11Summary: A weekend with Daniel seems to be all Betty ever really needed to take that final step...
Disclaimer: I don't own anything. If I did...we would have a movie. Or better yet, another season! Or ten. But alas, I do not. (Is it weird I imagined Henry saying that last part?)
Author's Note:Shebang! I totally used all eighteen prompts provided by silver_p at the LJ community Bachelor&Butterfly. (The bolded parts are the prompts.) It might be long and not make sense at times...but I tried. I haven't written anything in like two years so I apologize in advance for the sucky writing.
If Betty is OOC, I'm sorry, but to me it is explained by her being devious and planning the whole thing. That and Daniel told her he loved her at the dinner date. :o
Enjoy! (:
"You think you're cooler than me."
Daniel smirked. "I know I am."
Betty rolled her eyes and smacked him with the pillow she had been hugging to her chest.
"Hey! I was kidding," he said, pouting.
She laughed and let herself fall back into her previous horizontal position on her couch, her feet cemented an inch before Daniel's leg as it they were afraid of something. "You're such a child."
He made a weird, noncommittal noise but didn't say anything. They fell into a comfortable silence, the only sounds Daniel's typing and Betty's scribbling.
"What are you doing?" she asked after a couple minutes.
"What are you doing?" he countered.
She tilted her head and gave him her trademark grin. "I asked you first," she said winningly.
He ignored how his stomach did what he had dubbed the Weird Flippy Thing and gave her a side glance, responding sheepishly. "Twitter."
She stared at him for a couple seconds and then laughed.
"What? I have to keep up with the latest Marc-Amanda fiasco."
She was still laughing. Daniel put on a mock-frown but deep inside, he was pleased.
Half choking on air, she managed to respond. "But Amanda doesn't work at Mode anymore."
Daniel gave her a look. "Exactly. Can you imagine what they've been doing with all of New York at their disposal? I'm surprised they never thought of it. Besides, there's still a Mode fiasco every once in a while. And they still do those video blogs."
She had managed to control herself. Smiling, she shook her head. "You knew about those? Wow, I haven't seen those in such a long time. I've been so busy... But I'll get caught up as soon as the first issue is published!"
He smiled at her enthusiasm, her wide smile, how her eyes were alight with happiness. "Happiness suits you, Betty Suarez. You look beautiful."
She blushed and lowered her gaze.
Dammit, Daniel! It stopped being awkward between you two and now you go and ruin it. The voice sounded strangely like Alexis.
But then she gave him a small smile and a quiet "Thank you" and his world seated itself right again.
Yes, progress! He wondered if a fist pump and a celebratory victory dance would make him look like a dork. He figured it would. What is it about her that makes me act like I'm sixteen again? He found he didn't mind.
They looked at each other, blue clashing with brown and it felt as if time had stopped. And then the timer went off.
"That's the lasagna! Could you please go check on it now?" she asked hurriedly, blushing and going back to her notes.
Maybe not so much progress.
He stood from his opposite side of the couch slightly defeated. Her grip on the pencil she was holding tightened a little and then loosened. She looked up at him and gave him a half smile.
"I'm sorry for this hot and cold attitude, Daniel."
He nodded. "I know. It's...a lot to process. And I'll wait, I really will."
Thankful, she smiled warmly and nodded. She then pointed to the oven. He rolled his eyes and muttered, "Bossy." She stuck out her tongue. He thanked the heavens that they still managed to get along like they used to.
He was pulled out of these thoughts when he took a look at the lasagna. He noticed it looked a little...odd.
"Hey, Betty? Are you sure this is what it's supposed to look like?"
"What do you mean?" she asked, getting up and walking to the kitchen.
"It looks, well..."
When her eyes landed on the pasta, they grew wide and then her right eye twitched. "Okay...I'm not letting you cook lasagna ever again."
"What? Why not? I'm an exceptional cook," he said frowning.
"Of PB&J maybe..."
"Hey, I heard that!"
She laughed and pushed the lasagna away from them. "It's okay, Daniel. You choose the one thing you can't cook, something's bound to go wrong."
He shrugged. "I did say it was mission impossible."
"Maybe next time you actually let me help you? Then you can try it on your own."
He smirked his I'm-Daniel-Meade-Ultimate-Sex-God smirk. Betty flushed prettily. "Sounds like a plan."
He followed her lowered gaze to the lasagna. It did look pretty bad.
"Okay, we're going out."
"What?"
"For food," he said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "We must eat...otherwise we die. And then once we die, then our families and friends will be sad and then they will try to off them-"
"Okay, are you going to go off into one of your global extinction rants? I still can't believe you did debate for two years in high school."
"Why? Why is it so hard to believe?" he asked as he started fixing his coat collar.
She gave him a look. "Okay, okay. That was...when I was still trying to impress Dad. Never worked...he only said I was doing what I was supposed to be doing already blah blah finito, let's go eat!"
She let the obvious downplaying on Daniel's part slide and instead laughed at his goofy enthusiasm and went to grab her new coat.
"Hey, is that new?"
She nodded, grinning. "Christina sent it to me...it's her own design. I got it yesterday." He signaled her to spin and she did so willingly.
"How do I look?"
He smiled. "Beautiful, as always. Christina's very good."
Betty flushed for the millionth time since he had arrived almost a week prior. "Thank you. And she is."
He smiled and opened the door. "After you, milady," he said with a mock British accent.
She laughed, "Okay that was horrible."
"What, no it wasn't! It was a perfect imitation."
She looked as if she was about to explode, "Whatever you say."
He glared at her. She responded with a grin.
-B&B-
They felt it was a beautiful day so they decided to walk with no exact destination in mind.
"Maybe you should've changed."
She grimaced. "No, I'm fine."
He sighed. "Well, at least you have somewhere to go now. I mean, such a pretty little outfit is not to be kept indoors. All dressed up and nowhere to go? No longer the case thanks to Daniel Meade."
She laughed and slipped her hand through the nook of his arm. "You look awfully proud of yourself. Thank you, Mr. Meade, I appreciate your efforts. But these shoes..."
"Hold on, are those the new Prada heels you told me Amanda sent you? They look painful."
"That's because they are. I'm breaking them in...I should've changed out of them. But they're so pretty... "
"Okay, wow," he laughed. "Betty Suarez, willingly suffering through painful, albeit fashionable, shoes? Amanda would be so proud."
She rolled her eyes. "She is. I think after we lived together was when I started having these cravings for pretty shoes. This is so wrong."
Daniel laughed. "You're so cute when you're mortified."
She smiled and then frowned slightly when she remembered the last time he said that. She was pulled out of these thoughts when Daniel stopped and nudged her. She looked up at the tiny posh French café that and shrugged. It did look promising. He nodded and opened the door for here.
"Yay, food! Now your global extinction theory can be delayed," she teased.
He tried to look serious. "I could choke on crème brulee," he said gravely.
She rolled her eyes, "Oh come on, I'm starving." She laughed and he followed. He always would.
-B&B-
She smacked her hand over her mouth and tried to keep quiet. Her attempt was futile however, and soon enough, a loud laugh could be heard all over the quiet and serene atmosphere of Le Pain Quotidien.
"Daniel!" she exclaimed accusingly.
He laughed. "What? I'm not doing anything."
She was still somewhat in hysterics, "Please, Daniel. Let's try to act civilized."
"But that's not fun at all."
She gave him a look. "Daniel..." she said warningly.
"Okay, okay! I'll try."
Translation: Never in a million years.
-B&B-
"You're not supposed to be here! Damn Americans, think they can just come in here and..." the café owner muttered darkly, his voice losing its power the farther the man went inside the café.
Betty's eyes widened and she grimaced. Daniel chuckled and pulled her to him.
"Someone doesn't like foreigners... Don't worry, I left him a hearty tip. Maybe we can actually show our faces on this block once he sees it."
Betty looked absolutely horrified. "Did I, Betty Suarez, just get kicked out? I've never gotten kicked out of anywhere!"
He laughed, "There's always a first for everything."
She glared at him. "Well, you've had practice. You're an expert."
He shrugged. "I can't deny that. Although, I haven't gotten kicked out of anywhere for years...and the last time I did I can't remember much. Just cigarettes, chicken feathers...and jello?"
"Chicken feathers? Okay, I do not want to know what you were up to."
Daniel laughed. "Well, whoever was with me that night stole my wallet. I remember I had you running around trying to call the credit card companies to cancel my cards."
She stopped and looked at him suspiciously. "You said you thought someone had stolen it while you weren't looking on the subway. That time your Dad thought taking away the town car would help build up your character?"
He grimaced. "Yeah...guilty. Well, in my defense, I really did think that at the moment. I was too hungover to realize I didn't have my wallet on me. And that I had actually walked that day to work."
"Oh, yeah...I remember. You fell asleep in your office while the Ralph Lauren people came. That wasn't pretty."
He squeezed her shoulders and looked down at her adoringly. "What would I have done without you, Betty?"
She looked up at him and smirked. "Would've been absolute trainwreck," she replied teasingly.
He laughed and pulled her closer. Her words never rang more true.
"So what do you want to do now?"
She paused and thought about it.
"I have my digital camera with me. Let's be tourists for the rest of the day! Starting with buying some new shoes..."
Daniel shrugged. "Why not? I've been here for a total of four days and haven't gotten to act all touristy."
"Touristy isn't a word. Maybe Trista really did mess you up..."
"Hey! It is a word. In Daniel Meade's Dictionary of Words."
"So you get a dictionary and I don't? How is that fair?" she complained, pouting but with mirth in her eyes.
"You get your own Encyclopedia A through Z set."
She grinned and jumped. "Yay!"
Daniel gave her a look. "Maybe so much coffee and sugar wasn't such a good idea..."
"Hey! I'm just glad you're here," she said sincerely.
He smiled down at her shorter frame. "Me too, Betty, me too."
After obtaining shoes that relieved Betty's feet for the time being (she would of course, wear the beautiful Prada shoes at a later date when her feet didn't feel like they were about to fall off) they decided to concoct a list of what they would need to act like tourists:
1. Get sunglasses. (Daniel's idea, one that Betty grudgingly said yes too.)
2. Get a map. (Which actually worked out for Daniel as he had no idea where everything was. And Betty too, even though she denied it.)
Once they had gotten all these items, these steps were to be followed exactly:
1. Betty was hide the sunglasses without Daniel knowing then distract him with a lime "ice lolly." (They were in London, after all. Besides, the sunglasses were a cute idea but dorky and it was about to rain anyways.) [This step was only approved by Betty. Daniel didn't have to know.]
2. (Technically, step number one.) Get the map, act like they were lost. ("Iregardless" of the fact that she had been through that square a million time during the past three months.)
3. Take pictures of all historic landmarks. Try touching them and see if anyone tells you anything. (Second half was Daniel's idea, not necessarily approved by Betty.)
Which brought the couple to this predicament...
"Don't touch it Daniel."
"What? It's a free- Oh...yeah."
She put her hands on her hips. "You're acting like a child. Again."
He shrugged. "It's my favorite pastime." It annoys you and you look cute when you're annoyed. Win.
"Daniel, if you touch that one more time..."
He rolled his eyes. "Fine!" Then he stopped suddenly. "Hey, is it me or is it...raining?"
She looked up and suddenly saw a raindrop fall onto her glasses. "Crap."
They looked at each other. "Run! Come on, your apartment-"
"Flat."
He rolled his eyes. "Flat isn't far off. Maybe we can make it before it starts pouring."
Of course, the weather wasn't willing to be so sympathetic.
"Ahh, my coat's all wet!" he exclaimed as they entered her flat.
Betty laughed. "That's what water does, Daniel. At least our clothes are dry...but I think I'm going to change out of this, I'll be right back."
As Daniel gingerly took off his coat he tried not to think about his best friend, naked...
Okay, Daniel, focus! Bad, Danny! Don't you do that anymore!
Betty came out of her room in a pair of straight jeans and a V-neck lime-green sweater (he had been the Editor-in-Chief of Mode magazine four years) her feet enclosed in fluffy white socks with little yellow ducks on them. He laughed.
"What?" she asked, disgruntled.
"Cute socks."
She looked down and blushed. "Thanks."
He smiled fondly at the socks. No matter how much she had changed and grown over the past couple years, she was still Betty. His Betty.
"So, what are we doing now?"
She shrugged as she plopped herself down on her couch. "You choose now."
His eyebrows rose in surprise. "Me? The child? The-"
"Okay, okay. Just choose, will you?"
He frowned in though. Then he grinned. "Well, in the spirit of acting like a child why don't we...build a fort. Out of pillows and sheets."
"A fort."
He grinned. "Yup. You let me choose," he reminded her.
She rolled her eyes. "Fine. I'll grab the sheets."
-B&B-
"Got any fives?"
"No. But...Go Fish!"
He rolled his eyes. "Dammit, no fair. You always win," he pouted.
Betty smirked. "You're the one who decided to play Go Fish! after we finished watching Cinderella."
He laughed and nodded reluctantly. "To late night card games," he said, lifting his glass of soda pop (another game they were playing, trying to call as much they could by their "British" name.)
His companion lifted her glass gleefully, "To late night card games!"
She giggled as they drank.
"What?"
She shrugged. "It's just...we've acted like absolute dorks the entire day. I've never had so much fun in my life."
He smiled. "Me neither. You're the only one I can act like this with, Betty."
Silence followed his declaration, which made Daniel think he had made it awkward again. But then again, Betty was always full of surprises.
"You're the only one I can act like this with too, Daniel."
He thought that was possibly the best thing anyone had ever told him.
Blushing slightly, she said grinning. "Okay, now we watch another movie."
"Harry Potter!" he called out.
Her raised eyebrows pushed him to elaborate. "So you got me hooked on Harry Potter, okay?"
She smirked and looked very smug. "Now don't look smug with me young lady, you're just too charming to say no too."
Without saying a word, she went over to the box labeled "Movies" and started rummaging through the pile.
"I have one, three, four-"
"Four! I like Goblet of Fire the best."
She chuckled. "Goblet of Fire it is."
Somewhere halfway through the movie, Betty fell asleep, her head on Daniel's shoulder. He put his arm around her shortly after that.
Really, it was just the most comfortable position for him to be in.
He continued to watch the movie. He grimaced as Ron asked that Delacour girl out and felt for Harry during the Yule ball. Daniel had never been a very good dancer. The last thing he remembered was Harry saving Cedric in the maze...
-B&B-
"So just call on me brother, when you need a hand. We all need someone to lean on. I might just have a problem that you'd understand. We all need someone to lean on..."
Daniel groggily woke up to the sound of singing. Or...at least he thought it was singing.
Oh, it was Betty singing. That made sense.
"Good morning sleepyhead," he heard Betty say from the kitchen. He smelled pancakes.
He grimaced. "I'm getting too old for this," he said, wincing at the crick in his neck.
She tutted, "Nonsense, you're still young."
He snorted. "Right."
She rolled her eyes. "Daniel, you're 36. That's hardly old."
He let his head fall back on the couch. "But it's getting there."
She sighed melodramatically, "I guess so. I should find myself someone younger, someone like Tyler..."
His head snapped up faster than you could say "Team Tyler."
"That's not fair," he pouted. "Besides, you're right you should get someone like Tyler. Someone young and hot and-"
"Amanda has dibs on him. And anyways, that's not my type."
He froze. "You have a type?"
She shrugged. "It's...a recent development."
"Huh."
She went back to cooking breakfast and he looked out into the street. The slow movement of cars could be seen from Betty's two-story flat (as Betty had corrected a million times the past couple of days) and the rain seemed to have stopped. In its place was a beautiful rainbow.
A rainbow, so colorful and bright...so like his Betty. Ever since she had stepped into his life, his world changed. His once cold and colorless world had been dashed with bright reds, blinding yellows, rich purples and every single color he could think of and more.
"Hey, it stopped raining."
"Yeah, I know. It stopped about 20 minutes ago," she replied, her voice slightly muffled as she reached into her refrigerator to grab more milk.
He stared at her.
"How long have you been up?" he asked, just noticing he had a blanket draped on him.
"30 minutes," she replied. "I took a shower. You can go right ahead. I have extra clothes for you in the bathroom already."
"Don't you think it's weird that I slept here and that you have extra clothes for me?"
A pause. "You've fallen asleep before at my apartment before so it's no biggie."
"And the clothes?" he prompted.
She rolled her eyes. "Not when I stole them from you two days ago, now go, shower now," she finished quickly, embarrassed.
He walked slowly towards the bathroom. "Did you plan this?"
She blushed. "Maybe," and went back to making another batch of batter.
Yeah, she was most definitively full of surprises.
-B&B-
"Mmm, dis is so gud!" Daniel praised his mouth full of food.
Betty rolled her eyes. "You're such a guy."
He swallowed the mouthful of pancakes. "Seriously, these are so good. You've been holding out on me. How'd you know I wanted chocolate chocolate chip pancakes?"
She bit her lip and smirked (which he found to be an amazing feat.) "You were talking in your sleep. You were mumbling about bears and chocolate chocolate chip pancakes and how the evil strawberry monkey was stealing them. You were calling out for Dumbledore..."
He snorted. "So I really did dream that."
She looked at him weirdly (but he realized it was a good weird) and then laughed. "You're so cute."
He froze. "What?"
She bit her lip and seemed to gather courage for something. Then she smiled sweetly at him, taking the fork from his suddenly limp hand. "Here's something you don't know about me..."
Realizing where this was going, he swallowed hard. "And what is that?"
"I kinda love you too." And then she kissed him.
She had lip gloss on her lips.
Author's Note: Again, if there was any confusion...the bolded parts were the prompts. Wow, I can't believe I used all of them...but I saw them and I decided to figure out a way all of them can fit toegther and this is what I came up with! Oh, Betty was very courageous, wasn't she? (;