Accusations d'amour
A/N: Apologies for the horribly long gap, and also this chapter may be a bit random. As always, constructive criticism and comments very welcome.
Breakfast and Papers
"G-g'morning," Betty stammered between her yawn. "Why do we need to be up so early?"
It was six thirty and Daniel and Betty were relatively alone in the breakfast room. "Minor issue with the first meeting," Daniel said, apologetically. "I could use your help."
"No problem," Betty said, sitting down with her plate piled from the buffet. "Shoot."
He smiled affectionately at his assistant, already getting pumped so early in the morning.
They discussed the meeting relaxedly, laughing at times, gesturing freely as they ate. There was no residue from that tiny moment on the plane, and Betty was glad. About a half hour later, just a little after seven, most dutiful tourists had gotten up and the room was buzzing.
Betty noticed it first. It was a woman, dressed like any other tourist, staring at her from above her lowered newspaper. The tourist hurriedly looked away from Betty's gaze, raising the paper again.
Almost immediately after that, they noticed the man at the table closest to theirs looking surreptitiously at Daniel, and then across to Betty. He passed a handheld to his wife beside him; after a few seconds she too looked up and gawked openly.
"Why are people staring at us here as well?" Daniel hissed, leaning in closer.
"How would I know?"
One of the Mode team girls came up to their table, her face almost deliberately expressionless. "I think you'll want to see this, Daniel." She gave him a copy of the New York paper he usually read back at Mode. Frowning in curiousity, he looked at the page that was folded out.
Daniel knocked his fork off the table with a reflexive little jerk of his elbow, giving a twisted swallow-y choke at the same time.
"What is it?" Betty rose and went to his side, but he fairly crumpled the paper in half.
"It's...not relevant, Betty."
She gave him a severe look, but he still clutched the paper. Marching down to the tourist she had first seen staring at her, she asked, politely, "May I look at your newspaper?"
Betty & the Boss?
Could Daniel Meade, one-time most eligible bachelor of New York and famed Lothario, be dating his assistant? Recent reports have circulated of this less-than-healthy workplace relationship.
Betty Suarez, a 23-year-old girl Queens girl, has been a most unlikely addition to the Mode family. Rumour has it that she was hired by Bradford for his son as a means of decreasing the younger Meade's temptations for on-the-job flings.
But has this backfired? Images have surfaced that provide strong basis for our suspicions. Betty's boyfriend, Walter, has claimed that Betty is "trapped in this." "It's time we all knew the truth," he said. "And the truth will set Betty free."
A most unearthly shriek escaped a certain tourist from the breakfast room of the Ritz-Carlton Paris.
When Betty had calmed down from the embarrassment of screaming in public, she steamed in her hotel room. Daniel paced obsessively back and forth, looking pale and panicky.
"I can't believe they ran an entire article on us."
"I can't believe Walter did that." So that was what his stupid secrecy had been about. What the heck had he been thinking?
"What are we gonna do?"
"We can let PR run a standard rebuttal statement," Betty said, hopefully.
"PR's for Mode, Betty, not for me personally."
"Yeah, but you're the editor-in-chief..."
"Screw that," Daniel said, suddenly. "Can you figure out what Wilbur's on?"
She did not bother to correct him as she took out her mobile.
"OH MY GOD, BETTY!! WHAT WAS THAT?"
"It was a load of rubbish, Hilda! And I need to speak to Walter right now, so I have to hang up-"
"Oh, Walter? He's here."
"What do you mean he's there?"
"He was the one who showed us the article, Betty! We don't usually get the paper."
"Will you give him the phone?"
"Hi, Bet-"
"AND THE TRUTH WILL SET YOU FREE? What are you on about, Walter?!"
"But Betty! I was just trying to help-"
"With what?!"
"With Daniel!"
"Why would I need help with Daniel?!" She felt like she was arguing nonsense, which it was; what the heck was Walter talking about, what was he thinking - what had he been thinking this whole time?
"Because he's been bothering you, okay! He obviously likes you so much - getting you to go to Paris with him - he just needs to realise that you're not going to like him because you're with - you're with me."
Betty actually stared at her phone before answering. "Walter, what are you talking about?"
"You're with me, aren't you, Betty?"
Was this jealousy? This whole convoluted nonsensical scheme brought about by Walter's jealousy that she had gone to Paris with Daniel?
"Walter...just stop, will you? Stop everything."
There was silence on the end of the line, but she could picture him nodding meekly.
"Okay, I'll see you when I get back."
"Wait - you never answered me, Betty."
She paused. "Yes," she said, drawing the syllable almost reluctantly from her mouth. "Goodbye, Walter."
"And you said things would work themselves out, Daniel."
He drove on, looking angry and apologetic at the same time. "Let's just forget it and concentrate on this trip."
The sky was blue, Betty thought, a nice calming blue that reminded her how the sky was the same all the world over. It was the same sun she saw now here that Papi and Hilda were seeing back at home.
"Alright."