They'd dropped Emma off at the bakery with her parents, and Marinette was now about to enter her first ever Gabriel meeting... with Gabriel Agreste... and the investors... as Adrien's girlfriend and baby mamma.

How the hell had she gotten herself into this mess?

"Are you okay?"

Lost in her pacing, Marinette had forgotten she was currently in her 'boyfriend's office, instead her attention was on her sketchbook which she was hugging closely to her chest like a safety blanket.

Adrien, however, was just perched on the edge of his desk in a perfect model pose, not an ounce of stress on display. He just sat there watching her wear down the heels of her shoes. The shoes which were a lot higher than she expected and slightly on the wobbly side — or was that her?

"No!" she almost screamed, continuing her rhythm of moving up and down the room.

"Just relax, Marinette," Adrien chuckled and she was tempted to smack him in the face. He was laughing at her, and she'd never had such an overwhelming desire to transform and suspend someone in thin air by her yo-yo string.

"Relax?" she hissed, squeezing her sketchbook into her chest a little tighter. "How can I relax when I'm about to go into a meeting with all the investors, who seem to have huge sticks stuck up their asses?"

"Oh, come on Mari. You've worked here for a year now, I would have thought you would have been used to it."

Marinette glared at him, finally stopping her pacing and planting her feet firmly into the floor.

"Firstly, it's Marinette, and secondly, I've never been anywhere near the investors."

She watched Adrien study her face before pushing himself up from the table.

"So, you're telling me you've never met the investors before?"

Feeling her cheeks heat up she turned her head to look away from him.

"Never," she responded, the uncomfortable feeling overpowering her body as she felt Adrien's eyes examining each and every inch of her.

"Let me get this straight, you've been working here for a year and have never been involved with the investors?"

Shaking her head, she wanted to cower in a corner somewhere. He actually had no idea who she was or what she did in the company; her lips pursed in a will to avoid the conversation they were about to have. He was surely about to regret this thing they had going on.

"Marinette, you do actually work here? You don't just work for the building as a custodian, right? Like you work for Gabriel not cleaning the toilets or something? Though, that would be quite the sight in your heels from yesterday."

Marinette sighed and walked over to the sofa, sitting down and praying Adrien didn't follow her. The way the sofa moved beside her, that idea flew out the window as quickly as it had entered her train of thought. She looked over to Adrien, his expression somewhere between panic and curiosity. And the way he was looking at the doorway, Marinette wondered if he wanted to just make a break for it and run out of the room.

"Of course I work for Gabriel! How else would your father know my name? I work in the production side of the company," she said, not so much lying as just not telling the truth.

"So," he dragged out, "you work in design?"

"Not quite," she replied.

"Fashion wear?"

"Nope."

"Business?"

She shook her head again and Adrien seemed to just grow more and more agitated. Needing to alleviate Adrien's obvious tension, Marinette turned a little to face him.

"I work in alterations."

His eyebrows creased and she could tell he was trying to figure out why he couldn't place her.

Oh dear! Alya always said her toilet trips were going to come back and bite her in the ass, she just didn't quite realise how badly. Although, suddenly having a child with your boss one day wasn't exactly something she expected to happen.

"I go down there often. How do I not recognise you?" Adrien mused, his voice softening as were his eyebrows.

"I'm not exactly recognisable."

Her voice was small and she could feel herself sink back, hiding in her body. Collapsing back against the sofa, she, once again, grasped tightly onto her safety blanket — her sketchbook. Throwing her head back onto the sofa edge, she closed her eyes, hoping for many reasons that when she opened them she'd wake up back in her own bed and release it was just a dream, or maybe that she'd been Akumastised.

Warmth coated her hand, causing her to open her eyes instantly and look at the man beside her. Adrien was still there. Touching her hand. This most certainly wasn't a dream.

"Marinette," the soft sounds of Mr Honeytones was back. His voice once again took on that soothing and caressing speech that made her insides turn gooey. "I'm quite sure if I'd seen you before I'd recognise you."

He shuffled a little towards her on the sofa and she was sure that if she wasn't frozen to the spot she would have vaulted herself away; over the armrest to land unladylike sprawled out on the floor.

Adrien moved closer. His tongue darted out and licked his lower lip. The glistening was like a homing ray, telling her to move forward and feel it... with her own lips.

The tractor beam turned on full throttle, Marinette feeling herself move towards him.

Was she going to kiss her boss' son?

His hand reached out and delicately placed on top of hers, her mind sending her straight back to bed the previous night when his hand had lightly caressed hers as she struggled to sleep. Marinette closed her eyes. This would be the second guy she'd ever kissed. A shameful, yet honest, statistic which she couldn't wait to change, especially if it was with Adrien.

" Ugh ! Now that is certainly something I don't want to see."

Caught up in the moment, both Marinette and Adrien failed to notice Lila entering the office.

A groan made its way past Adrien's lips, the low guttural noise one she wished she could accomplish herself. They were so close, so, so close to locking lips and although she never had anything against Lila Rossi in the past right now the woman was gradually making her way to the number one spot on Marinette's most hated list.

As she felt Adrien move away, she was shocked that he didn't pull the full way back. Instead, he kissed her so delicately, so softly on the forehead she could have cried. Even if you doubted their relationship, a kiss like that would 100 percent make you reconsider. Damn him for being such a good actor.

"What do you want Lila?"

Adrien stood from the sofa and stretched to his full height. She always knew he was tall, she'd used his measurements enough to know every inch of leg and arm, but she'd never quite placed the height with the power he possessed.

He was a big guy. Tall and built. Not quite the shape of a model, instead he was healthy and masculine. Where in his younger days he wouldn't have looked out of place in a dress, now he would just look ridiculous. She eyed his frame stopping at his forearms — the forearms she'd drooled over in his tee the previous night.

Pull yourself together, girl!

Marinette couldn't believe it though, finally she was cashing in on her Ladybug luck. She had the opportunity of seeing Adrien in normal clothing plus sharing a bed with him... well, a lottery win wouldn't even touch this once in a lifetime opportunity.

And he'd almost kissed you.

Trying not to linger on the fact Adrien's lips had lingered millimetres away from hers, Marinette took a deep breath and stood beside him. They needed to look united. They were parents. They were 'together'. And she knew from eavesdropping yesterday that Lila Rossi made Adrien rather uncomfortable.

Slotting an arm around his, Marinette cupped his bicep and moved her head to settle on it. Misjudging the distance to his shoulder.

Lila looked between the two of them, her face obviously not believing what she was seeing in front of her.

"Lila?" Adrien questioned again, waiting for the girl's response.

"Your father's waiting for you both in the meeting room. I don't think he'd be too happy to find that the two of you are doing ' this' on his clock." Lila crossed her arms over her chest and directed her glare straight to Marinette. She'd never been certain of an enemy before but the way Lila was looking at her right now looked like a death penalty.

"We have no reason to hide anymore Lila, we're going to enjoy it." Adrien turned and pressed a kiss to the top of her head and she couldn't control the girlish giggle leaving her mouth.

"Oh, please!" Lila flicked her hair over her shoulder and crossed her arms, rolling her eyes to look towards the ceiling.

Leading her towards the door, Marinette made sure she kept her eyes down as they passed Lila and headed out the room towards Gabriel's conference room. Adrien held her close the entire way, regardless of the muttered comments and over suspicious glares.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice low and directed to her ear only.

"Yeah," she sighed, about as believable as if she told Adrien she was Chat Noir.

His laughter once again stirred something in her stomach. "You'll be fine, Mari... sorry, Marinette," he corrected. "Just look like you're sketching whilst you're in there, that's what the other designers usually do. No one ever questions it because no one wants to break their 'creative moment."

Marinette went to clutch her sketchbook to her body only to realise it wasn't in her hands anymore.

"My sketchbook." She stopped almost causing a collision for the people walking behind them. "I left it in your room."

Turning quickly, Marinette scurried back to Adrien's office intending to find her sketchbook. The sketchbook being examined by Lila Rossi.

"You know, these are quite good. It's a shame there'll be no need for them when you're blacklisted from the fashion industry." Without looking up, Lila continued to skim the pages of Marinette's book; each page turned with enough force to rip it out of the book.

"Blacklisted? Why would I be blacklisted?"

"Oh, simple really. When you leave Paris' Golden Child there's going to be no one around who would want to touch you." Lila shut the book and looked at Marinette. It was harsh, malicious almost. "It's a shame you're going to lose everything, Marinette. No one seems to get the fit of my clothing as good as you do."

Thrusting the sketchbook into Marinette's chest, Lila continued to head out of the room leaving Marinette alone with her thoughts. She didn't even know Lila Rossi, why would she be so cruel?

She gave Lila ample time to make her way out of the office and to the conference room, the sketchbook still held tightly to her chest, before she followed on.

"Are you okay, Marinette?" Tikki flew from the spot in her bag, hovering in front of the girl and seemingly awakening her.

"That seems to be the question of the day," Marinette huffed, balancing the book on her forearm and flicking through the pages.

"You haven't answered it?" her little friend said, eyes wide and questioning.

Marinette sighed. Was she okay? She really didn't know. Her whole life had changed in the matter of days and even though she wasn't exactly 'normal', she had coasted by under the radar just fine and exactly where she liked it.

"I don't know, Tikki. Everything's changed, and I know change isn't always a bad thing, but this is just too much, too soon. I just can't fathom what's going on. And what do I do if Ladybug is needed? I can't just turn up with a toddler. This is a disaster, a complete disaster."

"Marinette, it's okay, I promise. I spoke to Chat Noir and he understands. I never mentioned Emma, just that something's happening that might tie you up a little. He was fine. Very supportive if you must know."

Marinette cupped Tikki in her hand and brought her to her face, snuggling the kwami and feeling a little calmer. "You're right. I can do this... once I've survived this meeting, that is."

Grasping the book tightly into her chest she headed out, head held high and chest puffed out.

*****

When Adrien had told her in the car that the meeting was going to be tedious he most certainly undersold it. Marinette was currently struggling to stay awake in what could only be described as the most boring three hours of her life. Worst of all, they weren't even close to finishing — if the itinerary in front of them was anything to go by.

Adrien had made sure to keep her comfortable, especially as the first thing the investors wanted to know was the ins and outs of the couple's relationship. After all, if it affected the lining of their pockets, they needed to know.

After what felt like a decade, Adrien had agreed to go on a talk show to explain his relationship with Marinette under the guarantee both girls were left out of the media circus. Marinette would remain unnamed for as long as they could get away with, and Emma was strictly out of bounds. A contract drafted by the Agreste family lawyers strictly stating photographs and videos were prohibited and arraigned by law. She was extremely grateful to him for doing so.

Once that had been ironed out, and Marinette had briefly been introduced to the investors it was straight back to business. Conversations ranged from trousers and dresses to perfumes and makeup — and how they could use Adrien.

She felt him squirm beside her time and time again as they discussed him as nothing more than a face and body. It was making her angry, and even with Adrien's reassurance that he was okay with it, she was strung up tighter than her yo-yo.

About half way through, she'd taken to designing clothing in her sketchbook. Her hands wanted to draw Emma and a whole new wardrobe. Her concentration being pulled between the descriptions for new autumn jackets and formal wear, and her cutesy superhero dress designs for Emma — ones she so desperately wanted to go home and start to make.

She continued to sketch and colour, her subconscious was obviously listening into what was happening around her a little more deeply than expected.

"With profits down by 48%, Gabriel, I think we need to do something more."

48%? She had to stop herself from whistling. That was quite a drop in numbers.

"We need to do something different, Mr Agreste." Another investor said. "There's obviously something going on with the clientele."

Marinette couldn't help but snort and under her breath. "That's because they're either dead or spending all their money on their newborn babies."

"Excuse me?" Gabriel's voice was aimed directly at her, her feet cementing to the floor along with her stomach. Did she say that out loud?

"I - um - I -" She didn't know what to say. It's not like she'd made up what she'd said, hell no! Those who brought Gabriel items were either now dead or dying, or the same age as her. An age where other life priorities took over.

"Do you have any solutions to get us out of this crisis? If you think that's the problem."

All eyes turned to glare at her, and she wanted to disappear. She had zero ideas. Nothing! And she was quite sure that she was about to lose her job.

"Well —" she began, unsure where to go with this.

Her first meeting and she had made an idiot of herself.

"We've actually been working on a new section of Gabriel. A new brand which will put the company back on the map." Adrien stood and looked around the room. "It's amazing and exhilarating, and even though it's not quite ready to pitch yet, it's a very strong work in progress."

"And what is that, Adrien?" Gabriel enquired.

Marinette looked at him dumbfounded. Once again he was lying. They had nothing... that was until he took the sketchbook from under her hands.

"Everyone. We'd like to introduce you to 'Baby M'."