I know, I know... long time no see and it's completely my fault since I was busy but I could have squeezed it in if I hadn't been so lazy and uninspired. Sorry for that.

Thanks for sticking around and for putting a smile on my face by leaving me a review :)

Here's chapter 10. I hope you like it.

Chapter 10

It felt weird to be back. She hadn't been gone for a long time but still… It felt odd. But maybe that was because Miranda actually had no clue that she was back. Serena hadn't told anyone that she got Andy to return. Not even Emily.

Actually Serena didn't even want anyone to know that it was her that convinced Andrea to come back. She was completely fine if Emily got the credit for it. She deserved to be appreciated now and then… Not that Miranda would ever show appreciation. At least not in a way you would expect it.

The elevator door opened. Andrea was hesitant to set foot on the Runway floor again. Not because she didn't want to. It was more that she was scared that she would get hurt. Scared that Miranda would do or say something that would crush her. Miranda obviously didn't feel the same for her as she did for the editor so she was really putting her heart at risk here.

Andy took a deep breath, left the elevator and walked in direction of Miranda's office. Despite feeling really nervous she tried to look confident and strong.

As she reached the outer office she and Emily shared – or had shared – she was surprised to find it empty. How was no one there to answer the calls? In Miranda's eyes very call that went to voicemail was a sign of her assistant's incompetence and Emily wasn't incompetent, so where was she?

"Emily." Miranda.

Andy winced. Her voice. Her calm, threatening voice. It killed her every single time.

She looked around the office again. It was completely pointless since Emily would not magically pop up just because Andy hoped for it.

"Emily." You could already notice a hint of impatience in Miranda's voice

Andy's hands went to her hair to make sure everything was still in place. Then she turned towards her boss's office and started walking.

The moment she entered the room she could smell Miranda's perfume. A funny feeling spread in her stomach.

"Emily, I hope you found another Andrea yet otherwi..." When Miranda looked up from her Mac and realized that the real Andrea was standing in front of her desk, she stopped talking mid sentence.

"Hi." Andy said. It came out as a whisper and she wanted to smack herself for it.

"Emily already informed me that you have no desire to return. There is no need for you to tell me in person."

"I changed my mind. You need my assistance, I need the money." It was a lie. Well… she could use the money but it wasn't the reason she came back. She would survive without it… She just hadn't been so sure if she would survive without the grey- haired lady in front of her.

Miranda was surprised. A person who didn't know her well probably wouldn't even notice it but Andy did. She could see it in her eyes and in the way she played with her reading glasses. The side of the spectacles softly caressed her chin and then her lips while her eyes were on the younger woman in front of her.

That funny feeling inside Andy got even funnier and warmer. She could feel it everywhere now. Even in her pinky toe.

"Well…", Miranda put down her reading glasses again. "…then get me Karl on the phone and make sure everything is ready for the reshoot in Central Park. And also get new models. When I said slender I meant slender and not anorexic."

"… Sure." Andy said. But actually she wasn't even certain if she got everything Miranda listed. When Andy finally had been able to tear her eyes away from the editor's face Miranda had already been halfway through the tasks. "Anything else?"

The older woman softly shook her head no. "That's all."

The news that Andy was back spread like a wildfire. When Emily returned from her Starbuck run she had a really hard time suppressing how happy she was that Andrea was back. She had been on the verge of a burnout. She had dealt with almost everything on her own for the past week and it had been a complete and utter hell.

For 2 assistants it already was hard to fulfill all the tasks Miranda wanted them to do. But it was impossible to do it on your own. And even though there usually was a girl around that was supposed to help her, none of them actually did. All this wouldn't have been that big a problem if the most important week of the year hadn't been around the corner. There would have been time to make at least half a decent assistant out of one of these girls. But now there was no time. They would have been screwed even if Emily had found a competent girl. Andy really had saved her ass. Actually Andy had saved fashion week. Emily probably should be nicer to her… but just a little.

It was crazy. Crazy busy.

The phone was ringing of the hook, there were about 300 emails waiting to be answered and Miranda came up with a new task that immediately had to be performed every 10 minutes.

There was no time for a break, let alone for lunch. Andy was lucky when she found a minute to go to the bathroom.

But truth be told, she enjoyed it. It may be a bit masochistic but it made her happy to do things for Miranda. Even now, after everything that had happened. And even though she is still a little mad at her. She liked working for her. She liked being around her, even when this also meant being bossed around by her.

At 8:30 in the evening, Andy was still sitting behind her desk. And so was Miranda.

There were problems with the March issue. She didn't know exactly what was going on, she just knew Miranda was not to be disturbed. Unless the twins needed her. That goes without saying.

"Andrea?"

"On my way." Andy dropped everything and hurried into her bosses' office.

"Did you write my speech for Paris?" Miranda put the pencil aside she had just made some corrections with in the book.

"Yes. I already sent you the draft."

"Good… You can go home then."

Now Andy was surprised. "Are you sure?"

"Andrea, would I really suggest it if I wasn't sure?" She was clearly annoyed and Andy wanted to slap herself for being stupid enough to ask Miranda such an idiotic question.

"No..."

"Close they door behind you. I don't want to be disturbed by the people of this clumsy cleaning company Irv pays way too much money for."

"Of course. Good Night Miranda." Andy closed the door and left. She didn't wait for a "good night" from Miranda. She had quit waiting for that a long time ago.

The March issue was a complete and utter mess. Every single piece of writing was unacceptable and the swimwear spread was horrendous.

Miranda really couldn't understand what had possessed her employees when they came up with this.

If the Paris fashion week wasn't around the corner she'd fire them. On the spot. And she'd make sure that they'd never get a job in the fashion business again. Well… she'd at least tell them that she made sure of it.

Miranda crossed out another paragraph of Isabel's article on the history of jeans. It was so uninspired it gave her a headache.

She was just about to cross out another paragraph when someone knocked at her office door and opened it shortly afterwards, without giving Miranda the chance to say either "come in" or "go away".

"If I remember correctly I sent you home about a hour ago." The grey haired woman said as she recognized Andrea as the intruder.

"You did… And I was already on my way home… but then I passed Pasti's… and I thought you might be hungry."

It was only now that Miranda noticed that Andrea was carrying a take out box.

"Don't you think I'd have told you to go and get me something if I was hungry?"

"You need to eat something. You haven't had lunch…" Andrea stepped closer towards her boss and put the Styrofoam container on her desk. "Its grilled chicken salad."

"Free-range chicken?"

"Yes."

"Olive oil?"

"2 soup spoons."

"Onions?"

"Of course not."

"Acceptable", Miranda reached for the box. She indeed was hungry. There hadn't been time for lunch today and her breakfast hadn't been particularly big either.

"Well… I'll go home then." Andy smiled one of her shy smiles. "See you tomorrow."

Miranda just replied with an uninterested "hmmm" and continued scanning the awful article.

She closed the book and started eating as soon as Andrea was gone.

She was glad the woman was back but she'd rather kill than admit it.

TBC...

Question: how mad would you be if this fanfic didn't have a happy ending? (don't hit me! xD nothing is decided yet!)

Thanks for reading :D