I don't own The Devil Wears Prada

They met up in London. Emily took time off from work and left her husband in New York, and Andy chose to end her book tour in London so that she could spend some uninterrupted time with Emily. She would meet up with her stepdaughters and wife later in the summer, but this trip was not about her family. It was early July and Andy and Emily had plans to spend time watching Wimbledon and running around town as if they weren't actually married to other people.

Andy had told Miranda about her plans to spend time with Emily, and Emily had notified Raymond of her intent to spend part of her holiday with Andy. Miranda knew Andy and Emily would be in London at the same time, and Raymond was intelligent enough to find out about it if he just bothered to read the news or watch television. There was no point in lying about what they would do. There was nothing inherently suspicious about two friends taking a vacation together.

If Raymond felt badly about his wife abandoning him and instead bringing her best friend with her to spend time at her family's home then he said nothing about it. He was intent on following Miranda's lead and felt that if Miranda was okay with it then he should be as well. He had to trust that it was normal for Emily to go off to London to spend time with her best friend though they only lived less than ten miles apart in New York, and could spend as much time together as they liked within country.

Emily accompanied Andy to the various media interviews she had been scheduled for, and Andy spent time with Emily and her family. They shared a hotel suite and made a home together in it. They didn't talk about their spouses or the lives that they would have to return to. Their only focus was on each other.

The whole experience was wonderful, but it was risky, shamefully risky. Andy was just famous enough to be recognized and Emily was peripherally famous for her own contributions to the world of fashion. Paparazzi weren't following them around or anything as absurd as that; they weren't that interesting, but they were known. They shouldn't have been leaning into each other in public, holding hands, whispering intimately in each other's ears, or making out in the dark corners of world famous boutiques, because it was entirely possible that they would be noticed and that rumors would start.

But, if they didn't take the risks then they would never be together. Being together had always been risky, and that was just a fact they had chosen to live with. There would always be a chance they would be found out. They each accepted that and knowingly chose to go to places where they could be recognized.

They simply remained focused on enjoying their week together, and lived in a bubble until their last night together crept up on them. Emily went with Andy to the taping of another political talk show appearance, and then they had a romantic dinner at a small out of the way restaurant Emily had discovered in her youth. They fed each other off of their own plates and drank too much wine, and the more they drank the quieter Emily got. The less they laughed and the more reality began to intrude on the life they had created.

Eventually, they decided to return to the hotel, cancelling their plans to meet up with a couple they had met on their first night together when they had gone out to a bar. The couple thought that they were married, and weren't interested enough in American politics or fashion to recognize either of them. They reinforced the illusion Andy and Emily had created but could not sustain.

"You're starting to depress me," Andy said as she slid the access key into their hotel room's door.

"We've got to end this, don't we?" Emily asked, stepping past her lover so that she could enter their room.

"What do you mean?" Andy softly shut the door behind them and then threw her purse on the overpriced couch in the overpriced suite they had rented, knowing full well that a conversation had been brewing between them ever since they had laid eyes on each other in London and that it was finally being unleashed.

"Let's face it, Love, we can't do this forever."

Andy took a seat, knowing it was in her best interest to do so. "No, but I never thought either of us intended to do it forever."

Emily sat down next to Andy, deciding to be close to her lover though they were creating a necessary gap between them. "I'm tired of breaking your heart, and quite honestly I'm tired of you breaking mine."

"We've done this before," Andy needlessly pointed out. Their most recent breakup had been immediately after Emily's wedding. They had intended on just remaining friends, and had done a good job of it until Emily had shown up at Andy's birthday party with a ring as a gift. The whole London trip had really been sort of their honeymoon. Andy knew she should have expected it to be their divorce as well. "I don't see the point in doing it again."

"No," Emily conceded, "there's no point." She took a deep intake of breath, not bothering to release it until finally admitting what she had been silently holding onto ever since her plane had landed. "I'm moving back to London."

"Because of your father?" Andy tucked her arm around Emily drawing them closer together. She had always known there was a chance Emily would finally decide to move half way across the world to get away from her.

"Partly." The man had been on the verge of death for the last year but stubbornly refused to die. Though, it was obvious from their most recent visit that he was beginning to lose his battle.

"And Raymond?" He was head over heels in love with Emily and Andy knew he would follow her to the ends of the world, but that didn't mean Emily wanted him to. Their marriage was new and could easily be broken even if Andy doubted a simple word from her could still break it. Emily probably hadn't intended for it happen, but Andy noticed that her lover had begun to rely more and more on Raymond. He was slowly but surely replacing her, and she hated him for it.

"He'll move with me of course." Emily wiped at her face, brushing away tears that hadn't even fallen. "I'll be transferring to British Runway."

Andy stiffened. "Miranda knew about this?"

"Of course she knew," Emily looked into Andy's eyes. "She actually suggested it when I told her about my father. She said it could be a temporary move, if I wished it to be."

It was an uncharacteristic gesture from Miranda to be sure, but Emily hadn't doubted her motives. They had spent time together over the years, and Emily knew Miranda, on some level, actually cared for her. They weren't friends but they did have a sort of acquaintanceship that made them more than just coworkers.

"She didn't tell me about it." Andy pulled away from Emily. "She intentionally didn't tell me about it."

"Well it's not really her thing to tell, is it?" Emily gave up on sitting and stood again. She crossed the room, instantly surrendering to the fact that they would be ending their night with a fight, but she supposed it was better that they fought. Fighting was less heartbreaking than making love, once again like it would be their last time.

"She still should have told me." Andy brushed her hair out of her face. "Hell, you should have told me."

"I am telling you." Emily defended herself.

"It's our last night together." Andy stood as well, no longer comfortable with being the only one calmly sitting. She felt the need to move around, since she knew anything she said wouldn't change any of Emily's decisions. She never did have that power. She couldn't stop Emily from staying at Runway, couldn't stop her from getting married, and there was no way she could stop her lover from moving to London.

"It's the appropriate time to tell you, then," Emily snottily replied suddenly becoming the woman who haughtily walked down the hallways of Runway.

"Then I suppose it's just as appropriate to tell you now that Miranda and I want to have a child." Andy spitefully confessed.

Emily narrowed her eyes. "Then congratulations. You'll make an excellent mother. You're already fantastic with the girls."

Andy stumbled. "That's not what you're supposed to say."

Emily sighed and then crossed her arms in front of her. "Tell me, Andy, what am I supposed to say?"

"I thought we were fighting," Andy childishly admitted. "You're supposed to say something degrading."

"Yes well," Emily dropped her arms and eased her tense stance. "I've decided I don't want to fight."

Andy looked down at her right hand, where she was still wearing Emily's ring. "You still want me to wear this?" She let the fight go, not really wanting to participate in it either. She simply didn't have the energy anymore.

Emily closed the distance between them. She grabbed onto Andy's hand, and ran her thumb across the ring she had had custom made for her lover. She had labored over every single detail, not caring what it costs to make it perfect. She had even bothered to risk getting it engraved with the words, "partner in crime". It was a simple phrase that Miranda could read and not instantly doubt.

"I don't know," Emily didn't hesitate in voicing her uncertainty. Despite all the care she put into getting the ring, she had known that it was ultimately a bad idea. They couldn't actually carry on with a secret marriage, but for a moment after she had given Andy the ring, they had been able to live in a fairy tale. They had been able to carry it on in London, and Emily was able to bring Andy home to her family.

"Miranda would notice." And then Andy would have to explain why she had suddenly decided to take off the ring she hadn't taken off since Emily had given it to her.

Emily softly laughed. "And so would I." She didn't really want Andy to take it off, because it was the only thing that signified that their relationship was real or had even existed at all. They had always refrained from buying each other something that intimate.

"Then I won't take it off." It was an easy promise to make. She didn't want to take it off. The fairy tale obviously wasn't real, but she could at least look down at her ring and believe in that moment that it had been real. She could pretend that she had the life that she actually wanted instead of a marriage she had naively procured.

They stayed staring at each other, neither really having anything else to say. They had this same conversation at least a hundred times before. It always started and ended the same way. Their declarations would be made and then they would carry on with their individual lives as if there was some sort of burn ban in effect that they were supposed to wait out until it was safe for them to once again risk starting a fire. Neither of them brought up that the ban effects seemed to be growing longer and the time spent together shorter. They didn't mention that Emily had never actually bothered to move to a different country before or that Andy was making long term plans with her wife that she had kept from making for years.

So instead of ending the conversation properly and talking about all the things they needed to settle, they fell into bed together. They made love like it would once again be their last time. They told each other they loved each other, though neither of them was completely sure what the words meant anymore. And when the morning came, Emily gathered up her things and then left without saying goodbye while Andy took a shower.

After she left, she called Miranda and formally announced her wish to be transferred to the London office. If Miranda thought it odd that Emily was calling so early in the morning, she said nothing about it. She asked surprisingly few questions and simply stated that she would arrange everything. Emily ended the conversation with a mumbled thank you and then took off towards her family home where she could tend to her wounded heart, yet again.

And when Andy finally exited the shower and found her lover had slipped out into the early morning, she didn't try and bother to call her back. Instead, she called her wife and told her how much she missed and loved her. Miranda didn't mention Emily's call, and Andy didn't bring up any involvement her wife might have had in Emily's move to London. She just wanted to focus on loving Miranda more, now that she would be forcing herself into loving Emily less.