Chat Out of the Bag?

Chapter 11

Adrien was glad he was able to convince Ladybug to visit Lucia's school a couple of days after she was akumatized. The little girl was so excited that she got to meet her heroes.

He had bought a special autograph book for Lucia for the occasion. Lucia and the other children were so excited and it made Adrien's heart soar. He may have fans from modeling but it was different when little kids loved you because you helped keep them safe.

Adrien had to pretend to be shocked when Lucia said that Ladybug and Cat Noir stopped by her school and gave her autographs. She was so happy that she was practically bouncing in her booster seat.

"This is going to be my treasure now. Next time we see Chloe, I have to ask her to sign it too."

Their father was too busy to see them when they got home. Natalie had told Lucia that she was allowed to play at her friend's house that weekend but could not sleep over.

She was still too happy about getting autographs from her favorite heroes to care that she wasn't allowed to sleep over. She was upset that her papa was too busy to see her. She wanted to show him the autographs she got.

The siblings had music practice later but Lucia wanted Adrien to teach her how to play his favorite video game.

"This button is to attack and this one is to dodge," explained Adrien.

Lucia pushed the buttons and watched as her character moved around, "I did it!"

He held out his hand for a high five. Lucia giggled and used both of her hands for the high-five.

After music practice, Lucia seemed distracted and kept staring at a picture on Adrien's desk. It was a family photo that was taken before their maman disappeared. Lucia was still a baby in the picture and everyone looked so happy.

"What's with the long face? You are one of my kittens not one of Kaalki's foals," said Plagg.

"Is that another fairy friend," questioned Lucia.

Plagg nodded. Lucia was still too young to understand that kwami were not house fairies so he will let her believe they were fairies for now.

"Don't tell Adrien but I think papa hates me," said Lucia.

"Why do you think that?" asked Plagg. The kwami of destruction was considering ways he could torture the negligent father.

"He never wants to play with me, he never smiles, and he sent me away for a long time," said Lucia.

Plagg hugs the little girl and purrs for her.

Adrien walks into his room to find the two hugging.

"Guess who got your favorite snack," he said as he handed the little girl a treat from the kitchen.

"Peach Clafoutis!"

She offered some to Plagg but since it did not have cheese he declined. He floated up and sat on Lucia's head.

"So I was talking to the littlest kitten and she said that your father never smiles. I want proof that he is capable of emotions," said Plagg.

Adrien rolled his eyes at his kwami but he went to his computer and pulled up a video. He patted his lap and Lucia sat on it to watch the unfamiliar video.

"This was your first birthday party, Lucia. I don't think Father knows that I have the videos," said Adrien.

Lucia was toddling around in the video in a pink dress. Her hair was just long enough to have two little pigtails. She went over to the kid's table and hugged who looked to be a little Chloe.

"Good job Baby Lulu. Walking like a big girl. Maybe Daddy will let me have a baby sister too," said the little blonde girl.

Two little boys who looked identical were sitting at the table with Chloe. The birthday girl stared at both of them and sat on the lap of the one sitting closest to Chloe.

"She did it again," said the other boy, "How does she tell us apart when the grown-ups can't?"

Plagg motioned to Adrien to pause the video. "Who is the clone next to you?"

Lucia giggled, "That's not a clone, that's Felix. His maman and our maman are twin sisters. The last time I saw him was when his papa was sleeping in a weird bed."

"Sleeping in a weird bed? Do you mean..."

Adrien nodded his head at Plagg's unfinished question. It was agreed upon that the subject of death was too much for Lucia considering her young age.

Plagg clicked on the mouse himself to continue playing the video.

Baby Lucia hugged little Adrien and started babbling very seriously to the older children.

"Adrien, it's time for Lucia to blow out her candles. Do you want to help her?" said a woman that Plagg recognized from all the various pictures of her.

Emilie was the picture of beauty and grace. Standing next to her was a much younger-looking Gabriel. Considering how old Lucia was currently, the loss of his wife seemed to age him considerably in such a short amount of time.

The man in question was indeed smiling as he watched his son make their way over to the main table with his little sister in tow.

Everyone at the party sang happy birthday and Adrien helped Lucia blow out her candles. Everyone cheered and the cake was cut by their maman. Lucia was served the first slice and she started to eat the fruit off the top of her cake. Everyone was cheerful in the video. The situation was like night and day now.

"I don't remember this," said Lucia.

"You were one in this video. We can watch some more another time. It's bedtime for you," said Adrien.

Lucia pouted but got ready for bed. She was told that she would be working on a commercial tomorrow so needed her rest.

Adrien tucked her into bed and kissed her forehead.

"Good night, Lucia"

"Night, Adrien. Night, Plagg."

Cat Noir had patrol that night with Ladybug. He made sure that Lucia was in her room sleeping before he went out to meet up with Ladybug. He even locked his door just in case.

Lucia had another bad dream. She had a feeling that Papa would not want her bugging him over a dream. She would go to Natalie but she hadn't been feeling well. She felt bad about bothering Adrien but he always makes the bad dreams go away. With that decided, Lucia gathered her hero dolls and walked over to her brother's room. His door was locked for some strange reason.

Lucia knew she shouldn't but she figured that he locked the door by accident. She touched the doorknob and concentrated. There was a little click sound and she opened the door to her brother's room.

She looked around but he wasn't there. He wasn't even in the bathroom. Maybe he and Plagg went to grab a snack from the kitchen. The fairy was always hungry for some cheese. She got on Adrien's bed to wait for him but dropped her Cat Noir doll. It ended up underneath the bed so she got off the bed and crawled underneath to grab her toy. Before she could crawl back out, she heard a noise. She stayed under the bed for safety.

Someone came into Adrien's room from the window. Lucia slowly poked her head out from underneath the bed to see who the stranger was. What was Cat Noir doing in her house?

"Plagg, claws in," said Cat Noir.

Lucia's brother was Cat Noir!