After receiving all the updates he'd sent Alya and Nino, they decided to agree with Tom and Sabine. He should be the one to stay with Marinette, more so because they were all convinced she wanted him to simply because she'd asked to see him. Most of her time had been spent asleep, which the nurses said was normal and healthy for her, so he couldn't ask her why yet.
Even the intervals she spent awake weren't usually very energetic or talkative, although she had been getting better at communication and had bursts of energy from time to time. In the beginning her speech was somewhat slurred and her words would run together in an unnatural way. But it only lasted maybe two days? A day and a half? Short enough to confirm it wasn't a speech impediment. She'd also confessed to double vision, but that had also cleared up.
She was beginning to show weakness in her right hand, however. The first sign was when he'd taken her hand in his and noticed that when she tried to squeeze it, he barely felt a thing. He could feel her hand trying to tighten around his, but a newborn had to have more strength than that. His first thought wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Most of her actions had been passed off as exhaustion and recovery. But then multiple visitors would start taking mental notes of other signs of weakness, like an inability to hold anything with her right hand without dropping it or her arm slipping off the right bed rail because her wrist wasn't supporting her. Nobody had brought it up to avoid embarrassing her.
She was going to need physical therapy for it but there weren't any promises made that she would get back to full strength.
One of his concerns was her job. She loved designing but she was right-handed. She couldn't even hold a tiny paper cup. How was she supposed to hold and finely control a pencil or pen?
And how was he supposed to talk to his father about this without explaining that the individual in question was Marinette? Even if he didn't explicitly say her name, it wouldn't be too hard to figure out that the only employee who consistently missed her deadlines was the one with a good reason behind it.
But for now, he contented himself with staying by Marinette. It was only a matter of time before the press had begun to suspect he had a friend at the hospital. Word had spread about Adrien Agreste rushing over in a panic that afternoon. Now he had interview requests coming in and dressing incognito was pointless. He respectfully declined all interviews, disappointing many reporters and fans. Nobody was allowed to follow him this deep into the hospital, so Marinette could rest and recover in peace. He would try to have Tom or Sabine drive her back to his apartment. The less he was seen with Marinette, the less coverage she would have.
He tried to hold her hand again. Her physical therapy thus far was just stretching a rubber band by spreading her fingers outward and repeatedly squeezing a rubber ball. It had only been a few days and the results were minimal, assuming there were any results at all yet.
Unsurprisingly, the action of having her hand squeezed, no matter how lightly, was enough to fully awaken her. She would likely go back to sleep in a few minutes or so but her eyes instinctively flickered over to him.
"How are you feeling?" he asked.
She must've been so sick of hearing that question by now.
"I have a little headache and I'm tired," she answered.
Both of which were entirely normal and expected.
"Can I get you anything? Water? A snack?" he offered.
"I think…I want a shower…"
He knew she wasn't implying anything inappropriate but that didn't stop him from blushing a little.
"I'm afraid I can't help with that one. But, is there anything else—"
"How is Erek?"
It was the first time she had mentioned her son, to his knowledge anyway.
"He's staying with Alya and Nino. He told me to tell you that he loves you and has a lot of pictures for you when you get back."
"How much longer am I under a microscope again?" she joked.
It was a stark contrast from the last time she'd had an extended stay here, but this one was only supposed to last a week and she was able to eat and drink normally. No surprise comas or heart failures. No thousands of medications.
And most importantly, she was able to stay ahead of the pain from the surgery this time. A small dose of oxycodone was given to her between regular intervals of time. She would still ache, but the pain was curbed to a very tolerable level and the medication was strictly regulated. By now they were trying to wean her off.
She could even get up and walk around a bit this time, although she didn't want to. On top of simply not feeling up to the task, she would've had to wheel around the IV drip with her. It extended just enough for her to reach the bathroom.
"Should only be a few more days."
"I can't wait to go home," she sighed. "I'm so tired of hospitals."
If she was so tired of hospitals, then why was she always making things worse by wandering out into the snake's storms? Not to say that she was lying, but it seemed like a conflict of interest. What kind of answer would he get if he were to ask such a thing? Erek, perhaps? That was the most likely answer he could think of, but it still didn't seem quite right. Why take on Chat Noir's responsibilities as a civilian? If she was out in the storms because of Erek, okay, that would make sense to some degree, but why not search for Chat Noir and explain the situation? Nino had done something similar for Marcel, although Alya had been the one to explain. He did pull through for them, even if the child had come down with an infection. He could've pulled through for Marinette, too, had she just given him the chance.
"You should tell me why you're always caught up in those storms," Adrien said, trying to be as gentle as he could so she wouldn't get upset. "If I can help you stay out of those, maybe I can help you stay out of hospitals."
She was very hesitant to answer for some reason. He expected her to immediately bring Erek up, but she just stared at him uncertainly. She had to have been hiding something. Maybe instead of anything about Erek, she would drop another "don't worry about it" on him. That sounded so much more likely.
But he couldn't just not worry about that. She was effectively killing herself.
With his assistance, of course…
"I can't lose another one," she finally mumbled.
"Another what?" he asked.
Instead of maintaining her uncertain stare, her face fell, and she slowly shook her head. Her left hand smoothed its way over the covers to rest on her abdomen.
"Erek had a sibling," she answered, her voice small and soft.
Another…child.
She clutched the covers over her stomach with her hand and exhaled.
"Or…he was going to…" she added.
Was this what she meant when she said she couldn't get pregnant anymore? Not so much physical as it was mental? Or was the loss due to something physical?
"I'm so sorry," he said. "I didn't know."
"I can't go through that again. I know you're supposed to tell people it's not their fault but I absolutely killed that child," she sniffled.
He felt her right hand—the one he still held—try to tighten its grip again. He paid the balance and tightened his grip instead.
"These things just happen sometimes…"
"Not the way it happened with me. I was reckless and irresponsible, ran straight into danger knowing the risks." Her eyes became glassy but she refused to cry. "Six months. I could feel that life. All the little kicks and punches. And then I took it away."
He wasn't about to ask her why she would run towards danger at six months pregnant, but regardless of how bad he felt for her, he would be inclined to agree that it wasn't a smart idea if anyone asked him. But he also kept in mind that because he didn't know the whole story, he couldn't judge too harshly. If she had been willing to gamble a human life—one that she'd clearly wanted to keep if she'd decided to carry it for as long as she did—she must've had a good reason.
Or at least something she considered a good reason.
"Pascal found out that I wanted Erek to be adopted instead of handed to him," Marinette continued. "Every time he's akumatized, he goes after our son. I'm not losing Erek too, even if it does end up costing me my life."
He stared at her largely slack hand, trying to come up with some kind of response. He couldn't imagine the kind of pain she would've felt losing her unborn child, but he did understand her fear of losing the other. A fear that would turn into pure desperation to keep Erek safe at any cost. He had felt that same way when Marinette was on his back, lifeless. When he couldn't resuscitate her. When her life was ebbing away under his hands. When he found her on the ground, blue and cold to the touch. Unresponsive to anything. Barely breathing. When Ladybug told him she was dying. When he obeyed her orders to find Erek first while she fought the snake. When her only trail was drops of coughed up blood, a trail he had to abandon. When he stepped on her and had to leave her for the snake, only to find her already gone when he came back.
He knew what that was like. He knew how crushing that guilt and self-blame felt. He would never know what kind of pain the loss of a pregnancy could bring, but the way Marinette felt about Erek was the way he felt about her.
"Do you think that, from now on, you could trust Chat Noir to handle akumas?" Adrien asked, trying to be sensitive about everything Marinette had confided in him. "You already have battles to fight. You have Erek to raise, you have Pascal to win against, you have your health to maintain… Is it really necessary to add akumas to that list too? You're not Ladybug."
He heard the heart monitor pick up slightly at that last part and her expression briefly turned into a nervous one, but it all seemed to reset with a single sigh.
"And if Chat Noir isn't fast enough?" she challenged. "Then what?"
Adrien shrugged and answered, "Then let me handle it."
"How?"
"I can get you two to safety. I know places Pascal will never find. I can hide you both."
Such places were generally at his father's, but he could just as easily and just as quickly buy one on a different plot of land.
"Chat Noir: akumas," he added. "Adrien Agreste: Marinette and Erek. Marinette Dupain-Cheng: everything else. Is that a good chart?"
As long as Marinette wasn't trying to deal with akumas or akumatized victims in any way, he didn't care what she did. He just needed her to stay away from Chat's responsibilities. It would finally put her out of danger, and selfishly, it would be one less thing for him to worry about.
"Sure," she relented at last.
He could only hope she would keep her word. There were no guarantees and she could've been saying this to shut down the conversation.
As much as he would've loved to continue their conversation—if only to hear her awake and okay—his phone alarm went off, reminding him that he was responsible for taking Erek to be with his father for the weekend. The chauffeur he'd hired to privately transport Erek in the instance that he wouldn't be able to drive him and Marinette on his own had called in sick with the flu at the last minute and no replacements had been sent. He wouldn't have time to change clothes but he was supposed to meet Pascal at the park. Even though it was a public place, there were new buildings for him to hide around. His plan was to stick close to those and have Pascal pick Erek up, then sneak back to the car before anyone noticed.
He could not be seen with a child.
Not yet, anyway.
Those scandals Marinette had brought up, afraid of, in the past? Every headline on every form of media would talk about some kind of scandalous event with him in the forefront and Erek the accessory.
But after Marinette was gone and he had custody—regardless of how temporary—a public appearance with Erek could easily be sorted out as him adopting an orphan. Instead of a scandal, he would be a saint, and instead of some kind of affair baby or whatever the media would want to portray him as, Erek would be his adorable attachment.
Giving Erek up to a different family would be a bridge he would cross when he got there. It was future Adrien's problem.
"I have to go," he told Marinette. "I have to take Erek to Pascal."
He felt her hand try to tighten one last time before he turned around to leave.
"Please don't tell anyone what I said," she begged, as though she was worried someone else could find out about her dirty secret. "You're the only other person who knows."
"I would never say anything to anyone," he assured her. "I'll take it to my grave."
"Also!" She propped herself all the way up. "Don't let on to Pascal. Just…drop Erek off and leave immediately. Don't stay and talk. Please."
"I won't."
He didn't even want to. Had no plans to chat with such a disgrace to humankind. But Marinette being scared of him doing so anyway was just another red flag he couldn't ignore. Of the interactions he'd seen between the two, she was never scared of Pascal, but it was entirely possible that she was scared he would weaponize anything Adrien said to him and use it against her.
Her hand fell back to her side as she watched him leave the room. She didn't have to ask. He knew she wanted him to stay with her. For the life of him, he couldn't figure out why.
He was quick to get to his car, ducking behind what he could to avoid as much eyesight as possible. He wasn't overlooked by the very confused nurses and receptionist on his way out. It was a common reaction—they weren't aware of the lengths he would go to just to avoid being seen. Neither were the civilians he was trying to escape. This part of the trip to and from the hospital, although mostly from, felt like a prison break to him.
He eventually made it to his car but didn't have time for much else before starting the vehicle and driving off. He hadn't actually met Pascal yet. Whenever he drove Marinette and Erek, he would stay in the car while the parents and child talked. He tried not to listen in on Marinette's phone calls and never read her texts, even if her phone was unattended and happened to be lying near him when one was received. He would simply hear the ping, see the screen light up in the corner of his eye, and ignore it entirely. He tried to be sensitive about her relationship and gave her respect and privacy whenever he could, but the result was an imaginary version of Pascal that was impossible to gauge how realistic it was. Originally, he imagined Pascal to be an absolute monster, a physically and mentally abusive man that didn't deserve to breathe the same air as Marinette. The true scum of the earth. But time passed and that version evolved several times, each less intense than the last.
The current version was a fairly mellow guy with an occasional temper, non-physical but still confrontational with Marinette, and had tendencies to hurt with words the people he didn't like. With Marinette, he imagined this Pascal to draw out her insecurities and beat her down with those. Still a very unpleasant man but much better than the apathetic sociopath he first thought Pascal to be. This also aligned pretty well with what he'd learned from Erek, and why Marinette never seemed intimidated by her ex.
It wasn't long before he arrived at Alya's to pick the boy up. He had to wait a few minutes for the door to open but when it did, Alya didn't look very pleased to see him. He already had an idea why.
"Sorry if I'm late," he said.
"Adrien!" Erek excitedly yelled from somewhere behind Alya. "Come on, come on, let's go!"
The little boy shimmied past her in the blink of an eye and made a beeline for the car. Even though he said Pascal made his mother sad and constantly fought with her, clearly he loved him anyway. Separating them would be tough.
"Is this a court order?" Alya asked, keeping her voice low so Erek couldn't hear her. "Is he required to see Pascal?"
"Probably," he answered. "Even if it isn't, it'll just cause trouble for Marinette later down the road if we don't give him up every other weekend."
"Pascal is awful though."
Maybe Erek had let something slip to Alya and Nino too…
"I agree but Erek is his son and he and Marinette have clearly worked out this arrangement. It's not our place to get involved."
Alya scoffed and angrily scrunched her nose, but kept her mouth shut.
"What do I owe you?" he asked.
"Owe me?"
"Yeah, for babysitting Erek all this time. It's been a huge help and this is the least I can do."
Alya leaned forward and faked a grateful smile.
"You owe me nothing," she replied. Her face grew serious all of a sudden, almost somber, and she continued, "If we had stayed in touch with Marinette instead of drifting apart like we did, and just accepting that she wasn't in our lives anymore instead of making sure she was okay, maybe she wouldn't have it so hard right now. So, it's really the least I can do."
"Alya, don't—" He took a breath. "We can't control her illness; we couldn't have prevented that."
"I know," Alya muttered. "I'm not talking about the hospital stays. Did you ever think about what Erek actually means for her? I'm glad she has a son and I'm glad she loves him so much but she's chained to Pascal for the rest of her life now. She'll never get out of that relationship. And…my heart goes out to her…"
"She deserves better than what she got," Adrien agreed. "What's done is done though. I'd still like to pay you, and if you won't take my money, I know Nino will."
He flashed his wallet and a cocky grin.
Alya responded by leaning against the door frame with so much sass it was palpable.
"Nino!" Alya shouted to the back of the house. "You're not accepting money from Adrien anymore!"
She turned back to him and returned the same smile.
"And he knows the consequences if he does," she said, playfully tapping him on the nose just to add an extra jab.
He groaned in time for her to shut the door.
It was his job to pin all the bad in Marinette's life on himself. But he didn't get a chance to consider it any further when he heard Erek start screaming at him to hurry up.
He let the little boy in the car and helped him buckle up.
It wasn't a far drive, just a few minutes down the road from Alya's house, where her kids frequented the merry-go-round that somehow withstood the tests of time and akumas.
He was strangely nervous as he waited for Pascal's truck to show up. He shouldn't have been—this man was inferior on every level—but at the most, he'd seen Pascal from a distance. He had heard Marinette's occasional complaining about him and listened to how exasperated she could become. He knew to expect someone frustrating to deal with.
But this was also Erek's father, whether he liked it or not. Pascal was not simply Marinette's despicable ex-boyfriend, he was someone of utmost importance to Erek, and by extension he was important to Marinette. Adrien fit nowhere into that picture.
If there was any upside to him meeting Pascal today, even momentarily, it was that he couldn't make Marinette sad and Erek wouldn't have to expect another parental fight.
Finally, a sleek black truck pulled up on a perpendicular curb and parked. The man he didn't know but already didn't like stepped out, and he responsibly did the same to let Erek out.
The boy was over the moon to see his father and grabbed Adrien's hand to drag him over. The two men met in the middle, Adrien's plan to hide behind any objects now thrown out the window. He would just have to get lucky on this one.
"Papa!" Erek squealed, reaching up to be held.
Pascal grabbed his son and hoisted him high in the air, causing Erek to giggle wildly.
"There's my little man!" Pascal exclaimed. "Where have you been lately? Were you battling akumas with your mama?"
"Adrien helped me make a new Chat Noir costume, and, um, I told him I would be Chat Noir's sidekick when I grew up."
"Adrien, huh…" Pascal gently set Erek down and reached out a courteous hand. "I'm Pascal, I'm Erek's father."
Adrien shook the man's hand and forced a smile.
"Nice to finally meet you. Erek says you like to play superheroes with him."
"Ahh." Pascal waved a quick, dismissive hand. "He loves Chat Noir. I'm always Hawk Moth." He chuckled. "This little scamp takes me out so fast. Strong guy here."
Pascal tussled Erek's hair to accompany the praise and the boy beamed so brightly.
"Papa is taking me to the zoo tomorrow," Erek said. "We always get ice cream after we go places."
"Well that sounds fun! What's your favorite animal?"
"The black panther," Erek answered rather flatly, as though this should be a known fact of the universe. "It's like if, um, Chat Noir was an animal."
"I never thought about it that way."
Pascal cleared his throat and tapped Erek's shoulder.
"Time to load up," he told his son, jerking a thumb towards his truck.
"Bye, buddy, have a good time with your papa," Adrien said as Erek climbed up into the huge vehicle. "Make sure you're coloring pictures for your mama!"
"Okay, Adrien!"
Erek closed the door and patiently waited.
"Marinette, hm?" Pascal sighed. "You're the latest?"
"The…latest what…?"
"I guess I should be pretty impressed, actually. Never thought a girl like her would pick up the Agreste boy."
"A girl like her," he quoted pointedly. "Meaning what?"
"A woman who enjoys plenty of male company…" Pascal winked and elbowed his upper arm. "…if you know what I mean."
He felt his hands ball into fists and shoved them both in his pockets to avoid taking a swing. A very desired swing. He tried to focus on maintaining his smile instead, not for Pascal, but for the little boy still waiting to go have a fun weekend with his papa.
"Did…you just call Marinette a whore?" he asked, unable to cover up the disbelief in his voice.
The man put his hands up and replied, "Your words."
He felt his body temperature shoot up with his blood pressure.
"And you think I'm the…?"
"Well let me ask you this." Pascal snickered at whatever joke he was about to crack. "How does the used pussy feel?"
He felt his body tense up as he suppressed the urge to put Pascal in his place, right in front of Erek. And perhaps he would've, if not for Erek. Maybe this was why Marinette had told him not to stay and talk. Two minutes in and already he wanted to choke the guy.
"Just walk away," a tiny voice whispered to him from below the collar of his jacket.
At first he chose to listen to Plagg. He turned towards his car and started walking, no plans to carry a conversation with anyone. But he only made it a few steps before stopping and turning back around.
This time he smiled more laxly and shrugged, then answered Pascal's question.
"After the first three inches, like new."
The expression on Pascal's face was to die for. He really wished he had it on video, not to show Marinette, but to play it back to himself for his own enjoyment.
It was a satisfying victory all the way to the car, but his rage came back with a vengeance the moment the engine revved.
"He called Marinette a whore," he growled to Plagg. "The mother of his child!"
"Look, there's no need to get upset about this," his kwami said, an obvious attempt to control the situation. "He's just trying to make her look bad but you know the truth."
"Marinette is nothing like that!"
"Exactly. She's loyal, she—"
"What kind of 'man' paints that picture of the mother of his child?"
"Okay. Look. Your job here is done, don't linger on what this guy said."
How could he not? Pascal had slandered her in one of the worst ways possible to his face. And he couldn't do a thing about it. If Erek hadn't been there he would've at least tried to defend Marinette's honor. That quip didn't do anything except maybe hurt Pascal's ego a bit.
His ego wasn't the thing he wanted to hurt.
He pressed the accelerator and slowly pulled back onto the main road.
"I just don't get how anyone can do something like that," he grumbled. "If I was lucky enough to have a family of my own, I would never disrespect my kid's mom. Never."
"Pascal clearly has a different opinion about family."
"A wrong opinion," Adrien corrected. "Marinette sacrificed a lot to have his baby and he does this to her?"
"She never said she sacrificed anything but I get—"
"Oh, come on, Plagg, wake up… Pregnancy itself can't be fun, her hips look like she's carried a child, and she probably has stretch marks. Oh, and let's not forget actually giving birth. I've heard that's really painful."
Selfishly, he was grateful he could never have that experience.
He arrived back at the hospital but continued to vent to Plagg in the car a while longer, not wanting to cause a scene later. He tried to spend as much time with Marinette as he could, allowing anyone to take his place at any time—visitors were limited to three at a time—to be fair to everyone wanting to see and talk to her. He did stay with her every night though. He would leave to shower and change clothes, but unless he had a distraction, such as an akuma for Chat or a photoshoot for Adrien, he could typically be found at the hospital. He didn't exclude Erek and would visit him at Alya's as well, but usually only when Marinette's parents would come or when Alya and Nino wanted to swap roles with him for a while. The latter left him in charge of four children, but Alya and Nino had babysat for him so much without asking anything in return that he was happy to relieve them of their parental duties every now and then. Marinette never complained.
Eventually, he got out and made his way through the hospital lobby, through the nurse handing him another visitor's pass, and through the halls he'd recently become more accustomed to to reach Marinette's room. He knocked on the door out of courtesy to find her already awake, probably just having woken up from another nap, and squeezing her rubber ball with a nurse observing her.
She looked up and waved with her free hand.
"We're making a little progress," the nurse said, eyes still trained on Marinette's hand. "Squeeze it as hard as you can."
She let out a strained grunt as she focused on the little ball, her fingers able to curl around it but too weak to follow the orders he knew her brain was giving them.
Personally, he couldn't see any progress. Her hand looked fine and the muscles in them weren't atrophied at all, but the doctors on her case had essentially said she needed to retrain her hand to cooperate with signals from her brain. And unfortunately, they didn't hide the possibility that Marinette would never get her original strength back. Physical therapy was just a tool to push it as close as it would come to full, pre-operation control. Marinette was frustrated with this news but also reasoned that it could've been so much worse than just her hand, so she wasn't as upset as she could've been. All in all, she was dealing with this well.
He, as her caretaker, was told that this was such a simple task for her and could be continued at home. In other words, he would be responsible for making sure she completed her exercises multiple times each day. But…it was just stretching a rubber band and squeezing a rubber ball for about five minutes at a time. It was something she would probably keep up with herself.
Pleasantly crazy to think that in just a few more days he would be receiving the discharge instructions and settling back into a non-hospital environment. Even though it was a week, it still felt like they were cooping her up forever.
There was one minor detail he noticed during his lengthy time with her: she never once mentioned the third storm she'd been in. She had passively talked about the first two, but the third never came up. He imagined that if one of the three had to be ignored, it would've been the second simply due to the anguish it had caused. But that wasn't the case. And Erek was safe this time. He wasn't in danger of being crushed or swallowed, he was comfortably under the watchful eye of his grandmother. She wouldn't have felt any need to protect or search for him.
Right?
Then again, he hadn't told her he'd left Erek with her mother. She'd been so out of it that maybe she didn't know if he was alone, if the snake had him, or what was going on at that time.
He didn't want to ask her how she'd escaped to begin with, but he simply noted that she hadn't mentioned the third storm. It seemed a bit odd to him only since she had mentioned the others. Almost like the last didn't exist.
He momentarily thought back to her disrupted eye color, but that didn't prove anything and regarding the storm, it didn't suggest much. So he had to let it go.
"I think we're done for now," the nurse mumbled, jotting something down on a clipboard she'd brought with her. "You're doing very well."
"Will I be able to draw again soon?" Marinette asked. "I need to draw and sew for my line of work."
The nurse began humming unsurely, looking between her hand and the chart.
She took the rubber ball from Marinette and answered, "The brain is a complex and delicate organ. We'll do everything we can to restore the strength you had before."
He saw the slight disappointment on Marinette's face at such a vague reply, but she thanked the nurse anyway as the nurse cleared the room.
He took her spot beside the bed. He'd been in this chair so many times it was beginning to shape itself around him. Oddly more comfortable than a hospital chair should ever be.
"How'd it go?" she asked.
"It, uh…" He cleared his throat. "Erek was excited to see his dad. They're going to the zoo tomorrow."
Marinette chuckled and stared at him.
"And Pascal?"
"Ummm…" He hissed in mental discomfort. "I… You know, I don't think I really like him that much. I know he's Erek's father but he's just…so…!"
He took a quick breath to keep his temper from flaring, but the memory of being playfully nudged as though he was supposed to agree with the trash talk about Marinette reared back up. It took a lot to suppress the fire inside.
"I told you not to stay and talk…" she sighed.
"I-I didn't try to, I swear," he replied defensively. "I was going to say goodbye to Erek, tell him to have fun and all, and leave. Then Pascal shook my hand and struck up a little conversation. I got sucked in."
"What'd he say this time?"
"Well…he didn't say anything in front of Erek, no worries there."
"Oh, of course he wouldn't do that," she said. "He'll say it to you instead. That's how he is."
"He just wasn't very polite." He chose each word carefully. Even though Marinette probably had a good idea of what was said, or what Pascal had likely said, he didn't was to risk upsetting her.
"Yeah. He's frustrating. And petty. Hates you, hates me. You're the replacement I carelessly and thoughtlessly found and I'm the awful parent trying to shred a family apart for no reason."
"I…think you have good reasons."
"I'm sorry if he said anything bad about you. Whatever he said, it isn't true. He's just mad at you for my choices. Sorry."
"Don't—" He choked down a growl. "Don't you dare apologize."
She opened her mouth to speak but he couldn't resist adding, "He needs to apologize."
He once again interrupted her before she could get a word in.
"For everything!"
Another interjection to cut her off.
"He was completely in the wrong!"
He smashed a fist down on the table beside Marinette's bed.
"And the nerve of that guy!"
He felt Plagg rapidly beating him on the shoulder but ignored it.
"And the slander! Oh m— The slander!" He scoffed. "I guess it's too much effort to, what, maybe thank you for all you've done? For years?!"
He stood up and began pacing, if for no other reason than to prevent himself from breaking an object in the room out of misplaced anger.
"All the nighttime feedings, all the sleepless nights, all the stress!"
He scoffed again.
"Home gym organ punches, morning-night sickness!"
He aggressively patted his stomach.
"All the skin and those stretchmarks, probably!"
He threw his hands up in frustration.
"Like all that just means nothing?! I mean, what did he even do? You put in all the time, you put in all the effort, you put in all the resources to raise Erek! Alone, by the way!"
As if she didn't already know that…
"And the way he talks about you! I don't want you to speak to him ever again! I mean, yeah, I-I know that's not my decision, I know you have to, but you don't deserve aaaallllll of what he has to offer! I've never seen living garbage until today!"
He paused only to take a breath. Anything that came out next was said in blind rage. Just a long, furious rant. Half of it probably wasn't even directed at Marinette. He could hardly focus on what he was saying or talking about. All he could think of was Pascal calling Marinette a whore while his young son—of whom Marinette was the mother—was watching from the truck's window. Setting aside Erek being unable to hear it, who in their right mind would ever do that?
What was Pascal's end goal? Why did he want to hurt her? If he just treated her like a human being, maybe Marinette would want him to remain in Erek's life and neither of them would be fighting for custody. Maybe they would even still be together—who was to say Pascal's ill speaking of her wasn't the reason they broke up?
Although he had also overheard her call him out for both adultery and issues with alcohol some time ago.
He had to have spent at least five full minutes going on and on about a bunch of whatevers when Marinette broke his raving and yelling with even louder laughter. He truly wished he'd been paying attention. Worst case scenario, he'd said something highly insensitive and her laughter was that of disbelief.
"You really said that!" she exclaimed, letting her giggles die down.
"Yep." He bit his lip. "What did I say again, though…?"
"The part about three inches," she answered.
He hissed uncomfortably and said, "Yeah, I'm sorry about that one. I just got so upset about what he said."
And he hadn't planned to tell her. It implied that yes, he had slept with Marinette and knew things he actually didn't. He hadn't considered the embarrassment she might've felt though, nor had he considered what Pascal would have to say about that next time they spoke.
"No, don't be sorry. I just wish I'd been there to see his face."
He moved back to his original seat, this time more calmly now that he'd gotten all the hatred out of his system.
"He was very surprised," Adrien chuckled.
"Must've felt good to get him back."
"A little bit," he admitted.
The room quieted for a few more minutes, the silence only interrupted by an occasional snicker from one of the two at Adrien's insult to Pascal. He was already over the humor but Marinette's laugh was contagious. Not that he minded the light mood.
He saw her hand—the right one, he noted—reach out to him and he took it in his own.
"You okay?" he asked her.
She nodded.
"Thank you."
She rolled her eyes at his confused look. He loved it though. Ladybug would do the exact same thing, back in the day. It was either a tease or she expected him to read minds. Although he despised the idea that Marinette could be Ladybug—she wasn't—her acting this similar to the girl he loved so deeply and genuinely was strangely welcome.
"Nobody's ever done something like that for me."
His confusion just deepened.
"Defended me," she clarified. "Not that I needed anyone to but…um…you know…I-I appreciate it…is all."
"Oh, no, don't thank me. You've already been through so much, that one little jab at Pascal was nothing."
"And for taking care of me," she added. "And taking care of Erek. Cleaning. Cooking. Making me sleep on the only bed you have. Buying me all the things I need for work. Visiting me at hospitals. And I know I can be difficult sometimes."
"It's okay, really. I owe you this and I'm happy to help any way I can."
This time it was her turn to be confused.
"Owe me?"
Exactly what Alya said earlier, too…
"Yeah. Imagine if I had been involved in your life this whole time. What would've happened if I visited every now and then? Raiss is the same age as Erek and they get along so well. Marcel is his smaller playmate and they're like brothers. They could've grown up together… But… I just let you go…"
"If you had stayed involved I don't think I ever would've gotten together with Pascal," she firmly. "That might sound like a good thing but it means Erek wouldn't have been born."
He felt a slight twinge of guilt nonetheless.
"And I couldn't help you in any of the storms you were hit by…" he mumbled. "That's three times I failed you. Yes, I owe you this, and I really am happy to do it even if I didn't. It's something I genuinely want to do for you and Erek."
"Two times, actually, but you don't owe me anything. I promise. A lot of what happened over the years happened because of my own choices."
He furrowed his eyebrows, suddenly realizing the reason she never mentioned the third storm.
"Marinette, you know there were three storms, right? Pascal was akumatized three times."
"Yeah."
"And…you were caught in all three…"
"The first two," she said. "I was already in the hospital when the third hit."
"Marinette…what do you remember about that third storm?"
"Just what it looked like outside the window. You brought me here after a seizure. Don't you remember that?"
He absently nodded his head but couldn't figure out why she was so adamant about having stayed in the hospital. Did she actually forget or did she not want Adrien Agreste to know about her run-in with Chat Noir?
"How could I have even gotten out of this place back then?" she chuckled, as though he wasn't thinking things through.
Normally he would've hopped right on that wagon, seeing as it made the most sense, but he'd seen her out there, drenched. She had practically climbed up his arms to tell him news he still couldn't—and wouldn't—believe. He had carried her back here. If asked, he was pretty sure the hospital itself could confirm her escape and return.
"Ohhhh!" He smacked his forehead, pretending her statement was obvious. "That's true. Sorry, I must not have been thinking straight."
"You alright?"
"Yeah, yeah. Still a little mad about the whole deal with Pascal earlier," he answered. "Halfway focused on that."
His mind wandered back to her eyes for the second time that day. That unnatural coloration around her irises… He didn't remember that the first two times he'd seen her out in the snake's storms… Admittedly, he hadn't been paying attention, but it still seemed very odd that the one time he noticed the purple rings in her eyes, she happened to forget ever being out in it.
What was happening to her…?
A/N
Thank you to everyone who gave their feedback regarding the reboot idea! Either this chapter or the next will be the last chapter of this fanfic before it is taken down. I'll take it down after the reboot has caught up so current readers won't be set back. Thank you so much for your patience and understanding, and I look forward to updating on the new and improved fanfic (title ideas are more than welcome).