Love Never Goes Out of Style/CH 27
Daniel's eyes widened, as he put the pieces together of Betty's expression and her sickness. He couldn't keep the smile off his face, "Wait, Betty, do you think you're throwing up because you're…you know, pregnant, maybe? Seriously?"
She shrugged, grinning slightly at his adorably boyish expression. "I don't know, Daniel. Yes, maybe. I mean, it's so soon, I really don't know yet. I suppose when we get back, I could get a test. But, I have been late before. And I'm not that late. Just a week or so. So, I'm probably not."
He thought a minute, "Do you not want to be? Is it too soon? We did just start dating less than a month ago. But, then again, it's not like we just met online or something. Really, how do you feel about it? I mean, you know, if you were, would you hate it? Feel tied down?"
She giggled, "Well, I think I can tell where you come down on the subject. I know you've wanted to be a father since…DJ."
He nodded, looking down, "I have to admit, I have. I really miss him. I liked being DJ's dad. It made me not so self-involved. And…a baby with you, Betty, our baby? That would be, well, amazing, insane, totally fantastic!"
She looked into his eyes, and took his hands, "I know you want this, Daniel. I understand how much you'd like a baby. I don't honestly know how I feel about it. I mean, on one hand, I'd love to get my career going more first and wait on a family. And it is really soon! But, on the other hand, we love each other and…well, honestly, the idea of having your baby…knowing what a wonderful father you'd make, that sounds really great, too!"
He pulled her closer, "Yeah, well, I know one thing we could do right now until you can take a test."
She raised her eyebrow, "And what might that be?"
He smirked, "The best thing you can do before any test. You know, practice, practice, practice! Besides, it's not like I brought condoms with me up here. I definitely didn't plan on getting lucky today.
I mean, I could ask Matt to borrow some, but that might be rubbing salt in the wound and it would just use up our valuable time. Let's see, we've got less than fifty-minutes left of that hour now. We could …um, you know, try and make a baby for sure."
Betty tried not to laugh at his enthusiasm, "You really think this is the best place to do that?"
He shrugged, holding her cheek in his hand, "Sweetie, I think any place where we can be together is perfect. I don't care if it's in a car, or in a boat."
She couldn't help but giggle at his hopeful expression, "Now you sound like Dr. Seuss!"
He started kissing her neck, and whispered, "On the floor or in the kitchen, on a star or in a moat…or…in this bed."
She giggled and ran her hands across his back, then reached up to kiss him, "I'm so glad you found me, Daniel."
He nodded, "Mmmhmm…I'm so glad I found you, too. And I don't just mean today. I'm so happy you came crashing into my life, Betty. I love you." He grabbed her face and started kissing her, as he backed her towards the bed and helped her onto it, crawling on top of her.
"I love you, too, Daniel. My big, strong, hero. Coming here through a storm to rescue me. Very romantic."
He smirked, as he pulled down the uniform she had on, kissing his way down her shoulders to her breasts, "Yeah? You know it sounds like the storm is still going. No electricity, and that wind is really beating strong. Just like my heart is beating strong for you right now."
She laughed, "Maybe a little over the top, but cute, Daniel. I'll allow that one to slide. Especially since you pulled Tom up here with your arm hurt. Now that was real hero stuff! How does it feel now, sweetie?"
He shrugged, looking down at her, obviously milking it for the attention, "It still hurts a little, I guess. But this…you…uh…I'm definitely feeling good enough in other parts of my body to distract me from all the pain."
She pushed him over on the bed and ripped open his shirt, kissing his chest, and smiling up at him, "Well, let's see if we can't really distract you. I don't want you to feel any pain whatsoever. Just…"
Just then, the door burst open and Tyler, Bobby, Stuart, and Alejandro all came rushing inside the small cabin, looking around.
Betty's eyes grew wide and she pushed Daniel off the bed, without thinking, and covered herself with the quilt on the bed. Daniel's pants were unzipped, and his shirt open and ripped. He struggled to get up, looking up at Betty, "Thanks, babe. That didn't help the arm much. Oh, hey, guys.
Thanks for the backup, but as you can see, Betty's okay. Well, more than okay. I don't suppose you'd all be willing to wait for us out in the shed with Tom where he's got Matt stashed for…" he glanced at his watch, "say forty minutes or so, give or take?"
The four men glanced at each other, smirking silently. Bobby nodded towards the door and gestured towards the others for them to head back out. "Uh, guys, I don't know about you, but I was really wondering what a shed looks like in Switzerland, weren't you?"
The others all nodded in assent. Stuart raised his eyebrow, and started rubbing his hands in front of the fireplace, "Well, I don't know about that. It's nice and warm in here next to the fireplace." he teased.
Tyler pushed him towards the door. "Come on. Let's give these two time to celebrate finding each other first. We'll be fine. Glad you're safe, Betty. Bye for now."
The minute they left, Daniel got back up on the bed, "Now, where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?"
Betty was blushing. "Daniel! Let's just wait till we get back to the hotel. They're all going to know what we're doing in here."
He shrugged, crawling towards her and cradling his hand behind her head as he kissed her slowly and sweetly, then smiled, "So what? Nobody cares. You were held hostage. Now you're okay. I think we're entitled to a little you know, celebrating, like Tyler said. Don't you?"
He started kissing her neck and working his way down her shoulder, and whispered, "Come on, sweetie. What do you really want? Honestly. You know I'm not very good at delayed gratification." He continued kissing her, stroking his finger down her shoulder.
Betty was having a hard time saying no. His kisses were working their magic. She knew she shouldn't give in, but she couldn't help it. In a matter of minutes, all thoughts of stopping where things were headed went completely out of her head and she found herself kissing him back, just as deeply and passionately.
Once she did, things heated up very quickly. "I'm sorry I panicked earlier and pushed you off the bed. Are you...you know, okay?"
He smiled, "I think I'm back to normal; thanks, sweetie. Maybe next time though...instead of throwing me off the bed, you could just try hiding me under the covers with you. Here, let me show you what I mean." He grinned as he dove under the covers with her, making her giggle.
"Daniel! Stop. I mean…. You're...uh, wait, never mind."
He laughed, "So...you mean, don't stop?"
"No. Definitely DON'T stop." she whispered, as he continued.
"Yes, ma'am. Whatever you say." he smiled.
In the shed, the men were all talking, as Bobby and Stuart were working with Tom to try and get the snowmobile started.
Tyler held the gun on Matt as he sat on the chair Tom had tied him to earlier. Matt looked at him, "So, you're the kid my dad had with Claire Meade, huh? Yeah, I heard about you. Have you met 'dear old dad, yet?"
Tyler shook his head, "Not yet. Claire didn't tell me who he was at first. I confronted her about it after Daniel mentioned him. It seems she promised your, I mean our father she wouldn't tell me who he was. I guess he was worried I'd try and claim some money or something."
"You mean, you're not interested in it? It's a LOT, you know."
Tyler nodded, then shrugged, "I know. I was pretty surprised just at the two grand tip Claire left me at the bar I was working at in South Dakota when she came looking for me. I followed her to New York because I wanted to know who my real parents were. I've lived without a lot of money my whole life, and I've done okay. I don't really think I want a lot of money. I already have a problem with booze. I sure as hell don't want access to a bunch of money that might make my addictive tendencies even worse with drugs or something!
Besides, you grew up with all that and it doesn't seem to have done you much good. You got so messed up you didn't know it was wrong to kidnap somebody who was somebody else's girlfriend! Thanks, but no thanks. You and your dad and your mom can all keep your money. If this is what it does to you, I want no part of it!"
Matt looked at Tyler carefully, squinting at him and slowly nodded, "You're right. I know I am really messed up, I guess. I had this image of me and Betty together. I couldn't believe she just stopped loving me. I was so jealous before, when things were good between us. I saw her kissing her old boyfriend Henry goodbye and it really tore me up. I couldn't get that image out of my head, even though she said it was over between them and that she loved me.
But I acted like a spoiled little brat and was terrible to her. She still took me back, eventually, though. And then…I messed up again, going off to Africa. I broke her heart. I really thought she would be so proud of me, finding something I was good at and following my passion that she would finally quit her job at Mode and stop following Daniel around all the time.
Whenever I acted jealous of him she used to always tell me they were 'just friends' and I didn't really know what to think. I guess I wanted her to choose. Him or me. And she chose him. But…I couldn't accept that. Does that make sense?"
Tyler looked at him, almost feeling sorry for his half-brother, "Maybe a little. But what you did, taking Betty against her will doesn't. You took things way too far. That's what I mean about having more money than sense. Just because you can afford to hire a bunch of goons and get a private plane and all this to kidnap her and bring her here doesn't mean you should have, you know?
It was INSANELY wrong! You knew that. She didn't want to come. You should have had enough sense to see that. But you're just so used to people doing whatever you want, whatever you pay them to do, whether it's right or not. It's easy enough to find people so desperate for that kind of money that they go along with your insanity.
That's exactly why I want nothing to do with the Hartleys. I don't want to have that kind of arrogance to think people should always do what I want all the time. That's not me. I heard stories about your dad. He sounds like he's the same way."
Matt nodded, "You're right. He is. He's always been like that. He was too easy on me, I guess. My mom was really the tough one in a lot of ways. But my dad…is something else. I love him, but he's not really a good role model. I never thought of myself as like him. That's why I've been afraid to stay in one thing. My dad is into a lot of different things, too. But he's a genius at everything he does. Me…I just mess everything up.
I tried to be so many different things because I never wanted to be like him. But I am. I'm just as ruthless as he is."
"No offense, but your mom seems kind of…"
Matt laughed, "Yeah, she is. It's okay. You can say it. Believe me, I won't be offended. Not that I'm blaming my parents for what I did. They tried, I guess. At least they both love me in their way. Even if they're both twisted. Hey, at least there's hope for you. Claire seems a little nicer. And you're absolutely right I think to stay as far away from dad as possible. He's your dad, too, but…he's not really…"
Tyler shook his head, seeming a bit upset, "It's fine. I heard he wanted my mother to have an abortion. He knows who I am. He's afraid I'm going to come and try to get money from him.
He clearly wants nothing to do with me as a son. He's just worried about me taking from him. Like I said, he can keep his damn money. If he doesn't want me as his son, that's fine with me. I don't need him or his money."
Matt once again looked at Tyler with admiration, "I wish I could be more like you. You really seem to have your head on straight."
Suddenly, they all startled at the sound of the snowmobile starting up. Bobby, Tom, and Alejandro looked at Stuart, sitting on it and smiling. "I knew we could get this thing started. Tom, why don't you and Alejandro hop on and we'll all go down to the site where you landed your helicopter and make sure you can get it started so we can all get out of here before another storm starts brewing?"
"Sounds like a good plan to me. It's uh…been an hour. Do you think the rest of us could go back into the cabin?" Tyler smiled, rubbing his hands together.
Bobby laughed, "Fine, but close your eyes…just in case. Tell them we'll try and call if we can get a signal. Otherwise, one of us will ride back up here to get everyone and bring them down to the helicopter. There's no sense in all of us freezing our asses off down there, though. We four know a little about mechanics, so we'll get it going, then come get the rest of you."
"Okay. Good luck. Matt…after you. Let's go see if Daniel and Betty are ready for company."
Matt looked at Tyler and nodded to his hands tied, "With my hands tied? Daniel will kill me…"
Tyler shrugged, "He might. But then again, maybe he's feeling a little more charitable by now. He's probably too busy, and has his hands full! All I know is, I'm cold as hell out here. Let's go!"