Both Adrien and Marinette spent most of Tuesday morning trying to get in contact with Kagami. It became evident that her phone had been confiscated and her access to the internet blocked, effectively cutting her off from the outside world. Since Kagami had finished Lycée last year, she was effectively house bound as he mother had made her take a gap year to study the family business. At lunchtime Marinette organised the Operation Carrier Pigeon group together in the park on a picnic rug to try and work out what they were going to do next. Alya, Nino, Rose and Juleka all came and sat down. Since Adrien was still not back at school yet, Marinette dialed him in on FaceTime.

"Hey Marinette, hi everyone, hold on a sec I'll just shut the door." Adrien took the phone with him as he closed his office door, letting the group get a small glimpse of the interior.

"Whoa dude, is that your office?" Nino gaped as Adrien sat back down at the desk.

"Yeah, I know. Pretty crazy huh." Adrien laughed, holding the phone up and panning around the room for everyone to see. "My father isn't exactly a guy that does things by halves."

"Who's the other desk for?" Rose asked, seeing there was a vacant desk on the other side of the room. Juleka leaned over her shoulder for a better look.

"Oh, that." Adrien giggled nervously, turning the phone back to himself. "That's if I want to have my own personal assistant in here." Alya elbowed Marinette frantically in the ribs, making her wince. "Although I might keep it for my future head designer to use." He added with a playful wink. Marinette swore she might stop breathing if this boy keeps flirting with her like this.

"I hate to break this up, but can we get on with it, time is wasting." All eyes turned to see Chloé tapping her foot behind them with her arms folded.

"What the hell do you want?" Alya began when Marinette cut in.

"It's fine Alya, Adrien suggested we should bring Chloé in on this." She said, placing a placitating hand on Alya's arm.

"You can't be serious?" Alya questioned, looking Marinette in the eyes. The bluenette took a calming breath.

"Alya, Chloé runs in the same circles as Adrien and Kagami, plus her father is the mayor. I think her help could be invaluable in this situation." Chloé gave Alya a 'so there' smirk, the reporter rolling her eyes at the socialite. "Chloé, have you found out anything?"

"Let me just preface this with the fact I'm only doing this because Adrien asked for my input." Marinette could see Chloé was getting agitated. Ever since she had her miraculous taken off her, Chloé had never been quite the same. Her fall to Hawk Moth when she became Miracle Queen was held against her by most people at the school, except for Adrien. Marinette thought that perhaps it was because he had known her for so long he was hopeful she might change. To her credit, Marientte felt she had been trying more over the last year or so, and was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, if only for Adrien's sake.

"Your help is  appreciated Chloé." Marinette said, giving her a kind smile. Chloé seemed unsure, but continued.

"I asked daddy about Kagami being held against her will. Even though she's 18 and an adult, she does still live in her mother's house so unless she makes a formal complaint, there isn't much legally that can be done." The group looked a little deflated at that. As much as Kagami would hate the situation she is in, she would never bring legal proceedings towards her mother.

"Alright." Marinette breathed out. "We need a new plan then, but first things first, we need to get in contact with Kagami and make sure she is alright."

"I should be seeing her this afternoon." Adrien chipped in. "Our fencing lesson got moved due to a junior competition so she should be here today."

"Dude, your old man is gonna let you out to go?" Nino queried.

"Yeah, but I still can't come to school yet, go figure." Adrien shook his head.

"Adrikins, your father is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous." Chloé chimed in while inspecting her nails.

"Yeah, so are you." Alya hissed under her breath.

"What did you say Césaire?" Chloé questioned with an incredulous look on her face.

"You heard me." Alya said with her back still to Chloé.

"Girls please, this meeting is about helping Luka and Kagami, not our old feuds." Marinette scolded. Alya lowered her head.

"You're right Marinette, I'm sorry." She apologised. Chloé just scoffed.

"Chlo, why don't you tell them what you told me this morning." Adrien encouraged, trying to get the conversation back on track.

"Well if you still want my help, I do have a suggestion." All eyes turned back to Chloé. Marinette noted she looked...uncomfortable. "There is one thing they can do that would make it difficult for Kagami's mother to interfere. They can get married." Silence fell over the group as they all looked between each other.

"That's...a big decision." Marinette eventually said. "Can't they just move in together or something?"

"Mrs Tsurugi is a powerful woman with a lot of connections, Adrien can attest to that." Chloé continued. "Her family honour she holds above all else, including her daughter's happiness if you want to be blunt about it."

"Unfortunately that's true." Adrien added. "I thought my father was bad, but Tomoe Tsurugi is on a whole other level."

"I wouldn't put it past her to try and find a way to bring Kagami back if she makes a run for it." Chloé continued. "However, we could maybe lessen the blow with a legal marriage. Save the family honour so to speak. It gives old mother Tsurugi less leverage to guilt Kagami back and it gives Luka more rights to protect her if he's a husband rather than a boyfriend."

"Would your father be willing to go along with that?" Adrien asked, Chloé broke into a knowing grin.

"Oh please. You know daddykins will do anything I ask, and well, he's a sucker for romance." She screwed up her nose with a look of disgust as though she'd just had a memory she would rather not have had. Marinette furrowed her eyebrows in thought.

"We would have to find a way for them to discuss it first. We can't just dump this on them." She leaned over to Juleka. "Have you gotten in touch with Luka?" The dark haired girl nodded.

"He's trying to get back as fast as he can. Could be a week or so though." Her voice broke a little. Rose put a comforting arm around Juleka's shoulders while Marinette grabbed her hand. "He...he sounded so broken on the phone. He's terrified that Kagami's mother is going to take her back to Japan."

"We're going to do everything we can to stop that from happening. Tell him to stay strong. We are going to figure this out, I promise." Marinette assured. Adrien could hear that quiet, determined confidence in her voice. He'd heard that same confident determination many times before, but from a girl behind a mask.

Alya looked at Nino with sadness in her eyes as her boyfriend wrapped an arm around her. She couldn't imagine how hard it must have been for Luka and Kagami not only having to try to keep their relationship a secret, but also the ever present threat of them being torn apart. She held him a little tighter, Nino resting his head on hers. "Does Mrs Tsurugi know about Luka?" Alya asked.

"No, she doesn't." Adrien answered from the phone. "In fact she burst into my father's office demanding answers because she thought I wrote the letters."

"Why would she think that?" Alya asked puzzled. Adrien let out a heavy sigh.

"I guess someone must have seen us passing the letters and told her. I don't know how else she could have found out about this?" Adrien's eyes then looked downcast. "I guess this was probably my fault, I should have been more careful." There was a flurry of voices over the top of each other all trying to convince him otherwise.

"Adrikins, if you were here right now I would slap the back of that pretty head of yours." Chloé scowled at the phone.

"She's right Adrien." Marinette added. "Any one of us could have been seen and there are a dozen reasons Mrs Tsurugi thought it might have been you. It's not like she had ever been subtle about trying to put you and Kagami together over the years." Adrien nodded with a half smile. "I just hope we can come up with a plan that will work."

"Of course you will Marinette. I believe in you." Marinette smiled softly at Adrien on the phone. Alya reached her arm around her best friend.

"We all do." She said, the others all adding their agreement, except Chloé who pretended to look busy with her phone, but quietly smiled. The first bell then rang, signaling the end of lunch.

"Alright, we will leave it at that for now then." Marinette was still feeling a little overwhelmed at everyone's vote of confidence in her. "Adrien, see what you can find out about Kagami's situation, Juleka, let me know when Luka will be getting back and Chloé, find out what we need for a civil wedding. We should at least keep all our options open." Everyone nodded in agreement before getting up to head back to class. Marinette turned her phone back to herself.

"So how are you going?" She asked as she walked back towards the school.

"To tell you the truth, I've actually been enjoying this. It's nice to do something other than modeling for a change. I miss seeing you all though." Then he smiled. "But I can't wait to see you tomorrow night." Marinette smiled shyly and Adrien could detect a touch of pink in her cheeks.

"Between you and me, I'm scared to death." She said honestly. "I only met your father before through a tablet, what if I trip over my feet and fall on him or something?" Adrien burst out laughing.

"Only you would think of that Marinette." The young designer shook her head.

"I'm being realistic Adrien. You know how clumsy I am." Adrien gave her a soft look.

"Don't worry clumsy girl, I'll be there to catch you." Marinette narrowed her eyes questioningly for a moment when the second bell rang before she had too much of a chance to think about what he had just said. "I better let you go to class. I'll ring you tonight okay."

"Yes...tonight me ring...I mean ring me tonight." With that, Marinette gave him a wave, hanging up before facepalming herself for stuttering and grabbing her books from her locker to race to class.

Sitting back into his desk chair Adrien put his hands behind his head and looked out the window.

"That wasn't too subtle you know. You're letting your Chat show." Plagg quipped, sitting down on Adrien's desk. Adrien had a curious grin on his face. "What?" The kwami asked, biting into his camembert.

"Oh nothing." Adrien said, still smiling to himself. Plagg rolled his eyes.

"Will you just ask Pigtails out already and put both of us out of our misery." The Kwami whined. Adrien turned his head back out the window with a chuckle. It was a chance, a hundred to one chance, that he might just be the luckiest guy in the world.

********

"Did Kagami come to practice?" Adrien gave Marinette an amused grin through the Phone. She looked flustered like she had just come running in from the bathroom. He tried really hard not to think too much about her wet hair that was hanging down around her shoulders.

"Well hello to you too." He said with an air of amused sarcasm. Marinette ran her hand down her face.

"I'm so sorry, that was totally rude of me." She gave him a sheepish smile. "Hello Adrien, how are you?" He giggled at her.

"I'm fine, and yes Kagami was at practice." He leaned closer to where his phone was standing on his desk, his face becoming more serious. "It's not good though, Marinette. She has this new bodyguard, a woman who looks like some kind of samurai reincarnated. She doesn't take her eyes off her for a second and follows her everywhere, even into the bathroom." Marinette was trying not to look too appalled.

"Poor Kagami." She whispered, holding her hand over her mouth. "Were you able to talk to her at all?" Adrien nodded.

"Mr D'Argencourt wouldn't allow the bodyguard too close to the arena so Kagami and I stayed near the middle of everyone. We still had to be careful, but we were right about her phone and internet being cut off. The good news is, her mother knows nothing of Luka. She's trying to force Kagami to tell her who wrote the letters by withholding privileges, but she's refusing. She said she would stay grounded for the rest of her life rather than tell her now."

"Were they going to?"

"Yeah, she's told me before that when Luka came back from America they had intended to go to her mother together. I think Kagami was hoping if he had his first album under his belt that maybe things might go better. I guess that was wrong though."

Marinette's eyes dropped to the ground and she sighed so sadly Adrien wished he could just transform and run over to her, but Chat Noir turning up on her balcony out of the blue would just seem weird, for now at least.

"They really love each other, don't they." She eventually said looking back at Adrien on the phone. Adrien could see a wealth of emotions in her eyes, and not just for Kagami and Luka. As much as he wanted to though, now wasn't the time to say anything, not yet.

"Yeah, they do. Kagami said she's on board with any suggestions at this point, although I didn't bring up the marriage idea yet. Too many ears around if you know what I mean." Marinette nodded.

"Let's wait until Luka gets here. We can talk to him first, although from what Juleka tells me, he will probably jump at the chance."

"I don't blame him." Marientte raised an eyebrow at him. "I mean, I can't imagine how hard it would be to be separated from the girl I love." Marinette broke into a fierce blush, not so much from his words, but from the look in his eyes. Really he knew he had no right to be looking at her like that, but he couldn't help it.

"Oh, while I think of it." Marinette stood up trying to compose herself, taking her phone across her bedroom. "I took your advice and added some crystal beads on the dress. Hold on, let me shine some more light on it." Marinette tilted her side lamp, highlighting the delicate sparkles she had embedded into the dress. Not to many, just enough to add a delicate touch.

"Wow Marinette, it looks stunning. I can't wait to see you in it." Was it possible for Marinette's face to grow redder? Yes, it absolutely was.

"Well, one day maybe. I don't get too many opportunities to wear a dress like that." She looked at the curious smirk that spread across Adrien's face.

"Then would you allow me to give you an opportunity?" His heart was pounding at a hundred miles an hour and looking at her eyes grow wider wasn't helping, but he dug deep into his Chat Noir courage. "I'm going to be attending the Bourgois summer soirée in a few weeks and I would love it if you would consider...that is if you'd like to...I mean, it's totally okay if you want to say no..."

"Adrien." Her voice rang like a bell through his rambling, her eyes shining into a smile. "I'd love to."

"Really?" He questioned before shaking his head and ignoring Plagg snickering at him. "I mean, I'm sorry I didn't ask in person but..."

"It's fine." She interrupted with a slight giggle. "But I've never been to an event like that before. Are you...are you sure I'm...ah...I mean the dress is good enough?" His heart sank at the worried look on her face. He could tell from her downcast eyes that she didn't really mean the dress, she thought she wasn't good enough to attend. What he wouldn't give to reach out and just pull her to him now.

"Marinette, look at me." He said gently, her eyes turning back towards him. "The dress is perfect, and so are you."

When they eventually finished talking on the phone, almost an hour later, Marinette squealed into her pillow before going to sleep.

Hours later, not long after sunrise, Adrien awoke to the sound of raised voices and...was that his father cursing? He gave Plagg a questioning look before getting up and quickly throwing his clothes on. Walking out his bedroom door into the foyer, Adrien saw Officer Raincomprix writing in his notebook and his father with his fingers pinching his nose.

"Father?" Adrien questioned as he walked down the staircase. Gabriel re-composed himself and acknowledged his son's presence.

"We had a break in at head office last night." Gabriel said in a matter of fact way, not displaying too much emotion in front of the police. 

"Nothing appears to be stolen." Office Raincomprix added. "Just wilful damage." 

"Damage?" Adrien questioned. Gabriel let out a low growl, rubbing his forehead with his hand.

"The dresses for the advertising campaign we were going to shoot on the weekend. They have been shredded...unsalvageable." Gabriel balled his hand into a fist before unclenching it again.

"What about the surveillance cameras?" Adrien asked.

"It was cut." Came the answer from Nathalie who now joined them. "Someone had tampered with it from the inside and drugged the guard on duty."

"If you don't mind Mr Agreste, we need to go and inspect the damage and get a full statement from you." Officer Raincomprix indicated towards the door. Gabriel nodded, looking towards Adrien.

"Care to join us son?" He asked. Adrien nodded before following them out.

At the Gabriel office tower it was evident that whoever had done this both knew how to gain access and exactly what they were targeting. Nothing else had been touched, only the dresses that Spencer had sent for the advertisement in tatters in the floor. Curiously, the suit was left untouched. Adrien had a gut feeling he knew who was behind the attack, but they could never prove it.

"This is a disaster." Gabriel ranted, looking through the racks of clothes after the police had taken photos and left. "We needed a fresh new piece to launch the summer campaign and that little upstart..." He gritted his teeth.

"You mean Miss Rossi?" Nathalie said flatly. Gabriel glared at her.

"Who else would have done it? She was supposed to have been the original model for the campaign. Clearly this was some juvenile attempt at revenge for being kicked out." He seethed. "If I can get one shred of proof of her involvement in this, my lawyers are going to have a field's day, I promise you that." Not to mention an akuma in her direction may feel justified too, he mused to himself. "Now what the hell are we going to do?"

Adrien leaned against one of the desks, drumming his fingers as he watched his father and Nathalie trail through several dress samples, discarding them to the side. Glancing his eyes over the swatches on the table he was leaning on, he noticed most of the colours were yellow and orange. He held up a few pieces, inspecting the colours together. "Father, were these the colours you were going to be using?" Gabriel lifted his head from the clothes rack.

"Yes, Spencer sent those with the dresses. He had some idea for a beach kind of feel or something for the summer collection. We are already so far behind schedule. There are other dresses in production, but won't be ready in time for the photoshoot and we can only use the Chateau Roseraie gardens this weekend." Gabriel's mind was scattered elsewhere, but Adrien's was fixed on one person and a perfect dress.

"Or a sunset maybe." Adrien said just loud enough to pique his father's interest.

"Sunset? What do you mean?"

"I might have an idea." Gabriel looked at his son as he came over to him with his phone in his hand. "This is a dress Marinette has been working on. It's evening wear and the colours match the samples."

Gabriel took Adrien's phone, examining the dress on the screen. The blending of the colours on the dress was a perfect fit for Spencer's colour scheme, and the style of the dress was classic and timeless, but elegant enough to be couture. "It needs bling to be more seasonal." He muttered.

"That's what I said too." Gabriel looked at his son, raising an eyebrow in surprise. "Father, just because I can't design myself doesn't mean I don't pay attention." Adrien thought he saw the hint of an amused smile. "Anyway, Marinette showed me the dress over the phone last night and she added crystal beading to it. It's really quite beautiful." Gabriel noted the dreamy way Adrien had said that.

"The dress or the girl?" Adrien could feel heat rising in his face. He looked over at Nathalie who gave an encouraging smile.

"Both." He said quietly, looking away shyly. "I...asked Marinette to join me at the summer soirée. She plans to wear the dress there." Gabriel gave Adrien back his phone with a knowing nod and regarded him for a moment.

"So am I correct in assuming the dress has never been seen outside of Marinette's home before this?" Adrien nodded.

"Alya probably has seen it, that's Marinette's best friend, but the event she was supposed to wear it to was cancelled." Gabriel rubbed his chin.

"I need to see it in person. Would you mind asking Marinette to bring it with her tonight?" Adrien nodded with a broad smile.

"I'll text her now"

Adrien pulled out his phone as he headed up to his office. That still felt weird. How many seventeen year olds had their own office? Granted it is his father's company, but still...

Adrien held his fingers over the keypad. He didn't want her to freak out. She was already nervous about even meeting his father, he didn't want her having a meltdown over him 'critiquing' one of her designs which was meant for a family occasion, not the public stage. He needed to find the right way to word it.  

Adrien: Hey, can I ask you a favour?

He knew Marinette would most likely be in class, but her reply was quite quick.

Marientte: Sure, what's up?

Adrien: We had a break in at the offices and the dresses for the summer advertising were destroyed.

Marientte: OMG, who would do that???

Adrien: I'd give you three guesses, but you probably only need one. We can't prove that though.

Marinette: Figures...but how can I help?

Alright, Adrien though, here goes.

Adrien: I showed my father a picture of your sunset dress and he would like to see it and maybe use it in the advertising instead. We are in a time pinch and he really liked the look of your design.

He saw the little dots come and go a few times. He really hoped she wasn't having a freak out in class. Maybe he should have given Alya a heads up first.

Marinette: He wants to put my dress in an advertisement?

Adrien: Consider it an extension of your internship application. Trust me, he's impressed otherwise he wouldn't have asked.

Sitting down in his desk chair, he watched Plagg make himself comfortable with a piece of cheese. He leaned over, scratching the cat Kwami behind the ears. It was taking a while for her to respond, but eventually a message came back.

Marinette: Sorry, Ms Mendeleive was watching me. I think she's getting suspicious. Sure, I guess I can do that.

Adrien smiled to himself. Somehow he felt Ms Mandeleive wasn't the only reason for the delay.

Adrien: Of course you can. I'll come pick you up at six <3

Down stairs, Gabriel kept looking at Nathalie over the top of his glasses from his desk. She had been ignoring him since the other night, he knew that, keeping all interactions strictly work related and it was driving him nuts. Granted, he wasn't exactly stellar in his behaviour the last few years, and he was still coming to grips with what the future may now hold for him, but the idea of Nathalie giving him the cold shoulder was upsetting him more than he was willing to admit to.

"Nathalie, can I ask your opinion?" Gabriel said, getting up and walking over to her desk. She kept her focus on her computer screen, trying not to give him too much acknowledgment.

"Certainly Sir, what is it?" Oh, we're back to Sir again he mused in some annoyance. Gabriel cleared his throat.

"I wanted to know your opinion on Miss Dupain-Cheng and Adrien." Nathalie stopped typing and turned her head towards him.

"I believe Miss Dupain-Cheng is a very talented designer with great potential and Adrien admires her a lot." Gabriel furrowed his eyebrows at her.

"Don't give me that Nathalie." He said bitterly. "You know how much Emilie's father disapproved of me when we first started dating. Even that first major fashion show we were part of wasn't enough for him to give his blessing. He thought I was after Emilie for money, which was not true at all. You can at least give me some credit that I would give the girl a chance." Nathalie rocked back into her computer chair. She remembered all too well the arguments Gabriel got into with Emilie's father trying to prove himself to little avail.

"I think Marinette is a kind, sweet girl who cares for Adrien very much." Gabriel nodded his head.

"And Adrien?" Nathalie stood up and looked him square in the eyes.

"He's in love with her. I'm certain of it." Gabriel thought about that for a moment, folding his arms.

"So why hasn't he done something more about it?" Nathalie rolled her eyes and scoffed.

"He's not like you Gabriel. He doesn't just take what he wants. He cares deeply for Marinette, the last thing he would want to do would be to hurt or offend her in some way, or jeopardise her career chances. He's a lot like Emilie in that regard." Her eyes trailed off to Gabriel's ring on his finger before looking away. "There's something special there between those two Gabriel. Something that could be good for all of us if you can find a way not to destroy it tonight." She turned to leave but Gabriel grabbed her arm.

"Nathalie please." He said horsley, "I know I was out of line the other night, but ..." She closed her eyes and shook her head.

"It's fine Gabriel. You were drunk and I..."

"I wasn't drunk Nathalie. I know what I said and I know what I wanted." Nathalie turned her eyes up to him, his breath was hot across her face only inches away. "You mean the world to me Nathalie. I need you."

"And I told you, you're still acting like a married man." She grabbed his hand on her arm and shrugged out of his grip, stopping as she reached the door. "If you want Adrien to stay in your life, then you better treat that girl like glass, because if you try to break her like you did with those other candidates..."

"Duly noted." He conceded. "But she isn't like the other candidates, is she?" Nathalie shook her head.

"No, she's not." She said before walking out the door.