CHAPTER ONE:

A/N: This is sort of a reworking of some of the ideas in "Be Careful What You Ask For", only a bit more from Daniel's perspective. Hope you enjoy!

"There you are! I got a manuscript last week that I haven't been able to put down. It's amazing! But it's unedited. It needs your magic touch. Can I put it in your capable hands to tweek?"

"I'll try, David. I'm really busy right now. Who's the author?"

"D.B. Shalube. I'm sure that's a pseudonym, and their agent said the author wishes to remain anonymous. It's their first novel. They must be pretty young and naive because they didn't even ask about a retainer!"

"Leave it on my desk. I'll take it home and look it over, see if I think it's worth our time. Who knows, maybe it's the next J.K. Rowling!" she laughed.

The workday flew by and before she knew it, she was on her way home, and began reading the manuscript by the mystery writer that her colleague had passed along to her. Even though it was technically her job to oversee the articles in New Day, she had finally learned to delegate her overwhelming workload.

Before long, she had acquired the reputation as an editor who knew how to bring out the best in even the worst writers on their staff. And that had somehow translated to books as well. A gift or a curse she wasn't quite sure; since that meant she often spent far too much of her weekends reading things that were not worth her valuable time.

However, as she sat in the back of the car, pouring over the words, this author seemed to touch her heart. It was both wistful and romantic, yet often painfully honest and tragic. The main character was selfish, rude and completely unlovable, even to himself. But after he meets a smart young woman he begins to see himself more clearly and tries to change his behavior. In some ways, it was like a real-life version of Beauty and the Beast, her favorite Disney movie. The writing style seemed very familiar to her, and she wondered if she had ever read anything else they had written.

After she finished the manuscript, early the next morning, she wandered through her condo to find some tissue and texted the agent directly, "This is Betty Suarez, editor-in-chief of…"

"New Day Magazine! Wow! David told me he knew you; that he worked with you, but to be honest, I thought he was having me on, just to get into my knickers! Or at least, trying to steal my client for himself! What do you think? Isn't it...fantastic?"

Betty smiled, taking a breath before she asked, "It's excellent. Who is the author? I feel as if I've read his work before. You're sure this is the first time he's being published?"

"Sorry, all I can share is his pen name:DB. Shalube. I do know this is his first novel, though. So…? Can you work your magic?"

"I don't know what kind of 'magic' I can perform. Honestly, I don't think it needs that much editing. It's quite good, even in rough draft. I don't want to make it "too perfect". It's very sweet, yet sad. It's like a fairy tale with a moral that leaves you wanting more and wishing you could yell at the characters, telling them to wake up and smell the coffee! Okay, fine, I LOVE IT! Yes, I'll edit it. Tell your client we have a deal."

"Bloody fantastic! THANK YOU, Miss Suarez! You won't be sorry!"

"I'll get you the changes in the next two weeks. Normally I wouldn't take on something like this right now. I'm terribly swamped at work. But I don't want anyone else getting their hands on this. Do you think your author would agree to us publishing some excerpts as a tease in our next issue?"

"With your circulation numbers? He'd be crazy not to! I'm going to say yes on his behalf. But I'll speak to him tomorrow and verify that, just in case."

"So...no interviews? He's sure about the nom de plume? You did say it was a 'he', right?"

"Yes. Definitely. Although the writing could be feminine, right? That's what he was going for with…"

"DB? Like "JK Rowling"? That's what I figured. The name is not overtly masculine and neither is the writing. But I can recognize a man, trying to be sensitive to women in his writing style. I could just tell. Some readers might not know for sure, though."

"Good to hear. He'll be thrilled! Thank you so much for your support, Miss Suarez."

"Betty. And sure, my pleasure. I know how hard it is to chase your dreams when other people tell you not to even try. Call your client and tell him that he's officially going to be a published author. I'll make all the necessary calls on my end. Let me know as soon as possible about the excerpts, too. Goodnight!"

"Good bye!"

"Daniel! It's Shelly Sandobal."

"Hey, Shelly. Sorry, but I can't really talk right now. I'm on my way to the doctor's office. And before you ask, I'm fine. Just a checkup. What's up?"

"I've been waiting till a decent hour to call you. I have terrific news about your manuscript! It's being published!"

Daniel took a deep breath, trying to calm himself, "Really? And you're sure I don't have to use my real name? They aren't insisting on putting my picture on the cover or asking me for some stupid bio?"

"No! No, that was understood. It's just as you specified. DB Shalube. No one will have a clue it was you who wrote it. I promise!"

"Good. That's...great! Wow! That was...fast! I guess your source was on the level about having great contacts in publishing there. Who's the publisher? Will I have heard of them here in the states?"

"No doubt. They're your competition here in the UK. In fact, I heard the old man Dunne himself flew to New York to poach your former assistant. She's the editor-in-chief now. She's made quite the name for herself here. Its Beatriz…"

"Beatriz? Wait, you mean...BETTY? Betty Suarez? She...you let HER read my book? SHIT!"

"Is there something wrong?"

"Well, yeah, I'd say so! The main character is loosely based on yours truly and she is…"

"Are you telling me Veronica in the book is BETTY SUAREZ? Seriously? Good lord! You might have warned me, Daniel! She could…"

"Sue me? Really? I mean...is it that obvious that it's her?"

"I have no bloody idea, do I? You tell me! Apparently not, or else she would have said so I imagine. She read the whole thing and loved the writing. She said it didn't need much editing. It was quite good as is."

Daniel allowed a slight smile, "Yeah. That's Betty, alright. She SAYS it's great, that it just needs a little 'tweak here and there" and before you know it, she's practically rewritten the whole piece for you! She's...pretty good. But did you really HAVE to give it to her, Shelly? Aren't there any other editors in England? I thought you guys were all born Shakespeares over there! You had to show my book to the one American I wrote it about?"

"Calm down, Daniel. I'll simply get it back from her and tell her you chickened out. That way, you and I can get together and go through it, changing the parts that could be...inflammatory before we give it to another editor."

He shook his head running his hand through his hair absently, as he stood in front of the sink in the bathroom of his doctor's office, "I'm not sure. I'll have to think about it and get back to you. I can't really focus on this until I'm done here. Can I call you back in a few hours?"

"Of course." Shelly decided to wait till Daniel had given him the thumbs up before she told him about Betty's request to publish excerpts of the book in her magazine.

Although his hair was getting a bit thinner, overall, as he looked in the mirror at himself, he could honestly say he wasn't aging too badly, looks-wise at least. A few wrinkles here and there, some grey around the temples and in his beard when he was on vacation occasionally.

As a "joke", his sister had hired a personal trainer on his last birthday ("so you don't get too fat, now that you're officially an old man", she had told him, thinking she was being hilarious instead of a rude, pain-in-the-ass). Forty-five had been very tough; it felt way too close to fifty! Mainly, he hadn't thought he would still be single at his age.

When he finished getting dressed he heard a soft rap on the door, "Are you dressed, Mr. Meade?"

"Yes, doc. You can come back in."

His doctor entered the small room and stood at a workstation, looking at information on his laptop. After a few moments, he looked at his patient, "So, do you want the good news or bad news?"

Daniel's eyebrows raised quizzically, looking somewhat fearful, "There's 'bad news'? How bad are we talking here? Like...I have the flu or I need to update my will?"

The middle-aged man smiled, shaking his head, "No, nothing like that. The good news is that your health in general is excellent. Your heart looks good, your weight is perfect, in fact, I see you've actually gained muscle. So whatever you're doing, keep it up! However, now that you're over forty-five, if you're thinking of having a family, you might want to start soon."

"Huh? A family? What...you mean, kids? Me? Why? I thought...uh...I thought guys could get...you know, I thought age wasn't a thing with men? You hear all the time about some sixty year old guy having his first child with a young wife! I mean...I guess...I didn't think about it too much, really, you know? Doesn't it depend more on the age of...the...mother?"

Daniel leaned forward, "Is there something wrong with...my swimmers or something?" His mind couldn't help wonder about DJ. Had that been the problem? After all, he had been actually seeing Lucy for several weeks and his sister (then brother, of course) swoops in and sleeps with her one time and gets her pregnant?

"Relax, Daniel. It's not an immediate concern. Your motility and sperm count still looked good in your most recent urology tests a few months ago. But now that you've turned forty-five, your fertility is going to be declining at a much faster rate. Yes, you're right, not nearly as rapidly as a woman's, but men do technically have a biological clock, too. It's just something to consider sooner than later at your age."

Daniel made a face. He was never comfortable talking about this kind of stuff, even with his doctor. What the hell was he supposed to do? Go out and see if some woman wanted to make a baby with him before he got too old? He blew out a breath, and asked, "Should I think about...putting some ...stuff on ice or something? You guys DO have security here, right?"

It might have seemed like a very strange question to his doctor, but considering the nightmare that Wilhelmina Slater had pulled on his poor father's corpse, he figured it was a valid one.

"Security? I...suppose you COULD do that, of course, yes. That's your decision, Daniel. I can give you several websites to look at and decide if you'd like to freeze your sperm now, as an extra precaution. Mainly, I was simply letting you know that if you and your significant other do plan on having children, you might want to...get busy!"

Daniel left, feeling very old and slightly depressed about his future. This was NOT supposed to be his life; thinking about putting his swimmers on ice, just in case he never met anyone he could possibly see as the future mother of his children. He had really loved thinking he was DJ's dad, years ago.

Although it had come as quite a shock at the time to think he had an eight year-old son, it had also been a welcome diversion from his own self-involved existence back then. A diversion he still longed for, after getting just a small taste of fatherhood.

Huh, him and his "S.O.", huh? Right! What "significant other"? It was pretty hard to get his wife or girlfriend pregnant when he didn't have one, no matter how ancient and decrepit his old man sperm was! He wasn't seeing anyone now. Nor did he plan to anytime soon. That ship had sailed some time ago. Not that he didn't want it at all. It just wasn't on the horizon at this point in his life.

Now he felt like he had been given a time limit on "finding the girl of his dreams". How was he supposed to look for some perfect woman to be his "Miss Right" and bear his children on a time limit according to his biological clock? He felt sorry for women who had an even shorter schedule to get their shit together and find their "soul mates"!

For the past six years, he had put most of his efforts into his writing. Finishing his Masters in Fine Arts had been somewhat of a surprise even to him. Of course, he knew his father had meant for him to perhaps get his MBA after he completed his Bachelor's degree at Harvard. But Bradford Meade was gone now.

And Daniel had nobody left to try and please anymore besides himself. And apparently, Betty. IF he decided to let her edit his book, that is! She was frankly the last person on earth he wanted to see again. Her and her "judgy" looks! He could just picture her now, scrunching up her face, making some stupid remark about how he forgot to dot his i's or cross his t's! Little Miss Perfect!