"Mommy?"
Marinette turned to face the clock beside her bed, and almost groaned when she caught sight of the time –2:45 am– until she looked at her daughter standing in the doorway. "What is it, Em?" she murmured.
Emma looked down at her feet bashfully before she went on, "Can I sleep in here?"
With a sleepy smile, Marinette replied, "Yeah, c'mon up."
Emma rubbed at her eyes and went over to her parents' bed, climbing into Adrien's spot and snuggling up beside Marinette.
"Everything alright?" her mother asked.
For a few seconds, Emma was quiet, still looking away. Then she answered softly, "I miss Daddy."
Marinette felt a tug at her heart from the dismal look on her daughter's face– mostly because she felt the same way. He'd only been gone for two days, but it was the longest that a photoshoot had called Adrien away from their family in a while. "Oh, I know, baby," she said, wrapping her arms around Emma, "I do, too." She lowered her head to meet Emma's eyes and continued, "But it's almost Monday. He'll be home before you know it." This seemed to make her feel a little better, because Marinette saw a smile pulling at the corner of Emma's mouth. Marinette kept going, smiling back, "He might even be here by the time you wake up tomorrow. Okay?"
At last, Emma let herself cheer up a bit. "Okay," she nodded, hugging her mom back.
The room fell quiet again just for a moment before Emma piped up, "Mommy, when I went in your dress room before…"
Uh-oh. If there was one thing Marinette wasn't ready to talk about right then (or ever, possibly), it was Emma walking into her sewing room and seeing her de-transform from a quick patrol as Ladybug earlier that evening. "We'll talk about it in the morning," she said. Whether they actually would was a whole different matter, but it just wasn't something she could stress herself out over so late at night. "Now get some sleep."
Emma snuggled a little closer, and once again, the room was quiet. Marinette had almost dozed off before she heard another tiny voice say, "Mama?"
With a small sigh, she lifted her head and saw her youngest child looking back at her. "Yeah, Louis?"
"I had a bad dream," he sniffled. "Can I stay in here tonight?"
"Sure." Marinette scooted herself and Emma over just enough for Louis to crawl in on her other side. She turned around to face him. "Do you wanna tell me what happened?" she asked.
Louis let out a little hiccup before he replied, "I– I dreamed there was a monster at my school, and… and it was coming after me."
Marinette leaned forward and stroked the back of her son's head. "Oh, I'm so sorry that happened to you, sweetie. It was just a dream, though," she soothed him, "there's no monsters." Then she gently tilted his head up to face her. She grinned, "And if there were, you know Ladybug and Chat Noir would always come to save you, right?"
He sniffled again, but now Louis was smiling. "I know," he nodded.
Marinette kissed her son's forehead before it occurred to her that she'd mentioned Ladybug. She craned her neck to look behind herself and was relieved to see that Emma was asleep. With a sigh, she turned onto her back and closed her eyes.
"Um…"
Well, it was either Hugo or a home invader, and given the sound of the voice, Marinette thought, the latter would have been more hilarious than threatening. She opened one eye and smirked, "What's up, Hugo?"
The middle Dupain-Agreste child rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. Finally, he confessed, "I saw everyone else come in here and I got kinda lonely."
Marinette chuckled, patting the duvet. "Come here."
Hugo was happy to oblige, practically running up onto the bed before he made himself comfortable beside his sister.
As Marinette leaned over to ruffle her older son's hair, she realized something: even though she and the kids missed Adrien, they were happy. In fact, this was the happiest she'd felt in her husband's absence in a long time. And it was because they were all together.
Of course, they'd be even happier once he was back home.
"I love you guys," Marinette smiled before she went back to sleep.