#and he emailed me with the official offer and my onboarding paperwork right after but neither email had the orientation time in it

[steviescrystals]

stressed about something dumb again

[mollybecameanengineer]

Incubo

Summary: The week before Scully goes on maternity leave, she and Mulder head to New Jersey to investigate a series of suspicious deaths. However, neither of them could have predicted how personal it would become.

word count: 7686 | Teen | MSR | @today-in-fic

Read on AO3 or check out the first chapter below the break

This is part of an episodic series called A Second Chance. All the episodes are collected, in order, using AO3’s series feature. The concept of the series is to rewrite seasons 8 and 9. It deals with Mulder’s return from the dead, the birth of William, and Mulder and Scully trying to juggle family life with impending doom.

If you don’t want to read the whole thing, but want to read this story, here is what you need to know…

Previously on A Second Chance: Mulder has returned to the living. Scully is pregnant with what she believes to be their child, but Mulder has doubts. However, he has publicly acknowledged the child. Mulder and Scully are now living together. Since he was declared dead, Mulder had to be re-hired by the FBI, rather than having a job to come back to. Reyes has been partnered with Doggett since This Is Not Happening.

Chapter 1

Today was Mulder’s first day back at the FBI – and it wasn’t going well. 

He and Scully had gone back and forth about him starting before or after the baby was born. But after the debacle with the oil rig, he wanted his badge back. When he’d received his official offer, he filled out the paperwork and requested to start as soon as possible, though it meant he’d have to take unpaid leave when the baby came.

But now that he was sitting at his desk (or Scully’s desk, he wasn’t sure who had ownership at this point), trying to log on to the computer so he could do hours of mandatory trainings, he questioned why he had been in such a hurry. 

Glaring at the screen, he tried again: 

username: fmulder 

password: tru5tn015cully 

The computer told him, yet again, that his username and password weren’t recognized. 

If it had been just him and Scully in the office, he would have been cursing and possibly kicking the trash can by now. But with Doggett and Reyes quietly typing away at their desks, he felt like he had to restrain himself. 

Scully came over and started looking through the file cabinet. She was wearing loose pants, a sweater, and flat dress shoes – all concessions to being 36 weeks pregnant. Whenever she was near, he wanted to reach out and touch her, caress her stomach. He didn’t understand why this was – before he had been abducted, he’d liked to touch her. But now it felt like more of a compulsion. He chalked it up to evolution. He was trying to possess or protect his mate, or some such crap. 

Again, he wished Doggett and Reyes would get out of his office, so he could hold her.

“Why aren’t you doing those trainings?” Scully asked, glancing at his computer screen. 

“The stupid thing won’t let me log on.”

Scully came over and leaned against the desk. She looked uncomfortable. It was probably a good thing this was her last week at work, before maternity leave. Mulder didn’t relish the idea of weeks in the office without her, though she thought it might give him a chance to bond with Reyes and Doggett. 

Maybe he could convince Skinner that four of them in this office was two too many. Though maybe he should also lay low, because his boss had done some fancy finagling to get a fourth agent assigned to the X-FIles. 

Scully looked at his computer, then down at his onboarding paperwork. “That isn’t your username anymore.” She pointed to the paper. There, clear as day, it said his email was fwmulder@fbi.gov.

“They changed my email?” 

Reyes spun around in her chair. Evidently she’d been listening. (All the more reason to get the interlopers out of their office.) “I just sent you an email. It’s fmulder, right?” 

“It was,” Mulder replied.

“It didn’t bounce back. Let me check the directory.” Reyes turned back to her computer, while Mulder typed in the new username. This time it worked, he was in. He started up Outlook, and waited for the emails to load. 

Scully had gone back to her rummaging (he wondered what she was looking for). He was half watching her, half looking at Outlook, when Reyes spoke again. “Um, Agent Mulder? I think you have a problem.” 

For a moment he thought she was talking about his staring at Scully, but then he saw she was still looking at her computer. 

“What is it?” Scully asked, walking over to Reyes.

“There’s two Fox Mulders.” 

Mulder joined them. Sure enough, in the directory, there was him, with his picture from 1986 and fmulder email, and then him again, with the picture he took this morning, and his new fwmulder email. 

Scully looked up at him, smirking. “What do you think? Doppelgangers? Alien Bounty Hunters?”

Doggett spun around in his chair. “Well, whichever Mulder you are, I think we have a case.”

-----

Doggett and Reyes had left for New Jersey several hours ago, leaving Scully and Mulder (who was still doing trainings) behind. They had asked Mulder if he wanted to come along, but he’d declined. Scully wasn’t surprised. A man had shot himself in the head – it didn’t seem like an X-File.

“Six down, two to go, Scully,” Mulder said, making a show of closing the window on his computer. 

She gave him a fake smile and a thumbs up. He’d been announcing stuff like this ever since Doggett and Reyes left. 

He seemed more himself once they were gone. She understood that Mulder was protective of their space, but at some point he was going to have to accept that the X-Files wasn’t just them anymore. Scully viewed the inclusion of Reyes and Doggett as a good thing, particularly with the baby on the way. She didn’t know how else she and Mulder could keep the X-Files open. 

“Hey Scully,” Mulder called to her, already clicking through his next training. “Did you know that the videos that aren’t mine that used to be here is a type of sexual harassment?”

She looked up. “Yes. You didn’t?” 

He shook his head. 

Scully was surprised. “You actually thought it was appropriate that they were here?”

“Well, no, I guess not. I never thought about it.”

Scully sighed. For an intelligent man, he was oblivious sometimes. 

“Did you feel harassed?” Mulder asked, seeming genuinely concerned. 

Scully considered his question. At the time, eight years ago, she hadn’t felt harassed by the porn. She had thought of it more as a concession to being in a male dominated field. She had been much more bothered when her co-workers tried to touch her or called her ‘honey’ and ‘sweetheart.’ Or the hundreds of ways they excluded or belittled her. A little porn had been low on her list of grievances. 

But that didn’t mean that she had been totally comfortable with its presence. 

She tried to distill her complex thoughts. “I thought it was unprofessional, but I wasn’t offended.”

Mulder, looking appeased, turned back to his computer. “Actually,” he said, scrolling, “we do a lot of the things on this list.”

“It’s only harassment if it’s unwelcome.” 

He playfully leered at her. “Oh, so you welcome my,” he turned back to the computer, “aggressively asking you out on dates?”

She rolled her eyes. “Mulder, you’ve never asked me out on a date, aggressively or not.”

He stood, and came over to where she was sitting. He leaned down, invading her personal space. “Well, maybe I thought you’d think it was harassing…”

“Why don’t you try and find out?”

Her lips were on his before he could respond. Though it was wildly inappropriate for them to be making out at work, Scully figured some light fooling around couldn’t hurt anything. Mulder had just started kissing her neck when they were interrupted by the phone. 

“Scully, I’m pretty sure that was sexual harassment, but I’m not sure who was harassing whom,” he said, as he returned to his desk to answer the phone. “Mulder.” He paused, then said, “Hold on, I’m going to put you on speaker.” Mulder pushed a button, hung up the phone, and said, “Ok, go ahead.”

Doggett’s voice came through the phone. “Like I was saying, this body is pretty weird. The ME can’t make heads or tails of how a man was shot in the head but there isn’t any sign of a firearm being used.”

Scully stood, and joined Mulder. “You mean there isn’t any powder residue?”

“Not just that,” Doggett replied. “There’s an entry wound, but no exit. Yet the ME couldn’t find a bullet.”

Scully exchanged a look with Mulder. “That is odd.”

“That’s what we were thinking. Look I don’t know if you can, but getting your insight on this one would be a real benefit, Agent Scully.”

“Can you send the body here?” Mulder asked.

“It probably won’t get here before I go out on leave,” Scully cut in before Doggett could reply. “It’s only a four hour drive to New Jersey. We can leave after my doctor’s appointment this afternoon.”

“We’d really appreciate it,” Doggett said. 

Mulder shrugged. “If you think you can make the trip.”

Scully nodded and after making arrangements with Doggett, Mulder hung up the phone.

“This reminds me of that man from Nevada–”

“Crump,” Mulder interrupted. “Mr. Crump. Do you think the military is testing those radio waves again?”

Scully shrugged. It was possible. Though if they were, she hoped it ended better than last time.

Keep reading on AO3

[quicksilversquared]

Crash and Burn: Chapter 2: Glowing Embers

Everyone in Paris had always assumed that if Hawkmoth were to die, it would be mid-battle with the superheroes, or maybe in a jail cell years down the road, after being defeated. No one expected him to die suddenly in a car crash on a sunny afternoon.

Least of all, his son.

links in the reblog

                                                                                           oi staff where’s the page break line

By the time Chat Noir got home- the next morning, after falling asleep in Ladybug's arms on top of the Eiffel Tower and both of them sleeping soundly there for the entire night- several responsibilities had been lifted off of his shoulders.

The Gorilla had stepped in as Adrien's guardian and the runner of the house, as he was both Adrien's bodyguard and (apparently- Adrien hadn't known this before) his mom's cousin. He was going to make all of the arrangements for the burial, and had offered to set up a funeral until Adrien told him that he didn't really want to bother with that.

The Gorilla didn't look as surprised as Adrien had thought, but then again he had seen the relationship between father and son deteriorate through the years. More than anyone in the house, he had cared for Adrien, letting him escape to spend time with his friends as long as Adrien wasn't being chased by mobs of people. And the last several times when there had been interest in Adrien after a commercial aired, the Gorilla had opted to just accompany Adrien wherever he wanted to go around Paris rather than trying to drag him back home.

(Nooroo had also cleared the Gorilla of all guilt the previous day in a rare bit of actual good news- he had never suspected his employer's supervillain activities at all, and he had been an avid supporter of Ladybug and Chat Noir.)

As a bonus, the Gorilla also knew who all of Mr. Agreste's legal people were, and what needed to be done to start transferring bank accounts and deeds and everything. It was just one more big thing that Adrien didn't have to take care of.

In fact, now that Ladybug had told Chat Noir that she could do the announcement to Paris on her own so that he didn't have to be there and struggle to keep a neutral expression in front of the crowds of reporters and that she would bring the two recovered Miraculous to Master Fu, Adrien didn't really have anything left on his list of things that he had to take care of. He just had to sort through his own feelings and try to get back to some sense of normalcy, which...

Well, it was still a lot, but it wasn't an overwhelming lot. And as a bonus, Ladybug had suggested a nightly meet-up so that they could cuddle and he could have a safe place to talk through his feelings and everything that had happened.

(She. Was. Amazing.)

"You don't have to do this right away, kid, you know that, right?"

Adrien shook his head as he picked his way through the graveyard, following the instructions that he had found tucked in the last journal. "I want to see Mom's gravestone. I've not gotten any closure with that, and this- even if I never got a funeral for her, this- this is something."

Maybe he was upset with his mom right now, upset that she apparently hadn't been the person that he had thought she was and heartbroken at the lies. But in his memories, she was still a caring mother, not- not the lady that the journals had described, who used the hypnotic powers of the Peacock (powers that Adrien hadn't even been aware existed, even though- well, peacock, hypnotism, that did make sense) to pull more investors onboard with supporting Gabriel and to get influential fashion columnists to write favorably about the company in their columns, advancing the company far faster than it would have gotten on its own otherwise.

It had been supremely selfish and manipulative. Maybe there were no real lingering negativeeffects since Gabriel was a strong company even without the help and all the pushes had done was speed up the rate at which the company joined the topmost fashion brands in Europe- the investors certainly hadn't lost any money, and it was hardly as though the columnists had gotten in trouble for writing about Gabriel- but that didn't make it right.

"Seeing a stone is closure?"

"It's an ending, at least." Adrien checked his copy of the instructions again before taking a turn and heading up another path, pulling his hoodie tighter around himself. "I'll know where she is, which is more than I've been able to say for the past several years."

The plot that Adrien finally arrived at was tucked into the back of the cemetery, far out of the way of prying eyes. It was surrounded by old stones, from people who had long since passed and whose immediate family had probably died long ago, too. That meant that the flowers sitting at the small, relatively plain gravestone stuck out all the more.

Adrien had thought that his father would have gone for something large and gaudy. Subtle had never been his thing- the giant portrait above the stairs, the multiple paintings of his mom, and the statue of Emilie Agreste near their house attested to that, as did the two (two!) lairs of his that Nooroo had told Adrien about- but clearly he hadn't wanted to draw any attention to the grave, not when Emilie Agreste was still officially listed as a missing person.

"He was here recently," Plagg commented, flying over to the flowers. "These are fresh, probably from a couple days ago."

"Yeah." Adrien fingered one of the flowers, inspecting the fairly fresh petals. There were orchids and fern leaves and several other kinds of flowers that he didn't recognize in it, all fresh. It was so fresh that Adrien wouldn't be surprised if his father had put out the bouquet before leaving for the investor's meeting that he had never returned from. "He left the house only every couple days unless he had company stuff that needed him to attend in person, and I bet that this is where he went whenever he left. And this is an obnoxious bouquet- I bet every last one of them were like this."

"The next plot over is empty," Plagg said, flying around. "I bet your father bought both at once. And he intended to be buried in the second one."

Adrien let out a huff, sparing the empty plot a quick glance. "Well, if the Gorilla finds the paperwork for it, fine. That's one less thing to bother with. Otherwise, who cares what his wishes were?"

He didn't stay at his mom's grave for long. There were things he wanted to say, maybe, questions he wanted to ask- why hadn't she just been content with what she had? Why did she have to mess around with magic to get more? Wasn't the money they had and their lifestyle and him enough for her?- but she wasn't there to answer those questions. Not anymore.

Not for a while.

Adrien headed home and, for the first time since his trip to the hospital, responded to Nino's texts himself. Plagg had clearly gone through his phone already so that all of the texts and calls from his friends and classmates were listed as seen and weren't staring Adrien in the face and overwhelming him when he opened his messages. Nino's response was immediate, even though he was meant to be in the middle of class.

"I bet he's had his phone out all day and none of the teachers are going to say anything about it," Plagg told Adrien when he said as much. "I mean, the news broke pretty fast, didn't it? They know what happened."

"Yeah." Adrien didn't know how, exactly- he had thought that it was policy for the family to make a statement when a famous person died, but maybe not. Or maybe it was pretty obvious at the scene that his father wasn't going to make it, or- he didn't know. A buzz from his phone caught Adrien's attention, and he looked down to see another message from Nino. "He wants to know if I'd be interested in having him and Alya and Marinette come over after school, either just to hang out or so I can catch up on school stuff."

Plagg considered him. "Are you ready to see them?"

Adrien didn't even have to think about it. "Honestly? No. Not- not yet. I mean, it would be a distraction, maybe, but- I mean, the teachers have sent me my assignments, I've seen the emails. I can work on that as a distraction on my own."

"Are you worried that they might decide to talk about the superheroes as a distraction and that would be hard?"

Adrien had been about to say no, when he gave it a second thought and- yeah, that was part of it. He needed another day's distance before he could handle that kind of conversation without being worried about giving something away. "Something like that. Alya's going to talk about nothing but Hawkmoth when Ladybug does her announcement, whenever she does it."

Plagg made a face. "You need less obsessed friends."

"It was funny to listen to before I found out about Father." Adrien tucked Plagg into his jacket as he headed for the subway. "And I'm sure it'll be similar in the future, once I have some distance. But I'll be able to handle it tomorrow, I'm sure of it."

                                                                                            oi @staff why’d you get rid of the page break line

 "Dude, we've been so worried!"

Adrien managed a smile as he let Nino and Alya in. Marinette was nowhere in sight, which meant that either she had overslept or she had been roped into either helping at the bakery or doing something else. "Hi, you guys."

"We were really sorry to hear what happened," Alya said more formally as Nino gave Adrien a hug. "It's just so- so unexpected."

"That's one way to put it," Adrien agreed with a tight smile. "Unexpected." He glanced between the two of them as Nino stepped back. "Is- uh, is Marinette coming?"

"She's running late," Alya said at once. "She was practicing some sort of speech in her room when I stopped by to get her and wanted to finish her run-through all the way before coming over."

Nino frowned, glancing over at Alya. "A speech? Is it- is it about what I think it is? Because it's really not the time."

Alya only shrugged, not elaborating at all. Adrien frowned as he glanced between her and Nino, sensing that there was something there that he wasn't being told. "I don't know. I didn't catch any words before she heard me coming and stopped. Maybe it's something for the class president thing. She did say that she was coming, though, and to just start without her."

Adrien couldn't help but slump. He had rather been looking forward to getting a Marinette hug right away. She hugged with her whole body, just like Ladybug did, and it was the best.

At least she was coming eventually. He would get his Marinette hug soon enough.

The three of them headed up to Adrien's bedroom. He had been sure to put away everything of his father's in the safe before they came, just in case, and so all that was out was the printed-out assignments that his teachers had sent. Adrien had finished up a lot already on his own- his Literature assignments were easy to bang out, and Philosophy was easy enough considering that he had been sent lecture notes as well. There were a couple other classes that had just had readings to complete and lecture notes to review (Plagg had helped Adrien actually absorb the information by stealing the lecture notes from him and reading them off like a professor so that Adrien didn't just absently skim over all the notes without taking anything in; while Adrien had been more than a little skeptical about the strategy at first, he had to admit that having to actually take his own notes like normal helped.). With the end of the year and exams coming up soon, though, it was still important to be studying everything and making sure that he understood it.

(His father had the worst timing in the world, honestly.)

Marinette arrived twenty minutes later, flushed from running and carrying a bag with both pastries and leftovers from her parents. She immediately wrapped Adrien up in a hug, and he practically melted into the embrace.

(Seriously, she gave the best hugs. Well, with the possible exception of Ladybug.)

"I lost track of time," Marinette told him as they headed back to his room. "I was practicing a thing and I wanted to get it right and memorize it while I was on a roll, and I didn't realize how much time was passing."

"No worries," Adrien said, wrapping his arm around hers. "I'm just glad you could make it. That way I have someone to talk to when Nino and Alya start making eyes at each other."

Or, as it turned out fifteen minutes later, when Nino and Alya got bored of discussing their science unit and brought up the topic of Hawkmoth and the lack of akumatizations lately.

"It's been, what, a week and a half?" Alya said, and it took Adrien a second to figure out what she was talking about. When he did, he stiffened. "I know he's gone for stretches without akumatizing anyone before, but it's always strange- he must be planning something. That's always what he's doing when he goes silent."

Adrien had to think about it, and- actually, Alya was right. Even though his father had only died several days before, he hadn't akumatized anyone for a week before that. He probably hadn't been plotting anything big, though. There had been a bunch of meetings with investors lately, some out of the city, and that meant that his father couldn't slip away. It had been a welcome break in akuma-fighting, and Adrien had taken full advantage of it to study as much as he could before the next wave of akumas inevitably showed up.

Well. Not so inevitable anymore.

"Yeah, I kind of hate it when more than a few days pass by without any akuma," Nino agreed at once, and Adrien tried his best not to listen. He had told Plagg that he would be fine with hearing talk about Hawkmoth, really, but that- that clearly wasn't the case yet. He wondered what it would be like once the news broke that Hawkmoth was dead. Everyone would be talking about it then, and he wouldn't be able to escape. Adrien would skip school to keep away from it, but he couldn't avoid the conversation forever.

"Oh, no kidding. I mean, evil planning aside, there's so much less traffic on the Ladyblog when there aren't any akumas-"

"Adrien, I'm on the same problem that you're on, and I'm stuck. Do you want to work through it together? I thought I might read that section in the book and see if it gives me any ideas."

Adrien startled, glancing over at Marinette. She had moved closer to him when he wasn't paying attention, and now was sitting at his elbow, open science book in front of her. One look at her expression told Adrien that she had caught on that Alya and Nino's discussion was making him uncomfortable (actually, it was making him sick to his stomach- Alya thought not having akuma attacks was inconvenient because they were good for her blog and that- that just didn't sit well with him, not when so much of his life had been interrupted and uprooted thanks to Hawkmoth) and she was trying to distract him. The effort was very much appreciated, especially considering that Nino and Alya clearly weren't going to drop their topic any time soon.

In the end, his friends only stayed for two hours before having to leave. Alya had babysitting duty, apparently, and Nino had promised to help her. Marinette hung back, turning to Adrien once their friends had vanished out the door.

"My parents wanted me to let you know that you're welcome to come stay with us for a bit if you want to get out of this house," Marinette told him. "If it feels too empty or has too many memories, or- whatever, really. We have a guest room that you could use, so you could have your own space."

Adrien blinked, blown away by the offer. It went above and beyond, really. "I- thank you, so much. I'll consider it, I promise, I just- right now-"

"Don't feel like you need to make any sort of decision right away," Marinette said at once, resting one hand on his arm. "We just want you to know that you have the option there, in case you decide that you want it. And if you ever want company, either to talk to or to just be in the same room so it's not so empty- seriously, just call me or come on over. Our door is open for you."

Adrien could only wrap Marinette up in a grateful hug, at a complete loss for words.

                                                                           staff are dumb for getting rid of the page break line pass it on

 On Sunday afternoon, Ladybug called a press conference. For the first time ever, she showed up alone at the mayor's podium.

Adrien watched from at home, so thankful that his partner had assured him that she could handle it alone. Even though he was feeling better- even though he was coming to terms with, well, everything- he didn't trust himself in front of a microphone and dozens of cameras yet.

"She doesn't look nervous at all," Plagg commented as he settled down on the back of Adrien's couch to watch. On screen, Ladybug was clearly exchanging some small talk with the mayor while they waited for all of the reporters to settle. Based on the mayor's usual expression, she hadn't broken the news to him yet, either. "I bet she is, though, and she's just gotten good at hiding it."

"She's gotten really good at public speaking," Adrien agreed, leaning forward as Ladybug turned her attention back to the podium, smoothing out a piece of paper there as though they were about to start. He caught sight of the mayor trying to glance over her shoulder to see what the conference was about, but it was obvious that Ladybug's hands were covering the paper enough that he couldn't make things out. "I can just barely hear another reporter talking near Madam Chamack. It sounds like they're thinking that something happened to me."

Plagg yawned widely. "Yeah, it's one of those gossip reporters, and they think that you died and that's why Ladybug is there alone."

"If I had, Ladybug would have picked out a new partner before making any announcements. They probably would have been out for a fight first, too. No point in exposing weaknesses like that." On screen, things settled down. "Oh, it's starting."

"Thank you for coming today," Ladybug started confidently, straightening and glancing around the audience. "I know that this is last minute, but Chat Noir and I have some news that we wanted to share with you. He's not able to make it today because he had a civilian obligation that he couldn't get out of, but he didn't want it to delay our announcement." Ladybug paused to take a breath, and then she looked out at the audience, chin high and confident. "Because Hawkmoth is gone. Paris is safe."

The room exploded. Ladybug waited patiently for the fuss to die down, her expression giving nothing away even as reporters shouted questions in her direction. Her quirked brow told them that they had to wait for their questions, though, and they settled quickly enough.

"There was no final battle, as I'm sure you noticed," Ladybug continued once the room had quieted to her liking, her voice even and calm. "Hawkmoth died suddenly of reasons unrelated to his misuse of the Butterfly Miraculous, and his remaining family found the Miraculous among his possessions following his death. They brought the Miraculous to Chat Noir and I so that we would know and could return the Miraculous to their proper spot. We talked to both them and Hawkmoth's former kwami and there are no other willing accomplices still alive."

Adrien made a small face at that. It wasn't strictly true, even ignoring Nathalie's only somewhat less-than-entirely-willing involvement. He had found a note in one of his father's journals that Lila Rossi had willingly worked with him or at least had had some sort of informal agreement with Hawkmoth about causing more akumas and becoming one on a regular basis, but Lila had been exposed as a liar and had left the country in disgrace with her mom over a year ago. Dragging her back into things- at least publically, neither he nor Ladybug had ruled out reaching out to her mom and administering punishment that way- would just complicate the whole situation.

Plagg cackled. "Oh, Ladybug is slick. She's not mentioning the Peacock at all, or giving away that there was more than one Miraculous recovered. She could be a politician like that, not lying exactly but not reminding the public about Mayura."

"It'll help that the Peacock hasn't come into play recently," Adrien said absently, watching as Ladybug made a few more quick remarks to assure the public that they had investigated properly. "She hadn't come out for more than a month when we fought the last akuma. And like Alya said, even that was a week and a half ago. More, now."

"I thank Hawkmoth's family for their bravery in coming forward to us with the Miraculous," Ladybug continued onscreen, her voice rising just a hair to be heard over the grumble that was starting to fill the room. "And we send them our best wishes that they can heal from the death and the discovery."

"But who was Hawkmoth?" one reporter yelled out at once. "You haven't told us yet!"

Ladybug's expression was flat as she answered, leaning a little closer to the microphone so she would be picked up. "That is staying confidential information. He is gone, and-"

"The public has a right to know!"

"Yeah, and the police should interrogate the family!"

"He is gone, and releasing his name would only punish his family," Ladybug repeated, her voice louder. "And they are innocent, Chat Noir and I already investigated. They knew nothing about his supervillain activities."

Madam Chamack scoffed, her voice coming across loud and clear. "And we're supposed to believe that Hawkmoth's family didn't suspect anything? That's ridiculous. They lived with him, they must have-"

Ladybug's stare- a stare almost bordering on a glare- was piercing. "I've been a superhero for years and so has Chat Noir. Our friends and family have suspected nothing. If people aren't expecting it, it's easy enough to hide."

"Paris deserves to know who tormented her for years-"

"Paris does know: it was Hawkmoth."

"But-"

Ladybug was doing a good job of hiding the irritation on her face. Adrien suspected that she knew that this was coming. "You all want to know who Hawkmoth was out of curiosity. That's understandable. But you would get a name, a face behind the mask, and then you wouldn't care anymore. In a week or a month, you would move on and having the name out there wouldn't matter to you. But if Hawkmoth's name got out, I have no doubt that his family would face all sorts of backlash and be targeted by no fault of their own, and I refuse to have innocent civilians targeted just because people were curious. End. Of. Discussion."

There was a discontented murmur at that, one that made Adrien frown in concern. Ladybug might be Paris' darling, but public opinion could change really fast.

"Plagg, are you charged up?" Adrien asked, leaning forward to keep a close eye on the screen. "If people get any more riled up, I might move over to the City Hall area so that Ladybug has backup nearby."

Plagg swallowed half of a wedge of Camembert in one bite. "On it, kid."

"Will you be doing an identity reveal now that the danger is gone?" another reporter called out as Adrien transformed, apparently having sensed that Ladybug wasn't going to budge on her position. "We would love to know who's been protecting us all of these years!"

This time, Ladybug actually did frown. "A identity reveal to each other, perhaps. To Paris? No. There will always be people out there in search of power, and there's no point in making it easy for them to find it."

"Can you comment on your relationship with Chat Noir? You both have been seen out and about lately looking very close-"

Chat Noir headed out the window (carefully, of course), jumping over several rooftops before he had the time to pull out his earpiece and tune it in to the news so that he could follow along. Ladybug was dismissing more claims of the two of them being in a relationship, pointing out that they had been friends and partners for years and of course they were close. The real reason that they had been so cuddly over the past couple days was, of course, because she had been comforting him and her hugs were amazing, but they couldn't say that unless they wanted to give away the fact that Hawkmoth had been Chat Noir's father.

And just in case it ever came out that Hawkmoth had been Mr. Agreste, if anyone ever managed to work that out on their own or even suspect it- yeah, they didn't want to give his identity away.

The press conference ended without any incident just as Chat Noir reached City Hall. He landed on a rooftop nearby, out of sight as reporters started to file out. There was no sign of Ladybug yet- no doubt she was taking a back exit and then heading to the rooftops so that no one could bother her- so he settled in to wait for her, thinking about the news conference.

Ladybug had done really, really well. She hadn't flinched at the barrage of questions at all and hadn't even looked down at what had to be her prepared sheet of remarks. Clearly she had memorized the entire thing. While she had said that Hawkmoth had died suddenly, she hadn't specified that it was in a car accident, and her wording hadn't given away that there was just one family member left, even though Chat Noir knew that he had mentioned that it was just him and his father at some point. She was making it as hard as possible for people to figure out who Hawkmoth had been, while giving out just enough information to make it seem like she wasn't hiding more than necessary.

Of course, she didn't know who Hawkmoth was, either. Chat Noir had offered to tell her, since she was his partner and deserved to know more than anyone else, but she had told him not to feel obligated to reveal himself if he wasn't entirely ready yet. Since there weren't going to be any more threats from Hawkmoth, it wasn't necessary for her to know.

He was thankful for that, actually. After his secret identity had been secret for so long, just up and sharing it all of a sudden would have been a shock. He needed some things to stay the same.

"Chat Noir! I wasn't expecting to see you out and about right now!"

Chat Noir grinned as Ladybug dropped down next to him. "Oh, you know me. I just can't stay away. And I was worried," he added when she rolled her eyes at him in fond exasperation. "The reporters seemed to be really upset about you not telling them anything, and I wanted to be close by in case anyone tried anything. I was listening in," he added, tapping at his earpiece and turning it down at the same time. Madam Chamack was saying something about the press conference, but he didn't bother to listen too closely. He could look it up later and see what Paris' attitude was towards the news. "And if anything happened..."

"My protective bodyguard," Ladybug said fondly, giving him a warm hug. "I was ready to bolt out of there at a moment's notice. Before the conference even started, I mapped out all of the things in the room that I could latch my yo-yo to in case I had to get off of the ground."

"You're always so prepared." Chat Noir let himself lean into her side. "And I know that you can defend yourself, but I just- part of me still felt like I should have been there."

"Mm-hmm." Ladybug rested her head against his shoulder. "That's not the last that we'll hear of it, I'm sure. There were not a lot of happy faces in that room when I left. I'd say that we'll probably have reporters harassing us about Hawkmoth's identity for a while."

She sounded tired. Chat Noir felt bad for her. Ladybug was no doubt planning on shielding him from the worst of the inquiries, which wasn't fair on her. She was studying for her final exams, just like him, and she no doubt had other things going on in her civilian life that needed her time and energy.

"But if we stay on the rooftops and only tell them that we've already said all that we're going to at today's press conference, they should give up eventually," Ladybug continued. "It's just curiosity. They'll find something else to take up their attention."

"I hope so, Bug," Chat Noir said, peering over the side of the rooftop just enough to see the hordes of reporters still down below, each talking eagerly to a camera. "I really, really hope so."

                                                                                            oi staff where’s the page break line

 The talk of the school was Hawkmoth's death and Ladybug's refusal to tell Paris who he was. Oddly enough, Chat Noir's absence at the press conference and what it might mean was also a popular subject.

No one had guessed the truth. Instead, they thought that Chat Noir had disagreed with Ladybug about releasing Hawkmoth's name and that they had fallen out, maybe, and Ladybug had decided to do the conference by herself so that Chat Noir wouldn't act out behind her.

That- that was worse than the truth, actually. Ladybug had just been helping him by doing the conference by herself, and this was her reward.

Alya was talking about the conference when Adrien entered homeroom, her voice animated as she held most of the class's interest. She was firmly on the side of revealing Hawkmoth's identity, which Adrien had known before he even came in. The Ladyblog had had a very upset article about Ladybug's refusal to tell the public, one that he had just skimmed before exiting the page.

"Maybe the superheroes aren't going to say anything, but his identity can't stay secret forever," Alya was saying as Adrien slipped past her to sit next to Marinette instead of in his normal seat in the front row, which Alya had taken. "I've been trying to figure out who it might be, looking through obituaries for people who 'died unexpectedly', but there are a lot of people in Paris and a lot of deaths and the obits don't always specify in Paris versus out of Paris, and it's been almost two weeks since the last akuma attack. There's no way to tell when during that he died. And he might have died during that akuma battle, too, from a heart attack or something. It was impossible to tell what was going on on his end of things unless he actually came out."

"And Hawkmoth's family might have not given the superheroes the full story," Nino chimed in. "He might had been ill and that's why he wanted to use the Miraculous to- to cure it somehow. Like, it could have been anyone."

Alya groaned. "Oh, that would be the worst! How am I supposed to figure out who Hawkmoth was if they've given us misleading information? That's not fair!"

Adrien's eyes flashed to Alya. Once again, all she cared about was the scoop, and it made him a little ill. She was one of his friends. If she actually managed to figure out who Hawkmoth had been, would she care that she knew him and keep it secret for his sake? Or would she post it anyway?

"There's a petition about that, actually- I just saw it this morning and linked it to the Ladyblog, and it's gotten so many signatures already!" Alya was grinning again. "It's to make Ladybug and Chat Noir release the information about who Hawkmoth was. They're so close to hitting their target goal, too!"

Adrien's stomach dropped.

"Oh, that's great!"

"Cool!"

"Lemme find the link, I want to sign it now-"

"No petition is going to be able to make Ladybug and Chat Noir release anything."

The chatter around Alya stopped immediately and everyone turned to look at Marinette, who looked less than happy with them. Her arms were crossed across her chest and she was glaring. "Petitions are a show of support for a cause, not something legally binding. And even if the mayor tried something- the Miraculous are Ladybug and Chat Noir's jurisdiction, not the police's or anybody else's. No one can make them release any information, nor should they. If Ladybug said not to worry about who Hawkmoth was and to leave it alone, then you should leave it alone."

Several people exchanged uncertain looks, taking a step back away from Alya.

Alya crossed her arms right back. "Uh-huh, and what about the right of the people to know? Hawkmoth possessed a ton of people across the city."

"He's dead. It's not like it's going to make any difference to him. It's not like he's escaping a punishment or anything."

"I think there's something fishy there," Alya countered at once. "I bet the family knew about Hawkmoth, but they decided to hand over the Miraculous in return for anonymity and getting away scot-free."

"That's ridiculous."

"Why else would Ladybug and Chat Noir keep their secret, hmm?" Alya challenged. "If Hawkmoth's family isn't guilty- if they honestly didn't know- then the police can decide that and let the public know."

Marinette's scowl was fierce, and Adrien was very, very glad that he wasn't on the receiving end of it. "I think that this whole push for the reveal is just trashy tabloid interest. Look at you- you're ignoring real-world consequences in your search for a scoop! How would it be worth destroying a family's life over a scoop for something that someone dead did?"

Adrien blinked, somewhat taken aback by Marinette's tone. The whole fight had escalated really quickly, especially considering that Alya and Marinette were friends.

"They got into a big fight about this last night," Nino whispered in Adrien's ear, making him startle. "After Alya posted about the press conference on the Ladyblog. Marinette is firmly on Ladybug's side. Alya... is not."

"Trashy? You're calling the Ladyblog trashy?"

"If you've decided that a scoop for it is more important than actual human beings, then yeah!"

"Actual human beings who got akumatized want answers and they deserve them!"

Marinette rolled her eyes at that. "Uh-huh. Just this weekend, you were complaining because there hadn't been any akuma attacks lately and that meant that traffic on the Ladyblog was slower than usual. Where was the concern for the akuma victims then, huh?"

Alya spluttered, going red. "I- no, that was just a general observation-"

"And in the Ladyblog's first year, you wanted to expose Ladybug and Chat Noir's identities, never mind the consequences that would have!" Marinette countered. "You're just all about the scoop, forget the consequences to other people as long as you get your hits!"

"The public has a right-"

"And I think that that is just a weak excuse for you to hide behind instead of admitting that this whole search for Hawkmoth's identity is selfish!"

"Okay, class, to your seats!" their teacher called before Alya could respond. "Class is starting now, settle down!"

Much to Adrien's relief, that was the end of the fight, at least for the time being. Alya kept her back to Marinette, who looked like she couldn't care less. Neither of them spoke to the other for the rest of the day, which meant that Adrien got to be Marinette's seatmate for the entire day.

That was really good, actually. Marinette was a quiet, supportive presence, there without being overwhelmingly smothering or anything. Best of all, she understood the importance of just sitting there in a quiet hug.

"If I ever tell any of my normal friends about Father, it's going to be Marinette that I tell," Adrien told Plagg over lunch. "Not anybody else. Nino is dating Alya and I can't trust that he won't for sure ever not say anything about it, and Alya is an obvious no. Marinette might be best friends with Alya, but she wouldn't say anything, I know it. This isn't the first time that she's had issues with the way Alya was reporting things."

Plagg sniffed. "As is only right. Reporter girl's not got a firm handle on reporting ethics yet, or the ability to take a step back and see beyond the immediate effects of certain information going public."

Adrien nodded. He had hoped that the journalism camp that Alya had gone to the previous summer would have helped curb that particular tendency of hers, but apparently there was no such luck. Or maybe this was just too big of a potential scoop for her to really think ahead that far.

That afternoon came with a request from the police department that the superheroes tell them who Hawkmoth had been, so that they could interview the people close to him themselves to check for any potential collaborators. This time, Chat Noir accompanied Ladybug as she headed over to police headquarters to-

Well, to tell them to shove off, essentially. After all, she had already said that she and Chat Noir had looked for collaborators and come up with no one who had been a fully willing helper. The Miraculous were their jurisdiction, and they took care of the investigation. End of story.

None of the police officers looked very happy when they left. And none of the reporters who had crowded in around the station looked particularly thrilled with the brisk brush-off that the superheroes gave them when they shouted questions about Hawkmoth's identity and how all of Paris wanted to know and how there were petitions, so obviously they should be sharing-

Ladybug looked like she was considering throttling someone as they shot away from the knot of microphones and cameras.

"How are you holding up, kitty?" she asked as the two of them headed across the city, faster than cars could chase them. "I'm sure it's not easy, since Hawkmoth has kind of been the topic of the day. It's practically all I heard about all day, it seemed."

"It's hard," Chat Noir admitted. "Especially because everyone is making such a big deal about not knowing his identity. I'm lucky that I have a friend who understand the why and she called out people who were making a big stink about it. So then people were kind of avoiding us with that conversation, which helped."

Ladybug looked pleased. "I like your friend already."

Chat Noir couldn't hide his grin. He definitely wanted to introduce Ladybug and Marinette sometime. He was sure that they would get along well. "She's very likeable. Also scary when she wants to be. I couldn't believe it when people kept arguing with her. I mean, she's kinda the same size you are, but I wouldn't want to cross her, either."

The smug look on Ladybug's face made him laugh.

The two of them tried to curl up on a secluded rooftop together to hang out (and maybe get some homework done- after spending two days not being remotely productive, he needed to get back on top of things), but no matter where they went, people spotted them and started shouting questions at them. Soon enough, they spotted a news helicopter lifting off across the city and decided to each head their separate ways for the time being before the helicopter started trying to follow them home.

It was frustrating, Chat Noir reflected as he dropped back down into his room and detransformed. He needed his Ladybug time right now, because aside from Plagg, she was the only person who knew all that he was going through. Maybe they didn't just talk about his feelings- because that wasn't going to help, just lingering over what was making him feel bad- but she understood if he suddenly went quiet when they were chatting about something, or if he cuddled up to her side in search of a wordless hug. If the public and the press didn't let up soon, it could become dangerous for the two of them to transform and meet up. If people tried to track their trips home...

They would figure him out in a heartbeat, and it wouldn't be long before someone pieced together that Hawkmoth was his father.