In This Together
Disclaimer: Believe me, if I owned Ugly Betty, you'd know. The Detty smex would never end :-P
Summary: An alternate and pre-Detty take on the 2x10 episode, Bananas For Betty. What might've happened if Betty had been on Daniel's team during the paintball fight?
Notes: So this is my first ever Ugly Betty fic, and I'm really scared about how this'll go down. But I had to at least attempt it. A friend and I were discussing how Betty should've been on Daniel's team, she suggested a certain scenario that would've been sweet to see, and the idea just grew from there in my head, into this.
I hope you enjoy it! -crosses fingers-
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"A paintball fight?"
Daniel Meade crossed his arms defensively and tried not to feel like too much of an idiot, no easy feat considering the way his assistant and best friend Betty Suarez was staring at him incredulously with her infamous "what-on-Earth-were-you-thinking?" face. When he was younger, it used to be that only his dad had mastered the art of putting him down and making him feel like he was three inches tall (his mom had never been as harsh, although she'd been very good at playing the disappointment card and subsequently guilt-tripping him), and as he'd grown older, Daniel had quickly discovered that he didn't really care what other people thought of him, so long as he could do what he wanted and enjoy himself at the same time. But for some reason, now all it took was one long look from Betty, and he'd begin to squirm like a little boy in the Principal's office being lectured for sneaking into the girls changing rooms again. He was the one who mostly got it, too, and as a result, everyone else around the office now called it her Daniel!Face - something which he wasn't happy about, but had long ago had to accept, since there wasn't exactly anything he could do about it. Besides, he had to admit, she was usually justified in her use of it.
He felt that maybe this time it was a bit uncalled for, though.
"Yeah, why not? I mean, how else are Alexis and I going to agree on who gets to run the company?"
Betty rolled her eyes at him from her seat in front of his desk, and he resisted the urge to smirk at how cute she looked even when she was annoyed with him.
"Gee Daniel, I don't know. How about with sitting down and talking it out, like adults?!"
Damn, but she knew how to use sarcasm so that it hurt. He decided to opt for his winsome boy-ish charm that had worked in setting the hearts aflutter of oh, pretty much every female he had ever encountered in his life. And while Betty knew most of his tricks, even she wasn't immune to them all the time.
He smiled mischievously. "Yeah, but where's the fun in that?"
Betty groaned, her head falling into her hands, and Daniel dropped all pretences, needing to hear her approval of his idea before he'd feel fully confident about going ahead with it. He rose out of his seat quickly and came around the desk, dropping to the floor in front of her and placing his hands on her knees, gazing up at her in earnest. She said nothing, just stared back at him in silence, waiting to hear what he'd say.
"C'mon Betty! You know as well as I do that Alexis and I could sit down with the best lawyers Dad's money can buy, argue for days and still not be any closer to deciding who's in charge. It's just not in our nature."
Betty's eyebrows rose to the top of her head in disbelief. "But fighting is?"
Daniel shrugged nonchalantly in reply. "Pretty much." Seeing that Betty was about to retort, he hurriedly went on. "Besides, it's not like we have any other choice, since we never actually got to hear who Dad was going to pick himself."
A blush crept up Betty's cheeks instantly, a sheepish look clouding her face, and Daniel chuckled, patting her knee to console her.
"It's okay. At least this way I know I have a really good chance of beating Alexis, rather than trying to convince myself that our father was a closet gangster who called me 'my Daniel'. Who am I kidding? He would never choose me over her."
It was Betty's turn to provide comfort, as she placed one hand over Daniel's and squeezed it tightly, chocolate-brown orbs brimming with sympathy. He didn't have to say anything for her to know how much the gesture meant to him - such was the depth of their friendship. Daniel knew that to the casual observer, the physical appearance of the two of them put together was quite frankly, a bizarre pairing that boggled the mind, but he didn't give two shits about it because the emotional connection they shared far outweighed any he'd ever had with any other human being, and if others didn't understand it, well, it was no personal loss for him. She was the least likely person he'd have expected to become such a constant figure within his life, but now that she was, he struggled to contemplate how he'd get on without her. It was bizarre, the whole thing, but somehow it just felt…right.
Suddenly aware of where his thoughts were going, and the warmth of their hands touching, Daniel cleared his throat and flashed Betty a smile, straightening up and leaning on the desk behind him. She knew better than to take his withdrawal personally though, and didn't look particularly hurt as she looked up at him, the thoughtfulness yet apprehension written clearly in her expression.
Daniel decided he wasn't above begging, if that's what it would take to get her on board. "C'mon, Betty, please," he implored her with a gentler tone than before. "I really need to know you're on my side over this."
She blew out a long sigh, the hot air lifting a few stray strands of her fringe before they settled back on her forehead in that erratic-yet-endearing Betty way. "Always, Daniel. It's just…a paintball fight? Are you sure about this?"
He nodded, a full grin stretching across his face as he recognised the signs of weary acceptance, and he couldn't help but slap the desk in excitement. "Hey, at least it's not bare-knuckle boxing!"
Her eyes widened in horror at the thought, and she jumped out of her seat to address him, finger pointing fiercely at his chest. "Don't even think about ever suggesting that to me, or I'll be seriously forced to knock some sense into you." The whole latter part of the sentence was punctuated with jabs. "And I'm not a violent person!" Jab, jab, jab, jab.
Daniel laughed as he moved out of her reach, leaning over to get his suit jacket off the back of his seat before slipping it on. "Okay, I'll keep that in mind."
Betty must have sensed the slight teasing behind his words, because her eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms, pupils glinting dangerously. "Or I'll just lock you in the make-up cupboard with Marc and Amanda."
He stopped in the middle of fixing the cuffs of his shirt, staring at her, but as she stared back relentlessly, he gave in, lifting his hands in surrender. "Okay, okay! No bare-knuckle boxing, I get it."
Betty relaxed a little, motioning him over and proceeding to straighten up his collar and tie, muttering softly under her breath the whole time. Daniel wisely chose to remain silent as she smoothed down the planes of his jacket, and even when she wet her thumb with her saliva to supposedly wipe off a mark on his cheek (it didn't matter how close they were, he still found that weird). When she was done, he smiled a thank you and made to head out for his lunch meeting, but stopped suddenly in the doorway, spinning around to address her as if he'd forgotten something.
"Oh yeah, um…about that whole being on my side thing. I really appreciate that, you know I do, but for the paintball fight specifically, I meant that I literally needed you on my side. You'll be on my team!"
Betty's mouth dropped in indignant shock, but Daniel was already practically running through the offices and towards the elevators before she could even respond. He was inside and facing the closing doors by the time she caught up, sliding to a stop on the marble floor, and staring daggers at him.
He waved jovially. "Don't worry, Betty, it'll work out fine! I know what I'm doing, trust me!"
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So what do you think so far? Clicky the button and let me know!