Adrien was smiling like an idiot. He was delighted at how well his plan was working. He had maneuvered them smoothly into the back of the line so they could have a semblance of privacy, and she had smiled sweetly up at him right before they walked into the darkness of the cave.

They followed along with the lesson plan, exploring the central cavern which had once been used as a dwelling. They reviewed the cave paintings and moved through the list of rock formations swiftly. It seemed like she had reviewed the lesson plan before the trip like he had. Before the rest of the class had begun the worksheet, he and Marinette were free to explore alone.

He found a path that was right off the main cavern and asked Marinette if she wanted to explore. She looked a little worried, and she fidgeted with her earring for a second before nodding.

He took one look around to see if anyone saw them leave and was unsurprised to see Alix watching them. He was puzzled by her look though. She had been subtly egging him on as he started pursuing a relationship with Marinette, but the look she was giving him now was full of sadness and worry. He almost turned around to have a quick word with her. Alix knew more than she was letting on, that was certain. By the nature of her miraculous, she saw events in time before they happened. Am I about to be rejected?

Marinette slipped her hand into his, a soft gesture that meant everything to him. She wasn't acting timid around him anymore, and he was starting to believe that she liked him too. She had told Cat, but she hadn't said anything to Adrien.

He mentally shrugged and decided to move along. There was no way to know what Alix was thinking, and she wouldn't have told him even if he asked her flat out. Bunnyx might know his future, but she was under strict orders from Ladybug to keep that knowledge to herself. Even so, if there would be trouble, Alix would get them out. He was certain of that.

They walked along in relative darkness with only their little beams of flashlight to guide them. The path twisted and curved and wound steeply up for a pace. It was damp here, not unpleasant but a little slippery. Adrien smiled to himself as Marinette slipped a little and grabbed his hand tighter to keep steady. As she mumbled "Sorry," Adrien squeezed her hand back.

Since this trail was harder, most people tended to avoid it. So, it was public but less traveled, and the ground wasn't as smooth as the main cavern. By the time the trail finally opened into another cavern, the two teens were flagging. "I need to take a break," he admitted.

"Yeah, I didn't remember this path taking so hard a turn upward."

"You've been here before?"

"Once with my parents. This path is part of the public walkthrough, so I figured it is pretty safe."

"Don't worry, I made sure someone knew we were walking off. Do you want to go ahead and eat lunch? I have a lantern too, so we can have a little more light!"

"Awesome! That was a good idea. I have a picnic blanket to spread out."

They ate mostly in silence. At first Adrien had tried to start a conversation, but he seemed to ask questions right as Marinette was putting food in her mouth. He was feeling jittery now that they were alone, and he wanted to keep up the easy camaraderie that they had been developing as they talked about anime or worked on their assignment. He waited on edge for her to finish eating, and opened with, "Are you staying in the city for University? Or are you planning on moving on?"

"Definitely staying in Paris, but I'm still sifting through schools. I want to be a real designer, and Paris offers the best opportunities to learn. I know it's a bit in the future, but I keep thinking that if I can defeat… I mean, settle some uh things, then I can do a semester abroad, in like Milan or London. What about you? Are you planning on attending Uni, or going straight to work for Gabriel Brands?"

"I plan to attend the same design school my father attended. I couldn't leave him alone. I'm all he's got, even if he doesn't realize it."

"That's one of the schools I have been accepted to. Maybe we could take some of the introduction classes together!"

"Should I be surprised that you know which school my father attended?"

"Not if you know me at all. I know as like a father he's well…"

"Yeah, I know," he cut off dryly.

"But as a designer, he's like…" she did a cute hand gesture which Adrien took to mean she thinks his dad is a great designer.

She did that a lot, he noticed. She communicated without words through wild hand gestures, her expressive eyes, and telling smile. It had been confusing at first when she would say one thing and her eyes and hand gestures said something different. As he had gotten to know her better, he thought she had contradicted herself less and less.

She was looking at him expectantly now, and he answered hesitantly, "I would like to take some of the introduction classes with you. The design and fashion business tracks diverge after the first year, but it would be nice to know someone in the first-year classes. I don't want to pressure you though. I'm sure you'll do great at whichever university you decide to attend."

"I hope it's not too selfish of me, but I'm really glad you will be staying in Paris. Alix is staying too, but Alya and Nino have already started planning to move to New York. I think Max is going to school in the States too, and Kim's family wants him to go to China to immerse himself in his family's culture. Kagami is going back to Japan to learn her mother's business. Luka checked out a while ago… I haven't really talked to the others yet, but I'm a little sad our group is breaking up. We've been so close for so long, and I'll have to find new people to..." she hesitated over the end of the sentence briefly, but finished with, "trust."

Adrien reached out and squeezed her hand again. He had been thinking the same thing lately. It had taken a long time to make friends, and he was worried about the next steps. He voiced some of his thoughts aloud, "It is going to suck to start over again." Eww, that sounded whinier than I meant. He cleared his throat and tried again, "Though there will be plenty of opportunities to meet a wider variety of people."

Marinette giggled softly. "That sounds like an infomercial for Uni. The first thing you said was perfect. It is going to suck for a while!"

He returned her words to her, "That's why I'm glad you are staying in the city, even if it is selfish of me." He hadn't realized that he hadn't released her hand, but she interlaced their fingers. Adrien felt electrified, and he leaned over and ran his hand down her cheek. Now or never. "Marinette, would you like to go to dinner with me sometime?" He'd done it! He'd asked her out, and he held his breath until she slowly nodded.

Phew, he whooshed out his breath in a huff. Pleased that his plan had worked out, he stood and helped her to her feet. "Excellent. We'll set up a time later. Do you want to explore some more?" He checked his watch and continued, "We have at least another hour before anyone will miss us and two before we have to get back out to the bus."

She giggled out happily and started packing up. "Well, I'd like to see more of this cavern. It feels large."

Adrien could see a little better in the dark than the average person thanks to his miraculous, and he could see that Marinette was right. This room was huge. "I think there's a drop off over that way, so let's be careful." He shined his flashlight to the edge to show her.

She left her bag against the cavern wall next to the lantern so they could easily find it on their way back and took his hand again. "Let's go look over the side."

He raised his eyebrows skeptically just as she looked over at him. "Ah, come on. It'll be fine! You aren't afraid of heights, are you?"

He snickered at her taunting, secretly pleased that she rose to the occasion. He teased back, "What if I said yes?"

She looked back at him with eyes narrowed in suspicion. "I wouldn't believe you. Your smirk gives you away." His smirk bloomed into a full-fledged smile.

They walked over to the edge and used the flashlight beams to look around. The cliff face glittered, flecked with some mineral that reflected the light. "There's not much to see without stronger light, but what I can see is beautiful," he mused. "That's a steep drop though. Let's head back, yeah?"

"Yeah, it's a little bit of a bummer that we can't see much, but I suppose there's beauty in the mystery too."

"That's so deep," he sniggered, and for half a second, he thought she was offended. He felt her hand rip away from his right before he heard a thud. He frantically followed the sound with his flashlight beam and sighed in relief when he saw her safely on the ground. He chuckled lightly before she glared up at him. He tried to sound appropriately contrite as he apologized, "Sorry, that was rude. It was just so funny!"

She smiled at him still embarrassed and moved to place her hand behind her to get leverage to stand back up. She leaned back onto her hand, but it was over open air. He watched in horrified disbelief as she fell backward over the cliff. All he heard was a choked, "no, no, no!"

He screamed, "Plagg!" in his panic forgetting what he needed to do. Plagg smacked him in the face, "Kid, you have to say the words." He shook his head to clear his panic and dove after her calling on his transformation on the way. "Plagg, claws out!"

As soon as his transformation was complete, he could finally see in the dark cavern. Faster, faster! He urged himself. He grabbed at her leg desperate to slow her down as they sped towards the ground. He caught her ankle and expanded his stick, latching on with one hand. He heard a cracking sound as his stick contacted the ground, and he swung Marinette up into his arms. He was relieved as he lowered them slowly to the ground.

"Marinette! Are you hurt?" His frantic question was met with silence. "Princess? Please answer me! Are you ok?" Her eyes were closed, and she looked incredibly pale. Her eyelids fluttered, but she only moaned in response.

Cat Noir looked her over, gently turning her head. He felt sick at the sight of blood on the back of her head. "Oh no, oh no. Marinette, honey, please open your eyes." Oh god, that cracking sound. No no, what do I do?

"I wish that Ladybug was here! She'd know what to do."

"I am here, Kitty," came the quiet response. Cat Noir jumped slightly, but he was certain that he was alone with Marinette. He watched uncomprehendingly as Marinette opened her mouth to continue, "What do you need? I don't feel well, but I'll try to help."

He responded on instinct, "Open your eyes, Bugaboo."

She smiled. She actually smiled at that, "You haven't called me Bugaboo in a long time." She opened her eyes and looked around confused. "Kitty, why can't I see anything? How did we get here? I don't remember."

As the adrenaline faded, Cat Noir started crying softly. He wanted to be strong for her, but he had no idea how to get out of this mess. "You fell, and I think you hit your head. I caught you too late, you were about to smash into the ground, and I grabbed you and I think I made you hit your head. You don't remember falling?"

She reached up and touched the back of her head. "Ouch!"

It was such a Marinette thing to do, and he was almost relieved until she closed her eyes again. "Kitty, I'm so tired."

He gently tapped her face. He didn't know much about first aid, but he was fairly sure that you weren't supposed to let concussed persons sleep. "Come on, LB. It's not time to sleep yet."

Her eyes shot open, "What did you call me?"

He was confused again. A second ago, she thought she was Ladybug, now who does she think she is?

"Cat Noir? Where are we? I don't remember anything…" She thought for a second, several emotions darted across her expressive face. "Was I akumatized?" He was stunned as she reached up to her ears and touched her earrings. She can't really be Ladybug. She can't… Then he really thought about it. Of course, she could be. In fact, she looks exactly like Ladybug. But I saw her take off the mouse miraculous and hand it to Ladybug. Doesn't matter right now.

"No, you weren't akumatized. You fell off a cliff, and I jumped after you. I'm pretty sure you hit your head and have a concussion." He touched her face gently and flinched at how clammy she felt.

She leaned into his hand and started to close her eyes again. "Thank you for catching me, Kitty." Her look flipped from almost serene to frenzied in a matter of seconds. Her eyes opened wide, and she tried to get up. "Where's Adrien!? Did he fall too?"

"Shh, it's ok, Marinette! Adrien is completely fine." Not explaining that right now.

Her eyes blazed at him fiercely, and she asked sternly, "Do you promise that Adrien is ok, and you aren't just trying to get me to calm down?"

"I promise, Princess. The Boy Wonder is safe and sound at the top of the cliff. Now, I just need to figure out how to get you back up there."

She continued looking at him for a few seconds. Probably to determine if I'm lying, he thought wryly. But then she closed her eyes again and nodded. When she didn't reopen her eyes again, he tapped her cheek gently. "Come on, Princess. You have to stay awake."

"Ugh, but it hurts. I'm so tired, just let me sleep," she whined.

He chuckled slightly at her tone but answered sternly, "No, you cannot sleep. You can't sleep until the park ranger checks your head." He looked down at her thinking hard. She would hate him for this, but he needed Ladybug's help right now. "Umm Marinette, before you umm, well, like, came back to yourself, you seemed to think you are Ladybug… so umm, are you?"

"I don't know what you are talking about," the words themselves were stern, but she spoke in such a fearful voice that it undercut the phrase.

"Maybe you don't remember, but you know whether or not it is true. I wouldn't push, but I could really use some help here. I could try and pick you up and use my stick to push us up to the top, but the motion might make you feel sick. If there is any other way, then I would prefer that."

"Fine," she replied irritated. "I am. Tikki? Are you here?"

A high-pitched voice said, "Yes, I am here."

"Ok, Tikki, spots—"

Cat Noir put a hand over her mouth to cut off the words. "No! Don't do that!"

Tikki agreed, "You can't transform right now, Marinette. We'll have to think of something else."

"What are you trying to accomplish, Ladybug? I can help."

"Kaalki is in my yo-yo. The horse miraculous. We'll be able to voyage to the top of the cliff, but I have to transform to get it out."

He tapped a clawed finger over his mouth while he thought it through. "I can put on the Ladybug earrings and pull Kaalki out of the yo-yo. Easy peasy."

"You can't wear the earrings and the ring at the same time, Cat Noir."

"Right, ok. Plagg, claws in." He detransformed and pulled off the ring. He placed it on her hand saying jokingly, "Do not lose this."

She didn't reply, so he shined the light on her face to see she had closed her eyes again. He reached up to pull of her earrings, but she grabbed his hands in a firm grasp and tried to swing her legs around to grab his torso. "Hey! What are you doing?"

She groaned and stopped struggling. "Why are you sitting on me, stupid Cat? It hurts."

He tried to pull out her earrings again, and she tried to stop him again. He called out exasperatedly, "Marinette! Stop it. I need to get your earrings to get out Kaalki, remember? You are holding onto the Cat ring, and we are switching for only a moment. Then I will immediately give the earrings back."

Tikki squeaked, "She shouldn't be wearing both, A—" She ended on a pop as the miraculous power stopped her from saying his name.

Right, that's too much for her right now. He pulled off the ring and asked, "Plagg, can you hold this for a bit?"

"Yeah, ok. Just hurry up, A—" Plagg also ended in a pop.

Adrien straddled Marinette, pining her arms to her side. "Sorry, honey. It's going to be ok." He pulled out her earrings while she struggled, apparently not remembering the plan. He struggled to put the earrings in wondering how he was supposed to put them back on Marinette in the dark. He tried to reassure Marinette, "Just give me a second. Tikki, spots on! We are almost done, Princess."

Marinette had closed her eyes strongly against the flash of light as he transformed into Mister Bug. When the yo-yo opened, there would also be a bright light so he told her, "Marinette, you can keep your eyes closed but only if you talk to me."

"What do I say?"

Umm… "How about, where do you want to go on your date with the Boy Wonder?"

"Mmm, Adrien. Kitty, can I tell you a secret?"

He fiddled with the yo-yo, she always made opening it seem easy. "Of course. I never tell my Princess's secrets."

"Hmm, it's not really a secret, more like a hope." She hesitated, and he checked to see if she had fallen asleep, but she just looked thoughtful. "Well, I think he likes me."

He was incredulous at that. "Of course, he likes you!" He pulled the horse miraculous out.

"How can you be sure? I waited so long for him to ask me out, and I'm not sure if he even meant it as a date. He asked me to dinner… that could be a date, right?" She sounded so unsure, and his heart fluttered.

"I'm sure he meant it as a date, Princess. I'm almost done here, ok? I need to transform with the horse miraculous, so keep talking." He put on the horse miraculous, and Kaalki buzzed around looking nervously at Marinette. "Umm, Kaalki, right? I don't remember your transformation command."

"Say 'full gallop'."

He called out, "full gallop," and quickly transformed.

"Ok… uh, Kitty? You know how much you mean to me, right? You aren't going to stop being my friend now that you have a girlfriend, are you?"

"You are my best friend, Ladybug. Nothing will stop me being your friend."

"But, after I challenged Adrien to fencing, you didn't stop by to see me for weeks… Marinette is your friend too, right?"

"It was an oversite; I will explain when you feel better. You mean everything to me, Marinette. I promise we'll be fine. Are you ready to get out of here?"

She groaned again, "I have to move now?"

"I'll carry you. I'll be gentle, just trust me ok." He picked her up slowly, careful to support her head against his shoulder. He bent his head to kiss her forehead, "You are going to be ok, Princess, just a little bit longer."

"K," came the terse reply.

"Voyage! Oh, that's weird. I can see your bag." He carried Marinette through the portal and checked that Plagg and Tikki came through too.