That Night

Chapter 25

Another month passed, but this one passed more smoothly for Marinette because Adrien was with her. They spent as much time as they could together, of course that wasn't hard because they were fighting crime so often.

But the crime fighting that for so long had been daily life for Ladybug was now becoming a burden. In addition to the pregnancy symptoms making it hard for her to be a hero, there was the bigger problem of Chat's protectiveness. He was so worried about her and the baby that for weeks every time they met he began a new spiel about why she shouldn't be fighting in her "condition".

Finally, she agreed that she would let Chat take on the majority of the work involved with their alter-egos. She would allow him to do the heavy-lifting and most of the fighting; she would simply hang around to be a diplomatic voice and try to calm down the victims. She even agreed to let Chat carry her to the scene of the crime. That way he could carefully cradle her in his arms, and she wouldn't be swinging across the city with the baby banging around in her stomach – at least that's how Chat saw it. But they were lucky enough that the akuma attacks were beginning to occur less often

Adrien's relationship with his father was also improving day by day. Gabriel greeted his son when he came home and was almost always at dinner with him. Occasionally, Adrien would even see him smile. It was a welcome change.

The pair were sitting close to each other on Marinette's chaise. They had been passing time until Marinette's OBG-YN appointment, which they would need to leave for any minute. Adrien had his arm draped gently around her shoulders and his other hand was resting on her stomach with his index finger gently drawing circles on her skin. Marinette had her eyes closed as she leaned her head on Adrien's shoulder.

Adrien bent his head down and gently kissed his girlfriend's temple. "Bug," he whispered. "Bugaboo. We need to head over to the doctor's office soon."

Marinette stirred and moaned, muttering under her breath. Adrien's eyes widened and he chuckled. He leaned down to whisper in her ear. "Did you just say what I think you said?"

Marinette's eyes popped open and she straightened in her seat. "What, no. I didn't say anything." Her eyes were frantic, and Adrien knew full well that she was fibbing. He leaned in a little so that he was face to face with her. "I'm pretty sure I heard you muttering my name." He smirked at her with a single eyebrow raised quizzically.

She shook her head vehemently, pausing to close her eyes tightly to ease her lightheadedness from moving so fast so soon after waking. Once she was steady, she continued her defense. "I was asleep, ok? I was just muttering nonsense."

"Are you sure?" He leaned in even closer to her so that their noses were mere inches apart. "Because I think I heard you say," he switched to a dramatic voice, "Adrien, my heart and soul." He finished off his performance with a smoulder.

Marinette shook her head at his antics. "Fine," she gave in. "I was muttering you name, but I swear that I did not say that you are my heart and soul." She scoffed at what she viewed as a ludicrous statement. "You're insane." She was adamant, but it didn't take to long for her to break into a chuckle.

Adrien laughed with her. He reached over and grabbled her hand. "Come on M'Lady, let get ready for your appointment." Marinette nodded and Adrien got up quickly so that he could help her to her feet. She reached up to give him a lingering kiss before quickly pulling away and walking to her desk to pick up her purse. Adrien's eyes were following her as he absently licked his lips. Marinette knew full well the effect her actions would have on him and was smiling to herself and she faced her closet to slip on her shoes.

She turned back around to look at him and he shook himself out of his state. He pretended to glare at her. "That was not nice." He enunciated each word with a shake of his finger.

Marinette just laughed and took his hand in hers, their fingers entwined, and led him down the stairs. They made it down the stairs and found Marinette's mom sitting on the couch in the living room. She stood up and looked at the two. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yup," Marinette replied, squeezing Adrien's hand as they made their way out of the house.

Adrien kept his arm around Marinette the whole way to the doctor's office – while they were walking, on the Metro, even on the elevator. He wanted to be completely sure that she was steady and feeling ok. As she was getting further along, and her stomach was getting bigger he was getting more and more worried about her and getting to be extremely over-protective.

They made it into the office and Marinette checked in. They then sat down, with Adrien's arm still in place around Marinette. Marinette looked up at him. "Are you ever going to let me go?"

He smirked at her. "You know what? I don't think I will." Ever so slowly his face inched towards hers. He glanced down and her lips and then quickly pulled her into a kiss.

After several moments they pulled apart and were reminded as to where they were. They looked around the reception area - there weren't many people there. Some of the patients hadn't even noticed their public display of affection, but those who had noticed were just smiling, including Sabine.

Adrien chuckled then squeezed Marinette's arm with the hand that he had wrapped around her. He whispered in her ear, "I love you."

Marinette smiled and kissed his cheek. "I love you too – so much."

They looked meaningfully into each other's eyes for a long while, until their moment was interrupted by a nurse stepping into the waiting room and calling out, "Marinette Dupain-Chang."

As they were making the trek toward their exam room Adrien leaned towards Marinette's ear and whispered. "I think that pretty soon were going to have to take action and get your last name changed." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Marinette's eyes widened and her mouth hung open. Once she realized her reaction, she quickly closed her mouth and her cheeks flamed red.

Adrien inched even closer to her ear. "I like the sound of Marinette Agreste." He spoke barely loud enough to be heard.

Marinette's mouth was opening and closing like a fish. Adrien grinned at her and held eye contact until Sabine cleared her throat. Marinette looked up and found her mother at the end of the hall standing beside an open door.

Marinette looked down, blushing even more as she walked quickly to the room, dragging Adrien behind her by their clasped hands.

The nurse smiled at the couple's antic and then spoke to Marinette. "Let's get our usual tests done." She looked to Sabine and Adrien. "You two may wait in the room for a moment. We won't be long."

A couple minutes later the nurse led Marinette back into the exam room. She took a few notes on how Marinette had been the last few weeks and then informed them that the doctor would be in soon before she slipped out the door.

As the nurse had predicted, it was only about five minutes before Dr. Dubois knock on the door and stuck her head into the room. She entered the rest of the way then sat on her stool. She rested her hands in her lap and gazed at Marinette with a serious look. She quickly glanced at Marinette's two companions before letting her gaze rest on the couple who would be bringing a child in the world.

Marinette's mouth went dry as she could she the intent in Dr. Dubois' eyes. She grabbed Adrien's hand and squeezed hard.

"Your blood pressure was quite high today I'm afraid, and we found protein in your urine sample."

Marinette squinted in confusion. "What does that mean?" She looked to her doctor, desperate for answers.

"I will want to check your blood pressure again in a few hours to make sure that this isn't just a single abnormal reading... but I suspect that you may have preeclampsia."