It took her another week to finally admit to Alya that she was right.

"I'm going to tell Adrien," she told her friend one evening while Nino was at work once again. Marinette had told had already told Nino her news, as she hadn't wanted her friend to keep anything more from him. Nino was a good friend; he had immediately offered his own help, though she hadn't explained much to him. She also told her parents as well, and felt extremely lucky to have them. Though her mother had been concerned by the fact that Marinette wasn't sharing info on the father and that she had implied he wouldn't be involved, they had also surrounded her with love and support.

"I knew I'd wear you down eventually." Alya sounded very pleased as she leaned forward, hand out. "May I feel?"

Marinette leaned back, letting her bump stick out. She didn't need to lean far; her bump had become much more prominent, enough that she could no longer hide it under her normal clothes at work. Alya placed her hand gently on her stomach, her lips pursed in concentration.

"It's still too early, Alya. Even I can't feel any movement yet."

This didn't deter her friend as she continued trying. "I don't care, I need to be consistent. I will be the first to feel a kick. Especially now that I'll be competing with Adrien."

Marinette rolled her eyes. "He probably won't even want to be involved." Alya just gave her a flat look before giving up and sitting back up. Marinette's mind went back to her interaction with Chat Noir the week before. "Chat helped convinced me to tell Adrien."

Alya looked interested. "Oh, you never did tell me how that went."

Work had been busy for Marinette that week, so she hadn't had a chance to tell her best friend about the meeting. Outside of work, the week had mostly been uninteresting. No akumas to deal with, for which she was grateful. Adrien had come to see her once at work, though it had been a brief visit. He had seemed distracted and acted bit odd, his gaze dropping to her stomach more often than he had the last time she'd seen him.

"Chat thought I needed to give Adrien a chance too. He seemed really worried for me. Actually, he offered to help with the baby if Adrien didn't get involved."

Alya looked impressed. "How sweet. What did you tell him?"

Marinette shrugged. "Secret identities make that not workable. But it was a great gesture. He almost seemed disappointed when I told him it wouldn't work."

Alya just raised her eyebrow. "I'm not surprised. That man has held a flame for you since the beginning. He'd probably do anything for you, short of giving up his miraculous."

Marinette shook her head. "No, you've got it wrong there. He got over that crush way back. We've just been close friends for a while now."

"Did he now?" The doubt was clear in Alya's voice, but she waved her hand. "Doesn't matter. You're going to tell Adrien and all will be right with the world."

"You make it sound so easy," Marinette grumbled. She tried not to let Alya's comments about Chat settle very deep. She didn't really want to think about whether he still had feelings for her or not.

"So, how are you going to do it?"

Marinette took a breath before going through her plan.

A couple hours later, Ladybug landed on a building that was near Adrien's apartment, which was located very close to the Agreste mansion. From her position on top of the building, she could just see the edge of his balcony, which was thankfully very private thanks to some well-placed foliage. She took a few moments to gather her courage before she delicately swung herself onto the balcony, trying to land quietly. The blinds on the sliding glass door were pulled most of the way over, though she could see inside from the end by the door. Adrien was sitting at a dining table, scrolling on his phone and mumbling to himself. Ladybug raised her fist and knocked after only a brief hesitation. Adrien's head twisted to the side. Surprise flitted across his face; he jumped out of his seat so fast that he hit his head on the light fixture. Ladybug winced, watching as he stumbled back before righting himself and racing over to slide open the door.

"Ladybug! You're here! I mean, what are you doing here?"

"Is your head alright? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. This looked like the easiest spot to talk to you without attracting attention."

He reached up to his head, wincing slightly. "Oh you know, just a minor concussion, it's fine. I hit my head on that thing all the time." Ladybug looked past him to see that the light didn't seem centered over his small round table.

"You could move your table so the light is centered, and you won't hit your head."

"Yeah, but then then I can't fit chairs around the table because it gets too close to the wall. You're probably right though, it's really irritating."

Ladybug then looked up again at the light. "Wow, yeah that's really off. Whoever installed that needs a little more spatial awareness."

Adrien just let out a laugh. "Yeah, this whole place is a bit off. That's what you get when your father only allows you to move one street away; not a lot of options."

Ladybug frowned. "Is he really still dictating your life that much? I would have thought that you could live anywhere you wanted."

Adrien just waved his hand dismissively. "Nah, I could move anywhere now. It was only an issue when I first moved out and I was still reliant on him. I just haven't had a reason to move again. I was just happy to get out of that house and on my own. This place is as good as any." He suddenly seemed to realize she was still standing outside, jumping to open the door wider. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm talking about lights and my father. Did you want to come in? You said you wanted to talk?"

"Yes, if I'm not bothering you too much."

"Not at all. Please, come in." She stepped inside, following him into his living room. The small apartment was nicely decorated, though very much looked inhabited by a single male; clothes were flung over various surfaces, though Adrien tried to snag what he could on his way and threw them under his couch, looking just a bit flustered. Ladybug hid a smile and sat down in the recliner he motioned to. Instead of sitting, he turned and walked back to his kitchen. "Can I get you something to eat or drink?"

"I'm good, thank you." She didn't think she could eat anything at the moment without feeling sick.

He came back with a bottle of water anyway and handed it to her. "Just in case." He then sat down, looking over at her. She thought he looked a little keyed up, but then again, she did just drop in on him unannounced. Plus, she had to remember that she had only seen him as Marinette ever since the incident at the Agreste building; she wondered what was going through his head at the moment. He cleared his throat. "So, what did you want to talk about?

"Right, well. Do you remember several months back, when the akuma Love Bomb attacked your building? I was standing with you when we got hit, but I'm not sure how much you remember."

Ladybug could see red creep up into his cheeks, but her question seemed to trigger a flood of words to come out. "I do remember some of that, and I'm so sorry Ladybug. I never would have taken advantage of you like that if I had been in my right mind."

Ladybug shut him down quickly. "You don't need to apologize. No one is responsible for what an akuma makes them do. I'm the one who needs to apologize. I got distracted when I ran into you, and we were hit because of that. It was completely my fault."

Adrien's response was adamant. "You're wrong, Ladybug. Love Bomb was chasing me and I led her to you. I knew she was coming after me, and I should have reacted quicker when I ran into you."

Unprepared for this, Ladybug felt flustered. "Well, I'm Ladybug, and I'm responsible in this case. You're just a civilian; you're not used to dealing with akuma attacks."

Adrien looked like he wanted to continue to argue with her, but he snapped his mouth shut. Then he tried again. "It was just bad timing; it wasn't anyone's fault. Though since I was the cause of the akuma in the first place, I still say the responsibility falls on me."

Though she knew she should just move on, the last thing Ladybug wanted was Adrien blaming himself for this. She felt her stubbornness pushing her forward. "From what I heard, you were very polite when you turned that girl down. You can't take responsibility for her emotions." She was practically glaring at him at this point.

"Still, not your fault." His expression dared her to continue arguing with him, but finally she just huffed.

"Okay, fine. It was neither of our faults." Adrien gave her a triumphant grin. Ladybug let her glare fall away as she felt her nerves come back. "I thought that everything was going to be fine after Scarabella used her cure to fix all the damage. But I found out later that there was a quirk to their ability to reset things."

She paused, gauging his reaction. He seemed to be concentrating on her, his leg bouncing subtly as he tapped his foot rapidly. She pushed on, rising back to her feet. "Apparently, in regards to the holder of the kwami with the power of creation—" Ladybug gestured vaguely at herself, "—they just can't go as far as fixing what they view as an ultimate act of creation. An unfortunate consequence of that is that I'm pregnant." Adrien's eyes seemed to glaze over at that; his lips parting in a dazed way. Ladybug rushed forward. "To be clear, I am not expecting you to upend your life. I've figured out how I can make the situation work so you don't have to be involved. I know your work and image are important to you and your father, and the last thing I want is for you to feel trapped by this."

Ladybug gave him time to process her revelation, using the silence to brace herself for his reaction. She swayed from foot to foot as she tried to prepare herself to leave quickly so she wouldn't need to prolong the conversation, but Adrien's expression rooted her to the spot. What seemed like wonder crossed his face as he looked at her, his eyes glancing down her body to her stomach before meeting hers once again. "You're saying — we're going to have a baby?" She nodded.

Her heart started beating faster at the look he was giving her, all shock and awe turning quickly to determination. "I want to be involved. Please, I can do everything you need me or want me to do to help, to be there for you."

Her breath caught; it couldn't be that easy. "What about your father? And the press? Not to mention the fact that I'm Ladybug; you don't even know who I am. Co-parenting isn't going to be easy." She had to make sure he understood.

He stood up and walked over to her, taking her hands in his. "I don't care about that. None of it matters to me." His voice was insistent, eyes bright. "Just tell me what I can do to make this work. I know you don't know me well, Ladybug. But I promise I will be there for you, and our baby, in whatever way you let me."

Ladybug's heart clenched, and she felt tears prickle in her eyes. "I know." He was wrong; she did know him, and she believed him. She suddenly wasn't sure why she had doubted him in the first place. She supposed she had let her fear cloud her judgement; fear of ruining his life, fear of being a burden. She hadn't expected his reaction to be so purely positive, and couldn't believe it felt this easy. She stopped herself with that line of thinking; it wasn't going to be easy, and she needed to make sure he knew that.

"This isn't going to be so simple. If this does go public, no one can know that I'm Ladybug." She dropped her hands and started pacing. "I don't believe the akuma saw me behind you when she hit you. Otherwise, Shadow Moth would have gone for me then. I never saw anything in the Ladyblog or other news outlets about us, so I think we're safe there. But with you as famous as you are, I doubt we could keep it from Shadow Moth if I start showing up around you as Ladybug more often. Your balcony seems pretty private, but if I started appearing nearby all the time, I doubt we could keep a masked super hero leaping from your balcony a secret for long."

Something crossed Adrien's face at that, but when she did a double take, he merely watched her innocently. "Got it, so no secret superhero rendezvous."

"Right," she said slowly. Then she moved on. "I've tried to come up with alternatives, but what I keep coming back to is that you need to know my identity. If you're going to be involved, of course."

Adrien's eyes brightened with excitement. "Of course. That makes sense."

"Don't look so eager, Adrien; it's not going to be easy on you, in more ways than one. It puts you at risk if Shadow Moth ever finds out you're close to me. He would use you to get to me." He sobered, nodding. "Also, you'll need to be careful. If you know my identity and were to get targeted by an akuma, you might not have much ability to keep that from him."

"I've avoided it so far, Ladybug. I usually have a good check on my emotions. Perks of the job, I suppose." He shrugged.

It made sense to her; as a model, he was probably used to dealing with acting and putting on a false façade. "It actually might not matter for a little while at least. I'm going to be temporarily relieving my duties as Ladybug. It's getting harder for me to stay as well-balanced in a fight."

"I understand. Well, actually, I did wonder." His gaze dropped again. "That attack was what, four months ago now? I couldn't help noticing that you don't really look…ah…" He trailed off.

Ladybug almost squeaked. "Oh! You're right, I should have brought something as proof, since my suit hides it when I want it to." She looked around herself frantically, even though she knew she brought nothing with her. She hadn't even received an official scan yet, though her appointment was not far away.

Adrien's response was rushed. "No, I don't need proof Ladybug. I believe you. I was just curious." He paused. "Did you say your suit can hide you when you want to? Does that mean you can choose not to?"

"Oh, yeah I can." She looked down at her flat stomach. She hadn't actually tried to transform while keeping her pregnant shape. "I actually would need to detransform first. Do you have a bathroom I could borrow? And maybe a cookie for my kwami, if you happen to have one?"

"Absolutely." He went right to his pantry, pulling out a sleeve of chocolate cookies and rushing back to hand them to her. "The bathroom is right over here. Uh, wait, hold on." He darted inside briefly, before coming back out. "All clear."

Ladybug stifled a laugh and went inside, closing the door behind her.

"Tikki, spots off." Marinette felt relieved when she could see her normal self in the mirror, baby bump and all. It was always a bit disconcerting to feel the weight and yet not see it in her Ladybug suit. Tikki flew up to land in her hand, nibbling on the cookie Marinette handed her.

"That went well, Marinette," her kwami said cheerfully around a mouthful of cookie.

"I haven't told him who I am yet. That will be its own complication."

"Aren't you going to tell him tonight?"

Marinette shook her head. "No, I don't think so. I want to give him time to change his mind, if he wants to."

"Do you really think he will, Marinette?"

Marinette sighed. "No, I don't. But I need some more time. I'm not ready yet. Okay, let's try this." She closed her eyes and focused, then called for her transformation. When she opened her eyes and looked at her reflection, she knew that it had worked. There she was: Ladybug and obviously pregnant. She winced slightly, grateful that she had been able to hide this for as long as she had in order to continue as Ladybug. She turned to the door, hesitating before pulling the knob and stepping back out.

Adrien's eyes immediately zeroed in on her stomach, and his mouth parted. Ladybug placed her hand on her belly, feeling unsure. "Well, here's the proof, I suppose."

"Wow." He couldn't seem to tear his eyes away from her for the longest time. Finally, he took a half step towards her. His hand raised slightly as he looked back up. "May I…" He didn't finish his question, but she could tell what he was asking. She just nodded, feeling a bit shy. Slowly, he walked over to her and placed his hand carefully on her bump. He left his hand there, staring with silent wonderment. He looked back up at her, not removing his hand. "Do you know the gender yet?"

"Not yet."

He let his hand fall. "Could I go with you when you find out?"

"I…I'm not sure. I think so? If you want to?"

His voice was firm. "I would love that. When will you share your identity?"

"Not…not just yet. Give me a week. I'm going to stop transforming into Ladybug then, and I'll come to you."

He looked disappointed at that, but nodded. "The baby is healthy, though? What if something happens before then; how can I get ahold of you?"

"My best friend. I'll make sure she knows to get ahold of you. And yes, the baby is doing fine. I have another appointment this week. I'll let you know how it goes the next time I see you." Adrien looked like he was going to say something, but seemed to hold it back. Then he was pulling her to him, wrapping his arms around her in a hug.

"Thank you, Ladybug."

Ladybug swallowed. "I…for what? I'm sorry we got in this position in the first place."

"If I had to be in this situation with someone, I'm glad it was you. I've…followed your career as a super hero for a long time, and while I think what you've done for the city has been great, I also have been able to see that you're an amazing person under the mask as well. Thank you for giving me a chance to be involved."

Ladybug tried not to think about the fact that he felt this way about Ladybug, but didn't know she was Marinette underneath. Nor did she point out that he wouldn't have been in this situation with anyone but her, thanks to her kwami. Instead, she just squeezed him tighter.

Finally, she pulled back. "I better get going."

Adrien's eyes widened. "Wait, hold on, let me give you something." He took off down the short hallway, disappearing through a door. When he came out, he held a box in his hands which he held out to her. She took it, reading the front of what was actually a deck of cards. The Doula Deck: Practices for calm and connection in your pregnancy, birth and new motherhood.

Ladybug raised her eyebrow, a slight grin forming. "You just keep these in your bedroom, huh?"

Adrien turned slightly red. "No, uh, I mean, not usually. I actually have a friend of mine who is pregnant, so I bought this to give her as a gift."

Ladybug gawked at him for a second. He was talking about her. As in, Marinette, the pregnant friend, her. She knew he had left a few things for her in the past, but he had actually bought this one for her, specifically. She felt warmth spread through her at the thought. "Oh, that's super nice of you. Wait, no, take it back. I don't want to take away her gift." She tried to push it back in his hands, but he just closed her hand around the deck.

"No, it's fine, Ladybug, I want you to have it. I'll just get her another one."

Ladybug held it tight, feeling tears once again forming. She was so done with all of these pregnancy emotions. "Alright. Thank you, Adrien. This means a lot."

Adrien followed her out onto the balcony. "Be careful, Ladybug."

"I will." She gave him a small smile. "I'll be back." She carefully checked her surroundings before taking off.

"I told you!" Alya gloated.

Marinette groaned. "I know, I know."

"Like our sunshine boy would ever turn his back on his child, no matter the circumstances."

"He's not exactly a boy anymore, Alya."

"You're damn right. He's a man now, and soon he'll be your man, and I will finally have my OTP."

Marinette rolled her eyes. "I thought your OTP was Ladybug and Chat Noir?"

Alya just waved her hand. "That was before I knew you were Ladybug. I was rooting for you and Adrien before that. You just never went for it. Apparently, it took getting pregnant with his baby for you to move forward."

"Don't say that Alya, you make me sound terrible. And you don't know that we'll be a couple. We're just finding a way to parent together"

"Puh-lease, one of that man's top aspirations over the years has been to have a family, so Nino has told me. The guy has had a crush on Ladybug since collège. It's totally happening."

"I'm not just Ladybug; I'm also Marinette, the girl he has definitely not had a crush on, like ever." Though Marinette couldn't help the seed of hope that her long ago dream might actually come true.

"You'll see, Marinette. Once you tell him who you are, the deal will be done. Just watch. Speaking of, when are you doing that?"

"After I give you my earrings. I'm thinking next week for that, by the way. Are you ready?"

Alya nodded in affirmation. "Ready to go. Are you still sure you can handle it for another week?"

"Yes. One more week. Shadow Moth hasn't been as active recently, and I want to make sure to give Adrien a little bit of time to think everything over." She didn't really believe he'd change his mind, but she wouldn't bombard him all at once.

"Sounds good. Just be careful."

"I know, I know, geeze. Between you, Adrien and Chat, I've got too many people on my ass about it. I'll be careful."

Marinette managed to act surprised when Adrien showed up at her desk a couple days later, giving her a second copy of The Doula Deck. She smiled to herself as she slipped in in her desk drawer, right next to first one he'd given her.

A/N: Please shoot me a review to let me know what you think!