AN: This came from a suggestion on the SLD chapter of "A Very Miraculous Christmas." The amazing thing about writing such an expansive world is that it feels completely natural to write a one-shot with original characters, even these two! If you need a reminder, Delphine is the fiancée of Officer Raymond Luron from the Superhero Liaison Department.

To Lyger 0: Not Marc's grandfather; Nath's. But… yes! At least one person made that connection in advance!

To Butterfly: I hope you enjoyed it!

To yellow 14: Well, I do like my foreshadowing… but Alya already has a higher chance of having twins, simply because she has twin sisters. Twins are something that (at least anecdotally) runs in families. I know a family with at least 3 straight generations with 2 or more sets of twins!

To armadas: So some of those fears may very well come into play in the future… Luka becoming more of the Ladybug in their partnership was absolutely intentional! Their dynamic is a lot of fun to play with, since while he's more of the planner, she's much more of the assertive one. "The Colossus Saga" includes two stories that center primarily on them and their group.

Replies to Reviews of "The Teutonic Knight":

To Lyger 0: Pretty much! Or at least it makes it more possible.

To Butterfly: To be honest, a lot of the time the historical stuff comes a lot easier than the ship stuff. Which is why I put so much more effort into the "ships." :D

To Anon2018: Thanks! And that is correct: Ivan and Luka found out each other's identities, along with Felix's and Nino's, in "Guys," which also includes Kagami, Mylène, and Alya by proxy (though Luka found out Nino's during "Seine"). And of course there's no way Ivan or Luka keeps that information from their respective girlfriend!

To armadas: I'm glad I did them justice! I was a little nervous with Marc since I really haven't used him before now. Ondine as the civilian girlfriend was something I decided on a while ago when I realized that every relationship in the series so far was between heroes. So she and Kim are the civilian/hero couple, and Nadine and Philippe are the civilian/villain couple. I may have Sabrina use her as a champion for a one-shot at some point…

"I just – I worry, Irene. I don't want to, but… I do."

Irene nodded sympathetically and offered her guest a refill of tea. Delphine nodded reluctantly, and Irene topped her cup off. "Dear," she told the younger woman, patting her hand gently, "even just knowing a little bit of what Ray must see on a regular basic, if you didn't worry, I'd probably be worried for you!"

Delphine chuckled humorlessly, clutching her teacup in both hands. "It's not every day – or even every week," she explained. "But every so often there will be something on the radio. Or there will be a report of an officer-involved incident. And…" her voice trailed off.

"… And you think about the last thing you said to him?" Irene suggested, raising a knowing eyebrow. Delphine's shoulders slumped and she nodded. Irene sighed. "I wish I could tell you that it gets better, but I would be lying. The truth is that worrying about your husband – or fiancé, as the case may be – simply comes with the job that they're in."

"It's just – it's so stressful!" Delphine ran a hand through her hair. "The last time Ray got a middle-of-the-night call, it wasn't even because something bad had happened; it was because they had found those missing girls! He told me they just wanted him to come in for security, that they didn't expect anything to happen, that he would probably be home by the time I woke up, but it still took me an hour to get back to sleep."

Irene let out a breath and nodded. "I remember. Roger was so relieved that they had found the girls. I was happy, too, of course – several of them were around the same age as my Sabrina, you know. But it still brought back memories."

Delphine sighed. "Ray said that Prefect Raincomprix–"

"You really can just call him 'Roger,' dear," Irene interrupted her gently. "At least when you're not talking to him while he's on duty. You don't work for him, after all!"

Delphine hummed ruefully. "Some days it almost feels like I do," she admitted, frowning.

"They do sometimes act as though the badge is their mistress, don't they?" Irene mused, sighing.

"It's not so bad when the badge is the 'mistress'," commented Delphine. "It's so much worse–"

"–when you're the 'mistress'," Irene finished, nodding sympathetically.

Delphine's shoulders slumped. "How do you do it?" she asked, a pleading look in her eyes.

Irene furrowed her brows in thought and took another sip of her tea. Even after 20 years, she couldn't really say how she had managed to stick it out with Roger, despite the stress his job had placed on their marriage – especially over their first couple years, before Sabrina was born. Irene gave the younger woman a closer look and finally decided. "Allow me to answer your question with another question: when you and Ray fell in love, what did you first fall in love with?" Delpine looked at her in surprise, cocking her head in confusion. "For myself, I loved how kind Roger was, how much he cared about and wanted to help people, how much he wanted to do the right thing, no matter what that might mean. How he would even stand up to the Mayor of Paris if Andre was out of line."

Delphine nodded understandingly. "I guess… it was his sense of humor first," she admitted. "But the more I got to know him, the more I realized how brave he is, how protective he can be – like you said, the willingness to do the right thing." She smiled fondly. "I think it was on our second date, we were walking back to my apartment when he saw two guys fighting outside a bar. He just walked over, told a couple jokes, talked the one into handing him his knife, and defused the situation."

Irene raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You got an early taste of it, didn't you?"

Delphine shrugged. "That's just what he's always been like, for as long as I've known him: always trying to help people."

"And those are also some of the qualities that make him a good police officer, aren't they?"

"Yes." Delphine pursed her lips. "So… are you saying that I fell in love with the job?" she asked dubiously.

"No; of course not." Irene shook her head. "Some women do, but I don't think that's you. You fell in love with Ray for who he is, not because you saw his badge, right?"

Delphine nodded adamantly. "He didn't even tell me he was at the Academy until after that second date."

"How did knowing that change your relationship?"

Delphine frowned. "I think I thought it was exciting at first," she admitted. "But, then, everything was so new and exciting at that point since we were still just getting to know each other. He was the first man I'd dated who'd actually expressed interest in my interests, who wanted to know me." She chuckled. "He listened to me talk about graphic design for an hour on our first date – and he even paid attention the whole time! So finding out that he was going to be a police officer… it was just another piece of the amazing man he was."

Irene smiled warmly. "You aren't in love with a police officer; you're in love with a man who happens to also be a police officer." Delphine nodded, a little of the tension leaving her face. "But even knowing that, I think you can acknowledge that Ray is well suited to the job he has now." She paused a moment while Delphine thought. "Speaking for myself, after all this time I realize that I love Roger for who he is, and that he wouldn't really be happy if he were doing something other than this. So of course he's going to be a police officer; how could he be anything else?"

"Does that make it easier?"

"Not all the time," Irene admitted, shaking her head. "There are still the days when he's talking about nothing but the job. There are still the days when he has to come home late because he was at a meeting all day that he can hardly talk about. It was especially difficult when Sabrina was younger and he could only make it to a handful of her school events because of work – either because he pulled an overnight shift and needed sleep, or because he got called in for an emergency. Of course I still knew that he loved us – Sabrina is his world, you know. But you can only look in a six-year-old's face and tell her that Daddy couldn't make it to her dance recital so many times before it gets to you." Delphine frowned, staring down at the table. Irene hummed. "Are you and Ray…?"

She shrugged. "We've talked about it, but at least not until after the wedding this summer," she answered. She chuckled. "If I'm ordering a custom wedding dress, I should at least fit into it!"

Irene laughed. "Well, when the time comes," she told her, "or even after the wedding, for that matter – if the job starts getting in the way of your family, you just let me know. Roger will straighten him out; I'll make sure of it!"

"So Pre– I mean, Roger has gotten better about it?" Delphine wondered, a hopeful look in her eyes.

"He has," Irene assured her. "It took a couple visits to a marriage counselor and a lot of communication, but he absolutely has. And even now there are still times that he misses Sabrina's events because an emergency came up – though she's been running around so much more these days, between lycée, University classes, friends, Max…" She sighed, shaking her head. When had her little girl grown up so much? "This isn't exactly an easy life, and our husbands don't have an easy job. But it's a worthwhile one."

Delphine frowned. "There's just so much stress…" she mumbled, squeezing her teacup tighter.

Irene refilled their cups, smiling wryly. "I suppose in a way you are lucky that you have already experienced all of this, even without being married to him. When Roger and I got married, I had no idea what I was in for. He was just a patrolman at the time, and no one had ever heard of Hawk Moth. The worst he ever had to deal with in those days was the occasional rowdy drunk when he got stuck working the overnight. But then there was the night that one of his drunks got belligerent and stabbed him in the arm with a knife. I got a call to come down to the emergency room in the middle of the night. Sabrina was two at the time, and I had to wake up the neighbor to watch her, so by the time I got there, he had already gotten stitched up and was more than ready to leave. But that was when I finally realized just how dangerous this job was."

Delphine gasped, staring at Irene in shock.

Irene took the younger woman's hand in her own and squeezed it gently. "I'm sorry," she apologized. "Roger has only ever been injured or shot at a handful of times; it's not like it happens every day. I just don't want to give you the wrong impression about what you're getting into. It's good that you already understand it in the abstract: Ray's job is difficult. It's dangerous. He can get hurt – now that they are working more closely with the Heroes of Paris and actively fighting against the super-villains, that's more likely than it even was when Hawk Moth was around. But we love them all the same. And they need us."