Author's Note: Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. So it's way past Martin Luther King Day and it still Thanksgiving in the world of Alex Suarez. We may be done with the Thanksgiving weekend sometime around Easter. A lot of big stuff will be happening in the next few chapters including the unmasking of our murderer.
Chapter 36: Reasons to be Glad Thanksgiving only happens once a year- Part one.
"Mandatory dish of food?" Kenny asked his girlfriend of seven months, as they prepared to leave her apartment for Thanksgiving with his parents. Surprisingly, this is the first time he's brought a girlfriend home for Thanksgiving.
"Check, Sweet potato pie that I actually made with Daddy Suarez's recipe." Kenny had done this many before but this will be Amanda's first time participating in one of these dinners and he was little nervous. He was also thankful that the sweet potato pie will be edible this year. He really can't cook.
"Alex don't touch that." Amanda pulled the foil wrapped dish from the toddler. Kenny felt it was best to grab the pie from her because they don't have time to change Alex again. He loves anything that was shiny right now. They already had to change him twice since he picked him up from the Somers-Suarez apartment this morning.
"Baby bag?"
"Check." Amanda pointed to the oversized purse that matched her outfit perfectly. "The normal baby bag was ugly. I'm using one of my purses. Yes I have diapers; although, you're changing him. I just got a new manicure. We wouldn't want to hurt your Aunt Amanda's manicure, would we?"
"No," Alex said back his favorite word.
"Snacks… in case, he gets hungry in the car?" Kenny asked because seriously, this kid can eat.
"Check and I chose stuff that will not get him dirty again." Amanda replied as she held up a bag of Cheerios.
"Is he still clean?"
"Yes. Baby Alex is wearing a cute adorable outfit that matches me. Don't you love dressing like Aunt Mandy."
"No," Alex responded with a giggle.
"Why did you inherit your taste from your mom? Daddy, Aunt Alexis, or your cousin Justin would have been so much better." Amanda said shaking her head.
"I think 'no' is his favorite word. It's nothing personal." He tried to make Amanda felt better. "My niece did the same thing last year."
"No," Alex said again still laughing.
"See what I mean? What about a backup outfit?" Kenny asked because he has spent enough time with his girlfriend's nephew to know that kid was messy.
"Check." Amanda said pulling up baby suit out of her bag.
"See, second adorable outfit that matches you to put on as soon as Alex gets his first outfit dirty. I told you I have this." She really did. The toddler size suit really did matches outfit. Kenny has never seen a kid with this much clothing before but Alex was the son of the current EIC of mode and the grandson of his predecessor. Fashion houses love showering the kid with gifts. Actually they are the only people outside the family that know Alex is Daniel's kid but they're not talking to the paparazzi.
"What about wet wipes and shout wipes in case he gets us dirty?" Amanda just pulls out a stack of shout wipes and baby wipes.
"I've thought of everything. I even packed us a second set of clothes." She pointed to the suit bag over her shoulder. That explains why she was bringing a suitcase. "I had to order you something because you really do need to keep the suit here and Mommy Faye says you need to start wearing better outfits to business meetings." He should take that as a good sign. The big boss only dresses people she likes. "See I can be responsible. I don't know if Faye called you to watch Alex, instead of me. I'm good with baby Alex." She said snuggling baby Alex's stomach.
"You told DJ that Alexis was his biological father. How would you feel to learn something like that by accident?" Like how Spencer Canon is your father.
Kenny already figured that out a month ago but he has not told Amanda. He was asked not to. You can't hide anything from accounting. The Accountants know everything at MODE, like Marisol accidentally using the corporate card to pay for a DNA test, instead of Faye's private credit card and that annoying Henry trying to make a big deal out of it. Thankfully, Kenny fixed it before the entire accounting department knew what was going on. He was okay with Faye's plan to let Amanda get to know her father as a person first before introducing the man as her father but if they did not tell Amanda the truth by Easter, Kenny would.
"I did not tell DJ that Alexis was his biological father. I told you that his biological father is now his brand-new aunt. I had no idea he was listening." Kenny will concede that point.
"Which is why you need to be careful what you say around everyone. Especially small children. They repeat things easily."
"No," Alex said just at that moment.
"I've already had this speech from Betty. I'm not allowed to use the word bitch anymore in front of Alex."
"Be be be be be it" Alex tried to copy the curse word.
"You're only allowed to call Wilhelmina that Alex. Great, now I have to take a dollar out of my shoe jar." Kenny just looked at her for a moment.
"Remember the budget that you helped me create? I put $200 away every month for new shoes. Every time, I say a word I'm not supposed to and from of Alex I have to take a dollar out of the shoe money and put it in Alex's college fund." Kenny decided it was in his best interests not to ask how much money was still left in the shoe fund right now. He also had a feeling that Alex may be able to afford Ivy League considering how much Amanda curses sometimes, especially in the bedroom.
"I know you're a very outgoing person and I adore that about you but there's a time and a place to say stuff." Kenny told his girlfriend. He loves that Amanda is so exuberant but he is terrified that she may start telling his stepmom about their sex life and that would just be mortifying.
"And when we are watching Daniel's children, I probably should not mention anything about how dysfunctional the family is. I mean my mom did sleep with both of Alex's grandfathers." Okay he's really glad they're having this conversation now
"That's probably for the best. Also you may not want to mention that in front of my parents, either. There are a little conservative." There's a reason why he ended up being an accountant instead of an actor. Although years of working at MODE made him wary of pretty much all of it. Besides working at MODE came with lots of perks like still getting invited to the good parties, especially now that he's dating Amanda.
"So you're saying your parents are going to hate me?" Amanda asked on the verge of tears. Shit!
"I'm sure…" Grandma will wonder why couldn't bring home a nice Korean girl. She's still not happy about my dad marrying Erica. Everyone else will be okay. However, Kenny knew better than to say anything like that.
"Do you think I should change? I'm probably showing too much cleavage." Actually she wasn't. She was wearing one of the business suits that Faye got her.
"You look perfect." Besides they didn't have time for her to change again, especially because if Amanda changed she was probably going to change Alex again so they would still match. It was going to take at least an hour to get out to Jersey.
"You're beautiful and a lot smarter than a lot of people give you credit for. They will adore you. Now let's get out of here before Alex gets his outfit dirty," again.
"Of course. I can't wait to try it all the food. I've never had a Chinese Thanksgiving before."
"I'm of Korean ancestry. We've talked about this. There's a difference." And yet they were these moments that caused Kenny to start agreeing with Faye's hypothesis that she did way too many drugs before she realized that she was pregnant with Amanda.
"I know that but the food should be the same. It's that way at my favorite restaurant." Kenny just shook his head.
"That's because it is a Chinese Korean fusion place. Thanksgiving at my house is usually pretty…" Thanksgiving at my house is filled with judgmental people who will think you're a ditzy airhead even if you're not. "Maybe it's best if you just talk about being in design school. When it comes to design, you are a genius." He sighed just as he heard somebody at the door. Seconds later the door opened to let Amanda's mom, Daniel, and Betty entered the apartment. Mrs. Somers-Suarez looked as impeccable as ever but Betty was a mess.
"I need to change." Betty said angrily as she passed by him. She also smelled like the men's restroom in the accounting department, which is the entire reason why he uses the women's restroom at MODE. It doesn't smell like sewage.
"You may want to take a shower and use the really good body wash, the floral stuff. You should probably use two bottles and maybe some of the perfume samples." Amanda suggested. Betty glared at her before actually walking into her bedroom and slamming the door.
"Did you come to take Alex away from me?" Amanda asked once Betty was gone I can take care of him. He's still clean, I have two backup outfits, a week's worth of diapers, and snacks in case he doesn't like any of the food." That last part may actually be a good idea.
"Dad is making the turkey again this year, much to my mom's disappointment. She said he was going to try frying it again." Maybe he should make arrangements for pizza. Kenny hopes the fire department is not called out this time.
"Of course not. It's best if you and Kenny take Alex to Kenny's parent's house. We have a lot to do over the next couple of hours. I absolutely hate the fact that we actually are going to have to use Wilhelmina is ideal. This is the best place to do the shoot. I need a truffle." Before her heart attack she would ask for a drink now it was chocolate.
"What are you guys talking about?" Amanda asked confused.
"The Tim and Chloe shoot is going to have to take place here because the asshole…" Daniel started.
"As-as," and was promptly cut off by Alex mimicking the wrong word.
"Swear jar fund." Amanda said sternly.
"I know that Carlos destroyed the shoot. You told me when you asked me to come get Alex." There was a lot of Alex unfriendly language in that explanation.
"Not just the shoot, the lower levels of the Meade Publications building. Most of the subbasement is covered in raw sewage right now." Daniel explained.
"Gross." Amanda shivered.
"We well be lucky if the cleaning crew will be done by Monday." Faye sighed. "We cannot even go back in the building right now. Actually, we will be lucky if it's safe for us to be there Monday."
Being unaccounted Kenny was already going over the numbers in his head. This was going to be expensive. Most of it should be covered by insurance but not all of it.
"I am going to need to free up some emergency funds." Kenny finally said out loud.
"Tomorrow you, me, and Claire will have an emergency meeting about coming up with the funds to take care of this. But for tonight have a good time with your parents. Let's just not worry about it right now I'm sure the insurance will cover it but…"
"We need money to fix stuff now. I know you guys can't put off the Tim and Chloe shoot which means emergency shopping and getting a new location secured immediately." Kenny interrupted his boss.
"That's what black cards are for, Kenny. Right now, we can use the corporate cards to repurchase what we need for the shoot. Thankfully, I have friends at every fashion house in New York and I can get appropriate clothing for the shoot quickly. Because we are still using Justin's family Christmas idea we have a location and thankfully, Betty's landlord owes me a favor." Because they did not report him for being a slumlord once he actually made all the necessary repairs on the building. "Betty is going to make an emergency run to a Target somewhere in New Jersey for ornaments and stuff unless you happen to have a secret stash of Christmas stuff that your house we can borrow?"
"I don't think my tiny miniature Christmas tree is going to work." Kenny joked.
"Or my Mrs. Clause outfit. I was told it was inappropriate last year." Kenny has seen pictures of the infamous Mrs. Clause outfit from the Hudson Christmas party. He's hoping to see it in person this Christmas.
"Baby Alex did look cute wearing the hat but the rest of it wasn't that festive." Daniel said nicely. "Maybe I should go with her. I don't want her driving to New Jersey all alone." Faye is please and Kenny is rolling his eyes. Seriously, does this guy not get what he's doing?
"Especially because she can barely drives. Your arm is still in a sling and you're still a better driver than her." Amanda snickered.
"That's what happens when you grow up somewhere where owning a car is not necessary. I'll take care of it." Faye was smirking.
"Do you want us to take Alex overnight?" Kenny offered.
"No. He can stay with Ignacio and me at the hotel as soon as Marisol can get reservations. We probably will not be able to be back in the apartment for a week." Faye looked annoyed.
"Why can't you go back to your apartment?" Kenny asked just as Amanda asked, "Why can't you use the Suarez Christmas decorations?"
"After Carlo destroyed various sections of Meade Publications he went on to do the same thing to the Suarez-Somers' apartment building. Personally I'm shocked she hasn't hit my building because he's just that much of a di-word I can say around Alex."
"I refuse to live in a place with sewage in the basement until it's taking care of."
"Don't blame you." Kenny mumbled under breath.
"Actually, I refuse to live there at all. I was thinking about getting a new place. I just wish I did it before the property value went down 10%, due to what Carlo did." Faye said angrily.
"It's New York. It would take a catastrophe for prices to go down that much." Amanda remarked.
"The hard thing is it destroyed all of the Ignacio stuff from the old house that we were keeping in storage including the Suarez Christmas decorations." Faye added.
"Including the handmade stuff she made with her mom when she was in the hospital?" Amanda question.
"Shit!" Faye and Daniel exclaimed simultaneously.
"Sh-sh" Alex tried to repeat.
"And there's another dollar for the swear jar fund. It's a small miracle Alex first word was not the F word." Daniel sighed. "That explains why she ran in there to rescue one of the boxes."
"That the cleaning crew will have to throw away because its covered in things I don't think about." Faye shivered and Daniel looked really sad.
"Something you can't replace. Are you sure you don't want as to stay here?" Amanda offered.
"No have a good day with Kenny's family because tomorrow is going to be horrible for all of us. Kenny, you are the only accountant that I trust in a situation like this." Kenny was trying to decide if that was true because he was the only accountant that she actually trusted or because he was the only boyfriend of Amanda that she's ever actually like. He will take it either way.
"We have to leave now if we are going to get to Jersey by three."
"Have a good time. If you get done early head over to the restaurant. Thanksgiving is being moved there." Faye said before kissing her daughter and grandson goodbye.
Windom-West family holidays are usually disasters by nature. Somebody ends up drunk, somebody ends up crying in the bathroom, and somebody usually ends up getting arrested. Oh yes and her mom will criticize every single one of her life choices that have occurred since the last family get together, which usually leads to the crying or the drinking. The only time this did not happen was the year that Monique's husband died.
This year, they were adding the Slater's to this disaster waiting to happen, which increased the dysfunctional nature of the event exponentially. It doesn't say much when Wilhelmina is the sane one and the one she's least likely the punch. Renée doesn't like her because Senator Slater adores her and looks at Monique in a way that makes her wonder if the woman had her pills this morning. The Senator lives in his own little world where he treats both his daughter's like they are still five and he ignore them when cameras are not around or when they are in public.
Really…Monique is just pissed that Mercedes somehow managed to get out of this. There's no way she actually has the measles, it's just not possible. Yet mommy dearest believes it and that's all that matters. Really… Mercedes should be here for this verbal berating. Mercedes should be dealing with snide comments about her husband's alleged cheating if Monique was going to deal with snide comments about her new boyfriend.
"I must admit that Gio is sweet and he did bring very good wine. But he works at a deli. Even Jordan was a managing editor." Vivienne was saying nice things about Monique's dead husband, this is never a good sign.
"Gio is in culinary school and getting ready to start his own business. He knows food. He's just working at a deli right now to pay the bills. Actually, he is now the manager of that deli. Not all of us can be trust fund babies." Monique grabbed one of the canopies from the table.
"Which means he's from an entirely different world than you." Vivienne said that like it's a bad thing. What her mom never understood was Monique was never part of that trust fund babies country club set world. She was never accepted. To them, she will always be the maid's daughter.
"I just think that Daniel would be more well-suited for you." Monique just rolled her eyes. She has gone through this conversation multiple times since Halloween.
"As I've told you numerous times, Daniel and I were never really together. It was a business thing to help Daniel after somebody decided to reveal some of his college indiscretions." And keep the paparazzi from digging deeper and finding out about Alex. Not that she was going to explain this to her mom.
"Everyone experiments in college. Daniel slept with his tutor. I did a lot of pot. It's no big deal." That was like the only drug she did. Actually, if it wasn't for her not being completely trashed at Studio 54 one fateful night, Faye Somers probably would have never figured out who Amanda's biological father was. It was her mom who pointed the private detective in the right direction even though she refuses to give Monique the name. Monique is not going to push because as Amanda's fellow child of adoption she is well aware how sensitive the situation could be.
"Because you're from the same country club set, I know you have seen pictures of Claire Meade's grandson." Monique said realizing that she had no choice but to explain everything.
"Who looks exactly like Faye Somers grandson? I'm well aware of what's going on." Of course Vivienne you know. Vivienne Wyndham-West knows everything.
"I was only pretending to be with Daniel to provide a distraction so the press would not eviscerate baby Alex." Like I was. However, Monique doesn't say that. "It worked. Now there's so fixated me dumping him for the deli guy that they're not even questioning the identity of that toddler that hangs out with Daniel and his son a lot."
"I know you're upset because of the way the press treated you as a…" Monique cut her mom off abruptly because she really cannot deal with this conversation right now.
"I'm going to help Esmeralda with the Turkey." Monique got up from the table and the side she really did want to spend some time with Esmeralda. The woman was a sweetie pie and Monique does not know how she can still be working for Vivienne or rather, the new future husband. Now that Monique is making EIC money; maybe, she can afford to still Esmeralda away without having to touch her trust fund. She hates that money and only uses it when absolutely positively necessary.
"Your boyfriend is doing that. Even with the child, I still think that Daniel would've been a better…" That's when Monique's phone rang. This saved her from having to tell her mom that she couldn't be with Daniel because the guy was completely in love with somebody else.
"It's Nico," she said when she recognized the ring tone. "I probably should take this." Nico, you have excellent timing.
"I hate that her father wouldn't let her come here. He's a wretched human being." Thankfully, Monique had yet to actually answer the phone.
"That we agree on." Monique said just before pressing the talk button.
"Hey Nico. Do you need to talk to somebody…not crazy?" Or stupid because I'm pretty sure your stepmom has an IQ of 30.
"Actually, I need you to come pick me up from the Starbucks about a mile from my dad's house." Nico sounded almost on the verge of tears. That was not good.
"What do he do?" Because Monique knew that Nico's father did something stupid. She would not be this upset otherwise.
"So instead of a actual normal family Thanksgiving, his lawyer and his business manager were there to talk to me about investment opportunities and to convince me to make him the executor of my trust fund." Monique is not shocked at all to hear this just sad. Considering Wilhelmina's one concession to stop challenging Faye as the trustee was that Nico's father would not be allowed anywhere near the money it was obvious that the man was like this. It's just always painful when you realize how imperfect your parents really are. The fact that Wilhelmina was the good parent spoke to how sad the situation truly was.
"So your reaction was to leave?" As she said that, Vivienne took the phone out of Monique's hand and switched it to speaker mode. Of course, she was listening the entire time. That was such a Vivienne thing to do.
"My reaction was to pour mash potatoes over his head, after I told him that I was his daughter not an investment. Then he told me that the only reason why even married mom is because she refused to have an abortion and the Senator paid him off." Nico sounded as if she was on the verge of tears. The scary thing was Monique wonders at this was what actually happened. It seemed like something the Senator would do to keep up appearances.
"Nico, it's Vivienne. Don't listen to a thing that man says. It's all lies," Which is Vivienne code for 'that's exactly what happened but I'm trying to protect you from the awful truth by lying through my teeth '. "You're much too good for someone like that. Go order yourself a gingerbread hot chocolate and have a cookie. Your mom and Monique will come get you."
No Monique and Gio will be coming to get her because Monique cannot take a car ride with Wilhelmina that takes longer than a cab ride to Fashion Week. Only one would survive the car ride and Monique's hips are too wide for a prison jumpsuit. The top would just swallow her. Also, orange is not her color.
"I don't know if I should have a cookie. The trophy wife said I was getting fat." Okay that was way too far. Even Wilhelmina, the poster girl for eating disorders would not say that Nico.
"In that case, have two cookies." Monique added. "We will be there as soon as we can, Nico. I'll call you from the car." Monique quickly ended the call.
"I'll take Gio. Wilhelmina should spent some time with her sister." Before we have to take her back to Suncrest or whatever the name of the hospital is where she's being held.
"Nico needs her mom. She needs to know that at least one of her parents care about her since her father makes your father seem like a decent human being. Besides, your boyfriend is cooking. And considering his appetizers are this good, I can't wait to taste his turkey. It would be rude to interrupt him." 'You just want me to leave him here so you can interrogate him.' Monique thought to herself.
"Fine, I will take Wilhelmina but you may want to call the lawyers. They should be on standby in case I actually kill someone." Monique remarked casually.
"Don't waste your time on the bastard. I mean I'm sure the lawyers could get you off but he's just not worth it." The scary thing is Vivienne is completely serious.
"Fine," she said leaving to find Wilhelmina. On the bright side this would prevent her mom from bringing up Daniel again.
Monique found her least favorite colleague cursing out one of her underlings but Monique was not sure who. Really it could be anyone but Betty because Faye would eviscerate her for being that nasty to her stepdaughter.
"I've really don't give a fuck about what you were thinking. If you're going to take over the shoot, you replace Marc and Betty's stupid idea with an actual good idea, not a very dominatrix Christmas. You just proved that you were a vindictive bastard not that you know what you're doing." Although, maybe this person deserves being berated.
"Oh, trust me I know you did it, Carlo. So does Faye. If you're going to flood the basement of Meade Publications with raw sewage to destroy most of our props, don't get caught on fucking camera." She's not at all surprised it was Carlo. Nor was Monique surprise he was stupid enough to get caught on camera. The guy was merely a sycophant, with very few thoughts of his own.
"Oh, you didn't know about the cameras? I don't know why not. Bradford upgraded the security system after someone had Jordan pushed down a flight of stairs. That was well over a year and a half ago." It was interesting how she said 'someone' as if she had no idea who pushed Jordan down the stairs. This was strange because she had no idea Monique was listening. Should she say 'I pushed Jordan down the stairs' unless she actually was not involved? Carlo was. Everyone knows that he was the one who gave that dress to the courier used to pay for the hit even if the courier was quickly deported afterwards. He had to be working for Wilhelmina, right?
"You should be happy you're just getting fired, Carlo. You should be happy I'm the one doing it. Faye wants to use real fire." That doesn't surprise Monique at all.
"What you did was stupid and dangerous. You also ended up destroying my center spread shoot for Wednesday. I'm not going to save your job at the risk of my own just because we used to sleep together. The last time was a mistake. I was upset about Bradford's death and the fight we had before the heart attack. Maybe if we didn't fight he would…" Wait, is Wilhelmina actually upset about Bradford's death? Okay, obviously she must know that Monique is there.
"I'm with Ted now. Besides, I will not be with somebody who destroy my magazine because Marc managed to point out the truth. One controlling ex-husband was enough. Be grateful Faye is giving you the chance to start over. Besides nobody gets the fuck with Daniel but me." That was when Wilhelmina ended the phone call.
"Did you actually fire Carlo via phone call?" Wilhelmina was so startled by the sound of her voice that she actually dropped her phone. Maybe Wilhelmina had no idea she was there.
"I'm getting you a designer bell to where." Wilhelmina remarked coldly. "Listening to other people's conversations is rude. However, if you spent that time checking your blackberry you would know that Carlo did so much damage to the Mead publications building that no one will be able to go when until Monday at the earliest. Although your magazine wasn't hurt that bad since you probably don't have anything in the storage area."
"Actually most of our office furniture was down there because they were still trying to fix the water damage caused by Amanda and Kenny's afternoon delight. I'm going to need to call Faye on the way to get Nico." Monique sighed to herself.
"Why do we need to get Nico? What did her father do?" Apparently, Wilhelmina knew her ex-husband well.
"Be a bastard. You know the usual. He only wanted Nico there so he could convince her to invest in one of his crazy business ventures and to let him have control over her trust fund."
"Mother fucking asshole." Wilhelmina growled.
"He also told Nico that only reason he married you and the first place is because the Senator paid him off and you refuse to have an abortion." For just a moment Wilhelmina looked absolutely furious. Monique has never seen the woman this furious before.
"Of course he did. We'll take my car. It's nicer." She said walking back into the house most likely to get her purse.
"It's going to be a long drive." Monique remarked before following behind. Now she just had to tell Gio that she was leaving him to the familial wolf so she could rescue Nico from an even worse situation. He may break up with her for this.
"Can I come in?" Daniel asked as he softly knocked on her door moments after Betty got out of the shower. Anyone else she would ask them to wait until she was no longer in a towel with Daniel she lets him right in. She doesn't even bother to blush. They've known each other too long for that.
"I could come back in a minute." Daniel offered insincerely. Betty could tell he was being insincere because he kept looking at her breast and there was this part of her that like that, even if it drove her crazy. They were not together anymore and that was his decision this time around.
"You have seen me naked before." Betty said nonchalantly.
"Yes but only recently in the form of that topless picture you accidentally sent me when we first met -I mean-let me get you a sweater out of the closet." Daniel was flustered. She wasn't sure exactly what to make of that.
"My official Thanksgiving outfit is in the closet on the outer hook." Betty said pointing to the outfit that Amanda put together the day before.
"You mean the backup outfit. I thought you were already wearing your Thanksgiving outfit when…" Daniel trailed off as he pointed to the pile of clothing currently in a trashcan.
"I tried to rescue my glitter Santa." Betty finished for him taking the dress out of his hand.
"While you were showering Amanda pointed out that a lot of things Carlo destroyed were Christmas decorations that you made for your mom. I'm sorry about that. I know that stuff was really important to you." They were the only pieces she still had of her mom other than her necklace.
"Not just Christmas decorations practically everything including this newsletter I made for mom when she went into the hospital for the first time. I don't know why I left the things in storage." Betty told him as she sat down on her bed. She felt like crying again. Why didn't she move everything here like she wanted to? She told herself that she could do it when school was over in a couple of weeks. But now that was no longer an option. Procrastinating cost her in this case.
"I understand why you're upset." Daniel sat beside her and placed an arm around her. "DJ has a lot of decorations and other mementos that he made with Lucy and I think he would be heartbroken, if they were destroyed."
"Did you call to see if Carlo did anything to your building?" Because Betty could see Carlo hurting others. Maybe she should go over to Marc's apartment to see if everything is okay there?
"I already did. Everything still fine. Besides I don't even think Carlo knows where I live now. Even the paparazzi haven't figured it out yet." Betty believed that was a small miracle.
"That's good. At least he didn't hurt both of us." Betty said sadly.
"I wish I could say something to make you feel better. I know that's not possible. I'm well aware of I can't replace the stuff you made with Rosa but we can make new stuff, as a family. We could do family decorations tomorrow. I would love to see a new glitter Santa and I almost think DJ is mature enough to use a glue gun." Daniel joked.
I'm not entirely sure about that. He sprayed a bunch of reporters was silly string yesterday." That was already all over YouTube.
"They deserve it. Also Alex likes things that are shiny. Our baby was made for glitter."
"Alex likes everything especially being covered in glitter. I just don't like washing it out of his hair." She shook her head.
"Do I want to know?"
"Amanda's glitter nail polish is the reason why there's a new carpet in here and Alex had to have his first haircut a little early."
"I remember that picture. We will get the washable stuff tonight at Target."
"So you're going with me to Target tonight?" Betty asked with eyebrow cocked.
"Of course. You shouldn't be driving all the way out there so late at night by yourself." She was going to invite her sister that after receiving several angry text messages from Hilda about Betty not pulling her own weight regarding Thanksgiving made Betty not want to ask.
"When Alex starts grabbing everything off the shelf and putting it in his mouth you can deal with it; although maybe, if we get lucky and Alex will fall asleep on the way to Target. I need to look up which ones the closest in Jersey."
"First, Faye said that she would keep Alex tonight which means we only have to bring DJ, who will begin his early campaign to get every Christmas gift imaginable." There goes using Alex as a buffer. DJ is just not as effective because the preteen will leave the couple to their own devices, not that they were actually a couple.
"That makes DJ slightly easier to shop for then Alex." Betty remembered the hours they spent trying to find the perfect birthday present last September.
"Why should we go to New Jersey? Remember, our first date with you refusing to let me by your stuff at Target and you treating me to Nathan's? I like that mall."
"You count that as our first date?" Betty asked kind of surprised.
"Even though my brother is not dead anymore and now my sister, I don't think I can count a funeral or helping to clean out her apartment as a date." Betty could understand. Those first few weeks with Daniel are the reason it took her so long to forgive Alexis for lying. However, Alex missing his favorite babysitter made her eventually get over it.
"I don't either."
"I'll get you a churro or we could go to one of the restaurants upstairs. Think of this as our second first date." He smiled at her.
"Second first date?" She raised an eyebrow.
"I want to start over. I know we love each other but we both have done a lot of stupid things."
"Like mean not telling you about what Wilhelmina blackmailing me." Betty added.
"Or at the very least not telling me about Alex's paternity when you realize that the earlier DNA test was fake. I will be the first to acknowledge that running off to the Hamptons immediately after finding out the truth was in bad form. We should've talked then or at the very least we should've really talk things out once I took over MODE. Instead, we've been going back and forth these last few months and that's not good for us and it's not good for Alex."
"Don't forget punching out Gio. That was not good for anyone." It's been a month and she still can't believe he did that.
"I'm not entirely sure that was really a mistake. Monique got a nice boyfriend out of it and I'm getting really good at using my other hand." He points to his sling. "Just two more weeks."
"That's good."
"We can't really start over completely because we have Alex but maybe, today can mark a new beginning. Can we please just begin rebuilding us?"
She wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that. She loves Daniel. She always will but they have things to work through. But how are they going to work through those things if they're not speaking to each other. However before she could say anything her towel dropped.
"Your towel seem amenable to the idea."
"That was about as intentional as that first topless picture I sent you." She said not even bothering to pull up the towel. That was when she realized that at this point in their relationship there was no point in hiding things.
"I would love to start over but how do we do that?" There was so much baggage. So much hurt feelings. She lied to him. How do they move on? How do they move forward? She wasn't sure.
"Let me buy you a churro at Target and we will take it from there." She was just about to answer Daniel with a kiss when her stepmom chose that moment to open the door.
"As much as I would love new grandchildren, this is not the time to work on them. Daniel take care of that in the bathroom and Betty put some pants on. Ignacio will be very angry if we're not at the restaurant in an hour and if you take after either one of your fathers, this will not be a short encounter." Faye walked out of the room not even bothering to shut the door.
"No need to go to the bathroom now. I may not be able to have sex for weeks." Daniel said with a shiver.
"That was the point. You two need to talk to each other, really talk to each other before you fall into bed again. Just sex relationships don't work." Faye called from the living room. "You can talk over turkey. Get dressed." Betty shook her head but she knows that Faye may have a point. Maybe the biggest problem with her relationship with Daniel is it has always been intense, jumping from one extreme to the other.
"That was embarrassing and we weren't really doing anything."
"I don't think she actually believes that mostly because you're not wearing a bra. I love that but…"
"Get dressed." Faye called out from the hallway again.
"Can you just grab me a bra before she walks back in here again?" At that Daniel got up from the bed and walks over to her dresser. What does it say that he knew exactly what drawer to go to?
"Black lace or scary white nursing bra." Daniel held up two choices. They really need to speed up the weaning timetable. She almost had breast-feeding down to a bedtime thing only.
"Black lace." Betty heard a voice that sounded a lot like her sister call out from the living room.
"You have Hilda on speakerphone?" Betty asked not surprised at all. This whole afternoon just became even more mortifying. At this point, she was actually tomato red.
"Of course, she has me on speakerphone. I'm the one who's trying to help our father put this Thanksgiving dinner together. Just be happy we were able to salvage the…What the fuck are you doing here?" They heard Hilda yell just as the phone went dead.
To be continued