CHAPTER FIVE

Betty blushed, trying to pretend she hadn't heard the Meade matriarch's comment, quickly changing the subject, "Mrs. Me….I mean Claire, I'm really sorry to hear about your flight. I know what you mean. I hate flying, too! Especially when there's "turbulence".

It's so scary! I keep thinking the plane is going to crash. I know they say it's actually safer to fly than to drive, but...you don't drive thirty thousand feet in the air, doing over six hundred miles an hour!"

Claire smiled, "Exactly! Of course, if you ride with my son, you'd feel like you were going that fast and in the air. Have you ever ridden with Daniel? He should have been a race car driver. I remember when he first got his driver's license, I seriously thought he was going to crash, he drove so fast. I…"

"Mom! Seriously, let's not bore Betty with all this talk about…" Daniel was clearly flustered by his mother's bluntness. He usually tried to appear unflappable by her outrageous comments, but he was unprepared for her to start blabbing to Betty about him and especially for her to start talking about grandkids!

Claire patted his arm, "Daniel, I'm sorry, but you know it's true. You're a very fast driver."

"That's a matter of opinion." She gave him a look, and he sighed, "Fine, maybe a little sometimes, but…"

"Daniel, you drive? Since when? You never drove yourself anywhere in New York!

"Well, no. That's probably a really good thing, since I drank a lot there. Actually, I did drive a few times in my younger days, outside of the city. I drive now since I moved here. Everybody's a crazy driver here, so I fit right in.

Didn't you tell me something about taking lessons from your brother-in-law to learn to drive a stick, right?"

"Ooh, isn't that the sexy one you said you had a crush on? That was your brother-in-law? Bobby, right?"

Daniel looked between his mother and Betty, "The Sexy one? Seriously? You think Bobby is... So, you had a crush on your brother-in-law? Wait, Bobby's the one you wrote the fearless article about? Does Hilda know?"

Betty blushed, "Daniel, don't be silly! I was only a young girl when I had a crush on Bobby. I kept interrupting him with Hilda when they first dated in high school. If I hadn't, he'd probably be Justin's father instead of Santos.

I mean, okay, maybe when I first saw him again when I did my article I still thought he was...kind of hot. But all I did was kiss him. And even that was years ago!"

Daniel raised his eyebrow as did Claire who seemed to be enjoying her son's obvious jealousy, "YOU KISSED him? How did you kiss him, like...a peck or like you kissed me?"

Claire laughed out loud, "You two FINALLY at least kissed? It's about damn time! I want to hear all about it on the way to your sisters."

"MOM! Cut it out. I'm not telling you anything about...anything."

She shrugged, as they got into the car, "Have it your way. One of you will talk sooner or later. Neither of you is a very good liar. So you had your first kiss here in Paris, huh? I guess it is romantic; the city of love and all…"

"Mom, are you okay? Look, I appreciate your um...being worried about me, but…"

"You don't need my help? I'm sorry, dear, but the facts don't support that. You met this lovely girl almost ten years ago and you just now finally kissed her? I'm glad you're no longer a 'man-whore', but this is ridiculous!

And you, Betty, I'm so proud of you, of everything you've accomplished. I couldn't love you more if you were my own daughter, but your timing completely sucks! JUST when Daniel here finally got his head out of his ass and figured out he was in love with you back in New York at Hilda's wedding… you went and moved to another country!"

Betty looked at him, "That's when you knew...that you loved me? Really?"

He nodded, "Yeah."

She thought for a moment, remembering with fondness, "When we were dancing?"

He smiled, "Actually, a little before that. When Hilda gave her speech, remember? She said all that stuff about love being when you knew someone better than you know yourself and you always str to protect them. I realized, that's why I got so damn jealous of stupid Henry in the first place!"

"Which time? You mean when you threatened to fire him or...oh, you mean for Hilda's wedding. Of course! Because I uninvited you after I remembered drunk-dialing him."

"Yeah, you never drunk dialed me!" Daniel sounded resentful.

Claire interrupted before they managed to mess up their little love bubble, "In any case, you both look wonderful tonight! Love agrees with you. And Paris. I'm sorry to butt in, and Daniel, dear, I know I'm embarrassing you, but waiting for you two is exhausting and I simply don't have the time anymore!"

Daniel and Betty exchanged concerned glances and Daniel put his hand on his mother's arm, "Mom, what the hell are you talking about? What do you mean you don't have time? Are YOU alright? What's going on?"

Betty caught her breath, waiting for Claire's answer. She had already lost her own mother, and the thought that something might be seriously wrong with Daniel's mom, the woman she most admired in the whole world and looked on as a surrogate mother was completely incomprehensible.

Claire met her son's fearful gaze, and took a quick glance at Betty, then put her hand on Daniel's and squeezed it, "I didn't want to say anything on the phone. That's why I decided to come a bit earlier than I originally planned. I was waiting to find out the results of a biopsy. I just found out yesterday."

Betty and Daniel stared in shock at one another, completely speechless for a moment. Daniel couldn't take it anymore, "And? Mom...what did you find out? What was the biopsy for by the way?"

The haunted look in his eyes reminded Betty of what he looked like after he lost Molly. She had her own bad memories to deal with, too.

"Cancer. Ca….um...I found a lump on my breast last month."

Daniel narrowed his eyes, "Okay, I'm going to pretend I didn't hear part of that sentence because right now I'm more interested in you telling me what the results were? Mom, I love you, but sometimes you drive me crazy!"

She smiled, "I'm fine. The results were negative. It was benign."

Betty and Daniel both let out the breath they were holding at the same time. They both grabbed Claire and hugged her tightly between them. Betty let out a squeal and Daniel shook his head, "Mom! Geez! You scared the hell out of me!"

"I'm sorry. I know I should have told you before, but like I said, I simply couldn't do it over the phone. And going through that week of not knowing made me have a perspective on what's really important.

That's why I called Betty and why I asked everyone to come here to your sister's for Christmas. I want the Meade family to all be together finally.

And Betty, you're a huge part of that. If not for you, I would still be in prison and Daniel would probably be dead three times over. You've made us all better versions of ourselves, in fact."

Betty tried to fight back the tears unsuccessfully. She was still recovering from the scare Claire had given them dropping the C-word bomb on her and Daniel. "Thank you, Claire. I'm so happy you're alright.

But I have to agree with Daniel. Please don't ever scare us like that again!" She grabbed the woman and hugged her again.

Daniel agreed, "I'm happy you're alright! I even forgive you for scaring the hell out of us! It makes sense: I understand why you wanted us all together now."

She nodded, wiping her eyes and smiling as her son gave her a kiss on the cheek, "Exactly! Nothing like a scary diagnosis to shake you up and help you cherish your family and friends."

Claire looked at Daniel and Betty, "And perhaps...grow tired of waiting for you two to do something about your feelings for each other. Like I said, tick-tock...since I'm not dying quite yet anyway, there IS still time for those grand…"

Daniel rolled his eyes, "Mom! Do you mind? We get it. You got scared, so you used that as an excuse to butt into our lives. Since it all worked out, all is forgiven, but don't push it, okay? Please?!"

She laughed and made a motion over her lips, "Fine, fine. I'll shut up for now at least. It IS really wonderful to see you two together again, FINALLY, though. I never thought when he told me he was going to London to follow you that things would go this long without one of you taking the leap to make things work.

Betty, I would have hoped you were smart enough to figure out how Daniel felt about you and DO something about it before now!"

"Great, so you're disappointed in ME?"

Claire laughed, "Well, you ARE the brains of the operation."

"Uh, gee, thanks, Mom."

"Daniel, please. I love you, dear. But sometimes you act like you did when you were four years old!"

Betty laughed, as Daniel made a face, then shrugged, "Hey, at least I said you were five!"

Alexis was thrilled to find that Claire was alright and that her cryptic conversation was simply because she had been upset about her diagnosis, even though the results had been negative.

She looked at Betty and Daniel, "Thanks again for picking her up for me, you guys. I'm so relieved that Mom is healthy and...sober! I was so worried! I actually have some good news to share with everyone. Well, DJ and I both do."

Betty hugged Daniel's nephew, "It's so good to see you again, DJ.! You're so big now! I can't believe how much you've grown up. The last time I saw you, you were a little kid."

"Who threw silly string at you, causing you to crash your motorcycle!" DJ wasn't sure if Betty had forgiven him for that.

But she laughed, "Oh, that! That was a really long time ago, DJ. Bygones. Besides, it got me a lot of hits on YouTube's funniest videos. I mention it sometimes in meetings to get me a laugh. So, tell us, what's your big news? Oh, and your...mom's."

She was trying her best to put out of her mind the reason Alexis had moved to France in the first place, other than to be with her son. Her son that she had managed to take away from Daniel, not to mention the whole pushing Christina down the stairs, then letting her own brother get arrested for it!

Not an easy thing to forgive. And yet, somehow, Daniel had. It only made Betty love him more. Clearly, seeing how close he and DJ were, that whole "cool uncle" thing had grown into a very strong bond, now that Daniel lived nearby.

"Well, MY news is that I got into NYU and my mom's is….tell them, Mom!"

Alexis smiled, "I'm so proud of him! He's going to get his business degree there. He wants to be the next CEO of Meade here in Paris!"

Betty and Claire both looked surprised, and her mother asked, "But how about you? Are you working together?"

"Only long enough to train him. Then I'm taking some time off...for my wedding and honeymoon. I'm engaged!" She held up her left hand to show off a gorgeous two-carat ring.

"Wow! Tell me all about it!" Claire pulled her daughter aside and they chatted excitedly, while DJ showed Betty to the guest room. Alexis' townhome was tastefully decorated and "modern traditional", with mostly french ivory and blue decor in the main room and the bedroom and a soft, creamy yellow in the kitchen.

Daniel followed behind, and DJ laughed, pointing up, "Look! You two are standing under mistletoe! You must kiss, no?"

Betty blushed and Daniel shrugged, grabbing her arms, "He's right. It's the law. We MUST kiss, yes?" he leaned down and kissed her sweetly as DJ raised his eyebrows, "It looks as though you have done this before, yes?"

Daniel laughed, "No comment, smart guy." He joked with his nephew, "Hey! This is normally MY room when I stay here! You're giving it to Betty? So, where am I supposed to sleep? On the couch?"

DJ left rolling his eyes at his uncle. Daniel turned to Betty, shaking his head, "Just kidding, Betty. My place is only a few miles away. I won't be spending the night here tonight."

"You're leaving me here?" she seemed surprised and a bit disappointed that Daniel wasn't planning on remaining at his sister's for the night, also.

He smiled, and put his hand up over her on the doorway, causing her to back up against it, "Well, you're welcome to come home with me, of course. But I only have one bedroom, so if you want to go with that whole third date thing, that's fine with me!"

She could feel his hot breath on her face as he leaned ever closer, "I...um ...don't want to be rude to your mom and sister, though."

He laughed, thrilled and hopeful that she seemed willing to come home with him, "My sister? Please, you don't owe her anything! Besides, she seems all excited to tell Mom about her new fiance.

Believe me, Betty, nobody will care if I take you home with me. In fact, they'll probably want details tomorrow! You heard my mom on the way over here. She's practically got our kids named."

Betty blushed, "I don't know, Daniel." He was making it pretty clear how he wanted the evening to end.

He took her hands in his and looked into her eyes, "Betty, listen. I told you, I am in love with you. So, of course, I'd love for us to be together. I haven't changed that much!

But if you're...you know, not ready yet for anything physical, I'm okay with that, too. I know how your mind operates. If you need more time...well, I respect you. I can wait. It's totally up to you how fast we move things.

No pressure. We can just watch old movies in French with English subtitles and pig out on ice cream, cuddle, maybe make out a little…" he squinted, holding up his thumb and forefinger.

She laughed, "I see. Only a little, huh?"

He smirked, "Hey, seriously, I've got a couch that's really comfy. It's not like I haven't slept on it before when I was working late or something. But it would be really nice to...wake up with you there. It's not like you haven't spent the night with me before platonically. I seem to remember punching Hartley to defend your honor once upon a time, long ago and far away."

She bit her lip and smiled, putting her hand on his cheek, "Of course I remember. You were so cute, punching Matt like that."

"Thanks, but as I recall, you told me I shouldn't have done it!"

She laughed, "You shouldn't have. But...it was still really sweet. And he sort of deserved it."

"Sort of? No, he DID deserve it! Especially after he ended up taking off like that, to go save the world and broke your heart!"

She smiled at how quick he was to jump to her aid. She shook her head, "He didn't, you know."

"Didn't? Oh, you mean, he didn't break your heart?"

"No. He didn't really have it. I think...I was already realizing I didn't really love him the way I should have."

"I can't say I'm all that upset about that. So...should we tell Alexis we'll see them all tomorrow...whenever we crawl out of bed. Just kidding!"

"Daniel!" She smacked him lightly, unable to keep from laughing. "If you're sure it's okay?"

He grinned and put his fingers to his lips, then led her out the back door, grabbing his keys, his eyes shining with excitement, "I left my car here earlier when I dropped by. Since the cat's out of the bag with my slightly fast driving, you wanna ride? Do you still trust me?"

"I do…" She stopped short and laughed, putting her hand to her mouth, as he ushered her into his red Ferrari, "You're kidding? You drive THIS now?"

He shrugged, "Hey if you're going to do something, do it right! I believe you taught me that, Miss Suarez. It was this or purple."

He grinned, revving the engine, "Buckle up and hold on! You're in for a bumpy ride tonight!"

Less than twenty minutes later, they pulled up outside a charming pied-a-terre. "Here we are, home sweet home."

Daniel was a huge flirt, but he was as good as his word, and Betty felt like indeed, she was 'home' again somehow, as they snuggled on the couch, laughing and talking, watching movies until she dozed off. She couldn't have planned or hoped for a better ending to a better night, being here with her best friend again, with the promise of more.

As he saw she had fallen asleep, Daniel smiled, kissing her forehead, as he picked her up and placed her on his bed, covering her with a blanket, as he closed the door, "Goodnight, sleeping beauty. Je t'adore, my little angel. I missed you."