Cinnamon and Vanilla

Chapter 25

Marinette tried really hard not to fidget in the chair of the waiting room. The last thing she thought she would be doing on Christmas Eve would be seeing a doctor, and an obstetrician no less. Marinette thanked her Ladybug luck that a cancellation had made an opening available because she wasn't sure either her or Adrien could have waited another week.

The doctor had been very sweet in the appointment, although Marinette was taken aback when she asked them if this had been an accident. When they assured her it wasn't, she looked at them curiously, but didn't say anymore about it, moving onto more practical discussions. The obstetrician had offered them a scan when Marinette made the booking since she was so unsure about her dates. She never did remember half the time to update that little app she kept hidden in her phone where she was supposed to keep track of that time of the month. Although with her erratic cycles, it had never been all that useful anyway. Adrien could see her bouncing her leg up and down and reached over, holding her hand.

"Are you nervous?" He asked. "You don't need to be you know, I'll be right there with you." Marinette shook her head and squeezed her legs together.

"No, it's not that." She managed to get out through a groan. "I think my bladder is going to explode from all the water I had to drink this morning for the scan." Oh right, Adrien had forgotten about that. Apparently the ultrasound required a very full bladder to be able to work properly.

"So, it would be a bad idea if I pushed right here then?" He teased, hovering his fingers near her very full bladder.

"Don't you dare!" Marinette warned, batting his hand away as he chuckled at her.

"Well you better not think too hard about running water then."

"Chat..." She whined.

"Flowing streams..."

"Kitty..."

"Waterfalls..."

"Adrien!" She was going to slap the silly grin right off his face. Either that or kiss him senseless...these hormones were worse than PMS.

"Mrs Agreste, you can come in now." The sonographer called. The young couple stood up and followed the middle aged woman into a small, darkened room. "If you just want to get comfortable there, I'll tuck this sheet into the top of your jeans and just pull your shirt up there a bit...that's right. Now I think they forgot to put the warmer on so this might be a bit cold."

Marinette had to hold in a gasp as the cold conductor jelly was squeezed with a slosh over her still very flat tummy. Had this stuff just come out of a freezer or something? Adrien gave her a worried look when she realised she had just squeezed his hand tight. Loosening her grip, she gave him an apologetic smile and he relaxed. Maybe she was more nervous than she thought she was. As the sonographer moved the wand through the jelly, Marinette watched the black and white grainy nothingness on the screen and she felt a wave of panic rush through her. What if the test was wrong? What if they found nothing? What if all this had just been in her head? What if...

"And there we are." The sonographer said. Marinette focused her eyes onto where the sonographer pointed to the screen. She wasn't sure what she expected to see. Maybe a blob? A few cells bouncing around like in a Petri dish? Aside from the occasional bout of lightheadedness and that puke yesterday, (she didn't care what Adrien said, she was blaming Lila for that) Marientte didn't look or feel any different. Yet here they are, looking at the screen at something that they could easily see was a baby. A real live, moving baby. The head was bigger than the body, which the sonographer said was normal at this stage, but there were also little hands and feet moving around. It looked like a baby, even though it was no bigger than a prune. Marinette struggled to get her head around it. That this little wriggling person was growing inside her, something that was a part of her, a part of Adrien, and she suddenly felt very protective of this new life.