Marinette looked around the empty streets, she and Adrien were the only people in sight.

"I don't get it," she muttered, "he said we were going to meet right here so he could pick up Louis."

'Stupid cat, did he forget to tell his partner to come pick up Emma.'

Adrien sighed. "The same goes for the person with Emma, why isn't her partner here already?"

He looked up to the sky, a mixture of purple and blue as the sun was almost completely engulfed by the horizon with only a sliver of its golden rays still shining through. He exhaled a long and steady breath, they had waited long enough and it was going to get dark soon. It wouldn't be safe for Marinette to wander the streets of Paris alone at night.

"I think we've been stood up." He gave her a soft smile which she responded to with a light blush, hidden by the darkness of the sky. As much as he wanted Emma back, he couldn't just wait around all night for Ladybug to show up. He would have to hope she brings Emma with her during their next patrol.

Adrien stood up and offered his hand out for Marinette to take. "What do you say, should we head back?"

She nodded and gently placed her smaller soft hand in his. With a light tug he pulled her up from the bench.

"I'll walk you home."

Marinette only nodded again, Adrien had no idea how much he was killing her at that moment. She kept her mouth shut, there was no way she was going to screw this up by blurting out something ridiculous and embarrassing herself.

Adrien smiled at the girl beside him as they walked. It was only the second day of their assignment yet he already felt as though he was getting a little friendlier with her, although her actions still confused him. Up until a few minutes ago she was fully engaged in the conversation they were having, chatting his ears off as though they were close friends, but now she was acting shy again. He never seemed to understand why she was so shy around him and only him. It didn't matter though, all he cared about was that he was getting the chance to grow a little closer to his classmate.

Before long, the two reached Marinette's bakery.

"Thanks," she mumbled, keeping her head down and trying hard not to stutter, "for walking me home."

Adrien gave her a pat on the shoulder. "It's no problem, I wouldn't want you walking home alone at this hour."

Marinette glanced to Emma who was strapped to Adrien's back. "Are you sure you're fine taking care of the doll tonight?"

He nodded and flashed her a smile. "You took care of Emma last night so it's only fair that I take Louis tonight. Besides, you look like you could really do with some sleep."

She blushed, suddenly becoming self-conscious at the obvious bags under her eyes. "W-well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow then!"

Adrien waved goodbye as she entered her house.

~.~.~.~.~

"I think it's dead."

"She's not dead."

"You sure about that?"

Plagg, like usual, was being a nuisance, flying around and examining Louis while insisting Adrien that he must have killed the baby.

Adrien sighed for what felt like the millionth time that night. "Yes Plagg, I'm sure that she's not dead."

"Oh yeah" The kwami challenged him. "Then why's it so quiet."

"She's just sleeping," he countered, "though she won't be soon if you keep bugging her like that!" Adrien had to get up from his computer to swat away his kwami who had started shaking the doll in an attempt to see if she was alive.

Plagg flew back, unfazed by the smack. "A baby isn't supposed to be this quiet, she hasn't cried or laughed or anything in hours."

"What do you know about babies?" Adrien asked, picking up Emma and bouncing her a little. He wouldn't admit it, but Plagg's words did make him a little uneasy, he didn't want to be responsible for breaking someone else's doll.

"I know a lot about babies thank you very much!" The kwami shot back. "Or at least more than you. I've had to put up with plenty of babies from my past Chats and trust me kid, a baby doesn't go this long without making a sound unless it's dead. I have experience."

"You have experience in killing babies!" Adrien hugged Louis close to him in a protective manner and glared at the kwami.

"Not killing!" He exclaimed, then adopted a softer non Plagg-like tone. "I have experience with...babies dying."

"So," Adrien looked solemnly at the black kwami, a melancholic expression on his face, "do you mean to say that some of the past Chats lost their children when they were still just infants?"

Plagg crossed his arms in annoyance. "Don't you go getting all sappy on me! Times were tough; weather and disease and so on, that was common in those times. But it's over and done with, everyone from back then is dead now, get over it."

He grumbled when Adrien didn't seem to cheer up. "I never should have told something like that to a sensitive person like you. Why not try thinking about all of the babies who are alive."

Adrien's face brightened. "You're right, I should be grateful for the babies who are alive right now and not worry about those who died long ago." He held up Emma and started cuddling her.

"Adrien, that's a doll, it's not alive..." Plagg's words went ignored by his master who was making ridiculous cooing noises at Emma.

"You know," Adrien commented, "maybe the reason Louis isn't crying a lot is because she likes me."

Plagg felt like a lightbulb went off in his head, a feeling he wasn't used to experiencing. "Hmm, you're right. In fact, it's almost as if she recognizes you." And then he added with a snicker, "Maybe she's your missing Emma."

"Don't be ridiculous Plagg, that's impossible." His suggestion was instantly shot down by Adrien. "Besides, you know Ladybug has Emma."

The kwami turned around to mutter to himself. "Impossible he says, Ladybug has her he says."

"Did you say something?" Adrien gave his kwami a look, thinking that he might be muttering about being hungry like usual.

"Nothing," he grumbled.

Placing Emma back into her baby carrier, Adrien returned to his desk and resumed what he was doing before Plagg interrupted.

"So," the kwami flew over to him, not giving his master a moment of peace, "what's so important that you were actually able to put down the doll?"

"I'm buying something," he replied, eyes not leaving the screen as he scrolled through the pages of an online shopping website, "something for Emma."

"Sounds boring."

The kwami flew away and opened up a new roll of camembert, picking up one of the delectable triangles. The intoxicating aroma alone could make his mouth water. He was about to stuff it in his mouth when his eyes trailed over to Emma and a smirk grew on his lips.

"Want some," he asked, hovering in front of the doll and holding the piece of cheese out to her, "camembert is the most delicious food in the entire world, I promise you'll love it."

Plagg gave her a smug look and snickered.

"Psych!" He stuffed the entire piece of cheese into his mouth and tried to mumble out words around it. "Bis is bewicious, poo bab oo camp haf amy!"

He flashed the doll a cheese filled mocking smile, to which she replied by letting out a shrill, screaming cry. The kwami instantly covered his ears and swallowed his mouthful of camembert.

"I take it she's not dead then."

"Plagg!" Adrien shouted and was instantly at the baby's side, trying to calm her down all the while shooting his kwami a death glare. "Now I can see why your only baby experiences involve crying, I pity all of the past Chats who had children."

"Hey," he complained, "it's not my fault dolls can't eat cheese!"

~.~.~.~.~

Marinette waited for Adrien by the school gates the next morning. Alya had informed the girl that it would be the polite thing to do as he was the "father" of their "child".

Unlike yesterday, Marinette was actually at school early, wide awake and eager to start her day. As soon as she got home the night before she went straight to bed and had what she could only describe as the best sleep of her life.

Her head perked up as a familiar black car drove up and Adrien walked out.

"Hi," she greeted him.

"Morning Marinette," he gave her a little wave, "it looks like you slept well."

She nodded, then directed her attention towards his hand which was carrying something.

Noticing her confused look, Adrien smiled and held up be a brand new baby carrier, and a fancy one at that. Unlike the piece of junk provided by their school, this one had straps that wrapped around the baby's torso and went over its shoulders, securely holding it in place. Even if you flipped it upside down, your baby wasn't going anywhere. Chat's Emma was currently occupying it, tucked nicely into place.

"I thought it might be a good idea to get a new carrier, you know, just in case anything happens. I hope you don-"

"That's a great idea!" Marinette cut him off before he could finish. After Chat nearly killed his Emma the day before she had been more than a little worried that the same would happen with hers. Although none of that mattered at the moment considering she didn't even know where her baby was.

The two entered the school together but split off before entering their classroom as Adrien went to greet Nino.

In the classroom Marinette noticed Alya grinning like a maniac as she scrolled away on her phone. There was only one thing that could make Alya that excited.

"Ladyblog?" She asked, taking her seat next to her best friend.

"You know it girl!" Alya finally looked up from the screen. "The blog's been exploding with views since I uploaded some exclusive Ladybug and Chat Noir footage from yesterday."

She held out her phone and Marinette scooted in closer to get a better look. Alya pressed the play button and a video taken on a cell phone started.

"This was the clearest footage anyone was able to get amidst all of the panic," she whispered.

The video was shaky as the cameraman tried to get a good shot. Chat was atop a building battling the villain from the day before. He did a flip, going upside down, and then something small fell from his back. The camera zoomed in on it, and from the distance it looked no different than a real baby. Civilians from below began to let out screams of terror as they watched the baby fall to its death. Of course, the hero noticed this quickly and jumped down after it.

Marinette sat back in her seat, she didn't need to see the rest as she already knew what happened next. Her face grew pale as a twisting feeling began to form in her stomach, she could already guess what the "explosion of views" on the Ladyblog were about.

"Can you believe it!" Alya squealed. "Chat Noir has a baby! Half of the comments on the video are people complaining about how child services should take his baby away from him as putting it in that much danger is child abuse, and the other half are people speculating on who the mother is."

"Oh?" Marinette didn't like where this was heading.

"Pretty much everyone thinks that it's Ladybug. I didn't think it made sense at first since Ladybug was never pregnant, but if you think about it, this baby looks like it has to be at least several months old which means if Ladybug gave birth shortly before her debut as our hero, then it makes perfect sense!"

Alya continued to go on about her theories as Marinette sat there and let her face collide with the desk in front of her.

"Just great," she muttered quietly enough so that no one else could hear, "now all of Paris thinks I'm in a relationship with Chat."

Adrien made his way over with Nino. "What are you two talking about?"

"It's about Cha-"

"Nothing important!" Marinette cut her friend off before she could continue, she didn't want to hear more about Chat and Ladybug.

He didn't get the chance to question further as Ms. Mendeleiev entered the room and demanded that everyone quiet down.

~.~.~.~.~

The school day was surprisingly uneventful. Emma, who sat beside Adrien the entire day, was on her best behaviour and didn't make a peep even when all of the other dolls were crying.

Partway through the day Marinette began to notice that something was bothering Adrien, he was fidgety and restless, casting glances down towards Emma. She did try to ask him about it during their second to last period, but was yelled at by the teacher.

As soon as the school day was over and everyone else began to filter out of the room, she leaned forward and asked Adrien if everything was alright.

"Actually," he replied with a glance down to Emma, "Something has been bugging me all day. I-I think we should just come clean to Ms. Mendeleiev, tell her what happened with our doll and this one."

"No, that's a bad idea, what if she takes Louis away!" Marinette frantically tried to dispel the idea from his head, if the teacher took the doll away then how was she supposed to give it back to Chat!

"Exactly, she might be able to give it back to the parents. We need to tell her."

"Wait!" Marinette shot up from her desk as Adrien got up to make his way to the front of the room where the teacher was packing up. She tried to race after him but tripped over her bag, landing face first onto the floor and hearing Emma let out a little giggle as it happened.

Adrien was already at the teacher's side by the time she caught up with him.

"Ms. Mendeleiev," he stated, holding out Emma, "this isn't our doll, so I'm returning it."

Ms. Mendeleiev glared down at him, then let her gaze fall on Marinette. "Again!" She shot, causing her to flinch. "You already tried returning your doll yesterday morning and now you're trying again!"

Adrien whipped his head to stare at Marinette in disbelief. "You tried to return Emma!"

"It's not what it sounds like!" She tried to counter, but couldn't come up with an excuse as to why she tried to return Emma the day before, so instead she settled for distracting them, grabbing Emma from Adrien and holding her out. "B-but anyways, this situation is different, this really isn't our doll!"

She mentally apologized to Chat as she used his baby as a sacrifice.

Ms. Mendeleiev deepened her glare. "If it's not yours then whose is it?"

Marinette opened her mouth to reply but Emma chose that moment to start crying. She frantically began to calm the baby down as Adrien attempted to explain the situation.

Ms. Mendeleiev listened to his explanation, and then waited, watching Marinette as she somehow managed to get Chat's Emma to stop crying. As soon as the doll ceased it's cries, Ms. Mendeleiev shook her head.

"Do you honestly expect me to believe that?"

She opened her eyes where two confused teens were staring up at her, so she continued.

"Maybe if you two weren't always running late then you wouldn't have missed out on part of the explanation of how these dolls work." She looked between the two students with eyes like knives as they stared back at her blankly.

Ms. Mendeleiev took Marinette's arm and held it up. "This," she extenuated by pointing to the wristband she wore which was provided to all of the students on the first day of the assignment, "this has a sensor in it that's linked to your doll. Only those who are wearing the bracelets can care for the baby. In other words, if that baby wasn't the one assigned to you then you wouldn't have been able to stop it from crying."

With a humph she pushed her way between them and strode towards the door, only stopping to turn around once she was halfway through.

"If you try to exchange your baby again I will fail you on this assignment."

With that statement she was gone, leaving two frozen, wide-eyed teens alone in the room with a giggling baby.

~.~.~.~.~

Hey everyone, I'm currently in dire need of an editor for the past and future chapters of this story (and possibly my other stories if you're up to it) as they're in major need of some editing. I don't need someone who'll just fix the typos and grammar problems, but someone who will give me helpful feedback, will tell me when I need to add more information and who isn't afraid to say "this entire section is written sloppily, re-write it completely." There's no deadline for editing the chapters so you can do them at your own pace (although for new chapters I will want to run them through you first before I post them), and of course I will credit you on every chapter you edit. If you're up to being my editor just send me a message.

I'm gonna give it a couple of days for people to read this and decide if they wanna volunteer or not, so don't feel rejected if I don't reply to your message right away.

I hope you all enjoyed this update and thanks for reading!