CHAPTER 28:

Following the Doral Resort Wear meeting, Mode got the account which aided the entire company since Mode was the flagship magazine. Soon after, was launched and the successful Halston dress photo shoot with Keira Knightley, the company took the Christmas vacation and the offices had been vacant for three weeks. However, recess was over and it was back to work. Sporting skiing goggle tan lines, Wilhelmina and Daniel stepped off the elevator and onto the Mode floor and walked gradually. They chatted casually, about their break which everybody knew about as several photographs were plastered on various gossip magazines across the country.

"I did miss work so, the look of fear on people's faces." Willie admitted with a self satisfactory smile.

"Only you would miss the faces of frightened people in your presence." Daniel quipped.

"Well what can I say? I'm one of a kind." She replied with a smirk.

"But it's been happening a lot less lately."

"Excuse me?" She asked, stopping in her tracks and cocking her brow.

"I mean when was the last time you made someone cry?"

"Are you implying that my 'Evil Queen' charm is wearing off? Are you saying that I've gone soft?" She questioned feigning a serious expression.

"Yeah" He replied with a scoff and she playfully punched him on his arm in response.

"You're being silly."

Reaching the reception desk, they got their messages and gave each other a quick peck and went to their respective offices. Willie turned from the corner and saw Marc engrossed in a pile of documents.

"Good morning, Marc." She greeted.

"Willie!" He said springing to his feet and following her into her office. "So, how was your vacation?" He asked.

"I spent Christmas day in Paris with Claire and Alexis in the same room." She replied pointedly.

"Oh." Said Marc.

"But the skiing vacation definitely made up for it. How about you?" She asked as she settle on her throne. At first, Marc took a pause, clearly taken aback by her question.

"Well, I went home, my mother is still a little bit...you know."

"Is she still trying to set you up with the overweight organ player from her church? Willie asked as she powered up her computer.

"Well, no she sort of…Well, she's sort of getting…" Marc stuttered, causing Willie to look up at him quizzically.

"Wait, back up…did I just ask you about your well being?" She asked, grimacing.

"Yeah, you did. Wow, since you've been seeing Daniel you have become…nicer."

"Is that a complement?"

"Sort of…"

"It's just ever since I fell in love with him, I started caring about others…something I haven't done in years. It's like a disease that he somehow passed on to me."

"So, the vacation was good, huh?"

"It was great, Marc. I spent time with Nico but she had to go to Dubai, you know she prefers spending Christmas day with her dad. Anyway DJ is good, he's grown since I last saw him and we had a good time, even though being in the same room with his mom/dad wasn't the highlight of the vacation." Marc knew that he had to change the subject. He'd known the woman long enough to know when she didn't want to talk about a certain issue.

"What's that?" He asked pointing to the envelope she had in her hand when she walked in that was marked as confidential which now sat in front of her.

"You know I hate rewarding you without any good reason…but here." She said sliding the envelope across the desk. "I need you to leak the pictures of the Halston dress from the shoot with Keira Knightley. The press has already been sniffing around for them desperately."

"Will do." He said as he shot up from the chair excitedly and ran off.

Meanwhile:

"Betty!" Daniel said jovially. "Hey, my God, how are you doing?" He said, rushing over to her.

"Daniel!"

"How is your father?" He asked as he hugged her. Pulling away he asked, scoffing "What happened to your desk?"

"Yeah, this is what happens when I'm gone for two weeks. My dad is doing better, thank you. And thank you for all those flowers you sent."

"Is twelve dozen too much?" She shrugged in response "That's why you should do the flower ordering around here."

"Yep." She agreed.

"Not that you can't take as much time off as you need, of course." Daniel offered.

"No, Daniel I, need to be working. Besides, Hilda and I are going to split the responsibilities of taking care of my father. So, what you got for me?" She asked excitedly.

"Well, you can take my vacation photos down to the lab. I was gonna print some of these pictures up."

"Wouldn't you rather buy Entertainment Weekly, People or all those other magazines?" Betty joked.

"I know just what you mean."

"So how was the vacation with Wilhelmina? How is DJ…and Alexis? Was everything okay with everybody in the same room?"

"Well…there were no casualties." He quipped.

"Oh, that's…not bad. Right?"

"It's actually good, judging by everything that's happened. But you don't need me bothering you with my family drama. You're the one with a sick father. So what's my schedule for my first day back?" He asked.

Days went by quickly and people quickly settled back into their roles at Mode following the vacation time. The couple walked to work hand in hand, with Daniel sipping his frappucino and Willie a caramel macchiato while chatting about work.

"What the hell does the Editor of Excursions want to see us about?"

"I'm guessing he wants to do a feature story about us on our vacation. At least that's what Betty thinks he was hinting at."

"Does everybody know we went to Courchevel?" She asked with a hint of annoyance.

"Oh yeah. Every gossip publication has been using us to make money this week." He said.

"You think we should let Excursions run a feature on it?"

"Yeah…I mean it wouldn't be so bad…I mean it's our own publication."

"You totally want to do it!" She accused with a smirk.

"I mean…yeah. It's just that, people are now starting to believe that what we have is real. It feels kinda good."

"So that's a yes?"

"Yeah, I think we should let them run an article on us."

"Okay, then. But I'm afraid you have to take that meeting alone this afternoon, Danny."

"Okay, Why?"

"I'm directing the Magdalena Frackowaik shoot and the call time clashes with the meeting. And then we have that meeting with Connor and the Editors of Tech Wiz, Psychology Now and City Word magazines about their net paid circulation. And…uh, Daniel, Hon?" Willie said carefully. Hearing the seriousness of her tone, he looked at her.

"Yeah?"

"Maybe it's just my over analysis of things, but I suspect that Connor knows."

"Knows wh-…Oh, shit." He exclaimed, his pace slowing and color draining from his face. "Are you sure?"

"Not a hundred percent, but I'm getting pretty suspicious." His grip tightened on her gloved hand. "I never wanted to say anything but in Key Largo he kept probing me about our relationship and commenting how we are an unlikely pair. And after the meeting with Guerlain people the other day, he made a similar comment."

"But that doesn't mean he knows." He argued, not wanting to believe the possibility of Connor knowing about his dirty deed with his fiancée.

"Yeah but in addition to that, he kept hinting at the fact that you were thee playboy. It was as if he was trying to figure out what I'm doing with you."

"Willie, baby, you're reading too much into this. Everybody is wondering what you're doing with me." He joked.

"Okay. Maybe it's just me."

"Look, he might not know everything but believe me he knows something." She warned and Daniel tightened his jaw as they picked up the pace as they walked in the building. His heart rate increased as he pondered over what his other said and if she was right, which she usually was, then Connor could be playing him. He knew he had to come clean to the parson who was going to lecture and hopefully tell him what to do about the situation.

Daniel hung his head in shame as he nervously paced his office while Betty reacted hysterically after he revealed the shenanigans of his past involving Connor's ex-fiancée. After calming down, she sat back down on the chair in front of him, completely dumbfounded.

"Oh, My God." Exclaimed a wide-eyed Betty,

"I know. I'm a horrible person."

"Oh, My God, Daniel." She repeated. Just as she was about to begin her lecture, Daniel cut her off by choosing to continue.

"And Willie said something on our way to work this morning."

"What did she say?" She asked fearfully.

"That he probably knows." He replied. Betty couldn't believe that Daniel was claiming that he cheated with the ex-fiancée he man who was currently the senior financial officer of the company and he knew about it.

"Who knows? She questioned wanting to be sure.

"Con-…Connor, Hey!" Daniel said, completely shocked as appeared on his doorway.

"Meade, you're up for hitting the gym after work?" Asked Connor as he stopped on the threshold.

"Sounds great. Let's do it, mate!" He said with a phony jovial tone. Connor gave a curt nod accompanied by his smile and walked off. "Was I overly enthusiastic?" Daniel asked.

"You said 'mate'" His assistant reminded him, confirming his suspicions. He sighed and collapsed back on his chair.

"But Daniel, you said, he didn't know."

"I know. But Willie says that she suspects that he might know something."

"And you hired him as the CFO?"

"Betty please." He pleaded. "I'm stressed out as it is. Plus I didn't know that he might know."

"So what are you going to do?"

"I'm not sure."

Daniel walked in Willie's office just as she was about to head out for a meeting. He strode over to her, with an apologetic glare.

"Hey"

"Hi, sweetie. Is everything alright?"

"Uh…no. I'm afraid I have to cancel on you tonight. I stupidly agreed to hitting the gym with Connor tonight."

"That's Perfect." Willie said. Confused, he narrowed his eyes.

"You're…happy that you won't spend time with your boyfriend?" He asked, his brows knitted in confusion.

"No, Danny. This is the perfect opportunity for you…to see what I was talking about…about him knowing." She explained.

"Oh." He answered, the realization hitting him.

"Now, let's get this meeting over with." She smiled as she straightened his tie.

That evening at the gym Connor and Daniel got on the boxing ring.

"So how was your holiday?" Connor questioned as they began dancing around before throwing effortless punches.

"It was great. Willie and I spent a week in Paris and the rest of our time in Courchevel."

"Oh yeah I saw the two of you plastered across page six, skiing in the French Alps. Beautiful place isn't it?" Connor asked as he threw a lead jab, sending Daniel to stumble backward, grunting in pain.

"Yeah, indeed." Daniel answered as he shook the lightheadedness away.

"You know when was the last time I was there? 5 years ago, when I was engaged to Molly. Remember her?"

"Oh? Yeah, I'm sorry that didn't work out. Molly was…a great girl." Daniel answered nervously.

"I have just one question…how do you live with yourself?" Daniel's eyes narrowed.

"What?" Daniel exclaimed just before Connor threw another lead right before he had a chance to duck. Stumbling backwards, Daniel felt incredibly dizzy, and began heaving. He attempted to unfasten his gloves as a small crowd started to gather around. "Wait a second. Connor…let's just take…I wanna take a break…and talk, okay?" He mumbled as he took off his head guard out of breath, which was a mistake. Just then Connor shot a haymaker that knocked him down to the canvas. Lying on the canvas, Daniel looked up at Connor who looked down on him with rage filled eyes

"Sorry about that, mate. Molly told me…5 years ago to be exact." Connor said venomously as he unfastened his own gloves.

"Connor…I…"

"You were my friend, Daniel. And you slept with my fiancée and faced me everyday knowing the truth. And you had the audacity to hire me in your company and acted as if nothing happened." He threw the gloves and the head guard on the canvas and walked off.

"And then he knocked down?" Willie said pressing the ice on his eye "And you didn't feel the need to tell me about this last night because?"

"I didn't wanna bother you that late." He lied

"The real reason, Danny." She said impatiently.

"I was afraid of…I didn't wanna hear you say 'I told you so.'"

"Daniel, I wasn't going to say that. You were younger and you're human. I'm not saying what you did was nothing but we all make mistakes." She removed the ice pack "I think we need more ice."

"No, actually it's starting to feel better."

"But it certainly doesn't look that way." She swiftly stood up and walked over to the ice bucket "And what were you doing boxing, Palooka?" Willie teased as she put the ice on the pack. Daniel simply responded with a chuckle.

As she walked back toward him with the ice pack, there was a knock on the door. The pair looked at the doorway as Connor walked in.

"Daniel, Willie" Said Connor. The men's eyes locked, with Connor's expression unreadable while Daniel's face washed with guilt.

"Excuse me." Said Willie as she stood up to leave the two alone.

"No, that's okay, Willie. I know Danny boy probably told you everything. I just wanted to check with Daniel, make sure we're still on for our budget meeting tonight." Connor said.

"Um…yeah, sure." Daniel replied. Connor gave a curt nod and turned on his heel.

"Listen, Connor." Daniel called out. Connor slowly whirled, clearly frustrated. "We need to talk."

"I said everything I needed to on the ring. We're good. I'll see you tonight." Said Connor.

"Well, seems like things between the two of you won't be as hard as you thought." Willie commented as they watched Connor's form disappearing in the halls.

"No, I guess not." Daniel replied with relief causing Willie to roll her eyes.

"That was sarcasm, Daniel."

"What?"

"Connor is obviously still angry. That face…is not of a person who has forgiven somebody in the last 12 hours."

"What…what are you saying, babe?"

"I'm just saying, actually asking for you to keep your eyes open. And I think we have to get rid of him."

"Wh-…"

"Daniel, I know we can't fire him without a significant buy-out. But we have to let him go. Now I have to get to a meeting with Tom Ford and let's talk about this later. And put some concealer on that. Love you." She said with a smile before pecking him on the lips.

Weeks flew by and things seemed to be neutral between Daniel and Connor. After Meade Publications showed signs of a financial rebound, Connor spent less time with the couple and most of it on the third floor and only met with Willie and Daniel for budget meetings and financial reports. Just as it seemed that all was well, Daniel received a call from Betty one morning, telling him that his mother had pulled a Winona Ryder at some drug store in town.

"Hey" He said as stood on Willie's threshold, his hands stuffed in his pockets.

"Hey, Honey." She replied as he walked over to her and bent down and kissed her good morning. However, she had noticed that he looked jaded when he came in. She pulled away and looked at him, cupping his face.

"Is everything okay?" She asked.

"It's my mom." He said and let out a sigh as he walked over to the chair in front of her desk and slumped himself on it. "She was held in the security office of some drug store for shoplifting."

"Shoplifting? What the hell was it that she couldn't afford on her own? New York?" She asked in disbelief.

"She was probably acting out. Betty seems to think that something could have triggered her behavior and that's the only explanation."

"Like what?"

"She's turning sixty next week." He revealed.

"Oh. So she was trying to get your attention." She simply stated.

"Yeah and Betty suggested a surprise party and she's gonna do a tribute video."

"Yeah, you need to make sure that it goes well. It's not a good sign when somebody resorts to crime to get your attention. Believe me."

"I know." He said sighing. "We should go out this evening, how about dinner at Per sé?" He suggested.

"Oh, I already had a surprise date in mind." She replied. Daniel's face lit up.

"What is it?"

"Like I said..it's a surprise. But I promise you, it'll be fun." She winked.

"They always are, babe." He winked right back before he stood up.

Betty sat on Daniel's chair watching the home video on the monitor uneasily while he stood back folding his arms uncomfortably.

"Wow, it's kinda hard to watch it." Betty commented.

"Yeah, also kinda hard to live it. And they're all pretty much the same. Though the Fourth of July-barbecue-in-the-pool spectacular is pretty damn entertaining."

"Yikes, Well, I'm sure I can find something in here." A light bulb went off in her head "And hey! If you get me a camera, I could interview her friends and family saying nice things about her and then edit that into a warm, wonderful video."

"Great." He replied. And just as he was beginning to pace slowly, his mother hurriedly walked into his office, wearing a smile.

"Hello, Daniel." Exclaimed Claire.

"Mrs. Meade!" Betty exclaimed, closing the laptop.

"Hey, Mom. I was just coming to see you."

"I know, I know I'm due for a talking-to after my little bout with the drug-store police this morning. But I thought it might be more pleasant to do it over dinner. How about Michael's at 8:00?"

"That sounds great, but I…"

"Great! I'll call and see if he'll make your favorite, spaghetti and meatballs." She said as she turned to leave. At his mother's revelation, Betty stared at him with her face scrunched up.

"What? They're good." He defended and hurried over to his mother.

"Hey, Mom, you know, I'd really love to do that, but Willie has a surprise special date planned." He explained sheepishly. His mother's face fell, obviously hurt.

"Oh…well that's fine, then." She lied.

"But, uh, you know, we should do something fun together, maybe just later in the week."

"That would be nice." Claire said with a smile trying to mask her disappointment and then walked out.

Daniel turned to Betty "We better make sure this party's good."

"Oh, we will." Betty assured him.

The couple unfolded from the car with Wilhelmina clad all in white and Daniel all in black, each holding a pair of matching ice skates. Willie's surprise to Daniel was a session on the ice rink at the Rockerfeller Centre. He gripped Wilhelmina's hand tighter in fear as they walked closer to the rink.

"Oh, my God, Willie." He shrieked.

"What is it, honey?"

"I never really learned how to skate." He confessed.

"Well, tonight is your lucky night, Meade 'cause I'm going to teach you." She said before pecking his lips.

"You will?"

"Oh, yeah and fear not, I am a good teacher." She replied but all she saw was an incredulous look from him "I am." She said defensively, giggling in the process.

"You won't yell?"

"No." She assured him as they went to sit down and put their skates on. After fastening their skates, the couple stood up and went on to the rink with Daniel still gripping her hand tightly.

"This will be fun. I promise." She said.

A half an hour later Daniel clung to Wilhelmina's arm as they glided on the rink. 30 minutes into the activity and he still hadn't loosened up, however Willie was patient with him.

"You know, I'm not really sure this was a good idea." He said.

"Well, you said you'd like to learn my hobbies and this is one of them. Try and loosen up, Sweetie. It'll all come back to you."

"Yeah, I never really learned how to skate. I was always the kid with the double blades on."

"Just loosen up, hon." She encouraged.

"Hey look you're getting it…you got it, you're doing great." She complemented. Feeling confident, he let go and glided on his own, grinning. As he glided rather fast, he didn't know how to control his speed and ended up colliding with the glass. Wilhelmina cringed as he almost fell over. Luckily, he gripped the glass for support. She glided right to him and grabbed his waist tightly.

"You did it. You were amazing."

"Yeah, up until a few seconds ago." He said laughing.

"Yeah, don't worry, we'll work on that. We have a couple of hours." She said cupping his face and kissing him deeply. "Wanna take a break?"

"Please." He cried.

"Alright let's go. I reserved a table at Rock Centre Café." She said gripping his hand.

About a half hour later, the couple sat adjacent to each other next to the window with the view overlooking the rink, having a chocolate truffle cake and mochaccino. As they laughed heartily as they both vividly recounted skating incidents from childhood, Willie diverted the conversation, seeing how Daniel's face was filled with sadness every time he mentioned his mother.

"Daniel, what's going on with Claire?" She questioned and his face fell.

"Willie baby, let's not ruin our evening with this." He said.

"Believe me, this isn't the highlight of my day either, but she is your mother and I can see through this little masquerade. It's bothering you." She said laying her hand atop his and caressing it.

"You right. It's stressing me out big time." He admitted.

"Look, Daniel you were right before. She's craving your attention and she feels completely alone right now."

"I know." He sighed before continuing "If only there was a way to fix it."

"I think we ought to cancel our date for tomorrow night. In addition to her surprise party on Friday, just take her out to dinner; somewhere private with just the two of you. That's what she wants, not what you can do for her. Trust me on this." He smiled lovingly at her suggestion, intertwining their fingers.

"You know what? I-…." Before he could say anything else, a sudden flash broke their moment. Looking at the direction, they could see a number of long camera lenses pointed at them and flashing away. That seemed to suggest an end to their evening, deciding to wrap the date up at home.

The very next day, a guilt ridden Claire sat with Betty at a Boutique with the security guard standing nearby, keeping an eye on them. The Meade matriarch was detained after yet another attempt at stealing. After being followed by Betty for the entire day, for her 'YETI project' they ended up going shopping during which Mrs. Meade snatched a thong and tried to walk right out. However, Betty managed to snatch the thong back but not before she reached the metal detectors, resulting in their detention.

"I don't understand why you're doing this." Betty said worriedly "What are you gonna do if the press finds out?"

Claire scoffed "Oh, please, Betty. Nobody pays any attention to me."

"That is not true." The young girl argued.

"Getting older is very strange, Betty." The matriarch said before shaking her head. "You marry, you have children, everybody depends on you, and then one day you wake up you're invisible."

"You are not invisible. You have your family." Betty said touching her arm gently.

"Well, Bradford's gone. Alexis and DJ are in France. Daniel has that…" She swallowed hard before continuing. "He has Wilhelmina. And you're worried about the press finding this out? They are still eating up this relationship of theirs. It's Danimina now. I'm alone." She sadly stated. "Today's my birthday. Which you are aware of, since this little video presentation is obviously part of the surprise party that Daniel is having for me."

"You knew?" Asked Betty.

"Betty, you are so good at so many things. Subtlety isn't one of them." Claire said kindly.

"Daniel, just really wanted to do something special for you." The young girl said.

"You know what I wish he'd do? I wish he would give me just a little time alone with him." Claire said softly and exhaled deeply "Be careful with your father, Betty. You and your sister aren't going to live with him forever. And if he can find someone to share his later years with, it won't hurt quite so much when you can't meet him for dinner."

As Betty sat there contemplating Mrs. Meade's wisdom regarding her father having a new girlfriend, the store manager appeared.

"We checked the security tape. You're free to go." He said.

"Okay." Said Betty. And as they gathered their belongings, he halted Claire,

"You're not. Mrs. Meade you need to come with me."

"What?" Exclaimed Betty.

"It's…it's okay, Betty. I'll be fine." Claire assured with a smile, before walking off.

Claire hung her head in shame as she waited for the police, regretting her behavior as once again the Meade name was going to be dragged through the mud and it was all her doing. Daniel appeared and slowly walked over, approaching her carefully.

"Hi, mom." He greeted.

"Oh, God, Daniel. I was expecting the police." She said as he sat down beside her.

"Yeah, Betty called. I had our lawyer smooth things over, so you're free to go."

"I've…been a bit of a mess. I'm sorry." She said.

"No, I'm sorry." He solemnly offered. Surprised, his mother turned her face to him, looking at him in the eye "I haven't been a very good son recently." He admitted.

"No, Daniel, you're growing up. You and Alexis have your own lives now. You're in a relationship, Alexis has a son and Bradford's gone. I guess, I just miss the attention I used to get from my family. This past week, all I have been hearing about in the office and on TV are those pictures of you at Rockefeller Centre with…" She trailed off, refusing to say her name.

"You know, Mom, she's not Bettlejuice. You can say her name." He joked, eliciting a giggle from Claire.

"I guess I thought of shoplifting as a way to get your attention. And then you blew me off, so you and….Wilhelmina can go on a special date."

"Mom, you kind have to underst-…" Daniel began, however he was cut off.

"I get it, son. You're in a relationship and you'd like for it to go somewhere and you two seem to be in lo-…very serious with each other."

"I know it's not easy for you but I love her, Mom." He declared.

"I know, son." Claire admitted. "I guess we should get going. I don't want to be late for my party."

"You know about that?" Daniel asked, chuckling.

"I was almost relieved to spend the night in jail rather than with those piranhas I call my friends. But what the hell, I'll make the best of it." She said before they stood up and walked off.