A complete crush.

Disclaimer: None of the characters/ familiar storylines are mine.

A/N: This fic ignores all episodes that come after Burning Questions. Also, Wilhelmina's baby is ignored. Thanks so much to everyone who reviewed! I can't wait to write about Daniel versus Gio - but it seems kinda hard to find a situation to...show their feelings clearly. I'm so sorry, this chapter doesn't have any DvG in it - I'm still - thinking. Yes, that's the word. Considering.

I hope you find this chapter alright.

.:irrelevant note: I just saw the promo for the season finale. I'm really hoping that kid is Alexis'. And yes, I loved that butt-slap scene in The Kids Are Alright. D:.

Thursday was hectic.

"I know it's hard to find those this time of the year," Betty was saying into the phone. "But we really need it, can't you just please try -"

She pulled the phone away from her ear, stared at it, and flipped it shut. "They hung up."

Daniel sighed, rubbing his temples, his hair thoroughly messed up. He settled his gaze on Betty as he massaged his aching head.

She could feel his eyes on her, and looked up, puzzled, to meet his look. Hilda had been joking, right? Because, yes, well, Gio had asked her for dinner, but it was as friends. And surely Daniel wanted nothing at all like a...relationship. Because he had looked so stricken when he had spoken to her about having a crush on him.

Betty smiled to herself. Now it was rumour the other way. Daniel Meade had a crush on his assistant.

Daniel

I have a crush on my assistant. I can feel it in every glance that I give to her. I can't help it. Looking at her smiling, now, and - if I stay there any longer surely she will see it in my eyes. It's...terrifying, actually. I think I held it in pretty well over at her place, but Hilda - well, Hilda was still just looking at me. Like she was waiting for me to slip up, or something.

The thing was, I couldn't decide whether I should tell all - scary, yes - or just wait. You know? There's no reason Betty should EVER know. EVER, because, well, it's just...just...laughable. But Gio made up my mind for me.

What does he think I am? Just some boss, patting his assistant on the back a bit?

Well, I sort of did.

But still. I was not just some boss. I am not. I am her best friend.

I hope.

You see, to show how non-bossy I am, I'll...take Betty out for dinner. Yes. I don't have a great cook in my family, but surely I can find a great restaurant. The only thing is, she might think it's a date. Which I'm hoping it is.

But. She'll know. And she can't ever know...

Wait, she can know now, because I'm going to tell her everything. I can't keep waiting to get her in between boyfriends; the first mousy guy I've forgotten the name of now, then Henry, and now maybe the sandwich guy.

"Betty?"

"Yes, Daniel?"

He stood in front of her desk looking a bit edgy, messing his hair nervously.

Betty met his eyes, and wondered what that strange expression was. He looked like when he had been telling her about Renee, how he really liked her. Except she thought he had finally managed to let go of the topic.

Daniel thought it was very unfair how some people were so gifted with asking people out, or just inviting them to something. Betty hadn't batted an eye when she issued her invitation.

But maybe that was because she had no feelings at all for...no, stop it, he thought. Just ask.

"D'you want to have dinner tonight?" He said, casually. Please, please, please say yes. You would make my day. No, my life. It's cheesy, yes, but please...

Betty opened her mouth.

Betty

Do I want to have dinner tonight?

Oh my God! Hilda was right? I mean, I - seriously. Daniel -

Well, friends with Gio, and Daniel - surely friends with Daniel too. Surely they are both just trying to help me through my difficult, heart-broken time.

I really wonder, though. Were they both just waiting for Henry to go?

Okay, that was very, very arrogant of me. Don't forget who I was before I came to Mode, Betty Suarez. Remember who these people are, Daniel my boss and best friend, Gio my...fake boyfriend. I mean, Gio my friend.

Do I want to have dinner tonight? Oh, my God.

"I would love to - but I already have an appointment," she said, looking desperately sorry.

Daniel's heart rose and fell. It was absurd how unstable just being around Betty made him. "Ah." An appointment.

"With a boy," Betty said, somehow feeling the need to explain. "But not a date, no."

At least she didn't think it was a date.

"A boy?" a slight questioning lilt to the two words, head cocked slightly, Daniel waited.

"Gio."

That's it. This is war, Daniel thought. Gio may have an advantage now, but I will not let him win. I work with Betty so closely; she is my assistant - I -

Betty felt absolutely stricken at the expression on Daniel's face, those turbulent twists of emotion in the twin darts of blue. He looked lost.

"Gio," Betty said, softly, closing the door of the shop behind her. "I'm sorry. I don't think I can do this."
Gio looked at her, sighed. "Betty, look. Forget Henry. I'll help you, I promise -"
"It's not about Henry," she said in a small voice.
Gio looked pale, stricken, vulnerable all of a sudden. "Someone else?"
There was a long pause.
"No," Betty said, eventually. "No. I don't know. It's just - just me."
"There's someone else," Gio said, slowly. "Who is it?"
Betty sighed and walked over to the counter, sitting down, her legs dangling in the air from the too-high stool. "I don't...it's confusing. I don't really think - just maybe - it's probably nothing -"

Still, Gio waited for the name.
Finally, Betty looked up, meeting his dark gaze, and said, "Daniel."

Betty

There. I said it.

It's out now, and it still seems absurd. I mean, Hilda and Justin all think that - but it is absurd, now that I look at it, look at how Gio heard it. Daniel is my boss.

Gio felt very, very bad. There was just no other word for it. Or maybe there was, but he wasn't good enough at vocabulary to know the right, slippery adjective for the emotion he could feel coiled up in his chest.

The worst part about it had been that tone in Betty's voice - that slight resignation, almost. It looked like she had trouble believing it herself at first, but then - that resignation! Like she was finally seeing that it was, in fact, Daniel - like it was something she had been unconsciously thinking for a long time.

Betty Suarez and Daniel Meade?

Gio laughed to himself, a slight edge of hysterics tinging the sound. I'm sorry, but that's just...Not Gonna Happen.

Seeing that Gio was not going to say anything, was just going to sit there and brood, Betty got off the stool and walked to the door, looking back at him one last time before pushing out into the cold, walking the steps, tracing her way back to Mode, and Daniel.