"Mrs. Kurtzburg has the day off, I see," Gabriel commented. "Not that I mind seeing my granddaughter, mind you."

Adrien's heart tightened as he forced a smile. "Yes. Alya was kind enough to fill in for her."

"I already had the day off," Alya commented, shutting the door to Gabriel's office behind her. "So it wasn't really an issue."

Adrien almost wondered if Alya did it on purpose. Knowing Alya, it was entirely possible she planned for this. The woman was magic; Adrien had determined that a long time ago. This would only be another one of her incredible yet masterfully pulled off tricks.

"Well, nevertheless, I'm glad it all worked out considering this meeting of ours had to be moved up," Gabriel said. "Mr. Rossi is, to put it lightly, high maintenance. The fact Nathalie and I now have to extend our trip to Italy just to appease him is ridiculous."

"And you can't control that?" Adrien asked.

Gabriel shook his head. "Not unless we want him to pull out, and considering the extent of his investment..."

Adrien cringed. He knew how strong of an investor Mr. Rossi was, and having him suddenly leave would mean a couple million dollars of loss to the company.

To Adrien, it was borderline worth it. And considering the exasperation on his father's face, he seemed to agree.

"But," Gabriel said, turning to his desk and grabbing his tablet. "The reason we're here."

"Thank you again," Alya quickly said. "You really didn't have to do this, but it's really kind of you."

"Emile always had a fondness for you," Gabriel commented. "And considering all you've done for Adrien when Emma came into his life, this is merely a thank you."

"Still, I really appreciate it."

Gabriel gave her a slight smile before handing her the tablet. "I've come up with two designs based on your preferences, and two of my own that I think would flatter you."

Alya took the tablet to examine. "I have to admit, Mr. Agreste, you certainly outdid yourself."

"I never settle on anything when it comes to fashion. Even if it is at a low-key wedding."

Adrien stood beside Alya as she scrolled back and forth through the designs. Gabriel spouted out the pros of each dress while Adrien pointed out the cons. Eventually, they whittled their options down to two.

"I think you should go with this one," Adrien said. "The shape would be really flattering on you."

"Yes," Gabriel said, swiping to the other design. "But the details of the lace in this one would look striking against her skin tone."

Alya frowned as she flicked back and forth between the two. "I don't know, you guys. I'm pretty torn because I like both for different reasons. Can I phone a friend for a second opinion?"

"I know," Adrien said with a grin. "Ask Nathalie. Maybe talking with another woman would help."

Alya opened her mouth to object, but with the 'admit it' look Adrien shot her, she promptly closed it. "Not that either of you aren't qualified," was all she said as she marched out of the office.

When she closed the door behind her, Gabriel turned to Adrien. "Since you're here, I'm assuming you have the files I need?"

With a nod, Adrien pulled three large files from the briefcase he had set down upon entering the room. "These ones."

Gabriel took them, glancing through them as he walked to his desk. "On a different note, may I ask why Mrs. Kurtzburg suddenly asked for the day off? Normally, a two weeks' notice is in order."

Adrien's lips twisted into a frown. "She said she thought she could handle it, hence the quick notice. But you remember how hard it was to realize it had been exactly a year without Mom."

Gabriel froze. His back was towards Adrien, but he knew his father well enough to know he'd struck a chord.

"If you need to postpone work for a short while in order to give her a few more days off, then you are welcome to do so." After dropping the files on his desk, Gabriel turned back around. "And if worse comes to worse, I'm certain Emma wouldn't mind spending the day with 'Uncle Gorilla'."

"I'll be certain to relay that," Adrien said. "But Marinette already felt guilty for causing me the inconvenience for today."

"It is not an inconvenience for her to take a few days off to absorb the fact she managed to survive a full year without her husband," Gabriel said. "You remember that date, too, I'm sure. How Nathalie dealt with either of us was beyond me."

Adrien chuckled yet rubbed his neck in embarrassment. "That's an understatement. There's days I realize just how miraculous it was that she stayed."

Gabriel hummed his agreement. "I'm hoping Emma didn't ask too many questions."

"Thankfully, no, but she was very disappointed Marinette didn't show up today."

Gabriel rose a brow. "Really? I would have thought she'd be thrilled to spend the day with Alya."

"It took a bit of convincing, but Marinette has spent the last three weeks or so making a quilt with Emma. They were going to finish it today, so Emma was upset about that."

"Yes," Gabriel drawled out, a small smile crossing his face. "For a charity, if I remember correctly. Emma very excitedly recounted her trip to the fabric store she took with Mrs. Kurtzburg that week."

"Did she tell you she helped with cutting all the fabric for the quilt?"

At this, Gabriel's brow rose. "Really?"

"All ten-something yards."

Gabriel's eyes widened.

"And," Adrien continued, pulling out his phone to find the photo he'd taken last week. "She somehow has the patience to sew."

He handed his phone over to his father to reveal the picture of Marinette's rudimentary set up on the kitchen table. She'd bought a cheap, somewhat portable sewing machine that was good enough for the straight lines of quilting. Emma was on her lap, hands-on the fabric that Marinette was feeding through the machine. Emma's slight frown of concentration was adorable while Marinette's expression was far sweeter, far gentler, and completely focused on Emma.

Whether it was appropriate or not, Adrien had made it his new screensaver.

"I want that photo," Gabriel said, his smile wider than usual as he returned the phone. "If I'm lucky, that bodes well for Emma replacing me one day."

Adrien grinned in amusement as he tapped some buttons on his phone. "I'm sure she'll be wanting to shadow you in no time."

"It has been decided!" Alya cried as she entered the office again. Both men turned to look at her.

"And?" Adrien asked, putting his phone away.

"Neither."

Gabriel frowned, appalled. "Neither?"

Alya nodded. "The reason we like this one," Alya said, flipping the tablet around to reveal the dress Adrien had preferred, "is because of the neckline and cut of the skirt. The reason we like this one," Alya swiped to reveal the other design, "is because of the lace, especially over the bodice. So, Nathalie thought that if you can make the first dress but with a lace design, it would be perfect."

"And who gave Nathalie the right to alter my designs?" Gabriel questioned, though he took the tablet back to his desk.

"She said to remind you that she's been working for you since the beginning and therefore has learned enough about fashion to make such calls, and that if you had any qualms about her decision, you could personally take that up with her."

Gabriel grumbled something inaudible, but he sat down in his chair and started working on a sketch.

Adrien bit back his smirk of amusement. There had been only one other person in Gabriel's entire life that had been able to pull off such sass against him and get away with it. However, Adrien had to give Nathalie twice the credit considering his mother had been married to Gabriel and had never worked for him a day in her life. It took some serious moxie to stand up to Gabriel nevertheless mock him openly and expect to walk away still employed.

After a moment of silence, Gabriel turned the tablet back around. "Like this?"

Alya's eyes widened as a smile split her face.

"I dare say it's perfect," Adrien said with a grin.

"Yes," Alya squealed. "Oh, it's so pretty!"

Gabriel gave a soft smile. "I'll get this made immediately."

"Thank you!" Alya quickly said. "Thank you so much. Like... this is so amazing thank you thank you thank you!"

"I'm assuming you will need bridesmaids dresses as well?" Gabriel asked, moving the conversation along.

Alya handed back the tablet. "Well, yes and no. I will need to get them made, but I have a few designs for them."

Gabriel quirked a brow skeptically.

Alya went to her purse, pulling out a small sketchbook, one that looked very familiar...

"Marinette is a self-taught designer," Alya said, flipping through the pages. "We played around with a few designs for the bridesmaid dresses as well as her own dress and came up with a few designs I really liked."

She turned the sketchbook around to show Gabriel sketches of two dresses. She flipped the page to reveal another two. She flipped the page again to reveal a different set of dresses. "These two designs are for Marinette's dress," Alya clarified. "Seeing as she's the Best Woman and should have something different than my bridesmaids."

"Agreed," Gabriel said, turning back to the first set of bridesmaids dresses. "This is the woman Adrien has employed as a nanny, correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"And the one encouraging my granddaughter in quilting?"

"Yes," Alya said with a chuckle. "Emma is surprisingly engaged in it for someone her age."

Gabriel gave a slight nod before turning to the next page. "She is very talented," he commented, tapping the book. "I would allow any of these to be in your wedding."

As oddly as it was phrased, both Adrien and Alya knew just how high of a compliment that was. "I'm sure she'll be thrilled to know that, sir."

Gabriel hummed absently. "I like this one the best, personally," he said pointing to the third design. "And in the blue she suggested. It has the strongest silhouette and would look good on any sized woman. The dresses for the Best Women, however," he continued, flipping the page over. "While good, will not match with your dress nor the bridesmaid dress we chose."

"She was trying to keep it simple and straight, more along the lines of a suit to blend in the with men."

"I think it would be best for her to look more cohesive with the women instead of the men."

"Fair enough."

"I'll consider a few designs then have Adrien present them to Marinette for final choice. I'll keep her designs in mind out of respect to her."

"I think that's fair," Alya said. "She said you can take pictures of those if you need them, but she would like her sketchbook back."

Gabriel did so using his tablet before shutting the book and returning it to Alya.

"I'll let you return to watching Emma," he said. "I have quite a bit of work that needs to be finished before I leave for the trip."

"I wish you the best of luck, Father."

Gabriel hummed as his sat down in his desk chair. "Thank you. I most definitely will need it."

Marinette knocked on Adrien's door. She really didn't want to be here. She wanted to be home. But she knew she couldn't cause Adrien any more trouble by asking for more days off. Besides, she had a quilt to finish today with the sweetest, bubbliest little girl she knew.

She gripped the bag containing the small, somewhat portable sewing machine she got at some supermart for pretty cheap. It wasn't her Singer, but it did the job and she could tote it here and back home with ease. However, as she looked down at the bag, she couldn't help but catch sight of her black skirt and matching gray blouse and recalled just how hard it was to get dressed this morning. Black had seemed the appropriate color today, and she didn't have the mental energy to spend convincing herself to wear color. Not after an exhaustive yesterday.

Adrien opened the door to greet her, but Emma was out like a shot, hugging her legs in greeting. "Mrs. Marinette!"

"Hey, Emma," she greeted, crouching down to return the hug Emma gave her.

"Why didn't you come yesterday? You promised."

Her heart sank, twisting all the while. Her mouth grew dry and she found herself looking up at Adrien for help.

"Emma," Adrien said. "Let's allow Mrs. Marinette inside, then you can finish the quilt today."

"Okay!" Emma grabbed Marinette's hand, pulling her into the house. "Come on, Mrs. Marinette!"

With a true smile crossing her face for the first time in days, Marinette followed the girl. "All right, Emma. I'm coming."

Soon enough, they were on the floor of the living room. The short table had been moved into the hallway so there would be enough space for the blocks to be organized into a full quilt.

"So, this is very important," Marinette began. "We have to organize the blocks in a certain pattern. Like a big puzzle."

From her position sitting cross-legged right in front of Marinette, Emma nodded as she listened.

Marinette showed Emma how to match up the blocks, telling her how certain colors had to be touching. It was simple, really, but handing each block to Emma and watching her try to figure out the pattern was really precious. She was glad Adrien was there taking photos. Emma's vast variety of expressions were too precious not to capture.

"I did it!" Emma cried, after placing down the last block.

"You did!" Marinette said. "High five."

Instead, Emma hugged Marinette. "Best teammate in the whole, wide world."

Marinette would not cry. Her eyes were just getting misty at the sentiment. She hugged Emma back. "Best teammate in the whole, wide world."

After a moment, Emma spun out of Marinette's embrace to run to her father. "Daddy, Daddy, I did it!"

"You sure did," he said with a huge smile. "You did such a good job."

"The only thing left to do is to sew it together," Marinette said.

It took until lunch time, but they did get the quilt finished. Marinette had taken a seat, pinning and sewing the blocks in a row while Emma brought each block carefully to Marinette. But by the end, Emma was squealing with excitement of it being finished.

Well, with the quilt top, anyway, but Marinette wasn't going to tell Emma. The binding would be easier done at home and then the quilting had to be done on her Singer. And considering that that particular machine was not remotely portable, there was no way to bring it over.

After lunch was made and served, Emma was put down for a nap she desperately needed considering just how much energy she expelled that morning. Once that was done, Marinette went down to the kitchen to put away all the sewing that had simply been pushed aside for lunch.

"How are you holding up?"

Marinette jumped in surprise, turning around to see Adrien.

He shot her a sheepish smile. "Feel free to say you don't want to talk about it," he said. "But I just wanted to know if you were okay."

Marinette sighed, setting the tiny sewing machine in its bag. "I'm holding up."

"Barely or actually."

Her eyes sank to the table as she bit her lip. "Somewhere in between," she answered on a shaky breath.

He walked over to her, placing the cord and foot petal in the bag before taking the handle from her grasp. "It's hard," he quietly said. "I know. It takes a while to accept that they're really gone, then even more time to realize that it's possible to live without them. After that, these dates become easier to bear."

Her eyes burned, and she sniffed when she felt her nose begin to run.

He left her side, but only for a moment. When he returned, she realized he didn't have the bag with him, meaning he must have placed it at the front door with her things. Instead, he held a box of tissues out to her.

"You know," she said, her voice weak and warbly as she reached out to take a tissue. "I... I thought I could handle it. It was okay. I was okay. But... then..."

Adrien gently sat her down in one of the table chairs before taking a seat next to her. "On the anniversary of my mother's passing," Adrien said. "I was so angry, but sad because I missed her, and warring with what I wanted to do with those emotions... it just hurt. Physically emotionally, mentally. I was just a mess. But the thing is... that's okay. It's okay to miss them. It's okay to hurt."

"A lot," Marinette agreed, using another tissue to wipe stray tears from her eyes. "It hurts a lot."

"I know," Adrien said, placing a comforting hand on her forearm. "But I also know that the pain doesn't last forever. You have to learn that it's okay to let them go. Not that you forget them because I don't think you ever can nor should you try. Just... let them go and let them be memories."

Marinette reached up to grab her ring and began rubbing it between her fingers.. "I'm trying," she choked out. "But every time I think I've accepted it... I realize I haven't." She sniffed, rubbing her nose just as tears started up again. "I miss him. I want him back."

Adrien was quiet for a moment, letting her cry it out. She didn't care that he was there to witness her break-down. Instead, she felt comforted by the slow circles he rubbed onto her arm, the soothing motion and gentle pressure of his hand reminding her she wasn't alone. That someone knew what she was going through. It was a weight off her shoulders, no matter how small.

"Don't push yourself too hard," Adrien finally said once she calmed. "Greif sucks on so many levels, in so many ways. But don't rush to get through it. It's a slow process, and however painful it is now, it's necessary so the pain isn't there later. Be okay with letting yourself heal."

Those words somehow resonated within her. Somehow a balm, yet she could feel the sting of a scab being opened. She sat there, numb as warring emotions pulsed through her. At that moment, she could hear the ringing in her ears, uncertain if she wanted to cry or thank him or shove it all into a little box with a single breath.

Adrien squeezed her arm again. "I know you said you were okay to come today, but if you need more time off, I can figure something out."

"No," she said. "I... I'm fine. I can watch Emma. It just... let me figure this out."

Adrien gave her a supportive smile. "If you need anything, I'm here. My guess is Alya and Nino have already told you that. You're not alone, so even if the people you love don't fully understand what you're going through, I know that they actually do want to help. I swear."

She gave herself a moment to just breathe. In and out. A steady rhythm. When she finally found the strength to look back up to him, she gave him a smile. Even though it was barely an upwards twitch of her lips upward, it was true. "Thank you."

Adrien smiled. "You're welcome. If you need to take this week to yourself, we can forgo game night. I just want you to be okay."

Marinette paused. Game night had quickly become a regular thing, with cheap take-out and a new video game each week. Honestly, Marinette loved it. No matter how much she was hurting, she didn't really want to miss it. "I think I heard somewhere that grieving people need to not sperate themselves from their friends."

Adrien smiled. "That's right."

"So," she stuttered out. "I think that means I shouldn't pass up on game night so that I don't... separate myself from friends," she finished slowly, yet with a small smile.

Adrien's grin widened. "I'll let you beat me, if it makes you feel better."

"Let you beat me?" she returned, her smile growing wider as a weight slowly eased off her heart. She wiped the rest of the tear trails from her cheeks. "If I'm not mistaken, I'm the master of four of the five games we've played."

"And two of those were Ultimate Mecha Strike, so you're only really the winner of three out of four."

She chuckled. "Well, this week will make four of five."

"Feeling cocky are we?"

"Confident. I'm never cocky."

Adrien started laughing. A burst of full, hearty laughter. Marinette's smile grew wider as the ring fell through her fingers.

"Better watch it, princess," he mocked. "Because you are about to be dethroned from the title of Reigning Champ."

"Don't bet on that," she returned. "I'll even let you pick your poison."

"How chivalrous. But I should let you know I've built up an immunity to most."

When Marinette giggled, she couldn't help but feel her heart was light for the first time in days. That dark cloud she'd been wallowing in was thinning, just enough to see that there was sunshine on the other side. "We'll see about that."