A Thankful Night

hi friends! I wrote this story on live journal, but hadn't gotten a chance to post it here till now. I hope you enjoy! =) for entertainment only!

Chapter 1

Betty couldn't believe Daniel had called her to come all the way from Queens to his place. On Thanksgiving! Through the parade!

All she knew is it had better be an emergency!

Daniel tended to exaggerate. He really was a drama queen sometimes. Betty knew, however, she could have easily told Daniel to figure things out for himself! After all he was a grown man, despite the fact that he acted like a ten year old boy the majority of the time!

She hated to admit, but she secretly liked being there for Daniel. Christina had jokingly suggested on more than one occasion that she was addicted to Daniel. Of course she quickly brushed off that ridiculous notion.

Yet here she was walking up to his building on Thanksgiving when she should be at home cooking with her father. Perhaps, her friend wasn't too far off from the truth.

Maybe her sister had a good reason to be angry with her about work. This was certainly way outside her job description.

She didn't know what it was about Daniel that made her want to be there for him. Sure, they'd gotten off to a rocky start but now...well, they were pretty close. They were friends.

She could see that Daniel relied on her more than just for work. He could confide in her.

In fact, she sometimes felt she knew more than she ever wanted to know about the man. Considering all the crazy things she knew about him, she still wanted to be with him, even after working all day with him.

Was she addicted to Daniel Meade?

She walked into his loft using her key "Daniel?" she called.

"I'm in my room! Hurry!" he called back.

She rushed further inside his bachelor pad, worried he got hurt, however she was surprised and quite annoyed to find him standing there perfectly healthy holding up two different shirts.

"Quick Betty, which shirt should I wear?"

She nearly turned red "Daniel Meade! You did NOT just call me to come all the way down here FROM QUEENS to help you pick out a shirt! On thanksgiving!? Are you serious right now?"

He flinched with her berating. "Uh...but...I-"

"Don't 'but' me!" she took a breath.
"I left my family on thanksgiving." she tried to say calmly. "I had to cut across the parade. I almost got run over"

"Betty, this is an emergency! I have to sit across from Sofia and her boyfriend at my father's brunch. I've got to look good!" Daniel was in a panic! Ever since Sofia talked about Hunter he'd been running around like a lost puppy trying to figure out what to do to impress her.

Betty rolled her eyes. Look good? Was Daniel being serious right now? He always looked good.

Betty took a second to look at him closely and grinned "Are you wearing cover-up?" her tone teasing and light.

He looked completely embarrassed "What? No! I'm, I-" He stammered. "fine! I had to cover a pimple. Go away!"

She shook her head "You know what? Fine! I am going away. Bye Daniel!"

"Wait Betty! which shirt?" he shouted as she was walking out. She came back and said "I know this might come as a surprise to you, Daniel, but I have a life, too!"

"And a family, who count on me a lot! And they already think I spend too much time at work"

Daniel felt like a five year old being punished, he felt ashamed and embarrassed of how he'd treated Betty. She didn't deserve to be treated like this.

"Not to mention, I think my sister hired some shady lawyer to help my father and it's up to me to fix it! So, I'm sorry if I don't think coming over here to help you pick out a shirt to impress a woman is an emergency!"

Daniel leaned against his wall, feeling embarrassed that Betty was calling him out on his crap. Just as she started to walk away again, she came back over and said "can I say something?"

Before she could continue he said "No, I don't really want to hear it-"

"You're an amazing person, Daniel!" Did she really just blurt that out?

He was surprised by her compliment. He leaned against the wall again and looked at her with a smile "Or you can just blurt it out"

"You're smart, and handsome. You were voted one of the top ten bachelors of the city by some magazine."

He grinned "Esquire"

"I cannot believe that Sofia has you questioning what a catch you are" she was really saying too much! "Trust me, Hunter's the one who should be nervous about sitting across from you." She couldn't seem to stop herself!

He smiled "Thank you, Betty"

She nodded, "Go with the purple"

"Really? The purple?" he asked in surprise as he held it up.

She glared at him.

"No, no, ok it's fine, I'll wear the purple." he agreed.

She started to walk away again, when Daniel caught up to her "Wait, Betty!"
Betty rolled her eyes "Daniel!"

"Please, hold on, it's not about the shirt...look, let me help you find a lawyer, Betty. A good one."

"No, Daniel, it's fine. I shouldn't have even said that before. It was so unprofessional. I"

He cut her off by taking hold of her shoulders "Please Betty." Betty looked at him, surprised by how intense it felt to have his hands on her shoulders. She looked at his eyes that were filled with sincerity.

"You're always helping me, Betty. Let me do something for you" he said softly, his voice low, making her feel butterflies for some reason. She bit her lip "I don't know. I'd feel bad about that"

"Why? Look, let this be my thank you for always being there for me."

She looked into his eyes again and smiled "Ok"

He smiled brightly "Great! Oh, and by the way, do you really think I'm a catch?" he asked, genuinely curious. He'd never really heard someone say that about him, especially to him.

She blushed brightly "Um...what, I…" she made the mistake of looking in his eyes, she bit her lip and nodded "Of course." she admitted in a quiet voice.

His anxious look turned to a bright smile "Really? That's really….cool! I've never had someone say that about me before."

Betty rolled her eyes "yeah right, Daniel! Maybe not to your face, but I'm sure they were thinking it! They probably just didn't want to inflate your ego! It's already the size of a sky-scraper!"

His eyes grew wide, but then he laughed "Wow, what happened to all the compliments? Now, I have a big ego?" he smirked. "That's ok, Betty. I know I do most of the times. I hope you don't always think that, though"

She looked down "No. I…" she looked to him again and said "honestly, I don't think you know just how great you are" she admitted, feeling rather nervous to say that much.

His face turned reddish. Was Daniel blushing? She looked at him with a small smile.

"Thanks Betty. You're a pretty great person yourself. I'd be crying in ball by now, I'm sure, if it wasn't for you."

She laughed "Can I go home now?"

He shrugged "I suppose."

"Hey, actually, how about you stick around for a couple more minutes and I take you back home? It's the least I can do"

"No , Daniel, that's-" She started to leave again, when he stopped her "please Betty. You're always telling me I need to be more considerate, well, let me."

She bit her lip, and sighed "Oh, fine! But, please hurry! I feel really bad about leaving my family"

He nodded "Sure, I'm sorry again! You're the best!" he placed a kiss to her cheek and rushed back to get dressed.

Betty stared in shock. Did Daniel Meade just kiss her?

As Daniel rushed back to his room, his heart started racing. What the hell did he just do? Did he seriously just kiss Betty? He didn't know what came over him! Hopefully she wouldn't read too much into it. It was simply a thankful kiss. Yeah! That was all.

Wasn't it?

He sighed and hurriedly grabbed the purple dress shirt, his black pants and boxers and sped inside his bathroom.

Betty bit her lip, feeling dazed as she walked back into his bedroom and decided to sit in the chair to wait for him. Daniel probably didn't mean anything by that kiss. It was probably just an impulse. Yeah... That was it.

She sighed.

Why would Daniel ever actually kiss her? She certainly wasn't like Sofia. She wasn't beautiful, she wasn't some perfect model. Of course he'd want Sofia! She was perfect! She was beautiful, successful, confident, everything Betty wasn't.

She shook her head, what was she thinking? She shouldn't even care who Daniel decided he wanted!

She bit her lip, then why did she care so much? She sighed again.

When Daniel was finally dressed after taking a shower, he sprayed some cologne, clipped on his watch and looked in the mirror. He grinned "You got this, Daniel. According to Betty, you're a catch!" he smirked, Betty really thought he was a catch? It still made him smile.

He kinda felt like a dork being so happy that someone said he was a catch. It was just anyone, though; it was Betty. Coming from her, he knew that was a great compliment.

He opened the door and stepped out, seeing Betty sitting in the chair in his room. "Hey!"

She got up, somewhat nervously, he thought. "Hey...um…" she seemed uncomfortable. He really hoped he didn't manage to freak her out with that kiss.

It was a small kiss! Barely a kiss, really. It was on the cheek, for goodness sake!

If it was barely a kiss then why was he thinking about it so much?

He distracted himself by putting on some socks "So uh...have anything exciting planned with your family?" he asked, somewhat nervously.
Betty nodded "Well, more just dinner. My father and I make bunuelos every year"

"What's a bunuelo?" he asked curiously, while putting on his shoes.

"It's a fried dough ball with powdered sugar sprinkled on it. My mom used to make them. It's a tradition" she said in a whisper.

He listened after putting on his shoes and looked at her, sympathetically. "You must really miss her? You said that necklace was from her, right?"
She looked at him, and nodded, tears filling her eyes. "Mhm...she always made me feel so special. I miss that"

He smiled "Well, if it helps at all, I think you're pretty special, Betty." he said as he got up and walked over to her. Her eyes were glossy and she when she took her glasses off to wipe her tears, he could see how pretty her eyes looked. "Thanks Daniel" her voice was soft and it dazed him.

He nudged her shoulder playfully "hey, you still have to help me pick out a tie before we leave!"
She looked at him with a smile and nodded "Ok!"

He quickly picked out two of his favorite ties and held them up. She looked at the two ties, one was had purple and pink diagonal stripes, while the other was alternated between black and purple stripes. The intricate patterns on this one made it look more elegant. "hmm...I like the purple and black one. It will go really nice with that shirt. It'll also make your eyes pop!"

He grinned "yeah? That's good! I do have pretty killer eyes, huh?"

She laughed shaking her head "There is that sky-scraper ego!" she teased. He grinned as he put on the tie Betty suggested, but was surprised when she started to tie it for him. He watched her intently, sure that she didn't even realize what she was doing.

Something about the simplicity of the act made him feel...well, really nice. He smiled continuing to watch her. Her eyes lifted to his and she smiled, patting his chest and said "There" Her cheeks were rosy, obviously realizing what she did.

He smiled "thanks"

Betty felt so many butterflies. What the heck did she just do? Why did she fix his tie for him? He obviously knew how to tie his own tie!

She was becoming delirious! She needed to get her head together! "Alright, ready to go?" he asked, breaking her away from her thoughts.

She nodded "mhm"

He grabbed his black jacket and slipped it on, "cool, let's get you home"