Disclaimer: I own nothing, except the plotline. I am not making any money from this.
Medical disclaimer: I am trying to stay as close to reality as I can but I am not perfect and some medical facts may be inaccurate and or have been altered to fit the needs of the story.

"I will destroy you in the most beautiful way possible and when I leave you will understand why storms are named after people."- Anonymous

The door swung open and in came Henry, a furious set to his mouth. Andy waited for him and his lawyer to sit down.

"Henry." She said in greeting. This was not going to be pleasant. Andy could already tell.

"Andy." He replied tersely. "What is this about?"

Andy turned to Kate and said, "Can you leave us for a bit? I need to speak to Henry in private."

Henry frowned at her, bewildered.

"It's important Henry." She murmured. "Please."

He sighed a nodded 'yes.'

She nodded to Henry's lawyer. Both lawyers left the room, despite being obviously apprehensive.

"So." Henry said, "There has been a 'new development'? Is that it?"

"Yes. Don't worry, our daughter is fine." Andy paused, "But, I have a favour to ask from you. For which I am willing to compromise on certain points in the divorce agreement."

"A favour?" Henry barked a laugh. "You, willing to compromise? Oh that's just rich."

"Henry—"

"No, no really you have to admit this is just hilarious." He growled sourly.

Andy glared at him and rolled her eyes.

"What could be so dire that you would be willing to give in like this?" He asked incredulous. "I know you Andy. You never give in, not even an even an inch."

"I need you to do me a favour, and I can't tell you why. But I will allow you to have visitation rights if you agree to go to rehab. And, I will return half of your previous assets in Goldman-Sachs and co."

Henry's jaw had dropped in amazement. Andy watched him try to compose himself and she smirked bitterly. She could almost hear the cogs turning in Henry's mind, trying to figure out why she would be willing to concede so much.

"What exactly do you need me to do?" Henry asked, still slightly shocked. "Reverse the rotation of the earth?"

"Oh for God's sake Henry. Stop being such a drama queen."

"What then?" he asked growing irritated again. "What do you need me to do so desperately?"

"I need you to ruin someone's life." Andy murmured coldly.

"What?" Henry's eyes widened.

"I want you to use your connections to find out anything that could help bring down a certain person and then use it to do exactly that."

"Andy I—" he paused considering her words. "Who?"

"Stephen Clarke."

"Miranda Priestly's husband? Andy are you insane?" Henry gasped.

"Not that I'm aware." Andy huffed annoyed.

"That man is…he's not someone you want to get involved with. He may be a media tycoon on the surface but he's a lot of other things on the side." Henry seemed daunted by the prospect of doing what Andy had asked.

"That's exactly the kind of thing I need to find out about." Andy replied unfazed. She didn't know much about Miranda's husband, but she had heard a few things. Things that would make anyone question where his money really came from. "I need you, to ruin him. And I need you to do it within a month."

"A month? Can you even hear yourself? That's insane." He asked her incredulously. "Andy please, do yourself a favour and stay away from that guy alright?"

"No Henry. It's not 'alright'." Andy snarled. "This is important. Do you think I would ever let you anywhere near my company or our daughter if it wasn't extremely important to me?"

Henry glared her and then turned away, grinding his teeth together.

"But why Andy?" he bit out, "What possible reason could you have for hating him so much? Is it because of his wife? Miranda Priestly? Has she done something?"

"Were you not listening? I said, 'I can't tell you why.' " Andy snapped at him.

Henry assessed Andy's irritation and how sincerely she meant what she was saying. Henry seemed to be wavering. It was obvious that he couldn't decide whether or not he should agree to do this or not. Watching him dither was almost painfully frustrating to Andy.

"Andy I can't decide to do something like this on the spot—" he tried.

Andy stood up slowly and came around the table to face Henry directly.

"I'll make this very simple for you Henry. Do as I ask or you will never see your daughter or have anything to do with the company again. Am I making myself clear enough?"

"Completely." Henry gulped.

"I will let you discuss this with your lawyer, if you want to." Andy sighed. "Call me in an hour with your answer."

She headed for the door, and saw Kate straighten in her chair as Andy walked out.

Her lawyer quickly stood up and followed her when she saw that she was heading for the elevator doors.

Once the elevator arrived and they'd stepped in Kate asked, "So. Are you going to tell me what all this was about?"

"I don't think so. Not yet anyway." Andy murmured frostily. She had to think and Kate was getting in the way of that. She needed Henry to say yes. If he didn't, she'd have to do this on her own and that would take much more time. Time, Miranda did not have.

She texted her driver to pull up to the curb.

She had to make him do it, even if she had to resort to black mail, she resolved. The doors dinged open on the ground floor.

She saw the car pull up and hoped inside, not bothering to say goodbye to Kate. She was too distracted as it was.

"Drive. Just around. For an hour please." She needed space to think and breathe. Neutral ground. A car ride could do that.

Forty five minutes or so after Andy had left the conference room, she felt her phone vibrate in her purse. She took a shaky breathe then pulled it out. Caller ID flashed the name, 'Henry' on the screen.

She tapped the screen to answer the call.

"Hello Henry." She said into the phone.

"I'll do it." He said without preamble. "But you had better come through on your end of the deal."

"I will if you will."

"It might take longer than a month." He said hesitantly.

"Do it in time and you'll even get weekends with our daughter… after rehab, of course." Andy said on impulse. She was definitely going to regret a few of her concessions. But if it meant saving Miranda from the hands of that horrible man, then so be it.

"I— Fine. I'll do my best."

"I want weekly reports on your progress Henry." She inflected her voice with a slight warning. She was not going to let him slack off or get away with doing this half-assed.

She could almost hear him roll his eyes. He sighed and said, "Yes, ma'am."

She ignored his smart-ass comment.

"Good. Talk to you in a week." She hung up without waiting for his reply. She put the phone back into her purse and leaned her head back against the car seat.

She placed a hand on her baby bump and sighed, releasing the breath she'd been holding. He would do it. It would work. She knew it would. It had too.

"Home, please." She said to the driver.

"Yes Miss Andy." He replied.

Andy sighed heavily. Miranda's appointment was in two hours or so. She had to set up the studio again. She hadn't touched the portrait since Miranda's last session.

Of course she'd still been painting other people from printed images and some she just imagined but it wasn't the same as having a live subject. Especially when that subject was Miranda.

She missed being able to pose her and see her blue-grey eyes light up in the light. She missed painting the shape of her lips and the color on her cheeks.

They still had so much to plan and decide on for the portrait before it would be finished. The lighting, the time of day and the clothes had yet to be decided as well as where Miranda wanted to be for the final portrait's background.

She looked out the window at the bustling New-York streets, watching people rush past each other, some speaking, others ignoring the other pedestrians, some eating. The streets were alive with the energy of the metropolis.

Seeing the world moving around her gave her hope for her own plans and moving towards where she wanted to be.

Andy was looking forward to telling her about her plan and Henry's part in it.

The car pulled up to the sidewalk and Andy stepped out felling drained. She couldn't stop thinking about Henry's phone call.

She pulled out her phone again to check for any text messages from work, and as she did so she walked up the few steps towards her building.

Then, she felt her foot lose its grip on the ground and her ankle twisted at the wrong angle. She went flying forward, her hands in front of her to stop her fall but there was more ice on the steps and her hands banged on it and skidded. Her forehead smacked against the edge of the concrete step and her vision became fuzzy.

She'd heard the phone's screen crack. She felt a sharp clenching and a tug in her abdomen and the pain of it took her breath away. She was suddenly aware of a warm liquid slid down from between her legs and she managed to lift her head enough to look down to see that it was blood.

'Oh God. No.'

She felt a wave of overwhelming panic just before she blacked out.

Andy woke up with a great, heaving, coughing gasp. Immediately she touched her baby bump and she was horrified to find that it wasn't gone, but it was smaller. There was an angry red line going horizontally on the base of her stomach and sutures holding it shut. Something was very wrong.

Her head ached viciously.

How long had she been knocked out for? Was her baby ok? Was her baby dead? All these questions raced in her mind. She looked around the room confused. It was stale, and white walls told her that she was in a hospital.

She hears a quiet gasp to her left and looks over too see Henry sitting in an uncomfortable looking armchair. He was watching her worriedly.

"Where is my daughter?" she managed in a rough whisper.

"You're awake." Henry murmured. He stood up and took Andy's hand. "She's fine. She's in the ISCC. The doctors are almost 100% sure she'll make it."

Andy began to cry silent tears. "She's ok?" she asked. Her throat was tight.

"Yes she's fine." Henry said with a smile. "She's perfect."

"When can I see her?" Andy asked. She felt like she couldn't breathe. Like there was a huge ball of emotions trapped inside of her and she desperately wanted to hold her baby in her arms.

Memories flashed in her mind and the first time she'd had a child came rushing back to her. She couldn't let what had happened to Ethan happen to her daughter.

"I can ask the nurses if they can bring the unit here so you can see her. She's beautiful Andy."

"I need to see her Henry. I need to see her, right now." Andy said in a strained voice. She had to reassure herself that her baby was alive. She had to see her.

"I'll go ask now." Henry stood up with a sigh.

He left the room for what felt like an eternity to Andy but must have only been about half an hour or so. He came back with a nurse pushing the prenatal unit into her room. Inside, was a tiny pink bundle. Andy began to cry again. She could tell they were monitoring her breathing and her temperature was being regulated. She was so tiny.

"My baby." She whispered. "My sweet baby. You're ok." She said through the tears. "Thank God. Oh thank God."

She couldn't see clearly through the happy and relieved tears. "How long was out for? How is her breathing? Has she been fed?"

"No need to worry Mrs. Sachs-Goldman. We've fed her formula up till now, seeing as you were still unconscious. She's breathing on her own like a big girl and her heart rate is where it needs to be." Said the nurse, still standing by the prenatal unit. Andy heard her words as though she were speaking from far away. All she could focus on was her baby in carrier.

"We'll have to keep her in observation for another few hours at least, and you need rest as well. We had to perform an emergency caesarian. You have a concussion and we gave you some pain medication for the head injury. You don't appear to have any serious damage so in a few days, if she is still as strong as she is now, you can take her home. We'll keep monitoring both of you until you get the all clear from the doctor."

"How much does she weigh?" Andy asked the nurse, not looking at her.

"5 pound 2 ounces." The nurse said cheerfully. "She's big for premee. 34 weeks old approximately and that heavy. She's very lucky."

Andy covered her mouth and let the tears flow. She was smiling. Her baby was alive. For now. She was alright. That was all that mattered.

"Have you chosen a name for her yet?" the nurse asked Henry. Henry shook his head and looked at Andy.

"We haven't had the chance to discuss it yet." He said, his voice apprehensive. He looked at Andy. She finally looked away from her daughter and looked at him.

She sighed and thought, 'Oh for fuck's sake.'

Five long days later Andy was finally walking through the doors of her apartment baby carrier in hand and Olivia and the one of the two new nannies, Beverly, trailing behind her with baby essentials.

Henry and she had argued over what to name the baby but had finally agreed on a compromise that Andy and Henry both enjoyed.

Her name was Eva.

Sweet little Eva Sophia Sachs-Goldman came home for the first time at 6 days old, 6 pounds 1 ounce, born premature by three weeks because of a placenta abruption caused by Andy's harsh fall on the steps.

Sophia was Henry's pick but Andy liked it and she thought it suited their daughter.

Olivia had explained everything to Miranda by phone and they had rescheduled the appointment for tomorrow morning. Andy couldn't bear to put off seeing her for any longer. Even though she was watching Eva like a hawk.

She'd had the crib moved to her room, and expected that between feeding the ravenous infant every three hours and being terrified of falling asleep in case something happened to her, Andy was not going to get much more rest than she had at the hospital.

She'd hired two nannies to make sure there was always someone with her, awake and vigilant should little Eva need the slightest thing. Tonight Beverly would stay with her, tomorrow it would be the other nanny, Camille.

Between feedings and using the pump to be able to catch a few hours of sleep at a time Andy was exhausted.

But first a foremost Andy was incandescently happy. She had her baby in her arms and no matter how terrified she was of repeating history, she felt relieved.

She set the carrier down and took little Eva out carefully before settling her in her new crib. Andy had already made sure that both the nannies had experience taking care of premature babies and had training in how to recognise the signs of Jaundice or any kind of infection settling in. Eva was still at risk for either of those possibilities.

Andy didn't dare contemplate loosing Eva as she'd lost Ethan to SIDS. But the nannies knew about it. And they understood Andy's extreme attitude towards protecting her newborn daughter.

Andy gazed down at her baby who was still sound asleep. For now. Andy knew that wouldn't last much longer.

While in the hospital, she'd had Olivia buy out neighbours living on the next level down in order to move her atelier out of the apartment. The paint wasn't good for the baby's lungs. It was the easiest, and to Andy's mind, the most sensible thing to do.

She realised it was little on the extravagant side but she could certainly afford it. She'd also taken time off from the gallery and the company for the next 6 months. She wanted to spend at least that much time with Eva. Maybe she'd take more.

She wasn't sure yet. It all depended.

Andy had had a few nightmares in the short hours of sleep she'd managed at the hospital. In them, she saw her daughter's tiny body lying cold and dead in her crib. Andy had woken up screaming. She'd scared the hell out of the nurses in the hospital a few times.

Henry had gone home after the second day, promising to visit again. And he had, once. Andy hadn't expected more from him.

She didn't want more.

Doug had visited twice and had gushed over Eva very sweetly. She'd been very glad to see a friendly face after her terrifying experience with the steps. Many other people she knew as acquaintances sent their congratulations and kind words.

Even though she appreciated all the well-wishers notes and the flowers she couldn't keep in her room sent to her in the hospital, she was glad to be home.

She watched Eva's mouth pucker and her tiny arms stretched up and down a little. She was going to wake up soon. Andy watched as her daughter's eyes blinked slowly open, their still deep blue irises taking in the world, watching, learning, observing.

Andy smiled and murmured, "Welcome home Eva."

-TBC-