Miranda was in a meeting with the board of Elias-Clark when Andrea's cell phone began to ring. Emily glanced up discreetly but took very little notice as she continued to type out a financial report that needed to be finished that day. Andrea answered it with a bright smile and a happy hello.
"Andy?", the voice replied with a slight hint of panic in their voice.
"Cass?", the young woman questioned with a slight frown, "What's wrong?"
"Dad was supposed to pick us up from school", Cass said softly, "But he never came".
"Where are you now?", Andrea asked her straight away as she held her phone against her ear with her shoulder and opened the cupboard door to grab hold of her coat.
"We're still at school", Cass replied, "We're in Mrs Jones' office".
Knowing that the girls were both in their principal's office made Andrea feel a lot more relaxed rather than the idea of them being out on the street on their own, "Okay", Andrea said calmly, "Wait there and I'll be there soon".
"But Andy", Cass said softly, "Dad said he would take us to see Santa after school".
"Then I'll take you", Andrea replied simply as she scribbled a note and threw it in Emily's direction as she rushed towards the elevator in order to get to the twins as soon as possible.
(Give this note to M immediately)
Miranda,
I've gone to collect the girls, ther dad didn't turn up. Also, he promised them Santa so I will take them to the grotto before I take them to yours. Don't worry, I'll look after them until you finish work.
Andrea.
Emily groaned slightly knowing that she would have to interrupt the meeting to hand the note to the woman but, on the other hand, she was glad that she had that duty rather than collecting the girls as she did not get on with them as well as what Andrea did.
Andrea used her work cell phone in order to text Roy so that she wouldn't have to put her personal cell down as she wanted to stay on the line with Cassidy throughout the journey. It only took a couple of floors before she got a response from Roy saying that he was outside and she was quite impressed, although it meant that he had been rather close by.
Meanwhile, in the meeting, Miranda was sat rather bored whilst they went over plans that she had already decided upon. "Come in", she softly spoke when a surprise knock came through the door.
Emily cautiously opened the door and stepped inside, speaking quietly to Miranda, "Sorry to interrupt Miranda but I have this for you", she said as she placed the folded piece of paper in front of her.
Miranda nodded, dismissing Emily as she unfolded the note. A small smile crept onto her face as she read the familiar handwriting. It put her at ease knowing that her two six-year-old's were safe with her assistant rather than with their unreliable father. She was, however, rather annoyed at the fact that yet again he had failed to collect them when he was due to. It was, unfortunately for him, his last strike which meant that access would be stopped unless the girls specifically requested to see him. She knew though that the request would be one that would not come as they never did ask to see him as they had, unfortunately, gotten used to disappointment when it came to that particular moronic ape.
It did not take long for Andrea to arrive at the girls' school after she had gotten their phone call, she had told Roy what happened whilst holding the phone against her to prevent the girls from hearing her frustration surrounding their idiotic father and straight away Roy had done everything he could to get to the school as quickly as he possibly could do.
"Andy!", both girls called out as she entered the head teacher's office, although Caroline seemed to be a little less enthusiastic than what Cassidy was. The older of the two by only seven minutes appeared to be a lot more upset by the incident than what her twin was. Cassidy was just more excited to see their mother's assistant so that excitement overtook the disappointment that she had previously felt at her father not turning up to collect them from school or take them to Santa.
Andrea smiled brightly as she wrapped her arms around Cassidy and tugged Caroline into the embrace as she knelt down to be closer to their height.
Mrs Jones smiled softly as she watched the scene, she rather liked watching the young woman interact with the two girls as it was clear that they meant a lot to her and that she, in turn, meant a lot to them too. She would have asked Andrea out on a date months previously, however, the moment she had seen her with Miranda, she knew that she did not stand a chance.
"I'm so sorry Mrs Jones", Andrea said softly, "Thank you for looking out for them for me".
"No need to apologise", the woman replied with a smile, "I know that it wasn't your fault and both of the girls have been very well behaved".
The dark-haired assistant smiled softly and held both of twins close to her, "Are you both ready to go?", she asked them calmly as she looked down at them.
Caroline hesitated for a moment, "Can we really go to see Santa today?", she asked quietly.
Andrea nodded with a bright and happy smile, "Of course we can", she confirmed enthusiastically.
Both of the girls were suddenly smiling happily and were excitedly tugging her towards the exit of their principal's office, "Come on!", they were saying whilst bouncing slightly as they tried to leave.
Mrs Jones smiled, "Goodbye Girls, I shall see you after the Christmas holiday", she said politely, "I hope you enjoy your time off but don't forget your holiday project is due in January".
"Yes, Mrs Jones", both replied before Andrea was pulled out of the office and out towards the waiting town car.
Roy was waiting by the side of the car and opened the back passenger seat car door for them as soon as he saw them approaching him. He could not help but smile as he saw their excitement and how much Andrea was smiling despite being tugged along. It was clear that the woman was enjoying being pulled along by the two girls.
"Santa please, Roy", Cassidy said with excitement as she almost bounced her way over to the town car.
Roy nodded, "Of course", he replied although he already knew exactly where he needed to take them to.
Caroline and Cassidy climbed into the car although there was a slight change of positions when Andrea got in as the children decided that they wanted to be seated either side of their mother's assistant.
Their bond had started soon after the stairs prank when Andrea had not only refused to grass them up but had also took the time to sit down with them and discuss the matter. It turned out that they simply wanted to protect their mother and had no way of doing it other than to send Andrea up there so that she would interrupt their arguing. Andrea had got to the top of the stairs just as Stephen had leaned into Miranda and grabbed hold of her.
It took only seconds for the woman to storm over to them and rip the man from Miranda's side before throwing him out to 'take a walk'. That night Andrea gave both girls her number and sat down with them for a while to talk whilst Miranda was on the phone giving orders to Emily. The following morning the locks were changed and Stephen had been evicted from the townhouse.
Despite Miranda's insistence for Andrea to tell her why she went up the stairs, Andrea continued with the same reply, which was 'the book'. Miranda knew her girls had something to do with it and yet the younger woman refused to throw them under the bus, instead opting to take the punishment of finding the Harry Potter manuscript.
Since that night, both of the girls had been at the bottom of the stairs most nights in order to talk to the assistant and they had contacted her many times using their shared cell phone in order to message her. Gradually, the amount of times they requested Andrea's presence increased and she was being called to the townhouse for many random events. Sometimes it was as simple as helping them with their homework and other times it was things like a movie night or pizza night but there were also other things such as class trips where they needed a chaperone to attend. Andrea found herself becoming more and more involved in the school, until she was the only assistant that was on the PTA at the school. She was willing to help with anything that the girls needed and had even volunteered to be dunked as part of a school fundraiser.
They spent the car ride leaning into Andrea's sides as they spoke about their last day of term, it turned out that they had not done any actual lessons but instead they had spent the day playing games and doing christmas themed activities.
Andrea listened happily to them both and quickly sent Miranda a text to let her know that she had safely collected both of the girls and that they were on their way to the grotto in order for the girls to visit 'Santa'. She also snapped a photo of the girls and sent that to the woman.
Once they had gotten out of the car, they made their way to the ticket booth in order to collect their passes which she had ordered on her cell phone on her way to go and collect the girls from school.
When they approached the booth there was a man dressed as in an elf costume, his jacket was brown and he had a matching hat with white fur trim around both whilst his ears were pointed, despite being made of felt and attached to the sides of the hat, "Welcome to Santa's Grotto!", he announced happily as they approached him, "Would you like to buy some tickets?".
Andrea tried her best not to laugh as she replied to him, "No, thanks, I ordered them and just have to collect them".
"What is your magical ticket order number?", the 'elf' questioned.
Andrea opened up her cell phone and read the number on screen out to him, "90-80-77".
The 'elf' dramatically typed in the numbers and then pulled the tickets out from beneath the counter for the grotto and then handed them to the dark-haired woman, "Here you go! Have a great time and don't forget to tell Santa what you want for Christmas!".
Both girls opted to observe the strange man and to stand slightly behind their mother's assistant where they would be protected from whatever danger he may or may not pose to them.
"Thank you", Andrea said with a smile as she ushered the children away from the ticket office and towards the huge cabin that hosted the Santa's Grotto experience.
Cassidy and Caroline both looked in awe of the cabin as they looked at all of the lights that decorated it, the light up reindeer that were scattered around the area, and the sound of the Christmas music that was playing from the speakers that had been placed in the tops of the trees. It had been decorated to make it look like a winter wonderland and nearby was an outdoor ice rink with what appeared to be plastic seals that children could push around on the ice if they needed an added bit of help.
Andrea smiled happily as she watched the amazement on the children's faces, "How about we get a photo of you both in front of the grotto for your mom?", the woman suggested.
The girls smiled brightly and nodded running over to where the woman had indicated to.
"That's great girls", Andrea said softly, "Smile".
"No, Andy", Caroline said shaking her head, "You have to be in the photo too".
"Yeah, Andy", Cassidy said with a matching pout.
"Okay", the woman agreed, "I'll get in the next photo".
They looked at each other and appeared to be silently communicating before they nodded at each other and smiled, turning to Andrea, "Okay", Caroline agreed for the both of them.
Andrea took the photo of both of the girls in front of the cabin and then the girls started bouncing, "And now you too", Cassidy insisted.
"Would you like me to take the photo?", a helpful elf asked dressed in a brown coat trimmed with white fur and a matching hat just like the one from the ticket booth had been wearing.
"Yes, please?", Caroline asked politely.
Andy handed over her phone to the female elf and moved to pose beside the girls in front of the grotto.
"Smile!", the elf shouted out happily before snapping a few different photos from a few different angles.
"Thank you", Andrea said softly to the woman once she had finished and handed the phone back to her.
Once the elf had gone back to entertaining the other passers-by, Andrea started to send a message to Miranda.
"What are you doing?", Caroline asked her as she tried to look over her shoulder.
"Sending your photo to your mother", Andrea explained with a smile.
"Both photos?", Cassidy asked her.
"Just the one of you both", the woman said softly.
"Why not both?", Caroline questioned.
Andrea smiled, "She doesn't need a photo of me".
"Yes she does", the little girl replied with a slight roll of her eyes.