Chapter Twelve- Forever a Father

They knocked on the front door of Louis's house. They heard some shuffling before someone ran to the door and shouted through it, "Who is it?"

"Louis, it's me, Ms. Dupain-Cheng…"

With that, the doorknob jingled before he opened the door. Then he saw, Adrien and growled, "What is he doing here!?"

"Louis, he just wants to see that Mirian is okay… will you let us in?"

"I'll let you in, Ms. Dupain-Cheng, but I don't know about him. Mirian doesn't want to see you, Mr. Agreste. I can't believe I looked up to you for all these years just to learn that you're nothing but a liar!" Louis shouted.

"Louis, that is enough!" A woman called before walking up to the door and saying, "Marinette, M-Mr. Agreste, please come in."

"Thanks, Patricia. Is she up in Louis's room?" Marinette muttered to Mrs. Augustin.

"Yes, poor dear looked so exhausted when she came, all teary-eyed and worn out. We feed her some dinner and set up the guest room in case she was staying for the night."

"Okay, thanks again, Patricia."

"And you, Louis, apologize to Mr. Agreste. Whether or not you think you're justified, I didn't raise you to speak to your elders like that."

"He made Mirian cry! I'm sorry if I value her friendship over his." Louis grumbled.

"I'm sorry, Louis. You're right. I haven't been a good father to Mirian… I don't expect you to respect me, neither as Adrien Agreste nor Chat Noir. However, I really do love Mirian and her mother, so I hope that I can make amends with her. Nonetheless, my main priority tonight is to assure she's safe and sound. Last I saw her was dinner at my home before she went to her room upset."

"Fine, let's go up… I still don't like you."

"I'll be honest; I'm not sure I like you either."

"Adrien!?" Marinette moaned.

"What!? He likes my daughter; so sorry, that makes him in the grey area of friend and enemy." Adrien muttered.

"Err, wh-what!? I-I don't like…err… she's just a—."

"A Friend?" Adrien muttered with a quirked eyebrow. "If so, why do you use the pet name I used for my partner as your nickname for her?"

"A lot of people like Ladybug and Chat Noir…"

"Yah, but you don't call her 'Buginette' or 'Bugaboo'. You call Mirian, 'My Lady'. You can't trump the King of 'she's-just-a-friend'… me, so don't act so innocent." Adrien smirked.

Louis blushed and grumbled under his breath as he guided them up to his room. He knocked on the door, muttering, "Mirian, you have a visitor."

She opened the door and froze when she saw Adrien. She was about to slam shut the door when Marinette stopped her.

"Mama, I don't understand. Why is he here?" She muttered.

"He wanted to make sure you were okay. Unlike me, he never got the chance to make sure you were safe after you ran off like that."

"Well, I'm fine. He can leave now." She muttered, bitterly.

"If you don't want to see me tonight, that's fine. If you don't want to talk, then I hope you'll listen to me speak to you through the door. Or if you want to scream, I'll sit and listen… but you deserve the truth from me, and up until now I haven't given it to you." Adrien insisted.

She sighed, sitting on Louis's bed, but leaving the door open. Adrien and Marinette followed in to sit beside her.

"Wh-why didn't you just tell me?" She whimpered, tears appearing again.

Adrien's heart broke at this and he whispered, "That was unintentionally cruel of me. I'm so sorry you had to find out from a monster like him."

"My grandfather…" She added.

"Yes, but at least your grandparents on your mother's side are wonderful, loving people… and if my mom ever comes back, I'd hope you'd find her to be loving and wonderful too."

"You didn't answer my question, by the way…"

"You're right. Sorry… honestly, Mirian, I've only known for a month now that I am a father, and while it is amazing to know you and be with you now, I know that it doesn't make up for the past nine years you've been without me. While I didn't know, it doesn't change the fact that I should have been there for you, and I wasn't. I was afraid that if I simply outed myself to you and your mother as your father, you two would either not believe me or feel like I was a complete stranger. I wanted you two to see me and get to know me before I dropped such a mental bomb on you two. Furthermore, I was worried once I learned that Marinette was Ladybug that she wouldn't believe my love for her was genuine since I'd fallen for the Ladybug side of her first. I wanted to show her that I loved all of her before I admitted that I was the man behind the mask. But… in the end, I caused more pain than good. I don't expect you to forgive me right away, but I hope in time you will. This past month as your father has been the best month of my life, and I hope one day you can come to accept me as your father." He explained.

"You love my mama?"

"More than anyone, but you are pretty darn close to that level." He said with a wink.

She blushed and whimpered, "This is all so overwhelming. One minute I'm meeting you as the man we moved to Italy to protect, and then the next, we're moving in with you. Which, it's been amazing. But then, people start spreading rumors around at school that I'm your illegitimate child who you brought into your household because you started an affair with my mama. I knew it wasn't true all the things they were saying, but I didn't like that they were saying such mean things about my mama. I want so badly to tell people who my father is, but I can't because if I say the name Chat Noir, Mama is revealed to the world as Ladybug."

"You don't have to go through that if you want because I am going to make a formal announcement confirming that you're my daughter, and as for your mother… if you will permit it… I plan to marry her." He explained.

Mirian froze in shock and then noticed the ring on her mother's finger.

"When did this happen!?" She yelped.

"Tonight, after I forgave him… Mirian, I know this overwhelming, but in Adrien's defense, he didn't know I was pregnant when I left to Italy… Now, he's trying to make things right."

"So the reason you didn't meet Mama is because you found out your father was Hawkmoth?"

"Yes, as stupid as that sounds now looking back on it, I wanted to hide from the world because finding out it was him, broke my heart. However, it broke my heart worse when I realized that I had left Ladybug alone. I tried to meet her… but it was too late. She was gone. So I went back each night for ten years, and of all the places, I met you two outside my corporate office. Once I saw you two, I didn't want to ever let you two go again."

"S-so, you want to marry my mother?"

"Yes."

"And you want to be my father?"

"Absolutely."

She sighed and hugged him, saying, "It's gonna take some time to see you as my father, but you make my Mama happy, so… I also want you to marry her."

"Really!?" He whispered, joyfully.

"Yes, and FYI, I want to see you as Chat Noir at least once… I want to see why Mama thought you were all Mr. Suave and stuff."

"Mirian!?" Marinette moaned, blushing.

Adrien chuckled and said, "I guess I can do it at least once as long as we are within the comfort of our own home. Oh… um, guys, I figured I should introduce you to my kwami… This is Plagg."

"Plagg? Is that what you were talking about when you said that name a while ago?" Marinette muttered.

"Yah, it slipped out. Plagg, I'd like to officially introduce you to my fiancée and my daughter. Mirian, Marinette, this is Plagg." Adrien said, letting Plagg out of his pocket.

"Jeez, when we get home, you owe me big time on the Camembert. I haven't been used to transform you in so long. I'm out of shape. Hello, you two, I'm Plagg."

"Nice to meet you, Plagg." Marinette muttered, staring at the little kwami.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Plagg." Mirian muttered, shaking his little hand.

"So where's Tikki? I wanna talk to her. It's been a while since I last saw her."

"I'm here, Plagg. Wait, where's Nooroo?" Tikki asked.

"I'm right here. Jeez, Ms. Mirian, a little more warning when you take me to see that man. It still gives me chills to recall having him as my miraculous holder…" Nooroo muttered.

"Sorry, Nooroo. I knew it was the only way I could sneak out undetected." Mirian apologized.

"That's the other thing, Mirian; you scared us so much. Why were you corresponding with that monster!? What if he didn't know Chat Noir's identity? He could've possibly hurt you, or worse, tonight he could have attempted to steal the butterfly miraculous from you, which could have been catastrophic!" Marinette muttered, causing Adrien to chuckle at the unintentional pun. "Shut it, Adrien! Now's not the time."

"Sorry, you're right… Mirian, I know that it's partially my fault, but please, don't ever do something like this again. I was so worried that you could possibly be hurt or killed, and furthermore, I don't want that man within a mile of you."

"He's my grandfather… I don't think I can entirely ignore him."

"Maybe not, but if there is ever a reason to meet him again, it will be with me or Marinette present, because I will not let him hurt you."

"Okay, Mr. Agreste…err, I mean—."

"It's okay. It's going to take time. Just address me as is comfortable for you and we'll go from there. I don't expect you to call me 'Papa' or something at the drop of a hat."

"Thank you."

"For now, can we all go home, or would you still prefer to stay the night here?"

"I kind of just want a night alone to process everything."

"Okay, as long as it is fine with your mother, it's fine with me."

"It's fine with me." Marinette muttered.

"Okay… then I guess we'll be heading out. Goodnight, Mirian."

"G-goodnight, Mr. Agreste."

"Goodnight, Minou…" Marinette muttered, kissing her good-bye.

"Bye, Mama." Mirian muttered, as they heading out.

With these words, Marinette and Adrien began to leave. Louis stopped them, muttering, "M-Mr. Agreste…?"

"Yes, Louis?"

"I know I'm too young to understand everything that's happened with you three, but let me say something from the heart, please."

"Go ahead, Louis."

"I… I care for your daughter dearly. I think of her as one of my closest friends and… I might even feel more for her as you said, b-but because of that, I want her to be happy. So, please, from now on… promise me you will make her happy and feel safe! Be the Chat Noir I always admired you to be!"

Adrien was at a loss of words from this young boy's mature words, but managed to nod and say, "That's a promise I intend to keep with every fiber of my being, Louis Augustin."

"Good… then, maybe in time, I might grow to like you again, Chat Noir."

Adrien smirked and said, "I'm glad… but I have a feeling I'm gonna have a hard time growing to like you as well considering you might one day take my daughter away from me."

Louis groaned blushing, but muttered, "Fine… then I guess, we're mutual in our dislike of each other."

"Yep." Adrien said with a wink as Marinette sighed and they headed out.