The Bridge/CH 13
Daniel got off the phone with Betty and saw Becks, slumped slightly on his side. "Hey, Daniel. Who was that? Betty?
I'm sorry, man. You two probably want to be alone. I already cramped your style once with her. I don't want to be a third wheel again. Let me get out of your hair."
Daniel stood, watching with amusement as his inebriated friend tried to stand and leave, but kept losing his balance. Finally, Daniel went and helped him, "Becks, you're pretty wasted. Where do you think you're going?"
"I've got a hotel. I'm not some homeless guy you have to take care of or something." Becks made a face and tried to puff himself up a bit, but lacked the dignity he was seeking in his declaration.
Daniel shook his head, smirking, "I know you're not. But you've been drinking. Betty once told me you shouldn't leave someone alone when they're really drunk or they might choke. She took care of me when I was really wasted, so...I guess I should pay it forward and take care of your sorry ass."
Becks looked at Daniel pathetically, "Thanks. That's nice, man. But you're not...I mean, Betty IS coming over tonight, right? You're not going to turn up in a dress later, too just to freak me out?"
Daniel laughed, "Well, I could see if Alexis has that red chiffon dress you liked so much at the Fashion Show, maybe. I know how much it turned you on when she wore it. Do you think it would make my eyes pop?"
Becks rolled his eyes, "Hey, you laugh now, but that kind of stuff might run in families, you know! I would have never guessed it of Alex, either. He always seemed more masculine than you! He stole a lot of your girlfriends, and he beat you at every sport."
"Thanks, I love to be reminded of that!" Daniel helped him to sit back down on the chair and handed him a waste can, "Here, just in case. Yes, Betty's coming here in a few hours. Believe me, you've got no worries about me coming on to you. You're not my type.
Here, I'll turn the game on. The Knicks are playing tonight. Unless you'd rather watch Martha Stewart, sweetie?" he teased.
Becks gave him a dirty look, "Yeah, that's right. Just kick a guy when he's down, why don't you? Hey, you're not doing all that much better than I am right now.
You were so into Betty you couldn't wait to get her home? Now all the press is out there, like hungry sharks, just waiting to pounce!"
Daniel sighed, flopping down and putting his hands up, behind his head. "Tell me something I don't know! Betty says she's got it all figured out.
But, she wouldn't tell me what her idea was. She just said to hang tight and she was on her way here." He smiled and put his feet up on the coffee table, looking relaxed.
Becks narrowed his eyes, "Man, I've never seen you look so...happy! Especially considering you just got arrested last night, your old man's in jail, and your brother's now...your sister! Is this all about Betty?"
Daniel shrugged and grinned, "Pretty much. I don't know how to describe it, Becks. But...I am happy. It's like, I know all this shit is going on around me, but...none of it really matters. Not as long as she's on my team, you know?
I've felt that way to some degree just working with her at Mode, ever since she first yelled at me and told me where to get off when I was a total jackass her first week there, trying to get her to quit. Then, she proceeds to come up with the..."
Becks rolled his eyes, "the winning pitch for the Fabia account, then she saved your ass on the Natalie Whitman thing, then she got Vincent Biancchi to work with Mode, even after Alex pissed the guy off, yeah, yeah, I know, Daniel!
You've been telling me all this stuff for months now. How great Betty is, how amazing, how smart, blah, blah, blah...you just forgot to mention how hot she was! I guess you intended to keep her to yourself, huh?"
"Becks..."
He put his hand up, "No, no, I see how it is, man. You probably knew about your sister, all along and just let me make an ass out of myself with her on purpose to get a laugh out of me. Meanwhile, you were busy scamming on Betty."
Daniel shook his head, smiling, "Betty... hasn't always been quite as stylish as she looks now, Becks. In fact, she wore a poncho on her first day of work, and ran right into that glass door of the conference room."
"Yeah, so did you, Daniel!"
"When I was drunk!"
"Well, you must have been drunk on your first day, then, I guess. Cause you nailed that door, too. I saw you go down. Some guy I know who works there sent me the YouTube video. I cracked up watching it on rewind!" he laughed.
Daniel shook his head, looking embarrassed, "Not my first official day. That was just on the little tour Amanda gave me before I started. No, unfortunately, I was completely sober when that witch Wilhelmina decimated me at my first meeting."
They continued to bicker good-naturedly as the security bell rang, and Daniel got up to answer it, "This is Daniel Meade."
"Mr. Meade, I've got...your...sister and assistant here to see you."
Daniel frowned, "My sister?"
Becks looked panic-stricken, as he tried to jump to his feet, miming for Daniel not to let them upstairs, "No! Daniel! I don't want to see her! She's gonna..."
Daniel waved Becks away, and spoke to the doorman again, "Are you sure my sister is with Miss Suarez? They're together?"
"Yes, sir. They said it's urgent that they see you. Did you want to come down to the lobby to speak to them or should I let them up?"
"No, go ahead and let them up. Thanks, George." He shrugged, as he walked back to Becks, "I hope Betty knows what she's doing. I don't know how she got past all those damn photographers down there."
Daniel went to open the door when he heard a knock and Betty's voice. Becks turned the volume up and acted as if he was completely into the game. He did a double take as he saw Betty, wearing one of her old dresses, her old red glasses and her hair messy, with her bangs straight down. "Who's that girl?"
Daniel smiled as he saw her and pulled her to him, "Nice outfit, sweetie. What, you decided against the poncho? Come here, you. If you think this is going to keep you safe, you're sadly mistaken, Miss Suarez." He kissed her deeply.
Becks raised his eyebrows, then gradually caught on, "Hey! Isn't Betty going to mind you kissing...oh, wow...THAT'S Betty? What happened? Bad hair day, combined with losing your contacts AND your laundry?"
When Becks saw that Alexis had noticed him, he began to head to the kitchen, but was still a bit wobbly. She went to help him, and smirked, "You still stealing Danny's Scotch, Becks?"
"Ha ha, yeah, uh...hey there, Alex. I mean... Alexis. How's it going?"
Alexis smiled at him, as she put her arm around his waist, "Pretty good, all things considered, I guess. How about you? Bagged any hot girls lately, buddy?"
"Not EVEN funny, man. I mean...whatever!"
"Sorry. I couldn't resist! So, are you headed for the kitchen or bathroom?"
"Kitchen. I want some coffee."
She made a face, "Yeah, you need some, alright! What's with you, anyway? Rough night?"
"Yeah, you could say so."
"That's too bad, dude. What happened?"
"Man, you KNOW what happened. You happened! You're a...girl, for Christ's sake! What are you doing here, anyway? Did you come just to make me feel worse? I'm sorry, okay? How was I supposed to know it was...you?"
Alexis shook her head, "This has nothing to do with you, Becks. I'm here to help my brother."
Becks looked at Betty and Daniel, who were kissing enthusiastically, "Yeah? Well, don't look now, but he seems to be doing alright to me!"
Alexis rolled her eyes, "Betty asked me to come. I'm going to give a press conference to declare my support for Daniel. I want us to run Meade together now that our father is gone."
"Oh yeah? What about your pal, Wilhelmina Slater? Won't she be pissed at you for stabbing her in the back and siding with Daniel? I heard you were planning on getting rid of your own brother and putting her in as the new EIC at Mode."
"I was. But, she'll be fine. Daniel and I both agree she belongs at Mode, anyway, So, even though I've decided to join forces with Daniel she's still getting what she wants. But Daniel and I will run the rest of the company."
She handed him a cup of coffee. "Here you go. Just how you like it, Becks. Blonde and sweet, right?"
He gave her a dirty look, "Whatever. Thanks. So, go do your press conference. I think I'll call a cab to take me to my hotel and sleep this off."
Alexis sighed, "You really shouldn't be alone when you're so drunk. You could choke on your own vomit."
Becks made a face, "What, was there some special about that on sixty minutes or something that I missed when I was in Africa?"
After he finished drinking his coffee, he started to leave, "Bye, Daniel, bye Betty." Neither of them stopped kissing. They just mumbled as he shook his head and turned to Alexis.
"Goodbye, old buddy! See you around! It was sure great seeing you again! So glad you're not dead!"
As he started to back away, he fell against the doorway. Alexis ran to help him up, "Come on, Becks. Let's get you back to your hotel, okay?
I'll do the press conference later. They can just camp outside waiting for Daniel's 'mystery girl' for a while. I'll put you to bed first. We are friends, after all."
"Right. Friends." He shook his head and allowed Alexis to help him.
After the door shut, Daniel looked up from Betty, and glanced around, "Huh, they left? Together? Is that what you had in mind, Betty?"
She shook her head, "Not really. I called Amanda and told her to be on standby once we got Becks on his feet and into a cab. But...hey, this works, too, I guess, right? Except...are you okay with your best friend and your sister together?"
Daniel shrugged, wrapping his arms tighter around her, "Whatever. At this point, I'm done worrying about either one of them. They're both adults."
Betty nodded, "Oh, Alexis wanted to know what happened with your mother, though. Did you get her to tell you anything?"
He shook his head, sadly, "Well, yes and no. I'm pretty sure she's gone back to drinking since Dad got arrested. She told me that Dad couldn't have done it because SHE killed Fey herself!"
"What? Seriously?"
He shook his head, "No, of course not. She once told me she sang first soprano in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, too, Betty. And she's an alto...and a lutheran." He joked.
"Seriously, the woman starts hallucinating when she's hitting the sauce. I guess it's understandable that the stress of having her son she thought was dead for the past two years show up as a woman and her husband arrested for murdering his mistress would drive her back to the bottle.
I just hope she can get a handle on it again soon. I don't want to be the one to put her back in rehab this time, but...I don't know what to do, really. She was doing so well, too! She's been sober for almost five months now."
Betty looked at him sympathetically, "Daniel, I'm so sorry."
He smirked, looking at her outfit. "It's okay, Betty. Now, can we talk about this outfit?"
She giggled, "You sound like Justin!"
He smiled, "No, it's fine. I'm glad you thought of it as a way to smuggle yourself up here, sweetie. But I did really like seeing your curves, too." He pulled off her vest and threw it to the ground, smiling, then tugged at the bow on her polka-dotted blouse.
She put her hand up, "Daniel! You said you'd be good!"
He laughed, "Yeah, but that's before you showed up with those sexy glasses and this hot outfit, and that hair!"he teased, stroking her less than smooth coif.
"There's only so much a man can take, Betty! You're so sexy, you're driving me crazy with desire!"
She giggled, smacking his hand away, "Shut up, Daniel! I did this because it was the only way I could think of to sneak past the paparazzi."
"No, as usual, it was brilliant, Betty. Sorry, I'll try to compose myself, even if you are making me really hot."
She made a face, and tried not to laugh, "You're a jerk, Daniel."
"I'm kidding, baby! I love this look. Especially now that I know what's really under it! Seriously, do you know how many times I fantasized during meetings about you doing a strip tease in my office for me and finding out how hot you really were?
And now, come to find out, it's true! You're like...straight from a porn video! Not that I would know what those were like, of course."
She rolled her eyes, "No, of course not, Daniel. So, what is my lesson, obi wan?"
He licked his lips, and shrugged, "That's easy. One word, confidence. I want you to strut for me. Across the room, and you've got to give me all the confidence I KNOW is deep inside you.
That's honestly the biggest turn on any woman can have. It works for guys, too, for that matter.
Believe me, I've seen models that weren't really much to look at, but when they strutted their stuff, it's as if they were the queen of the room."
"Confidence? That's it? That's your big secret? I hate to tell you, Daniel, but I read that in...well..."
He rolled his eyes, "Sofia's book? Yeah, well, I've got news for you. She didn't invent it, Betty. Hell, neither did I. But it's true. Look, this is actually perfect. Right now, you're dressed...well, no offense, but not really all that sexy, right? So, try to turn me on, anyway.
Sell me. Prove to me that you're a hot, gorgeous girl under all that polyester and... whatever that uh, skirt is."
"I'm not doing a strip tease for you, Daniel."
"You don't have to. I mean, unless you want to. Sorry, I'm kidding! Here, don't laugh. But, let me show you what I mean." He walked across the room to her, holding his head up and giving her a smoldering look.
She giggled as he got closer, "Daniel! You had your fishy face you get when you're all posey like that!"
He sighed, "Okay, okay. Never mind. When do you want me to have dinner sent here? We had that big breakfast, but I didn't get lunch." He sat in a chair, propping his feet up on a stool, looking through menus in his kitchen and leaned against the counter casually.
Betty looked at him, in his white tee shirt and jeans. She could see his toned biceps and tell the outline of his sculpted chest and abdomen through the shirt.
She bit her lower lip, thinking that she really should remember to light a candle to the saints for bringing this incredible man into her life.
It was moments like this when he was relaxed and totally himself that she found him almost more irresistible than in his suit and tie. (Although that worked, too).
He looked up, smiling, "What's up, Betty? Why are you looking at me like I'm a chocolate doughnut right now?"
She rolled her eyes, "Okay, okay. I know you know how sexy you are. But, Daniel...I'm NOT! Especially not like this." She looked down, embarrassed. "I'm a joke."
He shook his head and stood up, holding her arm with one hand and pulling her chin up to face him, "Betty, stop it. You're beautiful and you know it. I think this is just your disguise to the world. Deep down, you know you're gorgeous. You're just afraid."
"Of what? Getting a date?"
"Hey, you got me, didn't you? You turned me on so much last night I got arrested because I couldn't stop once I started, woman.
I don't know, sweetie. It's like you're almost afraid of yourself, maybe afraid to grow up a little, to...get distracted and lose out on your dreams like Hilda? I mean, don't get me wrong, Justin's incredible, but I know you've got a lot you want to accomplish before you're ready for a child. Right?"
She nodded, "You really do know me, don't you, Daniel?'
He closed the distance between them, "I'd say so, sweetheart. I love you, Betty. If you always wanted to dress like this, I'd still love you; you know that, right?"