A/N: If any of you watched FR in Scrubs, you might notice a particular word in this chapter that he threw around when he guest starred as Marco :)

Gio pulled up next to the Suarez home and turned off the engine of his van. He looked over at Betty and gestured toward the house. "Well, here it is. Still standing, even without you here to keep everything in line."

Betty's eyes swept over the row houses that lined her street as the evening sunlight flickered through the trees. "Yeah, here it is," she echoed, her voice soft and low. "And they're still not home," she added, noticing that her sister's car was missing from its usual parking spot on the curb.

"Want me to come in and wait with you?" Gio offered. "We can pass the time by playing 'what's in Betty's purse' again," he joked as a smug grin spread across his face.

She glared back at him. "I hate you right now. A lot."

"How's that different from any other time?" Gio scoffed. His chocolaty eyes drifted slowly over her face, pausing to stare at her parted lips. He looked at her expectantly.

Betty pushed her glasses back up on her nose and looked awkwardly back at Gio, not quite sure how to say goodbye to him. Was this it? Were they officially dating now thanks to her confession on the drive home? Were they still stuck in that 'more than friends but not really dating' phase? "Well," she started to open her door. "Thanks for bringing me home--"

She halted as she felt Gio's hand on her arm, his fingers delicately gliding upward over her skin until his hand came to rest behind her head. "I'm not going to let you say goodbye that easily, B," he spoke in a low, thick voice. She searched the expression on his face as he moved closer, detecting the fiery look that was filling his eyes. Suddenly, Betty found herself unconsciously leaning toward him as he stroked the nape of her neck. She closed her eyes as he lowered his head and brushed his lips across her own. Betty instinctively let out a small sigh of pleasure and opened her mouth to his, feeling him begin to tease her bottom lip between his.

And then it happened. Her stomach let out the longest, most thunderous growl ever. The rumble was so violent that it was almost deafening. As if her body could have picked a more inconvenient time. Betty felt her face flush a bright crimson and she pulled away from him. "Sorry, apparently I'm a little hungry," she whimpered in embarrassment.

Gio sighed. He rested his forehead against her own and exhaled heavily.

"Betty," he murmured, his voice slightly frustrated. "When's the last time you ate something?"

"Umm… yesterday?" she replied innocently.

"That's it," he said, opening his door and springing into action. "I'm getting you food. Right now."

"Uh, where?" she replied, obviously puzzled.

"Your kitchen. You need to eat."

Betty followed him outside where he was already pulling her suitcase from the back of the van. "Gio, I'm fine, I promise. You've already done enough for me as it is." She continued to protest as he gathered the rest of her bags.

He shook his head. "Nah, it's about time that you have one of Gio's delicacies."

She scrunched her nose and narrowed her eyes at him, considering the statement as yet another innuendo. He stared blankly back at her. "What?" he blurted, raising his eyebrows. "I'm not going to let my eater go hungry!"

Betty sighed as Gio walked up the pathway to her house and waited for her to open the door. She couldn't help but let a small smile cross her face as she trailed behind him. She just couldn't get rid of this guy.

Not that she'd ever want to.

--

"If I were Betty Suarez, where would I put the cheese grater?" Gio asked himself as he searched the Suarez kitchen, opening and closing cupboards like a madman.

"In the cabinet below the sink!" Betty shouted, overhearing him talk to himself in the other room. She was kneeling on the living room floor digging through her open suitcase, wildly throwing clothes all over the room.

"You ok in there, B?" Gio asked, poking his head around the doorframe between the kitchen and living room.

"Yeah," she replied absentmindedly, concentrating on finding what she was looking for. Finally she uncovered the thin, square cardboard box that had been carefully packed at the bottom of her suitcase. Betty peeked inside one end of the box to make sure nothing had broken on the way home from Mexico. Seeing that everything was in one piece, she held the box behind her back and walked into the kitchen, tapping Gio on the shoulder as he was pouring sauce over a pot of noodles. He turned and she held the box out to him. "For you," she said shyly, handing him the gift.

Gio's eyes widened and his face broke into a huge grin, almost like a little kid on Christmas. He ripped open the box and pulled out a large painting framed in glass.

"I had it made by a street vendor in Mexico City," she said proudly. "Do you like it?"

His eyes scanned over the image. "Gio's Deli" had been painted in the center in bright red lettering and an Italian flag filled the background. And because it wouldn't have been the same without it, there was a big pickle with a smiley face along the bottom. Gio felt his heart swell. He couldn't remember the last time anyone had done anything this special for him.

"It was really funny asking the painter to draw a smiling pickle in Spanish. Un encurtido con una cara sonriente," she translated. "Anyway, I thought you could hang it up. You know, you really could use some new decorations in your deli," she continued to ramble, still waiting for him to say something in response. "Gio? Uh, hello?"

Gio finally looked up at her, his eyes hazy. He cleared his throat, refusing to let his emotions show. "Thank you," he said simply, pulling her into a hug. "You'll get yours later."

"Ooh I get a souvenir, too?" she chirped.

He nodded. "You could call it that." Gio turned back to the pasta he was cooking on the stove. "Hey do me a favor-- Taste this and see if it's hot enough." He lifted a noodle to her mouth and she sucked it between her lips, leaving a drop of sauce around her mouth.

"Mmm it's perfect."

Gio smiled and bit his lip at the sight of her.

"What?"

"Nothing, you just have a little sauce here..." He started to reach up to her face but she beat him to it, using her tongue to trace around her lips, deftly licking the sauce away from her own mouth.

Gio didn't know if she was purposely trying to turn him on, but with that gesture, she'd managed to do it. He thought for a millisecond that if he touched her the way he wanted to touch her, he might end up getting slapped again, but the voice in his head told him 'screw it.' That was a risk he was going to take.

Before Betty knew what was going on, Gio had grabbed her fiercely around the waist, kissing her with an intensity she didn't even know existed. She let out a cry in shock. There was nothing friendly about his kiss; it was the behavior of someone who had stored months and months of pent up desire. His hands snaked up her back, pressing her closer to his body as he moaned into her lips.

Surprisingly, there was no slap. Instead, he felt Betty wrap her arms around his neck and melt into his hold. He walked her backward until she was pinned up against the refrigerator. She gasped for air as Gio's mouth moved away from her lips and left a fiery line of kisses down the edge of her jaw. He nuzzled his lips in the hollow of her neck, teasing the soft skin between his teeth while he instinctively pressed his hips into hers.

Their breathing had become so heavy that neither heard the door to the house open and close.

--

"I feel so bad that we missed Aunt Betty at the airport," Justin said while he staggered through the front hall on his crutches.

"Yeah, well you think of that the next time you climb on top of a pyramid of 10 girls, ok?" Hilda retorted, wobbling as she carried a big welcome home cake for Betty in her hands. Suddenly, Hilda stopped in her tracks and sniffed the air. "Papi, did you put something in the oven before we left? It smells like someone's been cooking up a storm in here!"

"Yes mija, obviously I had time to start dinner while my grandson was being rushed to the emergency room," Ignacio said sarcastically.

Hilda rolled her eyes. "Geez, Papi, just asking. Maybe Betty beat us home and cooked something?"

Ignacio nodded. "Betty! Mija, are you home?" he called as he walked toward the kitchen.

--

"What did you just say..?" Betty asked shakily as Gio teased her earlobe with his lips. She swore someone had just called her name. Then again, her senses weren't exactly the best right now. She was so delirious that she didn't even know what day of the week it was anymore.

"I didn't say anything," he whispered into her ear, his breath coming in short, raspy gasps.

"But..." Betty was cut off as Gio tangled his fingers in her hair and placed his mouth over hers, leading them into another deep kiss. She was practically writhing between his body and the refrigerator.

"Mija, are you in there?"

...Papi!!

Betty's eyes flew open. She pushed Gio away and stared at him in horror. "My dad's home!!" she whispered in a panic. "Oh my God!" She frantically smoothed down her hair and straightened her top. "Get over there!!" Betty squealed, shoving Gio to the other side of the kitchen where he stumbled into the kitchen table just as Ignacio, Hilda, and Justin walked into the room.

"Betty!!" all three of them cried as they ran over to her and smothered her in one massive hug.

Gio awkwardly stood by the table and watched the family reunion, still recovering from his encounter with Betty.

It suddenly occurred to her that her skin was flushed, her lips were swollen, and she reeked of Gio's cologne. "Um, it's so good to see you all!" Betty finally exclaimed, trying to ignore her family's curious stares as they saw Gio standing across the room.

"We brought you cake, but it looks like you already had dessert," Justin said as he gave Gio that "oh-no-you-didn't" look.

Betty glared at her nephew as Gio looked down at his feet and tried to hold back a laugh.

"Ay Betty, where'd you drag this zángano in from?" Hilda grinned and gestured toward Gio.

"Hilda, be nice! He might know what that means," she replied.

Gio nodded jokingly. "That's me, the... Wait. What did you call me again? Zángano?" He shrugged off the comment and then held out his hand to Ignacio. "Nice to see you again, Mr. Suarez."

Ignacio shook his hand slowly as he looked back and forth between Gio and Betty. He wrinkled his forehead, confused. "Mija!" he demanded, suddenly alarmed and angry. "Were you in Italy with this boy when you told us you were in Mexico?!"

"No!" she exclaimed with wide eyes. "Papi, really, we just ended up coming home from our trips at the same time! We kind of, you know... ran into each other while I was waiting for a taxi," Betty explained.

Ignacio took an assertive step toward Gio. "I'm assuming you brought my daughter home today?"

"Yes, sir, I did."

Betty shifted nervously as her father continued to size Gio up.

Ignacio looked over at the pasta sitting on the stove. "And it was you that made dinner?"

Gio nodded politely.

"Then what are we doing standing here?" He slapped Gio on the shoulder and cracked a stiff smile. "¡Comamos!"

--

After hours of eating, sharing travel stories, and watching TV, Betty and Gio sat outside on the front stoop, relaxing in the night air before finally parting ways.

"Well, today was eventful!" Betty mused.

"Yeah, for a minute there I thought you were going to have to scrape my dead body off your kitchen floor," Gio laughed. "Does your dad keep guns in the house?" he asked, only half teasing.

"Yeah but don't worry, he ran out of bullets from the days when Hilda was dating Santos."

"Ah, I'll keep that in mind," he said, staring straight out at the road. He got a bemused look in his eyes as he recalled the events of the day. He smirked to himself as he remembered picking up the condom from Betty's purse at the airport. There was definitely a whole other side to her that he was just now beginning to unearth. Suddenly be broke into a huge grin. "This time, Suarez, you really did french me good. Reaaal good." He pointed a finger at her. "And don't you dare argue with me about that!"

Betty shoved him in the shoulder and blushed. Never in her life had she kissed a man the way she'd kissed Gio today. Thinking back on it, she was both terrified and exhilarated by the feeling.

"So..." he continued. "My family's having a dinner party for my sister on Thursday night before her wedding this weekend. Think you could deal with the Rossi family long enough to come along?"

Betty raised an eyebrow and looked at him blankly. "If they're anything like you, I don't know."

"So that's a yes! Good, I knew you couldn't turn down a date with me." Betty rolled her eyes at his blatant arrogance. "I'll come get you at 7." He leaned in to kiss her but Betty placed a hand on his chest to stop him.

"Wait." She twisted around and glanced at the living room window just in time to see Hilda and Justin duck down out of sight, trying to hide their all-too-obvious eavesdropping.

Betty sighed. "I think we have an audience."

Gio couldn't care less who was watching them, but he knew better than to make Betty feel totally uncomfortable in front of her family. Instead, he tilted her chin so they were both sitting face to face. Without looking away from her, he reached down and lifted her hand to his lips, kissing it. The warm sensation of his mouth on her skin made her shiver.

He stood and began to walk down the steps, remembering that the last time they'd been in this exact spot, he had finally let her know how he wanted to be her one and only. Now that concept was no longer just some delusional dream for him. It was becoming reality.

"Goodnight, Betty."

"Wait, Gio?"

He turned around. "Yeah?"

"Thank you."

"For...?" He looked at her quizzically.

'For being the guy. My guy... My Gio,' she thought silently.

"Just... for waiting for me," she said softly.

Gio smiled. "Patience, B. I've got a lot of it." He turned and walked toward the street.

Betty sat there motionless, watching as he drove away until she could no longer see the red tail lights of his van gleaming in the darkness. She was glad at least one of them had patience because for her, Thursday night couldn't come soon enough.

TBC