The day had gone by quickly, and it had also taken Chloé the whole day to pack up her things and place them in her new room. Everything stood in their rightful place inside the room and her walk in closet was now filled with all of her clothes. They were sorted in colors from the lightest to the darkest. She knew she didn't have to do it like that, but it was the first time she had a walk in closet and she wanted to take extra time to make it extra special for her.

When she was done, she had gone out and bought a package of noodles which she almost didn't eat anything of. She wanted to claim that her lack of appetite was because of her move, but deep down she knew it was because of the green eyed hero she was going to meet later that evening. She wanted to deny that she had a crush on him to make things simple, but nothing had been simple in her life recently and it felt pointless to try and act as if her heart didn't beat extra fast every time she thought about him.

Adrien had not come back from work yet and Chloé wasn't sure if that was normal or not for him. She knew it was Friday and hoped he would be out with friends or something like any young adult usually are during weekends. But she couldn't help but worry about him, especially after what she had seen earlier that day.

If she could wish for one thing she wanted Emilie Agreste to come back. Chloé wanted to make Adrien happy again and give him back that one parent that gave him all the love he needed and made him happy. Chloé knew if she ever got the chance to make such a change she would take it without question. Adrien needed his mother back in his life.

When the clock was nearing 8 pm, which was the time she and Viperion were going to go on their patrol, Chloé made herself ready to leave and took her purse from where she had left it in her room earlier.

"Are we leaving?" Pollen asked when she noticed that Chloé took her purse.

Pollen had been staying in Chloé's room most of the day instead of being by her side as usual. Pollen had claimed that she wanted to get to know the room, but Chloé knew that the kwami enjoyed the view from the windows so much that she had been seated by it the whole day.

"Yes. My patrol with Viperion starts soon." Chloé explained and noticed the small disappointment in Pollen when she found out she would have to leave the window for now.

"I see." Pollen said and flew over the room toward Chloé.

Chloé held up her purse for Pollen to get into and closed it when the kwami was inside. She put her purse on before she left her room and headed toward the elevator.

For one moment Chloé had thought about transforming inside her room and leave through the balcony outside her room, but she knew she couldn't do that for plenty of reasons. The first one was that Ladybug had told all of them to be extra careful now that Hawk Moth was back and the second reason was that Chloé didn't trust the area yet and she couldn't risk revealing her identity just because she wanted to be careless.

Instead, she took the safer route and left the apartment building, walked through many different streets and found a safe place to transform when she was just one minute away from the spot she was going to meet Viperion at. She felt proud of herself for not being reckless when she knew that one tiny mistake could cost everything.

The moment she was transformed into Queen Bee she could feel all the power run through her. It almost made her feel unstoppable, but only almost. She knew any of the heroes of Paris could be beaten and the moment any of them started to believe that they would never be defeated, fate usually made it known that they could.

As she started moving toward the spot, all of the past battles she had fought made themselves known in her thoughts. She never thought about them, ever. But since she had fought an akuma for the first time in forever just the day before she knew it was only a matter of time before another akuma showed up. She wasn't sure if it would help thinking about all of the past battles she had fought, but they flashed through her mind and she couldn't stop it.

Chloé landed on the roof of a building and stopped when she realised she had made it to the place she was going to meet Viperion. She wasn't able to check the time, but she knew it was close to 8 pm, maybe just a few minutes before the clock turned to 8 pm. So she knew she wouldn't have to wait that long for Viperion to show up.

When her very first battle flashed before her eyes, Chloé decided that it was enough. She didn't want to think about it anymore. Instead, she started thinking about Viperion and all of the moments she had shared with him, both as Queen Bee and as Chloé. The more she started thinking about it the more she realised how many different things they actually had been through.

Viperion had saved her plenty of times and he would always listen to what she had to say, something it felt like people rarely ever did. It was nice having him there even if he wasn't a part of her life, not really anyway.

The first thing Ladybug had told Chloé when she first got her Miraculous was that her identity was to be kept a secret. If she ever revealed who she was to someone else, she knew she would have to give up her Miraculous and stop being Queen Bee. She didn't want that, but she knew she wouldn't be able to keep it a secret if her crush on Viperion evolved into something much stronger. She wanted him to know who she was before anything serious happened between them.

She shook her head when her thoughts really went downhill. Why would she even consider something like that? She hadn't even spoken more than a few words with Viperion since she got back to Paris and she wasn't even sure what he felt about her. Were they only heroes, companions in this crazy world they lived in or were there something else between them, something stronger than friendship?

It was something she had never thought about before and for good reasons. All these feelings she started to feel for Viperion were something she had never ever felt for anyone before, if she didn't count Luka and the friendship the two of them had that was doomed to be just a friendship. But everything felt so different with Viperion. It really felt like there was a chance for them to become something more if destiny really wanted.

"You look happy."

Chloé's heart started beating fast in her chest when she heard his voice and she quickly turned to face him. A smile spread on her lips before she could do anything about it, but he didn't seem to mind or even find it a bit odd that she was flashing a big smile at him for no reason. He smiled back almost instantly.

"I am." Chloé said and Viperion seemed to not understand what she meant, so she felt like she had to clarify that for him. "I'm happy. It's been some time since I was this happy."

His happy smile faded and a sad look showed up on his face.

"I'm sorry to hear that you haven't felt this happy in some time. But I'm glad that I can witness it. Happiness suits you."

Chloé almost wanted to tell him that he was the reason for her happiness, but thankfully she stopped herself before she really did something horrible. She could maybe keep it all a secret if she played her cards well, but then again... She was going to spend the whole evening with Viperion, and that could totally cause her to at least hint how she felt about him.

"Have you been here long?" Viperion asked.

"Maybe a few minutes." Chloé said and looked around.

For being the day after Hawk Moth's return it didn't seem like much had changed. People were still out, living their life and enjoying themselves. Sure, some people must be worried about akuma attacks happening at any time, but at least it didn't change everything in Paris. It was just as lively as Chloé remembered and that too caused her smile to be even bigger.

"I was thinking that we could talk for some time and then start our patrol by moving south." Viperion said and walked closer to Chloé.

"Talk?" Chloé wondered.

"You did promise that we would talk about your absence, and I also want to know about that sapphire ring we found in the alley that you took. I guess you didn't bring it back?" Viperion asked and looked at her, clearly searching for the sapphire ring she had given back to Sabrina.

"I left it at the jewelry store. They promised to find it's owner." Chloé quickly explained and instantly felt horrible for lying but if she told the truth she knew her identity could be revealed.

"So. No clues?" Viperion asked.

"No." Chloé said.

No clues she could tell him about anyway. She wasn't sure what Lila's deal was, but Chloé knew it could be a part of a twisted game only someone like Lila Rossi could make. It sucked that Chloé had to be a part of it when she felt like she had better things to do than being a pawn in a game she didn't even know the point to.

"That's a shame. I was hoping that you would have something to tell. I really want to find that guy if he is still out there." Viperion said and looked down at the street below, clearly looking for that guy that had attacked her in the alley.

When Chloé noticed the anger in Viperions otherwise happy eyes she couldn't help but feel her heart beat even faster and she was sure people on the other side of Paris could hear it from where they were. It was rare to see him that angry and for Chloé it felt as if he was angry about that guy still being on the loose. He wasn't angry at her. He was angry because she, Chloé, was still in danger.

"I'm sure we will get him at some point." Chloé said and hoped it would be enough to calm him down for now.

Viperion slowly nodded and turned to Chloé.

"Where were you?" he asked.

"When?" Chloé asked before she understood what he meant and felt a bit stupid afterward when he looked at her as if he wanted her to be serious. "I was away."

"Where you on a secret mission?" Viperion asked and sounded both as if he was joking with her and being serious at the same time.

"No." Chloé said and couldn't help but laugh.

She knew Ladybug trusted her as much as the other heroes. But Chloé doubted that Ladybug would ever send her out on a secret mission. Chloé wasn't even sure if there had been any kind of secret mission ever, but she knew enough that she had never been a part of any.

"I felt like I needed to leave. There weren't much here in Paris for me anymore. I went away and only came back because someone close to me got sick. There are few people I care about and that person is highest on top of that list." Chloé explained and chose her words carefully not to reveal too much information.

"I'm sorry." Viperion said.

Chloé nodded and looked away from his marvelous green eyes. Her gaze fell on the street below and all of the people walking around, enjoying life and being happy even though horrible things had happen and would most likely happen again. She had to admit that it was horrible knowing that she had left when things felt hopeless last time. But this time she didn't want to chose that path. She had to stay and fight and protect the people she cared about and loved. They needed her, and she did not want to repeat a past mistake.

"Someone told me that it was a journey I had to make so that I could realise what I had." Chloé explained and gave Viperion a sad smile.

"I guess that's true. But you know, sometimes it's good to talk to people and open up about certain things. If you felt like there wasn't much left here for you I'm sure whoever was a part of your life would have showed you that wasn't true if you had decided to talk to them about that." Viperion said.

"I guess that's true as well." Chloé said and looked away from him.

"If you ever want to talk, I'm here for you Queen Bee." Viperion told her in a soft voice.

"Thanks." Chloé said and didn't dare to even glance at him when she knew her face was starting to turn into a shade of red that she knew did not match her yellow outfit.

"I'm also sorry about yesterday." Viperion said.

Chloé wanted to ask him what he meant, but realised she knew what he was talking about. He had wanted to talk instead of focus on their task in getting Shadow Mirror to move. It had really caused some extra trouble for them during their battle, but it wasn't that kind of mistake that ruined everything.

"It's fine. We defeated him." Chloé said.

"I'm still sorry about it. Seeing you fall into that mirror was horrible." Viperion said.

"What?"

Chloé turned to Viperion who looked like he had said something he wished he hadn't. Even if it looked like he didn't want to talk about it but he quickly gave up with his silent defiance and told Chloé exactly what he had meant with his words.

"I used Second Chance because I felt like it was the right time. You guys made it on the second attempt, so you only fell inside the mirror once."

Chloé felt a shiver go through her whole body when she thought about falling into Shadow Mirror's mirror and how horrible that must have been. It wasn't something she could remember, thankfully, and what was all thanks to Viperion.

"Thanks." Chloé finally said even if she felt like she could have said more than one tiny word.

"It's what we do. Saving people. Each other." Viperion said and looked at her as if he meant something with a deeper meaning that she wasn't able to decipher.

Was he leaning in or was she leaning closer to him? It felt like they were slowly moving closer and Chloé wasn't sure what it meant or if it meant anything at all. Did he like her? Or were they getting closer for some other reason? The only thing Chloé knew was that she really loved to see the green in his eyes so close.

A beeping sound stopped them from moving even closer and before Chloé could react Viperion quickly leaned back and gave her a excusing smile.

"I completely forgot." Viperion said and reached for his communication device.

A second later Chloé's own communication device started beeping and she realised something was going on.

"What is it?" she wondered while she reached for her device.

"It's from Ladybug. She wanted us to meet." Viperion quickly explained.

"Just you and me?" Chloé wondered.

"No. All of us." Viperion said and clicked on a few buttons on his communication device before he put it away. "We are supposed to meet in thirty minutes."

Chloé nodded and read the message she had gotten from Ladybug. They were going to meet in the forest again, at the same place as last time.

"Let's go there right away." Chloé said and started moving before Viperion could react.