The rest of Fashion Week had gone well, and Miranda felt confident that the next issue of Runway would be the one to catapult Erin Smith to the fame that she so richly deserved. Emily had eventually come around to her way of thinking, after reading the editorial that Miranda had included with the layout of the two collections, but Andrea had seemed more reticent to think that she had made the right decision in going forward with this plan. That hadn't stopped her from sharing Miranda's bed three more times since that night they'd first made love, though Miranda wasn't certain where, exactly, that part of their relationship was heading. She was comfortable with being in control at all times, yet there was something about Andrea that caused her to lose that tenuous grip on said control.

Shaking her head a little to rid the woolgathering that she was engaged in, Miranda stepped into the elevator, alone as usual, and rode up to her office, knowing that news of her arrival would be spreading through Runway like wildfire. There was a certain heady feeling that accompanied that knowledge of her power, and Miranda allowed a small smirk to curve across her lips as she thought about all her accomplishments over the years. By the time she was stepping off the elevator onto her floor, Miranda was quite certain that everyone out there who picked up that month's edition of Runway would see in Snowflake Designs exactly what she saw. It was only a matter of time with the public, as she had told Andrea that first night.

Humming to herself, it was a fight to keep her expression in her usual, neutral, mask, as she wanted to wear a self-satisfied smirk as she strode into her office. The usual suspects scurried away from her, tense smiles on their lips, and Miranda quirked an eyebrow upwards as she shook her head almost imperceptibly. Emily looked up from her computer as she tossed her coat and bag onto the desk of her second assistant, and she gave Emily a small smile before entering her office and taking a seat at her desk, picking up her usual Starbucks order and sipping at it as she called up her emails and began to read them.

She was pleased to see that the overwhelming reaction to her spread in Runway was positive, especially from her peers, though there weren't many who could stand as her equal. It was easy enough to return all the emails, since she was still on a publishing high and in a good mood as a result of her instincts being proven right, yet again. When that was all taken care of, Emily stepped into her office, a questioning look on her face. "Yes, Emily?"

"I was told that I needed to make a change to your calendar?"

Miranda cocked her head to one side as she gestured for Emily to sit. As she waited for Emily to continue, she watched the younger woman fumble for her phone, tapping at the screen. Finally, she became a bit exasperated with Emily and took a deep breath. "Well, what's this change that we need to make?"

A bright flush spread across Emily's face as she refused to look up at her from the screen of her phone. "Andrea wants to have lunch with you today, and she made it sound like she wasn't going to take no for an option. I've already updated your calendar, along with where you're supposed to meet her for lunch, but I wanted to confirm with you that this was all right? She made it sound like it would be, but that makes no sense, since she's only helping us discover more information about Erin Smith and Snowflake Designs."

There was no good way for Miranda to extricate herself from this conversation, and it was one that she never really wanted to have with anyone, since she wanted to keep her private life apart from her work life. That was definitely something she would have to discuss with her lover when they had lunch that afternoon, since she was not going to allow her to try and make things public in this manner. "We had spoken about having lunch today, yes, but I never got back with her about if it would fit in my schedule."

"All right, so you won't have my head on a platter for this. It still doesn't explain why she feels like she can just demand that you, of all people, do what she wants!" For the first time in years, Miranda could feel a blush start to rise in her cheeks, and she clocked the moment that Emily began to understand just what both she and Andrea were dancing around. "Oh. Oh! I can't see that I saw this coming, but I suppose that as long as you're happy, well, I can't say anything. And I won't say anything, since I know you value keeping your private life close to your chest. I'll let her know, though, that if she hurts you, well, she'll have to deal with me. So, you're heading out to lunch at noon, which is later than you normally like, I know, but Andrea said that was the only time she was able to get reservations. She doesn't have as much cachet as you do, yet."

"There is that," Miranda murmured as she called up her calendar to see where Andrea was taking her, her eyebrows quickly darting upwards to see that she had managed to get a reservation at Miranda's favorite restaurant, which was extremely difficult on the best of days. "Let my driver know about the change of plans, and have the car ready for me at twenty to."

"That's cutting it close."

"I have reached an age where I am allowed to be fashionably late, don't you think?"

Emily pressed her lips together as she fought to suppress a giggle, though she couldn't keep the smile from curving them upwards. "I suppose that that can be your prerogative, yes. I've scheduled you in for ninety minutes with her, since she sounded rather upset with what you did with the information that we had uncovered, along with the fact that you were making connections that we didn't know for certain yet."

"She'll get over it, especially when Erin thanks us for giving her the exposure that she so desperately needed to get ahead in the fashion world. If she kept that talent under wraps, there's no telling how long she would have languished in the shadows of other, lesser, designers."

Emily looked ready to rebut her statement when the new assistant knocked on the glass of her door. Miranda looked up, seeing that she looked absolutely terrified to be interrupting their discussion. "Yes?" Emily asked shortly, and the girl cleared her throat as she glanced between her and Miranda. "Well? Spit it out!"

"Um, you have a visitor, Ms. Priestly. I tried to tell her that you were busy, but she said that you were just talking with Emily, and so wouldn't mind if she also came in to talk with you. I, I didn't know what else to do, so I said that I would come in and announce her."

Miranda glanced around Emily to look out her office windows, seeing a familiar, though non-descript, older blonde woman standing in the doorway, and she frowned as she turned her attention back to her assistants. "All right, send her in. Emily, let Andrea know that that time will work for me, but because she had the temerity to demand this, she will be the one paying." Both women nodded as they left her office, and Miranda sat up straight in her chair as she prepared herself for what was about to happen.