Alex Suarez
Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. Also, I love that so many of you love the pairing of Monique/Gio. I knew that when I decided to bring Monique into the story that she would eventually end up with her soulmate, I just figured it would happen at the end of the story. But when I came up with this storyline I felt he was perfect. First of all he's one of Betty's perspective love interest that I actually liked. Therefore, it made perfect sense that I used him to make Daniel jealous. There are plans for Monique and Gio later in the story.So I'm sorry this chapter is short (content wise) but I have family coming to visit, and I figured you would want an update now instead of waiting at least two more weeks for me to produce something.
Chapter 31: Tricks and Treats: Part Two
Jordan hated parties or at least, she did now. In her previous extreme sports celebrity life, she loved parties. Okay, she despised being followed by the paparazzi and having her every move documented but she loved spending time with her friends, her real friends (not her entourage). She loved the taste of alcohol on her lips, free-flowing drinks and other things. She even enjoyed the food when she wasn't training.
But that was before Alex and the miscarriage. Before realizing that alcohol became her greatest coping mechanism. Before rehab and the summer on Lake Erie where she and Jamie began to rebuild their lives together. Before she slowly allowed Alexis to join that new life. Before she went to two AA meetings a week and had her sponsor on speed dial for moments when she felt tempted. Jordan knows she can't be that person anymore, and now parties were something to be avoided.
A party swarming with paparazzi and being surrounded by friends who are still upset about her keeping the Alexis truth a secret was definitely going to be a temptation and a stressor. It would be an even bigger temptation because the rest of her girlfriend's dysfunctional family would be there. She only survived baby Alex's birthday party without turning to drinking because Faye had the good sense to get every single drop of alcohol out of the apartment, beforehand. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option at the First Annual Meade Publications Halloween Ball.
Despite the fact that the hostess of this party was a fellow alcoholic, Jordan knew the liquor would be very free-flowing and opted to stay behind as the designated babysitter. Okay, she wanted to get back into Daniel and Betty's good graces and therefore, she was watching the kids so that Operation: Get Betty and Daniel Together could go on without the children there to play buffer. (Besides, she had another good reason to stay liquor free or at least, she hopes she did.)
Jordan knew she would have more fun watching ridiculous movie musicals and eating pizza with Alex DJ, and Justin anyway. At the bare minimum, she had more in common with Justin and DJ then most of the shallow socialites populating the ball. Also, DJ was her girlfriend's nephew (biological son) and it was more important than ever to get along. Jordan also loved spending time with Baby Alex. He was super cuddly and did not judge her for dating her Aunt Alexis and Uncle Jamie (or for not telling him that Aunt Alexis used to be her Uncle Alex).
Contrary to what everyone thinks she's not upset that Baby Alex is here and her baby was not. Yes, the birthday party last month was hard which was why she is eternally grateful for the fact all the liquor was removed from the premises. She doesn't even want to think about how much worse the party would've been if alcohol was allowed. However, she wasn't going to take that out on the sweet baby in front of her. It wasn't his fault that Wilhelmina Slater is an evil, vindictive bitch. Her heart was healing to the point where three months ago she went off that happy hormone pills, and they were just seeing where things went.
Jordan and the boys were watching ridiculous musicals to placate Justin, who was really upset that he wouldn't get to see all the celebrities attending the event downstairs in person. Apparently watching from the window of their suite, wasn't good enough for the almost teenager. She doesn't get why Justin is so upset about that. Jordan has met very few New York socialites who are not complete asses and Justin already knows Monique. She is the only tolerable one. In Jordan's opinion, kids were better company and Alexis promised to bring her up some of the dessert selection. The food was the only reason to go anyway.
Alexis was better-suited for the role of the socialite girlfriend, even if she had to pretend to only be Jamie's friend. She loved ball gowns and 5 inch heels. More than Jordan ever did. This may explain why pre-op Alexis was the one who usually picked out Jordan's outfits for these events. In retrospect, this should have been the first sign that Alex wanted to become Alexis. It's a shame that she didn't see it at the time. Alexis really did look great dressed as Princess Jasmine even if she ended up wearing a wig because she refused to go back to her real hair color. Jamie chose the couple because Aladdin was the only Disney Prince that actually looked anything like him.
Considering how much Alexis loved this sort of thing she really wasn't expecting her girlfriend to be back before 10 PM. The party really didn't start to 8 o'clock anyway. Therefore, it was shocking to see her back at her hotel Suite at 8:59 PM. This was way too early for an Alexis in socialite mode to be back unless something bad happened.
"Okay, what happened? Did Faye forget to un-invite Victoria Hartley?" Victoria Hartley has been extra evil in the months since Tyler's existence became public knowledge. Because she and Matt now work together at the same magazine, she knows that Matt told his mom that he would come out as bisexual if she did one more horrible thing to Tyler. Jordan could easily picture Victoria Hartley saying something stupid to Tyler and Matt retaliating by making out with his new boyfriend in front of the paparazzi just to piss her off. From there it would dissolve into complete anarchy. It would be best if the two did not attend the same social events for the next decade.
"I personally took care of it myself. I couldn't risk it." Justin called out from the couch.
"That probably would've been less violent." Alexis quipped. "My idiotic brother…"
"Was being your idiotic brother." Jordan finished for her. "I assume we are talking about Daniel and not Tyler."
"Of course, it was Daniel. Tyler is better behaved." Alexis snorted.
"What did father do?" DJ asked slightly worried.
"Pretty much kill any chance of Betty becoming your step-mom anytime soon." Alexis said plopping down between Justin and DJ. DJ unceremoniously passed the popcorn to his aunt.
Personally, Jordan was just happy to see DJ and Alexis sit with each other without extreme awkwardness. Considering everything that's progress. She understands why it may take a while for DJ to be okay with Alexis. It took her a while to forgive her for faking her death and everything else. But she's glad that she did let go of that bitterness because they wouldn't be where they are now.
"We're going to need specifics." Justin requested practically bouncing. "We can't fix things unless we have specifics." She smiled sadly at Justin's innocence. He's too young to realize that some relationships can't be fixed. Jordan is sure that Daniel and Betty could fix things, but she's not sure if they will. She's not even sure if they know how to fix things.
"I would ask for a drink first but I know this is a dry zone especially because of…" Jordan quickly cuts Alexis off with a kiss. She doesn't want Alexis to jinx things. She doesn't want to lose another child even if it's just due to a false negative on some stupid stick that she urinated on yesterday. When they broke apart, Jordan handed her girlfriend a slice of pizza instead.
"I have found that pizza works better but there's more carbs involved." She joked.
"Not that I care. Keep the slices coming. I might need a whole pie." Alexis quickly started eating.
"That bad?" Jordan asked as she started to rub gentle circles on her girlfriend's back.
"It was beyond bad. Let's see first he makes out with his pretend girlfriend, in front of God and press." Alexis snickered as both DJ and Justin put their heads down in frustration or annoyance.
"And Betty of course." Jordan added snidely. She was already rolling her eyes.
"That was the whole point." Alexis sighed frustratingly. "Danny is not happy about the new boyfriend and things just went badly."
"I'm 12 and I know the jealousy thing doesn't work. Does he know that Grandma Faye paid the guy to take Aunt Betty out?" Justin asked.
"Of course he didn't, which led to him acting like a testosterone-laden teenager." Alexis sighed as she began the rest of the story.
XxxxXxxxXxxxXxxxX
41 minutes earlier
Alexis was thankful she was assigned to a table with her boyfriend's assistant and her accountant boyfriend. At least they wouldn't ask stupid questions regarding the fact that she is transgendered (or about her being a secret love child of Bradford Meade and some unnamed alleged mistress). If one more person asked her about what happened to her dick when she decided to become Alexis, she is going to punch them out no matter who they are. She's pretty sure that was the number one thing on the list not to ask somebody who's transgender.
She has also been getting variations up "who were you before you became a girl?" If she wasn't going to spill that information to Fashion TV, she definitely wasn't going to tell some stranger at a party. One guy also asked what pronoun he should use but at least he asked. The worst of all was the one person who asked her if Bradford's decision to hide her existence until after his death had anything to do with the fact that she wasn't a real girl. Jamie literally had to drag her back to the table before she utilized her martial arts skills on his ass. It was enough to make you wonder why she decided to be openly transgender even if no one knew she was Alex in her previous life.
"Damien from Player is a complete asshole. Just ignore him." Kenny said placing a glass of wine in her hand.
"Which explains why he's at Player." Alexis remarked just before the wine touched her lips.
"Please, his boss is my ex-boyfriend. Not everybody there is like that." She forgot about that but then again she usually forgot about everybody Jamie dated when they were pretending that they were not in love with each other and just fucking around. They were delusional about that sort of thing. Then again the player EIC probably knew about Alexis screwing his then boyfriend, and this may be some sort of revenge. If anybody was going to recognize her, it was probably going to be the Player EIC.
"So he's just a dick?" Kenny asked taking a drink of his own wine.
"He did try to grab my ass earlier." Amanda said nonchalantly as she finished her shot.
"Ok, I'm so going through his expense report with a fine tooth comb." Kenny said glaring at the guy.
"Like that's going to do anything. It's not like they have to take advertisers on $400 dinners like we do at Hudson or even Mode. We could just tell Tyler, but we are trying to avoid a physical altercation at this ball." Jamie joked, but he knew better than to do something like that. Faye would give his budget to Wilhelmina just on principle if Jamie did something like that.
"Last month, he tried to pass off the purchase of a life-size poster of a halfway naked woman and some videos that look suspiciously like porn as business expenses. Trust me to find something, and I will make Damien miserable." Kenny smirked.
"If that doesn't work let me handle it." Faye said taking the seat next to her daughter.
"Is his body going to end up in the river or something like that?" Amanda asked worriedly. Alexis would find it thing entirely possible. Faye was very protective of her children, even her stepchildren. There was a certain pop star that was currently getting skewered because he treated Hilda like a dirty little secret.
"Baby, I'm not Wilhelmina." She smirked as she took a sip of her sparkling cider.
"Which means that could happen, but we will never find the body" Jamie quipped. "Just keep that in mind when dating this one." He quickly pointed to Amanda, who happen to be dressed like Ariel from the Little Mermaid, sort of. The bottom of her dress looked like your typical ball gown in aquamarine chiffon. However, the top was essentially very strategically placed clamshells. The ensemble also came with a Sebastian purse. The outfit looked interesting if nothing else, which means Amanda designed the dress herself.
"Speaking of what happens when people make me upset, you and Alexis need to be a little less in love with each other unless you want to amicably breakup with Jordan and suddenly start dating her best friend. I do not have the energy for a tabloid scandal right now, one that I'm not causing anyway." Faye remarked.
"Daniel was making out with his fake girlfriend earlier. Shouldn't you be saying something about that?" Jamie shot back slightly annoyed.
"Except for certain pockets of the Deep South most people would not find Daniel and Monique's relationship inappropriate." Alexis was half tempted to mention that those same pockets of the Deep South would probably find their relationship just as offensive even without Jordan being involved. She was born with a penis and dating a biracial pansexual. However, Jamie kicked her before she said anything.
"However polyandry…" The CEO trailed off pointing to the couple.
"Is seen as something that happens in Utah that people don't talk about." Kenny remarked. "Everybody in accounting knows what has been going on between Jordan, Jamie, and Alexis since before Alexis was actually Alexis. We are just really polite about it." Alexis is not surprised that the accountants know this. The accountants know everything.
"See, it's not a problem." Jamie said as he grabbed Alexis' hand. Faye just rolled her eyes.
"Do you really think this plan of yours is actually going to work?" Alexis asked looking out her oldest brother (and yes it still feels strange to say that) who looked seconds from pouncing Betty's date.
"Well, it's a better idea than sending Betty on a wild goose chase to find Daniel's watch that he allegedly left that some random girl's apartment." Faye said as she glared at Amanda. Alexis was there at the meeting of the Betty and Daniel conspiracy group when Amanda suggested that. Having Jamie's current creative director pose as Daniel's girlfriend to keep certain other vultures away from him was the 'sensible' alternative (said vulture tried multiple times to get Daniel's attention, but she was easily deflected by Monique at every turn).
"I still say it was a brilliant idea. Jealousy always works. I was perfectly willing to be one of the girls." Amanda's explanation led to a very upset boyfriend.
"But we are dating," Kenny said incredulously.
"Daniel is bi, at least a little." Amanda said with a shrug. "It's not like it would be a problem for him. I know you think he's cute."
"This is why she is sitting with us." Jamie mumbled under breath.
"Trust me if you met Amanda's adoptive parents you would understand-actually you should meet Amanda's other parents…" Faye started to say just as another man who was not her husband walked over and kissed her on the cheek. He seems very familiar with her.
"I've been looking everywhere for you." The man said pulling away.
"You should know I would be right here with my daughter Amanda and her boyfriend, Kenneth Kim." Faye pointed to both using the accountants real name. "Kenny is the best accountant we have at Meade publications. And Amanda is following in my fashionable footsteps although she prefers the design side of things." The man quickly extended his hand to both.
"I am Spencer Canon. I'm an old friend of Faye." Who is definitely not a threat to Mr. Suarez considering Spencer Canon is more likely interested in Mr. Suarez rather than Mrs. Suarez.
"You're on that soap opera the young and the board or the bold and the crazy." Kenny said enthusiastically.
"I don't think were very bold but quite crazy." The actor replied with a laugh.
"My mom loves you. She tapes like every single episode. She can't wait till Dr. Carter and Dr. Warren get together. She constantly talks about their sexual tension."
"I don't think that's going to happen because I'm not sure if ABC daytime is ready for one of their premier soap operas to be anchored by two non-heterosexual characters." Nor would they be very happy if the star said soap opera happened to come out. However, that part went unsaid.
"I wouldn't be surprised," Kenny snorted. "There is this one show during ABC primetime where they won't let one of the gay characters kisses boyfriend. What is the name of that show? Plain Ja…" His words were cut off by Betty's date landing on top of their table with Daniel falling right on top of him. They barely managed to pull away before the table collapsed. Really she shouldn't be surprised.
"Jamie and I could start making out right now and I don't think it will be as big of a scandalous as this." Alexis snarled, pointing to her brother who was now involved in an all-out fistfight with Betty's date. She was so not breaking up this fight. Besides it looks like Daniel was winning. As she has learned recently lifting a toddler really builds up upper body strength.
"All I wanted was more grandchildren." Faye said looking at the scene in complete horror.
XxxxXxxxXxxxXxxxX
The present
"Uncle Daniel punched out Betty's pretend date?" Justin squealed. Alexis just nodded her head in agreement.
"And managed to break two tables. That was after they started going out at it like four-year-olds. Although I must admit Daniel's fighting technique has improved greatly since we were children." Alexis snickered.
"Who won?" DJ asked enthusiastically, and Jordan couldn't help but glare.
"Probably the table. Betty and Jamie are currently accompanying Daniel to the emergency room. It looks like he broke his arm." Alexis looked like she was about to laugh but was trying desperately not to.
"Your brother is a complete idiot." Jamie shook her head.
"This never what happened if they let us on the planning committee." Justin mumbled under breath. Jordan agreed with him.
XxxxXxxxXxxxXxxxX
"You know if you just accepted the position of the EIC at MYW this wouldn't be a problem?" Jordan said to her girlfriend an hour later she was putting Baby Alex to sleep in one of the bedrooms.
About 20 minutes ago, she received a text message from Betty stating that she was going to be at the hospital for a while because Daniel needed x-rays and asking, if she could keep Alex for the night. Betty is a nicer person than her because if Jamie or Alexis did something like that, she would just leave them at the hospital to deal with it by themselves. She definitely would not have accompanied either idiot to the hospital.
In light of the fact that Alex would not be going home tonight, they felt it was time to get the toddler to sleep in one of the bedrooms of the suite. Jordan was lying down beside the toddler hoping that it would help Alex calm down. So far it was working.
"Jamie said the same thing. Faye said the same thing. Mom said the same thing. Even Tyler said that." Alexis said as she laid down beside Jordan and placed a hand on her abdomen.
"Your half-brother is very smart sometimes." She kissed Alexis's forehead.
"I know that we wouldn't have to be dealing with Sofia if I took the job but I just don't want to deal with people questioning my ability to run the magazine because I'm 'not a real woman'." Alexis explain finally telling Jordan the real reason why she keeps saying no.
"People won't think that. You're a good magazine editor. That's what you should be doing." Jordan tried to reassure her girlfriend.
"People already think that. People said a lot of not so nice things at the ball today." Alexis sighed.
"Who cares what they think. You're better than them. Skills are the only thing that matter."
"I wish that were true," Alexis said sadly. "With Monique taking the position, I've been thinking about asking Jamie if I could come back to Hudson."
"That's not a bad idea." Jordan smiled. "If things go the way we want them to tomorrow, it would probably be best if Jamie wasn't doing everything on his own."
"They will." Alexis kissed her cheek.
"I'm just scared. I don't want to get my hopes up. I don't think I can deal with another loss pregnancy." Yes, this time they were actively trying to get pregnant, but she was terrified. What if her body wasn't meant to carry a child?
"If it turns out to be a false negative. We will just keep trying. We could also do in vitro." Alexis placed an arm around her.
"I did make you make a deposit before phase 2 of your transformation for a reason and DJ is cute. He could use more biological siblings, even if technically, they will be his cousins."
"I think you and Jamie will make cuter babies but we will do whatever we need to do to get you pregnant and keep you that way." Jordan couldn't say anything to that because she was already half-asleep.
To be continued