A/N: I got this idea at work and could not shake it. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter One

Daniel sat with his mother in his apartment, neither saying much as they picked through two matching filet mignons and twice baked potatoes. Daniel hadn't known it was possible to lose so much in such a short amount of time, or that it would hurt as much as it did. For someone who almost pathologically dodged becoming a father – he occasionally double bagged, when he remembered – he liked being DJ's father. He liked having someone look up to him, rely on him. Despite having an entire magazine staff relying on him, he never actually thought of himself as someone worth relying on. Then there was Alexis. Their relationship had never been simple, and she had gotten him wrongfully arrested for attempted murder, but she was family. He had less of that by the day.

"This is such wonderful conversation we're having," Claire said pointedly, poking her potato with the times of her fork.

"Sorry," Daniel said, cracking a humorless smile. "I just have a lot on my mind."

"We sent your sister away on a private jet an hour ago. And DJ three hours. I imagine there is quite a lot on your mind. Which is why I find it so strange that we appear to have nothing to talk about."

"There is nothing to talk about," Daniel returned defensively. "They're both gone. End of story."

"Daniel, don't be ridiculous."

"I'm not-"

"Yes, you are. You are being absolutely ridiculous if you think that what happened today has not affected you."

"It hasn't. I'm fine. Totally and completely fine."

"You are as terrible of a liar as your father," Claire said drily. "I understand if you do not want to discuss your feelings with your mother, but you need to discuss them with someone."

"I don't-"

"No," Claire interrupted. "Do not try to tell me that you do not have feelings about today, Daniel. I saw you with that boy and I saw you with your sister. You cannot bottle all of that in. Take it from someone who did. For years."

Daniel took a deep breath. "I don't really know how I feel yet. I haven't sorted it out yet."

"Of course you haven't, Daniel," she said. "A lot has happened. Which is precisely why you need to talk with someone. It can be me. I'd love it to be me. But even if it isn't, you need this."

"I guess it is just us now, huh?"

Claire smiled. "That's not entirely true."

"Is there an illegitimate half-sibling I'm unaware of?"

"Probably," Claire returned drily. "Your father wasn't exactly discerning. But, I wasn't talking about that. I was talking about Betty."

"Betty?"

"She's been good for you, Daniel. I think you've grown more in the last two and half years with her than the other twenty seven."

Daniel laughed in surprise. "Should I be offended?"

Claire grinned. "No, Daniel. You should be grateful. Not everyone gets someone like that in their life."

Daniel shifted back in his seat. "Where are you going with this?"

"You may not be ready to talk to me, Daniel, or Betty, but you should talk to someone."

"I can't leave you here alone," Daniel returned easily. "What type of son would that make me?"

"A son who is following his mother's wishes," Claire said. "I'll be fine here on my own. I know you keep a well stocked bar."

"Mom-"

"It was a joke," she said slowly. "Honestly, Daniel, this whole situation has really made you lose your humor."

"Sorry that I don't find jokes about your sobriety amusing."

"Relax, Daniel. My last drunken escapade was enough to keep me away from a martini for at least three months." Daniel rolled his eyes. "My point, Daniel, is that you need someone right now. Don't be too proud to admit it."

Betty sat with Hilda on the couch, the latter's head on the former's shoulder with both pairs of feet propped up on the coffee table. Justin was upstairs doing his homework – which he only did after Hilda threatened to throw away his Spring Awakening cast recording – and Ignacio was stationed in the kitchen, making Betty and Hilda ice cream sundaes.

"I miss him," Hilda said quietly. Betty knew, without asking, that Hilda wasn't referring to Tony.

"I know you do."

"It wasn't supposed to be like this. I was supposed to spend forever with him, Betty. And I would have never even looked at the gym teacher."

"But that isn't what happened. You met Tony and you fell in love with him. I know it didn't work out, but you two loved each other. That means something."

"Yeah, it means my freaking heart is broken."

"I'm proud of you for what you did," Betty told her. "I know it wasn't easy."

Ignacio came out of the kitchen with their two sundaes. He placed one down in front of Hilda and said, "Extra cherries, just like you like it, mi hija."

"Thanks, papi." Hilda reached down at the sundae and paused. "Were we low on chocolate sauce or something?"

Ignacio smirked. "I'll be right back."

He set Betty's sundae on the table and walked back into the kitchen for the chocolate sauce. There was a knock at the door and Betty said, "I'll get it."

She walked over to the foyer and opened the door, surprised to see Daniel on her porch.

"Daniel? What are you doing here?"

"I needed to talk to someone. Well, actually, my mother thinks that I needed to talk someone. She practically pushed me out of the apartment."

"Okay," Betty said slowly.

"Anyway, can I come in?"

"Yeah, yeah, of course," Betty said, stepping back. "Come in."

Daniel walked into the Suarez house, closely followed by Betty. Ignacio spotted him on his way back to the living room with Hilda's sundae, and said, "Daniel, what a surprise. What brings you down to Jackson Heights?"

"I was just…um…in the area," Daniel said. "Thought I'd stop by. Say hi."

"Daniel had a rough day," Betty filled in, garnering a look from Daniel. Ignacio looked between the two of them and then said, "I'll get another sundae."

"What's your rough day?" Hilda asked from the couch. "Because I bet I can top it."

Daniel walked over and sat next to her on the couch. "Well, I sent my nephew – who I thought was my son – back to France with his grandparents. And my sister, who inadvertently framed me for attempted murder, just disappeared on a private jet, and I'm not really sure when or if I'll see her again."

Hilda swallowed hard. "Wow, okay, you win."

Daniel smiled sardonically. "Go me."

"Wait, Daniel, Alexis left?" Betty asked, sitting next to him. "When did that happen?"

"About…" he glanced at his watch, "…two hours ago."

"That's terrible. Are you okay?"

"Um, I don't really know," he said. Ignacio returned with his sundae, and he took it from him with a small nod. "I guess so? I mean, DJ wasn't my son. As much as I wanted…it's better for him to be with his grandparents. I wouldn't have been much of a father to him, anyway."

"You were a great father, Daniel."

"Really?" he asked hopefully.

Betty reconsidered. "Maybe not great…but you were getting there!"

Daniel shook his head. "I just felt like my life had purpose for the first time in a really long while. And now that's gone. I don't even know if I'll see him again."

"Of course you will, Daniel. DJ really looked up to you. And you may not be his father, but you're still family. You'll see him again. And Alexis."

Daniel looked over at her and said, "You sound so certain."

Betty shrugged. "It's because I am."

"I wish I had that," Daniel said. "That certainty."

"Don't feel bad," Hilda said, digging her spoon into her sundae. "It's a Betty thing."

"Hilda, I never asked, what happened with you today?"

Hilda frowned. "Nuh uh, I am not following your story."

"It's actually a really moving mixture of sad and empowering," Justin said, as he walked down the stairway.

Hilda looked over at her son and said, "Justin, why aren't you doing your homework?"

"I finished it," he returned easily. His attention returned to Daniel, and he continued with, "Anyway, my mom was dating my married gym teacher, who was totally ready to leave his wife for her, because – hello, look at her. But then his wife came to talk to my mom, because she saw him leaving Betty's apartment and thought that it was Betty he was having an affair with."

"Why was he at your apartment?" Daniel asked Betty.

"Him and Hilda met there to talk before my dad found out," she explained quickly. "But then my dad walked in on Coach Diaz coming out of the shower, and his wedding ring fell out of his pants."

Daniel nodded weakly. "Oh, sure."

"So, back to the prior scene," Justin interjected. "His wife admits she's still in love with him and wants another chance. My mom, being the amazingly awesome person that she is, sets him free to not get in the way of someone else's love."

"I do sound pretty freaking awesome," Hilda said.

"It may not seem like it right now, but you made the right decision," Daniel said. "It's better to be someone's first choice. You deserve that."

Hilda smiled slightly. "Thanks Daniel."

Betty knocked her knee against Daniel's and said, "You made the right decision, too. Letting DJ go."

"I know. It just doesn't feel that way right now."

"Finish your sundae," Betty recommended. "Everything seems better after an Ignacio Suarez sundae."

Daniel chuckled lightly. "Is that so?"

"It's basically a scientific fact."

"Oh, we should put on TLC," Justin said, reaching for the remote. "They have Miss Congeniality on tonight."

"Justin, I don't think…" Betty began, inclining her head toward Daniel. "Not tonight, okay?"

Daniel caught the less than covert head movement and said, "I don't mind."

"Are you sure?" Betty asked him. She lowered her voice and said, "You really don't have to stay here and watch Miss Congeniality with my family."

"I know I don't have to stay," he said. "I want to. Besides, I've never seen Miss Congeniality."

"Seriously?" Justin said with disbelief. "You have not lived."

"You really want to stay?" Betty asked him softly.

Daniel nodded. Being here with Betty and her family was the most calm that Daniel felt since he first learned that he wasn't DJ's father. The last thing he wanted to do was go back to Manhattan.

"Okay then," Betty said. "Justin, turn on Miss Congeniality."

Daniel stayed through the entirety of Miss Congeniality, surprisingly taken by Sandra Bullock's beauty contest travails. Ignacio disappeared upstairs near the end of the movie, and then when it ended Hilda told Justin it was bedtime, and followed him upstairs. The sequel began to play, and Betty turned her head toward Daniel and said, "It's late."

"I'm up for it if you are."

"We have to work in the morning," she reminded him.

He shrugged. "I'll tell your boss that you're going to be late."

She grinned. "Okay then."

"So, that was not nearly as good as the first," Daniel said, as the credits for Miss Congeniality 2 rolled on the television screen.

"I'm sure Justin will be relieved to hear that you said that," Betty said.

"This was nice," Daniel said. "Thanks for letting me crash your family night."

"You didn't crash anything," she told him. "Whether you know it or not, you've become a part of this family." Daniel smiled a bit, and she asked, "What is it?"

"Nothing. You just reminded me of something my mother told me earlier today."

"Really? What?"

"It's not important," he said off-handedly. "But thank you for tonight."

"So, are you okay? Honestly."

He took a deep breath and paused for a moment before letting it out. "Honestly? No, I'm not. But, I will be."

Betty nodded.

"Well, I should head home. We do have to make it into the office eventually."

"Yes, we do."

He got up and grabbed his coat from the stairway banister. Betty followed him and said, "Goodnight, Daniel."

Daniel returned to his apartment, startled to find Claire awake on the couch with a book. She slowly took off her glasses and said, "It's not like you didn't know I was here, Daniel."

"No, I know. I just thought you'd be asleep. It's-"

"Late?" Claire finished. "I noticed. You seem better."

"You were right," he said with a knowing grin, settling next to her on the couch. "It was nice to talk to someone."

"I'm glad," Claire said. "And how is Betty?"

"She's good. Turns out her family was going through its own sort of crisis today. It was nice to commiserate."

"Misery does enjoy its company. It seems to have done you some good, though. You look more like yourself."

"You were right earlier. About us not being alone."

Claire stood up and placed her reading glasses on the coffee table. She leaned forward and kissed the top of Daniel's head. "Haven't you heard, dear, that your mother is always right?"

Daniel chuckled. "I must have missed that one in school."

"Good night, Daniel. Don't stay up too late, now. You have half of a magazine to run in the morning."

"Thank you for the reminder," he returned drily.

Claire padded off to the bathroom to prepare for bed and Daniel stretched his legs out in front of him. He slouched down on the couch and let his eyes drift shut. He fell into the stillness of the room, the soft trickle of water from the bathroom faucet the only sound he heard besides his own breathing. The losses still hurt. DJ Alexis. Even his father. But, for the first time he felt that certainty that he'd told Betty he wished he had only a few hours later. He would be okay. They all would be.

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed!