Love Never Goes Out of Style/ CH 28
Daniel carefully helped Betty inside the helicopter. The seats were fairly close together, but he still made sure she was as far away from Matt as possible.
Tom looked confidently at Daniel and smiled at him and Betty, "I see you two finally decided to join us! Bobby and Tyler were taking bets on whether or not you would choose to stay behind and wait out the storm."
Betty blushed slightly, "Well, we heard there was more bad weather coming, so we figured we'd better leave now while we could. Is Stuart on the other helicopter?"
Tom nodded, as he finished his flight checklist before taking off, "He went back with Alejandro."
Bobby grinned and leaned forward, yelling over the noise, "You know your sister would never let me hear the end of it if I didn't see that you got safely out of there, chipmunk!"
Betty smiled, "I know, Bobby. Thanks. Thanks all of you for coming to find me."
Matt started to shake his head, "It's not like I would have hurt you or anythi…"
Daniel glared at Matt and leaned closer to Tyler, "Can we gag him or something? I swear, if he opens his mouth one more time, I'm going to wait till we're about a mile up in the air and throw him out!"
Tyler elbowed Matt, and said quietly to him, "You'd better shut the hell up if you want to live to see another day, man. Daniel is seriously ready to murder you."
Matt let out a sigh and turned to look back at the cabin he had hoped to keep Betty at until she changed her mind about him.
Betty felt Daniel's arms tight around her, and his hand holding hers. He smiled, looking into her eyes, and kissed her hand, then leaned forward to whisper, "Are you feeling okay, sweetie? You look a little…green."
She tried to smile, but he could see the wave of nausea overtake her. He yelled at Tom, "Do you have airsick bags?" Tom nodded and pointed to the back of the seat. Daniel pulled one out for Betty and handed it to her as discreetly as possible.
Bobby and Tyler both looked at Betty sympathetically. Bobby grinned, "Your first time on a helicopter, chipmunk? They're not so bad once you get used to the noise and the shaking."
Betty blew out a breath, still trying to hold off the feeling in the pit of her stomach. Daniel rubbed her back, and leaned closer, "It's okay, honey. Don't worry about it. This isn't Mode. Nobody's watching you. Poor baby. Let me get you something. Here. Try this."
He smiled and handed her a Seven-Up from a cooler on the floor. He took off his seat belt, to sit closer to her and wipe her face with a wet wipe Tom also had in his case.
Daniel wrapped his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. "We'll be back in London in no time, sweetie. You can take a nice, hot bath, and this time, I'll make sure and have those handcuffs handy. Maybe along with a pregnancy test." He grinned at her, making her laugh, in spite of her discomfort.
She leaned to whisper, "That should be interesting. You're going to handcuff me to you and yet I'm supposed to take a pregnancy test? You do know what those entail, right?"
He rolled his eyes, "I believe I'm familiar, yes, Miss Suarez."
"I'm all for togetherness, Daniel, but…there's a limit. I'll tell you what. You can wait outside the door and I'll come right out when I'm done, deal?"
He narrowed his eyes, "We'll see. If it comes out negative because it's too soon, I'm taking you to the doctor. In fact, maybe we should go to the doctor anyway, just in case. It's faster that way, right?"
She shrugged, "I don't know, Daniel. I know about as much as you do about it."
He smiled as he brushed a strand of hair from her face, and handed her another towel, then kissed her nose, "You look very cute right now."
She bit her lower lip and blushed, brushing her hair out of her eyes, "Oh, I'm sure I look just wonderful! You're sweet to say that, Daniel. But…I seriously doubt I look anything but terrible."
He shook his head, smiling as he kissed her hair and looked into her eyes, "You're the most beautiful woman I've ever met, Betty. And you've seriously never looked hotter to me. If we had room, I'd make love to you right here, with everyone watching. You're absolutely adorable.
Of course, the fact that we did just…you know, have fun earlier and that you might be carrying my baby not to mention I was afraid I'd never see you again all may have a little bit to do with how I'm seeing you." He held the back of her head and kissed her cheek softly, then whispered, "I love you."
She blushed warmly, and nodded, her eyes starting to water. "I love you, too, Daniel. So much. I can't believe I'm so lucky. Is your arm alright? I noticed you wincing earlier."
He shook his head, "That's my Betty. You see everything, don't you? It's fine. You know, I am a big boy now, sweetheart. I can dress myself and everything. You don't have to still be my assistant anymore. I'm not 'that Daniel', thank God. At least, I hope not. You've got to let me take care of you for a change."
He pulled her against his chest and she closed her eyes; enjoying the feeling of his strong arms around her, making her feel safe.
After a few hours, when they landed, Daniel gave one last nod to Tyler, and pulled him aside, "Listen, I'm staying with Betty. Can you take care of him, please? Make sure he spends the night in jail, no matter what. Hell, I don't know; say he was plotting to kidnap the Queen or something if you have to.
I don't care what it takes, who you have to bribe. He may be right about his family's lawyers. But call Mom. She knows some people here in London that can at least give the Hartley's law firm a run around, even with all their money.
He's got to know what he did was wrong. I don't want him anywhere near Betty or my baby ever again!"
Tyler's eyes grew wide, and he said quietly, "Betty's… pregnant?"
Daniel shrugged, "Maybe. But, regardless, I'm not looking over my shoulder for the rest of my life, wondering about him, you know?"
Tyler put his hand on Daniel's shoulder, "Don't sweat it, Daniel. I've got this. Bobby and I will be more than happy to give my other half-brother a little taste of what it's like NOT to have a silver spoon to get you out of jail free card. No offense."
"None taken. I may have gotten into a little trouble here and there with Becks when I was younger, mostly stupid stuff like stealing my old man's car for a joy ride and all my infamous manwhore stuff with too many women on page six, but I sure as hell never kidnapped anybody."
Tyler waved toward Betty, "Go, take care of your lady, Daniel. Let us know as soon as you find out any good news. We'll give Mr. Hartley our own version of Guantanamo Bay right here in London."
Daniel narrowed his eyes, "Good. Don't forget to kick him in the balls a few extra times for me, huh?"
"You got it." The car with the ladies pulled up. Hilda got out and hugged Betty, looking her over, "Oh my God, mami you look terrible!"
"Thanks!" Betty smiled as she tried not to let on why she felt so bad. Amanda and Christina both hugged her and questioned her about her ordeal.
Meanwhile, Tom shook Daniel's hand. "It's been a pleasure, Daniel. Don't hesitate to call if you need a pilot in the future. You're planning on staying in Europe for a while, right?"
Daniel handed Tom a card, "You're not getting rid of me that easily, mister. Here's my number. Call me in a few days once we get our heads on straight about things and I'll put you in touch with my sister in Paris. She's the one who knows the specialist I told you about.
Plus, my mother has lots of friends in hospital administration that can cut through all the red tape and get your wife the care she needs on a regular basis.
And I'm sure we need a pilot on staff at Mode UK. I'll send an email to the HR department here in London, okay? I'd be dead without you and God only knows what that asshole would have done to Betty."
Tom shook his head, "I'd be dead without you, too. You could have left me there to freeze to death. You have no idea what this means to me and my whole family, Daniel."
"I might…sooner than you think." Daniel smiled and hugged him. "You're a good man to have on my side. Thanks for everything, man."
"You bet, Daniel."
Bobby hugged Betty and whispered, "I won't tell Hilda you might be pregnant, chipmunk. But if you don't find out soon, I think Daniel is gonna bust, he's so excited."
She looked at Bobby, somewhat surprised, but nodded, and whispered back, "Thanks, Bobby. I'll tell her as soon as we know for sure. Thanks for coming to rescue me. You're going to be a fantastic brother-in-law."
He grinned, elbowing her, "See, I told you that you were gonna get over your little crush on me someday, chipmunk. I see Daniel is the man for you. He's a great guy. He'll definitely take good care of you. Just like you deserve."
Daniel appeared and put his arm around Betty, "Are you ready, sweetie? Here's our car now. Bye, everybody. Thanks so much for everything. We'll be in touch tomorrow."
Hilda hugged Daniel, "Thanks for rescuing my sister, Daniel! I knew you'd get her back. You just leave Mr. Hartley to us…we'll give him a taste of what it's like to be in the wrong neighborhood without his mommy."
Daniel smiled and kissed her on the cheek, "Sounds good to me. Be sure to send me some pictures."
As they left, Betty leaned back in the town car, resting her head against Daniel's chest and sighed, "I can't wait to get back to the hotel."
He shook his head, and squeezed her hand, and kissed it, "Me, either, babe. But we do have one stop to make first. Driver, can you stop at the nearest drug store, please?"
As the others gathered around Matt, Hilda gave Bobby and the others a side-long glance. "So…as far as anyone knows, Mr. Hartley here could have crashed into the mountains in the Alps somewhere, right? Or he mighta died of hypothermia, or any number of things in his evil plot to kidnap my sister, true?
So, the way I see it, anything we do to him now coulda easily happened during the time he was committing his crime. Anything short of actually killing him is still an improvement. We rescued him, so he's alive. For now."
Matt widened his eyes, trying to look unafraid, as he saw everyone there looking at him rather menacingly. He appealed to Amanda, "Mandy…come on. You know I'd never actually hurt Betty."
She seemed unaffected by his words "Yeah, Matt. I know. Not intentionally, maybe. But Tyler could have gotten killed trying to find you guys. That is NOT something you want on your conscience. Killing a hot guy like Tyler when he's been the only one who even was willing to talk to you from what I hear.
Don't even try to get me on your side. You dumped me for Betty. Then you tried to use me. Then you dumped me again for her. Then you left her! Now you could have gotten a lot of people killed having to chase after you. As far as I'm concerned, you really should have stayed in Australia. You belong with the kangaroos and guinea pigs. I'm really mad at you!"
He sighed, seeing she wasn't going to listen to him, either, so he tried Tyler next, "Tyler…come on. You said yourself, we both got a shitty dad."
"Exactly, Matt. Both of us. I've got Cal's DNA just as much as you do. And he didn't even want me! He tried to have Claire get rid of me before I was even born. Yet, you don't see me out committing crimes and thinking I can do whatever I want, no matter who it hurts!"
"But that's just it. You were adopted! You weren't raised by the man."
Tom spoke up, "Isn't that a bit nineties mentality, Matthew? Trying to blame your mean mommy and daddy for your own bad behavior? Besides, from what I hear, Bradford Meade was no father-of-the-year, either. And even Claire Meade had a drinking problem. We've all had problems. Suck it up!"
Matt shook his head, putting up his hand, "I know, I know. Daniel had a terrible childhood, too. Yet he's Mister Hero, Mister Wonderful and I'm just a big, spoiled, rich jerk!"
Christina had the last word, "Yes, you are, Matthew Hartley. What I want to know right now is where the other helicopter is. They should have been here by now. Where are Stuart and Alejandro? You'd better call out the cavalry, because I'm not quite ready to tell little William his dad was hurt or worse because of the likes of you; you wee spoiled baby!"