title: last beautiful girl (in the world)
rating: PG-13
characters: Daniel, Betty
summary: The first time Daniel sleeps with Betty Suarez is in his office. No, not like that.
disclaimer: don't own, don't have money, so don't sue. Title comes from the Matchbox20 song.




The first time Daniel sleeps with Betty Suarez is in his office.

No, not like that. For one thing, they're fully clothed, for another, there is absolutely no exchange of bodily fluids, no fun orgasms, nothing. When Daniel wakes up he's disoriented and wearing the same clothes from the night before, he has a major crick in the side of his neck that'll take two massueses to work out, and oh yeah, his assistant is slumped against his side, mouth slightly open and quietly snoring.

It comes back to him in a rush, the all-nighter they pulled for the latest issue of Mode. Daniel wipes his face with one hand and gets ready to gently nudge Betty awake when--

"Aww," Alexis says from the doorway. "What a sweet picture."

He glares. "Is there something you wanted, Alexis?"

"Just wanted to see how my little brother and his loyal assistant were doing," Alexis says far too brightly for someone who's awake at--Daniel checks his Rolex--four-thirty-five in the morning. Christ.

"You've seen us," Daniel says, voice flat. "Now get out, Alex."

Alexis straightens, and for a second Daniel swears that she almost looks hurt, but that's impossible. You need to have a heart to feel.

Finally, something she and dear old Dad have in common.

But then Alexis smirks and says, "I'll leave you to it." She swishes out, and Daniel turns to Betty, who's wrinkling her nose in her sleep. Her glasses are askew, on the verge of falling off completely.

"Hey," he says, voice soft. "Hey, Betty, you need to wake up."

Betty groans, fitfully batting at her face, incidentally knocking off her glasses. "Wha' time's it?"

"Four-thirty in the morning," Daniel says easily. "Come on, we pulled an all-nighter and I'm sure your dad and Hilda are wondering where you are."

Betty sits up with a jerk. "Oh, God, seriously?"

Daniel nods. "Yep."

She rubs at her neck and groans. "Okay, ow. God, my neck is killing me--"

"I'll get you a massuse," Daniel promises, getting up and offering his hand. "You want a ride home?" It occurs to Daniel at that moment that this is probably a first for him--sleeping with an assistant, but without any actual sex.

"Yes, please," Betty says gratefully, and Daniel puts it out of his mind.

*

One of Daniel's exes, who had been majoring in psychology, had called Daniel a tactile person, and at his questioning look, had just laughed and said, "It's a fancy way of saying you're touchy-feely."

He doesn't think about it much, but Daniel figures it's true. He has no problem touching or being touched, throwing an arm around a buddy or brushing hair out of a girl's face.

Despite the prevailing opinion, Daniel's sex life isn't about notches on his belt, it's about loving women, their smell, their skin, their curves. It's not about proving himself or working out his issues; he just really likes sex with women. Period.

*

Daniel never dreamed there'd be a time when he'd unwind from the latest Meade family battle by watching stuff like American Idol, but there's a first time for anything.

"Justin says," Betty mumbles through a mouthful of popcorn, "--that if that guy wins, he'll have to commit hara-kiri, whatever that is." Daniel's a little baffled at the thought of a twelve-year-old threatening self-inflicted disembowelment, but okay, it's the Suarez family, and honestly, Daniel's life has gotten pretty weird since Betty came into his life.

She swallows and admits, "He told me to ask you if you know somebody."

"What, like an assassin?" Daniel asks, baffled.

"No, somebody to, you know, grease the wheels. Bribe."

Daniel blinks. "You want me to bribe the people at American Idol--"

"No, no, Justin wants you to."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Daniel says sarcastically. "Justin wants me to bribe the people at American Idol to make sure that one guy doesn't win."

"Well," Betty says slowly, giving him a wide smile full of flashing metal, "--I guess he thinks if you've got the money, why not use it."

As Daniel starts to laugh, her smile just gets bigger and bigger. He knows she's probably doing this on purpose, but he doesn't mind. In fact, it makes him feel better.

*

Daniel always treasures the things that come easily. Sex, women. Having fun. There's no point in loving the things you have to work hard for; Daniel Meade has never really needed to work at anything in his life.

Maybe that's why he and Betty work so well, because the connection, the bond between them, is as easy as anything, easy as breathing, but the things she asks of him, trying to live up to the person she expects him to be--that's anything but.

Daniel still tries anyway, even though he knows he's going to fail, all because Betty makes him believe in her vision of who she thinks he is.


*

"Okay, Betty," Daniel says, laughing a little bit, "--we're almost there, okay?" Over the course of their stumbling, bumbling walk, he'd gone from guiding her with his hand on her back to outright supporting her with an arm wrapped around her waist, letting her lean against him.

He's known for a while that Betty is a lightweight, but knowing and seeing the evidence before your eyes is a different thing. It makes sense, he thinks, grinning to himself, that Betty would be adorable even when she's utterly and completely drunk; it's just how things work.

"Was I bad tonight?" Betty asks. "I hope I wasn't--"

"You were fine, Betty," Daniel immediately assures her, and it luckily also happens to be the truth.

"Sorry for dragging you away from the party," Betty sighs, resting her weight against him even more.

"I don't mind," Daniel says, and that's also the truth. "It was boring, and besides, I like being the one to help you for a change."

Betty beams up at him. "You always help me, Daniel."

Daniel smiles as they finally reach the door to his penthouse, and he moves to grab the keys out of his jacket. "That's sweet of you to say, Betty, but we know that's not true."

"Of course it is," Betty insists in a voice slightly louder than her normal one, as they finally get into the penthouse. He lets go of her for a second to turn back and close the door, and when he turns around again, Betty's in his bed.

Again, not like that.

She's sitting on the edge of it, shrugging out of her coat and trying to take off her shoes. Daniel goes over and offers, "Here, let me help you with that." Betty flops back on the bed as Daniel eases the shoes off, placing them gently on the floor. Once she's done, she wriggles up the bed until her head is finally resting on the pillow. She pats the space next to her. "Sit here, please?"

Even drunk, she's the most polite person he knows. Daniel toes off his shoes, and gets onto the bed, his back resting against the headboards. "Hey, hey, give me your glasses," he says softly. Betty sighs and lifts up her head high enough so that he can slip the glasses off. He sets them carefully on the nightstand and turns back to her.

"Want me to get you anything?" Daniel asks, stroking her hair. It's softer than it looks. "Aspirin, water?"

"Nn," she says, eyes fluttering shut. " 'm fine."

"You won't be in the morning, believe me," Daniel promises, going over to the nightstand drawer and pulling out a bottle of aspirin and the water bottle he keeps there for this express purpose. He hands them to Betty. "Here. It's for your own good."

Betty makes a face, but takes them anyway. After she's handed back the bottle of aspirin and the water, she settles back into the bed and says softly, "Boys are stupid."

Daniel smiles ruefully and settles in on his side, facing her, his head on the pillow. "Yes, we are."

Betty smiles back. "Not you, of course."

"Betty, I think we both know I've pulled more than a few blunders."

She reaches out and places a hand on his face, her thumb gently rubbing his cheekbone. Daniel closes his eyes for a minute, soothed by the sensation.

"You can go back to the party if you want," she offers.

Daniel shakes his head, opening his eyes as he does. "Nah. I'd take your company over anyone else at that place."

And it's the truth. It's the truth, and there are so many things Daniel feels about her, respect, admiration, friendship, an overwhelming sense of trust--

"I love you, you know?" he says, and it's the easiest thing to say to her, and the minute the words are out of his mouth he freezes in panic, terrified he's screwed everything up.

Except Betty doesn't seem to find anything at all odd in his declaration, just smiles at him and says easily, "I love you too, Daniel."

And that's that.

*

In the end, his father turns out to be right: Daniel knows that he will never sleep with Betty Suarez.

He's fallen asleep against her in an office and he's woken up in his bed with her head tucked into his chest. He knows what her hair smells like and that she can fall asleep with her mouth open. He trusts her a thousand times more than anyone else in his life, and if she ever asked him for something, he'd try as hard as he could to make it happen.

And he loves her. Not in the way he felt about Sofia, or in the way he feels (reluctantly) about his family, but just--something different. It's there, and he knows it, and does it really matter if he can't figure out what category it falls into?


*

The next time they pull an all-nighter in the office, Daniel wakes up with his head on her shoulder.

"This is turning into a habit," Betty grumbles as he helps her get up.

Daniel thinks to himself that he's had worse ones. He doesn't say it out loud though, and just offers to buy her breakfast. She grins and agrees, and on the way out to the elevator, it just seems kind of natural--if slightly dorky--to offer her his arm.

She takes it.