"Hello beautiful", Jocelyn said in a cheerful and soft voice as she bent down to the little girl's level. She had been asked to look after Miranda and Andrea's six-month-old baby. Andrea was away on assignment for three days so Miranda was home alone with the three children which included six-month-old Sophie.
Andrea had given birth to Sophie six months after returning from Paris. She had been made to go on the trip by Miranda who had demanded her presence instead of Emily's but the reason behind the sudden change was because of the fact that she knew her assistant was pregnant and simply did not want to leave her behind in the States where she would be unable to keep an eye on her or make sure that she was okay.
Nate had left Andrea for Boston two weeks before Andrea found out she was pregnant but when Andrea called her to inform him of the baby, he insisted on an abortion and consequently ended up relinquishing his parental rights later on.
Miranda and Andrea had grown closer over time but after finding out about the younger woman's pregnancy they became even closer. Some thought that Andrea had almost left Miranda in Paris but in reality, she was just trying not to throw up because of the scent of the driver's aftershave. Miranda had followed her as soon as she realised that Andrea was no longer behind her and put her hand on the woman's lower back as she quietly whispered to her. The press wrote about how the assistant attempted to run away and the Editor-in-Chief had forced her to return as she did, in fact, look rather unwell and hesitant as she returned to Miranda's side. Neither of these so-called facts were true though. The truth was that Miranda was comforting her and making sure that she was okay as she was rather concerned when she had noticed that she was not behind her as she had thought she was.
When the two of them returned from Paris, Andrea soon found herself living at the townhouse with Miranda, Cassidy, and Caroline after spending the majority of their Paris trip sharing Miranda's hotel bed. Miranda's suite had two bedrooms and had been booked specifically with the idea of sharing the suite with Andrea. Miranda's 'excuse' was that she needed her assistant nearby but in reality, she had changed the booking arrangements when she swapped assistants. Nobody commented or complained though, especially the two employees that ended up getting their own bedrooms due to the change as they had been meant to share a room for the trip.
Sophie smiled and gurgled excitedly as she saw the woman coming closer to her.
Jocelyn picked her up from the quilted blanket on the floor and cradled her close to her, "Did you have a good sleep?", she questioned the infant.
Sophie gurgled more and gripped the woman's silk blouse with her tiny hand before starting to fuss a little.
The Elias-Clark made her way over to the sofa with her boss' daughter as she picked up the girl's bag on the way. Jocelyn sat down on the sofa with Sophie in her arms, "Are your teeth still hurting you?", she asked despite the fact that the child could not really understand her and nor could she respond to her in a coherent manner.
A tiny hand tugged at the expensive silk material and soon it, along with the material, was in Sophie's mouth as the little one sucked and chewed at her fist. Moments after starting to chew and suck on the material of the silk the little one stopped fussing.
"Guess that's better than all of those teething toys you have then, huh?", Jocelyn said softly with amusement in her voice, the teething toys had not been working previous to the child's ten-minute nap or at least it had not had such a quick and efficient effect on the child's tears.
Sophie gurgled as she suckled more at the silk of the woman's designer blouse rather than her fist.
Jocelyn cringed slightly, "You're lucky I love you", she commented as she noticed the growing wet mark on her blouse, "because that is pretty gross".
The little one just gurgled in response with a section of the teal silk in her mouth.
"Beautiful little Princess", she said softly as she stroked the girl's cheek.
Sophie looked up at her, her brown eyes shining as she looked at Jocelyn and casually chewed on the woman's blouse.
Jocelyn did not seem bothered at all by the fact that her blouse was getting wet which was making her skin wet and nor was she bothered by the fact that her blouse was being completely ruined by the infant's teething gel tainted saliva.
The young woman stood up with Sophie in her arms and picked up the child's bear.
Sophie was much too preoccupied with 'eating' Jocelyn's blouse to pay much attention to the stuffed toy.
Jocelyn held the bear close to the baby and made her way out of the office, deciding to take the little one on a walk around Runway with the infant.
"Oh God!", Emily gasped as the two of them walked out of Miranda's office.
"What?", she questioned, "What's wrong?".
Emily pointed to Sophie, "She... she's ruined your blouse", she said in shock.
"Oh, that?", Jocelyn replied as she looked down at the baby who was rather content now that she had the designer blouse between her gums, "She's fine, she's just teething".
"But... but that's the latest...", Emily didn't get to finish what she was saying as Jocelyn was rolling her eyes.
"She's fine, Emily", Jocelyn insisted as she rolled her eyes whilst cutting off the assistant.
Emily was technically still an assistant but in reality, Miranda was training her up to take over from her when she retired from Runway or 'stepped down' as she much preferred to call it. Miranda had decided that she wanted to spend more time with her family and had realised that she had lost enough time to the magazine so she did not want to miss out on anything else because of her career.
"When my niece was teething she would eat anything and everything", Serena stated with a smile, "I do not think that Sophie cares if it is from the latest collection or not". The woman stepped up and greeted Sophie, stroking her cheek and speaking softly to her. "May I?", she asked as she indicated that she wanted to hold the little one.
"You can try but she is a little cranky with her teething", Jocelyn warned the other woman before handing her over.
Sophie grumbled at the move as she tried to keep a grip on Jocelyn's blouse but it was tugged gently from her grip and from her mouth.
"Hello Querida", the woman said happily as she bounced the child slightly on her hip.
The little one gurgled and grumbled, fussing at the pain in her mouth before moving to do the same with what she had done with Jocelyn by trying to chew on Serena's top.
"No Querida", Serena said softly putting her hand there so that she couldn't chew on her blouse. She started to rock her to calm her.
Sophie began to cry and instantly Jocelyn stepped forward to take her. The young woman took the baby from her without hesitance and cradled her close to her once more. It did not take long for the child to latch back on to the silk material and quieten down again as she sucked at the material near the edge where the buttons were open at the top although away from any actual buttons so there was a very limited risk of choking on a button.
"There there", she said softly as she rocked the little one in her arms.
"I love you Querida but you are not ruining my new blouse", Serena said softly, "I am sorry little Querida".
Sophie gurgled a little but was happily chewing on Jocelyn's blouse as she apparently rather enjoyed the feel of the silk between her sore gums.
"You are crazy", Emily muttered, "That is a thousand dollars worth of blouse and you're letting her use it as a chew toy".
Jocelyn smiled, "It's worth it", the woman said softly as she kissed the top of the infant's head.
"Worth it?", the English woman questioned, "How on Earth could letting her ruin your blouse be worth it? You do know that she has teething toys, right? I should know because Miranda sent me out for a million of the bloody things".
Jocelyn smiled, leaning her head on top of Sophie's, "She's happy, she isn't in as much pain, and I get the best snuggles ever", she explained with a smile, "If I have to pay the cost of a blouse then so be it".
"I agree", came the voice from behind them before they turned to see Miranda standing there, "I have paid that price many times over the past few months". When Sophie was very small she had a habit of drinking the first bottle or session of breastfeeding but then throwing it up before taking the second round, there was nothing wrong with her medically but she apparently never liked the first batch. Another reason that her blouse would become ruined was that the baby would attempt to suckle. Due to the mix of being fed from the bottle and Andrea's breast, the little one would consistently attempt to feed on Miranda too although nothing was achieved from those attempts other than being soothed.
Sophie excitedly gurgled at the sight and sound of her mother, pulling back from the large wet mark on Jocelyn's shirt to put her arms up at her mother.
Miranda stepped forward and took the baby into her arms straight away, "Hello there my beautiful little Princess", she said quietly as the love shone in her eyes for her daughter.
The baby girl snuggled up to her mother and chewed on the lapel of Miranda's blouse.
Emily gasped at the sight of the even more expensive blouse that had now become a chew toy but also that it was the fierce, powerful Editor-in-Chief's blouse that was being drooled over.
Miranda rolled her eyes as she took her daughter into her office, indicating for Jocelyn to follow. The mother quite happily agreed with her younger employee that the cost of the calm snuggles was definitely worth it. A blouse could be replaced but there were only so many opportunities for those precious moments.