You're The Music That's Been Playing In My Head: Book 2

Bakerix: Part 1

I finish wrapping Tom's birthday gift and look over at my laptop to see a lot of people we're enjoying my new song, making me smile, my attention turns to Marinette's monitor when I hear Nadja start talking. 

Your latest song:

"Don't be bemused it's just the news. The mayor of Paris will be unveiling the star train at the Gare du Nord train station. This ultra-modern train will travel between France and the UK at record speeds, faster than flying by plane!" Tikki stares at the screen curiously as she asks "How is the train going to cross the sea from France and the UK?" "There's a tunnel under the English channel Tikki," Marinette answers, not looking up from the sweater she was knitting for her dad.

"Did a superhero do that?" "No, just regular men with machines," I answer with a chuckle when Flaake chimes in. "It's amazing how many machines humans have made since we last had an owner." "There's no stopping progress," Mari mumbles when Tikki flies up to her face. "There's no stopping you either, it's gonna be a wonderful sweater." "It's a tradition, I always knit my dad a sweater every year for his birthday," The smile on her face disappears as she says glumly "I wanted to do something extra special for him this year but I couldn't think of anything."

"I'm sure you'll come up with a perfect idea, you always do," Tikki reassures her and I slightly snicker. "Well, she better think of it now since today is his birthday," Mari sends me a playful glare before throwing a ball of yarn at me. Laughing I chuck it back at her and she ducks, going to throw it at me so I run downstairs and she chases after me. We both stop in our tracks when we hear Sabine on the phone. 

"It really is a shame, Roland. It's your son's 40th birthday today and I know how much Tom would love it if you-" She cuts herself off when the sound of the call ending sounded and she lets out a groan. "Is that y grandfather again?" Mari asks and Sabine nods, soon sitting at the table and we join her. "I did everything I could but it was no use...It would've made your dad so happy. He doesn't talk very openly about his feelings but I know he's sad he doesn't see his own father anymore, it's a shame."

"Yeah I'd really like to meet him someday," Mari says and Sabine gives her a sad smile. "I wish we could introduce you to him but he hasn't left his home or seen a single person in over twenty years," I give Sabine a confused look, how was that even possible without going stir-crazy? "Why?" I ask and Sabine flinches, nervously chuckling out "He's a little old-fashioned in his ways...He's not exactly what you call modern. "But what happened twenty years ago?" Marinette asks and we get the same nervous chuckle. "It's complicated, you should probably ask your dad."

Mari and I exchange unsure looks. If Sabine wasn't willing to talk about it what were the chances Tom would? Regardless we head down to the bakery and find Tom making bread. "Hey, Dad? Why hasn't grandpa left his house in twenty years?" Tom flinches from the question and starts fumbling around with his words. "Because uh...He's very fond of tradition and uh...If you wanna know more about it you should probably ask grandma."

Once again Mari and I exchange looks and head upstairs to call Mari's grandma. "Umm...Hmm...Well, he's always lived in the past and it's complicated. If you really want to know about it you should probably ask your parents." "Ok...Thanks, Grandma, see you tonight," The call ends and we both groan nobody wanted to talk about what had happened only making us more curious. 

"Seriously why won't anybody just answer us?" Mari asks and I grumble, "At this rate, it'd just be better to ask your grandpa himself," Marinette's eyes light up at the idea and she goes to her computer and starts typing away with a determined smile. "Judging by that look on your face you've come up with your idea." "You're right Tikki, I know exactly what to do for dad's birthday, I'm gonna get him and his dad to see each other again," Maro says soon writing down an address on a notepad and asking me if I wanna come.

"Yeah, I'm curious to know what happened," We head on over to the address and what stood before was a very old-looking home, and a locked gate stood in our way. "What are you waiting for Marinette? Ring the bell," I exclaim and she shakes her head. "If I tell him who I am right away he won't listen to me, just like with mom." "Pretend to be the mailman then," I say, ringing the bell. A flap on a white pole falls and we hear Roland speak through it as an intercom.

"What do you want?" "I'm uh...A friend?" "I don't have any friends." The intercom shuts and Mari rings the bell again. "Hello sir, it's the mail lady." "Do what you usually do, throw the mail in the trash," We look over at the trash bit to see it filled with his mail. I ring the bell and respond this time. "We have a package for you sir." "I haven't ordered anything but flour."

Mari lets out a sigh. "We're never gonna get in..." "Yes we will come on, let's go buy some flour and we can tell him we have his flour, he'll have to let us in then," I say when we hear the bell ring again and see two guys, each holding a bag of flour. "What do you want?" "Your flour is here Mr. Dupain." "Oh come in! Come in! It's open," Smiling we rush up and open the gate while Mari introduces herself. "Hello, I'm Marinette Mr. Dupain's granddaughter and this is a friend, we were just about to go in ourselves. You can leave the flour with us. It'll be a nice surprise."

The men blink in surprise. "Roland has a granddaughter?" "He sure does," We each take a sack and dang were these bags heavy. "Are you sure you don't want us to help you bring those inside?" "It's ok, we got it. Can we borrow your caps? We wanna play a prank on grandpa."