A heaviness weighed on Marinette's heart as she manoeuvred around the kitchen to prepare meals for herself, Nala and Lily. Despite the general bustle of babysitting, her mind constantly slipped back to the conversation she had earlier that day with Adrien. Well, if one could even call it a conversation. It was nothing less than a full-blown argument. The guilt over the thoughtless things she had yelled was still eating her up hours later. She hadn't meant to throw those words at him, and they didn't mean what he had obviously taken them to mean.

She aimlessly gnawed at end of her fork and she mulled over the what had happened in her mind. For the past few weeks, everything was going well for the both of them. They had spent a nice Christmas with her family and their friends; Marinette even had the opportunity to reacquaint herself with some of the others whom the accident had caused her to forget. Even New Years seemed to have gone well, with the both of them sharing the hope and praying that they would heal together, physically and emotionally. But now, it felt like all of the progress that they had made was shattered by a few simple words…

Marinette groaned as she flopped onto the couch after the meal. Worried, Nala made her way over to her and placed a tiny hand on her arm in concern. Marinette nearly jumped out of her skin at the sudden touch; she had almost forgotten that she was not alone in the apartment.

"Aunty Netta? Are you okay?" the young child asked. Giving a weak smile, a scooped the child up in her arms and set her down next to her on the couch.

"Yes, I'm -," Marinette cut herself off from lying. "Actually, no, I'm not okay."

"Is your head hurting?" Nala asked, suddenly remembering the older woman being in the hospital. Marinette shook her head. "Is it the baby? Oh! Is the baby coming?" she asked excitedly. Marinette shook her head and gave a dry chuckle.

"I'm just a little sad, that's all," Marinette answered. "I'll be alright soon though, so don't worry," she ruffled Nala's hair affectionately. Nala's green eyes locked her gaze for a moment as if she were trying to determine for herself whether her aunt would be alright. Silently, she moved closer to Marinette and enveloped her in a warm hug.

"Hugs make me feel better when I'm sad," she stately simply. Marinette's lip quivered before she bit it in an attempt to stop the tears.

"Thank you, Nala," she whispered.

"Are you sad because of the akuma?" the child asked quietly as she broke the hug. "They kinda scare me too."

"T-that's part of the reason," Marinette scratched her bare earlobes nervously. "But don't worry, Ladybug, Chat Noir and the rest of the Miraculous team have everything under control." Nala beamed at her.

Marinette almost felt ill at her own hypocrisy. Wasn't it just hours before that she had flaunted her distrust of the others in Adrien's face when she had to loan out the ladybug miraculous? Despite the relative calm in the apartment it was hard to ignore the fact that there was an akuma battle raging on on the outside. It was what had started the argument in the first place. And looking back on it, it was a really unnecessary fight. Adrien was right about –

A knock on the door startled Marinette out of her thoughts.

"That should be your uncle," Marinette remarked. She grunted with effort as she raised herself to her feet before standing there a moment to catch her breath.

"Ooo! He's here to take me and Lily-la to grandma's!" Nala exclaimed in excitement. Marinette managed to shuffle to the door to let Noël into the apartment.

Soon Lily and Nala's things were all packed away and transferred over to the redhead. Handing over Lily in the car seat, Marinette said her goodbyes to the family and warned Noël to be careful getting home with the akuma rampaging about.

Finally alone in the apartment, Marinette sunk into the couch once more. Her eyes briefly glanced over to the direction where the miracle box was being held, but she didn't feel particularly inclined to get up (as it was becoming increasingly difficult to do so as her pregnancy progressed), and also she kind of welcomed the silence, as it allowed her to replay the day's earlier events in her head.

That morning started off normally, but peace was soon interrupted by both of them receiving an akuma alert of their phones. Without thinking, she had jumped into action, readying to call on her transformation, only to be narrowly stopped by Adrien, Tikki and even Plagg, who had all rushed at her like she had gone mad. In fact, those were the exactly words Adrien had used.

"Are you mad?" he had asked, incredulously, "What are you doing?"

"Transforming?" she had sassed back, a little put out at being stopped. "We need to go-." Adrien shook his head.

"I need to go; you need to stay." At that point the weight of her not being able to be Ladybug fully hit her at his next words:

"I also need your earrings."

"WHAT?! But I'm Ladybug!" she protested.

"You're pregnant," he retorted.

And that's where things had escalated. They went back and forth for a while wasting precious minutes that could have been used in the battle. Marinette knew that he was right. But between her pregnancy hormones and her fear of not being useful in the battle, she kept being stubborn. Eventually, she had yanked her earrings out and tossed them over to Adrien.

"I didn't ask for any of this!" she had yelled.

Only when she saw the hurt in his face, she realised how he must have interpreted her words: that she didn't want him, or their baby.

Adrien didn't say anything in response. He had just called on his transformation, pocketed the earrings and leapt of the window before she could apologise. A few minutes later, when Alya and Nino came over to drop their kids off for emergency babysitting before they too joined the battle, she still hadn't recovered enough to let them know what had just happened.

Presently Marinette sighed from her spot on the couch. She had grown tired of the silence, which was becoming louder the more she dwelt on her regretful choice of words. She once more made the effort to get up, and made her way over to the box to retrieve Mullo for company. The two of them settled in front of the television to watch the newscast which was following the attack.

Might as well make use of my time here, she thought to herself. It was a good opportunity for her to learn more of how the newer akumas operated.

Hours later, Marinette woke up sweating from a nightmare. The television was still on in background, however, it was pitch black outside. Rising up in confusion, Marinette reach over to her phone to check the time. It was late. She also noticed that there were no messages from Adrien. Just a few from her parents and one from Noël letting her know that he and kids made it home safely. Quickly responding to them, she made her way over to her room to head to bed. The emptiness of the house made her feel strangely sad inside. Curling up with Mullo, she managed to fall into a fitful sleep once more.

"Ugh, I'm going to be late!" Marinette seethed behind the wheel of her car. Broiling with impatience, she shifted into a higher gear to overtake the car in front of her, swerving haphazardly back into her lane to avoid the oncoming traffic. The stress from her deadlines and projects was building up and seemed to concentrate in her foot, causing her to floor the gas pedal. Due to some weird oversight at the boutique, there were not enough supplies for her to complete a large project for an important client, so she needed to get to the store asap before it closed in a few minutes.

Slowing down for a red light, Marinette was fairly bouncing up and down in her seat with anxiety. Looking, briefly in her rear-view mirror, she saw that there was no traffic behind her. Her gazed shifted to the mirror above a snoozing form in the car seat behind her and gave a small smile. Hugo was sleeping peacefully with Tikki resting by him for comfort.

Despite the peaceful scene behind her, Marinette's anxiety spiked when she checked her watch. Only five minutes until closing! And she had to get the project done tonight! Glancing around her frantically, she peered down the empty streets and cursed the infernal red light for not changing.

Oh well, she thought desperately, no one's around so it wouldn't hurt if I just went right? The store is just by the corner on the left. Taking a gulp Marinette decided to run the red light.

A car horn.

A sickening screech.

A bright light.

A baby's wail.

A crash.

Silence.

Then, ringing. Marinette opened her eyes, to the world blurry around her. The ringing in her ears was the only sound she heard. The rest of her body was numb. She raised herself up from where she was slumped over on the cracked window which was streaked with blood. She tried to turn around to check on Hugo and Tikki but that was nearly impossible in the mangled car. She called out but she heard no sound coming from her voice. Then, in the distance, she faintly heard sirens as her eyes shut against her will…

She felt herself lying on her back in an unfamiliar bed. For how long? She wasn't sure. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut in an attempt to concentrate.

What the heck? she thought to herself. Where am I? her thoughts were frustratingly slow in providing answers so she forced her eyes fully open instead.

Bright. Too bright.

Her eyes squinted and watered reflexively just as she became more aware of her surroundings. Tentatively, she slowly opened her eyes again.

Where the heck am I? Marinette took in her surroundings slowly, moving her head as little as possible because… well because it hurt like the dickens. Then realisation washed over her.

I am in the hospital.

Guilt sat on her stomach like a rock when she realised where her reckless actions had landed her. She felt herself sinking in despair under its weight. Where was Hugo? Where was Tikki? Where was Adrien?

Just then, a noise coming from her left startled her. She tried to speak up but again she was voiceless.

"How is my wife doing?" she heard Adrien ask a nurse.

"Still in a coma, Mr. Agreste," was the response.

Marinette tried to yell out to catch their attention, but nothing came out.

"And my son?" Adrien asked.

"I'm sorry, sir…" the nurse started to say.

Marinette watched as Adrien's head dropped to his chest. She tried to scream and shout out to them, but in the end, she was left crying silent tears.

"No… no… no!" she was mouthing to herself. Another noise started to catch her attention during her hysterics.

"Marinette! Wake up!"

Marinette blinked in confusion as the hospital scene morphed into her dark bedroom.

"Marinette? Are you okay?" Mullo's squeaky voice sounded from beside her.

Taking several deep breaths to calm herself Marinette wiped away the tears from her eyes before responding.

"J-just a bad nightmare, that's all," she said. Turning on the lamplight she was surprised how her hands still shook. It was just a nightmare but it felt so real. Mullo sympathetically flew to her side in an attempt to comfort her. Marinette accepted the hug gratefully.

Not wanting to go back to sleep as yet, she slipped out to the bathroom to empty her bladder. Looking at herself in the mirror, she touched her bulging stomach apprehensively. Well into her third trimester of pregnancy, it stood out proud and prominent.

It's okay, she thought, he's still in there. She wrapped her arms around herself and shuddered as she felt the tears starting to spring again in her eyes. She needed to find a way to calm herself down.

Heading out of the bathroom, Marinette decided to get a glass of milk before heading back to bed. However, as she reached the kitchen doorway and froze, because standing there, with his back turned and leaning over slightly with his hand planted on either side of the sink, was Adrien.