A/N: Here we are, another chapter. I've realised that I've missed planning Halloween, seeing as they've just had it here in the States. Maybe I'll slide in an extra "Oh no Miranda, we forgot Halloween" chapter next, despite chapter 47 already mostly completed. Let me know what you think :)
Thanks as always to everyone leaving love and kindness at the bottom of these chapters. I'm reading and loving all of it.
As always, not Beta-ed. Also, I'm tried and mostly grumpy so if there's something I've missed let me know, but like, tomorrow lol Ta :)
See disclaimer Ch1.
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It was as if they blinked and two weeks had gone by.
She'd met with Jack (Bartholemew, to Miranda) the previous week and they'd hit it off to the point where Miranda often had to remind them that she was still in the room. He'd made sure to keep in touch since then and give her tips for moving forward. She'd learned that he'd come from nothing and taught himself everything he could iso he would be the best. Miranda wasn't the only thoroughbred in his stable, as it were, and it showed as he broke down all the important things Andy needed to know, and a few she didn't and she left feeling MUCH better than she'd felt about money in such a long time.
The girls had spent the weekend prior at their Dad's, he'd requested dinner with them and then they'd stayed the night. Similar to the weekend when she took the smaller children out during the morning, they'd all found it very weird to be without two of their number. But, after Max delivered them home on Sunday, he'd brought take-out with him and in a rare show of indifference, Miranda insisted that they drag some blankets into the sitting room and ate on the low table while sitting on the floor, Max included.
Otherwise, Andy was in a constant state of flux and often felt like she was losing her mind. Some days were so mind-numbingly boring that she felt like tearing her hair out. Other days, she was run ragged by one or more of the children. Between her and Cara, whom Andy had never appreciated more, they'd just managed to keep everything under control.
Alexi, the new CEO of Elias Clarke and Irv's replacement, was being a little over-zealous and as such, Miranda had been late no less than five times in the last two weeks. It had grated on her as much as it had the rest of their family. Between the fall-out from Irv and the chaos of the new position he had assumed, he was running meetings back-to-back for days at a time. There was a general reshuffling, something Miranda had been suggesting for years, but it was so much, Miranda was often exhausted and bad-tempered when she finally came home.
By the time Friday afternoon rolled around, Andy wasn't doing much better.
Just as she sat down with her third cup of coffee for the day, on Friday afternoon, looking forward to having their little tribe home for another whole weekend, the phone rang. The woman on the phone identified herself as the receptionist from Dalton. She apologised profusely and informed her that Nicholas had fallen off the monkey bars and hit his head on the platform. Andy rushed over to the school and spent the following three hours at Mt Sinai waiting on an MRI before being sent home with some kid's Tylenol and some pointers for keeping an eye on him for signs of concussion. She got home, thanking Roy for the lift, muttered hello to everyone and slumped on the sofa in the living room, closing her eyes while Nick sucked his thumb and gripped her shirt tightly.
"Andy?" Cara called gently from the door.
"Hmm?"
"I'm going to take Sam, Caroline and Olivia to the store. Do you want me to get anything else?"
Andy thought about it but her head just felt woolly. She wanted to cry she was so exhausted.
"No," she shrugged. "I don't know. A new bottle of Tylenol maybe?"
"It's alright, I'll handle it," Cara smiled. "It'll get better, I promise."
Andy didn't laugh and Cara pulled the door closed as she left, leaving them in relative darkness. Andy sat soothing her little boy in the peace and quiet, but they didn't have peace for very long.
"Ma?" Cassidy yelled.
"Cassidy!" she snapped, looking up sharply as she stood in the doorway. "Why are you shouting? You know Nick isn't well." She looked closer and saw that Cassidy was wearing her dobok and Andy nearly punched herself for being so stupid. "Cass, I'm sorry. I'm in the middle of -"
"This is my thing," she hissed. "We go all over the place for Mom's things and Caroline's things but MY thing always gets -"
"Cassidy."
"No!" she said, her fists tight by her sides. "I'm going. I'm going if I have to walk there."
"Cass -" Andy groaned as the door slammed, disturbing Nick and making him cry. "It's okay baby. It's alright. I know it hurts."
She tried Miranda twice before she gave up, seeing another number on the recently called screen that gave her an idea.
She quickly sent a text message to Cassidy to inform her that if she set one foot outside the door without an adult with her she'd be grounded for a month which would include her taekwondo lessons, before sending a text to Doug.
"Hey you," he said.
"I'm sorry to have to ask this," she said. "But are you free right now?"
"I -" he paused. "Yeah, I can be, whatsup?"
"Nick fell off the monkey bars earlier. I got home from Mt Sinai about half an hour ago, Cara is out with the other kids and Cassidy has taekwondo."
"I'll be there in 15, is that enough time?"
"Yeah," Andy chuckled morosely. "She's threatening to walk if someone won't take her."
"I'll be there. Do you need anything?"
"Nah, thank you, Doug. Really. I'd have sent her with Roy, but he's just arrived at Runway and I don't know when Miranda will be done. I'll give you some money when you get back unless you need some now?"
"We're fine, you don't have to. An uber or two isn't going to kill me. I got you Andybaby."
She grinned at the old nickname and sent another message to Cassidy, informing her of the change of schedule. She didn't get a reply so she sent another one insisting that she acknowledge the message, frowning at the single letter reply that she eventually did get. She groaned again and rubbed Nicks back, trying to soothe his little sobs as he cried pathetically.
Without realising, she fell asleep and had no idea about it until someone brushed the hair from her face.
"Hey," she frowned, blinking up at the shape. "What's happening?"
"Cara has just left for the day," Miranda smiled gently, moving into the light. "The others are playing video games and I am told that Douglas is taking Cassidy out for a slice of pizza. Not my idea but she seemed -"
"She's pissed," Andy shrugged, glancing at Nick. "She thinks we forgot her, which we did," she considered it. "I did. So I'm going to just wear it. Before I forget, can you give Doug some money when he gets here? I think I pulled him out of work and he's had to Uber the whole way."
"I already sent him some," Miranda soothed gently. "How is our little Nicholas? Cara has been in to check on you both every half hour, by the way," she chuckled. "She said you were very tired."
"I had no idea," Andy sighed. "He's got a mild concussion. Nothing too serious, but he hurts and he's delicate. I waited for three hours for them to do an MRI, and that was after I told them who you were."
Miranda smirked and kissed their heads gently.
"Which is why I always go to Presbyterian, unless the emergency personnel override me. I donate yearly. They nearly always make an exception for me."
"I need to ask you about health insurance too."
"I know," Miranda chuckled, tilting Nick's head sideways gently so she could see the bruise. It was dark and purpling, she winced. "I meant to tell you last weekend. I added you to my policy, provided by Runway and paid out of my salary. You're covered. Do you need to see a doctor?"
"I probably need a physical at some point," Andy groaned and let her head drop back onto the sofa. "I haven't been able to afford one since University. But no, not right now, it just reminded me when I had to deal with this."
They lapsed into silence and Miranda turned in the lamp behind them and turned off the one in front of them. And smiled tiredly at her.
"I tried to call."
"I saw," Miranda said quietly. "Alexi has adopted a 'no phone during board meetings' policy," she paused. "Which I'm not terribly upset about. It certainly prevents the Auto Universe editor from playing videos under the table while we're talking. But you could have called Melody, she would have interrupted."
"I could have called a lot of people but I was stressed and overwhelmed and tired."
"I know," Miranda nodded. "This month's issue is now done and at the printers and I have spoken to Alexi privately. I have news that will wait, but more importantly, I'm taking three weeks off in exactly four weeks; after the next issue is finalised. We're going to go away, for a week? Two? I don't care. But we're going to do like we said we wanted to, and take some time just to be. The seven of us, and maybe Cara. I'm going to send Roy and his family away as well." She grinned. "I'd ask him to come along with us, that would certainly provide us with some childcare, but I think that might be going too far, even for me."
"You are such a softy," Andy chuckled. "You've not taken a holiday for -"
"Nearly eight years," Miranda chuckled. "Since the girls were little enough to appreciate it and I was young enough to run around after them. But I think we need one, don't you?"
"I really do," Andy groaned. "It'll be nice to get away."
"Good," she said nodding. "Right. Let me have our little man and you can go and have a bath or whatever you need to get comfy so we can enjoy this night."
"I love you, you know," Andy smiled, finally feeling a little better than she had all week.
"I love you," Miranda muttered, resting her head on Andy's. "I promise that I will not be late next week. These last two weeks have been interminable. The printers are now fully operational again and they do not foresee any new problems. I may even leave in time to pick up the children with Roy next week so you do not have to. It's a dream I have, and it may not work out but I will not be late."
"I'm not worried," Andy sighed. "It has been interminable, but I know you. If you could have left earlier, you would have."
"You do," Miranda chuckled. "Know me, I mean. Better than anyone else, I shouldn't wonder."
"Mama," Nick whispered, blinking as he woke up from his nap. He saw Miranda over his shoulder and opened his arms for her, snuggling into her shoulder when she picked him up with a groan.
"Of you go Andréa," she smiled. "I am home now. You are off duty for a while."
Andy got up and kissed them both gently before going up the stairs and straight into the shower, leaving a trail of clothing in her wake. She stood under the water, breathing deeply and letting it rain down on her until she felt like she was becoming waterlogged. By the time she was towelling her hair dry, she was feeling a little more human again. Miranda had been in a tidied up, leaving her favourite pair of track pants on the counter along with an oversized t-shirt and a rather too sexy pair of panties that made her chuckle. As she pulled on her underwear, she thought about the holiday they would take and started making plans in her head. Two sets of plans. One for the daytime and one for the time when the children would all be in bed for the night. She grinned at her reflection and had just managed to pull and shirt over her head when the door opened and a riotous mess of blond curly hair appeared around it.
"Excuse me little one," she said firmly. "This is our bathroom and you need to knock if you want to open the door."
"Sowwy Mama," he said, his thumb in his mouth, but otherwise not moving. "I miss you. M'anda won't stop cuggling Nicky."
They were long since past being embarrassed when one of the youngsters walked in on them half-dressed. Only the other day Sam had had a tantrum while Miranda was in nothing but a skirt and her bra. Andy had tried to take him, but all he wanted was his M'anda and he screamed while clinging to her leg as she tried to put on her shirt. In the end, and to stop the rest of them crying, Miranda gave in and picked him up, rocking him gently against her chest. When she'd told Cara later, the woman had laughed but nodded and told her that kids don't see it the same as adults do, which made sense. She recalled that Olivia would quite often sit by the bathroom sink while Miranda put on her makeup in the morning wearing nothing but a robe and her underwear. She realised that this was just how life was going to go from now on.
"You're going to have to be a bit patient with Nick, sweetheart. He's got a big owie on his head and he hurts a lot. Can I have my leg back so I can put on my pants little one?" she grinned down at Sam who had wrapped himself around one of them. "Then I'll cuggle you all you like.
He rolled his eyes and let go, waiting for her to finish before wrapping his arms around her again.
"Right," she sighed, picking him up. "Let's go and find something to eat, shall we?"
"Unkie Dougie bought us pizzas!"
"He did!"
She carried him down the stairs and smiled as she caught sight of her friend at the bottom of the stairs.
"Hey," Doug grinned. "Rough day huh?"
"You have no idea," she laughed, hugging him as best she could with Samuel taking up most of her torso. "Was she alright?"
"She was feeling left out, but I gotchu. We talked. She's cool. She'll probably be sore tomorrow. She did close to a hundred push-ups!"
"She did?" Andy exclaimed. "Wow. Thank you, Uncle Doug," she smiled, kissing his cheek.
"You're welcome. Hey, um," he went a little pink. "I'm seeing Nigel tomorrow."
"That's great," Andy smiled genuinely, soothing Sam's twitching by rubbing his back gently.
"I think Miranda talked to him because he asked me to let him know when and where to meet him and he's not sent anything except short, sweet texts. I told him to meet at my place for dinner and maybe a movie. Is that lame? I'm going to order in or whatever."
"No," Andy grinned. "I think that's awesome. And I think he'll enjoy that. And if he offers to pay, let him okay. If Miranda spoke to him, he'll understand. I'm going to call you maybe Sunday? Get the goss and give you some of mine?"
"Okay," Doug nodded, seemingly coming to a decision and smiling at her. "Okay."
"This doesn't have to be anything, you know that right?"
"I do," Doug nodded again. "I just. I had a lot of fun talking to him, on the day we went out. And I enjoy messaging him. He's funny and," he shrugged. "I really enjoyed his company but it was still pretty superficial. I think I just want to get to know him, you know?"
"I really do," Andy smiled, hugging him again. "Just keep it real. Nigel will appreciate that."
"Alright," he grinned punching her self-consciously on the bicep, gently. "Thanks, Yoda."
Andy saw him out and made her way back into the kitchen, Sam still attached to her stubbornly.
"Holy shnikeys! That is a metric ton of pizza!" Andy said, her eyes going wide. "You better have saved me some!"
"I commandeered a plate for you darling, and there's another whole pizza in the fridge for tomorrow," Miranda grinned, cutting up a slice into small portions and feeding them to slowly to Nick. "It's on the bench there. Samuel's is next to it."
"Yum," she grinned, handing Sam his plate carefully and sliding onto the bench seat beside Cassidy.
"Hey you," she said quietly, nudging the girl gently. "I'm sorry. I am not going to give you an excuse, except that Nick needed all of my energy and I did, honestly, forget about your practice. And," she shrugged, pausing as Sam spun around and started on his pizza. "For that, I am sorry, but I truly didn't mean to."
"It's okay," she said, not lifting her head. "I," she swallowed. "I'm sorry too. I know Nicky was hurt, I just -"
"I get it," Andy said softly, kissing her hair. "So," she leaned down and caught Cassidy's eye. "We okay?"
"Yeah," Cassidy nodded, smiling bashfully.
"Good," Andy whispered, wrapping her arm around her and smiling as Cassidy leaned into her. "I promise I'll try to make sure that never happens again, okay?"
"M'kay," Cassidy nodded.
"Now," Miranda said gently, drawing everyone's attention. "Caroline, tell me about your day sweetheart."
Andy grinned and took a big bite of her pizza, and only just holding back a moan. They talked quietly about each other's day, hearing about Caroline's pottery class and Olivia's best friend's Aunt, who came into the class for show and tell because she was a police officer. Miranda told them all about how Jocelyn had created the perfect spread for accessories and it reminded Andy to schedule a playdate with Robbie. Then ebb and flow of their family moved in time with her breathing and to Andy, it was heavenly.
-0-
Saturday morning was lazy. Miranda and Andy had taken it in turns to check on Nicky through the night, eventually deciding to just bring him into their bed for the remainder. They woke up to all the other bodies in their household sprawled out under blankets at the foot of the bed and Andy smiled, seeing Patricia being used as a pillow for both Sam and Olivia.
"Hi M'anda," Olivia said, smiling when she cracked open her eyes.
Andy smiled as she felt Miranda smile against her skin. Nick had been up for a while now and they shifted accordingly so that Olivia could come between them and snuggle back in.
"Did you sleep well my darling?" Miranda asked quietly.
"Yeah. Cassy came and got in wiv me so she could make sure Nicky was okay. She's a good sissy."
"She's the best," Andy smiled, seeing the redhead's eyes barely blinking awake.
After a while all of them were laying quietly under the covers, cuddling each other where they could. Caroline was tracing Nicky's ear gently, like she did often when he was sleepy. Eventually, he shuffled forward, off Andy's body and down to Caroline, where she lay with her arms around her little brother grinning up at Andy. It wasn't often that the little ones gravitated towards Caroline, often going to Cassidy just because she was the more boisterous of the two, but Nick had developed a beautiful little thing with Caroline and Andy adored seeing it.
"What do we want to do today, little lovebugs?"
"Wanna play likkle league," Sam frowned.
It had been a point of contention every day since the first time he'd mentioned it. Andy rolled her eyes and tapped his nose gently.
"I told you, when Uncle Max is free next week, we will ask him. He's away until next week, but Little League doesn't start until March, which isn't until after Santa Clause comes, and then the Easter Bunny. So," she said gently. "At some point this weekend, I will take you outside and throw the ball with you."
"I want a Daddy."
"Sam, we don't have a Daddy. We only have Mommies. Don't be mean!"
"Leave it Liv," Andy sighed. "It's okay."
The whole Daddy thing had become a bigger issue than it needed to be. They'd talked about it between them, and Miranda had even called up a therapist friend of hers to discuss it and they'd all come to the same conclusion. Sam didn't want a Daddy, in the sense that he wanted one. He wanted someone to take him to do something that his Daddy had told him he could only do with a Daddy. But it was no less grating on their nerves at this point.
"I thought we should organise our closets this weekend," Miranda said carefully. "And decide what it is we want to wear for our trip."
Every little ear perked up at that. Andy grinned as Caroline's head sat up on her shoulder and even Nick looked a little less sad. After the kids had gone to bed, they'd stayed up, wrapped around each other looking at hotels and AirBnBs until they'd shortlisted three of them. They weren't yet sure which particular spot they were going to go, but Andy had had fun looking at it all with Miranda anyway.
She'd made sure to show Miranda how much fun she'd had too.
"Are we going away?" Cassidy asked, disturbing Andy's thoughts.
"We are," Miranda said slowly as Cassidy sat up and leaned against Miranda's hip. "Andréa and I thought that you all might like to go to the beach for a week or so?"
"Miami?" Caroline asked.
"Nope," Andy grinned. "Either Hawaii or Turks and Caicos."
"What!" Cassidy yelled, beaming at them.
Nick, so startled by the noise and still a little wobbly, busy into tears, making Cassidy's face fall.
"It's alright," Andy sighed, pulling him back into her arms. "He's just got a sore head. Don't worry Cass, just try to keep it kinda normal range okay?"
"Yeah but Hawaii?" she grinned. "That is awesome! Can we learn to surf?"
"Possibly, although we have not settled on Hawaii," Miranda shrugged.
"Where's the other place?" Caroline asked.
"In the Caribbean," Andy said with a smile. Either place was going to be awesome.
"We're thinking about renting a house. If Cara is free, we'd like her to come too."
"Cool," Caroline said, nuzzling Nick's tearstained face. "Well have to get our work from school."
"I will help you with that," Andy said gently. "We're going to wait for the next issue to be completed so Mr Alexi can get sorted, but this time next month, we'll be getting up to go on our plane trip!"
"That's so cool!"
"So, girls, not yet," she said grabbing Cassidy's hand before she vibrated if the bed with excitement. "Slow down Bobbsey. I want you, over the next two days, to find your swimming costumes and then see if you can help Olivia find hers. We'll need clothes for 9 or so days but some of them have to be suitable for going out in and we'll need three pairs of shoes. One for the beach, one for playing, their school shoes will do, and one for going out."
"We can do that," Cassidy grinned.
"Once we've worked that out, we can see what we still need and make a list for everyone, then we'll be able to go to the mall a few times over the next few weeks."
"Oh," Andy blinked remembering something she'd seen on social media a few days ago. "There's a Farmer's market, harvest festival thing tomorrow at a park over the river? I thought that might be fun?" she glanced at Miranda. "If you're not interested, I can take them?"
"Nonsense," she smirked. "We shall all go."
"Awesome. So today is organizing clothes and the festival."
"I wanna play," Sam grumped.
"I know, wild man," Miranda groaned, making Andy grin. "But your just going to have to be a bit patient."
"But I wanna -"
"Sam, stop. You're being mean," Liv said dangerously.
"Olivia, my little love," Miranda said, looking at her shrewdly. "Who are the Mamas here?" She poked Olivia's belly making the little girl giggle.
"You and Mama."
"Mhmm," Miranda said, smirking at her. "So who tells Samuel when he is out of line? Hmm?"
"Me," she said, unable to control her giggles at all.
"You?" Miranda said, feigning shock. "You!"
Andy adored watching Miranda play. For a long time, she had been a watered-down version of Runway Miranda. One with less acerbic commentary and more gentleness. As they had all grown into each other, Miranda's inner kid has begun to peek through on occasion, like now, as she tickled Olivia and pressed kisses all over her face.
"Right," Andy said, avoiding a hand to her face as Olivia squirmed. "Breakfast before M'anda ends up breaking our little Livvy?"
Olivia's little body crashed into them again and Andy was nothing but shocked as Nick balled his fists and let fly.
"Hey hey hey," she said, just managing to intercept them at the last minute. "Hey," she growled, making him wince and look up at her wide-eyed. "I don't care how much you hurt, little love, you do not hit your sister, do you understand?"
He stared at her for a good second or two and burst into tears again, wiggling out of Andy's arms and into Olivia's. The little girl looked between them and then wrapped her arms around her little brother tightly.
"Don't cry, Nicky," she said happily. "It'll stop hurting soon."
Andy left them to it and met Miranda for a kiss before they started on their day.
"I forgot before now, but Olivia wanted some photos of her Mom and Dad. I think there's probably some somewhere, but I wanted to run it by you first.
"Of course they may have all the photos they wish," Miranda muttered, her eyes on the two still cuddling in bed. "I had thought that we need some of all of us. There are so few of us all together."
"We'll put that on the list then," Andy smiled, nuzzling her neck.
"Mm," Miranda smiled. "I'd say let's take a shower, but I do not think we can afford to leave them all alone for too long."
"Right," Andy smiled. "I'll just keep making plans for our trip in my head."
"Oh?"
"Wait and see, my beautiful lady," Andy grinned happily. "Wait and see."