Chapter 14

The phone rang several times before Andy picked up on the other line.

Miranda was curled in her bed, unable to sleep. She hadn't been able to sleep after her fight with Caroline. It had been heart-wrenching, she felt horrible. Still.

"Miranda?" Andy sounded sleepy, but worried. Miranda suddenly felt a sense of relief the instant Andy spoke.

Miranda sighed, slipping her glasses off, rolling on to her back. "I didn't think she'd react like that."

"It's totally understandable, Miranda." Andy quickly soothed her worries.

"I don't know what to do." Miranda breathed out through her words, pinching the bridge of her nose between her thumb and forefinger.

"Well we don't have to…"

"No, I want you." Miranda decisively cut in. "I just don't know how I'm going to get my girls to cooperate."

"Well it might take some time, Miranda. You can't just force all of this on them and expect them to go along with it." Andy wisely advised.

"I know that." Miranda snapped, not liking the wisdom that was coming from her younger counterpart.

"We'll make it work, sweetie. It'll be okay." Andy missed the biting tone in Miranda's voice.

Miranda sighed and rolled over on to her stomach. "I wish you were here still."

"Really?" Miranda could hear the grin spread across Andy's face.

"Yes." Miranda sighed again, rolling her eyes and smiling. "But, I don't think the girls are ready for a sleep over." She laughed.

"Oh, a sleep over. We haven't done that for awhile." Andy laughed.

"Yes, since Chicago…and that wasn't even a real sleepover."

"That was a nice night. I enjoyed that." Andy grinned, "god, I want to kiss you again."

"Don't. Not now." Miranda stopped her from going on, finally feeling like she could go to sleep. "I need to go to bed."

Andy nodded, forgetting that she was on the other end of the line and not next to her new found love interest.

"Tell me it's going to be all right." Miranda meekly stated, closing her eyes, leaning back into her pillows.

"It will be. We'll figure it out." Andy childishly stated, wanting more than anything for things to work between them. All these setbacks were getting tedious and she wasn't sure how much longer she could go on being with Miranda without being with her. That night they had spent kissing, which she had just been reminded of, was so beautiful. She wanted that night again and again and again. Mornings of waking up to the Dragon Lady, who wasn't a Dragon Lady at all, but a human being, a woman, a beautiful woman.

"Lunch tomorrow?"

"Yes, I would like that. We can continue this conversation then. How about that?" Andy grinned.

"All right." And with that the date was set, and as soon as Miranda hung up the phone she was able to relax enough to fall into a sleep-like state.

~*~

But the morning brought problems of its own. Loud music pounded its way into Miranda's room, and she was instantly awaken. Her alarm hadn't even gone off; it wasn't even quite six in the morning. She pulled herself out of her bed, wrapped her fluffy cream colored robe around herself, and opened her door, locating the source of the loud music.

Caroline's room.

Miranda made her way up the stairs to Caroline's half-opened bedroom door.

She peered in and was immediately surprised to find Caroline's clothing cluttering her bed, all of her traveling suitcases open and spread about. Miranda frowned, really hoping that it wasn't what it looked like. Stepping inside, maneuvering around the scattered clothing, Miranda moved to Caroline's iPod home, and stopped it. This immediately caused Caroline to appear from the abyss of clothing in her closet.

"What do you want?"

"What the hell are you doing?" Miranda rubbed her eyes, cleared her throat.

"Leaving."

Miranda just frowned. "Leaving?"

"Yes, I'm going to live with dad."

Miranda half-laughed, which elicited a sharp scowl from her daughter. "I already called him. He said I could come over tonight after school. I'm packing now."

"He agreed to this?" Miranda was livid.

Caroline nodded.

Miranda expelled a sharp breath. "Why, exactly, are you leaving?"

"Because, I don't want to be around you! You're disgusting." Caroline replied, moving back to her closet, weeding through it. Tossing out shirts she hadn't worn in years.

Miranda could not believe the level of dramatics this one little, simple kiss had created. She went to her daughter, stilling her motions. "You are not going anywhere. You will call your father and tell him that you will not be joining him tonight."

"I will be joining him. I will be going tonight. And you can't stop me. He's my father." Caroline protested, moving away from her mother's grasp.

"He doesn't really want you with him." Miranda quickly realized her mistake as soon as the words left her mouth.

"What?" Caroline cried, "he does want me. I'm his daughter."

Miranda had no more defenses. She couldn't tell her own daughter that her father didn't really care for her. She couldn't bring herself to do that. So she turned, unable to fathom what was happening, what she had said, what her own, uninhibited actions had caused, and left the room. She despised herself and her mood was not improved by the time she got to work.

Lunch with Andy needed to be canceled. Miranda couldn't handle that, not today. Talking, that's all Andy would want to do. She'd want to talk it through and fix it, and Miranda just didn't want to do that. Not today. Today Miranda needed to focus on doing her job. She couldn't think about anything else except that.

And so, to get the horrible conversation done with, Miranda picked up her phone and dialed the all too familiar number. Andy picked up on the third ring.

"Hey Miranda," she happily greeted.

"Good morning, Andrea."

And it was in the use of Andy's full name that immediately clued the younger brunette in to the fact that Miranda was canceling.

"No lunch."

"No, not today." Miranda felt relieved that she didn't have to say it.

"Can we talk about…"

"Later." Miranda quickly cut in, then noticed Nigel was heading straight towards her. "I'll call you later." And without listening for Andy's response, she hung up.

~*~

Fuck her. Fuck her and her canceling without a reason. Fuck her for not wanting to talk about it. Andy was very distraught, confused, upset. She wanted to go right over to Elias-Clarke and give the woman a piece of her mind. They were supposed to be doing this relationship thing together. She thought that Miranda was different.

But once again Miranda Priestly; professional editor and ruler of Runway, had appeared and her wrath had descended. Andy resented her.

Of course she couldn't be in an easy position, not after what she'd witnessed last night. Her daughter had been very angry. Extremely angry.

But Miranda should be grown up enough to be able to sit down with Andy and talk it through. And Andy knew that there was not a meeting that had been scheduled over the lunch, no Miranda had canceled because she had wanted to cancel. Because she couldn't face her and talk out what was bothering her. The fact that her daughter hated that she had been kissing Andy.

Andy could hardly blame her daughter. It wasn't like she'd even had time to get used to the fact that another female was occupying her mother's time. It wasn't fair, Andy could see why. But for Miranda to shut her out completely was not the best way to handle the situation.

She was pissed and she wanted to talk to little Ms. Priestly.

But she wouldn't call her, no. She wouldn't show up at her office and demand an explanation. No, Andy was grown up enough to know that Miranda would take her time. She would come around. She needed her space.

But she wouldn't be allowed this same space later on.

~*~
"Miranda, I have John on the phone." Emily exclaimed, appearing in Miranda's office doorway. She looked quite nervous to announce this, but she clearly had been cajoled to put the call through.

"John?" Miranda frowned, her eyes moving from her assistant at the door to her phone that was flashing at her. She picked it up and answered, "John?"

"Miranda, I don't know what you've done this time, but I'm taking Caroline with me."

"I am aware." Miranda sighed, guilt flooding her stomach. But she wouldn't let it show.

"What are you doing to our daughters?" John sounded extremely angry for absolutely no reason at all.

"I am doing nothing but trying to raise them. Clearly they are ungrateful of my capable parenting." Miranda knew her argument was weak. In truth, she felt neither John nor she were truly capable parents.

John laughed on the other end. "I'll have her out before you even get home, I suspect."

Miranda turned away from the open doors of her office, staring out the windows into the city. For a moment she felt like she was about to let her emotions show through and she fought off the urge to allow a strangled sob to escape from between her lips.

"Miranda…?" John inquired, thinking that he'd perhaps lost the call.

"I'm here John." Miranda snapped.

"She's just being a teenager, you know. I'm sure whatever it is will pass." He semi-caringly tried to comfort her.

"Thank you, John, for that. I feel so relieved." Miranda had to work very hard to make her statement sound sarcastic and not sentimental.

"You haven't changed." John laughed again, only this time it was more relaxed.

"Neither have you. Goodbye John. Take care of my little girl." Miranda nearly choked on her sentence, but managed to get it to come out rather smoothly.

"Goodbye, Miranda." John hung up, and Miranda lingered for a moment before turning to hang up her phone only to find Irv standing in front of her. Page Six in hand.

TBC...thanks for the reviews guys! More por favor. And I should be updating this more regularly because this story is finished...so we have six more chapters to go. Stay with me!