"Sorry," Marinette said. She looked to her belly. "I'm… But how? I mean, um…"

Sabine rubbed her temples. "If you're asking that, then I have truly failed you."

"No!" Marinette snapped. She glanced at her parents. "I swear, we've been careful! You taught me to be! And, um, I listened? I did! I…"

Her eyes went wide.

She slowly turned to look at Gina.

"…The bonfire," she whispered.

Gina paled.

"You… Spent the whole day… Setting us up together. But… You disappeared before the bonfire."

Marinette's eye twitched.

"Gina?" Marinette asked. "Why exactly was it so, so important that on that particular evening, I had to be with Adrien?"

Gina stared. She brought her phone up and frantically started texting.

"What are you doing?" Marinette asked.

"Begging Aunt Alix for an out," Gina said. "I… I'm sorry. I just, if you didn't, then, um…" Gina squirmed in her seat. "Look, she and I fight a lot and yeah, I called her a bitch in front of Gramma that one time, but, um, Emmy's still my sister. I still love her and, um, this is awkward."

Marinette lay back in her hospital bed and let out a long breath. "Fine. I get it. I… Oooooh, my God. I'm pregnant." She looked down at her stomach and allowed herself a nervous giggle. "Well, I guess your name is Emilie?" She gently patted her very slight pooch. "Pleased to meet you?"

"How did we not notice this before?" Tom asked, noticing their daughter's slightly larger stomach for the first time.

Sabine shrugged. "Our daughter goes out nightly and makes Olympic gymnasts look like they're slouches. Her stomach is nothing but abs."

"Well, not anymore," Tom said. He crossed his arms and looked down at Marinette. "As of this moment, no more hero stuff for you. At least, not until the baby is born."

Marinette glared up at her father. "Dad? That's gonna be a problem."

Tom shrugged. "I don't care. Let the other heroes of Paris pick up your slack. I'd say you deserve it, and besides, you can't risk the health of the baby."

"He's got a point."

Everyone turned to see Tikki, who had floated out of Gina's pocket. "Marinette, my magic is good, but if something…"

"Oh, my goodness! You are adorable!" Tom cried out. He leaned forward. "Are you like Stompp? Do you know Stompp? Can you tell him hi for me?"

Tikki laughed, her nervousness painted across her face. "Hi, Mr. Dupain. Pleased to officially meet you?"

"I'm pleased to meet you, too!" Tom leaned into Sabine and held her. "Kwamis are so cute!"

"I know," Sabine said, patting him. "She's a treasure. Now, focus."

"Marinette," Tikki continued. "Your dad is right in this case. I can do a lot, but if something happens, I can't guarantee my cure will be able to fix everything. I think… In this instance, you should consider taking a break."

Marinette crossed her arms and frowned. "But how? Ladybug is the only person who can purify an akuma. I can't just…"

"I can sub."

They looked to Gina.

"What?" Gina asked. "Like, I've done it before. It's no biggie."

"Gina," Sabine said. "This isn't like before. We're not talking a couple weeks. This would be months, dear. I can't pull you out of your life for that long. It's not fair to you or your family."

Gina shook her head. "Oh, I'm not, like, I couldn't stay that long. That'd get weird. No, I mean, like, I can take some night shifts, help out here and there, you know. Fill in part time."

Marinette frowned. "But, you'd still have to get back and forth. Alix is wonderful but she can't be expected to constantly ferry you."

"She wouldn't," Gina said. "She put a Bunny Hole in your patio utility closet. If you wanna activate it, just turn on the light switch before you open the door."

"Um, excuse me?" Sabine asked. "But, what's a Bunny Hole? And are my Christmas decorations still there?"

Gina nodded. "They're there. So, instead of using a portal to the Burrow and going all outside of time, this is a bit more fixed in the time stream. One path, two points, both moving at the same speed through time. If I spend two hours here and go home, two hours pass there, and so on. At least, that's how Aunt Alix explained it to me. Oh yeah," she rummaged in her coat and pulled out a pamphlet.

"Here," she handed the pamphlet to Sabine. "She said you'd probably have questions."

Sabine glanced at the pamphlet. "So Your Supply Closet Is An Interdimensional Wormhole. Do's and Don'ts. Huh." She opened it up. "Oh my, this is very detailed. And this is slick paper, too. Does she do menu adverts?"

Marinette blinked, impressed. "You can do that? Not the adverts, but… You can travel back and forth? And, um, Alix doesn't need to be transformed for that to stick?"

Gina shrugged. "Some miraculous stuff is permanent, and there's a lot the guardian of time has access to that's outside the norm. At least, according to her."

"But it's dangerous," Tikki said. She floated back into view and shot a disapproving look at Gina. "You know bad things can happen if that portal gets misused."

Gina cringed. "I promise not to abuse the time stream anymore than I normally do. I swear."

"Gina," Marinette said. "You can't fill in for me all the time, though. It would still be asking too much."

"I know," Gina said. "That's why I'm gonna do some recruiting." She pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of her pocket. "Mom gave me some names. Like, future mom."

Marinette's eyebrow went up at that. "I did? Um… Huh. Okay."

Sabine eyed her daughter. "You're… You're okay with this, dear?"

Marinette shrugged. "I trust me."

There was a knock on the door. Dr. Harper poker her head in and cleared her throat. "Um, pardon the interruption, but there is a large crowd of people out here eager to see you." She looked straight at Marinette. "Are you up for visitors, dear?"

Marinette looked to her family. "Please don't tell them yet? I, um, I want to figure out the best way to, um… I kinda need to do this my own way, if that's okay?"

Tom looked like he wanted to say several things. Based on the random emotions flitting across his face, some of them were loud and possibly inappropriate for a family setting, while others made him look like he was about to break down at the end of a Hallmark Christmas movie.

"Of course, dear." Sabine kissed her head. She turned to Dr. Harper. "Tell them to come up."

"Right," Dr. Harper said with a nod. She closed the door behind her.

Sabine nodded and turned her attention back to her daughter. "You rest, see your friends, and tonight, why don't we have Adrien over for a family dinner?"

Marinette blushed. "Mama, I don't…"

"Invite him to dinner or I will call Gabriel and tell him personally, and then we can all have dinner tonight," Sabine said, smiling.

"Shouldn't we do that, anyway?" Tom asked.

Sabine shook her head. "No. No, we should not. Gabriel is an emotional turnip. Also, I don't want to deal with that man anymore than I have to. Let Adrien figure out how to break this to his father. It's something that should come from him, not from us."

"And I have to tell him tonight?" Marinette whined.

Sabine squeezed Marinette's hand and smiled down at her once more. "I am thrilled for you and I love you dearly, but this is not fucking negotiable. So, tell him to expect food at seven." She kissed Marinette's forehead and whispered, "And so you know, I already knew, and I am so, so happy for you I could die. I love you, sweetie."

Marinette flushed and hugged her mother. "I love you too, and, and, you didn't say anything?"

Sabine winked. "You think I'd spoil something like this? Oh sweetie, this was comedy gold. Now, I'm going to take your father for a walk so he can make all manner of noises and get whatever he needs to out of his system."

She stood and started guiding Tom out. She looked back at Gina and said, "I think you'd better come along too, dear. Unless of course you want to explain your being here?"

Gina nodded and stood. "Right. Um, congratulations?" She said to Marinette.

"I love you, but I will not forget that you knew about this," Marinette growled.

Gina sighed and nodded. "Yeah, trust me. I know you won't. Oh yeah, um, Tikki?"

Tikki floated up. "Yes?"

Gina shook her head. "No, um," she held her hand out. "I'll need Tikki. For tonight, at least. Um, if that's cool with both of you?"

Marinette looked to her kwami. "Are you sure you're okay with this?"

Tikki smiled and nodded. "Of course I am! Marinette, things will work out, you'll see! I have faith in Gina and in your friends. And when this is done, I'll be yours again."

"You were never mine," Marinette said, hugging the kwami to her cheek. "You're not a possession, you're a friend, and I love you."

"I love you, too." Tikki kissed her cheek. "Now, get some rest!"

Marinette nodded and popped her earrings off. Frowning, she put them in Gina's hand. "Please take care of her," Marinette said.

Gina winked. "I always do. You'll get her back tonight. Oh, and, um…"

She leaned over and hugged Marinette, who hugged her back.

"Sorry I didn't tell you," Gina whispered.

"You're fucking dead, just so we're clear," Marinette whispered back. She kissed her cheek. "Also, it's good to see you."

"Good to see you, too." Gina stood and nodded before following her grandparents out of the room.