Alex Suarez

Author's Note: Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. So, I wanted to let everybody know that I have gotten away from my original summary for the story, but I decided not to change the summary until a little bit farther along to avoid spoilers. When you start writing sometimes, you discovered that what you wanted to do will just not work with the characters and you end up going in a different direction. That's what happened with the story.

There is going to be a very big time jump in this chapter. This chapter is rated M for a very D/B reason. Despite that, you will want to throw shoes at me for this chapter. However, think of it this way, the time jump allows us to get to the good parts faster.

Chapter 18: Cinderella's Crushed Slipper

When she was little, Betty always wanted to be a princess and have the perfect princess birthday party, complete with carriage ride and her very own Prince Charming. Maybe, that explains her fascination with all things Disney. She still had Little Mermaid and Princess Jasmine bed sheets; although, they were now in her closet because a woman about to have her first kid, probably should not be sleeping on Little Mermaid sheets, especially when her boyfriend of three months was currently taking her bra off with his teeth as part of the private portion of her 21st birthday celebration.

The public part of her birthday occurred two days ago, when her sister and Daniel miraculously work together to throw her and Jordan, a joint birthday/congratulations you are out of the hospital party. There was ice cream cake and her father's signature tamales.

It was a great party; even if the party took place at their apartment in Manhattan instead of her childhood home, mostly in an effort to avoid Walter. It was a great party because all her friends were there. Just the fact that she actually had friends to attend her party this year made this the best birthday party she has ever had.

She has never had so many presents before, even Ms. Summers gave her a gift. She arranged for her to have time with a personal shopper at one of the top maternity stores in Manhattan for a proper wardrobe befitting of a future editor. Justin's birthday gift was that he was coming with her to make sure she chose the correct outfits.

She was kind of surprised to see Amanda's mother at her party. She probably only came for the tamales and the flan, even if she was starting to become really good friends with Betty's dad. She and Amanda managed to eat an entire tray of Flan by themselves, despite Marc reminding Amanda that it would go to her hips.

Marc was actually almost nice to her during the afternoon; even, if he did get her a copy of the MODE Style Bible for her birthday as sort of a gag gift. She blames that on the fact he spent most of the party in a corner talking to Jamie's photographer friend, Cliff. They were supposed to go to some Hitchcock film Festival in a couple of weeks when Marc returned from Puerto Rico. The whole thing made Jamie happy and less guilty about the incident in his office the day Jordan lost the baby.

Daniel got her the other half of the baby collection at Tiffany's to go with the part she received after he put his foot in his mouth at the pharmacy the week before. He promised that she would get her real present from him on her actual birthday when he kissed her good night.

It turns out that her real present was her fairytale fantasy, most likely provided to him by her sister or nephew. The whole thing began with two dozen roses being delivered to her at school and the arrival of Christina of the MODE closet with a gorgeous blue dress that thankfully concealed her baby bulge nicely. Betty was sure that under normal circumstances, Amanda would have been there to offer fashion advice but she was currently in Puerto Rico meeting her aunt for the first time.

However, via text message Amanda said she really did look like a princess, especially with the hairstyle that her sister gave her this morning. Hilda was still sleeping on Jordan's couch with a baseball bat now that her roommate was going to be in Cleveland for the next couple of months recovering from everything.

After her Princess makeover, Betty was driven by Daniel's town car to Central Park. He actually had a carriage ride planned. As she cruised around Central Park in the carriage with Daniel by her side, she really did feel like a princess. She always wanted to do something like this. He actually had a picnic waiting for her with food from some of the best restaurants in Manhattan, including a raspberry chocolate tart that was extremely inappropriate. That was mostly because Daniel felt it was best to lick the chocolate off her fingers with small children around. For a moment, she completely forgot about the fact that Daniel would be moving to France for his son. (What did DNA really matter?) Yes, he was going to be back every single month and be there for every single appointment but he was still going to be in another country until the adoption was finalized or Lucy...

She didn't want to think about that. She was still dealing with the aftereffects of a mother's death herself. So, she's kind of shocked to find what looks suspiciously like an engagement ring in the bottom of the picnic basket.

"You're not asking me to marry you because I'm pregnant?" She asked because it was the first thought that popped into her head. She knews that she was carrying his baby, but he's not completely convinced yet, mostly because of the disaster with DJ. She's not ready for this. She was completely not ready for it. She was not ready for the baby either, but this is so much more.

"This is not a proposal. Well, it is but I'm not asking you to marry me," Daniel said, pulling the princess cut diamond out of the box. It was an old ring, but it was beautiful.

"Then why are you giving me something that looks suspiciously like an engagement ring? I won't marry you just because I'm pregnant." She said firmly. She loved him but she wasn't going to be a cliché.

"This is why I like you." He smiled. "Any other girl in Manhattan would expect that if they were possibly carrying my child. Good thing, I'm not asking you to marry me. Just so you know I got this weeks before I knew anything about baby Betty." She exhaled at his words.

"You did?" Betty asked him tentatively.

"I saw it in some boutique shop in Paris and I knew it belonged to you. Think of this as a symbol of what I'm promising you." He took the ring out and moved to her hand. "I promise to love you, even though I will be in France. I promise not to screw up or do stupid things. Most importantly of all, I promise to come back to you." He told her sincerely, as tears started to form in his eyes.

"Okay." Betty allowed him to put the ring on her finger; although, not on her ring finger.

Of course after that, she was very thankful that she went with a black satin sheets that Amanda got her for her birthday. Fifteen minutes after they arrived back to the apartment, she was on top of said bed with naked Daniel straddling her.

Her bra was in pieces on the other side of the room, along with one of the few pieces of underwear that still fits her. It kind of surprised her that this was the first time that she had seen him without any clothes on it all, considering the fact that he's the reason why she cannot fit in most of her underwear.

Daniel's mouth was on her collar bone. His left hand was playing with her belly button as his right massaged one of her breasts. They were already becoming fuller and more sensitive because of Baby Betty.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Daniel asked her from above.

"Yes," of course she said it as a multiple syllable word, complete with a moan.

"You don't have to just because I'm going to Paris," Daniel said, roughly against her throat.

"I don't want to think about Paris. I just want to think about you right now. Besides, I'm already pregnant. What's the point of waiting anymore," She said, as she pulled him up for a kiss. She was more confident now than before, but he pulls away.

"Wait, is this safe? I don't want to do anything that will hurt the baby." He said, as he runs his hand over her stomach again. She just smiled at him and complete reverence.

"The doctor said it was fine. Just make love to me," she told him.

"Okay," He said, just before showing her that Walter was completely incompetent and you can have a double orgasm during regular sex.

August 5, 2006

"How is Alex?" Daniel asked her as soon as she picked up the phone.

This was how their phone calls usually start now. It's safe ground to talk about baby Alex. It kind of scared Daniel how the easiest thing for the two to talk about was the child that she had by her scumbag ex-boyfriend, who she named after his dead brother.

Even though, Betty broke up with him because the evil bitch Wilhelmina started some stupid tabloid fueled rumor about him screwing around with Claudette. She still named her son after his brother. It was another reason why Daniel was still completely in love with her, despite the bizarre state of their current relationship.

It was a completely ludicrous story considering Lucy's best friend was a lesbian and Daniel was completely in love with Betty and always would be. He tried to explain to Betty that the reason why he was spending so much time with the woman was she was teaching him how to be a better editor and helping him take care of Lucy during those last few months.

She said that she believed him, but she still decided that it was better if they were just friends while he was in France and she had said no to him about adopting Alex. She said a long-distance relationship was just too hard with everything else that they were both dealing with.

Perhaps in a way, she was right. Even though, he didn't love Lucy, like he used to it was killing him to watch her die and it also killed him to watch DJ lose his mom. When Lucy finally lost her fight three weeks ago, Betty sent flowers, and they spent the whole night talking as he cried. He was really not in place for more, except for her.

Compared to the mess that was Lucy's death, baby Alex was an easier subject. He was adorable, even if he threw up on Daniel when he got to see baby Alex in person last Thanksgiving.

Mercifully, Alex Christopher Suarez looks nothing like his sperm donor who thankfully moved to Baltimore before baby Alex was born. Jamie assured him that the idiot was long gone and could legally not get his hands on Alex. This made Daniel feel a lot better.

Daniel was convinced that in her warped Betty mind that she felt that she had to end things, when it turned out that the ass had super sperm and once again, Daniel was really disappointed by a DNA test. He told her he didn't care, but she felt like it was too much and just broke down in tears.

Everyone including Betty's father just said it was probably pregnancy hormones and just to give her as much space as possible. Fifteen months later, they are still not back together.

Because he was a complete masochist he called Betty at least once a week because he really couldn't go that long without talking to her, especially during these last few weeks post-Lucy.

They usually talk about baby Alex or DJ. Right now, DJ-related conversations were off-limits because he did not want to remind her of her own mother's death a little less than two years ago. His son was not taking his mother's death well, and let's leave it at that.

Sometimes, they talk about his mom. It surprised him that was also a more pleasant subject for conversation. She's been sober for sixteen months, became CFO of Meade publications post-divorce, and is in the process of creating the Marcy's Place rehabilitation center with the help of the Hartley Foundation.

He tried not to think of why his mom was partnering with the Hartley Foundation for anything or the fact that he now has his surprise half-brother Tyler in his life. That in itself was one of the unpleasant subjects for conversation that they constantly avoid. He had lost one brother and found out that he had another one, because neither of his parents believed in fidelity. No wonder, it was so easy for Betty to believe the Claudette lie that Wilhelmina sold to the press.

Sometimes, they talk about their parents' equally horrible choices in significant others. Okay, he could take that back because Daniel never thought that he would say this, but he definitely would prefer Faye Somers to Wilhelmina Slater, mostly because somehow being around Betty Suarez and the Suarez family in general, has made her human again.

She's still a total bitch in the fashion world, but she does smile every once in a while. Baby Alex has his Tía Faye wrapped around his little finger. Faye also has Justin completely spoiled with designer clothes, paying for him to go to an ultra-posh private school, and leading him hang out at Mode after school. Daniel is convinced she's planning to make the 12-year-old her heir apparent.

She was also paying for Amanda to go to design school and already paid for Hilda to complete cosmetology training. With her help, Hilda already has a few celebrity clients for her own business. The single mom was now happy that she could afford her own apartment in Manhattan.

Even though, his father was smart enough to break up with Wilhelmina, after his mom served him with divorce papers; the wicked witch somehow managed to get herself back in his good graces and convinced him that a trip to Tiffany's was in order.

The wedding was scheduled for November and Daniel was still trying to figure out a way to get out of going. She was horrible. She was only nice to DJ and her own daughter, Nico, when the cameras were rolling. He didn't even want to remember the circus that she turned Lucy's funeral into.

They went to dinner afterwards and his father actually paid more attention to the teenager then Wilhelmina did. That does not surprise Daniel because he even gave her an internship at MODE Paris.

Okay, Daniel has a better relationship with Nico then her mother had with her, but that's because she was now his intern and unofficial translator. His French was better but still horrible. They got along great because they both despised Wilhelmina. Sometimes, Daniel felt like Wilhelmina only invited her daughter to these family gatherings in France to prove to Bradford that she was not the heartless monster that everybody knows that she was. He doesn't even want to think about his mom's love life post-divorce. See, this was why Alex is the only safe subject to start the conversation with today.

"Driving me absolutely crazy by crawling all over the apartment and playing with Amanda's shoes, when I'm supposed to be finishing my finals project. Alex don't eat that," Betty said, chastising the almost 11-month-old, who ended up being born at September fashion week last year.

Betty had only one more semester to go after this. Currently, she and Amanda were sharing the job as Jamie's assistant, along with Jordan's former apartment. They had successfully (miraculously) been living and working together for the last year now that Jordan and Jamie now live together in the townhouse that she once shared with Alex (the deceased), along with their new girlfriend, Alexis.

Daniel had decided that it was in his best interest not to comment on the fact that the two have a girlfriend with a name similar to their dead ex-boyfriend, who looked so much like a Meade, that Daniel considered asking the woman to take a paternity test, just in case she turned out to be another Tyler. They met for the first time in person when Jordan, Jamie, and Alexis came to help him with Lucy's funeral.

"Is he chewing on Amanda shoes again?" Daniel asked because he's heard this story before, but mostly from Amanda.

She loved her almost baby nephew, except when he was trying to eat her designer shoes. Amanda was where he got his best Betty-intel. She was also the one who kept most of the idiots away from Betty for him, including Tyler's flaky player half-brother Matt Hartley and some creepy guy in accounting name Harry or something. Daniel went through half his cell phone minutes with Betty when his mom dropped that particular surprise on him.

He paid back the favor a month later, when Betty discovered that her dad was dating again in the most traumatizing way possible by catching him in the act with his new girlfriend.

Amanda agreed to help him with this because he bought her shoes and this is how she get some of her best hookups. Thankfully, Amanda and the half-brother fizzled out quickly. Thanks to Faye and his mother, teaming up to make that implode as quickly as possible. Tyler was currently hanging out with Matt in Canada for the sake of brotherly bonding.

Amanda was currently hooking up with the guy from accounting that she swears looks like one of the guys from the Harold and Kumar movie.

"Yes, and he always goes for the Milano Blahnik. I'm taking him over to Alexis's house for babysitting," Betty told him, as she is most likely was trying to pull the shoe out of baby's hand.

"Justin would be so proud that you know what Milano Blahniks are," He said with a chuckle, deciding not to tell her that his brother, Alex did the same thing growing up.

"I live with Amanda Somers and the soon-to-be Junior Creative Director of MODE lives across the hall with his fashion photographer boyfriend, I had to pick up something." He was still practically giddy over the fact that Faye and Jamie's creative director Monique Osborne have spent the last fourteen months training Wilhelmina's former assistant to take over her job. In two weeks, he would take over for Wilhelmina's current number two, who was leaving because she doesn't want to stay with MODE now that her ex-girlfriend is getting married. The only thing that would make this more wonderful was, if Marc was going to be slipping into Wilhelmina's job when she was fired, not because she was taking a new role in the company after she becomes his stepmother.

"I don't count Cliff, even if he is a fashion photographer," Daniel added.

"You're probably right. Marc chooses most of his outfits, according to Amanda," she said with a laugh.

"You also forgot to mention Faye. She is going to be your stepmother soon." Did he mention that the person that Betty saw her father having sex with was Faye. She found the two on the kitchen table of Faye's house and has been unable to go into that room ever since.

Four months ago the relationship became public due to one of Wilhelmina's attempts take over Mode. She was expecting a huge backlash over Faye shacking up with the 'help'. Instead, people love the fact that the wicked witch of MODE magazine found true love with a widower, who lost his first wife to breast cancer.

Now, everybody was looking forward to the fairytale wedding, everybody, but probably, Betty.

"It's kind of hard to forget," Betty said with a sigh.

"I thought you were okay with the wedding?" Daniel asked.

"I am. I don't hate Faye. She's been really good to me. Baby Alex loves her. She pays for most of the rent on this apartment, so I can concentrate on school, my internship, and Alex. She's even apologize to your mom."

"I don't think 'I'm sorry I fucked your idiot husband' really counts is an apology, but whatever," he told her with a shrug of his shoulders.

"It's just part of me thinks it's a little fast. Mom hasn't even been dead for two years," Betty explained sadly.

"You know that Faye is never going to replace your mom," Daniel told her already knowing the real reason why she was so ambivalent about the wedding. "I mean she won't even let baby Alex call her Nana."

"In her defense, she doesn't let Amanda call her mom in public. She doesn't want to think of herself as being old enough to be anybody's grandmother," Betty stated with a laugh.

"Because that will mean she would have to admit that she's over 50," Daniel quipped.

"True,"

"Are you sure you don't want me to be your plus one? I'm already going to be in New York because mom wants to spend some quality time with her grandbaby before school starts." Daniel asked.

The truth was that Faye invited him to the wedding and wanted him to be there for Betty. It was all part of her post heart attack making amends thing. He still didn't quite get it, but he doesn't always understand why Faye does what she does most of the time.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Betty stammered.

"It's just two friends, going to a wedding together," he told her in his defense.

"Not really friends, though," Betty told him quietly. "I have to go Amanda just walked into the room and she's not happy with Alex."

"You should just tell him the truth," Amanda said picking up baby Alex up from the floor. Her future step-nephew was adorable when he was not trying to eat her shoes. "I know you still love him. Also, anybody with eyes knows butterball is a Meade."

Amanda was one of the few people who knew that Wilhelmina Slater, that horrible mean bitch, paid Betty's doctor, a ton of money to switch the DNA test to make sure her honey bear would not have any more grandchildren to leave his company to. That was after she terrorized Betty into breaking up with Daniel. Of course, Amanda did not know this part of it until Hilda found her diary last week.

"I can't do that and don't call my baby butterball," she said grabbing the designer baby bag that Amanda forced her to get.

"He is like going to be my nephew soon, so I can call him whatever I want. Wilhelmina can't hurt you anymore. Butterball is safely here and happily eating my shoes. Lucy's gone and Daniel has full custody. Also as soon as Mommy Faye marries Papi, she cannot threaten you with his deportation," Amanda explained simply. She's still could not get why Betty was still so afraid. It wasn't like Wilhelmina's schemes ever actually worked.

"11-month-old's are still fragile. Lucy's parents are still suing Daniel for custody and what if Wilhelmina makes it sound like our parents are only getting married to fix the immigration thing," Betty told her in a near panic.

"That is the only reason why they're getting married, well, right now anyway. Yes, they love each other. However, Mommy Faye wanted a bigger wedding but you know…" Amanda said with a shrug.

"Look, let's just not talk about it. I know, Wilhelmina will make good on her various threats, if I get involved with Daniel again. It would kill him if he loses DJ," Betty whispered.

"But he should know that Alex is his son," Amanda argued back.

"I think he would hate me more when he finds out," Betty mumbled under her breath.

"Why you didn't lie to him, the evil bitch did," she said in annoyance.

"Amanda, it's…" Betty started but was cut off by her phone ringing.

"Justin, slowdown… No, I'm not watching TV right now. I'm getting ready to take Alex over to Alexis and Jordan to babysit, so I can spend the rest of the day working on my project for finals." Jordan and Jamie's girlfriend, Alexis Summers (no relation), absolutely adored baby Alex and would babysit for Betty most of the time, because she's independently wealthy and she runs some blog about transgendered woman that she can do from home, while taking care of Alex.

"I can watch butterball," Amanda offered. She likes butterball and unlike Betty, she wasn't taking summer classes, unless you count her mandatory quality time with Christina and Cinnamon, one of the Mode stylists.

Unlike Betty, she had a boyfriend, or rather, a regular sex life. Although, if you been having sex exclusively with the same guy for like a month, does that count as having a boyfriend?

"Hey, I can watch butterball," Amanda said a little upset .

"The last time I let you babysit unsupervised you put vodka in Alex's milk," Betty said with slight annoyance.

"It was just a few drops. He's teething, and if he inherited that mess, it is going to be really painful." Amanda said pointing to Betty's invisible braces. They were better than the bargain-basement things that Betty's old orthodontist would have given her, but they were still braces.

"He's going to need a little alcohol, if he ends up with your teeth." Amanda added in her defense, as her roommate looked at her as if she was insane.

Betty has given her that looked a lot in the year that they have lived together. They moved in together because Betty needed a roommate and Mommy Faye found out about her losing her apartment, due to her shoe problem.

Betty handled the things like paying the bills and groceries and Amanda handles the other stuff like doing laundry. It's the only household chore she likes to do because it involves making clothing prettier.

She also enjoyed organizing, as well as coordinating butterball's wardrobe, and decorating the house. She worked part time at Hudson with Jamie when she is not taking design classes. In addition, Mommy Faye provides her with a small stipend to support her shoe habit. The arrangement usually works out fine, unless Alex is trying to eat her shoes or Betty gave her that 'are you crazy?' look like she's giving her right now.

"Just turn on Channel 4," Betty said pointed to the TV in their living room.

"I don't like Channel 4. The guy always wears the ugliest suits, it is worse than what you did before Daniel's intervention," Amanda said, picking up the remote.

"It's not- just go to Channel 7. I don't care," she sighed.

"Fine," Amanda said, turning on the TV, only to see a really familiar building. She was sure that she had gone to a party there.

"Hey, isn't that where they had the last Meade corporate Thanksgiving?" Amanda asked.

"That was an editors' only party and we were there because Jordan was away visiting a friend that was in the hospital and Daniel didn't want to be anywhere near his father without reinforcements. That's Mr. Meade's townhouse. Claire let him keep it in the divorce because she said it had too many bad memories." Betty said just as the doors to the mansion open and you could see guys and horrible blue uniforms carrying a body covered in white out of the townhouse.

To Be Continued.

Author's Note: The time jump was necessary for storytelling purposes. I'm sure you're probably deciding who deserves a shoe to the head more me or Wilhelmina Slater. Think of it this way, the time jump means that you did not have to deal with several chapters of Daniel and Betty being apart. Now, we get to jump straight to getting our favorite couple together once more. Hopefully whoever was under the sheet will not be a problem.

I'm taking your guesses as to who was under the sheet at the Meade townhouse.