In the passenger seat of Adrien's car, Marinette idly watched the scenery zoom past her. The two of them had just returned from visiting Alya and Nino to lend a helping hand with their kids, and were on their way home. For most adults, a simple visit like that would be straight forward and light-hearted. Unfortunately, they were not most adults.
What was initially supposed to be a mundane stop-over to help with the kids, quickly turned into an informal miraculous team meeting once Nala was put down for her nap. It was an understatement to say that Marinette was surprised that Nino and Alya were both permanent miraculous holders, with the latter previously being on break due to her pregnancy. They had hinted that it was something that was born out of the final battle with le Papillion, before la Farfella took over, with them choosing to reveal their identities to select members of their team who would in turn become permanent holders.
They tried to explain to her about how la Farfella worked, with akuma battles lasting for several days at a time, but Marinette could hardly wrap her head around all the new information. She had thought that le Papillion was a terrorist, but la Farfella took the cake. She shuddered at the mention of them chasing down akumas for days only to have the person be freed and another, with new motives and fighting style take their place. Apparently, the economy of Paris and even France was suffering, with people being afraid to visit the city and even the country, and high rates of emigration because Parisians have had enough. There were also those who had started to side with la Farfella, protesting that if Ladybug and Chat Noir would just give up their miraculouses, then the madness would finally end.
They also wanted to strategize a bit to prepare for the next battle. They hoped that they had time for Alya to recover so that they could use a substitute ladybug and have her cast an illusion over her so that nobody would know the difference. If not, Misterbug would have to make an appearance and they would have to pray that they could last without the use of Chat Noir's power. To all of this Marinette strongly protested, unfortunately to deaf ears. However, before they could get too far into the conversation that a serious argument came up, Adrien had checked his watch then insisted that they leave immediately.
Marinette was still a little pissed that he seemed eager to avoid the conversation. Before she could call him out on it, she noticed that they weren't taking the usual route home that she had worked so hard to memorise.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"Oh, your parents wanted me to take care of an errand at the bakery tonight, so I thought we'd swing by before we head home," Adrien responded offhandedly.
"Ah." Marinette was personally elated at the idea. Even though her parents were coming back the following week, she was eager to see her childhood home again. It was one of the familiar places she missed and she was curious to see how it had changed from how she last remembered it.
Moments later, they stood outside of the bakery doors waiting for Adrien to fish out the spare key so they could escape the cold. When they stepped inside, Marinette inhaled a deep breath, taking in all the familiar scents.
"Ahhh. It's feels like I've haven't been here in forever!" she exclaimed. Her hands idly brushed the tops of the counters as she walked past them, reminiscing on the myriad of memories of her time spent there that crossed her mind.
"By the way, what errand did you –," she cut herself off from interrogating her husband when she caught a glimpse of her parents standing in the back of the bakery with expectant smiles on their faces.
Recovering from her initial shock, Marinette flew into their arms with happy tears.
"Maman! Papa!" she sobbed as she embraced them.
"Marinette!" they exclaimed. Both of them wept joyfully as they were glad to see that their daughter was alright.
"Look at you!" her mother held her at arms length while she visually examined her. "You're showing much more than when I saw you last," she mused.
"Maman!" Marinette protested with a blush. Sabine simply laughed and pulled her daughter in for another hug before making her way over to Adrien with her husband.
"Adrien!" she greeted the same time Tom asked, "how are you doing, son?"
"I'm fine, maman, papa," he said returning their hugs. Marinette was a bit startled when she heard him addressing her parents like she did. But, as she watched them embrace, she could tell that he had truly become a part of her family. She smiled softly at the thought, but her heart soon pricked when she remembered that his actual parents weren't in the picture. Even while they chatted and caught up with her, ahem, their parents, Marinette couldn't shake the thought.
By the time the arrived at their apartment that night, it was late. However, Marinette decided to let her curiosity about Adrien's mom get the better of her and she tried to delicately bring up the topic.
"My mom?" he seemed surprised at the question. Rubbing the back of his head, he sighed before responding. "Yeah, she's alive." It was Marinette's turn to appear surprised.
Adrien had figured she would delve into that topic again sooner or later since his meltdown a few weeks prior. He had been preparing him self mentally, with Plagg and even with his therapist to be able to talk about it again.
"Legally, she was declared dead. After the whole Papillion situation with all the scandals and stuff, everyone decided that it would be for the best."
"I see," Marinette murmured. She honestly didn't want to push him too much for details because she could tell that after all these years he was still hurting. Plus, they were tired after a long day with the excitement of seeing her parents again also having narrowly avoided a bad argument at their best friends' place. She could tell that all that had happened to them over the years had affected him, even if she couldn't remember. Since she had been back, he had been down most of the time, lost in his own head and a bit distant. It took events like her parents coming home, or seeing a new baby where she could catch glimpses of his previous happy self.
Adrien could tell that despite her silence, Marinette still had several questions for him. He appreciated her holding back out of respect for him, however, he felt that she did deserve some answers. Taking a deep breath, he prepped himself like a diver plunging into cold waters.
"My mother and Gabriel found the peacock and the butterfly miraculouses that Master Fu lost when they were on a trip to Tibet." Marinette reflexively winced at the cold way he referred to his father but didn't speak up while he continued. "She made some," he paused to swallow a lump in his throat, "some mistakes by using a damaged peacock miraculous but by the time they realised what was going on, she had fallen into a coma. They same thing would've happened to Nathalie if Gabriel hadn't fixed the peacock miraculous."
Marinette rested her hand on his shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze, which caused Adrien to automatically relax. He stretched out his legs from the fetal position he had unconsciously curled him into on the couch. Gaining courage, he carried on.
"We managed to revive her, but it was decided it was best for her to go into hiding without contact with anyone," he concluded.
"Wow, I—I don't know what to say." Marinette was stunned. "Do you have an idea where she may be?"
"Oh, of course. She's at the temple of guardians in Tibet," Adrien responded while Marinette visible relaxed. "Sorry if I made it sound like she actually disappeared for good this time. The guardians decided to take her in and from what we last saw, she's happy there. It kinda sucks that I don't get to see her often but I know where she is and that she's doing fine. And that's enough for me," he added quietly, as almost to himself.
"I'm glad she's still in your life somehow," Marinette said as she tried to shuffle closer to him. Despite feeling like her every move was ponderous, she managed to sit close enough to encourage him to rest his head on her shoulder. "You also have my parents," she added. "And, it may just be me, but I think that they like you a lot," she joked. As she reflected on how the family dinner went that night, she knew full well that her parents adored Adrien. Even to the point where she suspected that he was their favourite out of the two of them.
Adrien smiled at that. "Of course they do. I'm their favourite," he teased as if he had heard her thoughts. Marinette made no attempt to resist the urge to pinch him and watched with satisfaction as he squirmed to try to wriggle away from her.
"To be fair, my mom likes you a lot too," Adrien whispered when he settled on her shoulder again.
"Oh?" Marinette couldn't help the wave of sadness that hit her in not remembering meeting someone so important to him.
"Yeah. We should go to Tibet after the baby is born," he suggested.
"I'd like that," she murmured quietly, fighting off the urge to sleep. Adrien hummed in response.
"Hey, can you tell me what she's like?" Marinette questioned, knowing full well that they should part ways to head to bed, but not wanting this time spent with her friend, her partner, her husband to end.
"Have I ever told you that you have her smile?"