To Geft: It's a possibility…

The next day, stepping through the portal first and placing Bee-atrice on the floor in the stone lab, Chloe looked around with a sigh at the familiar sights of the American Miraculous Temple. How long had it been since she visited Peru? While the Beasts were emerging around the planet, she had been almost everywhere, visiting the other groups and trying to make sure that they could handle the crisis – and with both the Lion and the Ox in the Americas, the American Miraculous Team had been stretched thin. But since the Chaos, since they had defeated the Tarasque, so many other things had taken precedence. Between rebuilding Paris and keeping peace in Europe… America had seemed so much calmer: the American Miraculous Team and United Heroez were working together for once, the Mexico City teams had started to integrate more, and the Americans had been staying on top of the situation in their own hemisphere.

Not that Chloe was going to complain about the absence of a crisis.

Behind Chloe, Zoe let out an appreciative gasp, staring at the vast array of scientific devices lining the walls, the half-finished projects on the shelves, the computer terminal on the far end of the lab counter. In front of them, Paola and Julia stood together waiting for them, Julia with a half-asleep Vida held in one arm while Marco clutched her other hand. Bee immediately bounded over to Marco, who dropped Julia's hand and plopped down on the floor just before the puppy reached him. With an excited yip, Bee jumped on Marco and started licking his face as he giggled. Giving Marco and Bee a glance, Julia turned and smiled warmly at Chloe, though her eyes widened slightly on looking past her at Zoe.

"Good… morning?" Chloe tried, furrowing her brows. "Good morning," she decided, crossing the room and giving first Julia and then Paola a quick embrace. "Thank you for making time for me today. And for allowing me to bring my sister with me."

Recovering quickly, Julia nodded. "Por supuesto," she assured her. "Your hermana is more than welcome here." Stifling a laugh, she glanced over Chloe's shoulder. "I was just… surprised. The family resemblance is quite obvious."

Chloe shrugged, quirking her lips in a smile, though it shifted into a frown. "So people keep telling me – yesterday Le Parisien put out a photo comparison of all our shared features."

Julia clucked her tongue, shaking her head. "Disgraceful. To treat your family this way. If someone did that to my family…"

"Well, you weren't related to the Mayor of Paris, so…" Chloe sighed. "It's the price we pay."

"Well," Julia told her firmly, "you won't get any of that here. Although…" she added slyly, glancing again at Zoe, "I am excited to get to know your sister! Welcome to my temple!"

Stepping forward hesitantly and stopping behind Chloe, Zoe gave her a shy smile. "Thank you. This place is…" She looked around curiously. "Wow. I've never seen half this stuff."

"This is just my lab," Paola explained. "The rest of the temple is much larger than this."

"And you use all of this?" Zoe asked, staring at a spectrometer.

Paola nodded. "I don't always know what I'll require, so I need to be ready for anything! Lately it's been materials compositions." She cocked her head to one side. "Do you have an interest in the sciences?"

Zoe started. "Who, me? Um… not really." She flushed. "I… may have failed Science class last year."

Chloe quirked an eyebrow at her. "Nothing wrong with that."

Paola hummed. "Considering everything that happened last year – in Paris especially – I would be surprised if students didn't struggle."

"Uh… right…" Zoe's face fell.

Glancing at her, Chloe cleared her throat. "So, Paola, what's the latest project?" she asked, putting as much eagerness into her voice as she could.

"Well, just this week I have been in Australia twice to consult at the spaceport," answered Paola. "We've had a dozen projects in the works there lately."

Looking up in surprise, Zoe's eyes widened. "Wait, 'spaceport'?"

Chloe smiled, letting out a relieved breath. "Last year, Pegasus designed a couple of different types of spacecraft," Chloe explained. "We only have two now, but we store them in Australia at the New Atlantis Spaceport."

Paola raised an eyebrow. "Three, actually," she corrected Chloe. "They just finished construction on Koala Kat; that was one of the projects!"

"Really?" Chloe's eyes widened. "That's great! Although we haven't gone into space all that much yet…"

Paola grinned. "Well, if Pegasus has his way, we'll be sending the space-planes out of near-earth orbit a lot more frequently in a few years, once the base is completed…"

Zoe opened her mouth, her brows furrowed in a question, but Chloe cleared her throat, glancing at Julia pointedly. "I suppose we should be getting to the reasons for our visit," she suggested.

Julia nodded in agreement and gestured toward the doorway. "We can meet in… um, my office," she offered, a cloud passing across her face. But only for a moment; she smiled brightly. "There's a playpen in there for Vida, and Marco has a few toys."

"Would you like me to join you?" asked Paola, nodding to the kids.

Julia pursed her lips, her brows furrowed in thought. Marco giggled as Bee-atrice licked his face, awkwardly petting the puppy as she wagged her tail. Julia sighed fondly and shook her head. "No; I think we'll be okay. Thank you for the offer. But you have so much else to do already without spending all your time watching the kids. I will send Mettli to find you if I need help."

Paola nodded, glancing down at Marco. "Well, I'll leave you to it, then; I do need to get this materials study finished for the habitat shielding as soon as I can."

As they walked down the straight hallways of the temple, past the mosaics worked into the stone walls, Zoe trailed behind Chloe and Julia, walking alongside Marco and Bee-atrice. Chloe raised an eyebrow at Julia. "I guess they're really intent on this Moon base, then?"

Julia shrugged. "That does seem to be all Paola can talk about lately," she acknowledged with a nod. "I'm surprised you haven't heard more about it lately."

"Impératrice Pourpre has mentioned it once or twice, though she doesn't have too much to do with it. But Pegasus has had a lot of other things on his mind the last couple months," Chloe pointed out, arching an eyebrow.

"I had wondered," Julia mused, humming pensively. "At the wedding, I noticed that Sabrina seemed a bit…"

"Pregnant?" Chloe supplied, stifling a laugh. "That's an understatement. She's actually about four months along now."

Julia's eyes widened. "Is she really? Then it must have been–"

"Right after the Tarasque was defeated?" finished Chloe. "Yep."

"Wow." Julia shook her head ruefully. "I don't know if I would believe that if you hadn't confirmed it." She chuckled. "And I thought I was young when Marco was born…"

"How is he doing?" asked Chloe, giving Julia a look between sympathetic and worried.

Julia sighed heavily, glancing back toward Marco, trailing behind them with Zoe and Bee. "He's been… adjusting. It took him a while to accept that Pablo was…" She swallowed, blinking back tears. "Well. Really, it took us both a while."

Chloe placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry."

"Thank you. It's… I think we're going to be okay." Nodding, Julia pushed the office door open and let them in. Placing the dozing Vida in the playpen, she sat down at the desk and gestured toward the other chairs. "Have a seat."

Chloe took one seat, and Zoe went for the other, only for Marco to tug on her hand, pulling her toward the Ladybug and Águila Altíssimo dolls lying on the floor against the far wall. Mettli and Pollen joined them, and the four of them started playing together near the playpen. Glancing away from them at Julia, Chloe hummed. "But how have things been going on this side of the world? I've seen your messages, and Ruth has mentioned a few things, but it's always good to get a firsthand account."

Julia shrugged. "Mostly quiet," she replied. "No sign of your Lynchpin working on this side of the ocean, or of ese Demonio. A few interesting occurrences. A couple months back, Maria encountered a… force? Creature? Monster? In Panama City. Unfortunately, los Héroes de Panama haven't found it since then. We heard something about strange happenings in Bolivia; I'm sending Fin and Coquette to check on it tomorrow. Apart from those two… I don't know of anything else exciting. The two teams in Mexico City appear to be cooperating as well as can be expected – given their different backgrounds and experiences. And the United Heroez have been fairly accommodating – I had a meeting with Victory last month, something that hasn't happened since the United Heroez were founded."

"Majestia did mention something about that at the wedding," Chloe acknowledged with a nod. "I'm glad to see that something positive came out of last year!"

"Indeed." Julia sighed. "No, everything is working out as well as one could imagine for us – in almost every way possible," she added, giving Chloe a pointed look.

Chloe grimaced, forcing herself to maintain eye contact. "On that note," she began slowly, "I do want to tell you how sorry I am that we still haven't been able to get back the Bear Miraculous yet. Especially when we recovered the Bee Miraculous only a month ago." Subconsciously, she reached up to run her hand through her hair, pausing on the hair comb.

Julia shook her head. "I do not begrudge you getting your miraculous back," she assured her quickly. "I am glad to see any miraculous returned to the people who should have them. But I had hoped that Ruth would be able to succeed in this where I had failed."

On the floor, Zoe looked up curiously.

"Ruth has been wonderful to have around," Chloe answered Julia. "The Guardian has been singing her praises as far as her training. And she's almost as determined to recover her miraculous as I was. I have no doubt that she will get her miraculous away from the Bearator."

"I hope so." Julia let out a breath, before smiling. "But how is it? Having your miraculous back?"

Chloe grinned. "You have no idea – in a way, I don't think it's really set in yet," she replied, patting her purse. "I still carry around one of my old synth-Venom pistols – even though I know I could just transform if I got into trouble."

"No, it makes sense," Julia mused. "It's a change. I can't tell you how many times I've glanced over my shoulder for Pablo, even though I know he's not there." She chuckled. "Honestly, your synth-Venom pistols seemed so useful, I'd be surprised if you didn't find some use for them!"

"We've given some to our police's Superhero Liaison Department," Chloe told her. "And Pegasus has outfitted a couple drones to be able to spray it. Although Pollen assures me that the miraculous can do far more than the synth-Venom."

"I have no doubt of that."

After another hour of chatting while Zoe played with Marco on the floor, Chloe finally glanced at her watch and blinked. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "I didn't realize how long we had been here."

Smiling, Julia waved a hand dismissively. "No te preocupes," she assured Chloe. "It's nice to catch up with a friend. Although," she added, glancing down at the floor, "it's too bad that Marco monopolized your sister's attention so much; next time perhaps I'll actually get to know her! But unfortunately, it is time to get some lunch for these two – and then a nap," she told Marco sternly.

"But I'm not tired!" he insisted, folding his arms in a pout.

Julia grimaced, giving Chloe a look. "Tell Sabrina that I do not envy her when her child gets to this age…"

Chloe stifled a laugh. "I'll be sure to let her know," she replied, standing up, stretching her arms, and picking up Bee-atrice. Zoe pushed herself to her feet and followed Chloe out of the office. On the way back to the portal in the lab, Chloe glanced over at Zoe, raising an eyebrow. "I can tell you have some questions."

Zoe flushed. "Sorry. But I was curious… you said the Bearator is using a miraculous from here?"

Chloe nodded, her mouth set in a thin line. "The Lynchpin – the bad guy who's controlled Paris' organized crime for the last couple years – had his people steal the miraculous off of the previous Bear Miraculous holder… after he was murdered." Zoe's eyes widened. "Around the same time that I lost the Bee. The Americans have been trying to get it back from them – with our help – for over a year. First it was Julia, but now it's the girl who was chosen as the next Bear Miraculous holder – she's only a year or two older than you, actually."

"Oh." Zoe's eyes widened. "I couldn't imagine trying to do something that, be a–a superhero…"

Choe quirked an eyebrow at her. "You know, I wasn't much older than you when I first became a hero."