"Well, that was a huge waste of time!" Wilhelmina huffed, as she rushed back into her office, with Marc nipping at her heels. She sunk into her chair, and spun it around, looking out onto the city below.

Marc furrowed his brow, somewhat confused, "But, Willi, you should be happy! Daniel is finally leaving Mode, and you're going to be the Editor-in-chief! I would think you'd be thrilled!"

She glared at him, "Weren't you listening, Mary? They're all getting along so well, I was ready for them to start singing the Sound of Music!"

Marc pouted, "I like the Sound of Music!"

She rolled her eyes, "Too obvious, Marc. Even for you! All these months of plotting against Daniel with Alexis and now, they're like Tweedle dee and Tweedle dummy!"

Marc giggled, but his 'queen' clearly wasn't amused, "Find out something I can use against Daniel. Go, make yourself useful, Marc! Chum around with Christina and Betty, perhaps. Try and see what they are planning to do about getting Daddy out of jail. Go!"

"Okay, Willi." He went out to the donut to see Amanda, looking flustered, and leaned over, making her jump, "What's up, Mandy?"

She startled, "Oh, you scared me! Don't do that! I...was just listening in on a conversation, trying to find out if I have a shot at being Alexis' assistant. I heard her tell Daniel she needed one."

"What about that sniveling guy I saw here earlier applying for the job, Dick or Rick or whatever?"

"You mean the one who wouldn't sleep with you? Nick Pepper?"

"He wouldn't sleep with you, either, Amanda! Besides, he's straight. That's the only reason he didn't sleep with me!"

"I thought he was gay and that's the only reason he wouldn't sleep with me! Anyway, he's hideous; I don't even like him! I'm off men for this week. I'm trying to get a leg up on my career."

"Well, you've already had both legs up with Daniel, so..."

"Hey! That was ancient history! He's with the burrito now that she's not ugly anymore."

"She's still fat."

"Well, sort of. I thought she was, but...I think she's just...curvy. You know he likes that. That's why he went all ga ga for that Reyes woman, I suppose. Now that Betty's teeth aren't blinding and she's wearing contacts and stopped dressing like the Chiquita Banana he's totally into her."

She leaned down, and giggled, "I don't even think he's gotten any loving from the pi-nada girl yet, though. Do you believe it? Daniel Meade...waiting for sex? He told me he wants us to help him keep his paws off her."

"What? What are you talking about? Have you been accidentally eating the glue again, Mandy?"

She gave him a dirty look, "NO! You were supposed to do that to Betty, remember? Then I stole her candy stash that she had labeled white chocolate!"

He snickered, "Sorry! But you shouldn't be eating candy, anyway. You'll end up looking like Fat Carol! You know how big your ass gets if you don't watch your stress eating!"

"Be nice! There are male underwear models coming this afternoon. I told Daniel he should let you handle the shoot. If you're not nice to me, he won't let you do it."

Marc's face lit up, "Seriously? What would we have to do? We won't have to watch them actually have sex or anything will we? Because I might vomit if I have to watch that again. You and that Becks character were NOT quiet and I ended up hearing WAY too much. It gave me nightmares for a week!"

She shrugged, "He's so yesterday's news. Besides, I heard he's been trying out Alexis's new equipment."

Marc's eyes shot up, "Really? Oh my God! Where did you hear all this?"

She shrugged, "I listen, Marc. I've got to do something while my nails are drying out here. And to answer your question, no, we won't have to watch them, because we're supposed to stop them from doing anything!"

"How are we supposed to do that? I'm not pretending to be straight again, Amanda! That was unpleasant!"

She rolled her eyes, "Don't be such a pansy, you...pansy!"

Bradford looked at his wife across from him and put his hand up on the glass. She reached up and put hers on the other side of the window, "Claire...don't do anything stupid. I told you I'd handle this. You need to just lay low. Let me take care of things. I told you I would."

"Yes, and look where it got you. Bradford, I'm not going to let you do this. I won't let you rot in prison for me. I'm going to turn myself in." She turned to leave.

He stood up and called after her, "Claire!"

Daniel and Alexis Meade had made their announcement to the press. A simple statement that Daniel would be stepping down from Mode, in order to help his sister, Alexis run the Meade global organization. They named Wilhelmina as the new sole Editor-in-chief of Mode. But for the diva, it was a hollow victory. As Betty predicted, the woman didn't like the fact that Daniel and Alexis would both now be her superiors, and that Claire still owned Mode, to boot.

That was the real knife twisting in her gut. Mode was hers. She had blood, sweat, and tears and the few wrinkles that her weekly botox injections couldn't hide to prove her dedication to that magazine. Yet, Claire of all people was still ultimately the owner. She simply had to find a way to push the woman over the edge. She had of course, seen the news footage and saw Claire, distraught on the bridge. But sadly, nothing had seemed to come of it. She looked at her list of contacts and saw Quincy Combs' name and smiled.

As soon as Daniel had finished his press conference with Alexis, he hurried off to meet with his father. Betty, trying to think of a way to distract Alexis, asked her to come out for 'girl's night' at a new club called Prague with her and Christina. Amanda ended up inviting herself along as well.

Alexis seemed somewhat uncomfortable, but Betty hurried her out of the building. "You really want to do a girls night, Betty? With me? The way you and Daniel were acting, I would have thought you two would be going at it like rabbits by now! Where is he tonight, anyway?"

Betty shrugged, hoping Alexis wouldn't continue to question her, since she knew she couldn't lie to her (or anyone very convincingly). She joked, "What do I look like, your brother's keeper? Besides, we're trying to do our own thing."

Amanda volunteered, "Betty and Daniel are trying to be monks or something. They don't want to have sex."

"Huh? You could have fooled me. It looked like you two were all over each other before. Do you need to be outside or something? Has my brother developed a fetish for having Peter Pan watching? You can't tell me he is the one saying he doesn't want sex?" Alexis looked puzzled.

"I...well, we both do, of course. It's just, we want to take things slow, that's all. We don't want to rush into anything physical."

Alexis blinked, "Okay...Betty, you have MET my brother, haven't you? I mean, since when does Daniel Meade take anything slow when it comes to sex?"

"No kidding!" Amanda agreed.

Christina made a face, and put her arm around Betty, "Alright now. No talking about Daniel. Or any other bloke! Tonight's just about us ladies, out drinkin and dancin, and havin a good time, right?"

"Right!" Betty smiled, grateful for the support. Becks stepped off the elevator, holding several bottles of liquor, and smiled when he saw the ladies, especially Alexis, "Hey, ladies! What's gong on?"

"We're off to Prague to dance. It's girl's night. Wanna come?" Alexis smiled.

Christina made a face, as did Amanda, but he shrugged, grinning, and ignored the two women's sour expressions, as he went back down in the elevator with the four women, "Sure! Ladies' night, huh? Well, add Becks, and you've got a party! Whoa, looks like I hit the mother lode! Lucky me!"

Daniel left Riker's more confused than ever after speaking to his father. Bradford not only denied that he had anything to do with his former mistress' death,he also dismissed out of hand his wife's insistence that in fact, she had killed Fey Sommers, chalking her confession up to drunken hallucinations.

He also seemed genuinely unaware of any toxins in the perfume he had given Claire. One thing Daniel knew, hiring the lawyer his father insisted on was going to be no easy matter. There was no way in the world he was going to be able to hire Grace Chin to defend his father. Not after he had stood her up back at Harvard.

He got home, defeated and tired, needing to hear Betty's voice to help him sleep. Her phone kept going to voicemail. He felt unable to rest until he spoke to her. He learned from some office gossips that she had taken Alexis and Christina out to some club he had heard of called Prague.

Although he was dead tired, he decided to go and see if he could just talk to Betty for a few minutes. Something about her presence calmed him and made him feel like he could handle anything. He arrived at the club and saw Betty, dancing and looking like she was having a good time.

Then he watched as she and Christina, Amanda, and Alexis all went into a private room, with three men. One extremely tall, large man Daniel recognized as a Mode employee and one of the others he had never seen. The last man he would know anywhere.

"Becks! What the hell are you doing here?" Daniel frowned as he followed them into the booth. "Daniel! My man! You made it, buddy! Come, join the party! How's it going?"

Christina rolled her eyes, thinking Betty needed to take a break from all the Meade drama she seemed to be getting sucked into lately. They had barely had time to talk for weeks and Christina needed to confess her involvement with Wilhelmina to her friend. It was eating her up. She pulled Betty aside, before she went off with Daniel yet again, "Betty? We need to talk, luv. Let's go to the loo!"

Betty nodded, looking back at Daniel wistfully and mouthing,"Sorry! See you later." as her friend pulled her away. Once they got to the restroom, she looked at Christina, "Hey, what's wrong? I sort of wanted to talk to Daniel and see how things went with his father."

Christina paced uncomfortably and lost her temper, "Oh my goodness, Betty! Daniel, Daniel, Daniel! If that man were crack cocaine, you'd sell your nephew for an ounce of im, wouldn't you? I've been trying to tell you something important all week."

"What is it? You've been acting really weird all night. You won't take a compliment about being one of the top ten designers to watch. You..."

"I sold out to Wilhelmina, alright? I..."

Betty scowled, "You...what? What are you talking about, Christina? Sold out, how?"

"I...gave the police an envelope and I think it had the evidence that sent Bradford Meade to jail! She asks me who's loyal and who's not."

Betty was stunned, "You...you've been spying for Wilhelmina? Christina, how could you? I trusted you! You were my friend!"

Christina was in tears, "I wanted to have someone see my designs besides me mum and me bloody cat! Betty, I'm sorry, I...don't know why I did it...but if you had a chance to get ahead..."

Betty shook her head, "I wouldn't sell out my friends! I don't even know what to say to you right now, Christina!" She stormed out, leaving the Scottish woman behind.

Daniel saw Betty leaving and ran after her. Once they were outside, he tried to find out what was wrong, but she refused to talk. "It's nothing. How did things go with your father?"

He shrugged, "He wants me to get him a lawyer named Grace Chin. That's never going to happen. I stood her up in college. As usual, I'm going to let him down."

"Daniel, it's okay. How about I try to talk to this Grace person? See if I can get her to represent your father?" He pulled her close and leaned his forehead against hers, "Thanks. What would I do without you, Betty? You're a lifesaver!"

He leaned towards her slowly and started to kiss her when his phone went off. He shook his head, "Sorry. That's my mom. She's supposed to be laying low, at the Four Seasons under the name Brandy Shalube. Hey, Mom. What's up? It's kind of late. You're what? Wait! Don't go anywhere. I'm coming with you, okay? Give me an hour and we'll go together. Promise me?" He shook his head as Betty looked at him with concern.

"What's wrong, Daniel? Is she threatening to go to the police and confessing again?"

"Not exactly. At least not yet. She said she first needs to go to South Dakota."

"What? What for?"

"You know that 'little boy' she was talking about that we assumed was me or Alex?"

"Yes."

"We were wrong. She claims she had another child. A boy she gave up for adoption twenty-eight years ago. And she said Dad's not the father. It seems the year she spent at rehab back then was a cover. She wants to meet the kid."

Betty shook her head and put her hand on Daniel's arm, "Do you need me to go with you, Daniel? Do you want me to go get Alexis to come?"

He thought for a moment, then shook his head and kissed her deeply, "No, there's no time. I'm going to see if I can talk her out of it. But if not, tell Alexis what happened. I'm counting on you to get Grace for my dad and see if you can get Alexis to change her mind about him. Please? I've got to go make sure my mom doesn't do anything crazy. I love you, Betty. I'll be back as soon as I can." He stopped, "Oh, good luck with the YETI program, sweetie. I know you'll do great!"

He hugged her and left. She turned to go back to the booth and took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. It took every ounce of restraint for her not to run after Daniel and insist he take her with him. Perhaps Christina was right about one thing. She was addicted to Daniel Meade.

Daniel gave his mother a supportive hug with his arm behind her as they sat on the Meade jet. She swirled the ice in the glass in front of her, looking down at it, with disdain, "Something about club soda just doesn't really say...comfort to me, Daniel."

He gave her a warning look, "Mom...don't start. You've done so well! It's been six months now. Why would you want to throw all that progress away?" He squeezed her hand.

She shook her head, and smiled, "You deserve a better mother. One that was stronger."

He smirked, "Well, maybe I'll see if this Tyler wants to trade. I could go for an upgrade, I suppose. Maybe see if he's got one that bakes cookies and gives out boring advice I'll never take,"

She rolled her eyes and looked at him, drily, "You never take my boring advice, either. And Consuela always made wonderful cookies."

He shook his head, "Consuela didn't start till five years ago, Mom. I haven't been home for milk and cookies much recently. Don't you remember, it was Marta that used to make those really good chocolate chip cookies? The ones with oatmeal."

She nodded, "Oh, yes. Well, regardless, you got your cookies. You were never deprived. Still...I could have tried to make some myself, I suppose."

He shrugged, taking a drink of coffee himself, and looking out the window, grinning, "You did. Alex had to call nine one one. It took the fire department an hour to figure out you had forgotten to take the bottle of vodka you had been hiding out of the oven when you put in the cookies."

She looked confused at first, then registered a look of remembrance, "Oh, of course! How could I forget? Mother-of-the-year here. I'm a regular Donna Reed!"

"Who?"

"Never mind. Before your time, dear. June Cleaver? Or...Mrs. Brady, perhaps?"

He smiled and squeezed her shoulders, "Mom! Stop! Nobody wants that! Those women would have been boring as all hell! You're a lot more interesting and fun."

"Yes, but, perhaps your brother wouldn't have been so unhappy all these years."

"That has much more to do with Dad and their relationship than it does anything to do with you, Mom. She told me she loves you very much."

"Are you sure you want to do this, Daniel?"

He took a deep breath, faking a smile that his mother knew wasn't genuine. "Sure! Of course. Hey, since last week I'm up one sister and down a brother. Now, I'll be at one each. I grew up being bossed around by my older brother. So, I'll get to boss this kid around for a change. I'm almost looking forward to it!"

Claire shook her head, "You're so full of it, Daniel. But I appreciate the fake enthusiasm on my behalf. You're sweet to try."

He hugged her, "Did you...try to contact him? Or his...uh adoptive parents to let him know you were coming?"

She shook her head, "No. Well, yes. I did speak to his uh...father. The man who raised him, that is."

"Are you ready to tell me who his real father is yet, Mom? If it wasn't Dad, then...who was it?"

"Daniel, I really can't say anything until I find the strength to tell him, first. I should have said something a very long time ago. But we were both married at the time. He's not anymore. Still, he has another son. I somehow don't think he will welcome the idea of another heir with open arms. I found out too late that he's a rather selfish man in many ways."

Daniel sighed, "You must have a thing for those, huh?"

She patted Daniel's hand, "Your father doesn't mean to be so unfeeling towards you and Alexis. He's simply not good at expressing affection."

"Except when it comes to his employees, right?"

She gave her son a warning glance, "I'm really not ready to defend your father right now. The way I chose to deal with things wasn't always the wisest, either, though, Daniel. Drinking instead of confronting him with his infidelities did nothing to solve the issue. It just drove a bigger wedge between us and gave him all the more excuse to cheat and made me feel twice as guilty. Especially when we thought we had lost your brother."

Daniel looked out the window, "We're landing. Are you ready, Mom? You're sure you want to do this?"

She nodded silently and fought back tears as she buckled her seat belt.

Alexis Meade drew strength from the fact that she was now the 'man in charge' of Meade Publications. Bradford was behind bars where he belonged and although she had changed her mind about working with Daniel, it felt good to be the sole leader of the global company she had been dreaming of taking over for years.

She knew Daniel had never really wanted it. But she did. She thrived on the power. It was one thing she and Wilhelmina had bonded over. Wilhelmina had found her and they had formed a sort of bond. Bradford and Daniel had been the enemy. But he had surprised her by not being at all like their father as she had thought.

Alexis saw a diminutive man with a red hat leaving Wilhelmina's office. She stopped him, "Who are you? You look familiar."

"I'm Quincy Combs. I'm here to bring Bradford Meade and his whole empire to its knees."

She beckoned for him to step inside her office. "You want to write some trashy tell-all book. I want to trash. Sounds like we were made for each other. What have you got on my father so far?"

He mentioned a diary that Fey had kept. When she seemed in doubt of its validity, he pulled it out and began reading from it, "September, Two thousand five. 'Things are happening now that I don't like. B feels deep regret for things he said to Alex.

He says he's going back to Europe to try and find out more about his son's tragic death. He blames himself for pushing Alex to be reckless. He seems convinced it may have even been a suicide brought on by his own harsh words!" The man looked at the diary and saw pages that had been torn out.

"The last six months seem to be missing."

Alexis had a strange look on her face as the man continued, "It might be in their love dungeon."

"Their...what? My father and his mistress had some secret room somewhere?"

He nodded, self-confidently, not at all concerned at how upsetting his revelations might be, "Right here at Mode, I'm told."

She dismissed the man, suddenly sick to her stomach at the thought of her father and THAT woman. Although she had been softening somewhat towards him because of the things he supposedly said about her, she still wasn't about to forget how much he had hurt her mother over the years with his indiscretions.

"I think you should leave. I'll let you know if I decide to cooperate. What did you have to say to Wilhelmina Slater, anyway? What did she want from you?"

"The same thing you did. Information."

"I see. What did you tell her?"

"Not much. She offered to share rather distasteful and personal photos of your transformation but I declined. Some things are private."

"She...what? Seriously? She has pictures of me? Before and after my surgery? Why that..two-faced, b..."

"Bitch? Yes, well, she's been called far worse. By both Fey and your mother. I believe it's the only thing they agreed on, in fact, other than your father, of course. Willi knew where all Fey's skeletons were buried, of course, having been her assistant for so long."

"I'll tell you what, Mr. Combs. Quid pro quo. If I do find this...love dungeon you mention, I'll share whatever I find in it."

"And in return?"

"I want you to find out some of Wilhelmina's dirty laundry. She's got pictures of me. I want dirt on her."

He had a gleam in his eye, "Oh, I'll find dirt, alright. I'm very good at finding dirt. We have a...gentleman's agreement then?"

He went to shake hands as Alexis stood, towering over the short man she shook her head, "Very funny. Yes, of course."

Betty was pacing the floor at Grace Chin's office as the lawyer kept her waiting. The short, attractive woman crossed the room and apologized for taking so long as she shook Betty's hand. She gave Betty a cursory glance and smiled, noticing her clear braces, and pointing to them, "When did you get the Invisaligns? I had braces in college myself."

Betty smiled, "Yes, I know. I saw your picture in the yearbook."

"I see. So, I suppose Daniel told you what he did to me? I don't think you know just how much he hurt me standing me up like that. And I have a whole caseload of files here I've been waiting to make him own up to. Other girls like me that he discarded. He'll do it to you, too, you know, Miss Suarez. That's just the kind of man Daniel Meade is."

Betty nodded, looking sadly at several files of girls Daniel had been his 'usual self' with over the years. "Was. That's the kind of man Daniel was, Miss Chin. He's changed. I know he feels bad about how he treated you and the other women in his past. But he's not that person anymore.

In fact, the main reason I'm here on his behalf is because he not only reached out to his brother who recently revealed he had gender reassignment surgery as you probably heard, but he also is trying to secure you to defend his father in spite of his less than warm treatment of Daniel over the years.

He is with his mother now, tracking down a long-lost son she gave up for adoption years ago.

Do those sound like the actions of a cold-hearted man? If you saw some of the things he's done for me and my family, Miss Chin...you'd know what a good person he's becoming. No, he's still not perfect. He makes mistakes like all of us do. But...he's trying. And he's kind-hearted and caring. He..."

Grace cut Betty off, "He's good in bed, I take it?" she asked, cynically.

Betty shook her head, "I wouldn't know. We've never...slept together."

"Really?" She threw the paper on her desk, "Tell me, Miss Suarez, would you lie under oath, too? Isn't that you with him here?"

Betty became slightly flustered, but held her ground, "Fine, that's me, but we still didn't sleep together! We're in love, yes. But he's taking things slowly with me because I'm younger than he is and have only had one serious boyfriend.

Doesn't that also prove he's a better man than he used to be? In fact, I was under the influence of a drugged perfume that was given to Claire Meade and I came on to him, yet he didn't act on it.

Grace seemed skeptical, "Fine, I'll put in a request for the pope to have Daniel canonized later. In the meantime...tell me what you want. Then I'll tell you what I expect in return."

"I know your fees. The Meades are quite prepared to pay them."

The small, but strong and determined woman smiled, "Not those terms. I have some very special requirements for Mr. Love em and leave em Meade first. If he expects me to take his father's case, I need him to call every one of these women and apologize for breaking their heart."

Betty nodded, looking at the files, "Starting with you, I assume?" She put her hand on top of Grace's but the woman pulled it away coldly,

"I don't have a heart. Haven't you heard? That's how I win so many cases, putting guilty people back on the street. Personally, I don't care one way or the other if Bradford Meade killed his mistress. Just tell Daniel that if he wants the Chin, he's going to have to play by my rules. Take them or leave them."

Betty stood and picked up the files, then shook Grace's hand firmly, "He'll do it. I guarantee it. Now, please do your job and get Mr. Meade out of jail. He doesn't belong there and we both know it. He's an innocent man."

Grace smiled at Betty and nodded, as she got on the phone, "Yes, Judge Mallory please. This is Grace Chin. I'll be representing Bradford Meade. I need to schedule a hearing as soon as possible. I want bail to be set for Mr. Meade's immediate release. He's an upstanding citizen and a grave injustice has been done to him!"

Betty made the call, on her way home, "Daniel? It's me. I've got Grace Chin. But...you're going to have to do something in return."

"I don't care what I have to do. Betty, baby, you're amazing! I can't believe you got her to agree! She must hate me after what I did to her in college. I don't know how you did it, but...as soon as I get back I can't wait to show you just how much I appreciate all you do for me." he said suggestively.

She shook her head, "Okay, Romeo. Back off. First of all, before you get too excited, you'd better get ready to do some serious groveling. She gave me about tweny-five files of women you uh...for want of a better term screwed over in college.

She expects you to call them all and apologize to them. And this woman means business. I'd bet she plans on calling them all back to verify you really followed through and didn't just call a few of them. Wow, there are a lot here!" She sorted through all the files.

He put his hand on his eyes, rubbing them wearily, "Okay, fine. Giive me their names and numbers please. I'll do it. And Betty?"

"Yes?"

"I'm sorry I got you mixed up in this. I...know this doesn't look very good. I was a jerk to those women. I do really regret hurting them."

"I know you do, Daniel. I told her you weren't the same man you used to be."

"If I'm not...I know it's because of you." After getting all the women's contact information, he sighed, "Are you still even there? Do you hate me, now?"

"I could never hate you, Daniel. This isn't really a big revelation."

"Yeah, but...it looks really bad! I was such a..."

She laughed slightly, "Jerk? Yes, you were, Daniel. WERE being the operative word here."

"I really love you, Betty," he said, looking at the phone hopefully, with some concern.

"I know you do, Daniel." she teased.

"And...?" he asked, expectantly.

"And I love you, too, you big player. Now stop stalling and start calling, mister!"

"Yes, ma'am!" he grinned.