A/N: I don't own Ugly Betty. This isn't in the same universe as my Episodes of a Life story; this story exists in its own little happy world. I think some similar ideas have been done but I'm trying this with a little bit of a different twist.
Title: A Natural Father
Summary: Betty Suarez is pregnant and needs some support. Daniel Meade is lonely and wants to be a father.
Rating: T
Chapter One
"I, Gabriella, take you, Peter, to be my lawfully wedded husband for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, for as long as we both shall live."
Daniel Meade and his wife watched as their oldest daughter promised now, always, and forever to Peter Mariano, her long-time boyfriend. Twenty-five years earlier, Gabriella Rosa Meade's birth had turned the lives of both of her parents upside down and changed everything for both of them. Daniel squeezed Betty's hand as tears slid down her face and he smiled remembering how one little baby girl had changed so much in his life.
"What's wrong?" Daniel Meade asked his assistant as he walked by her desk one Monday morning in September. "You look like someone just shot your bunny."
Betty Suarez looked up at her boss with a faint smile. "I had a rough weekend."
"Do you want to follow me into my office and tell me about it?"
She shrugged. "I'm not really sure."
"That wasn't really a question," he said setting his briefcase and coat down on her desk. Then he grabbed the back of her desk chair and started pulling it and Betty towards his office.
"I can walk," she protested.
"Okay, stand up," he told her. She did so and he took her hand and began leading her into his office. "Come on, Betty; we're going to talk."
"Daniel, you don't have to do this. We can talk later like at lunch or after work."
"We could but we're going to do this later. It'll be easier for you to work if you get this off your chest. Now sit in my chair and I'll sit over here. And then you can tell me why you look like death warmed over."
"You're so charming," she replied as she sat down in his chair. "I can see where you got your reputation as New York's sexiest bachelor from."
He rolled his eyes and smiled at her. "Spill your guts, please."
"Jesse and I broke up on Friday night," she said looking down at her hands in her lap and avoiding his bright blue eyes.
"And why didn't I find out about this until today?"
She took a deep breath. "I've been hiding in my apartment all weekend. He lives right across the hall and I don't want to see him; he just dumped me. You don't want to see your ex-boyfriend who just dumped you because you don't fit in with his goals right now. Plus, I've had a stomach bug for the past week or so. So I didn't really feel like going out or see anyone or anything. I've just been feeling really gross."
"How are you feeling today?" he asked with concern in his eyes and his voice.
"Nauseous," she replied. "But it's probably just from the break-up."
"Do you want to just take the day off? If you don't want to go to your apartment, I can give you the keys to my place and you can go rest there or something."
She shook her head. "No, Daniel, I'm fine. I just need to focus on something other than Jesse and nausea. I think working will be good for me."
"Would a hug help?"
Betty smiled and looked up at him shyly. "I think it might."
He stood up. "Then come here."
She walked over to her boss who pulled her into his arms and held her close. He kissed the top of her head as he pulled back a bit and looked into her eyes. "How are you doing now?"
"I feel like I'm going to vomit."
He grabbed his trash can and shoved it into her hands. Then as she threw up, he pulled her hair away from her face and held it until the retching stopped. "What can I get for you?" he asked, as he put the trash can back down on the ground.
She shook her head. "I just want to sleep. I feel like shit."
He pulled her back into his arms and started rubbing circles on her back with his thumbs. "Do you want me to take you to my apartment?" he offered. "You can take the day off and just rest."
"I don't want to be alone. I was alone all weekend; and it's lonely and sad and I hate it."
"Then I can bring my laptop and cell phone with me," Daniel told her. "I can work from home and you can rest and watch TV. I'll make you chicken noodle soup if you come."
"I've been feeling like this for at least a week," she told him. "I thought it would get better after a couple of days but it hasn't. It's just getting worse."
He put the back of his hand on her forehead. "You don't really feel very warm."
"But I'm always nauseous and I feel like death warmed over."
"We're going to my apartment; you can't argue with me. You're sick and I'm going to take care of you."
"Daniel, what if I'm sick like this because I'm pregnant?" Betty asked her friend later that day as he made her chicken noodle soup.
He looked at her as he poured the contents of the Campbell's can into the pot on the stove. "Do you think you could be?"
She shrugged. "I haven't gotten my period in a while and I've been getting really sick every morning for over a week."
"How would Jesse feel about it if you were?" he asked tentatively.
She shook her head. "Oh god, I don't want to think about that. I doubt that he would even want to consider it. We broke up because he didn't want to be in a serious relationship right now. He wants to concentrate on his music without any distractions and a baby would definitely be a distraction from his music."
"There's only one way to find out if you're pregnant or not," he told her.
She sighed. "I know. But I don't want to have to tell my dad if I am. He's going to kill me. He was so pissed when Santos got Hilda pregnant. I can't tell him that my boyfriend got me pregnant and then dumped me. He didn't like Henry; how would he feel about this? This is me pregnant and there's no father to kill."
"Sweetie, find out if you're pregnant before you worry about anything else."
"Daniel, this is my whole life that I have to worry about. I have all these dreams and plans. And now a baby, being a single mother isn't exactly easy. I can't raise a baby alone and keep working towards my dreams or even moving ahead in my career at Mode. This is going to change everything and I can't do this alone."
"I know," he told her. "But you're not alone. I'm here and I'm willing to help you as much as you need. But before we worry anything else, let's find out if there is a baby or not."
"I'm not dragging you into this, Daniel. This isn't your baby and I'm not going to make you deal with a pregnant woman and a baby whose real father doesn't even want."
"It doesn't count as being dragged if I willingly offer to help you. You're not making me do anything; I'm offering to do something. But before you start panicking, let's just buy a pregnancy test and if it comes back positive, you can schedule a doctor's appointment. We'll take it from there"
She took a deep breath. "You're not going to be the one buying the test."
"Why not?" he asked
"You're Daniel Meade; think about how it would look if you were seen buying a pregnancy test. I'll go buy it and then I'll come back here."
"All right," he said with sigh.
"So how long do we wait?"
"Three minutes," Betty said looking at her cell phone and sitting down on the toilet seat. "In three minutes, we're going to know my fate."
Daniel, who was kneeling next to her, smiled at her and squeezed her hand. "I'm here. Just wait and see what happens."
"And if I am pregnant, then what are we going to do?"
"I'll help you through everything. I'll be there for as much as you want me to be there for. I'll tell your dad with you. I can go to doctor's appointments with you. I can go shopping for baby clothes with you. I'll help you decorate the baby's room. I won't let you lift anything heavier than a credit card. If you want, I can be there when the baby is born. Whatever you want, I'll be there for you."
She smiled and leaned her head on his shoulder. "I'm afraid, Daniel."
He hugged her. "I know. But I'm your friend and I'm not going to leave your side until you tell me to go away. And even then I might not go away."
"Do you want to read the stick for me?"
He took the pregnancy test from her hand and looked at it. "It's a pink line."
She let out a breath she hadn't realized that she'd been holding. "I need to call my doctor," she said opening her cell phone.
Daniel threw the pregnancy test away. "Come here, Betty."
"What? Why?" she asked as she pressed buttons on her phone.
He pulled her close to his chest and held her for a minute or two. "I'm not going anywhere," he told her. "I'm here for you."
"I'm not ready for this."
"I know," he said with a smile. "But I'm going to help you."
"I can't tell Jesse," she said as a tear slid down her cheek. "I don't want him to be the father. He won't want to be the father."
"He doesn't have to be the father but you do have to tell him. As the baby's father, he has a right to know. This is his child."
"And what if he doesn't want the baby?" Betty asked, clinging to Daniel. "Who is going to be the father then? Daniel, who will be this baby's father? He is the father but I don't want him to be there for this and I don't think he would want to be there anyway."
"You have to give him a chance. But if he doesn't want to be the father, then he doesn't have to."
"Who will be the dad then?" she asked. "Are you going to be the father of my baby?"
He nodded. "Yes, that's what I'm trying to tell you. You're my best friend and you've been there for me through so much shit. Now you're going to give me a chance to do that for you."
"Are you serious?"
"I love being a dad," he told her. "Having DJ in my life made me want to be a dad. You know this; I've told you this. I want a family, someone I can spend the rest of my life with. Now if you need a dad for your baby, I'll be there for you. But you need to talk to Jesse and give him a chance first."
She nodded. "But I'm calling the doctor first. I'm not going to talk to him about this if there isn't a baby."
The next day Betty came into work after lunch. Daniel had given her the morning off so she could go to the doctor and then talk to Jesse if it were necessary. She stuck her head into his office when she got there. "Hey, I'm here."
He was on the phone but he motioned her into the room. She reluctantly sat down across from his desk and waited until he was off the phone. "How is everything?" he asked after he hung up his phone.
"I'm pregnant," she told him, her eyes fixed on her hands in her lap. "And then I talked to Jesse at his apartment. I explained everything to him and he said you can claim the baby as your own. He doesn't want it; he said he can't handle any commitments outside of his music right now."
He wanted to punch Jesse but he knew if he mentioned that particular desire Betty would just remind him that he sucked at fighting. So he focused his attentions on taking care of his best friend and her baby. "Where do you want to go from here?"
"Do you want to see the baby?" she asked.
Daniel smiled. "Sure, I'd love to."
She handed him the ultrasound. "I'm about two and a half months along; they were surprised that I didn't notice anything earlier. I guess I've just been too busy or stressed or something."
"So you're due in April?"
She nodded. "April 7 is the big day."
"And how are you doing?"
"Do you promise you'll be there for everything? And you'll tell everyone especially my dad that you're the baby's father?"
Daniel walked over to her and knelt down in front of her. "Look into my eyes and listen to me. I'm promising you that I will be this baby's daddy. I'll be there for you every step of the way from doctor's appointments to buying clothes to the nursery to labor and delivery to kindergarten to college graduation. I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."
She smiled. "You're in this for the long haul?"
He squeezed her hands and held them firmly in his own. "I'm going to be the dad, not just tell people I'm the father. I told you that I wanted a family."
"Daniel Meade, you're an amazing best friend."
"But how are we actually going to do this? How will this work practically?" Betty asked Daniel over dinner in his apartment that night. "Are we going to live together? Or we share custody of the baby? Daniel, I don't want to stay in my apartment and live near Jesse anymore, not with the baby."
"We could get a three-bedroom apartment someplace in the city," he suggested. "There'd be a room for you, one for the baby, and another for me."
"But what if one of us ever gets married?"
"You could marry me," Daniel replied with a mischievous smile. "Then you, the baby, and I could make a real family."
"Daniel, let's be serious here. Someday you'll meet some amazing girl and you'll want to marry her. And you won't want to have your other family living with you still."
He sighed. "Betty, we could start with this idea. And if something changes, then you and the baby can move to another apartment in the same building. But this baby needs a family and you need to move and I have an apartment with two bedrooms. Come live with me. It'll be simple, just as friends. And this way I can help you more during your pregnancy and when the baby is little. And we can find a bigger apartment before the baby comes, one with enough room for all three of us."
"Daniel, when people find out that I'm pregnant, what are they going to think of us? They're either going to think that I'm some drunken mistake or that we're together."
"Let them think what they want," he replied fiercely. "I don't care."
"Well I do care," she protested. "I care what people think about you and I'm not going to have people gossiping about you and your drunken mistakes."
"I don't want people to think that this baby is one of my drunken screw-ups. But I don't care if people think that we're dating."
Betty looked at him. "You'd let people think that you, Daniel Meade, are dating me?"
"Why wouldn't I?" he asked.
"Have you looked at me recently?"
He sighed. "I told you I don't care what people think of me. This is about you, your baby, and me. I'm not going anywhere."
"You don't have to do this."
"Betty, stop arguing with me about this. I'm going to do this. You can live with me and I'll help you with this. I'm not leaving you alone."
"Why are you doing this?"
"I care about you," he told her. "I really and honestly care about you and I don't want you to be alone in this."
"You really don't have to do all of this."
"I know," he replied. "But I want to do this. If you're game for it, I'll help you move this weekend. But first, we're going to talk to your dad together."
"I guess I could call him and ask him what night we can come over for dinner."
"Do it," he told her.
"Right now, why? I can't call my dad right now. It'll make him suspicious."
Daniel wrapped his arm around Betty's shoulders. "Sweetie, I hate to tell you this but he's going to be suspicious no matter what if you tell him that you want to have dinner with him and I need to come too."
"Oh god," she sighed. "How long have we been dating for?"
"At least four months," he replied. "That way we didn't necessarily sleep together until we'd been together for at least a month. Does that sound good to you?"
Betty smiled. "Yes, that sounds like something I might actually do. It might be a little fast for me but maybe it was a late night and we'd be drinking or we were stressed."
"So we're still going to blame alcohol for this? I am a Meade; please remember that. And I thought you didn't want drunken mistakes to get involved in this."
"Okay so we were working late and we were stressed."
"And this somehow led to unprotected sex and now you're pregnant." Daniel shook his head. "This really does sound like something I would do."
Betty laughed. "We're going to be parents."
"I think we'll be good at it. I have faith in us. And besides, we have six and a half months to get ready."
"Daniel, will you kiss me?"
"Why?"
"We supposedly had sex together and I don't even know what it feels like to be kissed by you."
"I've kissed your cheeks and your forehead a million times."
"Kiss me for real, please. Will you kiss me like you mean it?"
He smiled and pulled her closer to himself. "This could be slightly awkward," he warned her. "I've never done anything quite like this."
And then he kissed her. He wasn't really expecting anything out of the kiss and neither was she. She just wanted to know what it felt like to be kissed by Daniel Meade. But they both found themselves breathless and longing for me. He was suddenly pulling her closer to himself and she was clinging to him. When they pulled apart, she moved away from him and stared at him. "Does that happen to you often?" she asked. "That has never happened to me."
He looked at her. "It's never been like that. I've had some good moments but nothing like that."
"Okay, so you'll stay on your side of the couch and I'll stay on mine. And we'll just pretend that never happened."
Daniel was still just looking at his assistant in amazement. Who knew that such passion was inside of someone so small? And there was so much chemistry in that kiss and he knew that they'd both felt the sparks. "Betty, that was crazy."
"I'm going now," she said jumping up off the couch. "I should go home and call my dad. I'll tell you tomorrow when we're doing dinner with him."
"It wasn't a bad thing," he said, getting up and following her to the kitchen.
She turned and looked at him. He could see the fear in her eyes. "I need to go," she told him.
"What's wrong, Betty?"
"It, it-Daniel, it's never been like that, not with Walter, not with Henry, and not with Jesse. I need to go home. I'll see you at work tomorrow."
"If you're going to move in with me this weekend, we have to talk about this soon."
"Not right now," she protested. "We'll talk about it later."
"But we're going to talk about it."
"I promise you."
The next morning, Daniel walked into work with a bagel and a cup of coffee in his hand and went to his assistant's desk. "The coffee is decaf," he told her.
"We're having dinner with my dad tomorrow night, if that works for you," she said without looking up at him.
"It's perfect," he replied, still holding the cup of coffee out to her. "The coffee is decaf, no more caffeine for you."
She smiled up at him. "Your coffee and bagel are on your desk."
He laughed. "Thanks. Can you eat the bagel right now? Or should I have gotten something that's easier on your stomach?"
"I'll be honest. I can only really eat rice cakes and saltines in the morning. I can't even really stand to see anything else."
"So no more buying my morning bagel," he told her. "If it makes you queasy, I can do it; I'm a big boy."
Betty smiled. "But I'm your assistant, Daniel. It's part of my job."
"Don't argue with me. This is about your health and the baby. And I'm your boss, so what I say goes."
"Does that also apply to talking about last night?"
He nodded with a gentle smile. "Lunch or dinner, it's your pick. But we're going to talk. Betty, something happened last night and we can't deny it."
"Dinner," she replied. "No one can watch us then."
Daniel squeezed her hand. "Should we have dinner at my place or yours?"
"Mine," she said. "I can make you dinner then. We won't have to eat take-out again."
He nodded as he noticed that she was still clinging to his hand. "I'll just have Martin take both of us to your place after work then."
She smiled and released his hand. "You're a good man, Daniel Meade."
"I try," he told her. "I'm just trying to be a good friend."
Betty watched Daniel throughout the day and became increasingly aware that her boss was watching her. She could see concern in his eyes. She knew that something had happened the night before and she was afraid of it. Daniel knew what had happened too. And she was afraid of that. She knew that he would be a good father, a great father. He had been a natural with DJ. She didn't know where that had come from. But Daniel Meade was an amazing father; it was like he had been born to be a father. And here he was offering to help her raise her baby. It wasn't his kid but he wanted to help. He wanted a family. His eyes had been so earnest, so eager when he had made his offer. She knew he was sincere. But he was getting himself into a lifelong commitment and she wasn't sure he completely understood that. But hey, at least he was offering. The day before, Jesse had told her that "Well, I'm really sorry but I can't be there for you or a kid right now. I can't financially afford a kid right now. And I'm not ready for that kind of commitment. I just can't do a kid right now. I'm not that kind of a guy. Honestly, I'm not a kid person. Plus you know; we broke up; we're over. I'm sorry but I'm just not able to help you with this whole having a baby bit."
Daniel, on the other hand, loved kids and apparently really wanted to have at least one. She'd seen him with DJ, his nephew. And she'd seen his face when she told him that she was pregnant. He wasn't exactly thrilled but he was sensitive and he was willing to help her. And he would be a great dad. And maybe they could figure out what happened the night before. There had been some chemistry there. And that both scared and excited Betty. After all, this was Daniel Meade.
A/N: Umm…so what do you think? Do you like it? Should I come up with a new idea? Please review.