Betty was sorting through some advertising contracts the next day when Rachel knocked on the office door and then stuck her head in.

"Hey Betty, I have that article finished. Did you want a hard copy or the file?"

"The file is fine, just email it, thanks Rachel." Betty exhaled loudly feeling very stressed.

"Are you alright?" Rachel asked noticing Betty's tension.

"I'm fine. It's just that I've only been here two hours and the work is piling up already. I didn't want to have to work late tonight because I'm supposed to be going to dinner with Vincent and Daniel but it looks like I might have to." She stuck her fingers under the rim of her glasses and rubbed her eyes, tired from all the redlining she'd been doing.

"Is there something I can do to help? Now that my article is done I have some time," she offered as she wandered further into the office.

As always, she was dressed stylish yet very professional in her form fitting black pants, grey jacket and a low cut emerald blouse that added just the perfect amount of colour and brought out her green eyes. Actually, Rachel was the only person she'd ever seen with eyes anywhere near as striking as Daniel's.

Betty smiled with relief. "Oh, thank you Rachel. I could really use the help. I need some fact checking done on these articles, if you don't mind," she handed her two files.

"No problem." Rachel smiled warmly hesitating for a second. "So…uh Daniel? The good-looking bloke I met at your launch party? Is he in town again?"

"Yeah. He's going to be staying for a while." Betty grinned broadly still very excited about it.

"Staying for a while?" Rachel's curiosity was piqued.

"Uh, yeah. He's got, um…work he has to do." For some reason Betty did not want Rachel to pick up on the connection between Daniel, Meade publications, and ModeUK.

"Hmm...and you and your photographer boyfriend are going to dinner with him tonight?"

"Yeah, why?" Betty wasn't sure Vincent was really her boyfriend but didn't feel like getting into semantics right now.

"Well, I just thought maybe he'd want a little of his own companionship at the dinner." She looked incredibly hopeful and Betty realized she was fishing for an invitation.

"Oh, I don't know Rachel. He just got into town yesterday and it's not like you know each other…"

"That's the whole point – to get to know each other. Surely he doesn't want to be a third wheel on your date with Vincent."

"It's not a date with Vincent. It's a dinner with Daniel," Betty corrected her.

"Oh." Rachel stopped short and looked like she was trying to process it. "So Vincent's the third wheel."

"No, of course not." Betty said defensively. "Nobody is a third wheel. It's just friends hanging out."

"Well if it's just friends hanging out then what's wrong with adding another friend?" she smiled conspiratorially.

"So you're not trying to pick him up?"

"Of course I'm trying to pick him up." Rachel looked at her like it was the most ridiculous question she could have asked. "He's single, I'm single, and it's probably no surprise to you that he is extremely attractive." Rachel sat down in the chair opposite Betty's desk and crossed her long legs.

The fact that Rachel was so bold was making Betty a little uncomfortable so she shifted in her seat. She wondered if issuing an invitation to dinner, now that she knew her intentions, was like setting them up.

"You have noticed he's attractive, haven't you?" Rachel added looking intently at her, when Betty didn't respond to her comment.

"Of course I've noticed." Betty shifted her attention back to the papers and shuffled them mindlessly trying to look casual. The way Rachel seemed to be examining her reactions was making her feel self-conscious.

"So is there some history there or something then?" Rachel asked.

"History?" She looked back up at Rachel.

"Yes. You seem uneasy or uncomfortable about inviting me for some reason. I thought maybe the two of you…" Rachel gestured with a bizarre hand motion.

Betty's eyes went wide partly at the suggestion and partly from the image inspired by the bizarre gesture. "Okay, I'm not even sure what that means." Betty admitted uncomfortably.

"It means—"

"I mean, I know what it means. I just didn't understand the exact signage." Betty interrupted quickly before Rachel could explain it. "There's no history with Daniel and I'm not uneasy about it. I just don't do set ups. He's my friend, you work with me - if it doesn't work out it would be awkward, that's all."

"Why? It's not like I work with him. Come on Betty, please. If there's no history then don't hide him away from the rest of us. Those eyes, his smile, that physique, he is absolutely yummy. I'm getting hot just thinking about it." She fanned herself.

And there was the guilt she'd been repressing this entire conversation. As ridiculous an accusation as it was, she was trying to hide him away. There was no reason why she shouldn't invite Rachel to dinner. Betty was dating Vincent after all, even if she couldn't exactly define him as a "boyfriend". It was just that the thought of Daniel with Rachel – with anyone if she was honest - was extremely bothersome. And, unfortunately, she couldn't think of a good excuse at the moment.

"Fine. You can join us." She plastered on one of her fake smiles again.

She might as well get used to it. It's not like she'd be able to hide Daniel away from the entire female population of London anyway. It's just she hadn't really expected to be a co-conspirator in setting him up with Rachel. She wondered, pathetically - with her throat tightening up and her stomach feeling like there was a rock in it - if their gorgeous blonde children with the freakish blue-green eyes would call her Aunt Betty.

She berated herself yet again: genetics doesn't work that way Suarez.

A little while later, after signing off on several articles and double checking some facts on her own article, Betty decided she'd better firm up the dinner plans.

"ModeUK. Daniel Meade's office. How may I help you?" a male voice answered.

"Hi. I'm Betty Suarez. I'm a friend of Daniel's from New York. Well…not that I'm in New York now. I live in London now, as you could probably tell because it's super early in the morning in New York so I wouldn't be calling Daniel right now if I lived there." She rolled her eyes at herself, realizing she'd started to ramble. "And you are?"

There was a slight pause before he responded questioningly as if he wasn't sure if this was some kind of bizarre test. "Daniel Meade's assistant?"

"Right. Of course. But your name?" Betty fished.

"Mickey," he responded.

"Mickey, like the mouse?" Betty asked to make sure she'd heard correctly.

"That's very clever. I don't think I've ever heard that one before," he said with dripping sarcasm.

"So Mickey, have you worked at Mode long?" Betty asked brushing past his comment.

There was another pause before a hesitant answer. "About two years."

"And were you an assistant the whole time?" She asked trying to elicit more than just one sentence responses from him.

"Is this an interview because I already have a job?"

"No. I was just trying to get to know you." Betty explained. "I'm a good friend of Daniel's so I'm sure we'll probably be talking to each other quite a bit."

"Mmm hmm? And will that entail more than just polite civility, I wonder?"

"Uh…" She wasn't really sure what he was asking so she ignored it. "You know I used to be Daniel's assistant back in New York?

"Is that so?" There really wasn't much interest in his intonation.

"Yes, well before I got the position as Junior Features Editor. So you see we have a lot in common."

"Really? Are you a gay British man as well?" He asked.

"Well, no…obviously."

"Obviously," he replied smugly.

"But I meant work-wise we have a lot in common."

"Really? And what is it you do 'work-wise'?"

"I'm the managing editor of Londonesque." She couldn't help smiling as she said it; it always filled her with pride.

"Oh, so you run the new magazine Dunne Publications has launched," he sounded impressed. Betty smiled with relief. Maybe they would hit it off after all. She was hopeful, until he continued very sarcastically "You're right, we do have a lot in common. You run your own magazine, I get coffee for someone who runs his own magazine. It's like we're the same person."

"Well, I used to get coffee for Daniel and now look where I am," she offered hopefully.

"Are you always this peppy?"

"Uh…" She was a little taken aback.

"Can I put through to Mr. Meade now? Please?" he begged, as if he wanted her to end his torture.

"Sure."

Betty launched right in as soon as Daniel answered his phone.

"Your new assistant is…" She was about to say rude but stopped herself so she could choose her words carefully. Daniel had fired Gio when she'd complained too much about him one day. She didn't want that on her conscience again. "Um…spunky."

"Yeah, he's great, huh? He says whatever pops into his head. He's like Marc but with sass."

"Marc didn't have sass?" Betty questioned.

"Well, you know…more sass," Daniel added.

"I'm not sure that's necessarily a good thing," she mumbled.

"What?" Daniel hadn't heard her which was good because she didn't really intend him to.

"Nothing. Is your morning going okay?"

"Great, fantastic, awesome. I've already sorted through thirty resumes, redlined three articles and hired a photographer for our cover shoot." He spoke really fast and with a slightly higher pitch than normal. It was somewhere between stressed and strung out.

"Are you alright?" Betty asked with a little concern.

"I'm great, I just said that. Why?"

"You sound funny."

"Oh. Well I've had some caffeine, maybe that's it."

"How much caffeine?"

"Uh, let me think…four regular coffees, a cappuccino, and this super turbo charged energy drink, Adreneline Blast or something like that."

"Are you kidding me? It's not even noon. Okay, no more caffeine for you today. Did you know those energy drinks can cause heart palpitations? And with your family history of heart problems…just don't drink anymore of that stuff."

"So that's what those weird sensations were. I thought it was just the stress."

"Daniel! You cannot just avoid weird chest sensations." Immediately that image of Bradford Meade lying at the front of the church popped into her head and she started to panic.

"Relax Betty, I'm just teasing you. There were no weird sensations. No more energy drinks, I promise. I can't promise about the coffee though. I'm exhausted and I don't have time for jet lag."

She decided to get to the point of the phone call. "So are you still up for dinner tonight?"

"With both you and Vincent?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Uh..." He was hesitating and she realized he was trying to think up an excuse.

"What's wrong?" she asked bluntly.

"Nothing."

"Then why are you hesitating?"

"I'm not."

"Daniel…"

"Okay. It's just that it's going to be a long day and I'm already wiped. I have so much to do and I don't even have time for the jet lag that's trying to take hold."

"I get it, but you do have to eat somewhere, right? There's a nice restaurant right around the corner from your office," she said hopefully. "Come on, please?"

He sighed. "Alright, but make it later in the evening and I won't be able to stay and hang around talking because I'll have to come in here early," he added apologetically.

"Great!" Her spirits were lifted and she grinned broadly. "Oh, and one more thing I almost forgot," she figured he should have a heads up about it. "Rachel is coming too."

"Rachel?"

"You know, the editor I introduced you to at the launch party." Maybe it was a good sign that he couldn't remember her.

"Oh."

"That's okay, right? Because I kind of already told her she could."

"Yeah, that's fine."

When they'd finished their conversation and hung up the phone Daniel heaved a huge sigh, pushed his chair back from the desk and looked up at the ceiling. Great, he was going out on some kind of perverse double date with Betty and Vincent. Was Betty really on such a different page than him that she'd actually be trying to set him up?

Daniel pulled open the heavy wooden door of the restaurant and walked in. The entrance was small but the restaurant seemed to open up into a large dining room directly behind the hostess station, with a large bar on the left and tables to the right. The young hostess smiled at Daniel as soon as she sent the couple ahead of him off to their table.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Yes. I'm meeting some friends…" he glanced into the dining room and noticed Betty waving enthusiastically from a table about halfway into the room. "And actually, there they are." He pointed to the table.

The hostess nodded understanding and he went to meet them. Betty and Vincent were sitting facing the door which is why she'd seen him right away.

"Hey everyone," Daniel said as he approached the table.

Vincent stood up politely and shook his hand. "Nice to see you Daniel, it's been a while."

"Yeah, I guess. What's it been, four years?"

"Something like that. Time sure flies."

"Daniel, you remember Rachel?" Betty gestured to Rachel who was sitting across the table from Betty.

"Sure. Hi Rachel," he smiled at her.

Her smile was broad. "Hello Daniel. It certainly is nice to see you again."

Daniel took the empty seat beside Rachel at the table, directly across from Vincent.

"So Betty tells me you're doing some work for Dunne," he said as he picked up the menu.

"Yeah, it started as a photo shoot for the anniversary issue of Zen but Lindsey kept finding other projects for me to work on, which was fine by me because it meant I could stay in London a little longer." He looked over to Betty and she smiled.

Daniel nodded but his gut twisted.

"Why have you come back to London, Daniel?" Rachel asked him changing the topic.

"Oh, I'm doing some work at Mode," Daniel answered somewhat evasively.

"I hear ModeUK is having some trouble." Vincent said casually, causing Daniel to glance quickly at Betty.

Betty shrugged and shook her head to indicate she hadn't told him. Troubled magazines tended to make advertisers and contract employees like photographers nervous and the wrong kind of rumour could be like a death sentence. But Daniel knew Betty was aware of that from working as his assistant and she would never have betrayed his confidence.

"Oh, Betty didn't tell me. It's just something I heard in my circles," Vincent said noticing the interaction between the two.

"Well, I assure you, the information in your circles is wrong." Daniel was sharp and turned his attention to the menu.

"I don't think Vincent meant any offense, Daniel," Betty said cautiously.

"Of course not, I was just speaking off the top of my head. It tends to get me into trouble sometimes."

Daniel relaxed a little. "Sure." He cleared his throat. So…uh, what looks good?" He focused on the menu and tried changing the subject.

"On the menu?" Rachel asked with a suggestive smirk which Daniel instinctively reacted to with a smile. He had to hand it to her she was smooth.

"I think the salmon looks good," Betty responded with a cool tone as she grabbed her water and took a sip.

"Well, I'm always up for a good steak so that's what I'm getting," Vincent put his menu down and casually put his arm around the back of Betty's chair.

"So, that was quite a coincidence, you two running into each other in Lindsey's office the other week, huh?" Daniel said to keep the conversation flowing and to try and ignore the burning sensation in his stomach.

"Yeah. It was fantastic to see Betty. I almost didn't recognize her." Vincent looked over and smiled at her as his hand that was on the back of her chair slid down to rest on her shoulder. She blushed a little and looked down bashfully.

Just then the waiter arrived. "Can I get anyone a drink before you start?"

Daniel responded promptly, his voice a little higher pitched than he would have liked. "Yeah, I'll have a scotch. Uh…as soon as you can get it here, please." Betty gave him a look of concern that he ignored.

He hoped a little alcohol might help him survive this evening, but he needed to be smart. The last thing he needed was to drink too much and do or say something he'd regret.

The dinner did not go exactly as Betty had expected or hoped. Not that she'd really known what to hope for once Rachel has weaseled an invitation. Okay, so "weaseled" was a little inaccurate. She had to admit that Rachel had been completely forthright about her intentions so she couldn't fault her there.

She suspected Rachel would spend the evening fawning over Daniel and she was not wrong in that assumption. She hadn't anticipated that Daniel would be as sullen and moody as he was though. Although he had warned her he wasn't in the best frame of mind - that things at Mode were stressful - in her naivety she thought maybe he just needed a break; that a night out with friends would help him.

It hadn't, it seemed. His mood remained somber the entire dinner. She'd worried about him a little when he ordered his first scotch of the evening with that high pitched voice he used when his anxiety level was up. Thankfully he had kept it to two.

Betty, who had started the evening excited, was growing increasingly glum and sour. Between Daniel's attitude which she was desperately trying to be understanding about, and Rachel's flirting which was bugging her more than it had the night of her launch party, she was just about ready for dinner to be over. The kicker happened just as the meal was winding down and they were talking casually about the weather of all things.

"This heat we're having is awful," Rachel commented. "Almost makes me wish I didn't have to wear anything at all." She looked meaningfully at Daniel.

Betty gaped at her brazenness and commented coolly, "I would think, if you were wearing next to nothing, that your pa—" She almost said pasty but stopped herself in time. "Uh…fair skin would burn and blister in the summer sun." Not unlike Dracula's, she refrained from adding.

"Oh, I never said anything about being outside." She raised her eyebrows suggestively.

Betty didn't have a quick come back for that one instead she decided to veer in a safer direction. "Apparently New York is in a bit of a heat wave too. Hilda said she couldn't ever remember it being so hot." She commented before she took a sip of her coffee.

"It was pretty hot last summer at the end of July. We broke records. I can't imagine it getting much warmer than that," Daniel replied.

"I remember that. I was doing a shoot outdoors and had to postpone it for a few days because I was worried about the humidity damaging my equipment," Vincent added.

"I don't know. I just know what Hilda said." Betty shrugged.

"Well, I'm going back in a couple of days so I'll let you know," Vincent said casually.

Betty's head snapped up and she looked at him with a start. "You are?"

"Yeah. My work at Dunne is finished and I need to get back to my studio."

"Oh." She looked down at her plate and tried not to look as surprised and disappointed as she felt. Oddly, the disappointment was more about how she'd found out than the fact he was leaving.

"Uh…so…what are your plans for when you get back?" Daniel jumped in. He gave Betty a soft smile of empathy across the table which almost made her feel worse. Obviously her shock and disappointment was apparent to Daniel even if the other two didn't notice.

"Well, first I have to do some shots for a V.I.P. client that has requested me specifically. And then, although it's not official yet, Lindsey says has a project for me and I have to meet with my rep and get to work on an outline and proposal for it."

Betty wondered if it was that book he had mentioned to her before but she didn't feel like being inquisitive about it right now.

The others rambled on for the rest of the dinner. Betty had mostly tuned them out, only occasionally throwing a feigned smile or chuckle out so as not to be to obviously unsocial.

They hailed cabs in front of the restaurant. Vincent and Betty climbed in one and it looked like Rachel and Daniel were going to share the other.

Betty was quiet in the cab much like she'd been for the remainder of dinner but apparently now, without the others, it was obvious to Vincent.

"I get the impression something is wrong," Vincent finally said when they were part way back to Betty's flat.

"What? Why would you say that?" She tried to remain nonchalant about it.

"Come on Betty, you got quieter and quieter as the evening went on and now you're not even speaking."

"I'm speaking. I don't know what you're talking about."

"Is it Rachel?"

"Why would it be Rachel?"

"You were sending some chilly vibes her way."

"I was not." She hadn't realized it was quite so obvious.

"Okay, well maybe it was Daniel, then?"

"Daniel?"

"He wasn't exactly Mr. Congeniality tonight. You invited him out for a nice dinner and he was kind of uncivilized most of the evening."

"He's stressed and tired and has jet lag."

"You don't need to defend him Betty. He was kind of rude. It's okay if you're pissed with him."

"I'm not," she insisted, little by little getting angrier at Vincent. She lowered her voice to almost a whisper so the cab driver couldn't hear and desperately tried not to sound too upset. "If I'm upset about anything tonight, it's that I found out, the way I did, that you're going back to New York in a couple of days and you're just telling me now."

"To be fair, I just found out today that I needed to go back to do some work for this client. And you knew I wasn't staying. I don't live in London, Betty. I live in New York." He sounded puzzled about the last part.

"I know that," she sighed with frustration. "But it might have been nice if you'd told me when you were leaving in private rather than just dropping it in casual conversation." It was getting harder to remain calm and Betty thought walking might help her. "Um…do you want to walk the rest of the way to my flat?"

"Sure." He told the driver to pull over and then paid him.

They got out and started walking in the direction of Betty's flat. He took her hand and she looked up, a little startled.

"I'm sorry," he said gently. "I suppose I should have given you a heads up in private. But to be honest, I wasn't sure you'd be all that disappointed anyway."

"What are talking about? Of course I'm disappointed."

He nodded slowly and gave her hand a squeeze so she softened a little. The exercise and fresh air were helping.

She looked down at the sidewalk and said softly, "I'm going to miss you."

He smiled. "I'll miss you too Betty. You are one of a kind." He stopped walking and tugged on her hand so she stopped too and turned to face him. "This has been fun, but I'm pretty sure we both know that it's not really long distance material."

She nodded.

He gave her a wistful smile. "I wish we would have had more time together and fewer obstacles."

"Obstacles?"

"Yeah, your work, my work, and whatever it is that's stopping you from letting someone get close."

"I don't stop people from—"

"You do, Betty. Or at least you have with me." He held her gaze. "Maybe you were holding back because you knew I had to go eventually," he suggested.

"Maybe." Betty was still confused. She hadn't intentionally been pulling away but maybe she was afraid of it becoming another situation like Henry's, minus the baby of course.

"My ego likes to think that's what it was anyway," he grinned and she smiled back.

Daniel spent the next week completely swamped at work. He would wake up, go into the office for about fourteen to sixteen hours, grab something to eat on the way home and crash in bed almost the moment he'd finished dinner. He still hadn't even had time to assess whether or not all of this was futile and if the damage done to the magazine was irreversible. But, really, he needed the new accountant in place to help clean up the books before that was possible anyway.

He almost laughed at the thought that ran through his head. Henry Grubstick would have been the perfect candidate for this role with his experience at Mode and his expertise with budgets, but it would be a cold day in hell before he deliberately brought Henry anywhere near London. Thankfully, he managed to complete the task of hiring an accountant (who was not Henry) before the week was up.

He took one evening out of the office in the middle of the week to go to an advertising networking conference with Rachel. He thought it would probably be beneficial to the magazine since he had limited advertising connections in London.

It was an incredibly successful evening, professionally. His only regret had been that he'd picked Rachel up instead of meeting her there. It seemed that even that small gesture had her interpreting the evening much more like a date than just the business venture he'd considered it.

In hindsight, it might not have been the smartest idea to go up to her apartment when she'd invited him in, but in his defense, he had desperately had to go to the bathroom and he was a little thirsty too. He'd been enjoying her company and – if he was completely honest – the flirting too. And although he wasn't particularly interested, it had been months since he'd been on a date much less had a beautiful woman throwing herself at him. And let's face it, he was only human.

He had been very well behaved though - avoiding her advances, moving away when she entered his personal space…mostly.

But during one particularly weak moment - right after Rachel had literally pushed him backward onto the sofa and straddled his lap - he could have sworn Becks was standing right beside him on his right cheering him on.

"Come on, man - look at her. What's stopping you? It's not like you're being unfaithful. You're not even with Betty; she's with Vincent, remember?"

For one nanosecond he allowed himself to imagine what it might be like, especially when Rachel's hands began roaming and she started speaking rather candidly about what she wanted to do to him, but then he heard another voice from the left side and saw Betty standing there with her arms crossed and the disappointment on her face.

"Seriously Daniel, how do you expect me to believe that you have feelings for me when you're carrying on like this?

He sat up immediately and stopped Rachel's aggressive advances. "Uh, look Rachel, I'm really sorry but I can't do this."

"Are you joking?" she looked stunned and extremely frustrated.

"No. I…uh...I just really can't." He stood up and grabbed his suit jacket off of the chair.

He'd practically run out the door. He was grateful now, for the clarity in that moment. He would have regretted that decision for sure. The last thing he wanted was another stain on his relationship with Betty; there were enough of those already if Betty chose to remember them.

He still intended to tell Betty his feelings, as soon as he could. Unfortunately, the long hours at work had made getting together with her almost impossible. Thankfully Vincent's leaving took some pressure off. At least Vincent and Betty weren't growing closer while he was busy saving Mode.

He realized just how busy he'd been one afternoon about a week and a half after their dinner, when he got a call from her at work.

"Hey, it's me," she chirped warmly into the phone.

"Hi Betty."

"You know, I saw more of you when you lived in New York and we Skyped all of the time."

"Yeah. Ironic, huh? The magazine is crazy. It's in a worse mess than I thought."

"I just wanted to let you know I'm off to New York for a week for work, believe it or not." She sounded excited.

"Really? When do you leave?"

"Tomorrow. You know we haven't even spoken for three days?"

"I know. Sorry about that. I've been working really late every night."

"Well, I'm sure it will pay off."

"I don't even know if we can save the magazine. I haven't had time to look at the budget yet."

"Oh Daniel, I wish I could help."

"I wish you could too. But hey, I don't mean to complain. It's just hard work, I'll survive." He changed the topic and his tone. "So, New York?"

"I'm so excited to be going home. I didn't honestly think I'd get to go until at least Christmas, but this story came up and we need to get it right away."

"That's great. Say 'hi' to your family for me."

"I will."

"Oh and Betty?"

"Yeah?"

"We really need to get together for dinner or something when you get back, just the two of us, okay?"

"Definitely," she agreed.

Later that same afternoon, Betty stood up from her desk to go into the break room and get herself a coffee.

She grabbed the mug Amanda had given her as a going away present off the edge of her desk. Cringing a little at the picture of Marc on it. He was sleeping with his gel sleep mask over his eyes, his mouth hanging open and drooling on his pillow. On the other side it said "Sleeping Marc, almost as lovely as my sleeping Betty". She'd kept it mainly because she had trouble throwing gifts away, especially "thoughtful" gifts, and somehow Amanda had considered this thoughtful even though to Betty it was mostly just disturbing.

Rachel was in there grabbing her own coffee. She looked questioningly at Betty's mug but didn't say anything.

"It's was a gift from a friend back home," Betty explained lifting up her mug self-consciously.

Rachel just nodded.

"Oh, speaking of home, how are the plans for New York?"

"Great. I'm just wrapping up the last few details before I take off tomorrow."

"That's good." Rachel grabbed a mug, poured herself a coffee and started doctoring it.

"How was the advertising thing the other evening?" Betty asked as she put the sugar in her own coffee.

"Good…great." Rachel had the fakest smile ever and Betty turned her head slightly and looked at her like she wasn't buying it. "Okay, not really very good at all."

"Oh?" Betty was suddenly really concerned about what could have happened and hoped that it didn't affect Londonesque's reputation in the industry.

"I'm not sure how to tell you this Betty. I mean I don't want to upset you or anything…"

"What is it?" Betty's anxiety was growing by the second.

"It just that…well, your friend Daniel…I'm just not sure it's working out."

"Daniel?" She was confused now.

"Yeah. He picked me up and we went together."

"So, the fact that it wasn't a good evening has to do with Daniel?" The relief was setting in, about work anyway.

"Yeah. The conference was fine – just normal stuff, you know?" She shrugged. "It was the end of the evening with Daniel that didn't go very well."

Betty nodded to convey she was listening.

"Don't get me wrong, he's a nice bloke and definitely not too hard to look at. It's just…" she paused. "I'm just not sure we're compatible…" she looked around to see if anyone could hear even though there was nobody else in the room, and then she whispered "sexually, if you know what I mean."

Betty felt incredibly uncomfortable. She was pretty sure she didn't want to know how Rachel and Daniel were not compatible sexually.

"Oh. Okay then." She turned back to fixing her own coffee.

There was a brief moment of silence before Rachel spoke again.

"Listen…" Rachel started, and Betty tensed, hoping with all her being that Rachel wasn't going to try and confide in her. She really didn't want any details. "He doesn't cast his line up stream or anything, does he?" she asked cautiously.

"What?" She turned back around to face her. She had no idea what Rachel was talking about.

"You know, is he playing for the other team?" She raised her eyebrows expectantly.

"What?" It was more an exclamation that time because that expression made no sense in the context of Daniel Meade.

"Cor blimey, Betty...gay! He's not gay is he?" she asked with exasperation.

"Daniel?"

"Yes, Daniel."

"Noooo." She shook her head slowly, extremely confused where these questions were coming from.

"Oh." She looked like she was thinking about that for a second. "He's the toughest nut to crack then. I've never had this much trouble with a straight bloke before."

Betty was confused but she didn't have time to ask for clarification before Rachel continued. "The old fashioned, gentlemanly shtick was endearing at first but it's starting to wear a little thin."

Betty just stared at her a little dumbfounded.

"Listen Betty, I fancy him, I do. But I'm not looking for a big commitment or anything, just a little fun and hopefully a shag, but there is only so long a girl can hold out waiting, if you know what I mean. I hope you don't think badly of me."

"But you've only known him about a week," Betty said a little stunned. "How many dates have you been on?"

"Two, counting the dinner with you and Vincent."

"That wasn't really a date," Betty reminded her.

"Not exactly, but we had dinner, shared a cab and he took me home. That's more like a date than lots of guys I've slept with." Betty looked at her wide eyed. "Look, the other night I thought it was my opportunity. I invited him in for 'a drink' and he came up to my flat. I had him on the couch and he seemed like he might be into it and then just like that he went bonkers and said he had to leave. He said he 'really couldn't', whatever that means."

"Maybe he just wants to get to know you a little first," Betty suggested. It was improbable given it was Daniel but she supposed he'd changed enough that it might be true.

"Yeah maybe." She sounded skeptical. "He kind of acted like sleeping with me was the last thing on earth he'd ever want to do."

Betty started to feel badly for her until she added "If I wasn't so sure that couldn't possibly be the case, I'd almost start to doubt myself. I'm thinking that it's more likely he has a 'mechanical problem', or maybe he's just not that into sex. Either way, I'm not that interested in helping him 'fix his issues'. I hope you understand."

Betty nodded slowly, still considerably confused by all of it.