To Butterfly: "Robert" is the name I gave to Amelie's husband (Felix's father). He isn't named in the show. He died after Emilie's accident, so this was the first chance they actually got to talk about it. Their parents died when Adrien was 10, Emilie's accident happened when Adrien was 13, and Robert's death happened less than a year after that.
To A.K.U.M.A.: It's a fair question. The Meerkat was a fan suggestion that I decided to run with for the Lion King reference. I haven't figured out a concept or ability for it yet, though. Hope you're enjoying "The Battle for the Seine"!
To saberstorm: Out of curiosity, where do you see a discrepancy between "Felix" and this chapter? I did say that "Felix" happened, but it was about 3 years before the present in this AU.
To MiraculousReader: They are actually 2 separate things. "Channel" = "English Channel"; "Chunnel" = "Channel Tunnel" (i.e. the tunnel under the English Channel for cars and trains to travel between France and England). Emilie probably wouldn't have a problem with taking a boat across the Channel, but a train through the Chunnel wouldn't be fun after spending 4 years in an enclosed tube!
To yellow 14: That was a touching moment to write!
To Ellie and Kacey: I'm so glad you're enjoying this! Nathalie and Gabriel are both coming up, but probably not until after "A Bees' Life." They were something like chapters 10 and 11 originally, but they keep getting pushed back by new chapters! I haven't decided yet whether Emilie will change her name back to Graham de Vanily or keep Agreste, but at the moment the plan is for Marinette to change her name to Agreste. In "America" when Adrien (sort-of accidentally) proposed to her, he did it by saying that eventually he hopes they can just say that it's Marinette's name on the side of the Agreste Fashion House building.
The Saturday before school would begin for the year, Emilie arrived in the dining room a little before eight to find Adrien still sitting at one end of the main dining table, nursing a cup of coffee with a croissant in one hand. Plagg was lounging on a tea saucer with a cheese pastry, breaking off tiny pieces and placing them slowly into his mouth, humming in delight with each bit.
"You know, kid," Plagg observed, "a Kwami could get used to this kind of treatment." He swallowed. "Not that it's any less than I deserve, of course. After all, you know why the ancient Egyptians worshiped cats?"
"Is the answer going to be disa-brie-able?" Adrien asked, chuckling.
"You'd better not be dissing my brie!" Plagg retorted with a smirk.
"You've been obsessed with cheese since the Pleistocene Age!" Duusu scoffed, flying away from Emilie to land on the table next to Plagg.
"Are you saying my cheese isn't gouda-nough for you?" Plagg asked, eyes lighting up mischievously.
"Save it for Dorreen," Adrien told him, grinning. "Good morning, Mom!" he called happily, starting to get up.
Emilie waved for him to stay seated and took the chair across from him, selecting a pastry of her own from the plate. She broke off a piece for Duusu, who had already helped himself to some of the fruit salad, before taking a bite of the warm, flaky pastry. "This is delicious," she commented. "Marinette?"
"Mme Lenoir, but using her own take on Tom's recipe," Adrien answered, grinning.
Emilie sighed and helped herself to some fruit. "You certainly aren't lacking for phenomenal chefs!"
"Marinette's still the best, but I might be biased!"
"Her old man's camembert macaroons are better," Plagg argued, shoving the rest of his cheese pastry into his mouth. "I've never met someone who could make cheese speak the way he does!"
Duusu rolled his eyes and tossed a grape at Plagg. "You and your cheese," he squeaked. "There's more to life than cheese."
"I'll pretend you didn't say that, Feathers!" retorted Plagg, hurling the grape back at him. "You sound like Tikki," he muttered.
Emilie giggled on feeling Adrien's good mood, the amusement coming from the two Kwamis. "Not going into the office today?" she asked, glancing over at Adrien.
"Nope," he agreed easily. "Marinette is there for a meeting about the winter lines, and I'll have a photo shoot Monday – last one before school starts. Nothing I really need to do this weekend that can't wait until Tuesday. And if anything does come up, Marinette or Mme Batteaux can handle it."
She nodded, relieved. Gabriel's greatest struggle when they first started the fashion house was to make time for himself. He would have worked himself into the ground in the first month if she hadn't insisted that he eat and sleep! "I'm glad to see you prioritizing, dear!" she told Adrien, smiling. "So what is your schedule for the day?"
"Kitty Section is practicing this afternoon on the Liberty," he answered. "We have a concert coming up in Le Havre, and we need all the extra rehearsals we can get. But Marinette and I are still planning on us all watching a couple episodes of Avatar tonight – as long as you're not busy!"
Emilie shook her head. "Sabrina will be over for a bit this afternoon, but she's planning to leave before dinner. Jeanne did invite me for dinner to reconnect with some of the other long-time employees, but that's not until tomorrow evening," she replied. "I'm glad you have your band, though I miss hearing you play every day!"
"I don't play as often as I used to," Adrien admitted. Emilie felt a twinge of shame from him. "There are just so many other things happening."
"Perfectly understandable, dear," she assured him. "You need time for other things. I'm sorry for pushing so much on you when you were younger; I'm glad you've cut down some."
"I did stop my Japanese lessons last year," he told her. "If I ever need it, I can always pick it up again. Or ask Kagami for help. I considered dropping Chinese also, but it has proven so useful in reading the Miracle Book that I'm glad I didn't!"
Emilie let out an amused snort. "Why do you think I insisted that you learn Chinese from such a young age?" she asked rhetorically.
Adrien chuckled but stopped. His emotions shifted to confusion, and he cocked his head to one side. "Wait… what?"
"Learning Chinese was your first step in becoming the next Guardian," she explained calmly. "How else were you supposed to learn the code?"
Adrien smacked his forehead. "So that's why I picked it up so much faster than Marinette…" He shook his head ruefully. "I suppose, knowing what I know now about our family, I should have realized that!"
"I'm so happy that even after everything that happened, you still received this family legacy," Emilie told him, smiling warmly. "I always wanted this for you!"
He grinned. "After how left out I was for so long, you have no idea what it feels like to know I'm such an important part of this!" She laughed and raised an eyebrow at him. He chuckled sheepishly. "Okay, maybe you do know what I'm feeling right now…"
"It's amazing that you and Marinette are so in sync with each other about everything," Emilie observed. For herself and Gabriel, this level of attunement hadn't happened until well after Adrien was born – if it had ever really been there in the first place. "Have you thought about your future? Will you both be working at the fashion house together?"
Adrien shrugged. "For now that's the plan," he answered. "And I'm always going to be involved with the company. But I told Marinette a few months ago that I'd rather take more of a passive role eventually: let her handle the day-to-day operations of the company while I support her from behind the scenes."
Emilie nodded knowingly. "That's what your father and I did, also," she explained. "I was his manager for the first couple years, but eventually I stepped back some to focus on raising you. You have plenty of time still, but have you given any thought to what you will do instead?"
Once more Adrien shrugged. "Last winter I gave Max the funding he needed to publish and market his Super Akuma Battle Melee game, and that turned out to be ridiculously successful. I've thought about doing more of that: investing in my friends and their ideas. I mean, we're doing well enough already that even if we didn't get a single Euro in return, we wouldn't be broke…"
Emilie could feel the anxiety and nervousness from him. "Dear," she announced calmly. "I think investing in your friends' ideas could be an amazing investment moving forward – regardless of whether or not it actually pays off financially!"
He let out a sigh, relief swelling in his emotions. "Thanks, Mom. All I've wanted is to make you proud."
She smiled. "I'm already proud of you, dear," she assured him. "You've become such an incredible young man. I know that whatever you decide to do, you'll do it well."