I have just been so busy this past week, I've been in and out of the house, getting ready for my graphic design course, organising money problems, working on two comics...organising the next ten uploads to DeviantART, working on an old fictional 200 page story I wrote last year plus this FanFic and the other FanFic. So don't say I'm not busy, because I REALLY am...*faints*

Anyways, I have watched the new episode already. And man did that raise more questions and speculations? I'm excited for next week's episode already! ^^ And I think with my Nathalie speculation and that brooch from the new episode (spoilers ;D), I'll have to change a couple of things.

So, hope you're willing to be satisfied with this Chapter but then craving for more. Enjoy Chapter 9 of Revelations! ^^

Miraculous Ladybug (C) Thomas Astruc/ Zagtoon

Chapter 9 – Suspicious Questions

"Nathalie?" Adrien swallowed hard, feeling his heart beat in anxiety as Nathalie entered his room.

Not responding, she walked around. Looking around and analysing everything Adrien had in his room, from his posters to the things on his desk, to the desktop screen which was open to the Lady blog, Nathalie looked at Adrien with silence and no expression. The blonde teen was unsure of what she was going to do, or if she even remembered saying what she said earlier to Cat Noir. He began to sweat anxiously as she approached him.

"Adrien...?" She asked in a more lightened tone as her eyes widened.

Adrien felt his cheeks heat up and his heart beating out of his chest, he really hoped Nathalie didn't know about his secret identity. He smiled and grinned sheepishly as he rubbed his neck nervously.

"Yes Nathalie?"

Nathalie wrapped her arms around the blonde teen, Adrien immediately froze as his eyes widened. He felt the warm embrace of Nathalie's arms; it felt all so familiar to him. He wrapped his arms around her, embracing the gentle touch with a warming smile. His heart relaxing and his sweat vanishing, he warmed up to Nathalie.

"I've missed you so much!" She cried.

Shocked and confused by this, Adrien froze. "What?"

After releasing herself from the hug, Nathalie wiped her tears with a cloth, removing her glasses which then revealed her emerald green eyes. Her glasses had been making her eyes seem like a deep blue. Adrien looked up in confusion, not fully understanding why Nathalie was acting like this. He felt conflicted and confused inside.

"I love you so much my baby." She said in a soft tone, placing her glasses back on.

Adrien's jaw dropped and his mind was wiped clean with awe and unbelievable shock. His first reaction for a split second was disgust, but seeing the heartfelt love in her eyes, he knew it all too well. Adrien's mother had been with him this entire time and neither of them realised it. Tears swelled in his eyes as a smile crept across his lips.

"Mother...?"

Sniffling and smiling in rejoice, he embraced his mother tightly and warmly, overcome with joy that his mother had been around him this entire time. He was so happy in that moment that he felt like nothing could ruin it.

But then, a loud and very forced knock was heard from the door. "Adrien!?" An adult male voice called out.

The pair gasped, knowing all too well that it was Gabriel behind that door. Nathalie couldn't help but open the door for him. Gabriel stood there, hands clenched in deep anger as he glared at the two of them without saying a word.

"Nathalie, go back to your office." He instructed in a calm voice.

Then, Nathalie returned to her monotone voice and expression. "Yes sir."

Confusing as the scene was, Adrien couldn't say anything. He deeply wanted to, but the scowl look on Gabriel's face frightened him enough to keep his lips pressed together firmly, however he glared at him, angered that he had been treating his own wife this way for so long.

"We are never to speak of this again, you understand?" Gabriel requested, deep anger curled onto the last words in that sentence.

Adrien looked down, because of all this new knowledge he knew about his mother being Nathalie all this time he had to bring it up. This may be his only chance to talk to his father face to face. But seeing the anger in his scowl as he leaned over a little, narrowing his eyes at him, Adrien sighed and agreed.

"Yes, father." He replied, in a respectful saddened tone.

Sitting down on his bed, Adrien watched his father leave the room in an orderly neat manner, gently closing the door behind him. Plagg wisped out from his hiding place, confused and annoyed by Gabriel's actions.

"Why do you let him do that to you? As Chat you could stand your ground against him!" Plagg exclaimed.

Sighing, Adrien fell face first into his pillow. He felt extremely heavy inside, all of this new information he had been given over the past week were weighing him down all in one hit, and he hated it. He felt confused, happy and upset. There were so many things he wanted to do to fix everything all at once but now it didn't seem possible.

"Sorry Plagg, but you should know this happens a lot." He explained, lifting his head a little to look at his kwami.

Plagg felt worried for him, suddenly a theory sparked in his head. Ignoring Adrien for a short moment, he flew towards his desk and opened one of the drawers. Not looking at his kwami, Adrien assumed he was looking for cheese. Then he heard the sound of a card of some sort blowing through the air, landing on his leg. He sat up and saw that it was a photo, his eyes widened as he realised it was a photo of him and his mother from a few years ago.

"A few years ago your mother left for some unknown reason, what I'm guessing is that your father hired her as his assistant, possibly because of some argument or something." He theorised, with his arm under his chin in thought.

The photo had cut off half of his mother's face and leaving Adrien as the central portrait of the photograph, but seeing the details on her and comparing them to Nathalie, there was no doubt that from the photo they shared similar physical attributes. The similar jaw line, the same coloured lips, the adoring smile when he saw Nathalie smile at him moments ago. He felt warm inside as he caressed the photo, adoring that his mother was always there for him.

But what concerned and angered him the most out of all this, was that Gabriel had been hiding it from him this entire time. He had his suspicions about it, and they were confirmed when Gabriel didn't say a single word on the subject, he was definitely hiding something from him. Adrien's curiosity boiled, he had to know why he was trying to hide away his own mother from him. Gabriel always hid away in his office at the top of the mansion and rarely came out to see him, Adrien always ate his meals alone, only seeing Nathalie from time to time with his schedule and news that his father wouldn't be with him anytime soon.

"Why does he always stay up there? I know it's his office, but he should understand the care and love of a family." He explained, getting up from his bed and leaning the photo against his middle monitor. "Why would he hide something like this from me?" He asked sincerely, looking at Plagg with a neglected expression.

Narrowing his eyes as he thought back to when Gabriel instructed Nathalie to leave, he remembered seeing Nathalie turning from emotional to emotionless within the blink of an eye, furrowing his eyebrow he glared towards the door with his father in mind.

"He's hiding something, and he's going to tell me. He can't keep secrets like this away from me."

Meanwhile a few hours later, Marinette was found staring blankly at a picture of Adrien she had re-stuck to the wall, tapping her pen gently against the tablet, she smiled. She felt happy inside, but at the same time she felt conflicted. Tikki was by her side, trying to keep her focused but saw that Marinette was having a hard time trying to stay the same emotion.

The kwami tapped the dazed and confused girl on the shoulder, causing Marinette to shake her head as she regained the sight of reality. She turned to her kwami in question.

"What?" She asked.

Tikki sighed as she flew in front of Marinette's face. "Aren't you going to focus on your work?"

Sighing, Marinette placed her pencil down and relaxed her head in the palms of her hands as she stared at the picture of Adrien once again, this time giving a saddened expression.

"I don't know if I can work like this, he's in love with Ladybug and not me."

Rolling her eyes, seeing that Marinette found her civilian life and super hero life to be too different and not the same she flew in front of her with a look of assurance. "But you are Ladybug, Marinette or Ladybug you are the same person with or without the costume."

Thinking deeply about Tikki's advice in assurance, she pressed her lips together and looked down. She had heard Tikki give her this same advice many times before and had accepted it, but always thought that her personal life and life as a superhero were two different lives that she lived, always different and never the same she assumed. When she was Ladybug, she was confident and strong. As Marinette she was clumsy and shy. She rarely showed those attributes in both forms, she was all too sure of herself that Ladybug and Marinette were two different people.

"I know but, Adrien knows me. I don't think he'd fall for someone like me."

Feeling frustrated, Tikki snapped her out of it. "Look, you and Ladybug are the same person! Adrien loves you Marinette!"

Marinette's heart skipped a beat at the sound of Tikki saying Adrien loves her, it made her melt and her lips curved into a dreamy smile, she leaned back in her chair a little, dazed slightly by Tikki's words.

"I'm so glad he loves me..." She said in a dreamy voice, before snapping back to reality. "But how do I get Adrien to see that I am Ladybug without revealing my identity?"

A smile of assurance crept across Tikki's face. "Don't worry, you'll find a way." She assured her as she pat Marinette's shoulder.

Slouching in her chair, Marinette groaned in frustration. She wanted a clear answer for her situation but couldn't think of anything, she didn't want to reveal herself in the case that Adrien would feel disappointed to find that all along Ladybug has been Marinette with a mask. She wished she had another person to talk to, but she only had Tikki whom she could say anything to. She just wanted someone else's perspective on things.

That was when she decided to call Alya. Dialling Alya's number, her best friend answered the phone almost instantly, greeting her with confidence.

"Hey Marinette, what's up?"

Breathing in and out slowly, Marinette held her tongue before she responded. "Can you come over? I need someone to talk to."

With a positive response, she hung up the phone, hoping that talking to Alya might clear her head a little. Yet, Marinette worried how she was going to talk this out with her best friend when Alya didn't know about Marinette being Ladybug. Tikki assured her that she would think of the right things to say, but with such little time in between now and the time Alya arrived, she worried she wouldn't be able to think of anything.

Less than ten minutes later, Alya arrived. She sat on Marinette's bed and saw one picture of Adrien stuck on the wall near her computer; furrowing her eyebrow she looked at Marinette, concerned as to why she still had a picture of Adrien on her wall.

"Why do you still have a picture of him on your wall?" She asked, looking at Marinette as she pointed at the picture.

Marinette turned, seeing the photo and smiling slightly. "I still love him." She replied, smiling.

Gasping in shock and slight disgust, she firmly pressed her hands against her waist. "You mean even though he doesn't like you back you still love him?"

Sighing romantically as she stared at the picture, Marinette nodded in response before she turned her head with her expression quickly changing to seriousness. "Hey, I asked you to come over so I could talk to you."

Confused by the statement, Alya shrugged. "I'm here talking to you, is there a reason why you dragged me here?" She asked in a slight tease.

Marinette stood up from her seat, thinking of the right words to say to Alya so that her secret identity wouldn't be revealed. Pacing around her room, constantly peeking over at the picture of Adrien as well as Tikki who was hidden in her purse on her desk, Marinette thought deeply while Alya looked at her in confusion and concern.

"What if...a person was to like certain aspects of another person but never knew who they really were underneath? If that person were to reveal these other aspects, would it be a bad thing?" She asked, looking up at Alya with his finger placed against her chin thoughtfully.

As confusing as the question was, Alya responded the best way she could. "Well I'd say it depends on the other person. They could be surprised and happy about it or be disgusted by them. Either way they'd still like the person the same way." She explained carefully, smiling. "Why are you asking me this?" Alya questioned, raising an eyebrow of suspicion.

A tint of red spread across Marinette's cheeks, she had to think fast but at the same time she had to be careful of what to say. Biting her lip and looking away nervously, Marinette shot a sheepish grin at a suspicious Alya.

"Oh...just asking because I'm doing a little research on it..." she replied nervously, scratching the back of her neck with a nervous grin.

Eyeing her best friend suspiciously as she processed Marinette's explanation, she agreed with a smile. "Alright then, anything else you want to talk about?"

To make it seem less suspicious that she only wanted Alya to come for that, she let Alya stay for another couple of hours before she left at dinner time. After dinner, Marinette stayed in her room and focused hard on her work, ignoring anything else that was on her mind until all her homework for the day was completed.

When the moon rose at 11pm, Marinette finished her homework. Stretching her arms out wide and yawning in relief, she got up from her seat and decided to sit outside on the balcony for a while. She felt the cool fresh air brush against her skin, making her close her eyes as she rested on the chair and relaxed herself.

Tikki had already gone to sleep, worn out from the morning's akuma attack; she slept peacefully on Marinette's pillow. Meanwhile Marinette enjoyed the cool relaxing breeze, she was glad to have gotten all her homework out of the way for the weekend, this way if an akuma attack were to occur she would be there in a flash, not having to worry about falling behind in her schoolwork.

Then suddenly, a gush of cool wind swept across her face, making her hair tangle as she heard someone land on her balcony. Her eyes still closed, she sighed, knowing exactly who it was.

"You know, I could call you out on trespassing Chat." Marinette warned, sneaking a smirk in as she opened her eyes to see the black cat in front of her.

"I just need someone to talk to." He explained, the seriousness in his eyes making Marinette raise concern.

Widening her eyes, Marinette sat up as she saw Chat sit on the railing beside her. His expression held no smirk or smile whatsoever; it worried her that he was seeing her this late at night, and for what reason? She wondered. Curling herself up into a ball with her arms wrapped around her legs, she looked at Chat with concern.

"Why?"

Chat jumped off the ledge and sat next to Marinette, making her shift a little way's away from him against the arch of the chair. He looked up at her, seeing the heavenly blue eyes that resembled Ladybug's so much. It was uncanny that these two girls shared the same beautiful eyes.

Looking down as he breathed heavily in thought, Chat responded. "Today...I found out some news and I just need to talk to someone that I know would care."

Narrowing her eyebrows, Chat's words only made her mind raise more questions in confusion to what he was trying to say. How would he be able to talk about some news with her? He could've worked it out on his own, or unless it needed Ladybug's help he should've contacted her in the first place.

"I don't understand, why would you want to talk to me about some news you found out? What is the news?" She asked, releasing herself from her curved ball position.

Leaving a lesser gap between the two, Chat looked down nervously, worried about whether telling Marinette about his personal life would be the best option. However, seeing that he was knee deep already he had no choice. He took in a deep breath before giving Marinette more comfortable space as he began to explain.

"My mother...she's been gone for a few years. And only today that I found out she's been with me this entire time. My father..." He stopped, worried if he said Gabriel's name his identity would be revealed. "He had kept it a secret from me this entire time."

Turning her head at a slight angle, Marinette raised an eyebrow, confused as to why Chat would come to her to talk about his personal life when surely there must have been someone in his personal life that he could talk to. She didn't understand why of all people, Chat would choose to come to her.

"Why are you telling me this?"

Grabbing her hand suddenly, Chat looked into Marinette's eyes, causing a pink blush to creep across her cheeks.

"Because I need someone who knows me besides Ladybug."

Not sure if that was a cliff-hanger there, but I guess every end to these chapters is a cliff-hanger since you guys keep screaming for more XD So the plot is thickening, and I think the next chapter or two could bring in more depth to the overall plot of this story, perhaps a revelation? *giggles*

Looks like you'll have to wait a few days for Chapter 10 then. So I'll see you soon! ^^