"I can't help but wonder… is it my fault?"

Sabrina swallowed, schooling her expression to suppress her reactionary flinch, and leaned forward, examining Noëlle carefully. A couple years older than Sabrina, Noëlle had arrived in a long, baggy shirt and shorts, wearing flipflops that looked to be a little too small for her feet. Her face appeared drawn and worn from exhaustion and stress – understandable, after the last few months. She had been in her final year at Sorbonne University when the Tarasque had appeared. Stifling a yawn, Noëlle slumped in her seat, clutching her teacup in trembling hands. Sabrina let out a slow sigh, sipping her own tea, and placed a hand on her stomach. "What makes you think that it could be your fault?" Sabrina asked.

"It's not like I have anyone to blame but myself." Noëlle shrugged, sighing in frustration. "Once classes were all cancelled or moved online, I didn't really have a meaningful reason to stay on campus – my parents suggested that I come home and finish from there. But, I don't know, I decided I wanted to stay. I liked seeing my friends. I liked…" She sniffled, stifling a sob. "If I'd gone, maybe I wouldn't have been in the Tarasque's way – my parents were fine. But the Tarasque showed up, my dorm got destroyed, I ran through that portal to Angola, and then I…" She looked down at her stomach meaningfully. "Did you know, I'd never even kissed a boy before this?"

"Were you saving that for someone special?"

"Not really," Noëlle admitted, shaking her head. "More like I just didn't take the time for it. In collège and lycée, there were a couple of boys I really liked, but I was never one of the popular girls, and I was just too shy to say anything. Plus, I kept myself way too busy with schoolwork to even think about dating. I didn't even go to any of the dances. Then when I got to university, I met Bernard my first year, and he was just so sweet and kind and I could just get lost in his eyes." She sighed but it almost immediately shifted into a sniffle. "But he was with Victoire then, and I was taking so many classes, and…" She let out a heavy breath, looking down at her teacup. "For three and a half years, I was just his friend – a close friend, but only a friend. So when they broke up, I had hoped he might ask me out, but then the Tarasque happened and…" She sniffled once more and looked down at the floor, tears escaping the corners of her closed eyes, her emotions turning to grief. Sabrina leaned forward, holding out the tissue box. Noëlle nodded gratefully and blew her nose. "I'd thought… maybe he was the one, you know?" Noëlle looked up at Sabrina, tears in her eyes. But then he was–he was–" She swallowed and looked down at the floor, her shoulders wracked with sobs, and buried her face in her hands.

Sabrina's jaw clenched and she forced herself to breathe, drawing in and letting out deep breaths as she released her own emotions into the atmosphere, trying to insulate herself from the grief and guilt pouring off of Noëlle in waves. When she had arrived that morning, Léa had mentioned a new client before lunch, one who had indicated on her admission form that she had been in Angola during the chaos. At the time, Sabrina had simply acknowledged her as one among many who had fled to Angola – yet another person who had survived thanks in part to Max's sacrifice and the Heroes' actions, only to be scarred with the horrors they had faced. She had seen dozens of such people in the last two months through the rehab center, most of whom were not recovering drug addicts but had instead been drawn to the clinic by the post-Tarasque outreach programs that Emilie had started. All of them had had their own stories about where they had been during the chaos and how they had survived, and Sabrina had listened to them all. None of those others had affected her – or at least not in this way. But Noëlle… "I'm sorry," Sabrina finally told Noëlle, giving her a sympathetic look. "Sometimes the hardest part is all the 'what ifs': you'll never know what could have been. All you can know is what is right now."

Noëlle nodded jerkily, taking another tissue and wiping away the tears streaking her cheeks. "I think – I think that's why I… why it happened," she confessed. "I had just watched… it… happen, and I… I don't know, I thought, 'What's even the point? I lost every chance I could have had with Bernard; what if that happened with everyone?' So…" She shrugged one shoulder. "When I saw Jean in the refugee camp, I didn't even hesitate. At the time, I didn't think I could. It was stupid and impulsive, and it shouldn't ever have happened. But it did. And now… here we are." She frowned, her emotions shifting to guilt and confusion. "I still don't understand how I could have let it happen; half the time I still don't believe it is happening.

Sabrina nodded in understanding. Almost a month she had known she was pregnant, and still she couldn't entirely believe that it had happened. She and Max had been dating for almost a year when the Tarasque appeared, but in that time, they had never been intimate, and had only napped together a couple times after some of Max's all-night lab sessions – none of which had progressed any further than a kiss. But then, the moment the Tarasque had been defeated, it had been like a switch had been flipped in Sabrina's brain. From that moment, she had just been gone. If she had only shown some self-control and restraint…

But those concepts had been far from her thoughts in the heat and passion of the moment. For which oversight she was now paying.

And yet, whenever she started to regret it, whenever she started to become overwhelmed by the prospect of being a mother, she felt that surge of overwhelming happiness. Focusing her emotions, Sabrina reached inward, centering herself with her own emotions, and exhaled, releasing everything into the air. Finally after emptying herself, she could feel the small but growing well of contentment and happiness hiding within her own body, so much stronger and more defined than it had been a month ago when she had first sensed it. Expanding her senses outward, she could feel Noëlle's guilt, shame, and fear across from her, mingled with the residual grief. And yet, she could also feel affection and love and contentment – not coming from Noëlle herself, but from the baby growing within her, whose emotions were so much more developed than those of Sabrina's own child. Giving Noëlle a sympathetic smile, Sabrina let out a breath. "Do you regret what happened?"

Noëlle scoffed, holding her hands out wide. "Wouldn't you?" Sabrina stifled a flinch. Noëlle groaned. "My life is practically over! I was going to start an internship in the fall, I was going to start a life, I was going to have a career. I had all these plans… but now I'm going to be stuck with this baby that I have to take care of. There's no way I can start a job, considering that I'm four months pregnant now; when the internship was supposed to start, it'll be six. I can't exactly take three and a half months off for maternity leave when I've barely been working there that long. How is that going to look for my boss?"

"I imagine your boss would be concerned and surprised," Sabrina admitted. "Perhaps not as much as you, though. But of course, he can't exactly refuse to give you maternity leave: that is your right to receive it."

"No," Noëlle muttered. "But he also doesn't have to make the job bearable when I do come back…"

"Do you think he would try to get rid of you?" Sabrina pursed her lips. "Because if he tries, I can give you information on exactly whom you need to contact at city hall to ensure that he doesn't get away with it."

Noëlle's eyes widened nervously, and she gulped. "I–I wouldn't want to cause trouble," she began hesitantly."

"If he's causing trouble for you," Sabrina pointed out meaningfully. "If he would do something like that to you, then he would do it to someone else."

"Maybe…" Noëlle allowed. She shuddered. "But I really just want to keep my head down and get through it."

Sabrina swallowed, forcing herself to breath slowly and deeply, and studied Noëlle's face carefully. Noëlle stared down at the floor, her hands opening and closing reflexively. "This is an enormous change," Sabrina finally acknowledged, nodding. "A baby is a tremendous responsibility." She furrowed her brows. "Where does Jean stand in all this? It's as much his responsibility as yours, after all."

Sighing, Noëlle shook her head jerkily. "When I told him, he just got angry. He thinks I should just terminate it. He doesn't want to have anything to do with me or with it. He didn't sign up for this; as far as he's concerned we were just having a little fun together in Angola." She shuddered. "I… don't know that I can really blame him for abandoning me. I wasn't really planning this, either. Maybe…" She shrugged helplessly. "I don't exactly want to, but…" She sighed heavily. "What other choice do I have?"

Sabrina swallowed, her eyes widening at the implication. The contentment and happiness in Noëlle's baby almost overpowered her. "You know," Sabrina told her shakily, leaning forward, "we can help you explore other options." Noëlle raised an eyebrow dubiously. "I'm not saying you even have to keep the baby once it's born," Sabrina added quickly, holding her hand up. "But you can put him or her up for adoption. I'm sure another couple would be happy to give your baby a happy life. Or maybe by the time the baby is born, you will want to keep him or her."

"Raise it alone?" Noëlle frowned, giving Sabrina a look.

"It wouldn't be easy, but it would still be possible." Sabrina shrugged. "The Agreste Charity is starting to look into providing pregnancy and maternal support – you aren't the first woman to come to us with a need like this since the Tarasque happened. Of course, it's also possible that you'll meet someone who will help you raise your baby." Noëlle pursed her lips." "I'm not just talking romantically," Sabrina told her. "I'm sure there are other people in your life who would want to help you, even right now."

Noëlle let out a breath, a bit of the fear and guilt easing. "My parents…"

Sabrina smiled encouragingly, inhaling and exhaling slowly, allowing herself to tap into the care and love that she had felt over the last month. "Believe me: I know how confusing and scary this is," she told Noëlle, taking Noëlle's hand in her own. "It feels like you're all alone and scared, facing a completely life-changing situation without any support. But when you step back, I think you'll realize that you aren't as alone as you think you are. And you'll discover that there are people around you who want to help and support you."