A Flawed Fragility: Chapter 31
Author: TheLadyHoll
Pairing: Andy/Miranda
Rating: M
Disclaimer: Yes, they are mine. I own them. Come to me my pretties and dance, DANCE I SAY. Or, more truthfully, not...
Chapter 31: Something Wicked
She's baaack! Hope you enjoy. As always your comments are dearly loved (for the most part) & welcomed (if not outright demanded).
:) xxx - TLH
Once Miranda had been coerced, cajoled and wheedled into the wheelchair that was mandatory practice for overnight emergency patients, Dr. Jansen used one of the service elevators to bypass the main hallways and took them to the ground floor.
"I thought there was no point to using the back door seeing as the press were already gathered there?" Both women turned to the doctor when the door opened to reveal a utilitarian service entrance and exit.
"Not the back door," Dr. Jansen shook her head as they rounded the next corner and found themselves on the concrete precipice of the vehicle unloading dock, where there was an ambulance backing up towards them, the rear doors open to allow them to board without using the stepladder from the ground.
"One of the paramedics is a big fan", Dr. Jansen offered with a wide grin. "Hopefully, he'll be able to stay on the road."
Now it was Andrea's turn to purse her lips, "Don't even joke about it," she muttered underneath her breath "that's the last thing we need."
"I apologize for the strange seating arrangements," the young paramedic muttered nervously as he assisted the two women into the back of the ambulance and to the bench seating against the sides of the vehicle flanking the area where the stretcher would typically be loaded.
"This is perfectly acceptable, Sean" Miranda assured the young man. "The last thing I want to do is keep a vehicle like this out of service longer than necessary."
He grinned back widely, making him look about 19 years old. "My only regret is that we won't be able to see the look on the reporters' faces when they realize that they've missed us."
Despite the fact they were only going a few blocks, the morning traffic stretched the ride into 15 minutes rather than five, and both women's thoughts were influenced by their unusual surroundings.
"Darling, when you were at the nurses' station, did you fill out the paperwork to have medical power of attorney transferred over to you?"
"It's taken care of," Andy assured the older woman. "Not that I ever want to have to use it."
Miranda felt a tremor roll through the younger woman's body as she spoke the words, and despite the awkward position they were forced to sit in, Miranda managed to lean into the younger woman, taking her clenched fist and prying it open gently - pressing her lips to the red marks her nails had left in her palm.
"Do you suppose we should call the girls?"
"Andrea, they haven't wanted to talk to us any of the nights they've been gone." Miranda's face took on a pained expression. "God forgive me, I'm afraid they've been wanting something like this to happen."
"Miranda, that's ridiculous." Andy's voice was firm. "You can tell me that I don't know OUR girls, but I'll tell you you're wrong - and that OUR girls would never want something like this to happen, regardless of their feelings about having a younger sibling or siblings. You should know you've raised them better than that."
Miranda's eyes filled with tears at Andy's words. "Sometimes I already feel like you're a better mother to them than I am."
Andy groaned, "Mirandaaa," she groaned, letting her head fall back against the wall with a thud. "You're their world. That's why they're upset about the babies in the first place - they don't want to lose any part of the time they have with you."
"Because I work all the time?" Miranda's voice lost its tearful edge and turned haughty and defensive before Andy had a chance to respond. "I'll have you know…"
"Miranda, STOP." An uncommon note of anger tinged Andy's words and Miranda's mouth closed in surprise as she waited for the brunette's next words.
"I will not fight with you. Don't you see? I'm trying to fight for you, woman! And I know you're hurting, and that right now, whether admitted or not, you are scared, you're sick and you're exhausted physically and mentally. I'm not going to take the bait, and get angry and leave, so you can forget the self-sabotage I know comes so naturally to you."
The anger seeped out of Miranda and the tears returned. God, she was a mess.
"I don't think I'll ever know why or how you put up with a ill-tempered cranky, hormonal old woman…" Miranda murmured as her head found Andrea's shoulder once again and she entwined their fingers over and over in different patterns.
"Because I love you," Andy reached over to brush the older woman's engagement ring with her thumb. "Yesterday, tomorrow, always."
Three blocks away from the hospital, the ambulance stopped, and Sean tapped lightly on the back doors before opening them to .
Andy knew there was a button on the floor that when stepped on, released the metal stepladder that unfolded automatically to save time and so the paramedics' hands were free for other tasks. But as the back doors opened to reveal the young man gallantly offering his arm out to Miranda to help her down instead, she didn't say anything, only raising her eyebrows slightly in amusement when it was her turn to dismount.
"Should I be jealous," Andy murmured to Miranda as she leaped down from the back to join the other two on the street.
Miranda looked up in some concern at the younger woman's words, but they were belied by a wide grin and the mischief sparkling in her Andrea's eyes.
"Hardly," she reached up to cup the brunette's face and Andy was reminded once again just how damn much she loved this woman.
"Miranda," a deep voice rumbled from behind them and the two women turned to see Roy emerge from the borrowed town car he had been waiting in several blocks over from the hospital.
He didn't say anything else, but Miranda knew what unspoken question burned behind his gaze, and having been caught up by Andy about how he had made sure Andrea had gotten to her in time she walked forward and laid her hand on his.
"We're fine, thank you Roy - much in part, I understand, because of you. Thank you." Miranda laid a hand on his forearm as she leaned forward, keeping the older man's gaze.
"Jesus Christ, Mary and Joseph," Roy exhaled, the usually somber, imperturbable features relaxing as he shook his head before straightening up again, the faint Irish brogue that had coloured his earlier words disappearing along with the rare display of emotion as he assisted the two women into the waiting car.
Miranda studied Andrea's face on the journey back to the townhouse and the play of emotions behind her eyes as they sat in silence, their topics of conversation exhausted over the last two days.
Once they had arrived home, and Miranda had very reluctantly agreed to being carried up the stairs as Andy and Roy had discussed privately earlier, the two women found themselves alone. Blissfully so after the constant stream of doctors and detectives and depraved exes that had made up the last 48 hours.
"Andrea please tell me you aren't going to chain me to the bed," Miranda requested, only half joking as she tried to ease the tight lines around the younger woman's mouth with her words as she helped Miranda undress from where she sat on the edge of the bed.
"As much fun as that sounds…" Andy grinned darkly at the images Miranda's wording conjured in her mind. "Nope. But I am going to spoil and pamper you senseless." Her lips found the soft skin behind Miranda's ear and teased it with her teeth and tongue, her hand sliding possessively over Miranda's belly and the other sliding sensually from her waist and down her calf.
"Acceptable." Miranda managed to get out the single word with most, if not all, of her usual decorum and haughtiness.
'Assisting' Miranda in the shower was an exercise in self-control, especially given that this was one of the longest periods they'd ever gone without being intimate as a couple and that raging hormones had made Miranda almost unbearably sensitive to every touch.
"I can't believe I don't get to make love with you until your doctor's appointment next week." Andy pouted, pulling back so that Miranda could see the dark pools of lust the young woman's eyes had become.
"That can't be good for MY blood pressure," she joked. "God, you are so beautiful Miranda…I know, I know you don't feel that way," she cut off the protests she knew were on the lips of the older woman.
"Mmm," Miranda purred wickedly as she pulled away from the kiss. "Take me to bed, Andrea," Miranda raised an eyebrow and smirked slightly as the brunette threw back her head and laughed.
"Yes, Miranda."
A little while later, Miranda was finally ensconced in the king-sized bed, waiting for Andy to join her after she had cleared the debris from their ordered-in lunch. Andy came back in to find Miranda seemingly deep in thought, her forehead furrowed lightly as she laid her hands against the sides of her abdomen.
Andy crawled in beside Miranda with an exhausted groan and flopped down next to the older woman so that they were both contemplating her navel.
"Now you stay in there, guys, do you hear me? Mommy's going to do her best to keep growing you big and strong and mama's going to do her best at helping mommy do that. But you've gotta stay in there, okay?" She pressed her lips to the bare skin where the editor's nightgown had rolled up and Miranda watched thoughtfully as the brunette head bobbed up and down from her line of sight as she peppered the bare swell with kisses as she tightened her hold on Miranda's waist.
Miranda's hand moved to stroke through the brown tresses, hoping to soothe the scared young woman even as she voiced her own uncertainties as her other hand entwined with Andrea's at the side of her belly.
"Do you ever wonder what would be different, or what would have happened if on the night Stephen attacked I hadn't opened the door, or the girls had been at their fathers? Or if the shock or the assault had caused me to miscarry? Would I have lain on the floor with no one to know I was hurt until my girls came home or I was found by the help? Would I have let you stay if I hadn't been in so much shock from finding out about the babies? Would you have stayed if you thought I didn't need you as much as I did when there were the babies to worry about? Would you have come back after our fight if you hadn't been worried about my blood pressure and the babies? There are so many ways this could have gone, Andrea."
"Would I be talking to your belly? No, probably not. Would I be kissing and cuddling you senseless? Absolutely - because you scared the crap out of me and its never, EVER going to happen again if I can do anything about it…I can't lose you." Andy went from joking to honest fear in the space of her mini-monologue. "I love you so much. God, I can't ever say it enough to make you believe it or know how strongly I feel, but I do, I love you Miranda; tomorrow, yesterday and always. I don't want to know, I don't want to think what life would be like without you and the girls. If I only had my memories of leaving you in Paris as my touchstone for remembering you. I would have gone on, not knowing any better, not thinking that there was 'more' or that I could be this happy. Because despite spending the last 5 months in a constant state of worry and terror and fear and heartache and anger - I am so much happier than I ever thought I could be. I have two daughters, Miranda, I have another daughter and a son, growing inside the woman I love, who by some miracle has agreed to be my wife. And no one, not any doctors or any judges or ex-husbands can taint, with any permanence, that kind of joy. Our life might never be peaceful, but what matters to me is that no matter what, it's going to be OUR life and that we'll face what comes together, as a team.
"My Andrea," Miranda whispered, blue eyes boring into brown in a way that reinforced every sentiment that had just been voiced without her saying anything at all. An elegant hand reached up to pull Andy's head down for a searing kiss.
"Now despite the fact that we're in bed, I don't think this qualifies as part of what the doctor meant by 'bedrest'." Andy joked as she rolled off of the bed, leaving Miranda lying against the cushions, looking tired and pale but happy and untroubled as she shifted onto her left side, accepting Andrea's help at positioning herself among the pillows that supported her body in lieu of Andy.
"Are you going to be good and follow Dr. Jansen's orders and get some rest?"
"Really, Andrea, you don't need to patronize me - and when have I ever not followed orders?"
Andy snorted as she left, "Oh man, I really am a masochist," but the smile on her lips belied her true feelings on the subject and her feet were lighter on the stairs since they had been before their fight that now seemed insignificant and a million miles away as they contemplated the next part of the trial.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"I really really hate that I can't take any more time off to stay with you," Andy murmured into Miranda's bump the next morning as she prepared to leave for work, flopping down on the comforter dramatically and laying her head on top of the swell.
"Maybe I should have the paper shut down," Miranda mused as her fingers stroked through the thick brown locks. "Actually, it isn't a terrible idea…"
"Mirandaaaa," Andy groaned dramatically as she rolled onto her back and looked into the blue eyes.
"Now do you promise me you're going to take it easy? No work. No phone calls? You know Maria and Carmen will be around all day."
Miranda rolled her eyes. "Fine. Yes. I will sit here and be unproductive for the next two days until the trial."
"Nonsense, you're working on the production of the next set of Priestly babies. The first set turned out pretty perfect so you've got your work cut out for you." With that, Andy succeeded in her mission of making Miranda laugh and she caught the editor's open mouth in a kiss before she reluctantly slid off the bed.
"And you'll tell me if she doesn't, right guys?" A further rub to Miranda's belly earned her several kicks in response and Miranda's lips pursed, although whether in amusement or not Andy couldn't quite tell.
"Turning my children against me?"
"Mmm, only for your own good. Now be good, I'll see you tonight…NO WORK!"
The last directive echoed from the bottom of the staircase and Miranda bit her lip to keep back a laugh as she shook her head.
Andy soon found out that a bored Miranda was a neurotic one. The first few examples of this were charming, if not outright adorable as Andy fielded the texts from her fiancée regarding anything and everything under the sun. It was entirely unfamiliar to be the half of the relationship absorbed in her work and pre-occupied, and the vibrations coming in 10 minute intervals from her phone didn't help her concentration or attempts to get her work done.
Finally, the random missives ceased and Andy was able to finish two articles and begin a rough outline on a third when a familiar buzz caused her head to fall forward dramatically, hanging down chin to chest as she reached blindly for the phone.
"Come home. Now."
Instantly, Andy's stomach leapt into her throat. The words were almost exactly what Roy had sent the night Miranda had had her first pre-eclamptic episode.
Multiple calls and texts as she flew out of the building and hailed a cab failed to provide any reassurance or clarification as no one was picking up at the house and Miranda wasn't answering her cell.
Andy was tempted to go straight to New York Presbyterian, but without arriving at the side of her soon to be spouse, Andy was concerned that she might be barred entry again. Besides, there was still a chance Miranda was fine and she was misinterpreting the text.
"Miranda!" Andy yelled as soon as she entered the townhouse. "Miranda!" Her feet flew up the stairs and she burst into the master bedroom, her pounding heart tripling its rapid beating in her veins as she threw open the door to the master bedroom and saw a wincing Miranda press a hand into her belly.
"Miranda, what is it? Talk to me, what's hurting, what's wrong?"
Miranda shook her head and took Andy's hands and placed them against the bump, exhaling deeply in relief as the hard kicks stopped and looking up at the young woman with an ever so slightly guilty expression as she took in her terrified, disheveled appearance.
"She kept kicking, and nothing I did would calm her down and then she got her brother excited and so I had no option but to deduce that she wanted to see you." Big blue eyes blinked innocently up at Andy and her heartbeat slowed although she knew she should be more angry with the editor.
"Miranda, sweetheart, the baby is inside you. She cannot see me; in fact, she hasn't even opened her eyes yet, according to the book she's the size of a large grapefruit."
Miranda glowered at the younger woman, crossing her arms overtop the sizeable bump. "Are you quite finished, Andrea?"
"I adore you," Andy shook her head, grinning and climbing up onto the bed. Andy propped herself up on one arm, cupping Miranda's cheek and looking deeply into her eyes before pushing up the hem of Miranda's shirt and pressing kisses all over her now exposed belly.
"Did you miss mama, princess? And then you got your brother into trouble for kicking mommy too? Or do you think the Queen just got lonely up here in her tower playing Sleeping Beauty."
"Mmph, a beached whale is more like it."
"What's that, baby?" Andy pressed her ear to Miranda's belly, pretending to be listening intently. "Mommy's the most beautiful woman in the entire universe?" Andy grinned back up at Miranda. "The baby has spoken, and I happen to agree…Wait, what's that?" Andy put her ear back down before popping back up.
"So she hasn't opened her eyes yet but she's speaking?" Miranda raised an eyebrow, trying hard not to smile and ruin the act. "My, our offspring are talented aren't they?"
Andy stared back at her blankly, stating in a completely deadpan voice. "And she also apparently wants a pony."
"And our son?"
"Spaceship."
The last comment did it, and despite herself Miranda burst out laughing. "You know it's I who adore you."
They shared a sweet moment before a grumble beneath Andy's hand alerted her to another pressing matter. "I think our 'talented offspring' are also saying they need a snack. So what impossible concoction are they making you crave today?" Andy's hand had been resting on Miranda's belly, and she absentmindedly began rubbing her stomach as she spoke.
Sinking back into the cushions of the bed, lulled by the magic of Andrea's hands, Miranda didn't think twice now about the embarrassment of admitting "vanilla yogurt with jalapenos". Andy saw the older woman's struggle to keep her eyes open and she pulled the blankets higher, moving one of the pillows closer to Miranda's reach whereupon the editor, eyes closed, grabbed at it sleepily and curled around it.
"I'll be right back, sweetheart."
Miranda's response was to hum slightly and snuggle further into the pillow.
Honestly, Andy could have stood there for hours watching her. But it wouldn't have been a pretty scene if Miranda woke and her snack was not sitting in front of her.
It was so strange to see the editor asleep in the middle of the day as was a common occurrence now. She knew, both from experience and from her time in a relationship with Miranda, that the older woman was generally a chronic insomniac - early to rise and late to sleep, even without the excuse of the book.
The fact that Miranda let her guard down enough to let anybody see her in bed and without makeup, and that she could fall asleep with someone else in the room was so indescribably precious to Andy, because it was her. She knew from her conversations with Miranda that it hadn't been like this in her previous relationships, and that the older woman had assumed at the onset, that this pairing would be much the same, even given how deeply she felt for the brunette. But it hadn't been like the others, never could she have imagined the kind of peace she felt when she brought the young woman's face to mind or when she thought about coming home at the end of the day.
And she knew, in the same way that she knew this time was different, that this 'difference' wouldn't end with the pregnancy or the birth of the babies. This was no hormonal fluke or symptom - what it was, if she permitted herself to think on it, was her miracle. Andrea was her miracle, and she felt no hesitancy in letting down her walls so that whatever quality it was in the younger woman could soothe the rawness in her soul.
Right now, Miranda admitted to herself, it was likely to be the hormones that brought her mind to dwell on the maudlin sentimentalities of their relationship - but even when her mind was occupied with work and day to day life, those same factors would remain even if they weren't dwelt upon in such heavy concentration. Entirely unable to keep her eyes open a moment longer, Miranda let her mind slip into unconsciousness, knowing that Andrea would be there when she woke again.
Sure enough, before she even opened her eyes when she woke again, she sensed the younger woman's presence in the bed beside her, and she was hard pressed to stifle the self-satisfied smirk that sprung to her lips at this realization.
"Don't you look so pleased with yourself, Miranda Priestly." Miranda's eyes popped open in surprise as she was caught and she attempted a look of indifference as though she had no idea what the younger woman could be talking about. "I should be so angry with you. I thought something was seriously wrong. I was about to call the hospital and see if you'd been admitted! You know I'm going to come when you call. But - and don't take this the wrong way, don't exploit that Miranda. This is never going to work if you keep trying to test my love for you."
Miranda rolled over onto her side to better face Andy, "I admit I may have given the wrong impression, but they'd been kicking like that for an hour and I knew you were the only one whose touch they'd respond to, and they did." Miranda appealed to the younger woman.
"And if you don't want me to call you cute, then you're going to have to stop doing things like this and then using those big blue eyes to get out of it when you're caught."
Miranda's eyes lost their liquid gaze as they narrowed and her lips pursed and Andy laughed. "And it doesn't help that you're doubly adorable when you're pouting."
The power of that pout was tested the next day when Andy bumped into Nigel who was exiting the townhouse.
"Oh, geez Six, you nearly gave me a heart attack."
"Sorry Nige," Andy grinned before her brow furrowed. "What are you doing here? I know you know that Miranda is supposed to be on COMPLETE bedrest for three days with no work at all."
"Ah," the older man looked nervous, running a hand across the balding head. "Just…visiting. Dropping in to say hello."
"Really Nigel? I'm supposed to believe you had the time to 'pop in' during what is essentially your 'trial run' as editor in chief of Runway? And that Miranda was okay with this? What on earth could be so important she would - oh no." Andy's gaze narrowed. "What did she have you bring her - files? The Book?"
"No! Nothing work related Andy, I promise. We just talked and I brought in lunch."
"What did you bring?" she asked suspiciously.
"Just some sushi. Why?"
"Ugh - she KNOWS better!" Andy was fuming as she stormed past the art director and into the house.
"Nigel, YOU should have known better! Sushi was on the list of things she is NOT allowed to have."
"Six, what was I supposed to do? She called to ask how things were going at the magazine and when I told her you had forbidden all Runway employees from talking to her for the three days she invited me over for a late lunch."
"Mmm, yes - convenient. Conveniently timed when the cook and housekeeper are both out. Ooh, I'm going to kill her!"
"Erm, I'll just be leaving then," Nigel edged out of the doorway, breathing a sigh of relief as he made it to the sidewalk without being called back by an irate Andy to give some sort of culinary confession as she confronted Miranda. In fact, given this last encounter, Nigel wasn't sure which woman to be more wary of.
Bursting into the master bedroom, Andy didn't say a word as she crossed the room, her movements quick and rough as she grabbed the wastebasket next to the bed and slid the entire contents of the tray, utensils and all, into it before adding the takeout bag and storming back out of the room without a word, running down to the laundry room and stuffing it down the garbage chute - letting the steel door shut with a bang before making her way back upstairs, still fuming.
Furious at her own body betraying her, Miranda blinked back the unwanted tears that had sprung to her eyes when she watched $200 worth of her latest craving disappear into the wastebasket before she had taken a single bite.
"What the hell were you thinking?"
"Do not yell at me," Miranda spoke evenly and coolly, hoping that a re-appearance of Miranda Priestly would save her in this situation. But the brunette was obviously not impressed, and she continued at the same volume as before.
"Miranda, you KNOW you aren't supposed to be eating raw fish. It's as simple as that; and following general rules like that is one of the only things we can control in bringing these babies into the world safely…"
Guilt - that before Andrea was an emotion she rarely let affect her decisions, washed over Miranda; and the tears she thought she had held at bay threatened more strongly against the lump in her throat. "I th-thought if it was properly prepared and the b-best quality, it would be s-safe."
"If you thought that, then why did you have Nigel sneak it in? Why not ask me?" Andy crossed her arms over her chest and forced herself to hold the other woman's gaze even as it filled with tears and her lower lip began to tremble.
"Nope. Save it Priestly. I don't wanna see it. No, it's not going to work this time." A shuddery little sigh escaped from Miranda's lips and her shoulders hitched along with her breathing as the first tears glistened on her lashes and her lower lip trembled.
Andy winced internally, shoring herself up against the onslaught of guilt she knew was waiting for her for making her pregnant wife cry.
"I'm sorry," blue eyes pleaded with brown for forgiveness before they moved back to the ground again.
And then, as Andy would have predicted, her own reserves were melted away by Miranda's tears
"Tell me what it is you want and I'll go get it for you. Anything, anything at all.
She had gone from cutting Miranda off from her insane food requests to doing a complete 180, and was now quite literally begging Miranda to send her off on another craving induced wild goose chase. Andy now understood how she had gotten to be the youngest editor-in-chief of Runway at only 30 years old. The woman was good.
Very good, she decided as she looked over at the woman happily crumbling dried seaweed flakes over her bowl of fudge ripple ice cream that night at 2 o'clock in the morning. The only small mercy was that she had polished off the bag of Cheez Doodles an hour ago, otherwise Andy wasn't sure there wouldn't have been a third ingredient to the messy and completely un-Miranda like concoction about to disappear down the gullet of one fashion and publishing icon.
Andy just grinned as Miranda reached for her hand and moved it to rest overtop her belly, wiggling slightly as she ate her snack to prompt the younger woman to resume her tender ministrations that she refused to acknowledge as a 'tummy rub' as Andy called it, preferring instead to refer to the ritual as a 'digestive aid and relaxation technique'. Only when they were lying in bed at night or on very rare occasions when Miranda was feeling particularly clingy would she allow the younger woman to call her actions anything of the sort if she voiced her thoughts aloud.
"Are they gonna let you sleep now or do 'La Babies Priestly' require something else?" Andy inquired, watching the editor stifle a yawn.
"I blame this entirely on you," Miranda insisted as Andy put the tray aside and she attempted to find a comfortable position lying down. "It's certainly not from me that they're getting these ridiculous gastronomic urges. Blame cook-boy."
"What?" By now, Andy had been half asleep again only for her eyes to pop open at Miranda's insinuation. "What does Nate have to do with any of this?"
"Well he obviously influenced your palate during your relationship."
Andy snorted, "Miranda, we were together for 5 years - I think that qualifies as a real relationship." She quickly moved in to kiss away the pout forming on pink lips, "But…you," she moved her lips to the side of Miranda's mouth, punctuating each following word with a kiss trailing down Miranda's neck and shoulders. "You, are irrefutably the love of my life." She repeated Miranda's words back to her as she settled nose to nose with the other woman blinking sleepily at her from across the pillow.
"Now of the other four loves of my life, are these two ready to settle down?"
But Miranda was already asleep. Despite her own exhaustion, Andy watched her love sleep for a while, thanking with every rise and fall of the slim shoulders that God had seen fit to put Miranda in her life and to give her the family of her own she never thought she'd have.
Pairing: Andy/Miranda
Rating: M
Disclaimer: Yes, they are mine. I own them. Come to me my pretties and dance, DANCE I SAY. Or, more truthfully, not...
Chapter 31: Something Wicked
She's baaack! Hope you enjoy. As always your comments are dearly loved (for the most part) & welcomed (if not outright demanded).
:) xxx - TLH
Once Miranda had been coerced, cajoled and wheedled into the wheelchair that was mandatory practice for overnight emergency patients, Dr. Jansen used one of the service elevators to bypass the main hallways and took them to the ground floor.
"I thought there was no point to using the back door seeing as the press were already gathered there?" Both women turned to the doctor when the door opened to reveal a utilitarian service entrance and exit.
"Not the back door," Dr. Jansen shook her head as they rounded the next corner and found themselves on the concrete precipice of the vehicle unloading dock, where there was an ambulance backing up towards them, the rear doors open to allow them to board without using the stepladder from the ground.
"One of the paramedics is a big fan", Dr. Jansen offered with a wide grin. "Hopefully, he'll be able to stay on the road."
Now it was Andrea's turn to purse her lips, "Don't even joke about it," she muttered underneath her breath "that's the last thing we need."
"I apologize for the strange seating arrangements," the young paramedic muttered nervously as he assisted the two women into the back of the ambulance and to the bench seating against the sides of the vehicle flanking the area where the stretcher would typically be loaded.
"This is perfectly acceptable, Sean" Miranda assured the young man. "The last thing I want to do is keep a vehicle like this out of service longer than necessary."
He grinned back widely, making him look about 19 years old. "My only regret is that we won't be able to see the look on the reporters' faces when they realize that they've missed us."
Despite the fact they were only going a few blocks, the morning traffic stretched the ride into 15 minutes rather than five, and both women's thoughts were influenced by their unusual surroundings.
"Darling, when you were at the nurses' station, did you fill out the paperwork to have medical power of attorney transferred over to you?"
"It's taken care of," Andy assured the older woman. "Not that I ever want to have to use it."
Miranda felt a tremor roll through the younger woman's body as she spoke the words, and despite the awkward position they were forced to sit in, Miranda managed to lean into the younger woman, taking her clenched fist and prying it open gently - pressing her lips to the red marks her nails had left in her palm.
"Do you suppose we should call the girls?"
"Andrea, they haven't wanted to talk to us any of the nights they've been gone." Miranda's face took on a pained expression. "God forgive me, I'm afraid they've been wanting something like this to happen."
"Miranda, that's ridiculous." Andy's voice was firm. "You can tell me that I don't know OUR girls, but I'll tell you you're wrong - and that OUR girls would never want something like this to happen, regardless of their feelings about having a younger sibling or siblings. You should know you've raised them better than that."
Miranda's eyes filled with tears at Andy's words. "Sometimes I already feel like you're a better mother to them than I am."
Andy groaned, "Mirandaaa," she groaned, letting her head fall back against the wall with a thud. "You're their world. That's why they're upset about the babies in the first place - they don't want to lose any part of the time they have with you."
"Because I work all the time?" Miranda's voice lost its tearful edge and turned haughty and defensive before Andy had a chance to respond. "I'll have you know…"
"Miranda, STOP." An uncommon note of anger tinged Andy's words and Miranda's mouth closed in surprise as she waited for the brunette's next words.
"I will not fight with you. Don't you see? I'm trying to fight for you, woman! And I know you're hurting, and that right now, whether admitted or not, you are scared, you're sick and you're exhausted physically and mentally. I'm not going to take the bait, and get angry and leave, so you can forget the self-sabotage I know comes so naturally to you."
The anger seeped out of Miranda and the tears returned. God, she was a mess.
"I don't think I'll ever know why or how you put up with a ill-tempered cranky, hormonal old woman…" Miranda murmured as her head found Andrea's shoulder once again and she entwined their fingers over and over in different patterns.
"Because I love you," Andy reached over to brush the older woman's engagement ring with her thumb. "Yesterday, tomorrow, always."
Three blocks away from the hospital, the ambulance stopped, and Sean tapped lightly on the back doors before opening them to .
Andy knew there was a button on the floor that when stepped on, released the metal stepladder that unfolded automatically to save time and so the paramedics' hands were free for other tasks. But as the back doors opened to reveal the young man gallantly offering his arm out to Miranda to help her down instead, she didn't say anything, only raising her eyebrows slightly in amusement when it was her turn to dismount.
"Should I be jealous," Andy murmured to Miranda as she leaped down from the back to join the other two on the street.
Miranda looked up in some concern at the younger woman's words, but they were belied by a wide grin and the mischief sparkling in her Andrea's eyes.
"Hardly," she reached up to cup the brunette's face and Andy was reminded once again just how damn much she loved this woman.
"Miranda," a deep voice rumbled from behind them and the two women turned to see Roy emerge from the borrowed town car he had been waiting in several blocks over from the hospital.
He didn't say anything else, but Miranda knew what unspoken question burned behind his gaze, and having been caught up by Andy about how he had made sure Andrea had gotten to her in time she walked forward and laid her hand on his.
"We're fine, thank you Roy - much in part, I understand, because of you. Thank you." Miranda laid a hand on his forearm as she leaned forward, keeping the older man's gaze.
"Jesus Christ, Mary and Joseph," Roy exhaled, the usually somber, imperturbable features relaxing as he shook his head before straightening up again, the faint Irish brogue that had coloured his earlier words disappearing along with the rare display of emotion as he assisted the two women into the waiting car.
Miranda studied Andrea's face on the journey back to the townhouse and the play of emotions behind her eyes as they sat in silence, their topics of conversation exhausted over the last two days.
Once they had arrived home, and Miranda had very reluctantly agreed to being carried up the stairs as Andy and Roy had discussed privately earlier, the two women found themselves alone. Blissfully so after the constant stream of doctors and detectives and depraved exes that had made up the last 48 hours.
"Andrea please tell me you aren't going to chain me to the bed," Miranda requested, only half joking as she tried to ease the tight lines around the younger woman's mouth with her words as she helped Miranda undress from where she sat on the edge of the bed.
"As much fun as that sounds…" Andy grinned darkly at the images Miranda's wording conjured in her mind. "Nope. But I am going to spoil and pamper you senseless." Her lips found the soft skin behind Miranda's ear and teased it with her teeth and tongue, her hand sliding possessively over Miranda's belly and the other sliding sensually from her waist and down her calf.
"Acceptable." Miranda managed to get out the single word with most, if not all, of her usual decorum and haughtiness.
'Assisting' Miranda in the shower was an exercise in self-control, especially given that this was one of the longest periods they'd ever gone without being intimate as a couple and that raging hormones had made Miranda almost unbearably sensitive to every touch.
"I can't believe I don't get to make love with you until your doctor's appointment next week." Andy pouted, pulling back so that Miranda could see the dark pools of lust the young woman's eyes had become.
"That can't be good for MY blood pressure," she joked. "God, you are so beautiful Miranda…I know, I know you don't feel that way," she cut off the protests she knew were on the lips of the older woman.
"Mmm," Miranda purred wickedly as she pulled away from the kiss. "Take me to bed, Andrea," Miranda raised an eyebrow and smirked slightly as the brunette threw back her head and laughed.
"Yes, Miranda."
A little while later, Miranda was finally ensconced in the king-sized bed, waiting for Andy to join her after she had cleared the debris from their ordered-in lunch. Andy came back in to find Miranda seemingly deep in thought, her forehead furrowed lightly as she laid her hands against the sides of her abdomen.
Andy crawled in beside Miranda with an exhausted groan and flopped down next to the older woman so that they were both contemplating her navel.
"Now you stay in there, guys, do you hear me? Mommy's going to do her best to keep growing you big and strong and mama's going to do her best at helping mommy do that. But you've gotta stay in there, okay?" She pressed her lips to the bare skin where the editor's nightgown had rolled up and Miranda watched thoughtfully as the brunette head bobbed up and down from her line of sight as she peppered the bare swell with kisses as she tightened her hold on Miranda's waist.
Miranda's hand moved to stroke through the brown tresses, hoping to soothe the scared young woman even as she voiced her own uncertainties as her other hand entwined with Andrea's at the side of her belly.
"Do you ever wonder what would be different, or what would have happened if on the night Stephen attacked I hadn't opened the door, or the girls had been at their fathers? Or if the shock or the assault had caused me to miscarry? Would I have lain on the floor with no one to know I was hurt until my girls came home or I was found by the help? Would I have let you stay if I hadn't been in so much shock from finding out about the babies? Would you have stayed if you thought I didn't need you as much as I did when there were the babies to worry about? Would you have come back after our fight if you hadn't been worried about my blood pressure and the babies? There are so many ways this could have gone, Andrea."
"Would I be talking to your belly? No, probably not. Would I be kissing and cuddling you senseless? Absolutely - because you scared the crap out of me and its never, EVER going to happen again if I can do anything about it…I can't lose you." Andy went from joking to honest fear in the space of her mini-monologue. "I love you so much. God, I can't ever say it enough to make you believe it or know how strongly I feel, but I do, I love you Miranda; tomorrow, yesterday and always. I don't want to know, I don't want to think what life would be like without you and the girls. If I only had my memories of leaving you in Paris as my touchstone for remembering you. I would have gone on, not knowing any better, not thinking that there was 'more' or that I could be this happy. Because despite spending the last 5 months in a constant state of worry and terror and fear and heartache and anger - I am so much happier than I ever thought I could be. I have two daughters, Miranda, I have another daughter and a son, growing inside the woman I love, who by some miracle has agreed to be my wife. And no one, not any doctors or any judges or ex-husbands can taint, with any permanence, that kind of joy. Our life might never be peaceful, but what matters to me is that no matter what, it's going to be OUR life and that we'll face what comes together, as a team.
"My Andrea," Miranda whispered, blue eyes boring into brown in a way that reinforced every sentiment that had just been voiced without her saying anything at all. An elegant hand reached up to pull Andy's head down for a searing kiss.
"Now despite the fact that we're in bed, I don't think this qualifies as part of what the doctor meant by 'bedrest'." Andy joked as she rolled off of the bed, leaving Miranda lying against the cushions, looking tired and pale but happy and untroubled as she shifted onto her left side, accepting Andrea's help at positioning herself among the pillows that supported her body in lieu of Andy.
"Are you going to be good and follow Dr. Jansen's orders and get some rest?"
"Really, Andrea, you don't need to patronize me - and when have I ever not followed orders?"
Andy snorted as she left, "Oh man, I really am a masochist," but the smile on her lips belied her true feelings on the subject and her feet were lighter on the stairs since they had been before their fight that now seemed insignificant and a million miles away as they contemplated the next part of the trial.
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
"I really really hate that I can't take any more time off to stay with you," Andy murmured into Miranda's bump the next morning as she prepared to leave for work, flopping down on the comforter dramatically and laying her head on top of the swell.
"Maybe I should have the paper shut down," Miranda mused as her fingers stroked through the thick brown locks. "Actually, it isn't a terrible idea…"
"Mirandaaaa," Andy groaned dramatically as she rolled onto her back and looked into the blue eyes.
"Now do you promise me you're going to take it easy? No work. No phone calls? You know Maria and Carmen will be around all day."
Miranda rolled her eyes. "Fine. Yes. I will sit here and be unproductive for the next two days until the trial."
"Nonsense, you're working on the production of the next set of Priestly babies. The first set turned out pretty perfect so you've got your work cut out for you." With that, Andy succeeded in her mission of making Miranda laugh and she caught the editor's open mouth in a kiss before she reluctantly slid off the bed.
"And you'll tell me if she doesn't, right guys?" A further rub to Miranda's belly earned her several kicks in response and Miranda's lips pursed, although whether in amusement or not Andy couldn't quite tell.
"Turning my children against me?"
"Mmm, only for your own good. Now be good, I'll see you tonight…NO WORK!"
The last directive echoed from the bottom of the staircase and Miranda bit her lip to keep back a laugh as she shook her head.
Andy soon found out that a bored Miranda was a neurotic one. The first few examples of this were charming, if not outright adorable as Andy fielded the texts from her fiancée regarding anything and everything under the sun. It was entirely unfamiliar to be the half of the relationship absorbed in her work and pre-occupied, and the vibrations coming in 10 minute intervals from her phone didn't help her concentration or attempts to get her work done.
Finally, the random missives ceased and Andy was able to finish two articles and begin a rough outline on a third when a familiar buzz caused her head to fall forward dramatically, hanging down chin to chest as she reached blindly for the phone.
"Come home. Now."
Instantly, Andy's stomach leapt into her throat. The words were almost exactly what Roy had sent the night Miranda had had her first pre-eclamptic episode.
Multiple calls and texts as she flew out of the building and hailed a cab failed to provide any reassurance or clarification as no one was picking up at the house and Miranda wasn't answering her cell.
Andy was tempted to go straight to New York Presbyterian, but without arriving at the side of her soon to be spouse, Andy was concerned that she might be barred entry again. Besides, there was still a chance Miranda was fine and she was misinterpreting the text.
"Miranda!" Andy yelled as soon as she entered the townhouse. "Miranda!" Her feet flew up the stairs and she burst into the master bedroom, her pounding heart tripling its rapid beating in her veins as she threw open the door to the master bedroom and saw a wincing Miranda press a hand into her belly.
"Miranda, what is it? Talk to me, what's hurting, what's wrong?"
Miranda shook her head and took Andy's hands and placed them against the bump, exhaling deeply in relief as the hard kicks stopped and looking up at the young woman with an ever so slightly guilty expression as she took in her terrified, disheveled appearance.
"She kept kicking, and nothing I did would calm her down and then she got her brother excited and so I had no option but to deduce that she wanted to see you." Big blue eyes blinked innocently up at Andy and her heartbeat slowed although she knew she should be more angry with the editor.
"Miranda, sweetheart, the baby is inside you. She cannot see me; in fact, she hasn't even opened her eyes yet, according to the book she's the size of a large grapefruit."
Miranda glowered at the younger woman, crossing her arms overtop the sizeable bump. "Are you quite finished, Andrea?"
"I adore you," Andy shook her head, grinning and climbing up onto the bed. Andy propped herself up on one arm, cupping Miranda's cheek and looking deeply into her eyes before pushing up the hem of Miranda's shirt and pressing kisses all over her now exposed belly.
"Did you miss mama, princess? And then you got your brother into trouble for kicking mommy too? Or do you think the Queen just got lonely up here in her tower playing Sleeping Beauty."
"Mmph, a beached whale is more like it."
"What's that, baby?" Andy pressed her ear to Miranda's belly, pretending to be listening intently. "Mommy's the most beautiful woman in the entire universe?" Andy grinned back up at Miranda. "The baby has spoken, and I happen to agree…Wait, what's that?" Andy put her ear back down before popping back up.
"So she hasn't opened her eyes yet but she's speaking?" Miranda raised an eyebrow, trying hard not to smile and ruin the act. "My, our offspring are talented aren't they?"
Andy stared back at her blankly, stating in a completely deadpan voice. "And she also apparently wants a pony."
"And our son?"
"Spaceship."
The last comment did it, and despite herself Miranda burst out laughing. "You know it's I who adore you."
They shared a sweet moment before a grumble beneath Andy's hand alerted her to another pressing matter. "I think our 'talented offspring' are also saying they need a snack. So what impossible concoction are they making you crave today?" Andy's hand had been resting on Miranda's belly, and she absentmindedly began rubbing her stomach as she spoke.
Sinking back into the cushions of the bed, lulled by the magic of Andrea's hands, Miranda didn't think twice now about the embarrassment of admitting "vanilla yogurt with jalapenos". Andy saw the older woman's struggle to keep her eyes open and she pulled the blankets higher, moving one of the pillows closer to Miranda's reach whereupon the editor, eyes closed, grabbed at it sleepily and curled around it.
"I'll be right back, sweetheart."
Miranda's response was to hum slightly and snuggle further into the pillow.
Honestly, Andy could have stood there for hours watching her. But it wouldn't have been a pretty scene if Miranda woke and her snack was not sitting in front of her.
It was so strange to see the editor asleep in the middle of the day as was a common occurrence now. She knew, both from experience and from her time in a relationship with Miranda, that the older woman was generally a chronic insomniac - early to rise and late to sleep, even without the excuse of the book.
The fact that Miranda let her guard down enough to let anybody see her in bed and without makeup, and that she could fall asleep with someone else in the room was so indescribably precious to Andy, because it was her. She knew from her conversations with Miranda that it hadn't been like this in her previous relationships, and that the older woman had assumed at the onset, that this pairing would be much the same, even given how deeply she felt for the brunette. But it hadn't been like the others, never could she have imagined the kind of peace she felt when she brought the young woman's face to mind or when she thought about coming home at the end of the day.
And she knew, in the same way that she knew this time was different, that this 'difference' wouldn't end with the pregnancy or the birth of the babies. This was no hormonal fluke or symptom - what it was, if she permitted herself to think on it, was her miracle. Andrea was her miracle, and she felt no hesitancy in letting down her walls so that whatever quality it was in the younger woman could soothe the rawness in her soul.
Right now, Miranda admitted to herself, it was likely to be the hormones that brought her mind to dwell on the maudlin sentimentalities of their relationship - but even when her mind was occupied with work and day to day life, those same factors would remain even if they weren't dwelt upon in such heavy concentration. Entirely unable to keep her eyes open a moment longer, Miranda let her mind slip into unconsciousness, knowing that Andrea would be there when she woke again.
Sure enough, before she even opened her eyes when she woke again, she sensed the younger woman's presence in the bed beside her, and she was hard pressed to stifle the self-satisfied smirk that sprung to her lips at this realization.
"Don't you look so pleased with yourself, Miranda Priestly." Miranda's eyes popped open in surprise as she was caught and she attempted a look of indifference as though she had no idea what the younger woman could be talking about. "I should be so angry with you. I thought something was seriously wrong. I was about to call the hospital and see if you'd been admitted! You know I'm going to come when you call. But - and don't take this the wrong way, don't exploit that Miranda. This is never going to work if you keep trying to test my love for you."
Miranda rolled over onto her side to better face Andy, "I admit I may have given the wrong impression, but they'd been kicking like that for an hour and I knew you were the only one whose touch they'd respond to, and they did." Miranda appealed to the younger woman.
"And if you don't want me to call you cute, then you're going to have to stop doing things like this and then using those big blue eyes to get out of it when you're caught."
Miranda's eyes lost their liquid gaze as they narrowed and her lips pursed and Andy laughed. "And it doesn't help that you're doubly adorable when you're pouting."
The power of that pout was tested the next day when Andy bumped into Nigel who was exiting the townhouse.
"Oh, geez Six, you nearly gave me a heart attack."
"Sorry Nige," Andy grinned before her brow furrowed. "What are you doing here? I know you know that Miranda is supposed to be on COMPLETE bedrest for three days with no work at all."
"Ah," the older man looked nervous, running a hand across the balding head. "Just…visiting. Dropping in to say hello."
"Really Nigel? I'm supposed to believe you had the time to 'pop in' during what is essentially your 'trial run' as editor in chief of Runway? And that Miranda was okay with this? What on earth could be so important she would - oh no." Andy's gaze narrowed. "What did she have you bring her - files? The Book?"
"No! Nothing work related Andy, I promise. We just talked and I brought in lunch."
"What did you bring?" she asked suspiciously.
"Just some sushi. Why?"
"Ugh - she KNOWS better!" Andy was fuming as she stormed past the art director and into the house.
"Nigel, YOU should have known better! Sushi was on the list of things she is NOT allowed to have."
"Six, what was I supposed to do? She called to ask how things were going at the magazine and when I told her you had forbidden all Runway employees from talking to her for the three days she invited me over for a late lunch."
"Mmm, yes - convenient. Conveniently timed when the cook and housekeeper are both out. Ooh, I'm going to kill her!"
"Erm, I'll just be leaving then," Nigel edged out of the doorway, breathing a sigh of relief as he made it to the sidewalk without being called back by an irate Andy to give some sort of culinary confession as she confronted Miranda. In fact, given this last encounter, Nigel wasn't sure which woman to be more wary of.
Bursting into the master bedroom, Andy didn't say a word as she crossed the room, her movements quick and rough as she grabbed the wastebasket next to the bed and slid the entire contents of the tray, utensils and all, into it before adding the takeout bag and storming back out of the room without a word, running down to the laundry room and stuffing it down the garbage chute - letting the steel door shut with a bang before making her way back upstairs, still fuming.
Furious at her own body betraying her, Miranda blinked back the unwanted tears that had sprung to her eyes when she watched $200 worth of her latest craving disappear into the wastebasket before she had taken a single bite.
"What the hell were you thinking?"
"Do not yell at me," Miranda spoke evenly and coolly, hoping that a re-appearance of Miranda Priestly would save her in this situation. But the brunette was obviously not impressed, and she continued at the same volume as before.
"Miranda, you KNOW you aren't supposed to be eating raw fish. It's as simple as that; and following general rules like that is one of the only things we can control in bringing these babies into the world safely…"
Guilt - that before Andrea was an emotion she rarely let affect her decisions, washed over Miranda; and the tears she thought she had held at bay threatened more strongly against the lump in her throat. "I th-thought if it was properly prepared and the b-best quality, it would be s-safe."
"If you thought that, then why did you have Nigel sneak it in? Why not ask me?" Andy crossed her arms over her chest and forced herself to hold the other woman's gaze even as it filled with tears and her lower lip began to tremble.
"Nope. Save it Priestly. I don't wanna see it. No, it's not going to work this time." A shuddery little sigh escaped from Miranda's lips and her shoulders hitched along with her breathing as the first tears glistened on her lashes and her lower lip trembled.
Andy winced internally, shoring herself up against the onslaught of guilt she knew was waiting for her for making her pregnant wife cry.
"I'm sorry," blue eyes pleaded with brown for forgiveness before they moved back to the ground again.
And then, as Andy would have predicted, her own reserves were melted away by Miranda's tears
"Tell me what it is you want and I'll go get it for you. Anything, anything at all.
She had gone from cutting Miranda off from her insane food requests to doing a complete 180, and was now quite literally begging Miranda to send her off on another craving induced wild goose chase. Andy now understood how she had gotten to be the youngest editor-in-chief of Runway at only 30 years old. The woman was good.
Very good, she decided as she looked over at the woman happily crumbling dried seaweed flakes over her bowl of fudge ripple ice cream that night at 2 o'clock in the morning. The only small mercy was that she had polished off the bag of Cheez Doodles an hour ago, otherwise Andy wasn't sure there wouldn't have been a third ingredient to the messy and completely un-Miranda like concoction about to disappear down the gullet of one fashion and publishing icon.
Andy just grinned as Miranda reached for her hand and moved it to rest overtop her belly, wiggling slightly as she ate her snack to prompt the younger woman to resume her tender ministrations that she refused to acknowledge as a 'tummy rub' as Andy called it, preferring instead to refer to the ritual as a 'digestive aid and relaxation technique'. Only when they were lying in bed at night or on very rare occasions when Miranda was feeling particularly clingy would she allow the younger woman to call her actions anything of the sort if she voiced her thoughts aloud.
"Are they gonna let you sleep now or do 'La Babies Priestly' require something else?" Andy inquired, watching the editor stifle a yawn.
"I blame this entirely on you," Miranda insisted as Andy put the tray aside and she attempted to find a comfortable position lying down. "It's certainly not from me that they're getting these ridiculous gastronomic urges. Blame cook-boy."
"What?" By now, Andy had been half asleep again only for her eyes to pop open at Miranda's insinuation. "What does Nate have to do with any of this?"
"Well he obviously influenced your palate during your relationship."
Andy snorted, "Miranda, we were together for 5 years - I think that qualifies as a real relationship." She quickly moved in to kiss away the pout forming on pink lips, "But…you," she moved her lips to the side of Miranda's mouth, punctuating each following word with a kiss trailing down Miranda's neck and shoulders. "You, are irrefutably the love of my life." She repeated Miranda's words back to her as she settled nose to nose with the other woman blinking sleepily at her from across the pillow.
"Now of the other four loves of my life, are these two ready to settle down?"
But Miranda was already asleep. Despite her own exhaustion, Andy watched her love sleep for a while, thanking with every rise and fall of the slim shoulders that God had seen fit to put Miranda in her life and to give her the family of her own she never thought she'd have.