11
Emily Charleton stood on the sidewalk in front of a pardon her french, shithole apartment. She was reliably informed that the woman she was looking for was in there somewhere. Well, to be honest, all she really knew through a friend at the phone company was that Miranda's phone had been in this building fairly recently.
"For fuck sake just do it already," Emily thought to herself.
She finally got her legs in motion moving now with her usual confident stride. She strolled into office that belonged to the buildings supper and was taken aback by the appearance of the man sitting behind the desk. He was not an attractive man, to begin with, but, the massive bruise on the left side of his fae he could be Quasimoto's long lost son.
"You look like shit," She said in her now standard all-America accent.
"Fell down the stairs," he responded in a less than convincing tone.
"You looking for a place? I'll cut you a deal on the rent."
She chose to ignore the question and the roaving eyes that followed. She also thought she solved the mystery of how what happened to his face.
She chose to ignore whatever the hell was going on with this guy and focus on the reason why she came.
"I'm looking for a woman who may live here. Her name is Miriam."
The man's demeanor soured if that was even possible as he replied, "All of a sudden everybody is looking for good old Miriam."
Emily scoffed at the notion of anyone ever referring to Miranda using such a common term, yet she felt no need to correct him. She also knew that Miranda had wanted anonymity when she chose to revert back to the name she'd been born with.
"Well if you want to know what I know, it'll cost you."
Emily smirked at the man. She was done fucking around with this poor excuse of a human being.
"Now, you listen closely. I have been looking all over the place for good old Miriam, and you're going to tell me what you know, or I'm going to call a friend at the Mayor's office, and he'll pull the occupancy permit for this fleabag ten minutes after I walk out that door."
The man attempted a glare that fell flat before he responded, "You're bluffing."
Emily rolled her eyes and wondered," why do some men always have to do things the hard way." She reached into her purse, pulled out her iPhone, then selected a number from her contacts. She connected the call making sure to place the call on speaker.
"Hey Josh, It's Emily."
"Hey Emily, It's a little soon for us to start talking about the re-election campaign. So what's up?"
Emily smiled into the phone then said, "Josh, it's never too soon to start thinking about re-election. Anyway, I just wanted to put a bug in Mayor's ear about establishing an enterprise zone to rehabilitate those awful apartment building in Hell's Kitchen. I think the Mayor could make it a real focus of his next campaign."
"I love it, and She'll love it too," Josh said enthusiastically.
"Great, let's get together for lunch, and we can work out the specifics," Emily said while staring directly at the pitiful man.
She made solid plans for lunch next week with the Mayor's policy director before ending the call.
"So do I tell Josh to bury this place next week or not?" Emily asked.
"Ok, Ok. I'll tell you what I know, but you're not going to like it.
"I evicted her two days ago and haven't seen her since."
"Evicted," Emily repeated in a voice that sounded a bit shaky.
"Yeah, she couldn't make rent, so I really had no choice," he defended lamely.
The little man's words felt like a punch to the gut. Was she too late?
She turned to leave but was stopped by the now desperate man.
"Wait, there's something else."
"A woman also came asking about Miriam, but she called her something else at first like Mandy or Martha. Something like that."
Emily asked the first question that came to mind, "And what did this woman want?"
"She wanted the stuff that I took out of Miriam's apartment."
"She left without her possessions?" Emily said to herself.
"This is not good," she thought.
"Describe this girl."
"She's maybe your height but without the heels. Light brown skin. Not exactly Hispanic so maybe just a mutt. She was a real looker, but she dressed like a dyke."
Emily narrowed her eyes at the man as she decided she get convince Josh to there place the fucking ground.
She had all the information she was going to get from him, so she turned on her heel and left without another word. Her concern for Miranda's welfare had only increased after this encounter. She'd been evicted, left her things in the apartment, and did not call her or the twins.
The only fact that did not fit the worst-case scenario that was playing out in her head was the mystery woman who came for Miranda's things. That one fact at least gave her a sliver of hope that Miranda was alright. She decided to hold on to that sliver until she had definitive proof one way or the other.
As she hit the street, she looked around for a place she could sit and figure out what to do next. Her destination was set when she spotted a charming little coffee shop halfway down the block. When she walked into the Cozy Cafe she was greeted by an equally charming older couple behind the counter.
"What'll you have love?" a pretty older brunette asked. Emily felt a little of the tension she'd been feeling bleed away upon hearing the voice of a fellow Brit.
"The only real cure for one of her majesty's subjects," Emily replied in her native tongue.
The woman winked before she said, "One cuppa tea coming up."
Emily chose a table out of the way before she gratefully took a seat. She loved these heels, but they did nothing good to her poor feet.
A moment later she looked up as her fellow British subject placed a steaming cup a tea on the table followed by a silver tin of cream and an assortment of sweeteners.
"I made you a special brew because honestly, you look like you could use it."
Emily poured her cream, added a pack of stevia, and stirred. She took a sip and had to admit it was the best cuppa tea she'd had this side of the pond.
"Oh, this is so good. Thank you."
"Mind if I join you for a bit," the woman asked.
"Please," Emily said suddenly happy to have a bit of company.
"So tell me what's troubling you, dearie."
Emily looked up into a pair of brown eyes and felt compelled to respond to the kindness she saw there.
"I've been trying to find my mother, but I've just been told that she was evicted from the building down the street a few days ago and I'm back to square one."
"Oh, dear," she responded with such a look of care and concern that Emily almost broke down then and there.
The woman patted Emily's hand then said, "Why don't you tell me all about it."
"Why the hell not," Emily thought to herself.
"I grew up not too far from Kings Cross. My family wasn't rich, but I grew up with all the things I wanted. Was shipped off to boarding school at Queen Anne's."
"That doesn't sound so bad. I met my wife at boarding school," the shop owner said.
"Let her finish love," a handsome redhead woman said before putting a cuppa tea in front of her spouse.
The brunette apologized for interrupting then introduced herself and her spouse.
"By the way, I'm Hermione, and this is my wife, Ginny."
Emily introduced herself then looked around the cafe realizing the place was now empty save the three of them.
"Ginny, why don't you pull up a chair and join us," Emily said, already liking the cute older couple.
"There was nothing wrong with the way I grew up. I just never felt particularly close to my parents. Just after I graduated from secondary school, my parents sat me down and told me that I was adopted.
That made perfect sense to me. Don't get me wrong, my parents were kind people just not particularly loving. They were an older couple, and they both passed away while I was at university."
Hermione reached out and gently touched Emily's hand again but, took her wife's advice and let Emily continue without interrupting.
"With the money, my parents left me and freshly degreed from Victoria University; I moved to New York. Then I met the woman who changed my life."
"You have this great flare for the dramatic," Ginny pointed out.
Emily blushed a little before she said, "So I've been told."
"Anyway, I studied communications at university with a plan of getting a job at one of the big PR firms. Unfortunately, when I got here New York was going through a recession so none of those firms were hiring. Fortunately, one of the hiring managers really liked me and passed my cv to a friend who worked at one of the big publishing firms.
"I had the weirdest interview ever and somehow I ended up as an assistant at Runway Magazine."
"Oh, I love Runway," Hermione said.
"Loved," the redhead amended.
"Well the magazine has been real rubbish of late," the brunette added.
Emily nodded her head in fervent agreement but left that discussion for another time.
"My first day I found that I was going to be working for the the legend herself."
When Ginny gave Hermione a confused look, she mouthed the Devil in Prada.
"Oh, Bollock," Ginny said, causing the other two women to laugh.
"I can't help but agree, and she certainly lived up to that reputation," Emily said.
"At first anyways," she amended.
The married couple looked at her oddly.
"It turned out that she valued loyalty. When I discovered a plot to oust her from her position, she showed her appreciation by becoming my mentor and eventually, my friend. I even started hanging out with her devil's spawn twin daughters."
Ginny gave Hermione a smirk as they both thought about there own redheaded twins.
"That sounds frightening," Hermione said, thinking about the mischief that Fredrica and Georgina were once capable of.
"They actually weren't that bad," Emily said with a smile.
"After they realized that I wasn't a pushover, I think I gained their respect."
"It helps if you bloody a nose every once in a while," Ginny said while giving Emily a knowing look.
"Verbally of course," Hermione added with a frown causing both redheads to laugh.
"Of course," Ginny finally agreed before placing a gentle kiss on her wife's cheek.
Emily looked at the older couple and felt thoroughly charmed by them both.
"Well, I grew quite close to the little monsters which led to all that came next."
"No good deed goes unpunished," Hermione speculated.
Emily nodded her head before she said, "you have no idea."
"The girls were working on a school project about how DNA drove the spread of certain traits. Apparently, redheads only make up 2% of the world's population so the girls wanted to know if I was willing to have my DNA compared to theirs and their mothers."
"Interesting," Hermione said as her analytical mind had already jumped a few steps ahead.
The brunette jumped a little as she felt a pinch to her side. She looked at her spouse to see a look that told her to let the woman finish her story uninterrupted.
Emily, who was thoroughly enjoying the interaction between the older couple, smiled at the memory of what came next.
"As a preamble to asking for my participation, Caroline asked me if the curtains matched the drapes."
Ginny just managed to swallow her sip of tea before a bark of laughter escaped her mouth.
"Cheeky," Hermione agreed thinking about some of the things that came out of Georgina's mouth as a teenager.
"After I informed them that I was indeed a natural redhead, they ultimately convinced me to go along. I gave them a cheek swab then thought nothing else about it. Then a few weeks later, Miranda and I received an urgent summons from the girls' school.
When we arrived, the girls' teacher, the principal, and a man neither of them knew where all waiting for us.
It turned out the man was a scientist from the genetics lab that ran the tests."
The older couple gave her encouraging smiles as the rest of the story was quite evident.
"I'd always cared for Miranda. Hell, to be honest, I loved her. It just never occurred to me that I was her daughter.
After an awkward half an hour, we all went back to Miranda's home, and she told the girls and me the whole story.
"She'd met and fallen in love with her father, a young soldier in the British Army. How he was killed in an IRA bombing and how she discovered her pregnancy a few weeks after my father's."
Emily accepted a few tissues as she belatedly realized that tears were threatening to spill from her eyes. It wasn't that she mourned for a father that she never knew. It wasn't even that she grieved for the life she could have had. There was just something so romantically tragic about the whole story. She dabbed her eyes dry before she told them the predictable end to the story.
"My grandparents weren't happy about the situation, so they forced Miranda to give me up for adoption."
"That's quite the story love," Hermione said.
"I think maybe your mum, been here a few times but we haven't seen her for a while," Ginny added.
Emily nodded, she had somehow had the idea when she walked in the door that this would be Miranda's kind of place.
Emily finished her tea, then thanked the older couple before promising she would come back and tell them how everything turned out.
"I wish there were more we could do," Ginny said as she slipped an arm around her wife's slim waist.
"I know love, but there are things that they have to work out for themselves."
"Fancy a nooner," the redhead said, changing the subject rather dramatically.
Ginny gave her wife a rakish smile before running a hand up Hermione's leg.
"Love you've forgotten your knickers again," Ginny pointed out.
"My memory isn't what it used to be," Hermione lamented with a grin.
"Now lock up love, I need you right now."
"Yes, dear," the redhead said, then did what she was told.
Emily shook off the memories of her conversation with the two shop owners had dredged up. It had provided a needed distraction from her immediate concerns. She looked around the street as she briefly considered walking around Hell's Kitchen with the hopes of somehow stumbling into Miranda.
"Not in these heels," she thought as she dismissed the lame idea.
She checked her watch, realizing that her phone company contact was probably at work by now She sent him an update and asked him to ping Miranda's phone again and text her when he found something. She was now at a dead end, so she hailed a taxi and directed the driver towards lower Manhattan.
She walked into the offices of Logan the public relations firm named after her charismatic and extremely talented boss, Erica Logan.
Erica's PA Sherrie greeted her in her charming old school Brooklyn accent. She smiled at the pretty blonde but avoided further conversation. She liked the woman, but if cornered she'd feel the need to empty her guts, and after her experience at the Cozy Cafe she didn't think she was up for another round.
She felt distracted the rest of the day as she kept checking her phone for incoming messages. The whole thing came to a head later in the day when she zoned out in the middle of a client meeting. Only Erica's quick intervention on her behalf kept the meeting from going fully off the rails.
Once the client left, She was summoned to her boss's office.
She sat down as Erica spoke in her usual frank manner, "what the fuck was that?"
Emily winced, Erica was no Miranda, but the formidable brunette could be a little frightening when she built up a full head of steam. She decided her best, and only option was to come clean. So she gave her boss a brief and sanitized version of the story she just told her new friends. She decided to leave out any mention of her mother's identity. She trusted Erica, but for some reason, she didn't feel like that part of the story was not hers alone to tell. Instead, she focused on her desperate search for her birth mother and her fears that something terrible had happened.
When she'd finished, Erica stood and pulled her into a warm embrace as the formidable woman transitioned from boss to friend. She pulled away from the embrace when tears began to threaten. She leaned into Erica's soft hand when it stroked her cheek.
She was grateful when Erica fell back on her trademark sense of humor by asking, "Only you would have to find your birth mother twice."
"Well, it sounds pretty ridiculous when you put it like that," Emily answered with a watery laugh.
"No, I get it. Family can be complicated," Erica said, cutting the sarcasm back to a manageable level.
"Look, why don't you take the rest of the day and maybe tomorrow if you need to," Erica offered.
She thanked Erica before slipping out of her office. She looked around and was grateful she didn't see Sherrie. She didn't want to breakdown in front of the whole office and she currently had no defense against the blonde's kind nature. Besides, Erica would fill her in the whole story when they were in bed tonight.
She headed straight for her office then picked up her phone only to find that she'd missed a message from her friend at the phone company. She read Kevin's message twice to make sure she understood it.
"What the hell are you doing in Carnegie Hill," Emily said to no one in particular.
Geographically that neighborhood was not that far from Hell's Kitchen, but financially they were worlds apart. Kevin indicated that he would text again as soon as she got a fixed address. She briefly considered taking a trip to the neighborhood in question. She had second thoughts knowing that one did not wander around Carnegie Hill without drawing the wrong kind of attention. She was dressed well enough to blend in The problem was it was the kind of place that an unfamiliar face would stick out like a zebra strolling through the halls at Runway.
She grabbed her laptop, a couple of client files then headed for the door. She shook her head when she passed Erica's closed door, knowing that Sherrie and Erica were in there fucking each other's brains out.
When she hit the street, she was pleasantly surprised to see Erica's car waiting for her with a familiar face standing beside. Finding a job for Roy after she was forced to let him go was one of the few things Miranda was willing to ask and accept her help.
"Erica thought you could use a ride," Roy said in greeting.
She gave the former Marine a warm hug before she asked, "how's Steven these days?"
"Running for city council," he said of his driven younger lover.
"He's got my vote," she responded thinking that councilman would be the first of many positions he'd eventually hold.
"I think he's got a good shot," Roy answered.
"Tell you what, have him come see me next week," Emily offered.
"The campaign is operating on a shoestring, there's no way they can afford your prices," Roy pointed out.
"I'm sure we can make an accommodation," Emily countered.
She thought Erica would agree that taking a loss on the PR work for one campaign would be a small price to pay to get in on the ground floor of an up-and-coming candidate. Besides repping, the first openly gay man with a real shot at becoming the Mayor would work well with their gay-friendly image.
Roy conceded the point before agreeing to talk to Steven about it. He opened the door allowing Emily to slide into the rear.
"Can you head up to Lex and 54th first?" Emily asked.
It was a little out of the way, but in Erica's Maybach, no one would question their presence. She wasn't exactly expecting to see Miranda walking down the street, but her curiosity was just too strong to resist at least taking a look. The drive up was relatively quick, but driving through tree-lined streets revealed very little. After half an hour of meandering, she gave up and said, "just take her home."
She could tell that Roy was curious about the little side trip but he kept his questions to himself.
She thanked him for the ride then headed up to her place. It was a small condo but in a nice building with a doorman. She had practically begged Miranda to move in with her after she moved out of the two-bedroom apartment, but her damnable pride had gotten in the way. She glanced at her watch and decided it wasn't too early for a cocktail. She made herself an extra dry martini with two olives then ran a bath. She stripped out of her clothes and looked at herself in the mirror and was happy to see that her transition into her thirties had gone better than expected.
She ran a hand through a neatly trimmed triangle of hair at the juncture of their thighs.
She thought maybe it was time for her to find a new lover.
She slipped into the warm water then turned on the jacuzzi jets, allowing them to unknot the muscles in her lower back. Her hand dipped between her legs again as she remembered the night she'd allowed Erica and Sherrie to seduce her. She'd just broken up with she who mustn't be named so having the full attention of two beautiful women had been just what she needed.
Her hand began to circle her clit as she remembered the pretty blonde straddling her face as Erica fucked her with talented fingers. When images of Sherrie were replaced with images of her Brazilian ex being fucked by that fucking hockey player, her libido cooled dramatically.
She took the hand that had been inches away from penetration and used it to grab her Martini glass. Two long pulls, and she was well on the way to forgetting all of her problems for the rest of the night.
The next morning Emily woke in her bed naked and with a splitting headache. She remembered getting out of the tub, making another martini or two, and succumbing to her baser needs with her vibrator before finally finding sleep. This time she just kept going when her mind fed her realistic images of Tom Wilson fucking the woman she'd loved totally and completely.
"Ug, I really do need a new girlfriend," she said to her empty bedroom.
She retrieved her phone then saw a message from her contact with an address. It had come in last night, but she had been in no condition to do anything about it. She started the shower then took a pain reliever. After the shower, she had a light breakfast along with a vegetable smoothy recipe that Sherri swore was the perfect hangover remedy. She believed that given how hard Erica drank at times that the woman was probably on to something. She was feeling half-human again by the time she was dressed and ready to head back to Carnegie Hill.
By the time the taxi dropped her off in front of a lovely home, she'd worked herself up into a bit of a state. When the door opened, she'd been in a hurry, so she moved around the woman looking everywhere for her mother. Before she knew what was happening she'd been turned around and found herself pressed against the wall by a beautiful young woman. She looked at pretty hazel eyes and felt a familiar stirring from the close contact.
"God, I really need a girlfriend," she thought.
Her thoughts of the alluring young woman fell away as two other brunettes walked into the room followed by her mother.
After introductions were made, Emily watched as her mother took the role as hostess topping off everyone's drinks and handing her a glass of amber liquid that looked and smelled expensive. Then Miranda sat incredibly close to Andy. She easily picked up on the vibe between her mother and the woman who was no more than half a decade her senior.
"Not that there's anything wrong with that," she decided.
Her attention was pulled away from the tableau before her when Sam asked her a question.
"How did you find us?"
So she told the group about her friend at the phone company.
"Does anyone else have that number?" Sam asked Miranda.
"My girls," Miranda answered.
Sam looked at Miranda for a long moment then said, "then the girls' father may have it as well."
When Miranda did not answer, Sam put her hand out and asked Miranda to hand over her phone. When Miranda reluctantly handed it over, Sam took it and led the group back into the kitchen. Emily watched in disbelief as the young woman smashed the phone several times with a meat tenderizer. She looked towards her mother, but she didn't even raise an eyebrow at Sam's rather rash actions.
Sam dug through the separated parts before retrieving the memory card. She assured Miranda that she would retrieve her photos and put them onto a new phone.
"I'll make sure the new one is untraceable," Sam assured.
"I trust you to handle it," Miranda responded.
Emily shook her head, wondering what the fuck was going on.
"Ok, what the fuck is going on?" Emily asked.
"Let's go sit back down, and we can explain everything," Andy offered.
When they resumed their seats, Miranda, Andy, Sam, and Lily brought Emily up to speed. Emily's emotions were already on edge, but as she listened to all that had happened to the most important person in her life, she felt like she was about to lose her mind. The level of treachery men were capable of was not a surprise, but this was too much even for her.
"They did all this for what, goddamned greed. What are we going to do these, these, cunts."
"Ok. slow down Artemis. We're working on that, but for now, we have a more immediate issue to address," Sam said.
"Artemis?" Emily asked, feeling vaguely insulted.
"Goddess of the hunt, don't mind her she has a thing for greek goddesses," Andy pointed out.
"She thinks I'm a goddess," Emily thought suddenly feeling much less insulted.
Miranda cleared her throat to get everyone's attention before she said, "Sam is referring to how we can address the custody arrangement with the girls' father."
"Well it sounds like he is up to his eyeballs in this mess," Emily pointed out.
"There is what we know and what we can take to a judge," Lily tried to explain.
When Emily gave her a puzzled look, Sam tried to clarify, "What she is trying to say is that we did not exactly have a search warrant when I gathered certain facts."
"Oh," Emily said, beginning to getting it.
"The good news is that we've gotten the case moved to trustworthy judge," Lily added.
"Well, that's good," Emily said but noted that the other faces in the room did not match her enthusiasm.
"What am I still missing?" Emily asked the now subdued women.
"I've done things over the last year that," Miranda began but couldn't bring herself to complete.
"Things that would not sound good in front of a judge," Andy finished for her.
Emily thanked her lucky stars that she'd not been here for that particular conversation. If she had read between the lines, they were talking about Miranda's sex life, and she didn't want any part of that discussion.
As Lily began discussing the issues with any potential legal strategy, Emily switched from concerned daughter to PR professional.
"If I got this correct all of the things we don't want to come up in court were done by a woman named Miriam and not by Miranda Priestly.
When she got three nods of agreement and one set of pursed lips, she quickly continued, "So what we have is a classic PR problem, and that is my specialty."
"When we have a client headed to rehab, we put a look-alike out for the paparazzi in all the usual places."
"I think I see where you're going with this red," Sam said.
When Emily gave Sam a Miranda level glare it only drew a deep throaty laugh from the younger woman.
"We just need to do the reverse," Sam continued.
"You mean create a story that explains Miranda's recent absence from public life," Andy cut in trying to keep the two younger woman focused on the task at hand.
"That's right. We just need to figure out a place where no one can counter the story we are going to tell."
"I think I know just the place," Sam said, remembering her girlfriends offer of assistance.
" Have you ever heard of a small European country called Genovia?" Sam asked.
AN: Hallelujah, I am so glad to get this update out. I've been so busy of late that finding the time to write has been a real challenge. I'm so happy that this last week has given me the time I need to finish this chapter and work on chapter 12.
I hope you like how I've incorporated Emily into this story. A part of me really likes the Sam and Emily dynamic but, alas this story will not be the time for them to find love. I do have another story idea that brings them together but, that one will probably not see the light of day for a while. What did you think of my Hermione and Ginny drop in? I love them as a couple even though there are not a whole lot of stories out there featuring that ship. I can recommend the Importance of Family by Melktert on ff. It's unfinished but, so creative.
Speaking of recommendations, I love the portrayal of Anne Lister in the show Gentleman Jack. Smart, funny, and heartbreaking all at once.
Finally, we will be back to switching between Andy's, Miranda's and Sam's POV in the next chapter. I really appreciate all of your patience and I hope you enjoy the update. Tell me what you think and I will try to do a better job of responding to everyone who takes the time to comment.