To Butterfly: Chloe is one I haven't written yet… Now she's on the list!

Emilie stepped out of her room and made her way down to the dining room, expecting to find Adrien there waiting for them to have breakfast together, as he had been the last couple days. However, when she arrived Adrien was nowhere to be found. Instead, there was a teenage girl with a dark complexion trying to convince a toddler to eat his oatmeal. A light-green Kwami with translucent wings sat on the table next to them, working its way through a plate of cubed fruit.

"Come on, Marco, just a few more bites," the girl pleaded, using a napkin to wipe off the spoon he had thrown on the ground.

"No!"

"They are so much fun at that age," Emilie observed, sitting down at the table and selecting an egg-filled pastry. "It's so much simpler than when they grow up!"

The girl laughed nervously. "Somehow I can't imagine how Marco could be more of a challenge when he's older," she groaned. "But I'm sure he will find a way…"

"Surely he's not yours, is he?"

The girl's eyes grew wide, and Emilie sensed shock and a hint of embarrassment from her. "Certainly not!" she replied quickly. "I'm just his nanny while we're here helping Adrien and Marinette with their 'evil miraculous user' situation. I'm Lise, by the way. We came over here from America."

"Emilie. I'm Adrien's mother."

Lise nodded. "I know. The grotto that held your cryogenic chamber is one of Marco's favorite spots to hide when I take him downstairs."

"I don't recognize you," Emilie noted, glancing down at the Kwami. "I thought I was familiar with all the Kwamis in the Grimoire, but apparently not."

"My name is Russa," she squeaked, beaming up at Emilie as Duusu dropped down to join her. "I'm the Cicada Kwami!"

Emilie cocked her head in confusion. "I… there's a Cicada Miraculous?"

Lise giggled. "Among others," she told her. "It turns out there are a whole lot more miraculous than any of us knew about – except the Kwamis themselves, of course." She gave Russa a look, and the Kwami giggled shrilly. "The temple we came from is in Peru. And apparently there's a temple in Australia. And there are five of them in Africa!"

"Don't forget Paxx and Dorreen and Carro and the others!" added Russa brightly, tossing a grape in the air for Duusu to catch.

Lise nodded. "The Dove, Goose, and Shark are all from the Atlantean Miraculous Set," she explained. Seeing the wide-eyed look on Emilie's face, she gave her a sympathetic smile. "It's a lot to take in. You have no idea how surprised we were to find out we weren't alone!"

Emilie nodded and filed that information away for later. Expanding her senses out, she didn't find Adrien's emotions anywhere in the Mansion. She frowned. "Do you know where Adrien is at the moment? I don't feel him anywhere here."

"He actually left about an hour ago," Lise replied. "I think he had to go to work."

Emilie sighed in disappointment. She had been hoping that after spending the last couple days coming to terms with what Gabriel had done, perhaps she could spend today with Adrien, learning about his life over the last four years – had it really been four years since she had seen him last? Back then, they had spent most of their time together: she would take him to his photo shoots or on outings for school. Their schedules had been so hectic with modeling and acting and design shows and the like that homeschooling Adrien had just made practical sense. He had enjoyed interaction with children his own age through his fencing and modeling and occasional outings to the park when they fit their schedule, though his only close friend had always been Chloe. And in a couple years, homeschooling would have allowed Emilie to begin training Adrien to take over as Guardian.

Of course, going to the public collège had certainly had its benefits for him. From everything she had heard in the last two days, Adrien's interpersonal connections had fallen to zero while she was in her coma. And had it not been for the public school, Adrien might never have made friends.

Still…

Emilie finished her second pastry and pulled out the new cell phone they had given her the day before. To think that this device had vastly more computing power and speed than even the one she had gotten right before their trip to Tibet! The special features alone would take some getting used to. She scrolled through the contacts to find Adrien and hit the button to call him.

He answered after the second ring. "Mom?"

"Hi, honey!" she replied, smiling in relief. "I'm sorry I missed you this morning! I just wanted to check in and see what you're up to today!"

"Oh, sorry I didn't tell you last night," he answered sheepishly. "I had to go in to the office for a conference call this morning. Our Chinese distributor is getting antsy to discuss the fall sales projections, and I blew it off last week while we prepared for the trip, and then part of this week after you woke up, but I can't really put it off any longer. The meeting's going to start in just a couple minutes, actually."

"Oh, okay." Emilie tried not to sigh audibly.

"I'm sorry, Mom," Adrien added after a minute. "I–I'll see you when I get home from work?"

"Of course, dear! I love you!"

"Love you, too, Mom."

Emilie sighed and returned to her suite to continue her attempts to catch up with society after her four years' absence. The Ladyblog had proven especially illuminating, though every time she looked at it she found yet another reason to be repulsed by what her husband had done. To think: he had done all of that in her name and using her miraculous! Duusu curled up in her hair while she got lost in a list of Ladybug and Cat Noir's most challenging battles that Alya had published the week before the one-year anniversary of Gabriel's defeat. Lunchtime came and went, and someone left a tray with soup and a sandwich at her door for her, though she was so engrossed in reading about the first Heroes' Day that she didn't hear them knocking and only found the tray after the soup had grown cold. But the sandwich was still fine, and Duusu enjoyed chasing the carrots and peas around in the lukewarm broth.

"Adrien will be here in a couple minutes," Duusu finally announced from the nest he had set up for himself above her bed.

Emilie looked up at the clock to see that it was already close to six. Where had the day gone? And what were they going to do for dinner? She stretched her neck to work out the tension from hours spent in the same position and made her way out to the Mansion's front entry, arriving just as Gorilla opened the door and Adrien came in. "Hi, honey!" she called, walking over and pulling him into a hug. "How was your day?" She held him back at arm's length and examined his clothes critically. "You've really filled out well! I don't think I've seen this style of suit on you before, though it certainly works with your figure. Do you need a snack before dinner?"

Adrien flushed slightly, and Emilie picked up a slight twinge of discomfort from him. "Work was fine, Mom," he told her. "I actually stopped at the bakery for a couple minutes on the way home when we dropped off Marinette, so I already had a snack."

Her face fell. "Right. I'd… forgotten." She smiled excitedly. "What do you want to do tonight? I know: we can order Chinese food and watch Avatar together! Or are you more interested in that One Piece we got you for your birthday?"

Adrien stifled a grimace, but Emilie sensed the emotions underlying it. "I've actually started getting really into Attack on Titan lately," he replied guiltily. "And anyways Nino and a couple of the guys were going to come over to play a new test version of Super Akuma Battle tonight."

Emilie knew she'd made a mistake and let her disappointment show on her face when Adrien's guilt magnified and his face fell.

"But… I could reschedule for tomorrow?" he added quickly.

Emilie sensed embarrassment and guilt pouring off of him in waves. A matching strain of nervousness and worry came from Gorilla. She vaguely remembered a comment on the Ladyblog's recap of the Glaciator incident (how Gabriel could have turned a kindhearted man like André into a literal ice cream monster…) about Adrien not being allowed to get ice cream with his friends, and that this was a regular occurrence. When an Akuma struck Adrien's birthday, it was because his friend Nino had wanted to throw him a party. Gabriel had not permitted Adrien any sort of social life! He had forced Adrien to cancel on his friends constantly! And here she was, back in his life for three days and he felt like he had to do the same for her… "Don't be silly, honey," she insisted, patting him on the shoulder. "Of course you shouldn't reschedule on my account. I… shouldn't presume to have the only claim on your time. You aren't a child anymore, so I can't treat you like one. It will just… take some getting used to, I think."

The relief and gratitude from Adrien almost overwhelmed Emilie. "Thanks, Mom!" He threw his arms around her in a tight hug, which she happily returned. "You know," he added, "Marinette still hasn't seen Avatar yet. Maybe that's something the three of us could watch together? Maybe we could start tomorrow night?"

"That would be wonderful, honey," Emilie replied with a warm smile.

Adrien raced back to his room to get ready for his friends. Emilie was about to follow him back to her own rooms (one of her favorite book series had concluded while she was in a coma, and she had to find out how it ended) when the front door opened again. Little Marco raced inside, dragging behind him a younger woman with blonde hair. Emilie smiled on sensing the love and affection between them. "You must be Marco's mother," she observed.

The woman looked up at her, thought for a moment, and grinned. "Yes," she replied slowly. "Julia. Lise says you met this morning?"

Emilie nodded and gave her a rueful smile. "He's quite adorable. Enjoy them when they're that age; they can literally grow up on you overnight!"

AN: To clarify the very end, Julia's picked up some French after living in France for close to four months, though she's not overly comfortable in the language yet. She's "younger" because she's over 10 years younger than Emilie: Julia is 25; Emilie is 39 (went into the coma at 35, Adrien was born when she and Gabriel were about 22).