Sitting at the overfilled dining table that they had crammed into the living room for the occasion, Sabine looked around at her extra-large family in contentment, simply enjoying their presence. For so long, their family had only been the three of them: small, cozy, warm. Watching Tom and Marinette in the kitchen through the years, Marinette covered in flour as often as not during Tom's baking lessons, Sabine's heart had felt full to bursting with love and affection. For the longest time, she had thought that this was the perfect size for their family: the two of them with their one daughter who meant more to them than anything. And yet, it had always felt like there was something missing from their lives. Then Marinette had brought Adrien home and introduced him as her new boyfriend, and their family had expanded by one – by three, if she included Tikki and Plagg. When Emilie had been revived from her long coma, she and Duusu had of course become part of their expanded family. In a way, her family seemed to include all the Heroes of Paris now; Leïla had stopped at the bakery for a croissant every morning until school let out for the summer, and even now she still came every few days to say hi.

But only now did it feel like her family had really become complete.

At least until the grandkids would start to come…

Sitting beside her at the table, Tom took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Smiling up at him, Sabine leaned into his side, helping herself to another serving of rice. Tom glanced down at the fried rice and gave her a worried look, and she nodded reassuringly. He let out a breath and turned his attention back to Gorilla, who had claimed the seat next to him. Sabine stifled a laugh as Tom resumed his description of the enormous croquembouche that Mayor Bourgeois had ordered the week before.

On Sabine's other side, Emilie leaned in and whispered, "Did you imagine that any of this would be possible, just three months ago?"

Sabine shook her head ruefully. "Not at all," she answered, giving Emilie a small smile. "Although I did have hope that it might happen." Her hand drifted down to rest on her stomach, and she shook her head ruefully. She pursed her lips, coughed, and took a drink of water. This might be the most frustrating part of the whole process. But at least she could count on it being over soon.

"I'm telling you," Tom was saying to Gorilla, shaking his head ruefully, "by the time we were finished, the thing could hardly fit through the doorway! And we didn't want to lean it too far and have it fall apart – the caramel is only so strong, and if one puff fell off, then the rest could come with it." He groaned. "I tried to convince him to get two or three smaller croquembouches, but he insisted: it absolutely had to be a single one with one puff for every donor at the party."

Gorilla's eyes bulged out, and he shook his head, letting out a low rumble of laughter. On his shoulder, Dorreen giggled shrilly. "Choux-ly he could have been reasonable about it!"

"Andre? Not a chance." Tom laughed. "When he gave me that insane order, I almost introduced my choux to his 'puff'!" He sighed. "As much as I appreciate Andre's business, the man himself…"

Sabine hummed. "I do feel sorry for Chloe, growing up in that environment."

Emilie, sitting next to Sabine, let out a heavy sigh. "Andre means well," she began. "He does love his daughter, at least. But he has never been particularly good at showing his love in constructive ways."

On the opposite side of the table, Marinette hummed, looking down at her sketchpad, an intense look on her face. Pulling out a pencil, she made another few marks, shook her head, and erased a few things. Finally, she pursed her lips and nodded slowly. "What do you think of this idea?" Marinette asked Emilie and Sabine, passing the sketchpad over the egg rolls.

"Shouldn't you be eating, dear?" Sabine leaned over to look at the drawing along with Emilie.

Marinette sighed. "Maybe… but I want to get this baby blanket done as soon as I can."

Sabine's eyes widened in surprise, her hand drifting down below the table. "'Baby blanket'? For whom?"

Emilie started, staring at the drawing for a long minute. "You have months yet, though," she pointed out. "And… why are there bird feathers and shells? I thought you were planning to use horseshoes?"

Marinette waved her hand dismissively. "For that one I will. But this is a different one – you remember el Peregrino, right? Our new sales representative for Spain? I don't know his girlfriend at all, but I want to do something for them for their baby. And after this one I still have two more to do at least…"

Sabine cocked her head. "Two more?"

Marinette's eyes widened in embarrassment. "I, um… I probably shouldn't say who they are. One was sort of in confidence; the other I shouldn't actually know." Sabine furrowed her brows. "She told Ladybug, not Marinette," she explained, and Sabine nodded in understanding.

"There have been quite a few recently, haven't there?" mused Emilie, raising an eyebrow at Sabine.

Sabine stifled a laugh. "I suppose that means we'll just have more birth and baptism cakes to make in a few months!"

Adrien hummed thoughtfully. "I noticed you've been really busy lately; have you considered expanding?"

Tom turned away from his conversation with Gorilla in surprise. "You mean like a larger kitchen? We considered it a couple years ago, but we don't have much room for expansion."

"Too bad." Adrien furrowed his brows. "What about a second location? You could potentially fill twice as many orders – at least as long as you find a good boulanger ["baker"] to run the other bakery."

Tom nodded slowly. "There was that bakery for sale a block or two away from Gare du Nord – the train station," he mused. "Although Joubert's family wasn't interested in selling. But I suppose that's just as well; we're going to be busy enough around here soon enough!"

Sabine squeezed his hand, raising an eyebrow. Beside her, Emilie stifled a laugh.

Adrien shrugged. "It was a thought. If you ever do decide to open another location…"

"I know, son," Tom assured him, smiling warmly. "And the offer is appreciated, though unnecessary – unless you're planning to take up baking fulltime!"

Adrien laughed, shaking his head. "For as much as I've appreciated the lessons, I don't think anyone's actually going to pay for something I bake!"

"Don't sell yourself short," Tom replied. "Any son-in-law of mine can bake!" He grinned, leaning forward eagerly. "So, have you two decided on your wedding cake finally?"

"Strawberry with chocolate swirls," Adrien answered promptly.

At the same time, Marinette replied, "Chocolate with mint. Definitely." Blinking in surprise, she turned to look at Adrien, as he glanced over at her. "We said mint chocolate," she repeated. "Right?"

"Um…" Adrien's voice faltered. Marinette's eyes narrowed dangerously. "It's not that I don't like the mint chocolate," Adrien explained. "But I liked the strawberry with chocolate a little better. I thought we could change it?"

Marinette's mouth set in a thin line. "There's no way we're doing that," she insisted. "Mint chocolate is what we decided on. That's what I've wanted for two years!"

"I just–"

"Son," Tom warned Adrien mildly, raising an eyebrow. Adrien let out a breath and grimaced, his shoulders slumping slightly.

Leaning over, Sabine raised an eyebrow at Emilie in amusement. "I swear I have no idea where she gets this from."

Emilie stifled a laugh. "I'm sure."

"Tom, dear," Sabine called. "Was I this insistent for our wedding?"

Tom furrowed his brows. "Well…" Sabine gave him a dirty look, and he gulped. "Um… no, dear."

Marinette groaned, folding her arms in a huff. "I'm sorry if I want everything to be just perfect," she grumbled. "But we only have one wedding day–"

Gorilla let out an amused grunt. Dorreen giggled shrilly. "That's not what Plaggy says…"

Sitting with the other Kwamis on the tray in the middle of the table, Tikki snorted. "'Plaggy'?" she repeated, raising an eyebrow at him. "I'm remembering that one…"

Plagg flicked a carrot at Dorreen and hissed. "Call me 'Plaggy' again, and it's your funeral, bird brain!"

Tikki poked Plagg in the side. "Oh, lighten up… Plaggy!"

"Is there any specific reason that you are so insistent on the cake with your partner's colors?" asked Emilie, leaning forward and steepling her fingers, fixing her gaze on both kids.

Adrien shrugged, looking down at the table. "I mean, of course Ladybug is my favorite: who doesn't love her?" he asked rhetorically, turning to Marinette with an adoring look.

Marinette held her composure for half a minute before throwing her arms around Adrien and sniffling. "But no one ever seems to realize just how important you are in this partnership," she murmured, hugging him tightly. "Ladybug would be nothing without Cat Noir. You know that."

"And Cat Noir would be nothing without Ladybug."

Sabine sighed, watching her two kids. "You know," she pointed out, "Nothing says you can only have one. We would be happy to make both. Or you could have mint-chocolates in the strawberry cake, rather than just chocolate chips."

Adrien hummed, wagging his eyebrows at Marinette. "What do you think of that idea?" he asked her, giving her a quick kiss on the mouth. "Having the 'mint-chocolate' inside the 'strawberry'?"

"Um…" Marinette gulped, color rushing to her cheeks.

Emilie started, blinking, and cleared her throat. Adrien flushed and sat back away from Marinette immediately. "You know," she told Adrien, arching an eyebrow, "you don't have to make your wife blush every time you possibly can."

Adrien flushed. "Sorry, Mom."

Emilie gave him a stern look, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth. "Shouldn't you apologize to my daughter-in-law?"

Adrien leaned forward and pressed a chaste kiss to Marinette's lips, whispering something so quiet Sabine didn't catch it. Marinette kissed him back with a sigh, leaning into his side.

Sabine glanced at Emilie, shaking her head. "There you go, making my son-in-law feel bad…"

"Only when he deserves it."

Sabine hummed, glancing at the clock on the wall. "Oh! Look at the time…" Slowly she pushed her chair back. "I should run and finish getting dessert."

"Oh, no, you stay here, dear!" Tom interjected, standing up before Sabine could and pushing her chair back into the table. "Allow me to get it!" He grinned a little too excitedly.

Sabine rolled her eyes and shared an amused glance with Emilie as Tom moved about collecting the empty dishes off the table and hurried toward the apartment kitchen. "Tell me the high-and-mighty Gabriel Agreste was like this."

Emilie stifled a laugh. "You have no idea," she answered, sighing. "He didn't allow a single photoshoot to last longer than five minutes without a break – ironically, that made them take five times as long, especially when I needed to go to the bathroom during the times we actually could shoot. In fact, he tried to stop me modeling as soon as he found out – never mind that no one could tell. And it took me three hours to convince him that he didn't need to hire someone specifically to carry me from place to place!"

Gorilla snorted into his fist.

Sabine shook her head, rubbing her forehead. "I'm glad I'm not the only one…"

Across the table, Marinette stared at her in confusion. "Only one what, Mama?" She shared a look with Adrien, who shrugged helplessly.

Sabine smiled ruefully. "I suppose we weren't going to keep the secret forever," she mused.

Emilie hummed. "I'm amazed Tom kept it in this long!"

"What are you talking about?" Adrien demanded, his brows furrowed suspiciously.

Sabine sighed. "Tom, dear, could you come in here for a moment?"

"I almost have the dessert ready!"

"It can wait a minute." Sabine leaned forward to take Marinette's hand across the table, as Tom stepped out of the kitchen and placed one hand on Sabine's shoulder. Sabine smiled warmly, almost immediately feeling tears start to form in the corners of her eyes.

"Mama, is–is everything okay?" Marinette gulped anxiously, looking back and forth between Sabine and Tom. "Wh–what's wrong?"

Sabine's smile widened reassuringly. "Nothing is wrong," she assured her. "As a matter of fact, everything is absolutely perfect! You see…" She paused, frowning. "… something–something incredible happened while you and Adrien were in Angola."

Marinette rolled her eyes. "I know: we got married."

Emilie shook her head, covering her mouth with her handd. "You realize there were also things that happened in Paris while you were there, right?"

Marinette flushed. "Sorry – I know we left you behind here. And I know that life had to go on. But–"

Sabine held up a hand and Marinette paused, her mouth clamping shut. Taking a deep breath, Sabine steeled herself. "Something happened for me – for us – while you were gone. Something that I never expected would happen again. I wasn't certain at first, but then Emilie…" she cleared her throat, wiping a tear away from her eye. "The doctor confirmed it, too. Marinette, you're–you're going to be a big sister!"

AN: Tomorrow, look for the first chapter of "Storm Clouds Rising" (new title for the story I'd called "Guilt and Redemption" at the end of "Honor and Dishonor").