A/N: I don't own Ugly Betty.

65.

"We're alone in a big old house," Betty told her husband the night that Vivianna moved away to college.

"My mother still lives here," Daniel replied.

"Okay, so there are three people over the age of fifty living here. Our last baby moved away to college. I'm sad. Don't make fun of me. Do you have any idea how hard this is for me?"

He smiled. "Honey, do you think this is easy for me? Vivianna is my daughter too and I'm going to miss her just as much as you are."

"Do you think we'll fight more?"

He shrugged and kissed her forehead. "I don't think so. But we'll see. We have a pretty strong relationship."

"I don't want to fight with you."

"So don't. I'm very easy to get along with."

"I love you, Daniel."

"I love you too," he replied.

"I feel old," she told him.

Daniel held his wife close. "I'm older than you are."

"But our children are all adults. I'm fifty-eight years old. I feel old."

"I know how you feel," he said. "Being a dad with kids at home made me feel young. Even having Reese living here made me feel young. But now Luke is stable and they're gone. I really am an old man and a grandfather."

"Oh, come on," Betty protested. "I still think you're young at heart."

"You're my wife. You have to say that."

She kissed him. "I'm a gross old lady who loves her husband."

"About ten years ago, William would have been thrilled to hear you say that."

She laughed and shook her head. "And now he's twenty-five years old and doesn't think we're old."

"Well, he is getting married next summer."

"And Sarah has a baby."

"I remember when Sarah was our baby," Daniel said with a sad smile. "And now she has little Michael. It's so weird to me."

"I remember when she told us she was pregnant."

"All I could see was my little girl wearing her Beauty and the Beast nightgown with her French braids. I wanted to punch Logan." He sighed. "And then I remembered that he was her husband."

Betty smiled. "I couldn't believe it. And then I realized that she was an adult and old enough to have a baby. I wasn't that much older than she is now when she was born."

"About three years older," he said. "You were twenty-eight when we got married."

"Twenty-five when we started dating," she recalled. "And I was twenty-six when we moved in together."

"She was twenty-six when Michael was born."

"And I was fifty-six."

"That's pretty young for a grandmother," Daniel told her. "I was sixty-four."

"You were still a kind of young grandfather. You were only sixty-one when Reese was born."

"How old was your dad when Justin was born?"

"Daniel, my dad was in his fifties, but Hilda was eighteen; that doesn't count. She was younger than Lucas was. And you got married at an older age than my dad did."

He nodded. "I know. But sometimes I just feel old."

"Well, if you're old, you're my old man and I love you. And you're not allowed to go anywhere."

66.

"Mom, can you please help me with my tie?"

Betty Meade looked at her oldest son, looking into the bright blue eyes that he'd inherited from his father, and pressed her lips together. "Of course," she replied. "But after today, you have to ask Marie for help."

"But you're my mommy."

"And you're getting married today, William. Once you're married, it's your wife's job to tie your ties for you. She also has to kiss your boo-boos, so don't even ask me about that one."

William smiled. "Am I old enough to get married?"

"Your father asked your grandmother that same question about thirty years ago," Betty said with a smile as she adjusted her son's tie.

"And what did Grandma say?"

"She thought he was old enough. He was thirty-seven years old."

"I'm twenty-six."

"And I think you're an adult now. I think you're mature enough to be responsible for someone other than yourself. And I think Marie is much more mature than you are."

"Thanks, Mom. I'm glad to have your vote of confidence."

She kissed his cheek and tightened his tie a bit. "I'm very proud of you, Will. I think you're a great young man. And I think you're very ready to get married."

"I'm not ready to be a dad yet," he told her. "You won't be getting any grandchildren out of me right away like you did with Sarah."

His mother smiled. "That's fine with me. I'm perfectly happy enjoying Michael and Reese right now. But I will expect grandchildren from you at some point in the next couple of years."

William smiled at his mom. "I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you," she replied.

Nikolas came up behind his older brother and clapped him on the shoulder. "Are you ready for this, buddy?"

William nodded. "You know what? I actually think I am ready. Mom says I'm ready."

"And I think you're ready," Daniel Meade said as he walked into the room.

"What about you, Nik? Do you think I'm ready to get married?"

Nik nodded and smiled approvingly. "You're an adult now, Will. You've really grown up a lot the past couple of years and I think you're ready to get married."

Betty smiled looking at Nik and Will. Will was twenty-six and working as a photographer while Nik was twenty-two and playing professional soccer in Germany. The two brothers had become very close over the past six or eight years and William had asked Nik to be his best man. Lucas was also in the wedding party but he knew that Will and Nik were much closer to each other than either of them would ever be to him. "I think we did pretty well," Daniel whispered in his wife's ear. "We have some pretty wonderful children."

She nodded and ran her fingers through her husband's silver-white hair. "They've grown up amazingly."

"Are you ready for this, Mrs. Meade?"

"It doesn't matter if I'm ready or not. All that matters is if Will and Marie are ready."

"That sounds like something I said a few years ago," her husband teased.

"Well it was true then and it's true now. I'll probably cry my way through this wedding just like I did the last one. But it's Will's decision. If he and Marie want to get married, they can. I think they're both more than ready for marriage."

"What about Lucas and Clarissa?" Daniel asked. "Do you think they're ready?"

"They're not getting married yet as far as I know."

"I know but do you think that they're ready?"

"I think she is," Betty replied cautiously. "And Lucas is almost there."

"Nikolas is still single."

"As far as we know," she teased. "He does live in Germany."

Her husband rolled his eyes and ignored her comment. "And Vivianna is dating this Gabriel guy."

"He won't last."

"How do you know?"

"Maternal instinct," Betty told him as she straightened his tie. "And in a lot of ways, he is her Henry. She is a lot like me and Gabriel is her Henry."

"What?" Daniel sputtered. "He'd better not get his ex-girlfriend pregnant and move to Tucson and then come back and mess over my daughter."

She smiled. "I love you. You're so loving and protective. But he's not her Henry like that. Henry was a good, stable guy and I could have married him. But I didn't because there wasn't any adventure there. If I had married Henry, I would have moved to Tucson with him and I could have been fine. But I'm happier with the life I have here with you. Gabriel is a good, stable, steady guy. Vivianna, like me, needs adventure and challenges in life. She is very stubborn, very ambitious, and very determined."

"This sounds a lot like a girl in a Guadalajara poncho who walked into my office about thirty-five years ago."

She smiled and nodded. "That's because Vivianna has a lot in common with that girl. But she has better fashion sense."

Daniel kissed his wife. "You have amazing fashion sense now."

Betty looked at her burgundy dress and jacket. "Do you like this dress then?"

He smiled. "I love it. Christina is still working magic."

"I'm her best friend. She can't say no to me. I put her on the map."

"I helped," he reminded.

Betty smiled. "You did. And she's very grateful to both of us."

"We are pretty amazing people."

"I'm really glad I married you."

"I'm glad my father hired you. You made me the man I am today. I wouldn't be here with you."

"It's been an amazing ride, hasn't it?"

He pulled her close. "And hopefully we still have many more years together."

"Keep taking your medication and we will," she replied with a teasing smile.

He kissed her. "Never leave me and I'll be a good boy."

"I promise."

"Eww, old people love," Nikolas said walking by his parents.

"Oh shut up," his father said, slapping his son's head. "Someday, you'll be a sixty-seven year old man who is still madly in love with his wife. And then you'll understand all of this."

67.

Two years later, Will and Marie had their first child, a baby girl they named Simone Olivia. She had Will's dark brown hair and Marie's vivid green eyes. That same year, Sarah and Logan had their first daughter, Elizabeth Rose Sparks. Simone was born in May and Elizabeth was born in July. And then in September, Lucas married his girlfriend, Clarissa Burton. It was a busy year for the Meades. "Sometimes I wish I had just bought one dress that I could wear to all of the kids' weddings," Betty told Daniel. "Instead, I've had Christina design a different dress for each wedding to kind of work with the color scheme and what-not."

"But you have to work with the seasons too," her husband reminded her. "Sarah and Logan's wedding was in June, Will and Marie's was in December, and Lucas and Clarissa's is in September. Your dress for Will's wedding had long sleeves and you never would have wanted those at Sarah's wedding. And for this wedding, you have a jacket, which might not have been warm enough for Will's wedding and was probably too warm for Sarah's."

"You're very practical, Mr. Meade."

"I used to be the editor in chief of Mode magazine."

"Really?" his wife asked. "Funny story, I'm the EIC there now."

"You look you would be good at that job."

"The president of Meade Publications thinks I'm good at it. And the sales seem to back that up."

Daniel laughed. "Are you ready to give up another one of our children?"

"Nope," she replied with a smile. "But you know what they say. We're not losing a son but gaining a daughter."

He smiled. "I like Clarissa and I guess she will be our daughter. But we'll have to share both Lucas and Clarissa with her parents."

She frowned. "You always ruin everything."

"Betty, we've been married for over thirty years and you're telling me that I ruin everything. Did I ruin the past thirty or forty years of your life?"

"Nope," she replied with a laugh. "You made them the best years of my life."

He kissed her. "Is it wrong that I'm in my sixties and I'm still madly in love with my wife?"

She shrugged. "Maybe it is. I don't care. I'm madly in love with my husband and I'm an old woman."

"You're only old if you think you are."

"Very philosophical, Mr. Meade," Betty teased with a smile. "I'm glad I have you in my life to keep me young."

"And I'm glad I have grandchildren to keep me young."

"You really are hopeless."

He smiled. "I know. That's why you love me."

"Well why do you love me?"

"Because you're amazing and the best thing that's ever happened to me," he replied. "And that's not a lot of bullshit. That's the honest truth."

She kissed him. "I love you. And you really are wonderful."

He pulled her close and kissed her again.

"Okay, seriously," Nikolas said walking into the room. "What is with all the old people love around here? You guys are old and slightly gross."

"Go shove it," Daniel replied, pushing his youngest son's shoulder playfully.

Nik laughed. "I really think you two are amazing. And someday I want to be just like you."

"Find a serious girlfriend first," his father told him.

"Okay," the son said with a smile. "Come visit me in Germany and I might introduce you to someone special."

"What are you talking about?" Betty asked her son.

He looked away and smiled sheepishly. "There might be someone special back in Germany and I just haven't ever brought her home or really talked about her at all before. It's kind of a relatively new thing. I haven't even talked to Will about it yet."

His mother raised her eyebrows. "When were you planning on talking to us about it?"

He shrugged. "Soon, I was going to wait until after the wedding. We've only been seeing each other for a couple months. It isn't really serious yet."

"What's her name?" Daniel asked.

"Anna," Nik replied. "Anna Hahnenberg, she's a teacher in a small town near Munich. We met in a café a couple months ago when I stepped on her foot."

"That's a better start than I had with your mother."

"He spent forever trying to fire me."

"But then we worked things out."

"And then you fell for me," Betty said with a mischievous smile.

Daniel smiled. "That was the good part. The best part was when I married you and I got to keep you forever."

"That was the best part, especially because we got five amazing children out of the deal."

Nik smiled as his brother, Will, came into the room carrying his daughter, Simone. "What's up?" the oldest Meade son asked.

"They're telling me how they met."

William laughed. "Grandpa Meade hired Mom because he thought that she was the one woman in the world who Dad wouldn't screw. So instead, Dad married her and they had five children."

"Best love story of all time," Daniel said.

"And they all basically lived happily ever after, more or less," Betty added.

"Do you ever wish that Grandpa Meade could have seen how things worked out for you two?" Nik asked.

Betty shrugged casually and her husband smiled. "I do," he said. "I'd like him to know how much I changed. And I would have liked for him to see what I did with my life. I'd like him to know that I could be a responsible adult who didn't have to have a different woman every night of the week. I would like for him to have seen me as a husband and father. I don't think he thought I was capable of being a good, faithful husband and father."

His wife smiled. "It would have been nice for him to see what you became. You grew up a lot after he died. But I think he knew what you were capable of becoming. Before he died, he did tell me to take care of you and protect you. I think he knew that there was something special about our relationship."

"Sarah used to say that she wanted to have a love story that was as romantic as yours was," Nik told his parents.

"I think she had a pretty good love story as it is," Betty said. "She married her first love."

Nik looked at Will and his older brother looked back. "How's the groom doing?"

"I think he's a little nervous."

"I think that's just a characteristic of the Meade men on their wedding days," their mother remarked. "Your father was nervous the day we got married."

"Was I nervous?" Will asked.

His mother thought for a moment. "Yeah, you were. Lucas is worse than you were. You didn't think that Marie wasn't going to show up; Luke is worried about Clarissa bailing on him. But you were nervous. You didn't know if you were ready to get married."

"But you thought I was."

"And you were. Now please hand over my granddaughter."

Will laughed before giving his mother his daughter. Betty kissed her little granddaughter. "She's beautiful, Will. You do realize that, don't you?"

"She's amazing," he replied, stroking his daughter's head of dark brown hair. "I have days when I can't believe she's mine."

"Your father had days like that with Sarah."

"So did you, my dear," Daniel reminded his wife with a loving smile as he played with his granddaughter's little fingers. "But this little lady is a real charmer."

"Where are Michael and Elizabeth?" she asked.

Nik shook his head. "Do you know, Will?"

"Sarah has Elizabeth and I'm not quite sure where Michael is. He's probably either with Logan or chasing pigeons someplace."

Three-year-old Michael Sparks was always chasing pigeons or any other bird that he saw. His mother was a little worried that one day he was going to get attacked by an angry swan or something. "I'm going to see if I can find him," Grandpa Daniel said. "If he isn't Michael, I bet he might like some quality time with Grandpa."

Betty smiled as her husband walked off to find their grandson. Daniel adored his little grandson, partially because he was more entertaining than the babies but also because it was a grandson.

"I'm proud of Lucas," Daniel told his wife that night when they got home. "He's grown up a lot."

"He's a lot like you," she replied. "Your mother has been saying that for a while now."

"Well, she was right. He's grown up a lot in the past couple years."

"Like you, he just needed some encouragement and inspiration."

Daniel smiled as he looked at Betty. "Are you happy?"

She looked at him. "Do you really need to ask me that? I've been married to the man of my dreams for over thirty years; I have five wonderful children, four adorable grandchildren, and a good job. You've given me the world. I'm very happy and it's largely because of you."

He kissed her cheek. "I'm so glad my dad hired you and that I ended up with you. You really do complete me."

A/N: There are only three more "episodes" left. But I have another Betty/Daniel plot bunny scampering around my brain. So I'll probably get working on that pretty soon and maybe give you a little preview for it in the last chapter of this story.