AUTHOR'S NOTE: I tried to make it a point to be at least two chapters ahead of any published updates in case I need to go back and make changes to fit the direction this is going, but the chapters are getting a lot longer and I'm getting impatient to update!

Does anyone feel like maybe the revelation of "feelings" is a little one sided? I think maybe I'm focusing a lot on Daniel's feelings and not enough on Betty. Hmm… maybe I need to work on that.

DISCLAIMER: I do not own Ugly Betty, its characters, or any ideas, concepts, or names originating from the ABC show.


He could feel his temperature rising. He grasped for his collar, nervously loosening his tie. Swallowing became difficult. His mind went completely blank as he searched for something to say. Something clever and witty to explain away the letter he wrote. Some way he could spin it so she wouldn't think it was about her. Or maybe he just needed to find the courage deep within him to say those three words.

"We…switched…laptops," Daniel managed between breaths. He handed Betty her bag, stalling for some time to come up with just the right words to say.

"Thank you, Daniel, you're a lifesaver! Why didn't you just call me?" She said as she took her bag.

"I did. Several times. It just went to voicemail." He felt a little guilty that it was his own life he was trying to save.

"I must have left it on silent from the office." Betty shrugged and gestured for him to come in. Daniel's eyes scanned the room behind her. "Don't worry, Ian just left," Betty said knowingly.

"Oh. Umm, no, I was just wondering… do you have my computer bag?" Daniel was still fishing for any indication if for certain Betty had a chance to open it or not.

She turned to retrieve it from the living room, her fading voice soothing Daniel's concerns, "Yeah, I didn't even realize it wasn't mine!" She returned with the bag of contraband. "Ian kind of kept me from getting any work done."

Daniel clutched his bag with relief. "So… that's Ian, huh?"

"Yeah, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. I'm so sorry about earlier. I don't know why he was acting so jealous. He's really not that…"

"Douchey?" Daniel offered.

"I wasn't going to say that, but yeah. I know it's hard to believe, but he really is a great guy. Well, you shouldn't have to worry about getting anymore attitude from him. We talked and I made it clear to him that you and I are just friends." There is was again. Those two words were like a double-edged knife.

"It's alright. I guess I'd feel a little insecure too if I thought someone else was threatening my relationship with you."

Betty gave him a puzzled look before bidding him goodnight and shutting the door on an emotionally charged evening. Daniel rested his forehead on her door knowing he was running out of time before his Letter from the Editor would be made light.


Daniel stood there befuddled by all the buttons, lights, and compartments. He became convinced that office assistants, brain surgeons, and rocket scientists shared similar IQ levels. He knew he should probably just go ask someone for help, but he was certain they would make a crack about how he had so much experience and couldn't even handle a Xerox machine. If not to his face, they surely would talk amongst themselves in the break room. Daniel was determined he would conquer this task on his own.

After extensive examination, he identified an icon that must have indicated a place to feed papers. Daniel placed the original copy of the photo release form in the feeder, print side up, punched 5 and 0 on the number pad, then took a safe guess that the big green button was to start the copies. Lights moved and glowed, churning sounds emanated from within the metal beast. He walked around the copy machine trying to find the exit for the fifty copies he presumed to have made. He eventually found a crevice in the middle where papers were spitting out one at a time. Blanks.

"What the - ?" Daniel studies the control panel again, scratching his head unsure of what buttons he actually pressed before placing the original form back in the feeder, print side down, ordering fifty copies, and hitting the start button for the second time. The copy machine glowed and churned once again. Daniel reached in to retrieve the second set of papers he was fairly certain – rather, hopeful –he had gotten correct. What he found instead was a set of flyers for the office pizza party on astro bright pink paper and hot off the press.

"Stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid!" He kicked the copy machine in frustration. Stephen, a sub-editor, came into the copy room just in time to catch Daniel grabbing his stubbed toe. "Who designed these things? It would be so much simpler to have a box full of trained hamsters transcribing your originals." Daniel griped hoping to get at least a nod of agreement from the young man gawking at him. Earning no sympathy, Daniel fled the room. He stepped back into the copy room to take an indignant jab at the innocent bystander. "And I'm not giving you an invitation to the office pizza party either!" Daniel made sure to slam the door on his second dramatic exit.


"We're meeting in the conference room in 10 minutes to pare down the contents of our very first issue. Kind of exciting how close it's getting!" Betty informed Daniel with a subtle squeal.

"Shouldn't you guys have already decided that a long time ago? You're just a few weeks from publishing." Daniel struggled to keep pace with this perky and determined woman despite his one foot height advantage.

"Yes, we pitched ideas a while back and chose what we liked, but Mr. Dunne wants to keep the magazine a little smaller at first until he knows how it does. Plus, now that some of the content is ready, we just want to make sure it all gels together. It's not like any other issue. This really needs to pop and catch people's attention and yet still say 'This is just the beginning'." Betty gestured as if her words were big, imaginary signs and marquees lining their pathway. As Daniel strode along beside her, he clumsily dodged her flailing arms. "Sorry. I'm a little over-enthusiastic."

He smiled admiringly at her. "No, don't apologize. You have every right to be over-enthusiastic. This is your moment. You should shine. I'm really proud of you, you know that? I think it's awesome that you get to start as an Editor-in-Chief and actually know what you're doing. You amaze me."

Betty tried not to let his words melt her, but she couldn't contain her kilowatt smile. "Aww, your first pep talk! You're pretty good at that, but you give me far too much credit." She grabbed Daniel's hand to stop their walk. "Don't tell anybody this, but I really don't know what I'm doing. Shhh!" She pretended to say under her breath. They let their hands and their gaze linger for a brief moment before they resumed their amble to the conference room.

As they continued toward the conference room, Daniel handed Betty the stack of copies that had been haunting him all morning. "Here are the photo release forms you wanted me to make copies of. Also, here is a message from Aaron Brandt at Dove. I spoke with him about including a discounted subscription offer with some of their products in exchange for a free spread in Reflect. He wants to speak with you, but he sounded like he might be interested."

"Wow, Daniel, that's a great idea! Subscriptions to our magazine guarantee future sales!" Betty rifled through the papers Daniel had handed to her. She caught sight of a small strip of yellow paper sticking out of the stack of copies. Betty pulled it out to look at it assuming it was another message on a Post-it note. "Umm, Copy Depot? Daniel, you do know we have our own copy room, don't you?" She eyed him from the top of her glasses holding out the receipt Daniel overlooked.

Daniel's face turned beet red and he pursed his lips in attempt to avoid the question. "Okay! I didn't know how to use the copy machine! First time I tried, they came out blank and the second time, these came out!" He handed her the pink pizza party flyers. "I don't even know where that came from! How a copy machine even makes copies of something that doesn't exist is beyond me! You guys need to have that thing serviced. I'm sure it's broken."

Betty, taken aback by his sudden outburst over something as trivial as a copy machine, tried her best to stifle her laughter. "You don't think it's 'user error'?"

"You have to be in Mensa to operate that stupid machine!" Daniel continued to sulk.

Betty could not help her laughter anymore. She didn't know why she was so endeared by his defensiveness. "Daniel, it's okay! You don't have to get your panties in a twist over it. Why didn't you just ask someone for help? You didn't have to go all the way to Copy Depot and pay extra money for a few copies."

"I just want to be a great assistant. I don't want to need you to hold my hand through every minuscule task."

"I will gladly hold your hand if you need help. I've been in your shoes before." Betty took his hand and gave it a squeeze to show Daniel she was sincere. Daniel held open the door to the conference room, leading her in by the hand she had tightly affixed to his. "Thank you, everyone, for coming on time." Betty's voice caught in her throat as she discovered a pair of unexpected eyes glaring at them from across the table. Having forgotten that Ian would be attending this meeting, she immediately dropped Daniel's hand and the collection of files, copies, and notes she had carried in. Betty, Daniel, and a couple nearby staff members scrambled to the floor to retrieve the tousled papers.

"Thank you. Thank you. I'm sorry. Just a sec, everyone!" Betty said at random, her composure noticeably unraveled. Once she had her files and her mind gathered back together, she commenced the important meeting. The editors quickly dove into the process of weeding out any items that had initially seemed like a great idea but fizzled in execution. A few articles were requested to be trimmed down to fit the 45 pages of actual content they were allotted. Daniel eagerly kept notes of all the suggested changes on his yellow legal pad. About a half hour into the process, Katherine, from Editorials, spoke up.

"I don't think we should use the feature article on Petra Nemkova's tsumani relief work for this issue." Betty immediately shied away from the suggestion knowing that she might seem partial.

Ian made his first input of the day, "What do you mean you don't want to use it? It's already written. I've worked very hard to get an interview with her. It's perfect." Daniel kept his face down, staring intently at his notes so as not to show the bit of pleasure he derived from Ian's irritation with someone other than himself.

"I'm not saying that it's not a good or useful article. I'm simply suggesting that we not use it for the first issue. Everything else in this issue has that essence of 'newness'…" Katherine rebutted.

"No, I agree with Katherine. The feature story in this first issue should be something more fresh. Inaugural, even," another editor piped in. Ian was getting visibly irate. Betty knew that, as a professional, Ian should have been used to this type of trimming process, but his attitude was not entirely based on having his story possibly postponed. She looked at him with eyes pleading for understanding which Ian chose to ignore. Betty looked down at Daniel who was tapping his legal pad impatiently waiting for a decision he could record when it dawned on her that Ian's petulance arose from Daniel's presence.

"Ian, I've read your feature and it's truly fantastic. I will definitely make room for it on the sophomore issue, but I think these ladies make a valid point." Betty finally stepped in hoping the compromise would assuage him. This wasn't the time or place for him to have another ego trip and his insolence was doing nothing to convince Daniel he was truly a good guy. It dawned on her that she wanted – actually, needed – Daniel's approval of Ian. She was feeling caught between these two important men in her life, socially and professionally.

Ian shrugged and slumped down into his chair. "Then how will you fill those four pages of content you removed? What new and fresh story will you replace it with?" His voice was less defiant and more defeated at that point. Betty's mouth moved, but she had not solution. She searched the room for any other input. The room was quiet and uncomfortable.

"Starting anew." Daniel's voice cracked timidly. All eyes shifted to the assistant behind the yellow notepad.

"What was that, Daniel? Did you have a suggestion?" Betty asked nervously knowing that Ian's ego would take an enormous hit if Daniel offered an idea that replaced his.

Daniel cleared his throat and sat up straight in his chair. "Yeah, uh, what about 'starting anew'? A story about someone starting over in life? Post-divorce or tragedy. Maybe a new job or new locale… or maybe both? I think we all know someone in this very room that would be a perfect fit to write about her experiences. A certain Editor-in-chief?" The room broke out in a low hum of excited discussion.

"Oh, Daniel, I don't know if I'm the best subject to do a full feature on," Betty said doubtfully, partly out of humility and partly out of guilt for potentially replacing Ian's story with her own.

"Betty, that would be perfect!" Katherine chimed. "It's exactly the 'fresh start' story this issue needs! And what better person to feature than the founding Editor-in-chief herself!"

Betty was beginning to blush as she avoided making any eye contact with a particular man across the room. "I don't think my story could even fill a four page spread."

"I know! Daniel can write it with you! He's starting anew also, right? New job, new locale. And since you're both coming from the same place, it would be an interesting to see both of your perspectives." Katherine was obviously feeling quite proud of her latest suggestion if her bright expression was any indication.

Daniel was stunned by the direction his original suggestion was being taken. He and Betty shared bewildered expressions with one another as the current of (almost) unanimous excitement swept them into the assignment together. There was one member of the room whose countenance was crushed and disheartened. Even Daniel couldn't help but feel a bit sorry for Ian. He was certain that Betty's story would be precisely the right spirit for the inaugural issue, but including him in it was more than Ian could surely take. Daniel attempted to backpedal out of the situation.

"I think Betty could carry the torch all by herself. She's stepping out into the world as the head honcho, after all. I'm just an assistant. No one needs to hear my story."

"But starting over for one could be a big leap and for another, a blank slate. People want to know what both are like." Meredith assured him.

"I agree." Everyone stopped and turned to face the new voice standing in the doorway. Mr. Dunne was leaning casually against the doorframe with a pensive but friendly expression on his face. "I've been listening to this new idea that has been tossed around and I love it! Betty, Daniel, can you have that story ready to go by Friday? And why don't you go ahead and schedule the cover shoot for the two of you?" Mr. Dunne turned to leave.

"Cover shoot? Mr. Dunne, you want Daniel and me on the cover?"

"Of course, dear. It's perfectly normal to be featured on the cover of your own magazine. Oprah does it all the time!"

"I – " Betty never got another word in edgewise before Mr. Dunne was out of sight. She gave Daniel a look of hesitation. Her eyes apologized for getting him involved. Daniel simply shrugged and flashed his half smile.

"Umm, ok, well, I guess we can just adjourn this meeting for today. We made some great progress, so now Daniel and I will get to work on this story. If it's dull, you can all blame yourselves for orchestrating it." Everyone collected their belongings and filed out the door.

Betty stopped Ian before he was out the door and invited him to talk her in her office. Daniel followed a comfortable distance behind them and waited until Ian and Betty were inside her office with the door shut before he took his seat at his desk. He took out the notes he wrote and began typing them into an e-mail to send out to all the editors. He was straining to listen in on their conversation, but alas there was no shouting, no outbursts, just the quiet hum of their low voices through the glass. He caught their reflection in the chrome pencil holder on his desk in time to watch Betty reach out to hold Ian's hand. He closed his eyes remembering what her touch felt like on his own hand.


"Ian, I'm really sorry about your story getting bumped. It wasn't my idea, but you have to admit, they made some good points about the first issue." Betty pleaded with Ian who had gone from arrogant to deflated.

"No, it's alright. You all made sense. It was just a little emasculating to have my story revoked in front of Daniel and the rest of the staff." Ian said quietly.

"What does Daniel have to do with it? It wasn't his idea to take out your story either. Sweetie, you need to get over this whole alpha-male rivalry you have going with him. I don't get it. You two aren't in direct competition for anything. Why are you so threatened by him?" Betty had a clue why Ian was insecure about Daniel and she felt guilty for making Ian feel like it was all in his head, but she was trying to convince herself as much as she was him.

"I'm not threatened by him. I just see how he has this easy way with you. He's known you for so long and so well that he's privy to things I still can't crack. I just feel like you don't let me in, but he's already there. I can see the looks you two exchange like you have this secret language between you two." Ian's face fell which prompted Betty to take his hand. She was arguably the world's worst liar, so it was useless to come up with false pleasantries to make him feel better. She knew what he said was true. She didn't want to make any reassuring promises that would compromise her relationship with Daniel. Instead, she deflected from his allegation with other words of comfort.

"You know, the good thing about your story getting put off is that your contract isn't up yet. And you know what that means?" She wagged her eyebrows at him.

"More time here with you?" Ian's face lit up for the first time that day and he leaned in for a surrendering kiss.