So this was supposed to be a drabble, I started it when I was having a particularly bad day and needed to purge some feelings so I could get some sleep but it kind of took on a mind of its own. It was supposed to be straight up angst but for some reason I can't quite manage to ever keep it that way. Maybe one day I'll manage to make them both miserable and then leave them that way!
"This isn't working is it?" Andrea sighed, reclined against the pillows on her hotel bed, her phone wedged between her ear and her shoulder. She'd been in Boston for a month, had just been told her contract had been extended for at least another. She and Miranda had just finished what felt like their 100th argument since she'd arrived. She was tired and she knew Miranda was too; they couldn't keep up like this.
"I. No." Miranda's sigh echoed her own and she wished that she could at least see the older woman's face. But, if they were able to see each other maybe they wouldn't even be having this conversation. "I wish so much that it was Andrea but I can't keep doing this."
"I know, me either." It was no surprise really, that things weren't working particularly well. The contract for Boston had come at just the wrong time, but it was an opportunity that Andrea couldn't pass up, one that Miranda wouldn't let her. They had been tentatively working through their feelings for less than six months. After the mess of Paris it had taken them a long time to come back to each other and it had taken a happy accident to bring them back into each others orbit. What had started as a surprisingly good friendship had slowly been turning into something more. Andrea was convinced that given the time they could have been perfect together.
"So what happens now?" Miranda sounded so resigned that Andrea wished she could reach through the phone and pull her into an embrace. One of the most wonderful, and surprising, things she had discovered about Miranda during their relationship was her infinite sensitivity. "Because I refuse to lose you from my life again Andrea."
"And you wont, I told you that I could never walk away from you again and this doesn't change that." she said gently, "You aren't getting rid of me Priestly so don't even try."
She wouldn't deny that after they hung up that night she had cried. Neither would she deny that she loved Miranda Priestly, she doubted that she would ever truly move on from her. She found comfort in the fact that she was able to keep the woman and her children in her life, even if it wasn't in the way that she had been growing used to. They had both gone to great lengths to reassure the other that they wouldn't let this effect their friendship and Andrea knew that no matter how hard that turned out to be, she would keep her word.
It was another six months before Andrea set foot back in New York besides a whistle stop weekend to pack her apartment into storage. Miranda and the girls had come to visit a few times and it was astounding how easily the two women had slipped back into their easy friendship. She was pleased that this return trip was permanent, Boston had been an experience but it wasn't New York.
She hadn't told the twins or Miranda the exact date of her return, wanting to surprise them. That meant she was more than surprised to find the older woman waiting for her at the gate when she arrived at JFK. The other woman was lent casually against a pillar, sunglasses still in place, casual beige mac hugging her figure. A small smile caused an upward tilt of her lips and Andrea lip read the 'that's all' spoken into her phone as she made her way to her.
"Miranda how are you here?" she asked when she was close enough, "I didn't even tell you what day I was landing."
"Really, haven't you learnt by now Andrea, I'm Miranda Priestly." the editor said with a smirk which spread into a smile when Andrea chuckled.
"Oh how remiss of me to forget." The chuckle continued as she leant in to press a kiss of greeting to the older woman's cheek. "However that only answers the 'how' not the 'why'"
"I simply know how unpleasant it is to arrive home and not have a friendly face waiting for you." Miranda shrugged, linking her arm with Andrea's and tugging her towards baggage claim. "Come, lets get your bags and get back to the townhouse, there's a guest room set up for you."
"The townhouse? Miranda no I couldn't impose."
"Nonsense, where else would you stay?"
"I have a room at a hotel until I can find a place to rent." Andrea pulled the other woman to a halt and turned her to face her, "Miranda you don't have to do this."
"Andrea please." Miranda said quietly, slipping her sunglasses onto her head so she could look the brunette in the eye. "Let me do this. You don't know how long it will take you to find somewhere of your own and we have the room. More than anything else, the girls have missed you. It will be nice for them to see you before you find a job and are busy again."
"Just the girls Miranda?" Andrea nudged with a smirk, resuming their walk.
"Oh don't be so smug Andrea," Miranda drawled. "I'm a very busy woman, I don't have time to miss anyone."
"Andy!" the brunette was enveloped in twin hugs the minute the girls saw her when they returned home from school. She pulled them both close and kissed the top of each of their heads, she had missed them as much as she had missed their mother.
"Mom, why didn't you tell us Andy was coming home?"
"Because your mom didn't know either. Or she wasn't supposed to." Andrea smiled at the woman in question over the girl's heads. "She still hasn't told me how she came to be standing at my gate when I arrived at JFK this morning."
"Oh I think I did explain." Miranda smirked in return before their attention was once again consumed by the twins chatter. She would find out how Miranda had come to know exactly when she was going to be back if it was the last thing she did.
"So does this mean you and mom are getting back together?" Cassidy asked quietly so her mom couldn't overhear. The twins had been surprising supporters of hers and Miranda's relationship. Telling Andrea that they had never seen their mother so happy as she was around the brunette. It came then as no surprise that they were disappointed when they had sat them down the weekend she cleared out the apartment and told them what was going on. It had taken many assurances from both women to get them to believe that Andrea would still be a part of their lives.
"It's not that simple honey." She said gently, reaching out to brush the hair from the girls face.
"You stopped seeing each other because of the distance, you moved back to New York today. I don't see how it could be much simpler." Andrea chuckled, looping her arm around Cassidy's shoulder and pulling her closer on the bench seat.
"Look Cass, I love you guys and your mom so much, you know that and nothing is ever going to change that, you hear? You're not getting rid of me regardless of what goes on between me and your mom. But sweety, sometimes people are just better off being friends."
"I don't believe that about you and mom though." Cassidy sighed and Andrea sighed along with her, pressing a kiss to the top of the girls head. She didn't know what to say so she stayed quiet, brushing her fingers through red hair and trying to persuade herself that what she was saying was true. That she and Miranda were better off being friends.
Once the twins took themselves to their room after dinner Miranda and Andrea retired to the study. Andrea curled up on the sofa with her laptop, not really planning on doing much, while Miranda took the desk, The Book and several layouts spread out in front of her.
"I still can't believe you missed a whole day at work to come and pick me up from the airport." She said quietly, getting comfortable and pulling the throw down from the back of the sofa.
"Some things are more important." Miranda said though she didn't look up and Andrea allowed the silence to fall over them again. She allowed her eyes to wander around the room, taking in all the things that hadn't changed since she had left, the things she had expected to change. Reminders of her time in that room were scattered everywhere. The throw was hers, a stack of her books and old research was stacked haphazardly on the coffee table and she could still see several pictures that she was a part of. She wasn't sure exactly what she had expected, especially when they had agreed that they would stay friends. But this study was Miranda's private sanctuary, a place where she could go to get away from everything, to focus. Andrea had been surprised that she had been allowed to make herself comfortable there and had been sure that if anywhere, her presence would have been wiped out of that room.
The sound of Miranda's pen scratching across the page and the rustle of turning pages must have lulled her to sleep because the next thing she was aware of was cool fingers on her cheek, the room darker than it had been. She opened her eyes to find Miranda crouched in front of her, her blue eyes shining in the light from the lamp.
"Hi." she said, stretching out along the length of the sofa, satisfied as her spine popped with the movement. "Sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep."
"Don't be." Miranda said and Andrea watched a slight sadness ghost across her eyes. "Why don't you go up to bed? I still have a few hours ahead of me and you obviously need the rest." With a sigh Andrea agreed, her last few days in Boston had been long and travel, no matter how short the flight, always took it out of her. Pushing herself upright she scrubbed at her face, watching Miranda straighten elegantly from her crouch.
"Don't stay up too late. I'd hate to be responsible for half of your staff getting fired tomorrow." She took the hand that Miranda offered and allowed herself to be pulled to her feet, gasping slightly when Miranda pulled her into a tight embrace. They had avoided that level of physical contact since they had decided to just be friends and although Andrea had missed it she had understood. Obviously though, Miranda had changed her mind. Against her better judgement she allowed herself to relax into the embrace, her arms looping around the older woman and her head falling into the crook of her neck.
"You get less funny the more tired you are you know." Miranda chuckled, her cheek pressed to the top of her head.
"No I don't, you just get less receptive when you're tired."
"Quite." she felt a kiss pressed to the top of her head, "Go and get some sleep Andrea."
"I don't even know which room is mine," she murmured, forcing herself to pull away from the embrace and forcing a smile.
"2nd floor guestroom." Miranda leaned in and pressed a chaste kiss to her cheek, "Goodnight Andrea."
"Night Miranda. Don't stay up too late."
Despite how easy it had been to fall asleep on the sofa in the study Andrea found herself tossing and turning in the guest bedroom across the hall from Miranda's room. Her mind kept running over their interactions from that day, the shadow that she had been able to see in usually clear blue eyes when she had caught the other woman watching her. She felt at home in the townhouse, she knew it was dangerous but being surrounded by Miranda was sp much like home to her that she couldn't fight it. She wished it was as easy as Cassidy seemed to think, that simply the fact that she was back in New York was enough to make their relationship work. She knew that Miranda had ruined her for anyone else, that no matter what happened there would never be space in her heart for another person, it was full with Miranda and the girls.
Even asleep she felt restless, startling awake every time there was the slightest noise in the townhouse. At one point she rolled over and was convinced she caught sight of Miranda watching her from the door but sleep had reclaimed her almost immediately so all she was left with the next morning was a hazy memory.
She forced herself up and out of bed when she heard Miranda's shower running. It was only a little past 5:30 but while she was there she would make sure that Miranda went to work having had a proper breakfast. Something which the older woman was happy to miss if she thought no one was keeping an eye on her.
She was just turning the spinach omelette onto a plate when Miranda appeared in the kitchen looking as immaculate as ever.
"What's all this?" she asked, clearly surprised to find anybody up so early.
"I heard you up and came down to make you breakfast. I knew you would try and sneak away without otherwise." Andrea pushed the plate across the counter with one hand, cradling her coffee in the other and was pleased when Miranda settled into a stool and began to eat. "Tell me what you have planned today?"
"It's actually quite an empty day." Miranda said, taking a mouthful of her own coffee. "There is a board meeting this afternoon. What about you, what are your plans for the day?"
"I thought I would have a look at some apartments and I have a few freelance articles to get finished." Andrea shrugged.
"You know you don't have to rush to find a new place, there is a room for you here for as long as you need it." Miranda said, not looking up from the depths of her coffee mug. That was something that had happened a lot since her arrival the previous day. Miranda had never had problems meeting her eyes before but now she seemed to avoid it as much as she could and for Andrea that was another painful reminder of what had changed between them.
"I know, but I don't want to out stay my welcome." She tried to keep her voice light but the sudden thought of leaving the townhouse and how that would change her relationship with all three of its inhabitants made her voice heavy.
"Roy is here." Miranda said, flicking her eyes over her phone and finishing the last of her coffee. "I have a dinner this evening, hopefully it wont run too late but Cara can stay until I get back if you're too busy to watch the girls."
"No Miranda of course I'll watch them." Andrea was surprised and slightly hurt that Miranda would suggest that she wouldn't want to look after the girls. "Enjoy your day."
She kept herself busy for most of the day by slipping into what had become her routine on the days when she stayed over at the townhouse. She focused on getting the girls ready for school before going out for her morning run, adding on a few extra miles to try and clear any lingering sleep. Commandeering the kitchen table she spread out her notes, laptop and printer, only looking up when she heard the front door open and heels on the hardwood floor. Assuming it was just one of Miranda's assistants dropping something off she didn't pay it much attention, only looking up when the heels entered the kitchen behind her. She was surprised to find Miranda stood in the doorway looking furious.
"Miranda?" she asked tentatively, never sure of who or what Miranda's ire was being directed at at any given time. "You're home early." It was scarcely four, she was more than early, especially considering she had told Andrea that she was going to be late.
"If I had stayed I might have been inclined to dangle Irv from the roof by his toes." Well that explained that, Andrea relaxed slightly and patted the bench beside her, waiting until the older woman was seated to speak.
"Do I even want to ask?"
"Just the usual." Miranda rubbed her hands over her face and the tension leaked out of her as she relaxed. "There wasn't much to occupy me at the office, I was just pacing angrily there, so I thought I would come home."
"What time is your dinner?"
"Seven, I thought I might have a bath, take my time to get ready."
"Sounds like just what you need, don't let me stop you." Miranda sat quietly for a few moments before pushing herself up.
"Andrea," she said, stopping in the doorway but not looking round, "Thank you for being here."
The evening had been a bit of a blur once the twins got home and started demanding her attention, obviously taking advantage of having her around again. Miranda had stuck her head round the door to say goodbye at about 6:30 but Andrea had been swept back up into answering questions and checking homework to really take in what the older woman was wearing.
It was ten before she got everything done, the twins off to bed and the entertainment room and kitchen cleared up. She was just stacking her work on the kitchen table when she heard the door open, surprised when voices carried down the hall. She hadn't asked what Miranda's dinner was about but she certainly hadn't expected the other woman to be bringing someone home, not that it was any of her business she supposed, what Miranda did and who she did it with was none of her business and she would do well to remember that. The thought didn't stop the laugh that followed lancing through her like a bullet. It was the genuine laugh that she once thrilled in drawing from the older woman, a sound that very few people heard and she had given up the right to claim it as her own.
She sped up her tidying after that. Wanting to be shut away behind the closed door of her guest room before she saw or heard anything else to remind her of what she had given up. The following day she would find an apartment and she would move on, she was sure her sanity depended on it.
She didn't know how much later it was that she heard the tell tale creek of the top step that told her Miranda was headed to bed. She hadn't slept, she had been staring up at the ceiling and was ashamed to say that she had allowed herself to cry. She hadn't anticipated exactly how painful the knowledge that Miranda was maybe dating again could be. Even after they had decided to call it quits while she was in Boston they had spoken in some form every day and Miranda had visited with the twins as much as she could. They seemed to be managing to revert back to the friendship they had share before things escalated and once upon a time that would have included talking about dates. Andrea hadn't even considered how she would feel when Miranda started dating again but at least now she knew.
She held herself still when she heard the door opening, evening out her breathing so she appeared to be asleep. She expected Miranda to do nothing more than stick her head around the door and then head to her own bedroom but there was a long pause and a deep sigh before Andrea heard Miranda's feet padding across the carpet towards the bed. She tried hard not to move, not to react, to keep her breathing slow and even when she felt the bed dip beside her as the other woman sat down. She was overly aware of the dried tears on her cheeks, of how close the older woman was and of how much she could see in the low light. She didn't startle when cool fingers grazed across her cheek, almost expecting it now that the other woman had allowed herself to get so close. She shifted slightly the finger tips becoming a palm cupping her cheek, warm and smooth. She felt the woman shift and then lips pressed to her forehead.
"I wish so much that it wasn't the case but none of them will ever be you." Andrea's heart pounded painfully in her chest and she barely managed to swallow back a sob at the pain in the other woman's voice. There was some relief in the knowledge that she wasn't the only one struggling with all of this. The older woman lingered for a few moments longer before getting to her feet and retreating from the room, closing the door quietly behind her. Andrea managed to hold in her tears until the door closed but as soon as she heard it click shut her ragged sob echoed off the walls. If Miranda heard her, she didn't come back and Andrea found herself pleased by that.
Neither of them looked like they had gotten much sleep the next morning at breakfast. It was a much more leisurely affair than the previous morning, Saturday meaning that no one had to rush off to work or school. When she finally pushed herself out of bed at 8:30 and stumbled blearily into the kitchen Andrea found Miranda, still in her robe, mixing up pancake batter for a family breakfast.
"Coffee's fresh." She said, obviously taking one look at Andrea and deciding she needed it, "And I hear the twins up so breakfast wont be too long." Andrea nodded silently, poured herself a coffee and taking a seat at the breakfast bar. Allowing herself a few mouthfuls before she could bring herself to talk.
"How was your dinner?" she didn't really want to know, having already surmised that it was a date and not a business dinner, but she knew that it was polite to ask and hoped the girls would interrupt them before the conversation became too awkward.
"It was adequate." Again Miranda did not look up from her task, "It answered some questions I had." Andrea was saved by commenting further by the sound of thundering feet and the girls who appeared with eager hugs and smiles. As usual the meal revolved around the girls who kept up seamless conversation, one taking a mouthful of pancake while the other talked and on and on so that there was never more than a brief moments silence.
"Do you have work today mom?" Cassidy asked when the pancakes were gone and the adults were left cradling their coffee,
"No Bobbsey, we just sent the August edition to print so everything is quiet for the weekend until we shift our focus to the September issue on Monday."
"What about you Andy?" The girl turned to her with a smile, "Do you have any plans or can we all have a day together?" Andrea tried not to squirm under the focused scrutiny of all three Priestly woman, it was something she never got used to no matter how much time they all spent together.
"I had planned on looking for an apartment so I can get out of your hair." She said quietly, staring into the bottom of her mug.
"You don't need an apartment you have a room here." Caroline huffed dramatically, "Mom tell her!"
"Caroline, if Andrea wishes to find and move into her own apartment we cannot stop her. All I can do is repeat that she is welcome here for as long as she needs." Miranda got to her feet, again refusing to look at Andrea, "Now I am going to go and get dressed, you two decide what you want to do with your day and I wont be long."
"Grown ups suck!" Caroline huffed , though she was sensible enough to wait until her mother was out of ear shot, leaving Andrea as the sole focus of her ire.
"Caroline."
"Nu uh. No! You don't get to do that, not when you are going to walk away from us."
"Caro sweety," Andrea said gently, kneeling down in front of the girl and pushing the hair from her face so she could meet her eye. "We talked about this. Just because me and your mom aren't seeing each other anymore doesn't mean I'm going to just disappear. I'm not that easy to get rid of. But I can't stay here forever, this isn't my home."
"But it could be." Cassidy murmured and Andrea looked up at the girl, where Caroline's eyes were angry, Cassidy's were just sad.
"It couldn't Cass. Me and your mom, we just didn't work."
"Except it did until you left!" it was Caroline again and her eyes flashed the way Miranda's did when she was angry, Caroline hadn't learnt yet that quiet anger worked better than shouting but when she did she would be as terrifying as her mother. "And then mom went all weird again, like she did after Paris."
"I'm sorry Caro, Cass, honestly." Andrea rubbed her hand over her eyes and pushed herself to her feet. "It's for the best , we all just need to get used to the change."
"Take a look at Page6." Caroline ground out as Andrea left the room. "Then tell me this is all for the best."
Andrea made her way slowly to her guest bedroom, closing the door tightly behind her and dropping onto the edge of the bed, her head in her hands. This was much harder than she had anticipated especially in light of the twins obvious ill feelings about the situation. Caroline's words echoed in her head and she pulled her laptop towards her opening up Page6 and a few of the other gossip blogs. It wasn't unusual to find Miranda front and centre on Page6. As the older woman had said all those years ago in Paris, Rupert Murdoch really should write her a cheque for all of the papers she sold for him. The image they had decided to run of the previous night made Andrea feel sick in a way she knew it had no right to. Her eyes immediately focused of all the points where Miranda touched the other woman who was tall, blonde and thin, a model judging by the way she held herself and she was young, younger than Andrea. This girl was not Miranda's type. Unfortunately the picture, and the smaller ones around it, told a completely different story. She felt the tears rise unbidden in her eyes and did nothing to stop them falling as she looked at the other sites she had open. The pictures weren't that different just the facial expressions they showed, Miranda smiling, Miranda with her head tipped back in a laugh, a shot of them from behind a possessive hand pushed into the small of Miranda's back and she knew what happened next, an invitation back to the townhouse for a nightcap away from prying eyes. The tears continued to fall as she tormented herself with every picture, every scrap of text that she could find, until she was crying so hard that she couldn't see, could barely breathe.
Dropping her laptop to the floor she curled sideways on the bed, hugging herself tightly as she tried to get her breathing under control, something that was harder to do than she liked. She startled when a gentle hand rolled her onto her back, her hands flying up to cover her face, to mask her tears when Miranda's face swam blearily into view.
"Andrea." She said gently and Andrea sobbed harshly. Feeling herself being pulled into strong arms she couldn't find the strength to resist the embrace and curled as tightly into it as she could. "Oh sweetheart."
"I thought I could do this Miranda." She breathed out, "But I can't, it hurts too much."
"I know darling, I know." Miranda spoke quietly but she could hear the tell tale signs that the older woman was crying too.
"I need to find an apartment, I can't do this, living here with you, hearing you bring your dates home. It hurts too much."
"Andrea that wasn't a date." She took the girls face in her hands and tried to meet her eyes but Andrea resisted,
"That's not what it looked like, what it sounded like." She tried angry but it came off pathetic to her own ears, "I've certainly never seen you touching a business associate like that." Miranda's eye skittered away from her face when Andrea tried to meet them and she knew that she had caught the lie. "Don't lie to me Miranda, it's not going to make this any easier. You should go, the girls will be waiting for you."
"They can wait, this is important." Miranda said quietly. "It was a date but it was awful Andrea, it was such a stupid idea. You seemed so happy with the way things were, I needed to try and move on."
"If moving on is what you want Miranda you have to let me do it too and that means moving out of the townhouse." Andrea pushed herself away from the older woman, putting some space between them, needing it to get herself under control. Miranda frowned, rubbed her hand over her eyes with a sigh.
"This isn't coming out right." She muttered, fixing clear blue eyes on Andrea, "We need to sit and have a proper conversation about this when there's no chance we will be interrupted. Come out with us today, for the girls? We can talk tonight when they go to their sleepover."
"ok." Andrea nodded, knowing that if she stayed she would simply spend most of the day crying, "Let me have a shower and get dressed, I'll try and be quick."
She was pleased, in the end, that she had allowed herself the day with Miranda and the girls. Caroline managed to let go of her anger and although Cassidy's eyes held a hint of the sadness she had shown Andrea at breakfast she still managed to smile and enjoy herself. Even Miranda was smiling and the managed to keep all of the tension between them at bay, at least until the twins left for their friends house the silence fell heavily between them. Miranda reverted back to being unsure of herself, something Andrea never imagined was possible before their friendship began, and Andrea went back to wanting to be angry but instead feeling hopelessly sad. She had taken a seat at the kitchen table while Miranda fussed around in the kitchen, no doubt trying to muster up the courage or the words to start the conversation they really needed to have.
"Who was she?" she asked finally, managing some of the anger that she felt she needed to hold onto, watching Miranda who paused in what she was doing and sighed.
"She's a model for Karl, we met at a preview a few weeks ago."
"I didn't think you were interested in models Miranda. Too much self interest, not enough depth. Your tastes had changed in the last six months."
"I'm not. They haven't." Miranda pressed her hands into the counter top and looked at Andrea imploringly, "You don't need to torture me Andrea, I have no problem admitting that it was a monumental mistake. That I went to dinner with her because I mistakenly thought that that was what you wanted."
"You thought I wanted you to go parading around town with some model. Really Miranda?!" Angry in earnest she pushed to her feet and stalked towards the breakfast bar. "How could you possibly think that that was what I wanted?"
"Stop!" Miranda held up her hand and took a steadying breath before meeting Andrea's eyes with steely determination. "We talked about this this morning, the whole point of this talk was that we talk about what we really wanted. Can we do that, can you tell me what it is that you really want?"
1 Year Later
Andrea packed the last book into the box and sat back on her feet surveying the room around her. The apartment was once again stripped of all personality, all of her belongings boxed up and awaiting the removal truck the following day. Hearing the front door open she looked up and smiled when Miranda came into view, still in her Runway clothes, bag balanced in the crook of her arm along with a Smith and Wolensky take out bag, a bottle of champagne dangling from her fingers. She was a vision, one Andrea had been waiting to see all week.
"My aren't you a sight for sore eyes," she sighed, dropping her bags just inside the door and stepping straight out of her shoes, moving towards the brunette who pushed to her feet and met her in the middle.
"Look who's talking." Andrea muttered, snagging the older woman's hand and pulling her into an embrace, "I thought this week would never end."
"Mmmm, but I'm here now." Miranda buried her face in her neck and simply breathed for a few moments before straightening out. "Just let me change and we can eat, then I'll help you with your packing."
"I left some clothes out and there is a suit bag there for what you are wearing." Andrea said, pressing a kiss to her cheek and giving her a final squeeze before letting go. She watched her across the room and to the bedroom before collecting the food and heading to the kitchen.
When they had finally managed to get to the root of what they really wanted and agreed that they both wanted to give it a try Andrea had still insisted on getting her own apartment. She strongly believed that where Boston had been too much distance too soon, her staying at the townhouse would be too little space too soon and she wanted to give what was between them a fighting chance. While the year hadn't been without its ups and downs they had made it work and they had decided that it was time that they moved in together. The following day a removal van would pick Andrea's belongings up and take them to the newly renovated townhouse where they would start the next chapter of their lives together.
"Really Andrea?" Miranda appeared in the doorway with a raised eyebrow and Andrea laughed. She'd failed to mention that the clothes she had left out for the other woman were her most well worn ripped jeans and a thread bare North Western t-shirt. Unsurprisingly Miranda still managed to look beautiful.
"Come here," Andrea held out her hand and pulled her onto her lap. The other chair at the dining table was filled with boxes and she hadn't wanted to move them, preferring to keep the other woman close after their week apart.
"You look gorgeous." She said pressing a kiss to the back of Miranda's neck finally feeling she could relax now that Miranda was back, knowing that tomorrow they would finally be home, together, "Now tell me about the shoot and don't spare any details."