Chapter 4
Disclaimer: This is for entertainment purposes only! I do not own Ugly Betty.
A/N: Warning: lest you thought 'this version' of early Daniel was sweet because he sees Betty's potential a bit sooner, keep in mind, he IS still the 'before' Daniel. Before Betty has taught him a few life lessons in how to treat people. This version of him will actually be more like his counterpart in the movie, "Mr. Perfect". At this point, he seems smarter and more driven than Daniel in the beginning of the series. His nasty side will also be much more evident in this chapter (in some ways, although there will be no cole slaw or modeling biker outfits here at least!) But although certainly not "perfect" yet, he's definitely redeemable, especially by his girl Betty!
Betty gave Daniel a sideways glance, fidgeting nervously with her phone, "How would you know something like THAT?"
"He hung up and then didn't answer when you called back, right? It's what men do when they cheat."
"I see. Is that what YOU do?"
"No. But, believe me, I've seen my father put my mom through this stuff enough over the years.
My advice if you don't want to end up a lonely, bitter drunk, like my m…um, is…you should dump him now."
Betty drew a deep breath, looking out of the window, "Well, thank you for your advice, Mr. Meade, but no offense…"
He smiled, "I see. You don't think you need advice from a 'player' like me, huh? Well, Betty, let me tell you something, it takes one to know one. And I may be a player, or man-whore or whatever you've heard about me. It's all true, I'm afraid. I'm all of those things.
But…that's why I don't have a regular 'girlfriend'. I would never do to a woman what my dad did to my mother or what this guy is obviously doing to you. Mark my words, that boyfriend of yours is hiding something.
Well, here we are, Betty. You did well tonight."
She smiled, "Thank you. I don't suppose well enough that you would forget about this morning?"
"Don't push it. And maybe…look into getting some contacts or something. I don't want to keep having to rescue you from running into things.
You should have told me you were blind as a bat when I asked you. Don't lie to me, okay? We're on the same team. We have to be able to trust each other, because we sure as hell can't trust anybody else at Mode!"
He went around and opened the door for her. She looked up at him curiously, "Thank you, Mr. Meade. I'll see you tomorrow."
As the car drove off, Betty looked down the street and saw the silhouette of Gina Gambaro through her window and heard the unmistakable laughter of her 'boyfriend', Walter. She narrowed her eyes, wondering, could Daniel have been right about Walter cheating on her?
She heard his sniveling voice alright. She clenched her fists and marched over to Gina's house, and pounded on the door, yelling, "Gina! It's Betty! I know Walter's in there! Open this door!"
She heard voices and something being knocked to the ground, and finally, the door opened, and Gina put her hand on her hip, "You've got some nerve, coming over here and pounding on my door at one o'clock in the morning, Betty!"
Betty rolled her eyes, pointing to Walter, who was grabbing his pants and headed out the back door, "Oh, really? Well, I'm sorry, Gina, but you two have got some nerve, having an affair two doors down from my house! I can see and hear you two from the street! Walter! Don't even TRY to get out of this!
I can't believe I bought you a birthday present and was going to get you a cake! You are a little weasel and I never want to see you again! JERK!"
She slammed the door, causing the flat screen television Walter had just given her to fall to the floor, and break. She heard Gina shrieking,
"Oh my God! My flat screen. That bitch is gonna pay for that!" Betty heard Walter saying something but she didn't stick around to hear.
She went home, and ran upstairs to her room, and threw herself on her bed. The crazy thing was, she wasn't even really all that heart-broken about Walter.
He was simply the ONLY guy who had shown much interest in her. But honestly, he was kind of….well, boring, to say the least.
She wandered downstairs, unable to sleep and ran into her father, in the kitchen. "Papi! Hey, what are you doing up?"
He smiled, and put his arm around her, "I…uh…had a hard time getting to sleep when I heard about that new boss of yours and his reputation."
She rolled her eyes, "Daniel Meade? Believe me, I'm SO not his type! He 'dates' supermodels and actresses. I heard he dated Angelina Joli! I'm not even close to his type. Heck, I apparently can't even keep the dufus next door. Not that I even really want him! I just caught Walter cheating on me with Gina Gambaro. If she wants him; she can have him!"
He nodded, and handed her a plate with empanadas, then sat down at the table with her, "Yes, I…heard. Are you alright, mija? You deserve better than that idiot!"
She nodded, "I know, papi. Thank you. I'm just so…tired of never feeling good enough for…stupid guys. I mean…Gina? The thing is, I think the only reason she went out with him is because he got her a flat screen TV at Pro-buy."
She grinned slightly, "I think I broke it, though, when I slammed her front door."
They both laughed, and he reached out and took her hand, shaking his head, "Oh, mija, believe me, the right man will come along for you. And he'll see what I see. You are such an enthusiastic, positive, optimistic, beautiful person!" He grabbed her face and smiled at her.
She nodded, "Of course, papi! You have to say that. You're my dad."
He picked up a picture of Betty, with her mother, at her vanity, playing dress up. "You're just like your mother. She was a beautiful woman, too. Don't let anybody make you feel you're not good enough!" He rose and kissed her on the top of the head. "Goodnight, mija! Sweet dreams."
She nodded, and put her head down, on the table, wearily, looking at the picture of herself, putting on lipstick and wearing her mother's pearls. And as she looked at the picture more closely, she noticed a large letter F on the powder container. F for…?"
The next morning, Betty grabbed some coffee and tried her best to look presentable, but she gave up, and knew it was obvious she hadn't had a lot of sleep and had been upset. But she didn't care. She had an idea for the Fabia line and she couldn't wait to pitch it to Daniel.
When she arrived, and got off the elevator, she hurried into Daniel's office, but it was empty. Maybe he wasn't in yet? She looked at her watch and saw the annoying blonde at the orange donut, filing her nails.
"Where is Daniel? Isn't he in, yet?"
She rolled her eyes, looking Betty up and down and sneering, "He's down in the conference room. They're having the big meeting with the whole company to introduce him as the new Editor-in-chief today. You probably should go. Since YOU'RE supposed to be his assistant. For now."
"He told me about the meeting, but I though it wasn't until ten?"
"Oh, yeah, it got pushed up so Bradford could attend before he leaves for Europe. Sorry, I tried to call your house, to leave a message, but they said you had already left."
"I have a cell phone. You could have called me on it."
She shrugged, looking at her nails, "I tried, but it must not get reception on the subway." She pretended to answer the phone, "Mode magazine! Hold please!" She looked at Betty dismissively, "You'd better run!"
Betty knew the girl probably had NOT even tried to reach her, but of course, there was no way to prove it, so she ran to the conference room as fast as she could, holding her notes and the presentation folder she had made to show Daniel for the Fabia line.
She saw that the meeting was just starting, and Daniel was getting ready to stand up and give his speech. She tried to clean a smudge on her glasses as she was running, and before she knew what happened, she slammed smack into the glass door of the conference room and landed flat on her back. She saw Marc giggling at her and Daniel closed his eyes, but came and helped her up, "Are you okay?"
She nodded, blushing and tried to pretend she was invisible as she found a seat on the outside of the room. As embarrassed as she felt for her own clumsy entrance, she felt worse for poor Daniel, after that woman, Wilhelmina completely humiliated the guy, dismissing him and deliberately putting 'Danny' on his stupid crystal thing she gave him. She entered late, then ran started to run the meeting as if Daniel's word didn't mean anything.
She saw Daniel try to speak to his father afterwards, but he dismissed him, and merely looked at him with disappointment, as he rushed out to catch his flight.
As terrible as she felt for herself, her heart went out to Daniel. As she followed him back to his office, she could see by the way he slumped his shoulders, he was upset. She didn't say anything for a few minutes, waiting for his cue.
He took a deep breath, then appeared to see her for the first time, "You look terrible, Betty! What happened to you? Didn't you get any sleep last night?"
"No, well, at first, I caught stupid Walter cheating on me. But then I got an idea for the Fabia line! I stayed up all night, doing research. Oh, the thing with her accident, she was in one about a month ago. She was driving and…what? Why are you grinning at me like that?"
He shrugged, "No reason. I was just thinking, you women drivers!"
She blushed, "Shut up! Anyway, my research on the company's financials show that for the younger generation may be her sales are slow, but the older generation, the age of say her, and my mom…are steady.
She's got a whole group of women, her age that have remained loyal customers, over the years. She needs to go after that age group. Maybe do a commercial, showing moms and their daughters (like she has herself), having a moment with her makeup.
Appeal to her key demographic." She handed Daniel her proposal and showed him the photograph of her and her mother.
He looked it over and did a double take of the photo, then pointed to it, smiling,sadly", that's you? With your mom?"
She nodded, her eyes a bit glossy. "Yeah. She used to let me play dress up sometimes."
He looked at her, "Is she…gone?"
She nodded, "Yeah. She died of cancer three years ago. I still miss her. Listen, Daniel … about the meeting this morning, I'm so sorry I wasn't there earlier. Amanda never told me the time got pushed up…"
He shook his head, "It's fine, Betty. No amount of preparation could have prevented that crap Wilhelmina pulled in there today. And my dad…well, it is what it is. I'm surprised he even showed up in the first place. Wait, what did you say before about catching your boyfriend cheating? So…I was right, huh?"
Betty shrugged, trying not to even think about how angry and hurt she was that someone like Walter thought he was too good for her. "I don't really want to talk about that"
Daniel read Betty's proposal over more carefully and again looked at the picture, and a smile slowly curled on the corners of his mouth, as he rose from his chair, "This…is brilliant, Betty! Great work! See, this is the reason I hired you. But…your look, today…" He went to her and took her hand, walking around her.
"I'm sorry, but what the hell is that you're wearing? A poncho? I know you didn't get a lot of sleep last night, because you were working on this proposal, and that's fantastic, but … Betty, this is Mode. We're one of the leading fashion magazines in the world.
I'm the Editor-in-chief. You're my assistant now. And how you look reflects on me. I know you said you have big dreams of owning your own magazine someday. And that's great. But for now…you work here.
And as long as you're working at Mode, you need to look the part. Haven't you ever heard, dress for the job you want? I don't know what job you're dressing for today, but…it's really not working.I was serious about those glasses last night. I want you to look into contacts, or at least better glasses, so you're not running into cars you can't afford to repair, or trees, or glass doors.
Come on, I'm taking you to The Closet. We're getting you out of those clothes, now. What you had on last night looked good. It wasn't designer, but at least it showed off your figure a little."
She stopped for a moment, "glaring at him, '' I've no desire to be like your last assistant. I took this job to actually work for you, not…take 'dictation' or whatever that guy Marc said the other girl did for you!"
He raised his eyebrows, and grinned "You think I want to sleep with you? No offense, Betty. But that's not the reason I hired you. I need you for your brains, not your body. I could get Amanda or some other girl if that's what I was after.
I don't mean to sound harsh but keep in mind if I get fired, so do you and right now my old man is ready to fire me, in spite of the fact that I'm his only son! It's just that I'm already enough of a laughing stock here without you looking...well, like you don't belong here. You're a very smart girl and I do want you to be my assistant.
My dad may have simply wanted me to hire you because he thought you were …you wouldn't distract me, but I can tell there's more to you than that. You're not only smart, but I can see you do have beauty, too, although it seems you're trying awfully hard to hide it.
I may be a playboy and I'm the first to admit I like looking at gorgeous models. But, I've always felt that almost every woman has some kind of beauty she could choose to highlight if she wanted to bother to learn how. You have all kinds of beauty that you seem determined to cover up.
My father only looks at the surface. But he also thinks I'm stupid and useless just because I'm not like my brother Alex, his golden boy. As long as Alex was alive, I honestly didn't even care what he thought of me. I went along with the image he and the rest of the world had of me. But now that I have my chance finally, I'm going to prove that he and everybody else was wrong about me; about both of us. Christina?"
He handed Betty off to Mode's seamstress, finally letting go of her hand. He pulled off her poncho and handed it to her. "Yes, Daniel?"
"This is my new assistant, Betty Suarez. She needs…something decent to wear. If she and I are going to be a team, she has to look like she belongs here. See what you can do for her.
He threw Betty's poncho to Christina, "Oh, and burn that damn poncho! I don't want to see that thing again. As soon as you're presentable, come see me in my office and we'll work on your proposal.
I like it a lot. Oh, and Betty, if you're really tired of getting treated like crap by guys like that stupid ex-boyfriend of yours, I can actually help you change your strategy. Teach you the rules of dating."
"Strategy? Rules? You sound like you're talking about some game."
He shrugged as he turned to leave, "What do you think "love" is, Betty? It's all a game. Whoever has the most power wins. It's that way in business, too. At least, in the fashion business. The sooner you learn that, the better off you'll be."
As soon as he left, Christina shook Betty's hand, "Well, hello, Betty Suarez. I heard all about you, darlin'! Come on, let's see what we've got in here that might work on you."
Betty was speechless at first from Daniel's little rant about her appearance. Then she started seething, as Christina found outfits for her, "He is the most obnoxious man I've ever met! I can't believe he said all that mean stuff about how I look! And he thinks love is a game?
And his father only wanted him to hire me because he thinks I'm ugly? That's really nice. What kind of a place is this?" Betty looked like she was about to cry she was so overwhelmed. Once again, even though she had worked extremely hard on her proposal to Daniel, she seemed to fall short, because she didn't 'fit the mold'. It wasn't fair!
Christina patted her, sympathetically, "Aww…don't cry about silly Daniel, luv. He doesn't mean to be a pratt. Now stop complainin' and take off yer clothes! Let's show that sod what a fine body you've been hidin' in these…um….interestin' outfits!"
Betty waved her off, wiping away the tears, "It's not just him. I found out my boyfriend was cheating on me last night. So I'm not really feeling all that good about myself right now.
To try and put that behind me, I put all my efforts into my work, and Daniel liked what I did on the proposal, but then…what he just said, made me feel like I'm still not good enough!"
"Psh! Ignore his rudeness, Betty. He didn't mean to hurt you. I think he really likes you, or he wouldn't even have bothered to hire you or brought you to me. Don't take it personally.
His poor mother's been driven to drink over Bradford's philanderin' ways. And you've met his father, I suppose. He's a piece of work! Believe it or not, I'd say Daniel is the best of the bunch. But he's certainly a bit rough around the edges right now, no doubt. He's got a good heart in there…somewhere, though.
But he needs…well, clearly someone to teach him some manners, to help him bring out his heart a lot more, maybe someone like you who's willing to stand up to the man and tell him when he's got it wrong. He works hard at hiding it away, I'd say about as much as you do in hiding your loveliness away.
Christina smirked, "I also heard him say that he thinks you have potential, Betty. Say what you will about that man, he does have a good eye for real beauty and hidden talent. And you've got both in spades!
I do like that you stood up to him, luv. You've got gumption. Not a lot of the chic-ees here would have had the nerve to do that. That's why he's so arrogant. He's used to women fawning all over him. He needs someone strong enough to tell him what for and not just go along with him.
I'm Christina, by the way, Christina McKinney. So, you've done a good proposal that our fearless prince there likes, eh? Good for you! Here, try this on. I'll take it out in the bum and at the top a bit if I need to.
These stupid designers wouldn't know a real woman's curves if it hit them in the face! I'll say this much, he's right about you, too. You're really quite stunning, Betty Suarez. Come have a look. Much improved, I'd say. What do you think?"
Betty wiped away her tears, looking in the mirror at the dress this nice Scottish woman had found for her. It was a black dress, with a long zipper all the way down the back. It fit her like a glove, and definitely emphasized her…assets to their full advantage.
Betty normally never wore anything so…tight. Or so…black! No color at all! It also showed her cleavage off a lot more than she would have liked, but she had to admit, it did make her feel, well, beautiful. A word that she didn't think anyone but her father and now, strangely enough, Daniel had ever used to describe her.
"I look…different."
Christina nodded, smiling at this girl who clearly didn't have a clue about fashion, but apparently had a good head on her shoulders, "You certainly do, luv! This is exactly why I love fashion so much! It can transform your mood. If you wear something that makes you feel good about yourself, it can spur you on to do far more than you imagined.
Say what you will, but even the most lovely paintin needs a frame that shows it off to its' best advantage or it will go unnoticed. That's where a lot of designers have it all wrong. They think it's always got to be all about seeing their 'designs, like they are the bloody painters. That's why they want these emaciated models wearing their designs, using them like human hangers.
And I get that too, but I also like to make a woman feel good about herself. That's what I want my designs to be about. We real women have fat that jiggles around on our bellies and under our arms and we actually have breasts and arsses, imagine!"
Betty smiled, and picked up her poncho, handing it to Christina, "Do you really think he was serious about me burning this?"
"Yes, I do." She looked at Betty's crestfallen face, and she laughed, folding the poncho up, putting it on a shelf, "But, I'll keep it safe for you. You can come back and say goodbye to me tonight on your way home, and take it with you, luv. Now, off with you, go show those stupid chic-ees that you can run circles around them in those Jimmy Choos and still outsmart them!"
Betty tried her best to walk on the sky-high heels but she wasn't used to them and she had to keep stopping and re-gaining her balance. She carefully made her way back to her desk, seeing that Daniel was on a call in his office. Luckily, Amanda was gone. Note to self, do NOT trust anyone here, like Daniel had warned her.
Except him and Christina. At least, Betty finally felt like she had one other ally in this what did Daniel call it, "Shark tank"? That was pretty accurate.
She saw her proposal lying back on her desk with Daniel's notes, various questions he had about what she had in mind for her ideas. She went about answering all his questions, and started working up some graphics, with several possible ways to promote her idea .She saw some of the photographer's books, and one really stood out. She liked his work. A lot.
Finally, Daniel got off the phone and motioned for her to come in his office. He glanced up at her, and quickly looked back down at his desk, "Oh…hey, Betty. Betty? Wow! You look grea ….um….you look… MUCH better!"
Betty eyed him, ignoring the fact that he seemed to be almost checking her out. Now she was ready to slap him if he even thought about touching her or saying anything inappropriate! She handed him her proposal back, along with her notes and ideas for possible graphics and promotions.
"Here are my notes on my proposal, and I believe you'll find I've answered all your questions. Will there be anything else, Mr. Meade?" Betty was still extremely angry with him for talking to her so rudely earlier. She didn't care who he thought he was, there was no reason to be so mean!
She could have sworn she saw him start to smile, but he put his head back down, looking at her notes and nodded, "No, that'll be all, Miss Suarez. Thank you."
As she turned to leave, he called out, "Oh, wait, just one thing. My father said Wilhelmina recommended Philippe. But did you happen to see any other photographers whose work you liked? I'm actually meeting with Phill…"
"Vincent Biancchi!" She smiled holding up samples of Vincent's work. She threw them on Daniel's desk, triumphantly. "His work is fantastic."
She came around to stand behind Daniel's desk and looked at the samples of Phillippe's work. Daniel glanced up at her, as he sat at his desk, but kept his eyes on the photographs.
Betty continued, looking at the samples, picking the up off of Daniel's desk and walking back to the doorway, holding them up carefully, "I mean, some of Phillippe's stuff isn't that bad, either, but he sort of copied Hiroshi's take on using the tiki torches."
He smirked, looking down, then nodded to a man in jeans, standing in the doorway behind Betty, coming into Daniel's office just in time to hear herr,, "Betty, this is Phillippe. Phillippe, this is Betty. Sorry, you'll have to excuse my new assistant.
She's very…um…vocal. Oh, and Betty, Biancchi's work IS great, too, you're right. But he'd never work for us. He and Alex had a huge falling out and he vowed never to work for Mode again."
She blushed slightly at Phillippe, extending her hand meakly, then backing out of Daniel's office, "I'm…so…sorry about what I said, I…I'd better leave now!"
She hurried to the ladies' room and saw Amanda, touching up her make-up. When she saw Betty, she raised her eyebrows, "Oh, so that's how it is, huh? I see! You found out Daniel is a boob man!"
Betty ignored her remark and tugged at the top of the dress, still too embarrassed about trashing Phillippe with him overhearing her. She asked Amanda, "Do you know that photographer talking to Daniel in his office?"
"Phillippe? Yeah, I know him! Daniel stole his girlfriend last year. I heard he's still not over it. But Daniel's desperate, so…he might still use the guy. He and I dated for like a week. They don't call him tripod for…"
Betty cut her off, "I get it. Thanks, Amanda. You've surprisingly been helpful. I appreciate it."
Amanda gave Betty a dirty look, as she breezed past her and back to her desk. She called her house, to talk to her papi or Hilda. She really needed a friendly voice to comfort her right now.
Betty was telling her father how she had opened her mouth and accidentally insulted the French photographer. Her father re-assured her, "It sounds like your boss is best not to use the guy anyway, if he suspects he's involved with that woman you said is out to get his job, mija. Wait, who was the one you said you liked? Biancchi? Are you talking about Vinny Biancchi?"
"Vinny? Papi, do you know him?"
"Yeah, so do you. Well, we know his father really well. You and Hilda used to work at his lemon ice stand during the summer. You want me to call his dad for you?"
"No, thanks, papi. I've got this! I love you!"
"Te quiero, mija! Don't let those people make you feel bad about yourself. Remember how smart you are! You could figure your way out of anything!"
She smiled, tearing up at her father's words of encouragement and praise, "Thank you, papi!" Betty got on the phone and started making some calls. She buzzed Daniel's phone. He seemed annoyed as he picked up, "Yes, Be…Miss Suarez? I'm in the middle of a meeting right now. What is it?"
"I've got Vincent Biancchi on the line to speak to you. Should I ask him to call back?"
He looked up at her through the windows between their desks in surprise but also with admiration, "Vincent…really? You got him?"
Phillippe glared first directly at Betty, then narrowed his eyes at Daniel, as he stormed out,
"I have never been so insulted in all my life! You and your rude new assistant! Wilhelmina can forget…Au revoir, Daniel! Bon chance!"
Daniel smiled as he answered the phone, "Hello? Is this Vincent Biancchi? Thank you for taking my call, Mr. Biancchi!"