20 years ago Tom and Sabine had gotten married, with Tom's old friend/maid of honor Barbara present for the event. Tom and Barbara met in Paris, a few years before he had met Sabine, when she was visiting the city for the first time. They stayed in touch since then, even when Barbara moved to the sleepy town of Arcadia.

Three years later, Tom and Sabine went to Arcadia to celebrate Barbara's birthday, but after getting very drunk and stumbling home from the club where they'd been celebrating, all three woke up in bed together. After more than a little blushing and stuttering, they eventually just had to laugh about it together and mutually resolved to drink less in the future with no blame to go around.

Two months later, Barbara's positive pregnancy test complicated the situation..

Once again they talk things through and agree to be co-parents, with Tom being involved in the child's life as much as possible. Soon, Barbara gives birth to her and Tom's son, James Lake Jr. named after her dad. Setting up a system of visiting during the summer things were going good, and continued to be so when Sabine became pregnant a year after Jim had been born. Toddler Jim was ecstatic about becoming a big brother, even diligently carrying around a baby doll as practice for his baby sibling.

A week before Jim's second birthday, Marinette was born in Arcadia's hospital. As soon as Marinette was brought home, Jim immediately fell in love with his new little sister, up to the point where he slept in her crib during the remainder of Tom and Sabine's visit before going back to Paris. Since then, every summer Tom, Sabine and Marinette head over to Arcadia so the two siblings can spend time together, becoming thick as thieves. When they turned 8 and 6, they started video calling each other every day despite the time difference.

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Now at 15 and 13, the two video call each other at 12 pm, and 9 pm in their respective time zones; 9 pm in Paris, and noon in California for when Marinette is about to go to bed, and 9 pm in California and noon in Paris for when Jim is about to go to bed. Thanks to their video calls, both Jim and Marinette can speak French, and English, allowing them to communicate without problem. Jim was even teaching Marinette Spanish while he learns it in school so they can further their language skills.

Thanks to their dad's culinary skills, they quickly picked up their dad's talent for great cooking and sent each other cooked care packages after they mastered new recipes, making their sibling their official taste tester. As well as cooked care packages, Marinette also sends Jim–and Toby on occasion–handmade clothing for holidays, and spontaneous gifts to show her love.

Jim and Toby know of her dream of becoming a world-renowned fashion designer, and love to help her out by modeling the clothes she sends them around town, and at school, and when asked, they say with pride that Marinette made it. Due to Jim and Toby wearing her creations, she is well known in Arcadia, and gets a few paid commissions when she's in town, much to her joy to spread her brand around. Mary Wang even paid for a custom dress for a date with Tight Jeans Hank during the summer before the new school year...

This brings us to the start of their story. Jim had already started his school year a few weeks before Marinette, and it is now the start of the first day of school... when her life will be changed forever.