Author's Note: Thank you all for the lovely comments. I hope that you'll enjoy this chapter as well. There are 3 chapters. So after this one just one more, but it's almost three times the size of this chapter. ;-) Just to confirm for everyone this story is ONLY going to be in Miranda's POV. Miranda can think she knows what is going on in Andrea's head and she does assume some things, but it will remain in her POV. :D
A BIG thank you to Sandy for her help with this story! All mistakes are still mine.
Part 2
It was six weeks later that Miranda saw Andrea again.
It happened by chance, a twist of fate, if one believed in such things. And Miranda decidedly did not believe in fate.
Yet, as fate would have it, Miranda was standing in line for a showing of Mary Poppins with the girls when the person behind them gasped.
Miranda, expecting an overwhelmed fan to be standing, gawking at them, twisted around with a menacing glare. The papers the last few weeks had been unforgiving. She had personally purchased front row tickets for her and the girls to see Mary Poppins, the show they'd been dying to see but had yet to go because Miranda couldn't find the time.
Now, Miranda had the time, she made sure she did. She was home for dinners, even if she had to return to the office afterwards, and took the weekends off rather than working a six day workweek. Traveling was put to a minimum, instead she sent Nigel, whom she'd given a new title to, a hefty raise, and the promise that within the next few years he would be promoted again to Assistant Editor. It was what she could do to help lessen the blow she'd delivered him in Paris. And it helped her as well.
By sharing the load with Nigel she had more time for the girls, which is what she needed. They were the only things keeping her emotionally steady. They offered the only sense of completeness and happiness in her life. Work, was just work. The passion she had felt vibrate through her for it while Andrea was there had all but vanished in the last six weeks.
The only fission of passion she felt was when she picked up her copy of The New York Mirror and saw Andrea's name in print. Why she chose to go by Andy, Miranda would never know. The small shiver never lasted long and always resulted in her frown deepening. The girls had begun to notice. They'd stolen her subscription twice already, trying to hide it from her. She'd also caught them looking through the articles trying to find what inside the newspaper made their mom so sad.
"Why read it if it just makes you sad?" Caroline asked, unable to keep quiet about it anymore one morning last week.
"Because for a moment, it makes me happy."
Caroline did not know why it made her happy or why one moment of happiness was worth hours of sadness. But as she was only 12, she didn't know what to say and so, she said nothing. She and Cassidy just watched their mother carefully and did their best to make her happy more than sad.
Tonight though, was not about Miranda. It was about the girls and they were bouncing at her side with untold amounts of energy in their excitement.
So, Miranda would be damned if she let some gawker ruin this for them.
"Can I help-" Miranda stopped speaking, words caught in her throat as she laid eyes on Andrea Sachs. Her soulmate. "Andrea…" Miranda whispered, the soul mark upon her wrist burning her from the inside out at the sudden appearance of the junior reporter.
"Uh…hi, Miranda." Andrea offered a nervous smile and swallowed thickly as she stood very still.
"Hey, we know you." Caroline interjected, causing both women to pull their eyes away from each other and look down at the redhead between them.
"Yes, you do, Caroline, it's nice to see you. You too, Cassidy."
Cassidy's eyes widened when Andrea was able to tell them apart. She reached her hand out to her mom and squeezed it, smiling shyly at Andy.
"Hi, Andy."
"Andy?" Caroline asked aloud. "Oh right, the assistant we tricked up the stairs." Caroline froze when she heard her mother gasp at that revealed secret. Caroline cringed and Cassidy rolled her eyes at her sister while Andy just smiled nervously at Miranda, whose eyes were boring into her like a laser.
"They told you to go up the stairs?" Miranda did not know why she was so surprised by this. Her children were little monsters to others. They loved to play tricks on Miranda's assistants. Andrea wasn't any different to them, where as to Miranda she was…very different.
"Uh, I plead the fifth." Andrea quickly muttered, holding up both hands in surrender when Miranda's glare intensified.
"Girls…"
Cassidy sighed, "We just wanted Stephen to stop yelling."
Miranda internally cringed at the reminder of how much her children could not stand her soon to be ex-husband. Still, "Andrea almost lost her job." And she had been incredibly embarrassed for Andrea to see just how badly Stephen treated their marriage and their relationship.
"Well, she doesn't work for you anymore, so does it really matter?" Caroline asked only to get pinched by Cassidy and glared at by her mother and sister. "Fine, I'm sorry we tricked you and almost made you lose your job. But thanks for the Harry Potter books."
Andrea laughed, and the sound of it made Miranda's heart stutter in her chest, "You're welcome, Caroline."
"Do you like Mary Poppins too?" Cassidy asked, noting that Andrea was in line for the show as well.
"You bet I do. I read all the books as a kid and watched the movie with my grandmother at least fifty times."
"Are you here by yourself?" Caroline asked looking behind Andrea to see other people conversing as they all waited.
"I am. My friend Lily is joining me later. She's running a little late."
"Your boyfriend didn't want to see the show?" Caroline asked, her tone snotty, but Miranda said nothing. As she too wondered about Andrea's fry cook boyfriend. The thought of Andrea with someone else caused the pleasant warmth coursing through her to turn vengeful.
Andrea chuckled, "I don't have a boyfriend."
Well, wasn't that interesting. Miranda thought.
In the meantime Cassidy was mulling over the fact that she had not read the Mary Poppins books. "We've never read the books…" Cassidy noted, looking as if she had an idea.
"They're very good. I highly recommend them." Andrea offered her opinion freely.
Cassidy twisted her head to look at her mother, and Miranda sighed, she knew that look. "Very well, we will purchase the books."
Cassidy grinned and twisted back to Andrea to talk more, when the line started moving.
Miranda looked at the gap forming between them and the people in front of them and back towards Andrea. The soul mark burned incessantly against her skin. "Enjoy the show, Andrea."
"Yes, you three as well." Andrea smiled her blinding smile at Miranda and the girls, following behind them.
When Miranda showed her three tickets and was instructed towards the front row, she was surprised to find Andrea still following behind them, her steps slower as she read the program. When Miranda and the girls arrived at their seats she allowed them in first and followed to the center of the aisle.
Miranda was just settling down into her seat when another gasp sounded and she twisted to see Andrea standing directly to her right, staring at the seat beside Miranda and looking at her ticket.
"Uhm…that's my seat." Andrea indicated the seat she was staring at as if she thought it'd jump up and bite her. Or perhaps she thought Miranda would jump up and bite her.
"Well then, take it." Miranda sniffed, trying to appear as if the idea of sitting through a two and a half hour show with Andrea so close she could feel her body heat, did not affect her.
"Miranda, if it makes you uncomfortable I can just sit here." She pointed to the seat she stood in front of, that was obviously her friend's seat.
"Whichever you prefer, Andrea."
Miranda was torn between wishing Andrea would sit beside her and hoping she took the other seat—if only for her sanity.
Andrea mulled over the two seats and took two steps to the side and took the seat directly next to Miranda.
"Andy, hi!" Cassidy greeted with a broad smile, leaning forward to look around her mother at the brunette.
"How could you afford front row seats?" Caroline asked, to which this time Miranda did hiss a clear warning by merely saying the girls name sharply. Caroline faltered, a little, but looked at Andy for an answer.
"They were a gift."
"From who?" Cassidy asked as only a prying 12 year old could for which Miranda was grateful. It seemed the best way to get information from Andrea was by allowing her children to ask the questions.
"From my grandmother."
"Oh." Cassidy nodded.
"Why isn't she here with you?" Caroline followed up.
"She was supposed to join me but she caught a cold and couldn't fly in from Cincinnati. And they're non-refundable, so…" Andrea shrugged as if to say, here I am.
"Oh…" Caroline leaned back into her chair and looked at her program. Cassidy did as well and within seconds they were whispering about the actors that were in the show and how many autographs they'd be able to get later.
Andrea and Miranda took up after the girls and pretended that they weren't sitting next to each other, their eyes focused on their programs while the girls excitedly chatted with each other.
Miranda was trying to figure out a way to say something, anything, to Andrea, when the younger woman finally broke the silence between them.
"Thank you."
Miranda waited for some explanation for why she was being thanked, but when one wasn't forthcoming she pried for an explanation, "Whatever for, Andrea?"
Andrea rolled her eyes, "The reference letter. Thank you. You…you had every reason not to. But you did. So, I, thank you."
Miranda's heart clenched at the memory of watching Andrea walk away from her in Paris, and all the days she'd spent since without the young woman's presence and smile.
"Ah, well…you seem to be doing well at The Mirror."
Andrea's eyes widened, "You, you've read my work?"
"You work for the New York Mirror?" Cassidy asked, having been eavesdropping.
"We have a subscription to that newspaper now." Caroline added.
"Mom reads it every morning." Cassidy tagged back in, Andrea's eyes moving from one girl to the other as they finished each other's thoughts. It was unnerving to those that hadn't seen it happen before. To Miranda, it was commonplace.
"But she doesn't like it all the time." Caroline frowned.
"Yeah, it makes her sad." Cassidy's own frown matched her twin's and the sight pulled at Miranda's heart.
"Girls…!" Miranda warned, feeling betrayed by her own offspring as they so innocently gave her up.
Andrea's eyes were incredibly wide as she looked away from the girls and held Miranda's gaze.
"Sad?" Andrea whispered.
"They exaggerate." Miranda replied, unable to continue looking into Andrea's soulful brown eyes.
"Right...right, of course." Andrea turned away, probably wondering how reading the Mirror could make Miranda sad.
Miranda refused to say anything more on the matter. Let Andrea stew in the knowledge that reading her articles made Miranda sad. Let Andrea understand that even as Andrea did not wish to acknowledge their soul bond, Miranda had.
They did not speak until intermission, when the empty seat beside Andrea made it clear that her friend, Lily, was not coming.
"Looks like I'm flying solo." Andrea uttered after reading a text from her new phone.
"Looks like you know how to care properly for certain phones." Miranda commented, excusing herself past Andrea to get the snacks the girls asked for.
The longer she had sat next the Andrea the more bitter she had become.
When Miranda returned she gave the girls their choices in unhealthy snacks which they were to share, and a cup of wine for herself in a memorabilia cup. Miranda did not speak to Andrea any further and by the tension in the younger woman's jaw, Andrea was having a hard time not speaking to her—or not saying what she wanted to say to her.
The girls, thankfully, were too engrossed in each other to talk much with Miranda or Andrea.
By the end of the show Miranda was ready to escape the close proximity to Andrea, her skin itching with a familiar warmth at Andrea's nearness. It hurt to think about how this would be the last time she felt such a warmth spread through her, as she would not see Andrea again.
The girls, it seemed, had other plans.
"We're sorry your friend didn't show up." Cassidy truly seemed sorry for Andrea, which didn't surprise Miranda as the girl was very kind and sweet.
"Yeah, why don't you come with us to lunch?" It surprised Miranda that Caroline was the one to extend the invite. The fact that the invite at all had been issued was another problem.
"Girls, I'm sure Andrea has other plans." And even if she didn't, Miranda hoped she understood that she should turn down the request. Miranda's heart could not take much more of this blatant ignorance on Andrea's part.
"Actually, I don't. And if the offer still stands, I'd like to come." Andrea's eyes gleamed with challenge now that the girls were jumping up and down, excited to have someone else join them.
"Come on, we're going to our favorite place!"
Miranda ground her teeth together as Cassidy stood to Andrea's left while Caroline remained at Miranda's right side. Miranda looked down at her daughter with a questioning look, but Caroline only smiled and took her hand.
The twin's favorite place was actually John's Pizzeria on West 44th street. When they arrived they were seated immediately at the twins' favorite table on the loft overlooking the entire restaurant. There was a floor to ceiling mural that the girls and Miranda played varying games while present. They would each take a turn at finding something new in the painting and making the others guess what it was based on color and/or the clues given alone. The dome ceiling was also covered in murals that the girls were fascinated with as well. Fascinated in a way that Miranda could not wait to bring them to Italy to see the Sistine Chapel and true renaissance art outside of New York museums.
"The pizza here is really good!" Cassidy gushed to Andrea, her new best friend.
"I'm sure it is." Andrea answered with a smile.
"We're going to go to the bathroom." Caroline announced as she and Cassidy stood together without Miranda having to warn them.
After the twins were out of site Miranda turned to Andrea and watched the woman carefully, sipping at her wine. The way Andrea was looking around made Miranda's ire bristle.
"Is there a problem, Andrea?"
"No, I guess, I'm just surprised that this is their favorite place."
"Why, because it is so common?"
"No, no, that's not it at all."
"Then why?"
"I guess…I don't know. I just assumed they'd like steak." Like their mother, was left unsaid.
Andrea smirked, and sighed heavily when Miranda turned her head to look away from her in obvious irritation. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to insult you, or them. Can we just…can we start over? Please? I'd like to enjoy the time I have with you." There was a long pause as Miranda looked back at Andrea, trying to hide the hope she felt bubbling inside her. "And the girls."
"And the girls…of course." Miranda hid a smirk behind her wine glass, rather enjoying how uncomfortable Andrea was. The girl could hardly sit still she seemed so nervous.
"Mostly you." Andrea admitted. "Don't get me wrong, the girls are great when you get past their hijinks relatively unscathed. But I'd like...well, given this chance I'd like to speak more with you. Maybe, if you're amenable, get to know you." Andrea dropped her head and her hair fell around her face, enchanting Miranda. "Become friends. Maybe. If, if you want."
"And here I thought you knew me very well." Miranda challenged, eyeing Andrea over the rim of her wine glass.
Andrea smiled openly, "I know the you, you show at Runway. I know how you like your coffee, steak, eggs, tea, how you can't stand elevators, despise repeating yourself, bristle when someone even thinks badly about the intricacies of fashion and the wide-spread reach it truly has on society. You also will do anything for your children, have a passion and intelligence I've never seen matched and probably never will, and I know that you're private. That you don't open up to just anyone. But I think, I think you want to open up to me and I want you to, Miranda. So, yes. I know you pretty well. Maybe better than most. But there's still a lot for me to know."
Miranda felt her heart pound against her chest the more Andrea spoke, eyes riveted on the woman across from her, her soulmate, the woman proving, as if for the first time, why they were in fact soulmates when there was so much between them.
Swallowing, and taking a moment to compose herself, Miranda nodded, "I suppose it couldn't hurt. Getting to know you as well, of course. This...sharing of ourselves will be a two way street."
Andrea's blinding smile nearly caused Miranda to close her eyes it was so bright. "You've got yourself a deal."
The girls returned shortly after that and the meal went well. The girls introduced Andrea to their little game, and Andrea seemed tickled that she was being included.
By the time they were saying their goodbyes to Andrea as they dropped her off at her apartment the girls had already made Andrea promise to come by the townhouse for movie night the following week. It would seem Miranda did not need to do much of the inviting, Caroline and Cassidy easily took care of that for her.
The knowledge that she would see Andrea in nine days' time made the warmth in Miranda's heart swell.
It was time for Miranda to charm Andrea with who she could be outside of the office and away from the pressures of Runway. She had no other choice in the matter, it would be unacceptable for Andrea to leave her again.
End Part 2