A/N: Hey guys this is just a thought for a story idea that I had based around the episode "Things Fall Apart" and the whole Connor and Molly invasion. It'll be DETTY all the way. lol (what else COULD it be) but with a twist.

Wondering if anyone would even be interested in this idea. The plot is that Connor ended up with Betty and Molly with Daniel. It'll follow some of the cannon story line with my own personal twist. Anyway, read it and review it. Let me know if you want me to continue it!

"No one has seen Connor for hours", Wilhelmina said as she, Claire and Daniel made their way through the tube toward her office,"Or Betty." She said, her eyes locking and holding Daniel's.

He stopped walking immediately, denial rolling off him in waves. "What? You think Betty is in on this?" he exclaimed in shock.

"Daniel", Claire said gently as she grabbed her son by the shoulders and turned him to face her, "I did see them leave on the elevator together before lunch."

"No", he said forcefully while shrugging her hands off his shoulders,"There's no way that Betty would do something like this to me- to Meade. Betty loves this company."

"Come on Daniel!" Wilhelmina exploded, "you can't honestly say you're surprised!" She moved to stand in front of him, getting right into his face, "Those two have obviously been joined at the hip since the day he started working here! And a girl like that, from Queens..."

"You shut your foul mouth about her!" Daniel ground out angrily, cutting across her words, "Betty is the most honest, loyal person I have ever known." He stepped into Wilhelmina's space, his stance tense, and his hands bunching into fists as if he were about to hit her.

"Daniel!", Claire exclaimed as she stepped in between the two of them and turned to face her son, looking him in the eye, "Calm yourself son!", she got a firm grip on his shoulders and shook him slightly,"We don't know anything until we have the facts. For all any of us know Betty had a family emergency she needed to take care of this afternoon." Daniel could clearly see in his mother's eyes that she was struggling with Wilhelmina's accusation just as much as he was.

Daniel was slowly coming out of his anger induced rage. The red haze was receding, and reality was starting to settle back in. "We've got to find Connor.."

"There's more", Wilhelmina's snide snake-like voice cut across his statement. They both turned to her, giving her their full attention."As of noon today, all of the Meade accounts were cleared, and there's nothing left."

The silence was deafening. As of noon today...I did see them leave on the elevator together before lunch...as of noon today...Betty is missing...Betty..Connor..Betty.

"Daniel!", together as one all three of the senior officers of Meade Publishing turned to see Amanda running toward them down the tube. She sped across the carpeted floor, a silver cell phone held in her outstretched hand, her movements quick and graceful. She skidded to a stop in front of Daniel, pressing the phone into his palm. "It's Mark", she panted, "About Betty."

Daniel held the cell phone in his suddenly cold, numb hand.

"Hello?"

"Daniel!" Mark exclaimed "I ...I tried...to stop...but she's sturdy...and she ...she...I never thought she would do...she would do something like this...she loves this company...she loves you like family...this isn't her this isn't her..."

"Mark! Slow down, take a deep breath and then tell me what is going on."

Daniel could hear the spray of Mark's inhaler and then the slow even breaths that he was drawing in. "It's Betty, she's gone. She left with Connor."

Daniel had experienced shock before, he had been held over the brink of death, one pinky finger his only handhold on his life. He had experienced pain and anguish the likes of which would have felled lesser men, but the pain, anguish, fear, anger, shock, and outright disbelief that swept through him in that moment was enough to knock him on his knees. Everything was suddenly black and white. Slow motion. It seemed as though he were watching from a distance, as if he were a bystander in his own life. He was only aware of his mother taking the phone from his hand, speaking to Mark in low rushed tones. She dragged him to his feet, shaking him slightly. Daniel couldn't react, he could barely feel.

She betrayed him. All this time, and she had brought him to the threshold of his darkest hour.

Through his fog he could hear his mother saying that they had to stop her, talk some sense into her, make her see reason. They were only ten minutes behind her, they could find her and Connor and end all of this. He walked like a zombie, rushing across the lobby of Meade Publications. He could feel the concerned eyes of his mother upon him, but he couldn't say anything. Word articulation was beyond him at this point.

As he sat in the backseat of the town car, rushing to stop his former best friends from taking everything he'd ever worked for, the memories flooded him.

Betty smashing into the door of the conference room on her first day, her eyes alight with anger and pain as she laid into him outside of his first photo shoot. The late nights they'd shared both at the office and sometimes at his loft. How happy he felt whenever she was near him, her smile big and bright and lighting up his world. Could she do this? Could she be so ruthless as to ruin not only his life but the thousands of lives of the workers of Meade Publications? Surely she knew what she was doing? Surely she would not be able to go through with it. The girl who cried over a dead turtle they had once found in road, who had danced with him at a crashed wedding reception, who had fed a cat her two hundred dollar left overs after a meal at a five star restaurant. How proud he had felt of her for strutting down the catwalk at fashion week as though she born to walk there. His heart breaking for her as he watched her give up part of her dream to move back home and help her family after her father's heart attack.

They had always been connected, his pain was her pain, his joy her joy and now he used that connection. In desperation he silently begged her to reconsider, please, please don't get on that plane he screamed in his mind. Surely she could feel that through the invisible chord that seemed to be hotwired straight from his heart to hers.

Please Betty wait for me, he begged silently.

Before his car barely had a chance to roll to a stop in the field, he was out of the door, scanning the area in front of the plane. Night was just beginning to fall, their one hour trip seemed to have elapsed time dramatically. The sky was a deep dusty blue, purple streaked in the light of the falling sun.

Then he saw her, a small dot on the horizon, her fushia coat whipping out behind her like wings as she ran full tilt toward the plane. Daniel didn't stop to think, didn't care about the protests at his back, he simply ran toward her. He couldn't tell what emotion he was feeling, they seemed to be a ball in chest pushing him forward. His long legs allowing him to cover more ground than her shorter ones, before he knew it he was upon her, wrapping her in his arms pulling her to him and away from the brink of becoming something less.

"Daniel!", she screamed fighting against his arms,"Let me go!"

"No Betty", he said as he buried his face in her dark hair, "You don't need to go with him, this isn't you!"

"Stop it Daniel", she exclaimed as she fought him, "you're going to ruin everything!"

She turned in his arms to face him, her big beautiful brown eyes becoming darker by the second as she read his expression.

"Daniel, I-", suddenly they were surrounded on all sides by flashing lights. The circling blue lights illuminating both their faces, creating a blue halo.

Daniel looked around him in confusion, "I thought we agreed not to call the authorities", he muttered to himself.

"I called them", Betty exclaimed as she pulled out his arms and continued to charge toward the plane. Daniel could only watch in dumbfounded joy as she made her way through the maylay and onto the plane.

Just as the toe of Betty's black and white polka dot maryjane touched the second step of the plane her cell phone began to ring. She glanced at it in distraction and then did a double take.

It was Connor.

"Sorry I'm not there darling", she heard as soon she hit the green button under his picture, "I uh...I thought you might change your mind so I took an earlier flight."

Suddenly the blare of sirens echoed through the phone, and she knew he knew.

"Connor...I-", Betty said softly.

"So you chose Daniel Meade again did you?" he said just as softly and Betty thought she heard a note of regret in his voice.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"So am I", he said sadly, "I wish you had chosen differently, I really do."

Betty didn't know what to say to him. She loved him and she was trying to save him from himself. She wanted to help him without allowing him to take Meade from Daniel. Her heart was in her throat, and she couldn't seem to form words. Maybe he was right, maybe she did put Daniel Meade's needs in front of everyone else.

Including her own.

"I still love you", he said huskily, "you are one of the most important people in the world to me, if you change your mind all you have to do is reach out."

Then the line disconnected and he was gone. Betty didn't realize that tears were falling from her eyes until she felt a leather clad hand wiping them away. She felt herself wrapped in a strong embrace and then she was enveloped in his scent. She buried her face in his chest and let go. It was all for nothing. She couldn't save Meade, she couldn't save Connor.

And she couldn't save herself.

She was breathing rapidly and couldn't seem to make her feet move. After tugging her hand a few times to get her moving Daniel finally stomped down and pick her up bridal style. Betty felt nothing all she could do was sob.

It was over, it was all over.

Betty wasn't sure why she went back to Meade with Daniel and Claire, she just knew inexplicably that she needed to be near Daniel right now, and that he needed her now too. After she'd cried herself out she laid limp in his arms in the back of the town car, knowing that there was still more bad news that she had to deliver. Holding it to her chest tightly to keep the pain from robbing everyone she loved of their last shred of hope.

The silence in the elevator was deafening, Betty leaned against Daniel's side, Claire stood on the other side of the elevator as stoic and statuesque as ever. Betty admired her strength, her courage. Betty knew that without Daniel she would be a puddle on the floor, useless and incapable of doing anything more than weeping and screaming.

"God, in all the craziness I forgot to call Molly back", Daniel muttered as he checked his cell phone. He dialed Molly's number and listened as it rung once and immediately went to voicemail. He immediately hung up.

"She's not going to answer," Betty suddenly whispered.

"What?" Claire and Daniel said together.

Betty stood up finally carrying her own weight as she stood in front of the two formidable Meade's. "She won't answer."

"What Betty, of course Molly will answer-" Daniel began.

"No Daniel", Betty said while looking him in the eye, "She was apart of this, they planned it together."

"What?" Claire and Daniel exclaimed together.

Betty looked at the floor, unable to face them and see the hatred in their eyes. "They planned this Daniel. Once he got the job. He seduced me, she seduced you", she whispered,"Connor said it was the only way to weaken the company, distract the dynamic duo. Connor told me.", she finished bitterly.

"Oh sweetheart!", Claire exclaimed as she wrapped Betty in her warm but loving embrace. The elevator dinged and the doors slid open with an ominous whoosh. Betty followed them out, but avoided Daniel's gaze. She could only guess what he thought of her now that he knew that she had lied to him about her involved with Connor all along.

"He's engaged Betty", he had told her the evening after she gotten accepted into YETI. Connor had spent the night before with Betty at Mode helping her with her last minute magazine concept. It was on that night that they had shared their first kiss.

"I know Daniel!", she had exclaimed while her cheeks burned red, "We're just friends."

"Okay, I believe you", he said while meeting her eyes, "Just know that he was a huge player at Harvard. I don't want you to get your heart broken."

But she had gotten her heart broken, shattered into a million pieces as the man she loved turned into someone she didn't even recognize in a matter of seconds.

Betty sat on the white chaise in Daniel's office and listened to the conversation flowing between the two Meades. She interjected where she could, telling them everything she knew about Connor's scam.

Claire excused herself to make a call and suddenly Betty found herself alone with Daniel. He sat across from her in one of his orange plastic chairs that he had pulled up to have this conversation with his mother and Betty. He was feeling a lot of emotions all at once, most of all he was feeling shame. He knew Betty was disappointed in him. For letting this happen, for allowing a woman to distract him to the point of ruining everything his father had ever worked for.

Betty said across from Daniel with her eyes trained to the floor. She knew he was disappointed in her for her relationship with Connor. She could only hope that he would allow her to let her help him.

They looked up at each other at the same time.

"Betty-"

"Daniel-"

They both laughed uneasily and Betty gestured for Daniel to go first.

"I just want you to know that I am going to do everything I can to save this company", his gaze slid over her face, looking for the disappointed look that had been aimed at him so many times in the past but all he could detect was sadness. He stood up and walked over to her, squatted down in front of her, "You'll still be an editor I promise."

"Daniel, that's sweet but don't think of me, worry about the company and saving all the magazines", she said quietly as she clasped her hand with his.

Daniel chuckled lightly, "You are so selfless Betty. I AM concerned about your future, about your dreams."

"Daniel-", she began hesitantly.

"No Betty, I don't want you giving up anything for this company or for me. You have to think of your future-" he said as he slid into the seat next to her.

"Daniel-" she tried again

"If I have to give up everything to see that happen, then so be it. Your future-"

"Daniel!" she exclaimed as she shot off of the couch,"I don't have a future, all that matters is now."

"What are you talking about?" he said slowly.

"I'm sick!" she finally got out. She closed her eyes as he rose from his seat. "It's cancer Daniel. I have stage three breast cancer. Just like my mother."

He grasped her arms, unable to speak. He thought if he didn't hold on to her that he would surely fall to the floor like he had done earlier.

"I found out after Christina had William, she lost too much blood and they asked for donation from family and friends at the hospital. It's another reason why Connor wanted me to go with him", she said quietly, "He said he could get me into a treatment facility in Sweden that is having success with this aggressive type of cancer." She said as if she were in a trance. This was the worst of the news, the worse she thought. She could have saved herself but she chose him.

She chose Daniel.

"We'll get you into the program then Betty", Daniel said with conviction. Betty laughed bitterly, she knew he would offer she also knew that she would never allow him to do that when his money could go to saving Meade. "I still have my own funds, I'll give over every penny, every cent!"

"No Daniel, I can't allow you to do that", she said quietly, "I have a doctor, and we'll do chemo and surgery here. I want you to use your money to help save Meade, help save as many jobs as you can."

"No Betty!" he pulled her to him, squeezing her in his arms. He couldn't lose her, not his Betty, "If your best chance is this place then that's what we will do. Connor isn't the only one who can get you there."

"Daniel", she said as she pushed away from him, "You can't do that. I won't allow you to do that."

"What are you saying?" he exclaimed as he reached for her again, "Don't I get a say in any of this?

"Daniel", she whispered as she began to back away from him," I had my chance, but I gave it up. Please, this is your father's legacy you can't throw that away."

"No!", he shouted, "Betty you can't just drop this on me like this and then expect me to do nothing!"

"Daniel-", she sighed out

"No, you don't get to give me that look and sigh my name and get your way in this." he said angrily, more angry then she had ever seen him, "You're getting the best treatment, end of story."

"I'm going to go home Daniel", Betty said calmly, "I'm going to get treated by my Oncologist, I am going to fight, and I will do everything I can to help you rebuild this company, but I won't allow you to throw it away for me!"

With that she turned and ran from his office, barely missing running down Claire Meade. She didn't turn back.

She didn't see Daniel crumble to the floor, she didn't hear his sobs as the weight of everything barreled down on him. She didn't see anything because she could feel it, she could feel his pain echoing out to her, vibrating through her body, wrapping around her as tightly as his arms had.