A/N - sorry this one is mainly a flashback chapter, I really hope you are still enjoying this fanfic. Its silly but I tear myself apart over these things despite the fact I'm writing these more for myself than anything else.
She got dressed as quickly as possible, she had to try. She swung out her yo yo in the direction Chat had vanished into the night. She must have searched the whole of Paris. As the sun started rising she reluctantly made her back home. She slid down into her room. It was a mess. She was so quick to shower and make herself presentable for the reveal she had knocked most everything over with her clumsiness. Tiredness and loss swept over her stomach like a cannon ball had been dropped into her. She de-transformed and curled up on her bed. With nothing to do but cry.
It was early afternoon by time she woke up, on her bed still clothed from the night before. Her room still a mess, but she knew where she needed to go. She was glad school had finished. Luckily the design school she was enrolled in didn't start for another 4 weeks. She ran through the bakery, not stopping at her parents reactions, and didn't stop running till she reached the familiar door of master Fu.
He answered with a solemn look.
"Master fu, please, tell me, where has Chat Noir gone?" she broke down into sobs again.
As he ushered her in and sat her down and made her some tea. "I feel his presence is ever dimming, he's fleeing, escaping."
With this Marinettes sobs heightened "shhhh, marinette, it is ok, the cat and the ladybug do not stay apart for long. This is why I gave you both the miraculous. It is fate. One can run, one can fly, one can delay, but one cannot escape their own destiny."
Marinette calmed down. "I'm glad you came to see me Marinette, there is something I need you to do for me. I need you to lay low for a while"
Marinette looked up questioningly and he continued, "without your other half people will become suspicious of your identities. If you both take a well deserved brake then news will die down and people will need to gossip no longer."
"how long do I have to not be ladybug?" he studied her carefully, a small knowing smile appeared on his lips and Marinette wished she understood what it meant.
"about a year, maybe longer, you may go out during this period of respite but only at dusk and return before midnight. You use the time to burn off energy. No patrolling, no fighting."
Marinette tried to argue her case "don't worry ladybug, cat noir will return soon" and with that Marinettes knew the conversation was over.
A few weeks later Marinette was once again rushing around the house. One minute she was helping in the bakery. Her mother brought out a fresh batch of her special onion bread. The next minute she was in the bathroom, emptying the contents of her stomach into the toilet.
"Marinette, that's the forth day in a row now" Tikki said concerned for her Chosen, her friend.
"urgh! I must have got some bug or something" Going upstairs to her room she collapsed on her bed. Her attention was brought to the calender on the wall.
"one more week till I start college Tikki" she smiled, then something else caught her eye. A little red dot on the corner of one of the dates.
"Tikki.. I'm late" Marinettes face fell, sometimes she was oblivious, other time things just clicked. "no no no no" she started flipping madly through the calender counting days encase she had miscalculated.
Tikki started giggling "Marinette your always late, what are you late for this time?"
Marinette turned even paler. "my period" she managed to get the words out before she ran to the toilet to empty her stomach contents once more.
There it was. A little cross in a box that changed her life forever. She was planning on living at home whilst she attended the design college anyway but now she would have to do something about other plans.
"What are you going to do Marinette?" Tikki asked gently patting her shoulder with her small paw like arm.
"I-I don't know, - something, I guess" her expression was of shock. She couldn't take this in. she was still so young, so much to do. She didn't even know who chat noir was let alone how to contact him any more. She needed help.
A few weeks later Marinette invited her closest friends to her parents house for dinner. "I wish Adrien could have been here with us, I miss the dude" Nino voiced just before Marinette started putting the dinner on the table. Her eyes fell. She also wished he could be here but for this news, but in other ways she was glad he wasn't, he was a good friend but her crush lingered with her. She returned to the kitchen to get the last of the food as her parents and friends joked around with each other.
"Marinette, you don't have to do this, not if you don't want to. I mean its ok now Hawk-moth is gone but..." Marinette looked lovingly down at her little kwami interrupting her voice of comfort.
"Tikki, I need help, with Chat not around and the gods know when he will be back... I wanted to tell them anyway so I suppose... when is a better time right?" she smiled "If they're going to pass out with shock they might as well have two shockers at once" Marinette looked calm but her kwami knew she was nervous.
It was after the meal, her father started to get up to clear the things away. Marinette breathed. Now or never
"Wait papa, before you get up, I have something I need to tell you all." she looked down at her plate as everyone saw her expression and felt worried. She looked at them all. She needed to be brave and face them as ladybug. "Now the danger has passed and hawk-moth is gone, its time you knew. I'm Ladybug"
the scene that unravelled wasn't quite what she expected. Nino sighed and pulled his wallet from the back pocket of his jeans and passed some money over to Alya who had an all knowing smirk on her face. Her Father and mother were smiling at her.
"is that all dear? We already knew that, but thank you for telling us, it means a lot that you can trust us with your secret" Her mothers response was calm and collected.
"how long have you known!?" Marinette couldn't believe it. "and you too Alya?"
"we knew from the beginning my sweetheart, mothers know these things" she smiled sympathetically
"Alya?" Marinette repeated, Alya just grinned
"I had my suspicions at the start, I know you tried to cast doubt on that which worked, for about 6 months. I made a bet with Nino" she waved a couple of notes in her hand before reaching to put them in her purse
"Well I suppose Tikki can have a bit more freedom now" Marinette smiled and relaxed a little as her kwami flew out from seemingly nowhere.
"Ahh, hello again Tikki" Marinettes face really fell this time.
"mama! Tikki! You've met and you never told me!?" Tikki rubbed her head smiling sheepishly.
"well its a long story and I thought I'd convinced you mother that I was a fairy" Tikki shrugged.
Marinettes mother smiled and shook her head. Nino was on the other side of the table and almost fell off his seat in shock but Alya didn't bat an eyelid.
"Tell Trixx I said hello" she gave the kwami a wink as Tikki giggled and nodded.
The table started to relax a bit and exchange stories of times they had almost caught her when Marinette spoke up. "wait, there's more" Tikki flew up to Marinettes side and bowed her head almost reverently. Marinette felt the pit of her stomach as a new wave of nerves hit her.
"Im pregnant" This time silence fell, faces fell.
"wh-wh-what? Whos the father?" Alya was the first to respond as her journalist instincts kicking in.
Marinette let a tear fall. "Chat Noir"
Marinette had spent the rest of the evening explaining to them what happened on the Eiffel Tower that night and how she hadn't seen him since. At the end of reliving that awful night she broke down in tears.
"so hawk-moths defeat, that makes you.. 9 weeks already!?" Marinette nodded slowly.
"I've already spoken to the college about it. I'm fine to continue this year but depending on when the baby comes Ill need to take some time off. They said they can stay my place in the course so I can pick it back up when I'm ready"
Her mother hugged her, "its ok Marinette, we will be here for anything, I mean anything you need. You can stay here for as long as you like, we will babysit, whenever. Even at the last minute. Its ok"
Marinette truly broke down into sobs.
Marinette slowly opened her eyes. "mummy, mummy, mummy, can I have toast with jam for breakfast" She gazed into his green eyes and blonde bed hair. She must have fallen asleep on the couch. Again. "of course darling" she stretched and looked at the time. At least with a human alarm clock who refused to sleep past 7am she was rarely late any more. "mummy, mummy" "ok, ok I'm coming!"