Author's Note: Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. I'm sorry that it's been more than a month. I had family visiting and that took a weekend of writing away which put me horribly behind on the rotation. I'm also trying to finish off another story and I'm working on a secret project. Then on top of that I ran into some unexpected computer problems, which slowed things down. Hopefully updates will start flowing at a normal pace very soon. Although I will confess that the Thanksgiving arc may not be done until Martin Luther King Day and that's being generous. However, I plan to be writing the next chapter on Thanksgiving so that should count.

Actually it's been so long that I think this is the first update since Jane the Virgin has come out. If you miss Ugly Betty as much as I do, check out the show on the CW. It will make the pain just a little bit less.

Chapter 33: Beginning of a Thanksgiving Disaster

Thanksgiving in the Suarez household has always been an event, even the year that coincide with her mother's death and her losing her he who should not be named in his truck. A Suarez Thanksgiving consists of her father's signature Turkey stuffed with cranberry and rice and the tamales. Although, she missed her mom's tamales. Her dad's tamales were not better but different yet still good and made her long for this time of year.

This would be her first Thanksgiving, not at the house in Queens. Even last year's Thanksgiving took place there. Faye was invited to their house, which made Justin ecstatic. Her father just said that nobody should be alone on Thanksgiving and things were still tense between Amanda and Faye. Honestly, she doesn't remember that much. She was still dealing with a premature newborn and completely exhausted. Faye and her dad could've been making out in front of her and she would not have noticed. The sleep deprivation was really bad.

This year was the first Suarez-Somers Thanksgiving that she and her family will be participating in. Actually, there would be two Thanksgivings. Wednesday would be the corporate Thanksgiving with all the editors and creative directors of every magazine at Meade Publications. Normally, assistants do not attend this event. In her case, an exception was made since she was Faye Somers step daughter and Daniel's baby mama. So, it meant that she gets to be there, even though she really doesn't want to be there.

She heard horror stories about a very Meade Publications Thanksgiving from Jamie, Monique and Alexis. Usually, it involves drunken fights and somebody sleeping with somebody they should not in a nearby coat room. The entire incident that made Alexis think it would be a good idea to trust Wilhelmina and fake her own death also happened at a very Meade Thanksgiving.

Yes, Betty was back on good terms with Alexis. Baby Alex liked spending time with his favorite aunt, especially now that she's in the building. Alexis will be formally named the new co-EIC of Hudson at the Thanksgiving event, along with Monique formally taking the position at MYW, which means the press will be there, and gives her another reason why she doesn't want to be there.

Of course, her main reason for not wanting to be there is Daniel and being forced to interact with each other, without work or Alex as a buffer. (Not to mention, the fact that her own stepsister has $20 on her and Daniel being the two to do stupid stuff in the nearest coat room. Since the great Halloween incident Betty and Daniel have not been going out of their way to talk to one another about things, other than work and Alex. Work was enough to talk about anyway.

The Tim and Chloe shoot had been a disaster. Chloe was one of Betty's dear friends to the point where Betty is the godmother of their daughter. It also made Betty realize that maybe you shouldn't work with your friends. It was supposed to take place tomorrow but shooting ran over on Tim's latest movie; so now it won't be happening until Friday. Although Marc was really happy to have an excuse not to attend a very St. Paul Thanksgiving in Minneapolis, not even Wilhelmina is happy about calling everybody in on Friday.

Betty does not want to tell her dad that she will not be home for the traditional putting up of the Christmas decorations. She knew that he wouldn't be happy and she is not looking forward to that conversation at all. He will be even more upset that Justin wouldn't be there. He was needed for the shoot because he's really good at celebrity wrangling.

Although, Wilhelmina is not happy about that because she probably had plans Friday with Ted LeBeau, the advertiser that Wilhelmina has been trying to wine and dine for the last couple of weeks.

Wilhelmina has been almost tolerable during this time. Actually she's been walking around and blue jeans with a smile on her face. Carlo is worried. Marc believes she finally lost it, and her stepmom considers it a small miracle that anybody could bring Wanda back, whatever that means. Also, Nico said that she likes her mom better like this. She says it almost reminds her of what Wilhelmina was like before the divorce. Faye said something similar.

Because the shoot has been changed to Friday, they've lost their photographer. Marc was trying to fix things by convincing Cliff to do it instead. But even if they get someone else, they don't have an idea for the shoot because they can't use what they were originally planning. Yesterday was the entire day in a small room brainstorming with Marc and Daniel and they still have nothing, except the vague ideal of doing something biblical. Neither Betty nor Daniel were happy to be spending their weekend without Alex. However, the toddler had a wonderful day with Aunt Alexis, Aunt Jordan, and Uncle Jamie at the zoo yesterday.

In addition to things being more strained there were other consequences of the Halloween incident including being followed around by the paparazzi. She considered it a small miracle that they haven't started asking questions about why Daniel was spending so much time with Faye Somers-Suarez's grandson. Actually, she knows why, they're chasing after the wrong story.

The press are playing up the whole Daniel getting dumped for the deli guy thing, which is just so ridiculous because it should be obvious to everyone that Daniel and Monique were never really together. Now that she wasn't blinded by jealousy, it's obvious that they're just really good friends or at least becoming good friends. (And Betty is not jealous at all that Monique now has the relationship with Daniel that Betty used to have with him without the sex of course. Not jealous at all. No jealousy here. Shut up Justin!)

Also, Monique and Gio are adorable together. He brings her lunch every day and dinner when the EIC forgets. Betty was her assistant for a year and a half. The EIC forgets to eat a lot. It's even worse now that she's trying to get MYW off the ground from the MODE conference room. The reason why the magazine staff is currently spread out between the Mode conference room and some of the spare offices in Hudson is there was a little incident with the sprinkler system. She doesn't even know exactly what happened but, it involved Kenny and Amanda meeting up there for lunchtime sex. Actually, she was told exactly what happened and she still doesn't know how it actually happened.

Monique said she should be happy that the tabloids believe Daniel is a bastard who can't keep it in his pants and Monique only slept with him to get her magazine and promptly dumped him for the deli guy as soon as MYW was hers. Monique believes the lies keep them from finding out about Alex and the new EIC feels that that would be way too much pressure on a little kid. She should know since that was her childhood.

Her stepmom adored every second of it and firmly believes that there's no such thing as bad press. The fact that Monique and Daniel have been seen together being perfectly professional is starting to get the press to lose interests much to her delight. Betty knows Daniel is not happy with the press behaving the way they are but he's not talking to her about this. He's not telling her anything and she hates that their relationship has been reduced to work and co-parenting. Nothing more.

And now she's going to have to sit through not one but two Thanksgiving dinners with him, she knew it was going to be a long two days. Betty's only consolation is her stepmother convinced him to let Betty and Marc handled the shoot alone so he can spend Friday with Alex.

Because of the two upcoming events, she was at her father and Faye's house for brunch and a Thanksgiving planning meeting. She dropped Alex at Daniel's house an hour before and yes it was weird. She's pretty sure Daniel almost tried to kiss her then stopped himself at the last moment. She's not entirely certain of anything going on with Daniel right now.

Since her heart-to-heart with Monique, she's been trying to figure out what she wants from him but she's not sure what she wants because she doesn't know what he wants. Betty doesn't want to want something that she can't have and she needs to know what he wants before she can decide what she wants but she doesn't know what Daniel wants and she's just so confused. Therefore, she preferred volunteering to help plan the two Thanksgiving extravaganzas, with her father, sister, nephew and stepmother then spending the morning with her son's father.

The corporate Thanksgiving would be easy. It would be hosted at Rosa and all Betty had to do was show up. Okay and she had to let someone else choose her outfit. That she can deal with. She is now used to whatever Faye tells her to wear to public events. It doesn't bother her as much as it used to mostly because when not in public Faye has been known to wear blue jeans from three seasons ago and one of her husband shirts.

The dinner at the Suarez-Somers house on Thursday will likely be smaller but not by much. They were currently going over the guest list. She knew Daniel and his family would be there but she didn't realize that close to 30 people have been invited to the family Thanksgiving. That's enough people that they arranged for a tent on the roof to accommodate the party.

"I need to know exactly how many people are coming so I can figure out how much turkey to make. Do you know if everyone we invite will be coming?" Her father asked as he started dishing out his signature Eggs.

"I really wish you would let me cater this." Faye sighed. "You're going to be cooking for two days straight. There is going to be nearly 30 people here for the family Thanksgiving alone."

"Why would we have our Thanksgiving catered when I can cook?" He actually looked offended.

"So you can rest and spend time with your grandchildren." Betty was just glad that Faye knew better than to say because they could afford it. That cause several arguments during the wedding planning.

"I find cooking relaxing, just like you find Fashion Week relaxing." Her father defended himself just as he started to eat his own breakfast.

"Darling, there's nothing relaxing about Fashion Week." Faye started. "Pleasure shopping can be relaxing. Putting together a new outfit is relaxing. Even putting the book together is relaxing. However, Fashion Week is never relaxing. Fashion Week is a hellish nightmare overrun with celebrities that keeps happening more and more often each year. Thanksgiving is Fashion Week for food and maybe, the cooking itself may be relaxing to you under normal circumstances but these are not normal circumstances. Think of your heart." She pleaded.

"I'm fine." It was obvious Faye did not believe him.

"I don't think it's as bad as it was going to be." Betty interrupted. "Monique told me she's not coming anymore because her mom wants everyone to get together for a family dinner at her house in the Hamptons."

That fact came out yesterday when Monique asked her again if she gave any thought to her job offer. Yes, Betty thought about it a lot but she still wasn't sure if she wanted to leave Daniel alone to deal with Wilhelmina. She's been better lately but as confused as she is the one thing Betty knows for sure is she doesn't want Daniel to go back to France. If she's not there Betty is worried that Wilhelmina may successfully convince him to do that. He needs her help keeping Wilhelmina away. It's too hard of a job for just one person.

"Please tell me it's going to be the entire family. I really don't want Wilhelmina here." Faye asked looking hopeful.

"Why did you invite the bitch anyway?" Hilda followed up.

"Because I wanted to invite Nico." Faye explained. "And I could not invite Nico without inviting the woman who bore her. Unfortunately Nico is being forced to spend Thanksgiving with her father and it's best not to leave Wilhelmina alone; whenever, Nico is forced to spend time with her father especially with the new boy toy going back to Texas."

"According to Monique, Wilhelmina won't be here either. Vivienne expects all four girls to be there. She even made special arrangements for Wilhelmina sister Renée to be present. However, she was unable to free Nico from a visit to her father's house." As soon as she said the name 'Renée' Faye's mouth opened in shock.

"Renée is going to be there?" Betty just nods her head at the question.

"Okay, nothing will make our Thanksgiving worse than that. Although part of me still thinks it will be worse for Nico. Poor girl." Faye said cryptically and Betty was completely unsure of what she was talking about.

"Who else will not be here?" Her father asked returning the group to the subject at hand.

"Tim and Chloe cannot make it anymore." Chloe was really sad about that because she adores her father's cooking. Actually she enjoyed spending family time with Betty's family. Her family was always a little bit screwed up.

"They're not coming?" Justin asked on the verge of tears. He was really looking forward to spending more time with the celebrity couple. Tim was always so nice to Justin.

"Chloe wants to be here but it's just not going to work out. Their plane will not arrive until midday Friday just in time for the photo shoot but don't worry you are still going to be my special helper Friday. You'll get to see them then." She said before remembering that her father did not know about Friday yet.

"The shoot has been rescheduled for Friday? You're supposed to be off. We always put the decorations up the day after Thanksgiving." Dad looked at her with disappointment in his eyes.

"Ignacio, you should know by now that there is no such thing as a day off in the magazine business. When stories break, you go to work. I did tell you about that Christmas when our January cover girl killed Isabella managing editor Jordan Osborne in a drunk driving accident?" Faye said trying to calm down her husband.

"Multiple times. So you're going to be working too?" He asked sadly.

"A little, I'm just going to stop by the shoot later with Daniel. Marc knows what he's doing but Daniel and I are in charge. But my morning is yours." Faye said before bending over to kiss her father on the mouth.

"Can you be here in the morning?" Her father asked hopefully after breaking out of the kiss. Faye was very good at calming him down.

"I have to set up the shoot." This was her chance to prove that she wasn't only at MODE because she was Faye's stepdaughter or Daniel's baby's mama. Half of the office believed that about her and she was tired of it.

"Marc can do that." Marc would not be happy to do that all on his own but Faye was their boss. "Especially if you guys do most of the set up Wednesday. I'll talk to him tomorrow. Actually you guys can go over a lot of stuff Thursday while were waiting for turkey. I know they are certainly coming here due to the Friday shoot."

"Did you ever invite his mom? You said you were but change your mind when you found out they were going to Minneapolis." Her father asked. She knew Faye that wanted to invite her because she's been trying for a while to get Marc's mother to appreciate her only child. Unfortunately, not all people can be as open-minded as Faye Somers-Suarez.

"I talked to her yesterday. The wretched woman is still not ready to accept a gay son or that he works for a bisexual woman who just put a transgendered woman in charge of a magazine for metrosexual men. Her loss."

At this point, nobody in the room mention the fact that despite receive a begrudging invitation, Justin's father probably won't be there because he can't accept a son who likes glitter and fashion magazines. Welcome to a Suarez-Somers breakfast.

"Will Amanda be here Friday morning?" Her father asked changing the subject.

"Yes, along with Kenny but she's not going to be there for the main dinner Thursday. They have to go to his house first but they're coming later."

"Just in time for leftovers." Hilda mumbled under breath as she grabbed a second helping of eggs. "You know she's only doing that so she can get two Thanksgivings."

"Meeting your boyfriend's family is a very big step. I think this is good for her." Betty grabbed a crescent roll for herself.

"This is the first time that Amanda has been in a relationship long enough for something like this. I'm proud of her." Faye was actually being sincere.

"Will the Tannens still be coming?" Her father asked.

"No, they have a prior engagement with the Williams but they will be here for the Christmas Eve party." There was a hint of disappointment in her voice. "I was kind of hoping that they would meet Jordan, Jamie, and Alexis. You know they could use more friends in the community."

"I don't think they're in the same community." Her father commented.

"They do live in Long Island. That's a little far." That statement caused Betty to receive strange looks from her father, sister, and stepmother.

"That's not what..." Faye started to say before she noticed her husband pointing to Justin. "Anyway, that's two less people. Although, Spencer will be coming too, so maybe it's for the best they already had plans." Betty wondered why there would be tension between the Tannins and Faye's old friend but she did not ask.

"Yes but Matt and Tyler are now coming." Betty added.

"Tyler, I understand. We should have invited him in the first place. He is Alex's uncle after all." Faye pointed out. Not inviting Tyler originally was Betty's fault. Daniel still wasn't completely comfortable being around his half-brother and Betty could only handle so much awkwardness. Thankfully, Claire insisted that all her children be there.

"But how did Matt get invited?" Hilda asked.

"Claire and Jordan both asked if he could come to Thanksgiving." Betty explained. "Matt has been very supportive of Tyler during everything to the point where his mother is not speaking to him and Matt is not speaking to his father. Both Claire and Jordan did not want him to be alone on Thanksgiving." Everyone easily accepted that explanation.

"Okay, so this means we are at 19 people assuming that Jordan, Jamie, and Alex are still coming." Her father looked down at the clipboard in his hand.

"Yes, I think." Betty said hesitantly. "Although, she threw up on my shoes yesterday when they dropped Alex off after spending the day together in the park. So it's possible, if she still not feeling well, that they may not be here Thursday." For some reason Justin just smiled to himself as she spoke.

"So that's what they're calling it now. Although, I guess that's better than bulimia." Faye snickered to herself. "Baby, it may be best if you make sure some of the dishes are on the mild side. Also make sure we have saltines and diet ginger ale in stock."

"Sure. Also, I guess I should make sure all the cheeses are pasteurized." Her father said making Betty even more confused.

"Might as well still do two turkeys. I can bring leftovers to the set Friday. That way Chloe will not miss my turkey. She's such a lovely girl." Has Betty mentioned yet that her father adores Chloe? He practically treats her like another daughter and considering the bad relationship Chloe has with her actual dad this is a good thing.

"That's brilliant. She loves your food." Betty quickly hugged her father.

"Actually is it okay if I invite a friend?" Justin asked.

"Is this a girlfriend or a guy friend? Not that I care because I don't care if you have more guy friends or girlfriends. Really I just want you to be happy no matter who you're friends or more with. This is really good bread, Papi." At that point Hilda stuffed a crescent roll in her mouth, so she would stop talking.

"Your mom was trying to say is where glad you're making friends. We both know you're still having trouble at your new school and we're all happy that things are getting better. More eggs?" Her father finished holding the tray up for Justin.

"I've already had too many calories."

"Justin, the proteins good for you. It's the crescent rolls you have to stay away from. We'll have a run later and it will be fine." She put more eggs and a second helping of the spinach salad on his plate. Yes, they eat salad for breakfast in this household. Well, Justin and her stepmother do anyway.

"That works. I don't care that my classmates only come to me for fashion advice. I have DJ and a step mom that understands what I'm talking about when I mentioned the philosophy of Coco Chanel. I also have my friend Christina that is who I invited."

"You do rock that uniform." Hilda added.

"Just because you have to wear a uniform doesn't mean you have to be dreadful. The regular jackets are just so wrong for my body type. What I came up with is so much better."

Justin completely redesigned his school uniform, then completely redesigned DJ's school uniform. Two weeks ago, the Dean called Daniel and Hilda to deal with it. She was expecting Daniel to take his side but instead Daniel pointed out that while different Justin and DJ's new uniforms met all the requirements and there is nothing in the guidelines that prohibit tailoring the uniform for the body shape. Because of this, Daniel and Hilda are looking into new schools for next semester.

"I assume that the Christina you invited is Christina of the closet?" Faye asked.

"Yes. She's wonderful. She's been teaching me all about design and style. I've also been helping her out with the purging of the closet." Justin explained enthusiastically.

"Which explains where you got the shoes from." Faye smirked as she took a drink of juice."

"Anyway, all her family is still in Scotland and she said she was going to spend Thursday at two-for-one drinks at the River room. I couldn't let that happen."

"I'm not at all surprised you made friends with the master of the closet. And it's good that you invited her. It was an oversight on my part."

She wasn't entirely sure how to read that but Betty likes Christine even if they're not that close. She is one of the few people at Mode that doesn't automatically assume that Betty has her job because of Daniel or her stepmom. That's refreshing.

"No one should be without somewhere to go. I assume this is everyone?" Her father asked.

"Yes. Marisol doesn't celebrate and Rufe cannot attend without blowing her cover. I am almost 90% sure Wilhelmina will drag her along."

"Unless Santos decides to come." Hilda mumbled under breath.

"I don't want him there." Justin stated angrily.

"He's your father."

"No, he is not." Justin pushed his plate away. "May I be excused?"

"Finish your salad first." Faye pushed his plate back to him. "Don't worry about Santos. It's handled."

"Now, who's coming early to help me cook?" Her father asked changing the subject. "Daniel already said he would come and help out. Anyone else?" Okay if Daniel was coming to help cook there was no way that Betty was going to be in that kitchen. Not going to happen. She was trying to think of some way to get out of it then she remembered what Faye said earlier about working things out with Marc Thursday before the dinner.

"If I'm going to spend Friday morning here putting up decorations, I should probably finish the last minute prep work with Marc like Faye suggested. Besides Alex could use some grandpa and daddy bonding time." It was a valid excuse and thankfully, her father just nodded his head in approval. She really could not take his disappointed look again.

"That's not fair. Marc and Cliff were going to take me to the MODE offices to watch the parade." Justin pouted. You really did have a wonderful view of the Macy's parade from the Mode offices.

"You can watch the parade with Cliff while we are working. Maybe, you can invite DJ to come as well."

"He's never seen the parade before so that would be good." Justin smiled.

"You are not leaving me alone with them." Hilda whispered to Betty with a very menacing glare.

"I told you we should do catering. At least, let me hire some wait staff, if you insist on doing all the cooking." Faye pleaded with her husband.

"I don't want to force anybody to work on Thanksgiving." Rosa was actually one of the few restaurants that was closed Thursday.

"Carol and Jenny on your wait staff don't celebrate any holidays for religious reasons. They may be comfortable working and I'm sure they would be happy to earn some extra money." Faye suggested. To help prove her point she kissed him again.

"Fine." And yet Betty still had a feeling this Thanksgiving would be a disaster.

"Are you ready to go?" Betty asked as she walked into Marc's office. It was truly a disaster area. They have been spending the last four days trying to redo the Tim and Chloe shoot from scratch. If it wasn't for Justin they would still be using Betty's ridiculous Garden of Eden concept.

Marc was comfortable enough with himself to take help from a 12-year-old, especially when said 12-year-old is the grandson of Faye Somers, by marriage but still he has her sense of style. He also had brilliant ideas and excellent sense of color.

"Give me five more minutes." They were leaving for the Meade Publications very corporate Thanksgiving. Marc was actually looking forward to being there as a creative director and not someone's assistant. That was the only part of it he was looking forward to. Honestly, he rather stay here and refine their ideas for Friday's shoot.

"I need to take these sketches down to the set design department. Besides, do you really want to have to spend any more time with Daniel then you have to?" Marc quickly grabbed the sketches and his jacket.

"We don't have five minutes Faye is waiting for us in the car." Betty purposely did not respond to his crack about Daniel. The two have been friends long enough for him to know that Daniel was a very complicated subject, which is the entire reason why he brought it up. "Isn't that something your assistant should do?"

"And if you were still my assistant you would be doing it. I think Carlo is licking Wilhelmina's boots right now or kissing her ass and not in the fun way." Marc snarked. He was really tired of his assistant being obsessed with Wilhelmina. It was borderline creepy. "Or maybe he's sulking over the fact that she's forcing poor Rufe to go with her to a very Slater Thanksgiving in the Hamptons. Who knows?"

"That's a mean thing to say." Betty chastised. She was too good for here. Nearly 2 years at Meade Publications and she still has a good heart. It was practically miraculous. "Especially because you were like that once."

"I was never that bad. Also I never slept with her." Marc scoffed. Part of Marc felt that Carlo was acting as obsessed as he did because he couldn't get over the fact that Wilhelmina used him, than disregarded him and replaced him with Ted someone. Now Carlo was doing everything in his power to get her attention back and it wasn't working.

"That's because you got your job going down on Mr. Hunter instead." He heard his wayward assistant say from the back. Really, he should pay attention to what's going on or at least not keep the blinds drawn. It's just it's harder for people to tell when is having lunch time sex with his fabulous boyfriend if he keeps the blinds down all the time. That was a trick he learned from Faye.

"Yes but the difference is I actually got a promotion." Marc replied snidely. He didn't care that Carlo overheard what he said. He would fire the guy but Mrs. Somers-Suarez wanted to keep Carlo closed in case he spills any of Wilhelmina's dirty secrets. Marc knows he's too loyal for that but is unable to go against Faye's wishes.

"Actually the difference is I have skills other than an excellent impression of a Hoover and the ability to be a sycophant." Carlo glared and Betty tried very hard not to laugh. Again she was too good for them all.

"Actually, the main difference is Mr. Hunter values talent and prefers to nurture it. Wilhelmina on the other hand chooses to use it to her own advantage. She is done with you. She no longer wants you as her assistant or in her bed, so she gave you to me." Marc said harshly.

"If you actually acted like my assistant I could help you become more than just my assistant but you're too busy begging Wilhelmina to come to Thanksgiving at your house." Marc said sharply.

"She couldn't attend because she's spending the holiday with her father and extremely ill sister." 'Against her will,' Marc thought to himself. He knew Wilhelmina's relationship with her father and sister was extremely complicated.

"Yet, she is taking Ruthie with her, not you." Marc found no pleasure in pointing that out. Okay, he found a lot of pleasure in pointing that out especially considering Carlo's broken expression.

"However, Wilhelmina will be there at the party this afternoon and we will be at the same table."

"No she won't be. She'll be driving Nico to her father's house." Betty interjected and Carlo gave her an angry look.

"I work with Nico. She tells me things." Betty just shrugged.

"It looks like you will have even less time than normal to suck up to her." Marc gave a folder to his wayward assistant. "Not that she cares, because she doesn't. Wilhelmina doesn't care about anything except for taking over Mode completely and maybe Nico."

"That's not true."

"Believe whatever you want. In an effort not to keep our boss waiting, take these sketches down to set design. It's simple, so I'm sure they can pull it off by 2 PM Friday without coming in tomorrow."

"Fine." Marc was almost positive though sketches would be in the trash but that was the whole point.

"You actually trust him to take that down there?" Betty asked once they actually made it to the elevator.

"Not at all which is why I'm also following up with an email with my actual designs. Richard always want stuff in hard copy but his assistant Kristen doesn't care. Which means if Carlo burns that like I expect him to will still be fine." And Marc will have reason to get rid of him that maybe Faye will agree with. Marc is really tired of scheduling all his own meetings.

"I know you're up to something but I don't want it to affect the shoot."

"It won't." Marc said already writing an email to Kristen about what they needed for the shoot.

"I just don't want everything to go wrong."

"Everything has already gone wrong with the shoot." They lost the photographer, the date of the shoot was changed, had to get rid of the concept because the photographer was unbelievably hard to deal with.

"Okay, I don't want anything else to go wrong." Betty rephrased.

"It will be fine. Just breathe." Marc told her as they stepped outside of the elevator into the private garage.

"I'm just nervous." He was sure that she was. He noticed at least free candy wrappers in her purse. Stress eating was something that Betty had in common with her stepsister. However, Marc knew the nervousness had nothing to do with the shoot.

"Yes about socializing with your baby's daddy."

"I'm not nervous about Daniel." Marc just scoffed. Marc has spent the last few days with both and they were absolutely ridiculous around each other.

"How long have we been friends?"

"A year."

"A year and a half. Therefore, I know when you're nervous. I've also been locked in a room with both of you trying to fix the issue since Saturday. Do you realize that things with Daniel would be easier if you guys actually talk to each other, not that I'm not enjoying working with you on this project." Because after Daniel realized how awkward things were sometime yesterday he decided to leave everything to Mark's capable hands.

"I know. And I will talk to him."

"When?" Because Marc did not believe her at all.

"I have no idea."

"At least you are finally being honest." Marc sighed, as they finally made it to the car that would take them to a very Meade Thanksgiving. He was starting to really wish that his boyfriend wasn't busy prepping for the shoot, so he would be there too.

To be continued