AN: I realized yesterday that evidently I had gotten a bunch of reviews on "The Next Jagged Ride," but 's system is broken again so it isn't sending out notification emails. So, I'm sorry for not responding to any of those reviews.

"Alya, did you get the pain au chocolats arranged?" demanded Marinette, scanning the room for the fifteenth time as she tossed another roll of tape at Rose. "Because you know those are her favorites – we can't not have them out!"

"For the twentieth time, girl, yes," Alya retorted, rolling her eyes. Behind the refreshment table, she pulled out yet another box with the bakery logo emblazoned on it and ripped it open. Glancing inside, she started pulling out pastries and stacking them on the appropriate piles in the middle of the table. "The pain au chocolats, and the macarons, and the éclairs, and the mille-feuille… I swear, it's like you're trying to feed half the city today!"

"It's no less than she deserves," Rose called down to them, catching the tape without looking and ripping a piece off with her teeth to affix the banner in place. Leaning back, she hummed pensively, her brows furrowed, and finally nodded. "She did so much to help us, I think it's amazing for us to do this and give something back to her!"

Juleka hummed, helping Rose down off the table, and nodded. "I agree." She smiled softly. "Besides, it's good to have something to celebrate, whenever we can."

"Of course, we've had so much to celebrate lately!" Mylène pointed out, carrying another load of balloons into Le Grand Paris' large ballroom and releasing them to float up to the ceiling, mixing them in with the dozen already scattered around. As Marinette watched, a couple of the balloons seemed to rearrange themselves – guided by an almost-too-small-to-see grey figure.

Sabrina raised an eyebrow at Mylène knowingly. "We really do," she agreed, suppressing a laugh.

Smiling back at her, Mylène raised an eyebrow in return.

"I'm not disagreeing…" Alya replied, grabbing a jésuite off the table and crossing the room to where Marinette and Chloe stood near the middle of the large ballroom to direct the setup. "But still: if we're doing all of this for Mme Bustier, what are we going to do for the next baby shower?"

Marinette's eyes lit up mischievously. "Is that a challenge?"

Chloe tapped her chin. "Now that you mention it, I did have some ideas about Sabrina's baby shower…" she mused, giving Sabrina a sidelong glance.

"Shouldn't we plan my Mama's first, though?" Marinette pointed out, quirking an eyebrow at her. "She's due a month before Sabrina, after all."

Chloe arched an eyebrow at her in return, her eyes flashing with amusement. "Are you saying I can plan Sabrina's while you plan your mother's?"

Marinette folded her arms and narrowed her eyes. "That's not what I said, and you know it."

Alya groaned, rubbing her forehead. "You almost make me miss the days when you couldn't stand each other," she grumbled, the corners of her lips quirking upward in an amused smile.

"She's almost here!" called Alix, poking her head into the ballroom. Her eyes widened, and she blinked several times, her mouth opening and closing dumbly. Finally, she managed to ask, "What the hell rainbow unicorn threw up all over this place?"

"What's wrong with it?" demanded Rose, pursing her lips. "It looks adorable!"

"Sure. If you like pink…"

"Nothing wrong with pink," Juleka argued, putting a hand on Rose's shoulder.

Alix rolled her eyes. "You people are insane."

"Is everything ready?" Marinette demanded, giving the ballroom another cursory inspection. Her eyes widened. "The cake!"

"Jean!" called Chloe, glancing over toward the kitchen door as it swung open and the enormous cake rolled in on a cart. The candle on the top smoked slightly as it ignited. Almost two meters tall, with four layers, each a different flavor, decorated to look like Collège François Dupont, it had taken almost a full day for Marinette's parents to finish it, to say nothing of the care that had been necessary to transport it to Le Grand Paris. Jean pushed the cart up to the end of the refreshment table and stopped, arranging the cutting knife in front of it.

"As you requested, Mademoiselle," Jean told Chloe, bowing slightly before backing out of the room."

"Damn." Alya shook her head. "I'm having flashbacks – do you remember that one Akuma when we were in troisième?" She snapped her fingers a couple times, her brows furrowed in thought.

"You mean the pâtissiere who got upset she lost a cake decorating competition?" asked Marinette, shuddering. "How could I forget? Did you know my Papa was supposed to be a judge for that competition? If she'd turned him into a cupcake…"

"Everyone, get ready!" Chloe ordered, as the door opened and dozens of women arrived, some of them a couple years older than Marinette and her friends but many of them girls much younger – some Marinette looked at and had to do a double-take: they could hardly be old enough to be in collège! Chloe quirked an eyebrow at Marinette. "How did you manage to invite everyone who'd ever been in her class?"

Marinette grinned. "I have my ways…"

As the group spread out through the ballroom, many paused to place gifts in the pile by the door, already piled high with furniture and several boxes of clothing bearing the Agreste logo. Finally, Mme Bustier stepped through at the very end. She stopped in the doorway, her mouth falling open in shock and her eyes bugging out.

"Surprise!" Marinette called, spreading her hand out to encompass the whole room. Together, she, Chloe, and Alya moved toward the doorway, though by the time they arrived, Mme Bustier had already been swarmed by a couple dozen people, all crowding around her and trying to hug her at once.

"Congratulations!" Rose squealed, hugging Mme Bustier tightly. "This is so exciting! You're going to be such an amazing mother! You were always so sweet and nice to us, your baby will be so loved and happy!"

Swallowing, Mme Bustier hesitantly hugged her back. "I… hope so," she agreed. "But it's been… a lot of adjustments and changes. I–"

"If you ever need anything," Rose told her firmly. "You can always call us. Jules and I would love a chance to babysit!" Glancing at Juleka, she grinned, stifling a giggle. Juleka smiled back and nodded.

"You can be sure that I'll call you," Mme Bustier replied, giving them a small smile before a couple of the other guests interposed themselves in front of Mme Bustier.

Looking around, Marinette hummed, studying the faces all around the room. There were a number of people there that she was sure she had never met before; a few had to be out of university by now. But as she looked closer, she recognized more of the guests. Some were girls a couple years older than her – they had graduated during her first year in collège. A couple she only barely remembered, who had been young sixième students during her last year of collège. And of course, with them she spotted– "Leïla!"

The girl in question jumped, her eyes widening as she turned around, but she beamed brightly when she spotted Marinette and Chloe, leaving her friends behind and running over to them. "Hi! This is – wow! I–I had no idea–"

Marinette nodded, giving Leïla a quick embrace. "It's… all a lot to take in, huh?"

"I'm glad I was able to come. I didn't have Mme Bustier for very long," Leïla admitted. "But she was always a good teacher. And she was really nice to me."

"She really is nice," Chloe confirmed, frowning.

"You know, she was really worried about how she would be able to provide for the baby," Marinette confided. "When we first found out she was pregnant, I mean. That's half the reason we planned this."

Chloe nodded. "With good reason, I suppose," she admitted. "Did you know that the changing table cost almost €40 more than when I bought the exact same changing table for Sabrina last month?"

Marinette's eyes widened. "Are you serious? Why?"

Chloe shrugged. "Supply and demand, I suppose?"

Marinette grimaced. "I'd better warn my parents – I don't think they did any shopping yet. And if baby supplies are going to be that expensive…"

"Good time to be selling baby clothes, though, right?" Chloe mused, giving Marinette a sly look.

"That wasn't exactly why we started…"

"Just a benefit?"

Leïla's eyes widened. "I guess it's a good thing my parents kept everything from the twins…"

Marinette hummed in acknowledgment.

Leïla furrowed her brows, glancing toward Mme Bustier. "What will this mean for her teaching career?"

"What do you mean?" asked Marinette, raising an eyebrow.

"I just – I hope she'll be able to continue, even when she has a baby to raise."

"If she wants to, she'll be able to. This doesn't have to mean the end of her teaching," Marinette assured her. "There's always daycare. But, if she doesn't want to do that, I hope it will turn out okay."

"I'm sure it will," Chloe replied. "The city has a good compensation for workers who take maternity leave. She won't need to work again for at least a year after the baby is born – and if it's during the school year, then the leave extends to the end of that next school year." Marinette raised an eyebrow at her in surprise, and Chloe rolled her eyes. "I read – Daddy's been working on a new law to that effect."

"No, it's not that," Marinette began, giggling. "I just… I'm always amazed when I see evidence that you actually care about people."

Leïla cocked her head, looking back and forth between them. "What do you mean? Chloe's always cared about people."

Marinette sighed fondly and patted Leïla's shoulder. "Yes, she really has," she agreed, giving Chloe a smile.

"Well, if you'll excuse me," Chloe retorted, giving Marinette a deadpan look, "I was going to introduce my sister to Mme Bustier – at least for the beginning of the school year, she'll be Zoe's teacher." She made a sour face, looking away. "Hopefully, Mme Bustier will give her a chance, even with her being my sister…"

Leïla gave Marinette a surprised look as Chloe walked away. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Marinette let out a breath, looking after Chloe. "It means," she began slowly, "that people change, especially when the last time you knew them was multiple years ago." Seeing Leïla's confused look, she smiled. "It doesn't really matter anymore," she told her. "The Chloe that you know, who helped your father start his clinic and saw to it that your mother received the promotion she deserved, that's the real Chloe. Whatever she was in collège, that's just… a bad memory."

Leïla blinked. "O…kay."

Marinette smiled. "If you ask her, Chloe might tell you about when we were in collège together. But that was a long time ago – before she was Queen Bee, or Sent-Bee. To me, none of that really matters anymore. She's my friend now, and that's all that's important."

Leïla nodded slowly. "I… think I understand."

Sighing, Marinette glanced across the room, taking in all the people standing around and enjoying themselves. Most had started to collect together in little cliques based on their graduating class, though there were a few holdouts. Marinette had tried to invite as many as she could, but she could already tell that her class was the only one where almost everyone (who wasn't in jail) had come.

With a glance back at Marinette, Leïla cleared her throat. "Um… I was going to…"

Marinette smiled. "Of course. Sorry. I hope you enjoy the party!"

"Oh, I really am," Leïla assured her quickly.

Once Leïla had left, Marinette approached Sabrina at the refreshment table, helping herself to a macaron as she passed. "What do you think?" she asked Sabrina, popping the macaron in her mouth and raising an eyebrow at her expectantly. "Is this what you want for your baby shower?"

"It's… a lot," Sabrina finally admitted. "A lot of fun, of course," she added quickly. "But I don't know if I want quite so much happening. I think I would be just as happy to have a small party with our friends, plus my mom, Claudie, Emilie… You know: something quiet."

Marinette hummed. "We'll keep that in mind," she allowed. "But you might need to rein in Chloe…"