Hey there guys! Since I'm apparently not any good at keeping my word, that's a first fic in English for you! It hardly the first I've written in this language, but that's the first I'm publishing ^^ So, all mistakes are mine!
Disclaimer: I do not own the movie nor the novel ;)
Summary: Post-Paris. Andrea didn't quit. One night, after a gala, Miranda swings by the office and discovers some things about her assistant... OS. Rated T for mid-cursing.
Miranda went through the doors of the Elias-Clark building and resisted the puerile temptation of slamming them shut in the groom's face.
Just five minutes, she decided. She would only go up for five minutes, time to get her thoughts together after this disaster of an evening, and then she would go home. Maybe Andrea would still be there and find, somehow, a way to be more adequate than the idiots that had surrounded her for the past few hours.
Miranda found that Andrea was quite good at this kind of miracle. But that didn't mean that she was ready to dwell on why.
By the time she got out of the elevator, she was almost relaxed in anticipation of whatever treasure Andrea would pull out this time. She was even almost smiling.
Both the near-relaxed stance and the almost-there smile disappeared as soon as she caught sound of a quiet conversation outside her office. At Andrea's desk.
"Do I even want to know how you got there?" Andrea's amused voice said, and Miranda let the warm sound cocoon her for a second.
"You canceled date night", another voice accused, making Miranda jump. A female voice. "So date night came to you."
"I'm working, Eve."
"You're not. You're waiting for the Book. Let me distract you. At least this night you won't fall asleep at your desk. I know how you hate that."
Miranda leaned on the wall, trying to process what was happening a mere few feet from her. Andrea was apparently in a relationship with a woman, and had been for a while now if the habit of a "date night" seemed relevant. Plus, the woman seemed to know her well.
A moan interrupted her thoughts and she blushed violently when the stranger's voice reached her.
"That's it, Andy, just move your head like... Peeerfect."
She didn't seem phased in the slightest as Andy let out a new moan, contrarily to Miranda who felt a rush of blood to her core. Andrea making this sound should be forbidden, she decided. Or reserved for her.
Not that she was interested. Plus, the young woman clearly had that one covered -which brought her to the fact that despite what the other woman might say, Andrea was still very much at work and thus, not allowed to partake in whatever debauchery she was currently busying herself with.
"Andrea", she murmured as she turned the corner, every bit the Editor everyone feared. "Quit that show of decadence and explain to me how exactly unprofessional what you're doing is to try and save your job. You have one minute."
She then looked up and took in the scene before her, prepared to see her soon-to-be-ex-assistant in the most compromising position ever made accessible to human kind.
Wide, surprised chocolate eyes stared at her, looking up from a computer screen. Her competition -Miranda scolded herself for that thought, really? Andrea wasn't a prize, and it wasn't as if she stood a chance, obviously- was calmly looking at her from her spot, standing behind the brunette, hands at her temples and cupping her skull, obviously in the middle of a head massage.
Well, at least she hadn't seen any parts of Andrea she didn't want to lay eyes upon. Or did. Anyway.
As surprised as Andrea was to see her, she sure recovered quickly as she got up, gently untangling the stranger's hands from her hair -her glorious hair, Miranda mused, how soft it must be, how lucky the other woman was- and said:
"Miranda, the Book will be ready in about half an hour. Do you want to take it home yourself? Can I bring you anything in the meantime?"
"I trust you know how I hate to repeat myself?"
"Right", Andrea said, and to her credit, she didn't even stutter as she turned to the woman behind her: "This is Eva, a friend of mine. The schedule is done, the errands too, I was waiting for the Book..."
"... and 'date night'", Miranda cut in, almost inaudibly so.
The anger she felt must have shown somehow, because Andrea froze, letting her "friend" intervene.
"Date telling night."
"I didn't ask you", Miranda snapped before really registering what the other woman had said and, mostly, why she had thought that detail mattered.
Well if I'm correctly informed you do love when people do as you want before you even think of asking", the other woman replied. "Once a week, Andy and I gather and share our disastrous date experiences. Even though it's mostly my experiences those days", she added as a calculated after-thought.
She hadn't missed Miranda's ice cold voice when she had mentioned other dates.
"This is of no concern to me", Miranda snapped, ignoring how relieved she was that Andrea and that... woman weren't dating.
The latter shrugged before replying.
"Sure as hell seems like it."
"Eva!" Andrea hissed, upset with her friend for antagonizing her boss. Even though she couldn't help the tiny flutter of hope at her words.
Eva sighed deeply, bridge of her nose pinched between thumb and forefinger.
"Okay. Andy, you like her. A whole freaking lot", she stated looking at her friend, not missing the way Miranda's eyes widened over Andrea's shoulder. "And I really think she likes you back. So why don't you discuss this like adults? Miranda, please, I'm tired of spending my date telling nights listening to wishful thinking and yearning."
Her piece said, she slung her purse over her shoulder and, coat in arms, left the room.
Neither woman thought of stopping her.
After they heard the telling sound of the elevator door closing, Andrea cleared her throat and began quietly:
"I didn't hear it earlier, when you came in. Eva's voice must've covered it. She... That really was the first time it happened, Miranda, I assure you, I would never..."
"Andrea, you're rambling", Miranda found she couldn't prevent the smile from stretching her lips.
"Right, I... right", her assistant muttered.
Silence fell between them. Andrea, ill-at-ease, looked anywhere but at Miranda.
"Was it true?"
"What?" Andrea's eyes jumped to Miranda's, wide with fear.
"What Eva said earlier. Was it true?"
"I... yes", Andrea murmured, her eyes falling to the floor.
She braced herself for the dressing down she was about to be subjected to. Of course Miranda would never let her live this down; but when those blue eyes were staring at her, she found she couldn't even think to lie, nor did she have any will to. To think of the disappointment her boss would feel toward her, should she learn that Andrea had lied, was too much for the young woman, and so she didn't even think of a more delicate way to put it.
And now Miranda was going to break her into a thousand pieces with a disdainful glare.
"Andrea. Andrea look at me", Miranda added when the woman's name wasn't enough to get her attention. Wide brown eyes jumped to meet hers. Miranda smiled slowly, bitterly. "You do not like me, Andrea. You like the icon. You're fascinated by an older, more powerful, woman. Someone you look up to. You're certainly not the only one."
Andrea's eyes shone with something Miranda pained to recognize, because it had so rarely been present in the girl when with her: anger.
"You do not get to dismiss me like that", she spat suddenly, eyes anchored into the blue ones facing her. "For fuck's sake, do you think I haven't tried to condemn it as a mere power crush? To avoid it at all cost, because you're the most unattainable, straight woman there is? But I don't just admire the facade you project as a public figure, Miranda. I admire the strength behind it, the will it takes to fight everyday for your dream, the conflict between work and family, the love you have for your girls. I like that all it takes for you is a raised eyebrow and you can make a grown man weep, I like that I sometimes succeed in making you smile on a bad day, and the way you get softer every time Caroline and Cassidy call. I like every single stupid thing about you, Miranda, and fuck, that's not a crush, that's..."
She cut herself off suddenly, as if remembering who exactly she was speaking to.
"What is it, Andrea?" Miranda asked, heart racing.
Andrea bit her lip, then sighed. Her head hung low as she turned away from Miranda and to her desk.
"You'll have my resignation letter on your desk by tomorrow morning", she said quietly.
Miranda waited a few seconds before making her decision.
"I'm afraid a resignation letter may be too much of a delay for my plans", she mused aloud.
Andrea's head snapped up, surprised. Miranda sauntered to the desk, leaning on it, facing her assistant. She admired the woman for a second before giving in and letting a hand wander along a perfect jaw, trace shapely lips that let a gasp escape at the contact, cup a soft cheek that soon leaned in the warm palm.
"I tend to admire a lot of things about you as well, Andrea", she whispered as she leaned in slowly, "and I do not think it is the classic power play of a boss over her assistant, either."
Andrea was the one who closed the remaining gap between their lips, and after a few rushed kisses, like confirmation of their mutual attraction, they moved on to a much more languid pace, like an assurance of their feelings toward one another.
"Andrea?" Miranda whispered after a long time, one hand at the back of her assistant's neck and the other lovingly stroking her cheek.
"Yes, Miranda?" Andrea breathed, afraid all of a sudden that this was all a dream. The soft strokes of Miranda's hand calmed her down quickly.
"You're fired", Miranda smiled softly, conveying what she meant with a single look.
"What for?" the young woman asked, leaning in Miranda's hands locked around her.
"Inappropriate behavior, of course", Miranda scoffed before leaning in for another kiss.