Aurore's shoulders tensed, and she paused, her hand poised to knock. It had been over half a year since the break-up; it wasn't her fault that Jean had decided to end things – and that it had kicked off the absolute worst month in Aurore's life. It hadn't been his fault, either, for that matter; he hadn't actually known what she was going through. No one had known, because she had been too ashamed to let anyone else in – until the Heroes of Paris had finally ended the nightmare and exposed Fernand for the dirtbag bastard he was. And during Aurore's roughest moment over the summer, when it had felt as though the whole world had turned against her, she had been a friend: welcomed her in, given her a place to hide, helped her to get her life back in order.

She owed it to her to return and say "thank you." She needed to try and repair their friendship.

Beside her, Mireille raised an eyebrow. "We don't have to see her today," she pointed out. "Even if you were the one who suggested it!" she added, a teasing lilt to her voice. Aurore's stomach clenched, and she frowned. Mireille sighed, giving her a sympathetic look. "Do you want to leave?"

Aurore shook her head firmly. "No; I want to stay. I want to visit her. I just…"

Mireille patted her arm. "It still feels awkward?"

Aurore frowned, looking down at the simple gift bag clutched in both her hands. "Little bit." Sighing, she knocked on the door. "But this is the best way to make it less awkward, right?"

"That's the idea."

It took less than a minute for the door to open, and Valérie stood in the doorway, smiling excitedly. "Hi! Come on in!" she greeted them, leaning forward and giving first Aurore and then Mireille an awkward hug, leaning forward over her visible bump. "And I was just thinking about you yesterday. How has everything been lately?"

"It's actually been going pretty well!" Aurore responded, holding out the bag. "Um… this is for you. I'm sure you've already gotten a ton of stuff, but…" She swallowed anxiously, forcing herself to smile.

Valérie glanced inside the gift bag quickly and gasped, turning to Aurore with a grin. "Thank you – you really didn't have to get anything. And we already have a few stuffed animals. But I absolutely love this one! And I know the baby will love it, too… eventually," she added, glancing down at her stomach. Aurore could feel her smile freezing in place. Valérie sighed. "But please. Come in. we can sit in the living room."

Mireille cleared her throat, giving Aurore a pointed look. "That would be nice."

Following Valérie down the short entry hallway to the living room, Aurore looked around the familiar curiously. It had only been a couple weeks that she had lived with Valérie, but it almost appeared to be unchanged since then, despite Jean having moved in shortly after Aurore had left. Still the same pictures decorating the entertainment center, the same books on the coffee table. But now there was a game system attached to the television, along with another pair of shoes in the entryway. A new chair sat in one corner of the living room, the cushion already broken in. A couple shirts lay draped over the back of the sofa, and Aurore could see at least one sock sticking out from between two of the cushions. Glancing up at Valérie, she quirked an eyebrow in amusement. "I see Jean is making himself at home."

"He is," Valérie agreed, giving them a tender smile. Shaking her head, she grimaced ruefully. "Although he does occasionally make me miss when you were the one living with me! He isn't half as good at cleaning up after himself."

Aurore hummed, stifling a chuckle. "You're welcome to him!"

"Ha, ha." Valérie rolled her eyes. "We're getting there," she told her. "If nothing else, he knows that after this little guy arrives, we won't be able to keep up with the mess if we're not working together." She sighed. "But really. How has the internship been going? I've seen you on television a number of times over the last month or so."

Mireille grinned. "A few words to the right people, and they were willing to at least give her a chance to prove herself again."

Aurore nodded in acknowledgment. I've been lucky," she told them. "I didn't expect them to give me another chance."

"It's no more than you deserved," Valérie assured her, smiling confidently. "So. How have things been around the rest of the city lately?"

"It's been much better, especially since I got things resolved with Ladybug," Aurore replied, giving Valérie a small smile. "Now that Lila's out of the picture, things have quieted down a lot."

Valérie hummed. "I was wondering why I hadn't really seen much of anything from the Heroes of Paris lately. I followed the news after Lila's arrest. I'm glad you took care of her, even with all the insanity of that night…" A cloud passed over her face, and she looked away, rubbing her stomach.

"I'm still not sure what they were trying to do," interjected Mireille, frowning. "Were they really just trying to punish the Heroes of Paris?"

Aurore shrugged. "That's all I've been able to gather," she replied. She swallowed anxiously, looking back and forth between the other two. "I'm sorry they came after you because of me…"

Valérie blinked, shaking her head, and waved her hand dismissively. "I guess it's just… the price we pay for being your friends, right?" she half-joked, glancing over at Mireille as she said it.

Mireille quirked an eyebrow. "A little too true," she agreed, nodding. "Let's see, there was that insanity in Germany–"

"I didn't actually have anything to do with that!" Aurore protested, her eyes wide. "Either time! The second time, I just showed up to try and stop it; the first time, I didn't even have my lance yet!"

"And there was Angola," added Valérie.

Aurore blinked. "Again, not my fault."

Valérie shrugged. "Actually, I'm not too upset about anything that happened in Angola," she mused, hugging her bump, color rushing to her cheeks. "Even with all that madness and all the unknowns there. There were some benefits to spending so much time together there…" She frowned. "But there was also that attack on the street by the Arc de Triomphe," she continued, raising an eyebrow. "I'm not going to forget about that anytime soon…"

Aurore looked away. "Okay, that one was my fault," she admitted, flushing. "At least partly."

"And the attack at the Eiffel Tower," Mireille added, raising an eyebrow pointedly.

"Yeah, they were after me."

"And the attack on Jean and I that same night."

Aurore frowned. "We don't actually know if I'm the reason they were after you," she pointed out.

"Either way, we've definitely had to deal with a lot more bad guys than normal, just because we're your friends," Mireille told her, her lip quirking up in amusement.

"And yet, you're still my friends," Aurore reminded thim, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep!" Valérie smiled. "And we wouldn't want it any other way. Although," she added, "I do sometimes wonder if Sabrina has to deal with this same type of crap, just for being Queen Bee's best friend!"