DISCLAIMER: The Devil Wears Prada and its characters belong to Lauren Weisberger and 20th Century Fox. No infringement intended.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A stand-alone "Christmas Future" slice from the (slightly) AU series I'm calling "Life is a Banquet." Comments welcomed. No writer can promise that you will always find what she or he writes entertaining, but I can promise, on my honor as an editor, that my offerings will be literate, well-punctuated, and (mostly) free of typos.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
FEEDBACK: To medoramacd[at]yahoo.com
All I Want for Christmas ...
By Medora MacD
Monday, December 8, 2008
"Which works better for you, Andréa? Shall we do it the evening of Christmas Eve? Or the morning of Christmas Day itself?"
Andy looked at Miranda, startled, and then at the girls sitting on either side of her at the dinner table. It took but a nanosecond to realize that the "it" Miranda was talking about doing could not be the one Andy had been dreaming of, nay fantasizing about, since their kiss a week earlier.
"We checked with Dad," said Caroline, "and he's fine if you want to do it Christmas Day. He'll take his turn the day after that."
Nope, definitely NOT what she'd been thinking about. Not unless Miranda's relationship with her ex was a lot more frank and open than she thought. Or a lot more kinky.
"What are we talking about again?" she asked hesitantly.
Miranda looked quizzically at her over the top of those damnably sexy reading glasses that she wore, then bit the inside of her lip, quickly surmising, it seemed, what had Andy so off balance.
"Opening Christmas presents, of course," said Caroline with some asperity.
"Really, Andréa. Do try to keep up," Miranda said. She turned back to the planner she'd been writing in. "So, when would you like to do it? You work until 9 on Christmas Eve, I believe? Will you be too tired to do it then?" She glanced up again at Andy, not quite suppressing a cheeky grin this time.
Andy met her gaze evenly and lobbed the ball back into her court. "Too tired? For THAT? Never! I will be ready to go whenever you are…"
Miranda colored, and Andy relented. She turned to Cassidy. "What works best for you guys? Do you usually open presents at night or in the morning? We always did it in the morning at our house, but I'm happy to do things whichever way you like it."
"Morning!" the twins said in unison.
"It's hard waiting until Santa comes, but more fun," added Caroline.
"Totally!" said Andy. "So, what's the drill? When do we get up? Do we open stockings first? Take turns opening presents? Fill me in…"
As the girls competed to tell her how they celebrated the forthcoming holiday, she marveled how deeply embedded she'd become in their lives and they in hers. No matter what they did this Christmas, the first of many she would spend with them, she hoped, it was going to be special.
She exchanged a smile with Miranda, reassured by its relaxed warmth and the hint of heat simmering below it that whether or not "IT" made it into the planner, it WAS going to happen.
And that, she knew, was going to be even more special—the best gift, in fact, that she ever had been given or ever would receive.
The End