Chapter Twenty-Five: Christmas Day.

The big day is finally here and Adrien gets a very special present.

Wednesday 25th December 2019. Midnight. Notre Dame Cathedral.

As the bells rang out at Midnight, heralding the start of Christmas Day, Ladybug shifted just enough in Chat Noir's lap to lean up and brush a kiss against his cheek. "Joyeux Noël, mon Chaton."

His only answer was to pull her tighter against him. She went willingly, wrapping herself around his as best she could, pulling the quilt more securely against them, and wishing there was something more she could do for him.

In the privacy of her own mind she was cursing Gabriel Agreste. How could he have denied Adrien the chance to go to Midnight Mass? Adrien had been looking forward to it all month as a way to remember his mother and carry on their tradition. He'd gone with her every year since he had been old enough to stay awake until midnight, but Gabriel had put a stop to all of the when she disappeared. And now this? How cruel could he be to promise Adrien they could go then rip it away at the last moment!

Thank god for Plagg. He has sent her a text from Adrien's phone alerting her to what was going on and letting her know that while Adrien was confined to his room Chat Noir was going to be at Midnight Mass.

She'd grabbed his quilt and raced to the Cathedral, almost beating him there. She'd found him sat cross-legged on the floor up in the highest rafters, tucked securely out of sight of anyone downstairs, and staring unseeingly at the preparations for the service. He hadn't reacted to seeing her there, save for pulling her into his lap and holding her in a strong embrace. He'd barely let her go long enough for her to grab the quilt and wrap it around both of them.

And now it was midnight on Christmas Day and the church below them was celebrating and he still looked so sad and so lost.

She held him closer and nestled her head under his chin, hoping that she was enough to help him with this.

Together they watched the end of the service, they watched the people cheer and embrace each other as they moved into the new day, and then watched at the gradually filed out of the church to the sound of ringing bells.

Chat shifted then and slipped the quilt from around them, surprising her when he wrapped it around her shoulders and tucked it in tightly. He hooked an arm under her knees and unfolded from the floor, hoisting her up, and walking out of the cathedral while carrying her in his arms. She let him have this and enjoyed the ride home.

He dropped them onto her balcony with almost no noise and let her get her feet under her before leaning down and pressing his head to hers. He sighed and closed his eyes. "I don't know how you knew but I'm glad you were there," Chat murmured. He nudged at her nose. "And I'm glad you thought to bring a blanket for yourself. I couldn't really call my purr up then."

Ladybug's heart broke for him. She slipped a hand round to the back of his neck to keep him close. "I'll always be there for you kitten." She promised. It would be an easy one to keep. Then, before she could lose her nerve, or start second guessing his gift, she carried on. "And this isn't my quilt, it's yours."

She tried to slip it from her shoulders to give it to him but he moved faster than she did. "No," he hands grabbed hers and kept the quilt in place. She was glad to see him looking at it in curiosity though. "You can't do that out here, it's far too cold."

"Then come inside and I'll show you."

Ladybug wasn't going to take no for an answer but it looked like Chat didn't have the energy in him to argue either. He stood there and let her open her window hatch and pull him inside. She didn't move from her bed. Instead, she dropped her transformation and waited patiently for him to do the same. Tikki immediately grabbed Plagg when he appeared and the two kwami zipped down to Marinete's desk, where she had set out cookies and cheese for them before leaving.

Marinette pulled the quilt from her shoulder and shuffled across the bed until she was sat next to Adrien and she could spread the quilt across both of their legs. She appreciated the extra warmth and she figures that Adrien would too considering he was only wearing a set of thick pyjamas.

"A gift from me to you."

Adrien stared at the quilt, seeing it spread out before him, and finally able to pick up on all the details he hadn't seen while they were in the cathedral. It was beautiful. Soft and warm, yet also thin and lightweight, each square of pale fabric was meticulously placed and expertly sewn - he would have expected nothing less from Marinette. She put her heart and soul into everything she did. The squares were in all the colours of the rainbow, but in soft and pleasing pale pastel shades, and some of them had extra embellishments and designs on them. He reached out and idly traced one that looked like a yin-yang symbol.

"You made this, just for me?" he breathed, awed. "This must have taken so long, you couldn't possibly have had enough time…"

The quilt was quality work, expertly done, and the stitching was meticulous. He could see that the embroidery had all been done by hand. They'd only know the truth about each other for a little over three weeks. Even if she got the idea immediately after their reveal she must have poured every single scrap of free time into creating this masterpiece. He wondered if that's why so few of the squares were decorated.

"Is that why its incomplete?"

He immediately felt silly for pointing that out. He might not always like being a model but he had developed an eye for quality over the years and this quilt was phenomenally good! Adrien was ready to beg her forgiveness for talking without thinking but she just smiled up at him.

"Not quite, kitten."

He watched as she turned one of the corners of the quilt back, revealing the underside. The squares were made up of beautiful patterns, including several Ladybug and Chat Noir themed squares, and there were deep, vivid blues, vibrant greens, rich reds, it was beautiful.

"This side is the 'finished' side. I picked the patterns and colours that I know you like the most," she brushed her fingers over the hero themed squared as she spoke. Adrien wasn't surprised to see that they easily made up the majority of squares. Marinette flipped the corner back so that they could see the top side more clearly. "Now this one is technically 'unfinished' but that's because it's meant to be filled over a long time. It's a memory quilt, see?"

It took Adrien a few moments but he did see.

It was beautiful.

The yin-yang symbol he'd traced earlier had their miraculouses in the smaller circles, embroidered in meticulous detail, and the date they found out each other's identities. The next one along had a stylised black cat with a ladybird on its nose and the date they received their miraculouses. There was a square with all of his friends names embroidered on in different coloured thread. There was a camera and the date he helped their class break Juleka's photo curse - his first real time getting to hang out with everyone as friends. There was a square with headphones and musical notes and a tube of bubbles bearing Nino's name, and another with a phone and a wifi symbol with Alya's name.

There were more of them scattered over the quilt, like a sabre and a medal for his first big fencing win a few months ago and a square with needles and sewing accessories for Marinette, but his eyes were filling with tears so quickly that he was finding it hard to focus on the beautiful designs.

His Marinette, his love, had made this just for him.

She said it was a gift to show that she loved all of him, but she didn't even realise just how much this meant to him. Yes, there were squares there from all aspects of his life, but it was the empty squares that had his heart bursting with love and joy. To him they represented the future, a future that would have her at the heart of it.

He could so clearly see the squares that would eventually appear on here some day - a mortarboard hat for when they graduated university, a star for when Marinette made it big in fashion, a ring for when he proposed… he could see squares for their wedding, squares for their first home, and squares for the children they would have.

He could hear her speaking, she was telling him something about alterations being easy if there was anything specific he wanted, but he could barely hear her over the racing of his heart.

Adrien did hear her surprised squeak and happy sigh as he yanked her in for a kiss. He poured everything he had into it, all of his love, his thanks, his amazement, his awe at her, everything. All of it was for her.

Wednesday 25th December 2019. 5 a.m. Marinette's room.

Adrien's eyes refused to open even as he groaned and swatted at whatever it was messing with his hair.

"Rise and shine, kiddo."

"Time to get up, Adrien."

Two small voices murmured into his ear and he grumbled again. He was warm and comfortable where he was, and even without opening his eyes he could tell it was still dark outside. The pillow was soft under his head, the blankets and quilts were wrapped tightly around him, and he had the love of his life in his arms. Why on earth would he want to get up?

"Kid, if you don't get up now, hairballs in your shoes will be the least of your problems."

Okay, that was fairly good incentive to get up.

He blearily cracked his eyes open, glowering at the two kwami floating before his face. Plagg just glowered back and Adrien knew the little shit would no doubt make good on his worse-that-hairballs promise. He was a cat after all. Tikki gave him an apologetic shrug. Marinette stirred in his arms, shifted, and fell back to sleep.

Marinette.

Adrien smiled down at her, memories of last night coming back to him the more he woke up. After Gabriel had cancelled their midnight mass plans, begging off with the excuse of jet-lag, this wonderful girl had made sure he wasn't alone in Notre Dame and then giving him the best present he had ever received. The gift of a future with her. Naturally he'd had to kiss her.

As was becoming a habit with them, one kiss turned into two, then five, then more, and soon they found themselves lying down on her bed, under his brand new quilt, exchanging soft and sleepy kisses between murmurs of love and sweet nothings. He hadn't meant to fall asleep here but he couldn't find it in himself to regret it.

"Sorry Adrien," Tikki whispered. "But you'll have to leave before anyone notices you're gone, and before Marinette's parents find you."

"Hmm'kay."

Leaving was the last thing he wanted but Tikki was right. It would be a disaster if he was discovered missing, or worse discovered in Marinette's bed. He could say goodbye to any approval he had from her parents if that happened. He was as careful as he could slipping away from Marinette but she had such a tight hold on him it was inevitable that she would stir.

"Adri…" she mumbled sleepily. One tired blue eye cracked open. "S'up?"

"Sorry Princess, but I have to go."

"Go?" the other eye opened and she lifted her head up off the pillow to look at him. A clush coloured her cheeks. "I fell asleep on you?"

Adrien chuckled. "We both did. That's why I have to go."

She pouted but released her grip on him, pulling her arms back. "Will I see you later?"

"Probably not," he huffed. "Père wants me at home today… but I could facetime you if you want? I'd love to see your face when you open my gift."

"Okay." Her answering smile was tired but so happy that it made him melt all over again. Marinette was going to be the death of him, he'd said it so many times before, but he would welcome such a sweet death. "Love you."

Adrien leaned down for one final kiss goodbye. "I love you too."

He helped her to slide under her duvet but she was fast asleep by the time he had folded up his new quilt. He said a quick goodbye to Tikki then called up his transformation and slipped out of the window hatch. His plan when he got home was to fall into bed and get a few more hours sleep before he was called to the Christmas Day breakfast with his father, Nathalie, and Gorilla, and then spend the rest of the day on the phone with his Marinette.

Not a bad way to spend Christmas Day.

Author's notes. Reminder, I have still not seen all of season 2 and none of season 3. Please check my author's profile for a list of the episodes I have seen.

I hope you like the memory quilt idea. It's something I started doing for the sproglet before my old sewing machine died on me, which is why I'm super happy I got a new one for Christmas because the second my wrist is 100% I'm going to finish that quilt. It's made from squares of his old baby clothes and on each one I'm embroidering some details (his favourite toy, the date he started walking, etc). I figured that was a great gift for Marinette to give to Adrien, celebrating happy memories and holding on to the promise of more to come.

Also, as it is Christmas, I figured I would do a couple of ask lists over on my Tumblr. One is an identity ask and the other is all about my fiction If you're on there then why not drop me an ask? I'll be answering the ones I receive until the New Year arrives.

Replies to reviews.

owlthewriter - don't worry, plenty more puns to come. Glad you liked their big date.

yellow14 - usually the hubby and I get on with his family, but yesterday they were in a "we know your child better than you" mood. Hence the big wind up. Your punny review did make me smile so thanks for that. Glad yo uliked the date - it was one of my favourite chapters to write. Especially Tom and Sabine, Shippers Supreme.

ELinkA - glad you liked it and thanks for the review.