His hands tightly gripped the steering wheel as he pulled up. Involuntarily, he stole a glimpse of himself in the rearview mirror and ran his fingers through his hair. For an insane moment, he wished there was a comb in the glove compartment. "Idiot," he muttered under this breath.
As he walked up to the door, he mentally rehearsed and -re-rehearsed what he was going to say to her when she answered the door, tugging his collar the whole way. Taking a deep breath, he raised his hand to knock when the door magically opened.
"Ri--, Dr. Bauer, I, I, I, er, is, um..."
"She'll be down in a minute," Danny thought Rick might actually be smiling at him. "Michelle!"
"Would you like a drink?" he offered.
"No, thank you," No, it wasn't a trick of the light, he decided. He was actually smiling at him.
He was still trying to absorb this information when a bounding bundle of blonde energy landed at the foot of the stairs. "I'm ready!" Michelle announced.
Danny took in the sight of his soon to be ex-wife... and frowned.
Michelle's frown matched his own as she absorbed the sight of his Italian suit and then glanced downward at her own sweater and jeans.
"Oh," she started to dash up the stairs again, "I'll be right down."
The sound of Danny's voice halted her three steps up. "Michelle, it's fine. It's perfect." Danny shrugged his shoulders, looking at himself. "I don't know why I wore this. Habit, I guess."
She hesitated for a split second, looking at him ... and then began to dash up to her room even faster than before. "No, no, I'll change. Sit down, have a drink, let Rick bore you with stories about the ER!" And she was gone before either of them could protest.
Michelle's bedroom:
Michelle surveyed a closet full of dresses. "Idiot," she muttered to herself, "What did you think this was going to be? Dinner and a movie?"