A/N: Sorry about the long, long wait! Final chapters can be a little nerve-wracking...

Marinette paces back and forth in the hospital room, sure she's wearing a groove into the floor. Tikki has been trying to calm her down, but every time she looks at Wayzz, hovering sadly by Master Fu's pillow, her nerves skyrocket.

"He's strong, Marinette," Tikki tries again. "That's why he was chosen for Guardian. Only Guardians are meant to keep their Miraculous for such a long time. Over a hundred fifty years."

Marinette stops pacing, stunned by a double revelation. If he got his Miraculous at fifteen, as she had, then... "Just how old is he?"

"One hundred eighty-six, in fact," Tikki says solemnly.

Wow. She looks at him in the bed, pale and barely breathing, but hardly looking as if he's older than seventy. "And how long does a person usually keep a Miraculous?"

Tikki pauses, wringing her tiny kwami hands. "It depends. Five, ten, sometimes twenty years. Not usually longer than that."

"Do people usually give it up on their own?"

"Everyone is different. Some possess it until their lives change too much to keep it. Others—not many—have it taken from them. Some…" Tikki trails off, her face pinched with anguish. "...have given their lives in its service."

Marinette nods. She's always known that she could die, that Chat Noir could die as well. Her heart has always been a little heavy bearing that truth. Is that why Adrien's mother gave it up? Because she couldn't handle it?

When the Miraculous does pass from Marinette—which will it be?

She hears the door open behind her, but Tikki and Wayzz don't hide, so she knows before she turns that it's Adrien, carrying a backpack on one shoulder. He drops a gentle kiss of greeting on her forehead before he pulls over a chair to sit beside her.

"How did it go?" Marinette asks.

"It was… weird. Nathalie hugged me when I came home—actually hugged me—and before I could even make up a story, she told me that my father was gone."

"What? How did—?"

"I don't know. But she led me to Father's office and showed me a letter in his handwriting. It said that he would be out of the country for an unspecified amount of time, named various overseers for his business and directed that I be cared for until he returns home."

"His own handwriting? Are you sure?"

"Nathalie was. If it wasn't, and it fooled her, then it was a perfect forgery."

Or magic. She glances over at Fu, still unconscious. "It had to have been the Guardian council."

"They thought of everything, I guess." Adrien follows her gaze. "Is he still…?"

"Yes." The exhaustion and pain hits her hard suddenly. And no wonder, she's been here since last night.

Adrien puts a hand on her shoulder. "Let me take over for a while. Your parents must be worried sick."

His concern only reminds her that he's lost both of his parents now. "They're fine," she assures him. "Alya's covering for me." She told them that she slept over at Alya's after the fireworks. Alya agreed on one condition—that she get the exclusive story about Hawk Moth's defeat for the Ladyblog.

As if she'd trust it with anyone else. Alya must be biting her nails waiting for Marinette to return. She was gone from Hawk Moth's lair when they returned with Gabriel, and with everything with Fu, there hasn't been time to really talk...

Adrien must see her shoulders slump. He slides his hand all the way around to pull her into his arms. It's just like Adrien, comforting her when he's the one whose life has just been turned upside down. "You'll be fine, too," he whispers into her hair. "We'll all be fine. Everything will be. Eventually."

She hugs him back, a wave of emotions overwhelming her and choking her words back. Tears leaking out of her eyes, she just nods.

She sits there with him, letting the tears come, and after a while her whole world narrows to the way his fingers are moving slowly up and down on her arm. He's warm, solid, here—he's been here longer than she ever knew.

When she finds her voice again, she says, "I always thought the day after we defeated Hawk Moth that we'd be throwing the biggest party Paris has ever seen. Not..." She huffs another sigh.

"I never liked parties much, anyway," he says. "Too many I was forced to attend."

"Really?" she looks up at him. "Not even the one Nino threw for you? I mean, after the akuma was captured."

"Oh," he says, face lighting up, "that was different. My friends were there. You were there."

She shoves him gently. "You hardly even knew me yet."

He pushes back with his shoulder. "Doesn't matter. You didn't know me either, and you were still there." He gives her one of his rare smiles, not the big and wide flirtatious one when in costume, but the small one that somehow shows even more of his heart.

She kisses him on the cheek. "Maybe we don't need a party. Maybe I'd rather just be here with you."

"Oh, now I like that. Smiles and kisses are much better than tears." The voice is small and gravelly, but it causes both of them to bolt upright.

"Master Fu!" Marinette cries, rising from her chair and going to his side. "I was so worried about you! We both were."

His smile is weak and small but still there. "I have a little more left in me, it seems."

She lays a hand on top of his. He nearly sacrificed his life to help end Hawk Moth's reign of terror. "Thank goodness. What you did… using you Miraculous despite the risks… Paris is forever in your debt." She squeezes his fingers gently.

He nods, closing his eyes in acknowledgement. "For the last time."

Her eyes widen and she shares a startled glance with Adrien, who asks, "You're giving it up? Your Miraculous?"

"I must. Not just the Miraculous" —he looks at each of them in turn— "but the Guardianship as well."

Marinette's heart pounds, and by the look on Adrien's face, he's feeling the same thing. "What?" She was hoping to continue learning from him, especially now that their archenemy has been defeated. "We're doing this on our own from now on?"

Fu shakes his head fondly. "Never alone. You have Tikki. And you have Plagg. You both have each other." He's right, and while she's thinking about that, Adrien comes beside her and wraps his arm around her waist. "And that will sustain you until a new Guardian is chosen."

"Who chooses?" Adrien asks, beating her to the punch. "You?"

"The Guardian council will decide. You will meet the new Guardian once the Council has determined the best fit for the city." His last words are quiet, and she notices the weakness in his voice.

"We should let you rest," she says, patting his hand. "You can tell us more later."

Adrien starts for the door, but then stops and turns back toward the bed, digging in his pocket. "I wanted to give you this…"

In his open palm, he holds out the Peacock Miraculous.

"Thank you," Fu says quietly, a small proud smile on his tired face. "But not yet. Please keep it safe for me until I have recovered?"

Adrien nods. "Of course." The brooch goes back in his pocket.

Marinette takes Adrien's arm and leads him out of the room. If she's learned anything about Fu and his tenacity—Adrien will be returning it sooner rather than later.

The house feels empty—well, emptier—without Father in it. At least before, Adrien knew that his father was working somewhere he could be found: his office, a show, a photo shoot. But now he's gone. Really gone. Gone to some remote somewhere that only Guardians know about.

He wants to be happy that now his summer is free to spend as he wishes. No Milan, no work, just patrolling (with his girlfriend! ahhhh) and spending time with friends (and his girlfriend! AHHH).

But he can't be. He never thought that this victory would feel so hollow.

He sighs and flops down on his bed. Plagg settles in next to him, as quiet as the house for once. He burrows into Adrien's side, tiny body warming him. Maybe he isn't so alone after all.

His phone chimes from the bedside table. Are you ok? it reads when he lifts it to see. Marinette. Do you want me to come over? she adds. He smiles. No, he's not alone at all.

Marinette gives Alya another elbow in the side, but she just keeps giving the two of them that goofy smile. Seriously, she must be bruised up and down by now. "Alya…" she whispers, annoyed.

"What?" Alya says, tilting her head as she watches Adrien lick gelato from a cone. "It's so… cat-like."

Adrien stops, narrowing his eyes. Then he chuckles. "Can't really help it, can I?" he says with a shrug. Then he turns to Marinette. "Wasn't this supposed to be a date?"

"Like, a just-the-two-of-us date? I sure thought so." She directs that last toward Alya.

Alya grins, not mollified at all. "Well, since the two of you refuse to give the Ladyblog any more information about your relationship, I had to investigate."

Marinette's head falls into her hands. "I wish we hadn't said anything. Why did we think it was a good idea to tell the world that Chat Noir and Ladybug were an item? It could have just been Adrien and Marinette that were dating…"

"Just a couple of quotes—I can ride high on The Defeat of Hawk Moth interview for a while—but my readers are thirsty for more." She leans forward. "And I mean thirsty."

Marinette groans and Adrien turns the color of his strawberry gelato. She places a hand on his knee and gives it a light squeeze under the table. After a moment, he threads his fingers through hers. Tingles shoot up her arm. Being able to touch him and be touched in return is still so overwhelming and new. And so private. When Adrien catches her eye, she knows he feels the same.

Alya sees it, too, and backs off. "Okay, okay. I won't push. Can I say you got gelato?"

"Uh…"

"Even better," Adrien says, pushing back from the table and pulling Marinette up by her hand. "You can get a photo."

The next day, the Ladyblog runs the photo. Ladybug and Chat Noir, sitting on the edge of a roof, holding hands as they share a gelato. The likes and comments trickle in for months.

End.

A/N: Thank you so much for your support of this fic! I love these kids, so I'm sure there'll be more from me, especially after S2 gets underway.