Daniel cleared his throat and began wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his shirt. 'God, I hope Betty didn't hear that...' he thought to himself as he gazed back down at her motionless figure. He lightly picked up her hand and kissed it. "Sorry if you had to listen to my little...breakdown, there Betty. But I guess that's just a glance into my life without you – so hurry and wake up...please," he whispered with an embarrassed smile. As he placed her hand back onto the bed, something on the nightstand caught his eye – her red glasses. He picked them up and lightly put them on her face. "There, now if --" he stopped, shaking his head. "No, when you wake up, you'll be able to see," he said, as he pulled the a chair over, nearer her bed.
"Excuse me, sir," he looked up, to see a nurse standing in the doorway. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave. This is ICU, and open visiting hours are over. Right now is for family only."
He looked back down at Betty. "Oh...okay," he stammered, pushing back his chair.
"You can come back tomorrow at noon," she said, entering the room, pulling out a blood pressure cuff.
"Tomorrow? Uh...okay," he replied as he stood still, watching the nurse put the cuff on Betty's arm.
"Excuse me, ma'am," Daniel heard. He turned towards the voice, to see Mr. Suarez standing in the doorway. "I'm Betty's father, and Daniel's welcome in here as much as he wants to be."
The nurse finished recording Betty's blood pressure in her chart and looked up, "Well, Mr. Suarez, it's not my rule, it's the hospital's. And they say family only."
Ignacio stepped forward, toward the nurse, "Well, he is family."
The young nurse looked from the old man, to the younger one on the other side of the bed. She finally turned back towards the older one, "I'll make a note of it, sir."
"Thank you," he replied, as she left the room.
Daniel stepped forward, "Thank you. But you didn't have to do that," he said, shaking Mr. Suarez' hand.
"Betty would want you here, Daniel," Mr. Suarez said with a smile.
"I hope so, because she's going to be getting a lot of me," he jokingly, although they both knew it was no joke.
"You're a good man, Daniel. She's lucky to have you as a friend," Mr. Suarez said, glancing over at his sleeping daughter.
Daniel shook his head. "Not even half as lucky as I am to have her. If she doesn't wake up, I don't know what I'm going to do," he said, nervously running his fingers through his already disheveled hair.
"She'll wake up Daniel," Mr. Suarez replied, reassuringly.
"Yeah, I know," Daniel whispered, as he looked over his shoulder at her. "Well, I should probably walk Alexis back down to her car."
"Okay, well I'll see you in awhile then," Mr. Suarez said as he stepped towards his daughter.
As Daniel stepped out of the room he saw Alexis and Hilda in deep conversation near the end of the hall. As they saw him approaching, they stopped talking, and both gave him comforting smiles.
"You ladies having fun talking about me?" he said with a sly grin.
They laughed. As he got closer, Alexis stepped forward and wrapped him in a hug. "Are you okay?" she whispered.
"Yeah, I'm alright. Thanks for coming down here," he replied. They stood in each other's embrace for a moment longer, before parting.
"Well, let me walk you down to your car," he said. Then he turned to Hilda, "Do you need anything from downstairs? Coffee, or anything?"
"No, I'm okay, thanks though," she replied. "It was nice talking with you, Alexis," she added, before walking down the hall, back towards Betty's room.
"You too," she said with a genuine smile. "Daniel, are you sure you don't want me to bring you back to your place? I can bring you back up here bright and early tomorrow morning," Alexis asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Nah, I wouldn't be able to sleep, anyway. I'd just be wondering what was going on here," he said, leading the way to the elevators.
As the elevator doors opened, Alexis stepped in. "You don't have to walk me down, I've got it from here," she said. "Besides, a few more 'Mode-ers' are waiting for you in the waiting room. They showed up while you were in with Betty."
"Okay. And thanks again for coming up here, I really appreciate it," he said.
"No problem, Daniel. I'll call you tomorrow to see how she's doing. Good night."
"Good night, Alexis," he replied, as doors closed. With that, he took a deep breath and began walking towards the waiting room.
A/N: It was kind of short, and kind of fluffy. I apologize for both. I promise the next chapters will be better... :c)