Butterfly Delivery - Adrinette

Flap Toddler Reasons

A/n - I've realized a fact I've had in my head for a while that I never explained in story. It's been over a year and a half from the start of the story, so the characters really should have been moved up to the next class in school. My answer for this is that their grade has been elevated, but the school system (collège and lycée both) have opted to keep all the "infected" together and away from other students. They've also transferred Miss Bustier along with them as she understands their situation better than any other teacher, as well as fearing that a high percentage of parents of students in younger grades would now object to having their children put into Miss Bustier's class.

Thirteen months after Certified Baby

This would impress Bridgette for sure, maybe even Carl and Felix! Anima held her mother's hand in one hand and the ledge of a low shelf in the other, then she carefully placed one foot ahead of the other. Her maman moved along with her, but the shelf didn't; soon she had to scoot her hand along the shelf to keep her balance. When she got to the end of the shelf, she tried to lean on just Maman for support. Oh, poop! She wasn't strong enough. Walking like a big people would take more practice than expected.

Fourteen months after Certified Baby

Adrien tried to ignore the pesky kwami floating around his head. He'd given out enough cheese that day, and didn't need to dole out any more. In response to being ignored, Plagg was doing his best to be as annoying as possible; any reaction he could get would inevitably move him closer to his next piece of cheese. Adrien clamped his mouth shut, not wanting to give Plagg the satisfaction of knowing the kwami was getting under his skin - but it was getting to the point where he would have to say something. He considered how he could shut up the kwami and still stand a chance to win their standoff. It turned out he didn't need to say anything.

"Plagg!" Felix scolded the kwami.

"Did you hear that?" Adrien asked open mouthed.

"I sure did!" Plagg laughed. "His first word was my name, not yours, eat your heart out!"

Adrien didn't care. He was a proud papa. This was the biggest milestone yet. He needed to tell his father, needed to tell Marinette, needed to tell Nino, needed to tell everyone who would care.

"What was his first word? Papa? Noooo. Milk? No. It wasn't even cheese! What was it? Plagg!"

"Plagg!" Felix echoed again.

--

Fifteen months after Certified Baby

"I'm going to put you down, okay Felix?" Adrien asked.

"No!" The little boy scowled.

"Well, sorry, but I have to," Adrien chuckled. In the month since his first word, Felix had learned 'Papa' and 'no'. 'No' was used to express displeasure with 'Papa'. Adrien lowered his little boy to the floor, trying to get him to sit so that he in turn would be free to help his friends. Felix stubbornly kept his arms locked around Adrien's neck and braced his feet against the floor to resist being lowered any closer to the ground. Adrien peeled his son's hands off of his neck and straightened up. Felix stood there, glaring at his dad.

"Look at Felix!" Tikki exclaimed, "he's standing!

"But... not quite walking yet," Marinette amended. Felix had tried to follow Adrien and immediately fell on all fours.

"No, not yet."

--

Eighteen months after Certified Baby

"You're doing it now, Felix." Adrien held out his hands in encouragement to his little boy, who waddled forward unaided. Encouraged by the success of her peer, Bridgette picked herself up off the ground and tried to stand to her feet. She wobbled and fell to all fours, but determinedly got back up and toddled after. The two now official toddlers shrieked in celebration and hugged each other. In response, Adrien put his arm around Marinette, and the two celebrated in a quieter manner.

--

"Maman!" Bridgette begged Marinette's attention, trying to hand one of her toys to her mother.

Felix tilted his head to the side curiously; for the past months he'd been hearing Bridgette call Marinette this word, and everyone always seemed happy when she did it. Maybe he should give it a try? "Maman."

Marinette stopped and stared wide-eyed at the child. "What did he just say?"

Felix didn't get it. Marinette seemed so happy when Bridgette said it, but when he said it she turned red and even looked scared. What had he done wrong?

"Oh... he thinks he's supposed to call you..." Papa was turning red too, and he looked nervous.

"Papa? Maman?" Felix asked.

--

A few days later

"Bridgette, can you say 'Papa'?" Adrien asked. It was only fair, he rationalized. If his son was now going to insist on calling Marinette "Maman", then he should receive the equivalent honor from his girlfriend's daughter. He'd been working on teaching her for the past couple of days, but was careful to keep all of it behind Marinette's back.

"Adrien, what do you think you're doing?" This time it was Marinette who had come up behind Adrien's back.

"I uh, supposed I had better go..." Adrien scooped up Felix and hurried out of the room.

"Hey, what kind of ideas were you putting in her head?" Marinette called after him, beginning to laugh in spite of her embarrassment.

"Papa?" Bridgette asked once Adrien was gone.

"I hope you didn't give him the satisfaction of hearing you say that before I knew about this," Marinette told her child. "But if you want to call him Papa - and he seems to want you to - we can work on that."

--

Nineteen months after Certified Baby

"We're having her moved to a hospital for the treatment," Gabriel informed his son.

"Are you sure? She's been declared missing for this long, it will be hard to explain discovering her comatose body after all this time. Besides, I thought you didn't even want her in a hospital."

"The doctors won't be doing anything to her without the consent of family. We need her on standard life support for this; there's no way to administer the medicine to her while she's in her coffin. In the hospital, we'll be able to slip it down a feeding tube when no one's looking. Besides, the hospital will have people who know how to reacclimate someone who has been unconscious for three years."

"Okay," Adrien bounced nervously on his heels. He was going to get to see his mother again for the first time in years.