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goggles-mcgee · 1 year

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Replaced: She’s Over You

Newest chapter in the story for @miner249er

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Summary: Gabriel was eager to open the internship with his company, he looked forward to all the new talent and he especially was looking forward to Miss Dupain-Cheng's application. Except her application never came.

Gabriel Agreste was a man of many talents but like any man he could admit he had his faults. He was a gifted fashion designer but he secretly did not handle criticism well which in his industry, criticism was handed out just as if not more freely as compliments. Which is where his skill of masking his emotions came in so handy, and yet it worked too well as he often had trouble expressing himself if it wasn’t in a design or poetry that he had in a locked journal hidden away in a secured safe in his closet. Gabriel of course took pride in his designs, they were what made him successful, but Gabriel also had the unfathomable talent to sniff out the potential in others. It was how he got such a competent and efficient assistant like Nathalie, a tough and loyal bodyguard and chauffeur like Gerald, dedicated and determined employees and it’s how he had gotten a kind and beautiful wife like Emilie. He had seen her passion for acting, her raw talent in the art and her effortless beauty that would make any model jealous and he had fallen hard. It may seem old school to kids, the thought, but he knew at that moment he had to have her. She was everything he ever wanted.

And Gabriel Agreste always got what he wanted.

He wasn’t some spoiled child that demanded things, no, he worked hard for his success, his happiness. His parents, Michael and Claire, such ordinary names for ordinary people that expected their son to be exceptional. Who expected their exceptional son to take care of them even after they had denied him so much, after they pushed him so hard. Needless to say there was no love lost between them once he was old enough to move out on his own, he had saved up as much money as he could from his odd jobs and his grandparents had helped however they could, even letting him rent out their attic at a very discounted price. Truthfully they hadn’t even wanted to make him pay but he refused to be charity, he refused pity so he paid. Many thought Gabriel was handed things but no, sometimes he wished that were true but then he wouldn’t be the man he was today if that was so. That was why he made sure Adrien worked hard. He didn’t want his son to turn out to be the person his parents wanted, or the person people had thought him to be. It’s why he made his son a model, besides his son’s obvious natural talent that he got from his mother. He wanted Adrien to learn about hard work.

He liked to believe that Adrien understood all that. The one lesson his son never seemed to catch on to was how to spot potential in others and surround yourself with those people. Gabriel saw this first hand when he met his son’s “best friend” Nino Lahiffe, self-proclaimed DJ who only had “gigs” because his friends hired him. The boy had no potential, even if he did it was such a small amount that it was practically nothing and therefore not of importance. So Gabriel saw no point in being polite to the boy, he was a subpar director from what he had seen when his acquaintance André Bourgeois had come over and showed him the videos from that year's Young Amatuer Director’s Competition. That girl, Alya Césaire, had some potential but she wasted it on the awful Ladyblog. She had a way with words and reporting the facts but Gabriel had akumatized her, had felt her emotions, heard her thoughts, and someone who just jumps into things without fact checking when wanting to be a reporter will not go far. For crying out loud she hasn’t even caught on to Miss Rossi’s lies yet!

Ah, and speaking of Lila Rossi. Gabriel saw great potential in her, potential and mayhem. It was a gamble to work with her both in and out of the mask but it was one he ultimately deemed necessary. Lila was a liar. That was a simple fact, but she was a believable liar. The way she lied about things, it made weak-minded people want to believe her, so they did. Gabriel was not above admitting that it was entertaining to watch her lies at work. They provided entertainment and more akumas than he could count. Though, there was always a flaw in something that promised perfection much like Miss Rossi herself. She had potential, but she wasted it on petty grudges, gaining popularity and overall inflating her ego. It was that ego he had to keep an eye on, she already used her lies to trespass into his home, it was only a matter of time she tried to get away with bigger crimes as Lila thought she was untouchable. The young girl believed she could lie herself out of any situation and that was a liability that Gabriel could not afford.

She was useful though so he kept her on, she was more useful than Chloé. Chloé Bourgeois, he had had such high hopes for the girl. She came from a good background, her parents were influential, she was the exact kind of friend he expected Adrien to make. Though that was all she had, when she was younger she had had a small talent and eye for fashion, but then she grew into someone who would steal another designer’s work and claim credit. Gabriel had dealt with his fair share of those sorts of people, he fully thought Adrien would try and break off his friendship with the spoiled girl more than the one time he did try, if you could even call that an attempt. Agrestes had to know when to cut their losses, though Adrien didn’t seem to understand that just yet. Gabriel would only let the boy be sentimental for so long. Chloé may have been good at making akumas but none of them were particularly strong. So like most of Adrien’s friends, she was a disappointment.

He didn’t know enough about that Couffaine girl but he did know she was in that odd little band that Adrien had wanted to join. The music was dreadful but he did appreciate the creative costume designs and he was in no way surprised when he learned that it was Miss Dupain-Cheng who had been the designer. That Lavillant girl also fell into the same space as the Couffaine girl, Gabriel didn’t really see any potential from them and yet they were making a name for themselves. It was an odd thing, he didn’t understand why people liked their music, but not everyone could have his expectations and taste. Like M Kubdel, he was a respected man in his profession and yet he let his children be utterly unexceptional, his daughter believed she had a talent in skating and his son, Gabriel couldn’t recall his name, at least had passion on his side. A little too much though, it was an ugly and pitiful sight. Having passion was well and good but it didn’t need to be on full display, he was glad he taught Adrien not to show too much emotion.

There were other classmates and friends Adrien had but they hardly deserved to be remembered by Gabriel, though Max Kante and Nathaniel Kurtzburg had great potential, both were held back by emotion and those they called friends. If they didn’t cut their losses they wouldn’t amount to anything Gabriel was sure. Besides, the Kurtzburg boy would fall and fail fast if he continued to just write comics about that blasted Ladybug. At least Max Kante made an AI capable of emotion! But the boy wasted it on “friendship.” It was so utterly disappointing, they were all so disappointing. Except, there was one diamond in the rough. Marinette Dupain-Cheng. She had the passion, the drive, the determination, and above all, she had the potential. She was wasted on those she and Adrien called classmates, and though Gabriel did loathe her overly optimistic personality, he knew that it would be dampened by real work experience.

Talent nurtured talent as they say, and Gabriel was prepared to do that. Marinette was talented and young and Gabriel knew if he didn’t get her working for his company as soon as he could, his competitors would snatch her away. Or worse, she would eventually turn into another competitor. Gabriel was confident in his designs but even he knew she would be tough to go against. That’s why he decided they were never going to compete, he would get her working in his company and there she would stay happily. He was sure if he offered her a couple raises and some mild promotions that she would be happy to stay whenever she thought she was ready to leave. It sounded backhanded and frankly in bad taste but that was simply business. Besides a high stake and high anxiety environment like a fashion company would be a beautiful place for an akuma to be birthed and besides her potential to be great in fashion, Marinette Dupain-Cheng had the great potential to be a truly spectacular akuma.

When he had tried to akumatize her before, he had felt her anger, her sadness, her pain. All of it was so raw, so powerful, it had him staggering every time he felt it, he needed that power to win, he knew it. Though aside from her potential of being his most powerful akuma ever, Miss Dupain-Cheng had tremendous ideas when it came to fashion and overall just creative projects. She designed for Clara Nightingale and Jagged Stone for crying out loud and she was still in collège! Gabriel himself won some small amateur design competitions when he was that young but he had never gotten commissioned by celebrities. He wasn’t jealous, he was impressed. She was already building a client list with very important, influential people. She impressed Audrey Bourgeois, the most difficult person to get a compliment from, and Gabriel would know. Despite them being “friends,” Audrey held nothing back when his designs displeased her and that had been often lately.

That, and many other things, was the reason why Gabriel was even opening up an internship with his brand. They got tons of applications, Nathalie kept him updated from what she saw in the records, and yet Miss Dupain-Cheng had not applied. It baffled him. By all accounts she should have been one of the first to hand in her application, he knew first hand that she was a fan of his and he knew she was smart. She would know this would be a big opportunity for her and her future career. So really it made no sense for her application to be missing when they were so close to the application deadline. It got to him. It had him pacing his office more often than he would like to admit, he felt like some online shopper that made their purchase and eagerly awaited the delivery truck, checking for the package every hour despite knowing the thing they are waiting for hasn’t even shipped yet.

He wasn’t eager, no, Gabriel was frustrated. So frustrated in fact that he had called Adrien into his office and told him to ask Miss Dupain-Cheng to their house as Gabriel wanted to discuss business with her. He did not fail to notice the hope and eagerness that lit his son’s eyes, nor the hesitation that crashed into the boy. But Gabriel had no time for whatever teenage drama Adrien was dealing with and he made it known that Adrien was to do said task as soon as possible. Thankfully whatever Adrien had said to the girl worked and she had set up an appointment with Nathalie for the next day. Gabriel had his office cleaned, artfully placed some designs he himself was working on and those he had to approve from his team. The final thing he did was have Nathalie print out the applications and made sure to place them on his desk where Miss Dupain-Cheng would no doubt notice them while they spoke.

So here Gabriel was awaiting the teen as he sat at his desk and did his best to look busy and uninterested. He was very good at looking uninterested, though that was more because he was never really interested in anything much since Emilie’s “disappearance”. She had brought this spark to his life like nothing else had and then the Peacock Miraculous happened and Gabriel regretted nothing more than giving that damned brooch to her. At the time he had thought it to be the perfect gift, Emilie had always had some weird fascination with the creatures and had many clothing pieces that had some kind of peacock motif on them. Gabriel shook his head to clear his thoughts, now was not the time to think of his wife, that would get him nowhere in this interview.

A knock on his door helped fully pull him from his thoughts, “Gabriel, Miss Dupain-Cheng is here to see you.”

“Thank you Nathalie.” Gabriel said as his way of giving permission to enter his office. He watched as Miss Dupain-Cheng walked in, immediately he assessed the outfit she arrived in, what you wore was always important when meeting those you wished to impress or work with/for.

The outfit wasn’t what he expected but it was certainly well made, though it wasn’t something he would have expected of the young girl. She wore high-waisted bell bottoms, the flares at the bottom looked to have slight slashes in them but when she took a step he could see pale pink plaid stitched into the sides of the pants. A fold in the side of the pants hid the design until she walked, it grabbed your attention, it was brilliant. She wore a loose satin button up that was tucked into the bell bottoms, it was white with the flowers she always seemed to have in her designs embroidered on the right breast pocket. The buttons of the button-up were undone so he could see a black top underneath that had lace trim at the top edges, it seemed to be a tank top. Her black earrings tied the look together, as did the simple black music note choker necklace she wore. Her hair was done half-up, half-down with the up part fashioned into some kind of braid that he could see peeking from the top of her head. The biggest surprise was seeing the underside of her hair dyed pink, but it complimented her in a way he couldn’t hate on.

“Monsieur Agreste, it is nice to see you.” The young girl said with a small smile as she walked to his desk and held a hand out for a handshake.

Gabriel abhorred physical touch so he merely nodded, he may want her to work for him but there was no need to inflate her ego. Though Miss Dupain-Cheng hadn’t even seemed hurt by the rejected handshake and that won her more of his approval. “Agreed Miss Dupain-Cheng. Thank you for agreeing to speak with me.”

Once they both took their seats, Miss Dupain-Cheng gave him another smile, though this one was more tight than the one before. “I will admit Monsieur Agreste, I was more than a little confused when Adrien told me you wanted to speak with me.”

“I will get straight to the point Miss Dupain-Cheng, I was surprised when I did not see your name among the applicants for the internship with Gabriel. Forgive me if this is overstepping but, this seemed like something you would be interested in and I have to admit I did expect to see your name among the others. Adrien told me you were a fan.” Maybe he laid the charm on a bit thick but he was curious and he had the opportunity to get answers.

“Oh he did?” Miss Dupain-Cheng said, yes it was phrased as a question but Gabriel had a feeling it really wasn’t one. “Well since you were so honest with me, I will be honest with you Monsieur Agreste.”

“I did see you had opened your business up for an internship, and maybe once upon a time I would have been interested. Over the moon in fact, but to be frank I had no interest, have no interest and that’s why I never applied.” She stated like she hadn’t just thrown Gabriel for a damn loop and all with a sweet smile on her face.

“I’m…I’m sorry?”

“I mean no offense Sir,” that felt like a damn lie, “I had considered a career in fashion, working in a brand I mean, maybe even starting one myself but I moved on from that.”

Gabriel had to physically stop his jaw from dropping, all he could do was utter out, once again, “I’m sorry?”

“I thought I would be able to handle that kind of environment, and maybe in the future I’ll get back into it like I once was but yeah…I have to admit, fashion is no longer my number one passion. Don’t get me wrong, I still love it, still do it, but I don’t think it’s my future anymore.” Miss Dupain-Cheng admitted like she hadn't destroyed every single one of Gabriel’s plans for when she joined the company. Like she hadn’t just broken all his expectations in the worst way.

“I…I have to say Miss Dupain-Cheng you have surprised me. This was not what I had expected.”

“I’m sorry.” The worst part is he believed her.

“Can I ask why? Why you are no longer interested.” Gabriel clarified after he asked. He wanted answers. Why didn’t Adrien warn him?

At first Gabriel was afraid she wouldn’t answer, she just sat there with her lips pursed and eyebrows furrowed but finally she took a deep breath in and looked Gabriel straight in the eyes. “You’ve been nothing but polite Monsieur Agreste, and you checked in with me and I feel like I at least owe you this. To put it simply, I wanted to be happy. And if I stayed the way I was that would never have been possible. Fashion is an incredible thing, but it is also a highly competitive field that is as stressful as it is rewarding if you find the right place. I thought about it, more than anybody will ever know, but I thought and it’s not the right place for me. Not anymore. I had drive. I had passion. But the thing is, people see that and cling to it, and sooner rather than later you get burnt out.”

“I burnt out and it was the worst feeling in the world. It nearly akumatized me. There were people in my life, people who used me, maybe they did view me as a friend once but it stopped feeling like that when they asked me to make them things last minute, or say they were going to pay me but it wouldn’t be till later but they promised, or just downright expected to get things from me. The messed up part is I did it all. I wanted their friendship, I wanted their praise, I tricked myself into thinking they were giving me inspiration every time they asked for things, I thought their compliments were genuine with no double meaning and I let that drive me.” Gabriel could do nothing but listen in horror, what had happened to her? He had wanted her to become akumatized yes, but not at the cost of her potential.

“It became stressful, so stressful and the more it continued, the more I realized that that’s how the fashion industry is. No one is satisfied with one thing from you. They demand more things, better things. And I used to be able to rise to that challenge but I can’t anymore Monsieur Agreste. And it’s not just the demands and the stress and the challenges, I like being challenges, it’s the people. I thought I could handle the people.” Miss Dupain-Cheng chuckled roughly and shook her head.

“And as much as I want to sit here and say the only reason I passed up on the internship was because I don’t think I’m up to putting myself in the environment, I owe it to myself to be honest and I owe it to you since you were once my mentor whether you knew it or not. I used to buy your catalogs and whatever magazines you were featured in with whatever money I could save up. I passed not only because of the environment but because of your employees.”

There was no shame in her words, he could feel no anger despite them either. There was no heart-clenching sadness either, not like he expected, there was sadness but it was dim, like the leftover taste of a too-small piece of bittersweet chocolate. “My employees?”

“Yes. Lila Rossi and your son. I don’t know if you are aware or not Monsieur, but Lila is a liar. You may not believe me and frankly I don’t care if you do or not, but it’s the truth. She lies to be the center of attention and she lies to make others look bad and I am not so disillusioned that I will sit here and believe she is the only model capable of that level of self-centeredness. I would rather pull my hair out strand by strand than subject myself to that all for the sake of fashion. And your son used to be a friend. A good one. But he knows she is a liar and did nothing and I deserve better than that and I got better. A healthy workplace environment does not mean letting someone walk all over your employees and it also means your workers feel safe enough to bring their worries of such things forward which is something I don’t believe happens at Gabriel considering who you have representing your brand.” It was as though she was trying to offend him, Gabriel felt like he should be fuming and distantly he knew he would be later but all he could feel was a pit in his stomach growing bigger and bigger with every word.

“So thank you for thinking of me, but I will not be handing in an application now or for the foreseeable future. I have a new mentor, and I’m really happy where I am now but I thank you for the opportunity.” With that Miss Dupain-Cheng stood and gave Gabriel a wave before leaving him to sit there like a fool.

It would be an hour before everything hit him and he stood up in a rage, practically throwing his chair in the process. He vaguely recalled yelling at Nathalie to tell Adrien to come to his office. He was pacing when his son finally arrived and Gabriel had to take deep breaths to calm himself. “I don’t know what you and that class of fools did but you will fix this. I don’t care how but you will make Marinette Dupain-Cheng change her mind.”

“What? She…She didn’t apply?” Adrien gaped unattractively.

Gabriel sneered. “Of course she didn’t, would we be having this conversation if she did? Miss Dupain-Cheng has great potential in this field and I will not have her waste it because of silly teenage drama. So again, I don’t care how you do it, but you will convince her to take the internship.”

“Yes Father.”

“Good. Now leave me.” Gabriel felt like he had more pacing to do.

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#ml salt fic #adrien agreste salt #lila rossi salt #gabriel agreste salt #marinette deserves better #marinette gets better #marinette makes new friends #gabriel agreste #marinette dupain-cheng #replaced commission #goggles commission #goggles writes #miraculous ladybug #nathalie sancoeur

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goggles-mcgee · 2 years

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Too Late: Lila’s Mother

Latest Chapter in the story for @miner249er

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Summary: Her eyes had been opened but she wish they hadn’t.

Giada Rossi has gone through a lot in life and she had always said she would go through anything and do anything for her daughter. It was the same for any parent she was sure, and like any parent she had been convinced her daughter could do no wrong. Her little Delilah. She remembered the day she had found out she was pregnant had been the happiest day of her life, her and her at-the-time husband Matteo had been trying to conceive for years after their marriage, but things weren’t so easy for the couple. They tried and tried, went to doctors, everything they could. Giada had even feared that she had been unable to become pregnant. It had put a big strain on their marriage because Matteo had always wanted kids, he spoke about having a big family all the time when they were engaged. It got to the point where they were just having sex purely on a schedule to try and get pregnant, their was no passion, no…love like there had been in the beginning. She had even thought they might split up, but one day at work she had opened up her lunch and the smell nearly made her sick. At first she had been confused but she remembered all the signs of a pregnancy that the books and online mommy blogs had described and she had immediately gone to get a test. She cried when it was positive.

Her pregnancy wasn’t great, not that she thought it would be a walk in the park, but she hadn’t imagined it would have been as difficult as it had been. Both Matteo and herself had been so scared when she went into labor two months before she was supposed to. They worried what that would mean for their precious baby. Labor had been hell, it had been one big hazy, painful hell for Giada, but it was oh so worth it when she saw her baby girl for the first time. Of course even the birth had been something that hadn’t come normally. They had to name their little Delilah Gia Rossi when she was in an incubator instead of with her in Giada’s arms like she had imagined for months. The doctor had said that Delilah had an underdeveloped lung and that she had to be in the incubator until it was fully developed.

Giada and Matteo prayed and prayed that their little miracle would make it and when she did they cried. She was such a tiny little thing at first, Giada could hold her in one hand when feeding her if she wanted to. As Delilah grew, so did Giada and Matteo’s hope of a perfect family, sure she was a sick baby but she was a joy. Their joy. Giada would be the first to admit that they spoiled their little girl, especially after they found out that Giada couldn’t have any more kids. Everything was great and beautiful and her and Matteo’s marriage felt reborn, it was full of that ever-consuming love and sex was once more something enjoyable. Of course it didn’t happen as often as they would have liked given their child and her needs but they made it work. Giada couldn’t remember ever being so happy as she had been then at that moment in time when it was Delilah, Matteo and her against the world.

Things, however, didn’t last. Thinking back on the circumstances of her and Matteo’s divorce after everything she had learned recently, she had the strongest urge to reach out and apologize for never believing him. Things were so good up until Delilah had turned nine, she was at her fifth school after some incidents at the others and because of Matteo’s job. Matteo had started to become…wary of Delilah and what words fell from her mouth. The two butted heads constantly. Always arguing about telling the truth and honeyed words. At the time Giada had been convinced that Matteo was just stressed with work and that he was taking that stress out on them, because she knew that her little Gia wasn’t a liar. Sure there had been bullying accusations but it was Delilah who was getting bullied and those other kids who claimed her little baby was actually the bully were nothing more than troubled. Matteo hadn’t seen it that way. Not after Delilah’s third transfer.

No. He had been convinced that she was a troublemaker. That she was the bully and not the victim like she had sobbed to them every time there was an incident. It had only escalated from there and so had the fights on the matter. Giada just could not understand why her husband wouldn’t believe their daughter, it was like he couldn’t. Like he physically and mentally was incapable of doing so and Delilah noticed. She had always been an overly observant child, it made hiding her La Befana gifts hard; as well as the sweets. Delilah knew her father didn’t believe a word that came out of her mouth and it depressed her so. Giada could only do so much, could only provide so much attention and love when the only attention and love her baby wanted was her father’s. But it only got worse.

The shouting got louder. The words cut deeper and it felt like anything Giada did was useless. Matteo would get frustrated at her for being so easily manipulated while Delilah sobbed into her chest about her father’s anger. It all came to a head a couple of days after Delilah’s birthday, Matteo finally had a true day off from the Embassy same as Giada and of course Matteo and Delilah got into one of their little fights. Apparently one of her teacher’s had called Matteo to talk about Delilah’s missing assignments, ones she had told them she had done. Of course Giada believed her daughter because Delilah would ask her for help going over her homework so she knew she had done the work, even if there wasn’t much of it. When she had said that Matteo had looked like he had wanted to yell, scream, something other than the long sigh he had let out. He had gone on a rant about how ‘this was why he made sure the teachers called him’ and ‘how could she not see it’?

It was during this that Delilah had started to cry and cower behind her mother. She had been saying something repeatedly under her breath but Giada couldn’t hear her and listen to her daughter at the same time. That was when Delilah had seemed to snap. She curled into a little ball at Giada’s feet and yelled, “I’m sorry Babbo! Please, I’m sorry! I promise I did the work, I promise! I’m not lying so please don’t hit me again!” The silence. Oh how Giada remembered the silence that had followed that and her daughter’s whimpers. She remembered the numbness she had felt and the overwhelming fear and anger that followed. The fight after that had been astronomical, Giada had told Matteo she wanted a divorce and if he knew what was good for him he had better sign the papers and never come into their lives again. She had told him she was being merciful in not bringing him to court but he had only laughed and said he would have preferred they had gone to court but in the end he had signed the papers.

It was the last thing he ever said to her that was what haunted her till this day, till this very moment. It was right after the papers had been signed, all his things were moved out, the signing of the papers was to be the last time she saw him. It was with the last stroke of the pen that he finally looked up at her and said, “You better get that girl some help Giada. Sooner or later her lying with every breath she takes will come to bite you and her in the ass. This type of thing, Giada, it doesn't go away and she won’t grow out of it. You’re going to believe she’s your perfect little angel until consequences for her lies come knocking at the door. And you’re not going to like what they have to say.” After that, he had kept to his promise and left them alone, actually he had left Italy as a whole, apparently he had gotten an offer by another embassy to be the Italian ambassador. She never found out where, but it had been the hot gossip at work for a long time, too long.

That was when Giada had started looking at other embassies that needed a secretary, it wasn’t the high-profile job of an ambassador but it put bread on the table and it was what she was good at. The moves were good for her and Delilah and slowly they healed, but oh how Matteo’s words hung around her like a smell that wouldn’t go away. Especially now, because he was right and Giada should have listened. Maybe if she had and they had gotten Delilah the help she so desperately needed, then maybe she wouldn’t be in a Parisian hospital watching the slow rise and fall of her daughter’s machine aided breathing. She knew teenagers and practically everyone told lies, it’s a part of life, but she never imagined lies would have brought her to this moment in her life wondering if her child would wake up. Everything had changed once The Protector had surfaced, that was when everything had come to light and Giada wished she had still been in the dark.

It’s not easy to face reality especially when it was particularly against you, Giada thought as she looked over her daughter once more. She honestly didn’t know what she hoped for.

On one hand she desperately wanted her daughter to wake up, to be okay and to heal so she could answer every question her mother had running through her head at the moment. If Delilah woke up Giada vowed she would get her daughter the help that Matteo insisted she needed, the help that she now knew she needed. She just didn’t understand why her daughter would lie about so many things, why she felt the need to lie, the need to turn a whole class against one girl enough that that girl snapped. Thankfully, Giada knew how messed up it sounded, even just in her head, but thankfully Paris had Hawkmoth. Otherwise that little girl may have taken her own life and Giada didn’t know if she could live with herself if her daughter was the one responsible for that.

Heaven only knew if Delilah would have felt any guilt either way, she sure as hell didn’t seem remorseful knowing she caused the City’s worst akuma to date to form. If anything she had seemed pleased with herself and that, that’s what broke Giada. She had hoped beyond hope that Delilah just didn’t understand what she had done but when they had been watching the news Giada had seen it. She had seen that self-satisfied smirk her daughter wore before she schooled her look into one of fear. It was so fast, a blink-and-you-miss-it type of thing and it had made her feel like maybe she had hallucinated it due to the stress of the situation. Next thing everyone knew the news was reporting that the akuma victim, Marinette may have been Ladybug, who due to some extensive research Giada had done, was not as incompetent as Delilah had told her she was.

The research hadn’t made her feel any better because it meant she hadn’t been hallucinating. Her daughter wasn’t who she thought she was and Giada really didn’t know who she had been living with. She had been manipulated for years and she had had no idea. Delilah had always seemed so independent so Giada just placed her trust in her daughter, she now knew that was the wrong thing to do. Others would probably mock her, were probably mocking her for her stupidity but she had wanted to trust her daughter because really, they were all each other had. Even her parents had cut off contact with her because at the time Giada had believed they had been cruel to Delilah just like Matteo had supposedly been. So Giada had told them they would no longer visit unless they apologized to Delilah and owned up to what they had done, of course they had argued their innocence until they just stopped trying.

It hurt, it hurt because Giada lost them for nothing and she couldn’t even call them, or she could but there was a high possibility they wouldn’t answer and that would be more than her heart could take. Right now though she needed to talk to someone, anyone who didn’t look at her daughter in disgust and her in pity. She didn’t know what to do, her daughter laid before her on a hospital bed beaten and broken because of lies she told and the absolute craziness that Paris had become. It happened so fast. Giada had been ready, ready to confront Delilah with all her research as soon as her daughter had walked down from her room. She had hesitated when Delilah had kissed her cheek and said her usual morning greetings, a tear had fallen. Delilah had looked properly worried for her and that hurt because Giada had no idea if the worry was real.

She had opened her mouth to say something, anything but then their door was kicked down and people rushed in and it was all just motion. Hands were on her, holding her, a voice was soft, pitying, telling her she was a victim of the silver-tongued fox. They said it would all be over soon, that they were there for a higher purpose and that she would be free. Giada hadn’t understood but all she had done was struggle and scream for her daughter, her daughter who looked genuinely scared. She was made to watch as these people, The Followers she would later find out from the police, beat her daughter within an inch of her life. They used their fists, their feet, they used whatever objects in the home they could and just as fast as they had arrived they left. The strength in her legs had all but gone and Giada had crawled to her daughter who she couldn’t even recognize anymore and hastily called the cops.

Then they were here and the doctors were telling her most of her daughter’s bones were broken, some penetrated her organs and she had brain damage. Then came the announcement that Delilah was in a coma and that they weren’t sure if she would wake, that it would be a miracle if she did. She had been her little miracle so at first Giada had been certain Delilah would pull through and would wake, then she really processed everything and that certainty diminished. So she sat there thinking about the other hand, the other option for Delilah and arguably the most merciful. Of course Giada wanted her to wake but some part of her thought her daughter would be better off passing away. It was an awful ugly thought but it consumed her. Her little girl, no matter how mad she was, how disappointed and how horrified she was with her, she didn’t deserve this pain. If she woke she would be paralyzed for life, she would never be able to do anything for herself and it would be Giada taking care of her.

Giada didn’t know if she would have it in her to do so.

She also didn’t know if she had it in her to press the call button to the number she had gotten from her friend Theresa back in Italy, but Matteo deserved to know what happened to Delilah even if it was all over the news. She believed it was best to hear it from someone rather than to find out some third-party way. So with a heavy heart and small amount of confidence Giada pressed call.

It rang.

And rang.

Each ring made Giada’s already low confidence dwindle until she heard the tell-tale sound of a click. “Ciao. This is Matteo Baiamonte speaking.”

“Matteo. Cia-Ciao.”

“Giada.” The somewhat warm tone he had when answering the phone was all but gone. “How did you get this number? This is my personal number.”

“That’s beside the point Matteo, I…I have some bad news.”

A heavy sigh. “I know Giada. Bad news is the only news that travels fast, what I don’t understand is why you called me.”

“She’s your daughter Matteo.”

“Was. Both of you made that very clear when I was told to never contact you and you changed her last name-”

“She asked!”

“Because that makes it better? You always did what she asked like a good little fantoccia!”

He always knew what to say to cut her deep. “I didn’t call to fight Matteo!”

“Then what did you call for Giada?” He yelled, slightly hysterical. “If it was only to inform me of Delilah, a simple email would have sufficed but given you haven’t updated me on her medical history since I left I doubt this is what this call was really for.”

“If this was for sympathy,” She heard Matteo chuckle in disbelief. “You’ll get none from me. I warned you Giada. I warned you about that girl and now? Now you and her are facing the consequences.”

“Conseq-Matteo! You act as though Delilah deserved this! To be beaten within an inch of her life all because of some lies!”

“Porca miseria! Giada. What she did was more than lie. Delilah lied, she manipulated and she did it all without remorse. I feel some sympathy for her for the consequences she faced but I did tell you she would face them. I just never imagined they would be so pricey…I don’t know what you expect me to say Giada. I feel bad for the kid, I do but nothing more and I did not appreciate this call.”

“You deserved to be told.” Giada choked out over her tears.

“No I didn’t. I deserved to be left alone. I left you guys alone like I promised and now I ask you to give me the same courtesy Giada. I have a life, I have a family and I know that’s not news to you if you got your hands on my personal cell phone number. The point is, I moved on, and you need to move on from this to.”

“I don’t think I know how to Mat.” She answered honestly.

“Strength and Courage, Gia. Strength and Courage.”

The call ended without any goodbyes and that was just as well, because even with his harsh words, Matteo was still the man she knew. He still, in all his anger and frustration, gave her advice. Things were messy between them but even still after everything she and Delilah put him through he was willing to give her advice and call her the nickname she carried throughout her years. It felt like when they had been friends in the embassy and fought over something they both had different opinions on, but when she was stuck, Matteo always managed to give her advice and be her rock. So she wiped her face of any remaining tears and prepared to call her parents as many times as was necessary to get them to listen so she could apologize and maybe, just maybe they could mend their broken bond. Giada slipped her hand through Delilah’s unresponsive one and held it.

“Strength and Courage.” Giada echoed softly, she would get through this and when Delilah woke up they would get through this, so she pressed call.

Next Chapter

*La Befana-"The Good Witch" in Italy, on Jan. 6, Le Befana comes to the house and leaves gifts for children while also sweeping the floors of the household. For naughty children she stuffs their stockings with coal. It is said that her housework kept her from traveling with the Three Kings on the night they went in search for baby Jesus, or at least that's what it says according to the tale. It was later on that she went with a bag full of gifts for the newborn Jesus.

It's said that she sweeps the floor as a way to sweep away the problems of the previous year away and leave the family with a fresh start.

*Babbo- a more personal way to refer to your father in Italian

*Ciao- Hello

*Fantoccia- female puppet

*Porca miseria- literal translation is "pig misery" but it basically means "For God's sake/For Goodness' Sake"

*Strength and Courage- it's a reference to an Italian saying, "Forza e coraggio che la vita è un passaggio." meaning "Strength and courage because life is a passage."

#too late commission #googles writes #goggles commission #lila rossi salt #lila rossi's lies exposed #lila rossi's mother #lila rossi's mom #angst #aaaaaangst #not a lot of comfort #Lila's mom needs a hug okay?#a lot of hugs #ml salt fic #this is a healthy dose of salt and angst right?

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