"Tomorrow at three would be perfect," Nathalie replied when Stella Spotlight's assistant finally bent to her will, after a solid thirty minutes of 'negotiation'.

Nathalie had negotiated by refusing to bulge at all until her interlocutor understood that upturning her boss' schedule would be easier and less time-consuming than getting Gabriel's assistant to back down. Nathalie had all day. Her most pressing duty was to move the handful of videoconferences her employer was not in condition to hold, and she was doing that from the corner of a bed, in a guest room of the mansion. Her shoes were off. So was her jacket.

She had retrieved her laptop so she could keep sending and replying to emails as she handled Gabriel's panic attack in the only way she could: by doing nothing at all.

Was he medicated? she had asked. "No". No therapy either, but she knew that. So she had brought him to a guest bedroom and put him to bed. The first and only thing he had done was to sit with his back against the headboard, curled up in foetal position.

Her MBA did not come with mental health training. She would probably have cheated her way through those classes, anyway.

"Do you want a sleeping pill?" she had offered. "It's all I have on me, really."

He had shaken his head.

She had left the room to fetch a bottle of water, then sat next to him with a hand on his shoulder for twenty minutes, until his shaking had stopped. It was at that point that Nathalie had gotten her laptop from her office, seeing how Gabriel was in no state to work. At all. Which she knew because he had not once insisted he could.

She had spent the next two hours sitting on the corner of the bed and praying for something to lean against, as her back was killing her. Every now and then, she idly reached for Gabriel, who was sitting two feet away, arms crossed on his knees and chin buried against his elbow.

"Take the sleeping pill," she advised again after hanging up, with mild impatience and next to no concern.

He shook his head.

This time, Nathalie sighed. He chuckled, staring straight ahead, his voice sounding like it came from the grave. She clicked her tongue and turned back to her computer screen, refreshing her email. She could feel his eyes on her.

She answered two emails before he spoke again.

"Thank you," he said, quietly.

"Just doing my job, sir."

She peeked at him after saying that, because angering him would not have been wise. Now, if her words had stung a little, she would not have minded. Gabriel, however, was merely looking at her, his expression as calm and tired as his voice. Nathalie ended up being the one annoyed.

"Just lie down and sleep , will you? I don't intend to cajole you into it. I don't plan to wait until you finally pass out."

The corner of his mouth twitched. He pursed his lips to keep the smile in, but it still reached his eyes. She took a deep breath, so she would not lose it and kill him.

" Sleep ," she ordered, pushing him down (and she didn't shove him hard, but he still collapsed, out of energy as he was). "I don't especially care that you are afraid to do so. Sleep ."

She stood, deciding that he had been comforted enough and could handle himself like the grown adult he was supposed to be. He watched her walk to the door.

"I'm not afraid to sleep," he told her as she opened it.

Of course, it stopped Nathalie dead in her tracks.

"You could have fooled me," she commented.

He shook his head, sitting up.

"I'm not. I just hate waking up."

She frowned, not quite understanding what the problem would be. She had supposed he was struggling with nightmares. He straightened up, turning ever so slightly away.

"It's…" he started. "Being startled awake doesn't… I'll just have that sleeping pill, if you don't mind."

Nathalie stared at him. She thought back of the year Alice had gone missing. The state he had been in, the hours on end he had spent shaking. She had thought it would be nightmares, but the trauma just seeped out in other ways.

"The pills are in my bag," she said, rolling her eyes. "I'll get it."

Ten minutes later, standing next to the bed with her arms crossed, she watched him voluntarily swallow the pill, hereby saving her from prosecution, jail time, and unemployment. He put his glass of water down on the nightstand, and raised his eyebrows at her in the universal "happy now?" look. She stared him down.

"You know you are doing this to yourself, don't you?"

Alice's disappearance had shattered him and that was not his fault, but he only had himself to blame for refusing to get help for five whole years.

"I do."

"Then just-"

He reached for her wrist, giving a little tug on her arm to ask her to join him in bed, when she could have used a: words, b: an apology, c: some begging (or d: all of the above). Nathalie still sat down, sighing. When Gabriel wrapped an arm around her, her thoughts moved from inner complaining to profanity.

Did he have to admit he needed her to stay?

Did she have to be worried for him?

If she had been wise, she would have freed herself and left. Gabriel Agreste was a man who cringed away from physical contact in most circumstances.

She laid down against him instead, and spent four hours uncomfortably shifting in his arms, with short stretches of slumber to distract her from her aching back and crushed, tingling arm. At least, he did not twist and turn.

He pretended to sleep well after she felt him wake up.

It was only when he spoke that she realized he'd been gathering his courage.

"She was a superhero," he told her. "Alice. I'm aware it sounds… crazy at best. But she was."

###

Sometimes, it was pleasant to transform, climb atop an architectural landmark, and lounge . At a different time of the day, Chat Noir would have found himself a comfy spot on the Eiffel tower. In the middle of the afternoon, however, he prefered to avoid the constant stream of tourists. He was lying on one of the arches of Notre-Dame and enjoying the sun. Better still, Ladybug was with him.

If his father or Nathalie ever figured out that his Dutch teacher had called in sick, and that Adrien had promptly escaped, there would be hell to pay. As long as he returned home at the planned time, however, they were unlikely to ask about his day. Well, that was not strictly true. His father was trying to show a little more curiosity, and had to talk about something when they went fencing together. He did not expect minute by minute summaries of his Dutch lessons, however.

Adrien had two hours.

It was sunny.

For a little while, he could put his worry for his father aside. He had cheerier things to think about. He could indulge in fantasies and hopes for a moment.

"Now that's a goofy smile," Ladybug asked from her perch on the border of the roof, in her first display of friendly curiosity since Adrien Agreste had confessed Chat Noir's feelings. "What are you daydreaming about?"

He opened his eyes and tilted his head back to look at her. She was leaning forward, smiling. He grinned.

"Strawberry-flavored lip gloss!" he announced.

He expected the words to mean nothing to her, as she had not been there to hear Gabriel's comment about the magical powers of true love kisses and lipstick. Much to his surprise, she froze, and she tasted her own lips with a nervous flick of the tongue. He blushed, which made her blush, and they both ended up a vivid shade of scarlet.

"W-wait!" he exclaimed. "Are you wearing strawberry-flavored lipstick?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?" she retorted with a cheeky smile that did not quite cover her nervousness.

"Actuuuuually…" he trailed off, flirting, totally flirting, and maybe he was an obnoxious flirt, yes, but how was he supposed to help himself when she smiled like that?

She flushed a little, but leaned forward with a raised eyebrow and an amused smirk.

"What makes you think I even wear lip gloss? I'm a bit too busy saving Paris to worry about makeup, don't you think?"

Chat Noir jumped to his feet, whirling to her with a hand on his hip. He grabbed his tail and made it spin.

"Just because you have to save the city doesn't mean that you can't do it in style," he pointed out.

She giggled.

"You have enough style for the two of us, kitty."

"Thank you very much, my lady," he replied, bowing. "Wait, that was a compliment, wasn't it?"

She laughed again, finally relaxed. It made his heart beat a little faster.

"For what it's worth," he commented, "strawberries would definitely fit you."

Ladybug raised an eyebrow. Chat grinned.

"Red, covered in spots, sweet, …"

"Stop right here, Don Juan," she interrupted, still chuckling. "I see your point."

He scratched his neck, so relieved to see the atmosphere between them return to normal. While his father's sharp assessment of how and why that kiss had freed him from Dislocoeur influence was promising, the knowledge that Ladybug had feelings for him was not nearly as important to him as her friendship. He wanted her to feel comfortable about him, and happy, and amused.

"I'm not going to get an explanation on the strawberry-flavored makeup daydreaming, am I?" she asked.

"You couldn't make heads or tails of it anyway," he declared, swinging the tip of his belt up and down. "There's a context."

"Oh, if there's a context ..."

He swayed back and forth, grinning. She smiled back. He swayed a little too far and had to do a backflip and land farther down not to lose his balance and fall.

"Say," he exclaimed once secure on his feet. "Wanna spar?"

Ladybug blinked.

"Spar?"

"Yes! Just, you know, as training. It's not often we have free time to do something other than patrolling and 'saving Paris in style'. I figure practice would be a good idea, every now and then."

His partner tilted her head to the side, considering the suggestion, then nodded.

"That's true. We should definitely make some room for that," she commented, before jumping down from her perch and sliding to him. "Great idea!"

"Not mine, really. Mister Agreste made a few comments on my fighting style. Namely, he pointed out two ways I routinely leave myself wide open to getting killed, in as many conversations. I need to get better."

Ladybug frowned, growing tense. However, she tried to keep her tone neutral.

"Is that what you talked about? Fighting technique?"

Chat Noir nodded.

"He had, err, comments, about the way I handled myself against Laser Tag, and he told me about a flaw with my pirouettes. He obviously knows his stuff. He was a superhero for ten years."

His partner's expression turned worried, her frown deepening. She bit her lower lip and took a moment to consider her next words.

"I know you are curious about him, and that's only natural, but… You should be careful," she told him, uneasy. "He might be nice to you and give you tips, but at the end of the day, he is not the kind of person one should look up to. You might end up disappointed. Has he told you why he lost the ring?"

She knew. You could see it on her face, hear it in her voice.

Adrien rocked on his heels. He had wondered about it. He still wondered about it. But, no matter how bad it had been, he trusted his mother's judgement. She had remained by his father's side after his birth, and Gabriel had implied the Miraculous had been taken from him before that.

"He implied he abused Chat Noir's powers," he replied. "He made it sound bad , so I can guess. And I can also guess it did not work or he was stopped." - He took a deep breath. - "Tikki told you, didn't she?"

Ladybug nodded.

"Yes. Mister Agreste contacted me to get information on Hawk Moth, to help finding his wife. So I asked her what he had done. But … I promised not to tell you. She doesn't want me to tell Adrien Agreste, because the truth should come from his father. And she thinks it would change the way you see your powers, so Plagg or mister Agreste would be better suited to explain what happened."

Tikki, who knew full well who Chat Noir was, had clearly invented a flimsy excuse so Ladybug would not run straight to her partner and reveal every dark secret his father kept hidden.

"That… I see," he murmured. "I guess I'll ask again."

" Please be cautious. He might not be evil - Tikki does not believe he is - but he was not the kind of hero you are. He might try to justify what he did, to convince you it was necessary."

Chat Noir looked down at his hand, clenching his fist and opening it.

Nothing could ever convince him to use Cataclysm on someone. The spell was meant for objects only. His father had not tried to justify his choices, however. He had said he only regretted the consequences, but he had told Adrien his ring had been taken away for 'very good reasons'. He had basically said he had been too cold to be given Chat Noir's powers.

"Don't worry," he replied. "I kind of suspect what he did. I mean, I guess he failed or was stopped, or he wouldn't be running free, but it's no big mystery he tried to kill an enemy." - That was to be expected from a man who did not tolerate failing, who could steel himself against any feeling. Alice had still forgiven him. - "But he can't wrap his mind around the way I think or me around the way he thinks. There's still a lot to be learned from him, though."

Ladybug mulled over that, chewing the inside of one cheek, then nodded.

"Has he told you what he'll do if he finds Hawk Moth?" she asked. "I have a letter with the answers he asked for, and I've been sitting on it for a week. I'm not sure it should be given to a civilian."

Adrien's eyes widened.

"You've been keeping it to yourself?" he exclaimed, horrified.

"I'm not about to encourage mister Agreste to go after a superpowered evil mastermind! He'll get himself killed. I know he probably wants to check if his wife tried to follow Tikki, but I can't help wondering if there's a catch. The man is a compulsive liar. He might have other plans. I'm just afraid to give him information that could get him closer to Hawk Moth."

Chat forced himself to calm down, keeping his voice mildly curious.

"What kind of information is it?"

"You know Hawk Moth was active in Brazil when Mrs Agreste went missing. After she gave the Miraculous back, Tikki picked a new hero and kept fighting him. Now, mister Agreste never knew about that, because the hero was a boy in a black and golden costume who went by a different name. He was never filmed, barely ever noticed. He mostly tried to track Hawk Moth down, and only had to fight Akumas five times. Hawk Moth was not attacking at random like he is now. Tikki thinks he was looking for a lost Miraculous."

"The blue one, or the yellow one?"

Adrien knew Volpina had Vixx's, the orange one. Master Fu had the green one, and Hawk Moth the pink, which meant only two were missing.

"The blue," Ladybug replied. "Queen Bee was active at the same time as Mrs Agreste, there was no reason to believe her Miraculous was gone. On the other hand, there has not been a Firebird in in a century. Tikki and the other Kwamis have not heard of Zharr since then either."

"Obviously, Hawk Moth did not find him. Right now, he's winging it. If he had two Miraculous, we'd be facing him on a wing and a prayer…"

Ladybug glared at him.

He cleared his throat.

"So, what information did you have to give?"

"The locations and dates of the Akuma attacks Tikki remembers. The places where she and her chosen stayed for more than a few hours. There is not much, and I don't see how it could help finding Adrien's mother. Tikki never even heard Alice's name before she returned to Paris."

"It doesn't sound like there's anything in there that could lead mister Agreste to Hawk Moth either. It all happened in South America, didn't it? And at least a year ago."

"I know… It's just… I don't know . Maybe there is something in there I couldn't spot. Maybe getting that information will convince him he's right to try to find Hawk Moth, and what if he manages to ? He'd be in so much danger. I wish I could find a way to make him drop it."

Chat Noir stared through Ladybug as he absorbed all of that, and the implications, and the risks and consequences.

He wanted his father to drop it too.

"He won't," he declared. "Never. Now, I don't know the man that well, but I talked to Adrien. I know enough. His wife was his everything. He might fancy his assistant and care about his son, but no one drew him out of himself like his wife did. I mean, the man I talked to in that 'secret lair'? The passion for magic, the fighting knowledge, the smiles, the jokes ? Adrien has never met him. He's not just Gabriel Agreste. Maybe the ring was taken from him, but he's still Chat Noir. And she's still his partner. He won't drop it."

Ladybug stared at him, growing paler from word to word.

"He couldn't if he tried," Adrien added as she swallowed and fidgeted. "He would do anything."

His partner looked away, taking a sharp breath. It pained her to hear that. She could tell what was true for one Chat Noir also applied to the other, and she had been struggling with the idea that hers loved her for days now. She did not want to hear it. She had no idea how to handle it.

Adrien's train of thought was not stopping, however.

"And he lost his ring ," he exclaimed as the realization hit him. "He made a choice that meant she would be fighting alone and…"

And she went off to fight Hawk Moth on her own and she did not even tell him about it. All of that because of that choice. He had not been by his partner's side when she had gone missing and only had himself to blame.

He had come to that conclusion before, of course. Analyzing the past and trying to figure Gabriel out was not nearly the same as picturing himself in that same situation, with his own Ladybug vanishing because of his absence.

The mere idea gave him cold sweats. He felt faint.

"I'll talk to him," he exclaimed.

"What?"

"I'll talk to him. That intel, do you have it on paper, or did you just memorize it?"

"We printed it out. I'm not sure it's-"

"I'll give it to him. And I'll talk to him. Try to convince him to let us handle Hawk Moth. He… I don't think he'd listen to you. He's not a man who listens to anyone ," he amended, trying to convince her that it had nothing to do with her at all, and failing. "But I'm Chat Noir. If someone can reach him, it's me."

Ladybug studied his face.

"It won't be an easy conversation," she warned him, getting a folded envelope from her yoyo.

"I know. But it's worth a try," he replied with a grin, holding his hand out to grab the envelope.

She gave it to him and watched him stuff it into his pockets.

"I wouldn't do anything for you," she blurted out.

It startled him, and he looked up in surprise.

"I wouldn't," she repeated, her voice more confident. "and I know you would not either." - She reached for his hand, took it, and held it with a firm grip. - "And that's a good thing. Because we know each other and we fit each other and we know where to draw the line. We know where the other would draw the line. And we can trust each other not to go further than that."

Adrien scarcely ever used the word 'mesmerized' but, when he did, his lady was always involved. He bit his lower lip, unable to form a word. His heart was thumping straight in his ears.

She put her second hand over his.

"And we would both draw the line at the same point. We would never expect the other to do more than what they can, we would never want them to suffer, we would want them to put their happiness first."

Well. His outlook on their relationship had been a little more self-sacrificing. As far as what he wanted for her was concerned, however, she was spot on.

He felt a little giddy, and totally smitten.

"I'm going to hug you now," he announced, with a smile that was zero percent bravado and a hundred percent nerves. "Just so you know."

She let go of his hand and hugged him . He froze. He gaped. He opened and closed his mouth. Then he wrapped his arms around her.

###

"Ladybug," Gabriel announced, after Nathalie's initial wave of 'what do you mean, superhero?' and exhausted confusion. "From age fifteen to thirty."

His assistant, who had sat up and was gaping at him, squinted and tried to process the idea.

Gabriel was still lying down, having merely rolled onto his back. He stared at the ceiling and continued talking in a casual tone, his voice as detached as if he had been discussing the weather.

"It was pretty much the life you'd expect of a masked vigilante. A monster attacked, a supervillain attacked, a robber attacked, and it had to be handled immediately. There was no questioning it. Sure, it was risky, but Alice was good at what she did. She knew how to handle herself, much better than the two kids running amok those days. We both accepted the fact that, one day, she might not come home, and that was alright. But having a child redefines your concept of danger. It changes the balance between acceptable risks and accomplishments. All of a sudden, it's your duty to ensure that child is safe, that he will have a future where he is taken care off, where he will not have to worry about monsters barging into his home. So you take drastic decisions."

Nathalie tried to think back of their family life. She had seen nothing that could have indicated Alice had a secret identity. Nothing. Did she vanish at random times of the day? Why not? She was a rich, popular stay-at-home mom with plenty of friends. Sometimes, she missed an appointment. Sometimes, she went to bed in the middle of the day with a headache. Who would have questioned it?

Gabriel had showed no sign of worrying for her safety, but that was Gabriel being Gabriel. While his wife was out fighting magical criminals, his apparent concern was to know if Nathalie had forwarded the week's kidnapping and murder threats to the police. And he had known all along she had superpowers.

All along…

"So that's what happened!" Nathalie exclaimed. "You figured out who she was."

Gabriel turned to her, startled.

"I'm sorry?"

"We were in the same school," she told him. "You and Alice were the celebrity couple, and there were quite a few rumors going on about how she had gotten you to date her after seventeen rejections. You discovered her secret identity."

He snorted.

"I remember the rumors. And yes, that's exactly what happened. I found her a lot more interesting after figuring out she had a personality."

That personality, Nathalie mused, had been very well hidden.

Gabriel sat up, massaging the nape of his neck.

"There was a lot of outcry back then. One of her friends threatened to 'beat the shit out of me', another actually did - you might remember Anne-Laure Bourgeois - and I got quite a few nasty comments. People thought Alice was fragile. No one understood her, so no one believed the arrogant, unpleasant rich kid was exactly who she had wanted to date."

"So the whole dashing prince act…"

"It was all fun and games. We were both playing pretend. And, to some extent… It was an easy, painted by numbers way of giving her the romance I felt she deserved. My natural instinct is not to overshare, so..."

Now that's the euphemism of the century.

His marriage was starting to make sense, in a disturbing, unhealthy way. They had both been wearing masks, but they had both known exactly who the other was, and had helped each other keep the pretense up. Gabriel's prince charming persona had been another way for him not to express himself, and his wife had encouraged that. As for Alice, she had been a different person entirely. There was no telling how much of her sweetness and bubbliness had been faked.

If Alice had walked into their union with illusions, they had not been about the way Gabriel treated her. She had loved him cold and distant. A superhero would have been able to take it. But then, she would have faced the reality of what "cold and distant" did to a child. She would have seen how the traits she liked were harmful to her son. That was why they had drifted apart.

A superhero.

"Tell me you are not trying to track a supervillain down because he might be involved in your wife's disappearance," Nathalie sighed.

A new Ladybug had appeared at the same time as Hawk Moth had started attacking Paris, the previous year. That was why Gabriel had come to the conclusion that Alice was dead. And the butterfly watch, the mysterious absences…

"Of course I am," he replied.

She groaned.

"No. No. No, you are not . It's insane , it will get you killed, this stops now . Are we clear?"

Gabriel raised his eyebrows and waited for her to back down. Which she did, because fifteen years of being employed as his underling had gotten her used to a vastly unequal balance of power in their relationship, one where she did not question her boss' decisions if she wanted to keep her job. Even if the dynamics had changed, her reflexes needed to be relearned.

She sighed, her shoulders sagging.

"I'll take that under advisement," he replied.

Thinking in flowcharts was a terrible quirk, Nathalie realized. You could start imagining Gabriel's future, branch by branch, decision by decision, up to the point he died, and past that point. Then you started to consider every variation of what would happen to Adrien.

She put those thoughts aside, to be used as arguments later into the discussion.

"You told me she retired. I take it she changed her mind? When did that happen?"

"That's a good question. For all I know, she never quit, only pretended to. I was not supposed to be privy to her plans as a hero. Safety precaution, you know? The point being, when she went missing, I had no idea she had returned to that life. I knew it was a possibility, but she was on a trip in a dangerous area, being an Agreste, and we get so many threats, and more importantly Hawk Moth had been soundly defeated the year before Adrien was born… So Ladybug was the last thing on my mind. I just t-th... I mean I… It… I just didn't know ," he explained, gasping those last words out.

Nathalie had never been fond of Alice, but now discovered new (and much more valid) reasons to dislike the woman.

She put a hand on Gabriel's knee. He took a deep breath.

"Some of the detectives I hired in South America are well versed in magic, just in case. I was not about to ignore a possibility. But an accident was more likely, or an abduction, or even a murder. I was just waiting for a body to be found, then she called."

That dislike Nathalie felt for Alice morphed into loathing. She shifted on the bed to sit closer to Gabriel, wrapping an arm around his shoulder in a way she hoped he would believe 'comforting', and not possessive.

"What did she tell you?"

"Roughly that Hawk Moth was active in Brazil, and that she had fought a time travelling enemy and jumped forward by more than a year. She had traveled there because an ally had heard rumors of magical activity and butterflies, she figured it could be Hawk Moth. As it turned out, she was right. And, two hours after that phone call, she had disappeared again, so it's not much of a stretch to think Hawk Moth managed to find her after that jump through time."

What did you say to that? More importantly, how did you convince someone not to look into suspicions of that kind? She had told him that he would never get answers, but she had believed Alice was rotting in a ditch in some forgotten part of the rainforest. She had thought it had been an accident, or that she had gotten lost while hiking, or maybe that she had been robbed and killed and buried in a shallow grave. She had not thought there was a solid lead.

"You need to give that watch to the heroes," she told him. "You need to let them handle this. If they defeat him, they will ask about Alice for you. They will get the answers from him, if he has them."

"They are fifteen year old children who have no idea what they are doing. Even if they could face Hawk Moth without getting killed, they would not get a word out of him. He has nothing to gain by confessing a murder."

"Then he's not going to talk to you, is he?"

"Don't underestimate how much I'm willing to pay for information. I'm a very rich man."

"I'm not under the impression you are willing to pay at all. As a matter of fact, I'm not under the impression that you would let him walk away if you had a way to take him down."

He tensed.

She rolled her eyes.

"Don't go and tell me how you would have done 'anything' for your wife and then act surprised when I figure out you are willing to kill someone."

"I'm not surprised."

"Well then, I am so very glad you trust me with that knowledge, sir. I suppose I'll be expected to help you get away with it, too?"

"Now let's be realistic, the odds of my being able to kill a superpowered, invulnerable being are near nonexistent."

"The odds of you lying to my face about that are significantly higher."

Gabriel froze, startled, then grinned.

Nathalie straightened up.

"And I do not see the humor in that!"

"You wouldn't," he commented.

"And nowhere in my contract is there a mention of getting rid of inconvenient bodies, including yours, so you might as well reconsider your plans right now."

"I'll take that under advisement too."

She glared at him, anger and worry fighting for control. Her usual lack of concern had abandoned ship.

"What are your plans, anyway?"

###