CatWalk

Thirty-Two

Luka and Marinette left the design studio to head to Le George, one of the many restaurants in Paris with romantic atmosphere. Luka had gotten a reservation for two, after the failure of proposing the night before.

"Marinette, you look overwhelmed. Is everything all right?"  Luka asked sounding much more worried then he attended to.

She sighed at the question that she honestly didn't know how to answer. She could lie and say yes everything is all right but Luka knew her well enough to know when she wasn't telling the truth.

She would prefer the silence exchanging between them. Marinette had thought about jumping out of Luka's black Jeep but in open traffic? She wasn't that desperate to avoid his conversation to resort to that was she?

"I finally told Emma's father that he has daughter." Marinette confessed as the expression on Luka's face said it all.

'What if he takes responsibility? What if he wants to get married to Marinette just so Emma has a father? Aren't I technically Emma's father?' These were the questions that ran through Luka's mind. He always feared what would happen to him if Emma's father actually stepped in.

"When?" Luka said with his hands gripping tight on the steering wheel as if he wanted to ask Marinette 'How could you?'.  But they weren't dating or anything of the sort so she was free to see whoever she wanted.

"Last night, I told him by accident. He took it better then I thought." Marinette couldn't exactly tell him the whole truth that she let it slip when ChatNoir was trying to take her clothes off.

"Last night?" Luka questioned as he realized he probably shouldn't be driving so he pulled in the nearest parking space to hear everything that Marinette wanted or needed to say.

"I was in town, last night. Is this why you didn't attend my concert?" Luka asked.

"I didn't know I was supposed to go to the pier. I didn't intentionally avoid you. If that's what you think." Marinette tried to relieve some of the tension between them but it didn't seem to work.

"Marinette in all honesty. I was planning to propose to you yesterday and then try again today at Le George but..."

He pulled out a small black box from his suit pocket and opened it. The ring was simple but still beautiful.

"I'm not going to force you or guilt you into marrying me since we haven't had a date or tried to date since high school. I will ask you a different question."

He turned to look at her. Her eyes were teary. What for? Did she feel guilty for her actions from the night before jumping from Adrien to Luka to ChatNoir?

"Will you go on a date with me?" He smiled knowing that she would probably say No. She had said it plenty times before.

"I can't. Not until I tell you everything I've been holding back for ten years. Who Emma's father is?  Who I am I really? Questions that if not answered will fracture are very relationship before it starts."

She took a deep breath before saying the words that she never expected to say so late, of course, Tikki would probably scold her.

"Tikki, spots on." And with a flash of light Marinette was now Ladybug. Luka blinked repeatedly trying to recalibrate his sight.

"I realize this isn't what you were expecting." She added. He studied her, short black hair still the same as in her civilian from but her suit was flattering yet it didn't make her look like Jean Grey or some superheroine that wears super tight spandex that leaves nothing to the imagination.

"That explains the kiss then." Luka joked trying to make light of the fact his ex-girlfriend was Ladybug.

"I thought Akuma victims couldn't remember what happens while they're a villain." Ladybug said feeling her cheeks turn red.

"They can't I saw'll it on the news this morning." Luka replied.

"Oh." She nervously giggled.

"So how did you end up replacing the other Ladybug?" Luka questioned. He had heard on the news that old Ladybug had died yet no body had ever been discovered neither had her Miraculous. Luka now had the answer to were the Miraculous had gone to.

"I actually didn't replace her. I've always been her just when I battle Papillon is the same day I found out I was pregnant. I had a choice stop being Ladybug and be a mother or be Ladybug and not give my child the attention she needs. Sure the whole world mistook my ten-year absence as being dead but Emma needs to come first."

"You astonish me. Taking the weight of the literally world on your shoulders at such a young age then having Emma. You are the most impressive woman I've ever meant." he told her. Luka was one of the first one's she told when she had gotten pregnant he wondered if he was the first one she told that she was Ladybug.

"Speaking of Emma, her father is ChatNoir." She waited for a reaction.