Sabine walked into the bakery's front, holding the business phone in her hand. "Tom, we just got an order for fifteen baguettes. They want to pick them up at four."

Tom held up a finger, then pointed at the cell phone he held next to his ear. "Okay, honey, I just wanted to make sure you were okay. They were talking about the school on the radio again…Oh, so are they cancelling school for the rest of the day?" There was a long pause "Mm. Let me ask your mother." Tom covered the microphone with his hand and looked up and Sabine. "It's Marinette. She said that Ladybug had to come stop a giant spider at school, and that everyone was so rattled that the principal decided to cancel the rest of the day."

Sabine bit her lip. "Is she okay?"

"Oh, yes. Everyone is fine. The teachers just thought that so much excitement would make the learning environment stressful. Anyway, Marinette wants to know if it's okay if she goes over to Alya's."

"On another day, perhaps yes. But Tom, we have four cakes to decorate and all those baguettes. You know how good Marinette is with the cakes…"

Tom uncovered the microphone. "No, honey, not today. We need your help at the bakery. It doesn't matter what we would do if you still had school, you don't, and we need your help! Alya can come here if she wants…no, we're not going to put her to work too. Yes, we'll pay you. Just come home and help out, please. It's cake decorating, if that helps at all. But you're so good with the cakes! Just be home, all right?" Tom hit 'end' on his cell phone and gave an exasperated groan. "Teenagers."

"She'll get over it," Sabine said. "Once she gets into decorating the cakes, she'll be happier. The fashion designer comes out in her."

Tom grinned. "Our little fashionista, and she owes it all to her humble beginnings of decorating cakes."

"Well, I'm going to head back into the kitchen to get everything measured out for those baguettes, so that all we have to do is proof the yeast at the right time."

"Okay, darling. Would you please peek at the cakes in the oven? I need to reorganize the pastry case."

Sabine nodded and kissed Tom on the cheek before walking into the kitchen. She set the phone down on its cradle and hummed to herself as she peered into the oven. The cakes were doming up beautifully.

Perfect, as usual, my dearest Tom, she thought. She loved her husband more than anything in the world, and even after twenty years of marriage, she still never ceased to be amazed by how talented he was at his job. There was nothing that he could not get flour to do for him, almost as if he was a great horse trainer whose whispers encouraged even the wildest horses to be still and calm. He was truly a magician.

She smiled at the thought as she went to measure out flour for the baguettes. She chuckled to herself. She hardly knew why she bothered measuring, since Tom would always use less or more than the amount based on the day's humidity. But he claimed that it helped him, so she did. Fleetingly, she wondered if he only did things like this to make her feel useful.

The door to the bakery chimed as someone walked in.

"Good morning, sir," Tom said cheerfully. "How may I help you?"

"Your money. All of it."

Sabine's whole body went cold. Silently, she stole up to the kitchen door and peeked around the corner. A masked man held a gun pointed straight at Tom's heart. She had heard about a string of holdups in the area. Usually, there were no casualties, as long as the shop owners cooperated with the criminal. Her heart sank as she heard Tom open the cash register.

"You think I'm interested in just your cash drawer? Where's your safe?"

Sabine grabbed the phone from its cradle and started to dial. Even if she could not prevent their money from being taken, she could at least give the police a jump start on bringing this lowlife to justice.

"Police?" she whispered. "My place of business is being held up by a thief. I think he's the same one who—" Her fingers, slippery from flour, lost their grip on the phone. She caught it as it slipped, but accidentally tapped a button as it fell.

It was the speaker button.

"What is your address, Madame?" the dispatcher asked, his voice ringing out loudly through the kitchen.

"Who's in the kitchen?" shouted the criminal.

Sabine took a few stumbling steps backward as she heard the man come toward the kitchen. As soon as she saw him, she froze. He stomped on the phone, crushing it beneath his feet. He walked toward her. "That was a mistake." He raised his gun.

Tom burst in and tried to grab it away.

Too afraid to scream or move, Sabine stood frozen while she watched her husband and the criminal wrestle for control of the gun.

The gun discharged.

The bullet flew straight into Tom's head. A shower of blood spattered the wall behind him.

Heartbeat by heartbeat, Sabine watched as her husband fell to the floor. The criminal immediately turned and ran out of store, the doors chiming as he left.

The merry chime seemed like nothing but a death knell.


Walking home, Marinette kicked a stray rock as hard as she could.

"But Marinette, you like decorating cakes," Alya said.

Marinette groaned. "I do, but that's not the point! I'm only supposed to have to work in the bakery on weekends and holidays."

"Technically, since school is out, it is a holiday."

"Thanks for pointing that out."

"Come on, it'll be fun! I'll be there, right? We can still talk."

"Yeah, but with my parents listening?"

Alya laughed. "I've got to admit, it'd be nice to hear you talk about something other than Adrien for a change."

"You're one to talk. All you ever talk about is your LadyBlog."

"Well, Ladybug is tons more interesting than Adrien. I mean, yeah, Adrien's hot and all, but he doesn't go around saving the world all the time."

"Didn't you hear? Adrien saved Ladybug's life today in the gym. Arachnid was about to kill Ladybug, and he jumped in the way and got bitten by that awful thing." Marinette's heart jumped at the memory. "He might not save the world all the time, but he saved Ladybug. He even got her out of the webs she was tied up in. And she wouldn't have been able to save everyone if it hadn't been for him."

"No way. Adrien did?"

"Yeah!" Marinette clasped her hands together next to her face. Was there anything not to like about Adrien? He was kind, and noble, and brave, and so totally delicious…

"I can't believe I missed it! I was trapped in the bathroom the whole time. I guess I'll have to interview Adrien tomorrow for the LadyBlog."

"And now we're back to the LadyBlog."

"What? We were back to the topic of Adrien before the topic of the LadyBlog."

Marinette giggled. "I guess we're a little one-note, huh?"

"Well, let's work on changing that," Alya said, nudging Marinette. "We can start by talking about cakes. I know you decorate some of them, but how long have you been doing it?"

"Oh, since I was ten. Papa showed me how to do it, and I sort of went from there. It's a lot like fashion design, with all of the little details. I'm still not as good as Papa—you should see the things he can do with fondant."

As they rounded the corner, Marinette jumped when she saw half a dozen police cars and an ambulance in front of the bakery. Two paramedics were wheeling a gurney out of the bakery.

Her heart stopped when she saw who was on it.

"Papa!" she screamed. She dropped everything and ran toward them. "Papa, oh no…"

Her mom ran out of the bakery and threw her arms around Marinette. "They said he's still alive, but that they have to get him to the hospital immediately." Tears ran down her cheeks, and her face was completely white. She started to sob. "Oh, Marinette…"

Alya stood a few paces away, her mouth hanging open in horror.

"Madame Cheng, will you be riding in the ambulance? We don't have room for your daughter, too."

"We'll follow in a taxi," Sabine said, sniffing.

The paramedic nodded before hopping into the ambulance and driving away, sirens wailing.

"Actually, Madame Cheng," said one of the police officers, "we need to ask you some questions before you go."


Hours later, Marinette sat in the hospital waiting room. Her mom had put her arm around her, and Marinette leaned in and buried her face in her mom's shoulder. Alya sat on the other side of her, holding Marinette's hand tightly. The three of them sat in silence, except for the occasional sob that escaped Marinette or her mom.

Marinette did not even know what to feel. Grief? No, it was too soon to grieve—not as long as there was a chance that her father was still alive. She did not want to grieve, because that was admitting defeat. But if her father died…then the last thing she had said to him was a disrespectful, Fine! I'll be there!

Not I love you, Papa.

The thought made her sick with guilt.

They had been sitting there for three hours by the time a doctor walked up to them.

"Madame Cheng?" the doctor asked.

Sabine looked up. "Yes?"

"My name is Dr. Boyer. I'm the supervising doctor for your husband's case."

"What can you tell me?"

Dr. Boyer frowned. "Well, your husband is still alive. The bullet didn't kill him. But…Madame, I'm afraid that he's in a coma. He will be in a vegetative state for the rest of his life. I'm sorry."

Marinette burst into tears. Her heart was torn into a million shreds. Her father was gone. He might as well be dead. She would never hear his voice again. They would never play Mecha Strike III together again.

"Oh, Marinette…" Alya whispered, squeezing Marinette's hand even tighter.

"Now," Dr. Boyer said, "since you have power of attorney, you get to choose whether or not to keep him on life support. Even then, you understand, we can only keep him on life support for so long—since the healthcare system only allows so much of that in hopeless cases."

"Is it truly hopeless?" Sabine said. "Miracles happen, don't they? I have read stories of people coming out of such comas…"

Miracles.

Miracles.

Marinette's sobbing redoubled. If she had been there as Ladybug, she could have not only stopped the criminal and delivered him to the police, she could have saved her father. Even if she couldn't have kept him from being shot, Miraculous Ladybug would have returned everything to normal. Was there even a way to use Miraculous Ladybug now? Or did it only work in cases when somebody had been Akumatized?

No. It was all too late. There was nothing she could do.

Her father was gone.

"It has happened in the past, yes. But it is very rare, Madame Cheng. You'll have a week or so before the coverage for keeping him on life support runs out."

"Is he suffering?"

The doctor sighed. "No. He's in a vegetative state. He feels nothing."

"I—I'm not ready to say goodbye," Sabine said.

"I understand completely." He handed a manila folder to Sabine. "You'll need to fill all of this out and give it to the nurse at the desk over there. Madame, I'm truly sorry for your loss."

As the doctor walked away, Alya finally broke down into tears. She clung to Marinette, and both of them bawled.

But Sabine sat as though lifeless. The papers fell to the floor and silent tears streamed from her eyes.


That night, well after midnight, Marinette and her mom finally arrived at home. Alya had had to go home hours ago, but she promised Marinette that she would call the next day. They had to sidestep the bakery, which was crawling with a police forensics team.

Marinette collapsed onto her bed and buried her face in her pillow. She was too wiped to even cry any more.

"I know what you're thinking, Marinette," Tikki said softly. "It's not your fault. Ladybug can't be everywhere at once. And you can't possibly hope to stop all the crime in Paris."

"I know," Marinette said. "I know. But I can't help but feel…"

Tikki gently kissed Marinette's cheek. "Get some sleep. It'll be easier in the morning."

The door in the floor popped open as Marinette's mom came into the room. Tikki hid under the bed.

"Mind if I sleep with you tonight?" Sabine said.

Marinette shook her head.

"I love you, Marinette," Sabine said, as she crawled into bed with her.

"I love you too, Mama."

Wrapped in the safety and love of her mother's arms, Marinette finally fell asleep.