Adrien relaxed a little, relief taking over his expression. He knew he shouldn't have believed the reports, but it was hard when he had thought they were fighting at home too. Apparently, he'd horribly misinterpreted everything. It's not like he had many couples to compare his parents to, so it was easy to jump to conclusions.

"Oh.. I'm sorry. I should have known better," he said.

Iris gave Adrien a comforting smile. She reached her hand toward him and rubbed his hair. "No need to apologize. You had every right to be concern since I have gone for so long. You probably don't remember how your father and I interact."

Adrien nodded.  "I don't think I ever really paid attention to how you two interacted when I was a child. I was kind of oblivious," he said. He unbuckled his seat belt as he spoke. 

Adrien heard a scoff from his pocket as well as a whispered, "Was?" which signaled Plagg was not only listening but willing to provide commentary on their conversation. He must still be in a sour mood. Adrien decided to ignore him.

"So, are we ready?"

"Yes!" Iris said in excitement. They got out of the car and headed off to the zoo. Iris bought the tickets and they went through the entrance. She quickly spotted the wheelchairs by the information booth. 

She stopped walking and looked at Adrien. "Do you feel strong enough to walk? Or will it be better for me to push you around in a wheelchair?"

"I can walk. There are plenty of benches if I need to rest," Adrien answered. He absolutely did not want to be pushed around in a wheelchair all day. It would draw too much attention, and he really wanted to walk on his own. The sooner he was walking, the less out of shape he would be when he was able to fight again.

"Alright then," said Iris. They headed off and walked around the zoo. Along the paths they stopped and looked at the animals. Eventually they came to a bench and sat so Adrien could rest. They were in front of the wolves exhibit.

As Iris watched the wolves and idea popped in her head. She looked at Adrien. "Let's take a selfie and send it to your father!"

"Sure!" Adrien said with a smile. He stood and walked over to the enclosure before turning to face her. "We can get the wolves in it too," he added. He took out his phone as his mother walked over to stand beside him. 

He held the phone in front of them. "Alright, say cheese!" And then he took the picture. They then walked back to the bench and sat down to review the picture. Adrien rolled his eyes when he saw Plagg had stuck his head out of the pocket he was hiding in at the mention of cheese and ended up in the picture. In the background, over his head, a wolf was standing on the hill in the enclosure.

"That looks pretty good," Adrien said. He quickly opened his texting app and added the picture with the caption: Having fun at the zoo, watching some normal beasts. Don't worry. I'll send a picture of the panther too. ;P

He smirked and hit send.

Gabriel looked over at his phone as it vibrated on the corner of his desk. "Lycca, can you hand it to me?" He asked as he pinned some cloth together on one of the mannequins. His kwami obliged and brought the phone over.

He stared down at the picture and rolled his eyes at Adrien's panther jab. He wasn't sure if he was supposed to be annoyed by it, but the emoticon at the end made him think so. At least the picture looked nice. Good to know you two are enjoying yourselves. Although, tell your mother her definition of a wheelchair is fundamentally flawed since wheelchairs are not made of air and don't let their occupants stand.

Adrien raised an eyebrow before letting out a 'hmph'. "Father is implying that I should be in a wheelchair. I think he likes the picture, though," he said, handing the phone to his mother so she could read the text.

Iris grabbed the phone from Adrien and read the text. She just chuckled. "Because I said you would be in one." Iris handed him back the phone. "And don't worry he likes the picture."

She looked at the wolves for a moment. Iris then leaned back against the bench. She wanted mess with Gabriel, but wasn't sure how. Her train of thought was then interrupted by a man who was now standing in front of them. Iris could tell he was with a media. He had a camera around his neck and he wasn't dressed for the zoo.

"Mrs. Agreste," he said politely. "I'm with Daily Paris and I'm here to help clear you and your family's name."

Iris narrowed her eyes. She stood up at once. "If you really wanted to help then six years ago you would have posted stories to fight back the backlash that affected both my husband and son." Iris then gently grabbed by Adrien by the arm and pulled him. "Now goodbye." She then walked off while holding Adrien's arm.

"But!!" The man cried out and dashed after them. "I wasn't reporter then!"

"I don't care. The media has deeply hurt my family and no one is getting answers from me or anyone else! Now good day!" She made them walked at a faster pace.

They were able to lose him and Iris let go of son's arm. They were now by the panther. "Sorry about that. I didn't want him near you." She couldn't help, but hug her son.

"It's okay.." Adrien said, returning the hug. He was trying not to seem too winded. The rest they had been enjoying was completely voided by the sudden need to walk as fast as possible. Sometimes he hated being part of such a well known family. They couldn't even relax without the potential from some reporter to appear. "Reporters are the worse.."

He glanced around once she let go and found another bench to rest on. Sitting on the bench gave him a perfect view of the panther, so he took out his phone and took a quick picture. He smirked as he sent it to his father with no caption. His father knew what it meant, after all.

Iris watched Adrien sit down on the bench. She was starting to regret her decision bringing him here. Maybe they should have waited a few more days. Iris then walked over to the bench and joined her son. She let out a sigh. "They really are the worse. I know because I researched my disappearance..."

Adrien was quiet for a moment. "They'll jump on anything. No wonder you wanted to stay hidden for a while." He looked at the panther, pacing in its enclosure. It looked over at him and locked eyes with him for a short moment, as if it remembered the time its keeper had turned into a duplicate of itself.

Adrien looked away and down at his phone. It seemed his father was ignoring him now.

Iris looked at her son. The most of the articles she read about her disappearance were mostly about Gabriel. The only time Adrien was ever was during the custody battles. Gabriel must have gone to great lengths shield their son. She was now burning with curiosity. Maybe her son will tell her some things. "Adrien, do you remember how things were in the beginning? I asked your father, but it's too painful for him.."

Adrien let out a sigh. He did remember quite a bit of it; though, he hadn't understood everything that was going on at the time. It was such a major event in his life that there was no way he wouldn't remember.

Finally, he nodded. "Yeah. The first week or so is a blur, but everything else is hard to forget. Father had so much to do because of the police and court battles, but he did his best to make sure I didn't have to deal with anything. I studied in his office while he worked and pretty much clinged to him until he could convince me to stay with Nathalie. He did a decent job for a while (other than not really talking about what happened with me), but I don't think he could handle it after a few years. He pretty much withdrew to his work when I was 13, and Nathalie took over tutoring and managing my schedule. So I became a model to try and make him happy, but it didn't work. All that happened was he started treating me like an employee.. And it was like that up until we realized he was Hawk Moth."

Iris pulled Adrien into embrace. She wanted to say her sorry, but she knew none of this her fault. She just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. Iris just held onto him without saying a word. She gently squeezed him before letting go.

"All we can do now is move forward with our lives," she said quietly. "I'm able to forgive your father because he regrets everything. Trust me. He told me before he knew I was Peacock." Iris gave Adrien a small smile. "I hope you two can work things out."

Adrien nodded but didn't speak right away. He knew his father felt guilty, and his talk with Lycca was enough to imply his father regretted everything even before this conversation. And he wanted to work things out. But the thought of the talk he had to have with his father to work everything out was intimidating, even if it shouldn't be. Talking about it to Marinette or the kwamis was one thing, but talking to the source of everything was quite different.

He looked up at the clouds for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts before nodding a second time. "It'll work out eventually.."