Stay

Summary: Andrea comforts Miranda over her divorce.
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Rating: NC-17
A/N: For Helen who is gorgeous and lovely. Happy Birthday!


Andy tip-toed into Miranda’s suite, trying not to allow her four inch stilettos to make a sound on the wooden floors as she walked over to the table in the middle of the room, depositing the Blahniks Miranda would need for the party tonight. She was about to walk back out when a strange sound coming from the bedroom of Miranda’s suite caught her attention.

“Miranda?” Andrea called out quietly, not wanting to disturb her boss but concerned that she’d hurt herself. When she received no reply, she walked quietly to the door, pushing it open slightly so she could see whether Miranda was ok. The sight that greeted her made her catch her breath. Miranda was lying on the bed, the sheets pulled down to her waist, one leg steepled and both hands disappearing under the covers. The noises she’d heard suddenly made sense. In her haste to leave, she caught the door with her bag and the resounding thud would not have been missed by Miranda. Closing her eyes, she waited for the onslaught to begin.

“Andrea,” Miranda called throatily.

Andy turned slowly, not daring to look Miranda in the eyes.

“I don’t suppose you have a good reason for barging into my bedroom, would you Andrea?” Miranda asked sweetly. If Andy hadn’t known her so well, she might not have known every word was laced with poison.

“I…I’m sorry, Miranda. I just heard a noise and I wanted to check you were ok, that was all, I didn’t mean to walk in on….” During her apology, Andy made the fatal mistake of looking into Miranda’s eyes. Until she’d met Miranda, she’d never understood the phrase ‘if looks could kill,’ but now she was more than a little surprised that she hadn’t been reduced to a pile of smoking ashes on the floor. But despite all the fury in her eyes, Andy couldn’t miss how red-rimmed they were, or the tear tracks down her cheeks.

“Miranda…are you ok?” Andrea asked before she could stop herself.

Miranda glared at her some more, before finally giving a slight shake of her head. No, she was not ok. “We need to look at the seating chart for tomorrow’s luncheon some more,” Miranda said quietly, “Snoop Dog needs to be moved to my table.”

Andrea cursed her luck. She had to correct Miranda? Really? Life was cruel sometimes. “But Miranda, your table’s full.”

Miranda’s eyes narrowed, but her voice remained soft. Apparently her anger wasn’t directed at Andy. “Stephen won’t be coming.”

“Stephen isn’t coming? So, does that mean I don’t have to fetch him from the airport tomorrow?” Andy asked.

“Well, if you talk to him and he decides to rethink the divorce, by all means fetch away. You’re very fetching, so… go fetch.” Miranda said quietly, almost rambling. More than anything that had already happened this evening, that scared Andy the most.

“I’m so sorry Miranda.” Andy said softly.

Miranda shrugged slightly and jerked her head towards the bottom of her bed.

Miranda wanted her to sit with her? On her bed? This was all so very strange. If a dancing dragon were to jump out of the closet now, well, Andy wasn’t sure how much more surprised she was capable of feeling.

Sitting as carefully as she could, she folded her legs under herself and folded her hands into her lap. Miranda probably wasn’t wearing any underwear. Andy sighed, sometimes she hated her brain.

“So…” Andy said softly, unsure of what she was meant to be doing, to be saying.

“We’ll have to get in contact with… Leslie, as soon as we get back, see what can be done to minimise the press on all of this. But you know… it’s not even what they write about me, I don’t care what they write about me, it’s my girls, this is all so unfair to my girls.” Miranda said softly.

OK, so she was here as a sympathetic ear; she could cope with that. But oh God, Miranda looked like she might cry again. She wasn’t sure if she could cope with that.

“It’s not as though I don’t know what they’re going to say. Dragon Lady, career obsessed, Snow Queen drives away another Mr. Priestley. I’m not even sure if it’s true. God knows I have my flaws, but so does he… you know he hasn’t touched me in months? Guess I should have seen this coming…” Miranda trailed off, shaking her head sadly.

Before tonight, Andy would have never imagined it possible, but she actually felt her heart breaking for the older woman. She wondered if she was always like this, not crying, just…different. It made sense, Andy guessed. She couldn’t remember ever having to arrange a lunch date with anyone that Miranda would call a friend, no one that she could think of who enjoyed spending time with Miranda just for her company, but she probably just didn’t have enough time to have any real friendships. But she has her daughters and her… well, she had her husband, and Andy couldn’t quite imagine Miranda being the Snow Queen with them. She’d only ever seen Miranda and Stephen together twice, the first time she’d been apologising to him, and the second time she’d been trying to console him and hide his inebriated state. It wasn’t much to go on, but she didn’t sound like a bad wife. And with the twins, well, Andy would never forget her mad dash across New York to get the Harry Potter books.

Before she could think about what she was doing, she reached for Miranda’s hand. Miranda stared down at their interlocked hands for several seconds, as though unsure of what was happening, as though human-contact was an alien concept. Andy swallowed - it probably was. Looking back up, Miranda met Andy’s eyes, and then they were leaning towards each other, their lips meeting in a passionate, hungry kiss.

Miranda laid a hand on Andy’s arm, pulling her closer. Breaking the kiss for a moment, Andy rearranged herself in Miranda’s arms, pulling Miranda over to sit on her legs, getting her to wrap her legs snugly around her body. Continuing the kiss, Andy moved her hands down Miranda’s body, caressing and soothing, getting to know every inch. Cupping a breast in her hand, she flicked her thumb over her nipple, delighting in the way it strained for more contact. Lowering her mouth, she caught the nipple in her lips, rolling her tongue over the sensitive bud. Miranda groaned, tangling her fingers in Andy’s hair and held her to her chest, delighting in feelings that had long been dormant.

Slowly, allowing Miranda time to push her away, Andy traced patterns down Miranda’s firm stomach with one hand, before burying it in her tight curls. Taking her time, she flicked her thumb over Miranda’s clitoris several times, delighting in her wanton moans, before she buried first one, then two fingers into her aching heat. Lifting her head, she watched Miranda’s face as she started to move her fingers slowly in and out of her heat. Just as her breathing became laboured and she started to tense around Andy’s fingers, Andy pulled her fingers away, much to Miranda’s very vocal distaste.

“Patience,” Andy murmured, placing a kiss on Miranda’s temple. Moving them around so Miranda had room to lay back, she moved down Miranda’s body, placing kisses on her breasts and along her stomach, taking a moment to dip her tongue into her navel ,as she went. Finally, positioned between Miranda’s thighs, she used her fingers to separate Miranda’s folds, creating enough room for her tongue to get to work. At some point, when Andy was taking her time sliding her tongue over Miranda’s glistening folds, letting her tongue dart in and out of her heat, sucking gently on her clitoris, Miranda began to buck against the bed, primal groans escaping her lips. Finally, with one sharp suck against her aching bundle of nerves, Miranda came with a scream, bucking off the bed, her chest rising and falling with her loud gasps.

Making her way back up Miranda’s body, Andy placed one more kiss on her lips, letting Miranda taste herself, before getting off the bed and moving quickly towards the door.





Miranda wished she hadn’t promised to spend the day with her children, wished they hadn’t chosen to come to the park where she could see nothing but happy families playing happy games and spending a happy day in the park. Miranda sighed. She wished she was happy, wished she didn’t feel as though she was barely hanging on. Six months ago, Stephen had filed for divorce, the papers had had a field-day, she’d spent the night in the arms of her assistant and she’d fallen in love. And she hadn’t smiled, truly smiled, since. Not even her daughters could distract her these days. She’d thrown herself into her work, spending even longer hours at the office. She was surprised her children hadn’t forgotten her, hadn’t started thinking their nanny was their mother, she wouldn’t have blamed them.

But they hadn’t, and so here she was, trying to make amends for six months of bad parenting with a day in the park. She’d brought them new summer dresses, a new football and Frisbee, had even made the picnic herself. She just wished she felt capable of enjoying it. Smiling as Cassidy and Caroline ran off, she spread out their blanket in the shade of an oak tree and started sorting out their picnic.

Picnic laid out, Miranda decided to indulge herself and lay down on the grass, warming herself under the midday sun. She’d have to make sure she didn’t fall asleep, she’d never forgive herself for getting sunburn, but for the moment she was content just to lie back and enjoy herself.

Several minutes later, or so it seemed to Miranda who was dozing quite contentedly, a shadow fell across her, blocking out the warmth of the sun. Glaring above her, she sat up, prepared to give whoever it was a peace of her mind, when she actually realised who it was. She swallowed hard.

“Hello, Miranda,” Andy said, her voice soft.

“Andrea,” Miranda said softly, drawing out the girl’s name in the way only she could. Andy shivered.

Miranda was about to jerk her head in the direction of the blanket, but she suddenly remembered the last time she’d done that and found she didn’t have the heart to do it. “Would you like to sit?” she asked instead, the first time in a very long time that she’d actually asked for anything.

“OK,” Andy replied, sitting a little uncomfortably on the blanket, looking hesitantly at Miranda. She wished she knew what she wanted.

“So…” Andy started, painfully reminded of another time she’d started a conversation like that.

“You left.” Miranda stated, her voice betraying her inner turmoil.

“Yes… but what you did to Nigel…”

“I’m not talking about that,” Miranda cut her off.

“Oh…” Andy bit her lip, unsure of what to say. “I wasn’t sure what you wanted…what you wanted that to be. You’d just found out about your divorce and I…I just wanted to comfort you, Miranda.”

“So you didn’t want me, just wanted my tears to stop? I think you’d better leave.” Miranda said harshly. She couldn’t let this girl humiliate her, not again.

“No Miranda, that’s not what I said. I…” Andy didn’t know how to express what she wanted to say, wasn’t sure how someone talked to Miranda Priestly about this sort of thing. So, instead, she leaned across the blanket, closing the distance between them with a soft kiss.

Miranda pulled away, unwilling to let her children catch her like this. This was their day.

“Mom!” a voice called from far away, just before two redheaded girls came bounding towards them.

“Darlings! Are you ready for lunch?” Miranda asked, smiling at her daughters, determined to hide her distress.

“Yes,” they agreed enthusiastically, reaching for the sandwiches. They’d obviously worked up quite an appeteite.

They looked curiously at Andy, obviously trying to remember who she was. “We know you,” Cassidy finally said.

“Yes, I used to work for your mom,” Andy replied.

“Are you going to eat with us?” Caroline asked.

Andy looked uncertainly at Miranda.

“Stay with us?” Miranda asked. She wasn’t just talking about the picnic.

“Always,” Andy said with a smile, reaching for a ham sandwich.