"Kid, what are you doing?"

Adrien sauntered down the sidewalk. Over the years working as a model for his father's company he'd grown used to public praise, with people gushing over him and taking photos of him to send to their friends and peers.

But after all the years he'd been gone from Paris people didn't seem to recognize him anymore. More filled out with broad shoulders and a narrow waist, he was far from the youthful boy he'd used to be. If only Ladybug could see him that way, no longer the boy who'd let her down, but the young man who wouldn't.

"I'm going to see Marinette," he replied.

Plagg peered up at him from inside his blazer and frowned. "Are sure you're gonna see her? Or are you just showing up for the kid?"

Adrien sighed. "I just want to make sure everything's okay with him. Besides, he hasn't even gotten the chance to meet Adrien."

"Talking about yourself in the third person? This whole mess has really made a mess in that big old head of yours. Stick with cheese. You buy it, you eat it and you get another one. So much less complicated."

"First of all," he replied, "I'm the one buying the cheese, and secondly, there's nothing wrong with me wanting to get to know Hugo a little better. He's Marinette's son after all."

"The son who isn't yours."

Adrien swallowed hard. The truth had been hard to deny, but he'd managed somehow. Of course meeting Hugo hadn't made things any easier, with his cheeky smile, sparkling eyes and unsatable curiosity, he was practically perfect.

He stopped outside the bakery. With the sun out fully, he could see the lack of changes made to the Dupain-Cheng bakery. It still had the same bright yellow wording printed against the glass with shelves filled with delicious pastries reading for the ceiling.

And he remembered Marinette's balcony, the times he'd gone up there after an akuma attacks and saving her like he had from The Gamer. It felt like so far away now, back when they were children and stressed about homework assignments instead of bills and other mouths to feed.

Like another world.

Adrien walked in the bakery and the bell above the door jingled to announce his arrival. Tom looked up from the counter, wiping it clean from flour that had managed to cover almost everything in front of him.

"Adrien, what a pleasure it is to see you back!" Tom marched around the cash register and made his way towards Adrien, grasping him in a tight hug and raising him slightly off the floor. Adrien wheezed, trying in vain to keep the larger man from crushing him.

"It's good to see you too, Sir."

"Sir?" Adrien's feet touched the floor again and Tom took a step back. "No need to be so formal, now, we've known each other for years. I even baked your birthday cake."

The last one he'd ever had in Paris during his sixteenth birthday. Ironically it was Chat Noir themed, with a little figurine of him shaped like Manon's old dolls. It'd been one of the best birthday's he'd ever had.

"Grandpa! Are you done yet? We need to put the cake in the oven." Tom moved back and Adrien found himself at a loss for words.

Hugo was dressed in a little chef's outfit with a tiny hat and flour covering his entire face. White power caught in his hair and his little fingers were stained with food coloring. Hugo's eyes widened as he looked up at Adrien and, for a moment, Adrien worried whether or not he'd recognize him as the late night superhero.

"You're tall." he said.

Tom laughed softly, patting the boy's back encouragingly. "Hugo, I'd like you to meet someone very special." He gestured to Adrien and the blonde waved awkwardly. "This is Adrien Agreste, one of your mother's best friends."

Hugo looked back at his father and pouted. "I thought he'd be shorter."

Adrien was taken aback. "You knew about me?"

"Yeah, my mom has a drawer full of pictures of you. I thought you were my dad." The atmosphere in the room grew tense, Adrien unsure what to say, and Tom coughed into his hand to break the silence.

"Hey buddy, while don't you see if Grandma can help you put the cake in the oven. I've got to talk to Adrien about something. Grown up stuff."

Hugo crossed his arms over his chest. "I never get to listen to anything around her." He retreated back into the kitchen, adjusting his little chef's hat as he waddled through. Tom turned to Adrien and seemed to grow a good couple inches, his eyes darkening.

"Adrien, I'm going to ask you a question and you'd better think twice before lying to me." Tom grabbed Adrien's arm and he felt more interrogated than anything else. "Is there anything I should know about, anything between you and my daughter?"

"No, Sir," he replied, "We're just friends. That's all we've ever been."

"Good," Tom slapped Adrien's back and the blonde jerked forward at the force of the blow. The eerie atmosphere dispersed and Adrien finally felt safe to breathe again. "I'm afraid you just missed her. She left a couple minutes ago to go on a date."

"A date?"

"Yes, apparently it was all Alya's idea, but I'm grateful my little girl's going to try to find someone. It's not right for someone as her to be forced to spend her life alone. She deserves someone who loves and treasures her."

Adrien couldn't argue with that. "I hope it goes well then."

"You and me both."

The date had already started on a bad note.

After arriving ten minutes late for their date, Adam was already agitated. He'd gone through two glasses of wine and just about stood up to leave before he caught Marinette's disheveled appearance through the restaurant window.

"I'm so sorry," she said, "I came here as fast as I could."

He chuckled lightly. "It's all right really. I was just afraid you weren't going to show." She couldn't see why. He was practically gorgeous.

Adam's hair was smoothed back, shimmering with gel and his dark eyes sparkled cunningly as he leaned back in his seat. Lean muscle peeked out from beneath the collar of his shirt and his cologne was sweet and musky.

Alya had arranged with her to meet up with one of her peers in the journalism industry. Owning his own publishing company and being a highly successful partner of Alya, she'd said he'd immediately taken a liking to her when she'd suggested the idea.

But Marinette already knew when she'd Googled him that she was out of her depth. He surrounded himself with fabulous elites, women who's beauty rivaled the models Gabriel Agreste would personally select and she...she was a single mom with smudged lipstick and a purse carrying Hugo's favorite mints.

"So, Marinette, Alya tells me you're interested in fashion?"

"It may seem a bit ambitious, but I've always dreamed of being a fashion designer. I was hoping to become an intern at Gabriel Agreste's company and maybe branch off to start my own when I was experienced enough."

"Gabriel? You mean the fashion designer in England?" Marinette nodded and Adam smirked. "I wouldn't concern myself with them if I were you."

"What do you mean?"

"After he left Paris in such a hurry some people investing in his company pulled out. He's doing well in England, at least from what I hear, but I doubt he'll ever be the icon he once was."

"Well, I guess that may be true, but his designs were always an inspiration for me. And after meeting his son –,"

"You met Adrien Agreste?" asked Adam, eyes wide, "What's he like?"

"Who, Adrien?"

"You seem so familiar with him." he murmured.

"Well we went to school together." she replied, "He's actually very sweet and kind, always helpful to anyone in need."

"That's not what I heard. Apparently while working as a model in England he was extremely withdrawn. He hardly spoke with anyone he worked with, let alone doing anything he wasn't told to do."

"No," Marinette frowned, "Adrien...he's not like that."

Adam shrugged. "Perhaps these are just stories, who knows? But what I am interested in is you." He leaned further on the table. "You're a beautiful woman, Marinette."

She blushed lightly. "You're too kind."

He leaned back in his seat, a triumphant smile on his face. "What's your family like? Surely the people who raised such a wonderful woman would be equally extraordinary."

Marinette wrung her hands together beneath the table cloth. "Well my parents are both bakers so I spent most of my life in the kitchen with them, helping them with orders and so on, but the real light of my life is Hugo."

"Hugo?" asked Adam. "Is that the name of your brother?" He brought the glass of wine to his lips.

"No, actually. He's my son."

He choked on his wine, spurting while drops of red rained on the pristine white tablecloth. A waiter hurried over to help him, but Adam caught his breath and waved him away. "I'm sorry," he cleared his throat, "Did you say your son?"

"Yes." Marinette frowned. "I'm a mother."

"How old were you?"

"Excuse me?"

"How old were you?" he asked. And already, Marinette knew it was the end. She'd resigned herself to it, prepared for the worst, but being in front of someone so charming, lively and handsome had brought some hope back into her night.

Crushing it proved more painful than she anticipated.

"Sixteen." she whispered. "I was sixteen."

Adam wiped his mouth with the napkin and gave her an uneasy smile. "It was lovely meeting you Marinette, but I'm afraid I have to be going."

He threw the napkin down in his empty plate and raised his hand up so everyone could see. "Cheque, please!"

"That was a disaster, Tikki." Marinette ran her hands over her face and groaned. "What was I even thinking? Why did I even agree to this? What's wrong with me?"

"There's nothing wrong with you." said the kwami, "He was too immature for you."

"Just because a guy doesn't want to settle down before the age of thirty doesn't make him immature." Marinette walked back towards the bakery slowly, hoping to drag out the hour long enough to keep her parents from asking too many questions when she got home.

She didn't even know what to tell them. It didn't work because he didn't want to raise a child that wasn't his? How was that going to instil any hope for her future? How was she supposed to tell them to resign to the fact that she'd stay single or that she already had?

Marinette stopped outside the front door, taking a deep breath and mentally prepared herself for the questions that awaited her inside. Tikki offered her an encouraging pat on the thigh and Marinette thought bitterly about what the people of Paris would think about their precious Ladybug if they saw her now: Broke, homeless and walking away from a failed date.

She pushed open the door, hearing the familiar bell chime above her and proclaimed loudly. "I'm home!"

"Hugo put that down."

"But I need it for the cake."

"Then let me help you."

"I can do it by myself. I'm five, not three."

Marinette frowned and walked towards the kitchen behind the empty counter. But nothing could've prepared her for what she saw next.

Adrien stood wide-eyed in front of her little chef, his hair matted with different hues of food coloring and his forearms caked in flour. He was staring a Hugo warily, watching as her son handled the knife to cut a mess of cake covered in different types of icing and showered in rainbow sprinkles.

Hugo cut the first slice and Adrien hastily grabbed the knife out his hand, immediately relaxing. "Hey," he cried, "I was busy with that."

"No, you cut it and now you're done."

"You're just jealous because I cut it in a straight line."

Adrien slapped his hand over his face. "I slipped on the sprinkles, okay. That wasn't my fault."

It was the strangest thing she'd ever seen, but no matter how hard Marinette tried she couldn't look away.

When she'd been younger all she'd dreamt about was a future with Adrien, him as a loving father to their children and a caring husband. They'd been fantasies back then; meaningless wishes that she'd long accepted wouldn't come true.

But standing there, watching them, she couldn't help but think back and pretend for just a moment that her wishes had actually come true.

Hey everyone, sorry for taking so long to update. Life's been busy and writing time's been a little scarce lately. I hope you enjoy this latest chapter and please don't forget to vote or comment if you enjoyed it. I'd love to here your thoughts.

The next one should be up soon!