GONE BUT NOT FORGOTTEN

Chapter One

A/N: I felt like a little mystery for a change, ladies! I haven't done one like this since "Just Another Day in Paradise". I'm in the mood for some drama, some angst, some suspense, how about you? I'll let you figure out "whodunnit"! Hope you enjoy! Don't throw tomatoes at me for how this story begins! Remember, it's like Agatha Christie! There HAS to be a murder to solve. Or a mysterious disappearance.

As she slowly opened her eyes, Betty smiled sleepily, seeing only a fuzzy outline, and patted her hand on the slightly stubbled face, "Mmm...hey! You're already awake? Since when do YOU get up before me, Mr. Lazy Bones? Usually I'm the one plying your eyes open with a crowbar and tempting you with coffee to get out of bed!"

"That's just because you insist on waking up at the crack of dawn, sweetie! Besides, I'm up! See? Mr. Winkie's wide awake and ready to report for action!" Daniel rolled onto his back, and threw back the covers, grinning like an idiot.

"DANIEL! You're naked! Wait...Mr. Winkie? You never call him..."

"Daniel? Really? AGAIN, Betty? I thought we were past this! Whatever! This is...bullshit!"

Betty blinked, quickly getting her glasses off the nightstand, "Vince! I'm...I'm so sorry! I was just...it didn't mean anything. It was just a slip of the tongue."

"Yeah, well, I lost track of how many times your tongue has slipped on that guy's name instead of the man who you're supposed to be going out with!"

Betty grabbed her robe and followed Vince to the kitchen. He stood in front of the refrigerator for a moment, staring blankly inside, then closed it, "You know what? I'm DONE! I've tried to be patient, because I know the guy was your friend, but...there have been rumors, lots of rumors about how you two were a lot MORE than friends when you worked together. And I'm beginning to think they might have had some truth!"

"Vince, please! That isn't true! Daniel and I WERE just friends! But I worked for him for four years!"

"Yeah, but that was over fourteen fucking years ago, Betty! The man has been dead for ten years! Get over it!"

"Vince, you don't understand! We were...very good friends! I was his assistant for over two years! You know how he was...the man was…"

"Needy! Yeah, I know! I remember. I MET him a few was a lot better than his brother when he was still a guy, but he WAS a needy little rich boy, for sure! The guy practically couldn't tie his shoe without you, there, helping him with everything! Did you help him get dressed, too? Pick out his clothes for him?"

"No, don't be silly, Vince." Well, not unless you count the time she had schlepped across the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade to help him pick out a purple shirt to wear for the woman who ripped his heart out on national TV, she thought. She took a deep breath, it still hurt too much to think of Daniel in the past tense.

Most of her was still going through the motions of daily living, while some huge part of her soul was screaming that without Daniel...she didn't really want to go on living! Not that she was suicidal, but she could definitely understand how people could just shut down when they lost someone they...had loved very deeply.

Now that Daniel was gone, she could finally admit it, at least to herself, she had been in love with him for a very long time. Ever since he had shown up in London (well, to be honest, she had of course, tried NOT to crush on the man even when he was her boss at Mode) Mainly because the whole idea of Daniel ever being the slightest bit interested in a girl like her, in the "ugly girl" she once was made her very sad.

The fact that he had actually followed HER there, had left his job at Mode, and his father's business to "start over" and had written that flirty, hopeful letter about her in the last issue of Mode he published, was...bittersweet now. She saw it the day before his funeral and had broken down. When she thought about how he had shown up to be with her, to start over, to change their "friendship" to something more...well, it truly did break her heart.

She didn't even try to stop Vince this time. When you have the same fight over and over, it's time to move on, she knew. They had originally re-connected when he barely recognized her at an art show for a fellow artist he was attending in London six months ago and at first, they did long-distance "dating", then it grew to more when he had two highly successful art shows of his own and found a space for a gallery downtown.

Things had started off sweet and slowly, she was still grieving over Daniel, over all the things that would never happen now because his life had been cut short so abruptly. Vince was understanding (at first). But night after night, she couldn't help but think of Daniel, seeing his eyes around every corner. Something felt so….wrong! It was as if her whole world had suddenly been turned upside down. WHY had he followed her there?

Daniel's death was all her fault! If he had only stayed in New York! He never would have died when his plane disappeared on his way to France to visit DJ and Alexis. It wasn't fair! He never even got to see his nephew and sister! And she was to blame! She burst into tears, trying to tell herself it didn't do anyone any good to keep crying.

She ended up in the emergency room right after his death, dehydrated because she had been so out of it, she forgot to drink water. Hilda and Justin had flown over for Daniel's "life celebration". They weren't calling it a funeral, since there was no actual body to see in the casket and mourn.

Betty felt as if she wanted to run away and hide when she saw Claire Meade. The woman who had become like a mother to Betty, now she felt nothing but guilt and shame when she saw her. Christina and her sister and nephew had tried to distract her, and comfort her.

Wilhelmina was uncharacteristically kind, seeming genuinely upset and Marc and Amanda were both clearly extremely distraught. Amanda had come with Marc and turned to her bestie for comfort, but Betty noticed the petite blonde going off to have survivor sex with Tyler.

After she went online and answered a few emails, and finished up some presentations to get in front of her work week, Betty got dressed in jeans and a button down shirt, then slid on her raincoat, and took her umbrella to brave the grey, dismal afternoon.

She needed something to eat and had nothing in her pantry or fridge at the moment. She hadn't felt much like grocery shopping lately. She hadn't felt much like doing anything lately. She had toyed with the idea of getting a rescue dog, but decided that being the "lonely dog lady" wasn't much better than being a lonely cat lady!

"Christina?"

"Oh no! What happened, luv? Did you and the moody artist have another fight?"

"Moody artist? Is that really what you think of Vince?"

"I dunno. First, tell me is it what I THINK or what I THOUGHT that yer askin? Because if you two are still together, then my answer is, "no, of course not! I was only having you on! But if you say what I THOUGHT of him, and you're definitely no longer involved with the wanker, then of course, I'd tell you the honest-to-God truth that hell, YES he WAS a very moody bloke! And you can definitely do better!"

Betty laughed, "Tell me what you REALLY THINK, Christina!"

"I always do, luv! So...listen, I'm pickin' up Will from his father's tomorrow afternoon. That gives me all night tonight to go out and tie one on with my apparently dumped best friend! Care to join me?"

"I don't know, Christina. I have some...WORK" As Betty said the word, so did Christina.

"HA! Remember our 'drinking game' word?"

The smile began on Betty's face, "I do! That was...fun! But...then, I got so wasted that I "drunk-dialed" stupid Henry and it made Daniel really upset, after I had already asked him to go to Hilda's wedding with me and we had that big fight about Henry and…"

"Oh no, don't start going down that spiral, Bet-ty! I know you loved Daniel, and he was a good bloke, but this is doing you no good! You can't keep going over and over everything! He's gone! You have to move on! He would want you to be happy!"

"Well, I've got my job! The job I wanted so much that I left him...you're right, Christina! I know you're right. It's just hard to move on when I keep wishing I could go back and change things! I wish I had realized what I had and that ...both of us had figured out how we felt about each other before he was taken away like that!"

"How's Mrs. Meade doin'? Have you heard anything about her lately?"

"She's doing okay now. I know...how torn apart she was at his funeral and that she ended up in rehab again for almost a year. Then she hired some private detective agency to look for his plane. She still maintains that it was hijacked or something, since no one ever found any wreckage, it just went off the radar. I know what she means..."

"Bet-ty...you HAVE to live your life. I understand why his mum would have such a hard time letting go, especially after what her older son pulled, but...I don't believe that Daniel Meade is gonna show up as a woman at London Fashion Week!"

Betty smiled, shaking her head, "No. I don't really see that happening, either! He'd look good in purple, though. It would make his eyes pop!"