marinette’s parents are literally the cutest couple I’ve ever seen. They’re just so cute and Sabine is actually superwoman and deserves more recognition
Lila shifted nervously next to Marinette. Sabine and Izzy shouldn’t be taking this long. Maybe she’d decided to leave. That it wasn’t worth the problems. Izzy was twenty three, almost twenty four, what would she want with the responsibility of taking care of a teenager? Let alone one with as many problems as she had.
“Breath Lila. I’m sure they’re just talking. Maman probably wants to make sure she understands everything that’s going on.” Sabine was probably trying to convince her to stay. Or trying to figure out how to tell Lila that her sister didn’t want anything to do with her. She started when Marinette reached over to squeeze her hand. “Everything will be fine.”
Before she could argue they heard footsteps on the stairs. It sounded like two people, and Mr. Dupain had much heavier steps. She still let out a sigh of relief when Izzy stepped through the door after Sabine. It was one of the few truths in her life that Izzy never lied to her. She didn’t know what she’d do if that changed given there was nothing else she could count on.
“I’m going to make tea, why don’t you all sit.” Sabine headed towards the kitchen while Izzy came over to the couch. Lila didn’t realize she had a death grip on Mari until Izzy frowned at their joined hands.
“If you don’t want to do this right now, we don’t have to. I’ll need to talk to Sabine about the best way to keep you away from your mother, but we can figure everything else out when you’re ready.” It was an out. She could sit back and let the adults take care of things and she’d admit it was tempting.
“I want to know.” Know what exactly she wasn’t sure. At the same time she wanted to understand what was going to happen to her, even if it wasn’t what she wanted. Izzy sat on the couch and patted the spot next to her. Marinette gave her hand another squeeze before letting go and Lila moved to sit gingerly on the couch. Izzy pulled her closer and kept an arm around her. She burrowed into her side on instinct. She’d forgotten what it felt like.
“First things first. Do you want me to call you Lila or Riley?” She felt her face scrunch up at the thought.
“Riley.” It just felt wrong, and sounded wrong for Izzy to call her anything else.
“What about everyone else?” She just shrugged. She’d been Lila for so long it didn’t bother her to be called that, but she didn’t think she’d have an issue if they called her Riley either. “Think about it. When you’ve decided we’ll make sure that’s the name you’re registered under at your new school.”
“You don’t want to take me with you?” She winced as soon as the words came out. She didn’t want to seem too clingy. Izzy hugged her tighter.
“I was actually planning on moving here so you don’t have to deal with even more change. Not to mention I could use some distance. That way you have more choices on where to live as well. Sabine told me they offered to let you stay here, and that’s perfectly fine if it’s what you want. I would still want to be close so I can be there when you need me.” She didn’t know what to say to that. Having someone who was willing to move across an ocean to be closer to her was a bit overwhelming.
“We’ll be happy to help you find a place that’s close to Lila’s new school.” Sabine set the tea tray on the table before sitting herself. “You’ll just have to give us an idea of price.”
“Money isn’t an issue. I emptied out my trust last year to make sure my Grandparents couldn’t pull something and put it into various investments. I’ve been living off the dividends but I can pull out whatever I need to for the move.” Sabine was frowning at Izzy but Lila wasn’t certain why.
“You’ve mentioned your Grandparents a few times. I take it you don’t have a great relationship.” Izzy just gave an amused snort.
“My mother’s parents. They hated our father and when he died did everything they could to erase him from my life. They even tried to change my last name but I threatened to shave my head and they decided it was a battle they didn’t want to have. I confronted them when you called me about Riley and found out they’ve been paying her mother to keep her away from me. I have no intention of seeing them ever again at this point.”
“They don’t like me.” It wasn’t a question and Lila started playing with Izzy’s shirt button. She wasn’t sure why but she remembered it helped calm them both down.
“They are old southern money and dad was a first generation Greek immigrant that was just dark enough skin wise to offend their sensibilities. It was never about you, it was about controlling me and turning me into what they wanted. You don’t want people like that in your life anyway.” Maybe they knew what she was and wanted to protect Izzy from her. “I can hear you over thinking. They tried, multiple times, to get custody of me before you were born, before your mother was even dating dad. Their stupidity has nothing to do with you.”
Lila just shrugged. It made sense, but she couldn’t help but wonder anyway. It seemed like everyone was trying to keep her contained. When she was little her parents hadn’t let her out of the house by herself. She remembered Izzy arguing with their father about sending her to preschool. They didn’t want her out of the house without one of them with her. That was when Izzy started teaching her to read.
“Now that I know you’re alive, they won’t be paying your mother anymore so we need to keep you away from her. I… you need to know some things about her to understand why. But I’m not sure you’re ready.” The way Izzy held her tighter, almost too tight, she knew it had to be bad.
“She never wanted me.” It was a thought that had been circling her head for a while. It really was the only thing that made sense. Izzy let out a tired sigh.
“No, she didn’t. You were a tool to get what she thought was our father’s money. When that didn’t work the way she wanted it to she came up with a different plan. Are you sure you want me to tell you what happened?” Lila just nodded. Not knowing was worse. She’d spent most of her life wondering why her mother disliked her so much. She didn’t think it would hurt more to have a reason.
“Lila, are you certain?” Sabine’s concern was obvious, even to her. She just nodded again and the woman sighed. Izzy gave her a comforting squeeze
“When my mom married dad, her parents disowned her. When they found out she was pregnant, they set up a trust for me so that I could be raised in a manner befitting my breeding.” The amount of sarcasm in Izzy’s voice was impressive. “After mom died, dad started over compensating, spending everything on me in addition to the payments from the trust. Your mom saw a nice house and a doting father and decided the best way to get access was to have a kid with him. She didn’t know that most of the money he was spending on me he couldn’t spend elsewhere until it was too late. I heard them arguing about it constantly. It was probably the only thing he stood up to her about.”
“Why didn’t she leave?”
“I don’t know. It would have been better for all of us if she had just left you with us and gone. I don’t know why she stuck it out but I do know she found a way to get to my trust.” When she stopped talking Lila looked up at her to find Izzy glaring at the ceiling.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”
“You deserve to know. You deserve to understand why everything that happened wasn’t your fault.”
“It wasn’t your fault either.” That got Izzy to look at her. She didn’t know what that look was but it hurt.
“Maybe not. But it was my trust fund that caused all of this. She found out that if I died as a minor, the trust would be paid out to my legal guardian.” Sabine sucked in a sharp breath and when Lila looked over at her and Mari they both looked pale.
“You think she started the fire. But… if that was the case, she needed our father alive.”
“He wasn’t supposed to be there that night. He was going to visit his sister but she called him while he was driving to tell him she had to leave for work and wouldn’t be able to see him. He got back to the house just before emergency services got there. When he realized we were still in the house he just ran in. My door was locked from the outside and she’d had bars installed on all the windows a month before. I didn’t put it together until years later. That might also be why she got so insistent that you not sleep with me anymore. You were her tether to our father so she’d be certain to get access to the money. She must have decided she could keep him without you, at least long enough to figure out how to get the money some other way.”
Lila considered what she remembered and everything Izzy said made sense. The fact that her mother still seemed to ignore her entirely unless she was causing problems for her certainly added credence to the theory. It should… hurt or something to know that her mother was willing to kill her, or at least let her die. But after everything else she couldn’t even bring herself to be surprised.
“You think she might try to get rid of me now that I’m not profitable.” Izzy just hugged her tighter.
“I think she’ll do anything to keep you from me since I’m the reason she’s no longer getting paid. In her mind I’ve always stood between her and what she wants.”
“So I was just a tool. Something to be used when needed and discarded and forgotten when not in use. It makes sense.” Sabine and Mari both looked horrified though she wasn’t certain why. Izzy didn’t react at all.
Marinette couldn’t understand anything the boys were yelling, except Damian calling the others some rather inventive names. She shot Luka a glare but he just shrugged at her. Yeah no, that innocent act wasn’t going to work. Selina must have told him about the boys being fans of her work. Once the general noise calmed down enough she shot him a withering look.
“You did that on purpose when you knew I wanted to get to know them first.”
“You would have spent the next week freaking out over whether or not they liked you. This way you know now.” She hated it when he pulled his ‘Luka knows best’ routine. Ever since she’d made him a permanent holder he put far more faith in his ‘intuition’ over her wishes. It was good and bad that it was only her he did it with. He felt that he knew her so well and she stressed herself out too much that it was his job to alleviate that stress by forcing her hand. Kagami had agreed with him until he pulled it on her. Luka had gotten her to admit that she was bi where her mother could hear her. No, Mme. Tsurugi hadn’t freaked out and sent her to a boarding school the way Kagami feared but it didn’t change the fact that she absolutely wasn’t ready to have that conversation with her mother. Marinette had actually had to transform to keep her from going after Luka with her sabre. Since then, Kagami had been firmly entrenched on her side of the issue. He also tended to miss the subtleties of what she actually was worried about, which made it more annoying.
“I want them to like me as a person. Not be afraid to get on my bad side because they want me to design something for them.”
“You wouldn’t do that.” She loved him, she really did, she just wanted to strangle him when he decided to be so dense.
“Yes, but they don’t know that because they don’t know me.” She could hear the frustration in her voice and Kagami came up behind her to wrap her arms around her waist. When she rested her chin on her shoulder Marinette glanced over to find her glaring at Luka.
“We’ve talked about this, and you agreed not to interfere unless her anxiety was bad enough to affect her health.” Well that was new. She knew Kagami had been trying to get him to stop but she didn’t realize Luka had agreed to tone it down. Thinking about the last few months, it did make sense.
“Given all that is going on it’s stress that she doesn’t need.” Marinette rolled her eyes and saw Cass do the same. Kagami let out an annoyed huff and Marinette thought Bruce looked like he agreed with Luka. Great, just what she needed. One more person trying to fix things for her.
“You and I will be having a talk later about what decisions are and are not yours to make.” It took Marinette a moment to realize that her Maman’s words were aimed at Luka. Given the woman admitted to tricking Marinette into taking better care of herself she wasn’t certain if that was a good or bad thing. Then again she was fairly proprietary about the roll and she might have a better time getting him to back off. Luka was terrified of Sabine.
The Waynes didn’t seem to know what to make of everything. Damian was eyeing her mother as if trying to put a puzzle together. Tim was just staring at her and Kagami but she wasn’t certain if it was just where his eyes landed or if he was trying to figure out their relationship. Jason was scowling at Luka and Dick just looked concerned. This probably wasn’t the best interaction for them to watch as a first impression.
“How about we eat and switch topics.” Chloe’s no nonsense tone seemed to break everyone out of their stupor. There was also a bit of a bite to it that everyone seemed to catch. It got them all to sit down and stop fussing over them but it also seemed to make everyone afraid of breaking the silence. Not a good way to get to know people. Damian and Selina were the only ones that seemed relaxed and neither one seemed to want to help anyone else ease back into conversation. She figured Damian just didn’t care and Selina was enjoying the show too much.
Cass could obviously tell how upset she was at the way things were going and leaned into her. They continued to eat in silence but all the boys were shooting looks at the two of them, making things even more awkward.
“Honestly if you have something to say just say it. None of you are being subtle with your staring. You’re making me uncomfortable and It’s not even directed at me.” Chloe’s annoyed comment seemed to break the tension. The boys were stuttering out denials but Chloe just glared at them until Dick decided to speak.
“It’s just… Cass doesn’t let anyone touch her, not really. And definitely not for extended durations.” Marinette felt her eye twitch as she fought back her annoyance. Chloe just laughed.
“Mari isn’t just anyone, she is her sister. Not to mention, Mari can get almost anyone to open up given enough time.” The boys all looked miffed at that, Dick especially.
“Or any of you could have just talked to her and helped her get more comfortable with physical affection rather than ignoring the problem and expecting it to go away.” She’d tried to keep it in but their obvious disgruntlement at the fact Cass was opening up to a ‘stranger’ pushed her over the edge. “Not one of you actively tried to help her get over her touch aversion, you just left her to suffer on her own.”
“You can’t possibly know that.” The words came from Damian and Mari gave him a bland look.
“Even if I didn’t before you just confirmed it with your wording. Just because you aren’t that observant doesn’t mean everyone else suffers the same deficiency.” The boy’s face screwed up into an ugly scowl as he glared at her. She honestly expected him to throw a knife at her just for the hell of it at this point.
“That’s enough. The last thing we need is for someone to get Akumatized. Mari, you need to calm down.” Her papa’s voice was not the one she expected to point that out, but it did more to calm her than if it had been anyone else. He rarely got in the middle of things, preferring to let them play out, so he must have thought this would just keep escalating.
“Sorry Papa.” Cass burrowed further into her side and purred silently. When her father reached around Chloe and Cass to give her shoulder a comforting squeeze the boys looked nervous. She had to stop herself from smiling at that. He may be huge but he was the most gentle person she’d ever known. Well, until someone threatened his family.
“Akuma-what now?” She blinked at Jason’s question before mentally slapping herself. She forgot they didn’t know. Cass actually gigged next to her and that just seemed to break all of the Waynes for some reason.
Adrien was in a mild state of panic by the time they made it to the bakery. Jason had been talking to Mari and Cass the whole way there but hadn’t dropped the arm from around Adrien’s shoulders. Did that mean something? It had to, didn’t it? Then again Nino always did the same thing but he always thought it was because he knew Adrien was touch starved and needed the contact. Jason didn’t know that though. Then again Nino had come out as bi not long before Gabriel was caught so maybe there had been more to it. Not that it mattered since just about everyone in the class cut contact with him because they were afraid of it affecting their futures. He didn’t blame them. Mari refused to even discuss them. It was like she was pretending nothing before his father went to jail existed. However none of that was helping with the current problem.
Adrien had gotten used to people hanging all over him when he was a model, so physical contact like this had been fairly normal, even if a lot of it had been unwelcome. Now people acted like he was a leper. But maybe Jason was just being nice to stay on Cass’ good side since she’d made it clear she was taking their side even over family. Or maybe he was secretly a fan of Mari’s like his brothers and saw this as his chance to get a commission. It probably had nothing to do with him at all. Yeah, that was the most likely option.
“Maman, we’re home.” Mari’s voice startled him out of his thoughts and he realized they’d made it into the apartment without him even noticing. Sabine looked up from the stove with a smile that widened when she spotted Cass, but it turned into a frown when she saw Jason. She gave a pointed look to the arm still around Adrien’s shoulders and Jason dropped it and put some distance between them. Sabine’s looks could send just about anyone running.
“And who is this?” Her tone was cheerful but there was an edge to it. Adrien had broken down not long after coming to live with them and told her all about the things that his father had not only allowed to happen, but insisted Adrien do nothing about, on shoots as well as with fans. Ever since anyone touching him sent her into mama bear mode. As much as he loved her for it he kinda wished she had toned it down today.
“This is Jason, Cass’ brother.” Sabine’s glare lessened and she untensed slightly. They were all wary of new people anymore. Ever since they’d announced the adoption, even though he was twenty now, people had been harassing them. Sabine liked to brush it off and say that their sales had never been better but Adrien could see the toll it was taking on her and Tom. It was a big part of the reason why he hadn’t wanted anyone to know in the first place but the others were of the mindset that if people judged them for it, they didn’t need them in their lives.
“It’s nice to meet you Jason, please call me Sabine.” He looked to Cass and she gave him a small nod. Adrien had to wonder if it was just about calling her by her name, or whether she was trustworthy in general. Cass had always seemed to know what people were with very little effort. It was a skill he envied.
“It’s nice to meet you as well. I’m sorry for just showing up with no notice.” Sabine and Mari both let out a scoff.
“I’m well aware that my daughter didn’t give you a choice, and I always make more than enough food. You’re welcome here, anytime.” Jason tried to hide his skepticism, but Adrien knew he wasn’t the only one to see it. He’d learn. Once Sabine decided you were a part of the family, you were whether you agreed to it or not.
The meal itself was rather amusing. Jason couldn’t get over how good the food was. Apparently it was better than anything even their butler produced, and he was magic in the kitchen. That comment caused Adrien and Mari to exchange an amused look. Cass just told him to wait until dessert. Adrien felt his face heat at the way Jason’s eyes lit up. Unfortunately for him Mari saw it. He was so screwed when she got him alone. Now he had to figure out how to make sure that didn’t happen.
“So Jason, are you seeing anyone?” What the actual fuck? He expected Mari to pull something like this, he didn’t expect Sabine to do it. For his part, Jason nearly choked on an éclair.
“No Ma’am. No plans to either.” Okay, so that was good and bad. Wait, he didn’t even know if Jason was into guys. Why was he such a mess around cute people?
“I told you to call me Sabine, and you shouldn’t rule out any possibilities in life. If you do, you can miss the best parts even when they’re right in front of you.” It took everything in him for Adrien not to roll his eyes at the less than subtle advice. Then he noticed the smile on Cass’s face. Great, all three of them were going to do their best to help him make an idiot of himself, not that he needed help for that. Maybe it was time for him to go on a vacation.
“I’m perfectly capable of appreciating the good things in life without dragging them into the gutter with me.”
“Isn’t that a mood.” Adrien honestly wasn’t certain if he or Jason were more surprised by what came out of their mouths. Sabine pinned them both with a stern look.
“Neither one of you is allowed to talk about yourselves like that in my house. Adrien, you know better.” He did. Everyone here got on him about ‘talking himself down’. In truth, most of the time he was just pointing out things that would affect them and they just acted like it wouldn’t be an issue. It was frustrating that he couldn’t even point out the downside of being him without getting a lecture. He loved them, he really did, but sometimes he just wanted to vent.
“Sorry Sabine.” She seemed happy with his apology, but both Jason and Cass were giving him weird looks.
“Then I guess we’ll just have to go somewhere else so we can talk how we want.” Adrien could only stare at Jason in horror. The girls were going to eat him alive. Mari especially looked ready to explode, but Cass started whispering frantically in her ear. The whole time Jason was looking Sabine straight in the eyes, a feat he couldn’t manage when she was in a good mood.
“If you want to spout that kind of nonsense then yes.” Her tone was cold and Adrien flinched at the word nonsense.
“So you’re saying how we feel is invalid.” He said the words without inflection but with the way everyone went silent, it felt like he’d yelled. Given the way Sabine’s expression kept changing she couldn’t decide if she should be insulted or horrified.
“Of course not, but you can express it without insulting yourself.”
“What you call an insult, I call being realistic. My life is dangerous. Anyone that close to me is in danger and I’m not selfish enough to bring an outsider into that. Adrien has been vilified by the vast majority of the world and pretending like that isn’t the case simply invalidates the pain it causes. Being supportive is one thing, but burying your head in the sand and expecting him to do the same is dangerous and insensitive.” Adrien could only stare at him. No one had ever seemed to understand that before, let alone been able to put it into words. He couldn’t count the number of times he’d tried and failed to, with both Sabine and Marinette. Both the women in question were just frowning at Jason as though trying to put together a puzzle. Cass was staring at Adrien and her expression seemed somewhere between commiseration and guilt. He had no idea what that was supposed to mean either.
“Adrien.” He flinched when Sabine said his name, he couldn’t help it. Given the way she was frowning she saw it. “Do you think that’s what we’re doing?” Her tone was soft but he panicked anyway. How was he supposed to answer that?
“I… it’s just… you all try so hard to make me understand that you care about me no matter what anyone else thinks, that you never really stop to understand how it feels for me to know how everyone else will likely never accept me at all. Anytime I try to talk about things like that it feels like you just brush it off and say it doesn’t matter. I get that you want me to focus on the good things, but I can’t just pretend the others don’t exist.” There was dead silence in the room and he was too scared to take his eyes off the table. So he was completely surprised when Sabine and Mari suddenly wrapped him in a hug.
His father arrived the next day and Damian felt certain he’d been plunged into an alternate universe. Sabine had said something to Selina about Alfred saying she should give Bruce parenting advice, thinking it was a joke, but Selina had verified that it wasn’t. Damian had no idea what they’d talked about after but it somehow turned into all of them being run out of the bakery while Sabine took Bruce to ‘discuss some things’. His father seemed more than a little out of it when he made it back to the hotel. The next night found them back in the Dupain-Cheng’s living room to discuss the logistics of their living situation.
“So Bruce.” Damian saw his father tense at Sabine’s overly polite tone. “Who will be staying here to keep an eye on Damian?” He relaxed slightly so he obviously thought it was a safe topic.
“My oldest, Dick, volunteered-”
“The one who felt it was perfectly fine to invade his privacy with listening devices? No, I don’t think so.” Bruce just gaped at the woman and Damian was left wondering exactly how much Selina had told her. Marinette caught his eye and gave him a conspiratorial wink. So she was in on whatever her mother had planned. “Given what I’ve heard so far there are only three options. Alfred, who I’m told is necessary in Gotham so the rest of your family doesn’t accidentally kill each other or themselves. Cassandra, who at least understands when it is and is not okay to meddle, or Selina.”
“Unfortunately none of those are viable options.” Damian just wanted to roll his eyes at his father’s attempt to regain control of the conversation.
“Oh really? Why is that?” This was going to be a disaster.
“Alfred is in fact necessary in Gotham for a number of reasons. Cass does a lot of business in China and is usually there at least six months out of the year.”
“Well then, it’s a good thing Selina already volunteered isn’t it?” He walked straight into that one. Bruce looked at him, obviously expecting him to object but he just raised an eyebrow at him.
“Selina and Damian can’t even stand being in the same room with each other.”
“They seem to not have that issue here in Paris. Perhaps there is something in Gotham that keeps them at odds with one another.” That was an… interesting take on the subject. It made sense to an extent. If Selina hadn’t ever dated his father he probably wouldn’t have had as much of a problem with her. Given that they shared a love for animals it’s entirely possible he would have overlooked her… occupation. The thought didn’t sit well with him but he wasn’t certain why.
“Mme. Cheng, as much as I respect your opinion this is not a simple issue. The animosity between them has been years in the making. They may be on their best behavior now, but it won’t last and you won’t want your daughter near them when the dam breaks. Dick is the best option.” Sabine’s polite smile went frigid and Damian couldn’t help but mark the exits.
“First of all, I will not have my daughter living in a house with a man who thinks it’s acceptable to spy on teenagers. Second, Damian and Selina have talked through their issues, something I’m told you never suggested let alone encouraged and I’m confident they will continue to communicate in the future. Third, I believe I told you to call me Sabine.” The slightly panicked expression on his father’s face made him wish he were recording this. Watching Sabine completely shut down Bruce was almost as amusing as the Justice League meetings with Ladybug.
“I really would be far more comfortable with Selina than one of your sons, Mr. Wayne. She’s been so helpful already and I’m honestly not sure I’m up to getting used to any more people right now.” And there was Mari’s wide-eyed, innocent, woe-is-me act. He was wondering when she’d chime in. She actually managed to tear up as well. Bruce didn’t stand a chance but he still looked like he wanted to argue.
“If you’re that worried about it, why don’t you ask Gordon if she’d be willing to come for a few weeks to make sure we’re all settling in and act as a buffer? It will give Marinette someone to ask questions of as well. Not to mention that given the size of the house Selina and I will be perfectly capable of not being near each other should we devolve into our former state.” His father was looking at him like he’d grown another head, likely because he’d used Selina’s name instead of an insult. Sabine raised an eyebrow at her daughter.
“Barbara. She’s paralyzed as well and it would be helpful to have her come if she’s willing. It would be nice to get her perspective on the improvements since she has a better idea of how being in a wheelchair will affect my life. That’s a great idea Damian.” She gave him a bright smile and Sabine also offered a nod of approval. That was something else that started after Selina’s talk with Sabine. Everyone in Marinette’s family suddenly started complimenting or praising his actions. It was extremely disconcerting, but pleasant at the same time.
“While I agree about Barbara, I still don’t think-”
“Bruce, this is the best option. Everyone besides you agrees on that.” HIs father’s expression went blank. Damian wasn’t certain if it was the fact that Sabine kept interrupting him or her tone. As far as he knew, Alfred was the only person who talked to him like that.
“I suppose we could try it-”
“Wonderful. I’m glad we have that settled. Now we can have dessert and enjoy the rest of the evening.” Her entire demeanor changed and Bruce looked like he was waiting for a bomb to go off. Definitely an alternate dimension. One he was actually starting to like.
Isadora Dimakos was generally thought to be a calm person. Everyone who knew her would tell you it took a lot to get her upset and it was almost impossible to make her lose control of herself. Hugging her little sister for the first time in ten years she was about two seconds from committing murder over what had happened to Riley, or Lila. She really needed to ask what she wanted to be called.
“I’m so sorry. I never should have believed them when they told me you didn’t survive. I should have looked into it myself.” She still couldn’t believe the lengths her maternal grandparents had gone to to try and keep everything related to her father out of her life after he died. The only way she’d be talking to them again was through lawyers. “No matter what happens I won’t ever leave you alone with that woman again.”
“It wasn’t your fault. You were still a kid too.” Izzy hugged her sister tighter for a moment before pulling back to look her in the eye.
“I haven’t been for five years now and I never once questioned the story I was told. You deserve better from me.” Riley dropped eye contact to stare over her shoulder. A lot of people wouldn’t notice the shift, but she knew how much effort it was for her to look someone in the eye. It was honestly a bit scary how little she’d changed. “Why don’t we go somewhere a little less public so we can talk?”
“I don’t want to talk.” Her eyes shifted to the floor and her shoulders hunched.
“You don’t want to talk or you don’t want to listen?” Riley’s eyes jumped to hers for a moment before going back to the floor as she processed the question. Izzy just waited. She knew that it was harder for her sister to verbalize what she actually wanted instead of what people heard.
“Just talk.”
“Okay. Then I’ll talk and if there’s anything you don’t want to hear you can tell me and I’ll stop. Sound good?” She nodded but she was still staring at the floor. So something was still wrong but not with what she said. “Do you want someone else there too?” There it was, full eye contact. Izzy looked up to Sabine.
“Lila, why don’t you go up and grab Mari. We’ll grab some food and be up in a minute.” It physically hurt to watch her just turn and walk out. She still reacted to everything like it was a command. Granted part if it was Sabine’s tone, but most of it was conditioning by her mother to not question anything. She had so much damage to undo. “You’re really good with her.”
“Someone had to pay attention and it wasn’t going to be them.” She took a deep breath when she realized how bitter she sounded. She couldn’t talk like that around Riley. Not if she wanted to let her make up her own mind about everything. “It might not be a great idea to have your daughter there for this conversation. I have to tell Riley some things that are more than a little upsetting.”
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” While she was happy someone was protective over sister, she didn’t need a lecture.
“She deserves to know the truth. She deserves to know exactly how dangerous it is for her to stay with that woman. Especially now that my Grandparents know I found out she’s alive.” She shouldn’t have confronted them but she hadn’t known exactly how much trouble it would cause. One more mistake in a life full of them. “She’s smart and she can look at things more objectively than any of us if given the chance.”
“You can’t be sure of that. You haven’t seen her in ten years.” God she hated that tone. It was the same one her Grandparents used when they thought she was being an idiot. Which was pretty much all the time.
“And she hasn’t changed at all in those ten years. It’s honestly depressing how much her mother has completely stifled her growth.” She didn’t expect the woman to aid her in any way but it was obvious that she’d done so much worse. “Do you know what it was you said to me that made me actually hope you really had my sister here?”
“I don’t see what that has to do with-”
“It was when you said she remembered calling me Teddy.” She couldn’t stop the wistful smile that came over her face. “She figured out how to get out of her crib when she was eighteen months old and would always come to sleep with me. About six months before the fire her mother suddenly decided that was unacceptable and got on our father to get her to sleep in her own room. He tried everything he could think of including a stuffed bear that was bigger than he was. It was the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever seen. He told her that it would protect her at night and keep all the bad things away. Riley got all thoughtful and quiet and he thought he’d finally managed it. The next morning she was back in my room with me. When he asked her about it she said that anyone that was really dangerous would know the bear wasn’t real, but my snoring would frighten away anything that got close so I was a much better Teddy.”
“It’s a cute story but I still don’t see your point.”
“Even at four years old she reasoned through the problem and came up with a logical decision. Treating her like a child will only deprive her of the right to choose her own path. She’s already had enough taken from her, I won’t do that.” Sabine was studying her again but Izzy stood her ground. She wasn’t about to fail her sister again.
“If she gets uncomfortable and doesn’t want to listen anymore?”
“Then I’ll stop. She’s already agreed to let you get her away from her mother and so long as she doesn’t change her mind the rest could technically wait. At the same time she’s blaming herself for things that she had no part in and she needs to understand that she’s not the one at fault.”
“Seems like she’s not the only one.” Izzy could only let out a huff.
“Yeah well, I’m the oldest. It’s kind of in the job description.”
Marinette walked into the private dining room next to Cass and was on the receiving end of four very different reactions. One of the boys was practically vibrating with excitement. The next was quite obviously sizing her up. After him was a boy who didn’t even seem to be able to focus on her properly. She assumed that was Tim. The smallest was glaring at her as if he wanted to kill her. So Damian. She had to wonder how he’d react if she told him how cute it was that he was trying to intimidate her. Probably best to keep that to herself for now.
“These are Bruce’s sons. Dick, Jason, Tim, and Damian. Boys this is Marinette and her parents Tom and Sabine.” Selina still sounded far too amused by this whole thing. She ignored it and smiled at them.
“It’s nice to meet you all.” That was all it took for Dick to explode.
“Oh my god! You’re so cute and polite even. Are you sure you’re actually related to B? What do you like to do? We should have a family movie night! What movies do you like? We should go out and you can show us your favorite places and then when you come to Gotham - You are coming right? - we’ll show you ours. We’ll just have to make sure all the major rogues are locked up first. But don’t worry we’ll keep you safe.” She just stared at him, not having any idea where to start with that. Jason rolled his eyes.
“Damn Dick, breathe and leave her alone. This manic big brother bullshit is going to scare her away.” Dick looked like a kicked puppy.
“Language Master Jason.” Alfred walked in with the food, which she shouldn’t have been surprised about given that he was their butler but she’d expected the hotel staff to do it.
“You are staying for dinner with us Grandpa Alfie?” The reactions to the name were not at all what she expected. Selina just burst into laughter, Bruce was eyeing her like she had a screw loose, Dick was cooing over how cute she was, Jason looked like he’d just swallowed his tongue, and Damian just looked insulted though she had no idea why. Tim just swayed there so she wasn’t certain he’d even comprehended what she said.
“If you’d like me to Miss. Should we get your friends as well?” There was a mischievous glint in his eyes and she wasn’t certain what to do with that. Did he think they wouldn’t get along well?
“I think that’s a good idea.” Her Maman’s tone was a bit hard and she was sizing up the boys. Once Alfred left she walked up to them. Oh, this was about to get bad. “Let me ask you boys a question. If someone were bothering and hurting Cass on a daily basis what would you do?”
“Shoot ‘em.”
“Stab them.”
“Lock them in a room with those two.” Jason, Damian and Dick’s answers came in quick succession and Sabine focused on Tim who seemed to be trying to figure out where she came from.
“Well?” The sharp no nonsense tone finally got a response.
“I don’t understand the question. I mean, Cass would have beat them to a pulp long before we heard about it.” That got a content hum and Mari felt a relieved breath leave her body.
“They can stay. And Tim is coming home with us so I can make sure he sleeps properly.” Bruce’s eye twitched but before he could say anything Tim’s confused voice spoke up.
“I’m not sleeping?” Everyone started laughing except Bruce, her Maman, and Damian. “Why can’t I stay here?”
“Because I can’t keep an eye on you here and make sure you sleep.” Poor Tim still looked so confused.
“You’re not taking him anywhere. He may be worthless but we’re not about to let some strange woman abduct him.” Marinette felt herself wince at Damian’s statement. In two sentences he’d found one of her Maman’s trigger words. Cass gave her hand a comforting squeeze.
“No one is worthless young man, except possibly those who treat others as though they are. I suggest you learn to appreciate people more.” Dick and Jason were snickering and she rounded on them. “And what are you two laughing about? Neither one of you corrected him or defended your brother. How is he supposed to learn if you don’t teach him?” They both stuttered out denials.
“That’s just how the Demon Spawn is!” Jason’s indignant reply just got a raised eyebrow.
“He’s not going to listen to us anyway. He doesn’t even listen to Bruce most of the time.” Yeah this was a disaster. The look her Maman shot Dick made him freeze.
“So rather than say something so the person he’s tormenting knows they aren’t alone you lot just stand by and let him bully everyone around him?” Oh shit. Mari didn’t think they’d get there so quickly. Between the way things happened with the school and Chloe and Lila, her Maman was insanely touchy about the subject of people not sticking up for others. She desperately tried to motion for the boys to just back down.
“The replacement knows how we feel about him.” Oh dear Kwami, her Maman was going to kill Jason. “Besides, it’s not bullying since we all know how the Demon Spawn is.” To her surprise Sabine rounded on Bruce.
“And you’re just fine with them giving each other derogatory nicknames and insulting each other?” If this didn’t stop she wasn’t going to be allowed anywhere near her father or brothers. Never mind that she was almost eighteen. There had to be a way to calm the situation; she just had no idea what it was. Cass could obviously sense her distress and walked up to her Maman who immediately softened. “Yes sweetheart?”
“Complicated, but Family.” Mari knew that Cass meant that even though they acted the way they did they would all fight and die for one another but she wasn’t certain anyone else got that. Her Maman studied Cass for a moment before nodding.
“Fine for now. But you boys will not act like this if you come to my home. Do you understand?” Dick and Jason nodded frantically but Tim still seemed to have no idea what was going on. Damian just glared at everyone. Luckily Alfred chose that moment to walk in with the others.
“Holy shit you’re Luka Couffaine!” Jason and Dick immediately went up to him to talk about music and what it was like to work with Jagged stone.
“Bourgeois?” Tim was blinking at Chloe like she’d just materialized out of nowhere.
“Drake. Still trying to survive on will power and caffeine I see.” The boy just continued to blink at her and Chloe rolled her eyes. Damian marched himself up to Kagami with a determined look.
“Your fencing skill is adequate. We should spar.” Yeah, he was definitely Talia’s son. Kagami just cocked her head at him.
“Perhaps, if it is acceptable to your father and Marinette.” He turned his glare on her but Marinette just grinned back at him.
“He’s my dad actually.” Those were the only words she heard out of Luka but Dick and Jason both started yelling in excitement until they caught Alfred giving them a pointed look. “But honestly, he’s far more fond of Mari than anyone else. After all, she is his exclusive designer.” There was dead silence for about ten seconds before the room exploded.
Chloe almost made it back to the hotel before she realized where her feet were taking her. She turned abruptly and just kept walking since the last thing she was up for right now was dealing with her parents. What was wrong with her? It wasn’t an insult or even mean. There was no reason for her to be acting like this. And she’d left Mari to deal with that woman alone. Damn it. She made another abrupt turn to head back to the bakery and immediately ran into someone.
“Sorry!” She held onto the person to keep them stable as she pulled back and blinked when realized she knew the person. “Really Kagami, I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention.” The girl’s normal stoic demeanor seemed to get even colder when she recognized Chloe. She hadn’t really interacted with her so she wasn’t sure what caused it.
“It’s fine, though I would suggest being more careful in the future.” Yeah there was no way she was imagining the frost in that tone. Maybe Mari had complained about her at some point. “And perhaps don’t abandon your friends when they need you most.” Wait what?
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” That definitely wasn’t something she got from Mari.
“You turned on Adrien as soon as his father was revealed as Hawkmoth.” Oh right, they fenced together, how could she forget.
“I turned on the spineless wonder when I found out he was hurting Mari. It had nothing to do with his father.” That was not the way she wanted that to come out. “Not to mention he’s still trying to since he sicked his mommy on her.” Great job Bourgeois, just keep making it worse. She could feel Plagg snickering against her. Kagami looked thoughtful though.
“Hurt her how?” As much as she wanted to let it out and tell her all the garbage he’d pulled she knew it was a bad idea. For a lot of reasons.
“You should talk to her about that. I wouldn’t feel right talking about it without her permission anyway.” That was apparently the right answer given the hum of approval she got for it. “I was headed back that way if you wanted to come with me.”
“Chloe!” She looked up to find Selina rushing towards them and cursed to herself. She didn’t even consider how anyone else would react to her running out of there like that. Mari was probably worried. “Come on, we need to get back Mari’s asking for you.” Shit, shit, shit. She pulled her phone to find messages from Selina, Sabine, Luka, and Damian. What the hell happened? She was running again before she even realized she was in motion. She had no idea how long it took her to get back to the bakery but it was too long. She was in full panic mode as she ran into the apartment and found Mari sobbing in her mother’s arms.
“What did that woman say to you?” The words came out as more of a growl than anything else and Sabine leveled a glare at her.
“Mari told her off actually. This is the result of her finally slowing down enough to feel everything that’s been building up.” The anger dissipated immediately and she sat on the couch next to them. Mari reached for her and the next thing she knew her girlfriend was crying into her neck while Sabine got up to get some tea for them. It was then that she noticed Luka and Damian hovering in the kitchen. “Tom’s closing up the bakery. We’re going to have some much needed family time.” Chloe tightened her arms around Mari.
“I’m not leaving.” Sabine just gave her an exasperated look.
“Of course not. I said family and that includes you.” She was too stunned to respond to that. She honestly couldn’t remember the last time anyone claimed her as family.
“Gami?” Mari’s rough, confused voice caused her head to snap to the door as she internally cursed at herself again. If she had any idea what was going on she wouldn’t have suggested the girl come over now. Selina was looking to Sabine to figure out what she should do while Damian was trying to nudge Luka towards the door. Sabine just sighed.
“Mari, is there anyone here you want to leave?” Chloe felt Mari shake her head. “Then everyone should have a seat. What do you all want to drink?”
Once everyone was settled it became rather tense. Damian and Kagami both looked insanely uncomfortable and were eyeing each other constantly. It took her a minute to realize they may have never met. Mari giggled.
“You two will either get along famously or be at each other’s throats in ten minutes.” They both sent her a flat look and the giggles turned into laughter. Chloe could feel herself untense at the sound. “Damian Wayne, meet Kagami Tsurugi.” That just got them back to frowning at each other but it looked more thoughtful than before.
“Tsurugi as in the internationally acclaimed fencers?” Kagami just nodded at Damian’s words. “I look forward to comparing blades with you.” She continued to study him but finally gave an accepting nod. The tension seemed to drain out of both after that. Chloe could only roll her eyes. Luka was the only one of Mari’s friends not prone to violence, including her. Apparently her girlfriend was just collecting socially stunted, aggressive, rich kids.
When Tom came up Chloe relinquished her hold on Mari knowing how little time she’d spent with her parents lately and how much she needed to both comfort them, and whether she admitted it or not, be comforted by them. Kagami was watching in confusion as they helped Mari settle.
“What is wrong with you?” Chloe knew she wasn’t trying to be rude. She sounded worried more than anything else but Chloe also knew that Mari was hurt because of her. She hadn’t been fast enough to stop it. Luckily Mari answered before she could explode with guilt.
“I injured my spine in a way that paralyzed my legs.” Kagami just blinked at her. Watching the girl process things was interesting just because there was no way to tell what she was thinking.
“Is this what you meant when you said Adrien hurt her?” There was a dangerous undertone to her voice and Chloe almost didn’t realize the question was aimed at her.
“No, this wasn’t anything to do with him.” His father, but she didn’t need to know that. When Mari sent her a questioning look she winced. “She thought I abandoned Adrien because of who his father was; I corrected her.”
“Adrien…” Mari let out a sigh. “He does everything so that it’s most convenient for him without thinking about how it’s affecting others. I mean, when he broke up with you did he even ask if you were okay with it? Or seem to care if he hurt you?” That just got another thoughtful frown.
“Honestly I was so relieved when he did that I never really considered it. He kept going on about how he wanted to be with someone else… but I don’t remember him asking what I wanted and he never brought it up again after that. Lately though he’s been acting like he wants to get back together and when I told him we’re better off as friends he said it was selfish of me to make that decision without even taking his feelings into consideration.” The bastard was seriously trying to gaslight his ex into starting up their relationship again? That was even worse than she expected.
“And what did you say to that?” Mari sounded worried but Kagami just shrugged.
“I told him that expecting someone else to enter into a relationship they didn’t want just because he wanted them to was selfish so we were even.” Damian let out an amused snort and Chloe couldn’t help but grin imagining Adrien’s shocked expression. “I just assumed he was in a bad place because of his father and didn’t give it any more thought.”
“He knew exactly what he was doing. That boy needs a good talking to.” Tom’s tone said he’d be happy to do it.
“That boy needs a good kick in the-”
“Maman!” Mari sounded embarrassed but Chloe was fairly sure everyone else in the room agreed with Sabine. “Adrien isn’t our problem. Hopefully his mother will get him the help he needs.”
They continued talking and Marinette thought Bruce was finally starting to relax a little bit. So of course someone had to interrupt.
“One of these days you will actually answer your phone.” She looked up to find her parents in the doorway. Oh that couldn’t be good. “When we saw the others running rooftops, in normal clothes, with Selina we got worried.” Marinette groaned at Sabine’s words. Of course they were. Apparently she should have just given them Kaalki, but she didn’t think they were going to move anything right at this moment.
“Sorry, we pissed off the Mayor and they thought it would be best to get anything Chloe is worried about losing out of the hotel. I didn’t realize how they were planning on getting it out.”
“When did Selina get here anyway?” Oh Kwami, now she had to explain that. She glanced over to Bruce and found him in a stare down with her Papa. Wonderful.
“She’s Bruce’s fiancé. You’ve always said she has good taste.” The glare her mother shot her softened slightly when Cass buried further into her side. That was a good distraction. She stood and brought Cass with her to stand in front of her parents. “These are my parents, Sabine and Tom. Maman, Papa, this is Cass.” She figured it was best to keep their attention off Bruce for the moment. Given the way she was still trying to hide behind her, Cass was less than thrilled with her strategy.
“We are so happy to meet you.” Her parents had obviously picked up on Cass’s unease. Her father was standing behind her mother, probably so he didn’t try to hug her. Her mother’s hands were clasped together. They were both extremely tactile and she could tell this was torture for them. Marinette put a hand on each to help ground them.
“Me too.” The words were soft but audible. Her parents softened even further since they knew how difficult speaking was for her. This was going well… and then Bruce decided to talk. She would have thought being in the public eye he’d be able to read a room better.
“You’ll have to forgive Cass, she’s not trying to be rude she’s just-”
“Mostly non-verbal. Alfred informed us and we didn’t think she was being rude.” The last was aimed at Cass with an encouraging smile before both of her parents turned to glare at Bruce again. Well this was a disaster. She nudged Cass over to Bruce before moving between them and her parents.
“Why don’t you two go make sure the others don’t get arrested, and we’ll see you for dinner the way we planned.” Her Maman just rolled her eyes at her but she noticed her Papa studying Bruce and Cass behind her.
“You really haven’t looked at your phone at all have you? It is time for dinner.” She blinked for a moment. She must have lost track of time. That meant it was time for her to meet Bruce’s other kids. Oh, Kwami, they were going to hate her. Then Bruce would take them and Cass away. When that happened she’d be left without her Black Cat and they’d never find Hawkmoth and Paris would have to repress their emotions forever and…
“Mari stop thinking. You got Chloe to love you. I’m sure these boys don’t stand a chance.” She could only smile weakly at her parents. It was a miracle they trusted her as Ladybug when they had to deal with her neurosis constantly.
“Damian will likely default to hostility, Jason to sarcasm, I don’t think Tim has slept in the past couple days so he may just pass out, and Dick is just overly excited about another sibling.”
“And do you commonly allow your children to run themselves into the ground?” Marinette couldn’t help the snort that left her.
“Really Maman? That’s the fight you want to pick?” Oh yeah, she really should have kept her mouth shut. Even her Papa was looking at her like she’d lost her mind.
“If it was my decision, you would be getting no less than six hours sleep a night. You’re lucky Tikki convinced me that you need to be ready to be alert at all times or I’d make sure you did. As it is, your commissions went down because I told Jagged exactly what would happen to him if he didn’t start funneling people to you at a moderate pace.” Well that explained a lot. Any time she’d suggested to Jagged that she could take on more clients in the past few months he’d gotten extremely nervous. Hang on…
“That’s why you started letting the others sleep over so much. You’re making them keep an eye on me.” That just got another eyeroll.
“They volunteered. I’m not the only one worried about you.” She couldn’t decide whether she should be touched or insulted. Maybe she’d been a little busier than normal but she was handling it… but Tikki had consulted with her mother and didn’t tell her about it so even the Kwami seemed to think it was a problem. “You need to realize that you don’t have to do everything yourself.”
“I don’t do everything myself.” The look her parents gave her was bad enough, but she heard Cass let out a disbelieving snort behind her. Traitor. “I delegate. The others have been patrolling without me so I can do other things.”
“Yeah, and that only started after you passed out on patrol because you’d been up for three days. You were running yourself into the ground before all this superhero insanity. I swear I will kill Hawkmoth myself if this doesn’t end soon.” Marinette almost felt sorry for the man. Being on her Maman’s shit list was bad enough, but he was constantly putting her family in danger. Mari was certain it wouldn’t be a quick death. On the plus side, she’d get the missing Miraculous back.
“Killing should never be your first option.” Oh right, she forgot about that. The man preferred to continually contain rather than remove threats. She really didn’t understand why he didn’t at least have a better way to contain them given his resources. Her parents also thought he was nothing but a playboy billionaire. This was bad.
“Just because you choose to live in the most crime filled city in the world and subject your children to danger constantly doesn’t mean the rest of us are willing to put up with it. If I can end my child’s suffering I will. No matter the cost to me, or you for that matter.” Marinette couldn’t tell if that was a threat or a hint that she’d be willing to accept financial assistance if it meant putting an end to Hawkmoth.
“Regardless, it’s a premature line of thought. Now that Cass is here I’ll be more balanced and the Kwami are confident it will help us end this. Your philosophical differences when dealing with punishment for crimes will hopefully be a moot point.” That was the wrong thing to say. She didn’t know why exactly, but all three of her parents were giving her annoyed looks. On the plus side they weren’t glaring at each other.
“Killing is wrong regardless of the circumstance.”
“If he isn’t willing to protect you by any means necessary we aren’t about to trust him.”
Her Maman and Bruce spoke over one another and returned to trying to stare each other down. They were each trying to accomplish different things but her parents had no idea what Bruce was trying to accomplish. She was annoyed, more than she was willing to admit, that he was trying to enforce his moral code or just his way of being a hero on her when he hadn’t even known her for a day yet, all her parents saw was a man unwilling to protect their child. It was obvious neither of them were going to back down. Cass hugged her from behind.
“Not helping.” While her comment was aimed at Bruce it actually calmed the other two. Mari wasn’t sure if it was because they thought Cass was talking to all of them, the fact that she spoke up for Mari in the first place, or they were glad she was willing to stand up to Bruce for Mari, but it cleared a lot of tension from the room.
“You’re right, we’re sorry.” Her Papa’s soft rumble turned slightly more harsh as he turned to Bruce. “We’ll talk later.” That wasn’t ominous at all.
Lila made it to the bottom of the stairs but froze before she got to the door to the bakery. She wanted to do this. She needed to do this. She absolutely couldn’t walk through that door. It just got worse the longer she stood there. Her mind was running through all the worst case scenarios. She couldn’t come up with any that ended well. Her thoughts were broken by the chime sounding from the bakery door, but she still couldn’t bring herself to move.
“Good afternoon, what can we do for you?” Sabine’s voice was it’s normal cheerful tone but there was a pause from the other person.
“I was just…” Lila could practically hear their confusion. “I’m looking for my sister and this is where I was told to go.” It suddenly felt like her chest was being squeezed in a vice. Was this what a heart attack feels like?
“Of course, it’s so nice to meet you in person. I’m Sabine.” There was a pause, she assumed to shake hands or something. “I’m so happy you came all this way, but we told your sister we’d do this at her pace so it may take her a bit to work up to meeting you.”
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” The woman’s tone turned slightly panicked and Lila could only imagine the look Sabine was giving her. “I just mean it would be better to get the first meeting out of the way, after that it can be entirely up to her. It’s just… if this really is my sister she always had problems with uncertainty. It would be best to make sure you’re right about this and let her know that I still care about her and I’m not going anywhere. If not she’ll just work herself into a panic. She’s very good at coming up with possible outcomes and it tends to cause her a lot of stress.”
Lila wasn’t certain what to do with that. It was kind of nice to know that this was something she’d done her entire life. It was strange having someone who knew her that well when she didn’t know them at all. She was confused about the fact that the woman seemed unsure if they were in fact sisters, but she supposed it was best to be cautious. Sabine had said that she thought Lila had died close to ten years ago so maybe she just didn’t want to get her hopes up. Or maybe she wanted an out it case Lila wasn’t good enough.
“Are you okay?” She started and realized that Sabine was crouched in front of her. When did that happen? She just nodded. “She makes a good point about just ripping the bandaid off, but we don’t have to if you don’t want to.” Like she had any clue what she wanted. In the end though, the woman was right. She was just going to keep worrying about it until it happened.
“It’s okay.” Sabine gave her another searching look before reaching out to grab her hand. When they stepped into the bakery she saw Tom talking to the woman. She was lighter complected than Lila, but darker than Tom. Her hair was a dark brown, almost black, but seemed to have hints of red in it. Her eyes were the exact same shade as Lila’s. Sabine cleared her throat and Lila started. The hands on her shoulders gave a comforting squeeze.
“Hi I’m…” The woman sucked in a sharp breath when she saw Lila and seemed to lose her train of thought. She had no idea what to do with the way the woman was looking at her. “Riley?” That name… it sounded so familiar. Suddenly it seemed like a dam broke in her mind. Memories of her father, their home and her sister all seemed to overwhelm her.
“Izzy?” She didn’t even realize she said it out loud until the woman let out a strangled sob and nodded. Oh god, this was really happening. She had a sister. She had one more person to be nothing more than a disappointment to. Why had she thought this was a good idea? There was no way she could live up to her expectations. No way she’d be good enough.
“Ry, you need to breathe.” The woman was in front of her now. She looked concerned but how long would that last? She felt a flick on her forehead. “Stop thinking about what ifs. Do you remember when you took apart my computer?”
“Mom was mad.” She let out an annoyed scoff.
“Your mother was mad about everything, it had nothing to do with you. What did I do?” Lila just blinked at her, sorting through the deluge of memories that had surfaced.
“You asked why I did it, and when I said I wanted to see how it worked you bought me books on building and programming computers.” She frowned in thought. “Mom was mad about that too.”
“Yes she was. She never wanted to admit your potential. That’s why I was the one that helped you learn to read and write because she wanted you to be ‘normal’ and Dad had no spine where she was concerned.”
“I don’t understand what this has to do with anything.” The woman’s expression softened.
“You destroyed a two thousand dollar computer including a hard drive with all my school work, all my pictures, and all my personal projects.” Lila just became more and more horrified as she talked. She couldn’t imagine losing her computer. Her entire life was on there. “At no point did I think you did it maliciously. At no point did I value that hard drive more than you. At no point did I wish you weren’t my baby sister. And at no point will I ever abandon you.”
Her immediate reaction was to look for a reason to deny that, but when she sorted through the memories she couldn’t find one. Izzy was the one person that was always there. The one person that explained things. The one person that had never lied to her. Even she couldn’t find a reason to not believe her.
“It was my fault.” Izzy just looked confused. “If I hadn’t been in your room, he wouldn’t have died.” That got a glare.
“You listen to me. I know exactly who to blame for what happened and it’s not you. Not to mention, your room was further down the hall. The only thing that would have changed is that you actually would have died along with him. I’m much happier about this outcome.” Lila felt a burning behind her eyes and a tightness in her chest again. Then there was another flick to her forehead. “Hug?” She automatically fell into the embrace. In that moment she finally remembered what home felt like.
Chloe was pissed and it was taking everything Marinette had to keep her from going after Adrien. Even being attached to her was barely keeping her in the apartment.
“You can’t go around fighting anyone who says something bad about me, even if they deserve it.” Chloe grumbled above her and Marinette was content to let her if it meant she stayed put. “We don’t even know what he said for that matter.”
“Whatever it was got his mommy down here to grill you. That’s more than enough for me. Everything is always someone else’s fault. I was a brat but at least I was honest about it. Adrien didn’t ever get in trouble when we were little because when he did do something, granted it was rare, he always had someone else to take the blame. Me, his bodyguard, his father. I swear all he had to do was say Gabriel told him to do something and his mother let him off scott free.” That actually made a lot of sense. He seemed to do everything in his power to avoid confrontation until it was too late so passing off the blame was definitely in his wheelhouse.
“He knows how to work the system and where the pressure points are. It makes sense. Everyone does what they can to get what they want, he just came up with a strategy more suited to his situation.” Chloe let out a scoff.
“Well I want you to be happy and if that prick keeps messing with you I’ll be forced to take drastic measures.” Marinette just gave a tired sigh.
“He can’t do anything to us. My parents aren’t going to suddenly turn on me because Adrien told his mother I’m a terrible person. Damian’s father isn’t going to pull our agreement and none of my clients will believe gossip either. Not to mention I have you. Everything will work itself out, I promise.” She was finally starting to relax, so of course a new voice chimed in.
“I always did wonder why you resented me so much. I just figured it had to do with the way your mother was with you.” Chloe was up and off the couch in seconds. Marinette could only watch as she began to tear up before running out the door. She only vaguely noticed Selina running after her.
“You just had to poke the hornet’s nest didn’t you? Do you enjoy opening wounds that are better left closed?” It took her a moment to realize those words and that tone came out of her and not her Maman. Everyone but Damian was staring at her in shock, he just had a small smirk on his face. “I don’t care what you came here for, but I want you out and I don’t want to see you here again. This was the only safe space Chloe had and you just destroyed it.” Sabine was the first to recover.
“You heard her, please leave.” Mme. Agreste was still staring at Marinette as though trying to figure out what she was but Nathalie spoke up indignantly.
“What about the video?”
“I’ll send a copy to you by courier. There’s no reason you need to watch it here.” Nathalie continued to argue with Sabine, who seemed ready to throw them out, literally. Marinette would let her if it meant she could transform and go find Chloe. Not to mention she really didn’t like the way Mme. Agreste was staring at her.
“It’s fine Nathalie, we don’t want to overstay our welcome.”
“Too late.” Marinette’s hands flew to her mouth when she realized that, once again, came from her. What the hell was wrong with her? The adults were all frowning at her. Her maman looked concerned, Nathalie looked offended, and Mme. Agreste just looked confused.
“She’s not wrong.” She had to force herself not to sigh as they all turned on Damian. He sounded bored but she could see his amusement in the way he fought to keep his expression neutral. At least someone was enjoying this. “Do you need someone to show you the door or can you find your own way out?” Mme. Agreste narrowed her eyes at him.
“We’ll be fine on our own, thank you Mr. Wayne.” She walked out and Nathalie glared indiscriminately around the room before following. Damian let out a scoff once they heard the door to the street close.
“That woman claims to be an empath?”
“Feeling people’s emotions and understanding what causes them are two completely different skill sets.” Dear Kwami, she was spending too much time around Damian and Chloe if she was developing this much snark. “I need to go find Chloe.”
“No.” She could only blink at her maman, not processing the denial. “Selina will find her and how will it look if you go chasing after Chloe as Ladybug when these things happen? Not to mention we need to talk.” Luka pulled Damian out of the room. Traitors.
“Talk about what exactly?” Arguing about going after Chloe was not a battle she was likely to win but if she could get this over with quickly she could sneak out when she went down to the bakery.
“You need to stop and deal with what happened to you.” That… was not what she expected.
“I am dealing with it.” The look Sabine was giving her reminded her of all the times she’d snuck cookies for Tikki in the middle of the night and they’d ask her about it. She really should have just told them she was eating them or taking them to school but no, she had to say she had no idea what they were talking about. This time though, she wasn’t lying.
“No you’re not. You’re pretending that nothing has changed and avoiding the things that have. You haven’t been up here since you told us what happened. You avoid your wheelchair unless there are no other options. You’ve been running yourself into the ground to make sure you don’t have time to feel the things you don’t want to. I’m not sure if it’s just because you need to feel strong for everyone or because somewhere inside you, you haven’t really processed the fact that Hawkmoth is gone, but you don’t have to hide. Not from us or yourself.”
The longer she talked, the harder it was for Marinette to breathe for some reason. She wasn’t avoiding anything, she just had responsibilities, things she had to do. She just hadn’t been to the apartment because she was busy. It wasn’t like she’d been avoiding the bakery. Yes, she’d been taking on too much, but it was just a habit, not running away. Why couldn’t she breathe? Why was everything blurry all of a sudden? When she managed to focus on her surroundings again she was in her Maman’s arms sobbing. She had no idea why.
I’ve seen a few fics where Lila reports the bakery to the health department and then plants bad pastries and pests just as the inspector arrives and gets the bakery shut down. I started wondering, what would happen if she got caught doing that? Warm-Fuzzies and please enjoy!!
Lila kept watch as she waited for the health inspector to finally arrive. She had made multiple fake reports about the bakery over the past week to get someone to come out, but no one had come yet. And she had found the perfect spot to make sure she saw the man arrive, too! She was in disguise in the park, on a bench that had a clear view of the bakery entrance, the side entrance that went to the Dupain-Cheng home, and still let her stay hidden. She didn’t have to worry about school at the moment since her stupid class and teacher thought she was visiting the royal family in Spain, and her gullible mother thought school was out for another akuma attack. Both of which gave her an alibi so no one would suspect her when Maribrat and her goody-goody parents were humiliated and lose everything.
She was almost too distracted by her daydream of Marinette crying and homeless to see a very professional looking man step out of a taxi in front of the bakery. He looked at the display with a very critical eye before writing some things down on his tablet. That had to be the health inspector she had been waiting for. Once she saw him entering the front, Lila hot footed it to the side entrance to sneak in.
The door was locked, but she had come prepared with a lockpick set she had gotten a couple years ago. It was really too easy to get inside. In fact, it had been much harder to get the fake evidence she would need to shut the place down. She discovered while going through the dumpster for old pastries that the bakery didn’t throw away much of anything. They sold out most of the time, and the things that didn’t were donated to a local homeless shelter. It took three days of dumpster diving to find anything, which ended up being a single batch of croissants that had burned in the oven. Heck, collecting some cockroaches from a restaurant dumpster down the street had been easier; albet, a lot more disgusting.
Once inside, Lila crept towards the door as she heard Mme. Cheng speaking to the man. He was, in fact, the health inspector. A malicious grin stretched across her face as she put the first moldy croissant on the counter next to the-
“What are you doing here?” A deep voice growled behind her.
Lila froze for a moment, suddenly realizing that she had heard Mme. Cheng speaking with the inspector, but not M. Dupain. She couldn’t let herself get caught! She was facing away from him and he hadn’t seen her face yet, so there was still a chance. Grabbing the first thing she could, she didn’t even look to see what it was, she swung it around at the towering man before trying to run past him.
Despite hearing him curse in pain, Lila didn’t make it two steps before the man grabbed her by the collar of her jacket and lifted her off of the ground. She swung her object at him again, only for the enraged man to grab her wrist and twist, forcing her to drop it with a shout as it clanged to the floor.
The noise drew Sabine and the inspector to the back where they say Tom holding Lila off the ground. Furious and still trying to escape, she tried kicking at him only for him to release her wrist, grab her ankle, and then release her jacket so she was hanging upside down. More items hit the floor as her hat fell off, a couple of croissants and the tupperware container of cockroaches fell from her pockets, and landed next to a bloody knife…
Uh-oh.
Looking up, she saw that his right arm was bleeding from where she had slashed him with the knife, which had her fingerprints all over it. She was going to be in so much trouble unless she could think of a way out of this!
“What happened, Tom?” Sabine asked, worried when she saw her husband’s bleeding arm and was slightly confused by the girl hanging upside-down in their kitchen. It took a moment before she seemed to recognize Lila as the girl that had gotten her daughter expelled a few weeks before.
“I was coming down to meet Inspector LaStare with you and caught this girl putting bad pastries with the others.”
“That’s not it!” Lila yelled in a panic and she wiggled in his grip, resembling a fish on a hook. “I-I-I was- I was getting rid of them! I was taking them off the counter to throw them away!”
“And your container of cockroaches?” Asked Sabine, crossing her arms over her chest and glaring dubiously at the girl.
“Those aren’t mine! I swear! If you would just let me explain-”
“I’ve already heard enough to recognize your voice, young lady,” the inspector snapped as he stepped closer to glare at Lila. “I bet you weren’t paying attention when you called the health department all those times and the recording told you that your call would be monitored and recorded. And when a single business gets over twenty complaints in less than a week, it gets some attention. But when we listen to the recordings and hear the same voice for every message, we figure it’s someone with a vendetta against the establishment. Still, we do our do-diligence and inspect the establishment, but I had no idea how stupid a person would be to attempt to plant fake evidence while I was here, in full view of the security cameras.”
She couldn’t help her surprised gasp as she, while still hanging upside down in the hulking baker’s grip, looked around the kitchen ceiling until her eyes landed on the cameras. One pointed at the side door she had picked open and the other pointed at the counter where she had put the moldy pastry.
Sabine leaned in close, glaring straight into Lila’s upside-down eyes. “Young lady, what is your mother’s phone number?” It was clear that it was more of a demand than a question, but she was still trying to think of a way out of trouble before Sabine grabbed her face and forced Lila to look at her. “You can either tell me her number now, or you can tell the police so she can go pick you up at the station while they tell her all the crimes you’re being charged with.”
Angry at being caught and forced to call her mother, Lila thought of what she could do as she tried to look and sound pitiful as she recited her mother’s number. Not difficult since she was red-faced from hanging upside-down for so long. She might not be able to get out of trouble, but she’d be damned if they didn’t pay for humiliating her.
After Sabine stepped into the front of the bakery to make the call, Lila tearfully looked up at Tom. “Can you please put me down? I’m getting really dizzy.”
She could tell that the man was tempted to drop her on her head, but he was too much of a goody-goody like his daughter and he eased her gently to the floor. As soon as he let go of her ankle, Lila’s uninjured hand snapped out and grabbed the tupperware of cockroaches, ripped off the lid, and flung the insects across the floor.
Tom and Inspector LaStare yelled in surprise and disgust as Lila attempted to escape, this time running for the front of the bakery. She actually made it out of the kitchen, but ended up face to face with Sabine. Without a word, the woman grabbed Lila’s by the arm, flipped her over her shoulder to the floor, and twisted her arm to where she couldn’t move.
“Are you okay, Tom?” Sabine called, her voice eerily calm to Lila’s ears.
“She flung those cockroaches across the kitchen! They’re everywhere!” Tom yelled as he and the inspector scrambled to try and kill or capture the insects.
“I’ve already called her mother and the police, they’ll be here any minute.”
Lila’s struggles doubled when she heard that. “You said you wouldn’t call the police if I gave you my mom’s number!”
Sabine merely twisted the girl’s arm a little more, halting her struggles rather than letting her arm break. “I said no such thing. I only said you could choose whether to talk to your mother here or at the police station. And I promise you, young lady, your mother is going to hear everything you’ve been up to. Including what you’ve been doing Marinette.”
~oOo~
The fallout had been epic after the police and Lila’s mother arrived at the bakery.
Greta Rossi had been in denial at first, not wanting to think that her daughter was capable of such terrible behavior. But it was hard to argue with the video evidence and eyewitness accounts of Lila attempting to plant moldy pastries, vindictively releasing the cockroaches in the kitchen, or attacking Tom Dupain with a knife, which would require stitches.
It got even worse when school let out for lunch and the majority of Lila’s classmates came rushing over when they saw the police and ambulance at the bakery. Mme. Rossi had asked them why they were all out when there was an akuma on the loose. The class asked her why they were back in Paris since she was supposed to be in a meeting with the royal family of Spain. It became apparent after a few more minutes of back and forth that Lila had been lying for the entire time they’d been in France and Greta would have to meet with M. Damocles and Mme. Bustier soon about her daughter’s absences and failure to contact her.
When the police were placing handcuffs on Lila, she started shrieking. “You can’t do this to me! I have diplomatic immunity! Let me go or I’ll get you fired and Italy will invade France for what you’re doing to me!”
“Wrong!” Greta spoke over Lila as she approached her daughter. “I’m a secretary at the embassy, not a diplomat. Only I have immunity, you don’t. I was lucky to even be able to bring you on assignment rather than leave you with your Zio and Zia in Italy. But I see that was a mistake, and now both of us will have to pay for that mistake!”
Lila continued to shriek and curse as she was forced into the back of the police cruiser and taken to the police station.
In the end; Lila was charged with corporate sabotage, breaking and entering, assault with a deadly weapon, and slander by Tom and Sabine. She was also charged for truancy, forgery, bullying, slander, and cyber bullying for what she’d done to Marinette at school. Lila’s mother was forced to pay for an exterminator to take care of the cockroaches, as well as all of the supplies and pastries that had been at the bakery and had to be thrown out due to the infestation that Lila had attempted to cause. But the worst was having to pay restitution for the time the bakery was closed. Turns out, Tom and Sabine’s bakery really was the top bakery in Paris and had the receipts to prove it.
There had been some worry that the temporary shutdown would hurt the bakery’s reputation, but Inspector LaStare, with the help of Nadja Chamack, had seen to it that none of the problems would blow back on the Dupain-Chengs. Inspector LaStare had gone on record stating that it was a rare occasion where an establishment was completely innocent of the accusations brought against it, but this was one of those times. He then showed footage of Lila planting the moldy pastry, assaulting Tom with the knife, and flinging the bugs into the kitchen before attempting to escape. He also stated that he was personally working with the Dupain-Chengs to make sure that the bakery was up to code and open as soon as possible so all of Paris could get back to enjoying their favorite pastries.
Viewers all over Paris were appalled at the actions of the teenage girl,discovering her vendetta was against Marinette since she knew about Lila’s lies. While laughing at her as they watched Tom hold her upside-down by her leg and Sabine flip the fleeing girl over her shoulder via security footage. The footage ended up being shared by people all over YouTube and gained millions of views, showing their support for the Dupain-Chengs and humiliating Lila on a now global level.
There was also sympathy towards Marinette and outrage towards the Francois Dupont administration when Nadja reported how Lila had also been bullying Marinette without receiving any help from the school. This would result in both Damocles and Bustier being suspended from their jobs until they completed training in regards to handling bullies.
With all the publicity against Lila Rossi, Gabriel Agreste had been left in a difficult position since Lila had only recently been named a new spokesmodel for his brand. Adrien, however, offered a solution to save face and help the brand in the future. So, when Nadja was doing a followup on the story the following week, Gabriel did a video interview where he very publicly announced Lila’s termination from the company for her actions and announced that he had offered Marinette an internship and a scholarship to the fashion university of her choice, so long as she was accepted. This caused a slew of universities to scout Marinette themselves, as it wasn’t every day a fashion mogul does a public shout out to a girl in college. And just like that, sales and public opinion of the Agreste brand went up.
Lila watched all of this unfold from her prison cell outside of Paris. She had been tried as an adult and was caught committing perjury during her trial, which prompted the judge to give her the maximum sentence for her crimes. She couldn’t even enjoy the pleasure of being akumatized anymore since she was so far out of the city. All she could do was sit in her cell eating moldy bread with cockroaches as her only friends as she sulked on the fact that she had failed, and the entire world was laughing at her.
Hey everyone! Sorry I’ve been missing for a while, but I’ve had a lot going on and lacking inspiration, until the other day! I know that Lila thinks she’s the smartest person in the room and that everyone else it too stupid to figure her out. So, I decided to let her “think” she’s being smart, but gets caught because she did something stupid. Warm-Fuzzies and please enjoy!
Lila was happy. Since she had become a model, she had acquired a small fan base of people that thought she had beauty and talent. Granted, it wasn’t as large as she thought it should be, but she had only done three photo shoots and had been mentioned in one magazine. But this was just the beginning; soon, all of Europe would know her name and reporters would be clamoring after her for pictures.
But at the same time she was very angry.
This was because Marinette had been mentioned in the same magazine as her. And where Lila got a single photo that showed more of Adrien than it did of her, Maribrat had gotten an entire article and multiple photos about her designs and the collaboration she was doing with Style Queen Audrey Bourgeois since the woman had decided to stay in Paris. She had even looked at the girl’s website and saw that there was an actual wait list to receive one of her original designs.
Enraged that someone she considered to be plain, talentless, and all around lower in status than her, Lila started coming up with plans. She wasn’t about to share her spotlight with anyone, let alone Maribrat.
She was tempted to accuse the bluenette of stealing her designs and ruining her reputation, but since she had been designing for longer than Lila had been in Paris, that had too much of a chance to backfire. She’s thought of sicking one of her classmates/sheep to break into her house and destroy her commission projects, but that also had too much of a chance to backfire since they would likely blab if they were caught.
No, she needed a different type of plan. Something that would be farther removed from herself so nothing would blow back on her, but harsh enough so that even Maribrat wouldn’t connect what happened to her. It took a few weeks and a lot of planning, but she came up with something that would work. It had been the perfect plan, a way to get Marinette out of her life and the spotlight for good.
All it took was some sweet talking one of her new followers; a large, burly boy named Henry that was a couple years older than her and not very bright. He would have done anything for her… including going after a “stalker” that had threatened to hurt her. She barely even had to suggest anything before the boy assured her that he would protect her at all costs. It even seemed to be working when Maribrat was suspiciously absent from school for a few days after Henry said he would “take care of it”.
It had been the perfect plan…
Until the police showed up.
She had just gotten home when the police arrived, saying that she was wanted for questioning in an open case. They had already been in contact with her mother and Greta Rossi had promised them their full cooperation. Rather than risk looking guilty, Lila called her mother to make sure they were telling the truth before grudgingly going with them.
When she got to the police station, she was met by her very confused and furious mother. This wasn’t the first time she had been in trouble with the law. There had been an incident in Rome where she’d been accused of pushing a boy, Simone, down the stairs, and her mother had been forced to pay his medical bills. She had made it very clear that if Lila caused any more problems at school, it would not be pleasant.
So there she was; sitting with her mother and a couple of police detectives that she didn’t recognize, who were giving her condescending looks. “I am Detective Cooper, and this is Detective Raimus. We understand that you have been made aware of your rights, correct?”
“Yes, multiple times. What is this all about? You can’t just bring my daughter in for questioning like she’s some common criminal.” Her mother said as she stared down the two men.
“Mme. Rossi, we need to ask your daughter some questions in connection to an assault that took place against one of her classmates.” Stated Cooper, a detective with a thick mustache.
“Are you or your daughter familiar with a M. Henry Mortaure?”
“I’ve never heard of him,” Lila lied with a shrug.
“Neither have I, who was attacked?” Her mother asked, suddenly worried about what her daughter might have gotten involved in.
“A Mlle. Marinette Dupain-Cheng, are you familiar with the name?” Asked Raimus, who looked a bit older than his partner.
Greta Rossi thought for a second before nodding. “Lila has mentioned her a couple of times, said that she was a bully. What about her?”
“The Dupain-Cheng residence was broken into a few days ago by M. Mortaure. He was armed and confessed to be doing so with the intent of killing Mlle. Dupain-Cheng.” Mme. Rossi gasped in shock while Lila was attempting to hide her smirk with a look of worry. “The Dupain-Chengs were not harmed, although the same cannot be said for M. Mortaure.” Cooper placed some photos in front of them on the table, gaining another gasp from Greta. Three of the man’s limbs were wrapped in heavy gauze, his face was swollen and bruised from a black eye and a seriously broken nose.
Lila didn’t flinch when she saw the photos, but was now fighting a scowl at the knowledge that Henry had failed her. And since she was here in an interrogation room, it could only mean that the idiot had blabbed. But that didn’t matter, she could just say that he must be a crazy stalker who had somehow found out that Maribrat was bullying her and decided to take things into his own hands. After all, it wasn’t like she had called or messaged him from her personal phone. She had bought a burner phone with cash just for this occasion.
“Despite being armed with a pistol, he never had a chance to use it,” Raimus stated as pushed one of the photos towards Lila. “He will require reconstructive surgery on his face from being hit multiple times with a rolling pin. His arms were severely burned when he fell into a fryer, it’s likely that he’ll never have full use of them again. Despite the burns, he attempted to go for a kitchen knife after being disarmed. That knife was turned on him and he ended up with a perforated lung.”
Greta looked like she was going to be sick, unable to look away from the pictures in front of her. But she eventually did, casting a harsh stare at her daughter. “Please, tell me you had nothing to do with this.”
Doing her best to fake her shock, she shook her head and pushed away the photos. “I swear, I had nothing to do with this. I don’t even know why he would do this.”
“We were wondering the same thing and discovered that he’s a fan of yours. He has multiple pictures of you, as well as Mlle. Dupain-Cheng. We suspected that he had been stalking you and came to the conclusion that he thought she was bullying you and decided to protect you on his own-”
“Oh no, that has to be it!” She exclaimed, skillfully faking shock. “Marinette followed me out of school last week and threatened me to stay away from my boyfriend. This boy must have seen her and decided to get rid of her.”
“If that’s the case, why are you questioning my daughter?” Greta pressed, not completely believing Lila but seeming to be coming around to her side.
“As I was saying,” stressed Detective Cooper. “We had suspectedthat M. Mortaure was stalking your daughter, until we got the warrant for his phone. It seems that someone, supposedly Lila, has been corresponding with him for many weeks. She had been flirting with him, sending him photos of herself, and then Marinette. She went on to tell him that Mlle. Dupain-Cheng was a stalker and had threatened her. M. Mortaure seems to have done what he did with the understanding that he was protecting Lila, at Lila’s own behest.”
“I would never do that!” Lila cried before reaching into her purse to pull out her personal mobile and set it on the table in front of them. “Check my phone, I never messaged him.”
“We have already checked your phone records against the one that has been messaging M. Mortaure, and found that the numbers did not match.” Detective Raimus said, and Lila watched her mother visibly slump from relief… but it was short lived.
“We did, however, track the number to a burner phone that was purchased in cash from a gas station. We thought it was a dead end, but the person who bought the phone made a mistake.” Raimus continued as Detective Cooper pulled out his own mobile and dialed a number. “The person who bought it has kept it on, and it is currently active.”
Seconds after Cooper pressed send, a ringing came from Lila’s purse. Greta Rossi stared at her daughter in shock before yanking the purse out of Lila’s hands and pulling out a second phone from inside. When Cooper cancelled the call, the second phone stopped ringing.
“What have you done?” She spat at Lila.
Panicking, she shook her head while looking around the room for an exit. “That’s not mine! They must have planted it on me when they brought me here! They’re trying to frame me!”
“DON’T LIE TO ME!” Greta screamed at her daughter, causing Lila to practically fall out of her seat in fear. “You convinced someone to commit MURDER for you! That makes you just as guilty as him!”
“But-but I have diplomatic immunity! I can’t be charged for any of this!”
“Yes, you can,” Greta said, her voice going cold. “I may be a secretary to the Italian Ambassador, which grants me immunity, but that doesn’t extend to you! I told you to behave! I told you to never cause trouble like you did in Roma after what you did to that boy that called you out on your…” Understanding washed over Greta’s features as her expression morphed from anger, to understanding, and then disgust. “That’s it, isn’t it? Marinette never bullied you. She knew about your lies and you set out to hurt her just like before!”
Standing up quickly, her mother started pacing the room before looking back to the detectives. “I’ll still need to speak with the ambassador, but you can expect our full cooperation in this.”
“Mom, no!”
“What are the charges?” Greta asked, acting as though Lila wasn’t even there.
“As Lila is a minor, she can be charged with Complicity to Commit Murder, the decision of sentencing is ultimately up to the judge. But seeing as she purposefully bought a burner phone to use and has also lied to the police, I wouldn’t hold much hope.”
~oOo~
The trial took longer than expected. At first, things had been looking up since her followers from class had come to act as character witnesses. All of them saying how wonderful she was, a great friend that did so much for them and everyone she knew, and that she would never do something so terrible. That Marinette was just jealous of Lila, so it was better to take whatever she said with a grain of salt.
Then, the prosecution started their case. Showing evidence of Lila falsifying records at school, video evidence of her purposefully framing Marinette for assault and theft. As well as the communications between herself and Henry, encouraging him to kill Marinette.
Her followers had still been a bit sceptical to believe what the prosecutor was saying about her, not wanting to believe that they had supported someone who would try to get another person murdered. But then came her past victims, many of whom her mother had never known about. Simone from Rome, Sara from Florence, Giulia from Venice, Daniel from Viterbo, and Sofia from Palermo. All of them testifying against Lila, many with screenshots of threatening texts from her, photos of ruined property and injuries she had inflicted on them, and all around proof that Lila was the reason behind many hardships that had happened to them. And all because they had figured out that she was a liar and she had done everything in her power to hurt them.
After all that, the judge had not been kind.
“It is clear, Mlle. Rossi, that you are a very disturbed girl in need of help,” the judge said, not bothering to hide how offput he was by Lila. “I cannot, in good conscious, allow you to roam freely. Having seen that these habits of yours have not only been repeated over and again, but have escalated to attempted murder. I have no choice but to have you returned to Italy where you will be kept in a juvenile detention center until you turn 18, at which point you will be transferred to a mental hospital for treatment for no less than five years. At which point, you will be evaluated to see if you will be able to safely rejoin society.”
Lila was immediately escorted back to Italy in disgrace. Her name slandered across every newspaper and magazine across Europe for what she had done. She was now famous, with most everyone knowing her name and reporters scrambling to take her picture as she did her walk of shame out of the courthouse. She was finally famous, but for all the wrong reasons
In case you are wondering. Henry made the mistake of coming after Marinette when she was with her parents. Tom and Marinette were in the bakery kitchen and Sabine was at the front. Tom saw the gun and hit him in the face with his rolling pin twice. He dropped the gun but was still coming after Marinette, she tripped him and he landed in the frier, which had been turned on to make donuts, and splashed oil all over him. Sabine had rushed back in time to see a bleeding and badly burned Henry grabbing a knife, she did some wicked moves that resulted in Henry stabbing himself. By then, he passed out from the pain and the Dupain-Chengs had called the police. The officers that came were both impressed and terrified by what happened to the boy, but the surveillance footage proved that they were only defending themselves.
Marinette never met her parential grandfather. When she askes why he stopped communicating with his family twenty years ago, all of Marinette’s relatives’re very embarrassed and answer he’s 'old-fashioned’ or 'full of traditions’. The show demonstrates that Rolland fell out with his son because Tom changed the traditional bread recipe by adding rice to it. But it’s clear this’s not about baking. In fact, twenty years ago, his French son married a Chinese woman. And the bread with rice is just a metaphor for their union, which Rolland disapproves of because of his 'traditional’ (okay, racist) views.
It’s funny Rolland actually married an Italian woman (he also doesn’t like Italian culture), although hypocrisy is typical for all racists.
