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"Hey, Lady!" Amanda greeted Betty with a big hug and sniffed her. "Mmmm . . . you smell manly . . ."

"Manly? What?! Oh, it's probably just the guy I'm seeing," Betty realized, then figured Amanda probably would've made the comment regardless.

"So, who is he? Is he sexy? Is he loaded? Can I have him?" Amanda eagerly inquired.

"Yes. Yes. And no," Betty answered. "And aren't you still with Tyler?"

"Yeah, it's just habit," Amanda explained.

"Ahem. Hello . . .! Why do I feel like Susan Lucci waiting for her Emmy?" Marc announced himself.

"Marc! I missed you, too!" Betty flung herself at him in a friendly embrace.

"Ok. Ok. Can't. Lift. The Load . . ." he teased. "You are getting chubbier."

"Marc . . . !" Betty scolded.

"And bitchier . . ." he muttered to Amanda.

"I heard that!" Betty lightly smacked him on the back of the head. "Come on, I'll show you Amanda's room."

"Great! Where's mine?" he eagerly asked.

"Over there," Betty pointed.

"The couch?! But I can only avoid dark circles on a king-size pillowtop mattress!" Marc whined. "I need my uninterrupted R.E.M. cycle! The paparazzi are already after my gorgeous face and I've barely had this job a week."

"I told you, you shouldn't poke the pretty piñata," Amanda smirked. "Thanks, Bestie!"

"You're welcome, Amanda. What paparazzi?" Betty asked.

"The ones outside your building," Marc answered. "You told the media I was coming, didn't you?"

"Um, yeah. Sure," Betty covered, feeling guilty.

"Oh, my little churro, you! Mwah!" he kissed her cheek. "I knew there was a reason I tolerated you all these years!"

Maybe not so much anymore . . .

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So who's the new beau? He obviously spends a lot of time here," Marc observed, gingerly picking up a t-shirt and throwing it back on the floor. "Harvard? Wasn't that where Pasty Face paid for his diploma? You must have a thing."

"Daniel's not dumb, Marc. He's done a lot of stupid things, but he's very intelligent when he wants to be," Betty defended.

"Oh my poor little Pudgy Princess, you're still not over him, are you?" Marc hugged her in comfort.

"No, I'm guess I'm not," Betty played along, feeling a little guilty again for deceiving her friend, but not too much. "Oh – my guy should be here in a few minutes – I thought we could all go out for dinner. I think you'll really like him."

"I'll be the judge of that," Marc replied, protectively. "And keep me away from the entrees – and the desserts – they always kill my diet."

"Got it," she agreed, touched by how caring he was being. "I'll go get Amanda."

Marc nodded and leafed through a magazine.

"Hate it. Hate it. Have it. Hate it . . . Plaid? Really? No wonder she makes bad decisions – when was this published?!" he scoffed, then heard a knock at the door.

He got up and opened it just as Betty and Amanda came into the room. Betty rushed to greet her man, crashing into Daniel with a sultry kiss so hot that it left very little to the imagination, and left Marc and even Amanda with their mouths hanging wide open.

"Holy mother of Prada . . .!" Marc slowly whispered in shock, then exploded. "You?! A-And you?! Why the hell didn't you tell me?!"

"It was more fun this way," Betty shrugged, amused.

"Payback, Marc – for all the insults," Daniel added.

"And how was this not on Fashion Buzz?!" Marc complained.

"It was, actually. But you guys were probably asleep on the plane when it aired," Daniel told him.

"I told you we shouldn't have taken a nap during the day, Mandi – we missed major gossip!" Marc berated Amanda.

"I wanted to get used to the time change," Amanda whined.

"So the paparazzi and reporters outside the building weren't for me?" Marc realized, disappointed.

"No, they were for me and Daniel. But they obviously recognized you. And you said they seemed excited to talk to you about everything MODE, right?!" Betty encouraged him. "Pretty soon you'll be as popular and trend-setting as Wilhelmina!"

"Psssh! Stop!" he feigned modesty. "Go on . . ."

"Betty told me you guys were together, but I always pictured you as a snoozefest with zero chem – you know, like you were at MODE," Amanda commented. "Mmmm . . . that was super sexy – wanna have a threesome?"

"Ewwwww . . . No!" Betty immediately exclaimed.

"Hell no!" Daniel said at the same time.

"You knew?!" Mark attacked Amanda.

"Only for two seconds before we came out here," Amanda defended.

"And you two – the insults - that's our thing. You guys know that. I'm Simon Cowell, you guys are the hopeless contestants . . ." Marc defended.

"We know, Marc. And most of the time we don't mind, but sometimes you take it too far. So maybe you could just dial it down a little?" Betty requested.

"You are kinda mean, sweetie," Amanda agreed.

"Ulchh . . . Fine," Marc rolled his eyes and begrudgingly relented.

"Thank you!" she hurled herself at him in one of her hugs.

"Yeah, thanks, Marc," Daniel said.

"Quick! Go get the Jaws of Life and pry it off me!" Marc exclaimed, struggling to break free from Betty's embrace.

Daniel, Betty, and Amanda all gave him the evil eye and threatened to physically hurt him.

"Kidding! I'm kidding! Sorry – last one for a few minutes," he promised.

They gave him the look again.

"I have to get used to restraining myself!" he excused.

"I have some handcuffs in my bag!" Amanda offered and pulled them out.

Daniel and Betty rolled their eyes. Then Daniel noticed a flash of light on Amanda's ring finger.

"Hey, what's that?" he asked, reaching for her hand.

"Oh, I was going to tell you guys – Tyler asked me to marry him!" she squealed.

Betty squealed along with her and they started jumping up and down and hugging each other.

"That's great, Amanda," Daniel half-heartedly said as he hugged her. He was glad she was happy, but he and Tyler hadn't exactly bonded.

"Isn't it gorgeous? It's supposed to be like really old or something," Amanda explained.

"It's beautiful! Very unique," Betty replied.

Daniel studied the ring carefully. He knew it looked familiar.

"Yeah, Claire gave it to him," Amanda said.

Daniel tried with everything in him not to explode. That was his grandmother's ring – the ring his mother had promised to him for Betty. And she'd given it to Tyler instead – what the hell?! He struggled to calm down as everyone else gushed over the ring and engagement.

"So! Is everybody hungry? I thought we'd try the Japanese steakhouse," Daniel attempted to change the subject, only getting Marc's attention.

"Prepare to help me rescue Charo, here, from singeing her hair again," Marc scoffed. "On second thought, scratch that, Smokey the Bear! You don't exactly exude fire safety either. Apparently Mama Meade was too busy tossing back shots of tequila to teach you not to flambé yourself for love. Mutilated Moron? So not attractive! No wonder your lumpy Latin luvah left you for London!"

"Wait – Betty did what?!" Daniel asked, curiously, ignoring Marc's dig at Betty, his mother, and his accident with Betty's release form.

Marc began to tell him the entire story in detail as they all headed out the door.

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"Just promise me you won't be a douche," Amanda said as she and Daniel entered his and Betty's flat.

"What?! Why would you say that?" Daniel asked.

"Look, like I've said a zillion times before – you're not the best communicator. And you do have issues with Betty being smarter than you," she explained.

"She is not smarter than me," he claimed.

"See. There you go again," Amanda looked at him. "I know you've finally admitted that Chiquita Banana is what gets your tripod standing these days, but just remember plus-sized Prada girls have feelings, too. And this one would do anything for you, so be gentle with her. Betty doesn't do the casual sex thing. So I hope you're totally positive this is what you want."

Daniel rolled his eyes and chuckled at the same time.

"Amanda, I realized after our fight about her blog that I was jealous of how driven Betty was. She'd accomplished more in four years than I ever had and that intimidated me. But I also admire her for it. I'd always had everything handed to me and never bothered to set any real goals for myself. I quit MODE because Betty inspired me to do something on my own - to really work hard to achieve what I wanted in life and in love. That life was a job I wanted and could get without my father. That love was Betty. I would never do anything to hurt her. She's not a fun-buddy or some random model that gets me through the night. I'm in love with her. It's why I came here of all places to start over," he confessed. "She's it for me."

"Awww . . . Then I'm happy for you," she smiled and hugged him, then kissed his cheek. "But if you ever do anything to piss-off my Mexican Mama or crush her oversized heart, I'll come over here and break your balls."

"I won't - trust me. But shouldn't you be on my side?" Daniel wondered, sitting on the couch.

"Bras before booty calls," she excused, sitting beside him. "Betty's my girl bestie."

"Yeah, I get it," he said. "So you and Tyler? Things are that serious?"

"Everyone's surprised I'm not just in it for the ring or the dress or the wedding. It hurts, because I really do love him," she admitted. "I want more than sex – I mean the sex is unbelievable . . . we tried this one thing where -"

"Amanda!" Daniel stopped her.

"What?! Maybe you and Betty would wanna do it," she defended. "I bet she's secretly into all the kinky stuff. Mmmmm . . ."

"Just go back to what you were saying about love!" he huffed.

"Your loss . . . Anyways, I want love. I want a family - I've never really had one of those," Amanda revealed. "I mean, I finally found my bio dad and it's great, but I guess I've always wanted the normal kind. You know the ones you see on TV with the happy parents and the cute kids, and they all sit around the table eating a perfect meal and talk and laugh about their day? I guess that's why I loved when Uncle Papi fixed dinner for us. Mexicans are such warm and welcoming people. I felt like family there."

"Oh, Amanda . . . I never knew you wanted that with someone. I hope you and Tyler have that together," Daniel told her, honestly, putting his hand on hers. "I'm sorry I tried to keep him from you. That was wrong and selfish of me. I knew I didn't love you, but I felt comfortable with you. I needed someone to help me forget my problems, and you were there for me. I didn't want to let you go – especially to the guy who was one of those problems. But without you, I was forced to face them . . . And I ended up finding someone who I actually do love. So thank you."

"You're welcome . . . I don't suppose there's a new wardrobe or something out of it is there?" Amanda tried.

"No," he laughed.

"Ehh . . . worth a shot," she shrugged.

"So I guess we're technically family now, too – future sister-in-law," he realized, leaning back to relax.

"Heeey that's right! So does that mean that like if I'm in trouble or need to borrow money or a kidney or something that I can call you?" she asked.

Daniel chuckled.

"Yeah. But you could always have done that," he said.

"Oh. Well, thanks for telling me now!" she pouted, then got over it and jumped up. "I need a drink! Ooooh! Do you guys have any margarita mix? And where's your Wii? I feel like playing that dance game Betty has. Marc's hilarious at it when he's drunk! And you should see Betty when she's sober!"

Daniel laughed just picturing the two of them.

"I'll go find it. The mix is in the far left cabinet in the kitchen," Daniel told her, getting up from the couch.

Maybe Amanda being engaged to Tyler wouldn't be so bad. Maybe he could give her the family and the happiness she deserved to have. He just wished he hadn't given her the ring that was meant for Betty.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

"So what's really up with you two?" Marc asked Betty when Daniel and Amanda had gone inside the apartment building after dinner.

"What do you mean?" Betty asked, sitting on the steps.

"Are you seriously going to give Great Balls of Fire the time of day after all the 'ish he's put you through? I mean, come on!" he objected. "You've literally dealt with Daniel's dirty, fresh from hetero sex laundry for four years and he couldn't even take his Fall 2008 Ferragamos over to the office to tell you 'goodbye'? He didn't even pick up his freakin' phone! Even Willie wouldn't do that to me and we weren't luvahs like you two were."

"See, that's it, though. That's exactly why Daniel wouldn't talk to me. I wasn't just his employee and friend. He realized he was in love with me. He said he knew that if he'd told me how he felt before I left that I'd feel obligated to stay. He wanted me to be happy, even if it meant letting me go," Betty explained.

"Oh, that is sooo cliché," Marc gagged. "But still swoon-worthy, I suppose."

"And it's not like I was innocent in all of this," she admitted. "I really hurt Daniel by not letting him in on my decision. We told each other everything. Whenever I had a new opportunity, I always turned to him for advice. I'm not sure why I didn't do that this time."

"Maybe subconsciously you thought if you let him in on it, either directly or indirectly, he'd wind up talking you out of it?" Marc assumed. "Because, you never moved to Tucson, or went to Rome. You stayed with Daniel. You fought for the Features position instead of taking the job at the New York Review because you didn't want to leave Daniel. You've always been loyal to him – like his trusty old Mexican hair-mess. And before you get all huffy, I'll admit I'm Willie's poodle, too."

Betty smiled. Wilhelmina always did have Marc on a tight leash.

"Maybe you're right . . . I could never find a way to break it to him that I was leaving – you didn't help, by the way," she reminded him with a slap on his arm.

"I was merely trying to help you face your Daniel Dilemma. You should be thanking me – not spanking me!" he defended himself.

Betty rolled her eyes.

"I'm in love with him," she confessed. "It still sounds funny to say it out loud – he's been my best friend for years. But I'm crazy about him."

"You never noticed it, but you've been cray-cray over Daniel pretty much since you've met him. Not just anyone would go Lady Gaga to save his couture covered ass from all the shit he and his family got into. He did quit his job and move across an ocean for you, though – I guess that makes up for almost all of it . . . and proves you really are the Dolce to his Gabbana," Marc reasoned. "But you should milk it for all it's worth – flowers, jewelry, trips to Paris and Milan . . ."

Betty giggled.

"And don't let him hurt you – 'cause guys like that – I've been there before and it's a long way down to an ugly life of sadness, junk food, and cellulite," he advised.

"I'll keep that in mind," she humored him.

"I'm serious, Betty. Look, I know we joke around and I call you names, but you're still my little Chimichanga. And if Richie Rich ever breaks your heart, call me and I'll get Willie to kick his flat ass to the ground," Marc promised.

"Aww . . . that's the sweetest thing you've ever said to me. I don't think I'll ever need you to, but it's nice to know I have back-up . . . And I love you, too," Betty threw her arms around her friend.

"I actually think I'm getting used to these things – it's a lot like lifting weights – maybe because I am, essentially," he teased.

"Marc!" Betty berated him.

"Sorry," he chuckled. "It's just fun to watch your hairy nostrils flare up."

She smacked him.

"Party pooper," he pouted.

That sat in contented silence for a minute.

"So you and Troy are getting a bigger apartment? That sounds exciting!" Betty said.

"Ehhh . . . I guess," Marc shrugged. "I'm glad I got him back and I guess I do want someone to commit to. I think I love him, but it's all happening so fast. He's already talking about going to Vermont and getting married and maybe adopting a kid from China . . ."

"Wow! Have you tried talking to him? I mean, it seems like he's already five steps ahead of you. You're not even sure if you love him yet," she said.

"I'm afraid if I say something, he'll leave me again," Marc confessed. "I already hurt him once by blowing him off – wrong choice of words – ignoring and avoiding him. What if I tell him how I feel and he can't accept it?"

"Then he isn't worth it. If you tell him that you're not ready, but still want to be with him . . . That someday you want to get married and raise a child together, and he can't wait for you, then maybe you guys aren't meant to be," she advised.

Marc looked down disappointedly.

"You are amazing, Marc. You're smart, and funny, and handsome, and creative – you're even sweet and thoughtful when you want to be. I'm so happy that you've found someone who loves you and who you might be falling in love with. But Troy doesn't deserve you if he isn't willing to wait until you're both on the same page. Don't be afraid to talk to him. I hope he understands and that he's the one for you . . . Even if he isn't, there's someone out there – I know it," she told him.

"There you go getting all Lifetime Original Movie on me again," he rolled his eyes. "But thank you."

"You're welcome," she smiled.

"I never thought we'd get here so soon – definitely not you. I of course was destined for bigger things someday," he mused.

"And now we're both successful – you have Wilhelmina's old job," Betty observed, taking in how incredible that was.

"And you have Daniel's – only in a much less popular, less important magazine," he degraded. "But still, I'm proud of us both. We stuck it out – we really made it."

"Yeah, we have," Betty smiled and rested her head on Marc's shoulder.

Marc leaned his head on hers.

"We've even got paparazzi after us," he smiled, dreamily.

"Isn't it insane?" she laughed.

"Yeah," he said, still dazed by their accomplishments.

"I have to meet up with our London counterparts tomorrow," he said. "If they're all as bad as Clark, I'm gonna have nightmares for weeks!"

"I'm sure you're exaggerating," she told him.

He ignored her.

"And what if I run into yours?! Imagine you on your first day at MODE only 1,000 times worse? Ullllllchhhhh!" he shuddered in disgust. "Not even plastic surgery would fix that!"

"Why don't you give them all a chance first, instead of building up images in your head?" Betty suggested.

"Fine!" he huffed. "But I'll make sure to take pics, for proof that I was right."

Amanda came out of the building.

"Heeey, what are you guys still doing out here? Daniel and I made margaritas," she pulled them both up.

They all went inside, arms wrapped around each other, laughing and talking about old times.