A/N: Thank you all so much for the kind reviews! Hope everyone had a Happy New Year, and I wish you all the best for 2008!
Daniel looked down at his watch, and then back into the mirror he had been staring into for the past forty three minutes. It was hard to believe that just 3 hours ago Betty had sitting in his office, laughing with him about the orange color of Fabia's new fake 'n' bake tan and now... 'now she's lying on a table in an operating room and I'm standing here in the bathroom, doing anything to avoid having to look her family in the eye.' When Mr. Suarez had returned to the group earlier, he had no information except that Betty was in the middle of a very complicated shoulder surgery, and that the surgeon would be out to speak to the family as soon as the surgery was over.
A few more moments went by, with Daniel chiding himself, going back and forth between glaring at himself in the mirror and pacing back and forth in front of the stalls. Finally, the door opened and Mr. Suarez walked up behind Daniel in the mirror and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Daniel," he said. "What are you doing?"
Daniel took a deep breath and said, "I don't know. I'm just not very good at this whole hospital thing...especially when," he ran a hand through his hair, "I'm the reason we're here."
"What are you talking about? You had nothing to do with this, Daniel. It was an accident," Mr. Suarez said as he reached over and pulled Daniel's far shoulder, bringing the two men face to face.
Daniel shook his head, "No. If I hadn't made Betty go out and get those stupid noodles, she wouldn't even be in this mess!"
Mr. Suarez looked him in the eye and spoke softly. "Daniel this is not your fault. Betty has gone out everyday for the past two years and gotten your lunch, and nothing has happened to her. Today it did. But you can't blame yourself...because no one else does," he said with a comforting smile.
Daniel still looked unsure, but replied quietly, "Okay."
"Now you're coming back out here with the rest of the family. Betty would never forgive me if she found out I left you in here to beat yourself up over something you had no control over," Mr. Suarez said as he turned to face the door.
Daniel smiled, knowing Ignacio was exactly right as he remembered Betty's previous pep talks she had given him in this very building. "Thanks, Mr. Suarez. Are you sure? I don't want to intrude on your family--"
Mr. Suarez interrupted him. "Daniel, you may be Betty's boss, but, and correct me if I'm wrong...you're also her friend," he paused as Daniel nodded. "Her very good friend. She cares about you, Daniel. A lot. When I brought your mother up here the day your father died, I tried to get Betty to come home with me, saying she should leave you with your family, but she wouldn't. 'Daniel needs me' she said," he paused to smile. "Now, unless you don't care as much for her," Daniel shook his head. "You'll come back out here with me."
Daniel smiled. "I'm coming," he said as she followed Mr. Suarez to the door. "I see where Betty gets her persuasiveness from."
Mr. Suarez smiled, "Oh, that was nothing. You should have seen her mother."
As the two men walked towards the waiting room, Hilda looked up and and gave a comforting smile as she moved her handbag from the chair next to her to the floor, making room for Daniel.
No more than three minutes later the doors opened and a police officer made his way over to the group.
"Suarez?" he asked as he approached.
Ignacio stood to shake the man's hand, "Ignacio Suarez, Betty's father. And this is her sister, Hilda; and her friend, Daniel."
The officer shook the other two hands and introduced himself as Officer Olsen. Daniel recognized the name as the same man who he had talked to on the phone. As the group took their seats, Olsen began to talk. "I'm sure you all have a lot of questions, which I'll do my best to answer. But first, I'm going to start out with the basics. Ms. Suarez was involved in a five vehicle accident. There were no fatalities, and three of the other victims have been hospitalized as well, unfortunately Ms. Suarez was the most critically injured, as her vehicle felt the strongest impact."
Hilda let out a small whimper. Daniel put an arm around her shoulders as they continued listening.
"I'm also going to tell you that this was no freak accident," he folded his hands. "The driver of the vehicle that hit the town car was heavily intoxicated, and slammed into Ms. Suarez' vehicle at a rate of about 65 miles an hour."
Hilda looked up at Daniel as she felt his body tense. "Who was it? What was the driver's name?"
"I'm sorry sir, I can't give you that information," Olsen replied.
"I know you have it right there in that file," Daniel retorted, eying the manila envelope the man had set next to him.
"I'm sorry, sir."
"My best friend is lying on an operating table right now because of this bastard, and you're telling me I can't have his name?" he said with a clenched jaw. Had it not been for Hilda's small frame wrapped in his arm, he felt sure that he would be standing nose to nose with the officer by now.
"Daniel," Hilda said as she took his hand that wasn't wrapped around her shoulder and clasped her hand on top of it. "Calm down."
Daniel looked down at her and apologized, but never relaxed his body.
The officer cleared his throat and took out a card and handed it to Mr. Suarez. "This is really all the information I have right now, so if no one else has any questions I'm going to leave you with this card. My name and number are on it, so if you think of anything, don't hesitate to give me a call."
Mr. Suarez took the card and stood to shake the man's hand. After eying Daniel one last time, he turned and left. After his departure, the group was quiet for a moment, each lost in their own thoughts until a thin man in a white coat walked over and sat in the chair the officer had just vacated. "Mr. Suarez?" he asked.
Ignacio shook his head, "Yes sir, that's me."
The man extended his hand, "Nice to meet you, I'm Dr. Walsh, Betty's doctor."
