Disclaimer: You know the drill

AN: This was written as a gift for Isis/justmagicalgirl as part of the June exchange. (I would have preferred to do it in March, but *shrugs*)

It was meant to be a simple plan. Marinette and Adrien were going to be away for a few weeks on their honeymoon. (And kwami knows, they had taken their sweet time getting to this point. It was a wonder that they had ever gotten that far really, given all the ridiculous misunderstandings, shenanigans and absurd events surrounding their relationship that defied belief. You could even say that it was…Miraculous.)

Scarabella and Kitty Noire were going to protect Paris while they were gone. And they even had the rest of the Miraculous heroes to back them up this time. (Unlike their previous time as a team, Alya thought ruefully to herself.)

It wasn't like they even had to worry about Chrysalis anymore. Lila or Cerise or whatever her name was, was in La Santé prison and her Miraculous was in safe hands.

And…well the time had been incredibly calm. Nothing really happened. The occasional bit of ordinary crime and a few other emergencies, but nothing extraordinary.

What Alya hadn't taken into account was just how she would feel about her partner Kitty Noire. Or how her feelings would change over the course of those weeks.

And she CERTAINLY hadn't thought about the possibility that she'd end up KISSING Kitty Noire.

Which was probably why they were currently sitting on a rooftop, kissing like a pair of hormonal teenagers. (Hormonal teenagers! She was twenty-three years old, not sixteen!)

"Hey, sorry I'm la…" Carapace's words suddenly dropped off abruptly as he looked at them in surprise. The two girls abruptly broke apart and Kitty Noire blushed an adorable shade of red. (God-freaking dammit, she didn't need ANOTHER thing to like about her partner! It was bad enough that she had caught herself looking at Kitty Noire's nice butt!) Carapace slowly backed away with his hands held up in front of him.

"I'll go patrol this way," he said, before leaping away into the dark. Scarabella and Kitty Noire stood there for a few minutes in embarrassed silence, unable to look at one another.

"So…you want to talk about what happened?" Alya asked after what felt like an eternity and Kitty Noire blushed even harder. "Look, I don't know what happened there, but…well I…"

Her voice trailed off as for once, Alya Cesaire was lost for words. (Marinette was so going to tease her about that later.)

"Err…maybe we should go on patrol?" Kitty Noire said sheepishly and Scarabella raised an eyebrow. Kitty Noire blushed and leapt into the night sky and Scarabella shook her head in amusement.

She threw her to-yo into the distance, ready to follow on her patrol route. Then she paused as an amused smile crossed her face. She still had no idea as to why she had started kissing Kitty Noire, (or why Kitty Noire had started kissing her. Honestly it was actually hard to tell really.) or how they had ended up kissing like horny teenagers, but she liked it.

No, she REALLY liked it. And…judging by the way Kitty Noire reacted, she did too. A lot.

And…well it had been six months since she had broken up with her cheating ex girlfriend. (Marinette and Nino had both threatened to chew the cheating ex out for her. It was kind of sweet really.) She was single and probably ready to start dating again. Probably.

The real question was, what was she going to do now? Marinette and Adrien were going to be back in Paris in a couple of days and then she would probably never even find Kitty Noire again.

She shook her head. She had one more night (at least) to go before they had to return Ladybug and Chat Noir's Miraculous. Maybe two if her friends wanted a night to recover. She trusted Kitty Noire to return. It was going to be fine. (She hoped. Oh Kwami, she really hoped so.)

She leapt into the night and on her way.

MLMLMLMLMLML

"Oh my gosh, I can't believe I did that!" Zoe exclaimed as she detransformed. Plagg just looked at her unimpressed.

"So you finally kissed her. Big deal," he said, rolling his eyes. "You've been wanting to kiss her for ages." He paused and pulled a face. "Bleh, you're almost as bad as Chat Noir. He was just as sickening as you when he finally kissed Ladybug. It's almost enough to put me off my cheese." He paused and swallowed a massive piece. "Almost."

Zoe ignored him as she threw herself onto the bed and stared at the ceiling with a smile on her face. She had finally kissed her. And Scarabella had kissed her back. Or was it the other way around? It was so hard to tell really, it had happened so fast. The perfect moment, when the stars aligned just right and it happened.

Not that it really mattered who kissed who first. The end result was still the same. Kitty Noire and Scarabella had kissed! And kissed and kissed and kissed! Kissing like their lives depended on it! Kissing with passion and desire and need. Beyond time and space and knowledge and…

Okay, she was getting just gooey and ridiculous now. She was twenty-two, not sixteen.

She stood up and started twirling around the room with a massive grin.

"I kissed her, I kissed her, I kissed her," Zoe chanted happily and Plagg just gave her a long look.

"I know kid, I was there," he said, before returning to his cheese. "You sound as bad as-"

A bubble popped out of his mouth and he sighed. "Why are you thinking about Scarabella when you could be appreciating a good cheese? Cheese never lets you down. It's just perfect cheesy goodness."

Zoe ignored him as she continued to dance on the spot. She had finally gotten her feelings out and it looked like her feelings were reciprocated! She hadn't intended to reveal her feelings by kissing the other girl, but it just…happened.

She finally stopped dancing and changed into her nightclothes. She still had an audition to attend to later today and she really didn't want to be sleeping through it.

She tried to sleep, but her mind continued to race. She kept playing the same scene over and over and over again. The taste of Scarabella's lips, the way that they pushed and dived into each kiss, the hungry mutual desire for one another…

She wondered if Scarabella was having the same thoughts.

Was it a bad thing that she hoped so? God knows her successes in love were…variable to say the least. Her crush on Marinette had gone nowhere, even after she confessed. (And Adrien was too nice for her to hate unfortunately.). Vanessa told her she was going to Hell. (Which, looking back, she really should have seen coming.) Jean had been sweet, but they were ultimately not really compatible. (And gods knew that they had tried so very hard to make it work.) And Mallory? There's a reason why she didn't ever want to see Mallory again. Or talk about her. Or think about her.

Sleep continued to evade her, no matter how hard she tried. Scarabella just hovered and danced around her mind. The way the two of them just perfectly clicked, how they could communicate without even a word, how she felt so right, her forthright courage and curiosity and determination and just how beautiful they were in their costume…(Zoe was not as shallow as her sister or mother, but she wasn't exactly blind!)

And then there was the reminder that tomorrow was going to be her last day as Kitty Noire.

With a wistful sigh, she rolled over in her bed. She had to do something, anything to avoid Scarabella becoming another regret.

No, she HAD to talk to Scarabella about it. But hey, she was twenty-two and Scarabella was roughly the same age. It wasn't like she was some inexperienced hormonal teenager who couldn't talk to her crush. How hard could it be?

MLMLMLMLMLML

Someone, somewhere, was having a long hard laugh at her expense, Zoe thought to herself.

The audition had gone really well. She had a callback and her prospects were pretty good. She had been on form and she had really nailed the part.

No, the part where everything went wrong was the noxious chemical spill that had reduced her voice to a whisper.

A FUCKING WHISPER. ON THE LAST DAY OF HER LAST CHANCE TO CONFESS TO HER PARTNER!

According to the doctor, she would be back to normal in a few days. But…it was a few days too late. Far, far too late.

No, someone was definitely having a long hard laugh at her expense. And whoever it was, she wanted them to know that it wasn't funny. No really it was not funny at all!

So it was with some trepidation that she arrived at their intended meeting point. And busy cursing herself for not confessing when she had the chance and STILL HAD HER VOICE.

Fortunately the first words out of Scarabella's mouth from the moment she landed solved the problem.

"We need to talk," she said in a voice that would brook no argument. Kitty Noire nodded. "But not here. It's too public for this. For…this…"

Kitty Noire nodded again, this time more nervously. Scarabella tilted her head slightly and Kitty Noire gestured to her throat.

"Lost my voice," she hoarsely whispered. Scarabella leaned forward slightly, before shaking her head.

"Well…follow me," she said, throwing her yo-yo out into the distance. "Don't worry about patrol. I asked Carapace to cover for tonight."

Kitty Noire nodded and the two heroes leapt into the night.

MLMLMLMLMLML

It took very little time for them to reach their destination. A small, out of the way student flat that was, at least for the moment, empty. Idly Kitty Noire wondered if they were even legally allowed to be there, but she trusted Scarabella. (Perhaps more than she really should, she thought to herself. Still, she had no doubt that her trust was well placed.)

"A friend of mine owns this place," she said as she switched on the light. "It's quiet and out of the way and they keep it open for hero business." (Kitty Noire noted that Scarabella was being very careful to avoid mentioning anything that might reveal who the friend was.) "I asked if we could borrow it tonight and they gave me the key. It's owned by various shell companies and it's near untraceable."

Kitty Noire nodded again and Scarabella smiled, before nervously licking her lips. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, as if she was uncertain of what to say next. Then she finally spoke.

"Kitty Noire I…like you. I really like you. And.. I'm sorry I revealed my feelings like that yesterday."

"I love you too!" Kitty Noire burst out hoarsely and a small smile crossed Scarabella's face.

"Yeah, I think yesterday's impromptu make out session was a bit of a hint," she said with a chuckle and Kitty Noire smiled. "And I know that it was mutual. I could feel you kissing me too." She paused and chuckled once more. "We were more like a pair of hormonal teenagers."

Kitty Noire grinned, not trusting herself to laugh. (She did NOT want to risk coughing through this! If only that chemical spill had happened another day!)

"Ladybug and Chat Noir are going to be back soon and we won't be able to see one another. At least not like this," Scarabella continued, her voice becoming wistful. "And I don't want to wait for the possibility that we'll need to cover for them again." She paused and took a deep breath. "Anyway I talked to Ladybug about this and she said that this is okay and…Tikki, spots off."

In a flash of red, Scarabella was replaced by Alya, who smiled at Kitty Noire. "So…I'm going to trust you with my secret identity and…I hope that it's enough for you to find me again if you really want. And…I hope that I'm right and you really do feel the same way about me that I feel about you do about me and-"

"Plagg, claws in," Kitty Noire said and in a flash of green, she was replaced by Zoe.

"I do," she said with a smile as she stepped closer to Alya. "I do."

Alya smiled back and the two women kissed.

AN: This fic just refuses to be finished…so hopefully I managed to stick the landing.