To armadas: It's amazing how much of a difference it makes when the families can get along in spite of differences!
To Butterfly: I can definitely imagine these two becoming good friends, and not just because of their children.
To StarDaPanda225: They are not going to lack for babysitters, lol! But the Heroes of Paris will most likely have their own "Lise" ("super nanny") to watch the Heroes' children when they start coming.
To yellow 14: Tom and Sabine are great parents, but I can imagine them worrying a lot about how much time they are devoting to the bakery instead of their daughter.
"I need you to watch Marco for me this afternoon!"
"But this is supposed to be my weekend off. I'm taking Alain to the park later to meet some friends from school!"
"Can't you bring Marco with you?"
"Not really."
"Well, I can't bring him with me! I need to run errands this morning. Plus I got a lead on the Bear yesterday up north, and if I don't follow up on it today, it could vanish yet again!"
Emilie followed the sound of arguing down the hallway from her suite to the dining room, Duusu sitting on her shoulder. Julia sat at the table next to Marco, who had half a croissant in his hand, dunking it in a glass of orange juice. Julia held a coffee mug in both hands, her lips turned down in a frown. Emilie could sense rising frustration and irritation from her. Lise stood on the opposite side of the room, hands on her hips, her emotions a mix of anger, embarrassment, and guilt. Mettli and Russa sat together in the middle of the table on a plate of fruit and sausage links, looking back and forth between their holders with concern.
"I hate when the pack devolves into in-fighting," grumbled Mettli, giving Russa a dirty look.
Russa sighed. "You can't blame my kid for wanting a chance to see her friends."
"I can when she turns on her pack leader," Mettli retorted.
"What seems to be the problem?" Emilie asked, her gaze darting back and forth quickly between Julia and Lise.
Julia let out a breath, and her frustration level decreased marginally. "I need someone to watch Marco while I search, and Lise is busy," she explained irritably.
"Mama, quiero eggs!" Marco whined, dropping his croissant on the table.
Mettli fluttered over to him and patted his cheek. "We can get you eggs, kiddo," the Kwami assured him. She was just about to fly away to the kitchen when Julia shook her head.
"You asked for pastries, sweetheart," Julia told him patiently, picking up the croissant and holding it up to his mouth. Marco took the croissant, frowned, and tossed it back on the plate. He shook his head, folded his arms, and pouted. Julia sighed. "Hijo, finish your croissant and then you can have eggs."
Marco turned away and shook his head. "No!"
With a huff, Lise quickly walked over to the table, sat down across from Marco, and picked up his croissant. "Mmmm…" she hummed, breaking off one end of it and popping it in her mouth. "Muy bien, no?" She smiled teasingly at him. "You don't know what you're missing out on!"
"Mine!" Marco snatched the croissant away from her and took a huge bite.
Julia gave Lise a grateful look and nodded, stifling a chuckle.
Emilie smiled on feeling the eased tension between them. "I could watch him for you today," she offered.
"Could you, Emilie?" Julia asked, looking at her in surprise. "He can be a bit of a handful," she warned.
Emilie smiled in amusement. "Adrien could be a handful sometimes, too. I can handle a rambunctious toddler!" she assured her.
Duusu clapped his paws excitedly. "It's been so long since I had a little one to look after! This will be so much fun!"
"Oh, thank you so much!" Julia told her, letting out a relieved breath.
"Thanks, Mme Agreste," Lise added, giving Emilie a quick hug.
"My pleasure, sweetie!" Emilie beamed as Lise made her way out of the room. "You have fun with your friends!"
Once she was gone, Julia sighed. "Sometimes I feel more like her parent than the leader of her miraculous team," she confessed. "And then there are the times I worry that I am taking her for granted. But I know I would not be able to handle this entirely by myself."
"She knows how much you appreciate her," Emilie consoled her, taking the vacant seat on Julia's other side. "I don't think she really wanted to fight about it. And I know she cares for Marco."
"I know," Julia agreed, nodding. "And Marco positively adores her." She tossed back her last swallow of coffee, pushed away from the table, and kissed Marco on the forehead. "Now you be good for Señora Emilie, muchacho," she told him seriously. "I will see you this evening!"
"Oui, mama," Marco replied, nodded. "Te aime!"
"Te amo tambien," Julia answered, kissing him again with a sniffle. She grabbed her bag as Mettli dropped inside, tossed her sweater over her shoulder, and left for the day. Emilie looked over at Marco while Duusu picked out a few fruit pieces from the Kwami plate.
"Can we go play?" Marco asked eagerly, standing up and bouncing up and down on his toes.
"Don't you want to finish your orange juice?" Emilie asked, raising her eyebrows and sipping her tea slowly.
Marco groaned in irritation but grabbed his cup off the table and chugged the orange juice. "Done," he said, climbing down from his chair. "Now play?"
Emilie nodded slowly and stood up from the table, stretching her arms as she did so. "Okay, sweetie," she agreed, holding his dishes out to him, "but can you bring your plate into the kitchen for me?"
Marco nodded, rolling his eyes, and took his plate and cup from her. Emilie followed him out of the dining room and down the hallway to the kitchen, where Mme Lenoir was proofing dough for fresh bread. Marco reached up to put his plate on the counter, but couldn't reach it.
Mme Lenoir saw him and took the dishes from him. "Thank you, dearie!" she praised, smiling.
"You did great!" Emilie told him, holding her hand out. "Now we can play."
Marco grinned and grabbed her hand, dragging her out of the kitchen and down the hallway, past the front entryway and office door, and down the guest wing toward the playroom. Emilie shook her head in amusement as Marco pushed the door open and pulled her inside after him. When Adrien had been growing up, they had fitted out a nursery for him in the room next to his bedroom and filled it with everything imaginable: a chest of wooden blocks large enough to build a house, a train set that ran around the entire room, a play kitchen, and even the playhouse he had dug back out for Marco. In his first few years, before they hired Gorilla, Adrien and Monsieur Singe had played in the playhouse almost every day. But Adrien's favorite toys had probably been his stuffed animals: there had been one time Adrien had used his stuffed animals to set up a zoo all around the room and then given her a tour.
Marco went straight into the playhouse with Duusu fluttering behind him. Emilie sighed in contentment on feeling the happiness and excitement from Marco. The toddler picked up a toy robot from the table in the playhouse and set it up next to another one, giggling. Duusu landed in front of the robot, and Marco set its arms up, pointing the little cannons on its shoulders at the Kwami. There was something adorable about watching the Kwami play with the child – it made so much sense for Julia and Pablo not to hide the miraculous and Kwamis from Marco. Of course, since they lived in a temple, hiding would probably have been impossible. When Adrien had been young, she had considered allowing him to interact with Duusu, or even letting Duusu watch him on occasion. Her mother had never allowed her to see Duusu and Nooroo when she was growing up – she hadn't know anything about the Kwamis until she'd turned fourteen. Idly she wondered about Adrien and Marinette: would they try to hide the miraculous from their children? Looking around the Mansion right now, the answer seemed obvious.
Emilie hummed thoughtfully: sooner or later, that day would come, wouldn't it? She would have grandchildren; Adrien and Marinette would be parents. Was she really old enough to be a grandmother? Adrien hadn't quite turned 18 yet; how could she be old enough for that? But she shrugged: the day would come eventually. And when it came, she would do anything for her grandchildren, just like she would for their parents.
AN: Monsieur Singe was a senti-monkey that Emilie created to keep Adrien company as a companion/protector, mentioned first in "Mind Games."
Although I have ideas for future chapters, I'm putting "The Woman out of the Fridge" aside for now. Since I've been using this to break up the multi-chapter stories, I'm going to do the same thing going forward with a new series, "The Superhero Liaison Department Case Reports." The next few chapters of "Fridge" will probably come out before/around the one-shot series currently titled "Christmas Anthology"… which won't start until probably February.