Miraculous: Le Balcon (The Balcony)

Tale 2

Note: none of the stories in the series connect together unless otherwise noted.

Chloe and Jean "Whatshisname"

"Why do I have to do this Jean Luke." Chloe whined as she was on her knees cleaning the dust off one of the bookshelves in the apartment's library. She wore her standard clothing with the addition of a blue apron, dust mask and a dusting cloth.

"This was the punishment your parents choose for you, Mademoiselle Chloe." He replied. "And I was given strict instructions to not help you." He added before she could ask. "But if you do a good job it will make Mr. Cuddly very happy." He held out her bear and made it dance a little. One of these days she was going to lock that bear away so he couldn't use it against her.

Chloe pulled a couple of books off the shelf to dust behind them. She kept wondering how they got so dusty as the dust itself became airborne around her.

"What is this?" She asked as she pulled out a small binder. Her butler plucked it from her and flipped through it.

"Oh mademoiselle, I had wondered where this had gone." He smiled widely. "When you get finished here we can take a look at it together on your Balcony." He suggested. Maybe if you or the maids did a better job cleaning you would have found it earlier, she thought in anger, but didn't say anything. She always found it hard to get outwardly angry when he held the Mr. Cuddly hostage like that. She did however use phrases that would make a sailor blush in her head.

"I'm not sure I really care Jean Pierre. " She remarked annoyed but curious. "What is it?"

"It's an old photo album from when I use to take you to the part to play when you were just old enough to enjoy it."

"Oh." She replied even more curious. She didn't remember going to the park, but if it was a photo album with pictures of her, she wanted to see them. "Well, I suppose I'd be willing to look them over with you."

"Then once you are done mademoiselle, I shall make some tea while you prepare the table." Now he's giving more work to do. Her eyes got a slightly angry squint to them, but there was Mr. Cuddly dancing in front of her again. She sighed.

BREAK

Chloe sat in her favorite chair next the table on the balcony, with the umbrella up to keep the sun off her delicate skin. She held her best mean girl arm crossed pose while she waited for her Butler to show up.

"Ah Mademoiselle Chloe, I have brought the tea." He stated as he carried the tray with a pitcher of her favorite ice tea, as well as a pot of hot water for her favorite herbal tea, complete with 2 mugs and two glasses in case either of them wished both kinds and some snacks as well.

"It's about time Jean Luc." She grumbled. He set down the tray and poured her a glass of tea, before taking a tea bag and mug to make his own. For all of Chloe's stuck up rich girlness, she never minded having tea and snacks with her Butler. They never did it on those rare occasions when her mother would visit of course, as she would through a fit about socializing with the help. He had a hand in raising her and Chloe did generally like him.

"When you were much, much younger, I would take you to one of the parks to play with other kids." He began to tell her. Chloe looked a little confused. "Oh no, never when your mother was around, I assume you, she would not have been pleased." Chloe took a delicate sip of her tea and rolled her eyes. She honestly didn't remember them ever going. He set the binder in front of her and started to slowly flip the pages. She could see photos of herself as a toddler running around in a park. The photos stunned her.

"I was totally adorable, even then." She stated with a big smile. "But why did we stop?" She asked.

"Well Mademoiselle Chloe, there was an attack that happened in the park that resulted in a few deaths. Your father of course knew I took you, but when they happened he forbade me from doing so. That was a shame, as you had made such a wonderful little friend there."

"I did?" She asked surprised. She had him stop at a photo. It was her toddler self dressed in newspapers, leaves, twigs and other discarded items. It looked a little awful to her, but she could pick out instantly that it was meant to be a princess dress.

"Ah, the first of the dress up photos." He smiled. "You and your friend would use whatever you could find and make clothing from it. You often modeled the creations, mimicking the cat walk moves you saw your mother do." He laughed a little at the memories. Chloe looked at the some of the awful outfits she'd worn, and felt a little warmth in her heart. To think she'd had a friend at that age who was just as into fashion as she'd been

A few more photos passed by when she noticed a dark haired girl behind herself in some photo, but not to clearly. She was obviously putting a flower crown on Chloe.

"Is that the friend you mentioned?" She asked.

"Oui", He replied. "You use to cry when I had to take you back home. It was adorable and it warmed my heart to see you connect with another child like that."

"Well she is cute, not as much as I was of course, but no one could compare to me." A few more photos passed by and Chloe kept looking more closely at the other girl now. Something seemed familiar.

"When I stopped taking you to the part because of the incident, I'd wished I thought to get the girl's name or her mother's name, so I could have set up play dates for you both, but alas, I had not."

"What happened to her?" Chloe asked, a knot forming in her stomach.

"I do not know. I checked back at the park on my own, and looked at other parks, but she and her mother were nowhere to be found. I figured maybe they went back to their home country."

"Home Country?" She asked. Her stomach was full of pain from her dread as she looked more closely at the girl in the photo. It can't be, there is no way.

"Oh yes, I believe China, as the woman was Chinese. Although looking at her daughter, she might have had a European father.

BREAK

"Mom, what are you doing?" A teenage girl asked when she saw her mother on the couch.

"Oh Marinette honey, I was just looking through this old photo album of ours." Sabine Cheng replied as she turned the album around. "I remember this photo from when I use to take you to the park. You and this cute little blond girl were inseparable back then." She smiled showing her daughter the picture of a Blond Toddler wearing a makeshift princess gown standing next her another dark haired toddler holding some newspapers with a big smile.

Epilog

"Good Night Jean Claude." Chloe said sweetly as she headed to her bedroom for the night. Shortly after she closed the Kitchen Door, her butler sighed.

"I've helped raise her since she was a baby, how does she not remember my name?" He groaned. Just outside the door, Chloe giggled in an evil manner. Oh I remember your name, but I refuse to use it until you stop using Mr. Cuddly against me."