Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter. This is the end of Alex Suarez.

I just want to say it's been absolutely lovely working on this story for the last three years. Thank you all for your help and encouragement over the years. I keep writing for all of you guys.

We will be covering about nine years in this chapter. Keep an eye on the timestamps they will be your friend.

Epilogue: How We Got Here

February 11, 2007

Death is something that you're never prepared for because it's not supposed to happen. At least that's what Marisol told her and Marisol had been one of her rocks during these last three months as Nico tried to get her life back together again and rebuild it without her mother or the ghost of Carlo haunting her at every moment.

That's easier said than done. At least every other day, she tries to call Wilhelmina. She's half convinced that IT has kept her mother's inbox active just so she can send her an email even though she knows no one will ever reply.

Despite that, Nico has gotten herself into a routine because having a set schedule makes things a little bit more manageable. She wakes up at 6 AM and does morning physical therapy workouts with Monique. It keeps her fit and it puts her mind at ease to know that she's helping her aunt in some way.

Monique was doing better than the doctors ever thought she would. The fact that she was walking around on a cane was testament to that. She's already back working at MYW, at least part-time. Technically she's working from home but still working and slowly driving her cousin/Daniel's new assistant crazy.

Three days a week, Nico goes into the office at 8 AM to work with her tutor for four hours to get through as much classwork as possible. She's thinking about just getting her GED just because it would piss off her grandfather. That was perfectly fine with her. Nico had spoken with him only once since the will reading and she prefers not to repeat that experience. As far as Nico is concerned, she has no grandfather.

Things are better with her aunt Renee who by mutual agreement would stay Aunt Renee. She visits her every other week; another part of Nico's routine. She usually brings chocolate and they make plans for what they would do if Renee was ever able to get out. They're putting her on a new medication, Nico doesn't know if it will work. She hopes that it does, but very little has been going according to her wishes recently. She would still have a mom, if wishes came true.

After classes, she begins her workday at Mode. She is Marc's assistant and she splits the job with Justin, who despite being 12 is more capable than most of the other people who work there, when she is in class.

They came to this arrangement after Faye decided her niece would be better suited for Hudson and Jamie needed a new assistant, now that Amanda was back in school. The reason why Justin was now part of this arrangement was Hilda and Daniel decided that the boys would be better off working with a tutor. When she wasn't in class, her tutor was working with Justin and DJ. Although it wasn't like DJ could goof off when they were working because DJ got to spend his mornings with Alexis and Betty at MYW. (And shadowing her whenever he could.)

Another part of her routine was preparing for fashion week. A normal Fashion Week was so chaotic that she wouldn't have time to focus on the bad things. However, it would be even more chaotic this February because Mode would be doing something completely different this year. Instead of debuting the 10 artists to watch, they would be putting on a charity show to raise money for the newly minted Wilhelmina Slater foundation, a foundation that she just started mere weeks ago.

This was going to be their inaugural event and it had to be something worldly of the Wilhelmina Slater name. Right now the charity's purpose is to provide clothing and business attire to women's shelters throughout Manhattan. Her goal was eventually to spread out to shelters in the five boroughs.

She also wanted to eventually add an education component so people who were in her mother's situation knew what resources they had to get out. Tonight was the night and if everything went well, she would meet her goals sooner rather than later.

Anyone in attendance was required to make at least a $500 donation to the foundation. Also, dresses worn on the runway would be auctioned off to benefit the charity. Most of the outfits were donated by some of the biggest names in the industry, however, Christine donated several dresses, one of which Nico was currently wearing.

Considering how nervous she was at the thought of going up on the runway Nico was worried she might throw up on the dress before making it down the runway.

"If you're going to throw up aim for the trashcan because we have to auction up that dress afterwards." She heard her aunt say as the woman passed her ginger ale.

"Monique, you're here. I thought you were supposed to stay home."

Nico was slightly surprised she was there because an 8 PM fashion show was probably pushing the limits of what the doctors wanted her doing. However, she was glad her aunt was there because the woman's presence was instantly calming.

"She convinced me to bring her." Gio said before wrapping an arm around her.

"Yes, but you forced me to come in this stupid wheelchair. What type of boyfriend are you?" Monique sounded annoyed

"One that loves you and does not want you to overexert yourself." He kissed her on the cheek. Her aunt and her boyfriend were kind of adorable and absolutely in love with each other.

"Which is what I'm worried about." Nico shot her a look.

"I will be fine. I took a long nap this afternoon I just didn't want to miss your runway debut which apparently you're worried sick about. You'll fit right in to the fashion world." Monique smiled.

"I'm not worried about the runway. What if this doesn't work? I mean this is essentially than inaugural event for this foundation. What if nobody shows up?" This was her legacy or rather her mother's legacy. Her mother died, so she could live and Nico feels like it is her mission to live up to that promise. The fact that this charity helps people look better is just a bonus.

"The front of the house is crowded with the Who's Who of Hollywood, DC, and New York including Betty's BFF Chloe. If she's here. Everyone else is going to be really generous."

Nico should not be surprised that Betty managed to convince Chloe to come, but she was. Yes she did send Nico a gigantic shoe basket when she was in the hospital but Nico just assume she had her people do that. The fact that she was here really meant something.

"Good point."

"Also, my mom helped you with this and she's a pro at getting rich people to part with their money for a good cause." Monique said with a smirk.

That was an excellent point. Vivian's help over the last two months has been invaluable. Nico is well aware that she could not have got this charity up and running so quickly without her. The paperwork alone to become a 508 nonprofit was mind-boggling.

"That's true, it's just do you think Wilhelmina would've wanted this?"

Nico has no delusions that her mom was a good person. Wilhelmina Slater had issues. Okay, her mom was Darth Vader. Started out good, got screwed over by life, became evil, and then did everything she could to save her child.

"She always wanted people to dress better and having a good business suit can sometimes mean the difference between having the money to leave a bad situation and sticking around because you can't afford to leave. I don't think your mom would want anybody to go through what she went through with your biological father." Monique said sadly, both aware of how bad that relationship really was.

Nico hasn't seen her father since the Thanksgiving disaster. He hasn't called, not her anyway. He did try to get custody of her and Nico immediately filed for emancipation. That was approved last Friday after Nico's lawyers managed to get the Polaroids Wilhelmina took of her various husband inflicted injuries under the nose of the judge.

Nico was already taking the steps necessary to legally change her last name to Wyndham-West. She wants nothing to do with the Slater legacy.

"Which is why she completely screwed up Betty and Daniel's relationship." Nico said darkly. Just because she understood her mother better now doesn't mean that she completely forgives the woman for everything. It's more like she's made peace with the metaphorical ghost of Wilhelmina. She is still trying to make peace with the ghost of Wilhelmina. She's working on it.

"I never said your mother was a saint. But she wasn't Satan either. The true villains are more complicated than that."

"True." Nico smiled sadly.

"Now go out there and be the best model ever." Monique said just as Marc pulled her towards the runway. Did Nico mentioned how invaluable Marc was in helping her put this together? The man is a fashion genius.

Nico felt like she came alive on the catwalk. This wasn't something she wanted to do every day, at least the runway part. The making a difference in the world part was something she definitely wanted to do.

That night they managed to make $100,000 for the Wilhelmina Slater foundation. Ted LeBeau promised that his company would donate another 20,000 in merchandise as well as provide the foundation with a deep discount when they purchase clothing. It was a good start for the foundation. Nico was sure that Wilhelmina would be happy to know she was the star of Fashion Week 2007.

May 13, 2007

Jordan was exhausted. She may be an extreme athlete who has parachuted off of the New River Gorge Bridge at least six times, but childbirth was a completely different extreme sport. On May 13 at 3:23 AM after 27 exhausting hours of labor, she gave birth to the prettiest girl in the world. She may have threatened to cut off Jamie's dick at least twice, but Alexandra Wilhelmina had her daddy's hair and her mommy's nose.

She was perfect from her scrunched up nose to her baby toes. She was also adorable and the baby could tour that Daniel provided as a gift.

Jordan was now lying in bed, half asleep with Alexis wrapped around her and Alexandra currently at her breast trying to have breakfast. Actually, this was her second breakfast of the day. It felt like Alexandra wanted to eat every 30 minutes.

"That's normal. Alex did that a lot once he got out of the incubator." Betty said as she came in with gigantic balloon bouquet. Daniel was with her, and he brought a giant bag of sandwiches from Monique's boyfriend's new restaurant.

Of course Daniel forgot to bring anything to drink with said food which resulted in Alexis leaving with her brother to get more drinks and probably to rescue Jamie from her mother. She sure that her boyfriend is being interrogated by the woman in the waiting room. Sometimes Jordan's mom could be very overprotective, but considering she made both Daniel and Betty sanitize their hands before they even looked at Alexandra. She understood.

"She's so tiny." Betty said with her arms wrapped around the tiny squishy baby. If it was anyone else Jordan would freak out, but Betty was good with babies.

"I think Alex was smaller." And in the neonatal intensive care unit at UMMC Jordan thought bitterly.

"That's because he was really early and we didn't realize it." The 'because Wilhelmina was paying off my doctor' was left unsaid.

"I'm sorry my water broke at your baby shower." She was really looking forward to playing pin the diaper on the balloon. Okay she was really looking forward to the salted caramel cheesecake that Mr. Suarez made just for her.

"It's okay. Nico is already planning a makeup shower but we went ahead and unwrapped the presents that you would need right away and put them in the nursery. Mostly the diapers and the onesies. Honestly, you can never have enough diapers." It was at that moment she held up a diaper bag that probably had everything they could possibly need for Alexandra until they got home.

"Or onesies. Didn't Alex go through at least two dozen the first month? I guess the rest can wait for a post-baby baby shower, but what about all the food?"

"Amanda ate most of the hors d'oeuvres. Then she threw up on Megan's shoes." Betty actually smirked.

There was no love lost between her and Megan. It's gotten worse since Betty was made an associate editor last month. The woman actually had the balls to claim that Betty's promotion was purely nepotistic. Jordan knew for a fact that Alexis did not care at all that Betty was screwing her brother. What she cared about was Betty's excellent work. Besides, it was her co-EIC who actually decided on the promotion.

Yes, Alexis was still at MYW, even though Monique was now there full time. The two decided that with their family obligations and the fact that Monique will be going to physical therapy for the rest of her life, that it would be best for the two to split the job. Since Monique was the one who helped she and Jamie deal with the miscarriage, Alexis was willing to share her job with the woman and they did make a really good team.

"Please tell me you got pictures?" Okay, maybe Jordan did not like Megan that much either. It was her fault for hitting on Jamie.

"Justin did, he just loves his new smart phone." Betty told her smiling as she passed the phone to her.

"I should've known Justin would be good for pictures." She said looking at the first one. "I can't believe Amanda ate so much that …" Jordan stopped speaking when she realized that what happened probably had very little to do with Amanda's binge eating tendencies.

"Is Amanda pregnant?" She asked. Considering even she has walked in on Kenny and Amanda doing inappropriate things she could see the newly married couple conceiving this early into their marriage.

"Very pregnant or at least that's what Kenny thinks because he hasn't had to go on a tampon run in two months. He's trying to figure out how to get her to take a pregnancy test." Jordan laughed at that.

"I would suggest you take one with her, but we know how that turned out last time."

"Really good actually, once I got over the initial shock." Betty said as Alexandra started clutching at the front of her blouse.

"I'm sorry baby I don't have anything in there right now. Alex stopped feeding a couple of months ago. The well is now dry." Betty said to her niece.

"Hand her over." Jordan said as she started to undo her bra. She doesn't even get the point of wearing one right now when Alexandra wants lunch all the time. "You came in the middle of second breakfast/1st lunch of the day and I don't think she was done."

"Actually, she's probably going to want to feed every half an hour for a little bit."

"I read that somewhere." Yes, Jordan has read every baby book known to man in the last six months. "Come on Alexandra time for food."

"Why did you go with that name?" Betty asked as she placed the shawl over Jordan. She personally has no trouble with public breast-feeding, but Jordan wasn't so sure Daniel would be as comfortable and was sure he would be back with his sister at any moment.

"You already took Alex and we couldn't find any decent female forms of Bradford. We thought about just going with Bradford anyway for the middle name, but Claire decided that no child should be named Bradford ever." Claire was very clear on that demand.

"Good point, but why Wilhelmina?" Betty asked

"Well, according to Nico she pretty much saved your Alex's life." Betty frowned at the reminder of the kidnapping nearly 6 months ago. You never get over something like that.

"Good point."

"But she also saved my Alex too. If it wasn't for Wilhelmina presenting her with another suggestion we would've met at a real funeral 2 ½ years ago."

"Another good point." Betty said as she raised a hand to massage her temple. Jordan was sure her friend was starting to get a headache. That was when she noticed the giant ring on Betty's finger.

"What's that?" Jordan asked.

"A ring." Betty responded casually.

"I just spent 27 hours pushing a beach ball through my vagina. I do not have the energy for you to be deliberately obtuse."

"Yes, it's an engagement ring."

"I would squeal, but I think Alexandra is starting to fall asleep." Jordan was grinning from ear to ear. Finally, those two have got it together. She's just ridiculously happy right now.

"Good call. Although, that's what Daniel did this morning. He woke up Alex." Betty replied.

"That answers my next question about when he proposed."

"Actually, he asked in December." Betty clarified.

"And you just suddenly decided to start wearing the ring?" Jordan asked, confused

"It wasn't a normal proposal. It was more like "I bought you this perfect engagement ring. When you're ready to admit that we are going to be together for the rest of our lives put it on."

"And this morning you suddenly decided that it will be forever?" Jordan asked.

"Yes."

"Good." Jordan smiled at Betty holding firmly to the belief that despite all the bad things there were good moments in life and this was one of those good moments.

January 7, 2008

"Seriously, why are we taking wedding pictures outside in January?" Gio complained to her as they chased down Alex, who refused to stay still to take a picture with his mommy and daddy and his designer suit. They were doing the chasing because Betty could barely move in her gigantic wedding dress and Amanda was way too pregnant to try. At nearly 9 months, she was ready to pop at any moment.

"And why did they think a two-year-old would stay still long enough to take normal wedding pictures, let alone deal with this crazy set up," Gio said once he successfully captured the two-year-old.

That was good because Monique really couldn't run with baby Alexandra strapped to her chest so her mommies and daddy could take part in the wedding picture festivities. She wouldn't be running regardless because even though it's been over a year her body is just not back to being in running shape. Although Monique really wasn't in running shape before she got shot so it is to be expected. She's just happy that she is not dependent on the cane anymore.

"Because it's in the 60s and Betty looks better in natural light." Cliff explained with camera at the ready. Monique really doesn't want to know what Marc had to do to get Cliff to take over for the photographer who canceled on this fashion shoot at the very last minute.

That really annoyed Monique because she was put in charge of the spring 2008 wedding issue cover shoot. Even though she was at MYW, Faye decided that she would be in charge of this. Since Marc was in the wedding party and this was Daniel's wedding.

Sometimes Monique thinks that her boss is a sadist. However, because both Marc and Daniel were friends she would do everything possible to make sure this shoot goes perfectly. Let's just say the only thing going in their favor is that it's 60° right now. That's just warm enough to handle being outside in a strapless ball gown.

"Oh, I realized that we were not going to get many shots with Alex, which is why you're here. He loves you." She said kissing her boyfriend on the lips before turning her attentions back to the shoot and baby Alexandra. She's just praying that the seven month old will stay asleep until they made it to the reception in an hour.

"I'm just here because Nico is too busy with wedding reception wrangling." Gio quipped.

After getting her GED last year, her niece decided that she didn't want to go to college. Probably just to piss off her grandfather. Vivian was only okay with that, if Nico started her own business. Much to Vivian's shock Nico started her own party planning business in September.

Her work on this crazy wedding will definitely make a name for her in the wedding planning industry, especially because they were documenting every moment of it for the April wedding issue. It was Marc's idea, yet she's the one who has to oversee this craziness and she's technically not even at Mode.

Monique personally wanted to shoot the shots for the cover a couple of weeks ago on a soundstage but Betty didn't want Daniel to see her dress early and Faye wanted beauty shots of an actual wedding. This is why they were traipsing around Central Park an hour and a half after the happy couple became Mr. and Mrs. Suarez-Meade. Yes, it was a beautiful ceremony that had everybody crying but right now, Monique was 30 seconds from crying because she just realized that Alex is now covered in chocolate.

"Okay, who gave Alex a candy bar?" Monique said just as she signaled for Christina to come forward.

"He probably got it out of his Aunt Amanda's purse. She carries chocolate by the pound right now." She said grabbing Alex out of Gio's arms.

"Because according to Amanda being pregnant means that she can eat all the chocolate she wants."

"Don't worry. I brought another suit. I will take care of it. Just focus on herding the cats." Christina joked as she took Alex a way to the makeshift dressing area.

"This wouldn't be a problem if they went with my idea to do this last month in a nice comfortable soundstage." Monique sighed as she sat down on a nearby bench. Baby Lexis was cute but heavy and Monique could not stay on her feet too long.

"I think you have a point. I doubt anybody is going to believe that this is a spring day. The trees are all dead." Gino said sitting down beside her.

"We can airbrush that." Cliff quipped from in front of her. Before he started barking orders at everyone.

"I know you're worried, but you're doing an amazing job." He said pointing to Cliff taking shots of Betty and Daniel making out in front of the water fountain. They look sickeningly cute right now.

"Maybe you're right." She said laying her head on his shoulder.

"Do you think that we will ever get there?"

"On the front cover of a magazine? I think that happened last week when you punched out that reporter for asking really inappropriate questions about your dead first husband."

"I mean, do you ever see having Cliff chasing us around on our wedding day to get the perfect shot?" Sometimes Monique would picture their wedding day in her head but she wasn't sure if Gio was in the same place.

"Is this your roundabout way of asking do I want to get married?" Gino asked in complete seriousness.

"Yes it is. We've gone through so much together in the last year and a… I didn't think I would fall in love again, and somehow you completely proved me wrong. So yes, I want to marry you." Monique confessed.

"So do I, but I was waiting until at least Valentine's Day to pop the question. I think this is supposed to be my job."

"You know I think gender roles are stupid." Monique shrugged.

"I'm well aware of that and I still love you anyway." Gio smiled at her.

"So is that a yes?"

"Do I get a ring?" Gio asked just as Amanda started screaming from in front of them.

So it turns out that Amanda has been having contractions since this morning, but she didn't want to ruin her sister's wedding so she spent the entire wedding pretending that she wasn't in pain. However, Amanda couldn't keep pretending that she wasn't in labor when her water broke in the middle of the fashion shoot.

The family went to the hospital and Nico decided to turn the reception into an impromptu engagement party since Betty decided she'd rather be by Amanda's side then at her wedding reception. So, Monique was the one who had to sit through lots of embarrassing stories and her mom crying happy tears.

They did bring food over to everybody at the hospital because even though Amanda's water broke at 3:32 PM she did not actually give birth to Summer Kim-Tannin-Suarez until exactly 12 hours later. The child came into the world with a full head of hair and an aversion to the color pink. However, everyone thought she was adorable.

September 2012

"Are you upset that Faye is making Kenny her replacement?" Betty asked her husband of nearly 3 years as they made their way to Justin and DJ's apartment to pick up Alex.

The two University of Manhattan freshmen were sharing an apartment because at a certain point nobody wants to live with their parents. Since Faye owned the apartment building, Daniel gave in to the kids demand to have some freedom. Besides, DJ was working part-time at Mode now, and Justin was getting the occasional acting job in addition to his part-time job as Jamie's assistant. Now that Ruth moved up to being a junior editor.

Justin and DJ offered to babysit so that Betty and Daniel could go to her father and stepmother is sixth anniversary party kid free. Betty personally believes DJ volunteered to get his mind off of the implosion that was his latest breakup. DJ was dating a supposedly nice girl named Sarah and Justin was dating this prick named Austin. Last week DJ caught Sarah with Austin and since then the boys have added themselves to the babysitter rotation just so they have something to do and Nico's been by with lots of chocolate and ice cream. Poor babies.

Unfortunately, at the anniversary party Faye announced her plans to retire and spend more time with her grandkids. Meade publications has always been a family company. So Betty was expecting either Daniel or Alexis to be named her successor. However, to everyone's surprise Claire and Faye decided that Kenny would be the new CEO of the company.

"It makes sense." Daniel shrugged. "Kenny was the one who saved us from financial ruin. Also, Alexis doesn't want the job, even though I think dad raised her from birth to take over. She likes being able to spend more time with Alexandra than our dad ever did. Besides Jordan's pregnant again." She already knew about that. Her best friend told her a couple of weeks ago, but they were waiting until they were completely out of the danger zone to start telling people.

"What about you?" Betty asked her husband. She was worried he might be hurt by Faye and Claire's decision

"Same reasons. Although in our case it would be trying to have another kid instead of just talking about it. This would be a perfect time. You're done with your Master's program and I'm thinking about leaving Mode all together. I think it would be a good time to have another kid." Betty almost ran into a doorway when he said that.

"You're thinking about leaving Mode?"

"That's the part of that you hold onto?"

"Since I would like to have another child with you that is the more important part. Why do you want to leave Mode?" She asked. She knew that Daniel wasn't always comfortable at the magazine but he's been doing great work there. She had no idea he wanted to leave.

"One, I think Marc will make a much better EIC than me." Okay, maybe she's known for a while that Daniel felt Mark would be better at his job than him.

"That's not true." Betty argued back.

"It is. I just like writing. If I couldn't do the letter from the editor every month, I think I would have left a long time ago. I only ended up in the magazine industry because it was the family business, but you and Kenny are part of this family now and it's more your passion than it ever was mine." She was going to argue about DJ also loving the industry, but she felt it best not to mention that.

"So if you do leave what will you be doing?" Daniel had to have a plan before she would let him quit his job, even though her salary as a senior editor at MYW could keep them comfortable, even without Daniel's trust fund.

"Hopefully being a stay-at-home dad with our new kid."

"That's a nice idea, but do you want to keep working or are you planning to just be a stay-at-home dad? Because I know you well enough to know you would go stir crazy within a month."

"Good point. However, I already have an idea for a new job that will let me work from home. You know how I loved creating stories for the kids when they were little?"

"They're still little." She pointed out with a side.

"True. But anyway, Monique transcribed a few of those and sent them off to her own publisher."

That doesn't surprise her at all, Monique was also a writer at heart. A year ago, Monique left MYW to publish her first novel, The Survivors Guide to Widowhood. She said the career change was so she could spend more time with their newly adopted two-year-old daughter (named after Monique's dead first husband). Betty thinks that Monique was just itching to do something different. That book was definitely different. It was a fictional story, but a lot of it was inspired by what Monique went through. It's currently been a number one bestseller for the last two months.

"Did she tell you about it first?" Because Monique has a tendency to do things for you behind your back if she thinks it's the right thing to do like filling out Master's program applications for Betty.

"No. Actually, she didn't even tell me about it until today. I have a meeting at Random Publishing Tuesday to discuss having my very first children's book published." Daniel said excitedly.

"Just make sure you call the lawyers." She joked.

"You know I will."

"I'll support you no matter what you do as long as you're happy."

"I think doing something completely on my own, will make me happy." Daniel confessed.

"You're not worried that some people will only read your book because it was written by the infamous Daniel Meade?"

"Actually, it's Daniel Meade-Suarez now, but I think I'm just going to drop the Meade part of the name for a pen name."

"Good idea." Betty said as she knocked on her stepson's door. She was led inside to see Alex finger-painting with his big brother. It was so cute. It also made her understand why Daniel wanted to be home more to see moments like this.

July 2013.

Alexis loved her sister-in-law. Actually, she's just happy that Daniel never ended up with any of the bimbos that he dated before finding Betty. Even though she now realizes that faking her death was a really bad thing to do to everyone who she claimed to love, she has made peace with it because it brought Betty into her brother's life.

The fact that Betty was an excellent editor was just a bonus. It was Betty's creativity that kept MYW a float as the magazine industry transitioned from print to digital. Betty was the one who brought MYW into the digital age, and that in itself made her current decision a lot easier.

"You're leaving MYW?" Betty asked slightly shocked after Alexis brought the woman into her office to break the news that after 6 ½ years, Alexis was ready to move on to the next part of her life.

"Yes. Actually, I'm leaving Meade publications altogether."

"Why?"

"Because maybe I don't want to end up like my father." Alexis was still mad at herself for not being there when Alexandra was hospitalized for asthma last month because she was stuck in the Bahamas doing a shoot for the magazine. She didn't want something like that to happen again.

"Besides Jordan was given the opportunity to do her own sport show on ESPN and I think it's time for me to be the stay-at-home mom in the relationship." This was a great opportunity for Jordan and she would turn it down if it meant surrendering their kids to nannies, especially the baby.

"So you're leaving to be with your children?"

"Well if Daniel can do it so can I and he definitely seems a lot happier now." Daniel was a good EIC but he was a much better children's book writer. He definitely likes trying out all his new material on Jasmine and Alexandra.

"There are some bad things. He is not looking forward to the book tour next month or all the interviews. His also terrified that the book won't sell at all." Betty confessed.

"He's just nervous."

"He's going to do great things and so are you." Alexis tells her sister-in-law fully believing that.

"I don't know. I'm going to have to break in a new EIC that may want her own people. It's moments like these, I wish Monique never left."

She missed Monique too, but understood why she needed a break after she decided to adopt her daughter Jordan. Besides after the hell that kid went through during the first two years of her life Monique really needed to be there as much as possible. Bradford may have been neglectful but he never used his kids as an ashtray or a punching bag. However, now that Jordan knows mommy and daddy love her, Monique is ready to go back to work full-time.

"Well you'll be happy to know she's coming back."

"To MYW?"

"To Meade publications. Since I said no, mom convinced Monique to take her place as CEO." Actually Alexis was the one who did it because she trusted no one else with her family's legacy.

"I thought Kenny was CEO?" Betty asked confused.

"Kenny's CFO. He deals with the money, Monique will deal with everything else." Alexis explained.

"That makes sense. But how was she talked in the saying yes?"

"Little Jordan is starting preschool in a couple of months. That made Monique willing to go back to working full-time."

"She was already working full-time, managing the various Wyndham-West charities now that her mother's a senator." Betty pointed out.

In the ultimate act of revenge, Vivian Wyndham-West ran against her former fiancé and took his Senate seat last year. The political landscape was better for it. Since the elder Wyndham-West ran as an independent and she was working to get workplace protections in place for the transgender community.

"Very true. However, Nico will be taking over running most of the foundations with Amanda taking charge of their party planning Empire." Alexis explain.

Amanda's fashion designer aspirations didn't work out. However, she did have a knack for picking out the right table settings for any large gathering. That's how she ended up becoming Nico's business partner and the two ran the best party planning company on the East Coast. MYW used Nico Wyndham-West and Associates for all their corporate event planning needs.

"However, I would like you to take care of MYW for me."

"What? Are you doing this because you're my sister-in-law? Megan's been here longer than I have." Betty argued.

"Megan's a joke." Who will probably leave as soon as she convinces Matt to make her wife number two. "You are getting this job because you're the most qualified. I trust no one more to keep this magazine going." Betty actually started tearing up.

"This is your baby now Betty. Take care of it." Alexis said, hugging her sister-in-law, knowing that Betty would do great things here.

May 2, 2015

Daniel stood beside Betty in the bathroom of their perfect house staring at the white stick sitting on the sink to see if they would get a +. This process never gets easier even if they've been doing it for nearly 3 years.

"Maybe we should've waited until after Hilda's wedding to see if I was actually pregnant." Betty said, already dressed in her way too green bridesmaid outfit.

Last year Hilda went car shopping with Justin for his 21st birthday, and to help Justin forget about the fact that his biological father was being sent to prison for 20 years for being a Bastard. They ended up running into Hilda's high school boyfriend. Things ended up falling apart between the two because Bobby ended up going to prison. However, Bobby managed to truly rehabilitate himself and in addition to owning a new car dealership in Queens, he ran a program for at risk youth.

They reconnected under the guise of Hilda trying to get him additional funding from the Wyndham-West foundation. They ended up really reconnecting to the point where Betty is going to get a new brother-in-law today and a new nephew in about two months.

"No, because you're going to be worrying about it the entire ceremony and will just end up at the closest Duane Reade five minutes after Bobby kisses your sister." Daniel said in all seriousness.

"Good point." Betty sighed.

"Also, maybe if the pregnancy test is positive this time you won't spend the entire ceremony staring daggers at your sister." Daniel told her poignantly.

"I would not do that." Daniel just gives his wife an 'are you kidding me look'. They've been married long enough for him to know her better than she knows herself. This was one of those moments where he knew his wife was jealous of her very pregnant sister.

"Okay, maybe I am a little jealous. We have been trying for three years and Hilda gets pregnant accidentally within weeks of reconnecting with her ex."

They did get pregnant once during these three years, but Betty was unable to carry the baby to term. It's been hard but they've gotten through it together.

"Some of my other writer friends refer to it as the law of inverse fertility. People who want kids can't have them, and people who don't want kids can easily have them. Apparently, it's more dramatic that way." Daniel sort of joked.

"Which explains how you were able to get me pregnant with Alex without actually having sex."

"It wasn't like you were Betty the Virgin. We were having sex. There just wasn't any penetration involved."

"Yes, no gynecological visit mix-ups were needed to create Alex." Betty smirked at him.

"Would it be so awful if the test turned out negative again? We have a good life together. You are the EIC of MYW and I write children's books for a living. Financially, things are very comfortable, even without my inheritance," which he mostly put away for DJ and Alex.

"Comfortable, you've been on the bestseller list three times and Disney really wants the rights to that Alex's Chronicles." And they were willing to pay a lot too. It wouldn't be too long before Daniel's net worth would be higher than his father's ever was and it was all because of his own hard work. That made Daniel very happy.

"We have two wonderful kids and a gaggle of nieces and a nephew on the way." The Niece count is currently at four. Jamie, Jordan and Alexis have Alexandria and 2 ½-year-old Jazmine. Kenny and Amanda have Summer and 15th month old Prada. Yes Amanda named her child after a fashion label. Actually it's five if you count Monique's daughter Jordan R. If Marc and Cliff ever adopt, they better get a boy just to balance things out.

"I think you're happy that Hilda is having a boy just so you won't be as outnumbered."

"Maybe, but it's a good life that we have. So what if we can't have another child. Gio and Monique can't have biological children, but there happy together."

"Because adoption is a good thing."

"Even if their oldest daughter is now sleeping with our son." Daniel said referring to Nico. Daniel is well aware that their relationship crossed the line somewhere a few months ago after Nico's engagement to some rich idiot with no day job fell apart, thank God.

"We don't know for sure if Nico and DJ are sleeping together, they might just be really good friends." Daniel has seen the bite marks. Betty in general likes to pretend that DJ still has his V card, but that was lost sometime in 2013. But as much as he hates to admit it DJ is an adult and Nico was 1000 times better than most of the choices Daniel made at that age, including Lucy.

"Even though he will be in college for another year DJ is an adult." Thankfully for Betty the timer went off right then.

"We need to look." Daniel told her.

"I don't want to. You know it's just going to be negative again." Betty already had tears in her eyes.

"It doesn't matter. I love you anyway." Daniel said before he walked over to the test. He decided it was best to treat this like a Band-Aid and just get it over with.

"It's positive." Daniel said just before kissing his wife. This was a happy moment.

January 15, 2016

Alex a had perfectly normal childhood or as perfectly normal of a childhood that you can have with the next JK Rowling as your father and your mother is the second coming of Faye Somers, especially when Faye Somers-Suarez happens to be your grandmother. Okay as perfectly normal of a childhood, you can have when everybody knows that you were kidnapped by a crazy person when you were a baby. He even went to public school, mostly because his older brother did really bad in private school, so much so that DJ and Uncle Justin mostly worked with tutors until college.

Yes, technically Uncle Justin is really Cousin Justin but because of the age difference Justin was his uncle and Alexandra, Summer, Jordan R, Jazmine, and Prada were his cousins. He should probably count Bobby Junior as well, but he's so tiny that all he does is spit up on Alex.

But then he referred to Marc and Cliff as his uncles as well and they were not related to anyone by blood at all. At least Uncle Kenny was married to Aunt Amanda and Aunt Amanda was Grandma Faye's daughter. Grandma Faye was not his biological grandmother but she has been married to grandfather Suarez for almost as long as Alex has been alive.

There was Aunt Nico who his father considered a sister, but she was sleeping with his brother. Alex is smart enough two know what two people who are kissing naked are really doing behind closed doors. He's not an idiot. Cousin Summer still thinks that the stork brought her baby sister Prada. He also got a brand-new Xbox by promising not to tell mommy and daddy what he saw. He also promised to always knock when two adults were behind closed doors.

Alex will be the first one to admit that his family is a little weird. And that's not even taking into account that Alexandra has two mommies and one daddy and one of her mommies is actually DJ's biological daddy. But they really don't talk about that just like nobody talks about Uncle Matt getting married for the third time this summer after realizing Megan never loved him or the fact that he changes jobs every six months. Nor do they mention Uncle Tyler's occasional stays at a spa called Pinecrest that Nico's aunt goes to a lot. Alex is not entirely sure what spa means in this context, but he's sure it does not mean an actual vacation. Alex doesn't care because his family is his family.

Today Alex is excited that he's going to get to spend the next week with Aunt Nico so his parents can have one last getaway for their eighth anniversary before his new baby sister gets here, even though because of work reasons it's happening after their actual anniversary. There's going to be pizza and she's going to take him, Alexandra, and Summer to see Star Wars again.

Nico is his favorite aunt and not just because they have a special bond. She plays Xbox and reads comic books with him, which he thinks is cool. Although he still doesn't know why she started crying after reading Ultimate End #5. Maybe she just really likes Miles and was happy about what happened. He is definitely Alex's favorite along with Ms. Marvel, Mockingbird, and Melinda May.

"Alex, do you have your bag together?" His mom called from down the hall just as Alex stuffed one last T-shirt in there.

"Almost. I can't find my replica light saber." He's been looking for it everywhere, but hasn't found it yet.

"You don't need to take your light saber with you." His mom sighed.

"But we are going to see Star Wars again tomorrow."

"He talked you into going again? Alex has already seen it four times." His mom sighed.

"Maybe he just likes giving your husband's bosses more money." Aunt Nico joked. "I can't believe Disney bought the rights to the Alex series of books."

"Neither can I, but Disney probably wants to branch out beyond fairytales and superheroes."

"I want to see it again because I want to be Rey and Nico hasn't seen it yet." Alex called back from his room as he started to look under his bed.

"Because Nico has to put together the 10th annual Wilhelmina Slater Foundation fashion show. But she's going to indulge you anyway because she loves you." Nico called from downstairs.

"How is that going?" His mom asked.

"Crazy. Thankfully DJ is doing more of the logistical stuff this year. He's enjoying his tenure as a corporate party planner in addition to his normal responsibilities as Marc's assistant." Nico joked.

"I'm sure he just likes working with his girlfriend." That's when Alex heard choking noises from outside his door.

"You didn't think we wouldn't pick up on the fact that Justin has turned DJs room into a rehearsal space?"

"DJ was just worried how you guys would react. I'm 4 ½ years older than DJ and I used to babysit him in Paris when he was 12. Also, Daniel sees me as a sister even though our parents never quite made it down the aisle. Alex even calls me his aunt. Some may see the situation as pseudo-incestuous." Nico confessed.

"I don't see it that way. First of all, you are both adults. Second, DJ never saw you as his aunt. Finally, I like you a lot better than all of his high school girlfriends, especially the one who slept with Justin's boyfriend. You understand each other on a level that others can't. Also a four year age difference is a lot better than the 10 year difference between me and Daniel. I can't be a hypocrite…" His mom trailed off mid-word.

"Are you okay? You keep rubbing your back."

"I'm fine. I just have a sharp pain every few minutes. Also, baby Rosa is a kicker." His mom has been in pain all day.

"Are you sure?"

"I'm fine."

Apparently, his mother was not fine because about five minutes after that she started screaming and the front of her dress was wet. Instead of spending their weekend at a bed and breakfast, his parents were spending the night at the hospital because his mom went into labor. Alex wasn't allowed to go. He was sad about that until Nico took him to see Star Wars again.

That night Nico and DJ had a fight (in French) because DJ thinks that Nico telling Betty that they were dating caused her to go into labor early. However, by this morning they were kissing all the time so they must have gotten over it.

"So guess what?" DJ said when Alex sat down to their table for breakfast.

"What?"

"As of 5:27 AM this morning you are a big brother." DJ said excitedly.

"Mommy had Rosa?" Alex asked excitedly.

"Yes, mom and our brand-new sister are doing perfectly fine according to dad." DJ told him.

"When do I get to see my little sister?" Alex asked excitedly.

"After breakfast." Nico answered.

Alex is pretty sure he has never ate that fast before. However, he couldn't wait to hold his baby sister. Of course that still did not mean that they couldn't make a quick stop at the nearest Toys "R" Us to get baby Rosa a toy. All babies need a cool toy to cuddle with.

"Of course, he brings us a baby Chewbacca." He heard his dad say as they walked into the room.

"He's going through a phase. It's cute." His mom said clutching baby Rosa to her.

"Do you want to hold your sister?" Alex nodded his head and he was placed by his dad in the big chair by his mom's bed.

"Be careful. Babies are fragile." His dad called out.

"I know that. I hold Bobby and Prada all the time." Alex reminded his parents before Rosa was put into his arms.

"Hey baby Rosa. I'm your big brother Alex. I promise to love and protect you always." He then pressed a kiss to her forehead. Alex is pretty sure his mommy and daddy were crying at that point, but he was too concerned with his baby sister to notice.

The end.

I was originally planning for the last section to take place on the day I post this chapter but proofreading took a little longer than expected and there's a blizzard coming. I just can't let baby Rosa be born in a blizzard. So I decided just to keep the dates I had in here during the proofreading.

So this is the end, at least for now.

Maybe someday I'll revisit this universe. I'll never say never. I did that once and then six months later I ended up writing a sequel. I've learned. If there's something you want me to develop further let me know.

Anyway, I'm planning to rewrite/finish the gossip universe. Look out for brand-new chapters of Happily Ever After is Just a Rumor and the short story companion the Rumor Mill is Going to Love This. Also, after much consideration, I decided I will post the revised version on fanfiction dot net under the new name. I may wait until I have a few chapters to post over here but I am planning on doing so because I know not everybody has migrated over to AO3, even if that's probably where I've read most of my fanfiction now.