Not Alone: A Miraculous Ladybug Story

Chapter 40

 Marinette walked tensely while her friends filed down the stairs behind her. Situating themselves on the couch, her mother told them to wait while she got her father and put Aimee, the assistant, at the front for a bit.

The moment she had gone, Marinette turned to her friends.

"Where did this photo come from?" She waved the picture of Chloé's parents and Germain in the air, and Chloé sheepishly raised her hand.

"I must've dropped it downstairs. I thought it might be useful as a reference to what he looks like...but wait. How did your mom know who it was?"

That brought Marinette up short. The Alya piped in.

"Yeah, does she know what we're doing?

"Does she know you're Ladybug?" Nino also asked.

Marinette felt like she was being bombarded from all sides. She tried to think if there was anything she had said or done that would have given her away. She was always extremely careful with her identity because she didn't want her parents to be indirectly in danger because of her and also because she didn't want them to try and stop her.

"I--I dont--"

"Does it matter?" Adrien asked from next to her, grabbing her hand in his. "Maybe you should tell them, even if they don't know. I...I think they'd understand." He knew she hated lying to them, and it would be simpler if they knew...

She looked up as her parents walked in, and meeting her mom's eyes, she could tell immediately. They knew.

"How..." she broke off, not quite knowing how to ask. He mom just smiled and sat next to her.

"Oh honey," she smoothes the hair back from her face. "I had a feeling. Even in a mask, it's hard not to recognize my own daughter. Then," she started to laugh. "Then Ladybug almost accidentally called me 'mom' and there was no doubt." She continued to chuckle and Marinette cringed, remembering vividly the akuma attack when she and Chat took refuge in the bakery and Ladybug tried to cover her slip withe the word 'madame' instead. Her father brought over some tea and biscuits. His motto in any uncomfortable situation was 'more food' and he was fiddling with arrangements.

"Papa?" she asked and he looked up at her and sat back in his favorite chair with a sigh.

"It must be mother's intuition, because I was completely oblivious. This one though!" He pointed at Adrien, who looked startled to have the large man addressing him in an excited manner. "He is so Chat Noir. I said it the minute I saw you two together. Didn't I, Sabi?"

"Yes, dear," her mother said in a placating manner. "And now, here we are and I have not one, not two, but five masked vigilantes of Paris sitting on my couch." She raised an eyebrow.

"Five?" Alya asked, a clear challenge. No one knew about Chloé, so even if her mother had placed the rest of them there was no way...

"Five," her mother repeated, smirking at Alya. Despite not knowing each other long, her mother and Alya got along like family. They liked debating and gossiping over celebrity culture while Marinette got absorbed in one of her designs. Ladybug and Chat Noir had been a topic more than once, and they fell right back into their old analysis of the miraculous holders effortlessly. "There are four I can place, and Chloé, dear," she turned to the nearest member. "I'm assuming your recent addition to this group makes you number five?"

"Guilty," she shrugged sheepishly in Marinette's direction.

"Alright," Sabine sat back and looked at each teen. "Tell me what you're up to and why I shouldn't stop you."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was Nino's idea to call Gabriel. They had made it halfway through their story when they realized they were missing an integral piece to their group. He arrived about twenty minutes later, the perfect businessman coming directly from work, but Adrien watched with a smile as he was enveloped into the Dupain-Cheng household warmly like an old friend.

After Marinette's parents had stopped gushing about how much they loved his son and his dad stopped going on about how happy he was to know Marinette, the three parents finally sat down. Marinette's face was bright red, and if the heat of his own face was any indication, he was sure together they made a nice pair of tomatoes. Alya picked up the most recent part of the story, managing to give the gist of it through her laughter at the two of them.

When everyone was caught up, including the current plan of action, they all seemed to release a collective sigh of relief.

"I'm not sure if I'm more proud of you all or angry that you're putting yourselves in such danger." Sabine sighed and turned to place her hand on Marinette's cheek. "I would try to stop you, but that would be dishonorable. You are a warrior." She said the last part to her daughter in Chinese, and kissed her forehead.

"Yes, and she is the fiercest of us all." Adrien responded also in Chinese and grabbed Marinette's hand. Marinette looked between the two of them, completely oblivious as the what was happening, but somehow knowing that they were talking about her. The happy surprise on her mother's face could have been from Adrien's easy response in Chinese, or whatever he had said, but she didn't have time to question them.

"Maman," Marinette cut in, bringing the conversation back to French, loathe as she was to break them both out of their little bonding moment. "If you aren't going to try and stop me, then what did you need to talk about?"

"Other than thinking it was about time there were no more secrets in this house," she looked at her daughter pointedly and Marinette grimaced a bit, "I know this man." She picked up the picture she was holding earlier and pointed to Germain. "Or, I should say, we do." She gestured to Tom and herself.

"Wait, what?" Chloé asked abruptly. Adrien could tell that she had zoned off during the conversation, and they had nearly lost her completely when they started speaking Chinese, but that roused her. "You know my...uncle?" She struggled over the word, and Adrien could tell that the revelation of the night before would take a while to get over, no matter how blasé about it she was currently acting.

"Yes, dear. He buys baguettes twice a week."

"Three times," Tom corrected. He had been so silent during most of the conversation that, despite his daunting stature, Adrien had almost forgot he was there.

"What?" Sabine looked confused. "No, he comes in Monday and Thursday around second batch."

"And he has a standing order for delivery on Saturday. Aimee usually takes care of it. Baguettes and a pastry mix. Like he's having a party or meeting."

Tom said this offhandedly, but the rest of them looked at each other.

"That's it, Papa!" Marinette flew at her father and kissed his cheek. Then, she turned around and looked at them all.

"They all gather on Saturdays. And we deliver there!" A bubble of laughter poured out of her at how serendipitous it all was. "Does he have an order placed for this Saturday, Papa?" She turned to her father.

"Yeah, a big one too. It's that large order, Sabi. A platter set to be delivered at closing I think. So around 3?"

"That's when we get her," Marinette breathed. "When they're all in one place, that's when we go get Adela."

"We still need more information before we stage any kind of take down," Nino cautioned

"But I'm not talking a take down yet. Yeah, he still plans to overthrow Mayor Bourgeois, but we have other goals, too. Chloé, when are you planning to see him again?"

"He gave me his number. I told him I needed time to process everything he told me." Chloé rolled her eyes. "I can text him tonight, maybe meet tomorrow? Why? What are you thinking."

"I'm thinking Adela has been under lock-and-key for far too long. If you can figure out where they're holding her, I think it's time for a prison break. What do you say?" She looked over at Adrien. He was trying not to get his hopes up too much, but Marinette wouldn't say this if she didn't have a gut feeling about this. He chose to trust his Lucky charm.

"Let's do it."