When Adrien blearily opened his eyes for the second time in that long exhausting night, he felt more drained than he had ever felt in his life. His limbs, whilst no longer cold, felt so heavy he almost wondered how he would ever lift them and even when he opened his eyelids just the tiniest crack, they felt like they would crash back down at any second. He could still faintly taste copper in his mouth and on his dry lips, a memento of what had happened earlier, and he would have checked if his nose was broken if he had any energy to do so. Again, he didn't know where he was or what was happening but he was so tired he wasn't sure he cared. Maybe I should just go back to sleep…

"Hey Adrien? Bro, you waking up?"

Nino's voice took the weight from his eyelids as they shot open and his head went to the side to follow the sound. He saw his friend was sitting next to him in a plastic chair, still in his uniform that looked slightly crumpled like he had been in a scuffle and his hair was all in spikes from where he had been dragging his fingers but when he saw Adrien looking up at him, he gave a wide grin.

"Hey man. Welcome back to the land of the living."

"Good to be back." Adrien answered, giving a smile even though the words felt like they were ripping at his dried throat. He went to sit up, looking around the room as he tried to work out what was happening, his head feeling warm and fuggy like it had just been in a microwave. He could still remember everything in the warehouse like it had happened only minutes before but he could tell from the daybreak peering in from the bottom of the curtains opposite him that several hours had passed. He could feel bedsheets slipping down his body as he went to sit up and when he looked down, he was in a pair of papery white hospital pyjamas. Everything else in the bare room was white, from the walls to the curtains to the ceiling and the only spots of colour were provided by the dawn sneaking in under the curtain hem and a bowl of fruit on a small white side table which he realised Nino must have brought. He looked over at it and chuckled.

"God, things must have been bad if you brought me that."

Nino laughed, not even trying to hide his relief. "That's what the others at the station sent when they heard the news earlier," He explained. "I'm just the delivery boy. Everyone was shocked when they heard what happened to you, nobody could believe it. I mean, you were literally kidnapped and taken to Hawkmoth… And the fact that it was Marinette too man…"

Nino stopped as he shook his head, still unable to comprehend it. Adrien understood; he was still coming to grips with it himself and he reached up a hand to squeeze his friend's shoulder. He thought of Marinette and how she had stood by her leader, her mask off like she had been stripped bare and answering him in a hollow voice, and he felt something twist at his stomach. How had everything gone so damn wrong…

"I feel so bad," He heard Nino say and he stared at him in surprise. "The whole time I kept pushing you two together and she betrayed you and gave you up to Hawkmoth… I should've known something was up, why she was so damn keen all of a sudden…"

"It's OK dude," Adrien said reassuringly as Nino turned to properly look at him. "None of us had a clue who she was, she'd been working at the station for years and people who had known her all that time had no idea- we'd have never worked it out in the space of a few days."

"I guess so." Nino shrugged with a small smile but Adrien could still see he felt bad about it. "What actually happened Adrien? One second, everything seemed to be going fine and the next, you were gone and nobody could get hold of you!"

"I'm not sure myself, everything just went so wrong so quickly." Adrien said before he started telling him what he remembered. He told him about the shots from the police officers on the ground, how they had had to run and then about how they had accidentally revealed their identities to each other, which made Nino first gasp and then burst out laughing- "You knocked it off her face! You idiot!"- and then about the akumas turning and knocking him out. The room then seemed to go silent as he described waking up in the warehouse and facing the man himself and Nino could only stare with wide eyes as Adrien went through it all, not leaving out any details.

"Dude, you never told me you and Ladybug had the hots for each other!" Nino burst out when Adrien had to backtrack and explain what had happened on previous raids, his face madly blushing when he got to that time in the cleaning cupboard. "This explains so frigging much! No wonder you were so eager for some of those missions and that's why you were so late that morning… You sly cat!"

He elbowed him in the side, gently enough to not enflame his injuries, but enough to make Adrien flare even redder. "Nino, stop it, this is serious!"

"I know this is serious- my bro finally got some!" Nino cackled as Adrien groaned and hid his head in his hands, wishing that some deity would have pity on him and throw a thunderbolt to end his misery. "Maybe you and Marinette were perfect for each other after all! And she really must have felt the same if she took a bullet for you…"

"Is she OK?" Adrien stared at him pleadingly, his heart already feeling like it was about to be shattered even if he didn't know the answer yet. The last he could remember of her, she had been lying on the ground, her costume soaked in blood and her face paler than bone… Was there a way anyone could survive that?

"Don't worry bro, she's fine." Nino answered him and he let out a long breath as relief flooded him. "She was in a pretty bad way when I found you guys, I honestly thought she was dead but then she opened her eyes when you collapsed and I started dragging you away. Everyone was freaked out but then she started giving orders and before we knew it, everyone was arrested and someone had sent for an ambulance. She was scary man, no wonder everybody feared her." He gave a short laugh before he carried on, seeing how tense Adrien was from the way he was almost tearing the bedsheets in his grasp. "But anyway, she got to the hospital, she was rushed to surgery and now she's fine. The bullet lodged itself in some soft tissue in her body and they were able to get it out easily- they said if it hadn't, it would have gone straight through her and you both would have been dead."

Adrien could only nod- he didn't trust his voice enough to talk about how close both of them had been to dying and how close Hawkmoth had been to winning. "What… what happened with the squad? Why did you guys start shooting so early when I gave you all orders not too?"

"Believe me, I didn't want to shoot." Nino told him, his teeth gnawing at the corner of his lip being the main signal of his discomfort. "But we got orders from the chief to shoot the moment we spotted the akumas- he obviously didn't understand your plan, he said it was way too risky and we needed to keep officer safety as our main priority. Of course, I knew that there was an officer with the akumas but nobody else did so when they started firing, I was trying to get them to stop but then you guys ran and we had to follow you… It wasn't long before they lured us away and then when I tried to contact you, you wouldn't pick up. I was so scared then, I thought a stray bullet had got you and you were dying somewhere…"

"That's surprisingly close to the truth." Adrien tried to joke but he immediately wished he hadn't when he saw Nino look almost green. "Hey Nino calm down, it wasn't your fault, it was the chief's- I knew he didn't believe in us from the start. What's going to happen to him now?"

"From the looks of it, an investigation." Nino said, looking slightly better and even a little gleeful at the chief getting his just deserts. "Everyone at the station exploded when they heard about what he had done and some were criticising him over letting you do this alone without proper back up- as in me." He grinned as he made a pose. "I could have been a great akuma, the coolest one yet! Can't you see me as… oh I don't know… The Bubbler or something?"

"Dude that name is so lame." Adrien smirked back, getting his revenge as Nino pouted at him. "So what will happen to him then?"

"He'll probably quit before that happens, more of a jump before he gets pushed sort of thing." Nino nodded sagely. "You never know bro, you could be in line for his job- people are already saying you deserve some sort of recognition for your bravery."

Adrien snorted as he waved his hand dismissively. "I don't want anything like that though, all I did was my job."

"Always the humble one." Nino shook his head at him but there was no malice in the action, only a sense of pride. "You would deserve it though- you did face Hawkmoth and not die!"

"Eloquently put Nino," Adrien sighed at his friend. "But that wouldn't have happened if you hadn't come just at the right moment so really you get some of the credit."

Nino chuckled at that, going red in embarrassment as his hand rubbed at the back of his neck like that could somehow stop the red colour flowing to his cheeks. "Well I guess I did stop you from committing mass murder. When that wall came down, the first thing I saw was your angry face glaring at all those other akumas and you seriously looked like you were going to shred them to pieces if they came any closer."

"In that moment, I probably would have done," Adrien admitted, remembering how blinded by fury he had been and how it had really been the only thing keeping him standing. "I was just so furious at him and what he had done to us and I believed he'd killed her so I was ready to kill him… stop looking at me like that, it's really embarrassing Nino!"

"I can't help it!" Nino laughed as Adrien glared at him outraged. "You just look so dreamy when you talk about her, I can't pass it up! It's too funny!" He then repeated the heavily-exaggerated impersonation of his friend, complete with clasped hands and a lovesick expression that bordered on caricature. "You really are too far gone!"

Adrien just planted his face back into the safety of his palm. He would have normally retorted with the fact he wasn't the only one who fell hard for an akuma but right now he didn't know if that was safe territory or not, as anything could have happened to Alya. He did know one thing; Nino was never going to let him live this down. "Just tell me about what happened after you couldn't contact me please." He said exasperated as Nino gave another laugh.

"Alright, alright. So, after you disappeared from our radars, I figured that we should follow the rest of your plan and go to the location we'd been given by Reflekta and Princess Fragrance. I didn't really want to as I wanted to try and find you but I knew that was what you'd have said to do." He looked over at him for confirmation and Adrien gave an approving nod. That is exactly what he would have told him and both of them knew it. "So we practically raced there to find the warehouse and when we got there, everything was boarded up- I found out afterwards that the thing had been abandoned years ago and nobody had seemingly touched it for about twenty years but when you looked at it closely, you could tell the whole thing had been re-enforced not long before. It was like a nuclear bunker so there was no way of getting in without busting our way in and so we spent a while getting everything in place and then boom!" He gave a satisfied smile at the memory and Adrien had to smile too. He almost wished he had been there with him just to see how excited he would have got at it.

"So then, once the dust all clears, I run in and see you standing in the middle of a circle, surrounded by akumas with a maskless Ladybug in a pool of blood… I couldn't believe it. I honestly thought I'd walked into a madhouse and lost my mind, the whole scene was just crazy. Then, as I was shouting orders at everyone, you started swaying on your feet and I could tell you were about to faint so I ran to grab you. I managed to catch you just in time- I was scared you were going to land on her and then when I realised it was Marinette, I was this close to dropping you again…" He shook his head like he still couldn't take it all in before he continued. "After that, it's pretty much a blur- all of the akumas were arrested, including Hawkmoth. Man, he was spitting feathers as we dragged him to the police van, all he kept yelling was that he had been betrayed and about you and Ladybug…it took five guys to get him locked up and quiet."

"What about the others?" Adrien asked curiously, the name Alya hanging unspoken in the air. "What did they do?"

"Some of them kicked up a fuss," Nino replied. "I'm glad we had so much of the force out or some might have managed to fight their way out of it but we still got them all. There was one I remember, some purple guy, who seemed really mad at you, he kept on screaming and screaming that you'd murdered Ladybug. Made some curses that would make a sailor blush. But the rest came quietly; it was like they all knew the game was up. Lady Wifi in particular was very meek- she practically ran up me and was almost desperate to be arrested." His face crumpled for a moment and Adrien was suddenly very glad he hadn't made a snide remark earlier about her.

"I'm sorry," He said, putting his hand on Nino's shoulder. "If I had known, I would have said something but I had no idea until last night after I found out who Ladybug was…"

"I know man," Nino said with a small smile. "We sure know how to pick them right? But it isn't really so bad. When I knew you were both safely at the hospital, I went back to the police station to question some of the akumas and I talked to her. We had a long conversation and she was just as horrified about what happened- Marinette's her best friend and they really mean a lot to each other, you can tell. Anyway, she agreed to talk and she's already supplied a lot of new and useful information about Hawkmoth, stuff that will be crucial when we try him. She didn't have any qualms about it; she said all her loyalty vanished the moment he shot her best friend. Reflekta and Princess Fragrance also agreed to further questioning once they heard we had arrested Hawkmoth and I'm certain more will once they smell the coffee and figure out which way the wind is blowing. With that amount of evidence, there's no way Hawkmoth's going to be able to slip out of this one."

"That's awesome!" Adrien beamed. His case was finally complete and Hawkmoth wasn't going to be a threat to Paris anymore. "I'm happy for you bro." His next question was hesitant and he looked down at his lap as he toyed with the bedsheets. "Do you… do you think Marinette would be willing to do the same?"

"I don't know but you could go and ask her." Nino told him, a sly knowing look crossing his eyes at the surprise on Adrien's face. "She's been awake for a little while now and when I went to see her briefly, she kept asking after you. I bet she'll be ecstatic to see you're OK."

"Really?" Nino had to hold himself back from bursting out laughing at Adrien's sudden grin and he could only nod as he suddenly wrestled himself away from the bedsheets. "I need to go and see her… for answers of course." He corrected himself seeing how Nino was only just keeping in control of his laughter as he got out of the bed and strode towards the door, his tired limbs now rejuvenated. "I just need to find the room…"

"Wait!" Nino called out to him just before he opened the door. He was almost out of his chair and on the floor with the effort of keeping his laughter in and his words were spluttered with giggles as he pointed at Adrien's back. "You… can't go out like that… you're in a…hahaha…hospital gown… you look ridiculous…haha…"

Adrien looked down at himself and almost went red again when he saw his friend had a point. The hospital gown he was dressed in was very baggy and loose around his battered body and made of a very thin material that hid nothing. There was nothing at the back, meaning at certain angles his entire body was exposed. He let out a huff as he heard a thud from behind him and loud laughter filled the air as Nino gave in to his laughter and fell rolling to the floor. Trying to ignore him, he looked around the room but there was no sign of his Chat Noir costume; that could literally be anywhere, he realised and he wasn't sure if he wanted it back. It had done its job after all. With a reluctant sigh, he looked back at the snorting mess that Nino had become and gave him a glare.

"OK, OK, it's all very funny. Now can you go and get me some proper clothes?"

OOO

About half an hour later, Adrien was making his way down an almost sparkling white hospital corridor, his eyes examining every door for the right number that would lead him into Marinette's room. The helpful nurse at the front desk had given him directions, scrawled across a random scrap of paper she had found and now he was clutching it between his fingers like it held all the answers to life itself. His eyes kept glancing back and forth between the doors and the room number written at the bottom of the paper- Room L26. He walked on, the footsteps of his socked feet making a padded sound on the sterile tiles of the floor as each door brought him closer to seeing Marinette again. He wondered what kind of state she would be in and he almost winced to think of the worst. Nino had said she was fine but he knew he wouldn't believe that until he saw it for himself.

He turned left and saw the first door was marked L1- he was getting close. He carried on walking, taking a brief glance down at himself and hoping he didn't look too ridiculous. Once Nino had been able to breathe properly again, he had gone out to find some proper clothes and returned with a white t-shirt, a pair of loose grey jogging bottoms that Adrien could have sworn came from the maternity department as they were that big on him and a pair of blue socks. He hadn't been able to get him any shoes so Adrien had to be content with almost slipping around on the clean tiles but at that moment, his attention was too locked on the doors to care, watching as each number brought him closer to his goal.

L7, L8, L9…

What was he going to say to her? That thought hadn't even entered his head and even now he had no clue. There was so much pent-up emotion between the two of them and they had gone through so much but it hadn't struck him until then how little they actually talked. They had always spoken through actions, letting bodies and sly smiles and smirks do their talking, and now after this greatest action of all, they only had words. And anyway, what do you say to someone who just saved your life and ruined their own? He felt grateful to her but he was also confused.

L15, L16, L17…

How much of what she had told him was a lie? That story at her parents bakery… had any of it been true at all? Plus, there was also the giant question that hung over her head of where her loyalties lay. Did she even have a side at all? Had everything been some sort of game? He rubbed his forehead with a cool steady hand; all these questions were doing nothing but giving him a headache. He looked up at the numbers and his stomach flipped at how close he was.

L24, L25… L26.

Now he was here. The door looked the same as its multiple cousins that were dotted along the wall, giving no indication as to who was behind it. Adrien could feel his heart hammering inside his ribcage as he raised his hand up to knock but still he hesitated. He felt ridiculous for it- him, scared of knocking on a door and facing the woman who had saved him?- but he still couldn't help a small dark voice in his head from wondering if she would actually want to see him. Would she hate him for betraying her, for effectively exposing her entire organisation and throwing all her friends in jail? He had only been an akuma for a short time but he had seen that they all were close- their gang had almost been like a small family and he had been responsible for taking that away.

After a deep breath, he steeled himself and closed his eyes as his knuckles firmly tapped on the door. For a moment, there was quiet before he heard a voice from within call out and he reached for the doorknob.

He carefully peered his head around the corner, almost using the door as a shield as he looked around a room that looked identical to his own. The curtains were wide open, flooding the room with light and making the walls almost blinding to look at, and he would have retreated had he not heard the crackling sound of voices that kept switching on and off in an electrical blur. He angled his head further round the door and saw the strange garbled sounds were coming from a small TV propped in the corner of the room. The screen flickered as it rapidly changed channels, each time only lingering for a few seconds on each one before it was switched again with a small click that came from the button being pressed. He could see a thin white arm held straight out, pointing the remote at the screen like it was a gun as they dismissed each channel with no mercy, and he followed it back up to the figure who was perched on the end of her bed with her back towards him. Her black hair was loose and spilling over her shoulders, hiding her face behind a layer of soft waves and she was dressed in a simple white dressing gown that she had tightly pulled around her tiny figure. He could hear her stabbing at the remote, each time with a little more frustration, and a little grunt escaped her lips when she finally had enough and jabbed at the off button, chucking the remote away and letting it land on the sheets behind her.

It was at that point when he knocked again and she spun around, her eyes instantly finding his and holding him there as they both halted. He opened his mouth to say something but closed it again when nothing came to his flustered brain. All he could do was stare at her small frame that appeared even tinier in the expanse of white around her and when he caught a glimpse of a bandage on her shoulder when she shuffled, he felt even worse. How was he not able to say anything? Had this been a bad idea?

In the end it was Marinette who spoke first. "Adrien." She choked out, the word sounding a little strangled as her hands began to fidget with the strings of her dressing gown. "I… didn't know you were up."

She winced at how weak she sounded and Adrien felt a rush of relief go through him; she was just as nervous and unsure as he was and that idea that Ladybug was freaked out was surprisingly reassuring. "Yeah, I only woke up a little while ago. Nino told me you were awake."

She chuckled at that, some colour coming to her cheeks as she smiled. "Figures he would know everything."

"I know." Adrien chortled, allowing the door to open a little more so he could half-step into the room. "He was there when I woke up. He seems to have organised everything just so I don't have to."

She laughed. "I'm not surprised, he knows exactly what you're like. He came in for a few minutes earlier and said he was going to bother you until you woke up. He really is a good friend."

"Yeah, he's the best." Adrien said before they both fell into silence again. Adrien was still only half in the door and he drummed his fingers on the wood as he desperately tried to speak. He wanted to ask her so many questions, it felt like there were a million hovering in the air between the two of them like a noxious gas, but none of them made it past his lips.

It took another moment before Marinette anxiously looked away from him before she timidly patted the space on the bed next to her. "You can come in if you want." She said, still now quite looking him in the eye and instead focusing on the blank TV screen. "You don't have to stand in the doorway."

"Thanks." He said as he stepped in and closed the door behind him. He went and sat down, the bed creaking a little at the added weight of another person, and as he sank into the smoothed-out sheets, he saw another tiny glance of a bandage at her collarbone which sent a wave of guilt crashing down on him. "Are you… OK?"

She turned and looked at him for a moment before she nodded. "Yeah I'm fine," She told him, her smile returning which made his face do the same. "You may not believe me but I've had worse."

He gave a splutter of a laugh and covered his mouth. "You're kidding me!"

"It's true!" She insisted, her eyes now glowing with mirth as she went to persuade him. "You don't get to be feared without having a few scrapes over the years. And how do you think I got that fast? That isn't the first bullet I've had to outrun."

"Wow." Adrien stared at her in astonishment. Even though he knew Ladybug and exactly what she was capable of- his time spent with her had given him enough evidence to believe anything she said- but it was still hard to believe that this slip of a woman had done all that. "You weren't kidding, huh?"

She snorted at that. "Would I lie to you Adrien?" She teased before she realised what she had said and slapped her hand over her mouth. Her eyes stared apologetically at him but the damage had already been done; his face now held a gloomy air at the memory of what they had both discovered last night and his eyes now turned away from her, the green now stormy with emotions. They both fell silent for a moment, Marinette's hand slowly falling to her lap as she waited for him to speak. When he did, his voice shook slightly and he still didn't look back at her.

"How much was a lie Marinette?" He asked softly, not even sounding angry which made her feel ten times worse. "I'm still so confused about where you lie in this. You work for him but all those times at the police station… I can't believe you faked it all. And that story you told about wanting to be an officer… was that all lies too?"

"No!" She blurted out, her hand suddenly shooting out to grip his shoulder and force him to look at her. "I lied about a lot of things to a lot of people but not all of it was. I was ordered by Hawkmoth to get on the case but wanting to know you and Nino… that was all genuine. You guys were so welcoming to me, how could I not? And that story I told you, all of it was true. I just didn't tell you the rest of it."

"The rest of it?" Adrien repeated dumbly as he stared back. She nervously started to play with the string on her dressing gown again but he stopped her by clasping both of his hands over her own and placing them down on her lap. He saw her cheeks go red and he could feel his own coming out in sympathy but he ignored it and continued to implore her with his expression. "What happened after that?"

She looked hesitant and surprisingly afraid, her hands shaking under his touch as her cheeks only flushed into a deeper shade of crimson, almost making her look like her mask was back on her face. "You…you really want to know?" Her voice was so tiny, it was a wonder he heard it and his answer was to gently lift one hand and brush her cheek softly, letting her lean into the touch slightly in support.

"Yes. Please?"

She almost giggled at the pleading word, causing them both to give small smiles at the absurdity of their situation. How on earth had they got to this? Both wondered before Marinette gave a little hiccup and a small nod.

"OK. Well, at the bakery… everything I told you was true. The men coming to take our money, the fear it put in all of us, the night when I knocked them out cold… that was true, every word. I only missed out a few details. Those men, they were Hawkmoth's men. They weren't akumas, just members of some smaller gang he used for protection rackets. They were little more than no name thugs but I didn't know that then. I had no clue they were linked to him, I just knew they were men after my parents."

She gave a little sniff, like she was angry at her past self for not seeing what was now obvious, before she went on, her hands slipping from his and retreating back to her lap.

"Anyway, a few nights after that incident, my parents went out again and I got another knock on the door. There were two other men there, both in the same long coats, and I was terrified. I thought they were there to murder me for what had happened and I nearly slammed the door in their faces but they held it open so I couldn't. I remember just standing on the doorstep shaking, thinking I was going to die at any time and hoping it would be swift, when one of them said that they weren't here to hurt me, only to pick me up. I was really confused at that. I had no clue what they wanted with me but they didn't say anything else when I asked; they just told me to lock up the bakery and follow them. I suppose it was stupid and naïve of me to do it but it felt like I had no choice. It was like I was powerless all over again and no matter how much I hated it, I still had to do it.

They took me across the city in a car with blacked-out windows so I had no idea where we were. After we'd been driving for a long while, I suspect the driver threw in a lot of detours to confuse me, we stopped and I was led out of the car and into some strange warehouse I'd never seen before. I think you know the place." She gave him a small smirk at that and, despite the shiver that went over him, he still managed to raise an eyebrow back, telling her to carry on. "It was all dark at first and I couldn't see a thing. I was convinced I was going to die there and all I could think of was how my parents would react when they came home and found me gone. It almost made me cry but I didn't show it. The last thing I wanted to do was show my fear to them. I think that was what impressed him at first because the next thing I remember, there was a man standing in front of me in a purple suit with a mask over his face. He was smiling at me, a big wide grin with all his teeth showing and I remember he cupped his fingers under my chin and made me look up at him.

"So pretty," He said, still with that grin as he kept turning my head around. "And not frightened at all. You wear an excellent mask, my dear."

He then kept talking to me, asking me all these questions about myself. It was so surreal; there I was in a dark location that I'd been forced to, talking to the most feared man in the whole of Paris and yet he just seemed to be making idle chit-chat. His voice was really calm and soothing and after a while, he had me opening up to him. You may not believe me but he can be quite charming when he wants to be."

Adrien pulled a face at the thought of Hawkmoth being anything like that and Marinette laughed.

"Yeah I know but just believe me on this one. He asked me about what happened that night, how exactly I took out his men and when I told him, he seemed impressed. When he then asked me what I wanted to do for a job and I told him I was training to be a cop, his eyes just lit up and I suddenly felt scared again. There was something in those eyes that just screamed evil but I stayed. I think I must have been rooted to the spot because when he then took my hand and kissed it, I couldn't move my legs. I just stood there staring back at him as he told me he had a proposition that would benefit both of us greatly."

She bit her lip hard, making a red spot form on her pink lips before she hastily licked it away. "He told me I was perfect for being an akuma- nobody had ever stood up to him like that and he wanted my skills. He said he liked the fact that I could keep my emotions under lock and key and he even said I had the right athletic build." She pulled a sickened face at that and Adrien felt a stab of hot anger at the thought. From what he had seen, it wasn't too hard to picture Hawkmoth's eyes roaming over her slight body greedily as he drank her in and it was enough to make him want to punch his masked face. "This was his deal. If I became one of his akumas, he would leave my parent's bakery alone. I would have to train hard, push myself to do all the things I never thought I would ever do to prove my loyalty to him or else, he told me, he would order for my parents to be targeted and forced to pay sums of money they couldn't afford. There was no hint of doubt in my mind when I agreed. I knew what they had worked for, how hard they had struggled to get that bakery and I wasn't going to be the one to have it snatched from them." Her face took on a determined glow and he could tell from one look that she didn't regret her decision one bit. "And so after that, after he made his promise, I became Ladybug."

She gave a shrug as she looked back up at him, her eyes now full of worry. "You don't hate me now, do you?"

"Hate you?" Adrien was taken aback by that, his own eyes growing wide as he looked at her. "I couldn't ever hate you Marinette, you know that. I can't think of anyone else who could be as brave as that and, given that choice, I can't think of anyone who wouldn't have done the same. If Hawkmoth had threatened my family like that, I would have become an akuma just to protect them." He gave her a small calming smile and she suddenly felt like a giant weight had been lifted from her shoulders. "And come to think of it, a lot of things now make sense."

She raised a questioning eyebrow at him. "Like what?"

"Something Reflekta said when we were questioning her." Adrien went on to explain. "She said something about Hawkmoth always keeping his promises. Nino and I thought that was a strange thing for somebody to say but now it makes sense. Hawkmoth kept all the loyalty of his akumas by making them a promise, didn't he?"

Marinette nodded, her smile now wider and proud. "That's exactly it. Every single akuma was given something in return for their service and that can be taken away from them at any time. That's why everybody is so loyal to him. Mine was the promise that my parent's bakery would be safe but everybody's is different. Alya was recruited after she was nearly fired from her job for taking a photo of the inside of somebody's locker. That person complained about a breach of privacy and if it hadn't been for Hawkmoth promising to keep her there, she would have never been able to launch her dream career. Nathanaël was tired of being picked on and teased for his art so Hawkmoth promised him an outlet for it where everybody would admire his creations. We all knew what would happen if we ever slacked off or didn't try- he could so easily take what he had given us away and that was something we couldn't bear. It would have destroyed us." She looked regretful for a moment before she looked back at him with another smirk. "You know, I really thought you would have figured it out sooner what with the hint I told Juleka to give you."

"Wait, what?" Adrien nearly jumped from his seat as he stared at her with his mouth agape. "What do you mean a hint? And who's Juleka?"

"Reflekta, you numbskull." Marinette giggled, sticking out her tongue at him as his cheeks burned red with how cute she looked. "Before you questioned her, I went in and told her what to say." She raised her eyebrow again sarcastically as she watched his shocked face. "What, you really think an akuma would give that much away on their first interrogation? I admit, you two were good and she may have spilled a little more than necessary but she kept to the script pretty well. I was proud of her."

"Hold the phone," Adrien stopped her, the discovery still not sinking in. "You gave us hints? The whole time, you were giving us hints?"

"Of course I was." She told him. "I probably shouldn't have given you so many since without that you'd have never infiltrated us but I still did it. Why do you think I brought you to meet everyone in the café? It wasn't because I had a death wish, I was hoping you'd pick up on some clues with that big brain of yours. I couldn't give you too many, that's why I had to ward the others off when we when on that stakeout but I still wanted to help you."

"But why?" Adrien stared at her in total disbelief. "Why would you want us to catch you? You knew you were our target from the beginning but still you helped us. Why?"

"I don't know." She answered, her voice soft and honest as she looked away from him and back at the blank TV screen like that might reveal everything. "I guess in a weird way I wanted to be caught. I never enjoyed deceiving anyone at the station, it made me feel like such a phony whenever I was there. I never told anyone but from the start I was leaving hints in akuma cases. Some took them, others never found them, some people took them to extremes…" She looked pointedly at Adrien in that moment and he found himself laughing. "But I still did it. You could say I was on both sides but I never wanted to be. I just wanted to be worth something, that's all."

Her head dropped again and Adrien was suddenly reminded of two different encounters that he now realised were eerily similar. The first was that night after his first raid, when he had stood on that rooftop with Ladybug and watched the stars together. She had wondered about each star being another universe and then pondered out loud "Maybe I'll be worth something in one of them." The second was the morning he had spent with Marinette at the bakery when she had also made a comment about it making her feel worth something. He saw her shoulders slump and he knew he had found the crack in her armour. She had pushed herself in both her identities, become Marinette the successful cop and Ladybug the feared criminal, because inside she felt useless for giving in to Hawkmoth and letting herself become like this. Slowly, he inched his hand closer to her and when she looked around at him, his hand was over hers like he was protecting it and his forehead was barely a few centimetres from her own.

"You're not worthless Mari," He said, his voice so quiet that nobody else could have possibly heard him, his words just for her. "I don't want you ever thinking that. Somebody as wonderfully talented as you could never be worthless, how could you be if you were both an amazing police officer and a skilled criminal, even that I have to admit is pretty incredible. You did all that and nobody ever knew. You're a good person at heart Mari, I know it and soon everybody else will too."

Marinette nearly sobbed when she saw how sincere his eyes were. Even after all she had done and all she had told him, his eyes still held those same emotions that she had seen back at the warehouse, back when they both had thought he was on the edge of death. She didn't know her tears of relief and joy had escaped her eyes until he wiped them away from her, his fingers gentle on her skin like he was handling something precious. Slowly she bumped her forehead to his and peered at him shyly from under the cover of her wet eyelashes. He smiled at her again and she almost wanted to giggle. The Ladybug part of her wanted to scold herself for acting like a ten-year-old girl with her first crush but she really didn't care. All that mattered now was that he was still there, still with her and she knew now he would be until the very end of this sticky mess and beyond.

"Adrien?" She asked and she felt him hum in response. "What's going to happen to me now?"

He looked at her with his eyes more focused, no longer in a daydream, but he didn't pull away. "Well that's why I'm here," He told her calmly. "I was going to ask you if you would be willing to stand as a witness for Hawkmoth's trial. If you do, the force will be willing to make a deal with you. Given your previous reputation there, along with my backing and Nino's, we should be able to get you a new kind of job, one where you'll be able to use your own experience and knowledge as Ladybug to help us round up the last straggling ends of his empire. That's what I'll be pushing for anyway and if I become the new chief like Nino thinks I'll be, there won't be anything to stop me." He gave her a sly smirk, one she had grown to associate with a certain black cat, and wove her fingers with his own. "So Marinette, what do you say?"

She returned his smirk with a smile of her own, a wicked one he had seen a million times before underneath a red spotted mask and one that still had the power to turn his insides into jelly. "It does have appeal," She purred, drawing her face closer to his so he could feel her breath fanning his already-warmed cheeks. "But won't I still have to be supervised?"

His face split into a wide grin as his free fingers found their way to her chin. "I think that given your record that will have to be the case," He murmured, his lips close to brushing over her own. "But don't worry about it. You're under my arrest now- and I'm not planning to let you out of my sight."

It's done! I finally finished it! Wow… I'm sorry I left you all on a cliffhanger but I was hoping this wasn't going to take as long- firstly the chapter is way longer than I thought and secondly I've had a lot on my plate that I didn't see coming. I hope this ending makes up for the wait, I wanted to make it as good as I could for you guys.

On a final note, thank you all for reading this story and giving it your support. With all this stuff happening, I never would have finished it without your amazing reviews- they did really mean the world. I'm really proud of this and I hope you all loved it too.

CursedRedRose out :)