Chapter 4

Marinette sighed for the umph-teenth time it seemed in the last two weeks. This time it was in the library at school though, so she got a few annoyed looks. Shaking her head, she turned her mind back to the task at hand. Adela Agreste: missing person for almost 15 months, designated cold case, no new leads for 10 months.

"You'd think such a high profile person would attract more speculation at least," Marinette muttered to herself, scratching her head with the back of her pencil, tongue slightly peeking out of her lips in a look of concentration.

Suddenly the articles she had been combing through disappeared from beneath her hands. She sat up like a lightning bolt and looked around frantically, spotting her best friend and future journalist extraordinaire Alya. She could feel her face darken in a crimson blush as she scrambled out of her seat and made a mad grab for the articles.

"Alya!" she whisper-screamed indignantly-they were in a library after all. "Gimme tho-stop-Alya, don't-"

Alya's face was quizzical, but she gave the papers back; she'd already gleaned the information that she needed to know. Far from her usual teasing self, she looked at Marinette seriously, wondering what on earth the girl could be up to.

"Why are you looking into Adrien's mom?" she asked point blank. Alya could always be relied upon for two things: to be direct and to judge only after she got the facts.

Unfortunately for Marinette, explaining to Alya was the least of her worries. Just as she asked this question, Nino with Adrien in tow walked into the library.

Adrien, smiling at Nino's insistence on showing him his new mix software, followed his eager friend into the library, where personal devices were allowed. Nino was softly beat-boxing to himself as he scanned the library for an open table, and turned to point out Alya and Marinette to him just as Alya's voice carried floated over across the short distance.

"Why are you looking into Adrien's mom?" she asked, looking at Marinette.

His heart stopped and his eyes whipped over to Marinette, only to see her meeting his gaze unflinchingly. Almost as surprised by the shy girl holding his gaze as by Alya's statement, Adrien quickly composed himself, hopefully wiping any surprise off his face. He was just as curious, if not more so, than Alya, but one look at Marinette's flushed face but innocent eyes convinced him to play along.

"She's helping me with something, Alya," he responded for Marinette.

Alya's head whipped around, spotting him and Nino for the first time. She narrowed her eyes, looking as if she were about to argue, but Adrien's calm answer and open expression stopped her.

"Well," she stated simply, sitting down next to Mari with the information spread out in front of them both, "if research is what you need, then I'm your girl. Our creative genius Mari can spin you conspiracy theories until next year and find the puzzle in any mess of facts, but for data collection and digging up dirt, that's all me." She grinned up at him. "What do you think, sunshine? Want another member working on Operation:Find Adela Agreste?" she asked with an understanding smile.

Moved beyond what he could even articulate, he nodded. He heard Nino whistle behind him.

"I'm no PI," he started, "but I'm really good at doing what Alya tells me to, so count me in."

Alya smirked, and Nino fist bumped her.

"Adrien," Marinette's quiet voice came from next to him, surprising him for he hadn't seen her move. "Can I talk to you over there for a second?" she asked, nodding to a quiet corner in the stacks.

He nodded his answer, and they moved out of earshot of the others.

"So," she began hesitantly,"I'm sure you're wondering why I was looking into this," she laughed nervously.

He shook his head and just said, "Ladybug."