Chapter 10

"Good morning!" Miranda said happily, placing a cup of tea on Mike's bedside table. 3 days had passed since she had moved in with Mike, and she had to admit that after 4 months of being alone, waking up next to someone else everyday was a pleasant surprise.

Mike looked at the cup of tea in awe. Miranda was never the first one to get up and out of bed - he'd learnt this when they'd first been dating, and even more recently during the few weeks they'd been together now. "You're up early!"

"Well, it's not that late. I mean, it's only 9 o'clock," she smiled, walking around to her side of the bed. She almost tripped on the tie of her dressing gown, but managed to save herself, and her cup of tea.

"I should probably get up soon," he yawned, sitting up and taking his cup of tea. "Apparently they need a reporter for a protest that's happening today."

"Really? What for?"

"Not exactly sure, to be honest. It's something to do with animal rights, that's all I know!"

"There was a fairy, her name was Nuff. Fairy Nuff!" Mike just laughed and sipped his tea. He placed a kiss on her cheek as he got up to go and have a shower. Miranda flopped back onto her pillow and wondered if she would ever get used to this.

Mike came out of the bathroom, tying his tie. "See you this evening," he smiled, closing the door slowly.

At the Shop

"So, how are the giant teacups selling?"

"Quite well, actually!" Stevie replied. "Some school which was doing 'Alice in Wonderland' for their school play came and took all but one of the teacups away, so we made a nice profit from that."

"Alice in Wonderland?"

"Yes, for the tea party scene… Surely you know!?" Miranda nodded, before Stevie sat down in the chair, ready to interrogate Miranda. "So… how is living with someone else again like?"

"It's actually not that different," she admitted. "It's just nice not to be alone!"

"Are you saying that you were alone on changing the duvet night?" Stevie stood up angrily and looked at Miranda. "Or on Miranda and Stevie's meet at six for chick flix, pick and mix and bix fix?"

"No, of course I'm not saying that! It's just that-" Miranda was interrupted by Tilly's sudden arrival.

"Queen Kong, Stevie!" she chimed, only to have to check her phone. "Bear with… bear with… … bear with… back. Right, Kong! I'm having a baby shower, do you still have that baby stuff?"

"From when?" Miranda stared at Tilly wide eyed. She didn't remember having baby stock recently, and if they had, Stevie hadn't informed her about it. Even when they did had baby stock, it all went rather badly when it ended up in her flat. She was meant to have had a date with Gary that night, and it ended up with Gary thinking she was obsessed with children.

Tilly huffed in annoyance and threw her hands up. "I need baby-min focus! You know, from when Gary first came back!"

"That was over 7 years ago!" Tilly just sighed and placed a hand on Miranda's shoulder.

"Could you order it in… pretty please, Kong?" Miranda let out an 'ugh' of dismay, and took a deep breath in, getting ready to explain to Tilly.

"We are a joke shop. It is 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Even if we ordered it right now, we don't even know when said baby shower is!" She also couldn't help but remember the last time she went to a baby shower. If she had to hear anything remotely similar to 'wittle booties', or 'vestie westies', she would simply scream.

Tilly looked deep in thought, then seemed to come back to reality. "The shower is… the day after tomorrow."

"The day after tomorrow?!" Stevie and Miranda looked at each other in shock. "No way we can do that," they said together. "Sorry Tilly."

"Oh, bozolairs! Now the baby-min has to be completely redone. I was even going to invite you, but actually, that's probably not a good idea, with your track record Kong!" Tilly laughed hard before slamming the door on her way out.

Miranda looked at Stevie in bewilderment. "I am not that bad!"

"You really are," Stevie said, moving to the door to change the sign on the front of the door to closed, yet she was bowled over by Finn, who jerked the door open forcefully.

"Finn?" Stevie said, as she took hold of Finn, who was holding his head in his hands. His face was red, and streaked with tears, a far throw from his usually carefree expression. As Stevie tried to get him to sit down, Miranda felt her stomach twist and churn. "Finn. Calm down," Stevie soothed. "Please, what's wrong?"

"The report," he sobbed, his breath quick and sharp. "W-we were at the protest-"

"What protest?!" Miranda blurted out, immediately thinking of Mike. He had told her this morning that he was reporting at a protest, and now her heart was pounding harder than she could ever remember. No. It can't be the same protest, it can't.

"We were reporting about this protest, f-for animal rights," Finn stuttered, sniffling and barely getting the words out. It's the same protest… no. It can't be. It's a fluke. It must be. He wiped his red eyes on his work shirt, which all of a sudden Miranda noticed was dusty and dirty. "Mike and I." No, no, no, no. "We were talking about the protest, reporting to the cameras, and the different political sides, and then we hear these bangs."

"Bangs?" Stevie was rubbing his back soothingly, as she tried to figure out what was going on. She couldn't for the life of her think what had happened.

"People start throwing rocks." Finn's voice choked up, as if what he was about to say was catastrophic. This isn't happening. It can't be. "And you know, we're running around trying to get away, trying to get the peaceful protesters to safety, and Mike and I are trying to get this little girl who's lost her parents away from this." No. Please, Finn. Stop.

Finn paused, and tried to stop his quivering hands from getting worse. "Mike's holding one of her hands, I'm holding one of the other. He's, he's-" Finn stopped for a moment, unable to continue.

"Finn, please," Stevie urged. "You need to finish, we need to know what happened."

"He's looking around, trying to figure out what's going on, and he, he gets hit by one of the rocks." Miranda covered her mouth with her hand, and dropped to her knees, trying to keep herself composed. The tears came on too quickly, and suddenly she was begging Finn to tell her if he was okay.

"Mi-Mike's in the ICU."

It was in that single, spilt second that Miranda's world came crashing down before her eyes.