Cat Noir leapt across town back home after patrol that night, his head still reeling after everything that happened. The cold air nipped at him, but he didn't notice. There was a lot on his mind, both worrying and reassuring.

He landed in his bed and released Plagg into the air, focusing on the good thoughts first.

"Ladybug loves me." He said with a warm smile on his face, remembering the softness of her kiss.

"What a shame, I was looking forward to more drama." Said Plagg, already rummaging around for a bite to eat.

Adrien ignored him and continued to hold onto the memory of the rooftop. He was still trying to wrap his head around his new reality, wondering what this meant for them going forward.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a message arriving on his phone. It was a text from Meg.

Adrien ran his fingers through his hair, remembering the other half of his night. He and Ladybug met up with Meg, who still hadn't given up the identity of Hawk Moth. She'd promised to do it the next day, saying there was something that she needed to take care of first. Adrien tried to remain patient, knowing that she'd tell them, but he didn't like knowing that Hawk Moth was roaming free another night when Adrien had more of a chance than he's ever had to do something about it.

He checked the text.

[MEG] I need to talk to you tomorrow, before we meet with Ladybug. Say, lunchtime?

[ADRIEN] Lunchtime.

Adrien chuckled at his little joke. Meg was excited for him and Ladybug when they met with her that night, saying she wanted details. That was probably what she wanted to talk to him about, although that sort of conversation is probably best between girls. Though, it's not like he could exactly talk to Nino about it, and Plagg wasn't much of a romantic. But now that he thought about it, he was grateful for whatever it was that Meg said to Ladybug to get her to confess his feelings for him. And he could use a bit of advice right now on what to do next.

Adrien settled into bed. These next few days were going to be intense while he and Ladybug came up with a plan for defeating Hawk Moth. It was probably a good idea to get some rest while he could.

It was Saturday, and for once Adrien didn't have a million things that he had to do that day, so he slept in until almost noon. When he woke up he floated around, brushing his teeth and getting dressed, still not over the events of the night before. In fact, he'd probably feel this way forever.

"Good morning, Plagg." He said to the little black ball that was still curled up on his pillow.

"If you say so," was his reply, pulling his blanket over his head.

"C'mon, we have to meet with Meg soon."

"I'm sure you can handle it without me."

Adrien sighed at Plagg's laziness and removed the lid off of a silver platter that Nathalie had sent up earlier, revealing a thick slice of, you guessed it, Camembert cheese. Suddenly, Plagg was wide awake.

"Can we go now?" Adrien asked, when Plagg finished devouring his food.

The kwami didn't answer; he just rubbed his belly with a satisfied smile on his face.

Adrien's bodyguard dropped him off at the address that Meg sent earlier that morning. He'd invited to treat her to lunch, but she'd insisted on him coming to her place instead. He walked up the footpath and the three steps to the door, and it opened just as he was about to knock.

"Come on in." Said Meg shooting him a quick smile that he noticed didn't match the look in her eyes.

She led him to the living room where he sat on a fluffy grey couch in front of a glass coffee table. There were plenty of windows, so the room was bright with natural lighting and you almost couldn't tell that the walls were painted a very light shade of blue.

"Can I get you any water or anything?" she offered, walking towards the kitchen.

She seemed to be in a cheerful mood, but something didn't quite fit.

"No thanks." he said taking in his surroundings. "Nice place."

"Thanks," she said, returning with a tray full of mini sandwiches, sweets and a smaller round container, and placed it on the coffee table in front of him.

"This one's for Plagg" she said, indicating the smaller round container. "The lid is for the smell." She giggled, wrinkling her nose a bit.

At the mention of his name, Plagg popped out of Adrien's shirt. This was Plagg and Meg's first meeting, despite Adrien being aware of Meg's being aware of Adrien's secret for a few days now.

"Yum! But I didn't get you anything."

"Don't sweat it," Meg giggled, fondly watching the little creature peek into his dish.

She looked at Adrien and her smile faded, changing the energy in the room, and he noticed she held the same look in her eyes from when she answered the door. Nervous wasn't the right word for it. Neither was worried.

"Is everything okay?" he asked.

She looked down for a moment, her hands massaging each other, and taking a deep breath, she looked back at Adrien. Sadness, he realized.

"Meg, what's wrong?" he asked, leaning forward in his seat.

"Adrien, I have to tell you something, and it's not going to be very pretty." She held his gaze, wearing that serious look that she sometimes wore.

Adrien nodded, bracing himself for whatever she was about to tell him.

"About Hawk Moth's identity, he's…" She hesitated, pulling on the sleeves of her shirt and glancing over at Plagg, who'd stopped eating for this.

Adrien tensed, waiting for her to continue and wondering why she was telling him now, when she said she'd tell him and Ladybug together later that night. Something must have come up.

Her eyes wandered the room before coming back to meet his, holding them for one more agonizing moment.

"He's your father. Gabriel Agreste."

Adrien went numb. He sat there, staring at the empty space between him and Meg, her words echoing in his ears and his head starting to spin.

"You're wrong." He choked out. "You have to be."

"Adrien," she said softly, taking his hand and looking into his eyes. Sadness. "I'm not wrong."

He slowly sat back against the couch, his breathing uneven, and Plagg came over to comfort him. This can't be, he thought. Meg had somehow known his identity and Ladybug's, yes. She claimed to know Rena Rouge and Carapace, but hadn't proven it. What if she really hadn't known those things? She could be wrong, couldn't she?

"But he…he was akumatized!" remembered Adrien.

This was a shred of hope, and he was holding onto it. This wasn't the first time his father was accused of being Hawk Moth. Ladybug thought so too, and she was proven wrong.

"It was a cover up, Adrien. Remember that book you found in the safe behind your mother's portrait?"

He nodded. It was a book about superheroes written in a language he couldn't read. Adrien lost the book at school, and that's when Ladybug accused his father of being Hawk Moth. Not too much later after that, his father was akumatized into the Collector.

"Master Fu knew that there was a good chance that whoever had the book was also Hawk Moth, and your father knew that the book would be traced back to him, so he had to cover his tracks."

"But it was just a book that my mom gave him."

Meg's eyes grew wide.

"Master Fu didn't tell you? Adrien, that book belonged to the Guardians of the Miraculous. It has all sorts of information in it about the miraculous and their special powers. Like the recipes Master Fu used to transform Plagg's powers to water or ice."

Adrien's head was reeling. How could he have not known any of this? Did Ladybug know about the book? Probably, Master Fu did seem to share more information with her. She was the one who passed out additional Miraculous after all. What else am I being kept in the dark about?

"There's more, Adrien."

"More than my father being Hawk Moth?" that was hard to believe, as this was already so much to take in.

"Yes, actually, a lot more. For starters, Nathalie knows that Gabriel is Hawk Moth, and she's helping him."

Adrien gawked at her. "Why would she do that?"

"I think it's because she's in love with him, and she wants to help him…with his plan."

Adrien leaned his head back against the sofa. Nathalie? In love? With my father? None of this made any sense to him. If there was anyone he knew that was more emotionless than his father it was Nathalie. But I guess you'd have to be pretty emotionless to help Hawk Moth.

Adrien looked over at Meg as if to ask if there was anything else she wanted to tell him. Any other curve balls she wanted to throw at him and turn his life even further upside down?

Meg shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

Adrien raised his head and furrowed his brow, afraid of what it was, but he needed to know. "Tell me."

"Adrien, d-do you know w-why Hawk Moth wants you and Ladybug's Miraculous?" she stuttered.

Adrien sighed, "I don't know, ultimate power or something like that?"

Meg let out a nervous laugh, and then bit her bottom lip. Adrien watched her as she continued to explain his father's motives for being the villain that he was. She avoided his gaze, which she'd been doing a lot today.

"The person who holds both the Miraculous of Creation and the Miraculous of Destruction gains the power to make any wish come true.

"Your father's wish," she looked at Adrien now, "Is to bring back your mother."

Adrien gaped.

"What?" he asked in a breath so small that it was barely a whisper.

"It's not confirmed yet if she's in a coma or…" she trailed off, "But your father has her in a glass coffin in an observatory under your home. That's also where his lair is. He wants to use the power of the miraculous to restore her."

My mother? Adrien's father told him that his mother disappeared, and this whole time he'd been hiding her quite literally right under Adrien's nose? Where he could visit and see her? Adrien looked at Meg, registering what she'd not said. His mother might not be in a coma, but she is in a coffin. His father wanted to bring his mother back to life, using the miraculous.

"Could he do that?" Adrien's hand subconsciously moved to touch the ring on his finger.

"As far as I know, yes." Meg answered, Adrien's eyes widening. "But listen, Adrien, the miraculous demand balance. If your mother is restored, then someone else would have to take her place."

"So if she's not in a coma…"

"Then someone else will have to die to bring her back to life. And if she is in a coma then someone else will be put into one to take her out of it. Either way, someone is lost for her to be gained."

Adrien sunk into the couch. He longed to see his mother again. To look into her eyes, or to hear her laugh or say his name. He missed his mother more than anything else. But he couldn't sacrifice someone's life just to get her back.

"Does…does my father know? About the balance?"

Meg swallowed.

"I can't be sure."

Adrien didn't want to believe that his father would knowingly sacrifice someone's life, but a small part of him knew very well that he would. Gabriel loved Emilie so much. He was a completely different man before her supposed disappearance, and afterwards he became cold and shut in. And after everything he's done as Hawk Moth, Adrien knew that there were no lengths that his father wouldn't go to in order to bring his mother back.

Adrien sighed a deep, long sigh. "Anything else?" he asked, dryly.

Meg let out another nervous laugh. Apparently she coped with laughter.

"Just one more thing, actually. And this one's a little lighter, I think." she said offering Adrien a small smile. "I think your mother was the previous owner of the Peacock miraculous. It's hidden in the safe, behind her portrait."

"Wow," was all Adrien could manage.

He sat there quietly absorbing all of the information that Meg had just poured on him. First, the villain terrorizing Paris and trying to steal his and Ladybug's miraculous was none other than his father: the man who was supposed to raise, protect, and love him. The woman who helped raise him was in on it. His mother wasn't actually missing, but being kept in a secret lair under the house either comatose or possibly dead. His father, the villain, was trying to magically resurrect her by stealing magic jewels that would essentially kill someone else to keep the balance. And on top of that, the "missing" peacock miraculous had been in his house this whole time and he probably overlooked it when found the book, which apparently was the clue they needed this whole time to discovering Hawk Moth's identity, and they almost had done so, except he was one step ahead.

And Meg just showed up one day with all of these answers.

"How do you know all of this?" he asked her.

She offered a half smile, "How do I know anything? I just do." She shrugged still avoided the question he'd been asking her for days.

"Look Adrien, I know this is a lot to take in, so if you want to hang out here for a while and talk, or not talk, I'd be happy to keep you company. I know you can't really turn to Ladybug about any of this because you have to protect your identity for now, and I want you to know that I'm here for you."

Her smile was a complete smile now, soft and genuine. Adrien was glad that she was his friend, because she was right; there was nobody else that he could turn to right now. And he certainly wasn't ready to go back home after what he'd just learned.

Adrien nodded his head in acceptance of her offer. After a moment, he cracked a wry smile.

"I think I'll take that glass of water now."

They chuckled, and Meg went to the kitchen while Adrien sat there in silence, grateful that he didn't have to be alone.