Chapter 14
At a security prison, three guards entered together into the building coming from the outside together, while the last one, which was a younger guard still had his smartphone in his hands while the other two guards had put it back into their pants.
"Julien, who are you still texting to, if I might ask?" Questioned the brunette guard, which walked in front.
"Remember last month, when the warden had talked about eventually setting up a few more guards dogs here?" Questioned Julien making the work pal nod. "There is a post here from the former model Adrien Agreste, which is giving away puppies. At the moment he's got three available and if I'm lucky I could get one and have him get trained,"
"What breed?" Asked the guard, then Julien showed the man the images of the five puppies and two of them were crossed away due to them being reserved. "I think I have already fallen in love with the one at the corner here,"
"He indeed is adorable. What are their genders?"
"I think the free ones are all males," Commented Julien. "I have texted him and he suggested I should pass by after the 7. I shouldn't worry about if he wasn't there, anyone else in his household is around,"
"If you have success send me a picture of him,"
"Sure, I will. Afterward, I will have to look for the training academy and tell the warden about it. So far I'm currently the only one going to own a dog and so far I know Connor already has adopted a shepherd,"
"Yeah, he has. He's called Malin so far I know," Commented Julien, then the trio entered another corridor, which led to the large hall where all the cells were located on the first floor and he picked up his walkie-talkie to contact one of the other guards. "Phillip, I'm done, where can I come to jump in, so you can go to your break?"
"I'm on the main side of the building. Three prisoners have their sentence completed today. I'll meet you in sector 7 when I'm done here,"
"Alright, I'll be there"
On the other side of the jail, a dark-colored guard walked beside a caramel-blonde man around his fifties walking on with a neutral look on his face, following in front two other guards, which were leading two other prisoners at the office. The first duo was attended by the office, in the meanwhile, the rest waited for their turn. The duo moved on, so the next one could be attended and the last guard chuckled.
"One more step and you can go back to freedom," Commented the guard. "You're excited?"
"I'd be more if I could return back home," Responded the prisoner making the guard nod.
"Well, you're free to go your own way after you stepped out here. Perhaps around Paris now for you or even the others here, it might get difficult to get back into the life as you knew before. You had plenty of years to rethink everything. If you change to become a decent citizen like the ones, who never landed here before it's the best in my opinion. If you choose to go the other path it's…..well, not really great, but it will just raise your chances of landing here again,"
"I'll keep that in mind," Commented the blonde, then moved forward along with the guard.
"Durant Adam Lefevre," Mentioned the man at the office opening a box, where his belongings were, and took them out and placed it on the table in front of the man. "One smartphone, a wallet with all the previous content including money, one passport, and an address book,"
"Thank you,"
"Wish you good luck out there," Wished the man inside the office watching the blonde put everything back in each free pocket except for the address book, then saluted with his index and middle finger at the man and was accompanied out to the corridor, that led to the exit, afterward came to pass by the last two guards, which had brought the other two men out.
"I'll be coming with you, Luc," Spoke the dark-skinned man earning a nod from his partner, then at the end of the corridor the guard opened the door to show the path leading to the exit, where another cabin was with a guard sitting in there managing the use of the gate. "There's the exit, after that you're officially a free man. Good luck out there," Wished the guard, then the blonde walked along the aisle, then passed by the cabin, and looked at the long road, leading to a town quarter. The man opened up his book to look at the closest contacts he had, then rolled his eyes down and closed it.
Adrien sat in the living room along with his parents and Kagami, which had been watching TV, which entered into a commercial break. Adrien sat beside his wife, which besides him had her legs crossed and looked at Adrien, which had been talking with her.
"This really grinds my gears. I was so close to make it this time. I invested so many hours of my free time and still I don't get through it because of a single point,"
"This really came unexpectedly. I can't even believe it, this is really your final results,"
"It's really frustrating, Kagami," Adrien spoke placing his hand under his chin. "I'm beginning to think at this rate I'm never going to make it,"
"You shouldn't think like that. This time you saw, you've done it far better, than the last two times. You could make it this time differently. For example….your father used to make your schedule of how your week would be like. Like you could take a walk in the morning, study for a few hours, have lunch, have another walk, study again, eventually walk again, watch TV or anything, and if Elliot is done with his homework you two could spend some time together. Before bedtime, you could study again or before dinner. This could work better and it would be more balanced for you,"
"It sure is a good idea. From now on, I'll do a break. The last few months have been really monotonous. I could use a little more diversity,"
"Elliot sure would love to spend more time with his dad," Commented Kagami making Adrien smile a little.
"Right. I owe him that," Mentioned Adrien, then the doorbell rang calling the attention of the young couple. "I think that's the guy," Said Adrien getting up, followed by Kagami to encounter at the door their house assistant, which had left the bureau to encounter the young Agrestes.
"Adrien Agreste, a man is out there and would like to adopt one of the puppies," Announced Maria making Adrien nod.
"Thanks Maria, I'll take it from here. You can go back," Responded Adrien earning a nod from the woman, which returned to the office and Kagami walked first at the door followed by Adrien.
"I'll take it from here. If you'd like you could sit back," The woman said making Adrien shrug his shoulder.
"You know what, I will go up and look for Hope and Elliot," Mentioned Adrien making Kagami nod, then Adrien pecked the woman on her cheek and he walked the stairs up. Up at the corridor, he heard both kids laugh, then Adrien moved along towards the bedroom of his son to watch his son play along with the niece with remote-controlled cars on a racing track, that was set up near the corner of the bedroom. Above the track floated Plagg with his cheese watching the cars guided by the kids, which had fun with the toy.
"What an interesting duel. Who's on the lead?" Questioned Adrien getting down on his knees to watch it from the near.
"It's me," Stated Hope making Elliot cackle.
"We're always switching positions every moment," The son commented, then Adrien sat down beside Elliot.
"Would I get the chance to challenge one of you?" Questioned Adrien, then Hope held him the remote controller, making Adrien smile and accept it. "You could just wait until the race was over,"
"It's alright. We actually didn't plan, when it would end," Stated Hope making Elliot nod, which stopped his car at the start line and watched Adrien tax the car forward with its controller to the start line as well.
"Are you ready?" Mumbled Plagg while he was chewing on his cheese, then Elliot and Adrien exchanged looks before Plagg gave the sign to start. "Go!"
Both blondes pressed the button to accelerate across the track at the same time, watching the vehicles pass by the curves up to the looping, leading it afterward to head towards a long U-turn near the wall of the bedroom.
"Oh, I'm slowly taking the lead!" Warned Adrien, which stuck his tongue out making Hope laugh, which got up to watch the race from above, afterward noticed at the entrance of the bedroom the housecat Shadow run into the bedroom and jumped on top of the chair of Elliot's desk to stare at the door. Hope moved towards the door to see Kagami walk along with a taller man, then Hope stepped back getting noticed by the man, which waved at the girl.
"That's my sister-in-law," Mentioned Kagami stopping by the young girl, which smiled a little shyly.
"I saw Shadow run in here and thought he had gotten worried about something," Mentioned Hope making Kagami nod.
"Shadow's our cat over there at the chair," Commented Kagami making the man nod, then he rolled aside his eyes to see Adrien from behind along with his son playing together at the car track. "My husband, is over there with our son," Introduced Kagami, then Adrien looked back at the man and raised his hand up to greet the man, afterward Elliot looked back as well.
"The one and only Adrien Agreste?" Spoke the brunette curious, then Adrien got up to hold out his hand at the man. "I'm Julien…...I have to confess, I had in mind you'd look much taller,"
"Last time I saw my height it was 179cm," Mentioned Adrien. "Nothing like my father is,"
"Ah yes, your father is Gabriel Agreste, the fashion designer Durant Lefevre's cousin as far as I know," Commented Julien making Adrien furrow his left eyebrow.
"You know him?" Questioned Adrien making Julien nod, then widen his eyes from the conversation.
"Right, I haven't mentioned, that he was located in the jail I'm employed on," Mentioned Julien.
"Who exactly is this Durant?" Questioned Kagami curious. "I've never heard anything about this person,"
"He's the one, who had locked up my mother away," Mentioned Adrien. "We barely spoke about him since ever,"
"What did this man do to you, mom?" Asked Elliot looking up at his mother, which smiled a little and placed her hand on Elliot's cheek.
"Your dad didn't mean me, it was something with grandma, that happened years ago," Corrected Kagami. "Look mom has to show this man Shiryoku's puppies and see if he wants one. I'll be back later,"
"It was great to meet you, Mr. Agreste," Commented Julien, then followed Kagami out of the bedroom. Elliot looked at Hope, which shrugged her shoulders and both looked at Adrien.
"What happened a long time ago, dad?" Questioned Elliot grabbing Adrien by his hand, earning the attention of the green-eyed man.
"Elliot, I'm not sure if I should tell you this. I don't want you to be scared or anything,"
"I won't. Mom told me I was just as brave as Cat Noir," Mentioned Elliot. "So did Plagg," Added Elliot, then Adrien looked at Plagg, which sat on the looping of the track, and looked up at the two blondes.
"He comes after you, cheesecake," Commented Plagg, then Adrien nodded and sat down on the ground.
"Son, I think I could tell you a bit of the story," Spoke Adrien making Elliot curious, therefore he sat down behind Adrien and looked at Hope, which sat as well across the nephew to listen to the story making Adrien snort. "Alright, but I don't want you to talk to Emilie about it. Will you two promise?" Adrien asked making the two children nod. "Well….years ago, my mother was working as an actress. Her last job before she had disappeared she had the leading role in a movie and was invited to be present at the movie premiere. On that night father and she had a little fight. I don't know, what it was about, but she was fed up with him and had left all alone to the premiere. Later on, when I went with my father to the premiere, we couldn't find her anywhere and no one else knew about her as well. We had to assume, that something happened to her and warned the police to look for her and explained everything, that was going on. At some point during her disappearance father had received a letter saying, that mother had died in an accident and he was angry at what had happened and felt guilty as well. About two years later I made it to talk with him and he showed me the letter. Along with Ladybug, we went to look for clues, and while on it, we spoke with Gabriel about the family members of both sides until Ladybug found something suspicious. We followed this clue and ended up figuring out, that Emilie had been kidnapped all along and locked away,"
"Then you two saved her?" Questioned Hope making Cat Noir shake his head.
"Before that, Ladybug went to look for the police and convinced them to follow us and find her as well. Afterward, he was arrested and is now in jail. There's nothing for us all to worry about,"
"Was I born yet, before this had happened to our mom?" Asked Hope looking up at her brother, which shook his head.
"You weren't inside mother yet, just a few months later I think," Commented Adrien, then looked at Elliot which was glimpsing at his father neutrally. "At that time your mother and I got to know each other better and I began to see her in another light," Added Adrien making Elliot smile.
"When did mom begin to love you?" Questioned Elliot making Adrien blush a little, then place his hand behind his neck.
"I'm not quite sure if it happened during fencing lessons or at another point. You know, when I was younger I wasn't quite aware of people, who were attracted to me," Mentioned Adrien making Elliot chuckle. "I see you're amused about it?"
"It sounds ridiculous,"
"I guess it does," Commented Adrien placing his arm around his son's back. "In a couple of years, you might experience the same thing eventually. Find the one, who's worth fighting for,"
"Did you save mom from someone?" Questioned Elliot making Adrien chuckle.
"Never. One fact is, that your mother has always been very selfless and able to protect herself from danger. Even in our younger days. Before she even had received the role to work along with us other heroes around Paris," Adrien commented proudly as he remembered her past days.
Nathalie Kurtzberg sat at the desk in her bedroom doing her homework. Above the wiener-dog-shaped lamp sat the kwami of Nathaniel watching the girl fill in the sheet.
"How aw you doing?" Asked Karaa watching Nathalie shrug her shoulders.
"I don't have many sentences yet," Stated Nathalie, then the art kwami hovered over the essay to look at what she has written.
"What have you wwitten?" Questioned the kwami, then Nathalie held her finger under the first sentence.
"This is about my dad. My father is called Nathaniel Kurtzberg. He has a job at a comic book store and sells them to people, who like to read. My father also makes his own stories and sells them too. He is a big fan of the superheroes from Paris,"
"This is good," Commented Karaa, then Nathalie placed the pencil down to ponder about what she should do. "What about you go out and play?" Questioned Karaa making Nathalie nod.
"I think I will go to the swing," Stated the brunette getting up, then left her bedroom and went downstairs, heading towards the kitchen, where she encountered her father taking from a jar cookies to eat. "Hi dad!"
"Hey little princess," Mumbled Nathaniel while chewing the cookies, then swallowed them down. "I'm sorry…..You're doing okay with the homework?" Questioned the father making the daughter nod.
"I'm done with them," Responded Nathalie. "I started with the essay for Thursday and took a break now,"
"Okay. If that issue there just is for Thursday, you can continue the rest tomorrow or on Wednesday," Suggested the father, which opened the counter from the top to take out a cookie package, then opened it to fill the jar with it.
"I'm going out on the swing," Mentioned Nathalie making her father nod.
"Are you sure you don't want to eat something first?" Questioned Nathaniel. "I could peal you an apple or a banana?" Offered Nathaniel looking at the fruit basket, then noticed a few bananas, which were overripened. "Okay, they're gonna taste different,"
"Are they spoiled?" Questioned Nathalie making Nathaniel shake his head.
"Nope, they now overripen. Before they were just ripe, which would have a better flavor. You still can eat it, it just tastes a little different now," Commented Nathaniel making Nathalie nod.
Into the kitchen, Lila had entered to take out the large water bottle and picked up a glass from the counter to fill it.
"Why are you two staring at the fruits?" Questioned Lila noticing the two glimpsing at the fruit.
"I had explained, that the bananas were overripe now," Commented Nathaniel watching his wife drink from the glass, afterward Nathaniel had an idea and took from the kitchen self out a cookbook to search for anything related to bananas.
"You're going to make something with them?" Questioned Lila looking at her husband read a small recipe he found.
"Nathalie, what do you think about making a banana smoothie with the bananas there?" The father asked watching Nathalie smile at his idea.
"Really? Yes!" Responded Nathalie happy, then observed the father take out from the fridge the milk and a small bottle of lemon juice.
"Will ya hand me out two sachets of sugar?" Asked Nathaniel, which prepared the things on the table, before he could throw them into the blender.
"There you go," Said Nathalie placing the sugar on the counter, then saw her father put into the mixer the halves of the banana into it, then added a bit of milk into it.
"For how many people will the shake be?" Questioned Lila interested, then Nathaniel looked at the book and shrugged his shoulders.
"The recipe is for four, but I believe mine will be for eight, cause I added four bananas and the double of what it noted here," Commented Nathaniel making Lila nod.
"I will look for the jar. I know I had found it yesterday," Commented Lila opening all the closets above the counter, then encountered one at the fourth one. "I knew I was on the right side!" Spoke Lila, then Nathalie widened her eyes as she had an idea.
"Dad! Dad! Can we use the jar and make a tea party with it?" Questioned Nathalie. "Like last time?" Questioned Nathalie watching Nathaniel cover the head of the mixer, then Nathaniel bit his teeth at the suggestion of the girl.
"Again?" Asked Nathaniel a little unhappy about the girl's idea. Lila chuckled at seeing the shock on the redhead's face, then observed Nathalie grab the hand of her father.
"We will pretend that it's coffee or cocoa," Added Nathalie. "Is that okay?"
"Okay, I will come," Responded Nathaniel, then turned the mixer on to mix all the ingredients together.
"It will be better, than using water or juice! Right mommy?" Asked Nathalie looking up at her mother, which furrowed her eyebrows confused at what the girl called her.
"Uh I think so," Responded Lila rolling her eyes at Nathaniel, which looked at the brunette, afterward he placed his hand on Nathalie's shoulder to pat her.
"Everything is okay, Nathalie. The smoothie is almost done," Spoke Nathaniel earning the girl's attention, which nodded.
"I will get our plastic cups," Said Nathalie before leaving the kitchen, then Lila looked at Nathaniel, which placed his hand behind his neck.
"I really have at the moment a difficult time remembering persons in my life. I really do believe, that Nathalie is fixed on me in some way….I just don't seem to remember anything about her,"
"I understand," Said Nathaniel. "It's also difficult for her at this age to understand this situation as well. As well I do have a low confidence in acting right,"
"Well….in my memory I remember you to be less confident," Commented Lila. "I remember Chloé used to mock you for being different…."Lila began, then widened her eyes from remembering another person. "Chloé! Chloé is that girl, that had this terrible queen bee status quo at the school,"
"Used to," Corrected Nathaniel. "She's now maturer than you remember,"
"Okay, I guess so," Commented Lila making Nathaniel nod.
"What sounded hard to believe for me as a teen, now makes me want to take back the mean things I wanted to say to her when I had the guts to do so," Mentioned Nathaniel.
"What do you mean?"
"You know, when I was a teen I assumed people would never change but I am wrong. When they want they can do it. If someone there helps you to reach that, it's even better!"
"Who helped you to grow out of your shell?" Questioned Lila interested. "You're more open, than in my memory,"
"Well, to be honest, you were far more interested in making me talk. With the time I didn't even notice I was being talkative with somebody,"
"All because we were deskmates?" Questioned Lila curious, making Nathaniel shrug his shoulders.
"I kind of sucked at chemistry and you had offered me help. With time we had become friends very quickly,"
"That's cool," Commented Lila making Nathaniel nod, then he looked at the smoothie and pressed the stop button, then opened the cover to fill the jar with the banana shake and removed the bottle from the mixer to place it in the washbasin.
"I will wash that later, don't worry," Promised Nathaniel, then walked out to the backyard and Lila followed the husband to the door. She stood there to observe the man get down, with crossed legs to sit on the grass in front of the small table, while across him sat the daughter on a children's chair. Nathalie had already set up for her father and herself a colored plastic, then observed the redhead fill up both cups and grabbed it to clink together with it.
Lila smiled at seeing Nathaniel play along, although he was antagonized about it, and she leaned her back against the arc of the door.
"This is one of the best teas I have ever tasted in my life!" Echoes through Lila's head making her shake her head confused at that thought, then she placed her hand beside her forehead to remember exactly, what sort of memory had just come across her head. "Sweetheart, nothing bad happened….We'll fix your injury. Te promeso"
Lila opened her eyes to look at Nathalie drink the smoothie slowly, while Nathaniel already had drank his and waited for the girl. Lila sat down on the step, then looked up at the clear sky wondering, what sort of memories she had remembered half-away.