Ugly Betty

It Takes A Village

A/N: Hey all. I am so sorry for the delay in an update. I've been sick and haven't been able to concentrate much on anything let alone a story. I'm not 100 better but I can actually concentrate now. Thank you so very much too all the people who have added this story to their favourite stories or alerts (or me to their favourite authors). It's nice to know this is appreciated. Thanks so much for reading! I hope this chapter is okay : )

Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I affiliated with Ugly Betty in anyway.

Chapter Five: The Waves Just Keep On Rolling

Daniel let himself into the apartment as quietly as he could just in case Betty was sleeping. He crept across the floor and into the living room where he found Betty sitting on the lounge wrapped in just a white towel. Her hair was damp and she was pale but Daniel was struck by how lovely she looked. He cleared his throat to get her attention and, with her eyes open wide, she turned away from the news and looked over at him.

"I'm sorry," she said. She pulled the towel closer to her body and smiled sheepishly. "I'd just gotten out of the shower when the phone rang. I missed the call anyway but I just didn't have the energy to walk back to the bathroom."

"Are you okay?" Daniel asked, his voice lowering in concern.

"I'm fine. Just a bit weak. Not eating and throwing up really takes a lot out of you," she shrugged. She slowly stood up, making sure her towel was wrapped tightly around her body, and stood before Daniel. Her brow creased as she looked up at him. "You look worried. What's wrong?"

"We'll talk after you get some clothes on," he ordered. He reached out and rubbed her arms, feeling how soft and smooth they were under his hands. The air between them crackled with tension. "You feel cold."

"I am a little cold," she said. Her brow was still creased and she looked down at Daniel's hands which had taken hold of her shoulders. Her voice was breathy and broke once as she spoke. "I, uh, I can't go if you don't let go of my shoulders."

"Oh, right," he said, flustered. He flung his hands off Betty and turned away. "I'll start dinner, okay? Something boring and bland for you and something tasty and exotic for me."

"Sounds delicious," she said. She walked away from him, her shoulders were tingling where his hands had been. Her hair tickled her back as she walked along but she barely felt it. All she felt was Daniel's hands on her body. She smiled to herself for a moment before she froze. Daniel was her boss. He was her friend, yes, but he was her boss. He had already gone above and beyond the call of duty by insisting she move in with him and offering to raise the child with her. That didn't mean he felt anything for her and it certainly didn't mean she felt anything more for him that gratitude. But the way his hands had felt on her body… It was just the hormones, she told herself. It was just the hormones and the nausea that were making her feel giddy and a little bit unsteady on her feet as she walked to the bedroom to clothe herself.

That was all it was.

Daniel slammed pot and pans around with gusto, even then knowing that the night would end with him shoving the remains of last nights dinner in the microwave, but it made him feel good to know he was providing for his family. His family. Where on earth had that come from? Betty was his friend and he was doing a good thing by letting her stay and by helping her raise the child but he had done it without even a thought to his own future. What did it mean to him? Would he ever be able to have another relationship or would living with Betty ruin his chances? Once he became the baby's father, would that be it for him? Could he have another relationship with a woman? He really hadn't given this much thought but he didn't have time right now. Right now there other, bigger fish to fry. The biggest fish of them all.

Wilhelmina.

"So she saw you saying goodbye to me," Betty groaned. "It's hardly scandalous for an employer to say goodbye to his employees."

"Is it normal to send them off in a town car with a kiss on the forehead and an 'I'll see you at home?'" Daniel asked. He watched as Betty pursed her lips and lifted one shoulder.

"I guess maybe not," she answered. She rolled her eyes. "What is she really going to do anyway? Tell everyone the baby is yours? Maybe that wouldn't be such a bad thing. People expect you to sleep with your assistant anyway. So you got one pregnant. So what? People will hardly bat an eyelid."

"People didn't expect me to sleep with you," he replied. As soon as he saw her face fall, he regretted it. "No, Betty, I didn't mean it like that. You deserve better than that. You aren't just one of those floozy assistants I used to have, you're actually brilliant, talented and smart."

"Its okay, Daniel. I get it," she said, the feeling of his arms on hers well and truly gone. "You love my work but the idea of having a relationship with me repulses you. Look at yourself. You're practically turning green at the thought."

"No, Betty, you don't get it," he argued. "It's going to be worse for you than for me if people think the baby is mine. They will call you names and say horrible things about you. Trust me, the word gold-digger will be thrown at you so many times that you will almost believe it yourself. Besides, you say you don't care what Wilhelmina does now but I promise when she plays her game, you will care."

"Right now all I care about is how you feel about me. I don't care about anyone else. Daniel, does the idea of a relationship with me repulse you?" she asked.

"When did this even come into it?" he asked her. She stared back at him stonily and he sighed. "Betty, the idea of a relationship doesn't repulse me but it does freak me out. I love you, okay? I really love you but my relationships don't exactly have the longest track record and you deserve better than that."

"Daniel, why are you so down on yourself? You just haven't found the right woman yet. That's all it is," Betty answered, wanting to bring him comfort even though her own insides were a tumultuous mess. "You aren't a bad egg or a wild oat or whatever it is they call men like you. Your problem is that you listen to what other people say about you and you believe it. I don't think you even know what you think about yourself."

"That's because what everybody else says about me is true," he answered.

"That is a lie and you know it," she huffed. She rolled her eyes and threw her arms up violently. "Anyway, I don't even know why we're talking about this."

"You bought it up, Betty," he told her softly.

"And now I'm ending it," she retorted. She sighed. "I'm sorry I got mad at you. I don't know why I did it. I don't want to go out with you or whatever it is that we would be doing. I just wanted to know what you thought about it. I guess I'm just feeling insecure and a bit… I don't know the word but soon I'm going to be a single mum who lives with her best friend. If you weren't straight, it'd be a whole Will & Grace thing and we could make it work but you are straight so it's just strange."

"It's not strange for a grown man and a grown woman to live together as friends," he answered.

"Yes but is it strange for the man and the woman to have a child together? Especially when the man isn't the biological father? Daniel, what is going to happen if I find a man and we fall in love and he wants to whisk me away and marry me? What happens then?" Betty asked. "I don't know who would become the father then because you and the child would already have that father and child bond and that's a really hard bond to break."

"I'll always be a part of the baby's life and the baby will always be a part of mine," Daniel answered. He smiled sheepishly at his friend. "I'm glad you bought that up because I've been wondering the same thing. If I get into a relationship with a woman, what is she going to think about the commitment I've made to you?"

"It will either win you major brownie points or it will be a major source of tension," Betty decided. "It will be the make or break part of it all. You could use it as the benchmark of a healthy relationship. If a woman isn't willing to accept the promise you made to me then she isn't worth it."

"Did I really promise but?" Daniel joked. Betty smiled at him and nodded. "I know. I know. It would be so simple if we could just be together."

"It would but it would be wrong," Betty answered without giving it a thought. Except for the fleeting thoughts she had earlier pinned down to hormones and the moment of insecurity she had had minutes earlier, she had never even considered anything but a platonic relationship with Daniel. Anything else would just be wrong.

Or so they tried to convince themselves.

"I told you so," Daniel said the next morning as he slammed the paper down in front of a bleary-eyed Betty.

"Oh my gosh," Betty gasped as she saw the headline. She groaned and lowered her head to the table before covering it with her arms. "This is not good, Daniel."

They both looked down at the photo of them which graced the gossip section. The caption proudly gloated 'Assistance of a different kind. Daniel Meade and Betty Suarez leave a New York medical centre together.' The story underneath went onto to name a whole slew of sources who confirmed that yes indeed, Daniel and Betty were expecting a child together and that the assistant had moved into her boss's apartment. The duo read the article with sick fascination and a sense of dread.

"Daniel, what do we do?" she asked. "Do we deny it or do we just go with it?"

"I don't know, Betty," he admitted. "I don't know what to do but I do know that by the end of the day, you are going to wish you never asked me to do this."