So yes, to all of you who caught the reference, there was an Into the Woods reference in the last chapter and I thank you all for getting it. I kinda super love that movie. A lot. But here's the next chapter, enjoy.
Andy took a deep breath and then another. Miranda's words were still echoing in her head. Pregnant. She might be pregnant. Now that she actually thought about it in that light it made complete and utter sense. She was surprised that she hadn't seen it herself, but then again there was always something to do with Runway that she really hadn't had time to think.
She glanced over at Miranda. They were sharing yet another elevator car on the way up to whatever doctor Miranda knew. Martha, she said her name was. Andy tried to remember if she had seen the name before. She made all the reservations for Miranda for dinners and such, but she'd never seen the name. Either Miranda put her under a different name or took care of everything herself. Which, since she had said Martha was a good friend the second might be the best option.
She couldn't quite understand why Miranda was doing this. Things between them hadn't really changed since Paris, yet here she was, being the kindest Andy had ever seen her. Hell, she was being the kindest person to Andy in a while. When things had started to go bad with Nate he had stopped being the nice, loveable guy he had been and so had her friends. It was so entirely jarring that Miranda was the one to step into that void. It was almost enough to make her forget that she might be pregnant.
She might be pregnant.
The thought hit her again like a brick to the side of the head. She swayed a little bit where she was standing and then suddenly Miranda's hand was on her back steadying her. She leaned into the touch, grateful for it. She wasn't sure she could stay upright in four inch heels right now without support.
Then the doors of the elevator were opening and Miranda's hand left its place on her back like it had never even happened. This was so surreal she might just wake up sometime soon to discover this was all a dream. Part of her hoped that was what happened. The other part wanted to stay and see if this kindness from Miranda could last.
The two of them walked down the hall and into a suite of rooms that turned out to be a rather posh doctor's office. From what Andy could tell it was definitely something that those of the upper crust would go to and definitely something Andy could never afford. Nausea settled into the pit of her stomach.
Miranda marched up to the receptionist. "Miranda Priestly, I believe Dr. Jones should have spoken with you recently about my arrival."
The girl immediately stood up and nodded enthusiastically. "Of course, Miranda. Let me just check that the room she wanted you in is in order, the others were just straightening things out." She disappeared and reappeared quickly, Miranda barely even had time to scowl. "Right this way, ladies."
She led them back through a winding hall and to a room that was definitely different than any of the doctor's offices that Andy had ever been in. It looked more like a room out of a luxury hotel than an exam room. The receptionist gestured over to the standard doctor's office table, except this one was made out of what looked to be mahogany and real leather.
"A nurse will be with you in a moment to take your basic information." She smiled at them and left just as quickly as she had come.
Andy resisted the urge to kick her legs into the examination table once she hoisted herself up. She had way too much pent up energy. She felt like pacing the room but she had a feeling Miranda would appreciate that just about as much as she would appreciate her banging her seven hundred dollar Manolo Blahnik's into the wood of the table. It was probably fashion blasphemy or something. But she felt like she was about to crawl out of her skin and she needed to do something.
"So, uh, how do you know this doctor? You said she was your friend, but how did you meet?"
Andy looked over at Miranda, watching her. She couldn't quite bring herself to feel bad for asking a question when she was so damn nervous. Miranda looked hesitant to answer, but eventually opened her mouth anyway.
"Long before I was editor-in-chief she was my roommate."
"Oh." That was so very plebian for someone like Miranda Priestly and not what she was expecting at all. She was really expecting them to have met at some sort of smoozing event, but then again, even Miranda had to have a less glamourous past.
"No one ever thinks I've been anything other than the head of the fashion industry. How short people's memories are." She sounded amused in that rather deadpan way of her.
Andy really didn't know what to think of it. "Well, you carry it off as if you really always have been. It's hard to imagine you as anything else."
Miranda hummed, an affirmation that she had heard Andy's comment more than anything else.
Andy went back to trying desperately not to fidget. She hoped that the nurse came soon. If this was a normal doctor's appointment Andy wouldn't even dream of a nurse coming anytime soon, but she was in the room with Miranda, that usually speeded the normal timeline of things up just a bit.
If she couldn't move then her brain was going to start going through each and every single eventualities that this could end up in and she'd probably slightly panic herself. Well, probably more than slightly. Probably a lot. She made plans and executed them, but this was something that defied that. How was she supposed to plan when she didn't know a thing really. You couldn't really plan living from one paycheck to the other just trying to take care of a kid, could you?
Andy brought a hand to her mouth and started to chew on her thumbnail.
"Andrea, stop that, you'll ruin your nails. The makeup department did not paint your nails with those designs to have you just chew them right back off."
Andy took her thumb out of her mouth and blushed. "Sorry, I'm just—"
"Nervous, I'm well aware. You've been on edge since before we left Runway and I imagine the news that your might be pregnant has not made the situation any better."
"Uh, yeah, not really." Andy glanced at Miranda. She was perfectly composed as normal, legs crossed primly, sitting back in her seat with perfect posture. Andy wondered if this is how she had been when she had found out she might be pregnant with the twins. Probably. She couldn't imagine Miranda being anything other than perfectly composed.
The nurse chose that moment to appear from the ether, knocking on the door twice before entering the room. She was the tiniest Hispanic woman Andy had ever seen, barely pushing four ten if that, with the brightest smile that put most of the Runway models to shame, not that they ever smiled much.
"Hello, I'm Liz and I'll be taking down your basic information for the doctor, height, weight, blood pressure, and all that. So what brings you in?"
Andy hesitated. Should she just go ahead and tell the nurse that she might be pregnant or should she list her symptoms and let everything be deduced by the doctor? She was about to respond when Miranda took the choice away from her.
"She believes she might be pregnant based off of repeated nausea and vomiting in the mornings along with spells of dizziness as well." Miranda looked over at Andy, eyes prompting her to add anything else pertinent.
"I've been a little more tired than usual, but I just wrote it off because I don't usually get a lot of sleep." Andy looked firmly at Liz and not at Miranda. Her boss would totally read between the lines of that statement. She didn't get a lot of sleep because her job at Runway was more like a twelve hour shift than an eight hour, if not longer most days. "And I've been gaining weight, but not really eating more than I did before."
Liz nodded, wrote everything down on the chart in front of her. She asked Andy to hop off the table and took her height and weight measurements, then sat her back down to take her blood pressure and ask her an endless list of questions. Frankly, Andy would have preferred those little forms they always gave you at a new doctor's office. It probably would have been faster, but then again she didn't suppose that the super rich people who frequented this office ever actually deigned to do their own paperwork, so there was that. When she was done Liz disappeared with another smile and a promise that the doctor would be with her as soon as she could.
Andy sighed and fought the urge to lay back. She was just so very tired and all this stress wasn't helping at all. But Miranda was still there, and no matter how nice she was being Andy didn't want to push her luck. After all, she wasn't in sweat pants and tank top, she was in a Bill Bass skirt and Chanel shirt. She would probably be murdered if she wrinkled anything. Instead, she just put her head in her hands.
"Are you alright, Andrea?" Miranda voice was closer now.
Andy peaked out of her fingers to find Miranda right by her side, with her hand outstretched like she couldn't quite decide if she wanted to touch Andy or not. Hesitant Miranda was something she hadn't quite seen before. Well, that was a bit of a lie. She had seen something back in Paris, but that wasn't exactly hesitation was it?
"Yeah, I'm fine, just tired."
"After this Roy will take you home. Emily can bring me the Book tonight. No matter what is wrong with you, you need rest." Miranda's hand finally came that little bit forward and started to rub small circles on her back.
Andy stiffened for a half a second before relaxing into the touch. She had almost forgotten what comforting touch had felt like. Since Nate had left there hadn't been any. In fact, she hardly had any physical contact with people at all besides an occasional brush of fingers and the even rarer half hug, half air kiss that she got from people at parties. Her eyes drifted shut again and she kept her head in her hands.
"Until whatever is wrong with you is figured out you will come to work at nine and leave at five so you may get the proper amount of rest. If you are pregnant we will revisit this upon the confirmation." She kept up the circles on Andy's back.
"Ok." Andy took her head out of her hands. She met Miranda's eyes, softer than she had seen them ever and as open as they had been in Paris. This was all so odd. And as disconcerting as it was it always also comforting.
Miranda nodded, patted her on the back a few times and walked back to her seat as if nothing had happened. Andy looked out of the corner of her eye at the older woman. The woman was a mystery wrapped in an enigma and that might be an understatement.
There was another knock on the door and an older black woman stepped through with a kind smile and no nonsense air about her. She stepped forward with her hand extended.
"Hello, Andrea, my name is Dr. Jones."
"Andy, please."
Dr. Jones looked over at Miranda. "I suppose she doesn't let you get away with that nickname, does she?"
Andy glanced back to see a scowl flash across Miranda's face. "Of course not, Andrea is a beautiful name."
The doctor snorted lightly. "Same old Miranda, different assistant. She call you Emily for the first few months too?"
Andy turned back towards the woman. She heard Miranda's disgusted noise in the background.
"She did." A smiled pulled at the edges of Andy's mouth.
"A fully fledged initiate then, you are. Whatever she tells you, she hasn't called for any of her assistants to see me before, so you must have made quite the impression. Whatever I put you though today will be nothing in comparison to whatever is going on at Runway."
There was a winter storm front brewing in the corner of the room and its name was Miranda. Andy was a bit astounded at the way the woman talked about Miranda, right in front of Miranda. She either had a death wish, or she was really a true friend as Miranda had said. It was strange to see. Even Nigel didn't have the power that this woman did. Or maybe Nigel just didn't have the balls that the woman in front of her did. Either way, it was odd to watch. Normally Miranda would have torn into a person by now with her usual icy fierceness, but all she was doing was stewing.
"Oh, Martha, enough." Miranda rolled her eyes. "These antics are never funny."
Dr. Jones smirked. "I think they are pretty damn funny and if you didn't find some grain of truth in them we both know you'd have been all over me. Don't think I don't know how to read between the lines of your stories."
Miranda huffed again and sat back in her chair.
"Now, Liz tells me you've been experiencing an increase in fatigue, nausea and vomiting in the morning hours, weight gain, and spells of dizziness?" And just like that the woman was in business mode.
Andy nodded. "Yes."
The doctor pursed her lips. "Your blood pressure was completely within normal range, if a little on the low side, that could explain the dizziness, but not the other symptoms. Unbutton your shirt please so I can listen around."
Andy complied and unbuttoned it as quickly as possible. She glanced over at Miranda but glanced away again just as quickly. Miranda had seen more than enough half naked women for this to be a nonissue for her. Andy just had to act like it wasn't an issue for her and everything would be fine. Even if it was slightly freaking her out just a bit. But then again who wouldn't be a little weirded out sitting in the same room as their boss with their shirt unbuttoned?
The doctor listened to her heart and lungs as soon as Andy had complied. Next she had Andy lie back and gently probed different areas of her abdomen. She stepped back after that and looked down at the chart she had.
"You can button up your shirt again, Andy. I don't feel anything abnormal that would indicate any kind of irritation of the digestive system. Everything reads as quite normal, really. Your last sexual encounter was two months ago?"
Again Andy nodded. There was no way she was speaking up at that instant. Sure, Miranda already knew, but this was just a whole new level of awkward.
"And the only form of birth control you were using was a condom, not the pill."
"No, I have some interesting reactions to most birth control."
The doctor nodded along. "Alright, since everything is reading as normal, the most likely thing is that you are indeed pregnant, but I'll run a full round of blood tests on you just to make sure it isn't something else as well as a urine test."
Andy sighed and tried to control her heart rate. She really didn't like needles, but in this case it was necessary and not something like a flu shot so she was going to have to tolerate it.
"Ok, um, I'm kind of freaked out by needles so…" she trailed off.
Dr. Jones nodded. "I'll send Liz back in then. She's the best one in the office."
Andy sagged just a little bit. "Thank you."
"If you do happen to be pregnant, you'll need to come back for another appointment of course. We'll discuss the options you have then." She looked over Andy carefully for a few seconds. "Free of charge of course. I love racking up dinners that Miranda here has to pay for." She smiled at Andy kindly. "Now, if you'll follow me we can get the urine test out of the way."
Andy followed her obediently and went through all the tests required. Liz had come back in and stuck her with a needle and taken her blood before she had even realized what was happening. The woman was very good. Even so Andy had shaken just a little after Liz had left with four tubes of her blood. She really did not like needles.
Miranda had been by her side in a second, rubbing her back again. "The twins aren't fond of needles either. They say this helps."
It did. But mostly the oddness of the whole situation took her mind off of things and helped the most. Andy would take whatever worked.
They walked out together again and into the car. Andy sunk down into the leather of the Benz and sighed. It was over for now. It would be a couple days before the lab work came back and until then Andy could forget this was happening for a day or two. It wasn't like a couple days would really make a difference now. Whatever choices she had would still be there in three days. She would still be just as trapped, really. She had no money to keep the kid if she was pregnant and she had no money to have an abortion either. God, even if she did, did she want one? She didn't know. It might be better for her in the long run, and it a weird was, for the kid as well. If she didn't have the money to support it and give it what it needed then it was probably better off not being born.
She massaged her temples this was so not what she wanted to be thinking of right now. She was going to not think about it for a few days. That's what she had told herself. And it had been minutes and she couldn't do it.
"Honestly, that woman," Miranda shook her head.
Andy looked up at her.
"Her bedside manner has always been atrocious. She's far too loose with her tongue at times as well." Miranda huffed and stabbed the keys of her Blackberry like she was murdering it.
Andy looked over her face carefully. Miranda was being her normal huffy and indignant self, but something was off. Her facial expression wasn't quite right. If she had to guess, Miranda might actually be…amused? under everything.
"I only keep her around because she's the best private practice doctor in the city."
Andy almost said something to the tune of she didn't believe the woman, but instead she went for, "I'm sure, Miranda." And if there was a little bit of laughter in her voice then who could blame her. For all the ice the woman exuded it looked like there might be something downright warm and syrupy underneath.
Miranda, for her part, picked up on the disbelief instantly and glared at Andy. Andy was cowed enough to shut her mouth, but she couldn't quite wipe the remnants of a smile off her face. She spent the rest of the ride wondering just what kind of friendship the two women really had and wondering just how much of the fashion industry would die if they knew Miranda had a true friend who didn't work in fashion.
Roy stopped in front of her apartment twenty minutes later. Andy moved to get out but a hand on her shoulder stopped her.
"I want to see you no earlier than nine in the morning tomorrow, Andrea. I will take care of Emily and anyone else that need be."
Andy nodded and hesitated for a second. Miranda hated to be thanked and she knew that, but in this situation she felt like it was truly deserved. "Thank you."
Miranda just stared at her for a long moment. "You're welcome. Tomorrow then, Andrea, that's all."
Andy had to hold back a laugh at the normal dismissal. It sounded almost…affectionate wasn't the right word, but warmer than the normal order. Things were so very different and yet the same. She didn't know what was happening. Then again, when had she since she came to the city.
She waved goodbye and climbed up to her apartment and promptly changed into sweat pants and tank top and fell into bed. It didn't matter for now.
