"Willie!" Marc ran into Wilhelmina's hospital quarters, his arms flailing dramtically in a coveted direction before stopping in front of her bed, his eyes wide. "I need your advice...I need you to be your up-most bitchy self...Tell me the truth." Oblivious to what had just happened, he continued and took her stare to be her normal self. "Dr. Smith just asked me on a date and I said YES! I don't know what to do...Should I stand him up or-"
"I think my marriage is over." Wilhelmina spoke up numbly, looking up to her dearest friend. She shook her head in defiance, shrugging a bit as her body came under the order of her emotions. Clasping her hands over her eyes, she let out an exasperated gasp that began a scene that Marc had never seen or expecected. Wilhelmina was not a crier nor was she a person that was fond of emotions. The only times that you could catch her releasing any type of feeling was for her kids. She cried for Izak and she cried for Nico...never a man. What reason would she have to lessen herself to nothing more then an X chromosome who shed tears? She wasn't like anyone else! She was practically her own species, counting the unique way her mind worked and the way she did things. She was Wilhelmina Slater...And that's why the pain she felt was unlike anything else...Because she was unlike anyone else.
Unprepared and unsure of what to do, he felt his hands slowly begin to engulf her within his arms, a move he would normally wouldn't try. Expecting to pull back a nub or a purple nipple, his surprise only heightened when her body leaned into his, her sobbing growing more intense. This now assured him that...It probably was over.
OoO
OoO
Rather then put her through any more hell, Daniel chose to stay at a hotel and avoid her at all costs per her requests. She rejected his calls, returned mail back to him and never answered his text messages. He hadn't seen Izak and the closest thing to companionship he had was his pillow and even that left him during house keeping. Claire wanted to talk some sense into him but he wouldn't let her, refusing any contact with his mother to avoid the inevitable talk about Tyler. He just wanted to be alone with his thoughts, by him self without the critiques of the world running down his shoulder. Wilhelmina stayed at home, refusing contact with anyone upon her own request. She was determined to spend time with Izak, recover and make Daniel Meade feel like the shit that never dares to get stuck on the bottom of her shoe.
But just to make sure that everything was okay, Marc stayed with her, blabbing about his date with Dr. Smith and the fact that he likes him. That specific Sunday morning, he was at the office wrapping up the book when a familiar face popped up at the Slater apartment.
"Tyler?" Wilhelmina questioned, still in her robe with Izak by her side, clutching at her leg.
The young man sighed, running over his tired red eyes with his hand, shrugging as his hands find the deep depths of his pocket, his body rocking from side to side. "Y-You said to-to call you...if I needed you..."
OoO
Marc swung the door close, seeing something flinch on the couch, disturbed by the loud noise. He lifted the blanket that covered him on the couch and scrunched up his newly touched up eyebrows before yelling Willie's name, much to their guests disdain.
Wilhelmina appeared in the hall, Izak still at her side. "I don't think a part of my recovery is you calling me back and forth."
"Neither is housing Amanda's boy toy, why is he here?"
Wilhelmina motioned for him to come in the hallway, pass the double doors. "He's an alcoholic..."
"So, what does that have to do with you?"
"After being pumped up with Morphine I told him to call me if he needed me and he showed up at my doorstep...Claire apparently lied about Hartley being his father and he caught her and now the kid went and drunk..."
"Do you think its safe having..." He looked down momentarily to Izak who had his arms stretched out in a yearn to be picked up."...Especially with a baby walking around here."
"I honestly don't know but...Claire messed him up and for some inane reason...I feel bad for him."
"Willie!" Marc screeched, lifting Izak onto his shallow hip. "Where is your selfishness, your bitchiness, you diva?"
"I told you that it was the morphine!"
OoO
"Mom I don't want you here." Daniel responded monotonously, rubbing at his sleepy eyes as he stood in the way of the hotel door.
"Daniel...We need to talk." She pushed him out of the way and into the room. "Do they offer room service here?" She questioned, looking around at the disheveled room. "And what died-"
"Mom, leave."
"Daniel...you are making a huge mistake...Obviously Wilhelmina doesn't want you to g-"
"Mom she told me to go and that when I got back she wouldn't be there...She doesn't want me..."
"Daniel."
"Mom, it's over." He went to the door and opened it once again, wanting her to leave.
"I lost Tyler."
"Mom I don't care."
"You should...He is your brother and I think he has been talking to Wilhelmina."
"Why?"
"I think she is trying to convince him to ask for money and just leave."
"He should."
"Daniel...Can you please just go by her house...check."
"Tomorrow before I leave..."
"Daniel."
"Tomorrow!"
OoO
Tyler and Izak sat on Wilhelmina's couch, enjoying a hearty game of football as Wilhelmina finally got some sleep since Izak decided not to be so attached that day. Marc watched him from a distance though. He didn't trust him that well and he didn't expect much from him considering he was an alcoholic. Before he could muster anymore evil thoughts, the door opened and he almost sprinted over the counter.
"Wilhelmina doesn't want to see you." Marc barked as Daniel entered the house.
"What the fuck are you doing in my house? Daniel questioned, pointing a finger towards Tyler.
Tyler stood and Izak squirmed off the couch, running as fast as he could with his new found hobby of walking. "DADDY!"
He fell a couple times but got back up until he could reach his father, Daniel lifting him effortlessly in the air as soon as he reached him.
"Look Daniel, I don't know what's going on between you and your wife and it's not my business-"
"You're damn right it's not your business...Matter-a-fact Where is my wife?"
"In the bedroom."
Daniel handed Izak roughly to Marc, heart pulsating and blood boiling. "What do you mean In the Bedroom......Are you trying to ruin my family."
"Daniel it's not like that I ju-"
Angrily Daniel swung on him and tackled him onto the couch, both rolling around on the coffee table like angry dogs before they heard Wilhelmina's angry voice, coming from a far.
"What the hell is going on in here?" She came walking in, her only concern being a screaming Izak, tears streaming down his face upon seeing such a thing. Her eyes turned away from Daniel, not even saying a word as she grabbed Izak and he buried his head in the crook of her neck. She left immediately, not even responding to the two men as they got up and Daniel's anger went on overload upon hearing her voice that was not directed at him. He was now bleeding, glass up his arm as Tyler held his bleeding nose.
"I think you should leave." Marc spoke up.
"Yea you should." Daniel looked to Tyler.
"No." Marc pointed to Daniel. "You should leave."
"Marc this is MY house! M-"
"Wilhelmina doesn't want to see you...Just do her a favor and...leave." Daniel growled angrily, not wanting to leave but inside him only wanting her happiness. He moved from the wreckage and went to the door, slamming it behind him just a mere 24 hours before his flight was scheduled to take off.
OoO
That next day Marc followed Willie around as she grabbed things in preparation for her leave, ultimately scattering Marc's brain. "Willie are you sure?" Marc questioned, taking Izak from her.
Wilhelmina grabbed her purse and buttoned her coat, fixing a hair from her face. "I need to work right now...I can't stay in this place forever."
"But what about Daniel."
"I'm not going to live my life around if and when I see him...Plus I need to talk to Claire."
"About what?"
"None of your business! All you need to know is that Izak needs to be changed." She answered before walking out the door, Marc grimacing as he held Izak farther away from him.
OoO
Wilhelmina sat at her desk, practically sulking in her own mess. She didn't know what to do or what to say. She was kidding herself when she thought that she would be able to work. Every photo she saw and every proof she read reminded her of that pasty man. She cursed him under her breath for having such a hold on her. People whispered as they passed, wondering about the state of their relationship since Daniel was leaving and Wilhelmina was back to work already after surgery. Gossip surged and she paid it no attention, her only focus at that point being a blank screen on her computer.
"Mom."
She looked up immediately, knowing the limited percentage of the world that can call her that. Ariel smiled, looking gorgeous in blue Cavalli that she knew her mother would approve of. Instantly Wilhelmina got up and embraced her, having not seen her daughter in almost 6 months following her visit to the Senator's mansion and fallout with Nico.
"What are you doing here?"
"I have actually been in New York for a while...I was trying to find a job and I failed...But then I just found out that you were in the hospital and I wanted to know if you were alright. And I also thought it strange when I heard that Daniel was leaving for Paris today."
"That's a conversation for another time." She smiled in an attempt to hide the pain that she felt. Smiling weakly, she pulled her daughter into another hug that she desperately needed.
Holding onto her mother, Ariel suddenly felt awkward, remembering what she is normally like. "Why all the hugging?"
Quickly Willie pulled away, recoiling from a very near emotional moment. "You come back from death twice, you start to appreciate things." She joked, trying to add humor to a serious situation. "By the way...about your job hunt."
"I know, I know...I'm Wilhelmina Slater's daughter, I should be able to get a job but mom, no one knows I exist!"
"No...that's not what I was about to say...I promoted Marc about 6 months ago and I haven't had an assistant since then..."
"Are you offering me to be your assistant?"
"If that's what you want."
"Mom, I don't know what to say." Ariel dropped her purse beside her chair and sat down across the desk from Wilhelmina, shell shocked. "Are you sure this won't compromise our relationship?"
"No." Ariel sulked and Wilhelmina covered her hand from across the desk, looking her in the eyes she gave her. "But then again, what in the hell do I know?"
They both laughed and Ariel stood, picking up her purse. "Then I accept."
Willie stood as well, smiling. "You start on Monday."
"...I was going to go on a 5k Breast Cancer Walkthat day..." Wilhelmina squinted and Ariel recoiled, laughing nervously. "But then again, Susan G. Komen can wait..."
OoO
Daniel sat on his hotel bed, staring at his luggage for hours on end, time wasting and minutes passing. His flight was at 10pm and was now 12pm...But he still hadn't made up his mind on if he'd go or not. One side of him needed a break, a vacation from the stress while the other side only wanted to be in bed lying with his wife, her head on his chest, just lying together, living together, breathing together...loving together. Instead he laid on the Temperpedic mattress of the Amsterdam, now on his 4th hour of trying to figure out a Rubix Cube. His mind over matter match was halted when the doorbell rang and a familiar voice called his voice. He jumped off the bed and went to the door, his abdomen immediately greeted by a heavy stack of magazines.
"Are you dense?" Betty questioned, walking into his room. "And what died?"
"Aren't you in a pleasant mood today?"
"Daniel this isn't funny! Every magazine out there is announcing you and Wilhelmina's divorce and showing records of how you called your lawyer and are sharing custody for Izak and how it's the reason you're going to Fran-"
"Betty-"
"And you know what, I will be there for you if it's true but what hurts the most is the fact that you didn't even tell me any of this-"
"BETTY!" He yelled, dropping the magazines on the floor. "I called my lawyer to confirm our buy of Star! Magazine."
"Meade brought Star!? Daniel that's huge."
"I know and I don't know if I should leave my mom to handle all the merging details."
"You're worried about the merging details?" She lifted a brow and he nodded, prompting her to smack him upside the head.
"Betty you need to stop doing that!"
"Daniel...You haven't left for the airport yet because you don't want to leave your wife...You don't want to leave your son...You have a family here and you're battling the old Daniel and the new Daniel!"
"Betty, I'm not Bipolar...There is only one Daniel-"
"Not like that! The old Daniel that partied hard, got into BAR FIGHTS and slept with women more than he brushed his teeth-"
"Hey!"
"And then there is the new Daniel...the one who is married to most unexpected person in the world, but I digress...The Daniel who has a child he loves, a wife he adores and I company to run...The old Daniel wants to run away but the new Daniel...loves his family too much to leave them...Daniel...you have to make a decision...because knowing Wilhelmina she's not going to wait forever."
OoO
"Lift your chin Zola!" Wilhelmina barked at the incredibly small model, showcasing her unique specimen in their oriental shoot. Despite her impressive looks, Wilhelmina was less then pleased with her modeling skills. "I said lift your chin not smell your back!"
"Wilhelmina we need to talk." Claire spoke up from behind her.
Wilhelmina spun around and smiled. "Claire I didn't expect-"
"Wilhelmina you look like you just had surgery, why are you here?"
"You look 103, why are you not dead?"
"Playing nice today?"
"Claire, what's the problem? I thought that we had settled our little banter."
"We did until you started screwing with my family." Claire inched closer, prompting Wilhelmina to stand even firmer than before, determined not to allow some scrawny old neck bone push her around.
"Excuse me?"
"You let Tyler drink and you're housing him probably allowing him to clean out the liquor cabinet and then you are letting Daniel go to France like you don't even care! Was this the plan all along? Make him fall in love with you and then push him to another continent so that you can have Mode all to yourself?"
"I let Tyler drink? Push him? Alexis is the one tha-" Wilhelmina pinched the bridge of her nose carefully, growing irritated. "You know what Claire, I don't need this...If you have complaints go see Satan, my boss."
Wilhelmina turned around and Claire reached for her shoulder. "I'm not done-" Reflexes brought Wilhelmina's hand back, ultimately swatting Claire into the pool. Claire bobbed up and down, now drenched as Wilhelmina covered her mouth, hiding her laugh. Noticing this, Claire pulled at her foot, causing Willie to fall and slip into the pool right with her. Wilhelmina's anger boiled over and she grabbed Claire's hair as they brawled just like Tyler and Daniel. All the anger over the week had come to a heated pointed and Willie's hands circled Claire's neck as Claire did the same to Willie, both now choking each other.
"Let Go!" Claire exclaimed brassily as Security jumped into the pool to restrain the women.
"You first Casper!" Wilhelmina retorted, feeling attacked by the older woman.
"Mom let her go!" Wilhelmina looked to her left to see Ariel coming down the stairs after being alerted by Mode security. Losing her concentration, with one final tug the men were able to pull her away. Wilhelmina pulled away from security and was offered a hand by Ariel.
"Mom what the hell is wrong with you! You just had surgery!"
"Minimally invasive..." She whispered, watching Claire walk out with the escort of security as she continued to try and jump Wilhelmina.
"Still!"
"Just take me home!" Wilhelmina barked, Ariel being caught off guard by the sound of breaking in her voice, a side of vulnerability that she had never witnessed in her mother. "Just take me home..."
OoO
"Apparently...Wilhelmina and your mother choked each other..."
"To death?"
"No." Betty shook her head, chuckling a bit as she sat with Daniel.
"Betty this isn't funny...Now they're back to where they started! Do you know how long it took to get them to where they were?"
"Well Daniel it's your fault."
"How is it my fault?"
"Well you bought your mother into the middle of a fight between you and your wife...As a mother, Claire wants to protect you and doing so she oversteps her boundaries and...chokes...your wife."
"That's not my fault!"
"Daniel...You brought her into the fight...Take her out."
"How?"
"Go to Mode...Tonight, before your flight go to Mode and fix it before it breaks any further."
OoO
Wilhelmina traipsed through her apartment; hair frizzed and dress tight as well from the dry water. Ariel left her alone per her request, letting her roam the empty apartment. Marc and Izak were at a Fashion Show and Tyler was wherever...She just wanted some peace and quiet. She just wanted to be by herself, mull over her thoughts, and curse the day Claire Meade was born...but then again…If there was no Claire there would be no Daniel...She would have never experienced the unfounded love of a man that she hadn't known existed. She wouldn't have known what a good man was...And she wouldn't have felt what real pain is.
Remembering her day as she walked slowly to the hallway she realized that the book was still at Mode and it was supposed to be annotated by the morning. She called Ariel and got no response, Marc no response and didn't even bother for Betty. Mumbling under her breath, she made up her mind to take matters into her own hands, shower, do her hair, redress and go get the book herself. Before making it to her bedroom, something distinct stuck out at her. It was an open drawer that had a safety lock on it. Immediately she ran to it and opened the box inside to find that it was empty...Her gun was gone.
OoO
Not caring about their fight. Not caring about their spat. Not caring about their hate. Only caring about her husband's mother, she made it to Mode, refreshed and knowing that Claire would have returned to Mode. It was now 7pm and the sun had set, casting a shadow on the friendly inhabitants on the sky that began on shallow ground. After drinking in the city, she made it inside the Meade building and up to Mode's floor, seeing a single light on in the conference room. Out of breath and out of the ordinary she rushed in and slapped her hands on the round circle, startling Claire.
"Come to slit my throat too?" Claire spat, stapling together notes for her next meeting.
"Claire I didn't come to fight although that suggestion is quite tempting...I am here...to warn you."
"Warn me?" Claire scoffed. "What are you getting at?"
"Tyler...I think he has my gun."
"That's preposterous!"
"Claire I am serious...he's dangerous a-"
"She's right!"
They both turned around to see a stumbling Tyler, red eyed with bags under them. He looked crazy and of course, was toting Willie's white gun. They stepped back and Claire gasped lightly, feeling as guilty as OJ Simpson.
"Tyler...honey..."
"NO!" He yelled, wielding the gun in every direction. "You lied to me! You said that my father was a druggie you met in rehab! He's a billionaire whose face is on the cover of Time Magazine!"
"Tyler, I was protecting you-"
"From your fortune? I don't want your money! I just wanted someone to be honest with me and love me! Just love me! And you couldn't give me that-"
"Tyler, I do love you..."
"Lie!" He shouted in protest of what she said, All of his life, passed onto an alcoholic mother, he suffered. He was neglected, unloved, discarded and tossed aside. He didn't know how to love and he didn't know how to accept it. He expected people to lie...People...Not his so called family. His perception of family was shaped by the media's image of family values and love and HONESTY...This is the only model that he had of a real family because the family he had...was just like temporary housing. So when he felt like he finally had a family...And she lied to him...She became people...And for him, people were easily discarded.
"Tyler..." Wilhelmina stepped forward, her hands trembling. "I know you're hurting...but I also know that Claire loves you...She was only...only trying to protect you...You don't want to do this...You don't want to lose the one person who loves you...I know...how it feels." She looked down, the pain of her experience, being almost too much to bare as a knot churned in her stomach. "You don't want to go through that...Just...give me the gun."
Everything happened so quickly...So fast...So unexpectedly...So unplanned. As Tyler went to hand Willie the gun, his vision blurred by way of tears and when his finger moved to turn on the safety, he pulled the trigger instead. But the bullet didn't hit who they expected.
Wilhelmina groaned under the pressure of this 200 pound weight that laid upon her and the pain of her head after being pushed to the ground. She winced, not paying attention until she saw blood dripping down her dress, staining her blue Cavalli a violet purple.
"Daniel!" Claire yelled, getting down on bended knee to check on her son.
Wilhelmina's eyes bulged out, hearing his name and realizing that he was the weight that she heaved beneath. His torso fell to her lap and she lifted him, realizing that the push she felt was him...He pushed her out of the way...He literally...took a bullet for her.
OoO
Their eyes locked continuously, the only thing in their focus being each other and the seas of blue that were their tools of sight. Silence was the atmosphere if you exempted the occasional nurse murmur as she patched up Daniel's arm with an ace bandage, the wound only being a graze. But as soon as she was done, and had left them alone to fend off the paparazzi that had heard about the shooting, it was just them.
"Willie we need to ta-" He could barely speak before she had stood and took a hold of his face, setting him off with a meeting of passion between their lips. He felt her nibble softly on his bottom lip. He felt her climb into the bed he sat and straddle his waist so that when they pulled apart she was the only thing he saw. With her pants her legs curved underneath her own self as she sat in the seat of his lap, thumbs caressing at the puff of his cheek. He looked at her in shock, seeing the tears begin to well as she looked at him, the softest expression he'd ever seen her give. The most vulnerable, she had ever been with him...
"I was wrong." She continued to stroke his face with both hands, attempting to suppress her emotions over her once again, brush with death. "You are nothing like them." Her head dipped as she remembered the men that she compared him to and cursed herself silently. "If you want to go, you can go and I will be here when you get back."
"Willie, my flight left 2 hours ago...I'm not going anywhere...I couldn't do it...I called your driver and he said that you were at Mode and I had to tell you that I...I couldn't do it." He looked away, getting choked up as well. Willie's hand reached at his chin and turned him back to her so that she could see that solemn tear run down his face. "Don't hide from me...Show yourself to me, show me who you are...Let me see the man that I fell in love with."
He wrapped his good arm around her waist and laid his head on her chest, the tender touch she had with his hair being enough to soothe him. Kissing the top of his head briefly, she held him tight, shaking her head as a few tears fell. "You saved my life...You sacrificed-"
He lifted his head, pressing a finger to her mouth. "It wasn't a sacrifice...Life would not have been worth living...If I had lost you..." He lowered his head shortly and looked back up, a smirk on his face. "I would catch a grenade for you..." He sang horribly with his raspy voice, earning a smile from her that he hadn't seen in a long time. "Jump in front of a train for you..."
She lifted his lips to hers once again, pulling him away after only a few seconds. "And baby I would do the same."
OoO
Claire entered her son's hospital room promptly as Wilhelmina had left to sign a few documents of report as a statement to the police in which she intended to, of course, lie. As he put on his blazer with one arm, Claire stepped forward and helped him with his injured side. "I was so worried."
"Don't worry...We are not going to tell anybody about Tyler's involvement."
"I was talking about you and if I had to be worried it would be about Wilhelmina saying spmething."
"Mom..."
"Hmmm?"
"Let go."
She looked at him incredulously and he stared back confidently, only wanting the best for her. "What are you talking about?" she crossed her arms over her chest, changing her stance.
"See? Right there, you just got defensive because you knew that I was talking about Wilhelmina."
"You mean the antichrist?"
"Mom, she's my wife."
"Honey your marriage can't be legal; she's already married to the devil."
"Mom stop it! If you two can't learn to get along without stopping your relationship over a fight between me and her or me and you then we are going to have a problem."
"Well then Daniel we have a problem...Today you pushed her out of the way and took a bullet for her...Did she even care?"
"Mom, of course she did."
"Daniel...believe what you want but Wilhelmina is never going to change." Claire shrugged in denial and walked towards the door, stopping as Daniel spoke once again.
"You're wrong...She already has."
OoO
After the disastrous shooting two nights ago in this very building, Fashion Gossipers everywhere want to know just what went down among these white and orange walls. Sources report that only Claire Meade and her daughter-in-hate Wilhelmina Slater were there to witness the incident involving their common boy toy: Danny Meade. Due to recent reports that the couple was splitting after Daniel's dramatic and abrupt announcement to leave Meade for a year to go travel abroad ne' his Wife and step-son, rumors swirled that it was Wilhelmina who shot her husband claiming that if she can't have him, Europe can't either. Other sources say that Mama Meade was aiming for her daughter-in-hate and missed, ultimately grazing her baby boy. As a close friend of the Meades I, Suzuki St. Pierre, am here to give you all the deets about that fiasco and what exactly went down that fierce October night.
As they stepped off of the elevator Wilhelmina felt Daniel's hands entangle with hers, preparing themselves for the swarm of reporters that awaited them at the press conference. Swarming through the crowd, his hand snaked around her waist to pull her closer to him and farther from the reporters as they attempted to close in on the couple. Betty watched meticulously, far away but still with a primitive eye. Something inside her realized, as she watched him care for his wife in such a way, that...he had finally grown up. His mind had caught up with his circumstances and maturity had prevailed over the rascal that attempted to show up the previous week and new Daniel...was there to stay.
Silence fell over the crowd as Wilhelmina, stepped back and allowed Daniel to have all of the attention. They soon realized that this was real just by her small gesture. Normally she would have been all over the mic, explaining the situation out of fear that Daniel might say the wrong thing. But he was no longer a child, he was a man and she had to treat him as such. So she let him take the wheel on that one, pride swelling her heart when she watched him command the office, his persona: A true business man.
"Ladies and Gentlemen I am well aware of your busy schedules so for the sake of the Publishing industry I will make this short. Before we discuss the recent details I would like to announce some imperative details about Meade Publications. Effective Immediately, Meade Publications welcomes two New Publications: Star! and MODE: France. To manage this abroad I will be taking 3 days a month to keep the state of the magazine running considering the capable hands that have been chosen to run this new branch. In reference to out Flagship original MODE will now be handled by the new sole Editor-In-Chief Wilhelmina Slater while I take over the legacy that my father left by becoming the Sole President of Meade Publications Incorporated." Responding positively, they clapped yet only wanted to hear the good stuff. "Now as of late, many of you have begun a licentious rumor surrounding the state of my marriage and the cause of the shooting. First and foremost...I was not shot by my wife nor was I shot by mother...It was me." The crowd gasped in confusion, reading the looks of their peers to play off of their reactions. "I was cleaning my wife's gun for her and I was a fool...I shot myself, grazing my left bicep but all is well and my wound is very minimal...There was no drama that night." They seemed disappointed but knew that there was more to come. "Lastly, I would like to address the rumors that I mentioned beforehand concerning my marriage. Let me be clear. " He pointed back to Wilhelmina who was caught off guard, not expecting a reference. "I love that woman...HER! I love Wilhelmina Slater and I will manually shut down any Publication that dares to say otherwise...We do not appreciate the dissection and invasive nature that the press has taken in an effort to cast my marriage as a sham...because it's not and anyone who does not believe me..." He folded his hands over the podium and smiled at them, all the while cursing them all. "Can kiss my ass."
He stepped down to gasps and whispers, his hand extending to Willie before she took it, surprised, humored, happy, all of the above. She didn't know what to think other than how proud she was and how well she coached him. This time as they walked through the crowd, no one crowded them and no one bombarded them. It was as if a sudden respect was given to their relationship and the crowd paved a path that lead them back to his office. Marc watched happily, a part of him brought to tears over the fact that his boss had finally found...happiness. And that gave him hope...Hope he had missed for a long time. Amanda watched with Tyler, looking up at him, knowing what had went down that night after he told her and relieved that he didn't get put away for what he did. Relieved that she could have a relationship with the person...who she thought was the one. Claire watched in anger, not at Wilhelmina or Daniel but at herself. She couldn't let go and she had no intention to...She had to make up her mind...She had to put pettiness aside...She had to act her age...And be there for her son. Ariel watched as well, looking at the place she now called her workplace and how much drama happened before wondering how binding that contract she signed actually was.
OoO
"To us."
"To us."
The echoes of their voices and the sounds of expensive glass clanking against each other bounced off the exuberantly painted walls in Bradford's old office, only to be heard by them as they gave a toast to each other after the offices had emptied and it was just the two of them. Just the two of them so that Willie could sit on his desk causally, her hair mussed after they christened his new desk. Just the two of them so that Daniel could lay out on his new chaise, smelling like Chanel with a ripped tie and shirt that he could never wear again.
"You need new furniture."
"I bought a desk."
"I know but you need other things like a coffee table and a couch and-"
"For me or so that you can have an excuse to christen things?"
"Like your reasons are any different."
He smirked and crept up towards hers, his lips meeting hers for the umpteenth time. He took her champagne glass and picked her up from the desk, hoisting her over his shoulder before letting her down on the couch. "Round 2?"
She chuckled, smirking deviously. "Don't you mean round 3?"
"I love you and there's nothing you can do about it." He whispered while on top of her, only an inch between them.
She shook her head softly. "I would never try."
He dipped lower and met her lips again before descending to her neck, nibbling tenderly just to tease her.
"Willie! Pasty! I know you're probably getting your celebratory freak on but Izak is here and he's hungry...I tried to feed him and he bit me...Help!"
Wilhelmina looked to the answering machine and groaned as Daniel moved. "I'll take care of it." He tucked in his shirt and attempted to look presentable though it would be hard with his shirt that had rips down the back from her fingernails piercing at him. So she tossed him his blazer before standing.
He grabbed her and kissed her once again, the sight of her being insatiable. "Will you be here when I get back?"
"Where would I go?" She questioned before plopping back on the couch, her legs crossed as he left. As she was alone, reflecting over the moment, that day, that week...That year she realized something...She finally had what she had been striving for. She wasn't fighting for Mode...She wasn't fighting for love...She wasn't fighting for men...She was fighting for happiness and no matter what the world saw ...She was finally happy...For once...Wilhelmina Slater had been dealt a good hand in life and she was racking up with no intentions of stopping. Life was good...Life was what it was supposed to be. Life was finally falling into the favor of...
PRETTY
WILLIE
A/N: Thank you all who read and supported my first BIG fic that I worked really hard on. Lol. Today is the day that began writing and makes one year since I posted my first fic and I hope you see an improvement lol. Thank you Grace de Gold, Deslil, SophisticatedLady87, Addictedlove92, YoblingDramioneLover, Dwizzle, Dragon77, Xin79, Williedearest, EVERYBODY that read and reviewed because it was the honest to God fuel to this fic and I could not have done it without you, especially Grace de Gold. I honestly don't know what the future holds for the Pretty Willie Series and if there will be another season but whatever happens, life will always fall in the favor of Pretty Willie lol. Love you guys and Enjoy my Fic Anniversary!
-NWJ