Chapter Sixteen – Third to Know
Before Marinette pushes the door to the bakery open, she takes three deep breaths to get her breathing back to normal and wipes her eyes to remove any stray tears. I've had my cry, she tells herself, now I need to be strong . . . so I can get through this quickly so I can go back to crying. She feels some light taps on her thigh and she glances inside her handbag, smiling gratefully at the kwamis.
"Don't worry, Marinette. Everything will be okay." Tikki gives her an encouraging smile.
"Just tell the truth." Wayzz adds.
Marinette nods her agreement and looks through the glass door. She can see her mother serving a man with a newborn strapped to his chest at the counter, and thankfully she hasn't seen her yet. She squints to try and make out her mother's eyes – she can always tell from her mother's eyes whether she's been crying or not – but she's too far away to see. She watches the man thank her mother, then turn and walk towards the door while Sabine turns to talk to Tom. Marinette catches the end of her sentence when the man opens the door, and she steps to the side to let him pass.
"–think the next batch of croissants will be? We're down to the last . . . Marinette?" Sabine frowns at her daughter, having glanced away from her husband at the sound of footsteps approaching the counter. "What are you doing here, honey?"
Marinette grips her bag straps tightly and inhales deeply, trying to centre herself and calm her heart. "Y–You haven't checked your phones?"
Tom emerges from the kitchen, wiping his hands on a tea towel, as Sabine answers. "No? They're charging in our bedroom. Should I go and get mine?" She makes a move to step back, but Marinette shakes her head.
"No, I think it will be better if I tell you first." She bites her lip and shuffles her feet nervously.
"You haven't been expelled again, have you?" Tom asks, grinning so she knows it's a joke.
She doesn't crack a smile. "No."
Sabine frowns, stepping around the counter to put her arm around her daughter's shoulders. "What's wrong, sweetie? Whatever it is we'll be here to help you."
Marinette smiles ruefully, glancing between her parents. "You may not think the same in a minute."
Tom laughs, thinking it's a joke, but Sabine's frown deepens in worry, having recognised the look in Marinette's eyes. It's the same look that's been in her eyes for the past few weeks. When Marinette's eyes flick back to hers she smiles, rubbing her arm comfortably and pulling her a little closer to her side.
"Why don't we close the store for an hour or so and sit down upstairs with some hot chocolate?" She shifts her gaze to Tom's for confirmation and he nods.
"You don't have to do that." Marinette says half–heartedly. Truthfully, she had hoped her mother would suggest closing the store for this conversation; it wouldn't really be good for business should someone walk in and hear her parents yelling about their 'impure' daughter and make–believe grandchild.
"Nonsense." Sabine pats her arm before releasing her to turn the open/close sign and lock the door.
Tom holds his arms out to Marinette and she walks into them, winding her arms around her father's large, supporting, comforting frame gratefully. She leans her head against his chest, relishing in the simple feeling of being held be her daddy, and she feels the tears well in her eyes again. She blinks them away stubbornly.
. . .
"I can take a pregnancy test or get checked by a doctor if you don't believe me." Marinette finishes, keeping her gaze on her hands wringing in her lap and not her parents' gazes, although she can feel them on her and it takes all of her willpower not to squirm under their scrutiny. "I understand if you don't believe me." She bites her lip, hard, so she doesn't start crying again.
"Sweetie," She squeezes her eyes closed at her dad's voice, not wanting to hear their doubt, their anger, them asking if she's lying. "Of course we believe you."
She blinks her eyes open and looks at her parents, surprised but completely relieved. She resists the urge to sink to the floor and cry in relief. At least the people who matter the most to me believe me. "You do?" She still has to be one hundred percent sure.
Sabine smiles, scooting closer to her and wrapping an arm around her again, drawing Marinette to her chest for a cuddle. "Of course. Why wouldn't we?"
"You're our daughter," Tom adds, moving to sit on Marinette's other side. He wraps his girls up in a big hug, pressing a kiss to each of their heads. "We're always going to believe you over some classmate of yours that we don't know."
Marinette smiles up at her parents, finally letting her tears fall. "I know. I just wasn't certain." She sniffs and wipes her tears away, but more keep falling. "I thought you would think I got pregnant and I made a story up to hide it from you. I thought you'd be disappointed in me."
Sabine strokes Marinette's cheek with her thumb, clearing away another tear. Her own eyes are brimming with them, but she ignores her feelings on the matter for now. "We could never be disappointed in you." She murmurs, pressing a kiss to her daughter's temple. She smiles, her eyes twinkling with mirth, when Marinette lifts her gaze to meet theirs. "Plus, I would have thought if you were pregnant you would've told us yourself."
Marinette giggles slightly, pulling away from her mother's chest so she can sit up straighter. "Trust me, if and when I get pregnant, you'll be the first to know." She frowns, tilting her head. "Well, actually I'd be the first to know, but you'd be the second." Her parents share an amused look, which is completely missed by their daughter. "Unless the baby's father is there when I find out, then I suppose he'd be second, but I promise you two will defiantly by third to know." She smiles at her parents and they giggle.
"Hopefully that won't be for another five years, at least." Tom says, ruffling his daughter's hair good–naturedly.
"Lord, I hope so." Marinette agrees, shuddering a little. "I am so not ready to be a mother." She's not even sure if she can be a mother, what with being Ladybug and the guardian. The last thing she would want to do would be to endanger her child or children.
Plus, while she may not be the most experienced in the matter, she's does know it takes two to make a baby, and she's just the one. She's always going to be just the one; she can't risk getting close to anyone in case they discover her identity, tell someone, and then have Cat find out and (somehow) turn into Cat Blanc. She can't go through Cat Blanc again, it's bad enough experiencing it every night in her sleep.
"Where was Ms Bustier when this was going on?" Sabine asks, pulling Marinette from her thoughts.
"She wasn't there." She shrugs slightly and looks down at her hands in her lap. "Not that she would've done anything if she was." She mutters under her breath. Her parents bristle beside her, having heard what she said.
"It's her job to do something." Tom says, shaking his head. "Should we call Mr Damocles and arrange a meeting? That way we can clear up this whole 'pregnancy' thing?"
Sabine opens her mouth to reply, but Marinette cuts her off. "It won't help, and why should we say anything about Lila's lie?" She frowns at her parents, although there's no anger behind it. "That's just giving her the attention she wants."
"We can't let you keep going to school with them believing that you're pregnant." Sabine says lightly and Marinette deflates, biting her lip. Sabine frowns, sharing a worried look with Tom, before she cups her daughter's cheek and forces her to look at her. "Do you want to keep going to school? To that school?"
"What do you mean?" She frowns, confused.
"When you were expelled the school didn't even look into it, they just took your classmate's words as fact and told you to leave." Sabine shakes her head, anger flickering in her eyes. "And before that there were all the times we went to see them about Chloé and they did nothing, and what about when we reported Nino's father after you told us some stories?" Her expression hardens and Tom slips his arm further around them to rub between Sabine's shoulder blades supportively. "If his mother hadn't left that . . . man, I can't even imagine what could have happened, and the school had the chance to stop it years prior but they did nothing." She strokes Marinette's cheek lovingly, smiling sadly. "I don't want to imagine, and I don't want you going back there."
Marinette's eyes widen and she pulls back from her mother's grasp. "Mum? But, why?" She glances at her father helplessly. He has the same expression as her mother. "The school year's almost over, then I'll be at a new school with a new principle." She tilts her head questionably at her parents. "Is it really worth it?"
"Is it worth helping your mental health?" Tom murmurs softly, pressing a gently, fatherly kiss to her forehead. "You've been so . . . distant lately. If you think we haven't noticed I have news for you." He smirks at her playfully and she snorts.
"It's up to you," Sabine says, gripping Marinette's hands and giving them a light squeeze. "If you want to stay at Françoise Dupont then you can, but I would feel much better if you switch school or switch to online school and do it from home."
"You still have a few months of school to get through before you go to lycée." Tom adds, trying to remember what date the school year breaks up on. Or is it going to be delayed a little because of the frequent akuma attack disruptions? "If you think you can handle it and you want to stay then you can."
Marinette purses her lips, mulling over the options in her mind. If she had her handbag with her, she'd peek inside to see what Tikki and Wayzz think, but she had put her handbag in her room so she wouldn't have the temptation to turn her phone off of airplane mode.
If she stays at Françoise Dupont she knows that her mental health and stress levels with only get worse, not to mention that it's long since become her least favourite place in Paris, and possibly the entire world. But a lot of akuma attacks happen at school, and if she was at another school it would take her longer to get there, and if she was at home she's not sure if she'd even be able to get away, and if she did, what if her parents come to check up on her and she isn't in her room? But if she stays at school, she doesn't know what it's going to be like. She doesn't know what lie Lila's going to spin tomorrow, possibly an even worse lie then this one, and this one is pretty bad. And if she switches to home schooling, will that just confirm in her classmate's eyes that she's pregnant and just wants to hide it? If she leaves, who will stop Lila? Adrien? It's unlikely, he hasn't done anything to try and stop her or let anyone else know she's lying since the whole 'highroad' thing.
It feels like a lose–lose situation.
If she leaves Françoise Dupont, a lot of her stress with leave with it and she'll be able to focus on just her schoolwork and not all of the people around her and trying to keep them happy, and she'll be able to better protect the miracle box because she be with it 24/7, and she'll be able to get away from Lila and her lies and her classmate's glares and Adrien's weird sudden obsession with staring at her all the time. But, if she leaves Françoise Dupont, she'll be further away from the akuma attacks and it'll (oddly) be harder for her to leave to fight them, and she won't be able to see the few classmates who aren't completely horrible to her as frequently or, possibly, ever again.
But if she stays at Françoise Dupont . . . she's not sure if she'll even be able to make it to the end of the year.
"I'll think about it." Her parents smile at her kindly and Tom tightens his grip on them, pulling them into a family hug.
"Take all the time you need." Sabine murmurs, pressing a light kiss to her daughter's hairline. "We'll support you no matter what your decision is."