A/N 1: Read disclaimers from Chapter 1 before proceeding.

A/N 2: Nothing even begins to cover how much I need to apologize for not updating sooner. Also, I've been reading works of wonderful writers in this fandom and I can't help but think why anyone would read my work when there is such breathtaking brilliance in others! I'm literally so in awe of their works and am almost ashamed of what I have to offer! But nevertheless.

A/N 3: Okay, obviously every Meryl fan has to make Meryl references; I've borrowed a bit from one of Meryl's movies for this chapter.

A/N 4: Un-betaed, so all mistakes are mine.

"Your coffin reached the monstrous hole. And a part of me went down into the muddy earth with you and lay down next to you and died with you."
―Rosamund Lupton,Sister

A day had passed. A lifetime it seemed.

Nigel and Emily had taken up all the responsibilities, strong yet utterly silenced by the shock. They'd made the calls, made arrangements for the funeral, looked after the twins, kept the media away from the family as much as possible and taken care of every other detail, all the while obsessing over the two people who'd come to become integral parts of their lives.

It was a nightmare in every sense of the word. It had been a task bringing them away from the hospital amidst Miranda's stubbornness, Andy's hysteria and the press. Once back, Andy had taken to sobbing relentlessly until physical exhaustion had claimed her.

Andy's parents, friends and the twins' father had soon arrived too and had been of tremendous help with the twins.

It was Miranda that everyone was most worried about. If anything ever went wrong with her it was always upto Andy to make it right because simply put no one could ever 'fix' Miranda like the way Andy did, almost magically. However Andy had been so too broken herself to take care of her lover, leaving Miranda to her own devices.

Miranda had resigned herself to a spot near Chris's cot and hadn't moved all night. She had been as stoic as ever, not a single tear but the involuntary shivering hadn't stopped. When Nigel had tried to cover her up with a blanket and soothe her he'd been literally shoved out and the door closed on him.

And that had been that.

30th March 2008

Towncar

11:04 a.m.

It's still all very surreal for Andy-she doesn't remember getting into the car and sitting with Miranda and the girls. It seems as if she hasn't looked at them for a million days and when she does her heart breaks even more-the twins sitting in between her and Miranda are huddled close together. Cassidy is clutching 'Mr. Buggsie' their favourite rabbit who's lost all its whiskers-they mostly insist that they've grown out of that phase but not today it seems. Andy imagines how different the day might've been had Christopher been there and she knows that she can't keep doing this-imagining how things might've been—hurting herself even more. It just simply won't do.

Beside them, Miranda sits still as a statue in her black knee length Valentino and a set of pearls; looking at particularly nothing outside the window.

Andy's not spoken to her in the past two days-she remembers being surrounded by her parents and friends but she hadn't seen Miranda and she'd tried to be with her but had been shut out and Andy understood her lover-just the way she wanted people around her when she felt happy or sad Miranda wanted to be alone and she respected that but she knew they'd have to grieve together soon, to get it all out of their systems but at this moment Andy didn't even want to think about anything, let alone tackling their grief together.

'Such a beautiful day isn't it? I can't remember such a beautiful day.' Miranda's voice rings starkly in the eerie silence.

Andy notices Miranda playing continuously with the pendant which had once belonged to her, turning it in her hands over and over again and gripping it firmly now and again.

Andy has nothing to offer except silence.

The Church of Holy Trinity

12 noon

Andy wonders who's decided this place for the burial, she wonders if Miranda would want something else but her lover is sitting on a chair as if in a trance and nothing seems to matter to her.

Always. Always Miranda would start out as the strong one and then leave Andrea in the battlefield, alone, to fend for herself and the rest of them. Like she's done today too.

Andrea knows it's a facade that Miranda's put up, that inside she's breaking into a million tiny pieces just like Andy herself is but Andy needs to be the strong one and so when it's time for her to make the speech, she takes Miranda's hand and guides her along with her towards the grave. As they stand beside one another in front of the tiny rosewood casket adorned with all the flowers of the valley, Andy recites

"You haste away so soon:
As yet the early-rising sun
Has not attained his noon
Stay, stay
Until the hasting day
Has run
But to-"

And suddenly Miranda is shivering all over and sobbing hysterically, heart wrenching sounds of excruciating pain fill the air with its dominance and Andy does her best to hold Miranda upright while whispering meaningless platitudes into her ears.

"Mira, baby, shh."

"No—no" and suddenly she breaks free of Andy's arms and flees not knowing where to go as the hysteria claims her.

Andy's never seen her like this, Miranda's probably never allowed herself to be this way, the press is going to have a field day!

Andy runs after her as she runs towards nowhere and finally catches up with her. By now Miranda can hardly even breathe, Andy holds her as Miranda struggles against her grip and tries to calm her down. Her face is red and streaked with tears and the short puffs of breathe she can manage to inhale aren't enough as she hyperventilates against Andy's body.

"Let's go. We can go back home. It'll be okay!" at the mention of that Miranda loses it even more and struggles violently against Andy who attempts to get her into the waiting car. Andy receives the message loud and clear, that whatever happens Miranda isn't leaving and going anywhere.

After a while she seems to calm down and her body sags against Andy's. Wordlessly she motions for them to return.

Everything passes in a blur after that and Andy works on auto-pilot mode doing whatever is asked of her.

By the time they return home the twins are fast asleep due to all the mental exhaustion and after the outburst Miranda had come out of her trance and had stabilized a little although the tears still kept falling continuously.

Andrea tries to get both of them some sleep too, for a while, to wear off their mental exhaustion but Miranda only just sits quietly in the middle of their bed and keeps staring into nothingness.

8:24 p.m.

Master Bedroom

"Miranda, we need to eat." Andy walks in with a tray laden with food that had been ordered by Nigel for them as Miranda sits with her head in her hands. She stares at Andy blankly for a while and then goes back to staring into nothingness.

She's already somehow managed to get the kids to eat and put them to bed but now Andy is too tired herself, she doesn't have the energy for all this-taking care of it all, now that Chris is gone. She can't do it all like everyone seems to think, can't be strong for the kids and Miranda, she's human after all, but still, after everything she tries—

"Hey, look, not eating will not help. He won't come back and you'll just get weaker and weaker. We need to move on, one day at a time, Mira, you and I need to help-"

Miranda looks up incredulously at her and says, "Move on? From what? From losing my three weeks old baby? From those nine months of waiting? From what Andrea, what?" her face gets redder by the second and fresh set of tears start rolling down her face.

Andy closes her eyes and knows she is in for a long night.

"Miranda, I'm only saying that you not eating will not make him come back. You think I've moved on? No, but you and I and the girls we're all we have and we need to help each other through this, I'm only being rational."

"You probably shouldn't talk about rationality in front of me. I'm Miranda Priestly remember!" Andy sighs as Miranda continues "But you know what, rationality doesn't play a role when you've lost your own child. Maybe you'd understand if you were a mother."

The last sentence rips Andy's heart into two leaving it to bleed and she has the urge to shut Miranda up or shout at her but she knows Miranda is hurting and she tries her damndest best to not react violently.

"I AM a mother."

Miranda scoffs dryly and gets up from the bed to move towards one of the Victorian windows in their room and stares at the traffic below. Andy takes in her appearance and is amazed that she's almost already lost all of the weight from the baby. Miranda traces a hand over her abdomen, maybe involuntarily and wipes a stray tear from her left cheek and turns towards Andrea again. She looks hauntingly beautiful-her eyes are rimmed red with tears and the dark circles around her stormy blue eyes have intensified over the past few days which contrast even more prominently against the paleness of her skin but it doesn't take away from her any of her beauty.

"You didn't give birth to him, how would you know?"

Andy blinks back tears "Miranda please, I know you're angry and sad at the world and so am I. Can we not direct it at each other? It won't-"

"Why not?" she charges towards where Andy is standing "you gave me hope, my God I lived on it!" she hits both her inner palms on Andy's chest, "you gave me Chr—Christopher. You told me it would be fine! What happened, huh?"

Andy has no answer to offer except tears. Miranda retreats and turns back and whispers "Maybe we shouldn't have left him alone that night. Maybe he'd be here with us right now if we had gotten his cot into our room."

"Miranda, this had nothing to do with where he was."

"How can you be so sure? What are you, a doctor? We should have brought him to our room."

"It wouldn't have made a difference!"

"WE SHOULD'VE BROUGHT HIM WITH US!" Miranda shrieks as she takes a vase full of roses and smashes it to the ground. The glass breaks into a million tiny pieces- like their lives and the water splashes across the room as the roses get strewn around their feet while its faint sweet smell fills the atmosphere.

Andy's seen quiet and angry Miranda but she's never seen Miranda this way-loud and violent and she's not used to handling this Miranda.

"What are you doing?"

"What am I doing? What am I doing? Taking charge, like I should've, long before. Instead of relying on YOU." She takes another vase and throws it at the opposite wall. The water leaves stains on the wall paper and the vase slides to the ground noisily against the silence.

"STOP IT!"

"No! Did you do anything to stop it?" Miranda hurls things off their dressing table.

The realization dawns on Andy soon, "You mean I should've brought him to our room."

"I told you to transfer his cot. You said you'd do it in the morning. Did he wait for you?" she shakes Andy "did he?"

"Mira, you're bringing up things unnecessarily!"

"Don't you 'Mira' me! Don't tell me what's necessary and what's not! Don't you feel ashamed?"

Andy can't quite keep up with Miranda and she darts her a confused look.

"All your fake, hollow promises of giving me happiness, making me the happiest woman in the world. This—this is what you've given me." She gestures at the broken pieces of glass around them. Their room resembles a warsite. Destruction all around, it's ironical that Miranda blames Andy when she's made this room what it is, "Forever a disappointment. You've hurt me more-"

Andy rushes towards where Miranda is standing and covers her mouth with her hands "Stop it! Just stop it okay! YOU'VE SAID ENOUGH." Andy's eyes and face are ablaze and she forgets Miranda is hurting and is saying all this as a consequence of that, trying to build that infamous barrier around her again.

Miranda struggles against Andy's taller frame and removes herself from her grasp "No! I've not" and with that she starts breaking things in their room. She targets Andy's things in particular and crashes them against the floor and walls.

Andy's never seen Miranda like this and it scares the shit out of her and she doesn't know what to do—she is extremely angry at Miranda but she more scared for her wellbeing and she fears all this might take too much of a toll on Miranda's health.

"Miranda, please the girls will wake up!"

"Let them! Let them come and see that their mother has gone mad." She proceeds to the closet and starts throwing Andrea's clothes onto the ground.

"Actually I think I've come to my senses once again." She looks up from the heap of clothes and stares directly into Andy's eyes "Leave."

Andy stares back with incomprehensible eyes.

"We're done." And with those two words Andy's self control shatters into a million tiny pieces. A heart wrenching sob breaks from within her throat and she continues staring accusingly at Miranda who seems calmer now. The wildness from a moment before is gone.

Andy thinks Miranda might listen to reason again "Miranda, please, you're—this is too early-we need time. Please don't make decisions right now."

The ensuing silence is excruciating.

Then Miranda speaks, quietly, in that voice Andy knows "Andrea, I've thought and thought and thought about this. If you stay here, you will remind me of him every moment of every day and I won't be able to see him and I'll come to hate you more than anything in the world."

Andy goes up to Miranda and wraps her arms around her waist "Miranda, sweetheart, please, just let us think this over. It seems right to you now but we'll regret this. It'll be the biggest mistake." the desperation is apparent in Andy's voice.

"Falling in love with you was my biggest mistake. I'm done hurting myself. Please, go away. Please." Miranda almost begs as her voice breaks as she moves out of Andy's grasp yet again and shakes her head sideways.

Andy wipes her tears and tries to be strong, "Miranda please!" but Miranda only shakes her head vigorously again and turns her face away.

"They were all right, you know. About you. Selfish ice queen. You're inhumane!" Andy is hurting and she can't stop herself from being angry at Miranda. She knows she will regret her words later but what is regret when she can't see the future anymore. When everything seems exceedingly bleak and there is no 'them' anymore.

Now the tears are falling freely from her eyes as she levels more accusations against Miranda, "You treat people like last season's couture. Once their use is over and they're out of fashion you just throw them away. So typical. You don't deserve-"

"Get out of my house!" Miranda shouts as she storms towards Andy with her hands balled into fists at her sides and eyes ablaze.

Andy's eyes bore directly into Miranda's and for the first time in a million years she fails to see any tenderness in them. They're filled with rage, grief and contempt and Andy knows it's over. It's over afterall.

Andy turns to leave, wordlessly.

"Your things will be sent to you. Give Roy your address. And don't try to contact MY children. That's All."

And that's when Andy knows it's really truly over. Finito.

More A/N's: I decided not to mention the burial and service elaborately because it's sort of so damned morbid but I have a feeling I might do a vignette from Miranda's perspective about it at a later date.

Sometimes you don't understand why people react in certain ways under certain circumstances; I think that's what I was aiming for with Miranda.

Anyway, tell me what you think?! Always eager to know!

Thanks a MILLION to everyone who comments and reads and likes this. Means a lot!