Thank you to everybody who read or review the last conversation. You are all wonderful. This is another chapter that is very different than the original. But I think it's vastly improved.

Warning: The only beta for the revised version of this chapter is Grammarly

Chapter 25: At Last

It was late afternoon before Daniel arrived back at the Suarez house after calling everyone he could think of to save Monique's wedding. He considered this payback for her helping to get him with Betty. He would leave the rest to Candy when she finally arrived in New York.

At least trying to convince Monique's actual wedding planner not to quit, took his mind off the DVD in his pocket. (Mode is going to have to do an article on her for the 2011 wedding issue.) He wasn't sure he was ready to watch whatever final message Molly left him. He would really like to know why she made sure their marriage was never legal, but Daniel doubted the answer would be on this DVD. His lawyer confirmed to him half an hour ago that he was never legally married to Molly.

All thoughts of Molly went out of his head when he saw his exhausted girlfriend sleeping on the couch in jeans and one of his T-shirts. She looked adorable. He couldn't help but kiss her. Too bad Daniel did not wait to do that until he safely concealed the engagement ring upstairs. Betty's eyes opened instantly as their lips touched.

"I love waking you up like that. I'm surprised that you're here. I thought Lindsey would have you busy all day." He said with a smile.

"I like it when you wake me up like that. My boss let me leave early. I'm surprised I arrived at an empty house. I know DJ was going to be gone for a while, but I thought you would be here. This was supposed to be your one lazy day." She said just as she gave him another quick peck.

"I told you I was having lunch with Gio." He said with a shrug.

"Yes, but it's after 5 PM." She said, pointing to the clock on the wall.

"I had to help with wedding stuff because I am the new best man and Gio's ex-girlfriend makes René seem well-adjusted." As soon as he was done, Betty's mouth opened wide in shock.

"What? You are now the best man at my ex-boyfriend's wedding?" She asked incredulously.

"Technically, you two never dated." Betty just rolled her eyes but said nothing. "It's a long story. Let's just say certain other former girlfriends are not as accepting of his impending marriage as you are. It's a small miracle. We even still have a venue at this point."

"Why would they not be accepting? He loves Monique. Why chase after someone who has already moved on?" Betty said naively. That was when Daniel explained all the excruciating details to Betty including why certain nasty things have been printed in the tabloids about their relationship recently and the fact that Candy arranged for a restraining order.

"So, she is the one who has been telling the press that we were sleeping together before Molly died?" Betty asked in a mix of surprise and anger.

"Yes. Most of the Mode rumor mill knows not to say something like that to the press. Also, Nikolai's fragile was with Marc."

"So, she thinks that by ruining his wedding Gio will come back to her? That's just going to result in a restraining order." Betty asked in complete skepticism.

"Some people just can't let go." He wanted to make some joke about Henry at this point but knew enough to not say anything else.

"Speaking of crazy ex-girlfriends who cannot let go, did you know your ex-girlfriend who tried to kill me was back in town? I did not even know that they let her out of the hospital. She was supposed to be in for three years." Oh fuck. This is what he gets for trying not to worry his girlfriend over something silly. The universe hates him. Therefore, Betty would run into the crazy one.

"Mr. Slater got his new son in law's sentence reduced, so much that he's getting out in time for February fashion week, even if he probably will get shipped back to Australia. Honestly, I'm surprised she spent as much time as she did at the hospital with his connections."

"That's true."

"However, I was warned that she was in New York, but I didn't think you guys would meet up. Wilhelmina apparently has her on a short leash. She didn't try to hurt you?" Daniel asked with concern looking over her body for bruises and other types of injuries.

"I'm fine, mostly. Although the suit I wore this morning is completely gone, although that was more Wilhelmina's fault." Betty said apologetically.

"Don't worry, it was from the budget collection." Daniel lied not wanting Betty to know that he got her a $1,000 business suit.

"I just care if you're OK. What happened? Why were you even around Wilhelmina? She should be on her jailhouse honeymoon or buying presents for her new grandbaby." Daniel asked again as he became more concerned.

"Lindsey offered Wilhelmina a position at a magazine that he just acquired in the United States with Matt's mother. She was there too, unfortunately, saying hateful things about Amanda that I just don't want to repeat. Even Wilhelmina was offended."

"I didn't think Wilhelmina was capable of being offended at this point."

"She was as well as insulted by the offer. Even I knew it was significantly less than what she was paid at Mode without the stock options. When she tried to walk away after saying some stuff that I will not repeat, someone from Isabella Press said something not very nice about Connor. I will leave out all the expletives, but essentially, they implied that Wilhelmina was forced out of Mode because she married Connor, and no one would trust her to run a company now that she was married to the guy who almost ruined Meade publishing. She responded by throwing her wine at this person, but she missed." Betty said with a shrug. "I felt it best to just stay quiet at that point."

"You should be happy that she didn't throw the bottle. Lindsay took over Isabella Press?" Daniel questioned.

"I can't tell you that," Betty said quickly.

"I will take that as a yes. I wasn't asking about your suit, I meant what happened with Renee?"

"After Wilhelmina tried to leave a second time, her sister showed up for reasons unknown. Then she said some not so nice things about you and me before Wilhelmina convinced everyone that she needed to leave to take her crazy sister to her therapy appointment. Considering Renee started calling Wilhelmina her mother, I think everyone believed her." Betty said, looking sad.

"I'm not sure that she was pretending," Daniel mumbled under breath, remembering a private conversation years ago when Renee told him that she was secretly adopted and was trying to find her birth mother. Her adoptive mother told her that she was the child of a family member who got pregnant at 15. He didn't quite believe her because there were so many little things that told him she was related to Wilhelmina Slater even if the considerable age difference made that seem suspicious.

However, the same age difference pointed to Wilhelmina being that 15-year-old family member. When Wilhelmina threatened to cut off his balls if he hurt Renee, it sounded more like the threats of an angry father than that of an overprotective sister. Considering his reputation at the time, he could see a desperate parent resorting to what Wilhelmina did to get her away from him. Too bad Daniel didn't come to this conclusion when he was dealing with a scheming Wilhelmina trying to absurd his position. This would have been excellent blackmail material if he could prove it.

"What exactly did she say?" Daniel asked, breaking from his former train of thought. Besides, it was almost absurd.

"No worse than what everybody has been saying on the news and in tweets. It doesn't matter Daniel." The fact that Betty was not looking at him as she spoke told Daniel that it did matter to Betty.

"Are you sure it doesn't matter? They're saying a lot of nasty things about us in the media. Mostly because of Gio's crazy ex-girlfriend, but still it has to hurt a little."

"Obviously, you were never shoved in a locker during high school. What they're saying now is nothing. I've heard worse." Betty said shrugging. Really, he shouldn't be shocked to hear stuff like this. He knew that she was bullied in school, but she never gave details.

"You were shoved in a locker in high school?" Betty just nodded.

"Who would do something like that?" Daniel asked, very disturbed.

"Kimi. That was not even the worst thing she did to me during high school. There were other things, but I've pushed most of that out of my mind. It doesn't matter anymore." She responded with a shrug.

"Yet, you still got her a job at Mode?" Again, Betty just nodded.

"You are too good of a person for us mere mortals. This is why I'm sure that whatever Renee said to you this afternoon, you took it too seriously." Daniel prompted.

"It was really nothing. The worst thing Renee said to me was that I was your rebound girlfriend after Molly died." Daniel could hear the sorrow in her voice as she spoke.

"No, that was Amanda, and she volunteered," Daniel said with a shrug.

"I know she told me," Betty said with a frown.

"You're upset about that?"

"No," Daniel gave her a sharp look at that. "Okay, maybe a little but not because of your physical relationship with her. Somehow, in the last year, Amanda became your best friend. She knew you got sucked into the order of the Phoenix before I did. Even Monique knew what was going on before I did and you two were not even that close yet. Now you're in her wedding party. It feels like I'm being replaced as your best friend." Betty said, sitting back on the couch in irritation.

"I think it was Circle of the Phoenix. There was this big lawsuit with the Harry Potter lady, and they had to change the name. You know I'm going to have other friends, but you are always going to be the most important person to me." Daniel said, squeezing her hand reassuringly.

"Yet you couldn't talk to me about how you felt after Molly died." She said with a pained expression that said more than her words ever could.

"It was a complicated time. I just lost my wife, but at the same time, I found myself in love with my best friend. Trust me, Betty, I knew I was already in love with you. I've known for more than two years. I just felt so…" Daniel stopped, not knowing how to finish that sentence.

"Guilty." Betty supplied, squeezing his hand back.

"Yes. I felt like I was betraying Molly's memory. I felt like an ass because the morning of Molly's memorial service, I woke up next to you completely hard." Daniel said, playing with the blanket that Betty was using earlier.

"That was pretty normal by that point," Betty mumbled to herself.

"Yes, but it shouldn't have been if I really loved her. I was starting to wonder if I did. I became more confused when I was scattering her ashes in Nepal. I really needed you, and you weren't there." He felt like he was going to cry but wouldn't.

"I wanted to be there too. I can't believe it took that long to get my visa." Betty said in annoyance, telling him that she really did want to be there.

"That may have been my fault. Remember the incident with the State Department official a couple of years ago?" Daniel asked.

"I'm trying to repress that." She says shivering.

"Sorry about that." Daniel apologized before continuing. "After what happened became known to her boss, she was transferred to counselor affairs and had an Afghanistan assignment in her future."

"That doesn't seem that bad."

"She wasn't happy about it because she was on the fast track to becoming a Deputy Assistant Secretary or something like that, which was her dream job. She blames me for not getting it. Somehow, she was able to mess with your visa application. She no longer works for the department." Daniel didn't know any of this until Monique uncovered it during her quest to get the shoot done at Harry S. Truman building, which is why she was able to obtain permission. Okay, that and Monique's cousin knows everything.

"Why would she- never mind. I rather not know. Did everyone think we were sleeping together before we were actually together?" Betty asked in exasperation.

"Pretty much. Our relationship has always been more than boss and assistant, even when you were still my assistant. We never really had a normal type of friendship either. It's always been deeper. The only other person I have anything close like that with is Amanda, and that was only in the last year." He explained.

"But your relationship with Amanda was never that platonic," Betty said darkly.

"Exactly and I don't think I could completely comprehend that until I came back and you were no longer my assistant. I have been in love with you for a long time, but I convinced myself that it could never work because of a million different things, including Mode. As long as we were safely entrenched in our roles as boss and assistant, everything was okay. However, you had a new position, and I was terrified. That is why I latched onto the first thing that really came along, which explains the Circle of the Phoenix and my friends with benefits relationship with Amanda."

"Which I felt was like you trying to go back to something familiar."

"You did go back to Matt at that point. The good thing was me and Amanda were actually friends this time. I found out that it makes a difference." Daniel said with a smile.

"You were running away from me?" She asked.

"Probably, but you were running away from me as well," Daniel said, not looking at her.

"Do you have any idea how overwhelming you are Betty Suarez?" Daniel asked, but he didn't give her time to answer. He was too afraid of what she may say. "I think you feel the same way about me. That's why you went back to Matt." He says as a statement, not a question.

"Yes. You're just as overwhelming. Matt was simple. You are many things, Daniel, but simple is not one of them."

"I try not to be." He said with a laugh.

"Whatever is between us has always been more complicated as friends of benefits or even simple dating," Betty explained.

"It's going to be forever, no matter what." He responded with a smile believing those words wholeheartedly.

"Is that a jewelry bag?" Betty questioned, now pointing to the bag sitting next to Daniel on the couch. Really, he should have left it on the floor.

"I'm pouring out my soul to you, and you want to look at what I picked up shopping. I told you about the jewelry store incident. I found a few things I liked for my mom there while we were waiting for the problem to be fixed. " He lied. "She needs a 'I'm sorry that Alex is sick' present."

"That's not why I stopped," Betty said as she grabbed the bag and looked inside before Daniel could stop her. "You almost sounded like you were proposing…" Betty paused as she pulled the ring box out. "That's not for your mother. Is that an engagement ring?"

"Yes. No, I did not get that for my mother." He answered with a sigh, so much for hiding this for a few months.

"You're proposing?"

"No—yes—sort of." Daniel stuttered out.

"I found that slightly confusing," Betty said, with half a smile.

"I was there at the jewelry store with Gio as he tried to convince the jeweler that he still wanted the rings engraved and no, he did not leave Monique for his business partner."

"Really?"

"Yes, which explains the restraining order. Anyway, I saw this ring that I knew would be perfect for you. It was custom made for a woman who saved her best friend when he was dealing with the grief of losing his first wife who died during childbirth. She was his best friend, and then she became his lover and wife. It made me think of you." Daniel explained as he pulled the ring out and showed it to her.

"So, you bought the ring because you knew it was perfect for me. It is beautiful and very different." She said, taking a good look at the ring.

"I got it because it is special, just like you. I already told you that this was going to be forever. I want to marry you someday even if that day is tomorrow or 50 years from now. Whenever you're ready, this ring will be waiting for you." He said, holding up the ring.

"What if I'm ready now?" Her question caused Daniel to drop the ring.

"You want to marry me?" Daniel was in complete shock as Betty went to retrieve the fallen ring.

"Yes. Daniel, will you marry me?" Betty asked, handing the ring back to him. His response was to place the ring on her finger.

"I'm going to take that as a yes." That's when Daniel kissed her.

"That is definitely a yes. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

"Good. Also, I should mention that dad called and won't be back until 11 and your mom is not dropping off DJ until at least nine."

"So, what would you like to do for the next hour and 47 minutes. Future Mrs. Meade."

"That's future, Ms. Meade-Suarez and I feel like getting rid of the technicality. I did bring condoms."

"Well, I guess that makes me the future, Mr. Meade-Suarez, and I really do want to traumatize your aerial sheets." That's when Betty kissed him again before dragging him off to her old bedroom. The experience was so intense that he completely forgot about the DVD from Molly. She was his past. Betty was the future.

Betty never understood the difference between sex and making love until Daniel Meade. There was a difference. Daniel was her home. He made her feel safe and secure, no matter how crazy everything was. Being physically intimate with him was not that different from the emotional intimacy that they've already achieved.

She thought what she was doing with Matt and Henry for that matter was lovemaking, but it wasn't. She never had the emotional intimacy with Matt and Henry that she had with Daniel. It wasn't that unusual for the two to finish each other's sentences. It would be logical to conclude that she could never have the same depth of physical intimacy with either man that she had with the person who was her friend, her partner, her lover, and her family.

Laying down next to Daniel right now completely naked, slightly sore and very satisfied, Betty realizes that Daniel was the first person that she allowed to see every part of her. He was the only one she would let in all the way to her heart and mind. He was the only one who knew all her fears and sees her flaws. She was always holding back before but not with Daniel.

Daniel knew her flaws in all. He would not have moved to another country if that hadn't been the case, no matter how many times Betty tries to convince herself that Daniel was only there to save Mode UK. He knew her childhood secrets, like why she hid underneath her New Kids T-shirt at pool parties or the real reason behind the scars on her right arm. Everyone else thought she fell on the way home from school one day in the ninth grade. Daniel knew it was from being shoved in a locker by a certain blonde headed classmate and former colleague that looks like a Lindsay Lohan clone. (Maybe she should have told Daniel about this before that berry shoot incident.)

At the same time, she knew the real Daniel Meade and not just the person he presented to the world. She knew he had a scar on his left wrist from falling off his bike when he was 9 because he took off his training wheels too early due to Alex's constant teasing. When Daniel believed that his brother was dead, he visited his grave every Sunday. She knew of the surgical scars on both his legs from the accident that put Alexis in a coma. She knows Daniel dreams about that accident from time to time. He cries at movies, especially anything involving cancer or dead fathers.

She didn't know her previous lovers in this way. Matt never talked about his screwed-up childhood or his parents' divorce. He didn't tell her about being a recovering sex addict or that he was one of those Hartleys until he had to. She didn't even know that he was bisexual until a few weeks ago. She was sure the same could be said for both Henry and Walter.

In all her relationships before Daniel, she only saw the person that they wanted her to see, and in turn, she only let them see part of herself. When the mask came off, the relationships fell apart. That did not happen this time, because those masks were never in place, to begin with.

And as she lays here and her childhood bed with Daniel wrapped around her, she realizes that this is why she is going to spend the rest of her life with this man. No one is going to ever know her the way Daniel does. Daniel knew every part of her emotionally, spiritually, and now, physically.

"I am really glad your father is working late at the restaurant, and DJ was spending quality time with his little sister. I think they went to that mall was to Dave and busters. And the Chucky cheese knockoff." Daniel kissed her shoulder.

"Because you are definitely a screamer."

"I have no trouble whatsoever screaming the fact that I love you, especially when I'm completely in you." Daniel said as his lips hovered over her neck.

"Which I appreciate. Although neither of us wanted a repeat of last night." Betty remarked.

"Not at all." She pulled Daniel closer to her. She knew she should get dressed again in case her father or DJ stopped by later, but she didn't want to. She needed to feel Daniel skin against hers. She needed to feel his heartbeat against her chest. Of course, at that moment, her stomach started to grumble.

"We should have eaten something before coming up here," Betty remarked.

"Unfortunately, we were too distracted at the time to think of that. If we stayed in a hotel, we could order room service and not get dressed. I'm going to at least have to put on a robe."

"You can't answer the door shirtless even at a five-star hotel."

"You can if you tip enough. Your father wouldn't be anywhere near as understanding."

"I think he would be more okay with it if he knew that I am soon to be Mrs. Meade-Suarez. Although we should get rid of the trash in the bathroom just to be on the safe side." Because she can't decide if it would be more embarrassing for her father or nephew to find a used condom in there. All of it would be extremely embarrassing.

"Good point. You are wearing your ring at breakfast tomorrow." Daniel pulled her hand to his mouth and placed the kiss just below the ring. She really loves that ring. It was just so perfect.

"I'm not taking it off. Although I might keep my hands in my pocket if there's any press around."

"Good call." Daniel kissed her shoulder again. "I don't want to leave the bed."

"Although if you get food, then I think we will both be up for another round. You're already the best I've ever had."

"You're just telling me that because you want food," Betty responded by kissing him on the mouth.

"Not just food. But I would like to be with you again before my dad and our nephew show up, or I passed out due to low blood sugar."

"True. I would never live it down if you pass out during sex due to not feeding you enough. Amanda would probably blog about it." Daniel said reluctantly, getting out of bed and put on the fluffy black robe that he thankfully remembered to pack.

"Absolutely," Betty said, giving Daniel one last kiss before he left.

Usually, after the first time with a boyfriend, Betty had this feeling of sadness that she could never explain. Maybe it was a sense of disappointment. Every time she came into the experience with expectations that could not be fulfilled. As with everything else in their four-year relationship, things with Daniel were different. She felt a sense of happiness that she never felt before. He was forever. This was forever. She didn't need the ring on her finger to know that. It was just a symbol that the rest of the world would recognize. But in her heart, she always knew that this was how it was going to be.

"Okay, you will be happy to know that I did not run into your father wearing just a robe. Although, should I be worried that there was a prepacked dinner for two with a sticky note on it that said for Daniel and Betty?" Daniel asked slightly concerned.

"Maybe. But I don't care. Feed me."

"Your wish is my command future, Mrs. Meade-Suarez." Daniel remarked as he kissed her once more.

To be continued.

I considered ending with a Marc Cliff moment, but I really wanted this chapter to just be Daniel and Betty and their engagement.

I'm a lot happier with this version than the original version.