It takes Adrien a bit of hesitation before he finally works up the courage to knock on the house door.
He hadn't seen her in maybe five months? Which means he hasn't seen his daughter in five months, either. Work was hard, but he should never go so long without seeing them. They've talked but he'd always say he'd be back soon; five months later isn't soon.
Finally, who he expected, his ex-wife opens the door with a friendly smile, though it drops once she gets the sight of him. "Finally decided to drop by?"
He gives a small smile and shrugs. "Hey, I'm in the middle of a big case. I came back here for my three nights I don't travel."
"Not an excuse," she says, raising an eyebrow and crossing her arms. He shrugs, making her roll her eyes and step aside, letting Plagg fly out of his collar. "This is exactly why we divorced."
He comes inside and waves her off. "Yeah, yeah," he steps inside and looks around the comfy living room. "Where's Em?"
"It's eleven o'clock at night, Adrien," Tikki said with a slight smile, giggling as Marinette gives him a look. Marinette's wearing a cotton nightgown with black spots scattered on the red material, and he can't deny that it suits her so well.
Even if his father had retired as Shadow Moth a decade ago, he couldn't help but miss when they ran over rooftops and been teenagers stupidly in love.
He missed when life was.. simpler, per se.
"Oh, right," he murmurs stupidly. He pulls off his jacket and places it on the arm of the single sofa before walking through the apartment. "It smells nice. Baking sweets?"
"Yeah. Bakery's business has been slow so I'm trying to bake up a sort of 'fall' cookie or something."
The both of them walk into the kitchen and Adrien's eyes widen in amazement at all of the cookies and small cakes and cupcakes and... wow.
Marinette had her own bakery: Treat Your Sweet. It used to be her parents' before they passed, but now it's all hers. With her own money, and with Adrien's help, she's made it the bakery she's always wanted. Even if they're no longer together, Adrien would never take away anything he paid for in her shop. They had a mutual divorce, and his daughter loved the bakery, so he wouldn't hurt his girls.
"Here," Marinette speaks, walking over to the mixer and dipping her finger in. She brings it out and holds it to him. "Try this. You too, Plagg."
They follows her route and leans down to suck the frosting off of her finger. He leans back up and raises an eyebrow as he smacks his tongue, trying to get a taste.
Plagg groans happily. "Mmm. That's good. What's that? Pumpkin spice?"
"Pumpkin and cinnamon," she grins, reaching over the rack and grabbing a cookie. She hands it to Adrien. "Okay, try that, too."
He bites into it without a second guess and instantly moans in delight. "What the fuck, Marinette. This is delicious. What's this? The cinnamon pumpkin stuff?"
"Carrot cake mix," she grins, leaning up to kiss his cheek. "You came by at just the right time. I have to present these tomorrow and I didn't know if they were okay. Em loves them but what sugar doesn't that girl love?"
Adrien grabs another cookie and leans on the counter as he says, "You know, my client's hosting an Autumn party in a couple of weeks. They haven't found anyone to make desserts yet...
She gapes. "You'd let me cater at the party? But you don't like mixing work with pleasure-"
"Hey, it's not like you make disgusting desserts and I'm trying to promote you. Your work deserves to be noticed, so I want you to promote your bakery at my party. Business is slow, as you said. anyway."
"Thank you!" Marinette squeals, throwing her arms around her ex- husband.
Adrien chuckles and rubs her back smoothly. "Just let me know everything you need before next week is over."
Marinette pulls away and pecks the corner of his lips. She moves out of his embrace and smiles brightly. "So, are you crashing here tonight or going back to your place?"
"I was gonna head back after seeing you guys, but I didn't realize the time. I think I'm gonna crash until morning." Adrien decides, grabbing a cupcake from the counter on a place. "What are these?"
Marinette looks away from clearing the counter island to look at the cupcake. "Oh..... uh, strawberry with mint frosting."
He smirks and he crosses his arms with an amused look on his face. "Sounds familiar."
Her eyes squinted and all he thinks is Ladybug. "Don't start."
"You recreated our wedding cake."
"No. I just used the same flavours."
Adrien grins at her. "Same difference, Ms. Agreste," Marinette groans, which makes him even more prideful. "You miss me."
Marinette removes the mixer attachment with a smirk as she looks at him. "You're right. I do miss you." His eyes lit up but his lips part as she walks over to the sink. "But I don't want you back, either."
"Oh. Low burn."
She laughs at him and throws him a spoon. "Lick that off and load the dishwasher, please. I have to use the restroom." Marinette shakes her head at his whistle as she walks down the hall.
-----
"Mommy, can we have pancakes for breakfast?" Emma speaks while she wipes the sleep out of her eyes. The skin under her eyes is lightly reddened from the lack of sleep but she still smiles brightly at her mother.
Marinette looks up from writing down an address and smiles at her daughter. "Morning, mon amour. What are you doing up so early? It's only five o'clock."
"I could ask you the same," a groggy voice says as they enter the kitchen. "You said you were going to sleep."
Em turns around and grins brightly at her father. "Daddy!" She squeals and reaches her arms up to him.
He grins and lifts her into the sky, making her giggle. He pulls her into a tight embrace after and peppers her face with kisses. "Hey, Princess. I'm sorry I haven't seen you in so long."
"You missed lots, Daddy! Look!" She opens her mouth and point to her missing tooth. "My tooth tame out!"
Adrien grins and his eyes widen in amusement. "Wow! Did the tooth fairy come?"
She nods and grins. "She gave me five bucks!"
"Wow, that's a lot for a four year old," he says, glancing at Marinette for a moment. She shrugs and giggles softly. "What'd you spend it on?"
"Lots of candy!
"Of course," Adrien laughs before setting her down once more. "What are doing up so early, Princess?"
"I had to pee," she says as she runs to the kitchen. She jumps and points to the ladybug spotted cookie jar on the counter. "Can I have a cookie?"
"Su.." Adrien starts, but sees Marinette's raised eyebrow and changes his response. "..rely not right now.
Marinette sighs and stands up from her spot. "It's five in the morning, baby. No sweets before breakfast."
She pouts but it quickly vanishes. "Can we have pancakes for breakfast!" She exclaims, bouncing.
"Aw, baby, I don't feel like cooking breakfast today," Marinette sighs and grabs her from the ground. "How about Fruit Loops instead?"
"I.. could make breakfast. I've been practicing, you know. Living by myself, and all." Adrien suggests, scratching the back of his neck.
When they were married, Adrien would attempt to make her breakfast and dinner all of the time. He had grown from wealth, so he always had someone to do something for him. When he met Marinette, she pulled him from that mentality.
But he could not cook to save his life.
He burnt a sandwich (a sandwich!) and Marinette will never know how he did such to this day.
"I'd rather you not."
He pouted. "Seriously! I've gotten better. I even made pasta once and it wasn't so bad."
Marinette raises an eyebrow before sighing and giving in. "Alright. But anything you burn, you replace."
Adrien grins and gets started on their breakfast.
About thirty minutes later, Em's snuggled in her mother's lap while they wait for breakfast, Tikki squished in her hands.
Just as Marinette is starting to doze off, Adrien yells, "Pancakes!"
Emma squeals as she jumps out of Marinette's lap, oblivious to Tikki's gasps for air, and run to the kitchen. Marinette sighs and follows, stretching on her way. Her eyebrow irks as he actually sets good-looking pancakes on the table.
He glances up at her and grins, then goes to set Em in her seat. "So... how'd I do?"
"Better than expected," she says, smiling as Em grabs a pancake from the middle and stuffs in her mouth. "Slow down, baby."
"These are dood!" She speaks with a mouthful, now holding a groaning Plagg in her left hand.
Marinette laughs and shakes her head.
Adrien sits down and smirks at her., his green eyes sparkling "Aren't you gone sit and try 'em?"
Marinette shakes her head and goes behind him to ruffle his head. "I gotta get ready for work." Although, she does grab a pancake from the middle, and continues on her way.
Adrien is slightly deflated, wanting to eat breakfast with both his girls, but he's quickly lightened up when Em asks him to break up her pancakes.
-----
"She's gonna be upset when she doesn't see you in the morning," Marinette whispers as they close the door to the girl's bedroom. "Like, snot and tears upset."
He sighs and runs his hand through his hair. "I know. I'm sorry. When I accepted this case, I completely forgot to include visits home in the contract."
"It's fine," she shrugs and begins walking down the hall. "But when is the next time you'll see her?"
"Uh Christmas. or maybe January first?" Adrien speaks, squeezing his eyes shut. He knew that was terrible. "I could try to find time before then."
Marinette's eyes droop and she turns around to look at him. "You're gonna miss Thanksgiving and Christmas? Not to forgot her birthday is December 2nd."
Adrien slaps his head. "Fuck," he murmurs, running his hands through his hair and pull at the ends. "I totally forgot about Thanksgiving and her birthday."
Marinette scoffs and shakes her head. "Great. Now I'm gonna have to think of some bullshit lie and spoil her already-too-spoiled ass because of your mistake."
Adrien frowns as she struts down the hall. He jogs to catch up with her and grabs her waist. "Marinette, Marinette, Marinette," he says repeatedly, shaking his head. "I'm sorry, okay? I'll try to be here, I swear."
She moves his hands and shakes her head. "That's not the point, Adrien! Your father let you decide whether or not you wanted to become a travel attorney, and you said yes! Now you've missed her first day of school, losing her first tooth, writing her name, and screaming the freaking ABC song for a whole week! Now, you're gonna miss Halloween, Thanksgiving, their birthday, and probably Christmas! It's like you've forgotten us, I mean, her!"
Adrien frowns and his eyes droop. "I... didn't realize that. But Marinette, you can't have me choose between you guys and my career right now, because you know I'd always pick you all, but-
"I'm not telling you to quit your job, but Adrien, I feel like a single parent. Even though I am one, I've never felt like it because you've always been here, even while we're not together. I feel like you could do so much more for Emma by just being here for her more."
Adrien sighs and comes forward to engulf her once more. "I promise, Marinette, to you and Emma, that I will do my very best to be here. I swear I will "
Marinette returns the hug and nods in his shoulder. "Alright," she sighs, pulling away from him. But she eyes revert back to his neck and she irks an eyebrow. "Hickey?"
Adrien looks downs and tries to sees the mark, but can't see it. He shrugs. "Last time I had sex with a woman was sixteen months ago."
"We divorced a year ago."
Adrien shrugs his eyebrows and gives her a smirk. "Exactly," he says and kisses the spot between her shoulder and neck. "Nice to see you're counting."
"So are you."
"You're the one who wanted the divorce."
"You signed the papers happily."
"Correction: I just signed the papers. Why would I be happy to end my marriage with the love of my life? I wanted you happy, and I didn't want my girls to be stuck in some mess, so I just signed them. Easy."
Marinette raises an eyebrow, to which he shrugs at and says, "You girls are my world. I'd do anything to have you all happy.
Marinette's eyes soften and she smiles slightly. They walk to the front door and Marinette opens it for him and leans on the doorframe as he leaves. "Hey, Adrien?"
He turns around from unlocking his car and hops back up the one step he went down. "What's up?"
"If..... If..." she takes a deep breath and looks up at him, her face almost shy. "If you pull through with seeing Em, I... I will, maybe, consider us with a second chance. Of marriage, and all."
Adrien's eyes widen slightly. "Are-Are you serious?"
Marinette bites her lip and nods. "I miss you."
He grins and leans forward to kiss her dead on the lips for moment. She's shocked and barely gets a chance to respond before he exclaims in happiness and jogs to his car. "I'm gonna be married again!"
She laughs and watches him practically cheer as he drives off.
-----
The doorbell rings and Marinette sighs from trying to fix her heel.
"I'll get it!" Em squeals.
"Alrigh- wait, no!" Marinette says, suddenly being able to slide the heel on and hurrying to the door.
Before she gets there, there's a squeal and Marinette panics for one second that her baby was in danger before she gets the slight of Adrien swinging Em around. Her eyes widen.
"Adrien?"
He looks at the living room entrance to see his potential wife and grins. "I might've convinced my clients to let me have a couple days off."
She smiles and comes to him a hug. "I'm so nervous."
He uses one arm to hold their daughter and the other rest of her hip. "They'll love everything. I'm sure."
Em wiggles from Adrien's grasp. "Can we go now? I wanna go to the party!"
The both of them laugh and Adrien grins. "You wanna ride in the limo?"
She smiles largely and nods. "Yeah!"
"Go get your jacket and we'll go."
"Get your black jean jacket, baby!" Marinette calls as her daughter is bouncing up the stairs.
Adrien clasps his hands together on her hip as he gets closer to her. "You know she's gonna grab any jacket, right?"
"Of course I do," she chuckles. "But I'll just use it as a reason as to why she can't get something later on."
Adrien grins and moves his hands... lower, causing her to gasp and push him away, though she can't help but laugh.
She's wearing a silky red dress that fits each and every one of her curves. A diamond pendant rests on a gold chain that she had wrapped around her neck. The diamond pendant he'd given her the night they'd gotten engaged.
Could you blame him if he got a bit covetous?
"So we never actually discussed our last few words said to each other last time I was here." Marinette's cheeks blush, to which he smiles. "I miss making you red all over."
She gapes and looks up at him, only his eyes are filled with hunger and admiration. Two things she never thought could play off in someone. "I miss you making me red."
He grins and is about to engulf her lips into a kiss, but they're interrupted by Emma's groans and stomping in front of them.
"Stop kissing! We needs to go!"
Marinette rolls her eyes and moves out of Adrien's embrace to grab her jacket and coat. "You are such a cockblock."
Em does nothing but giggle and blow a raspberry at her, for that's all Adrien and Marinette have called her throughout the years.
Adrien laughs and reaches his hand out for Emma to take it. "C'mon, princess."
-----
Emma stays with Adrien the entire night, since Marinette needed to promote her bakery and Emma just wanted to be with her father while he socialized with everyone.
The three of them came in together and took a few pictures, and Adrien already knows his father will be both pleased, yet irritated with the pictures.
It's around nine at night when Emma starts to get grumpy from walking and tired from being up during her bedtime. Adrien has to sit down from socializing and let her watch videos on his phone while she's cuddled in the side of him. He lets a few people take pictures, but ushers them away after some time when he feels his daughter wiping her eyes on his sweater from the flashes.
"You guys okay?" A voice asks.
The both of them look up to see Marinette. She sits on the side of Emma and the little girl quickly switches from playing on her dad's phone to laying on her mother's lap. Marinette smiles and massages her hair, soothing her to sleep.
"I guess she'll always need the comfort of her mom, huh?" Adrien smiles, putting his hands in his suit's pockets then looking at her.
Marinette nods and gives a small smile. "She's just a little more used to me and how I live more than all of this"
Adrien nods, understanding. "So how'd the promoting go?"
"I got so many peoples numbers. Like, I'm gonna be shipping a batch of cupcakes over to Cali soon for a birthday, and my emails going so crazy that my phone has crashed twice. I can only imagine how working tomorrow is gonna be. Thank you, Adrien."
"You deserve it," he grins, nodding. He looks around and sees the venue is almost empty. "You wanna head out?"
Marinette lifts Em into her embrace and nods. "Yeah, come on."
-----
"Are you asleep?" Adrien whispers while she's basically in his lap and head in his shoulder while they're on the couch just watching some movie.
She shakes her head and looking up at him. "What?"
He looks at her and opens his mouth, but closes it back. He does this once more before huffing and squeezing his eyes shut.
Marinette hadn't seen him struggle to say some for a while. She sits up and turns in his lap, her legs on each side of him. "What's up? You can talk to me."
He sighs and stares at her for moment before he just gets this lovestruck look as he says, "I love you."
She is shocked for moment, although she doesn't know why; she has a kid with this man. But she smiles and leans forward to kiss his lips.
It's meant to be quick, maybe just thirty seconds long. But Adrien had other plans. He grabs her small waist and pulls her even closer to him. Marinette does gasp when she feels his tongue at hers, but doesn't stop the kiss. He could tell they both missed this.
Something was gonna happen tonight. He would make sure of it.
-----
"It feels like I just had a one night stand," Marinette says as she leans on the doorframe of the front door, sleep still evident in her voice and face. "You're leaving at five in the morning with all of your stuff"
He laughs. "I only brought a backpack.
"Luggage is luggage."
He grins and bites his lip. "So.... was last night a confirmation that I can propose to you again soon?"
She blushes but shakes her head. "What happened last night. wasn't supposed to happen, really. But I don't regret it. Our deal still is if you can keep up with visiting, I'll consider it. I'll make a decision during Christmas."
Adrien nods understandingly. "How am I doing so far?"
Marinette smiles and steps out of her house, not even caring she was only in his huge sweater from last night. She steps in front of him and gets on her tiptoes to kiss his lips gently. He responds just as soft and gently grabs hold on her waist with one hand to balance her.
She detaches their lips and gives a small smile. "Maybe you could take me and your daughter on a date next time you're here."
Adrien gives a playful exhausted look. "Ew. We're going back to the dating stage? What do I call you? My girlfriend?"
"What? We've been on dates while we were married!"
"But not once did you have to suggest it. I would've just taken us or vice versa."
Marinette laughs and leans up to peck his lips once more. "Maybe it'll be a good start instead of just hopping back into marriage."
Adrien grins. "Okay, fine," he agrees. He leans down to kiss her, only for them to hear pattling feet across the wooden floors. He immediately groans and looks into the house to see his daughter coming their way. "Princess, I love you, but you are such a cockblock."
Emma runs into his arms and hugs him tightly with a giggle. "Bye, daddy."
He lifts her and kisses her face all over, resulting in her giggling all too loud for it to be five in the morning. He kisses her forehead last. "Bye, Princess. Love you. I'll be back for Turkey Day, alright?"
She nods and kisses his cheek before she's handed to Marinette. Adrien smirks and leans down to grab Marinette under her thighs and lifts her with Emma in her hands. Marinette squeals, while Em laughs.
He puts them down inside the house and grins. "You both don't need to be outside in this weather." Adrien kisses Em's cheek and Marinette's lips once more before he waves once more and heads to his car. "I'll call before my show at seven tonight."
"Bye, daddy!"
He grins. "Bye, Princess!"
-----
"Uh, look... I can't come back until after Thanksgiving." Adrien speaks into the camera with a sigh. The bags under his eyes are significantly darker and Marinette can't help but sympathize with him. "I've tried everything, seriously. But they won't let me off for Thanksgiving and Emma birthday. Something about 'being present' for the final court meetings."
She frowns and shakes her head. "That's.... not gonna work. You can't miss Thanksgiving and her birthday, Adrien. She's been so excited to see you."
"Maybe I could make it up to her the day after Thanksgiving and after her birthday?"
"The Thanksgiving might work, but you already know she'll want you here on her birthday actual date."
Adrien groans. "Fuck. I'm gonna lose my chance of getting you back and my daughter's gonna fucking hate me. Great."
"Adrien.."
He shakes his head. "I'll call you guys later."
-----
As expected, the Thanksgiving deed worked. But on her birthday, when it's 3 in the afternoon, she doesn't want any cookies, any cake, any presents, nothing. She only wants her father.
Eventually, after they've gone through almost a whole birthday party with her not even smiling, Marinette gives up too and asks everyone who came to her birthday to leave and that she was sorry.
"You wanna FaceTime him?" Marinette asks, but the little girl only shakes her head.
Marinette sighs. "Baby, he couldn't make it. I'm sad, too. This is why Daddy and I aren't together anymore. He put his schedules over us or didn't handle it right. He still loves you, though. Lots and lots."
Emma looks up at her mom from the couch and frowns. Her face starts to scrunch up before she starting crying softly.
Marinette immediately comes to comfort her and hug her tightly. "Aw, baby, birthday girls aren't supposed to cry."
"I want daddy..." Em sniffs and wipes her eyes. "He-He said he'd be here."
"And I don't break my promises, Princess."
Marinette and Emma quickly whip around the sound of a familiar voice. Emma grins and moves from Marinette's embrace to run towards him. He only takes two steps to meet her halfway and uplifts her body and hugs her tightly.
"I'm sorry, Princess. I see I missed the party."
"It's okay! I didn't do anything because I missed you!"
Adrien grins and kisses her cheek. "Change out of your princess outfit and put on some nice clothes. Hurry up."
Adrien smiles as she goes to her room and turns to a still skeptical looking Marinette. "What?"
"How the hell did you get your client to let you leave early? We had to cut our fucking honeymoon short because you had a 'crucial' case." Marinette stands and leans on her hip.
He smirks, taking off his jacket. "I told Frann if she wanted to me to continue to defend her, they'd have to cancel or reschedule the hearing. She made the smart decision and rescheduled, so here I am."
Marinette grins and comes forward to engulf his lips in a blissful kiss, to which he happily responds to. Adrien pulls away and pushes her away from him.
"You go change too. Hurry up."
She smiles and runs back towards him to kiss his lips, only for a moment, then continues on her way.
-----
Marinette's sighs and leans against the glass as she waits for customers to swarm in. She hadn't been feeling good lately, and today especially isn't her day.
An employee of Marinette's sees her boss and goes to hold her back.
"Marinette, are you okay?"
Marinette nods and takes a few deep breaths. Only, she starts to feel more nauseous and dizzy like she felt this morning. She holds her head and moans in pain. "Shit, I feel lightheaded."
The worker quickly assists Marinette in taking a seat in the back where there's a comfy chair and pulls out her phone. "I'm gonna call 112.."
The voice fades out of Marinette's mind and her eyelids close.
-----
She's awakened to the sound of a beating machine.
Her eyes don't open, but she feels the breathing mask on her face. When she does open her eyes, the lights hit her harshly and she groans then covers her eyes.
There's a gasp.
"Mommy! Daddy, mommy moved!"
In a few seconds, there's rattling feet and a little girl engulfing her side. "Mommy, Mommy, Mommy," Emma says and shakes her side. "Are you okay?"
Marinette moves her arms to her side to push herself up. She takes off the mask and looks at her daughter and gives her a tight hug. "I'm fine, baby."
Adrien steps in front of the bed and takes a seat on the edge. He sighs as he looks at her. "You want me to tell you the news or call the doctor in here to tell you?"
She raises an eyebrow. "News?"
"You didn't fall out for no reason, Marinette."
Marinette's eyes furrows together. His tone scared her a bit. He hadn't even given her a hug or kiss and his eyes were barely relieved.
"I.. wanna hear it from the doctor." Adrien nods and comes closer, only to push the button on the side of her.
It feels like a year of silence when it's only been three minutes for the doctor to show up. He comes in with a friendly smile, but Marinette is too spooked to take it genuine.
He looks at his clipboard. "Ah, Ms. Dupain-Cheng-Agreste, it is? May I call you Ms. Dupain-Cheng?" Marinette nods and so he continues. "There's nothing wrong with you, Ms. Dupain-Cheng, but you fainted because of the overwhelming feeling of nausea and hormones
Marinette raises an eyebrow. "Hormones? But I'm not on my period or close to it."
"'And don't expect it anytime soon," he chuckles and comes closer to hand her the clipboard containing her information. "When we didn't find any type of illness or such in your body, we took a swab and tests it. One of the swabs led to us giving you a pregnancy scan."
Marinette's eyes immediately widen and dart to the large man. "Wait, pregnancy scan?"
The doctor nods with a soft smile. "Nine weeks. You are pregnant. For your situation, we offer free ultrasounds. Would you want to take one?"
Marinette smiles a bit and nods. "Of course."
He returns the smiles and says he'll have her moved to the more appropriate room for such in a little while.
"What's pregnancy?" Emma asks, staring up at Marinette with her hazel eves.
"It means you're gonna be having a little sister or brother soon," she grins, kissing her head. She looks over at Adrien and still sees him displeased. "Why aren't you happy?"
"How can I be? Marinette, this is gonna be a mess in the media. Everyone's gonna assume the divorce was a scandal because we.. did the deed before we got back together and you're two months pregnant before we're back together. I'm gonna be everywhere and they're not gonna leave us, our family, alone."
Marinette gets angry at that. "Adrien, I'm pregnant. We're having another child. In seven months. You're not happy about our baby because of your fucking job? Wow, alright."
"That's not what I meant-
"It's exactly what you meant," Marinette spats while she gets up from her place in the bed. She grabs a slightly scared Emma to set her on the ground and grabs her hand. "Tell them I'll make another appointment. I'm signing out.
"Marinette, I-"
"Whatever, Adrien."
-----
"Baby," Marinette giggles, watching her stamp the cookie cutter everywhere across the dough. "That's not how it works."
She sticks out her tongue at her mother. "You said I could do it anyway I want."
Marinette giggles and kisses her cheek while she begins to fix the dough pieces. "You're so silly."
"Is Daddy coming?" Em asks, grabbing the gingerbread cutter.
Marinette bites her lip. She and Adrien hadn't talked in a week now. He's been trying to get in contact, but she's been ignoring him. His attitude towards the news really hurt and upset her.
There wasn't an ounce of happiness in his voice.
"Uh.... I don't know, baby. Wanna call him?" Marinette asks. She wouldn't ever stop Emma from talking or seeing Adrien, no matter how mad she was at him.
Em shakes her head and puts the cookie on the sheet. "He made you mad at the hospital," she speaks, grabbing more dough. "He gots to say sorry to you, like I say sorry when I make people mad."
Marinette smiles and leans over to pepper her daughter's face with kisses. "I love you, baby."
Em giggles while grabbing the snowflake cutter. "Love you, too, Mommy."
-----
One thing that sucked about having Adrien as her dad, is that Em was exposed around adults more. So her years of believing in Santa were cut short from snobs not being able to respect their kids.
Last year, some lady had directly told her Santa wasn't real while Adrien was talking with another person and it was snot and tears and Adrien couldn't take her to events without Marinette anymore.
But their Christmas morning is mostly chill. Emma gets up early in the morning and still drags Marinette out of bed. Even though Marinette doses off once more on the couch while she opens gifts, it's alright.
She wakes up about thirty minutes later and sees Em giggling with a screen projector. Marinette smiles and croaks, "You like your presents?"
Emma nods and grins happily. "I like the camera and this thingy the mostest!"
Marinette laughs and gets up to make some coffee and hot chocolate for them both. Only, there's a ring of the doorbell. She goes to the door instead, truthfully expect people asking for donations, but instead she gets nothing.
Marinette raises an eyebrow but there's a sound of someone clearing their throat and Marinette looks down, eyes widening when she sees Adrien down on one knee in the snow. He's covered in snow and Plagg's sitting on his gray hat, but his black suit and soft smile are the last factor that cause tears to fall on her cheeks.
"Adri-"
"Look, I know I pissed you off last week, and I'm sorry. I was being selfish and was focusing on the wrong thing. But I am really happy we're bringing in another child. I wouldn't turn back time and stop that night from happening if I could. I love you, and Em, and the baby we're having. Really, I am sorry, Marinette."
Em cheers in the background. "He said sorry, mommy!" Marinette giggles and Adrien chuckles. He goes in his coat pocket and pulls out a ring. It's silver with a ruby inside and Marinette sucks in a breath; overwhelmed by its beauty.
"Adrien, you didn't have to get me a new ring. We could've-"
"I want a new start with you. With us. Our last marriage was ruined by me; you can say it was both of us, but I know I was putting my career over you guys for a while. And I'm sorry," he looks behind her and looks at Emma. "You too, Pumpkin. I'm sorry. I will never do that again."
"I forgive you!" She squeals and runs towards him. Adrien's eyes widen slightly, but he catches her and places her on his knee so she won't be in the snow.
Marinette giggles and shakes her head. "Just ask the question before my baby gets sick."
Adrien grins and grabs her hand. "Marinette Dupain-Cheng, will you marry me again?"
She nods and allows him to slip the ring on to his finger. He stands with Em in his arm and kisses Marinette's lips. She smiles and responds, but only for a moment. After she pulls away, she grabs Emma from his embrace and goes back inside the house. "I hope you've got another pair of pants."
He looks down to his pants knee completely wet and chuckles. "I've got some in your dresser."
He turns back around and Marinette raises an eyebrow. "Adrien, where are you going?"
He points to his car. "You thought I was gonna come here with no presents for my Princess? I think not."
And that's how they spend the rest of the morning and some of the afternoon unwrapping gifts.
-----
"All he does is sleep, eat, and pee," Emma says, looking at her little brother sleep in his vibrator chair. "When is he going to crawl?"
"He's only a day old, Pumpkin," Adrien chuckles, standing up from the couch and goes over to her on the side of the chair."You happy you're a big sister?"
Em nods and reaches forward to pull his pacifier back in his mouth. "I wanted a sister, but he's cute. I'm gonna teach him to be a cute, good brother."
He chuckles and leans forward to kiss her head. "Can you watch him while I check on Mommy? She's still tired and not feeling good "
Em nods and calls for the kwamis, so Adrien stands and goes through the house until he gets to her, and now his, bedroom. Marinette was lying on her side, her body slightly curled.
He takes a seat on the bed where she wasn't facing him. He rubs her back as he speaks quietly, "You need anything?"
Marinette shakes her head and sighs, turning his way. "The pain medication completely wore off and everything is sore."So... no wedding planning today?"
Marinette glares. "Wedding planning is what made me have Louis three weeks early."
He smiles. "I was just kidding. Rest up."
He gets up to leave, but Marinette says, "Strawberry and mint."
"What?"
"Strawberry cake and mint frosting," she smiles at his now grinning face. "I was recreating our wedding cake that day, by the way."
"Knew it," he chuckles and comes back to kiss her.
Though there's the sound of crying and a yell of 'Daddy!' Adrien chuckles and shakes his head. "He's a cockblock already."
-----