A/N: As you may know, I don't own DWP :) Enjoy!

Chapter Three: Get Ready

There was a certain calm within the office that afternoon. The sort of calm that you knew wouldn't last so you have to savor every second of it. The Runway staff found themselves in that very mood. Everyone knew Miranda was still out likely making someone else's life a misery. They didn't care who so long as it wasn't them, even if it was for just a few minutes. One woman, someone from makeup, actually dared step out in flats. Yes, these precious moments without the dragon were truly to be savored.

Andy hummed a Harry Potter theme while typing away an email to the art department. They sent up the wrong color pallet for the project on life in the city. Miranda wanted bright and vibrant but instead they sent her a collection of neutral toned "garbage" as the editor had put it. She could still hear the longsuffering complaints. 'Why is it that I have to deal with several failures before they finally decide to get it right? Is it beyond the capabilities of human performance to do a task correctly the first time? Am I asking the impossible? Honestly.'

It was a real pity that they messed up today when Miranda was already on edge about something. Apparently someone failed one time too many because Miranda later had two people from the Art Department up and packing. Andy made sure to specify in her email the exact color scheme so they could avoid mix ups the next time around.

Just as she pressed send, Emily walked into the office space. Coming back from a late lunch, she looked quite satisfied. According to her the diet was over and she could now go back to eating dry salads and water. Andy hoped this meant she was in a good mood. The clock showed that it was now 3:30. While she still had some time left to break the news, she'd rather get it over with quickly incase Emily had plans.

The Brit looked over at Andy's desk and gave her the usual better-than-thou look before taking her seat. She had begun looking over some notes, intent on ignoring Andy's gaze. Andy continued to look at Emily, trying to figure out the best way to tell the first assistant that she'd be waiting to all hours for the book tonight. Finally after a short while she figured she may as well just say it.

"Emily, Miranda has asked that you wait up for the book this evening." Andy mentally braced herself for the avalanche of raving hysterics and verbal abuses she was sure to receive. She leaned slightly in her seat in a vain attempt to put more distance between herself and the woman.

Emily's face crumbled into a scowl, her eyes narrowed and her brows knit closely together. Andy winced, here it comes.

"Excuse me?" Emily asked in a menacing whisper.

"Um, she said that you would be-" Andy began.

"Yes I heard what you said, you twit." She snapped. "But why, pray tell, will I be doing the job of the second assistant when she is standing in front of me, very much alive, and has not as far as I know, received any sort of promotion over the past seven hours?" she spat. "She's been swapping our duties more and more lately, is there something going on that neither of you are telling me?"

In her defense Andy supposed this was slightly true. Miranda had been giving Andy more responsibilities as of late. It started slowly after Paris last year. First manning a meeting here and rescheduling something there. They were usually boring tasks that Emily would often complain about anyway. In Andy's opinion she thought the woman would be happy for the short breaks. But… when Andy was away at a shoot or sitting in on a run through, of course someone had to be at the office to receive calls and get coffee. Apparently Emily didn't appreciate the breaks at all if it meant spending that time in a lesser position than Andy.

"No no it's nothing like that Emily, look-"

"Well then why can't you wait for the bloody thing, it's your job isn't it?"

"She wanted me to attend an event for work, so she needs you to wait for the book. Look it's just this once-"

"Oh my God."

"And anyway it's not like I really wanna-"

"You're the Second assistant, this ought to be your task not mine."

"-go to the thing. I'm sorry about this but-"

"It makes no sense that I would have to do it-"

"Then why don't you tell her that?" Andy snapped. Her cheeks were red and her palms were a little sweaty. She hated yelling or being yelled at for that matter. And she certainly wasn't going to take it from Emily, not when she felt she didn't disserve it. It was hardly her fault that Miranda suddenly wanted Andy to do more than what was expected of the Second Assistant.

The woman's mouth clamped shut at the comment. Both ladies knew very well that Emily would never question Miranda in such a way. Were the thought ever to occur to her she may as well pack her things up on the spot.

Emily huffed in clear defeat and returned her gaze to the stack of notes on her desk. It was a wonder the papers didn't burst into flame from the look they received. Andy sighed and scribbled absently on a piece of paper. Why were people so difficult?

The time passed in relative silence between the two of them. Every now and again one of them would run off to do an errand. For the most part they manned their desks and waited for Miranda's arrival. Andy was just finishing a list of people she had to inform of a run-through tomorrow when her phone vibrated so loudly it nearly scared her off her seat. Emily rolled her eyes as Andy straightened herself and reached for her phone. It was a text from Miranda:

'I'm not coming back to the office. Roy should be there to retrieve you by 7:55. Do not be late.'

Andy looked at the time on her phone. It was 5 o'clock exactly. That meant she had just enough time to get ready before Roy arrived. But how to go about excusing herself…

"Hello ladies." Came a familiar voice from the door. Nigel had just walked in looking very pleased with himself.

"Hello Nigel, what is it?" Emily asked.

"Well," he started as he walked over and leaned on Andy's desk. "First, the Queen just called me and said she won't be returning to the castle today. And second," he glanced momentarily to Andy "I need to go over some things with Six about her little task this evening."

Emily sighed and began typing away on her computer, no longer interested in Nigel's words. "Fine, she's perfectly useless here anyway."

Andy gave a thankful smile to Nigel and gathered her things. "Have a nice night Emily." She offered as Nigel took her arm.

"Quite." She responded, not looking up from the monitor.

Smiling, Nigel said "Shall we my dear?" and together they left the office.

Andy never enjoyed showering at Runway. These parts of the bathrooms were always littered with half-naked models parading in front of the mirrors or each other. Some of them seemed quite shameless, or perhaps it was just plain old confidence. Andy couldn't see how they did it. She pulled her towel closer to her body and blushed as a rather attractive blonde woman winked at her. Walking away from the showers, she tread carefully trying not to slip on the tiled floors. She put on a fresh robe from a stack by the door and proceeded to The Closet were Nigel waited.

Nigel was standing next to a floor length mirror with a stack of clothing and jewelry propped up on a counter next to him, he was holding a long garment cover.

"Took you long enough." He said in greeting. "Now hurry up and put these on, we still have go to makeup and hair." He gave her a knowing look as if to say 'And we both know how long that's gonna be.'

"I was overwhelmed by the amount of nakedness in there. Is there a shoot going on today?" Andy asked, picking up the items on the counter.

"Yes, for the new- What's with that look?" Andy was holding up a barely there laced thong with scandalous cutouts going all the way down to a place she was sure should have been covered.

"Um what are these?" she asked, embarrassment coming to full force when she spotted the matching corset.

"Your undergarments, or are you going commando? Are we planning some sort of after show I was unaware off?" He inquired, with pure amusement on his face.

"Nigel I have my own underwear, this isn't necessary." Andy replied, eyeing the thong like it was some sort of strange, new creature.

"Honey I'm sure you paid top dollar for those lovely Victoria's Secret boy-shorts but tonight calls for Agent Provocateur. Now" he grabbed the rest of the items she was so clearly avoiding and shoved them into her arms. "Hurry up and put these on before someone comes in and sees your girls." He swiveled around so he had his back to Andy allowing him to miss the dumbfounded look on her face.

"I'd hurry up, the models might be here any second now." The sound of rampant shuffling could be heard as Andy quickly made to put on every piece of undergarment Nigel put out for her, corset and all.

When Nigel turned back around he was faced with a partially clothed and extremely embarrassed Andy. Her face was an alarming shade of red and she began to shuffle nervously from one foot to the other.

"My my my, looks like those curves are good for something other than overstuffing a skirt after all huh?" he looked over her approvingly. Andy muttered illegibly to herself.

Nigel began unzipping the garment bag he had been holding all that time. "So you remember how we had it narrowed down to two dresses?" Andy nodded. "Well I think I was being too literal with Miranda's instructions. I don't believe she wants you to match her exactly, I think she wants you to compliment her. You know? So should the two of you stand side-by-side you'd look well together but you both still have your own identities. With that being said.."

And here Nigel pulled the cover off the dress completely revealing his stunning choice. It started off as an opaque red and then dissolved into a lovely nude shade. Flecks of gold began strong at the sweetheart bodice and then ebbed away towards the bottom. The entire garment was clearly made to give the impression that you wore nothing underneath, if the flesh toned lining was anything to go by. And the cut-

"Well it had better fit because we don't have time to find another. I have a bit of Crisco if you need it."

"Oh ha ha." Andy remarked, she was still too stunned by the dress to give a proper retort. Nigel helped her into it, both carefully tugging and lifting. Finally, after only a few moments, Andy was zipped in completely. The dress was form fitting all the way to her hips before the fabric loosened and allowed for flare and flow towards the bottom. Nigel helped her onto the round platform that stood in front of the mirror. He smiled approvingly at her reflection, he'd done his job well. Andy gazed at herself, hardly believing what she saw.

"I look…"

"Gorgeous." Nigel finished, a twinkle dancing behind his glasses. "Miranda might regret inviting you to come along, you'll steal her shine."

"Yeah right." Andy scoffed, as if Miranda would ever worry about that possibility.

"Hmm," Nigel began, smoothing out the back of the dress. "Its Dior, two seasons ago but I doubt anyone would care." He offered his hand to help her down.

"I still can't believe people actually pay attention to that kind of stuf- um, detail." Andy tried to catch herself. She'd learned her lesson never to refer to anything pertaining the fashion world as mere "stuff". Nigel politely ignored the slip but still smirked at her all the same.

"You'd be surprised, I've seen girls shunned for lesser things. Now about your hair, this goody goody look is cute but you're gonna need something a lot sexier. I'm thinking Von Teese…" Nigel said, leading her down the hall of The Closet towards hair and makeup. Andy got the sneaking suspicion that Nigel (despite his protests) quite liked dressing her up, like his very own life-sized Barbie. She giggled uneasily at the idea.

A/N2: I tried my best to describe the red/gold dress from the C. Dior couture FW 2005 collection lol. I really adore that dress.