’s in the cards for us. But I can promise you that I'm sticking around until we find out."
"And you won't disappear when things get especially weird?"
"No chance," he assured her, letting the hand in her hair drop to her calf. "I may need my space sometimes, but that doesn't change who you are to me or how badly I want this to work. We've also got to let things take their natural course. You promise you'll let that happen?"
Mindy exhaled deeply. "I promise to try my hardest to let things unfold on their own, but I've gotta warn you...I like control, man. Like, a lot. It's going to be tough for me to just sit back and let the chips fall, but I'll do it. I'll just trust that life will progress the way it's supposed to."
"It will! I get wanting to be the master of your own fate, but tonight is just confirmation to me that there's a plan for all of us and our plans involve each other."
"How are you so sure? I’m sorry, but the frowning guy by the snack table at a party didn’t really strike me as the ‘let it be’ type. How do you know things’ll work out?”
"Because despite absolutely hating each other when we met, Anna and I became friends," Danny explained. "Which led me to becoming great friends with Colin, even though we disagree on just about everything. Years later they harassed me into going to a party that I would have never attended on my own, where I met my very vibrant soul mate, whom I never would have had the guts to approach without divine intervention. Trust me. The universe made this happen and when I look at you, I trust it completely."
Mindy visibly relaxed, though her eyes continued to well. The smile on her face let Danny know that this time her tears stemmed from him saying something right. Elated, he leaned forward until he was almost hovering over her. When he got close enough he kissed her sweetly, slipping a hand to the nape of her neck. "And don't worry about the hard work. I like work enough for the both of us."
He felt her smile against his lips before she released his hand in order to grab him by they shirt and pull him on top of her. She pressed her lips onto his possessively as he wrapped his arms around her waist. When they pulled their lips apart he could feel her big toe digging at the heel of his right shoe. She beamed.
"Take your shoes off, babe. Stay a while."