Gonna be a semi short chapter but I still hope you guys enjoy the chapter because I made Master Fu into a therapist, which is fitting for him. ~ SnivyLord

"Dr. Fu, thank you for squeezing me in."

"Oh no, it's really not a problem Marinette, I'll pour a pot of tea and we can continue where we left off last time we were here," Dr. Fu nodded as he stood and went into the back to fetch a pot of tea while Marinette sat uneasily on the mat in his Chinese garden inspired office. Soon, Marinette saw Dr. Fu come back from the corner of her eye with a steaming pot of tea as he sat down on the opposite side. He poured two perfect cups of tea in those antique ornate cups from imperial times, "so last time we left off, we talked about you meeting your old flame again, is that right?"

"Yes, I believe I told you that, his name is Adrien Agreste?" Marinette said as she took a sip from her tea.

"Yes, I know very well who he is, now tell me, has it been a problem for you ever since he's reappeared back into your life?" Dr. Fu asked as Marinette scoffed and rubbed her temples in frustration.

"More trouble that it's worth, I'm risking everything that 15 long years of hiding and protecting have done for my family. They're being protected... from him... but I can't hold him off forever, he's eventually going to get to them, and it's game over," Marinette stared into the tea as Dr. Fu looked at her sadly.

"Was this the life you wanted for your children, and most importantly, yourself?" Dr. Fu asked as Marinette scoffed again and looked up at him in disbelief.

"No! Of course not, but what can I do? The life I had before? Just a relic of the past, I can't do anything to change my life because that would involve getting in Gabriel's way. It's not worth it.. trust me," Marinette replied. Dr. Fu then posed another question even though he knew full well what her answer would be.

"At this point, does Adrien know?"

"No... he can't know... because there are lives at stake if he knows. Louis, Hugo, and Emma will get themselves killed if I took my eyes off for one second if Gabriel knows that Adrien knows!" Marinette exclaimed in an almost crazed tone. Dr. Fu frowned as he thought to make a joke.

"Technically, you're in my office, taking your eyes off them for about 45 minutes now," Dr. Fu chided as Marinette raised her eyebrows at him and frowned.

"You really wanna go there?"

"Nope... anyway, it seems as if your treatment is reverting back on itself, you're getting worse again. Just when you made some progress too," Dr. Fu wrote down his findings in the records while Marinette kept staring into the tea, "Your coping mechanisms and acquiescence to this situation are no longer working. Marinette tell me, when was the last time you had the chance to use your coping mechanisms?"

Marinette sipped her tea as a thought immediately came to mind, "Oh, it was during this high school reunion, there was this woman, who kept stepping on my toes and there was just bad blood between us. However, she... triggered the memories, of everything that happened... everything I regretted. And I don't know why my coping mechanisms didn't work! It was like I didn't even try... I saw Gabriel in front of me and he's all I could see and hear, if it wasn't for Adrien, I probably would have never snapped out of it."

"I see, your trauma is extremely powerful Marinette, we both agreed that this process of healing you was going to take a long time, it's not something you can just leave in the rearview mirror," Dr. Fu said as Marinette groaned in frustration and rubbed her nose.

"I know! And that's because he's always going to be behind me! Watching me! Haunting me! Reminding me that I can't protect them forever! It's something that's on the mirror, but the windshield wipers can't reach it and it never will. Gabriel waits for no one-" Marinette said as they both heard a knock on the door and Dr. Fu quickly excused himself.

"I'm sorry Marinette, that must be my other patient who was supposed to come in today, that's why I was able to squeeze you in, you don't mind if they come in right?"

"Oh... sure, no problem," Marinette took a deep breath while she calmed herself down again.

"You can come in! I have another patient in here but it's ok!" Dr. Fu called out as the person on the other side of the door responded.

"I'm terribly sorry Dr. Fu, I just wasn't sure if I was gonna come today and I decided to after all-" The person stopped talking as he entered the room and Marinette, noticing his voice cut off, feigned a look of confusion as she turned her body around to find Adrien Agreste staring at her, cut off mid sentence. They meet in the most coincidental of places.

"Adrien!?"

"Marinette?!"

"Well this is certainly a surprise," Dr. Fu chuckled nervously as Marinette and Adrien continued to stare at each other for the next 5 minutes.

"Adrien... you go to therapy?!" Marinette asked as she finally found the strength to speak while Adrien scoffed.

"I should be asking you the same question! Who's watching your kids?!" Adrien asked as Marinette had a thought cross her mind: Adrien cared about who was watching the kids, even though he's supposedly not their father, people could care, but Adrien immediately had that fatherly instinct. It somehow made her happy inside.

"Louis is watching the twins, they've been home all morning. I haven't seen you since Christmas, how are you Adrien?" Marinette sighed as Adrien took one more longing look at her before he sat down beside her on the mat and sighed as well.

"I've been fine, I suppose," Adrien grimaced slightly as Marinette noticed his change in tone, he looked so grim and yet it's also as if there's nothing wrong at the same time.

"Alya told me that you didn't even show up for New Year's, what happened?" Marinette asked as she felt Adrien tense and narrow his eyes at the ground.

"Tch... I kinda don't want to talk about it, but I came to Dr. Fu today for a reason so... Doctor, Kagami... she broke off our engagement with me and now I just don't know what to do."

"WHAT?!" Dr. Fu and Marinette exclaimed as she thought back to that night at the Christmas party. Yes, she recalled that Kagami did call him away to talk to him privately, did she do it then?

"Oh my god, Adrien, I am so sorry," Marinette took a sharp intake of breath as she raised her hand as an attempt to pat him on the shoulder but she ultimately decided against it.

"Have you told anyone else about this?" Dr. Fu asked as Adrien sighed again and shook his head.

"No."

"W-wait... How!? Why did she break off the engagement with you?" Marinette asked as Adrien turned to look her in the eyes. His eyes seemed to be searching for something, emerald to sky blue, looking for some sort of answer in her soul. Marinette felt her breath hitch as she felt the intensity of his gaze, there was so much emotion that it almost felt suffocating.

"The same reason why I took you out on a date after your blind date extravaganza 15 years ago..." Adrien whispered as Marinette gasped and clasped a hand softly to her mouth.

"Oh my... to be with me? She gave up her engagement so you could be with me?" Marinette breathed out as she tried not to falter under his gaze, but it was impossible. Adrien nodded as Marinette let out another breath and closed her eyes in frustration, "Kagami... you idiot! You've already won, why the hell would you self-sabotage to fulfill a fantasy?"

Adrien narrowed his eyes at her as he felt anger well up in him again, he hated this feeling, "So? What? Is that what our relationship is to you? A fantasy?"

"No! Adrien, it's not like that, but we can't be together!" Marinette tried to explain but she was cut off.

"And why not?"

"I can't tell you!" Marinette replied, knowing full well what would happen if she did answer that question.

"Then what?! Is it because you don't trust me?" Adrien asked, almost yelling. He could kick himself for even suggesting that Marinette doesn't trust him.

"NO! No, I do trust you Adrien, but it's not what you think it is!" Marinette shouted back as Dr. Fu just watched. This is going extremely horribly.

"I told you I loved you, I kissed you, and I know that meant something to you," Adrien explained as he felt his voice quiver from his emotions. Marinette's expression softened as she folded her hands.

"It did..."

"Then why would you leave me like that?" Adrien asked as Marinette looked at the ground for a second before looking back up at him with tears in her eyes.

"I love you Adrien... but I can't drag you down with me..." Marinette said softly as Adrien's hardened expression immediately went away and tenderness and gentleness came in its place.

"Drag me down with you? What do you mean?" Adrien asked as Marinette sighed and took a deep breath. She was perfectly aware of the fact that she couldn't actually disclose the whole reason but she can warn him.

"Your father... I can't drag you down with me because he'll do some horrible things to us that I don't want you to be a part of..." Marinette explained as she felt herself tiptoe around the actual reason again. If she told him, then he'll definitely do some horrible things.

"M-my father? Why would he do anything to you or the kids? He has no reason to unless he doesn't want you to be with me..." Adrien laid out the info, trying to piece things together but Marinette left out one crucial puzzle piece.

"He just doesn't like me, and if you're with me Adrien, you're not safe, we're not safe, I'm sorry," Marinette quickly explained as she felt as if Adrien was going to catch on anytime now. She knew he was pretty bad at picking up on things but he had to know this.

"If he doesn't like you, but if even you are going out of way to avoid me for the sake of your kids even though I know you don't really have anything against me then... wait..." Adrien felt his gears turning in his head and the puzzle pieces coming together. When he finally fit the supposed final piece, his heart dropped, "oh my god... Marinette, are you getting blackmailed by my father to stay away from me?" Marinette pressed her lips together and didn't answer. After a couple of moments, he asked again, but firmly, "Marinette! Is my father blackmailing you?"

"It was because of what we did 15 years ago," Marinette said, barely above a whisper. Adrien felt his body enter into some strange form of anger and panic, mostly the fear and panic part, "it was my punishment, my price to pay for what we did..."

"Marinette... I- what the hell is he thinking? Blackmailing you?! Have you been suffering for 15 years under his thumb?!" Adrien asked angrily as Marinette winced at his tone, she could tell that he was also getting pissed off at the things Gabriel pulls as well.

"He called me about a month after that night after I got pregnant with Louis," Marinette explained as Adrien listened carefully. She was finally explaining things to him instead of closing herself off again, and he wanted to help her, "Remember when you discovered that I left and I left a letter behind? Within a couple of days after that, do you remember that woman that you saw who claimed to be a business partner of Gabriel's? She was wearing a black cloak?"

Adrien thought back to when he first discovered that she had disappeared, it wasn't a fun time to remember, it was the worst day of his life. However, he did remember coming home and seeing a women in a black cloak talk to him for a little bit before leaving, but how would Marinette know about that? Unless, "Yeah... I remember her, w-wait... how do you even know about her? Marinette, was that you?"

Marinette narrowed her eyes at nothing in particular before answering, "Yes."

"So you didn't tell me that was you that time either?!" Adrien exclaimed as he did remember that the woman seemed to be crying or emotionally shaken.

"I couldn't... because at that time... it was already too late, and the blackmail was dealt, there was nothing I could do.." Marinette replied solemnly, folding her hands. Dr. Fu was just sitting there, watching everything unfold. He knew how difficult it would be for Marinette to confess to Adrien everything, but he knew she was leaving out things on purpose.

"So you have been suffering for 15 years... alone... because of my father... how could he do this?" Adrien murmured as he looked at her with a gentle expression. He brought his hand up to caress her cheek, his thumb swiping over her smooth skin. He soon felt water hit his thumb as he noticed Marinette was crying and he swept that away too, "I'm sorry... for everything... I'm sorry, I... am so sorry."

"It's not your fault Adrien, of course not, it's your father, but do you actually believe me?" Marinette started but Adrien gently cut her off.

"Of course I believe you, I know you're not lying , I noticed how you are with my father, but now that I know, a lot of your interactions make sense. This is including that panic attack you had at the high school reunion. I promised you I am going to save you, and that's exactly what I'm going to do," Adrien brought her closer and hugged her, murmuring into her hair. Marinette smiled into his shoulder and cried. Adrien eventually pulled away and rested his forehead on hers, "I'm glad you told me, I'm going to get back the hope that you lost..."

"Thank you..." Marinette whispered as Dr. Fu looked approvingly between them. It seemed as if everything was coming in full circle for them. It felt like a burden was partially lifted off her heart... just partially, "But Adrien, are you seriously going to be ok?"

"Yeah... it just shook me up at first, but I think I'll be ok. I don't think it ever occurred to me but, I don't think I ever actually loved her. Maybe it was out of obligation or some sort, but the feelings I felt for her, it just wasn't real enough. For a moment in my life,I actually felt like I could be happy with Kagami, but I knew I was lying," Adrien sighed as Marinette nodded her head in understanding.

"Well, it seems like you no longer need my help," Dr. Fu smiled at the two of them. Marinette smiled and got up, dusting off her pants while Adrien stood up along with her and handed her her purse, "that is the session for today unless you have something else to talk about."

"No... that'll be all... thank you Dr. Fu."

"Not a problem Marinette... you too Adrien."

Elsewhere...

"Sir, what are you going to do?" Nathalie asked as Gabriel set down the listening device down on his desk.

"That woman always finds a way to test my patience, I had hoped to deal with her quietly, however, I suppose she must face the consequences. Nathalie, call the Mourir Brothers," Gabriel said coldly as Natahlie gasped and felt a wave of ice flow through her body. She gripped her tablet tighter.

"Surely you aren't going to resort to them to deal with Marinette, she's just trying to protect her kids!-"

"And I DON'T care about her kids, all she's doing is getting in the way-"

"But getting in the way of what Mr. Agreste?! Making Adrien happy? Adrien finally meeting his kids? Sending professional assassins after her is madness!" Nathalie interjected but Gabriel wouldn't have any of it as he slammed his hands on the table.

"And you should think twice before speaking back against me Nathalie, call the Mourir Brothers or so help me, I will send them after you and Madamoiselle Marinette myself, and the only talking back you'll be doing is beyond the grave, do you understand me?" Gabriel hissed sternly as Nathalie stared at Gabriel in horror before sighing.

"Alright, Gabriel, whatever you wish... Forgive me Marinette..."