Memories - Chapter 2

When the plane touched down Miranda said good-bye to Roy and thanked him for coming with her. His Christmas bonus was going to be huge this year. In fact, she probably wouldn't even wait for Christmas. He put her into the waiting car and made sure the driver knew where to take her. Her first stop was a hotel. It was far from daylight so a few more hours sleep probably wouldn't hurt.

Once in her hotel room, Miranda called Meryl to make sure everything was okay at home then lay down on the bed fully-clothed. She put her phone on her chest, closed her eyes and was almost asleep when the phone rang. Miranda didn't bother looking at the number.

"Yes?"

"How are you?"

Miranda sat up on the bed quickly. "Andrea, have your phone skills been reduced to the point where you cannot even say hello first?" Who would Miranda be if she didn't complain about something right away? It wouldn't do for the girl to hear how happy Miranda was to hear her voice now would it? And it certainly didn't matter that Miranda had not said 'hello' either.

"Sorry, I just thought you would look at the caller id."

"Never assume. Where are you?"

"Home. I figured you would be at the hotel by now and I wanted to touch base with you."

Andrea sounded a little quiet, maybe even upset. "Please tell me everything is still the way I left it at Runway. If Nigel has already fowled things up beyond all recognition I will kill him."

"Yeah, everything is the way you left it. He went to that meeting and handled everything else. Nigel told me to tell you he's thinking about you…"

"Indeed, I'm sure he is. And you? How are you?" For reasons unknown to her, Miranda needed this phone call to last.

"I'm fine. I should have come with you. I mean to be there with you, not just bring you like Roy did. That was really awesome of him by the way."

As if she needed to have the awesome factor clarified. "I'm well aware and thanked him properly. I don't intend on doing much work while I'm here and I'm certainly not going to the London offices so it would have been pointless for you to accompany me."

There was a long pause on the other end and Miranda wondered if they'd been disconnected. "Andrea?"

"I'm still here. I wasn't talking about work. You just…I just think you need someone to be there for you."

Miranda was sure her hearing was fine and the whiskey had worn off long ago so this was sincere. Andrea wanted to be here with her. "Well I hardly find it necessary." Miranda instantly cursed herself. That was completely uncalled for. Before she could take it back, Andrea responded in kind.

There was a deep breath on the other end of the phone then Andrea said "Okay, you're right. Sometimes I forget that you're totally 100% self-sufficient. What I wouldn't give to never need anyone."

What the…? "Excuse me?" Was the girl drunk? No, Miranda would have been able to tell that right away. Andrea could not hold her liquor. At all. Miranda witnessed that first hand and almost kissed her right there in front of Roy because of it.

Miranda heard Andrea cough. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that."

"No, you should not have." Miranda ended the call and lay back down. How dare Andrea speak to her like that! She made a living being self-sufficient and was not ashamed of it in the least. How else would she have made it this far? If she had not been then she would have been kicked out of the business a long time ago. The phone interrupted her thoughts. Fabulous.

"What?"

"You hung up on me." Her voice was strong and firm, not at all what Miranda had expected.

"Yes, I most certainly did. Your tone and choice of words were most unappreciated." Miranda sat up again and propped up against some pillows. Why not get comfortable. This was probably going to take awhile.

"I apologized and you hung up anyway." Again she was strong and firm. Why wasn't she afraid? Anyone else would be scared out of their mind to be having such a conversation with her.

"Andrea…" Andrea, what? What was she supposed to say? You're fired? No, of course not. Miranda couldn't even imagine firing her. It made her have a panic attack to even think about such a thing. "Fine, I accept your apology."

"And?"

Oh, for God's sake! And? What was that supposed to mean? When did Andrea turn into the most gorgeous yet infuriating woman Miranda had ever met in her entire life? "And what Andrea?"

"I want you to apologize for hanging up on me."

Miranda cleared her throat and swallowed. She was suddenly very thirsty. "As you wish, I apologize."

"Do you mean that?"

"I'm not in the habit of saying things I do not mean so yes, I mean that. I apologize." Miranda would die before she said that to anyone else but yes she was sorry. It was Andrea after all, not some ridiculous clacker.

"Okay then. Did you sleep on the way over?"

"Yes, I slept. Roy insisted on getting me half drunk, so yes…I slept." Miranda couldn't help but chuckle remembering Roy bringing all those little bottles to her.

"Wow…Roy's a good guy." Miranda could hear rustling in the background, it sounded like papers.

"Yes, he is. What are you doing?"

"Cleaning off my kitchen table. It's trashed with notes and stuff…sorry. Notes and things. I've been working on something...just an article."

Hm. Yes, there was that journalism part of Andrea that Miranda knew nothing about. Miranda got up and grabbed a bottle of water from the mini-bar. After downing half, Miranda sat back in the bed and listened to Andrea tell her about the latest article she was working on for The Mirror.

Miranda wasn't sure if Andrea Sachs freelancing under the name Michelle Conner was against company policy or not but she didn't really care. She had seen several articles by this Michelle Conner and they were good. The fact that Andrea was willingly telling her any of this at all amazed Miranda. She must know Miranda wouldn't do anything to stop her, company policy or not.

"Miranda?"

"Yes, I'm listening."

"I was just wondering…I've only heard you mention the house once. Did you go there a lot?"

"No." Miranda couldn't believe her eyes were watering. She managed not to bare too much of her soul to Roy, but now? "My mother passed and…just a few times after that really."

"You bought it for her?" Andrea's voice had lost its earlier strong, firm tone and had taken on a quiet, gentle quality that calmed Miranda.

"Yes, it was left to the girls' when she died, but I'm not sure what will happen now."

"You can rebuild it. There are plans somewhere, right? Rebuild it just like it was." Miranda smiled as the words left Andrea's lips. She made it sound so simple, so easy.

"Perhaps, at the moment I'm not so much concerned with the house. What was in it…is my primary interest."

"I understand, I just meant…ouch."

"I know what you meant. What's wrong?" Miranda heard the sound of something falling.

"Nothing, I ran into the coffee table."

"Perhaps you should sit down."

They talked on and on about everything and nothing at all until Miranda fell asleep, on the phone no less. How embarrassing. She hoped it wasn't something Andrea would make her apologize for later.

After a quick shower and three cups of coffee, Miranda lost all good sense and did indeed apologized to Andrea via voicemail. Which was good because it was hard to keep her train of thought on the phone. Andrea made her…well there were too many feelings to list.

Precisely at eight o'clock Miranda arrived at her mother's property. Her cousin James was standing at the edge of the road as promised. James was hugging her before she could close the car door. "James you're crushing me, darling." Miranda gave in and hugged him back. She had not seen him in a year so he was due.

"Ah, Cousin. This is a horrible reason to see you but I'm still glad of it. You look wonderful." He held her at arm's length and looked her over. He didn't look too bad either. Still the tall, obnoxious fool he always was when they were children. James was more like a brother than a cousin. Miranda had no siblings and with everyone gone, James was all she had left now.

"Well, you look the same as always." She took the arm he offered and they started walking up the driveway, the faint smell of freesias immediately hit her and she smiled. The memories it brought back were the single reason she didn't want it anywhere near her in New York. Flash-backs were unproductive.

"Miranda, I don't know what to say. It was probably electrical or something of that sort. It's still being looked into." He squeezed her hand and she drew in a deep breath thinking of how this might feel just a little better if Andrea were here.

"I don't know what to say either. I will need your help though."

"You have it. You know that, Mia."

The house was coming into view and the smell of smoke quickly overwhelmed them. The urge to turn around and not look back hit her hard. "You haven't called me that in ages James. Oh, God…"

And there it was. All that remained was the stonework from the two fireplaces at either end of the little house, the rest was gone.

"I know it's hard to believe really." James rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand and Miranda gracefully pretended not to notice. He always was a crier. She would cry later.

"It's quite a mess isn't it? Mother would be furious." Miranda laughed in spite of it all. Her mother would definitely be angry right now. She hated messes. If things were not perfectly clean and in order, heads would start to appear on mirror-shined platters.

"Yes, yes she would. I miss her."

Of course he did. James had looked after Miranda's mother far better than she ever had. For all intents and purposes, James was her son.

"I miss her too. What are the boxes for?" Miranda pointed to the few cardboard boxes sitting on a nearby bench under a few trees. Her mother's favorite spot.

"In case we find something that can be salvaged. You never know." James led her around the burnt remains carefully.

"Perhaps. I…oh, the shed. Look." Her mother's gardening shed was untouched by the flames. Miranda opened the door and even though it was empty now she saw everything just as it had been years ago. Today her near photographic memory served a better purpose than Runway's interests.

"I suppose that's something at least."

"Yes, it's something. I really don't know where to begin with all this." Miranda closed the shed door and turned to survey everything again. While raking her eyes over the scene, her mind saw each small moment she had spent here. They were too few.

"Logically, clean up will be first of course, and then you can decide everything else later. No rush. I must admit I would hate for you to give it up though." James looked down at the ground as if he was waiting for her to snap at him.

"I'm not giving it up. That much I can tell you." James looked up and smiled. At least one of them was happy now. "A friend of mine suggested rebuilding it as it was. What do you think?" Miranda began walking back around to the front of the burnt pile and James followed close behind.

"I think you have a smart friend. I don't know if there are any plans for the house tucked away somewhere but between our memories we could come up with something." James rocked back on his heels like he was already seeing it take shape.

"It's something to think about at the very least. Do you think it's alright to go digging around in there?" Miranda motioned to the pile and James nodded.

"Yes, it's fine now. There might be some warms spots but I doubt we'll come across anything life threatening." He chuckled as Miranda hit his arm. As children she always claimed he was trying to kill her in some way or other. "I've got some shovels in case we need to dig around a bit and of course boots. You always did have a horrible taste in footwear." This got him another slap on the arm.

"Darling, you will be doing the digging, and as for my footwear…well never you mind about that." Before she could continue her phone rang. She sat down on the bench, dug around in her bag and sighed. Half of everything in the bag belonged to the girls. Finally she found it.

"Hello?"

"Hello. It's Andy." Miranda noted that the 'hello' was said with emphasis; probably due to Andrea previous mishap.

"Hello, I don't even want to know what time it is there. Why are you up?"

"I wanted to see how you were doing. Is that a crime?" Again, she was fearless. Sleepy, but fearless.

"No, it is not a crime. I'm well. I am here with James." Miranda looked up at him "James can you give me a moment?"

"Your friend?"

She blushed and nodded. He headed off toward the shovels.

"Did you eat breakfast?"

Miranda turned her attention back to Andrea, noting that she did not mention Miranda falling asleep on the phone the previous night. "Only coffee. My stomach was not up for it. I will eat soon though. Caroline told you to ask?"

"Yeah. I'm going to their recital tonight. I'll email you pictures."

"Roy told me. Be sure to give them a little pep-talk beforehand. It seems to help. Cassidy gets nervous and Caroline just feeds off of her." This was the going standard in the Priestly household. The girls' fed off of each other's emotions to the point of driving Miranda mad. Sometimes it was like she had not two but three children. They consisted of Caroline, Cassidy, and some mutated version of them both in one body. She genuinely dreaded their teen years to come.

"I'll take care of it. No worries. Are you sure you're alright? How does it look?"

Miranda could hear Andrea sigh quietly and imagined that she was stretching under nice warm covers. It made her blush even worse. "Uh, yes…yes it's…well its awful really." Both of them were silent for a moment and unlike herself, Miranda knew Andrea was not asleep. She was merely waiting for Miranda to gather strength to continue the conversation.

"I'm giving your idea some thought. Rebuilding." Miranda sniffed. Her eyes were watering again but she chose to blame it on her allergies or dust or the ash or whatever else could be the cause. It could be anything but her burned up memories or the empty spot beside her on this old bench.

"Sounds good. You should do it. Make new memories."

"I'm not sure that's possible."

"It is. You can do anything Miranda. Even that."

"You are so naive." And young. Far too young.

"I am not. Okay, maybe a little but I have faith in you. That's all."

"Well I'm glad someone does. Call me today if something horrific comes up. Otherwise just let Nigel handle it. You and Emily know what to do with everything else. I'll call the girls in a few hours. Thank you for going tonight."

"It's no problem. You know that…"

"I know. I know."

"I still wish I was there with you." There was a long pause and Miranda dared not speak. The ash was really wreaking havoc on her eyes at the moment. "If I call you after the recital will you care? I know you'll be asleep." Andrea was almost whispering now.

"That's fine. I'd like to hear how everything went.

"Okay, I'll call then. Goodbye for now."

"Yes, goodbye Andrea." Miranda ended the call and James was suddenly sitting beside her. She wondered how much he had overheard. "Since when have you started sneaking up on people?"

"Since you started crying on the phone. You always were pretty good at hiding it though. I doubt she even knew." He put his arm around her shoulder.

"I still am."

"I know. So that's Andy? The woman I spoke with when I called your office?"

"Yes, that would be the one. Why did you tell her what the call was about?" Miranda put her phone back in her bag.

"Because I know you Mia; you don't break meetings for phone calls. No matter whom it is. I knew she needed a reason in case you didn't do as asked. She sounds like a good friend. The girls' like her?" Miranda felt a trap forming here but yet again she was missing the details.

"Hm…well yes, the girls like her. She won them over somehow. I still haven't figured it out and I probably never will. I suppose it doesn't matter really."

"Quite right. Say you remember that girl Christine? From when we were in school?"

Miranda turned on him with sharp eyes. "James! For the love of anything you hold dear do not bring that up!"

James withdrew his arm from around her shoulders and slapped the bench as he laughed "Mia calm down. I only mentioned it for old time's sake."

"I believe we can just strike that from the record and you? You can think of better things to bring up for old time's sake. God…I haven't thought about that in years."

James apparently did not understand that he was supposed to shut up now. "She was certainly a looker. I have to admit I was a bit jealous of you for a while there."

"As well you should have been…" Miranda rolled her eyes and cursed James's uncanny way of making her continue the conversation. Finally she gave up and laughed along with him.

"Remember when I caught you kissing her in the car? Ha! I thought you were going to die right there."

"So did I. She didn't speak to me for two days after that, thank you very much. Oh, how I hated you." Hate wasn't even the word for it. Miranda threw most of his favorite books into the fireplace including his favorite shirt. He nearly cried.

"I know you did but I loved every minute of it. Your mother was ready to kill us both over all that fighting. I was sad when you two broke up. It was great fun for me."

"I was sad too, as you might recall. Positively in the very depths of despair is how I remember it." Of course when you're seventeen you think such things mean your life is over. But then you grow up and move on, realizing that conforming is more important or something like that.

"You were…your face, when you were on the phone? Reminded me of when you used to talk to Christine. That's why I brought it up. Up until you started crying, your face was…" James threw up his hands "it was happy. Like nothing else mattered but the phone and that voice on the other end."

"That's doubtful." How does he do it? He and Roy must be long lost brothers.

"Mia you're lying but that's fine. At least I know the truth." James patted her leg and stood up. "Come on let's go get something to eat. Do you still want to rent a car? We can come back to this later."

Miranda took his hand and they walked back to the road in silence. She wondered what Christine was up to these days. Probably the same thing she was. Conforming, fitting in, while at the same time feeling completely lost.