Edited by:

@sleepingintheshadows

@Just_another_star

~.~.~.~.~

The rest of the school day went by with constant interruptions from the babies. There was even one point when the crying of one baby set off every other doll in the room, which lead to half of the class sitting outside trying to stop their wailing dolls.

To Marinette, just making it through the school day was as satisfying as completing of a 10 mile marathon. That thought only lasted for a brief moment however as the sight of her baby brought her back to reality, reminding her that this was a full 24/7 problem she would have to deal with. The only thing that was able to brighten her spirits at the moment was the thought of getting to spend time with Adrien, even if it was in the context of taking care of a robot baby.

Right after the two had discovered that Louis was actually a girl they quickly renamed her Emma, another name which Marinette already had planned out for their future daughter. When the final bell rang and the teacher had dismissed the class, everybody began leaving the room in their assigned pairs, most of them grumbling about the project.

Alya leaned over to Marinette as she packed her books into her bag. "Do you think Chloe will help contribute to this at all, or will I be doing all the work myself?"

"Do you even need to ask?" Marinette replied, directing Alya's attention to Chloe who didn't spare them a second glance.

Alya sighed. "At least I know how to take care of a baby considering how much I had to help out my parents with my sisters, so I guess I could still get a good mark on this even without her."

A shrill squeal broke apart their conversation and they both turned to find Chloe had left her desk and made her way towards Adrien, locking him in a killer hug as if she was a damsel in distress that he just came to save.

"Oh Adri-poo," she whined, her voice seven pitches too high. "I got stuck being paired with Alya and I don't think I'll be able to make it, but don't worry, I have a solution."

Adrien tried to pry himself from her grasp, but Chloe's grip was relentless. His face contorted into a strained smile as he replied.

"And what's your solution?"

Chloe finally loosened her hold on him. "Well, since Marinette and Alya are friends, and you and I are inseparable, wouldn't it make more sense for us to just switch partners? The teacher doesn't have to know, we can just make up what we write on our worksheets." She shot Marinette and Alya a smirk, which they both responded to with unamused expressions.

"So Adrikins," she continued, ignoring the two friends, "what do you say? Actually, you don't even need to answer, I already know what you're going to-"

"Chloe," Adrien said, finally able to gently push her off of him. "The teacher paired me and Marinette together and I believe she made this decision for a reason. Maybe she thinks Marinette and I will work well together."

Part of what he said was true, he respected his teacher's decision for him to work with Marinette, but the other part of him didn't want to work with Chloe. She was his childhood friend and all, something his classmates still didn't understand, but she could get a little clingy, and by a little he meant a lot. Not only that, but he was also interested in working with Marinette. He didn't know much about her and hadn't gotten many opportunities to work together with her.

Chloe, however, didn't seem to like his response. She clung onto his arm like a protective girlfriend and glared at Marinette.

"Why would you want to work with her when you could work with me!"

Adrien used all his might to force his arm away from her, apologizing in the process, then turned to Marinette and smiled.

"Shall we get going?"

Marinette's heart skipped a beat and with an overexcited nod she grabbed the carrier that Emma was in and moved around the desk to stand beside him. She gave Alya an apologetic look but her friend just waved her hand.

"I'll be fine, I can deal with Chloe. You go have fun."

Marinette followed Adrien out the door, hearing Chloe complain behind them as they left.

"I have fencing now," Adrien said, turning to her, "but you could come and watch, that way if anything happens with Emma I'll be there to help. That is, only if you don't mind...Marinette?"

Marinette didn't hear a word he said other than his invitation to watch him fence. If she died in that moment she would have no regrets as she already felt like she was in heaven. Her mind wandered to what it would be like being able to watch Adrien fence without having to secretly peek in through the window. This time she was actually invited!

'What if,' she thought to herself, 'I get injured while fencing and Adrien carries me bridal style to the infirmary. No wait, I'm not the one fencing. Then what if Adrien gets hurt and I tend to his wounds, then he falls in love with me and we get married and have three kids and Louis will be a boy and Emma will be real and-'

"Marinette?" Adrien tried again, waving his hand in front of her face which had a goofy grin plastered on it. This time he was successfully able to penetrate her thoughts, snapping her back to reality.

Marinette felt heat rush to her cheeks, embarrassed that she was caught daydreaming about their life together in front of him.

"Are you okay?" He asked. "You look a little flushed, are you sick?"

"I okay yes, no uh, fine yes, wait no, fine me," she slapped her face, "fencing...go..."

Adrien gave her a confused look, but nodded anyway.

They made their way to the gym where his fencing lessons were. Marinette watched as Adrien finished up in the changing room and entered back into the gym. He was perfect in every way, even when she couldn't see any part of his body under his gear and mask.

The lesson started with the students practising different poses, and then they moved onto sparring with one another. Just as Marinette already knew, Adrien was the best one in the class.

"Your daddy is so amazing," she said dreamily while resting her chin atop Emma's head, "we're going to get married one day you know, and then we'll have a real Emma."

Marinette would have continued talking to the doll, but the perfect opportunity she had been waiting for was actually starting to happen.

Adrien went to thrust at his opponent, but the other person caught him off guard and Adrien was knocked to the floor, his left ankle twisting in the wrong direction as he fell. He sat up and rubbed his ankle, letting out a small hiss of pain. Marinette was at his side in an instant, discarding Emma back into her carrier on the bench.

"Are you okay? Did you break anything?"

"I'm fine, I think I just twisted it."

"Here," Marinette said while holding out her arm, "you can lean on my shoulder and I'll take you to the infirmary."

Adrien offered her a confused smile. "I just twisted it, I don't think I need to go to the infirmary."

"You never know what could have happened, you should probably get it checked just in case."

She wasn't going to let this opportunity escape her, this was her chance to live a happy life together with Adrien. This was it: after today her life would be set and she could finally be together with him, nothing could ruin this moment for her! Nothing, that is, except for the crying of a baby.

They turned in the direction of the noise, spotting Emma as she lay in her carrier wailing. Adrien got up and limped his way over to Emma just as quickly as Marinette had made her way over to him when he fell. It wasn't as if the baby was dying or anything, did he have to go to her right when they were going to have their moment?!

Adrien picked up Emma and started rocking her, trying to get her crying to stop. Marinette could have sworn the baby smirked at her as Adrien cradled her in his arms.

She couldn't believe it. She lost...to a doll...

It was her perfect chance to be with Adrien forever, but the doll ruined it, and now Emma had his full attention. Marinette was only able to watch with her mouth agape as Adrien calmed down the baby. Once she was settled down he handed Emma to Marinette and went back to fencing; apparently his ankle was feeling perfectly fine now.

"You did this," Marinette hissed to the baby, quiet enough so Adrien wouldn't hear, "you ruined my chance."

Emma let out a giggle in reply and Marinette's eyes grew wide.

"You...you did that on purpose, didn't you!"

She didn't care if people thought she was weird for accusing a doll of ruining her chances with Adrien, she knew that thing was out to ruin her life.

"You're worse than Chloe," she whispered again, sitting down with the baby in her lap. For some reason she felt as though the insult only brightened the baby's mood even more.

Marinette glumly sat through the rest of Adrien's fencing practice, all the while loathing the baby she was forced to take care of. When Adrien was finally finished she followed him out of the gym.

"So what are we going to do about taking Emma home?" He asked as they made their way down the hall.

"Well," Marinette said while blushing, "I know you have a photoshoot later today, so I don't mind taking her home tonight." It was a lie, she did mind taking the brat home, but she would do anything for Adrien.

"How did you know about my photoshoot?" He questioned.

Marinette froze as she took in Adrien's confused face. She knew because it was written on her schedule, just like every other fact about his life, but obviously she couldn't tell him that. 'Quick, think up an excuse!'

"I overheard you telling Nino, I do sit behind you and all."

'Nailed it!' She added silently to herself.

Adrien only looked more confused, not remembering telling Nino about his photoshoot today.

"When was that?"

"Oh, just the other day."

"Do you know when?"

"Just, you know... the other day."

Adrien seemed to buy it, thinking that maybe he forgot about telling Nino about the photoshoot. Maybe he had complained to his friend about it or something. Deciding to drop the matter, he turned back to Marinette.

"Are you sure you're okay with taking Emma home today? I promise I'll be the one to take her tomorrow night."

Marinette nodded. "It's fine, I don't mind at all."

If taking the little demon home would make Adrien happy then she was all too willing to do so.

The two had made it to the front of the school where's Adrien's ride was waiting. He smiled and patted Marinette's shoulder. "I owe you one."

With that she watched him leave, her heart fluttering the until long after his car was out of sight.

"He owes me one," she sighed dreamily as Tikki poked her head out of her purse and giggled.

Marinette believed that nothing could have ruined her mood. She was, yet again, proven wrong by Emma who found it to be the perfect time to start a screaming fit. Marinette groaned. This was going to be a long night.

~.~.~.~.~

Marinette had only just finished dinner when Emma decided to start up her fifth round of crying. Did this baby ever shut up?!

She sighed after finally getting Emma to fall asleep, gently placing her in her carrier and hoping that she wouldn't wake up. She was too tired to even attempt to do her homework, all Marinette wanted to do at the moment was sleep. She felt like if that baby cried one more time her hair would start going grey early from stress.

Marinette had just curled up in her bed when there was a loud boom, the vibrations rattling the stuff around her room.

"What is it now!" She shouted, flinging herself from her bed and glaring at the baby. "Oh."

For once, Emma wasn't the problem. She directed her attention towards her window where there was a cloud of smoke in the distance.

Marinette sighed, all she wanted to do was sleep but apparently she wasn't going to get the luxury.

"We better transform, Tikki."

"What about the baby?" The kwami asked, looking over to the doll that lay silent in her carrier.

"She's sleeping now. With all the crying she did she'll probably be out all night, we can just leave her."

Tikki nodded and Marinette called out for the transformation, sucking the little kwami into her earrings.

Marinette was halfway out her window when there was another explosion from the direction of the akuma, but this time the sound was followed by a loud wailing. Feeling her heart drop, Marinette looked back into her room at Emma who had woken up from all of the noise.

She was tempted to just leave her, the akuma was more important than her grade on this assignment, but then she remembered that she was partnered with Adrien. Dropping back into her room, Marinette went over to the baby.

She sighed to herself. "I can't let Adrien's grade suffer because of this, I wouldn't even have a good excuse as to why I neglected her needs."

Gathering up her determination, she scooped Emma into her arms and rocked her until the cries subsided. Once she was quiet, Marinette swiftly placed her into the baby holder that strapped onto her back and clipped it into place, Emma resting safely against her back.

Once again she pulled herself through the window that led to her balcony, glancing behind her at Emma as an uneasy feeling spread throughout her stomach.

"How am I going to explain you to Chat?"