It was exhilarating, hurtling across the roof tops of his beloved city like he had ever been away. There were one or two differences. A new house here and a construction site there. But otherwise it was all too much the same. Then he saw her. Her back was to him and she was standing at their spot on the Eiffel Tower. He grinned mischievously.

She stood waiting for him. Master Fu said he would come. If he did or didn't it made no difference to her. Or did it. She looked up at the night sky. She did want to see him. Lost in thought she heard the familiar voice from the shadows in the beams above her.

"I hope you haven't been waiting long m'lady?"

he dropped down in front of her grinning, He was falling in love with her all over again. She pulled him to her and kissed him. Her fingers wound through his soft hair and he pulled her closer with his hands on her hips. His hand slipped up her body, feeling the curves he had missed.

As suddenly as it started he was pushed back and Ladybug slapped him. Hard.

"what was that for!?" his lips moved before his brain had engaged.

Her bluebell eyes were looking at him, en-blazed with fire. He was scared. She was speechless.

'Seriously, what was that for?' She thought incredulously to herself. She was breathing heavily, trying to keep her emotions in check. She still wasn't sure if she wanted to beat on him or make love to him. "you better have a good excuse" she growled

Chats smirk dropped. He should have expected as much. He just couldn't tell her. He couldn't bring himself to tell her that it was his father. Hawkmoth had been his father. "I could give you a million excuses, none of them fit for what I did and why I stayed away so long."

She huffed. That was not a good enough answer. Her thoughts strayed to Master Fu and her mother. 'patience.' She breathed deeply. "you left me" she said quietly.

"I'm sorry... I didn't want to..." Chat looked sad like he really meant it, he really didn't want to leave.

"were you forced? Kidnapped? LOST IN SPACE AND TIME!" Her emotions were welling up again. "IF YOU DIDNT WANT TO THEN WHY DID YOU!? WHY DIDNT YOU CONTACT ME OR SOMETHING?"

Chat flinched as her voice raised to become a desperate plea screaming for answers. She looked at him again, her piercing eyes. "you know what, you can patrol tonight, I think its your turn. Bug-out"

she swung her yo-yo and glided effortlessly over the rooftops. Chat watched her go and couldn't help but smile. His lady. In all her glory. He truly was home at last, and now he was here, he knew he shouldn't be anywhere else in the world.

He had a lot of work to do the next day but he slept in anyway. Back in his old room in the mansion he hated he was tired. It had been a long time since he went patrolling. His phone woke him up exploding with notifications from the Lady Blog. Looks like his return didn't go unnoticed.

He gradually got up and showered, letting Plagg have a well deserved rest. He smiled at the small kwami who seemed to have fallen asleep last night cuddling into a piece of Camembert. "Plagg, come on, its time to go" Plagg drifted sleepily into his pocket, curling up and going back to sleep with his beloved cheese still in his arms.

It was a long day. It was 6pm before he got home. He saw Marinettes portfolio waiting for him to peruse. It could wait till tomorrow. For now, he had a night on patrol. He suited up to find a message on his baton. There had been a lot of unread messages on there, built up over 5 years. He had read them all last night. Most of them were 'please come back and 'I miss you' this new one took a different tone.

'your turn tonight, don't expect to see me about anytime soon'

A message, he thought, was more than he deserved.

He got home around midnight and too full of adrenaline to sleep he decided to flip through Marinettes portfolio. Her work was still faultless as always. The first half was filled with drawings and design concepts and her notes on the inspiration around them. It was about halfway through when the drawings became more focused. Maternity wear, children's clothes. Then the next page.

"what!?" he said aloud. He was staring at a photo of himself as a child. About 3 years old but wearing one of Marinettes designs. He doubled back checking her qualifications. None about photography editing, Photoshop in design but not for photo editing. He turned back to the photo. It was surely him. Turning the pages he saw more and more children's clothes modelled by this small child. He came to see slight differences between this little boy and himself at that age. He would question her at the interview about the little model but her work alone, she definitely had first refusal of the job offer.

Marinette awoke to a small person lying in her bed with her. He must have had a bad dream and decided to cuddle up to her in the night. Now however he was bright eyed and bushy tailed, clutching his Chat Noir teddy and ready for the adventure of what life would bring him today.

"Is it playgroup today mummy?"

"yes, go get ready" Marinette replied groggily

after getting washed and dressed and breakfast Marinettes phone started ringing.

"Hello is this Marinette Dupain-Cheng?"

"yes"

"Excellent, I am the Personal Assistant of Mr Agreste-"

"What!" She spluttered almost spilling her coffee. Her mind raced, what did he want from her? How did he get hold of her. He was in prison for life.

"-junior" the assistant replied in a short tone

"oh, you mean Adrien?"

"yes" the assistant replied quite shortly, obviously thinking it rude to refer to her boss in such a familiar way.

"he would like you to attend an interview regarding your portfolio. Is today at 9:30 any good for you"

wow that was quick, she looked at the time, 8:20, she would have to change, she didn't start work till 11:00 today. If she used Tikki she shouldn't have any trouble making the journeys on time.

"Yes that would be great, what's the address?"

The assistant told her the address and she went straight to getting changed ready for an interview. What seemed like a whirlwind of minutes she was standing in the entrance hall of the Agreste Mansion.

"Wow! I never thought id be back here" she said to herself aloud. A chill ran through her spine as she saw Gabriel Agrestes office door shut tight and obviously untouched for years. A voice broke her out of her thoughts. A voice which still after al this time made her go weak and the knees and apparently trip over nothing in the hall.

"Mari... are you OK?" Adrien was smiling and helping her up after she fell. Seeing that she was blushing rather than actually hurt he allowed himself a chuckle. "Well some things never change do they?" He smiled warmly at her and indicated a door which led into the area he was using as an office.

He closed the door behind Marinette and indicated a seat for her to sit in. Adrien surveyed her carefully. He couldn't believe he was seeing her again after so long, his heart was racing. He coughed himself into reality.

"Marinette, its been so long! How have you been?"

"I've been well actually" she smiled at Adrien, his warmth and grace made her feel like a teenager again. "Lewis keeps me on my toes" she raised an eyebrow smiling "but I'm sure you've heard all about him from Alya"

Adrien didn't want to give his thoughts on the mysterious Lewis who had taken a place in Marinettes life and heart so he turned their attention to the portfolio.

"Marinette, based on the first part of your portfolio I am definitely interested in offering you a job here as lead design artist" he watched her face as it dropped in shock

"le-le lead design?" she managed to gasp out whilst Adrien got her a cup of water from the cooler in the corner.

"Yes Marinette, my father obviously used to deal with it all and I'm just not minded in that way. Despite his short comings though we kept the business running as it seemed like a waste of something beautiful to be honest. We've managed to scrape by in the top 10 leading designs using his work that never went public but we've ran out and we need people like you to help us hit the top spot again. My father – despite his short-comings – was an excellent designer and he always spoke highly of your work even though you were still a teenager at the time. I was glad to see you still have your amazing talent."

He had left her breathless again.

"I wanted to ask, where did you get this young model?" he opened her portfolio and pointed to a picture of a 3 year old boy beaming out at her striking a natural model pose. Her face lit up.

"That's Lewis. He's my son." she glowed with the light of a proud mother and it was Adriens turn to look shocked.

"your-your son? I thought Lewis was a tyrant of a boyfriend or husband!?" he was still shocked but she laughed.

"yes well, ill agree with the tyrant part, too much like his father for his own good" she smiled and seemed to drift away into a memory.

"who is the father?" Adrien said it and realised that wasn't a polite thing to ask and started to retract his question.

"its OK," Marinette sighed "Its a common question when your a single mum... I don't want to talk about it if that's OK? He's never even met him" Marinette looked a bit sad

Adrien could feel his blood boiling. Some guy who didn't have the decency to a father. Never even met the poor child. "I thought it was me at first, as a child" Adrien admitted shyly.

"well that's my second most popular question" Marinette grinned rubbing the back of her neck nervously and then learning in to whisper. "is he the secret love child of Adrien Agreste?" she raised her eyebrows and they both burst into fits of laughter.

"Yes-yes, I can see why people would think that, he looks like a cute kid, I actually feel sad I cant lay claim to him." he smiled at Marinette feeling his cheeks turn pink