AN: Right so three things before I let you continue to wander into the foggy weirdness my brain concocts. First: Love the reviews, thank you guys for taking your time to do so :)! AndromedaAiken (love your name 'Andromeda' btw): Ahh yes, the potential of pillow fights ;). Betty the Bonita: It's been so dreary here too! Perfect writing weather though. starcitygirl: Agreed actually. Although I don't necessarily think he didn't love those other women before, I do think it was different. With Betty he loves her much deeper, friends first. That's a very, very solid base for a good relationship IMO. Lyddie: Come hell or high water, I will. I will try at least ;). Second: I've been watching way too much Ugly Betty to collect details from the show. Good tip for if it's dreary weather ;). Third: I watched 'Jaws' for this. Seriously never fails to creep me out. Unfortunately, I have no Daniel to blame or wake up if I can't sleep because of it :(.
Disclaimer: Don't own Ugly Betty etc. etc.
Putting the last box down in the hallway Betty finally had a chance to take everything in. Hesitantly walking into the living area she looked around. She half expected to walk into a catalog picture perfect modern living room. It wasn't at all what she'd been expecting. Of course everything was picture perfect, but the room felt…warm and welcoming. No modern couch that could just as easily be a piece of art, no black and whites only. The furniture was mostly pure, light brown wood, as were the floors. The walls a soft yellow and green or red accents here and there throughout the room, in the curtains, decorations or plants. The apartment also clearly hadn't been redecorated since it was used so often so many years ago. The art on the walls wasn't modern, but mostly consisted of beautiful landscapes and collectible old hand drawn land maps. There were a few family portraits, most pictures but some painted as well. She took her time looking them over with great pleasure. They all looked so young and happy! On one wall there was a whole series of them on the beach. A few of Daniel and Alexis playing in the sand, Claire reading in a beach chair or cuddling with her boys, Bradford enjoying the view of his playing sons and a final one with all of them together posing for someone, all smiles. Looking at these pictures she got a sudden feeling that any happy memory that was ever made in the Meade family was purposely kept in this apartment. She heard Daniel clear his throat behind her and she quickly turned around.
"I'm too young to remember that day, but I always loved looking at those pictures", he said wistfully. "There are more in the hallway down there", he gestured to the hallway adjoining the bedrooms. "A lot of pictures from family vacations, but mom also filled a space on each wall with Alexis' and mine birthday pictures as we were growing up. One for each year. You should go have a look, see a whole different side of our family", he smiled at her.
"I will, these pictures are amazing", she smiled back at him. "You know Daniel, your family is still there you know, it just changed a little", she added hesitantly.
He snorted, "A little? Betty, since then my brother turned into my sister, my mother almost went to jail for killing my father's mistress, dad nearly married our collective arch enemy and then died and I have another brother I wasn't aware of. What exactly would you call changed a lot if that's a little?"
"Your family really does have a flair for the dramatic don't they?", she said amused, "You know, if I hadn't seen everything happen first hand I'd think you'd have taken that straight from some cheesy telenovella."
"Oh, like your family is any better!", he laughed.
"We're not that bad! At least in my family nobody plotted to take over the family company by faking their death.", she pointed out, enjoying that after everything they'd been through they could talk about all that craziness like this.
"Yeah, I suppose you're right. But you do realize that to mom and me you're as much family now as any of us right?", he said. He meant it of course, but he'd said it to make a point that she'd been just as much a part of all that had happened as his family. It came out sounding much more sincere than mere teasing however, and Betty's smile softened immediately.
"Aww, thanks Daniel", she looked thoughtful for a moment and added, "you know you are to us as well right? I mean, we might be loud and a bit much to handle sometimes, but you're family as far as we're concerned."
He grinned, "I know, but thank you." He then made a grand gesture toward the previously mentioned hallway, "Now let me show you where you can sleep. It's the guest room. It's not the largest, but I figured you'd prefer that over Alexis' or my old bedroom." He opened the door to a room that was by Betty's definition still pretty big, and tastefully decorated similarly to the living room, but without the family pictures.
"It's perfect! Thank you so much for this Daniel, this is so much better than that hotel room!"
He smiled as she looked appreciatively around the room. Wanting to give Betty some peace to settle in he decided to go do something about lunch. Letting Betty know where she could find him, should she need anything, he turned and left her to unpack.
Betty grabbed a handful of popcorn from the bowl sitting between her and Daniel. "I can't believe you still have a VHS collection here..", she grinned then grimaced, "..or that I'm watching Jaws. That movie scared me so much when I was a kid."
"Yeah, but you're not a kid anymore now, things are always less scary when you're an adult", he said, "besides, it was this or a cartoon."
"There was also Annie, Tom Sawyer, E.T…", she trailed off with a smirk. He got so excited when she picked up the 'Jaws' tape she knew they'd be watching that. He was giving her a look that was plainly pleading with her to stick with 'Jaws'. She chuckled, "Oh relax Daniel, we'll watch this. But if I can't sleep because of it, I'm making you stay awake with me", she threatened pointing at him.
"Fair deal, I'll just make you watch Jaws 2 if that happens", he smirked, and she groaned half-heartedly. He shifted uncomfortably, something was poking him in his back. Reaching behind him to look for what was causing his discomfort he pulled a book out from behind the pillow he was sitting against. He looked questioningly at Betty, 'Is this yours?'
She quickly swallowed her popcorn so she could answer him a little embarrassed, "Hmm yeah, it's just research for work actually. I was reading it when you went to get the take-out."
Holding up a book reading 'Being professional and in charge: the self-help book for the self-made leader', he looked up at her. "Betty, you know you don't need this right? You've basically been successfully in charge of me for the past four years. I've never seen you as having problems taking charge and being professional.
Glancing up at him disbelievingly, "In charge of you? Daniel, you make me sound like I was your babysitter or something." Thinking for a moment she smirked, "Wait, actually that's fairly accurate."
"Hey!" Daniel scoffed, looking mildly offended and amused, "that was only true the first three years."
Her laugh was quickly followed by an alarmed squeak when she looked at the screen for a moment, seeing the shark attack. She groaned again, this time more earnestly, "Urgh, I'm so going to have nightmares from this." Trying to distract herself she turned to Daniel, more serious this time, "Have you given any thought yet to what you're going to do next?"
He answered half watching the screen, "Not really. I thought I'd take a short break before I seriously start looking again, maybe visit Alexis. Mom asked me to look into something at the English office for her while I'm here, so there's that."
He missed her brief look of disappointment when he mentioned leaving to visit Alexis. Of course he'd go visit Alexis, and of course he should. She just hoped he wouldn't leave really soon, because she was sure he'd stay with Alexis once there. She hadn't realized how much she missed him until she saw him again and she wasn't really ready to have to miss him again.
Still looking at the screen he continued, "You know, if you can get the time off, you should come with me to visit Alexis. You'll get to visit Paris and do all sort of geeky things there."
A little offended at his last comment, but amused nonetheless she chuckled, "Thank you Daniel, but…-," wincing and crying out at another on-screen attack by the shark she ignored him laughing at her reaction and continued, "-..it's your family, I wouldn't want to intrude."
He shrugged, "Alexis would love to see you again, she likes you."
"Really? I never really got the impression she cared one way or the other", she asked unsure.
He now turned to her in earnest, momentarily forgetting the movie. "Are you serious? After everything you've done for our family? Of course she likes you. She actually asks about how you're doing sometimes when we talk. Betty, trust me, she'd love to see you."
Feeling flattered and happy about this she smiled, "Ok…well maybe. It's a moot point anyway if I can't get the time off."
Satisfied that she believed him he turned back to the movie smiling victoriously, "True. I'm not really sure when I want to go visit her anyway. It won't be before the summer vacation, because then I won't have a chance to see much of Daniel Jr."
This time it was her little sigh of relief he missed, happy he'd still be here for a while longer. She turned back to watching the movie with a small smile on her lips. It wasn't long before it turned into a disgusted look at the chomped off leg falling to the bottom of the sea after another shark attack. Wincing she said, "Urgh. The next movie we're watching is going to be a fun, happy movie."
He couldn't help but laugh at her obvious disgust and smirked at her, "See Betty, you don't need that book. You have no problems being bossy!", only to quickly fend of the small pillow heading in his direction at that remark. The rest of the evening continued with amicable banter and the making of plans for the following few days.