Nathalie sighed as she shut the door to her apartment behind her, exhaustion setting into her bones.

In her defense, it had been a very long day.

Groaning softly, low in her throat, she rubbed briefly at her face before dropping her keys into the small bowl kept on a little table by the door, then flicked open her purse to let Trixx out. Granted, the tiny fox could have phased right through, but Tikki had told her once that it was impolite to do so without good reason.

Privately, Nathalie suspected that it took more energy than the kwami were willing to admit, so they didn't do it unless they felt a real need for it.

As soon as her purse was open, Trixx darted out in a streak of orange and was off exploring, poking her tiny little nose into every corner of the apartment. The tiny fox gave an excited squeal, and the following rustle of leaves made Nathalie twitch.

"Don't hurt any of my plants, Trixx."

"Oh, please. I'm not going to hurt any of them. Besides, you have enough that your Ladybug is showing!"

A newfound love of plants and growing things had been one of the side-effects that had come about as a result of being Ladybug. Even now, nearly every horizontal surface in her apartment had some sort of plant on it, including the corner of the room closest to the patio doors having a red-edged Dracaena that nearly reached the ceiling and needed to be trimmed back again. Several more plants rested in pots hanging from the ceiling, though these were various species of ivy and a couple of spider plants.

For all the fact that she felt better when surrounded by plants, Nathalie also didn't have much of a green thumb and tried to pick things that were hard to kill.

Nathalie could feel a thought niggling at the back of her mind, something she should probably tell Trixx, but for some reason she couldn't quite catch hold of it.

Oh well. It probably wasn't important.

She was halfway to her bedroom, her mind thinking blissfully of her wonderfully soft and comfortable bed, when the thought actually managed to break loose and catch hold.

Nathalie froze, then gave a soft curse under her breath and whipped around to head back down the hallway to the living room. "Trixx, watch out, I have a cat!"

"Hmm?" Trixx looked up from where she was investigating Nathalie's small DVD collection, then yelped and darted straight up in the air as eight kilograms of feline landed just where she had been.

"Lucky! Bad cat!" Nathalie scolded as Trixx shot over to land on top of her head, examining her new housemate from her safe vantage point.

For his part, the cat looked entirely unconcerned as he sat down and began to wash his face.

"Ugly thing, isn't he?" Trixx commented, wrinkling her nose slightly. The tomcat was huge, with medium length, fluffy fur, marbled tabby brown with white tuxedo markings, and enough scars on his face, ears, and front legs that he looked like he had picked a fight with a blender.

"He's a retired alley tom that kind of hung around and decided to move in one day. He and Theo hiss at each other any time Theo comes over," Nathalie said, sighing as she went to the kitchen and filled up the cat bowl with kibble, to make sure he at least wouldn't be stalking Trixx out of hunger. Not that she thought he could actually hurt the wily little fox, but the less reason he had, the better.

"What is it with you and tomcats?" Trixx snickered, lifting off of Nathalie's head to float along with her as her new Chosen headed towards the bedroom.

"Oh shut up. It's too late for this and it's been a long day." The human of the two stifled a yawn as she sat down on the edge of her bed and bent over to begin removing her shoes.

Trixx drifted up, floating over to the windowsill where more plants were crowded to make the most of the light, though these ones had bows around the pots. Unlike the plants in the living area, these ones seemed to all be flowering plants, including an orchid, a small rose bush carefully trimmed back, and a potted mix of different flowers. "These are different from the others."

"My Kitten gave me those," Nathalie said over her shoulder as she worked on brushing out her hair.

"Theo?"

"No. The current Chat Noir. I know him outside the suit, although I don't think he recognized me today."

"Okay, I'm definitely going to need the story behind all of this." Trixx shot over to where Nathalie was finishing changing for bed, hovering over the end.

Nathalie sighed, but figured that this had been coming. "I'm the personal assistant to Gabriel Agreste, who is a famous fashion designer. I also coordinate things for his son, Adrien."

"And this Adrien is the current Chat Noir?"

"Yes. I recognized Plagg's ring as soon as I saw him wearing it." Nathalie gave a tight smile. "At least it allowed me to add Plagg's favorite cheese to the household grocery list and budget without my boss being any the wiser. Adrien is a good kid, but he doesn't always ask questions when he probably should. Like why we were stocking camembert when we hadn't been before."

"Probably doesn't want to question it in case the supply dries up," Trixx pointed out, and Nathalie chuckled.

"If you ever meet Adrien, you'll see just how oblivious he can be."

"He certainly likes to get you flowers," Trixx snickered, flitting down to drag one of the pillows on the bed out away from the others.

"I mentioned I liked plants once, so he tends to get me them as gifts."

"You're not telling me everything," Trixx said as she fluffed up the pillow, then dived right into the middle, giving a pleased sigh as she curled up.

"Because my situation is rather delicate. Let's just say that I'm going to need some help being as clever as a fox by the time we're through." Nathalie shot Trixx a tight smile.

"Don't try to dodge the subject with a being as old as I am," Trixx scolded lightly, but from the set of her ears was clearly amused.

"You'd think a being as old as you would have learned some patience in that time," Nathalie retorted, only to earn a laugh from Trixx.

"Patience is just another word for having to wait, most of the time."

"I think Theo would agree with you."

"So, why do you need my cleverness? Because otherwise I would say that you would have better suited Duusu as a Chosen."

"Because I know who Hawkmoth is."

Trixx sat up, her expression suddenly very serious. "You're sure?"

"Positive. And he's my boss."

Trixx blinked, then snorted and gave a crooked grin with a little too much fang in it to be completely humorous. "I've heard of bad bosses, but this is a little ridiculous."

"Having a supervillain as a boss kind of beats any other argument," Nathalie agreed with a slight, fierce grin of her own.

Trixx tensed as Nathalie's cat suddenly leapt onto the bed, the two staring at each other before Lucky gave a disdainful sniff and stalked past to curl up on one of the pillows beside Nathalie's head, not even looking at the kwami.

"He's also Adrien's father. And even out of costume, he has a lot of clout and power." Nathalie took a deep breath. "He's also the one I stole Duusu's Miraculous from. Which he is not going to be pleased about."

"So we're going to have to tread carefully." Trixx gave a slight nod.

"Both to keep ourselves safe, and to keep him off of Adrien and Plagg's scent. As it is, I can cover for Adrien when he misses things due to akuma attacks. Sadly, I haven't been as successful as I would like in getting the boy more freedom to be a normal teen."

Trixx gave her Chosen a sharp look, going quiet for a long moment. "… He's your kit, isn't he?"

"… By blood? No. And don't get me started on what I would like to do to his mother, which is a whole other story. But… I consider him my kitten, even if I can't show it during work because I have to be professional." That, and if she were to be fired, her replacement wouldn't try to look out for Adrien like she tried to.

"You were right. It is a delicate situation." Trixx smirked slightly. "Though if you'll be around Plagg's Chosen a lot, perhaps I could catch up with Plagg. He always was up for a few good pranks, and I think we have the perfect target."

"So long as you don't make messes for the maids to clean up. No need to get them involved or make things harder for them."

"Don't worry, we won't." Trixx gave a mischievous grin, followed up by a large yawn that took up over half her face. "I'm wiped. It's been a couple decades since I was last active, and it's been a long day."

Nathalie nodded, prompted into her own yawn by Trixx. "Get some sleep. Tomorrow is going to be even longer."

Trixx snuggled down further on her pillow, flicking her tail up so that it covered her face and giving a slightly muffled "Night, Nathalie."

"Goodnight, Trixx."

"What are we doing today?" Duusu asked, halfway through her morning muffin. Theo swallowed his mouthful of coffee and set his mug down before answering.

"Job hunting. I tend to temp a lot, and my last job ended a few days ago, so I've been looking for a new one." Playfully, he reached out to steal a small piece of his kwami's muffin, only to jerk his hand back in shock when she hissed and flared her tail at him. Okay, do not fuck with Duusu's muffins, got it.

Duusu took the time to settle down and preen her tail flat again before speaking. "Any luck so far?"

"No, the past few days I've been putting in applications online. It's supposed to be nice out today, so I was going to walk around and put in applications at the smaller mom and pop places that usually don't let you apply online."

"What about the art supplies?" Duusu floated up and inscribed a small flip in the air before gesturing at where Theo's paints, brushes, canvases, and other things were… well, not neatly stored, but at least they were mostly out of the way.

He gave a wry grin. "I'm not well known enough to make a living making art full time. Sure, I sell my stuff now and then, and I got paid pretty well to design and create a statue several months back, but it's not enough to live off of. I use it to supplement what I get from working temp jobs." He grimaced. "It's going to be even harder to keep a job now, having to respond to akuma attacks."

"Why don't you have steady job already?"

Theo sighed and lightly tapped at the side of his head. "Memory problems. Makes it hard to hold down a job… or a relationship, for that matter."

Duusu's eyes softened, and she floated over to rub her tiny cheek against his stubbled one. "I'm sorry."

"For what? It's not your fault, little bird. Now finish up, I want to get an early start."

The kwami gave him an unreadable look before going back to her muffin.

Nathalie sighed as she typed, aching deep down and wanting nothing more than to smack her boss with a rolled-up newspaper.

Or a fist. A fist would work.

Gabriel, predictably, was furious, although she derived some tiny amount of satisfaction from the fact that he couldn't stay what he was so angry about. Instead he was stalking around like a child throwing a tantrum, snarling at anyone who so much as breathed funny around him. Thankfully she had gotten Adrien out the door with the Gorilla before Gabriel got anywhere near that wing of the mansion.

The fact that small things seemed to be conspiring to piss Gabriel off even more obviously had nothing to do with her. Or the fact that her purse had been suspiciously empty since five minutes after she had gotten into work.

It was little things, like his pen disappearing after he put it down, only to be found under his desk, or his laces becoming undone and somehow tangling themselves, or the power strip that his work computer was plugged into somehow being turned off after he hadn't saved for a full hour and had lost the new line he had been drawing.

Nathalie made a note to never tell Theo about the last one, his artist's soul would probably cry in horror.

Also, she hadn't known that Gabriel screamed like a little girl.

A small rustling came from her bag, and she glanced down to see Trixx making herself comfortable, grinning wide enough to show her fangs as she dug for one of the small baggies that Nathalie had filled with pecans that morning. After making sure that none of the staff were around, she spoke softly while still staring at her monitor. "Have fun?"

"Loads," Trixx whispered back. "I added hair dye to his shampoo."

Nathalie's typing paused briefly before she forced herself to continue. "Where in the world did you get hair dye?"

"It was under one of the sinks in one of the bathrooms, looked like it hadn't been messed with in a while. Hope he likes the color pink."

"You're vicious."

"And he tried to keep my mate locked away. This is just the start of what's in store for him." Trixx took a large bite out of a nut and chewed, still smirking.

"… I am not going to ask, because this way I can plausibly deny that I know anything," Nathalie said carefully.

"Smart kit. You're learning." Trixx finished off the bag, then curled back up in Nathalie's purse. "I'm going to nap. Let me know when he finds the snake."

"What sna-"

Aaaaand more little-girl screams.

"That one."

Nathalie sighed as she got up, and went to rescue her boss and the resident supervillain from a tiny little garden snake.

"Theo! Try that one!" Duusu hissed softly from where she was tucked inside his jacket. He blinked and glanced down at the colorful little kwami, then looked over at where she was pointing. A 'Help Wanted' sign was resting in the window of a little mom-and-pop bakery.

"They're probably looking for bakers, Duusu, and I don't know how," Theo replied.

"Or they could be looking for someone to work the register and clean up. You'll never know unless you ask," Duusu shot back, nudging his chest. "Go on!"

"Alright, alright. You're a lot bossier than Plagg ever was," Theo huffed.

"Darn straight I am," Duusu replied smugly, ducking back into her hiding spot as Theo opened the door to the Tom and Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie.

After they had finished dinner, Nathalie glanced out the sliding glass doors to her balcony. Deciding that it was late enough, even though the sun hadn't finished setting, she pocketed a couple baggies filled with pecans and called for her transformation. Climbing out and onto her balcony, she eyed the jump up to the roof, and then across to the closest building. Neither were ones she wanted to make until she knew her capabilities, and yet again she missed the yoyo that had helped her travel when she had been Ladybug.

Curiously, she eyed the brickwork of her apartment building, then her claws. From what she remembered of the times she had examined Theo's claws, hers seemed thicker and stronger, though the tips still came to a razor-sharp point.

A little bit of experimentation had her digging her claws into the mortar between the bricks, hauling herself up with an ease she hadn't felt in nearly a decade. Less than a minute later, she pulled herself over the edge of the roof, then stood and stretched.

That felt better than she had thought it would. Pulling out her flute, she opened the screen port and checked the area map to see if any of the others were active. A lone spotted ladybug blinked, several streets away, and she gave a small nod to herself as she put her weapon away and headed in that direction, taking her time and learning her new limits. She was faster and could jump further than she could when she was Ladybug, which helped to clear the longer jumps between some roofs.

A soft zing! had her ears twitching, and before she had even fully registered the sound, she was leaping up and perching carefully on top of a chimney, giving a baleful look down at Ladybug as she reeled in her yoyo. "Was that truly necessary?"

"No offense if I don't exactly trust you yet." Ladybug grinned, although there was a sharp edge to it, and Vulpin belatedly remembered the fox akuma that had shown up a few months back.

"I can't say I blame you much. If you really need reassurance, then check with the Guardian in your off time," Vulpin huffed, her tail giving an annoyed flick.

"Oh, I already did. Honestly, that was for scaring the crap out of Chat several months ago with that letter of yours. I assume you're the one that left it?"

"I did." Vulpin felt a brief flash of guilt that she quickly buried. "And it wasn't my intention to scare the little kitten."

"You know who he is." It was a statement, not a question.

"I do. And Paon Bleue's identity as well, and he knows who I am, but not who Chat is." She gave a slight smile. "I'm assuming Tikki has stressed the need for secret identities."

"Repeatedly." Ladybug relaxed slightly, holstering her yoyo and jumping up to the roof peak near the chimney Vulpin was on.

"I thought so. I doubted she had changed much." Vulpin gave a strained smile. "Say hello to her for me, will you? I sometimes miss that little mother hen."

Ladybug covered her mouth to muffle a giggle. "Oh- mother hen. That's perfect, that describes her perfectly."

Vulpin gave a tight smile before lightly jumping down to join Ladybug, pointedly ignoring how the younger hero tensed up. "I have to talk to everyone, but it's best to wait for the boys to get out here. I don't want to repeat myself, and it's important."

Ladybug nodded, still staring intently at Vulpin, until the older woman shifted slightly in discomfort. "What?"

It took another long moment before Ladybug spoke. "… You know Chat, outside the suit. Is…" She shuffled a bit, fiddling with her fingers. "… Is he okay? His situation, I mean."

Vulpin took a deep breath, then let it out as she thought about her answer. "He's… not in any immediate danger. Right now. His family isn't a nice one, and he's… sad. A lot. And lonely, even though he tries to hide it." She closed her eyes and continued. "I've never seen him so happy as when he's Chat Noir."

Theo's face flashed through her mind, and she opened her eyes to fix a sharp stare on her successor. "Ladybug. I want you to promise me something."

"Wha-"

"Promise me, after all this is over and it's safe, before you give those Miraculouses back to the Guardian… spend time with Chat. Outside the suits. Make memories with him. Don't make the same mistake that I did. Because the Kwami magic will try to steal these memories away, and there are days that Paon would look at me, after, and just for a moment, not know who I was. Promise me that you won't make my mistake."

Ladybug's eyes went wide, and her face paled, freckles standing out sharply just under the line of her mask. "Chat would… he would never…"

"He wouldn't have much of a choice. After Miraculouses go dormant, memories of the heroes go dormant in people as well. My tomcat and I were active ten years ago, but no one remembers us. We're partially immune, because we're Holders, but it isn't definite. Promise me, Ladybug. Don't let him forget you, and don't let yourself forget him." Vulpin could feel her voice getting strained, but she had to make the younger hero understand.

Ladybug took a deep breath, then nodded. "I promise."

Vulpin relaxed, tension she hadn't even been aware she was carrying flowing out. "Thank you." A small beep from her flute prompted her to unholster it and check the screen. "Paon is out and about. Chat shouldn't be too far behind." It was a close thing, but she managed to keep from jumping in surprise as Ladybug's head suddenly popped over her shoulder.

"You can get alerts when the others transform on these?"

"Yes. Bring up your screen and I'll show you how to set it." Vulpin felt one side of her mouth twitch in a slight smile. "If I know Tikki, she'll have given you the run-down on the very basics and given you the Identity Talk, then left you to figure out the rest as you go."

"Ugh, yes. She's so bad about that, I just want a straight answer sometimes but nooo, she has to be all cryptic and tell me to figure it out on my own," Ladybug griped as Vulpin guided her through the alerts she could set.

"You can block other Miraculous users from seeing your location as well," Vulpin pointed out, showing her the screen on her flute, where the box next to the butterfly was already marked with a red 'X'. "Useful for keeping Hawkmoth from tracking our movements, I know he already has all of us blocked so that we can't find him while he's transformed." Well, if he had any sense he would have.

She liked to think that Ladybug and Chat Noir would be bright enough to have thought to check, at any rate.

Another beep announced that Chat Noir was now active, and Ladybug took a moment to send a text to both heroes to meet up with her and Vulpin.

The two actually arrived at the same time, although from different directions. Paon Bleue flopped down beside Vulpin with a wide yawn and a wince. "You okay?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at her partner.

"Long day. Got a new job at a bakery. The couple who own it are really nice, but I was definitely working my tailfeathers off."

Chat, for his part, had immediately gone to Ladybug's side, discreetly checking her over to make sure that Big Bad Vulpin hadn't done anything to his Lady while they were alone.

Vulpin, for her part, had to turn away once Chat was satisfied that Ladybug was fine and immediately followed up with a playful flirt, containing no less than three puns.

It hurt, seeing Adrien able to be so happy and free behind the mask, when she knew what his day to day life was like.

And Vulpin knew, down in her bones, that what she had to say was going to hurt him. She hated herself for it, and hated Gabriel even more for hurting that sweet little kitten.

Vulpin took a deep breath and cleared her throat. "Now that we're actually all here, we need to talk. I have some… information… about our enemy."

Ladybug's eyes narrowed as she focused back on her, finger still resting on Chat's nose where she had been playfully pushing him back after he had kissed her hand. "What information?"

Vulpin closed her eyes, took a fortifying breath, and opened them again to have what would probably be the hardest conversation she would ever have in her life.

"I know who Hawkmoth is."