Chapter 1: Mommy's Got A Bad Idea

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Wilhelmina screeched, putting her hands on her hips.

"Holy crap" Marc muttered to himself, quickly spinning on his heel and running from her office. He had been about to enter when he heard her blow a fuse.

"There is no way I am going along with this, Claire. I may have to play nice with you and Hartley when we're discussing a magazine cover or a layout, but you can bet your ass I'm not going to do this."

Claire looked at Wilhelmina. She could see she was angry; her beautiful face was contorted into an expression so vicious, not even God would want to see it. "Good" she thought silently.

"Look, Wilhelmina, this isn't a request it's an order. I have to go out of town with Cal for three days to meet with advertising executives in Los Angeles. Daniel just broke his leg in a car accident last week; he's immobile, he's pissed, and he's stubborn. He won't take it easy unless someone is there to force him to. All I need is for you to do is to look in on him and make sure he doesn't overexert himself."

"Well, why don't you ask Betty to do it? For God's sakes, she'd run on a hamster wheel with her legs tied together is someone asked her to. She's his gopher, she's the perfect choice-she argues stupid ideas out of his head all the time!"

"Betty is going out of town. Christmas is two days away, and she's going to visit family."

"I'm not doing it! I have a right to a happy Christmas too, you know."

"Well, that would only be possible if people could be happy around you. Look, Wilhelmina, you're the only person here who is responsible enough to handle this. I sure as hell am not going to ask Marc or Amanda. In spite of the fact that you're a Botox-addicted bitch," Claire paused, smirking, "you're the only other person who can confront Daniel without a problem." Claire turned to leave Wilhelmina, who was standing there with her mouth wide open. Just before she reached the door, she turned back around. "Oh, by the way, if you don't do this, Cal and I will have you out on your ass in three seconds flat." She gave Wilhelmina one last, final glare before leaving. Wilhelmina huffed in annoyance. She couldn't believe the audacity of that old crow. Sure, she never went anywhere for Christmas, spent it alone every year-hell, she never even got a tree-but that didn't mean she'd want to babysit Daniel while everyone else was having a good time.

"Damn it" she thought.

Daniel's mouth dropped.

"Mom, are you serious? No way am I staying with Wilhelmina. You've seen her here in the workplace; you put us in the same environment for more than an hour and we'll both end up dead!"

"We are not discussing this, Daniel," Claire said firmly. "My decision is final, and if you go behind my back you'll live to regret it."

"I'm not a three-year old, mom!"

"Look, you and Wilhelmina get along in an office setting. You don't even have to talk to each other; there's no one else who is responsible enough to do this, and Wilhelmina puts up a damn good fight. I needed to make sure I left you with someone who would make you miserable if you didn't follow the rules."

"Rules?! Are you serious? I didn't even have any rules to follow as a kid!"

"Yes; that was my mistake. But now you do and I'm asking-telling-you to follow them. It's only three days, Daniel. Quite your pity party and suck it up. If you hadn't been driving so fast, you wouldn't be sitting behind your desk in a wheelchair. Besides, the office closes today, Cal and I leave tonight, and you two will have time to relax and unwind. That should help you let go of each other's throats."

With that Claire left Daniel's office. He sat there, mouth still open, drool slowly dribbling down his chin. He noticed just in time and wiped his shirt sleeve across his mouth.

"Damn it" he thought.

"Nooooooo waaaaaayyyyyyy!" Amanda breathed in Marc's face. Marc nodded vigorously.

"I was eves dropping like I always do, and I heard the whole thing."

"Wow, leaving Daniel and Wilhelmina together would be like leaving Thelma and Louise alone."

"Amanda-Thelma and Louise were best friends."

"Really? Oh; well who are the two bitches that hate each other that I'm thinking about then?"

"I don't know, Josh and Brad in photography?"

"Probably."

Suddenly, Wilhelmina whizzed past Marc on her four inch heels. She had gone to break the hearts of interns to relieve her tension, and was on her way back to her office.

"Hi, Willie" he breathed, making a move to follow her.

"I'm not talking about this, Marc," she said not stopping. "One, because you were eves dropping and overheard it, and two because this is none of your stupid business!"

Marc stopped dead in his tracks and returned to Amanda.

"She must be realllly mad, Marc" Amanda whispered.

"Totally," was all he could reply as he watched her go, "I'm usually a part of all her horrible plans and schemes for someone."

"Maybe she doesn't have a plan."

"Oh come on, Amanda, Willie always has an evil plan. It's part of the reason I idolize her so much" Marc pouted.

"True" said Amanda, twirling her hair.

Marc was right. Wilhelmina didn't have a plan. She couldn't get out of this or she'd lose her job; she couldn't kill him because she'd go to jail. She stepped into Daniel's office. He looked up from his computer and sighed, rubbing his face. He knew she wasn't happy.

"Wilhelmina, don't even start in on me; this was not my idea, I hate this as much as-"

"Oh will you shut-up? I know this wasn't your idea, Daniel. You'd be hard pressed to give up your quality Christmas evening with Girls Gone Wild."

Daniel rolled his eyes. "Hilarious, Wilhelmina. Look, if you heard the same crap I heard, you know we're not getting out of this. So we might as well figure out how best to bend the rules so that we're both happy and you don't lose your job."

"Daniel, get serious. We can't bend the rules, because if we do we'll break them. That's just who we are. So I suggest that you stay at my place until your mommy can come pick you up."

Daniel was shocked. "What? No way am I staying with you."

"Why not? You've been there before-with Renee, remember?" Wilhelmina's lips formed a sly smirk. Daniel gritted his teeth. She'd never let him live that down.

"Look, I'm not setting foot inside your apartment, Daniel. God only knows the places someone like you considers acceptable to live in. If you stay at my place, we'll be in an enormous apartment with enough rooms so that we'll never have to see each other face-to-face, and an amazing intercom system. This way, it'll be like we're alone."

Daniel thought for a moment. "What could she possibly want here? There's gotta be some reason she's letting me in her home."

Wilhelmina sighed heavily and placed her hands on her hips. "I don't want anything from you, Daniel. What I want is not to lose my job; that's why I'm opening my doors to you against my better judgment. I'll have a limo drop you off at my place at 8:00 tonight."

And with that she was out the door. Daniel sighed and leaned back in his wheelchair. Christmas with Wilhelmina. Who ever thought he's see that day?