Chapter Text
It had just been another normal day at Runway and for the Runway team. Honest. Sure Miranda had made three people cry already but that was normal.
Hell since it was 3 pm it was actually a good day. That was less than usual.
So naturally when the twins came to visit their mom at work and saw the pirate themed set that was going on something had to happen.
"Does this mean we can watch someone sword fight?" Cassidy asked her mother eagerly as she looked at everyone dressed up like pirates for the Halloween edition. Honestly it was the least bothersome set given the issues that happened with the mummies and the ghosts earlier.
"I doubt any of those swords are real bobsey. And I certainly doubt any of these models would know how to use a sword without chopping off their own foot." Miranda said and was it strange for the models and set workers to see her acting as a loving and patient mother? Yes yes it was.
Was anyone going to say anything about it? Abso-fucking-lutely not.
Don't question Miranda Priestly was a rule after all.
"Andy does." Caroline piped up and nearby Andrea Sachs froze in place as several people looked at her alarmed and stunned.
"Yeah we found a movie with her in it and she was sword fighting!" Cassidy backed up her sister while Miranda's eyebrow rose and Andrea blushed slightly.
"A movie?" Miranda asked and she turned towards her assistant demanding an answer.
"...So a film was being shot back in Cincinnati and they needed some of the locals for extras? And since it was a pirate film we all got a bit of training in sword play and ship work?" Andrea offered sheepishly to the gaping looks of the models and Emily.
"We saw it and she was really good mom! Andy can sword fight! So please?" Cassidy asked her mom with wide sparkling hopeful eyes and Miranda could never deny her daughters anything when they gave her that look.
"Alright Bobbseys. Although I dare say she can't sword fight in those clothes. Andrea dress as a pirate and show us some of these lessons you claim to have had." And if she disappointed the twins when they were so hopeful Miranda would not be happy with her.
"Yes Miranda." Andrea honestly didn't even seem to mind the order as she handed her notepad to Emily and was ushered away by Nigel and Serena and Jocelyn.
"Someone get her a sword to use." Miranda ordered and one of the little set designers raced off to find a real sword.
This was absolutely not normal but honestly everyone knew Miranda would do anything for her girls and at least they weren't terrorizing the set anymore.
When Andrea re-entered in a dark red silk button up shirt and a pair of black leather pants with a back captains coat on her shoulders and one of the fake guns on her hip Miranda's eyebrows shot up. Two models fell over and one of the photographers had walked into a wall.
The man that had ran off to get the sword came back at a dead sprint and tripped over one of the fallen models, sending the sword flying.
Andrea snatched it out of the air by the handle and twirled it in her hand, eyeing the Cutlass she had caught and then smirking at it.
She tested the weight with a few practice swings and everyone suddenly wondered how long ago her lessons had been exactly and just how good at it she was.
Miranda made a motion to the photographers and they immediately started snapping discreet pictures of Andrea as her chocolate brown eyes snapped up to stare into their souls it seemed.
"So..." Andrea rolled her shoulders and her captains cloak slid to the floor. Miranda eyes followed it and then came back up Andreas form taking in the sight of those leather boots on her feet that lead to the leather pants that had the silk shirt tucked in elegantly. A single button undone at the top to show just a hint of cleavage. Her hair looked wild and curly and windswept and Miranda swallowed slightly thickly as she stared at the cocky smirk on the girls light pink lips.
"Which one of you land dwellers is gonna grab a sword and try your luck?" Andrea challenged as she rested the flat of the Cutlass on her shoulder, her body language oozing confidence and danger.
One of the male models gamely offered to use a second sword that had been bought in to sword fight her.
"I'll go easy on you. Wouldn't want to hurt your pretty face." The man said despite having had no claims to any kind of sword training and Andrea gave him the world's most obvious once over before she merely raised an eyebrow.
"I'll try not to bust you up too badly lad." Andrea drawled and she seemed to fully lean into the pirate theme as the man snorted and held his sword at the ready.
Everyone watched and a few people were recording this as the photographers snapped pictures.
Then the man stepped forward and swung at her with a slow sloppy swing. Andrea parried it with ease and then her sword hit the guard of his handle and caught the inside. Twisting it so that he had to drop it.
His sword hit the ground with a clatter and Andrea had drawn her flintlock with her free hand and held the fake gun to his head in a smooth motion.
"Bang. Dead." Andrea said calmly and the man was very very pale at how easily she had disarmed him and could kill him if the gun were real.
"If you want to see a real sword fight then find me a playmate who isn't more likely to chop his own foot off than mine." Andrea said smirking and Miranda's eyebrows were both raised as the twins gave steroed noises of amazement.
"Wow Six! Why did you apply for assistant rather than model or bodyguard!?!" Nigel blurted out and Andrea gave a laugh and blushed slightly as she holstered the fake flintlock.
"Oh I'm not model material and bodyguard? Come on Nige. I only know bare minimum of sword fighting and what use is that?" Andrea asked shaking her head and then suddenly the twins were on her.
"Andy! That was so-"
"-cool! It only took you-"
"-seconds to win! Can you-"
"-teach us that?!"
"Oh no you two. I'm not the teaching kind and like I said I've only got bare basics of sword training. And I'm pretty sure if I even let you touch a real sword your mom would throw me from her office window." Andy said keeping the Cutlass clear from the twins hands.
"But you've got-"
"-to know a few tricks!"
"Or a few cool-"
"-moves you can show us!"
"Want to see a neat trick I learned?" Andy asked the twins as she eyed the dropped Cutlass on the floor nearby. Two red heads nodded rapidly in agreement and Andrea gently got them to move away from her to give her room.
Everyone watched eagerly and curious as Andy stepped up to the fallen Cutlass, snakes her foot under the guard and then somehow with a flick of her foot sent it flipping into the air where she caught it by the handle in her left hand.
"Wow!" The twins were suitably impressed by the trick, as were a few other people.
"If I were not in love with Emily..." Serena murmured to Nigel who patted her back.
"I'm not in love with Emily. Think I've got a chance?" One of the make up assistants asked staring at Andy who laughed at the twins chatter and deftly kept the two real swords far from the girls hands.
"Only if you can make it past the dragon." Nigel muttered glancing at Miranda who had yet to move as she stared at Andrea. Nigels long years of friendship with the woman allowed him to notice her faint blush and the way her eyes were ever so slightly widened.
"Emily. Make sure Andrea keeps those clothes. Tell her it's her bonus for going along with my girls whim. And make sure those photographers add the pictures of her to the pile for the spread." Miranda ordered her assistant who nodded dumbly and wrote it down.
Andrea was a blushing and startled mess when she realized she was on the front page of the Halloween edition of Runway.