Chapter Eight "Confrontations"

Andrea was in a budget meeting when Miranda's second assistant interrupted.

"Uh, Mi-Miss Sachs?"

Miranda didn't stop addressing the group as she stood up and closed the door on the poor girl.

A few minutes later there was a commotion outside which propelled Miranda out of her chair. In two seconds she was yanking it open. Andrea leaned a little to the side, curious who would be so suicidal, but Miranda closed the door behind her.

"She's going to fire that poor girl." Andrea whispered to Nigel.

He didn't take his eyes off the door as he hissed, "Shhh."

Andrea rolled her eyes but when she heard a raised male voice very clearly yell her name, she waited for a sinkhole to suck her under to the fiery depths of hell. Flushing red, she rose from her chair with Nigel at her side. She heard someone start to cry and pulled the door open, then stepped out. Miranda stood between Andrea and Nate. Vanessa was in the process of pulling away the near hysterical second assistant. Nigel flanked Miranda, edging Andrea backward, all but blocking her view.

"Your wife is an integral member of this magazine, Mr. Cooper, and that is the only reason I haven't gotten security to escort you from the premises." Miranda's voice was so low Andrea had trouble making out the words. "But if you say one more word, trust me, it won't matter."

"Andy, tell them..."

Faster than Andrea could blink, Miranda whirled around and walked Andrea back while Nigel guided Nate a few feet away, talking to him in a low tone.

"You do not need to interact with him if you don't wish to, Andrea." Miranda assured her quietly.

"I'll handle it." she said, glaring at the back of Nate's head. "I'm...sorry."

Miranda gently placed her hand on Andrea's shoulder and squeezed once. Blue eyes bore into hers. Andrea's breaths stuttered.

"I don't want to leave you alone with him."

"Uh..." Andrea lost her breath altogether. Nate raised his voice again then Nigel's turned authoritative. "Uh, it's okay. I'll leave the door open. To my, Nigel's office. He's never been violent."

Miranda nodded once then slowly withdrew her fingers from Andrea's shoulder. Distracted by the way Miranda looked at her, she didn't notice they weren't alone until she heard her husband's voice interrupt.

"Andy." Nate said as he lowered his jaw slightly, looking at her through his long eyelashes.

She offered a smile to Nigel and Miranda. Without looking at Nate, Andrea swept past him. As soon as the she entered the office and sat behind the desk, he made the move to shut the door.

"Keep it open."

About to object, he shrugged. "Damn, Andy, all I want is to see Fen. If this is how it's going to be..."

"Oh, no, you've said enough, Nate. We agreed I would bring..."

"I don't see the big deal, Andy."

Andrea inhaled, held it, and just as she was about to pass out, released it.

"You came to my work and made a scene. You disregarded the plans you agreed to then you tried to make it seem as if I was keeping you away from our daughter."

"Well, things change, okay? Can I see her now?"

"No. I'll bring her to the hotel like we agreed." Andrea swallowed back the screaming anger in the back of her throat.

"Look, just let me see her, alright? I came all this way and those tickets weren't cheap. Come on, Andy, you said she's at the daycare. Maybe I should just go there myself."

Andrea jumped out of her chair, almost toppling over the desk to get around it. She clenched her hands at her sides.

"Don't start this shit with me, Nate. I need to know that you're going to do exactly what you agreed to do." Tears gathered in the corner of her eyes. "How can I trust you? Look at what you're doing right now."

Nate stared at the floor and shook his head, one hand rubbing across his eyes. "I know. I'm being an asshole right now."

His shoulders started shaking but Andrea pulled back and looked away. She knew Nate and Lily, despite his strident explanation, didn't 'just happen' but he was the father of her child and it hadn't always been so messed up.

"Go back to the hotel or take a walk, Nate. I promise I'll bring Fen to you after work."

"I just miss her, you know?"

Andrea went to her purse and got the travel packet of tissues out. Handing it to him, she said, "I know."

"I gotta be back in Boston tomorrow night."

"We'll talk when I bring her to you, okay, Nate? It's only a couple of more hours."

Fifteen minutes before she left for the evening, ten minutes after Nigel checked in for the twentieth time, Miranda appeared at the office doorway.

"Come in. Have a seat." Andrea said as she straightened the already neat desktop.

"I won't keep you long." Miranda clasped her hands in front of her as she stepped inside but she didn't sit down.

Uneasy about craning her neck upward in order to look Miranda in the eye, Andrea stood and came around the desk.

"I know you have to leave soon."

Andrea smiled, a little puzzled why Miranda seemed to be hesitant. Leaning against the edge of the desk, she said, "Thank you...for earlier."

"If I was..."

"You weren't."

Miranda folded her arms and looked down at her shoes as if admiring them. "I know what it's like and you have Fen to consider." Abruptly she looked up. "If you need to take tomorrow off, you can, but Nigel is counting on you for Couture week in Paris at the end of the month. He's going to let you run it and then he's going to stay."

Andrea stood. "I want you to know that I appreciate the offer of taking the day tomorrow but I don't need it."

"I don't offer lightly." she snapped, eyes slicing into Andrea. "Take the day. He's leaving tomorrow, yes?"

Shaking her head, Andrea asked, "How did you know that?"

"Nigel." Miranda pursed her lips. "Evidently your husband vented."

"Trust me. I don't need it." When Miranda opened her mouth, Andrea rushed to continue. "I can handle everything, the job and my child."

"And if he takes her to Boston?"

"He won't. But if he does," she said, her entire being flooded with cold determination. "I will hunt him down and take her back."

Miranda inclined her head and smiled viciously. "If you need a tracker, I know of an excellent one. "

Andrea shivered. "Because of the twins' father?"

"I have an investigator on retainer, Andrea." she answered dryly as she looked at her nails. "My first husband hid a lot. When Stephen came along, I was more prepared."

"He tried to take the children?"

"It took Q eighteen hours to find them." Miranda looked away, staring somewhere off to Andrea's left side.

"Q?"

"My investigator. She's relentless and looks remarkably average."

Andrea got her eyes under control. It was kinda sexy how Miranda mixed nonchalance with deadly intent.

Sexy?

Well, yes, Andrea decided to herself. Miranda Priestly held that title above anyone else within Andrea's orbit.

"Well, I have your number." Andrea stated and was pleased by Miranda's sly grin.

Incapable of looking away, she didn't so much decide it was okay to get caught up in that untamed stare as it was just too exciting to ignore.

"Yes, you do." Miranda said in her whispery voice. "I don't expect to see you tomorrow, Andrea."

"Miranda." she said, lifting her hand to touch Miranda's shoulder. "Thank you for all your support. I don't have any right to it but, I promise you, I make it a habit to exceed expectations."

Andrea held onto her daughter's mittened hand as they walked through the hotel lobby. She wanted to carry Fen but her daughter insisted on walking.

"Mummers, it's hot."

Squatting down, she divested Fen of her mittens and coat then kissed her red nose because how could she not?

"How's that, sweetie?"

"Okay."

"Are you excited to see Da? He's missed you very much."

Fen looked up at her when they entered the elevator, her lower lip slightly sticking out. Andrea picked her up.

"Yeah." she yawned out, then bumped her head against Andrea's chin. "Sleepy."

Rubbing her back as they waited for the elevator to take them to the eighteenth floor, Andrea murmured, "I know, sweetie."

The car stopped and a few people got off and an elderly couple boarded.

"Oh, I remember that age." the woman cooed, grabbing the gentleman's arm. "Arnold, you remember when Tommy was that age?"

He grunted and stared at the numbers ticking off the floors.

The woman rolled her eyes, patting his arm affectionately. "You're a old poop. We're visiting from Texas and Arnold's just grumpy because I made him go to the mezzanine level to look at that crazy lookin' sculpture."

Andrea smiled.

"Hiya, darlin'." The woman said with quiet excitement when Fen lifted her head.

Disgruntled, Fen scowled then hid her face in Andrea's neck.

"Oh, my, wait until she hits her teens. My daughter Lucille gave me a run for my money, as my momma used to say."

"It's almost bedtime." Andrea explained, gently rocking her from side to side.

Before the woman launched into more conversation, the car stopped on Nate's floor, and Andrea offered the couple a goodbye.

One turn and a long hallway later, she stood in front of the hotel door and just took a second. The old couple bothered her but not in the expected way. That was supposed to be her and Nate, more fashionably dressed, of course, and reeling with New York cynicism. Their plan went up in a blaze of infidelity, not once but twice. Her stomach curdled as her thoughts turned to what should have been, might have been, and, now, what was no longer possible, at least, not with Nate. One day, hopefully soon, Andrea promised herself several drinks, a crying jag, and a new pair of Louboutin's. She took a fortifying breath then knocked.

When the door opened, Andrea's throat constricted. All along her skin, the tiny hairs raised.

"We need to talk." Lily said softly and opened the door wider to allow Andrea and Fen to enter.

Andrea swept in and deposited her sleeping daughter on Nate's lap then rounded on the other woman.

"We're not doing this in front of my daughter." Andrea hissed and motioned to Lily to follow her out.

Looking back, she saw the helpless expression on Nate's face and the way Lily wrung her hands. Two seconds from snatching Lily by the hair and dragging her out of the hotel room, she finally started moving.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Lily said, "I know this is hard, girl. But..."

Andrea stabbed the down button at the elevator bay. "Just shut up."

The air in the elevator car pressed into her skin. Not daring to glance at Lily, she stared at the floor, arms crossed and head down. By the time the doors opened to the lobby, she fairly ran to hotel bar.

"Vodka martini, no olives. She's paying." Andrea said at the counter then took a seat at a table away from the prowling businessmen.

She had enough time to situate herself on the plush chair, crossing her legs and leaning back with her hands in her lap. Lily arrived and set down their drinks. Andrea snapped hers up and downed half of it. She bit the proverbial bullet and lifted her eyes, taking in the retro look her ex-friend put together. While not horrible, it certainly wasn't up to Runway standards.

"So, you and Nate, huh?" Andrea said, holding her drink and swirling the contents around. "Who would have thought, right?" She drained the glass. "Not me."

"I don't know what to say."

"Oh, I dunno, maybe try saying you're fucking sorry. I mean, you know, you are fucking my husband, right? That deserves an apology. If I'd done that to you, Lily, I would have totally said sorry after I broke your marriage and our friendship. It's the decent thing to do after all."

"Okay, I deserve the sarcasm but..."

"No 'buts'...you deserve whatever I dish out." Andrea looked directly at Lily who was biting her lip and trying not to cry. "How could you? You knew how bad the waitress hurt. You encouraged me to try to make it work, remember? Why? He can't keep it in his pants and you know this. You've seen how it hurts and yet, yet...you slept with him."

Lily drained her glass. "God, I'm gonna need a lot more of those but I can't..."

Mentally Andrea gathered all the reasons why Lily couldn't drink. She glanced at the other woman, saw her hand shaking as it moved to palm her stomach.

"Lily..."

"I have a doctor's appointment next week."

Andrea groaned through her clenched teeth. "If it weren't so bitterly ironic, I'd find this situation hilarious. I don't know why I'm so shocked. Just how long were you guys going behind my back?"

"Eight months." Lily whispered, then closed her eyes.

Andrea was going to be sick. It swirled and rumbled up her throat. "All...all that time and I was working...an-and you w-were...how did you think this was going to end, Lily? Did you even think about our friendship? About me? Fen?"

Tears slid down the other woman's face.

Andrea walked off in the direction of the elevators. It was all too much but Fen was waiting for her. She couldn't break down just yet. Tucking it away into the deepest part of herself, Andrea squared her shoulders and inhaled loudly. She could do this. She would do this.

"Where's Lily?" Nate asked, holding their sleeping daughter and sticking his head out to look down the corridor.

"I'm getting a divorce. No alimony. No child support and I get sole custody. We'll set up a visitation schedule..."

"No, I'm not gonna agree to that, Andy."

"I swear to god." she hissed. "Stop hiding behind your daughter and put her on the bed."

Something on her face or in her voice convinced him to do what she demanded albeit more slowly than Andrea would have liked.

The door opened and Lily entered, face splotchy and pained. Nate looked from her to Andrea then back, expression one of betrayal which delivered a brief satisfaction to Andrea.

"You told her."

Lily started crying and rushed to Nate's side, burrowing her face into his neck. Andrea stared at her husband comforting her former best friend who was pregnant with his child.

"In view of your..." Andrea made a gesture toward them. "recent development, do you want to reconsider what I just said?"

"W-what are you talking about?" Lily asked, clinging to Nate like a serpent. She wiped her face and turned in his arms to look in Andrea's direction.

"Andy wants to take Fen."

Before Lily opened her mouth, Andrea opened hers. "I want a divorce because you can't keep your dick in your pants. I want sole custody because you have another child on the way. I want you to have visitation because she needs her father. And I want you to fucking stop calling me Andy."

"Do it." Lily said quietly. "Agree and be done with it."

"But she's..."

Shaking her head, Lily interrupted, "She's not asking for alimony or child support and giving you visitation. There are a lot of changes happening and Fen needs stability. If you love your daughter like I know you do, Nate, don't fight Andrea on this."

The mulish slant of his jaw gave one answer as he uttered another, "I want to talk about custody in the future, Andrea."

She nodded. "What time will you be dropping Fen off?"

"On the way to the airport so about four, I guess."

"Can you bring her to Runway?"

Nate scowled but Lily put a hand on his chest and replied, "Yes."

On the way home she made several work-related calls. There were a few things she could do from home, too. Andrea then called the number the nanny agency gave her and set up an appointment to interview Demetria. The trip to Paris weighed on her mind. Leaving Fen stateside with the nanny wasn't an option. Nigel pointed out Elias-Clarke maintained a corporate apartment not far from the venue, one neither Miranda nor Adele were going to use as neither planned to attend the Paris Couture show this year. When Andrea started to protest, Nigel told her it was already designated as his temporary residence until he found one of his own.

As soon as she opened her apartment door, Andrea felt Fen's absence so much harder. Now that Lily was probably pregnant, Andrea's misgivings in the woman's ability to care for Fen eased the tiniest bit. It stood to reason that now that Lily was expecting her own child she wouldn't try to usurp Andrea's place in Fen's life. She lived on hope.

Still, she missed her daughter. She understood Nate's pain caused by the separation from Fen but not enough to share custody. Although he wasn't a bad father, at this time in his life Nate just had too much going on to be able to concentrate on their daughter's wellbeing. She was in a position to be able to provide very well for Fen but she didn't trust Nate could.

When her work phone buzzed, she automatically answered, "Yes."

"Do you know what you're saying yes to?"

Andrea smiled as she sat down on the couch and put her feet up. "I'm pretty sure I'll agree to whatever the Editor in Chief of Runway demands, Miranda. What can I do for you?"

A curious pause filled the phone connection. Andrea's heart skidded.

"Well, the Audi needs to be detailed." Miranda replied without inflection.

Andrea hesitated but she didn't know quite how to respond.

Sighing, Miranda said, "Really, Andrea. I have assistants to do those type of things for me."

"Yes, I knew that. I've just walked through the door and I'm a little distracted."

"You sound remarkably composed. The...meeting must have went...well?"

Despite her best efforts at suppressing the words, they tumbled out of her mouth. Miranda didn't interrupt, not even for clarification. When Andrea's voice grew husky, she cleared her throat.

"So, you're up to date. I haven't even told my parents yet. I don't know whether or not I should tell his."

"Get a lawyer tomorrow. I could check into that for you."

Andrea rubbed her forehead. "I doubt they're in my price range, Miranda."

"I'll inquire about a recommendation. What you do with it is up to you."

"Fine. Miranda..."

"Yes?"

Scratching the back of her neck, she asked, "Why are you doing this? Helping me?"

"I'm not sure." Miranda murmured. "Maybe because I was you once."

It was a reasonable response from anyone else but not from the Miranda Priestly. Yet, Andrea started to realize the woman was more than a persona. Without question, at work, she was cold, dismissive, and impatient. Le Priestly. The bubbling suspicion Miranda was more came to the surface. She was nice to Andrea. For the most part, even at work. Eyes widening in realization, she bit her lip, not knowing how to feel about her boss actually being nice to her. Anna, while not entirely unsympathetic, still had never ventured into Andrea's personal life.

"We've had similar experiences, I agree."

"You have talent, drive, a tough skin, and the ability to adapt. We share certain qualities, as well, Andrea."

"Th-thank you." She closed her eyes and counted the beats in her ears. "Knowing that...helps."

"Yes, well. I will see you tomorrow."