"H-hello?" I stammered, answering the phone that had so rudely awakened me from my peaceful slumber. Breaking my warm cocoon of blankets and reaching my bare arm out into cold morning air immediately put me in a foul mood. My eyes were still closed and I had no idea who was waiting on the other end of the line. Whoever my fiendish caller turned out to be would soon be getting an earful about waking me up so early on a Sunday morning.

"Did I wake you?" a beautiful voice asked causing my eyes to shoot right open and my heart to dance. "I can call back later if you would like to get some more sleep." All of the sudden, the anger within me dissipated leaving only the strong desire to eternally listen to this voice.

"No, Adrien," I nearly pleaded, "don't hang up. I'm okay. I promise."

Adrien laughed, "Alright, Mari, I'll keep talking then. I was calling to see if you had any plans for the day. It would be nice to get some alone time together after our extravaganza yesterday, don't you think?"

It felt as if dozens of tiny ladybugs were fluttering throughout my stomach at the thought of spending the entire day with Adrien; we had never done that before. Not an entire day just to ourselves anyway. I sat up in bed overlooking the expanse of my bedroom below. Looking around, with still partly cloudy eyes, everything seemed to be normal. That was until I caught sight of a lumpy figure sprawled out across my chaise. After thoroughly rubbing my eyes, I could see that the sleeping figure below was none other than Chloe Bourgeois.

Memories of the previous night's escapades flooded my mind as I remembered how I had rescued the conceited blonde as Marinette, not as Ladybug. Chloe had spent what seemed like hours crying into my shoulder before I gently lead her to my room offering her a place to sleep. Along with that offer, a promise had been made to stay with her for as long as she needed today. My heart sank as the reality sunk in that I would have to turn down Adrien in order to spend the day with Chloe, my former nemesis.

Taking a deep breath I answered, "Adrien, I am so sorry. I actually already have plans for today."

"That's okay," he abruptly replied, "I'll see you tomorrow at lunch. Goodbye Marinette." With that, he hung up the phone leaving me a little confused at his harsh response and all alone with a sleeping Chloe in my bedroom.

I quietly descended down the ladder from my bed and gathered some clean clothing to change into, pausing for a moment to look at the girl slumbering before me. It had been roughly four years since I had seen Chloe. Looking at her now, I could see that she was nothing like I had remembered. Her hair had grown significantly longer, nearly reaching all the way down her back, and the features of her face seemed somehow softer and less severe than they had been in high school. However, it wasn't the physical differences that had me in awe; it was, in fact, her behavior, her personality, something about the vulnerability that she had shown last night that had me thinking that something about Chloe had really changed.

The first rays of the the sun's soft light were beginning to peek through the windows. Rarely ever did I wake up before my room was completely brightened, and I was extremely tempted to scramble back up my ladder into the warm embrace of my bed sheets. However, Tikki silently flew to my shoulder motioning for me to head to the bathroom only speaking once we had made it into the security of that tiny sanctuary.

"Marienette, I never got the chance to speak to you about what happened last night." I cupped my hands reaching them out so that Tikki would have a place to sit as she spoke to me. She gracefully landed upon my palms and continued, "You were amazing, Marienette. That was all you. You saved Chloe by your own courage and your own strength."

I opened my mouth to reply, but Tikki held out her hand as a sign for me to keep quiet. "I know that at times you have doubted yourself, thinking that the heroic part of you had been left behind the day that Ladybug was no longer needed." She paused giving me a few seconds to let what she had said sink in. She was right. I had always felt that I had lost a part of myself when I gave up being the famed superhero. Everything that had made me strong was simply, gone.

"But," she chimed on, "I am here to tell you that the bravery and heroism that you possessed when you were Ladybug had nothing to do with the suit. It was all you, Marienette. It was always you. Now, even though Ladybug is no longer a necessary part of your life, those qualities that made her a hero are just begging to shine through. You have kept those traits of yourself so carefully guarded that they have been tearing you up inside. Marienette, you may not be called any longer to wear a red and black suit, but you are still needed. Others need you as Marienette. I need you as Marienette. You can still show the world your courage, your bravery, and your strength as the girl who stands before me right now. You don't need a mask to be a hero. You never did. You are a hero; you never stopped being one. Quit holding yourself back and let yourself free. You have to accept who you are."

"Marienette, are you in there?" Chloe's voice rang through the door before I even had a chance to think about everything that Tikki had just said.

Tikki flew to the counter as I began fumbling with my clothing in an attempt to get quickly changed. "Yes, Chloe," I responded just as my leg got caught in my pants sending me tumbling into the unlocked door causing it to fly open as I landed on the ground right in front of Chloe.

"Are you okay?" Chloe asked with genuine concern in her voice. She reached out her hand to help me stand as I continued to hoist up my pants. Not only had Chloe just witnessed my legendary clumsiness, but she had seen me in my underwear. If we had still been in high school, I literally would have died.

Chloe looked me up and down in analysis before crossing her arms and huffing, "How can one girl go from being hardcore enough to rescue a damsel in distress from five grown men - to being clumsy enough to fall out of her own bathroom while getting dressed? I will never understand you Marinette Dupain-Cheng."

( )

"So, Chloe, if you don't mind my asking, why were you out so late last night?" I asked as were eating the breakfast that I had prepared during Chloe's shower. I had made a breakfast keish featuring all of my favorite early morning foods including eggs, bacon, sausage, spinach, and cheese. On the side, we were to enjoy a few eclairs that I had grabbed from the bakery. It had been a while since I had prepared such a meal, and the savory smells mixed with the sweet scent of the bakery below happily greeted my nose.

Chloe swallowed a bite of her keish and then spoke. "You know, I could ask the same about you, Miss Marienette, but I will oblige you an answer seeing as how I have nothing to hide." She took a sip of her orange juice and then continued on. "I was heading home after just finishing my shift at the coffee house just a few blocks away from here. Willy, my manager, usually walks me home, but he called in sick last night leaving me to walk the streets all alone."

Nearly choking on my food, I gazed at Chloe with wide eyes. Never, in a million years, would I have expected Chloe, the mayor's daughter, to actually be working. Not only did she have a job, but it was not as glamorous as one would expect Chloe to find, if one were to expect Chloe to actually find a job.

"I can see your confused," Chloe added clearly deducing the dumbfounded look on my face. "You're thinking how could the rich and overly snobby Chloe Bourgeois ever take a job as a barista girl? Surely this is not the same Chloe that I remember from high school. The girl who always called on daddy when she didn't get her way. The girl who never did a single night's worth of her own homework. How could this possibly be her?"

Chloe's words caused me to shift uncomfortably in my seat. She had pinned down my thoughts perfectly. Chloe had always been incredibly perceptive. However, she had often used those deductions to bring other people down. "Um…." I began, "That's not exactly what I was thinking….."

"Oh don't be modest, Mari. I know what everyone thought of me, and they were right. I was the spoiled rich girl who only cared about pleasing herself. I was a terrible person, and for that, I am truly sorry. But… I am not that person anymore. My dad made sure of that."

My keish was getting cold, but I didn't care. This was important. Chloe had never opened up to me like this before, and I was finding myself truly intrigued with the person that she had become. "How did he do that?" I asked, genuinely interested in what he could have done in order to change his daughter so dramatically.

Chloe sighed, "Well, it all began my first year of college. My father somehow had managed to get me accepted into Columbia University in New York City. However, instead of studying and doing any sort of work, I spent all of my time shopping. I tried finding someone to do my school work, but for some reason, no one was willing to. After I flunked my first semester and returned home for the holidays, father confronted me giving me only one week to find a job and a new place to live."

Chloe stopped to take a bite of her now lukewarm food. "That must have been awful," I said while placing my hand on top of the one that she had resting on the table. "What did you do?"

"I did what any other spoiled brat would have done. I mocked him and tried to call him out on his bluff. Unfortunately for me, he was not bluffing. Within the week, he had shut down all of my credit and debit cards and told all of his employees not to let me back into the hotel." Chloe stopped so she could shove the entire eclair into her mouth making my own taste buds salivate. I decided that I would join her in finishing my meal.

After a few minutes of joyously stuffing our faces, I broke the silence to continue our conversation. "So that's when you decided to go out and get a job?" I asked as my taste buds were still revelling in the sweet, sugary goodness of my final bite of eclair.

Chloe tried to stifle a laugh, "Of course not! There was no way that I was about to dirty my hands by working like a common low class citizen! I would have rather died!"

"Hello girls. Marinette, I didn't know you were expecting company. Chloe is it? It is so nice to see you," my father, Tom, grinned wildly, obviously bemused by the fact that I had someone over other than Alya. His eyes sparkled with delight while his rosy cheeks seemed to brighten. "Should we expect Miss Borgeous for lunch? I have a new recipe that I have been dying to try out."

My cheeks flushed in anticipation of the embarrassment that my father's untested cooking could ensue. These new recipes always ended in only one of two possible outcomes: a delicious success or a complete, disastrous failure. "Papa! Please, just make something that we know that we already love! We don't want our guest getting sick. You know what happened the last time we tried one of your new concoctions." My mother, father, and I had spent an entire day stuck in the bathroom. No one wanted a repeat of that catastrophic event.

The jovial man burst into laughter sending tremors throughout his entire body. His laugh was infectious, causing me to bend over in uncontrollable giggles that sent a sharp pain down my sides. I was surprised to find that Chloe had not joined us in our merry escape as I looked up to see her standing and poised to exit the room.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Dupain," Chloe said with a seriousness in her voice that I had never heard before, "but I just remembered that I had promised a friend that I would bring him lunch today. He sounded pretty rough when he called in sick yesterday." She then turned to face me looking at me with her large, and unmistakingly kind, blue eyes. "Thank you Marinette, for everything. I will call you so we can finish our conversation, okay?"

And for the first time in my life, I was sad to see Chloe go. I desperately wanted to hear the rest of the story that created the girl that I saw today. The Chloe that I had known in the past would have never done something as selfless as deliver food to someone who was feeling ill. Not only had it been her own idea to provide the sick boy with a meal, but she looked truly distraught at the fact that she had nearly forgotten to do so. It was hard to admit, but I was actually looking forward to the phone call that I would hopefully soon be receiving from the metamorphosized girl.

( )

"What's up Marinette?" Adrien asked on our usual lunch date the following day. "You have hardly said a word, and your food is getting cold, uneaten on the plate."

I looked up, taking a break from mindlessly stirring my mashed potatoes, to stare into his fathoms deep, worry stricken eyes. "I'm sorry Adrien," I said with a fake smile, "I'm just distracted today is all. I didn't mean to make you worry."

A soft, kind smile delicately formed upon Adrien's lips as he reached his hand forward, across the table, to grab onto mine. "You know you can talk to me about it, right? I'm here for you Marinette. I want you to feel like you can share anything with me."

My heart danced at the sound of his words but quickly plummeted to the pit of my stomach as I realized that I couldn't be completely honest with him. First, there was the whole Chloe thing. As if that whole scenario wasn't crazy enough on its own, apparently there had been more to the story after Chloe and I had fled the scene.

Not long after Chloe had left my house the previous day, Alya had called to tell me all about the latest news. She had been extremely excited to tell me, well shout at me, that Chat Noir had returned. Of course, I already knew that Chat was back, but I had not expected him to return into the limelight so quickly - or at all, honestly. Not only had Chat Noir been a hero once again, but he had apprehended the very criminals that Chloe and I had fled from. With that bit of information, my mind couldn't handle the amount of scenarios that it was playing out. I wondered if Chat had actually seen my interaction with those scumbags, and if that was the case, why didn't he show himself? Had I really been that close to my kitty and completely missed my opportunity to see him?

Also, now that Chat noir had made his comeback, everyone would now be wondering about Ladybug and why she hadn't been with Chat. Alya had already expressed to me the idea that we should expect to see Ladybug soon, as well. As if I needed that kind of pressure in my life. I didn't even know if I wanted to be in the public eye again. It wasn't as if there were any akumas around to defeat.

If all of that was not enough for me to be thinking about, there was the matter of my untouched and unread letter that I had discovered on my last trip to the Eiffel Tower. I knew, by media, that Chat had been out the night that I had placed that letter, and another whole evening had passed. Of course, Chat would get to the letter eventually, I'm sure, but for some reason an uneasy feeling was growing inside of me.

I squeezed Adrien's hand and meekly replied, "Thanks Adrien. A lot happened this weekend, and I'm just not quite ready to talk about it yet."

Adrien's eyes dulled as he pulled back his hand and picked up his utensils to prepare another bite. "I understand, Mari. I'll give you some time to think it over. I have a few things that I have been trying to process as well."

All of the sudden, I did not like the way this conversation was going. If Adrien and I were ever to have a real relationship, then we couldn't keep what was bothering us from each other. It was written all over Adrien's face that he felt the same way. I couldn't leave things like this.

"Let's make a promise," I said while grabbing onto both of Adrien's hands effectively making him drop his food. "Friday, after work, we will spend the whole evening together and share with each other what has been on our minds. I would love to do it earlier, but I have a major deadline that I have to meet by Friday afternoon. What do you say? Deal?"

With wide eyes, and a nearly malicious looking grin, Adrien sealed the promise, "Deal."