“We’re meeting for lunch tomorrow.”Ĭhat nodded, running his hand up and down her arm, and they were silent again. I have no idea how he’ll react, or if he’ll even want to have anything to do with the baby.” She sighed, looking out over the city. I guess something happened, and it ended up with this.” She gestured at her stomach. My friends and I were at a club a couple of weeks ago, and I got really drunk and went home with this guy. “We’re not together,” Ladybug continued eventually. He didn’t know what to say even if he wanted to. “Only you do.” She was quiet again, but Chat didn’t interrupt. “I wouldn’t be able to do that.”Ĭhat nodded as well, and they sat in silence for a while again. “I couldn’t get rid of it,” she said, her voice hoarse and quiet. “Are you….” Chat trailed off once he finally spoke, not knowing where his sentence was going. Surely she’d tell him if she was baby-serious with anyone. He was still in love with her, yes, but he knew the chances were slim that she’d ever like him back. He hadn’t waited around the last ten years, holding out for Ladybug. He didn’t know that Ladybug had been serious enough with anyone to think about having a baby. Ladybug had never mentioned she was seeing someone, and, in the ten years they’d been partners, they’d always told each other when they were in a relationship. Her voice was barely a whisper, but Chat heard it. This was happening, and she had to accept it. Could she say it? Saying it would make it real.īut it was real. “Whatever it is, we can work through it.” “I think…I think I have a problem, kitty,” she whispered, wiping her eyes on the back of her hand and looking up at him. It was a long while before Ladybug was able to speak. Chat startled for a moment before pulling her tighter to him, rubbing her hair and telling her it’d be alright. As he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, the shock finally wore off, and her body shook as tears poured down her cheeks. Ladybug shook her head, leaning into him. Ladybug didn’t answer, didn’t even look up at him, so he lowered himself down beside her. “You’re early, Bugaboo,” he laughed, jumping onto the rooftop. *********Ladybug was already waiting when Chat Noir showed up for patrol that night, her legs tucked up to her chest and her chin resting on her knees. It was a secret she didn’t want to keep, one that she couldn’t even seem to process completely. Sometimes he would show up for her solo patrol, but he hadn’t this week for whatever reason. Alya was on vacation in the States with her family, and Hawkmoth seemed to have taken a break as well, since there hadn’t been any attacks in the last two weeks or so, so she hadn’t seen Chat either. It wasn’t real, not until the doctor said the words, and hardly even then. Surely she should have felt some sort of emotion in the last four days. Marinette was pretty certain she was in shock. Seventeen pregnancy tests couldn’t all be wrong.
Tikki nodded in agreement, but they both knew that Marinette was just in denial. “It’s probably a mistake,” she said to Tikki as she hung up. The doctor would check, and would tell her that it was all okay and that there was no baby. A chance that this was a mistake, that the tests were broken, that she wasn’t pregnant with the child of a man she met once. She dialed her doctor, hardly processing things as she told the receptionist and made an appointment. Some showed lines, some showed smiley faces, others the words themselves, but they all said the same thing. There was no way seventeen pregnancy tests could be wrong. “Maybe they’re faulty,” Marinette said, hardly believing her own words. “I’ll try one more.”įive minutes later they were in the same position, watching as the seventeenth test showed the same result. Marinette nodded slowly, turning back to stare at the little sticks. “It’s up to you, Marinette,” she said, “but I don’t think it’s going to make a difference.” Tikki hovered at her shoulder, offering a sympathetic look when Marinette turned her head. Marinette stood in her bathroom, staring at the line of white sticks on the counter.