Iris quietly ate her lunch as she listen to her sister talk. Elise was going into details about her children's lives. Iris put down her fork so she could take a sip of her drink. She was happy to hear they were doing well. Iris put down her drink and reached for her fork.

"Around the holidays we should get together again," Iris said as Elise took a bite out of her quiche. 

"That would be nice," said Elise. She put down her fork. "My kids would love to see Adrien again."

Iris bit her lip. She tapped her quiche with her fork. "I guess Gabriel distance himself from you guys?"

"Yes slowly," Elise started to explain. "At first he would ask me for help. It was mainly during the custody battle." She paused. "Do you know that mom and dad tried to take Adrien away?"

Iris nodded her head.

"Anyway. After that was settled, I would visit with my kids sometimes. To help Gabriel with Adrien to give him a break. But sadly Gabriel was slowly pushing us away." 

Iris sighed. A look a disappointment filled her eyes. "How did he do that?"

"We would plan out our visits, but then Gabriel would cancel on us on the last minute. Sometimes he wouldn't return my calls. I was growing suspicious. Then finally I got the message that he didn't want us around anymore."

"And what was that?"

"It was first summer you were gone. I called Gabriel up asking him and Adrien wanted to come to beach with my family. He said no and hung up the phone. After that I gave up."

Iris stared at Elise.

Adrien stared at his father, surprised. As much as his father hated socializing (outside of networking), he'd somehow never considered what sounded like a lack of any close relationships before his father met his mother. And his father, a highly perceptive and intelligent person capable of reading people fairly accurately, had been oblivious enough to mistake romantic love for platonic friendship? He never would have thought. Apparently, obliviousness ran in the family.

"So... How did you realize you really loved her then?" He asked. 

His father fell silent, suddenly remembering his quiche much in the same way Adrien had when he stalled earlier. A moment for his father to eat one bite felt like an hour to him as he waited for an answer. What was so bad about this question that it would lead to stalling? It didn't seem like a hard question. Then again, his father was bad with feelings. Maybe he was having trouble thinking of an explanation.

"She walked in on a phone conversation I was having. It got rather heated before I hung up, and she was curious. So, I told her something I didn't usually tell people, expecting her to realize I wasn't worth her time. Instead, she stayed with me, and I realized just how important she was to me," his father finally answered, being very vague about the entire thing.

Adrien cocked his head, curiously. What kind of secret would his father had told her that made him think she would leave him. Did he murder someone, or something? "I don't understand... What did you tell her?"

Elise looked down at her food and started to pick at it with her fork. "It really hurt you know?"

"I'm sure it did," Iris said quietly. She eyed the family portrait that was above the fireplace. She focused on Gabriel. Iris was feeling mixed emotions. She was both disappointed and upset at him. How could Gabriel treat her sister liked that? She supported their relationship!

"Are you mad at him?"

Iris glanced over at her sister. "I'm not sure to be honest. For one thing I think he owes you an apology."

Elise looked alarmed. "Iris, I really don't want to cause drama.."

"No what he did to you was hurtful. You were only trying to help!"

Gabriel stared at his son.  Why did he want to know every single detail? Did it really matter what he told Iris back then? As if sensing his hesitance, Adrien quickly added, "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to... I was just curious."
 
Gabriel considered leaving the conversation at that and choosing some other topic, but he could tell that Adrien was still curious. So he had to decide whether or not he wanted to show his son that he trusted him enough to tell him. He paused for quite a while as he considered it, the silence heavy on what had been a nice lunch moments before.
 
He let out a small sigh, making his decision. "I told your mother about my family." Adrien's eyes widened and he stared at Gabriel even more curiously; no doubt wondering how that could affect anything. He paused again, trying to decide how to proceed. There was a reason he never talked about this to anyone other than Iris.
 
"I guess you could say I had just as bad a time growing up as you had the past six years. You see, my parents never planned to have a child. They were young, 18 to be exact, when my mother got pregnant. They were forced to marry and ended up resenting each other and me. They fought constantly about money and didn’t really care about me other than to keep up appearances. I had to be perfect or they would always find something to criticize. It was easiest to just avoid them. I got a job when I was old enough and then moved out as soon as I was legally able to rent an apartment.
 

The conversations your mother walked into when I told her this had ended with me telling my mother that I didn’t care my father was dead and I wasn’t coming to the funeral. I was certain your mother wouldn’t want anything to do with me after hearing that. Instead, she listened and supported me and my decision to stay cut off from my parents." Gabriel searched his son’s expression as he finished, wondering how this information would go over. After all, he had made Adrien just as miserable as his parents had made him. What if Adrien was angry that he treated him poorly when he knew how it felt to grow up with terrible parents?

"Iris, please forget about it," Elise begged.

"No," said Iris. "I won't. Gabriel had no right to push you away like that." She shifted in her seat. Every part of her wanted to go upstairs and confront Gabriel. But she didn't want to interrupt his time with Adrien.

"It's no big deal," Elise said. "It doesn't bother me anymore."

"Sorry after he's done eating lunch with Adrien, you two are going to talk."

Elise let out a frustrated sigh.

Adrien stared at his father, speechless, drowning in too many emotions to process. His father's reserved personality and dislike of interacting with most people made a lot more sense in this context. And the subtle similarities between how his father coped in his childhood and the last six years of his own life were overwhelming. The need to keep up appearances (his father to not be criticized and him to not catch the attention to the tabloids), deciding to avoid issues with their parents and act the part of the perfect child (up until finding out his father was Hawk Moth, anyway), and the rocky relationship with their parents in general; though his father had it worse since his parents really didn't like him. 

At the same time, it hurt even more to know his father understood what it felt like to have such a strained relationship with his parents. So why did he make the same mistakes? His father had a chance to be better than his parents and he blew it. Then again, its not like there was a good role model to help once his mother disappeared...

The silence stretched too long. Adrien noticed his father tense and saw fear flash through his eyes. Whatever negativity he'd been feeling towards his father at that moment dissolved. There was no way he could let anger over his father's parenting flare up when there were better ways to react. He opened his mouth, meaning to reassure his father that he wasn't mad at him (at least not right now), but something completely different escaped his lips. "Was I... an accident too?" He hadn't meant to ask that and hadn't even realized the question was bothering him.

Gabriel's eyes widened in surprise and he shook his. "No. Your mother an I made the decision to have a child together."

Adrien nodded and paused, trying to keep his tone level and non-accusatory. "Then why did it get to the point we barely interacted with each other?" He didn't want to start a fight, but this was the question he'd wanted to ask. The question eating away at him.

His father sighed, guilt taking over his expression. "Because I was too busy struggling with my own grief..."

Iris stabbed the last piece of quiche with her fork and then shoved it into her mouth. She chewed on it slowly. The more she thought about her husband's actions more she felt angry. She still had the same questions buzzing through her mind. After swallowing her food, Iris took a sip of her drink.

"Are you going to yell at him?" Elise asked. She could sense tension growing from her sister.

"Maybe."

"Iris, please don't."

"I just don't understand it!" Iris cried out angrily. "You were always there for us! And he just pushed you away just like that!"

Elise shrugged. "You know him better than I do."

Iris stared at her sister for a moment. She then leaned back in her seat and tried to calm herself down. She needed to think about this first. Why would Gabriel do such a thing? He pushed Elise away because...because he was hurting. He tend to withdraw himself when he was upset about something. Iris sighed. 

"You okay?"

She looked at her sister. "I won't force you to talk to him. I know why he did it." Iris let out another sigh. "He always keeps to himself when he's upset."

"Even after you two got together?"

"Sometimes," Iris replied. "It depends what's bothering him."

"So are you going to forget about it all together?"

"No. I still want to talk to him about it, but alone." Iris looked away. "We really haven't talked about those six years anyway. I want answers, but I know it's too much for him."

Elise was quiet.

"I think this will be okay to talk about. I hope."

Silence fell on them again. Adrien should have been able to come to this conclusion on his own, but hearing it so sincerely from his father felt better than guessing. He could tell that his father actually felt guilty. That his father would not have detached himself from his life if he wasn't grieving so badly. Grief didn't give him the right to be a bad parent, but at least it was forgivable. Unlike something else in their past that wouldn't be mentioned right now...

"So, things would have been different if mom didn't disappear?"

His father nodded. "She was always helping me become a better parent. Maybe if she didn't disappear, we never would have been tangled up in the miraculouses," he answered before quickly added, "But either way, it's not her fault. No one would have known touching a piece of jewelry would lead to being sealed inside for six years."

Adrien quickly returned his father's nod, "I wasn't going to blame her. It's just unfortunate how things played out..."

Iris was twirling her drink around. She was lost in thought about everything. She had feeling her conversation with Gabriel will be rough. Knowing him he would just brush it off and change the topic. So she needed to figure out the best way to approach it.

"Iris," said her sister.

"Hmm?" She looked at her sister.

"Besides Christmas," said Elise changing the conversation. "We should have more get togethers."

"Of course," said Iris. A small smile formed on her face. "Would it be problem if you just come visit me for awhile? I don't think Gabriel would like me traveling to London by myself." Something nagged her in the back of her head, but she ignored it. 

"Sure I don't mind. I understand."

"Good. Hell feel free to bring the whole family," said Iris and then chuckled. "We have a giant dinning table after all."

"But I thought it was just for looks?" Elise snickered.

"Not to me."

Both girls burst out laughing.

Gabriel nodded and they fell into another silence; this one more comfortable than the earlier lulls in conversation. Adrien seemed satisfied with what he got out of the conversation, but Gabriel felt a bit exhausted. He had not expected to open up so much in such a short amount of time. He was so used to withdrawing and keeping to himself while considering private matters not worth talking about. Iris's return was already improving his actions.

They finished the last of the quiche and Gabriel stood, taking the plates. "Is there anything I can get you?" He asked.

Adrien shook his head. "I'm good. Thanks for bring up lunch," he answered, giving Gabriel and unexpected grin. 

Gabriel returned the grin with a small smile. "Alright. Text me if you need anything." With that, he exited the room, much happier with how things turned out than he thought he'd be.

The girls laughtered died out when Gabriel, entered the room. Iris saw him carrying the plates. She turned and looked at him.

"I'm guessing you two enjoyed the quiche?" Iris asked more like a statement than a question. She motioned toward her sister. "Going to say hi?"

Elise waved nervously at Gabriel. She hoped Iris wouldn't start anything despite what she said.

Gabriel stopped and turned towards them. He had the sudden feeling Iris was not happy with him for something; though he wasn't sure what. He eyed Elise for a moment (she seemed nervous) before walking over and placing the plates down on the table before nodding and giving Elise a faint smile. "Hello, Elise. How have you been? It's good to see you," he said. Sincere as he felt, he worried neither woman would believe his sincerity. He had kind of cut ties with Elise, after all. Something he truly regretted in hindsight.

"Alright," Elise said weakly.

Iris stood up. "I'm going to go get the cheesecake. Elise you stay here." She grabbed both of their plates. They were finished eating as well. "Gabriel, come help me." She then walked off and went into the kitchen.

Gabriel watched Irish leave before glancing at Elise for some type of context clue as to whether he was about to be chewed out. Her expression did not look promising. He quickly nodded again and grabbed the plates that he had left in front of him and then headed to the kitchen.

Iris was telling herself to stay calm. She was still upset after all. She could not blow up on him. Or force him to apologize. She just wanted answers. Iris placed the plates into the sink. She then heard Gabriel walker in. Iris took the plates from him and put the plates into the sink.

She walked over to the cheesecake. Iris started to cut the pieces. "So, Elise told me some things..."