"Do you, Adrien Agreste, agree to wed Marinette Dupain-Cheng?"

"I do."

"And do you, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, agree to wed Adrien Agreste?"

"I do."

"Then Marinette, please repeat after me. 'I, Marinette, take thee, Adrien, to be my husband. To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish, till death do us part.'"

"I, Marinette, take thee, Adrien, to be my husband. To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish, till death do us part."

"Adrien, please repeat after me. 'I Adrien, take thee, Marinette, to be my wife. To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish, till death do us part.'"

'I, Adrien, take thee, Marinette, to be my wife. To have and to hold, from this day forward, for better or worse, for richer or poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and cherish, and not even death shall we part.'"

She rolled her eyes, a smile still coming from her. He was so cheesy and it made her want to cringe a little that he said such a thing in front of dozens of family and friends, not to mention the agreements he had with Alya's tv station about broadcasting the whole thing. She was red in the face half the time knowing that people were going to be watching this and recording it to look at whenever they wanted to...if his fan club still existed after that day anyway.

She would have been madder if she didn't request a copy of it for herself to watch whenever they had long stretches away from each other like this.

She went to stretch at the long pause of watching her wedding ceremony and quickly stopped when a bout of nausea hit. She took a deep breath to calm herself and reached out for the still-steaming cup of ginger tea and sipped it. She ended up drinking more than one sip and it was almost empty before she put it back. The back of her head found the leather part of her desk chair and she gave a small groan in the empty office. "Ugh...it wasn't as bad as it was with Emma, but it still sucks no matter how many time I have kids..."

Thankfully, her mother had all sorts of traditional remedies from when Louis was started and she used them for both kids.

She grinned and looked at his recorded profile again.

"So...I heard about this three kids and a hamster bit..."

"Alya?! Damn her!"

"I think it's cute. Especially when you were that infatuated with me back before you ever met me."

"I...may have exaggerated a few things..."

"Well, Louis and Emma are both over at father's per my request... I can't think of a better way to start our five year anniversary..."

"Sneaky little kitty..." She murmured, eyes playfully narrowing on the paused video. Fingers drummed on the armrest, the other one used to prop her head up. "If I had known you were going to be gone for a month to help with Little Black Cat in the Asian market, I would've made you wait till you got back..."

Hugo. She knew it was a boy from the ultrasound, but she was going to make him wait for being gone so long. He didn't know she had gone to the doctor yet and she was going to hand him the printouts of the exam when he got back.

A hand went to the small bump, a tender smile forming. Louis and Emma both knew about it, although Emma was just past two, so she didn't understand much. It took a few dolls and playing for her to figure out that the bump in mommy's tummy was a baby, but now it was the first thing she said whenever her hands found the small protrusion.

"You'll have some good siblings to help take care of you, so don't worry..." She murmured, looking to the hand rubbing her stomach.

Louis was a happy child and did so much, but that was probably Adrien's exuberant, first child parent syndrome. He cuddled Louis as much as he could and she wondered if he was making up for anything or amending the gap in his own life. Whatever it was, Louis was affectionate and one to ask for hugs as much as either of them would give them. He always cried whenever daddy had to go away for trips and couldn't go with. Spending time with either set of grandparents helped calm him down though.

Emma was a little quieter and not just because she was a girl. Two months after her birth was about that time they finally managed to convince Zoe to move in with them in the house they bought in Chatou and Zoe spent a lot of time with Emma as an infant. It was a huge help because her business skyrocketed so much and she was forced to spend less and less time away whenever there were spare seconds to do something. Zoe was something of a quiet person when she first visited her in Menton and spent lots of time rocking Emma in her room, just staring off at the view they had from the house.

Emma was still a sweet girl and wanted to play dress-up with her hats and ribbons whenever Marinette pulled them out to check a design she was crafting. She helped put things away, though a little encouragement was needed, and loved to cuddle.

She sighed and looked to the closed door. She wanted to spend time with the two, but she needed to get this done because the deadline was in two days and she didn't want any stress from crunch time.

"You make them, I'll plug your business, and we can let the audience decide which one is best. You can still sell them on your website. It's a win-win for everyone."

"But they're all going to be tailored to you! How many people do you think have your chin structure and hips?"

"Please. Plenty of women who like food. Come on! I'll pay what it's going to cost! Nino's jaw will hit the floor! Pleeassseee!"

Deep blue gravitated to the pad on the desk. She had almost finished coloring it and looking at the sketches, but she needed Alya in her bridesmaid's dress for inspiration. That included getting out the old wedding photo because she made Alya's dress instead of letting Gabriel do it.

Oh the struggle that had been. It had been a few tense moments on tuxes, shoes, purses, and catering, but they finally found the stride that worked for them and managed to collaborate enough to not tear each other's hair out from a designer's point of view. The tv cameras ate up the publicity, as did she, and not even shortly before Louis was conceived did she finally hire two people to help her out. She couldn't keep up with the amount of orders anymore when first trimester nausea hit and a production crew was finally born.

Hands scrubbed her face with a sigh when she got the last line in place. She rested against the back of the chair again, looking to the ceiling. "Ugh..my head hurts..." She mumbled, lips pursing. "I need some lavender tea..." She went for her phone and pulled up the text box.

Could you make a pot of lavender tea for me please? The front of my head is hurting again.

She sighed at her own laziness, but sent the text and put the phone back. He was in the same area as she was, though probably not with the kids like Zoe was. It wasn't like she was an invalid, just tired, nauseous, and achy. What a combo. And it was going to happen for about another two months.

The door opened moments later and she gave a grateful smile when her eyes landed on the teapot. "Thanks. Sorry for asking so much from you. I could have gotten it myself...I just.." She put her face in her hands, the darkness feeling much better than she thought it was.

There was a quiet clunk and sound of running water. The smell of flowers hit her nose and she breathed in with a happy hum before a pair of slender hands went for her exposed neck. She gave a groan of happiness at the pressure on the knots in the shoulders. "Ahh...hurts so good..." She mumbled, hands dropping to her lap.

"I can stop if it's too much. I don't want to hurt you."

She snorted, but slowly shook her head. "They don't go away if you're nice to them." She responded and the pressure remained the same. It hurt to have him squeeze the tense spots like he was, but made the blood tingle in her fingers and it was nice.

"Feel better?"

She looked up with closed eyes and a happy smile. "You give the best massages. Adrien should take lessons from you."

"As awkward as it was enough for me to be around you two in the beginning, that might tip his patience back to the starting point."

She snorted and finally looked to soft blue eyes framed by red hair. "You're doing just fine. I think you have more to worry about with Emma following you everywhere." She giggled.

He smiled. "Don't tell me she's one of those kids who marries older men?"

"Pffftt. Please. Adrien really would kill you if that was the case. He's so protective of his little girl."

"As am I."

"Take a seat, Nathaniel." She redirected, hand waving to the chair at the corner of her desk which he primarily used. "I finally got all of Alya's stuff done, so you can take it to production. They measured her already I heard, so I'd like to get this stunt of hers out of the way as much as possible so I can relax and kick my feet up. Maybe cuddle with Louis and Emma before dinner. I haven't talked to mama Zoe all afternoon and I feel bad."

Nathaniel smiled as he grabbed the sketchpad. "She understands completely and she told me to tell you not to worry. They're working on her next book in the other room."

She frowned a little. "I know she considers it penance for running out on Adrien all those years ago, but he sees it as getting to let his mother spend time with her grand kids. They only spend a few days a month with Gabriel and that's partially for photo shoots."

Nathaniel grinned. "I'm sure you're still oh-so-pleased about that."

She pouted and crossed her arms over her stomach. "He doesn't get Hugo for advertising. I don't care what deal he made with Adrien about Emma and Louis; he doesn't get this one."

"Hugo? It's a boy?"

She grinned. "Don't say I told you before I told Adrien. He'd never let me hear the end of it."

Nathaniel smirked. "Something to lord over his head sounds tempting, but I won't. You'd make my job hell in advertising for the rest of the year."

Fingers went to the bridge of her nose, rubbing at the ache in her eyes. "And don't you forget it."

"The tea should be cool enough by now, let it do the job you needed it to."

She quietly sipped the tea, answering questions that he asked about lines and curves on the three different patterns in order to finish the visions she had in mind. She watched him jot down notes on buttons, stitching, and fabric styles in the blank spots, feeling proud that he was so accomplished in such a short time.

Course, his history with her was primarily the reason she asked for him to be her right hand man in the first place.

"I need your help."

"Surely there are many other qualified people you can ask."

"None of those people have a history with my work like you do. I trust your judgment and I know you wouldn't screw me over despite everything we've been through."

"You know I would never do that to you."

"I knew the day I got your Noel present that we could be okay in the future enough to meet. I know inviting you to my wedding was a little weird and probably too much to ask for, but thanks for at least meeting me after it."

"Does he know about this?"

"I discussed it with him. I had to since he got me all that limelight in the first place. He knows what it's like to have people around you in a business that can go global. I don't want anyone from his team coming over to mine. I want my own and I'll not have anyone say that I'm using Gabriel to further my own by stealing his staff. I'll...admit that we struggled with it a bit, but I assured him with the ring on my finger that I wasn't going to go anywhere."

"Do you even know what you're asking? This means I'm going to be something of a business partner and at your side more often than he will at times. Do you think you can handle that? Do you think I can handle that? Don't you think that's a lot of pressure on me?"

"I wouldn't have asked if I didn't think that time hadn't helped you out. I know that it's entirely selfish of me to ask you to join my company, but, in a way, you already had years ago. You were one of the founding members who gave it the name. It was just never official monetarily."

"Let me think this over. I'm glad you're offering me to be involved with this, but it's still a lot to take in. I was almost ready to showcase at a few galas, you know. This means I'll have to reorganize my whole life for you again. I already had to do that once. You'll have to understand if I'm hesitant to be involved so heavily with you like you want."

"Take all the time you need. I'm asking early, but I'd say I might be able to hold out for another two months. Louis is making it a tad difficult to keep on my feet every day as it is. I finally bit the bullet and hired a few people to help me make things and I like their work. Juleka actually gave me their names."

"I'll contact you with my answer."

That ended up being in the hospital after Louis was born. She let Nathaniel hold him and she swore the look of fierce protection in his eyes helped make the decision for him. It had been harder for him than it was for her for the most part, but the bridge they had constructed since then was special in its own right, built on years of memories and business relations. She only needed him for half of the week, letting him work on his art which she also had in parts of the house.

She helped him get his name out and let him take credit for some of the designs to showcase his talent to the world. It helped his fame a little to be associated with her, as hers had jumped because of being around Adrien. She was giving back to so many people who had helped her earlier and it felt good. There was nothing wrong with being a good friend with a special history and not losing touch in the future.

"I think everything is in order." Nathaniel finalized, closing the book. He stood and looked down. "Did you call Juleka and tell her when she needs to be photographing Alya? You'd better hope that she's not hanging out with Rose in some part of England for Ivan's concerts right now."

She slouched in the chair. "I emailed her a week ago, but never got a response. I don't know if she's taking photos of landscapes right now or not. She knows to check her email from time to time so she doesn't lose out on paychecks from me though." She grinned and slowly stood, hands going for the tea. "I know she freelances more and more after working for me, but I hope she still knows where her stable employment comes from." Sip." Ahh...that's good."

Nathaniel smiled and went for the handle. "Let's take it into the living room and you can join everyone. We were drawing pictures and Zoe was working on the story they were telling her. I think Mylene gave her another two weeks to get it done, so you have a lot of illustrations to catch up on."

She sighed, head falling back. "Damn...I forgot about that. I thought the kids were going to do most of it now that Louis is almost five?"

"While Louis and Emma followed in your artsy footsteps, Emma IS only two, you know." Nathaniel held the door open for her and she nodded a thanks. "We'll take a few blank pages out of this or you can grab another one that Zoe isn't using and have the kids dictate to you. It'll be good time with them."

She smiled and nodded. She was tired and really wanted a mid-afternoon nap to reset herself, but it did sound fun. Now that Alya's job request was sent to the next step, she could work on Zoe's children book request.

"I'd like to give the grandchildren something special from me."

"Like what? You already spend springs with them in the garden. They love being outside with you while you tend to the plants. They always love helping to water them."

"There's still more I wish I could do. I didn't give Adrien anything good to remember me by. The journals are a terrible thing for him to pass along to Louis and Emma. I'd rather burn them, but I keep them with me to help me never make those mistakes again."

"So what are you thinking then?"

"I want something that Louis and Emma and I can do together. Emma won't be able to do anything yet, but maybe in the future once she learns to talk, she could make a few books. I can use my fame to plug them and maybe Alya could help me...?"

"I do know someone in the publishing business if you want to talk to her. I'm sure she would love to help. She might be working on her own book though. I think she's making a three-part series out of it, but she'd spare the time. If she can't, she'll definitely know someone in her job that could."

It was a strange thing considering she was a highly accomplished artist with a degree from Sorbonne and a business degree in fashion. She struggled a little with children designs and making them on a level of a three-year-old. Once Louis could say his colors and articulate what he wanted well enough to form good sentences, he helped them make the books that Zoe wrote down for him.

In a way, they were more from Louis's head in the beginning, with Emma added in as she learned to talk and got into the project. It was a beautiful idea Zoe thought up and they had a few of the collection in Louis's room. He loved reading them to Hugo when it was everyone's night-night time and she knew that Emma would take up the slack with her own ideas soon enough. It was a family thing all its own and a connection for Zoe with her kids. Whenever Adrien was home, both Louis and Emma would fight on who got to read to him first.

She stifled a giggle as she thought about the last time the pair were nearly in tears on turns and Adrien ended up reading one of their other books to her in order to break the struggle. Those two were adorable in their own ways...

"And don't forget fire! Dragons have fire!"

"Princess and pointy hats! Purple! Purple is pretty. The best!"

"So the dragon has captured the princess; then what happens? Is there a knight who comes in to save the princess?"

"The princess has a sword!"

"Princesses don't have swords!"

"Do too!"

"Nuh uh!"

"Why can't they have swords, Emma?"

"Princesses have to wear dress!"

"Well, could we make a dress that could have a sword? Then she'd be pretty neat, right?"

"I think we could make a dress that might work with that." She butt in with a grin. She stumbled a second as the pair each took up a leg and hugged it. She ruffled Louis's head and smiled at Emma before turning to Nathaniel. "I think this could be a hard one to tackle. You want to stay and help or be done for the day?"

Nathaniel held up the pad. "I'll get these scanned and do a video chat with the production crew to make sure they have everything before coming back. I'll let you get started without me."

"Uncle Nathan! Princesses can have swords, right? They can!"

Nathaniel chuckled and reached down to ruffle Louis's hair. "They can if they want to. Your mommy had a sword for a number of years. It's called wit."

"Mommy had a sword?"

"See! Princesses can have swords! Let's put a sword in there, mamie!"

Zoe laughed and looked to the notebook. "Alright, sword it is. But, how is she going to hold it? What is she going to do with it?"

Marinette looked up and gave Nathaniel a lopsided grin. "This is definitely going to take a while." She mumbled when Louis started play-fighting in the air with a sword he was pulling from his imagination.

"Should I order take-out?"

She shook her head. "Mama should be coming over tonight. She said she wanted to make Emma something sweet and I gave in when she said I could have some, too. Pretty sure papa already has something made up for dinner that they're going to bring with them." She sighed, head shaking. "If I would've known they were planning on helping so much with food, I would've let them move in."

Nathaniel grinned. "You know they would never have left the bakery."

"Yea, but it's not like it's that far away from here. It's only a twenty minute train ride away."

"Why do you think I make the commute? Had I known you were planning on moving out here to give the kids some fresh air, I might have said 'no'."

She giggled and waved off his jest. "I'll see you in a bit then. Are you going to have dinner with us again? On the house."

"A Dupain-Cheng specialty? I'm in." Nathaniel took a step back. "Help out mama, Louis. You're the man of the house for now. I have to go talk to people about mama's work."

Louis stopped his playing and ran to give Nathaniel a quick hug before hurrying to the low table crayons and paper were spread all over. She joined the trio and grabbed a pillow to sit on, going for a few crayons and blank paper. "So, what does the dragon look like? That's important. It sounds like this is about the dragon after all, so we need good details."

"The princess is! She need to save from bad dragon!"

"But the mama is right. The dragon is important. He took the princess. We need to make him look mean!"

The details kept getting drawn and scratched out again as not good enough. Either Emma didn't like it, or Louis hated it. She finally made the two make a list of things they thought were important and worked from there. She was barely halfway through with getting the two to agree on the design when Nathaniel came back.

"Someone was knocking on the door so I let them in." He announced with a grin.

"Someone here?" Emma announced, sitting up with bright eyes.

"Is it that time already?" Zoe asked, eyes wide. "Goodness, where does it go?" She smiled and looked to the pair of cherub faces. "I think mamie and papi Dupain-Cheng are here with food."

That was all it took for the pair to rocket off, leaving everything where they scattered it, yelling greetings and want for snacks in their wake.

She heaved a sigh, hand coming up to rub her nose again. "Finally...a little quiet..."

Zoe and Nathaniel laughed as they cleaned up. "Feeling up to some food, dear?"

She smiled and grabbed the empty crayon box. "Starving. Hugo has been kicking me for what feels like forever."

"I could have gotten you a snack you know..." Nathaniel frowned. He tapped the stack of papers on her head. "Don't make Hugo wait! He's a growing boy."

"So it's a boy?" Zoe perked up and dropped everything in her hands to grab Marinette's. "I'm so happy for you, dear! That's wonderful! We'll have to tell Tom and Sabine. Oh...should I call Adrien?"

She smirked. "He can wait till next week when he gets back home."

"Now, now, don't take it out on the poor boy." Zoe lightly chided with a smile. "He didn't mean any harm in leaving. It was what he decided to do after all."

"I know. It'll interfere with whatever he's doing though if I call him. I want him to focus so he can be happy here at home. I wouldn't want to miss it." She smiled. "I just hope he doesn't forget to give Christine Lau my regards."

"I'll go help wrangle the duo from your parents and get the table set." Nathaniel offered, setting the collected stack of papers on the table. "Don't be too long."

Zoe helped her stand when they finished finding the last of the crayons off the floor. "Are you really going to make him wait an entire week to know he gets another rough-housing boy? He's going to be too excited to know that he gets to teach another one to walk all over again."

She giggled and patted Zoe's hand. "I already foresaw the three kids years ago. I told him, but he didn't believe me. Even mama thought it was a boy before I got the sonogram. He's already spent the last few weeks not knowing, one more won't kill him."

"Ah well. Alls well that ends well, right?"

Marinette smiled and joined the rest of her family in the kitchen.

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Thank you to my beginning readers, those who found this in the middle, and the ones finding it after its completion. This whole thing started from one k-pop video and a single image in that video. I never thought it would be so much like a spider web with the plot and connections. It seems so abrupt to end it now, even though it turned out to be 103 chapters long and 1.5 years worth of researching and posting. I put a lot of personal experiences in the story, or I built enough imagery to make it as real as possible...especially in this last chapter. Thanks for sticking with me for almost an entire year. Thanks for your comments and interactions. I hope the rollercoaster has been worth it. m(_ _)m