What Family Means

She's Not my Mother

Natalie was as close to a mother figure that Adrien could have had until Sabine Dupain-Cheng took him in as an honorary member of her family due to her daughter's strong insistence of adopting him. 

Natalie was the one who put things together for him, but also managed to get his father to let him do things he wanted. He felt like, with his mother gone, and his father so far yet so close, having someone like Natalie was what was keeping him going. What kept him from running away. 

He had someone who cared about him. 

And he began seeing Natalie as something else.

It was like, over the span of a few days, he had gotten an older sister or an aunt. Someone who he could call family, someone who took care of him. 

He never once thought of calling her MOM. 

So, the day he found her and his father together. A tender moment between the two, he felt betrayed. He wanted Natalie in his family. 

But, not like this.

And yet, he knew there was nothing he could do. He wasn't an idiot. He could see the way they looked at each other, when they thought he wasn't looking. He could see the lingering touches on each other's hands. The soft smiles he only saw his father give him and his mother once long ago. 

He wanted to be happy for his father. 

He WAS happy for his father. 

But...

He couldn't bring himself to be truly happy for the couple. 

Yes, there were days he believed his father was right. His mother was dead, his father wanted to move on and found happiness with another woman. But more often than not, something inside his gut told him, she was out there. His mother was alive, somewhere. 

He couldn't bring himself to call Natalie MOM. 

How could he? He had a mother. No one knew where she was, but he knew she was out there. Natalie was a wonderful woman. But he couldn't call her a mother. 

He just couldn't. 

Natalie was and never would be his mother.