One Way or Another

Crying, Flickering and Innocent Ears

"Did you two go on vacation somewhere?" the doctor asked, examining her abdomen.

"Uh no," Marinette replied, confused by the question.

"Oh, it just looks like you got a bit of a tan here. I thought maybe you had gone to the beach or something."

"No, we haven't been anywhere," Adrien said before looking at Marinette. "But it's actually been a while since we've gone away. Maybe we should plan something soon," he suggested.

She nodded at him.

"You could take a babymoon," the doctor said. "It's kind of like one last trip with just the two of you before the baby comes. A lot of couples do that when they're expecting." A pause as she continued her work. "Alright, well things feel okay here. Now we'll do the ultrasound."

Adrien gripped Marinette's hand tighter. She squeezed back while the doctor started scanning.

And just like last time, the doctor stared at the screen with a neutral expression on her face. Marinette closed her eyes, waiting for the results.

After a minute, the doctor looked over at her and smiled. "Would you like to see your baby, Mrs Agreste?"

Marinette immediately scrunched up her face as tears welled up. Then she opened her eyes and nodded at the doctor, too overwhelmed by emotion to speak.

Adrien felt tears welling up too when the doctor turned the screen towards them.

"So this gray area over here is your uterus," Dr Patel explained, pointing things out to them. "This black area is the amniotic fluid. And this here, this is your baby."

A few happy tears fell down Marinette's cheeks as she watched.

"This side is the baby's head, and this side is the body," the doctor continued. "And this flickering here? That's the baby's heart beating."

"The baby's okay?" Adrien asked, holding back a sob.

"The baby is fine. Now I'm going to take a few measurements to see how many weeks you are."

Marinette turned her head to look at Adrien. They stared at each other for a moment, both of their faces wet from crying. Then Adrien leaned in and kissed her. After breaking away he whispered to her. "That's our baby."

She nodded. "That's our baby. I love you so much, Adrien."

"I love you, Princess," he said, pushing the hair away from her eyes.

"So the baby's heart rate is one hundred and sixty-seven beats per minute," the doctor told them when she finished with her images. "Which is perfectly normal for babies. And you're about ten weeks along."

"Ten weeks?" Marinette repeated, still in shock.

"Yes. So your due date will be in early May."

"Can you tell the gender?" Adrien asked.

"I'm afraid it's a little too early for that," Dr Patel answered. "But we'll be able to tell in a few more weeks."

The couple smiled at each other again while the doctor typed into her computer.

*

Adrien called up his mother later that day and invited them to come over for dinner on Saturday. Marinette called up her mother and invited them over too.

Saturday would be the day that they would tell their families the exciting news.

And before they knew it, the day arrived. Adrien cooked dinner while Marinette made the dessert. Right before everyone was expected to arrive, he wrapped his arms around her. "Are you as nervous as I am?" he asked.