"So, what are we going to do today, sis?"

Chloe tensed, only barely managing to relax her shoulders and facial muscles before Zoe could notice her response to the cheerful question. The two of them had just stepped off the elevator in the hotel lobby, and Chloe quickly plastered a smile on her face for the inevitable photographer lurking near the reception desk. Putting an arm around Zoe's shoulders and walking across the lobby toward the exit, Chloe sighed internally, still maintaining the bright façade – both for the cameras and for Zoe. Yet again, she had woken up in the morning to find Zoe sleeping in her bed, the third time in the week since Zoe had come into their lives. Did the girl really have nightmares that often?

Not that Chloe's nightmares had been that much better after her abduction. Her jaw clenched, and she pressed her hand against her hip to suppress the urge to run her fingers through her hair, feeling for the miraculous.

Had it really been a week since she had met Zoe? Was this what her life was going to be from now on. Spending half her time with her new little sister? She had been perfectly content – or at least content enough – as an only child. Her parents had ignored her and left her to her own devices, but she had made do. Now, she had her own life, her own friends. She was part of the Heroes of Paris. Her best friend was pregnant, for gods' sakes. But for the last week, she'd had to put all of that aside for Zoe. She had had to let Zoe stay in her penthouse, because God only knew what Chloe's mother would do if she had Zoe living with her – Chloe could only guess that the neglect she had experienced from her mother would be nothing to her anger over the daily reminder of Chloe's father's affair. That was fine; the penthouse was more than large enough for both of them. And Chloe could admit that she had appreciated the opportunity to get to know Zoe. But now that the shock and excitement of discovering a new sister had worn off, why couldn't she get back to her life? Why did it have to fall to her to entertain Zoe most of the time?

Was this what it was supposed to be like, having a younger sibling?

Noticing the expectant look on Zoe's face, Chloe cleared her throat. "Um, well… Sabrina actually needs a little help with putting together some furniture and rearranging her apartment," she finally answered. "Now that Claudie is mostly moved out, they have more space to spread out and set up their baby furniture, but neither of them has the energy or strength to do it. Or at least, that's where I'm going–" Zoe's face fell. Chloe let out a breath. "But you can come along if you want."

"Sounds like fun!" Zoe agreed, a bit of a spring in her step as they walked side by side out the hotel's front door and down the street in the direction of the apartment building where Max and Sabrina lived, Bee-atrice trotting along between them on her leash. Pausing beside the first tree they passed, Bee sniffed the trunk curiously before doing her business. As she did so, Zoe stopped to lean against the tree, looking back toward the hotel with wide eyes. "You know, I always wondered what it would be like to live somewhere like that," she mused.

"Oh?" Chloe cocked her head curiously.

Zoe nodded. "Mom and I never had a lot, but at least we were comfortable – I knew some of my classmates were worse off than we were. But when I found out that my father owned the biggest hotel in the city? And that he lived there?" She shook her head ruefully. "I imagined you just… ordering room service for everything. Having a private pool. Inviting your friends over all the time to watch TV on an enormous television…"

Chloe scoffed. "The reality rarely measures up to the fantasy."

"I don't know." Zoe shrugged. "We have gotten room service for every meal. And your television is larger than my bed was…" She looked away, her lips turning down in a frown that only lasted for a moment.

"My mother has never been much of one for cooking," she told Zoe. "And Daddy is absolutely hopeless at anything outside of politics."

Zoe hummed. "What about you?"

"Never been much of one for those 'domestic' things; we've always had staff for that." Chloe pursed her lips.

"Mom taught me a lot of that," Zoe confided. "Especially cooking – that was our time together. She never had to work, so she was always home, whenever I needed her. It was nice, having her around all the time. She was an amazing cook – at least as good as anyone at the hotel." With a sigh, she looked off into the distance, a small smile on her lips. "Everything she made just… it tasted like home."

Chloe's throat tightened, and she turned away from Zoe, swallowing. Bee had long since finished her business; the puppy looked up at Chloe with wide eyes and yipped, her tail wagging excitedly. Coughing, Chloe led the way down the street toward Sabrina and Max's apartment building. "Your mother sounds like a nice woman," she finally told Zoe, her voice quiet.

"She really was." Zoe sniffled, letting out a breath.

"Nothing like your new stepmother," Chloe continued, raising an eyebrow at her.

Zoe's eyes widened, and she grimaced nervously.

Chloe waved a hand dismissively. "It's okay. You can say it. Your mother was a saint; my mother… is not." She chuckled humorlessly. "I've always known my mother wasn't like my friends' moms. Sabrina's mother has always been so kind to me, as has Marinette's mother. I actually stayed with Marinette's family for a month," she added. "While we were planning how to stop Hawk Moth."

"That must have been strange," Zoe interjected. "You really had to fight your friend's father?"

Chloe grimaced. "You have no idea…" She cleared her throat. "But that month, I think it was the first time I actually saw what a 'normal' family was like. And I'd never been anything but cruel to Marinette before that."

Zoe started. "But now she's one of your best friends?" Chloe quirked an eyebrow with a nod. Zoe shook her head. "There's got to be a story there."

"There is."

Zoe blinked and started to open her mouth, but Chloe picked up her pace, the apartment building just coming into view three blocks away as they turned down the next street. The sun shone down brightly above them, chasing away some of the frustration and guilt. Zoe hurried to catch up with her, looking around the neighborhood curiously. In the distance, past Sabrina's building, Chloe could make out the familiar form of Marinette, hurrying toward them.

Chloe smiled brightly and gave Marinette a wave as they approached. "I see that Sabrina roped you into helping her, too?" Chloe asked, quirking an eyebrow at her.

Marinette nodded, smiling back. "I'm always happy to help a friend! But it looks like you roped someone else into helping out, too!" she added, greeting Zoe with a quick hug. "It's nice to see you again, Zoe," Marinette told her. "With four of us, we'll be done in no time!"

Chloe snorted. "As long as you don't go into a 'design trance'," she warned Marinette, her eyes flashing with amusement.

"As long as we're not trying to match colors again, you won't have to worry about that," Marinette retorted with a huff, leading the way up the stairs. "I swear, I don't understand how Max functions, if he really thought that rug could go with that paint color…"

Zoe stifled a giggle.

Sabrina met them at the apartment door, leaning against the doorjamb. "Thanks for your help today."

Giving Sabrina a hug, Chloe glanced past her and raised an eyebrow. "Is Max not going to help?" she asked, clucking her tongue.

"He'll be back later," Sabrina replied, hugging Marinette and Zoe in turn. "He left to go and work on the latest composite test before meeting with the others. He'll be in the lab with Claudie until lunchtime, at least. So, that means it's just the four of us for now!"

"Right." Chloe rubbed her hands together, looking around the living room curiously. "Then where do we start?"

"Some of Claudie's furniture still needs to be moved next door," Sabrina explained, leading the way back to the bedroom that had previously been Claudie's and gesturing toward the small pile in the middle of the room. "It's not that far – Max put a door between the two units in this room's closet. Max, Kim, and Ivan got most of the big stuff last week, but there are still some chairs, the desk, and a couple boxes. Max warned me against doing it, of course…" Sabrina rolled her eyes affectionately.

"Well, you are pregnant," Chloe pointed out wryly.

"And until this baby is actually being born, I'm not as useless as everyone seems to think."

"I can take care of moving the furniture," Marinette interjected, starting to push between them into the room as Chloe smirked at Sabrina.

"Actually," Sabrina told her, smiling, "we were thinking about putting up some wallpaper and pictures–"

"I'm in," Marinette interrupted, grinning eagerly, her eyes lighting up. "Which room are we working on this time? Is it the baby's room? Or is it going to be your–" She gasped. "I have the perfect trim for your bedroom!"

Chloe quirked an eyebrow at Marinette. "Not going into a design trance, huh?" she muttered. Marinette, too busy rummaging in her purse for a sketchpad, barely looked up to acknowledge Chloe. With a cough, Chloe told Sabrina, "I can move the furniture – assuming the doorway is large enough for that desk… Where does your mother-in-law want it?"

Sabrina smiled fondly, her gaze drifting down to her finger. Chloe elbowed her, and she started. "Um… she wants the desk in the opposite bedroom," she answered quickly. "Chairs can go around the kitchen table. The boxes?" She furrowed her brows in thought. "I think these are for the office – that's the room that abuts on this bedroom, where the desk goes." Glancing from the desk to Chloe, she furrowed her brows. "Do you want help with that?"

Chloe rolled her eyes and folded her arms. "You are not going to be moving a desk," she informed her. "Trust me: I've got this. Besides," she added, running her fingers through her hair meaningfully, "I can always ask for help."

Sabrina sighed. "Fine. And thank you."

"What about me?" asked Zoe, looking around curiously. "What can I do?"

"How are you with putting furniture together?" asked Sabrina, glancing down at the unopened boxes lining the wall. Zoe shrugged. "I guess the two of us will work on that together," Sabrina decided.

Gritting her teeth, Chloe hoisted up the first box – ridiculously heavy with books – and hauled it through the open doorway into the room beyond, plopping it down beside a dozen other boxes in front of the empty bookcases. By the time she returned, Marinette had already left the room, while Sabrina and Zoe had started pulling out the pieces for the new crib. Zoe gave one of the side pieces a dubious look before leaning it against the wall. Chloe grabbed the next box, and the next, working steadily while watching the others as the baby furniture slowly came together around the edges of the room. Over the next three hours, Chloe didn't see Marinette once, so focused was she on her work in the living room. First the boxes, then the chairs, and last the desk Chloe dragged through the new doorway into the other apartment before beginning to arrange the nursery furniture. Finally, a little after noon, the four girls paused for a quick lunch. While they were waiting for their food to arrive, Zoe glanced sidelong at Sabrina, though without speaking.

"I can see you have a question," Sabrina mused, raising an eyebrow at Zoe expectantly.

Zoe flushed, cocking her head to one side. "Um… not exactly a question," she began, hesitating. "More that I'm just, I'm surprised to see you having a baby. You're only five years older than me, after all…"

Sabrina flushed, looking away. "This wasn't really planned," she admitted, placing her hand on her belly. "We had barely even talked about children before it happened; if I'd ever thought about it, it had been something that would happen later, after we were out of university and married. But now that it's happening, I am happy about it. Max and I are together, we're doing so well together, the baby is going to be loved, we're going to be taken care of…" She smiled. "I know of – I've counseled – so many people in this same situation who can't say any of those things. Plus, we have a lot of good friends helping and supporting us through this." Glancing over at Chloe, she added, "People like your sister and Marinette. And, maybe, you!"