The following is a story that I have been tinkering with for a year and a half. I have gone back and forth on parts of it. It starts off on a rather heavy note, but lightens up to match the title. I can only "hope" it works for you all.

Pairing: Miranda / Andrea - 'cause I just can't seem to care about any others.

Caroline and Cassidy are with us on this one.

Disclaimer: I, sadly, do not own anything… really. As I have mentioned before, all I own in this world is a 2003 Toyota Corolla- although it is an LE. Nothing to get out of me if you sue… so don't. Please, allow us poor folk some fun. We aren't hurting anyone.

Rating: Have to go with NC-17 Sorry all you "innocents", J don't want to harm your virtue or anything. Rated due to SEX and adult only themes.

Which leads to the WARNINGS: I apologize, sincerely if this should offend anyone, but for some odd reason I was motivated, moved, +/or hypnotically commanded to write about a rape. It is not overly explicit, however it does occur. If you are not up to this, for any reason, I am sorry. Rewriting it just wouldn't work. Again, sorry. I will alert w/ each chapter necessary w/o giving everything away.

Chapter 2: Post incident, dealing w/ aftermath.

Oh, I forgot to mention that there is a crossover guest appearance from Law and Order: SVU.

The Happiest Place on Earth

Chapter 2

The ride to the hospital was a lesson in agitation. Miranda wrung her hands together and commented on every traffic interruption encountered. Even the usually stoic Roy was cursing under his breath at the red lights. By the time they arrived at the hospital, Miranda was fit to be tied. The fear and helplessness over the situation magnified her natural dislike of wasted time. As Roy came to a stop in front of the main entrance, Miranda already had her door open. She was in the lobby before Roy could get around the car to close her door. At the information desk, Miranda had one volunteer in tears and a receptionist on the phone with security before she was finally told that Andrea Sachs had been discharged and had gone home. Roy jumped when the car door was yanked open and Miranda growled the directive, "Take me to Andréa's home"

Miranda urgently knocked on Andrea's apartment door to no avail. She refused to pound on it like some uncouth neanderthal, so she decided to seek out the superintendent. She found the man actually in his office doing work, of all things. He looked up curiously at her sudden appearance in his doorway. Graciously, he acknowledged her presence and inquired how he could help.

"I am here to see Andréa Sachs." Miranda began smoothly and honestly. Then she decided to bend the truth for discretion's sake. "She's in bed with the flu and I need to get in to check on her. I really don't want to pull her out of her sick bed, so I was hoping you might be able to allow me entrance to her apartment."

Apparently, the combination of her appearance and the use of her "mom" voice was enough of a convincer for the man. He chatted on about what a lovely young woman Andrea was and how he was always trying to match her up with his nephew as they rode the elevator up. Miranda's jaw was aching and her head felt like it would explode from clenching her teeth so tightly. She was acting so far from center that the world was definitely spinning off its axis. Finally, with a quiet thank you, she was in the apartment. She stood silently, taking in her surroundings. She could hear the shower running and felt her heart stutter at the thought of Andréa suffering alone, trying to scrub away the very memory of events. With a nod to her own thoughts, she stepped into action.

Andy had started with the shower blasting scalding heat into her skin. She scrubbed herself until her skin was sore, the water had turned icy, and her eyes couldn't produce anymore tears. After drying off, she dressed in an old, comfortable sweat suit and thick wool socks. Wrapping herself up in her old, worn bathrobe, she scuffled out towards the living room. As she rounded the corner she jumped with a start.

"Miranda", she squeaked. "What are you doing here?"

Miranda stood from her spot on the couch, noting the wince that crossed Andy's face at her own question. Without a word she crossed to Andy, mesmerized by the fear and panic swirling in the girl's eyes. Andy knew that Miranda knew what happened and now the poor girl was afraid of Miranda's reaction. Afraid Miranda would blame her, or reject her. She grabbed her lower lip in her teeth out of nervousness and bowed her head in shame, waiting for the judgment to fall. She flinched when Miranda's hand rose to gently cup her cheek. She sniffled back a tear when Miranda forced Andy's face up to meet her own. Finally, she broke down into heart wrenching, painful, fearful, guilt filled sobs as Miranda's arms came around her and pulled her in tightly.

Andy was vaguely aware of being guided to the couch and sitting. After a mini eternity, her sobs slowed to occasional hiccups and realization began to soak in. She was wrapped in the warmth and safety that was Miranda Priestly. Her head resting on a strong shoulder, her face burrowed in the softness of skin, and her body enveloped by the heat and strength of this woman who had haunted her dreams for months all filled Andy with a peace and calmness that was almost eerie. Miranda pulled back a little to evaluate the girl. Believing the young woman had exhausted her misery for the time being, she nodded her head once and stood, pulling Andrea along with her motion.

"Right. Andréa, you are coming home with me. Your bag is already in the car so you just need to grab your toothbrush." Dragging Andrea along with her towards the bathroom she continued. "Come on now, we don't want to get stuck in rush hour traffic. I've been waiting for you to come out of that shower for an hour". Dumbfounded with shock, Andy followed Miranda like a lost child. Silently, without fanfare, they left the apartment and the fear behind.

The arrival at the town house was also silent. Andy followed wordlessly as Miranda led her by the hand up two floors to a spare bed room. Miranda dropped the bag at the foot of the bed and then pushed Andy to sit on the bed. She brushed still damp bangs out of Andy's eyes then placed a gentle kiss on her forehead. "I want you to try to sleep a bit. We'll have some dinner later and maybe talk some." Then she turned away and closed the door softly behind her when she left.

Andy awoke with a tickle of fear down her spine. She felt as if someone was watching her. Opening her eyes a crack, she tried to see her surroundings without revealing she was awake. There was a human silhouette in her doorway, but it was too short and slight to cause alarm. Andy, now fully awake, realized it was one of Miranda's daughters. She rolled to her back and sat up in bed. "Hey", she whispered to the doorway shadow. "What time is it?"

"It's 6:30. Mom asked me to come get you for dinner. If your too tired I can tell her you aren't awake."

Andy figured it must be Cassidy since she was being so compassionate. "Nah, that's ok. I'll come down. It's the least I can do."

"Are you sick, Andy?"

"No. I'm not sick. I'm just real… sad about something."

"Oh." Cassidy replied in a voice of acceptance, as if her mom always brought home sad people who needed cheering up. "I can tell you some jokes if you want. I always make Caroline laugh with my jokes'" she offered hopefully as Andy moved to stand next to her by the door.

"Thanks, Cass. But I don't think this is something jokes can fix. I think it's just gonna take some time" Andy said, and reached out to ruffle Cassidy's hair. The young girl smiled at the act and turned, taking Andy's hand to lead her to the dining room.

Dinner was a quiet affair. The girls carried the conversation, chatting about their upcoming weekend plans, their day at school, and their shared desire to do something new and different over their winter break. Despite Andy's personal suffering, she had to smile at the girls' bubbly personalities. She especially found herself smiling at how Miranda was with her children. Her appetite, however, was nowhere to be found. She pushed her food around her plate and sipped from her glass of wine, but she had no hunger needing to be sated. When the girls finished their meals, Andy excused herself from the table and returned to her room. Miranda was worried about the absent light from Andy's eyes, but she had too much work to finish before she could address her concerns.

Miranda finished with the book by 11:30. She stopped in to check on each of her girls and then moved on to the guest room to check on Andy. She opened the door to hear soft sobs being choked back from the area of the bed. Leaving the lights off, she made her way to the side of the bed and sat, reaching for Andy. She gathered the woman in her arms, and rocked her as she would her child, murmuring soothing words into her ear. "Shhh, easy Andréa. It's ok . You're safe now. No one is going to hurt you. I won't let anyone ever hurt you again." Miranda stayed with Andy until the sobs stopped and the sound of breathing deepened and evened out in sleep. She tucked the bed covers in around the sleeping form and dropped a kiss on top of the brunette's head before slipping out of the room to go to her own bed.

The next morning brought Miranda to the office looking for a fight. Emily was at the elevator to meet her and almost ran the other way when she saw the look on Miranda's face. Storming through the hallways together, Miranda rattled off her initial directives in an almost too soft voice. Emily well knew the softer Miranda spoke, the deadlier her mood.

"Get me assistant district attorney Cabot and find out who is working Andréa's case. Send a message up to Irv to let him know he can have the next issue under budget. The current issue will be good for print by this Friday and we already have half the layout complete for next month. Arrange all my important meetings from this week for today and cancel all others. After today, I will be working from home for the rest of this week. We will still, however, have a run through on Friday at 1:00 sharp. I will not be early, or late. Four days notice had best produce no errors. I will need you to pick up the book in the mornings, as well as dropping it off at night. And we will need a temp to help you for the next couple weeks. That's all." The door to her office closed with a definitive click. In moments, Emily was alerting her by intercom, "I have ADA Cabot".

"Ms Cabot, thank you for taking my call"

"Of course, Ms Priestly. What can I do for you?"

"I am calling to discuss the Andréa Sachs case. I want you to head the prosecution on this. I know of your record and I know you are the person to deal with this incident. If I need to phone Jack to make this happen, I will do so. Will there be a problem?"

"I don't believe so. I will look into it as soon as we're done. Is there anything else"?

"Yes. All conversations with Ms Sachs will be scheduled through me and held at my home. I will not have her dragged into some precinct to be embarrassed over something she had no responsibility or blame for. Also, I will have my own counsel present for all interviews. That's all" and she hung up on a puzzled Alex Cabot.

Alex did look into the case as soon as she got off the phone. She went directly to Jack McCoy's office to discuss her conversation and to request the case. After hearing Alex's version of the phone call he laughed in sympathy and gave her the file that had already been assigned to her. Alex sighed in relief when she saw the name of the detective who caught the case. Olivia Benson was the perfect person to have to deal with Miranda Priestly's demands. Unflappable, confident, and strong, Olivia would be able to get past the dragon lady and get to the person needed to process this case. She was also relieved to see that Andrea Sachs had done everything right. The young woman had gone to the hospital with police presence to have all evidence collected and processed. Assuming the DNA evidence matched the accused, it would be a slam dunk case. Interviews needed to be done.

When it came down to it, Miranda was not nearly as bad as Alex feared. She was actually a polite hostess, although she was for some reason exceptionally protective of her employee. Alex did not think it was simply to keep Runway's reputation clean, but she wasn't going to question it. Any relationship that Miranda Priestly had with Andrea Sachs held absolutely no bearing to the case at hand, so it would not need to be investigated. During the initial interview, Andrea was emotional and lost. She requested that Miranda stay with her and when she got to a particularly difficult part of her story, Miranda's hand on her shoulder seemed to ground her and gave her the strength to continue. Olivia, as usual, was amazingly compassionate and understanding. Andrea opened easily under her questioning and they quickly had the information they needed to proceed. When they were finished, Miranda showed them to the door.

In a smooth and seductive voice Miranda calmly asked, "So, when do we get to have this bastard castrated?"

Both Alex and Olivia had to fight to keep from bursting out with astonished laughter. Alex recovered first and answered in her own commanding voice, "It will take at least six weeks for us to get all the DNA evidence back before we can get into court. But, we will be officially pressing charges today."

Miranda held Alex's gaze for a long moment then quietly requested, "I would like a restraining order against this… barbarian. Please see it gets done."

Alex nodded her head and turned to leave with Olivia to a whispered "thank you" from Miranda.