The waiting room was decorated with professional photos of newborn babies. Marinette glanced around at them as she sat hand-in-hand with Adrien.

After a few minutes of silence he leaned in close to whisper to her. "I hope that we have a little girl."

"Really?" she whispered back, surprised.

"Of course, and I want her to be just like you."

She smiled. "I was kind of hoping that we'd have a little boy. So he could be just like you."

"How about one of each?" he joked. "You know that twins run in my family."

"I thought that it has to run through the woman's side?"

He shrugged. "Well you never know. Maybe we'll get lucky."

"We'll be lucky enough if we get one healthy baby," she argued gently.

Adrien paused for a moment and nodded. "You're right. Just like always."

And she smiled at him before leaning in for a kiss.

Then after waiting a little bit more, they were called back to one of the rooms. Marinette sat on the exam table while Adrien sat in an extra seat on the side. A nurse went over some medical history with them before checking Marinette's blood pressure.

"One ten over seventy, perfect," the nurse murmured, removing the cuff. "You wait right here, Dr Patel will be in shortly."

"Thank you," Marinette replied as the nurse left the room.

Once they were alone, Adrien stood and went over to her. He grabbed her hand and kissed the back of it. "Everything will be fine," he tried to assure her. "You'll see."

She gave him a weak smile and nodded.

A minute later there was a knock on the door and the obstetrician came into the room. "Good morning Mr and Mrs Agreste," she said. "How are you?"

"We're great," Marinette answered.

"That's very good to hear. So we'll be checking on the pregnancy today. Based on your dates you should be about nine weeks along, so I'll be taking a look with the ultrasound machine and afterwards you'll need to get some blood drawn."

Marinette nodded.

"This is your second pregnancy, correct?" Dr Patel asked, checking her chart. "You had a miscarriage last year?"

"Yes, that's correct," she replied.

"Have you had any problems during this pregnancy?" the doctor continued. "Any bleeding or cramping?"

"Nothing like that. Just a little nausea, but I haven't thrown up at all."

"Alright, well let's check you out here. I'll have you lie down and I'm going to feel your abdomen."

Marinette lay down on the table. Adrien remained at her side as the doctor examined her.

"Everything feels okay here," the doctor said. "Now let's take a look with the ultrasound."

Marinette's heart caught in her chest. She had been simultaneously looking forward to, and dreading, this part of the appointment.

"Could we get a picture to bring home today?" Adrien asked hopefully.

"If we're able to get a good picture, then I'll definitely print one out for you," the doctor told him.

He smiled. "Thanks."

Dr Patel turned the ultrasound machine on and squirted some gel onto Marinette's skin.

She flinched slightly at the cold sensation. Then she held her breath as the doctor started scanning her.

Adrien squeezed her hand. When Marinette looked over he smiled and mouthed the words 'I love you' to her. Relaxing a little, she returned the smile before turning back to the doctor.

Dr Patel moved the ultrasound transducer over her skin with a neutral expression on her face. Every couple of seconds Marinette could hear a quiet beeping noise, which she assumed meant that the doctor was saving pictures.

After a minute of nothing, Marinette looked over at Adrien again. And they continued staring at each other until the doctor stopped scanning and put the transducer down on the machine. Then they turned their attention back to her.

"I'm very sorry," Dr Patel began sadly, "but I'm afraid that this isn't a viable pregnancy."

A sob came out of Marinette's mouth and she squeezed her eyes shut. Adrien quickly leaned over her and put his hand to her face. "I'm so sorry, Princess. I'm so sorry," he whispered as he started tearing up too.

They held onto each other for a moment, both trying to process the news.

"I'm very sorry," the doctor continued. "Sometimes these things just happen. Neither of you did anything wrong, so please don't blame yourselves. And this doesn't mean that you won't be able to get pregnant in the future and have children."

Adrien looked at her and nodded before turning back to Marinette.

Dr Patel moved over to the door. "I'll leave you alone for a few minutes. Then I'll come back to discuss what the next steps will be."

"Thank you," Marinette choked out weakly.

With a sympathetic glance, the doctor left, leaving the grieving couple behind.

************************************

All of Paris seemed to be mourning with them. A dreary rain fell over the city for the next few days.

Marinette spent most of her time at their apartment, letting her employees run the small boutique that she owned. Adrien tried to stay with her as much as possible, but had to go out a few times for work. When he was gone, Plagg, Tikki and the other kwamis kept her company.

Once Saturday came around Marinette finally went out to the grocery store. Both her parents and Adrien's parents were coming over that evening for dinner, so she had a lot of food to buy for the meal. They had originally invited them over in hopes of announcing the pregnancy to everyone at the same time, but unfortunately fate had other plans.

After coming back from the store, Marinette spent the early afternoon making mille feuilles for Gabriel. After all, she promised him that she would. And when that was done, she helped Adrien prepare the main dish.

When it was finally dinner time her parents were the first ones to arrive.

"Hi sweetie!" Sabine said happily, coming inside the apartment.

"Hi Maman," she replied, giving her a hug.

After embracing her daughter, she moved on to Adrien. "How are you doing?"

"We're good," he lied. "How are you?"

"Never been better," Tom replied, giving Adrien a big hug that almost lifted him up off of the ground. Then he sniffed the air. "Something smells good in here!"

"Well we tried one of your new recipes," Adrien explained. "And I'm very pleased with how it came out. I mean, it will never be as good as yours, of course. But you know, I think that it's acceptable."

"I'm sure that you've done me proud," Tom replied, winking at him.

Their conversation was interrupted when there was another knock at the door.

Marinette opened it and was instantly attacked by an excited four year old.

"Marinette!" Annabelle screamed, wrapping her arms around her.

She laughed. "I missed you too Annabelle."

The girl broke free and ran over to her brother as Emilie, Gabriel and Nathalie came inside.

"Thank you for having us over tonight," Emilie said, greeting Marinette with a kiss on the cheek. But her face suddenly fell when she pulled back. "What's wrong?"

A forced smile. "Nothing," Marinette said quietly with a small shake of her head.

Emilie slowly nodded. "Right, of course. Don't mind me," she murmured, subconsciously running her fingers over the purple jewel pinned to her shirt.

"It's no problem at all. Please come in. My parents are already here."

Emilie went over to greet Sabine and Tom, Gabriel following behind. "Marinette," he said with a nod as he walked past her.

"Gabriel," she responded back with a nod. Then she gave Nathalie a hug.

"Everything okay?" Nathalie whispered to her while they walked together towards the living room.

"Not really," she admitted.

"Anything we can do?"

Marinette shook her head. "No."

The families greeted each other and chatted for a minute before Gabriel turned to Marinette. "Any news from the Fédération yet?" he asked.

After a quick glance at her parents, she answered his question. "No, not yet."

"News about what?" Sabine asked.

"You didn't tell your parents?" Gabriel continued, surprised.

Marinette shrugged weakly. "I didn't want to get everyone's hopes up."

Tom moved over to her. "Hopes up about what?"

"I uh... I presented my collection to the Fédération de la Houte Couture to see if they would select me for next season's fashion week."

"Oh my goodness, that's so exciting," Sabine squealed. "When do you find out if you made it?"

"They were supposed to call me by today but I haven't heard anything yet."

Gabriel put his hand to his forehead. "Oh, I knew that I was forgetting something. Alexander asked me to reach out to you to tell you the news, but it must have slipped my mind completely." A smile crossed his face. "So, let me be the first to offer my congratulations, Marinette Agreste. You have been selected to present your collection at Paris Fashion Week."

A chorus of excited gasps made its way around the room. Marinette covered her mouth with her hand as happy tears filled her eyes.

And her parents quickly embraced her. "Oh sweetie, we're so proud of you!" Sabine cried, her eyes filling with tears too.

"So proud," Tom repeated, starting to bawl.

Marinette nodded before breaking away and hugging Gabriel.

"Congratulations, you deserve it," he whispered to her.

"Thank you."

Then she hugged Emilie and Nathalie.

"Yay Marinette!" Annabelle screamed. "Your dresses are so pretty!"

"Thank you, Annabelle," she replied, giving her a hug too.

Lastly she turned to Adrien, who lifted her up into his arms. "I knew you could do it," he said before kissing her.

The others talked excitedly to each other while Marinette and Adrien stayed close. After kissing, he lowered her down and pressed his forehead against hers. "You did it, Princess," he whispered. "I'm so proud of you."

"Thank you, Adrien. And thank you for everything that you've done to support me. I love you so much."

"I love you, I love you, I love you," he said as he leaned in again.

************************************

After dinner and dessert, Tom and Sabine were the first to leave. They had to be up early every morning for the bakery, so they never stayed out too late.

At Annabelle's request, Marinette took her to the extra bedroom that she used as a design space. There she showed her all of her new fabrics while Adrien stayed with his parents and Nathalie in the kitchen.

"Thank you so much for the wonderful surprise," he said to Gabriel. "Marinette really needed that."

"It's my pleasure. Her collection was by far the best. It won't be long now before she becomes the next big thing in the fashion world."

Emilie chuckled. "Your father would not stop talking about her designs after her presentation," she told Adrien.

"Well I was very impressed with her work," Gabriel murmured.

She shook her head. "Marinette can do no wrong in your eyes," Emilie teased her husband.

A sigh. "You're not giving her enough credit. She's extremely talented. Just because she saved my entire family in one way or another doesn't change that."

"But it doesn't hurt your opinion of her, right?" Adrien asked with a smirk.

Gabriel narrowed his eyes slightly. "No, it doesn't."

"Mama!" Annabelle called, running over to her. "Look what Marinette gave me. Ribbons for my hair!" She spun around so she could see the red ribbons tied around her pigtails.

"They're perfect!" Emilie replied.

"See Father! See Adrien! See Nathalie!" Annabelle continued, moving around so everyone could admire them.

"Beautiful," Nathalie said, nodding her head in approval.

"Not my idea," Marinette said, putting her hands up in a surrender motion and looking at Gabriel.

He smiled and turned to face his daughter. "I think you look wonderful," he told Annabelle.

"Thank you," she chirped, obviously delighted that everyone loved her new ribbons.

"Alright, it's getting late so it's best if we head back home now," Emilie said. "Say 'goodbye' to your brother and Marinette."

Annabelle gave him a hug. "Bye Adrien. I love you."

"I love you too. Take care of everyone until I see you again, okay?"

"Okay!" she said before breaking away and hugging Marinette. "Bye Marinette."

"Bye Anna, we'll see you soon."

After their embrace, Marinette walked Nathalie, Gabriel and Annabelle out of the apartment and down the hallway to the elevators. Emilie purposely stayed behind with Adrien so she could speak to him in private.

"What's going on, baby?" she asked when they were alone. "Why are you two so upset?"

Adrien gave a small sigh. "We got some bad news this week," he admitted.

"Anything you want to talk about?"

He took a moment to think before deciding to answer. "Marinette was pregnant, but we found out this week that she miscarried."

Emilie's face twisted up in despair. "Oh I'm so sorry," she cried, pulling him in for a hug. "That's horrible."

"Yeah, it's been tough," he replied quietly. "This is actually the second time, the same thing happened last year. And she's been taking the news really hard."

She hugged him tighter. "I'm so sorry," she repeated.

They held on for a minute. When Adrien pulled back he wiped his eyes. "Please don't tell Father or Nathalie. We don't want to upset everyone."

"I won't, baby."

"Thanks Mom. And thanks for always being here for us. I'll call you tomorrow, okay?"

"Alright. Take good care of Marinette," she said.

"I will."