prompt from Crazybecat on tumblr: "Our lovely ladies are 'reunited' at a ComCon. Miranda was dragged by her daughters. Andrea went with her brother. Have fun! Imagine the fun choices for cosplay! Perhaps M thinks A and her bro r a couple... so many choices!" enjoy.
Of all the things the twins had gotten into over the years, comics would have been her last guess on the day they were born. But through whatever means, by friend or by the influence of the internet, they had. They were so into it that they had begged, begged Miranda to let them go to San Diego Comic Con. Miranda had considered, but there was a string of important meetings already set for those dates, and Miranda wasn't going to let her girls go across the country without her. Her assistants, once told of this dilemma, had immediately obtained her tickets to New York City Comic Con, not nearly as large or as glamorous, or so her research had told her, but a fair compromised she had hoped.
Which was how she found herself standing in the middle of a rather large convention center, dressed in a flowing black dress and cape, complete with black wig and dramatic hair piece. The twins had also somehow convinced her that dressing up, or cosplaying as they had told her it was called, was an absolute must. Miranda had indulged them, but only because they had already had the pieces picked out that she would need, designer of course. They had said she would need to do nothing more than be herself in the costume and she would pull off the Evil Queen easily enough. Miranda had just snorted at that and rolled her eyes. The evil queen, that was nothing new.
Currently Miranda was being pulled around to different booths by the twins, dressed up as tiny versions of Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy. She was quite proud of the girls, they had made the costumes themselves with only a bit of help and advice from Miranda herself after a few initial sewing lessons. Being in fashion apparently came in handy in the cosplaying business. Miranda was just glad she could help her girls do something they enjoy.
"Oh my god, Mom, look," Cassidy said, pointing with her rather large foam hammer at a booth. "That's the Once Upon a Time booth! That's where the Evil Queen is from."
"Is that a comic as well?" She asked, looking down at Cassidy. She looked rather different covered in white makeup and a facemask.
"No, Mom," Caroline said patiently. "You know that show we watch on Sundays? Once is that show."
Miranda titled her head back slightly, acknowledging that she did know what the girls were talking about. She rarely actually watched the show with them. Usually at that time on Sundays she was catching up with work she had put off for the weekend so she could spend time with the girls.
"I see." Now that she looked she was quite sure she saw a picture of a woman in much the same outfit as she was hanging behind the booth. The woman did look familiar from the few times she did catch the show. But Miranda had thought the woman was one of the supposed good guys. She would ask the girls, but knew she'd get a two hour long run down if it was anything like their comic.
"Would you like to go over?" She asked them instead.
The twins looked at each other and shrugged. They weren't quite as obsessed with the TV show as they were their comics, but they were there with plenty of time before one of the panels they wanted to go to. They turned back to her and nodded before rocketing off. Miranda sighed and followed at a more sedate pace. The dress was stylish of course, but not exactly practical to move around in.
She caught up with the girls at the table. They were going through the various merchandise and excitedly babbling over what they had found. Miranda just stood back and let them do what they wanted. The only place she wanted to stop was the Doctor Who table, but that was going to be implanted into the twins' minds as their own idea. They didn't know that Miranda had watched Doctor Who as a girl in the East End of London and had enjoyed it greatly. No one did. No one knew that she was slowly watching the reboot an episode at a time after especially hard days. And no one would or someone would get more than beheaded.
"Mom," Caroline's voice brought her back to herself.
Miranda looked down at her own little Poison Ivy. "Yes, Bobbsey?"
She shoved a few boxes into Miranda's hands. "These are what we want."
Miranda nodded and walked to the register at the end of the table and handed over the items along with her black American Express card with a bored expression. The girl behind the counter eyes widened at the card but said nothing. Miranda was used to the reaction by now. Everyone thought the black cards were myths until they saw them.
She was handed back the bag of things and her card and turned back to the girls. She held out their bag. She may have bought it, but that didn't mean she was carrying it the whole day. She had to draw lines somewhere.
"Anywhere else you'd like to do, maybe Doctor Who?" Miranda's face remained blank even though she was at least a touch excited.
"Oh yeah, cool, why not?" Cassidy said. She took out her map and looked for the booth for Doctor Who on it.
"Miranda?" A familiar voice said from nearby.
Miranda looked up at a girl in front of her. She was wearing a blonde wig, a hideous red pleather jacket, a white tank top, boots, and painted on skinny jeans. Miranda glanced over at the pictures pasted around the Once booth. The girl was dressed as the heroine of the show. There was something familiar about her, though.
"Andrea?" She scowled. The costume was throwing her off, but she would swear it was her former assistant, the only one she bothered to remember after they had left her sphere of influence.
A smile broke out over the younger woman's face. "Wow, I almost didn't recognize you. That's a great costume, by the way. Regina's my favorite character, but I really only had the wardrobe for Emma."
Miranda swallowed, her heart beat had sped up and her palms were starting to sweat. Except she was Miranda Priestly and she did not get nervous or embarrassed or whatever this feeling was that was building within her. And she certainly didn't do it for assistants former or otherwise, no matter if their skinny jeans were practically painted on. The girl had still stayed slim, but she filled out those jeans very, very well.
But that wasn't the point.
"Yes, well, it was the twins' idea. I've only watched the show in passing a few nights when work was light. I think they might have found it amusing to dress me as the Evil Queen." She shot a fond smile at her daughters who were standing a bit off to the side looking between the two women with strange expressions on their faces.
"Uh, maybe?" Cassidy said, and Miranda was sure if the girl's face wasn't painted in bright white makeup she would be blushing.
"Oh, hey, your costumes are great too," Andrea said looking the twins over. "Poison Ivy and Harley are a good pick for you two, especially with the red hair."
"Thanks," both of the girls said at the same time.
"Uh, Mom, can we go check out that table over there?" Caroline pointed to a table that looked like it was for some up and coming movie that Miranda had only vaguely heard of. It was in sight distance at least and she had a feeling the twins wanted to be anywhere but beside her at the moment. She didn't want to be beside herself at the moment either.
"As long as you stay within sight, yes."
They both shouted their assurances over their shoulders as they took off.
"Still don't like assistants any more than they did three years ago?" Andrea asked.
Miranda hummed noncommittally. "What brings you here, Andrea? I never pegged you as the comic type."
Andrea shrugged. "I'm not really, but anymore these things have just about every TV show known to man, movies, and a fair amount of books too. It's a good place to see any and all forms of media anymore and as a writer that's always fun, you know? But it wasn't really my idea to come anyway it was—"
"Andy!" A yell came from a young man, maybe a year or two younger than Andrea herself and painted a ridiculous shade of cobalt with a tail dragging behind him. He jogged up behind Andy and threw his arm around Andrea's shoulders. "Sorry, I lost you there for a second, but did you see those people? It was too awesome not to take a picture with them." He smiled down and Andrea who rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, yeah, with you they had the whole X-men team, tone it down there Nightcrawler." She laughed at him.
He finally noticed Miranda's presence. "Oh, hey, that's a great costume. How long did it take you to make it?"
Andrea bumped him gently. Miranda's eyes narrowed. She did not like this man touching Andrea. She did not like the casual interaction they were having. She hated this entire situation. Well, perhaps not the entire situation. Andrea was a welcome sight again, even if all of feelings she was setting off were not welcome.
She opened her mouth to launch a scathing comment at the boy in front of her. He was far too immature for Andrea. He wasn't worthy of the beautiful woman that Andrea had blossomed into. She had kept tabs on Andrea's writing career for the past three years and had seen her writing transform from good to great and beyond. It only made sense that the woman had grown with her writing and that meant that this…imbecile beside her wasn't worthy.
"Miranda, this goob is my younger brother Jason. He's the reason I'm here actually. He said I lived in New York therefore I had to go to the comic con here at least once." Andrea shrugged.
Immediately Miranda relaxed. Oh, her brother. Oh. She had just been so very angry at Andrea's brother. And for what reason? Why had she reacted that way? Miranda never reacted in such a possessive, jealous way. Jealous, oh god, that's what she had been, jealous. Couple that with the increased heart rate and sweaty palms and what the hell had she gotten herself into. When had she inadvertently fallen for her former assistant?
"It's lovely to meet you." She smiled at him, the strained, fakely polite smile she gave to everyone but the girls.
"Miranda was my boss a few years back when I first came to New York," Andrea filled in for her brother.
"Wait you mean the one you ha—"
"Yes, that one, Josh." Miranda didn't miss the elbow that found its way into Josh's ribs.
"Funny how she dressed up as the Evil Queen then, isn't it?" He waggled his eyebrows at Andrea.
Miranda was certain that she had no idea what was going on in front of her. She had a feeling that this was something the girls would know more about since he seemed to be making an allusion to how both she and Andrea were dressed, but they were currently talking animatedly to one of the persons running the booth they had shot off to.
"Ow, that was uncalled for." Josh rubbed his ribs.
Andrea just glared back at him. His attention strayed after just a few seconds to a woman walked past in what Miranda thought was a Storm outfit, if she remembered the X-men movies that the twins had subjected her to right.
"Uh, I'm going to go introduce myself to that lady, maybe get a picture, ok bye." He rushed off again.
Andrea rolled her eyes once more. "Sorry about that. I love him to death but he doesn't quite understand that women and cons aren't there for his personal enjoyment. I've been trying to get it through his head for years, but he hasn't quite hit the maturity level to understand yet. Maybe someday." She shook her head.
"He's definitely a good bit different than you." Miranda hoped that that comment wasn't too cutting. She didn't want to insult the girl's relatives after all. She scowled slightly at that. Since when did she care?
"Three years younger and the baby of the family, makes a kid different."
They stood and stared at each other awkwardly for a moment, not quite knowing where to go next in the conversation, but not wanting the conversation to stop either.
"I've followed your writing career since you left. You've grown into quite the good writer."
Andrea smiled openly at that. "Thank you, that means a lot from the woman who helped launch my career in the first place."
"Yes, well, there had to be something in return for being so loyal, even if it wasn't to me. Nigel is a dear friend. I did what I had to, to keep us both with jobs, but I admit it could have been executed much better. I didn't realize that until later, however. You realized it much before me. He's happy now heading up the design department of Alexander McQueen. It just took him a little longer to get there than it should have." Miranda looked away. Paris had not been one of her proudest moments by a long shot, but she had done as she always had, survived by any way possible. And she always was ruthless in that mode.
"I'm sorry about how I left, though I'm not sorry I did. It was immature to just leave like that and throw that stupid phone in the fountain. I hated that thing if only for the horrible, shrill ring tones."
Miranda snorted at that. "Yes, well, always had to make sure you heard it to bow to my every whim, Andrea."
Andrea stared at her for a long second and Miranda thought she had stuck her foot in her mouth. The next second the girl was laughing long and loud. Miranda relaxed again. Apparently, for once she hadn't said the wrong thing.
"Mom?" Caroline was suddenly right beside her. "Can we go see the Doctor Who stuff now?"
Miranda glanced at Andrea. She wanted to see the booth, but at the same time she didn't want to leave Andrea. There was something here and she was aware of it now. It had been three years and she didn't want another three years to go by just for her to do something about it.
"Would you like to come with us, Andrea?" She asked instead.
Andrea smiled. "Sounds good." She looked down at the twins. "So, which doctor is your favorite? I really like ten, David Tennant is a great actor."
The twins lit up, babbling on about how they loved eleven. Miranda hadn't gotten to him yet. She had just started ten's arch a few weeks before. She had enjoyed nine and his attitude and wry sense of humor, but her favorite still remained the fourth doctor. She had a soft spot for the man and K9 and Sarah Jane Smith. They would forever remain a part of her childhood.
They walked together, the twins and Andrea now onto which companion was their favorite. Andrea was firmly in the corner of Donna Noble and the twins were split between Rose and Amy. Miranda was interested in some of the points they brought up. Perhaps she would have to start watching the show more frequently to catch up.
The arrived at the table and twins set to searching through the stuff with glee, leaving Miranda and Andrea behind. Miranda looked at Andrea and cocked an eyebrow.
"I never took you for a Doctor Who fan either."
"College, everyone was into the reboot and I just hopped aboard. The writing was good for the first four seasons so it was worth it. The stuff that's starting to come out though is ok, but nothing great. The writers switch wasn't great for the show."
Miranda's checked on the girls before replying. Cassidy was holding four's scarf in her hand with a confused look on her face. Miranda's eyes widened. It was hideous, but it was nice to know that they had things from the original series as well. Then she set down the scarf and picked up a miniature K9. Miranda smiled lightly. That would have to find its way into their bag.
"I didn't take you for a Doctor Who fan either," Andrea said, watching Miranda's eyes sweep over the merchandise with understanding and a bit of excitement.
Miranda blushed. "Well, I was a child when it first came out. It was rather a large deal when there were only three channels."
Andrea laughed quietly. "Don't say that too loudly, everyone in New York thinks you're about ten years younger than you are. You wouldn't want them to know any differently."
Miranda's eyes narrowed. "They wouldn't dare run anything to the contrary."
"Oh, I know you have claws, Miranda. I like that about you."
Miranda looked at the girl. She hadn't quite understood her when Andrea had worked for her and she definitely didn't now. There was still a bit of the small town girl in her gaze, but it was so much more confident and self-assured than it was even when she had found herself after her little makeover at Runway. She took a step closer to Andrea.
"Perhaps you like them just because they haven't been turned on you."
Andrea smirked at her. "Never been turned on me? Do you recall that lecture on cerulean when I first started working for you, because I do, in intimate detail."
Something about the way she said intimate set off a chain reaction in Miranda, much like the sight of her brother's arm around her had. There was no denying now that everything had come to light. Miranda had come to care for the woman in front of her. She didn't know when it had happened, be it when she worked for Runway or after, but she had. And from the way Andrea was acting, perhaps she wasn't the only one.
Miranda didn't know what to do now, however. She had always been the pursued, never the pursuer. Men or women, they both had chased after her and Miranda had let them when it benefitted her. She glanced back at the girls. But did this benefit her?
She looked back at Andrea. She didn't know.
The girls returned to her side, pulling their normal routine of shoving everything in their mother's hands before walking away once more. Miranda shook her head and Andrea laughed. She walked to the register once more but not before grabbing one of the miniature K9 figurines.
Purchases in hand she turned back to Andrea. The girls were distracted and Miranda felt this time drawing to a close. The convention would end for the day soon and then they would go their separate ways.
"Andrea, would you like to get coffee or lunch sometime?" Miranda heard herself asking. Perhaps it wasn't about benefit anymore. She had a great many things that benefited her. Why would she need one more? This thing with Andrea could be outside of that, and if it went nowhere then so be it, but if it did, well, she wouldn't mind.
Andrea smiled widely at her. "I'd like that. Is your number still the same?"
"Yes, do you still remember it after three years?" Miranda looked at her disbelievingly.
"Oh, I'll have that number memorized until the day I die." Andrea laughed again and Miranda felt warm. Yes, benefit in this equation did not matter at all as long as there might be chance at something more. She could manage the risk later. It was, after all, what she did.