Author's Note: FM here again! Sorry for the wait, I write pretty slowly and HiddenEye is a saint for putting up with me :P

Second Chances

Chapter 3

Okay, Ladybug and Chat Noir used to sit behind each other in class, five days a week for at least six hours each over a total of three years, without realizing who the other was. Living in the same house 24/7 shouldn't be that much different, right?

Tikki groaned to herself as she sneaked into Emma's room, making sure to stay out of sight. As much as she was the embodiment of good luck itself, even she knew this was a gamble. Persuading Emma to keep being Ladybug a secret from her father was one thing, but Adrien had two decades' worth of experience under his belt. Even if Plagg had agreed to run interference when necessary (going behind Adrien's back had been his idea after all), surely Adrien would recognize the signs he himself had exhibited all those years ago: the constant exhaustion, scars and bruises appearing out of nowhere, missed classes and falling grades, strange coincidences… Not to mention that if he were ever to see the new Ladybug in public, no doubt he would know his own daughter in a heartbeat.

Then again, Tom and Sabine had never found out about Marinette's alter ego after all this time, so maybe there was a good chance they could still pull this off.

With Plagg keeping Adrien busy downstairs, Tikki crossed her metaphorical fingers and made her way towards her newest wielder. If she played her cards right, Emma would be eased into the process with minimal panic. Goodness knows how loud Marinette had screamed when the kwami had first approached her, and since they needed to be discreet, Tikki was determined not to repeat the same mistakes.

…

…

What was that delicious smell?

Emma was curled up on her bed beneath the blankets, a thick book in her lap and a plate of warm cookies on the bedside table. Madeleine had given her a novel as a birthday gift and she had been hooked after the first chapter. Her eyes were glued to the pages, drinking in every last word as her imagination gave life to them in her mind. One hand blindly reached out to the side for a snack, closing around something soft and round with a loud squeak.

She froze. Last time she checked, chocolate chip cookies definitely did not squeak, and they definitely were not shaped like balls.

Her eyes moved first, slowly edging towards her right hand until her head was forced to turn as well. Something was dangling from her hold, something red and squirming with tiny little arms and feet and three tails –

"Oh my god!" Emma shrieked, kicking her blanket in fright and quickly releasing whatever she was grabbing like hot coal. The red thing narrowly missed getting smacked by her flying book, and she scooted backwards until her shoulders hit the wall, flattening herself against the hard surface.

"Ow…" It moaned, hovering unsteadily in the air. One of its antennas had been bent backwards, and Emma cringed on behalf of… whatever it was. A fairy, perhaps? It noticed her after a few seconds and put its arms up in a calming gesture. "Oh dear, that was more extreme of a reaction than I had hoped. Please don't be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you!"

Emma's jaw dropped, but no words came out. That thing could talk?

"My name's Tikki," the fairy continued, smiling warmly at her. "I'm a kwami. I'm here to tell you that you've been chosen to become the new Ladybug."

Ladybug, Emma mouthed to herself, her eyes growing wide in awe. She'd heard the stories before; aunt Alya was always very enthusiastic about telling her and Madeleine about Ladybug and Chat Noir. In fact, she was the creator of the famous Ladyblog, and she had once spent an entire weekend regaling them with tales and videos of the two.

Although the Ladyblog was no longer active, it was still there and served as homage to Paris's protectors. They had abruptly vanished over ten years ago and no one had seen or heard from them since, but they were far from forgotten by the grateful citizens they had saved countless times in the past. Parents told their children stories about them, and they had practically become legends in Parisian history.

"Are you alright, Emma?" Tikki asked worriedly as she settled herself at the edge of the bed, a safe distance away from the stunned blonde. "If you have any questions, you can ask me. Whatever you do, just don't freak out."

"Y-you're saying –" Emma stammered, the implications of Tikki's words finally sinking in. "I'm going to be a – a superhero?"

The kwami nodded happily.

An image of some magical girl anime her father had introduced her to flashed in her mind, and Emma did what any normal, sane preteen would do.

In hindsight, Tikki should have known the apple didn't fall far from the tree.

Adrien literally dropped everything and vaulted over the couch in his mad dash upstairs, blasting past Plagg and sending him flying. The kwami didn't bother stopping him and seemed to have resigned himself to being knocked aside the moment Emma started screaming, knowing there was no coming between a cat and his kitten.

Welp there goes step one, he thought sourly, shaking his head before trailing after his frantic wielder in a daze. Kid blew the plan out of the water before it even started.

"EMMA!" Adrien burst into her room, slamming the door open. His instincts were screaming protect protect PROTECT, a familiar rush of adrenaline coursing through his veins as he scanned the area for threats, black butterflies in particular.

What he found was even worse.

Tikki was looking anywhere but at him, and the sight of her was enough to drown out Emma's excitement as she bounded over to him, squealing "Dad guess what I'm going to be Ladybug!"

Green eyes narrowed at the kwami. "You promised," Adrien hissed angrily, his hands clenching into fists. There was only one reason Tikki would return, and his daughter's words only confirmed his fears.

"You know Tikki?" Emma gasped in shock, rounding on her father. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I'm sorry Adrien, I had no choice. She's the one."

"You can't have her! Choose someone else!"

"What? Dad, come on!"

"It doesn't work that way and you know it."

"I don't care! You promised to stay away from my family!"

"Dad, I can do this! Just let me –"

"Adrien please, what would Mari–"

"ENOUGH!"

Emma flinched and took a step back, never having seen her father so furious before. This was the first time he'd ever raised his voice at her, and tears began to prick at her eyes even as Tikki patted her cheek comfortingly.

Adrien's face softened slightly in regret, but his stance remained firm. "Emma is NOT going to be Ladybug. End of discussion."

Without waiting to hear their protests, he spun on his heel and left.

Plagg poked his head into Adrien's room, spotting his charge sitting in a corner hugging his knees, a red and pink photo frame gripped tightly in one trembling hand. Ears drooping in sympathy, he flew over and landed on Adrien's shoulder.

I don't have enough camembert in me for this…

"That went well," he said, for lack of anything better.

No response.

The kwami sighed. "Look, we don't like it either, but our senses never lie. There's no one else more suited to be Ladybug than Emma."

"But why?" Adrien whispered brokenly, his voice cracking as he choked down a sob. "Of all people… Why did it have to be her?"

Never let it be said that the Dupain-Cheng genes weren't strong. Emma may have inherited his blond hair, but her eyes and face were all from Marinette. Under the right light, at the right angle, Emma was a splitting image of his beloved Lady. Knowing that she was going to face danger, that there was a very real possibility he had to watch her get hurt or worse, it was all too much to bear.

He'd already lost Marinette, he couldn't lose Emma too.

"You know, there is something you can do."

Adrien's head snapped up so quickly he nearly gave himself whiplash. "What is it? Tell me!" he begged.

"You can't stop Emma from being Ladybug. Hawk Moth will rise again, and she's our best chance of beating him."

"But –"

"You can, however, train her. Teach her all you know. Tikki will do her best to prepare her of course, but you can help make her learning process easier. Don't forget, Ladybug and Chat Noir are a team. You're not just her father anymore Adrien, you're her partner."

Adrien fell silent, his gaze dropping back down to Marinette's smiling face in the photo. He remembered all the times they'd fought together, side by side. They were equals, two halves of a whole, and as many times as Chat Noir had risked his life for Ladybug she'd also done the same for him.

Emma was all he had left, and if she was going to be battling akumas alongside him, he needed to accept that there was only so much he could do to protect her. He had to trust her to have his back as he did hers, but could he learn to live with himself if she ever got hurt because of him?

"Think about it," Plagg finished, stroking his hair in a rare display of compassion.

"He hates me, I'm sure of it," Emma whimpered, burying her face in her pillow. Her book and cookies lay forgotten as Tikki tried to console her.

"That's not true Emma, your father loves you more than anything," the kwami argued. "You've seen Alya's videos, right? Then you know how dangerous being Ladybug can be. Adrien's just worried about what could happen to you."

"I know that, but he can't just decide I'm not cut out for it! Why can't he at least give me a chance to try?" Before Tikki could answer, she added "how did you meet my dad anyway? Did he know who the previous Ladybug was? What happened to her?"

A hesitant pause.

"Tikki, please."

"…Your father fell in love with Ladybug."

"So did half of Paris."

"True, but he's the one who ended up marrying her."

Emma's head shot up like a rocket. "No way," she whispered in disbelief. "Mom was – Ladybug was my mother?"

Tikki nodded with a sad smile. "Adrien was the only one who knew the truth. Being Ladybug is a dangerous job, and she kept her identity a closely guarded secret to protect her loved ones."

"But – what about aunt Alya? She was her best friend!"

"And you won't believe the kind of stunts Marinette had to pull to throw her off her tail," Tikki chuckled fondly at the memories. "No, and your grandparents didn't know either. I was hoping your father wouldn't find out as well, but what's done is done."

Emma laughed sheepishly. "So that's why there were two versions of the story," she murmured to herself. "Dad met Mom with and without her mask."

That's why he got so mad, she realized with a start. Dad knew firsthand what kind of monsters Mom had to face, and I had been so eager to jump headfirst into the whole thing without a second thought…

I really scared him, didn't I?

"Listen carefully, Emma." Tikki's tone turned serious. "You can't tell anyone else about this, do you understand? Not even Madeleine."

The blonde automatically wanted to protest – she and Madeleine had pinky promised not to keep secrets from each other – but it was a moot point. All the superhero movies she'd watched shared the same logic after all: the fewer who knew the safer it was.

A thought suddenly came to mind. "What about Chat Noir? Where is he now?"

"That," Tikki replied cryptically, "is not my story to tell."

"Aw, come on!"

"Don't worry! You'll meet him soon enough!" If Plagg manages to get through to him, the kwami mentally added.

The air over the next two weeks was tense, to put it lightly.

Adrien was still brooding, but at least he hadn't kicked Tikki out of the house. Emma mostly kept to herself as well, taking the time to understand the gravity of the situation. She was still determined to take up Ladybug's mantle, but seeing her normally cheerful father so subdued made her consider the role a little more seriously.

Tikki had transformed her several times already, helping her to get used to her new abilities in costume. All of their practice sessions were held under the cover of night; mastering her weapon was still a work in progress, and she had yet to venture beyond the rooftop of their house. How her mother made it look so easy she did not know, and Emma hoped that one day she would be able to swing freely across Paris like the previous Ladybug once did.

For the moment though, Emma felt the wind rushing past her face as she fell, having misjudged the distance from one corner of their roof to another. She threw her yoyo towards the gutter in hopes of snagging something and pulling herself up, but her aim was off and she could only watch as it bounced away, bracing herself for impact and oh god this is going to hurt –

"Gotcha!"

– only to land solidly in her father's arms, which were waiting for her on the ground. Her legs felt like jelly as he set her down, and even as she assured him she wasn't hurt, she could already anticipate the scolding that was to come.

But her father only sighed. "If you're going to be jumping around on rooftops, at least start out with the flat ones and not the slopes."

Emma blinked in surprise. "You're not mad?" she asked meekly. "How did you –"

"I live here too, you know," Adrien remarked, arching an eyebrow. "I've heard you on our roof for a week now."

"Oh, sorry." The preteen bowed her head, unsure of what else to say.

"Hey." Adrien smiled softly at her when she looked up, and opened his arms. "Come here."

Face crumpling, Emma practically launched herself at her father, hugging him as though her life depended on it. They'd barely had any contact during the stressful days after their fight, and she had missed him terribly. Adrien stroked her back, resting his cheek on top of her head.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I shouldn't have yelled at you the other night. I just wanted to keep you safe."

"I know. I'm sorry I wasn't thinking about what I was getting into. I was just so excited about being a superhero that I forgot all about the repercussions."

Adrien chuckled and pulled away, cupping his daughter's face lovingly. "You look so much like your mother. If only she were here, she'd be so proud of you."

"Thanks dad." Emma grinned tearfully at him before perking up. "You wanna see my transformation? It's pretty cool!"

"Not as cool as mine." There was a mischievous glint in his eyes she'd never seen before, and it took a moment for his words to register.

"What do you –" Emma's voice died in her throat as a black, catlike kwami emerged from her father's pocket. She immediately recognized him from Tikki's description, and her jaw dropped in shock. Dad is Chat Noir OH MY GOD my parents are superheroes! Holy –

"Careful kid, you might catch flies."

"Plagg, be nice."

The kwami snickered cheekily, nudging Adrien on the shoulder. "Come on, let's show her how it's done."

"You've missed this, haven't you?"

"Shut up."

Emma was stunned speechless, but Adrien could see the sparkles in her eyes as he winked playfully at her.

"Plagg, claws out!"

Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Let us know what you think :)