Disclaimer: I do not own Miraculous Ladybug.
Bittersweet Reunions
"Talking"
"Thinking
Zoé loved Paris, especially on a day like today. Bright with hardly a cloud in the sky, a nice breeze to nudge people along, and no commitments to any movies. Her latest picture wrapped up a few days ago, which meant she didn't have to worry about early-morning shoots or memorizing lines, at least for a couple of months. Instead, she could be with her family and friends. One thought did nag at the back of her mind, something that dealt with the Miraculous side of things. But she was confident it would be taken care of.
She stepped inside her favorite café for a cup of coffee and to read some of the news. Only to come to a stop when she saw who was walking away from the front counter. "Chloé?"
Her eyes couldn't believe it, but that didn't change a thing. Her sister was there, with a tray of coffee in her hands. Pollen squirmed inside her pocket.
Blue eyes met blue eyes, before Chloé walked away. She sat down at a table with three other women. They grabbed the coffee while she took the bottled water. Zoé went to the counter, smiling at the boy taking orders. He knew who she was but blushed all the same. Once her drink was in hand, she could've walked out and go on with her day.
Instead, she walked over to the table near the window. "Chloé, it is you, right?" she asked.
Her sister looked up at her. The haughtiness she had expected had been replaced by tired resignation. "Hello, Zoé." Even her voice didn't have her trademark arrogance.
"Hey, Clo, who's the woman?" asked one of the other three women. They were all younger by at least half a decade. Their clothes were perfect and their makeup highlighted their beauty. If they walked down the street, they would turn heads.
Before either Zoé or her sister spoke, one of them did. "Omg, it's Zoé Lee. The actress!" If her eyes got any brighter, there would've been stars in them. "A Walk at Midnight is one of the best movies I have ever seen. You were great in it." Her friends nodded, finally realizing who she was.
"Thank you," she said with a smile. She was always proud of that movie. It was one of her finest works.
"Wow, one of Paris's Golden Generation, with us." The third woman pushed her glasses so she could take in the sight better. "But, how do you know Old Clo here?"
The question sounded innocent but there was a sting to the name, one Zoé didn't like. "I'm her sister."
At first, they looked at her, then at Chloé. Then they laughed. "You're her sister? Pull the other one," said the first one. Her blonde hair swished back and forth as her shoulders shook. "There's no way Zoé Lee is your sister, Clo. Just no way."
Chloé didn't get mad like her sister expected. She simply sat through the laughter, taking the occasional sip from her water. When the ladies were done, she said, "Kate, Courtney, Delila, I believe Mr. Lewis will be waking up soon."
The laughter died and self-satisfied smirks crossed their lips. "Thank you, Clo," Kate said, finishing her coffee and standing up. The other two followed suit. "We'll be going now. Work to do, after all." They sauntered off, making sure every man in the café saw them leave.
Zoé sat down across from her sister. She didn't know what to say. The last time she had seen Chloé they had been teenagers. The woman before her wasn't the same girl Zoé remembered. Gone were the bright yellow jacket and white capri pants. Instead, she wore a black skirt and jacket, with a white shirt underneath, all off-the-rack. Her hair was pulled back in a low tail and what makeup she wore was minimal. And those blue eyes still watched her. "They shouldn't talk to you like that," Zoé finally said.
"They do. After all, they are Mr. Lewis's personal assistants. I'm just his secretary," she said. "Even if he goes through them every three to four months." She saw Zoé's confusion, and a hint of a smirk pulled on her lips. "At work, everyone knows that he uses his personal assistants for sex and arm-candy. And yes, they are aware of it," she added before anything could be said.
Again, silence fell between the sisters. It didn't take long for it to start feel awkward for Zoé. She knew Chloé had spent half a year in London before their mother took her to New York but that was it. That was last any of them had heard. "How have you been, Chloé?" she asked. "It's been seventeen years since we've seen you."
"Sixteen."
"Huh?"
Her eyes never wavered. "It's been sixteen years since I last saw you all."
Zoé racked through her memory. Nothing came up. "No, we haven't seen you since you left Paris."
"But I saw you, in New York." She leaned back, bottle still in hand, as she looked out the window. "It was my sixteenth birthday. I had hoped it would be a good day. Audrey had left in the middle of the night for some event in Florida without telling me and the staff treated the day like it was any other, giving me with their usual professional courtesy. That much didn't surprise me, neither did the school day. What I looked forward was that night. I had a few friends at school, and they promised to take me out to see a movie, maybe even go dancing afterwards. It was going to be my first night out in New York without Audrey watching my every move.
"I got to the theater before the movie started. I was the first one there, so I had to wait. I figured we had plenty of time to find good seats and get snacks." An old pain lingered in her eyes. "I waited, until the last showing, before I finally knew they weren't coming. I went back to the high-rise, but the humiliation didn't stop there. The weather dropped a rainstorm out of nowhere, soaking me to the bone. Not only that, but I got splashed by cars driving past.
"So, there I was, waiting at a crosswalk, wet beyond belief without a coat, thinking that my night couldn't have gotten any worse, when I looked across the street at the nearby restaurant…and I saw you all there, at this big table by the window. You were all chatting, laughing, having the time of your lives. And I was outside, alone."
It clicked then in Zoé's mind. The Miraculous team had been called on to help the United Heroez and other teams fight a grand coalition of evil. It was a fight that had threatened the fabric of Earth and needed everyone's help. When they won, the sensation was nothing like they had experienced before. It became something else when Adrien and Nino proposed to their girlfriends, and they said yes. Olympia and Barbara treated them to the best restaurant in New York for a celebration. It was a night where everything had felt perfect.
And not one of them ever looked outside the window.
"I must've watched you all for nearly ten minutes before I finally crossed the road," Chloé continued. "I got back to the penthouse, changed, and turned on the radio. I wanted something, anything, to take my mind off what I had seen. Then Mandolin Rain started playing and I realized…you all had left me behind, and I couldn't do a thing about it." Her shrug might've been nonchalant, if it hadn't been an outright lie. "I fell asleep crying."
"Chloé I…" What could she say to all that? "I'm sorry." It wasn't enough.
Her sister looked at her for a long moment. "It was a wakeup call I needed. Paris had left me behind, fine. If that was the case, I would be someone else, someone better, in New York." The pain vanished and a little smile took its place. "My friends apologized for what happened the next day. Their families had sprung last-minute events at them, and they tried to get out as soon as they could." She always held the fact they didn't abandoned her close to her heart.
While Zoé was glad there was a small bright side to that tale, it was still too dark for her thoughts. They needed a change in conversation. "How's Mom?" she asked. "I'm a bit surprised she let you become a secretary." Their mother always had high standards for them both. Instead of answering, Chloé stared at her. "…What?"
"You are not this stupid." Her words were coated with a slow anger. "You know what happened."
"What do you mean?" she asked, pushing the insult's sting to the side. "You'd know how Mom's been. I can only get phone calls."
"Only get…are you seriously telling me you don't know what happened?" Her anger grew at her sister's confusion. "It was international news, Zoé!" Only a few people turned to look at who was half-shouting.
"What?" Zoé asked. "What happened?" As far as she knew, everything was fine in New York.
"Audrey embezzled her company's money, taking it all, and making sure it would go under before running off to some island in the Caribbean. She had the perfect patsy, too: me." The old Chloé would've mocked the dumbfounded look on Zoé's face. But this Chloé remembered what happened next all too easily. "She embezzled the money through my trust fund, a trust fund that I had no idea existed, and waited until I was eighteen."
Zoé knew enough about police procedurals to know what that meant. "But…you're a French citizen."
"And American too. Turns out, Audrey gave birth to me in New York." She didn't try to hide the bitterness in her sarcasm. "You can imagine how the arrest and trial derailed any plans I had. I was allowed to finish the school year and graduate, but everyone knew what had happened. After that, every college or university I applied to declined. They didn't want to deal with the scandal."
"Not even two-year or community colleges?"
She looked at her sister again. The answer was clear in her eyes. "I was lucky enough to use what Audrey taught me as her gopher to get an internship to a secretary. Even then, I still had to pay back the lawyer who defended me after he took my settlement as a down payment. Something that took me a long time to do." The fact she was still bitter about that was so obvious, her sister didn't try asking. But they had gotten off-track. "How the hell do you not know about that?"
Zoé knew the answer and was embarrassed. "I…I was kinda neck-deep in a production," she said. "I wanted to stay focused, so I blocked out any distractions." She had also been working the Miraculous team as Vesperia. Back then, they were dealing with a criminal gang that was trying to take Paris for their own.
Chloé didn't say anything to that, not even to yell at her for not paying attention. She had accepted the reason and left it there. The old Chloé never would've done that. Something else stood out to Zoé. Her sister was tired. Even though it was still morning, she looked as if she wanted to sleep. That wasn't even mentioning how her skin or her hair looked. The latter was pale and looked as if only basic shampoo was used on it. Just how long had she been like this? That wasn't like her
An idea came to mind, one she was sure Chloé would like. "How long are you in Paris for? We could take a spa day."
"Can't afford it."
It took Zoé a moment to understand what she had said. A spa day wasn't that expensive, especially if they split the bill. "Aren't you paid enough as a secretary?"
"Mr. Lewis pays me what a young single woman would require," she answered. "And it's not enough."
The door opened behind Zoé. It happened, since they were in a café. But this time, someone else sat down beside Chloé. "Hey, Ma."
Zoé stared at the boy that had joined them. He had their blue eyes and blonde hair. Yet there was a red tint to his hair that gave it a golden hue. His face had a sharp quality to it, especially around the cheekbones. He couldn't have been more than fourteen years old. And if that was the case, then…
She looked at her sister in dawning realization. All it took was a single look from Chloé to order her to keep her mouth shut about it. "Morning, Luke," she said to the boy with a warm smile. "Sleep well?"
"Yeah." He glanced across the table, finally noticing the other woman. "Who are you?" His French had an American twinge to it.
"Manners." It was a gentle rebuke, not something the old Chloé would give. "But this is Zoé Lee, my sister." She put a protective hand on his shoulder. "Zoé, this is my son, Lucius Bourgeois."
The boy looked at her again. "I've got an aunt? Huh." That was all he said about it.
Zoé was still surprised. So was Pollen, if the squirming was anything to go by. But she was able to reply. "Hello, Luke. It's nice to meet you."
A phone buzzed. It was Chloé's. She looked at the screen and sighed. "I have to go," she said. "Mr. Lewis wants me at the office. Luke, will you be alright?"
"Yeah, Mom. I'll be fine."
"You remember what I told you?"
He rolled his eyes but said, "Be polite, be respectful, and don't lose my temper. I know, Mom."
Her smile had a mother's quality. "I just want to be sure. I should be back at the hotel by 5." She took the trey back to the counter and then walked out.
Zoé was left sitting at the table with a nephew she never knew she had. He looked thin and his clothes seemed a size or two too big. "So, Luke," she started, hoping to break the ice, "how do you like living in New York?"
It was a little impressive how much his look questioning how smart she was mimicked his mother's, and intimidating. "We live in Baltimore."
She didn't have anything to say about that. When she lived in New York, there had been plenty of jokes she had heard about Baltimore, none of them good. Most usually involved crimes and/or death in the ghettos. She needed another topic. "Who's your father? Your mom didn't mention him." That was a safe question.
"That's because he died before I was born."
"…What?"
He shrugged. "Yeah, Mom was pretty upfront about it. The day after she told him she was pregnant and he promised to be there for her, he was killed in a drive-by shooting." There was no emotion as he talked. That just made it worse. "And when she went to his family to explain what happened, they promised to take her in and give her a home, allowing her to become a part of their family. The day before she was set to move in, they were all arrested."
Zoé knew she was shocked. She was certain it showed on her face. And she didn't care. "What for?"
"Well, they were a part of the Irish Mob. So, everything?" he said with a shrug. "I've never met any of them, so it's no great loss."
Again, she felt as if she was walking thin ice. Maybe there was something else she could talk about. "Do you play any video games?"
"Don't have any kind of console."
He didn't have a console? How could he not? Every kid she knew had at least one. The next question died on her lips as the implications hit home. "How about sports?"
"Used to play soccer at school."
"Oh, were you any good?" His smirk was confident and that was all she needed to know. But it did raise another question. "Why'd you stop?"
The smirk vanished. "We couldn't afford most of the gear." He checked his watch and stood up. "Look, it was nice seeing you, but I'm gonna head out. City to explore and all that."
The words were meant as a polite bye to a stranger, not for an aunt. "Oh, right," Zoé said, still sitting down. "It's a shame your grandfather is out of Paris at the moment. He'd love to meet you."
Lucius's confusion was brief but memorable to her. "I've got a grandfather here too? Weird."
A cold feeling, one that had been growing unaware since she sat down, struck Zoé in the heart. "Luke, has your mom ever talked about her family in Paris?"
"Honestly, I didn't know she had family besides me." Her face fell. He saw her look and felt a little guilty. "Hey, did you win an Oscar a few years back?"
The question was unexpected. "Yes, I did." She had been surprised when she got the nomination and never thought she would actually win, not until they called her name.
"I caught Mom watching that one. When you got the award, she said, 'Obviously the only choice.'" He gave her a small wave before walking out the door. If he had looked back, he would've seen his newly found aunt with a surprised but happy smile.
Throughout the day, a little plan started to shape itself in Zoé's head. If she knew how long Chloé and Lucius were in Paris for, she could take a day for them. A spa day for her and Chloé, perhaps even their other girl friends so they could see how different Chloé was, and give her a chance to be pampered. Meanwhile, Lucius could meet and spend the day with their children. The more she thought it over, the more she liked it.
Any further planning was put to the side come the next day when Zoé read the news and Alya's story was the headline. It talked about an organization that operated around the world for illegal means, all to support Chrysalis, the latest wilder of the Butterfly Miraculous. She listed names, both people and companies, dates and times where deals were made and for what. All with absolute proof.
It had the effect they were hoping for. Throughout the day they kept track of the accused rushing about, trying to salvage what they could. But it was already too late. The police would bring them to justice, and they would serve what the judge would pass down on them. And for the Miraculous side of things, it meant that Rossi, who they knew had the Butterfly Miraculous, had just lost her entire organization. She would be left with nothing and when she made her move, they would be waiting for her.
The victory they had been hoping for more than a year was theirs. Everyone wanted to celebrate and so they agreed to meet at Starry Night, one of the best restaurants in Paris. Marinette met them all along with Adrien. It didn't take long for everyone to start talking. Alya sat in the seat of honor and grinned with each praise they gave her. It only took a few jokes from her husband and best friend to keep her from getting a swelled head. Still, one of their greatest troubles was gone now, all thanks to her work. Everything felt perfect.
Which was why nobody was ready for when a chair was dragged to their table and Chloé sat down with them. "Well, well, look at this," she said. "My old classmates." Those words were cold and focused, as were her eyes. But everyone matched her look. They knew Chloé and her moods. All they had to do was weather the incoming tantrum.
Marinette waved the maître d off. They could handle this. "What do you want, Chloé?" she asked. "We're having a celebration."
"Oh yes, Mrs. Agreste. I can see that. Was it because of the article I read in today's newspaper?" She swung her eyes over to Alya. "Impressive piece. Tell me, did you remember to check your sources this time?"
Alya frowned and clenched her hand. She just had to bring that up. What happened back in school was embarrassing and if Alya ever had the chance, she would gladly go back in time to throttle her younger self. But there was no need for thinking Rossi was amazing being thrown in her face. "What about it? Didn't think I could pull it off?" she asked.
"You certainly did. I was quite impressed by the names you listed, especially when you listed Triprong Incorporated and my boss, Mr. Lewis." Her hand came up before Alya said anything. "I won't say he was innocent of your accusations. He's exactly the kind of person who would do that. Of course, what you've reported will also affect his company. Imagine just how the company is going to scramble to save itself. How many people are going to lose their jobs because of this. Why, even Mr. Lewis's assistants might get the boot. But it's fine. They'll bounce back. Their unemployment benefits will keep them afloat long enough for them to find another job."
The good mood around the table started sliding into unease. That was a point they hadn't actually thought about. It wasn't just her company either. All the companies listed in Alya's piece would be affected. "Will you have the same problem?" Adrien asked. He was concerned, even though he was still weary. The frustration in Marinette's expression was starting to bleed out too.
"Me? Oh, no, no, Mr. Agreste." The chill she gave his name could make a spine shiver. "I don't have that luxury. You see, I was fired yesterday because somebody," the glare she threw at Alya could've killed a weaker person, "decided to share old school stories about me with my ex-boss. He decided that clearly, I hadn't changed due to how his assistants kept complaining about me. I didn't have a chance to defend myself."
The glare traveled around the table, pinning them all in their seats. Even Felix and Kagami were unnerved by what they saw. This wasn't the Chloé they had known. This was someone new, someone absolutely furious. "So now, I have to rush back to Baltimore so I can try and make sure my son's scholarship will stay valid. But since it was being funded by Triprong and depended on my being an employee, it probably won't. I'll also have to go job-hunting, again. And all of this will burn through what little money I have saved."
No one said a word. No one dared to. Zoé tried to figure out how Chloé knew where to find them. They didn't announce where they were going to social media. Her eyes found the window beside their table, saw the street beyond with the crosswalk, and her brain froze. "Oh God, it's another New York." The setting, the mood, it had all been the same.
Chloé's fury simmered into something quieter but no less angry. "You want to know the truly sad thing?" she asked them all. "This was the first vacation I had in years. Sure, it was a business trip but there was only one piece of business we had to deal with. After that, Mr. Lewis was going to tour the surrounding vineyards with his assistants, all so they could get drunk and sleep around.
"As for me? I was going to show my son Paris, the Paris I had known. And if I had run into any of you in the process?" She looked at them all again, ensuring they were listening. "I would've been polite, respectful. I had thought I would get that in return. I was wrong."
This time, she glared at Alya in full force. "Tell me, Mrs. Césaire, what exactly prompted you to share those stories, hm? Was it the fact I acted as a professional when you walked in? That I offered you refreshments? Or was it because I didn't try to pry into what you were doing there?"
Chloé waited for an answer but got silence. In the end, she snorted in familiar derision. "You just felt like it, huh? I'm not surprised." She stood up, taking the chair in hand. "I'll go now. You're having a celebration, after all. I guess that article did more than what it talked about." Instead of looking at Alya or anyone else, she looked right at Marinette. "Enjoy your victory."
The words were dismissive yet lingered in the air as Chloé walked away. The Miraculous team, uncertain of what to do or say, looked to their leader. Marinette couldn't tell them anything. She was too busy being pale-faced and wide-eyed as she stared at Chloé's retreating form.
It was looking to be a miserable morning. Lucius only had to look out the hotel lobby's windows to see the clouds darkening the sky. Rain was all but being threaten to pour down on them. Hopefully the taxi they called for would get them to the airport before that happened. He had his doubts, though.
He sat back down in the chair. His backpack and small suitcase rested by his feet while his mother sat beside him. "Hey, Mom?" he said.
Chloé looked up from the book she was trying to read. "Yes, Luke?"
"Are…Are we going to be alright?"
The first words on her lips would've been a lie. He didn't deserve that. "I don't know," she admitted. "I hope we will."
It was the best she could offer. Lucius chose to take it and look on the upside of things. "At least you're not on call to the jackass 24/7."
His mother did not smirk, no matter what he might've seen. "Language." It was true that she was glad for it too. No longer would she have to go somewhere to grab something because her ex-boss needed it immediately, despite her being in the middle of else. Lucius's first (and only) soccer match stood out to her. She still hadn't forgiven herself for missing it.
As Lucius reached for the book in his backpack, he saw movement at the front door. It was a small group of people. The other people in the lobby saw them, gasped, and started whispering. But they saw him and his mother and started walking over. "Ma."
Chloé looked up at her son's voice. Marinette, along with her husband, Alya and Nino, Sabrina, and Zoé, were walking up to her. "Oh no." Her eyes hardened as she stood up. Lucius did the same.
Adrien took the lead once they were close enough. "Hey, Chloé," he said with a warm smile. It did nothing to hide the pitying compassion in his eyes. She didn't like it. Then he looked at her son. "You must be Lucius. My daughter Emma couldn't stop talking about you yesterday." He looked the adult in the eyes and said nothing. Adrien waited for a response and his smile turned awkward when he didn't.
"What do you want?" Chloé asked them all but looked at Marinette. At least she had gotten rid of those pigtails.
Marinette took the offer and spoke. "We just want to talk. Look, Zoé told us a little about what happened to you."
She found her sister. "Just a little?" The barbed question made Zoé look down. It wasn't a "little." She told them everything.
"We didn't know that Alya's interview would get you fired. You're right that we didn't think about the repercussions. We're sorry." She meant each word. That was the worst part.
Chloé refused to let it affect her. "Please, Mrs. Agreste. Mr. Lewis had been looking for an excuse to fire me ever since he took over the company six years ago." His fragile ego couldn't take the fact she refused to sleep with him. "He's denied me pay raises, holiday bonuses, has sent me out for the inanest things at the most inconvenient times, and done pretty much anything that would make me snap."
Nino smiled, trying to lighten the mood a little. "Kinda sounds ridiculous after a while, right? Almost utterly…." His joking tone died away as Chloé's blue eyes bore into his soul, daring him to finish.
"I think it would be best if you don't speak from now on, Mr. Césaire."
The blunt dismissal snapped him out of his silence. "Whoa hey, why am I Mr. Césaire when you think Marinette is Mrs. Agreste?" It wasn't that he was opposed to the idea. Hyphenated names were also a thing too.
"Because it's quite clear who has the backbone." She dismissed him for Marinette. "You want to know how I responded to his efforts? I was the best secretary I could be. And you want to take credit for getting me fired?"
Credit? This had nothing to do with credit. "Chloé, we're trying to apologize," Marinette told her, doing her best not to grind her teeth.
A single finger pointed at her. "No. You've apologized, Mrs. Agreste." The finger drifted to the right, to her best friend. "Has she?"
All eyes fell onto Alya. Four sets were expectant and two waited. She looked at them all, her mouth moved but there weren't any words. "Alya," Marinette prompted. Her friend looked at her with stung pride. And still, she didn't say anything. Her friends and husband pleaded with their eyes. But she just couldn't.
The silence between them turned awkward. "Alya," Marinette said again, this time with a little more force. Her best friend looked at her. There was a sense of wounded pride in her eyes. Her lips tried moving but no words came out.
Chloé scoffed. "She's not going to. Why would she? She doesn't think she did anything wrong." This time, her eyes bored into the reporter. "After all, only I was hurt." The accusation hung in the air and wouldn't move. "Only my job was affected, my livelihood, my credibility."
"Your credibility?" Sabrina repeated.
If Chloé had any old feelings regarding her, she didn't show them. "I was fired the day before the company was accused of criminal activity. You know what that's gonna look like? That I jumped ship before it went down. Doesn't matter if it's true or not. People are going to believe it. It's gonna make me finding a new job much harder. Thanks for that," she told Alya.
That stinging retort got her going. She stepped up with a determined gleam. "If things were so crappy, then why didn't you leave?" she demanded. "Tell me that, Chloé."
Compared to her righteous fury, Chloé's was serene. "Because I promised myself that I would be a better mother than my own, and I wanted to make sure the one good thing in my life had all the advantages I could give him."
Red bloomed in Lucius's cheeks, and he looked away. "Ma, I'm right here," he muttered, embarrassed.
That didn't matter to Alya. She was more focused on the words. "His scholarship." Her fury died away as the implications struck.
"Yes." The word came out in a bite. Nino pulled his wife back with a gentle hand. "Lucius is a straight-A student at one of Baltimore's top schools. But now, I may have to take him out so he can go to a school closer to home."
"What's wrong with that?" Adrien knew somehow it was a trap. But he still wanted to know the answer.
"We live in the projects," Lucius answered, getting over his embarrassment. "Our neighbors are streetwalkers and call girls." He wasn't sure why the adults were shocked by it. He had grown up with it and he still thought his neighbors were good people. He glanced outside and saw a black car rolling up. "Mom, taxi's here."
They picked up their luggage, all set to leave. But the others hadn't moved. "Why are you still here?" Chloé asked. They couldn't leave with them in the way. "You've tried to apologize. I get it. Now we don't have to see each other again." She highly doubted the "Golden Generation" would come visit.
"We are sorry, Chloé," Marinette said. "And we know that you're gonna be in a tough place when you get back. So, we wanted to give you something to help." She pulled out a folded check and held it out to her old bully. "Here, we all chipped in."
No one spoke as Chloé considered the check. She took it, unfolded it, and looked at the number. About two seconds afterwards, her brain came to a screeching halt. "That's…that's way too many zeroes!" she thought. She blinked once, twice. The number didn't change. This would more than keep her and Lucius going. With this, she could move into a better apartment and keep Lucius in his school. He could have clothes that actually fit.
She knew the check was valid and would be accepted at a bank. All she had to do was put it in her pocket.
But it was a gift from the people who left her behind, only to come into her life to screw it over. It was a pity gift, something that would've made her toss it back in their faces. She hadn't come to Paris looking for their forgiveness or their pity!
It was a lot of money, though…
She didn't know what to do.
Lucius did.
He took the check from her and looked the number over once. He ripped it in half, in half again, and again, before dropping the scraps on the ground. "We don't want your pity," he told the stunned adults. "We don't want your charity. But most importantly? You don't get to feel good after screwing us over."
Sabrina stared at the remains littering the floor. She couldn't believe he had done that. That check was meant as an apology and a means to help. And he just tore it up! "You—"
"You heard my son," Chloé said, steel coming back into her voice. Her eyes were filled with a new-found resolution. "Move aside. We've got a plane to catch."
The Parisians had to step back so they could get out, still too shocked by what happened. It was only when they were walking for the door Marinette realized they were leaving. "Chloé—"
She looked back and froze the designer in place. "Allow me to give you a piece of advice I learned after my trial, Mrs. Agreste: you fucked up. Live with it."
The woman who used to be the mayor's daughter and the biggest bully at Collège Françoise Dupont walked out with her head held high, alongside her son. They walked with such confidence people couldn't help but watch them leave. When they did, those eyes found Marinette and her friends, judging them for what was overheard.
The six secret superheroes had no answers. They could only watch as the taxi drove away in the rain. Chloé would be heading back to a lot of hardship and possible misery. Only this time, it wasn't her fault.
It was theirs.
End
Author's note: Thank you for all the reviews you've sent me.
So, this is another rendition of Chloé getting the Wesley Wyndam-Pryce Treatment. Here, you could say that karma came after her after Paris and didn't let up for a while. Instead of breaking under the pressure, she buckled down, realized she alone would be responsible for what happened to her, and tried to be better, even when she kept getting dealt bad hands in life.
One such bad hand is that each job she's had she was either laid off to save money or the company went under (she was fired from an early few before she learned to rein in her temper). But she kept going for her son's sake. The job at Triprong would've been a godsend when she got it, working directly for the CEO, a kind old man who looked out for his employees. It was thanks to him that Lucius got that scholarship. Then he died before Chloé's first possible pay raise and his son took over. Things went from there and not in a way she liked.
I suggest listening to Mandolin Rain by Bruce Hornsby when Chloé talks about her birthday. The song was what actually inspired the scene. The song might be about a girl, but it could also be about what Chloé used to have.
I don't know much about, if anything, about financial laws when it comes to embezzlement and trust funds. The way I have figured, since the money was embezzled through Chloé's trust fund, the cops would come looking for her which would give Audrey more time to get out of there. The lawyer Chloé would've hired (or was possibly hired by Audrey) was a shark, both to his opponents and his clients. He would've gotten Chloé out of jail and would've taken her settlement to pay for his time. If she couldn't pay it in full, he would've arranged a means to pay it off and expected her to pay it. By the time Paris happened, it would've been a year or so since she finished paying him.
Regarding Chloé getting pregnant, she and the father met at a party after Audrey fled the country and drinks might've been involved. He might've been an indirect part of the Irish Mob (hence him getting shot) but he had also been taught to take responsibility for what he did, which was what he did after Chloé told him the news. As for when she got pregnant, I'll just say everyone knew there was a baby bump underneath her graduation robe.
I wrote this story before season 6 came out, so I wasn't aware of how Rossi would operate. The way I have it figured, she would've amassed a lot of contacts and deals, things she could use to her advantage. And while the Miraculous team might know who she was, it was nothing they could outright prove. So, they did the next best thing and chipped away at her support. Alya's piece was meant as the masterstroke that left Rossi grasping at straws, and it did.
But while they got what they wanted, none of them thought about what would come next. And that's what pissed Chloé off. She had been back in Paris for the first time in years, wasn't even going to try to find anyone she knew, and they just tore her life apart, without even thinking about it.
Now I'm not trying to bash Alya here (Lord knows you have to be careful after reading one too many salt stories). While she can admit there were things she did that were and are embarrassing, such as her belief in Rossi, she still focuses on her objective and how she can get it. When she met with Mr. Lewis, she saw how he didn't like Chloé and figured she could break the ice by sharing some tales about her.
The paycheck sprang from what Lucius told them. An adult might have a hard time rejecting such a gift, especially when it could get them out of the financial hole they were in. A teenager, who could see that the people offering it because they had caused the problem, would've been insulted and thought they were trying to reassure themselves. Once the check was torn up, Chloé knew there was no fixing it and stood by her son. After all, she hadn't come to Paris looking for her old life and she didn't want to be indebted to them.
I'll see you all next chapter!