Chapter 18

The whole be seen and heard thing went extremely well. The public was eating out of their hands. Loved the story behind their romance. Them being best friends for four years and the love that was slowly transitioning out of the deep connection they already had as friends. They were a public favourite in no time and had a couple Name within the week. Whenever something was printed of them in a magazine they called them 'Detty'. And TMZ already had a 'Detty'-Watch. Byron was milking the cow to the fullest.

Her new boss was ok with it all. As long as it wouldn't distract her from her work. And it didn't. She put all her heart and soul into NYRB. And according to Frederic Kellner, Betty was an absolute contribution to the Team. She loved it. All of it. The staff meetings were more about talking with each other and helping each other with their articles. Make them see a different angle to a topic. It was so much better then stabbing each other in the back to make the cut, to get the best fashion-show to cover or getting the latest swag out of the closet. She was finally writing about topics that matter to her, books she loved and causes she thinks need more attention.

And her personal life with Daniel? They were as happy as they could be. Living together for a few weeks now. It was at a weekend when she stayed over at his place, when he asked her. They were in the kitchen, Daniels cooking lessons really paying off.

FLASHBACK

'Mmmh, oh my god, this is so good. I would've never thought you could actually learn how to cook'

'Hey, I'll have you know, I'm feeding you for 2 1/2 month now', he calls out.

'You're right, I'm literally spending all my time here. Am I squishing you? Do you need time for yourself?'

'Squish me all you want. I love having you here. I can't really imagine being here alone. It was only the two weeks when I first moved in, you know. Ever since our first time, we spend every night together. And I really love it', he gushed, looking at her lovingly.

'Your so cute when your sappy. I love you', her dreamy bright smile making him blush.

'I love you too, baby', and then he stops in his tracks, looks up at her. Like he just realized something. It's one of his cutest looks. The wide eyes and huge gaping mouth? He looks like he has some sort of genius inspiration. Like no one ever thought of it before. He turns of the oven, and Betty lets out a little whimper of protest.

'Okay, before you say anything, let me say what's on my mind, okay? Let me explain myself and then you can destroy it with your rationality', he walks around the kitchen island. Moves her around on the barstool to stand between her legs. 'I love you, and I want to have you here 24/7 and I know you feel the same. And if you think about it, we sort of already live together in a way. You are here all the time and I enjoy every moment of it. You said your lease is up in about a month, so maybe, we could talk about making your move more permanent. Like bringing all your clothes here. You are currently paying rent for an apartment your not really living in', he says carefully. Looks a little afraid of what she might say. But he is right. She is throwing money out of the window for an apartment she's not living in. And she loves to be here with him. How could she not.

'Ok', she says simple, brushing her hands through his hair.

'Ok as in your thinking about it?', he looks so delightfully shocked. He really thought she's going to fight this. Well, she'll going to disappoint him.

'Ok as in, you're absolutely right. This is ridiculous. The only difference will be that I have all my clothes here. And that's just going to be a glorious added bonus. Cause that way I never have to leave again. Makes the aftermath of the lasicsurgery next month so much easier. So it's more an 'Ok' as in 'Yes, I would love to move in with you', Betty smiles brightly.

'Wow, that was so much easier than I thought', his dumbfounded look makes her giggle.

'What? Did you think I'm going to throw a tantrum? You made some valid points. The only thing I'm going to request is to pay rent'

'Babe..., that's ridiculous...', he starts to intervene.

'Daniel..., no it's not. I don't want for you or anyone else ever to think that I'm only with you because of your money. I'm going to pay rent, at least a little bit, please', she begs.

'God, you're the worst', his hands are slowly gliding up her thighs.

'Not what you said last night', Betty slings her legs around his waist, brings him even closer to her, her hands making their way under his shirt.

'Did anyone ever tell you, that you talk too much, babe?', Daniel nuzzles her neck, slowly unbuttoning the dress shirt she's wearing.

'Yes, of course', she moans into his ear. 'You'

FLASHBACK END

And just like that one month later when her lease came up she moved in with him. Well, like he said, they were practically living together before. But now they really were and Betty loved that even more.

'Ok, be carful, it's one more step up and then your on the porch', Daniel carefully manoeuvres her around the pathway and the few steps up on the porch. She just had her lasicsurgery and has both of her eyes covered up. And is not supposed to use them for the next 24 h.

'Babe, I know my way around your house', it's endearing to her how sweet he is. But he's overreacting. She knows her way around the house pretty well. They're living together for two weeks now and like he mentioned, she was practically living with him before. She is certain that everything will be fine.

'Sorry, I'm just trying to be as helpful as possible. I don't want you to run into walls or furniture', he chuckles. She can feel the little movement of air around her face. God, she was blind for an hour now, but her other senses were already heightened. The way his scent flows through the air and engulfs her, even though they are at least two steps apart. Being so aware of him is maddening on a normal day, but now? She can't see him, not that she needs to. She feels that she knows him better by heart anyway, but it doesn't hurt to see his gorgeous face. How much she loves his eyes and the way they seem to change their colours, depending on how he feels. It's a beautiful and interesting process and she's never seen anything like it. Or the way his smile seems to lighten up his whole face. The little wrinkles at the outer corners of his eyes. Only visible when he's smiling genuinely. It all makes him incredibly handsome. And thinking about it, she would love to see him right now. Trying to distract herself she puts her hand out and walks along the wall to the door.

'I know. And I love you for it. Right now it would be great if you could open the door though. I really need to go pee'

Once they were inside, she fumbles her way over to the bathroom. And to Daniel's surprise wasn't struggling too much to find everything. It's a relief, really. Before he thought he should've made the house clumsy-Betty-proof. Just in case. He doesn't want her to hurt herself. But she slowly and securely makes her way over to the couch. Plops down and sits there for a second.

'What do you want to do?', she hears Daniel in the kitchen.

'To be honest, I would like to lay down. I'm a little exhausted. And seeing that I can't do anything, I..., huh, that was unintentional', she chuckles.

'Ok, do you need anything before? Something to drink, a snack?', Daniel chuckles along with her. She was so excited for today. Said that it feels like the right next step to take. And she can't wait to have perfect eyesight without glasses or contacts. Lately she feels like her glasses would cage her in. And the contacts were great and a good way to avoid her glasses, but they can be uncomfortable.

'A glass of water would be nice', Betty just sits there, doesn't move an inch. She can feel the sun on her face. And it's so warm and lovely. One of these days they should definitely go to the park. Have a little Picknick. Maybe tomorrow when she has perfect eyesight.

'Here you go', sipping on the water she feels how the couch cushion moves down next to her, his leg pressed up against hers. His skin is so hot beneath his jeans. She hands the glass back to him and lays down.

Her head in his lap she's fumbling around, searching for one of his hands. His low chuckle makes her heart skip a quick beat. 'Stop laughing at me and give me your hand, please?'

'Sorry, it's just so cute when you fumble around like that. And you were pretty close, it was right here', he lays his hand hot against her waist draws soft little circles against her hip.

'Mmmh, your so hot. Your like a furnace, babe. I never really noticed it before', Betty grabs his hand of her waist. If he keeps that up he's going to drive her crazy and knowing that they can't do anything til tomorrow, she's not going to let herself get tortured like that. It's not that they're not allowed to, but she swore to herself, that the next time they sleep together she will have perfect eyesight.

'Yeah, it's a gift', he says lightly. And then they're sitting in silence. But Betty can hear his low breaths, can feel him fumbling around with his other hand. There is a clicking sound, papers rustling, a pen being open and a scratchy noise. He's working. Probably red lining. 'Sleep, babe, I'll wake you in an hour if you want me to'

The sun is still shining in her face, hot and bright. Letting go of his hand, she turns around. She can feel herself getting sleepy, the warmth lulling her in. She stifles a yawn. Maybe she should sleep. The more she sleeps the more time will fly by in a blur. And before she knows it, it's Saturday morning and she can take of the weird eye caps. She must look like a weird insect. Not the most flattering looks of all.

Daniel softly strokes her cheek with the back of his hand. Despite looking like a huge fly right now, she's the most gorgeous thing he's ever seen. The little blush on her cheeks, the natural up curved shape of her lips. She's not wearing any make-up today, and she still looks so beautiful, glowing even.

'You're staring, babe. It's a bit loud', she mumbles already half asleep. He chuckles under his breath and takes one of the pillows, before lifting her head up. Putting the pillow under her head, he bends forward and places a soft kiss on her cheek.

'Sleep, I promise to stare a little quieter'

And that son of a beautiful mother didn't wake her after an hour. No, he let her sleep through the whole afternoon and into the evening. When she woke up, she had no idea where she was and what was happening. She knew that she's upstairs in their bed. But that's all. She doesn't even need to feel around for Daniel. Her new heightened senses allow her to perceive the hot lump next to her. A mumbled 'Go, back to sleep, it's the middle of the night' comes from said lump. And she was contemplating on giving him shit about it, especially when you just slept the whole day. But it was late, she was still surprisingly tired and not being able to see has her on the edge. So she lays back down, curls herself around said annoying hot lump and hopefully sleeps til the next morning.

Which thankfully she does. Waking up was weird. She's so used to seeing her surroundings. Her little butterfly earrings on her nightstand, her favourite book right next to them. The colourful alarm clock Daniel hates so much, but ignores out of love to her. Daniel next to her, fast asleep. He learned to ignore her early alarms. Can sleep right through them. And he's so gorgeous when he's sleeping. He looks so peaceful and happy. Almost carefree and completely at ease. That she doesn't mind. She likes to spend a few minutes of her early morning just staring at him. But today she can't even tell how early or late it is. And she doesn't want to be rude and just wake him up. So feeling her way around the mattress it is. Maybe she can get up on her own, get herself ready somehow.

'You are so annoying', Daniel grumbles out, his arm slings around her waist and pulls her back into his body.

'Why? What did I do?', she buries her head in his chest, cherishing the feeling of his skin against hers.

'Even now, looking like a big fly you can't sleep in. Come on, be honest, you only wanted to know if I'm already awake', he pokes her in the ribs, makes her laugh mercilessly.

'Stop it, I can't breath', she calls out. Taking his hand in hers. 'And no, I wanted to know how late it is, I was contemplating of getting up and stumble my way over to the bathroom', she softly places a row of kisses on his knuckles.

'It's 7.30 a.m. You still have one and a half hours of torture left. If you can't enjoy them in bed, I could be persuaded to make breakfast', the little squeal is too adorable and makes him chuckle. She sits up immediately, starts to scramble out of bed.

'Hey, hey, hey! I said I could be persuaded. Not that I already am. You better come back here if you want breakfast. You can't just adorably squeal and seal the deal like that', his hand grabs one of her feet, yanks her back to the middle of the bed. Her laughter rings through their bedroom.

'What? But I thought you wanted to make sure that I'm always well fed. And I already missed lunch and dinner yesterday', she tries to wiggle her way out of his grasp.

'Uuh, your good. Using my own words against me', he yanks her back to him another few inches, grabs her around the waist and traps her into his embrace.

His breath hits her straight in the face. Combined with his intoxicating scent. And she's willing to cave in. Give into him. Who cares if she can see. Wasn't there a saying, that you can only see well with your heart? And boy does she see him with her heart. So who cares? Well, she does. She wanted to see him in all his glory with her own perfect eyes. She wanted to see every razor-sharp detail of him. Enjoying him.

But his skin is deliciously soft and hot against her hands, and his scent is slowly driving her crazy, making her loose her mind. If she just wouldn't love him so much. And him nipping on her shoulder isn't helping either. His hands have a dirty mind of their own. A heavenly dirty mind, exploring what they already know better than any man she was with before. And if she doesn't put an end to this she knows she's going to be to weak to stop it.

So she takes a deep breath, pushes him forcefully away and tries to keep him at arms-length.

'You have no idea how much I want to, but I would like to see you. And not just feel my way around you. And don't even say something like: 'Babe, it can be very sensual to be robbed of one of your senses.' I'm sure it would be and we could keep that in mind for later. But I am so excited to see you in all your handsome glory next time when we sleep together. Which isn't even for much longer. So, if your still up for it, I would like to have breakfast before I can turn back into a human. I don't think that the fly-look is very flattering', she tries to explain herself. And she can feel his body relax under her hands.

'You're cute, and you know me so well, dang it', he nuzzles her neck for a short few seconds, before placing a hot, wet kiss under her ear. 'Alright, my little fly on the wall, lets eat breakfast first', he gets up as fast as possible. Betty can hear him shuffle around the bedroom, probably looking for sweats and a shirt. She contemplates of getting up and trying to stumble downstairs, but her common sense told her to stay put and let Daniel guide her. She's too clumsy, and she doesn't want to break another bone. Still in her own little bubble, she didn't hear him walking over to her. And his hand around her ankle her only warning. He yanks her down to the foot of the bed. 'Common, I'm not letting you walk downstairs. Knowing you, you will probably break a leg or something'

She throws her legs around his hips, while he picks her up. Her arms encircle his shoulders, bringing her as close to him as possible. 'I love you, you know?', her voice is so small, almost like a little child. He's even more endeared by her. If that is even possible.

'I know, and I love you', he embraces her close to him and slowly walks downstairs.

Breakfast was amazing. Her tastebuds are even sharper than usual. Everything tastes a million times better. It could be her forced blindness. But it could also be the fact, that he so willingly takes good care of her. Or maybe it's a mix of both. Whatever it is, Betty enjoys it immensely.

'Ok, are you ready? It's 9 o'clock, you can take down the caps now, if you want', his voice flows over to her on the couch. He's cleaning up the kitchen while she settled down on the couch, waiting for the 24 h to finally be over.

'Yesss', she immediately starts to remove all the bandages the nurse put over the caps to secure them in place.

'Wait, let me help you. Your missing a few spots', her hands fall into her lap, lets him sit down in front of her and softly remove the bandages. 'You sure your ready?'

Daniel asks one more time before carefully pulling the caps down. Sees her opening her eyes slowly. She keeps blinking, like she has something stuck in her eyes. The sunlight probably blinding her after the darkness. But she keeps looking at him in wonder.

'They did say, that it could take a day or two til you have normal eyesight. So, if it's not perfect, you don't have to worry. That's totally normal', biting her lower lip she keeps looking at him. Her stare is almost to intense. Her eyes are never wavering taking every little detail in. And he is still not sure if she can see alright or maybe has a little blurry eyesight left. 'Betty, do you..., can you see...?'

But she doesn't answer. Keeps staring at him. A little smile stretches out upon her face. And before Daniel can realize what's happening Betty's rushing into his arms and makes them both fall backwards onto the couch.

'Woah, careful, don't whack your head, babe. But I guess this means you can see?', his own bright infectious smile in place.

'Shut up, babe', she takes his lips in a passionate wild kiss. Makes them forget the world for a little deliriously exhilarating while.