Miraculous Christmas

Chapter 3

Ladybug looked around to assess the situation and she saw a kid dressed as an elf riding down the street on the back of a reindeer. A line of adults in elf costumes followed behind ominously chanting the lyrics to "Santa Claus is Coming to Town".

"I hope you've been good this year, m'lady," Chat Noir said when he landed on the roof beside her. "You wouldn't want those elves to tell Santa to put you on the naughty list."

"I like to think that I have." she smiled at him, "I don't know if I could say the same for you though." She stepped forward to flick his bell, but winced in pain as soon as she stepped down.

"What's wrong, M'lady?"

"I- uh- I broke my ankle the other day. It's not a big deal."

"You can't fight like this."

"I'll be fine, as long as I'm careful."

"Maybe you should sit this one out buggaboo." He put his hand on her shoulder and looked into her eyes.

"I can't do that. I'm Ladybug. I'm the only one who can purify the akuma. So, I'm going."

"No. What if we get Rena to help until you get better? We can catch the akuma in a jar or something and bring it to you to purify."

"I guess that would be okay." She said after thinking for a minute. 

"I'm glad you think so. I'll do what I can until Rena gets here."

"I'll be on the top of the Eiffel tower. That's where you can meet me." And with that, she was off  on her way to Master Fu's.

.....................................................

Ladybug found Alya following behind the elves with her camera, trying to get footage for her blog. Chat Noir was holding onto the now charging reindeer's antlers for dear life. "Hang on kitty," she whispered before pulling Alya into an empty alleyway. 

"Alya, do you think you could help me out?" She held out the open miraculous box for her friend.

"Of course, Ladybug! Literally any time."

"I'm glad you said that, because I have another favor to ask you, but it will have to wait. Right now, Chat Noir needs your help."

"Okay! Trix, lets pounce!" A flash of orange light filled the alley and scared a cat that was hiding in the dumpster. "Aren't you coming?" Rena asked when she noticed that Ladybug didn't make a move to follow her towards the akuma.

"No. I-I actually have something else that I have to do. You know, top secret super hero stuff."

"But how will we catch the akuma?"

She explained the plan and they went their separate ways. Ladybug watched the fight from a safe place on a roof, prepared to step in if need be. Much to her surprise, it was over pretty quickly. She made her way to the designated meeting spot and waited for Chat and Rena to show up.

Finally she caught sight of them on the horizon. She couldn't help but feel a sense of jealousy seeing them laughing together, but she quickly brushed it off. 

"How did it go?" She asked innocently, as if she hadn't seen the whole thing.

"You really think I didn't notice you watching us?" Chat Noir asked, putting his arm over her shoulders. "

"I just wanted to make sure everything was okay." she pushed him off. 

"What happened to your 'secret super hero stuff?'"

"What are you talking about? She hurt her ankle. That's why she couldn't fight today."

"Haha, yeah. I hurt my left ankle last week." She said, trying to emphasize that her injury was completely different than Marinette's injury which was on the right side and happened yesterday. "That's actually what I was meaning to talk to you about. Do you think you could step in for me while I recover? You would be able to keep your miraculous until I'm better."

"Are you serious? This is a dream come true!" she hugged Ladybug and squealed in excitement.

"I'll take that as a yes." They all laughed. "Do you think you can get home okay?"

"Oh yeah, for sure. Thank you Ladybug! I won't let you down." She leaped down and headed in the direction of her house.

Chat noticed that Ladybug was holding her right foot off the ground and put all of her weight on her left leg. No doubt she said that because she didn't want Rena to be able to figure out who she was. Come to think of it, she probably didn't want him to know that either. But now that he did, he couldn't stop thinking about how much of a coincidence it was that both Ladybug and Marinette had broken ankles at the same time. Could it be, or was he jumping to conclusions? 

His ring beeped, signaling that he needed to get going. "That's my cue to leave m'lady." he pulled her hand up to his lips and left a gentle kiss on her knuckles. She blushed a little. "Take care of yourself." 

"Wait! The akuma."

"Oh yeah." He pulled out a jar with black butterfly fluttering inside. When he let it go, Ladybug caught it and purified it. His ring beeped again. He gave her a salute and ran to find a safe place to detransform.