Daniel was determined.

He would spend the day right here.

In his empty bedroom.

Alone.

His body seemed to agree. All he wanted to do was stay completely and utterly still. All he wanted to do was just feel gravity push down against him and not discuss it, cry about it or think about it.

He'd stay right there.

Betty would cover for him at work; she'd gone out of her way to help him with whatever he needed. He didn't have the energy or strength to outwardly thank her for it, but he knew that she realized how grateful he was. They understood each other that way.

She had been so great the entire week. After hearing about Molly, she hurried over to his apartment along with his mom, and the two of them stood by him as he went to her family and helped them with all of her arrangements. It felt completely funny; upon her dying moments, he and Molly were at the stage of their relationship where, ordinarily, he'd just be getting to know her parents. He'd invite them out for some awkward dinner where a lot of small talk would be made, and he'd go out of his way to prove that he truly was a respectable gentleman and wow them with how well he could treat their daughter.

They bypassed that whole point, and went straight to the stage of things in which they had to accept one another as family and plan a funeral together.

But they weren't his family.

He needed his real family with him - Claire, Alexis, who sadly was unable to attend, and, yes, Betty. She had become his family over the years, but in a very different and unusual way.

When Daniel needed a few minutes to be alone, Betty covered for him and told everyone that he was just taking a phone call from Alexis, who was checking in on him. When he needed an extra push to join the service and be there to pay his respects to Molly, Betty was the one nudging him. When he needed motivation to stand up and give her a eulogy, Betty was the one telling him he could do it.

She was more than family. She was keeping him up and going. She was the force that he needed to pull himself together.

Yet, he couldn't bring himself to do the one thing that Molly asked him for, which was to talk to her. It hurt too much.

One thing that didn't hurt was staying in his bed all day.

That's what he'd do.

Like clockwork, he heard the key to his lock turn, and he knew who it was. The only person he trusted with his key.

"Daniel! Daniel, it's me! My dad made you some food for this week so you don't have to…" She appeared in the doorway to his bedroom, and glanced at him in the way only she could get away with - disapproval. "Daniel, I figured that you'd be working from home. You're not even up yet? It's one o'clock in the afternoon."

"Tell your dad I said thanks," Daniel said, hoping that his futile efforts to avoid the subject would be, in some way, fruitful.

"Daniel, look," Betty said, walking closer to him and placing the trays in her arms above his nightstand. "I know you're hurting right now. That's understandable, but…"

"I'm fine, Betty. I just want to rest a little bit, that's all."

"I understand, Daniel. Trust me, I do," Betty said, taking a seat alongside him. "I felt the same exact way when I lost my mom. But you can't go on like this. You have to try to gather up enough strength to get yourself up. I mean…she wouldn't want to see you like this."

Betty was right.

That's probably why Molly wanted him to talk to her; she had this unbelievably irritating habit of being absolutely right about him most of the time.

Still, he wouldn't be foolish enough to tell her that.

"I'll be fine, Betty. I'll go in tomorrow. I just…I need one more day."

"Daniel…"

"Aren't you supposed to be at YETI?" Daniel asked, knowing that she couldn't weasel her way out of that one.

"That's not for another hour or so."

"Hmm. How's that going?"

"It's great," Betty replied cautiously, watching Daniel closely as if determining whether or not it was safe to answer a question that was asked to change the subject. "It's a lot of work lately. I mean, Matt and I have been spending hours on our project."

"Sure. Your project," Daniel teased. A part of him felt it insensitive to find amusement in pretty much anything, but another part longed for normalcy more than he could imagine, and watching Betty react to his occasional taunts was a safe haven for him. Betty gave him one of her looks, but still managed to smile.

"Very funny. It's true - we have. It's a lot of work."

"Must be very strenuous," Daniel continued. Betty gave him a light push and rolled her eyes.

"Ha. Ha. Seriously, Daniel, I know you don't really want to talk about Matt or YETI. It's just…"

Please don't ask.

If you ask, then I have to say no and disappoint Molly.

Not that question…

"If you want to talk to me about this, Daniel…I mean, cancer's affected the people I love, too. If anyone can understand, it's me."

Crap.

She had to put it that way.

Okay, Molly, I love you, but I can't do this now. You have to understand.

"I know, Betty. I appreciate it. I'm just…I'd rather not talk about it."

Betty looked like a fish out of water, trying desperately to find some way to heal Daniel from his pain and he knew it. He understood how badly she wanted to make him feel better, and the fact that he knew she wouldn't be able to only made him want her to waste her efforts even less.

"Okay," Betty said. "But can you please at least eat something? You look like you haven't eaten all day."

"I will," Daniel replied, not budging from the spot where he lay.

"And you'll come in tomorrow? To Mode?"

"Yes," he said, not entirely sure if he was telling the truth.

"Good," Betty replied, flashing her innocent, metallic grin in his direction. Then, she did something she very rarely did and reached for his hand. For reasons he didn't entirely understand, it made him feel a great deal better and his heart beat a little more steadily for a second. "You don't have to do this alone, Daniel. I'm your friend. You know I'm here for you."

"I know," Daniel replied, squeezing her hand back. "Betty, I'm sorry. I don't mean to be so cold it's just…I'm just really, really tired."

"Okay," Betty said, standing up. "I'll let you rest then. But this is the last day, Daniel."

"Alright!" Daniel groaned.

There went that smile again…

"Good! Okay, Daniel, enjoy the food. I'll see you tomorrow! Call me if you need anything."

"Okay. Bye," he said, and watched as she walked out the door.

Frustrated, he looked up towards the sky.

"Molly, of all the things you could have asked me for - you asked me to do the hardest thing? You knew how hard it would be to talk about this. Betty…I mean, you don't get it. You don't know Betty. She's all…sunshine and flowers and daisies and I can't talk to her about this because…I can't let her do it. I can't let her cheer me up. I don't want to be cheered up. I want you."

Daniel naively waited for a response, and found himself hurt when he heard precisely what he expected - nothing.

"Why'd you have to leave me, Molly?"

_________

Betty managed to finish her errands for Mode in time to arrive at YETI only a few minutes late. Matt watched her as she came in, looking worried as he had for the past few weeks.

Matt didn't have to say this outwardly, but he made it pretty clear how he felt. He felt Betty was biting off more than she could chew. He respected her loyalty, but felt that she was being taken advantage of by her boss. She could read between the lines; every time he asked if "she was sure" that she was going to stay up late to get a few things done, every time she called Daniel to check on him on their days out, every time she showed that she would go the extra mile for Daniel, it made him look somewhat concerned with her efforts.

"Hey," she whispered, giving his hand a squeeze. He lightly smiled back, then excused himself for a minute to "use the bathroom".

As Jodie was gathering materials for a presentation, Betty turned across the table and saw an interested glance from Marc.

"Ohhh…the pinata has angered the beanpole."

"What are you talking about?" Betty whispered. "Matt's not mad at me."

"Sure he's not," Marc dryly replied. "He just had to go wash his hands to rinse away your cooties, that's all."

"Very funny. Look, people do have to use the bathroom every now and then."

"I'm not just talking about his emo exit, Betty. When I got into class - by myself, may I add, because a certain someone's been lost in the clouds these days, he asked me where you were. Suspicious, much?"

"Curious, maybe. Suspicious, no."

"Okay, children, gossip hour is over," Jodie called from the front of the room. "We finally have this power point working, so let's move on to our next topic, which is on new ways to innovate layouts."

At that moment, Matt walked in.

Almost as though he timed it.

Class dragged on for what seemed like days. All Betty could do was glance over at Matt and try to gather from his disposition what he was angry about. Every so often, she'd turn back to Marc and watch him flash an "I Told You So" grin her way.

Finally, class had ended. Matt started gathering his things quickly until Betty took both of his hands in hers and looked at him directly in the eyes.

"I want to talk to you. Please." Matt nodded and the two walked out of the classroom and towards another empty room.

They stood in silence for a few seconds as Betty gathered up the nerve. Then it struck.

"Matt, talk to me. What's the matter with you? Why are you acting so angry at me?" Matt sighed, almost as though he was completely disappointed in himself, and looked away from her.

"I'm not angry at you, Betty."

"Then what is it? You've been really weird lately."

"I'm sorry, Betty, I don't mean to be a jerk, it's just that…well, I worry about you. You know - going out and doing all of this for Daniel on top of work and YETI…" Betty smiled at him, relieved that that was all, until s he realized that he didn't look finished yet.

"Matt, there's nothing to worry about. I'm fine. Look, Daniel's just going through something that I've gone through before myself…"

"Exactly. Why do you think I'm so worried?" Betty raised her eyebrows at him; what was he saying.

"I'm not following you."

"Don't you think Daniel - knowing you, knowing your family history, knowing how you've had to deal with this before - should choose not to, I don't know, put you in the middle of it so much?"

Wow.

He had it all wrong.

Flattered though she was at his concern, she had to clear this up.

"No, Matt, you don't get it. Daniel's not putting me in the middle of anything. I'm willing to help him."

"Nevertheless, you'd think the respectable thing to do would be to rely on someone else; his family, his friends, the people who know him on more of a personal level, rather than take advantage of his assistant."

Know him on more of a personal level?

Nobody knew him on as much of a personal level as Betty did.

Didn't Matt know that?

"Matt - I'm not just Daniel's assistant. I am his friend, and I do know him on a personal level." Matt looked down again, as if ashamed to meet her gaze while speaking his mind.

"Another reason I'm so worried."

"Excuse me?" Betty asked, starting to feel herself grow angrier as this conversation continued.

"Betty…you spend a lot of time taking care of your boss. I mean, I don't mean to discredit your friendship with him and I value how much you take care of everyone, but, well, when does it get to the point where you branch off?"

"Branch off?"

"Just…just hear me out, okay?" Betty nodded, wondering where on Earth this conversation could ever reach something she considered rational. "You're young, you're smart, you're talented; you have a lot going for you. I see you take so much of your valuable time and devote it to keeping yourself in the same position as Daniel's…muse."

"Muse?"

"Okay, maybe a poor choice of words, but do you see what I'm saying here? Betty, I really like you. I want to be with you for a really long time; you make me so happy. But lately I don't see how anything - your job, your talent, me - anything - is going to get past this post you've taken up as Daniel's lifelong assistant. He's a grown man, Betty. He's not your family, he's not your husband, he's not your boyfriend…why do you care so much?"

"He's my friend!" Betty argued, feeling steam rising from her head as she wished, beyond anything, that Matt could understand. "He's helped me in so many ways; helped my family in so many ways. I can't just abandon him when he needs it the most!"

"Nobody's saying you have to abandon him, Betty. I have no problem with you being Daniel's friend and spending some time with him. This is about priorities. The man is completely monopolizing your time and your life. Friends don't have to do that. It just makes me wonder…"

Don't even say it…

"What?"

"It makes me wonder if you really see Daniel as a friend. As just a friend."

"Oh, come on, Matt…"

"I mean it. Look, I'm sorry, I'm not usually this completely insecure, but, realistically speaking, you spend a lot of time on that man."

"That's just because we're close, Matt. That doesn't mean that I want anything more out of my relationship with him than what we have."

That seemed to make Matt feel a little better, so she continued.

"Matt, I've known Daniel for years. If I haven't expressed interest in him up to now, and he hasn't in me, what makes you think we're going to magically want to be together someday? Especially after I've found someone who I like so much." Matt looked at her apologetically, and placed both of his arms around her.

"Oh, man, Betty, I'm sorry. I'm such an idiot."

"Yes, you are, but it's okay," Betty teased. "I think you're kind of cute when you're jealous."

"Jealous…man, Betty, I don't get jealous like this usually. I don't know what's with me; it's just, I don't know, I'm cautious with this situation as it is when I think about what you've told me with your mother, and…"

"It's fine," Betty said. "I'm sorry I got so angry. Just…do me a favor, okay?"

"Yeah?" Matt asked, sounding a little nervous.

"Please don't ask me to change the relationships I have with my friends. Trust me. Know that I'm not going to go behind your back with secret feelings or anything."

"I think I can do that. If you'll do me a favor, too."

"Yeah?" Matt leaned closer and whispered in her ear.

"Stop driving me so damn crazy. I've never been this jealous of anybody before." Betty's smile grew wider and her eyes happier as she looked back at Matt.

"I can't make any promises on that one; sorry!"