To Lyger 0: Nadine is definitely moving on, though it's going to take her a while to get there fully.


"Where do you want this box to go? It's labeled 'Books'."

"What? No – Sabrina, you shouldn't be carrying that! It's far too heavy!"

Sabrina rolled her eyes. "I'm not an invalid," she retorted, placing the box on the floor next to the bookcase and planting her hands on her hips, trying not to let the exertion show on her face. "I'm just pregnant…"

Claudie sighed, leaning against the wall and putting down the duster with which she had been cleaning the top of the entertainment center. She nearly stumbled over the carton next to her feet, and braced herself against the wall. Rolling her neck, she wiped her brow with the back of her hand, letting the duster slump to her side. Almost two weeks Claudie had been back in Paris, dividing her time between consultations with the European Space Agency and the Air and Space Force, and working with Max's Hero Techies. Until today, she had still been living in the apartment with Max and Sabrina, though she had spent some of her time at home packing the few items that she hadn't brought with her to Russia when she started her training. Sabrina let out a breath. While it had been nice to have Claudie living with them, the tension between Max and Claudie at bedtime had been almost unbearable, even if neither of them had said a word.

Fortunately, they had managed to find an apartment for Claudie, and very close to the one that Max and Sabrina were still sharing. In a way, it had been fortuitous that their neighbors had decided to move out last week. Before their landlord had had a chance to rent it back out to someone else, Max had put a deposit down for Claudie. This way, she would be close enough for them to spend as much time together as they wanted to, but they would have their own apartments and their own space. Sabrina's stomach twinged. She only hoped that living right next door wouldn't turn out to be too close. Marinette and her mother-in-law shared an enormous mansion without trouble, but Claudie was not Emilie. And Sabrina was not Marinette.

A crash came from the back room, where the closet of one apartment abutted against the closet of the other. The sound of a muffled curse carried through the walls, and Sabrina suppressed a flinch, glancing toward the apartment's front door. The landlord hadn't rejected what they were doing up here with their adjoining units… but they also hadn't told him their plan first. The front door was shut, however; extending her senses, she couldn't feel M. Peletier's emotions anywhere close to them. They were still in the clear. Looking around, Sabrina dropped onto the new couch that they had just had delivered that morning, stretching her arms and shoulders and fixing Claudie with a steady gaze.

Claudie's shoulders slumped. "Believe me, I know you're pregnant," she told Sabrina, her emotions shifting between excitement and guilt. "And I am well-aware of exactly how much a pregnant woman can and cannot do – I did do this once myself, you know. And that's why I know you shouldn't be lifting these really heavy boxes on your own. It isn't good for the baby to put so much strain on your core. Please. Stick to the lighter ones."

Sabrina frowned. "You remember I'm also a superhero, don't you?" she pointed out. "If I transformed, I could move all of this without any problems. Even without transforming, I'm still in pretty good shape – at least to lug boxes around. Besides," she added, raising an eyebrow pointedly and looking down at the carton Claudie had been steadily pushing across the room, "you still haven't recovered from space yet. So it's not like you can move all these boxes around, either."

Claudie scoffed, finally pushing away from the wall, leaving the carton where it lay, and moving across the room to sit down on the couch beside Sabrina. She shook her head ruefully, the duster dropping from her hand. "Aren't we a pair?"

Sabrina shrugged. "Max said he would talk to Kim and Ivan about coming to help move furniture this weekend," she told her. "And once he finishes installing the door, it will be even easier to get your things in here. Plus, Marinette and Chloe offered to come and help with decorating and setting things up."

"True…" Claudie frowned, looking down at her hands. Her emotions shifted to shame and embarrassment.

Sabrina's stomach clenched. "I'm… sorry," she apologized, a worried look on her face. "For taking away your apartment while you were gone. And I know you feel like I stole your son away from you, too. And, I'm sorry for that, too. I wasn't trying to do that – to do any of it."

Claudie cocked her head to one side in surprise, staring at Sabrina with wide eyes. "You're sorry?" she repeated, blinking. "But why should you be sorry? I'm the one who should be sorry. I was gone for so long; I should have realized Max would have grown up and moved on by the time I came back from my mission to the space station. Although coming home to find myself a grandmother is a little more than I expected," she allowed, shaking her head in bemusement. "As was my son proposing to the girlfriend he hadn't been dating when I left!"

Sabrina flushed, looking away. "It wasn't planned," she admitted. "None of it was planned."

"I hoped as much," Claudie observed, raising an eyebrow, a hint of amusement entering her emotions.

Sabrina let out a breath. "Believe me, we weren't trying to have a baby in our first year of university. It just… happened." She sniffed, blinking a tear away. "I–I thought Max was dead." Claudie's breathing hitched. "When the Tarasque stormed through Paris. We were trying to get everyone to safety. I'd used my Akuma already, trying to rescue the civilians trapped around where the Tarasque was. Max was trying to hold the portal open as long as he could so as many people as possible could get out – I gave him as much of a boost as I could, but I was getting tapped out. So many were dead. So many were lost. And suddenly, the Tarasque was right there in front of us. There was nothing else we could do. In the end, Max and I were the only ones left on the Paris side of the portal, with the Tarasque bearing down, right toward us." Sabrina could feel the anxiety and fear rising in Claudie, but she couldn't stop. She gulped. "His foot got caught. In the rubble. I tried to pull him free, but I just, I couldn't. Then he just… he pushed me through the portal and handed me the miraculous. I could feel him… and then he was gone. The portal closed, and I was alone." Her shoulders shook. "I was so alone…"

Claudie covered her mouth, her eyes wide in horror. "He–he– and you–" She swallowed, placing a hand on Sabrina's knee. "Oh, I'm so sorry… I–I didn't know…"

Sabrina let out a breath. "I was so lost and sad in Angola…" Her voice trailed off. "Then, when we got back to France, we were fighting the Tarasque again, and everything was going wrong. Our plan fell apart completely, thanks to that bitch. I stopped her, but I thought it was too late. I was staring up at the Tarasque, just waiting for the end, when… I heard it. Something I'd never thought I would hear ever again. Max's voice. Max was alive! He had brought reinforcements from Paris! That's what saved me. And at that point – I don't know, I just… I lost it. I couldn't bear to be apart from him ever again. And that was it. No more separation – in any sense of the word."

"And nine months later, you're going to be a mother." Claudie shook her head wryly, her emotions shifting from guilt to amusement.

Sabrina looked up at her in surprise.

Claudie let out a breath, her sadness and loss returning. "I can't exactly say that I blame you; that's not too far off from what happened to me with Max's father – though certainly not to that level." She sighed. "We were in our last year of university, and he had gone abroad to study for a semester. We'd been together for two years at that point, and oh, how I missed him while he was gone. We tried to talk, but it was never the same. I just, I couldn't wait to see him again, to be with him again. So when he came back at graduation, I begged to know where our relationship was going. At that point I would have done anything for him. I couldn't imagine being parted from him ever again. So when he suggested that we could move in together, I jumped at the possibility. I wouldn't be alone, ever again. And then Max came along, and I thought my life was perfect." She swallowed, shame and grief and guilt shifting back into dominance. "But he said he wasn't ready to be a father. That he didn't want anything to do with our baby. That it was my fault that our child had been born. And he left me. I haven't seen him since. His parents wanted nothing to do with us, either. Even though I had Max – and don't think for a minute that I regret that, of course – but even though I had my baby and I was never alone again, I was still so lonely. There were days I didn't know how we were going to survive – until I got the railway job, and that gave us some security."

Sabrina gasped. "That must have been so devastating! To have someone you loved so much just… abandon you like that. I can't imagine how much grief and pain you must have felt then – if what you're feeling now is only a fraction of what it was like while it was happening."

"It was," Claudie responded, her mouth turning down in a frown. "I blamed myself for the longest time: I was too eager, I was too 'easy.' I was too… needy." She scoffed humorlessly. "It wasn't until Max was in école élémentaire that I was finally able to recognize that he was the one who had abandoned us. I may have wanted everything that happened between us, but he wanted it just as much. And when it came right down to it, he refused his responsibility."

Sabrina pursed her lips. "Max wouldn't do that," she insisted. "I know he wouldn't."

"I certainly hope not," Claudie agreed, clenching her jaw. "I absolutely did not raise my son to abandon his responsibilities and his family. But, then I thought the same about his father." Sabrina started to open her mouth but kept silent as Claudie turned toward her, blinking away tears as her emotions turned from grief and pain to resolve. "But regardless of what happens, I want you to know that I will not abandon you or your child. No matter what." She took Sabrina's hand, squeezing it firmly. "I know Max loves you. I know he's committed. Believe me, I am proud to see him stepping up for his fiancée and child. But even if that ever were to change. Or if something happened – and we both know it's a possibility, given your… 'covert nocturnal activities.' I promise you: I will always be here. For you and for your baby."

Swallowing, Sabrina sniffed back tears and leaned forward, giving Claudie a big hug. "Thank you."