M'Kay, don't own it, wish I did, but I don't.
This came from an order by gloriously tabu on the J/7 Mirandy forum (Somehow that sounds like an oxymoron) for me to write Mirandy. So I did. Yeah. That's all.
(A/N: The first "part" is set shortly before Paris so Emily is still first assistant and Andy second, and the second "part" is set six months after Andy leaves Miranda in Paris. The third "part" is just set in the future, anytime after the second "part" works. "Parts" are separated by the horizontal rulers.)
(P.S. This had no beta, so if you think it sucks, that's why...)
Must I Spell It Out For You?
Andy sighed for the hundredth time that morning. She tapped her pen even harder against her notebook, hoping the increased noise would send some sort of inspired spark to her mind. Across the office, Emily glared at her with her pathetic facsimile of Miranda's patented "Stare of Death."
"Don't you have something better to do than annoy all of us into insanity?" snapped Emily as she forcefully slapped a post-it onto a calendar.
Andy's head shot up along with an expression of bewilderment. She caught the glare and gave a sheepish grin, "Sorry Em, I'm just trying to figure something out. I didn't realize the tapping was annoying."
Emily sniffed haughtily, "Of course you didn't, because Miranda's favorite is so much better than all of us, right?"
Andy sighed, Emily had been a little sore after a thorough chewing out from Miranda on the lack of competence coming from her first assistant. And if the tongue lashing hadn't been enough, fuel was added to the fire when Miranda had outright suggested that if Emily didn't step up to her duties that she would promptly promote Andy into her place.
"Whatever Em," Andy said, "Did you get the Valentino shoot settled?"
Emily nodded an affirmative and hurried to snatch up the now ringing phone. Andy refocused her attention onto her notebook. The small list on the page had kept her up more hours than she wanted to admit.
Ten items, all gifts, had filtered through her mind throughout the week. Two dresses, two gowns, one mini skirt, one ring, one pair of shoes, one purse, one set of sunglasses, and one travel trunk, all bearing names like Louis Vuitton, Elie Saab, Valentino, Mark Jacobs, Prada, Yves Saint Laurent, Undercover, Imitation of Christ, and Oscar de la Renta.
As she once again tried to make sense of who had sent them and their importance, she almost missed her name being called from within the Dragon's Lair. She started at the sound and scurried over, pen and notebook poised for notes. But Miranda did not begin to rattle off instructions for the rest of the day. She considered Andy from behind her desk for a moment, the action causing the young assistant to squirm under the intense gaze. One eyebrow arched as she noticed the fidgeting hands.
"Andrea."
Andy's eyes shot up as she quickly answered, "Yes Miranda?"
Miranda leaned back casually into her chair, the light catching the crystal pendant around her neck. Andy remembered that pendant, remembered running to twelve different stores to find a stone that matched the blue of Miranda's eyes perfectly.
As she watched the beams flicker and waver in the light, she was enormously grateful she had gone to the trouble of finding one. The pendant made Miranda's eyes glow in the light, a sight Andy was sure she would never forget. Or want to forget for that matter. Andy would do just about anything to see something of the hidden Miranda that she, if she were honest with herself, kinda had a crush on.
Her gaze left the pedant to travel upwards and find a smirk planted firmly on Miranda's face. She blushed and panicked as she realized she had missed whatever is was her boss had said. As she floundered to recover, Miranda raised one perfectly manicured hand to forestall Andy's rambling. Andy immediately snapped her mouth shut to listen to Miranda.
"I said, An-dray-a, what exactly it is that has you so unfocused on your work?"
Andy felt the indignance rise up in her. How dare Miranda say she wasn't focused on her duties? If nothing else, she had been even more attentive since the proclamation she could deliver the Book. Today was the first day all week she had been able to even sit down at her desk for more than five minutes at a time. Of all the... She opened her mouth to spit out some scathing remark but caught the smile twinkling in Miranda's eyes. She blinked at the sight and was surprisingly warmed by the privilege of seeing Miranda like this.
"I keep getting gifts," she replied, her mouth moving of its own accord, "Really nice gifts. But they don't have a card with them." Andy thought for a moment, "Except for the last one. But all it said was that I would know when to use each gift. And I don't know who would get me something so nice."
Miranda rested her chin on her hands as she leaned onto her desk, "What did you receive?"
Andy whipped her head up to stare at Miranda in shock.
Miranda smirked again, "Well, Andrea, it would be nice to know what exactly has been snuck into my office." Her smirk turned into a predatory smile, "And I would like to meet the person who would face my wrath just to deliver an anonymous gift to you of all people."
As much as she was affronted by Miranda's insult, she took the moment to realize how serious the gifts had been. Since one out of the two of them were always in the office to man the telephones, there was no way that someone had placed them on her desk while the office was open. Whoever had given them to her had either broken into the office or had somehow convinced Emily to let them in. And Emily would rather wear spandex than help anyone fawn over Andy. Her gift giver was either facing criminal charges or had a key. Since Emily was the last person to fall for Andy and Miranda had shown time and time again, to Andy's intense regret, that she could care less about her second assistant, her secret admirer was in some deep shit.
She snapped back into reality and quickly handed Miranda the list of items she had received. Miranda quickly scrolled down the list, pausing at some of the nicer gifts. She handed the list back to Andy with a enigmatic look on her face.
"I'm sure you'll figure it out. A smart girl like you?"
Andy thrummed with hope, maybe Miranda knew who her admirer was!
But Miranda sneered at her, "Wipe that smug look off your face. Did you expect for me to spell this out for you as well? I expect for you to never mention this pitiful incident again and return to the work which I pay you to do. That's all."
As Andy walked back to her desk she decided to just accept the gifts and shut down all thoughts of finding their sender. She and Emily had too much to do with the final plans for Paris.
It was seven months after receiving the last gift that Andy found the list again, tucked away in her trusty notebook, one of the only reminders of her time at Runway besides the few pieces of clothing she had kept.
As she pulled the notebook from behind her couch she had to wonder how it had gotten there. She thought about it, a blush forming when she realized that it had been the night of her breaking point, the night she nearly tore her apartment in frustration.
She looked down at the list again, plopping herself onto the couch. Her eyes traveled over the familiar words.
Oscar de la Renta Gown (Cerulean)
Louis Vuitton Travel Trunk (circa 1900!!)
Imitation of Christ Dress (Secret Wish)
Valentino Gown (Red)
Yves Saint Laurent Sunglasses (Gift to the Closet)
Elie Saab Dress (Little Black Dress)
Oliver Pasetto Ring (Platinum)
Undercover Mini Skirt (Edgy piece)
Marc Jacobs Shoes (Match the skirt)
Prada Purse (Given to the Twins)
She had found something significant in all of the presents. Each had been beautiful and extremely personal. The first gift had come only a day after voicing an opinion how nice the dress had looked, and the second came after mentioning to Emily how she had no nice luggage. The others had all followed after mentioning a small want or need.
She kept all of the gifts tucked safely in her closet when not in use and, before her breakdown, had kept the list of the presents with them. But now as she looked over the list once again her eyes caught on the Oscar de la Renta Gown. Her brow furrowed, that present had not been first, the IoC Dress had been the first gift to appear on her desk.
She quickly found a pen and corrected the order. But as she did a once over, something still didn't seem right. Ah, there! The sunglasses had come after the Elie Saab! She switched the two and once again looked at the list.
IoC Dress
Louis Vuitton Travel Trunk (circa 1900!!)
Oscar de la Renta Gown
Valentino Gown (Red)
Elie Saab Dress
Yves Saint Laurent Sunglasses
Oliver Pasetto Ring (Platinum)
Undercover Mini Skirt (Edgy piece)
Marc Jacobs Shoes (Match the skirt)
Prada Purse (Given to the Twins)
Even now, all this time later, she had never discovered who had sent her all the elegant gifts. In a way, she had wanted to know who it was and say thank you. Feeling nostalgic, she walked through her almost empty apartment into her bedroom.
As she opened the closet, she made a note to mark the boxes her clothes would go into as 'fragile'. She was moving out of her apartment tomorrow, and she had yet to clear out the closet.
As she sifted through the few pieces she hadn't already moved she stumbled across her old blue sweater. No, she corrected herself with a smile, cerulean.
She pulled the sweater out to take a better look and found the matching cerulean gown hanging behind it. As her eyes drifted over the flowing material of the gown a voice from a memory drifted through her head.
"...In 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns, and then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent — wasn't it? — who showed cerulean military jackets and then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. And then it filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner, where you no doubt fished it out of some clearance bin..."
The voice of her former boss, even six months after having left her and Runway in Paris, was still enough to stop Andy in her tracks. The Oscar de la Renta gown, how hadn't she see it?
She flew into the living room and snatched up her notebook, frantically flipping to the list. The IoC dress, she had told Miranda her opinion on the dress after Miranda herself asked about it. And not two weeks after receiving the travel trunk had she used it in Paris, after Miranda promoted her. The Oscar de la Renta gown had come after she had worn one of the Yves Saint Laurent military jackets as a "vintage" piece and had gotten an appreciative look from Miranda, who had said she looked good in cerulean. The other pieces had arrived after similar situations with Miranda, every gift having arrived a day after talking to her.
How could she have been so stupid? Everything had been there! All the questions, all the talks, all the looks, everything had pointed to Miranda the entire time and she hadn't even entertained the idea that Miranda was the gift giver.
Sitting heavily on the couch, Andy sat in dumb shock as the realization that she had wasted so much time agonizing over Miranda came crashing over her. If she had just asked, just made one step in the right direction, than all these months of pain over leaving wouldn't have been necessary.
Andy sat on her couch, notebook in hand, staring blankly at the wall as a visitor opened the apartment. They softly closed the door behind them and slowly walked over to sit next to Andy. A hand came up to softly rest on Andy's shoulder, snapping her out of her reverie.
She turned to her guest and gave a small smile, "Hey."
Her guest smiled back and gestured at the notebook, "What's that?"
Andy looked down at the list, "It's from Runway." She looked up and gave a pained smile, "A lot of memories."
The smile faded off her guest and they leaned over to glance at the list, "Don't you keep all those things in the closet?"
Andy nodded, "I try to keep them safe. They mean a lot to me."
Her guest looked surprised, "Really?"
Andy nodded, "They hold a lot of memories for me. And not all of them are bad. Just bittersweet." She glanced down, "But I never knew why they were sent to me."
Her guest smiled and covered up all of the page except for the first letters of the gifts, "I think they wanted to spell something out for you."
As Andy looked down at the uncovered letters, she finally found what the hidden message had been.
I
L
O
V
E
Y
O
U
M
P
She looked up at her guest as they kissed her tenderly on the forehead.
"Don't dawdle too long, the girls are waiting for you at home." Blue eyes stared at the notebook, "By the way, where did you find that? I thought I tore it from your hands when I came over that first night."
Andy grinned, "As I recall, you were in no position to tear anything away from me. Or was the moaning just a show?"
She watched as a blush crept onto her lovers face and they shot back, "Details."
They rose and made their way to the door. Pausing in the doorway, they turned around and whispered in a tender voice, "An-dray-a darling, I tried to tell you." A sly grin split Miranda's face, "Or must I spell it out for you?"
Many years later, while cleaning their mother's extensive closet, Caroline and Cassidy found a trunk filled with vintage designer clothing. The trunk was certainly old, possibly an antique, but they wondered why their mom's old Runway notebook was framed and open to a page with a list of the contents of the trunk.
Imitation of Christ Dress
Louis Vuitton Travel Trunk
Oscar de la Renta Gown
Valentino Gown
Elie Saab Dress
Yves Saint Laurent Sunglasses
Oliver Pasetto Ring
Undercover Mini Skirt
Marc Jacobs Shoes
Prada Purse
And a newer entry:
Tiffany Eternity Diamond Ring