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

Special note: I cannot do accents. Blame it on the voice recognition software and it hasn't gotten any better at understanding the sense I wrote the first version of the story. Therefore, the sections in this chapter from Christina's perspective will be written in Standard English although hopefully not Americanized English.

Of all the chapters so far. This is probably the closest to the original version with only a few yet important differences. However, the next chapter will be very different. That one is now off for proofreading.

Chapter 16: How We Got Here

Christina arrived to the Lindsey Publishing building a little before 7 PM on a typically Dreary Monday evening in London. After dealing with a receptionist that made Amanda seem like a genius, she found her way to the London Hub offices to see her best friend confidently discussing the next issue with her employees.

Betty seems so different now compared to the poncho-wearing girl Christina first met four years ago and it was not just the lack of braces or the new wardrobe. She had this new aura of self-confidence that was missing before. This was important considering the guy next to Betty was rolling his eyes the entire time.

Daniel already informed her many of the things going on at Betty's new office when he called her Saturday, including certain angry and bitter coworkers who were jealous of Betty because she got the corner office that she always deserved. Then again, similar rumors were floating around Mode before Christina left for her new life in Europe. The green eyed monster was a universal constant.

Christina was supposed to come last weekend to visit Betty and her new boyfriend but William had an earache and there was no way she was leaving her baby boy alone even if she trusted Stewart to take care of his son (and honestly, she really did not). Things with her husband were complicated at the moment. She sold her soul and body to Wilhelmina to pay for his necessary medical treatment. Now after everything he fell right back into the bloody bottle again. She was keeping that information to herself. There was no need to burden Betty with anything else.

She thought it would be weeks before she would get to see Betty, until late Saturday when a slightly tipsy Daniel called her and begged her to come see her best friend. He was worried that all the name calling and dirty business of the publishing industry was getting to Betty, along with the press camped outside their house. If Daniel was willing to call her, she knew something was seriously wrong. He sweetened the deal by offering to feature her as the hot new designer of the month in the next issue of Mode UK. How could she resist that offer?

She was concerned anyway. They did have tabloids in Scotland and she already knew the latest gossip. She knew things were serious when she tried to call Betty Friday and her boyfriend's nephew picked up instead. Christina wondered if her best friend could take being part of a very public couple. Part of Christina thought that was why Betty resisted her feelings for Daniel for so long. The British tabloids were 100 times more ruthless than Suzuki and company could ever be. By midday Friday, Christina stopped paying attention to the news because she got tired of hearing the ridiculous things that they were saying about her best friend. Really, you'd think they could come up with something more plausible and original than Betty stealing a dying woman's husband.

Christina knew for a while that Betty and Daniel were more than just friends. She was Betty's best friend and Daniel was Betty's other half. Christina realized that Betty had feelings for Daniel by the end of her second month at Mode because her friend would always come down to the closet all the time with some sort of Daniel related issue. Even when Betty was completely infatuated with Henry, Gio, or Matt the conversation would eventually become about Daniel. As much as her friend protested, Christina knew that Betty was in love with Daniel in a non-platonic way. She was just happy that those two finely got together.

Instead of interrupting the meeting, Christina sat in the back watching her friend interact with her staff. For a moment, she thought she saw Daniel's old drinking mate who was always trying to convince various models to sleep with him during their fittings. She immediately dismissed the idea because the person in front of her was dressed in a suit and tie. Also, this individual was the only one in the room not acting like a bloody pratt.

Minutes later just as Betty was about to break up the meeting, she finally noticed Christina standing off to the side. In seconds, she was trapped in a hug by her best friend.

"What are you doing here?" Betty asked her excitedly not letting go.

"I'm doing an article and photo shoot for Mode UK this week. Your boyfriend wanted it to be a surprise." She said smiling.

"I am surprised. I am so glad you are here. We have so much to catch up on. Did you bring William and Stewart?" As soon as her husband's name was mentioned, her smile faded a little. Because her friend had so much going on, Christina did not mention that her marriage was a bloody mess. She would tell Betty eventually, but not tonight.

"William is with my assistant/nanny at the hotel. We can stop by after dinner, otherwise I will bring him over tomorrow during a break. He misses his Aunt Betty. If things were different you may have been his sister in law." Christina said referring to the fact that for the first few months of her son's life they all thought he was Daniel's little brother.

"Then again that would mean that you would be related to the devil herself, Wilhelmina Slater." Christina said smiling.

"She is not that bad. She actually called me Friday afternoon to tell me not to listen to what anybody is saying about me." Betty told her as they walked into the main lobby of the London Hub offices.

"She gave you a pep talk?" Christina paused for a moment as Betty nodded her head yes.

"I guess hell did freeze over. If anybody knows about not caring what other people think, it would be her. How are you holding up with the bloody press dragging your name through the mud?"

"That is the least of our problems. The tabloids are more focused on the father of Amanda's unborn child and other Hartley paternity issues right now. You have no idea what's gone on this weekend." Betty said with a sigh.

"I thought Matt was the father. That's what she said when she was here in April." She told her friend quickly as Betty walked back into the conference room to pick up her things.

"It's complicated. Did everybody know Amanda was pregnant before me? Never mind, I do not want to know. I have to take care of a few things and then I'll meet you in the office." Betty said as they passed by the man who looked exactly like Daniel's former friend.

"Who is your beautiful friend Betty?" The one staff member who was treating Betty with some respect asked.

"I can't believe you forgot about Christina, Becks. She was the one who was dressing up the models that you were drooling over. Now she is one of the hottest new designers in Europe." Betty said with a quick smile. Christina was trying to cover-up her shock.

"I meet so many people in my line of work, I tend to forget the specifics. Betty, do you still want to meet at 10:00 AM tomorrow to discuss ideas for my first photo essay for the August issue?" Becks asked being much more polite than she remembered.

"That should work. Could you e-mail Betsy or DJ to make sure you are on my schedule?" Betty told him civilly.

"I'll do that. I am sure Daniel has plans for you tonight so I won't keep you any longer. Tell my friend not to do anything I wouldn't do." With that, the man was gone but not before Betty mumbled under her breath, "there isn't anything you wouldn't do."

"That was Becks? What is he doing at a magazine that doesn't feature half naked women?" Christina asked in complete shock.

"Becks, is the brand new photojournalist hired for my magazine by Lindsey without consulting me. Did you know that Daniel's former best friend did several articles on the war in Afghanistan for National Explorer magazine? He just happened to publish his non fashion works under a different name." Betty explained.

"I was not aware that he knew how to do anything but hit the shutter button on a camera. We are talking about the same arse who used to bet your current boyfriend the grand total of a dollar to see who could sleep with the hottest girl at fashion week?"

"Unfortunately, yes. People change. Or more accurately, they like to hide behind various masks. If Daniel is not that person anymore, then it is possible for Becks to no longer be the person he was four years ago. Actually, he may have never been that person in the first place. In all fairness, I didn't believe it until Daniel e-mailed me his portfolio of non-skinny girl images."

"You are eternally an optimistic. Do not ever lose that." Christina said as she followed Betty to her office.

"Besides it's good for Daniel to have another guy friend in the area considering everything that's going on right now." Betty said, as she walked into her office to put down the bundle of papers that she was holding, before grabbing another packet.

"I guess being accused of cheating on your dead wife on national television would be difficult for anyone to deal with." Christina told her.

"That's the least of our trouble. You remember when I told you about DJ showing up on our front door a week and a half ago without explanation? We found out why Friday night and it's just a tragically complicated situation. Then again, you should probably already know that DJ is no longer an only child." Christina just gives Betty a very confused look.

"How could you not know this? Various versions of the truth have been discussed on every channel and blog in America and the UK at the very least." Betty's irritation was obvious as she spoke this.

"I stopped watching the news after they started accusing my best friend of sleeping with a married man. Besides, I wouldn't trust anything said by people who would say such vicious lies." Christina said squeezing her friend's hand.

"Thank you." Betty said with a tear in her eye. "Let me give these to Richard and then I will tell you everything that happened this weekend."

"You can tell me on the way to dinner. We are supposed to meet Daniel at 8 PM."

"Trust me I'll be back as quickly as possible." Betty said as she ran out the door.

June 4, 2010 6:32 PM Greenwich mean time

Honestly, by this point in his relationship with his older sister Daniel shouldn't be shocked by anything she does. This is the same person who faked her death and then popped up two years later after an extensive gender reassignment surgery at NYC fashion week solely to get revenge on their trans phobic father. Therefore, it really should not surprise him at all his sister would show up in England with her on again off again longtime lover and a five-year-old daughter that Daniel knew nothing about. This whole stunt screamed Alexis.

He knew that Alexis West-Hartley existed; Daniel just had no idea that she was his niece. It was not that he was completely unaware of the possibility because he knew of his sibling's very complicated relationship with the designer. He even knew that Briana cut all ties with Meade Publishing because she initially blamed Bradford for Alex's 'death'. Unlike everyone else she didn't think the ski accident was an accident, she thought it was a successful suicide.

At NYC February Fashion Week 2006, the year before Alex announced her re-birth to the world as Alexis, Daniel asked the recluse designer directly if her daughter Alexis was his brother's child. She denied it and told him through teary eyes that Alex would never do something like that to Jordan. It was a lie. Now all these years later he wonders whom Brianna was trying to protect (especially because apparently Jordan was Alexis Junior's godmother).

He is not even that upset finding out about another family member he didn't know about. It was starting to become a little too normal in his family (considering how much his father slept around he is still surprise he hasn't found a half sibling from the man somewhere out there yet). Daniel is mostly upset about the fact he found out about his brand new niece via the Google alerts that Candy set up to monitor the entire situation. The only thing making this slightly more tolerable is that Briana agreed to give Mode UK the exclusive on why she kept the paternity of her daughter a secret for so long. Daniel was looking forward to reading that article.

Daniel was currently waiting for an angry phone call from his mother when she found out about this. Then again, she probably already knew. For the last week, his mom has been asking him questions about his sister's long and sorted relationship with Brianna. Now Daniel knew why.

"I guess I should thank you. Due to everyone finding out you fathered Alexis West-Hartley before gender reassignment surgery nobody is going to care about my relationship with Betty or if I cheated on Molly before she died because they are trying to figure out your crazy relationship with Brianna." They were following poor Jordan around the clock in Cleveland.

"Then again, because you could not keep your dick to yourself when you still had one everyone will think I am the same way. Unlike you, dad, and mom, I actually believe in monogamy and the sanctity of marriage. Thank god the media did not know about Tyler otherwise we would all be completely FUCKED." Daniel yelled at his sister in the privacy of his office.

He should be happy that Diane offered to take his brand new baby niece to her office while Sumreen had the exclusive interview of a lifetime. He really did not want an innocent little child to hear him yelling at her other mommy for being a complete ass.

"Will you please calm down? The situation isn't that sordid. Jordan didn't even freak out this bad." His sister asked him.

"Because she probably knew from the beginning. This is calm. I haven't tried to punch you yet." Daniel said in an icy cold voice.

"I just found out my sister had a child I knew nothing about from the internet. I think I have a right to be upset about what you are putting DJ and everyone else through. Although I must admit, it was a wonderful shot of mother and child together that they probably have on every single web page in this country and several others by now. At least I now know why DJ showed up at my house completely unannounced eight days ago. I would have freaked out too if I found out I had a sibling that I didn't know about." Daniel said slamming his hands on his desk for emphasis.

"You did freak out when you found out about Tyler. Daniel, you attacked him and then you proceeded not to talk to mom for a few weeks unless it involved conversations about the girl you got pregnant." Alexis spat back just as bitterly.

"First of all, I attacked Tyler before I found out he was my half-brother. It doesn't count because I thought he was mom's much younger lover at the time." Daniel said in his defense.

"Like that is any better." Alexis scoffed at her brother.

"I'm sure you took things so well considering the fact that you were aware that you slept with your half-brothers aunt. You two have been sleeping together off and on for over 20 years. This family is so incestuous. Also, I did not get Amanda pregnant, Matt did." Daniel said that last part as an afterthought.

"You're right about this family being incestuous." Alexis said rolling her eyes. "DJ doesn't know about having an almost five year old sister, yet. I did not even know until last week when Amanda a.k.a. the person you may or may not have gotten pregnant called me and asked me if I knew I knocked up her boyfriend's Aunt Briana. Briana has been keeping Lexis a secret from everyone, except for apparently Jordan." Alexis said to her brother in an angry voice.

"Who you are definitely not on speaking terms with after you cheated on her and then faked your death." Daniel remarked.

"Well, we are again now. If I knew earlier, I would have told you." Alexis tells Daniel sincerely.

"DJ really doesn't know?" Daniel asked his sister quickly as he walked out the door to his assistant's desk.

"That's why I was coming here to tell him in person. I didn't want him to accidentally find out. It's too late for that." Alexis said with a sigh as she followed him out of the room.

"Maybe it's not. DJ is with Betty at London Hub. He is her intern this summer. DJ's other biological mom was very good friends with Betty's new boss. The entire London Hub office is on media blackout after what happened this morning." Daniel explained before turning his attentions to his assistant.

"Did you get a hold of Betty yet?" Daniel asked Candy quickly.

"According to Dick… sorry Richard, who I think is just a little upset that Betty got the job he wanted; Betty, DJ, and the creative Director Dominique Marcel are at the Friday editors meeting. It was supposed to end at 6:30, but it's running late." Candy responded and Daniel exhaled in relief. Maybe just maybe they can keep DJ from finding out the truth from Google.

"Candy, I need you to run over to Lindsey Publishing and get DJ. Bring him to your house. The vultures don't know you so you should be able to get out of their unseen. I suggest taking the back door. Make sure he does not check his e-mail or any other media until we get to your house. Take his cell phone if you have to. I will call Betty and let her know what's going on. We will meet you there in 45 minutes as soon as we lose the press."

"Considering your acting the same way Monique did, when she made me pick up her then new boyfriend's little sister from school when their parents were killed, I am not going to ask you any questions. I will send you a text message when we are both safely in a cab on the way to my house. DJ loves me, so he won't ask any questions." Candy said grabbing her purse.

"Thank you." He owes this woman a metric ton of chocolate. "Also, don't tell him about Alexis being here."

"Got it, boss." Candy said as she walked to the elevator.

"What are you doing?" Alexis asked him quickly following Daniel into his office again.

"Protecting my nephew, unlike you." Daniel spat bitterly. "If he was already freaking out about something less significant than finding out about Alexis junior then I don't want to see what will happen if he finds out about his new half-sister via Twitter." Daniel said as he walked back into his office to get his briefcase and Blackberry.

"Good point." Alexis said following behind him.

"I want to know what the hell is going on Alexis. Why did you sign over custody of DJ to me and Betty? Why have you been lying to us for the last week about your whereabouts? Where were you when you called me yesterday?" Daniel asked Alexis looking her directly in the eye.

"Maybe we should wait until we meet up with Betty. It will be easier if I tell you both at the same time." By her demeanor, Daniel could tell that was an excuse. Alexis makes a lot of excuses.

"I'm tired of waiting Alexis. I just want to know what the hell is going on. Betty and her sister are so close they tell each other everything. I know we will never have that type of relationship but…" Daniel stopped abruptly because he was not able to finish.

"Do you really want to know what's going on?" Alexis asked in a near whisper.

"Yes." Daniel said just as quietly.

"I may be dying." Okay, he could not have heard her right. That was not possible.

"What?" Daniel asked in complete shock.

"I'm in stage three heart failure, I was calling you from the Cleveland Clinic, where I was trying to find a way to make sure I live long enough to see both my children graduate from high school. Jordan, whose mom is a cardiologist there, was helping us." Daniel fell down onto the couch, not really knowing how to respond to that. At least now, he understood why DJ ran away. He wanted to run away too.

The present

"The heart failure was caused by cardiomyopathy. It's genetic in this case. The same disease was a contributing factor in Bradford's death. Alexis didn't really know about it until she got to France. She finally went to her doctor because she was tired all the time even though she was not working anymore. Do you remember that she gained a little weight before she left? Apparently that was the reason why." Betty said quietly as she tried to explain to Christina everything that happened in the last few days.

She was personally thinking cancer not heart failure given the way DJ was acting as well. As both of their experiences with the disease. This was probably just as bad. After things calmed down Friday, she did a ton of research on cardiomyopathy. It was usually easier for Betty to deal with a situation if she knew all the facts. This could be really bad.

"I'm trying to forget about that entire time considering she tried to kill me and framed her brother. Not that I don't understand her desire to kill the spawn of Satan herself." Christina said joking before becoming serious again.

"Poor Daniel," Christina said with genuine sympathy.

"I remember finding out about Stewart being sick. It must be hard for him even though he and Alexis are not close." Betty could hear the genuine sympathy in her friend's voice.

"Daniel is dealing with it the way Daniel deals with things. He cried Friday night once it was just me and him. He stayed strong as we told DJ about everything at Candy's house. He was the one who got DJ to come back for pizza with the munchkin and me. She is so adorable. He even stayed strong during the extremely uncomfortable phone call with Mrs. Meade late Friday night and the even more uncomfortable video conference Saturday afternoon our time. However, both times once we got home Daniel just fell apart. I haven't seen him cry that much since Molly died." Betty said this part with a whisper.

"I am sure you made him feel better." Christina said this with a wink.

"We're not having sex yet." Betty said quickly. Technically that was true, unless you considered oral sex to be sex.

"I didn't say that. Wait you're not shagging yet?" Christina asked giving her an absolutely shocked look.

"Daniel wants us to wait for a while." Betty said in response.

"I find that hard to believe." Christina scoffed. "When I was in New York that boy would sleep with anything in a skirt. Do you want to wait?"

"We've been friends for so long it's hard getting used to the fact that we are more than friends. I think we both need a little time to adjust the fact that we are together as a romantic couple before we do anything else. This is not going to be a short-term relationship. This is it. In light of everything else going on, I think it's a good decision." Betty said finally admitting to someone that Daniel was the one.

"You're right, it's best you two take things slowly, despite the fact you're living together. Though, I don't see your boyfriend as the snuggling only type." She knew Christina was referring to Daniel's old behavior like earlier.

"Neither did I, but Daniel has always been able to surprise me. I think he just enjoys spending time together. Though, we have been doing more than kissing but not the grand event yet." Betty started bushing profusely as she told her friend this.

"What have you been doing?" She loved Christina to death but she enjoyed talking about sex just a little too much. She is personally surprised Amanda didn't tell Christina all about the ice cream sex fiasco. Great, even she was calling it ice cream sex now.

"Things," Betty said taking a drink of her bottle water.

The only thing they haven't done yet was traditional sex involving actual penetration and at this point she was slightly shocked about that. They did a lot of various not sex activities when DJ was forced to spend time with his mother and brand new sister Sunday. She has known for a while that Daniel's normal coping mechanism for dealing with problems is sex. She was perfectly willing to help Daniel deal. Although this time, she did make him talk to her Sunday afternoon after Daniel spent half of Saturday secluded in a bar with Becks.

"Fine, ruin my fun. I have to live vicariously through someone," Christina said quickly

"You are a married woman. Why do you have to live vicariously through me?" Betty noticed that Christina flinched the moment she asked the question.

"I'm a married woman with a child and a brand new business. I don't have time for fun, vicarious or otherwise." Christina responded a little too quickly. It almost sounded like an excuse. What was her friend not telling her?

"How is Daniel's nephew dealing with everything?" Betty knew then her friend was hiding something from her but she did not press. The obvious subject change told her that.

She was not sure if Christina was actually concerned with how DJ was handling everything. DJ and Christina did not get along during his time in New York but that may be because he destroyed one of her original designs with silly string during the time Betty was on vacation trying to find herself.

"Badly." That was the understatement of the year. There was lots of screaming, yelling, and throwing things were involved. DJ called his mother, Brianna, and his new little sister various expletives in French before running out of Candy's apartment. Brianna and her daughter just happen to be fluent in French. According to Daniel, Briana's biological mother was from Gabon and her first language was French. Briana apparently passed this onto Lexis. Lexis started crying hysterically before DJ was even out the door. Betty was trying to get baby Lexis to stop crying with the promise of pizza while Daniel went to calm down his nephew wherever he was hiding.

"I'm surprised DJ was willing to spend both today and yesterday with his mom and brand new sister." Betty said to her friend in all honesty.

"DJ ran away because one of Alexis's doctors accidentally left a voicemail that DJ found right before his school's field trip to London. The doctor said just a little too much and DJ being the bright young man that he is came to the right conclusion about his mom being sick. Apparently, Alexis was keeping the entire thing from him to protect him like my mom did with me. He completely freaked out, which is why DJ showed up on our front door last week and has refused to leave."

Betty understood why DJ ran away probably better than anyone else. Although Betty did not run away to another country when she found out her mom was hiding the fact she was very sick with cancer, she hopped on the subway by herself and spent the day at the Central Park Zoo and F.A.O. Schwartz. It was better than her sister's coping mechanism of getting pregnant on prom night.

"Poor baby. I know the boy has already lost one parent." Christina said sympathetically.

"I think that's what he's afraid of most, along with being sent back to his grandparents that he hates. Fifteen is normally hard enough without this sort of stuff. Because of this stupid custody arrangement with DJ's grandparents, DJ can't go with Alexis while she is receiving treatment in the states."

Betty thinks that is half the problem. Having a sick parent is horrible but being forced to stay away just makes it even harder to deal with. The added stuff with the brand new sister was just the metaphorical cherry on top of this entire disaster.

"So that's why you now have temporary custody of a 15 year old? Is there anything that can be done about that?" She remembered telling her friend about that last week when she canceled coming over because William was sick. Of course, Betty left out the ice cream sex thing. It was bad enough that supposedly her father knew about it.

"Right now, it's the only option. Even though Daniel is mad at Alexis, he is still going to help any way he can. I feel the same way. Brianna is going to try to petition the courts to give her temporary custody so that DJ can be with his half - sister. She has French citizenship, so it might be easier for her. However, that's only if DJ wants her to do it. At this point, I'm not sure DJ is going to want that. Things are really complicated." Betty said with a sigh. At least she now understood why DJ was asking her all those questions about sick parents.

"So what else happened this weekend? You mentioned something about questioning the paternity of Amanda's baby." Betty frowned at Christina's question.

"I think that's a conversation for later." Betty said quickly not wanting to talk about the latest thing Matt's mom was doing to ruin his relationship with Amanda. It was best to focus on the real crisis.

xxxxxx

June 4, 2010 8:02 PM Greenwich mean time

Daniel finally caught up with DJ about a block from their actual house in a little park nearby. Thankfully, it looked like the reporters decide to follow someone else that night or maybe they still thought they were all still at Mode.

"I would ask you if you were okay but I know the answer to that question is definitely not okay at all." Daniel said as he sat next to his nephew.

"I'm not going back. I am definitely not apologizing to her." DJ said angrily in English. That was a good sign. When he is really mad his nephew switches to French like earlier at Candy's house.

"I understand being mad at Alexis. Your mom has a tendency to do things like this a lot. You do remember that she faked her death for two years because she thought that was easier for us to take than her going through gender reassignment surgery? Not telling us things, is how she shows she cares about us in her warped little mine. Really, her not telling us about being sick and showing up with a five year old is the same thing. It's how she shows she loves us." DJ nodded quickly.

"Are you mad at her?" DJ asked him.

"I am absolutely furious, but according to my girlfriend that's perfectly normal with family. Again, it's another way to show that you care. Alexis told me herself that she was keeping the heart failure thing from you to protect you. She knows how hard it was for you to lose your other mom and she didn't want to worry you. When there was still hope." DJ scoffed at that, as if he thought his mother was crazy. Daniel didn't completely go by Alexis's logic either.

"What about my brand new sister?" That was the cherry on top of this entire situation, Daniel thought to himself.

"I think it was a surprise for her too. Remember to actually use a condom." Daniel said as an afterthought.

The fact that his sister had two children when she never wanted to have any irritated the hell out of Daniel. He wanted to be a dad more than anything in the world and wasn't yet. Alexis was a reluctant mother due to her own reckless behavior when she still had the ability to impregnate. It wasn't fair.

"I already know that." DJ said snidely.

"Apparently your mother didn't when she was still technically your father. Even though it will be hypocritical for me to say this, you probably shouldn't do anything for a while. I can tell you that I value my relationships with Molly and Betty a lot more than any of the meaningless sexual encounters I had before. Even sex with Amanda was better once we were actually friends. How did this become a safe sex conversation?" Daniel asked his nephew in puzzlement.

"This conversation occurred because my mom has no concept of contraception." DJ said smiling just as Daniel received a text message from his girlfriend. He could not help but laugh at her message.

"Betty had to promise your new little sister pizza to get her to stop crying. You should probably know that she is fluent in French." DJ groaned at that. "Anyway, Betty wants to know if you want to come too."

"Will mom be there?" Daniel quickly typed in DJ's question and sent it to Betty. His girlfriend quickly responded with no.

"It's just going to be the four of us and maybe Candy if that's okay?" DJ smiled as soon as he mentioned Candy. Daniel was pretty sure his nephew had a crush on his assistant.

"Candy can come." Yes, that smile screams crush along with the double entendre.

"Just remember that Candy is 25." He warned his nephew. He will have to talk to Candy later.

"You're almost 10 years older than Aunt Betty." He didn't see the point of correcting DJ because DJ has referred to Betty by that title since he was 13 they just never told Betty.

"I didn't try to get with Betty when she was 15 and still in her New Kids on the Block t-shirt phase or was it Nsync or Backstreet Boys by that point. There is a very big difference between an almost 36 year old dating a 26-year-old than a 25 year old with a 15 year old. In the State's we call it jailbait or pedophilia. So are we going to have pizza with your little sister?"

"Fine," DJ said in acquiescence before they left the park.

"Daniel's nephew has a crush on Daniel's assistant?" Christina asked Betty as they waited for Daniel to show up at the restaurant. They barely survived the gantlet of press coming into the building. She decided to take the opportunity to plug her next show in London in August. She learned this wonderful technique from Amanda. That should keep the vultures away from her for the next few days.

"That's the only thing you got from that story?" Betty asked her friend as she took a drink of her wine as they patiently waited for Daniel to show up. Apparently, his last meeting of the day ran late.

"Yes." She said with a smile.

"Okay, yes DJ really does have a crush on Daniel's assistant. It's adorable the way he acted around her at the restaurant. He even pulled out her chair. Then again, it was adorable how DJ acted around Lexis. He is already going into big brother mode around her after he apologized. I have pictures." Betty said as she passed Christina her cell phone. On the screen were adorable pictures of brother and sister playing Wii together and another image of the two hugging at the restaurant.

"That may have something to do with the fact that he now has somebody to talk to in French behind our back that understands exactly what he's going through. I really should have kept up with those French classes." Daniel said as he took the seat next to Betty with a young lady with dark hair taking the other empty chair.

"Actually, it may be a good idea for you to work on your language skills now that you are in Europe. I think it will help with the designers that say nasty things behind your back. I can look into it tomorrow." The young lady said.

"Could you see if you can find someone that will take both of us? I really do not want DJ translating what Richard says behind my back anymore. I'm learning all sorts of French curse words." Betty stated.

"Got it, I'll call Betsy tomorrow to see what times are available on both your schedules." The young woman stated quickly.

"Thank you. Sorry Christina, I forgot to introduce you. This is Daniel's wonderful new assistant Candy." Christina was actually surprised that Betty did not seem jealous of Daniel's beautiful assistant. "I'm only here because Daniel owes me dinner for keeping an advertiser this morning from throwing shoe samples at him."

"So you're the girl that Daniel's nephew has a crush on?" Christina asked taking another drink.

"Yes but with him it's adorable with Daniel's friend Becks it's creepy." Candy said with a shiver.

"He's not that bad." Daniel said defending his friend right as he leaned over and kissed Betty on the lips. Christina was sure she saw at least seven flashbulbs go off.

"So you actually want me to date him?" Candy asked her boss.

"No way in hell. He knows everyone at Mode is off limits; otherwise, I will make a call to Alexis's surgeon. I'll remind him tomorrow when we meet for lunch." Daniel said protectively.

"That threat makes no sense." Christina said out loud.

"I'm referring to the doctor responsible for her gender reassignment surgery." Daniel responded.

"Good threat." Betty said with a smile.

"I got it from your father. He called me this morning. There's no way we can get out of staying at your house this week when we go back to New York." Daniel said quickly as he motioned for a waiter.

"Oh God, he didn't call about the Amanda thing did he?" Betty asked him quickly taking a very big drink of her wine.

"No, he already knew about that entire thing. Amanda told him everything in March."

"Why was I the last one to know?" Betty asked Daniel.

"It was Amanda's secret to tell and she didn't want you to know. At least Amanda told you before giving birth, which is still sooner than Mark found out about Jade." Daniel said squeezing her hand and kissing her on the cheek. Christina was wondering who Jade is.

"That is true. I get that Amanda was scared. My dad knew and is still okay with us?" Betty asked with puzzlement that Christina did not understand.

"He was just happy it wasn't you." Daniel said with a smile that made Christina even more confused.

"What Amanda thing and who is Jade?" Christina asked wondering what the hell they were talking about.

"I'll tell you later." Betty said as she played with her wine glass just as Candy said. "Marc has a daughter with an editor from New York Review." Both Daniel and Betty glared at her.

"What! I'm still on the Mode US rumor mailing list."

"This is a story I want to hear." Christina said completely surprised. Marc was definitely the last person she would think to have a kid.

"Then email Marc." Daniel said with a glare to his assistant, before starting a discussion about the appetizer options.

To be continued.