The silence in the room was so think you could physically feel it.

"So," Marinette said in a small voice.

"So," Sabine said, her hand on Tom's arm.

"You're…" Tom asked, his mind starting to fully wrap around what he had just been told.

Sabine stepped forward and swept the still-stunned Marinette into a tight hug. "Oh sweetheart," Sabine said. "Oh, my little girl." She sniffed and held Marinette close. "Are you feeling okay?"

Marinette gripped her. "I think… I think I might throw up." She leaned back, her face pale. "I'm… IIIIIII'mmmm pregnant?" She looked down at herself. "I…" She covered her mouth with her hands. "I was finishing my portfolio. I was supposed to go to University, and, and be a designer, and, and…" She looked up at her mother.

"What do I do?" She asked in a tiny voice.

"Oh sweetie," Sabine said. She hugged her daughter again. From the moment she had learned Marinette was going to be pregnant, Sabine had planned on having a full-blown blowout, complete with kicking, screaming, wailing, the works. She'd even rehearsed a bit to get that right warble in her voice, but the second she saw the sheer terror on her daughter's face, Sabine dropped all of it.

"You're going to be okay," Sabine said. She rubbed Marinette's back and kissed the side of her face. "You hear me? You are Marinette Dupain-Cheng, and you are going to be okay. I promise."

"How, how do you know?" Marinette asked in a shaky voice.

Sabine leaned back and pointedly looked over at Gina. "I have a pretty good inkling, sweetheart. You have us, and you have your friends, and you're one of the smartest perople I know. You'll get through this with flying colors, I just know it."

"Are… Are you okay, mom?" Marinette asked, scared. "Are you mad at me?"

Sabine shook her head and looked Marinette in the eye. She was grinning and crying at the same time. "No. No! Oh God, sweetheart, no. You… What did you think? That your father and I would turn you out if this ever happened?"

Marinette sniffed and nodded.

"Oh goodness, my sweet little girl, never. Never, ever!" Visions of her own mother flashed through Sabine's mind. She shuddered at the memories of how strict and traditional the woman had been.

Sabine took the sight of her daughter in, and in that instant, the usually confident and powerful young woman looked like a strong breeze would tip her over. "Then, then you're not…"

Sabine laughed a little. "I'm feeling a lot of emotions right now, but not the way you're dreading, dear. I just… You're going to… Oh, sweetie, I'm a Gramma!"

"You already were a gramma, Gramma," Gina pointed out.

"Oh, hush you," Sabine said. She scowled at Gina. "This is different. Don't ruin this for me."

"Who did this to you?" Tom growled.

All three women looked to Tom. He had been so quiet that for a second, they had honestly forgotten he was there. There was a low-level rumble emanating from his frame, and despite the bright lighting in the room, his face was actually cast in shadow.

"Daddy?" Marinette asked.

"Dear?" Sabine nervously squeaked. "She's going to be fine, you know."

"Who was it?" Tom asked, completely ignoring his wife. "Adrien? Luka? Was that his name? That, that bohemian? Which immoral young man dared to put his hands on my little girl?" His eyes went wide, and then narrowed. His voice came out in an unearthly growl. "Chat Noir?"

"Da… DADDY!" Marinette shrieked. "That is not, I, no! Chat? Ew! Ewewewew! No! Never!"

"Oooooooh, don't you 'never' me!" Tom yelled. "You're the one laying there with a, with a baby in your tummy, so don't tell me you never, because you didn't never! You, you evered!"

Tom deflated as he struggled with the right word choice before he just gave up and rolled with it.

"You have obviously evered! And I want to know with whom you've evered! Right now, young lady!" He cracked his knuckles. "I can't believe this has happened, and at such a young age!"

Sabine raised an eyebrow. She stood and put a hand on Marinette's shoulder as she turned towards her husband. Her eyes narrowed.

Tom continued. "I just know it was that, that alley cat! The way he looks at you, all those late-night patrols, all that leather, that, that bell of his… It was him, wasn't it?!"

Marinette's eyes went wider as she processed what her father had just said. "What are youuuuuuuuuuuUUUUU KNOW?!" She looked to her mom. "He knew?"

Sabine nodded. "He knew."

She looked to Gina, who peeked out from behind her phone. "He knew."

Marinette buried her face in her hands. "Well great. That's… That's just great. It's not… It's Adrien's, daddy. Okay? It's Adrien's baby. He's the only boy I've been with."

Gina snickered.

Marinette peeked through her fingers. "Shut. Up. I am your mother and I am within my rights to eat you right now."

Gina blanched. "Sorry."

Tom nodded, his demeanor suddenly shifting to absolute calm. "Okay. Right. Thank you, dear."

He turned to leave.

"Um, dear?" Sabine asked. "Where exactly are you going?"

"Oh," Tom said, his voice neutral. "I'm going to go have a talk to Gabriel Agreste. And then… I am going to murder his son."

"Daddy!" Marinette cried out. "You can't murder Adrien!"

"Oh, sweetie pie, sure I can," Tom said, his voice still level. He opened a large hand and then closed it, squeezing. "All I have to do is grab his head and squeeze. It'll be just like getting that laaaast little bit of frosting out of the tube." He nodded. His fingers all cracked as he made a fist. "Just like that."

"Dear," Sabine said, her face in her hand. "You can't kill him. He's the father of your grandchild."

"Daddy, no! He's my true love!" Marinette pleaded.

Sabine glanced at Marinette and let out a tired sigh. "Yes dear, we know. Tom? Come here and hug your daughter before you get akumatized. We're going to be grandparents! Let's focus on that? Please?"

"How can you be so calm about this?" Tom shouted. "He, he helped himself to our daughter! He just… Just…"

Sabine put her hand to her head and growled. "Oh, for God's sake. That's it. That is it, Tom. Will you get off your high horse for one minute and listen to yourself, you big hypocrite?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tom snapped.

You know how everyone has a breaking point where they will open their mouth and just destroy the other person in the room, regardless of what seedy, personal details are revealed to the world? Remember how equal parts glorious and humiliating it was to watch? Like a train wreck in slow motion? Now, remember how it felt when the person doing it was your mom?

Congratulations. You now know how Marinette is about to feel.

Sabine crossed her arms and stared her husband down. "As I recall, you 'helped yourself' to me for the first time on your father's kitchen table when we were sixteen, or am I misremembering?"

Tom froze, his face dark red.

"What's wrong? You don't remember that little tidbit, dear?" Sabine continued. "What about the time we 'evered' in the back of your car? Or on the bakery counter? How about the alley out behind your dad's shop? Oh! Do you remember the school roof?"

Tom started to sputter. "Dear, I, well, wait, we, um, that was…"

"Was what? Different?" Sabine cocked an eyebrow and squeezed Marinette's shoulder. "Because the only difference is my birth control didn't fudge, otherwise I could have easily been in her shoes, if not worse."

"I don't think it was, um worse…" Tom said, rubbing the back of his head. "We, um, there was some dignity, and, um…"

Sabine turned red and clenched her fists as she glared at Tom. "Some… Did... Did you just say, did... Some dignity? Really? REALLY? You laying me out in a pile of flour on the baking counter was dignified? Or that time we experimented with crepe topping?"

Marinette buried her face in her hands. "I really don't need to hear this," she muttered.

"Hoooo, my God! I totally do," Gina said, sniggering. "You're the best, Gramma!"

Tom was floundering. "Um, what I meant was, um, I guess, when you put it like that, um, oh dear…"

Sabine could have stopped at that point.

She probably should have stopped.

Sabine was on a roll.

"May I remind you what actually made your father kick you out?"

She was on a helluva roll. Right towards a cliff.

Tom's eyes went wide as he glanced to Marinette and then back to his wife. "Sabine? Honey? We don't need to…"

Sabine turned to Marinette and said, "He walked in on me going down on your father in the back room. Apparently, Mr. Morals over there hadn't told him we were officially courting or bothered to lock the Goddamn door. Do you know how humiliating it is to have to explain yourself when you're on your knees in nothing but a baker's hat? That day was both revealing and embarrassing, on a number of levels."

"Jesus Christ," Marinette muttered as she hid under her pillow.

"That… That's different!" Tom blurted out. "That was all different! And not appropriate to discuss here!"

"You're right," Sabine said. "Because we were even younger than our daughter is now! So, stuff your little tantrum and your stupid made-up moral offense, and be supportive, you big doofus!"

"But she's pregnant!"

Sabine pointed at the brunette in the corner. "And you knew she would be! What is your point?"

"Um, grandpa?"

All three turned to see Gina. She blushed and shrank a bit from the attention in the room being redirected, and then shut off her phone. "That should be enough for Plagg. Okay." She cleared her throat. "Um, my life is, um, awesome."

Tom blinked. "Beg pardon, dear?"

Gina glanced at Marinette.

'In for a penny,' she thought.

She took a deep breath.

"My parents are two of the richest, most influential people in Paris. I live in a huge mansion, and my room is rad. Like, seriously. I have this massive window and, it's really cool. But, um, that's not the best part."

She adjusted her glasses and squirmed a bit in her seat. "Um, my life is awesome, and it's because my parents, um, love me. They make sure to spend as much time as they can with me and my sis. They play games with us, and have family dinners, and we go and visit you and Gramma all the time. They're patient, and kind, and they love the heck out of us. And, um, Emmy is, like, off at University and doing great, and we get good grades and don't do drugs and, like, we're all heroes which is so awesome and… I get that you're mad? But, like… Seriously."

She looked at Marinette and said, "Mom is incredible. She's, uh, shes a great mom, and, and I love her. And dad. And they love each other. Like, a lot. And… And they're gonna handle this great, and come out of it great. I'm proof of that, aren't I?"

Tom faltered. "I, well, I suppose so, but…"

Gina pressed on, her eyes back on Tom. "So, um, please don't kill my dad? Like, I still have five years before I'm even on deck, and I kinda like being alive."

She waited and expected Tom to still be angry, but to her surprise, he was tearing up.

"That… That was beautiful," Tom said. "You… You mean it? They get married? And they'll be okay? And they cook?"

Gina nodded. "They, um…"

Gina caught both Marinette and Sabine furiously nodding out of the corner of her eye.

"YES. Yes. Like, wow. WOW. They, um, they cook so much. Oh, my God. You don't, like, you just do not know. Wow. And they taught us to cook, but, um, we learned our best secrets from you, so, um, yeah. Cooking."

Gina gave him a double thumbs up.

"Tom," Sabine said in her no-nonsense voice. "I love you, but enough is enough. Now, cut the shit and hug your family."

Tom started blubbering as he stepped forward and scooped both Sabine and Marinette into a huge hug.

Gina watched, smiling. She then let out a squawk as Marinette grabbed her and yanked her over.

"In. We all hug," Marinette ordered.

"But, um…" Gina said.

"No buts!" Marinette said. "Listen, um, to your mother? I guess I can get used to saying that?"

"I love you too," Gina said, "But you're squeezing me against the bed rail."

And with that, they disentangled.