Daniel was sitting on his new sofa watching television. He was surrounded by boxes and bags. He was beat. He'd been running around for the past two days picking up things for his new place. He'd gotten the keys to his new condo just a couple of days ago and for the past 48 hours his life had been chaos. Between his new job and trying to get settled in his new place, he hadn't had anytime to just sit and rest. He was only going to take a few minutes and then get back at unpacking. Maybe I could just close my eyes for a minute.

His phone rang startling him out of his half sleep. He scrambled around trying to locate it for a couple of rings, and then he picked it up. He didn't recognize the number.

"Hello?"

"What did you do?" There was an angry voice on the other end.

"What? Who is this?"

"To my baby sister…what did you do to Betty? If you've done something I swear….Bobby knows people." It was obviously Hilda.

"Hilda? What are talking about? I didn't do anything." Daniel was confused.

"Oh yeah? Then why is Betty hiding away - avoiding us? She only does that when she's really upset."

"What do you mean? Betty's fine, everything's going great."

"Daniel…she hasn't been on Skype for three days now." Her tone had changed from anger to worry. "She's on there almost every night. And she hasn't answered the phone any of the times I've called. Papi can't even get a hold of her."

"She's probably just busy Hilda. I know she's had a lot of meetings with Lindsey Dunne this week. And the first issue is due out in only a month. She's swamped with work." He was trying to comfort Hilda but he knew it was odd for Betty not to talk to her family for that long.

"What do you mean "probably" busy? What kind of a boyfriend doesn't know if his girlfriend is busy?" She was back to angry.

"The kind that lets her have some space so she can get her work done." He was trying to remain calm. "I just moved this week too…so we've both been really busy." He added defending himself.

"Oh." Hilda was silent for a minute. She had a different tone – one more of concern - when she asked "When is the last time you spoke to her?"

"I don't know…"Daniel had to think back a minute. "I texted her this morning…I remember."

"Not texted Daniel…spoke."

Daniel had to think back a little farther. "I guess I haven't actually spoken to her in two days." He had to admit. "She had an important staff meeting last night that she said was going to go late and a dinner meeting two nights ago. I spoke to her before her dinner meeting. I think that was the last time." Now Daniel was starting to worry. But wouldn't he be able to tell if something was off by her texts? He thought back…they had all been really short notes back and forth. Did she feel like having dinner…Sorry, dinner mtg. Did she want to go for lunch this week…Sorry 2 swamped. They were all factual and he'd gotten none of the witty remarks she usually sent when they texted back and forth. He just assumed she'd been too busy - he sure was. But maybe something was really wrong. It wouldn't hurt to check up on her.

"I'll go over to her place and make sure she's ok." Daniel said. He didn't mention the texts being unlike Betty…there was no point getting Hilda even more worked up. Besides, he was feeling a little ashamed that her sister from across the ocean would notice something was off with Betty before he did.

He tried calling from his cell in the cab ride over. She wasn't answering her cell phone. He tried her land line. It rang several times and then her answering machine picked up. He didn't leave a message. When he got to her building he pressed the buzzer…no answer. He walked around to the far side of the building. He could see Betty's window from there. It was dark but there was a little flicker, like the television was on. She was definitely home. Now he was worried. Why wasn't she answering?

He buzzed again…still no answer. He wasn't sure what he expected. Was she lying dead on the floor from some burglary gone awry? Probably not…her tv was still there. Other than her laptop it was probably her most valuable item. His imagination was definitely running away with him. Pull yourself together.

He called her land line again…again the answering machine picked up.

"Hello you've reached Betty Suarez, please leave a message…beep"

"Betty…it's me…I know you're there. I'm outside and I can see your tv on. Please let me in." He paused for a second hoping she'd pick up the phone, and then he continued. "If you don't I'm going to have to climb that fire escape and I'm wearing my new Versace pants...I'm pretty sure they won't survive the climb."

"You're not wearing Versace…you're in jeans." She'd finally picked up the phone.

Daniel looked up and saw her peaking out the window.

"They're Versace jeans." He grinned up at her. "Let me come up…please."

She opened the door for him. When he got up to her flat he saw that she was in her pajamas and her fuzzy slippers. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy and her nose was red. Clearly she had been crying for hours. He came inside and noticed balls of Kleenex all around the sofa. It really was a pathetic sight…the kind of sight he'd only seen Betty in the middle of twice. Once when Henry went back to Tucson…and the second time when Matt left for Africa. This was most definitely a heartbroken Betty Suarez.

"If I didn't know better I'd swear that I was responsible for this." He joked, gesturing at her and the Kleenex. She tried to smile but tears welled up again and she started to sob.

"Betty, what's wrong?" He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her. She just shook her head like she couldn't form any words. They walked over to the sofa and sat down. He just held her close in silence for a few minutes while she cried some more.

"Hilda's really worried about you." Daniel said breaking the silence after a while. Betty nodded her head. Daniel continued "I guess I'm pretty insensitive…it takes your sister who lives on the other side of the Atlantic to let me know something's up."

"Hilda called you?" Betty finally spoke.

"Yeah. She ripped my head off first - thinking that I'd done something." He chuckled. "Man…I do not want to cross her."

Betty managed a smile.

"You should probably call them…so they're not worried."

"I don't want to talk to anyone right now."

"Betty, what's going on?" Daniel was really concerned.

She didn't answer him. She couldn't – it was like she couldn't face anyone with it right now.

He slipped his finger under her chin and lifted her head up to look at her face. His heart was breaking…he wanted to take away whatever was causing this. Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. What if she was really sick? What if she was as sick as Molly had been? He was pretty sure he couldn't cope with that again. He would never leave Betty – he loved her. He just didn't know what might happen to his sanity if he had to live through that again. All the blood drained from his head.

Betty noticed. "Daniel…what's wrong?"

"You're not…sick…are you?" He asked.

Betty immediately realized what he was thinking. "No…no Daniel it's nothing like that."

He let out a huge sigh of relief.

She was feeling guilty now. She hadn't meant for him to think the worse…to be reminded of Molly like that. "I'm really sorry to make you worry like that Daniel."

"I'm just glad you're not sick." He smiled at her. "So what on earth has you in this state?"

She took a deep breath…she still didn't want to talk about it but after worrying him like that she felt she owed him an explanation. "Lindsey says the magazine is likely to fold before we even get the first edition to print."

"What? Why?" Daniel was dumbfounded.

"Our biggest advertisers are pulling out. They had a rough third quarter and have decided they need to put their advertising money into something more…reliable. Lindsey said they backed out on the contract last week. He's been trying to see if there were any legal options but it looks like there aren't. The past few days and nights we've been trying to rework the budget - to see if we can figure out a way to at least let the first couple of issues run." She paused "There's no way…" A single tear ran down her cheek as she continued. "Lindsey said if the magazine was more established he'd take a chance. But in this market…"She broke down again. Daniel waited while she collected herself. "It looks like I'll be out of a job soon." She spoke the last part very softly, almost a whisper.

Daniel didn't know what to say to comfort her. A part of him was relieved that she wasn't sick and he wanted to say something to that effect - to put all of this into perspective - but he didn't want her to think he was diminishing the very real disappointment she must be feeling.

Before he had time to say anything Betty spoke again. "I guess I'll have to go back to New York too."

She looked up at him with so much meaning in her eyes and Daniel suddenly realized that her heartbreak had a dozen different layers to it. She wasn't just loosing a job, there was so much more to it. She had to go back to New York admitting defeat – even though it wasn't her fault, she was feeling like a failure. She had to give up this exciting new life in London where she had started reinventing herself as a young confident career woman. She had to go back to New York while Daniel was here in London with a new job and a new home - she hadn't said it but he had read it in her face.

The last part of the heartbreak was the only thing he could do anything about.

"Are you worried about us?" He just wanted to make sure that wasn't compounding the problem.

"Partly…your life is here now, Daniel. You have a good job and a new condo…"

"Condos can be sold and my job isn't that good." He joked. "Besides, I think they have advertising agencies in New York. Please Betty, don't worry about us."

"You'd come back to New York?" She seemed surprised.

"Of course I would. You are the reason I'm here in the first place. I love you Betty; not my job or my condo."

It was the first time he'd actually said those words. They'd been implied – in the letter, and by the fact he'd followed her across an ocean. But this was the first time he actually admitted it to her out loud. She was still heartbroken, upset by the disappointment of a broken dream…but this was the first ray of light she'd seen in two very bleak, dark days. She wasn't ready to say it back but she also knew that he wasn't expecting it, and that made it even better.

"What I don't understand is why you're talking about going back to New York like it's a done deal." Daniel said

"What do you mean? We've worked and reworked the numbers. There is not enough money for the budget."

"There's not enough money without those advertisers – but what about other ones? You've already won a handful of advertisers on your own. Why can't you find some more?"

"Daniel these were the big guys - the major players. With them backing out we're sure to loose some of the smaller ones as well – as soon as they find out. Not only that but if Lindsey Dunne can't find someone to back the magazine how would I be able to? Lindsey is much more capable than I am."

"Maybe." Daniel said "Or maybe Lindsey Dunne is just a busy business man with a dozen other publications to worry about and doesn't have the time or the inclination to bother trying to save one tiny pet project of his. Rather than stress out about it and potentially loose money, he'll cut his losses before the magazine starts."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying: The Betty Suarez I know – the intelligent, resourceful, determined woman I'm in love with, wouldn't be cowed by some weak-minded businessmen. She'd put up a fight. Someone once told me anything I really wanted was worth fighting for." He was throwing her own words back at her.

She had been leaning against his chest as they sat on the couch but now she pushed herself off and sat up.

"It would be so much work…" She said softly. It was daunting to even imagine it.

"Since when are you afraid of hard work?"

"What if I can't do it?"

"Then you can't do it and we move back to New York." She loved how he said "we". "But you'll never know unless you give it a shot and you've really got nothing to loose."

Betty had that look in her eyes that Daniel loved. The one that said she could change the world. She was suddenly very different than she had been only a few minutes before. He'd given her some hope - enough to lift her out of the pit she was laying in and get her running. She found a paper and pencil and started jotting down their ideas on how she would go about winning new advertisers to the magazine. They worked out specifics of what kinds of companies she should target and even started to do some research on some of those companies on the internet. They worked for about and hour and a half before Betty decided they should stop – it was getting very late.

"Thank you Daniel." She said as she walked him to the door. "I feel a hundred percent better than when you first got here."

That reminded him "Oh…make sure to call your sister!"

"Oh yeah." Betty smiled. She was going to get an earful from Hilda.

"And Betty…don't ever do that again ok?" Daniel was serious.

"Do what?"

"Don't lock yourself away like that…shutting everyone out."

Betty raised her eyebrows "You're one to talk Mr. Pot."

"Yeah…you're right." Daniel admitted. "But you have so many people that love you and they worry about you when you do stuff like that. Besides…" he joked "I'm really afraid of your sister."

Betty laughed. But then she said more seriously "How about we make I deal? I promise that I will try not to shut the world out when I'm upset if you promise to do the same." She was leaning against the open door and looked so adorable in her pajamas and fuzzy slippers.

"Deal." He paused for a minute before adding "we should probably ratify that with a kiss or something."

"Probably."

He leaned down and kissed her softly. She kissed him back wrapping her arms around his neck. He grabbed the door and pushed it closed, then he leaned up against it pulling her closer to him. His kisses were passionate and warm. Betty responded to them with equal passion. He slowly pulled back and looked at her. Her face was flush and she was breathless.

He cleared his throat. "I should go." He said without moving.

"Yeah." She knew that was best.

He kissed her again and it started all over – one responding to the other, the passion growing with each kiss. He pulled back slowly again.

"I really should go." Again he didn't move - like his body wouldn't obey the commands of his brain.

Betty smiled at him and grabbed him by the front of his shirt to pull him away from the door then she opened the door and playfully shoved him out into the hall.

Daniel grinned at her. "I'll call you tomorrow…you'd better answer." As he started walking away he turned one last time and said "Call Hilda!"