I have less than four weeks left of my first year in graphic design and this last term so far has been pretty packed to the brim with work, I don't know how I'm able to write these chapters and do comics and commissions and all that and still be able to breathe! XD But anyways, hopefully everyone is enjoying the story so far, I still don't know how much left there is to go but I have a small idea of how the rest of the story is going to pan out, it's just a matter of getting to that point that's all.

So yeah probably like at the end of Chapter 24 less than 10 chapters is a very rough estimate, I really doubt it would be less than 5 but it could stretch out over 10 more I kinda hope not because I want to work on new stories during the summer break. I might do a double upload or extended chapters to lessen the chapter amount but I guess we'll just have to wait and see ;)

Enjoy the Chapter! ^^

Miraculous Ladybug © Thomas Astruc/ Zagtoon

Chapter 26 – Missing and Returned

Adrien almost looked paler than a vampire after hearing that, feeling like that Alya could catch on at any moment and realise that her best friend was Ladybug and was pregnant with Cat Noir's child, but at the same time he felt like she wouldn't jump to that far of a conclusion, she would only suspect but not confirm, even though Alya was clueless she was only clueless to an extent.

He knew Marinette would be extremely worried about this happening, and unfortunately he felt bad that it would only reveal her secret identity and not his, he began to feel conflicted on whether they should tell Alya, and even Nino so he's not left out of all this, but at the same time he didn't want to put their lives at risk if they knew their secret identities and the fact that they were going to become parents in a few months.

It felt like they would have to tell them eventually, at least about them becoming parents but being superheroes they could both easily cover up, it was just going to take a little bit of time to fully explain how Adrien and Marinette got together in the first place and explain why they didn't tell them without revealing their secret identities.

Adrien sighed, feeling a little calmer about the situation after giving it some thought. "If she finds out then she finds out, we can't do anything to stop that, but we have to try and keep our secret identities a secret for as long as we can. I know this baby is going to reveal more secrets the more it grows and the more other people see you grow more."

Marinette couldn't help but sigh at the thought of getting bigger than she already was, she was a little over six months and yet no one had seemed to notice through her baggy jumpers that she was pregnant, although Alya was getting a little annoyed about seeing Marinette in a baggy jumper everyday regardless of the temperature, but she didn't take it too personally so it didn't bother her too much.

"I can't believe I'm going to get even bigger over the next three months." She exclaimed, looking down as she rubbed her pregnant stomach, smiling a little after thinking about holding the little miracle in her hands. "But at the same time I can't wait to meet our daughter."

Adrien cupped Marinette's cheeks, seeing the beauty in Marinette's eyes always made his heart melt. "I know she'll grow up to look just as beautiful as you." He assured, pulling her chin closer for a kiss.

Not long later, the two of them went back to class for the rest of the day, Marinette snuck a glance at Alya every now and then thinking about if Alya wasn't that clueless that she would be able to connect the dots. Another thought Marinette had going on in her mind was that she take a break until the baby was born from being Ladybug, but at the same time Cat Noir couldn't do much without her help, they were a balanced team. Neither of them could work without each other, so Marinette knew that no matter what she had to protect Paris from Hawkmoth's evil akumas.

In all the meanwhile during class, Chloe had started to act strange again, Sabrina rubbed Chloe's shoulder as she seemed to zone out again. Adrien turned in just the right moment to see her eyes turn from blue to purple and then quickly fade. Something was still going on with Chloe, he was determined to talk to her after class about it, and feeling like his suspicions about something being wrong with her had gone long enough.

But when class ended and Adrien had grabbed his bag ready to go home, Chloe was nowhere in sight. Adrien looked all around but couldn't find her anywhere; he knew she was missing when he saw Sabrina doing the exact same thing. This was starting to get a little too suspicious for his liking, he had to get to the bottom of this, but first he needed to talk to Marinette about it, but maybe talk to her in their superhero forms patrolling the city. He felt like this was Hawmoth's doing, and he knew that they had to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible.

Later that evening, after having a long conversation with Alya on the phone about the possibility of Ladybug being pregnant and Marinette trying to make it seem like Ladybug wasn't pregnant, Adrien buzzed her a little after sunset, asking if the two of them could patrol tonight from the rooftops, knowing very well that it was highly unlikely for either of them to be spotted.

She wondered why he wanted to patrol on a school night, they usually only patrol on weekends or basically when it wasn't a school night. Marinette felt like there was something more to this patrol than just a standard patrol, something was going on.

So a little while later, after getting some more homework done she transformed into Ladybug and made her way to their usual meeting spot. And just like clockwork she found Cat Noir laying down admiring the night sky before he sprung to his feet and greeted his lady with a gentle kiss on the hand.

Ladybug giggled, knowing that it was Adrien under the mask made it all more cute and adorable to her when he did that. She placed a hand on her belly, adoring the movement she was starting to feel from the baby, Chat quickly kneeled down and placed a hand on her stomach that stuck out from her suit. His next instinct was to talk to the belly, feeling like he might get a response from the baby through the kicking felt.

"Hello, it's your daddy..."He said in a high pitched tone, looking and caressing at Ladybug's pregnant belly.

In that very moment Chat talked, Ladybug felt the baby kick in response, it could hear them too. She and Chat gasped at the exact same time, looking at each other in awe before Chat stood up and caressed Ladybug's cheek and leaning in for a kiss, before Ladybug smirked and placed a finger on his lips.

"Alright, so why are we patrolling tonight?" She asked, placing her hands on her hips.

Cat Noir cleared his throat, remembering the real reason why they were patrolling on a school night. "Chloe's missing. I was looking for her after school but she disappeared."

Ladybug remembered seeing Chloe act a little strange during class earlier that day, but was too focused on getting her work done and getting constantly distracted by the amount of kicking the baby was doing. "She was acting a little strange during class today; we'd better go check her place." She insisted.

With a nod in agreement from Chat, the two of them quickly peat from building to building towards Chloe's house, in all the meanwhile Cat Noir explained the purple in Chloe's eyes and how she was zoning out again, but this time more stiffly than before.

"It was strange, I feel like something might be controlling her or something."

Ladybug nodded, feeling like his assumptions were right. "Hawkmoth must be gaining control over her from that akuma attack, because I didn't cleanse the akuma straight away so it must have created some sort of effect on her that's enabling Hawkmoth to possibly control her." Ladybug theorised, feeling at first her assumption was right but then feeling like she could be wrong again and this was just Chloe beginning to act different for no apparent reason.

But when they got to Chloe's place, they could see through the windows Chloe's father pacing back and forth with a few police officers with him, along with Sabrina and her father the chief of police. It was then that both Cat Noir and Ladybug knew that something was definitely going on.

They had to talk to them, assure them that they would be on the lookout for Chloe too. "We should talk to them; they might know something we don't." Ladybug said, turning to Chat before swinging her yoyo towards the building.

Chat agreed and quickly followed, the two of them leapt onto Chloe's balcony and knocked on the glass door, the mayor quickly letting them in, feeling eternally grateful that they were here.

"Oh Ladybug, Cat Noir, I am so glad to see the two of you here. My daughter has gone missing!" Andre cried.

Ladybug placed a hand on the mayor's shoulder, assuring him that the two of them were going to help. "Don't worry; we'll help look for Chloe." She said with an assuring smile.

Cat Noir spoke in that moment, couldn't help but feel overly worried about his friend Chloe. "Has she been acting strange lately? Would you have any idea where she could have gone?" He asked, even though he felt like Hawkmoth might have taken her instead of Chloe just running off on her own.

Andre nodded with his hands clasped together tightly in worry. "I don't know what's been going on with her. She's been much quieter lately, sometimes she doesn't even act like herself anymore! Please Ladybug and Cat Noir...please find her!" He begged, not wanting anything bad to happen to his daughter.

"During class she just seems to zone out, and she doesn't talk as much around me anymore. I still help her with her homework and all but she just doesn't fully act the same anymore." Sabrina explained, feeling genuinely worried for her best friend.

Ladybug and Cat Noir knew Chloe had been acting strange more often than they thought, but before they could ask for any more information, one of the officers couldn't help but speak up about something else.

"Um, Ladybug...I don't mean to be rude but you seem to look a little...bigger than usual."

It almost seemed like that officer's words made Chat and Ladybug freeze in shock in that very moment. They looked at each other for a moment, while the others commented on how Ladybug seemed bigger than usual around her abdominal area.

And then, Sabrina began to say the word that would make Ladybug and Chat want to do nothing more than to leave the room. She didn't think it would be that obvious, but in that moment she looked down and it almost seemed like magic that she was sticking out a little more than she did before through her suit.

"Ladybug...are you pregnant?"

Ladybug gulped as she cringed with her eyes widened in the sudden pressure and stress from them all suddenly noticing her stomach sticking out from her suit. "Um...er..." She trailed off, backing towards the door.

Luckily, Chat backed her up, knowing that this pregnancy was bound to be gossiped about around town now that the mayor and some of the officers saw with their own eyes. "Listen, we'd better get looking for Chloe. We will keep you posted on anything we find and hopefully we'll find her before the sun rises tomorrow. Bye!" He assured before his farewell saying sounded a little nervous.

Then the two of them quickly leapt off the building, knowing that was too close for comfort. Ladybug kneeled down, holding her hands against her belly as she felt a painful cramp, Chat quickly rushed to her side, feeling like it was time already as he began to panic.

"Are you okay, what's going on with the baby!?" He cried, trying to not panic but he couldn't help himself.

The pain went away afterwards; Ladybug knew it wasn't a contraction. The baby wasn't coming anytime soon. "Don't worry, pregnancies usually come with cramps it's normal. I'm just not so used to that amount of pain hitting me all so suddenly.

Chat sighed in relief, glad that it wasn't time just yet, he still felt like he was unprepared for the baby, feeling like there was still so much left to do before the baby would arrive, even though the baby's room looked almost completely ready and so did the house. Ever since Adrien left his father he had been saving up what he could to buy furnishings to make the house look comfortable and ready to live in once the baby was born. But yet, Chat felt like the house still wasn't ready yet for some reason.

Ladybug stood up, keeping a hand resting on her belly as she stood up and looked back towards the building they were just in, feeling like many others would soon catch on to her belly sticking out more than usual. "I think we have to tell them." She admitted, closing her eyes as she titled her head down, feeling like there was no other way to hide it.

Cat Noir knew she was right, he tried to think about covering up but it would eventually become far too obvious that they were covering it up, and Ladybug couldn't stop battling akumas either, Chat wished he could battle akumas on his own, feeling like Ladybug should rest as much as she could over these last few months of her pregnancy, but unfortunately that wouldn't stop Hawkmoth from constantly releasing new akumas out into the air.

"Soon, we'll tell them. But for now, let's spend a little while finding Chloe."

So for the next hour or so, the two of them searched over the towns and down the streets of Paris to find Chloe, they looked in the subway stations too, towards the Louvre and Notre Dame but couldn't find her by the time an hour passed by. The two of them bid farewell to each other for the night and would see each other the next day, hoping that Chloe would show up just on her own but if she didn't then they would have to keep doing these patrols every night until they found her.

The next day, Marinette felt like she desperately needed more sleep, the baby keeping her up most of the night with its constant kicking. Although it had only just started to kick and it was a wondrous feeling it was beginning to intrude on her daily activities as well as her sleep. She looked down at her belly, awing the moment she saw Tikki resting on her baby bump.

She caressed her kwami with a finger, before startling Tikki awake with the tickle of Marinette's finger touching her cheek. Tikki floated up and greeted Marinette as the morning sun shined brightly through the windows of Marinette's room. She yawned and stretched before she got up to start another day, but before she headed downstairs, she couldn't help but let her curiosity take over and she looked in the mirror, lifting up her shirt to reveal the bump that seemed to have gotten bigger since she checked it around the same time yesterday.

Later on she asked her mother about it and Sabine explained to her that it was common for the baby to be going through some major growth spurts over the last few months. This was going to be harder for her to hide it from everyone else, especially when it was getting warmer too. She had to make a decision about whether she was going to stay at school for the last few months or was she going to spend the rest of her time getting her work done at home.

She didn't want to drop out of school, Marinette felt confident that sometime after the baby is born she could start to think about getting a degree in fashion design and become a professional fashion designer just like Gabriel is. But then, her thoughts drifted to Gabriel. She hadn't seen him since that day he didn't want her in his house anymore, and she knew Adrien hadn't seen him since he moved out.

It was worrying and strange that Gabriel hadn't taken any course of action against Adrien leaving, and although Marinette didn't know much about Adrien's family past, she knew from how she saw Gabriel act that it was not normal for him to just let something as big as Adrien moving out go.

Not long later at school, Alya messaged Marinette telling her that she had caught a bug and was going to stay home until she felt better. Marinette sighed as she thought of the school day turning out just to be her by herself with no one to hang out with. She knew she had Tikki but that was in secret, Adrien was in secret too, she was all alone.

She made her way to her locker, on her way there she saw Sabrina looking around in deep worry. Chloe was still missing from yesterday, although as much as Chloe was annoying to her she had to help find Chloe so everything could be back to normal.

At that very same time, Adrien had just arrived at school, he walked up to Nino and greeted him with a friendly wave before the two of them headed on inside. But then, suddenly the sound of tires screeching against the road caused them to turn along with many other students around them. It was a limousine, and it looked a lot like both Chloe's limo and Adrien's limo. At first Adrien felt like it was Chloe being found and rushed to school, but his mouth dropped open and his heart stopped beating for a second the moment that familiar tall and dark figure stepped out of the car, or more commonly known as his father Gabriel.

Nino turned to Adrien, seeing him with a frightened expression on his face, surprised to see him act so scared of his father. "Dude, are you okay?" He asked.

Gabriel approached Adrien, keeping his head lowered but his eyes focused on his son, Nino could see how serious the situation was going to get, so he slowly backed away from it all as Gabriel approached Adrien. The moment they were just a foot apart from each other, Gabriel cleared his throat, closing his eyes with content before he spoke.

"You are coming home with me and there will be no excuses or no questions asked." He insisted, grabbing Adrien by the wrist, gently pulling him away from the school.

Adrien pulled his arm out of his father's grasp. "No! Not until you accept what has been done!" He snapped, gripping the strap of his bag tightly, not realising others were watching the scene.

"Listen Adrien, you are coming home this instant and there will be nothing more to say on this!" He growled, keeping his voice to a quiet tone as to not create a scene. Then, he grabbed Adrien again but this time with more force as he walked back to the car.

Out of nowhere, suddenly a pair of feminine feet stood firmly against the ground. "Leave him alone!" The woman yelled.

Everyone turned in that very moment, Gabriel turned and let go of Adrien in that very moment to be completely astonished by who he was looking at. Adrien turned also and almost fell to his knees when he realised who it was, his eyes began to swell with tears as a crinkled smile appeared on his face.

"You leave our son alone!"

So, look who's returned! It's Adrien's mother! Lol I just had to say that to make sure you guys understood who I was talking about. This Chapter took a little longer to budge out that's why it's a little late...that and things are getting pretty hectic with my graphic design course...but don't worry I'll get there in the end. :)

Next Chapter should hopefully be uploaded around the start of the weekend (Saturday or late Friday), and more will be talked on about Adrien's mother suddenly returning. Man you guys are just gonna love this story so much with what I have planned! :D