Thank you to everyone who read or reviewed the last chapter, even if it was the earlier version. You are all fabulous.
I'm sorry it's been so long. I had some family issues in February. Also my fabulous beta on this story had some issues in real life. Because of that, I've decided that at least until the chapters are 100% new material, they will not go through the beta process. I think that by working on the chapters and then sitting on it for a month, I can spot most of the mistakes. Although, if you feel differently, let me know especially if you're willing to volunteer to help with proofreading. I'm hoping that by the time I get to the 100% new stuff, I will be done with one of my other stories that she's working on. Fingers crossed.
Warning: Domestic violence. You will mostly be seeing the aftermath but it is here, hence the title.
Chapter 24: The Importance of Avoiding Toxic Relationships.
Daniel Meade has never been afraid of anyone's father, not even his own. Okay, that was a complete lie but he had no trouble whatsoever with the thought of Bradford walking in on him receiving 'dictation' from his blonde assistant (that four years later he cannot remember the name of). Mr. Suarez walks in on him kissing his daughter's belly button and he is hiding underneath little mermaid sheets hoping that Betty's father will leave before he needs to meet Gio at 11 AM.
Originally, Daniel thought he would have a really light day today because his mother wanted to spend the day with Alex and DJ without him. Which was fine with Daniel because he already had enough drama in his life. Also, Betty had a very busy day schedule which was sad because he would have loved to spend the day with her.
In addition, Monique will not be arriving from DC until early Friday morning due to more problems caused by Marc's boyfriend along with residual Nikolai fallout. Things were so bad that Megan and half the team were staying an extra two days. At least, that is what Monique said in an E-mail this morning when she arranged for a business brunch tomorrow before the rehearsal lunch. He just hoped that his colleague would not be freaking out by the time she arrived back in New York. Brunch will be a disaster.
But those were tomorrow problems, today's lunch with Gio is something to worry about today. He wasn't looking forward to that even if he considered the deli owner an actual friend. Gio has definitely listened to a lot of Daniel's ranting over the last few months before moving to London, mostly when Daniel came in to pick up a pregnant lady special for Amanda. He already got the 'you better take care of Betty' speech more times than Daniel cares to remember from the man.
They probably shouldn't be friends because Daniel knows somewhere deep down that Gio knows that Betty turned down the wonderful all around Europe trip because of her feelings for him. Gio knew that Daniel was in love with Betty long before he did and vice versa. But the man wasn't bitter and Daniel was thankful for that. Daniel didn't have that many real friends and he usually enjoyed spending time with those who liked him in spite of being Bradford's son.
What made Daniel dread today's meeting was the fact that he had to keep himself from telling Gio that he would be making his 15 year old sister pregnant lady specials for the next eight months. Daniel really wished Candy and Hilda never told him anything, especially because the home pregnancy tests were still inconclusive. Of course, there were a lot of things he wished Candy never told him. He should have just followed the first rule of vacation and not return phone calls to the office. Unfortunately, Betty made him too responsible to forget about his responsibilities for long periods of time.
Really, he just wanted to spend this morning curled around his girlfriend. Unfortunately, Betty woke up early this morning, her body already used to London time, more than Daniel anyway. She also had an early breakfast meeting with Lindsey before attending to various work related things.
Daniel woke up an hour later to a very angry phone call from his assistant who finally returned his phone calls from last night. Candy informed him that because she is not Betty, he has no right whatsoever to tell her how to live her life even though she did foolishly sleep with one of his friends. She also mentioned that she could acknowledge that she made a mistake without him pointing that out.
Good thing she did not hear the message he left Becks. Although he had a feeling that he probably wouldn't be talking to him for a while. Good thing he works for Betty now. Thankfully, the conversation eventually moved to the safer ground of candy convincing Monique's personal legal team to get a restraining order against Gio's business partner without informing the bride to be that such a thing was necessary. He doesn't know how candy pulled that off, but she's getting a bonus.
The phone calls just kept getting worse from there. The next call was with UK legal to deal with the legal implications of "Pratt being a Pratt," as Sumreen so eloquently put it. So maybe he was happy for the conference call with the lawyers and Sumreen just so Daniel could avoid Betty's father until he left for work, not that it actually worked. He knew Mr. Suarez was still downstairs. Currently he was stalling with another phone call to Hilda.
"My ring tone is too loud." Hilda said in a tone that instantly said hung over. "I got to remember not to drink like I am 20 when I have to get up at 6:00 AM to make overly cheery skinny girls look pretty. Last night was a disaster beyond me only getting 3 hours of sleep."
"Good morning to you." Daniel said sarcastically. "I assume you broke the bad news to Mo."
"No, I didn't get a chance. Things went bad as soon as I arrived back with the alcohol and the orange juice for the mommies to be. Your friend Monique called in a favor from 'Alex' to get Amanda dragged on stage during the mandatory 'sing a love song to a girl from the audience' number. There is probably a video on YouTube of Amanda blowing her nose on Brian Littrell's shirt as she burst into sobs during 'Shape of My Heart'. It just went downhill from there. I'm surprised nobody got arrested."
"I am too. Your son, texted DJ a picture of Cassandra flashing everyone at the after party." Daniel remarked.
"Justin wasn't even supposed to be at the after party due to being very under 21. I knew I should have just let him stay at the hotel with his boyfriend." Hilda lamented.
"You would be OK with that but Austin's mom probably would have preferred him surrounded by really drunk women. That sounded better in my head." Daniel remarked.
"You're right but hey at least he can't get my son pregnant. After everything, I figured it would be best to wait until after the wedding and we get final confirmation since Candy thinks that she can get her an appointment Friday without parental consent, since Candy believe she's still proxy. I think it can hold a little while longer if Antonella doesn't throw up on anyone shoes. Poor Amanda."
Daniel didn't get to hear what that was about because it sounded like a fight broke out in the background and Hilda left to break up whatever was happening. Daniel was sure he would find out during brunch on Friday.
Spending quality time with Mr. Suarez started to seem less daunting than the prospect of lunch with Gio currently. There was no way he was going to tell the man about his sister being possibly knocked up. He knew better. Finally, Daniel headed downstairs knowing that he had to see the man eventually.
"I was wondering when you were going to come downstairs." He said looking up from his morning paper. "Betty and DJ already left at least an hour ago. Your mother sent a town car for him." Daniel wasn't surprised about that. His mother loved her grand baby.
"She doesn't get to see DJ a lot because of the custody issues. He is her only grandchild, so far." As he mumbled that last part to what he thought was only himself, a dark look came across Mr. Suarez's face.
"Betty is not pregnant." Daniel added hastily as he sat down at the table tentatively. Maybe it was a good thing he was having lunch in less than an hour. Daniel was worried that Betty's father would add something that Daniel was allergic to in his breakfast.
"I know about the Amanda situation. She visits a lot. My cooking is the only thing that she can keep down sometimes. Do you want something to eat?" He asked getting up from the table to refill his own coffee.
"Maybe something light, I have a lunch meeting." Daniel said giving in. Mr. Suarez's food was worth hospitalization.
"Mom is claiming the baby regardless. Something about if Faye stole her husband, she gets to take her grandchild. Although, I guess its grandchildren now." Daniel wondered aloud remembering what Amanda told him earlier.
"Twins?" He asked as he placed two slices of most likely homemade whole wheat bread in the toaster.
"Yes. They found that out after Matt's freak out Monday." Daniel said angrily as he accepted the cup of coffee placed in his hands.
"You are not happy about that?" Mr. Suarez asked as he walked back to the refrigerator.
"Amanda is my best friend, not counting Betty, and I'm happy for her. I have also accepted that I will only be Uncle Daniel, regardless of DNA results. I'm just…" Daniel stopped mid-sentence not knowing how to expresses frustration.
"You're angry that she has to go through this alone?" He said grabbing what appeared to be fresh fruit out of the fridge.
"Maybe, though she's really not alone. Like I said, my mother has decided that this baby will be her grandchild no matter what." He said with a half-smile. Even if Amanda was the one who essentially pushed him to go to London, he was still a little upset that he backed out on his original promise to be there for every appointment until the delivery room.
"Maybe part of you is upset this baby will most likely not be yours?" Daniel almost dropped his coffee when Mr. Suarez asked that. OK? he couldn't stop coughing. Choking on hot liquid is not good.
"No. I'm in London now with Betty and I'm not sure if Amanda wants to leave New York. Especially, because she wants to help Marc adjust to being a dad. I'm sure you heard about that." Mr. Suarez just nodded his head in agreement. "Besides, Amanda was the one who pushed me to go to London. It would be messy and nobody wants a repeat of Tucson." He was rambling by that point.
"It's hard for me to believe that considering this is coming from somebody who sat in the hallway reading Oh Fuck, I Got Someone Pregnant." He said with glee.
"I knew I should get the digital version." Daniel muttered under his breath.
"I do want to have children someday, with Betty." Daniel specifically stressed the last part. He looked up from his coffee to see Mr. Suarez smiling. "But now's not the right time. We have DJ who needs our full attention right now with everything going on with Alexis and the brand-new baby sister." Daniel said taking a deep breath before continuing.
"Then Betty is trying to start a brand new magazine as I try to save another one from the brink of failure. This is not a good time." He said honestly as he saw the scrambled eggs stuffed with cheese and vegetables placed in the microwave for reheating.
"Do you want orange juice or mango juice?" That question was an obvious attempt to move on to something more diplomatic.
"Both mixed together." He responded.
"How is work?" Mr. Suarez asked minutes later as he placed the fruit salad, eggs, toast, and two slices of bacon in front of Daniel. So much for something light.
"Did you hear what I said about saving a magazine from failure?" Daniel asked taking the first bite.
"It can't be that bad. I know you know what you are doing." He said sitting back down.
"Sometimes, I wonder. I don't have Betty and Wilhelmina to fall back on anymore." Daniel said as he started to tell the man about everything going wrong at Mode UK. What they didn't talk about was what Mr. Suarez saw the night before. There was also nothing along the lines of 'when the hell are you going to marry my daughter?' The majority of the discussion revolved around assuring Daniel that he could keep Mode UK from going under. That is what Daniel really needed to hear from a person he almost considered to be his other father.
Monique sat in an extremely uncomfortable chair asking carefully cleared questions related to Illegal wildlife trafficking and the illicit goods trade. Really, they could have done this interview via email and Monique could have slept in for a few more hours. Monique is really glad she didn't drink anything last night because a hangover would have made this interview completely intolerable.
The only reason why they got permission to shoot at the Department of State was if they would agree to put this article and a special editorial on Illegal Wildlife Trafficking in several of Mode's sister publications overseas. It was a small price to pay for the spectacular shots from the first day (Half of which were lost by Marc's boy toy Troy.)
They were in the middle of discussing how important it was for consumers to be aware of where their goods come from and to not buy products obtained by unethical means when Monique heard muffled screaming. This was quite a feat because the historically restored office in the old war building was most likely soundproof. This seemed likely because she hasn't heard the flicker of cameras and chatter of Models yet from the shoot happening less than 50 feet away.
The interview continued for a few more minutes until she heard a body being slammed into the wooden door to the office. By that point, the Assistant Secretary's assistant was leading her into another room. Monique, being the type of person she was, decided to see what was happening. She opened the door only to see her favorite photographer helping a bruised and bloodied Marc up as two male models held back Troy. She didn't have time to ask questions because in seconds they were surrounded by heavily armed security guards and the Marines. She doesn't know how it happened but she knows this is 10 times worse than the United Nations fiasco.
That became apparent when they were all escorted out after Marc gave a statement to diplomatic security.
"Okay, can you please tell me why your boyfriend hit you?" Monique asked once she was alone with Marc and Cliff in a cab. "By the way you are filing charges and you are so breaking up with him. You can't date someone who hits you. Think about Jade."
"I already broke up with him. That's why he hit me." Marc told her. "Can I get some ice?"
"You can once we get to the hospital. There may even be painkillers involved." Cliff told Marc putting an arm around him. It would've been adorable under other circumstances.
"Congratulations on finally realizing that Troy was bad for you. I just wish you waited until after the shoot to tell him." Monique sighed.
"I was planning to tell him Monday after the wedding." Marc explained.
"Because nobody wants to show up to a wedding alone." Monique replied darkly.
"Because I just didn't have the energy to deal with it this weekend. You were right yesterday. I was only with Troy because I didn't want to be alone but things are different now and Jade was a factor in my decision making. I was just hoping to hold off on telling him for a few days. I didn't want to cause any more delays in case he did make a scene." Marc explained.
"Which he did. Okay, that just means that the wedding date would just be a bonus for you. Instead, we got whatever the hell happened at the State Department. Between this and the UN incident, we're going to be banned from shooting at any government owned facility in the world." Monique lamented.
"Look, yesterday shoot was exhausting and we didn't get back until after 11. I invited Marc to my room for a late dinner, and he ended up falling asleep on the couch in the suite after a few bites of his sandwich. I didn't have the heart to wake Marc up and take him back to his room." Cliff explained. "This week has been hard between the shoots and the lawyer stuff with Jody for Marc and he needed a break."
"I can understand that and since I see the dark circles, I can believe it was totally platonic." Except for the fact you guys are kind of still in love with each other but I'm not to say that out loud. Monique thought to herself.
"However, Amanda noticed that I wasn't there when she got in last night and asked where I was and unfortunately Troy overheard." Marc explained just as the cab pulled up in front of GW hospital in the patient drop off area. That was quick. They could've walked if Marc wasn't injured.
"How was he even at DOS?" Monique asked after paying the driver. "He was supposed to be with Megan."
"He switched with one of the freelancers because he didn't want me to be alone with his boyfriend." Cliff told her.
"Anyway, he confronted me. I was just going to let it go until he said something about Jade. Then I told him it was over." Marc added.
"That's when Troy threw the first punch. And Marc didn't hit back." Cliff added.
"My dad may have left us, but he did teach me that you don't hit your partner, no matter what's going on." Mark remark bitterly.
"That's good. I'm sure HR is going to appreciate it. I will schedule something. We will also need to see if any of the lawyers have a license for DC, or if we are going to have to secure local representation." Monique said realizing what a disaster this was going to be.
"Deidra is licensed to practice in New York, New Jersey, Virginia, DC, and Maryland. Because of her complicated relationship with the Senator, Wilhelmina felt it would be best if the Mead legal team was prepared." Marc explained.
"I'm glad Wilhelmina is prepared for anything. I'm going to see if my cousin can help with some of this mess. I feel a headache coming on." This is too much for her to deal with on her own. She needed a regular assistant.
"There's Tylenol in my bag and I adore your cousin. I totally want her to be my new assistant."
"Chances are we got her fired, so I'm sure she would appreciate the job offer." Monique remarked.
"I can stay with Marc while you handle the fallout." At that moment she looked down to see that Deidra from legal was calling her. So it begins.
"I'm sorry for not realizing that you cannot trust a guy who slept on a stoop overnight not to make a scene in public." Marc said somewhat sincerely
"I rather deal with the fallout then have you stay in a bad relationship. Troy was toxic and you know it." Monique tells him as she squeezes his hand.
"I know," Marc said as Cliff directed him to the check-in desk for the ER. Monique called Deidra back, only to realize that the events of the last hour were so much worse than the UN fiasco. More police were involved, for one thing. She's so did not need this right now. Monique was really hoping that they would be no more fuck ups with work or the wedding because she was so done right now.
After leaving Betty's father, Daniel found himself at a bakery in Queens drinking real espresso as he listened as Gio got in a fight about the cake. If he ever gets married again (or technically for the first time), it's just going to be him, Betty, and the family on some tropical island.
"I don't care what the fuck that woman told you, the wedding is not canceled. My fiancé ordered the raspberry Cream cake with the chocolate raspberry mousse filling and that is what we are going to have Saturday." Gio screamed at the older lady that was yelling at him moments earlier in rapid Italian.
Daniel doesn't remember that much from the three months he spent in Florence during high school but he is almost positive the woman said something about castrating Gio and feeding him to her pig. There also may have been several other curses in there and a promise never to serve such a bastard again.
"I'm sorry Mr. Ross but we simply do not have time to fill the order even if what you said is true." The older woman's granddaughter said diplomatically even if she got his name wrong. "Your fiancé sounded very convincing when she called us crying after she allegedly caught you in bed with her assistant."
Daniel started laughing at that point resulting in both women looking at him angrily. 'The evil bitch strikes again,' Daniel thought to himself as he looked on at the scene. Apparently, she has been telling that sob story to every vendor involved with the wedding. Unfortunately, she made the mistake of calling Mr. Suarez directly during their breakfast this morning. Because Justin and Amanda are the only ones who could be considered Monique's assistance, he knew better and immediately told Daniel what was going on. That's when he told Mr. Suarez about his recent calls with Candy and the fact that Monique's private lawyers were arranging for a restraining order, that wasn't going through anywhere near fast enough.
Now they were currently trying to undo the damage. The second stop was the bakery after barely managing to convince the florist that the wedding wasn't canceled. Considering the amount of women that he has screwed over the years (figuratively and literally), he should probably married Betty in secret. It worked so well the first time (if he can even still call that a marriage). He was sure something like this would happen to him otherwise.
"The name is Rossi. That was not my fiancée that called. That was my ex-girlfriend who is not very happy that I'm marrying someone else. Monique, my actual fiancé, is not that crazy." Daniel didn't need his very basic grasp of Italian to know that neither woman believed Gio with the dangerous glares that they were giving the man. It was time for him to intervene, if he doesn't want news of this disaster on fashion TV. Suzuki wasn't the only one at the network. Others would salivate over this story.
"I know you don't believe Gio but he's telling the truth. Monique's assistant is not only her best friend but also five months pregnant and completely in love with someone else. Her other assistant is my 16-year-old nephew and dating a wonderful guy name Austin." Daniel said in Gio's defense. "Monique actually had to file a restraining order against the woman this morning."
"It's just too late to put the cake together." Daniel has been forced to do enough wedding issues to know that is a complete lie. If there's enough motivation and money, anything's possible.
"Do you have any idea who his fiancée is?" Daniel asked wondering if they knew that not doing the cake for the wedding of the year was career suicide? Gio may be too nice to play dirty but Daniel was not.
"She works for that men's magazine my husband keeps in the bathroom." The granddaughter said. Daniel almost cursed. Wilhelmina was the one who suggested that they keep the fact the EIC of Player was female a secret. They were completely screwed over because of that decision and the fact that Monique was so humble. Fuck!
"She received a promotion. She is now the EIC of Mode magazine, also, known as the one fashion magazine that sets all wedding trends." Daniel instantly saw recognition in their eyes as soon as he said Mode.
"She obviously chose your establishment for a reason instead of choosing one of the more trendy bakeries in Manhattan for a wedding that will be covered by every media outlet in the country. You're aware that this was for the Monique Osborne Windom West wedding right?" Daniel said with a smirk that he got from Wilhelmina before the botox paralyzed her face.
"She likes their raspberry truffle cupcakes. She ordered 40 dozen for the reception along with a few of her other favorites. She was also planning to give out boxes as her end of the year thank you present to everyone at Meade Publishing this year. She sent two dozen boxes to Oprah last winter and her 'friend' Alex and his group earlier this month." Gio added. Daniel wondered if that was true but it probably was. He also wondered if it was the same "Alex" from yesterday, but decided not to ask questions.
"Monique also mentioned something about doing a feature spread about her favorite bakery." Gio said causing the angry glare to disappear from the faces of the two women.
"That's not going to happen now after this disaster." Daniel mumbled just loud enough for both to hear.
"You know it was a simple misunderstanding and your fiancé did request one of our simpler recipes. I'm sure we can work something out." The grandmother said smiling.
An hour later, they were at the pizza place next to the jeweler that was currently finishing the engraving on the rings after the evil ex-girlfriend sabotaged that. For the last hour, Daniel has been using his and Monique's connections to save this wedding. If he could only use these skills when it came to Mode UK, everything would be great.
"I did promise lunch." Gio said as he took a drink of his beer. It was barely 1:00 PM but if anybody deserved alcohol right now, it was Gio.
"I like pizza. It's just not the same in London. Don't get me wrong, there's lots of great restaurants but the pizzas just not the same." He said smiling.
"It's the least I can do for you saving the wedding." Gio said honestly.
"Consider it payback for helping me with the Betty thing. Besides that is what the best man does." Daniel said taking a drink of his water.
"So you're taking the best man position?" Gio asked.
"Yes. I assume that is what you asked me here for." He said just before taking another bite.
"Actually, no." Gio said taking a DVD out of the bag he was carrying with him.
"What's this?" Daniel asked grabbing the plainly marked jewel case.
"Honestly, I don't know. Molly gave it to me the last time I delivered food to the apartment before ..." He trailed off but Daniel knew what he was talking about.
"She made me promise to give it to you one year later. That is today. She gave me another package for Monique." Daniel stared at the DVD not knowing what to think. He tried not to think about the fact that in two days it will be exactly a year since his 'wife' died. Actually, he didn't want to think about that at all. He just wanted to concentrate on making Monique's wedding actually happen and surviving quality time with Mr. Suarez.
Of course, he could not stop thinking about the DVD as the two walked back to the jewelry store. What was on the DVD? Even though Monique showed him the letter that Molly wrote her asking her to play matchmaker, he still wondered if she would be okay with him being with Betty so soon.
By that point, Daniel decided to distract himself by looking at all the vintage jewelry. Okay, he mostly looked at the engagement rings. There was one in the middle of the case that stood out from the more traditional rings. It was a beautiful diamond ring that had some sort of carving and jewels on the side.
"Are those butterflies?" He mumbled out loud.
"Yes. According to the woman who sold it to me her great grandmother loved butterflies or I guess step grandmother would be more appropriate. She was his second wife after the first one died during childbirth. According to the granddaughter, she was his best friend and helped him survive his first wife's death, as well as, helped him take care of his newborn daughter. Her husband had the rings specially made for her. They were married for 52 years. Supposedly, they died within hours of each other holding hands. Would you like to see the rings sir?" The salesperson asked.
He should say no but he couldn't. Maybe it was because that story reminded him of his relationship with Betty even if some things were different. Once Daniel held the ring in his hand, he knew this was Betty's ring. It was even her size. Although what made his decision to get the ring was the inscription, 'Yours Forever, Daniel' already inside. He was going to ask her eventually, might as well have the ring. Daniel knew he would never find something this perfect again.
"I'll take it."
To Be Continued