What if Monarch sees a possible future of an older him and Nathelie in a relationship, and he has to choose between Nathalie and Emilie?
What if Monarch sees a possible future where he sees an adult Adrien saying that he doesn’t want Gabriel in his life, and he has to choose between Adrien and Emilie?
Bruce picked up his phone on the second ring. It wasn’t unusual for him to get phone calls at eleven o'clock at night - he was a busy man, after all. What was unusual was the fact that the call was from an unknown number. Bruce very rarely gave out his personal number. “Hello?”
“Bruce?” a tiny voice questioned through the phone.
“Emilie?” Bruce recognized her voice, even though it had been ten years since the last time he spoke to Emilie Graham de Vanily (now Emilie Agreste). He never knew what had happened to her, just that one day she stopped answering his emails and her phone number was disconnected. Bruce wanted to reconnect with her, but at the time it seemed like Emilie chose not to speak to him on purpose.
“I’m sorry for calling so late at night. I know we haven’t spoken in a long time, but I’m in Gotham and I need your help.”
Bruce didn’t hesitate for even a moment. “What do you need?”
Twenty minutes later, Bruce pulled up in front of Gotham International Airport. He didn’t recognize Emilie at first, not until he got out of the car and she called his name.
“Bruce!” Emilie had changed. What surprised Bruce was that the first thing he noticed was not the black eye that marred her face, but the little blonde boy who stood at her side.
“Hello, Emilie,” said Bruce, pointedly ignoring the fact that she hadn’t told him about her son.
“Hello, Bruce. This is Adrien,” she introduced.
“Hello.” Adrien greeted Bruce quietly, his eyes trained at the ground. The white cast on his arm was decorated with little doodles. Bruce assumed that Emilie had drawn them with the pen she tucked behind her ear.
They all got into Bruce’s car with little fanfare. Emilie sat in the passenger seat. Adrien sat in the back and was asleep before they left the parking lot.
“Did your husband give you that black eye?”
Emilie didn’t waste words explaining the situation. “Yes.”
“What about Adrien’s arm?”
“I told Gabriel a long time ago that if he ever touched Adrien, I would leave him. Either he forgot or didn’t believe me. I’m keeping true to my word. In the morning I’m going to a lawyer to file for divorce papers and a restraining order, and to press charges for Adrien’s arm.”
Bruce nodded, “I have a whole team of lawyers that you can use.” He kept his eyes fixed on the road even though all he wanted to do was stare at her. It had been ten long years since he had seen her face to face.
Bruce first met Emilie during his junior year at Gotham University. He’d been a mess before that. He could barely stay sober long enough to go to class, and his grades were a testament to that fact. Emilie Graham de Vanily came to Gotham University as part of her study abroad program, in which she would spend two semesters at an American university, then return to Paris to finish her degree. She was Bruce’s exact opposite: no-nonsense and dedicated to her studies.
The first time Bruce met Emilie, she slapped him in the face. It was the first day of the semester, and he was incredibly hungover. He only showed up to get the syllabus so he knew what the best days to skip were. Bruce sat down next to Emilie Agreste and started flirting with her, an action he had gotten very good at over his years at Gotham University. Emilie told him three times to knock it off, getting increasingly less polite until she eventually slapped him across the face and stormed out of the classroom.
Emilie must have slapped some sense back into Bruce because decided to apologize. She didn’t forgive him immediately, but after a few weeks of sitting together in class, they decided to study together. By the end of the semester, they were meeting up every weekend to hang out. Bruce stopped drinking so much, started going back to Wayne Manor on the weekends, started talking to Alfred again.
Bruce asked Emilie out at the beginning of her second semester. To Bruce’s disappointment, Emilie declined, but with a gleam in her eye that let Bruce know that there was a chance that their relationship could become more than platonic. They spent the semester together, sharing meals and inside jokes, study rooms and secrets. Bruce was certain that when he asked her out a second time, as they both stood in the airport, waiting for Emilie’s flight to Paris to board, she would say yes. Instead, Emilie pressed a kiss to his cheek and told him, “Third time’s the charm, Bruce.” Then she got on her flight and they never spoke again.
Bruce found out three months later that she was recently engaged. He was never sent a wedding invitation. He tried his best to forget her entirely, after that.
“We’re here,” Bruce broke the silence as he parked the car in front of Wayne Manor.
From the backseat, Adrien rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “Maman?” he mumbled.
Emilie got out of the car and opened up the backseat, helping Adrien to his feet. “Tu es en sécurité, mon fils,” she whispered to him, assuring her that he was safe here.
Alfred opened up the front door and welcomed Emilie and Adrien into the house, offering to escort them to their rooms. Bruce was suddenly reminded of the time difference between Paris and Gotham. 1 AM in Gotham was 7 AM in Paris - early morning. It had been at least 24 hours since Emilie and Adrien last slept.
“Are you sure we should go?” asked Emilie, yawning through her sentence.
“Of course. I’ll get everything for the lawyers taken care of by morning.”
Emilie nodded. “Thank you, Bruce.”
Emilie and Adrien left the foyer, following Alfred. Bruce made his way to his office and got to work.
Some time later, Alfred entered the room. “Miss Graham de Vanily and her son have just gone to bed.”
“Thank you, Alfred.”
“You should go too.“
Bruce shook his head. "I have too much work to do. I need this paperwork ready for my lawyers in the morning.” At the top of his desk were divorce papers for Emilie, papers for the termination of parental rights, and two restraining orders, one for Adrien and one for Emilie, both against Gabriel Agreste.
“What you need, is some sleep. You’ll be no use to Emilie and Adrien if you’re dead on your feet tomorrow morning.”
Bruce sighed, casting one last glance at the half-filled forms. “Alright.”
———-
At the breakfast table the next morning, Adrien and Dick had become fast friends.
“If you were a superhero, what would your name be?” Dick quizzed the younger boy.
“That depends on what my powers are.”
Dick wrinkled his nose in objection. “You don’t need powers to be a superhero, you just need training.”
Bruce was certain that he had said the same thing to Dick at one point. Dick heeded the words like gospel - now he spent most of his free time training to be Batman’s partner. Though Bruce had already told Dick that he wasn’t allowed to fight crime until he was thirteen, Dick seemed to think that enough skill might make up for the two-year difference.
“Okay. What would your superhero name be?” asked Adrien
“I would be called Robin, after Robin Hood.”
“I’ll be called Peregrine. Did you know that the peregrine falcon is the fastest type of bird? They can reach speeds of up to 240 miles per hour. I learned that from one of Mom’s movies.“
Bruce could recall that Emilie narrated a few nature documentaries in her rather brief film career.
Emilie walked into the kitchen, her black eye hidden by a thick layer of concealer. "Good morning, boys.” She looked a bit startled, and Bruce realized that he hadn’t told her about Dick.
“Emilie, could I talk to you in my office?”
“Sure.”
As they made their way down the hall, Emilie remarked to Bruce, “You didn’t tell me you had a son.”
“I was…. distracted, last night. I adopted Richard a few months back. I was there when his parents died and he reminded me of myself when I was his age.”
Emilie nodded. “I’m glad Adrien has someone to talk to here.”
They continued down the hall, stopping at the door to Bruce’s office.
“So what is it that you wanted to talk about?” asked Emilie as she entered his office.
Bruce held up the forms on his desk. “Divorce papers, restraining orders, termination of parental rights, and a police report for the injuries he caused. I wanted to know which papers you wanted to be filed and when. ”
“I want them all filed, as soon as possible.” Emilie’s voice was hard.
“Are you sure?” Bruce didn’t want to ask, but he felt the need to double-check.
“Bruce, I spent ten years of my life with Gabriel. I let him manipulate me into thinking that he was a good man. And he had his good days. There were days when I remembered why I fell in love with him in the first place. He was so passionate…” Emilie’s wistful voice turned cold. “But passion turned to obsession, love turned to hate, and he couldn’t stand me but he couldn’t let me go either. I was willing to give him second chances when I was his only victim, but I can’t let him get away with hurting Adrien. If I don’t leave now, if I let him get away with even one of the bruises he’s given me, then Adrien and I will never be free of him.”
Bruce nodded. “We can get to work on these after breakfast.”
“Wait.” Emilie gently grabbed his elbow. Bruce turned to face her. “Once the divorce is finalized…” Emilie paused and took a deep breath. “Remember what I said at the airport, when we were both young?”
Bruce nodded and quoted her, “You told me: ‘Third time’s the charm, Bruce.’”
Emilie gave him a small smile. “Third time’s the charm. If you still want me, ask me again.”
Bruce knew that Emilie had been through a lot these past few days. He didn’t want her to make a decision she would later regret. “Are you sure?”
“I’ve said goodbye to you one too many times, Bruce. I never want to say goodbye to you again.”
There was a deep, earnest honesty in her eyes. Bruce knew that there was no longer anything holding her back. There wasn’t anything holding him back, either. “Whatever you need, Emilie, I’ll give it to you.”
Emilie smiled, a hopeful look on her face. “Tell me I can stay.”
