Night Shift

Chapter 3

Lila awoke to the sound of a knock.

"Hang on a minute," Lila mumbled drowsily, fumbling for the switch on her lamp. The light flickered on and Lila looked up at the glass door. "Oh, it's you."

Ladybug looked in quizzically. "You must be tired, then?"

"You could say that," Lila replied, pulling off the blanket. "What time is it?"

"It's not quite nine in the evening," Ladybug answered.

Lila rubbed her eyes. "I guess it's time to go back to Sainte-Chapelle?"

"Nope. We've got a different sort of job tonight. And fortunately, it's one that'll allow you to go to sleep a bit earlier."

"Oh, good," Lila muttered, grabbing her coat and pulling it on. "Because that was definitely a major problem last time."

"Agreed." Ladybug looked over to the box that still sat in the center of the room. "You know, if you tell me your measurements, I could make you a costume that fits."

"Don't bother," Lila replied. "It's far too cold for that sort of outfit, anyway."

"I put in a thermal lining in the one I gave you. If it had fit, it would have been fine in the cold."

"I said, don't bother." Lila pulled on a pair of gloves, fastened her mask, and walked out onto the balcony. "Are we taking the night bus again?"

"Not this time," Ladybug answered. "We've got far too many stops to make for that to be efficient."

It was then that Lila noticed the enormous red sack that Ladybug had slung over her shoulder. "What on earth is that?" Lila demanded.

"This?" Ladybug opened the top of the sack and looked in. "It's for my Santa Claus routine."

"Your Santa Claus routine," Lila repeated slowly. "What on earth are you talking about?"

Ladybug reached into the sack and pulled out a large box, wrapped in red paper with black spots. "This one's for Helène Bardeau; she asked me for a new blender." Pulling out two more similarly wrapped boxes, Ladybug continued. "This one here is for Édith Marcelle, who's out of wiper fluid in her car. And this is for Fred Haprèle: his hat got torn when he was akumatized, and now he needs a new one."

"You're running errands for people?" Lila asked incredulously.

"Only for things that they really need and that they can't easily get for themselves," Ladybug clarified.

"Yeah, I guess that Fred guy can't possibly live without a hat," Lila drawled.

"He's a mime," Ladybug explained. "You can't get any respect as a mime without having a hat. And he can't afford a new one on his own."

"And you can?"

"I've done several favors for the owner of Le Bon Marché. In return, he's providing me with all of these."

"How do you even know they need these things?" Lila asked.

"I told you," Ladybug answered with a grin. "Super hearing."

Lila shook her head. "Sorry, not buying it. Yesterday when you were standing by the mixer, you asked me to speak up because you couldn't hear me."

Ladybug froze up for a moment. "Okay, you got me there."

"So then how do you actually know?"

Ladybug shrugged. "I guess that'll be my secret for now."

"It's because of your absolutely illegal spy yoyo, isn't it?"