Day 23

Marinette awoke to a piercing cry in the middle of the night.

"Hm?" She rolled over waking Tikki, who was sleeping on her nightstand. Marinette looked at the clock. "2:30." She groaned.

"What's wrong, Marinette?"

"Didn't you hear that?"

"Hear what?" Tikki hadn't heard anything.

"Oh, I guess I was just imagining things, Tikki. It sounded like a baby crying." She ducked back under the covers, but before she could go back to sleep, she heard the crying again.

"I definitely heard that." Tikki said. "It sounds like it's coming from the roof. Maybe you should go check it out." Marinette nodded and climbed onto her balcony. She shivered against the cold February air and looked around.

"Look, Tikki!" She pointed to her chair.

"A...baby?"

"Hey, there's a note." Marinette picked up the note and read it, knowing immediately who it was from.

'Hey Purrincess,

Sorry fur the rude awakening, but I need a huge favor. I saved a girl today. She's only 16 and the baby in your chair belongs to her. She can't afford to take care of it, and neither can I, so I was hoping you could until we find her some foster parents. The baby's name is Emma, by the way. It should only take about a week if all goes well. I'll drop by tomorrow to see if you need anything, but I'm pawsitive you can handle it. Thanks fur saving my tail!'

"It's from Chat Noir."

"But it isn't signed, Marinette. How can you be sure?"

"Oh, Tikki. There are four reasons. First of all, he used like, half a dozen cat puns. Second, he called me Purrincess, and no one else does, and third, he signed it with a green paw print." Tikki looked at Marinette, confused.

"That's only three reasons. You said there were four."

"Oh. Fourth, Chat Noir is the only one that I know who's crazy enough to leave a baby on my balcony at 2:30 in the morning." Marinette gently picked up Emma, who was cold to the touch from sitting outside, and she brought her downstairs.

"Are you going to keep her, Marinette?" Tikki asked.

"Well, it's the least I can do. Besides, it's only for a week, and it can't be that hard to take care of a baby, can it? I'll go shopping tomorrow after school and get some things for her. It might actually be fun! You'll see, Tikki. I can handle it."

Tikki sighed as she watched Marinette set up a temporary bed for Emma, knowing that it was very hard to take care of a baby, but she figured she would let Marinette figure that out herself.

Emma had slept for most of the rest of the night, and by the time she woke up crying, it was about time for Marinette to get up for school anyway. She turned off her alarm and dragged herself out of bed, cringing in discomfort when her bare feet touched the cold floor.

"Mornin' Tikki."

"Good morning, Marinette." The Kwami was nervous for Marinette to find out just how hard it was to take care of a baby along with doing her homework, designing, and going to school. "By the way, who's going to take care of Emma during the day?"

"Well, I figured my parents could. We have a back room that they could put her in while they ran the bakery, and when they have some downtime, they can feed her or change her or whatever."

"But, Marinette…"

"What is it, Tikki?" Marinette didn't realize the most important thing that she was missing.

"You haven't told your parents about her yet." Marinette's face went from excited to terrified. Her eyes grew wide.

"Oh, Tikki, this is a disaster! Papa will never let me have a baby in the house! What am I going to do? Oh, Tikki, help me!"

Tikki sighed. "Marinette, why don't you just go down and talk to them? Explain all about Emma and they'll let you keep her. I'm sure of it."

"But Tikki, they don't know that Chat Noir visits me sometimes. Besides, Papa is still upset with him about what happened the day he got Akumatized into Weredad."

"Trust your instincts, Marinette. Do you really think you can keep a baby a secret for a week?"

"Well," Marinette sighed. "I guess not."

"But Papa, I can't bring a baby to school!" From Marinette's room, Tikki could hear her chosen arguing with her dad.

"Well, we can't take care of her here during the day. Your mother and I have a bakery to run! You have a choice to make, Marinette. Either you take the baby to school or you just tell Chat Noir that you can't keep a baby and tell him to find someone else."

"Papa, there is no one else. That's why Chat Noir brought her here. Besides, I can't do that to him."

"Then I'd advise you to go to school early and talk to your teachers."

Marinette sighed and walked up the stairs to her room to get Emma, figuring that her teachers wouldn't yell as much if she brought the baby along.

"Well," She said to herself. "What's the worst that can happen?"

"Um… they'll say you can't have a baby at school and you'll either have to stay home from school for the next week or wait until Chat Noir comes by and give Emma back to him." Tikki offered.

Marinette groaned. "I might as well get going. Either way, it's going to be a very long day."

"Who should I start with, Tikki?" Marinette was standing on the steps right outside of Collège François Dupont with Emma in her arms.

"Who do you think will be the hardest to talk to?"

"Um… probably Mssr. Damocles."

"Then talk to him first! It'll only get easier from there."

"Okay…" Marinette walked up to Mssr. Damocles' office and tentatively knocked on his door. "Mssr. Damocles, sir? May I come in?"

"Yes, yes, come in." Marinette carefully pushed open the solid wood door and stepped inside. "Well, Mlle. Dupain-Cheng, why so early? And with a baby? School doesn't start for another half hour, you know."

"Uh, yeah, I know. But I was hoping to talk to you. About her." She gestured to the bundle in her arms.

Mssr. Damocles raised an eyebrow. "Please, sit down." He waited for her to get comfortable. "So what was it that you wanted to talk to me about?"

Marinette explained the whole thing, although she left out Chat Noir's name and said that it was a favor for a friend.

"Well, Marinette, you do realize that this is highly unusual, and very much against regulations as well, don't you?"

"Yes, sir, I do."

Mssr. Damocles sighed. "I will let you keep the baby here for the week, but there are a few things we must discuss. First, you must talk to all of the rest of your teachers and get their approval. If you manage that, you must ensure that the child stays relatively quiet during the day. If she doesn't, you must either take her home with you or leave her in the nurse's office until the end of the day. Also, if she is too much of a distraction for your fellow classmates, she goes, and you go too. Understood?"

"Yes, Mssr. Damocles. Thank you so much, sir!" Marinette stood up and practically ran out of the office.

When Marinette was out of sight, Tikki flew out of her purse. "Who's next?"

"Mme. Mendeleiev, for sure. She'll be the next hardest person to convince."

Five teachers and twenty minutes later, Marinette had gotten the green light to keep Emma for the next week under various rules. She had to keep Emma quiet, she must still do all her work and participate in class, etc. Mme. Mendeleiev had said that Emma wasn't allowed to be part of any lab experiments.

Mme. Bustier, of course, had welcomed Emma with open arms and thought that it would be fun to have a baby in class. Marinette's home ec teacher even said that Emma would be 'educational' to have around during some lessons.

"Well, that wasn't so hard, was it, Marinette?"

"I guess not."

Tikki giggled. "It was funny when Mme. Mendeleiev asked you if Emma was your baby."

Marinette groaned. "That was embarrassing. She was serious, too! And I'm only fifteen! I'm in the tenth grade, for crying out loud." She yawned. "Well, I'd better get to class."

"Marinette."

"What?"

"You didn't bring your school bag, remember?" Marinette's content face tensed into one of shock.

"Oh, Tikki, I'm going to be late again! And after all that!" Tikki sighed. She wasn't sure her already absent-minded chosen would survive a week with a baby, but miracles do happen.

Out of breath, Marinette sprinted back up the stairs carefully, remembering that she was holding a baby. In true form, she made it through the door with seconds to spare, and felt all eyes on her as she entered the classroom.

"Everyone, calm down please." Mme. Bustier clapped to show everyone that it was time to start class. "Marinette, will you come up here for a moment and explain to the class why you have a baby?"

"Huh? O-okay." Marinette stumbled her way up to the front of the room. "Well, I-I'm doing it as a gift to a friend - I mean, a favor to a friend. She's getting foster parents soon, but I have her until then."

"Who's this 'friend' of yours?" Alya asked.

"Um… I'll tell you later."

"Why can't you tell us now?" Kim demanded.

Marinette sighed. "Trust me. You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Just tell us, girl. We'd believe you. At least, I would." Alya continued her interrogation, and Marinette knew she wouldn't stop until the got an answer.

"Okay, okay. I'm doing it for Chat Noir."

"You're right, girl. Even I don't believe that."

"Ugh. Okay. I'll try to get him to come in tomorrow so I can prove it."

"Are you and Chat Noir dating then?" Alix asked.

"Uh… no?" Marinette shook her head. There was no way she'd date Chat Noir.

"Okay, Marinette. You may sit down. We're going to start our lesson now. You all can ask Marinette questions later. Now is not the time." Marinette had to say, she was grateful that Mme. Bustier intervened, or she would never have finished answering questions from her information-hungry classmates. She was already worn out, but she knew if she kept a positive attitude, everything would work out. Maybe it won't be so bad, she thought.

By the end of the day, Marinette was exhausted. Luckily, Emma had only started crying once, but it felt like she was never going to stop. It was a bit awkward having to excuse herself in the middle of physics, but she took Emma into the girls' bathroom and sat with her until she stopped crying.

At lunchtime, Marinette went home to feed herself and Emma. She was half tempted to skip the rest of the day and get her lessons from Alya later, but she knew that wouldn't fly with her parents, so she decided to go back to school.

Instead of heading home when classes were over, Marinette went shopping. After about an hour, she had a couple of outfits, some baby toys, a whole lot of diapers, and some formula. Shopping was probably the easiest part of the day, minus the strange looks she got from the other shoppers.

Marinette went back home, ate dinner, and went straight to bed after a lesson from her mom on how to change a diaper. It wasn't fun. Marinette thanked her lucky stars that she only had to take care of Emma for a week.

"Six more days, Tikki," She said as she began to doze off. "Six more days." Or so she thought.