"Are you sure Andrea?" Miranda was concerned. "I don't like the idea of you being alone."

Andy nodded. "I know, but I think it's best this way." She raked her fingers through her hair and ran her hands down her Chanel dress. "I'll go first, and…break the news to them…um… kinda gently?" She shrugged. "Then if they react okay, you can come to the house and meet them."

Caroline watched Andy closely and spoke up. "They aren't going to be mean to you are they?"

Cassidy wanted to know too. "It sounds like you think they're going to be mean."

Andy let out a slow breath. "I don't know what they are going to do. That's the point." She smiled and bent slightly as the girls rushed to give her a hug.

"Don't go then!" Cassidy held on tightly.

Caroline agreed. "Yes, just stay with us here."

"I love you guys so much." Andy knelt to look the girls in the eyes. "But I love my parents too, and I want them to be happy for me because I've found such a great family. So I'm going to go first and tell them all about you. Then you guys can come and meet them, and we'll all have lunch together there," she glanced at Miranda, then resumed her eye contact with the girls. "If they are mean to me after I tell them about you and your Mom…then I'll leave and we can go have lunch somewhere and decide what to do next." She hugged them. "They may not be mean to me though, they might not be mean until you guys and your Mom get there. If that's the case, if they are mean to you… we leave immediately. Okay?"

"Okay Andy. We love you no matter what." Cassidy knew Andy was worried. She could hear it in her voice. She wondered if she would be when she eventually brought the person she loved to meet Miranda and Andy. Somehow, she didn't think she would be.

Caroline smoothed out the lines on Andy's forehead with her small hand. "It's okay, Andy. We'll still be your family even if they don't want to be anymore."

Andy hugged the girls tightly, then stood and faced Miranda; unshed tears in both their eyes.

"I'm beginning to think this wasn't such a good idea." Miranda brushed Andy's bangs away from her forehead and placed a gentle kiss on the space she created. "You look lovely."

With a deep breath Andy smiled at the compliment. "I'll call you when I know something."

"Caroline is correct." Miranda wrapped her arms around her young partner. "We will always be family, your family."

Nodding, Andy held Miranda's cheek gently in her hand and leaned forward to press their lips together. It was meant to be a light pressure, but as soon as their lips touched it was electric, and she needed more. Deepening the kiss, Andy poured all she had into it, love, need, tenderness, passion, everything she was into that moment of contact as though there would never be another.

Miranda closed her eyes and realized what was happening. Andy was going to do something that would change her, in a fundamental way. No matter what happened at her parent's house, Andrea would be changed; much like a sword thrust into the coals, once tempered by fire it may harden under the smith's hammer, or shatter. Miranda hoped the parents would not break the heart she held so dear. "I'm only a phone call away."

"I'll talk to you soon." Andy kissed Miranda on the cheek and ruffled the girls' curly red hair on the way out the door. She looked back once at Miranda flanked by the girls, standing at the top of the steps leading to the porch. With a deep breath she turned, entered the car and gave the driver her parents' address. Closing her eyes she laid her head back on the seat, not wanting to look over her shoulder at the family she felt she was leaving behind.

"Something is wrong Richard." The woman looked at the clock and wrung her hands together.

"Now Dottie, you're just worrying over nothing again." He pushed some long graying hair away from her shoulder. "She said 'around noon' right?"

"Uh… Mom." Chad moved away from his post at the front window. "I um… think she's here."

They gathered on the porch and gaped at the long black car pulling up in front of their house. When the glamorous woman emerged from the limousine, they could only stare as she dismissed the car and walked up the sidewalk, heels clicking on the concrete.

"Holy shit, Sis!" Chad jumped down the steps and enveloped Andy in a hug. "You look awesome." He gave her a comical leering grin. "If you weren't my sister, I'd totally hit on you."

"Hey, little brother," Andy laughed as she had to look up at him. "Like you'd have a chance with me." They were so different, he with his light hair and sky blue eyes, her with her dark hair and dark brown eyes, but they were without a doubt, siblings. She gave him a narrow eyed look that morphed into a grin. "What are you doing home? Flunk out of college already?"

His grin widened and opened his arms in a gesture of freedom. "Spring break, Baby."

She rolled her eyes. "Please don't call me Baby." She shifted her attention to her parents and self-consciously pushed some hair behind her ear. "Um… hi."

"Hi Darlin'." Richard opened his arms as Andy climbed the steps to the porch. "You okay?"

Andy spent a moment in her father's embrace. "I'm fine, Daddy. Better than fine." She moved away from the man when her mother spoke quietly.

"Andy."

"Hi Ma." She hugged the woman. "It's good to see you." They had talked on the phone at least once a week since she'd moved to New York, but they hadn't seen each other in nearly two years. She was a little surprised to see her mother's graying hair, and lined face, but the attitude was the same and she wasn't surprised when the woman squeezed her arms and admonished her. "You're so thin! Have you had lunch yet?"

"Dottie," Richard warned.

"S'okay Dad." Andy laughed, as if one meal was suddenly going to fatten her up to her mother's satisfaction. "No, no lunch yet. I thought we might talk a little first."

"You said you wanted us to meet someone?" Dottie glanced back where the car had been. "He didn't come with you?"

"Let's go inside and sit." Andy gestured them all into the house, grateful for her brother's arm around her waist as they walked inside her childhood home.

Once they were all seated, Andy took a deep breath, cleared her throat but really had no clue where to start. "I don't really know where to begin."

Chad chimed in. "So your dude is rich and famous? The limo was kinda a gimme on that, Sis."

Andy nodded. "Rich, yes. Famous, in some circles…" She hesitated then took the opportunity. "But, not…not a 'dude'."

"Of course not!" Dottie scolded her son. "Show some respect for the man, Chad, really!"

"Um… no Ma, that's not what I meant," Andy forged ahead. "I mean…" She saw her Dad pale slightly and reach out to hold her Mom's hand. "I mean, I don't think she would appreciate being called 'dude'." Andy winced and thought, So much for breaking it to them gently.

"She?!" Chad's eyes nearly fell out of his skull. A minute later he was barely stopping himself from falling out of his chair laughing. "Oh my God… you're with a woman?"

"Chad!" Dottie was not laughing. "This is not funny at all."

"Sure it is, Mom, it's hilarious." He wiped the tears from his eyes and reached over to hug his sister. "I hope you guys are really happy."

"Thanks." She exhaled in relief. "We are… we really are."

"Dottie…" Richard jumped as his wife stood up quickly and left the room as fast as she could. "Dottie!" He went after her to try and calm both himself and his wife down a bit, before they spoke to their daughter again.

---------------

He found her in the kitchen, sitting at the table with her head resting on the hard surface.

"Dot?" He put his hand on her back gently. "I…"

"It's so impossible," Dottie whispered. "Our daughter…with a…"

"I know," Richard felt his stomach churning, "unbelievable. I would have never imagine someone could twist her mind like that."

"How could we have let this happen?" Dot was beside herself with worry. What if the people at church find out?

Richard nearly growled. "I just want to grab her and lock her in her room until she realizes what a mistake she's making! Maybe if she had time to think she'd come to her senses."

"You can't do that, Dad." Andy stood in the doorway, tears beginning to form in her eyes. She'd heard enough to know how disappointed her parents were, how 'twisted' they thought she was and didn't want to hear any more. "You know as well as I do that is unlawful restraint." She tried to smile at his shock. "I was accepted into Stanford Law school… remember?"

"I remember." Richard sighed. "I was so proud… we could have opened a firm together."

Dorothy was openly crying now. "This is such a huge mistake. Why, Andy? Why would you hurt us like this?"

"Hurt you?" Andy shook her head. "I'm in love. Don't you want me to be happy?"

"Of course we do!" Richard shuddered. "You just need to pick someone else to be happy with."

"Someone else…" Andy clenched her jaw. "You mean someone male."

"Of course that's what we mean!" Dottie raised her voice. "Someone appropriate!"

"Dot…" Richard began hoping to calm the woman down somewhat.

"There is no one else for me." Andy replied to the previous comment and moved to pat the man on the shoulder. She knew how much he hated confrontations. It had always been Mom that dealt with conflicts in the family. "S'okay, Dad. Let me talk to her." Andy smiled as her shocked father slowly left the kitchen.

"Ma?"

"Andy…" Dottie wiped her eyes, shook her head and reached over a whole loaf of Italian bread to grab a package of regular white bread. She placed it on the counter and stared at it for several minutes. "I just don't understand this."

Andy sat at the breakfast bar, across from the upset woman. She wanted to hug her, but knew from experience that was one thing her mother didn't like to do when she was upset. "I know. I don't understand it sometimes myself, but I love her, Ma." Running her fingers through her hair she explained. "We wanted to tell you guys in person, because, very soon the press is going to get the story and have a feeding frenzy."

"Is…she so newsworthy?" Dottie couldn't imagine who her daughter might be…with that would be so important.

"Some people think so." Andy sighed. "It's going to be splashed all across the tabloids for sure, but before that I'm going to let The Mirror have the exclusive, I'm going to write the article myself to ensure that the information is correct, at least once." She waited several minutes for her mother's response.

"Why?" She studied her daughter carefully. "Why would you put yourself through that?"

Andy shrugged. "She's worth it."

"So are you going to tell me who she is?" Dottie continued to gather ingredients for lunch sandwiches.

"Yes." Andy exhaled slowly. "It's Miranda…. Miranda Priestly."

The jar of mayo slipped from her mother's fingers, bouncing on the floor along with the rest of the sandwich fillers.

"WHAT?!!"

Richard burst back into the kitchen, Chad on his heels. "What is going on in here?"

"Mom dropped some stuff." Andy gestured to the mess she was helping pick up. "I should have waited to tell her a name until she put this all down."

"A name?" Richard rubbed his shaky wife's back, wishing he didn't have to deal with this situation at all. "Are you okay?"

Dottie shook her head and glared at Andy. "Tell him."

"The person I'm seeing… it's, Miranda. Miranda Priestly."

"Oh my God… but she… you were…" Richard started to become angry. Anger was good; it meant he didn't have to think about his daughter and… "She treated you like dirt!"

"No… she didn't." Andy knew she'd never be able to explain it to her parents, to anyone really. "Trust me, even though when I worked for her there were times she was cold… it was just…" Andy shrugged. "Just trust me…"

"Wow… way to go Anna Nicole, you got a rich one with one foot in the grave."

Andy whirled on her brother. "Don't you EVER say that again."

"Whoa," he held up his hands in defense. "I was just joking."

"That's not funny." Andy shook her head against the very idea. "Besides, I wouldn't get anything, I don't want anything… I'm sure her daughters will split whatever she wants them to."

Dottie held on to the edge of the counter. "Daughters?"

Andy nodded. "Caroline and Cassidy, twins." Andy smiled as the image of the girls entered her mind. "They're great."

Richard gritted his teeth and again reminded her of her days as an assistant; back when she was still the daughter he knew. "You said they were monsters."

"They weren't very nice to me when I was an assistant… but they aren't nice to any of the assistants…" It was her turn to remind her parents that her job had changed. "But I haven't been Miranda's assistant for well over a year."

"I want to meet her." Dottie's tone left no room for argument.

"That was the plan." Andy nodded and pulled the phone from the purse she hadn't bothered to take off of her shoulder. "But I'm telling you right now, if anything is said to upset Miranda or the children, we are leaving." Silence greeted that statement and Andy took it as acceptance. She dialed the phone and only had to wait one ring before it was answered.

"Are you alright?" Miranda's voice was anxious although she was trying to mask it.

Andy smiled because she could almost picture Miranda's face as she heard the words in her ear. "Yes, I'm fine. I've broken the news to them, and now I think it's a good time for you to come on over." She grinned into the phone. "Ma's going to make sandwiches for lunch."

"We'll be there in ten minutes."

"But it takes…" Andy laughed as she realized. "You're already on your way, aren't you?"

"Yes," Miranda couldn't stop her voice from softening. "I thought it had been long enough, I didn't want you to be alone anymore."

Andy closed her eyes, ignoring the fact that her parents and her brother were watching her. "I love you."

Miranda chuckled. "Did your parents just hear you say that?"

"Yes."

"I love you too, Andrea." Miranda winked at the girls sitting across from her, rolling their eyes. "We'll be there soon."

"Okay, see ya then." Andy reluctantly ended the call. "Bye." She closed the phone after Miranda had also said goodbye. "They are on their way, it won't be long."

"Great." Dottie continued her lunch preparations, but knowing the others wouldn't be here for a while decided to just get the ingredients ready. She would actually assemble the sandwiches after this…woman, arrived and put the bread away until it was needed. "I have a few things to say to her."

"I meant it when I said we'd leave." Andy warned her mother. "I love you, but I love Miranda and the girls too."

"You would choose them over us?" Dottie was certain that wasn't true until Andy's immediate and definite response.

"Yes."

Richard heard the response, but didn't believe it for a second. Andy is my daughter, he thought. My family.

Andy was waiting on the porch for Miranda's arrival. Her brother was sitting on the swing with her.

"You know Mom's just… being Mom… right?"

"Yeah, I guess so," she pressed her lips together for a moment. "Dad's being kinda…quiet."

"Yeah," Chad nodded. "I noticed that."

Andy shook her head. "One of the main reasons I was so scared to tell them was that I didn't know how they'd react." She ran her fingers through her hair. "I never know how they are going to react, to anything."

"Yeah, they can be weird." Chad shrugged. "But they aren't usually psycho or anything."

"Psycho like Dad saying he wanted to lock me in my room until I come to my senses?" Andy ran her fingers through her hair. "That sounds pretty psycho to me."

"Uh…yeah." Chad shook his head. "But he didn't do it…so that's a plus."

"Is that why you want to be a psychiatrist? Because our parents are so weird?" Andy laughed at the logic of that.

"It's one reason." He shrugged. "I have some of my own issues to deal with too."

"Right…" She hugged herself and rubbed her arms with her hands. "Why do I feel like such a kid when I'm here?"

"That's natural." He cleared his throat. "Um… speaking of feeling like a kid…" He looked at his sister. "Isn't Miranda kinda…"

"Don't say it." She held up her hand. "I will forgive you the inappropriate joke when you first heard the news, but I'm not going to sit here and discuss your bias when it comes to older women."

"But Andy, she could be…" He stopped at her upturned hand.

"…my mother?" Andy questioned, angrily. "Honestly? I don't care… you want the truth? She's actually older than Mom is… there are twenty-five years between our ages, and I don't care. I love her, Chad and she loves me. That is the only thing that matters to me." She had become increasingly tense while speaking to her brother but then it all melted away as the long black car pulled up in front of the house. A smile lit Andy's face and she stood from the swing. "She's here!" Andy moved as fast as she could to get down the steps and sidewalk, to meet Miranda at the car.

Chad blinked at the smile. "Wow." Then he was amazed as Andy offered her hand to a very elegant woman emerging from the car, she was…exquisite. "Double wow." She's older than Mom? He watched as two children flanked the women and they all walked up the sidewalk together.

As the car pulled up in front of the house, Miranda reminded the children. "Remember what I told you. These people are Andrea's family. We must be nice to them for her sake."

"We're her family." Caroline pouted.

Miranda agreed. "Yes, we are, but so are they."

"We can be nice," Cassidy assured her Mother, to a point. "We'll be nice as long as they are."

Miranda nodded at the girl and graced her with a small smile, and a wink. "That's my girl."

The door to the car opened and Miranda saw Andrea standing there waiting. She took the offered hand with easy grace and when she was standing, leaned into her lover's lanky body. "Are you alright, Andrea?"

Andy's brilliant smile said it all. "I am now." She wrapped an arm around Miranda's waist, squeezing slightly. Truth be told, she wanted to tackle the woman, toss her back in the car and drive away, but that wasn't going to happen. She found Cassidy at her side and saw Caroline leaning against her mother. "C'mon, I'll introduce you."

Miranda was grateful for Andrea and Caroline's support, she couldn't help feeling she was being watched, and while she could usually dismiss it as paparazzi or a rival at some social event, this time it was different. This time she was being judged by people she very much wanted to get along with, for Andrea's sake. This time it was a very unpleasant sensation.

tbc