Back to Back 2

Explanation

The distance from the doorway to the dining room table seemed exceptionally long as Gabriel made his way around.

When he reached the spot behind Marinette, both Adrien and Felix had laser eyes on him. But he simply kept walking toward the seat on Adrien's other side.

The squeaking of the chair legs moving over the tile was the only sound. Then when he sat down, it was total silence.

A few awkward seconds passed before Emilie waltzed into the room with several plates in her hands. "Oh, isn't this wonderful?" she murmured, not expecting an answer. "We're finally together. I'm so glad that we've all moved past our differences and can be civil to one another."

No response from anyone as she started placing the plates down on the table. First was Gabriel's, followed by Adrien and Marinette's. Then she spun around and went back to the kitchen.

There was awkward silence again until she returned. "It's too bad Emilie isn't here," she lamented. "We'll have to plan another dinner once she's feeling better." With a smile she placed the last two plates down, and quickly took her seat next to Felix.

Nobody moved.

After an annoyed glance around, Emilie spoke again. And this time the upbeat tone was gone, replaced by a sharp edge to her voice. "Everyone dig in."

Almost in unison, the diners reached for their utensils. Looking away from Gabriel for the first time since he arrived, Felix finally saw the food that had been placed in front of him. Then his eyes narrowed in confusion. "What's this?" he asked, not recognizing the meal.

"It's dinner, of course!" Emilie happily replied. "Gabriel was kind enough to bring our personal chef back, so he cooked the meal tonight instead of me. Doesn't it look delicious?"

'Delicious' was not the word that Felix would have used. 'Tasteless' or 'disgusting' would have described it much more accurately. "You... you're not going to cook anymore?"

"Well, there's no reason for me to cook with him being back. He's a trained professional, after all."

Felix suddenly felt a lump in his throat. It's true, recently Amelie's cooking hadn't been what it used to be, but anything was better than the inedible cardboard that was masquerading as food.

"I'm sure you'll love it if you give it a try," Emilie continued. Then she smiled over at her husband. "And thank you Gabriel, for offering to bring back the staff."

"You're very welcome, Amelie," he replied with a nod.

"Wait," Adrien said. "All of the staff?"

"Of course," Emilie said. "Didn't you notice how nice and clean everything is today? I really should have been leaving all of the work to the experts. It was silly of me to think that I could take care of such a huge house all by myself."

Felix turned to her. "You always managed our house in London on your own..."

"Well, now I have two kids to take care of instead of just one. Twice the kids means twice the work. Besides, I'm getting too old for these things."

A frown. "You're not old, you're still young."

She beamed at him. "Thank you, baby. Now come on, everyone needs to start eating."

The group turned their attention back to the meal. Marinette cut up a few pieces of food, but before she could even taste anything, Adrien leaned toward her and whispered "Wait a minute." Then he stabbed a piece of her food with his fork and popped it into his mouth.

While she looked at him, entirely perplexed, Felix stood up to lean across the table and extend his own fork. He stabbed a piece of a different type of food before sitting down and eating it.