A/N: It's snowing outside…winter is coming. It's Friday and all I really want to do is to wrap myself in a fluffy blanket in front of the fire with a drink and the warm body of my husband to curl against and the laughter of the children drifting down for upstairs mixing with the music playing low, all while watching the snow slowly dance against the dark window outside. Awww….life can be so perfect sometimes… All I need to feel warm from the inside out is a good D/B story set after the wonderful episode "You see me, I.C.U". So here it is, just for you. Go ahead; cozy up in your favorite chair with that warm blanket and a smile…
Disclaimer: I do not own Ugly Betty, its character, plot or anything else. Nor am I making any money from this short story.
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The Best Present
Betty smiled up at the Christmas tree as it was set up in their living room. Justin was just beside her looking through the box of Christmas ornaments he had just brought back from the attic while her sister and her father were arguing over witch side of the tree was the fluffier and should face the room. Here, surrounded by all her family, feeling the warmth of their love for each other filling the house along with the scent of baking cookies and the sound of Christmas music, she could only sigh with happiness. All the worries about her lost job at Mode magazine, about how Daniel would cope after his father's death, about who she was turning into…all that was stopped at the door of the house, for as soon as she put a foot inside the warmth and the love, she couldn't care less about anything but this most perfect moment.
Justin's exclamation suddenly brought Betty out of her content daze, "Hey, Aunt Betty…look, it's Daniel's special ornament…what are we going to do? We can't put it on the tree for him! It's his! Maybe you should bring it to work tomorrow and give it to him so he could put it on his own tree?"
She frowned at that, "Well, you know? I don't think I ever saw a Christmas tree in his apartment. Maybe they used to set one in his parent's house …I just don't know. This year, though, after everything…I guess there won't be one over there either."
Her father, having heard everything, chimed in. "Why don't you call Daniel, Betty, and ask him to come here? He's the only one who can put his own ornament up after all, and if he doesn't have a place to put it, well, he can put it on ours again this year!" He turned to his eldest, "What do you think?"
Hilda just smiled and shrugged, "Yeah, why not? He was so cute here last year, wondering how and where to put it. He needs some more practice I think before he gets it right!"
Betty turned a questioning eye toward her nephew who smiled back, "Sure, go ahead, Aunt Betty."
With everybody's solemn acceptance, Betty grabbed her cell phone and hit Daniel's phone number on her speed dial.
"Daniel Meade." He sounded tired and sad to Betty's practiced ear, so different from the joyous raucous in the room behind her.
"Hey Daniel, it's me."
"Hey Betty, what's up?"
"Listen, do you think you could come down here at my place? We're having some problem with the Christmas tree, and we all think you're the only one who can solve it for us."
"Tell him he's invited for dinner too! I'm making my famous Tortillas!" Ignacio shouted from his position near the tree.
"Okay, Dad!" she shouted back, then turning to her phone once more, "Did you hear that? You're invited to eat here too…that is, if you have the time and you want to, of course."
She heard his sigh on his end, "I don't know, Betty…I know you're trying to cheer me up and everything but…I don't think going to dinner at your place with your family, is going to help."
"Okay…you know best, but what about the tree? It won't take long, promise. And we really do need your help with it."
"What can be wrong with the tree? Isn't you father there? I mean, he knows much much more about Christmas trees that I ever did. Can't he fix it?"
"Nope, he can't. You really are the only one who can. If you don't, the whole thing is going to be all wrong. We need you to save our Christmas, Daniel! Please don't let us down." She teased him gently.
It worked too for she could hear his snort, "All right, all right, you win. I'll come…but I'm not staying!"
"I understand. All right, we'll wait for you. Bye!"
She closed her cell and turned toward the tree to help her sister unstuck the lights from an angry branch, "So, is he coming or not?"
"Yeah, he is, but he sounded so sad, Hilda. And he was adamant that he was not staying."
"Don't worry, Betty. Dad's Tortillas has a way to sway even the most stubborn person, and everyone knows that the way to the heart of a man is through is stomach!" Hilda winked at her and went to get some baubles.
Betty could not help but laugh at her sister's good spirit; it was great to see her slowly coming out of the sadness that Santos' death had instilled in her. Humming under her breath, Betty turned to the task of decorating another great Christmas tree with her family.
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Daniel arrived just in time. The tree was almost finished, only the special personal decorations needed to be put up last.
"You were playing me, Betty! There's nothing wrong with this tree! Actually, it looks all finished and very pretty."
"Hu, hu…it's not finished yet. We all have to put up our own special decorations. That's why we needed you."
Daniel frowned, "You don't need me for that."
"Of course we do. We can't put your own ornament up for you! It's tradition, you have to put it up yourself." She took the ornament that Justin had given Daniel last year and held it up for him to see. "Remember? This is your's. Since you don't have a tree to hang it on, we decided to offer you our own."
She handed him the bauble with a smile, "So, here you go, you put it wherever you feel it should go."
Daniel looked at her, than at the shiny thing in her hand, indecision clearly written on his face. "This is…I mean, it wasn't…" He sighted, and tried again, "Betty, it's not my place to be here…I mean, you were all very nice to me last year, with everything…but this is your family tree, and I shouldn't encroach on that. Maybe Henry should…"
"Don't be ridiculous. Daniel. You're my best friend and everyone here likes you. Henry…well, he's going to be out of my life in a few months and he has his own tree and his own ornament. Besides, Justin gave this to you and not to Henry…so, it's your's. And since you're here and the ornament's here and the tree's here…well, you really just have to put it up, right?"
With that, Betty took Daniel's hand, thrust the ornament in it and pushed her ex-boss and friend gently toward the tree where the three other Suarez were looking up at their work.
"Oh! Here you are, Daniel, just in time." Ignacio gestured to the tree with his hand, "Hilda, Justin, and I just finished putting our own decorations up, it's just your's and Betty's that's left. Personally, I think they both would look just perfect, right there on the left side of the angel." Ignacio smiled and patted Daniel's shoulder before going back to the kitchen to check on his meal.
Still hesitating, Daniel eyed the tree somewhat dubiously. There was, in fact, a place left underneath the angel that seemed devoid of ornament, as if waiting for his and Betty's offering. Clearing his throat self-consciously, he stole a glance toward Hilda and Justin, holding each other, smiling up at the tree and talking quietly, their eyes full of memories. He felt like he was intruding in a very private moment and would have given anything to be anywhere but here where he didn't belong. Just then, he felt a familiar presence behind him and a welcome hand on his shoulder. Betty slid beside him, the way she had slid into his life; suddenly, without a warning. As usual, her presence settled him. She was the link, the bridge between Daniel Meade, Playboy and Editor-in-Chief and the real him hidden in plain sight. Through her, he could feel a kingship with these nice people who were trying so hard to include him in their home. Through her, he had some sense of who he was and who he could become. With her help, maybe he could make sense of some of the things that were happening to him.
"Come on Daniel, let's do this together." With a cheery tone and smile, she reached high on her tip toes and awkwardly hung her ornament on one side of the spot right under the angel. She almost toppled into the tree when she tried to get back to her feet, but Daniel caught her and held her arm until she was safe…and the tree too.
"Thanks. Now, it's your turn." She too took hold of his arm as if to steady him, but Daniel suspected it was more to make sure he would not bolt and flee. Slowly he reached and hung his own decoration near Betty's under the careful eye of the angel.
"Perfect. See? That wasn't so hard, was it?"
Still holding his arm, Betty brought him a few steps back and called to her father.
"Dad! We're ready in here!"
"Coming!"
All together, they looked as Mr. Suarez closed off the lamps and plugged the tree's lights.
In the darkness, with only the Christmas lights glowing, Daniel felt all the members of the small family smile and sigh.
"It's always so beautiful," murmured Hilda. "I never stopped thinking that our tree is the best in the whole world, even when I did grow up."
"That's because it is the best one, Mom. I still believe that."
"Your Grandmother would agree with you, Justin. She loved nothing as much as the moment when the tree was first light up, she could stand and gaze at it for hours." Ignacio smiled with some melancholy, "At the end of the holiday, she hated it and could not wait to get rid of it, but on the days before Christmas, she would sit with the girls in front of it and tell all kind of stories."
"I remember." Betty's voice was dreamy with the recollection, "I loved her stories of Santa and the elves, working so hard to get all children their dream gifts."
There they stood for a long moment in silence, all of them remembering moments of Christmases past. To Daniel's surprise, even he had a few good memories of his parents at Christmas; dancing in front of the tree in a reception, or his father joking of what he wanted from Santa this year to a young Daniel in his pajamas, or even the joy in his mother's eyes when Alex would unwrap a present that really pleased him. They were memories to treasure and keep and strangely, instead of bringing the pain that usually accompanied the though of his father, brought a strange kind of peace.
A peace that he could feel echoed in the members of the family around him. The peace brought on by the departed one who never completely leaves. Feeling Betty's hand brush against his, he grabbed it without thinking, happy when she squeezed it back. Peace, what a strange thing.
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"That was delicious Mr. Suarez, but I can't take anymore!" Daniel quickly indicated when Ignacio made a move toward his empty plate.
"Are you sure? I knew you would come to your senses and stay for the Tortillas, so I made more than usual."
"Yeah, I'm definitely sure, thank you."
"Well, Justin. If you're finished, you still have some homework to finish, so up with you to your room." Hilda swatted her son away as she got up and start piling the plates together.
Betty finished her last bite and made a move to help. "No, no, Betty. Don't worry about that. Why don't you two go ahead and look up that Christmas movie that you kept telling us would be on channel 4 tonight? I'll help Papi with the dishes."
"You sure? We…I mean, I can help…"
"Sure, I'm sure. You two can go…come on now…go." Hilda had her best, bossy-big-sister voice, so Betty shrugged and lead a smirking Daniel to the living room where they sat on the sofa to watch the movie.
"I know I should be going back home, but I'm just too full to move right now." To be truthful, Daniel felt both drowsy from the food and reluctant to go. In the here and now, he felt better than he had in days. "Your father's tortillas are wicked, and in more than one way! You don't mind; do you, if I stay a bit? Just long enough to digest, I swear."
Betty just smiled, "Of course I don't mind. There, put that on you. Sometimes there's a draft coming from the windows behind the couch and it can get pretty uncomfortable." She threw him an afghan to wrap on his shoulders.
He opened the warm blanket, "What about you? You won't have anything."
"It's okay; I'll get an extra sweater if it comes to that."
Daniel considered, "It's big enough for two. I guess we could share."
They wrapped themselves and started listening to the movie…that is, Betty listened and laughed at all the right places, and Daniel dozed on and off.
After a while, Daniel came around and discovered that the house was dark, but for the glow of the Christmas tree on the corner and that everything was silent. On the screen, there was a new movie, and Betty beside him was munching on some popcorn.
He moved and Betty turned toward him, "Hey, sleepy head. How are you feeling? I guess you needed that…you slept for over two hours."
"Oh God…" Daniel groaned, moving a hand over his face "I'm sorry about that." He made a show of squinting at his watch. "What time is it?"
"It's closing on eleven-thirty."
"Oh. I probably really should go." He unwrapped himself from the blanket and stood up…and looked at his feet in surprise. "Where are my shoes?"
Betty blush a little, "Hum, yeah…you looked uncomfortable with them on, so we took them off. They're over there, near the wall."
Daniel went to grab his shoes and sit back on the couch to put them on.
"So, you're still sure about not coming to work tomorrow?" Daniel felt horrible about that…he had fired Betty thinking she had betrayed him and only the explanation his mother had given him had made things right again for him. He could not blame Betty to want her father back. He knew he would do anything if he could have his for just a moment. But when he had offered Betty her job back, she had refused, explaining that her stay at Mode at changed her in ways she didn't like. It was her choice, of course, but he hated the thought of that desk sitting there without her in the morning. He had to try…one last time.
Betty muted the TV and looked at him with thoughtful eyes. "Daniel…there's something I need to tell you."
Okay, that sounded ominous. "Sure, Betty. You know you can tell me anything."
"It's about your father." Betty stopped talking, chewing on her bottom lip, a sure sign she was unsure of herself. Daniel tensed too. His father…who died without telling him anything…the father to whom Daniel had not been able to express his love and admiration. What could Betty tell him about the man?
He tried to soothe her with a smile that felt more like a grimace, "Go on, Betty. What about my father?"
"Huh…I…you know…you told me to stay with him…when you went with your mom and the police."
Daniel nodded encouragingly, "Yeah, I remember that."
Betty looked down on her hands in her lap, avoiding his eyes. "He…hum…told me something…about you …just before he… you know."
That made Daniel's eyes go big. Betty had been the one to receive his father's last words? And they were about him? "What…what did he tell you, Betty? Please, I need to know."
Betty nodded and looked up in his eyes, her voice was but a murmur, so low he had to lean toward her in order to hear. "He asked me to watch over you, Daniel. He said you needed me. His last thoughts were for you. To make sure you'd be okay. He loved you very much."
His heart made a full flip flop in his chest, "Are…" He had to lick his suddenly dry lips before continuing, "Are you sure? You're not making that up, are you?"
Betty grabbed his hands in hers in the heat of her answer, "Of course not! I would never make up something that important. Daniel, you have to believe me; your father loved you and wanted to make sure you'd be okay. I was there…he…well, he told me to take care of you." She made a small self-mocking smile, "For all the good that could do."
Daniel squeezed her hands in his and kept his eyes on hers. There was nothing else there but complete openness and honesty. No calculations, no hiding, only trust and friendship.
"And are you going to do it?" He needed to know. His father was right; he needed Betty to look out for him. He'd be lost without her. Surely she could not deny a man his dying wish?
Betty looked down at their entwined hands for a moment, then back up at his pleading eyes.
"I…Yeah…Yes, I'll do it." Her face looked resolute, if a little pale. There was no need for anything else to say. They both knew that Betty never goes back on a promise, and this was a solemn promise if ever he saw one. She would stay at his side, she would do everything in her power to keep him happy and safe; she would never leave even if he shut her out like he did the other day by stupidly firing her.
A huge wave of relief washed over him. Everything would be fine. His father had loved him and had done the one thing that would help Daniel keep it together; he had set Betty as his guardian angel. It was the most perfect and precious Christmas gift anyone had ever given him.
He slowly took his hands from Betty's before he enfolded her in a hug. "Thank you, Dad. Thank you so much." He murmured in her hair, "You're the greatest."
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THE END
This story is dedicated to my father who passed away two days before Christmas 19 years ago. You were the best…you still are.