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Reunion

Ladybug landed on her balcony and detransformed as she climbed through the hatch leading to her room. After plopping down on her bed, she buried her face into her pillow.

A few precious seconds ticked by before...

"Marinette! We're going to be late!" Tikki exclaimed, fluttering around.

An unintelligible mumble escaped from the pillow.

"Come on!" the kwami insisted. "We don't want to keep them waiting."

With a sigh, Marinette flipped over. "I know Tikki, I'm just exhausted."

"Are you still not sleeping well?"

"It's getting better. It's just not getting better fast enough."

"You need to relax, Marinette. You and Chat Noir already got six of the Miraculouses back. If this keeps up, you're going to have all of them before no time!"

"Yeah," she said. "We're doing great."

"Exactly! Now come on, let's go."

Marinette nodded and sat up. Then she made her way down the stairs to the floor of her bedroom and stopped to check her reflection in the mirror.

She looked tired. Which was understandable because she was tired. And not just in the physical sense of the word. She was tired mentally and emotionally too.

After taking a moment to try and smooth out her hair, Marinette shrugged at her reflection and accepted that that was going to be the best she could do. Then she clasped her purse closed after Tikki flew inside and went downstairs.

Going through the bakery, she grabbed the picnic basket off of the counter and some cookies for Tikki before leaving. Then she caught the bus to the train station.

Like most days, the station was bustling with people. Weaving her way through the crowd, Marinette found the track she was looking for. And not even a minute later, the train pulled up and stopped to let off its passengers.

The man and woman who climbed off waved as soon as they spotted her. Then they all stepped forward and exchanged hugs.

"How nice to see you again," Wang Fu said.

"It's so nice to see you Mast... uh, I mean Mister Fu," Marinette replied. "Thank you for coming to visit."

"It was no problem at all," Marianne said. "My love has been impatiently waiting to come to Paris again."

"Well, I had such a lovely visit last time. Paris is such a wonderful place, so beautiful and inspiring. Not to mention the wonderful people who call it home," he added with a smile to Marinette.

She smiled back.

Grabbing their things, the group left the station and walked to the nearest park. After eating a late lunch, Fu set up his easel to paint the landscape as the two others continued talking.

"How have you been holding up since last week?" Marianne asked gently. "We saw what happened and have been following the story on the news."

Marinette put her hands to her face. "I don't know, it's been so... overwhelming."

"That's understandable. You two are up against a daunting challenge. How's your lovely partner been holding up?"

"He's great. Luckily he's holding it together for the both of us."

Marianne smiled. "That's the wonderful thing about partnerships, there's always someone there to help carry the burden. No one can do it all on their own."