A gleam of sparkling diamond met the morning light as I raised my left hand to get a better view of the ring. I frowned because as much as I wanted it, I could no longer live in a fantasy and pretend with him. I had to be a big girl and face reality. I loved him, I truly did; but what I ultimately learned was that I was in love with the idea of him. It took several people to help me realize this. I had to face my wake up call once and for all.

I slipped the ring off my finger and placed it into his hands as I held his hands in mine. "I'm sorry, but I can't".

Henry frowned. "I don't understand, Betty." He shook his head and looked up at me with confusion in his eyes.

"Yes, Henry, I think you do." I admitted. It pained me to do this to him, but there was no sense lying to him any longer about my true feelings.

"Betty…" He looked at me through sorrowful eyes. "I'm so sorry for what I've put you through for the past 9 months. I never expected to put you through some of that agony." Henry sighed.

"Henry, no…if anything you've helped me. I've become more of myself through you, but in order to be who I am meant to be, this is the way it has to be." I frowned.

"I wish we could have pressed rewind and taken ourselves back to that Christmas party, Betty….knowing what we do now." Henry forced a smile.

"Henry, I understand, but what's done is done. It's time for both of us to face reality. I wouldn't make a good fiancée right now. That's the reality, Henry." I continued to hold his hand in a supportive way.

"So, it's not just because of him?" Henry asked with a faltered voice.

I sighed. "Partly, yes. However, I need to develop Betty Suarez a little bit more before I can make any commitments like this." I withdrew my hand from his.

"His plane leaves for Italy in an hour and 15 minutes….right?" Henry looked at his watch.

I looked at him out of fear, but he finally seemed to understand. "Yeah." I replied sadly. "I'm going to be too late though."

Henry grabbed my shoulders. "So why are you wasting what little time you have left to see him, here with me?" He asked. I looked up into his eyes, which were honestly filled with sadness.

"Henry…what? Why are you doing this? I thought you hated him." I looked Henry up and down curiously as if he were playing a joke on me.

"Someone once woke me up to realize I only had 4 weeks left with you. Of course, that was after I punched him, but still…it's time that you lived your reality Betty." Henry smiled.

I embraced Henry with all of the strength I had left and turned to leave. "Henry, I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt you." I managed a smile.

"You realize that now you have an hour and 7 minutes…now GO!" He pointed to his watch as I left.

I sat in a taxi cab in the worst amount of traffic ever. Cars were bumper to bumper and we were still a mile away from JFK. I eyed my watch. To my disappointment, I only had 57 minutes left before Gio would be gone to Italy. I decided that I would run with all of my might to try and catch Gio. I thanked the taxi cab driver and paid him handsomely. My feet hit the pavement and I was gone. Ten minutes, and what felt like 2 asthma attacks later, I found myself breathlessly in front of JFK. I entered the building and found the ticket counter for Air Italia.

"Er, excuse me. I need to get on a flight that leaves in…well….like 45 minutes. One ticket please." I showed the lady my passport and she shook her head.

"Sorry, but we've closed the ticket counter. I am so sorry ma'am." She turned to leave.

"Wait! I work for MODE….see…" I showed her my ID badge. "Look, I know this is clique but the man I love is about to get on a plane to Italy. I was engaged to another guy and I finally realized the reality that was right in front of me." I hoped that would work.

The lady rolled her eyes. "Second time someone has pulled that off. Good thing you work at MODE." She said with a smile as I handed her my credit card.

I stood in the security line for the next 15 minutes. As I stood there, I began to think about my predicament. I felt like I was teetering on 'Sense and Sensibility' at this very moment. Nothing made sense to me and I was overwhelmed by my thoughts which wanted to outweigh my actions. Just as I made my way through the metal detectors, I got stopped.

"Ma'am, we need you to step aside. We are suspecting you of some illicit activity and we need to search you." The security guard took me arm.

"No, it's my braces…you don't understand….the man I love…." I was going to continue, but the guard cut me off.

"Honestly, you've watched too many romantic comedies." He laughed and began to search me. Five minutes later, I took off in a sprint.

Twenty minutes until departure, I found myself frantically trying to find the gate. The leather jacket I had grown so accustomed to was walking hurriedly far ahead of me. I began to run.

"GIO!" I called loudly. Several people turned to look at me, but not him. I tried again." GIO!" I called even louder. Finally a scary looking man turned around.

"Yeah?" he responded.

"Oh no, not you…him…." I pointed to a useless jumble of people way ahead.

"Well missy, I could be your 'Gio'." He grinned, but I pushed him aside.

"GIOOOOOO…..oowwwww." I hadn't realized the 'Wet Floor' sign as I slipped hard on the floor. This caused quite a commotion and a moment later, I was looking into his face. His eyes were dark as coal.

"Betty, what are you doing here?" He asked as he helped me up. "…and you're still in the baseball uniform." He chuckled.

I hadn't realized that I never changed. "Oh, right." I didn't even know where to begin. "Gio, I choose you. You're the guy….you're the guy Gio and there's no one else for me but you. I can't believe I've been so amazingly stupid Gio." I looked at him as he stepped away from me.

"Nah, I can't take you back Betty…" He shook his head.

My lips quivered. "What? Listen Gio…I…" I wanted to beg and plead for him.

"How can I take you back when I never lost you in the first place?" He grabbed me suddenly. "Hells yeah you chose me and I plan on looking at you like I did the first time I met you, Mode girl." He swooped me into a passionate kiss. I could barely breathe.

"Woa…Gio….this is what I've been missing?" I laughed, as I stood in his embrace.

"Well, you did get me fired when I first met you, so the least you could do would be to kiss me again, Mode girl." He grinned. I loved it when he called me that. It was our little thing and will always be our little thing. I shrugged; feeling slightly embarrassed by the crowd and initiated our next passionate kiss.

After what felt like an eternity of a kiss, he let me back up. "So…because that uniform is turning me on….will we make it to second base?" Gio raised an eyebrow.

"Eh…." I didn't want to answer because I was embarrassed.

"Third base…?" He pushed with a laugh.

"You're pushing it." I massaged his neck and then ruffled his short black hair.

"Home run then…." He laughed and I couldn't help myself anymore.

"GIO!" I chided him.

"What? You can't blame a guy for trying…" He took my hand as we boarded the plane.

I had finally faced reality and it made all the difference in whom I was and who I would become.