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Betty dreaded Monday. Having to face Daniel again and work with him was the last thing she looked forward to. After his attitude the week before, she realized they were definitely in two very different places.

He was so bitter and arrogant. He wasn't the same person she had fallen in love with. He resembled Old Daniel, the Daniel she first met. She knew she was partially responsible for his change, but so was he. It was his decision to cut her out of his life – not hers.

Now he had moved on, and despite how much she still loved him, Betty realized she needed to do the same. But most of all, she just needed to find a way to get along with Daniel period. She took a deep breath and walked into his unfinished office.

"Hey," Daniel said, quietly.

"Hey," Betty replied, putting her coffee and bagel down before taking a seat.

"Thanks. Onion bagel, light cream cheese, and hazelnut skim latte, two sugars. You remembered," he smiled slightly and took a bite.

"Actually that was mine," she commented.

"Oh. Sorry. Here," he handed them back.

"No, go ahead. I'll have Kaitlyn get me another one," she told him.

"Who's Kaitlyn?" he asked.

"My assistant," she said.

"I should probably get one of those," he replied. "Meantime, could you send out some ads on Craigslist for hiring a staff and go over the Letter from the Editor I came up with last night?"

"I already have Kaitlyn on the ads, and aren't you forgetting something?" she hinted, trying really hard not to get annoyed.

"Oh, yeah! The name. I narrowed it down to three and I wanted your opinion," he pulled out a piece of paper from a pile on his desk.

"Daniel," she spoke.

"I kinda like the first one," he continued.

"Daniel," she raised her voice a little louder.

"But the second one's a little edgier. It might appeal more toward the younger twenty-somethings," he kept talking.

"Daniel!" Betty shouted and ripped the paper from his hand.

"Ow! What the hell, Betty?! You gave me a freakin' papercut!" he complained.

Betty sighed and searched for a first aid kit.

"Daniel, did you ever think to enter me into this equation?" she asked, and used an alcohol pad to clean the cut.

"Shit! What are you trying to do, burn my finger off?!" he exclaimed, immediately pulling his finger away.

"Don't be such a baby!" she rolled her eyes.

"I'm not being a baby – it hurts!" he whined.

"Okay . . . sorry," she softened a little and gently placed a Bandaid on his finger. "I can see some things never change . . ."

"Hey, that stuff really stings!" he defended. "What happened to the brown bottle?"

"You mean the hydrogen peroxide? You have to buy that separately – it doesn't come in every kit. I had to make a special trip to the drugstore after the first time you had a cut," she recalled.

"Yeah, I remember that," he smiled, his blue eyes gazing into hers.

They stared at each other for a while before Daniel broke the moment.

"So, uh, what did you mean about me not including you? I just asked which name you liked better. And you're editing my letter," he questioned, confused.

"Daniel, I'm not your assistant or your associate editor anymore. I'm your partner, your equal. You can't just come up with a name for the magazine or write the Letter from the Editor on your own," Betty informed him.

"Yeah . . . sorry. I guess seeing you back here makes me remember when you did work for me. It's hard to make that transition, see that you're now a bigshot EIC," he explained.

"I'm not a bigshot EIC. I ran one tiny magazine in London," Betty insisted, modestly.

"Don't sell yourself short, Betty. It wasn't MODE, but you made it big. You've done an amazing job with that magazine and you are a very well-respected editor," Daniel insisted.

"You read my magazine?" she asked, surprised.

"One of your first subscribers," he told her.

"Really? But I thought that you -" she began.

"Didn't want anything to do with you? Yeah, but it didn't mean that I stopped caring about you . . . that I wasn't curious about how you were doing. I couldn't just turn that off," he revealed. "I still do . . . care about you."

"Oh . . ." Betty managed, shocked that he felt that way after how he'd acted.

"So. I'm sorry I treated you like my junior editor instead of my partner. If we're gonna do this, we've gotta be a team, right?" he held up his hand for a high-five.

"Right," she agreed, and hesitantly hit his hand.

"So. What are your thoughts on everything?" he asked.

Betty looked in her briefcase and got out her notes. It was awkward, but at least they were making progress.

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"Daniel, we have to prepare for this interview. You can't just walk in there knowing nothing about Ria Lynn's work!" Betty insisted, three weeks later.

"Don't you think I know that, Betty? I'm not an idiot and I'm not some screw-up. I've done this a million times before. I just don't have time right now to read 500 pages of feminine spiritual crap! Can't we just give it to Jack in Features?" he asked.

"No. Daniel, he's already busy with an article on the election and this is the cover story. This book is huge right now. It's on Oprah's must-read list and it's one of the Top 10 best sellers, and a movie is being made about it. Not to mention, Ria Lynn is a really popular singer right now, too. What are you doing that's soooo important you can't focus on your job?" she questioned.

"Nothing! . . . It's just Maggie and I haven't had a chance to see each other that much since you and I started working together. I mean, she understands that we're just starting out and things will get better after a while. But she's getting a little upset that we don't have any time to ourselves," he told her.

"Mmm-hmmm . . ." Betty gave him a knowing look.

"What? Don't give me that 'I told you so' look!" he warned.

"I didn't say anything, Daniel," she maintained, fighting an amused smile.

"Look, this is completely different. Maggie isn't in the publishing business. She doesn't understand," he defended.

"It doesn't matter if you understand. It's difficult regardless," Betty insisted.

"It does matter, Betty! It matters, okay?! And there's nothing you can say to convince me it doesn't!" he slammed the book down and slammed the door to her office.

Betty sighed and flopped on her couch.

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"Hey, can we . . . talk?" Daniel asked, knocking on the door to Betty's office.

"I don't know, can we?" she retorted, still pissed from the other day.

"Betty, can you just listen to me for a minute? I-I can't deal with this right now, I-I -" his voice cracked, he was nervously pacing back and forth as he ran his hands through his hair, and she could tell he was trying not to cry.

"Daniel, what's wrong?" she asked, motioning for him to sit down on the couch with her.

"I-It's Becks . . . He, uh, he was in a motorcycle accident last night in Santa Monica . . . h-he was drunk and h-he, uh, he ran a red light. A car hit him and h-he d-died on impact," he managed, and couldn't hold it in any longer.

"Oh my god! Daniel, I'm so sorry . . ." she told him, and rubbed his shoulder, unsure of their boundaries anymore.

Daniel turned and put his arms around her, clinging to her as if she were his lifeline. After a while, he pulled himself together.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't expect you to do that anymore," he apologized. "I just . . . you're the only person left here who knew him . . . I'll let you get back to whatever you were doing."

"No, Daniel, it's fine. I'm here for you, if you need me," she assured him.

"Friends?" he asked.

"Friends," she smiled. "Do you need to take the day off? Make some plans for going to the funeral?"

"No, um, I'll be okay. I'm not positive, but I think they're gonna have the funeral in New York. Um, I, uh, I need something to do besides sitting at home watching crappy TV," he ran his hand through his hair.

"I understand. When Mami died, I had to distract myself by constantly keeping busy, or I knew I would completely fall apart," she sympathized.

"Becks and I . . . we hadn't talked in years. We were both too busy, but now I just wish I had taken the time to hang out with him more . . ." Daniel said.

"I'm sure he knew you cared, Daniel. Friends grow apart sometimes when they get older and life gets in the way. It's not your fault," she assured him.

"Thanks . . . Betty, would you do something with me? Something Becks and I used to do?"

"I'm not gonna be your wing-girl or go to a strip club with you," Betty joked.

Daniel chuckled.

"Will you go see a movie with me? We'd always pick whatever guy movie that was out that week and go see it the day after we'd gone out clubbing. We'd buy all kinds of junk food and try to get over our hangovers," he told her. "I'll buy you dinner after?"

"Daniel, it's 8:00 in the morning. And I'm not sure we should be going to a movie or having dinner anyway – you have a girlfriend," Betty reminded him.

"Right. Yeah, it's just Maggie had this last minute business trip today and she'll be gone all week and I – never mind," he brushed it off.

"You don't want to be alone," she assumed.

"Yeah," he confirmed.

"Is there anyone I could call? Tyler? Your mom?" she offered. "Maybe you could FaceTime Alexis?"

"No, Tyler's got Amanda and their new baby, and I really don't need Mom hovering over me right now. Alexis is busy at MODE Paris. It's fine, Betty, I'll be okay," he told her.

"I'm sorry, Daniel. I just don't think with our history, that we need to be hanging out on a personal level when you have a girlfriend," she explained. "You know I'd go with you if it weren't for that. It's just things are complicated now."

"It's okay, Betty. I get it . . . and you're probably right. Even though we're just friends, it's still not a good idea," he agreed. "Will you at least come to the funeral with me?"

"Sure. I don't see anything wrong with paying my respects. Although, mainly what I remember about Becks is that he hit on me every time he showed up in town," she smiled, sadly. He was so much like Daniel. If he had only had someone to guide him in the right direction, maybe he'd still be alive today . . .

"Wait – he hit on you?! Jesus, Betty! Why didn't you tell me that sooner?! I would've kicked his ass!" Daniel said, ready to pounce on someone.

"Daniel, calm down! It wasn't that big of a deal. He was very charming, actually. And flattered as I am that you've always felt the need to protect me, and apparently still do, I can take care of myself," Betty assured him.

"Did he touch you or anything?" he asked, concerned.

"No! Nothing like that," she reassured him. "Every time he showed up, he just told me 'Darlin', you look prettier every time I see you' and winked at me or kissed my cheek. And the last time he came, he said those words again and asked me out for drinks."

"Did you go with him?" Daniel questioned.

"Of course I didn't, Daniel! It's Becks – he's like the old you on steroids or Viagra or whatever . . ." she joked.

Daniel started laughing until he was hysterical and Betty was almost as bad.

"Thanks . . . I needed that," he told her when he finally caught his breath again.

"Glad I could help . . . Hey, if you're up for it, Papi's making the whole family dinner tonight? Everyone will be there, so it'll be more of a get together for friends. And you have to eat, right?" she offered, feeling bad.

"Sure. Sounds like fun, and I could use some more cheering up right now," he agreed.

"Great," she smiled.

"Listen, Betty, I'm sorry about the other day. I guess I overreacted a little. It finally hit me that maybe you were right. Maybe it really wasn't the right time for us. I didn't want to admit it," Daniel confessed.

"I was trying to save us both from getting hurt, Daniel. That's all. I knew what my limitations were. I knew how it was when we were working together before. We were so busy at first that I barely had time for my family . . . The last thing I wanted was to lose you," she assured him.

"I wish I had stayed . . . that I stood by you. You shouldn't have gone through everything alone. I should have been there for you, like you were always there for me," he told her.

"Daniel, I get it. You were hurt. You thought you had at least one part of your life figured out and I screwed it up. You gave up so much for me and I turned you down. I shouldn't have done that. I should have at least tried. I was scared. I had already lost so much by moving to London . . ." she said, reliving it for the millionth time in six years.

"Why don't we agree to stop analyzing the past and concentrate on the future. I mean, I think our magazine is gonna be incredible," Daniel smiled.

Betty smiled back.

"So where's that dumbass book I'm supposed to read?" he asked.

"Here. But Daniel, you don't have to read it. I know you're going through a lot right now," Betty handed him the book.

"I'll get started on it," he took the book from her. "And Betty?"

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Thank you," he smiled and left.

Betty smiled knowing they were okay with each other again.