Chapter 6: Train of Thought
Trigger Warning: There is a scene where a character gets bruised.
"Thanks for arranging for us to have lunch, Capucine," said Nino. "I was positively starved!"
"Don't mention it," smiled Capucine. She had treated Marinette, Nino and Alya to lunch that afternoon.
"Have you talked to Adrien yet?" inquired Alya.
"No, I haven't had the chance," said Capucine nervously. "He may not want to start over, but I'm willing to try."
"You do love him, don't you?" said Alya quizzically.
"Are you suggesting that I ought to let him go?!" snapped Capucine, temper flaring. "It's not your place!"
Alya looked dumbfounded at the outburst.
"I'm - uh - sorry about that, Alya," said Capucine guiltily. "I've been under a lot of stress. I guess I just snapped."
"That's ok," said Alya. "Take care of yourself, too."
"I will, thanks," said Capucine.
Once again, Adrien was working late that night, when there was a knock on the door. He went to answer it - only to try and shut it again.
"Capucine, I've told you already," he snapped, "I don't want anything to do with you."
"Well, whether you like it or not, I'm taking my daughter back!" demanded Capucine, barging inside. She grabbed herself a jug of juice and downed it in one go, slamming it on the table.
"Shush!" hissed Adrien. "You'll wake Emma."
"I meant to say that I'll take Emma," said Capucine.
"Oh, hell no," snapped Adrien. "You'll do nothing of the sort - AAAAARGH!"
Capucine grabbed the jug and hit him over the shoulder with it, leaving an almighty bruise.
"You crazy woman!" he gasped.
"Do you want some more?" she asked him. "Or will you see sense?"
"Get out," snarled Adrien. "Get out of my house, or else I'll call the police."
Capucine kicked Adrien in the leg with her high-heeled boot, before stalking out.
"...and he hit me! And when I tried to fight back, he threw me out!" sobbed Capucine, on the phone with Marinette. Regardless of the fact that it was eleven-thirty, she'd called her old friend for moral support.
"He did? That's not like him at all," said Marinette. "I mean, he doesn't seem to get angry at all very often, let alone violent!"
"He lost his temper, Marinette," sniffles Capucine. "He can be violent when he does get angry."
"Really?" said Marinette. "Well, I'll talk to him tomorrow. Until then, don't worry too much. G'night."
She hung up, not entirely convinced that Adrien would do such a thing. She looked back to contemplate.
"Emma," said Adrien sternly, taking his four-year-old-daughter's shoulders. "You know that Auntie Marinette loves you a lot, right?"
The girl, not understanding why she appeared to be in trouble, nodded.
"That's why she looks after you," continued Adrien. "She plays with you, talks to you, and she tries to make you happy. What you did today, by putting a frog in her bag, made her very upset."
"But Daddy," pouted the girl. "I didn't want to make her sad."
"But that's what you did," said Adrien. "And Auntie Marinette doesn't like frogs, especially not in the house. So, you know what to do."
"But I didn't mean to-" began Emma, only to be met with a hard stare from her father.
"Now that we're back here," carried on Adrien, "I want you to say sorry to Auntie Marinette, and promise that you won't ever play a prank like that again. I won't tell your mum you did this, but we'll talk about your punishment on the way home. Okay?"
Resigned, Emma nodded.
That was outside Marinette's doorstep on one occasion. Marinette, who was drinking tea after cleaning out her bag, overheard the whole thing. Beautifully handled, Adrien, she thought, firm but gentle. Why would he lay a hand - or anything for that matter - on anyone? He respected women, so Capucine's claim seemed off.
Marinette thought back some more.
"But it was an accident, Mummy!" wailed Emma on another occasion.
"I SAID, STOP CRYING, YOU SILLY LITTLE GIRL!" shouted a stressed-out Capucine. "AND DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT SPILLING YOUR MILKSHAKE ON TOP OF MARINETTE! YOU KNOW WHAT? NO SWEETS FOR A WEEK, YOUNG LADY!"
Capucine had been having a bad day: her boss had called her into work that day (it was a Sunday); her car had broken down, and, to top it off, Emma had accidentally spilled the milkshake Capucine had bought her, on Capucine's suit, on the way to Marinette's.
Marinette had overheard this conversation only vaguely, but she was surprised to see a flustered Capucine and a very upset Emma when she answered the door.
"Capucine, what's the matter?" she'd asked, like a good friend.
"Nothing," said Capucine, hoarse from shouting. "Just stressed out - life and family is tough sometimes. I have to be off for an urgent meeting now. Be back at five o'clock!"
She rushed off. Marinette knelt down to Emma's level; the girl was still perturbed.
"Em? What happened?" she asked.
"M-my Mummy got m-mad at me," she sniffled. "I s-spilled my milkshake on her, b-but it w-was an accident."
The girl seemed genuinely upset, and Marinette felt bad for her.
"Oh, Em," she said sympathetically. "D'you want to give Auntie Marinette a cuddle? That'll make you feel better as well as me."
Emma put her arms around Marinette, who sat her on the couch.
"Sometimes," said Marinette, stroking Emma's hair, "your mum gets a bit stressed out when things go wrong, and sometimes, she gets angry at other people because of that. But it's not your fault, okay? It was an accident. I'm sure your mum was just in a bad mood at the moment, but she will forgive you soon enough."
Emma sniffled again. "I d-don't l-like it when my M-Mummy gets mad at me."
"I know, sweetie," said Marinette. "But we don't stop loving you when we get mad at you. Your mum loves you no matter what."
That calmed Emma down. By the time Capucine got back, Marinette had put Emma down for her nap, and made Capucine a cup of tea.
"Thank you so much, Marinette," said Capucine, now calmer. "I can't put in words how much I appreciate this."
"That's alright, Capucine," replied Marinette. "But I wanted a word with you about something. Emma was quite upset when you two got here. She wanted you to know that it was an accident. It's not my place, but could you try to be a little patient with her, perhaps -"
"Oh, don't start," snapped Capucine, before backtracking. "I'm sorry. I just get SO stressed at times. My boss was threatening to fire me!"
"I see," said Marinette. "Sorry about that."
Capucine did have a tendency to exaggerate when she was angry. She could have been exaggerating when she said that her boss was threatening to fire her - and she could have been exaggerating when she said that Adrien had struck her.
How could that be, though? It seemed that Capucine was the one who wore the pants in their relationship.
Marinette's train of thought rewound:
"You're moving to New York?" said Marinette, surprised. "But why?"
"Capucine wants to find a new job, and better opportunities for Emma," explained Adrien. "And I can't really go above what she says."
"Hmm," said Marinette. "I guess I can't argue with her reasons."
Had Adrien struck Capucine in a fit of infrequent temper? Or was she exaggerating? Who knew?
Marinette decided to put those thoughts to bed, along with herself.'
Marinette was on her way to work the next morning: the metro had broken down. She decided to buy her morning coffee from the store near the gym.
She was surprised to see Adrien and Emma there too, wearing trackbottoms and tank-tops.
"Adrien, Emma, hi!" she said, waving. "At the gym?"
"Hi, Aunt Marinette!" spoke up Emma, smiling brightly despite the early hour. "School's closed today, because something is happening there. So Dad and I went to the gym!"
"Not my idea," yawned Adrien.
"And I was never a morning person myself - hey, what's with the bruise?"
"This? Uh -" Adrien paused, seeming like he wanted to come up with an excuse. "I fell."
"Oh, okay," said Marinette. Once again, her train of thought went back...
"He should be here now," said Nino, as he, Alya and Marinette waited for Adrien at the pub.
"There he is - but what the heck's happened to him?" gasped Marinette. Adrien approached.
"Noticed my stitches, I see?" he said jovially. "I fell off my ladder while getting Emma's kite out of a tree. But I'm alright now."
"Whatever you say, dude," said Nino. But Marinette met him a week later at the supermarket, and he had a grazed cheek.
"Adrien, are you alright?" she said, concerned.
"Oh, yeah - this time, I slipped in the bathroom," he chuckled. "I'm becoming very accident-prone."
"Oh, okay," said Marinette again.
A week later, when he dropped Emma and Mike off at hers, a split lip had been tripping over a stray dog, bandaged fingers had been caught in his car, and a black eye had been from a mugger. Was Adrien really unlucky nowadays?
Marinette's mind had been interrupted by Emma.
"Say, Aunt Marinette, have you been to the gym?" she asked.
"No," said Marinette, sinking into conversation, "not in a while."
"It's fun! I didn't get to go on the big machines, but I did get to do an aerobics session, and..."
The conversation between the three of them lasted until Marinette made her excuses. But all day, try as she might, she couldn't get those thoughts out of her head. What in the name of Simon and Garfunkel was going on?
What indeed? Stay tuned for Chapter 7. Also, am I moulding Capucine into just another Lila, or is she any more interesting? Let me know in the reviews - in any case, she will have a background!