Gabriel rubbed his chin, pausing for a moment. "What did he think?" He repeated, keeping his face neutral. He wanted to make her wait as long as possible; a little payback for her refusing to help him fix the omelet. He smirked after an even longer pause. "He said it was good."

Iris stared at him waiting for his answer. She narrowed her eyes at him. The smirk gave him away. He was messing with her. She was about to say something, when he finally answer her question. Excitement filled her eyes. "Really? That's great!"

Gabriel nodded his smirk turning to a small smile. "Yeah. I don't know why he'd like it. I was never good at cooking." He leaned in closer and wrapped an arm around her waist before kissing her forehead. "You're the master chef in this relationship."

Iris let out a giggle. She didn't feel peeved at him anymore. He put effort into fixing his relationship with his son. She kissed him on the lips. "You're not that bad, Gabriel." She moved away from him. "I need to finish decorating." Iris then walked back into the dinning room and headed to the kitchen.

Around one Iris was standing outside waiting for her sister. She didn't want her dealing with their security system. Iris leaned against the wall and shivered slightly. Even with a coat on it was still cold. she glanced around looking for any signs of cars. Eventually a cabbed pulled up and the back passenger door opened up. Iris's sister came out the car and closed the door. The cab then drove away.

Elise ran over to the her sister and threw her arms around her. They embraced and held onto each other. Elise started to cry which made Iris cry. They stayed like that for a brief moment before letting go. 

"I missed you so much," Elise finally said.

Iris smiled and hugged her again. She then let go of her. "Let's go inside before we catch a cold. I have lunch ready."

"Excellent."

The sisters then went through the front gate and went into the house. The moment they stepped into the house there was a state of shock on Elise's face. Iris could tell she was reacting to Gabriel's redesign of the house.

"All of this is going," Iris said. "I haven't had a chance to make improvements around here."

Elise smiled. "I'm sure you'll make this place shine again."

They then both went into the dinning room and sat down at the table. Iris had the lunch laid out for them.

Gabriel waited in the kitchen until it sounded like Iris and her sister were situated before grabbing the food she had left for him and heading upstairs. He was careful to avoid the dining room, not wanting to interrupt their catch up time.

He made his way quickly upstairs and knocked on Adrien's door; entering when he heard his son's response. "Here," he said as he handed his son one of the plates.

Adrien took it and studied the slice of quiche on the plate for a moment before smirking. "I'm guessing mom made this," he said, a very faint hint of teasing in his otherwise neutral tone. Gabriel had the sense his son was testing what tone this lunch was going to take. Casual. Or business.

Gabriel nodded. "As you saw earlier, I'm not much of a cook." He grabbed the desk chair and brought it to the side of the bed. "So, how are you feeling?" He asked before taking a bite of the quiche.

"Pretty good. I haven't been moving around, though. So, who knows how it will feel to start."

Silence filled the air as they ate. Both girls were overcome with emotions. Iris glanced down at her plate as she chewed her food. She wasn't sure what to say. Should she bring up the miraculouses or wait?

"Iris," her sister finally spoke up.

She looked up at Elise. "Yes?"

"I just want to say I never gave up hope."

Iris stared at her as tears filled her eyes. She reached for her sister's hand and grabbed it. Iris squeezed it. 

"I knew," Elise continued. "That you would turn up someday. Alive or.." She trailed off.

"Dead?"

Her sister nodded her head.

Iris let go of her hand. "I don't blame you for having those thoughts. I disappeared after all. Most people probably assumed someone kidnapped and murdered me."

Elise still looked ashamed.

"Well I'm back now and that's all that matters."

"What happened to you?" Elise paused. "If you don't mind me asking."

Iris took a deep breath. "I'll tell you, but you have to promise me you won't tell anyone." 

"Even Johnathan and the children?"

Iris nodded her head.

"Alright, I promise," said her sister.

Gabriel nodded, glad to hear his son was actually feeling better now that he was taking his resting seriously (rather than running off to the zoo). "That's good. We've been lucky there have been no attacks so far. The public may not be smart, but I would expect even they would notice Chat Noir being absent after Adrien Agreste got mauled by a beast." He knew he had probably mentioned this point before, but he still felt the need to repeat it until he was sure he'd burned in into his son's mind. This was, after all, the second time Adrien had ended up in the hospital due to injuries from his activities as Chat Noir.

Apparently, Adrien couldn't keep a neutral expression. He rolled his eyes and sighed. "I know. You don't need to tell me again."

Gabriel ignored his instinct to reprimand his son for the back sass. That was not what this lunch was about. So he decided to change the subject to something that hopefully wouldn't get a negative reaction. "Right. So, you're going to be in bed for a while longer. Would you like me to get you any extra movies to watch?"

Momentary confusion flickered in Adrien's eyes as he was caught off by the random question. But he recovered quickly and shook his head. "Uh.. No. I've been playing video games, mostly. I don't think anything new is coming out at the moment."

He nodded, his eyes traveling to the game system he had played with his son and Iris not too long ago. "Alright. I'm glad you're keeping yourself busy. You should also take a little time to work on the homework Marinette brought you. It would be a lot of work for you if you get too far behind."

He tired to say this in the least commanding tone he could muster. It was a suggestion; a suggestion he really wanted to turn into a command, but not a fight he wanted to start.

"Yeah. I was planning to work on it tonight. It shouldn't be too hard to catch up. I can call Marinette if I need help," Adrien answered before taking a quick bite of his food and a drink of water.

"Good," Gabriel said, a small amount of pride leaking into his voice. It was nice having a son who was a naturally good student. The conversation lulled for a moment as they ate, each chancing a glance at the other here and there. 

Suddenly, Adrien broke the silence as he looked up at Gabriel and placed his fork on the plate. "So... How did you and mom get together?" He looked genuinely curious by this, and Gabriel wondered if he'd been keeping this question in for a while.

Gabriel shrugged. "It was through work. Your mother wanted to model for my company despite her father being one of my biggest rivals. I was intrigued and hired her, and things just went from there." 

Adrien stared at him, expectantly, looking not too happy with that answer.

Iris felt in over head. She wasn't quite sure how to tell her sister. Should she tell her about the miraculouses first? Fu did with her, but she saw magic first hand before speaking to him. Then again Elise has probably seen Paris's superheroes on the news back home. Maybe should she should just transform in front of her? Iris started to rubbed her eyes with her fingers. 

"Iris," her sister began to say in concern. She could tell Iris looked overwhelmed. "We don't have to talk about this yet. You can tell me when you're ready."

"No," Iris said. "I.."

"HELLO!" Pain yelled excitedly. The kwami came out of the no where. She was floating between the sisters.

Both Iris and Elise jumped. They looked up at Pain. Elise's eyes grew wide. She was lost with words. Elise glanced at Iris.

"Elise," Iris said calmly. She was actually glad Pain interrupted their conversation. "This is Pain my kwami. She is my partner."

"You're partnerr?" Elise stuttered.

"I'm part of team miraculous."

Adrien crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. "That really doesn't explain anything," he said. "I want to understand how you two work so well together even though you're completely different. It's confusing, especially since you already seem to have a lot of small fights."

His father was quiet for a moment, most likely collecting his thoughts, before placing his fork on the plate of soon to be forgotten quiche. "It is kind of strange, isn't it..? I guess it's because she actually tried to get to know me. I'm sure it's no surprise to you that I was never super well-liked by my employees. It was very unexpected.. She just seemed to understand me so well compared to other people."

Adrien considered his father's answer. Well, he was getting more information... but it still didn't feel like a complete explanation. He wondered if he should keep pushing.

Iris slowly explained everything to Elise. She decided to tell her about the miraculouses first and how the peacock miraculous got cursed. Iris paused to see if her sister had any questions, but her sister just kept staring at her. She continued her story and went explained how she got sealed inside the peacock miraculous. 

"So I was basically asleep for six years," Iris explained. She then bit her lip. How was she going to explain how the curse got lifted? Gabriel's wish broke it, but she wasn't allow to give away that he was Hawkmoth. She decided to gloss over it. "When the cruse got broken, I found myself in the lair of the people who have been attacking Paris lately. Thanks to Pain I escaped and I stayed with the miraculous's guardian Fu until Adrien got attacked. I was afraid the enemy may recognized me off the streets and follow me home. I didn't want to put Adrien and Gabe in danger. But after Adrien got attacked, I decided it was best to go home anyway."

Elise was still staring at her. You could tell she was trying to process everything.

Iris took a deep breath. "Well that's it. Any questions?"

Gabriel met Adrien's eyes as his son stared at him. He could almost see the calculating thoughts going through his son's mind as he decided whether or not to pursue his line of questioning. Gabriel hoped he decided to talk about something else; they were farther along the subject than he'd ever been prepared to discuss with Adrien. But he could see the spark of determination flashing in his son's eyes, and he knew they were going to continue on this subject.

"How did you two get close? Did you always have weird, trivial fights?" Adrien asked. Apparently, he still couldn't wrap his mind around his parents' relationship. Not that Gabriel was surprised. Adrien probably didn't remember their interactions from when he was younger.

"Your mother had some education in design work. I decided I needed someone to brainstorm with for some of my designs and asked her for her input. We made some great pieces together. We also had a lot of time alone to get to know each other. Your mother made a habit of asking me random questions since I didn't really volunteer much small talk. And yes, we occasionally had small, stupid fights. It's bound to happen with two people with opposite personalities."

Elise was quiet for a moment. She will still trying to process everything. It was a crazy story, but that creature beside her sister was real. Elise stared at Pain who was busy eating a piece of bread. She couldn't help, but reach out and poked Pain on the back of her head.

"Hey," cried Pain and looked back at Elise.

"Sorry," said Elise. "I can't believe you're real..."

Pain just smiled.

Iris chuckled. "I felt the same way too. I thought was in a dream at first."

Elise sighed. "Well it makes everything make sense. The police could find no clues of your disappearance." She looked at her sister. "Those creeps didn't hurt you?"

"No. I got away before one of them could do anything."

"Good."

"Any other questions?"

Adrien nodded as he listened to his father's explanation. The picture was getting clearer, but still seemed blurred. Each answer left him wanting more information. There was still so much he could tell his father was not mentioning. Then again, getting any type of personal information out of his father was a success in and of itself. It was simply amazing that this conversation was happening at all.

"What kid of questions did she ask you?" He asked, deciding on something simple after he'd pushed so many details out of his father.

His father shrugged. "Mostly trivial things like what I liked to do, what flavor of ice cream I liked, whether not I liked any sweets at all with a weird focus on crepes since your mother loves them. If I remember correctly, there were multiple times she call me boring with varying levels of seriousness."

Adrien couldn't keep himself from snickering. "Well, she was right, wasn't she?"

The unamused look that met Adrien's gaze instantly made him believe he'd hit the boundary he'd been feeling for. He bit his lip and suddenly remembered he still had some quiche he could focus on. But, to his surprise, his father just shrugged. "I suppose so. The only thing I really enjoy is my work, after all. Most people would think my life was boring."

Adrien had taken a bite of his quiche as his father started to reply. He took the time to chew and mull over his father's words. For the first time in his life, he wondered if his father got tired of being called boring. There was no doubt his father was boring to him, but that was just him. "I guess it doesn't matter if you enjoy being boring," he answered once he had swallowed. 

He was rewarded with a very rare, small smile from his father. His father nodded, "Exactly."

"Uh," said Pain interrupting the conversation. "Iris actually almost got killed while trying to escape."

"Pain!" Iris hissed. She left out for a reason.

"Well it's the truth."

Elise looked alarmed. "They almost killed you?"

"Yes," Iris said annoyed. "But I'm here so it doesn't matter. So do you have any more questions?"

Elise thought for a moment. "Hmm. How was the curse broken?"

Iris tried not flinch at her question. She was hoping her sister didn't notice she glossed over that part in her story. "Uhh." She didn't want to lie, but she kept a promise to Gabriel and Fu.

Her sister frowned. "Can't say?"

Iris nodded her hhead.

"Then I don't have any more questions."

Iris sighed in relief. She went back to eating her lunch. It was time to move the spotlight from her. "So now it's my turn to ask you questions. How you been in these past six years?"

A wave of satisfaction flowed through Gabriel as their talk continued. He never thought answering a few questions would be enough to create a decent conversation between them. Maybe it wouldn't be as hard as he thought it would be to earn back some amount of love and respect from Adrien. Then again, they were still mutually ignoring the one conversation they needed to have, and he wasn't going to bring it up now that they were enjoying each other's company.

He waited to see if Adrien had any more questions, and sure enough his son spoke up a moment later. "So, at some level she thought you were boring but still wanted to be with you. But how did you realize you liked her? You're not exactly the romantic type."

Gabriel let out an exasperated sigh at Adrien's wording but didn't say a word to discourage him. The level of casualness in his son's words meant he was getting more comfortable with this conversation. "Well, it took a long time for me to realize.. I'd never had a romantic relationship before then, so I figured I just enjoyed her friendship. After all, she was the only person other than Nathalie that tried to talk to me. I ended up asking her to coffee. I really didn't understand it until she wanted me to have more fun in my life and told me to lighten up. Instead of feeling annoyed like I would if anyone else had to me that, I realized that I really liked being with her, and it really started to click after that."