Adrien found it impossible to sleep that night. L.B. and Zhu hadn't been able to stay long, leaving shortly after they had finished their conversation. Lady Epona had checked in on Emma while he spoke with Zhu, getting to know his son at least a bit in the short time they had. He was actually surprised that she was going to leave Emma with him without a fuss. Because of the excuse they'd used to come here without her, his daughter wasn't even supposed to be in Paris.
"I know you haven't had much of a choice up until now, but I'm surprised you'd trust a man you haven't seen in years to watch your daughter," he'd noted.
The soft look she'd given him warmed his entire existence. "You were always a good man, Chat. I'd trust you with more than my life, even if I haven't shown it well. Let me prove it now. Take care of her."
That thought had consumed him all evening, to the point where he found himself sitting in his office at two in the morning, staring at his walls. He'd been full of bluster and confidence, but now he actually had to live up to it. He had to find her, but where should he start looking?
While lost in that thought, his eyes and mind wandered, to Emma and their conversation a few days ago.
What was it they were talking about? Old classmates and an old picture.
A reminiscent smile graced his lips as he stood and up and traced the faces on that old picture until he reached one in particular. He paused. Blinked. And his smile widened just a little bit more.
"And when I win, then you marry me."
That purr in his voice has been pure Chat, and it was all that Marinette could think about, playing over and over again in her head, on repeat, whenever her brain found an idle moment.
She sat under the Parisian night sky in the lawn chair on her balcony, squealing into a pillow as if she was a green teenager again, attempting to pull herself together. How was he still that hot!? He'd always had boyish good looks, but maturity looked amazing on him, and those color choices… Black and green had always looked amazing on him. She'd never been more thankful for the horse miraculous. She could barely look at him without forgetting how to breathe, and her eyes just couldn't behave.
She wanted to cry. She wanted to scream her name into the heavens, run up to him and declare "Here I am!" And yet, here she was, twelve years later, and she still couldn't confess as Marinette. In some ways, she was still that clumsy, anxiety-riddled, ball of nerves teenager.
Oh god, he wanted to marry her. He wanted to find her. How could he? After what she did… How could he still even want her? It went against all her understanding. If their positions had been reversed, would she have felt the same way?
She remembered the way her heart tried to escape her body when he had declared that he was going to prove his love. The way she wanted to die when he sounded angry or disappointed or sad. The way she wanted to wipe away that look of longing with everything she had. She wanted to give him what he wanted, but could she afford it?
It was a dangerous game. Could she play it? She wouldn't make it easy for him, she decided.
She wouldn't hide from him like she had at that last Fashion Week, either, though.
She looked up at the starlit sky and picked the brightest one. "Please don't let me regret this," she said to the stars. She wanted to be found.
E: Sorry you didn't get to spend as much time with Bà as you wanted
Louis read the message notification on his new phone while scrolling through all the pictures Emma had sent him. He pressed it and opened up the text app to respond.
L: It's okay. Besides, if all goes to plan, I'll have all the time in the world.
He went back to scrolling through pictures, stopping on some of the older pictures of his parents' school days. One of them was a fabulous one of his mom and dad flanked by a boy a girl with darker skin. His teenage mother was blushing at the camera while her father was looking at her with a dopey smirk. He pressed edit and cropped the picture down to his parents, adding the caption "GOALS" across the top, then saved the edited copy to his background.
E: About that. We only have two weeks. What even is the plan?
He'd been giving that a lot of thought, actually, ever since after their parents' conversation.
L: We need them to meet. We can't tell Bà who Mama is outright, but that doesn't mean we can't give him a push in the right direction.
He went and grabbed his mother's phone off of her nightstand, unlocking it with his and Emma's birthday, then scrolled through her messages. With a smirk, he forwarded the itinerary sent to her by her assistant to himself and Emma, then deleted the forwarded message off of his mother's phone to cover his tracks. He returned the phone to the home screen and locked it, putting it back in the exact same spot it had been.
He put his finger to his lips in the silent motion and winked at Nooroo, who was watching. The butterfly kwami nodded and winked back with a smile. Kaalki rolls her eyes but accepted the oatmeal cookie bribe with a nod.
L: I just sent you mama's plans. If you see an opportunity for them to run into each other, take it. We are staying with Grandma and Grandpa, so maybe you could convince him to come to the bakery at some point in time.
E: You'd be there, too. He'd see you and know who mama is!
He considered that chewing on his thumbnail, then replied.
L: Actually I don't think it's going to be that easy. There's a reason mama wanted me in costume. There is a quantum masking on it that keeps humans from recognizing heroes out of costume. Think Clark Kent's glasses.
E: He still knows your name. It's a pretty big clue if his old friend Marinette has a son the same age also named Louis. We want him to find and fall in love with Mama, not find Mama because he found you. Mama's going to see that as cheating.
Louis smirked, then looked at his kwami. "What do you think, Nooroo? Do I look like an 'Athanase' to you?"
"It sounds very regal," the butterfly god commented, causing the blond-haired boy to laugh.
"Maybe a nickname, then."
L: I think I'm going through a phase now. I want to start going by my middle name.
E: But you hate your middle name.
L: Good thing it's going to be a quick phase. Two weeks long, to be exact.
The two twins spent the next ten minutes outlining plans and trading ideas, identifying landmarks and possible meet-up places, until the skylight opened. Louis slight-of-handed his phone out of sight and close his eyes, pretending to sleep.
Marinette lowered herself down carefully onto the bed and closed the latch behind her easily so as not to wake her son. She sat there for a moment, watching him sleep, before leaning over and giving his forehead a kiss.
She then eased herself off the loft bed and went to her own guest bed on the lower level.
Louis cracked an eye open and shared a smile with Nooroo before snuggling back into his blankets and actually falling asleep. He had a lot of work to do and was going to need his rest, after all.
Emma at the breakfast table, scrolling through her mother's schedule for the day, mining it for opportunities while her father took a seat and drank his coffee. She could tell from the slight bags under his eyes that he hadn't gotten much sleep last night after Mama and Louis had left.
"Okay, Bà, I think it's time to pow-wow."
He lifted an eyebrow and took a sip of his coffee. "Oh?" he said.
She nodded. "Absolutely. Consider me your personal Cupid." She lifted her pointer finger. "But don't think I'm going to make it easy for you. Louis and I had a good long talk last night. We are basically sworn to Kwami-level identity secrecy."
Adrien put the mug down and leaned on his elbows. "Wow, that strict, huh?" He sounded a bit amused.
"Of course!" the preteen girl said, mimicking his posture and also leaning forward on her elbows conspiratorially. "You have two weeks to find out who Mama is and prove you love her. There are a gazillion people in Paris. We don't want it to be obvious, but we don't want it to be impossible either." She winked at him, shooting a finger gun his way. "It will mean more to mama if you figure it out for yourself, anyway."
"It will be so romantic," Duusu cooed from the perch he'd made in Emma's hair.
Adrien chuckled and took another slow sip of his coffee, keeping an eye on his daughter and her kwami. They were quite the pair. "How do you know that I haven't already figured it out?" He asked with a teasing lilt to his voice.
Emma stood suddenly, leaning over the table excitedly, inadvertently dislodging the peacock kwami and causing him to somersault in the air. "You did?"
He simply shrugged with a small smirk, taking another sip of his coffee, but not giving her a reply.
"Bà!" She went around the table and started tugging on his arm. "You can't just leave me hanging like that! Did you really?"
He laughed. "Stop that. Your gonna make me spill my coffee."
She released his arm and whined. "Bà-a!"
He took a long sip. "Well, let's consider the evidence, shall we?" He smiled. "First, I know that I knew her as a teenager because she told me herself. I know that she was not someone I saw romantically, not that that narrows it down." He tapped Emma's nose. "I know that she has blue eyes because both you and Louis have the same eyes. Admittedly, his may be affected by his miraculous, but I doubt it. I always suspected that her hair was naturally midnight blue, but again, the miraculous can change hair color. However, Louis, again, has the same midnight blue hair. So, physically, I'm looking for a woman about my age with midnight blue hair and bluebell eyes."
"Well, that only narrows it down to about a few hundred people, Bà," she snarkily replied.
He shrugged. "Not if you also consider that she is someone I knew socially as a teen but haven't seen years."
Emma took her seat again. "How do you know you haven't seen her in years?"
Adrien tapped his mug. "Circumstantial evidence. I'm assuming you've been living somewhere in Asia, probably China. That would explain how you are fluent in Mandarin and why it took your mother and brother so long to get to Paris. She told me herself, that she'd left Paris and never looked back, so I'm also looking for someone who not only left around the same as L.B., but also went far away."
"I'm fluent in English, as well," Emma challenged. "How do you know we don't live in California or Alaska?"
"You might," he conceded. "But that cute pin collection on your backpack suggests otherwise. Lots of Chinese characters, some French ones, a few from England, but none from the US. I'm assuming you are the type to collect pins everywhere you go." A thought suddenly occurred to him, "Actually, I bet that is why you and Louis ended up with the Peacock and the Butterfly. They are the only two whose miraculous is a pin."
The blond girl blushed and laughed sheepishly. "Guilty as charged," she admitted, while Duusu nestled in her hair again, also laughing.
"Yep! Because my miraculous was the prettiest one, right, Emma?"
She grinned widely, "You know it, partner. So dark hair, blue eyes, lives in China, your age. What else you got?" she probed further.
"Creative. Compassionate. Strong sense of justice. Always stood up for her friends and was willing to fight for what was right. Competitive. Good at video games. Stubborn. Never knew how to ask for help unless it was almost too late. Tended to jump to conclusions."
Yep, that sounded like her mama, Emma thought.
Adrien's smile turned Chat-like. "I may know a few other things, also, but I think I'll keep them to myself for a while. Just until I verify a few things." He downed the rest of his coffee, then stood up, squeezing his daughter's shoulder as he passed. "Well, enough about that!" He put his mug in the sink then smacked his hands on the counter. "What do you say we go out today? Go see some of my favorite places in Paris?"
Emma's smile turned radiant. "Yes! Absolutely!"
Adrien watched his daughter buckle her seatbelt, relishing the novelty of it. While he was growing up, he, never had the experience of riding shotgun with his mom or dad. He'd been chauffeured everywhere until he'd finally gotten the opportunity to earn his driver's license, and that hadn't been until after he'd graduated school. Now, he thumbed the handmade string of beads that he'd hung on the rearview mirror of every car he'd owned since his first and gave his daughter a sunshine smile. This was a good day.
"That's pretty," his daughter noted the action, fiddling with a similar style string of smaller beads around her wrist.
"Yeah, well, its my lucky charm," he informed her. "One of my friends made it for me a long time ago. She left right after graduation." He put the car in gear. "So now I remember her every time I look back." He smirked. "Also, I've never been in a single accident, big or small, so there is that."
"O-o-h!" She teased, "I see how it is. Sure she wasn't just a friend?"
Adrien snuck a scandalized look at his daughter with a gasp. "Of course she wasn't just a friend!" He missed her wide-eyed look as he pulled onto the lane, but he still amused himself by adding, "She was my BEST friend."
The preteen groaned, and he laughed. "Besides, I already told you. I really did only have eyes for your mother." And he was going to prove just how true that statement was.
He drove to the part of Paris that used to be his old stomping grounds, showing her around and telling her stories of his time as Chat Noir. He showed her the house he used to live in with his father. It was currently under renovation while his parents were away. He joked and told his daughter that villain chic was totally out of style, anyway. Emma couldn't even fathom living in a house so big. He'd agreed, it wasn't all it was cracked up to be. They then went to the park.
Adrien showed Emma the fountain that had featured in so many of his childhood photo shoots. Her excitement verified something that he'd already suspected from yesterday; his daughter loved fashion photography, both as the photographer and the subject. They took turns taking pictures of each other. He made Emma laugh by repeating some of the things that Vincent used to say in a fake Italian accent. Never had he had so much fun taking pictures.
It was well about midday now, and the sun had come out in force. Adrien rubbed his empty stomach. "I'm hungry. You hungry?"
The blond girl nodded, still examining the pictures she'd just taken on her phone. "I could eat," she answered positively, then looked up from the phone. He could see the spark of an idea light up her face. "Oh, you know what sounds good right now?"
"What?" he indulged her.
She smiled widely. "I heard about this really fabulous bakery that's not too far from here." She fiddled with her phone for a moment, then showed her screen to him. "See? It has amazing reviews, and the storefront is to die for. I'd love to get pictures there."
The picture was of Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie. The ex-model hugged his daughter's shoulders and turned her in the right direction. "Oh, you mean that one?" He pointed to the end of the block across the street and the corner store there. It wasn't immediately recognizable from this angle, but her eyes widened in pleasant surprise when she noticed it. "Great minds think alike!" He gave her a squeeze and led her over.
Louis worked behind the counter, following his grandmother's instructions for where the trays needed to go. He'd actually slept pretty well the night before and had woken up bright and early, though still not as early as his grandparents. The smell of freshly baked pastries was a siren call that he couldn't resist, so he'd spent the morning helping his grandfather bake and doing the heavy lifting for his grandmother. He baked with his mother back home, so he already made an efficient helper.
"You know, I've been thinking… 'Louis' is such a common name. I think I want to go by "Athan" for a while," he'd noted idly.
His grandmother blinked at the sudden request but smiled indulgently. "Well, that is an interesting choice. So a nickname of your middle name, then?" She kissed his cheek and went back to updating the daily specials board. "I think we can try that out for a while."
The morning sped by quickly while he helped his grandparents, enjoying the bonding time. Grandmother Sabine especially loved hearing and sharing tales of growing up in China, though his grandmother had grown up in one of the more rural areas. They both shared a martial arts background, which surprised him about the diminutive grandmother, but then again, he wasn't too surprised. He promised to do a run-through of some exercises with her later, which he was actually looking forward to.
It was lunchtime when the store bell rang, admitting a very familiar blond. He schooled his face, attempting to maintain a neutral smile while his grandmother greeted him.
"Adrien! It's good to see you again!" Sabine genuinely greeted, coming around the counter to kiss both of his cheeks. "How have you been?"
He smiled brightly and regarded the small Chinese woman. "Really, really well, actually," he answered. "My daughter is staying with me for a few days and we were in the area. Thought I'd treat her to the best pastries in Paris."
"I didn't realize you'd gotten married," she replied, eyes wide in surprise, then, "Where is your daughter? I'd love to meet her!"
He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Well, not really married. It's kind of complicated, but my daughter is right outside. She wanted to take some pictures of the outside first." They both looked outside and waved at a blond girl in sunglasses who waved back shyly.
Louis tried not to laugh. Really, Emma?
"Well, it just so happens that my daughter is back in Paris, too!" Sabine was saying happily, moving back around the counter, rubbing Louis's back as she passed. "She's still asleep, but the two of you should catch back up while she's in town! I'm sure she'd love to see you again and meet your daughter."
"I just might do that," Adrien agreed happily. He then looked at Louis. "What about you, Mrs. Cheng? Did you finally hire some help around here?"
She laughed. "No, nothing like that. This is my grandson…"
"Athan," Louis introduced himself, holding out a hand for a handshake. "It's, uh, short for Athanase."
Adrien shook his hand, with an amused, "Really." The young boy didn't miss the glint in his eye. "Well nice to meet you, Athan."
"Why don't you take his order, dear?" Sabine smiled at Louis. "I'm going to check on Tom and see if the brioche is ready."
"So what can I get you?" Louis politely asked.
Adrien gave his order and Louis packed it, ringing him up as his grandmother has shown him.
The older blond took the bag. "You know, I'm taking my daughter to the museum later. When your mom wakes up, why don't you ask her if the two of you could come as well? I'd love to catch up with her."
Louis blinked. "Uh, sure."
"Great," Adrien smiled. "I'll stop by again later."
Sabine beamed as she returned, having caught the exchange. "Wonderful!" She elbowed her grandson and stage-whispered. "Athan, this could be your first date, if you play your cards right. Your mom had a thing for blond's too," she teased.
Louis blanched, and probably turned a bit green, at the thought of dating his sister. Adrien burst into laughter.
AN: The original plan was to spend several chapters having him figure this out... UNFORTUNATELY, I realized that I had already given Adrien SO MANY HINTS that it would have been impossible for him to NOT figure it out. So here we are. Let's have fun with this. ;)