Ugly Betty
And I Feel Fine
A/N: This is my first 'Ugly Betty' story. Also, I'm an Australian and we are only up to episode fifteen which is 'Brothers.' I don't really like this chapter as much as the first but that's okay. Happy reading.
Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I affiliated with Ugly Betty in anyway. I also don't own the lyrics to 'Drive.' They belong to The Cars.
Chapter Two: Who's Gonna Tell You
You can't go on
Thinkin'
Nothings wrong, but bye,
Who's gonna drive you home, tonight?
'Drive.' The Cars.
The elevator ride up to the penthouse had never seemed so long. It was such a cliché, the editor-in-chief of a fashion magazine living in a penthouse. True, it wasn't in one of the trendier apartment buildings. Betty would never have gone for that. She had more money than she had ever even seen in her life and she could afford to live anywhere she wanted but she refused to let go of the family values her father had taught her so she chose a building that had lots of families and even had a preschool on one of the lower floors so that their future children (they had none at the time) would grow up with their close friends.
He missed it here. Missed the long elevator ride up to the top, missed walking down the hallway and opening the door. He missed having Betty walk out from the bathroom or a bedroom with a child on her hip or a toothbrush hanging from her mouth and he missed the kiss and smile she greeted him with. It hadn't been that long ago. Only three months and it would have been a shorter time if only one of them would give in. In seconds, the hurt, the pain and the confusion of the last few months could be erased and they could go back to normal. Or maybe it had been too long and they could never fix what they had unnecessarily and unexpectedly broken. Betty was supposed to be different from his other girls. She had been different. She had been his wife and he loved her. But now, who knew?
"I'm home!" Daniel yelled after letting himself into the family apartment.
"Shh!" Betty hissed, running out into the hall and down to meet him. She covered his mouth with her hand and spoke furiously. "I just got Iris asleep and I will not have you waking her up. You have no idea how long it took."
"Sorry," he squeaked through her clamped hand. He calmly reached up and slowly pulled her hand off his face. "That was beginning to hurt."
"Oh. Sorry," she apologised sheepishly. She stood up on her tip-toes to kiss her husband on the lips. He returned the kiss and then slipped his arm around her waist, leading her to the bedroom. She flopped onto the bed and watched as he changed out of his blue suit into track-pants and a grey t-shirt. "How was work?"
"It was your average day," he shrugged. "How was your day?"
"Average," she mimicked. "I waited for you to have dinner."
"You shouldn't have," he frowned. "I told you I was going to be late."
"I waited for you to have dinner and then I got so hungry, I couldn't wait any longer," she added. "But I did wait for you to have dessert."
"Fruit and ice-cream?" he asked, used to his wife's eating habits. It wasn't unusual to watch her eat a meringue or pastry for breakfast and then have something as simple as fruit for dessert.
"Daniel," she said, rolling her eyes. "Fruit isn't a dessert, remember? You taught me that."
"Well then, my little fruit-eater, what are we having for dessert?" he asked, sitting next to her on the bed. She moved so her head was on his shoulder and he ran a hand down her body.
"Churros with chocolate that my father made for us," she announced. "I just have to heat the chocolate up and they'll be ready."
"Do you think it's strange that we have a cook but you or someone in your family does most of the cooking for us?" Daniel asked. Betty shrugged and shifted slightly.
"I'm used to cooking and I'm used to my dad's cooking. Mrs. Freud cooks some weird stuff," Betty intoned. "I mean, who really eats borscht? We are American, not Russian. And isn't Freud a German name? I thought that the Russians and the Germans were like mortal enemies so it seems to me that our German cook shouldn't be cooking Russian food."
"You think too much," Daniel informed her. He kissed her on the forehead and then jumped up. He held his hand out to her and she entwined hers with his. He looked down at her and smirked as their hands swung in the air. "You know there is more than one way to feed your husband."
"Right. Let him feed himself or do it for him," she quipped. She stood up and shoved him lightly. "Let's go get you fed, Mr. Meade."
How he missed those moments. Just small typical moments that every wife and husband enjoyed but instead of having them, he was another cliché. The rich man keeping his wife and children in a fortress while he inhabited the same old bachelor pad he had once lived in. He and Betty had lived there for awhile but soon the ghosts (and various objects such as a lipstick, a perfume bottle and a three-year-old pair of underwear) of all his old women began to make themselves known and Betty put her foot down and demanded that they move. After they had had The Fight, however, he had moved back in there. Betty's presence was indefinitely stamped on it but there were so many other presences that he found it did his head in. But to his credit, there had not been another woman in there since his wife and there never would be after her. How could he taint the house she had so desperately tried to make their own?
The elevator doors opened with a 'ding' and Daniel stepped out and was greeted with an empty white-tiled hallway. Daniel frowned. Normally the walls were covered in the artwork of their children. The umbrella stand filled to the brim with umbrellas and other various objects stood in the corner and the mirror was still perched a few meters down the hall but the artwork was gone. He tried to shrug it off as he stuck his key in the lock and turned. The door gave way immediately and he stepped into his warm apartment.
"Betty?" he called, leaving his overcoat and briefcase at the front door.
"Daddy!" he heard a voice squeal. A tiny girl with dark brown hair and even darker brown eyes sprinted down the hall and into her father's waiting open arms.
"Hey," he enthused, picking her up. She covered his face with feather-like kisses as he carried her down the hall to the living room. He set her down on the couch and looked up to see Betty standing in a doorway, holding a smaller version of his daughter. The baby eyed him warily and then beamed at him.
"Are you happy to see your daddy, are you?" Betty cooed. She placed the girl on the ground and helped her become steady on her feet. "Show Daddy how you can walk, Carmen."
"She's walking now?" Daniel asked, his eyes getting slightly misty.
"Just short distances but she's good at it," Betty answered as eleven-month-old Carmen tottered around on her small feet. "Call her over."
Daniel kissed four-year-old Iris on her forehead then crawled around the lounge and stood in the gap between the lounge and the wall.
"Come to Daddy," he cooed as the toddler wobbled around. She was unsteady on her feet and unsure of whether to go to him but after looking at Betty one last time, she crept towards him and into his arms. He picked her up and hugged her to him. Iris jumped on his back from the edge of the couch and threw her arms around his neck. "Umm, Iris, you're kind of strangling me."
"Play with me, Daddy," she demanded, not letting go.
"You'll have to let go of him, Iris," Betty commanded gently. Iris immediately unlatched her arms and slid to the ground. Daniel moved around awkwardly, still squatting and holding Carmen, and surveyed the lounge-room floor. Toys of all shapes and sizes littered the rug and Daniel inwardly groaned. He loved his children, he really did, but he was not good at playing dolls and that was all Iris wanted to do at that stage.
"Come on, Daddy. You can be the pink doll. Her name is Rosita and I'll be Julia," she grinned.
"Who will Carmen be?" Daniel asked. The two had come to a compromise with names. They would take turns choosing names. Daniel had picked first and chosen Iris Luisa after his grandmother and for his wife's 'Spanish' heritage while Betty had chosen Carmen Ivonne because she liked the names at the time. Her heritage, she swore, had never even come into it and besides, she was Mexican.
"Daniel, if you're going to be here awhile, can I go and finish my make-up?" Betty asked.
He looked up and it was then that he noticed Betty's white strapless dress. It was knee-length and had black beads around the neck and hemlines. Daniel had never seen it before and he frowned slightly. She looked beautiful, that wasn't it, it was that in the last three months she had bought new things that he hadn't seen. He hated not being a part of her life even though he knew it was his fault.
"I can't bear to touch you, Daniel," she whispered. "I just cannot bear to touch you right now."
"I guess I should go then," he said. She whimpered and shook her head but he stood up and walked out of the bedroom anyway.
"Daniel?" she called again. He cleared his throat and pasted a smile on his face.
"Sure," he answered.
"Thanks," she grinned. "Christina is having her launch party tonight and I'm hosting. It's been ages since I've left the house so I am dying to go."
"Yeah, I know. I got an invitation," Daniel replied. "Who's going to watch the girls?"
"I was going to leave them with Georgia," Betty answered, referring to their downstairs neighbour. "She owes me for that time I watched McKenna."
"I can stay with them if you like," Daniel offered. "I don't have any plans anyway."
"I thought you would be going to the party," Betty said.
"She won't mind if I'm not there. You're the one she really wants to see anyway and besides, they are my daughters," he replied.
"But Daniel, I don't think I've ever left them alone with you before," Betty mused, knowing full well that they had been left in his care uneventfully a million times before. "Are you sure you can handle it?"
"I know how to take care of my own children," he sighed. Betty shrugged and raised an eyebrow. He rolled his own eyes back at her. "Come on, Betty. I can do this. You know I can do this."
"Okay then," she sing-songed, clearly dubious about his capabilities. "If you're sure."
"I am sure," he settled. "Now go and finish getting ready."
Betty waltzed off in her dress and bare feet and returned awhile later in black heels and her make-up finished. She surveyed the scene that sat before her. Daniel was squawking in his version of a girl's voice as Iris laughed hysterically and Carmen sat with her feet to the couch chewing on her fingers. Betty felt her heart swell and then fall. She lived for moments like these but until know, they always came with a feeling of happiness that lasted. Now, she was happy for a brief moment and then she felt loss. But tonight wasn't about that. Tonight was about her going out, having fun and supporting her friend and tonight was about Daniel spending time with his children so she cleared her throat and soldiered on.
"How do I look?" she asked. She waited until both Iris and Daniel had their attention fixed on her and then she twirled.
"You look beautiful, Mama," Iris sighed dreamily. She walked over to Daniel and backed into his arms. He locked his arms around her. She tilted her head up to him, her breath tickled his skin as she talked. "Doesn't Mummy look pretty?"
"You really do look beautiful," Daniel agreed.
"Oh, thank you, guys," Betty beamed. She switched back into 'Mum' mode. "Okay, Daniel. The girls have already eaten and had a bath. Carmen will probably go to sleep in about an hour, Iris in about two. Because it's a special occasion, you guys can stay up and watch a movie. You have my number if anything goes wrong and you know where the take-out menus are so I guess you are all set."
"Umm, Betty," Daniel said cautiously.
"Mmm," she replied.
"I do know these things," he said.
"Of course you do," she answered sheepishly. She wiped her forehead and sighed. "I'm sorry. It's not you. I just hate leaving them."
"I know but they are going to be fine," he replied. "I won't let anything happen to them."
"I know you wont," she said and then sighed again. Daniel gently moved Iris off his lap and stood up to meet Betty. He took her hand in both of his.
"Hey," he whispered. "Don't worry so much. Let me do the worrying for once."
"Okay," she answered. She left her hand in his as she checked her watch. "Oh my gosh. I am going to be late. Iris, come and give me a kiss good-bye."
Daniel let her hand slip slowly through his. They kept their eyes on each other and he crinkled his eyes at her like he often did and she smiled back until she felt Iris's hand tugging on her dress.
"Is Daddy going to stay over tonight?" she asked. "Because I miss him."
"Daddy can stay if he wants but it is up to him," Betty answered. She knelt down and pulled her eldest child into a hug. "You be good for your father, okay? And brush your teeth and go to bed when he asks you too."
"Yes, Mummy," Iris said, rolling her eyes and wiggling out of her mother's grasp. She swapped between calling Betty 'Mummy' and 'Mama.' Not that it bothered her.
"Te quiero," Betty said.
"Te quiero," Iris replied with gusto. Betty kissed her quickly on the forehead and then stood up. She walked over to Carmen who was still facing the couch. She quickly picked the little bundle up. "Daniel, please try not to forget that you have more than one daughter."
"I'll try," he grinned.
"Carmen doesn't make as much noise as Iris so it's easy to forget her. I do sometimes," Betty explained. Daniel could tell that she was slowly talking herself out of going so he intervened quickly. He pried Carmen out of her arms and gently prodded her towards the door. Iris went back to her dolls and waited impatiently for her father's imminent return.
"Don't worry about the girls," he said, one last time.
"Daniel, slow down. You are going to make me trip over," she cried, jogging awkwardly in her heels. He slowed down slightly and she quickly thanked him. When they made it to the door, she paused and opened her mouth to argue one last time but after one look from him, she relented. "Okay, okay. You're right. Everything will be fine."
"Exactly. And you really do look beautiful," he answered. Her face softened.
"Thank you and thanks for watching the girls," she said. She tenderly ran her hand down the side of Carmen's face and then kissed her on the cheek. "Good night, little one."
"We'll see you later," Daniel said. She leant over and kissed him on the cheek, caught up for a brief moment in time. How many times had they done this before? Would they ever do it again. When she smiled at him and walked out the door and then found him grabbing her hand and pulling her back around so he could return the kiss, she knew that eventually, they would.
And for a moment, it felt like everything was okay. It felt like there was nothing wrong. And there was no-one to tell her any differently so for the first time in awhile, she felt hope. How could hope be wrong?
