Author's Note: This chapter does contain consenting adults doing adulty things.

I also want to address a couple of guest reviews I've had. Please know that I don't hate Adrien. I am actually trying to make this a realistic fiction, and I feel that it would be realistic for him to have PTSD. He's actually going to pop back up in the next chapter in a much happier and healthier place in his life, and he and Marinette are going to reconnect in a good and healthy way.

Additionally, I don't think Luka is perfect. If you're looking for people who are perfect, look somewhere else. I don't believe ANYONE is perfect, whether they're real or fictional. In fact... Marinette agrees with me. She doesn't think Luka is perfect either (and will let him know quite spectacularly in a few chapters).

Marinette fumbled with her keys, as she tried to unlock her apartment door. Luka was kissing her neck and his hands were roaming her sides, trying to touch as much of her as possible. His body was pressed up against hers, and she could tell that he wanted her just as much as she wanted him.

Finally she was able to roughly jam the key in the lock, wrenching the door open, and the two stumbled through. She snatched her keys out of the lock, shoving the door closed, and twisting the lock behind her. She turned, and Luka's mouth was on hers, his hands grasping at her hips, her fingers buried in his hair. His body pressed hers into the wall, three steps from the front door.

Gasping, she pushed him off her, and he tried to pull her back, but her hands slid down his body to fiddle with the button of his jeans. His breath caught in his throat, and her eyes looked up to meet his, her fingers stilling, but at his slight nod, she looked back down, releasing the button. The rasp of his zipper sounded loud in the quiet hallway, followed by his groan of relief as some of the pressure on his arousal was released.

His jeans slid down to his legs, and he quickly kicked them off, along with his shoes, as Marinette tugged his boxers down. As he helped them the rest of the way, Marinette reached up under her dress, and slid off her own underwear. Gripping her thighs, Luka lifted her, bracing her against the wall as she wrapped her legs around him, the rasp of her stockings contrasting with the cool smoothness of the heels that she still wore.

The skirt of her dress was hiked up around her waist, and he hovered at her entrance until she kissed him savagely, her legs tightening around him. He slid into her, both of them moaning in pleasure. Marinette tipped her head back, vocal in her enjoyment as Luka continued to thrust. A slight change of angle rubbed just the right way, and she buried her face in his neck and bit down on his shoulder.

Luka shouted in a combination of surprise and pleasure, and, losing control, came almost instantly as she continued nipping at his neck. As the strength drained from his body he collapsed into the wall holding her tight against his body as his heart rate slowed its gallop.

Once he'd caught his breath, he immediately started apologizing, while Marinette, who was still wrapped around him just smirked. When he was able to straighten up and lower her to the ground, she slid down his body until her feet touched the ground, reaching up to cup his cheek. "Luka, it's alright. Do you have any idea how hot it is that I made the unflappable Luka Couffaine completely lose control?" Her smirk intensified, and she threw him a wink. "Besides, I know you'll make it up to me."

Luka swallowed hard as he leaned forward to capture her lips again, it was going to be a long afternoon, and he planned to enjoy every moment of it.

Several hours later, as the sun was starting to sink in the sky, Marinette pressed a kiss to Luka's nose. "I thought we were going to talk."

Marinette felt Luka's chuckle rumbling through his chest. "Yeah, that was before you distracted me with wall sex."

She smacked his shoulder and laughed. "Oh yeah, entirely my fault. You had nothing to do with it. Might as well have not even been there."

He laughed again, his arm snaking around her waist before he sighed. "You're right though. We should talk."

Once they were properly dressed Luka sat on the couch next to Marinette, as she stared into the past, and waited for Marinette to begin her story.

She took a deep breath and shook herself out of her reverie. "I guess I need to start by offering you an apology. I don't think I ever did. After Hawkmoth was defeated. We were so close, and I knew you were waiting on me, and then I just started dating Adrien out of nowhere, and I just felt so guilty. We drifted apart, and I know that's my fault, and I'm just so sorry."

He took advantage of her pause to take a ragged breath to cover her small hands in his larger ones. "It's OK, Marinette. I understood. Even then. He was Chat Noir, you were Ladybug. He needed you. You finally figured out why you were so drawn to him." Luka shrugged his shoulders. "You made the right choice for you. You were happy. That's what mattered."

Marinette's mouth was open. "You knew? How?"

"I've always known. It was obvious to me the first day that we met. I didn't want to say anything until you were ready, and then it no longer mattered."

She reached for his hand and squeezed it. "Oh, Luka, I'm so sorry. I have always hated secrets." She turned to face him, not letting go of his hand. "As soon as Hawkmoth was defeated, Chat and I sat down, and he felt like he needed to tell me who he was, in case things got bad for him. When I saw that it was Adrien, and we'd just taken down his father, well…" She broke off, the tears sliding down her face, even now, nearly ten years later.

Fingers idly tracing a design on the back of his hand, Marinette looked up into the sympathetic face of the man next to her. "His aunt offered to take Adrien away, for him to stay with them. He's got a cousin the same age, Felix, and she'd take care of him." Marinette shuddered, thinking of the few interactions she'd had with Adrien's only family. She was surprised how normal Adrien had turned out considering how manipulative both sides of his family were.

"The authorities didn't want him to leave Paris. They suspected that he was complicit, or at least had knowledge of his father's activities." She shook her head. "That's why he admitted to being Chat Noir at the trial. We had talked it over beforehand, and it seemed like the best way of clearing him."

Looking down at her and Luka's joined hands, she ran a thumb over his knuckles, loving the feel of soft skin over smooth bone, keeping herself grounded in the present, practicing what Dr. Lapointe had taught her about not getting lost in the past. Sighing, she kept watching the movement of her thumb as she continued talking.

"Adrien came to stay with us. His bodyguard also talked with us about getting custody, but his name had yet to be cleared as well, and with Nathalie Sancour being Mayura, well, it's understandable why. After Adrien was cleared, and spoke on the man's behalf, Adrien was almost 18, and would be making his own way in the world soon enough." She gave an emotionless chuckle. "They stayed in touch, though. They still do. Even I still get a Christmas card from him."

"The trial was hard. I don't think any trials are easy. Since I am the guardian, and I keep all the miraculous when they are not in use, we decided not to reveal my identity, although I already had to Adrien. We had started dating at some point between Gabriel's arrest and the start of the trial, but kept it very quiet for obvious reasons. I was both testifying as Ladybug, and playing the supportive friend as Marinette, as well as trying to finish school, apply for University and trying to keep my best friend from shattering into a million pieces. I wish I had insisted on therapy for him then, but he said no, and I didn't press him."

The tears were coming harder now, and Luka reached over to wipe them away with his thumb. "You did the best you could, Marinette. You were barely seventeen and handling way more than anyone should have asked of you. Knowing what I did about your identity, I backed away, seeing how much you had on your plate. Everything made more sense when Adrien's identity came to light, and I stayed away for selfish reasons. I'm sorry I wasn't there for you."

Putting her arms around his neck, Marinette crawled into Luka's lap and buried her face in his shoulder. He mirrored her actions, his face pressed into her neck, each taking comfort from the other, both crying out their regrets of a past too far gone to change.

She told the next part of her story into his shoulder, her lips barely brushing his neck. "The trial was awful. You saw it. Everyone saw it. They showed Adrien's heartbreak on national television. I asked Alya to keep it off the Ladyblog, and explained why. She was the only interview that Chat gave, and it was because she only reported the facts. I know it hurt her number of hits, but it was the humane thing to do."

"Almost immediately after that, we started university. We moved in together, mostly because, as the guardian, I had all the kwamis, and Adrien never had to be alone. Plagg was always with him, I couldn't take his ring, even though I should have, but it meant there was always someone for him to talk to. He went from trusting everyone to trusting nobody. For about a year, unless it was school related, he talked to no one except me. I became his everything. By the time we graduated, he had a few friends, he was talking to Nino and Alya again, as well as Kagami and a few others he met along the way, but he was never alone with them. If he went out, I had to as well, or else he would make an excuse and stay home."

Marinette drew her head back, but remained in Luka's lap, her hands running up and down his arms, as he loosely rested his hands at her waist. "That kind of dependence, that need scared me. I understood it, of course I did, but it was exhausting. I begged him to get help, to find someone to talk to, but he refused to be alone with someone else. I found Dr. LaPointe. She specializes in patients with PTSD and helping their loved ones as well. We met with her, together, a few times. She knew who he was, of course, and his history. I explained that we had been friends for years. We talked a few times, but Adrien stopped going."

Taking a shuddering breath, Marinette looked up into Luka's face, cupping one cheek in her palm and resting her forehead against his for a few moments as she steadied her nerves and fought against the tears that wanted to spill down her cheeks once again. "He said it was too much like the trial. If I wanted to keep going, that was fine, but not to drag him along." Marinette's gaze drifted, her eyes once again looking back at another time.

"I met with her regularly for several years. She encouraged me to take care of myself as well as him. That I was allowed to have other friends. That spending time with them was not being selfish." The tears she'd been fighting back overflowed once more, and Luka gently gathered her in, rubbing circles on her back.

Taking a few minutes to compose herself, Marinette told Luka about the almost crippling guilt that she'd felt when she had finally got up the courage to leave. The backlash from some of his fans (both of Adrien and Chat Noir) had caused her to completely abandon social media for over a year, changing her username, and keeping her account very limited when she returned. Fortunately, by that point her business had taken off enough that her clients ignored the outcry against her in the face of Adrien's very public pleading for her to return.

Scandals with XY and others had pushed their relationship turmoil out of the spotlight. Most of "their" friends had actually been her friends that accepted Adrien because he was with her. Luka remembered seeing some of the things Adrien had said, but hadn't found a way to reach out to her, and honestly, hadn't tried that hard. He'd just started a relationship with their keyboard player and had been a little preoccupied at the time. The romance had only lasted about six months, but they'd been able to stay friends and bandmates.

Marinette sat up, still cradled in his lap, but tear-stained face no longer pressed into his neck. "I've not dated anyone seriously since Adrien. I've been afraid to. You've always made me feel safe. I'm attracted to you. I would be crazy to deny that now, but not just physically. You're an amazing man. You always have been. I would love to explore something with you. With you, I'm not afraid."

Reaching up, Luka brushed Marinette's cheek with his thumb, rubbing away the watery remains of bad memories, pressing butterfly kisses to her cheeks and eyelids, showing her how much he adored her, and wanted to be there for her as much as she was there for him. "I want that too, Marinette. We both have a past, have ghosts, but we can figure it out together."