Disclaimer: I own nothing. I'm just playing :).
This is my second attempt at an UB fanfic. My first, Skin Deep, was fun, but I can never continue a story when it becomes too AU given developments in a show. So here's another try...
"How do you feel about Betty? Your assistant."
Daniel Meade looked deeply into the eyes of his beloved, hardly believing that, at a time like this, she could ask such a question.
Perhaps he could blame her condition itself for a lapse in her judgment. Her health was deteriorating. He sat at her bedside for weeks now and watched as she went from the peppy, beautiful woman he knew, to the weak, struggling, sick patient she now was.
Her eyes were particularly striking. Months ago, you would attend to them, but not nearly as much. Daniel was often distracted by her silky blond hair, her slim frame and the peach color of her skin. Her hair was lost to chemotherapy treatments. Her frame was no longer slim and healthy, but skinny and frail. Her skin was paler and sadder than ever.
Her eyes stayed. They kept all of their intensity and then some.
Although Daniel had no idea why they would be looking at him that way in regard to Betty.
Betty's name had come completely out of left field. The last thing that Daniel wanted to do was give Molly the false impression that she had any reason to feel threatened. He would stay by her and his friendship with Betty wouldn't change that.
"Betty? Molly, I love you."
"I didn't ask if you loved me or not," Molly corrected, uttering each word with what appeared to be a struggle. "I know that you do. I'm just…I'm worried about you, Daniel."
Irony at its best.
She was worried about him.
She was the one battling an illness that she knew would defeat her. She was the one who wouldn't get the chance to see what life would be like a year later, to hold one of her own children someday, to see another snowstorm or ocean, to go on another trip, or to live another healthy day. Why was she worried about him?
And what did this have to do with Betty?
"Molly," Daniel quietly said, taking her hand. "There's nothing to worry about. I told you, I will be right by your side until…" He swallowed, unable to bring himself to say what he so dreaded saying. "I'll be here."
"She's…I mean, Betty…she's your friend, right?"
"Betty? Yes, of course."
"And…she'll, you know, take care of you? When I…after I'm…"
He didn't want her to finish that sentence, either.
He didn't want her to be gone. As much as he knew that he would have to face it, he didn't want to. He liked to live in his more attractive, blissful state of delusion in which Molly would always need him to hold her hand. He didn't want to be the one who needed the comforting. That was his job.
"I'll be fine."
"You'll need someone," Molly said. "You can't do it alone. You'll need someone with you."
"I'm not going to be alone," Daniel assured her, rubbing her thin hand with his warmer, stronger thumb. "I have plenty of people I can turn to. Don't worry about me."
"I can't help it," Molly replied, managing to smile at him as her eyes began to shine with tears. "I know you have friends and your family. That's important. But it's not enough. You'll need…a person. A person you can talk to about anything."
"I'll talk to you," Daniel said softly, realizing but not quite caring about how silly that sounded. "You'll be able to hear me. I won't forget you, Molly. I'll still talk to you."
"You know that's not what I meant," Molly replied. "I mean…I'm sure I will, too, but you know I can't answer you back when…"
"Shh," Daniel said, not wanting to address the thought of Molly gone. He couldn't bear another word of it.
"Don't shhh me, you rich jerk," Molly teased, managing a giggle. Daniel had to smile back, in spite of the tears that were forming in his eyes as well. "I'm serious, Daniel. Can you talk to Betty? Do you talk to Betty about things?"
Funny.
Molly had never asked this question before, despite the fact that it was true. Daniel talked to Betty about everything. There wasn't a single thing he couldn't go to her with, and Molly had no idea. She wasn't even aware of how often he discussed her with Betty as well.
"Yes, Molly. Betty's my friend, like you said."
"Yes, yes, well, a lot of friends are the kinds of friends you go out with for drinks or you give a friendly hello to at work. Is Betty one of those, or is she a friend you can actually open up to?"
"I can open up to Betty, Molly. I mean, you've met her. Anybody can. She's that kind of person."
"Good," Molly replied, smiling. "Just promise me something, Daniel."
"Anything," he said, trying his best not to show her how upsetting the conversation had become.
"When I'm gone, please…talk to Betty. Talk to her when you're feeling alone. Don't just keep it inside of you. I've been through it before; I lost people and I never spoke to anybody about it, and it killed me."
He didn't know if he wanted to promise this.
Sure, Betty was an amazing friend. He knew that he could talk to her if he needed to. He knew that he could trust her to keep anything he told her in complete confidence.
And, yet, he couldn't imagine how it would make him feel.
The thought of losing Molly alone was so painful it nearly blinded him. That was just in theory; she was still with him. How would he feel when she left him and it was real? He couldn't go to Betty for advice as always and then put Betty's suggestions to good use. He'd have no second chances with Molly. She'd be gone. He'd realize that again and again after each time he spoke with her.
Besides…
"Why Betty?"
"I like her," Molly said softly. "She just seems…I just feel like talking to her would be good for you."
"Okay," Daniel replied. "Good enough for me. I promise. I'll talk to Betty."
"Thank you, Daniel." Molly said, looking, for a rare moment, content. "I love you." Daniel leaned forward and very lightly kissed Molly on the top of her head, where the softness of her hair used to be, and felt a tear drop from his eye onto the side of her satisfied face.
"I love you, too."
Betty's eyes blinked open, the sunlight from outside Matt's room slowly creeping its way into the place where the two were now lying.
Matt didn't seem to notice.
She looked over at him peacefully sleeping and had to smile. She never thought that the guy she was so reluctant to pair up with in the beginning of their time at YETI would bring her the sort of peaceful contentment that he had for the past two months.
For the past few weeks, they'd meet for drinks at what soon became referred to as "their bar". They'd sit and talk - just like they did on that first date - about movies, YETI, magazine ideas, their jobs - about everything. Then they'd go back to his apartment, which, thanks to his mother's generous contributions, was quite big, and enjoy some time alone.
It was so light, peaceful, carefree and fun, that Betty couldn't believe she was the same girl who had been through so many dramatic relationships in the past. This was the way things were supposed to be.
The light seemed to be hitting his eyes as well, for she saw them start to blink also.
"Morning," Betty greeted, leaning over to kiss him lightly on the nose.
"Hmm," Matt managed. Betty had to giggle to herself. Matt was a lot of wonderful things, but a morning person was not one of them.
"Oh, it's going to be one of those Saturdays," Betty teased, rolling her eyes. Matt rolled over to the other side, mumbling something, as Betty leaned in closer to his back, and whispered in his ear.
"No. Matt, we are not going to waste an entire day just lying around until 3 like we've done for the past 3 weeks. You promised me. It's my turn to choose what we do today."
"It's Saturday," Matt muttered. "You're supposed to waste the entire day sleeping in until 3."
"That, Matt, is where you are wrong," Betty said, pulling the covers off of both of them. Matt glanced over at her, trying very hard to look angry but resisting as he saw her mischievous smile.
"That's it," he teased. "You're in trouble now." Before Betty could react, Matt took the sheets she had just pulled off, threw them over himself, and jumped on top of her, tickling her wildly.
"Matt!" Betty shouted. "Come ON you know I hate…"
"…Being tickled," Matt said, tickling her stomach even harder. "Just like I hate being woken up at 8 o'clock on a Saturday.
"It's…eight…twenty…one…" Betty managed in between laughs.
"Same thing," Matt argued.
"Okay…OKAY…Matt…we'll stay in…a little…longer…"
At that, Matt stopped. He eased his fingers off of her and slowly rested his weight on top of her. She grinned up at him, and, for a moment, he considered where he was.
"I'm not crushing you, am I?"
"Nope," Betty replied, taking his hand in hers and softly kissing it.
"Darn," Matt muttered. He softly removed her hair, which had gotten to be a bit disheveled from his attack, so that it was smoothed alongside her face, and bent in slowly to kiss her. She returned the kiss, placing her arms around him, the two of them still resting underneath the sheets. Matt's hands started to caress Betty when her phone suddenly rang.
"Ignore it," Matt whispered, kissing her along her collarbone.
"Wait, Matt, I can't," Betty said, pulling away from him against her body's wishes. "It's early on a Saturday; it must be important." At that, Matt let her grab her phone without further protest. For all of his teasing, she knew that he was completely understanding beneath it all.
Betty looked at the phone number.
Claire Meade.
What on Earth?
"Hello?" She answered.
"Betty it's Claire," came a shaky voice from the other end. "I know it's early but…well, Betty, Daniel really needs you now." Betty's heart sank to the floor; she had a feeling that she knew what this was about.
"What's wrong?" Betty asked, hoping beyond hope that it wasn't what she knew it was.
"Molly died this morning, Betty."
