CHAPTER 12

Monday's were always a pain for most people, but for the Editors and Chief's of Mode it was a start to the week that neither of them wanted to start. They knew what to do when it came to the business of Mode, and they had both navigated more trying times than these, but this was personal. Daniel spent the rest of his weekend in a paranoid state, scheming for a way to get to Wilhelmina, to talk to her. He spun his wheels never leaving his apartment. It was time for him to formulate a plan to get to her, and he was sure he hatched a plan to get her attention and get her alone.

After the warzone at the offices that weekend, neither one could muster the complete resolve to face each other. Every time Wilhelmina reached for the door, she reminded herself she forgot something she needed on her vanity, in her kitchen, in her living room. She changed her shoes three times convincing herself she was wearing the wrong shoes with her outfit…she had run out of excuses. She scolded herself to get it together. These were her official last days at Mode (yet again). She reached for her door and stuck her nose in the air as she put her oversized sunglasses on her face and walked out the door for her final days on the frontlines for the battlefield. Eventually this war would be over.

Wilhelmina sat at her desk, filing through her hundreds of emails that went unanswered over the weekend. She was startled from the loud smack of a heavy object slamming against the glass of her desk. She knew who it was.

"What is this? The book is not due for another three weeks and I'll be long gone by then." The monotone was a painful reminder that she was still livid with him. Wilhelmina eyes shifted from her computer to the familiar binder on her desk. She knew Daniel was hovering over her desk but she didn't acknowledge his presence.

"This is for you. I am resigning Mode to you, officially and legally. As of tomorrow, I am moving on to the role of Chairman and official CEO of Meade publications, to oversee the entire company and all its publications. I will be out of your hair and up on the 57th floor from no on. It's time." Wilhelmina looked up from her screen and was fixated on his face, not believing what was coming out of his mouth.

"But I gave you my two weeks."

"I haven't signed your release, and no official announcement has gone out." Daniel smirked at her. Wilhelmina had no choice but to listen to him. "This is my counter offer. You keep your third ownership and stay on as sole editor and chief of Mode, and as an official face of the company, or I buy out your share and I never hear from you again."

"I don't do well with ultimatums." She leaned back in her chair and challenged him.

"And I don't do well with the woman I love walking out on me without so much as a fight, so I guess we all have to concede one time or another."

"I told you, I can't keep fighting you Daniel."

"I just told you I loved you and because I love you I want to give you everything you ever wanted or could want. Like I told you before, none of this matters to me. I want you. That's it. And if this is the road to keep you near me, even though you chose not to be with me, than I am still willing to try and fight for you, not with you. If your choice is to leave Mode, so be it, but if you go, I don't ever want you to come back…your choice Wilhelmina."

They stared each other down, both sets of eyes brimming, threating to betray what they were saying on the surface. "If you need me I'll be upstairs in my father's office, moving my things. Come find me when you have an answer for me, and I will make the appropriate arrangements." With that, Daniel marched out of her office, as he neared her door he heard her callout, "Daniel?"

"Yes?"

"Close my door on the way out."

It was a little past six that evening and Wilhelmina finally emerged from her office. She sat all day, curtains drawn and unavailable to speak with anyone. Marc had cancelled all her meetings and no calls went returned. Since that morning's coffee run, even Marc hadn't seen her.

"Marc, go home!"

"But Willie, I wanted to stay and make sure…"

"…I'm fine! I don't need anything else for the day. You can go!" She barked at him, clearly annoyed. Marc nodded at her as she was in one of her moods. He packed up his bags and noticed she was still standing at his desk. It was strange, normally she would blow past him and he would be tripping over his feet to chase her down the halls.

"What's wrong Willie, talk to me?"

"Nothing."

"Ok." Marc started to walk to the elevators and Wilhelmina walked with him. Marc pushed the elevator button down and seconds later Wilhelmina pushed the button to go up. Marc looked over at her confused but said nothing. Without a word Marc reached out his free arm as they stood there just staring at the elevator lights, and rubbed her back comfortingly for support, and she let him. Something was up.

Wilhelmina's heels clicked the off the elevator, sending an echo through the marble floor that vibrated through the walls intimidatingly. She hadn't been to the 57th floor in months. It was so dark.

She rounded the hallway and opened the double doors to Bradford's old digs. She saw Daniel standing in the dark with his back to her, staring out the window, as she leaned against the wrought iron decorative wall, with the only light coming from the gas fireplace stretching the long wall of the office.

"You sure took you time." Daniel said, back still toward her.

"Well, I had a lot to think about." He turned and looked at her with a longing stare.

"Please take a seat Wilhelmina." She sat down gingerly on the chair in front of the fire place, and crossed her ankles under her. Daniel joined her, sitting directly across from her on the coffee table. She was nervous, she never sat like a proper lady. She clenched her hands in her lap and began. "Well, I have done some serious thinking and my answer based on your proposal this morning has two parts."

"Ok."

"The first part is, I don't like ultimatums! I was incredibly pissed off with you at that moment. Frankly I was ready to take your head off and roll it around my office for sport at that moment. You are very lucky I didn't make my decision on the spot."

"That's not a decision." Daniel said dryly, trying to smoke out the answer from her.

"Ugh…Fine. After some careful thinking, it is best for me to stay on at Mode, for the magazine. If I leave, a lot will suffer, the magazine, the employees who have remained loyal to me, and business itself. I waited a long time to be the one-woman show downstairs, and I owe it to myself. But I do have just a few requests before this all goes official Mr. CEO." She sarcastically added the quip.

"Which are?"

"Number one: I have final sign off over the annual planning budgets with the board. I don't want to get into a pissing contest with you if Mode is on target or surpassing its numbers." Daniel listened to her as she spoke intently, considering her proposal.

"Number two: I get to comb the staff lists of the other publications and maybe re-organize the structure. I realize we very rarely do that, but it's what I want." He nodded at her, it sounded reasonable.

"Number three: I would still like to be actively a part of board as third primary shareholder, even though my focus will be on Mode. I don't just want to be a figure head, I want to have my stake flourish and I need to be actively present to do that." Again, her request as shareholder made rational sense.

"Number four: your mother's little insert is out of Mode! Period. Find some other magazine to use it as a bookmark." He screwed his face up knowing there was going to be a little battle between Mama Meade and Wilhelmina, but he would deal with it when the moment came.

"Number five: I want a signing bonus in the ballpark of $150,000+. I need a vacation and new shoes." He looked at her with a smug smirk, of course she wanted money, Daniel knew the request was coming. "And lastly, I want another shot at us." His expression changed. It went blank.

"Is that it?" He asked her in disbelief of what just flew out of her mouth.

"Daniel, I just told you I want to try again with you." She felt the blood rush to her ears. She was momentarily mortified that he didn't leap off the table to kiss her in gratitude for her ability to forgive his transgression.

"I heard you. I need you to tell me why?"

"Why?! Boy, are you feeling ok?! You're the one who cheated on me." Her attitude soared to temperatures hotter than the fire in the room. She shot up off the chair like a bullet.

"I meant no disrespect, what I meant was I wanted you to tell me why you had the change of heart?" Daniel stood up to meet her eye to eye.

"Because."

"Because? What are you three?" He challenged.

"Ugh…because I realized that I am in love with your sorry ass! I have done a lot of horrible and some could say even unforgivable things to you over the years and you found a place in your heart for me. You saw me for who I am and not what I want people to believe I am. We understand each other. We are cut from the same luxurious, albeit overpriced, cloth. You love everything about me that hurts and not all the other things that are easy to love. Its those things that are hard to love that made me realize you are the only man who ever took on that challenge, and its not easy."

"I told you, nothing in life that is worth it is ever easy."

"I remember." Wilhelmina sighed and let the rest pour out of her, except this time there was no need for tears. She cried her last tear in her office fighting herself for answers earlier that day. "I realized I would rather work with you than against you, I would rather stand with you than with my back to you hiding from all of this. And if I walked away, I think it would be the biggest regret of my life. Because I now know that you and I, together, could be a force, both in business and the bedroom. I want to be near you, and bicker with you, and kiss you, and make love to you, and spend my days with you here at the office and at home because…"

"Just so you know I would have settled for 'because' if it meant getting that second chance with you."

"Ohhh Meade, you are on thin, thin, ice." She ripped away from him dramatically, threatening to walkaway from him. Daniel reached for her and held her tight at the waist, not letting her slip from him again. "Lucky for me I melted the ice with you a long time ago. Wilhelmina, I am so sorry if I hurt you with the whole Am.."

"Hey! Not another word of it. Let me bury it and let's never speak of it again. Those are the terms."

"Speaking of terms, I think I need to lay out my terms with you since your list of demands are quite extensive. We can begin our negotiation tonight and hopefully settle this all amicably and without any lawyers or corpses."

"That only happened once and no one ever did find the body…" She joked, or at least Daniel hoped.

"Yes but tonight is not that night. I will keep you here all night if I have to, to get you to agree to my terms. Number one: I will never again do anything to consciously hurt you again. I don't think my heart could take that look on your face again." Wilhelmina pecked him on the lips as she held his neck. She nodded at him and continued listening.

"Number two: You will wear your diamonds that I gifted you and like it so help me god! Even if that means I have to buy you more, then so be it!" Daniel dramatically said with anger, stifling a giggle from her and she pursed her lips and playfully resisted his request.

"Number three: Yes to signing bonus, but you have to take me on vacation with you." She nodded at his rational; she had no protests to his request.

"Number four: I am staying out of the line of fire between you and my mother. You two can work it out." Wilhelmina rolled her eyes and couldn't help but tell her self he was still a mama's boy, but she could fix that.

"And lastly, I know its not today but you will one day become my wife, and spend the rest of your life with me."

It was the most disarming thing she had ever heard. She was so moved by what he just said to her she kissed him with all the passion and love she felt for him at that moment. Wilhelmina felt like she finally got her fairytale ending. No man had ever touched her heart like that. There was nothing sexual about that moment, it was intimacy. But strangely, she wasn't afraid of it. She just realized how much she adored the man standing in front of her.

"Oh and I forgot one more on my list." Wilhelmina said her voice now deep with desire as she pulled away from Daniel's lips.

"Which is?"

"I get privileges to your lunch schedule, and what you nibble on for that hour." Her eyebrows shot up suggestively.

"What is it with you always wanting to bang the boss upstairs? Is it the whole desk fantasy?" Daniel's hands began roaming her body and walking her back to his oversized wood desk. Daniel popped her up the edge and began lifting her skirt when she responded by pushing him back with enough room to look him dead deep in the eye.

"Don't be stupid! It's the power of banging the boss and getting to tell him what to do … and watching him do it!" She pulled him by the tie and their mouths met in the process of sealing the deal. Wilhelmina had one more demand she breathed into Daniel's ear as her lips drove a hard bargain.

"P.S. I also get to re-decorate your office."

THE END

[Author's note: thank you for reading and reviewing! I can't tell you how much the feedback meant and that I was able to entertain you even for a little bit of your day. Thank you again! ]