Shall We Dance?- A Miraculous Ladybug Fanfiction

Chapter 24

Sabine fussed over Mari as soon as Alya dragged her through the front door of the bakery. Said shop was in a lull; only one or two customers who already had their orders milled about eating so she took a moment to let her husband know she was taking her upstairs and she wrapped her arms around her shoulders, leading her up the stairs and into her room. Mari sighed happily, collapsing on her bed. Sabine eyed her but put some medicine, tea, and a heated pack on her desk for easy access. She brushed her hair out of her face, smiling sadly, but left quietly as Marinette started to doze off. Coming back downstairs, Alya shifted nervously and smiled at the older woman.

"I'm sorry about this Sabine," she said. "She didn't get sick until this morning."

"Don't worry about it sweetie. I'm just glad she has such a good friend to take care of her." Alya smiled brighter, thanked her, and left. Not of course, without getting a box of sweets from Tom on the way. Trixx poked her head out of the messenger bag.

"She smells funny," the fox pointed out.

"Who? Sabine?" Trixx nodded. "What's that supposed to mean?" The kwami shrugged and snuggled back into the bag. Alya furrowed her brow, confused but she merely gripped her bag tighter and continued down the sidewalk.

****

Sabine's brow was furrowed. She stepped over to the bookshelf in the living room and reached up for a tiny box hidden behind a picture frame. It was red and black with Chinese symbols decorating the top and sides; it was extremely dusty having not been touched in years. She brushed the top nostalgically. A line of dust came off and she raised it, blowing the rest off. She opened the top slowly. This revealed an orange colored stone with a couple of lines of black running through it. It still glistened in the light as if she had been polishing it this whole time. She bit her lip. She was so... old now. She no longer was the young girl she used to be; would she really be any help to her daughter or would she just be in the way?

What was the right thing to do?

She took a breath, closing the lid. Sliding it back in its hiding place, she turned and left the room, returning to help her husband with a new batch of goodies, resolving with herself to only help if the situation became too dire for her to stay silent anymore.

****

Chat Noir jumped from one building to the next, wasting no time to head to Marinette's balcony. Only a couple of hours had passed. There was still some day light out and normally, he would be scared to leave as Chat Noir in such a time but he couldn't wait any longer. Nathalie had kept an eye on him for some time before allowing him to disappear into his bedroom where he fed Plagg (who wasn't complaining too loudly since he was going to get to see Tikki) and transformed, taking off into the night. Now, he used his baton to span a rather large expanse. He jumped once more and landed on her roof with a soft, thud. The transformation ended. Adrien walked over to the hatch and knocked. There was no response. He waited, knocked again. This time, Tikki came to the hatch, phasing out of it, rubbing her eyes, and yawning. She smiled at him.

"Evening you two. Mari's still sleeping but I don't think she'll mind me letting you in. Be careful coming down though." Tikki went back into the hatch, unlocked it. Adrien tugged on it from the outside. Sliding, he made sure to watch his feet placement to not step on his lovely girlfriend (uh... unofficially of course since they haven't confirmed or denied anything). She had curled herself around her cat body pillow, her hair tangled in its pigtails. He smiled as he closed the hatch, climbing down onto the bed, and he started to head for the ladder but he stopped long enough to place a kiss on her forehead. He moved to leave. Something stopped him though and he turned to find a bleary eyed Marinette gripping the back of his shirt.

"Evening Princess," he smirked, backing himself up on the bed. She released his shirt and wrapped her arms around his waist. Nuzzling into his chest, she released a happy sigh, her eyes fluttering closed again. He stroked her hair. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," she mumbled. "Napping helped." She turned her head to smile up at him. She squeezed him a bit and added, "I missed you this last week."

"I missed you too. I tried to get it done early but it seemed like my bad luck followed me everywhere. First day, I got water dumped on me! The next day the cameras died and the third, our set was overrun by fans. It was crazy."

"Aww my poor kitty." She reached up and petted his hair. Teasingly, he kissed her wrist before she dropped her hand. His eyes softened as he looked at her.

"Mari, I owe you an apology."

"Adrien...."

"No. Please. Don't stop me." He shifted and pulled her with him until they were both sitting up. Taking her hands in his, he rubbed them softly with his thumbs, creating gentle circles where he touched. "Marinette, I should've... god, I should've fought harder to not go. If I hadn't left you...."

"Stop it Adrien. It wasn't your fault."

"But it was Marinette. I'm supposed to be your partner and I left you without any back-up or anything. Because of me you saw...."

"Adrien Agreste. I swear to all that is good if you don't stop I will throw you off my balcony." He flinched and averted his eyes; he gave her hands a squeeze. She took a breath, "Adrien, what I saw was horrific. Yes, I'm scared. Yes, I'm worried that... that one day this might happen." She removed her hands to wrap them around herself, shivering. "I've always been one to throw things out of proportion but this... this is a reality that could exist. What if I mess up? What if you get seriously injured? What if you die?" She steeled herself. "Tikki says that my magic is rather powerful but still, I've never tried to bring someone back before. What if it fails? What if the one time I really need it, I can't do it or it won't or whatever! I'm scared. Really and truly scared but...." She reached out her hands again, taking his and pulling him closer. "You came back to me," she breathed happily, "You kept your promise. Anything I could ever dream of, anything I could ever fear, well, they feel... smaller somehow because you came back." She placed a gentle kiss on his nose. "And no matter if we're in the same city or country or even continent, as long as I know you're out there and thinking of me, I can be that much stronger." He smiled at her, gently reaching up to cup her face.

"You are too good for me. Here I was trying to make you feel better and you turned it all around on me." He kissed her forehead. She grinned at him.

"It takes a lot to get me down Adrien. You should know that by now."

"You're definitely a 'glass-half-full' kind of person."

"Speaking of which, I'm thirsty." She paused as an idea crossed her mind. She leaned in close to him, smiling alluringly, "Hey, Adrien? It's not too late outside right? It's still daytime."

"Yeah but not for long. Maybe an hour or so more." He narrowed his eyes at her. "What are you planning?" Her smirk didn't fade as she started to teasingly walk her fingers up his stomach and chest.

"Well, I was thinking. It's a weekend night. We don't have to go anywhere in the morning. I'm still feeling pretty shaken and would like to have a friend by my side tonight. Why don't we... why don't we have a sleepover?!" He blinked. It took a second for her words to settle in but when they did, he laughed (but not too loudly to alert her parents). When he managed to regain his breath, he wiped the back of his hand against his tear-filled eyes, and he gasped out, "You're a genius." He kissed her nose before calling for Plagg (who had been far more compliant lately).

"I'll ask Nathalie if it'll be alright."

"And I'll ask my parents. There shouldn't be any problem. Especially since I know they ship us together so hard." Adrien's face erupted.

"Wh-what?"

She giggled but playfully poked his nose. "Yep. They do. I've heard them talking before when they think I haven't been listening. They've got a bet on when we start dating too. I'm surprised Alya didn't drag them into her and Nino's bet." Sliding off her bed, she motioned for him to go. "You better get going if this is going to be an actual thing." He transformed, saluted her with two fingers, before disappearing out of her roof again. She shook her head but disappeared herself, heading downstairs to have a talk with her parents about an impromptu sleepover.