"Are you sure you don't want me to come help you? You looked really tired when you came by the shop yesterday," Sabine said in a worried tone on the other end of the phone.
"Mom, I'm fine," Marinette encouraged, even though her appearance said a different story. Her long, raven black hair was in an obviously rushed ponytail and her sweatshirt was wrinkled and had an orange juice and baby food stain just over her stomach. She had freshly forming dark circles under her eyes and her body was constantly on edge and tense. "I have everything here under control."
Just after that was said, Marinette could see a flash of blue pass her through the corner of her eye. Her instinct quietly kicked in and she spun around toward the living room entrance behind her and saw her little raven haired son, in his favorite blue shirt, climbing into her work chair and begin to look through his mother's sketchbook with a certain look in his green eyes that she knew all too well. "Jean don't touch that," Marinette practically shouted before she quickly ran out of the kitchen and toward her small work station.
The little 4-year-old jumped at the sudden shout and instantly froze till his mother picked him up and out of the cushioned chair. "But I want to color," Jean protested with a huff as he crossed his arms.
Marinette set the little boy down and knelt down to his level. "Ok, but color in your coloring books, not mommy's work book."
"I can't! I already filled them," the child explained, now pouting as he looked up at his mother.
Marinette bit her lower lip as she looked around the room for a solution to this issue. How was she going to distract her energized child long enough for her to end her phone call and get some work done before child number two woke up? She then spotted some blank paper hidden under the small desk on the other side of the room. She dashed over to pick it up, expecting it to see if it was blank and thankfully it was. "Here, color on this while I look for more, ok?"
"Ok," Jean chirped as he took the paper and ran toward his 'coloring corner' that was off in the small nearby hallway.
Marinette sighed a sigh of relief as she let her shoulders relax a little. She could then finally hear her mother call her name through the other line. "Huh? Sorry about that mom. Jean was having a paper crisis," she explained quickly as she went over to sit on the couch, moving some toys out of the way first.
"Are you sure you don't need me to come over. I don't mind watching Jean and Yvette for you for a bit," Sabine offered once again, "You probably need some sleep or get some work done, don't you?"
"Mom, I'm fine. I've taken care of them by myself since Friday and Adrien comes back from his photoshoot tomorrow morning. I think I can handle one more night alone."
That's right. She was all alone. Taking care of both a 4-year-old and 9-month-old, by herself, for the first time. At first it was easy sailing with both children behaving like a couple of angels sent from Heaven, but that all changed once bed time came. After that, each time Jean got loud or upset, Yvette would get loud or upset, leaving Marinette to turn into a tense and frazzled mess of a fashion designer in the middle of an important deadline running on absolutely no sleep.
"If you say so. Just remember, I'm only a phone call away."
"I know mom. If anything happens, I'll be sure to call. Love you."
Marinette slumped back against the couch and sighed as she let herself sink in the cushions. She was physically tired, but knew she couldn't stay still for long if she didn't want chaos to erupt. She stood up and stretched her arms up and over her head and leaned back some to stretch her back as well. Marinette walked over to her small work desk and gathered the fabric swatches and her sketchbook that she left there and decided to put them back where they belong and will be safe from a certain child. She started off for the nearby hallway of the small home and went to the room at the end, ruffling her son's hair before entering. The room was her own personal design room and, even though it was usually neat and clean, the room was an absolute mess at the moment. Marinette rested her sketchbook and swatches down on her desk, covering the last cleared area on the countertop. At that moment, in that room, she finally felt at peace. The house was quiet, everyone was calm and in their safe place – Jean in his corner, Yvette in her crib, and her in her work room. Everything was under control.
Marinette took what little time she had to work on her current project as much as she could. Just as she was pinning a mockup of a skirt on her manikin, a cry came through the baby monitor that sat on her shelf full of family photos.
"Mommy," Jean called out from his corner just by her door – a stack of freshly found paper sitting next to him.
"I know," Marinette responded calmly as she stuck a pin in the skirt and started to take her little pin cushion bracelet off her wrist. "You good Bug," she asked as she knelt down in the doorway to check on her now contempt son.
"Yeah, I'm good," Jean responded happily as he drew out what looked like to be the Eiffel Tower.
"Ok," Marinette smiled as she ruffled his hair before getting up and walking toward the stairs at the other end of the hallway.
Up the stairs and down the hallway, Marinette walked into an overly pink room and toward a snow white crib that was by the window across the room. Down in the crib was a red faced, cubby little baby that was crying her little eyes out, wanting someone to come and calm her. The thin little strands of blonde hair on the infant's head became a curly, shaggy mess from tossing and turning in her crib and her chubby red cheeks were tear stained. "Awe, what's wrong Princess," Marinette asked as she reached down to pick up her daughter and settle her against her shoulder. "Did you have a nightmare?" The infant's cries settled once she fully woke up, her big blue eyes blinking around the room before settling on her mother's face. The dream far from her memory, she was confused about what was going on and why she was in her mother's arms so soon. Marinette giggled at her daughter's blank look before kissing her forehead. "Come on, let's go get your brother," she said cheerfully as she walked out of the nursery.
Moments later, Marinette was sitting at the dining room table with her two young children, helping her now awake daughter eat while her son shoveled in spoons full of macaroni and cheese in his mouth. "Mommy, when is daddy coming back," Jean asked with a full mouth. "I want to show him my new drawings."
"He'll be back tomorrow morning," Marinette responded while wiping off some cheese from Jean's cheek. "I have to go to the studio tomorrow. Do you want to come with me?"
"Can I draw a new pattern," the little boy asked, his green eyes sparkling.
"Of course you can."
Jean cheered out of excitement. He loved drawing new patterns for his mother on her tablet and he loved seeing them be used in her designs. A concerning thought then popped in his head. "But who's going to watch Yvette," he asked, concerned about where his sister will be then.
The infant's attention peaked at the mention of her name and looked at both her mother and brother a bit confused. "She's going to stay here with daddy. He'll be too tired from his plane ride to watch you and Yvette," Marinette explained as she went back to make sure the infant was eating her food.
"Good. Yvy likes to play with daddy. She'll have a lot more fun here than in the studio."
"Yes she will," Marinette smiled, ruffling her son's raven black hair.
Later that night, after giving her children a bath and putting them to bed, Marinette did some work on her project before going to pass out on her bed. The weekend had completely drained her. She thought she could handle taking care of both children herself and she was right. By giving up some work and sleep hours, she kept everything under control with only a few hiccups here and there.
In the middle of the night, the front door was unlocked from the outside and opened. A very tired Adrien walked into the small living area. "I'm home," he said quietly to himself, knowing that everyone was fast asleep. He turned around after locking the door and looked at the sight before him. The living room was an absolute mess. Fabric swatches, paper, crayons, color pencils, and baby toys were all over the place. The couch was covered with all kinds of blankets and there were a stack of DVDs by the television stand. When Adrien turned his head, he found that the kitchen wasn't any better. Dirty dishes – mainly baby bottles, sippy cups, and children's plates – filled the sink and counter tops still had remints of meal preparations on it. "Maybe leaving Marinette alone wasn't a good idea," Adrien said to himself after he took everything in. As he walked up toward the stairway, he noticed that over towards his wife's office there was a pile of papers and crayons scattered all over the floor. He figured that the office wasn't any better as he made his way up the stairs, passing by a toy here and there. The upstairs was surprisingly clean, except for the clothes and towels discarded in front of the bathroom door. Ignoring the small mess, Adrien continued on to the master bedroom, sleep being the only thing on his mind, but that became an issue once he made it to the room.
Sprawled out across the bed was a passed out Marinette, practically snoring in her sleep. Adrien looked at her in confusion, wondering just how much of an issue watching the kids alone was to her. Well, she did also have that important deadline for a client coming up, he thought to himself as he shrugged off his duffle bag and jacket. He walked over to the bed and started to move Marinette onto her side of the bed, struggling a bit when she wouldn't cooperate in her sleep. "Come on, work with me Mari," Adrien grumbled as he tried to pick Marinette up. Once he got her in his arms and lying on her side of the bed and on her pillow, he went over to grab a quilted blanket out from the closet. He unfolded the blanket and draped it over the entire bed and his wife before sitting on the foot of the bed to take off his shoes. Once his shoes were off, Adrien fell back on the bed and let the comfort of the mattress take over him. Just as he was about to let his exhaustion consume him, a soft cry came through on the baby monitor on Marinette's nightstand. Adrien looked over in its direction and waited for the cry to stop before counting. 1… 2… 3… 4… Another cry came through the monitor and then stopped. 1… 2… Another cry. Adrien pushed himself up, knowing exactly what was about to happen.
Yvette's cries rang through the baby monitor. The noise started to make Marinette stir, confused at first on what exactly was going on, but then sprang into action once everything became clear. "Yvette," Marinette practically shouted once she realized how hard the infant was crying. How long has she been crying?! Why didn't I wake up sooner?! Marinette hurried down the upstairs hallway toward her daughter's room, a bit surprised to find the door was already opened. Thinking that she probably just left it open, Marinette walked into the room. "Sorry Yvette. Mommy's," something shocking caught Marinette's eyes to make her pause, "here."
Adrien turned around, the infant in his arms and crying in his shoulder a little softer now. "Oops. I was hoping to calm her down before you woke up," he said with a guilty smile.
Marinette, with a shocked look still on her face, just stared at him from the threshold. "Pho-Photoshoot? Plane? Tomorrow? How?" Only words could come out of her mouth, the utter shock from her husband's early arrival home preventing her to form complete sentences.
Adrien chuckled, finding Marinette's current sleep deprived, shocked state adorable. "The photoshoot ended early so I was able to get an earlier flight back. I was hoping to surprise all of you at dinner, but the plane I took got delayed in London. So, even though I left early, I still got back later than I wanted." Yvette then moved against his shoulder, rubbed her tears off on his shirt. "Uh, can I have one of her towels?"
Marinette shook out of her stunned state and looked around for a towel. "Uh, yeah," she said as she grabbed one from the diaper changing table. She walked over to hand it to Adrien. "What was wrong with her," she asked, a bit amazed that she's quiet now.
"She just wanted to be held," Adrien answered as he took the towel and started to wipe his daughter's face clean. "Spoiled Princess."
Marinette became lost in the sight of her husband and daughter bonding and loved how they looked so much alike with their messy blonde hair. Unconsciously she wrapped her arms around Adrien's waist and buried her face into his free shoulder. "I'm glad your home. I missed you."
"I missed you too." Adrien kissed the top of Marinette's head and rested his cheek on it. "You should go back to bed. I have everything under control here."
"Are you sure," Marinette asked as she looked up at him. "Aren't you tired from your trip?"
"I am," Adrien shrugged, "but I've probably had more sleep than you did this whole weekend. Now go to bed My Lady," he said as he turned Marinette around and started to push her toward the door.
Marinette giggled as she was being escorted out of her daughter's room. "Alright, I'm going." She turned around in the threshold and kissed her daughter's chubby cheek before kissing her husband's slender one. "Good night Kitty."
"Good night Princess."
