Marinette walked into the boulangerie, ignoring the chatter of her father with the customers and pointed as she walked straight to the back door. The boulangerie had always been busy, but this was insane. Word must have gotten around about the girl who had bagged Adrien Agreste and tied him into a lifelong commitment with a child. To be fair, she would have hated her too.
"Carry on upstairs, love. Your mother's up there with Emma," her father shouted over to her.
Marinette watched as he wiped an arm across his sweat laced forehead, then turned back to the customers. He was run off his feet and she couldn't help but feel guilty. If her mother wasn't looking after Emma, she would be down here to help with the crowds too.
"Hey, Mr Dupain, where would you like these brioches?"
Nino came wandering in from the back of the store, almost taking Marinette out as he carried a tray of brioche in his hands. A white apron was looped around his neck and little chocolate splatter marks made her think he'd been wearing it a while.
"Nino?" she gasped. Her friend smiled back at her.
"Oh, hey M. We came over to see you, and Mr D looked like he could use an extra pair of hands."
We?
Oh, no! Dear Lord no! We could only mean one thing and she wasn't sure if she could handle the other part of the 'we' right now.
"Cool," she squeaked out before pounding up the staircase, 2 steps at a time, and in the direction of her parents' apartment.
Out of breath, she pulled herself up the last couple of steps only to be greeted by loud squealing coming through the walls.
Straightening herself up, Marinette held her back rigid and prepared for a roasting. A deep breath and...
One...she stepped forwards.
Two...she raised her hand.
Three... her hand gripping the handle, and she pushed the door open, stepping cautiously inside.
Emma came barrelling forwards and crashing into her legs the screams of Maman accompanied her unsteady speed.
Unfortunately, Marinette had once again decked herself out in heels and from the force of Emma's trip, she found herself crashing backwards and onto her bottom, Emma landing on top.
"Maman!!" the tiny girl shrieked excitedly. "Ant Awia."
The toddler scrambled to stand, pushing herself up adorably with her hands on the floor and her feet either side, before propelling herself back into the depths of the apartment.
Ant Awia?
That meant her gut instance was right. On the other side of this wall, in the apartment she was about to face her biggest challenge yet. Alya.
Bracing herself, her moment of composure was well and truly gone. She stood and took a few more steps into the apartment where her best friend was currently bouncing her child on her hip.
"Alya. Hi. I was meant to call you yesterday but things have gotten a little..."
"A little what, Marinette? I'm rather intrigued about how you're going to finish that sentence." The raised eyebrow wasn't angry or annoyed, it was more interesting and curious. There was no doubt in Marinette's mind that her friend was fully on board with this.
Never really understanding what it meant by feeling herself pale, the mystery was solved right in that moment. With a sigh and a rub of her forehead, Marinette perched herself onto a bar stool at the counter in her parent's kitchen area, her eyes searching out her mother's for any indication of what to do.
Taking a deep breath, she once again launched into the story. The same, or at least as similar as she could remember, to what herself and Adrien had told her parent's the previous evening. To be honest, she still wasn't overly sure what the story was herself.
"So you're telling me, Ladybug and Chat Noir sent this specific child here to 'save the Miraculous'?" Alya asked, obviously not believing a single word that was coming out of Marinette's mouth.
"Yep," Marinette nodded, trying her hardest to keep the smile on her face as it threatened to fall.
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng and Adrien Agreste's child?" Alya leaned one elbow on the counter and looked over at her friend.
"Actually, Marinette and Adrien Agreste's child. We're married in Emma's timeline, you should see the wedding photographs too. It was a small, cute wedding and you all looked adorable."
"We're friends in this other dimension?"
Enthusiastically, Marinette nodded. "Best friend's from the photographs I have."
Alya sat staring for a while, Marinette shifting uncomfortably in her seat. The only reprieve in the moment was Emma trumping loudly and continuing to inform everyone in the room what had just happened.
"Emmie, trump!"
The words from the babe's mouth broke the tension, all laughing as Sabine took control of Emma asking her if she needed to go potty. The toddler enthusiastically declined and climbed on the sofa to continue her own rendition of five little monkeys.
"You know what I'm thinking. I'm thinking Ladybug and Adrien Agreste had this child, and that you're keeping something from me. Come on Marinette, who else disappears as soon as there's an Akuma? And don't tell me it's because you're scared, I know you Marinette and you might not see yourself as the woman behind the mask, day in and day out, but I know you can possess those skills."
Marinette felt like breaking down and crying. She'd never had anyone talk to her like that before, except Chat Noir. She's lived her whole life attempting to keep under the radar, to keep hidden, and to have her best friend still see such greatness in plain old Marinette Dupain-Cheng filled her with an undeniable warmth.
Sabine made her way over to Marinette, Emma hoisted on one hip and a hand placed on Marinette's shoulder. "Why don't you take Alya up to your room?"
With a quick nod, Marinette indicated for Alya to follow her, Emma wailing in protest of not going with her mother. Stopping on the staircase to glance at the screaming child. Sabine nodded to her, a smile creeping over her face.
"Marinette, sweetheart, I promise I know how to take care of a child. I've had her most of the day. Go, she'll be fine."
Marinette nibbled on her bottom lip, before slowly turning and walking up the staircase.
It had only been 24 hours since she'd met the young child and she was already getting strange emotions linked to leaving Emma. Is this how parents always felt?
Maman guilt really was 'a thing'.
Marinette indicated for Alya to head on through before turning and closing her loft hatch.
"Okay, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, Agreste... whatever the hell you want to be called? What the fuck is going on?"
Marinette sighed, heading over to her lounge chair and collapsing. Her hands came up to cover her eyes, exhaustion finally taking over. How she wished she could just climb up into her loftbed and sleep for a couple of hours, actually make it a couple of days! She'd barely slept the night before, having Adrien so close and being in an apartment so foreign, yet familiar, had filled her with anxiety. But then add on top the child sleeping below who she was reasonable for and she was an absolute wreck.
Every movement and whine Emma made had Marinette almost jumping out of bed to go and check on her, Adrien moving around and doing the same. It was too much! Too, too much. Before she knew what was happening, she began to cry. Not attractively like you see in the movies, instead she was ugly crying and worst of all she couldn't stop.
"Hey, hey! Calm down now, it's going to be okay." Alya moved beside her and wrapped an arm over her shoulders, pulling her into her body. "Talk to me, tell me what's been going on."
Sniffing and sitting up, Marinette wiped her nose with the back of her fist before starting from the beginning. She explained to Alya about how she'd bumped into Adrien in the coffee shop, before doing the same thing again at work. As Alya questioned her about Emma's appearance, Marinette filled her in as much as possible from what Adrien had told her, including Adrien sticking one up to his father about how much he was in love with her and her child, and how amazingly talented she was.
Alya sat and nodded, only commenting when needed and allowing Marinette to talk. After giving the low down on the apartment and the photographs, she continued the saga right up to the part where Adrien had volunteered her to create the new line for Gabriel.
"Well...that makes my last 24 hours look shit!"
Groaning again, Marinette slammed her hands to her face and lay back.
"I guess you won't be wanting to go on a date with Luka then?"
As though Marinette had lost all sanity, she began to laugh before grabbing the pillow behind her and throwing it at her friend. "Piss off!"
The girl's both began to laugh and Marinette felt some of the tension disappear from her body.
"Emma's amazing, by the way. The Adrien and Marinette that have brought her up have done one hell of a job so far. She's so adorable and polite, honestly for someone not even two yet she's very developed."
Marinette couldn't help but smile at Alya's words. Emma was amazing, and it made her heart ache that their counterparts had to give her up. She couldn't even imagine what had driven them to do such a thing.
"She's wonderful."
"How's Adrien?" Alya asked, all humour gone from her voice and seriousness replaced.
"Honestly? He's a pain in the ass and doesn't think before he speaks, yet he's wonderful. He's thoughtful and caring, and already an amazing father. I just...it's all so awkward with us at the moment, but I can't help but feel like there's some sort of strange relationship there. It's surprisingly nice. I just can't believe he wanted to play along with it. I mean look at me! Adrien Agreste doesn't go for girls like me."
Alya smiled and took Marinette's hand in hers. "Well, if you ever feel down about yourself just remember Adrien has had sex with you."
"What?" Marinette almost collapsed and she was sure her face looked like a beacon you could see from space. "I'm quite sure I would have remembered that happening!"
"Not here, you weirdo, but there . How else would Emma have been born? I'm guessing the two of you had some good practice sessions too. Babies don't come from just holding hands once."
If her face wasn't on fire before, she was most certain it was now. "I'm a virgin, Alya! I don't even know what a penis looks like!"
"Who knows, you might get lucky and Adrien wants to make a second."
Before Marinette could die of mortification, a strange noise was heard from downstairs. A strange laugh and male voices. A male voice who she was quite sure she had ditched not too long ago. Why the hell was he following her?
"Shit!" Marinette stated, heading towards the trapdoor in a hurry.
"What?" Alya asked, stumbling behind her.
Throwing open the trapdoor, Marinette stumbled down the staircase just in time to see Adrien rolling around on the carpet with Emma as Nino attempted to be a giant and catch them both.
What the hell?
"Fee-fi-fo-fum!" Nino stopped forward towards where Emma and Adrien were cowering on the floor.
"Uncle Car-piss, no!" Emma stood up and started shaking her hands and her head before repeating the word 'no' over and over again.
"What are you doing here?" Marinette asked, moving down the staircase and over towards Adrien, Emma still standing around and letting her Uncle know he was playing the game wrong.
"Hello to you too, my dear girlfriend."
"Yo, M," Nino said, moving closer. "This dude is so cool! Like seriously, good catch!"
Emma squealed and ran over to them, grabbing Nino by the hand and trying to pull him back. "Pway me!" she announced, before screaming it again and bouncing up and down. "Pway meeeee!!"
The move from 0 to 100 happened at an impressive speed, Emma progressing to throwing herself on the floor and kicking Nino in the leg.
"Right," a voice suddenly boomed from the doorway, stopping Emma instantly in her meltdown. "Who wants to come for a picnic in the park?" Her father clapped his hands together and Marinette thought she saw the crockery shake of the pounding impact.
"But the bakeries open for another couple of hours," Marinette said bewildered.
"Not thanks to your new boyfriend," Tom announced. "We're out of inventory for today, and I would love to spend some time with ma petite fleur."
Marinette looked at the hopeful faces. Who was she to disagree?
"Fine. Can you get Emma ready please? I just need a quick discussion with my boyfriend."
She glared at Adrien hoping he got the message, before turning and walking up the staircase to her old room, the sound of feet slowly following her causing her to breathe out a sigh of relief that he'd understood.