CHRISTMAS IN PARIS/CH 8

As the "snow event" continued outside, Daniel managed to bundle up and walk to the George Cinque to retrieve Betty's things and officially check her out of her "fancy hotel", promising that he would bring her back at some point in the near future (perhaps on their honeymoon).

While he was there, he knocked on the suite where Betty's family was staying. Justin opened the door, and squealed in delight at seeing the Meade heir, "DANIEL! OHMYGOD! It's been FOREVER since I've seen you! Mode is SO boring without you and AB! I'm so excited that you two are FINALLY getting married! Thank GOD for your mother! What the HELL took you so long anyway?" he punched Daniel's arm.

"HEY! You know the phone works both ways, Justin! I mean, of course, I totally adore your aunt, but…she could have swallowed her pride and called me in all this time, too you know! Why is this only MY fault? I did follow her to London after all. And I wrote that letter in Mode before I left. I tried taking her out while I was there. But ….anyway, none of that matters now. She's here! And she's actually agreed to marry me! So…what the hell am I arguing about?" he grinned, hugging his soon-to-be new nephew excitedly.

Justin's eyes misted over, "Seriously? She really came? And she said yes? Wow! Way to go, AB! Shoot, way to go, UD! OW!" He looked puzzled but happy when Daniel tried to high-five him, then made a face of slight annoyance when he moved his hand to mess up Justin's hair, "PLEASE! Do you have any idea how long it took me to get this? Some of us don't just roll out of bed! Although…okay, so if my Aunt Betty is HERE, where is she? Did you tie her up at your little pied-de terre? God, I'm going to LOVE visiting my SUPER cool aunt and new uncle in France!"

Daniel shook his head, "Yeah, Betty's back at my place. Sorry, but after we get married we won't stay here. Your Aunt Betty is going to need to go back to London when Mr. Dunne retires in the new year most likely. So, I already told her I'd sell my place here and move back there with her. We'll get a house in the city. Hey, London is still pretty cool! I mean, it's not Paris, but…at least I can speak the language, finally! I'm so tired of sounding like a five year old here!"

The two went to Betty's room and gathered her belongings, then knocked on the door to the two adjoining suites where the rest of the Suarez and Telercio families were staying. Bobby answered the door in his boxers, wiping his eyes.

Daniel looked mildly amused to see Justin frown, handing his stepfather a shirt to put on, "BOBBY! Please! Do you mind? That's so uncool! Where's Mom? Is she still sleeping?"

Bobby nodded, "Yeah, we tried to go to the Eiffel Tower when we got here yesterday but we were all pretty jet-lagged. Then it started snowing like crazy! So it's been nice that we can at least see it from the balcony here! Hey, thanks again for all this, Daniel! This place is insane! So, what happened with you and Chipmunk? Did she come like your mom asked her and did you spring the proposal and wedding on her yet?"

Daniel looked at the man blankly, "Who the hell is Chipmunk? You mean Betty?"

Justin rolled his eyes as he walked past the two men to go see his mother, "He still calls her that half the time!"

Hilda came out of the bedroom with Justin, "SO? Hey, Daniel!" She hugged him and hit his arm, "Did you do it? Did she say yes? She damn well better have! And what the HELL took you two so long? I knew you were all hot for each other back at OUR wedding! You danced all night, giving each other googly eyes and neither of you danced with anybody else. It was so obvious you were in love!"

Daniel smiled, almost blushing at the memory, "Yeah, it was sort of your speech about love that helped me realize how I felt about your sister. Remember, you said that when you would do anything for that person, and always try to protect them, and knew them better than they knew themselves, that that was love. I looked over at Betty when you said that and thought…yeah, that's exactly what I felt for her! It's when I knew I was in love with her."

Hilda and Justin both looked at Daniel with emotion, "Awe! You really do love her, don't you? So, what did she say? Please tell me you DID finally propose to her!"

He grinned, nodding, "Yeah. I did. And she…uh…said yes! I just put on my boots and trudged over here to get her things for her. Listen, I don't know how long the power will stay on. It's been kind of flickering over at my place. But I have a fireplace there and…you know, we're pretty comfortable."

Bobby teased, "I bet you are! Did you rip her clothes off or something? Is that why you had to come over here to get her stuff by yourself?"

"Bobby!"

Daniel looked embarrassed, "Well, no. She just doesn't have anything warm to wear in this mess, that's all. Her dress was way too thin. I told her I'd come here and get her suitcase and check on you guys. But honestly, I wanted the chance to talk to all of you without Betty here, so we could sort of coordinate everything for the wedding. I assume my mother told you all that she has a hall reserved for tomorrow night? Hilda, you have Betty's dress? You brought it?"

"I do. Ooh! This is so exciting! I can't believe my baby sister is finally getting married! In Paris at Christmastime! It's so romantic! So what was the big rush that your mother couldn't wait to get you two finally hitched?"

"She recently had a serious health scare and it sort of put the fear of God in her to get me and Betty to stop being stupid she said. And I have to admit, she was right. But please don't tell her that! She'll never let me forget it! Besides, she's on a mission now to get more grandkids! Obviously, Alexis can't have any more besides DJ. Tyler and Amanda are trying to get here, too. And Amanda is six months pregnant. So that's going to be interesting. That girl can eat!"

"You don't have to tell me! She goes through Papi's flans like they're nothing! I can only imagine how bad she gets when she's eating for two!"

"Hello, Mijoh! Congratulations! I assume congratulations are in order?"

Daniel hugged the man who had become more like a father than his own father had ever been to him, "Yes! They are! Thank you, Mr. Suarez! She agreed to marry me! I'm sort of in shock! Hell, I didn't even think my mom would get her to show up here after all this time! It's amazing!"

"Please, Daniel, call me Ignacio! I hope you'll feel that you can call me Dad if you're comfortable and don't feel it is disrespectful to your own father, God rest his soul!"

Bobby looked at Daniel with envy, "Must be nice! You were never this welcoming to me, Ignacio! Hell, you even hit me on the head with a frying pan as I recall!"

Ignacio rolled his eyes, "The lights were out and I thought you were a burglar! Besides, you DID steal our baby Jesus, Bobby!"

"That again? Get over it, Papi! He replaced it with a Cabbage Patch Doll!" Hilda came to her husband's defense.

After several minutes of everyone talking at once, Daniel whistled, "HEY! Um…guys? Listen, I just want to say…thank you for coming here for me and Betty and I am really looking forward to becoming a part of this crazy, amazing family! You all welcomed me into your home back in Queens years ago at Christmas time to help you decorate your tree and I can't tell you how much that meant to me.

I've always known since that day and throughout the years I got to work with Betty how much strength and support she gained from you guys. I grew up with money and plenty of privileges that Betty never had. But the love and support she received from her family gave her the encouragement she needed to be confident and know that she could do anything she set her mind to. I always envied her for that.

And now to think I'm going to really be a part of it, too is…well, very humbling! So, thank you! Oh, and welcome to Paris! And…Merry Christmas, everybody! Or…Joyeaux Noelle! Thanks for being here for Betty and me! We love you all so much! I know that knowing you guys all showed up like this is what made her agree to get married right away!"

The group all laughed and everyone gathered around Daniel, congratulating him.

They made some plans to try and find out more about the worsening storm and how it would affect coordinating an already tight schedule and Daniel left, feeling uplifted and hopeful at being so warmly welcomed by Betty's family that he couldn't wait to officially become a "Suarez". He grinned, opening the door to his place, as he heard the smoke alarm and saw that Betty was trying to cook.

"What are you doing? Trying to burn down the place?" he teased, as he grabbed the broom from her and reached down to get the offending alarm to stop shrieking. He laughed, pulling her to him, "Hey, cutie! You know, this isn't the fifties, honey. I don't expect you to have 'dinner on the table' or something, just because we're getting married! Hell, that's why they invented Uber Eats, right? For couples like us who can't really cook?"

She blushed, as he dipped her down for a lingering kiss that started to get more heated until her eyes lit up at the sight of her suitcase, "You got my stuff? How did it go? Did everybody question you? I'm sorry if they were annoying! You know how nosey my family is, Daniel!"

He shook his head, brushing back a strand of hair from her face lovingly, "Betty, I love your family! They're going to be MY family, too now. Besides, I can't wait to become a Suarez!"

She laughed, 'Are you changing YOUR name?"

He shrugged, grabbing a grape from the tray she had set out for them, "Hey, whatever. I'm secure enough in my manhood. It's all good. Are you going to hyphenate? Since you have been using Suarez for your byline I sort of figured you would do Suarez-Meade? But if you just want to keep it Suarez like a stage name or something, I won't be offended. I get it. You've worked hard to build up your professional reputation."

She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a deep, intense kiss, "Mm…thank you! What was that for?"

She shrugged, "Because I love you."

"Yeah? That's a pretty good reason. I love you, too, sweetie. Your family is amazing, Betty! They did give me a little bit of a hard time for you staying here. I tried to tell them you weren't really prepared for the weather and didn't bring a lot of heavy winter clothes.

But of course, Bobby was teasing me about tying you up here or something! And I gotta say I'm just a tad jealous of that guy! He's kind of built! I remember the draft for that article you wrote about fantasizing you were ripping his shirt off and stuff! He came to the door just in his boxers with no shirt on and what's this Chipmunk stuff-he calls you some little pet name? I do remember you talking about kissing him!"

She blushed, "So? You kissed Hilda at Fashion Week! Bobby doesn't even know about that. I doubt my sister told her that she and the Bachelor of the year were busy making out when they both should have been working!"

He grinned, "Oh no you don't! First of all, I HAD just found out that the brother I thought had been dead for two years was now my sister, Betty! I was drunk! And from Hilda's perspective, you did go all Bossy Betty on her and fire her, so…technically, she wasn't working!

Besides, you know damn well, she only made out with me because she was mad at you and knew how much kissing me would piss you off! Because she's your big sister and reads your diary. So apparently, she knew long before I did that you always secretly had the hots for me!"

"WHAT?"

He shrugged, "Hey, I took a shot. Was I right? Am I in your diary? I know you did complain that she was always reading it. Did you write any hot fantasies about us? Any that I could…make come true now finally?"

"Okay…maybe you're in a few office fantasies I had about us. Next time we are able to go to my office or yours we could act those out. But I do have one that was pretty hot we could do now that involves me shaving you."

He raised his eyebrows, "Shaving me? Do tell!"

She blushed, but grabbed his wrist, pulling him behind her, "Well, okay. But first I'll need to sit on your lap. And we both need to be wearing a lot fewer clothes!"

Once they had made quick work of both of their clothing, she sat on his lap, facing him as she slathered the shaving cream onto his cheeks and chin, then down to his neck, she greatly enjoyed the feelings he was giving her as he caressed her softly. She laughed slightly, swatting his hands away, "Stop distracting me with those magic hands, Mister! Do you want me to cut your throat?"

"Not especially, no! Fine, sorry. I'll try to keep my hands to myself. It's just…you're so damn sexy, Betty! This is sort of driving me crazy!"

"That IS sort of the idea, Daniel! But I know what you mean. Me, too!" She nodded, smiling, then concentrating on shaving him slowly and sensually, staring into those dreamy blue eyes as she did so. She caught her breath at how handsome he was. She patted his freshly shaved face softly when she had finished and leaned forward to kiss him tenderly, as she whispered, "You're pretty hot yourself, 'sexy blue eyes'! Or sorry, how do you say it in French again, Yeux bleus sexy!"

After sitting on his lap naked had effectively 'awoken the sleeping dragon', Daniel repositioned himself inside her, and they joined together, riding out the wave of intensity they both felt for one another. He wrapped his arms around her waist and back and leaned his forehead against hers, sighing in delighted and happy exhaustion, then grabbed her face, "God, I love you, Betty! I can't wait to be your husband!"

She laughed, "Well, I know you rich boys have a hard…sorry, DIFFICULT time with anything that resembles delayed gratification and I hate to merely feed into your whole 'get what you want right now' thing, but considering it has taken us years to get here…I can't wait to be your wife, either, clearly! So, let's get this show on the road! I assume you did a little coordinating while you were there? Did you get my dress from Hilda?"

He nodded, "Mmhmm…" he kept kissing her to distract her, but she merely moaned for a moment, then continued, retrieving her phone from behind him, and taking out her to-do list, she read off, "Great! I assume you were careful NOT to peek? It's bad luck to see the bride in her dress before the wedding, you know!"

He smirked, staring at her body and kissing her breast, "How about OUT of her dress?"