Chapter Seventeen

After years of gazing at Adrien Agreste posters, yearning to touch the flesh and blood reality, it was almost surreal when Marinette glanced over to the pillow beside her to see the object of her affection. Beautiful seemed an inadequate word to describe him. There was something beyond the physical that stood out to her. The combination of his appearance along with his charisma and personality were what made him so attractive. His thoughtfulness and kindness shot him beyond handsome, they made him magnificent. It was why she'd been rendered incoherent in her speech and why she'd often been intimidated by his presence in their teens.

To know that this demigod of a man not only welcomed but longed for her touch was almost baffling. While she'd strived to gain his attention as Marinette, she'd had no clue that Adrien had been completely enamoured with her alter ego for years. It was why he'd placed her everyday self in the friend zone, because he'd been in love with Ladybug. The irony was, she'd done the same thing to Chat Noir. It was his prolonged absence that had finally broken through her denial, making her realise how much she cherished her partner.

Rolling to her belly, Marinette propped herself up on her elbows, cradling her chin as she drank in the marvellous man beside her. He lay with his face turned towards her, the waves of his blonde hair tumbled over the side of his face, reminiscent of his superhero persona. The resemblance had her tracing two fingertips across his skin, marking where his mask would sit when transformed.

Adrien made a contented noise deep in his throat and raised his chin, encouraging further stroking. Green eyes peeped open with burning adoration. Yet his current mood wasn't quite enough to overshadow the lingering pain in the depths of those eyes. Knowing Adrien was Chat Noir gave her a whole new perspective, not only of him but also of the night they'd defeated Hawkmoth. She couldn't even fathom how he'd been able to function during that battle. If she had been the one to have a parent revealed as their enemy it would have torn her in two.

She considered how agonising it must have been for Adrien to listen to his father's rationale. Knowing that on one hand Gabriel wanted to provide his son with the mother who had been taken from him prematurely, while on the other having no qualms in dishing out harm to his alter ego. As if that wasn't enough, Adrien had also endured countless hours in the courtroom having to listen to his father's lawyers as they attempted to justify his misdemeanours.

It wasn't surprising that those same lawyers eventually turned to the 'mentally unfit' angle. Gabriel Agreste's grief had sent him on a dark path but Marinette didn't think him insane. The man was far too calculating and cunning, he knew exactly what he was doing. What was worse was the number of times Adrien had been caught in the crossfire as collateral. For the majority of situations, he'd made it to her side as Chat Noir but what long term damage had been done? Now that Adrien knew his father was Hawkmoth, she could understand why he questioned his father's love.

"You're looking awfully serious." The model said as his eyes swept over her face.

"I'm thinking of everything you've been through, pairing what I know of Adrien Agreste and Chat Noir together." She closed her eyes briefly as she drew in a steadying breath. Those green eyes continued to study her as she swept her fingers along his jaw. "I don't know how I would have handled things if I'd been in your shoes. You've got an inner strength I can only admire."

His lips pulled into a sad smile. "You give me more credit than I deserve."

Marinette shook her dark head. "I'm not. How many times did Hawkmoth pit us against an akuma which resulted from a situation where you were the root of their negative emotions, or you were used as bait supposedly to lure out your father. What kind of parent does that?" She said with dismay.

All joy left Adrien's eyes. "I question it all the time. Particularly Style Queen. That was the first time I was struck by an akuma without being transformed. If my father really cared, wouldn't he have retracted his powers to save me? In all honesty, it does my head in. When questioned he claims I was never in true danger."

Marinette snorted in disbelief. "Geez, that wasn't the case for Chat Noir. If he knew that nugget of information about you I'm sure he'd change his tune."

Adrien's expression was sombre. "More than likely he'd get excited, then tell me I should hand over my miraculous and snatch up yours to bring Mum back. Did I ever tell you that we found her body in the bowels of the mansion?"

"No," Marinette said with shock.

"He'd been keeping her down there in suspended animation, hoping to revive her using our miraculous. Of course, my father didn't disclose that bit of information to me until well after his trial. I'd come home briefly after my first twelve-month stint overseas. I swear my father had been waiting for the worst time to drop that bombshell on me." Adrien ran a hand through his hair as he rolled to his back to stare at the ceiling. "I found her perfectly preserved, exactly as I remember her and called the police. Thankfully the matter has remained confidential but no doubt the media will find out about it eventually."

Horrified didn't even begin to describe Marinette's feelings. "She's been there this whole time."

"Yeah. Who knows what other sinister secrets he's got stashed in that place. It was why I didn't want to live there anymore."

Marinette drummed her fingers against her bottom lip. Dread pooled in her belly but the guy deserved to know. "Adrien, there's something else your father was hiding in that place. Something he took that wasn't his."

Confusion clouded his eyes as he cocked his head to study her. "What exactly, and how do you know about it?"

Drawing a deep breath, Marinette began. "Remember the book that you thought you lost and your father threatened to pull you out of school over?"

"Yes, it had pictures of miraculous users in it."

"Well, I saw you with it."

"You stole it!" he gasped.

She shook her head fervently. "No, Tikki spotted it when you had it and told me it was important. Lila was the one who stole it. When you dropped your bag in the library, she dragged it out with her foot. Then she studied the book in attempt to trick you, saying she had a miraculous. What's important is that she threw the book into the garbage before she met up with you."

Adrien's eyebrows shot up. "Wait, that's why you turned up unexpectedly at the park. I wondered why Ladybug was so out of sorts that day. Now I get it. You knew she'd stolen the book from me."

A deep flush stained Marinette's cheeks. "Plus, I may have been a tad jealous."

"Jealous, why?" He said with true bewilderment.

"Because she had a crush on you too and I thought you were going to fall for her. I was overly dramatic at the time."

His eyebrows quirked in amusement. "So, you were being territorial."

She gave him a meaningful glance, ignoring that last comment. "As I was saying, once I had the book I returned it to its rightful owner, Master Fu. The book contains extensive knowledge on the various types of miraculous, along with how to boost those powers. If it's still at your mansion, we really should get it and give it back to him."

"Wait, if all that information was in the book, why'd you give it back? Wouldn't it have served us better if Master Fu had it?"

Again, Marinette became flustered. "I heard your father was punishing you for losing it. I felt responsible and since, at the time, we'd ruled out Gabriel Agreste as being Hawkmoth I thought it best to give it back. Master Fu took detailed pictures of all the pages before I returned it and I was able to ask Gabriel where he got it without drawing suspicion."

"How'd you manage that?" Adrien asked with genuine interest.

"I basically confessed to being a diehard fangirl who thought the book was your latest portfolio of photos. Thankfully he bought it. Then I added how much I admired the book and asked about its origin."

A lazy grin spread across the model's face. "Wow, I had no idea. Thank you. I was devastated when I thought I was going to be home schooled for the rest of my life."

"Me too," she admitted as she smiled at him affectionately.

Adrien dipped his head almost shyly. "So, you've been looking out for me all this time?"

"Yeah," she replied as she toyed with the pillow slip.

"Hmm, to think you were right about father. I was so relieved when we believed he was in the clear. Sneaky bastard." Adrien spat with a look of disgust.

Marinette laid a soothing hand on his bare shoulder. "Do you know if the book is still there?"

"I'm pretty sure it'll be in his safe. We can get Plagg to break into it, like he did the first time."

"That kwami has no sense of decorum." She chuckled.

"You have no idea. Let's get dressed and we can head over to the mansion of doom." He grinned as he held out his hand.

"Wow, you know how to show a girl a good time." She teased.

"You weren't complaining earlier." He smirked as he dragged her to stand beside the bed, in the circle of his arms.

"Neither were you."

"True, milady. But if you keep looking at me like that we're never going to leave this room."

After they were dressed, the pair explained the situation to their kwamis. Marinette had hoped to convince Adrien to transform and travel over as their counterparts but he declined. "If we're going to the mansion it's much easier if we going legitimately. I've got all the codes to get in. Besides we don't know what other security features my father may have installed to keep Ladybug and Chat Noir out."

"He's got a point," Tikki conceded.

Plagg yawned. "Are you forgetting that I'm the embodiment of destruction? If need be, one little touch of my paw, uttered with a certain word and pow. No more problems."

Tikki gave him an unimpressed look. "You'll destroy all of Paris. Let's not go there."

The cat kwami rolled his eyes. "Such a party pooper."

"I prefer to think of it as the voice of reason."

"See my last comment."

Marinette couldn't help but chuckle. "Are you two always like this?"

Plagg shrugged and Tikki glowered at him. "He should have been the deity of irritation."

"I can add that to my list of extensive skills."

"You do that." Tikki huffed.

Adrien wrapped his arm around Marinette and nodded to their kwamis. "Who needs kids when we have those two."

She arched a dark eyebrow. "If that's what having kids is going to be like, maybe we should veto that option."

The model gave a hearty laugh. "Nah, they make life interesting. Besides if we can put up with our kwamis I'm sure we'll survive real kids of our own."

It suddenly dawned on Marinette what he was insinuating. "You want babies, with me?"

"I did say I intend to be with you forever. That includes the whole kit and caboodle, but we should discuss this later. We have a book to find." As her mouth fell open he leaned in to kiss the circle of her lips. With a cheeky wink he held open his jacket and Plagg flew into his inside pocket.

Marinette automatically opened her purse as she continued to study Plagg's hiding place. "Doesn't he leave a bulge in your pocket while hiding?"

"Nah, he's magical, remember."

She glanced into her handbag. "Tikki, does this mean I could have avoided carrying a bag all the time?"

The kwami gave her an awkward smile. "But where would you have stored the cookies?"

"Good point, still people possibly wondered why I never went anywhere without a bag."

"Can't say that I noticed," Adrien added. "Probably because I was so used to you having it."

Adrien scooped up his keys, leading her down to the garage and to his car. Marinette couldn't help smirking when she realised which one was his. "A black Jaguar, not very subtle Agreste."

"It's an F-Type, because I'm fabulous." He snickered as he unlocked it and opened her door.

Slipping inside, Marinette shook her head in amusement. "Honestly, I should have picked up the clues."

"Ah, but I've never taken you for a spin in my car. Clue missed," he grinned as he settled in the driver's seat.

The banter continued on the drive over but the amusement dimmed as they reached the intimidating front gates of the Agreste mansion. "I hate this place," Adrien muttered to himself as he activated the gate with his remote.

Marinette placed her hand on his thigh and gave him a supportive look. "I'm here, you're not alone." She reminded him.

The model gave a sharp nod of acknowledgement and rolled the car through the gates. The metal behemoths closed ominously behind them as Adrien pulled up the Jaguar. The lights were on, and as he'd explained to Marinette, his old bodyguard was now the caretaker. Adrien figured the guy deserved a decent retirement after all the crap his father had dished on him.

As if evoked by their thoughts, the gorilla of a man opened the front door and ushered them inside. Adrien quickly explained that they needed to access his father's office and the caretaker left them to their devices.

Inhaling slowly to steady his nerves, Adrien ploughed forward and into the room that housed the eerie portrait of his mother. As he neared the painting he reached out a hand to Marinette, and she could tell by his posture that he felt an immense sense of comfort at the contact. But the touch was short lived. His unsteady fingers tugged at the heavy frame on the wall, opening up the space that housed the safe. "Do your thing," he rasped as Plagg exited his pocket.

The kwami phased through the thick metal and suddenly the door swung open. "It's here," Plagg confirmed while Adrien let out a relieved sigh.

Tikki zipped around the model to hover before the small open space. "That is not all that's here. There's the peacock miraculous!"

"What?" Marinette gasped as she moved closer, peering over Adrien's shoulder as she raised up on her toes.

"We thought it was lost forever." Tikki exclaimed as she floated closer to the object. "You have to take this back to Master Fu."

Adrien studied the strange miraculous. "But why is it here? Why did my father have it?"

Tikki and Plagg gave each other a wary look, then the former spoke. "Perhaps it was your mother's."

"That makes no sense."

"Look at the painting," Marinette uttered. "Her dress looks like it has peacock eye feather patterns."

"I can't believe it," Adrien murmured as he rubbed his temples. "This painting has too many secrets. It's also how Hawkmoth got to his lair. There are buttons hidden in that pattern. Push the right sequence and a portal in the floor opens and sends you there."

Blue eyes bulged, "What!? No wonder we could never find him."

"I know. Let's take what we need and get out of here. I've had enough of this place."

Adrien snatched up the book and passed the peacock miraculous to Marinette. She got the impression that he didn't want to hold it. If it had been his mother's perhaps he didn't want to learn its secrets. The old adage that ignorance was bliss rang true. He'd been much happier when he hadn't known his father was a villain. If his mother had been doing anything shady, it was probably best if he didn't know about it.

Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter up, the words just weren't coming. Next is Marinette and Adrien's visit to Master Fu. What will he have to say about Chat Noir's absence?

Thanks for reading, reviewing, following and favouriting. I was stoked to reach 100 favs and 200 follows on this story :D