The bell above the bakery door chimed as Sabrina stepped inside and took her place at the back of the long queue that snaked around once and extended all the way to the entrance. Nervously, Sabrina bounced up and down on the balls of her feet, cautiously opening her empathic senses to the crowd of people filling the small shop. From the majority of those in the bakery, she could sense nervousness and anxiety – the man in front of her kept checking his watch agitatedly. A couple a few years older than her stood hand-in-hand near the front of the line; their emotions shifting between happiness, excitement, and desire. From the back of the shop Sabrina sensed a few sets of emotions, the most prominent of which was sheer joy. Quickly Sabrina glanced down at her watch before checking the bakery's main room again. The line had shortened over the last couple minutes; finally, the man directly in front of her placed his order for a breakfast sandwich, received it, and rushed out the door without more than a grunt of acknowledgment. Finally, Sabrina stood at the counter.

"Good morning," Marinette greeted her, beaming brightly. "What can I get for you?"

"Working the counter this morning?" asked Sabrina, surprised. "Shouldn't you be at the fashion house?"

Marinette shook her head. "Papa still hasn't found someone to cover the register with Mama." Her emotions turned sad. "I'm not sure where Annette went; she just didn't return after the Tarasque was defeated." Marinette let out a breath. "But I'm happy to help in the morning here and then go to the fashion house after the rush is over."

Sabrina hummed. "And I'm sure the free pastries don't hurt!" she teased.

Marinette stifled a giggle. "I actually don't get all that many anymore," she confided. "Papa's new pâtissière has been claiming all of them." Sabrina cocked her head in confusion. "You remember Cosette, right?" Marinette smiled fondly. "Actually, it's her birthday today, so she and Papa are working on her cake in between orders."

"Oooh, how exciting!" Sabrina cooed.

"You and Max can come over this afternoon for the party," Marinette told her. "You already know the food is going to be amazing!"

"Definitely!" Sabrina agreed, grinning. "But for now… can I just get a dozen croissants? I want to bring some for Léa and the others at the center."

Marinette nodded, loading the fresh-baked pastries into a bag and handing them to Sabrina. She shook her head firmly as Sabrina reached into her purse and pulled out her wallet. "Your money doesn't spend here," she informed Sabrina, pushing the bag into her hands. Sabrina rolled her eyes and stuffed a couple euros into the tip jar on the counter. Grabbing the bakery bag, she waved back to Marinette before leaving. "See you this evening!" Marinette called after her as the door shut.

Sabrina smiled, sighing to herself as she walked briskly through the city. Taking out one of the croissants, she pulled it apart, stuffing a few smaller pieces into her mouth while she walked, humming in contentment. The city was almost starting to return to normal. She had taken this same route every day, and each time it looked a little better. The work crews had spread out around the city, working almost around the clock to repair the damage that had been left behind. Though Miraculous Ladybug had repaired much of the destruction, so much more still remained to be repaired. Sabrina had sent out a few Akumas to help the work crews with their labor, but she could only send so many – and only one at a time. But every day the construction progressed, and every day they came closer to completion. Finally, after a quick fifteen-minute walk, Sabrina pushed open the door to the Agreste Charity Rehab Center. "Good morning, Léa," she greeted the woman behind the reception desk, placing a croissant in front of her.

Léa smiled warmly. "Ah, Sabrina, I'm glad to see you in today; and the pastries are always a nice treat!" Nibbling on one corner, she raised an eyebrow. "From our favorite bakery?"

Sabrina giggled. "Of course! I wouldn't go just anywhere to get my pastry fix!"

Léa hummed. "Were you going to bring Dahlia a couple of those?" she asked. "I'm sure she and Mathieu would appreciate some pastries this morning."

Sabrina nodded slowly. "Do you know where she is right now?"

"I'm not sure…" Léa furrowed her brows. "I did see a light in the group meeting room, though; you could try there."

"Thanks; I'll do that." Sabrina folded up her bag and started down the hall in the direction of her counseling room. Two doors past there, she could see a small square of light filtering out of the window. From within, Sabrina could feel agitation, sadness, grief… guilt? Quietly, she knocked on the door before opening it. "Dahlia? Mme Myriel? Can I come in?"

Inside the room, Dahlia sniffled and looked up at Sabrina, resting her broom against a corner. "I… I guess so," she agreed, though without any force behind her words.

"I brought some pastries this morning," Sabrina told her, cautiously holding out the bag.

Dahlia looked down at the bag, and a sudden twinge of remorse shot through her, though outwardly she didn't react. Finally she snatched a croissant out of the bag and ate a third in one bite. "Thank you, Sabrina."

"Do you want to take a couple for Mathieu?" Sabrina offered, waving the bag.

"Oh…" Dahlia frowned, staring at the bag with a mix of eagerness and reluctance. Her hand started to reach out toward it, but she hesitated. Finally, she looked back up at Sabrina. "And you're sure it's okay?"

"Of course," Sabrina assured her, pulling out three more of the pastries and handing them to Dahlia. Dahlia nodded her thanks and started toward the door. Sabrina frowned. "But what's wrong?"

Dahlia's shoulders stiffened. "Wrong? Why would anything be wrong?"

Sabrina swallowed nervously – this was one of the challenges she always faced with her miraculous, particularly in this context: she needed to let on that she knew, without revealing how much she knew. After only a moment's consideration, she let out a breath. "You don't need to pretend," she told her gently. "The fact that you tensed up from the question was a pretty good clue. And I heard you crying in the hallway. So… what's going on? Is there anything I can do?"

Dahlia turned around, and her face broke. "Can you make my daughter love me again?"

Sabrina's eyes shot wide open. "What–what happened?"

"It was about two months ago – when–when the Tarasque originally showed up," Dahlia began, hiccupping. Her shoulders slumped and she collapsed into a chair. Sabrina sat down next to her, leaning forward intently. "My daughter was at 'work' when the fighting broke out; Mathieu and I were here. The Tarasque began… well… it began rampaging through the city–"

"I remember," Sabrina whispered, swallowing back nausea. Her stomach clenched and rumbled.

"I–I didn't know what to do!" Dahlia sniffled. "The Tarasque was getting closer and closer, and I had to protect Mathieu! Everything was starting to get shut down across the city. I ran outside, no idea where to go or what to do. People were fleeing out of the city, but no one was going the other direction. Finally, I–I had to make a choice. There was a bus leaving the city, so I pushed Mathieu on board while I hung onto the step."

"You don't know what happened to your daughter?" asked Sabrina.

Dahlia shook her head. "No – I–I know she's okay." She sniffled. "But she doesn't want anything to do with me. She thinks I abandoned her." Her shoulders shook; her hands trembled. "She stayed with me through everything – losing our home, living on the streets, living here… everything. But now… I'm–I'm afraid I might've lost her forever." She swallowed. "And the worst part is, today is her birthday."

Sabrina suppressed her instinctive gasp, staring at Dahlia in surprise. That was why she reacted to the bag… "What–" Sabrina swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry "–what's your daughter's name?"

"Cosette."

"That's a pretty name," Sabrina choked out, coughing to clear her throat.

Dahlia nodded, her mouth cracking into a half-smile. "She's such a pretty girl – such a wonderful daughter." Her guilt and shame intensified, and she looked down at the floor. "I–I don't deserve her."

Sabrina took Dahlia's hand in her own and quietly, cautiously, inhaled, pulling some of the emotions out of Dahlia and into herself. Exhaling, she released the negative emotions into the atmosphere around them to dissipate. Dahlia's breathing hitched, and for a moment Sabrina held her breath. Had she done too much?

"I–I don't know what it is," Dahlia began, "but I feel so much… lighter now. Maybe I just needed to talk about it – to get it off my chest."

Sabrina hummed, letting out a quiet sigh of relief. "Talking usually does help," she agreed, nodding. "So… you feel guilty because you left Cosette behind to flee from the Tarasque?"

Dahlia nodded. "I didn't want to–believe me!"

"I believe you," Sabrina assured her, nodding. She could feel a bit of the grief knotting up in Dahlia's emotions start to unwind. "And I imagine that Cosette believes you, too – at least on some level."

Dahlia sniffled. "I–I don't think so…"

"Why not?"

"I just–I was gone for so long," explained Dahlia. "When we were on the streets, before we came to live here, there were some bad days. I would… um… get a 'job,' and I would be gone for a night, and Cosette would be left to take care of Mathieu on her own. And she never complained; she was always excited to see me again." She flushed with embarrassment. "I was even gone for a full week once," she admitted, looking away from Sabrina. "I… don't really remember anything that happened after–" She fell abruptly silent.

Sabrina squeezed her hand. "There is no judgment here," she promised. "Whatever happened in the past is in the past. You don't have to be ashamed of it, but you also don't have to dwell on it. Everyone who comes through here has some things that they regret. It happened; all you can do now is learn from it."

Dahlia swallowed hard, embarrassment washing over her. "I got so high that week…" she whispered. "I forgot my own name – I forgot I even had children. When I finally came to myself enough to return to them, Cosette had been taking care of Mathieu – she even nursed me back to health! Imagine that: an eight-year-old, taking care of her strung-out mother. That–that's the child I brought into this world, though I wasn't the one to make her so kind and selfless. So no: I–I really don't deserve her. I don't deserve her forgiveness." Her shoulders slumped. "This time… I was just away for too long. And this time she actually had people to look after her."

"Do you know the people who were caring for her?" asked Sabrina, raising an eyebrow, already expecting the answer.

Dahlia waved a hand in the direction of the bakery bag. "Tom and Sabine… they've been so kind to us. Cosette absolutely adores Tom. And Adrien and Marinette: they gave us somewhere to live, they gave me a job… I owe so much to that whole family. Not least because they looked after my daughter while I wasn't here." She stared down at the floor. "They've been better parents to my daughter than I ever was."

Sabrina furrowed her brows in thought. "Never having been in that position, I can't imagine how difficult that is to admit as a mother," she told Dahlia. "But I can tell you that a little girl will love her parents, even when they aren't around. My own father worked a lot of long hours – he missed things. But he still loved me – I always knew that he did. He was there when he could be. Maybe not as often as I wished, but as often as he could. And when he missed something important, he always came to me after to say he was sorry and try to make it up."

"Did you forgive him?"

Sabrina nodded. "Sometimes it was harder than others," she admitted. "But eventually I always did. And as I've gotten older, I've come to recognize more and more just how much he loves me and how much I needed him. And I think Cosette will realize the same thing."

Dahlia nodded slowly, though her emotions continued to churn, shifting between guilt and hope. "It's just–it's hard. Especially today. Before the Tarasque happened, I'd been planning to have a party for her with some of the money I've saved up from working here. But now she's not going to be here."

"You know," Sabrina told her slowly, "they are having a party for her today at the bakery…" Dahlia cocked her head in surprise. "Marinette told me when I picked these up," she explained, nodding to the croissants. "She invited Max and me to come, as well. So maybe tonight you and Mathieu can come to the bakery with us – at least for a little bit." She shrugged. "Perhaps this is your chance to start making amends."