(Edited)

Emma tilted her head and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion, where had she hear that name before? Then it dawned on her; He was one of Paris's most famous models! As her mind flooded with the fact-Emma started getting nervous-she was sitting next to an idol, a very handsome one in fact, what else would she feel? She opened and closed her mouth, unsure of what to say. Adrien chuckled softly and remembered how Marinette used to be like that. The thought stuck and the realization made him look at the girl again, wondering if... No, it wasn't possible, Marinette is married to Nathaniel and has a kid practically the same age as the girl; a boy with red hair and blue eyes, not this girl with black-blue hair and green eyes. Still, the thought wouldn't go away.

Emma finally calmed down and looked at Adrien, her hand twitching slightly with nervousness. He caught her gaze and smiled. "Are you adopted, Emma?" He asked boldly with no idea how it escaped from his lips. He looked at her with hope in his eyes; hope that she said yes, and hope that she wasn't, he hoped she said she was Mari's daughter no doubt and that she didn't know who birth her at all. She looked at him with surprise, her hand became still and turned to gaze out the window before answering, "Y-yes I-I am, but I don't know who my biological parents are, or were if they're dead." Emma's 'parents' never really kept it a secret from her and actually helped her when she was conflicted about finding her biological parents or staying with her adopted one. They always said that love doesn't divide, but multiplies, if Emma found her biological parents then she would always have a home with them to come to and a bigger family to love.

Looking back towards Adrien she saw him let out a small sigh of relief and gave her a smile, "Do you mind if I have a better look?" He asked, pointing at the open sketchbook on her lap. Emma nodded, handing it over and scanned the pages alongside him, commenting and enlightening Adrien of little bits and details she had in mind with each piece. During the flight, Emma told him a part of her life back in America and her dream of being a fashion designer, "...and that's why I'm competing in Marinette Kurtzberg's competition! She's the best and I want my designs to at least to be half as amazing as her's." She finished, her eyes filled with stars while she traced a design with her finger and sheepishly looked at Adrien. Loose hair fell over her eyes.

Shaking his head in disbelief, Adrien leaned forward and with a cat-like smile asked, "You want to know a little secret, petit chaton?"

"Sure," Emma replied, looking at her sketchbook with a small frown- the thought of failing creeping into her mind- the light that made her eyes look like gleaming emeralds faded a bit too.

"Well first off, Mari and I used to go to school together," The light stopped fading, but the frown stayed, "And if my memory is correct, you seemed to have just described her, with the exception of you being able to walk without falling every other step of course, as yourself. You both have a fiery spirit and passion for what you love."

A smile cracked between her lips. Not quite satisfied, he pushed on, his smile turned into a playful pout."What, you don't believe me? C'mon who else can disclose you all of Mari's little quirks?" A small giggle came out before Emma could stop it. Convinced now that he got her out of her little pit of self-pity, Adrien leaned back into his seat and crossed his arms, a smile once again on his face.

"Well for starters, my Aunt Alya was best friends with her," Emma said, still giggling. Adrien sat up straight and uncrossed his arms.

"Your aunt is Alya, as in Alya Lahiffe, the renowned reporter?"

"The one and only," Emma said, her eyes twinkling, a hand covering her smile a fragment too much.

"You're not pulling my leg, are you?" Adrien asked, giving her a suspicious look.

"How do you think I learned to speak French?" She countered. A moment of confusion stopped him from saying another retort and had him searching for when the language switched from English to French. "After you called me 'little kitten'," Emma probed, shying a bit when Adrien still looked slightly perplexed. He shrugged his shoulders and said jokingly, "Well it's true, you seem to have some claws to go with your sweet purr-sonality!" He waited for the familiar groan to meet the cat pun but was a little surprised when he heard a giggle. Then laughter bubbled out of Emma, laughter that hadn't been heard in a while. "No one but Luis made me laugh this hard!" she said after calming down a bit, rubbing her ribs to soothe the welcomed friendly pain, still giggling.

"Who's Luis?" The question startled her, causing Emma to choke a bit and start coughing. Panicking, Adrien leaned her forward and patted her on the back until the coughing ceased. Eyes wet from the lack of air, Emma looked out the window. Tears fell silently as memories rushed thru her head; Luis greeting her into the family with open arms, Luis holding her hand when she was too scared to go to school by herself, the two of them finding a box with kittens on the side of the road and Luis convincing Mom that we had to take them in, who else would?

Each memory had left a scar, but how many did Luis leave? Emma had lost count as there were too many but always found a new one every day. She felt a warm hand on her shoulder and turned, wiping her tears on the sleeves of his sweatshirt. She was suddenly wrapped into a hug, Emma stiffened and started protesting that she didn't need to be comforted, but Adrien still held onto her and leaned towards her.

"I know how you feel," he said, making Emma limp and lean on him, "I lost my mom when I was about your age, I'm sorry you had to lose him." She couldn't hold them back anymore; the tears fell and started to flow down her cheeks. Soon her head was on Adrien's chest as she started sobbing, memories rushing faster than tears could fall. Adrien let her go on, rubbing her back in slow comfortable circles and hugging her a little, something he wished someone would have done for him. "He-he wa-was my b-brother," Emma said between sobs, "Why?! Why did he have to die? Why did I live, I should have… why? Why, why, why, why?" The words muffled as a fresh wave of tears had Emma hold onto Adrien tighter and bury her head more.

"Don't say that," Adrien pulled her upright and held her shoulders, making Emma look up and meet his eyes. "Don't ever say that he didn't need to die, I know that, but you don't either. There are people who care about you, I care about you," Hugging Emma tightly Adrien continued, "I haven't known you long but you told me all that I need to know about you, and that is you don't give in easily and you are strong. Besides…" She glances up, the tears had ceased and her eyes were pools of green light. "Anyone that gets my cat puns are claw-some." Emma couldn't help it, a smile turned into a giggle and Adrien smiled, someone did appreciate his puns.