Iris smiled. She was happy things were getting better. So when they got home, they got the tree off the car's roof and moved into the house. They then spent the rest of the night decorating the tree. By the time they were finished decorating it was time for Adrien to go to bed. 

After Adrien went upstairs, Iris glanced at Gabriel. "Tonight went great."

"Yeah. It was nice having dinner as a family. And the tree looks really nice with all the decorations," he answered. He hated to admit to himself, but real trees had a certain charm to them. Still, he wasn't thrilled about the needles.

"Christmas is going to be really nice this year." He paused as a thought hit his mind. It would be Adrien's first real Christmas since Iris disappeared. Meaning Gabriel had failed him just about every Christmas in between...

Iris beamed. "I'm glad you enjoyed yourself." She kissed him on the lips. "Next family night can be at home. Maybe we can play a board game or two." As much as she wanted go out and do something as family. Iris knew she couldn't push Gabriel.

Gabriel nodded. "That sounds perfect."  After the conversation ended, they headed to bed.

The few days flew past rather quickly.  Gabriel was able to convince Nathalie to hang out with Iris while he worked on the fencing room. It took a while, but he somehow converted his villain lair to something a little warmer and as close to a gym as he could get without help.  The last thing he put in place was a sword rack with multiple fencing swords.

"I still don't understand how this is going to help," Lycca said as he watched Gabriel work.

"Adrien needs to work out some of his problems through action as well as words. This is a safe place we can be in combat without worrying about monsters," Gabriel answered as he took a few steps towards the attic door to look at his work. "It's perfect."

Lycca shrugged. "If you say so."

With the fencing room complete, Gabriel descended the ladder and headed to the living room. Iris should be home soon, and he wanted to show her.

Iris got back from a shopping trip with Nathalie. It was nice to spend time with her. She was happy that Gabriel was giving Nathaniel more time off. The poor girl was over worked all these years.

To Iris surprise she saw Gabriel was home. Today was a work day afterall. He was sitting in the family room. She dropped her shopping bags on the couch. "Hey. What are you doing home?"

Gabriel smiled when he saw her. "Hey," he answered, "I've been working on something the past few days. I finished today, and I wanted to show you."

He stood and motioned for her to follow him. It was a quick walk up the stairs to the attic. He opened the attic door and climbed the ladder. Then he stepped aside she she could climb up as well. "So? What do you think," he asked as she got the chance to look around.

Iris followed Gabriel in the attic. She wondered if his little project had something to do with Adrien. When they entered the attic, Iris glanced around the room. It was fencing room? She was confused. Iris looked at Gabriel. "It's nice, but why?"

"I noticed something recently about my relationship with Adrien. We seem to do fine outside of combat situations but fall apart as soon as we transform. I think there are things both of us have bottled up that will only come out in combat. So I made a way for us to, for lack of a better phrase, fight it out in a safe environment," Gabriel answered, hoping his explanation made as much sense out loud as it had in his head. "Plus, it's a good way for Adrien to train. He needs to learn to be more precise and less reckless."

Iris thought about Gabriel's explanation for a moment and then nodded her head. "That's actually I really good idea. So was this your plan all along?" She looked around the room again. She noticed he painted the room with a bright grayish color.

Gabriel nodded. "Yeah. I figured it out after that last fight we had. I'm glad you think it's a good idea.  I feel like it's more likely to work.  Now I just have to convince him to come up to the attic. I doubt he'll want to come up to my old lair, but it was the only place I could put it."  

He looked around the fencing room. Maybe it was good that it was in Hawk Moth's old lair. Adrien had a problem with Hawk Moth after all. The environment might help with the healing. Still, it would have been nice if they had another area that could be a fencing room.

Iris smiled at him. "Just tell him straight up about your plan. I'm sure he'll like the sound of it. Especially if you tell him it will help with miraculous business."