20 minutes later the car arrived outside the Bakery. "My Father is on his way with Alison. What about Alya and Nino?" Adrien asked. "Alya and Nino will be here soon. I think they are going to pick Ella up first before coming here." Marinette replied. Adrien nodded before opening the door to the Bakery and letting Marinette go in first then he followed in after her. "Hi, Mama," Marinette said greeting her Mother who was behind the counter serving people. "Hi Honey, and hi Adrien."
"Hi, Sabine" Adrien greeted back. "Mama do you think you and Papa could close up the Bakery for a bit," Marinette asked her Mother. "Yeah sure why through?" Sabine asked "We need to talk about a few things, Sabine. My Father will be here soon as well as Alya and Nino." Adrien explained. "What is going on Marinette?" Sabine asked her daughter as turned to her. "We will tell you once everyone gets here," Adrien said jumping into the conversation. Sabine nodded as she served the next customer before going over to her husband to tell him what is going on. As Sabine and Tom were finishing up with the last few customers Adrien took Marinette's hand and lead her upstairs to the house. Just as they walked into the kitchen, there was a knock on the door and a voice yelled out. "Mari, Adrien," Alya called out. "We are in the kitchen Alya," Marinette called back to her best friend. Alya and Nino with Ella walked into the kitchen followed by Gabriel, Natalie with Alison in her Grandfather's arms. "Hey, girl." Alya greeted her best friend with a hug. "Hey, Alya." Nino and Adrien did a fist bump to each other. "Mummy, Daddy" Alison called as she reached out to her Mother. Marinette took her from Gabriel's arms and kissed her on the cheek. "Hi Baby girl. Did you have a fun morning with your Grandfather?" Marinette asked her daughter "Ah-huh. When I wake up you and Daddy not there." Alison said shaking her head. "We are sorry that Mummy and I weren't there when you woke up this morning princess," Adrien said to Alison. "Now Adrien you said that you have something to tell us about?" Gabriel asked. "Yes, we do need to talk. But while we wait for my parents to lock up the Bakery, I will take the girls upstairs to my room and put a movie on for them." Marinette said before Adrien could say anything. Marinette then took Ella and took them up to her room and had put a Barbie movie on for the girls to watch while they all talked downstairs.
Once Marinette got back downstairs her parents were already up from the Bakery and everyone was sitting in the lounge waiting for her to come back. "Now that we are all here. Would you two like to tell us why we are here? And what this is all about?" Sabine asked the two. Marinette and Adrien took one look at each other before turning to the group to explain why they bought them all here. "Well, last night Alison woke up with another Nightmare which scared her quite a bit. She kept saying 'don't let her take me.' So, Adrien and I thought that we should go back to the Orphanage to get some answers." Marinette explained. "And my guess is that you got the answers and that is why we are here?" Gabriel asked the pair. Marinette and Adrien nodded at him. "So, what did you found out?" Alya asked. "When Alison first arrived at the Orphanage, she was two and a half old because Child Services took her away from her Birth Mother Lisa…" Adrien said starting to explain everything that Nana Sue told them. An hour later after Marinette and Alison explained the whole thing they both looked up at their family and friends and saw the horrified expressions on their faces. "Poor Alison. She should never have to go through that ever again," Sabine said as she looked down to the ground. "What are you going to do?" Alya asked looking at her best friends. "We don't know what to do except try and protect her the best we can. Because we don't know what Lisa will do if she ever gets a hold of Alison again." Marinette answered. "You could give the Kindy a file of who is allowed to pick her up or you could pull her out of Kindy and Natalie here could home-school her," Gabriel said suggesting. "No Father. We don't want her to be home-school like I was." Adrien said a bit harsher than he was meant to. "It may have been a good idea Gabriel, but I agree with Adrien. But Alison needs to be in a Kindy surrounded by other kids so she can make friends," Sabine stated. "I think letting the Kindy know who can pick her up is a good idea," Sabine added.
Adrien looked over at Marinette to see her looking down at the ground. He placed his hand on her arm to get her attention when he got her attention, she looked up at her. "What do you think about that idea Mari?" he asked her. "I don't care what we do belongs we can keep her safe. But it does sound like a really good idea that is worth a try." Marinette said as she leaned her elbows on her knees and bought her hands together in front of her face. "Well if you are going with that idea then who can pick her up from Kindy?" Nino asked. "Well everyone in this room will be the only ones allowed to pick her up unless someone else has our permission," Adrien said as everyone else agreed with him. "So, this woman, Lisa. Was she the one that has been following and watching you guys and who abused Alison in front of us?" Tom asked the pair. "We think so, Papa." Replied Marinette. They all talked for another half an hour about what they were going to do when Gabriel mentioned that the four of them should probably get going as they had a Gala to get ready for that night. "What is happening tonight?" Sabine asked Gabriel. "There is a Gala Dinner tonight at Chloe's Hotel that happens every year. Father and I always go to it and this time Marinette and Ali are joining us for the night." Adrien explained to Marinette's parents before his Father could even get a word out. "That sounds like fun. Something you three need to have is fun." Tom said. "I will just go up and get Ali then," Marinette said as she stood up and headed towards the stairs that lead to her room. Once Marinette had left the room Sabine turned to look up at Gabriel who was already standing with Natalie beside him. "Gabriel, can you do me one thing? And you to Adrien?" Sabine asked them. "Of course." They both answered. "Can you look out for Marinette. It is just that I worried about what might happen to Marinette if something does happen to Alison." Sabine said with worry in her voice as Tom had a worried look on his face. "What do you mean Sabine?" Adrien asked. "Well I'm sure you both have noticed how much Marinette adores Alison and she has gotten quite close to her which is fine in all and if say something happened to Alison like for say 'Lisa' Then I am worried it will make Marinette go down a dark path again. And we don't want her going down that road again. Last time was bad enough." Sabine explained to them. The others were staring at Sabine and what she just said until Alya broke the silence. "She's never gone down a dark path before around me."
"That Ayla is because this happened before you and Adrien had met her. "Tom said to Alya. "How long have you both been at the same school for now?" Sabine asked. "2 years coming up 3." Adrien mentioned. "Then it is coming up 4 years next month since it happened," Tom said.
"What happened to her Sabine?" Ayla and Adrien asked together. Gabriel just stood quietly with his arms behind his back staring at Tom and Sabine also waiting to hear the story. "4 years ago, next month is when Lilly disappeared," Nino said. Ayla turned to look at Nino in shock that he even knew what they were talking about. "Who is Lilly?" Adrien asked the question that Ayla was also wondering. "Lilly was Marinette's cousin. As Nino said Lilly disappeared 4 years ago next month and it affected Marinette badly. Lilly would have been the same age as Marinette. Marinette and Lilly were remarkably close, and I mean remarkably close. Even though they were cousins, but they were also best friends like sisters." Sabine started to explain before looking at Tom. "They would act if they were twins and wore the same clothes. They did everything together. Then one day the girls were meant to come back here after school and Marinette arrived alone. Lilly had told her that she would be over in half an hour since she had something to do at the school. 2 hours later she still hadn't arrived. So, Marinette and I went over to the school to see if they could find her, but we couldn't find her anywhere. 2 days later no one still hadn't seen her. Lilly never came home and Marinette blames herself for it." Tom adds on. "Why would she blame herself when it wasn't her fault?" Adrien asked. "Adrien, Marinette will blame herself for anything that happens that she thinks she could have prevented from happening," Alya explained to him. "Marinette blames herself for not staying at school with Lilly and for not being there when she probably needed someone. Till this day, she still blames herself." Tom said Sabine looks over at her Husband before she carries on with the story. "She then went down a very dark path. She was depressed, she locked herself out from the world and us. And she would shut herself up in her room and buried herself in her design and she had stopped seeing her friends She was like that for the rest of the year."
"That is why she told me this morning that she knew what it was like to bury yourself in work because you have lost someone. Did you ever find Lilly" Gabriel asked finally saying something? Sabine shook her head as she said, "To this very day, we still don't know where she went. The Police never found a body or any clues to where she had gone to. Once Marinette finally realised that we may never find her she started to slowly come out of her depressed stated. On that month since Lilly disappeared for the last 3 years is always the hardest month for her. You may find she will shut herself up in her room, she will cry herself to sleep or she won't sleep at all. She will check every possible site in missing people."
"Why does she put herself through all of that?" Ayla asked. "Because Dear, Marinette still hangs on to a wee bit of hope that she will come home one day," Tom stated. "Is that why she sometimes keeps me at arm's length?" Ayla asked Sabine. Sabine nodded. "You may be her best friend Ayla, but she will keep you at arm's length to protect herself from getting hurt again. There is possible one person that may be able to get closer to her other than Alison, is probably be you, Adrien."
"M-Me?" Adrien stuttered. "Yes, Dear you. she has started to let you in through that wall she always has up. Which means she most likely to not push you away from her for that month." Sabine told Adrien. Adrien nodded to understand what he has to do. "Sabine. Adrien and I will be there for Marinette when that time comes." Gabriel said as he placed his hand on Sabine's shoulder. "Thank you, Gabriel," Tom said.
While they were talking about that which Marinette didn't know about. Marinette was trying to get Alison ready to leave. "Ali, it is time to go now. Come and say your Goodbyes to your Grandparents." Marinette said as she turned the tv off and took Alison's hand and Ella's hand and lead the two back downstairs to the group. When the got back downstairs Alison ran over to Sabine and Tom to say goodbye to them while Ella ran to her parents. "Goodbye Sweetie, Be a good girl for your Mother and Father," Sabine said giving her granddaughter a kiss followed by Tom. After all the goodbyes, everyone that was leaving, left the Bakery and Gabriel, Marinette, Adrien and Alison all went back to the Mansion to get ready for this Gala Dinner.
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