Ugly Betty

It Takes a Village

A/N: Not long to go now. You have all been an amazing support and I appreciate it more than you will ever know!

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

Chapter Twenty Two: Custardy

Betty was rocking the new baby in the nursery when Sybella came stomping in. She was nine years old now and growing every day. Her long copper hair was in two plaits today and it swung as she sashayed over.

"Christopher is crying. Daddy told him to stop banging his knife and fork on the table," she announced. She went over and peered over her mother's arms. "She's so tiny. She's tinier than Christopher was."

"Only by a little," Betty replied. She lifted three-week old Louisa Hayley to her shoulder so she could burp her. She'd fallen pregnant with her when Christopher was only one. She hadn't expected to fall so quickly because of the trouble she had had falling pregnant with her son but fate was on her side and here she was holding a bundle of perfection. "She doesn't cry as much either. How was the wedding?"

"It was so much fun. Samantha and Dad let me try champagne," she replied. Gabe and Samantha had finally gotten married after being engaged for four years. Sybella had been a flower-girl along with one of Samantha's nieces.

Betty's eyes widened and she gasped, "They what?"

"It was non-alcolic," Sybella giggled. She tickled her mother's arm a little bit and then tickled her little sister's feet. "They wouldn't let me try the real stuff on account of I'm not old enough."

She said the last bit in an exaggerated and bored voice. Being nine years older than the youngest sibling, she was stuck between a rock and a hard place. She wasn't old enough to hang with the adults and her siblings weren't old enough to play with her yet.

"You certainly aren't old enough," Betty agreed. "What else happened? Were you nervous when you walked down the aisle?"

"No way. It was fun and my dress was so pretty. I danced lots at the reception and I tried to catch the bouquet. I didn't catch it even though I stood on a chair so I could reach it better," she replied.

"That was pretty clever," Betty said with a laugh. Louisa gave a milky burp as Betty rubbed her back. "Good girl, Louisa. Clever girl."

"I don't see what's so clever about burping. I burp all the time," Sybella said. "I can even fake burp. Want to see?"

Without asking she gave a pretty impressive fake burp.

"Gross, Sybella," Betty groaned. "Who taught you how to do that?"

"Daddy," Sybella replied, dobbing her father right in.

"Bup, bup," Christopher giggled from the doorway. He raced into the room wearing just a singlet and his nappy. He had a piece of macaroni stuck on his face and water all down his front. He pulled on Betty's shirt. "Bup, bup."

"Not you too, Topher," Betty sighed. She clucked her tongue at him. "You are filthy, little man. Belle, would you take him back to your dad? I think it's time for a bath."

"No bath," he disagreed, shaking his head vehemently. "Mama, no bath."

"Yes bath," Betty disagreed right back. Louisa burped again and Betty stood up. She was placing her in her cot when Christopher let out a loud squeal. Louisa's eyes fluttered open and she too let out a piercing scream. Betty picked her up again. She twirled around to see Sybella looking both guilty and annoyed. "What is going on here?"

"I was trying to get him to go to Daddy," she answered. "He won't come."

Daniel appeared in the doorway. Betty threw him an exasperated look.

"Sorry, sorry," he apologised. "He got away from me. I would've gotten him sooner but I was trying to clean macaroni and cheese off the tiles before he tracked it into the carpet."

"Can you give him a bath please?" she asked. She had soothed Louisa again by walking around in circles.

"I'm right on it," Daniel agreed. He scooped Christopher off the floor and rushed him from the room.

Betty could hear him screaming the whole way down the floor. He actually loved his bath once he was in the water but he still kicked and screamed before every wash. Trying to get him dressed was the big struggle. Their boy would walk around naked all day if he could. He would pull at his clothes until eventually Betty would remove his clothing piece by his piece until he was just in his nappy. When he had started walking and was out of bodysuits, it became even more difficult to keep him dressed. Betty and Daniel were constantly finding a t-shirt here and some shorts there. More than once they had found him sitting in a corner screaming because his t-shirt was stuck over his head. It was hard not to giggle as they pried him from the offending item. He would cry and tears would stream down his cheeks until his shirt had been taken off. He'd then grin at them and toddle off.

Louisa settled down quickly and Betty placed her in the cot. She leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. When she straightened up, Sybella was patiently waiting for her.

"You want to help me make dinner?" Betty asked her. "We're having spaghetti and meatballs."

"Okay," Sybella agreed. She followed her mother to the kitchen. Betty was teaching Sybella how to crack an egg properly when Sybella asked, "Mama, what's custardy?"

"Custardy?" Betty replied. She gave Sybella a strange look. "Do you mean custard like we have on fruit sometimes?"

"No I heard Dad and Sam talking about getting custardy of me and Sam asked if I wanted to live with them," Sybella answered. "She said that I can have a room of my own and we can decorate it anyway I like."

"She said what?" Betty asked. She dropped an eggshell into the bowl. She quickly and silently fished it out. "Samantha shouldn't have said anything because Mama and Daddy haven't heard anything about it."

"But what is it?" Sybella asked.

"Custody, not custardy," Betty said, even though they still sounded the same to her daughter's ears. "Well, you know how Mama and Gabe aren't together? You live with me which means that I have custody of you but if you lived with Dad, he would have custody of you. Do you understand?"

"Yep. But if Dad and Samantha had custody of me then I wouldn't live with you and Daddy and Topher and Louisa," she replied.

"That's right," Betty replied simply. Her insides were tearing up in anger but she kept her face and voice calm so as not to scare Sybella. "Did Samantha or Dad say anything else about it?"

"That they were going to see a lawyer when they got back from their honeymoon," Sybella replied. She pushed a lock of hair behind her ear and sighed. "Mama, I'm hungry so can we keep making dinner?"

"Sure, sweetheart," Betty said. She shook herself out and continued to prepare the meatballs. "Do you want to live with Dad and Samantha? Not all the time, I mean, but sometimes."

"I like the way we do it now. I like living here and only going there sometimes," she replied. "I would miss you too much if I lived there all the time."

"We'd miss you too," Betty replied. She leaned over and kissed Sybella's forehead. "I tell you what, let's not talk about this again until after I've talked to Gabe, I mean Dad, and Samantha, okay?"

"Okay," Sybella agreed.

"I thought we were done with all of this," Betty sighed. She was sitting on the edge of the bed rubbing moisturiser onto her legs. "I can't believe he would do this to us."

"Maybe it's not him," Daniel suggested. "It's not that Gabe doesn't love Bella but I have a feeling this whole custody thing is Samantha's idea. Remember he never wanted to see her before she came along. He even admitted that. This is probably her doing."

"That's true," Betty agreed. "Why does she want our daughter though? She can have children of her own. She doesn't need mine."

"Maybe she sees Belle as Gabe's property and she think he has a right to his property," Daniel shrugged. "I don't know. I thought things were working fine the way they were but I guess not."

"I wonder if he even has a leg to stand on," Betty said. She finished moisturising her leg and sat staring out the window. "A judge would never give him full custody, would he?"

"I highly doubt it. Joint definitely but not full custody," he answered. He knelt behind her on the bed and put his arms on her shoulder. "You're taking this very well. Better than last time."

"There's no point in freaking out, is there?" she asked. "If I freak out, I may do something stupid and if I do something stupid, there's a chance I'll shoot myself in the foot. Besides, they aren't getting custody of my daughter and that's final. I already give him a week out of her school holidays. What more does he want?"

"She is an amazing little girl. It's not surprising they want to see more of her," Daniel said quietly.

"He's clearly never seen her when she's grumpy," Betty huffed. She leaned back into Daniel and he kissed her on the temple.

"We shouldn't jump to conclusions anyway. Maybe Belle got it wrong and they just want to re-decorate her room or maybe they think she's old enough to start spending a month with them in the summer instead of a week," Daniel comforted his wife.

"Maybe. You're right. Let's not jump to conclusions," she agreed. She looked at her watch and yawned. "I have about an hour before Louisa is going to need a feed. Let's have a nap."

They climbed into bed and wound themselves around each other. Betty never slept quite as well when Daniel wasn't by her side.

Louisa started crying promptly an hour later. She was a good child, generally. She was very particular and punctual though. She always cried on the hour when it was time for a feed and even her nappies seemed to be changed with clockwork regularity. It had taken months to get Sybella and Christopher into a schedule but Louisa almost seemed born into one. She was a happy baby though and she cried only when she was hungry or wet. Christopher had been the fussy one but he had become a relatively go-lucky, yet highly strung, toddler. He was always getting into mischief but he always had a huge grin on his face, one that made it almost impossible to go mad on him. Go mad on him they did though. Betty and Daniel had decided they would have kind, polite children who worked hard for what they wanted and weren't handed it on a silvery platter. Christopher was obsessed with his father while the girls were definitely more mama's girls.

Betty crawled out of bed and went in to feed Louisa. Daniel came into the room a few minutes later and crouched down beside the armchair. He stroked Louisa's cheek and then Betty's.

"I hate that I don't get to see her as much as the other two," he sighed. It was hard working full-time and having two other children. Betty was so caught-up in Louisa at the moment that looking after Christopher seemed to fall to him. As soon as he got home from work, he gave his son his bath, fed him then put him to bed. Sybella basically looked after herself these days and she helped her parents out where she could.

"It doesn't mean you love her any less," Betty murmured. She was watching Louisa's cheeks as she sucked. She was such a beautiful baby. "It doesn't matter to her who is feeding her or changing her or talking to her. She only cares that she's fed and cleaned."

"I know but I feel like I'm neglecting her and I hate that," he sighed.

"As soon as I switch to bottle feeds I will gladly let you give her her two am feed," Betty said. She smiled at her husband. "You're a good dad, a great dad. You're a better father than yours ever was."

She added the last bit because she knew it was what he really wanted to hear.

"Really?" he asked. She nodded at him.

"The very fact that you want to do more is proof of that," Betty replied. "I couldn't ask for a better husband or a better father to my children."

"I wouldn't even know how to ask for a better you," he murmured back.

"Now we're just getting mushy," she chuckled. He yawned and she yawned too. "Go back to bed. I'll be in in a little while."

"Okay," he agreed because he was so very tired. He stood up and kissed her on the forehead. "Love you."

"Love you too," she replied.

He leaned down and kissed Louisa.

"Love you too, little one," he whispered.

When he left Betty sighed to herself. She had been thinking and worrying about the whole Gabe/Samantha/custody thing but all it took for her to forget all her troubles was to see Daniels face. And she felt like the biggest girl because of it.