Author's Note: Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. I'm sorry for the lack of timely updates a lot of my other stories were in a very crucial place which meant I had to do double chapters. Then things kind of went crazy at work in it took me over a week to proofread this. However, I am almost done with another story so I should be having more time to concentrate on this story.

On the bright side at least I got out the last part of the Halloween chapters before we hit Halloween. Here's hoping the Thanksgiving stuff will be done before Thanksgiving.

Chapter 32: Figure It Out, Stupid!

"You have no right whatsoever to hit my boyfriend." Betty yelled at Daniel, as the cabdriver made his way to her apartment. She asked to be dropped off first because she's halfway tempted to break Daniel's other arm.

Daniel did break his arm. Fortunately, it was a clean break that would not require surgery. However he probably won't be able to carry Alex until after Christmas. He deserves it for being such an idiot.

"Especially when I'm not even dating the guy. But even if I was actually dating Gio, you still had no right to hit him." She actually had to hold herself back from smacking his damaged arm.

"You especially don't get to do it when you're making out with my ex-boss. Do you know how much Monique has gone through in the last few years? She doesn't need her boyfriend to be acting like that." Betty was having a hard time trying to decide who she was more embarrassed for her or Monique.

She liked Monique. They were almost friends but not quite. However, she did buy Alex a giant teddy bear and wrote Alex and original children's book called the illegitimate child's guide to the Upper East Side. Alex may be way too young to understand what was written there but Betty found it helpful.

"We're not dating." Daniel said defensively, although he was a bit groggy. Most of his words were slurred together and have been for the last half an hour. They gave him the good drugs. "Apparently we're not dating just like you and you know Gio or whatever were not dating. But I don't believe you. He had his hands on your ass. Where did you pick him up? Boyfriends "R" Us." At that Jamie put one hand on Daniel's mouth and wrapped the other one around her wrist to keep her from doing something she shouldn't.

"Okay, we're going to blame that on the pain pills. Just shut up, Daniel. For the sake of your son, stop talking. You guys have a kid together. You don't get to break up and go your separate ways. You two are going to have to just learn to deal with seeing one another with new people. This may take a while because apparently you guys are shit at it right now." Jamie yelled. The cabdriver upfront was chuckling to himself.

"They remind me of me and my first wife after the divorce."

"Did you punch out your ex-wive's new boyfriend, or girlfriend for that matter, when she started dating other people again?" Jamie asked sarcastically.

"No but she interrogated my first girlfriend afterwards." The driver said as he pulled in front of her apartment complex. "It got better eventually but it still took a while."

"See perfectly normal." Daniel shrugged and Betty just open the door to the cab and got out. Jamie was right she was going to have to deal with Daniel for the rest of her life and she couldn't afford to do more stupid things. She's already done enough to completely ruin their romantic relationship, she doesn't want to completely derail any chance of stability they still have. Alex deserves better.

"Can you watch this one for a few minutes while I walk her upstairs?" Jamie asked as he handed the guy a generous tip.

"Sure, I understand. Things are always complicated right after the divorce." It was odd to hear someone talk about her and Daniel as if they were a divorced couple but in a way that fit. She just didn't want to see things as being that final but if he was with Monique then that's how things were. At least, Monique would make a good step mom. Much better than that fake Sofia. Why did Betty ever believe her book?

"We were never actually married." Daniel corrected the guy. "I just got her pregnant, not that she told me. Well, she did but she didn't. Did you know that you could get somebody..."

At that Betty slammed the door of the cab to drown Daniel's voice out. It's moments like these that she wish she was still working at Hudson or at the very least still working for Marc. The only reason why she accompanied him to the hospital was she felt like it was part of her job. Otherwise, she would have just let Jamie handle it. She is not sure she can handle being with Daniel right now.

"I'm sorry that my sort of brother-in-law is a dick." Jamie said following behind as she unlocked the front door with her access code.

"It's okay. I should've known that we can't do normal..." Betty side as she walked over to the elevator. "Daniel is just being so ridiculous. He's dating Monique."

"Maybe you dismissed what he said because he is pretty high on Percocet and whatever else they gave him but Daniel and Monique are not dating." Jamie explained just as the elevator showed up.

"No…they're just sleeping together." Betty angrily pressed the button to her floor. Because if Daniel and Monique were not dating, that left only one option and she did not like that option at all.

"Which is part of the reason why I am not happy with Daniel right now. You know how Monique is. She acts like she's strong but she's just as human as the rest of us. You and I know that she has not dated anybody seriously since her husband died, unless you count the Backstreet Boy."

"I don't even think she counts the Backstreet Boy. They are friends now." Jamie quipped.

"I feel like Daniels taking advantage of her." Betty stepped out of the elevator and Jamie started to laugh.

"No one takes advantage of Monique Osborne. You know that."

"That's very true." Betty said reflexively as she searched in her purse for her keys. Really she just wanted to get in the house and not have this conversation. "I just thought Daniel moved beyond just sex relationships."

"I know you probably won't believe me but they're not having sex." Jamie explained and he's right she doesn't believe him.

"When you say not having sex you mean like you and Jordan were not having sex or like how you and Marc were not having sex? You do remember I lived with Jordan during that phase?" Betty asked sarcastically still looking for her keys. If she doesn't find it in a minute she's going to have to see if Marc and Cliff were back from the ball. It was 2 AM so they probably were but they were probably doing something that she didn't want to interrupt. She doubted that Amanda was there. To be a good roommate, she usually slept over Kenny's house.

"No, I mean like Suzuki not having sex with his fake boyfriend because if he did sleep with the guy, his real-life wife would cut off his dick. She's a friend of Monique's and she is scary as hell." Jamie handed a set of keys to her. She forgot that Jamie still had a set of keys from before. She let him keep the keys in case Alexis ever needed anything when she was babysitting Alex.

"What are you talking about?" She asked just as she opened the door only to see lots of fabric lying on the floor. Apparently, Amanda did not finish her dress until the last minute.

"I don't have enough time to explain it with a stoned Daniel waiting downstairs." Jamie pointed to the window.

"Try. Besides, I still need to make sure I actually have my keys before you leave." At that she poured her baby bags/purse on one of the couches. Still, no keys to be found.

"Okay, here is the three minute version. Wilhelmina wants Daniel back in France, leaving her to take over. Wilhelmina offer to bring Henry from accounting's girlfriend to New York if he played you. Step-mommy dearest found out and was pissed, so she found a nice guy to scare the bastard away, so she wouldn't have to worry about Henry from accounting." She remembered finding it odd that Henry was suddenly interested again after he stopped returning her emails but she didn't think anything about it at the time, at least not until last week.

"I knew there was something weird about the way he was interested in me. I caught him and Charlie making out a week ago after he asked me out for sushi. I just had no idea that Wilhelmina was involved."

"Your response?"

"I punched him." She smiled.

"This is why you're brilliant."

"Apparently not that brilliant. So you're saying Gio was hired to date me?" She asked slightly annoyed. This was reminding her way too much of what her sister did to get her a prom date.

"There's nothing sordid about it. The guy was hired to be your escort, which is perfectly acceptable in high society. I've done it before, especially when I was deep in the closet."

"Don't you mean when Alex was deep in the closet?" Betty retorted.

"Not like that. You need a date for work function that you couldn't get out of, especially because you are the boss' stepdaughter, and Faye found somebody to accompany you. This is no different than when you function as my escort." Jamie may have a point there.

"That doesn't make me feel better my stepmom had to pay someone to go out with me. Especially considering the fact that she didn't tell me she was paying the guy. I thought it was a real date. I thought everything for the last week was real. Things like this do not build ones self-esteem; especially, if you spent your entire childhood being called granny panties and the ugly one." She went back to going through the remnants of her purse. Maybe she left the keys in the bag that she gave Jordan earlier. That seemed to be the only logical explanation.

"Daniel punched out your fake boyfriend. I think that shows that you are desirable. Actually that was the whole point of this ridiculous scheme."

"To make Daniel jealous?" Betty asked incredulously. Why would anybody be jealous over her? Yes, she dressed better now and the invisible braces were making a real improvement but she was still a 22-year-old single mom from Queens even if she now lived in Chelsea.

"Maybe. Probably? Who knows? Your stepmom's mind is strange. It's a very mysterious place."

"I don't even think Dad understands her half the time." Betty sighed. "What does this have to do with Monique?"

"Did you meet Vivienne Windom-West tonight?"

"I think she was the only socialite who wasn't nasty to me because I have a one-year-old." Faye said that everybody was nasty to her because Faye slept with most of their husbands (and a few of their wives) at one point or another during the old days. Betty wasn't entirely sure she believes that.

"She wouldn't be. She's not like everyone else because at one point she did live in the real world. She married well, divorced even better, and created her own empire in the aftermath. Because of the inherent nastiness of the Upper East Side she's very protective of Monique. At the same time she expects a lot out of her." Jamie explained.

"What does this have to do with anything?" Betty asked confused.

"I guess I'm not explaining it right, due to the sleep deprivation. Besides, I probably should get down there before Daniel starts regaling the cabdriver with tails of what happened. Let's try again tomorrow or better yet talk to Monique about it." Jamie said making his way to the door.

"Daniel will be fine for a few more minutes. I may not be able to sleep tonight if I don't have an idea of what's going on. So far the only thing I know for sure is my stepmom is involved in all this."

"Okay, long story short, the reason why Monique is pretending to date Daniel is to protect him from that crazy woman who kept on accosting him all night. Actually, she's been doing it for weeks." Jamie said as he stood by the door, ready to leave at any moment.

"Sofia Reyes?" Jamie just nodded. "I used to love her book, until I realized that everything in there was completely useless." Thanks to working with Faye and Monique, she had a more realistic idea of what it takes to be a successful businesswoman.

"She also didn't write any of it. She was originally tapped to be the EIC of MYW. Then, Faye figured out she was a fraud and Bradford decided to give the job to Alexis instead, therefore breaking the original agreement. Alexis doesn't want to do the job for reasons that she won't tell me." Jamie seemed frustrated.

"She's afraid that others won't take her seriously because she is not- was not born a woman and it would bring negative attention to the magazine." Betty explained.

"She told you that but completely neglected to mention anything like that to me or Jordan." Now Jamie seemed angry.

"She didn't -it wasn't quite like." Betty stammered trying to pacify Jamie.

"So how exactly did you find this out?"

"It's not necessarily that she told me this but rather I overheard her telling someone else this. Actually, I heard her screaming this at somebody who…" Betty stopped not sure how to explain the encounter.

"Some idiot said something to her at the party?" Jamie asked.

"Yes." Jamie responded by giving her a sad look.

"Regardless, Alexis doesn't want the job. However, if they don't get somebody else they will be contractually obligated to give her the job especially because she's playing with Wilhelmina. Basically the fraud is completely fucking up your relationship with Daniel so he will go back to France with his head between his legs and both women can take over their respective magazines in peace."

"Don't you mean being played by Wilhelmina." Betty snickered. She wouldn't be surprised at all if Wilhelmina did something like this.

"You're learning young grasshopper." Jamie smirked.

"Faye Somers is my stepmother." Betty shrugged.

"Yes and your stepmom made a deal with Monique in exchange for protecting Daniel from the vulture she would get MYW and mommy Windom-West will stop trying to set her up with every single eligible man in the Metro that makes at least six figures."

"So this is all about the magazine?" Betty was confused and annoyed at that point.

"Maybe? Who knows with your stepmom involved? Only God knows her motivations." Jamie snickered.

"I am confused."

"I know. So am I." Jamie kissed her cheek.

"I'm going to take Daniel home before the meter gets into the triple digits." Jamie laughed. "Also I will check to see if your keys are in the cab as well." Jamie said handing his own key to her.

"That's probably for the best. If I see him again right now I may…"

"Break the other arm?" Jamie supplied for her.

"Probably maybe. I don't know what we're doing half the time." Betty pouted.

"It takes time." Jamie opened the front door.

"How did you fix things with Alexis?"

"I love her and love covers a multitude of sins."

"So you just forgive her because you loved her?" Betty asked for clarification knowing it couldn't be that simple.

"No, we worked through the pain and kept working on it because we love each other. That's why she came back. Alexis was convinced that we didn't care but ... We will bring Alex over in the morning." Jamie finished not wanting to give too much away. She understood.

"That's probably best. I'll see you later. Text message me if you find my keys. They might be in Alex's baby bag."

"I promise."

Daniel would like to blame the vast amounts of pain pills and probably earlier alcohol for telling their driver Carl all about the entire Betty fiasco from accidently getting her pregnant to Wilhelmina trying to fuck him over so he will go back to France. But it was probably all him. He needed to lament to somebody and most of his friends were tired of hearing this story. Even Monique. Actually, Monique would just tell him sad stories from her childhood which would just make him even more frustrated/worried.

"If it were me I would get rid of that evil woman that you're working with." Carl suggested from the front of the car.

"I can't." The will makes it impossible at this point unless they catch are doing something illegal. They're working on it but they still have nothing directly connecting her to Bradford's murder. "At least not yet, I'm just happy my dad died before they got married."

"I'm sure she would have made a horrible stepmother." The cabbie remarked.

"She barely can function as a regular mom. At least that's what Niko, her daughter said. Niko was like the only good thing that was going come out of that union but…I really try not to think about her."

Daniel realized that he does his best work when he doesn't try to compete with Wilhelmina and just let her do her own thing. Thankfully he has enough skills to not fall for most of her ridiculous schemes. He doesn't know where he would be right now without Jamie, Claudette, and Faye's patient tutoring.

"Except she keeps screwing up your life, if your story is anything to go by."

"Daniel is an unreliable narrator." Jamie said as he slid in beside him. "Wilhelmina Slater is not screwing up your life, you are."

"How long have you been standing there?" Daniel asked slightly annoyed. The door must've been open for a while but Daniel didn't realize it. Surprisingly, it wasn't freezing for being the middle of the night in October or actually November at this point.

"Just long enough to know that you were talking about Satan the diva." Jamie sparked before giving the driver Daniel's Upper Eastside address.

"You cannot blame other people for your stupidity. You're the one who went with Faye's plan to make people forget about your college indiscretions."

"That's not why…" Daniel started to interrupt but Jamie would not let him.

"Don't argue otherwise we both know what's really going on. You're also the one who punched out Betty's escort."

"I realize that was stupid." Daniel yawned. He really wanted to go to sleep right now.

"Then why did you do it?" Jamie asked exasperated.

"I may have had a little too much champagne." 'Because I don't like the idea of anyone else touching Betty.' However, he knew better than to say that out loud even if he was under the influence of the good drugs.

"You think."

"He probably did it because he still in love with the girl." The cab driver called from up front.

"Even the guy who you have known for less than 30 minutes can see the obvious. I just wish you two would get your shit together and figured out what the hell you want from each other. Because guess what, it's not just about you and Betty. This is about Alex. Marriage is temporary. Children are forever." Considering the last year he spent with Lucy, Daniel knew that was very true unless he wanted to be like Justin's sperm donor. Daniel never wanted to be like that.

"I told him all about what was happening while you were stuck up there. What took so long? Did you run into her new neighbor that Jesse guy?" Daniel did not like Jesse. The guy was way too flirty.

"You are unbelievable." Jamie rolled his eyes. "You guys are not together therefore you don't get any say in who she gets to date unless that person is a complete dick to Alex."

"That is…"

"Please don't tell me that's what you're doing because we both know better. However, to keep you from freaking out Betty couldn't find her keys but thankfully I still have her spare. I need to check the cab before we leave. Also, Amanda told me that Faye put the fear of daddy Suarez in him by mentioning that he supposedly killed a guy in Mexico, after Jesse made one too many passes at Amanda." Jordan snickered.

"That's not a…" Daniel almost corrected Jordan's false assumption but decided not to. "Never mind I'm just glad they scared him off. I don't trust the guy."

"Daniel, I say this as your friend and the guy sleeping with your sister. You need…"

"I don't like thinking about that. I didn't even like thinking about that when she was still my brother." Daniel interrupted. The cabdriver turned around for a second to give Daniel a strange look.

"My sister is a trans woman. Jamie and she have been off and on since college when she was still my brother or should I use 'he' in that case. I don't know. I'm shit with the pronouns. It's too fucking weird, especially because I thought she was dead but she just lost…" Daniel tried to explain.

"They gave him some good drugs." The cabbie remarked.

"Sure, something like that."

"Actually it's really…" Daniel felt Jamie putting his hand over his mouth again.

"Be quiet, your big mouth has caused enough problems in the last six hours." Jamie chastised.

"I didn't say anything."

"Yeah, I don't buy that considering Betty told me everything that you did when you were being x-rayed." Jamie berated. At least his friend did not mention any of his specific stupid behavior. "Look, you have two choices here. Let go of Betty and get yourself to a place of friendship where you two can co-parent and be in each other's lives…"

"Yeah, Carl said something about that when you were taking too long. Right, Carl?

"Actually my first name is- you know what keep call me Carl for the rest of the night."

"I'm sure your actual name is too hard for him to pronounce right now." Jamie mumbled under his breath.

"It took a while but me and my ex did get to a good place where we were able to spend time with each other."

"But I bet it was just for the sake of the kids, right? I don't want that."

"Then you're going to want to take the other option which is to forgive her for not telling you about Alex and start building things back. I mean it's obvious that you love her. The first thing you did when you arrive back to the states was sleep with her again." Jamie snorted.

"That was not-it wasn't like…" Daniel stammered.

"Again, don't speak. You're too high for coherent thoughts." Jamie snarked.

"Why are we having this conversation right now?" Daniel asked slightly annoyed.

"Because I'm hoping that some part of that brain of yours will remember this in the morning and remember how awful you feel and how scared you are of losing Betty forever. Do you really want to go to Faye's house for the next 17 years to pick up Alex because you can't take being in the same room as his mom?"

"Not really." That was Daniel's worst fear.

"Then grow the fuck up and get your shit together."

That's kind of the last thing Daniel remembered hearing. He's not sure if it was because Jamie actually stop speaking or if he just passed out at that point. It was probably the second option.

Betty was very thankful that Daniel decided to call in sick. Actually Jamie called in sick for him. Apparently, he needed at least 24 hours to get used to dealing with the pain killers. She wished she could've called in sick too just so she could avoid the press outside but she couldn't. The paparazzi outside of the main offices was ridiculous. They kept asking her crazy questions about the love triangle between Monique, Daniel, and the deli guy. Suzuki could not even remember her name, he didn't even remembered that she was Faye Somers' stepdaughter. Maybe, Betty should just be happy that they completely forgot about her.

"They didn't completely forget about you. Step mommy dearest threatened Suzuki with castration if he said anything nasty about you and Daniel Junior, both Daniel Juniors. I'm sure she threatened the rest of the press similarly which is why they're spinning things the way they are."

"I doubt that." Betty grabbed another cracker.

"The press would be gossiping like schoolgirls if it wasn't like that. You're the talk of the Mode cafeteria." She knows that. That was the entire reason why she was having a lunch of cheese crackers with Marc instead of venturing anywhere else.

"That's probably because everybody here knows that you and Daniel have a kid together. And as a child who had to deal with celebrity newsmagazines documenting her every move, it's probably best that they don't know. Monique said as soon as she walked into Marc's office. "I come in peace with sandwiches and a salad for Marc, since he is not having carbs today." Monique quickly put the bag of food on the table and started handing out food to everyone including cookies. Apparently, Marc did not consider that a carbohydrate today.

"I'm used to them talking dirty about me. Let them." She knows certain people like Megan believe she's only working here because of her stepmom and she and Daniel used to sleep together (although that's not the term Megan used).

"I still think they're doing this more because I am not the type of girl who has two guys arguing over her as opposed to Faye being extremely protective." Betty said grabbing one of the sandwiches. The turkey and sun-dried tomato with pesto aïoli was her favorite.

"Well she did pay..." Marc stop speaking when Betty glared at him.

"Okay don't take it that way. Your step mom paid for a nice guy to take you to company functions to protect you from other guys who wanted to sleep with you for really stupid reasons. Also in Gio's defense, he was under the impression that you knew he was being compensated."

"Yes to protect me from guys who wanted to sleep with me just to help Wilhelmina get Daniel out of the company. Also, it doesn't help that Gio didn't know."

"Okay, that's not exactly what's going on. Also he knows that which is why he sent the sandwiches as a peace offering." At that Betty dropped her sandwich.

"I'm not hungry anymore."

"That's a first. Mo why are you on a first name basis with the deli guy? Maybe, the paparazzi are onto something. There was that shot of the two of you leaving the hotel quite disheveled this m…" At that, Monique shoved a cookie into Marc's mouth.

"Actually… Don't you have a meeting with Wilhelmina in five minutes?"

"Yes." Marc said pulling the cookie out of his mouth. "Why couldn't she be too hung over to show up?"

"Because your supposed assistant follows her around like a lost puppy and make sure she didn't get overly dehydrated." Monique joked.

"Either that or she sold her soul a long time ago for decent alcohol tolerance." Marc sniped as he left the office.

"Okay! Now that Marc is gone maybe we can talk."

"I don't feel like talking. I think you should take your guilt sandwiches and go." She said handing the food back to Monique.

"Don't be like that. You have to eat especially because you're still breast-feeding and cheese crackers don't quite cut it." At that she takes the sandwich back. She really needs to speed up the weaning process.

"I'm only doing this for Alex." She took a bite. It really was a good sandwich.

"That's because you're a good mom."

"Sometimes it doesn't feel that way." She mumbled under her breath.

"You're trying to do the best that you can even with Wilhelmina screwing with you. I know it's not easy and I don't want to make it harder for you. You should know that Faye did not ask Gio to help out simply because she doesn't think you can get a date. She was trying to protect you from Wilhelmina's most recent evil scheme involving assholes trying to date you and bringing Daniel's ex-boyfriends out of the woodwork."

"I don't think somebody that you gave a hand job to in a random bathroom counts as an ex-boyfriend." Betty quipped. Yes. She did know about Daniel's sexual history before the latest Wilhelmina stunt.

"I think the tutor actually counted as an ex-boyfriend since it went on for almost 2 years off and on and a bed was usually involved. Even then that's with a really liberal definition of the term boyfriend." Monique said almost defending Daniel. At that point, she grabbed her own sandwich and took Marc's vacated seat.

"I know that doesn't have anything to do with whatever Faye was doing. One, she's bisexual herself. Two, I can't repeat what she said to Santos when he said the wrong thing about Justin being interested in supposedly girly activities such as fashion, drama, and arts and crafts." Essentially, she told Santos that if he said something like that again to Justin they would never find his body; however, there were more Spanish curse words involved. Half of which she didn't even understand but Santos did.

"Well what he thinks doesn't really matter." Monique took a tentative bite. "He is not Justin's dad, he never has been. Alexis is a better father than he is. At least she actually spends time with DJ. My sperm donor, who only wants to be seen with me when he needs help with his image, qualifies more."

"Good point. Also you don't have to explain this to me. Jamie did last night. Apparently Wilhelmina is doing everything in our power to get Daniel to leave including trying to get me to date that jerk Henry from accounting and…"

"You finally realized he was a jerk. You can have my cookie just for that." Monique actually gave Betty her cookie.

"Thank you."

"It wasn't just you. Wilhelmina was also utilizing the vulture. According to Marisol who knows everything, Sophie was planning to use him to get her magazine back. Then, she was going to use him for her cover story 'fling to ring in 90 days'. Her notes said something about dumping Daniel on national television once she suckers him in to proposing."

"She is such a…" Betty struggled for the right adjective. She was trying to find something that was not a curse word but it was difficult.

"Bitch. The word you're looking for is bitch. Yes, she is. Wilhelmina was hoping something that spectacular would send Daniel back to France." Betty actually believed that something that horrible would send Daniel back to France despite Alex being here.

"Giving her control of MODE." Betty took a drink of water.

"Exactly. Of course, we both know it wouldn't go that far because Daniel would never propose to someone that DJ and Alex hated but your stepmom is always crazy prepared and that's where I come in." That was very true.

"So why didn't he asked me to be his fake girlfriend? I could have performed the same function as you. That way we would have both been protected and others would not have been involved."

"Because there's too much history there and things are so raw between you guys. With you guys, there's no such thing as pretend." Betty knew that Monique had a very valid point.

"So it's not because I'm the wrong type of girl for someone like him?"

"Who said that to you?" Monique seemed genuinely offended on her behalf.

"Wilhelmina in the bathroom this morning." That was another reason why she was hiding in Marc's office.

"Did we not already have a conversation about never ever listening to anything my future step sister says?

"She said that you were dating Daniel to keep your mom from setting you up with someone from the country club set."

"Okay, I could completely see mommy saying that to Willy. Her dad loves me and my mom loves Willy." Monique ground before sitting her sandwich down.

"Look, I like Daniel and maybe if the guy was not completely in love with you, our relationship of the last few weeks probably would've been something other than pretend."

"I don't believe that. You're perfect."

"I'm completely fucked up. The best date I have had in the last two years… Actually let's not talk about my best date in the last two years. I have a pretty shell but I'm fucked up on the inside with daddy issues and dead husband issues."

"That's all the more reason you should get with Daniel. You deserve some happiness."

"You are so unreal. No wonder Wilhelmina despises you. Your heart is so pure, if she touched you she would turn to stone."

"I'm not that innocent. I have a one-year-old."

"I don't mean it that way. I mean you're good. And I didn't want to tell you about the good date because it did not involve Daniel but actually Gio."

"The guy Faye paid to take me out?" Betty asked surprised.

"Yes. After you left to take Daniel to get an x-ray we spent the entire night talking about the entire crazy scheme and he was fun. He definitely knows his food and…"

"The paparazzi really did get a nice shot of you guys exiting the hotel this morning?" Betty asked.

"Yes." Monique responded reluctantly.

"Well, it's not like he really was my boyfriend." Although she was a little worried about Monique dating a guy who will date someone for money. But apparently Monique did not see that as a problem since she already knew about it.

"You're also completely in love with Daniel."

"I am not… Maybe." Monique smirked at that.

"Have another cookie." Monique said pulling another one out of her white paperback. How many cookies did she bring?

"Honestly, I should never have gotten myself involved with Faye's counter scheming. You and Daniel need to work things out without Faye or Wilhelmina pulling the strings."

"I doubt that will happen as long as I work here."

"Despite things blowing up spectacularly last night, I'm still getting the job at MYW and I want you to come with me." Betty started choking on her turkey sandwich.

"What?" She finally spat out when she stopped choking.

"You and Daniel need some space to work out your personal issues and you can't do that when you're spending so much time together."

"The work part of our relationship is fine."

"How happy were you when he called in sick this morning?" Monique asked pointedly.

"Okay, you made your point, but I'm not sure if I want to leave right now. I have my schedule perfect."

"This is not a limited time offer. When you're ready to leave the job will be waiting for you."

"I'm not saying no, just let me think about it."

"That works for me." She held up another cookie.

"How many cookies did you get?"

"I have no idea. I think Gio was being nice."

"Very nice." Betty said as she went back to eating. Maybe some space from Daniel was what she needed to figure out how the fix things. She knows that she doesn't want him with other people but does she want that type of relationship with him after everything? That something she needs to think long and hard about and Betty is not sure she can do that as his assistant.

To Be Continued.