Again, you all are going to make me cry with all this continued love and support for this fanfic series project. Seriously, you are such wonderful humans and don't let anyone tell you any different, thank you all a million times! :) Anyway, this chapter takes place about a month and a half after Diego and Heather's heart to heart in chapter 41 on New Year's Day. Hope you all enjoy it! :D
({No POV})
After coming off as the selected master of ceremony for the New Year's holiday celebration in Spain the night before and everyone was sleeping off their party hangovers, Heather didn't have any time for that.
Twenty three years ago to the date, Heather's self named late night talk show premiered in Spain and was an immediate smash hit with Spain's audience before eventually being broadcast worldwide for her unconventional and edgier content.
Rather than pandering to the audience like most talk shows and media tend to do… Heather has always done whatever she wanted to do.
Although a bit 'unorthodox' and slightly harsh at times, viewers practically ate up her show's scandalous segments of roasting celebrities, ridiculous fashion trends, and pop culture (such as her famous segments Take A Hint and Tell It Like It Is that both focus on just these topics).
Which at first got Heather MAJOR flack, guff, and uproar by the celebrities she made 'comments' on… until they saw that Heather's comments gave them more publicity, offers, and attention than ever that they quickly 'changed their tune' and practically almost started fighting and bribing their way to be a celebrity guest on her show.
Add on more deep diving interviews with special guests and unconventional musical guests made Heather practically a household name around the world in just a few years and has been since.
While Heather practically thrives on her 'unpredictability' (having another segment focusing on just this concept where anything can happen at any point during the show to get a reaction out of the audience to keep them on the edge of their seats), she always likes to do something especially unique for her season premieres.
And tonight was going to be no exception.
Everyone in the audience was chatting excitedly in their seats as they waited for the show to start, even though they already had a good idea of what was about to happen.
Until all of them stopped dead as Heather's introductory music started playing and her DJ and MC [Enrique] started his introduction.
Everyone was waiting in anticipation until Enrique finally started, "Everyone rise and put your hands together por favor for our woman of the hour! Heather! Wilson! Burroooooomuertoooooo!" Heather smirked and rolled her eyes a little but appreciated Enrique's added 'gusto' in the introduction tonight, making her pleased she decided to renew his contract for this season.
But, nonetheless, she immediately strutted out on stage and continued to take in her 'adoring public'.
As Heather admitted many years ago, she knew someday a large group of people would worship her.
Sure as a child and even a teen she thought that meant being a queen… but who needs that bother to govern a condensed population when she had the ability to 'grace people with her presence' in person and on their respective screens all around the world night after night.
She continued to stand there and basked in adulation for a few more moments until motioned for everyone to quiet down and take their seats as she began, "Gracias! Muchas Gracias! As always I will introduce myself for those of you who live under a rock or otherwise, I am Heather Wilson Burromuerto and welcome to the start of a brand new season and celebrating the 23rd anniversary of everything 'Heather'!"
Everyone applauded and cheered but tried to keep it brief to hear what Heather had to say next.
Every anniversary episode, Heather always did something to 'shake things up' even more. And after the 'teasers' advertising this episode over the past couple weeks, people were waiting to see if their theories were going to be true or not?
Heather clasped her hands together as she reiterated, "As you all who've seen my show know, every anniversary I like to make things interesting. And in all the years I have been doing the show, I've always been asked about two particular things to bring onto the show. One of which was, would I ever bring on a permanent co-host?"
Heather paused and let out a scoff-like laugh as she continued, "Yeah, right… not a chance would I ever have a permanent co-host for something I can do by myself better than anyone else. Not unless there were two of 'me' since this is the Heather show and not Heather and a random wannabe show."
The audience chuckled for a minute before Heather put her hand up to cut them off and before she proceeded, "But… then I started thinking. Sure there may not be two of me, but… perhaps I could 'kill two birds with one stone' here and bring on a temporary co-host just for tonight who is someone you all have been asking about for years. Who you may ask? Well… they may not be 'me', but they're the closest thing I have to another 'me'."
At that moment the crowd leaned forward as they watched Heather just stand there and look off to stage left with a slight smile on her face.
It was dead silent for a moment until Enrique started playing the Olympics Theme over the studio's stereo system.
The recognizable drum beats played out a bit and the crowd immediately went into a frenzy as a very familiar young man strutted out on stage in black oxfords and a light gray suit, flashing his brilliantly pristine and confident smile to the sound of the horns playing in the music as he waved out to the audience.
Diego.
Shockingly, Diego never made an appearance on the show until now, at least not in person since Heather was technically still pregnant with him and in the early stages of labor when he was even remotely last on stage.
But, ever since Diego and Heather talked things out a little over a month ago, this was part of Heather's way of trying to 'make peace' by trying to spend more time with him and bringing him onto her show (which still shocked Diego a bit that his mother was practically allowing him into her domain for the evening on her show AND to co-host with her).
The crowd was still practically losing it and going crazy at Diego's appearance, but none more than Diego's 'fan club'.
Although Diego was always pretty well known just by being Heather and Alejandro's child alone, he definitely started gaining more 'popularity' as he got older and won his first gold medal at the the Olympics during the previous summer, especially with teenage girls.
Particularly with teenage girls in Spain primarily, but is pretty well known around the rest of Europe as well by the amount they see his pictures used in both sports and teen magazines they see at the airports they go through.
Although there was one particular incident that showed Alejandro, Heather, and Diego the extent of his popularity.
They were attending a gala 2 years ago in Madrid when Diego had a girl practically trying to throw herself over a barricade and stole Diego's handkerchief from the outside breast pocket of his suit jacket as a 'souvenir' (if not trying to get more out of it too) before security guards pulled her back over the barricade.
Leaving a then 15 year old Diego practically traumatized for the next few months after and still freaked him out to this day at practically being almost assaulted by a crazy fangirl (who they later found out was the 'president' and founder of Diego's unofficial fan club).
While Diego did nothing at all obviously to 'commission' the fan club and appreciated most of them for their enthusiasm (plus being a bit of an 'attention seeker' like both his parents) didn't mind being showered in compliments by these girls, it didn't mean he wasn't okay with being swarmed and having a hoard of teenage girls trying to steal his clothes or 'make out with' or touch him completely unprompted and without consent.
So, Diego was glad to hear before the show that his mother decided to plan ahead when it came to his fan club.
And Heather being Heather was able to track the members of his fan club down easily via social media and ticket sales and sent an official document to each of them that they all must remain in the special seating area as far away from the stage as possible and if any of them tried to get closer to the stage… they would lose their privilege of being 'allowed in the same room as Diego' and be removed from the premises via security.
After all, not only did Heather have a reputation to uphold with her show, but she also didn't want a bunch of insane second-gen Sierra-esque fangirl groupies freaking the crap out of and assaulting her son.
But, the club seemed fairly 'okay' with the arrangements (with the only obviously banned member being the club president Marta after the 'barricade incident' who none of them really cared for too much and were only there to see Diego) it seemed since all of them could be heard over the rest of the crowd holding up homemade signs and screaming at the top of their lungs in pure excitement.
But the introduction seemed to be going swimmingly as Diego eventually got to center stage where he and Heather shared a hug for a moment before turning back toward the audience and waving, causing even more applause.
Eventually everyone 'calmed down' and took their seats until they heard one last shout from the back of the audience as one of the girls from Diego's fan club stood up with her banner again and called out, "TE AMO DIEGO!"
Although Heather was really trying to hold back giving the girl an absolute 'death glare' since this same girl was already walking on the thinnest of ice for shouting at her son and also for calling attention during her show.
But, Diego just smiled and took it in stride as he smiled slightly and blew a kiss toward her to at the very least show appreciation for the admiration.
Meanwhile off camera, the girl looked like she was severely emotionally overwhelmed to the point of almost paralysis as she froze up and almost looked like she was about to pass out from being acknowledged by her 'celebrity crush'.
Eventually her fellow 'club members' got her to sit and Heather looked like she was figuring out how to transition from 'that' until Diego did it for her as he let out a chuckle before commenting, "Well, this is quite a reception committee! Muchas gracias. You're an excellent crowd!"
Everyone applauded for a second until Heather decided to just put it all behind her and continue, "Naturally. Considering you've been a 'long awaited addition' since everyone kept asking me about when you would ever be on the show? What do you all think? Was this worth the wait?"
The crowd erupted once more into applause for a few moments before Diego smiled out at the crowd, clearly being much like his parents and enjoying the attention… as well as doing something with his mother still, until he chuckled and responded, "You all have my gratitude for the warm reception. You all may be wondering where I've been all this time and why it took 17 years for me to set foot on stage here? But, if you all must know, I tend to keep quite busy like both my parents. What with my training, studies, and competitions; my mother with her obligations and my father with his… it's a wonder we all see each other at all every day as you can very well imagine. Really you all should be thanking Madre for accommodating me during a free point in her itinerary to make me a part of this premiere. So, if you all may once again?"
Diego then started clapping as he looked toward Heather as the rest of the audience stood up and enthusiastically followed suit.
Heather looked over at Diego after another 'standing ovation' to see her son smiling slightly at her in an almost genuine way before leaning in and giving her a quick kiss on the cheek, causing the audience 'aww' at the sentiment.
Normally Heather didn't like being 'thrown off', but somehow… she couldn't resist giving her son a slight smirk back.
They kept smiling as they turned back to face the crowd and looked like they were about to proceed with the show… until a loud 'CLANG' echoed throughout the auditorium, making everyone immediately pause and go silent.
After another second passed another loud 'CLANG' was heard to shockingly end up coming from a ventilation duct toward the back of the studio, this time resulting in the vent cover practically flying off the wall as a person slid out and immediately started IMMEDIATELY sprinting toward the stage with a shout, "DIEGO!"
While this would be shocking to occur under any circumstance, Diego and Heather's eyes went wide and their expressions dropped at who they realized it was.
Though she was covered in dust, they recognized her completely as she sprinted toward the stage with security quickly running after her. She was none other than the president and founder of Diego's fan club and stalker (of which she had an active restraining order against her via Diego to prove this).
Marta De León.
Marta rapidly approached the stage as well as trying to clean dust from the air vent out of her long wavy light brown hair as she kept her hazel eyes trained with laser precision to Diego on the stage.
Even her fellow club members seemed to be in absolute shock by what they were seeing right now and got even more appalled by what they saw her do next as he finally got to the stage and threw something at the stage as she called out, "You can't stay away from me forever, Diego! You'll give in eventually! I know it!"
Finally security caught her under her arms and started carrying her off.
But even being dragged off by Heather's security, Marta just smirked and managed to put her hand in a 'call me' gesture up to her face and even mouthed it at him before throwing a wink his way.
Finally Diego looked down only to go wide eyed and almost feel mortified all over again to see Marta threw what looked like a pair of women's panties (presumably her panties) at his feet with her phone number written on the waist band.
At first everyone was so in shock by the invasion of an insane 17 going on 18 year old girl into the studio that even Heather felt almost livid by everything that just happened, especially after what she saw happen to Diego and her stage.
She was fully prepared to start 'going off' until she saw Diego surprisingly smirk and chuckle as he looked at the camera, almost and shockingly make 'light' of the situation, as he started while kicking the panties out of sight to stage right, "Well… I can't say I'm not flattered to say the least; however, I'm sorry to say my heart is already set on someone else. As to whom? Well… a true gentleman wouldn't reveal all his secrets, now would he? But, enough about me, shall we get on with the show Madre?"
While still internally confused about all the 'insane fuckery' that just ensued, she decided to just 'take the save' from her son and take his arm that her son offered out to her as she immediately jumped back in as she replied, "Couldn't agree more. We have a great show for tonight! Special and musical guests will be here after a few words from our sponsors."
She quickly glanced at Diego and shared a brief look of understanding before they both called out together in unison, "Los veo pronto!"
The crowd immediately erupted into cheers and applause by the insane display that they were now assuming could have just been one of Heather's off the wall skits to get a shocked and wild reaction from the audience, critics, and her viewers.
Meanwhile Diego's initially enthusiastic fan club were now almost in stoically shocked silence, and not just because of what they saw Marta just do… but also due to the realization that their celebrity crush just revealed he may possibly be 'taken' by a mystery crush that they weren't aware of before now.
Either way… the year had just kicked off to an explosively unexpected start than planned.
Well, I know this chapter was chaotic, but that was honestly what I was going for if I'm really being truthful here. Lol. XD But, I hope you enjoyed seeing a more in depth look at Heather's life as a world famous talk show host… as well as the addition of her including Diego on the show as a one-time co-host to show their now budding and healing relationship as mother and son. :) But, let's address the latest 'tea' spilled in this chapter. ;) *Drum roll* Diego has a stalker! While Diego really doesn't mind and actually appreciates the girls in his fan club as a teen celebrity in his home country especially since they're all in all just a bunch of excited and enthusiastic teenage girls that just bond over how much they love Diego as their celebrity crush. But, not all of them are 'harmless'; however… i.e. Marta. As I said in the chapter, Marta was Diego's first real fan and unfortunately became a source of mortification, nightmares, and uneasiness for Diego since she eventually became so obsessive to the point of ACTUALLY stalking him and stealing his things. Now I want you all to put Sierra and Izzy's character traits in your minds (take both of their most extreme qualities) and you can combine them to get Marta. After all, she seemed to have no qualms or shame in somehow finding a way to outsmart Heather's security team to violate her restraining order against by sneaking into the show through the air ducts and then running up to the stage just to get the chance to be close to Diego and throw her panties at him on international programing to try and hook up with him. Yeah… she's a whole lot of 'Yikes'! D: But, as you saw and despite Diego's internal mortified embarrassment by having that interrupt his moment on stage with his mother, he decided to use it to ambiguously send his message loud and clear about his own *crush*. ;) More to come on all of this later. Hope you enjoyed the chapter and constructive feedback is always very much appreciated.
Stay classy and wonderful all!
Dexter1995