Paths Cross

So just a note, these next several chapters are ENTIRELY unplanned and spontaneous as the chapters are entitled. I have to say I don't think I've had so much fun writing within my stories as much as these chapters coming up. I really hope you enjoy them too!

And I know this is crazy, but I am so in love with Allison's character. She is awesome! haha and you will come to see why I love her so much, if you don't already. :D lol

I'm seriously enjoying writing this so much! I hope you enjoy reading it! lots of love to you all!

p.s. I feel happy. I'm sure you can tell, especially since I can't stop babbling.

I've been kind of upset and not as happy lately just because school is so stressing me out, but I feel good and optimistic about what's to come, so yay! :D lol Hope you all have a beautiful day. Sorry for the long note!

For entertainment only! ENJOY! :D

I LOVE YOU GUYS! 3

Chapter 9 – Spontaneity at its Finest

Claire could not wait to find out why her son was so happy. When she had spoken to him in the morning he had this joyed sound in his voice. Clearly the person he had 'reconnected with' was the culprit. She was sure of it.

She doesn't even remember a time she'd seen him so happy. Not even when he 'thought' he was in love with the manipulative witch Sofia.

Claire was positive it was a woman; and obviously a rather charming one if she was able to make her son smile despite Wilhelmina (the other witch) driving him insane. She couldn't wait to find out.

She smiled brightly when she saw her charming son as she got out of the town car. He was waiting outside by the door to the coffee house they decided to meet at for breakfast. As he saw her his smile brightened and she could swear there was no smile on the earth that could be brighter than his at the moment.

He placed a kiss to her cheek as she stepped up. "Hello"

"Hi darling, why is it that you look like a boy with a crush?" she asked as he opened the door for her.

"What?" Daniel looked at her oddly. "What makes you say that?" Daniel asked curiously.

"Daniel. Look at you! You're practically glowing!" She said loudly.

"Mom!" he said defensively, not wanting anyone to hear her say that about him.

"I'm not glowing. What the heck?" he asked confused.

Claire laughed. "Well, your eyes give everything away. There is clearly something that is making you...shine. Is that better?" she asked mockingly as they got seated.

"Mom..." Daniel sighed. "I don't have a crush, ok? But, you will never believe who I ran into yesterday?"

"Yes, please tell me who that is dear. I'm dying to know!" she asked wonderingly, curious about why her son seemed so much more lively.

"Betty!" he said with a bright smile

"Betty?" she asked surprised.

"Yes, I saw her in the park and, I kind of made a scene but that's beside the point, we basically had lunch and now, now we're friends! And she's actually back!"

Claire had an amused smile on her face at her son's enthusiasm. In any case, it was definitely a woman, and not just anyone, at that; it was Betty, the charming young lady that had inspired her son.

"I'm definitely going to have to meet this wonderful young lady that inspired you so much."

Daniel had only mentioned Betty a few times to her, and she instantly liked the girl from how he made her sound. He expressed his regret for treating her so badly when she started working for him. He also told her about how he was going to make it up to her by being a better person.

Claire definitely owed this Betty a genuine and heartfelt thank you for inspiring her son to be the person he was meant to be. She found it quite fascinating that her quitting was the kick he needed to shape up. She wasn't even physically around him, but somehow that inspired him even more to work harder and be a better person.

"That would be great, mom. You will love her. She's amazing!"

"Well, that's wonderful dear. I can't wait" She truly couldn't. She had always wanted to know who this Betty was, especially since her son, was arguably one of the best sons ever; she was sure, thanks to this lovely lady.

"She's so beautiful..." Daniel whispered to himself, but Claire heard him and smiled. "Maybe the three of us can have lunch together." Claire suggested with a sincere smile.

"Great!"

"What's the matter dear?" she asked noticing a frown had crossed his face.

"I don't have her number."

"Don't you worry, dear. You will see her again soon. She clearly made her way into your life for a reason; there will be no doubt that you will see her again." Claire said smiling reassuringly.

Strangely, he believed in what his mom said. "Thanks mom."

Claire noticed that a lot of the patrons in the coffee shop had been looking to their table every now and then looking back to the TV screen. She looked to the TV to see a photo of her son, Daniel Meade, on his knees doing what seemed to be proposing to the girl that they had just spoken about.

"It appears that you might be seeing her sooner than later, son. Is there something I should know dear?" she asked wondering when her son was going to tell her this news.

He looked at her in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

She gestured to look behind. When he turned and saw the TV had nothing but him 'proposing' and photos of Betty, he panicked shooting up from the table. "Shit. Oh God. She's going to hate me for this!"

Claire looked at her son intrigued. "Did you really propose to her? And you didn't even get her number?" she stated

Daniel didn't know what he should be more shocked about. The fact that his mother wasn't as shocked as he would expect for a mother to find out her son spontaneously proposed, to a woman who he hadn't seen in a year, no less; or the fact that she was even more surprised that he didn't get Betty's phone number.

He paced in front of the table unsure what he should do, or where to even find Betty to warn her. Crap, why did he have to be so impulsive?!

Claire looked at him in amusement, but then laughed. "I can't believe that you really proposed to her. And didn't even get her number! No wonder. She is beautiful, I have to say." She laughed. "Oh dear, this should be interesting."

He looked at her "What? Mom! Are you serious? I didn't really propose. Oh shit. I have to find Betty!"

"Good luck" she said not even bothering to question him further.

He rolled his eyes "You're ridiculous, mom!"

"Not as ridiculous as you, it seems" she said laughing hysterically "bye dear!" she said patting his arm telling him to go find Betty, still laughing.

Daniel could not believe this! Why did the press have to always put his life on display? Truly, he never really cared, but he cared now! Especially, when the person accompanying this rather grand display was a person he had just gotten back in his life. He couldn't lose her again just because of this! God, he really hoped he could fix this.

He rushed to the park where he'd 'run into her' figuring she might be there taking the morning walk with her friend Allison. He really hoped he could make it to her before she got bombarded and surprised.

Betty couldn't get away long enough. When she had met Allison in the park like they usually did without anyone 'finding' her she was extremely relieved. She knew how the paparazzi were. They craved gossip. Especially if it involved certain well known people, most especially when it was Daniel Meade

The calm, uninterrupted walk with Allison was short-lived, however. As soon as one spotted her, she was suddenly surrounded by cameras, microphones and annoying gossip 'news' reporters.

Allison had actually seemed excited at first. However, that was also short-lived, especially when one reporter with really bad hair and had the name of a Japanese car insulted her friend by telling her that her clothes were hideous.

That was the moment when Betty knew Allison did not take shit. She had actually taken the microphone that man was holding and threw it as far as she could, then took her hand and ran with her so they'd ditch them.

They were laughing as they looked back to see the man look momentarily stunned and then scramble to get his microphone. And the camera people were so amused they started to run faster to catch up with them.

It was quite fun to run away with Allison like this. It was like they were little girls pretending to be kick butt princesses getting away from the evil villains; because let's face it, she and her friend weren't the type of girls to wait around for some prince charming to rescue them, they took care of themselves.

When they had gotten so far as to lose the paparazzi that tried to keep up with them, they stopped panting from all the running.

"Oh my god! That, was, crazy... ho-ly, crap!" Betty said out of breath.

Allison laughed "oh my god, Betty! Did you see the look on that bozo's face!" she laughed

Betty giggled "that was amazing! I can't believe you did that!"

Betty and Allison looked to each other and declared "priceless!" before they both started laughing again.

When they calmed down from all the laughing, Allison had let out an annoyed sigh "Ugh, god, they just won't quit! Look, you go, Betty. I'll try and distract them, while you make a run for it."

"but" Betty was going to protest, but Allison stopped her "Come on, I got this!"

Betty complied and ran off in the opposite direction. She stopped for a moment nearby a fountain hoping Allison would call her when she was safe.

"There she is!" someone called and Betty shut her eyes in annoyance "god" She seriously didn't understand how famous people did this? Was it always this crazy? How did Daniel do it?

She tried to run in different directions but they had cornered her. Just as she felt herself lose her balance from all the reporters and cameras crowding her into the fountain, she felt a hand take hold of hers, catching her just before she lost all her footing. She looked at her savior in surprise "Daniel?" Her eyes went wide.

He had an arm around her waist to keep her from falling back. The look in his eyes made her feel butterflies. "You're here?" she stated in wonderment.

He nodded, a smile casting his charming face.

"You saved me" she said softly getting hypnotized by his eyes.

He smirked "I couldn't let anything happen to my fiancé" he whispered to her causing her to smile, a blush sweeping her face.

He smiled pulling her up "Wanna get out of here?"

She nodded vehemently "yes, please!"

He very quickly started running pulling her along through the crowd of reporters that were still snapping pictures and trying to ask millions of questions. She laughed a little at the craziness of this situation. Of course it was Daniel that rescued her from the press, which she was sure, would only fuel the rumors that came along with their lunch date just yesterday.

She couldn't say she was that bothered by it all. She bit her lip as she ran with him across the park, hopefully aiming to lose them which seemed entirely plausible. When Betty saw that they were clear, she pulled his arm stopping him from running "Daniel, wait"

He stopped and looked at her. She smiled just because he was so incredibly handsome. She couldn't get over how amazing it was to see him again after all this time. "I think we're clear."

He smiled, his smile was so genuine, she felt happy. He cleared his throat and ran his hand through the back of his hair "I'm really sorry about all this, Betty. God, I really hope you don't hate me now."

She shook her head "Are you kidding Daniel? I'm sorry. I was a little worried you'd get upset once you saw that they were talking about us."

He shook his head, a smile on his face "No. I'm not upset. Uh..." he looked down for a moment, but smiled and looked back at her "I think it's pretty funny, actually. Uh, if I had to be pretend engaged to anyone, I'm happy it's you."

A smile swept her face, a blush following, before she bit her lip. She laughed "I hope it won't make things difficult for you."

"The only thing it would make difficult is not falling for you."

Her eyes went wide "What? Daniel, you're kidding." She felt her heart race.

He shook his head and laughed "ya, just kidding. Totally kidding" he said hoping she'd buy that. He continued speaking to distract from his previous slip. "I hope it doesn't get too crazy for you. Me, I'm pretty used to it. I just don't want to make your life crazy"

"Please, my life is crazy, with or without this." She stated thinking about her crazy dramatic family and her even more wonderfully crazy friend, Allison. "This... well, it was actually kind of exciting." She added

He chuckled "What? Running from the paparazzi?" he asked.

She shrugged looking down for a moment "Well, sort of, but I also meant" she looked up at him "you"

"What about me?" he asked a smile sweeping his face.

"I'm just...it's really great seeing you again, Daniel. I always wondered..." She stopped unsure of her wording for what she was going to say.

"Wondered what?" he asked interestedly.

"Well, how it would be working with you, still."

He shook his head seeming to agree. "Me too, Betty. It's cool, though. I'm so happy I found you, I mean uh...you know, saw you again."

She bit her lip finding him so charming. Was everyone right about Daniel liking her? She felt her heart race at the thought of that. She was just so happy to have 'found' him again too.

"Ehm, so Betty, what if you and me just ditch work today?" he asked

Betty looked at him, but then laughed "What? But Daniel, we both have work and just things going on. We can't just...run away." She said with a giggle that made Daniel smile bigger.

Daniel couldn't get over how much he loved seeing her smile and hearing her laugh. He would be lying if he said he didn't just love being with her right now. It was way better than going to work dealing with the Evil Witch or trying to dodge the press and their questions about his 'engagement' to this supposed gorgeous Latin model. He grinned thinking she really was gorgeous. She wasn't a model, but heck, he thought she was better than a damn model.

"Daniel" He was snapped away from his thoughts when Betty spoke again "besides, wouldn't it look bad...you know if we just 'disappeared' together?" she asked but laughed.

He smiled, "I don't think I could ever look bad being seen with you"

Betty felt herself melt "ugh Daniel, you're so sweet." She looked down for a moment as if in thought, but then grinned looking back at him "You know what, let's do it!" she said excitedly.

"Do what?" he asked in quieter voice, getting lost in her presence.

"Let's ditch work! Oh gosh, it will be crazy! I don't even want to know what everyone will say, but I...I want an adventure! Let's go! We'll just go! It doesn't even matter where!" she seemed thrilled which was really getting him excited too.

"Really? Are you being serious?" he asked finding her sudden spontaneity surprising.

She nodded as if nothing was going to change her mind "Yes, come on!" she took the hair tie from around her wrist and slipped her beautiful hair into a playful ponytail and then quickly slung her bag over her shoulder in excitement.

"You are seriously amazing! Let's go!" he said starting to walk, pulling out his phone. She followed "What are you doing?" she asked curiously.

"I know exactly where we could go." he said before speaking into the phone.

She smiled brightly "Yay!" She was really excited.

She knew this was insane. Here she was 'running away' with Daniel who she is supposedly 'engaged to' not even seeming to care about work or what anyone would say for her behavior. She couldn't explain it. Daniel seemed to bring out this thrill in her and made her want to just have fun and be... be spontaneous, be herself.

When he got off the phone he looked to her with the most brilliant, joy filled smile she'd ever seen. "I'm so happy you're in my life again! I promise you're going to have an adventure filled day."

She felt beyond happy. She couldn't explain what his words did to her. She felt this floating feeling inside. Like her heart was being lifted. He was so sweet. Was he really always this sweet? She loved this Daniel. He was so kind and fun, and gorgeous and really very incredibly handsome, and smart, and charming...

"Betty?"

"huh?" she mumbled distractedly. "You ok?" he asked seeing her far off look.

She nodded with a dazed smile "Uh-huh. I'm great. Really happy. And excited."

He grinned "great!" he looked ahead and smiled "Yes, he's here! That was quick!"

"What?" she asked curiously seeing Daniel walk over to this really gorgeous red car. Her eyes popped seeing the beautiful car and then this really good lucking guy get out of the driver side wearing shades looking very cool.

She rolled her eyes giggling at the insanity of her life right now, realizing that the guy that her delightful friend Allison seemed to have a crush on was Daniel's friend, apparently. How much crazier could things get?

Daniel walked up to his friend who grinned back "So that's the girl that you're engaged to huh?" he said mockingly.

"We're not really engaged. It was just" Daniel was cut off by his friend "she looks familiar. I've seen her before."

Daniel narrowed his eyes "What? When? You dated?"

"No...I've just..."

She walked over with a smile. "Damn, she's beautiful" he stated causing Daniel to glare at his friend.

"Hi" she said as she approached them, seeing even more clearly that Daniel's friend was indeed the same guy that charmed Allison. "Hey there, gorgeous" he grinned.

She blushed, but spoke "um, I don't know if you remember seeing me, but I saw you at the coffee shop just yesterday." She said

"Oh, that's right! I was wondering where I'd seen you. Becks, I'm Daniel's pal" he held his hand out to her.

"Hi, I'm Betty" she shook his hand, but he kissed it before she had a chance to let go.

Daniel was glaring at his friend like he was his arch nemesis at the moment. Betty felt her cheeks redden.

She looked at Becks remembering Allison. "My friend would kill me for telling you this, but she has a crush on you. This is crazy, really. I can't believe you're friends with Daniel, too." She stated looking to him for a brief moment.

"Small world" Becks acknowledged.

She nodded "Yep" she bit her lip looking to Daniel who was watching her with a smile. She felt her face redden again.

She couldn't take her eyes off him this time. His eyes were so hypnotizing.

God, she can't even remember how she got anything done working for him a year ago, let alone the fact that she had totally ignored Daniel's friend standing next to them, especially when she caught a glimpse of said friend roll his eyes seeing them so happen to stare at one another and said "Alright, here ya go, Danny." He held up the car keys. "Make sure it gets back in one piece."

Daniel nodded "thanks man, uh, Betty, ready to go?"

She nodded "Ok"

Becks watched his friend closely seeing his obvious attraction to the Latin beauty in front of them. He grinned leaning against the car "So, Betty, is it?" he said.

She looked to him with a nod "Yes."

"Maybe we can grab some coffee next time" he shot her a playful wink.

Her eyes widened "oh uh...sure"

Becks glanced to Daniel and saw his death glare. He grinned further "Are you sure the only time I've seen you was at the coffee shop. You must be a model. Did I take your photos?"

She shook her head "no, definitely not a model"

"That's a shame. You're beautiful. I could take some photos if you like" he stood up getting closer to her "if you want we could-" before he could finish he was pushed away from the car door by an annoyed Daniel "alright, that's enough. Betty, let's go"

Betty giggled as Daniel opened the door for her to get in. She bit her lip seeing them both glare at each other. "Um, it was nice meeting you Becks. I guess I'll see you around." She said when she was seated in the car.

He smiled "Sure thing, beautiful" he winked at her again leaning against the door. Betty couldn't hold her laughs when she saw Daniel push him away from her door.

"Damn Danny, don't get so hostile"

"Shut up Beckett!"

"Whatever man, just bring my beauty back. That's all I ask." He looked to Betty wanting to mess with Daniel some more. She bit her lip, trying so hard not to laugh at them. They were so silly. "Cut it out!" Daniel said in annoyance.

Becks grinned "mission accomplished"

"What?" Daniel asked in confusion

"You obviously got a thing for her"

Daniel moved Becks away so Betty couldn't hear them. "Shut up!"

Becks smiled "She's gorgeous. Have fun, man." He winked at him.

"Shut up, asshole!" he punched Becks for his implications.

Becks pushed him in the direction of the car again "Just beat it dumbass. Have fun!" he winked again. Daniel just rolled his eyes. "Thanks for letting me borrow the car."

Becks rolled his eyes "ya, ya, whatever. As long as I get her back" he made it a point to make Betty think he was talking about her just to piss him off.

Hope you like it! :DDDD