A/N: This is very much a tying up of a few ends chapter but they're not fully tied yet so there will be a few more chapters. Also Bourgeois is incredibly hard to spell so I had to google it to get it remotely correct!

Chapter 13

*Adrien's POV*

After a long and tense phone call with the Mayor, Ladybug and I voyaged to his office, my villainous father in tow. The minute we got there, he was arrested and moved to a separate room, allowing us to recount the entire story to Chloe's dad. He could not believe it and was in utter shock, which was completely understandable. While he was pacing the office, Ladybug looked me in the eyes, a silent message passing between us. I slowly nodded to her.

"Erm Sir, I think we need to tell you something else before you make any decisions on how to handle this. But you can't tell anyone else," She said a little nervously.

"Ok, go ahead," Mr Bourgeois said, sitting down on his chair to prepare himself.

Ladybug and I looked at each other once again, confirming that we were really doing this.

"Claws in."

"Spots off."

We both turned to him. His jaw dropped as he stared at Adrien and Marinette, taking in that we had just revealed our identities to him.

"It all makes sense now. This whole week, I've been hearing my daughter complain about your relationship and how different the two of you are now that you're together. Of course you're Ladybug and Cat Noir. Paris's dynamic duo! Oh, sorry I'm still a little dazed, thank you so much for your service to our city. You've helped so many people including my family and I can't thank you enough. And of course I won't tell anyone!"

"Thank you so much Mr Mayor," I sighed in relief. "But now you know why I have been so insistent that we control how this is released. I don't think I could deal with the fall out, no one will ever look at me the same again. And then there's my mother. We have to do something to get her out of the coma and find a way to plausibly re-enter her into the world." I slumped down onto a chair, resting my head in my hands. Marinette's hand reached over and rested on my shoulder, her thumb tracing gentle circles.

"It's ok. We'll take it one step at a time and deal with it together," she said, her voice sending a calmness throughout my being. I looked up at her, her smile warming my very exhausted heart. Then we heard a sniffle and both looked up to see Mr Bourgeois wiping his eyes.

"I'm sorry, you two really are made for each other and don't deserve this huge roadblock in your relationship," he explained. Then he stood up and put his Mayor hat back on before he continued talking. "I tell you what. From the story you've told me, you need to go back to yours and bring Natalie here to be arrested. You're then going to take your mother to the hotel where I will provide a room that can be your base camp to try and wake her up. We'll deal with the rest of the Emilie stuff after she wakes up. That will be your job. I will deal with your father and Natalie and breaking the news to the press. You both will just have to make a small statement at a press conference, one of hope and an assurance that you will still be around to keep our citizens safe. Your house will become a swarm for the paparazzi so you will want to stay away. And that's all we can do right now, we'll deal with anything else as it gets thrown at us. How does that sound?"

I looked at Marinette, who had made her way down to the chair next to me, her hands grasping mine. She read my mind and then turned to face the Mayor once again.

"That sounds perfect. We'll get started right away. Thank you so much for your help," she replied for the both of us. She then stood up, pulling me up with her and transforming back into Ladybug and merged her miraculous with kalki, prompting me to transform as well.

"I'll never get used to that! But thank you again Ladybug and Cat Noir. You have saved our city!" Mr Bourgeois exclaimed.

10 hours later...

It was now really late. The longest and hardest day of my life had finally come to a close.

After tying up the last loose ends at my house, including packing as much of my stuff as I could into Ladybug's yoyo, my baton and a couple bags, we stopped off at Mr Bourgeois' office once again. He told us that he was going to hold off on releasing the news until the end of the week, giving me some time to get to grips with everything and not have to deal with school the next day. I could not have been more grateful, especially as it would not be too suspicious that there would be no akumatisations during the week as we only had one last week instead of the normal at least one everyday. The failed optigami plan really threw Shadowmoth.

We were now in Marinette's room, having explained everything to them, minus the secret identities. We told them that we found the lair and managed to contact our superheroes. Luckily they believed that part of the story and graciously allowed me to stay with them, even saying that I could stay in Marinette's room, fully understanding my need for support, even though it came from their daughter comforting arms.

I had collapsed onto her chaise lounge as she slowly and quietly shut the hatch to her room and then started to put things away and grab a few things for me. A few minutes later, she walked up to me and knelt on the floor. Her hand reached forward and moved a stray strand of hair from my forehead, eyes softening as she smiled down at me.

"Have I ever told you how much I admire you? This whole day you have gone through a rollercoaster of emotions and have stayed so brave throughout this. I don't think I could have been so strong if I'd been in your situation," she said in a calm voice, her hand still running through my hair.

"I would not have been able to do anything without you. You have been my rock today. I knew that I could count on you and I will hopefully be able to count on you for the next few weeks of fallout as well."

"Of course I will. We're partners. Paris' dynamic duo. It's us against the world."

"That it is my Lady, that it is." I sighed and pulled her lips towards mine in a tender kiss, slowly pulling away a few seconds later to rest my forehead against hers. We stayed like this for a little while, until I felt a tear roll down my cheek. The last bits of adrenaline were wearing off, the realisation hitting me that my mum is actually alive, and it was our job to wake her up. Tikki, Plagg and the rest of the Kwami's were already working on the possible solutions, but they had time. I don't think I'm ready to see her and speak to her after so many years. I don't know if I want to hear her side of the story. Is she evil too? I won't be able to deal with it if she was. Not even Marinette could hold me together then.

Mari noticed the tears falling from my eyes and wiped them away with her thumb.

"Hey, it's ok. Why don't you go for a shower while I get the bed ready for two people rather than just me. We both need sleep, we need to go to school tomorrow," she said, completely making my point about being the rock in our relationship.

"You're right, I'll go take a shower now. I need to wash this day of me. I can't wait to collapse into bed and fall asleep next to you," A smile formed on my lips, breaking though the slow tears still falling from my eyes. I stood up and held out a hand for Marinette to use as a support to get up. She turned towards her desk chair, where she had left a towel for me, but before she could step away, I grabbed her arm and spun her into my chest, wrapping my arms around her in a massive hug. It was over too soon as she made a move towards the towel, leaving my arms and placing the softest white towel in between us. I took it, kissed her forehead, and then made my way to the shower.

*Marinette's POV*

It was a while until Adrien returned. I had gotten my bed ready and unpacked the bag I took to Adrien's. I also checked on the Kwami's to make sure they were ok. Nooroo and Dusuu had caught them up and they were now all celebrating having them back before they had to work together to find out how to wake Adrien's mum. I was now lying on the chaise lounge, scrolling through my phone, watching out if anyone had gotten a hint of Shadowmoth's takedown. So far no one has. We were safe.

I was nodding off when Adrien walked back into the room, spotting me and bursting into laughter. I shot up, shaking myself awake. I gave him a death stare, making him laugh even harder.

"What is so funny?" I asked properly sitting up and brushing the hair out of my eyes.

"Oh nothing," Adrien gasped in between laughs. "Just the position you were in. Your phone was resting on your face and your legs were up in the air. Not to mention your open mouth."

"Haha, very funny. It's not my fault that today was exhausting and I didn't get much sleep last night. Ok the last one is slightly my fault, but you were taking forever so I guess I just nodded for a minute!"

"Yeah okay that is understandable. But that does not make it any less funny!" He then took a few deep breaths and stopped laughing. "Oh I needed that. It feels good to laugh." He sighed and sat down next to me. That was when I noticed the red rims around his eyes, a sign that he had been properly crying. I reached my hand up to his face, my thumb gently brushing his lower eyelid. His hand took a hold of mine as he took it off his face and brought it to his lips.

"You ready to sleep now," I whispered. He slowly nodded his head, standing up and pulling me with him. I guided him to the ladder and up to the bed, lying down and tapping the space next to me. He lay down as well and then pulled the blanket over us, allowing me to cuddle into his t-shirt clad side, his arm snaking its way around my shoulder and down towards my waist, pulling me closer. His scent of shower gel and lingering aftershave relaxed my insides, allowing me to drift off. Soon enough, we were both asleep, surrounded in each other's warmth.

A/N: I have a slight problem now. I don't know where to stop. I think I'm going to write about school the next day and then the announcement, the fallout and then we'll see where we go from there. I have a few ideas for epilogues but I don't know if they should be separate one shots or be part of this story. I'm just very wary of the fact that if I use up all my ideas about their future relationship in this story, I won't have any left if I ever want to write another story. I guess I'll just have to see how it goes as I'm trying to get rid of the writing bug before September when life goes super crazy again, not that it's not crazy now!