Ugly Betty

It Takes a Village

A/N: I am sorry I haven't updated in forever. In all honesty I haven't even seen an Ugly Betty episode since Bradford died. It got put on at all different times and in the end I just gave up. That's no excuse though. I promised I would finish this story and I will. In an ideal world I'd have it finished by the end of the year but since that's in two days, I don't think it will happen. Anyway, again, I would like to thank those of you who have read and reviewed this story from its beginning. I appreciate it more than you know.

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

Chapter Twenty Three: Moments Like These

Their day started like any other normal day. Curled up to each other in bed, Betty would yawn and stretch as Daniel groaned and nuzzled his nose into her neck.

"Don't want to get up," he murmured.

"Me either but we have to," Betty sighed. She rolled over to face him and they shared a quick kiss. "Good morning."

"Good morning," he replied in a slightly more cheerier tone that his previous grumbles. "Want me to get Topher up?"

"Yes please," she replied. She pulled herself out of bed and out of her husbands grasp. "Remember the days before kids when we could lie in bed all day?"

"Not really," he answered as he watched her pull a pink dressing gown on over her pyjamas. "We always had Bella running around causing mischief."

"I meant the days of only one kid," Betty laughed. "She was much easier to handle than three."

"I still disagree. She was, and still is, a handful," Daniel replied. He hopped out of bed himself and pulled his wife into his arms. She giggled and tried to push him away but he held on. "Just because I don't remember those days doesn't mean I don't wish we could have them."

"It's all wishful thinking now," Betty whispered. She kissed Daniel once more and then as if on cue, Louisa started crying in her bedroom. "And we're on."

She made her way down the hall and stuck her head into Sybella's room. The little girl was curled up under her sheets. Her eyes were pressed together and Betty knew she was desperately trying to stay asleep. It was the summer holidays and Sybella was taking advantage of the sleep-ins.

"Morning, sweetpea," she trilled.

Sybella responded by rolling over and ignoring her. Betty smiled to herself, knowing that her daughter would be up in fifteen minutes. It was hard to sleep with a baby and a toddler in the house. Some mornings Daniel would rescue her and take her into the office where she 'helped' Kailey, Amanda's replacement while she was on maternity leave, or hung out with Christina in The Closet. Once she sat in on a board meeting with Daniel and charmed the pants off his employees.

Betty walked away from Sybella's room and puttered into Louisa's room. The baby with her thick patch of dark hair stopped crying when she saw her mother and began to coo.

"Hey little girl," she whispered scooping the baby up. "You're okay now. You're just hungry, aren't you? Come on. Let's change you and then you can have your breakfast."

She could vaguely hear Topher and Daniel in the kitchen. Topher's new thing was to turn his finished (sometimes unfinished) bowl upside down and use it as a drum. She stroked Louisa's cheek and smiled. Some women might find breast-feeding a chore but she didn't mind it so much. She had Louisa all to herself and she loved peering down at her daughter's face memorising each vein and each eyelash. She stroked her face and sighed, wishing that she could stay this small forever.

After a few minutes, Sybella stuck her head around the door. She stretched and yawned and watched her mother blearily.

"Topher woke me up," she sighed. She walked in and stood in front of Betty. "I wish he would be more quiet."

"You used to wake me and Daddy up every morning and we never asked you to be quiet," Betty replied amusedly. "You used to drive us crazy. You'd wake up as soon as the sun came up and you'd want breakfast."

"I want breakfast now actually," Sybella mused.

"Daddy's in the kitchen with Topher. Get him to make you some cereal," Betty suggested.

"I can do it myself, you know," she sighed dramatically but she walked off anyway. She came back a few minutes later and sat at Betty's feet with her bowl of cornflakes. "Can I pick her clothes today?"

"Sure. Get them ready for me so I can change her when I've burped her," Betty replied. Sybella pulled out a

"Dad and Samantha are taking me to the zoo today," Sybella announced. "Did you remember?"

"I sure did," Betty replied, putting on mock cheeriness. "He'll be here at ten-thirty. You should probably go have a bath. Do you want me to run it for you?"

"I had a bath last night," Sybella said.

"Did you? I can't remember," Betty admitted.

"Smell my hair," Sybella ordered. "It smells like shampoo."

"Right then. Go get dressed," Betty replied after smelling her daughter's recently shampooed hair. She shooed Bella out of the room and then let out a big sigh.

"What's wrong?" Daniel asked, coming into the room. He was half-dressed for work.

"I haven't seen Gabe since Sybella announced the whole custody thing to me," she replied. "I'm torn between ripping him a new one and pretending I know nothing."

"I'd pretend you know nothing until he says something. It's possible Sybella got it wrong. Anyway its best to let lawyers handle this kind of stuff. You don't want to say the wrong thing only to have them hold it over your head," Daniel said.

"You think it's going to make it to lawyers?"

"If he's really serious about this then yeah. It's going to have to," Daniel replied. "I hope it doesn't. You know that."

"I know. Are you leaving?" she asked.

"I just have to brush my teeth," he replied.

"And tie your tie and put some proper shoes on," Betty added.

"Hmm. Thanks," Daniel said, looking to realise that his tie was indeed undone. He kissed her on the forehead. "I will see you later."

"See you later. Can you bring me some lettuce home? We're having lasagne and salad for dinner," she requested.

"Do we not have a housekeeper that can get those kinds of things for us?" Daniel asked. Betty looked perplexed and he sighed good-naturedly. "Okay. I have to go. I put Topher in the living room in front of The Wiggles."

"Thanks. I will see you tonight," Betty replied. She tilted her head for Daniel to kiss again and then he was gone leaving her alone with three children.

The doorman rang half an hour later to say that Gabe and Samantha had arrived. Betty told him to send them up and then waited for the doorbell to ring. When it did Sybella raced to the door and almost flung the door open when Betty stopped her.

"Hey. What do you think you're doing opening the door without seeing who it is?" she snapped.

"It's Dad and Samantha," Sybella shrugged.

"I don't care if you think its them. You have to check first," Betty replied. She looked through the peep-hole only to discover that it indeed was Samantha and Gabe. Of course she'd known that but she was trying to teach Sybella to be weary of strangers. That talk to anyone and everyone routine had been endearing when she was four, not so at nine. "Okay, now you can open the door."

"Dad!" Sybella cried. She gave Gabe a hug and then Samantha.

"It's so good to see you," Samantha cooed. "Are you all ready for a day at the zoo?"

"I just have to get my backpack," Sybella answered. She raced away leaving the three adults standing awkwardly.

"Listen, I was just wondering if Sybella had said anything about us wanting to change the custody arrangement," Gabe asked.

"She did," Betty said shortly. "You can't ask a nine year-old what they think about something like that. You should have come to me and Daniel first."

"But you would have said no," Samantha butted in.

"Exactly," answered Betty coolly. "She is nine years old. She belongs here with me and her father."

"Gabe is her father," Samantha argued.

"Biologically but Daniel is the one who raised her. He's the one who pays for everything and who tucks her in at night," Betty answered.

"And I would like to be the one who does that but I never get the chance," Gabe said, finally speaking for himself.

Betty had nothing to say because as much as she hated to admit it, it was a fair call. Luckily Sybella came back, raring and ready to go.

"Bye Mama," she said. "Don't miss me too much."

"I'm sure I won't even notice you're gone," Betty joked. She kissed Sybella on the top of her head then lightly pushed her out the door. "Samantha, can I have a quick word with Gabe?"

"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Samantha said but Gabe placed a silencing hand on her arm.

"Just for a second," he said. "How about you go and get the lift?"

Samantha and Sybella walked off to press the button for the lift.

"I just wanted to ask you not to talk to Sybella any more about this. I was blind-sided by her. I didn't know what to say. I'm the adult and she's the child. I can't have her coming and saying things like 'my dad wants full custody of me.' She didn't even understand what it meant and I had to explain it to her," Betty said.

"What did she think about it when you explained it to her?" Gabe asked.

"She said that she wanted to stay here with us. I promise I didn't say anything to sway her. She said that all by herself. Look, all I'm saying is that if you don't talk about it with her, I won't talk about it with her. But you and I will need to talk about this sometime. Just you and me," Betty continued.

"That seems fair enough," he nodded. Topher came toddling around the corner, bored with his DVD, and Gabe smiled at him. "He's adorable."

Betty turned around and the tense look on her face was replaced with an exasperated yet fond smile.

"Yeah, he is. Okay, well, I better get back to him. Have fun at the zoo and I'll see you later tonight."

"See you then. Before seven, right? Should we feed her dinner?" he asked.

"Umm, sure. Whatever you want. Just nothing with capsicum. She hates capsicum," Betty answered.

Sybella yelled that the elevator was there and he ran off. Betty turned back around to see Topher watching her. She smiled at him and he gave her a big toothy grin back. She held up her hand in the shape of a claw and took a step towards him.

"I'm coming to get you," she cooed. "I'm coming to get you."

He squealed in delight and ran into the lounge room. He let himself be scooped up and Betty tickled him until he laughed so hard he almost choked. Betty couldn't blame Gabe for wanting to be a bigger part of Sybella's life. He had already missed out on so many moments just like this one. But that didn't mean she wanted to give her daughter up.