This has been a bit of a labor of love this week. I was worried that I'd fallen into writers block again but all I needed was a little push and to find the thing that my head was ready to write. Luckily I've had a bit of free time this week to get it written, mostly during quiet moments at my desk at work and also to get it typed up. This bit is a little longer than I usually write but I couldn't find a place to cut it that made sense so I just kept going.

As usual the characters don't belong to me, I'm just borrowing them for a bit of fun and I promise I'll put them back when I'm done, mostly unharmed!

Thank you again for all the support, I honestly wouldn't keep writing if it wasn't for your guys encouragement. I have an endgame in midn for this fic but its a way off yet, I've never been one to manage to keep anything short.

Andrea let herself into the townhouse much earlier than expected, her first day back at work proving to be unproductive. Two of her three interviews had cancelled at the last minute and some of her more minor jobs had failed to hold her attention for long.

She wasn't surprised to find the house quiet, Miranda wasn't due home from Runway for another several hours, assuming that nothing major had gone wrong while they were away, and the girls were out at a friend's. The padding of paws on the hardwood floor made her look up and she smiled, bending down to greet the newest addition to their family. Charles was a pedigree, black and tan Dachshund that the girls had fallen in love with on sight and whom Miranda loved even if she refused to comment on the fact. They had rescued him from a shelter and although he could be a little bit jumpy about loud noises and raised voices he was settling in well. He may have been Patricia's polar opposite but he had managed to fill the hole that the St Bernard had left behind in a way that Andrea hadn't been convinced was possible. Giving him a final scratch behind the ears she pushed herself to her feet and headed in the direction of the kitchen, she would make herself a pot of tea and then make an attempt at some secondary research. The temptation was to find something around the house to occupy her until her family returned home but she knew she needed to do something to try and kick start herself back into a working frame of mind.

Passing the entertainment room on the way to the study she was surprised to find that television flickering, volume turned down low and Cassidy curled up on the sofa, barely visible under the throw they kept on the back of the armchair. Changing her destination she slipped into the room and moved towards her stepdaughter. Depositing the teapot on the coffee table she crouched down beside the girl and swept her hair out of her face. Cassidy's eyes fluttered open and she looked surprised to see Andy in front of her.

"Hey sweety, I thought you and Caro' were out today?"

"I didn't really feel like it." Cassidy shrugged, looking everywhere but at Andy,

"Is there room in there for a little one?" the brunette asked, knowing that there was more to it but also knowing that the direct approach wouldn't work with Cassidy much like it wouldn't work with her mother. Cassidy gave a slight smile and a nod, pushing herself up so there was room for Andrea to slide in. Kicking her shoes off, Andrea curled into the corner of the sofa, getting herself comfortable before holding her arm out, pleased when Cassidy immediately snuggled into her.

"What are we watching?" she asked quietly, brushing her fingers through the girls hair.

"Dunno." Cassidy shrugged, snuggling in further, "I think I fell asleep."

"Ok, well, I'll have a flick around and find something. You can go back to sleep if you like?"

"It made me feel really anxious." They had been sitting in silence for about an hour and Cassidy had been so quiet and still that Andrea had assumed she had gone back to sleep.

"That's ok sweety," Andrea said gently,

"But there's no reason why it should have done, all we were doing was going to Stacie's."

"I know honey but anxiety is like that, it crops up when we don't think we have anything to be anxious about."

"I thought I would be better by now." Andrea sighed and pressed a kiss to red curls.

"I know honey, but it's just one of those things, it comes and goes and you just have to learn how to ride it out. Are you still having panic attacks?"

"Yeah." Cassidy pulled the throw up to cover her face before she continued, "Most days at least once, but I know how to control them better so they don't get so big."

"Why didn't you tell us?" She and Miranda had both thought that the girl had been doing ok.

"I didn't want you guys to worry. You both had so much going on and then there was the wedding and the honeymoon."

"Baby we worry about you anyway. It's our job to worry no matter how much other stuff we have going on." She soothed, brushing her fingers through her hair. "You have to tell us these things Cass' it's really important to me that you trust me enough to share this stuff with me."

"I do. I just..." Cassidy sighed, pushing herself up so she was facing the other woman. "I don't want you to think that being part of this family is a constant drama. I don't want you to get tired of us."

"Oh darling." Andrea murmured, pulling the girl into a tight embrace, "Never, ever, think that anything you do could change how much I love you guys. As far as I am concerned you are all my family and you are stuck with me forever, ok?"

"Is this a private love in or can anyone join in?" Andrea looked up over Cassidy's head to find Miranda stood in the doorway, her eyes telling the brunette exactly how long she had been standing there.

"What do you think Cass', there room for your mom too?" Andrea asked, pulling away so she could look at the girls face, pleased to see that she was at least smiling.

"I dunno, she has a habit of hogging the throw." Cassidy grinned, eyeing her mom over her shoulder.

"I have no idea what you mean." Miranda smirked, sliding onto the sofa on her daughters other side and offering a smile to her wife before turning her full attention on Cassidy. "Andrea is right Bobbsey. We want to know what is going on with you, no matter what is going on in our lives."

"I know, I'm sorry mom."

"No need to apologize darling." Miranda pressed a kiss to the crown of the girls head, "We know now and we can start dealing with it as a family."

"You were home early." Andrea said quietly a while later. Cassidy had fallen asleep slumped against her mother and the two women had simply been sitting in comfortable silence.

"I couldn't concentrate." Miranda blushed lightly and Andrea smiled. "And there wasn't much for me to do once I had signed off on the new edition to print."

"They survived without you?"

"Better than I ever expected. They are more ready for me to retire than I ever gave them credit for."

"You're still thinking about it?"

"Of course, you still don't believe I'm serious do you?"

"It's not that, I just never thought I'd see it happen. I mean, Runway is such a huge part of you, I guess I never thought there would be a time when that wasn't the case."

"You've brought a lot to my life Andrea, part of that is the knowledge that there is much more to life than work. I don't need the magazine to define me and it's past time I allowed myself to enjoy my life and my family."

"Caro, I think mom is going to retire." Cassidy said that evening, when their mom and Andy had left them watching a movie to try and get some work done.

"Don't be stupid Cass, we know that that is never going to happen." Caroline scoffed, looking up from her laptop to regard her sister.

"No honestly, I heard her and Andy talking about it earlier, they thought I was asleep. It sounded serious and it totally wasn't the first time they had talked about it."

"Huh." Caroline abandoned her laptop altogether and gave her sister her full attention. "What did they say?"

"Andy asked mom how come she was home so early and mom said there hadn't been much for her to do once she'd signed off on the new edition and Uncle Nige was more ready for her to retire than she thought. Andy asked mom if she was really serious about it and she said that she was, said that Andy had made her realise that she didn't need the magazine to define her and it was time that she focused on herself and her family."

"Maybe what Uncle Nige says about Andy and her Ohioan voodoo is right." Caroline chuckled, "She has done a lot of things that we always thought were impossible."

"What would mom even do if she retired? She's rubbish at doing nothing, I mean, I'm amazed she lasted the last three weeks without at least stopping in at the office."

"I don't know, maybe she would do some charity work or something and she's always getting letters asking her to speak at events and stuff. Plus, she would be able to come with us when we start looking in colleges, we wouldn't have to go with Cara." Caroline suggested, "No more missed birthdays, no more missed dinners."

"Proper family." Cassidy grinned, "Finally."

"What are we going to do about Cassidy?" Miranda asked with a sigh, pushing her laptop away and dropping her glasses down onto the surface of her desk. She'd managed about four emails before her concerns for her daughter far outweighed her desire to get any work down. Looking at her wife she found that she too had barely moved to do any work.

"There isn't much we can do, we know what is going on, now all we can do is make sure she's ok." Andrea's laptop had barely booted up but she discarded it to the floor and gave Miranda her full attention.

"It doesn't fell like it's enough." it wasn't often that Miranda Priestly felt lost or helpless but her daughters and Andrea had that power over her.

"I know sweetheart." Andrea pushed herself to her feet and moved to perch on the edge of Miranda's desk, taking her hand and brushing her thumb over her knuckles. "Believe me, if I could take it all from her and deal with it myself I would do it in a heartbeat. But unless you want to go down the route of medication, which frankly holds it's own problems, we can't do much more than be here for her and encourage her to keep going to therapy."

"You know, I don't even think their father would offer up that kind of sentiment." Miranda said quietly and when she looked up Andrea could see that her eyes were wet and shining. "What on earth did we do to deserve you Andrea Sachs-Priestly?"

"I ask myself every day what I did to be lucky enough to have the three of you in my life Miranda. All of you are the family I wasn't convinced I would ever find." Andrea brushed her hand over the older woman's cheek and smiled. "It sounds corny but I'm convinced that you guys were always meant to be mine, that all I had to do was find you. There will never be a day that goes by when my love for you doesn't grow. I'll always want to be the one hurting instead of any of you."

"Oh Andrea," Miranda breathed, ignoring the single tear which defied her orders and slid down her cheek. She would never get used to the amount of love that this woman showed her and her daughters every day. "I love you."