Author's Notes: This is an AU!Devil Wears Prada/Firefly crossover. In Firefly canon, it would fall right after the BDM. In Devil Wears Prada, using movie canon, it would exist somewhere right around the time of the Miama hurricane incident, with the notable exception of Runway being on Osiris instead of in NYC.
"Miranda, I've asked everyone," Andy said in a placating tone, staring into the hand-held wave panel. A drop of rain ricocheted off a nearby window and hit the screen, blurring the image of Miranda's face and concealing the irritation in her expression. "No one's flying out during the storm."
"Andrea, if I miss my daughters' recital because of your inability to arrange for transportation, you will regret the day you ever set foot inside of Runway."
"I already do," Andrea said miserably as Miranda cut off the connection and the panel went dark. Peering out into the rainy street, she scanned the docks again.
"Your boss sounds real friendly," a voice said behind her. Andrea turned and smiled at the street vendor. They were standing together under an awning that stuck out from a nearby building, he with his wares huddled out of the rain, and she looking as though she'd spent her entire life on a Core planet, so out of place in Persephone's busy—and now muddy—streets.
"Her daughters have a piano recital in three days," Andrea said, then paused, wondering why she was defending Miranda's attitude to her this perfect stranger who obviously couldn't care less about Miranda, fashion, or Runway anyway. Still, she was alone on a strange planet, and none of her friends were even speaking to her these days when she was home, and besides, it wasn't like the man had anything else to do until the rain stopped.
"I tried, you know?" she went on, and the man nodded sympathetically, though she could tell he was already losing interest. "I mean, she had to go to Beaumonde for a shoot, and we had rooms booked on a transport ship—a luxury ship, at that, and those are nearly impossible to find if you want to leave the Core—all the way back to Osiris. I didn't know the ship would have engine problems. And I certainly didn't mean for us to be stuck here."
At the man's narrow-eyed expression, she amended, "It's just that we're nowhere near Osiris, and we'd have to leave today to get there in time, and we'd have found something by now if it weren't for this storm, and...." She trailed off for a moment, the hopelessness of the situation catching up to her. "And I'm so dead," she finished quietly. "I don't know what I'm going to do. No one's flying out."
"Kaylee! Close it up. I want us in the Black the minute Inara docks!" she heard a man yell, the words muffled from the rain, and in an instant Andrea was darting out into the rain, looking around frantically for the owner of the voice. A few bays down she could see a Firefly—she'd always loved Fireflies, despite their reputation—with a woman standing in the doorway, watching as a man and woman in a mule drove into the cargo bay.
Not wasting time with hesitation, she ran toward the ship.
"Did you get it?" the woman in the doorway called inside as Andrea drew closer.
"We had some... difficulties," the man said from within the ship.
Another woman's voice called out, "Best if we get in the air quickly. I've already waved Inara."
"Wait!" Andrea called when the young woman in the doorway moved to close the cargo bay door. Running up the ramp, she stopped at the top, gaspingly trying to catch her breath, her clothes and hair completely soaked. "Are you taking passengers?"
"Um," the woman started to answer, shooting a questioning look at the dripping-wet man getting out of the mule. He didn't say anything, just watched, looking curious. "Maybe? Where are you headin'?"
"I have to get my boss to Osiris in three days," Andrea said. When the woman appeared hesitant, she added desperately, "If I don't find us a ride, Miranda's going to kill me."
At that statement, the woman blinked in surprise, her face instantly going pale. "I mean, she wouldn't actually kill me," Andrea hurried to reassure her. "She's not crazy or anything. Just… demanding."
"Can't help you," the man answered, and he looked so angry that for a moment, Andrea considered taking a cautious step backward. "We ain't headin' that way."
"Money isn't an issue," she tried. "We'll pay double your usual fare. No, triple. Please… no one else is flying out. You're my last hope."
"Sorry, can't help you," he repeated, turning and walking away without another word, heading through the doorway at the far end of the cargo bay. Andrea watched him go, blinking back tears that were welling up in her eyes.
"God, I'm so dead," she said softly, just thankful that Miranda wouldn't be aware that she'd nearly found them a ride, but then somehow done something wrong and made the ship's captain angry.
"Oh, don't cry," the woman beside her said kindly. "Let…." She hesitated for a moment, her eyes meeting those of the other woman, a tall, intimidating woman who'd been silently watching the conversation from the stairs. The woman looked Andrea up and down, then nodded slowly before following the man further into the ship. "Let me talk to the cap'n," she finished. "Just wait here, okay?"
Andrea nodded excitedly, overwhelmed with the urge to hug her. "Thank you. Really, thank you. You don't know what it would mean to me. I'm Andrea, by the way. I can get you our IDs, if you want to have them on file before we board, or—"
"No, that's fine," the woman said with an amused expression that Andrea found more confusing than anything else. Nearly all transport ships required ID from passengers, but this woman just shrugged off the offer. "I'm Kaylee. You just sit down over there." She motioned toward some crates piled to one side of the cargo bay. "I'm not makin' any promises—the captain's awful stubborn when he wants to be—but I'll try."
Andrea nodded thankfully as Kaylee closed the bay door, then made her way over to the crates. With the door closed, the air instantly felt ten degrees warmer, and she sank down onto the nearest crate, relieved to at least be out of the rain for a few minutes.
"They are not coming on my ship." Mal glared at Zoe as if she'd lost her mind.
"Sir, we—"
"This ain't up for discussion," Mal said, turning to walk away.
Jayne stood up quickly, calling after him, "We need the coin, Mal."
"We're runnin' a bit low on food, Cap'n," Kaylee added quietly when Mal paused in the doorway.
"I'll agree that taking on passengers hasn't always turned out to be a simple thing, sir," Zoe said firmly, "but we ain't had a single job in months. Most of our old contacts are dead, or too afraid of ending up dead to bother with us. They're offerin' triple play…. Without somethin' coming' in soon, we won't even be able to fuel Serenity, let alone look for jobs. Besides, Inara's been saying she wants to take some work closer to the Core…. We'd have to head out that way sooner or later."
Jayne nodded in agreement. "If we have to go for 'Nara, might as well get paid for the travel." A hint of a smirk at the corner of his lips, he added, "Besides, the girl out there's real—"
"Jayne," Mal said in a warning tone, and Jayne fell silent without finishing his sentence. Crossing his arms over his chest, Mal leaned on the door frame. "Doctor, what're your thoughts on all this?" he asked, and River looked up from the spot she'd been staring at on the table to watch her brother.
"Her name's Miranda," Simon said slowly. "If I believed in signs from God, that one would be a mile high and covered in neon lights saying, 'Do not touch'."
"Miranda," River repeated, looking in the direction of the cargo bay, at the entrance of which, she knew, stood a young, frantic woman whose every thought seemed centered on getting this Miranda to Osiris as quickly as possible. "Mirandas mean secrets."
"Which is precisely what we don't need," Mal insisted, turning back to Zoe, but River interrupted him.
"Hers aren't dangerous. Need the coin," she added, mimicking Jayne, and then she smiled. "New faces would make Serenity remember that the danger has passed."
"Has it?" Mal asked quietly. River turned to meet his eyes, and after a long moment, she nodded.
"Besides," she said, leaning on Simon's shoulder, "it'd be nice to see it again."
Simon shifted uncomfortably, looking nervously up at Kaylee. "River, there isn't a home there for us anymore…."
"I know. Can't ever go back," River said. "The past is set, like stone. But you can look at where you've been." She abruptly sat up, resuming picking at her dinner. "I vote yes."
"We don't vote on my ship," Mal protested weakly, even as Kaylee chimed in with, "I vote yes too!"
"It's three days, sir," Zoe said reasonably. "How much trouble can a couple Core women cause in three days?"
He waited a few moments before answering, his warring thoughts concealed behind a stony expression, before saying, "Fine. Keep them out of the engine room and the bridge. And find out where in hell Inara is. I want us in the air in ten minutes, passengers or no passengers."
Kaylee immediately leaped out of her seat, dashing for the cargo bay, and River slipped from her seat and headed for the bridge to begin prepping Serenity for take-off.
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Simon confided to Mal as he walked past.
Mal nodded without a pause in his stride. "Jayne and your sister are right. We need the coin." It was only after he stepped through the doorway and he was alone that he added to himself, "Don't much like it my own self, though."