Thanks for the love, everyone! I hope you like this chapter!

Is That Why She Calls You Kitten?

Despite his best efforts, Adrien was never able to sleep in on the weekends. Even after getting his powers and regularly spending late nights patrolling, he was always up at seven on Saturday and Sunday. He went down the stairs and was about to turn into the kitchen when he heard someone stumble and curse behind him. He whipped around, shocked to see Helena at the top of the stairs, the heel on one of her shoes broken.

"Uh… are you okay?" Adrien asked.

Helena turned bright red and hesitated before responding. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just… was heading… uh… heading out."

Adrien nodded slowly, giving Helena a confused look. "So… why exactly are you here in a fancy dress at seven in the morning on a Saturday?" It finally hit him. "Oh! You're…" He thought about it for a second, and he cringed. "Ew, I really don't need to be thinking about my father like that but-" Another thought. "That means you're remembering, right? And you're gonna stay and-"

"No!" Helena winced at the panic in her voice and took a breath to calm down. She tried to step forward, only to remember she was missing a heel, so she removed her shoes before going down the stairs. "Look, kitten, the reason I'm up and leaving at seven is because I thought you'd still be asleep," she explained. "I didn't want to get your hopes up."

Instantly, Adrien's face fell. "But… you and father…"

"Were a one-time thing," Helena explained. "Adrien, I'm so sorry you saw this. If I could, I'd take it back. I'm leaving, remember? I've only got enough time to grab my stuff and get to the airport."

"Or maybe you could stay and get to know father and me better-"

"Adrien."

He knew that voice. That was his mom's no-nonsense, don't-you-argue-with-me voice. Still, he couldn't help himself. "Please…"

Helena shook her head, tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry, kitten." She walked past Adrien and opened the front door.

Adrien followed, watching as she left and reached the front gates. They opened for her, and she walked out onto the sidewalk.

A black van screeched to a stop in front of her, and Adrien's blood ran cold. "No," he whispered. This wasn't happening, he was just being paranoid, it-

The door to the van slid open, and two men jumped out, grabbing Helena and pulling her inside. She started fighting like hell, but it was two against one and she didn't stand a chance caught off-guard.

"No!" Adrien yelled. He ran out the door, but it was too late. The van door closed and they drove off. He stopped on the sidewalk, looking around for any witnesses but finding none. "What was that?"

"Kid…"

Right! He was a superhero; he could save her! "Plagg, claws out!

He took off running after the van, jumping up onto the roof of the building next door to get a better vantage point. Catching up shouldn't have been as easy as it was, but rage and fear spurred him on until he was in the perfect position.

Without thinking, he jumped down, landing on the roof of the van. He brought his hand down and slashed through the roof with his claws, tearing the metal back until he was staring down at the would-be kidnappers and a terrified Helena. "Let her go, and I won't hurt you."

One of the kidnappers turned to the driver. "Shake him!" he yelled.

Chat Noir barely managed to dig his claws into the remnants of the roof before the van took a sharp right, throwing the rest of his body off. As they started going straight again, Chat removed one hand and climbed forward, getting back on the roof of the van. He repeated the process with his other hand, then somersaulted over and into the gaping hole he'd made.

Instantly, the kidnappers were on him, one putting him in a chokehold and the other grabbing for the ring. Chat Noir flung his legs out, kicking the man in the chest, then flipped the second man onto his back.

Helena stood and punched the first man as he tried to recover, but before any of them could move again, the van took another sharp turn, throwing them all into the wall. Another turn came soon after, throwing them the other way.

The kidnappers collected themselves first, one pulling out a knife and holding it to Helena's throat. "You really want to try this?" he demanded.

Chat Noir slowly put his hands out in front of him, trying to appear less threatening. "Hey, c'mon, you don't want to do that," he said. "Just let her go, and we can pretend this never happened." The van hit a bump, and Chat's breath caught in his throat. They were one rough turn or pothole away from disaster, and they all knew it.

"Not happening, hero," the kidnapper snapped. "You've got your job, we've got ours. Just ask the guardian who gave you that ring." As he spoke, he gestured with his knife to Chat Noir.

This was his best chance. "And stopping people like you is part of my job," he replied, lunging forward and pushing the knife up. It caught in the remnants of the roof, and Helena spun around to punch the man in the face hard enough to knock him out.

Chat grabbed the other kidnapper's arm and flipped him again, throwing him into the door of the van. Helena grabbed the knife out of the roof and got behind the driver, holding the blade to his neck. "Stop the van!" she ordered.

Her demand was answered far more abruptly than any of them would have liked. The van slammed into something, throwing all of them forward- Chat, Helena, and the two unconscious kidnappers into the front seats, the driver through the windshield.

Chat moaned in pain, looking around as his vision clouded. It must've been one hell of a crash. Something sticky oozed down his forehead, and he dabbed at it with his fingers, then pulled away to inspect it. Blood, he realized. If he was bleeding, everyone else was, too.

Slowly, he stood up, looking around the van again. "Helena?" he asked. He took a step forward and stumbled, collapsing to his knees.

A soft moan caught his attention, and he lifted his head to see Helena in the corner formed by the wall and the driver's seat. She blinked a few times, then sat up. "Oh God, that hurt."

"It's okay," Chat assured her. "You're okay, we're gonna get you out of her."

"I-I'm fine," she assured him. She looked up at the hole in the roof. "Ugh, did that really just happen?"

Chat nodded. "Yeah, I think so," he confirmed. "C'mon." He tugged at the door to the van, only to find it was stuck. He tugged again, but to no avail. "Dammit." He took in a deep breath and punched the door, sending it flying clear across the street. He stepped out and turned to Helena, holding out a hand for her.

Helena took it and pulled herself forward, getting out of the van only to sit back down on the edge of it. Chat Noir sat next to her, panting from exertion.

"What the hell was that about?" he asked.

Helena shook his head. "I have no idea." She looked over to him, and Chat gasped in surprise. Her irises were bright blue, a sharp contrast between her dirt-covered skin and dress. She tilted her head, looking him over. "Is that why she called you 'kitten?'"

Chat's jaw dropped. "Wh-what?"

Helena blinked a couple of times, her eyes returning to their normal green. "Is that why she called you 'kitten?'" she repeated.

Chat's eyes darted around, making sure no one else had heard. The nearest person would have only just been getting within hearing range if it wasn't for the horns blaring all around them "You can't tell anyone."

"I won't," Helena promised.

"Are you okay?" The nearest person finally got close enough. He held his phone to his ear, waiting for a response. Both Helena and Chat Noir nodded, and he spoke into the phone, "They said they're okay, but you're not gonna believe who one of them is. It's Chat Noir!" After a moment, he nodded and pulled the phone away, speaking directly to Chat. "112 wants you to stay so the police can get a statement; can you do that?" Chat Noir nodded again, and the man lifted the phone again. "Yeah, he said he can. There's definitely at least one guy dead, though."

Chat turned his attention back to the van and immediately saw what the man had been talking about. The van had crashed into the Arc de Triomphe, the front of the van completely crushed. The driver could hardly be described as a person he looked so bad, covered in blood and plastered against the monument.

Immediately, Chat turned back around and dropped out of the van, vomiting on the ground.

"Uh… yeah, I think Chat Noir might have a concussion," the man's voice barely reached his ears. "He just threw up."

Chat wiped his mouth, trying to collect himself as he turned over and laid out on the ground, staring up at the sky.

It felt like only a couple of minutes had passed when a flashlight was shined in his eyes, and he squinted against it.

"Okay, we've got a response!" a woman's voice called out. Then, she leaned over him, her brown braid hanging down over her shoulder. "Chat Noir, can you hear me?"

Chat Noir nodded slowly. "Yeah," he choked out. Slowly, he leaned up. "Just… the body… never seen…" His eyes started to drift to the driver again, but the paramedic was faster, turning his head to her.

"Alright, can you stand?"

"Yeah," he repeated. Maybe he wasn't ready for whole sentences just yet. Slowly, he got up onto his hands and knees, then pushed himself to his feet.

Slowly, carefully, the paramedic guided him to an ambulance, and he sat down on the back ledge. "Where, uh… where's Helena Oxley?" he asked. "The-the-the woman, they were trying to kidnap her-"

"She's fine, right over there," the paramedic said, pointing to her left. Chat followed her finger to see Helena, scared and dirty but no worse for wear, talking to a police officer. How long had he been on the ground? "I need you to look back at me now."

Chat Noir looked back to her, shifting his blanket – when had he been given one of those? – around his shoulders.

"Okay, follow my finger with your eyes only; don't move your head."

She started moving her finger and Chat followed, careful not to move his head in the process. Up, down, left, right-

"Chat Noir!"

Chat jerked his head to see Ladybug as she landed on the street. Without thinking, he got up and ran to her, hugging her with all his might.

When they pulled away, she looked him over with concern in her eyes. "Chat, are you okay? What happened?"

"We're wondering that, too."

Chat turned to look at a police officer waiting nearby. Immediately, the paramedic intervened, putting up a hand to stop them both. "Hey, he's not ready to give a statement; I haven't finished checking him for a concussion." She jerked her head, urging Chat Noir back to the ambulance.

Chat looked to Ladybug again and gave her a soft smile. "I'll tell you in a bit, okay?"

Ladybug nodded in understanding, then walked over to the officer while Chat returned to the ambulance.

"So what about Helena?" Chat asked. His eyes darted over to her once more before the paramedic diverted his attention yet again.

"Not even a scratch," she declared. "After a crash like that, I'd say she's luckier than Ladybug."

"And the other two people in the van?"

"Miraculous Ladybug!"

He jerked his head to look at the van again, watched as Ladybug reached in and put two fingers to one of the men's necks, then shook her head to the officers. "Guess that answers that." He swallowed hard, taking a shaky breath. "I've never seen a dead body before today."

The paramedic gave him a soft smile. "I'm sorry. If you want, I can recommend a counselor a lot of us first responders go to."

"No, um… no. I'll be fine, thank you."

The paramedic raised an eyebrow but took him at his word. "If you change your mind, I'm at the 5th at Champerret. Just ask for Maria Bernard."

Chat nodded slowly. "I will," he promised. "Thank you."

Maria gave a nod in return, then looked over at the police. "He's good!" she called to them. Immediately, an officer came over, and she added in, "He's still a little shaken up, so go easy on him if there're any gaps in his memory, but he should be okay for questioning."

"Thank you," the officer said, then turned to Chat Noir. "Alright, can you state your name for the record?"

Chat Noir raised an eyebrow. "Chat Noir?" he asked.

The officer chuckled under his breath. "Like I said, for the record. Can you tell me what you were doing in that van?"

"I was out for a walk and saw a woman being pulled in," he explained. "She obviously didn't want to go with them, so I transformed and took off after 'em. I got up on the roof and clawed it open. One of them put me in a chokehold, but I flipped him, and then the other put a knife to that woman's neck. He paused and pointed it at me, so I grabbed his arm and shoved the knife into the roof. After that, the woman managed to grab the knife and held it to the driver telling him to stop. That's when we hit the Arc."

The officer wrote down everything Chat Noir said, nodding as he did. "Do you know why they grabbed her?"

Chat shook his head. "No," he replied. "I just saw it happen and followed."

"Alright," the officer said, easily taking Chat Noir's word for it. "If you remember anything else, call me." He presented a business card, and Chat took it with a nod, sliding the paper into his pocket. The officer gave him a light hit on the arm. "Now go back to bed, man. You've earned it."

A little laugh escaped Chat, and he nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I think I will." But first, he had to visit someone.