Betty hurried to the Everly House, where her launch was being hosted, to speak with the manager, and oversee some of the details.

She had the distinct impression she was annoying the man with her insistence on overseeing everything so meticulously, but it was the only way she could feel comfortable. She didn't like relinquishing control of anything so important.

After one last tour of the facility and reassurances of the timing, location, and seating arrangements, Betty could tell the manager was ready to take his leave of her, "I assure you, Miss Suarez, this is hardly the first corporate event we've been in charge of and I dare say it shan't be the last. Would you like to see some more of our many recommendations from past clients perhaps, to set your mind at ease?"

"No, she just likes to check everything over and over and over until she's absolutely sure she's thought of everything that could possibly go wrong. Betty gives perfectionists a run for their money, don't you...dear?"

Betty turned to see Daniel walking up behind her, "Hey. I found you. Hello, I'm Daniel Meade, Miss Suarez's boyfriend."

The man shook Daniel's hand and took out his handkerchief, dabbing at sweat on his brow, as he took his cue to leave, "My sincerest...congratulations to you both. If that will be all, Miss Suarez, I'll bid you goodnight. Very nice to meet you, Mr. Meade. So glad you arrived."

As he left, Daniel laughed, "Are you annoying people, Betty?"

She shrugged, looking at the man's perplexed expression as he left, "I just want to make sure everything's…"

"Perfect, I know, Betty, I know. God, I missed you. How crazy you are."

"Daniel! Stop...you...you really didn't have to come."

"I wanted to, Betty. I told you; I got the night off from uncle duty unexpectedly. I guess Valerie's dad felt guilty, so he…"

"I talked to him today."

"What? Who? That Brian guy? Betty, I told you you didn't have to do that…"

"I didn't go out of my way or anything, Daniel. I saw him at the restaurant today when I met Mr. Dunne for lunch."

"By himself?"

"No. He was with some friend of his, John something. I told him that DJ and Valerie both were probably acting out for different reasons…"

"I should have known you had a hand in this. I really wish you hadn't done that…"

"Why not? I didn't say anything you wouldn't have said yourself, Daniel. Or that Brian wouldn't have figured out himself eventually. I told him that the more he tried to keep them apart, the more it would make them want to see each other."

"Talk about feeling useless. I had to have DJ be my little cupid to help me with you. Now, you have to help me with my own nephew."

She sighed, and put her hand on his chest, "Daniel, that's not true at all. You're anything but useless. You've only been back one day and you've already gotten me back on schedule...actually ahead of schedule with my launch date. Do you have any idea how crazy I would be right now if you hadn't helped me with everything?

Mr. Dunne even noticed how I was losing my drive, forgetting how excited I used to be about my job. I was really getting homesick for my friends and family before you got back here.

But now...well, you managed to get me back on track with the launch and to…"

"Distract you?" he asked, smiling at her.

She nodded, looking down and blushing as he took her hands. "Well...yeah. You're definitely a distraction from...me missing the people I love in New York."

"The people you...love, huh? Am I...one of those people?"

She looked up at him, "Daniel…"

"Yeah?"

"You're…uh…"

"I'm what, Betty? Distracting you? From what? Your job? It's seven o'clock. Can't you...take a break? I did sort of follow you here from New York. Then...from Paris. That should warrant at least another kiss or two, shouldn't it?"

She made a face, then smiled, "Daniel...Are you trying to get me to blush?"

"Nope. I'm just trying to loosen you up. Make you see I'm not any different than the Daniel you've been friends with all this time just because I said I'm in love with you.

I'm still your friend, Betty. I still like...Danish and Thai food, just like you and I still…" he bowed down to begin kissing her…"am allergic to penicillin and hate waiting in a doctor's office…"

he kissed her again, "the only thing different about me is.." He took off her glasses and handed them to her, then kissed her for a long time this time before he let her go, "I finally realized I'm crazy, madly in love with my best friend. I was just so stupid I didn't know it sooner, when you were right there, all this time." He took her glasses from her and placed them back on her face gently, then kissed her cheek.

When she was able to catch her breath, Betty looked up at him, her eyes wide. "Daniel...when exactly did you decide all this? When I left? When I got my braces off…"

He looked down, shoving his hands in his pockets, "All of the above, a little, I guess. Yes, I noticed you...dressing sexier, I noticed your great smile, I missed you like crazy...I went totally crazy when you left New York, Betty. But I think I told you, the big 'aha' for me was at Hilda's wedding. Although, I still hadn't said it out loud when I felt it. I thought everyone there would have surely heard how fast my heart started beating when I looked at you. I don't know. Maybe I'm hoping there will be some kind of magic like that for you at my sister's wedding, too."

She blushed, "Daniel...I don't know what to say. That's so sweet of you. It's just coming at me kind of fast. I don't know what I feel right now. I mean, we've only ever been friends, you know? For so long. And then, after you left, I was hurt and I didn't even know if we were that anymore. I didn't know what we were."

He nodded, "I know I messed up, Betty. Twice now. But I'm going to try and make it up to you. Thanks, by the way, for helping with DJ. I don't know how you do it, but you always manage to charm everybody. I piss them off, or in this case, my nephew does, and you just turn around and convince them to change their minds."

She smiled, "I didn't do anything special. He said himself that he knew keeping them apart forever was going to be impossible, especially once they both went back to Paris. He was just being stubborn, because he was angry, seeing DJ and his daughter like that. You can't blame him, I guess."

"Yeah, if that were my kid, I'd be pissed at DJ, too. I told him as much. He claims she 'enticed' him, whatever that means. That she challenged him or something."

"Yeah, I was going to ask you, Daniel. Why would you have EVER told a teenage boy you had some crazy 'trick' you could teach him to remove a girl's bra?"

He winced, "I swear, I have no recollection whatsoever of doing that. I'll have to call Becks and see if he remembers any such crazy stunt we pulled in front of DJ this summer.

All I can say is, I must have been really drunk, because I don't remember anything he's talking about. Of course, that doesn't say much about my character, if I got that drunk in front of my nephew, evidently reliving my 'glory days' as some kind of lothario...removing girls, or in this case mannequins clothing with Becks and I don't even remember it. I don't know what happened to Alexis when this was going on, either. Maybe she was throwing up in her shoes!"

Betty shook her head, "Well, I'm not excusing you, but if you were around Becks, he does tend to bring out the 'old Daniel', that's for sure. It's been a long time since you've seen him, hasn't it?"

"Yeah. I think it had been almost two years since I'd seen him. He called my mom and she gave him my number in Paris, then he called, saying he was going to be in Europe for a few weeks in the summer, so we all met for drinks at this crazy bar we used to go to years ago. Then, it got kind of...well, I don't remember a lot of what happened after that, to be honest."

"You and Alexis brought DJ with you?"

"She brought DJ with her, Betty. He's her son, not mine. Don't go giving me your judgy butterfly looks. I can't control what she allows him to do.

Sometimes, she lets her hair down around her son. But what can I do? I can't tell her how to raise him. He's just my nephew."

"Yes, but Daniel, he thinks of you as his father. You know that. You raised him as your son for months in New York.

And you were doing a great job. He has a lot of your good qualities. I can tell how kind and thoughtful he is, and I know he gets a lot of that from you."

He smiled, "Still haven't quite forgiven my sister for almost killing Christina, huh? Well, I don't blame you. She's probably never going back to the states after that."

"Has she ever called Christina and apologized?" Betty looked down.

"No. I mean, I don't think so. She never talks about it to me. She did sort of apologize to me once for letting me get arrested."

"Well, I still don't understand why you didn't defend yourself. You had an alibi."

"I told you why. I didn't want to mess up things with getting custody of DJ at the time. Plus...I guess I didn't want to disappoint you."

"Right, because finding that tape and having to watch you with that woman with my father right there was so much better than just hearing you tell me you had...done that, Daniel."

He put his head down, "I know. I'm sorry, Betty. I hated that you saw that. I would give anything to take that whole week back. It was...well, believe me, I wish...I had never slept with that woman, that Alexis had never pushed Christina, and most of all, that I never had to find out DJ wasn't my son."

Betty put her hand on his, "Daniel...I'm sorry. I guess I didn't realize how difficult it's been for you all this time, not being a part of DJ's life really when you had let down your barriers and accepted him as your son. Then to...lose him."

He nodded, "Yeah, it hurt. It hurt worse than Sofia, or Renee...I mean, I still tried to be a part of his life in some ways. I kept in touch by email and sometimes Skype. But it wasn't the same.

He seemed really sad at first. We both were. I guess, I can relate to those dads, like Brian who go through a divorce and suddenly this kid who was a huge part of their life...well, isn't anymore. At least, I didn't have that. I didn't divorce Lucy.

I feel even more sorry for those guys. It sucks. It's bad enough to deal with whatever heartache you went through with your ex, but then to just be cut off from seeing this kid who was there every day and now you're back to being a bachelor.

And obviously, the kid is going through abandonment issues, so they've got a chip on their shoulder when you do get to see them. Oh, by the way, you suck."

"I suck? Why?"

He grinned, shaking his head, "You were right."

"About what, specifically? I mean, of course I was right, Daniel. I'm always right."

"Yeah, I know. That's why you suck. Oh, I meant, you totally nailed the thing about saying DJ was just trying to be mad at me for something so he wouldn't feel so bad , when we didn't get to see each other as much anymore. He told me that was what was going on. So, yeah, you were right, as usual."

She smiled, "Why would you ever doubt me, is what I don't understand, Daniel."

"Shut up, smarty pants."

"Well, he's 'forgiven you' for whatever you did or in this case didn't really do, though, right? So it's all good."

"Yeah. I guess so. So, do you want to get out of here? This place is starting to get crowded. I was thinking...we could go get some Thai food and take it back to...your place?"

"Daniel...I don't think that's a good idea right now."

"Betty, I'm shocked! I just meant to eat, because it's kind of last minute to get a reservation anywhere. What did you think I had in mind? A re-enactment of my nephew's crime?" he teased.

She rolled her eyes and shoved him lightly, "Well, you are the 'master', Daniel. He is just your student, right?"

He laughed, "Right. That's me, Mister sex ed, teaching my nephew how to remove girl's clothing. Betty...come on. You know I would never do that. I don't act like that anymore. I never did around DJ. IF it happened, it was only that one crazy night with Becks. I don't hold seminars or anything, I promise!

He's just saying stuff like that about me to give himself some kind of mystique around that Valerie and I guess the kids he hangs around. He thinks it makes him seem cooler to make me out to be some kind of 'ladies man' and him as my protege or something.

Believe me, I'm NOT teaching him my 'old tricks', okay? We played video games, or basketball, baseball, guitar hero….no secret handshakes that involved removing girl's bras or panties, I promise you. I'm not a degenerate!"

"Well, you WERE a ladies' man, Daniel. He's not really exaggerating too much, there. But I know you wouldn't do that. I'm sure he is, as you said, just out to make his 'cool Uncle Daniel' seem even cooler.

I know Justin actually said when I was trying to decide if I should take this job and move here it would make me his 'cool Aunt Betty' that lived in London and he could come visit."

"You guys had a good time when he was here, then?"

"Yeah. We did. It went by way too fast, though. He was here for almost three weeks in July. I did finally take a little time off to just be a tourist with him. It was fun. I really miss him. And my whole family. But...it helps having you here. I told Mr. Dunne."

"You did? You said you were glad your old boss was here to sweep you off your feet, huh? What did he think about that? Please don't tell me he's planning on chasing you around the desk."

She giggled, "No. I don't think that's a problem. He was worried you were going to try and 'steal' me back for Mode and convince me to go back to New York, though. What's this about a letter of reference you wrote for me?"

He reddened slightly, "Huh? Oh, he got that, finally? I sent it after you left. I felt bad about, you know, the whole burning up of your first release form and stuff. Not to mention, the bad reference I gave Harry."

She shook her head, "Henry!"

"Yeah, whatever. So...what's your stance on the Thai? I guess we could go to a little place that's not too crowded where we didn't need reservations. Since you don't seem to trust me to be alone with you suddenly.

What is it, you think the minute I get you alone now, I'm going to snap my magic fingers and get you naked or something, Betty?"

She blushed, as they hailed a cab and got inside. "No, I just...don't know if we should get too...involved before we talk about things, Daniel. This is a huge change in our relationship."

"I know that. Why do you think I was such a chicken for so long, Betty? But now that it's out in the open, I feel...good, you know? I feel really good about finally having told you how I feel about you.

I feel...free. Like we can finally move forward with things. We're not stuck anymore. Well, at least as soon as you fess up yourself."

"Fess up? What am I confessing to? Murder? Burglary?"

"No, love, silly. You need to tell me you love me, too. You know you do, Betty. Come on, are you going to tell me that little 'slip' this morning when you said it wasn't just a bit 'Freudian'?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Daniel. I told you. I'm more than willing to...go out with you. To...get to know each other as…"

"Lovers?"

She blushed, "I was going to say more than friends. Jeez, you sound like Marc, now! Why does it have to be so...sudden? You just got back from Paris! Don't I get some kind of adjustment period to deal with everything you told me?"

"Of course you do, Betty. I'm sorry. I'm not trying to rush you. I know it takes you a while to get used to changes in your life. Moving here had to be really hard for you. I should have been here for you. And I wasn't.

I want to tell you something, Betty. I want to tell you how proud I am of you. For doing this. For all the hard work I see you've been doing since you got here. For having the...balls to move here. For leaving me and Mode behind in the first place. That took guts."

She nodded, trying to fight her emotions, "Thank you, Daniel. I didn't want to leave you, like I told you. But I…"

"You were ready to prove you could do this on your own. I get it, Betty. I do. Like I said, I get how hard this was for you. And I just made it harder. I'm really sorry about that.

And I am completely in awe of all you've accomplished. Of course, I always was proud of you. You're such an amazing woman. But now...it's like you really did become that butterfly you dressed up as that first Halloween. You flew all the way across an ocean to prove yourself. But here you are!"

She smiled, as he intertwined his fingers with hers, looking into her eyes. She caught her breath, looking at him, "Thank you, Daniel. That means...so much to me. And you did help me. You taught me so much. You gave me my start. I owe you everything.

You always encouraged me. Made me feel...like a butterfly. Nobody else did that like you did. I never would have had the courage to do half the things I've done without you, telling me I could."

He gave her his lopsided grin that she loved, that she had missed so much, "If you tell me I'm the 'wind beneath your wings', I swear, I'm gonna vomit."

She rolled her eyes, "Daniel...you started it. No, I'm not going to say that. But you kind of are…"

"Betty…" He groaned, looking embarrassed.

"A windbag."

He rolled his eyes, tickling her, "Ha ha, very funny! Hey, let's get out here. There's a Thai place, just up the street, see? It looks okay. We'll eat something, then go see a movie. Is that tame enough for you?

I promise, no boob grazing at the movie, no footsie at the restaurant. I'll be on my best behavior. Your bra is totally off limits, of course.

Even though, given our history, I should get some kind of free pass to move ahead of the line. But, whatever, Betty. You just let me know when you're ready to admit you're madly in love with me and want to rip my clothes off. Deal?"

She shook her head, then smiled as he got out and held out his hand to help her out of the cab, "Deal, Daniel." She sighed, wondering if he felt the intense heat she did from their hands just touching.