One Way or Another

A Morning and An Afternoon

Emilie woke up in bed Sunday morning. Checking the clock, she sighed to herself.

Twelve hours.

That's how long she slept for that night.

Over the weeks she had been sleeping more and more as the effects of the Starfish Miraculous continued to wear off.

After getting up and using the bathroom, Emilie left her bedroom and went down the hall to Annabelle's room. She opened the door to peek inside and found her daughter still fast asleep. Wanting her to get her rest, Emilie closed the door and went downstairs. Then she went to her husband's study.

Ever since they found out about the broken Miraculous, Gabriel had stopped going into his office downtown and he and Nathalie worked from home instead.

But the room was empty.

Confused, Emilie went back to the foyer. That was super strange. Where was everyone?

Ambling to the dining room, she was surprised to find Gabriel in one of the seats near the fireplace. Hunched over, he had his elbows on his knees and one hand propping his head up.

"Gabriel?" Emilie asked, approaching him.

And he looked up. "Emilie, you're awake," he murmured, wiping his face. "How are you feeling?"

"What's going on?" she replied, ignoring his question. "What happened?"

A pause before he answered. "It's Marinette. She had a bad night."

Another pause. "What do you mean?"

"Adrien called me around midnight. I guess Marinette was in too much pain, and he didn't know what to do. So Nathalie went over there to check on her."

Emilie could feel tears welling up. "And?"

"And her skin completely burned away about an hour ago."

Overcome with despair, she covered her mouth with her hands.

"She's okay for the time being," Gabriel continued. "I guess all the nerves got burned away too, so she's not in any more pain. Nathalie wrapped her up in a dressing and she's sleeping now. Adrien is staying there with her and Nathalie's on her way back home. She should be here soon to fill us in on the details."

Emilie nodded, trying her best not to completely break down.

Seeing her reaction, Gabriel stood up and moved over to his wife. He wanted to hug her, but knew that she would push him away. So he rested his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "We're going to fix the Starfish in time. Don't worry, Marinette will be okay."

She looked into his eyes. She wanted to believe him. She really did. But they were no closer to figuring out the missing ingredient than they were weeks ago. They were running out of ideas. And worse, they were quickly running out of time.

"Is Annabelle still asleep?" Gabriel continued.

"Yes," Emilie whispered.

"I'll go check on her. Why don't you get some breakfast? Nathalie will be here soon, and we can go visit Marinette later today if you're feeling up to it."

"Yes. We need to go see her."

After a gentle squeeze, Gabriel removed his hand from her shoulder and walked out of the room.

For a moment Emilie remained in place. But then she left the dining room too.

Going into Gabriel's study, she went up to her painting and pulled on the frame, revealing the hidden safe behind it. After spinning the dial, she opened the door and looked at the items inside.