Hellooooo, there's a new chapter! Really, really sorry about the wait; things have been pretty stressful and in order to get going with some fanfics again I've actually had to schedule my posting of chapters - for the first time ever! Hopefully I'll be able to stick to that and I also hope to have this fic finished by Christmas since it is a holiday fic :) Now enjoy!


"Damn it!" Daniel yelled. "Damn it! Damn..."

"Is that how you great your mother?" Claire Meade replied over the phone. Daniel felt the urge to throw it into the wall just like he had done with his answering machine, but then thought better of it. He needed his mobile to contact people – to try and talk to Betty again. If she would let him. Right now that did not seem very likely.

"Now, Daniel, what are you on about?" Claire continued.

"Betty", Daniel replied, then cursed as he stepped on a piece from the broken answering machine.

"I assume you picked her up at the airport, like I asked you to?" Claire asked, her voice sharp.

"Yes, mum, I did", Daniel bit back.

"Good", Claire said. "Now, if you two have hit a rough patch, I have no doubt that you'll be able to get past it. You two always did."

"This time I doubt it will be that easy."

Claire laughed softly.

"Oh, Daniel, have a little faith. Now, I hope you have seen the news today..."

"No, I have been busy trying to make things right with Betty."

"Ah. Well, I suggest you take a look. It would seem that you and her won't be able to join us in Aspen after all."

"Wait", Daniel said, frowning, "what? Why?"

He turned on the TV and zapped between the channels until he found one broadcasting the news. A blizzard. There was a large snowstorm heading towards New York; people were being told to stay indoors during Christmas as it was predicted to hit on the eve of the twenty-third. Roads would be closed down and, of course, the airports. There would be no flights arriving at or leaving any of New York's airports until the snowstorm had passed and the snow had been cleared away.

"Daniel", Claire said, "if you and Betty have hit a rough patch, use this time to set things right with her. Use Christmas to set things right."

"I doubt she will ever want to talk to me again", Daniel sighed and slumped back onto the couch.

"Daniel, this is Betty. You know her better than anyone else, beside her family. She is your friend and she won't just let that friendship go again."

Daniel wanted to say that he was not sure that was true anymore, that things had changed, but he did not manage to get the words out. Partially because saying them would make them true, but also because of that he was quite a stubborn guy. He knew that something had happened to Betty during these months they had been apart, something that had changed everything between them, and he was intent on finding out what. He would not stop until he had mended what was between him and Betty.

He said goodbye to his mother and headed back into his bedroom, flinging himself onto the unmade bed. Him and Betty would be stuck in New York for Christmas and, if he did everything right, these days might turn out perfectly. He looked at the screen of his phone, then sighed and put it on the bedside table; he had to wait. Betty was still upset with him and sending a text to her right now would not help neither her or him. Especially not him, because if she did not respond right away – and he knew she would not – he would be heartbroken. Again. And then he would start sending more texts. Text after text after text until she finally decided to text or call him, but by then she would be annoyed and never want to see him again. No, he had to play his cards right. He had to be patient.

Despite not feeling entirely comfortable with it, Daniel decided to head out into the throng of Christmas shoppers. Even if Betty might not agree to his plan when it was presented to her he needed to do something about his apartment to make it more festive – and he needed food for the holidays. It did not have to be a turkey or anything like that, but food nevertheless. In the end he bought a dozen frozen pizzas and as much ice cream as he thought he would be able to fit in his freezer. There really was no other option; thanks to his late start in the morning everyone else had already seen the news and made sure to stack up on food for the holidays if they were planning to stay in the city. Of course that also meant there was a shortage on beverages, but Daniel was quite sure he had enough of those at home. He also picked up various decorations – none of them very fancy but still festive – and once he was back at his apartment he set to work decorating it.

It was nearly 8pm when he finally considered himself done and at that point he picked up his phone. As expected there were no messages from Betty, but it had been a couple of hours since their parting and now he would not seem clingy if he sent her a text. And he might not be as disappointed if she did not text back at once. Might. Nevertheless he quickly wrote the short text he had been meaning to write all day and pressed send.

I miss you.

Then he sat down on the couch, turned on the TV and tried to watch that instead of the phone in his hand. Something he soon realized he was not good at and it also made him slightly anxious since the minutes ticked by without a response from Betty. In fact he was almost certain there was something wrong with the phone and that the text had not been sent at all when it finally vibrated in his hand and a reply popped up on the screen.

I'm sorry, Daniel, but I can't do this. Not now.

Not the reply he would have liked, but a reply nevertheless. He immediately set to writing another text.

Why? Betty, I need to talk to you. I need to explain myself.

Betty's response was quicker this time.

I just can't. It's complicated. Terribly complicated.

Alright, still not perfect, but it was a conversation of a sort. All Daniel needed to do now was convince her to come and see him tomorrow and then they could talk things through and patch things up and plan how to spend Christmas during a blizzard in New York. As friends. Nothing else.

Betty, please. Let's meet on the bridge tomorrow. Our bridge.

I'll wait for you at 10am. We can go have coffee, talk things

through properly. You don't have to reply to this; if you don't

show tomorrow I won't bother you again. I promise.

As expected there was no reply and, to make sure he did not check his phone for a possible one all through the night, Daniel turned it off before heading to bed. It still took him a few hours to fall asleep and when he finally slept his dreams were filled with the images of a beautiful, short Latina, dark corridors and, gleaming green eyes and pearly white teeth.


Next chapter should be up on the 28th of November; I'll be busy next weekend so I won't have any time to write then.