S•E•V•E•N

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The feeling of someone running their fingers through his hair woke him from his dreamless sleep.

Groaning, he sat up, rubbing his finger against his temples to calm his raging headache. He might have had a bit too much to drink the night before.

"You're finally up," The random girl purred, running her fingers down his naked chest. "Maybe we can continu-"

"Get out."

She was shocked at his tone, but didn't move. "Mr Kurt-"

"I said get the hell out!" He suddenly yelled, striking her across the face. The girl whimpered as she fell to the floor at the impact.

Not wanting to face anymore of his wrath, she quickly picked up her maid uniform and scurried out of the room.

He was tired and stressed out. His business was failing, his wife ran away-- nothing seemed to be going well for him.

"Mr Kurtzberg," A familiar voice spoke from the door. Looking up, Nathaniel's eyes met with Bertha's.

"What?" He spat, not wanting to speak with anyone at the moment.

Bertha, as always, wasn't phased by his hostility. She had watched Nathaniel grow up and turn into the man he was. She admired him as she would her own son. She knew Nathaniel was hurting-- he cried on her shoulder everyday since Marinette had left-- and she couldn't help hating the the girl who caused his pain.

"You need to stop doing this to yourself," She said to him, moving into the room. "Using different maids every night to satisfy your 'needs' won't do you any good."

"I do not want to talk about it, Bertha," He stated simply, sliding out of the bed in his naked glory and heading to the bathroom. "Just leave before I get angry."

"She'll come back, you know," The old maid suddenly said, catching the redhead's attention. "She needs you, Nathaniel. She won't stay away for long."

"How do you know that?" He scowled, slipping on a robe. Taking in a deep breath, he sighed. It smells like her. "If she needed me, she wouldn't have left me, Bertha!"

Bertha stood silently, watching as Nathaniel sunk to the floor and pull his legs to his chest. Her heart broke when she saw tears in his eyes. "I-I want her back. I need her."

"I know, I know," She muttered, kneeling to hug him. She felt like crying when she felt his tears wetting her shoulder.

It honestly broke her to listen to his sobs and to hold his shaking body when he cried.

It's all Marinette's fault, Bertha thought with a deep frown. Why did she leave? How could she leave him?

It felt as if an eternity passed before Nathaniel finally calmed down.

"You have to get ready for work," She spoke, taking his red face in her hands and wiping his tears. "It's going to be okay."

She watched as he nodded and headed into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

"I told Mr Kurtzberg that that girl wasn't good enough for him, but he didn't listen," Bertha murmured to herself as she headed downstairs. "Look at the state of Nathaniel. He wasn't even this sad when his mother died."

"Ms Bertha," The voice of one of the security guards met her ears.

"What?" She scowled. "Why aren't you at your post?"

"Someone dropped this off at the gate. They are still outside," The man rolled his eyes. In his hand was a big rectangular envelope. "It is for Mr Kurtzberg. They want to speak with him."

"Give it here," She ordered as she snatched it from his grasp. The man didn't hide his glare. "Do not give me that look. Have you no manners? Go back to your post, I will give this to Nathaniel. Send the person here in five minutes."

He left without a word, though he had pretty colourful ones he wanted to share with her.

Bertha studied the envelope in her hands and felt confused. What is this?

Office of Marriage and Di-

"What is that, Bertha?" Nathaniel's voice made her almost jump out of her skin. She didn't get a chance to hide the envelope for Nathaniel's eyes were glued to it.

"T-the security guard said someone dropped it off at the gate. I-It's for you," She stuttered, holding out the envelope in front of her reluctantly. He quickly took it, eyes scanning over the item. "I think they might be-"

"Divorce papers," The redhead spoke, his voice dark. She had seen Nathaniel angry before, but this was way worse that what she ever saw...

And for the first time ever, Bertha truly feared Nathaniel.

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"I'm out of contacts," Marinette panicked. She had to be at work in an hour or so and she had no contacts.

"I'll order some for you later," Tikki assured her as she got ready to go downstairs to open the bakery.

"But I need to go to work now," She insisted, running her fingers through her hair.

"I doubt anyone will recognize you just by your eyes, Marinette," The redhead chuckled, heading downstairs. Marinette quickly trailed behind her looking like a kicked puppy. "Stop fretting so much. It's just one day."

Marinette tried to let Tikki's words sink in. Right, no one can recognize me.

"Okay," She muttered, sitting behind the counter as Tikki went to turn the sign to 'OPEN'. "I'm hungry."

Tikki rose a brow at her before she headed into the kitchen. "Didn't you just eat breakfast?"

Marinette hummed in response, "Yeah, but I'm still hungry."

"Here are two muffins and hot cocoa," Tikki came out of the kitchen with a paper bag in one hand and a styrofoam cup in the other. "Take them and go to work."

The blunette grinned, taking the items from the redhead and pecking her cheeks. "Thanks, Tikki."

"You know, Mari," She heard Tikki mutter as she headed back into the kitchen. "I'm proud of you."

"For what?" The blunette asked, her cheeks tinting pink at Tikki's words.

"For having the courage to send those divorce papers to him," The redhead said, going to stand in front of Marinette. "The divorce process will probably be a long one, but it'll get through. I just know it. Your parents are currently working on getting your hospital records as well as the information on that one time you reported him to the police. Soon you won't have to worry about him anymore."

Marinette nodded, not trusting her words, as she stared at the ceiling to fight back tears. She was honestly tired of crying.

"I just hope he signs them so I can rid his last name forever," She said, taking a sip of the hot cocoa.

"Me too," Tikki piped in. "Kurtzberg doesn't fit you one bit. Now, go to work!"

Laughing at Tikki's high pitched voice, Marinette quickly made her way out of the bakery.

Marinette felt horrible. She felt nauseous and tired. She practically had to beg Trixx not to put her behind the counter, afraid she might throw up someone's face.

"What do you think?" One of the customers, that she was assisting, asked her as she stepped out of the fitting room.

"Hmm," Marinette hummed as she studied the outfit. She then quickly pulled the straps of the dress down her shoulders and smiled. "There. That's how it should be worn. This dress is perfect for you. All you need are some red shoes to go with it and viola! Perfect."

"Really?" The girl lit up. "I have to buy it then!"

After helping the girl find shoes and a few more pieces of clothing, Marinette let out a sigh of content.

It was one of those days where they got good customers. She was glad because she couldn't exactly handle people screaming at her because they thought something was too expensive or because the store was out of things in their size.

Based on how she was feeling, she'd probably burst into tears if that happened.

"Impressive," A familiar voice startled her, causing her to turn around.

"M-Mr Agreste!" She squeaked out, not expecting to see him at the store. "What are you doing here?"

She had realized that she would see Adrien very often. Whether it be at the store or at the bakery. Not that she was complaining- wait...she was complaining. The more time he spent around her, the easier it would be for him to figure her out.

"It's inspection day, Miranda," He grinned, his eyes never leaving hers. She gulped when he drawled out her name almost mockingly. "I have to be here."

"R-right," She stuttered out, feeling her face heat up. She then tried to change the topic. "Earlier impressive what was?"

When she saw Adrien fighting back a smile, she realized what she had said. "N-no! I meant-"

"I know what you meant," The blond chuckled, reaching out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear only to pull back slightly when he saw her flinch. "I find it impressive how you deal with customers."

Her eyes widened as she took a step back from him. I thought he was going to hit me! She screamed in her head as she bit her lip. "Thank y-you."

Adrien tilted his head to the side as he studied the girl in front of him. She is so much like- He thought before cutting himself off.

"You remind me of someone."

Marinette's eyes widened further --if that was even possible-- as she gaped at him slightly. "I-I have to get back to work," She quickly said as she rushed off.

He shook his head as he watched her retreating back. Maybe -just maybe- his suspicions were right.

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Did he know? He couldn't have figured it out so fast, right?

It's just a month! He can't-

"Marinette!" Tikki's voice pulled her out of her thoughts. "I have like five orders of donuts and macaroons for table three and six, but no one is at the register. Can you deal with these for me?"

It was Monday and the bakery was extra busy. People were coming in left, right and center. Marinette felt overwhelmed, but Tikki looked like she was used to it.

Ignoring her pounding headache, she nodded at the redhead and started on the orders. Soon she was rushing around the bakery taking orders and handing out pastries. As she moved around the kitchen, she heard Tikki complaining about two of her staff not showing up for work on the busiest day of the week.

Taking a deep breath, Marinette picked up a tray only for it to slip from her fingers and crash to the floor. She quickly picked it up with shaky hands and leaned against the counter.

"You alright in there?" She heard Tikki shout from the front. "Do you want to take a break?"

"I'm fine, Tikki," Marinette quickly replied. The place was overly packed. She couldn't let Tikki manage so many customers on her own. Pushing away her uneasy feeling, she jumped into action.

After serving one of the last tables, she realized that two people had entered the bakery. Picking up two menus, she made her way to the back where they had went to sit.

She tried to hide her shock when she saw that it was Adrien and his assistant, Alya.

As she was about to speak, Alya spoke up. "We don't need those, we already know what we want."

"O-okay," She replied, taking out her notebook as she tried to ignore Adrien's eyes on her. After taking their orders she quickly rushed away.

"What's with you eyeing the waitress?" Alya nudged the blond, snapping him out of his 'trance'. "The poor girl almost passed out with you ogling her."

"I wasn't ogling her," Adrien replied with a roll of his eyes. Resting his cheek on his open palm, he let out a frustrated huff. She had green eyes again. He wasn't sure which was her actual eye colour. Was it green or was it blue?

He couldn't help but to think that she looked so much like Marinette with blue eyes. So much like her...

Stop. He told himself. Not everything relates to her. Just stop.

"Doesn't she look kinda ill?" Alya asked, causing the blond to turn his head to her slightly. "She looks like she's about to pass out any moment."

It seemed like Alya spoke too soon because as the blunette was making her way back to their table, everyone watched as her eyes rolled back and she collapsed.

"Oh My God!" The short redhead, Tikki he thought her name was, screamed as she rushed over to the unconscious blunette. Adrien and Alya did the same.

Tikki checked her pulse then started doing some movements like pushing a leg against her chest and checking if she was breathing.

"She's not waking up," The redhead panicked, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Drive her to the hospital," Alya suggested quickly, biting her lip.

Tikki shook her head. "I-I don't have a c-car."

"I'll take you," Adrien spoke up before taking Marinette from the floor and holding her to his chest. "Let's go."

After explaining how to handle the bakery to Alya, the pair quickly left with the unconscious blunette.

It felt like they were sitting in the waiting room for hours. Tikki sat there beating herself up for 'overworking' Marinette and Adrien tried his best to comfort her.

"I hope she's alright," Tikki muttered, leaning her head against the blond's shoulder.

"I'm sure it's nothing too serious," Adrien replied. He had to get back to his company in thirty minutes. He was the boss after all.

They both stayed there in silence for a while longer before a doctor stepped out of the room where they had the blunette. She then looked in the direction of the pair.

"Are you two here for Marinette Kurtzberg?"

Adrien's eyes widened in surprise while Tikki jumped up, nodding rapidly and shooting questions at the doctor.

Marinette. Adrien thought still staring at the doctor.

"Well, two things caused her to pass out. First, her blood pressure was extremely low and that was very dangerous considering her state," The doctor started. "Second, she is somewhat overworked and she has not been getting enough sleep. This is bad for her in her fragile state."

"What 'state' do you mean?" Tikki asked, going closer to the doctor, her eyebrows furrowed. Adrien stood and did the same.

"Well, Marinette is pregnant," She stated before her eyes moved to Adrien. She then gave him a wide smile. "I assume you didn't know so congratulations, sir."

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Well then...hi guys! This chapter should have been out ages ago, but your author is a master procrastinator ;-).

[do not think too much of me calling Marinette 'the blunette'. i do it because i don't want to call her 'the redhead' then get mixed up with Tikki ^_^]

How was the chapter?

What are your thoughts?

Damn, the amount of research I did on divorces and pregnancy is UNBELIEVABLE! I am now extra educated on stuff that will never happen to me :-0.

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter! Until next time,