Butterfly Delivery - Adrinette

Ingredients of Love

A/n - Even though the actual chapter Certified Baby spans from seven to nine months after Genesis Quoi, the timestamp Certified Baby will hereforafter refer to the legal birth date of the butterfly children, eight months after Genesis Quoi, nine months after Cigogne.

For certain things later in this chapter to make sense, this is where I have to reveal that in my mind, this particular chapter is taking place in April of 2017.  I come to this conclusion by deciding the first events of the TV show take place in the year the show was first released, 2015. From there, I've tacked on enough time for canon events up until Timebreaker to take place, and then the eleven months that have passed since the start of this fanfiction. Due to timeskips, I'm sure there will be future chapters set in what to us is still the future, but current chapters are still set in the past. That means they don't have to face Coronavirus for another three years - and maybe never, if it never makes its way over to their universe. I can't rely on real-life world events for plot points, because this story is traveling faster than our time and one of these days it will be set in a future I can't predict. However, I am kind of tempted to include the fire at Notre Dame once the timeline lines up. We'll see...

Two months after Certified Baby

"Elephant bone? I don't know, I can ask him."

"Please do, it's the last ingredient we need to cure Nathalie."

"I'll do everything I can to help," Alya promised, "but Papa works with big cats. He probably knows someone who works with elephants, though."

"We've as good as gotten it," Marinette assured Adrien. "Otis is also a Césaire; once on the trail of something, that family does not stop."

"They did already get their family to ship us that exotic fruit," Adrien agreed. "I have no reason to think they won't pull through again. That means the only ingredient we still have to collect is..." Adrien looked down to his feet, "... kurinji nectar."

Having no more comforting words to give him, Marinette squeezed her boyfriend's hand reassuringly. "I don't think we're going to get out of waiting, but it's already been ten years and seven months since the shrubs last bloomed. We can hold out another year and a half, can't we?"

"We probably can. After all, I have you, but I doubt if Père thinks he can wait that long. Actually, I - I've avoided telling him yet how long it's going to take. I'm afraid he'll have some kind of breakdown once he knows. I know he acts like he doesn't care about anyone, but he really is deeply in love with Mère, that's why he's done so many things that he otherwise never would."

"He's going to find out at some point, you know," Marinette told him sympathetically.

"I'm still not telling him until we have the elephant bone. At least we've gotten closer to getting our hands on one; as long as I can honestly tell Père that we're having 'progress' obtaining the ingredients, he'll continue to let us handle it without interfering. It's just as well he thinks we're getting one new item from the list every few days, and not that we got most of them in the first week and are waiting on the last two."

"He's really worrying you, isn't he?"

"Of course he is. I should have noticed he was ill enough to justify the acts he was committing as Hawkmoth, but I didn't for so long! I want to protect him... from him. I'm also scared of what I would... never mind."

"You're scared of what?"

"I decided I don't want to talk about it."

That worried Marinette. Adrien wasn't usually the kind who just 'didn't want to talk about it'. She knew him well enough to know he felt best if he had someone who would listen while he spilled his guts about anything and everything that was on his mind. It made her wonder if this was something he didn't want to say specifically to her. She pressed him a little - thinking that, despite his reluctance, he would feel better once he got it out - but she backed off of the topic when he declined to tell her for a second time. Maybe this was something he'd be more comfortable talking to Nino about. Whatever it was, she could trust Adrien to find the right person to help him sort it out.

--

"Hey, Nino, can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Dude, what is it?"

"I wanted to ask you - if someone you loved disappeared, would you possibly do something illegal or even harm other people if there was a chance that by doing it you could bring your loved one back?"

"You're still trying to understand your father's motives?" Nino asked sympathetically.

"Actually," Adrien sighed, "I'm worried that I could go the same way. I've been through so much with Marinette that I can't help but wonder if I'd go insane without her. I almost told her that, but it doesn't seem like the sort of thing to casually bring up in conversation. You understand me?"

"Nah, don't worry about it, Dude, you're nothing like your old man."

"Oh... thanks..." Adrien wasn't so sure. It was nice to know his friend had that confidence in him, but it was times like these he wished his friends could think a little less highly of him. If they did, they might give him the advice he was seeking rather than blindly trust him to do a good job all on his own.

--

"Plagg?"

"Don't start, Kid," the kwami interrupted. "You've been talking about the same thing all day with anyone whose ear you can grab ahold of. If you must tell someone else, why don't you tell Felix? He's a good listener, better than you."

"I don't know if he would - wait a second... what sort of things have you been telling my son?"

"A kwami has his secrets. I wouldn't tell them to a human who might actually remember. Hey, do I hear someone calling you downstairs for dinner?"

"Nice try, Plagg, you know we always eat exactly on the hour. Though I should get ready to go. I don't want to be late!"

Ever since Adrien had come back from overseas, his father had made a point of sharing one meal a day with his son. Most of the time it was spent in awkward silence, but Adrien appreciated the gesture and didn't want to discourage this new trend.

--

"Good evening, Père." Adrien approached the dinner table. His hair was well brushed and his clothes had ne'er a wrinkle. He and his father had never learned how to be casual with each other.

"Have a seat. Any luck today?" Gabriel asked his son.

"There's a few elusive ingredients we're still working on, but Alya's family found us a lead on one of them. Should be in our hands in the next couple of weeks."

"Good. How many more ingredients do you need after that?"

"This is the last one we need for curing Nathalie, except for the blood of a relative, but we have a donor standing by who thinks it would be best to give the blood fresh once all other ingredients are gathered."

"Good, good. How about for your mère?"

"Just one more."

"Excellent! So we'll be able to revive her soon?"

Hearing a question he didn't want to answer, Adrien took a big bite of his food.

"Adrien, what are you trying to hide from me?"

Adrien sighed. If his father knew something was being hidden from him, that could be as dangerous as revealing this particular secret. "The last ingredient is nectar of the kurinji shrub. All of the plants bloom at the same time once every twelve years... and they aren't expected to bloom again until September of 2018."

Gabriel's face perhaps showed a bit of emotion for a moment before it disappeared. "And you were trying to spare my feelings?" He looked over at his son - who, far worse at hiding emotion than was his father, was tensing up. "You're scared of my reaction. I don't blame you. I don't trust my own reactions anymore. I - I'm sorry you've had to be scared of your own père. My behavior has been unacceptable, and I hope you can forgive me."

Adrien was in awe. His father was opening up to him, something he never thought would happen, and he wanted to do the same in return. "Père, I get it, what drove you to do what you did. Maybe it's too early to compare Marinette and myself to Mère and you, but she means so much to me, I can't imagine what I would do without her. Or maybe, I can. I'd probably fall apart, just like you."

Gabriel got an even more serious than normal expression on his face. "If you think you would, you probably would. You have my blood, after all. If you've already formed a dependency on her, there's only one thing you can do. Never let anything happen to Marinette.