Ugly Betty

It Takes a Village

A/N: I can't apologise enough for not posting sooner. I could make excuses but you don't really want to hear them. You probably just want to read the chapter. However, I promised I'd finish this story and I will.

Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I affiliated with Ugly Betty in anyway.

Chapter Nineteen: Growing Up

"Is there a bun in the oven? Betty Meade was pictured leaving the MODE offices covering her stomach with an oversized handbag. Has the assistant simply had too many enchiladas or she trying the tried and tested celebrity trick? Watch this space for details," she read aloud. She placed a hand on her stomach and groaned. "Do I really look pregnant? I thought I'd lost weight, not put it on."

"You look great, Betty," Daniel told his wife from the couch. "Doesn't your mum look great, Belle?"

"Very pretty," the now five year-old agreed. "You're the prettiest mama ever."

"Thanks, guys," she sighed but a small smile crossed her face. She walked over to the couch and leant over the back of it to kiss them both on the head. "So, are you excited to start school, Sybella?"

"Yes. I'm so, so, so excited!" she cried. She jumped up off the couch and jumped up and down as if to prove how excited she was. She spun around and accidentally stubbed her toe on the coffee table. "Ow, ow, ow, ow!"

"Are you okay?" Daniel asked. He scooped her up and cradled her on his lap.

"She's okay, aren't you?" Betty asked sitting down next to him. "Let me have a look at it, Belle."

Sybella sniffled and let Betty examine her toe.

"Is it broken, Mama? Because I can't go to school if it's broken and I want to go," she wailed.

"Seriously, Sybella. Stop being such a drama queen," Betty laughed. "It's just a stubbed toe."

"Are you sure, Betty? It looks pretty red," Daniel pointed out.

"You are both drama queens," Betty repeated. "It's just a stubbed toe. Bella will be just fine in a minute. You need to stop babying her. She's starting school in the morning. Speaking of, why don't we go try your uniform on before bed?"

"Can we really? Yay, yay, yay!" Sybella cheered.

She and Astrid had started the rather annoying practice of repeating keywords such as 'yay', 'ow' and 'no' over and over when one time would suffice. It was probably all part of being a five year-old and growing up but Betty was sure she hadn't been that... excitable when she was young. Right now she was flying down the hallway. She careened to a stop inches away from her closed door.

"That could have been bad, bad, bad. Could it?" she asked.

"Couldn't," Betty corrected. She opened Sybella's bedroom door and prodded her in. "Sybella, sit down for a second. I need to talk to you."

"Mamaaaaaaaa," she whined.

"I said, sit down," Betty repeated, her voice growing a slightly tough edge.

Sybella skulked over to her bed and took a seat.

"What?" she asked sulkily.

"I know you're very excited about starting school tomorrow but you need to calm down, okay?" Betty started. She sat next to Sybella and pulled her legs up under herself. "It's okay to have fun and be excited but when someone asks you to be quiet you need to calm down. That's at home and at school. Do you understand?"

"I'm always quiet," Sybella disagreed. "Can I put my uniform on now?"

"Sybella, I'm not trying to be mean. It's okay to be happy and excited at home but at school you need to be a little quieter. I'm not trying to change you or anything but..." Betty trailed off. "I guess its pointless saying this to a five year-old. I just don't want you to become a spoiled brat."

"I'm not," Sybella replied. "In fact Daddy wouldn't get me a ice cream and I didn't cry just like you told me."

"Thatta girl," Betty sighed. She kissed Sybella on the forehead. "Okay. Uniform time. Do you need help getting-?"

Sybella responded to stripping down to her Little Mermaid underwear. She managed to pull up the green plaid skirt easily and pulled her white polo shirt on. She sat on the floor and although she struggled to pull her socks on she eventually succeeded. She stood up and spun around triumphantly only to have her skirt fall down in a puddle on the floor. She was shocked.

"But how did it happen? I did right and everything," she gasped.

"Did you do the zipper and the button up?" Betty asked calmly.

"Yes," she replied.

"Did you really?" Betty asked.

"No," she admitted.

"That's what I thought. Pull it back up and come here," Betty replied lightly, trying to hide her smile. The phone rang and Sybella moved to run to it. She had been so excited when Amanda had let her answer it and even more excited when it turned out to be Daniel on the other end. "Daddy will get it. Let me show you how to do your skirt up."

Betty demonstrated to Sybella how to pull the zip up while the skirt was back to front then to shimmy it around so the zip was back where it belonged.

"You are so clever," Betty said after Sybella had done it correctly for the fifth time. "Now it's time for shoes."

Sybella dropped onto the floor and pulled her shiny Mary-Janes onto the wrong feet. She stood up and frowned at them.

"They feel funny."

"What does that normally mean?" Betty asked.

"They're on the wrong feet?" Sybella answered her question with another question.

"Yep and what do you do when they are on the wrong feet?" she prodded.

"Put them on the right feet," Sybella replied.

Betty nodded encouragingly and watched as Sybella concentrated hard on putting her shoes on the right feet. They grew up so fast. One part of her wanted to swoop in there and buckle her shoes for her, another part of her wanted to rip her out of the school uniform and put her back in her pyjamas, another part was so proud of her for being such a clever girl. How many other five year-olds could basically dress themselves, shoes and all? Sybella had always been very headstrong, always wanting to do things for herself. Betty had no choice but to let her. She'd been talking almost properly since three. She never said 'pasketti' like her friends had. It made Daniel and Betty proud but it kind of saddened her mother as well. She didn't want her to miss out on being a child.

Daniel appeared in the doorway, a concerned expression on his face.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" he asked his wife.

"Daddy, Daddy. Look at me!" Sybella said. She did a twirl.

"Wow, you look beautiful," Daniel agreed. His eyes misted over as he took in his little girl. "I can't believe how grown-up you look. Doesn't she look grown-up?"

"Yeah," Betty agreed. "Very grown-up. Now, take it off so you don't get it dirty."

"But Mama," Sybella whined. "I like it."

"You won't like it after wearing it for four years," Betty replied.

"Daddy, I want to keep it on," Sybella tried. "Can I sleep in it?"

"If Mama says to take it off then you take it off," Daniel replied. "You'll get it all creased if you sleep in it."

"Trust you to care about wrinkles. Now what did you want to say to me?" Betty asked.

"It can wait for Belle to go to bed," he replied.

Sybella was taking her time getting undressed to Betty swooped in. She yanked the polo shirt off and replaced it with Sybella's pyjama top then did the same with her skirt.

"There. All ready for bed," she proclaimed. She kissed Sybella on the forehead. "Ask Daddy if he'll read to you."

"Will you read to me, Daddy?"she asked.

"One story," he replied.

"But I'm not tired," she huffed.

"She'll be asleep within ten minutes," Betty whispered to Daniel. She gave Bella another kiss and lifted her onto bed. "I'll wake you up at seven tomorrow morning. I love you."

"I love you more," Sybella replied. "Good night, Mummy."

"Is it about the phone call?" Betty asked. She took a sip of her wine and nestled in closer to Daniel. "You looked worried."

"It was Gabe. He wants to be there when Sybella starts school tomorrow," Daniel answered. "I told him he'd have to talk to you but... Betty, he has a lawyer. He has a lawyer and he's threatening to sue for custody of Belle."

"Does he even have a legal foot to stand on? He hasn't even been a part of her life or anything," Betty replied. "He's the one who told me that he wanted nothing to do with her and I have never once stopped him from seeing her."

Gabe had met Sybella on a number of occasions. He had attended her third, fourth and fifth birthday parties and taken her to meet his parents. Sybella knew that he was her biological father (though Betty wasn't sure she quite knew what the word meant) but for all intents and purposes Daniel was her father and they all intended on keeping it that way. Even Gabe had agreed to keep it that way.

"I know and if it comes to it, we'll get our own lawyer and we'll make sure they know that but he is her real father."

"No!" Betty yelled. "You're her real father. You are the only father she's ever really known. I will not let them take that away from her."

"Hey, hey. Calm down," Daniel soothed. He took both of Betty's hand in one of his and stroked her hair with the other. "It's going to be okay. We don't even know if he's going to try anything."

"So what do we do?" she asked.

"For starters, we let him come to school tomorrow and then we take everything else as it comes," he answered. "Don't cry because for all we know, it ends here."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she sighed. "Hey, Daniel? Why do you think we haven't gotten pregnant yet?"

"We haven't been trying for that long. Sometimes these things take time," he shrugged.

"But I got pregnant with Gabe the first time. We've been married for a year now. I thought I'd be pregnant by now. I want to have another baby so bad," she said.

"And we'll keep trying," Daniel reassured her.

He kissed her deeply and pulled her closer. She sighed. Everything always seemed better when she was in his arms.

Betty watched Sybella as she slept. She watched as her chest rose and fell evenly. She looked so peaceful and so innocent.

It seemed everything that had happened in her life had conspired to make her grow up too fast. That was partly Betty's fault. If she had of raised her alone acknowledging that Gabe was her father and not dragging Daniel into it then none of this would be happening.

Then Daniel came up behind her and laced his arms around her waist. He kissed her neck and rested his head on her shoulder. And she knew that if she could go back, she would never change a thing.