This one is going to be rather short, but don't worry, another chapter should be up in a few days and it will be longer. I have a little life update at the end, but I won't go into it here.

Quick message for the guest commenter:

Cole Younger- I'm sorry, when I chose to continue the story, I thought I had switched it to be marked as unfinished. It must not have saved properly. I apologize.

I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.

"Well that went well," Plagg said dryly.

Adrien said nothing, but began pacing again.

Marinette let out a sigh, knowing he just needed to work off steam, and let him be. Instead she turned to her own kwami hovering just outside the steaming bathroom. "Thanks for letting me know Gabriel had arrived."

Tikki flew forward to nuzzle her chosen on the cheek. "No problem, Marinette. I was worried what would happen if he and Adrien were left alone."

"Me too," Marinette agreed as her hand came up to cup the little creature in a hug.

"Remember that plan we had to try to find out what to Adrien's mom? We just told the one guy with answers to never talk to us again," Plagg said.

"No, we told him to wait until we were ready to come to him," Marinette countered. "Which honestly is for the best because we would have been unable to keep it together if we tried to get answers right now." She said 'we', but everyone knew she meant 'Adrien'.

Plagg grunted before flying over to land himself in Adrien's hair. Adrien paused in his pacing to scratch the tiny creature behind the ears. "Thanks for caring, buddy."

He sniffed with disdain, leaning into the scratch. "If you decide to go on the run, it will greatly reduce my cheese resources. This is entirely about me."

"Uh-huh," Tikki and Marinette said with amusement.

"Once we're more emotionally ready, we'll face him," Marinette said, her face pulling into a frown as she went into planning mode.

"Not we—me," Adrien said quietly.

Marinette went still. "Excuse me?"

"If you come with me, he'll never come off the defensive. I doubt we'll get him to give any answer other than what he's given the press. He wants me back at his side. I could use that to get him to open up more and lower his guard. I'll find out where he keeps his miraculous and together we can figure out a plan for how to get it, but I think it will have to be me who ultimately takes it from him."

Marinette stared long and hard into his eyes. Adrien and Chat Noir always had the same objective—protect her at all costs—so she knew, in turn, it was her job to protect him right back. Yes, he was trying to prevent her from getting hurt again and keep her out of the fight. He was giving a logical plan, but still… "Are you sure you can handle that, Adrien? I mean emotionally. I don't doubt your sincerity, but you're placing a heavy burden on yourself, and I'm worried for you."

He smiled and walked over to pull her into a hug. "I've got you, Bugaboo. I can do anything."

Marinette leaned into the hug, wrapping her arms tight around him. She leaned in, listening to the steady beat of his heart. She would protect this. "Do you know what you're going to do to get him to open up?"

"Ask about his mother," Plagg said, answering first.

Adrien looked uncomfortable.

Plagg swatted at him with a tiny paw. "It's not being selfish to want to know, kit, and it is a good plan. Get him to tell the truth about what happened to her, and you'll probably be able to figure out how to take him down."

"It would probably be better to take a different approach," Adrien muttered.

"No," Marinette said, taking his cheek and leading him to look her into the eyes again. "I think that would be the best way to go about it. You genuinely want to know that, and the less lying you have to do, the easier it will be. My gut says that's the best answer."

"Well, if your Ladybug senses are tingling, then who am I to say no," Adrien said, his voice teasing.

Marinette wrinkled her nose. "You absolute nerd."

He leaned in close, his face inches from hers. "Your nerd."

"My nerd," she confirmed, standing on her tiptoes to close the distance between them and give him a kiss. He returned it with enthusiasm. Her last thought before she let herself get wrapped up in the moment was, They would be okay.

They had each other.

Like I said, short, but I promise more is coming soon.

As for my life update- I'm not sure how much crossover there is between this story and my Miraculous Question story, so I figured I would post it here as well. I recently started a Kickstarter to try and raise the money for a children's picture book I wrote about a red panda raised by cats (It's a retelling of The Ugly Duckling).

I'm rather proud of it. I'd appreciate it is some of you could share the link to it on your social media to help me get the word out about it. If you're interested helping out you can go to Kickstarter and look up Endangered Fairytails: The Ugly Kitten. My author name is Lee Wilder and that will also get you there.

If you don't that's okay. I still love and appreciate you all for taking the time to read my fanfiction. You guys are the best!