Butterfly Delivery - Adrinette

By Any Other Name

Three years after Certified Baby

"Make sure she spends at least half an hour in her oxygen tent," Lila warned, dropping off Ariel at the bakery. "She doesn't like it, but if she complains, remind her that she's just going to feel worse later if she doesn't do it."

"An oxygen tent now?" Tom commented to his wife once Ariel's mother was gone. "This poor child has every illness under the sun! None of the other butterfly children are this unhealthy."

"Marinette did say that Lila was the only one who tried to abort her 'pregnancy' back when they were all expecting," Sabine sighed. "Poor Ariel is lucky she survived, but that could be where all her problems come from. Oh well, nothing can be done now. Lila must regret her decision; she's become such a loving mother now. She's even trying to get into medical school just so she can understand better how to take care of her daughter. If that's not going above and beyond..."

--

Four years after Certified Baby

"What did you want to talk to me about?" Marinette wondered what Felix could possibly have to say that he didn't want Adrien or Bridgette to hear. Kids his age weren't supposed to be able to keep secrets. The little boy sat next to her on the park bench, lost somewhere in his thoughts.

"I want you to be my Maman."

"You already call me 'Maman'."

"I know, but... you're not really my Maman. I don't have a Maman." Felix punctuated his words with a slow, sad, swinging of his feet.

"Did Papa tell you that?" Marinette asked him. It was true, but she didn't know if they should try to explain that until the kids were a little older.

"I heard the people at the doctor place say you couldn't sign the paper because you weren't my Maman."

Oh. A week earlier Marinette had been forced to take Felix into urgent care. He and Bridgette had broken a feather pillow in a game of tug-of-war and the boy had gone into anaphylactic shock. Later, Marinette tearfully told Adrien that she didn't expect his allergy could be that dangerous and wouldn't have allowed Felix to play with that pillow had she known. He assured her he didn't blame her for what had happened, and that she shouldn't blame herself either, as Felix was recovering fine. He'd then imparted that his own allergies had been far more severe as a small boy, and that they had lessened over time. Somehow, Marinette felt relieved that this notion wasn't coming from Adrien, that he wasn't teaching his son to disassociate with her.

"You see, Felix, this might be hard to understand, but you were made in a special way. Most children are made of pieces of their Maman and their Papa, and are equal parts of both - but butterfly children like you have either a Maman or a Papa, and are made entirely out of pieces of that person. I had no part in making you, so some people are going to say I'm not your Maman."

"But you can tell them that you are," Felix insisted.

"I'd like to, but I can't; not unless Papa decides he wants to share you with me."

"He will! I'll ask him!"

"Hey you, did you finish talking?" Adrien asked, approaching with Bridgette.

Marinette raised her eyebrows at him. "Do you know what he had to say?"

"Not unless it's anything like what Bridgette told me, but you go first."

"He told me he wants me to really be his Maman."

Adrien flushed a bit. "That's... what I suspected he might have said. I swear I didn't put him up to that, but - Bridgette told me she wants me to be her Papa, and I promised her I'd talk to you about it." He sat down beside Marinette on the bench. "The kids were up to something. They had to have planned this, asking pretty much the same thing at the same time. I'm not sure what they had in mind, but I think I have an idea that could make everyone happy. We've talked about marriage before, but it's always been a matter for 'someday'. Well - why don't we just... do it?"