She's awake! Lets get it moving! I'll probably post on the 15 of May so keep your eyes peeled! Enjoy!
Madam Minstrel... Ah yes... Foreshadowing... :)
frustration... Always happy to provide some entertainment! Here's a new Chapter!
(Slow Burn Detective AU!) Marinette is used to working alone on the streets of Paris as she strives to take down the Hawkmoth gang. When the thief Chat Noir comes crashing into her life things are bound to get magical, especially when co-detective Adrien returns to Paris and seems to want to be her new partner. Will their fated partnership end in a capture or a kiss?
Progress
"Ima wake…" Marinette muttered, trying to wave off the hand that had gripped her arm when a sudden squeal had Marinette jolting into full consciousness with a yelp of her own.
At the same moment Adrien fell off the couch into a crouched position spitting out a wicked sounding hiss while looking ready to attack anyone in his path. The room went still and silent with exception of the forlorn beeping of the monitor, allowing Marinette and Adrien to realize it wasn't an attacker but a nurse. A slightly petrified nurse from the look of her trembling form.
"Uhhhhh… Good Morning?" Marinette tried, glancing over at Adrien who was rapidly standing down, or rather shuffling to his feet properly, looking embarrassed as he did.
Finally after a very tense couple of seconds the nurse exclaimed, "You're awake! I have to tell the doctors!" and sped out of the room faster than either of them could argue.
"Well that was unexpected…" Marinette muttered as Adrien came to her side.
"This place is trashing my nerves." Adrien grouched, bending enough for Marinette to press a kiss to his cheek. "How are you feeling?"
"I could think of a few better ways to get woken up. I feel achy, grumpy, and tired but once I get some food in me I'll be good." Marinette sighed, feeling just as crabby.
Adrien snorted, "If you are anything like me you will feel great then crash about halfway through. Don't make me go get Fu, he will knock you out."
"You wouldn't dare because he would put you to sleep too! Besides, I am allowed to be grumpy, you certainly won't be the one getting poked, prodded, and questioned all day long." Marinette retorted as Adrien got her some water. "Are you going to call your father now since we are both awake?"
Adrien groaned, "Do I have too?"
Marinette snickered but nodded, "The faster they question me and get my statement the better off I will be I think. I want to be able to sleep when I get home and not have to go into the precinct multiple times. Besides, I don't have a phone otherwise I'd do it myself."
"I'll ask Father to have someone bring your phone here or I suppose I can go get it myself. Forensics should be done with it by now. Since you are awake Alya is going to want to stay the night tonight so don't be surprised if you see me slinking around the window." He whispered into her ear and Marinette kissed him again.
"Go call our friends and your father grumpy cat, maybe I can go home tonight and save us all a headache."
Adrien rolled his eyes but he did as Marinette asked. It was still early, barely 6am, so Marinette wasn't sure what to expect but she had a feeling that it was going to be a very long and busy day. Laying back in the bed Marinette half listened as Adrien called Alya first. She could tell it was Alya because she heard the shriek of joy causing Adrien to jerk the phone away from his head while shooting her a glare for snickering. As he hung up with Alya the nurse returned with the charge nurse and the mundane questioning began. Not wanting to leave but knowing he had to call his father Adrien stepped into the hall, although he didn't allow the door to fully close. It wasn't quite as noisy out here with the hospital and patients just starting to wake up but it was a lot less personal. Keeping his fingers crossed that he wouldn't answer Adrien made the call and winced as the phone connected on the third ring.
"I am assuming Marinette is awake?" Gabriel said by way of greeting.
Adrien really wanted to say something sarcastic since his father couldn't even say good morning but years of suppressing such knee jerk reactions held sway. He knew that any challenge at this point would either be ignored or reprimanded so he decided to ignore the slight. "Yes Father she woke up. How would you like to proceed?"
A light sigh echoed through the speaker and Adrien could practically see his father's contemplative scowl as he pushed his glasses up on his nose. "I will come and personally talk to her."
Adrien choked, "Sir?!"
"I did not think this required explanations, Adrien. This was a direct attack on multiple persons in my precinct by the Hawkmoth gang. Clearly they want Marinette out of the way and I want to find out why the sudden resurgence of interest in her. I don't think Chloe's rescue alone could warrant such a response, so Marinette must have something else up her sleeve that is making the Hawkmoth gang nervous. Since I cannot trust anyone currently to execute a proper investigation I will take care of it myself. You are too… invested in this case already and I believe it needs some perspective. This report will not be pushed onto some incompetent fool and I am the best option due to my thorough understanding of the Hawkmoth gang. I will call the hospital and make sure they will have her in the room between 3-5. You may tell Marinette I am coming and that I will be the only one to question her. She will answer to no one else."
"I will tell her sir. If possible will you bring her phone with you as well?" Adrien asked, keeping his tone calm even as a sense of annoyance simmered in his chest.
The phone was silent for a long moment as if Gabriel was surprised he'd asked such a thing. "I will have Natalie see if it can be released."
"Thank you sir." Adrien managed, and without even a goodbye Gabriel hung up. Pulling the phone away from his ear Adrien stared down at the black screen feeling a swirl of emotions flit through him. Before he could really try to sort himself out the door swung in and the two nurses almost walked into his back. They stammered out some apology that Adrien waved away before he ducked around them back into the room.
"You look like you have seen a ghost… Did they find Roger's body or something?" Marinette questioned as Adrien moved to her side.
"Worse…" Adrien groused, "My father is personally coming to take your statement. Roger being a mole really messed him up I think. I wouldn't be surprised if he goes out hunting himself after this."
"That just might traumatize the rest of the Hawkmoth gang into giving up entirely. You and I both know that he can take care of himself and he's the one who brought the gang to their knees the first time. It would definitely be entertaining but I doubt he would do something so drastic over little old me, especially since I lived. Had they succeeded in taking you though…" Marinette patted Adrien's hand comfortingly, "I don't think we would have a Hawkmoth gang to worry about any longer. My concern is that we both know he is going to ask all those pesky, shady, questions we don't want to answer."
Adrien shrugged, "You were shot, half beaten, and lost a ton of blood. Other than the Chat Noir thing you can claim to not remember. His tone did make it seem like he thought you were hiding something though. He is wondering why the Hawkmoth gang is coming after you again. If you want you can just blame it on Chat Noir."
"Chat Noir can't take all the blame or he won't be viewed as a source for good. You know the cops will paint him as a villain the second someone says the word vigilante. Plus Gabriel won't buy the lost memory gig and you know it." Marinette chuckled. "I have a plan. As long as I come out of this with my job intact and the Hawkmoth case in hand I don't care how long he questions me."
"Ever the optimist." Adrien grouched, but his tone was playful even as he dropped the subject. If Marinette claimed to have a plan he believed her and would support her in every way he could moving forward. "Alya should be here in like 15 minutes. I feel bad for the front desk people because technically visiting hours don't start for a while yet."
"That won't stop her." Marinette sighed and sat the bed up. "Before she gets here can you help me to the bathroom? With the way everyone has been reacting to me being awake I know I won't have time to put shorts or underwear on later and I really don't want to be questioned by Gabriel with no underwear on. That's like, nightmare fuel right there."
Adrien lost it for several moments but managed a choking "Sure," before offering his arm so she could start getting out of the bed.
By the time Marinette made it back to the bed she felt exhausted and frustrated. Even though she had expected some tiredness this seemed excessive to her, especially since she had been in better shape this time when she had been attacked. Walking just the little bit from the bed into the bathroom had left her panting and she could practically feel the energy she had regained from sleeping slowly seeping back out of her. Getting back into the bed was a relief but unfortunately the nurse caught her settling back in. The poor woman freaked out while scolding Marinette for getting up in the first place, souring her mood further. She had even put the bed alarm on so Marinette couldn't get up without permission!
Adrien had tried to stay out of that one but the nurse seemed to realize that he had helped Marinette move rather than calling for a nurse so he got scolded too. The nurse didn't seem to notice the shorts Marinette had slipped on under her gown or she didn't care, and Marinette refused to draw attention to them in case the nurse decided they weren't allowed due to her abdominal injury. After drawing more blood the nurse left to respond to another ailing patient and Marinette tried to re-fortify herself for Alya's visit. She did feel a little better by the time the door practically flew off its hinges, revealing a teary Alya in the doorway. Nino hovered behind her ready to intercede if needed but he even looked ashy under his darkened tan. Looking at the both of them Marinette was torn as to who looked more likely to faint.
"My hair isn't yellow Alya you're slipping." Marinette teased, trying to ease the sudden tension as Adrien covered her up with an extra blanket then stepped back to be out of the way.
Alya let out a sob and darted to Marinette's side, gripping her hands as tight as she dared since she didn't want to hug her and inadvertently aggravate any injuries. "You are an idiot! A class A idiot!"
"Awe come on Alya, I wasn't even looking for danger this time! It just sorta came up and pounced on me!" Marinette soothed, trying to pull Alya in for a hug. Unfortunately, she was as weak as a kitten and for once she couldn't actually budge Alya.
"I don't want to hurt you." Alya murmured, a tear slipping down her cheek.
"Then give me a damn hug girl. I was only shot and lost some blood. Nothing too major in my line of work."
Alya blubbered, letting Marinette pull her into a proper hug and wrapped her arms around her as tight as she dared.
"I'm ok Alya. I promise." Marinette whispered into her ear, making Alya shudder and hug her a little tighter.
"It's good to see you up Mari." Nino said, looking a little teary himself even as he rubbed Alya's back.
"It's good to be up Nino. Apparently I've been out for two days. Any chance I can bribe you guys into sneaking me out? Adrien already nixed the idea." Marinette joked, feeling relieved when Nino smiled back.
Alya lifted her head, "Oh I don't think so Marinette. Consider this payback for scaring the life out of us. Your parents will be here in like an hour by the way. They are a little pissed at me."
"You forgot to call them?" Marinette guessed, and Alya hung her head guiltily.
"I didn't mean to. I mean I know they had been waiting for this conference all year and I knew you wouldn't want me to interrupt them when there wasn't a single thing they could do anyways except panic. I was going to call like the day we knew you were really ok bu-"
Marinette slapped a hand over Alya's mouth. "It's ok Alya, If I had been awake I would have asked you not to tell. No worries, I'm not upset."
"Your parents are though." Alya mumbled darkly behind her hand.
Marinette smiled crookedly, "Yeah, can't help you there, I'd hate for both of our pastry privileges to be revoked."
Everyone laughed, relaxing at her words and talk turned to inconsequential things like the shows Marinette was currently missing out on due to crappy hospital tv, guesses on how bad the hospital food would be, or how long it was going to be before Marinette was allowed to have a proper shower. They hadn't gotten any more reports from the nurse and Marinette was deliberately neglectful in mentioning how annoyed the nurse seemed when she realized Marinette had gotten out of bed. Hopefully no one had taken notice of her weakness yet, or if one of them did they had wisely not mentioned it. Overall they were avoiding any serious discussions since they didn't know how long Marinette was going to be trapped in the hospital. Alya on the other hand was afraid to breach the topic as to what happened to her the night she got shot. She wanted to know what had happened but since Marinette still hadn't said anything Alya was a bit worried that Marinette felt like she couldn't talk about it. Eventually Alya handed her phone over to Marinette so she could call her parents and give them the news of her being awake herself.
Marinette's ecstatic parents arrived a little over an hour later forcing Nino and Alya to leave so they didn't go over the visitor's capacity. Apparently this hospital were sticklers for that particular policy so Alya promised to return in the evening once she was done with work. After a bit of coaxing, Adrien went with them to grab Marinette some better food than the tray the cafeteria staff had brought around. Even though Marinette knew Adrien didn't want to leave her side, she knew her parents needed a few moments alone with her. Adrien promised to return with better food and Marinette braced herself for the barrage to come. To her surprise instead of yelling Sabine burst into tears, wrapping Marinette in a hug that made her feel downright fragile. It took a while to soothe her Mom and Marinette felt even worse when she realized her Father was crying as well. After the tears and initial worries had been spent, Sabine relaxed enough to begin scolding Marinette. While Marinette had expected this result first, she had to admit that she preferred the scolding to tears. It didn't stop her from being relieved when Adrien returned with food and helped to placate her parents. Somehow in the process Sabine had managed to wring the majority of the story out of her daughter and in the end she was ready to march down to the precinct to have words with Gabriel. Sabine was a storm all her own when she got into the mood and that was one battle Marinette had no desire to witness nor referee. Tom was just as mad but his concern for Marinette far exceeded his anger, although he mentioned something about tag teaming which made Adrien nervous.
The conversations were broken up entirely when the nurse returned with orders for tests that the doctors wanted done. Kissing her good-bye and promising sweets later in the day Marinette's parents left. Adrien remained in the room since Alya had to go to work but once he got the all clear, Nino came back up to sit with him while Marinette was going through whatever scans the doctors had ordered.
"You look a little better." Nino commented from his relaxed position on the couch.
"I slept a little better last night. I was just a bit tired, Nino." Adrien replied, opening his eyes to find that Nino was staring rather intently at him. "I'm glad Marinette woke up today. Hopefully we can get her out of here this evening or tomorrow."
Ninos head bobbed, "I hate to jinx her but I don't think that Marinette is going to be going home tonight. Hospitals take forever to get results so I doubt they will let her out if they don't get them back. If she is super lucky they will let her out early tomorrow."
"Buzzkill." Adrien grouched making Nino laugh.
"Yeah, yeah but I already had this conversation with Alya. She still wants to stay with Mari tonight if you're willing to give up the couch."
"I did promise." Adrien affirmed even though he didn't want to. It would give him some time to hunt around and see if he could pick up any new information but he hated it.
Nino raised an eyebrow at him. "Maybe you can sneak into the bathroom or something and both of you can stay. You would have to sleep in there though. I'm sure they clean the floor between patients."
Adrien grinned at him, "Nah I'd hide in the roof. The whole bathroom ceiling is that corrugated tile junk. They would never know I'm there until morning!"
They both laughed at that, lightening the tension in the room, "Well dude, if you want I can stay the night with you at your place or you can crash on Al's and I's couch. If you want company tonight that is."
Adrien shook his head, "I'll be fine Nino, I have a few things I need to do tonight and I probably won't leave till they kick me out. Marinette will probably want to know how all her people are doing the second she gets out and talking to people on the street will give me a better feel if Marinette is still in danger."
"Dude I don't know if all that is necessary. I mean don't get me wrong, I'm worried about someone trying to hurt Marinette too but you need some rest as well. I don't want my bro burning himself out." Nino confessed, looking a little guilty, "I mean if someone were going to try something wouldn't they have already done so? Practically the whole city knows Marinette got hurt and I've already heard the rumors of gangs going to war in her honor."
Adrien shrugged, "If I was that paranoid about someone trying to sneak in here to hurt Marinette I wouldn't be going anywhere tonight. Roger blew Hawkmoths cover pretty badly this time around, so I don't think anyone will try for her soon. Matter of fact at this point it's pretty much the remains of Hawkmoth vs everyone else. Marinette does have some enemies in other gangs too but none that would attempt offing her while she is in a weakened state. Apparently even gangs have a kind of moral code against that sort of thing and the Whisperers have their own people on protection duty. As far as I know she will be safe enough tonight with Alya. I have to have faith in the people Marinette trusts."
Nino gripped Adrien's shoulder and pulled him into a one armed hug, "You're fitting right in dude. Color me surprised and proud."
Adrien pressed a hand to his chest pretending to be grievously wounded. "Your words slay me Nino, you act as if I don't know how to make friends!"
"You don't." Nino snarked dryly, sending them both into a laughing fit.
Nino stayed until Marinette returned and Adrien was glad to have his company. He missed hanging out with his friend since they really hadn't had the time in a few weeks now. Adrien knew he was going to have to make time somehow, maybe he could go to some of Nino's shows. Marinette, he knew, would like that and Nino would love the support. The day trickled on and for lunch Marinette's parents sent one of their runners to the room with a box full of pastries making them both grateful. The hospital had sent up some dish they had claimed was chicken, but Adrien swore it looked like a grilled frog. It had certainly smelled like it. Needless to say the only thing that got eaten on that tray was the fruit and the small slices of cheese that Plagg had scarfed.
Technicians came by and ran a quick heart test and the nurse dropped by to take more blood making Marinette mutter something about vampires. Adrien politely asked (demanded really) why they had needed more blood but he hadn't gotten a significant answer. At three on the dot Gabriel showed up just as Adrien had cornered a doctor. Faced with two rather terrifying looking men the doctor, who turned out to be an intern, spilled the beans. The bullet had apparently nicked Marinette's kidney and that was part of the reason why she had lost so much blood. The extra tests that had been run earlier in the day were to check to make sure the kidney had stopped bleeding and that nothing further had ruptured. It also meant they were going to be keeping her in the hospital for at least another day. Marinette had complained loudly at the news but Gabriel had put an end to her complaints when he asked.
"Can you stand right now and make a full lap of this floor without stopping Marinette?"
Marinette flushed with embarrassment since she knew she could barely walk to the bathroom and back without exhaustion setting in at the moment. The annoying thing was she knew that once another day or two passed she could just heal herself and be right back to work. Since she couldn't flaunt the healing abilities it meant more time sitting around doing nothing when she was perfectly healthy. With a more severe injury on top of things she would be babied and she hated being babied.
"No sir."
"Then you will not have an issue remaining here while they ensure you don't die. Even if you were released you know you would not be allowed back to work for at least a week." Gabriel stated coolly.
The intern doctor, seeing how everyone was distracted slipped from the room even as Marinette groaned, "Awe come on! Can't I just be on desk duty? Or can I work from home or something? I know for a fact you have worked a desk with far more debilitating injuries. Besides I will go bonkers if you keep me on the sidelines twiddling my thumbs! Especially now that I finally have some new information!"
Gabriel's eyes narrowed. "You will have to enlighten me on this 'information' then we will discuss duties. First and foremost, you know why I am here."
"You need my statement and I assume you have a number of extra questions." Marinette confirmed. "It's been awhile since we have had a sit down."
Adrien cast her a questioning look and Marinette flicked her eyes over to the couch as Gabriel pulled a recorder from his pocket as well as her cell phone. Reluctantly Adrien moved to the couch and settled in even as Gabriel raised an eyebrow at him. Adrien ignored his father since he and Marinette had decided that he should stay through the interview so that there was a witness in case one was needed. Since there was a recorder his presence wasn't required but Adrien knew Marinette would feel better if he remained. Gabriel's lips thinned but as he set the recorder down he made it clear that he was going to ignore Adrien completely.
"It is 3:17pm. My name is Gabriel Agreste and I am here to conduct questioning about the shooting incident that occurred between Marinette and Roger. State your name, affiliation, and your consent to being recorded."
Marinette's spine stiffened at Gabriel's tone but she did as he asked, mentally preparing herself for the questions to come.
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