Chapter 49: Lost & Found
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...
The drama never stops, I know. And I can't promise that it will either for the next several (and several more) chapters. Would you expect anything less from me or La Family Priestly? I sincerely hoping you're enjoying the roller coaster however and that you'll continue to ride it with me and read/review, for it is your motivation that spurs mine on. XO
For the first time in ages, Andy woke to an empty bed - no sleeping editor curled into her side or wrapped around her body pillow. Curious, and not a little worried, Andy crawled out of bed, wrapping her arms around herself now she was exposed to the cooler morning air. She thought she must still be dreaming when she walked into the living room and the scene that was taking place as she watched in slack-jawed disbelief that quickly turned to amusement.
"Can I ask what you were trying to do?"
"No," Miranda lips formed a slight purse Andy knew was borne out of embarrassment as her face turned red from the combination of being caught and from the nearly upside down angle she had positioned herself in next to the couch like a convoluted downward dog yoga position as best she could tell.
Andy quickly moved over to help the red-faced woman back into an upright position, trying to keep her own face from turning red with suppressed laughter which she knew the editor would never forgive.
"I'm trying to get them to move into a better position," Miranda responded, sounding slightly breathless from the awkward angle and slightly indignant as though it was obvious why she was very nearly standing on her head in the middle of the living room.
"Oh God, that's better." Miranda sighed as the babies shifted inside their overcrowded confines, giving her some small relief.
"If you must know, I was attempting several of the exercises recommended by the supposedly highly competent Lamaze instructor from the course that are supposed to help in preparation for labour and delivery." Having turned herself the right way around, Miranda's palm absently massaged a sore spot on her side where a sharp little hand or foot protested the unfamiliar movements.
Every ounce of Andy's being wanted to laugh at the older woman but she simply placed her hands lightly on her shoulders and bent her head slightly to kiss the pouting woman.
"But just think how that flexibility you've worked so hard to maintain will help us in other certain places, or with certain places." Now her grin was evil.
Miranda's face was immediately in hers, and the familiar glare sent Andy's nerves racing as she looked at the unpredictable phenom. "Andrea Sachs, you will stop speaking this instant! If you make me come, then these two will BOTH get riled up and I assure you that it is YOU who will get no peace or rest and you won't be coming anywhere, you'll be going."
"Umm," Andy gulped. "Understood."
Andy kept her distance for the morning, glad, actually for the time considering she had gotten a concerned email from her editor asking why she hadn't submitted her rough draft for her next article. Now she was in overdrive trying to correct her mistake without having to pull the family issues card, which she hated doing even if it was true. And speaking of family…
"Come on, we want to go swimming!"
"Guys, I told you, I need to send this one article in to my editor, after that we can go. Maybe in an hour or so."
"That's foreverrrr," the frustrated redhead groeaned, joined by her sister. "And that's not fair Andy, you said this was a no work trip. It was just for family."
"I know, I know, but I somehow missed this article in the queue and I'm already taking off so much time for your mom and the babies that I can't afford to slip up! Please try to understand."
"Yeah, we understand," the little girl replied darkly, while her sister's face bore an eerie relation to a displeased Miranda's. "Just find something to do around here but stay out of the water."
"Why can't mom watch us?"
Andy looked up, her expression serious. "Girls, your mother is resting, do not think of disturbing her. This is the reason we went on the trip remember?"
"Yeah? Then why did we even come?"
The pair had run off before Andy could respond and she hated herself and waged emotional war internally as she turned her head back to her laptop to the article due by 5pm with which she had limited resources to write and zero first person content. Damn, damn, damn!
Two hours later, Andrea finally lifted her head and cracked her neck, groaning slightly as the tight ligaments refused to stretch. Then she sat back and enjoyed the quiet, listening to the waves flood the shore in a tantalizing, almost persuasive manner.
Wait. Her brain clicked back from journalist mode to mom mode in an instant and she was on her feet in seconds, ignoring the $4000 laptop that had just dropped from her lap to the floor.
She crept halfway up the stairs to confirm Miranda was still sleeping and then she was out of the house like a flash, barefoot and running down the beachfront and circling the property, her heart beating quicker and quicker against her chest until it was hard to breath - but not from running, from fear.
The twins were never this quiet, never able to leave either woman uninterrupted for very long in some way or another. She had begun calling out for them, yelling their names with an increasing thread of fear in her voice. And it was that note of fear that woke Miranda, even from nearly a mile away, and she met Andy on the steps of the house, horrified that they were scratched and bloodied and the wounds embedded with dirt and sand.
She didn't even ask what Andrea what she was doing, if the younger woman was calling for Caroline and Cassidy with such desperation in her voice and she had been worried enough to run through sand and rocks and woodland without noticing the pain or cuts on her feet then something had happened, and gone terribly wrong.
"Miranda", Andrea gasped out of breath, smart enough to know not to sugar coat or hide the truth from the older woman. "Miranda, the girls, I…I. They wanted to go to the beach and I…told them I had to finish an article that I had somehow missed that Greg needed for print today and I was sharp with them and they ran away but, I never thought they had RUN run away. I've circled the entire cove and I can't find them. I'm so sorry."
Miranda nodded thoughtfully and responded pragmatically. "That would not be unlike my girls." Her lips pursed, but not at Andrea. "They should know better than to do something this foolish. But we'll find them. They know the island better than you, but not better than me so don't waste time blaming yourself because I certainly don't."
"I'll take another circle around the island. Maybe you could wait at the house and call the neighbours, see if the girls have shown up over there."
Miranda's heart skipped at this. "There was a little rowboat in the boathouse. Their father used to take them out and I taught them how to use it last summer as I promised I would when they turned ten. But they were also warned NEVER to use it without Miranda and the girls knew they weren't to go near the water without an adult watching". All the same a chill ran down her spine despite the warm day.
"Andrea, I know the island, it makes sense for me to come with you. Certainly you don't expect me to stand by and do nothing while my girls are missing."
"Miranda…"
"Do not argue with me in this Andrea," shades of the Ice Queen coloured her tone and Andrea knew this was one fight she would not win despite the stakes.
"Alright, let's go then."
Miranda eyed the woman's bare and battered feet. "Not before you are wearing the appropriate attire. I realize that I will be slower than you, so I'll start ahead - first down at the beach to check the boathouse and then into the forest line."
Andy's mouth was set in a grim line as she dashed into the house, her feet leaving a trail of dirt and small smears of blood on the hardwood flooring. She shoved her feet into a pair of Dooney & Burke tennis shoes, leaving a breathless message for their closest neighbours and dashed back out the front of the house to find Miranda. For all the older woman had said about being slow, she had already disappeared down the shoreline and had nearly reached the boathouse when Andy caught up with her.
"Anything?" Andrea asked the question and then mentally slapped her forehead. Of course there wasn't anything, otherwise she would be staring at the girls.
But Miranda didn't tell her off, only shook her head and answered slightly short of breath. "No, I can't see any footprints or other trace of them and they must have their cell phones turned off because the GPS tracker on their phones isn't picking anything up," she clutched it tightly in her fist.
"Miranda, we'll find them."
"The forest next then." She moved away from Andrea's touch and towards the woods that Andy had never seen as ominous in her rounds of the property.
Bordering the cove, the forest's dirt path rose sharply past the first 50 feet, seeming to disappear directly into the foliage and continuing on until the wending trail led one back to the cottage with the trail turning back to sand with about 100 metres more until you reached the actual building.
Barging on ahead before Andy could offer to help, Miranda began the rocky ascent by herself, not waiting for the younger woman. Halfway up the path Miranda had to stop and catch her breath, giving Andy time to catch up. Miranda held up a hand, continuing to breathe deeply Andy noted taking in the older woman's reddened face and sweat dampened forehead wishing she could sweep the pieces of hair that had fallen in front of the woman's face and she had been remiss in fixing.
While Miranda couldn't speak, Andy finally got a word in and she looked squarely at Miranda, who seemed to be avoiding her gaze. "Miranda please, slow down just a little. You're pushing yourself too far. Besides, if we continue at this pace we could miss something." She tried to argue with the older woman. But Miranda wasn't having any of it, in fact, Miranda was gone, her fear turning to something almost like rage as she feverishly sought her prize, her babies. Anything else was a distraction, including at the moment, Andrea, and she addressed her fiancée in the same manner she would an employee who had shown poor judgement.
"Shall we go back then and have a picnic on the beach? Make sandcastles as minutes go by wasted in the attempt to find my daughters?"
Andy's eyes flashed with a different fire as she replied "our daughters, Miranda. I'm worried for all our children who could be at risk right now, and for you."
Miranda didn't argue, simply turned on her heel and began walking again, calling the girls names with a well-executed show of confidence. But Andy noticed, with an arm wrapped around her belly to support the weight as she walked, exerting herself more than she had in months and was soon breathless again. Nothing would reach Miranda now. Not when she had her mind set on something.
Contrary to her previous comments, Miranda did slow down although to Andy it was obvious that this was not by choice. She knew Miranda would be frustrated at her speed so Andy continued to jog ahead in the hopes that she would find something, anything that could lead them to the girls.
Miranda watched as the young woman easily passed her and increased her speed to try and match her, her worry for the girls fueling her steps. But her next step fueled another fear that made the sweat already on her skin prickle and cause a chill to course through her whole body.
Andy was aware that Miranda had caught up despite the journalist's advantage, and could hear the woman calling for the girls as well. But the next sound she heard made her turn around and nearly skid to the woman's side.
"Hngh!" A different note of fear tinged her voice, one that chilled Andy's soul past what she had thought she had reached in peak.
Miranda was standing, lightly hunched over, one arm encircling her stomach and the other pressed to a nearby tree as she bowed her head and exhaled. "Andrea!" she tried to call out next. It seemed the younger woman was there before her name was even off of Miranda's lips and the older woman cut right to the chase.
Andy knelt in the dirt at her feet. "Miranda, is it the babies? Are you alright?"
Miranda's hand gripped her shirt tightly. She shook her head "I think. No. I felt a contraction."
Andy's own stomach contracted painfully as she tried to calmly assess the situation and keep her cool as well as Miranda's.
"Are you sure its not just nerves or adrenaline."
Miranda reached for the younger woman's arm and brought her hand roughly to abdomen.
Shit! Shit! Andy's mind blistered with fear. Her belly was rock hard and Andrea could see the tears forming as the pain and the fear of what was happening intensified.
The voice inside Andy's head was screaming but she did her best to remain rational and level as she spoke with Miranda.
"Did you want to wait here and rest for awhile and see if we can get them to go away."
"No, I want to be at the house in case the girls come back, and, and if they don't...either."
"Okay, okay we can call for the sheriff and a Medivac if need be."
"Ungh!" Andy felt the tight ball of muscle contract tensely underneath her hand, and she rearranged her position so that she had one arm around Miranda's waist so she could catch her if she fell.
This time Andrea felt Miranda's stomach tighten with another contraction. It stayed hard, the muscle rigid as Miranda began to naturally take shallow breaths until she was panting. The sounds she was making were too close to actual childbirth that Andy cursed herself again over her earlier actions regarding the girls that had made them run off and led to this.
"I'm so sorry, Miranda. I'm so…I wish. The girls never would have gone out alone if I hadn't, hadn't pushed them off.
"Nonsense, the girls know better, and they certainly understand the importance of work and deadlines. Miranda released the breath she was holding and pressed it to her belly, feeling the muscles soften and release their hold on her precious babies whose time wasn't yet to be born. If she delivered, now, and here. There would be no chance. With her increasing worry, Miranda let out a single frustrated sob in horror as her abdomen began to tighten again.
"No, it's too soon, they can't, they can't, they shouldn't be this fast. There's no, ah!, time b-between"
Ansy suddenly had a flicker of thought, "Miranda, I need you to try something for. Trust me please, quickly.
"Yes."
Somehow they made the last 100 yards to the house, stopping whenever Miranda needed. Finally they had made it back and both women were seated on the couch in the main area. "Okay, I've called the sheriff and Medivac is on standby although they're staying put until we call, close your eyes. Just go with me here." Andy smoothed her hand down the side of Miranda's face and neck until her palm was directly over the rapid heartbeat that she desperately wanted to slow.
"The only thing I want you to focus on is my voice. How loud it is, how it comes into your ear. Now take one deep breath for me," Miranda did so and as she did, Andy hand moved to her belly searching her brain in the attempt to glean any tips from their brief venture into childbirth lessons.
"When you breathe out I want you to focus on slowly breathing out, not through your mouth. You're going to breathe in and out through your belly. Let all the tightness go, and feel it go soft underneath your hand. It's okay if you feel that pain again, you're just going to breathe out your belly until all your limbs are relaxed.
"You're here in my arms, we are going to find the girls, and we are going to keep these babies in your belly. Keep breathing, see? No more pain. Just breathing out."
Andy kept up the mantra for the next ten minutes straight, her hands making the same pattern over and over and she sat with her quietly until the editor hadn't felt a new pain for several minutes, and her breath came more easily and Andy knew her thoughts were returning to the girls.
"I'm going to go back and help them search," Andy slowly extricated herself from their embrace. "But I'm going to have my cell phone, and if that doesn't work again, I've got a walkie talkie from the Sheriff's Dept.
"This is ridiculous," Miranda raged, from calm to incensed in a second. "I should be out there, they're my daughters!"
Andy didn't want to provoke the pregnant woman but she crouched back don to the couch until she was eye level with the editor. "Our, Miranda, our daughters, whom I will find. My job right now is to go and find our daughters. Your job, and I know it's the hardest thing in the world to do so I'm not patronizing you, I'm not even going to tell you not to worry. But it's your job right now to do the best thing for our other two children and rest, so the contractions don't come back, because the last thing we want to happen is for your water to break and for you to go into premature labour with no advanced medical facility." She pulled Miranda's hands down with hers to rest on the bump. "Just imagine I am here, holding you, helping you make that pain go away because you are so strong and I know you're not gonna let anything happen to these babies."
Miranda pulled Andy's face to hers, almost violently before letting go and releasing the younger woman whom she knew was going to leave.
"I love you so much Miranda. I'm gonna bring our girls home."
Miranda couldn't speak, not if she wanted to keep her composure of remain calm. Now, her heart ached worse with Andrea's departure. Where had it all gone wrong? Just yesterday she had had her entire family with her, safe and happy, and now, even if three of six came back, two were still in terrible danger if not three if her blood pressure rose significantly. Remembering her blood pressure, Miranda lay her head back and tried to recreate the little patterns Andrea had rubbed into her belly when she was sitting her, and the words she had spoken that had seemingly put her womb to rest. She daren't move for fear the slightest action would result in her water breaking, but after a while, the need to use the restroom was imminent, and she couldn't suppress a single sob of relief as she saw there was no blood. No blood, thank God! And though her belly was tender, it gave beneath her fingers and the terrifying contractions had stopped for now, hopefully for good. Gingerly, she crawled beneath the thick afghan on the couch where she could face the door, clutching the black communication piece in a death grip.
She didn't think she had been this terrified in her life. Not even during the attack. All, all four of her children were in danger and she didn't know if Andrea would forgive her, or herself, even if it was needless, or if their relationship would survive the loss of a child. Her stomach jolted warningly at the phrase and Miranda closed her eyes once more and beneath the afghan recreated the soothing patterns of the woman who was currently out there fighting for all of them just like before. Her mantra had simply changed to 'Bring them back to me. Please God, bring them back'.
Exhaustion sent her into an hour of uneasy sleep, until she awoke with a sharp yell. Now, she continued to take careful sips of water despite her queasy stomach.
"Miranda?" Andy's voice came through the radio, scratchy but discernible. "Miranda, we're on the far side of the cove, we're still looking, I'm sorry. How are you doing."
"Fine," she rasped, dismayed at how her voice sounded. "Fine did they -?"
"Yes, they took the boat, we're just coming around the corner of the cove on land. The other two officers and the Mehnders are still in the woods. I'll call you as soon as I know anything. Are you sure you're alright?"
"Yes, yes, I'm fine. I'm lying down. The girls haven't shown up."
"We're gonna find them, Miranda, I know it. Please keep yourself safe."
Miranda nodded, her throat choked up, but then realized the younger woman couldn't possibly know what she was doing.
"I will…I"
The radio shorted out and Miranda bashed it against the coffee table in frustration until she remembered herself and the fact that no one would be able to contact her at all. Pressing her face into her hands, Miranda could actually feel the puffy flesh and sighed. The pressure meds weren't working as well as she wished them to. It was hardly a surprise, she thought as her stomach still churned. She thought of what Andrea would say if she were there. She supposed the younger woman would remind her to breathe. Miranda rolled her eyes until she realized that she was holding her breath and she exhaled, hearing Andrea's voice say that she was breathing for the babies. Truly, Andrea must love this family if she is able and willing to deal with all this. Miranda turned her engagement ring on her finger, unable to remove it because of the swelling. She breathed in deeply again and focused on the feeling of the ring turning around on her finger instead of all the other physical symptoms she was trying to ignore.
At that moment, Andy had seen the empty boat pulled up on the opposite shore. And instead of coming through to the other side through the woods, Andy kicked off the shoes Miranda had made her wear so that they didn't slow her down as she dove 15 feet into the water.
The officers let out a breath of relief as the young woman's dark head bobbed up from the water and she began to swim towards the east shore.
"Caroline, Cassidy!" Andy yelled hoarsely, her throat reminding her that it was the millionth time.
"Caro -!"
Two red heads popped up from behind a sprawling root, where they had obviously been hiding.
"Caroline, Cassidy!" Andy sprinted the last ten yards, both girls in her embrace the moment she reached them.
"You're okay. My God, you're okay. You're alright." Tears ran into auburn locks and silent sobs shook both of their shoulders as the brunette tried to gather herself enough to speak.
Releasing her hold, she looked into the two faces, identical to everyone else's but Miranda's and eventually hers.
"How could, You are never to, What were you thinking?"
Two mouths opened in preparation to answer for themselves, but Andy suddenly help up a hand, confident now that the girls weren't hurt and they were safe. She quickly sent a message through the walkie talkie so the others could call off the search. They marched back down the bank to the boat wordlessly, Andrea refusing to talk until they were back with Miranda. She wondered if it wasn't a mistake not to tell Miranda before they were home, and she could see them. She didn't want the older woman to start out to meet them or be alone when she heard the news. She had no idea the state of mind the older woman was in.
Finally, the girls burst.
"We were just hiding!"
"Yeah, we just wanted to make you notice us."
Rage flared briefly in Andy as she thought of all the upset the girls' prank had caused. "It sent your mother into…" Andy clapped her hand over her mouth, unable to say it. "Your mother's having contractions." She let out, instantly realizing her mistake and that she should have stayed quiet.
"The babies are coming now? Early?"
"B-because of us?" Earnest, repentant, liquid gazes hit her with an intensity of familiar blue and she couldn't totally cause them that pain, or force upon them that responsibility.
"Because of the stress of being very worried and scared, and no, not now. Luckily, they stopped but you have to realize," She stopped rowing. "You have to realize how your actions affect the people around you, and know how much your mother and I love you and how much hurt you are able to cause." She finished, her voice catching as she briskly started to row again.
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...
The drama never stops, I know. And I can't promise that it will either for the next several (and several more) chapters. Would you expect anything less from me or La Family Priestly? I sincerely hoping you're enjoying the roller coaster however and that you'll continue to ride it with me and read/review, for it is your motivation that spurs mine on. XO
For the first time in ages, Andy woke to an empty bed - no sleeping editor curled into her side or wrapped around her body pillow. Curious, and not a little worried, Andy crawled out of bed, wrapping her arms around herself now she was exposed to the cooler morning air. She thought she must still be dreaming when she walked into the living room and the scene that was taking place as she watched in slack-jawed disbelief that quickly turned to amusement.
"Can I ask what you were trying to do?"
"No," Miranda lips formed a slight purse Andy knew was borne out of embarrassment as her face turned red from the combination of being caught and from the nearly upside down angle she had positioned herself in next to the couch like a convoluted downward dog yoga position as best she could tell.
Andy quickly moved over to help the red-faced woman back into an upright position, trying to keep her own face from turning red with suppressed laughter which she knew the editor would never forgive.
"I'm trying to get them to move into a better position," Miranda responded, sounding slightly breathless from the awkward angle and slightly indignant as though it was obvious why she was very nearly standing on her head in the middle of the living room.
"Oh God, that's better." Miranda sighed as the babies shifted inside their overcrowded confines, giving her some small relief.
"If you must know, I was attempting several of the exercises recommended by the supposedly highly competent Lamaze instructor from the course that are supposed to help in preparation for labour and delivery." Having turned herself the right way around, Miranda's palm absently massaged a sore spot on her side where a sharp little hand or foot protested the unfamiliar movements.
Every ounce of Andy's being wanted to laugh at the older woman but she simply placed her hands lightly on her shoulders and bent her head slightly to kiss the pouting woman.
"But just think how that flexibility you've worked so hard to maintain will help us in other certain places, or with certain places." Now her grin was evil.
Miranda's face was immediately in hers, and the familiar glare sent Andy's nerves racing as she looked at the unpredictable phenom. "Andrea Sachs, you will stop speaking this instant! If you make me come, then these two will BOTH get riled up and I assure you that it is YOU who will get no peace or rest and you won't be coming anywhere, you'll be going."
"Umm," Andy gulped. "Understood."
Andy kept her distance for the morning, glad, actually for the time considering she had gotten a concerned email from her editor asking why she hadn't submitted her rough draft for her next article. Now she was in overdrive trying to correct her mistake without having to pull the family issues card, which she hated doing even if it was true. And speaking of family…
"Come on, we want to go swimming!"
"Guys, I told you, I need to send this one article in to my editor, after that we can go. Maybe in an hour or so."
"That's foreverrrr," the frustrated redhead groeaned, joined by her sister. "And that's not fair Andy, you said this was a no work trip. It was just for family."
"I know, I know, but I somehow missed this article in the queue and I'm already taking off so much time for your mom and the babies that I can't afford to slip up! Please try to understand."
"Yeah, we understand," the little girl replied darkly, while her sister's face bore an eerie relation to a displeased Miranda's. "Just find something to do around here but stay out of the water."
"Why can't mom watch us?"
Andy looked up, her expression serious. "Girls, your mother is resting, do not think of disturbing her. This is the reason we went on the trip remember?"
"Yeah? Then why did we even come?"
The pair had run off before Andy could respond and she hated herself and waged emotional war internally as she turned her head back to her laptop to the article due by 5pm with which she had limited resources to write and zero first person content. Damn, damn, damn!
Two hours later, Andrea finally lifted her head and cracked her neck, groaning slightly as the tight ligaments refused to stretch. Then she sat back and enjoyed the quiet, listening to the waves flood the shore in a tantalizing, almost persuasive manner.
Wait. Her brain clicked back from journalist mode to mom mode in an instant and she was on her feet in seconds, ignoring the $4000 laptop that had just dropped from her lap to the floor.
She crept halfway up the stairs to confirm Miranda was still sleeping and then she was out of the house like a flash, barefoot and running down the beachfront and circling the property, her heart beating quicker and quicker against her chest until it was hard to breath - but not from running, from fear.
The twins were never this quiet, never able to leave either woman uninterrupted for very long in some way or another. She had begun calling out for them, yelling their names with an increasing thread of fear in her voice. And it was that note of fear that woke Miranda, even from nearly a mile away, and she met Andy on the steps of the house, horrified that they were scratched and bloodied and the wounds embedded with dirt and sand.
She didn't even ask what Andrea what she was doing, if the younger woman was calling for Caroline and Cassidy with such desperation in her voice and she had been worried enough to run through sand and rocks and woodland without noticing the pain or cuts on her feet then something had happened, and gone terribly wrong.
"Miranda", Andrea gasped out of breath, smart enough to know not to sugar coat or hide the truth from the older woman. "Miranda, the girls, I…I. They wanted to go to the beach and I…told them I had to finish an article that I had somehow missed that Greg needed for print today and I was sharp with them and they ran away but, I never thought they had RUN run away. I've circled the entire cove and I can't find them. I'm so sorry."
Miranda nodded thoughtfully and responded pragmatically. "That would not be unlike my girls." Her lips pursed, but not at Andrea. "They should know better than to do something this foolish. But we'll find them. They know the island better than you, but not better than me so don't waste time blaming yourself because I certainly don't."
"I'll take another circle around the island. Maybe you could wait at the house and call the neighbours, see if the girls have shown up over there."
Miranda's heart skipped at this. "There was a little rowboat in the boathouse. Their father used to take them out and I taught them how to use it last summer as I promised I would when they turned ten. But they were also warned NEVER to use it without Miranda and the girls knew they weren't to go near the water without an adult watching". All the same a chill ran down her spine despite the warm day.
"Andrea, I know the island, it makes sense for me to come with you. Certainly you don't expect me to stand by and do nothing while my girls are missing."
"Miranda…"
"Do not argue with me in this Andrea," shades of the Ice Queen coloured her tone and Andrea knew this was one fight she would not win despite the stakes.
"Alright, let's go then."
Miranda eyed the woman's bare and battered feet. "Not before you are wearing the appropriate attire. I realize that I will be slower than you, so I'll start ahead - first down at the beach to check the boathouse and then into the forest line."
Andy's mouth was set in a grim line as she dashed into the house, her feet leaving a trail of dirt and small smears of blood on the hardwood flooring. She shoved her feet into a pair of Dooney & Burke tennis shoes, leaving a breathless message for their closest neighbours and dashed back out the front of the house to find Miranda. For all the older woman had said about being slow, she had already disappeared down the shoreline and had nearly reached the boathouse when Andy caught up with her.
"Anything?" Andrea asked the question and then mentally slapped her forehead. Of course there wasn't anything, otherwise she would be staring at the girls.
But Miranda didn't tell her off, only shook her head and answered slightly short of breath. "No, I can't see any footprints or other trace of them and they must have their cell phones turned off because the GPS tracker on their phones isn't picking anything up," she clutched it tightly in her fist.
"Miranda, we'll find them."
"The forest next then." She moved away from Andrea's touch and towards the woods that Andy had never seen as ominous in her rounds of the property.
Bordering the cove, the forest's dirt path rose sharply past the first 50 feet, seeming to disappear directly into the foliage and continuing on until the wending trail led one back to the cottage with the trail turning back to sand with about 100 metres more until you reached the actual building.
Barging on ahead before Andy could offer to help, Miranda began the rocky ascent by herself, not waiting for the younger woman. Halfway up the path Miranda had to stop and catch her breath, giving Andy time to catch up. Miranda held up a hand, continuing to breathe deeply Andy noted taking in the older woman's reddened face and sweat dampened forehead wishing she could sweep the pieces of hair that had fallen in front of the woman's face and she had been remiss in fixing.
While Miranda couldn't speak, Andy finally got a word in and she looked squarely at Miranda, who seemed to be avoiding her gaze. "Miranda please, slow down just a little. You're pushing yourself too far. Besides, if we continue at this pace we could miss something." She tried to argue with the older woman. But Miranda wasn't having any of it, in fact, Miranda was gone, her fear turning to something almost like rage as she feverishly sought her prize, her babies. Anything else was a distraction, including at the moment, Andrea, and she addressed her fiancée in the same manner she would an employee who had shown poor judgement.
"Shall we go back then and have a picnic on the beach? Make sandcastles as minutes go by wasted in the attempt to find my daughters?"
Andy's eyes flashed with a different fire as she replied "our daughters, Miranda. I'm worried for all our children who could be at risk right now, and for you."
Miranda didn't argue, simply turned on her heel and began walking again, calling the girls names with a well-executed show of confidence. But Andy noticed, with an arm wrapped around her belly to support the weight as she walked, exerting herself more than she had in months and was soon breathless again. Nothing would reach Miranda now. Not when she had her mind set on something.
Contrary to her previous comments, Miranda did slow down although to Andy it was obvious that this was not by choice. She knew Miranda would be frustrated at her speed so Andy continued to jog ahead in the hopes that she would find something, anything that could lead them to the girls.
Miranda watched as the young woman easily passed her and increased her speed to try and match her, her worry for the girls fueling her steps. But her next step fueled another fear that made the sweat already on her skin prickle and cause a chill to course through her whole body.
Andy was aware that Miranda had caught up despite the journalist's advantage, and could hear the woman calling for the girls as well. But the next sound she heard made her turn around and nearly skid to the woman's side.
"Hngh!" A different note of fear tinged her voice, one that chilled Andy's soul past what she had thought she had reached in peak.
Miranda was standing, lightly hunched over, one arm encircling her stomach and the other pressed to a nearby tree as she bowed her head and exhaled. "Andrea!" she tried to call out next. It seemed the younger woman was there before her name was even off of Miranda's lips and the older woman cut right to the chase.
Andy knelt in the dirt at her feet. "Miranda, is it the babies? Are you alright?"
Miranda's hand gripped her shirt tightly. She shook her head "I think. No. I felt a contraction."
Andy's own stomach contracted painfully as she tried to calmly assess the situation and keep her cool as well as Miranda's.
"Are you sure its not just nerves or adrenaline."
Miranda reached for the younger woman's arm and brought her hand roughly to abdomen.
Shit! Shit! Andy's mind blistered with fear. Her belly was rock hard and Andrea could see the tears forming as the pain and the fear of what was happening intensified.
The voice inside Andy's head was screaming but she did her best to remain rational and level as she spoke with Miranda.
"Did you want to wait here and rest for awhile and see if we can get them to go away."
"No, I want to be at the house in case the girls come back, and, and if they don't...either."
"Okay, okay we can call for the sheriff and a Medivac if need be."
"Ungh!" Andy felt the tight ball of muscle contract tensely underneath her hand, and she rearranged her position so that she had one arm around Miranda's waist so she could catch her if she fell.
This time Andrea felt Miranda's stomach tighten with another contraction. It stayed hard, the muscle rigid as Miranda began to naturally take shallow breaths until she was panting. The sounds she was making were too close to actual childbirth that Andy cursed herself again over her earlier actions regarding the girls that had made them run off and led to this.
"I'm so sorry, Miranda. I'm so…I wish. The girls never would have gone out alone if I hadn't, hadn't pushed them off.
"Nonsense, the girls know better, and they certainly understand the importance of work and deadlines. Miranda released the breath she was holding and pressed it to her belly, feeling the muscles soften and release their hold on her precious babies whose time wasn't yet to be born. If she delivered, now, and here. There would be no chance. With her increasing worry, Miranda let out a single frustrated sob in horror as her abdomen began to tighten again.
"No, it's too soon, they can't, they can't, they shouldn't be this fast. There's no, ah!, time b-between"
Ansy suddenly had a flicker of thought, "Miranda, I need you to try something for. Trust me please, quickly.
"Yes."
Somehow they made the last 100 yards to the house, stopping whenever Miranda needed. Finally they had made it back and both women were seated on the couch in the main area. "Okay, I've called the sheriff and Medivac is on standby although they're staying put until we call, close your eyes. Just go with me here." Andy smoothed her hand down the side of Miranda's face and neck until her palm was directly over the rapid heartbeat that she desperately wanted to slow.
"The only thing I want you to focus on is my voice. How loud it is, how it comes into your ear. Now take one deep breath for me," Miranda did so and as she did, Andy hand moved to her belly searching her brain in the attempt to glean any tips from their brief venture into childbirth lessons.
"When you breathe out I want you to focus on slowly breathing out, not through your mouth. You're going to breathe in and out through your belly. Let all the tightness go, and feel it go soft underneath your hand. It's okay if you feel that pain again, you're just going to breathe out your belly until all your limbs are relaxed.
"You're here in my arms, we are going to find the girls, and we are going to keep these babies in your belly. Keep breathing, see? No more pain. Just breathing out."
Andy kept up the mantra for the next ten minutes straight, her hands making the same pattern over and over and she sat with her quietly until the editor hadn't felt a new pain for several minutes, and her breath came more easily and Andy knew her thoughts were returning to the girls.
"I'm going to go back and help them search," Andy slowly extricated herself from their embrace. "But I'm going to have my cell phone, and if that doesn't work again, I've got a walkie talkie from the Sheriff's Dept.
"This is ridiculous," Miranda raged, from calm to incensed in a second. "I should be out there, they're my daughters!"
Andy didn't want to provoke the pregnant woman but she crouched back don to the couch until she was eye level with the editor. "Our, Miranda, our daughters, whom I will find. My job right now is to go and find our daughters. Your job, and I know it's the hardest thing in the world to do so I'm not patronizing you, I'm not even going to tell you not to worry. But it's your job right now to do the best thing for our other two children and rest, so the contractions don't come back, because the last thing we want to happen is for your water to break and for you to go into premature labour with no advanced medical facility." She pulled Miranda's hands down with hers to rest on the bump. "Just imagine I am here, holding you, helping you make that pain go away because you are so strong and I know you're not gonna let anything happen to these babies."
Miranda pulled Andy's face to hers, almost violently before letting go and releasing the younger woman whom she knew was going to leave.
"I love you so much Miranda. I'm gonna bring our girls home."
Miranda couldn't speak, not if she wanted to keep her composure of remain calm. Now, her heart ached worse with Andrea's departure. Where had it all gone wrong? Just yesterday she had had her entire family with her, safe and happy, and now, even if three of six came back, two were still in terrible danger if not three if her blood pressure rose significantly. Remembering her blood pressure, Miranda lay her head back and tried to recreate the little patterns Andrea had rubbed into her belly when she was sitting her, and the words she had spoken that had seemingly put her womb to rest. She daren't move for fear the slightest action would result in her water breaking, but after a while, the need to use the restroom was imminent, and she couldn't suppress a single sob of relief as she saw there was no blood. No blood, thank God! And though her belly was tender, it gave beneath her fingers and the terrifying contractions had stopped for now, hopefully for good. Gingerly, she crawled beneath the thick afghan on the couch where she could face the door, clutching the black communication piece in a death grip.
She didn't think she had been this terrified in her life. Not even during the attack. All, all four of her children were in danger and she didn't know if Andrea would forgive her, or herself, even if it was needless, or if their relationship would survive the loss of a child. Her stomach jolted warningly at the phrase and Miranda closed her eyes once more and beneath the afghan recreated the soothing patterns of the woman who was currently out there fighting for all of them just like before. Her mantra had simply changed to 'Bring them back to me. Please God, bring them back'.
Exhaustion sent her into an hour of uneasy sleep, until she awoke with a sharp yell. Now, she continued to take careful sips of water despite her queasy stomach.
"Miranda?" Andy's voice came through the radio, scratchy but discernible. "Miranda, we're on the far side of the cove, we're still looking, I'm sorry. How are you doing."
"Fine," she rasped, dismayed at how her voice sounded. "Fine did they -?"
"Yes, they took the boat, we're just coming around the corner of the cove on land. The other two officers and the Mehnders are still in the woods. I'll call you as soon as I know anything. Are you sure you're alright?"
"Yes, yes, I'm fine. I'm lying down. The girls haven't shown up."
"We're gonna find them, Miranda, I know it. Please keep yourself safe."
Miranda nodded, her throat choked up, but then realized the younger woman couldn't possibly know what she was doing.
"I will…I"
The radio shorted out and Miranda bashed it against the coffee table in frustration until she remembered herself and the fact that no one would be able to contact her at all. Pressing her face into her hands, Miranda could actually feel the puffy flesh and sighed. The pressure meds weren't working as well as she wished them to. It was hardly a surprise, she thought as her stomach still churned. She thought of what Andrea would say if she were there. She supposed the younger woman would remind her to breathe. Miranda rolled her eyes until she realized that she was holding her breath and she exhaled, hearing Andrea's voice say that she was breathing for the babies. Truly, Andrea must love this family if she is able and willing to deal with all this. Miranda turned her engagement ring on her finger, unable to remove it because of the swelling. She breathed in deeply again and focused on the feeling of the ring turning around on her finger instead of all the other physical symptoms she was trying to ignore.
At that moment, Andy had seen the empty boat pulled up on the opposite shore. And instead of coming through to the other side through the woods, Andy kicked off the shoes Miranda had made her wear so that they didn't slow her down as she dove 15 feet into the water.
The officers let out a breath of relief as the young woman's dark head bobbed up from the water and she began to swim towards the east shore.
"Caroline, Cassidy!" Andy yelled hoarsely, her throat reminding her that it was the millionth time.
"Caro -!"
Two red heads popped up from behind a sprawling root, where they had obviously been hiding.
"Caroline, Cassidy!" Andy sprinted the last ten yards, both girls in her embrace the moment she reached them.
"You're okay. My God, you're okay. You're alright." Tears ran into auburn locks and silent sobs shook both of their shoulders as the brunette tried to gather herself enough to speak.
Releasing her hold, she looked into the two faces, identical to everyone else's but Miranda's and eventually hers.
"How could, You are never to, What were you thinking?"
Two mouths opened in preparation to answer for themselves, but Andy suddenly help up a hand, confident now that the girls weren't hurt and they were safe. She quickly sent a message through the walkie talkie so the others could call off the search. They marched back down the bank to the boat wordlessly, Andrea refusing to talk until they were back with Miranda. She wondered if it wasn't a mistake not to tell Miranda before they were home, and she could see them. She didn't want the older woman to start out to meet them or be alone when she heard the news. She had no idea the state of mind the older woman was in.
Finally, the girls burst.
"We were just hiding!"
"Yeah, we just wanted to make you notice us."
Rage flared briefly in Andy as she thought of all the upset the girls' prank had caused. "It sent your mother into…" Andy clapped her hand over her mouth, unable to say it. "Your mother's having contractions." She let out, instantly realizing her mistake and that she should have stayed quiet.
"The babies are coming now? Early?"
"B-because of us?" Earnest, repentant, liquid gazes hit her with an intensity of familiar blue and she couldn't totally cause them that pain, or force upon them that responsibility.
"Because of the stress of being very worried and scared, and no, not now. Luckily, they stopped but you have to realize," She stopped rowing. "You have to realize how your actions affect the people around you, and know how much your mother and I love you and how much hurt you are able to cause." She finished, her voice catching as she briskly started to row again.