Her mother squeezed Adrien's hand softly, telling him.
"Why don't you already go upstairs too. She's in your old room. I'll bring us some pancakes and something to drink, yeah?"
He wanted to object but then he reconsidered and agreed.
"Okay. Thank you for being so open to, well, everything. And dad, Nath, congratulations. We've been betting on how long it will take the two of you to finally admit your feelings for each other back then. At least tell me how long you've been married already."
"A little over a month, Adrien. Now go and get to know your daughter. And it's good to see you smile again." Gabriel said as he laid an arm around his son's shoulders.
The younger man complied, and with a short glimpse at his daughter's mother, he left the room.
"What are you up to, Nathalie?" Marinette immediately questioned.
"Me? Up to? I have no idea what you mean, Marinette. Just grab your food and go be with your family!" Nathalie countered and winked at her again. Then she added, "For Emma."
"You're playing dirty, Mrs Agreste!" She grunted through gritted teeth.
Nathalie laughed over this.
"I am only looking out for the ones I love. Which includes you by the way, Marinette. And now off you go. Don't leave them alone for too long. I haven't seen Adrien like this for years, but I can't tell if he's completely sober. I don't want to scare you, but..."
She sighed and looked at her husband.
"Nathalie is right." Gabriel confirmed. "He seems normal, but after all the time trying to drown his sorrow and anger, I can't tell for sure either. So you better go."
"I trust him to not harm her, but I'll go anyway. And I will just ask him about it. I think I can still tell when he's lying."
The newly wedded couple watched her leave. Gabriel turned to his wife and wondered.
"Do you think we will finally get the chance to enjoy our life in matrimony? I mean, when Adrien gets back on track, and they will somehow find back together. We had hardly any time for just the two of us so far. If this won't change, it's going to be rather difficult to try for our own little miracle."
He brushed a couple of loose hairs from her face before he cupped her cheek. "What's wrong, my love? I thought you wanted a child with me. What changed?"
Nathalie hesitated. Eventually she told him how she felt lately.
"I still want that, Gabriel. But since we have Marinette and Emma here, I had the feeling that Emma was enough for you. And to be honest, if you were happy like this, I'd be too. I just need you to tell me."
She had faced into another direction while she spoke and her husband knew exactly why.
"Nath, my love, my sweet darling. Look at me please. When I asked you to marry me, to become a family, I was very serious. I would do everything to see you happy. And having a baby with you would make me just as happy, because I love you so much and creating a life together, what better proof for our eternal love could we find?"
Beaming widely, Nathalie laid her arms around his neck and started to kiss him savagely.
"How long do you think we have until they start arguing?" She asked with a seductive grin.
Gabriel shrugged.
"Does it matter? We can lock the door to our bedroom, love."
Her grin even widening, his wife grabbed him by his tie and pulled him down to her, whispering hoarsely.
"I wasn't planning on going anywhere, honey!"
He inhaled sharply as he pressed her body taut against his own.
As Marinette entered her daughter's new bedroom, she looked pensive. Emma and Adrien were already sitting on the sofa, playing with the plush 'Fang', and looked up when she entered.
"Everything alright?" The young man asked her the very moment he saw her expression.
She shrugged.
"I'm not sure. I accidentally overheard something that made me feel bad. And good. But mostly it made me feel guilty for being egoistic."
"You? Egoistic? The number one person others have taken advantage of! Puh-lease! Come on. Sit down with us and tell me while we play. If you don't mind us having a little grown up conversation every now and then, Emma." Adrien blurted out.
His daughter raised an eyebrow.
"Nothing scary or about anyone yelling or arguing, okay?"
"Okay!" Her father agreed and held up one hand. She high-fived him and focused back on feeding her 'pet crocodile'.
Marinette couldn't help but smile.
"Come, let's get onto the sofa, my feet are getting all wet here in Fang's personal pool!" She winked at him, hoping he'd play along.
"Oh no, M'lady, it's not only your feet! The water is rising, see? Come, let's get onto the rescue-couch! Emma, I hope you can swim, so you won't go under!"
His daughter giggled over his act and played a role of her own.
"I am a secret superhero, dad! I can become a crocodile-girl and then I can swim and attack as strongly as Fang!" She exclaimed.
Adrien furrowed his brows.
"Superhero, really? Does she know...?"
"Of course not! Nobody knows. Nobody except for me and you remember that there even were superheroes looking like a black cat and a giant ladybug! And nobody must ever know. I miss Tikki sometimes." She told him wearily.
"Yeah, same for me with Plagg. But it's better like that. Now don't make me beg, Marinette. Tell me what set you up."
She sighed but started to tell him.
"I was already on my way upstairs, when I noticed that I had forgotten the milk for Emma and was about to enter the kitchen again, when I overheard your dad and Nath. And what they were talking about made me feel guilty. They wanted to try for a baby, when Emma and I barged into their lives and not only was Nath already thinking, he had changed his mind because of being a grandfather and Emma already giving him all the things he had wanted to get by having another child, but also are we obviously keeping them from, well, trying. Your father also said, he was hoping we'd make up soon, so they were able to have more alone time." She scoffed. "Seeing us holding hands only made that worse I guess. Worst for me, they started making out before I could shut the door completely. Stop laughing, Adrien, it's not funny at all."
She grabbed a stuffed penguin and tossed it at him, only making him laugh harder when he dodged it and it threw over her coffee mug.
"Great!" Marinette hissed angrily. "Now I need to clean that up first!"
"Just let me. Maybe you haven't gotten there yet, Bugaboo, but you're not on your own any longer. There is nothing on this earth that could get me to ever get out of your lives again. And maybe my dad and my 'mum' are right. I never stopped loving you, Marinette. Can't you at least give me a tiny chance to make it up to both of you? Purrity please?" Adrien told her while pulling her back down on the sofa.
"I told you... I need an answer to a very important question, Adrien. Are you on drugs now? At this moment?" The concerned mother interrogated him.
"I'm not, relax. And to your information, all I have been doing was smoking a little weed in the evenings, so I could fall asleep. In the beginning the alcohol did the job. But I needed more and more and then I was so drunk that I became aggressive so I switched to the smoking and it's working. Hand me that bucket please!" He threw his cleaning cloth back into the water and rinsed the coffee, he had just wiped away, out. "See, already gone."
"Thank you, Adrien. And also for earlier, the thing with the crocodile. I had no idea."
"Yeah, good thing Jagged wasn't around when Juleka and Luca were small." He laughed.
Marinette narrowed her eyes. "Seriously, Adrien? You know how much they both suffered under not even knowing who their father was. And on top of that, Penny and Jagged have a daughter too. She's two years older than Emma, but still. I can't believe how she lets him near their child sometimes. I really like Jagged, he's fun and so, but..."
"They have a child? Without anybody knowing? How did they do that?" The model was shocked. He wished he was able to have some privacy sometimes.
"I don't know, Kitty! It would have been so much harder for Lila back then, if I had been a random girl and not the fiancee of 'the' Adrien Agreste! But it is as it is. At least nobody has been trying anything on Emma so far." The young mother looked sad and he wanted to simply hug her. Scooting a little bit closer, Adrien said with a soft voice.