Friendship Is The Key
AN:/ A Daniel/Betty friendship story that could develop into something more. I had written it as a one-shot but have an idea where the story might go next. If anyone wants me to carry on, let me know.
Disclaimer:/ In no way, shape or form do I own any rights to Ugly Betty, it's characters or story line. I am making no money from this story.
As the morning drew to a close, Betty sat at her desk and sighed. It had already been a long day and it wasn't even half way through yet. She rubbed her stomach, desperate to get rid of the sick feeling she hadn't been able to shake since waking up that morning.
Glancing at the clock, she realised it was almost time for her lunch with Daniel. There were some decisions that needed to be made on the magazine and they had decided it would be the opportune time to sit down and have lunch at the same time. It would be nice to actually catch up with Daniel on a friend level, as well as just boss/employee. They hadn't spoken – really spoken, about everything and nothing – in a while.
As Betty's stomach gave another horrible lurch, she just hoped she could get through it without losing all her dignity – not to mention lunch – and completely embarrassing herself in the process.
Daniel looked up at her from over his laptop as she walked into his office and offered her a smile which she gingerly returned. His own smile fell slightly.
"Hey, you okay, Betty?" He queried, concerned. She plastered her most genuine fake-smile on her face and sat down, pulling out her lunch and placing it next to his bagel, suddenly famished.
"Yeah, I'm just tired. It's been a busy day."
"Are you sure?" Daniel didn't look convinced. Betty was more interested in her food by that point, though.
"Uh-huh." She mumbled around a bite of her sandwich.
"Okay." Daniel conceded. "Let me just finish reading this article and I'll be with you."
Betty momentarily paused between bites, just long enough to mutter "no problem!" before tucking back into her food with renewed vigour.
"Wow! You seem hungry." Daniel commented, his eyes back on his laptop in front of him. Betty's low growl was mumbled by her full mouth and Daniel chuckled.
Betty couldn't believe how hungry she suddenly was. How could someone go from feeling so sick to wanting to devour everything that was put in front of her? She was certainly giving it a good go, at any rate.
It was only a few minutes later when, article finally finished, Daniel shut his laptop and looked up at Betty. Immediately, his worried (if somewhat slightly put out face) was present once more.
"Betty, are you really sure you're okay?"
"I guess." She responded half-heartedly. "Why? What's got you thinking that there's something wrong?" She must look awful if Daniel had noticed there was something off with her. She just knew that Matt had been having a laugh when he told her she was glowing earlier. Yeah – glowing with nausea, maybe.
"It's just – you do realise that's my bagel you're eating, don't you?"
Oh, God. Betty dropped the offending item back to the plate as though it had suddenly burnt her. If he hadn't been so confused, Daniel would have laughed out loud at her 'deer in the headlights' expression. As it was, he barely had time to think how cute she looked (wait where did that come from? Since when had he thought Betty was cute?), when she started rambling.
"I'm so sorry, Daniel. It's just I've been feeling sick since I woke up and I missed breakfast – even the smell was enough to make me gag. I've been fighting the urge to throw up on my desk all morning and then I came in here and realised how hungry I was. I didn't even notice! I must have had a sudden craving for a cream cheese bagel and ..." She trailed to a stop, her eyes widening comically.
It couldn't be – no – she couldn't be...could she?
Daniel, for his part, didn't know what to do. He had never seen Betty look as white as the colour drained from her face. His mind instantly started scrambling.
"Betty? Are you going to be sick?" He was already reaching for his waste bin.
"I think I might be pregnant." His hand stopped in mid-air. His mouth formed an 'o' and in any other situation Betty would have teased him for his fish pose.
Daniel's mind ticked over. Betty couldn't be pregnant? She was the responsible one – it made no sense. He had to have misheard her.
"What?" Unfortunately, his voice came out as a high pitched squeak. Fortunately, Betty seemed too preoccupied to notice.
"It all adds up. Feeling sick but still eating everything in sight, people telling me I'm glowing..." Personally, Daniel couldn't see how anyone could say she was glowing with her current pale face, although he had to admit, it was rapidly gaining a green tint to it. He coughed awkwardly as he thought of an important question.
"Are you...late?" He fought the rising blush as the question left his lips. He certainly hadn't foreseen asking that question today. However, Betty was in too much of a state to really care if the question was appropriate between the two of them.
"Well, just a couple of days. I had thought it was just stress but now – I'm not so sure."
All of a sudden, she transformed before Daniel's eyes into a flurry of jitters and barely contained panic. She wrung her hands together in her lap as words rushed out of her mouth almost before she had a chance to take breath.
"No, I can't be pregnant. It is so not the right time, what with Y.E.T.I and trying to become a successful editor. I was hoping that my dream career was just about to take off. I can't do this now. What am I going to do? Oh, God -" She looked up at Daniel over the rim of her glasses, tears rapidly welling up in her eyes. "What am I going to tell Matt?"
Daniel, not really taking it all on board, quickly stood up from his desk and walked around to her, his arm going around her shoulders and pulling her into his solid chest as her tears finally spilt over, racing down her cheeks. He took a couple of seconds to pull his scrambled thoughts together. She had always been there for him and – damn it – it was about time he returned the favour. Then and there, he made a silent vow to himself to stick by her, no matter what happened.
With that much taken care of, Daniel whispered small words of comfort to the shaking woman in his arms. He waited until the sobbing had subsided to occasional sniffles before pulling back to look her in the eye.
"Here's what we're going to do." He stated, becoming the voice of reason in a strange act of role reversal. "Right now, we are going to the nearest drug store and we are going to get a test. There is no point worrying until we know anything for sure." He deliberately avoided using the word 'pregnant' for fear of provoking Betty's currently fragile state of mind.
"But, Daniel – we can't just leave the office in the middle of the day. There is too much work to do and you have a meeting this afternoon with the photography department." She fretted.
"I don't care. That doesn't matter right now. I'll get Amanda to cancel the meeting; it can always be rearranged." He argued.
"But -"
"We are going and that is that." Daniel put his foot down and Betty surprisingly went quiet and gave a small nod of acceptance. Daniel squeezed her shoulder. "Come on. Go and get your things together."
Five minutes later, the pair exited the Meade building.
"I thought we'd walk. The drug store isn't that far away and I didn't think that you'd want anybody jumping to any conclusions, including the driver."
Betty, slightly shocked, looked up at Daniel. She hadn't even thought... Even now he was protecting her. She couldn't believe how far out of his way he was going to make this as easy as he could for her. Sure, they were best friends but she had never expected him to drop everything for her.
'You do'. A small voice whispered in the back of her mind.
'I'm his assistant, of course I do'. She quickly silenced the voice before answering Daniel.
"Thanks. I know you don't have to be doing all of this but it means a lot to me that you would do this." She continued as they started walking down the street.
"It's not a problem, Betty. You always know where to find me if you need me." She gave him a small, grateful smile in return before getting lost in her thoughts.
Did Daniel really mean that? She knew he did, it was obvious as he said it. She could only hope that would still be the case if it turned out that she was, in fact, pregnant. Even as the thought crossed her mind she realised that he would always be there for her. He had shown that since her first suspicion in his office. She briefly wondered why she was doing this with Daniel. Shouldn't she be here with Matt right now? The answered came to her immediately. She knew she was safe with Daniel. At this particular point in time she needed to be with someone where there was no pressure, who she knew wouldn't judge her. She knew she was extremely lucky to have been in the place she had when she had this possible life changing revelation. She was still thinking over his words as they reached the drug store just a couple of blocks from the office.
They stood in front of the shelves displaying the pregnancy tests, searching through the boxes. There were so many of them and the more she looked at, the more Betty was confused. What was the difference? Should she get the one that told her specifically if she was pregnant or not...how far along she was, or should she simply go with one of the cheaper versions?
Daniel, sensing her dilemma, reached straight for the most expensive test there. She gave him a questioning look. How did he know which test to pick? At her questioning look, he gave a slight shrug.
"My motto: if unsure about something, go for the most expensive. It's most likely better quality."
"I guess I can see the logic in that." Betty agreed and they went to the counter to pay for the item.
With it safely in a discrete brown bag, they left the store. Betty was surprised when they started walking in the opposite direction of the office.
"Daniel, this isn't the way back to MODE." He looked at her like she was out of her mind.
"Of course it isn't. We're going back to my apartment. You can have some privacy there that you just wouldn't get in the office or at home."
"Oh." Her mind was on overdrive. He really was going all out to make her comfortable. Why couldn't she trust Matt to do the same thing? She didn't think she wanted to delve into that question at the moment. She didn't want to know why she was more comfortable, more trusting with her best friend than her boyfriend and the potential father of her baby.
If Daniel knew Betty, (and he liked to think that he did) her mind would be spinning right about now with thoughts that she probably didn't even want to be thinking about. The problem was what should he distract her with? Everything else seemed slightly too trivial. There again, who was he to judge? Maybe trivial was exactly what Betty needed. What he did know was that she needed something to take her mind off the situation.
"So, I've decided to stop this thing with Molly before it goes too far." He commented as they continued working. It was certainly distracting.
"What? I thought you liked Molly? Haven't you been trying to decide a way to make it work for the past few weeks?"
"Yeah, I have." Daniel sighed. "In the end I decided that it was way too complicated. Who was I kidding? I mean, I shouldn't have to decide how to make something work. She is engaged for God's sake – to Connor, who is a good friend of mine and the CEO to my company. It is not the right thing to do. I realised that I need to walk away and let them have the happy ending that they deserve."
"How do you feel about that, though?" Betty asked him, concerned.
"Surprisingly, it doesn't feel that dreadful." He admitted. It felt slightly strange talking about his feeling while Betty was going through her own, bigger, situation. "To be honest, it feels like I've finally grown up. I've surprised myself. Who knew I could grow?" He let out a slight chuckle.
"I did." Betty told him sincerely. "You've come a long way since I first met you, Daniel. For what it's worth, I'm really proud of you." Daniel gave her a searching look.
"Thank you, Betty. That is worth more than you probably realise. It was you that helped me change into this better person."
"Oh, Daniel – it was you who changed. You've always had this person in you; you just needed the right motivation to help that side to the foreground. I'm sure being the Editor In Chief at Mode helped a lot in the transition."
"You can't just take the thanks and accept it, can you?" Daniel hadn't really expected anything different.
Their conversation was brought to a pause when they arrived in front of Daniel's building. Suddenly, everything seemed a slight blur for Betty. What would she do if she was pregnant? She would have to leave Mode to have the Baby and she didn't think that they would appreciate her dragging a child around the office with her. Her career would be put on a complete hold and she would most likely loose touch with the real world – all her friends would move on, even Daniel. As much as he might want to stick by her now, she knew that a screaming baby would soon deter him. He obviously didn't know what he was getting himself into.
Daniel let them into his apartment, gesturing for Betty to go in ahead of him. She looked so lost standing in the middle of the loft, once again wringing her hands. He was suddenly reminded of how vulnerable she could be, despite how hard she tried to hide it and look after everyone around her. If he didn't know any better he would say that she was a high school girl in trouble.
Seeing her looking so confused he suddenly knew exactly what he needed to do.
"Well, I'm just going to -"
"Betty, come and sit down minute and calm down." Daniel led her to the couch.
"Betty, I know it's difficult but there's no point working yourself up over this. There's nothing that you can do to change it right now and until you take the test you don't even know if there's anything you need to do anything about."
"Yes, but -"
"Just listen, Betty." Daniel interrupted her, taking her hands in his. As much as the gesture calmed her, she couldn't explain the butterflies that erupted in her already fluttering stomach.
"I know you think that this is the end of life as you know it but it really doesn't have to be. You always know that you'll have a job and a career with me at Mode." He took a deep breath. "I also want you to know that, whatever happens; I'll be there for you – whatever you want. If you have craving for ice cream at five in the morning, I'll be there. If you go into labour in the middle of the night, call me and I'm there. Anything you need, really – just let me know and I'll be there, even if this is a false alarm." Betty felt tears welling up in her eyes. For the first time since sitting in his office, Betty really felt like everything might actually be alright.
"Daniel..." She threw her arms around him as the tears fell from her eyes. She didn't have to say thank you – she had a feeling he already knew. Finally withdrawing from their embrace, Betty gestured towards the bag.
"I suppose it's time to find out."
"It'll be fine."
Daniel was adamant that the next few minutes were the longest of his life. He had to forcefully remind himself that he shouldn't be that anxious – it wasn't as though he was the father, no matter how much he wished otherwise.
Wow! Where did that come from? Daniel reined his thoughts in. Of course, he had been thinking recently what it would be like to settle down and have a family. Betty had obviously brought these thoughts out in him. The situation, he stressed – not Betty personally. Oh, well. She was his best friend and he was justified in his nervousness for her. He knew that if she were pregnant, things would change both for her and between them. He had a feeling it wouldn't be so bad.
Finally, just when Daniel thought he couldn't take the suspense any more, the door between them unlocked and Betty came out of the bathroom. She looked shell-shocked.
"Oh, Betty; it's going to be okay. Everything's going to be fine." Daniel rushed to console her.
"No, Daniel – I don't think you understand."
"You might not think I understand but I do. I know you're scared but you'll get through this – we'll do it together -"
"Daniel, stop." She interrupted him mid-breath. "It's negative."
"What?"
"I'm not pregnant."
"Oh. Well, that's a good thing, right?" He asked her, slightly confused by her reaction.
"Yeah – I mean, it was totally the wrong time to have a baby – there was no way I could have coped with both a baby and my career. Don't get me wrong – I do want children." She paused. "I just want to wait until I've followed my own dreams and made something of myself. Does that make me selfish?" She wondered, looking to Daniel for reassurance.
"No, of course not being selfish. You've worked so hard to get where you are right now and I know that you are going to flourish into something excellent. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised it there was something fantastic waiting just around the corner for you."
"Do you really think so?" Betty wondered.
"Yeah, I do. I believe in you and I think that you need to start believing in yourself."
"Thank you."
"You don't need to thank me, it was all you." Daniel argued back.
"No, Daniel. I mean, thank you for everything. You didn't need to do all this for me today but the more I think about it, you've always been there for me in one way or another. I just wanted you to know how much it means to me and how much I appreciate it." Daniel was almost caught speechless.
"You're very welcome, Betty."
As they came together for another hug, Betty was immensely glad that she had had her best friend to go through this with her. She wouldn't have it any other way.