Running through the terminal with a heavy backpack and carry-on, Andrea's heart pounded in her chest. Fast approaching her gate, she dodged a group of college kids then nearly slammed into a churlish businessman. Most of the chairs were empty but a loose group of people stood around the counter. Andrea flew past them and stopped on her tip-toes when she reached the line of ticketed boarders. She huffed as she held out her crumpled boarding pass. The gate agent curled her lip but successfully scanned it through the reader. Sweat trickled down her nape and her eardrums kept sync with her heartbeat. Still, she made it.

The flight was full but at least first class offered a little breathing room from her co-travelers. She stowed her bags, one overhead and the other under the seat in front of her then clicked on her seatbelt. Only then did Andrea expel a long, tired sigh. A few people hurried through the aisle, holding their carryon and trying not to hit anyone with it although they weren't very successful at least not for the guy two rows in front of her. Andrea leaned a bit, her elbow on the console between the seats to avoid being hit.

"Well, hello there. The name's Kevin."

"Andrea." she murmured then dug through the front compartment of her backpack to retrieve a pair of earbuds.

"So, do you fly often, Andrea?"

Saved by the flight attendant's onboard announcement, she readied her phone.

"Not much of a talker, are you?"

A false note in his voice alerted her. "I'm just really tired."

"Yeah, I know what you mean." He exhaled loudly.

Andrea settled in, mindful of where she placed her arms and trying not to tweak Kevin's attention. She could only hope the flight attendant inspired him more.

Soon enough they were rumbling down the runway, the heavy clunk of retracted wheels signaling take-off. Andrea fisted her hands in her lap and refused to look out the oval shaped windows. The sounds and shaking, as if the plane was breaking apart, never ceased to stretch her nerves to the point of snapping. The cabin pressurized, doing something weird to her hearing until they leveled out and she popped her jaw.

The flight attendant squatted in the aisle by Andrea, smiling and looking directly into her eyes. It was a tad weird, the overboard eye contact and maniacal grinning, but Andrea shoved it off. She knuckled out the gritty sensation in her eyes then smoothed the skin underneath them.

"Can I get you something to drink, Miss Sachs?"

Andrea sat up straighter. Remembering her name was a nice touch, rare in her experience on airplanes. She knew they had a print-out of First Class passengers, handed over by the gate agent before take-off. Still, she wasn't a celebrity.

"Uh, no thanks."

The attendant stood but leaned over slightly to address Kevin.

Andrea pressed back in her seat when the woman's chest almost hit her.

"Anything for you, sir?"

"A seven-and-seven."

She put in her earbuds, reclined the seat and listened to an instrumental playlist.

Kevin, immediately behind her as they disembark, tried to make another play but she demurred and hurried up the jetway, excitement filling her. The crowd of people formed an impenetrable wall. Andrea stopped and scanned the crowd for familiar white hair and fashionable style. When the crowd thinned, she saw Miranda lounging against a pillar and smirking, dressed in navy pants with a crisp white sleeveless blouse. She looked so relaxed and lovely that Andrea didn't immediately go to her. Passersby darted through the space between them but Miranda's blue eyes held hers anyway. Andrea's lips curved. Miranda slowly licked her bottom lip, gaze lowering down Andrea's body like the stroke of her fingers.

Andrea headed her way, hoisting her backpack up on one shoulder and pulling the small suitcase. Coming to a stop a foot away, Andrea dropped her backpack.

"Hello, Andrea."

"Miranda." she breathed then placed her hands on Miranda's semi-bare shoulders.

The heat from her skin, the silky texture of it, was too enticing. Andrea closed the gap, sliding her palms across the sharp slopes of her shoulder blades underneath the blouse. She inhaled the spicy perfume behind her ears Miranda tended to wear. Andrea's body sank into Miranda's as she sighed and lightly kissed her on the cheek. Their bodies fit snuggly, reacquainting themselves with curves and angles. Andrea didn't want to move.

Miranda whispered in her ear, "I am so glad you're here." Then pressed a kiss to her jaw before releasing her.

"Me, too." Andrea replied then smiled, picking up her backpack.

Miranda grasped the handle of Andrea's carry-on.

"Did you check anything?"

"Nope."

They started toward the exit.

"Did you pack enough?" Miranda asked.

"I don't plan on wearing much."

"Mmm. Lucky me." Miranda gestured toward the right and led Andrea through a set of automatic doors. "Fen wanted to come and the girls, too, but I thought it best to keep them home since they've tired themselves out."

"Yes, but as soon as we open the door..."

Miranda pressed the fob she pulled out of her pocket, unlocking the doors to a huge Suburban.

"I'm thinking of buying one." Miranda said idly as she lifted Andrea's luggage and put it in the back.

"It's big enough to have sex in." Andrea said, keeping her voice low and looking at Miranda suggestively.

Eyebrows rose, arching over deep blue eyes. A hint of a smile softened Miranda's lips. "I do believe you're right, darling."

Holding hands on the way back, Andrea leaned back in her seat and turned her head to lazily admire Miranda's strong profile. Muted dash-lights emitted a bluish-white color, giving Miranda's face a wraith-like quality.

"You're staring."

Shifting toward Miranda, Andrea simply agreed with a quiet hum.

"It looks good on you. The bracelet."

Andrea grinned. "Yeah it does." She held out her wrist, laughing when the light made the diamonds sparkle. "I'm still afraid I'll lose it."

"Jewelry is meant to be worn."

Snagged by a certain gleam in Miranda's eyes, Andrea narrowed her eyes. Miranda smirked then looked at the road.

"Mmm, I think you get a little charge out of seeing me in things you've picked out for me."

"You make me sound like a possessive neanderthal."

Andrea couldn't help the deep and indecent sound that crawled out of her throat. "I do enjoy when you possess me."

"You're impossible."

Squeezing Miranda's hand, Andrea hurled back, "I do the impossible."

Miranda laughed quietly then asked, "What of Jamar?"

"He's fighting with his muse." Andrea plucked at the crease in her jeans. "She's unimpressed with his collection for the shoot next week which made him second guess his 'vision'."

"But it's bold. His color palette shows such a wonderful progression."

"I know, right?" Sighing, she shifted in her seat and put the side of her knee on the cushion. "I cleared most of my day and spent it with him."

"Was his muse present?"

"I insisted."

"And?" Miranda quickly glanced at her.

"She finally agreed that most of the pieces were 'presentable'. I took them home with me."

Narrowing her eyes, Miranda asked, "What ensembles did he decline to feature?"

"The long-sleeved off-the shoulder sweater dress, the tunic and the flared pants."

Miranda made a tsking noise. "That leaves Runway with only five. Hardly enough for a feature spread, Andrea."

"That's why he's agreed to have six more outfits by Monday."

"Let's hope they're good."

"We just need three. I like our odds."

Drumming her nails on the steering wheel and sucking in her cheek, Miranda stared straight ahead then abruptly looked at Andrea.

"How did you convince your mother you're not 'gay'?"

The question, while anticipated at some point, still succeeded in surprising Andrea. Slowly Miranda separated their clasped hands and gripped the steering wheel.

Her stomach tightened like a coiled, wet towel. She scratched her thigh, looking down at her bare nails against the dark fabric.

"Andrea." Miranda's voice, although as soft as ever, delivered a hard, uncompromising note.

Shielded by her hair, she took a minute. There was no help for it. Andrea lifted her head and looked at Miranda.

"I lied. To my mother."

"What was your lie?"

Andrea curled her fingers into fists, resting them against the tops of her thighs. "I told her of course I wasn't a lesbian but she deserved the mind-fuck because she pushed me so hard about my cheating husband. I went on the offensive and..." Breathing through a shallow wave of tears that rushed to her eyes only to begrudgingly recede, Andrea rubbed her forehead. "...said horrible...things about lesbians. I threw every gay person under the bus, including myself."

Miranda extended her hand and Andrea gratefully took it. "You did what you had to, my love. When you're divorced and editor of Runway, we will have the biggest, gayest coming out party New York has ever seen."

Andrea snorted a laugh which was painful but well worth it, knowing Miranda stood by her. Gradually Andrea's shoulders curbed forward. She entwined her fingers with Miranda's.

"I think I'm going to lose my mother."

Three little girls scared Miranda Andrea as they stood in the dark foyer after closing the door behind them. Andrea laughed, gathering up Fen in her arms and covering her with kisses.

"Andy, we surfed with our boogieboards." Cassidy exclaimed, holding onto her mother's hand as she tugged Miranda forward.

"Just a minute, bobbsies." Miranda said as she flicked on the lights.

"Well, now everyone's up." Cara mock-grumbled, turning on the hallway light.

"It's a little after ten." Miranda scoffed.

"Can we go in the kitchen? I'm starving." Andrea asked, Fen on her hip and Caroline by her side. "So, boogieboards, huh? Can I try?"

"Sure. I'm not very good at it yet." Caroline's long eyelashes swept down then she peeked upward. "But I'll show you what I know."

Andrea leaned toward her and whispered, "I can't wait. Thanks, Ro."

Everyone headed into the kitchen but Cara was the one to take charge.

"Who's hungry?"

The twins raised their hands, spouting their preferences with competitive vigor but Cara reined them in by stating, "We're having a frittata."

Andrea instructed the girls on setting the table, handing over Fen to Miranda who set up Fen's booster chair while she pointed out to Fen the names for things in French.

Andrea withdrew to a corner of the kitchen, observing as unobtrusively as possible. Fen was accepted, riding Miranda's hip and speaking French. Cassidy dodged her mother but patted Fen's leg as she passed. Caroline helped Cara, getting items out of the refrigerator and handing them over. Cara cooed something sweet sounding to Fen, obviously crushing on the toddler. The acceptance, given freely, meant so much to Andrea. The possibility of co-raising her child in such an environment blossomed in her chest.

"Hey, mom, where do you want me to put Andy's stuff?" Cassidy called out as she wheeled in the carryon.

The adults in the room stopped moving and talking. Andrea and Miranda shared a look then included Cara but no one offered an answer.

"Um, in a guest room?" Andrea squeaked, frowning at Cara in helplessness.

"Here, I'll take care of it." Cara abruptly answered then closed the oven door. "Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes or so."

Abandoning the luggage, Cassidy rushed toward her sister. "Let's show Fen the pool."

Miranda called out, "No, Cassidy. Fen doesn't know how to swim yet. Wait until an adult can accompany you."

"Okay." Cassidy replied, then grinned. "Can we go upstairs and play?"

While Cara grabbed the carryon, Miranda replied, "Yes, bobbsies, but come down when we call you for dinner, yes?"

"I don't know why I didn't think..."

"Andrea." Miranda said, smiling as she walked across the room, stood in front of her then held her hand. "They haven't started asking any questions although I'm certain Caroline is the more curious of the two. I'll deal with it when it happens."

A loud thumping down the stairs was a warning. Miranda let go of Andrea's hand and stepped back. Lifting an eyebrow, she said, "Really, Cara, I'm not going to ravish her on the kitchen floor."

Cara snorted in mild annoyance. "Let me tell you, the way you two look at each other isn't subtle."

Andrea turned red, not meeting anyone's gaze as she scratched the side of her bicep.

"Let me show you the house, Andrea." Miranda suggested and levelled a glare at Cara who had already turned away.

"This is a little bit more than a 'small house'."

Finally she had Andrea to herself, sitting on deck chairs in front of the fire pit and having a glass of wine. Tucked in one large bed, the girls were asleep. Cara had retired to the other bedroom on the first floor but kept the door opened in case one of the children needed something.

"Yes, well, it was only a plot of land years ago, a small investment before development." Miranda set down the wine glass on the small table between them.

The fire light softened Andrea's features making her look so much younger. When the breeze changed direction, brown hair fluttered momentarily before settling back down. Andrea tucked it behind her ears and smiled.

"Cara's made up the other guestroom. It's across the hall from mine." Miranda paused, started to say something then stopped.

Andrea twisted in the lounger to face her, propping herself on an elbow. "I can go back to my room before everyone wakes up, baby."

With vague annoyance, she huffed, "You make it sound so clandestine."

Chuckling a little, Andrea took a sip from her wine. "Needs must, right?" She grew still, looking into the distance.

"Andrea?"

She set down the wine, the glass clinking next to Miranda's. "I know it's what we have to do right now. I'm glad-no, grateful for every moment we spend together."

"But?"

"I'm really not looking forward to our separation." Andrea's voice lowered. "How am I going to be able to pull this off? You heard Cara..."

Miranda rose up then perched on the edge of Andrea's lounge chair and placed her palm on Andrea's smooth knee.

"It's the only way right now. I wasn't going to tell you, not until afterward, but I'm meeting with a judge on Monday."

"You're not going to bribe him, are you?" Andrea asked nervously, grabbing Miranda's hand.

"What? No, of course not. Before she was appointed, she was a lawyer for a child's advocacy group that I've donated to over the years."

Andrea arched her eyebrows. "What's your plan then?"

"To fast-track your divorce."

"And how are you going to do that, Miranda?"

Rolling her eyes, she answered, "Why, appeal to her sympathetic nature, of course."

The beginnings of an amused grin lifted one corner of Andrea's mouth. "And why would she be sympathetic?"

Miranda lightly scratched the back of her neck. "Her divorce made both of mine look like fairy tales."

"Stephen wasn't a picnic but your first one..."

"Was very dramatic and public. Now that he's no longer in the public eye, unless there's an eighties revival or Where Are They Now? show, he's calm down considerably. It does help he's otherwise occupied with hiking all over the world." Miranda exhaled in a short indignant rush, replacing her hand on Andrea's knee. "He's indicated a desire to take the twins on hiking expeditions when they're older."

"Nate used to say he wanted to teach Fen how to cook." Andrea bit her bottom lip. "I don't know what he thinks anymore."

"When was the last time you talked to him?"

"Right before I left for the airport. I almost didn't make the flight because he..." Andrea rubbed her eyes, swallowed, then looked into Miranda's eyes. "One minute he wants to speak to Fen and the next...it's like he's two people. I don't know how to explain it."

"You don't have to." Miranda lightly presses her fingertips around Andrea's knee. "What you're going through isn't easy. You share a child and you were with him for a long time."

Andrea sat up, one hand pushing her fingers through Miranda's forelock. "I don't think he really believed I would leave." She closed the distance, arms going around Miranda's shoulders and they embraced. "I wish we'd gotten divorced the first time he cheated then maybe you and I..."

"I'd still be the editor and you the Fashion Director but...it's a technicality that you don't report directly to me. It's enough of one I'll be able to make a case if the board decides to terminate my contract. Well, that, and...other things."

Andrea's nose bumped Miranda just below her ear then her lips followed, "It's hard for me to...think when you're so close, baby."

Miranda's hand slid down the inside of Andrea's thigh, fingers coming to a stop at the edge of her panties.

"I have this fantasy." Miranda whispered into Andrea's ear, hand not moving but fingers actively brushing back and forth.

Andrea rubbed the side of her jaw along Miranda's cheek. Her legs opened wider.

"Your hair is down and you're wearing this white, gossamer long-sleeved button-up that's half-opened. The breeze nearly blows it off your shoulders. I can see the shape of your breasts. Your nipples are hard and, god, you look so beautiful with the sun setting behind you."

Andrea's body trembled and her arms tightened around Miranda. "Go on." she said thickly.

"You're walking toward me." Miranda's fingers spread wide. Andrea moaned. "With that smile that's only mine."

Andrea skimmed her parted lips across Miranda's temple and used the tip of her tongue to leave a trail to her ear. She sucked the lobe then whispered, "Only yours."

"Andrea." Miranda pulled back and looked into her eyes. "I'm going to make you so happy."

"Jesus christ." she husked and shoved her hips forward, chasing after her lover's fingers. "Okay, okay, make me happy upstairs."

They made it as far as the carpet in front of the opened balcony door. Andrea braced a palm against the metal edge of it, the curtain billowing then falling back over her bare breasts. She arched her spine, pressing her other hand against the back of Miranda's head.

"Ooooh." Andrea moaned, her entire body aflame.

Miranda teased her, using her tongue and circling her fingers but never going deeper.

"Let me feel you...inside of me." Eyes squeezed shut, she pulled up her own legs and grabbed her knees, offering herself in a wanton plea.

In spite of Andrea's begging, Miranda continued to drive her higher. Feathery touches, constant with the same pressure, turned into firmer ones then backed off.

"God damnit, you're driving me crazy." Andrea gasped out.

Her body writhed, skin rubbing against carpet fibers. Sweat dotted her stomach and made it difficult to maintain the hold on her knees. A wave of euphoria suffused Andrea as her cunt wept and pulsated. Beyond words, throat muscles tight, she looked down at Miranda. The shock of white hair in the moonlight pierced Andrea's heart. She was on the brink of orgasm and then Miranda moved her fingers slowly into Andrea. In and out, the long strokes teased the front of her cervix. Her vaginal muscles contracted around Miranda's fingers. The strokes shortened and came faster, relentlessly pushing into her body.

Out of control, Andrea let go of her knees and dug her nails into Miranda's shoulder muscles. Ocean air inflated her lungs as she inhaled. No longer capable of even the weakest of sighs, she rode the wave. When Miranda's knuckles nudged past Andrea's labia, stretching and filling her, Andrea's pleasure broke against the shore.