Historian's Note

This story picks up immediately after the events depicted in What Came Before He Knew Her; our characters exist in a grey period somewhere in Season Three of Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir. While it's not strictly necessary to have read WCBHKH (it is eighty chapters, after all), you may find it helpful to read that prior to tackling After. (Don't worry, we'll wait for you.)

Special Note

To everyone joining me on another fun MLB journey, welcome! Some of you have been with me for a while and I'm grateful to have your continued patronage; for those new to the party, I'm excited you've decided to join me for another adventure of our favorite Parisian superheroes. As I get close to my two-year anniversary of writing for this fandom, I continue to be amazed by the warm and thoughtful community I am privileged to have become a part of.

Sadly, I do not own the rights to Miraculous or any of the characters. I keep hoping to become part of their writer's room, but until that happens, this seems to be as close as I am gonna get…

One: Tying Up Loose Ends

Worried about overstaying his welcome, Adrien ponders leaving the relative comfort of the Bakery and returning to the mansion. Ladybug's not entirely sure she agrees with his flawed logic, and digs deeper to see what his true motivations are.

"Not much new to report," the image said on my baton. Framed by a dark mop of hair, the face of my superhero friend from across the pond frowned. "Mister Stark is actually quite stumped – I've never seen him so upset before."

I smiled slightly, though in truth there wasn't a whole lot funny about the particular problem my friend's mentor was tackling. Trying to keep the mood light, though, I cocked my wild mane slightly. "Glad to have thrown him a curveball, I guess."

His eyes widened. "Oh – Chat, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that—"

"I know," I nodded. "No harm, no foul." Deciding it was time to change subjects, I narrowed my masked eyes. "Did I hear correctly that you were seen web slinging around New York? Against doctor's orders?"

"Wha-?" Peter Parker had the good sense to look embarrassed as he snuck closer to his camera. "Who told you about that?" he whispered. "I thought I'd been off of everyone's radar."

"One of our team members keeps tabs on our colleagues back in New York," I replied, thinking about Rena's love for superheroes. "It's kind of a pet project of hers. And you are all over the blogs."

Peter swore. "Lovely. If Fury sees it, I'm done for another month, easy." He slumped back a bit, and the camera had to adjust to keep him in frame. "Man, I can't take being cooped up here in my aunt's apartment any longer. I need to get out!"

"Understandable," I laughed. "But you don't have the same quick-healing abilities we do. When we shipped you back to New York, you still had a fractured rib or two."

"That was six weeks ago!" Peter cried. "I feel—"

"Don't push it," I interrupted. "If you re-injure anything, you won't be able to visit this summer."

That gave my friend pause. "Good point," he sighed, for more than anything, he'd been hoping to spend his school vacation taking photos around Paris and hanging with the only other superhero teenagers he knew. "How's Ladybug?" he asked.

"Good," I smiled. "Though it's been rather quiet since Hawkmoth shuffled off to prison."

"Admit it. You're enjoying the one-on-one kitty time."

I tilted my head away from the camera and gave him my sly smile. "A gentlecat never purrs and tells."

"Of course," he laughed before suddenly looking away. "Crud, here comes Aunt May. I'm supposed to be getting ready for school."

"No probs. I'll call you tomorrow," I replied as I waved a paw at his fading image.

Snapping my baton closed, I tapped it against my open paw thoughtfully. In the weeks since Peter had regained consciousness and then, ultimately, been sent back to New York to recover more fully, much had changed in Paris. Looking out across the very late evening lights of Paris, I thought about the prison on the edge of the city where my father and Nathalie had quietly begun their life-plus-twenty sentences; both had wisely pled to everything, preventing the public spectacle of a trial – and, fortunately, the need for my alter-ego to appear in public as a witness. The citizenry as a whole seemed to have stepped back and taken a deep breath, too, for after the years of near-daily akuma attacks, their sudden cessation seemed surreal. Gradually, though, with the help of Chat Noir and Ladybug, life had begun to resemble what it once had, pre-Hawkmoth.

Oddly, the two of us were having the harder time adjusting; without a supervillain around, our nightly patrols were somewhat anticlimactic, though we did appear to be on top of missing pets and the random attempted armed robbery. The Parisian crime rate had never been lower, especially when it became apparent the Heroes of Paris could appear and thwart an otherwise carefully planned bank heist.

Funny thing, magic.

Leaning back against the cold tiles of the angled roof I'd chosen to for my daily (well, nightly, depending on the time zone you were working from) check-in chat with Spider-Man, I mused on other changes. Without having to constantly work ahead in case of an all-night akuma, school had become a bit less hectic and whole lot more fun. Contrary to my fears, I'd not become a pariah by dint of my association with Gabriel – in fact, my schoolmates had been immensely understanding and supportive, save for Lila of course. We never really knew what she was thinking other than it was uniformly bad for all of us.

Sliding sideways a little, I could just make out an edge of the Eiffel Tower, partially lit and looking as elegant as always. To be honest, as nice as it was not seeing the akuma-of-the-week take it out over and over again, I was starting to have my doubts that Paris needed me any longer. Weeks earlier, Ladybug had reminded me that there would always be someone sitting in the villain seat, and we would be there, ready to meet them. I knew in my heart she wasn't wrong – a visit from future Bunnix earlier in the year had confirmed such a thing would happen, actually – but it was feeling more and more like we were just going through the motions. Much as the modelling I continued to do, it was something expected – a duty we were fulfilling, even if it wasn't perhaps strictly necessary any longer.

I snorted a bit on that thought, for actually the modelling may not have been the best example. As much as I truly detested the work, it was essentially keeping the business empire I now appeared to be in charge of afloat. I wasn't technically running things on a day-to-day basis, for as it turned out, Gabriel had built quite a staff to actually manage things; that had allowed him time to focus on designing the next season of clothing – or, as I reminded myself cynically, upend Paris as Hawkmoth looking for the Cat and Bug Miraculous. I sat in board meetings a few times a month, though, thankful I'd paid attention to the financial training my father had insisted on so I could surprise the board with thoughtful questions about the bottom line.

Financially, I was secure. Lawyers from House of Gabriel had been right behind the authorities after they'd carted off Hawkmoth, message in hand that there was a clause transferring the entire Gabriel fortune to me should he become indisposed for any number of reasons – like, say, going to prison. All if it was held in a trust until I turned twenty-five, but regular stipends of an amount that had Marinette swooning would be made to a newly opened personal account. That last part had Director Fury's fingerprints all over it, as he'd promised to ensure I'd be free to live as I chose before he spirited my mother away to New York.

Or what was left of her.

Thoughts of her in that glass casket were interrupted when my feline ears pivoted in the direction of a familiar whisper on the wind; smiling, I flipped to my side and pulled my tail into my hand, twirling it as Ladybug appeared on the horizon. While I wasn't upset to see her, it was a not-so-subtle rebuke for staying up well beyond all reason on a school night. Still, I smiled as her lithe form gracefully landed beside me.

"Kitty," she smiled. "It's not a full moon, is it?"

I rolled my eyes. "I am not that much of a cat—"

There was no way to finish my sentence, for Ladybug had quickly moved a hand behind a feline ear and started to scratch. Though I knew was she was about, my feline impulses kicked in and before I could stop, I was leaning into her, eyes closed while blissfully purring.

"You were saying?" Ladybug whispered softly into an ear.

"Not… fair," I sighed as I leaned further into her hand.

"I know," she laughed. "Come home, Chat. We have to be at school in less than six hours."

"I'll be fine."

"Not without a lot of coffee."

"True." I leaned toward her a bit more. "Good thing I know where I can get some."

"Chat does not live on caffeine alone."

"No, but it helps."

I let the purring fill the silence for a few moments, relishing in the relaxed state Ladybug could induce in me with such a simple gesture. There was no question I was seeing more and more feline characteristics in myself the longer I remained Chat Noir, and to be honest, quiet moments like that one with her seemed to validate my decision to remain transformed as much as possible. Ladybug had become far more understanding about it, but my kwami continued to give me a hard time – though for his part, it felt more like Plagg was trying to keep his crusty reputation intact. Especially since his protestations had essentially become pro forma, easily silenced with a handy slice of camembert or two.

Closing my feline eyes, I managed to snuggle in a bit closer to Ladybug who adjusted slightly to allow me to place my head upon her thigh. I could feel the slight pattern in the fabric of her costume against my exposed cheek; it was subtle, much as the hexagonal pattern in my own costume, and as she shifted her ministrations to a spot behind the other feline ear, I could feel the first stages of drowsiness beginning to descend upon my fur brain. Smiling slightly at the caginess of my partner, I cracked open a masked eye and trained in on her, struggling for a moment to push away an overwhelming desire to drift off to sleep.

"Look, I've been thinking," I started, giving voice to something that I'd been mulling over for a bit. "I… I probably should move back into the mansion."

"What?"

"Don't get me wrong," I hastily added, the tone in my partner's voice snapping me wide awake. I sat up and turned a bit toward her. "Your parents have been amazing. But I don't want to overstay my welcome. It can't be easy having a rescue kitty underfoot."

"You didn't need rescuing." Ladybug leaned down and put a hand to my masked face. "I happen to like having my boyfriend close at hand," she said softly.

Feeling a slight heat to my cheeks, I knew my face was telling her how I thought about that arrangement, too. I coughed a bit. "Well, as much as I love that aspect of things, Adrien isn't your current boyfriend," I reminded her. For as far as her parents were aware, Marinette still had the hots for a certain feline, one who managed to tactically appear when Adrien was otherwise "officially" occupied elsewhere. "So far we'd managed to keep up the charade, but your parents are bound to start seeing the coincidence."

Ladybug smiled. "They haven't yet, and to be honest, I think they are too busy to notice the similarities staring them in the face."

I smiled a bit. "Just one of many perks of living with them."

"So why leave?" she asked softly. "My parents love you as much as I do – and still will, I'm sure, whenever we wind up making the switch from Chat to Adrien."

"I know," I smiled. "And believe me, it's made a huge difference in getting over this hurdle of who my father turned out to be."

"Then why?"

I looked out across the night. "I'm worried. I mean, nothing has happened since Hawkmoth went away for good; aside from Paris not needing us any longer—"

"They do, trust me."

"I know that deep down." I sighed and looked out again at the Eiffel Tower, searching for the words to explain what I was feeling. "Somehow, I feel lost, I guess," I sighed again as I turned toward her. "My life – at least, up to very recently – was back there in that space. Am I running away from who I am? Do I need to return to that life, face up to it, and then deal with the debris Gabriel left behind?" Leaning back on my paws, I searched the stars that twinkled faintly in the dark sky above. "I guess," I said softly, "I worry that I'm intentionally hiding from my past. From what Gabriel did."

Ladybug reached over and pulled me to her side again. "You've not done that at all, Chat," she replied. "I'm not a counselor, of course, but while I'm sure the mansion represents many things to you, it does not represent you. What defines you is deep within that feline body of yours, Chat. And that hasn't changed from the day I met you."

I looked at Milady again and saw her through that gauzy haze of love that had infected me long, long ago – nearly from the moment she'd entangled me in her yo-yo that first day we were partners. More than luck had brought us together. "You really believe that?"

"Without question. And with all of my heart."

"Then I am the luckiest kitty in the world," I sighed as I leaned my wild mane against the top of her head. "I wallow in guilt these days, I suppose." I looked out in the general direction of the mansion. "I've not visited the old place since they took Mother…"

Ladybug reached out again, and cupped the side of my masked face with the palm of her gloved hand. The hexagonal pattern of her costume caught what little light was about as she moved. "Is that what this is really about?"

I put my paw to her hand. "Yeah," I sighed. "Maybe that's the nugget of it right there. I've been thinking about it for a few weeks now, ever since Peter first told me they'd run up against a wall trying to unlock the secrets of the casket. Especially this nagging feeling we overlooked something."

"We turned the place inside out," Ladybug reminded me. "Even found the dust bunnies in the wine cellar."

"And yet, I can't shake it off," I replied, literally shaking my mane as I said it. "I feel like we missed some secret that might help us save her."

"You could have just said that."

"I'm not sure I knew it until tonight, to be honest."

She nodded. "Okay," she said as she stood and held her gloved hand out to help me up. "Come on, then."

My feline ears went straight up. "Right now? You just chastised me about not getting to bed!"

"I know my kitty," she smiled. "Once you get your curiosity piqued, they'll be no sleep for any of us."