Chapter 7
Upon the leave of Lila Kurtzberg after a few days, she was taken home along with Nathaniel by Luka and his wife Marinette to hand them out a hand at the start of the issue. The quartet had stepped at the path leading to the Kurtzberg household and they led Lila slow along the way.
"My mother is at the moment taking care of our daughter. She offered help and would look how we two should be around Lila for the next times," Mentioned Nathaniel walking along with the Frenchman in front of their life partners.
"I'm sure this is no easy task for a girl like Nathalie. It's just about four days since she has started school and now this happened with Lila. I think we should as well put an eye on her,"
"At the moment, Nathalie didn't talk much to me about her, she just asked when mommy would return and if she would be okay,"
"And what did you say, if I may ask?" Questioned the blue-haired woman earning Nathaniel's attention.
"I was honest with her. I knew along with her Lila was in a good state now, she just had from the hit lost important memories of her life and that it could take a long time to recuperate. I would eventually need help in this case as well, but she shouldn't worry about me, I'm on it by myself,"
"Good to know," Stated Marinette making Nathaniel nod, which opened the door with the key.
"You know you can count on me anytime you need someone to talk to. Doesn't matter, if it's day or night," Offered the husband of Marinette, then all entered into the corridor of the house and observed the Italian woman analyze the familiar surrounding.
The raven-haired woman looked at the corridor noticing a few decorations on the wall, which were brought from other countries and the Couffaines looked at Nathaniel, which observed his wife admiring the souvenirs on the wall.
"Where did you get these? Questioned the woman, then Luka placed his hand on Nathaniel's shoulder signaling him to tell it to Lila.
"Actually you are the one, who bought them," Mentioned the redhead. "It was from a few places you have been when you were starting with the career as an actress," Responded the husband, then Lila placed on an opened-up fan with kanji symbols on it and a date. "I've been in Japan?"
"Your best friend Kagami got married there. You met her years ago at the high school...Perhaps you cant remember anything from now,"
"I think not," Commented Lila, then Luka pointed at one duo-colored tile that was from Morocco.
"You've bought this one in Rabat as you were invited into an audition for the main role of the movie 1001 ways to cross the desert. The role got another woman which had a beautiful Arabian accent when singing and before you left the city you had gotten one of those,"
"Okay, I think I may have seen something like this before," Commented Lila making Luka smile and look at his wife, which mirrored the Frenchman's face.
"Do you remember, where you have been before?" Questioned Luka taking his smartphone to research information. "You've been working as the main protagonist in a series,"
"I was?" Questioned Lila curious making Luka nod and show her the intro of the series. "I can only find the intro on the site and a few random clips from the first episodes,"
"Kinda funny. I can't recall any time I have participated in it," Spoke Lila making Luka roll his eyes at Nathaniel, which looked back at the wall decorations.
"Okay, perhaps it will take a longer while as the doctor said," Spoke Nathaniel making Marinette nod.
"You have to mentalize yourself, that the process could take months as well. You just have to be patient and go with the flow," Pointed Marinette out.
"Right," Commented Nathaniel, then he looked at the stairs beside the corridor and remembered the second floor, then looked back at his friends. "I know, where we could go eventually or well see if it perks up her memory a little," Suggested the redhead, then looked along with Luka at the raven-haired woman.
"What about we go upstairs?" Questioned Luka watching Lila look at Nathaniel stepping on the first step waiting for his wife to follow.
"Alright," Commented Lila following Nathaniel along with Marinette and Luka, along the next corridor, so Nathaniel could present the group the hobby room, that the Kurtzberg couple had painted a few years ago together.
"I haven't been here in this room before," Stated Marinette looking at the various paintings made on the wall, then spotted on the top large lines forming the group of superheroes from their teenage times as they used to protect Paris together. "Is that new?"
"It's actually work in progress. I started it on the last months of Lila's pregnancy and never came to the chance to continue it," Mentioned Nathaniel, then watched Lila move around the room looking at the paintings on the wall.
"She seems to like them," Commented Luka making Nathaniel nod.
"She did that before as well, the question now is if she does get any memory from it," Spoke Nathaniel watching Luka raise his finger.
"She does have them, the issue is, she can't recall them,"
"I know, that's what the doctor said," Contered Nathaniel crossing his arms from being corrected. "Show me some respect, I almost lost my wife,"
„I just wanted to help you," Apologized Luka, then Marinette grabbed her husband's arm to show Lila kneel down in front of a painting with easter eggs being guarded by a fox.
„I feel like I have seen this before," Commented Lila passing her hand over the drawing, then Nathaniel approached the woman and got down beside her to look at it.
„Do you know who colored that?" Questioned the husband while the Italian analyzed the image.
„You?" Questioned Lila making slowly raising her eyebrows up. „I…..weren't you a talented artist back at the school?" Questioned Lila making Nathaniel nod.
„That's right," Confessed Nathaniel. „Can you recall anything else?"
„Nothing more at the moment," Responded Lila making Nathaniel nod.
„And anything additional you may remember about me?" Questioned the husband watching Lila roll her eyes down to think about it. „I think you like comics,"
„Exactly," Answered Nathaniel making Lila nod, then look back at the drawing. „That's a good start, isn't it?" Questioned the German looking up at the friends, which nodded.
„I agree," Spoke Luka, then Nathaniel got up to see the woman continue analyzing the image.
Adrien along with his son and his wife were invited by Mrs. Tsurugi up for dinner at her home. The four sat at the dinner table together enjoying their meal, while they commented about the current living state.
„Tomorrow it's going to be serious for me again. I'm certain, this time I will pass. I've been investing my entire full time into the studies like I never did before," Told Adrien proud. „If everything goes well,"
„You will go through it. We all know, hard work has always paid off," Mentioned Tomoe making Adrien smile.
„This means, he can now spend more time with me, right dad?" Asked Elliot looking across the table at the blonde man.
„I will try to be more present for you after this. I know this year I have been really absent for you," Mentioned Adrien. „What do you think about tomorrow after school we both go out at the park and hang out?"
„You mean it?" Questioned Elliot widening his eyes at his father's promise.
„I give you my pinky promise," Said Adrien reaching his hand out, showing the smallest finger at the boy, then Elliot took up his hand to lock his pinky finger on Adrien's. „Taisho!"
„Taisho!" Repeated Elliot making Kagami smile at the two blonde's agreement.
„Is it alright, if I pick up Elliot from school?" Questioned Kagami. „We both leave at 3,"
„It's alright. I won't be out of the classrooms before 4 pm more or less," Mentioned Adrien making his wife nod.
„That we are now talking about school, Elliot, you haven't told us how your first week at the first grade," Mentioned Tomoe looking towards the young adults, which looked at their son.
„Tell grandma what you have learned so far at the school," Asked Kagami looking at the boy, which nodded.
„We learned how to do maths," Responded Elliot. „I used to know it was called plus calculation, but I also learned that it's called addition,"
„Good and are you doing well with it?" Questioned Tomoe making Elliot nod.
„I'm doing very good for now," Answered Elliot. „Mom has taken time to see all my homework before I would bring them back to school. She also agrees that I'm doing a good job,"
„Excellent. There's nothing better than having a head start," Added Tomoe pleased to know about her grandson's success.
„I know, mother. From now on, Adrien and I are on a good route with Elliot's education," Declared the woman.
„I have also gotten to know my classmates," Mentioned Elliot. „My friends Cody and Rouven are there as well,"
„Great and who were these boys again?" Questioned Tomoe, then Adrien moved up his index finger.
„Rouven's the son of Marinette, the daughter from the couple at the Dupain-Cheng bakery," Mentioned Adrien. „Cody is the boy from Myléne you met two years ago at the mayor election. Her father was the candidate Fred Hapréle, who had lost,"
„Ah, that girl. I remember her from the conference," Commented Mrs. Tsurugi. „What about the other classmates? Are there any ones whose parents are from a specific job category?"
„What exactly are you referring to?" Asked Adrien unsure about his mother-in-law's question, then Kagami held her hand in front of her chest signaling her husband, that she would take that question.
„I was there on the first school day. One of the son's father is a famous soccer player from the Japanese national team. Leeton Sakamoto. Does that name ring a bell to you?" Questioned Kagami watching her mother ponder about it.
„I feel like I have heard it before,"
„Alright, then there is the journalist River Langerak, whose daughter joined the class too. Jin's son is there as well. You know the Nepali from my old university times. Those are basically the ones I know," Explained Kagami. „Unless there was this one boy, whose parents both are police officers," Added Kagami making the mother raise her eyebrows surprised.
„That boy sure will have one rigorous education," Commented Tomoe, making Elliot swallow hard a little tensed about the conversation. Kagami noticed Elliot's reaction, then moved her hand over the table at her son, which noticed it.
„Don't worry, we're not going to let her do this," Promised Kagami making Elliot shake his head slowly.
Elliot isn't quite used to be around his mother's mom, so he often gets scared by the direct approach of the woman. Just like his own father he has a high respect towards the former fencing champion. Despite his mother and maternal grandmother being from the same blood, Elliot knows, that his mother has a softer spot and for sure there is also a more dominant side of the young woman, which Elliot perhaps didn't get to see very often in his lifetime.
„What I find curious about Elliot's class is the fact, plenty of the students have double-nations. We even had two or three students, which have around four different nationalities inside their blood!" Warned Adrien making Tomoe curious about the story.
„Those two are Ruby and Deborah," Mentioned Elliot making Adrien nod.
„Right the one girl is Langerak's daughter," Commented Adrien, then the doorbell rang interrupting the conversation on the table.
„Are you awaiting someone?" Questioned Kagami watching her mother shake her head.
„I will go see, if you don't mind, Mrs. Tsurugi," Mentioned Adrien watching Tomoe move her hand up to allow her son-in-law to get up, afterward Adrien left the room to approach the door and opened it back to see in front of him a woman from the forties standing with a medium-sized animal transport box there at the door. „Good evening, can I help you?"
„No, but I think I can help you," Said the woman in a serious tone, then took from the purse she had over her shoulder out a light-green colored dog collar with a silver-colored tag on it. Adrien formed his lips into an O as he recognized the collar, then returned his eyes at the woman.
„I've been looking for that collar for the past five months. Where did you find it?" Questioned Adrien with a smile, then the woman turned around the box to reveal inside it three black-colored puppies and two brown ones making Adrien smile enchanted at the cuteness of the sleeping puppies. „Aww how cute,"
„Good, that you like them," Commented the woman dropping the collar on the ground making Adrien furrow his eyebrows at the woman's deed. „Your stupid dog got into my garden and allowed himself to make my precious Belle pregnant,"
„But…...Shiryoku was home when I came looking for him after he ran off the car at the vet," Commented Adrien, then looked back to see the black Labrador show up to look at the woman, then began to use his nose to pick up a scent and stepped back as he recognized the smell. „What's up boy?" Asked Adrien making the woman snort.
„Your dog knows what he has done. Some dog owners just don't have control over their own dogs,"
„I had bad luck on that day. I just had offered my mother-in-law to bring him to the appointment at the vet and after our date there, he jumped out of the car and vanished. I saw I made a mistake there and I'm trying to avoid it again,"
„Your trying won't make this what happened to me okay!" Warned the mother sternly, making Adrien frown.
„What else do you want me to do? Keep them here?" Questioned Adrien serious.
Moments later Kagami Agreste came along, stepping beside her husband to see, what was going on.
„What's going on?" Questioned the Japanese woman, then she was caught by the eyes of the brunette in front of her.
„Your husband or boyfriend here had lost his dog months ago and he had dropped his DNA on my Belle's and conveiced these puppies here," Told the woman making Kagami frown and cross her arms.
„Impossible, Shiryoku was neutered years ago," Added Kagami making Adrien swallow hard at Kagami's comment.
„Then explain to me, why exactly the dog I caught had this collar here around his neck?" Questioned the woman picking the collar up from the floor to show it to Kagami, which picked it up to recognize the address on it.
„Alright I don't really want to push this conversation into the wrong way, but when I took Shiryoku into his last vaccination on the first year he was with your mother, the teacher had advised, that I should let him get neutered and on the day I was at the veterinary, I remembered his explanation of the operation and I felt bad for this act. I….skipped it out of fear and assumed it would be fine," Confessed Adrien passing his hand behind his neck embarrassed. „I'm so sorry I lied about Shiryoku's appointment. It felt inhumane for me to have it get done on him and…..you have the right to be mad at me,"
„Typical men," Commented the woman crossing her arms, making Kagami frown.
„You're not inside this issue. This is between me and him," Mentioned Kagami. „And if you really caught Shiryoku on your female, why didn't you contact us before? Or make sure before she was pregnant by visiting a vet?"
„I wasn't expecting that she would actually get pregnant at the first try," Commented the woman. „So what, I made a mistake,"
„So and when you do a mistake it's okay, but when someone else does it it's bad?" Questioned Adrien raising his eyebrow, then Kagami grabbed her husband on the shoulder.
„Don't waste your time with her, let's head to the solution right now and forget the rest," Suggested Kagami, then the woman pushed the cage towards the couple, which looked down at it.
„They're at the legal age according to the vet to leave the mother. As I see you two are wealthy enough to take care of the vaccination and anything else they could need. I have my part of the deal solved, now it's up to you," Spoke the woman, then turned her back towards the couple to make her way out of the plot of the Tsurugis and Kagami got down on the ground to look at the pups inside the box.
„Five puppies?" Questioned Kagami, followed by Adrien getting down beside her to look at them as well.
„Finding them a home will be difficult," The blonde mentioned making Kagami nod.
„Labs are really good sort of dogs. I don't think it's going to be so hard. The other question is if the future owner is adequate for them,"
„The teacher from the dog school said Labs are very useful for many occasions. Besides being a good assistance dog, they'll do well as rescue dogs, therapy dogs, or even as police dogs," Spoke Adrien making Kagami nod.
„Getting them one of those places sure is a greater idea. They sure could use them," Spoke Kagami making Adrien nod, then Shiryoku approached the duo to sniff on the box and Adrien placed his hand on the dog's head.
„Your nose shouldn't lead you to other dogs going through heat. Mostly you shouldn't have run away from me that other day at the vet," Spoke Adrien placing his hands on the dog's face. „I spared you to get neutered, unlike other owners. You were lucky," Said Adrien then got licked on his face by the dog. „Hey stop that," Ordered Adrien with a chuckle, then Kagami got up to shove the box into the house and waited for Adrien to return as well.
Nathaniel sat in the bedroom of his daughter on the carpet in front of the daughter's bed. Nathalie was wearing her pajama and looking down at her father, which was also in his under clothing.
„You have noticed, that your mother at the moment doesn't remember anything about our lives together and I know you're worried about this. In the next weeks, I will be sleeping on the couch, while mom sleeps alone on our bed. As long as she doesn't remember who I am, I won't force her to be there with her. I just want you to know, that this is the reason I'm doing this,"
„Okay," Replied the daughter. „But mommy is okay?" Inquired Nathalie making her father nod.
„For now on, she's good," Assured Nathaniel making Nathalie nod. He noticed his daughter remained a little inferior, then grabbed the daughter by the hand and gave her a little smile, thereafter the girl went down at the fluffy carpet to sit beside him. „How was your school day?" Questioned Nathaniel, then Nathalie got up from the ground to get back to her school bag, then took out a school file, then took out from the inside a sheet and showed it to her father.
„At the art class we had to paint the flag of our nationality and add information about our family," Explained Nathalie opening up her sheet to reveal the German her drawing. „I didn't know which flags I should have drawn, so I made Germany and Italy. Here I have the green part of Italy and half part of the white background. The other side is Germany,"
„Great, see now you've set the Germany colors in the right order," Complimented Nathaniel making Nathalie smile.
„I always kept changing them a lot. The world map had another flag with the same colors, but it's looking down like Italy," Explained Nathalie making her father nod.
„They're vertically looking, I know, darling," Commented Nathaniel, then the kid sat down on Nathaniel's lap to show him the image. „And who are those people here in the middle of the drawing?" Questioned the redhead noticing the decent-drawn human characters in the middle of the image.
„This is you, me, and mama," Mentioned Nathalie making Nathaniel nod.
„Oh so this woman here is your mom?" Questioned the father earning a nod from the girl.
„And above here these small drawings are short notes about her. Here this mask here means, she's an actress, here I made a mini Italy flag, the heart means she's very caring towards me and this emoji here with the three lines means she's serious,"
„Okay and what are mines?" Questioned Nathaniel at the moment as at the entrance of the bedroom appeared Lila Kurtzberg, which glimpsed into the bedroom out of curiosity.
„This book here means you work at a comic book store, the ball means you're very playful, the smiley means you're very kind, the pencil means you're creative and the 50 stands for fairness," Explained Nathalie making Nathaniel smile, which placed his arm around the daughter's back and lied his chin over her head.
„It's great, darling," Commented Nathaniel.
At the entrance, Lila smiled warmly from seeing the two bond, then moved on. Nathaniel looked at the exit to see nothing, then shrugged his shoulders.
„What is it, dad?"
„I had the impression someone had been standing there at the door," Mentioned the father, watching Nathalie look back as well and turn up at her father.
„Usually mommy would pass by, when you used to be here with me," Remembered the girl making the redhead nod.
„She did, she did," Responded Nathaniel, then looked up at the bulletin board, that hung over the wall across the dollhouse, observing the number of pictures Nathalie had along with her mother and some of him along with Lila and the girl.
„You know, mother sometimes was very curious about certain things, I'm sure if she gets to the conclusion to ever look through all this stuff in your room or anywhere else, she might be able to remember anything," Commented Nathaniel making the daughter nod, while continuing to caress the girl's back.