Chapter Nineteen: White Christmas.

Every year everyone hopes for a White Christmas. This year Paris gets one it didn't expect.

Thursday 19th December 2019. 11 a.m. Collège Françoise-Dupont.

Alix was shivering so violently you could actually hear her teeth chattering together. "S-s-screw Hawkmoth!" she growled, rubbing her hands up and down her arms. She was the only one in class without a coat.

Mylène pulled her closer to her and Ivan, sharing her coat and warmth as much as she could, and Nathanaël moved closer to her back. Everyone else shifted tighter together and agreed with Alix' sentiments.

Kim was shivering as he held Max and Sabrina tightly. "I'm so going to punch him in the face when they find him."

"Yes!" Alya nodded enthusiastically towards the middle of the huddle. "I would immortalise you on the Ladyblog for that, Kim."

Adrien agreed with that sentiment wholeheartedly. He wished Hawkmoth had accidentally turned himself into an ice cube by akumatising today's victim.

Someone in the school, Adrien had already forgotten their name, had become upset that morning when they heard on the weather report that Paris was not going to have snow on the 25th this year. Finding out that their friend was going away on a skiing holiday over the Christmas holiday was the last straw.

He was remade was White Christmas and was determined to create the Winter Wonderland of his dreams right there and then.

Snow began falling around the school in blizzard-like proportions and piling up against doors and windows, a thin sheen of ice developed over every surface, and the temperature began to plummet rapidly. By the time Adrien realised it was the work of an akuma, and not a faulty heating system as Mlle. Bustier had initially assumed, they were frozen inside their classroom.

Try as they might they couldn't get the door to open. The ice was already at least three centimetres thick on the outside of the door, and not even their combined strength could pull it open. It was the same story with the windows. They were trapped.

Mlle. Bustier had done her best to reassure them that it wouldn't be for long, that Ladybug and Chat Noir would have everything fixed in no time, that they should all take their seats again and carry on with the lesson.

Adrien shared a concerned look with Marinette. There wouldn't be a rescue unless they could escape.

Instead of taking his seat again Adrien had shoved Nino next to Alya then walked around to Marinette and pulled her into the tightest hug he could manage, giving her his scarf and gloves in a vain attempt to keep her warm. Everyone had gaped at him until Max spouted off some facts about sharing body heat and the probability of the temperature growing colder before the cure could happen.

Mlle. Bustier ordered everyone to huddle up together near the blackboard. The heating pipes ran right under it and it was the warmest part of the classroom and right now every little would help.

Adrien pulled Marinette along with him, shrugging out of his coat and wrapping it around her shoulders as they went, and pulled their friends around them so she was as close to the centre of the huddle as she could be. Ivan pushed Alix and Mylène in close to them, and everyone else crowded around them.

"Are you ok?" Adrien whispered into Marinette's ear, pitching his voice low enough that no one could hear him.

He was pretty sure she nodded but she was shaking so badly that he just couldn't tell. This was without a doubt the worst side effect of being Ladybug. Marinette was far too susceptible to cold temperatures; if it got too bad she just shut down. There had been one terrifying occasion where she had been dunked into the freezing cold Seine by and akuma and had been unresponsive for nearly fifteen minutes while Chat had to warm her up.

But there was no way he could warm her up now. Not while they were trapped. He couldn't even purr for her without giving their identities away - and with the way Tikki kept glaring at him from inside Marinette's coat she knew how much he wanted to.

Adrien was doing his best to talk himself out of transforming in front of everyone, reminding himself that it would be a Very Bad Thing if he gave his secret away, but honestly he was only moments away from not caring at all so long as Marinette was safe. Besides, the class wouldn't talk. Alya would probably beat him around the head with her camera for lying to her all these years, Max would want to talk magic vs. physics, Nathanaël would probably ask him to model for his superhero comics, and Kim and Alix would try and rope him into some challenges. But no one would betray his secret. They all cared about him too much to do that.

His transformation phrase was on the tip of his tongue when two distorted shapes appeared at the classroom door, two shapes that seemed familiar, two shapes that quickly began attacking the ice surrounding the door, and two shapes that grew more and more familiar with each blow. The class cheered in delight and began standing up, stretching their aching limbs, and getting ready to run for warmth as soon as they were rescued.

Nino smiled even though his teeth were chattering. "D-Dude, I love your bodyguard." He gently nudged Adrien before trying the same with Marinette. "M. M! Look! Your papa's here!"

She barely responded and Adrien shared a concerned look with Alya and Nino. He hoped that she would be able to transform soon because, while getting somewhere warm would undoubtedly help her, what she really needed right now was the Miraculous Cure.

With a powerful swing, Gorilla forced the axe through the door and, together with Tom, shouldered it open. Gorilla charged straight into the room making a beeline for Adrien and Marinette, while Tom stood at the door and helped their classmates and Mlle. Bustier out. Alya grabbed her phone and Nino and ran for the front door muttering about vengeance. Everyone else followed at a more sedate pace.

Adrien reluctantly handed a shivering Marinette to Gorilla and stood up, wincing at the stiffness in his muscles, and did his best to hobble after his bodyguard. Tom took one look at him and scooped him up in his arms before hurrying across the road to the bakery. They ignored the main entrance and went straight round the side, hurrying up the stairs to the living room where a worried Sabine was pulling out almost every blanket they owned.

"Marinette! Oh, lái fú, here!"

Sabine indicated to Gorilla that he should put her on the sofa where she had set out a large blanket. She wrapped it around her daughter's shoulders and did the same for Arien when Tom steered him into a seat. There was a small portable fan heater on the table in front of them, one Adrien recognised as being from Marinette's room, and Tom started to fiddle with it while Sabine fussed over their blankets and how cold and pale they were.

A few angry shouts from the bakery echoed upstairs and Gorilla was walking to the door immediately.

"Wait, Christophe," Tom called him back. "It's only the customers."

"Are you certain?"

"Yes. We don't have any extra staff today."

Marinette had slowly been gathering her wits about her, extremely slowly, and while she wasn't working at full mental capacity just yet she was aware enough to understand what her father was saying. He and Sabine had left the bakery to rescue her and Adrien the second they knew she was in trouble, leaving the bakery completely unstaffed and exposed.

God she loved her parents. Amazing as they were though she needed them gone so she could transform.

It took far more effort that is should have for her to lift her head and open her eyes. "G-g-go. M'fine."

"But-"

"M'frine now," Marinette insisted again. "It's warm here and the cure will go out soon. Please, do and sort that out."

She watched her parents share a look over her head and she knew that they were considering her words. Marinette had done her best to make sure she didn't stutter or stammer thanks to her shivering and it seemed to do the trick of convincing her parents to leave her temporarily.

Sabine nodded and leaned down to kiss her forehead. "We'll go down and get rid of them. Adrien, can you make sure she warms up?"

Marinette could feel Adrien nod next to her but she didn't look at him. She was putting all of her energy into staying upright and looking coherent at the moment. She needed her parents to leave them alone. She could recognise the anger in their frames though and felt a small surge of sympathy for the angry-sounding customer. He'd be lucky to leave intact.

They left and Gorilla fussed around them for a moment, setting some extra blankets and cushions close at hand, adjusting the heater, before he stood and nodded at them. "I need to call this in," he said, grabbing his phone out of his pocket and gesturing to the door. "Try and keep yourselves warm. I'll be just outside monitoring the situation."

It took Marinette a few tries to realise that they had been left completely alone. "C-c-convenient."

"I know," Adrien sighed. He had a strange look on his face that Marinette couldn't decipher. "Honestly I try not to think about his actions too much. Are you ok to go out there?"

Well that was a loaded question. "I will be. I'll have to be," she leaned against him, trying and failing to keep her eyes open. "I need the cure."

"Don't worry Adrien," a small voice chirped from inside her coat pocket. Tikki poked her head out but she was shivering so much that Plagg immediately pulled her back inside and revved his purr up as loud as he could. "Transforming will give her a boost of energy. You'll still need to finish it quickly though."

"I can do that. Plagg, Claws Out!"

Marinette felt a pair of leather clad arms lift her into a familiar embrace and snuggled into his warmth, sighing in pleasure at the rumbling purr. It was always louder when he was in the suit and she loved it! She let him carry her up to her balcony without protest because, honestly, she was in no fit state to manage all those stairs, and then, with a nod from Tikki, she transformed too.

Fifteen minutes later they were sat on her sofa again, snuggled up under a miniature mountain of blankets with the heater on, basking in the warmth of their embrace and watching some terrible daytime television show. Marinette could tell that Adrien wasn't paying it any attention at all. Truth be told, neither was she, but they had to give the appearance of having been here all the time.

There was a knock and Gorilla walked in, pocketing his phone. He nodded approvingly when he saw their blanket cocoon. "We'll be staying here for a while yet, young sir," he announced, smiling at them. "There's still a fair amount of chaos on the street. I have informed home and they agree with my judgement."

"Thanks."

Adrien smiled up at Gorilla and Marinette managed to muster one of her own. He really was the best. She knew he was keeping Adrien here so he could warm up with people who cared about him rather than making him return home. The chaos on the streets, not that it could really be called chaos since it mostly consisted of kids who had come running out for a snowball fight aimlessly wandering home, was just a convenient excuse for him.

"I'll be stationed downstairs if you need me. How are you feeling now young sir, Mlle. Marinette?"

Adrien nodded but Marinette managed to voice her answer this time. "Better. Thanks M. Guerin."

"Good."

She tried to relax against Adrien again but he was sat up and staring at the door. "How do you know his name?" he blurted it out. "It took me five years to learn it."

Marinette shrugged. "I asked." After the first few times that Gorilla had dropped off and collected Adrien from their bakery it had felt rude not to know his name.

"You're the first he's answered," Adrien chuckled, finally sitting back against the sofa cushions again. Marinette immediately snuggled against him and nudged him until he started his purr. He gave a rumbling chuckle. "He must like you."

"I like him too." Marinette yawned and pulled the blanket tighter around her. "He keeps you safe, he lets you have fun."

"Yeah, he does."

Marinette let herself doze against Adrien. There was no need to get up and she was safe and warm snuggled into her purring kitty's arms. This was heaven. She was only vaguely aware of her parents and Gorilla coming in and out of the room to check on them and tell them that the school had decided to close early for the Christmas holiday so they didn't have to go back.

The last thing she knew before sleep claimed her was the gentlest brush of lips against her forehead and a purring voice whispering "I love you."

Author's notes. Sabine calls Marinette lái fú in this which, I believe, is a term of endearment that translates to my blessing. I tried to research it as best as I could but I freely admit my limitations when it comes to the Chinese language. If anyone out there does speak/know Chinese then please correct me if this is wrong.

Yes, I am implying that Gorilla knows, much like I did in my other fic Heroes Need Protecting Too. I love the thought of him knowing and doing everything he can to keep Adrien safe while letting him be a hero. The name I use for him in this story, Christophe Guerin, is also the one I came up with in that story.

Replies to reviews.

owlthewriter - oh those sounds divine! I had krumkake once in my life and it was so sweet. Haven't been able to find them since then (so if anyone knows somewhere that sells them in England then please share). Glad you like the fic so far.

kazza2182 - I'm glad you like it so far, and thanks for reviewing.