Author's Note: Thanks again for all the reviews, I appreciate each and every one of them! Sorry for the long delay with the update, hit a bit of writer's block. Hopefully this next chapter was worth the wait!

Daniel was elated. He hated himself for it, but he couldn't help it. Daniel loved the fact that for once he could be the hero, he could be the one comforting Betty instead of the other way around. For once he could really be there for her and be a true friend. He hated the fact that she was heartbroken, but he could fix that, he knew he could.

Betty's sobs had turned into quiet whimpers, and then after a few sniffles her body stopped shaking. She shifted her head against Daniel's chest and pulled him closer, letting out a shaky breath. Daniel rubbed her back and rested his cheek on the top of her head. The storm was over now. He closed his eyes and reveled in the feel of her warm body pressed up against his. It felt so undeniably right. In that moment Daniel realized that he would never be able to hold another woman ever again, not like this. Once you discover perfection, it's impossible to go back to the mediocre. "Betty…" Daniel whispered.

He felt Betty's grip on him loosen and he pulled back just enough to lift her head from his chest. He gently brushed her hair away from her face and his hands lingered on her cheeks. He wiped away a few stray tears with his thumbs and guided her to look into his eyes. She smiled painfully and brought her hand up to the back of one of his, then closed her eyes and slowly moved her head so that her lips grazed the patch of skin just under his thumb. Daniel's breath caught in his throat and just about every nerve in his body came alive. But then Betty let go of his hand and fully pulled away from him. She had wiped her eyes one last time and straightened her clothes and hair before Daniel even recovered from the shock that she had just given his senses. The elevator doors opened and she took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and walked out like nothing had happened. Perplexed by Betty's resilience, and absolutely afraid of what his feelings for Betty were turning into, he quickly walked out of the elevator and went straight into his office without looking at Betty as he passed her.

---------------------------------------------------

Once again the evening sun was making its way into Daniel's office. He had thrown himself into his work in order to forget what had happened in the elevator. But every time that he caught a glimpse of Betty out of the corner of his eye he was reminded of how much he wanted her. He could feel the heat of her on his skin, he could smell her perfume in the air, he could feel her lips moving against his palm, and he could feel her hair falling between his fingers. He wasn't quite sure when it had happened, when Betty stopped being, "just Betty," but he was definitely aware now that she was so much more. It didn't make any sense, she was the exact opposite of the type of woman that he went for, but maybe that was the reason. Maybe he was tired of the stick-thin, vain, self-obsessed women who had absolutely nothing going for them except for their beauty, which, in most cases, wasn't even unique. Models were all the same to him, and women like Amanda, well, he honestly couldn't tell one Amanda from another. He wanted more than that superficial world had to offer, he wanted something real, something different, something truly beautiful in its own right. He wanted Betty.

Daniel looked up from his desk and spied Betty typing away at her computer, her face drawn down into a frown, her eyes missing that brightness that he was so accustomed to seeing. She was still hurting. Daniel scratched the back of his head, then looked at his watch. Six o'clock, definitely time to call it a night. He gathered his things and exited his office, stopping at Betty's desk.

"Come on," he said. "Get your things, you're coming to dinner with me."

Betty sighed, and while still looking at her computer as she typed she said, "Daniel, I'm not really in the mood tonight."

Unperturbed, Daniel calmly replied, "Betty. Stop working and come to dinner with me. You need someone to talk to."

Betty tore her eyes away from the computer and looked up at him. "Daniel, honestly, I'm really not in the mood. I just want to go home, eat a carton of ice cream, then curl up in bed and cry myself to sleep and forget that this day ever happened."

Daniel leaned down on Betty's desk so that he was eye level with her and firmly said, "Betty, come to dinner with me."

Betty rolled her eyes and said testily, "Okay! Fine! Let's go to dinner!"

A grin of triumph slowly spread across Daniel's face.