At Last, Betty

Betty Suarez sat at her desk at Mode, writing to-do lists and trying to organize the chaos left on her desk from her absence traveling to Guadalajara with her family when she noticed her palms were sweating. She tensed anxiously and was rewarded with a familiar voice

"Hi Betty."

She snapped her head up and looked at Henry and let out a gasp of surprise. Something had happened to Henry while she'd been gone. His eyes still sparkled, yet there were dark circles under them and there was a distinct sadness in them. His posture was straight, yet it seemed he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. Betty studied him closely and was surprised to see that he looked tense, as if he were scared to say anything.

Betty licked her lips and looked at him.

"Henry. Hi. What are you doing here so late?" She asked.

Henry pushed his glasses up onto his nose as he stood in front of her desk.

"Um..i was….looking for you. I went by your house and your dad told me you were here." Henry said softly.

"You went by my house?" Betty asked, "Why?"

Henry grabbed a chair and moved it towards Betty's desk. He sat down next to her and gave her a goofy smile.

"I wanted to talk to you. I missed you." Henry said, touching her hand.

Betty pulled her hand out from under his, noticing the hurt look on Henry's face when she did. She cleared her throat.

"So um Henry, how's Charlie?" Betty asked.

Henry took Betty's hand again, this time softly rubbing his thumb across her knuckles. Betty's heart began to beat faster as his thumb rubbed slow circles over the top of her hand.

"I guess she's fine Betty." Henry replied.

"Wh-what do you mean you guess she's fine. Don't you know?" Asked Betty.

"She moved out this morning Betty." Henry said, "She and I split up for good."

"I don't understand Henry. Were you guys having problems?" Betty asked.

Henry's fingers moved up her hand, to gently stroke the inside of her wrist. Betty was scared to move, afraid this was just another dream, until the feather-light caresses stopped and Henry was staring at her.

"Did you miss me?" Henry asked softly.

The feathery touches began again as Betty tried desperately to string one coherent thought together.

"Uh….well….I…um…..I…" Betty stammered as Henry took the pencil out of her other hand and began to gently apply pressure to it. Betty couldn't look at Henry, so she settled for watching his hands rub circles over her own, her small hands enveloped in his. Henry stopped again, pressing his thumbs into her hands lightly to get her to look at him.

"Well, did you miss me Betty?" Henry asked.

Betty stood up from Henry and walked to the window. She looked out over the black velvet blackness pressing against the window. From its' reflection, she saw Henry come up behind her. She wanted him to wrap his arms around her as they shared this beautiful scenery together. But he remained behind her, close enough for her to feel his warmth and smell his cologne.

"I did miss you Henry. More than I thought I would." Betty said softly to his reflection in the window.

"Betty, I wanted to talk to you about something. The night of the Administrative Professionals Party. What happened after that duel?" Henry asked.

"I don't know what you mean." Betty said," Nick knocked you off the log, I went to help you up, then Charlie showed up and took you home."

Henry moved closer to Betty, gently grasping her shoulders from behind. He didn't make any move closer, just rubbed her shoulders as he spoke to her reflection in the window.

"I think there's a little more too it than that Betty." Henry said, tilting his head and giving a small smile, "didn't I say something to you too?"

Betty swallowed nervously. Her palms were sweating and her heart was beating so fast she thought half of New York could hear it. She took a deep breath and looked at their reflections.

"You asked me if you had won." Betty said.

Henry smile widened at their reflections; "And what else did I say?"

"You said……"Betty started to say. She looked down at the floor as tears started to fill in her eyes. She couldn't say it. Not to Henry and have him not say it back. She felt Henry's hands lift off her shoulders as he came to stand in front of her. Betty felt an electric jolt as Henry cupped her chin in his fingers and forced her head up. As her eyes followed the pull of her head, Henry forced her to look at him. Betty could see Henry's eyes were moist and shiny also. She opened her mouth to say something but Henry's words stopped her.

"I told you I Love You Betty." Henry said.

"But I thought you………"

"Didn't remember?" Henry asked. Betty nodded.

"I'm not suffering from a concussion now Betty. I don't have one eye swollen shut. I'm not bleeding anywhere. Charlie or Daniel or even Amanda is nowhere around to interrupt us." Henry said. He took a deep breath; "I love you Betty Suarez. I have since the first moment I saw you. My beautiful butterfly. I love you so much that I feel like I can't breathe without you. With all the insignificant facts I know inside my head, I've been so stupid for so long. I love you Betty!" Henry choked out, tears threatening to fall.

Betty reached up and cupped his face with her hands. She saw all the raw hurt Henry had been putting himself through reflected back in his eyes. He watched her, waiting, hoping that she would return his feelings.

"Oh, Henry…I was so scared! I didn't want to break up you and Charlie, but I got the sweaty palms every time you were around and my heart started racing and then when I broke up with Walter because I didn't love him and I had that dream where you kissed me and……Betty rambled before Henry stopped her.

"You dreamed that I kissed you?" Henry asked.

"Yeah it was Christmas and you mistook the holly for mistletoe and then I saw you at the Christmas party and I looked at you and you looked at me and I got sweaty palms and when I saw you I just knew that I loved you and…..Betty rambled on again.

"Wait. Did you just say you loved me?" Henry asked, grinning.

"Yes, I do love you Henry!" Betty exclaimed, "but listen I just…….

Betty didn't get a chance to complete another thought as Henry cupped her face in his hands and brought his lips to hers. Betty clutched at Henry's shoulders as his arms pulled her closer. His lips were soft and warm against hers. She ran her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck and almost jumped at the groan she heard from him. She felt the muscles in his shoulder tighten as if he were holding himself tightly in check. He broke off the kiss briefly to pull her against him and hold her tightly, his chin resting on top of her head.

"Betty I'm so sorry for everything I've put you through. Charlie,

making you feel bad about Walter, my own stupidity….."Henry started to say before Betty cut him off.

Betty pulled back from Henry in order to look up at him. She tightened her fingers on his shoulders as she spoke;

"Henry, this isn't all your fault. I should have told you earlier about Walter. I shouldn't have gotten jealous over Charlie; I should have done a lot of things differently." Betty said as Henry pulled her close again.

"I love you Betty. I'll never do anything to hurt you again. I can't promise, but I'll try. You're the other half of my soul. I don't ever want to be without you again." Henry said, placing a soft kiss on top of her forehead.

"And I love you too Henry. And I know that as long as we're together, everything is perfect." Betty replied.

They leave Mode hand in hand, knowing that even though Betty can take care of herself, Henry still came to her rescue; and Henry can still have a soft spot for princesses.

THE END