Second Chances

surprise -------->chp50

Happy Birthday, dear Emma," they sang. "Happy birthday to you."

There was a cheer of applause before Emma squeezed her eyes shut really tight then blew out the five candles on her cake.

Another round of "yay!"s rung through the house while Alya took picture after picture. Soon enough, Marinette cut the cake and pieces were being handed out to all the family.

Including her parents.

"For Mimi," Emma said, handing out the cake because she was a whole five years old now and could do that. "And Papi."

Marinette saw her papa smile at Emma, thanking her and affectionately ruffling her hair.

Emma giggled, then gave him a hug.

It warmed Marinette's heart how readily Emma had accepted Tom and Sabine as her grandparents. She remembered the day she, Adrien, and Emma all went over to Marinette's parents for a dinner, only to explain to Emma that she now had two sets of grandparents. Emma had been so excited and then spent the rest of the night picking the names Mr. Dupain and Mrs. Cheng would be called. Out of all the names they came up with, Emma liked Mimi and Papi, so that's what they became.

Adrien came up beside her and wrapped an arm around her waist, grabbing her attention. "I like this," he whispered in her ear, referring to the family gathered in his—their—kitchen.

It was going to take a bit of getting used to before she called it her home, too.

She leaned her head on his shoulder. "I do, too," she whispered. She watched as her papa talked with Gabriel, who wore a smile on his face as he happily ate the slice of cake in front of him. Her maman was talking with Alya about who knew what, but the way Alya was waving her fork in the air proved it had to be exciting. Nino and Nathalie were listening to Emma talk with her mouth full, Nino teasing her about it and Nathalie covering a smile.

"Do you think they'll notice if we slip away for a few seconds?"

Her brow furrowed as she looked up at him.

He smiled. "I cleaned out the guest room," he whispered. "I'm also hiding all the presents up there."

"Well, then," she said, setting the cake down. "Let's go."

He grinned, then placed his own plate beside hers before taking her hands and slipping away from the crowd.

She wondered if Adrien caught the knowing look of their fathers and just chose to ignore it, or if he truly missed it all together.

He led her upstairs, pulling her along excitedly. She couldn't keep the grin off her face as she followed him, allowing her to pull her into the… not so empty room.

Her jaw dropped.

"Do you like it?" he asked. "Nino helped me bring that desk up here saying that you've told your mom that you've wanted a large desk like that for a while. And then those are Gabriel Approved mannequins right there, male and female. And that sewing machine is actually one that one of my father's top designers was going to get rid of because they tried it once and didn't like it but it's supposed to be the top of the line—"

Her lips were firmly pressed against his before he could finish, just shut him up for one moment because she was absolutely floored that he'd taken the time and consideration he did to fill this space that was now her office.