Adrien thinks back on his past.  He wonders what is it with this fire everyone keeps going on about in their journals lately.  What fire?   Where was it?  How long ago did it take place?  where were his own memories about it?   He thinks, did I really block it out of my own memory because the experience was so awful?

    Nathalie changes her mind and decides to stay. She still feels bad about the secrets she kept about the past. She is as clueless as Adrien when it comes to the past fire.  She did not start to work for the Agreste until a few weeks after it was over.  All she can recall about it is that it had something to do with both the Agreste home, and the bakery, the Dupain-Cheng bakery!  That was it!  No wonder the whole thing still troubles her.  How was it that out of all the buildings in Paris, France these two were the only ones the fire seems to have ever  touched in the past?  How was it, no how is it Marinette appears to have no scars from it while Adrien does and his mother apparently did as well?  Something, about the whole thing just does not add up.

  Marinette finds another small journal as she cleans up in the attic area where her room is located.  She thinks, strange that I never saw this here before! She looks at it closer.  It says, The Journal of Tom Dupain-Cheng, husband of Sabine and father to Marinette!  on the front cover!  She decides to read it.  She figures it could not hurt.  After all, she reasons within herself, my father is dead and my mother is in prison.  Here goes nothing, she says to herself as she opens it.

   Dear Journal,

   I decided to hide this in the attic area of the bakery, which ironically enough is also our daughter, Marinette's room.  This is because Sabine found out about the other journal and was not happy about it.  I do fear Sabine has gone crazy!  She keeps on and on about how she thinks we should leave Paris, France to start over!  Why?  what reason would we have to do this?  I would leave her, but I can't because I still love her!  I still love Marinette as well!  I can not leave Marinette fatherless, so I will stay.  I will no matter what, even if it kills me.  I do wish Sabine would be more reasonable and let Marinette remain friends with Adrien Agreste!  I do believe those two are meant to be together!  I even saw Adrien with a necklace in hand that he says he intends to give to Marinette!   I asked him why he would want to do such a thing as such a young age ?  He told me, "it is because she and I are best friends! I don't want her to ever forget that!  I don't want her to ever forget me!  I love her!"   I must admit though surprised I was pleased!  Only thing is somehow, Sabine found out about the necklace and insisted that Marinette was never to receive it.  Poor, Adrien he will be heartbroken when he finds out that Marinette will forget him and all because my irrational wife  refuses to let her see him ever again !   It is hard enough on him what with his mother's accidental death, and the fire that he survived years prior to all this.  

    Did I  ever mention the fire?  Hmm, I thought for sure I did.  Well, just in case let me refresh your memory?  See it started in the Dupain-Cheng bakery and spread to the upstairs area.  Marinette was out on her balcony at the time.  Everyone else was inside.  Marinette was so afraid, she paniced and climbed down the fire escape to safety.  This was a good thing as she was never burned. She was unharmed.  Sabine and I were both badly burned!  A beam feel down and had my dear wife pinned to the ground!  I lifted it off her and she thanked me!  She said,  "Oh, darling, your like my knight in shinning armor!"  

     Eventually the fire got so out of hand that the Agreste mansion caught on fire as well !  The fire department managed to get it put out before to much damage was done to the building, but Emilie and Adrien were badly burned.  Emiie was never the same after the fire!  Neither was Adrien!  For that matter, my Sabine was way different as well. The only ones who stayed the same were myself, Gabriel Agreste, and Marinette!   Oh, and try as they might the fire department was unable to save the bakery, and as for our home on top of it, somehow it survived the fire with very little damage though no one seems to know how!   

     We stayed in a hotel for a week, then with relatives out of town in China for a couple of months while our bakery was rebuilt. The home on top of it was remolded just a little, that is the kitchen and living room areas were redone to make them look nicer than had in years!   When we moved back in the first thing Marinette asked was were Adrien was?  I was sorry to tell her that she could not see him as her mother and I would not allow it !  I felt guilty for the pain and sorrow this caused her!  I could tell she was upset as she said, "Mom and Dad, I hate you !  You here me!  I hate you and never want to speak to you again!"  She went to her room.  A few minutes later, she came out, apologized and hugged us.  

     One morning, Sabine woke up and laughed uncontrollably. This was my first sign that something was not right with my wife!  I ignored all the warning signs. I could tell she felt depressed about something, but was not sure what it could be!  I try to take her to see a counselor and she got offended. She accused me of not loving her!  She accused me of hating her!  None of this was ever true!  It still is not true!  I love my wife and would do anything for her! 

       _Tom Dupain-Cheng

   Marinette sighs.  She thinks, would things have been different for me growing up if my father had agreed with my mother and moved with us to some where far away from Paris, France?  Would my father still be alive?  What about my mother, would she have gone crazy and done the horrible things she did?  She cries and thinks, it is no use. There is not a way to change the past.  What happens in the past stays in the past, there are no redo's, she thought.

    Meanwhile, with Adrien who takes a look at his father's belongings, his inheritance once more.  He sees a loose slip of paper on the top of the desk in his father's study.  It has a crease in it like it it has been folded. He unfolds it and  takes a look to see what news it contains. He gasps!  He sees the details in front of him about this mysterious fire the one he kept wondering about all alone.  He rereads it over this time a bit slower than when he first came across the handwritting, his father's handwriting that is that tells all, he ever wanted and felt like he needed to know.  He notices a second handwriting towards the end and sees it is mother's handwriting.  

   Dearest Adrien,

  Though it may hard for you to understand right now, we both agree it is best for you and your well being to no longer be known as Adrien Agreste.  We will call you Chat, that is to say Chat Noir for here on out!  Don't worry, I am sure in time you will get used to it!  Also, we are both ever so sorry that you were hurt so badly in the fire!  The fire that started at the Dupain-Cheng bakery and spread to their living room and kitchen areas.  The same fire that latter spread to our mansion.  I am still not sure how the fire started.  Even the fire department still seems a bit puzzled about the entire thing.  Just want you to know that I love you and don't want anyone to ridicule you which is why you are to wear the leather bandanges until your scars heal!  If nothing else, who knows maybe in time someone will come to love you in spite of your disguise and love you scars and all!  I sure hope so!  

   I noticed the way you look at your best friend, Marinette!  You might try to say your only best friends, but I can tell the look you give her is the look of  Love!  The same look is the one I gave your mother the day I fell in love with her!  I have loved her ever since then!  That is why I married her!   

    Love you and hope for the best for you, son!

      Love, 

your father,

xoxoxoxo

Dear Adrien,

How do  I put this son?   I love you!  I love you ever so much!  I want you to know that no matter what happens to us all, that I  love you and your father, Gabriel !  

 I  am sorry you were badly burned in that horrible fire, son!  I know you may not remember it, but I do!  It was something that happened in the middle of the night while we all slept.  No one knows how it started, but I suspect that Sabine, might have had something to do with it!  She was rather angry when Tom refused to move her and their daughter out of Paris, France to the  United States!   Not  only is this so, but she also said she never liked the idea of  Marinette being best friends with a boy!   "Why ever not?   Why our son, is a proper gentleman!  Sure he might get angry and break the occasional cup or  coffee mug or two, but he would never hurt anyone! He really does have a good heart!   I mean he loves his family and he is smitten with your daughter, Marinette!"  I told Sabine this the other day.  She was not to happy!   If any thing she was furious!  

She said, I had what was coming to me !   Whatever that means!  Any way,  I want you to know we are both proud of you and love you very much!  We want you to be happy son as we are right now!   It is both of us desire for you that someday you will grow up and marry the woman you love!   I believe you have already found her in your best friend, Marinette Dupain-Cheng!  Take good care of her son, never let her out of your sight!  Never let her go!  Never betray her!  I  know you love her!  So, in time tell her how you feel, and marry her!   You heard me, you two are like peas in a pod, like spaghetti and meatballs, like ice-cream and cool whip, and like the best friends ever!   

    I hope your future is all you dream it to be and more!

     Love,

   your mother,

xoxoxoxoxoxo

    Adrien cries.  He thinks, wow!  My parents, both of them really did love me!  They really loved each other too.  I know it is really is true now that my father may have killed my mother, but that he never meant too. I know for sure now it was an accident.  I also, know now that no one knows what started the fire, or how it never touched Marinette's room, but  I do know the details about it now all because my parents choose to leave me this note.  He thinks, thinks so much Mom and Dad!  I know you are both dead now and gone into eternity, but this means so much to me!  It really does!

   Adrien calls Marinette and tells him what he found. She in return tells him what she found recently too!  They compare details and are surprised to find they match up when it comes to the news about the fire that took place all those years ago!

to be continued in Chapter 11  The Necklace?