Okay, I'm not too sure about this chapter, but here it is. Thank you to all those who are reading. Getty now and Getty forever!

Chapter 8

Betty sat on the couch in her apartment, bent over, her arms covering the back of her head. "I just feel so lousy," she said.

Hilda walked over and put a cup of coffee on the table in front of her sister, taking her own cup and sitting in the chair next to her. "What happened last night, Betty? Justin came home pretty freaked out."

Rubbing her bloodshot eyes, she said, "Brant hit Gio."

"Justin told me all about that," Hilda said, nodding.

Betty sighed. "Then I slept with him."

Hilda's eyebrows rose. "You got back together with Brant?"

Shaking her head, she said, "No. It was Gio."

Hilda choked on the hot coffee going down her throat. "You slept with Gio? Here?"

Betty hid her face with her hands. "On my desk!"

Her eyes bulged. "You what? Betty, that's not like you!"

"I know. I know," she repeated on a long breath. "But we were alone and fighting and he kissed me."

Hilda waved her hands excitedly. "And?"

"And I had forgotten how much I loved the way he kisses me," she said quietly. "So I gave into what I was feeling and slept with him."

Hilda took another drink of her coffee as she eyed her sister. "So you're dating Gio now?"

"No." Betty ran her hand through her hair. "I told him that I never wanted to see him again."

Hilda's brow furrowed. "What? Why?"

Her mouth dropped open but no words came out until she finally said, "Because I'm so embarrassed of my actions last night. I had no control over myself. How could he ever respect me again?"

"I knew him, too, Betty, and I know how he was with you," she said. "I don't think there will ever be a time that he doesn't respect you."

Betty rubbed her eyes. "I don't want to talk about it anymore. What's going on with you?"

Hilda stared at her a few minutes, until a smile spread across her face and she said, "I've got a date."

Betty smiled for the first time that morning. "That's great!"

Hilda nodded. "Yeah, I'm really excited. He seems like such a great guy."

"Who is it?"

Hilda's face froze and she looked down. "Maurizo Rossi."

"Rossi?" Betty said, her forehead wrinkling. "As in Gio Rossi? As in my Gio?"

"It's his cousin."

"Hilda!"

"What?" she said, shrugging. "It's not Rizo's or my fault that you and Gio can't work things out." Hilda looked at her more pointedly. "Rizo is a good man, Betty. Just like his cousin."

Betty let out a long breath as she stared out blankly into the room. She knew that he was. That's why she loved him.

………………………………………

Gio tried all weekend to call Kat to apologize but he couldn't gather the energy. Deep down, he knew she deserved an explanation in person. Early Monday morning, he got showered and dressed and headed for Meade Publications before he had to go to work himself.

He walked through the lobby and into the elevator. As the doors were about to close, a hand slid between them. He held the doors open and watched as Betty walked inside and stood next to him.

Their bodies tensed and they stared directly forward at the doors. "Good morning," he finally said in a fake, cheerful mood.

Betty ground her teeth. "What are you doing here?"

"I needed to talk to Kat." He glanced over, his eyes piercing hers. "Is that okay with you?"

She cocked her eyebrow. "Are you seriously going to try to win her back now? After what we…"

Flinching at her words, he searched her face for a reaction but found nothing but ice. He returned the coldness and said, "I wasn't aware that you're interested in what I do anymore."

She batted her eyes, trying to regain focus. "I'm not."

He looked away, hissing with guilt. "I owe her an explanation for Friday night, Betty. That's all."

"Oh." She looked at her feet trying to hide that his declaration did make her happy.

They finished the ride in silence. Gio could smell her perfume, the scent that drove him to madness the night of the ball. He had heard the relief in her voice about Kat. He could sense her stress and what he really wanted to do was hold her, massage the tension from her muscles, kiss her worry away. He was about to turn to her and call her name when the elevator stopped and the doors opened.

Betty walked out first quickly and he watched her move away from him before he got out as well.

He asked around for Kat until someone guided him to her desk. He found her hunched over her computer, typing wildly. "Hey," he said, as he leaned against her desk.

Her head flew up and she looked at him. "Hi, Gio," she said as if out of breath.

Pointing at her monitor, he said, "Working hard?"

She gave a faint smile. "Yes, this new article on you is due by the end of the week."

"I'm sure you'll do a great job."

Kat picked up a pencil and twirled it between her fingers. "Why are you really here, Gio?"

Laughing softly but without humor, he said, "I'm not that great at small talk, am I?"

She laughed too, saying, "Not when you look that exhausted and depressed. I take it this weekend didn't go well."

"No," he said. "It didn't. I did what you asked of me. I sorted out how I felt about Betty."

"And?" she asked, holding her breath.

"I love her. I guess that never really went away," he said solemnly. "I'm sorry I got you involved with that."

Kat shook her head. "We never got that serious. You don't have to apologize." She stuck out her hand. "Can we still be friends?"

He smiled and took her hand. "I'd like that. Thank you for understanding, Kat."

She waved her hand for him to stop. "I just hope everything works out for you."

He put his hand on her shoulder. "You too."

Pointing her pencil at him, she said, "I'll give you a call in a few days to get some quotes for the article."

He gave her a quick nod. "Sounds good. Thanks."

They said their goodbyes and he was about to leave when he saw that Betty's assistant was not at her desk. Cursing his compulsion, he headed for her office and knocked at the door. He went inside and found her at her desk.

Her skin paled. "What are you doing, Gio?"

He took a few steps further into the room, his hands down at his sides. "I just want to know what happened Friday, Betty."

Looking back down at the work on her desk, she said, "You had health class. I think you know what happened."

"Dammit, you know what I mean," he said through gritted teeth. "I knew you a long time ago, but I don't think you'd change so much that you would have slept with me and then discarded me for no reason. Why did you do it?"

Still refusing to look at him, her skin was hot and red as she said, "Gio, just go away."

"No," he said, pointing at her. "I've left you without getting an explanation before and I'm not doing it this time. I want to know."

"Why do you want to know?"

He sounded urgent and he came even closer. "Because what we did here meant something. Everything we have done has meant something."

Her eyes glazed with confusion and pain. "What we did was shameful. I've never in my life acted out like that before."

"Haven't you learned by now that it's good to break the rules sometimes?"

Her nerves felt like they were jumping out of her skin. She was so uncomfortable. "Some rules aren't meant to be broken."

His voice cracked and it was rough and raspy as he said, "Am I really that dangerous to you, Betty? Am I that much against the rules?"

Hearing the hurt in his voice, her head finally whipped up and she said, "I wasn't talking about you, Gio. What I did was wrong."

His face crinkled. "How?"

She looked away again, tears stinging her eyes. "I touched you out of my own need. I used you in the basest of ways. How could you ever look at me again without saying, 'There's Betty Suarez—the woman I nailed on a desk one night'?"

"Is that what you think?" he asked, coming closer now so that he was standing directly across from her. "Betty, did you sleep with me because you wanted sex or because you wanted to be with me?"

She looked up at his pleading, dark eyes. The way he was staring at her made her incapable of lying this time. "I wanted you."

He sat down on the edge of her desk. Taking his finger, he put it underneath her chin so that she would continue to look at him. "Then you didn't use me. And I sure as hell didn't use you. What we did in this room wasn't wrong. As much as I hate to admit it, I was making love to you."

Her eyes became big. "What?"

"Sex isn't always delicate and romantic. But I was expressing how I felt and I would never look down on you for that," he said, rubbing her jaw with his thumb.

A tear finally slipped down her cheek. "Why didn't you call me?"

He smiled. "I'm here now."

Shaking her head, she said, "Five years ago. You promised me you'd call when you got back from Rome. Why didn't you?"

He stood up and turned away from her, putting his hands in his pockets. "Because you broke my heart. I wanted to call. I almost did many times, but I never did." Pacing mindlessly, he added, "And then my sister died and I adopted Annie. I couldn't risk getting close to you and getting hurt again. And I couldn't let Annie get hurt either."

Now Betty's heart snapped in guilt. All the anger they had had in the past weeks melted away as they both realized what they had lost for so long. They were looking at each other for the first time in years. Really looking at who they were. "I tried to find you once," she said. "I got the nerve to finally go to the deli and you had sold it."

"Yeah," he said, turning towards her again. "I couldn't afford keeping it in the city with Annie. I moved the deli to Queens until I had enough money to start Hero Worship."

"Oh."

He walked back to her desk and leaned over, putting his hands on her desk. "You looked for me?"

Nodding, she said, "I was afraid I had made a mistake and I missed you. But when I couldn't find you, I thought it was a sign."

"You've ran from me twice, Betty," he said, pain and desperation in his voice. "It couldn't just be because of shame this time. Why did you leave now and why then?"

She stayed silent until he put his hand on hers. Finally unable to keep it inside any longer, she said, "I left for the same reason then as now."

He leaned closer. "What is it?"

Looking into his eyes, she said, "You could mean forever. You always have. The only other person who has was Henry. After that ended so badly, I was terrified of forever. I was terrified of you. I still am."

He cupped the side of her face with his hand. "I'm scared too. But fear shouldn't stop you from trying. You'll never be happy if you keep running. And neither will I."

She put her hand over his on her face. "What are you saying?"

He took a deep breath and stared truthfully and deeply into her eyes. "I'm saying that if you're willing to stop running, I'll stop fighting you. I want us to be okay, Betty."

Squeezing his hand, she said, "So do I."

He gave her a small smile. "More than okay."

She smiled back. "So do I."

He swiped tears from her cheeks with his thumbs. "Have dinner with me tonight."

She blinked. "Okay."

TBC