Adrien's nervous. He's no good at concealing it. Marinette tries her best to distract him. She's eager to go for walks, asks for his help with revising some of her studies or has him model some of her new designs. He goes along with it without complaint, anything to try and take his mind off of matters.

She can't be at the mansion 24/7 however and Nathalie has to work…

Emilie should be waking up any time soon. Every hour, she's getting stronger. That's what's driving him insane: the waiting. It's not just that however. As he enters into the office, pale and clearly anxious, Nathalie looks up from her tablet. There's something else on his mind. That much is clear. He dumps himself down, rather unceremoniously in one of the chairs. The teen throws his head back and looks up at the ceiling. He stays a little while like that, evidently trying to make sense of the world which has now been turned on its head.

Finally, he asks:

"Do-" He stops half way through, evidently unsure how to continue. She gives him time. "What if she doesn't recognize me?"

"Recognize you? Mr. Blonde hair and green eyes?" There's a slight teasing tone to Nathalie's voice, a clear sign that she's trying to raise his spirits and clear the air.

"I mean… What if she doesn't like me?"

The woman doesn't immediately respond. He turns to look at her, wondering just what's going through her head at this point in time. He's met with sympathy. Plagg has always assured him that he's worrying about nothing: everything will be fine but he wants to hear it from somebody else. Nathalie always seems to know everything: not just facts and where he left his left sneaker but about what he should do, where he needs to go, how to become the man he desperately wants to be.

She takes a moment, removes her glasses and cleans the lenses. They're probably perfectly fine, it's something of a nervous tick, that she sometimes possesses. Perhaps not nervous more like a signal that she's contemplating a complicated matter. He doesn't rush her. They have plenty of time. He remains anxious however, fiddling with the ring around his finger. He wishes sometimes that she could give him the answer outright as opposed to pondering it. It makes him nervous. He wants things to be simple. Finally, she speaks in a matter-of-fact voice that he's accustomed to hearing from her:

"Adrien she's your mother, she'll love you no matter who you are." The woman leaves a pause before adding on. "You have changed. You're not thirteen any more but you're still… You. Your mother will be able to see that."

"You're sure?" Adrien speaks quietly.

"She's your mother."

Those few words are no doubt intended to comfort him. It's such a simple phrase. In his heart, he knows that his mother loved him. Surely, even though it's been five years, she'll remember him. She'll remember all of the good times they shared together. It won't matter that he's not some little boy anymore and that he has these scars. She'll see past all of that. It's what he's been telling himself. Sometimes, he looks in the mirror and he realizes that something has changed. He can't quite put his thumb on it however.

For all that, in the face of the unknown, he finds himself eager to grab a hold of whatever familiarity he can and ensure that he won't lose it:

"Man… No matter what happens, you're going to be there for me, right?"

Nathalie's expression softens. It's a look she only ever gives him when the two of them are alone (well, alone with Plagg). It's the same way that Delphine used to look at Dylan. A tender and gentle expression, one which seems to speak of infinite patience. She's been here all this time. She stands by him through the best and the worst. In her heart, he knows that she's not about to abandon him. It's a fear however that periodically niggles at the back of his mind. She doesn't say it, merely mouths the word: Always.

He smiles softly and with that, he relaxes.

It's a day and a half later when Emilie finally begins to wake up.

There have been little signs here and there. She's registering some of the stimuli around her. When she finally does begin to wake up, they make sure that Adrien's there. Of course, it's not as simple as the woman simply opening her eyes and being back with them. More than once, she comes too and then drifts back off once more. Even with her waking up, it could still be a good few hours, maybe even days before she's in a state to actually hold a sensible conversation with them or even be aware of her surroundings.

Adrien is calmer than any of them could have hoped for. He sits patiently by the woman's bedside. It's a long process for her to recover so he has a school book with him. As the hours drag on and it turns to darkness, Nathalie instructs him to go and fetch a sleeping bag instead of dozing in a corner of the room. He spends the night down there. She drifts back upstairs reluctantly. It's been a painful lesson for the woman to learn but she's not as young as she once was. If she does make the mistake of drifting off in a chair, her back, shoulders and neck inevitably make her know about it in the morning. Plagg will let her know if anything happens. Not that that's a huge comfort…

He's still there when she comes down in the morning. He lies on his stomach, his hair a mess. Her presence isn't enough to wake him. He doesn't always get enough sleep. Checking her watch, Nathalie decides to let him rest some more. She takes what's become her seat down here and leaves the tray of food on a table next to her. She takes a few sips of her coffee and swipes through some of the files on the tablet.

It's then that her ears pick up on a very faint groan. She looks up, her attention focusing on the woman. There can be no mistaking it, that's a grimace. She's waking up. Instantly, work is forgotten about. Nathalie puts down her tablet, checking on the mother. Her eyes are fluttering. It's with a sense of urgency that she heads over to the still slumbering teen.

The woman reaches out and places a hand on Adrien's shoulder, squeezing slightly in the hope that it will be enough to wake him.

He lashes out violently, awoken in a state of panic. It was an instinctive reaction, one of fear. His right fist connects with her jaw sending her crashing backwards to the ground. She lands a little awkwardly. Even after that, he looks around, spooked and clearly unsure about just where he is. Nathalie takes advantage of his confusion to rub her painful jaw and to try and locate the glasses which he's also succeeded in knocking off of her face. She finds them, trying to fight back some of the water which lies just behind her eyes. She ensures that they're gone and not going to fall before risking turning back to check on the teen.

He's looking right at her. Most of the confusion is gone, although he's still breathing rapidly, trying to get over the shock. As soon as they lock eyes, his gaze softens. His attention turned painful:

"D-Did I hurt you?"

"No..." A lie but a relatively harmless one. "It's your mother, she's waking up."

He turns towards the bed and takes note of the woman's state. With every passing state, she seems to be becoming increasingly unsettled, shifting, evidently struggling to pull herself out of the slumber that she's been trapped in. Give it a minute or so and she'll be awake. It's what they've been waiting for. Now, it's mere moments away. She'll need someone to be there for her, to comfort her, to welcome her back. Who better than her son?

Still Adrien lingers. He looks towards her nervously, clearly ashamed and uncertain. The woman offers him a smile, one which maybe doesn't quite conceal her pain.

"I'm okay…" She assures the boy, sitting down before nodding in the direction of the bed. "Go to her."

The teen nods, getting to his feet and approaching the bed. He rubs the sleep out of his eyes. His mother's groans are becoming louder. She's actively grimacing. It's a battle to recover after what she's been through. Very tentatively, Adrien reaches out and takes his mother's hand in his own. He applies some pressure, hoping that somehow she might be able to sense his presence and that it will help to draw her out of whatever place she's found herself trapped and bring her back to his side.

Nathalie takes the opportunity to access the damage. Sitting there, she's shaking slightly. He'd stunned her with his blow. She knows in her heart that he hadn't intended to hit her, much less hurt her. What he'd intended to do and actually done are two different things of course. She rubs her cheek slowly, accessing the pain. She'll have a bruise this time tomorrow. An accident with the door, the excuse is somewhat cliché but there's only a handful of things which would account for such an injury and she most definitely doesn't want the outside world assuming that her charge is abusing her. It's still a little sore. There's a slightly coppery taste in her mouth. She realizes that she's bitten the inside of her cheek. Yet something else which she tends to whilst Adrien has his back turned.

It's another few minutes before the woman's eyes finally begin to flutter and for the first time in over half a decade, they find themselves faced with her green eyes.

Adrien seems far calmer than Nathalie had thought that he might be. She's not entirely sure if that's a good sign or not. He rests his head against the side of the bed and waits patiently. He seems content to sit there, allowing her to do everything in her own time. She's rather proud of him for that. It's a sign that he's matured. For her own part, she resists the urge to go and get some ice for her jaw, knowing that it will trouble the teen. So she sits down, pretends that she doesn't ache and gets back to work. Plagg rests on his shoulder, providing comfort without the use of words.

All in all, it's the best part of two hours later when Nathalie is certain that Emilie's aware of her surroundings, even just partially. She knows because the woman only has eyes for her son. She's too weak to speak or articulate her thoughts but the tenderness behind her gaze spoke for itself. Adrien himself is quiet. There are some tears behind his eyes but they fail to fall down his cheeks. His lower lip trembles slightly as he offers her a gentle smile.

It's been five years but mother and son are finally reunited.