"Future Rewoven" Book 3 of "Secrets Unraveled" Trilogy |COMPLETED|

Chpt 49: 10 Years Later.

Adrien felt a little tug on his pant leg and looked down at the small black-haired, blue-eyed girl.

"Up?" the girl asked him, holding a star ornament up to him.

"You want me to lift you up so you can hang the star up high?" he asked her with a smile.  The girl nodded and raised her arms up while tightly gripping her ornament in one hand.  Adrien picked her up and lifted her towards the top of the Christmas tree.  She reached out her arm and slipped the hook over a branch before trying to squirm out of Adrien's hold.

"Whoa!  You have to wait until you're closer to the ground, Em!  You could hurt yourself!" he said as he placed her back on her feet.  She ignored him and ran back over to her grandmother's Christmas ornament chest to get another.

"Good job, Em!" said Marinette to her daughter.  "It looks so nice there at the top!" she said, walking over to Adrien where he stood by the tree and placing an arm around his waist.

Their daughter came toddling back with an armful of ornaments which she offered to her mom.  "Oh, you've chosen some of my favorites!" she said.  "You've got all the cute wool felt ones- the ladybug, the black cat, the fox, and the turtle."  Marinette took each one from her daughter as she said the corresponding animal name, looking at her husband and friends in turn.

Alya and Nino smiled at Marinette from where they were sitting on Tom and Sabine's couch.  They were always invited to celebrate Christmas Eve at Marinette's parents' house and this year they had their own family addition to celebrate with.  Alya lightly touched her fox necklace and looked down at the tiny baby girl sleeping in her arms.  They had been so lucky that the Miraculous Ladybugs had chosen to let them keep their memories of finding out about Ladybug and Cat Noir's secret identities and that the Guardian had let them keep their Miraculouses!  It had helped all four of them support each other in their normal lives, making covering for each other to go fight villains that much easier.

Once Em had deposited her first armful of ornaments with her mother, she raced back to the chest and started digging around again.  Adrien walked over to see what she was doing.

"What are you looking for?" he asked her as he peered over her head trying to see.

Em grabbed three more ornaments, turned around and handed them to her dad.

Adrien took them from her, remembering them with a smile.  "Oh.  These are the ones Nathalie gave you.  Do you remember this one?" he asked her, holding up a yellow haired angel.

The little girl shook her head.

"This is the one that looks just like your Grandmother Emilie.  We should definitely put that one on.  And then there is this butterfly and this peacock," he said, still amused that Nathalie gave them to his daughter.  As far as Adrien knew, Nathalie never got back her memories from the time after she first used the Peacock Miraculous, so she had no idea that Adrien knew that his father had been Hawk Moth and that she had been Mayura.  And, she didn't know that he was Cat Noir.  But, he liked the thought of putting these ornaments on the tree, so all of his family was here, too.  It had taken awhile, but eventually he was able to just focus on the few happy memories he had of his parents whenever he thought about them.  And he found that it was enough.

"What is Nathalie doing this Christmas?" asked Sabine.

"She needed to verify some details for the fashion show we're doing in a few months in Italy, so she decided to travel in person and then spend the holidays with some friends.  She'll be back at the beginning of the New Year," said Marinette.  She sat on the arm of the sofa and gazed down at the sleeping baby in Alya's arms.  Maybe this time next year that will be me, she thought, feeling just about ready to welcome someone new to their family.