AN: Another somewhat shorter chapter, but then it is the second one in the same day. Also I'm sorry if I caused any confusion, I accidentally deleted Chapter 5 earlier when I was updating it for typos.
Disclaimer: Don't own Ugly Betty etc. etc.
Betty was exhausted. A good kind of exhausted, but exhausted nonetheless. She'd been living at Daniel's for a little over a week now, but they'd already developed a sort of routine. She was still working crazy hours trying to get everything done to launch the magazine. She'd leave early in the morning, but ate breakfast with Daniel before she left. She knew he got up that early especially so she wouldn't have to eat breakfast alone, but she never mentioned it. She liked it.
Then she'd be running around from appointment to appointment all day, sometimes the evening too. Meeting with investors, advertisers, looking for buildings, venues for the launch, and meetings with the staff that was already hired. Afterward they would have dinner together or dessert if she'd been working late and had dinner at the office. Usually take out, since neither of them was very good at cooking. Then they would spend the rest of the evening just talking and having fun joking around a bit, usually while watching TV or at the dinner table if she was going over something for work.
Right now however, she was working late again. Betty and her staff (she still had to stop herself from giggling at the thought of having her own full staff) currently worked from one of Mr. Dunne's other office buildings. During one of her and Mr. Dunne's first meetings about the magazine, he'd told her they needed to find a new building for the magazine. As large as the building was holding most of his publications, it couldn't house another magazine. So the hunt for a building started and today, she'd found one. It was in central London, an excellent location, in a beautiful old building. The moment she saw it, she knew that was THE building. Of course it had taken the rest of the day to start the process of obtaining the building. Which meant she was working late again to finish the rest of her work for the day.
She also finally found herself an assistant. Kenneth reminded her a bit of Marc, except he was a lot nicer to her and less shallow. From day one they had just sort of…clicked, becoming friends almost immediately. It had taken him only 2 days to get her and the way she worked. Now they worked together seamlessly. He basically knew what she needed, when she needed it and made sure it happened. Now, as she was working late, he was right there helping her.
"Kenneth, where did I put that budget report?", Betty asked him while taking a sip of her coffee. Or rather, attempting to take a sip since her cup was empty. Again. She must have had 5 cups just in the afternoon and she still felt completely exhausted. Looking up at Kenneth's chuckle she saw he was pointing at the pile right next to her. The 'finished' pile.
"You signed off on it 2 hours ago…Maybe it's time to call it a night? You look like you're about to keel over", he questioned looking her over worriedly.
She sighed and leaned back. "You're probably right. Thank you so much for staying to help Kenneth, I really appreciate it", she smiled at him.
He smiled back at her. He liked working for her, she was nice, appreciated his efforts and encouraged his initiatives. Before the end of the first day he just knew she was something special, a force to be reckoned with. He was going to learn so much from her. He was worried about her though, she was working herself in a twist. Tentatively he said, "I'll call you a car, you're in no state to go home on the bus by yourself."
She laughed tiredly, "You're right about that. I'll probably fall asleep and end up in the middle of nowhere. I'll finish up here while I wait for the taxi to get here, but you can leave once you've called the car. I'm so sorry for keeping so long." She smiled gratefully at him.
"Ohh, you know I don't mind it.", he said waving her concern away. Doing as promised he called her a taxi and decided to just keep her company while she waited. He lived at a walking-distance from the current office anyway, and he loved hearing her stories about her time at Mode.
The man was brilliant. How did she fail to notice how much of a genius Daniel could be? He'd chosen Ben and Jerry's chunky monkey for dessert. Banana ice cream with chocolate? Brilliant! Too tired to manage eating and having a meaningful conversation at the same time, Betty just settled for quietly enjoying her ice cream while they watched Avatar. She still wasn't sure how she convinced him to watch it, but she wasn't questioning it right now. Having heard so much about it, she was dying to see it.
Having finished the ice cream she put away her bowl and settled into the couch. Occasionally they made a little small talk, but Betty grew more quiet as the evening went on. She looked at Daniel. Good, he definitely seemed to be enjoying the movie. He looked back at her and raised an eyebrow questioningly. She shrugged, and smiled at him tiredly. He understood of course. She was just too tired to feel like talking, so they just watched the movie in companionable silence.
About halfway through the movie Daniel noticed a soft pressure on his shoulder and found Betty, fast asleep, leaning against him. He smiled softly. Yeah, that was surprising. Not. Wanting to make her more comfortable he didn't even think about it and gently lifted her head up a little so he could put his arm around her. Succeeding in not waking her up he settled back into the couch, stretching out comfortably with his feet on the coffee table and continued watching the movie with Betty asleep against his side. He was well aware she would probably want to watch it again during the weekend so she could see the whole movie, but he didn't mind seeing it again. It wasn't too bad, he actually kind of enjoyed it.
Near the end of the movie Betty finally stirred and started to wake up. Daniel, now focused on the movie, didn't notice. Confused and sleepy it took her a moment to become aware of where she was. When she realized she'd fallen asleep against Daniel and was now comfortably snuggled against his side she shot up in embarrassment, knocking her head against his chin in the process, which elicited a groan of pain from him. "Oh god Daniel, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep on you like that", she babbled nervously while checking his chin for damage.
He chuckled and gently pushed her hand away from his face, "Betty relax, it's fine. So is my chin, so you can stop staring at it now."
"Sorry", she winced in sympathy.
Pretending to look at a spot on his shoulder he said, "You did drool on me though", while trying to keep a straight face. He always did enjoy messing with her a little.
Horrified Betty tried to find the spot of drool he was talking about on his shirt. It wasn't long before she noticed he was quietly laughing at her. Slapping him against his arm she disgruntledly yelled "Daniel!", then started laughing after a minute of pretending to be annoyed with him.
Still laughing he said, "Betty, really, it's no big deal. Clearly you needed sleep. I have to say you looked really adorable too, drooling on my shoulder like that."
Relaxing again she sat back, leaning slightly against him. He hadn't moved his arm so it was still resting behind her. Still smiling she shrugged, "Well, to be fair, you do make a very good pillow."
He chuckled, "Well, thank you. I think."
Now noticing she missed half the movie Betty pouted, "Ahww, I missed it", checking her watch she added, "although it's not that late yet." She looked hopeful at Daniel.
He shrugged. "I don't mind watching it again. Missed the ending anyway. Are you sure you're not too tired though?", he asked doubtful.
"Actually the surprise nap helped a lot", Betty sheepishly admitted, "but if I fall asleep now I promise I won't make you watch it again?"
He smiled knowingly at that. Yeah right, if she fell asleep she would totally make him watch it again. Oh well, he'd figure out an appropriate revenge if she did. Nodding a go-ahead she started looking for the last part she remembered watching, while Daniel left to refill their drinks. Once found they both settled back in to finish the movie.
Something had changed, although neither of them took note of it. It was subtle, but it was there. They'd always been close of course. They would hug often and for many reasons. Comfort, hello's, goodbye's, celebratory hugs and the like. Sure, when it came to knowledge about their personal lives they'd never really known boundaries. They basically knew everything there was about the other, even if it would fall in the category 'too much information' for most people. But there had always been a sort of physical distance nonetheless. No more than occasional hugs, a dance, slap on the arm or a comforting hand on the shoulder. They never sat too close or hugged just a bit too long. The last week had gradually made them more comfortable around each other in the physical sense . So much so that when they sat back down it felt natural to them both to move back into their previous position, with Betty leaning against Daniel and Daniel putting his arm casually around her.