A/N: Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. Compared to the last chapter, there is a bit more Betty/Daniel goodness this time around. Also, they never gave Nico's age during season one, so I'm going to assume that she was about 16 or 17 at the time.

There is a conversation between Ignacio and Faye in this chapter. Although I wrote it in English my personal theory is that this conversation probably took place in Spanish. However, by the time I was born my family mostly spoke in English at home and my Spanish is horrible. I'm a lot like Betty in that respect.

Chapter 20: Stages of Grief

"I never thought this day would come." Claire said as she sat in the limo next to Faye Somers, right after she identified her ex-husband's body. Faye came with her because she said that nobody should identify their ex-husband's body alone. She happened to be in the middle of a breakfast meeting with the MODE EIC when her former housekeeper called her to explain why Bradford never showed up.

"You mean sitting next to me in a limo without a fight breaking out," Faye joked. Claire almost cracked a smile, almost.

They weren't friends, but they didn't exactly hate each other anymore. Claire just didn't see the point any longer. They just had the misfortune of falling in love with the same man and believed his promises for way too long. Thankfully, both had enough common sense to get out before that unhealthy relationship killed both of them.

Now that Bradford was only in their lives in a professional capacity Claire realized that the two had a lot in common. They went to the same AA meetings, as well as the same support group for birth mothers. Faye was the one who gave her the name of the detective that found Tyler for her.

But it wasn't just that they were from the same circle or that they work together, Claire had a begrudging respect for the woman sitting beside her. She had to respect any woman who could outsmart Wilhelmina Slater, without even trying.

Now that woman was the real enemy, especially for what she did to the mother of Claire's youngest grandson. Being protective of Betty and Baby Alex was another thing that she and Faye had in common. Despite the fact, she despises the word Faye really did see herself as Alex's other grandmother, even if the wedding was still a few weeks away. She would do anything for that child.

In a weird way, it made sense that Faye was with her on this dark day because other than her, no one knew Bradford Meade better than Faye Somers. Claire felt that the woman has just as much of a right to be there as she does.

She doesn't know what to think of the fact that, despite the divorce, she is still listed as his emergency medical contact. Maybe, just maybe, Bradford was smart enough to realize that the only reason why somebody like Wilhelmina Slater was marrying a man 20 years her senior, is for the money. Therefore, it would be best to put somebody in charge of his medical well-being that would not pull the plug just to get her inheritance faster.

"I always expected to die first. I took too many drugs and had sex with too many people. I'm surprised I survived the 80s with only an unplanned pregnancy and not a single overdose." Faye explained.

"Tyler and Amanda are much better than any STD," Claire tried to joke, but her heart wasn't into it.

"I didn't expect to outlive Bradford, either. In my case, I always assumed I would be done in by alcohol poisoning. It was a near thing after Alex di-after last year." She says correcting herself. She doesn't like to talk about January through April 2005, especially after meeting "Alexis Summers".

"I am personally surprised you haven't broken into the bar that Bradford keeps and all his town cars. Even I want to break into it right now."

"I can't do that, and neither can you. I can't go back to that. Even though part of me will always love Bradford Meade, but I left because being in love with him was slowly killing me. That first drink is a slippery slope, and I have too much to deal with right now," Claire told her shaking. She wanted a drink more than anything else, but she had too many people counting on her.

"I understand. A part of me will always love Bradford, but it wasn't healthy." Faye said actually grabbing her hand. Two years ago, she was completely convinced that Faye Somers could never show anything remotely close to decent human compassion. Of course, Faye Somers post-heart attack was a very different human being.

"Although, it was still better than his relationship with Wilhelmina. Part of me thinks that if I never served him with divorce papers, he would still be alive right now. If Wilhelmina did not specifically paid to have him off. Then, he died because he stopped taking his heart medication because it interfered with his Viagra." Claire told her with a snicker. She needed somebody to blame, and Wilhelmina seem like an easy target, especially because Claire was well aware how unscrupulous Wilhelmina Slater could be.

"I doubt it. She would've waited until after the ceremony, unless he already changed the will." Faye commented snidely.

"I'm surprised we didn't see her at the coroner's office." Claire remarked, harshly.

"That's because, according to Marisol, she is already pretending to cry on various news programs." Faye told her.

"I'm not surprised. Meade Publications will need to put out a statement to counteract anything Wilhelmina said. Also, I'm sure I have about 100 calls from the lawyers that I need to return. I should call Daniel and Jamie, so that he can break the news to Alexis. God, there's too much. I don't know what to do. What do you do when someone you love and hate dies?" Claire said, almost on the verge of tears and therefore did not notice the very strange look that Faye was giving her.

"It's okay. Betty will call Daniel. Marisol will handle the press, the lawyers, and various other vultures. Monique will take care of the other editors. Jamie already knows, and he will take care of Alexis…" Faye said before she realized exactly what she said.

"Wait, why do you think Alexis needs to know about this? You know, don't you?"

"A mother always knows her children." Claire answered simply. "How do you know?"

"She contacted me when she realized that Wilhelmina was just using her." Faye answered cryptically. "How long have you known?

"January," she said simply. The first time Jamie introduced her to Alexis Summers, she just knew. A part of her always felt that Alex was still with her; now, she knew why.

"And you haven't confronted her about this?" The editor asked her with a confused expression.

"She's happier as Alexis Summers, and there never was the right time to bring it up." Claire answered, but she knew that was an excuse. A part of her was afraid to confront Alexis because she was afraid of being rejected by her daughter. It was easier if they kept things professional.

"This is definitely not the right time." Faye snickered back.

"Bradford called me last night. He said we needed to talk about something important, and it needed to happen in person." Bradford sounded very distressed when he called her last night but told her he would not explain anything until the next morning. Now, she was never going to know why he was so upset.

"I got the same phone call," Faye told her quietly, just as she noticed that the driver was going the wrong way.

"We are supposed to be going back to the office." She complained.

"No, we are not. Marisol, Monique, and Bradford's assistant will take care of all the work stuff. We are going to go back to my house and have a nice lunch. If that doesn't work we can go to a meeting, but you're not going to the office today." Faye said forcefully.

"Okay, we go come to your house." She said in acquiescence because she wasn't ready to say out loud that her husband was dead even if it was to a room filled with strangers at an AA meeting.

"Thank you for coming with me to New York." Daniel said to Nico, as the driver through her luggage into the trunk in the dark of night. Daniel can't believe that he was on his way back to New York for his father's funeral. Ninety percent of the time, he hated the man because of the Alex situation and everything that went on with his mom and the divorce (of course, finding out about Cal Hartley made him a little more willing to let the Faye Somers thing go). But he did not want him dead. He already lost Lucy and his brother Alex in the last year and a half. He couldn't deal with more funerals and dead family members.

By some miracle, he did not find out about it by watching CNN like everyone else. Betty called him. At first he was happy that Betty called him twice in one day, despite the fact that he was on his way with Nico and DJ to supervise some photo shoot for the November cover. Then Betty told him the news, and his phone absently dropped from his hand, he was in such shock. He couldn't breathe, how could the guy whom he talked to just the day before be dead. It just didn't make sense.

Being the world's greatest intern/assistant, Nico picked up the phone from the floor of the car and spoke to Betty. Even though, she looked on the verge of tears herself. She took control of everything, including calling Claudette to take over the shoot and arranging for transport to New York. Also, for some reason she decided that she was coming with him to the funeral. So less than six hours after Betty's initial phone call, Daniel was at the ultra-posh boarding school that Nico attends to pick her up for a funeral he didn't want to attend.

"I'm supposed to go to New York this week anyway to see my sperm donor and trophy wife number four. You're going to need somebody to babysit DJ while you're at the funeral and me being back in Manhattan will just piss Wilhelmina off, so it's a win-win situation for both of us. This beats the alternative." The teenager tells him with a smile. He thinks it's sad that she rather be at a funeral than be with her father.

She is right that DJ can't take another funeral, just a month after losing his mother. DJ was not particularly close to his grandfather. Daniel has only let Bradford see DJ a handful of times and that was only because his father paid off Lucy's parents to keep them from challenging the adoption. That was the only reason why he allowed Bradford to be at her funeral. But despite everything, he knew this was going to be hard on DJ. DJ hasn't said a word to him since Daniel broke the news. Daniel hoped that having his friend Nico around would make it easier on him.

"Yes, she hates anybody realizing that until recently, the guys that she dated were closer to your age than hers," he said bitterly.

God, he hated Wilhelmina Slater, even more than before. Since news of Bradford's death broke, she has been on every single news channel crying about her dead fiancé. She has even managed to make the international news. Daniel was sure that she's only upset because Bradford kicked the bucket before the wedding and she probably wasn't going to get a damn thing unless the will had already been changed.

"What do you mean recently? I bet she's already screwing her assistant if she wasn't doing it before your…" She started to say before he stopped her.

"I know you hate her, but don't talk about your mom that way. Because someday, she's going to be gone and you are going to wonder what was the point of hating her so much." Daniel told her not even sure if he was really talking about Wilhelmina. That was when Nico actually hugged him.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"It's okay. I overreacted. I'm just…" Daniel started to babble.

"No, I'm sorry your dad died. He was pretty good to me, better than most of the people Wilhelmina has dated over the years. He actually acknowledged that I existed, for one thing." Nico told him bitterly.

"I think he did like you, sometimes, more than me." Daniel interjected.

"Don't say things like that. I know Mr. Meade did a lot of bad things, but at least, he actually loved you. That's more than I can say regarding my egg and sperm donor." She pulled out of the hug.

"I don't know about that. He never actually said the words to me." He told her quietly.

"Wilhelmina says the words to me all the time, usually when they are cameras around, but I'd don't think she ever meant them. He came all the way to France for Lucy's funeral. He offered a truckload of money to get her parents to go away. If that's not love, I don't know what is."

He wasn't supposed to know about the deal that Bradford struck with Lucy's parents. Unfortunately, the man told Wilhelmina who was angry about it, and she said something about it in front of Nico, during her time in Paris last month. Of course, Nico told him.

"The thing is, I don't think I ever said the words to him. I said so many horrible things to him." Daniel opened the door to the limo.

"I don't think it matters. I'm sure that he knew anyway." Nico said just as they slid inside the car for the long ride to Charles de Gaulle.

Faye Somers' life has been unbelievably surreal for a very long time. Fashion shoots with models dressed as angels hanging from the ceiling will do that to you after a while. However, she never thought that she would be sitting in her living room a little before five in the morning planning the funeral of her former lover as his ex-wife slept in the guest room with her grandson in her arms, a grandson that she just happened to share with Claire.

Betty was already on her way to LaGuardia to pick up Daniel when his flight arrives at 6:45 AM. Daniel needed her more than anything else, and therefore, Faye suggested that Alex spend the night at her house. Claire was happy to have her grandson with her. (Yes, the woman knew that Alex was her grandson because grandmothers apparently know there grandchildren anywhere.) In an effort to not have to deal with this mess with a drunk off her ass Claire Meade, Faye invited the woman to stay or rather her fiancé did.

"Do you prefer the Armani suit in charcoal or slate?" She asked, as soon as she heard her boyfriend walk into their living room. She finally convinced him to move in with her six months ago. It made the most sense with both daughters now living in Manhattan. It was actually nice to have someone there to bring her sandwiches and force her to go to sleep when she was working at three in the morning. Right now, she hopes that mug in his hand is coffee for her. If she can't have alcohol, coffee is definitely the next best thing.

"This is why I let my grandson pick out the suits for the wedding." Ignacio said as he placed the cup beside her and gave her a quick kiss on the lips. She loved kissing him. She could always tell how much he cared about her from the way he kissed her.

"It's for Bradford. The funeral home people will need to know what to dress him in for the funeral as soon as possible. It would beseech my reputation, if he was dressed in anything that was less than perfect. What do you think of yellow for the shirt?" She said, taking a drink of the coffee he brought her only to discover that it was actually hot chocolate. It was good hot chocolate made with actual milk, but it was still hot chocolate.

"I think maybe you should go to sleep for a few more hours. You can work all this out when Daniel gets here. You do not have to do everything tonight." He said as he closed her laptop.

"It's better, if I do this now. I am not as attached to Bradford as Daniel and Claire. It's not going to be as painful for me to decide what cascade he should be buried in. Daniel just had to do this last month for Lucy. He shouldn't have to do it so soon for his father." Faye told her fiancé as she tried to open the laptop once more, but he stopped her.

"I know from firsthand experience that it's hard to plan the funeral for someone you love. Don't do this to yourself. Marisol, Monique, Marcy, and Jordan have all volunteered to help with planning the funeral." He said, taking the seat beside her.

"I love you," she said, kissing him again. "Not some self-centered man who kept leading me on for 20 years, until I realized that nothing was ever going to change. For the last year and a half he has only been my boss."

"But a tiny little piece of your heart still belongs to Bradford Meade, just like a part of my heart will always belong to Rosa. That's okay," his words were punctuated with a kiss to her temple.

"Yes, but Rosa actually loved you. She defied her mother and left her homeland for you, to protect you. Bradford couldn't even be bothered to acknowledge me outside of a board meeting. I was so sure that he never loved me until..." She stopped herself there.

"Until what?" As soon as he asked, Faye knew she would tell him everything.

"You know that I woke up when Amanda called a couple of hours ago?"

"Yes, and you have not been back to sleep since. Is everything okay with Amanda?" he asked with concern. Her fiancé treated her daughter like his own daughter. She loved that about him.

"She's fine. Amanda, Jamie, and Marc were running around Meade publications last night or rather this morning trying to find Bradford's will because Alexis is convinced that Wilhelmina had Bradford killed because he broke up with her a few hours before his housekeeper Margarita found his body. I said that she would only do that if Bradford already changed his will to something that will entitle her to a piece of the Meade Empire. Jamie went with Amanda and Marc to find proof while Jordan stayed with Alexis." She explained.

Ignacio already knew who Alexis really is. She had no choice but to tell him because Alexis was at her house a lot during the fall of last year. Of course, the other reason why her fiancé knew was because they have no secrets. She knows what he really had to do to get Rosa out of an abusive marriage and he knows what she had to do to keep Amanda safe as a baby.

He even knows the identity of Amanda's biological father, when she has not yet got the courage to tell Amanda that she somehow got pregnant by a closeted soap opera star who was too high to realize that she had breasts. She was waiting until after the wedding to drop that particular bombshell.

"Why is Alexis concern?" He asked with his arms wrapped tight around her.

"Please, this is the woman who tried to have you deported three times, thankfully I know more people at Homeland security than she does."

"I assume it's more than that."

"Yes, it's more than that. Last night -I guess at this point, I should say two days ago Bradford had a meeting with Alexis and offered her the position of the EIC at MYW as an olive branch of sorts, and to tell her that he knew that she's his daughter. She said a lot of things she shouldn't, including telling him the real reason why Daniel doesn't know Alex is his son before promptly kicking him out. A couple of hours later, he sent her a text message saying that he ended things with Wilhelmina. A few hours after that the housekeeper finds his body. It can't be just a coincidence." Faye Somers knows the woman formally known as Wanda better than anyone else, she was even Nico's godmother. Once upon a time, they used to be friends of a sort. She could see Wilhelmina doing this for the right reasons.

"So Alexis believes that Wilhelmina had him killed?" Ignacio asked.

"Yes, but if that was the case it didn't do her any good. Amanda called to say that they found the will and even if Bradford died after the wedding, Wilhelmina would have only received 10% of his stake in Meade publications. However, because of the way he wrote the will, because the wedding has not happened yet that 10% goes to the trust fund that he set up for Wilhelmina's daughter and my goddaughter Nico, along with enough money for her to pay for her tuition to go to any Ivy League school in the country. He even named me the trustee, not Wilhelmina." She already knew that Wilhelmina was going to be angry as hell about that particular stipulation. Then again, she's probably going to be mad that Bradford left her daughter a trust fund, just like he did for his two grandsons.

"However, Wilhelmina still gets to become EIC of MODE, which is what she wanted in the first place." She felt it wasn't her place to tell Ignacio who will be Wilhelmina's co-EIC. Besides, she wasn't sure if Daniel would be willing to move to New York anyway even if she would actually be okay with him taking over her Magazine.

"You're losing MODE?" He asked, with concern.

"Yes, and no. He left me 10% of his shares of Meade Publications, as well as, naming me CEO," she told him in a whisper.

"Oh,"

"He never left his wife for me, but he's leaving me his company and I don't know what to make of that." She tells him, still whispering, and he just wraps his arms around her tighter as she allowed one tear to slide down her cheek.

"You didn't have to come," Daniel told Betty the moment that he puts his arms around her. It was so good to have her in his arms again. She was standing outside of the airport beside a limo in a beautiful blue dress. It was the greatest sight in the world. "Don't you have a toddler and a final paper to work on?"

"Alex is spending time with Papi and Tia Faye and I think, Amanda is working on some special project with Jamie but she wouldn't tell me. That gave me lots of time to work on my paper, besides you need me." Betty said, giving him a wonderful smile, complete with clear braces.

"DJ is barely standing upright and I haven't slept in about 30 hours. Can we please finish this in the car? I'm sure that both DJ and I will pass out the moment we hit the seat and then you two can make out the entire time without worrying. I promise not to tell my bitch of a mother that you're making out with Daniel. Besides her Sugar Daddy is dead, so it doesn't matter anymore." Nico said, handing her bags off to the driver. He sure that Faye was the one who made Betty take the limo to pick everyone up. Faye was unbelievably protective of her future stepdaughter.

"You brought Nico?" Betty asked confused.

"Don't listen to anything she says. I'm sure, it's just sleep deprivation." Daniel tells her.

"I've volunteered to come. Besides, if the show that she's putting on for the press is true, she's going to want her loving daughter by her side." Nico said in pure sarcasm before instructing DJ to get in the car in perfect French. Daniel is just happy that he understands what she said.

Okay, Daniel is just happy that she didn't make snide jokes to DJ about him and Betty in French. At least he doesn't think that she did. You think after more than a year and a half in France, his French would be better.

"She came with me to help take care of DJ and to avoid visiting her fat…" He started to say but he choked on the word.

Great, he can't even say the word when he's not even talking about Bradford. Betty just wraps her arms around him tighter and kisses him on the cheek. Of course, he moves just a fraction and he kisses her on the lips instead. It felt so good, like coming home. He wished it was under very different circumstances, but he didn't care.

"I'm not going to tell you that everything will be okay," Betty said, pulling away. "But we will get through it."

"Okay," he said as he felt her hand wrapped around his as she pulled him into the car. Her touch was the only thing keeping him grounded right now.

Two Days Earlier

"I think you should come back to New York." Bradford said almost as soon as Daniel said hello. Sometimes he wonders why he even answers his father's phone calls now.

"We had this conversation at the funeral and as much as I would really like to be in the same city as Be- mom and maybe Tyler, DJ is not ready to leave Paris." Daniel almost said Betty but thankfully he corrected himself at the last moment. "Lucy has barely been gone a month. He's not ready to move away from here yet."

"DJ is more resilient than you think. It's also time for you to take your place here." His father said almost arrogantly.

"Of course, that's why you called. I'm already a managing editor at Mode Paris. It's not like I'm off wasting my trust fund by doing body shots in Rio." Despite the language barrier and a lot of help from Nico he was actually doing really good. Okay he can read French a lot better than he can speak it.

"Yes, but I want you to come back to New York to be the editor-in-chief of Mode US."

"What? Wait, you're kicking Faye out, now? Is this because she finally had enough sense to let go of you for good, and marry a decent human being?"

"I'm happy that Faye has found somebody." His father said in the same voice Daniel used the last time Betty told him that she had a date. His father was not happy at all. He was downright miserable.

"So you're showing that happiness by firing her. That's really big of you, Bradford," Daniel said with pure sarcasm.

"I am showing how happy I am by making her CEO of Meade publications. I want you to take over Mode."

"Are you dying?" he blurted out because that was the only logical reason he could come up with for Bradford Meade telling him that.

"I just felt that I need to take a step back, but I will still serve on the Board of Directors. Wilhelmina suggested it, she wants us to spend more time together." Daniel wanted to tell his father that Wilhelmina suggested it probably because she was the one who wanted to become CEO, but he wanted to get through this conversation without it deteriorating into a shouting match. "She will be your Co-EIC."

"Okay, you're giving the woman that you completely fucked over the keys to your empire. Either you're still in love with her or you don't trust me at all to handle your legacy. I'm not sure which possibility annoys me more." Daniel told him in annoyance.

"I trust you to take care of my legacy, but you have your own legacy to worry about. You have a teenage son that just spent the last three years watching his mother die of breast cancer. Daniel Junior should be your main priority. He needs you more than the company does." Daniel heard his father say over the phone. Daniel wished that video conferencing was more widely available, because he's almost sure the person on the other line is not his father. He needed visual proof.

"Okay, that is absolute bullshit coming from you. You were never around growing up. The only time we ever saw you was when we were paraded around for some company gathering such as the Black and White Ball or the Mode charity softball game. I think I rather stay in Paris. Unlike you, I am a real father." Daniel said harshly.

"Yes you are, more than I ever was. That's why you need to come back to New York for Be…" Daniel heard his father say, just as he hung up the phone. He just couldn't deal with the man today.

To be continued