In the past few days, Adrien leaped across buildings as Chat Noir, battling akuma after akuma. The more he fought, the more tired he got. He would linger on buildings now and then and catch his breath. But none of this was anything that bad as compared to Ladybug.

He started noticing just the little things. Like how she had gotten just a bit slower than himself and she got winded a lot easier. Every now and then, he would lend a hand to her to help and she would swat his hand away like a fly, swearing she was fine. Chat decided to let believe that but he knew that she was probably getting sick. He had hoped that she could reveal herself to him and that way, he could stay by her side and take care of her. He knew that she had to be developing a cold. Either that or it was the flu.

After saying goodbye and soaring away, Chat followed and went his own way back to his bedroom window. As he landed inside, his transformation wore off and Plagg flew back out of the silver ring. He tossed Plagg a slice of Camembert and didn't say a word. He just started pacing around his room. Plagg watched his holder walk around, thinking to himself.

"You're gonna burst if you don't talk about it," Plagg said as he watch Adrien walk around the coffee table for the 40th time.

"I'm just wondering what's wrong with Ladybug. I know she says that she's okay but I don't believe her." He put his forehead in his fingertips and sat on the couch. "I know she's probably getting like a cold or something but I can't help her civilian self if she never reveals herself to me."

"You know she's never going to, right?"

"I realize that. She's stubborn," Adrien responded. He looked at his kwami and continued thinking. "I need to find out who she is. That way I can make sure she gets rest and she takes care of herself."

"She's never going to tell you who she is. And she doesn't want to know who you are either. That's the whole point of a secret identity, Adrien."

Adrien looked out his window at the sunset. He could see the sun setting right behind the Dupain-Cheng Bakery. He made a mental note to go tomorrow afternoon to get something sweet from there. It had been awhile since he had one of their delicious snacks and he missed it. It definitely had the best food in all of Paris. He was lucky enough to be in the same classes as Marinette still and every month or two, she would bring stuff from the bakery to the school. And it usually brightened up his day. Luckily, he talked his dad into having the Dupain-Chengs cater any events they had at the Agreste Manor.

"I wonder how Marinette is doing," he thought out loud. Plagg rolled his eyes and fell on his pillow.

"Please don't tell me you're going to go visit her again as Chat Noir? Can't you just pick one girl and stick with her?" Adrien turned his head and looked at Plagg with annoyance.

"Plagg, I don't like Marinette the same way I like Ladybug. I'm in love with Ladybug. Marinette is just a friend." Plagg rolled his eyes.

"Whatever you say," he said as he flopped his head back on the pillow below him.

Marinette's Bedroom...

Marinette doubled over in her bed in coughs and was trying to stop but they kept coming out of her in rapid succession. Tikki watched her Chosen coughing in pain and looked sadly at her. She hoped that she would feel better soon. Eventually, Marinette was able to stop coughing and she sat up in bed.

"Marinette, are you sure you're okay?" Tikki sat in her lap and looked up at the raven-haired girl with big blue eyes. Marinette weakly smiled.

"Don't worry, Tikki. Mom is taking me to the doctor tomorrow and then we'll see what's up. Worst case scenario, it's strep throat." Tikki gasped.

"That's terrible for your vocal chords, Marinette. Strep throat can really damage a person." Tikki flew up and floated in front of her face. "I hope it's only a bad cough. Cause if it's strep throat, you can get hurt really bad! And then you won't be able to transform into Ladybug until it's completely gone! What are you going to do? Some cases of strep throat can end up with people having surgery!" Marinette rolled her eyes.

"Tikki," Marinette lifted her arm and stroked Tikki's head. "Trust me. This is nothing to worry about. I'm almost positive that it's just a bad cough." Tikki looked as if she was going to say something but when they heard someone coming up the steps, Tikki quickly hid behind Marinette's pillow. The door opened and Sabine's head popped up through the door. She looked up to see her daughter in bed.

"How are you feeling, Marinette?" She walked up the rest of the stairs and set down the soup she made on Marinette's desk. She looked up at her paler than usual daughter and climbed up a couple steps to her bed. She looked at her.

"I'm feeling okay. I don't think it's that bad." Just at that moment, Marinette started coughing harshly, causing her face to go red from the strength of every cough emitting from her. She couldn't stop just like before and took her at least 20 seconds to stop the force of the cough from coming out. Sabine stared at her daughter.

"Yeah, cause you sound so much better." She said sarcastically. "We have to make that appointment early tomorrow so get some rest. Drink the soup I made and then get under the covers and sleep." She stood in the middle of the room now and picked up a thick blanket from the stairs heading down into the living room. She brought it over to her daughter and set it on the edge of the bed. "Cover up with this too to keep extra warm in case it becomes a cold. Do you need me to make you another 'emergen-c'?" she asked Marinette. Marinette shook her head and climbed down to get the soup.

"No, I'll be fine. I'm sure the soup will take care of it." She reached over and took a couple spoonfuls of the soup and slurped away. Sabine smiled and started walking back down the stairs.

"Okay, well if you need anything, holler. Do you want us to keep your bedroom door open?"

"No, I'll be fine, mama." She continued to slurp down the soup even though it felt like it was doing nothing to help. She smiled warmly at her mom to signal that the soup was good and she left. She set down the soup and climbed back up into her bed. Tikki came out and laid on the bed. "Tikki, everything will be fine. I'll be able to transform into Ladybug. I'm 95% sure that it's just a cough or a cold. I highly doubt it's strep throat."

"Well, make sure to really take care of yourself the next couple of days. You need to get better if you're going to keep battling akumas." Marinette pulled her blankets over herself and closed her eyes, waiting for sleep to take over.

Agreste Mansion...

"Well, I don't like her in that way. You can say whatever you want but I like Ladybug as a romantic figure. Marinette is just a friend. I can't like both of them at the same time."

"Adrien, are you done ranting?" Plagg asked from his pillow. "You've been talking non-stop about this for ten minutes. Say what you want, but you like Marinette. Otherwise you wouldn't be going off like this." Adrien looked over at his kwami and yawned.

"Alright, move over. I'm going to bed." He was wearing nothing but his black boxers and crawled into bed and only pulled a sheet up. "Goodnight, Plagg."

"'Night." He turned off his bedroom lights with the remote on his bedside table and closed his eyes. While Plagg slept silently, Adrien couldn't shake the feeling that Ladybug needed his help more than she wanted him to know.