These Two Hearts/CH 3

Betty ran through her usual ideas of what to say to someone she hasn't seen in a long time, asking them about their family, their job, their hobbies, then sat down, feeling like the top of her head was going to explode. Why was she afraid that the minute she saw Daniel again, she would become tongue-tied? This was the same man who she had spent countless hours with "back in the day", the days of Daniel and Betty. Make that Betty and Daniel, she berated herself. After all, she was a badass now, wasn't she?

She had woken up with a splitting headache, not only from drinking those three-and-a-half Mango Margaritas too quickly without eating anything except a few stale bar peanuts and some vending machine peanut butter crackers yesterday then she had switched to coffee and tea and she had been wired all night! Now, re-reading Daniel's insanely sweet and (romantic) text had her trying to decide how to handle this sudden extremely positive attention from the man who had cut her off so long ago! What the heck? Hell!?

The man could be utterly infuriating sometimes and then turn on a dime and become this loveable dufus or a sweet, sensitive, amazing, wonderful guy that you just wanted to…well, do naughty things with (or to!) Should she flirt with him? Ask him if he wanted her to kiss his "boo boo" all better or something silly? GEEZ, Betty! Grow up! This wasn't Junior High!

She got a text from her nephew asking how she was, so she called him, "Hey, Justin! What's going on? I got your text. To answer your question, no I'm not really doing anything right now, except trying to decide…ooh! amazing timing, actually, now that I think about it, you're the perfect person to help me decide what to wear. I'm getting dressed for a sort of day-into-night date with my former enemy/ hopefully now friend again/ reunion with your boss's boss's boss kind of….oh, whatever, I'm going out with Daniel and I have no idea what to wear, Justin!"

Justin laughed, "God, it's great to have you back in NYC, AB! I really missed you! Nobody makes me laugh like you do! So, you and Daniel, huh? Yeah, the word around Mode is Detty is back! Marc was practically grilling me for the deets, but I told him I knew nothing because I hadn't heard from my cool Aunt Betty YET, the operative word being YET, because…well, spill the tea, B, what happened last night with you two? Madame LaClaire has gone all silent and smiley, like she knows something but won't tell! So, the gossip is that detente has been reached with you two … FINALLY!"

Betty paused, waiting to see if her nephew was finished with his little rant, "Okay, Justin! I missed you, too, honey. That was intense! So…here is the "tea", or at least as much as you're getting out of me right now. I literally ran into Daniel at his bar last night, where his mom sent me, and I…well, I accidentally…um…I was playing pool and drinking for several hours before he showed up, and I sort of…hit him with the pool cue."

"You WHAT?! OHMYGOD! Where did you hit him? His head? Is he okay? Did you knock him out or something? Is that why Claire was trying hard not to laugh? She also said he was robbed! What the hell happened? Did you two get mugged at that bar he goes to? It's in a great neighborhood!"

"Geez, Justin! Enough with the twenty questions, okay, honey? To answer SOME of those…no, well, okay, yes, he did get pickpocketed and it must have been some woman there at the bar because she evidently dropped his phone in the ladies' room, where I found it and turned it in. Then when I turned around I was so shocked at first to see him that I sort of…hit him…you know, between his legs. Accidentally."

Justin laughed so hard he could barely breathe at that, "You wracked him with a pool cue? Betty, oh my god. I totally love you! You're such a klutz, but you know, he sort of had it coming!"

"That's what I said!" After allowing Justin several moments to get the laughter out of his system, she continued, "Anyway, what should I wear? He said he wants me to come shopping with him today, so he can buy me lunch and dinner and you know, replace his wallet and stuff."

"Replace his wallet…and…stuff? What does that mean? Is that some lame straight old people code for getting laid?"

"NO! Don't be silly, Justin! First of all, who are you calling old? Me or him? Definitely not ME! Either way, it's not…that! He was being serious! We're just running errands while we catch up, that's all, he needs to go to his bank and then actually buy a new wallet, silly! Then he said he'll take me out for lunch and dinner. Nothing…gross! Where is your mind?"

"Well, first of all, from what I hear, being with Daniel wouldn't exactly be 'gross', AB! I mean, he's definitely aged pretty well!"

"I know that! He did say, well text some…really sweet things to me this morning and we both apologized for all the stuff that happened with our magazines back in London. He was…very romantic, actually! He sent me a text that said that woman at the bar last night might have stolen his wallet but he didn't care, because he could replace it, but that I had stolen his heart years ago and he was tired of living without it, that he needed it back, he still needed me!"

Okay, she definitely hadn't planned on sharing that juicy tidbit with Justin, but she had to tell someone! It was the sweetest, most romantic thing any man had ever said to her!

Clearly, Justin agreed, "Awe! AB! That's incredible! Okay, here's what outfit you should wear. That white zip-up dress with grey and yellow flowers you wore that hugs your figure so well. The one you wore that time in London on your last birthday because you said you normally didn't wear yellow, but it always put a smile on your face, even on a rainy day.

It's slightly casual, so you can wear some yes, okay, slightly comfortable but at least cute wedge sandals with it for daytime, and it still looks amazing at sunset, and the coloring goes perfectly with your skin tone. Not to mention, it has a slight flare at the hips and you can unzip the top just enough to show off the girls a tad, but not too much! Think…Willy, not …Mom."

She laughed outright at that slight dig to her sister, "Got it. And thanks, Justin! I think I actually know which suitcase I have that in. Another good thing about it is that it doesn't wrinkle. Okay, I know this won't be easy, but I just happened to divulge that highly personal secret between me and Daniel to you, sweetie, but…PLEASE, PLEASE, don't…"

"AB! Come on, don't stress, okay? I am NOT Marc! MARC! Hey, there, boss! Okay, I'm not telling my boss that, trust me! I've got to go, I'm sorry, but there is no way Mode is interested in re-vamping shoulder pads! Don't be silly! What a crazy idea! Goodbye!" He hung up quickly on Betty to distract Marc.

Marc made a face at first, "Shoulder pads? Seriously? Well…actually! Come to think of it…who was that? An Italian model?"

"No, someone better than any model, my…um…aunt…B…bonita, my Mexican aunt…who lives in Mexico! You know, my um Aunt…Spanish. You met her. You said she was muy bonita, don't you remember?"

"Oh, right! I think we met and danced at your mama's wedding years ago! Can you get her back on the line and see who told her about the shoulder pads? Was it somebody fabulous?"

He shook his head, "No! She had to go. She's gone! She forgot about the time difference and said she had to take the kids to school and she'd call me back later. Maybe next week. Why? What are you thinking? Tell me!" He led Marc away to distract him from the call.

Betty took out the dress Justin had advised her to wear, smiling as she put it on like she always did. He was so right! It was the perfect thing to wear for day or night and she had some nice, cute blue wedge sandals that were comfortable enough to walk in but still gave the dress a slightly less casual feel.

The material was figure-hugging, not to mention, it somehow made her feel extra sexy wearing a dress that had a zipper from top to bottom. Not that she had any thoughts of unzipping it, of course! She smirked to herself, doing that in the mirror, "So, Mr. Meade...it's very nice to see you again! I missed you, too! You stole my…heart, as well…OH!"

Her phone rang, startling her out of her little fantasy scenario and causing her to jump, then she took a breath, and quickly zipped her dress back up, "Hey, Daniel! Hi! Yeah, sure, I'm ready! No, that's…okay, I'll meet you down in the lobby in a minute. Just give me a second to finish zipping up my dress."

"Oh…um…zipper, huh? Well, can you reach it? I could come up there…"

"No, thanks. I got it. It's…not a problem. I'll see you in a jiffy! Bye!" she smiled, wondering what his expression would be when he got a load of her, looking very cute and confident, yet still somewhat casual

She tried to calm her racing heart and tell herself the modified form of her former idol's mantra she had developed to keep her focus in any somewhat nerve-wracking situation, "I am a beautiful, intelligent, confident badass boss woman and I own whatever room I walk into!

I am the absolute intellectual equal of anyone in any room, whatever be-otches they may happen to be! I got this!" Okay, that second part especially Justin had helped her cultivate, and it always made her struggle not to giggle at the cussing part so she usually censored it, even for herself.

She didn't normally need to use it to calm herself or give herself a pep talk for men, however, usually more in business situations where she was meeting a new, intimidating female authority figure.

As she tried her best to remember the "sway" she had learned from some of the nice models over the years at Mode, she felt herself being watched by quite a few males in the room, so she quickly toned it down a bit and smiled, blushing slightly when she noticed Daniel, watching her step out of the elevator then walk down the small flight of stairs with his eyes wide and wearing that crazy sexy smirk of his that she had almost forgotten after all these years.

He seemed ready to spring into action just in case she showed her clumsiness and lost her footing as she made her way carefully towards him, then held up her hands to show she wasn't holding any weapons this time that could maim him again, "See! I promise I come unarmed this time, sir!" she teased.

He let his eyes gaze up and down her dress, "Well, now that's not exactly true, is it, Betty? I mean…that dress, WOW! You look totally hot! So…I see what you mean about not needing my help with the zipper, but…okay, I'm sorry! I promise I'll be a good boy. I don't want you to go look for a big stick to teach me any further painful lessons tonight! Shall we, Miss Suarez?" He held out his arm for her to take like so many times before.

She laughed, nodding as she wrapped her arm around his, "We shall, Mister Meade!"

She learned that he had in fact, already been to the bank, so they would only be shopping and dining together for lunch and dinner, or as long as it took to "catch up" and see if they could get back at least a little of their once amazing chemistry and easy rhythm. The banter and teasing seemed to return without any problem whatsoever as if hardly any time at all had passed, but the issue was more that they now appeared to have too much chemistry.

The sexual tension over the four years they had known each other had more or less reached a boiling point around the time of Hilda's wedding, in 2010. Now, after all this time, still with no release (other than in each other's 'spank bank'), it felt as if they were about to internally combust.

Daniel moved his hand carefully away from hers, afraid she would notice how sweaty his palms were. He stopped and took a deep breath, taking her in, then ran the back of his hand up to the side of her cheek, "You literally take my breath away, you know that, Betty? I feel like I should kick myself for all the terrible…"

She put two fingers up to his lips, "Daniel, no! Don't…blame yourself, okay? Because then, I'm going to blame myself and we'll just get into this crazy spiral of who did what and why and why didn't either of us listen to your mom or my family or friends who told us BOTH to "get over our silly pride", but that's sort of WHY we always made such a great team, too, isn't it? Because we're both stubborn, and neither of us was going to be the first one to fold!"

He shook his head, and grabbed her fingers, then kissed them, "But I SHOULD have been the one to apologize, Betty! Let's face it, I was the one who did most of the apologizing in our friendship because I was always the one screwing up!"

"But you didn't really do anything wrong, this time! All you did was help your family. Like you always do. I'm NOT going to let you take the blame this time, Daniel. We were both STUPID! But it's done. And can I just say…what you wrote, earlier, I don't know…how to respond!"

He looked slightly embarrassed, puting his head down, "Sorry! Was it…it was too much, wasn't it? I didn't mean to overwhelm you with this big… declaration and freak you out or anything! I mean, when I first came to London, I wrote my final Letter from the Editor for the Hundred Years of Fashion edition.

I was all ready to print it, but something told me not to, so I just let Wilhelmina write hers since it was her first solo byline, I figured it was only fair. But, you should know, it was about you. About…us. Why I followed you to London in the first place. But I didn't know if you would want me to just publish that…you know, to the world, without talking to you first."

She looked curious but smiled, and put her hand on top of his, as they stopped to sit on the park bench at Riverside Park, "Do you still have it? I'd love to read it sometime. And what you texted me this morning…it didn't freak me out at all. It made me very happy! I definitely didn't mean to hurt you, though, Daniel. And if I can, I'd really like to…well, give you back your heart, see how I can help you fix it? I'm not sure of the right metaphor here."

He laughed, "YOU, unsure of an appropriate metaphor, Betty? That's a first!"

She hit his chest lightly, still blushing, "Cut it out! It was just so…hot! You… well, you sort of made my heart…beat faster just reading that! I don't know what to say, otter than, I don't know…me, too? The feeling is very… um

…mutual!" Her face turned crimson as she tried to look up at him and bit her bottom lip.

He grinned, and ran his index finger over her lip, then shook his head, as he practically growled in that low, gravelly voice of his, "That sexy little move of yours, right there, Betty, if you had any idea how many fantasies I've had of you and these big, soft, gorgeous lips of yours over the years and what I'd seriously love to do to you…sorry!" he put his hand up over his face, "Geez! That was…wow!

Her eyes widened, and she gulped, "Really? You like my…lips, huh?"

He sighed wistfully, nodding, "Hell, yeah!"

She started to bite it thoughtfully again, then stopped herself, "Sorry!"

He shrugged, leaning closer, and whispered, "You still don't even know how totally sexy you are, do you? See, that's what's always been so hot about you, Betty! Even when we first started working together at Mode, you would do these crazy hot little moves, when you thought nobody was looking at you "that way", and it just turned me on, because I could tell, you didn't have a clue what a beautiful, sexy woman you are!

I think it kind of made me look at you through this special kind of camera lens, you know? I saw the real you, the woman I knew you were turning into, just like you knew me, as the real Daniel, not some lame-ass, public figure that the press said about me. We saw each other without all the bullshit. But that doesn't mean I was blind, that I didn't really…see you, Betty! It doesn't mean I didn't still…want you, deep down.

But there was no way I wanted to mess up our friendship by coming onto you. You meant too much to me. I finally saw that we could love each other for something other than just sex. Back then, it was just about this beautiful friendship we had and how we could lift each other up and help each other grow. Does that make any sense?"

She nodded, "It makes total sense! You were the first man who didn't want to sleep with me but still told me I was beautiful, and really meant it, and that I was "better than any model". Daniel, you have no idea what the fact that you actually listened to my ideas at Mode and valued my opinion, back when nobody else there did…how much that meant to me! You saw me not just as a person or a good friend, but as a beautiful woman when even I didn't see myself…that way, yet!"

"I see you now. I missed this, I missed you. I missed us!"

"Daniel…I…" she only had to take a breath and stare into those deep blue eyes of his, getting lost in his gaze, and it felt as though he read her mind. He ran his fingers gently up her arm and leaned closer and closer, ever so slowly, and whispered, "Tell me when to stop."

"Please don't stop!" She closed her eyes, pulling him to her impatiently and placing her hands on the sides of his face, then around his waist to his back, eventually deepening the kisses, and running her fingers through his hair. When they both reluctantly came up for air, she leaned her forehead against his and panted out, " .GOD, DANIEL! Totally worth the wait!"