Half Way

Two Stowaways and A Secret

She shook her head. "There's nothing to keep me safe from. It's just the power," she tried arguing again.

"No, something is going on. It has to be an akuma attack. Why else would the whole grid go down?"

"I... I don't know," she said defeatedly.

He tilted his head slightly. "I'm sorry, I'm not trying to scare you. I just want to make sure that you're safe. You... you mean too much to me."

As he looked into her eyes he knew that this was it. This was the right moment.

Adrien smiled. "I love you Marinette."

Her eyes grew wide at hearing the words. "What?" she asked, barely at a whisper.

"I love you. I've completely fallen in love with you. You're everything to me."

She blinked as tears came to her eyes. "I love you too Adrien."

He smiled wider and then leaned forward to kiss her. Marinette met him half way.

Their kiss was full of joy and love.

When the two finally broke apart they stayed close, gazing into each other's eyes. And everything was perfect.

At least, it was for a minute.

Adrien suddenly pulled back. "I'm sorry Marinette, but I have to go," he said.

"Wha... what are you talking about? Where do you have to go?" she asked confused.

"I... have to go help."

Marinette shook her head. "Nathalie is already helping your father. They'll be fine. Please stay here... with me." She placed her hand on top of his and smiled at him.

Adrien wanted to stay more than anything, but he had a responsibility to uphold. "I'm sorry," he repeated.

Her face fell. "I don't understand what's wrong," she said, lowering her hand down.

He couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't stand to see her like that. "Marinette, I love you. And I trust you. If I tell you something, do you promise to keep it a secret?"

She nodded her head. "Yes of course."

Adrien smiled at her again. "Okay. Then there's someone I want you to meet."

Complete and utter confusion washed over Marinette. What in the world was he talking about?

He took a step back from her. "This is Plagg."

The black cat kwami suddenly appeared at his shoulder.

Marinette felt her heart stop.

For a few seconds the girl and the kwami stared at the other.

Plagg had a nervous smile on his face. "Hi Marinette," he said through clenched teeth.

She looked over at Adrien as tears came back to her eyes.

"It's okay, he won't hurt you," Adrien said, noticing her expression. "He's my kwami, he allows me to transform into..."

"No," she interrupted, shaking her head and moving back slightly.

"Don't be afraid. You'll understand in a moment. Plagg, claws out." A green light surrounding him as Plagg was sucked into the ring on his right hand.

Marinette closed her eyes from the light. When she opened them Chat Noir was standing in front of her. The tears started falling down her cheeks.

"It's okay, it's just me," Chat Noir said, taking a step forward and reaching out to her.

She immediately backed away and put her hands up in a defensive stance. "No don't I... not can... op can't..." she stuttered.

"It's just me," he repeated, moving closer.

She kept backing away. "Me lease... I no..." She clenched her eyes shut in frustration.

"Marinette..." he said, taking another step.

"Stop!" she suddenly yelled and opened her eyes. "Don't touch me. Please... just stay away," she whispered.

Chat Noir felt like his heart was breaking. He never imagined that she would be upset. "Marinette, I love you..."

She let out a sob and shook her head. "No you don't."

"Yes I do," he pleaded.

"No. You were in love with Ladybug."

Ladybug. He was so distracted by Marinette's reaction that he almost forgot about the akuma attack. Ladybug needed him. "I'm so sorry Marinette. I have to go. I promise I'll explain everything to you after. Please stay here where you're safe." He tried one more time to move towards her but she backed away. "I'm so sorry," he repeated, tears coming to his eyes too. Reluctantly he turned and went over to the windows.

She watched him as he jumped out and disappeared. Then she sank to her knees. A loud sob escaped her lips as Tikki appeared.

Marinette looked at her. "Why didn't you tell me?" she choked out.

"I'm sorry Marinette. But you're not supposed to know each other's identities. And you didn't want to know."

They both looked up as the lights flickered and turned back on.

"Did you have anything to do with the power outage?" Marinette asked.

"Technically it was Plagg, but he was only supposed to turn off the power to the house. I guess his cataclysm was stronger than we expected."

"We'll finish talking about this later," Marinette said. "We need to get out of here before they get back." She stood up and wiped her face.

Tikki flew into her purse and they quickly left the room.

As she descended the stairs, Gabriel and Nathalie walked out of the study.

"Miss Dupain-Cheng," he said, his eyes narrowing at seeing her there. "I thought I told you to stay in the dining room."

"I'm sorry Mr Agreste..."

"What happened?" he interrupted, his expression softening. "Why are you so upset?"

"I'm so sorry. I have a personal emergency and I need to leave," she said.

He paused. "Of course. Well you're welcome here anytime Miss Dupain-Cheng."

"Thank you Mr Agreste. And thank you for having me over today. I had a wonderful time," she said, her voice cracking.

He nodded as she walked to the door.

"Thank you Miss Sancoeur," she added as she walked past her.

Once she left Nathalie moved up to her boss. "You're just letting her leave?"

"We know who she is and where to find her. No point in playing our hand too soon." He furrowed his brow. "But we were wrong. She doesn't know Chat Noir's identity. If she did, she would have told us his name. She was obviously thinking about him when I described him earlier."

"So what do we do now? Her earrings are useless without his ring."

He paused for a second in thought. "We keep her close. We make sure that her and Adrien's relationship continues to go smoothly so she keeps coming over here. And we wait until we think of a plan." Gabriel turned to look at the front door. "But she was genuinely upset when she left. Something happened since we saw her in the dining room." He turned back to Nathalie. "Find out what it was."