Marinette knew that whatever she ordered that Emma would no doubt partake of it. Emma ate and ate and ate probably more than a kid her age should. Marinette tried to do proper portion control as Emma's health was a priority. A mix of a high metabolism and difficulty registering when full leading to a diagnosis of an eating disorder. Marinette found it aggravating as a parent as she could not compare genetics. She could not see what could affect her daughter in the future. It was all a guessing game.

Allergies to birds wasn't a huge surprise to her as HIS vendetta against Mr. Pigeon was based on his allergy. The unhealthy portion control mirrored in memories of HIM devouring boxes of pastries. She heard the warnings. "Don't feed the strays. They will never go away. They will eat you out of house and home" And perhaps if she heeded those words once upon a time she would not be worried about all the tomorrows. How to make a better future for her daughter that didn't involve resurrecting old memories? How to not be plagued by parental worries?

The three ordered their food and to prevent herself from suffering in silence, Emma broke it.

"My school is doing a play!"

"It is?" Adrien questioned as he was more entertained with catching the occasional glances of Marinette as he helped Emma with the word search.

"I was gonna be Ladybug."

"You were?" Adrien reiterated as he was curious to know what happened to the change in casting. As Emma had the potential to be a 'Mini-bug'. What young child would turn that down? Especially so close to the festival. He then realized she was from a generation where Ladybug was nothing but a long dead historical figure. A notion making him feel quite old in comparison.

"I kept on annoying everyone with puns until the teacher made me ChatNoir."

Adrien raised an eyebrow as he recalled Emma stating Marinette's distaste for ChatNoir. Not that he blamed her. "ChatNoir?" He looked over at Marinette who took a sip of her coffee. Her face was impossible to read. Was she proud of her daughter or disappointed? To have her daughter share the mantle of her traitor. "You didn't want to be Ladybug?"

"Nope."

"How come? She saved Paris! And on more than one occasion I might add." He recalled the smiles exchanged between him and his partner after each victory. Finding the world tolerable with her by his side.

"Still a Ladybug fan?" Marinette saw his emerald eyes light up while talking about her long gone alter-ego. Perhaps, she was finding herself sentimental as back in the day he was a super fan, an avid collector of her merchandise, a quick commenter on the Ladyblog and would talk about Ladybug's heroics as if he was right there with her.

"Always." His smile faded as he knew that it meant nothing now. She would never know the millions of things that he wanted to tell her, all the excuses he used. Regretting over and over again that he did not say enough. Was that the curse of carrying the mantle of a superhero?

His sorrow was disjointed by the feeling of Marinette's hand laying on top of his. "Wherever she is, she probably appreciates the sentiment."

"You, think?"

Emma stared at her Mom and grinned, deciding to have a little fun. "I think the news is all wrong. I think she is alive. Probably closer than we think!"

The news was dominated with conspiracy theories. "What happened to Ladybug?" "Did Aliens abduct her?" "Did the CIA kidnap her?" "Did she ever exist?" "Is she now working with HawkMoth?" "Enemies to lovers?" "Does HawkMoth have her Miraculous?" All words that were vomited up by looney citizens of the once beloved city. As this was all blasphemy in the eyes of everyone close to the cherished heroine.

"I wish." He lied to them and himself. He was tormented as at one moment he wanted her just to just be. Be here with him, to forget everything else just to be here. But he was afraid he would let anger bubble to the surface. As she was supposed to be the one person that wouldn't abandon him. She promised not to. 'I guess we all can't tell the truth.'

"I don't believe Ladybug's dead." An often quote of the never ending fanbase that Ladybug unintentionally built. No evidence of a body nor a Miraculous no matter how much people searched. They couldn't find definitive evidence. But if she decided to leave everything behind, why didn't she say goodbye? At the very least to him.

"Maybe she's retired." Marinette added as perhaps that would sooth his worries. "HawkMoth is defeated so she might have thought that Paris doesn't need her anymore."

'But, I do and I always have.' Adrien pulled his hand out from under Marinette's. "Retired? She hasn't contacted anyone, not even her so-called partner. In ten painful years."

"Maybe she wanted a chance at a normal life." Marinette instinctively looked at Emma as she laid a hand on her own stomach. Not regretting a choice she made despite her short-comings as a single parent.

"If she wanted a normal life she should have not agreed to being a superhero." Adrien refused to believe that Ladybug would hang up her heroics for something as mundane as a normal life.

"Maybe she had a kid?" Emma added hoping to break the tension she accidentally caused by bringing up such a simple subject.

"Sure, she did." Adrien rolled his eyes, he was so tired of going into circles. Thinking of the 'what ifs'. As he could not face the question: "What if she willingly left me behind?"

"Is it too hard to imagine that she could have started a family?"

Adrien took a deep breath as the answer was 'yes'. But he couldn't say it. He found himself becoming cynical the longer he thought about the past becoming more and more like the very man he held animosity for. He slowly nodded as he stared at the item that aided in his pain.'We were supposed to have a happily ever after, together.'

"You...." Marinette stopped herself as she recognized that type of pain he was going through. He could not give up on something that would never work out. 'He loved her.' She bit her lip. Her words were unintentionally callous. "I am so sorry."

She knew she was leaving everything associated with Ladybug behind. But, she never met to hurt him like this. If she only picked up on the signs instead of focusing on how to get him to like her. Perhaps if she knew that her alter-ego was the other woman, that she would have been less of a mess around him.

"It's fine." He muttered as he looked off into the distance.