Chapter 7
Andrea "Andy" Sachs was having the most pleasant dream. She was having dinner with her former boss which was not unusual. The two had dinner four or five times a month since they had reconnected a few months ago. They had easily transitioned into good friends but this dinner was different because it was their first after, "the kiss."
It happened after a particularly good evening at Miranda's townhouse with the girls. Andy was lying on the floor listening to music while Miranda worked. It had become a tradition for Andy to put on music while Miranda worked. That night she decided to last to lie on her back like she use to do as a kid. She was pleasantly surprised when Miranda chose to join her on the expensive plush rug. They talked and joked and laughed for what felt like hours. Andy lit up when one of her favorite songs came on and without a thinking, she got up and pulled Miranda along with her to dance. Miranda, not surprisingly, was a great dancer. They danced to a few songs before a slow song came on. Andy expected that would be the end but was surprised when Miranda deftly slipped into her arms. They swayed together for a few minutes bodies touching like never before. Andy was shocked when Mirada gently laid her head onto her shoulder as they continued to move together. They stayed like that, gently swaying through the next few songs before Andy finally got the courage to lower her head and capture the gorgeous woman's lips. The kiss had been sweet and welcomed by both women.
After, "the kiss," they continued dancing for a while before Andy realized how late it was. They both had to work the next day so they reluctantly ended one of the best evenings of Andy's life. Now they were sitting in a public restaurant staring at each other waiting for the other to start what both knew was to be a very meaningful conversation.
Andy was pulled out of her dream before she could relive that conversation which she regretted, but another part felt like there was somewhere else she needed to be. For long moments she fought her way through the gloom until finally, she had the strength to open her eyes. The first thing Andy noticed was a head full of familiar dark hair was resting on her leg. The next thing she noticed was a lot of things hurt. Instead of focusing on the pain she decided to try to figure out what was happening right now.
She scanned the room with her eyes as she was still unwilling to test moving her head in any particular direction. She quickly realized that she must be in a hospital. She could not see anyone else in the room other than the woman laying on her leg but facing the other direction.
Assuming she would have some answers she attempted to get the woman's attention but her voice failed her.
She took in a deep breath then tried again, "Mom," came out with enough strength behind it to get the woman's attention.
Ellen's head immediately sprang up at the sound of her daughter's raspy voice. She turned and looked at the almost comical confusion on her daughter's face. Miranda too was jolted out of her contemplation at the sound of her wife's voice. She quickly stood up and moved toward the love of her life. Ellen was glad she was watching her daughter because she caught the transformation from scared and confused to loved and safe once Miranda came into view. Miranda took Andrea's hand and squeezed it gently projecting a sense of calm knowing it would do no good for Andrea's blood pressure to spike.
Ellen would have been surprised to realize that Miranda had picked up the strong intuition that she and Andrea both possessed. She had long ago realized that Andrea could so easily pick up on people's moods and that the ability was strongest among the small circle of people that were lucky enough to be loved by her. So now she used Andrea's gift by projecting not just calm, but love and reassurance. Everything would be alright with Miranda here, she would not let anything else bad happen was the cornerstone of the unspoken message.
Andy immediately felt better knowing that Miranda was here with her. She managed to croak out, "how are the girls."
"They will be better once I've phoned to tell them that you have regained consciousness," Miranda replied.
Miranda's statement and her mother's presence suggested that she had been gone for a little while.
"How long have I been out," she rasped.
Miranda still squeezing her hand responded, "the better part of three days."
Before Andy could respond her mother was up and offering her some ice chips. She used them to partially rehydrate her mouth then looked at her mother who grabbed her other hand. She was surprised to see her mother reach her free hand to Miranda and even more surprised when Miranda immediately clasped it creating a little family circle. She realized that she had apparently missed much in the last three days. She was about to comment when an attractive well-dressed doctor walked into the room.
"How are you feeling ?" Anna asked upon entering.
"Like I was run over by a bus," Andy replied and immediately regretted the flippant remark when she caught the look of pain that briefly appeared on her wife's face.
"That is to be expected you were in a pretty nasty accident," Anna informed her patient.
"'I'm Dr. Anna Stern, but you can call me Anna," she said as she belatedly introduced herself.
"Please call me Andy," her patient replied.
Anna took a few minutes to explain her injuries, medical treatment, and the steps necessary for her to make a full recovery. The younger woman took everything in stride which did not surprise Anna as she seemed to be mentally tough. She guessed mental toughness was a prerequisite to court and marry Miranda Priestly.
"Do you have any questions, Andy?" Anna asked.
Andy did, "what about my memory?"
Anna asked, "what is the last thing that you remember?"
"Packing for my trip to Ohio is the last clear memory that I have."
Miranda added, "that was seven days ago."
Anna spoke up, "that is not unusual for your type of injury."
"Chances are good that you will recover at least some of those memories," she concluded.
Andy asked a few more questions focused on getting back on her feet.
Anna told Andy about the needed surgery and the rehab process then excused herself to continue her rounds.
Before she could turn to leave the room Ellen approached and pulled her aside. Andy could not hear what her mother was saying to Anna but she was surprised when she saw Anna reach into a pocket and produce a keychain and hand it over to her mother. She looked at Miranda with a raised eyebrow silently asking her, "WTF?" Miranda's eye roll let her know that there was a story that she would get later. The other two women finished their conversation as Anna left the room.
Ellen turned back into the room to see two sets of eyes staring back at her. She could feel the blush start at her neck and begin working its way up.
"I am helping Anna with a little project," she said knowing that she needed to do a lot of explaining before she announced her plans to move closer to her daughter.
Ellen walked over to her daughter's bed and spoke softly, "I read your letters."
She could feel the conflicting emotions coming from her daughter in waves of anger, disgust, sadness, love, and regret all mixed together.
Before her daughter could speak Ellen continued, "I know I messed up Andy, I should have trusted you to live your life."
Tears were running down mother and daughters cheeks as Andy spoke next, "you hurt me Ma, do you have any idea how much it hurt to be rejected by your own mother."
"Afterwards, I promised myself that if I ever had children that I would never do to them what you and Dad did to me."
Miranda squeezed her wife's hand silently lending all the support she could give.
"Thanks to this woman I now have three wonderful daughters and I will keep my promise to never cut them out of my life no matter what."
Ellen could feel her daughters emotion coalescing towards anger and knew she had to speak from her heart.
"I'm divorcing your father."
That simple statement stopped Andy in her tracks. She knew full well how much her mother loved her father and always would. Andy suspected somewhere deep inside that the alienation between them had been a result of her mother having to make an near impossible choice between daughter and husband. It did not make her feel any less rejected and hurt but at least she understood the difficult position her mother was in at the time.
"When did this happen?" Andy asked her mother.
"I moved out a few weeks ago."
Andy was suddenly furious with her father, "Why would you move out you are more entitled to that house than he is."
Ellen felt a little ray of hope at her daughter's reaction.
"I wanted a clean break and I had a feeling that I would be leaving Ohio," Ellen offered.
Miranda, of course, knew of Ellen's plans to relocate to New York but was surprised to hear that the plan pre-dated Andrea's accident. Andy looked at her mother expectantly.
Ellen took a deep breath unsure of what her daughter's reaction would be.
"I am going back to medical school."
"Back to medical school?" Andy asked.
Ellen explained her choice to leave medical school and why she never mentioned it to her daughter. After she finished Andy squeezed her mother's hand. She had no idea that her mother had chosen her over a career in medicine. Ellen cleared her throat trying to hold back a new round of tears.
She wanted to move things forward so she said, "I have a meeting with the Dean of Admissions at Columbia University at the end of next week."
Andy looked at Miranda and asked, "did you arrange for that meeting?"
Before Miranda could speak, Ellen said, "the Dean is an old friend of Anna's mother."
Andy was starting to see a pattern here, "So what little project requires you to have a key to the doctor's apartment?" Andy asked.
As her mother began to blush, Andy realized that her strong intuition with her mother was starting to return.
"Anna is moving back to New York and Miranda has asked her to return two weeks ahead of schedule to continue your care."
"So I volunteered to coordinate moving her things along with mine."
"Why is she moving to New York?" Andy asked her mother.
"She's originally from New York but moved down here to marry her wife."
"She died a little over a year ago and now she wants a fresh start.
"A fresh start with you," Andy speculated in her head but decided to keep to herself.
Her mother had apparently caught the unsaid thought as she began another round of blushing causing Andy to think that the feelings might just be mutual.
Ellen returned back to the subject at hand as she said, "I am sorry Andy, I should not have let anything come between us."
"If you give me the chance, I will do whatever it takes to make it up to you."
"And with both of their mothers' blessing, I would like to get to know all three of my granddaughters."
Miranda knew her wife well enough to know she would be touched by the inclusion of the twins in her mother's list of granddaughters. Andy was a little choked up that her mother had claimed Caroline and Cassidy along with Madi as part of her family. She did not feel any differently about the twins than she did about Madi they were all her daughters and always would be.
She nodded her assent and was gently enfolded in a hug by her mother. They both knew that there was work to be done to fully heal the rift between them but for now this was enough. Ellen released her daughter and told both daughters, because that is what they both were now, that she was meeting the moving company at Anna's apartment so she would give them some time alone and be back later.
The women said their goodbyes then Andy turned to Miranda and indicated that she should join her on the bed. She had not forgotten the look of pain on Miranda's face when she had made that dumb joke about being hit by a bus. She knew Miranda well enough to know she would be strong for everyone else but she was and had been hurting. She also knew that it was her job to start taking that hurt away.
Miranda sat tentatively on the edge of the bed not wanting to cause her any pain but Andy had a different plan and gently pulled Miranda down placing her silver head onto her shoulder and said, "It's ok, I am ok."
That is all it took for the dam to break and Miranda began to sob into Andy's neck.
"I was so scared of losing you," she whispered.
Andy felt so guilty for causing Miranda and her family so much pain but she put that feeling aside, for now, to concentrate on making it better for her wife.
"It's ok baby, I've got you," she whispered back and squeezed her tighter.
Miranda moved fully on to the bed and continued to cry as Andy rubbed her back and encouraged her to let it all out. Andy thought most people would be surprised to know that Miranda Priestly ever cried in her life, but they did not know her Miranda. Her wife cared deeply for her and their girls and would move mountains for any and all of them. Andy knew that her depth of emotions meant that the last three days would have been hell on earth. She vowed she would do her best not to have this happen again.
"Of course knowing what happened would help," She thought.
She just realized that Miranda had fallen asleep when a memory of the accident started for form in her mind. Before she could make any sense of the little snippet of memory, she joined Miranda in sleep.
AN: I really like this chapter as it begins to show Miranda's softer side and the depth of connection between the two women. Hope you all enjoy and your comments are always appreciated.
