Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter. You are all wonderful.

I am so sorry that it took so long for this chapter to go well. Life and work got in the way for me and my wonderful beta. I'm working on a few chapters this weekend and hopefully the next update will be timelier.

Special note: This chapter runs parallel to the first part of the last one. I considered integrating it into the chapter before but decided against it. I wanted to keep the flow close to what was there previously and not veer too much from Claire's perspective.

Warning: Sexual content

Chapter 14: Be Your Own Player

Wilhelmina honestly wondered how she found herself waiting for her former rival down the street from the Mode offices, in a deli of all places. She was currently staring down the horribly dressed woman with a bad dye job who was trying to get her to order something other than a high priced bottle of water. Wilhelmina was shocked the restaurant with the horrible decorum actually sold something other than Dasani.

She was somewhat surprised to receive a message from Monique via her emergency e-mail account yesterday. Wilhelmina was not even sure how Monique got that address. Originally, she assumed Marc gave her the address until her conversation with Connor yesterday afternoon during their last visit before the wedding Tuesday.

"I gave her that address a couple weeks ago in case of an emergency."

"She's not actually your sister?" Wilhelmina asked Connor between kisses.

"No, Monique is not my biological sister, even if her father did have offices in Milbourn and was prone to sample the local population." Connor said with a laugh. Wilhelmina was very familiar with the reputation of Monique's biological father. The older Wyndham-West was a ruthless businessman who fucked everyone over literally and figuratively for the sake of making another dollar. He allegedly had Mafia ties and grabbed Wilhelmina's ass on more than one occasion.

"I didn't think so, but I had to ask. You never know with a father like hers. It would have been perfect black mail material. Why did she refer to herself by that name?" Wilhelmina asked right before returning her mouth to Connor's. She loved his kisses. As ridiculously romantic as it sounded, when his lips touched hers, she felt like another part of her soul had returned to her. Nico's father never made her feel like this. She was no longer an empty soul filled with darkness. Almost dying was worth it because it brought her back to the one person she loved the most.

"One time when Molly was very sick in the hospital years ago, they wouldn't let Monique in to see her because she wasn't 'family', despite her mom being on the board. Monique and Molly told the doctor that Monique was her fiancé's sister."

"Well she is light enough for it to seem plausible." Wilhelmina remarked.

"She used the same cover last month to sneak in here to tell me about the shooting in person. In case you didn't make it, she didn't want me to find out about it the same way she found out about her first husband's death. No one should find out about something like that on CNN." She could detect sadness in Connor's voice but it did not prevent him from pulling off her top.

After losing several good suits last year due to Connors 'enthusiasm', Wilhelmina started wearing more casual attire that could be removed faster for their now bi-weekly conjugal visits. She just didn't feel like sporting the prison house chic look on every fashion website in the world again. Although, she doubted that happening now that most of the industry thought she was 'retired'.

If the Isabella buyout keeps going as badly as it has so far, her retirement may be a bit more permanent than originally intended. Although, the thought of living on some private island with Connor without worrying about the latest styles or the fashion magazine wars was more appealing now than before. At least it would be something tangible even if the boredom would begin to set in by the second week.

"Osborne has always been a sentimental fool. That's her biggest weakness." Wilhelmina said with a snicker as she began to pull down Connors jumpsuit. Yet, a part of her was happy about Monique's sentimentality. If Monique was not such a sentimental fool, Wilhelmina would not have her Connor back. For that reason alone, she acquiesced when her future husband asked for Monique to be at their wedding.

"It's also her biggest strength." Connor said quickly. "Sometimes caring can be a good thing. Monique contacted you for a reason. I suggest you meet with her. It's obvious that she knows why things are not going as smoothly with the Isabella deal as it should be. I looked at the numbers myself. Isabella Press is probably two months from bankruptcy at most. They need a cash infusion, badly, along with some competent help. Yet, instead of taking your offer seriously, they want you to take over for that idiotic woman who ran their flagship magazine into the ground. There is obviously information we're missing." It was hard for Wilhelmina to pay attention to his words because his fingers were doing that thing that made her want to call him the names of various deities.

"I know the lack of interest from Isabella seems suspicious. Unfortunately, my contact Carlo knows nothing." Wilhelmina said just before pulling him in for another earth-shattering kiss. Carlo was a slimy Bastard, but he usually had good Intel but he had nothing on this.

"Osborne is the only person I know that is as connected as you are and is just as ruthless. She is a pit bull underneath her sweet and innocent façade." Wilhelmina was well aware of that.

"She did work at Isabella Press for several years and was well liked. She knew about the blood in the water months before anyone else did. She also doesn't screw over people that she owes. You're the one who rescued her from Player purgatory and therefore she owes you." Connor said as he pulled down the drawstring pants she was wearing, so that they could make the most of their hour together. His mouth barely left hers, even as he spoke. They were getting very good at multitasking.

"I'm the one who put her in Player purgatory. I had no idea she would flourish in the seventh circle of publishing hell. She only survived because of those connections that come from mommy dearest. Mrs. Wyndham-West is one of the biggest players on the Upper East Side. That's why she got such great covers." There was no way Wilhelmina would ever admit again that Monique made Player a buyable publication because of her actual skills.

"This is coming from the daughter of a senator. How exactly did you manage to get biweekly conjugal visits before the wedding, again?" Connor asked as he destroyed another $400 custom bra due to his impatience.

Her father, the Senator was willing to give her tangible things such as conjugal visits with Connor instead of things like his love and affection. He did not even send her a card when she almost died. He didn't even think about leaving the campaign trail to actually see his dying child in ICU. Then again, he never visited his other daughter during her extended stay at Serenity Hills. At least, she made time to stop by every once in a while along with a monthly care package to her sister. Although her father did use her near death experience to promote his stance on gun control. Helping her spend time with Connor was his way of not actually caring about her.

"You made your point Owens." She said in an angry tone. "This is our last conjugal visit before the wedding Tuesday and I want to enjoy it. I don't want to waste it talking about Monique Osborn or whatever her last name is now. Just shut up and fuck me." Wilhelmina said as she pushed Conner on to the way too small prison bed.

Wilhelmina was brought out of her memory of the afternoon before with Connor by the sounds of Monique walking into the restaurant. She was screaming at someone on the phone as the girl behind the counter flipped her off. If it wasn't for the pre-wedding Botox, Wilhelmina would smile.

"First of all Cara, this is my wedding. Daniel is my friend. If I want him to be in the wedding party, he will be. If he wants to bring his new girlfriend to the wedding, he can, especially because she's friends with my fiancée. As much as it hurts me to say this, Molly is dead and she is never coming back. Daniel has the right to fall in love again. His girlfriend Betty is actually a really good person despite whatever the hell they are saying about her on British television." Monique pauses for a moment to listen to the other person. Unfortunately she's too far away for Wilhelmina to hear that part of the conversation

"That stuff is definitely untrue. You shouldn't believe everything you see on You-Tube. Not everybody gets ahead in this world by spreading their legs." Most people would find her tone civil but Wilhelmina knew that she was 30 seconds from killing someone.

At the same time, the girl behind the counter started shooting hateful glares at Monique as she walked behind the counter as if she owned the place, grabbing whatever she wanted. Considering this was her boyfriend's restaurant, she probably did actually own the place.

"No, I don't think it's too soon for him to be with someone else. You don't get to put a time limit on somebody else's grief. That's not your place. This isn't about you!" Monique pauses again.

"Yes, I know that they're living together. Your point is?" Monique said into the headset as she started slamming doors behind the counter.

"Contrary to whatever they were saying on British TV this morning Daniel was not sleeping with Betty behind Molly's back. The fact that he punched out the guy does not mean the accusations were true." Again, Wilhelmina could hear the anger in her voice as she saw the not skinny fashion EIC put together a breakfast sandwich that would take hours to burn off.

"You know if you don't want to be in the wedding anymore fine. I bet Betty would make a much better bridesmaid. She can take your place. If you're going to be that judgmental, I don't want you there. Personally, I think you and your husband refusing to come to my wedding for the pettiest reason ever is a good thing. I think Andrew is an ass and according to my new creative director his best friend Nathan from college isn't just a 'friend'. He's run into them at Westside Cabaret more than once. I didn't want to say anything because unlike you I didn't want to repeat a vicious rumor until I was sure that your husband is on the down low. You and he may want to have a nice little chat about his weekly visits to Boy Town." With that Monique ended the call as she started screaming expletives into her headset.

"Its moments like these I wish I had a phone that I could actually slam. I need to break something." Monique said to no one in particular in the small deli as she walked back to Wilhelmina carrying two breakfast sandwiches, the same type of bottled water that Wilhelmina was currently drinking, and a set of keys.

"Wonderful speech, I almost respect you for that. I see you're still cleaning up Daniel's messes. I know that call had something to do with Daniel being stupid. What did he do this time?" Wilhelmina asked actually caring what Daniel did. She was starting to miss Daniel in a 'now she's bored without the scheming' way. She had a lot more free time now that she was no longer planning his demise. She misses it.

"I'm surprised you don't know considering Marc was the one who called me and alerted me to the London incident."

"I haven't spoken to Marc since yesterday afternoon. He does have a life outside of me."

"Yes, he really does. And you probably should call him very soon. That phone call was nothing. It was just more wedding insanity from one of my so-called friends. It was better than the call from my sister this morning when I found out my father was not only responsible for me getting blacklisted by a certain DC power couple, but he is bringing his now pregnant girlfriend to my wedding. My sister now claims she has Ebola, just so she can avoid quality time with our former friend turned future stepmom."

"At least her monkey does not have rabies." Wilhelmina mumbled under her breath remembering the weak excuse her daughter came up with to not come to her wedding to Bradford. She did not even bother to invite her this time because as far as Wilhelmina is concerned she has no daughter. Marc is the closest thing she has to a child. At least he cared if she lived or died. She will never have grandkids, but she doesn't need them. The discussion of possible nuptial disasters made Wilhelmina happy she decided to go with a small wedding this time.

"What? Never mind. My wedding would be going to hell right now regardless of Daniel Meade's involvement. Some people just need a scapegoat. Daniel is not a complete fuck up or anywhere near as incompetent as you think he is. He is doing a really good job in England right now. He even got British rock superstar Katie Kay and her brand new American comedian husband Richard Snow for next month's cover."

"He actually did something right for once. I'm impressed." Wilhelmina said coldly." Although, knowing his luck the couple will be divorced before the cover comes out."

"Don't sound so cynical. I don't even think you believe Daniel is really an incompetent fool. You put too much effort into making him look like an ass to truly believe that." Monique said as she started to walk to the door again.

The thing that Wilhelmina hates the most about Monique Osborn, soon to be Rossi, was she is too good at reading people or more importantly she was too good at reading Wilhelmina. Monique picked up on things about her that most people ignored.

"Follow me, we're not staying here." Monique said as they walked out the door to an empty storefront that used to be one of the few restaurants Wilhelmina found tolerable about two blocks away. Monique quickly unlocked the door as Wilhelmina followed behind her into the space under construction. The new restaurant was mostly finished, but equipment still littered the area.

"You didn't actually bring me here to kill me?" Wilhelmina asked as she walked over to one of the finished tables and sat down. Even though she was healing nicely after being shot by the crazy illegitimate spawn of Claire, she was still unable to stand for long periods of time. Her doctor was actually making her rest. At least her time away from Mode was good for something.

"Do you really think I'm stupid? Why would I try to kill you on my own property? Marc even knows that we're here. By the way, you should really call him after this. Some of the Nikolai stuff turned out to be a little more truth than we thought." Wilhelmina wondered what she was referring to exactly.

"This is Gio's wedding present and I would hate to get blood on the new carpets before opening day." Monique joked before she pulled out one of the breakfast sandwiches from earlier and gave it to Wilhelmina.

"I think blood splotches are about the only thing that would help these dreadful carpets. What's this?" Wilhelmina asked eyeing the sandwich suspiciously.

"If you could hold out on the snide comments about the décor until opening weekend, I would appreciate it. I know you usually live on $10 bottles of water and the occasional heart of a newborn child but that is breakfast. Supposedly, it's the most important meal of the day." Monique said taking a drink of her water.

"I know that. You are drinking the same water. I mean what is in it. I do not eat any of the artery clogging things that you are currently consuming such as cheddar cheese or bacon. You are getting married in eight days. Shouldn't you be starving yourself?" She said looking at the fashion EIC eating a cheddar cheese and bacon sandwich on a French baguette.

"I've lost 6 pounds in the last week due to stressful wedding arrangements, a teenager who doesn't listen to anything I say, and a MIA dress designer. If I lose any more weight, my dress is going to fall off me. You need to eat as well if you want to be healthy enough to suck the blood of the innocent in your next career, as well as give Connor a good honeymoon conjugal visit." Wilhelmina was fighting the urge to throw the sandwich at Monique's head.

"Marc would kill me if I let you starve and he has other things to worry about beside you. That thing you're looking at with such disdain is a sun dried tomato, spinach, and feta cheese egg white omelet on low fat six grain bread. I had Dominique make your food before I got here. I don't trust her to prepare anything for me because she would probably season it with arsenic." Wilhelmina was not entirely sure Monique was being sarcastic, considering that icy glare exchanged earlier.

"What did you do to piss her off?" Wilhelmina asked taking a tentative bite of the sandwich. It was actually edible.

"Dominique is Gio's business partner and former girlfriend. Technically, they were still together when I started dating my current fiancée. She's a little bitter about the wedding next week. If it wasn't for me, she would probably be the one walking down the aisle with Gio. In an effort to not be a bitch, I don't say anything when sourdough girl gives me the middle finger or calls me nasty names and refuses to let me buy her out on principle."

If Wilhelmina was ignorant of the true nature of Monique Osborn like everyone else, she would be shocked but she knew better. She wasn't dealing with sweet and innocent Betty anymore. Monique lived in the gray.

"I always knew you had balls Osborn." She said with a bit of respect.

"I'll take that as a compliment. I'm kind of busy dealing with doing three issues at the same time; the impending fallout from Nikolai's little stunt with the emails when everyone finds out some of it was true, and additional wedding chaos triggered by this morning's incident on London Morning. I don't have time to play around." Wilhelmina really will need to call Marc. It is so hard to keep up with the latest gossip completely on her own.

"I would like to get this conversation over with as quickly as possible. Yesterday our favorite fashion reporter provided me with…" Monique was cut off by her phone ringing. Apparently, the call was important and she excused herself to talk to whoever was on the other side.

"Please stop talking because I don't have the energy to deal with your bullshit. I know you saw Daniel and Betty together at my celebration party last year. Why are you shocked by what you are seeing in the gossip columns today? At the time, they were still just friends. I do not know why you are so upset now when six months ago you were actually congratulating him on the fact that he was dating again. You don't get to decide how other people's relationships progress. That's not your call."

Apparently, Daniel did something very juicy with the former unfashionable one. She personally hoped it wasn't public sex again.

"Everything they're saying are absolute lies. Molly may have been dying at the time but she knew exactly what was going on between her husband and his best friend. If you don't want to come to the wedding anymore, that's fine. I don't feel like paying $500 a plate for hypocritical people. I will just donate your wedding party favor bag to charity." Monique screamed again as she ended the call before taking off her headset and threw it across the room.

"Daniel did screw up?" Wilhelmina asked.

"I told you before, Daniel didn't screw up. His relationship with Betty is no one's business but his and Betty's, including Molly's good meaning friends who just happened to be my friends who I'm starting to think only hung out with me because of Molly and the fact that I'm wealthy. If Marc were less busy with the Nikolai fallout, I'm sure he would've sent this to you but I guess it falls to me right now" Monique said as she pulled up the video file on her phone and passed it to Wilhelmina.

Why couldn't Daniel punch somebody out on television last year when she was trying to steal the company from him? If she knew Daniel being with Betty would make him do stuff this stupid, she would have encouraged their relationship years ago.

"You think he would have learned his lesson about hitting people in public after the incident with Matt?" Wilhelmina commented offhandedly.

"Even I would've hit the guy under the circumstances. Whoever set up that interview for Betty on London morning was preparing a hit."

"Of course I don't know, Daniel is very good at stepping into that sort of thing all on his own." Wilhelmina remarked

"I think that was more about Betty than Daniel. Although, he was collateral damage. Personally, I am thinking somebody who was pissed off about the not white American getting an EIC position at a hot new magazine at 26 arranged for this. Everyone hated me when I did it at 27. She even broke my record. That was the most obvious set up I have seen since the Sophie incident years ago. You didn't e-mail a copy of your 'Betty black mail file' to anyone?" How did Monique even know about that file? Did Marc tell her? She really did need to call him after this meeting.

"No, I did not forward that file to anyone. I actually respect Betty. She is a good writer and she will make a good EIC of something not related to fashion. She has good instincts, although I personally believe she needs a few more years to refine them before she is thrown into the deep end. She should be able to swim with the British sharks anyway, as long as she avoids the burrito cart." She said as a backhanded compliment.

"Her taste isn't that bad. She actually looked really good in that interview. She's not even fat, just not anorexic." Monique defended Betty.

"Daniel or her fashion friend probably chose that outfit. You are right, the incident seems suspicious. The whole thing does seem like something I would have done to make Daniel look bad. Unfortunately, Daniel never had a serious girlfriend other than the dying school teacher/Betty Suarez placebo and even I draw the line at using a dying woman in one of my takeover Meade schemes." Wilhelmina was not as heartless as everybody assumed she was. She drew the line at denying her sister's psychiatric medication and even then it worked out for the best. It seemed that her sister's body was not handling her medication very well and that fact was only discovered when she was hospitalized again. She probably would've died if Marc didn't switch out the medication.

"It's nice to know you have some morality. I thought you lost that when Wanda sold her soul to become Wilhelmina." Monique snarked. "As hard as it is to believe, certain British TV hosts have less ethics than you do. In an effort to make Betty look like a fool this morning, in addition to accusing her of getting her brand new job by spreading her legs, they essentially said she got her old one by screwing Daniel when Molly was on her deathbed." Monique said angrily. Wilhelmina was smirking internally because the Botox wouldn't let her do more than that.

"I hate Daniel and I know that's untrue. He would never do that to Molly or Betty. Unfortunately, Daniel always had too much morality for that. It made him a good person, but a bad Mode EIC. Even if Daniel gave Betty the junior editor position because they were sleeping together, that doesn't make her any less qualified. I would not let her have that position if I didn't think she could do it. Unlike the simpleminded fool Daniel, I don't allow my emotions to influence business decisions." Wilhelmina remarked.

"That would mean actually having emotions. Look, I know she is qualified. You know that she is qualified. Anybody who has ever met Betty, knows she is a caring and intelligent person, who would never do anything wrong except for a few indiscretions like kissing Daniel when she was still dating Matt." That last part was mumbled under Monique's breath.

"What?" Wilhelmina asked in mock shock. She remembered Daniel telling her about this incident when they were stuck in the elevator after he tried to kiss her.

"I will show you the pictures from my not a Christmas party later. It doesn't matter, because Matt kissed Amanda the week before. You know Betty would not do something like that. That is why I'm not angry we're dealing with a public relations nightmare because Daniel punched the guy out. I personally wanted to join in." Again, this does not surprise Wilhelmina, considering what Connor told her previously.

"What I do not get is Lindsey standing there like his new star employee is not having her character assassinated? Even though my friend who works for him said otherwise, I thought he was a pretty outstanding guy."

Even though Monique is less trusting than certain pie in the sky idealist, she was still somewhat naiveté. When it came to the bottom line everybody was ruthless. His behavior did not seem too unusual, especially if Lindsey had another reason to hire Betty. Wilhelmina knew for a fact that Lindsey could be just as heartless as her when it was absolutely necessary.

"I would have done the same thing if I could get something out of it. I assume this is not what you want to talk about?" She said quickly taking another bite of the delicious sandwich. Not that she would ever tell Monique that it tastes good.

"Not really. Let's just get to it before I get another nasty phone call from another of my soon-to-be former friends. According to our favorite fashion journalist, Isabella is desperately looking for a buyer because they are in worse financial shape than us after your future husband robbed Meade blind."

"That I knew Osborne." Wilhelmina remarked as she took a drink of her water.

"However, the thing is you are not the only possible savior in town. Matt's mom along with some unnamed European Publishing House is trying to buy Isabella Press." Wilhelmina knew something like that had to be going on considering how badly the negotiations have been going.

"I thought you said that no one else was interested. Although, that does explain why I keep getting offers to take over as EIC of Isabella instead of becoming the president of the company." The offer was slightly insulting. They wanted to pay her 30% less than what her salary was in her previous position without the profit sharing. Did they really think she was that desperate? With the money from the sale of her shares of Meade she could start her own magazine (or website because even she realized that print media was dying) if she wanted to. Maybe it was time to do something different. It was a possibility anyway.

"That's what I was told by my contact but apparently the deal with Victoria Hartley and that unnamed European publishing house is being kept very quiet until the deal is final. If it falls apart they are afraid it may cause Isabella's stock to go into the toilet completely. Unlike Meade, Isabella Press is publicly traded." That makes sense in a weird way that irritated Wilhelmina. She was actually impressed with Monique's ability to get Intel.

"That explains why they're not taking my offer seriously." Wilhelmina said with a sigh.

"You're the plan B. If things fall through with Victoria Hartley and the unnamed European investor, you are the fallback. I personally believe Victoria only wants to buy Isabella to piss off Claire. Their rivalry is getting worse now that Matt bought a piece of the Meade Empire for himself and Claire is supporting Matt's decision to stay with Amanda."

Wilhelmina personally believes the rivalry comes from the fact that Claire screwed Victoria's husband but she didn't say anything. It looked like Wilhelmina was going to be spending the afternoon at the tennis club to find out what is really going on.

"Then I'll just have to make sure the deal falls apart." Wilhelmina said already putting a plan together starting with making friends with Victoria Hartley again.

"How are you going to do that? None of my contacts at Isabella were able to provide me with a name of the European party. All I could find out was that the other buyer is a publishing powerhouse in the European markets. The company owns several fashion and lifestyle magazines in most of the major European markets but have no presence in the U.S. They are looking to diversify their portfolio. The company is currently branching out into non-fashion publications with a European version of the New Yorker. That is also why they're interested in Isabella Press because of their many other non-fashion magazines including Out In Business and Politics Now."

Wilhelmina was shocked that Monique didn't see the connection. It was absolutely genius. Why didn't she ever think of anything that devious?

"Does this mysterious publisher have a new magazine called London Hub?" Wilhelmina asked waiting for Monique to get it.

"You think it's Lindsey Publishing?" The new Mode EIC asked skeptically.

"He has the money and an extreme hatred for Mode magazine no matter what country it's published in. He and Bradford hated each other. There was this incident a couple years ago at London Fashion Week where I had to post bail for Bradford after an altercation."

"What?" Monique asked shocked. "When was this? Why have I not heard about this before now?"

"Because you probably were still in a training bra at the time. Faye was able to keep it out of the press. Apparently my old boss was screwing Lindsey too and Bradford found out." That was just the tip of the iceberg for that particular feud but she wasn't going to tell Monique everything.

"This doesn't surprise me. He did say no to Betty participating in the West-Hartley shoot next week at my wedding. Also, Candy said that the interview was scheduled so last minute the Daniel allowed Betty to borrow an outfit from the closet because she didn't have time to go shopping." Wilhelmina smiled when Monique confirmed her assumption that Daniel chose what Betty was wearing.

"As you stated earlier, Lindsay saw everything and did nothing." Wilhelmina said pointing out the cruel truth of the matter.

"He acted as if he knew exactly what was going to happen. At least that's what Daniel said when we talked"

"There you go."

"But what does using Betty like that have to do with Mode? She is no longer a Mode employee even if she is dating the EIC of Mode UK. That stunt will most likely affect sales of the first issue of London hub." Monique remarked.

"First, remember any publicity is good publicity. You should know this. Everybody is going to want to read the first issue to find out more about the controversial person putting it together. Once they read the first issue, everyone will realize Betty got her job on her own merits and not by spreading her legs for Daniel Meade. That stunt was not about making Betty look bad. It was about making Daniel and Mode look awful. That is important because Daniel's the competition now. He needs to make Daniel look like a fool. When I left, Mode UK was bleeding advertisers because of the instability of the former EIC. I doubt the new one punching out the British Matt Lauer will bring those advertisers back." Wilhelmina said pointedly.

"You have a point. I have a few contacts at London Style. I was planning on calling anyway to get a non-bias read out on what happened this morning. Candy is way too protective." Monique said quickly.

"You might want to ask your contact what the press department is doing to make the situation go away. If they are doing nothing, then you know the truth." Wilhelmina said as she took another bite of the actually edible sandwich.

"I will look into it. I have to go. I have an 8:00 AM Meeting with Kenny from accounting and then we're shooting on location at nine." Monique said getting up from the table.

"There's just one more thing." Wilhelmina said as she got up from the seat.

"Normally, I wouldn't say anything but consider this your wedding present. Even though we both know Betty has potential, the new job in London was too good to be true. There has to be a catch. I always knew that the key to Daniel's success was Betty. I was just not aware it was because Betty believed in Daniel and that actually made him try."

"You were never munch for pep talks." Monique smirked.

"Not all of us can be perky on the outside and the bitch on the inside." Wilhelmina shot back. Before continuing. "I always thought if I separated the two, Daniel would fall flat on his ass and I could take over. Unfortunately, their connection was always too strong. Maybe someone else is trying the same thing."

"You think this is what Lindsey did? He hired Betty for a job in London to make Mode U.S. more vulnerable." She could hear the skepticism in Monique's voice.

"It's a possibility. If that is the case, it backfired on him." Wilhelmina said the last part in a near whisper.

"Why am I not surprised?" Monique said as she pulled two white envelopes out of her purse and handed them to Wilhelmina.

"What's this? Also, why is there a copy of the New York review in here?" Wilhelmina asked.

"Jody's article about being a first-time mom at 50 might be good reading for you."

"That ship has sailed." Wilhelmina remarked thinking about the trouble with conceiving William.

"This is Nikolai scandal related. I was hoping Marc called you himself last night but he needs you on this one with his biological mom long gone. Does the baby on the front page look familiar to you?" That's when she noticed Marc's eyes and hair looking back at her.

"Of course something that ridiculous in the emails was bound to be true." She's almost disappointed that she didn't figure it out before, especially because she knew about Marc sleeping with Jody.

"Marc found out yesterday." Which explains why Marc did not return her calls last night. So much about her earlier thoughts about never getting grandkids. Apparently, she already had one and the child's mom was older than her.

"The second thing is an invitation to my wedding. I'm going to need help getting Marc to see the truth. And he's going to need emotional support. He is still a little panicky per our earlier phone call today." Wilhelmina would not find that surprising at all. She was absolutely petrified the first time she found herself pregnant under absolutely horrible circumstances. These things would be better for Marc, he would be able to raise his child. She would see to that.

"I figured you would want to help me set up your good kid with the love of his life/good potential stepfather for his new bundle of joy. You do owe him for six years of loyal service. The other is your wedding present." Monique said with a small smile as Wilhelmina took the envelopes from her hand as they walked out the door.

"I wasn't sure what to get, so I made reservations for you and Connor once he gets out at his favorite bed and breakfast in the middle of nowhere. I think you'll like it. I will see you Tuesday before the wedding". That was the last thing that Wilhelmina heard Monique say as she found herself a cab. Of course she was already dialing Marc's number at that point. She wasn't at all surprised she got his voicemail.

"How did your call with the lawyers go?" Cliff asked as Marc walked back into the living room of their suite, after his way too early conference call with the legal team. Although, considering the fact that Marc didn't sleep last night and had a late night conference call with the lawyers as well, it really didn't make much of a difference.

"Better than during last night's call. It probably helped that I didn't throw up. They're going to try to work some sort of visitation before they start working on more permanent arrangements."

"That's good." Cliff said, motioning him to come to the table to eat breakfast. He actually ordered Marc's favorite omelet. He could kiss the man… If they still had that type of relationship.

"But that means I'm not going to be able to go to Amanda's doctor's appointment." Marc said before taking a bite of the omelet. It was really good.

"I'm sure she'll understand if you call her and let her know what's going on. You probably should anyway."

"You're right about that, especially because she already knows. I shouldn't put this all on you." But at the same time Marc was glad Cliff was here last night. He needed support, even if it was in the form of Cliff holding his hand during his first conference call with the lawyers.

"We are friends. This is what friends do."

"True. I'm kind of used to Amanda being my only friend."

"You have more friends than that." Cliff smiled at him.

"I do now." Even if his stomach felt like it was filled with actual butterflies.

"By the way your phone played Diva multiple times during your conference call."

"That was probably Wilhelmina." Marc wouldn't be surprised. And she did have a meeting with Monique this morning. That's why he reluctantly put down his fork and grabbed his cell phone off the table.

"You know you can wait until you're done eating to retrieve the voicemail."

"Unless I need to help Wilhelmina or even Monique hide the body." Because he can entirely see Monique using Wilhelmina's phone to throw off the police.

"I don't think either of them would leave a voicemail for that," Cliff remarked just as Marc pressed one to play.

"So Monique informed me I'm a grandmother a few moments ago." Marc groaned at the words. He was also regretting putting this on speakerphone. Yet, Cliff wouldn't let him switch the settings.

"Although considering I'm a year younger than your daughter's mom, I prefer that term not be used. I'm not Claire Meade."

"Perish the thought," he heard Cliff mumbled under breath.

"Call me when you're ready to talk because you're obviously going to need my help. I still have the custody lawyers that took Nico away from her Bastard father. You'll do fine. Just make sure you're actually there. That's my biggest regret with Nico."

"You should probably call her back."

"I will after our meeting at state. Besides her calendar shows she's at the tennis courts right now."

"You still have her calendar?"

"Friends, give each other access to their calendars all the time. I should totally do that with you. Since were friends now." Cliff smiled at him before going back to his omelet and when Marc sees that type of smile, he's not sure friendship is the right word. Maybe that's why he will find Amanda's phone call so annoying in 10 minutes. At least that's what he'll tell himself. Marc's denial skills are the only thing getting him through everything right now.

One of Daniel's better ideas recently was to have DJ be her intern this summer. Even Lindsey thought it was a good idea, but that may have something to do with the fact that he was friends with DJ's mom before she lost her battle with cancer. Anything was better than Daniel's decision to punch someone out on live television.

DJ was currently filling in as her assistant until Betsy arrives Monday. It also helped that DJ could translate her coworkers nasty comments about her, the French ones anyway. She did feel bad about exposing a 15 year old to that much cursing.

Today DJ was stuck not answering her phone calls and filtering her emails. The magazine has received 126 phone calls in just over 6 hours. The e-mail count was currently at 8592. DJ sent her some of the more positive e-mails. She is also pretty sure that he probably sent some of the others to his uncle.

Her personal cell phone wasn't faring much better. Thankfully, due to the time difference she had a few hours of peace this morning that coincided with several morning meetings with her staff. However, everyone who works with Daniel was calling her to offer their encouragement, telling her not to pay attention to the 'jealous no talent wankers'.

Monique also called her a few hours ago to tell her not to pay attention to idiots and to let Betty know she went through the same thing when she took over Diversity Business and later Player. In her case, she supposedly got her job by sleeping with both Alexis and Daniel.

By 6:00 AM east coast time, that peace was over. As expected the first one to call was Justin. The incident was all over YouTube and the lead story on the American Version of Fashion Buzz. Apparently, Suzuki missed Daniel and his ability to generate a good scandal greatly.

After that, her father called. She is pretty sure her dad wished he was the one to punch the guy. It turns out he does know that she and Daniel are actually living together. After that uncomfortable conversation, she gave her cell phone over to DJ for the rest of the day.

DJ was actually really good at not answering anyone's questions. He must get that from Alexis. Now DJ and she were trying to have a quick late lunch before her 3:00 PM emergency meeting with Penelope, the head of the PR Dept. or whatever they call it here.

The only thing going in her favor was Mr. Dunn thought Daniel's actions were endearing and would most likely increase London Style sales by 10%. He also said something about Daniel being a much better person than Bradford ever was. He was not worried about what the scandal would do to London Hub.

"People will not doubt your abilities once they read your first issue." This made her feel a little better.

Hours later, DJ was giving her the highlights of her earlier phone calls as she ate a sandwich.

"Grandma called. She apologizes for raising an impulsive idiot and wants to take you to the spa Friday before the MAMA awards." DJ told her.

"Tell her yes. Did you actually tell your grandmother why you're hiding at our house?" Betty asked.

"I could but then I would have to tell her why I woke up at 1:00 AM to hear you referring to my uncle as god." DJ said with a mysterious smile.

"You heard us?" A shake of DJs had made her blushed profusely.

"You scream very loudly."

"Fine you win. However, I think I know what's going on. Unwell parents can be tough. If you need someone to talk to I'm here." She was hoping DJ would say something but he didn't.

Fortunately, her phone rang disrupting the uncomfortable silence. She didn't recognize the ring tone. She thought she fixed everything after Amanda reprogrammed her phone months ago on the way home from London fashion week. The fact that DJ talked to this person in French did not help Betty figure out who he was talking to. After a few moments DJ covered the mouthpiece before he spoke to her.

"It's Ms. Slater." With that Betty took the phone out of DJ's hand.

"Hello, Wilhelmina?" She said tentatively into the receiver.

"Good to know that you're smart enough to have your minion filtering phone calls right now." Wilhelmina said harshly.

"DJ is not my minion. He's my nephew—I mean Daniel's nephew." She said quickly correcting herself. DJ just smiled next to her.

"It seems like you're already thinking like the next Mrs. Daniel Meade. Although, I guess it's probably going to be Mrs. Meade-Suarez." Wilhelmina said in her normal Wilhelmina way.

"Daniel and I just started dating." Betty responded defensively.

"Yet according to London Morning television you're already living together. You do move fast Suarez."

"You saw that? You didn't provide any of that material to London Morning?" Betty asked.

"Why does everyone think so little of me? I am not that petty." Betty wanted to correct her but thought better of it.

"Nobody who knows you will believe those lies. Even if you did get your last position at Mode because those bathroom oral sex rumors were true doesn't mean you're any less qualified to do your job. I was your boss too. Who you sleep with, has nothing to do with your skill set and although it took you four years to learn how to dress properly you know what you're doing when it comes to putting a magazine together. Although, I do wonder what you see in that idiot." He's a good person. Betty thought to herself, but did not interrupt.

"However, his complete willingness to make a fool of himself to defend your honor may have something to do with it." Betty smiled at that.

"I'm with him because I love him." Betty finally spoke up. "He punched the idiot out because he loves me." She should probably call him and let him know that she wasn't really mad at him anymore.

"Love isn't known for its common sense." Betty agreed with that wholeheartedly.

"No matter what anybody says about you, you know who you are. That is something that I have always admired about you. Do not let anyone else tell you you're not good enough for your job. I would suggest you tell all of them to go fuck themselves, but you are too good of a person for such vulgarity. Prove them wrong by doing your job to the best of your ability. When they see your first issue, they will all know why you were hired for the job at 26." Before Betty could register the fact that Wilhelmina Slater was giving her a pep talk the line was dead. Seconds later she heard Daniel's ring tone playing.

"Oh good, I'm so happy you picked up instead of DJ again. I was worried you were still pissed off at me." Daniel said as soon as she picked up.

"I'm not mad at you. I've done some equally as stupid things. You're well aware of the water slide incident last year and remember the e-mail argument a couple of days ago with Matt." She said trying to make her boyfriend feel better.

"Good point." Daniel said with a happy tone.

"Something bizarre just happened."

"Did Amanda send you an e-vite to Marc's baby shower? She was planning to throw one as soon as he knew and I wouldn't be surprised if she tried to have it while we're in New York." Daniel said with a laugh.

"No, but that would be equally as shocking if I didn't already know." Betty was slightly less angry about losing the New York Review job right now because of that, but only because she's a good person.

"Wilhelmina just called me."

"Did she say anything to you?" She could instantly hear the worry in his voice.

"She just gave me a pep talk. She told me not to listen to what everyone was saying about me and just focus on doing my job."

"Oh god, the world is ending. I think that's the third sign of the apocalypse."

"Maybe the pseudo-grandkid is giving her a heart." Betty suggested.

"Who knows? Wilhelmina is right." Daniel continued. "You are the one who always told me not to pay attention to what people say about me. You should do the same." She smiled at that. Just then, Penelope walked into the office.

"Hey, I have a meeting. I'll see you tonight. I love you." She said quickly not wanting to end her phone call.

"I love you too. I promise not to punch anyone else out." With that, she began her very fun PR meeting that focused more on promoting the first issue than what happened today. Betty couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing.

To be continued.