Author's Note:

I do not own any of these characters.


"A-A-A-CHOO!" That one really hurt, Marinette thought to herself as she cringed from the pain in her chest. At least she got to miss school. But it really sucks having to take a sick day... because you're really sick. Every bone in her body ached and she felt like she was going to burst into flames from her fever.

"102," Sabine said as she shook the thermometer to reset it. Marinette could only make a pitiful grunt... that didn't even sound human. "Just get some rest dear," Sabine said softly, patting Marinette on her head gently. Marinette loves being pampered by her mom when she is sick. "If your temperature gets to 103, we'll take you to the hospital." Sabine smiled. "Thanks, mama," Marinette eked out.

BOOM!

Sabine looked out the window to see the Eiffel Tower falling over on its side. "Oh my. There must be an akuma." Marinette's face instantly became panic-stricken. "It's okay dear. You're safe in your room. Ladybug and Cat Noir will take care of it. They always do."

Marinette began shaking her head side to side in protest for lack of the ability to scream. "Calm down. It'll be okay," Sabine said with a worried look on her face. Marinette's eyes locked in with her mother's and Sabine knew it was something more than Marinette just being afraid of the akuma. "What is it, dear?"

Marinette sighed and looked around the room. She finally saw Tikki floating just behind her mother's left shoulder. "Can you get me a cup of crushed ice, please?" Marinette knew she needed to talk this over with Tikki and needed her mother out of the room. "Sure dear. I'm certain your mouth is parched with this fever." Sabine headed down to the kitchen.

"TIkki! What do I do? I'm too sick to fight today."

"Calm down Marinette. You need to find a replacement for today that you can trust." Just then, Cat Noir flew past Marinette's window towards the Eiffel Tower. Almost as quickly, he flew backwards past her window in the other direction. "And fast," Tikki added.

Marinette pressed her hands on the sides of her head trying to think. Alya? No, already there for the Ladyblog, most likely. Chloe? Marinette just cringed at revealing herself to Chloe and just shook her head no. Before she could think of anyone else, Sabine was returning with the cup of crushed ice. Mom!


"Here you go sweetie," Sabine said handing her the cup. "Hey, mom? We need to talk about something... important," Marinette said softly, but firmly, while keeping a lock on her mother's eyes. "We can talk about anything, dear. Are you sure you're up for a conversation though?"

"No choice. I need you to listen carefully and not freak out."

"I would never freak out at..." Tikki flew past Sabine and hovered over Marinette's right shoulder. Clearing her throat, Sabine said as calmly as possible, "What's that?"

"Mom, this is Tikki. She's the Ladybug kwami. She gives Ladybug her powers."

"Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Cheng," Tikki squeaked out while smiling.

"Pleased to meet you too... Tikki. But, Marinette, why is the Ladybug kwami in your room, and more importantly, why do you seem to know each other already?"

"Because, mom... I'm Ladybug." Marinette cringed at what her mother's reaction might be.

"Oh, I see. That certainly answers both questions." Sabine stated, still a little dazed.

"Mom, I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner, but it's supposed to be a secret so that Hawkmoth can't exploit the ones I love."

"I understand, dear. Why are you telling me this now?"

"I'm sick, and I... Paris... needs you to be my backup today. Are you willing to help out Cat Noir, just until I get well enough to fight?"

Sabine looked at Marinette, then to Tikki, and then back to Marinette. Her mouth was slightly agape and she was obviously trying to make sense of everything that she had just learned, and was just asked. Then, she smiled brightly. "Of course dear."

Marinette took off her earrings and gave them to Sabine. After a brief briefing on how to transform, use the yoyo, summon the Lucky Charm and how to use it to fix everything, and most importantly, find and cleanse the akuma, Sabine put on the earrings.

"Tikki, Spots On!" Sabine was wrapped in a pink light. She looked in the mirror and saw that her hair was still in a bob cut, she was still shorter than Marinette, and the suit was closer to her traditional Chinese garments she liked wearing, but was red with black dots per the Ladybug kwami standard.

She turned to Marinette, "Won't people know I'm not the same Ladybug?"

"Maybe, but the job of cleansing the akuma is more important than letting everyone else know that you're not me. Now, Cat Noir is already out there fighting the akuma, and... I'm pretty sure he needs your help from what I saw earlier."

"I'm on it. But, if people do notice, should I still say I'm Ladybug, or use a different name?"

"Use... Mama Bug. I like the sound of that."

"Me too," Mama Bug said with a smile. With that, she was out on the balcony and zipped away to find Cat Noir.


After awkwardly swinging across a few roofs, she stopped to get her breath and her bearings. This was like nothing she had experienced before. She felt stronger. She had more stamina. Everything around her was more vibrant and rich: the colors, the sounds, the smells. She heard something behind her and got ready to fight.

Spinning around she saw... Cat Noir with a really dumbfounded look on his face. For once, he was speechless. He eyed her from top to bottom, trying to be sure that it really was someone new and that Ladybug wasn't just playing some type of trick on him.

Noticing his confusion, she stated, "I'm Mama Bug. Ladybug is taking a sick day today."

"Whew, I'm glad to hear that. Otherwise, I was going to have my eyes checked."

Mama Bug smiled at Cat Noir. He's such a good boy, she thought to herself. "What do you know about the akuma so far?"

Cat Noir snapped his head side to side quickly to reset his focus on the mission. "Right! I know: he calls himself Nautical Avenger, the akuma is likely in his sextant, and... he punches really hard."

"That last one sounds like you learned it from personal experience," Mama Bug said trying to lighten the mood a little.

"Yes, ma'am." Cat Noir simply replied. He could tell she was older and it felt wrong for some reason for him to crack a pun. He felt like... he does whenever he's at one of his father's dinner parties. Like, he must be on his best behavior.

The akuma came around the corner and Mama Bug yelled, "Lucky Charm!" A red and black spotted pair of sunglasses fell into Mama Bug's hands. "What do I do with this?" She asked Cat Noir.

"That's what you have to figure out, Mama Bug." Cat Noir replied as politely as he knew how.

"Go distract him while I figure this out, then."

"Yes ma'am!" Cat Noir gave a two finger salute and fell backwards off of the roof. Mama Bug watched Cat Noir belittle and berate Nautical Avenger, causing him to get angrier and angrier. Mama Bug smiled and thought, He has a real talent for getting under someone's skin.

Finally, she saw it. Nautical Avenger had to line up his sextant with the sun in order to shoot a blast out of it at Cat Noir. She dropped down behind Nautical Avenger and placed the sun glasses over his eyes from behind while he was lining up a shot. Not only did Nautical Avenger miss his target, he was so surprised that he dropped the sextant.

Sensing the urgency, Cat Noir yelled, "Cataclysm!" and pounded the ground. A crack opened up all the way from Cat Noir's fist to in front of the sextant that Nautical Avenger was now trying to bend over and pick up after having tossed the sunglasses to the side. Seeing the hole in the ground, Mama Bug round kicked Nautical Avenger head first into the hole. Nautical Avenger was trapped about waist deep, upside down, and flailing his arms and legs.

Mama Bug picked up the sextant, broke off a mirror, and watched as a black butterfly flew out of it. She was lost in the moment until she heard Cat Noir call out, "Cleanse it Mama Bug!" Snapping to, she zipped out the yoyo and caught the akuma, purifying it. "Miraculous Mama Bug!" she yelled out as she threw the sun glasses in the air. A swarm of ladybugs fixed everything. Nautical Avenger detransformed into a local fisherman who had run his boat aground because the computer based navigation system did not see the land.


"Pound It!" Mama Bug and Cat Noir said, bumping fists. "Oh wow, a new Ladybug!" a familiar voice echoed. Alya was there, phone in hand, recording everything, as usual. "Excuse me miss, but I'm Mama Bug." Alya stiffened a little at the firm tone in her voice. "Yes, ma'am," was the only reply Alya could muster.

Mama Bug smiled at Alya, and said, "Thank you dear. You can expect Ladybug back soon." With that, Mama Bug zipped away. Cat Noir and Alya watched Mama Bug sail away when his ring beeped. He looked at Alya and bowed, "Sorry, no comments, even if I had the time." With that, Alya was left alone watching Cat Noir jump from roof to roof. She finally exhaled not realizing she had been holding her breath. Looking into the camera, "You saw it here first!"

Back in Marinette's room, Mama Bug detransformed. Sabine took off the earrings and handing them back to Marinette. "Thank you for trusting me with this," Sabine said smiling. "You're welcome, mama. But, please don't tell anyone about either of us being a super hero, even papa. We need to keep everyone we love safe."

Sabine nodded and headed down the stairs to let Marinette get some rest so she would be strong enough to fight.


Author's Note:

Special thanks to my wife for the prompt. I'm not going to mark this one complete yet as I might add more chapters where someone else gets sick and needs a replacement for the day, or maybe a follow-up where Adrien is suspicious that both Marinette and Ladybug were sick on the same day.