Prison Yard

Chapter eighteen - Emma

Marinette didn't know what to think. Her eyes never left the gold band that laid on his finger. She couldn't hear anything but the own beating of her heart and her fast breaths. Adrien noticed the sudden tension around him and grew worried. She pushed him away slightly so she could look him in the eye. He saw her open her mouth to say something but she stayed silent. What exactly was there to say? He felt her breathing speed up so he decided to ask.

"Are you alright?" The green eyed blond questioned, but still nothing came from her mouth. Adrien followed her eyes to where his ring stood, and he began to panic. "Mari this is not what it looks like, I swear." He protested. Marinette let out a small scoff. 

"You're married?" A hint of bitterness lined her tone, and he winced at her sudden coldness towards him. Adrien took one of her hands, and brought it to his chest, letting her feel his steady heartbeat. 

"Marinette, please." Her breathing increased creating a small cloud of fog in the cold air. 

 "I just kissed a married man." She said, beginning to panic, what has she done? How would his wife react?

"You didn't." Adrien said as he squeezed her hand a little tighter. "I'm not married." Marinette pulled her arm out of his grasp and moved away from him. If he really was married then Marinette didn't want to be too close. He belonged to another woman, she wasn't going to be the one to ruin their marriage, even if it broke her heart to be apart from him.

"Mari please, listen to me." Adrien begged. "I'm not married, not anymore. I was, but she died a while ago. I'm sorry for the confusion, but I'm not married, I would have never kissed you if I was." He heard her breathing finally start to slow down. 

 "You're not married?" Marinette asked. 

 "No, I'm not." She let out a sigh of relief and bolted back into his arms, already missing the feel of his touch.

She felt safe in his grasp but still felt like she was missing some of the story. "I do have one question." Marinette said as Adrien held her against his chest. 

"You can ask me anything princess." He said resting his chin on the crown of her head. Marinette blushed at the name 'princess', but ignored the loving nick name and asked what she needed to ask. 

"Who was that little girl?" She questioned. 

 "What little girl?" Adrien was confused, who was she talking about? 

 "I was in Alya's apartment when you came to visit. Who was that little girl you were holding?" She repeated.

Adrien traced his fingers over Marinette's spine as he spoke. "That's my daughter Emma." Marinette smiled and held him a bit tighter. 

 "She looks just like you." Adrien gave a half laugh. 

 "She has her mother's nose." 

 "Who is her mom?" Marinette questioned. Adrien grew a bit nervous and dreaded giving the answer to that question. Finally, after a brief moment of silence, Adrien spoke. 

 "Kagami." He answered.

"Kagami?" Marinette questioned. "As in Kagami Tsurugi, the girl you dated in high school?" Adrien sighed. 

 "Yeah, we ran into each other a few months after you 'died', she really helped me though your suicide. We ended up getting married and had Emma but there were complications with birth and Kagami didn't survive the delivery." A slight gasp came from the blunette. 

 "I'm sorry." She said tenderly. 

 "It's okay, you didn't know." He mumbled to her.

After a long moment of silence, Adrien plucked up the courage to ask the question that was eating away at him. "Marinette?" He uttered. She perked up at the sound of her name. 

 "Yes chat?" 

 "How did you do it? How did you fake your death?" He asked, but before he got an answer they heard someone tap on the glass window of the car with their knuckle. 

 "Please, do tell." The stranger said from the other side of the glass, except it wasn't a stranger. "I would love to know how you did it Mari." Marinette tensed at the sound of her voice. 

 "Lila?" She mumbled under her breath in fear. 

 "Hello Marinette."

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Word count: 710 (not counting this)