Thanks for reading. To clarify 'one good deed' doesn't mean that Chloé and Lila are magically good people. That takes time. Finally getting to the good stuff. ENJOY! Nothing else to say here.

Chapter_4 Family Affairs

Marinette

Marinette sputtered out, "But that's Audrey Bourgeois."

Marinette franticly searched her phone, then held up her phone showing Zoé the photo she took eight months ago at Gabriel Agreste's fashion show. Lila and Zoé compared the two images closely. Then the previous whispered, "Holy shit."

Zoé looked between the two girls, "Ok? Who is Audrey Bourgeois?" Lila started laughing while Marinette sputtered more. Lila grabbed Marinette's shoulders and sat her down at Zoés desk, "Sit down before you hurt yourself, I'll explain."

Lila turned back to her newly made friend, "Your mother is a professional critic. She is a titan in the fashion, art, and food industries, she gave Gabriel Agreste, Adrien's dad, his big break. Words of encouragement from her are like the career equivalent to the elixir of life."

A sudden realization dawned on Marinette, "Wait, you guys, I think Zoé's dad lied to her." Both girls looked at her, Lila turned back to Zoé, "When's your birthday?" "February Fifth" Lila turned to Marinette, "When is Chloé's?" "How should I know?" "I thought you stalked everybody?"

Marinette sputtered with rage, "I'm not a stalker!"

Zoé put two fingers in her mouth and let out a loud whistle. Both girls covered their ears in surprise, "Ok, the resemblance is there but that doesn't mean it's her right?" The other two didn't respond, "Chloé's birthday is an easy way to disprove it." said the baker.

Lila smiled, "Adrien would know they're childhood friends." Zoé tossed Lila her phone, "Call. Him. Please." Lila smiled sheepishly, "I don't actually have his number… anymore." Both girls turned to Marinette who had already pressed the call button. The bluenette couldn't resist taunting Lila, "Oh, but I thought Adrien gave his number to all his friends? Oh, that's right! he does!"

Adrien was just walking out of the dining room when his phone started ringing, 'Marinette? She never calls me' he thought to himself, before picking up the phone. "Adrien?" "Were you expecting someone More handsome?" "I... uh, no? Ow! Ok! I was calling because I wanted to know when Chloé's birthday was."

Adrien smiled, "That's so nice of you, she must have done something nice when you guys went shopping is that it? Are you guys friends now?" "She was nicer than usual. Ow! knock it off! No, we're not magically friends, she's a friend of Zoé's. I'm not her friend yet."

"Ok that's cool. Do you guys want to throw her a surprise party?" "Hey!" Adrien could hear a commotion on the other end of the phone. Adrien and Plagg shared a look of confusion. Lila's voice came on the phone, "Adrien, sweetie, this is kinda time sensitive, when is Chloé's birthday?" "Wait you, Marinette, and Chloé are hanging out? Is the world ending?" "Just answer the question." "Okay, it's September 29th." "How long have you known Chloé?" Adrien thought for a moment. "I've known her forever. Her mom and my parents were good friends. I think I met her when I was three. Why?" "Don't you worry your pretty little head- hey!" the call ended with a beep.

Adrien looked at his phone, "What was that about?" Plagg looked down at his phone too, "Dude I'm older than humanity and I couldn't tell you, girls are WAY too complicated. I've moved on to simpler things. Cheese will never hurt me."

Marinette pulled her phone from Lila's hands. "You can flirt with Adrien if you want to, but you CAN'T do it with my phone." Lila snickered at her annoyance. "Your hands are like vice grips. What's with that?" Zoé sat on her bed massaging her temples, "So, it's feasible. Ok, call Chloé." Marinette put in the call.

"What do you want Dupain-Cheng?" "Hi, Chloé, Zoé has a picture of her mom here." "Why would I care about that? Stop wasting my time." "Her mom looks a lot like someone you know, I was wondering if you could look at some old photo's when you got home and see if it's who I think it is?" "Who am I looking for?" "Your mom."

Chloé was silent for a moment, then, "Jean de Bac" she cooed in a sickly-sweet tone. Then in disregard for the eardrums of the two people in the limo with her screamed in a crazed. "TURN THIS CAR AROUND!" Marinette held her phone at arm's length and blinked in surprise, "Chloé?" The line was dead.

Minutes later Chloé and Sabrina had rejoined the other girls.

Chloé looked back and forth between the other girls in her room, "So, to clarify, you think I have a half-sister that is eight and a half months older than me, who I just so happen to have met by complete coincidence, based on a painting of her mother that just so happens to look similar to my mom."

Marinette and Lila nodded the latter of which commented, "Pretty much."

Chloé turned to Zoé, "My mom and I are both A negative, what are you and your dad?" "My dad's O negative, I'm A negative. Why?" Chloé had a stern look, "Nothing we've discussed has disproven it. That means it's possible."

Zoé was starting to look panicked, "For all we know, my dad lied to me about any number of things. It's probably a coincidence, nothing else." Lila smiled, "Well then all we have to do is wait for your dad to get back and ask right?" Chloé smacked Lila's arm, "No we're not waiting around to interrogate some foster parent."

"What are you so mad about?" Zoé asked, terrified of her maniac potential half-sister. Chloé turned to the young artist, "My parents have been married for eighteen years! That's what I'm mad about!"

Lila started laughing, "Oh come on for all we know, Zoé was kidnapped from the hospital by some crazy…" Lila stopped smiling and turned to look at Zoé. "Do you or your dad take prescription drugs? Is your dad super controlling? Does he monitor your internet usage? Or-" "None of those things! I wasn't kidnapped. I am living with my biological father."

Chloé threw Zoé over her shoulder, "We are not waiting for your dad. My mom lives here in Paris we can ask her ourselves. No, she can lie or deny it. But my dad can't, he doesn't have the stones."

Chloé carried Zoé out the door, "We can go see him right now!" Marinette sat still; she was unsure what to do. Grabbed the painting as Lila dragged her after the two blondes, "Zoe have you ever seen your birth certificate?" "No, oof! It's a sealed document, my mother is name is on it. Ow! Watch the door!"

"Ok already! I'll come just put me down!" Chloé complied setting her down outside the elevator, and the other continued, "My dad signed a non-disclosure agreement it means he's not allowed to tell me where to find her, what her name is, or show me photographs taking less than twenty years ago. Until I turn eighteen upon which I decide if I can look at my own birth certificate."

The girls joined Jean-Jaquiss in the car, "Where to now miss?" "Take us home Jean-Dupé." With a nod, Butler Jean pulled the car back into traffic and they were on their way.

Lila smiled, "Jean how long have you worked for The Bourgeois family?"

The butler smiled at the question. "Only fifteen years at Le Grand Paris, but I met them on their wedding day. I worked for the venue at the time. So, you could say I've been working for them since their wedding. I must have left quite the impression, Mr. Bourgeois remembered me and insisted I was hired when I applied for an assistant Maitre'd position-" Lila cut him off, "So were you working for them when they had Chloé or not?"

Jean looked a little hurt that they didn't want to hear the story, but didn't protest, "Hm, yes. I was not a butler at the time but six months into the pregnancy, Mister Bourgeois hired me as his wife's living assistant. The doctor recommended she was taken care of by someone familiar to her."

Lila was about to cut him off again but Chloé covered her mouth. "So, for extraneous and trifled reasoning, I was hired to reduce her stress and assist with the pregnancy. Once Chloé was born I was kept on, to assist her in returning to normal, weight loss, self-help, and later, child-care for the young Chloé until she was a year old. Mister and Misses Bourgeois wrote me a very generous reference, so I used them to apply for the manager position at Le Grand Paris, not realizing who owned it for almost two years, when the young Miss Bourgeois and her father moved in."

Chloé pulling her hand away from Lila who more patiently continued her questioning, "That was the only weird thing about the pregnancy, right?" Jean paused for a moment, checking his mirrors, before responding. "I'm not sure what you mean. Except that your mother looked like an addict the way she threw things at me." Jean checked his mirrors again. "The delivery was three weeks early. I suppose. But that's nothing unheard of."

Lila smiled a mischievous smile, "Is it possible that Chloé could have a sister born in February?" "Mathematically, I suppose, yes but as someone who has seen first-hand, what that woman can do while pregnant, I plan on resigning if she ever thinks of having another child. I'll move back to Belgium." Chloé smiled, Jean was simply one hell of a butler.

The car arrived and Chloé led them in after thanking Jean. "A pleasure as always, Miss Bourgeois." Her Chloé and her father used a suite on the sixth floor, "Daddy? Can we talk?"

They found the Mayor, dressed in a golf shirt and khakis. It was unusual to Marinette's mind, having never seen him outside a professional position before, "Of course, darling, I was just headed down for dinner. Oh, who are your friends?"

Chloé smiled and spoke softly in a sweet tone, "You know Sabrina of course, this is Lila, Marinette, and my sister Zoé. The mayor froze in absolute horror. Chloé carried on, "Apparently she was living in Rio and then New York before moving here a few weeks ago." "Now, now hang on a minute." Her father stammered, "This should be a private conversation."

Chloé shrugged, "What does it matter? It's not like this will turn into a scandal or anything."

The resulting expression on her father's face was pure vindictive furry. "Chloé Nella Bourgeois, I did not cheat on your mother." Chloé started laughing, "I know that!" "Mom is the evident problem here, so what happened?"

Mr. Bourgeois visibly relaxed, "All right, I'll tell you both what happened. Do they need to be here?" He gestured to the other three girls. Marinette took a step back, Zoé stopped her, "What did I say about leaving me with these people?"

Chloé took a breath before speaking, "They can stay."

So 'dad' explained, "Zoé was your mother's first child, she's living with her father, Jomi Doria unless something happened." He paused not wanting to press a wound before knowing it was there. Zoé shook her head. "He's fine."

So, he continued, "I only hardly knew him. They met at an auction, the affair only lasted two weeks, I had been elected mayor It took me a few weeks to realize something was going on. I confronted her about her behavior she told me everything, the pregnancy and the affair. I wasn't angry, I think I wanted to be, I was worried about her, she was losing her mind, after three months, she was terrified of ruining both of our careers, and of having children actually."

He stopped again, this was clearly difficult for him, the girls watching him hanging on his every word. "I was worried what kind of person Jomi was, I met him, and I was surprised, he apologized for the whole ordeal. All he wanted by that point was to make amends, obviously we were nothing alike, but the two of us agreed that abortion wasn't the right choice, keep in mind this was four months into the pregnancy a heartbeat appears after five weeks. There wasn't really any need to convince your mother. Once Zoé was born she was DNA tested and they agreed that if you, Zoé, wanted to meet your mother that would be your decision when you turned eighteen."

André fell silent, looking apologetic, he wasn't sure what else to say. Zoé folded her arms, she could feel their eyes crawling on her skin, then realized everyone was looking at her. "What? This isn't all THAT unexpected, I just wasn't expecting… this."

Chloé spoke next, "Do you want to talk to her?"

Zoé wasn't sure how to respond, 'yes' would mean meeting her mother, someone who failed her role in Zoé's life point by point like it was a speed run; 'no' meant admitting to a resentment she wasn't sure was there or avoiding out of fear. The worst case was never speaking to her again, but it could just be postponed, she would have another opportunity, but what would waiting do?

"Yeah, I want to talk to her."

André picked up the phone in the foyer and called his wife's room, "Audrey dear, Zoé is in Paris. No that's Chloé, I'm talking about- yes obviously, no Chloé is here too, they met at school apparently." The man was quiet for a moment, "She wants to meet you. No, I don't think he even knows she's here. We both know he wouldn't do that. Good, I'll walk her over."

André set the phone down on the receiver, "Ok, she's probably as ready as she will ever be." The other four did not follow. Part of Zoé wanted to run full sprint down the stairs and out the lobby, part of her wanted to freeze up, and part of her wanted to hug her mother and cry, but none of those things would happen. The nervous energy sank into her stomach and transformed into butterflies. Mr. Bourgeois opened the door for her, he didn't follow her in.

Audrey was a tall slender woman, her hairstyle was different from the painting, so was her expression the joy wasn't there. "Hello, Zoé. You have questions?"

One question echoed through Zoé's mind, "One… Why?" "You were a mistake, the only reason I went through with the pregnancy was because of the sizable chance you were legitimate and your father's word that if you were his he'd take you. I wasn't going to throw away my marriage or my career for him or you."

Zoé could feel her heart racing, this was worse than the suspense. Her visit seemed more like an annoyance than anything else. "Was there anything else?" Zoé shook her head, "No." Zoé took a second to breathe, "Part of me was hoping for… something else. Thank you for seeing me." Audrey watched her go, she was sphinx-like. Realistically she was ashamed or annoyed by the whole ordeal, or a mix or something else entirely, it didn't matter, apologetic wasn't one of them.

The girls saw Zoé leave, she didn't say anything, only walking past them. Marinette's face pleaded for something to do, to help her friend, Chloé looked angry, Sabrina looked unsure of what to do, and Lila was apologetic. She didn't look at them long, she wasn't in the mood to talk to them so, she left, taking the stairs.

Marinette caught up to her on the fourth floor, "Zoé, what happened?" the blonde was on the verge of tears, "I'm going home." Marinette stopped her friend and pulled her into a hug, "You're going to be okay, just stop for a second."

Zoé started crying into Marinette's shoulder, who held on tight. "I'm just a mistake." Marinette sympathized, but wasn't sure what to say, except the words of a famous artist, "There are no mistakes, only happy little accidents." Words began to pour out of the young designer.

"Your mom might regret having you, but your dad doesn't, and I don't regret meeting you; neither does Alya or Nino or Sabrina or Chloé or Lila. You singlehandedly made the two worst people I know tolerable. You did that not your bitch of a mother. The last thing she contributed to society was… was probably you. Since I can't think of anything else."

Chloé started laughing from the landing above, "Oh my god, Dupain-Cheng, you sound like someone who doesn't want a ride home in a limo." Zoé wiped her face, "I'm not getting back in your limo" She sniffled a bit and wiped her other eye. "I'm done with the fucking limo."

Chloé looked down at her sister, "What's wrong with it?" Lila peeked over the railing next to Chloé looking down at the girls, "Love the performance. You guys feel like sushi?"

Sabrina held up the painting from before, "Did you still want this?" Zoé looked up at Sabrina, "Yeah I guess, it's a forty-dollar canvas. I can paint over it or something." Sabrina handed it back to her, she took it and started walking again, "I'll see you guys at school tomorrow."

Once outside a small black and purple butterfly fluttered overhead, stalking the young artist.

(I'm not a lawyer or doctor or whatever. Assume all legal/medical information is completely wrong. Feel free to talk to a credited professional on any of these topics. Obviously, this is pure fiction and any resemblance to someone's actual life is purely coincidental. I apologize if this chapter felt misleading or caused any negative reactions.)

I really like Butler Jean, so I gave him a more meaningful role, he's not Alfred, but some butlers go above and beyond. I think he qualifies. Hawkmoth is up next for real this time.