Day 40

Love is a covenant.

The words rolled around Adrien's mind as he took his time setting up candles for the evening. They agreed to meet here, on the Eiffel Tower, just like they used to do. It had been Marinette's idea when she brought up how much she missed being Ladybug.

And Adrien had to admit he didn't realize how much he missed being Chat Noir until he transformed and began running through the city.

He'd bring up the possibility of doing this again, of having this become their bonding time just like it used to be when they "patrolled" the city.

Just as he lit the last candle, Ladybug swung in. Chat straightened, standing tall in pride at his work of setting up candles and flowers everywhere on this little spot high above everywhere else.

She looked over the scene, her eyes wide as she took it in. "Oh, kitty," Ladybug whined, her eyes soft as she crossed her hands over her chest. "You didn't have to do this."

His heart swelled. "For my lady, anything. Do you like it?"

"It's beautiful."

His grin widened. "I'm glad."

She set the bag filled with their dinner on the ground before walking up to him and throwing her arms over his shoulders. Instantly, he swooped her up, holding her tightly against his chest as he lifted her feet off the ground. They stayed like that for a while before Chat lowered her back to the ground.

"Thank you," she whispered in his shoulder.

"For you, milady, the world."

She squeezed him tightly one last time before slipping from his grasp. She took a breath, clearly composing herself before swiping at her eyes. "I'm going to start crying, and we haven't even recited vows yet."

Chat chuckled, though he felt the same way. They had come up here with a purpose, and that purpose was completing the day's dare: write new vows to recite to your partner.

So they did. They each had spent the day rewriting vows to the other. Adrien remembered the first time he wrote vows, he spent days agonizing over it. Today, he only had a couple hours to complete it, which was nice in a sense because he knew it didn't have to be pretty, they just had to be true and earnest.

Though, he wanted them to be pretty. They agreed they would get their vows framed together and use it to replace the picture they killed last week.

Oops.

With a steadying breath, Chat pulled out his copy of his vows from his pocket, just as Ladybug pulled out a copy of hers.

He went first, reciting the vows and promises he wrote down and fully intended to follow. Half way through, she was crying, and he wasn't far behind. And then he finished with pulling a locket from his other pocket.

Her jaw fell to the ground.

"We may not have rings this time around," he said. "But I want to give you this as a symbol that I love you and always want to be with you, no matter what challenges we face or other rough spots we hit. I want to fight for this marriage because I nearly made the stupid decision to give it up. And I'm sorry. I'm ready to go forward with this marriage stronger than our partnership ever was."

Ladybug couldn't even look him in the eye. She was in complete tears, hands over her mouth, as she stared at the necklace. A heart that he had engraved with "Love Dares."

Carefully, he cracked it open so she could see two pictures. One of them on their wedding day, and one of them as superheroes snuggled together. He owed Alya big time for helping him with that. "May I put it on you?"

"Please."

He walked up behind her and carefully draped the necklace around her neck. He clasped it, and she immediately reached up to hold the locket that sat right at her collarbone. "I love it," she said. "I love it."

"I'm glad," he said, hugging her from behind. She melted into him, tears still pouring down her face just as a couple slipped down his cheeks.

They stayed like that for a little while longer before Ladybug turned in his arms. "I still have vows to recite to you."

He smiled, his heart warm. "Okay."

Just as he suspected, she reduced him to tears with her vows and promises. "And," she continued. "I knew we wouldn't have rings this time, either. So I have a little something else to present you with. Something you could keep with you to remember that our time together is precious."

She slipped over to the bag she'd brought and pulled out a little black box. His heart leapt. She got him something? She was busy all day but still managed to get him something?

With a smile, she opened the box, revealing a pocket watch.

He'd carry that thing with him the rest of his life.

Carefully, he picked it up from the box and looked it over, realizing that it had been engraved, too.

Time is Love

Through his tears, he sniggered. "It's a pun."

Her smile grew as a giggle slipped out. "I know."

He opened it, and in the lid of the watch, there was a picture of them. One from their honeymoon that had been snapped as a candid but was so precious since Marinette was in a Ladybug dress and Adrien was decked in black with hints of green and silver.

"I love it," he said, closing it and holding it against his chest. "I love it so much."

"I'm glad."

With that, he kissed her. Long and hard and fervently. Because this was his wife and the most precious treasure he could ever hope to find.

And he would spend the rest of his life proving that to her.

Five weeks later

Marinette and Adrien agreed that they needed continue kwami counseling. They each were messes and knew they still had a lot to work through. Plus, it was time together, spilling secrets the other may not have been privy too and strengthening their bond in the process.

However, it was halfway through this week's counseling session that Marinette felt positively sick to her stomach.

"Marinette?"

Oh, was it her turn to talk? "I… sorry, I wasn't paying attention."

With a concerned expression, Adrien reached for her hands. "Are you feeling all right? You look really pale."

Marinette nodded, but the second she shifted on the couch, her stomach roiled and she began adamantly shaking her head.

Next thing she knew, she was running toward the bathroom.

"Marinette!"

She barely lifted the lid to the toilet before her stomach emptied all its contents into it. Adrien was by her side soon enough, pulling her hair out of the way and rubbing her back soothingly.

Eventually, her stomach had nothing left to give up. Feeling exhausted and sweaty, she reached up to flush the toilet, making it disappear.

"Better?" Adrien asked, not stopping the soothing circles on her back.

She gave a nod, unable to answer.

"Do you want some water?"

"Yeah."

"Okay," he said, standing up. "Do you want to stay here, or do you want me to help you to bed?"

She thought about moving, but that sounded very unappealing. "Stay here."

"Okay." He pressed a kiss to the top of her head before walking out of the bathroom toward the kitchen.

"Plagg," Tikki said, looking off toward the bathroom where her charge had bolted off to.

"Yeah, Tikki?"

"Adrien agreed to go to the store today, right?"

Plagg looked at her suspiciously. "Why?"

"I need you to get something."

When Adrien came back from the store, Marinette was feeling well enough to help put everything away.

"Thank you, bugaboo."

"Of course, kitty."

"I'm just glad you're feeling better."

"Yeah," Marinette said, grabbing the bag full of bathroom supplies. "Me too."

Adrien shot her a smile just as she headed toward the bathroom, but this time to put stuff away. She was halfway done when she pulled out an item she knew wasn't on the list.

"Adrien?"

"Yeah?"

She appeared into the kitchen, holding up the little rectangular box. "Ummm… are you trying to tell me something?"

His brow furrowed as he stared at the item. "I didn't get that."

"I did," Plagg piped up, looking at Adrien. "You're so clueless; you didn't even notice I slipped that in."

Adrien's eyes narrowed at his kwami. "I'll keep that in mind."

"But… why?" Marinette asked, waving the box in the air in front of her.

"I asked Plagg to," Tikki piped in. "I have my suspicions."

Suddenly, both Marinette and Adrien showed a little more interest in the box.

"You… you think?" Marinette asked.

"When was the last time you or Adrien used contraceptive?"

Marinette's eyes locked on Adrien's. They were blushing bright red within seconds because the answer very well could be "not recently enough."

Partly to hide out of sheer embarrassment, Marinette slipped back down the hall to the bathroom, where she shut the door and took the test.

Before she could find out what the test said, she walked out of the bathroom to finish helping Adrien put the rest of the things away, only to find him right outside the bathroom.

"Well?" he asked.

"I don't know yet," she said, siding up to him. "We have to wait."

His expression fell and his gaze hit the ground. "Oh."

There was a silence between them.

Slowly, Marinette reached out to slide her hand into his. "What do you want it to be?"

With a confused hum, Adrien looked back at her.

She took a breath. "Do you want it to be positive or negative?"

His brow furrowed. "What kind of question is that?"

Words got caught in her throat for a moment. "I… we just put us back together."

"So?"

Again, words got caught in her throat, but this time they stayed there.

Adrien smiled. "Sweetheart," he said, grabbing her other hand and squeezing tightly. "We may have just put us back together, but frankly, I don't think we're falling apart any time soon. Not when we both are willing to put in extra work to make sure we don't end up where we had been. And…" he sighed. "I know we've talked about a family before we got married. You know I want one, particularly with you. The fact there could be a baby makes me positively ecstatic."

She looked at him and his unabashed smile. And she couldn't help but laugh at him. "You are such a dork."

"Your dork," he corrected. "And your husband, and possibly the father of your child."

Something warmed in her at that. She'd always wanted to be a mother, and now, at the prospect of finally being one…

She glanced behind her at the bathroom.

"You think it's done yet?" he asked.

"Possibly."

"Then let's go see."

Together, hand in hand, they walked into the bathroom to look at the little pregnancy test on the counter.

And those two lines they saw caused immense joy in the Agreste household.

Ten Years Later

Had you asked a teenaged Marinette where she would be now in her life, she would have answered that she had the perfect life: married to Adrien and had three kids and a hamster while she worked as a fashion designer.

Well, she did work as a fashion designer, running her own company. She'd managed to rebrand Gabriel as MDC, which did wonders for increasing the popularity of the company. While yes, she did bear the Agreste name, and proudly, MDC made for some really fancy monograms.

Adrien found it hilarious.

The hamster was scrapped because there was a penchant for cats in the household.

Marinette had to put her foot down at three.

Number four was only because it was a kitten that Emma begged to nurse back to health and she couldn't say no when her husband and her eldest ganged up on her.

There were three kids, though. There was Emma, her first and most responsible. Then Louis came along two years after that. Next, little Hugo was nearly four.

And then there was little anniversary accident that didn't have a name yet. But, considering how severe her morning sickness, Marinette was searching for a girl's name.

Lastly, yes, she was married to Adrien, but to say life had been easy was an outright lie. To think that one day they almost ended everything…

Marinette held her stomach while she looked toward the living room where her three other kids were playing with the cats. This almost wasn't. Four of the most important people in her life, one she hadn't even met yet, almost weren't in existence.

Strong arms encircled her, protectively wrapping around her stomach and pulling her flush against a firm chest, one built from years of fencing, including—much to Marinette's pride—on the Olympic team. Twice.

MDC may have been a very proud sponsor of one gold Olympic winner and two-time world champion.

"What's going through that pretty little head of yours, bugaboo?" he whispered.

She sighed, snuggling deeper against him. "Have… have you ever looked at those three or thought of this one," Marinette held his hand to her slightly bulged stomach, "and thought… that they almost didn't exist."

Adrien tensed at that. "Yeah, actually," he said. "I have. Particularly when I look at Emma, knowing when she was conceived."

Marinette blushed.

"But," he continued, "I am so immensely grateful that Tikki and Plagg made us pull our stuff together before we did something we would regret. Heavily. Because yes, we each could have married again, had kids of our own, but knowing that… that you're the one beside me, that you're the mother of my children, that we are going through life and facing it together… I would have missed that. And that's what I would have lived to regret."

Marinette smiled as she looked toward the framed vows hanging on the wall in the living room of their larger house. They'd had to move when Hugo was born because their first house was too small for two kids. So instead of putting their vows hidden in a hallway, they put it front and center in a room where they could all see it as a reminder that their family was the most important thing in their lives. As their reminder to never give up.

Marinette reached up to grab her locket, one she wore regularly. Adrien hummed as he pulled his watch out of his pocket. Honestly, Marinette hadn't expected him to wear it as often as he did, but Adrien never left the house without it.

"I love you," he said, giving her a squeeze and replacing the watch. "You have no idea."

She smirked. "Well, there are three kids in this house with another on the way. I think that should be some indication."

Adrien chuckled. "And that right there is why I love you."

Her smile turned sweet. "I love you, too, kitty. To the end of the world and back."

He smiled, slipping his left hand over hers, their rings touching as he wove their fingers together. "To the end of the world and back."