Hello Dears,

i am so sorry i did not update any sooner, but my best friend dropped by for a suprise visit and we were busy chasing skirts and getting sunburn. However he gave me sooooo many ideas for the next chapters. Hope you enjoy this last, more or less calm chapter before the mayhem will begin *muhahahaha*

Around the world and back again

Chapter 2

The Runway Mutiny

The townhouse was deadly silent when Andrea entered it for one last time, delivering the dry cleaning. One of her arm felt strangely empty without the usual weight of the book. Never again would she bring it for Miranda to review the work realized that day. Torn up inside by the sadness and rage whenever the realization that Miranda´s life work was ripped away from the impressive woman sunk just a bit further in, she just couldn´t help to crack a small smile when she remembered her co-workers and their reaction to Irv´s fatal move.

Half an hour after she smacked Irv, (and God her hand was still hurting) Andrea stayed behind, watching as Miranda stalked out of her office, calling for her purse and coat one last time. Emily had handed them over before grabbing her own things and falling into step just behind the white-haired goddess. Serena had joined her just a few seconds later, then Nigel, came out and with a smile took up his rightful place on the right sight of Miranda.

When they reached the elevators, who opened to spit Irv out like something foul they ate, the group had grown to include almost every staff member that worked at Runway. Under Irv´s watchful, out popping eyes, Miranda entered the empty cabin and, just for a second, smiled at the assembled staff, before the door´s closed, effectively ending her reign over the fashion magazine.

Smirking, the dwarfish man had turned to the staff and sneered: "You better get back to work."

It was Emily, who, once again, reacted first. Stepping up, she coldly eyeballed Irv, before backhanding him with all the force of the cheese cubes she ever ate. "Finally…" She sighed before smiling and handing over a slip of paper. "I quit. And took all the leaves I had left for the next two weeks. Goodbye, Irv."

She turned and held out her hand to Serena, who smiling widely, just added her resignation on top of Emily´s and together they walked towards the stairs, leaving a spluttering Irv behind. Nigel called behind them: "Hey, wait for me, you ungrateful little brats."

Passing the troll on standing beside the elevators, he trust his letter forward, not caring if his former employer caught the hastily scribbled note and hurried after the pair. While Irv was sprouting calls of "Insubordination! Mutiny! You will never work anywhere else again!" and other nonsense, the rest of the assembled staff followed their leaders example and walking right away from Runway, heading Andrea´s warning from before.

Andrea still wished she could have remembered to record it. It had made her day, and it would have been certainly entertaining for Miranda. Not to mention the financial gain of selling something akin to the press. Alas, she had been enjoying watching it too much, to even think about taking out her phone.

Jocelyn, wanting to match Irv´s right cheek to the bright red left one, had followed the assistants lead and smacked the spiteful hobbit, actually forcing him to stagger back a few steps. The compliments of her proficiency from Peter, her closest co-worker, had caused her to blush fiercely, before accepting his lunch invitation straight away.

When the quitting cortege had passed and left behind frightingly empty runway corridors, Andrea had let out a loud laugh before returning to her desk. She had still work to do, before calling it a day and reclaiming her liberty.

Whistling merrily, she had sat behind her desk, shutting down all runway relating documents and calling up a new empty one to start with a first draft of a recommendation letter for the recently unemployed ex-runway members, all the while reaching for the office-phone to call her copy at Vogue. The main enemy of the former leading magazine would gain some quite qualified new employees, if she would have any say about it.

"Andrea."

Miranda´s soft voice shook the young woman out of her thoughts and she hurried to close the closet door and enter the small sitting room next to the kitchen. Her former boss sat regally in formfitting black pants and a simple beige wrap sweeter. It was the most comfortable clothing Andrea had ever seen her in, discounting Paris.

"Yes Miranda?" A pale motioned for her to sit down on the chair opposite.

"I had a most interesting call from Anna this afternoon. Apparently she needed my personal opinion on some new additions of her staff that all seem to have worked for Runway until this morning. Could you clarify for me, how almost the entire Runway staff ended up unemployed and reemployed in less than 8 hours?"

Fidgeting under an intense blue gaze, Andrea said: "They quit."

A raised eyebrow prompted her to explain further. "They all walked out right behind you. I warned them about staying on a sinking ship and, for all the fear you installed in us, most of your former underlings are loyal to you, Miranda. What Irv did was despicable, and as a consequence he is now on a board of a publication house whose most-important magazine is staffless. Well almost… A few of the recently hired stayed behind." She shrugged. "While relaying the information of the recent changes at Runway, I informed the contacts about the mutiny and working for you is all the qualification they needed to hire those who walked out. Actually, by the time I made the second call, they called me, just to confirm the news. Word of mouth is impressively fast in our branch."

By then, Miranda´s lips had lifted to a full blown smile and a soft chuckle escaped her.

"So, tell me, who did hire my most trusted assistant?"

"Actually… I… ehm…" The glee that had risen in Andrea´s heart just seconds ago, disappeared quicker than Nigel running from last season jeans.

Prompted by the slight flicker of impatience she managed: "I did not yet look for a new workplace for myself, I am afraid. I guess I will pursue a career as journalist if someone will employ me."

"You mean to tell me…" Miranda´s voice softened further and chills of impending doom racked down Andrea´s spine. "…that you managed to assist every single one of your former co-worker's in finding something new, while disregarding your own future?"

"Sort of?"

"I must say…" The younger woman was calculating the fastest escape route. "…I am quite pleased about that."

The rollercoaster ride of Andrea´s feeling reached a new high on the confused scale.

Standing up, the older woman moved towards her bookcase and left a finger drift over the covers of travel literature. "I was hoping to hire you as my personal assistant."

With hopeful eyes, Miranda turned back to the brunette sitting stunned.

"I want to travel the world."