A few weeks later:
Andy is pacing around her small hotel room phone in hand. She growls as another flash of lightning races across the sky. Her phone rings and she quickly answers "Yes."
"Andrea I am so sorry but there isn't any flights leaving Miami tonight. They are all grounded because of the hurricane." says Miranda.
"A hurricane? It's barely sprinkling." Andy states as lightning flashes again. "My father's birthday brunch is tomorrow at ten thirty and I will be there. Make it happen." Andy quickly hangs up and throws her phone across the room. It lands on the ground with a solid thump. She goes back to pacing around the hotel room occasionally muttering about the stupidity of assistants and weather.
Meanwhile in New York, Miranda is walking in circles in her daughter's school trying to get ahold of someone that can get Andrea a flight home. After another call ending without the results she wants she sees Stephen walking towards her.
"What the hell are you doing? Your daughters are in there having a great recital and you are out here making phone calls?" Stephen says in a hushed yell.
"I can't help it Stephen! It's my boss! Do you think I want to miss their recital?" Miranda hisses back.
"If you think you little job is more important than your own daughters then that is on you Miranda." Stephen says in a disgusted voice. He turns around and walks back towards the auditorium. With a sigh, Miranda accepts defeat and follows Stephen back to catch the tail end of the girls recital.
Andy was furious. She missed her dad's birthday and was stuck in Miami longer than she wanted. Once she got back to New York she pushed her team to the limit and most importantly pushed Miranda. She hurled insult after insult at the woman. She showed Miranda exactly why she was the feared leader of Runway. Andy knew it wasn't Miranda's fault she missed her dad's birthday, she knew Miranda couldn't control the weather but she still hung on to her anger about the situation.
Andy tried her best to keep Miranda out of the office because any time she saw her Andy wanted to go and apologize for her attitude but that was not what she did, she just keep hurling insults and making her run errands. No matter how much Andy wanted to go to Miranda and let her know that the hurricane wasn't her fault and she was sorry for all the harsh things she had been saying, she couldn't. Andy kept her running out of the office so she wouldn't feel the guilt when she looked at Miranda.
Miranda's life was hell. She was running all sorts of errands for Andrea, most of which ended up being pointless. She knew it was punishment for the hurricane but it didn't make it hurt any less. She was back to being called Emily and was taken off Book duty, and Andrea was cold to her. The insults she could take, but the cold, calculating look in Andrea's eyes is what hurt the most. She knew that her and Andrea weren't close and that this was how Andrea treated all of her employees but she thought she could be different. She thoght Andrea was different around her, "turns out that wasn't true" she thought.
Her stressful work days ended up making her home life stressful as well. Stephen didn't take to kindly to being brushed off so many times, so he had started spending his nights in a hotel rather than at home. Her girls were trying to put on a brave face but she knew they were not happy either. "Something has got to give," she thought to herself, "I don't know how much more of this I can take."
With a sigh she shook herself out of the melancholy state her thoughts had put her in and turned back to the computer and went back to answering emails till her next task was yelled out to her. After twenty minutes of answering emails, a short "Emily" was yelled out of Andrea's office. Miranda was up and out of her chair as quick as she could move.
"Yes Andrea." Miranda said softly. Andrea had her hands steepled together in front of her mouth and she just stared at Miranda. Miranda shifted under Andrea's stare. She cleared her throat and looked around the office.
"I am moving you to work with Nigel." Andrea said in a curt voice then picked up her pen and started working on something.
Miranda was stunned. "Um, what?" She stuttered out.
Andrea quickly looked up, glared at Miranda and she slowly put down her pen. "I don't not repeat myself, but since you don't seem to have to brain power to understand a simple sentence I will say it slower so you can understand: You are being moved to work with Nigel. Did you catch it that time? Maybe you are losing your hearing. You should get that checked. That's all." Andrea said with a cold look in her eyes and with a quick flick of her hand Miranda was dismissed.
Miranda was shocked. She turned and walked out of the office ignoring the calls from Emily. "Don't cry don't cry don't cry" was repeated in her head over and over as she made her way to the restroom. As soon as she slammed the stall door shut the tears started falling. "What just happened?"
Back in Andrea's office, Andy quickly got up out of her chair and closed her office doors and locked it. She turned around and slowly walked back to her chair and sat down. As soon as she hit the chair the tears were flowing. "God the hurt look in her eyes! Why am I like this?" she took a shuddering breath in "you know why Sachs. You are the cold hearted editor in chief of Runway. You don't have time to deal with these feelings! You had to move her. She was a distraction and you couldn't keep her running errands just to keep her away, you were gonna run her to death." Andy put her head down on her desk with a thud and closed her eyes and whispered "this is best for the both of us."
A few weeks after 'The Incident', everyone was walking on eggshells. It was time for the magazine to be published but Andrea was not happy. Nothing seemed to appease the woman. Change after change was made but nothing was what Andrea was looking for. Emily was slowly losing her mind from the lack of sleep and the amount of stress the past few weeks. The whole office was being pushed to their max. They were only a week from the dead line and they still were short a whole spread.
While the office was rushing around trying to get a spread together that Andrea might approve of, Nigel was walking around his office trying to make sense of what happened a few weeks ago. He noticed how Miranda had become quiet and didn't seem to make eye contact anymore. She was withdrawn. He noticed how Andrea was constantly sulking in her office and snapping at everyone. He knew something had happened between the two women, he just didn't know what. With a shake of his head, he left his office in search of Miranda.
He found her in the closet, she was in there most of her days now just sorting through clothes as he didn't really have a need for an assistant. "Hey Mir." He said quietly.
Miranda looked up from the pile of clothes that was in front of her, "Hi Nigel."
"I was wondering if you come take a lunch break with me?" Nigel said with a charming smile, "I'm gonna get her to talk if it's the last thing I do."
"Oh it's lunch time already? Alright let me finish up this pile and we can go." Miranda said with a small smile.
Nigel smiled back, "I will be right back." He turned and walked out of the closet and headed towards Andrea's office. Once there he quickly stuck his head in her office and said "I'm taking a lunch break. I suggest you take a break as well." Andrea didn't even look up at him just waved her hand and continued working. Nigel shook his head and headed back to the closet to pick up Miranda.
They went to a small bistro a few blocks from Runway and got a booth in the back corner so they could talk. Or that was the reason behind Nigel picking the booth, Miranda didn't think anything of it. They ordered a small meal, both sat in comfortable silence just enjoying the much needed break till their food arrive. With a deep breath Nigel spoke.
"So, you know I love you right?"
Miranda looked up from her salad at Nigel and narrowed her eyes, "what is it?"
Nigel scoffs, "what makes you think there is something? Can't I just tell a friend I love her?"
"No, you can't." Miranda says suspiciously.
"Alright alright. There is something." Nigel steels his nerves, "I want to know what happened between you and Andrea. And I want to know why you can't seem to stand being in the same room as her? And why she avoids you like the plague?" Miranda's jaw drops open in shock at the questions.
Nigel sits with a expectant look on his face while he waits for Miranda to get over her shock at his questions. "Well?"
"I um.. Why do you think something happened?" Miranda says weakly. Nigel just gives her a hard look. "It's not really your business you know." Miranda says a little stronger.
"Not my business?!" Nigel says a little harshly. "I work at Runway. Andrea is my boss, I am her right hand man and when something happens that breaks down the fine tuned machine that is Runway, you can bet your ass it's my business!" Miranda looks away from Nigel with a slight guilty look on her face. "Listen Mir, I know you are hurting right now just let me help." Nigel pleads.
Miranda looks up with tears misting in her eyes, "the thing is Nigel, I don't know what happened. One day Andrea was nice asking about my favorite things and then the hurricane happened and she just turned into someone else." She took a deep breath and looks away from Nigel before continuing almost lost in her own thoughts, "I think the thing that hurt the most was her eyes. Her eyes turned cold. Almost overnight. Gone were the warm brown eyes, they had turned to ice. Cold and calculating." Miranda took a deep breath and lost herself in her head.
Nigel sat amazed at what he just heard. "Does she not realize how big of a deal all of this is? Andrea being nice to her! Obviously they have feelings towards one another even if they don't realize it. Women" Nigel thinks with an eye roll.
"Mir." Miranda slowly comes out of her thoughts to look over at Nigel. "Mir I think you need to talk to her." She opens her mouth to interrupt but Nigel holds his hand up to stop her. "Just listen for a minute. Andrea is not a nice person, at least not in Runway. She has to keep up the harsh exterior in order to keep control of her position. Being editor in chief is a very stressful job and because she is so young there is so much pressure on her shoulders and everyone is just waiting for her to fail. She obviously saw something in you, and you brought out the real Andrea. That probably frightened her, she pushed you away so hard because she can't be anything but Runway's Andrea. Do you understand?"
"But what if you are wrong? What if there is nothing there? What if I just imagined it all? She could just be-"
"Hey hey! No. Listen, I know it doesn't seem like it but I know Andrea. I have been with her since the start. Trust me on this and go talk to her." Nigel said with a smile, "now I do believe we have went way over our lunch break time. Let's go back so I can save the day and finish that last spread."
AN: Hey guys! Long time no see huh? I am sorry about such a long wait for the update! I know I suck at keeping a schedule and the updates come at random times, but know I am working on this! I write for fun and sometimes I just have to put it on the back burner for a little bit. I hope you guys stick with me as I try and finish this story out. The relationship you guys are craving will show up soon I promise! Leave me a review to help me out! (I don't have a beta so help me catch my mistakes!) ~Ninjah Monkey