I know this one took way too long but it is here nonetheless.
Thank you for all the comments and kudos, the support for this story has been amazing.
Oh, and kudos for my beta Ana for not slapping me along the way (love you pookie).
xx

Andrea was sure she was at the verge of having a heart attack by the time she finally heard Nigel coming out of the elevator and catwalk his way to her desk.

Nigel's apartment was barely a ten minute walk from the Elias-Clarke's building, an arrangement that guaranteed he was never more than a call away from his desk whenever Miranda's whims demanded it. And with that in mind the half an hour that Nigel took to arrive after Andrea's text only helped to aggravate her already less than stellar mood.

"Nigel! What took you so long?!" Andrea whispered, as she jumped out of her chair too meet her colleague, afraid to be heard by Miranda who had been strangely quiet for the past half an hour.

Nigel went silent for a few seconds, his eyes examining Andrea's body and leaving the girl visibly uncomfortable.

"Nigel, rude. My eyes are up here." she let out, her voice a mix of annoyance and nervousness.

"My dear though I have to admit you're a pretty good six should I remind you that I'm very gay and am less than interested."

"Actually I'm a four..." Andrea tried to argue but was quickly interrupted by Nigel who kept looking at her as if he had just made this century's latest discovery?

"Now the real question is – and mind that I'm gay and you've known it for months – if you obviously didn't get all dress up like that for me and I'm assuming you didn't do it for Em either, who did you dress up for?"

Andrea looked down at herself for a moment, she was wearing Louboutin's black knee-length boots over a pair of impossible tight dark jeans – which she assumed cost more than her first second handed car – and a Chanel's, latest collection, see-through red blouse with a not so modest cleavage wide enough to perfectly display the edge of her black laced bra.

When her eyes met Nigel's again she couldn't pretend not to notice the obvious smirk he was flashing her.

"Can't a girl hijack the Closet and make herself pretty?" her attempt at humor was met by the growth of Nigel's smirk and a sudden feeling of being caught (with her hand in the cookie jar) took over Andrea.

"So, what was the verdict?"

The question caught her off guard and left her visibly puzzled.

"Verdict? Excuse me?"

Nigel let out an annoyed sigh as if he had just asked the most basic question and Andrea was purposely trying to be completely obtuse.

"Yes Andrea, what did she say about it?"

Andrea was still very much confused "She? You mean Miranda?"

"Yes Andrea, I mean Miranda and let's just skip the part where you try to fool me into believing she isn't the reason why you're dressed like you're expecting to get laid very soon and glowing like someone who just did"

Nigel's tone was something between bored and amused with a hint of cruelty and pleasure at the sight of a very embarrassed Andrea.

"Can you lower your voice? I swear to God Nigel, if she hears you I'll burn every single piece of fashion you own"

The man moved his hand to cover his mouth gasping in pretend shock.

"Oh shut up" the girl added sounding almost defeated.

"She didn't comment..."

"And exactly what are you going to do about it?" if the brunette hadn't been feeling truly frustrated, the way her colleague had just put his hands on his waist would have made her laugh.

"There's nothing I can do Nigel, just drop it please"

In a matter of seconds Nigel's expression went from one of challenge and clear amusement to one of pure exasperation and Andrea actually took a step back from him without even noticing.

"Do we honestly need to have this conversation again my dear? Barely a year ago I told you you weren't trying only whining and that's exactly what you're doing now. You clearly want to hit that and yet here you are feeling sorry for yourself and thinking how unfortunate poor little Andrea is."

"Someone learned some of Miranda's skills for not so nice but still motivational speeches." Andrea pouted a little before sighing in defeat.

"Any suggestions?"

Nigel tossed a red notebook in her hands and gave her an all or nothing smile "Miranda needs this before the staff meeting taking place in an hour. Go."

"Oh for fuck's sake..." she muttered under her breath before charging towards the Editor's door.

Miranda was going over the book one last time before the staff meeting, her red pen ready to mutilate one last time the already beaten up pages when her office's door opened to let what seemed to be a very determined assistant.

"I don't recall calling for you Andréa..." the older woman stated dryly her gaze fixed on the sudden intruder.

"I'm sorry Miranda but Nigel told me you needed this as soon as possible and he had some papers of his own to go over before the meeting so he asked me to bring it to you" Andrea's explanation was followed by a delicate smile while placing the oh-so-needed notebook on Miranda's desk.

However, before Miranda had the chance to reach over for the notebook Andrea bended way too slowly over her desk and opened it in front of Miranda.

"He wrote some notes here about the next layout and the names he had in mind for next month's run-trough"

While Andrea's eyes were focused on the notes she was so helpfully pointing out to Miranda, the Editor's gaze was focused on a very different layout, more specifically that of Andrea's cleavage which – thanks to Andrea's bending movement – was displayed right in front of Miranda's face.

"Miranda?"

"Yes?" the editor replied quickly in an attempt to disguise her sudden distraction, her eyes moving quickly to where Andrea's finger was placed.

"Sorry you seemed a bit distracted, did you sleep properly last night? Maybe a coffee is in order?" the smile on her assistant's face left Miranda puzzled and lacking words.

After gathering her thoughts and making sure her mouth was not gaping the Editor cleared her throat. "I'm perfectly fine Andrea, proceed."

"Nigel also made some corrections on the article on page thirteen..." walking around the desk Andrea positioned herself right beside Miranda and bended over once more to flip a few pages in order to show Miranda the article. However, and even though the article was actually quite interesting and central to the next edition the only thing Miranda seemed to be able to focus on was Andrea.

Andrea's perfume invading her personal space, her side suddenly pressed against Miranda's and the privileged vision the Editor was having once more of that magnificent cleavage were a powerful combination bound to rend Miranda speechless.

Once the girl stopped talking and before she had the chance to again engage in conversation Miranda dismissed her with an unusual "thank you" followed by her signature "that's all".

Nonetheless, as she was walking out of Miranda's office Andrea knew that wouldn't be all and this time she had made sure Miranda knew it as well.