Chapter 10
The movie ended just as the sun had started to set. Immediately, I grabbed Marinette's hand and dragged her up the stairs with Alya and Nino following behind.
"You have to see this, it's amazing." I huffed as we reached the top of the stairs.
The four of us turned the corner and I opened the door that led into the nursery. The paint was dry by now, and Marinette and I had done a pretty good job at cleaning up our mess from our paint war. Nino assisted me in moving the chaise couch over to the window, and once we were done I instructed everyone to take a seat. Nino and I sat squished together on one side while Alya and Marinette sat together on the other.
Outside the window, the sun had just set enough to touch the tops of the Paris buildings. Within seconds, the entire nursery was illuminated in a golden-yellow, highlighting our faces with a vibrant hue.
"Woah, great color choice, Adrien." Alya beamed.
"Yeah," Marinette agreed, shooting me a small smile, "Great choice."
Together, the four of us sat together on the little pink chaise couch in the small yellow nursery, doused in a rich golden light to watch the sunset over Paris in a moment we had all secretly hoped would never end.
[Three Months Later]
She went into labor on December 4th, starting at midnight on the date.
Hugo Agreste was born fourteen hours later, at 2:00pm, wide-eyed and ready for the world. His hair was black as night, and he had eyes as blue as the sky. He looked just like her, all the way down to the freckles sprawled out across his cheeks. In that moment, I realized that if anyone lay a hand on my son, they would have hell to pay. The love inside me swelled tenfold, bursting my heart and flooding my veins. And when I look at her, and look at my son, I know that everything will be different, and I know nothing can touch us.
...
"Are you ready for this, Gabriel?" Alderam headed in his cold, scratchy tone. I twisted my wedding band around my finger, delicately tracing it's outline as if to say, 'If you're still out there, tell me to stop. Tell me this is wrong' Yet, no voice came, and no sign told me to back off. If I did this now, there was no turning back.
"Yes," No turning back.
Smiling coolly into the darkness of the room, I slid my way across the floor to the far wall. In one swift motion, my hand activated the sensor and the wall opened to reveal the rows upon rows of Miraculouses. Something about seeing my months of hard work sprawled out before me sent a steel trap into my mind. One that was far from breaking down and crumbling. One that was strong enough to withstand even the strongest of hands. It pushed me forwards, possessing me to grab the Miraculouses from their concealed places in the wall, and toss them onto the table before Alderam, who looked at me greedily with his beady yellow eyes. His arm emerged from the hood of his robes, wrinkled and dark, with fingernails as sharp as daggers. His hand hovered over the Miraculouses as if they held a power he couldn't touch, for one taste of it would never be enough to feed his hunger.
That was what made me scared of him. However, his plan was so well thought out that I couldn't help but push away that fear and pull out the excitement. The desperation to see the plan in action, see my months of work play into Alderam's much larger scheme was a pull so strong that I felt my fingers twitch in yearning to transform and cause some much needed havoc amongst the town, but I held myself back.
"Hmm…" Alderam scuttled, "Prepare yourself, Gabriel. I will see you soon." And with that, Alderam disappeared in a huff of dark black smoke.
The Miraculouses lay abandon on the table as I walked towards the elevator, knowing full well that they weren't going anywhere anytime soon.
Natalie was waiting for me at the bottom of the elevator, a phone in hand.
"Sir, you have an incoming call from Adrien." She said.
"Adrien? I haven't heard from him in months." I said, failing to still the surprise in my voice.
Natalie stretched out her arm towards me, "You should take it."
The phone slipped into my hand with ease, it's high-tech advantages making it feel as though I were holding a device as light as a feather. I pressed the speaker against my ear and cleared my throat awkwardly, "Adrien, what is it?"
Adrien's muffled, static filled voice made its way through the speaker of the phone, filled with shock. "Father, I didn't think you'd pick up."
Crossing my arms against my chest I scowled into the phone, "What do you want, Adrien? I've got a busy schedule and talking to you right now is wasting my time."
"Father," Adrien's voice sounded hurt now, but I didn't care. I was telling the truth about not having enough time. There were things that needed to be taken care of. "I-just thought you would want to know that Marinette gave birth yesterday. We're still at the hospital if your schedule clears enough for you to meet your grandchild." The distaste was layered on heavily with those last few words.
"Why didn't you call me yesterday?"
"Well, we needed some time to-"
"Never mind, I'll come when I can. Goodbye, Adrien."
A pause, then, "Goodbye… father." The line went dead.
...
I hung up the phone solemnly, almost wishing that he hadn't picked up at all. I'd rather have left him a message then to live through that, and sadly, that was exactly how I had expected the conversation to go.
I slid open the glass door to our hospital room, shoving my phone into my pocket. Marinette lay on the bed with her hair down around her shoulders, feeding our son with tired eyes that hardly left his face to look at me as I came through the door.
"Did he answer?" She asked quietly, pulling back the dark blue blanket on Hugo's face to allow me to see him better. I reached out and caressed his cheek, his soft skin soothed me greatly.
"He did actually," I started, pulling up a chair beside the bed. "He made it clear he was busy, so I don't think we can expect him to come anytime soon."
Marinette sighed, "Mom and dad went out to grab me some food, they'll be back soon." About a year after we married each other, she started referring to her parents as "Mom and dad" instead of simply, "my mom and dad." Whenever she said it that way, I felt as though I was really a part of a large, loving family.
Marinette shifted beside me, pulling Hugo away and replacing his food with a green pacifier that had a small kitten paw painted on its front. Marinette carefully placed him in my arms and reached over to adjust her shirt back into place.
He felt so small in my arms, so light. Hugo's eyes fluttered open to look up at me, sparkling with new life and curiosity. I "bopped" him lightly on the nose and smiled.
"Hey, kiddo. Did you get enough to eat? Are you feeling sleepy?" In response, Hugo smiled up at me so widely I was sure the corners of his mouth reached his ears. Joyful tears slipped out of my eyes and spilled over onto my cheeks, "Gee, Hugo, you're a real charmer already."
"Yeah, he gets it from his flirtatious, cat-like father." Marinette commented from the bed. I looked up at her with a smirk and pulled Hugo closer to my chest, wiping away the tears with the thumb of my now free hand.
"Let me tell you a secret buddy, you keep being charming towards your mother, and you'll get anything you want."
Marinette let out a sharp sarcastic "Ha!" before laying down against the white cotton pillows of the hospital bed. I was sure in the past two days that she hadn't slept for more than two or three hours, so I stood up and started walking around the room, patting the baby to put him to sleep.
"You don't have to do that, Adrien. I can."
"And let you keep the baby all to yourself for a day? I don't think so." I smiled, "I got him, Mari. Go to sleep."
Hugo squirmed in my arms for a moment, adjusting to get more comfortable I guessed, and he let out a wide-mouthed yawn. His pacifier was bumped out of his mouth, so I picked up and gave it back to him. Gosh, he looked so much like his mother. Maybe he had my nose, and wide eyes, but the rest was all her. And he felt so light in my hands, and his hair was so soft and short, and his skin was still red and swollen from birth, but he was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen. I couldn't wait to bring him home and raise him as my own.
Finally, Hugo's two little eyelids fluttered shut, closing off his bright blue irises from the world. His breathing evened out into short little baby breaths. Reluctantly, I placed him down into the crib the hospital had provided and planted a small kiss on his forehead.
"Don't wake up, okay?" I whispered to Hugo. He simply let out a breath in his sleep. "Good." I looked behind my button-down shirt and Plagg came floating out into the open space.
Immediately, I held a finger to my lips, "Don't make too much noise, Plagg."
"Where's the baby?" Plagg asked excitedly. I pointed over to where Hugo was sleeping and Plagg flew over, hovering over the child's face. "Aww look at him. Do you think he likes cheese?"
"You are not feeding him cheese." I scolded quietly.
Plagg shrugged, "Oh well, more for me. When's Tikki coming?" I watched as Plagg caringly adjusted Hugo's blanket, almost as though he were tucking him in.
Smiling to myself at Plagg's soft-side, I replied, "Alya and Nino should be here any minute with her."
"Can you ask them to bring some camembert?"
About ten minutes later Tom and Sabine entered the room quietly, bearing a bunch of goodies from the bakery. Plagg immediately went to work on some of the macaroons Tom had brought, and Tom looked at Plagg with pride at how much he loved his baking.
Tom and Sabine had found out about Marinette and I being superheroes by pure accident. Tom found out first, after Sabine had been mind-controlled to take part in an akuma victim's actions. Tom being Tom, had chased after her trying to rescue her for hours, constantly putting himself in harm's way just to get his wife back. Ladybug and I tried so hard to get him to listen to us, but he wouldn't. So, Ladybug stood before him and de-transformed to show him that he had more than enough reason to trust the fellow superheroine before him.
They didn't exactly like the idea at first, but when Marinette explained how our powers and kwamii's kept us safe, and how she had been balancing the double life for so long, Tom and Sabine accepted it and let us do our thing. Of course, when they found out I was Chat Noir, I had a huge talking to by Tom, who wanted me to be sure his daughter would always be safe.
Sabine picked Hugo up in her arms and cradled him soothingly, whispering quietly to him. Tom stood behind her and watched his grandson for a moment, before Sabine finally let him have a turn to hold him. Tom kissed Hugo's forehead and started telling him a story about his favorite brownie recipe.
Sabine left the two alone and walked over to me, wrapping me in a warm hug. I sunk into her motherly embrace, inhaling the drifting scent of their bakery.
Sabine pulled away, "How are you feeling, Adrien?"
Just one look from her and I felt all the stress leave my body. Moms are amazing like that.
"I'm amazing. My son is just… amazing." I glanced over at Hugo, who was starting to wake up in Tom's arms. "I'm also slightly terrified." I admitted, shifting my gaze back over to Sabine.
She laughed lightly, "That feeling never goes away, but you two will be excellent parents. I don't think you should worry too much, Honey."
"Thanks mom." Suddenly, Marinette sat up in the hospital bed rubbing her eyes sleepily. Sabine was at her side in seconds.
"Marinette! Oh, I'm so proud of you. Hugo is so beautiful."
I bit back laughter as Marinette's sleepy new-parent brain scrambled to process what Sabine had just said.
"Uh-huh… umm… Thanks? I love you mom."
Tom turned around then, Hugo was starting to fuss a bit, but he didn't seem to mind. Instead he spoke while sticking the binky back in Hugo's mouth, "What about me?"
Marinette giggled, "I love you too dad." Just then Alya and Nino came sprinting through the door, Alya's eyes were wide and looking around, seeking out her new godchild.
"There he is!" She got up next to Tom and gave Hugo a small wave, "Hey there little guy, it's your auntie Alya. Remember me? He looks just like you, Marinette!"
Tom was soon forced to hand the baby over to Alya, and once Alya had a hold of him, Nino came up to her side and the two of them stayed in the corner of the room, cooing over the new baby. Tikki came out of hiding, but instead of going for the baby, she went straight to Marinette.
"Tikki!" said Marinette gleefully. "So glad you're here."
"How're you feeling, Marinette?" Tikki asked. Marinette giggled.
"About as good as you'd expect. Hugo would love to see you."
Tikki nodded and flew back over to the baby, picking up a rattle on her way over. She shook the rattle around the baby, making him reach up for the strange object above his face. Eventually, Tom and Sabine made their way back over to the baby as well, and I took the opportunity to crawl into bed next to Marinette, who took my hand in hers and squeezed it gently with a soft smile as I returned my gaze to the sweet scene in he corner of the room.
And I smiled too because, this was the family that I was fighting for.
...
Something held me back from going to that hospital. It just didn't feel right.
I couldn't understand the feeling, it was like a deep fiery pit in my stomach and every time I walked towards the door the fire would spread to my chest making it nearly impossible to take another step.
So, I didn't go to that hospital. And for the next few weeks following the birth, I didn't once visit my son's house, or bother his wife, or even send them a letter. They didn't hear a peep from me again.
The night of the Battle I met Alderam in an alley down a random Paris street. Since the Miraculous Team had set up round-the-clock guards at various locations, no doubt fully loaded with weapons, we had decided it was best to use out-of-the-way places like an alley to rendezvous.
Alderam appeared before me within seconds of my arrival. I was fully transformed as Hawkmoth and had my team of butterflies swarming around me in an anticipated fury, as if they were feeding off my anxious energies.
Alderam handed me a short, crumpled up list which contained the scribbled names and places we had previously agreed upon in our last meeting. I knew exactly what he wanted me to do, and I was ready.
Turning towards the rising moon I said, "See you on the other side, Raven."
Hello fellow Miraculousers! The story is picking up its pace again, get ready for what's to come. Might go back and edit this later since I wrote it so quickly. Also, I made an edit to the last chapter that I had over looked which might help it be a bit less confusing towards the end there.
By the way, I know this story is long and that it's only going to get longer from here on out but thank you all so much for continuing to read my work! It makes me so grateful and gives me something to look forward to every day.