BNH: I don't any of the characters who appear in the canonized story.

This is my Future AU.

Even If You Don't Believe

Ch 2: Hear Me Out

It had been a day like any other. A long shift at the hospital had run a little overtime as Marinette returned to wait with a patient who was supposed to be released that day. He had been in an accident and was finally well enough to go home. His parents were running late and she didn't want him to wait alone. Marinette had thought about how she wouldn't want her children to be alone in a place like this and was once again thankful for the happy network of friends and family that she and Adrien had created.

She had just waved the little boy—he reminded her so much of her little Louis— and his mother off and turned her phone on when she saw that she'd missed about a dozen calls from Adrien. Then there were some from the front desk at her nurse station. Some from her parents, more from Adrien… and an incoming call from Alya. She answered it and her heart stopped. Marinette didn't remember the elevator or the stairs. Time didn't move between lobby of the children's ward and the emergency bay when her badge smacked her rib cage as she stopped and watched Adrien help waiting ER staff load their daughter onto a gurney.

Only, in reality, time was passing rapidly and every second Emma was in danger. "Emma!" She'd screamed and the child didn't answer. "Emma!" She called again, running toward her, only to be intercepted by a co-worker.

"I'm so sorry," he said.

Alya took her best friend to a nearly empty family waiting room with a vending machine. The only other people there were waiting for a set of twins who were to be born through emergency c-section. Alya and Marinette watched them whisper and pray. Their anxiety was as palpable as their excitement, lifting only for a few moments at a time when new numbers would join their group.

Marinette suddenly realized Alya was touching her—one hand on her wrist, the other on her shoulder. It was like when the heat pack you've been holding finally breaks the cold spell that had befallen you. She wondered how long Alya had been holding her. Alya was mindlessly patting her on the back. How long has she been doing that? Marinette wondered.

"This is where we waited for her to be born, too," Alya remembered, giving her friend a watery smile she had no hopes of being returned. "Call your mom. I'm sure she's told the boys that they're staying at the bakery tonight, but they all need to hear from you. And you need them. You need to hear your mom's voice, too."

Marinette's jaw set and she nodded. She began searching for her phone in her bag, but Alya pulled it out of the pocket of Marinette's scrubs, rested her hand on her friend's arm again, pressed the phone into her hand. "Do you want me to stay with you?"

Marinette shook her head.

"Make sure you talk to your parents… Let them love you, too." With that, Alya got up, leaving Marinette to make her call in the semi-private.

She called Sabine's cell and Hugo answered. Marinette talked to Hugo and Louis and then to her parents. "You're going to be okay. Emma's going to be okay, too."

That's when Marinette started crying again. "Is she? I want her to be okay, but you didn't see her. You don't know she—" Her voice broke and Marinette just cried. She heard her mom sniffle a bit, too.

"Marinette, Baby, where's Adrien?" Tom asked, his voice a little watery.

She hesitated. "He's with Nino."

"Don't stay away from each other for too long. Even if you have a few fights tonight, you need to spend time together the most during this part," Tom told her. "I remember when you were born, and we couldn't take you home right away… and then again when you were in that accident a little while before you and Adrien started dating… It's hard as a parent. It's hard for a couple when your kid is sick or hurt. Don't let tonight break you. Turn toward each other. When Emma comes back, she's going to need both you and Adrien."

Alya wasn't back yet. She'd sent a text saying that she had picked up something for everyone to eat and she was on her way.

Marinette called Gabriel, but he didn't answer. She hung up and tried again. While it rang, she remembered something Adrien had said. It was Gabriel.

The other family's first baby was born. A cheer went up. The anxiety pressed them again as they waited for news of the second baby and the mother.

She called again out of rage. All along it was Gabriel. Gabriel had been Hawkmoth, local supernatural terrorist, for over 20 years.

A few minutes later, there was another cheer. Hugs, kisses, relieved sobbing all around. Marinette wondered what it was like when Emma was born. Did Gabriel participate in the relief? Did he ever imagine himself trying to akumatize his grandchild?

The maternal grandmother reveled in the joy of her grandchildren's birth, but held onto an anxiety she tried not to share. Marinette caught it anyway. She worked here. She was familiar with the anxiety about maternal complications after birth.

Over and over, she called Gabriel without leaving a message. And Emma! My poor baby! He almost killed her. Eventually her phone died. Marinette dropped it, then dusted her screen protector on her thigh, and put it in her bag. That monster... "I'll kill him," she whispered to herself, re-composed. This is the calmest she's felt since seeing her missed call log.

She has to check on Adrien. She has to wait for Emma. …And Adrien said something earlier… What was it? she couldn't quite remember. They'd both been so distressed, and things weren't any better now, but you can only stay emotionally aroused for so long before your brain the numbs to the pain or moves the threshold. He'd said something that had sent her over the edge and made her feel more helpless than the private knowledge that for all she had been and all she was now, she couldn't protect Emma… And he'd said that Gabriel was Hawkmoth. Adrien needed her. For the first time in years, she wished that Chat Noir was there. In her head, Marinette became hysterical again. What would I do with Chat Noir now? …cry on his shoulder because her daughter had become Ladybug and almost died? … Wring his neck for not believing her when she'd told him Gabriel was Hawkmoth as a teenager?

Alya returns to find Marinette no longer crying, though there are still tears on her face. "Marinette?" Marinette looks to her friend with glassy eyes and a tension about her mouth and nose.

"Where's Adrien?" she asks.

Alya opens her mouth and falters. She worries over whether or not her friends will be okay, but she knows that she can't be the one to stand between them. Whether they make it work or they lose everything tonight, it's between Marinette and Adrien. "He's in the waiting room. Come on," Alya opens her arms and crosses the last bit of distance to stand before her friend, then pulls her up. "I'll take you to him."

"Thank you."

Alya pats her back in response and leads her to an elevator.

When they get to the emergency waiting area, Nino notices them first and stands. Marinette pulls away from Alya and Nino skirts his way around to his wife's side while Marinette stops before Adrien whose swollen eyes remain shut. Still, having recognized his wife by the sound of her steps and her familiar smell, he reaches for her. His left hand finds the back of her right calf. "I'm sorry," he whispers. She rests her hand on his shoulder, then pulls his head into her stomach and rubs his hair. Both of them seem to have long forgotten Alya and Nino in the silence.

Nino gives his wife's shoulder a couple of closed fisted pats and then uses it to drag her into himself. "They're going to be okay," he whispers just loud enough for her to hear. That's when she starts shaking. He feels it first. Then he watches her take those high shallow breaths. "Shhh," he whispers, taking the food from her. "Hang on, Baby. … A little longer." Kisses his wife on the forehead, then jogs up to Adrien and Marinette directly. "Mari," he calls his friend's attention when he's by her side. "We're gonna go get Adrien some more ice. His spit bucket's over there. Here's the food." She nods as Nino sets the food down beside Adrien and goes back to collect his wife. He grabs her by the wrist and hustles her into a corner the elevator before the people getting off on the floor have a chance to get out. She's gasping for air and the people who stay on are staring at them. Alya's legs give out and Nino catches her. "I got you, Babe. I've got you."

The doors close and she wails. As she tries to even out her breathing, another cry bubbles up from her soul, "Em- Emma…"

Nino cries, too. He doesn't shush her this time. That was for Adrien and Marinette. They have to be strong for Adrien and Marinette. … But they get to be hurt for Emma, too. They're allowed to grieve that child's pain. "She's not dead yet. She's a fighter. She's going to make it." Alya keeps sobbing until the doors have opened back to the floor where they can get ice three or six times. She breathes a shaky breath into her husband's ruined shirt. "Okay?" He asks.

She nods in answer.

"Okay," he confirms and hugs her. "Let's get that ice."

"Adrien," he pulls back and looks up at his wife. She looked him in the eye with the same affectionate force she gives their kids. "Spit."

He lifts an eyebrow and tilts his head slightly.

"The blood. You're going to have too much of it in your mouth." She grabs the hospital order spittoon. "It's not good for you to swallow that much blood. Now, spit."

He does as he's told, surprised by how much blood was in his mouth. "How—"

"Your breathing changed."

He blinked a few times in surprise and nodded slowly.

"I'm sorry, too," Marinette said. Adrien gave her a distressed look and opened his mouth. She waved it off. "No, listen. Please, let me…" She struggles for words and then exhales. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken any of that out on you. We have to be in this together. We've been together a long time, Adrien. Fifteen years… we have a teenager. We have three kids and since we were in school together, I have loved you. Very few things have surprised me in how our life together has played out, but tonight a lot of things have. I'm scared if I don't tell you everything right now, we're not going to be okay. And I want us to be okay. I need you and I love you."

Adrien pulls his wife onto his leg and holds her. She has to know I love her, Adrien thinks. I need us to be okay, too. I love you.

She ruffles his hair a little to lighten the tension she created. Big breath. "Adrien, I was Ladybug. I was supposed to defeat Hawkmoth it wasn't supposed to be that other little girl, and it wasn't supposed to be our Emma. It was supposed to be us—me and my Chat Noir. We tried. We really tried. I—"

Adrien was crying again. His body was shaking and they could both hear the sobbing sounds that were coming from inside him. The tears just weren't falling anymore.

"I'm so sorry, Adrien."

"No," he whispered. "No. I'm sorry. You were right. I—" He felt sick. He wasn't sure if it was the confession he had to make or the blood streaming down his throat, but Adrien pushed through. Deep breath. "I was in denial. I couldn't accept the thought that he was…"

Marinette soothingly tried to shush him.

Adrien shook his head. He had to get through this. No more secrets. He wanted them to make it. They were going to have to get through all of this. "I was Chat Noir."

Marinette dropped the emesis basin and reached to pick it up, but Adrien was faster. He needed it. He spit a couple of times and then suddenly he was dry heaving and couldn't stop. Marinette ran to the nursing station. The petty emesis basin was not enough to handle what was coming.

There were many sacrifices tied to being a firefighter—sometimes he worked in other cities, the hours could be crazy, his mortality was ever before him… but there was no other profession Adrien could imagine being so happy in. Several days a week, he was a regular civic hero— putting out fires with his team, rescued people from car accidents, and got the odd cat of a tree. The rest of the week he was a household hero: Adrien also baked with his in-laws every other Saturday, went on dates with his wife on Wednesdays, met his dad for coffee every other Monday, helped his kids with their homework, kept up with their ever-changing dreams, and played video games with anyone who had time.

He got such a rush whenever his squad was called to support Ladybug and Chat Noir. The fire department didn't get called in nearly as often as the police, but it happened on occasion. Super-powered or not, leading or not—it felt good to be a hero.

It was 9:30 on Monday morning when Adrien's phone rang. He'd just gotten out of the shower and was shaving for his meeting with his dad. Marinette wasn't supposed to get off her shift until noon. It wasn't her number. Adrien felt like he recognized the number, but something didn't make sense. The caller hung up, but Adrien was still thinking about it when he went back to shaving. The phone number didn't have the right number of digits. There was no country with a code like that.

It dawned on him then. That was Plagg's number. He'd called himself from the baton a couple of times after losing his phone in his room, so he'd seen what it looked like.

Chat Noir was calling him.

"M. Agreste," a boy's voice panted. "Please—"

"This is he."

"It's Ladyb—E-E-Emma."

He was there in two minutes.