AN: This anthology has been on my mind as an idea ever since I decided to (eventually) have them wake up Emilie. After all, there's no way that Emilie returns after 4 years without hitting some snags: her son is a CEO and engaged now, and the last time she saw him he was barely a teenager! I have 13 (!) written, with ideas for more, but my plan is to spread this anthology out by interspersing it with the other anthologies and with the next few multi-chapter stories. However, if you are interested in seeing more at once, put that in a review! Also let me know any specific characters you think she should interact with.

A note on the title: The "Woman in the Refrigerator" is a common trope (a female character who exists exclusively to be hurt or killed to motivate the male hero)… and that's literally what Emilie has been for the duration of the series as well as the "Mind Games"-verse before now: she has been in a cryogenic chamber (a type of refrigerator) since before the series began. First she was motivation for Gabriel to get the miraculous, then she was motivation for Adrien to find an alternative method for waking her up. But now they've taken the woman out of the refrigerator… so now what?

Emilie had been awake for less than 24 hours, and she was already sitting to give an interview. She sat up and straightened the simple dress she had decided to wear. It was one from Gabriel's last collection before their trip to Tibet and she'd only worn it once for some modeling pictures; it had been scheduled for release as part of the Fall line that year. But then she'd had her accident, and Gabriel had apparently scrapped that entire line, so it had never been made available commercially. This dress, she supposed, was symbolic: it had been frozen in time for years before being unearthed as a reminder of happier times.

Adrien had told her that morning that he'd released a brief statement to the press informing them of her recovery and that further details would be coming eventually. In the meantime, the Ladyblog would have the first interview with Emilie since Ladybug and Cat Noir had been instrumental in waking her up, though the Heroes of Paris would not divulge the details. He expected the regular media to be disappointed, but they planned to let one of Marinette's family friends interview her in a couple weeks once she'd recovered more. For now, the Ladyblog, which happened to be run by Marinette's best friend, would carry the exclusive story.

Emilie focused in on the young woman across from her as she carefully arranged her phone on its tripod, then adjusted it again, then shifted it again, only to move it one last time. She could sense a level of guardedness from the girl: nervous but trying to hide it behind a veneer of self-confidence. "Are you still so nervous about conducting interviews?" Emilie asked with a smile. "I would have thought you would be used to interviewing people after three years!"

Alya looked up at her in surprise. Something shifted in her pocket, and a bright orange head poked out of the top and stage-whispered, "You can't show weakness around Peacocks, kit: they can smell fear!"

Emilie's eyes shot wide open as she took in the Fox Kwami. Alya gave him an annoyed look. "I don't think Mme Agreste needed to know about you just yet, Trixx," she muttered.

Emilie chuckled. "I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that you have a miraculous," she observed kindly. "I can't imagine there are too many people that Marinette trusts more than you. And this explains why they chose you for this interview."

Alya giggled. "It does help to have the Ladyblogger on the team," she agreed. "They want to let you get your feet wet talking to me before any of the other media sharks get their teeth into you. It's not like Nadja Chamack has a vested interest in editing out any accidental slipups that might compromise the fact that you have a miraculous – not that she knows of, anyways. Or that your son and his fiancée are Cat Noir and Ladybug. Or that the Heroes of Paris meet in your basement. Or that–"

"I beg your pardon," huffed Duusu indignantly, flying over from where he'd been watching in one of the bookcases and stopping to hover centimeters from Alya's face. Alya leaned backed, eyes widening in surprise. "Miss Emilie has been keeping the secret of the miraculous for her entire life, since before you were even born! She knows better than to wave to the camera and say, 'Remember me? I was La Paonne and now I'm back!'"

Trixx scoffed, shot out of Alya's pocket, and pushed Duusu back away from his holder. "Please," he retorted. "You wear your heart on your sleeve at all times. If it was up to you, the secret of the miraculous would never have lasted fifteen minutes! We don't need to think with our emotions right now; we need cool, sly illusion to get the story out there the right way, with just enough truth to satisfy while hiding what needs to be hid."

Emilie leaned forward and swiped Duusu, who had puffed out his feathers in a sign of anger, out of the air. "I appreciate the vote of confidence," she told him, running a hand along his back soothingly. "But Trixx is probably right. This isn't exactly a situation that's come up for me before. The Butterfly and Peacock operate best from the shadows, behind the scenes, so I don't think a single one of the Guardians in our family has ever had to give this kind of interview."

"Trust me," Alya assured her. "I spent two years trying to trick Ladybug into revealing her identity – not my brightest idea…" she muttered under her breath "– and then another year helping her preserve her identity without letting on that anything had changed. I know what I'm doing."

"So what do we have to do?" asked Emilie, settling back in her seat.

"Fortunately, Gabriel never made a public statement about how he came across the miraculous," Alya explained. "If he had, this would be so much harder, having to fit your story with his without giving up the goose. As it is, we can tell the public a good story that points everything away from your family having had the miraculous for generations–"

"That would be preferable, considering what Gabriel did," Emilie interrupted darkly. Duusu shivered, and Emilie quickly released that spurt of anger into the atmosphere, sending him a flash of her joy at their reunion by way of apology.

"Right," Alya agreed, nodding. She handed Emilie a notepad, which she opened to reveal page after page of notes, some scribbled out and others written over. The last page had one clean paragraph written. Alya explained, "We don't need to hide the existence of miraculous; Gabriel made sure of that. Everyone knows you went missing on a trip to the East, so we can work from there. You will explain that the two of you found the miraculous somewhere in China. You didn't realize the one you picked up was broken, and that's what accounted for your sudden and unexplained coma and disappearance. Nathalie's poor health during the height of her time as Mayura is well-documented, and this lines up well with it. Gabriel vowed to use the other miraculous to find a way to save you. After Ladybug and Cat Noir defeated him, they found out about the damaged miraculous and wanted to find a way to repair it and heal you. They did it, so now the miraculous is fixed and safely back in the Heroes' hands, and you're awake."

Emilie skimmed through it quickly and nodded in understanding. "Short, simple, explains everything, and leaves the door open for the Heroes to use the Peacock Miraculous without it pointing back to me."

"Really, almost everything in here is true, though vague; the only falsehood in the entire story – the only thing we have to hide – is about where the miraculous came from," Alya told her. "And considering how long ago it was and everything that happened around it and since then, a vague answer will be more than enough to satisfy – better, in fact."

Emilie let out a sigh, allowing her remaining anxiety to dissipate into the atmosphere. "Thank you. Let's get this over with."

Over an hour later, after several takes, the interview was almost over and Alya asked her final question. "Mme Agreste," she began, "in light of everything you have learned about your husband's actions since your accident, do you have anything to say to the people of Paris?"

Emilie pursed her lips and looked directly into the camera. "I want to offer my most sincere apology to all of those who were hurt by my… husband's… actions," she answered, making a face at the word "husband." "I have been shocked and appalled to discover what he did in my name. That is not the man I married. The man I married would never have done such a thing and hurt innocent people. My greatest desire now is to do what I can to help all the people that have suffered at his hands."

AN: Yes, the Heroes of Paris (meaning Alya) do use the Ladyblog to spread deliberate misinformation on occasion. However, it's only to preserve their identities, protect the miraculous, etc. It's not that much different from if Emilie gave the exact same story to Nadja Chamack. Except that in this case the interviewer is coaching her on how to bend the truth in a believable manner. Thinking about it, there's definite story potential here delving into the ethics of superhero journalism…