A/N: Hey people, I'm back... kind of...
Anyway, here is a new chapter for you all, it's mostly a filler with some fluff and family time. My life is crazy right now and some shit is happening for the past few months in my professional life, but don't worry because I won't leave this story unfinished.
Thank you for all the reviews you left, I promise I'll try to answer all of them soon, but know that I read each one of them and they all made me so very happy! I also will try to update sooner.
All mistakes are my own (I'm without a beta, again)
Have a good read and stay safe guys!
"Leslie."
"Andrea."
The laugh from inside the house drew their attention and broke off their stare contest; Andy just knew she was in for a lecturing from the way Leslie measured her from head to toe. And Miranda would sure throw her under the bus. Damn.
"Come on in." the brunette gave space for the older woman to get in.
Leslie was a woman in her mid-forties, tall with broad shoulders and strong physic, long and full dirty blonde hair and piercing green eyes. She could scare a grown man just as much as Miranda could.
"Thank you." the blonde said as Andy helped her out of her coat. "Are you and Miranda ready for our meeting?"
"I think so, yes. My parents kind of showed up this morning unannounced, but they can entertain the girls for now." They were walking toward the other adults, the light atmosphere easing Andy's nerves.
Leslie had worked for Miranda for ten years now, witnessing the editor in all stages of her relationships, both romantic or not, and she had never seen Miranda so calm and relaxed, not even with the twins - at least not on this level.
The editor looked up as she felt her mate's presence and gave a curt nod in their direction.
"If you would excuse me, Andrea and I have a meeting with our PR manager to solve the mess my ex-husband created. Girls, please keep company to your new grandparents." She informed as she got up, nobody commented on the 'our PR manager' slip, but everyone noticed.
"Miranda, may I take part in this meeting? I would feel more at comfortable if I could hear the plans being made, maybe even help a little as a lawyer." Richard asked also standing up.
"As long as you understand that Leslie is the one with more experience on this matter, I see no problem." He nodded easily.
So they all went to the home office, closing the door for privacy. Miranda sat on the leather sofa, pulling Andrea so close that the brunette was almost on her lap.
"So this is serious." It wasn't a question.
"Would you be here if it wasn't?" She lifted one eyebrow.
"No. What are we dealing with? I need the full story, you know the drill Miranda."
"Yes, yes. I attended Fashion Week with one of my assistants like I always do. This time Andrea was with me as Emily couldn't travel after being involved in an accident a few days before. On the day before the closing breakfast I received divorce papers from Stephen, Andrea tried to help but that ended badly for her." She gazed sadly to the brunette. "The next morning I had a meeting with Irv and Andrea was adamant she had important information and could not wait. That's when I learned Irv and Stephen were having an affair and together with Christian Thompson had created a plan to take me down as Editor-in-Chief. Irv got angry, but we have leverage over him now. All that fight triggered my cycle to start a day earlier and forced Andrea's cycle too. We're mated now. It was consensual and I should have seen it coming."
"You probably should." Andrea murmured before kissing her cheek.
"Who knows about it? Is there more pictures I should know about?" Leslie was writing everything down.
"My family, the girls, Nigel, Serena, and probably Emily." Andy answered.
"Good. Do you trust them to keep the mouth shut?"
"Yes." They spoke at the same time.
"And pictures?"
"Uh…"
"I'm not saving you out of this." Miranda spoke with a final tone.
"Ugh! Fine. When we got back from the airport, there were two paparazzo outside the townhouse. I may have convinced Miranda to let them take a pic of us kissing." The words were hushed out, Andy's cheeks heating with embarrassment.
"Excuse?!"
Oh, boy!
"Why would you do that? Please tell me it wasn't for Page Six or another one of those deplorable rags, please." She was almost begging now, this could not be happening.
"I don't know, they were just there! And they were well behaved, for a change." The brunette was practically whining now.
"I'm not shocked that you did something like that. I am, however, surprised that Miranda let it happen." She glared at the editor.
"What is that supposed to mean?" They were glaring at each other.
"It means that Andrea does not understand how this works and the impact it has on you, or your career, or your life. It is understandable that she would have thought a simple picture couldn't do much harm, but you know all about that, Miranda." The woman massaged her temple, feeling a headache coming full force.
"I have no intention of hiding this, Leslie. We are mated and until the bond has settled, Andrea won't be able to be very far from me. She will live here from now on and I didn't saw a problem in making that clear with a chaste kiss on her lips in front of some aspiring paparazzi. That is why I pay you in the first place, to manage the press and fix whatever needs to be fixed." Her tone had dropped to an almost growl and one could feel the air cooling inside those walls.
Andrea watched the exchange, amazed at the force behind those glares - and a little turned on if she was being honest with herself - with the way Miranda was stepping up and defending their relationship. The roles were completely reversed in times like this, the alpha in Andy taking a step back to admire the power her omega possessed, and unless there was a real threat to Miranda, the alpha was more than happy to stay back.
The scent coming from the alpha beside her was a bit distracting to Miranda. They were freshly bonded and that meant any change in scent, hormones or mood were easily felt by the other to create a deeper connection between the two partners, especially alphas paired with omegas. She willed herself to ignore it, however, because Leslie had to know her place in this dynamic.
The PR Manager held the gaze for a few seconds before sighing and lowering her eyes, albeit reluctantly.
"As you wish, Miranda. Do you know how you want to handle the mess Stephen has been making, or should I suggest some things?"
"We have some sensitive information regarding Stephen, but I cannot reveal it to the press. It is much too valuable to use so soon."
"What about the legal implications of your marriage to him and what he is calling a mid-life crisis affair that you have with my daughter? Is it true or do you have grounds to sue him for defamation?" Richard spoke for the first time.
"Dad." Andy told in a warning tone.
"What? I need to know Andy. I'm sure Miranda has the best lawyers in this city working for her, but you are my daughter and there is a lunatic man spilling horrible things about you for the whole country. If there is any possibility of me legally throwing his ass out to some tiny cubicle in China, I damn well will!" His face was calm, but there was a dangerous tone to his words.
"It's okay, darling. Your father is right. And I wouldn't mind if Stephen only found a job in another continent far from here." She gave a small, uncharacteristic shrug. "As for the legal implications: this relationship with Andrea only started after I received the divorce papers from Stephen. Andrea and I were in a heated discussion with my boss, Irv, things got out of control and my heat started a day earlier. It wasn't our fault, but it was consensual in that moment. I never shared a mate bite with Stephen and, as you must know, a mating bite shared during a heat cycle between an alpha and an omega can prevail over a marriage license that has no mating bond if the two parts consent and chose it so. A mating bond is stronger than a marriage, especially between alphas and omegas."
"We don't want to hide this, Dad. I chose Miranda, and she chose me, for some unknown reason." She gave a warm smile to her mate. "You have to trust the education you and Mom gave to me, trust that I did what was right for me without destroying a family in the process. However, Miranda is my mate, my person, just like grandma told me all those years ago."
"I trust you, Andy. I do. I just don't want this man destroying your life before you even started it. I'm proud of you, baby girl." He gave her a watery smile.
"Okay people, let's stop all this emotional talk." Leslie spoke, taking a deep breath to control her emotions.
"Leslie, I need you to contain the press for a few more days. I will set up a meeting with Stephen and his lawyers this week and by the time Saturday comes, I'll tell you exactly what to do about all this mess. Until then, do whatever you have to. Understood?"
"Yes, Miranda."
"Also, find out who are those two paparazzo were on my front door and took my picture with Andrea. Tell them if they can hold the pictures for a week, they'll have a better story to tell by Monday and maybe a better picture, too."
"Okay, I'm on it."
After the meeting with Leslie, Andrea walked the older woman to the door as Richard stayed behind with Miranda. It gave her an anxious feeling, but her partner reassured her it was okay. So the brunette saw Leslie out and went to find her mother and the girls on the tv room, the three of them watching cartoons and talking like they were family already.
She leaned against the doorframe and watched them together for what felt like hours. Arms snaked around her waist and pulled her against the solid form of her omega, her smile getting bigger with the contact.
"I think there is a spell in your family that makes us Priestly completely enamoured with you Sachs." Was murmured on her ear.
"That's the Sachs charm, baby. We can charm our way in and out of everything." Andy turned around, hands going straight to white strands.
"Really?" A skeptical eyebrow rose.
"Of course! How do you think I survived all these months working for you even after screwing a lot of things up?"
"I suppose you might have a point."
"I close my case then." They exchanged a brief kiss. "How did it go with my father?"
"Good, good. I think we got to an understanding."
"I'm glad. It doesn't matter to me if they disapprove of our relationship or not, but it makes me happy that you guys are getting along." She stared intensely into clear blue eyes, something shifting between them in that mundane moment. "You're it for me, Mira."
The words were so soft yet so clear in Miranda's ears, hitting so hard inside her chest she felt breathless for a second. Damn Andrea. Those brown eyes were so intense, so sincere, making the Ambar around her pupil so more evident. Unexpectedly, she felt tears gathering in her eyes, a strong reaction so rarely extracted from her, but again, so were those words uttered so gently.
Miranda didn't know how to answer that, like words weren't enough to convey the emotions swirling inside her heart. 'I love you' was not right, not yet, that would come soon with knowing each other intimately in ways nobody else knew, in facing their best and worst moments without breaking apart, it would come with acceptance and understanding and sacrifices. No, 'I love you' was not the right thing to say, but she also didn't know what was, she could only expect that her eyes could show the intensity of her feelings on this matter.
Andrea smiled gently, like she knew exactly what was going on inside her omega's head - and maybe she really knew. Slowly, she drew closer until her lips were hovering on top of the bite mark on Miranda's neck. Tenderly, she nuzzled it before placing a light kiss, feeling her lover sigh with the gesture, arms squeezing the brunette a little harder in their embrace.
Before Miranda could muster anything to say back, a familiar voice from the room reached their ears.
"Stop being so sickly sweet and come join us." Andy's mom called out.
Andrea laughed a little, then gave one last kiss to the mating mark before taking a step back. The smile she offered to Miranda was so pure and reassuring, like she was saying that words were unnecessary, that Miranda pulled her to a hard kiss, eliciting three groans of "gross" before finally letting go.
"You two are traumatizing the girls!" Her mom mock accused as the twins nodded their heads and covered their eyes.
"I think it's only fair after they traumatized me at the beginning of my tenure as Miranda's assistant, so…" she gave a sloppy kiss on pale lips again just to prove her point.
The girls collapsed on the carpet groaning.
"Just you wait until they prank you, Mom. You won't be so quick to defend this two little demons." Andy said jumping on the girls and tickling them until they were out of breath.
"Ladies," Andy's father spoke as he joined them on the room. "What about we all head out for a late lunch? I'm starving!"
"Yeah, mom! We're starving too!"
"Yeah, Miranda. Are you going to starve us to death?" Andy dramatically whined.
"I don't remember to have adopted another child, Andrea." The editor rolled her eyes, not even a smile breaking through the facade. "Come on, kids. And Richard? Remind me to ask the waiter to give Andrea the kids' menu."
They all laughed as Andy pouted. Lunch would be a funny affair.
A/N: Hope you all liked this little update. Sorry again for taking so long to come back, your reviews helped me keep going during this shitty time of my life and I can't thank you all enough 3
Thank you for coming back, for reading, for commenting, following... And I hope to hear from you again soon 3