Helloooo! Here's the next chapter. Hope you all enjoy.

I guess I have a little life update for you at the end as well. In the meantime, enjoy the story!

I do not own anything Miraculous Ladybug.

"Mr. Agreste, Adrien is here to see you," Nathalie's vice said over his desk intercom.

Gabriel's head shot up from the nap he'd been taking. What?

"Mr. Agreste, are you there?"

He scrambled to hit the button. "I'm here. Send him in."

After almost two weeks of the silent treatment, his son was finally ready to talk. About damn time.

He had waffled daily on cutting off the credit card they were using, but the threat Adrien's girlfriend had given kept him from following through. She would only go to the police if he stressed out Adrien. Their mutual desire to protect Adrien could be the one thing that got him past this little debacle. Especially now that he could finally talk to his son and get him to see reason.

He straightened his vest and swept any errant hairs back into place. It would not do for his son to think he'd been losing sleep. He'd just gotten himself situated when the doors swung open to reveal Adrien, sans Marinette. That part surprised him. From what he'd been told by the people he had following his son, the two had been nigh inseparable. He had expected them to come in together.

"Father," Adrien said, his posture perfect and voice just as stiff.

"Adrien," Gabriel said, matching him. "Have a seat."

Adrien did so, choosing the chair farther from the desk, Gabriel noted.

"Are you finally coming back home?"

Adrien's jaw twitched. "Undecided."

"Then for what purpose did you come here today?"

Adrien leaned forward to prop his elbows on his knees and clenched his hands together. "I'm trying to understand. You're the only family I have left. I can't just walk away from that. I've spent my whole life striving for your approval and trying to be the best at whatever you wanted me to be. I have listened to you, looked up to you, and trusted you. You went and broke all of that with what you did to Marinette."

The swelling of pride he'd felt at his son's words popped with the last sentence. "And as I've been trying to explain, it's not what you think. If you would just listen to me then we could make this all go away."

"Did you or did you not, forcibly pin my girlfriend to my bed?"

"That's a rather extreme way of putting it—"

"Father," Adrien said, cutting him off. "I will leave, and there is no guarantee I will ever come back if I walk out those doors right now."

Gabriel played with the idea of turning on the security system and locking Adrien in the house but decided to make that a last resort effort. He couldn't release Akumas if the house was on lockdown. "Very well. Yes, I technically did do that."

"And you're reasoning for this is that you thought she stole a pair of earrings that belonged to Mom. A pair of earrings I have never seen before despite having stared at every existing picture of Mom for more hours than I can count since she disappeared."

Of course his son would notice that. He'd raised him to be clever after all. "They were a pair of earrings from back when we first started dating. Before she became a model. There aren't as many pictures of her from back then."

"Why didn't you just explain that to Marinette? She's not heartless; she would have understood. She probably would have given you the earrings then even if they weren't Moms."

Gabriel sighed. This was getting unnecessarily complicated. He couldn't very well say, "Because I thought she was Ladybug and didn't think she'd give them up without a fight." Instead he said, "What happened to your mother was traumatic for me and is not something I care to discuss with strangers. Whatever Marinette may be to you, to me, she is still an outsider."

Adrien was quiet, head bowed as he fiddled with a ring on his finger. Such fidgeting was unbecoming of an Agreste, but Gabriel kept quiet as he let his son think. When he looked back up, tears formed in Adrien's eyes. Such open, unashamed heartbreak. "What happened to Mom?"

"She disappeared," Gabriel said, the response automatic.

Adrien shook his head. "I'm not twelve anymore. That's not good enough. I remember. I remember how sick she was. She could barely walk towards the end. There is no way she went out those front doors without help, and there is no way that could have happened without you knowing. You never left her side, always there with a glass of water for her cough or an arm to hold her steady. You carried her up the stairs to bed that night because it was too much for her." Adrien clenched his hands together tight enough to turn white and shake. "Whatever your answer, I won't go to the police. I won't tell anyone. I don't blame you; every time the doctors came back saying they couldn't find out what was wrong, I saw you both break just a little more. I'd even believe it if you say she asked for it. I just want my own peace of mind for what happened to my mother."

Gabriel went very still. Surely, his son was not implying what he thought he was. Adrien didn't actually think him capable of such a thing. Somehow his son had come to an even worse conclusion than what had actually happened! "You're not seriously saying I would..." He couldn't even bring himself to finish the thought.

"Given the evidence, what am I supposed to think?"

Gabriel slammed his hands on the desk. "I would never kill your mother!"

Adrien rose to stand over his father, his voice rising to match. "I want to believe you, but at one point I also believed you incapable of attacking a teenage girl!"

Gabriel, never one to be belittled, rose as well, disappointed to note that at some point, his son had surpassed him in height. "You don't know what you're talking about," he seethed.

"Then prove it!" Adrien snarled back.

His son looked absolutely feral at that moment. Shoulders raised, lip curled back in a snarl, and a look in his eye that said he was a hair trigger away from committing unspeakable violence. Gabriel had spent years as Hawkmoth reading others' emotions and understanding people. He'd done it long enough that those abilities carried over out of the suit to some degree. Adrien really would attack him, and Gabriel wasn't as sure he would win that fight. He felt genuine fear at the rage pouring off his son. Pity that the only way he was getting out of here safely was by calming him down. The Akuma potential from such anger was dizzying.

Speaking of calming him down, there was only one thing he could think of at the moment. Something both of them cherished above all else. More accurately, someone.

"Very well. Follow me."

Adrien blinked, caught off guard as his father turned around and pushed secret buttons on the portrait of his mother—specifically the ones to trigger the chute that would take them down to the second basement, not the one that would take them up to the butterfly attic. No need to reveal all his secrets today.

As Adrien stepped into the small lift tentatively, the shock was clear to see, but Gabriel could also sense suspicion. Gabriel contemplated the possible benefits to telling his son. To have another person on his side could be very useful. This could open new opportunities to get closer to Ladybug and Chat Noir.

They arrived down in the garden/cathedral that Gabriel had built all those years ago when things first started going wrong. Adrien gasped beside him. It was breathtaking, the church-style architecture, the giant butterfly emblem, the neo-apocalyptic vibes he had carefully cultivated within the garden he grew. But he knew none of that was the reason for his son's reaction. No, it was the item standing at the center of it all.

He watched Adrien approach the glass container and stare inside, absolutely entranced by the contents. Emilie Agreste lay within, as peaceful and pristine as she had been when he'd placed her in there all those years ago. His son looked up at him, tears flowing freely now. "What kind of sick joke is this?"

Gabriel blinked. Of all the reactions for his son to have, this wasn't it. "She's alive if you're wondering."

Adrien shook his head. "It's been five years since she disappeared. This... body hasn't aged a bit, and it's not hooked up to anything to keep her alive."

Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose. This would take more explaining than he thought. "You would think after all these years of Ladybug and Chat Noir, people would be more open to the idea of magic. This is precisely why I hid her away in the first place."

Adrien froze. "What?"

"Magic existed before those two showed up, and it will continue to exist long after. Your mother was never sick—she was cursed. When the curse entered its final stages, I brought her down here to keep her safe until I could find a cure. Back then, no one would have understood. They would have called me crazy for proclaiming her prognosis."

"Everyone has known magic exists for years now. Why didn't you come forward and ask for help then?" Adrien asked, his eyes never leaving his mother's face.

Gabriel scoffed. "And let every crackpot or charlatan who says they have the answer anywhere near her? I think not."

"Do you even know what happened to her?" Adrien asked.

"She was researching a kind of magic that we'd never heard of before and got her hands on a rare object. She used it several times before we noticed it was broken. By then it was too late." Gabriel felt his throat tighten as he told his son the truth he'd never shared before, but even as he held back tears, his chest lightened as he shared his burden.

Adrien continued crying as he stared at his mother, one shaking hand coming to rest on the glass. "I wouldn't wish this on anyone."

Yes! He understood! Gabriel was tempted to spill everything to him right then but felt like it wasn't time yet. This was enough for him today. One had to ease their children into revealing themselves to be a publicly defamed and villainized being. Gabriel personally saw himself as a romantic and devoted husband. The world could burn for all he cared—as long as he had his family.

They went back up the elevator in silence, and Gabriel allowed his son to part ways at the front door. Adrien needed time to think, but now that he knew the truth, he would definitely be back. Gabriel was sure of it.

Soooo, life update- I'm still working on my Kickstarter. It's not going quite as well as I'd hoped it would. I'm over 50% through(with only 13 days left), but just under 50% funded. Not gonna lie, I've been a little upset at how it looks like I won't reach my goal. Being a published author has been a dream of mine for over 10 years. If any of you could donate, or even just share the page, I would greatly appreciate that. Backers can get an early release digital copy or a signed physical copy. I'm even offering an option where I make and bind the book myself or come visit a school of your choice.

It's Endangered Fairytails: The Ugly Kitten. My author name is Lee Wilder.

I hope your all having a good day. Thanks so much for reading!