The first thing Adrien focused on was convincing Shay to see a doctor.

"There's a discreet office I know that has worked with some of the models from my father's company." He tried to be vague, leaving out the fact that they usually dealt with eating disorders. Not that that was necessarily what she was dealing with, but he didn't know how else to categorize 'not eating due to being magically transformed all the time.' "I think they would be good for you."

She seemed unconvinced. "Would they even see me? I'm not from this world, let alone this country."

"It wouldn't be a problem," he responded. "And if it was, I'd pay for it."

"You're not using your father's money anymore. You can't keep spending all yours on me."

"This is important. From what I've read, you really should be taking a doctor's advice on how to recover properly. I'd happily pay whatever I needed to to make sure you get the care you need."

She gritted her teeth as she glared at him. "I'm going to pay you back for all of it."

Adrien shrugged, sensing his victory. "If you feel like you have to."

With a wave of her hand, she let him make an appointment for her.

After hanging up, Adrien turned back. "I think we should meet with Ladybug tonight."

Shay responded with a groan. "Do we really need to?" She took one look at his expression and sighed. "Fine."

That evening, Shadybug reluctantly detransformed to eat a small meal, though she changed back immediately after.

"Ready?" Adrien asked her.

She looked at him with curiosity. "You gonna transform, Sunshine?"

Adrien stepped back. "Plagg, claws out!"

Shadybug slowly circled him, her mouth quirking at the corner as her eyes took him in. "You really are him." Encouraged by her reaction, Chat was unable to resist preening just a smidge for her. Her eyes flashed to his approvingly before she paused in front of him. "Wait a minute, you…" Her eyes narrowed, though her amusement remained, "–you baited me for information about yourself, near the beginning." Chat floundered, the apology on his lips interrupted by her follow-up. "Didn't think you had it in you, Buttercup." She smirked at him, obviously unbothered by the reveal of his information-gathering tactics.

Chat let out a breath of relief. "I was worried I'd messed something up after you kissed me. Might've panicked, just a bit."

He wasn't sure she was listening as her eyes darkened slightly, fixed on his chest. She prowled forward, her hand coming up to grip his bell. "So many interesting possibilities."

Chat didn't respond, conflict rising within him. Noticing his hesitation, Shady's expression fell as though a switch had flipped. "Unless… you aren't actually interested in those possibilities, now."

"No," he said quickly, "that's not what my issue is." He lifted his gloved hand to her face, placing it on her cheek. "I'm still worried about you. You're too good at hiding what's going on beneath."

Shady closed her eyes, relaxing as she leaned into his hand. "I've gotten a lot of practice at shoving everything away I don't want to think about. Guess I need the reminder that it's not the same for everyone else."

Chat leaned forward, pressing a soft kiss against her lips, watching her eyes flutter open then closed again. "I love you, Shay. I'm just scrambling to figure out how to help you through this. I don't really know what I'm doing, and I don't want to mess it up."

"I'm not convinced I can be helped. You might be wasting your time."

"I'm not," Chat said, firmly. "As long as you want me, I'll be here to help you stand. Until you can stand on your own, of course. Then we can figure everything else out together, side by side."

Shady let out a sigh. "I don't know how you can claim you don't know what you're doing, then say sweet shit like that. How am I supposed to fight you on this?"

"It's simple," he said, wrapping his arms around her. "You don't."

"You're something else, Sunshine." She leaned into him for a moment before they parted, finally heading out through the balcony into the night.

They waited for Ladybug on the rooftop, Chat pacing nervously while Shadybug leaned against the wall of a chimney, arms crossed.

Chat wasn't exactly sure what would happen to their team after this meeting. He'd revealed his identity and probably knew Ladybug's, after all.

Not to mention the fact that Shadybug was pregnant. Chat stopped pacing to look over at her again, a new fear bubbling up now that he was less distracted by everything else. He walked over to her. "Should we have talked to Tikki before coming out here? To make sure you and the baby are safe?"

Shady scowled up at him. "It's not an issue while transformed, Snowball. I've managed just fine fighting akumas these past several months. Stop fretting."

Chat turned around at the sound of Ladybug arriving, catching sight of her landing lightly across from them. He stepped forward, meeting her in the middle, some distance away from Shadybug.

"I can't thank you enough, my lady," he said quietly, meeting her gaze. "You found Claw Noir, on the other side?"

Ladybug gave him a small smile. "I did." Her eyes darted past him. "How is she? Is she alright?"

Chat hesitated. "Not yet. But I hope she will be."

Concern and regret flared in her eyes as she bit her lip. "Maybe if it hadn't taken me so long to come around, I could have figured it out and helped sooner."

"You can't blame yourself, Bug. If anyone is to blame, it's me. She's been living with me since the start." He tried and failed to hold back his frustration.

The look cleared from Ladybug's face as she shook her head. "No, you're right. There's no point in arguing about it. We need to move on and do what we can." Her expression turned hesitant. "Do you… know who she is, now?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I figured it out. I'm sorry, LB. I didn't imagine discovering each other's identity quite like this. It's my fault." He let out a short, deprecating laugh.

"It's okay, Chaton." She gave him a smile. "I'm glad to know you've been my friend in and out of the mask since the beginning."

Chat mirrored her smile. "Same, my lady."

Ladybug grew serious. "Does she know who you are as well?" He nodded. "Okay, let's talk this out."

The two of them turned, walking over to where Shadybug was staring up at the sky.

Ladybug sat down on one side of her, Chat on the other. "Can we talk, Shady?" Ladybug asked.

"I'm here, aren't I?" Shadybug gruffed, pushing out from the wall and stalking out a few steps before rounding on them both, fists clenched at her sides. "Look, I can still fight on this team, alright?"

Chat stood back up, cutting in reluctantly, "But, the baby–"

"I just told you; Tikki keeps the baby and I safe while transformed."

"You fainted yesterday after the fight, so I hear," Ladybug said, voice calm but firm as she stood as well. "Transformed."

Shadybug's expression lost a little of its defiance. "I… I'm going to work on that. I'll fix it. But I need to fight. You can't take that away from me."

"I can't and won't take anything away from you, Shady," she answered gently. "But I need to know that it won't happen again." She directed a glance at Chat before continuing. "Do you really think he'll be able to fight at his best if he's worried that you might pass out at any moment?"

Shady met his eyes, understanding sinking in. Chat gave her a weak smile, knowing that what Ladybug said was true.

"How about a week?" Ladybug asked. "Take a week, focus on working on what's happening with you, and let us handle any attacks for the moment."

Shady remained tense for a few moments before finally relenting. "I guess that makes sense."

Chat spoke up then, looking over at Ladybug. "And… what about our identities? We all know each other now."

She sighed. "I don't think there's anything to be done. We just need to be even more cautious of being akumatized and found out. That might be especially important right now," she added, looking between the two of them, "–with everything going on causing heightened emotions."

Chat nodded, looking over to see Shady with a grim look. She grumbled, "Yeah, I know. I got lucky. I'll do better."

"You don't need to beat yourself up," Ladybug said gently. "He's not omniscient and there are two million people in Paris." Her voice softened further, losing the professional tone Ladybug used while planning. "I'm sorry it took me so much longer than everyone else to see you for who you really are. I was too blinded by the ways we were different, instead of focusing on finding out why that was."

Shady shrugged. "It's fine. It's not like I didn't do the same thing."

Ladybug looked at Shadybug, and Chat could see it then; the same look he had seen many times from Marinette when she was worried and trying to help a friend. "I'd like to be there for you, if you need me. And–" she glanced briefly over at Chat, "Alya knows my identity as well and has guessed that you're me, Shady. I'm not sure what to do about Nino," she frowned slightly at that, "but you still have us, at least."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Though her words were dismissive, Chat thought he could see the embarrassment beneath. "Anything else, Red? Or can I be done with this? I'll sit out a week, no longer, then I'm going back at it."

Ladybug nodded, her response cautious. "We'll reevaluate as it goes." She took a few steps toward the edge, giving a quick wave to Chat and a worried glance at Shady before leaving.

Shadybug turned abruptly to him. "I'm not ready to go back. I need to run. I've slept, I've eaten, I'll be fine. Come with me?"

Chat extended his baton. "Ready when you are."

They ran together across the city until they reached the far edge, Shadybug adding on a burst of speed as she switched directions. "Race you home!"

Chat took off quickly behind her, dodging the attacks she tossed his way, though he made no moves to return them as he usually did. Despite the fact that she was winning, Shady seemed to grow increasingly angrier as they flew through the air, until she finally whirled around just beyond the apartment, launching herself directly at him and sending them both crashing to the ground on his balcony. He tried to protect her as they fell to the surface, but she shoved away at the last minute, flipping back and landing on her feet with a grunt.

Chat landed less gracefully, rising up to see her pissed and marching to him. "What the fuck Chat? Why do you have your kid gloves on with me?"

Bewildered, Chat stared at her a moment. "What? I'm not going to –"

Interrupting him, Shady jabbed a finger into his chest. "I told you I'm not a fucking fragile flower in my suit."

"I know, but–"

"I don't want your pity, and I don't need you treating me differently now."

He gave her a pained look. "You can't ask me to purposefully try and hurt you right now, Shay."

"I can handle it–"

"But I can't."

She froze, the anger dissolving in her eyes before she squeezed them shut. Her hand shifted to grip his suit instead as she leaned into his chest. "Fuck, here I go doing it again, being selfish."

He wrapped his arm around her, "You're not being selfish, Shade. We're just communicating." He glanced around for a moment. "A little loudly, perhaps. Let's go inside." He pulled her through the sliding glass door, stopping on the other side. "We're still figuring this out."

Shady sighed, looking up at him. "I won't ask you to fight rough, but I do need you and everyone else to treat me normally." She turned her head away, looking down. "I'm having enough trouble keeping everything together. If everyone treats me like glass, I might actually break."

Chat nodded slowly. "I can… understand that. I'll do my best."

"Alright, enough of all this depressing shit." She twisted her head back to meet his gaze, eyes alight as she grabbed him again by the bell. "Feeling up to something more exciting tonight? I could use some normality after these past two days. Or do you need more time to adjust?"

He swallowed as her eyes raked over him. "I'm up for it if you are."

"Good," she purred, her other hand tangling with his, "because I've been thinking about these claws ever since you told me who you were this morning." She dragged his hand up, placing it in between her breasts. "I won't even need to call up my unlucky charm." She took a claw and pressed it firmly into her suit, causing a small rip to appear.

Chat's breathing sped up as he took over, careful not to cut too deep, until she was once again laid bare for him. Then he did the same to himself.

Later, when she lay curled up against him under the covers, Adrien — back in his civilian form — ran his hand lightly along her arm. "Shay?"

"Hmm?"

"I wondered if, sometime… would you like to try untransformed?"

She tensed in his arms, and he paused his movements, trying to give her space. "I… I'm not ready for that, not yet."

She stayed next to him, however, causing him to hold her once again with a touch of relief that she hadn't left. "Of course." He left the topic alone after that. He hoped she would consider it, however; he wanted to show her that he loved her in both of her forms.

Just before he fell asleep, he heard her release her transformation, snuggling in close.

"Goodnight, Shay."

"Night, Adrien."

When Adrien woke up the next morning, he slipped out of the bed quietly, trying not to wake Shay. As he went to leave, his eye caught her form where she was sprawled on the other side of the bed. She'd kicked the blankets off and her shirt had ridden up, revealing her stomach and a very small but distinct bump jutting out above her hips. He might not have noticed it if he didn't know what he was looking for.

Adrien froze for a moment, swallowing as it hit him once again that she was pregnant, a fact that knocked the wind out of him every time he thought about it. A fact that he continued to push away as something to deal with later, after everything else. There was a whole knot of emotions he kept buried within, unwilling to handle it all just yet, not while everything was so uncertain.

Still, seeing the proof in front of him, again, threatened to further add to the tangled mess within.

He carefully pulled the blanket up to cover her, his hand reaching out to lightly brush her hair from her face before he left the room.

A/N: I'd love it if you left me a review if you liked! Thanks for reading!