Thank you to everybody who read or reviewed the last chapter, even if it was just the classic version.

So, the next six chapters are going to be extremely different than the original versions. Less flashbacks and some new scenes. I managed to make a whole new chapter. I'm also getting rid of some stuff that in hindsight, just didn't work. I feel like this is where the story got off the rails originally. So, I'm going to be doing a lot to get things back on track.

As a reminder, never ever write a chapter when you're on lots of pain medication. Also, I'm pretty sure most of these chapters were written when I was just getting used to no longer being able to sit at my computer for hours at a time to write. That car accident changed a lot of stuff. Seven years later, I'm just getting back to the point where I can sit and write for hours at a time. I'm still not back at my pre-accident writing levels. Although I like to think that's because I keep my apartment much cleaner now. I'm being a full-fledged adult.

Chapter 22: We Are Going to Need More Cookies to Deal with This

Marc's entire train ride back to DC Tuesday involved angry text messages from Wilhelmina regarding her sister slowly driving her insane, dealing with a nauseous teenager, a hysterical best friend (who decided at the last minute to ignore doctor's orders and come with them to DC), a jumpy Hilda, and keeping Austin and Justin from doing inappropriate things in the restroom. Although, he must admit that Amtrak bathrooms were much larger than the ones in airplanes and probably were more accommodating for such things. There was no way he was going to get any rest, let alone work done in such conditions.

Especially because the lawyers called. Jade's mom wasn't exactly happy about the existence of their child now becoming the main feature on fashion TV and was trying to cancel their Friday visitation because of it. Mark's lawyers were trying to do everything in their power to keep that from happening. A year ago, a story about the illegitimate child of Wilhelmina Slater's assistant would not have even made a blimp on the fashion radar, but now he's the creative director of Mode US and considering that nasty rumor about him fucking his way into the job, it was the top story.

He's had 26 missed calls from the boyfriend, none of which Marc was planning to return along with the two calls from his mom. Also calls that he's not returning ever. Jade's not getting anywhere near that woman. He was sincerely regretting not flying to DC.

Once he got off the train, he was really hoping to go straight to the hotel, but instead he just had to go check up on the State Department shoot. That was a mistake. Troy (see he can remember his boyfriend's name) was there and he's not happy about Jade. He was unhappy that Marc neglected to mention he was bisexual. He tried to explain to his boyfriend that outside of Jade's conception, the last time he tried to have straight sex was when he figured out that he was gay. Marc ended up with a lap full of latte. Which was a shame because he really likes this outfit.

After the chaos at the Department of State, Marc got to experience the joy of playing musical hotel rooms. After the latte in the lap and Troy saying that his daughter was a mistake, there was no way he was sharing a room with the guy even with the promise of sex. Marc had some self-respect. He didn't have the emotional energy to deal with the boyfriend and knew that staying with his ex-boyfriend would just trigger another latte incident. He did not need that right now, especially after aggressive negotiations with Jade's mommy's lawyers. Good news, he may get to see Jade after the wedding Saturday, maybe. The lawyers were still negotiating. Although, he was secretly hoping that Friday would be an option again, so he can miss a very Monique rehearsal luncheon.

To salvage his sanity, he ended up sharing a room with Amanda instead of staying with Cliff, despite the man offering. Which he was sad about because he really wanted to talk to Cliff about meeting Jade the day before, but text messages would have to do. Monique didn't say anything about her Matchmaking plan being foiled because she knew Amanda needed him. She was not taking the fact that Matt was in the hospital very well (i.e. decided to come to DC because she didn't want to let go of Marc). Apparently, if a perfectly healthy person loses consciousness after spending several months in Africa, doctors get worried.

Austin was given Marc's old room and Justin had no choice, but to share with his mother. Troy was not happy, but Marc would rather get some sleep as Amanda made appropriate use of the food court in the mall below and the 24-hour grocery store two blocks over. (Rather she made Marc make effective use of the grocery store two blocks over.) Even considering the gestational diabetes, they didn't have the heart to keep her from Larry's Cookies, the most he could do was keep it to half a cookie. Maybe he should have stayed with Hilda, but Amanda was being clingy.

Spending quality time with a crying Amanda was to cut down on Troy drama, because before Austin left to spend his morning being Megan's slave at the National Zoo shoot, he brought back Marc's manicure kit that Marc accidentally left in the suite. Troy's mind went to a bad place, i.e. he accused Marc of having sex with the under age, before Monique informed Troy that Marc was sharing a suite with Cliff before everyone arrived. Even if the accusation made his skin crawl, it was probably better for Troy to think that Marc was a dirty not quite middle age man than him knowing the truth. Because of his unfounded jealousy, Troy took things completely wrong and Cliff's memory card 'disappeared'. Said memory card contained 30% of the Department of State images.

"I'm going to have to let him go." Monique told him as she viciously attacked the cookies at the food court downstairs. They wanted to have this discussion away from the prying eyes of the Mode rumor mill. They may have a chance because most people were already on location.

"You can't do that. What happened was my fault. He's just upset about Jade and who knows what else. You don't even know if he was the one who lost the card." Marc defended. He didn't want to feel guilty for Troy losing his job. Damn Betty, for giving him morals.

"He was the one who was supposed to load the pictures onto the computer and transmit the files back to New York. Even if I was completely naive, I wouldn't believe that he lost it because of a hole in his pocket." Bitter sarcasm was dripping from her every word.

"It could happen." Marc said weakly.

"Let's say for argument's sake that you lost 30% of the images from a shoot, what would Wilhelmina have done to you?" Monique said as she paid for her cookie.

"It would probably be a good thing that I already have Jade, because I wouldn't have testicles anymore." Marc said visualizing it. It was so real that he almost reached for his inhaler.

"However, I am not Wilhelmina and I want to avoid a wrongful termination lawsuit. Because he is your boyfriend and you are high up in the company now, me firing him would look bad even if he did screw up. I need a good reason to terminate his employment. I'm already dealing with rumors that you got your promotion on your knees and back. I don't want to deal with more nasty rumors." Marc was appalled at her words.

"Who would believe that rumor? You're not my type, you have breasts." Marc said in disgust. He was expecting Monique to laugh, but she didn't.

"You are aware you and your daughter are the number one trending story on fashion TV? I'm personally surprised that the paparazzi are not watching us right now." Monique said somberly taking a big bite of her cookie. At that moment, Marc craved the same junk food.

"I know. My mom called."

"I hope you told her to go fuck herself." Monique was probably aware of his complicated relationship with his mom due to the Mode rumor mill and he was thankful for it at that moment.

"No, but I did delete her message without even listening." Marc replied.

"Good for you. Of course, even without Suzuki violating our agreement, most of Mode already knew because of Nikolai and the rumor mill is even worse now that they no longer have Betty and Daniel to speculate about." She said eating even more cookie.

"If you keep eating like that you won't be able to fit in your wedding dress." He said taking the cookie out of her hand and throwing it away. Unlike Amanda, she did not hit him for doing so.

"I'm going to spend the entire day running around the National Zoo trying to monitor three separate shoots. I can have a damn cookie." She responded with irritation as they started to walk out of the food court.

"That was your third one." He said raising an eyebrow as he followed behind.

"You may have a point." She said grudgingly. "I turn to junk food in times of stress. It's better than what I did after my first husband died. Between the wedding and all the shoots going on, it's too much. I'm going to kill Matt for missing this." She mumbled under breath.

"It's not his fault that he probably contracted some mystery disease in Africa or from one of his special friends." Marc mumbled under his breath. According to his Aunt Briana, due to his travels abroad and some of his lifestyle choices, doctors weren't so quick to dismiss the incident Tuesday as just stress and they are keeping him for observations. He may or may not be out in time for the wedding. Marc is hoping that he's not. He has enough drama to deal with.

"I will make up for what happened with Troy. I can call in a favor with one of Wilhelmina's contacts to get us a re-shoot tomorrow." Marc was sure he could do this.

"Which means you're going to have to get everything at the Smithsonian today. That means no ending at six like we are doing at the zoo. It looks like there won't be any Backstreet Boys for you tonight. Which is sad because Alex was hoping to meet his shoe guy." Monique's said smiling.

"That's so unfair." Marc said with a pout.

"Unfair is having to do a re-shoot at the State Department because you happen to be dating the imbalanced. Why are you upset about missing the concert? I thought you were Nsync for life, anyway." Monique said with an annoying smirk.

"Let's be honest, they are never getting back together, and Brian is cute." He told her as he stepped onto the escalator to the subway station.

"And married, very married. To a woman and has a nine-year-old son." Monique remarked.

"I have a three-month-old daughter. That doesn't always mean something." Marc retorted.

"I'm still trying to wrap my head around that." Monique shot back.

"So am I and the baby's mom is really upset about me because of Suzuki and I just can't deal with anything else right now including Troy."

"Congratulations, you actually remembered his name. I know you're under a lot of stress and I get it. Therefore, I will be nice, and I'll bring you back an autograph. I will even make sure that Troy is so busy or preoccupied that he will not go anywhere near the Smithsonian shoot." Monique offered.

"Thank you." He wasn't sure what he was thanking her for more.

"Now, let me just say one thing as your almost friend and not your boss. I don't like your boyfriend." Monique said bluntly in a way that would make Wilhelmina proud.

"I already know that." Marc said with a roll of his eyes. "You have made that quite obvious."

"Let me finish." Monique said with an annoyed eye roll. "I think it's honorable that you want to move on from random hookups to meaningful relationships. Especially because you're now a dad and kids need stability. However, the most important part of that is having real trust. If Troy really trusted you, he would not have accused you of screwing the underage or hooking up with your ex-boyfriend, who you just barely have a professional relationship with again. Not only were his accusations highly unprofessional, but it shows that your relationship is lacking something so basic and necessary. Troy doesn't trust you and that was the case before he found out about Jade from the rumor mill and Suzuki." She said softly as they kept moving through the metro station.

"I think Cliff is only speaking to me again because he's Jade's godfather and wants what's best for her."

"Which is a good thing. Despite how things ended with the two of you, he still fought for you to be in your daughter's life. That means that your ex that you literally screwed over trusts you more than your boyfriend. This is not a good thing, Marc. I'm not even going to go into the fact that you let him find out about that from the fashion report instead of telling him yourself. It's too early for that conversation and you took my cookie away." Monique glared at him.

"I didn't tell Troy about Jade because I still need time to process it. I don't have the energy to sort out Troy and Cliff right now." Marc said under his breath hoping that the sound of the trains below would drown out his words. "I need to focus on Jade."

"I get that." Monique said with false innocence. "I just think it would be good for my Creative Director to be able to work with one of the best photographers in the industry. I thought the days of fist fights and petty arguments went away with Wilhelmina's departure and Daniel coming clean about his Betty feelings. If you and Cliff can repair your working relationship and maybe develop some sort of friendship, especially because he is your daughter's godfather, I would be happy. I would be unbelievably happy if it became more because Jade deserves a good step daddy, but I'm not going to push." He could tell she was giving him her, 'I'm lying for my own self-interest' look.

"Right now, I just want a good cover." Now that type of motivation Marc could accept. It was the type of thing Wilhelmina would do if she thought it would help her achieve her main goal. "Everything else can be sorted out while I'm on my honeymoon."

"If Wilhelmina said something like that, I would believe her. However, you're not that selfish." Marc said with a sigh as he waited impatiently behind the 20 other people trying to make their way into the subway.

"I think that's the nicest thing you have ever said to me." Monique said sarcastically as she took her metro card out of her purse. "It seems to me like you're settling with Troy because you are afraid of becoming the gay equivalent of the lonely cat lady. You are too good of a person to just settle." Monique said as they both made their way through the turnstile.

"Which, by the way, can't happen because you have a kid. Do you really want Troy to be her stepdad? According to the rumor mill, he wasn't exactly happy that you are a father or apparently had sex with a woman at some point in the recent past." Monique told him as they stepped onto the escalator to the train level.

"I can't believe you're making everyone take the subway. This is barbaric." Marc whined to move this conversation away from his personal life.

"Oh my god, stop whining." She said with a trademark eye roll. "You are from New York. Our mayor takes the subway to work and he is a billionaire. Just hop on the yellow train and get off in two stops. With the way the traffic is, you will get there faster this way. You're not the one who's going to have to switch trains." Monique said just as their train arrived. Marc hoped this will be the end of their conversation but somehow, they managed to find seats by each other. It was a Metro miracle, apparently.

"After my first husband died, I made several bad dating decisions because I didn't want to feel so alone. I'm only on speaking terms with one of those people and that's because we're friends. However, a good friend gave me some great advice. It's better to be alone and happy, then be miserable with the wrong person." She said as the train started moving.

"That's even more important because you have Jade."

"I realize that."

"A lot of people think that things fell apart between Gio and sourdough girl because of me."

"Which is partially true." Marc replied

"But an even bigger reason was sourdough girl was not at all okay with Antonello and suddenly becoming the parent to a teenager that just lost both of her parents was not something she could do. Ask Hilda about dating with kids. It's a whole another thing." He's aware. Justin gossips way too much and so did his mom.

Thankfully, they spent the rest of the time until he got off the train discussing work related stuff. He really did not want to think about her words, but they kept echoing in his mind every time he received another text message from Troy.

He knew that Troy would be bad for Jade. He has known that for days. The last 24 hours have just confirmed that. Marc realizes that he is going to have to end things, but not today. He had a job to do, the breakup was just going to have to wait until he got back to New York. Or maybe Monday. And no, he wasn't doing that just so he didn't have to go to Monique's wedding alone. Really, he wasn't.

"Are you sure Mr. Suarez will be okay with me staying here?" DJ asked as he pulled his suitcase out of the cab. After more than four years, Betty has finally successfully convinced Daniel that it's not the best idea to drive a town car or limo for that matter into her old neighborhood. Betty is glad that he's listening to her.

"DJ, it's fine." Daniel said reassuring his nephew. She knew that Daniel was a little bit upset that they would be losing their carefree week, but between her father and all her work commitments, she doubted they would get to do anything besides a little pre-sleep cuddling and some handholding before returning to London. Even then, her father would probably give Daniel the evil eye like he did all her other boyfriends. Her father has never really liked any of her previous boyfriends, even if he tried to be civil. In the few conversations they've had since her father found out that she was living with Daniel, he seemed OK, but there is a lot you can hide in a Skype conversation.

This morning on the way to Heathrow, she mentioned her fears to Daniel, but he dismissed it stating that her father has always liked him, and it would not change now. She then pointed out that all fathers hate the guy who is having sex with their daughter. Daniel responded with a cheeky, "Good thing we're not having sex yet," before kissing her in a way that made her almost go unconscious.

Unfortunately, Christina who was catching a plane out at the same time was sitting in the limo laughing during the entire scene. At least, by the end of their short visit, Christina was in better spirits even if Betty still didn't know what was going on in her friend's life. They would have to talk more when she comes back to visit later. Some conversations cannot occur over the telephone.

Despite both Daniel and Christina's reassurances, Betty was still scared about how her dad would take her bringing Daniel home. This morning on the plane, DJ mention he was uncomfortable staying with Mrs. Meade because he knew what was going to happen when Alexis explained everything including the fact that she was ill. Betty suggested that he come with her and Daniel to Queens. She doubted that her father would make a scene with DJ there. She needed a buffer and that buffer would be DJ.

"I would not have suggested it if I wasn't sure my dad would be okay with it. I even mentioned that it was a possibility yesterday." She lied. "We have the space. You can have Justin's old room. Helga said she left his old bed behind because she got him a bigger one for the new house." Betty said as she was walking up the stairs.

At that moment, Daniel just started laughing before mumbling, "At least someone will get to have fun. I always knew your sister was the cool mom." Daniel stopped laughing as soon as she gave him a dirty look.

"Not that cool. Justin texted me from DC. He's roaming with his mom instead of his boyfriend, like originally planned." DJ told the two.

"That might be because of Austen's mom. DJ, it may be best not to be anywhere near the island of Manhattan when your mother tells your grandmother about being sick or even your new sister for that matter. Then she is going to be mad at me for not telling her. Maybe we should have just stayed in London. This is going to be a disaster." Daniel said as Betty grabbed her key.

"It will be fine. I doubt your mom will be that upset." She said quickly knowing better.

"We'll see. You still have your key?" Daniel asked in surprise.

"I kept it." She said nonchalantly not understanding what the big deal was.

"Shouldn't we knock anyway?" Daniel asked.

"If he was home, maybe, but Papa is at work. It's only three days to the culinary event of the wedding season and only two days until the rehearsal lunch. Do you really think he would have let us take a taxi if he was available?" Betty said as she opened the door and walked inside.

"Not really." He responded as he followed her.

Betty has been gone for almost two months, but things seem different in her childhood home. It was less cluttered for one thing. Maybe that was because Helga was gone along with her salon. With Daniel and Monique's connections, she was working as a private hair stylist to the wealthy and mostly made house calls. She has been doing so well over the last month, her sister is not sure if she wants to even have an actual salon again.

The kitchen was different as well. Her father used a lot of the insurance money to give him the kitchen he always wanted complete with stainless steel refrigerator and stove top of his dreams. Of course, one thing was still the same.

"Your father left snacks?" Daniel asked as he picked up the note on the table.

"Papa always says 'I love you' with food." Betty said as she went in to the refrigerator. It was filled with all her favorites including her father's signature malaise sauce. Betty already had one dish out of the fridge and into the microwave in seconds.

"You're going to eat now before we move the luggage upstairs?" Daniel asked as he closed the door.

"I miss my dad's cooking." Betty said going back to the refrigerator looking for the flan. She has not even found the store in their neighborhood in London where she can get the mix yet. That's going to be her next mission.

"Also, the food on the plane was horrible. I thought the food was supposed to be better in first class?" She said finally finding the thing she wanted.

"DJ, come here? You have to try this." She said taking the dish out of the microwave and putting it on the table. She was personally more interested in desert.

"I've had your father's cooking before. I like the chicken dish with the chocolate sauce." DJ said as he grabbed a fork and took a little bite of the rice. Betty gave Daniel confused look but did not ask any questions and Daniel did not elaborate.

"Not all of us grow up with a world class chef at home. Fine, have your snack." He was laughing by that point. "I'll take everything upstairs and be back in a few minutes to join you. I need to make a few phone calls first. I have two 911 text messages from Candy and I want to call her before it becomes too late." Daniel said just before he kissed her. She was sure he could taste the custard dessert on her lips or, tongue for that matter.

"Just promise me you will save me some of that." Daniel said as he grabbed her hand and proceeded to lick off a little bit of the dessert that fell on her finger. She shivered at the contact remembering what else that tongue has done recently. DJ was most likely mumbling the French equivalent of get a room during the display. Maybe, it would be best if they were supervised this weekend.

The moment Daniel got off the plane he had 18 urgent messages to go through, but he chose not to because of Betty. By the time he was in Betty's old bedroom, he had a grand total of 27 messages. Daniel knew he couldn't put off calling Candy any longer. She never provided any specifics, but Daniel knew with that many messages something serious had to be wrong.

"Do you have any idea what time it is on this side of the planet?" Candy spat out slightly slurred.

"It can't be that late if you're answering the phone. I used to call Betty at 3:00 AM all the time and she never complained." Daniel shot back. Candy laughed.

"That's because Betty loves you and is far more tolerant than I am. I only picked up the phone because I'm still conscious and we need to talk. I'm only still up because I am trying to sneak successfully out of the hotel room of a very ill advised one-night stand. I am so taking the morning after pill too just in case. I hope that's legal here." Candy mumbled.

"How ill advised?" He asked curiously. He never exactly had the normal boss/assistant relationship with anybody who has been his assistant. Then again, other than Marc, Candy, Natalie, and that tall blonde girl from last year (that he can't remember the name of) Daniel has had some sort of sexual relationship with every assistant that he has had. All 100% consensual. But let's just say HR is happy that he is with Betty now and she works for another company.

"I'm only telling you about it because I'm still slightly drunk and my judgment is highly impaired. Which is why I got in this situation in the first place. I only get completely wasted when I get unwelcome news of a personal nature." She said cryptically.

"What happened?" Daniel asked with concern.

"I can't talk about it, especially because we are not sure yet, but you might just want to start loading your nephew's dresser drawer with condoms. I suggest doing that with both nephews. Justin is bi and well STIs are a thing." There was only one possible cause for such a comment.

"You're not pregnant?" He asked a little scared. Amanda said something like that the last time he had to hold her hair back as she threw up. He could not deal with another pregnant assistant.

"Considering this is the first time I have had sex since before February fashion week, no. At least I hope not. And that's what the morning after pill is for." She blurted out in irritation. "When I'm soberer we are going to talk about boundaries."

"I haven't done anything since December, so you are ahead of me." That was technically true.

"For some reason I don't believe you. Let's get to the matter at hand. Do you want the personal related shocking news, or the magazine related shocking news?"

"Magazine related." Daniel said with a sigh.

"First, about 20 minutes after your plane took off for New York, we were hit with a wrongful termination suit by Mr. Pratt. His solicitor is an absolute bitch." Daniel wasn't surprised considering that the man had to be escorted out by security.

"Our barrister, or solicitor, or whatever they call lawyers who deal with disgruntled spoiled brats in this country, is dealing with it. He has also been hired by one of our rivals, although, I am not sure which one. Fashion TV UK is a bit more cryptic than its American counterpart. I heard about what they did to Marc. I can't believe he has a kid."

There goes any free time he thought he would have. He almost wished he still had Wilhelmina to deal with this sort of stuff. Fortunately, Candy was doing an excellent job so far, but Daniel knew he would have to take over, eventually. According to Candy, the lawyers do not think that Mr. Pratt has a case considering his poor work ethic and the fact that he has probably received more B J's in his office by various employees than Daniel ever did before he got serious.

He also listened as Candy told him about the fight that broke out between his two managing editors this morning as quietly as possible as she tried to find her clothing in the other room without waking up her bed partner. Things were not going well in London. He thought about asking Candy to stay behind, but Daniel doubted things will fall apart that badly in two days. Also, he would never hear the end of it if Monique lost another bridesmaid. Monique was scary.

"What about the personal crisis?" Daniel asked already feeling a headache coming on.

"Gio wants to have lunch with you tomorrow." She said quickly as he heard her fall into something. This was followed by cursing.

"Why is this a personal crisis?" Daniel asked, but Candy ignored his question.

"That hurt." She mumbled to herself. "My theory is he's going to ask you to fill in as best man."

"Why?" Daniel asked having a feeling that in Candy's mind, that did constitute a crisis.

"I can't tell you. Should a hangover start this soon? I wonder if the guy has any Tylenol?" Again, Candy was mumbling incoherently.

"Candy!" He practically yelled.

"Fine, but you can't tell Mo, she's already on edge about the wedding. She's under a lot of pressure for this to be the social event of the summer season before Fashion TV started stalking her again. Mode needs all the good publicity it can get. This wedding is very important to the magazine and Mo. You know about how most of the other bridesmaids have pulled out of the wedding and certain things keep going wrong?" Candy asked.

"Amanda told me." He answered quickly remembering multiple text messages and e-mails on the subject at strange hours of the day.

"It turns out that Gio's ex-girlfriend/business partner is completely insane and sabotaging the wedding." Candy spat out with anger. "Mo should have bought out the bitch early on."

"What?" Daniel asked with confusion.

"Ask Monique about how she ended up with Gio. I'm too sloshed to tell you that story now. Gio almost married someone else, but it fell apart after he met Mo and sourdough girl was not happy. His parents dying probably didn't help things, but that's a whole another set of issues. Anyway, the ex-girlfriend's mission is to make sure the wedding does not happen. Too bad for her, one of Mo's so-called friends called me with the sole purpose of getting me to not be part of the wedding. That's when the drinking began this afternoon after I warned Gio."

This was not good. How can someone be that upset about a breakup? Considering he had a girlfriend who tried to barbecue Betty, he shouldn't be that surprised. He really hoped he would never see that woman again.

"How is she trying to stop the wedding?" Daniel was curious about this.

"By spreading vicious rumors and lies, you know the usual. She is like the Wilhelmina of the baking world, but more insane and less skilled. To get rid of the bridal party, she spread vicious lies about you and Betty being in a relationship before Molly died with Monique's full support, hoping to cause a rift between all the friends. You know they were Molly's friends too."

"I'm aware." Daniel sighed. "Although they weren't exactly the type of friends that came over, delivered food, or even visited Molly in the end."

"I'm not surprised. Because that's what real friends do, but these are fake friends that believe vicious rumors. Because Monique refuses to kick you out of the wedding party at her friends' insistence, they are not participating, and others aren't even coming."

"I'm not surprised and know they were never real friends of Molly's. However, how does that result in Gio needing a best man?"

"Sourdough girl told Gio's cousins they were still involved, and she was pregnant with his child." Daniel wanted to laugh. He was sure that Candy was rolling her eyes as she spoke despite being drunk or rather hung over by this point.

"That's no worse than what I've heard from the Mode rumor mill. If they believe whatever she told them, then they are not really Monique's friends to begin with. Although, I think Gio needs to get a restraining order against this girl." This girl makes Wilhelmina's sister look sane Daniel thought to himself.

"I will talk to Mo's personal lawyers before I leave for Heathrow in the morning or rather later today at this point." She said with pure annoyance. "Actually, I had better do it now because that girl is more dangerous than the rumor mill ever could be. Megan and company never tried to sell doctored photographs to Suzuki and a story about how Molly caught you and Betty having sex in the storage closet at your wedding to her. Sourdough girl even went so far as to claim that was the real reason why your marriage to Molly was never registered." Candy was angry enough that she sounded almost completely sober even if some words were still slurred.

"Why is he not publishing this story?" Daniel asked surprised. After all, Suzuki does not back down. What he did to Marc a couple of days ago was awful. This would be the story of the year even if it were not true."

"Because even Suzuki knows better than to publish a story that is based on obvious lies and he doesn't want to piss off his wife by going after one of her friends, especially after the Marc mishap. He was unaware that he was under Monique's protection. The only part of her story that was true was that the marriage was never registered." Daniel is sure that Candy only told him that because she is still intoxicated.

"What?" Daniel said blinking back shock. He knew that because of Molly's weakening health, they never did have sex after the wedding and therefore their marriage was slightly less than legal. However, he didn't know about the other part. To know that it was not real was just too much.

"I assume that is yes to doing lunch. It has to be an early lunch because Gio needs to go to the jewelers to pick up the wedding rings." Candy said completely changing the subject.

"Fine, I will go to lunch with Gio. Can we go back to what you said before? What do you mean my marriage to Molly was never registered?" Daniel said on the verge of screaming or possibly crying. Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, Candy was saved from his anger by her one-night stand.

"Running away so soon, I thought we could have another round." Daniel dropped his phone when he realized who that voice belonged to. By the time he found it again, Candy had hung up. Eventually he realized she was no longer taking his phone calls after 10 failed attempts. He may have left an inappropriate message on her voicemail at that point. At least it wasn't as bad as what he said to Becks. He would've tried again to call, but dinner was ready. He really did love Mister Suarez's cooking, even if it was reheated. He can deal with Candy later.

To be continued.