One Way or Another

A Missing Ingredient, A Name Game and A Retaliation

Chat Noir stared up at Ladybug while Emilie and Nathalie went over to Gabriel to make sure that he was okay.

"Please," Ladybug continued. "Please Kitty, don't make me take your ring away from you."

After a moment, he reached up to caress her cheek. "M'lady," he whispered. "I'm sorry."

"I understand that you're upset, but this isn't the way to handle things."

A nod. "Please forgive me."

Ladybug leaned into his touch. "I already have. But I need you to detransform now."

Chat Noir nodded again. "Claws in." And back as Adrien, he accepted Ladybug's outstretched hand and stood up. Then, needing to express how sorry he felt, he hugged her tightly. And he didn't want to let go.

After a minute, she pulled back and ran her fingers along his face. "I love you Adrien. I'm okay right now, I swear. I'm okay. Please don't be afraid."

"I... I just love you so much," he whispered.

"I know," she replied before leaning in for a sweet kiss.

When the kiss was over, Adrien pressed his forehead against hers.

They stayed like that for a second before Ladybug spoke again. "Are you feeling better, Kitty?"

"Yes, M'lady."

"That's good. Because I think maybe you should apologize to your father now."

Almost forgetting that they weren't alone, he glanced over and found three people looking back at him. And it broke his heart to see that Emilie was the one who had the most disappointment on her face.

After nodding, Adrien broke away from Ladybug and approached Gabriel. Then he sheepishly looked up at him. "Father, I'm sorry that I lost my temper and attacked you. I hope that you can forgive me."

Gabriel nodded. "Forgiven."

Then Adrien turned to Emilie. "I'm really sorry Mom."

She took a small breath and exhaled. "I know that you're upset baby, but this is not the person I raised."

And Adrien looked down, embarrassed.

"But I love you," Emilie continued. "You know I always will, no matter what happens." She reached out and pulled him in for a hug.

Relieved, he pulled away after a few seconds. Then he turned to Nathalie. "I'm sorry about your tablet."

Nathalie shrugged, trying to contain a smile. "I can't even tell you how many tablets I've gone through working for this family. They're easy enough to replace."

And he smiled.

So with the tension broken, Ladybug moved up to them. "Are we all good now?" she asked.

"Yes, we're good," Gabriel replied.

Adrien went to step up to her but stopped when he noticed something. "Your suit," he said quietly, staring at the faded colors on her abdomen. "You can actually see where you got hit."

And everyone looked down at the damage.

Feeling uncomfortable with all eyes on her, Ladybug cleared her throat. "Yeah well, the suit got hit too. So it will probably keep getting worse until we fix the Miraculous." A pause. "So, let's get to it then. Spots off," she added, detransforming.

"Alright, what can we do?" Adrien asked, stepping up and placing his hands on her shoulders.

"We try to fix the Starfish. It's broken, just like the Peacock used to be. But Gabriel, you fixed it," Marinette said, looking over at him. "So we just need to do the same to this one."