One year later...
The city was quiet, and Chat once again had to patrol alone tonight. Against his will too, might I add. He'd tried to convince his lady that the city could afford one night without Ladybug or Chat Noir, but she'd insisted he go. And when he suggested they all go together as a family, she had nearly blown a gasket. Louis was far too young to be involved in their superhero lives. At least for now. How she had then managed to convince him to go anyway is one of the great mysteries of the universe, somewhere along the lines of "Is there life on other planets?" and "What is the meaning of life?".
So here he was, sitting on a beam halfway up the Eiffel Tower, watching over the city, when all he really wanted to be doing was to hold his baby son while making enough cat puns to make his wife question why she'd married such a huge dork. But nooo, instead he had to be out here, alone, doing his duty to the people of Paris. And while he still loved being Chat Noir, it wasn't nearly as fun when it meant skipping out on time with his family.
And all of a sudden, his ear twitched. Underneath the usual din of city noise, he heard something. It was much too faint for any human ear, but as he leaned out from his perch, it came through loud and clear to his feline senses. Alarms, and if he strained himself, the slams and crashes of drawers being flung open and cash spilling on the floor. Aha! Bank robbers!
"Finally!" Chat whooped, brandishing his free fist triumphantly to the sky. "Time for some action!"
He bounded off into the night, on his way to thoroughly kick some robber butt.
...
"Mrow!"
Marinette blinked at the sound and looked down. She grinned at the cat sitting impatiently next to her chair, his stripy tail swishing as he stared up at the milk bottle in her hand. He lifted a furry paw in the air, his big amber eyes growing bigger still, and she chuckled.
"No, Felix, this is Louis's bottle, not yours."
Felix obviously disagreed, as he got onto his back legs, putting his front paws on Marinette's jean-covered thigh, and craned his neck as close as he could to the bundle in her arms. Mari laughed and, carefully holding Louis with one arm, scratched the cat's soft head. He purred loudly and only let out one indignant mew as she pushed him gently to the floor again. He gave her a look that accurately mirrored her husband's displeased pout when she insisted he go on patrol tonight. It was so similar that Marinette laughed.
"What's so funny?" asked Tikki, zipping over from her plate of cookies on the kitchen counter.
"It's just Felix." explained Mari, giggling as she saw the grey cat trot offendedly back to his spot on the carpet and curl up, studiously not looking at her. "He's exactly like Adrien when he gets mad at me."
Tikki had to admit the resemblance was a little uncanny, as well as very amusing. She giggled.
"Well I did hear that pets start to resemble their owners after a while."
Marinette raised an eyebrow at her.
"Where did you hear that?" she asked.
The kwami shrugged. Then, changing the subject, she asked:
"Are you sure Adrien had to go alone tonight? You haven't been Ladybug for a really long time."
"I know that." sighed Marinette.
At that moment, Louis began fidgeting, so she put the empty bottle on the nearby table and, making sure the towel on her shoulder was still there, began patting his back. The tiny boy let out a small burp and, smiling, Marinette cradled him again.
"But I couldn't leave Louis all by himself." she continued to Tikki, putting the towel on the table beside the bottle. "Cats aren't exactly professional babysitters."
Bridgette, their second cat, a pretty calico with green eyes, straightened up from where she'd been grooming herself and let out an indignant meow.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Bridgette." Marinette apologized to the she-cat. "I just meant that you and Felix can't give him the care other humans can if Adrien and I are both out on patrol."
As though to prove her owner wrong, Bridgette got up, trotted over to Marinette's chair and jumped into her lap. As though sensing the feline's presence, Louis opened his green eyes and gurgled happily. He opened his arms and put them around the soft she-cat, who relaxed and began to purr. Louis's happy babbling gave way to a yawn, then he fell asleep still holding the gently-rumbling Bridgette, who turned her gaze to Marinette as though saying "I told you so." Marinette had to laugh, putting a hand over her mouth so as not to wake Louis.
"Okay, okay," she conceded. "You do take very good care of Louis. I have to admit it-"
She was interrupted by the soft chink of breaking glass. It was distant, faint, so much that Marinette almost believed, for a moment, that it had only been her imagination. But Tikki had spun in the direction of the sound, and both cats looked up sharply, eyes alert and ears swivelling to the noise. Bridgette had stopped purring, and she got down from Marinette's lap to stand at her feet, back arched and staring fixedly at the open doorway leading to the staircase. She wasn't hissing, yet, but her fur was puffed up and her eyes were wide and intense, as though whatever made the noise downstairs was about to come up. Marinette stood up.
"Tikki," Marinette spoke in a hushed voice. "Do you think you could go see if something's there? Without being seen?"
The kwami nodded, not saying a word, and flew down the stairs. Marinette got up and carried Louis back to his bedroom, noticing out of the corner of her eye Bridgette following her. Louis stirred as she put him in his cradle and whimpered as she pulled away, reaching out and grabbing his mother's finger.
"Shhh, shh, it's okay, sweetie." Marinette soothed. "Mummy's just gotta go check on something."
She looked down and saw Bridgette standing dutifully beside her, as though patiently waiting for Marinette to tell her what to do. She picked up the cat with one arm and gently lifted her into the cradle with Louis.
"Bridgette's going to be here and watch over you, so don't you worry. She'll keep you safe, okay?" she said, asking her cat as much as her child.
In answer, Bridgette lay down so she was almost wrapped around Louis and put her tail protectively over him. She licked his tiny black locks as though he were a giant kitten, and Louis cooed softly. Marinette smiled gratefully, and left, closing the door. When she got back to the office/family room/sort of second living room, Tikki hadn't come back, and Felix was standing in the middle of the room, staring at the staircase. His fur was all standing on end, his ears were folded back, and it took Marinette a moment to realize that he was hissing. Quiet, aloof Felix was hissing, when he generally never made a sound, even when he was really angry or scared. Bridgette was the vocal one between the two. This made Marinette more uneasy. What was worse, as she carefully advanced toward the stairs, was that she could hear more noises, very faint, but there: shuffling footsteps, the slow opening of drawers, rummaging hands. Those noises could only mean one thing: there was an intruder in the house. Suddenly, she wished she hadn't made Adrien go on patrol tonight. She would've been less afraid if he'd been beside her.
"Tikki?" she whispered, now at the top of the stairs.
No answer, except the sound of a metal object being dropped to the floor. Taking a deep breath, and shushing Felix when he started hissing again, she quietly went down. Felix followed her. The stairs weren't the stereotypical creaking sort, so there was no noise as Marinette descended, but even as she reached the foyer at the bottom, her soft slippers muffled her careful footsteps. Quietly, she stepped into the living room. No activity there. Nothing in the dining room either, when she went to check. But the kitchen light was on.
"The hell is this thing?" a strange voice from inside the kitchen muttered. "Some kind of toy?"
Marinette put her back to the wall next to the doorway, and peeked in. A man was standing in the kitchen, the drawers around him had been pulled out, and the glass upper half of the door at the back of the kitchen leading to the backyard had been broken. That explained the first noise, and how this guy had gotten inside. He was holding a crowbar in one hand and in the other was...Marinette gasped. It was Tikki! The man was holding Tikki, who had frozen like a statue, and he was inspecting her quizzically. At least, he had been inspecting Tikki until Marinette gasped. He whipped his head around, dropping Tikki, and raised his crowbar as a nervous light danced in his eyes. Marinette ducked away before he saw her.
"Who's there!" said the intruder. "Whoever you are, and if this is your house, I don't want to hurt you, but I'll use this if I have to!" he lifted his crowbar higher. "I just want to find something I can sell, so I'm sure you can spare a trinket or two! Just...Just leave me alone and I'll be on my way soon!"
All he got in response was Felix's angry yowl and a face full of claws as the grey tabby leaped at him! The man screamed and fell back, trying to hit Felix with his crowbar! Seeing that he was distracted, Marinette ran in and stooped to get Tikki, but with a desperate swipe, the man managed to get Felix to back off long enough for him to grab the cat and fling him out the hole in the door!
"Felix!" Marinette cried.
The man faced her, and for a split-second she froze. And then her fighting instincts kicked in and she gave the man a good punch in the face, knocking him back. She grabbed Tikki and got to her feet, about to run, when the intruder knocked her legs out from under her with a swing of his crowbar! Marinette yelped as she hit the ground and looked over her shoulder at the man as he grabbed the back of her pink sweater. His nose was broken, and there was a tiny line of blood starting to leak from his nostril, but it seemed the injury had only made him mad. He gave her a glare with absolute fury and-She thrust out her leg and kicked him!
"Ow!" he yelled, letting her go, and she got up and ran out of the kitchen.
...
Chat Noir was just helping the officers stuff the robbers into their car when he heard the faint sound of paws on grass. He turned. None of the policemen had heard the sound, but his cat-ears had picked it up easily. It sounded like a small animal was running right toward them, and as the paw steps got louder he tried to place the animal.
'Probably a stray cat.' he figured, as the bushes separating him from the sound began to tremble.
But then there was a great rustling of leaves and branches and whatever animal Chat had heard burst from the bush! It ran to him and jumped into his arms, and it probably would've knocked him over in his surprise if he hadn't seen it coming! Chat looked at the animal and his eyes suddenly widened in shock. It was a cat, but this was no stray. It was Felix!
"Hey, Chat Noir, what's that you've got?" asked one of the officers.
Chat looked over at him.
"It's one of my feline brethren." he smiled. "He probably came up to me thinking I'm a kindred spirit. This isn't the first time this has happened."
They nodded and chuckled and turned back to their cars, getting in and beginning to drive away. Chat, meanwhile, focused back on his cat.
"What are you doing here, Fe?" he asked, deeply troubled.
Felix hated going out of the house and was an indoor cat through and through. If he'd come outside looking for him, there was something very wrong back home. Something very, very wrong.
'Marinette!' Chat thought in alarm, then: 'The baby!'
Holding Felix, he sped back home faster than he'd ever had in his life!
...
When Marinette was back in the foyer, her first thought was to transform. But the intruder was just behind her and would see her so that was no option. Her second thought was to call Adrien, but she had no way of doing so, so she thought instead of calling the police. She ran into the living room and reached for the phone. But then the crowbar was thrown at her and it was only thanks to her superhero-trained-reflexes that she managed to dodge in time! But the heavy instrument collided with the phone, knocking it and its stand loudly to the floor, breaking it. Marinette let Tikki go and swore. Then she heard a loud cry from upstairs! Louis! But as she spun around, she was faced with the intruder!
"You punched be in de face!" he said, his broken nose making his sound funny.
Marinette didn't have time to appreciate it. This guy was trying to steal from her home and was standing in between her and her child! She lashed out with her leg and kicked him hard in the chest! He stumbled back, winded, but as she was running past him, he grabbed her by the hair and yanked her back! She cried out!
"I'b not letting you call de police." said the man with barely restrained fury. "And I vas gonna be dice before, but dow you're gonna pay for vhat you did to by dose!"
"Oh, bad move, bucko!" growled Marinette, and she shot her fist back into his face!
His grip loosened and she spun around, kneeing him in the gut!
'Damnit,' she thought as she ran up the stairs. 'Missed the cheap shot.'
When she reached the office, she closed to the door to the stairs, but as she was heading for Louis's room, the door behind her gave way! The man had recovered much more quickly then she had expected, and he was fast too! His fist came flying at her and knocked her to the floor! He grabbed her by the front of her sweater and hauled her up until they were face to face, his fist pulled back and ready to strike again.
"Told ya you were gonna pay!" he spat.
But just as he was about to break Marinette's nose, there was a thunderous crash as Chat Noir broke through the window with his staff and launched himself at Marinette's attacker! The man dropped Marinette in shock of seeing the feline superhero, but his slowly opening mouth shut with a clang as Chat delivered an uppercut to his jaw! He barely had time to process what had happened before he was punched across the face (he would be waking up with two black eyes now) and then again in the gut! Before he could even hit the floor, Chat grabbed him and threw him against the wall! He crumpled to the floor, groaning. But Chat wasn't quite done with him yet. He advanced menacingly toward the intruder, the one who'd broken into his home, attacked Marinette and frightened Louis. He grabbed the man, who'd just recovered his senses, by the collar and held him up with one hand.
"P-P-Please!" the man gibbered. "I was only tr-trying to find some trinkets! I wadn't gonna hurd anybody! Please!"
But green flames were blazing in Chat's eyes, and he held his free hand out like claws, ready to claw this guy to pieces or disintegrate him with his cataclysm! But then his ear twitched. Louis was crying, but Marinette was shushing him and trying to calm him down.
"It's okay, Louis, sweetie, it's okay. You're alright; mummy's here. Shh, shh, it's okay. There's nothing to be scared of now."
Chat's blind rage dampened and faded away, his brows lifted and his entirely tensed-up body relaxed the tiniest bit. His family; they were alright. Things had gotten scary tonight, but they were alive and okay. He blinked, his eyes softening. There was no need to exact revenge on this guy. His family was alright, and that was what mattered. The aforementioned guy whined loudly. And Chat remembered that he was still holding him up. He turned to glare at the intruder, whose eyes became flooded with sheer terror. Chat's free hand curled into a fist and he slammed the intruder against the wall.
"I'll spare you," he growled, "because they're okay. But, if I EVER catch you trying to hurt this family again, I will hunt you down, and shove my cataclysm down your throat!"
The pinned man whimpered, the threat adding a new layer of absolute fear in his eyes.
"Got it?" hissed Chat Noir.
The man nodded, gibbering nonsensically, and then, without even waiting for Chat to drop him, he fainted. Chat made sure he was totally dead-to-the-world, and then dropped him to the floor. Beside him, Felix, who had kept up with Chat this whole time, looked down with disgust at the intruder. He then turned around, and kicked dirt over the inert man's shoe as though covering his droppings. Chat saw what the cat was doing and nodded.
"Good kitty,"
Felix looked up at Chat with an uncharacteristic amount of self-satisfaction in his feline face, and he meowed proudly. There were footsteps behind them, and Chat turned around. Marinette was coming out of Louis's room. He ran to her and she to him. They embraced, holding each other tightly, both relieved to see the other alright.
"How did you get here?" Mari asked.
"Felix found me." Chat said.
He kissed the top of her head.
"I knew something must've happened if he was out of the house."
On the floor, Felix flipped his tail, obviously congratulating himself for helping resolve this mess. Over by the stairs, Tikki flew up.
"I'm so sorry," she said, "If that thief hasn't seen me, I could've-"
"It's okay, Tikki." Marinette interrupted, giving the kwami an understanding smile. "We don't blame you. You dud what you could."
Tikki nodded slowly, but didn't seem entirely convinced. Chat pulled away from the hug just enough to look at Marinette's face, and he saw the beginnings of a bruise on her cheek. He touched it gingerly with one claw-gloved hand. She barely flinched.
"He hurt you." he said, his voice shaking, partly from shock, partly from anger, and partly from the helplessness of wishing he could've stopped it.
"It's just a bruise." she said dismissively. "You and I did much worse to him."
"I hope he gets punished for this." Chat said, his voice low and serious. "For scaring you and Louis, for breaking into our home, for hitting you, for all of this."
And then he kissed her before she could object. Marinette melted into the kiss, for it was so hot she could swear her bones had turned to putty. He scorched her whole mouth, heating her up and dispelling the last cold fingers of fear that had a hold on her. The kiss was as much about comfort as it was about passion, and it certainly worked. By the time Chat pulled away, Marinette's anxiety since those first sounds of the thief breaking in was gone, replaced by sheer happiness that her husband was back.
"Is Louis okay?" Chat asked, stroking her unharmed cheek.
She nodded.
"He's in his cradle, but I don't think he's asleep. I'm not even sure I've managed to completely calm him down yet."
At that moment, as if hearing his cue, Louis started up a tiny wail. Chat smiled.
"I guess he'll want to know his daddy's back." he said, and headed for the bedroom.
Marinette followed, stepping very carefully over the broken glass from their now destroyed window, now that she remembered it was there and practically covering the floor. When she did get to Louis's bedroom, she saw Chat already cradling Louis in his arms, bouncing him gently as he paced the room. His green cat eyes were tender and soft now, and he smiled adoringly down at the little raven-haired boy, who was starting to nod off. He was also purring. Marinette could hear it from the door, and she smiled as the soothing sound slowly put little Louis to sleep.
"That's it, kitten," he said fondly. "It's time for you to go to sleep. It's okay, daddy's home now."