Chapter 4: Families Re-United

A few days later, Adrien had found a place - a rented flat - where he and Emma could stay, so they moved out of Marinette's soon enough, with a now almost- fully-used-to-her-surroundings Emma having thrown herself into Marinette's arms for a hug when they did.

Marinette missed having them around; she enjoyed their company and was glad to have someone to look after. On the bright side, Alya and her family were coming back from their holiday.

The day after their return, Alya came round to visit Marinette. After exchanging greetings, Marinette poured her friend a cup of tea.

"How was Germany?" she asked.

"It was pretty good actually," said Alya. "The kids especially enjoyed Legoland, and I had quite some fun at Potsdamer Platz. In fact, I managed to get a little something for you, too..."

It was a key ring.

"Alya, it's lovely!" said Marinette gratefully. "Thank you. I'll put it to use."

"Well, I couldn't deny my best friend a gift," said Alya.

"Speaking of friends," butted in Marinette, "guess who showed up on my doorstep the other day?"

"Who?"

Marinette told Alya everything that had happened. By the end of it, Alya said, "Something life-changing must have happened. Maybe Adrien and Emma couldn't stay in New York anymore, and that's why they had to come here."

"That's what I was thinking."

"Hey," said Alya. "Maybe to welcome them back, we could all go out somewhere - to Musee D'Orsay or something!"

"Sounds like a plan," agreed Marinette. "And after that, we can all go somewhere for a snack - like mum and dad's bakery, or to Andre's."

"How does next Saturday sound?"

"It's alright for me - I'll check with Adrien as well," said Marinette. "Hopefully this'll be a good way for those two to re-orient themselves."

"Alright, little dudes," said Nino to his son, Mike, and his daughter, Martine, as the Lahiffe family waited outside the Musee D'Orsay. "We've a little surprise for you."

"What's it gonna be like, Dad?" inquired the boy.

"You'll just have to wait and see!" said Alya, holding his sister's hand. "But one thing that we will tell you is that if you little monkeys are good, we'll get ice cream!"

"Is that them?" said Nino. He squinted. "Nope, it's just Aunt Marinette."

Aunt Marinette strolled up, a cloth bag in hand.

"There you are, girl," said Alya, "we were wondering if you'd decided to flee the country."

"I wouldn't do that, not if it meant missing out meeting my best friends," grinned Marinette.

"Hi, Auntie Marinette!" said Martine in her squeaky young voice.

"Hey, Martine, Mike - how are you kids doing? Are you excited about your surprise?"

"Where is it?" said Mike, cocking his head curiously.

"Have patience, Mike," said Marinette reassuringly. "It'll be worth the wait."

Just then, a voice came in from behind.

"I hope we didn't keep you waiting," it said; everyone turned to see Adrien, with Emma holding his hand. Her and Mike's faces lit up.

"EMMA!" said Mike, tackling his old friend in a hug, as though they had just won a football match. "You're back!"

"Calm down, Mike," said Emma cheekily, "you don't want to crush your friend just when you saw her after five years!"

"My daughter, the snark-mistress," said Adrien, shaking his head.

"Are you one of Mikey's friends?" said Martine curiously to Emma.

"Um, yeah," said Emma. "Are you his little sister?" The younger girl nodded.

"Well, now that all four grown-ups - and all three little monkeys - are here," said Alya, "let's now begin our tour of the magnificent Musee D'Orsay!"

The trip to the museum was a fun one; everyone admired the paintings of Van Gogh, Monet, and Gauguin, and while none of the children seemed too interested in the paintings, they found themselves immersed in a game of 'I Spy' (although the older two got annoyed when Martine kept repeating 'bird' at every pigeon that came by).

Afterwards, they went to Andre's for ice cream and then to the park. Nino offered to play football with Emma, Mike and Martine, while Alya, Adrien and Marinette talked. Adrien was telling Alya more about New York, and why he and Emma had to come back.

"So Capucine and I split things. She got the penthouse and most of the property. I got Emma, and I guess that's a good thing," he explained.

"She seems to be adapting quite well," said Alya.

"It's been a few weeks - she was pretty nervous at first. I guess being with Mike helped things," replied Adrien. "But it was Marinette was good enough to take us in. She didn't ask any questions, she just gave us some dry clothes, some hot food, a warm bed and the milk of human kindness."

"I'm not surprised," said Alya. "Marinette's our kindest, most reliable friend."

"Well," said Marinette, blushing, "you are my friend, Adrien. And Emma, she's still child who was in relatively unfamiliar circumstances, and I want her to settle back in as comfortably as I can."

Just then, the girls ran over - or to be precise, the older girl hurried into view, carrying the younger one, who seemed to be crying.

"Mummy!" wailed Martine.

"What happened, baby?" asked Alya, setting Martine on her lap.

"She tripped over Uncle Nino's foot and grazed her knee," said Emma, panting, "it was an accident."

"It'll be okay, Martine," said Marinette, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. "A bit of ointment and you'll be just fine."

"In fact," said Adrien, "nurse Emma can help, too!"

"Me?" said Emma, with a smile. "Okay!"

So Alya, Marinette, Adrien and Emma patched Martine up, and she was feeling much better after Alya kissed the injured knee. Then, the girls headed off to continue the game.

"My girl's got a good heart, I'll say that much," said Adrien. "She's wanted to be an older sister since she was three. When she was younger, she'd be with her dolls, playing with them and 'looking after' them, and I'd come and ask what she was doing and she'd say, 'I'm training to be a big sister!' Capucine didn't want any more kids, though - she had the job and other stuff on her plate." Adrien looked like he wanted to say something more, but he bridled his tongue.

"Aw, that's sweet," smiled Marinette.

"Well, if she did become a big sister," laughed Alya, "she'd find it much harder than she thought. Look at our Mikey - he was practically begging us for a little brother or sister when he was four. Fast forward a few years, and he's telling me 'Mum, why did you have to have me first? Couldn't you have had Martine first so that I could annoy her?"

Adrien and Marinette laughed.

"Well, that's life," said Marinette, shaking her head. "And with joy comes annoyance sometimes."

"True that," said Adrien.

Eventually, it was time to go home. Marinette walked with Adrien and Emma to their flat after the Lahiffes went home.

"Thank you for taking us out, Marinette," said Adrien.

"We had a lot of fun today," said Emma.

"It's my pleasure, both of you," answered Marinette warmly. "I was glad to see all of you again. Hopefully we can do this another time soon."

"Yeah," said Adrien. "Bye, Marinette."

"Bye-bye, Aunt Marinette," said Emma, high-fiving her honorary aunt. Marinette headed home, where she hunkered down for the day with some coffee.

She didn't have the head for raising her own kids, and she didn't really want to commit to a relationship. But while that didn't change, she couldn't deny that watching families having a good time brought a smile to her face.

And that's Families Re-United, a fluffy chapter which brought the characters together. But stay tuned for Chapter 5, because things start to get interesting.