A/N: Hey everybody. This is my first time posting here and to tell you the truth, I'm terrified. This is my first completed Ugly Betty fic and I suppose that it also adds to the nerves. ANyway. I hope you enjoy :) Criticism is welcomed.

Can't Let It End This Way

"You're gonna do great things one day Suarez. I don't blame you for choosing yourself."

Gio gave Betty one last smile before making his way down the stairs. Betty just stood at her door, listening to his footsteps getting further and further away. This was it. The end. She'd let him walk away from her, never knowing if she would ever speak to him or even see him again.

"Ay! Betty! Why aren't you chasing after him already!?"

Betty wasn't surprised when she heard her thoughts being spoken in her sister Hilda's voice. Hilda was a fighter. She would do whatever it took to keep what she wanted from disappearing. Maybe she was right. Maybe she should be fighting for Gio.

With her mind made up, Betty slammed the door of her apartment and began to run down the stairwell, shouting his name.

"GIO!"

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As Gio had reached the foyer of the building's lower level, he sat down on the steps. Cheese in one hand and his other hand ruffling his hair. He was stuck. He didn't want to just leave Betty's life, even though his monologue in her home sort of determined what happened next.

He really did forgive her for the things she had done. Infact, he'd already forgiven her when he had arrived back in New York from his trip to Rome. Yet seeing her again this morning had hurt. She was happy. She had that huge smile on her face and she ran up to him as if nothing had changed between them. It hurt even more when she referred to him being her 'friend'.

Betty Suarez had already captured his heart and ripped it from his chest but this morning, she had trodden on it and broken it beyond repair, then just stood staring at him wondering what was wrong. That's when he had snapped. He banned her from his Deli and his life.

"God, I can be so melodramatic!" he conceded.

Yet somehow, she had managed to lure him to her new apartment, persuade him to listen to her ramblings about her self-discovery trip, accidentally made him admit his feelings for her, get him to drive her to Coney Island to help smuggle Daniel's son away from the city for a while and then eventually gave him some cheese….

His chain of thought was snapped as he heard his name being called from behind him.

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"GIO!" Betty cried as she bolted down the final set of stairs, her hair flying behind her.

Gio swiftly stood up to avoid being trampled on by the moving flash of colour, but he somehow ended up being enveloped by it, his cheese falling to the floor.

"Whoa B, what's going on?" he asked as he wrapped his strong arms around her.

Betty stared up into his warm brown eyes, her own ones beginning to well up with tears.

"I…I can't let it end this way Gio….."

She sniffed before clutching him tighter and laying her head on his shoulder.

One of Gio's hands moved from Betty's back and up into her hair., stroking it, trying to soothe the woman in his arms. He let his eyes close as he inhaled the scent of her hair. Her coconut shampoo, her perfume and something else that made her undeniably Betty. If asked, he wouldn't be able to describe it, but it was her nonetheless.

If Gio was honest with himself, he was surprised to see Betty come chasing after him. He had just assumed that since she had moved on in her career, her life and her feelings, she would just let him leave allowing her to move onto the next person. But here she was. Hugging him for dear life, admitting that she didn't want to lose him. A feeling of guilt surged inside of him. Even though Betty hadn't actually said it, she needed him. And he hadn't realised just how important he was to her.

"Hey B. Look at me a sec" Gio requested gently.

Betty lifted her head from his shoulder, her brown eyes were surrounded by red tinged skin, tears trailing down her cheeks. She gazed up at him, both sets of eyes locking onto each other.

"Betty. I'm not going anywhere. I'm always going to be here for you. I thought that you would have realised a long time ago that I would do absolutely anything for you. Hell, I would try my hardest to give you the world if you wanted it. So if you ever need me B, just tell me. I could try my hardest to tell you that I don't want anything to do with you, don't want to help you out. But we both know that I'd still end up helping you. I told you earlier that you always seem to pull me right back into your life...and I wouldn't ever change that B. I want to be a part of it Betty, so remember I'm only a phone call away."

As he spoke his final words, he brushed an errant hair from Betty's face, eyes still deadlocked on hers. Then he leaned in and kissed her. A soft brush of his lips on hers, a promise that he would always be there. Whether it was as her friend or as something more, he wasn't going to leave her. How could he? She was his eater, she's the one that got him fired on his first day working at mode which led to him advancing in his 5 year plan. Most importantly, she is the one woman who he truly loved and he needs her just as much as she needs him.

He pulls away from the kiss and embraces Betty tightly before letting her go.

"I'll see you around B. Just remember. One phone call and I'll be there"

Gio picked up his cheese and turned away leaving Betty standing in the foyer as he exited the building. Betty walked over to the door just in time to see him start the engine of his van and pull away from the pavement. She sees him wave and she returns the gesture, a small smile creeping onto her face.

As his van disappeared into the night, Betty was still standing there, staring at the spot the van had been parked in, zoning out into Betty Suarez Land. It was in that moment that she realised just how amazing Gio Rossi was. He was a man who confessed his heartbreak to her yet was able to absolve her of her actions that had torn him apart.

She knew in that moment that he was 'The Guy'

FIN