A/N: I was shocked by how well this story was received but I'm glad to oblige and come back with more of it. Obviously, I don't own what you recognize.

10.

"Our baby girl is starting college tomorrow," Betty announced when Daniel walked into the kitchen one evening in late August.

"That would explain all the boxes in the living room," he replied.

His wife rolled her eyes. "Daniel, I'm going to miss her."

"I know. But she's only going to be in Boston; we'll see her. And we do have four more kids who will still be at home that you have to love and care for."

"But she's our first born. And she's leaving us."

"She'll still come home for vacations. Honey, it's not like she's dying or moving to Antarctica."

Betty smiled as Daniel wiped a tear away from his wife's eye. "But I'm not going to see her every day and be able to ask her about her day."

"We live in a modern age of technology. You can call her or email her."

"Is Mom still crying about Sarah?" Lucas asked walking into the kitchen. "Or are we finally going to have dinner?"

"We're going out for dinner," Daniel replied. "We're letting Sarah pick the restaurant and we're going out as a family."

Lucas groaned. "Does that mean I have to dress up?"

"Lucas, your idea of dressing up involves wearing a polo shirt," his father told him. "Some of us have to wear suits to work every day."

His son looked at his father's three-piece pinstriped suit and raised his eyebrows. "I'm going to be in a band when I grow up. I'm never getting old and getting any kind of dumb corporate desk job. I'm going to wear jeans and sneakers for the rest of my life."

"Your mother likes me better in my dumb suits than in sneakers."

"You guys are just old," Lucas said. "You don't know fashion."

"Lucas," Daniel said with a slight smile. "Your mother and I own Mode magazine. Your mother is the editor in chief there and is frequently referred to as the most fashionable woman in New York."

"Yeah and you wear suits to work all the stinking time. You're lame."

"And you're rude," Betty told her son. "Apologize to your father and then go ask Sarah where she wants to go for dinner tonight."

"Sorry, Dad," Lucas muttered.

"Look your father in the eye when you say that and say it like you mean it."

Her son sighed before looking his father in the eye and saying, "I'm sorry, Dad."

"Apology accepted," Daniel replied. "Now go ask your older sister where she wants to go for dinner."

11.

The Meade family found themselves eating dinner at a small Italian restaurant near home that evening. It was loud and crazy but so much fun. Daniel had somehow gotten Lucas to agree to wear a button-down dress shirt with khakis. William, who had inherited his father's dapper sense of style, was wearing black dress pants and light blue dress shirt with a darker blue tie. And at twelve, Nikolas still wore what his father told him to wear and was wearing black pants with a red dress shirt. And the girls were wearing nice dresses; both Vivianna and Sarah were girly-girls who loved clothes and had their mother's job to help them keep their closets stocked with the best of the best. Sarah, at eighteen, was tall, dark, and gorgeous. Her father also had his eye on her like none other. He was determined to protect his daughters, his princesses, from men like his former self. To go on a date with Sarah, the guy had to pass an interview with Daniel. And even though she always complained about it, Sarah secretly liked the fact that her dad cared that much about her.

Vivianna was definitely a princess at age ten. She gave off the vibe of being mature and confident. But her favorite place in the world was her dad's lap even though Daniel and Betty were trying to remind her that she was getting too big for that. She wasn't as interested in dolls as she once had been and she loved to read and write; that was definitely from her mother. And she loved blues and purples, like her father. And she loved sitting at her dad's desk and bossing people around. Daniel was convinced that Vivianna would succeed him as president of Meade Publications. She loved visiting her dad at work and trying to help him do his job.

William was going to be a photographer, probably for Meade Publications simply because his father could get him a job at any magazine he wanted. He loved cameras and he had mastered PhotoShop at the age of nine. He was always taking pictures of everything from his sisters' feet to food to real family shots. He loved going around New York City and taking pictures of the real life of New York. He liked things that were real and authentic, much like his mother.

12.

One night, a few years later, Daniel came home to find the house in an uproar. It was nine o'clock and Betty was yelling at Lucas and Nik about some prank they'd tried to pull on Vivianna. And when he tried to talk to his wife after she had banished their sons to their respective bedrooms, all he got was "Your dinner is in the fridge. Heat it up for two minutes. I'm going to bed."

And after eating dinner, when he went to the room to get changed, Betty just glared at him. "You're sleeping on the couch tonight," she informed him.

"Is there any particular reason? Did I do something?" he asked.

"You know what you did."

"I'm sorry I was working late. I had a meeting in Boston and I got home as soon as I could. Traffic was horrible and I didn't mean to be so late."

"That's not why I'm mad. You know why I'm mad."

Daniel couldn't think of anything he'd done other than coming late to dinner. "No, Betty, I don't know why you're mad at me. Did I do something? Did I forget to do something?"

"You know what you did," she insisted.

"Betty, darling, you're being irrational. What is going on?"

"I'm not your darling," she barked back. Daniel Meade stood and looked at his wife of twenty-three years, honestly wondering what he had done.

"No, Betty, I don't know what I did. I'm not cheating on you. I didn't mean to be late for dinner. I didn't put Lucas and Nik up to whatever stunt they pulled tonight. I do not know what I did. So please, enlighten me. Why am I sleeping on the couch tonight?"

But his wife persisted in saying, "You know, Daniel. You know what you did. And what's worse is that you clearly don't know why it's wrong."

He sighed. "If you're not going to tell me, then I'm very sorry for whatever it is and I'll try to make it up to you. And if you need me, I'll be in the living room."

13.

But before going to the living room, Daniel went to Vivianna's room. His thirteen-year-old daughter was sitting on her bed reading a book when he knocked. "Hey, Dad," she said. "How was Boston? Did you see Sarah?"

"I did," he said, coming into the room and sitting down on her bed. "We had lunch together in between my meetings. She and Logan are coming down to visit in a couple of weeks for Mom's birthday. But they want it to be a surprise, so don't let her know."

His daughter smiled. "My lips are sealed. So what brings you here? You don't usually just pop into my room when you get back from a business trip."

He smiled. "I know. But I have a question for you."

"What's up?"

"Do you know why your mother is mad at me?"

"Grandpa Ignacio is in the hospital and she called you to tell you but you didn't answer your phone or call her or anything. Aunt Hilda is with him now. But Mom really wanted to talk to you about it."

"Oh shit," Daniel said.

"I'm telling Mom that you were swearing again."

"Vivianna Rosa, you know it was well-meant. Why is your grandfather in the hospital?"

"Heart attack," his daughter replied. "It wasn't really a huge surprise; Mom was more surprised that it didn't happen earlier. But she wanted to talk to you and you wouldn't answer your phone. And she left you messages and you didn't call her back."

Daniel pulled his cell phone out and saw that he had 10 missed calls from Betty along with seven new voice mails. He nodded and pressed his lips together. "Thanks, Vivi. I'm going to talk to your mom now."

"Any time," she said, picking her book back up.

Before leaving the room, he hugged his daughter and kissed the top of her head. "By the way, we still have a date on Saturday," he told her as he left the room. "You aren't going to stand me up."

She grinned. "I'll see you there, Mr. Meade."

"I know what I did," Daniel said walking into his bedroom and throwing his BlackBerry on the bed. "I'm very sorry. I silenced it during the meetings and forgot to turn it back on. I'm really sorry. And if you need me, I'll be on the couch."

Betty sat there in silence as her husband picked up his pillow and a book from his bedside table. At fifty-nine, Daniel's hair was completely silver and he wasn't interested in dying his hair just for appearances. His black-rimmed glasses had become a permanent fixture on his face. And he still had the tall, powerful, sturdy body that Betty had fallen in love with over twenty years earlier. "I'll go see Ignacio before I go to work tomorrow," he told her as he left the room. "Good-night, Betty."

14.

"You know he's sorry," Vivianna said walking into the room. "He always forgets to turn up his cell phone after a meeting."

Betty was playing the voice mails she'd left on her husband's cell phone, hearing her own voice getting angrier and more desperate. "You'll understand when you're older, Vivianna. I was alone and afraid and I needed your father. I needed him and I couldn't reach him. What would have happened if it had been a bigger emergency?"

"You could have called Sarah," her daughter replied. "He had lunch with her today and I bet she or Logan could have run over to wherever he was and given him the message. But you just called him."

"I haven't told Sarah yet," Betty said, hitting her head. "I haven't called her or Will yet."

"And yet you're pissed off at Dad for not calling you back. Did you call Justin like Aunt Hilda asked?"

Betty sighed. "So apparently Daniel wasn't the only one who made mistakes today."

"You might want to go tell him that."

Her mother rolled her eyes. "Vivianna, go to bed. I need to talk to your brother and sister."

"And my cousin," Vivianna reminded her mother. "And then please talk to Dad."

"Good night," Betty called after her daughter's retreating back.

15.

"Why are you on the couch?" Lucas Meade asked his father who was lying on the couch reading.

"Your mother is mad at me."

"She's mad at me too," his son replied sitting down in a chair near the couch.

"What did you do?"

"Nik and I stole a bunch of stuff from Vivianna's room and then left her ransom notes for it."

"Why did you do that?"

Lucas shrugged. "We were bored. And if you did stuff like that to Sarah, she reacted. But Vivianna just takes the ransom notes and shows them to you or Mom before throwing them away. She doesn't care as much."

"She knows what you're trying to do and she doesn't feel like letting you get away with it."

"But that's boring."

"Yeah and you're eighteen years old. So grow up. You're graduating from high school in June."

"Yeah and then Jack and I are going to start a band."

"Most people do that during high school and then start touring after high school."

"We need a drummer and a bassist."

Daniel sighed. "Good luck with that, I have no musical talents whatsoever."

"And you're a lame old man," Lucas added.

"You keep telling me that."

"That's only because it's true."

"I'm not arguing with you tonight."

"Then I'm going to get something from the fridge. I'll see you later."

16.

Daniel slept on the couch that night. And the next morning, he got up and showered and went to see his father-in-law before Betty got up. Before heading to work, he stopped back at the house and left his wife a bagel and a cup of coffee. Then he went to work before his wife was even in the kitchen to find her bagel and coffee waiting for her. And she started to cry. She knew that her husband had gone to see her father and was trying to take care of her in simple ways. "I called Amanda," his note said. "She'll cover for you if you want to go see your dad. Call her and let know when you're coming in. And call me if you want to have lunch together today. I love you, Daniel."

Betty called Amanda, who was her assistant, and told her she'd be at work around ten or ten-thirty. Then she went to the hospital to spend a few hours with her father. Ignacio was dying; that was plain. But he wanted his daughters to keep living their daily lives. And he wanted to see his grandchildren. So Betty called Daniel to talk to him about it. Before she really understood what was happening, her husband was at the hospital with all five of their children and he had arranged for a town car to pick up Justin when his plane from Los Angeles arrived. He did everything that needed to be done. He called Amanda and told her that Betty wouldn't be coming in that day. He talked to all the doctors and explained the family's wishes. Betty was sitting there talking to her dying father, watching her husband talk to doctors and nurses. He was being perfect.

Ignacio was able to see every one of his grandchildren. When he died that evening, Daniel was still taking care of everyone. He arranged for Justin and Hilda to get back to Hilda's apartment, which was where they wanted to be. He arranged for his wife and children to get back to their house. He took care of the funeral arrangements. And he kept going when they got home. Daniel made Betty eat something before putting her to bed and then he took his pillow and went back to the living room. Betty started sobbing as her husband walked out of the room. Her father had just died and now the most important man in her world was walking away from her because he thought she didn't want him around.

Around midnight, Betty gave up trying to sleep and went downstairs to the living room. Daniel wasn't asleep either; he was sitting there with his head propped on a pillow and reading a book. "I can't sleep," Betty said walking into the room.

"Logan's sleeping." Daniel looked up at her and motioned to Sarah's sleeping boyfriend on the other couch. "Do you want to talk about it?"

She shook her head. "No, I want you to come back upstairs and hold me. I need you, Daniel."

Her husband put the bookmark back in his book and stood up. His wife immediately grabbed his hand as he grabbed his pillow. Betty led Daniel up to their bedroom. "I'm afraid," she told him as he climbed into the bed.

"Why?"

"Are you going to leave me?"

"Why would I do that?"

Betty snuggled up against her husband's chest. "I'm a bitch. My daddy is dead and I'm a bitch to my husband."

"No, Betty, you had a right to be mad at me yesterday."

"You made a mistake; you forgot to turn on the volume on your phone. That wasn't worth sleeping on the couch."

"You'd had a rough day. I understand that. I remember when my dad died."

"How long does it take before it stops hurting?"

Daniel kissed the top of his wife's head. "It never goes away completely. You know that. There will always be a part of you that misses your dad."

"What would I have done without you today?"

"You'll never have to know that," he replied.

"But you did everything," Betty persisted. "You took care of us and you made sure everything happened. You made sure my dad got to see everyone. You flew Justin back from Los Angeles. You didn't have to do that."

"I loved your father. Ignacio was a better father to me than Bradford. And I was glad to do those things for him."

"You're too good for me."

He laughed. "There was a time when you were too good for me. And do you remember everything you did for me when my dad died? Or what about what you did when my mom was on trial? You've always been there for me."

"Daniel, don't ever leave me. I can't live without you. I can't sleep without you in this bed."

"I'm not going anywhere, Betty. I'm going to promise you that I'll be here as long as I can. I love you and I'm not leaving you or our children. You are my world."

"Why do you love me?"

"Because you're the best thing that has ever happened to me," he replied. "You love me and you take care of me and you make me want to be the best person I can possibly be. You've given me five amazing children even though I only wanted three or four. But I'm so glad we did that. I can't imagine what this world would be like without Nikolas or Vivianna. You've taught me what love is and how to love."

She snuggled up against his body and sighed. "You've been too good to me today."

"And you've been too good to me a million different times."

A/N: It's shorter than the other one. But I can keep doing more if people are interested.