Everything had seemed like an ordinary day at first, Andrea had been with Runway for approximately six months and she had fully adjusted to her new role in Miranda's office. The Editor-in-Chief was working away on her laptop in her office whilst Emily ran around the city like a headless chicken and Andrea adjusted her boss' schedule for the fourth time that day.
Then it all changed with a phonecall.
"Good Morning, Miranda Priestly's office," Andrea answered politely and professionally.
"What?" The assistant questioned with widened eyes, capturing the attention of the white-haired woman in the inner office.
"Okay, I'll come down and get them now." Andrea replied to the person on the other line.
"That's great, I'll see you soon then," She said before thanking him and putting the phone back in its cradle on her desk.
Miranda was watching her over the top of her laptop, wondering what was doing on.
Andrea took a deep breath and stood up before she made her way into Miranda's inner office and approached the woman's desk, "Miranda, that was the security desk downstairs."
Unlike with many people, when it came to Andrea, Miranda was rather patient and did not press her for a quicker answer. Instead, opting to wait until the woman finished what she was telling her.
"Jackson informed me that the girl's nanny has dropped them at Elias Clarke along with her resignation letter," Andrea explained before adding, "They are on their way up now as he's bringing them up to Runway personally."
Miranda sighed heavily and pinched her nose, "I had a feeling that she would do this but I was hoping that she would at least wait until I got home tonight."
"Well, I could watch them whilst you finish up? I've finished all of my tasks so far for today and you don't have any meetings today that can't be pushed until tomorrow." Andrea suggested with a smile.
Miranda looked up at her, Andrea was one of the very few people that she genuinely trusted with her girls, actually she was now the only one that she trusted with them other than herself. Their father had left when she had told him she was pregnant with twins, he claimed that it was because it was just 'too much' but in reality, the man had been cheating on her with his secretary for many months previously. More recently she had attempted to date a man called 'Stephen', however, that was a complete disaster when she discovered that he just wanted an alibi wife to cover up the affair that he was having with his barely of age, blonde-haired secretary.
"Okay," Miranda agreed with a nod of her head, "Once I have finished with this then I will be working from home for the rest of the day."
Andrea did not have a chance to respond because there was a chime from the elevator that indicated that it had arrived on the floor of the Runway offices. The dark-haired woman found herself smiling at the familiar sound of two pairs of little feet running towards them.
Miranda found herself smiling, however, not just at the sound of her children but also at her assistant's reaction to the sound.
"Mommy!" two voices called out in sync with each other as they entered their mother's office.
"Hello Bobseys," Miranda greeted them lovingly as she moved out from behind her desk and knelt down beside it with her arms out to her children.
Andrea found herself smiling as she observed the interactions between the mother and her children, she always felt honoured to be able to see this softer and gentler side to her usually fierce boss.
Miranda looked up at the other woman and smiled softly in her direction before kissing each of the children's heads, "Okay, Bobseys, I have to work so Andrea will be looking after you," she explained softly, "Once I have finished here then we will be going home and she will be looking after you there instead."
"Okay Mommy." came the response from them both.
The two girls hugged their mother before she returned to her desk to continue working.
Andrea smiled happily at them both before asking them, "How would you like some hot chocolate?"
"Yeah!" came the joined and rather excited response from both of the red-headed girls.
The assistant offered her hands to the girls, her left to Cassidy and her right to Caroline, which they both took quite happily. She led them into the small kitchen to the side of the office, smiling as she could sense Miranda watching them.
"Which colour cup would you both like?" Andrea asked them as she put a selection of mugs on the side for them to choose from.
"This one pease" Cassidy answered as she pointed to the purple patterned mug on the side.
"Sure, and what about you Caroline?" She questioned when Caroline took a little longer to answer.
"Pink one?" Caroline replied as she pointed to the cupboard where she could see a forgotten mug in her favourite colour.
"Of course, I'm sure Jocelyn won't mind you borrowing her mug." Andrea said softly as she reached up and got the mug from the shelf. Most of Runway staff used a different kitchen as they were never brave enough to get that close to 'The Dragon', however, a few members of staff including Jocelyn and Serena were not as fearful and took the opportunity to interact with the two assistants in the outer office.
Caroline and Cassidy seemed rather happy with the fact that they were able to use mugs in their favourite colour but Andrea mentally noted that next time she would have mugs especially for them ready in the kitchen and maybe some mini marshmallows to top off their hot chocolate with.
"Who would like to do their drink first?" She asked them with a bright and cheerful smile.
"Me!" Cassidy called out with her arm in the air as she bounced a little on her toes.
Andrea chuckled at the excitement, "Okay," she said with a smile, "I'll just get the chair so that you can reach."
Cassidy and Caroline watched as Andrea moved a foldable chair closer to the side and then put her arms out to Cassidy.
Andrea helped the little girl up onto the chair and offered her the mug, "Now, you have to put that on the platform." She explained whilst keeping an arm around Cassidy to prevent her from falling or slipping from the chair.
Carefully, Cassidy picked up the purple coloured mug with daisies all over it and placed it onto the platform.
The woman opened up the machine and then pointed to the pods in one of the clear plastic containers, "Now, you can get one of those hot chocolate pods and put it right in there." She said as she indicated to exactly where it had to go.
Once Cassidy had chosen her pod, despite all of them being exactly the same in the container, she placed it into the section that she had been told to.
Andrea turned a dial on the side to turn the heat down on the drink machine before closing the top of the machine, "Now, you can press this button here." She said indicating to the button with a medium cup on the side of it.
When Cassidy pressed the button and the noise of the machine started, she stepped back a little but with Andrea's arm there keeping her safe, she didn't move very far at all, "It's okay," the woman reassured her gently as the liquid started to pour from the machine into the girl's chosen mug.
Once the drink was poured, Andrea lifted Cassidy from the chair and placed her back onto the floor before she moved the girl's drink out of the machine and placed it onto the side.
"Now, it's your turn Caroline." Andrea announced happily.
Caroline smiled brightly at the woman and instantly put her hands up in the air to be lifted onto the chair in the same way that her sister had been.
Andrea repeated the exact same steps with Caroline as she had just done with Cassidy, although she didn't have to turn the heat down as it was already at the optimum temperature to make the girls' hot chocolates.
When the second drink was made, Caroline was returned to the floor before she again moved the hot chocolate. This time she made a coffee for herself, after turning the heat up of course, and then she made one for Miranda too. Whilst the second coffee was being made she put the drinks that were already made on a tray and then offered the girls the biscuit barrel, "You can choose two biscuits each for yourselves and put them on the tray to eat when you have your hot chocolates, okay?"
The twin girls eagerly looked into the barrel to choose their biscuits before putting them onto the tray. After choosing two for herself, Andrea returned the barrel to the side and got a small individual packet of biscuits from the top of the cupboard for Miranda. Andrea had hidden them for her there as she had discovered, rather accidentally, that they were Miranda's favourite.
Once all of the drinks and biscuits were on the tray, Andrea topped up the girl's hot chocolates with a little bit of cold milk to cool them down further. "Okay, let's go into your mother's office and you can both sit at the coffee table and drink your hot chocolates."
The two girls almost ran into the other room, quite excited to be able to sit in their mother's office with their hot chocolates, even if she was working it still meant that they were with her. It was much preferable than being with their now ex-nanny.
Andrea carried the tray into the inner office carefully, pausing at Miranda's desk to place the woman's coffee in front of her.
"Thank you, Andrea." Miranda said softly as she looked up at her with a slight smile on her face.
When Andrea then put the packet of biscuits next to the coffee, Miranda smirked a little before chuckling slightly at the sight of her favourite biscuits. She then moved over to the coffee table where both of Miranda's girls were sitting patiently, waiting for their drinks to arrive.
"Your hot chocolates will be cool enough for you to drink now, girls but be careful so that you don't spill them down yourselves, okay?" Andrea said calmly as she passed them each their chosen mugs.
Miranda unwrapped her biscuits as she watched the interaction out of the corner of her eye.
Each of the girls took sips of their drinks, humming a little at the taste that they loved so much.
"What do you say girls?" Miranda prompted them both with a smile.
"T'ank you," Caroline answered, directing it to Andrea, whilst Cassidy said "Fank you." Neither quite getting the words perfected quite yet but Andrea found them both to be extra adorable.
Andrea smiled happily as she sat at the coffee table with them.
"Andee? Your coffee toos hotted?" Cassidy asked her with a slightly tilted head as she looked at the steam coming from the top.
"Yes, it's very hot which is why you can't touch it," Andrea explained patiently as she picked up one of her biscuits to eat it.
"Look at the deam," Caroline added, suddenly fascinated with the steam coming from the cup.
"I blow it away," Cassidy decided, "I foof it for you, Andee."
Before Andrea could say no, as she had a mouthful of biscuits and didn't want to set a bad example by talking with her mouthful, both of the girls had leaned in and blown on the coffee to cool it down.
In that instant, a few things happened.
Miranda hand over her mouth.
Andrea's eyes went wide with shock.
And the coffee? Well that got 'cooled' down with a shower of saliva and... biscuit crumbs.