To Butterfly: Sorry. At the moment, the plan is to publish another chapter of this, a "Life and Times" one-shot, and a "Patrol Log" before starting "It Came from Outer Space" on Thursday. If readers are enjoying this anthology, let me know in a review if you would like me to continue with it a little longer before starting the next multi-chapter story. This chapter will have the Avatar: the Last Airbender scene!

When she stepped through the open doorway into her son's bedroom, Duusu sitting on her shoulder, Emilie wasn't sure what she expected to find. Before the accident, as often as not she would have found Adrien sprawled out on his bed reading a manga, or else surrounded by a wide array of his action figures, acting out a scene from his latest anime obsession. At least once every day she would hear the sound of Adrien playing the piano and come down to listen. Occasionally, Adrien and Chloe (sometimes joined by Sabrina) would be playing a video game together. Once or twice Adrien had invited a friend from fencing over and she might have found them racing up the rock climbing wall.

Emilie hadn't expected to find Adrien and his girlfriend (fiancée! she corrected herself) tangled up together in a mess of limbs on the couch. She cleared her throat, and Marinette sprang off the couch like she'd been shot from a cannon, blushing profusely, and caught the back of her calf on the edge of the coffee table. She threw her arms out and yelped as she lost her balance, and would have fallen backward over it had Adrien not jumped up and reached out to grab her. Unfortunately he missed catching one of her flailing arms and only managed a handful of her blouse, which stretched and tore at the collar.

High-pitched cackling laughter came from the far side of the room but was quickly silenced.

"I'm so sorry! Normally no one is staying in the family wing but us…" Marinette stared at Emilie, eyes wide in terror and embarrassment. She tore her eyes away to look down at the floor, only to notice her wrinkled, stretched, and torn blouse, which hung far enough off her shoulder to reveal her bra strap and more. Her blush became, if possible, deeper, and spread to cover her entire face, ears, and neck, clashing with her lacy pink bra. She desperately tried and failed to smooth the blouse out and readjust it. "Oh, I'm such a klutz," she muttered, hiding her face in her hands in embarrassment.

"Not to worry, dear," Emilie assured her, waving a hand dismissively. "Entirely my fault for startling you. Besides, this house has more clothing than we know what to do with! Can I fetch you something to change into? Do we need snacks for the show?"

"That sounds great!" Marinette smiled at her, so wide it almost turned into a grimace. Emilie sensed an almost overpowering wave of anxiety from her as she bolted past her and out of the room. Tikki gave Emilie a sympathetic look and followed Marinette a little more slowly. "I'll go pop some popcorn to go with the pizza!"

Emilie watched her race around the corner toward the kitchen in confusion. How had she upset the girl this time? But at the same time she could feel nothing but happiness and love and excitement from Adrien. Adrien turned on the television and rooted through his (greatly expanded in the last four years) DVD collection to find Avatar. Unsure what else to do, Emilie left to follow Marinette: if nothing else, she could find the girl a new top to replace the one she'd ruined.

The first hall closet Emilie tried, the one where Gabriel had shoved all the old shirts from his aborted attempt at a pop culture line nearly ten years ago, surprisingly contained bed linens and towels instead. The room next to it, which they had filled almost to the ceiling with unsold merchandise over the years, was empty of clothing and had been arranged as yet another guest room. Emilie furrowed her brows in confusion. But the next door down the hallway led to the kitchen. To her amazement, when she looked inside she saw that Marinette had already found a new shirt somewhere and was just straightening her hair. She was standing in front of the stove, gesticulating wildly and talking quietly to Tikki, who was just visible sitting on the counter and munching on a macaroon.

"I'm sorry for startling you," Emilie apologized, crossing the room to lean against the center island. Marinette spun around in shock and clutched at the counter edge, nearly knocking the pan off the stove in the process.

"Oh, it's okay," Marinette told her, giving her a strained smile. "You know me: poor, clumsy Marinette – only you don't really know me. Because we'd never met before, and now Adrien and I are together, and I just keep–" she suddenly flinched and yelped, rubbing at a spot on her lower back, before looking up at Emilie and swallowing nervously.

"Do–do you want some help?" Emilie asked timidly.

Marinette let out a breath. "Right. Um, if you could get out the big plastic bowl?"

Emilie nodded and crouched in front of the island cabinet where they kept the plastic dishes. Whenever they'd had family movie nights, she had always used the same bowl to hold their popcorn: it had started off as a plain white bowl, but Adrien had decorated it to look like a Pokéball and covered it with stickers during the Pokémon phase when he was four. She opened the cabinet to find… cookbooks. Emilie cocked her head in confusion. "Huh."

Marinette glanced down and told her, "Oh, sorry I didn't think to warn you: Mme Lenoir and I rearranged the kitchen last winter so it would be easier for her to use. The plastic bowls are in the big floor-length cabinet on the far wall."

Emilie sighed as she found the correct cabinet and rummaged through it to find a plain blue plastic bowl. "What happened to the other bowl?" she asked in surprise.

"Adrien decided it was finally time to retire the Pokébowl," Marinette explained, shaking the pan to pop the last few kernels before sprinkling in the seasoning. She accepted the bowl and filled it to the brim with popcorn.

"What would you like to drink?" they both asked at the same time.

Marinette flushed and answered, "Um… water's fine for me."

Emilie nodded and pulled out cups. "Two waters, and then milk for Adrien?"

"Actually, he normally drinks Coke."

"Of course." Emilie turned to the refrigerator and pursed her lips. She supposed it was unreasonable for Adrien to still be the same boy now that he was four years ago. And for the kitchen to be arranged the same way. And for the rooms of their house to have the same things she remembered…

"Right," Marinette muttered to herself, pulling the pizza out of the oven, transferring it to a new tray, slicing it quickly, and balancing it and the popcorn in her arms. "I think we've got everything!"

When they returned to Adrien's bedroom, the show was already cued up to start, and Adrien had cleared off the table for the food and spread out a blanket on the back of the couch. Emilie and Marinette laid out the food on the coffee table and they all served themselves before Adrien sat down on one end of the couch and Marinette lay down across the couch with her head in his lap. Tikki and Duusu both grabbed armfuls of popcorn and settled on the table, where Plagg joined them after pulling some of the cheese of Adrien's pizza slice. Emilie took the armchair on the far side of the couch, and Adrien hit the button to start the first episode. Emilie smiled in spite of herself on feeling the love and affection between the two kids as Adrien pulled down the blanket to cover Marinette and slipped his hand beneath it and placed it on her. Marinette flushed in embarrassment and slipped his hand out from under the blanket to rest on her side, covering it with her own. Adrien glanced down at her in surprise that quickly shifted through a half-dozen emotions into acceptance.

Emilie chuckled. "It's incredible that the two of you can have an entire conversation just through micro-expressions!" She felt confusion from both of them and rushed to ask, "You didn't realize that's what you were doing? The way you read each other's tiniest movements to communicate just now?"

"That's what that's called?" Adrien asked in surprise.

Emilie nodded. "Reading micro-expressions was one thing your grandmother emphasized when I first started training as Guardian," she explained. "She considered it important as a way to confirm whatever emotions I sensed through the miraculous."

Adrien's jaw dropped. "So that's how you always seemed to know exactly what I was thinking?"

Emilie smiled mischievously. "Between that and Duusu, yes."

Marinette shrugged. "We just learned how to pick up on each other's cues and anticipate each other's actions after fighting Akumas together for so long."

Emilie smiled. "Most couples it takes years to be able to do that. It's nice to see you already so in sync." Even if I wish it hadn't happened for this reason, she didn't add. Seventeen-going-on-forty after having so much responsibility thrown at them in such a brief span of time…

As Emilie watched the kids get lost in the show, as she felt their emotions blending together into warm love and joy, she had to smile at seeing Adrien so happy – the happiest she had ever felt him. And yet, with Marinette as clearly the most important person in his life – she had clearly stepped up to become the "Ladybug of the house" – where did that leave Emilie?

AN: Adrien hired Marianne Lenoir as a housekeeper after Hawk Moth's defeat.