Marinette raced in a panic through the apartment. "Where are the keys Tikki? I'm going to be so late!" She called out, taking a gulp of her coffee as she pulled on the rest of her jacket. She stopped in her tracks as a whoosiness overtook her. Grabbing the kitchen sink until it passed, she swallowed thickly before straightening back up. That wasn't the first time that had happened in the last week. She hoped she wasn't coming down with anything, she didn't have time to be sick.

"Here they are." Called the little red Kwami, bringing the keys over to her.

"You're a lifesaver Tikki." The bluenette gratefully took the keys, picking up the dresses scattered over the couch before heading for the door. Adrien had left earlier that morning to supervise a photoshoot and of course she just had to oversleep her alarm when she had to meet Spencer to finalise the superhero themed children's line. It was the second time this week she'd done it too. Marientte decided she really needed to go to bed earlier instead of spending half the night star gazing with Chat on rooftops. She stopped and smiled to herself remembering how excited he got when a shooting star went past. It was always worth the late night just to see that smile.

"Marinette, you should eat something." Tikki suggested with worried eyes, snapping Marinette out of her daydream. She shook her head.

"I don't have time Tikki, I'll grab something later." She said, searching around for her sketchbook.

"But you can't just run off on a few mouthfuls of coffee. You need something more substantial than that." Tikki almost pleaded. Marinette grumbled to herself before finally laying eyes on her book.

"Tikki, I seriously don't have time. Today is the last day before we close for two weeks for Christmas and New Year. I need to get this done so we can get the spring line into the next issue of 'Style Queen' before the printing deadline. Now let's go." Tikki gave a defeated sigh, scooting into Marinette's bag as she raced out the door.

Marinette and Spencer spent the most part of the morning finalising the designs for the 'Freestyler' street wear. Casual, functional and affordable was the main selling point and Marinette couldn't have been more excited with the results. The fact that Audrey Bourgeois was willing to give them advertising space in 'Style Queen', a magazine almost exclusive to high end fashion, was a huge bonus for their emerging Agreste Designs label. Marinette was sure that Chloé must have had a word in it, and she made a mental note to make sure she got her something extra nice for her for Christmas.

Once Marinette had finished with Spencer and the design team, she started to head back up to her office. While they lost a lot of the company in the restructure, and most of the funds to Tomoe Tsurugi, they still retained the Flagship building and the original store, which it turned out had been bought outright by Adrien's mother. It was more than enough for a restart and Marinette was feeling quietly optimistic. Looking at her watch as she approached the elevator, it was already after midday. Time seemed to have just been slipping away today, and she still had papers to sign off on. Lunch would just have to wait.

Scurrying into her office, Marinette stopped dead in her tracks as she observed Lila making herself far too comfortable on top of Adrien's desk, her legs were crossed under her impossibly short skirt and stiletto heels and she clearly had not expected to see Marinette.

"What are you doing here?" Marinette hissed. She would have to make sure security didn't let her in again.

"Hello to you too Marinette, so nice to see you again." Lila greeted, dripping in false sincerity as she inspected her long, red dipped fingernails. "Didn't Adrien tell you he invited me up to see him? How very remiss of him not to let his little wifey know." Marinette bit back an audible groan.

"You're slipping Lila. Or maybe you just need to pay your spies more." Marinette retorted, dropping her papers onto her desk. "Adrien isn't even here today." Lila grinned.

"I think you'll find my information is quite accurate." She declared, picking up a wedding picture in a frame Adrien kept on his desk. "The shoot Adrien was babysitting finished half an hour ago and he should be due back at any minute." Marinette put a hand in her hip.

"And what makes you think Adrien wants to see you?" Lila placed the frame back on the desk before fixing her eyes on Marinette. 

"Because soon he will wake up to his mistake, and I'll be here waiting for him."

"He made his choice Lila." Marinette said through gritted teeth folding her arms. She returned Lila's glare in equal measure. "And he didn't choose you." Lila only smirked.

"That was his first mistake." She smiled, slipping off the desk and sashaying her way across the room. "Let's hope for your sake he doesn't make any more."

"He's never going to be yours Lila." To her surprise, the olive-eyed girl just shrugged her shoulders.

"He's tainted goods now." She said with a bitter undertone. "But he may still be useful to me yet. I have plans you see Marinette, and Adrien is going to help me achieve them." Marinette hadn't even realised she had begun stepping backwards until she felt the wall behind her back. Lila put her hands on either side of the designer's head, effectively caging her in. Marinette could feel a panic begin to rise up, her mind flashing back to the day Lila had attacked her in the locker room at school. From the corner of her eye she could see the snake bangle wrapped around Lila's arm. A heat felt like it was radiating off it against her face. A sick nauseous feeling began to churn in her stomach and she almost felt like she was going to faint.

"Wha...what is it that you want Lila?" Marinette stammered, trying to swallow down the sick feeling. The italian's lips curled up into a smirk.

"Retribution." She whispered into Marinette's ear. "I'm going to finish what others were too afraid to achieve."

"What in hell's name are you doing Rossi?" Lila turned her head towards the door, still leaving her arms where they were. Marinette had never been more grateful to hear Chloé's voice in her life.

"What's it to you Chloé?" Lila growled at the intruder. "I could ask you the same question."

"None of your business." Chloé snapped back, pushing Lila away from Marinette causing the brunette to run into Marinette's desk. "I'm allowed to be here, you are not. Who the hell let you in anyway? I'm going to have Adrien fire that incompetent guard downstairs right after he kicks your sorry arse out. What are you even doing in Paris, I thought you were with your mother in Milan?" The blonde growled. Lila only smirked at her, stepping closer to the socialite. Chloé folded her arms and stood her ground.

"Oh, just passing through." Lila said in a patronising tone. "I hear you're getting rather cosy with that idiotic fop of a cousin of Adrien's." Chloé was about to bite back, but had the presence of mind to realise Lila was just trying to get a rise out of her. She flicked her hair nonchalantly.

"Felix might be an attractive idiot, but I don't believe that is any concern of yours."

"Perhaps." Lila continued to smirk, knowing she'd gotten at least a little bit under Chloé's skin. "Perhaps I should drop in on him and apologise for my behaviour at that party a few months ago." She slid up close to Chloé. "He wasn't all that bad and I can be very...apologetic." She practically purred at her. Chloé's face practically glowed red.

"Get out of my face Rossi." She said, barely holding back her retrain. "Or I'll have security escort you out."

"I think I can find my own way out, thank you very much." Lila said casually. "But I'll be back again, I promise you that." The blonde's eyebrows furrowed at the Italian, challenging her. Lila stared her down for a moment before stepping back slightly. Marinette had watched the exchange as she leaned against the wall but she felt like she was starting to fade

"Chloé." She managed out as she began to slide down the wall.

"What? Oh no, don't you dare faint on me." Chloé called out, pushing Lila aside and grabbing Marinette by the arms. Holding her against the wall, she lightly started to slap Marinette on the cheek. "No you don't, stay with me here." She scolded before putting one of Marinette's arms over her shoulder and taking her over to the couch. Turning around, Chloé saw Lila had left.

"Chloé, the bin." Marinette indicated. Chloé's eyes widened as Marinette's face went very pale. Grabbing the bin, she shoved it under Marinette's nose just as the designer started to dry heave and bring up the few mouthfuls of coffee she'd had that morning.

"Eww." Chloé exclaimed, screwing up her nose and not entirely sure what to do. Looking around the room she decided on getting out her phone and quickly started to dial. "Adrihoney, are you on your way back to your office?...Oh good because Lila was here and now your wife is puking into a rubbish bin." Chloé covered the mouthpiece on the phone and Marinette could hear Adrien yelling down the phone. "He's just parking the car." Chloé whispered to Marinette who still had her head in the bin, but held a thumb up in acknowledgement.

A few minutes later Adrien burst into the office, racing over to Marinette who had recovered somewhat on the couch. Chloé was still there, holding the printouts she had come to collect to take to her mother for the magazine spread.

"Marinette, honey, are you okay?" He frantically asked, crouching down next to the couch and cupping her face in his hands, brushing her hair out of her eyes.

"I'm fine, really, it's fine." Marinette tried to reassure him with a small smile, but Adrien wasn't buying it. She looked pale and like she needed a good sleep. Adrien got up and sat on the couch next to her. Looking over to Chloé, he could see her eyebrows knitted together with concern and he couldn't help but smile to himself.

"Thanks for staying with her Chlo." He said affectionately. Chloé snapped out of her thoughts looking over at him before waving him off.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." She said dismissively. "Let's not make a big thing out of it though, I'm not in the habit of babysitting pukey designers." She was trying to be aloof, but Adrien could see she cared more then she was letting on.

"What did Lila want?" He asked, directing the question more to Chloé.

"Not sure. Making her usual empty threats as usual."
The socialite responded.

"Chloé?" Marinette tried to focus. "Did you notice something odd about Lila? Something that didn't feel right?" Chloé frowned at her confused.

"What? More than usual?" She laughed. "Not particularly, why?" Marinette shook her head.

"No reason I guess." She said. "But I'm not sure her threats are as empty as they used to be." She laid her head back against the backrest of the couch and closed her eyes.

"Come on Princess, I think I need to take you home." Adrien stated, taking her hand and kissing the back ofit. Chloé made gagging noises.

"No, I'm fine. There's still so much work that needs to be done..." but Adrien cut her off.

"Sweetheart, you don't need to be here for the work to be done. Chloé has the paperwork she needs, Spencer has everything running smoothly downstairs and we are closing for two week in the next few hours anyway. Now I'm taking you home to bed."

"Adrikins, I really don't need to know about your plans for the afternoon." Chloé teased. Adrien rolled his eyes.

"She clearly needs sleep Chloé." He deadpanned. "I don't know what you were thinking. You've been hanging around Felix too much." Chloé chuckled then leaned over looking into the rubbish bin.

"I say she needs a good feed too judging by the contents of that bin." Adrien frowned and looked over into the bin too, noting the little she threw up was only liquid.

"Haven't you eaten today?" He asked, more concerned than acusary. Marinette looked at him with big eyes.

"Don't look at me like that." She defended. "I overslept my alarm, then I couldn't find my keys, or my sketchbook, or the designs to bring in for today, then we worked past lunch, the. Lila was here being all Lila..." Adrien raised an eyebrow at her as she rambled and waved her arms. She suddenly went quiet and started playing with her fingers. "I had some coffee." She added sheepishly, knowing Tikki would be disapprovingly shaking her head in her bag. Adrien began to laugh before leaning over and kissing her on the forehead.

"Promise me one thing my love, don't you ever change." He said, hugging her to him.

"Ugh, I'm out of here." Chloé announced waving as she headed for the door. "I'll see you two around." The young couple waved as Chloé left before making their own way to the door.

Marinette lightly dozed in the car while Adrien ducked into a cafe on the way home to grab some sandwiches and bottles of water. Her mind still kept coming back to that strange bangle on Lila's arm. Something felt odd about it the last time she'd seen her, but this time being close to it made her feel sick to her stomach. Yet it didn't seem to affect Chloé at all. When Adrien returned to the car, she gratefully took the food, taking a big bite as she pondered.

"I still feel something is very off with that bangle of Lila's." She said between bites. "Like there is something unnatural about it."

"Do you think it's some kind of Miraculous? From another box somewhere maybe?" Adrien asked. Marinette took another bite of her sandwich as she thought it over.

"I don't know." She said. "I don't know why you and I felt something strange from it and Chloé didn't." Adrien took one hand off the wheel, gabbing hers with the sandwich and bringing to his own mouth taking a bite.

"Maybe it only affects Miraculous holders." He said as they pulled into their apartment building. "Chloé hasn't used a Miraculous in years."

It made sense, but then that raised another alarming question. "Do you think that means that Lila knows about us?" Adrien shook his head before getting out of the car. Marinette followed suit as her husband quickly rounded the car to take her hand and walk over to the elevator.

"I don't think Lila knows anything, and I think it's best that we keep it that way." Marinette bit her bottom lip and furrowed her eyebrows as the elevator rose up to their floor. "But I think we need to find out more about that bangle. Maybe we could ask Alya to help do some research. Isn't she coming to visit any day?"

"She's not coming." Marinette said with a touch of melancholy. "She said the paper asked her to cover some Christmas event and she didn't want to say no since she hadn't been there long. It was all at the last minute. She said Nino was really upset and I'm not sure the call ended that well. I think he's taking it kind of personally." Adrien made a mental note to call Nino later. He felt bad that he had been neglecting his best friend lately. He guided Marinette into the elevator when the doors opened.

"Well, we could ask someone at the museum. Alix's dad works there. Maybe we could ask him for some help." Marientte nodded her head. She knew that Mr Kubdel had a specific interest in historical artifacts and she had a feeling that the bangle was quite old.

"That could be a start." Marinette grimmished as the elevator stopped and the doors opened, rubbing her queasy belly. The sandwich had helped, but she still felt seedy. "Ugh, this whole thing with Lila is making me sick, literally." She became even more confused when Adrien began to giggle.

"And to think Nino always accused me of being the oblivious one." He continued to chuckle as he unlocked the front door.

"Huh?" Marinette asked as he took her coat from her and hung it by the door.

"Bugaboo, I don't think you're throwing up has anything to do with Lila and her creepy bangle." Without saying anything else, Adrien took her by the hand leading her over to the couch. He sat her down before passing her a small paper bag.

"Oh, you didn't have to buy me anything, but thank you." Marinette said, still confused.

"Don't thank me yet m'lady." He replied, sitting down next to her. Marientte frowned, still not following, before opening the bag and pulling out the box inside.

"You...you bought me a pregnancy test?" She queried, turning the box over in her hands. "But I couldn't be..."

"Princess, how long have we been married?" She cocked her head to one side.

"Six weeks, why?" Then her eyes widened in realisation. That dreaded monthly visitor hadn't been to visit, at least not since before the wedding.

"I didn't mean to be presumptuous or make it look like I was keeping count." Adrien explained. "But I noticed over the last week or so you had been getting up to pee in the middle of the night and I hadn't noticed you doing that before, so I started Googling about it."

Marinette couldn't help but laugh. "But you didn't need to buy me a test, you know I already had one in my draw from last time that I didn't use."

"I know." He grinned. "But you bought one with blue dyes and blue dyes according to one of the baby and parents sites I was looking at were more likely to give false positives and what they call evaporation lines. If it's positive I want no doubts about it." He said, waving his hand about.

"You've spent a bit of time thinking about this haven't you Kitty?" She said affectionately. Adrien subconsciously rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, late night Google can be pretty interesting sometimes." Marinette shook her head looking back at the test. A small cloud then crossed her face.

"But what if it's negative." She said quietly. "We were so disappointed last time when we thought I was...you know, and then I wasn't." She lowered the box to her lap, her eyes downcast. Adrien cupped her cheek with his hand, drawing her eyes to look at his.

"Then we try again." He said assuringly. "But I have a pretty good feeling about it this time."

"Who needs one of those tests?" Plagg interjected waving a chunk of camembert around. "I have a sure fire way to test for kittens." Without warning, Plagg waved his cheese under Marinette's nose.

"Plagg!" Tikki shided. "You're going to make her throw up again." Plagg looked at his red counterpart annoyed as Marinette cupped her hands over her nose.

"But that's the idea Sugarcube. It worked for Isolade and Sean for all seven of there's." Tikki rolled her eyes. Adrien gently grabbed the floating cat and pulled him, and his stinky cheese, away from Marinette's face.

"Thanks Plagg, but I think we've got this." He said, trying to placate the little black cat. Plagg grumbled about everyone being ungrateful as he went to join Tikki in the kitchen. Adrien looked back at Marinette who had a light dusting of pink across her cheeks.

"I think Tikki already knows." She said. "I have a feeling that was why she was scolding me this morning about eating breakfast." Adrien leaned in and gave her a soft kiss in the lips.

"I know." He whispered. "But let's do it anyway." Marientte looked down to the box in her hand.

"Okay." She whispered back, giving him another kiss. "I might have a shower first, I think I might have gotten puke in my hair." Marinette headed off to the bathroom and Adrien pulled out his phone, deciding to distract himself by calling Nino.

"Yo, Adrien my man, good to hear from you bro."

"Sorry I hadn't called earlier." Adrien apologised. "We've just been so busy with the relaunch and everything at the company..."

"Hey, don't sweat it my dude." Nino cut in. "Besides I'm sure you've been wanting to spend time with Marinette. I get it." Adrien could hear a touch of sadness in Nino's voice.

"I...um...heard that Alya wasn't coming back for Christmas. I guess you're spending it with your family?"

"Nah, they're all heading to the alps but I've got a gig in a club here for over Christmas and New Year. I thought Alya was coming so I stayed but it's all good, the money will buy me some new equipment." He was trying to put a positive spin on it, but Adrien could tell his heart wasn't really in it. There was a pause and Nino sighed down the phone. "I think I might be losing her man."

"What Alya? No way Nino." Adrien tried to reassure him. "You guys have been together since you were fourteen and Alya loves you. This internship will be over before you know it and she'll be back in Paris."

"I don't know." Nino lamented. "You know Alya is so amazing and smart. She topped almost all her subjects at school and me? Bro I'd never have passed if you hadn't helped me."

"But there's nothing wrong with that Nino. You didn't fail. And I helped Marinette too if you recall." Nino chuckled.

"Come on dude, you and me both know you did that just to hang around her." Adrien couldn't really argue with that, remembering how he helped her with her chemistry. Gosh that suddenly felt so long ago. "What if they want her to stay in Chicago? I can't ask her to give up that kind of opportunity for me, and I can't see me getting the same kind of opportunities in the states as I get here. You know when they say it's not what you know, but who you know, it's really true, especially in entertainment. I mean what can I offer her?" Adrien didn't know what to say. Alya and Nino had been together for so long and had been through so much together, even as superheroes, and had always survived and had each other's back. Adrien couldn't believe that things could be so wrong they wouldn't be able to fix it. Maybe Nino was just feeling more lonely and that was why this self doubt was creeping in.

"Tell you what, why don't you come and join us at Tom and Sabine's for Christmas. I'm sure they would love to have you." There was a small pause before Nino answered.

"Thanks dude, I'd like that." Adrien grinned.

"Awesome. I'll let you know the time. Keep your chin up bro, okay. I'm sure everything with Alya will be fine."

After finishing his call, Adrien walked into the kitchen to find Plagg pouting into his camembert while Tikki nibbled on some cookies. He knew the shower had stopped running, and he was getting impatient waiting for Marinette to come back out, but he didn't want to disturb her, but if she took too much longer he was going to have to.

"You already know what the result will be, don't you Tikki?" Adrien asked, leaning against the countertop. Tikki grinned behind her cookie.

"Of course I do." She giggled. "I am the Kwami of creation after all, and there is nothing more special than the creation of life, even more so between Ladybugs and Chat Noirs. But if you're asking for the answer, then you'll just have to wait for your Ladybug to come out of the bathroom." She giggled as Adrien pouted along with Plagg.

"I still think the cheese test would have worked just fine." Plagg grumbled, hugging his cheese and tapping his tail on the counter. It was then Adrien realised that unlike Tikki, Plagg couldn't actually sense whether Marinette was pregnant or not, a fact that was clearly starting to annoy him.

"I didn't think you cared Plagg." Tikki teased.

"I don't." Plagg argued. "Human kittens are just noisy and smelly and all they want to do is chew my ears and drool on me."

"Sounds just like you." Adrien chuckled, scratching the kwami between the ears.

"I don't drool." Plagg retorted, folding his paws and flipping his tail around. Although he was trying really hard not to purr. He really did love being scratched behind the ears. 

"You do in your sleep." Tikki pointed out. Plagg was going to argue back when they heard Marinette's bare feet softly pad over the floor. Adrien turned around excitedly. Marinette was holding the test in her hand, her damp hair hanging down her shoulders.

"Well?" Adrien asked, moving out of the kitchen to be closer to her. Marinette bit her bottom lip, holding the test up to him. In the display window was two very clear pink lines. "That's positive right?" He asked, and she nodded her head, a smile creeping across her face. "Oh my God Mari." He exclaimed, picking her up and swinging her around. "You're having a baby."

"We are having a baby Chaton." She corrected him as he placed her back on her feet. "I didn't exactly do this by myself." Adrien laughed joyously, resting his forehead against hers, holding both her hands close to his chest.

"You are right as always my love." He grinned, kissing her nose. "Our own little kitten, our own little baby bug."

"Oh no, what have I done." She laughed, pushing his face away.

"No no." He grinned mischievously. "I know exactly how we should tell your parents."

"Kitty." She warned him, the grin on his face progressively getting more excited as Plagg floated over to join him. "Don't even say it."

"We can put a bun in one of the ovens." He said, like it was the most brilliant idea on earth. He turned to Plagg, making a little pound it with his kwami's paw. Marinette groaned and flopped onto the couch, Adrien sitting next to her. "Aww, come on Bug. It's the ultimate baking pun." She looked between Adrien and Plagg, shaking her head.

"You two cooked that one up didn't you." Adrien giggled as she covered her mouth with her hands. "Oh god it's contagious." She moaned, dropping her head onto Adrien's shoulder.

"I'm only teasing m'lady." He said gently, stroking her hair. "I know how excited your parents will be when we tell them and I'll leave the how entirely up to you." Marinette's face suddenly became panicked.

"Oh my god, Adrien, we really did this didn't we?" The idea of actually telling people suddenly making the whole situation very real to her. She covered her face with her hands. "What was I thinking? How am I going to start a new fashion line and business and be the guardian and be ladybug and how on earth am I going to look after a baby! I can barely look after myself most days."

"Marinette." Adrien cooed soothingly, taking her hands from her face. "You can do it, because we will be doing it together. I'll look after the baby while you're working with Spencer, and I'm sure your mum would love to help too. I mean she already volunteered before, remember?" Marinette blinked at him.

"You...you'll look after the baby." Adrien smiled softly at her.

"Of course I will. I can't think of anything better I'd rather do, other than spend time with you." A small blush spread across his face. "I kind of always liked the idea of being a stay at home dad, and the company pretty much runs itself anyway." He kissed the palms of her hands. "I can't wait to tell everyone."

"What about your father, and Nathalie?" His smile faulted and he began rubbing circles on her hands with his thumbs.

"I'm not ready to talk to my father yet." He said, pulling her legs across his lap, holding her close and resting his head on hers. Officially they hadn't yet made an announcement in regards to what had happened to Hawk Moth, only to say that he had gone quiet and they hoped that he was rethinking his actions and life choices. "I'm...I just don't know how I'm feeling at the moment. On one hand I can understand why he did it. I know he loved my mother and if I was facing the same thing, if something were to happen to you, I'd probably say I would be willing to do anything too...but then again I can't justify the carnage he caused because of it. He put your life in danger. The fact he didn't know Ladybug was Marientte doesn't matter to me. He got low enough that he was willing to risk a life and I just can't forgive him for that right now." He gently rested his hand across her belly. "Especially now."

Marinette nuzzled her face into the crook of his neck. "I understand that Adrien, and I would never ask you to do something you didn't feel ready for. Would you mind if after we tell my parents I call Nathalie then? I mean, I'm sure Aunt Lottie wouldn't keep it to herself for long once she finds out, and I don't think it's right they hear it through the media before hearing it from us." Adrien closed his eyes and breathed in her scent.

"Alright." He eventually conceded. "I guess you're right." He looked down and away with a slight frown on his face. Marinette rested her hand in his cheek.

"Adrien, I know what you're thinking." She said gently. Adrien sighed, turning his eyes back to her.

"I just...want to do better than my father did. I want to be there for my child and make sure they are in no doubt how much I love them, and you." Marinette reached up to kiss him, reassuring him of all the faith that she had in him.

"You are going to be an amazing father Adrien, I already know that." He smiled at her lovingly.

"I promise I will always protect you. Both of you."

"I know Chaton. I know."

Later, when it was still early in the evening, Marinette sat with her sketchbook in the bed. She had managed to get a last minute booking with an obstetrician who'd had a cancelation. If they were lucky, maybe they might even get the chance to see their little bean on an ultrasound. As terrified as she was at this whole new adventure that her and Adrien were about to embark on, she was very excited too.

Adrien strolled into the bedroom in his boxers, still rubbing his wet hair with a towel. Plagg and Tikki had already made themselves cosy in their little corner. Adrien laid on the bed, pushing his head under Marinette's arm and resting his head on her belly. He didn't have his glasses on, but he squinted at what Marinette was sketching in her book.

"Is that a new Jagged Stone jacket?" Marinette giggled.

"You need your glasses more than you think Kitty." She teased. "It's for Kitty Section. Luka emailed and said he and Kagami want to come back to Paris sometime in the New Year so their baby can be born here. Kagami's pretty confident her mother won't be coming back and Luka wants to reform Kitty Section and get the band going again. The success of his solo album should help boost the bands profile. I know Rose, Juleka and Ivan will be excited to get back to it."

"Speaking of music." Adrien jumped in. "I kind of invited Nino over to your parents' place for Christmas if that's okay. He sounded really lonely on the phone when I talked to him earlier." Marinette put her sketchbook down and ran her fingers through Adrien's hair.

"You know when I talked to Alya the other day she didn't sound as happy as I think she was pretending to be. I feel she's missing Nino a lot more than she was admiring to. I just wish she would tell him that." Adrien planted a kiss on her belly.

"A little ironic don't you think after all the years they spent trying to get us together, now they start drifting apart." Marinette wondered about that for a moment.

"Maybe that's it." She said. Adrien sat up and looked at her confused. Marinette smiled touching his face. "Not in a bad way Chaton, but think about it, what has Alya done for almost the whole time we have known her?" Adrien thought for a moment.

"Play matchmaker for you and I and chase after Ladybug and Chat Noir." Marinette nodded.

"And now we are together and there has been little need for Paris' heroes, including Rena Rouge and Carapace. Nino has always followed whatever Alya was doing and most of what she was doing was something to do with us, in one way or another." Adrien nodded his head.

"And the Ladyblog hasn't had much to report lately." He agreed. "But what can we do about it? She's on the other side of the world now."

"I'm not sure yet." Marinette conceded. "Somehow we need to remind her how important Nino is to her. I know how much she loves him, and I think she is already seeing how much she misses him." She bit down on her bottom lip as she furrowed her eyebrows thinking what she could do to get her best friend back and patch up whatever rift was starting to form with Nino. Although Adrien very much wanted to help his friends too, looking at her was making his heart do flips. He reached up his hand, cupping her cheek and unhooking her lip from her teeth.

"You'll think of something Bug, you always do." Their best friends forgotten in a lingering kiss.