It was extremely late.

So, of course Marinette was up working.

Ever since her pregnancy had been discovered, she had been flat-out coddled by her parents. Any time she tried to do something for herself, someone (usually her dad) was right there to do it for her. He was carrying her laundry, helping with the dishes, refusing to let her hep in the bakery, and she could forget doing any of her normal extra-curriculars. Nope, none of that for her. Marinette was officially being coddled.

It was driving her insane.

So as a result, she was up and, as quietly as possible, working on a new sweater for herself. Granted, her frame was still rather slender and she could still do some of her matching outfits, but from what she had read and what both Caline and her mother had shared, soon all she would care about was being comfortable.

Marinette was working on a sleeve when she heard a quiet thump on her roof. Curious, she headed up to see who was there.

Marinette popped her skylight window fully expecting to see Caline, as she was due to return Tikki. Instead, she saw a slender form in a jacket curled up into a ball on one of her patio chairs.

"Hey," Marinette said. She sat down across from Gina.

"Hey," Gina said back. She was on her side.

"You okay?" Marinette asked. She put her hand on Gina's shoulder.

Gina lay there for a bit before she glanced up at Marinette. "Spots off."

She detransformed and then sat up to take the earrings out.

"Here," she said as she handed them to Marinette.

"What happened to Mamabug? Is she okay?"

Gina nodded. "I took the night shift for her."

"Oh," Marinette said. "Um, you know who she is?"

Gina nodded. "I know, but she doesn't know I know, so I pretended like I didn't know… God, this is stupid! She's my teacher too, you know. Hell, dad still thinks of her as a mom. We go on holiday together every year."

Marinette thought on that as a smile drifted across her face. "Huh," she said. "Um, okay. I can see that I suppose." She looked at Gina, who was sitting with her knees up to her chest. "What happened?"

Gina took a long breath. "Hey, um, I know you're busy and all and I was supposed to be home-home ten minutes ago, but, um, would it be alright if I stayed here tonight? I just…" She wiped her face with her arm. "It's been a rough night, and Emmy's off at school, and older-you was working on a project, and… I could use the company."

"Of course you can stay," She leaned over to give Gina a hug. "Hey, what happened out there? Did someone hurt you?"

Gina shook her head. "No, no one hurt me, but, um… I broke up. With Gilen."

Marinette's eyes went wide. "Oh," she said. She pulled back and looked Gina in the eye. "You wanna hot cocoa? Maybe some blankets?"

Gina nodded. Granted, she had already had a cocoa earlier, but she was not one to turn down sugar.

"Wait one sec," Marinette said. Before Gina could register what was happening, the older girl was gone. A moment later, she reappeared loaded up.

"Um, a little help?" Marinette said as she tried to balance the drinks in her hands and the two heavy comforters on her shoulders. Gina got up and took the drinks.

"You know, we could do this inside. It'd be warmer," Gina offered.

"In a sec. It's a pretty night, and I think better on rooftops." Marinette said, smiling. She handed Gina a poofy pink comforter. "Here. This is the warmest one in my room."

"What about you?" Gina asked. "I mean, you're the one who's pregnant."

Marinette shot her a glare and held up the second blanket. "I am fine, thank you. Just. Fine. I will wrap up in this nearly as warm purple comforter and be perfectly happy. Hold on a sec."

Marinette slipped a pad of paper and a pen out of her shorts pocket.

"You have pockets in your night shorts?" Gina asked.

"Please," Marinette snorted. "I'm a designer. All my clothes have pockets. Hold on."

Gina watched as Marinette scribbled something down and then ripped the paper out of her pad. She then turned on the utility closet light and opened the door.

"This is so handy," she mumbled. She attached the note to the inside of the metal door with a scratched-up refrigerator magnet from Antonio's Pizza and shut it.

"What did you just do?" Gina asked.

"I wrote me a note letting me know where you were and that you were okay." Marinette smiled and plopped down in her own chair to wrap up in a comforter.

"Um, does that work?" Gina asked.

Marinette nodded. "I've sent a couple notes and gotten a couple responses. It's not all the time, though. I don't think future me checks very often."

"Um, sorry?" Gina offered.

Marinette waved her off. "Not your fault. Besides, she's probably busy. Now," she grabbed her drink and sipped it. "What do you want to talk about?"

Gina blinked. "Um, you're not going to ask me about Gilen?"

Marinette smiled and reached out to give Gina's knee a squeeze. "Did you want to talk about that? Because you look pretty drained."

Gina shook her head. "I, um, I've been talking about it, actually. I ran into a couple of people already tonight. I honestly don't know that I want to anymore." She looked to her mother. "I mean, of course I want to talk to you? I love talking to you. I just, every time I focus on it, I start to cry, and I am all cried out for tonight."

Marinette nodded. "That's fair. So, do you need to talk about something else? Would you like to?"

"I…" Gina thought on it. She looked at her mother.

"So," Gina said. "Aunt Chloé in this time is a total bitch. You know that?"

Marinette giggled and nodded. "That's a good topic, I guess. So, yes, I agree, but she's also a good person. It's weird, but she strikes that balance pretty well now. Didn't always, though."

Gina stared for a moment. "So, on that. Can I ask something really personal?"

"Of course," Marinette said, smiling. "Ask me anything."

"Anything?"

Marinette nodded. "Absolutely anything. No topic is off the table."

Gina eyed her. "You promise?"

Marinette rolled her eyes. "Yes, I promise. Shoot."

Gina glanced to the side and tried to figure out the best and most subtle way to word her question.

"Did you and Aunt Chloé ever date?"

Gina is not good at subtlety.

She expected Marinette to sputter and ask what could have possibly led to that question, or for her mother to shoot the conversation down.

She didn't expect awkward silence as Marinette looked off to the side.

"Uh, mom?" Gina asked.

Marinette cleared her throat.

Gina's eyes went wide. "Moooooom?"

Gina let out a squeak as a patio chair pillow hit her in the face. Her eyes were the size of dinner plates.

"Oh… OH HOLY SHIT! You DID!"

Marinette covered her beet red face. "Why did you ask me that question? That is one topic that should be off the table!"

"I knew it! This explains so much! I… Wait, like, WHAT? How? When did this happen?" Gina sputtered. "Details. Now."

"It was one time!" Marinette blurted out. She recoiled in on herself. "We were training, and, okay, quit looking at me like that! This was over two years ago! It's not like it was recent, but…" Marinette peeked through her fingers. "Your dad and I were still on and off, and Chloé was still figuring things out with Sabrina. We were doing a training fight that got a little too real, and, well, things broke down pretty quickly."

Gina stared and sipped her cocoa. "I already regret asking but I have to know."

Marinette wrapped her blanket around her. "We were… Gaah! This is embarrassing! We were struggling back and forth, and we were exhausted. We'd been fighting for the better part of an hour, and neither one of us was willing to call it." Marinette looked off to the side. "I just remember that her ponytail had come partially out, and she just looked, um, different? Her eyes were just blazing, and it was a tense night with the fighting and all, and I had her pinned against a wall and, um…"

"Wait," Gina said. "You initiated?"

Marinette's voice grew tiny. "In my defense, she was really hot."

"And what did she do?"

Marinette burrowed deeper into her blanket fort. "…Whatever I asked her to."

Gina practically fell back in her seat. "I can't believe it. You… You slept with Aunt Chloé?"

"Shhh!" Marinette shushed her. "Would you quit yelling? No, I didn't sleep with her! Geez."

Gina stared. She took a sip of her cocoa.

Marinette looked away, her face still bright red. "We were awake."

"Jesus!" Gina sputtered cocoa out onto her top. "You know what I was asking!"

"Of course I know! I just… This is a personal topic!"

"So, she knows who you are?"

"No, I mean…" Marinette bit her lip and looked away. "It was really dark."

Gina covered her mouth. "You're a player!"

"I am not!" Marinette said, slightly offended. "I do not play, um, with… There is no good way to finish that sentence."

"You are a player! Dude, you had sex with Chloé on a random rooftop!"

"Gina!" Marinette snapped. "…That's crass. And somewhat inaccurate."

"Okay, what word would you use?"

Marinette looked away. "Extreme cuddling?"

"Oh? Is that what you called it with Luka and dad?"

Marinette let out a small humph and held up her left hand to show off her ring. "You can park your attitude. Your father and I can extreme cuddle all we want, thank you. And he is quite good at it, too. You being here is proof of that."

"Ew."

Both girls sipped their cocoa.

Gina glanced over at her mother, noting the curious omission. "And what about Uncle Luka? Is that the term you used for him?"

Marinette burrowed even deeper. "No, no, no… That was a solid fucking. Five stars. Liked and subscribed."

"HA!" Gina leaned back and shook her head. "Every time we hang out in the past, my mental image of you gets dirtier and dirtier."

Marinette glared at her future daughter. "Hey, no. That's not fair."

"I hardly ever even hear you curse in my time!"

Marinette shot her a look. "Maybe I remembered how you reacted when I did?"

Gina smirked. "Point."

"Look," Marinette said as she composed herself. "As for me and Chloé, uh, all kidding aside, it really wasn't as dirty as you're probably thinking."

Gina raised an eyebrow.

Marinette's voice went small as she turned beet red. "Okay, it was a little dirty."

Gina covered her mouth. "Ohhh my God. You can't even… Woof."

Marinette scowled. "We don't judge here. Look, it was, um, rooftop stuff. That's all, and no I will not go into details, but it wasn't… We just… It's not your business. And it wasn't as bad as you're thinking. Besides, it was nowhere near what Alya and Nino have been caught doing. And do not get me started on Rose and Juleka. No joke; I actually had to have Ryuko hose them down once."

"Had to?"

Marinette shrugged. "Okay, more like we knew where they were and thought it would be hilarious."

Both girls laughed.

Gina nodded. "Okay, that's fair. So, you may or may not have been all that serious. But what about afterwards? I mean, you guys seem… Friendly?"

Marinette shifted in her seat. "And afterwards we agreed that it was making us both feel really awkward and that it was mostly just us getting it out of our systems. We both liked other people, and um, we kind both wrote it off as a, um, as a…"

Gina stared. "A booty call?"

"No!" Marinette snapped. "That term always felt vulgar to me." She glanced at Gina. "We, um, called it Bug Time."

Gina blurted out laughing as Marinette crossed her arms. "Shut up, it was cute!"

Gina kept laughing as her eyes went wide. "Waaaaiit, you named it! People don't name something like that unless they keep doing it. You… You liar! It wasn't one time, was it!"

"Please shut up," Marinette begged.

"So, what? She was your go-to? God, you have no idea how much this explains in the future. Seriously."

"Anyway," Marinette continued. "We were really awkward around each other for a couple months and then Ms. Bourgeois became her mom and things just, I dunno, went back to normal. She got with Sabrina and I started dating Luka, and that was that. We never even said anything about it, it just ended. I was grateful because we went back to normal pretty quickly, but it was still weird."

"Huh," Gina said to herself. "That is weird."

"Like, I know we're trying to take your mind off bad things tonight, but can we please talk about something else?" Marinette asked. "I don't wanna keep anything from you? But at the same time, I already know I'm going to regret telling you this."

"Hmmm," Gina said. "Okay. So, something I've always wondered. How come you never changed your costume? I mean, it's kind of plain compared to what Tikki can actually do."

"Well," Marinette said, thinking. "I guess I just didn't know what I could do at first, and I went with the quickest thing I could get. Once I realized that I was becoming a symbol of hope for the people of Paris, I stuck with it. I didn't want to take that away."

"Huh," Gina said. "That's so you."

"So," Marinette said. "Tell me about school. You said Caline is your teacher?"

Gina nodded. "Yeah, and man is she hard. Like, outside the classroom, she's everyone's favorite surrogate grandmother, but inside? She's a beast."

"Everyone's?" Marinette asked.

"Yeah. So, like, a lot of my classmates are kids of your classmates. It's like everyone got together around the same time."

"Huh," Marinette said. She glanced at her ring. 'Maybe people won't be so judgey,' she thought. "I don't know that I'd call Caline a beast."

"Of course you wouldn't. She freaking loves you," Gina huffed. "You're her golden child. Honestly, she probably would have adopted you along with Aunt Chloé if she'd had half a chance."

Marinette blushed. "That's, wow. I mean, that's a pretty big compliment."

"Yeah. Too bad it didn't carry over to any of us."

"She's really that bad?" Marinette asked.

Gina nodded. "So, this one time? She actually threw an eraser at a kid's head because they were sleeping. They were so startled they fell right out of their chair. The whole class lost it and she was just standing there, arms crossed, giving that look she does."

"That sounds pretty mean," Marinette said, cringing. She knew that look.

"Yeah, but it worked. I never did it again," Gina said, smiling.

The two continued to talk into the early hours of the morning. One grateful for the distraction, the other thankful to not be treated like an invalid. They discussed school, movies, people they knew, and by the time Marinette had tucked her exhausted daughter in on the pull-out in her room, the forlorn look that had been on the future hero's face when she arrived was nowhere to be found.

Notes:

That was admittedly more than originally planned. I almost cut the extreme cuddling talk and went in another direction, but then I figured it somewhat worked, so I left it in. It also lends to a chapter down the line...

I think Gina's been beaten up enough for this section, so starting tomorrow, we're going to shift gears a little.

Next time:

A new threat emerges!

Chloe facces her darkest desires!

Adrien gets sassy!

Hot rooftop action!

Not saying if those three things are related or not!

And... A relationship ENDS!

All! Next! Chapter!