Author's Note: Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. There seems to be a consensus that Wilhelmina Slater should be on the chopping block. In all honesty, she's been a little horrible in this story or at least it seems that way.

She's actually one of my favorite Ugly Betty characters. She's normally not as evil as everyone assumes her to be but I've always felt that was because Marc has kept her from going off the deep end. He is the closest thing she has to a conscience. He keeps her from doing the really evil stuff, like actually murdering people. I always wanted to explore what would happen to Wilhelmina, if Marc was not there. At the same time, I wanted to see what would happen, if Marc and Faye Somers came under Betty's influence earlier (or at all in the case of Faye Somers). This AU isn't just about Daniel and Betty hooking up. It's about examining what happens when you change one little thing.

Also, I introduced Monique into this universe for reasons beyond the fact I did not want to create another character when I have a perfectly good one to fill this role. She has a very interesting purpose in the story. However, she will be confined to the background, most of the time.

Chapter 17: Arrangements

"I brought ice cream," Jamie said, as he walked into her hospital room. Everyone has been bringing her junk food in effort to make her less miserable. Even her mom asked their old housemate, who now works out of this hospital, to bring her an ice cream sundae and her mom is a cardiologist. Did they really think ice cream and chocolate were going to help her get over losing her baby?

She had nursery and color schemes already planned out in her head. There's even a fucking pair of baby boots in her dresser that she just had to pick up last Saturday for a child that will now never get to wear them. None of this is going to make her feel anything.

She felt numb inside. Her heart is sick. When they told her that there was no heartbeat, everything fell around her. It was like when she found out Alex died. The whole situation with Jamie and Marc made everything more complicated than it absolutely needed to be. It didn't surprise her because this is her life and she has a history of falling for morons and getting screwed over.

"Ice cream really isn't going to help." She told him with a sad smile. She wanted Jamie with her and she didn't want Jamie with her. She was mad about the Marc thing, even though she told him to talk to the guy. Okay, what she was really mad about was Jamie said that he loves her and then he told her about the Marc thing. She's gone down this road once before. She's not entirely sure she wants to do it again.

"I know, but I knew I couldn't come in here without something. Besides, I need the ice cream just as much as you do." Jamie said, took a bite of one of the giant ice cream sundaes that he brought.

Jordan knew that Jamie had a meeting with Bradford today. Daniel mentioned something about it before he left to grovel at Betty's feet for his earlier mishap or at least prepare for groveling at Betty's feet. Just a normal meeting with the man could incite binge eating. Present circumstances could make you want to wash your chocolate down with a bottle of antidepressants or vodka, possibly both.

"Since you are here and not being bailed out by Amanda or her mother, I assume that you did not punch the bastard out." She says with the slightest bit of sarcasm.

"It was a near thing, but that was only because he apologize for Alex."

Okay, she didn't believe that. Bradford Meade doesn't apologize. He is just that big of a bastard.

"He said he didn't do-that he did not push you down the stairs."

"Of course, he did not, he paid somebody." She told him with bitterness.

"That's not what I mean, Bradford said he had nothing to do with it at all and that means no hit man," He clarified.

"I doubt that," she mumbled under breath. "Of course, he could have just said the wrong thing to his well-connected girlfriend and she took it the wrong way and started making phone calls to her special friends. That kind of makes sense considering that whoever arranged for my little accident set-up Marc to take the fall for it. She still furious at you for taking her favorite minion and turning him against her. I could see her doing it. See, this way, Bradford gets me out of the way and yet doesn't have to get his hands dirty." She told him almost on the verge of tears. She was such a mess.

"Okay, I'm glad I went with ice cream, because apparently somebody already brought you pizza." He said, pointed to the pizza box and other trash from Daniel's visit earlier in a blatant attempt to change the subject.

"I've already had ice cream too. The woman who shared a house with us when my mom was in med school came by two hours ago with a fudge pop, although it was sugar-free." She told him deciding that, maybe, it is best if they stop talking about Bradford. If her blood pressure goes up again they were never going to let her out of this horrible place. Her mom knew too many people who worked at this particular hospital, she probably trained half of the cardiology department. The woman could arrange for her to stay in the hospital for days if she wanted to.

"That's not the same thing." Jamie told her with a little frown.

"The pizza was from Daniel. He came by looking to grovel to Betty because he managed to put his foot in his mouth when they were trying to pick out there 'I'm sorry you lost your baby because some overbearing sociopath arranged for you to be thrown down the stairs' gift." She said in a joking way. She knew that Jamie could see right past it. She's never been able to fool him, even when they supposedly hated each other due to the Alex situation.

"She finally told him that the baby was his and he reacted badly?" Jamie asked also knowing Daniel way too well.

"Pretty much. Although, badly in this case was refusing to acknowledge the possibility that the baby could be his, as he started picking out baby trinkets from Tiffany's for Baby Betty."

She should also tell him about the fact that their lover had a 10-year-old son, as a result of screwing his brother's girlfriend behind his back over a decade ago and that Alex never knew about. She knew that to be a fact because Alex was baby-phobic. The one time she had a pregnancy scare Alex completely freaked out and started hyperventilating until the test came out negative. It was kind of funny, but Jamie was absolutely calm when he found out she was pregnant. He also cried for an hour when he found out she lost the baby. She didn't want to think about that. Everything was just too raw.

"That's just so Daniel." Jamie said after a minute.

"Why are you here? Shouldn't you be off somewhere sucking off Marc again?" She said with a little too much bitterness. It wasn't like the entire thing surprised her. She knew there was something there. She also knew that whatever was going on between her and Jamie had to change, especially if they were going to bring a kid into the world. Now that there was no child, what was the point?

Yes, he said that he loves her, but so did Alex and he spent the majority of their relationship screwing Jamie. Actually the bastard was in love with Jamie and then started sleeping with her. God, this whole thing was so messed up that they gave her a headache.

"I pretty much told him that despite how great he is, I'm just too fucked up for a relationship right now, especially because I sort of fell in love with someone else." She doesn't look at him when he says that because she cannot bear to. "I'm giving him time off to chaperone a very Somers family reunion in Puerto Rico. I hope his presence can prevent bloodshed or alcohol poisoning. They're leaving after Betty's birthday party next week. I may invite my photographer friend, Cliff to the party because Marc needs to meet a guy who's not a prick." The fact that Jamie had planned to set up his sort of ex-boyfriend/assistant with someone else shows that he was serious.

"Afterwards?" Jordan asked tentatively.

"In an effort to avoid a sexual harassment suit, I am giving Marc the choice of still being my assistant or being the apprentice of our new creative director when she starts next week." Jamie explained.

"I thought she wasn't supposed to be on board for at least another month." Jordan said in confusion.

"That was the plan. However, Wilhelmina being the bitch that she is, broke the news in the worst way possible and implied that the woman was being brought in early to take over my job. Bradford denied that but the guy is a prick." Jordan nodded her head in agreement with Jamie statement.

"Of course, Wilhelmina would spin things that way. There's a reason why I smacked her last fashion week." Said woman was carrying several back issues of various sports magazines and something that suspiciously look like a video game console. "She's such a bitch. The Grinch had a bigger heart when he was being the dick that stole Christmas." The woman looked familiar. Jordan remembered seeing her at fashion week a few times and at a few other parties. Jordan is pretty sure she may have dated a boy band member, but she can't remember which one, maybe Lance.

"Monique Osborne, I presume." Jamie said with half a smile.

"The one and only, much to my father and Wilhelmina's chagrined. Bradford called me earlier to let me know that he had a really bad meeting with you and felt it would be better if I talk to you directly about starting earlier than planned. Let me just reassure you, I'm not trying to take over your job. I don't want it. I'm just trying to make things easier for you and I brought provisions because hospitals can bore you to tears after a while," she said, placing the things on Jordan's end table.

"How did you get in here?" Jordan asked because the security guard in her room had been pretty good about keeping reporters and the such out. If she really did not want Jamie and her room, he would have been kicked out already.

"My bastard sperm donor is on the Board of Directors at this hospital. Although, he sometimes forgets that he sired me with the babysitter, his staff has no trouble pulling some strings for me, especially when I bring chocolate chip muffins." She said, handed Jamie one of said muffins.

"This isn't the right time to talk business." He said, took a bite. "I've had a very bad couple of days. I can't do mind games right now. I already had to deal with Wilhelmina trying to make it sound like you were being brought and to take my job, due to my little indiscretion." His voice sounded so wary in that moment.

"Come on, that would be ridiculous. You're good at what you do and if you're good at what you do people will overlook a little craziness, especially after the last few months you have had. Two years ago, I had a major meltdown at the Valentine's Day wedding of aging pop princess, Lindsay Snow and her future ex-husband, which was so bad it made Entertainment TV, a household name. Every time I end up in the papers that incident gets brought up, and yet I'm still a creative director, well before, I hit 30."

She remembered this because she was actually at the wedding, although Alex did not go with her because they were barely together at that point. She used to be friends with Lindsay's now ex-husband before she found out he was just as screwed up as Lindsay. Monique was covering the wedding for Wedding Bell. She remembered that the writer went off when she saw the woman accused vehicular manslaughter, in the case of her husband who died just under two months earlier was one of the bridesmaids. Monique left the socialite and future reality television star, Ivana Gardens with a broken nose and several bruises.

"I'm sure there's footage of you on the Internet of being pulled off the rehab repeat offender and Fashion Queens of the Upper East Side star by a two Backstreet Boys." Jamie snickered.

"It was only Brian because I think AJ was cheering me on. We were both in a weird place. I still find it deeply ironic that I almost ended up getting more time for punching her out. Then she got for killing my husband." There was a touch of bitterness in her voice. "Thankfully, my lawyer was smart enough to ask for a new judge that wasn't in the back pocket of the little princess's daddy."

"Look, I'm not really here to talk business. More like convince you, it's a good idea for you to take some time off. Once you give me a couple of days to settle in, I think it would be good for you to go someplace quiet without the stress of the everyday falling down on you. That's the only way you can make yourself strong enough to deal with it again. I'm telling you this as somebody with experience in the sort of thing. There is probably not a better person in the universe right now that understands how you feel more than me. I've been in a very similar place and past experience, including the great Valentine's Day meltdown, have taught me that maybe it is a good idea to take a step back. Maybe if I took some time off to deal with my Jamie's death I would not have punched out a hotel heiress." Monique actually sounded like a person who probably does have some idea of what she's going through. Even if she never suffered a miscarriage, she did lose a husband.

"I can't. Daniel is dealing with baby mama drama from multiple babies' mamas and Marc needs to lay low after everything," Jamie said, shook his head no.

"It's just a magazine," Monique told him flippantly. You need to take care of yourself and your girlfriend right now. Let me take care of the magazine."

"I can't." Jamie said in a whisper.

"But maybe you should. Maybe, I haven't exactly been in your shoes, but they were pretty similar. I buried my husband before my 25th birthday. I also buried a child, metaphorically at least. I went through seven months of pregnancy and labor and the only thing I had to show for it was a container filled with ashes and the scars from my hysterectomy." Okay, maybe this woman knew exactly what she was going through. It was the first time since they told her that she felt as if things really could've been worse. They stopped the bleeding and her uterus was still intact. She could have another child, the woman in front of her could not, and yet, she was still standing there in front of her.

"Yes, you need to keep going, but you need time to regroup. I promise to hand the magazine back to you in the same shape or better, when you come back. Just think about it." She left the room just as quietly as she walked in.

"I think you should let her take over for a little while," Jordan told him in a near whisper.

"Why?" Jamie asked her.

"Because you need to be away from there for a while. Because I'm tired of being in this hospital room alone. I need you right now and I think we both need to be out of Manhattan. My mom has a really pretty house on the lake. She wants me to come home for a while and I want you to come with me." She said grabbing his hand.

"I thought you hated me?" Her response to his words was to kiss him.

"I never hated you." She said pulling away, thinking that maybe, they couldn't get back what was lost, but they could rebuild.

"You're not Jamie." Alexis said, after she walked up to a guy wearing Jamie's favorite designer jacket, only to see Jamie's new assistant and suspected boyfriend, in front of her. Wilhelmina has been rubbing the possibility in her face for the last few days. That made her decision to go to Jamie so much easier.

"What gave it away? The lighter skin tone or the fact that I didn't punch you out immediately for impersonating my dead ex-boyfriend. Do you really think that he was going to show up here after dark, to be taken to the cleaners or cut into little pieces?" Marc practically yelled at her.

"I'm going to go with the fact that you have an asthma inhaler in your hand." She said pointed to the device.

"Stress makes my asthma act up," Marc said as he actually took the inhaler.

"So, Jamie sent you complete with asthma inhaler; instead to deal with a possible blackmailing serial killer instead of taking care of it himself. That's not the Jamie I know." She said to the man.

"More like we had to remind him that Jordan would completely fall apart, if she lost him too. Someone already tried to kill her and succeeded in killing their child, it is only logical that somebody may actually be after him." Faye Somers said coming out of the shadows. She is pretty sure the woman was holding a Taser. Her holding the Taser did not surprise Alexis. The fact that she was there at all did, unless she suspected that Wilhelmina had her hands in this entire mess.

"Okay, now this is the Jamie that I do know," She mumbled under breath because the man was that reckless sometimes.

"Look, I have nothing to do with what happened to Jordan or their baby. I love both Jordan and Jamie very much and I couldn't hurt either one like that. However, I know who did. That is why I need to talk to Jamie." She explained to the two.

"Yet, if you're telling the truth, then you let both believe that you were dead, so that you could do this. Not that you don't look lovely." Marc added quickly.

"No, she does not. You're overdoing the makeup and you need to wear dresses that accentuate your body," Faye said in her normal abrasive way.

"I'm still pre-op," Alexis said defensively.

"That's no excuse," Faye shot back.

"I couldn't keep living as Alex. It wasn't me. I just didn't think that Jamie and Jordan would want me around anymore as Alexis. Bradford did not."

"The man is an ass hole, but that still doesn't prove anything, except maybe, you're really good at reading the tabloids." Faye spat out bitterly, which surprised Alexis considering the woman followed her father around for the last two decades, hoping that he would finally leave her mother.

"It only took you about 20 years of screwing him behind my mother's back to figure that out. By the way, congratulations for finally realizing that he was never going to choose you over his own selfishness." She told Faye. Alexis never really liked the woman but the fact that she was trying to keep Jamie from doing something stupid, as well as, dumping her father did make her less hostile towards the woman, but only marginally so.

"I'm still not convinced your Alex, or rather, the transgendered woman formally known as Alex." Marc said evenly.

"Fine. Ask me something that Alex would only know." She suggested with annoyance.

"I could ask you about that thing, Jamie does with his tongue when he gives a BJ but that would just be cruel." The man said, as Alexis just rolled her eyes.

"He is really good at that. Who do you think taught him that?" Alexis said smiling, as Marc's eyes went wide.

"Please stop." Faye said glowering at both.

"What did you say to your father, the first time you walked in on us together?" Faye asked, purposely choosing something that would never be public knowledge.

"I hope you use a condom because I don't want any half siblings. Mom's too good for you and I hope she takes you to the cleaners in the divorce." Alexis said, repeating the words verbatim. She was 20 at the time. The incident made her stop seeing her father as perfect. It also gave her the strength to acknowledge that she was attracted to Jamie.

"She's Alex." That's when Faye Somers walked up to her and slapped Alexis in the face.

"Do you have any idea what the fuck you put your family through? Your mom has been in the bottle for the last few months, along with your ex-girlfriend. She only stopped because she accidentally got pregnant during the really bad choice condolence sex with your ex-boyfriend. Now she lost that baby because your father, as I said earlier, is an asshole, which probably arrange for that 'accident' to happen because his lawyer suggested it. That's what happened with Lucy, fortunately, Sal only suggested offering her a large sum of cash for an abortion and not hiring a hit man." Faye's words were laced with irritation. She had no right to.

"Please don't be so holy. Do you know what you did to my family? My mom's recent rehab trips could also be traced to you. Actually, most of her time at the 'spa' in 1987 can be traced to you. So don't you dare lecture me about what I did to my family because I am well aware I completely fucked up." She said, trying not to actually cry in front of this woman.

"I'm well aware of my many sins." Faye said looking directly at her. "One of those sins is currently complaining about me to my new personal chef."

"You got a chef? When did you start eating?" Alexis asked slightly shocked.

"After I had a heart attack, I decided that I couldn't keep living on the blood of the innocent and vodka. Almost dying can give one a lot of perspective. Then again, maybe faking your death can give you just as much perspective." Faye spat at her with a bitter expression.

"Okay, ladies, can we please stop this right now? Obviously, there's a reason for you coming back from the dead right now. Why are you here?" Marc tried to get the two women to calm down.

"Two words, Wilhelmina Slater. She wants to take over MODE magazine, by whatever means necessary, even if that means screwing the man that sired me or pushing my ex-girlfriend down a flight of stairs, or convinced me that the only way I can ever be myself is to fake my death." That last part was whispered.

"Can we please do the somewhere else, preferably where there is alcohol? I think I'm going to need it to hear Wilhelmina's latest scheme to get me out of the way. I'm also not used to standing up this much anymore." Faye suggested.

"Amanda says you're not allowed to drink but I know a place." Marc says, leading them out of the park.

"I should use this baseball bat on you," Hilda said opened the door of her sister's Manhattan apartment at a little after 11 PM. Considering what happened to her roommate, Hilda wasn't going to let her little sister be completely alone and pregnant in her apartment, especially when she was no longer on speaking terms with the guy who got her that way. Therefore, she was sleeping in Jordan's bedroom and easily heard the knocking at the front door, before her sister had time to wake up.

"I deserved that. I see that Betty told you about the drugstore incident." Daniel walked inside the apartment, despite her trying to keep him out.

"Oh, she sure as hell told me what you did. I can't believe that you deny that Betty's baby is yours," Hilda screamed at him.

"It wasn't quite like that. It was not like I ran away into the night, never to be heard from again." Thankfully, Daniel did not, unlike the ass hole that got her pregnant. They were both thinking it. He was right. Santos would have never shown up here.

"Also, in my defense, we never actually had sex in the traditional sense of the word, and I just had to deal with the fact that my dead brother managed to get my girlfriend of four months pregnant the one time they fucked around behind my back." He was right there too. It was not until this moment that she actually believed her sister's protestations that she never had actual sex with Daniel. But unlike her sister, Daniel had no reason to lie about this to her. "So you need to forgive me for thinking it was almost impossible for Betty's baby to be mine, even if I wanted the child to be mine." He stopped there; practically shocked that he said those words.

"You want the baby to be yours?" She asked tentatively, almost in shock herself. Due to her own experiences with getting pregnant at way too young, she doesn't quite believe him.

"The timing completely sucks and my father is probably offing the mothers of all his suspected grandchildren, but yes, I want Betty to be pregnant with my child." He told her, looking her directly in the eyes. "I'm just afraid to want something to only find out that it wasn't mine again."

"She told me about DJ. I should smack you for that," She said not sure she should be sympathetic or angry, she decided to be both simultaneously.

"You of all people should know that that it's better for DJ to have a living father instead of one that felt suicide was the only way out." Daniel told her defensively.

"Because of what Santos did to me?" She shot back.

"I wasn't trying to bring that out," Daniel said in a low tone.

"That will be a first," Hilda scoffed.

"Look, I'm sorry that I was such a complete dick to you." His apology actually sounded sincere.

"Don't apologize. You are right. I was putting my own stuff on Betty. I didn't want her to end up like me and unfortunately, you reminded me too much of my wealthy ex-boyfriend, by Queens Standards, anyway."

"I'm not your ex-boyfriend." He said quietly.

"I've realized that now. Santos doesn't even want to take care of his own child, let alone someone else's. You will take care of Betty's child?" She asked.

"Even if it turns out to be Walters. I'm already talking to my lawyer about setting up a trust fund," he explained.

"Babies need more than money. Are you going to leave my sister for your first love? You almost married that woman. You're planning on raising a child with her."

"First of all, I'm in love with your sister. I'm not going to leave her, especially for somebody who slept with my brother behind my back. I'm going back to France for DJ, not Lucy. I owe that to Alex. He's my son, I can't let him go through everything alone." Daniel was crying at this point. She can't believe that he is actually crying. It's not something that she expected of him, but she really doesn't care.

"So you're leaving my sister to be pregnant alone with your child. Just when I think you're not a bastard, you prove me wrong." She screamed at him, just about to push him out the door.

"Fuck, the situation is not that simple. Lucy has stage IV breast cancer. Yesterday, the doctor said that she has… maybe, six months." She stopped her actions, instantly becoming deflated.

"The oncologists said the same thing to mom. She lived for another year." She told him trying to be helpful, but she knew the harsh reality all too well.

"I'm sure your mother fought as hard as she could because she didn't want to leave you or your sister behind. Lucy is so tired and her parents are not making it any easier. It's like they're counting down the days until she dies so they can get DJ, along with his multimillion dollar trust fund. I tried to convince her to do treatment here, but she doesn't want to. She wants to die in France. She actually said that. She's resigned to it." She put her arm around him at that point. She remembered having that conversation with her mom a year ago.

"Mom hated the hospitals in the end. She didn't want to die there." She told him in a whisper. "Unfortunately, she did. It was a simple infection that did her in."

"DJ wants to be—no… he needs to be with his mom. But she can't…" Daniel stopped unable to explain everything.

"I remember. I was 16 when mom got sick the first time. She was so tired. She couldn't do anything. Betty had to clean up her own room and I did laundry. Dad had to take care of everything else. Then I got pregnant and there went college. Somebody needed to stay home to take care of mom and Justin. When the cancer came back, it was worse. I was doing everything in the end. I started doing the catering jobs because it meant I could be home during the day." She doesn't think that she has ever said those words out loud. No one knew the sacrifices she made just so her sister could have all the chances that she did not.

"Your mom was lucky to have someone like you. Lucy only has me and her friend Claudette right now," Daniel said sincerely.

"I get it. We all make sacrifices."

"It doesn't always have to be that way. You can go back to school now." Daniel suggested.

"I can't afford to. Unlike Betty, I wasn't lucky enough to be knocked up by somebody, who will at least support me financially, if not emotionally." She does not mean to sound bitter, but it slips out anyway.

"It's not like I want to leave Betty behind. I don't want to, even if Jordan thinks it would be better if I was in France," Daniel explains defensively.

"What? Why?" Hilda asked slightly confused.

"She thinks my father had her push down the stairs because he was convinced that she was carrying the next heir to the family fortune. She thinks it's less likely to happen to Betty if I'm in another country."

"I thought the baby was Jamie's?" Hilda asked still confused.

"Yeah, well, my father is a dick. Jordan is convinced that if I'm not here, he won't go after her."

"And what do you think? What do you want to do?" She asked.

"I don't know. I don't want to leave Betty alone, but unlike DJ, she really wouldn't be alone. I mean, you are about to go after me with a baseball bat for her." He pointed to the baseball bat still in her hand.

"I still might." She mumbled under breath.

"What would you do in my position? If this child was the only thing you had left of your sibling who you love dearly, what would you do?" He asked her in all sincerity. She would like to say that if she was in his position, she would leave her sister's child to be raised by the evil grandparent's, but she can't. If the only thing she had left of Betty was her son. She would do anything to protect that child. She would be just as conflicted. She knew what she needed to say now.

"I think you should go to France." Those words came out of her mouth in a whisper.

"What?" Daniel asked.

"You're right. DJ and Lucy need you more than Betty and the baby right now. Betty has a support system and Lucy does not. That doesn't mean, I don't expect you to figure out a way to fly back for every major checkup, but I will take care of the little things like midnight snack runs." The light seemed to come back into his eyes when she suggested that.

"Will you keep her safe?" He asked.

"She's my sister, of course I will. However, that does mean that you aren't throwing her the best 21st birthday party ever before leaving. You're going to need to give her a really big present." She stabbed him in the chest with her finger.

"I was already planning on it. Now we just have to get her speaking to me again."

"Breakfast in bed. It always works." She suggested before allowing him to sleep on the couch for the night.

"Thank you." He told her.

"I'm doing this for my sister, but if you break her heart. I will break your skull." She said, going back to Jordan's room to sleep.

When she woke up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, she found her sister sleeping on top of Daniel. Apparently, the breakfast in bed thing was not needed.

To Be Continued