(A/N: Hey guys here's chapter 27, I hope you enjoy it because I worked hard on this one. Also the reason I haven't been posting any chapters of late this time is because of the damn Chorona virus going around, no I didn't catch it thank god but that didn't mean I was in a rush to get it which I'm sure you all understand. But before we get into it I just want to say thank you all for reading my fanfic as it is up to over 8000 views in total, I am so freaking happy about that because as I've mentioned before I never expected for this story to bust out as big as it has and it's thanks to you guys that it did. Okay that's all now please enjoy this chapter.)
Chapter 27: Unexpected blessings
Andrei simply sat there at his desk unsure of what he should even say to the stranger who had just dropped in unannounced. But rather than call for his security to deal with him, mostly because he knew it would be pointless, he just sat an listened to his proposal. "Alright then Iktomi, let's hear this plan of yours to free my daughter." He said stoically sitting across from the superhero.
"So glad you're willing to cooperate Mr. Mayor, I almost expected you to refuse me in case of some kind of political backlash or something along those lines." Iktomi replied as he just smiled under the mask. "Anyway my proposal is this. As we all know what we've been doing is technically illegal, but it's one of those doing bad stuff for a good cause sort of deals which we both know that one Ms. Elisa Menendez refuses to acknowledge. Which is why we need to use the only legal option we have to get her to back the fuck off for good, and the best part is she won't have a choice in the matter and it won't matter if she get's a higher power to even try to help out because it will be seen as a local issue technically."
"Could you please be more specific on what it is your plan is first?" Andrei asked politely, mostly because Iktomi hadn't really offered any clear advise or a slight hint of what he was planning.
Iktomi then took his feet off the desk and answered. "I've discovered an old law, one that will benefit us all as well as force Menendez to swallow her damn pride." Iktomi then stood up and walked around the desk and hopped onto the mayor's personal computer and started a search for the list of local laws. Once he'd found the one he was looking for he pointed it out to the mayor and began to laminate his plan. "Here it is, section five paragraph ten sub section three states that if the city of Paris is ever in a time of crisis or state of emergency as declared by the local government…that's you, then said government may deputize any and all willing citizens to aid local law enforcement in anyway they can until the crisis is over or for as long as said citizens are willing to serve the city.
"So long as they are given written permission from the mayor's office and work in correspondence with the same guide lines that any and all local officers follow as well as respond to the orders of a selected handler of the government they may operate with the blessing of local government and authorities. Bottom line if you pardon your daughter and draft up some paper work for us and we sign it then your daughter's off the hook and we can still fight the good fight against Hawkmoth, and agent Menendez will have to back off weather she likes it or not because the law will be on our side."
Andrei was simply stunned at how well thought out this plan was, he was truly impressed that Iktomi had come up with a legitimate way to keep Interpol off their backs. "You've clearly put a lot of thought into this, but are you sure this will work?" He asked with a hopeful expression.
"All we really need is permission from you and the chief of police." Iktomi replied. "Sure Menendez can try to stop this if she wants but it won't matter, she's a national agent and this is a local law she's up against so odds are she's already lost before the fights even won."
Andrei scratched his chin as he thought about it, he nodded his head and said. "I'll get on the paper work as soon as I can, until then how will I contact you so you know when it's time to enact your plan?"
Iktomi just patted the mayor's shoulder and replied as he walked toward the window. "No need, just go public with it once you've gotten the papers drawn out, just come up with some B.S. that the city is in a crisis and that your officers need to work closer with Ladybug and her team, then you propose this plan on camera and everybody will head to your office faster than you can say election season. Now if you'll excuse me Mr. mayor, I have places to be…thugs to fuck up…lives to save. You know how it is." And with that said Iktomi leapt out of the window and took off back to Valentina's apartment.
After he'd put the idea into his head Andrei began typing like a man on fire at his computer as he began to work on the rough draft of the legal paper work to legitimize Ladybug's team as well as make a few phone calls. "Hello Chief? Yes I know it's late but I need you to cancel all your appointments for tomorrow and meet me in my office as soon as you can, I need your help to write up a few legal documents."
About twenty minutes later Iktomi had returned to Valentina's apartment quietly sneaking through the window of the living room as to not wake anyone inside. "Spizz, web down." He said with a whisper and turning back into Dallas. He then slowly sat down on the couch just in case he woke anyone else up. Which he did, but it was only Doof, who gave a low growl as he normally would. "Would you give it a rest Muttly, I'm not in the mood for your shit tonight understand!" Dallas softly growled back at the dog making it very clear that he was not having it tonight.
But sadly his night would be anything but peaceful as the sound of his son crying out in terror caught his attention, Dallas instinctively ran toward the sound of his son crying as did Doof who believed that Yuri was sounding out due to his life being in danger. As Dallas burst through the door he saw the sight of Yuri being cradled in the arms of his mother who it would seem was already working on trying to sooth him. Dallas then breathed a sigh of relief as he saw Valentina just shushing their son. Doof then pushed past Dallas and hopped on the bed in the attempt to provide some extra comfort to the crying toddler. "It's alright Yurochka it was only a dream." Valentina soothed as she just coddled her son close to her heart.
While she held him Doof started to lick Yuri's face yet again simply trying to help calm him down. "Doof top id!" Yuri yelled in a half crying voice. "Juss weave me awone!" He then shoved Doof away from him as he buried his face into his mother's shoulder.
Dallas then finally came over in order to help calm Yuri down any way he could. "What's wrong buddy?" He asked softly as he just knelt down in front of his son. "Did you have a bad dream?" Yuri just looked at his father with tears in his eyes and nodded his head yes. Dallas then sat next to Valentina on the bed and took his son in his arms. "It's okay kid-o daddy's here, daddy's gotcha and I'm not going anywhere either." Dallas and Valentina stayed up for up to an hour trying to get Yuri to get back to sleep.
The reason for him waking up in the dead of night was a nightmare of him being blamed for stealing things that he'd never seen before in his life and as a result he was being chased by the police everywhere he went, and to make matters worse by the end of the dream he was being shot at by the police as well. Because of all of this Dallas's anger towards his brother was even greater than it was originally, now his son was having nightmares about being accused of being a thief and it was all thanks to Simon. After finally getting Yuri back to sleep both Dallas and Valentina chose to sleep with him resting in between the two of them with his teddy bear held snug in his arms. Due to this display Doof began to feel conflicted feelings about Dallas. He still didn't trust him fully, but now he no longer felt as though he had to keep his guard up about him after seeing how he cared for Yuri especially in his time of need but one thing was clear to him and that was Dallas would do anything to keep Yuri's smile on his face if he could which made Doof actually start to like him, slightly.
By the time morning came Marinette had awoken from her long night of passion with Adrien, the former still being asleep as he had once again gave his all. Sense she was the only one awake Marinette started to fix up breakfast for everyone else, it was a simple breakfast of eggs and bacon, which she accidentally burned. After throwing out the burnt meal she began to feel sick again much like she did the other night after getting a good whiff of the lingering smell of smoke, and just like before she ran over to the sink and started puking once again. "Why does this keep happening to me?" She asked to no one just before she started puking again.
She was so loud that she actually managed to wake Adrien from his slumber, after he rubbed the sleep from his eyes he then smelt the entire house reeked of smoke. As he was about to ask what she'd burnt he then saw her hunched over the kitchen sink puking her guts out. "Marinette are you okay?" He asked as he came over to her.
"No…I'm not…" She croaked, after another half hour of throwing up, and trying to get the smell of smoke out of the house anyway they could without air fresheners, Adrien fixed Marinette another cup of ginger tea to try and help with her stomach ache, following this Adrien just brought her two slices of dried toast. He didn't think her stomach could take anything else for the moment.
"Feeling any better yet bugaboo?" He asked as he stroked her back as she sat at the table.
"A little bit…" She replied thankful that Dallas knew a few things about herbs. "I just don't know what's wrong with me, I keep throwing up for the littlest tiniest scents."
He just hugged her and said lovingly. "Well to be fair smoke is a little more nauseating than most smells so I think you have an excuse." Around that instant she threw her hand up to her mouth almost as if she was about to throw up again, but luckily it was only a small burp, she may have had no idea about what was wrong with her but she wasn't taking any chances. It was at this point that Adrien made a suggestion. "Maybe we should go see a doctor, you know just in case if you've got a stomach bug or something."
"Adrien I promise you it's nothing…" She replied flatly. "It was just a little bit of nausea nothing more."
"So this happens all the time for you?" He asked plainly.
She just tapped her fingers against her mug and replied honestly. "Well…no. Not usually, but I'm sure I'm not sick. I promise you I'm as healthy as a horse."
"Just promise me if it does get worse then you'll go to a doctor." He asked obviously worried for her wellbeing.
She just rolled her eyes at him then said with a very annoyed groan. "Fine, if it'll make you happy I'll see a doctor, assuming it gets worse but ONLY if it gets worse."
"That's all I ask princess." He stated with a smile as he placed a kiss softly on the side of her head. A little while later Adrien started to google for some helpful tips of what could've been the most likely issue of why she was throwing up so much. The first potential reason he came across was almost mocking to him, which was pregnancy. He still had his suspicions that she could be pregnant due to her vision quest dream but wasn't about to bring that up again, especially not after how she acted towards Plagg the night before.
He quickly clicked out of that not wanting to think about it and clicked on another link. This one saying that some smells could cause people to throw up profusely even with a tiny whiff, but after she'd told him that she wasn't known for getting nauseous that easily he tossed that out the window then started to look for yet another reason which he managed to find and also to him seemed to be more likely, being over stressed, which in his opinion she was half the time over taxed with being a superhero and having to worry about her parents and an assassin being hot on her tail, or at least someone who wanted her dead being out there plotting against her and him for some reason. So he figured that this was the most likely reason for her stomach issues and chose to leave it at that for the time being.
So he came up with a plan to help relieve her of her stress, he told her that he was going out on patrol but in reality he was going shopping for her. So while he was out Marinette just sat and watched TV, up until her phone began to ring, she looked at the caller ID and just gasped. She hit the answer call button and said warmly. "Hi mom…"
"Hi honey…" Sabean greeted back. "Your father and I wanted to pay you a little visit but the darn gate won't open. Could you maybe tell whoever's in charge of the gate controls to let us inside?" She asked as she and Tom stood outside the Agreste mansion.
In that moment Marinette just froze. She didn't expect them to go all the way to the mansion to see her, so she quickly asked back. "Oh…you're outside the mansion right now?"
"Yes that's right honey." Sabean replied.
"Uh…well…I'd like to but…I'm…not there right now." She stated obviously telling the truth. "In fact none of us are there."
"Oh…" Sabean began to respond. "…and where are you right now if you're not here?"
Marinette then quickly started to think of a good lie to tell her mother. "Uh…we're…going…to…see a client of Mr. Agreste's for a last minute appointment, he said it would be a good learning experience for me."
"Oh really, well then I guess we can wait here until you get back." Sabean pointed out.
Crap I was hoping that would be enough, Marinette panicked in her head, then she quickly added in hopes that they'd leave. "Uh…well you could of course but…you'd be waiting all day because after that I have to go with him and Adrien to a fashion shoot, then I have to draw up a few designs for my first official line then hand them off to a seamstress, then after that…" After hearing this Sabean began to squeal with excitement on her end of the phone.
"Your first official line? Oh Marinette I'm so proud of you!" She cried while crying actual tears of joy.
It was in that moment that Marinette chose to just roll with what she'd been given. "Uh…y-yeah…I'm…I'm putting out my own line, it's only an amateur line but with Mr. Agreste's help I can at least get my name out there to try and…get…started." She said sounding nervous. "But like I said we're gonna be gone all day and I wouldn't want you guys to just be waiting for nobody. Besides…I'm sure you have to get back to the bakery soon enough right?"
"Oh we closed for the day." Sabean stated casually. "We just wanted to see that you were getting comfortable being so far away from home."
"Ohhhhhhhhhhh…" Marinette voiced through gritted teeth while trying not to scream. "How thoughtful of you guys to go out of your way just to see me! I feel so lucky to have parents like you!" FOR THE LOVE OF GOD! She screamed in her head.
"So is the guy on the control on break or something? Or is he just lazy?" Sabean asked as she saw her husband was getting very frustrated with the pad at the front gate as he expected someone to respond to him pressing the button over and over.
"Uh…that's the thing, usually the person on the gate controls is Natalie and…she's on a day off today because of our busy schedule so there's literally no one to let you in the house, sorry mom but it looks like you'll have to come by some other time." Marinette said hoping that her mother might finally get the message.
Which she did of course as she sighed and replied sounding slightly saddened that they couldn't see their daughter. "Alright then, I guess we'll just come back later, what time do you think you'll be back anyway maybe we can come back around then and see you then."
"I don't know mom, it's kinda hard to say with Mr. Agreste. But if you want Adrien and I can swing by the bakery instead." Marinette replied only realizing too late that she couldn't do that, but now she knew that she'd have no choice but to go and see her parents.
Sabean smiled warmly at this idea and said. "We would love that, we'll be waiting for you till then honey. Love you, oh and be sure to show us what you've been working on too honey, I wanna see what my little girl's been working on in her spare time."
"Sure thing mom, love you guys, see you later." And with that Marinette then hung up her phone and hung her head in shame for lying to her parents once again, she then buried her face in her hands and started to cry. Sensing her pain Tikki then flew up next to her and started to comfort her as best she could. Marinette just took her in her hands and held her close to her cheek as she cried.
After getting to the mall Adrien quickly transformed out of his persona and started shopping for just about everything or anything that might help relieve Marinette of her stress. He started out in a bath and body works store, which he felt super awkward about being in because the majority of the shoppers in the store were women, except for the occasional husband who'd been dragged their by his wife and forced to hold her purse for her while she shopped. It also didn't help that almost everyone in the store knew who he was and just gawked at him due to his own fame as a model. He just tried his best to get what he needed and get out without causing a big fuss for himself. After acquiring a bath care package he then headed to an import store filled with stress relief candles and incents, he tried searching for some that Marinette might like when he caught the eye of one very nosey investigative journalist who he knew from school. "Adrien?" A voice uttered from behind him, he turned around fast and saw his girlfriend's closest friend Alya standing before him. "What the heck are you doing here? Your supposed to be in…you know what. And where's Marinette? Actually don't answer that, it's probably safer if you don't tell me."
"Alya please…" Adrien begged in a whisper. "You need to keep it down I don't want anyone to notice me while I'm here."
"Then tell me why your hear and I will you idiot, or I'll scream your name at the top of my lungs so every fan girl…or fan boy in some cases that is…knows you're here." Alya said back as she looked at him with an angry look.
He just groaned knowing that she was just being completely unreasonable. "Okay fine, Marinette is a little….stressed as of late, so I'm here trying to make her a stress relief care package."
Alya then raised her eye brow and asked. "Okay what do you have so far?"
"Just a bath set, you know bath beads, bath bombs, sorted lotions…" He began to go down the list of what he had so far up until Alya cut him off.
"Okay stop right there, I'm not saying that you're wrong Adrien but I've known Marinette long enough to know that what ever her deal is it's a little more than it seems." She stated with the knowledge that she'd come to understand her friend with.
Adrien just stared at her with a dumb look as he asked. "What do you mean by that?"
"Adrien come on this is Mari we're talking about here, she's the poster child for denial. Whenever she says something isn't as big as it seems its usually something Godzilla sized that she just wants to ignore until the last minute. Bottom line you need to observe all the clues that you've probably over looked." Alya clarified. "It could be stress like you said, or it could be a stomach bug or nausea or maybe even uhm…" She leaned in closer to him and whispered her final guess. "Pregnancy."
Adrien quickly facepalmed as he sighed. "Please don't say that, we've already visited that little issue enough this month."
Around that point Alya just paused for a moment as she quickly registered what he'd said. "Say what?" She asked with a dumbfounded look on her face.
Before Adrien said a word he quickly looked around to make sure no one was listening, mainly anyone who looked like an investigative reporter looking to dig up some dirt on Adrien if they could. Then he leaned in and said in a whisper. "First you have to keep this between us understand?" Alya quickly made a simple hand gesture making it look as though she was zipping her lips. "Okay so…Marinette and I…have been getting a bit…'physical' of late and…well I almost was certain that she was pregnant, so I got her to take a pregnancy test, which turned out to be negative, and to be honest I've…kinda been getting on her case about it to be honest. Basically to the point where it's kind of annoying her."
Normally Alya didn't have to think about what to say in terms of something this big, but for once she was without words for almost a good minute until she said sounding both angry and confused. "Are you freaking kidding me Adrien?!" She shouted softly. "You got Marinette pregnant?!"
"Didn't you hear me? The test was negative, she's not pregnant." Adrien replied just as softly.
At that point Alya decided that she couldn't stay quiet about this, at least when it came to yelling at him, so she physically dragged him off to a secluded spot so she could either yell at him or beat the tar out of him for not being careful with her friend. "You stupid little brainless green eyed blond moron!" She raged on as she paced back and forth while they stood behind the store. "How could you two be so careless?"
"Look it was in the heat of the moment and it just sort of happened." Adrien replied trying to get her to calm down, but he would find out rather quickly that would be easier said than done.
"That's not an excuse Adrien, this is huge, gigantic even! You had sex with Marinette and you didn't even bother to use a condom or even birth control for god sake!" She yelled in his face.
"I did mention that the test was negative didn't I?" Adrien said once again as he didn't really like it as Alya verbally attacked him for almost no reason. "And on another note she took a morning after pill that day and she has been every time we…come together."
"Oh don't give me that…wait what?" Alya asked as she finally started to calm down.
"She's been taking morning after pills, you know just in case we have a defective condom." Adrien confirmed. "Mostly because Dallas said that one out of ten condoms fail, which is actually how he ended up becoming a dad it would seem."
Alya then sighed as she slowly came to realize that she'd just jumped to a huge conclusion without even bothering to let him explain. "Well way to burry the lead you idiot!" She stated sounding a bit embarrassed. "You could've given me a heart attack."
"Well you didn't give me a chance to explain. Plus I did mention twice before this little talk that the test was negative." He stated firmly hoping that this conversation would come to an end soon.
"Okay fair enough, but are you sure that it wasn't just a false negative? Actually don't answer that it's a stupid question. But are you absolutely one hundred percent sure that she isn't pregnant? Did you have her take any other tests sense then?" Alya asked in a much calmer tone.
"Well…no…no not yet, but I do have another test which I do need to have her take, if only to put my thoughts on the subject to rest." He admitted feeling a bit sheepish.
Alya then began to groan as she rubbed her temples. "Okay, just to make sure let's go down the list, has she had any change in mood lately? Like one minute she's sweet and innocent then the next she has the rage of a thousand suns or emotional and depressed for almost no reason?"
"Well…" Adrien began to think back. "She did try to rip off Dallas's head the other night, but that was just a huge misunderstanding. Plus that's nothing new really."
"What about her diet? Has that changed at all? Like is she starting to eat foods in odd combinations like…oh I don't know watermelon and mayonnaise?" She asked calmly, and hoping that he would say no to it.
"Well I wouldn't know about that, but she did ask me to get her an entire cheesecake the other night, which she ate all by herself all in one sitting." He admitted casually.
"And has she been puking uncontrollably by any chance?" She asked again.
After hearing this Adrien admitted casually. "Well yeah she was puking this morning, but I'm pretty sure that it's just because she's over stressed, hence why I'm getting her this care package for her."
"Adrien…I'm not sure if you realize this but pregnancy is one of the most stress inducing things that a woman can experience, but the point I'm trying to make is that she's not puking because of stress she's puking because she's pregnant." She stated plainly just to help him understand with his lack of knowledge. "Now just one more thing just to make sure, and I know this is a bit of a personal question about you guys but has Marinette become even a tiny bit hornier than usual?"
Adrien found this question to be a bit confusing and didn't really understand what she was getting at. "I…I'm sorry but what does this have to do with her being pregnant?" He asked puzzledly.
"A lot actually…" Alya stated as she began to go further into detail. "Pregnant women get super-super horny for the first few months, so much so that they almost go crazy if they don't have someone to…take care of it lets say, hell they get so desperate they actually consider hopping on the first guy they get close to. So I ask again, has her sex drive increased at all?"
Adrien didn't think that Marinette had became anymore adamant than usual but he wasn't sure if he could tell if she was. "Well if she has I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary."
Alya just shook her head and said. "Well then there's only one way to be sure, go out and get a few more tests, just to be safe."
Adrien simply nodded his head then began to walk away, until he stopped for a brief moment then turned around and asked. "Mainly out of curiosity, how do you know all about this?"
"Duh…I'm a young woman Adrien, I kinda have to learn about this crap before I get knocked up." She replied plainly. "Oh and one more thing, if she is pregnant you'd better not run off like a coward and leave her to raise your kid alone. Because god knows if you do I will hunt you down and skin you alive just before I force you to pay her every last euro in your bank account for child support."
Adrien felt slightly hurt by her statement. "Alya please, I would never do something like that, besides I love Marinette too much to ever want to leave her and us having a kid would only cement that." He replied honestly, then without another word he just walked off and returned to shopping for his princess.
Meanwhile across town at the warehouse where the Chameleon was being kept Dallas was getting ready to continue his interrogation of the assassin, he was simply trying to keep his mind off of Yuri this time as he knew that his guilt would more than likely plague him later. After finally preparing himself mentally he entered the room. "Good morning my good man." He said to his captive. "Did you sleep well?"
The Chameleon just looked up at Dallas and glared. "Go fuck yourself you little shit." He said with a snarl.
"Ooooh…still trying to act all tough after the living hell I put you through, how cute. Now then…" Dallas then pulled up a chair and sat in it backwards while facing his captive. "…unless you want to have a repeat of the other day I suggest you start talking."
"Oh so now you want me to talk? You don't wanna put out my other eye too before you drug me again?" The assassin asked rhetorically.
Dallas then said with a slight chuckle. "Don't tempt me, I might just take you up on that. But then again I'd have to wait a little longer before you're sane again, besides…I want you to see what I have planned for you. Right before you die."
The Chameleon just spat on Dallas's mask then said. "Go to hell. I'm not telling you shit about anything."
"Oh yes you will, I don't care how long it takes me because I won't stop until you tell me what I want to know." Dallas stood up from the chair, then quickly smashed it against the Chameleon to try and get the point across. Then he picked up a piece of it off the ground and broke off an end of it to give it a sharp point, then he pressed it into the Chameleon's neck and asked with a growl. "You were hired to kill a girl in this city, high school age, oriental background, pigtails, loves fashion, you were also hired to frame her boyfriend for the crime, rich, teen model, famous throughout Europe. I wanna know who hired you and why."
"Go fuck yourself, I don't give out client information all willy-nilly for any reason, bad for business." The Chameleon stated defiantly. "Sure I might think that little bitch is a pain in the ass but I'm not gonna sell her out to…ah shit!"
Dallas caught his slip up, that tiny bit of information was enough to narrow it down to a gender. "So it's a woman, good that saves us some time. But who is she?" He asked again.
The Chameleon just looked up at him and repeated. "Go…to…hell!"
Just as Dallas was about to beat it out of him his phone began to ring. "Shit, excuse me for a moment."
The Chameleon just smirked at Dallas and said. "Not very professional of you if you don't keep your phone on vibrate while doing your job, I mean even I know…" Dallas then stuffed a rag in his captive's mouth just before he placed a strip of duct tape on his mouth.
"Just shut up already." Dallas ordered as he left the room to take the call, after reading the caller ID he just narrowed his eyes on the name. He didn't even know why he was even giving him a chance to talk to him but he knew that if he didn't he'd just keep calling him. He pressed answer and asked with a cold tone of voice. "What…the hell…do you want Simon?"
"I just wanna apologize for yesterday Dallas I swear." Simon stated honestly. "I get that your mad but…"
"Didn't I already tell you that I wasn't going to accept any more of your excuses?" Dallas asked again.
"Look I admit I fucked up…" Simon replied simply trying to get his brother to talk to him for at least a minute.
But Dallas had no intentions of talking to him. "Oh you did more than just fuck up! Thanks to you my son was up almost half the night because he had a nightmare that the police wanted to kill him for stealing things that he'd never taken."
"At least let me make it up to you…" Simon offered hoping that he could persuade him to change his mind, but it was all in vain.
"I already told you Simon as did Adrien, stay the hell away from me and my son! You are never to come anywhere near me or Yuri ever again!" Dallas said demandingly.
"Dallas please…" Simon began to beg. "You promised me that we'd reconnect you promised me that we'd still be a family."
It was around that point that Dallas just blasted into the phone. "I DON'T CARE WHAT I PROMISED YOU!" He shouted. "I HAVE NO INTENTION OF STAYING CLOSE TO SOMEONE LIKE YOU ANYMORE SIMON! I'VE HELD ONTO HOPE THAT YOU MIGHT CHANGE FOR TOO LONG, FROM NOW ON, YOU AND I ARE DONE! FROM NOW ON, PRETEND I'M DEAD!" And with that said Dallas then hung up the phone just writhing in anger, up until he started to take some calming breaths. Once he'd settled down he proceeded to close his phone, but then he paused when he noticed that his app had made two new recordings from Lila's phone. He didn't know why but he decided to just listen to them to try and get his mind off his brother.
But what he'd heard from the messages were two very familiar voices, one he was already expecting of course, but the other was quite the surprise. Dallas's face slowly curled into a grin as he began to put the pieces together. "Oh Lila you naughty…naughty…naughty girl. " After closing the phone Dallas then returned to his captive and said with a smile and no longer waring his mask, mainly because he didn't need it anymore, then he said. "Good news, your services are no longer required. In more ways than one. Because as luck would have it I've already discovered who your client is, so now…this is where we part ways. So long my good man." And with that said Dallas then walked away and started to leave the warehouse, but stopped for a moment when the assassin started to make muffled noises to try and get his attention as well as keep him from leaving. Dallas then turned around, returned to the assassin, pulled off the makeshift gag and pulled the rag out of his mouth as he asked. "You were saying?"
"If were done then why aren't you trying to kill me? I've even seen your face; a smart man would kill me after that." The assassin replied.
Dallas then patted his cheek with a sinister smile and said. "That pleasure my good man…is reserved for one miss Valentina Volkov."
Upon hearing that name the Chameleon quickly stated. "The Volkov's are dead, I killed them all myself years ago back in Chernobyl."
"Are you sure about that?" Dallas asked with a sinister tone. "Are you sure that you managed to kill my little widow maker along with her parents instead of leave it to chance that she might survive you tossing her out that window? And after killing a number of spetsnaz and KGB agents with that fancy watch of yours?"
After hearing him mention the spetsnaz and KGB agents he'd killed that day the Chameleon began to realize that he knew too much about his fight with Valentina when she was only a child. "How do you know about that?" He asked with an almost startled voice.
That's when Dallas began to laugh manically and said. "You know I kinda would've thought that you would've figured it out by now. I mean didn't it strike you as a bit odd that the one woman who's been gunning for your title for the past few years just started to call herself the black widow of Chernobyl? I mean it's eerily similar to the nickname that her father had don't you think?"
It was in that moment the Chameleon's brain just drew a blank as all the pieces slowly began to come together, why she'd been so hell bent on trying to kill him every chance she'd tracked him down, why she was so dedicated to unseat him as the deadliest assassin in the world, everything about her was a result of what he'd done to her and her parents all those years ago. He then looked up at Dallas and begged. "Kill me!"
"Sorry pal, but I'd never take a kill which is rightfully claimed by my girlfriend." Dallas replied as he began to walk away. "Besides...you've only yourself to blame for this. If you weren't so hellbent on being number one then maybe she wouldn't have tried so damn hard to kill you, oh well."
As Dallas began to leave he could hear the Chameleon calling out to him. "Hey come on, you can't just leave me here like this! I got cash tons of it even! Just name a price and it's yours! COME ON KID BE REASONABLE!"
After hopping in a cab Dallas then texted Valentina that he was coming back to her apartment and said that he was going to give her a chance to say her final fair well to her long hated enemy while he babysat their son. Once he'd arrived Valentina didn't hesitate to leave as she had thirsted for this moment for as long as she could remember, and now that it was finally here she would finally take a step towards a normal life again. Only this time there wouldn't be anything to hold her back or draw her away from it.
Back at the safehouse and after a few hours of crying Marinette chose to simply draw up some new designs in her sketch book. But half way through her first sketch she was instantly reminded of her turmoil with her parents and immediately began to start crying again. She didn't know what to do, or even how to calm herself down, so she just curled up into a ball and just laid on the couch and started crying again. It was around that point when Adrien finally returned to the safehouse with his care package for Marinette, as soon as he walked through the door he was stunned by the sight of his lady in such an emotional state. "Mari? Are you okay?" He asked as he casually came over to the couch and sat next to her.
She sat up and wiped away the tears and aptly said still crying a little bit. "No…I'm not okay, not even a little bit Adrien." She then buried her face in her hands and just sobbed. As if on cue Adrien then pulled her into a side hug and just held her close to him. "I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this Adrien, it was one thing to lie to my parents about me being a superhero but for me to be in witness protection and keep them completely out of the loop? I'm the world's worst daughter."
Adrien could see the pain and guilt was eating away at her, and he didn't have a clue if he could help her, but he was going to try his best. "Marinette look at me…" He requested as he turned her gaze onto him. "It's almost over, you won't have to worry about this anymore remember? We have the Chameleon and soon enough we'll know who la Volpi is and why they wanna hurt you then after that you won't have to lie to your parents anymore." Having said that Adrien then pulled her into a full hug and just let her vent, he just sat there with her for about half an hour until she finally stopped crying.
Marinette felt even luckier than ever that she had Adrien by her side. "Your so good to me." She whispered softly.
"Well it's only because of how good you are to me. In more ways than one, which is kind of why I picked up a few things for you while I was out." He admitted as he lifted up the shopping bag. "I know that you've been a little over taxed lately between being Ladybug and having to lie to your folks so I got you a few things so you could have a spa day."
As Adrien pulled out the care package Marinette then heard a knock at the door. She stood up and headed for the door, after looking through the peak hole she opened the door and there standing beyond it was none other than Megan Roth holding a shopping bag filled with at least a dozen pregnancy tests. "Afternoon Marinette, mind if I pop in for a spell?" She asked casually.
"Not at all, come on in." She replied as she welcomed in the retired assassin into the safehouse. After finally taking notice of what she held in her hands Marinette then let out an audible sigh and asked. "Let me guess, those are for me aren't they?"
"Well I certainly know that I've been careful enough not to need them…" Megan replied half joking, but she quickly found it was in poor taste as she caught Marinette glaring at her with anger. "Sorry, didn't mean anything by it love. Anyway you might as well get started, these tests aren't going to piss on themselves."
As Adrien heard what Megan had said he quickly turned around and saw what she was holding. Which reminded him very quickly that he was supposed to get more tests for Marinette as well but somehow he'd forgotten all about it. "Wow, that is a lot of pregnancy tests." He voiced from the living room.
Marinette just looked at the bag and asked again. "Did you have to buy so damn many?"
"Yes I did, like I said you never know when you've got a defective test love." Megan replied as she handed her a test. Marinette just rolled her eyes as she snatched it out of her hand and headed to the bathroom.
After simply doing her business and waiting for the results of the test Marinette then turned the test over still very confident that it was negative. After coming out of the bathroom she then turned to Adrien who was just waiting for her outside then she said. "You had better not give me anymore grief because I'm getting tired of you thinking that I'm…" She then stopped just before she could even finish her sentence, as she became stunned with the sight of a little pink plus sign. "Pregnant?"
Upon hearing what she'd said he then turned to her and asked dumbly. "What?" He then took the test out of her hand then gasped at the result. "Oh…my…god."
About a minute later Adrien returned to the living room looking pale faced. After noticing this Megan then asked. "Are you alright love?"
"Another test please." He asked almost stone faced with disbelief with the result, after several more tests, and several glasses of water later Marinette was sat in the safehouse with Adrien and Megan trying to keep her calm as she came to grips with the newest bombshell of her current situation hitting her so hard that she didn't have a clue how to deal with it, other than to face it head on of course.
"I don't understand, this doesn't make any sense I've been taking pills. Maybe they're all defective?" Marinette stated as she tried her best to pretend this wasn't actually happening.
Megan just sighed as she stated plainly. "Mari, the odds of that being true are very slim, you just have to face the reality that your pregnant."
"But I shouldn't be!" Marinette shouted as she just stood up from the couch and started pacing. "I took a morning after pill after we first…did it. So how can I be pregnant?"
Megan then asked her casually. "Are you sure you took the right pill though?"
Adrien just glared at her and asked sounding slightly angry. "What are you implying?"
"What? I'm just saying maybe she made a mistake." Megan replied calmly.
That's when Marinette started to wonder herself if she'd made a mistake in which pills she'd taken. She quickly raced off to her room to see if Megan's theory was right. After digging through her bag she found the pills she'd been taking each time that Adrien and her would make love, but she couldn't simply tell just by looking at them if they were the right pills or not, she wasn't a pharmacist after all, when it came to basic knowledge about pills she was clueless. "Oh why am I even wasting my time with this? I can't tell if this is the right pill or not!"
"Relax love, I think we know someone who might be able to tell if this is the right pill or not." Megan said calmly as she got out her phone and quickly dialed Dallas's number.
About twenty minutes later Dallas, Yuri and Doof all showed up to the safe house. After getting through the front door Dallas then asked sounding slightly annoyed. "Okay what was SO important that I just had to come over here as soon…" He then paused as he saw the numerous tests lying about on the coffee table. After he set Yuri on the floor he then continued. "Uhhhhhhh…okay new question. What's with all the pregnancy tests?"
"Give you three guesses." Adrien replied bluntly as he just held Marinette close to him while sitting on the couch.
Upon hearing that Dallas's face began to curl into a smirk, he then clamped his hands over his mouth in a vain attempt to stifle a snicker which slowly turned into all out laughter. Then he slowly stopped as he saw that he was receiving death glares from both the soon to be parents. He cleared his throat and said. "Sorry, I'm just laughing at the irony. I mean obviously if it weren't for your current situation this would be much funnier to me but still this is clearly not the time for that."
Yuri then looked up to his father curiously. "Daddy, what are all dose on duh table?"
Dallas didn't really think it was necessary to lie to him about this, he also figured it wouldn't matter in the end anyway as she'd start to show off her baby bump in a few months. "Well buddy those are uh…geez how do I put this? Their…something that tells a girl if she's gonna become a mommy soon. And auntie Mari used all of these and from the looks of things…they all say the same thing. So she's gonna have a baby soon, and uncle Adrien is gonna be the daddy."
Upon hearing this Yuri's eyes lite up with joy as he ran over to Marinette and just hugged her leg as he just became so overwhelmed with happiness for his aunt and uncle. "I'm so happy for you auntie Mawi!" He declared as he just squeezed tight.
"I'm happy for you too guys. But I thought you said you took a pill to take care of this." Dallas stated sounding slightly confused.
"I did. Or at least I think I did." Marinette said sounding even more confused.
After hearing her say this Dallas then asked. "What do you mean you think you did? You either did or didn't there's no in-between for this."
"That's why you're here Dallas." Megan stated as she stood up and handed him a baggy filled with the pills Marinette was currently taking. "We figured you'd be able to identify these pills for us just to make sure these are the right ones. I mean odds are they are the right pills and they've just gone bad."
Dallas took the bag and began to examine them. "Okay lets see what we've…oh…oh boy. Oh that explains a lot." He said sounding surprised.
"What? What's wrong? Tell me what's wrong!" Marinette demanded in a panicked voice as she stood up and met him half way across the room.
Dallas then started to chuckle nervously as he revealed. "You'll probably laugh about this later but…these…aren't birth control Mari. These are…Ibuprofen."
Upon hearing what she'd actually been taking this whole time Marinette's brain just shut down as she came to realize that she'd been trying to prevent herself from baring a child with painkillers, then for almost no reason other than feeling light headed Marinette fainted with Megan barely having time to catch her. After she came to Marinette began to think back to the night that she first went into witness protection and remembered that she was in a bit of a rush so she figured that she took pills from the wrong bottle by mistake and became pregnant while they were out in witness protection. But after closely examining just how long she'd been acting the way she had been Dallas thought that it was more likely that she'd been taking the wrong pills right from the start, mostly because he noticed that her breasts had grown to a slightly larger size, not that he was going to point that out to her. Either way she then started to berate herself for making such a stupid mistake.
While she was busy hating herself Dallas took the time to make her a cup of jasmine tea to relax her a bit. "Mari just calm down a little bit okay?" He asked as he handed her the cup. "Stress isn't good for the baby. I mean sure he's like the size of a baby shrimp right now but still."
"What am I gonna do?" She asked still finding it hard to accept her current situation. "What am I gonna tell my parents?"
"What the heck are you talking about? What are you gonna do I mean seriously is this a trick question?" Dallas asked bluntly. "Marinette Dupain-Chang you're currently in a relationship with the son of a billionaire who will one day inherit his fortune and already has thousands in his bank account, and he also has a job which he can use to support you and the baby just fine. And as for your parents I'm not really sure if you have to worry about how they'd feel about this because from what Adrien's told me they would welcome a grandchild into their home as well as their lives."
Marinette saw the truth in his words, to a degree anyway. She knew her parents seemed to act like they'd welcome a grandchild into their lives even at this point in her life, but that was only what she saw on the surface. She half expected them to get so angry with her for doing something as stupid as this that they'd disown her completely. This thought alone made her stomach do backflips, which didn't help her morning sickness at all. She was filled with so much anxiety she felt as though she might throw up yet again. Luckily she had a bucket close by just in case.
Adrien was also quite anxious about this situation, but he was also excited, gitty and above all else looking forward to being a father. He just sat down next to Marinette and held her close and said reassuringly. "It'll be okay princess, I'm here for your every need." He then pulled her into a loving hug and just held her tight in his arms as a single tear of joy fell from his face.
Marinette didn't hesitate to return his affection, at this moment she finally started to relax knowing that Adrien was there for her. But around that same moment she pulled away as she heard a soft chuckle coming from him. "What's so funny?" She asked curiously.
"Oh nothing, it's just that Alya and I were basically talking about this earlier at the mall and…well it's just ironic is all." He replied with a soft smile.
Both Dallas and Megan could agree that it would be a shame to ruin this tender moment for them, even though he had something important to discuss with them he figured that it could wait until later. For the next half hour Yuri's top interest was Marinette and the baby, he just kept on asking questions like how soon it would be until the baby would come or how they'd get the baby out, also if it would be a boy or a girl. Naturally he wanted it to be a boy as did Adrien while Marinette hoped it would be a girl. Also during that time Doof could sense that there was something different about Marinette, and that something being she was baring new life, so he put himself into guard mode and only letting Yuri or Adrien anywhere near her. It didn't matter that Megan was there, he would bark at her regardless as he was over come with his protective instinct.
He would've stayed there with Marinette all night if he had to, and it was clear that Yuri wanted to stay too as he just became completely devoted and interested in Marinette simply for the fact that she was going to become a mother soon. But sadly Megan had to take him back to his mother which also meant Doof had to leave as well. Which he did, slightly reluctantly though, but it proved difficult to do as neither of them wanted to leave. After promising that he could come back the day after Dallas finally managed to get Yuri to leave with Megan, and because of this Doof knew that he had to go with Yuri as he was still his number one concern. But before he left he gave Dallas and Adrien a look which basically said 'keep her safe or I'll rip you both apart.'
A little while later Dallas pulled his blood brother aside and just congratulated him. "Welcome to parenthood my brother, I hope you're ready for what's to come." He said with a smile as he handed him a bottle of beer.
"Uh…I don't drink." He replied casually and trying to decline as politely as he could. But Dallas wasn't taking no for an answer.
"Come on knock it off dude have a drink with me, this is a time to celebrate. Plus this is literally what I got you for your birthday so if you don't take it your kind of being rude." Dallas stated bluntly as he pushed the bottle back to him.
Adrien just sighed and said. "Alright, but just one and that's it." He then took the bottle and took a small sip, the moment it touched his tongue he made a face, much like how a child would make when eating their vegetables at dinner. He quickly swallowed it and just started to cough.
"Oh come on it's a light beer you pussy." Dallas said with a slight chuckle. "But then again beer does have an acquired taste."
"I don't know if I even want to acquire it, how the hell can anyone enjoy something that tastes so bad?" Adrien asked as he set the bottle back down. "It's just gross. All it tastes like is…I don't even know if there's anything in the world that even comes close to it."
Dallas just chuckled again and said. "Welcome to the world of drinking my friend, but just so you know you might want to get acquainted just enough so you can deal with the stress that comes with raising a kid. Trust me when I say this, you're gonna need to, and this stuff really takes the edge off."
"Oh come on it can't be that hard to take care of a kid." Adrien stated plainly. Upon hearing this however Dallas just started laughing uncontrollably. "What's so funny?"
As Dallas wiped away a tear he then turned to Adrien and replied. "You're kidding right? You actually think that taking care of a kid is easy? You are sorely mistaken my friend, especially when it comes to a new born baby. Good god when they get here you guys are gonna be driven up a wall practically, he's gonna need you to feed, change, bathe and rock him to sleep every single night. And not only that but he's also gonna scream like no tomorrow during the wee hours of the night so you probably might not get much sleep either." It was around this point when Adrien's mind just drew a blank, clearly he'd underestimated the difficulty of raising a child, also he picked up the bottle again and started to chug its contents. "Oh and you might want to cherish the time you and Marinette still have to be intimate because once the kid gets here you guys will have zero time for that. Oh that reminds me you're gonna need to start loading up on a lot of protein to keep your energy up during the first few months of her pregnancy because pregnant women get super horny and trust me I'd know that one from experience thanks to an old foster sister of mine. Long story short her baby daddy was a douche and took off after she told him the good news so I took it upon myself to help her out, and boy was that a challenge."
After Dallas finally stopped talking Adrien placed the bottle back down on the table with a loud thunk that caught his foster brother's attention. "Another one please." He asked looking wide eyed and a little scared.
Dallas looked at Adrien's expression and just shook his head. "Let me guess, the shock of reality's finally hitting you isn't it?" He asked back as he handed him another beer, which he took without hesitation and instantly started chugging. "Whoa slow down dude, that might be a light beer but you can still get drunk off it if you're not careful, especially if you chug it that fast."
Adrien just wiped his mouth before saying. "Well maybe right now I wanna get drunk."
"Dude, trust me when I say this, ain't no amount of booze that can make this problem go away. Also the worst has yet to come so if I were you I'd get ready for a lot of late nights of you staying up and helping Mari get to the bathroom so she can puke her guts out, or just going out and getting something for her late night cravings. Bottom line you've got a lot coming for you so from one father to another I say…good luck to you." Dallas said as he patted him on the shoulder.
"Wait…" Adrien began to ask hoping what he'd ask wasn't what he thought was going to happen. "You mean your just gonna leave us alone to do this on our own?"
"Of course not you idiot." Dallas replied bluntly. "I might not have to but I'm not gonna abandon you guys in your time of need. Unlike someone I know, someone I still hate with a passion and wish to god with every single fiber of my being that they would die in the most horrible way they could and go straight to hell, who shall also remain nameless. But this isn't about me, it's about you guys who I'll help as best I can with my knowledge of herbs so that Marinette and your little unborn munchkin remain in good health. Oh that reminds me as well that I need to get her more ginger root for her morning sickness, also maybe some fresh jasmine to help you guys relax, some peppermint or rosemary to deal with any potential migraines…"
"Seriously what are you a walking pharmacy?" Adrien asked as he was both amazed and weirded out by his knowledge of natural medicinal plants and their properties.
"Nope, just a guy with a lot of smarts when it comes to herbs both healthy and lethal." He replied casually. After an hour had passed Dallas went straight to bed to try and make up for the long night he'd had before while Adrien and Marinette stayed up a while longer to discuss what to do next and how to tell her parents and all their friends. The former especially so as Marinette had already promised them that Adrien and Marinette would be present for dinner that evening, Adrien was especially nervous because of Tom. He knew already that he liked Adrien quite a bit, but he wasn't sure how he'd feel once he learned his daughter was pregnant with his child. So to try and calm himself he took some of Dallas's advice and down a cup of jasmine tea, the next thing he did was cross his fingers.
As the two hopped out of the cab and stood outside of the bakery Adrien simply looked to Marinette and asked as he took her hand in his and squeezed it tight. "Are you ready for this?"
She looked back to him and said back sounding just as nervous as he looked. "No…but…they're my parents…they'll always love me…and…hopefully they'll understand." She then looked up to the sky and closed her eyes and just prayed mentally. Please god…let them understand.
(A/N: That's all for now everyone, and if you didn't see this coming with Marinette and Adrien then you guys either haven't been paying attention to all the hints I've been dropping or you just didn't care either way I made it very clear this was gonna happen, and once again I'm really sorry but like I said I wasn't in any hurry to get the corona virus so this might be the last chapter for a while, but hey who knows maybe I'll get this story done during that time and if I do then I'll post every last chapter I have for it. But that doesn't mean get your hopes of okay so don't expect a miracle from me. Okay now it's time for the spoiler, in the next chapter of WOS, Adrien and Marinette share the good news, Valentina and the chameleon have a very over due reunion with one another and Mayor Bourgeois makes his big announcement to all of Paris. Alright that's all for now guys and I will see you in the next chapter, also stay safe out their and remember to stay six feet away from people if you can and try to disinfect as often as possible and wear a mask over your faces if you can. Also not to worry you guys but my brother's fiancé told me of a way to check and see if you possibly have the virus, all you have to do is hold your breath for ten seconds. If you start to cough after you let it out then there's a chance you have it, but if you don't then you're good. Alright that's all for now guys see you and once again stay safe.)
