That Night

Chapter 21

It was lunchtime and Marinette and Adrien were sitting together on the lawn. Adrien had his arm lightly wrapped around his girlfriend's shoulders.

"So..." Adrien began. "We've talked to your parents about all this." He gestured at Marinette and himself. "And it went well. But my dad's going to be a different story." He looked down in shame.

Marinette turned to Adrien and gave him a gentle look. "Is that what's been bugging you today?"

Adrien sighed. "Yah. I just don't even know how to approach telling him. Your parents accepted the situation so well, but my dad... Everyone knows how harsh and unfeeling he is. I don't want him to do anything to hurt you or little Louis."

Marinette leaned towards him and kissed his cheek softly, grasping his shoulders. "Everything's going to work out just fine. Your dad is not going to do anything to us." She rested her hand on her stomach.

Adrien shook his head slowly. "How do I tell him? What is going to make him more open to all this?"

"We just need to tell him how it is. I'll go with you if you want." He smiled at her in agreement. They heard the bell ring and stood up to rush to class, hands clasped. "After school?" Marinette turned to look at Adrien.

He smiled halfheartedly. "Yah. I'll meet you after class." He gave her a quick peck and they went their separate ways in the school hallways.

- - -

After the last bell rang, indicating that school was done for the day, the couple met up outside the school. They saw Adrien's limousine and slid into the backseat.

Adrien was sweating and nervous. He squeezed Marinette's hand.

She squeezed his hand in return and whispered, "it's going to turn out just fine."

The time seems to go by too fast and soon enough they were pulling up to the front of Adrien's huge house. Adrien took a deep breath then stepped out of the car. He turned around to help his pregnant girlfriend out. He grabbed her hand and squeezed tightly, and they walked slowly to the huge double doors that were the entrance to his childhood home.

Adrien nodded to his bodyguard-slash-chaperone-slash-babysitter, indicating that he should open the door. The couple stepped into the cavernous foyer and Nathalie rushed in to meet them. Adrien took another breath to steel himself and spoke to Nathalie. "I need to speak with my father. Can you please see if he's available?"

As the clicking of Nathalie's heels faded away the couple looked at each other. Adrien was hoping to find comfort in Marinette, and Marinette knew that Adrien would need comfort and was ready to give it to him. "Adrien, baby." She gently stroked his arm. "What ever happens we'll handle it, ok?"

When he gave a slight nod, she gave him a quick hug. But she quickly pulled away to appear natural before Nathalie reentered the room.

It wasn't too long before she did return. "Your father is pretty busy at the moment, but he can give you a couple minutes." She gestured for them to follow her and led them to Gabriel's expansive office.

He glanced up when they came into the room. He lifted his hand and looked at his watch. "You've got five minutes. Tell me what it is you need to tell me and tell why you brought a girl..." He paused, glancing at Marinette's stomach. "With you to do so."

Adrien glanced at Marinette for courage and she gave him a brave smile. He squared his shoulders and faced the man who gave him life. "Father, this is Marinette." Adrien gestured to her.

Gabriel face hardened. "And who is this Marinette to you?"

"Well," Adrien hesitated. "Marinette... she's... she's actually my girlfriend." He cringed, waiting for his father's reaction that was bound to be harsh.

"You're girlfriend? Excuse me? You were not given permission to get involved in any type of romantic relationship. How long has this," he gestured at the two of them, "been going on?" Gabriel was incredulous.

"Well, it's complicated, but..."

His father cut him off. "Don't tell me that..." he looked from Adrien to Marinette's baby bump and back.

Adrien grimaced. "Actually father, there is something that me and Marinette came to tell you today."

Gabriel stood up from his chair, enraged. "I cannot believe it! This floozy is carrying your child?"

Adrien took an aggressive step forward, but Marinette grabbed his shoulder to hold him. Adrien took in a loud breath through his teeth before he began speaking angrily. "Yes, this is my baby," he laid a hand on Marinette's stomach, "but Marinette is not a floozy." Adrien spit the last word out as if it burned his tongue to say it. "She is the sweetest, kindest, most genuine person I have ever met, and I am so lucky that she even thinks that I am good enough to be in her presence and to hold her hand. She is so perfect that I couldn't help myself. This happened and yes it was a mistake, but I will not go back. I will never do anything to hurt this child and I will not leave the girl of my dreams to handle this on her own. I am going to do my very best to raise this child and give him the best life." Adrien sighed in disappointment. "I was just hoping that you would support me in this experience, you are my father after all."

Adrien turned on his heel and quickly left his father's office with Marinette following closely behind him.

He heard his father calling after him, trying to get him to come back so that they could talk through the situation civilly. But Adrien knew that there was no way he would be able to talk civilly to his father after what he had said about Marinette.

"Adrien, honey?" Marinette grabbed his face so that he would look at her. "I'm fine, see? Everything's going to be ok." When she could see that he had finally focused on her she continued. "Why don't we go to my house and relax? We can just watch a movie and forget about all this for a while."

Adrien sighed, calmness overtaking him, and nodded.

They rest of the night continued quietly. Adrien said very little, but simply found comfort in Marinette's embrace and in her quiet presence, expecting little from him. A couple hours after they left Adrien's house, they got several calls and texts from Nathalie and even from his father himself asking him to come home for dinner and saying sorry. But Adrien wasn't ready to confront his father yet. Tonight, he was going to stay in the protection that he found in Marinette and their love for each other. Maybe tomorrow he would think about how to approach the situation with his father.