Marinette found herself standing inside the extravagant entryway of the Agreste mansion with a suitcase set by her feet. She had nervously waited in the park while Nathalie retrieved it from her apartment, reassuring her that past-Adrien was fine and didn't suspect a thing, as she had distracted him easily enough.
But shouldn't that have been a concern in itself?
Okay, she might have been overthinking things when Plagg wound up being the voice of reason to calm her down. Past-Adrien knowing that Nathalie knew he was here shouldn't have been a big concern. It wouldn't change anything about their time-line, right? Though it was more about the fact that he already learned so much that bothered Marinette—even such miniscule information. How long until something big slipped that might alter the fabric of their future together?
"Marinette?" Nathalie's concerned voice brought her out of her thoughts as she closed the wide doors behind the taxi driver. The kind man must have read the tabloids, because he'd refused to let Marinette carry her own bags up to the mansion. "Are you alright?"
"Oh, uh, yes. Just processing." She laughed softly, an awkward sound that echoed in the spacious foyer. "I don't think Adrien's too thrilled that I'll be staying, but we don't really have another option that we're both comfortable with."
"I'm sure it will—" Nathalie suddenly grew quiet, and Marinette looked up to follow her wide gaze and nearly jumped when she saw Gabriel Agreste silently descending the stairs. "Sir? I thought that you were already on your way to Milan for your conference?"
"There was a delay." Gabriel frowned, but the steely expression wasn't directed at her. His attention was mainly on the tie of his suit as he fiddled with it, the gloved fingers of his right hand shaking when he tried to bend them. "I had to find a replacement chauffeur so that Marinette could have use of the car."
"Having trouble?" Nathalie strolled forward as he arrived at the bottom step, and Gabriel moved his hands aside when Nathalie reached out to fix the tie herself.
"Thank you, Nathalie." He straightened up and held his arms behind his back. "It seems my hand is a bit stiff due to the cold."
Marinette tried not to so obviously stare, however, it was difficult to avoid when making direct eye-contact with the man. Unlike the gloves he wore, Gabriel Agreste didn't bother to hide the marks on his face, even though, as Paris' leading eccentric fashion mogul, he would probably be able to get away with a fashionable mask of some sort. But aside from his initial recovery, Gabriel had never worn anything over the scars that marred the left side of his face, their jagged lines twisting over his skin from the missing chunk of earlobe.
His gaze focused on Marinette as he stepped closer, and she froze up like a deer in headlights, panicked that he had noticed her staring.
"Madame Dupain-Cheng, I'm relieved to see you well." Gabriel's tone didn't sound offended, and his eyes seemed soft as he actually smiled at her. "I was worried when I saw the news yesterday, especially with what happened at the luncheon."
"You were watching the akuma attack?" Marinette asked, not certain she had heard him correctly.
She noticed Gabriel flinch, but the motion was so faint that she doubted it had happened. "I was just a bit concerned about the state of Paris' heroes,'' he said slowly. "They protect the city, but I can't help but find myself worried about their safety, as of late." His eyes, very briefly, flicked down over her figure, toward her stomach. "Many citizens are upset after seeing what happened to Ladybug."
Marinette shifted uneasily on her feet. "You don't have to pretend."
"Ah." Gabriel moved his good hand forward and adjusted his tie, almost nervously. "I wasn't certain if you were comfortable talking about your identity like that."
"Well, everyone here knows my secret." She glanced back at Nathalie, who nodded in return.
"Does that mean I can come out?" a muffled whine rose up from her purse, but without waiting for any invitation or answer to that, Plagg phased through the bag and into the open.
"Good afternoon, Plagg." Gabriel inclined his head toward the kwami. "It has been quite a while since we last met."
"Eh, not long enough." Plagg narrowed his eyes, not bothering to veil any distaste for the man in front of him. "I'm just here to watch over Marinette while Adrien covers for her." He jabbed a paw at Gabriel. "And the only reason I'm not cataclysm-ing your face is because you at least had the sense to stop." He folded his arms as he eyed Gabriel's scars, unabashed. "Helping Adrien was the only good decision you made as a father, but that doesn't mean it redeems you."
Marinette's eyes flicked between Plagg and Gabriel uncomfortably, warily watching both of their deepening frowns. While she didn't think it was a good idea to egg him on, that didn't mean she disagreed with Plagg's words.
"I agree," Gabriel finally murmured, much to Marinette's surprise. "I will live with my choices, offer help where I can, but I don't expect anyone—" his gaze turned toward Marinette at that. "—to forgive me for what I've done. Especially not Adrien."
"Yeah? Well… Good." Plagg huffed while he floated back to sit on Marinette's shoulder, glaring at Gabriel and lashing his tail. "Cause we don't."
"Nathalie." At Gabriel's request, she stepped up with a nod. "See to it that Marinette has all of her needs taken care of." He turned to her with another warm smile. "I want your stay to be as relaxing as possible."
Marinette pursed her lips, before dipping her head. "Thank you… ah..."
Gabriel cleared his throat. "No need to be so formal. You may call me Gabriel or Monsieur Agreste, whatever you feel most comfortable with."
"How about 'garbage?'" Plagg muttered by her ear, and Marinette had to stifle her reaction, even though she didn't know whether to laugh or scold him. Luckily, Gabriel didn't appear to have heard.
"Thank you... Gabriel. This is all very kind of you," she answered politely.
"And yet, I never feel as if it is enough," Gabriel said quietly before nodding to her. "I hope your stay is pleasant, but now I must leave."
Nathalie bid him adieu as Gabriel exited, holding the door open before closing it behind him.
"Now then," Nathalie started, and Marinette turned toward her. "Is there anything you'd like the chefs to know for your meals?"
Marinette started by naming off a few items that they found to trigger her nausea, which eventually turned into quite an extensive list. Practically anything with a smell to it had set her off, but despite some of the complicated requests, Nathalie was happy to oblige. They went back and forth for a bit, going over some of the foods found to actually help with pregnancy to make sure that Marinette was okay with them.
Before long, Marinette must have started to look as tired as she felt, because Nathalie quickly announced that she would discuss everything more with the chefs before whisking her upstairs to rest. As Nathalie led her into the place where she'd be staying, Marinette was surprised when she recognized Adrien's old room.
"Monsieur Agreste felt you might be more comfortable in here than one of the other guest rooms," Nathalie explained when she caught Marinette's curious expression. "Apart from the lack of Adrien's personal belongings, we haven't made many changes."
"I can't thank you enough for everything, Nathalie." Marinette all but collapsed as she dropped down onto the bed, setting her purse and bag nearby while Nathalie carried her suitcase over to the closet.
"No thanks necessary, Marinette." Nathalie smiled softly. "Just rest and don't exert yourself. If you need anything, you can call or text, or send Plagg. I'll be nearby to help."
When Nathalie left the room, Marinette flopped back onto the comforter, feeling exhausted just from what little she had done. Plagg flew above her, dipping in and out of sight as he inspected every nook and cranny.
"How nostalgic," he hummed, rising up to the bookshelves on the second floor balcony. "I haven't been back here in awhile."
"It smells stale." Marinette wrinkled her nose. While Adrien's father could afford the upkeep, and she clearly smelled the cleaning solutions the staff used, she still picked up the scent of something stagnant beneath it. It had been several years since Adrien left. "Plagg, do you know how to open a window?"
"No problem!" He zipped down to the desk that had once housed Adrien's computer and landed on a slim remote sitting on top. Within seconds, one of the tall glass panels slowly opened outward to let in a fresh, autumn breeze. "How's that?"
"Perfect, thank you," Marinette mumbled softly as she curled over onto the bed, not even bothering to change into something more comfy or climb under the covers. The room wasn't cold, even though no one had been in it recently.
"Are you tired? Or do you feel like you're going to faint again?" Marinette peeked out through her eyelids to find Plagg hovering in front of her face, his expression scrunched up with concern. "You need me to get Nathalie?"
With a soft sigh, she reached out and patted his head. "Don't worry, Plagg. Maybe it's just the pregnancy, but I think our meeting with Adrien's father was enough to drain what was left of my energy."
Plagg's feet floated up as he reclined into a more relaxed position. "But you've met with him a few times before, right? You didn't seem too bothered by him then."
"That was different." Marinette sat up on her elbows so that she wouldn't start to fall asleep in the middle of their conversation. "Adrien's always been with me, and there's usually a crowd of people around us." She tapped a finger against her lips as she recalled the few times she had interacted with Gabriel. They were always social events, where the public expected a father might show up in support of. "Not that I'm afraid of him or anything, it's just weird seeing him go from Hawk Moth to… to…"
"Creepy, watchful father-in-law?" Plagg finished with a mischievous grin.
Marinette couldn't hold back the laugh that escaped her. "Plagg! I wouldn't say creepy… More like, unexpectedly... doting?"
Plagg stuck his tongue at her and spit out a sharp raspberry sound. "Puh-lease! That guy? Doting? He's just sucking up to get in your good graces so he can meet Adrien's kid."
"Not that I think things are completely fine between us," she mumbled. "But I wouldn't go so far as to bar him from ever seeing the baby." Marinette lowered a hand to rub against her abdomen gently. "Ever since he returned the butterfly miraculous, he's never forced us to do anything we weren't comfortable with."
"Well, if it were up to me, I'd hold it above his head." Plagg cackled wickedly. "Make him suffer, maybe even beg." He then shrugged. "But you're the one who caught a glimpse into his thoughts, so you get to be the judge."
Marinette winced at the reminder of their final confrontation with the man they once knew as Hawk Moth. Plagg's comment was a crude representation of that chaotic event.
Adrien lay still as death from a wish gone terribly, terribly wrong.
His father, glowing with the power of the two stolen miraculous, had simply frozen in place.
But she hadn't.
Even without her miraculous, without Tikki, without the suit, she'd jumped up and grabbed one of the ladybug earrings to try and take them back—to stop what was happening and wishing that, if it couldn't be undone, that she might take his place instead.
And for some reason, when she'd touched her own miraculous, Gabriel's unbidden thoughts had spilled into her mind. Every spiraling word and feeling and absolute horror over what he had done slammed into her consciousness before a burst of bright light knocked her to the ground.
That was the last thing she remembered before Marinette had woken up in the hospital from a three-day coma. Adrien was there, in an absolute panic, apologizing profusely for breaking into her room to bring her the miraculous box because he thought the kwami might have been able to help her, and he was sorry that he let his father run off because he was worried about getting her to the nearest paramedic when she didn't wake up—
She had crushed all of his concerns with a hug, laughing that any of that could have possibly been on her mind when Adrien was alive and well in front of her.
Marinette rubbed her fingers together, tracing the pale, thin scar on the palm of her right hand—the only visible mark that remained of that battle.
"That was the first time I couldn't fix anything," she said softly, reminded of the devastated streets and buildings. The city workers, for the first time ever since Hawk Moth's appearance, had needed to step up their game to repair the akuma damages themselves. The people of Paris had been surprisingly forgiving, most simply worried for their heroes. Thanks to the efforts of their team, no one had been severely hurt.
"We were barely conscious, but Tikki could still feel you," Plagg explained as he must have noticed the restless fiddling of her hands. "And I think she managed to protect you from the brunt of that mess when Adrien's old man pulled off the miraculous." He floated above her and patted her hair, like he was trying to reassure her. "So don't let it bug you."
"Mmhmm," Marinette simply hummed as she laid her head against her folded arms, letting the memories slowly fade. She had already shared these tribulations with Adrien and her friends. They weren't the haunting nightmares they used to be. Their resurgence now might have simply been her fatigue getting the better of her.
"Doesn't mean I forgive him," Plagg mumbled. A moment of silence passed between them before he spoke up again. "Want me to turn down the lights?"
"Sorry, Plagg," Marinette laughed softly, the weariness creeping into her voice as she closed her eyes and shifted around to settle herself more comfortably against the bed. "If you could? I think I need a cat-nap."
"The best kind!" Plagg purred as he zipped off. The room eventually darkened, even the windows along the wall tinting to hide the outside light. Only the one window remained open to let in a bit of the afternoon sunshine, giving the room a soft and cozy glow.
She had almost drifted off when her phone buzzed from inside her purse.
"Adrien wants to know if you made it alright." Plagg's voice was muffled as he read the text.
"Sleeping," Marinette murmured, trying to suppress a yawn as her hand flopped around the bed sheets, reaching toward her bag. "But good."
"I let him know already," Plagg answered as he phased out from her purse.
"You're being unexpectedly helpful." Marinette peeked through one of her eyelids to watch him float above her.
"Hey, I have my moments." He gave her a wide grin. "In fact, I'm going to make sure there's absolutely no camembert anywhere in the mansion while you sleep."
Marinette giggled as Plagg flew off. "Thank you so much, Plagg," she said sarcastically before yawning. "I'll just be... here..."
It didn't take long for her to drift off, unconcerned about leaving the single window open. She had Plagg to watch out for her, and the mansion had its own security, so it wasn't as if someone could just drop in without anyone knowing.