Chapter Five: Healing and Reconnecting

Adrien felt his heart swell with relief. She was giving him a chance to explain. He knew that this was his one shot at fixing everything. "Thank you," he said. Tears started to blur his vision a little. He swiped at them, desperately trying to hold himself together. He didn't want Marinette to walk in because she heard him crying. "Warning, it's a long story."

"I've got time," she said. He smiled to himself. Ladybug had always found a way to make time for him. Even when they were teenagers, and she could sense something was wrong, she'd sit down and let him vent.

"It started when my mother died. She had been working at a research center before she became very sick. I'm guessing the reason she got that way was because of all the chemicals she was exposed to. Her condition got worse and worse until she…..died." Adrien always choked up thinking about his mother. When she died, Adrien's entire world fell apart.

His father started to neglect him. Adrien had never been close with his father before his mother's death, but he knew that he had loved him. He just wasn't sure that love was strong enough to keep his father from doing what he'd done. "I'm sorry, Chat," Ladybug said.

"It was a few years ago, so it doesn't hurt as bad."

"Still, it must have been really difficult for you."

"It was," he admitted, "but it got easier over time." At some point, Adrien had come to accept his mother's death. He'd started to move on with his life. When he went to high school, Adrien had managed to enroll in a public one, instead of the preparatory school his father wanted him to go to. That's when he met Nino.

"Anyways, after she died, my father started to neglect me. Right after we defeated Hawkmoth, I and him had a falling out. I started to push people away, which was stupid of me. My friends managed to talk me out of it when I met my wife, but that isn't an excuse for not contacting you for years."

"Chat, it's fin-...did you just say 'wife'?"

It took Adrien a moment to realize what she meant. "Oh, yeah. I'm married now."

"Oh," Ladybug said. "Congrats?"

"Thanks. You were saying something before you got distracted."

"Huh? Oh. Don't worry about it. I'm just glad we got the confusion cleared away. That's all."

"So you're not mad anymore?"

There was a pause for a second. "Not really."

"So you are still mad?"

"At you? No. At myself? Kind of. I should've known that there was a good reason for your disappearance. I'm sorry."

"Hey, we all make mistakes sometimes. I'm not mad at you for thinking that. I'm just glad that we're on speaking terms again."

She sighed into the phone. "I am too. I have to go now, but I'll text you tomorrow so that we can discuss details."

"Sounds good to me. Talk to you later, bug."

"You too, Chat." With that said she ended the call.

….

As Marinette hung up, she stared down at the counter, going over their entire conversation. So Chat's married now? I'm glad that he found someone who makes him happy. Marinette refused to admit that she felt a tiny prick in her heart when she thought about it, but she had moved on with her life. She felt complete now that she had him back in her life.

Arms encircled her waist as a chin rested on her shoulders. She reached up to stroke her husband's face as a warm feeling grew in her chest. Adrien pulled her closer to him, burying his face further into her shoulder. Marinette kissed the top of his head as the warm feeling continued to grow. Marinette knew that she had everything she could ever ask for.

(Hello, to all my readers and followers. I am so sorry that I took forever to start posting again. Originally, I was going to only take a week or two off because I was going on a trip, but then a family member, whom I was very close to, passed away and I decided to take some more time off. I also wasn't entirely sure how to continue the story from where I'd left off and lost motivation to write. I finally got my groove back a week or two ago and have decided to make some changes to my schedule since I'm back in school and want to take care of my mental health[I don't struggle with anything mentally. I just want to make sure I'm taking care of myself and not adding more stress]. I'll be posting every other Saturday so that way I have enough time to write the story without stressing myself too much. I also have an Instagram account where I'll post updates about different things. I hope this explains my absence and thank you all for waiting so patiently.

Yours Truly, Ally)