Chapter 2: Overly Long Trousers
"Adrien?" said Marinette. "What are you doing here?"
"Marinette," said Adrien, "I'm really sorry. We just had no-where else to stay. Please, could you let Emma and I crash here for the night?"
Marinette's eyes were drawn to the girl, who was no more than ten, standing next to Adrien, arms around his midriff. Dirty blonde hair, green eyes, petite build... it was indeed Adrien's carbon copy, Emma.
"Em," said Adrien quietly. "This is Aunt Marinette. Do you remember her? She used to look after you when you were younger."
Emma looked up, with shy, nervous eyes.
"Hi, Emma," said Marinette, kneeling down to her level, with a reassuring smile. "How are you? You've grown so big since the last time I saw you."
Emma mumbled a nervous hello.
"Don't mind her, she's a bit shy," explained Adrien.
"I remember. Well, come in - you're both drenched. I'll get both of you a change of clothes," said Marinette.
She led the way in. Marinette talked to Emma first, giving her some of her older clothes.
"Em?" she asked. "Here are some old clothes of mine. They're a bit big, but I'll try and get some new clothes for you as soon as I can. In the meantime, the bathroom is over there -" she opened a door "-so you can have a nice hot shower and get changed. I'll have some dinner ready for you. Tell me or your dad if you need anything."
Emma muttered a word of thanks before taking the clothes from her and leaving. Marinette returned her attention to Adrien.
"Adrien, surprise aside, it's good to see you. How are you doing?" she asked.
"It's a long story, Marinette," said Adrien. "Thanks for having us, I don't know what I'd do otherwise. I hope we're not imposing."
"It's no issue. I'll fix dinner, I was just about to anyway," said Marinette agreeably. "But where's Capucine?"
Capucine, as Marinette guessed, was Adrien's wife. Or was she?
"Capucine? Oh, she and I - we divorced," said Adrien. "She got the house back in New York, so Em and I had to move here all of a sudden."
"Really? That must have been tough," said Marinette. "I'm honoured, though, that you came to me."
"Well, I dunno about that," said Adrien. "How's Alya and Nino, and Mike too?"
"They're all doing well," said Marinette. "As a matter of fact, they had another kid some four years ago, little Martine."
"Oh, I didn't know that," said Adrien. "Must have been living under a rock. But enough about me, how's business?"
"Me? Oh, nothing out of the ordinary," said Marinette. "I was promoted to Senior Designer at LP Interior Design. It's good work, hard, but good."
Just then, the bathroom door opened.
"Adrien, why don't you have your shower now? Emma must be done in there."
"Righto," said Adrien.
"Uh, please wear this," said Marinette, handing him a fluffy white robe. "It's all I've got."
"It's plenty," said Adrien. "Thanks."
And up he went. Marinette heard a few clumsy footsteps cross the hallway upstairs. It must have been Emma, tripping on the legs of the oversized trousers. Marinette picked up a pair of scissors and headed upstairs, to see Emma about to come down.
"Hey there," she said, with that same reassuring expression. "You'll fall down the stairs, with your trouser legs that long. See if I can fix them?"
Emma paused, then sat down on the top step. Marinette sat down next to her.
"Here," she said, carefully slicing off about half of the trouser leg - she was still quite a bit taller than Emma. She did the same with the other leg, too.
"See how it is now?" she said.
Emma came downstairs, still with that careful expression, but looking a little more relaxed.
"Thank you," she said quietly.
"It's my pleasure," said Marinette. "How are you doing?"
Emma faltered.
"I'm - I'm good," she said. She sat down on the sofa next to Marinette.
"Aunt Marinette?" she said. "I-I missed you."
"You too, Em," said Marinette. "It's good to see you again."
Emma didn't give any indication that she wanted to talk. She made to prop her feet up on the sofa, when she stopped.
"Can I put my feet up?" she asked timidly.
"Of course you can," said Marinette. Emma quietly curled up in the corner. She had said nothing by the time her father had come down.
"That was nice," he said, "after coming out of the rain."
"Well, stay tuned. I'm making dinner," said Marinette. "Are you two hungry?"
"Not really," said Adrien. "Em, are you?"
Emma shook her head.
"It'll be something light, then. How do some savoury croissants sound?"
Emma paused once more, then nodded. Adrien also agreed to the croissants.
The three of them ate in relative silence. Adrien and Emma thanked Marinette, who showed them to their bedroom.
Marinette continued to ponder. What were those two doing here?
What were those two up to? You'll find out soon. In the meantime, stay tuned for Chapter 3.