The sound died away on the corridor.

"Stupid girl," Andy snapped at herself. "Just erase this stuff and get back to work!"

Yeah. One little problem, the backspace button seemed to have started this power outage mess. Her finger hovered over the innocent looking button. Something Greg always laughed at her for. She never went CTRL+A and DEL on any of her drafts. Backspace it was. Andy wasn't one to erase any memory in a single move. She preferred slowly moving backwards, hoping that the story would improve itself upon slow amputation, perhaps? And it usually did. Greg lovingly nicknamed Andy 'zero-garbage girl' for this slow-editing quirk.

Oh, but the creative devil was all juiced up inside her tonight. Her finger moved away from Backspace.

"Miranda felt a strange pang of fear. It was odd enough to act on impulse and rush off to see Andrea Sachs. What was she doing in this semi-defunct joke of a building, for goodness' sake? She cleared her throat nervously."

Andy couldn't help but smile. Yeah, this was Miranda Priestly, Her Majesty of the United Control Freakdom. Never one to show weakness. Yet she always used to call out for Andy's help…

"Speak up, Miranda," Andy murmured as she typed on:

"She saw a faint bluish light, probably that of a laptop, through a glass door. Miranda decided to call out for Andrea.

'Andrééééa!' she said, raising her professional voice."

Andy waited, barely noticing how both her hands trembled above the keyboard. Please. Let there be no sound. Please let there be light and sanity.

"Andrééééa!" the familiar voice struck her, much closer to her office than she pictured in her fanfic.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!" Andy hissed and sprung up in panic. First instinct: hide under desk. Subtle, mature, professional move indeed. Andy fought the urge. "Sit back down girl, you're losing it. Never mix your drinks again, never, ever, okay?"

The door creaked right across from her desk. She squinted and saw nothing in the dark, nothing but a silvery patch floating mid air. She knew all too well what it was. Miranda's beautiful hair.

"Mir… Miranda? Is that you?"

The silvery patch floated on, just like Andy had seen it float a million times in panicky mornings when everyone inside Runway tried to gird their loins as the silver empress floated past them. The same rush of terror and amazement overcame Andy now. She almost forgot how sexy this sensation was.

"Correct, Andrea" came the icy response. "I demand to know what is going on!"

"Er… so do I, Miranda!" Andy said quickly. "I'm here overtime, working on an edito-"

"Oh shut up!" the silvery patch hissed, uncomfortably close to her desk now. "There's some weirdness going on here and I don't like it!"

Andy swallowed hard to stop her wild heart jumping up and out from her throat.

"I don't think you should be here, er, there's a power outage and I still need to work, but it's not safe for you here in the dark –"

No response.

"…er, um, Miranda, " Andy finished eloquently.

"I'll live," Miranda said. An uneasy silence fell between them.

"Oo-kkay, " Andy continued in her best good girl tone, "What can I do for you, Miranda?"

The silver empress made no response. She had the great advantage of seeing Andy's openly-emotional, screen-lit face. But Andy suddenly remembered her own advantage: she had the keyboard and the creative license to build her story. She decided to carry on. Clock was ticking but Miranda's stubborn silences usually lasted a half-minute. How should she twist the story, quickly? She typed on,

"Miranda's features softened. She couldn't help it and blurted something out,

'I came here because I love you.' "

Andy stared at the screen in pure horror. What did she just do? Holy Mackerel, is she going to be in trouble!

"I came here because I love you, " she heard her own script back. Miranda's voice was very out of character, soft and shaky.

"O-oh, uh, er…" Andy squeaked.

She heard a loud bang on the desk and some furious hissing. Uh-oh, the unscripted Miranda was back!

"Andrea, disregard my previous comment! I am not sure what sort of witchcraft is going on, but I shall not take any more of it! Good luck with your pathetic little career and I never want you in my office again! Get out before I…"

Andy risked a short but pertinent remark,

"Miranda, you are in my office. "

The silver patch seethed in anger – surely, the perfect lips pursed in the process, too – and before Andy could do anything else, Miranda stormed out. No clacking sound marked her steps. She must have still been barefoot to avoid an accident.

Andy sat agape.

"This isn't happening."

The little lights on her laptop seemed to wink at her playfully. Her fingers returned to the keyboard but at that moment,

FLICKER-FLICKER

power was back on.

CHAPTER 3 COMING SOON – NO IDEA WHERE THE STORY IS HEADED BUT HOPE Y'ALL ARE ENJOYING IT AS MUCH AS I AM, STAY TUNED J