Alex Suarez

Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. Look, it is a miracle. I updated four times in August. However, for me this is a short chapter. It just felt like the right place to break.

Chapter 15: Surprise, we all fall in love with assholes.

"What exactly do you get someone who had a miscarriage because they were forcibly pushed down the stairs?" Betty asked Daniel, as she held the baby teddy bear in her hand at the drug store, down the street from the hotel, where they were staying to avoid the paparazzi.

They were planning to visit Jordan that afternoon, after she spent the morning getting to know DJ. (She was already half in love with her boyfriend's son and hope their kid would be as adorable). She wanted to do something for her friend to get her mind off the baby and the whole mess with Jamie's public coming out the day before but she wasn't sure what to get. (They were trying to forget that somebody leaked the truth about Alex's death. They were denying it but people will believe what they want to, especially when it's the truth.)

"I suggest a game or something. Even I know it's inappropriate to get something that says, 'congratulations, it's a girl', considering what happened." Daniel said causing her to quickly put the teddy bear back on the shelf.

"I have a guy at Tiffany's. I can call him to pick something out. They've been kinder worried. I haven't been calling lately. I think the last thing I bought there was your Valentine's Day gift." Daniel said with a shrug. Thanks to Justin's love of all things celebrity, Betty knew all about why Daniel used to be a regular customer at Tiffany's.

"However, this is perfect for you." Daniel grabbed the bear again.

Even though, he was still under the misconception that this baby was Walter's, he was unbelievably excited about it. He was a lot more excited than she was, that's for sure but maybe the whole DJ situation helped lessen the shock. Then again, it is easier to be excited about a child that is not yours. Her heart is still broken about Jordan and Jamie's baby. She'll never forget the haunted look in Jordan's eyes when she was told that she miscarried.

"I do not know if we are having a boy or a girl." She did not mean to say 'we' but it slipped out. Jordan asked her not to tell Daniel that the baby is his yesterday because she is convinced that Daniel's father was responsible for her falling down the stairs. Betty had her doubts because why would Mr. Meade come to the hospital to check on Jordan, if he was the one who pushed her down the stairs in the first place.

"Then we are just going to have to get one of each. I can splurge, you do have a birthday coming up and I don't think we can do the traditional drinking till you puke thing that we did on my 21st birthday. I've also been told that the braces ambush is on hold until after the baby is born." Daniel said either not picking up on her use of 'we' or not caring.

"Probably not but the puking will happen anyway." She said thinking about the horrible morning sickness. Okay, she was trying not to think about the fact that she cannot get her braces until after she delivers.

"I've been trying not to think about being pregnant. Okay, it's more like I stayed so focused on everything that is going to change that I didn't think about anything positive. Now because of what happened, I feel so guilty. Her pregnancy was an accident but Jordan wanted her baby so bad and she lost it. I was so upset about being pregnant and I'm still pregnant. It isn't fair," Betty said starting to cry because she knew that if she was in Jordan's place; she would be just as devastated by the loss of her baby.

"Don't feel guilty. You were not the one who pushed Jordan down the stairs," Daniel said putting his arms around her.

"But I should have checked the stairwell or something when she didn't show up on time. Instead, I was having some silly conversation with Amanda about Tim Brad." She told him still crying on him.

"Jamie said that you threw up on him," Daniel joked.

"Considering everything going on, he had time to tell you that?" Betty asked incredulously.

"I was trying to distract him from everything. It wasn't his fault. It wasn't your fault. Besides, it's understandable that you were not exactly thrilled at first. I mean, you are carrying the child of a guy who keeps showing up at your house, despite the restraining order." She groaned when Daniel mentioned her former boyfriend. She knew that as soon as she started being visibly pregnant, it was going to get worse. She is sure that he's going to assume that he is the father just so he can have some sort of claim on her. "Thankfully, there will be enough Betty in there to offset his stupidity."

"He's not coming around as much now." Daniel just gave her a funny look at her words, as if he already knew that she was lying.

"Okay, it's more like I'm not around Queens that often now and I'm planning on avoiding it for the rest of the pregnancy. I don't want him to know I'm pregnant," she told Daniel.

"Normally, I would say the father has a right to know after what happened with Lucy but in this case, I can make an exception. He's very creepy." Daniel actually said this with a shiver.

"I agree with you and that's what I'm trying to tell you. Daniel, it could be your baby. Actually, it's really likely. We fooled around a lot. Apparently, it is possible to get pregnant without-penetration, at least that's what my gynecologist said." Betty finally told him denying Jordan's wishes. She wanted to protect her baby but she just couldn't lie to him, even by omission.

"We didn't have sex." Daniel said nonplussed. "I know you rather have me be the father than the crazy idiot. I would rather be the father then the crazy idiot or I would be, if I wasn't sure Bradford had something to do with Jordan's accident. Now, I'm scared that he is going to hurt you, no matter what." The last part was said in a whisper.

"Even in light of that, I still rather it be you. As my sister has pointed out so many times, you and I were not as careful, as we should have been and the one time with Walter actually involved condoms." She said trying to convince him of the truth.

"It only takes one time and condoms are not foolproof. Besides, it would not even matter what we did, if you were already pregnant. I mean Lucy and I slept together a whole lot more than she and Alex did and…" Daniel started before he stopped abruptly.

"That's not the same thing considering you are DJ's father- unless you're not his father?" Betty asked raising an eyebrow. That's when Daniel directed her to the back of the desolate drugstore.

"Don't tell anybody, especially DJ. He deserves a real father and not a guy who killed himself because life got too hard; especially now, that everybody knows that he killed himself, despite the fact, we are denying it. It's even worse now because the big-shot Doctor friend of Jordan's mom says there's nothing they can do for Lucy because it has metastasized. She has a year left, maybe." Daniel said fighting back tears. "I'm here and he's not and I'm not sure how much longer Lucy will be with us. He needs a parent."

"You lied to me?" Betty asked angrily as she pulled away from him. That was really the only thing she got out of Daniel's confession.

"Not exactly-okay, yes. But it was for a good reason. Only Lucy and my father know the truth. Apparently, he has always known and that was the real reason why he tried to pay Lucy off, so the incident would not destroy my relationship with Alex or divert his attention from being the perfect son," Daniel said bitterly.

Maybe if she wasn't so angry at him she would have hugged him again.

"Jordan wanted me to lie to you and tell you that the baby was Walter's but I didn't do that even if it might be best for my child because I love and trust you. Obviously, you don't feel the same way about me," Betty said running out of the store without a second look.

Thirty minutes later, she ended up in Jordan's hospital room with Easter candy from the gift shop as she tried not to tell Jordan about what an idiot Daniel was. She lasted only about thirty seconds.

Marc was just happy to be out of jail before he had to put on one of those horrible yellow jumpsuits. The color did absolutely nothing for him even if it meant a very uncomfortable car ride with Jamie. Amanda hugged him, Betty's father was feeding him fattening food that will go straight to his hips, and Jamie wouldn't even look at him. Not the night before and not today, when he came over to speak with Ms. Somers. They were at Amanda's biological mother's house because his apartment was currently surrounded by paparazzi. The whole thing wouldn't be so bad if the divine Ms. Somers' scary little dog did not try to pee on his bed this morning.

Okay, actually the worst part was the voicemail from his mother. Jamie's public coming out yesterday had the misfortune of outing him, as well. If the fact that he tried to start something with a guy, who was involved in a weird relationship with someone that he got pregnant, did not prove how much of a masochist, he really was the fact that he called his mother did.

His mom essentially saying that she had no son was 1000 times worse than his time in jail or the interrogation by the police. Okay, the fact that Jamie found him made the whole thing worse.

"Well, at least, you brought wine, even if it is not noon yet," Marc said referring to the glass that was offered to him.

"Amanda said that you were talking to your mom and well, I thought you could use this. It's 5 o'clock somewhere," Jamie said repeating the overly use phrase.

"I don't think wine is going to help but tequila might," Marc said taking the glass anyway and drinking half of it in one drink. He would need it to talk to Jamie right now. "Should I be saddened by the fact that my mom is more upset about me being gay than the possibility that I may have purposely tossed a pregnant woman down a flight of stairs?"

At that moment Jamie gave him a very sad look.

"My grandmother was like that. If she were still alive, she probably would be damning me to hell right now. I'm sure she's rolling over in her grave anyway," Jamie quipped before becoming serious. "I'm sorry. Faye and I were trying to get you out of jail by whatever means necessary and I really didn't stop to think of the other consequences. I had no idea that Wilhelmina's minion was slipping things to the press."

It hurt him that the woman that he idolized for so long would sell him out like that, but Marc is really not surprised. Six months with Wilhelmina taught him that Wilhelmina only cared about Wilhelmina. Wilhelmina would have pushed Jordan down the stairs herself if she had something to gain from it.

"Wait, how do you know that?" Marc asked after a moment. He knew that Jamie was very good at staying one step ahead of MODE.

"Marisol knows everything and the idiot made his anonymous phone calls when she was in listening distance," Jamie snickered.

"Amateur," Marc mumbled under breath.

"She's going to come back for a couple of weeks until Faye is back at MODE." Marc knew all about the great Marisol. Everybody at Meade Publications knew about Marisol.

She was a legend among assistants because she was a career assistant. She wasn't like Marc, who was just using this as some stepping stone to the next part of his career. Also, she is probably smart enough not to accept a blow job from her boss, who is kind of in love with someone else and still mourning his boyfriend's death. The woman who is twice his age would never do something that foolish and that's probably why she is still employed and he's not quite sure about his own status.

"Are you firing me?" Marc asked in concern.

"Of course you're not fired. Do you really think I need a sexual harassment suit right now? Jordan is still not speaking to me and probably won't anytime soon, I have a 3 PM meeting with Bradford to talk about yesterday's press conference and considering the fact that I'm pretty sure; he's the reason why I lost my child, it is going to be fun. Last night, I had to deal with my mom screaming at me because she found out about her first grandchild dying on television. I really have 99 problems; I don't want you suing me to be one." Jamie said in exasperation. In that moment, Marc could see how exhausted Jamie really was. In the last two days, he lost a child and was forced to come out to the press when he never wanted to do that.

"I wish my mom cared enough to yell at me," Marc said trying to be comforting in a weird way.

"It's not always a good thing," Jamie replied with a put upon smile. "You still have a job. You're too good at what you do. You're brilliant. You're wasting your talents just being my assistant." Okay, that complement coupled with Jamie's winning smile (that seemed to be real this time) made him feel a little less miserable. "I just-I'm pretty sure you don't want to be around me for the next couple of weeks. I thought, maybe, it would be a good time for you to take a paid vacation without actually having to use your vacation days."

"Because you blew me and then blew me off for Jordan?" Marc asked scoffing.

"More like I figured out I fell in love with her when I thought she was going to die," Jamie whispered.

"Oh," he said not completely sure how he should respond.

"I'm sorry. I'm a prick. I cannot expect you to get my coffee when I screwed you over like this," Jamie's words were heavy with regret and sorrow.

"You don't have to be like this. It was just sex. It did not mean anything." Marc said trying to be strong. Normally that's the case. He doesn't do relationships. Anonymous fucks are what he's best at. He doesn't fall in love but Jamie is different. Unfortunately, Jamie is very screwed up right now.

He cannot even be mad at Jordan because if it wasn't for their thing in Jamie's office; she would not have lost her baby. He didn't actually push her, contrary to the video file Marc still felt like it was his fault. The fact that he was kind of having sex with her boyfriend at the time just made him feel worse. That's why he never told the cops about his alibi.

"Maybe it wasn't that way on my part," Jamie told him in a whisper.

"Oh," Marc said again practically speechless.

"I do like you, it's just between the Alex situation and Jordan, I'm pretty fucked up. Now with the baby…" Jamie started to cry at that moment and it was instinctual for Marc to hug him. He blames Betty for making him so prone to hugging.

"With everything going on, I think we both can use time away, especially with the paparazzi everywhere; thanks to Wilhelmina." Jamie said Wilhelmina's name like a curse word. "I can't leave because Daniel is still not back full-time and my new creative director, Mo, doesn't start until May. Faye has a house in Puerto Rico and she wants to take Amanda to meet her sister on the island. I think Amanda could use a friend and Faye agreed to pay for you to go with them. You guys would be leaving the day after Betty's birthday. Marisol will cover for you until you get back. After that you can either stay on as my assistant or work with Ms. Osborne, when she comes on board from Isabella. I really do want you to focus more on the creative side of the business, because I think that's what you do best. I want you to stay at Hudson, but it's your choice." Surprisingly enough Marc can hear something sincere behind Jamie's words.

"That's a step down," he said absently referring to becoming the new creative director's assistant.

"You would not be her assistant but rather her apprentice. She's bringing her own person for that." Instead of getting fired, he was getting a promotion and an all-expenses paid trip to Puerto Rico, if he wanted it. At least professionally, he's coming out of this ahead. Emotionally, he's not sure. It would be easier if he could hate Jamie but he cannot.

"I do love the Caribbean," Marc said after a moment deciding to go along with this for now for Amanda's benefit if nothing else. "I don't think Amanda can spend that much time around her birth mother without supervision. Amanda agreed to this? What exactly happened while I was in jail?"

"Surprisingly a lot, considering you weren't even there for 24 hours. When you were arrested, Amanda went directly to Faye to get you out after calling me in tears and cursing me out. Ms. Somers then threatened to blackball me from every single male fashion event in the world, if I didn't get you out. Don't worry; I was going to come get you out regardless." Jamie said with a laugh and Marc was shocked. He was also happy that he had someone like Amanda. His mom didn't care about him but he had Amanda, it was something.

"I guess that made Amanda more okay with having Faye as her mom." Marc said in a daze still slightly shocked.

"It was probably the fact that Faye punched out Carlo Medea, after she found out from Marisol that the guy only had sex with Amanda to uncover dirt for Wilhelmina. That's how the press found out about you and me having sex and I had no choice but to come out completely on national television and apparently outing you to your mother in the process. I'm really sorry about that." Jamie apologized again.

"Okay, that was just too low." During his tenure with Wilhelmina, he did a lot of things of questionable morality but he would never do something like that; the fact that he used Amanda and was responsible for Marc's mother now hating him, made Marc hate Medea just a little bit more. The guy was obviously a brown nosing stuck up little prick.

"It's okay. Faye actually hit the guy?" Jamie just nodded his head in agreement. "Why didn't Wilhelmina use that to get Faye arrested?" Marc asked because he knew Wilhelmina wanted Faye out by whatever means necessary. Getting the woman arrested for assault was definitely a good option.

"She did especially because the whole incident happened in front of a room full of cops. Then Faye told the cops exactly why she attacked Medea and they were halfway tempted to arrest him instead. Charges were dropped all around because of certain other things that Medea leaked. Bradford would have been very unhappy to discover Wilhelmina's connection to it." Marc snickered at that just as Jamie's phone began to play something that sounded suspiciously like a Backstreet Boys song. They never would have worked out because their tastes in boy bands were too different, regardless of the fact, the man was completely in love with two other people.

"I got to take this because it could be the hospital." He said answering the phone because of course; Jordan comes first. After a few minutes the phone wordlessly fell out of his hand before he collapsed on the nearby couch. Marc's instincts took over and he quickly picked up the phone. He knew Jordan was supposedly out of the woods but hemorrhaging was still a possibility. Something being seriously wrong with Jordan could only explain that type of reaction.

"Hello, this is Jamie Hunter's assistant. Can you please tell me exactly why my boss almost fainted? Did something happen to Jordan?" Marc asked into the phone.

"I think you would know more about her condition than I would." The voice was familiar, despite being a little higher in tone than usual. It would have to be familiar considering Marc had a crush on him for a very long time. But it just couldn't be possible, could it?

"Who are you?" Marc asked.

"Someone who thought that they could walk away from everything and everything would be okay. I have since learned that, it's impossible to walk away from the people I love especially my brother, former boyfriend, and girlfriend." The sincerity in the person's voice told Marc that this was not a joke.

"Mr. Alex Meade I presume," Marc said still not believing it.

"It is Ms. Alexis Meade now; although I've been going by Alex Suarez lately. Tell Jamie to meet me at our place tonight at nine. He knows what I'm talking about." At that moment, the phone line went dead.

To Be Continued.