AN: At the moment my plan is to publish another "Life and Times" one-shot tomorrow and continue "Fridge" after the next multi-chapter story, "It Came from Outer Space." However, I could continue with "Fridge" for a while longer if the readers are enjoying it. If that's the case, let me know in a review!
To Butterfly: Emilie and Gabriel will have a lot to talk about… Unfortunately, she's not quite ready to face him yet. But it's coming.
To KoalaWho: The relationship between Marinette and Emilie is most definitely one of the key focuses of this anthology. There are four chapters total with the two of them (the last one was them and Adrien; this one is them and Sabine); the other two I have written are just the two of them alone/with Kwamis. And Emilie and Fu are going to have a long conversation about Guardianship in a couple of chapters…
To StarDaPanda225: Showing how well they work together after everything they've been through might be the best part of writing them at this stage in their relationship! With them all living in the same house together, it was going to happen sooner or later that Emilie would walk in on them, especially since they've never had to worry about closing their door before. But you can imagine that was the last time it happened…
As she pushed the bakery door open, Emilie had to smile at the strange confluence of events: while the park across the street had not by any means been Adrien's favorite place to play growing up, they had gone there on a few occasions, and every time he had begged her to stop at the bakery across the street for a snack. The last time had been years before the accident, but Emilie could still remember the smiling woman with short dark hair behind the counter who had taken their order and handed them their bag of macaroons before they went back outside to sit in the park and eat their treats.
This time there was a young woman – probably around lycée-age – behind the counter. She had just opened her mouth to take Emilie's order when the enormous baker stuck his head out of the kitchen door. On seeing Emilie he nodded in recognition. "They're already upstairs," he told her. "Just head up the stairs to the apartment, and then just knock on the trapdoor to find Marinette's room."
"Thank you, M. Dupain," she replied politely, smiling in greeting.
He grinned from ear to ear. "Tom and Sabine, please – after all, we're practically family, right?" A timer went off in the kitchen, and he disappeared back through the doorway.
Emilie chuckled as she let herself through the door. They were practically family now, weren't they? Even apart from the impending wedding, it sounded like Marinette's parents had all-but-adopted Adrien after Gabriel's arrest, and over the last year he had spent more time with them than he had at the Agreste Mansion – not that she could really blame him. She'd had a long conversation with Plagg the other night and been appalled at the years of emotional neglect that Plagg had described. The Kwami had been hesitant to share, but once he had started talking – his tongue loosened by a few pieces of provolone – it had taken half the night for him to finally stop. That certainly explained Adrien's absolute devotion to Marinette, and her gentleness and overt affection towards him.
Just below the trapdoor she stopped when she heard soft voices speaking from Marinette's room. She tapped gently on it, and Marinette called, "Come in!"
Emilie pushed the door open and found designs and bolts of fabric strewn all over the room – Gabriel's home office hadn't looked any better before renting their first studio! Marinette and Sabine sat on the chaise in front of a table with a tea set and three teacups. Sabine had a bolt of shimmery silver fabric in her hands and was studying it carefully. Tikki was sitting on the edge of a plate of macaroons, one of which was halfway into her mouth. "I suppose this answers the question of whether your parents know," Emilie observed with a smile, nodding to Tikki.
Sabine smiled and let out a giggle. "Tikki is our best taste-tester!" she replied, patting Tikki on the head fondly.
"I can't help they're all so good!" squeaked Tikki, giggling shrilly.
Emilie sighed on feeling the warmth in Sabine's emotions, balancing out the anxiety once again rolling off of Marinette in waves. Duusu emerged from Emilie's purse, flew over to Tikki, and grabbed a macaroon from the plate. Sabine raised an eyebrow on seeing the Kwami and gave Emilie an evaluating look.
"How much have the kids told you?" asked Emilie, raising an eyebrow at her in return and helping herself to a macaroon.
"They have been somewhat close-lipped on the subject," Sabine replied, giving Marinette a mischievous smile. "We know they had to do something big to wake you up, but we've made it a policy not to pry – as long as they are open about where they are, we trust them to stay safe. And since telling them we knew, they've only failed to tell us once!"
"Mama," Marinette whined. "I swear we had no idea we were going to be running off to find a sword that killed me in a dystopian alternate future when we left!"
Emilie nearly choked on her macaroon.
"Kids," Sabine complained, shaking her head though Emilie could sense her amusement. "They grow up so fast."
Emilie sighed. "One day you're putting a Euro under their pillow because they lost another baby tooth, and the next thing you know they're getting married!" Emilie picked up one of the sketchbooks lying on the table and flipped through the dozen dress designs Marinette had come up with for her and Sabine to wear for the wedding. She felt another twinge of nervousness from Marinette. Movement out of the corner of her eye drew her attention as Tikki flew up to Marinette's shoulder.
"You lost out on so much with him," Sabine sympathized, handing Emilie a teacup and squeezing her hand. "But you must be so proud! He has turned out to be a wonderful young man – Tom and I are simply thrilled to see how well he treats our Marinette. I can tell he had a good upbringing. So polite and kind – he certainly didn't learn any of that from Gabriel."
"Thank you," Emilie answered, holding back the tears that threatened to fall. "And thank you for taking him in and taking care of him after Gabriel's arrest."
Sabine smiled. "That was our pleasure," she assured her. "With how important he is to Marinette, how could we do otherwise? And with how much he did – how much they both did – to protect Paris for so long, and without support–"
"What do you mean, 'without support'?" Emilie interrupted, eyes shooting wide open.
Sabine nodded in realization. "Of course you wouldn't know what it was like," she commented. "How could you? Ladybug and Cat Noir were fighting on their own for so long – Marinette said it wasn't until months later that she even met this Master Fu who gave them their miraculous. That was when they finally started getting a little help here and there from the others. Tom and I had a long conversation with this Master before they left for Tibet, and he said it's normal for miraculous users to be given time and space to learn about their abilities."
"I see." Emilie pursed her lips.
"So after all of that, giving them both what support we could was the least we could do," Sabine continued, seeming not to have noticed the look on Emilie's face. "After all, it's been quite a while since Paris had a super protector."
Emilie started in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"I've been thinking a lot over the last few years," Sabine explained. "One of my University friends told me the wildest story – years ago, before we'd graduated. She went to the bar one night and had a little too much to drink, and some man pushed her into a dark alley on her way home. She said she was terrified, but an enormous blue bodybuilder appeared out of nowhere to save her. He didn't say anything, and the moment the man was gone he disappeared. I dismissed it as crazy talk at the time, but with all the superheroes running around Paris lately, I can't help but wonder if there was one all the way back then."
Emilie felt her cheeks redden.
"Mama," Marinette told her, smiling, "you're actually talking to her. Mme Agreste was called La Paonne. She was using the Peacock Miraculous to help people long before M. Agreste started using the miraculous for evil."
Sabine chuckled. "I should have believed my friend, then! So does that mean that the Heroes of Paris are gaining a new member now?"
Emilie glanced at Marinette, reaching out to feel her emotions, churned up as they were – anxiety, nervousness, fear… hope?
"I… didn't want to assume," Marinette began hesitantly. "After all, you've been away for so long and you've been through so much. But if you want to – but there's no pressure, and you definitely don't have to – but we would love you to have you on the team – though it's not really what you're used to – but Adrien would be thrilled if you were part of our team – and you wouldn't even have to go out in the field; Impératrice Pourpre normally operates from Headquarters–"
"Dear," Emilie interrupted her, holding a hand up to forestall more of the girl's babbling, "I would welcome the opportunity to help you and Adrien and the rest of your team." She smiled. "If nothing else, I look forward to having a chance to get to know the most important woman in my son's life better!"
AN: If Sabine's story sounds familiar, it's because it's from "Mind Games" chapter 8.