"Emma! Emma, where are you?" I call out, sneaking around the house to find my little daughter who is terrible at hide and seek. Every time, without fail, she answers you when you call out.
"Not over here, mommy!" She responds, exposing her hiding spot in the hallway closet. I laugh, rolling my eyes at my silly daughter.
"Oh really? Then where is daddy?" I respond, creeping up close to the closet door.
"He's also not over here!" Her sweet voice answers, making me giggle. I slowly turn the closet handle, and yank it open to expose my husband crouched awkwardly in the small space holding our squealing and excited four year old daughter, Emma. She stares at me with big blue eyes, a spitting image of my own, but with golden hair like her fathers.
"How did you ever find us?" Adrien mocks, laughing with me. Emma bursts free from his arms, rushing into my own with surprising strength and speed. I swoop her up, swinging her around as she laughs hysterically.
"How did you find us, mommy? You'we too gwood." She giggles, making me heart soar. She's just far too cute. I know I'm biased, but I swear she must be the cutest toddler ever.
"Want to know my secret?" I whisper, watching her big eyes widen as she leans in to hear me. "I'm a superhero."
"I know that, so is daddy." She giggles, pushing out of my arms. I quickly lower her before she plummets to the floor, watching her take off running down the hallway again.
"My goodness, how does she always have so much energy?" Adrien exclaims, stretching as he exists the cramped closet. I pull him in for a quick kiss, my body shivering from his touch when he leans in to enjoy the moment.
"You forget she's the direct product of two Miraculous holders. I'm convinced she has the speed, strength and stamina of the two of us combined." I laugh, quickly running after our daughter. She's no longer making a bunch of ruckus. If there is one thing motherhood has taught me, it's that a silent child is never up to any good.
"Emma! Where are you?" I call out again, hearing her giggle in the living room. She doesn't respond, furthering my suspicions that she's up to something. "Emma?" I peek in, seeing her holding the home phone with an iron fist.
Oh, dear heavens.
"Aunty Alya! Aunty Alya, can you come over and play? Aunty Alya?" Emma practically yells into the phone, making me dart over to take it from her. She doesn't know how to work this thing, please tell me she didn't call anyone.
I let out a sigh of relief when I see she wasn't able to make a call. I was worried she'd dial the only phone number she knows, 112. The last thing I need is another visit from the police when Emma called them last to see if Aunty Alya could come cook her some spaghetti.
"I told you, Emma. If you want to call Aunty Alya, or Uncle Nino, you need to ask me first honey. I can call them for you." I tell her softly, rubbing her little head with my hand. Her bottom lip juts out in a little pout, making me quickly dial up Alya before the water works begin.
"I want to call Aunty Alya!" Emma cries out when I quickly hand her the phone on speaker, listening to it ring over and over. Emma's pout turns into a smile as she recognizes the noises the phone makes. I pray Alya answers, otherwise I'll have a very heartbroken toddler on my hands.
"Whats up, Mari?" Alya answers, making Emma squeal with excitement. "Oh! Baby Emma! How's it going, baby?"
"Aunty Alya! Come oveh and play!" Emma exclaims, practically bouncing up and down in her seat. It warms my heart to see her love my best friend as much as I do.
"I'm finishing up work right now baby, but I'll come over tomorrow, okay? I promise! I'll even bring Uncle Nino, and Uncle Felix too! Don't you want to see Uncle Fefe and Aunty Gami?" Alya, ever so wonderful with Emma, turns her growing frown into a beaming smile.
"Yes! I'd love that! And bwing Aunty Chloe, and Uncle Lukie too! Oh, oh and Aunty Jules and Aunty Wose! We can have a big pawty! With Becks, too!" Emma, my daughter with the superpower to dump a boat load of chores on me within the span of 20 seconds, happily hands the phone back to me after saying bye.
"Can you invite everyone?" I sigh into the receiver, hearing Alya laugh.
"Yes, I can. They'll all come, I'm sure of it. Emma is quite the handful still, eh? She makes me certain in my decision to never be a mom. I'm cool with always being the awesome aunt." I can practically hear Alya smiling, making me laugh in response.
"She gives greatly powerful headaches, but she's worth it in every way. I'll let you go now, I'll text you the details of our impromptu party later tonight." I look over at my confused husband staring at me with a cocked eyebrow. I mouth over to him, later. I'll explain it all after dinner. Emma rushes over to him, jumping into his arms.
"Daddy, we got to make pawty decowations" She beams up at him, making him laugh with a nod.
"Sounds good, baby. Let's get started."
"Absolutely." Alya answers me. "Oh, and Mari? You're doing a great job. You're an amazing mom, okay? Just take it easy." My best friend does what she's always done best, which is comfort me even without being told I needed it in the first place.
"Thanks, Alya. I love you, talk later."
"Love you too, girl." With that, she hangs up and leaves me with a big smile on my face.
Becoming a mother was one of the hardest thing's I've ever done, and most days I worry I'm failing at it. But Adrien has always done an amazing job at sharing his weight around here with not just parenting our daughter, but also cooking, cleaning and handling business. I've had amazing role models growing up to teach me what good parenting was, and though Adrien didn't always have that, he's turned out to be the best father I could have ever imagined anyone being.
"Time to start dinner?" Tikki smiles up at me, making me roll my eyes at my little kwami.
"Seems like every waking minute that I'm not working is spent cooking and cleaning." I groan, but truthfully I'm not that tired. I feel full, like my life is more beautiful and fulfilling than I could have ever dreamed.
"As someone who has been around for many billions of years, I promise you that you're a great mom, Marinette. I'm so thankful to be apart of this journey with you." Tikki gives me a big hug, nuzzling up to my cheek.
"I love you Tikki, thank you for always sticking by my side."
"Always, Marinette. You're my family." I damn near tear up at that, looking at the phone to dial up my parents. They'll want to join our impromptu party as well.
"And you are mine, Tikki."
—————
"Hey, nice party you threw together on such short notice. What's the occasion?" Luka smiles at me, a cup of fruit punch in his hand.
"Oh, you know Emma. Never need a reason for a party! Thank you for coming with such short notice."
"Anytime, would never want to disappoint the little Princess. After all, she is the first baby born in the friend group." He chuckles, eyes darting over to see Chloe playing with Emma and Becks. To all of our surprise, she's amazing with the kids. And she just adores Emma as if she was her own daughter.
Chloe always had mother issues, and for that reason she told me she never was sure she wanted to be a mom. After giving birth to Emma, Chloe decided she loved my baby so much she wanted one of her own.
Three years later, and she's 7 months pregnant with Luka's child. The two aren't married yet, but they're in no rush to do so. She's content with the way things are.
"So, it's a boy, huh?" I nudge Luka with my arm, watching the way his eyes soften at the mention of his baby.
"Yeah, we're really excited. I thought Chloe would be disappointed if we didn't have a baby girl, but that's how I know she's ready to be a mom, she was so excited when we found out the gender."
"Any name ideas?"
"Actually, yeah. We were thinking of naming him Julien. In honour of Juleka." Luka smiles, looking over at his sister who sits at the table with Rose standing behind her, arms wrapped around Jule's neck in a sweet little embrace.
The two have always been inseparable. Even throughout all this time that's something that has never changed.
Actually, all of us have remained in the same relationship since the end of high school. Well, with the exception of Felix and Kagami, who broke up for around two years. But they're back together and arguably stronger than ever before.
"Julien is such a cute name. I think Jule's would be so honoured." I watch Emma playing with Juleka and Rose's foster son, Becks. He's 12 years old, and you can tell he was the perfect addition to their little family. He completes them, honestly. I know Rose has been aching to adopt him, and I hope it goes through.
Especially for Emma's sake too, she loves being around him. He gets along amazingly with her.
"Becks would make a great big brotherly figure to baby Julien too, don't you think?" I smile fondly at the kids playing, thinking of how in a few years time there will be a new little toddler running around here.
"Yeah, I hope so. Rose really wants to adopt, but Juleka is hesitant."
"Why's that?"
"Because kids are mean." Kagami says as she saunters up, handing me a cookie from the snack table that my parents were quick to plaster baked goods all over. I take it graciously, chowing down on it as I wait for her to elaborate. "Being raised by two moms is enough reason for Becks to be bullied. And once they find out he's trans, they'll only get harsher. On top of that, it's obvious what people will start to say. They'll blame Juleka and Rose for pushing Becks into being transgender."
"No one would dare say such a thing!" I gasp, feeling anger boil up inside of me. It's been a long time since I've felt such rage. The moment Kagami suggested it, I could see it right away. That's partly why Becks ended up in the foster care system in the first place. His home with his biological parents wasn't... a safe or comfortable environment. That's for sure. "It's totally not true, Becks was born transgender. There is nothing wrong with him. He's a wonderful kid."
"Trust me, we all know that. But people out there aren't nearly as compassionate or kind." She adds, making Luka shake his head with a burning passion in his eyes.
"Life isn't easy, not for anyone. It's harder for some people though, regardless of what home they're in. Becks will always be Becks, and people are going to say mean things no matter what. So long as he has some love and support, he'll be okay. We'll ensure that. I mean, look at all of us. We always show up, don't we? And we'll continue to do so, for all of our kids. And Becks is no different. That boy right there, he's a boy. Plain and simple. And he's my nephew. I'm making sure the adoption goes along." Luka's words touch my heart in ways I can't explain.
He's right. Life is hard, and unfairly harder for others. But for us, who have been through hardships and adversities we barely speak of anymore, it's our job to protect our most vulnerable population.
I look at my husband who is picking up our daughter, and grabbing Becks by the hand to go get some food to eat. They all join Jules, Rose and my parents at the table. For some reason, I feel tears burn in my eyes. I swallow the lump in my throat.
"We may not be active Miraculous holders anymore, but in some ways we'll always be heroes. Because if one this is for certain, we're never done protecting those who need it." I smile at my friends, and the room full of people I love with my whole heart.
I'll be happy being a hero for the rest of my life, even if being a hero looks a little different these days.
——————————
Authors Note!
Thank you SO much for everyone who has read and interacted with my story. I can not explain how much it means to me that anyone has even bothered to click on this fanfic, and read it through. I hope that you loved it as much as I loved writing it.
I'd also like to thank you for your patience waiting for the ending. I hated having to miss a week and a half of uploads, but I just didn't have the time to write and edit it before publishing. The last thing I would want is a rushed and sloppy ending! As promised, I uploaded an extra long final chapter, and even published the epilogue with it!
Fear not, there are still several bonus chapters I'll be publishing shortly enough, likely on the same schedule I've been uploading weekly (every Wednesday + Sunday) until I'm finished. And once it's finished, I'll be leaving a final authors note to conclude all of my thoughts throughout this journey.
Thank you once again, to all of my readers. I've seen your usernames for each and every one of you, and it's made my day ever more sweet and bright after seeing you guys vote, comment and add my story to your reading lists.
I hope you stick around for the bonus chapters! I can't say it enough, but thank you.
See you soon! As always, bug out! xoxo❤️