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 Twenty: Early Days
"Are you nervous?" Daniel asked Betty.
"Nope," she replied. She put a layer of lipstick on and smacked her lips together before blotting them with a tissue and re-applying the lipstick. "How do I look?"
"Like a working mother in New York whose about to drop her daughter off at school before rushing to a board meeting," he replied.
"We do have a board meeting at ten," she reminded her husband. "Speaking of, do you know what I realised about that article yesterday? They called me your assistant, not your wife."
"I'll let them know, shall I?" he asked with a smile. He kissed her on the forehead.
"You do that," she nodded. She stood up and took in her purple high-waisted skirt and white button-up shirt. "I look too professional to be dropping her off for her first day at school, don't I?"
"Betty, you look gorgeous. But if you want to take the day off, you can. I already told you that," her husband answered. "It's not a bad idea, you know. I can handle one day without you. Amanda can help out with the phones and if I forget how to leave the building to buy my own lunch then I'm sure I can find an intern to get it for me."
"Don't get Jada to go. She's really scatter-brained and she's likely to come back with a Caesar salad instead of a hamburger," Betty noted. She sighed and pushed her hair up into a loose bun. "Are you sure you don't mind if I take the day off? It's just that Sybella might need me and she only has a half-day of school anyway. Marta was going to pick her and Astrid up but I'm sure she can use some help. Can you imagine what two five year-olds will be like after their first day at school? They'll either be tired and grumpy or really hyper. And it's better if I stay close to home because you know that Belle gets nervous when she hasn't seen us for awhile. What if I'm all the way at MODE and she needs me back here?"
"So you're taking a personal day?" Daniel asked.
"Yep," she replied. She pulled her skirt off and pulled on a pair of jeans before slipping a grey knit vest over the white shirt. She kissed Daniel on the cheek and brushed some imaginary fluff off his shoulder. "Thank you."
"It's five past seven. Weren't you going to get Belle up at seven?" Daniel asked.
"She's been up for at least an hour. I bet she's standing at the doorway in her school uniform right now," Betty replied. She opened the bedroom door and grinned. "Or maybe she's standing right outside the door. Good morning, Belle."
"Good morning, good morning, good morning!" she chirruped. She raced into the bedroom. "Can we go yet?"
"You might want to put your school uniform on properly first," Daniel suggested with a small smile. He ruffled his daughter's hair before leaving the room.
"What's wrong with it?" Sybella asked. She twirled around. "Don't I look good?"
"You look gorgeous, little one, but your shirt isn't buttoned up right and your skirt is the wrong way around," Betty laughed. She patted the bed. "Come here."
Sybella sighed but let Betty pull her red plaid skirt around the right way and button her shirt the correct way. She leant down and pulled Belle's socks up and re-buckled her shoes. The whole ordeal took more time than it would have for Betty to help Sybella in the first place. But Sybella was an excited, over-active five year-old who was very stubborn.
Betty felt tears prick her eyes as she took in Sybella's uniform. It seemed like days ago that she was a tiny baby instead of a sometime precocious, always dramatic five year-old. She kissed her little girl on the top of the head and gave her a quick hug.
"Mama," Sybella whined. "I don't have time for hugs. I have to go to school."
"Don't you want breakfast?" Betty asked. "Daddy is making pancakes."
"I don't have time for breakfast. I have to go to school," Sybella reiterated patiently. She rolled her eyes. Parents these days...
"You have time for breakfast, Belle. We still have to wait for Ga-, for your father, and there's a full hour before you need to be at school. Even then you're going to be a little early," Betty explained.
"Mama..."
"If you don't eat breakfast, you can't go to school," Betty said, trotting out the tried and true 'Mum' line. It worked every time though and even though Sybella's face fell a little, she clambered down to the kitchen. Betty followed at a more serene pace. "Oh, Belle, look. Daddy made special pancakes."
"You only have one first day of school. I wanted it to be special so I made face cakes," Daniel explained.
'Face cakes' were pancakes with eyes made of blueberries, a mouth of strawberries and hair made from whipped cream. They were a favourite in the Meade household and Daniel's speciality. The three of them ate their breakfast and afterwards, Daniel washed up as Betty helped Sybella with last minute things like changing her hair from a braid to pigtails to a plait back to a braid. Betty followed Sybella back out to the living room where she twirled for Daniel who, happy to please, told her how wonderful she looked and what a clever girl she was.
Betty had just helped Sybella with her backpack and was just going into the bedroom for her handbag when the doorbell rang.
"Can you get that?" she called.
She heard the door open and then the sound of two male voices and a female voice. She quickly scooped her handbag up and raced out to find Gabe, Daniel, Sybella and an unidentified female.
"Betty, this is Samantha. She's Gabe's fiancée," Daniel said as soon as she came into sight.
"It's nice to meet you," Betty smiled politely.
"I hope you don't mind me coming along. It's just that this is such a big event and if Gabe and I are going to be spending more time with Sybella, I didn't want to miss out," she explained. She knelt down to Sybella's level. "Do you remember me? We met at your fifth birthday party."
"Nope," Sybella replied. She danced around agitatedly and pulled on Daniel's watch to 'look' at the time. "If we don't go now, we'll be late and I don't want to be late!"
"Okay, okay, we're going," Daniel smiled. "She's been talking about this for three weeks. I don't think she's ever been so excited about something in her life."
"She won't be so excited in two years," Gabe laughed. Everybody laughed politely along with him although they'd all heard/made the joke umpteenth times already. "Are Amanda and Christina coming?"
"They're meeting us at school," Betty answered.
"Let's go!" Sybella cried. Betty gave her a look and she sighed. "Sorry, Mama."
The group made their way downstairs and into a waiting limo. It was tense but they managed to chat amiably enough. Not for the first time, Daniel and Betty thanked God for Sybella. She was an entertaining and cute distraction with her constant queries, worries and notions. Soon enough, though, the car pulled up and everybody scrambled to get out. Amanda and Christina were, as promised, waiting just outside the gates. Sybella raced up to them and gave them big hugs before running back to her parents. She grabbed Daniel and Betty's hands and proceeded to drag them towards the large stone steps. The classes assembled in the courtyard below and after a quick scan, Betty located Miss Michaelson, a tiny brunette with her long hair pulled into a braid.
"There's your teacher, Belle," Betty pointed out.
"Her hair's the same as mine," Sybella squealed.
"Who did your hair?" Amanda asked, her face screwing up. "It's not the best braid ever."
"You try braiding the hair of an over-excited child," Betty said, shoving her friend lightly.
They came to the throng of parents and other 'over-excited' children. Sybella spotted her friend Astrid and ran over to her, leaving the six adults standing awkwardly. A bell rang and Miss Michaelson ineffectively clapped her hands. She waited a moment as the chaos around her continued and then she yelled out.
Betty caught Sybella's eye and motioned for her to be quiet. The little girl hurriedly whispered something to Astrid then clamped her mouth shut.
"I'm Miss Michaelson, the kindergarten teacher. This is Mrs. Jacoby, the teachers' aide. If all the children could please assemble in a line of boys and a line of girls, we can get started," she announced. A few of the children began to cry but Sybella dragged Astrid to the front of the line. It took a good five minutes for the children to be wrangled and, in some cases, disentangled from concerned-looking parents but eventually they stood in a semblance of a line. Miss Michaelson clapped and waited for quiet before she continued. "Okay, so, welcome to school. Here's how it's going to happen today. In a few minutes, everybody is going to say goodbye to their parents and then we're going to get back into a line and I'm going to show you how to get to the classroom. When we get to the classroom Mrs. Jacoby and I will help you find your cubby hole, which is where you will put your schoolbag each morning, then we'll help you find your tables. How does that sound?"
The children and parents nodded of called out 'yes.'
She had been a teacher for only a few years but in her experience, children reacted better when every tiny and seemingly insignificant thing was explained to them. Of course, things often needed to be repeated a dozen times before they sank in but it was her job to teach and she was good at it.
"Okay, boys and girls. Find your family and then we'll get started. Remember, when you've finished saying goodbye we are going to get back into a line of boys and girls. Take your time saying goodbye," she said, adding the last part for the benefit of the more emotional looking parents.
Sybella bounded over to her family and gave them a big grin.
"I love school already. It's going to be so much fun," she beamed.
"Well, I'm glad you think so," Amanda answered. She gave Belle a kiss on the forehead, a motion which Christina repeated.
"We bought you something, love," Christina said. She pulled a red knitted beanie out of her bag. "It's too warm for it now but it'll go nicely with your uniform in the winter."
"What do you say?" Betty prompted.
"Thank you!" she cheered. She gave both ladies a quick hug around the legs before going over to Gabe and Samantha. "Bye Dad, bye Samantha. Thank you for coming."
"Good luck, sweetie," Gabe answered rather awkwardly. He patted her on the head and smiled down at her.
Sybella didn't find it strange having two fathers but he still found it strange having a daughter. To his credit, he was trying. Samantha, however, had no compunctions. She knelt down again and gathered the little girl into a hug.
"Have fun, darling. I hope I get to see you again soon," she cooed. No stranger to attention, Sybella gave her a kiss on the cheek. Samantha was beaming when she came back up.
"Come here," Daniel said, opening his arms. He scooped Sybella up and gave her a tight hug. "Have an awesome day. Get Mama to call me at the office when you get home because I want to hear all about your day."
"I will," she promised. She gave Daniel a kiss on the cheek then he handed her to Betty.
"I'm so proud of you," Betty cooed. She again had tears in her eyes but she wasn't the only one this time. "You've grown up so quickly."
"Maybe you've grown down," Sybella suggested. She wiggled in Betty's arms. "Quick, Mama, the line's almost full."
"Okay, okay," Betty laughed. She held Sybella tight for a few seconds then gave her a big kiss. "I love you. I'll miss you today."
"Okay, I'll see you later," Sybella replied. She ran away as soon as her feet hit the ground and joined the line.
A few minutes later, Miss Michaelson and Mrs. Jacoby led the children inside. Without even a goodbye glance or last wave, Sybella was gone.
Gabe, Samantha, Daniel and Betty were sitting in a cafe after dropping Sybella off. Both parties wanted to try and come to a fair custody agreement without having to take the matter to court which would be stressful, costly and probably disappointing to one or both parties. They had agreed upon one weekend and one overnight stay a month, a week out of every school holiday except for the summer holidays where Gabe would take Sybella for two weeks and then a month when she got older. Gabe would continue to be included in the big events of Sybella's life but he'd have the opportunity to have his own celebrations instead of just tagging along with whatever Betty and Daniel had planned. Sybella would be thrilled at the idea of two birthdays, two Christmases, two bedrooms. It was every little girls dream.
"I think this is a fair arrangement," Samantha said.
"I'll send this off to the lawyer when I get to work," Daniel replied. He looked at his watch. "Speaking of, I'm really late. I should go."
"Okay," Betty replied. She tilted her head up and accepted his kiss. "I'll see you later."
"Yeah, call me after you pick Belle up. It was good to see you, Gabe, and nice to meet you, Samantha," he added politely.
"You too," Samantha replied. She looked at her watch. "Actually, I should get going too. Daniel, you're going my way. Want to get a cab?"
"I've got a car coming but we'll drop you off on the way," he answered as they walked away.
"So," Betty said.
"So," Gabe replied. There was a silence and then a pause. "I'm not doing this to be mean or to try to steal Sybella away from you."
"I know," Betty answered. "But why are you doing this?"
"Honestly," he started."Because of Samantha. I was honest with her about Sybella from the start. I told her I hadn't wanted much to do with her but she changed my mind. She helped me to see all of the things I'd missed out on and then I really started to regret my decision. That's why I've been trying to be a bigger part of her life, coming to her birthdays and stuff. She encouraged me to try for custody. I never intended to take her away from you, I just wanted more of a presence, you know? I don't want her to turn around in ten years and hate me because I was never there. I know I have a lot of ground to make up for and I know Daniel has been a great father to her. I'm not trying to take that away from him, I just want a relationship with her. She is my daughter, my first child."
Betty was silent for a while as she contemplated his words but finally, she nodded.
"I get it. You're lucky Belle probably won't remember much of this time," she replied. "You have been a pretty terrible dad but I'm...glad that you're trying to make it right. Daniel is always going to be her father but I would never stop you from seeing her. I haven't always thought this, believe me, but she deserves to know her father. For her sake, if for nothing else."
"I have to admit I thought you were going to go crazy. Not that I would've blamed you," he said a nervous smile on his face. "I thought you might refuse to see me."
"I almost didn't come today," she shrugged.
"What changed your mind?" he asked.
"I was furious when I first found out but only because I thought you were going to try for full custody. I thought maybe you were just doing it to hurt me or because you viewed Sybella as your property or something. But after our phone call last night, I realise that wasn't what you wanted at all."
"I would never do that," Gabe replied quickly. "She's your daughter and you've put in the hard yards with her. Like I said, I just want to be part of her life."
"And you will be now," she retorted quickly. "Anyway, I'd better go. I have a few things to do before I have to pick Belle up from school. I guess if the lawyer okays everything, we'll see you Wednesday fortnight."
"Definitely," he agreed. They left the cafe and stood silently outside until Gabe spoke. "Betty, thanks for doing this. Meeting with me and all."
"Of course, Gabe. You are Sybella's biological father," she shrugged. Her car pulled up to the curb. "This is me. I'll see you later."
She slid into the darkened safety of the car and it was only then that she let a tear slip. Although it was the best case scenario, it felt a little like she was letting her daughter go.