I will love again

Be My Valentine, Valentine!

Adrien, who was feeling totally out of place between the teenagers , after even his wife had gone to see, if everything was alright, entered the kitchen from the dining room through the rear door to have a couple of minutes, without all the talking, shouting and squealing. His youngest, Hugo, had already vanished with his aunt, Colette, into her room, where they were most likely playing some video game.

He was surprised though, to see Marinette and Nathalie sit at the table with the old doctor. They immediately went silent, as they saw him and he furrowed his brows, asking:

"What is going on here? Is there something wrong with Hélène?"

Marinette got up and hugged him, then pulled him with her and made him take her chair, while she got comfortable in his lap.

The blond man quirked an eyebrow to that behaviour, but instantly wrapped his arm around her waist, one palm resting on her hip, the other on her thigh. She explained:

"Your dad's with Leni just now. But it seems, as if I had the right impression and she has real contractions already!"

"Oh", he turned his head to Édouard, "what now? And how is she doing?"

The physician gave him a quick summary, before he faced Nathalie and hinted with a tilt of his head, to leave the couple on their own.

To the dark haired woman he said:

"As I was saying just now, some things should be handled more openly and with less secret keeping!"

He winked at her, without her husband noticing and with a groan got to his feet.

"Do you need help?", Adrien immediately asked, but the doctor shook his head.

"I am fine. It's just the joints, which need a bit of getting used to being in a different position than before!", he mused, then walked towards the door.

Nathalie too gave her daughter in law an intense look.

"I'll go and have a look at my husband and daughter and then I'll probably join the party for a while. Your man looks, as if he could use some calm and quiet, after sitting between all of them, right Adrien?"

Said man nodded vigorously.

"You don't know, 'how' right you are, Nath!"

They all laughed, but as she watched the other two leave the kitchen, Marinette's smile faded and she became serious.

"There is something else going on, M'lady. What's up?", he asked her, as soon as he noticed, narrowing his hold on her.

The pregnant woman sighed and snuggled closer to him, her arms now wrapping around his waist, as she laid her head on his shoulder.

"Marinette? Are you alright?"

He felt her nod and press herself even tauter, taking a deep breath, before she hesitantly began to talk:

"I am fine, Kitty. But there is something, you should probably know about, even if it could hurt you at some point!"

"What's that supposed to mean? You sound as if you were cheating on me, but I know, that you didn't even have time to eat regularly over those last weeks, so what is it? Because that would be the only way, I could imagine you, hurting me!", he tried to speak calmly, yet his voice was trembling. Then he froze and hissed, "except you were cheating on me last year and it isn't mine!"

"What?", Marinette straightened up and stared at him in disbelief.

"The baby, is it mine? Or is that, why you haven't told me yet? And why you're getting information about late abortions? Because it is someone else's?", he was getting louder as he spoke.