Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. I really am going to try to update more than once a month. This chapter is late due to various issues involving the evils of email that I won't get into. However, Heather AKA TMadison AKA DNBMeade did a great job getting this chapter back to me in only a few hours yesterday. I actually have the rough draft of the next chapter done and I'm just proofreading. I will proofread faster with reviews.

This chapter takes place in early April 2005.

Chapter 12: How to Survive Breaking Bread with People That Hate You.

"I can't believe your father is inviting the evil one to Sunday brunch." Daniel said, into his phone, as he changed shirts for the eighth time. He was meeting with Lucy's parents to break the news that DJ's father was back in his life. It was their lawyer's idea, even if both knew it was going to be a disaster.

Lucy agreed with Daniel's plan to let DJ and allow the world at large to think that he was the child's biological father. Only she and the courts would know differently. He just hoped that they had enough time to get everything together… before she ended up like Betty's mother.

From everything Lucy has told him about her parents when they were dating and now, he knew that tonight's dinner would go badly, which was why he was text messaging his girlfriend pictures of himself wearing various shirts to get her opinion.

As Betty's sister pointed out over the phone, they are only going to see him as the bastard who got their daughter pregnant; no matter what he was wearing. That's okay because he thinks the two are leeches who are counting down the days until the cancer finally takes the life of their only daughter.

He wondered how they would react to the fact that Lucy would be leaving in a week to consult with various oncologists in the states. Although Jordan's mother is a heart specialist, she knows people and his friend managed to get Lucy appointments with some of the top oncologists in the country. He knew the situation was bleak but he did not want DJ to deal with losing another parent, even if the young boy had no idea that he lost the first one to the horrible disease of depression.

At the same time, he had to be practical and do what was best for his son and that meant preparing both himself and DJ for a time when Daniel will be his sole caregiver. A few days ago, DJ and Lucy moved into the new house that Daniel was renting closer to DJ school. Betty actually suggested it (sort of), much to his surprise. She remembered how hard it was for her mom to take care of everything, when she was at her worse.

Telling his girlfriend about DJ was a good thing. First of all, he now had the emotional support that he needed to get through this. Second, Betty has a lot of experience with preteen boys even if her nephew sees fashion week as his personal equivalent to Disney World. Although, most importantly, she knows what it's like to deal with a mom who is sick. She has definitely kept Daniel from putting his foot in his mouth around DJ. Actually, Betty has prevented him from saying stupid things to Lucy, as well.

Okay, Betty was beyond furious that he would be spending another two weeks in France before coming back to the states for a little while but she understood that he couldn't just leave DJ. At least, she wasn't jealous that he was spending so much time with his ex-girlfriend.

Although, it was mostly because Betty knew that he was only getting along with Lucy for DJ sake, and he wasn't sure if he could ever forgive her for what she did. If she didn't sleep with Alex, Daniel wouldn't be dealing with this mess in the first place, even though he loves DJ.

Of course, maybe Betty was okay with things because she was still under the impression that his time in France was only temporary. She still thinks that DJ and Lucy are staying with him at a hotel, not his new apartment. He hasn't told her yet that he will be moving to France for at least the next year, if Lucy decides not to undergo treatment in the States. He hoped Lucy would consent to this, but he wasn't sure if the woman wanted to be away from her friends.

His plan B was to convince Jaime to let him be Hudson's Paris contributor, as he shadowed Claudette at MODE Paris.

Okay, his real plan B was to get his girlfriend to accept a year-long internship at MODE Paris or to accept a Meade Publication sponsored scholarship to study for a year at the school of her choice in France. He doubted that Betty would turndown such an opportunity. Besides, he didn't like Betty under Faye Somers' influence and according to Jamie, the woman was already trying to poach Betty for MODE. This would be the perfect solution.

"I know she was really mean to your mom but she's trying. It's not like she's still sleeping with your father or even wants to be alone in a room with him. She just wants to be there for Amanda. Besides, I'm pretty sure Wilhelmina is the real puppy kicker among the two. She's been really mean to Amanda and I think she's…" Betty cut herself off mid-word but Daniel already knew what she wanted to say. Daniel had already been tipped off to Wilhelmina Slater's latest scheme to take over the company or whatever the hell she was planning.

"Sleeping with my father?" Daniel prompted.

"Yes," Betty replied simply.

"Betty, I'm not surprised by anything my father does anymore. Jamie got an anonymous email from somebody calling himself Alex Suarez about the fact Wilhelmina is screwing my father to get ahead." Daniel explained. "Personally, I think it is her new assistant playing had games with an alias but who knows."

"It's possible. Faye doesn't trust Wilhelmina at all," Betty told him.

"That's okay because I don't trust her," Daniel shot back.

"I know you don't. I'm only helping her get to know Amanda better and that's only because Amanda is my friend." Betty told him for like the fiftieth time.

Daniel personally feels that she's doing this because she misses her own mom so much and doesn't want Amanda to miss out on time with her mother.

"What did she promise you in exchange for helping you get Amanda to speak with her again?" Daniel asked dubiously.

"A spot in the YETI program," Betty told him a little too quickly. It was the toughest program to get into in the industry. It was also the fast-track to getting an editor's job. He knew that Faye could easily get Betty into the program because she was the most respected editor in the business.

"It's a good program. Although, you have to work at a magazine for a year before you can get in." He told her slightly concerned, even if he knew Faye could probably circumvent that particular requirement.

"By the time I go through the program, I will have almost 2 years' experience. I'm not going to go until after I graduate and the baby is born. I mean…" Betty started stammering.

"I get what you mean. You want to help Jordan out. I think that's a good thing." Daniel supplied quickly.

"Of course, that's what I meant." Betty said slightly nervous. "I also need to help you with DJ. How is that going to work with you being here in New York and him being in France? I know you don't want to be like Justin's father." He really did not want Betty to ask that question.

"From what you've told me, actually meeting DJ puts me ahead of Justin's father." Daniel said, trying to redirect the conversation. He did not want to have the custody discussion now. He knew Betty would not like his answer, if Lucy does not want to seek medical treatment in the states.

"Did I tell you that Hilda and Justin ran into him at the grocery store yesterday and he pretended to not even know her or his son? Of course, this is after he showed off his new girlfriend." Betty said, actually sounding angry, which was never a good sign.

"No but your nephew did email me about it. You know he's still getting into your personal account." Because of this unpleasant habit of her nephew, he'd been sending all the less appropriate emails to her Blackberry.

"I'm not surprised. Justin does like you and like you said his biological father is out of the picture. Trust me; I'm glad that you're not like that. How's this going to work? I mean…are you going to be in Paris a lot more or is DJ going to come here? I know he and Lucy are staying with you right now, but what about the long-term, especially with her being sick?" Betty said, asking all the questions that have been bouncing around Daniel's mind for the last few days.

"She is considering getting treatment in the States. That's why will be back in New York next week. But really, I don't know how we're going to do this. It really depends on how okay Lucy's parents are with everything. That's what this dinner is about tonight."

What he's telling her is not necessarily a lie, but it's not the complete truth. He hates that he's not being 100% honest with her, but he needs to do what's best for DJ.

"I hope it goes well," Betty tells him sincerely, just as her sister starts yelling at her to help with the cooking.

"I do too." Daniel said as he exhaled. "Actually, I hope things go well for Amanda. I like her even if she is the spawn of Satan." Amanda has been emailing him a lot, most recently to get his opinion on how to get Marc and Jamie together, even though Jamie knocked up Jordan. Though, it was weird that she has been sending him a whole lot of parenting books in the last few weeks. Considering how nosy Amanda is, she probably knows about DJ.

"You're just happy that there's no way she can possibly be your half-sister," Betty said, with a laugh as Daniel could hear an annoyed Hilda in the background.

"You know me so well."

"Where's the second shirt? It makes your eyes pop. I'll call you later." Betty said, just as Hilda grabbed the phone and hung up on him. Again, he wasn't that surprised. Hilda has been nastier to him than ever in the last few weeks, and they were not even in the same country.

An hour later, he was sitting through a very stuffy dinner; where he had to listen to Lucy's parents call him various derogatory things in French. He may barely be able to order in French, but he does know all the curse words. They were not happy about Lucy going to New York to talk with other doctors and even less happy about Daniel, being back in his son's life. That was probably because they would be losing their future meal ticket now. The dinner turned ugly quickly and poor DJ was there to hear all of it.

To keep himself from stabbing Lucy's father with the dinner fork, he decided to start text messaging his girlfriend. It was more productive than staring daggers at the man in front of him.

"Okay, please explain why we're having all your friends over here for lunch?" Hilda asked, as she cut up the tomatoes for the salad. Practically everything else was done. Her father was having way too much fun cooking for Ms. Somers. "They're not here to help you break the news to…" Hilda started in a whisper, even though their father was on the phone with someone else in the other room.

It's been a month and she still hasn't told her father. Since she doesn't live at home anymore, it's a little easier to keep this secret from him. As long as she doesn't throw up during this lunch, she should be fine (more like as long as her sister stays quiet about it she will be fine).

"I will tell Papi when Daniel gets back," she interrupted. "It will be easier to do it together." Betty told her sister, but she wondered if that was an excuse.

She really does not want to tell her father at all. He was going to be so disappointed in her. "My friends are coming over because Amanda would only agree to meet with her biological mom again if dessert was involved and it took place at a neutral location. Jordan is bringing Amanda over in an hour and Jamie agreed to bring Ms. Somers. Besides you know how dad loves to cook."

Jamie and Amanda's biological mom have called some sort of truce in an effort to take Wilhelmina Slater out. Ms. Somers is upset that she is taking over her magazine during her leave of absence.

Okay, she was really mad that Wilhelmina convinced Mr. Meade to not allow her to return to work until her doctor clears her. That means that Faye will not be going back to MODE until June at the earliest. Jamie is angry about the fact that she has used her new relationship with Mr. Meade to get Jamie's budget cut by twenty percent for the next quarter.

Okay, Jamie is really upset that Wilhelmina was so mean to Marc when he was her assistant. Betty thinks that Jamie may have a crush on his assistant and is using the situation with Jordan as a way to avoid whatever was going on. Daniel completely agreed with her. Despite the problems with Mr. Meade, the weird thing was that both Jordan and Jaime seemed happy about the baby, once they got over the initial shock, at least it gave them something to focus on besides their Alex related grief. Maybe in some cases accidents can be a great thing, but not hers.

"I know. He's been preparing for this now for days. Then again, so has my son. Justin has been running around the house, rearranging things for his idol for days. He cleaned his room voluntarily and he spent 30 minutes this morning picking out my outfit." Hilda said rolling her eyes just as Betty's phone chirped.

It was a text message from Daniel. Unfortunately, Justin has been playing on her cell phone again and has changed Daniel's name in her address book to Sexy Meade. Actually that sounded more like something Amanda would do, especially because her own phone now refers to her as 'She who needs Braces'.

Sexy Meade: Is it wrong that I want to stab the grandfather of my son with a dinner fork?

She started to type out her reply but her sister took her phone again.

"You're supposed to be helping," Hilda chastised.

"I am. I've been down here for the last hour and I think I have earned a break to respond to my boyfriend's text message." Betty said, taking back her phone.

"Of course, it is a message from Daniel, who is off playing happy family with the model girlfriend, while you are here trying to keep the fact that you are carrying his child a secret. He was supposed to be back last week but he's not. Do you even know if he's coming back?" Hilda asked bitterly.

She wasn't planning on telling her sister about Daniel having a son in Paris but Amanda let something slip, in front of Hilda and she had no choice but to explain the entire situation.

There was also the fact that her sister liked to listen in on her conversations with her boyfriend and interrupted very private said conversations at the worst possible times. It wasn't even like she told Amanda but Amanda knows everything. Hilda was okay with it at first until she ran into Justin's father at the grocery store. She was pretty vicious to Daniel on the phone today.

"You know I don't even think we are talking about me and Daniel anymore. You're upset that Santos has a new girlfriend," Betty said, realizing the real cause of her sister's concern.

"No, I'm not upset about the girlfriend." Hilda said this in a way that told Betty she really was upset. "I'm upset that he acted like he didn't even have a son. I don't want you to go through the same thing when the rich boy chooses the model over you." Hilda said bitterly. It was obvious to Betty that her sister was jealous.

"You know I'm so tired of you thinking so little of me and of Daniel. Every time does something that shows he's not as evil as you want him to be, you find another reason to hate him. I can't believe you're upset that Daniel is actually stepping up and taking care of his child," Betty said incredulously.

"He's not taking care of your child," Hilda shot back with a hiss.

"Daniel does not even know. I have not really told him anything yet, at least not intentionally." At that, Hilda forced her to tell her about the whole accidental thing earlier, because apparently Hilda wasn't paying attention to that part of the conversation. Betty was kind of shocked by her sister's response.

"You're staying in school after the baby is born!" Hilda didn't even say this as a question but as a shocked statement.

"Yes," She didn't even have to worry about the scholarship anymore because her internship at Meade Publications would cover tuition or at least that's what Faye told her, when she agreed to help the woman reconnect with her daughter. The first part of that was lunch this afternoon.

"Babies are expensive. Don't expect us to take care of everything just so you can be a schoolgirl. I didn't get that option, and neither should you." There was that jealousy again.

"Both Meade and the University of Manhattan have excellent daycare. Don't worry, I will take care of my own kid." For the sake of keeping the peace, she will not mention all the times that she had to babysit just so her sister could go out on a date. Actually, the only reason why she even met Daniel in the first place was she covered for her sister.

"But you go to Queens College, how is that going to help you?" she asked skeptically.

"I'm transferring. Meade has a relationship with U of M, where my time at Hudson can count as school credit and they have more online classes that I can take." She agreed to switch schools, when Jamie pointed out that it would be easier for her to balance everything, if she went to a school that would allow her work at Hudson to count for school credit. Queens College would not do that. Because of the company's relationship with the University of Manhattan, she was able to get in, even if her grades were a little lower than usual right now. She was already enrolled for the summer program. Technically, her fall semester will be credited as an internship even though she knows part of the time she will be on maternity leave. This way, she will get some school credit and she will only be graduating a summer later than originally planned.

"You're transferring? Have you even talked to Papi about this?" Hilda said with annoyance.

"Yes and I think it's a good idea," her father said, walking back into the room with phone in hand. She had talked to her father about this without mentioning the baby but she really hasn't talked to Daniel. He knows that she was considering switching schools, but she did not give him the details, that may explain why she is getting emails about various programs in English at various schools in France. "It's a better school and her job will pay for most of it. Your boss really thinks you have a lot of potential, no matter what."

"Jamie said that?" She had no idea that Jamie talk to her father other than the conversation they had over the phone, when her boss explained the benefits of Betty switching schools.

"Your other boss, the one I've been sending you dinners for. She called a few minutes ago to see what type of wine she should bring." This explained who her father was talking to.

"She shouldn't be drinking," Betty said, before she began worrying about what exactly Ms. Somers told her father, especially because they switched the Spanish. Her father usually did that when he didn't want her to know what he was talking about. Her parents did that a lot when her mom got sick and when they found out Hilda was pregnant and that worried her.

"Neither should you," Hilda mumbled, before adding, "Because you're not 21 yet." Her father then sent her out of the room to help Justin, which gave her time to text message Daniel back. It also got her out of the room before another argument in Spanish broke out.

Betty: Don't feel bad. I kind of want to do the same thing to my sister.

After two hours in the dreadful company of DJ's other grandparents, Claire came to two conclusions. First, she would rather be in the company of the woman who was fucking her husband behind her back for nearly two decades because she appeared to be a more decent human being.

Second, she really wished she was drunk right now. If she was forced to spend another minute in their company, her thirty-six days of sobriety would be completely undone. They were intolerable.

The worst part of the evening was DJ saw everything firsthand, including when they vowed to fight Lucy's decision to sign over custody of DJ to Daniel. She wondered how her grandson could sleep so peacefully, in front of her after what happened at the highly unpleasant dinner. She was personally surprised there was no property damage.

DJ was such a sweet boy. She was starting to get to know her grandson better now that Lucy and DJ were staying with her, Daniel, and Marcy. Lucy was not healthy enough to take care of herself and her son, and this way, she would not have to deal with her dreadful parents.

They were completely dreadful. Lucy's parents only seemed to be concerned with getting access to their grandson's trust fund, not the health of their only daughter. At dinner, they didn't even bother to ask Lucy how she was doing. They even seemed disappointed that Lucy was seeking alternative treatment options. Again, it was enough to make her want to drink again.

But she would not. DJ deserved a non-evil, non-crazy, grandparent and despite the alcoholism, she seemed to be the most qualified. She needed to stay sober for him. Unlike Lucy's parents, at least she cared about the child. Claire knew they were only going to fight Daniel for custody of DJ for one reason and one reason only, and it had nothing to do with their grandson and everything to do with his multimillion dollar trust fund.

Even if he did help create this mess in the first place, Bradford was currently too caught up in Wilhelmina Slater's cleavage to see anything beyond his own 'needs'. Claire was well aware of Wilhelmina's latest attempt to overthrow Faye as EIC. Marisol always had the best gossip. She was looking forward to her return to New York to inform the woman that she controlled MODE, not Bradford. If she thought Wilhelmina could do a better job than Faye Somers, Claire would have given the job to her years ago.

She didn't care about Bradford. Not anymore, not after what he did to Alex and DJ. It was over. She knew she would have to talk to the man when she returned to New York next week and she was not looking forward to this. She was uncertain he could say anything to her that would convince her not to serve him with divorce papers. She was not sure there was anything worth saving between the two anymore. This last month showed that if she wanted to survive long enough to see her grandson grow up, then she could not stay married to Bradford. The constant infidelity and the pressure of living up to his standards are too much. She couldn't do this any longer.

She was better in France. She wasn't surrounded by the memories of her dead son and her husband's unfaithfulness. Here, she had a grandson who loved her and Daniel. Even helping sort out the problems at MODE Paris helped her stay focused on her sobriety. Coming here was the best thing for her and not just because she found DJ. She's starting to think that she found herself again in this country.

When she was sure DJ was asleep, she walked into the living room to see Marcy and Lucy quietly chatting in French, as Daniel sat oblivious on the couch, most likely text messaging his girlfriend. She wondered if Daniel would have acted like this in high school, if they had text messaging when he was 16. Daniel seemed like the epitome of a teenager in love.

She wondered what they could possibly talk about for the last three hours, considering she knew for a fact that there was one thing that Betty was not telling her boyfriend. Again, Marisol always did have the best gossip and Faye's daughter easily caved under the promise of a pair of Prada shoes. She was personally hoping for a granddaughter this time. She also hoped that Bradford would stay so focused on Jordan, with her expert legal team, that he completely overlooked the woman that was actually carrying his grandchild.

Because she needed to talk to her son about the problem of Lucy's parents before she spoke to the lawyers in the morning she resorted to something that she hasn't done since Daniel was in high school. She actually pulled his phone out of his hands.

"You can talk to your girlfriend later. We need to decide how were going to handle the other grandparents before I meet with the lawyers in the morning," She told him in a way that was very reminiscent to scalding.

"I'm ashamed I'm related to them both," Lucy mumbled, under breath in heavily accented English that she barely understood.

"They make Bradford seem nice and considering he was responsible for my brother's … For my brother hiding the fact that he has-had a boyfriend by also having a girlfriend simultaneously that's saying something," It almost seemed like Daniel was going to tell her about what really happened to Alex, but he stopped himself. (Also like her. He was still having difficulties referring to Alex in the past tense.)

"There's no need to call the lawyers in the morning. Lucy and I both knew this was a strong possibility. We are prepared for it and so are the lawyers." Daniel said stoically, before channeling his teenage self. "Can I have my phone back?" Claire's response was to roll her eyes.

"I'm not even talking to Betty right now, but Justin. She's currently throwing up in the bathroom and I would like to see if she's okay,"

She gave him his phone back. She wondered if he figured it out yet. Actually, she wondered if she should tell him. "If it makes you feel better, her dinner with the devil of MODE probably went worse. Amanda tried to make a run for it twice before Jamie bribed her with a pair of Milano Blahniks. Faye and Amanda have spent most of afternoon only talking about shoes." Apparently, he hasn't figured it out yet.

Lucy and Marcy were laughing at that. Maybe, under other circumstances, she would have too but she understands what Faye is going through probably better than anyone else in the room. At the moment, Claire thinks Faye is braver than her. At least, Faye stayed in Amanda's life. Faye was also brave enough to tell her and wanted to have a relationship with Amanda. Claire abandoned the little boy that she named Tyler and never even thought of trying to contact him until January, when she lost Alex. Faye never missed a single important moment in her daughter's life even if Amanda never realized that.

"I still think dinner with my parents was much worse." Lucy told the group.

"That is not possible. Jordan and Marc got in a food fight over Jamie resulting in food covering every surface of the house and Betty throwing up in the bathroom. Also, according to Justin, his mom and Betty have been fighting all afternoon. Actually, they've been fighting for the last two weeks. She made some weird comments about betting not being able to drink the wine that Faye brought because of me and Betty ended up throwing a dinner roll at her. Okay, maybe that's what really started the food fight." Claire seriously wondered how oblivious her son was sometimes.

"Your girlfriend wins." Lucy said quietly.

"I told you it was worse. And I didn't even tell you about the fact that Faye is now flirting with her father. Justin was just telling me about how they keep whispering to each other in Spanish. Although the only words he can make out are baby and grandfather,"

She personally blamed her drinking when she was pregnant with Daniel for him not picking this up. Even if she didn't already know that he got his girlfriend pregnant, she would know now.

"It's better than her flirting with your father." She heard Marcy mumble under breath.

During the last few weeks she has told the sobriety coach the entire sordid story about Faye and her husband. Marcy was the one who made her send flowers after phase heart attack. She said it would be cathartic. It was enough to allow her to have a short five minute conversation with the woman to find out her role in the DJ fiasco. It was harder for her to hate the woman who helped protect her grandchild for reasons Claire understood in a way no one else would.

"Your girlfriend is pregnant." Lucy was more observant than Claire gave the woman credit for. She also had a tendency to be very blunt and that was not a good thing in this instance. This resulted in Marcy choking on her water and Claire dropping her own glass, hard enough to break it.

"That's not possible." Daniel spat out as if he was saying that more to himself, than Lucy. "We have not—we are going slowly. Her last relationship ended badly in a 'we had to get a restraining order' sort of way. Actually, we met the day she caught him sleeping with somebody else. I don't want to push her." Considering the look that she was giving Daniel, it was obvious Lucy did not believe him.

"Don't look at me like that. You don't know me anymore, Lucy. I do not think we ever really did know each other. I didn't think you were the type of person to screw my brother, but you did." Daniel said sadly and Lucy looked away in shame.

"Daniel when I met her, she threw up on my shoes. Faye's heart attack was triggered by Amanda and Betty holding pregnancy tests," Claire said as she decided it would be better if this came out now.

"That's not possible, we haven't had sex," Her son said defensively.

"Really, Daniel, I know you too well." Claire said dubiously.

"If you came anywhere near her vagina, it's possible." Marcy said bluntly.

"We use condoms, except for those first few times. Really, I don't want to be having this conversation with my mother, her sobriety coach, and my ex-girlfriend." Daniel said, as if he wanted to flee the room.

"Considering you already have a 10-year-old, you're aware that's not foolproof." Marcy shot back as Lucy looked away as if she was trying not to say something.

"I know that." Daniel snapped.

"But she may not tell you anything if she's not sure the child is yours." Lucy said sadly.

"Well, unlike some people, Betty believes in monogamy." At that moment, Lucy said something in French that she could barely understand. The only thing she sure of is that the equivalent to the phrase 'I'm sorry' was in there somewhere.

"Didn't you just say she was dating some other guy up until you guys met in January? What woman would want to tell her new boyfriend that she's pregnant by her ex-boyfriend that she had to get a restraining order against? She definitely would not do it over the phone. You've been gone since Valentine's Day." Marcy prompted.

Claire would think the same thing if it wasn't for her conversation with Betty's friend, Amanda (because Jordan and Jamie wo

uld not tell her anything until after she already knew). The baby was definitely

Daniel's.

"I think I need to get back to New York now," Daniel said, as if he finally got it.

To Be Continued