To Rose Tiger: When Lila's on, she's on…

To Butterfly: We shall see. But this story really needed for Lila to have a "friend" along, considering that Chloe has Sabrina.

To Lyger 0: That might definitely need to happen when we get there!

To StarDaPanda225: I mean, if Lie-la had the miraculous to pretend to be a legit superhero, why wouldn't she? :D

To yellow 14: More than likely: Having someone else who knows your identity is not a good thing when you're a villain trying to pass off as a hero… But Lila isn't exactly stupid, either. Considering Alya's abrupt turn toward her, she was bound to notice that something was up.

Chloe dropped her shopping bags on the penthouse floor and flopped across the bed. She covered her face with one arm and let out a frustrated groan. The bed shifted slightly as Bee-atrice hopped on it and padded over to Chloe. The puppy nuzzled against Chloe's side, whining pitifully. Chloe buried her hand in the dog's fur, and Bee-atrice licked her wrist, her tail wagging. "Sabrina, did I feed this dog yet today?"

"What am I, your mother?" Sabrina responded, amusement in her voice.

Chloe opened her eyes and glanced over to see Sabrina in the middle of hanging one of her new blouses in the closet. She smirked. "Well, if the shoe fits…"

Sabrina scoffed and threw the blouse at Chloe's head. It landed on top of Bee-atrice, who squirmed out from under it and started biting the collar. "Fine, see if I help you anymore!" she teased, eyes lighting up mischievously.

Chloe rescued the blouse from Bee-atrice's jaws and fingered the nibbled collar with a frown, running her thumb over the pulled threads to smooth them back into place as best she could. Sighing, she pushed herself up and grabbed a hanger from the closet to join Sabrina. Bee-atrice hopped up and down on the bed, yipping excitedly. Duusu flitted out of the kitchen, carrying an armful of berries which he dropped on Chloe's nightstand. Bee bounded over to the Kwami and licked him excitedly.

Duusu giggled and picked up a ball as big as himself, tossing it across the room. "Ready, puppy? And… fetch!" Bee yapped and chased after the ball, grabbing it in her teeth and running back, nearly colliding with the Kwami before dropping the ball on Duusu's head.

Chloe smiled fondly and secured the blouse on the hanger. "You know you're so much better than Mother," she commented to Sabrina, shoving it into the closet and carefully avoiding catching her eye.

"Yeah…" Sabrina let out a sigh. "I'm sorry for even bringing her up. Have you even heard from her lately?"

Chloe scoffed and forced three new dresses into the closet. "Of course not. It's not like I'm her daughter or anything. I was abducted while she was here to visit, and as far as I can tell she didn't even notice or care."

"Oh, that's so sad," Duusu tittered, rolling the ball again for Bee-atrice before flying up to nuzzle Chloe's cheek. "Parents shouldn't ignore their children like that!"

"You would think…" muttered Chloe. "But try telling that to Audrey Bourgeois."

Sabrina stopped what she was doing and put an arm around Chloe's shoulders, pulling her into a loose hug. "I know how much you want her attention, but it really isn't worth it: you aren't alone anymore. You've never really been alone."

Chloe returned the hug. "I know," she whispered, holding back her tears. "I know I have you. And Adrien. And Marinette and Alya and the others. And Aunt Emilie. And Daddy." Bee-atrice trotted over, her tail wagging, and rubbed against Chloe's leg, staring up at her adoringly. She glanced down and smiled. "And you, too."

"But you're still sad because friends and a puppy still aren't the same as a mother," Sabrina finished, squeezing her shoulder sympathetically. "And Emilie isn't actually your mother."

Chloe gave her a look. "It's still weird that you can do that." She let out a breath. Last year this would have gone so differently. Last year she probably wouldn't have helped Sabrina hang her new clothes – and Sabrina would have simply accepted that with a smile. Last year she had been the one with the miraculous, not Sabrina. Last year she was the one who called all the shots, and Sabrina had seemed content with just following her lead. Last year she would never have accepted comfort from Sabrina – or anyone else for that matter. But last year – at least before the summer – she would also have been largely alone, despite being surrounded by people.

She couldn't exactly say she missed the way things had been between them last year.

Still, the lack of her miraculous… "Am I the only one wondering now if it wasn't a mistake to hide the fact that I–that–that the Bee is missing?" she asked, swallowing heavily and raising an eyebrow at Sabrina. "Don't get me wrong, it was the right call at the time, but still. The way Lila was talking today, that could really come back and bite us in the ass."

Sabrina frowned. "If today was any indication," she began, sighing reluctantly, "you're probably right. But it's still Lila who was saying it, though."

Chloe scoffed, arching her eyebrow. "Because people never believe Lie-la."

Sabrina flushed. "She can be very persuasive!"

"Exactly." Chloe sighed and flopped onto the sofa. Bee-atrice hopped up next to her, climbed into her lap, and lay down, licking Chloe's hand. "Would you have doubted her if you didn't know for a fact who Ladybug is, that she absolutely despises Lila, and that every word of Lila's story about a fight between me and Labybug is complete and total bullshit?"

Sabrina let out a breath and poured a couple glasses of water in the sink before joining Chloe on the sofa. "Probably not," she admitted, looking away sadly. "I'm sorry she's targeting you this time."

Chloe snorted. "It's not like we were ever actually going to be friends, girl! She's hated me almost as much as Marinette since we first met!" She frowned. "I never should have even hinted to her that I might not be Queen Bee again…"

"She's probably been waiting for Killer Bee to show her face so she could pull this stunt and pretend that you and Ladybug were fighting," Sabrina agreed, nodding.

"Her story was pretty well thought out…" Chloe mused slowly.

"What are you thinking?" Sabrina asked. She cocked her head and gave Chloe an intense look. "No."

"You read emotions, not minds," Chloe retorted, arching an eyebrow.

"Your mind isn't exactly hard for me to read!" Sabrina observed, giggling. "But I don't think Lila's necessarily Killer Bee."

"And what makes you so sure?"

"Her emotions," she replied calmly. "When she was telling her story today, her emotional state was no different from any other time she's told some big elaborate lie for no other reason than to get attention and dupe whoever will listen to her. She felt the same smug self-satisfaction today talking about Ladybug that she felt over the summer talking about base-jumping off the Grand Canyon, or that she felt talking about surfing with Marc Wahlman along the Riviera over Spring Break. That's just her baseline emotional state when she's lying."

Chloe furrowed her brows. "That may be true," she admitted, "but I still don't think we can dismiss her. We need to watch her."

"More than we've already been watching her?" Sabrina asked rhetorically. "I mean, we've been keeping an eye on her all along – the only way we could keep a closer eye on her would be to put cameras in her apartment. And as much as Marinette would like to do that–"

"–and me…" Chloe muttered.

"As much as you and Marinette would both like to cover every centimeter of her room with spy cameras and have Max trail her with a drone," Sabrina amended with a smile, "that feels like overkill, to say nothing of a violation of her privacy… And it's not like Lila's really done anything suspicious in the last year…" Chloe gave her a dubious look. "Or at least not suspicious for her."

"Maybe not," Chloe conceded. "But don't tell me you didn't think the same thing…"

Sabrina nodded. "I did. It's too bad you never found anything to conclusively prove she was working with Hawk Moth willingly and not just another poor victim like the rest of us."

"Don't remind me."

Sabrina patted her arm sympathetically, and Chloe allowed herself a small smile. She rubbed Bee-atrice's head behind her ears, and the puppy's eyes lolled back in pleasure, panting happily.

"You don't need to worry," Duusu assured her, settling on Bee's head. "You have us!"

Sabrina's phone chimed with a new message. "It's not all bad news," she commented, smiling. "That was Max: he thinks that he and Alya finally rooted out the last police mole in the 17th Arrondissement."

"Took them long enough," observed Chloe. "But how long is it going to last?"

"Hopefully at least long enough to calm down the turf war," Sabrina pointed out.

"It had better." Chloe frowned. While she didn't exactly lose sleep over the criminals on either side getting shot, just last night a young family had been caught in the crossfire. Carapace and Multiplice had been on the opposite side of the city when the shootout began, and had only arrived after the dust had settled. It was Sabrina's first night with the Peacock, and she had sent a sentiguard to protect them, but it had almost arrived too late.

"With as much as we've been doing on our own before now, perhaps this is the break we need to put an end to it," Sabrina suggested hopefully. She tapped out a quick message on her phone.

Chloe hummed pensively. "Maybe we can actually stop this thing now, if the police are actually on our side."

Sabrina stared at her phone and frowned. "The interesting thing," she finally replied, "is that this mole seems to have been working for Andretti, and not for Lynchpin."

"So what does Max think about that?"

Sabrina shrugged. "He doesn't know what to think about it," she answered. "It does take away Andretti's only advantage over Lynchpin."

Chloe snorted. "Good. If they're on an even playing field now, then maybe they can get rid of each other and spare us the trouble!" She stopped and thought. "Who's scheduled for patrol tonight?"

"Ryoku and Viperion," replied Sabrina promptly. "Why?"

"Well…" Chloe began slowly, a mischievous glint in her eye, "with the police clean now, perhaps this would be a good time to go out and take a closer look at what's going on. I mean, who knows what kind of trouble there could be tonight? Maybe we crack it wide open! And I'm sure those two will be… busy…"

Sabrina giggled. "You just want an excuse to beat someone up, don't you?"

Chloe shrugged. "We can do two things at once!" She gave Sabrina a nervous look. "So… are you in?"

Sabrina thought for a minute and nodded. "Sure. For as much fun as it is sitting on the sidelines, going out tonight would be a nice change of pace."

AN: For anyone who's confused, or new, while Sabrina usually uses the Butterfly Miraculous, since chapter 8 of "The Woman out of the Fridge," Emilie has been training Amelie with the Peacock and Sabrina with both the Butterfly and Peacock. This means that sometimes (though rarely) Sabrina is using the Peacock. And between chapters 13 and 14 of "Fridge," Emilie swapped miraculous with Sabrina (which is why this story is happening now).