Symbiosis

It had been a long week, but then again, every week leading up to and following the official launch of Men's Runway had been a long week. The hours Miranda spent in the office had skyrocketed and the only free time she had was spent with her girls trying to convince them that she hadn't abandoned them to the tortures of their wicked stepmother. She had done her best to delegate the workload she had taken on, but even with hiring new staff, the brunt of the work still rested on her desk for final approval, and that often meant that even after she came home in the evening she still had more work to do than hours to do it in.

It was already well past midnight and she was just now getting a chance to look over the book Emily had delivered hours ago. She couldn't remember the last time she had gotten a full night's rest, and knew that her body was starting to succumb to the stress, but she adamantly refused to give in to something as common as exhaustion. Men's Runway had set record numbers in its premier issue and once again Miranda had proven that she was the absolute best in the business, and the best didn't do superficial things like sleep or pass out from fatigue.

Unfortunately, her professional success had not bled through into her personal one. Her girls had seen less and less of her and they had decided to live with their father full time, even after he had gone ahead and married Rayne. She saw them every weekend and every time they had any disagreement with their stepmother, which actually put them back under her roof most of the days out of the week. The only real time they spent at their father's was when they felt the need to punish Miranda by depriving her of their presence. She had tried to give them more of her time, but she simply didn't have it to give.

She had agreed to run Men's Runway for its first year and then she would hand it over to a successor of her choosing. Nigel was the natural choice, of course, but he hadn't yet started to transition to his new position since Miranda hadn't found a replacement for him in Runway. The list of things she still had to accomplish was never ending, but since she was Miranda Priestly she did her very best to shuffle the world around without it looking like a struggle.

So, even if she felt like her body was unable to stay upright another moment, she still reached out and flipped open the book so that she could start making note of the changes that needed to be made for Runway. She uncapped her pen and then rubbed at her temples before she forced her eyes to focus on the pages below her.

"Here." Miranda looked up at Aquarius as her intern set a hot cup of tea down next to her. "Miranda, you look like you're about to drop."

Miranda turned her eyes back to the book below her. "Apparently, you haven't died. I expected you back hours ago."

"So did I." Aquarius leaned against Miranda's desk. "But it wasn't easy talking Norman into opening back up his studio."

"If I wanted to hear excuses," Miranda flipped past the page she had been looking over, "then I would have sent another assistant in your place."

Aquarius chuckled. "It's terribly unfair that you send me out to accomplish the impossible and then don't let me brag about it when I do." She held up a portfolio and then laid it down in front of Miranda.

Miranda chose not to respond. Instead, she opened up the portfolio and pulled out the photographs that were laying inside of it. She quickly shuffled through them until one caught her attention. "Norman didn't take this one." She handed the photo over to Aquarius.

Aquarius took the photo. "No. That's one of mine, but Norman will swear that he took it."

Miranda rolled her eyes. "He would." She snatched the photo out of Aquarius's loose grasp. "Congratulations, you've gotten another cover." She tossed the picture back onto her desk, and then leaned back in her chair. Her eyes settled on the cup in front of her, but she didn't move to pick it up. "Where are we with the advertisers?"

Aquarius ran her hand through her hair. "Well," she sighed. "I spoke to some people over at Gucci and they delivered some stuff for tomorrow. Calvin Klein thought I was kidding when I told them you were pulling them out of the issue."

"They delivered," Miranda raised her eyebrow, "stuff?"

Aquarius smirked. "They delivered stuff," she repeated. "But, if you insist on knowing exactly what they brought..." she reached into her jacket and pulled out a bundle of Polaroids. "I was kind enough to take these of each individual piece."

Miranda grabbed the photos and then began shuffling through them. She didn't pay any attention to Aquarius as the other woman moved away from her desk to a chair resting across from her. Since she had offered Aquarius an internship, Aquarius had spent more time in her home than any other of her assistants ever had before, and Miranda had grown accustomed to having Aquarius around. She couldn't quite recall how Aquarius had become such a fixture in her everyday life, but she supposed it probably had something to do with the emotional damage Andrea had inflicted upon her.

In the beginning, Miranda had treated Aquarius like any of her other assistants, but Aquarius hadn't acted like any of her other assistants. Aquarius didn't worship her, nor did she worship fashion, yet she was fashionable and always respectful. When Miranda had called her by another name, Aquarius had corrected her each and every time. When Miranda had set her out on errands giving her very little time to accomplish her tasks, she had somehow been able to do it. She was bold, unafraid, and smart and what she didn't know she quickly learned.

By all outward appearances, Aquarius had been the perfect find, but since Miranda didn't believe in inborn perfection, she had set out to break Aquarius down to the girl's naked flaws, and it hadn't taken her very long to find them. Miranda had seen a lot of herself inside of Andrea, but she had seen all of herself inside of Aquarius. The only difference between them being that Aquarius had no real direction, had no focus. She wasted her talents and covered up her vulnerabilities with an unmitigated ego. Aquarius knew she was intelligent. She knew she was attractive, and she knew she could use her talents to take control of her environment and to control others.

With experience on her side, Miranda had shattered Aquarius's control and broke her down until nothing was left but fractured pieces. She had lured Aquarius away from her schooling and had her removed from Cornell's student registrar's records. She had affronted Aquarius's ego by singling out her every mistake via memos sent out to the entire Runway staff. She forced Aquarius to do the most demeaning of tasks she could manufacture which included but was not limited to being put at Emily's mercy as her personal assistant. She made Aquarius's life hell and she kept on hammering away at everything Aquarius thought she could control until finally Aquarius walked into her office and gave into her defeat.

With Aquarius, Miranda had been vicious and unrelenting, but when Aquarius had finally given up, she hadn't looked at Miranda with hate in her eyes; she had been too consumed with self-loathing at having failed to blame Miranda for anything. So, when Aquarius was sitting in front of Miranda, not quite sure how her world had so quickly fallen apart, Miranda had told her about her first mentor. She told Aquarius about how much she had hated being shown that she could repeatedly fail, that she was weak, and then she had offered Aquarius direction. She had simply told Aquarius, "I will teach you what you need to know," and that had been the end of it.

While still officially an intern, Aquarius's function went far beyond her title. She accompanied Miranda everywhere, even on business trips no other assistant needed to attend. She put in the same hours as Miranda from beginning to finish and she got the privilege of listening to Miranda explain her every decision in exact detail. She took part in developing the premiere issue of Men's Runway and every issue since. She had become Miranda's shadow and the person Miranda sent out to accomplish tasks her personal assistants could not.

Miranda had never so openly taken on a protege before, and she suspected that she never would again. She had considered it, with Andrea, but Andrea had made the correct decision in walking away from her. Things with Andrea were too complex and...emotional for anything to have come from it. Besides, Andrea wanted to change the world through her writing, and Aquarius wasn't quite as selfless. Aquarius was actually ruthlessly effective and held many of the characteristics that had been the cause of Miranda's varying regrets. One such regret had been her treatment of Andrea, and perhaps that was what had made her so uncharacteristically eager to groom Aquarius for a brighter future, and made her more susceptible to a more intimate association with Aquarius.

She wouldn't call Aquarius her friend, but they were at times friendly and Aquarius took certain liberties with her that none of her other employees would ever imagine possible. The tea Aquarius had set down in front of her was a perfect example of that. Miranda hadn't asked for tea, but Aquarius brought it anyway because Miranda suspected that Aquarius cared somewhat for her welfare. At times Aquarius's affection was unsettling, but she allowed it because walking out of Andrea's apartment six months ago had left her terribly unsettled and Aquarius's friendly attention had eased that feeling.

"Has Andrea finished her article for that dreadful publication?" Miranda asked as she finally set aside the photos Aquarius had taken.

Aquarius reached out and then picked up one of the pieces of paper Miranda had set aside hours ago. "I think she was still working on it."

"How is it coming along?" Miranda knew Aquarius lived with Andrea. She also knew that Aquarius would, at times, help Andrea with her articles and she let Miranda know if Andrea was working on anything that should be considered for Runway. Aquarius was much more involved in Andrea's recent success than Andrea knew, and for whatever reason Aquarius had requested it stay that way.

"I haven't gotten a chance to read it yet." She picked up a pen and started making marks on the paper Miranda had already gone through.

Miranda took off her glasses and then finally picked up the cup of tea Aquarius had given her. "Then what were you doing this afternoon while you were ignoring my phone calls?"

Aquarius didn't lift her eyes off of the paper. "I had to restock our refrigerator. I had plans to cook for my cousin tonight. I thought I should give her another chance to convince me that I'm using my artistic talents for evil instead of good."

She was intentionally veering their conversation away from Andrea, Miranda could see that, but when they spoke about Andrea Aquarius often appeared to be omitting something. Miranda knew that she had divided Aquarius's loyalties, and she also knew that if she pressed Aquarius for more information then Aquarius would eventually give in. Aquarius had already shown that Miranda had her ultimate loyalty and Miranda was careful not to abuse that, because Aquarius now knew more ways to destroy her than even Alain knew.

"You can go home, Aquarius." She had more work she could hand out, but it had been a long time since she had chosen to offer Aquarius a few work free hours. Aquarius had slept in her home for the last two nights and Miranda suddenly felt like she was meting out an unwarranted punishment.

"And why would I do something as silly as that?" Aquarius's hazel eyes finally lifted to meet Miranda's.

Miranda set the cup of tea back down onto her desk. "I suspect I know as much about your relationship with Andrea as you know about my relationship with her." It was the closest she had ever come to admitting that she knew anything about the relationship Aquarius and Andrea carried on with.

Aquarius stopped breathing. "Miranda, you're leading us dangerously close to a personal conversation that neither of us really want to have," she warned.

"Don't ever for one moment think I don't know what you are doing," Miranda said as she reached out to pick up her glasses. "Personal or otherwise." Aquarius had been right, she didn't want to have this conversation, but each day they spent in each other's company the conversation was becoming harder to avoid. Especially, when Aquarius showed up to social events with Andrea and the two pretended like they hardly even knew each other when it was obvious how close they really were.

Aquarius took in a long breath. "I'm well aware of that." She dropped the pen and paper she had picked up back onto the edge of Miranda's desk. "I think the Derek Lam boots will go well with the Gucci dress. We can put the next actress de jour in it."

"Yes." Miranda put her glasses back on as she turned her attention back to the book below her. She would not bring up Andrea again. "Has Emily talked to Roger's people yet?"

"I should let her break that bad news to you." And apparently, Aquarius was unwilling to say anything more about Andrea as well. It was probably for the best.

"Is it that bad?"

"Worse."

Miranda rapidly flipped through the pages, she felt like her energy had finally become somewhat renewed. "Then let Emily tell me tomorrow."

Aquarius softly laughed. "Great. You do remember that Jaqueline Follet's party for James Holt is tomorrow as well, right?"

Miranda continued to quickly flip through the pages. "I think I'm feeling suddenly ill."

Aquarius picked back up the page she had been reading through. "I received a personal phone call from Jaqueline this morning. She wants to take me out to lunch."

Miranda stopped reading and then slowly raised her eyebrow.

Aquarius smirked. "When was the last time you bought me lunch, Miranda?"

It was no secret that since Miranda had taken a personal interest in Aquarius, others had sought out Aquarius's attention thinking that she could somehow help them gain Miranda's favor or learn her secrets. They knew Aquarius wasn't a simpleton, and they never treated her as such, but they often made the mistake of assuming that Aquarius hated Miranda, especially for what they knew Miranda had put her through. Miranda had always encouraged Aquarius to nurture the possible relationships that were offered, because she knew it would be to their benefit in the end.

Despite not being able to completely hide her...relationship with Andrea, Aquarius was quite good at subterfuge. She was charming and she often came across as being perfectly genuine when Miranda knew she often was anything but. The interaction Aquarius had with Alain had clearly shown Miranda just how engaging Aquarius could be, and Miranda would reluctantly admit that some of Aquarius's skills were more refined than hers. It also helped that Aquarius was close to thirty years younger than her and could be distractingly attractive.

So far, Aquarius's skills had supplied Miranda with enough information to keep her busy for the next few years. And since Jaqueline hated Miranda as much as Miranda hated her, Jaqueline wanted Aquarius for herself just because Miranda had her first. It was childish and silly, but Jaqueline was bitter and her youthfulness was diminishing at an exponential rate exposing her lack of talent. The soft murmurs about James Holt firing Jaqueline were becoming louder by the day, and for some absurd reason Jaqueline falsely believed that Aquarius was at the heart of Miranda's recent successes.

It was true that Aquarius was one of the most talented photographers Miranda had ever met, but the world did not know that and would not know that. Despite having used Aquarius's work in both Runway publications, Aquarius had never been given credit for it. She had allowed others to take credit for her work, because it was what was best for Runway and what was best for Miranda. She didn't want to be a photographer, she never had and she had explained that to Miranda the very first time she had laid her first photo onto Miranda's desk. The reasons for Aquarius's reluctance to claim her talent was the only secret Miranda let Aquarius have.

Miranda's attention went back to the book. "You are often an unwelcome guest in my home. I think that more than makes up for not buying you lunch."

Aquarius softly laughed. "You would think that, wouldn't you? I think..." She stopped talking as her phone began buzzing. She put the pen and paper back down and then pulled out her phone to look at the display. Miranda waved Aquarius away, giving her silent permission to take the phone call. She watched as Aquarius hurriedly got up and walked out of the study, knowing that Andrea had been the one calling. Aquarius only ever got up and walked away when it was Andrea.

Miranda tightened the hold she had on her pen and released a rugged breath.

She hated Aquarius, hated her more than she had ever hated anyone. She hated Aquarius's intelligence, her beauty, her talent, her youth, she hated everything about her. At times, the hate built up so much that she could hardly swallow and she forced herself to grit her teeth to maintain her silence. She wanted to rip Aquarius apart and yell and scream at her for taking something from her that she had so wrongly handled.

And her hate was one of the only secrets Miranda knew Aquarius let her have.

Only a few scant moments went by before Aquarius returned to the study, her phone hanging uselessly at her side. "Does your offer still stand?" She asked.

Miranda forced herself to look up and meet Aquarius's eyes. "You may leave."

Aquarius nodded and then turned to walk away. "Finish your tea," she called over her shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Miranda watched Aquarius walk away, hating every step Aquarius took that brought her closer to Andrea. When Aquarius had finally disappeared from view, Miranda knew that if she had allowed her world to be slightly skewed, then she would manage to hate Aquarius almost as much as she hated herself.