So I've been lurking around the fandom for a while, reading everything I could find and throwing my hat in on the community fic posts on Tumblr but I've never had the inspiration to write a full fic until today. I found this prompt on randommirandyfic on tumblr and it sparked a seed in me that just wouldn't let up. This is the beginning, I'm nervous as hell about posting this but I'm just going to take a deep breath and do it and hope I've managed to begin to do it justice. This is my first Mirandy fic and the longest fic I've written in years. Please let me know if you want more, I'm pretty sure I won't be able to follow this one to the end even if no one is interested!

The prompt:

crazybecat said:

Prompt up for grabs: One of the girls falls into an abusive relationship. Miranda suspects something is wrong, and constantly tries to help, as well as always expressing how much she love her Bobbsey, etc. But her baby only continues to drift away. One day at work, she gets a call... from Andrea. Her baby had called Andy, crying, choking, hardly able to speak, and asked for help. Miranda's life is thrown for a loop when her baby is in the hospital, beaten within inches of her life, and may die.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Devil Wears Prada its characters or anything else and I do not make any money from my writing.

Warning: This fic contains reference to domestic violence which could be triggering.

Miranda Priestly had long ago come to terms with the fact her daughters were growing up, they would be sixteen on their next birthday and the changes in them were more apparent every time she blinked, what she perhaps had failed to prepare for was their sudden interest in boys. It wasn't something she was happy about in the slightest. Caroline seemed to still be watching from afar, getting the girly giggles any time her latest crushes name was mentioned, blushing when she talked about him but Cassidy, she had jumped in with both feet, always the less cautious twin, she had had three 'boyfriends' in the last twelve months and they were only the ones deemed important enough to be mentioned to her mother. Miranda knew there was someone new on the scene again, her daughter, youngest by minutes, had received several beautiful bouquets of flowers at the town house and she'd noticed that she had been wearing a rather expensive looking Tiffany bangle the last time she'd been wearing short sleeves. However Miranda was uneasy about this one, her usually bubbly daughter had been withdrawn, she seemed to have no appetite and one day last week she'd come home sporting a bruised cheek bone, she claimed it had been a fall on the ice rink but they was she'd avoided holding her mother's gaze made Miranda question the truth of it. It was just another thing to add to her list of worries this month.

Things at Runway weren't going as she would hope at this time of the month. The next issue should have been pretty much wrapped up but a number of cancelations and stroppy models meant that they were behind and it would not do. In order to try and fix the mess Miranda was working her staff, and herself, harder than usual. It wasn't strange for at least herself, Nigel and Emily to still be at the office at midnight and she was beginning to get uneasy about the effect that was having at home. She didn't directly talk about the events that had lead to her changing her habits, making sure she was spending more time with the girls, but it had been three years since she had missed so many dinners, so many movie nights. That night was no different, it was almost half twelve when she pushed her exhausted body through the door of the townhouse. It was too late and she was so exhausted that food didn't seem to be at all important, so she simply shrugged out of her coat before heading up stairs. She would stick her head in to check in on the girls then she would get herself to bed.

She smiled when she stuck her head around Caroline's door and her daughter had fallen asleep in her book, the duvet tossed carelessly across her feet but covering nothing else. Gently slipping the book from her daughters grasp, she folded the page before putting it on the bedside table and pulled the duvet up over her. Bending down she pressed a kiss to the girls forehead, backed out of the room and flicked of the light. Cassidy's room was in darkness but Miranda stopped in the doorway for a few minutes, if she hadn't she'd have missed the sniff and then the choked sob. Slipping her shoes off at the door she padded into the room and sat carefully on the edge of her girls bed.

"Cassidy darling are you ok?" she asked, brushing her fingers through fiery locks,

"I'm fine mom." Cassidy sniffed, but it was obvious from the huskiness of her voice that she had been crying for a while, "Did you just get home?"

"Yes." Miranda sighed, "I'm sorry, I know we were going to watch the new Hunger Games tonight."

"It's ok mom, we understand." Cassidy had rolled onto her side so she was almost spooned around her mother and was leaning into the hand in her hair, it felt like years since she'd had one of the girls seek out comfort from her, usually they shied away from her goodnight kisses claiming they were too old, "I'm glad you're home though."

"As am I Bobbsey. Are you really sure you are ok? You know you can always talk to me about anything."

"I'm ok mom, promise." Miranda wasn't in the least bit convinced, "Could you stay till I fall asleep?"

"Of course Bobbsey, move over." Miranda soothed, shrugging out of her blazer before she slipped in beside her daughter, pulling her close to her and stroking her fingers through her hair, "I love you darling."

"Mom, I'm worried about Cass." Caroline said one night over dinner a few weeks later, Cassidy was out with her boyfriend and it was just the two of them, they were planning a light dinner and then a classic film that Cassidy would have complained about, Caroline had been pushing her food around her plate for the last few minutes and her eyes looked guilty, like she thought she was betraying her twin,

"Is she in trouble Caroline?" Miranda put down her fork and gave her daughter her full attention, things had been strained around the townhouse for the last few days, Cassidy had been more withdrawn than usual, snapping at her sister every time they spoke, she'd even snapped at Miranda a few times when she'd asked how school was going or tried to give her a hug, "If she is you need to tell me so we can help her."

"It's her new boyfriend, he's a total jerk."

"You know I'm going to need more than that,"

"He comes across as all nice and buys her nice things but I've heard him say some really mean stuff to her about her weight and things and I think that time she said she'd fallen over ice skating, mom I think that was him."

"Ok Bobbsey." Miranda said on a deep breath, she'd known something was going on but she'd not had the proof she needed, Caroline had given her something to work with, all be it second hand. What was the point in being Miranda Priestly if she couldn't protect her own daughter? "Thank you for telling me. I'll talk to Cassidy ok. Try not to worry too much. I'll fix it."

Miranda was sitting in a Board meeting a month later, barely listening to Irv's latest complaining when she noticed her latest useless second assistant edging into the room, the girl had obviously had a minor brain episode if she thought that interrupting Miranda at this point was a good idea. She glared as she watched the stupid girl approach and turned the ice up a notch when the girl bent down to talk in her ear. She was glad of the ice when the words being spoken to her registered, the ice allowed her true feeling not to register on her face as she pushed away from the table, muttered 'excuse me' and made for the door. There had been a call, Cassidy was in the hospital, it was bad, she needed to be there. As she slipped into the back of the waiting car her assistant pushed a slip of paper into her hand,

"They said to call when you were on your way so they could fill you in." She said before she closed the door and tapped the roof so that Roy knew to drive on. Raising the privacy screen she dialled the number with shaking hands,

"Miranda?" the voice at the other end of the line was another kick in the gut and Miranda almost thought she was hallucinating, "Miranda is that you?"

"Andrea why has my incompetent assistant given me your number?"

"I asked her to Miranda. Please Miranda I need you to listen to me." Andrea's voice was horse and Miranda hated the concern that triggered in her, it had been three years since this woman had walked away from her and she wasn't prepared for the fact that just her voice could still trigger a reaction in her, she should be thinking about Cassidy.

"I'm listening."

"I'm with Cassidy at Presbitarian, she's been beaten up pretty badly Miranda, I need you to prepare for what you're going to see when you get here, it's not pretty."

"Who?" she ground out, her fist tightening in her lap, she knew who really, she'd known all along and she hadn't done anything about it.

"Mark Dyer, the new boyfriend." Andrea sighed,

"Where is he?" she'd kill him

"The Police are looking for him, they managed to get a description out of Cass before they put her in the Ambulance, she lost consciousness on the way to the hospital."

"Good. Andrea where is my daughter now?"

"The Doctor is checking her over."

"Andrea I'm on my way, please make sure my baby isn't on her own."

When she arrived at the hospital Miranda was pleased that the press obviously hadn't caught wind of anything yet and it seemed that Andrea had the wheels as it where because she didn't even have to say her name when she stepped up to the reception desk and was immediately led to a room. Although Andrea had tried to prepare her for what was to come nothing could have gotten her ready to see her little girl like this. Cassidy's face was so bruised and swollen that it was hard to see that it was Cassidy at all. There was an oxygen tube in her nose and the steady beep told Miranda she was on a heart monitor. As per her request Andrea was sat at the bedside, one of Cassidy's hands held in both of her own as she whispered to her.

"Andrea?" the brunettes head whipped round at the voice behind her and Miranda couldn't ignore the cleat evidence that she had been crying.

"Miranda, I." Andrea stuttered, pushing herself up and away from the bed, "The doctor says she'd stable but she's not woken up since they brought her in, they think it's her brains way of giving her a chance to recover. I'll be going now you're here."

"How did you know she was hurt?" Miranda had been trying to work that out all of the way here, she hadn't seen Andrea since she left in Paris, there would be no reason for her to be anywhere near anywhere her girls would frequent. She was still blocking the door and Andrea's exit.

"She called me, she was really upset, wanted me to come and get her, bring her home."Andrea fidgeted where she stood unable to look at the older woman, she still wasn't immune to her despite the time that had passed and seeing Miranda looking so worried tugged at her heart, "We kept in touch, me and the girls, after Paris I mean, they'd come down to see me when I dropped off the book some times when you were out at a function and I gave them my email. I hadn't heard from Cass for a few months though, Caroline said she had a new boyfriend."

"She's been pulling away from us all since she met him, I had my suspicions that there was something going on but when I asked her about it she told me she was fine, she said she was happy. I should have pushed harder, maybe then this wouldn't have happened." Andrea didn't let the surprise at this more open Miranda show on her face, pulling on her jacket instead, the older woman still made her feel off balance,

"Miranda you can't blame yourself. Just, make sure she knows you don't blame her, make sure she knows she is loved, she's going to need that. You have my number, call me if you need anything at all." She offered, not in a million years expecting to hear from Miranda again, she'd be surprised if she heard from the girls again too. "Goodbye Miranda."

"Andrea." Miranda stopped her before she could make it through the door, it was too painful to watch the younger woman walk away again and she clenched her fists to stop herself reaching out. "Thank you and I will be in touch."