Chapter 4

The next morning, still bemused by the events of the previous evening, Wilhelmina sat in her office drumming her nails against her desk.

'Marc!'

At the barked summon, he came running into the room.

'Okay, messages…' He began.

'Forget that, I have a job for you.'

He arched his brows and sat down, crossing his legs. 'Oooh, a job? Who am I digging up dirt on, this time?'

'I want you to follow Daniel.'

His smile slipped and he slumped in the chair. 'Daniel? Willie, in the 3 years he's worked here I think we've dug up every boring detail we're ever going to.'

'I don't want dirt Marc, I want to know what he's up to.'

His interest suddenly peaked again. 'Why?'

She sighed gently, 'He's acting strange, stranger than usual.'

'In what way? Are we talking straight jackets and padded cells?' He asked with a smile.

'Look, all you have to know is that he's being odd and I want to know why.' She snapped, getting impatient.

He stood up slowly, 'Okay, I just…why now?'

He froze, mid ascension, eyes wide as he realised he knew exactly why.

xXx

Betty was sitting typing at her desk when suddenly she felt herself being pulled away from her work. Marc was gripping the back of her chair and wheeling her along the tube, surreptitiously glancing from side to side, Betty shouting her protests the entire time. Throwing open the door to the accessories closet, he pushed the chair inside and slammed the door.

'Marc, what the…'

'What did you say to Daniel!?'

'What? I…nothing!'

Marc placed his hands on his hips and started walking from side to side in front of her, like the bad cop in every cheesy 80's police drama.

'Quit spitballing, Suarez, I know you can't keep secrets from your Master and Commander.'

'You're one to talk.'

He slammed his arms down on either side of her chair and pressed his face close to hers. 'Did. You. Tell. Him. About. The. Diaries?'

She squirmed nervously in her seat. 'I had to Marc, he heard us on the phone.'

He stood up dramatically, throwing his arms in the air. 'Betty, why do you always have to do the right thing! God, have you got any idea how infuriating it is?'

'Marc, it's no big deal really. He just wanted to pretend it didn't happen. He's not going to say anything.'

'Then why has Willie got me chasing after him to see why he's been acting weird?!'

Betty screwed her face up. 'He's not acting weird, he's in his office reading.'

'Reading? Betty…READING?!' he yelled, eyes bulging.

'Yeah he's…no, no he wouldn't.'

Marc opened the door and gestured for Betty to leave. 'Go distract him, get him out of his office.'

'How?'

'I don't know, tell him Gisele's doing a naked shoot, tell him anything. Just GO!'

Five minutes later, he heard the telltale sounds of Betty's squeaky voice and Daniels whining moving past the door. Once he was sure the were gone he snuck out and raced into Daniels office.

Quickly rifling through the papers on the desk, he found it was all ad pages and sales figures. The top drawer of his desk offered nothing either. Pulling open the bottom drawer of his desk he stopped when he saw a picture of Daniel and Molly sitting on top of the pile. He thought of the picture Willie kept hidden in her office, the picture of Connor, her and Daniel were more alike than they would admit.

Carefully placing the picture on the desk, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up as he spotted the book underneath, recognising it easily. He picked up the diary and opened it to the page Daniel had kept marked with a photo. Turning the photograph over in his hands he gasped as he saw the people looking back at him. Daniel was sitting up in the picture with Wilhelmina leaning into him, the two of them were smiling at the young girl, obviously Nico, sitting on Willies lap facing them both.

The picture had clearly been scrunched up as if to throw it away, the many lines creasing the couples happy expressions. The image shocked Marc, although he had read the words himself, this made it too real for him. His boss and the man she would do anything to destroy had been a couple, and from the look of this picture they had been happy. He swallowed and cursed himself for letting his curiosity get the better of him once again, he began to read the passage Daniel had been reading.

June 11th 1994

I love my job, I love my job, I love my job. I need to keep repeating this or I swear I'll burn the place down. I'm supposed to be Creative Director, not Fey Sommers' alibi! Clare Meade came to see me today to ask whether I had lunch with Fey. Fey had already told me to say I had, so I did. Not that the lush would believe me anyway, she's hated me since she saw Bradford pinch my ass at an after party. Is it my fault I have a great ass and he's a horndog?

When I asked Fey why I was to lie, she told me quite nonchalantly that she had been with Bradford and made it very clear that if her little secret was to get out I'd be without a job. I swear to god, sometimes I can't believe Daniel comes from that family. His father's an adulterer, his mother's an alcoholic, I suppose Alex would be tolerable if he would stop sleeping with every girl in sight and just admit he's gay (definitely something up with him), while Daniel… well, he's normal.

And now I have to keep this huge secret from him about his fucking father and my fucking boss. Everything is so screwed up. I've left him sleeping after yet another argument about going to his parents for dinner. They can't know, his mother hates me, his father will hit on me, Alex will try and steal my shoes and can you imagine what Fey would do with it if she knew? Obviously I can't tell him that though, so I just look like a psycho girlfriend and he's starting to think I'm ashamed of him.

'Anything interesting Marc?'

Daniels voice startled him and he stood up quickly, banging his shin bone off the open drawer. He jumped about cursing as Daniel looked on.

'Serves you right.'

'Look, it's not what you think. I was…'

'Let me guess, Wilhelmina wants to know what I'm up to, because I'm acting odd?'

Betty looked on sheepishly and Marc narrowed his eyes at her.

'Well, maybe I'll just go and tell her what I've found.' Marc said with more bravado than he felt.

Daniel nodded, 'Sure and I'll just tell her how I came to know of them, Nancy Drew.'

Marc swallowed. 'Fine, I won't say anything. But these need to go back."

'They'll go back when I'm done. Now on you go, run along Toto.'

Marc hurried from the room. Daniel chuckled and sat down, his smile falling when his eyes fell upon the pictures on the desk. He wordlessly slipped the picture of Molly back in the drawer and held the other one in his hand, brow creased as he examined it. He turned it around in his hand and showed it to Betty who took it from him.

'Wow, you look…happy.'

He shifted uncomfortably in his seat. 'We were.'

'Daniel, I don't understand this, any of this. I feel like this is all some big joke I'm not in on. How could you go from this to the way you are now?'

'I don't know.' He pulled the book closer to him. 'That's what I'm trying to find out.'

Betty moved tentatively towards him. 'Daniel, Marc is right. You shouldn't do this, it's wrong.'

'This concerns me Betty, there's stuff in here…about us, that she never told me about.'

'Yes Daniel, that's what Diaries are for, your private thoughts.'

'Betty, I always thought she kept our relationship secret because she was embarrassed or ashamed…she was trying to save it. For years I've tried to block out the time we shared but now I have a chance of finding out why I lost one of the best things that ever happened to me and why she turned into…her. I'm sorry Betty, I know you always do the right thing, but I'm not letting you take this chance away.'

She nodded, 'I don't approve Daniel, but I understand.'

xXx

Marc knocked lightly on Wilhelmina's door, she looked up from her work and he came in.

'Well, have you gathered any information on our little friend?'

'No…well, yes.'

'Which is it Marc?'

'Willie, he's not up to anything. He just doesn't want to fight anymore, Molly's death has made him realise life is too short. There's no agenda.'

'And you know this because?'

'I heard him talking to Betty.'

She sighed loudly, she had been afraid of this. She didn't really want to get close to him again, but she couldn't deny she had enjoyed last night. The easy camaraderie which seemed to return almost instantly. There was another knock at her door and she looked up to see Daniel there.

'Wilhelmina.'

'Daniel.'

'Lunch?'

'Sure.'

Wilhelmina stood and walked past Marc to join Daniel in the hall. Marc could feel his heart beating in his chest. Someone is going to get hurt.