The Engineered Baby Boom

Bready to Meet the Parents

Adrien came running from behind one of the white tents in the park as Marinette turned the corner. His eyes lit up at the sight of her and he picked up speed to get to her more quickly. "Marinette are you okay? The akuma, she didn't get to you?" Adrien panted, his hand on her shoulders as he asked about her. 

"I'm fine, Adrien. Ladybug took me to my balcony, and I hid in my old room. The akuma never even came to look for me there, which is weird, but maybe she knows I don't live there anymore." Without asking anything further Adrien stood and pulled Marinette into a hug, his breath fluttering the fly away hairs on her head.

 "I'm just glad she didn't hurt you. Lila can be very possessive. This isn't the first time she's been akumatized because of something like this."

 Looking up at him as she pulled away, Marinette furrowed her brow, "Adrien. I overheard a discussion with Ladybug and Lila as I was coming out of the back of the bakery. She apparently threw this ring," she held up the silver ring with the single embedded diamond. 

"She said it was from you. That there was a promise? I..." Stopping her before she could finish, Adrien took her hand and walked them to a tree in the park away from the rest of the Gabriel employees. Helping her sit down gently at the tree base, Adrien followed, never releasing her hand.

"Marinette that ring," he sighed as he reached out and took it from her thin, manicured fingers. "It was a gift from me to her a couple years ago, I think." Marinette's posture began to slump, eyes falling away from the object of discussion. 

"Lila was new to the company. She was my father's muse as he called her. He said she was important to the company's success and asked me to placate her with the ring. We never actually dated, it was all for sales and the company. Lila knew that, but I think overtime she wanted something I wasn't willing to give. She never got over it." Marinette lifted her head to look at the blonde as he stuck the ring into his pocket. The hand holding hers never letting go.

The two sat in silence for a few more moments until Vincent called over to them, letting them know the shoot was over and there wouldn't be any more for the day. Standing to his feet, Adrien assisted Marinette once more to stand, finally releasing her hand once she was steady on her feet. "How about we go see you parents now?" He asked as he looked back at the bluenette. Her hurried steps quickly catching up with his long strides to cross the street to the Boulangerie.

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The bell over the door rang loudly as the two teens entered the front of the store. The smell of freshly baked bread and cinnamon sugar wafted through the air, attacking Adrien's nostrils. He hadn't spelled anything so spectacular in his life. The atmosphere of the small store was quaint with only a few small tables and chairs at the front, a large glass. pastry display across from them. It was then that he noticed a short, middle-aged, Asian woman with deep blue-black hair and grey eyes standing behind the counter. She wore a white kimono style top with cherry blossoms embroidered down the left side. Her smile bright and welcoming. "Marinette dear! It is so good to see you!" The small woman said in a voice as sweet as the pastries she sold. She reminded him of Marinette, so he assumed she must be her mother.

"Maman, hello. I missed you!" Marinette cried out as she threw her hands around her mother's neck. "Is Papa in the kitchen?" Marinette asked, pulling back to look at her. Instead of answering her daughter the woman turned and yelled out to call her husband to the front of the store.

Standing awkwardly, Adrien eyed the door he assumed was the kitchen. A large, and he meant large man toddled his way into the bakery. Adrien knew the instant the man saw his daughter, as large brown eyes opened wide, and his toothy smile took up half his massive face. "Oh, my Petite Macaron, you are here!" The man exclaimed, wrapping his large arms around his teeny, tiny petite daughter. Adrien wasn't sure how she survived as a child if he hugged her that way, but it was endearing to say the least. He hadn't been hugged in a loving way like that since before his mother.