A/N: I say, another update? What on earth is going on with Assassin right now! Truth is, I'm sick and I would have posted this a little earlier but I felt like death. Feeling a bit better at the moment so seizing the opportunity.

Love to you all, and love to my beautiful wife illestviking, who now has my cold thing and is not loving it AT. ALL.
Love you honey.

Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this story. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any previously copyrighted material. No copyright infringement is intended.

-0-

"ANDY! ANDY! Can you tell us about your relationship with Miranda Priestly?"

"Has the Ice Queen melted? Andy?"

"Andy what's it like sleeping with the boss? What's it like living with the Devil in Prada?" Andy rolled her eyes.

"Where did she get the kids?"

She paused at that one and looked around to see who had said it before sliding into the car. The young man who had called out paled under her glare but she continued to say nothing as she slid into the car. Hopefully, they got the message. Say what they wanted about Miranda and her, but the kids were off limits.

Roy pulled out from the curb smoothly, having to slow down for a few zealous photographers, but they were on their way in no time. Thankfully, none of them had realised she was on her way to the hospital, or they would have followed. Roy pulled into the lot so he could park, she cast a wary glance around the structure.

"Looks clear Andy, want me to come up with you?" he asked, turning slightly.

"Nah, I'll be okay. Thanks. I'll text you when we're on our way."

"You got it, boss!"

Andy chuckled as she slid from the car and moved towards the elevators. She knew the way to go without looking now, but she still had her head on a swivel. God knows what crap they'd come up with if they saw her going into the hospital.

"Hey guys," she said happily as she joined Livvy and Miranda in the room.

"ANDY!"

"Careful Princess," Andy said with a grimace as Livvy threw herself into her arms. "Don't want to break anything, you're nearly home!"

"She's quite ready to go I think, as soon as Maxwell arrives, I wish to go."

"We're all ready when she is," Andy smiled, reaching out and touching Miranda's hand. The touch did wonders, bringing Miranda back into 'family mode'. She looked up at Andy with such big eyes that Andy couldn't help but giggle a little.

"Good morning darling," Miranda said genuinely.

"Hi."

Andy ran her hand down Miranda's forearm and tangled her fingers together.

"Did you sleep, really?" she asked Miranda, taking note of the small creases at the edge of her eyes.

"I did, though any good mood I had garnered from it has since evaporated in this morning's papers. Have you seen some of this trash," she glowered at a crumpled Page Six lying on the table.

"I haven't," Andy said honestly. "I contemplated reading them all, every single one of them," she paused. "Then I realised it doesn't matter what they say about us. It doesn't matter what they say about me or any of that. All that matters is the truth. And I know what the truth is, and so do all the people around us that are important. The truth is all that matters."

"Reputation is important Andréa."

"Yes," Andy nodded. "But is my boss going to fire me for sleeping with his boss? No. Especially as his boss is all bad a -" she bit her lip and looked at Livvy, amusing herself on the bed with some crayons. "Especially when you take into account who his boss is."

"It will make it harder for you," Miranda suddenly said. "You will be ostracised for it. They work for me, but they do not like me."

"I don't care," Andy shrugged, only partly honest. "I love you and I'm not leaving. If you want the absolute truth, most of them already do. Except for Serena and Nigel and begrudgingly Emily, most leave me to myself. If that means I do one painful year at Runway in Features, then move on, I'll cross that bridge when I come to it."

"I worry," Miranda muttered, looking out of the window, her arm hugged around her middle. Were they at Runway it would have been playing with her necklace. Today, Andy noted, it was carding through Olivia's hair.

"I know," Andy said finally, walking up behind her and wrapping her arms around Miranda's waist. "You worry more than anyone else I've ever known, but you always get through it. You see what must be done. But in this case Miranda? Nothing needs to be done. We have expected this moment for weeks. None of us is really surprised that they have a story. And, you said it yourself earlier - we will go on living. If they think that our lives are exciting enough to comment on," Andy laughed. "Then they need to get out more," she glanced at Olivia. "Or take care of five kids."

Miranda snorted and leaned her head back, smiling gently when Olivia stood up on the bed and used the opportunity to join their hug.

"Can we go home please?" she sighed.

"As soon as Dr Smart comes in and says you can, okay?" Andy said, nuzzling her hair.

"Fine," she grumbled and Andy couldn't help but laugh.

"You looked just like Caroline when you did that."

"And guess who Caroline got that off," Miranda muttered, patting their joined hands.

-0-

"Andy, are you the nanny now?"

"Is Miss Sachs the next Mrs Priestly?"

"Miranda, are you having a midlife crisis? Miranda?"

Miranda snorted as she opened the front door, blazing over the threshold immediately and guiding Samuel away from the doorway. Andy followed, her hand on the back of Olivia's head, protecting her face from the flashes. When they were in, she kicked the door closed and leaned against it with a groan.

"They're ridiculous," Miranda said, bending to take Sam into her arms. "Hello darling, did you have a good sleepover?"

"Yep," he sighed happily, leaning his head on her shoulder and sucking his thumb. He didn't do it often, so they left it alone for the time being. "Missed you M'anda."

"I missed you too little one," she said, turning to embrace her twins at the same time. "And how are my girls?"

"Good," they replied happily. "Andy said we could wait and see you before we went to school. Dad wanted us to remind you that it's his cousin's wedding this weekend and that you said we could go," Cassidy paused and looked at Caroline. Andy watched as they seemed to have a silent conversation. "If you don't want us to go, we'll tell Dad we have too much school work."

"Yeah," said Caroline. "If you need us to stay home, we can. Felicity's Mom is like super mean."

"Oh darlings," she said, cupping Cassidy's cheek, then Caroline's. "We will be fine. Go and enjoy Felicity's wedding, as planned. All will be well here."

"Are you sure? Cos -"

"Because," Miranda corrected.

"Because they don't have anywhere to hide from the vultures outside."

"I know, but we will deal with that one day at a time."

"Okay. We're going to school then."

"Have a lovely day my dears. I will be home a little later than dinner tonight."

"We know," Caroline said before Cassidy took over. "Andy already told us. Love you guys."

They kissed their mom's cheek, one on each side, and Cassidy ruffled Sam's hair. Caroline opted to hug Sam and Miranda before both of them arrived in front of Andy.

"See you two squirts later," Andy grinned, accepting the stereo hugs. "Thanks for being great big sisters."

The girls preened a little under the compliment and took a step back looking expectantly. Andy smiled and let Olivia down from her arms. She watched as Caroline gave her a quick hug and whispered something in her ear.

"Do you have to go to school?" Olivia asked Cassidy, looking at her toes as she scuffed them on the tiles.

"Yeah I really do," Cassidy shrugged, not really looking at Olivia either.

"Can we make pancakes tomorrow then?"

Olivia looked up at Cassidy with big eyes and Cassidy's whole body seemed to sag. Andy realised that despite everyone telling her so, Cassidy had not believed that Olivia had no hard feelings until that very moment.

"We'll see what Mom says okay? One day soon, I promise."

"'Kay," Olivia said happily, wrapping her arms around Cassidy. "See ya later Cassy."

The name charmed Cassidy and she hugged the little girl back fiercely.

"See ya later Sissy."

And then they were gone and Andy and Miranda were left in a quiet foyer with Olivia leaning against Andy's legs and Sam curled up on Miranda's shoulder.

"Hey little monkey," Andy grinned at Sam. "M'anda and Andy are tired, wanna go with us to make some coffee?"

"Yep," he sighed.

"Are you going to say hi to Livvy?"

"Hi Livvy," he said unenthusiastically.

It was a strange thing that they had both noticed especially int he last three weeks. The kids had been fiercely protective of each other before, at the beginning. Now, they were happy to let one of the adults handle it. It was another small way that let Andy know they were settling in. It was music to their ears.

"Come on then Princess. You can help me measure."

"My hand hurts," she said sadly, cradling her bandaged hand.

"Does it?" Andy said with a grimace, noticing Miranda had already gone into the kitchen. "Let's go see what we can do about that." She poked her head around the door.

"Um, does Livvy have some medication she can take?"

Miranda rolled her eyes and it took Andy a moment to realise Miranda was annoyed with herself, not Andy.

"Of course, but I neglected to mention it to you. She was given a dose an hour before the discharged her. The prescription is in my purse. I will have whats-her-name fill it."

"If you want? Might take longer for her to come here, then go there, then come back. I could go. There's a pharmacy just around the corner. I can take Nick? Get him out of the house for a little while?"

"The press?"

"Will either follow us, or they won't." she shrugged. "They can't come inside with us, so I guess we'll just wing it."

"This one's dangerous," Cara said quietly as she put down the coffee in front of them both.

If it surprised Miranda that Cara had spoken during their discussion, she didn't show it. Instead, Miranda smirked behind her mug and raised that rather expressive eyebrow.

"I am well aware," she muttered, making Cara laugh.

"So I'll go then?"

Miranda nodded but sipped her coffee. Samuel well ensconced on her person now and it was unlikely he'd let her go until she was ready to begin her day. Nick had still not made an appearance and it was making Andy a bit nervous. She kissed Livvy's hair, letting Cara sit her down and feed her some toast. Racing up the stairs, she found Nick in his room, playing with some plastic animals.

"Didn't you hear us come in?" she asked him as she sat on his bed. He clearly hadn't. He abandoned his farm and scrambled up onto her knee for a cuddle.

"Livvy's home too baby," she smiled happily. "You and I are going to do a job but then we're staying home to play all day!"

As he often did, he sighed happily but then turned and squeezed her a little. That was new and she logged it in the special place in her heart where she kept the sound of his voice and the way he played with her fingers while she read to him.

Miranda was settling Olivia into bed with Cara while Andy got Nick ready to go the pharmacy.

"There's going to be some shouty people outside, but it's okay. They're not going to hurt, they're just going to make a whole lot of noise and they have big cameras that flash, okay? Just keep your eyes closed."

His eyes widened and she took a deep breath, checking that they were both dressed appropriately to be photographed by the paparazzi. Nick's new coat was a D&G exclusive from Stefano himself. He'd charmed Miranda with new coats for the three small children and two new purses for the girls. Olivia, however, still preferred her red coat.

"Ready?" she asked, taking his hand in hers.

He nodded and she opened the front door, pausing while he was still behind it. She waited, wincing a little at the multitude of flashes that blinded her. When they realised she wasn't moving, they stopped and waited.

"I'm about to go for a short walk with one of the kids. I need you all to back right off," she glared as none of them moved. "Now!"

The reporters all looked at each other before taking 2 steps back.

"I understand you all have paychecks to earn, and that for some reason, our boring lives make money, but they're kids. So have some respect."

There was a murmur of something that ran through the throng before she opened the door wider. She hoisted Nick into her arms and was gratified to only hear a few camera shutters.

"I urge you to consider who you're photographing and make sure that those photos are worth betting your careers against."

She carried Nick through the crowd and could almost hear the tension cracking in the air. She'd possibly given more away than she'd meant to, but Nick was her priority and once they were far enough away, she popped him down, onto the sidewalk. Nick loved walking and he trotted along happily, hanging onto her hand or swinging it back and forth with a grin.

As they rounded the corner for home, she saw Roy pull up and pulled him in front of her to pick him up. If Roy was here, Miranda was ready to leave.

"Come on little Prince," she said happily. "Best not keep our M'anda waiting."