Chapter Text
As soon as the stretcher came up the stairs from the basement with Andrea on it, Miranda was by her side, “Andrea,” she whispered softly in almost a gasp.
“Mi… Mira…” she attempted to say Miranda but her mouth was far too dry to be able to say it properly and she was utterly exhausted.
“I’m so sorry, my love,” Miranda whispered softly as she cupped the woman’s cheek softly.
Andrea smiled a little at what Miranda had said without realising it, “Not… your… fault.”
“We need to get her into the ambulance, ma’am,” a young paramedic stated as they tried to move her away from the door of the basement and out the front door.
Miranda nodded, not arguing with him, “I’m coming.”
“We want to come too,” Caroline declared as both of the girls moved forward.
“How about we take you to the hospital and we can meet your mother and Andy there?” Serena offered.
“Okay,” the girls both agreed and ran off to put their shoes on.
Once they had managed to get Andrea safely into the back of the ambulance, it took Miranda mere seconds to join her and sit down beside her head so that she could see her better, “My love,” she whispered.
Andrea looked up at her from her position on the ambulance stretcher and smiled softly whilst the paramedic hooked her up to the necessary equipment that would monitor her statistics.
The young paramedic that had been tasked with sitting in the back of the ambulance with them both soon had to start taking notes and asking Andrea questions. However, Andrea struggled to answer anything with her throat being so dry so Miranda took over from her with a quick glare to the paramedic. It meant that not all of the questions were answered but he wasn’t brave enough to ask all of them.
Meanwhile, at the townhouse, “Can we go now?” Caroline questioned as she stood at the door with her sister and Patricia.
Patricia was sat down in front of them with her leash attached to her again and Caroline holding onto her leash.
“Erm… you do realise that you’re going to have to leave Patricia here, right?” Emily questioned with a look of confusion on her face.
“Leave her behind?” Caroline asked her in return.
“Are you crazy?” Cassidy exclaimed with widened eyes.
Caroline rolled her eyes, “Trishy found Andy!”
“Yeah! She found her and she saved her so she has a right to come with us to the hospital to see our Andy!” Cassidy declared with confidence and determination.
“Fine, she can come but if the hospital do not let her in then Roy will have to bring her home and then she can see Andrea when we bring her home with us, okay?” Serena suggested a little more diplomatically. She did not want the girls to be upset that they could not take their dog with them, especially considering the fact that the dog was the one that was able to find the missing woman.
“But…” Emily started to say but was quickly silenced by one singular look from her girlfriend.
The girls could not resist giggling at the look that Serena had shot Emily and how effective it had been in silencing the woman. “Don’t argue with her or she’ll make you sleep on the sofa,” Caroline whispered to her mother’s redheaded assistant with a slight smirk on her face.
Emily rolled her eyes at the young girl, she was clearly a little annoyed by what the child had said but she opted to remain silent instead of commenting on it.
Serena made sure that the girls had everything that they needed for the trip to the hospital as she did not know how long they were going to be there for. She also grabbed an overnight bag for Miranda as she knew that there was not much of a chance that the Editor-in-Chief would want to be away from Andrea
Once they were in the town car on their way to the hospital where the ambulance had taken Andrea, Serena turned to take a better look at the girls, “Are you okay?”
The two girls nodded in response but stayed silent for a moment.
“Is she going to be okay?” Cassidy asked very quietly, clearly rather worried about the woman.
Serena nodded, “Yes, she will be.” She confirmed confidently with a reassuring smile to the young girl before she tugged her into her arms for a side-ways hug whilst they remained strapped into the seat belts and sitting properly in their seats.
“Did he hurt her?” Cassidy questioned as she looked up at the Brazilian woman.
“I think she got manhandled a little but I do not think he hurt her,” Serena answered, trying to answer in a way that would not be lying but at the same time in a way that would not cause the girls to worry more than what they already were. She knew that the woman had been injured a little but she did not think that her injuries were too serious. The ligature marks that she had seen on her wrist explained why Andrea had not been able to come out of the basement on her own or to escape the hidden room without assistance.
“Why did he do it?” The youngest of the two twins asked.
Serena paused for a moment as she considered her answer.
“Isn’t it obvious?” Caroline asked her sister in response and rolled her eyes at her at the same time, “He doesn’t like Andy because Mom loves her more than she ever did him.”
“Ohh… oh yeah,” Cassidy replied, “But that isn’t a reason to kidnap someone and hide them away. You like Mia but Mia is dating Matt but you don’t kidnap Matt and hide him away from her.”
“That’s because I’m sane and I have a brain,” Caroline answered with another roll of her eyes, the facial expression reminded the two women of the children’s mother, “Stephen isn’t sane. He’s a drunken idiot without a brain.”