Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. I apologize for the long lag between updates. I had been trying to focus on finishing Starfleet Family Values before my self-imposed deadline of May 17 and I had been pushing all other stories and new ideas to the back burner. However, I'm still a good three chapters from being done and I am now well aware I will not make the deadline without sacrificing the quality of that story, updates on this story, and the cleanliness of my apartment. Therefore, I decided to give myself a one-month extension and provide you guys with an update before the digital pitchforks are brought out. Once I'm done with Starfleet family Values, I'll try to go back to updating twice a month.
This chapter takes place about 10 days after the last one.
Chapter 9: I Did Not See This Coming, But Apparently, Everyone Else Did.
"How is Paris?" Betty asked with a yawn as soon as she answered her blackberry. She knew it was Daniel because he was the only one who had this number that would call her at 4 AM because he completely forgot about the time difference. She has had a lot of 4 AM calls lately but it was worth it to talk to Daniel. Although, Jordan was rather mad at her and Daniel for all the late night phone calls, especially because she now had to wake up super early to meet with her trainer practically every morning.
"Paris is Paris. It is a beautiful city but I have not seen that much of it outside of several ordinary conference rooms. Those look the same in any country. I wish I was here under better circumstances." Daniel told her sadly. According to the last exchange of text messages, Bradford was making Daniel do his dirty work at Mode Paris. He was currently there to replace the old EIC with the creative director and replace the creative director with her number two.
"I wish you were here with me." He has repeated that sentiment to her 25 times since he got on the plane the day after Valentine's Day.
"I wish I was there too but then I wouldn't have gotten a perfect score on my media exam and my last essay for Junior English. Also I got to meet Leonardo DiCaprio last week." She told him excitedly. Although working at Hudson was cutting into her study time, she was getting a lot of experience that seemed more valuable than what she was learning in class. It definitely gave her some good material for her essay. Also, did she mention she got to meet Leonardo DiCaprio?
"You're so cute when you're a fan girl. I'm glad that you're doing well in classes. I would suggest phone sex to celebrate but my mom is in the next room." Betty just rolled her eyes.
"It is good to know that you have some shame." Betty said jokingly. "How is your mom doing?" Betty asked with genuine concern.
She liked Mrs. Meade. They have talked on the phone a few times and she was always nice to Betty. She did keep asking Betty about her morning sickness and if she had gone to see a gynecologist yet. She kept on telling the woman that she was not pregnant but Mrs. Meade would not believe her.
"Well she's not doing Jell-O shots off of random strangers." Daniel said with a sigh.
"It's that bad?"
"I forgot to tell you what happened when dad called a couple of days ago. It was bad. They got into some horrible shouting match where Bradford mentioned South Dakota and mom brought up how he was responsible for Alex's suicide as well as how she found out about it. She managed to finish off an entire bottle from the chalet's extensive wine collection before Marcy and I could stop her. She has been sober ever sense but that was probably because dad has not called back since that incident. I know a part of him loves her in some way..." Daniel started but he did not finish.
"But you don't think that he loves her enough?" Betty asked him in almost a whisper.
"I don't know what to think. Why does he keep cheating on her if he supposedly loves her? Why did they get married if he cannot keep it in his pants at all?" It was obvious to Betty that Daniel has been thinking about this for a very long time.
"I don't really know Daniel." Betty said sadly.
"Sometimes I think it would be better if she left him. She's the only family I have left that actually cares about me and I don't want to lose her to this." Daniel told her with shaky breath, making Betty realize how hard it was for him to suggest something like that.
"Have you asked her why she stayed?" Betty asked after a moment.
"Not until recently. Other than you, there was not much to talk about when you're trying to avoid all conversations related to the suicide of a family member. I guess it's a bad sign when talking about your adulterous father is the easier conversation." Daniel said only half joking.
"What was her answer?"
"She really didn't answer. She just started talking about South Dakota and my dad's old friend Hartley or someone that has not been by in decades. Maybe I should not have asked her this question after the wine cellar incident. Later on when she was a little more sober mom said it was because she loved him." Betty wondered if Mrs. Meade really did use the past tense when describing her feelings for her husband.
"After everything he's done to her, I am not sure how that can even be possible. I just think it was easier for her to stay." Daniel sounded so heartbroken at that moment that she wished she could have hugged him. Unfortunately, Betty knew all too well what Mrs. Meade was feeling because of the Walter situation.
"I didn't love Walter but I thought I did at the time. Sometimes, I think I stayed with him as long as I did because I did not think I could do better. I did not see myself as being lovable. I wonder if your mother feels the same way." She told him honestly.
"You're very lovable. I wish you were here so I can tell you how lovable I find you. Now I am completely up for phone sex right now even if the thought of doing something like that with my mom next door freaks me out just to prove that I find you extremely lovable and sexy." Daniel said using his guaranteed to get your panties off in 30 seconds or less voice. If he were not in another country, said underwear would be off. Daniel Meade was a bad influence on her.
"I take back what I said earlier about you having shame." Betty said shaking her head.
"I'm just trying to prove that you are very lovable." She was sure he was smirking as he said this to her. "Amanda did say something about getting you a present that could be used for such an occasion." Said gift was a pink vibrator that was hidden in Betty's sock door.
"Yes, I got her gift and no I don't want to talk about it or use it right now or ever." Betty said harshly because she was sure that particular gift really came from Daniel.
"Okay no more talk about vibrators or doing anything with that vibrator, since your screams will probably just wake up Jordan." Daniel joked.
"Considering how thin the walls are, it's possible. I know Jamie was over last night." At least this time she mostly heard giggling and not her roommates screaming for a good reason.
"Are they still…" Daniel started to ask but obviously couldn't come up with a polite way to do so.
"I don't know. I didn't hear those types of noises last night and Jamie is sleeping on the couch, which is why I'm trying to be very quiet." Betty said whispering. She really did not want to wake up her boss on the couch.
"I guess that's progress." Daniel's voice sounded as if he wasn't so sure.
"Jordan has been sober for four days." Betty said trying to keep the skepticism out of her voice.
"Has anybody convinced her to go to AA yet?" Daniel asked with concern. They were all worried about Jordan's drinking problem.
"She doesn't think she's that bad." It was more like Jordan feels like she cannot go to AA because she cannot be honest about the reason why she was drinking so much due to the confidentiality agreement. Of course, Betty wouldn't say this because Daniel had enough reasons to hate his father right now.
"I think something else is going on." Betty believed that it was not her place to mention the absence of tampons in the trash when there should be some and the very strange conversations she has overheard between Jordan and Jamie. Betty will not mention anything about her suspicions until Jordan said something to confirm it. The way things were going, she was going to have to give Jordan the pregnancy test that she got from Amanda.
"How is Jamie doing? I don't trust him to tell me the truth." Betty laughed at that.
"Okay. He is seeing a therapist that is making him write letters to Alex." Betty said before explaining the entire thing.
"It's still better than Jordan's coping mechanism." Daniel said sarcastically. Neither said, "Anything would be better than Jordan's coping strategy."
"He's really throwing himself into the magazine. I think he is doing it to get back at your father for unknown reasons, now that he was starting to hate Ms. Somers a little less." Betty told him without explaining why because even she didn't understand how the animosity had decrease so much in the last few days unless the rumor mill really was right.
"Is he still oblivious to Marc? The guy has a humongous crush on Jamie." Daniel actually giggled as he spoke.
"Yes, only because he's not as overt about it. Now if he was trying to sit on Jamie's lap like Amanda does on a regular basis maybe he would get a clue." Daniel laughed at that.
"How is Amanda doing?" How are things with the devil's assistant? I haven't really talked to her since I helped her pick out her present for you." She knew he was responsible for that. In their last conversation she told Daniel about Wilhelmina causing Amanda to cry hysterically after a little incident where Amanda accidentally let everyone (i.e. the press) know that Wilhelmina had a daughter who was a high school freshman.
"Only because Wilhelmina is in Zürich this week and Amanda is now working directly for Ms. Somers." Betty explained.
"She didn't give Marisol to the wolves? I can't stand the woman because of what she did to my mom but she's easier to work with them Wilhelmina." Daniel said in a way that almost sounded complementary.
"If it makes you feel better, according to Amanda, it wasn't Ms. Somers who told your mom about Alex."
"Of course it was. She said it was my dad's mistress that called her. It has to be Faye unless my father was sleeping with someone else." That was when Daniel became quiet as he obviously got it. "Oh great, he probably was." Daniel's disappointment was audible.
"According to Amanda, there was another reason why Ms. Somers old assistant was fired and she broke up with your father." Betty told him sheepishly leaving out some of the more inappropriate details that Betty never wanted to know about her boyfriend's father's sex life.
"You cannot always trust the rumor mill. According to the Meade rumor mill, I have a half-brother in South Dakota." Betty was sure she heard some dishes fall in the background but she wasn't so sure. It was too early for her to think coherently.
"You're right." Betty said yawning.
"Am I boring you?" Daniel asked her with his lost puppy dog voice.
"No, I'm just getting sleepy. Hey did you visit Lucy yet?" She decided to ask this question before she fell asleep knowing Daniel would be putting it off. A couple of days ago, Daniel ran into Lucy's best friend Claudette at Mode Paris and she agreed to help Daniel get closure on the situation. Okay, it was Marcy that forced the issue but whatever worked.
"We are going today after another business meeting from hell. Hey, I just realize that it's 4:23 AM where you are and you have to get up for class in two hours. I'll call you in a few hours." Betty knew he was purposely trying not to talk about the Lucy thing but she was half-asleep and so she didn't say anything but good night.
Claire Meade seriously wondered whose brilliant idea it was to send her to the city of Vineyards with a sobriety coach to stop drinking. The smell of wine permeated the air and she has yet to find a restaurant where she couldn't get a drink if she were allowed to drink. Half of the basement in the house where they were staying was actually a wine cellar. (They were not staying at Alex's former Château because if they did she would just move into the wine cellar and never leave).
Therefore, Claire considered it a hard-fought miracle that she hasn't touched a drop of alcohol since the unfortunate conversation with her husband where she discovered that Somers' former assistant wasn't calling on behalf of Faye when she called to tell her exactly what happened to Alex but rather she was hurting Claire for her own purposes, most likely to get herself her own rich husband. It turns out Bradford was also screwing her until he found out he couldn't trust her and Faye Somers had the balls to do something Claire never did, she broke up with him. It was only appropriate that this discovery sent her straight to the wine cellar. (Actually, it was Bradford bringing up her indiscretion with Cal Hartley to justify his behavior with Faye and her treacherous former assistant was what pushed her over the edge.)
Bradford has called her several times to apologize for his outburst but she can't bring herself to pick up the phone or open the expensive gifts that kept arriving at the door. She cannot listen to his apologies because Claire did not know if forgiveness was an option anymore. Thanks to the bitch that he used to sleep with, she knew exactly how Bradford was responsible for Alex's death. That was a sin greater than adultery.
How could he say such cruel things to their child? If Alex wanted to run around in dresses and wear lipstick, she wouldn't give a fuck. She just wanted her child back even if he wanted to be her daughter. She rather have a live daughter than a dead son.
She has always been able to forgive Bradford for sleeping around on her because she knows what it's like to be weak. She remembered her indiscretion with Cal Hartley all too well. The flesh is weak and it is easy to be seduced by a pretty face and beautiful promises. If Bradford could forgive her for that, she could forgive him for sleeping around with Faye Somers and whomever else he was screwing around with. ('But did he really forgive you? He mentions it all the time,' a voice in her mind questioned, that sounded suspiciously like that same voice that was telling her to add a shot of vodka or 5 to her orange juice.)
This was different. His words killed their son and she was not sure she can ever forgive him for that. How could she? She can't even bear to look at him right now. Even though she loved Bradford, she fucking hates him too. So even though she surrounded by temptation at every turn it was better than being in New York and having to sit across the breakfast table from the man who killed her oldest child.
She wanted to drink. She wanted to get lost in the alcohol and forget about her dead son and asshole husband responsible for his suicide. The only thing stopping her right now was Daniel and her sobriety coach.
She hated rehab in general because it never did her any good. How can someone help her with her drinking problem when they did not know what it was like? How can they preach to her about resisting the temptation when they have never been tempted? When they have never had to deal with the world falling down around them and feel like her only salvation comes in a bottle that will make everything fall away?
Marcy was different. The first thing she told her when she led Claire out of Daniel's apartment was, "if you want to drink there is nothing I can do to stop you. However, if you don't want to die, and possibly take others down with you, than I suggest you find a reason not to drink. I almost ended up like you until I realized I didn't want my other child to end up without a mother."
Even though those words did not quite sink in at the time they did later on when she realized that Marcy wasn't like all the other doctors that she's dealt with. Not only was she a recovering addict, but unfortunately Marcy knew what it was like to bury a child. 12 years ago Marcy was out walking with her five-year-old daughter when they were hit by a drunk driver. She survived with several broken bones and a good year of physical therapy. Her daughter did not. Marcy's best friend became her oxycodone. When she was high she didn't have to think about her dead five-year-old. For two years, she was lost in the drugs until her 16-year-old daughter found her unconscious in the bathroom. Marcy has been clean for 10 years and helping others like Claire for the last seven. Marcy said her reason for staying clean was she didn't want her daughter to find her in the bathroom again only this time she really was dead. Of course, Claire did not know about this story until after the wine cellar incident. It was the main reason why she hasn't gone back because if Marcy can deal with everything without going back to the pills, she can deal with this without going to the bottle.
The other reason was Daniel and the fact that she didn't want him to find her in the metaphorical bathroom. Two months ago, she didn't think her youngest son cared about anything but partying and getting laid. She now knows that her son loves her otherwise he wouldn't keep sending her back to rehab or giving up quality time with his girlfriend to help her deal with this in France (the fact that Daniel actually had a girlfriend was slightly shocking).
She would like to blame the catastrophe that was Alex's suicide for the changes that she has seen in her son, like Daniel's willingness to play Scrabble with her when he can easily be at the best clubs in Paris. However, Claire Meade knew that it was the petite Hispanic woman that she met a week and a half ago was responsible for the new Daniel Meade.
Daniel's usual flavor of the night would have either left the moment she crashed there evening or would have demanded that Daniel get rid of her as quickly as possible. Those women would not sit down and have coffee with Claire as she talked about her job at Hudson and her class schedule, but Betty did. In the last few days, she has even talk to her on the phone and Betty always asked Daniel about how she was doing.
Her memory of their initial encounter may be hazy but Betty only blushed slightly when she realized that Claire was only wearing a trench coat and quickly went over to Daniel's closet to get her a set of workout attire. Overall, it was a pleasant experience despite the fact that the young woman threw up on her shoes. (Claire was 100% sure that Daniel already got her pregnant despite what they say otherwise because the particular cologne that Daniel now wears made her vomit up every single time she smelled it when she was pregnant with him. The fact that the girl was still throwing up a week and a half later confirmed this. Of course, nobody listens to an old drunk like her.)
In regards to this girl, Claire saw her son behave in a way completely different than he normally does. First, he actually knew this girl's name. He also called her the next morning. Actually, Daniel has called her every morning, even if he hasn't figured out that he was calling her in the middle of the night. Her son has never been good with figuring out time zone differences. He also knew about Betty's life from the trouble she was having with her horrid ex-boyfriend to the fact that her mother died only a few months earlier. Again, Daniel actually talks to this girl instead of merely using her as a means to get off. During Marcy enforced board game bonding time the only thing Daniel talks about is Betty. Despite the fact that Daniel is dealing with Alex's affairs in Europe her son actually seems happy. She knows Betty Suarez is responsible.
In one of these conversations he mentioned how hard Betty's mom's death was on the girl and how he did not want to go through that. She can't help but wonder if that's why Daniel was playing Monopoly with her even if he despised the game.
Actually, Betty made her son act like a grown-up or rather because Daniel cares about her, so he wanted to act like a grown-up. The old Daniel would have been spending his trust fund in Tahiti right now. The new Daniel was doing Bradford's dirty work of installing a new EIC at Mode Paris. They were surrounded by French models for most of the day and yet Daniel focused on the business at hand. Claire believed that Daniel was finally applying himself because Betty can see the real potential in Daniel. He may not have Bradford or Alex's killer instincts for business but he knew how to work with people and listen to what was needed and that was half the battle. Claire was proud of him.
However, the most telling was the way Daniel looked at this Betty girl. Despite the fact that she really needed to see a dentist and her glasses were held together by Scotch tape and a prayer, Daniel looked at her as if she was the most beautiful girl in the world. Claire has never seen a man look at a woman like that, not even her husband before he started sleeping around. She already knew it was love (although, that was mostly because her son has been celibate since arriving to the city of lights).
She was a little surprised, as Daniel really has not had an actual girlfriend since the mid-90s during the summer he lived in Paris with Alex. She was not a very good one, considering Claire was almost positive that she slept with Alex, in light of a certain phone call she received from a very guilty son when Daniel's proposal was rejected. Her suspicions were confirmed two days ago when Jamie told her about Alex's confession to him. She never liked Lucy. Mostly because the woman broke her son's heart in 1 million little pieces and Daniel didn't know about her sleeping with his brother. However, Claire was hopeful that maybe this Betty Suarez girl would repair the damage done by Lucy so many years earlier. (This would especially be necessary if Claire suspicions turned out to be true. The girl has been throwing up constantly for the last week according to Jordan, who stole the phone from Betty one morning recently.)
Of course, Claire did not exactly agree with Betty's plan to heal that damage in the form of Daniel seeing that Lucy girl again. She never wanted her son to see that woman again. She did not say anything at first, because she personally felt it was impossible for Daniel to find her. As far as she knew, the girl disappeared from the modeling scene entirely after her relationship with Daniel. There was no way Daniel would find her without hiring a detective and she doubted he would do that just to make his girlfriend happy. Unfortunately, Lucy became a photographer who did a lot of freelance work for Mode Paris, up until a year ago, and was best friends with the new creative director, who unfortunately remembered Daniel from back in the day.
She tried to talk Daniel out of his little quest to see Lucy; unfortunately, Marcy overruled her. She actually encouraged Daniel to face the demons of his past. She also said that if Daniel was ever going to have a perfectly healthy relationship with Betty than he needed to do this.
That was how she found herself outside an old farmhouse in the French countryside trying to give her son emotional support the best way she could. Daniel called Betty twice before he could even bring himself to knock on the woman's front door. (She would try to repress the fact that Betty agreed to perform oral sex on her son when he came back if he went through with this.)
The woman who opened the door did not match the pictures of the woman that her son slept with nearly a decade ago. Her eyes were gray and lifeless or at least they were until she started to glare at her friend. Her skin was ashen and she was wearing a handkerchief. Claire now had a pretty good idea why she has not worked at Mode Paris for the last year.
Claire's French may just be good enough for her to order her favorite wine but Claire was positive that the young woman was cursing the Creative Director for telling Daniel about being sick and Daniel Junior. Considering the fact that there was a child sitting in the foyer with her dead son's eyes staring at her with great alarm, Claire had a feeling that this was a very bad week to stop drinking. At the same time, she wondered if she found another reason to stay sober. It would probably be a good thing to live long enough to enjoy her grandchild, as well as, see the good man that Daniel was becoming. She just hoped this did not derail the progress.
Jamie realized that he has made a lot of bad decisions in the last couple years, including continuing a sexual relationship with the world's biggest closet case while Alex was publicly dating a sports superstar who did not deserve what he put her through. Of course, now he had a therapist to tell him what these big horrible mistakes were. Sleeping with Jordan was another one of these really bad ideas. Nothing has happened for the last two weeks but considering Jordan was five days late the damage probably was already done. Because let's be honest, when you're drunk and grieving over your ex-boyfriend suicide, you forget important things like condoms and not sleeping with someone that you used to hate until said boyfriend committed suicide and left you and her alone to pick up the fucking pieces.
The good news was Jordan stopped drinking completely nearly 5 days ago. The bad news was she refused to take a pregnancy test. Jamie tried again last night but she refused and he was starting to become desperate. That was why he was standing outside Daniel's office, which Betty has taken occupancy of since Daniel left for Europe a week and a half ago. (Apparently, Betty was more productive in a space that was previously occupied by her boyfriend.)
The only thing working in his favor was that Betty has been sick since Daniel left. Jamie believed it some weird separation anxiety thing that was sort of cute, as long as Betty didn't throw up on his shoes again. However, the rumor mill, Jordan, and apparently Mrs. Meade were convinced that Betty was pregnant (which is supposedly impossible, if Daniel was telling him the truth and well Jamie just knows the man to well to think that he's being truthful). Jamie found it deeply ironic that his—whatever can see the signs in someone else but not herself.
His plan was simple, because Jordan thinks Betty is pregnant, she is planning to ambush her roommate with Amanda for backup at the Hudson offices in 30 minutes with a bag filled with pregnancy tests. His job was to ask Betty to only agree to do the test if Jordan takes one too. In an effort to keep the rumor mill from finding out about this, he decided to give Marc an actual writing assignment to see how much potential his assistant actually had and to get him out of the office for the afternoon. Of course, he can't ask Betty to do anything while she is talking on the phone with her Daniel bear.
"Daniel you're never going to be able to move on unless you actually go speak to her. You're already outside her door; you might as well knock." Jamie is pretty sure that she was talking about Lucy because Daniel told him all about it. Jamie felt it was good for Daniel to actually meet with the woman to finally let go of everything. However, just in case, he did warn Claire about the whole thing with Alex.
"Yes, I will go down on you or whatever you call it when you come back if you go through with it." Jamie couldn't help but laugh at that which alerted Betty to his presence.
"You made me just say that in front of my boss. Jamie just walked in, I have to go." Betty said blushing as she tried to end the call. "No, I don't care if you caught him doing that same thing to your brother. Actually, I never wanted to know that. I'll call you later." Betty said as she ended the call.
"You didn't have to hang up." Jamie said walking into the room.
"Yes I did. Marcy, Mrs. Meade's sobriety coach, was laughing in the background. I'm at work, I should be working. I just finished reading through the Fiction of the Month options for the June issue and have narrowed the options down to three that guys would actually like this time. I was just about to email it to you." Betty said slipping into work mode easily. That was what he liked about her. She was going to go far in this industry.
"I'm sure there's high amounts a gratuitous sex and violence in all of them." Jamie joked.
"Not a lot, this is not Playboy." Betty replied with a small smile.
"Thanks for getting that done so soon but I'm not here about that. I kind of need a favor."
"Please do not ask me to separate the purple pieces out of your coleslaw again." Betty said as her face fell. He remembered that particular incident of jealous behavior from Marc.
"That was Marc and if it makes you feel better Wilhelmina had him do that the first day and she doesn't even eat actual food." He said with a sigh realizing that he was going to have to talk to a certain employee about his jealousy.
"Not really." Betty replied with a shrug.
"There's no easy way for me to say this but I think Jordan's pregnant." Betty did not seem surprised at all when he said this. "You suspected it too?" He asked after a moment.
"I've lived with her for about five weeks and our trash can, should be filled with tampons again by now." Betty said giving him too much information.
"She is five days late and still will not take a pregnancy test." Jamie told her as he sighed again.
"My sister waited for two months to take a test and she didn't tell anybody until she was about four months. I assume you want me to get Jordan to take one?" Betty asked.
"Actually, here is the thing, she thinks you're pregnant." Betty's mouth dropped open when he told her that. "She is planning on showing up in 25 minutes to make you take a pregnancy test but I want you to make her take one instead." Jamie said in a rush.
"What? Why?" Betty asked that in confusion.
"You did throw up on my shoes and hers. Also she doesn't believe any Meade can go without sex for an entire month." Jamie said rolling his eyes.
"Daniel is not who you think he is. Contrary to what you believe, the prerequisite event has not happened yet. Walter was three months ago and I haven't missed that thing since then." Betty said blushing. Sometimes, Jamie wondered how Daniel could date someone so innocent but the guy probably liked it and saw it as a challenge.
"That's what my mother said eight months before I was born. Did you know that you can get pregnant without vaginal penetration? My mom did not." Jordan said walking into the room as Betty's mouth went wide open in shock again. Of course, part of that would be because Amanda just stole Betty's glasses and stomped on them.
"Why did you warn her?" Jordan yelled at him just as Betty asked, "Why did you break my glasses?"
"Jordan told me we were doing an intervention. You have been backsliding since Daniel has left. Those green socks are an affront to the gods of fashion as well as your dreadful glasses. I'm not actually your friend but I can't let you keep wearing those hideous glasses." Amanda said in her normal Amanda way.
"Don't worry, Marc has scheduled you an emergency eye appointment in 30 minutes at some place a couple of blocks away. You'll have new pretty glasses by lunchtime, even if contacts would be so much better." If it were anybody but Amanda, Jamie would be shocked. However, nothing she does shocked Jamie anymore.
"This is not that type of intervention." Jordan said with a role of her eyes. "Betty, I think you're pregnant. You are throwing up all the time and you are always exhausted. You keep having headaches and your back hurts. Those are all signs of pregnancy. I know that according to you and Daniel, you have not had sex but that is only under the Bill Clinton definition. The walls in our apartment are extremely thin." Jordan said bluntly.
"I'm not late unlike you. You're what four days?" Betty asked.
"Actually, it's been five." Jamie said glaring at her.
"You were a day late last month. That was why I gave you that test. I guess you didn't use it." Amanda supplied causing both him and Jordan to open their mouth in slight surprise. Okay, maybe Claire Meade was not crazy.
"I didn't because I'm not pregnant." Betty said emphatically.
"I'm not either." Jordan practically shouted back, giving Jamie a headache. He was sure the whole entire office could hear what was going on considering at least 15 people were staring directly at Daniel's office.
"Okay, I can't deal with this. You're both taking the test right now." Amanda said sternly as she grabbed the bag of pregnancy tests from the floor where Jordan through them earlier. "You drag your sort of girlfriend to the bathroom and I'll take care of Daniel's possible baby's Mama." Amanda said pushing Betty out the door.
"I'm not pregnant." Jordan said again once they were out of the office.
"But you might be. You won't know unless you take the test." He said trying to get her to leave the office.
"I can't be pregnant with the child of a man who left both of us because he couldn't deal with life anymore." Jordan said with tears running down her cheeks. It struck Jamie at that moment that he did not even consider that she could be pregnant with Alex's child. It was possible. Alex hasn't even been dead for two months yet.
"Considering that drunken people forget to use condoms, I think odds are in our favor." Jamie joked but Jordan just glared at him.
"I'm not entirely sure that's better. You and I are so screwed up right now."
"I'm doing better. I'm seeing a therapist. I think you should come with me." He couldn't keep seeing her like this, so broken.
"Maybe I will." Jordan said in resignation.
"We can do this." Jamie told her as he grabbed her hand.
"I guess I have no choice." Jordan said in acquiescence just before Jamie led her to the ladies room. Jamie was sure this whole episode would be over the rumor mill in a matter of minutes despite him purposely not having Marc there. He tried not to think about it as he waited in the hallway as conspicuously as ever.
The monotony was broken up by Faye Somers entering the Hudson offices and going straight for him despite the efforts of his receptionist to stop her. Unlike a lot of people he doesn't completely hate Faye Somers or at least he did not anymore after he found out from Amanda that Faye wasn't the one who told Claire about the whole Alex suicide thing but rather the other person that Bradford Meade was fucking behind his wife and mistress's back. Unlike everyone else, he can understand what it was like to love somebody who could never love you publicly. Although, that still doesn't mean that he doesn't want-to be better than Mode in every way possible. There was nothing wrong with healthy competition.
"According to Marisol, my da—other assistant is up here taking a pregnancy test, instead of doing her actual job." For the first time during their entire acquaintance, Faye Somers sounded something other than aloof. He would say that she was concerned but he could not tell because the Botox has practically frozen her face. Why would she be concerned about her accountant's daughter? Although according to Amanda, they have known each other for a really long time and that's why Faye Somers saved her from Wilhelmina the devil. Jamie really didn't have time to think about it because Jordan ran out the bathroom in tears with Amanda standing behind her with a pregnancy test in hand. It was positive. Betty was slowly walking behind the two as if she was in a daze.
Unfortunately, Faye could also see the positive pregnancy test in Amanda's hand.
"I'm too young to be a grandmother." Faye Somers said before collapsing to the floor. Amanda was too busy with her boss to comprehend what was said. There was no way Jamie could have heard her right. It just can't be possible, could it?
So who's pregnant? Will Amanda ever piece together why Faye fainted? Will Claire ever get brave enough to leave Bradford? Why exactly is Wilhelmina in Zürich, if she really is in Zürich? More importantly, why is this story called Alex Suarez?
All will be revealed, eventually. Until next time, please review.