A/N: Just realized I never uploaded this fic! When I started this one, I was not really expecting for it to slip through and become one of my favorites of these. I hope you guys enjoy as much as I did writing it!

Marinette awoke to a very pleasant sensation happening below her sheets.

"Mmh…" Upon hearing that she was awake, the owner of the mouth currently dancing along the inside of her thigh began kissing her with increased vigor, teeth joining in with nips that sent pleasure shooting down straight to her core as she continued to rouse.

When said mouth eventually moved to cover her center, Marinette – fully awake now – moaned, her hips undulating slowly against him.

Her head fell to the side, and she caught a glance of the clock on her bedside. "I have to go to work," she said, breathless.

A finger replaced his mouth, lightly caressing her in places that made her moan yet again. "It's a good thing this won't take long." His voice was a deep rasp that made her shiver. He stopped moving, however, and though she couldn't see him beneath the light sheet, she knew he was waiting for her permission to continue.

God, how did she get so lucky?

She moved her body against him, and his mouth returned, every kiss and languid lick from his tongue driving her closer and closer to becoming wrecked. When his finger pushed inside of her, it surprised her just how short of a time it took for her to become undone, her moans and Oh my's filling her bedroom.

When she went still, the man released her, leaving a trail of kisses down her thigh.

"God, Chat, that was…" She let out a happy sigh, closing her eyes and tapping him lightly with her foot.

He disappeared from between her legs. When she heard him transform she opened her eyes, taking in the sight of him leaning against her footboard.

Chat Noir cut an impressive figure, all muscle and grace beneath a leather suit that hid very little. Marinette was grateful she had gotten plenty of opportunities over the past several months to enjoy the sight of him in private; before they had begun dating in secret, she'd been having a tougher time hiding her reactions to him while fighting by his side as Ladybug.

Good thing he'd apparently admired Marinette for a while as well, or else she'd have come close to revealing her identity to him.

And though she'd never actually seen him while not transformed, since they always used her blindfold, she'd touched him quite thoroughly enough to know there was very little difference between what the suit displayed and reality.

That was enough of that. She threw her pillow at him. "Alright, get out of here already, or you're going to make me even later."

He laughed, but didn't leave until he returned to her side, leaning down to leave a sweet kiss on her lips.

Marinette sighed happily as he backed away and headed for the door. "It's your turn, tonight," she called out. He shot her a cocky grin before disappearing.

When she heard the faint click of the front door, she jumped out of bed, in a rush to get ready for work. A wave of vertigo hit her; she had to hold on to the doorway to her bathroom for a minute before it cleared, and then she continued getting ready.

"Marinette, you know that dizziness is a symptom, right?"

She ignored her Kwami, rushing to get her teeth brushed.

"Marinette…"

"You know what it's also a symptom of?" She snapped, throwing on her shoes. "Getting out of bed too quickly." God, she needed to eat something right now. She hurried into the kitchen, grabbing a mini muffin on her way to the front door.

Tikki did not let up. "Listen to me, Marinette. It's been two months, you know you need to–"

"Nope, Marinette is not available right now, please leave a message." She grabbed her jacket at a run, even though she knew she didn't need it. She took a second to steady herself – she was not dizzy – before rushing out the door.

Tikki tried one last time, "You need to consider that you might be –"

"Tikki, spots on!" She'd reached her nearby spot for transforming and was in the air. Determinedly not considering anything at all.

There wasn't even anything to consider, truly.

She was not pregnant.

She couldn't be. It would quite thoroughly mess with what she had going on in her life right now.

Not to mention the fact that she had no idea where Chat and herself stood in the grand scheme of things. They'd found themselves in a secret relationship with no real discussion of how to make it work out in the long term. The need to keep her own identity secret had kept her from exploring the possibility of asking to know his identity.

Chat had also made no moves to work towards a reveal, though whether that was due to Ladybug or some other reason, she didn't know.

What she did know was that she loved him. She just had no idea if he felt the same, or even wanted it to work out. Perhaps he only considered her a temporary distraction, until he found someone in his civilian life to date.

She wasn't sure why neither of them seemed to want to talk about it. It wasn't like they never talked about important things; they talked about everything.

Everything, except for the current state of their relationship, and where it would go in the future.

Perhaps they would remain at an impasse until something happened with Hawk Moth that would allow them to reveal their identities with no reservations.

So, no, she wasn't pregnant.

Plus, she had an important job she'd been doing recently.

She landed outside the Agreste mansion, walking up to the gates. She was quickly buzzed in, and made her way around the back to the small apartment attached to the mansion. Inside, she found Adrien Agreste rushing around in the tiny kitchen, looking a bit harried.

He gave her a strained smile when he saw her walk in. "Ladybug, good morning. You know you don't really need to do this, right?"

He'd asked her some form of this question every day over the past two weeks, though she knew it was out of a sense of guilt, rather than a dislike of her person.

Two weeks ago, Gabriel Agreste had been made aware of a direct threat on his son's life. One that was of the rabid unhappy fan variety, rather than the usual akuma-type threats most citizens dealt with. In an unfortunate bit of timing, Adrien's usual bodyguard, who he had kept utilizing at times even after moving out of the main mansion, had run into a family emergency, making him unavailable.

Despite Adrien's protests that he would be fine without a bodyguard, Gabriel had reached out to Ladybug directly, asking her if she would be willing to take on a side job of guarding his son while Gorilla was out of town. She had agreed immediately, wanting to make sure one of her oldest friends was safe. Being self-employed allowed Marinette to take a break from her usual projects to dedicate her time. Plus, having gotten over her crush long ago, she had none of the issues she'd had previously interacting with him.

All seemed well at the moment, with no credible follow up to the threat appearing so far. In an additional bit of luck, Hawk Moth had gone quiet, sending out no akumas in the past two weeks.

Adrien didn't seem to mind her presence most of the time; in fact, they'd developed a bit of a unique friendship over the past couple weeks. He didn't know she was Marinette, his friend, of course. He did, however, seem to feel guilty that she was spending nearly all of her time every day around him. He also insisted that she go home in the evenings, telling her that he was a very boring person and usually stayed in, and there was no need for her while he was home behind security gates.

"Yes, Adrien, I know, and you know I'm going to do it anyway. Plus, I do get paid, so I'm not losing out on anything." Adrien continued working in the kitchen, skipping breakfast as he usually did while running late. He opened the fridge to put back the milk he'd gotten out for his coffee. When he shut the door, a smell wafted out to her, twisting her stomach. She raised her fist to her mouth, wincing. "I think you have something going bad in there, Adrien."

He slowed a beat before continuing. "I'll hunt for it after work. Shoot, I'm really running late." Grabbing his bag, he finally headed out the door, Ladybug trailing behind.

"Have you thought about, you know, waking up earlier?" It had amused Ladybug to discover that Adrien had a habit of running late in the mornings. Quite the opposite as in their youth.

"No," he said shortly, making her snort. He sent a wry smile her way before slowing as he reached the front of the lawn. He sighed, turning back. "...Can I get a lift?"

She knew he hated asking. They usually ended up taking public transportation to his job, but occasionally being late on a more important day had resulted in him reluctantly requesting help.

Ladybug stepped forward, grinning. "Sure thing. Up we go, Sunshine."

Adrien grimaced, not moving. "This is so embarrassing."

She lowered down so he could climb on her back. "Hold on tight, Spider Monkey."

Adrien groaned. "Oh my god, no. Nevermind, I don't want to do this."

"Should have woken up early, Buttercup."

"Hey now, you're one to talk LB, you walked in pretty late yourself."

"You don't know that, I could have been waiting very patiently outside until I decided to come make sure no one had killed you in your sleep."

Sighing, he finally climbed up. Her nose wrinkled at the smell of his cologne. "Little heavy on the Radiance today, eh? Impressing someone at the office?"

"What? No, I'm not even–"

Ladybug didn't wait for him to finish, taking off quickly to try and clear her sinuses.

It wasn't long before she touched down near the Gabriel office, where Adrien worked running things from the business side, rather than the design or modeling departments.

He jumped down, fixing his clothes before heading inside.

And thus, Ladybug found herself sitting at the back of a large conference room while Adrien sat in some important business meeting for the company.

She had a view of everyone in the room, as well as the door leading in. Across from her sat Adrien at the head of the table, while six other men and women sat along the sides, angled towards him as they gave their reports.

It was…very dull. She didn't understand how Adrien could stand it, doing this day in and day out. There were times she thought she could see a certain weariness in him, but his modeling experience kept it all behind a calm façade.

Her stomach growled.

She knew she should have grabbed something more for breakfast. She never did well when she didn't eat something filling to keep her going.

She side-eyed the table next to her with a coffee station and small basket of snacks.

Ugh, granola bars. Not a fan.

She rapidly tapped her leg with her finger, trying to determine how much longer this meeting would last.

Five minutes later of droning on by one woman and Ladybug thought she might be sick.

Fine, granola bar it was.

She waited until it seemed everyone was focused on the woman, and then she snatched her hand out, snagging one quietly.

She was almost successful. Adrien's eyes swiveled to her at the movement, and he had to smother a smile before focusing again.

She carefully opened the packaging, breaking off a piece and sticking it in her mouth.

She nearly gagged at the taste, spitting it back into her gloved hand which she dropped in her lap.

Adrien and another woman glanced her way this time. She offered a quick smile, sitting straight with both hands in her lap.

When they looked away again, she placed the pieces in the trash can, which was thankfully in reach.

Her stomach was roiling now, and she had to take a few deep breaths as she tried to push away the feeling.

It wasn't working.

She had to get out of here and find something to eat, or she might just hurl.

She glanced around the room surreptitiously. Surely, none of these board members could possibly be the potential assassin fan.

She dithered for a second, before standing quickly to her feet.

Adrien straightened, wariness in his gaze as his eyes darted around the room, as though looking for the threat.

Everyone else looked her way in confusion.

"I'll…be right back. Everything's fine." She just barely stopped herself from running out of the room. As soon as she had closed the door, she dashed to the communal kitchen, garnering alarmed looks from the employees she passed.

She opened the fridge and spotted a Trixx yogurt, which she snatched and opened, not bothering to find a spoon as she drank it down.

She tossed it in the bin and ran back to the room, taking another deep breath and willing her stomach to settle. She entered the room, smiling apologetically at the faces that turned her way before taking her seat yet again.

Adrien was watching her with concern now. Her smile tightened and she gave a short shake of her head, trying to let him know nothing was wrong. He frowned at her before returning his attention once again to the speaker.

She needed to keep it together. She could get through this.

The speaker continued on. Ten minutes passed.

Her stomach was not settling.

She could make it. She could make it. She could–

Adrien's voice interrupted the meeting, and she must have been doing a terrible job of hiding her discomfort. "I'm sorry, we're going to need to continue this later." He stood abruptly, his eyes on her. He motioned the other members to the door.

Ladybug stood up rigidly, hands clenched as they filed past. She could wait until they were gone and get to the bathroom, and –

The last person left, and Adrien closed the door, turning to her.

She bent over and threw up in the trash can.

"Ladybug!" Adrien's quiet exclamation was followed by his hand on her back, as she finished retching. He handed her a napkin from the coffee station. She groaned slightly, straightening up and using the napkin to wipe her mouth. "What's going on, are you alright? You looked like you were going to faint back there."

She grabbed herself a cup of water from the table, drinking it.

Adrien didn't let up. "I thought – doesn't your suit help you somehow? From being sick?"

Ladybug glared at nothing in particular as she threw the cup away, grumbling her answer. "My Kwami says I'm not sick."

Adrien's eyebrows furrowed. "Not sick? Obviously something's going on."

She marched out of the room, leaving Adrien to follow behind. She'd been doing very well at specifically not thinking about anything regarding her not feeling well, and had no desire to mull over the possible reasons. He'd ruin her day if he kept up with his questions. Tikki was wrong, and she had no desire to muse any farther. She just needed to watch her blood sugar levels more carefully, that was all.

She knew Adrien's general schedule at work, leading them to his office where he would spend the next hour or two until lunch.

Adrien closed the door quietly behind him, staring at her like he was trying to solve a puzzle. Ladybug sat in her chair in the corner, crossing her arms as she glared at the corner. A bag of trail mix fell into her lap. She glanced his way, but he was looking innocently at his computer. She sighed, but opened the bag, eating the nuts and feeling relieved that they seemed to be helping.

Over the next fifteen minutes, Adrien kept glancing her way in between whatever he was doing on his laptop. Finally, he sat back. "Ladybug," he began carefully, "is it possible that you might be pregnant?"

She groaned loudly, dropping her head in her hands. "No, not you too."

"...Someone else thinks so?"

She remained silent.

"It's just, I was looking up the symptoms, and it seems like–"

"NOPE. That's not it. I'm not. It's something else." She sat back up, resuming her former position of glaring at the wall.

"Hmm." He sighed, but thankfully stopped talking about it, and she could tell by his posture that he had moved back to his regular work.

Observing him now reminded her of something she'd noticed over the past couple of weeks, and the thoughts distracted her from her own predicament.

"Why do you work here if you hate it, Adrien?"

He looked surprised by her question. "What do you mean? I don't… I don't hate…" He trailed off at her expression and seemed to deflate slightly. "I… honestly don't know. I knew I didn't want to continue modeling after school. Beyond that…I didn't know what I wanted to do. Or, what I wanted to do that would be practical, at least." He huffed a bit at that, shooting her a glance before staring off into space. "My father suggested this. So I guess I went along with it."

Ladybug felt her heart clench with sympathy for her friend. "You don't have to keep working here, if you don't like it. Surely you can afford a career change."

He tapped his fingers on the desk, staring intently at nothing. "I've…considered it. But…I don't know the path forward to what I really want, not just yet, at least."

Ladybug felt taken aback by how much that hit home. She responded softly, "I hope you can figure that out soon. The less time spent doing something you hate, the better. Life is short."

They lapsed into a companionable silence, and she tried not to contemplate her own words as Adrien returned to working.

A couple of hours later, Ladybug walked with Adrien to grab two delivery bags for their lunch. Back in the office once again, he took out his ham sandwich and reached over to hand hers over. He hesitated, looking between her and the sandwich. "...Ladybug, are you sure a deli sandwich is a good idea?"

She snatched it from his hands. "Yes," she snapped, having been looking forward to this sandwich all morning. She tore the paper off and took a bite, staring defiantly back at him.

The taste hit her tongue, and she immediately spit it back out into the paper. "Ugh, it's gone bad."

Adrien looked between her and the sandwich, and then gave her a flat look. He put his own sandwich down, picking up the second bag he'd brought in. He took a box out and slid it across the desk. "I think you should take this, Ladybug."

The pregnancy test faced her square on from its position, mocking her.

"Wouldn't it be better to get it over with?" Adrien asked, his words cajoling. "Like you said, life's too short."

Sighing, Ladybug put her sandwich down and picked up the test, leaving the room.

When she returned, she sat glumly back in the chair. "It was positive."

Adrien moved his chair to the side, facing her full-on. "I'm guessing you aren't…happy, about that?" When she didn't answer, he spoke again, "I thought you – I mean, I thought I heard –" He gave up on whatever he was trying to say and started again. "You don't want kids?"

"That's not it." She said quietly.

"...Would you like to talk about it? I can stop prying, if it's making you uncomfortable." He looked abashed for a second.

Maybe talking would do her some good. "I do want kids, but it just doesn't fit with my plans at the moment. I have an important job I'm doing." She gestured to him.

"Ladybug, I've told you before that I can handle myself. And Gorilla will be back soon."

She slumped again, finally thinking about everything she had been avoiding. "Mostly…I don't know where I stand with the father. Things aren't exactly…" She trailed off trying to come up with an explanation. "...Simple. Between us. I don't actually know what he sees for our future, or even if I play a role in that, long term. The last thing I want to do is have a baby and force that decision on him too early."

Something flashed across Adrien's face – pain? Longing? She couldn't tell, but it was gone the next moment. "I'm sorry, Ladybug. This seems like something you should talk through with him. You guys can make those decisions together. A baby doesn't necessarily mean you're stuck on only one path forward."

She knew he was trying to help, but she felt saddened by his words. She knew Chat Noir. He would do what was needed of him, and push down anything inside that felt differently.

She told Adrien as much, and the pained look returned. "You can't read his mind, and perhaps you shouldn't try. Let him come to his own decision, and communicate what you're feeling."

She played with a bit of loose fabric on her chair. "There are…other factors as well. Identity issues." She sighed. It couldn't hurt to tell him; she trusted Adrien. "It's Chat Noir."

Adrien tilted his head giving her an odd look. "What?"

She repeated herself. "The father? He's Chat Noir."

The look cleared away. "Ah, I see." His expression went politely interested, much less invested than he'd been in the conversation prior to that. His model-Adrien expression, she likened it to.

She found herself growing irritated, though she pushed the feeling away.

He didn't believe her.

How odd. Surely it wasn't that unbelievable from an outsider's perspective that Ladybug and Chat Noir might be dating?

"So, yeah. I guess that just adds to the uncertainty of dealing with a baby when we both might need to go and fight."

"Yeah, I get that." Adrien nodded, as polite as ever.

Conversation done, then.

"Yeah," she finished, lamely.

The strange mask melted slightly, and Adrien leaned forward, concern once again prominent. "Hey, I'm sorry. This seems like a really tough situation. You'll make it through, you're Ladybug, after all."

She gave him a weak smile. "Thank you, Sunshine."

He snorted at the nickname, shaking his head as he turned back to his computer.

Ladybug leaned back, grabbing the bag of chips from her lunch bag to hold her over.

The rest of the day went…strangely.

She didn't know what was wrong with Adrien, exactly, but he seemed to be very intently struggling with something. He seemed overly irritated for a short while, typing quite vigorously and tapping loudly on the table with his pen. She looked up from the book she'd taken from his bookshelf to read and caught him staring at her with a deep frown on his face.

"Everything alright over there in business land?" He jumped slightly, his face clearing as he looked back at his screen. "Yeah, sorry. Just some…frustrating emails."

Sometimes said frustration seemed directed elsewhere.

He'd taken a similar dislike to his walls as she had earlier.

Good. His walls sucked and needed more pictures.

As the day drew to a close, however, something seemed to change. Ladybug caught him staring at her another time, this time with a panicked edge to the gaze.

When she heard him breathing quickly in an anxious fashion, she finally put her book down. "Adrien, you don't seem alright."

He met her eyes blankly for a second before he jumped to his feet. "It's just – I've just remembered that I have to go. I'm going to be late for…for an appointment."

"...Alright, let's go then. Where is it?"

"No, you don't need to go." When she raised an eyebrow at him, he floundered. "Uh, it's a date. At home."

"Oh, you didn't mention a date. Wait–" She narrowed her eyes at him, and he suddenly looked like a deer in headlights. "Do I need to check her out? This isn't a stranger, right? Not someone who could be the rabid fan?"

Adrien relaxed, though he still seemed jittery. Perhaps that was why he had been acting strange? Worried about his date? "No, not a stranger. An old friend, actually. I'll be fine. I just, really need to go." He gathered his things in a rush, and Ladybug followed once again.

Outside the building Adrien turned to her. "I'll be fine, Ladybug. You don't need to take me home tonight." She was taken aback by his harshness and tried to protest, but he picked up his phone. "Look, see? I'm ordering a taxi." She backed off, feeling strangely hurt by his dismissal. Her pain must have been visible, because he hesitated, the concern returning for a moment. "You should go home, get some rest, Ladybug. And you should–" he cut off for a moment, before continuing, looking a little strained. "–You should talk to him. To Chat."

She nodded, watching him climb into the taxi (after looking inside herself, she had a job still).

When the taxi disappeared, Ladybug took off towards her home, feeling lost.

A/N: So what the heck is going on in Adrien's head? Did he figure it out? What do you guys think? Second half coming soon!