Here you go!

Disclaimer: I do not own anything that is connected to Ugly Betty

New

Chapter 1. You're Not Old, And You're Not Familiar...

Betty Suarez was at a loss that night. Sure, she was still recovering from the retched experience with one Renee Slater and candles, and fire... No, she was not going to go there again. Regardless, Betty had one problem, she couldn't sleep. But it wasn't the traumatic experience that was keeping her awake. The past 48 hours had been such a whirlwind. She shifted in her bed clutching Pepito tightly, sighing as she tried getting comfortable. "Ugh, its 2:43 in the morning, go to SLEEP!"

No, her frustrations definitely came from her conversations that took place at work that day. One with her boyfriend she adores completely, Henry. He was so relieved that she was okay after the incident, which definitely brightened her day. But it wasn't that. It was the fact that he was completely fine with her being friends with Gio, even though he didn't mind punching him earlier in the day. Something wasn't adding up in her eyes.

What concerned her more was the fact that she was concerned about Gio just as much as she was for Henry. Yes, she enjoyed her friendship with Gio completely, but why was she so concerned that he got hit? Shouldn't she have first questioned what had happened or what he did? Christina had given her that reality check, "Good for him" referring to Henry. At that moment in time, it hadn't even crossed her mind that Henry might have had a valid reason to punch him, other than their friendship that was growing by the minute. And it irked her deep down, that she cared about Gio as deeply as she does about other people that are close to her.

Yawning and finally feeling herself slip off into the sleep that she welcomed with open arms, her last lingering thoughts were filled with one comment Gio once said to her, making every single second count. And she planned to, with Henry, but something in the back of her mind was telling her otherwise.

"You know how great you are," Henry said as he hugged Betty. They were walking down the street, enjoying the beautiful New York night sky. The stars were shining everywhere.

"Well I try to be, and I'll always be here for you," Betty said as she looked up at him with a smile.

"I'm sorry about this whole mess with Charlie. But I have to be a good dad, and its hard already balancing trying to be a great father and being a great boyfriend in the process for these last few weeks," Henry said with a sad smile on his face. He looked down at her.

"Well, we will get through it."

"Of course you will. Trust me Betty, you have no worries on that."

"It's going to be sad when you leave," Betty said as she looked up to the sky. The stars were shining, and the brisk wind made it chilly. He placed his jacket around his shoulders and kissed her forehead. She inhaled deeply and feeling strangely confortable, yet it felt different, or new.

"I'll be here to pick up the pieces and put them back together, you deserve the best, and Henry can't give you that," Gio said as he wrapped his arm around her.

Betty said straight up in her bed. She was trying to understand what just happened. Her clock read 7:45 in the morning, meaning that she got some sleep. The last time she dreamt about somebody other than her boyfriend was... "Nah... Oh crap! It's Tuesday, I have to get ready for work!"

Just then, Hilda came bustling through the door. "Good morning! What are you still doing in bed, usually you are up and almost ready to get out of here!" She took one look at Betty and shook her head, "Ok, so I'm fixing your hair today, there is no way you can get ready for work if you have to shower, change, and fix your hair."

Betty jumped up and started running around her room, getting an outfit together for work. "I usually never forget to turn my alarm on when I go to bed. But with everything on my mind! This whole 'near death experience' really has got me in a funk. And now I've got all these crazy thoughts running through my head, and trying to make sense of everything." Throwing clothes everywhere, she was oblivious to the fact that Hilda was still there. "And why is everything with Henry so confusing to me. He keeps throwing curveballs and now, after punching Gio, telling me that it's okay for us to be..."

"Henry punched GIO?!" Hilda shrieked while turning Betty towards her.

"...Friends? Yea, didn't I tell you that?"

"Apparently you didn't, when did this happen! The last I knew was that Henry didn't know that you were friends with Gio again."

Betty twirled the shirt in her hand. "Gio called my right before I discovered about Renee, and he told me that Henry went to his sandwich shop and punched him. I guess because he found out we were talking again, or something. ANYWAYS, Henry later told me that he is ok with me being friends with Gio."

Hilda looked at her sister incredulously. "Did I not tell you that keeping Gio a secret was going to cause problems?"

"It was nothing like that! Geez, you make that sound like I was sneaking around with him in a relationship or something."

Hilda smirked, "Well weren't you sneaking around behind Henry's back with Gio?" Betty gave her a look, "Okay! Just believe whatever you want to believe. I still can't believe Henry had it in him. But it is weird that he was okay with you talking to Gio. I wonder what really happened between them."

"Who knows," Betty said as she grabbed her set of clothes and started off to the bathroom, "I need to get ready! Daniel is going to kill me that I am late for work."

She turned and walked out the door leaving Hilda sitting on her bed. She laughed quietly to herself. "She has no idea."

After her hectic morning to get to work, her morning was fairly calm. Daniel was fine with her getting there a little later than usual and insisted that she should consider taking a day off. He went into the whole 'you are running yourself into the ground' speech. But it didn't stop her, being here and doing her job was helping her. It was her own way of getting all of her worries off of her mind.

"Hey Betty," Henry said as he walked up to her desk.

Turning in her chair to face him, "Henry, hi! What brings you up this way?"

"I don't know, a certain girlfriend who really has been really supportive of everything," he said with his goofy smile that was contagious.

"Aww Henry. Well as much as I love drop in visits, I am going to have cut you short since Daniel has a meeting in 5 minutes with one of the up and coming designers we are trying to get for Mode."

"Oh, okay. I was hoping I could take you out to lunch. Guess that is out of the question," he said with a small, soft laugh.

Betty frowned, "Yea, I'm sorry. Maybe dinner?"

"Can't, not unless you want Charlie to come along."

"Right, Charlie." Betty turned away from him, trying not to show the continual disappoint on the same issue. "Hey! I have an idea! I really would like to try to get Charlie to not hate me, you know, back before everything. How about I throw her a baby shower?"

"Are you sure you want to do something like that?" Henry said doubtfully, worry etched across his face.

"Yea! It could be fun! I know she's far from home, but some comfort could be nice. Why not for this Sunday! I know it's rushed, but I could try getting Hilda involved and Papi..."

Henry kissed her quickly on the lips. "Well that would be really sweet, and that is why you are the best."

Betty hugged him before releasing him, "No you are the best." She froze in her steps. That seemed so déjà vu, except it had already happened but with someone else.

"Are you okay Betty?"

Betty laughed nervously, "I'm fine! I should run, Daniel's meeting and all. I'll talk to you later," she said as she darted out of her office, leaving Henry behind.

"Bye..." Henry frowned, because if he didn't know better, her mood had just changed and looked shaken up about something.

It was officially one in the afternoon, and Daniel asked Betty to do the one thing she dreaded the most: Getting lunch. The meeting had gone fairly well, but lunch was a priority. Not that Betty usually minds getting lunch for Daniel, it was part of the assistant job that she's been so used to. No, it wasn't that the weather was terrible, on the contrary it was a gorgeous warm day, and anybody would love having the opportunity to leave work even if it was for 15 minutes.

Here she was, outside looking in at the disarray of the lunch hour. So many things going on at once, so many demands, requests, and orders. Some of the patrons unsure of what they wanted, torn between two options. Each appealing, each bringing a different flavor to the table, but unsure which would satisfy them in the long run. And behind it all was one person, trying to stay calm amongst it all, and balancing it all.

She walked in, hearing the familiar bell ring, even though it was almost silenced by the noise that surrounded her as many got ready to leave since their lunch hour was almost up. Amazing how in a few short months this place really became a hit.

"Well look who it is! Miss 'I Saved The Day' or should I say Fire-fighting Jane?" Gio said chuckling behind the counter as he finished a customers order.

"Oh shut up," Betty said, though a smile crept across her face. "Just because I stopped the fire does not mean I am going to turn around to be the person saving the day. That is what a firefighter is for."

"Ahh but see, there aren't many women out there in that profession, and who would love being saved by a woman in that get up. They could slide down my pole anyday," Gio said with a chuckling and a wink.

"Eww Gio, gross. Seriously, is there any time you aren't being a horn dog?" Betty said playfully.

"I'm a male, sue me. I'm allowed to have my dog comment of the day. So what brings you down here? Usually you just call in your order."

Betty hadn't even thought of that option prior. Usually Gio did deliver sandwiches right to Mode. Why did she forget this time? Probably because you were so consumed that Daniel asked you to get his lunch and you felt you needed to see Gio.

"It was such a nice day outside I couldn't help but take a walk here. Plus Daniel told me to get some fresh air. I think he is still worried about me, even though I told him everything was fine. Anyways, he wanted me to get him lunch, and wanted your roast beef sandwich, extra mustard."

"So one roast beef sandwich, extra mustard, and the usual." Gio said as he turned from the counter to where his supplies are. "And before you argue, yes, I'm making you a sandwich also. If Daniel hasn't eaten yet, then you haven't yet, so you are getting a sandwich."

Betty smiled at this. It was these times that Gio showed the sweet side that he had. She sat down at one of the few tables while waiting. She could see him hard at work. Amazing how much passion he had for making something. She did have to agree, he definitely did have a natural flare for sandwiches. I wonder if he is good at cooking other things. She was proud of him for going after a goal; it was part of his plan. It definitely had put a lot of things back into her perspective about the direction her life was going in. She looked up at him and saw the concentration he had as he got everything perfectly delivered, the perfectionist that he was.

She was lost in her own thoughts to not even see Gio walk up to the table, placing down the two sandwiches. "You ok?" he said sincerely, looking down at her with concern in his eyes. She looked up at him surprised to see him right there that she jumped up and slipped all in the same process. Gio caught her quickly and settled her so she was steady on her own two feet. She looked embarrassed, not even noticing that they were still close to each other.

"Sorry, yea I'm fine. Just got a lot on my mind, with work and what happened and stuff. But I should run. I also wanted to say I'm really sorry about what happened with you and Henry the other day. I'm glad to see you are okay though," she said rushed.

"Don't worry about it. I'm a tough guy, and everything was settled anyway. Don't think twice about what happened," he said as a slow smile formed on his face. He looked tender in that one moment.

They stared at each other for one more second before they heard the familiar chime of the bell alerting that a new customer had entered. The moment was lost as Betty moved away from Gio and grabbed the sandwiches from the table. "Thanks again for the sandwiches, I know Daniel will love it. I will talk to you..." she turned to face the door to leave, "Hilda?! What are you doing here?"

Hilda walked in with a Cheshire cat grin on her face that was asking for trouble. "You always are talking about how great of a sandwich Gio makes and I hadn't seen him in a while. Figured I would stop in and see what you are always raving about."

Betty gave her one last look before waving to Gio, indicating that she was leaving and darted out of there. Hilda on the other hand, chuckled and turned to Gio with a hand on her hip. Obviously she walked in and saw something going on, whatever that something WAS, no one knew but the two of them.

"So what will it be Hilda?"

Hilda's smile grew even wider before sitting down at the table Betty had just mere seconds ago been sitting at. "How about you make me a BLT and tell me all about what is going on between Betty and you. Because she isn't telling me anything," Gio was about to open his mouth to protest but she kept going, "and neither can you. What I just walked into was not something best buds do. And what the heck happened between you and Henry?"

Gio smiled this time, "Henry's spooked and punched me, even though I did nothing wrong."

"And does he have reason to BE spooked by you?"

At this point Gio just raised an eyebrow as he turned his attention to making Hilda her sandwich. That was all Hilda needed to know. "Tell me everything." She knew that this trip down to Gio's sandwich shop would be worth it. Because when it came down to seeing her sister happy, she would do anything to see it happen. And Hilda felt that she knew just what Betty was going to need when her last few weeks with her 'Prince Charming' were up.

Please leave reviews, good or bad. I like the feedback!