A/N: I don't own Ugly Betty but I do love my reviewers! Please keep reviewing.

Daniel Meade was not stupid. He knew that people had been whispering about his relationship with Betty for a long time. They'd been together (publicly) for about a year and a half. They were engaged. They had a daughter. Most people hadn't initially known what he saw in her. But after her make-over, people started wondering what Betty saw in Daniel. She had once joked that it was the simple fact that he was the father of her child. But people who knew Betty well knew that it was much more than that. There was some sort of emotional or intellectual connection between the pair that was just undefinable. They had a natural chemistry or flow. Daniel was a natural father with Gabriella. But he also had such a natural flow of chemistry with her mother. She was smart and sassy and fun to be with. Daniel didn't have to act with Betty. If he wanted to be a dork, he could. He could argue with her over who had control of the remote and he was getting pretty good at beating her at Scrabble, a game he'd barely been interested in only a few years earlier. Daniel was growing up, whether or not Becks and others liked him. He didn't need Miss Monday or Miss Thursday anymore. He had one woman for every day of the week and that was finally enough for Daniel Meade.

"Sophia Reyes is single again," Amanda told Betty one morning when she walked into the Mode offices. "And apparently, she's looking for a man with a lot of power and money behind him."

"She's been having problems at MYW for a while," Betty replied. "If she's interested in making a play for Daniel, it's only because she needs the help for her magazine."

"Does she think that he'd take her back after what she did to him anyway?" the gossipy receptionist asked. "She dumped him on national television. Besides, he's got you now. What does he need with her?"

Betty shrugged. "Sophia has always underestimated Daniel Meade. She looks at him like he's a ditzy fifteen-year-old girl with a crush on the starting quarterback. She doesn't see the whole person."

"Tom Brady is one steaming quarterback."

"Well, Daniel is all the man I'll ever need," Betty replied with a smile.

"You're lucky. You've got the hot guy and the cute little baby. And now you're getting married, which just makes it all official and beautifully real."

"I know. I still can't believe it's all real."

"I can't believe Daniel Meade actually took responsibility for his actions and is marrying the mother of his child."

"He's grown up since he came here."

"Are you talking about me again?" Daniel asked coming up behind his fiancee. "I feel like people are always talking about how they never would have guessed that I'd actually go through with it and marry the mother of my child. Of course, I'm marrying her. It's the mature, responsible thing to do."

"Exactly," Amanda said. "You're Daniel Meade. I mean, let's face it; you're not exactly known for being the most responsible guy in town. You used to have a different model for every day of the week. I'm amazed you've never had a kid before Ella, although there was that scare with your nephew."

He shrugged. "I guess I grew up at some point. I guess I had to when I realized that I might be DJ's dad. And then when I was really going to be a father, I had to grow up. I had to be there for Ella and for Betty. And in the process, I grew up and fell in love."

Betty smiled and leaned her head against his shoulder. "I really like this guy," she said, looping her arms through his.

Amanda smiled as she watched Daniel kiss the top of his fiancee's head. She was used to their relationship, their little displays of affection and their largely unspoken devotion to each other. Their secret smiles and their public laughter were commonplace around the Mode offices now. Daniel wasn't afraid to sneak up on Betty and kiss her cheek when he had to walk through the beauty department. Betty wasn't afraid to interrupt Daniel's meetings and make sure he ate. And they were both always slipping away to the employee daycare on the second floor to go see Ella. It was no secret that Betty's pregnancy had cemented her place in Daniel's life. She might have started out as his assistant and his best friend. But then things started becoming something more. Things had been, according to Daniel and Betty, casual enough at first, just a few dates and then some playful romps in the sack after Betty had broken up with Jesse. But then came an unplanned pregnancy, a surprise. And Daniel hadn't freaked out and mailed Betty off on a free trip to Bora-Bora. He'd asked her to move in with him and made her a part of his life. He was raising his daughter instead of just setting up a trust fund for the baby and never acknowledging her existence again.

"Daniel, how would you feel about having another baby?" Betty asked him as they watched Good Will Hunting that night.

He looked at her, surprise spreading over his face at her abrupt question. "Are you pregnant?"

She shook her head. "No, but I was thinking that Ella is fifteen months old, and we're getting married next month. It might to be time to think about having another baby. We could have a baby that's really and truly entirely yours and mine. No one else would be involved in the creation except the two of us. And I think it would be good for Ella to have a sibling. We don't want to spoil her rotten or anything."

He nodded and shrugged, putting an unsteady hand on her flat belly. "It would be nice to have another baby. But I thought we agreed we were going to wait until after we got married."

"Honey, babies take nine months to grow. We would be good and married by the time the baby was born. And I'm the one who has to do most of the work during the pregnancy. I'm the one who has to get fat."

He smiled. "You're not fat when you're pregnant; you're just pregnant."

"That's easy for you to say. It's not your body."

"No, but you're my fiancee so I'm pretty sure I know what I'm talking about. I lived through your last pregnancy. I know what you looked like. I was there when you gave birth."

"So would you be open to another baby?"

He nodded. "Sure, but I thought we wanted to wait until after the wedding."

"We can, if you want. But I'd like to start at least planning now."

"Why?"

She shrugged. "I'm worried that I might have trouble getting pregnant after all the complications from Ella's birth."

"The doctors said you'll be fine to have another baby."

"I know. But what if I'm not fine? What if there are complications again? What if we have another premature baby?"

"Babe, you can't live your life asking 'what if' all the time. You just have to take the risks."

She sighed. "I know. But this is scary. This is bringing a human being into the world. I don't want to mess anything up."

"I know. But Ella is a perfectly normal baby now. Forget about adjusted age; Ella is a normal fourteen-month old baby who is learning to walk and talk and get into all kinds of trouble. She's doing beautifully. And just because Ella was premature doesn't mean that our next baby will be. Come on, Betty; this time you're dealing with my sperm, not Jesse's."

She smiled. "Our baby," she said. "It won't be you just in name and spirit; it will really be your baby."

"I've always wanted to be a dad."

"You're Ella's daddy."

He smiled. "I know. And we can have more babies; Ella cannot be an only child. I wasn't. You weren't. Our daughter won't be."

"Did you know that they say that youngest children don't play well together?" she asked him suddenly. "We're both youngest children and we seem to playing together quite well."

"We are getting married. That's generally a sign that people play well together."

She smiled. "I get to spend the rest of my life with you."

"That is the general idea behind marriage. It's kind of one of those 'now, always, and forever' things in life."

Betty kissed him. "Daniel Meade, I'm so proud of you."

"Why?"

"You're getting married and thinking of it as a lifelong commitment."

"Okay, so I've grown up. Is it really such a big deal?"

She shrugged. "I think so. But I remember the guy who was trying to get me to quit my job just because I was ugly."

"Okay, I grew up. And it was impressive."

A few weeks later, Daniel walked into his office to find his fiancee there with their daughter. Ella was tentatively holding on to a chair while her mother knelt on the floor a few feet away. "Come on, Ella," she said. "Just come to Mommy. You can do it."

He smiled as he watched as his daughter slowly extended one leg and then put her little foot down. "You can do it, Ella," Betty said. "It's just a few steps. Come here, sweetie."

Ella slowly let go of the chair leg and took another step. Daniel took a deep breath as he watched as she took a few small, tentative steps until she had crossed the space between the chair and Betty. "You did it!" Betty exclaimed as her daughter stepped into her arms. "You walked by yourself. Daniel, did you see her? Our daughter can walk."

Daniel ran to them and kissed Ella and then Betty. He took his daughter from her mother's arms and then kissed her again. "You're walking, Ella-belle! You did it. I'm so proud of you."

"Da-da," she said, wrapping her chubby little arms around his neck and leaning her head of dark brown hair against his shoulder. He kissed the top of her head and stroked her hair.

"Betty, you do realize that this baby is entirely yours. There is nothing in her of anyone except you."

Betty smiled and shook her head. "You're just saying that because you're biased."

"Nope, I see nothing of her father in her. She's absolutely perfectly beautiful, just like you."

"Daniel, you know that someday we'll have babies who are made of both of us."

"We'd better," he replied, kissing her cheek. "I really want to have many more moments like this."

"How many kids do you want?"

He shrugged. "Four or five, I guess."

"Does that include Ella?"

Again, Daniel shrugged. "I'd say six would be our absolute max."

"Six? I'm not getting pregnant six more times."

"You'd only have to get pregnant five more times, at most."

"I want a blue-eyed daughter."

"We could say we'll keep having kids until we have a daughter with blue eyes or six kids, which ever one comes first."

She smiled and laughed. "Six children, including Ella, is our max."

"We have a plan," he told her. "Ella, we have a plan."

"Da-da," she replied.

Betty laughed. "We really have an amazing family."

"I'm glad I'm marrying you."

Daniel and Betty got married about a month later, the last weekend of January. Their wedding was in the backyard of the Meade family summer home in the Hamptons. It was a small ceremony, with just friends and family. Daniel had DJas his best man and Hilda was Betty's maid of honor. Daniel wore a simple dark gray suit with a white shirt and a navy blue tie while Betty wore a white dress that Christina had designed for the occasion. Ella was supposed to sit with one of her grandparents during the ceremony but when she saw her father walk out and stand in front of the minister and the floral arch, she hopped off her grandmother's lap and ran to her father. Daniel picked her up and held her on his hip throughout the fifteen-minute wedding ceremony. And when her parents kissed after being pronounced husband and wife, Ella insisted on kissing them and being kissed as well. "She's so adorable," Amanda gushed after the ceremony. "And you guys are finally married."

Daniel kissed Betty's cheek and she beamed. "Mine!" Ella announced, from her mother's arms. "All mine!"

Betty smiled up at Daniel who was laughing. "We won't be all hers for long," she whispered in her husband's ear. She took his hand and put it on her stomach. "We've got someone in there who will be making an appearance in early February."

His grin only grew and he kissed her again. "Me! Me!" Ella said, reaching for her father's face.

Daniel obligingly kissed his daughter's cheek before looking back to his wife. "Give her to me then."

Betty handed Ella over. "Are you ready for this?"

He smiled. "I think so," he told her. "And even if I'm not, we're married and we have Ella already. And now we'll have another baby on the way."

"We're really building the Meade empire now," Betty said.

Daniel smiled. "I'm going to be a father again. When are we going to tell people?"

"Later," Betty replied. "Let's enjoy our wedding day for now. We'll start telling people about the baby when we've been married for a couple of months."

"I have to keep a secret for a couple of months?" he asked.

"Sweetie, I know one secret that you've been keeping for a couple of years."

Daniel looked at Ella in his arms and smiled. "But this is a great secret. It's just so exciting."

She leaned her head against his chest and smiled. "I know, but you have to keep the lid on it for a while. Let's handle one big moment in our lives at a time."

Just then Becks came over to the happy couple. "Man, you're really settling down here," he said. "You're married. You've got a kid. When did all of this maturity come into your life? You used to be such a laid-back fun guy."

"Well, now I'm fun husband and father," Daniel told his best friend. "I happen to enjoy being Daddy."

"Okay, but you're never up for any of the stuff I want to do anymore."

"I'm not going to strip clubs when I have a wife at home who is much better than any stripper or hooker. And I'm a dad; I have responsibilities." He kissed the top of his daughter's head and smiled. "I love my life. It might not be as dramatic as your life. But I always know who is waiting for me at the end of the day. I always know that when I go home, Betty and Ella will be waiting for me."

"Well, Betty," Becks said. "It looks like you're stuck with this loser."

Betty held up the hand with her wedding band glittering from her ring finger. "I think I'm actually stuck with him legally. But it's okay. I know how to manage him."

"Well, if you ever get tired of him, I can find things to do with him. And there is always divorce."

"You're out of line," Daniel said slowly but firmly to his best friend. "You're completely out of line now."

Becks threw his hands up in the air. "Sorry, dude; I didn't mean to ruffle anyone's feathers. It was just a joke."

"It's not a funny one. And it's not appropriate for a wedding. You were my best man after all. I thought you supported me."

"Well, she is hot."

"She is also the mother of my child," Daniel replied. "And that is far more important. Betty and Ella are my number one priorities now. I'm a husband and a father before I'm anything else, including your friend."

"Betty, I think you've got a keeper here," Becks told her. "I don't understand why you two got married but right on. Have a great life with this one."

"Thank you," she replied. Once Becks was gone, she kissed her husband's cheek. "Ignore him, Daniel. He's just a jerk."

"He used to be my best friend. But now, he doesn't even understand why I'm getting married. When I told him that you were pregnant with Ella, he couldn't believe that I was staying with you. He told me that I had all the money I could ever want and I should just give you enough money to support yourself and the baby; then we could all get on with our lives without any more complications or problems. I punched him for it. Ella might make our life more complicated but she's not a problem. She's my daughter and I love her. I'm being responsible. And you know what?"

"What?"

"I like being a father. I love holding her in my arms and kissing her good-night and watching her experience the world for the first time. Becoming a father has been great for me."

"Aren't you glad we had drunken, unprotected sex in your office after work late one night?"

He laughed. "Our bed is more comfortable. But my office was great for a drunken fling."

"I thought we had been technically dating when we had that drunken fling."

"Oh we were dating. But the first time we ever had sex together, we had both been working late on a magazine layout and we got drunk and had sex on the couch. Then we kept dating. Six weeks later, we found out that you were pregnant. And from there we just kept dating and got more and more serious about each other."

"And now we're married and we have Ella."

He smiled. "The story would be more fun if our drunken fling had been while you were dating Jesse and it made you realize that you weren't in love with him but you wanted to be with me. So you dumped him and we got together. Then we found out that you were pregnant with Ella. And then we moved in together."

"Don't make me sound like a slut," she replied. "It's my wedding day."

Daniel laughed. "It's my wedding day too."

"I know. But I'm not a slut."

Ella was supposed to spend ten days with her Grandma Claire while her parents went to upstate New York. "I just want to go some place quiet and relax," Betty told Daniel when they were planning the honeymoon. "I haven't been away from Ella since she was born."

"So we'll go away for ten days but we'll be close enough that you can come home to Ella if you want to or need to. But we're not bringing her on our honeymoon," he told her. "You need a break from being Mommy and just spend some time being Mrs. Daniel Meade."

"Daniel, this whole idea of spending the honeymoon with me just being your wife and not being mommy would have worked better if I weren't pregnant," Betty told her husband as she sat on the bathroom floor the second morning of their honeymoon. She'd been throwing up almost non-stop since they had gotten to their hotel.

He sat down on the floor next to her and put his arms around her and held her shaking body against his bare chest. "I'm sorry, sweetie."

"I just want to go home and sleep in our bed. The only positive to being here is that we don't have to take care of Ella and deal with me throwing up constantly."

He nodded. "You weren't this nauseous before the wedding."

"Yeah, but things can change at different points in the pregnancy. I don't know why but it's getting worse now."

He kissed her cheek and held her closer to his chest. "I'm really sorry that you're going through this. If you want to go home, we can. I'm sure my mom will still keep Ella for a while if you want."

"That might be a good idea," she said, leaning her head against his chest. "It's only six o'clock in the morning and we're both awake because of my damn morning sickness."

Her husband ran his fingers through her hair and kissed her cheek. "I love you, Betty. Whatever needs to be done, I'll do it. If we need to go home, we can go home."

"Can we go home?" she asked in a soft, tired voice.

Daniel kissed his wife's cheek. "Yes, you go rest and I'll start packing."

She kissed his cheek. "Thank you, sweetie."

"Of course," he replied. "But please brush your teeth."

"You're a horrible husband."

He looked at her. "I marry you. I get you pregnant. And this is the thanks I get from you? You call me a horrible husband. Darling, we've only been married for two days."

"You told me to brush your teeth."

"You've been throwing up for twenty minutes. Your breath stinks. I'm your husband; I've lived with you for close to two years. I'm allowed to say things like this to you."

Betty laughed when he said that. Their whole relationship, their whole lives had changed in the past two years. Less than two years earlier, Daniel had told his best friend that she could come live with him and he would help her raise her then-unborn daughter. He'd faithfully stood by her side through her pregnancy and in the process they'd fallen in love. And he hadn't gone anywhere when Ella showed up seven weeks early. He was still there, holding her up and supporting her when she grew weak. When she was tired or stressed, Daniel simply helped her, doing whatever she needed him to do. He was a devoted, dutiful, loving father to Ella and he'd fulfill the same role in the life of the small baby growing in her still-flat belly. He'd married her out of love and out of a desire to complete their family. When Bradford Meade had hired her six years earlier, there was no way she could have foreseen this future. She was married to Daniel Meade, they had a daughter together, and now she was pregnant with their second child. She took his firm, steady hand and put it on her still-flat stomach. "Thank you," she whispered in his ear. "Thank you for loving me, for loving Ella. Thank you for everything."

"It's my pleasure," he replied, helping her to her feet. "Now, I'll get us packed up while you take a nap. Then we'll head back to the city and you can rest in your own bed."

"I'm sorry we're not having much of a honeymoon," she told him as they walked to their bed.

He shook his head. "It's completely fine. I don't care where I am as long as you're there. And there will be other trips, other chances for us to be alone together. Right now, the most important thing that is you take care of yourself and our baby. I'll get us back to the city; you just take care of yourself and the baby. My mom and DJ are both more than willing to help us with Ella when we get home."

"Do you think Ella will be happy to be a big sister? She won't try to sell the baby or anything, will she?"

Daniel smiled and settled his wife on the bed. "Did Hilda try to sell you?"

"Anyone who came over to our house when I was baby, she'd try to sell me or just give me away. She made it clear that she wasn't interested in being a big sister. She wanted to be an only child."

"Alexis was the same way," he told her. "She, then he, told my parents that I was useless and they didn't need me when they had her."

"She was wrong," Betty said, running her fingers through his hair. "You're wonderfully useful. You love me. You love Ella. You love the new baby. And you pay for my health insurance."

"I'm glad I'm useful for something," he said, kissing the top of her head.

"Oh, you're useful for many things," she replied with a smirk.

"Get some rest and I'll wake you up when we're ready to go. You can wear your pajamas in the car."

She smiled and snuggled up against her pillow. "I love you, Daniel Meade."

"I love you too, Betty Suarez-Meade."

"That's Betty Meade to you," she told him.

"I love you, Mrs. Meade."

Betty's morning sickness persisted over the next several days and weeks. Every morning, she woke up woozy and nauseous. And all she could keep down was saltines and chicken broth. Daniel found himself being both mother and father to an Ella who just wanted to "hep Mommy det bet-tah!" Unfortunately, Betty was only really up for watching movies and sleeping.

"It was never this bad with Ella," Daniel said as he sat down next to his wife one night. She was in bed after spending most of the day throwing up. She could barely stand due to dizziness. "You were never this sick. You could still work. Now, you need help making it to the bathroom. I really think you should see the doctor about this."

"It's just morning sickness. It'll pass."

"Honey, this isn't morning sickness. You're not just sick in the morning. You've been sick all day, every day for two weeks now. It can't be good for you or the baby. You're getting dehydrated; I really just want you to at least call Dr. Murphy's office tomorrow morning. If you don't, I will."

"Jerk," she replied, throwing her pillow at him.

"Just call him, please. I want a healthy wife and baby. You can't get sick and die and leave me alone with Ella."

"You're being overly dramatic. Now, can I please have my pillow back?"

"Only if you promise to call Dr. Murphy," Daniel told her, hugging her pillow and inhaling her scent.

"Fine," she moaned, stretching out a weak arm. "I'll call him when I wake up tomorrow morning. Now can I have my pillow back?"

He handed it back to her and then kissed her forehead. "Just get better, Betty. I love you and I want you and our baby to be safe and healthy."

"I'm pregnant," she said. "I'm really pregnant with your baby."

"Now take care of yourself. I want a healthy wife and baby."

"You're pushy, Mr. Meade."

"I know," he replied. "It's part of my job description as your husband."

"I'm married and pregnant," she said. "Life doesn't get much better."

A/N: Please review.