"You need to call the office," Andrea looked up from her phone and smiled at her wife, "Or Emily is going to murder Nigel, either that or he's going to give himself a heart attack."

"What on earth are you talking about?" Miranda twisted where she was laid with her head on Andrea's lap so she could look at the woman, "He knows I'm not due back until Monday."

"You need to remember who you are my love," Andrea chuckled and brushed her wife's hair from her face, "The Miranda Nigel is used to would have been at the office straight from the airport, or at least would have been sending emails, making phone calls, the minute she had her phone back."

"I'm tired of being that Miranda," the older woman sighed, "I find myself caring less and less about what is going on at Runway and I blame that entirely on you." Miranda reached up and stroked her fingers over Andrea's cheek, "Tell Emily to let Nigel know that he will not see or hear from me until Monday morning when I expect to see him in the office with the final mock up ready to be signed off for print at 9:00 and then tell her that if he continues to be hysterical to slap him!"

"Message received and understood," Andrea confirmed a few moments later, tossing her phone over onto the arm chair, "You're really very serious about this retirement thing aren't you."

"When have I ever said something I'm not serious about darling," Miranda turned again so that her face was pressed into Andrea's stomach which she nuzzled lightly, "You've taught me a lot about myself and about what I want Mrs Sachs-Priestly."

"And what is it that you want right now," Andrea gasped as Miranda's hand slipped under her shirt making it known exactly what she wanted, "The girls are just upstairs, they'll be down for lunch soon."

"That doesn't stop me having some fun while we wait," Miranda smirked, her hand slipping further, "Now come down here and kiss me."

"I don't believe she said that for a second," Nigel said sceptically, eying Emily where she stood in the doorway of the office, her phone still in her hand,

"Look," she said, stalking across the room and handing him her phone so he could read the text for himself, "I know I've called Andy stupid in the past but even she isn't stupid enough to lie about something like that. I'm telling you, Miranda is actually taking her whole holiday this time."

When he was alone again, Nigel turned away from his, Miranda's desk, to look out of the floor to ceiling windows. He still couldn't wrap his head around the fact that Miranda hadn't been in touch. They had been friends since they had both started at Runway and at the bottom of the ladder and even then Miranda's world had revolved around the magazine. That had only intensified when she had become editor and he had never imagined it would change. She'd sent emails throughout the whole of her first honeymoon, been back in the office a week after the twins were born, holding meetings with one or both of them in her arms until they were old enough to be left with the nanny and she hadn't even had a honeymoon after her second marriage, claiming that there was far too much going on at the magazine for her to take any time off. He'd watched her change with six, he couldn't deny that, even when Andrea was only her assistant Miranda was different with her, the very fact that she had hired the brunette in the first place was a change, the way she pushed her to do her very best and gave her chances she wouldn't have given any other assistant was different and then Andrea had left in Paris and things had changed even more. He didn't know what Andrea had said to her during that final car ride after the luncheon but Miranda had begun to demand changes before they had even taken off on their way back to the states, but the changes made her happy, at least on the surface and when Andrea reappeared, well, then she had really been happy.

He never thought he would live to see the day that Miranda Priestly actually took a step back and started living for herself. Everything she had done from the day she had decided to leave her family behind and follow her dreams everything she had done was to get her where she was, she had worked hard, made sacrifices and broken her heart to become the head of the magazine and the fashion industry and he never thought she would give that up, he had always been sure that they would have to prize Runway from her cold, dead fingers, but maybe he'd been wrong. The more he thought about it, the more he knew that things had changed drastically in the last few years. Miranda had cut her days right down, no more would she be found still at her desk at 9pm unless there was a really major issue to deal with and she was never seen at the office before 8:30 in the mornings, weekends had become total work free zones, something which the rest of the staff were wholly grateful for and any work trips that could not be organised so they fit in with Andrea's and the girls schedule, except of course for fashion week, were passed on to either himself or Emily. There had been change on the wind for a while but he had been too blind to see it but he got the feeling that there was going to be more change in the coming weeks.

"Do you think Cassidy has been quiet today?" Miranda asked, standing side by side with her wife as they took their make up off in the mirror. They'd spent that day at the townhouse with movies and reading and helping the girls with their homework and it had been another thing that made Miranda wish that this holiday would never end.

"I don't know," Andrea stopped what she was doing to regard the other woman, "Why, do you think there is something wrong?"

"Maybe, I don't know." Miranda puffed out an exasperated breath, "I think since everything that happened with Mark I worry, worry that she isn't as ok as she leads us to believe, worried that she could be hiding something else from us. I know she still sees the therapist and that's good but I hate not knowing what is going on with her."

"She's a teenager Miranda, you're never going to know what is going on in hers or Caroline's head, its just one of those things, I do think Cass would talk to you though, if things weren't ok."

"Except last time she didn't," Miranda looked crestfallen and Andrea looped her arm around her shoulder, pulling her into her side and pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "I didn't know what was going on until it was too late."

"Hey," Andrea said gently, turning the older woman to face her and cupping her cheek, "I thought we'd gone through this." It had been a common conversation of their early relationship, Miranda blaming herself for what had happened with Cassidy and Marc no matter what Andrea said to persuade her otherwise but she had thought that maybe they had gotten somewhere with that, or at least Miranda had dealt with it in therapy.

"Sorry, I just worry. "

"I get that, honestly I do, I worry too, about both of them. But we have to trust them to talk to us when there's something going on because otherwise we'll smother them and they'll move as far across the country as they can for college just to get away from their interfering parents."

"Have I told you yet today that I love you?" Miranda relaxed forwards into Andrea's body and allowed herself to be wrapped tightly in strong arms.

"Maybe once or twice but you know I never get bored of hearing it," Andrea smiled against Miranda's forehead and pressed a kiss to the cool skin, "And for the record, the feeling is mutual."