Second Chances

future family -------->chp31

Emma held Marinette's hand as they entered the apartment above the bakery. "This is where I live."

Emma looked around just as Maman came into view. "Why you must be Emma," Maman said, coming up to greet her and kneeling down to her level.

"Emma, this is my Maman, Mrs. Cheng."

Emma shyly waved hello.

That's when her papa rounded the corner. He waved. "Hi, Emma."

"And that's my papa," Marinette pointed out. "Mr. Dupain."

Emma now hid behind Marinette's leg.

"No reason to be shy," Maman coaxed. "I heard you like baking with Marinette."

Emma looked out from behind Marinette's skirt and nodded.

"I like baking, too. So much that I bake every day."

Slowly, Maman managed to pull Emma from her shell with talk of pastries and cookies, which morphed into Emma sharing all the times that she and Marinette had baked together.

Her papa eventually got in on the conversation, and soon they were talking about 'so many cupcakes you could fill a mansion' which left Emma in awe.

The knock at the door was undoubtably Alya and Nino, whom Marinette let in.

"Auntie Alya!" Emma cried before running into Alya's arms.

"And Uncle Nino," Alya reminded.

"High five, little dudette."

Emma planted a hand against Nino's.

In no time at all, Emma pulled everyone into the story of how she and Marinette had made a gingerbread house for the holidays. One that had fallen apart and they'd had to rebuild. Emma told them how Elves had traveled all the way from the North Pole because her house was so amazing, but they accidently broke it and were so embarrassed that they ran away.

But that's because Marinette didn't have the heart to tell her she caught Adrien eating the roof one evening.

A timer rang from the kitchen. "That's the turkey," Papa said, heading to the kitchen to take it from the oven.

"We'll need to let it rest a bit before carving," Maman called after him.

"Then that will give us just enough time for a picture," Alya said, standing from the table and grabbing her camera. "You didn't think I wasn't going to take some photos, right?"

So, after a handful of pictures were taken, Alya set up a tripod with the intend of lining everyone up on the couch and taking a group shot. It took a handful of tries, but eventually, they captured a really good one.

"And one more for my phone," Alya said, propping her phone on a stand.

By that time, the turkey was ready for carving. Emma was curious as she watched Papa cut slices from the bird, standing on her tiptoes in hopes of looking over the counter.

Instead, her papa stopped and hoisted little Emma up on his shoulders. Marinette relished the squeal of happiness the little girl made. Her maman took over carving duty, and Marinette felt nostalgic at the scene, watching her papa hold Emma's little legs while Emma looked over his head to watch maman cut perfect slices off a turkey. It was like watching her childhood. She remembered when she was still small enough to sit on her papa's shoulders while he cooked. It was one of her favorite memoires, and she was so glad to share it with Emma.