A Family Apart

Chapter 1

*Marinette's POV*

"Emma, Louis!" Marinette yelled out, waiting for her kids to get their bags ready. "I'm leaving!" Marinette headed towards her car and heard someone running towards her. Always works, Marinette thought with a smile.

"Mom," Emma said. "Yes, Emma?" Marinette asked. "Louis handcuffed himself to his bed, again," Emma said. "Why does he do that?" Marinette sighed, slowly walking towards the house, with Emma walking beside her.

"It's because he's still protesting about you know," Emma said, trying not to use the word that made her mother cry. "Okay," Marinette said and pulled out a copied key from her pocket.

Marinette opened the door to the house with her other hand and went to Louis's room. "Hi mom," Louis said, grinning. Marinette only sighed, "Louis, you try this every time and it never works," she said as she unlocked the handcuffs.

Louis looked at his now free hand and shrugged, "It couldn't hurt to try," he said as he picked up his travel bag and headed outside.

"When will he ever learn?" Marinette sighed, looking at her son's retreating form. Emma looked at her mom, "I think, never," she said, looking at the spot her brother had been earlier. 

*Adrien's POV*

Adrien looked out the window, waiting for his children to arrive, he tried not to think of his ex-wife, Was that what he called her now? He tried not to think about the divorce at all, it hurt too much to even look at a picture of the past.

Adrien saw a red car arrive. That's them, he thought as he looked at his children. It had been two weeks since they last came, and Adrien had something special planned for these two weeks.

Plagg flew to where Adrien was. "Got any Camembert?" Plagg asked, flying around the room aimlessly in search of Camembert. "Plagg!" Adrien yelled out, now away from his thoughts. "What?" Plagg asked, "When I gotta eat, I gotta eat," Adrien only sighed, "Louis and Emma are coming, RIGHT NOW," 

"Give me my Camembert first," Plagg whined. Adrien took out a piece of Camembert from his pocket and tossed it to Plagg. "Camembert!" Plagg said and ate the piece in one gulp. "Now go back to my room," Adrien said, looking out the window once more, seeing his children walking towards the door.

Plagg flew back to Adrien's room just as Adrien opened the door. "Hi, Dad," Emma and Louis both said in chorus. "Hi you two," Adrien said, smiling as he ruffled Louis's hair. Adrien looked at Emma, who had her hair supported in pigtails and tried not to pay attention to the hairstyle.

"Come on in you two," He said with a smile, "I've got a surprise planned for this week," Adrien then looked at Louis's wrist and frowned. "Louis, what in the world happened to your wrist?"

Louis looked at the ground, suddenly interested in his feet. "He handcuffed himself to his bed for like the tenth time," Emma piped up. Adrien raised a brow, he never even knew this had ever happened before, had he been this much of a terrible dad?

Emma looked over at him, probably wondering what he was thinking about. "Oh yeah, Dad here's some freshly baked croissants I made," Emma said, proudly holding a box of croissants. "Thanks, Emma, you know how much I like croissants," Adrien said.

Adrien bit into the croissant, chewing on it slowly, it was burnt and tasted horrible and Adrien nose wrinkled as he swallowed the piece. Emma gasped looking at her father's face, "But-but that must be one of the croissants I had burnt! I made a perfect batch right after!" 

Louis snickered and realization hit Emma as she punched him in the shoulder. "You switched my croissants with the burnt ones didn't you"?" Emma said, accusingly. 

"That's because you told Dad about me handcuffing myself to my bed," Louis said, rubbing the spot on his arm where Emma punched him. 

"But that happened later!" she exclaimed. Louis looked at her and smiled, "I actually predicted that he would notice this time and that you would tell him what happened," 

"But I worked so hard on those croissants!" Emma exclaimed. "I put the burnt one on the top and that's the only burnt one there was in the box," Louis said, smiling. "I can't stand you!" Emma exclaimed.

"Stop arguing," Adrien said, as he took another croissant and bit a piece. "These taste great, Emma," he said, chewing. "Yes, they're the best!" Emma said, "Right?" 

Adrien looked at Emma, "Yup, these are the best croissants I've ever eaten!" Adrien said. Stop lying, said a voice in the back of his head, You know that these are not the best croissants you've ever eaten, no croissant would ever be better than— 

"Oh shut up," Adrien mumbled. "What did you say, Dad?" Emma asked, looking at Adrien. "I said you can go to your rooms," Adrien said, lying. Louis walked over to his room and so did Emma. Adrien looked at their retreating forms to see Emma's pigtails. 

Oh, how those pigtails bothered him so much. Why did the main people in his life have to wear pigtails? Adrien thought. There was Emma, Marinette, and Ladybug. All people he loved. 

Speaking of Ladybug, whatever happened to her? I mean I hadn't seen her since I got married, I hope she's alright now, Adrien thought, thinking about his ex-partner. If only I could see her once more, if only, Adrien's thoughts trailed off as he stared into the distance, remembering the good old times.