I wrote this last week because I was having persistent dreams about having to evacuate buildings and I needed to cut it off so I could actually get some sleep, this is what happened. Unfortunately its taken me a week to persuade myself that tying it up is a good idea. I always find it easier to write by hand but then I have to type it up and I HATE that part!


She heard the call come over the Police scanner on the crime desk and took off without really stopping to think

Elias Clarke, shots fired, units responding.

She gave no thought to the fact that she was running out of her job in the middle of the day, no thought to the fact that the building which Elias Clarke occupied was 17 floors, only one of which housed Runway magazine and the domain of the woman who held her heart, only knowing that she had to get there, had to make sure Miranda was ok. She took the blocks between The Mirror and Runway at a jog, pleased that her habit of high heels for work had been one of the first she lost after leaving Runway and pleased that she had picked out her converse that morning despite the look of disgust written all over Miranda's face when she had slipped them on.

The site that met her when she rounded the corner to the road that was towered over by the publishing house could only be described as bedlam. The building was cordoned off by a Police barricade, several Police cruisers parked on the side walk. Hundreds of people were milling around outside, they had obviously evacuated the building, and the first of the news station trucks were just pulling up.

Jogging across the road she scanned the crowd for a familiar face, spotting Nigel by the Police line a small part of her relaxed a little, if Nigel was out that meant that the Runway floor had been emptied out and Miranda would be around somewhere , no doubt demanding that she be allowed access to the building immediately and did they have any idea how much money they were costing her with this monumental waste of time.

"Nige?" she called when she got closer and the bald man turned to face her, the small part of her that had relaxed on seeing him immediately tensing up again when she took in his pale, worried face. "Nigel where is she?"

"I've been out at a showing, she was supposed to be with me but editorial lost an interview and she stayed behind to fix it." Nigel rubbed his hand over his bald head and frowned, "whatever is going on in there is going on on the Runway floor but no one will tell me anything."
Andrea felt sick, what other possible reason could there be for someone running around Runway with a gun than Miranda? The woman had a long list of enemies, snubbed designers, ex-employees, half of the Board of Directors, the list went on and on. Andrea had even joked in the past that one day one of Miranda's assistants would snap and try and poison her with her daily coffee but it had always been just a joke and she had never once believed that it could actually happen.

Mind snapping to the girls and the fact that there were more and more news vans arriving by the minute she fumbled in her bag for her phone, unsurprised to find a missed call from both of them, no doubt the gossip blogs that Miranda was trying to put them off reading, were already running whatever little pieces of information that they could get their hands on. Knowing that they would be together she just called the first on her recents list, pleased when Cassidy picked up on the first ring.

"Hey kiddo," she said, letting the barricade take her weight, finding her legs didn't really want to hold her up in that moment, "Are you with your sister?"

"Yeah, you're on speaker Andy. What's going on? The blogs say there has been a shooting at Elias Clarke and mom isn't answering her phone."

"I don't know much at the moment guys I'm sorry, I'm outside Elias Clarke with Uncle Nigel."

"Is mom with you?" Caroline this time, she wasn't as good as hiding her worry, or her hope, from her voice as her sister was.

"She isn't sweety, she's still inside, that's all we know at the moment, the whole Runway team are still upstairs. DO you want me to send Roy to get you?"

By the time she finished up her conversation with the girls Nigel had already called Roy and sent him over to Dalton to pick them up. A wave of activity at the doors drew both of their attention and Andrea spotted Emily's red hair in the crowd. Pushing through a gap in the barrier Andrea jogged towards the Brit and took her by the shoulders, Emily looked paler, if possible, than usual and her hands were shaking.
"Em. Em what's going on?" she said gently, leading the other woman over to where Nigel was stood with his blazer in his hand ready to drape over Emily's shoulders. "Emily," she repeated in her most Miranda tone when she got no reply and it seemed to pull her around, "What's going on up there?"

"Maxine, she's gone insane, she shouldn't even have gotten passed security, she had her pass revoked."

"Maxine was Miranda's first assistant," Nigel supplied when the brunette shot him a questioning look, even five years after Emily had moved from the first assistants desk and onto bigger and better things Miranda reffered to all of her assistants as Emily and Andrea only ever knew that she had fired one if she came home and complained about it, "Miranda fired her last week."

"For losing the Chanel contract, I remember." Andrea interrupted, Miranda had built herself up into an absolute fit over that one. She hadn't said a word for the whole of dinner with the twins and it wasn't until the women had been alone to explode in a way that Andrea had only seen on a handful of occasions. From what she had understood, the lost contract had been the final straw, not an isolated incident.

"Amongst other things," Emily confirmed, "I knew there was something that wasn't right with that girl."

"Em, where's Miranda?"

"She's got them barricaded in the conference room. Miranda was meeting with editorial, Maxine kicked the rest of them out, I heard someone say that she fired a shot into the table but that's all I know."

"Oh shit." Andrea murmured, her hand coming up to cover her mouth, she thought she might be sick, "What have you gotten yourself into Mira?"


The sound of a window breaking from the inside pulled everyone's attention back to the building and if it hadn't been for Nigel's arm around her waist Andrea would have hit the floor, her legs deciding in the moment that they no longer wanted to hold her weight, she didn't know she was crying until he pressed a tissue into her hand.

"You have to try and pull it together six," He said carefully, "The girls will be here soon and until we know for certain what is going on we need to keep them calm." She nodded silently, knowing that he was right and started taking deep, calming breaths. Miranda was tough, she was a master negotiator and it would take more than an angry assistant to get to her, or at least that was what Andrea had to tell herself to stop herself completely falling apart.


She had just straightened herself up when more activity at the door drew her attention and this time it was the Police exiting with a curly haired woman handcuffed between them, she looked small and scared and Andrea couldn't believe that she was the one responsible for all this madness. A few minutes later Miranda emerged, walking between two annoyed looking paramedics. For the second time Andrea slipped through the barrier, ignoring the calls from the Police to get back, and headed straight for Miranda.

"Mira?"

"I'm ok." The older woman said in her usual measured tone, as Andrea got closer though she could see that that was far from the case, Miranda's skin was pale and clammy, she was trembling lightly, she was actually far from ok.

"I don't believe you for a second," Andrea murmured, forcing her way between Miranda and one of the paramedics, just needing to be near to Miranda after the uncertainty of the last hour. She understood why the older woman was doing this, why she had insisted on walking out when by the looks on the paramedics faces it went very much against medical advice, it served as just another reminder of how much the press effected their lives, "Where are we headed so I can reroute Roy with the girls?"

"Presbyterian." Was the short reply and Andrea looked to the woman, surprised that she looked even paler and appeared to be clenching her teeth, Andrea was trying her hardest not to look too closely at the damage, the bandaged shoulder, the blood that had ruined one of her favourite shirts on the older woman, the fact that there was probably a bullet in there somewhere. If she thought about it too much she would fall apart right there with half of the worlds press watching and she couldn't do that, so instead she busied herself with contacting Roy to take the girls to the hospital and then speaking to them to catch them up with what was going on.

The minute the ambulance doors were closed Miranda collapsed onto the gurney and let out a groan through gritted teeth which pulled Andrea to her side in seconds.

"Sweetheart?"

"Who knew being shot hurt so damn much!" she chuckled humourlessly, wincing when the movement jarred her shoulder. Andrea moved to the head of the bed, stroking her fingers soothingly through white hair while the paramedic attached a pulse oximeter and a plethora of other machines to the editor who now looked exhausted,

"Well now you know, you wont do it again," Andrea tried for light but her voice sounded flat and hollow to her own ears, "Because I think the last hour has taken ten years off my life."

"Who called you?" Miranda twisted her neck so she could take in the younger woman who looked pale and worried.

"They had the Police scanner on on the Crime Desk, I kind of shot off I should call Greg really."


By the time Andrea had gotten the girls back into the towncar with hugs and kisses and promises that she would call their father if anything changed and got back up to Miranda's room the lights had been dimmed and Miranda looked as though she was sleeping. Gently she lowered herself onto the edge of the bed, brushing her fingers through the woman's hair and closing her eyes against the tears that she had been holding back all afternoon. Miranda was ok, there would be no lasting damage, she was ok.

A cool hand on her cheek startled her and she opened her eyes to meet pale blue ones,

"I'm ok darling, look I'm fine," Miranda murmured, brushing the tears away

"You need to start being nicer to people Mira," she joked but her laugh turned into a sob and she allowed herself to be pulled down so that she was curled into Miranda's side, her face pressed into her neck, "Because if anyone ever takes you away from me I wont survive it."

"I'm not going anywhere," Miranda soothed, brushing her fingers through brunette tresses and dropping kisses onto her head. She had watched Andrea hold it together all through the ambulance ride, the consultation with the surgeon and the twins being there and she had been amazed by the younger woman's strength but her pain had to come out some time and she wasn't at all surprised that it was now. Miranda still felt numb, she had no doubt that it would all catch up with her at some point and she fully planned on taking her doctors advice and making an appointment with her therapist to talk about the incident but for now her numbness was a blessing, it meant she could look after Andrea and that would forever be her priority.


"Is everything here Emily?" Miranda asked quietly, Andrea was in the bathroom and she didn't want to be over heard. "The ring?"

"Everything is as you asked Miranda," The Brit said with a smile, "And Roy will be downstairs with the girls and all of your luggage when you are ready to leave."

"Thank you Emily, now go and enjoy your weekend, I don't want to hear that you've been sneaking into the office to work." She smirked at the surprise on her Art Directors face, "Take Serena to dinner, have the weekend together, you both deserve it." Andrea emerged from the bathroom just as Emily was trying to scrape her jaw off the floor.

"oh hey Em," she smiled, sliding into the seat beside Miranda's bed and taking her hand,

"Andrea," Emily nodded curtly, "If that's all Miranda?"

"Yes Emily, that's all."

"What did you do to her," Andrea chuckles when they were alone again

"I simply suggested that she take the weekend off and that she treat Serena to dinner. If it is supposed to be a secret then they ought to get better at hiding it."

"Darling you are wicked," she laughed, pressing a kiss to Miranda's hand, "Why was she here anyway?"

"I asked her to bring me some things from the office," Miranda replied, stroking her fingers over the hand holding her own and watching the brunettes face fall, at least this time she could prove her wrong, "Not work darling, just some lounge wear from the closet and something I had stored in the office safe." She chuckled at the intrigue which lit up the younger woman's face and was reminded again why she was so good at her job, why Andrea had been the one she trusted to tell the story of what had happened in that conference room, "Hand me the bag then come sit up here," she said patting the mattress beside her, pleased and unsurprised when Andrea did just that.

"Up in that conference room I had a lot of time to think," She started quietly, tangling their fingers together and squeezing lightly, "About my life, what I've achieved, what I've taken for granted ." she shifted slightly so she could face Andrea and smiled, "What I have now that I take for granted."

"I don't feel taken for granted sweetheart," Andrea smiled, running her fingers across her cheek, "The girls don't feel taken for granted."

"That doesn't mean you aren't. I know I could do more, be around more and from now on I will be. I've decided to make some changes, its past time that I started stepping back at the magazine. I don't plan on retiring for at least another two years but it's time that Nigel got some more responsibility so that he's ready to take over as editor when the time comes. I'd like to give him the responsibility of the book and most of the networking which will leave my evenings free to spend with you and the girls."

"I love you, you know that and if you wanted to continue working 15 plus hour days at Runway for the rest of your life I would support that but I wont deny that being able to spend more evenings as a family sounds wonderful."

"You interrupted me before I had the chance to finish." Miranda chastised lightly, "There's something else that I've wanted to do but I've never found the right time, but then I was faced with the prospect of never having had the chance to do it and I knew that that just wouldn't do. I never imagined I'd be doing it in hospital, Paris maybe, certainly after a nice dinner but needs must and I really must ask you Andrea Sachs, if you would do me the greatest honour and agree to be my wife. The time we have on this earth is never certain but I plan, if you'll allow me, to spend whatever time I have left by your side." She pulled a small box from the bag on her lap and flicked it open, revealing a beautiful ring and looked up at Andrea with a small smile, "So, what do you think? Can you spend the rest of your life pandering to the needs of a crazy old woman?"