"You kids keep doing as I show you, got it? I'll go back to the ship and process the samples we've already collected. I'm expecting you to act like adults and behave yourselves, you hear?"

The students tittered in excitement at the prospect of being left to their own devices out at sea. The teachers had already allowed them to out in the canoes with only the accompanying marine biologist for supervision, but now even he was trusting them to their own devices out on the open ocean. Or, maybe he simply didn't think a band of teenagers could cause much in the way of trouble when isolated far out at sea. Perhaps not on purpose, their troop was going to prove him wrong.

"Don't those clouds look a bit threatening?" someone asked.

"I would think so, but they can't be that bad. The captain said the weather would be clear today. Twenty-five years at sea, he should know."

"Twenty-five years at sea, I should have known!" the captain berated himself, "those kids were counting on me." What the sea had taught him in that time was that the sea was unpredictable. At times a storm could be seen coming from miles away, and at other times it hit out of nowhere. The skies had looked clear in every direction when he'd given the okay for his passengers to take the rowboats out and explore. Those kids got such a thrill being allowed to leave the ship without any adults, and it all seemed relatively safe. He'd done it a dozen times before with other tour groups, but this was the one where it went horribly wrong. One minute his boats and their passengers were out there in the water, out of range to communicate by yelling, but still in sight of the ship. Even these teens weren't going to venture beyond the point where they felt they could easily row back. Then the next the waves were getting unusually choppy for the time of day. The captain ordered a flair to be sent up - something that had earlier been discussed with the students as a visual symbol to return to the ship. Efforts were made to follow the command, and the rowboats did make it further in before the waves picked up and carried them back up to sea. The captain never saw his rowboats again.

"What happened?" A group of bedraggled teens huddled together on the beach of a desert island. "It looks like we're all alive at least."

"Freak storm, blew us away from the ship! How are we going to get home now?"

"Haven't you ever watched a shipwreck movie? We're doomed! Either we're never going home, or we'll have gone completely insane by the time we get there! Either way, our lives are essentially over."

The group descended into despair, everyone influenced by their classmates' negative outlook. "I wish Ladybug and Chat Noir were here!"

Unaware of each other, two teens simultaneously looked down at their kwamies. 'Well, at least one of us is here. It looks like it's up to me to be the hero.' Both slunk off into the trees to transform, both two focused on their own task to notice the other.

"No need to fear, I am here," both heroes declared right around the same time. Neither had much idea what to say next, as each was secretly fearful themself, but was determined not to show it in front of their peers. It turned out the next words out of their mouths were each other's names.

"Chat?!"

"Ladybug?!"

"Oh, Ladybug, I knew you would come to save me!" Chloe ran up and threw her arms around the spotted heroine.

"Right..." Ladybug hesitantly hugged her frenemy back, right now everyone needed one another, they couldn't afford to infight. "I would never leave a citizen of Paris alone in peril. Listen to me, everyone," she announced to the group. "I'm not letting anything happen to any of you, but I need help from all of you. Rescue is on the way, but we need to help them by building a beacon to guide them in, and by surviving until they can get here. I need four volunteers to start building a bonfire, and the rest of you to help construct some huts for us to shelter in. I imagine it will get cold here when the sun goes down."

"Affirmative, Ladybug," Markov agreed, eager to have somewhere to contribute his vast knowledge of every.

"You're here?" she asked him. "I assumed you stayed behind on this trip. Isn't seawater dangerous for you."

"It would indeed have killed me in my previous build. Max and I pulled an all-nighter right before the trip, outfitting me so that I wouldn't rust. Now, if you can excuse him from his building duties for the time being, I need his help to find a way to charge my battery without electricity. I'll die within a few days if we don't succeed."

"Oh, of course. We don't want to lose you, Markov."

"Thank you kindly, I promise I can make up the lost work once my power source has been stabilized. Oh, Max! Do you by chance have any spare circuit boards I could use?"

"Not exactly spare, Markov, but I can take one out of my cellphone if you'd like."

"Yo, dudes!" Nino greeted the superheroes when they came to check on the area where he was working. "Can you help me out with something? I can't find my buddy Adrien. I saw him here on the island right after we landed, but he disappeared about the time you guys made your announcement."

"My friend Marinette is gone too," said Alya, adding herself in to their conversation. "They are friends with each other, so they might have gone somewhere together, but it's not like either one of them to ditch responsibilities like this."

"Oh, yes, we know where your friends are." Chat told them. "M'lady and I gave them special responsibilities that fit well with their individual skills. Sorry to make you worry about them, they'll both be back to camp by sundown."

Nino and Alya agreed to trust the superheroes word and got back to work without a complaint, satisfied that their friends were safe.

"Are you okay?" Chat whispered to Ladybug as they moved along. "I told them that mostly because I don't want them to worry, but I really do know where Adrien is. I don't know where Marinette is, but I saw your face when she was mentioned. I'm guessing you know."

Ladybug sighed, "We're not going to be able to keep our identities secret from everyone, are we?"

"Our identities? Our identities don't have anything to do with the current topic... unless... how did you already know that I'm Adrien?"

Ladybug stared at him in shock. "You are Adrien? I didn't know! You just volunteered that information out of nowhere you - ... but I guess we are going to have to tell everyone who we are anyway. They're going to expect both our hero selves and our civilian selves to be there at dinner. Everyone will be worried if we don't show up as heroes, and at least Nino and Alya will miss us if our civilian forms aren't there. We could tell everyone ahead of time that they won't see us at dinner because we'll be there as civilians, but we'll no doubt be needed to calm any unrest that's sure to come up. They still need us to be their heroes in a different sort of way."

"Do you realize that you pretty much just admitted to me that you're Marinette?"

"Shh," Ladybug smiled mischievously, putting a finger on Chat's nose. "You don't know that until tonight."

The others on the island were surprised by the reveal but ultimately took it pretty well. After all, Ladybug and Chat had to be among the group who had gone out in the rowboats to be stranded with them now; that really didn't give many options. They were more or less forced into a leadership role by their peers who were eager for some sense of stability. Over the course of a few months, they struggled to adjust for the changing needs of their village.

"We have called this meeting to discuss the issue of overall morale. At this point, all matters of our collective physical health are under control, and it seems relevant for us to put measures in place to increase our happiness while living here. The floor is open, does anyone have a suggestion?"

Their lengthy discussion lead to the decision that they would give up on rescue and focus on a future on their island, would form their own government with their own laws, and would plan a festival for some time in the next month to celebrate the foundation of their village.

As the planned date of the festival grew closer, Marinette felt Adrien distance himself from her. She didn't think he was doing it on purpose, but rather that he was preoccupied with something. He kept whispering with several of the other boys and would spend several hours an evening huddled at the edge of the camp fire working on something, but would hurriedly hide it any time Marinette tried to get a peek. Finally one evening, when there was just a hint of dusk in the sky, Adrien asked Marinette to go for a walk with him. "I know I've been neglecting you," he began "but I've had a lot on my mind lately. I hope I can make it up to you." He reached into the woven grass pouch attached to his belt and drew out a carved wooden ring, glazed with what looked like hardened tree sap. "Will you marry me?"

Marinette sucked in her breath, gently picking up and turning over the ring. It had a ladybug and cat carved into it, surrounded by multiple hearts, and coated in a beautiful glossy finish. "Did you make this?"

Adrien looked to his feet in embarrassment, self conscious about proposing with a homemade ring. "It was the best that I could -"

"It's beautiful!" Marinette interrupted him. "Yes! If we ever have the opportunity, I will marry you." She slipped the ring onto her own finger and continued to admire it.

"Oh..." he sighed, relieved by her enthusiasm. "I'm glad you like it. I would have asked you sooner, but I had to recarve the ring several times before I got one I liked. But... I don't think we're exactly on the same page. It's not a hypothetical 'if we ever make our way back to civilization, would you marry me?' I'm asking you to marry me here, at the festival. I wouldn't have asked you if I didn't love you, but this is also meant to be symbolic. I've been planning this with several of the other guys who are serious about their girlfriends, and we decided to all propose tonight. Marriage is a new beginning, which is exactly what the festival was meant to symbolize in the first place, and officiating weddings is something only a real government can do, so if we say that we on this island have our own government now, we should be able to exercise that right."

Realizing marriage was far more eminent than she would have guessed, Marinette giggled and hid her blushing face in her new fiancé's chest. "Okay, so who else is going to get married in the mass wedding?"

"I could tell you who else was going to propose, but I want it to be a surprise. Let's go back to camp and see who else announces their engagement tonight."

"So if this many people are getting married, and with no access to contraceptives, there's going to be a lot of little kids running around in a few years."

Most of the newly engaged couples blushed furiously, many of them sending careful glances to their respective partners to gage reaction. No one had gotten around to talking about babies or the act that causes them.

"Well, there's always pulling out, isn't there?"

"I think it would be good for community if someone has a baby," Mylene offered hesitantly. "It doesn't matter who its parents really are, we could raise the child as a village. Since I'm suggesting it, I know I should volunteer, but I'm scared of going first."

Clusters of two and three began whispering among themselves. Opinions ranged from positive to indifferent, no one had much of a reason why their village couldn't support a baby or two. No girl, however, was jumping at the idea of eventually having to give birth while roughing it.

Marinette bumped her hand against Adrien's to draw him out of his thoughts and get him to listen to her. "Everyone sees us as the leaders here, do you think we should...?"

"Do you feel ready for something like that?"

"No, but all we would have to do is pretend we're not scared and do it anyway. I think I can handle that."

Adrien cleared his throat. "Everyone, Marinette and I have decided that starting on our wedding night, we will try to conceive a baby."

Some people gasped, some nodded, one person clapped. Mylene looked up at Ivan, who squeezed the hand of his fiancée in return. "Mylene and I will go second, starting whenever comes first: in six months, or when the first pregnancy is confirmed."

It had been sixteen horrible years since Tom and Sabine lost their daughter at sea. They'd kept hopeful for some time that the search and rescue missions would turn up something, but on the one year anniversary of her disappearance, the baker and his wife accepted that their dear Marinette was dead. Still, they were emotionally unable to reclaim their attic, and left it just the way Marinette had it when it was her bedroom. They tried not to dwell on memories of her most days, but every year on special days such as her birthday or the anniversary of her death, they would sit in her room in silence and allow themselves to mourn. But it was on a special day they didn't know was special yet when a police officer came into their home. "Are you the parents of the late Marinette Dupain-Cheng?"

"We are. Why?"

"Come with me."

They were lead to the police station by the staunch officer, where they were greeted by a far more cordial commander. "Pay no mind to his behavior. For security reasons, my junior officer doesn't know the reason he escorted you here. For all he knows, you two could be suspects in a crime - you're not."

"This is about Marinette? Did they find a body?"

"Not quite. Now," the police officer sighed. "Before we go any farther, allow me to tell you not to get your hopes up. We think this is a scam. That being said, we have a young man in our custody who claims that your daughter is alive and that she is his mother."

The couple didn't know what to say. Sure, they had been just told not to believe it, but they wanted to. This was the first time in half past a century they'd been given any hope their daughter could still be alive. "Does his name happen to be either Louis or Hugo? She always said that she liked those names."

"He does claim his name to be Louis... but any good con artist would learn that much about their victim. Do not, I repeat, do not get attached to him before the DNA tests come back. Speaking of which, that is the reason we asked you here today, we wanted to know if you would provide DNA samples to decide if he is indeed related to you."

The couple agreed to the process, which was quicker and more painless than they thought to hope. Each held a cotton swab in their mouth for a few seconds and the samples were off to a lab to have results in a few days.

"Is he here in this building? May we see him?"

"You may see him if you wish, but be careful how you associate with him. It's safest if you for now assume he's a criminal, it will be heartbreak all over again if you choose to believe him and it's a hoax."

Tom and Sabine were lead down a hallway to a room with a big glass window. Seated at a table inside the room was a teenaged boy, his hands cuffed in front of him, his head resting forlornly in his hands. Sabine gasped and backed away from the window before the boy could see her, in case it wasn't actually a one way mirror. "Tom, he looks like Adrien did at that age."

"Who is it that he looks like?" the officer asked in interest.

"Adrien Agreste. He was a teen model at the time he disappeared, and in Marinette's class."

"And did you know him well?"

"Yes, he and Marinette were quite close toward the end. If she'd have settled down with anyone who was on that ship, it would be him."

"You're giving credibility to the young man's story," the police officer noted. "He does claim Adrien Agreste as his father. Then again, he could have chosen him because he knows they look alike, and chose Marinette because their families would have an easier time believing that they would have had a baby together. I don't know, his story is worth looking into, but I still wouldn't trust him yet. You would still like to talk to him?"

Tom and Sabine agreed that they did want to talk to the boy, and were lead into the interrogation room to sit across from him. Louis heard them come in and looked up solemnly, his expression changing to wonder as he realized who they were. "Gran-père? Gran-mère?"

Joyful tears sprang to the eyes of his grandparents, who in that moment, despite the police's warnings, knew this boy was exactly who he said he was. Though most of the boy's physical appearance took after his father, he still had certain features that - to them - were unmistakably inherited from their long lost daughter. "Yes. It's us, we're here with you."

"I'm so relieved," Louis cried. "My other grandfather refused to see me. He refused the DNA test as well. I was so afraid you would reject me as well."

Internally, the couple frowned. That was troubling, but not all that surprising. Through persistence and their shared grief, they'd managed to get on friendly terms with Gabriel Agreste, but they knew he could be a difficult man. They decided they would have to pay him a visit and sort things out after they left. "We would never abandon our own grandson. Your other grandpa will probably come around to you as well. He always tries to push new people away, but he does care about family. We're acquainted with him, we'll talk to him for you. So, can you tell us about yourself?"

"Uh," Louis reflexively tried to scratch his head in response to the question, only for his action to remind him he was handcuffed. "Even though I'm barely fifteen, my life's story is already longer than I can tell you in one visit. Where do you want me to start?"

Though just looking at him gave a rough estimation of Louis' age, his grandparents were still shocked to learn he was already fifteen. Marinette sure hadn't wasted any time getting pregnant in her new home - wherever it was. "Tell us where you were born, and anything you know about how your parents got there."

"I don't know if there's any name for the island where I was born other than the name our village gave it. We just call it 'Îsle des miracles', because all the grownups say it's a miracle that no one died out at sea that day and that all the rowboats washed up on the same island."

"Hold on, you mean to say that every single person who was lost on that trip is still alive?"

"Well, there were a few different classes from different schools, so not everyone knew everyone else in the beginning, but no one knew of anyone that was missing, so unless an entire class went missing all together, they're all still alive. Anyway, my parents and everyone their age built our town from scratch, starting with the bare necessities and adding more comforts and conveniences as they went along. The first few months they were holding out for rescue before they realized our island is a pretty great place to live. Several couples, including Maman and Papa, decided to get married all at the same time as a way of celebrating their new beginning. I was the first person to be born on the island, and that was right around a year after we got there."

"Do you have any brothers and sisters?"

"Four right now: a brother and three sisters. Emma is close in age to me, but there are eight years between her and Hugo. Eloise is three years younger than him, and Madeleine is two years younger than her."

"GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD; YOUR DAUGHTER IS DEAD!" Gabriel almost immediately felt bad for his outburst. As often as the couple from the bakery annoyed him trying to be social, he'd grown a reluctant fondness for them. They could share a sort of camaraderie, having also lost their only child on that same day.

"I do not wish to dishonor your daughter's memory." Gabriel continued more quietly. "I'm not saying my son wouldn't have wanted to start a family with her, quite the opposite, I'm sure that if Adrien and Marinette had lived, our families would be joined by now. I'm saying Marinette was too good to have borne a bastard child. That's why I know this is a scam, because neither of our children would have a child out of wedlock. I don't need to have a DNA test done."

"But, Gabriel, you haven't even seen Louis. If you would just talk to him..."

"You really believe he is your grandson?"

"Yes!"

"And you both already submitted DNA samples?"

"Yes."

"Then all the more reason I don't need to. Here's the deal; I trust you and I trust your daughter. If she is indeed alive and is this boy's mother, I believe she would never raise a child who would lie about his paternity, no matter what inheritance he stood to gain. If the tests somehow come back that he is indeed your grandson, then I will accept that he is also mine, no more questions asked. Until then, I don't want anything to do with him."

"It's okay, Louis, he promised he would accept you." Louis stood between his mother's parents, outside the house of his paternal grandfather. He'd been kept in juvenile detention for five days while waiting for his test results. Only when his results came back positive did a rescue boat take him out to the spot where a cruise liner had pulled him out of the water to see if he could guide them back to his home island. To his disappointment he could not, and was returned to Paris by helicopter while the boat continued to search for the elusive island. Back in Paris, his grandparents were awarded custody of him up until he might be reunited with his parents.

"I still don't think he wants me," he mumbled.

A good five or ten minutes after having spoken to them over the intercom, Gabriel's assistant Nathalie opened the door for them. "He is ready to see you now."

"I can't believe this happened," Gabriel sighed, first thing when set eyes on Louis. "I really thought Adrien was above having a bastard child. I suppose being stranded on a deserted island must do things to a person's mind that I can't understand, but still, I'm shocked. Under normal circumstances I would have to disown him, but it does sound as though Adrien treats Marinette as his wife, so he still has some sense of morality about him. I can forgive him if they agree to marry as soon as they are back in Paris."

"I am not bastard," Louis growled. "I might very well be a wedding night baby - my parents are teased about that constantly - but I was not conceived before my parents were married."

"So they did exchange vows with each other in some sort of ceremony... It sounds like they had the closest thing to a wedding that was available. Look, Louis, I can see that this bothers you as much as it does me, but there was no one on the island who was qualified to marry them, your parents' marriage isn't legally binding."

"What? I - no... This isn't fair! Not to my parents, not to anyone in their situation. Do the vows they made mean nothing because they don't have a piece of paper? I remember some of the more recent weddings that took place, and I can tell you they were taken seriously by everyone involved!"

"This isn't fair," Louis repeated over again, now standing in his mother's bedroom, taking it all in. "Who has the right to say my parents' marriage isn't legal?" He had gone rounds with his grandfather for close to an hour with neither conceding to come around to the other's side. Though Gabriel was surprisingly patient, explaining the high levels of bureaucracy it would take to make the existing marriage legal, he maintained that the easiest thing to do was start from scratch and have them married as soon as possible. His other grandparents had eventually dragged him home, where his grandmother was settling him into the room where he would live until his parents came to collect him.

"Woah, is this a computer?" Louis asked, spying the box for which he knew no certain name, and connecting it to the concept for which he knew no physical manifestation.

"You know what computers are?" Sabine was surprised, considering Louis had spent his entire life removed from technology. What sense would there be for his parents to teach him about it if the would have likely believed he would never see one.

"Maman did say she had one one her desk - Papa had three. They described them as being like a cellphone that's much bigger around and a little thicker. I've seen smartphones - not working of course - but enough to get the idea. Can you show me how to use Google?"

It surprised Sabine how undaunted her grandson seemed by the prospect of learning to use the technology he had never seen in his life. He'd grown up hearing about it, she guessed. "We can try. This computer is old, as computers go, so I don't know if the internet will support it anymore. If not, I can show you on one of the computers down stairs.

"Where is Marinette?" Marinette's parents watched the the stream of people coming off the airplane. In only a matter of weeks, the tidings came that the island full of stranded Parisians had been found. Today was the day, families of the long-lost were gathered to welcome the rescue plane coming in. Louis had of course come to the airport as well, but upon seeing Gabriel, had wandered off to continue his debate. Gabriel seemed surprisingly tolerant of the boy, so Tom and Sabine let him be, and gave their attention thoroughly to viewing who was coming off the plane. Though the people they remembered as teenagers were now all in their early thirties, they recognized a surprising number of their daughter's former classmates, but their daughter herself was not among them.

Nearby, they could hear the excited reunion of Alya with her parents and sisters. Thinking that where her best friend was, Marinette would not be far behind, they turned in that direction expectantly to watch. Alya caught sight of them, and unexpectedly, her face drooped. "Excuse me," she told her family, "I'll be right back. I have to break some bad news."

To the couple's surprise, Alya walked right toward them. "Alya! Where's Marinette?"

"You won't be seeing Marinette for a while," Alya informed them flatly, "at least not a version of her that's anything like who you remember. She'll be back eventually, but right now she's being a *."

"Alya!" As forthright as they knew Alya could be, they never expected to hear her curse when talking about their daughter.

"I'm sorry, but it's true. I had to warn you before you have a run in with her. She's expecting right now, and as far as I can figure, she must be allergic to her own hormones. Pregnancy changes her into a completely different person, and it's not pretty."

Her parents began to slightly understand where Alya was coming from, but they were still confused. "We've had Louis with us for weeks! Why didn't he mention any of this?"

Alya snorted. "He takes after his father. I don't know if Adrien trained him that way, or if it's genetic inclination, but Marinette can't do a thing wrong in the eyes of her husband or her oldest son while she's pregnant. They treat it as though she has a get out of jail free card. She could beat Adrien black and blue and he wouldn't try to stop her. The only time I've ever seen him lift a finger against her is in defense of their children."

"Marinette's hurt her own kids?"

"She's tried to, but only when she's not in her right mind. She's an excellent mère when she's not growing another one, but it never lasts. Even though she says she's terrified of 'becoming a monster again' it's only a matter of time before there's another baby.

"They were pretty well pressured into having their first one. It was them who stepped up and calmed the initial panic when we landed on the island. After that, they were pretty much told they were going to be head of our village. A few months in we had a vote to embrace living on the island, and planned a founder's day festival that fairly quickly turned into a mass wedding for many of us, including me. Louis was made to be living proof of everyone - not just his parents - starting a new life. It worked well as a way to raise everyone's morale at first, but around the time Marinette was a couple of months pregnant, it became impossible not to notice how coldly she was treating Adrien. They're both my friends, but Marinette's my best friend, so naturally I wanted to blame Adrien for the troubles in their relationship - but it only took a few weeks to realize that wasn't true. At one point Marinette said she 'needed to get away from him for a while', so Nino and I let her stay with us. She started griping about everything, and that's when I realized she was being completely unreasonable. I had Nino ask Adrien why he hadn't told us anything about what was going on, his answer was pretty much that he believed she was acting that way because pregnancy made her feel uncomfortable, and because it was his baby, it was his job to feel discomfort with her and not complain about it. After he got a little more open about talking to us he kept counting down the days and repeating that the baby was going to be worth it. Even with them living apart, he was still coming over constantly to see if she needed anything. She just kept getting more irritable and when she was about four months along she told him she was leaving him for good, and that she didn't want to see him ever again. He was a wreck after that. He stayed out of her way like she asked, but he kept asking Nino and me if there was anything Marinette needed and what he could get for her. Pretty soon Marinette decided she was tired of us too and moved out on her own into a hut removed from the rest of the village. That went on all the way up until she gave birth. She wasn't friendly at all during that time period, but she was more tolerant of me than anyone else, so I still went to check on her each day. One morning I found her in labor and miraculously clear minded. She begged me to bring Adrien to her, and then begged him to take her back. He was of course more than happy, they went home together with their baby, and... Marinette got pregnant again.

"Adrien was a lot calmer the second time Marinette 'left' him. The first time, he seemed afraid he'd lost her for good. The second time he knew she was coming back. He also had a baby to look after, especially since Marinette soon didn't want anything to do with Louis; she didn't even want to feed him! By the time she started going looney the second time, Ivan and Mylene had a baby, so Mylene offered to feed Louis, but she didn't always have enough milk after feeding her own baby, so we sometimes had to force Marinette to feed Louis. That was a multiple person job. Eventually Adrien kicked out Marinette for fear of her hurting Louis, and she went back to her isolated cabin until she gave birth to Emma. They were apparently much more careful when they got back together the second time, because she didn't have another baby for seven years.

"The third baby must have been an accident, considering how distraught Marinette was when she realized she was pregnant again. She got quite and depressed for a few weeks, and I suspect she considered trying to abort it, but decided she couldn't. She ended up isolating herself before she completely lost her mind so that she could properly say goodbye to her kids. Emma threw a fit, wanting her mother to come back. That's when Louis matured all of a sudden. He rounded up his sister and insisted on taking on more responsibility at home. When Hugo was born and Marinette came home again, Louis told his parents that it was okay if they wanted to have more kids, and that he would look after his little siblings when his mom wasn't around. He was only eight when he said that - mind you. Everyone who heard him say that thought it was funny, but it must have put them somewhat at ease to have their son's blessing, because there's been a new baby every two to three years since then. That brings us up to about a month ago when Louis got swept out to sea on a fishing expedition, and I think you know the rest."

Tom and Sabine thanked Alya, who returned to her own family, and the couple returned to watch those being unloaded off the plane. Likely due to her mental state, Marinette was kept back until most passengers had already been cleared out of the way, then was escorted to her parents by search-and-rescue personnel.

"Maman! Papa!" Having been warned of her recent behavior, her parents had been worried Marinette wouldn't be happy to see them, but she tearfully fell into their arms. "I didn't think I'd ever make it home again." She buried her face in her father's chest as she embraced both of her parents at once and continued to mumble about how awful her life had been for years. After about a minute she pulled away and spoke clearly again. "Are we going home?"

"If that's where you would like to go, dear, of course we can. Let's just find your kids and..."

Marinette flinched. "You too? I've been forced to raise Adrien's spawn for years now," she snarled "don't I deserve to go free? Even my own parents want to keep me imprisoned?"

"Marinette... I thought you loved him?"

"I did. At least I believed it when I married him, but he's kept me fat and ugly all this time... I hate him!"

"Okay, okay, you don't have to see him if you don't want to but come on, let's check on the kids. They are yours too, not just his."

"They might as well be, they're all ridiculously like him."

Tom and Sabine had only met Louis so far, but they had to admit he was an awful lot like his father. Those similarities were on the surface while they had to look deeper into his character to find the similarities to his mother that were nonetheless there. They wondered if the whole family was like that or if Marinette was just exaggerating. After confirming the younger children were with Adrien, and that he had met up with Gabriel and Louis, the family departed without having to come face to face with the man Marinette was so sensitive about.

Louis called a few hours later, informing his grandparents that he was staying with his father and grandfather. That seemed just as well, considering Marinette spoke venomous words regarding her son, and her parents thought they might be able to use some alone time to get through to her. They learned she cared nothing for the baby she was carrying either, and that she would seperate herself from it if she could. They argued several rounds with her before she agreed to attend to her prenatal health and be seen by a doctor.

The next afternoon, Adrien showed up at their bakery. "I'm sure I'm the last person you want to see," he began, "after what Marinette has probably said about me."

"We've heard her version of the story. We've also heard Alya's."

Adrien relaxed visibly at the notion that he wasn't explaining himself to his in-laws from scratch. "Then you know. Of course Marinette isn't a bad -"

"We'll look after Marinette for you. Her, and the unborn baby. You focus on the children you already have and your family will be back together in no time. We've taken her to see a doctor, and he believes he can help Marinette's mental condition."

"Before she has the baby? That's great! I know she'll recover, she always does, but I'd love to have her back sooner. Also, my père was pretty sore when he found out the state she's in. He's of the mind that we should be remarried under French law as soon as possible, and I don't think she would agree to that right now."

Her parents had to agree she wouldn't.

"Adrien! I've missed you!" Marinette threw her arms around her husband as soon as he entered the room.

"I didn't go anywhere."

"I know, but I've felt so distant. This is amazing, I've never had a clear mind far enough into a pregnancy to feel the baby move and not be disgusted by it! I think I'm going to enjoy the rest of this pregnancy, but still, I think it had better be my last one." She gave him a meaningful look, to which he looked sheepish in response.

"Now we have access to various methods, that shouldn't be too hard to control. ... So... you found out that your mental condition was due to a vitamin deficiency?"

"Yeah," Marinette laughed. "The doctor explained to me that cultures who live on islands have usually had generations to adapt to it, and the diet suits them just fine, but populations native to different areas have become dependent on different vitamins that are more readily available in our diet. It turns out the deficiency wasn't that severe. Out of everyone on the island, I was the most genetically predisposed to be sensitive to it, but even I was fine - when I wasn't pregnant. When the baby starts to grow bigger it required more nutrients for itself and my body was sacrificing my personal supply to keep the baby healthy, which wasn't leaving me enough to function properly and made me go..." Marinette raised a finger to the side of her temple and rotated it in a few quick circles, indicating her prior mental state.

Everyone in the room stayed silent for a few minutes, just soaking up the feeling of being all together again. Then Adrien decided to relive something that was burdening his mind. "Uh... Mari? You know how I told you before that I was nervous about coming back here, because I didn't know if our families would approve of us? I've been talking to my père, and it's better than I expected. He's open to accepting you as his daughter-in-law, but he doesn't want to acknowledge our wedding as being real. He called it an 'acceptable placeholder', but that we should get 'properly married' now that we have access. I don't have a problem with that. Would you, my love?"

"You're asking me to marry you again?"

"Maman, you can't!" Louis interrupted them. "I've already explained to Papa and Gran-père why I think you shouldn't, but they won't listen. I understand if you want to celebrate your marriage, but make it a recommitment ceremony! If you 'make things right' now, you're implying that what you've been doing for years was wrong! Were you wrong when you had me and all of my siblings?!"

"Louis, you don't need to get worked up over this," Marinette tried to comfort her son, "it's just going to be a formality. Your papa and I have been married in practicality for years, but we're not legally married - yet. We will be soon, so be happy for us."

"Okay, so you're not legally married under French law, but you don't need to get married to become married. I've been reading up on this, and as a member of United Nations, France is obligated to recognize a marriage that took place in another country."

"Îsle des miracles isn't a country."

"So declare it one! International law allows that any person or persons living on land that is not already claimed by any country can declare themselves a sovereign country."

"Louis..." said Gabriel, who had been listening quietly the whole time. "That could work. Why didn't you bring that up before now?"

"I would have if you'd given me the chance. Any time I brought up that Papa and Maman didn't have to get married again, you wouldn't listen to anything else I said."

"Well," Gabriel coughed, "I'm listening now. Why don't we get you to talking with a lawyer to see where to start sorting this out."

"Yes, it could be done, but it might not be in your best interest. I must warn you that if you declare 'Îsle des miracles' to be it's own country, you will lose your claim to French citizenship. You will effectively be made to have been born in a foreign country. Since you're undoubtedly born to French parents, you still have a claim to citizenship through them, but your birth would have to have been recorded with some sort of French embassy within your first five days of life for it to count. Is your parents' marital status important enough to you that you would sacrifice citizenship for it?"

"If that's the case, then the rest of the kids born on the island should have a say in this, but that's fine with me. I don't feel like I'm French born. 'Born abroad, to French parents' is how I identify anyway. It shouldn't be too difficult for me to become naturalized - considering I do have French parents after all. All the other kids are in the same place I am. I don't think they would consider it a big deal to wait five years for the naturalization process. It wouldn't even make a difference at all to anyone under thirteen - their five years will be up before they are old enough to apply anyway!"

"If you're set on being declared a country, there's one more thing in your way. You can't have a country without residents. Someone would have to go and live there as a primary residence."

Louis perked up at the idea of going back to the island, then he looked sideways at his parents and slumped in his seat. "We're staying in Paris, aren't we?"

"Of course we are! Sixteen years and we just got back, and your maman's finally able to start the fashion line she's been dreaming of!" Adrien put his arms around Marinette, proud of his wife's achievement.

"Louis," Marinette asked, "do you actually want to go back to that island?"

"I get it," Louis sighed. "This is home. For you. I've never been here before. I was born on that island! That island is home to me."

"Should we go back?" Marinette asked Adrien quietly.

Louis didn't give his father a chance to answer the question that had been directed at him. "No! Don't give up on your dreams, Maman. You've given up so much for me in the past, let me for once. It's just a place, right? All the people from our village are here now, they're what's important." Louis thought he was doing a pretty good job, but his parents could see he was trying to convince himself as much as them.

"I don't see why we couldn't go stay in our old cabin one month out of the year," Adrien offered.

Louis lit up, "really, Papa?"

"Yes!" Marinette jumped on board the idea. "We could bring a few modern amenities with us - maybe even a pedal powered sewing machine. It would be the perfect place to get work done in peace, and then come back to the city to promote the designs."

"Perfect! Now who is going to inhabit the island the other eleven months of the year?"

The answer to that question turned out to be Louis, Emma, and several of the other kids from the village who had already been teenagers when the rescue plane arrived. They decided city life just wasn't for them, and returned to living primarily on the island of their childhoods. Adrien and Marinette of course missed their two oldest kids, but they still saw them two months out of the year - both on their continued yearly vacations to the island, and when the kids came back to the mainland, mostly to visit their grandparents, who were now going into their golden years. The eventual installation of a cell tower on Îsle des miracles also aided the family in keeping in touch.

Louis ended up marrying the daughter of Ivan and Mylene, the same one he had been nursed alongside as babies, and together they turned their island home into a resort, intent on sharing the place they loved with the public.