Undiscovered Melody |COMPLETED|

Chapter 25

Ladybug found that Cat Noir was waiting for her at the rooftop she had described to him and saw him grin at her as she landed near him.

"M'Lady," said Cat.  "I missed you at Marinette's.  You were already gone when I came down. Why did you—"

"I don't have a lot of time, so I'll just get straight to it," said Ladybug, interrupting to try to distract him from following his line of thought. "I've been talking with Marinette and we are thinking that it would be best if you and I aren't seen around her house. It will only attract more attention."

"But, I'm just trying to help!" he said.  "I know what it's like to have people after you like that and . . . it's not fun."

Ladybug narrowed her eyes, wondering whether he was referring to when he was Cat Noir or whether this happened in his normal life.

Cat Noir avoided meeting her eyes, worried his own would reveal too much, and continued.  "If I can't do that to help, what can I do?  I really need to do something.  This situation is so unfair to Marinette.  She didn't do what those headlines implied.  She doesn't deserve this," he said before whispering "She's always so nice to everyone."  He then turned his gaze to her. "Please, let me do something to help her," he said, a stricken expression on his face.

Ladybug was surprised at how emotional Cat was about this.  "What do you think you can do?" she asked softly.

He started pacing around the rooftop and rubbed the back of his neck as he thought.  "The photographer!" he said eventually and then turned to face her.  "I could . . . I could try to figure out who she is!  Find her. Maybe get a photo of her and then we could . . ."  He started pacing again. 

"We would know what she looks like and be able to watch for her.  Marinette could also show her photo to the hotel and make sure she's kept out!  That's a really good idea!" Ladybug said.  She started to join him in pacing.  "But, how could you find her?"

The two superheroes continued to pace around in thought. Cat Noir then stopped and looked at Ladybug who stopped and gave him her attention. "Well," he said, "we know that she's not going to give up until she gets what she needs. I saw how determined she is. And, she's not going to want the same shot that everyone else gets.  I've gone over other photos of hers online and hers is always different from average.  The shots are not the staged kind."

"Marinette mentioned that she and Luka were going to stage shots so the paparazzi could get some of what they wanted and maybe leave them alone. But, based on what you're saying would she show up to just get staged photos?" she asked him, since he seemed to understand this world a bit more than she did.  "Good idea to research other photos of hers, by the way," she added, impressed that he had done other work without being asked first.

Cat Noir was taken aback at being given a second compliment in such a short amount of time, so he took a moment to answer her as he enjoyed the pleasure of doing something she thought was good.  "Hmm. I'm not sure. If she does, she definitely won't be in with the crowd. She's more of a loner. She might be at a completely different vantage point to try to get the shot that the targets don't want her to get," said Cat.

"So, like she might be waiting for them some place along the route they take to get to where they've arranged the photos to be taken?  Or, she's up on the rooftop again?  Or something like that?" she said.

Cat Noir nodded.  "I think you're right. So, we can be waiting for her where she doesn't expect us and get her picture!"

"We should probably each stake out a completely different spot, so we increase the odds that we will find her," said Ladybug, worrying about him finding out she was not where she was supposed to be because she was going to need to be in the photos.