Chapter 20

Daniel sat at the plastic table, uncomfortably shifting from one position to another. His body full of nervous energy. He scratched at his beard and looked around the room for anything to focus on. He couldn't believe how he was acting. She was here, he was here, they had both reached out to another about talking over what had happened, but when the moment arrived he just couldn't think of the words to say. He could feel it though. He knew exactly how he felt and what he wanted and what they did have wasn't it. He had a huge decision to make. He couldn't keep going like this.

Why did everything have to be so damn complicated? Nothing was going the way he wanted, and the one person he wanted to talk to about it was mainly the root cause of it all, whether she was aware or not. He hadn't wanted to believe it, but he started to get the feeling that she just might feel the same way. There was this little spark that had lit up that day in Trafalgar Square. It wasn't much at first, but it had been slowly building, and even if she didn't feel it he could no longer deny it was there.

Friends weren't supposed to be able to hurt each other this much. No this type of pain could only come along when there was love on the table. He slid the coffee cup back and forth between his hands as he thought. Occasionally he would look out the window. He saw some little birds landing on window sills on the section of the building the cafeteria looked out over. There was a little bit of sunshine peaking through the clouds. Today wouldn't be as gray as the one before. There weren't many people in the room, and those that were had obviously been through a rough day or two, and an occasional nurse or intern would grab a quick snack before rushing back out of the room.

He didn't know how long he sat there racking his brain for the right words, but his coffee was still warm, so it couldn't have been too long. He took another large gulp thinking back to that day sitting in Lawson's coffee shop. There had been so many chances, what had he been waiting for? Even being her assistant hadn't been so bad, could he really blame her for keeping him around the way she did? He had done the same thing to her, and until recently he had never voiced his unhappiness. He hadn't exactly let her known what he had been feeling as far as their work situation was going either. Not really. Their argument about him wanting to help her only scratched the surface. He wanted to be near her and wanted to work with her, but this new dynamic just wasn't working anymore. He sighed, he knew what he had to do.

"Betty! Open the door!" Hilda was trying not to shout too loudly. She'd banged on the door for a few minutes, "Look I don't know what's going on, but you better get your ass out here! Betty!" After a couple more minutes she finally she gave up and returned to the cafeteria.

Elena was still waiting by the door. "What's going on Hilda?"

"Aye, I don't know what's gotten into her. Come on, let's go say hi. I'll tell you more later." Elena gave her a questioning look, but followed her in.

"Daniel!" He looked up shocked at hearing his name screamed at him, nearly spilling his coffee. He looked up to see Hilda running back out of the room leaving Justin and Bobby staring at him, Justin rushing over excitedly. He stood up to greet them, peering around to see if Betty was behind them but she wasn't there.

"Hey Justin!" he wrapped him in a hug. He always liked Justin, feeling a need to stand up for the kid and protect him when necessary, even standing up to Santos in his own way. He thought back to that day he had spent decorating their Christmas tree. It was the first time he felt like he had been around a real family. Nobody knew what that day had meant to him, nor did he for a long time.

"What are you doing here?" Justin asked. Daniel shook hands with Bobby. "How are you doing man?"

"Oh good, just trying to hold everybody together here." Bobby joked. Daniel laughed, knowing how much of a handful the Suarez family could be.

"I… I came to make sure Ignacio was alright." Daniel said turning back to Justin, looking away sheepishly.

"Did you fly in with AB?" Justin asked, he had a suspicion but didn't want to push anything.

"Uh, no. I caught a later flight. She, uh" he cleared his throat, "she doesn't know I'm here." There was an awkward pause.

"I'm sure she'll be glad to see you." Bobby said, a twinkle in his eye.

"Yeah of course she will." Justin exclaimed. "Where is she anyway?" he looked around to find that his mom, Elena, and Betty were nowhere to be seen.

"I'm sure they'll be along. You know how women like to talk." Bobby tried to reassure them. Daniel laughed nervously.

"So, how are you guys holding up?" Daniel asked trying to change the subject. "Have you eaten yet?"

"No, we just came down to get something. Grandpa wanted to sleep."

"Well come on then, I'll buy." Daniel offered.

"Hey thanks! I appreciate that." They voiced their agreement.

They grabbed some food and went back to the table where Daniel had been sitting.

"So, how's London?" Justin asked.

"Oh, it's good! Yeah, Betty…" he paused not exactly sure what to say but knowing he had to come up with something that wouldn't give him away, "she got the website up and running, things seem to be going really well."

"Mhmm, and what about you?" Justin was pushing.

"Me? Oh, you know, the usual. Just trying to help Betty make this magazine a success." A smile crossed his lips, and if looking closely one could see the slight blush that came to his cheeks. He gulped and reached for his coffee.

"When is she going to give you a promotion?" Bobby asked pointedly, not one to beat around the bush.

"What do you mean?" Daniel asked, trying to laugh.

"I mean, you're working as her assistant right?"

"Yeah…"

"You used to be her boss, and now she's yours. I mean, come on, that can't be easy. So when are you going to you know, move up? Be more than her assistant?" Bobby could come across like a bit of a goofball, but he was actually very intelligent and to anyone else it would seem like a normal question, but even he could see the way Daniel looked at Betty at his and Hilda's wedding. He could tell there was more going on beneath the surface. So he worded his question carefully, but gave Daniel a very pointed look, one that Justin didn't catch.

Daniel took a moment to answer, seeing the look Bobby had shot him. He tried to keep his composure.

"I.. I'm not sure. If I can figure out the right time, I'll ask for a … promotion." Bobby seemed to like the answer, and smiled as he took a sip of his orange juice.

"Hey Daniel!" Hilda came up and wrapped him in a hug. "How are you doing?" she asked. Elena walked around the other side of the table and sat next to Justin, smiling at Daniel.

"Hey Hilda. I'm alright. How are you?" he asked her. He knew how hard this must be on her. He always liked Hilda. Sometimes he remembered that kiss they had shared but now it made him laugh. That had definitely been the old Daniel.

"I'm alright. This isn't going to be easy though. Lord knows this family has been through a lot, but we'll get through like we always do. Have you seen Papi yet?"

"Yeah, I stopped to check in with him before I came to get some coffee. I'm so sorry Hilda. If you guys need anything, you know you just have to ask right?" he looked at all of them making sure they knew he meant it.

"Thank you Daniel." She hugged him again.

"Come on let's get you some food. Elena do you want anything?"

"Oh no, I'm good." She refused politely. Daniel walked Hilda over to the counter.

"So…" Hilda began, "You're here."

He looked to her. "Yeah, I'm here." He said, not entirely sure what she was getting at.

"And Betty's here."

"Uh… yeah?" he asked, looking back over to the others then eyeing the door, looking for Betty. Still no sight of her.

"You haven't talked to her yet have you?" she asked, smiling. She knew they hadn't. She was prying. He didn't know how much she knew, but he could sense that maybe she did know something.

"No, uh not yet. Have you… talked to her?" he looked to her, wondering if she would know what he meant.

"Yeah, she might have mentioned something." Hilda said in a coy tone.

"Did she talk to you about… anything in particular?"

"Daniel, look, I don't know if I should be saying anything, but just trust me when I say this, you need to talk to her. Okay? This stuff with Papi is hard enough, but she's not upset because of him. She needs to talk to you, and you need to talk to her. You two, I swear."

"What, hmm" he cleared his throat, "what did she say?" He hadn't allowed himself to hope, but this was the closest anyone had come to hinting at anything. He couldn't read Betty's mind, but talking to Hilda was about as close to that as he could get.

"She told me what happened on Friday."

"Oh god, she hates me doesn't she?" he groaned, looking down in shame.

"No, she doesn't hate you. Believe me." She laughed a little, hoping he would understand.

"I ruined everything! I can't believe I was so stupid! Now, I'll never get the chance…" he stopped himself, he almost said get the chance to tell her I love her.

"Whoa whoa whao, slow down. You didn't ruin anything. You have to talk to her. Look at me." She made him turn to look at her. "I know. I know everything. You think I didn't see the way you were looking at her at my wedding? Do you know how many times I was up all hours of the night talking with her after she left? She was so upset Daniel. At you! First you let her leave without saying goodbye, then you follow her there? To work as her assistant? I read your last letter from the Editor in Mode. So don't you dare tell me there isn't anything going on."

He blushed, he knew he couldn't get out of it. She knew.

"You read my letter? She called you? About me?" there was so much information coming at him. A smile spread across his face. Hilda could see it. He was hopeful. It was like a weight was lifting off of him.

"Daniel, go talk to her." He smiled, could this mean what he hoped it meant?

"Well where is she? I thought she was with you guys?" Hilda gulped, not sure what to tell him. She tried to get Betty to come out of the bathroom but didn't know if she was still in there. She hoped she was doing right by meddling.

"She was. I think she went to the bathroom." She turned away from him as he paid for her food. "Thank you" she told him. "No problemo." he responded, unknowingly using the phrase Betty taught him. They started walking back to the rest of the group.

Suddenly the cafeteria doors opened. They all looked up. There she was. His breath caught, and a lump formed in his throat. His palms were sweating, his heart was beating fast. She was looking right at him, a smile forming on her lips. He could see how tired she was. It looked like she had been crying. He moved towards her. She was walking towards him. They met in the middle.

"Hi." she whispered.

"Hi." He whispered in return.

Well, what did you think? I'm trying to speed things up, but I don;t want to change my plan. I'm hoping to be able to get to the point of putting a Christmas chapter up before the holiday. Much love! Am I heading in the right direction?L:et me know by leaving a review.