She was lying on her back in an unfamiliar bed. For how long? She wasn't sure. It must have been for some time because the background noise of people talking and the blurry figures moving around her seemed recently familiar. She squeezed her eyes tightly shut in an attempt to concentrate; the voices and movement did not seem to be immediately surrounding her as before and as her hand groped around the bed she was in, she couldn't recognise it.

What the heck? she thought to herself. Where am I? her thoughts were frustratingly slow in providing answers so she forced her eyes fully open instead.

Bright. Too bright.

Her eyes squinted and watered reflexively just as she became more aware of her surroundings. There was a constant beeping noise that she noticed had been going on since she woke up. Before it sounded as if it was far away but now the sound became more focused. Tentatively, she slowly opened her eyes again.

Where the heck am I? Marinette took in her surroundings slowly, moving her head as little as possible because… well because it hurt like the dickens. Then realisation washed over her.

I am in the hospital.

Why am I here?! What happened?! The panic started to rise in her previously numb body which began to tingle with sensation and soreness.

Just then, a noise coming from her left startled her into further wakefulness. It was somebody entering her room. A split second of fear washed over her before she realised who it was.

"Hey, she's awake again," a tall blond man informed the nurse who let him in before her. "How are you feeling today?" he asked, addressing Marinette.

"Adrien!" Marinette croaked out. Her own voice sounded hoarse and foreign to her. Nevertheless, she visibly brightened at his familiar face. "What happened? Why am I here?"

"Oh wow!" the nurse exclaimed. "She seems to be more lucid than before! I'll let the doctor know. You should continue to talk to her to see how coherent she is. But try not to tire her out too much, 'kay?" The nurse soon bounded out of the room in search of the doctor, leaving Adrien and Marinette to themselves.

"How are you feeling today?" Adrien repeated his question with something akin to hope on his face.

"Tired, sore, confused. I have a really bad headache." Marinette shot off as quickly as she could manage. She could tell something wasn't right. She didn't feel like she was all there. Even though her mind was becoming progressively less foggy, she still felt out of it.

"Do you remember what happened?" he asked, taking the chair next to her bed. She shook her head before realising that it was a bad idea.

"No," she groaned, clutching her head. Adrien gave her a tired, yet sympathetic smile before taking her hands from her head, where she had begun to unconsciously fiddle with the bandages that were there. He leaned over and placed a soft kiss on her forehead.

"You were in an accident that put you in a coma, but you're going to be okay. Everyone is going to be okay," he whispered the last part in relief and gave her hands a gentle squeeze. His previous action didn't even register with her as she began to slowly process things.

"H-how long was I out?" her stomach began to sink as she thought about how worried her friend was for her. Was she unconscious for hours? Days? Weeks? Her thoughts began to trickle in more quickly now.

"Just over two days," was his response. She sighed in relief. Then another thought struck her which she immediately blurted out:

"Was it an akuma attack?" she then snapped her mouth shut in regret. That was a stupid question! If it was an akuma attack then Ladybug's healing power would have restored me, as far as he would know.

"No," he shook his head, apparently not catching on to her 'slip-up'. "It was a car accident."

"Oh." She lowered her gaze to her hands which still were in his. A small smile played on her lips. That's just like Adrien. Always there for his friends, always by their side to comfort them. "I guess that makes more sense. Le Papillion usually tries to minimise lasting collateral damage in his attacks anyway," she mumbled more to herself than to him

Immediately, something shifted in Adrien's expression. It seemed confused then concerned.

"Marinette…," he began before being cut off by the doctor.

"Madame Dupain-Cheng?" the doctor's silvery voice preceded her entrance. "I'm Dr. Bulot. How are you feeling today?" Despite being asked the same question again, Marinette patiently repeated the answer she had given to Adrien a few moments ago. "I see." She made a few scribbling notes on the clipboard she was carrying before speaking again. "I'll ask Nurse Gene to give you something for that headache." As if on cue, the nurse from before all but skipped back into the room in order to fulfill the doctor's request.

"Adrien told me that I was in car accident but I don't remember it." Marinette piped up, hoping to hastily bring the doctor up to speed with what she knew.

"I see," Dr. Bulot murmured to herself again. "Can you tell me the last thing you remember then?" she patiently waited for Marinette to recall something. "I know your head is going to be a bit fuzzy right now, so take your time."

Marinette nodded, grateful that the pain in her head was easing up. It let her think more clearly. However, she was drawing a blank when trying to recall her most recent memories. She clearly remembered her school days. She remembered Adrien, obviously. She even remembered her embarrassing crush on him. She remembered getting over said crush. She remembered becoming better friends with him. She also remembered her other friends: Alya, Nino, Luka, Kagami, Alix… She frowned slightly. She realised that all of the memories she managed to recall in that brief moment were of when they were younger, and she was quite sure that she was an adult now. Granted, it wasn't that much she'd managed to reminisce on given that her brain was still far from operating at its normal processing speed, but still. She could sense that something was off.

"I can't," she started," I don't really remember."

"That's okay, dear." Marinette calmed under the motherly tone of the doctor, despite the latter being in her late twenties to early thirties, at least she assumed, and not much older than her. "I suspect a slight case of retrograde amnesia, but hopefully it's not permanent."

"Amnesia?" Adrien interjected, concern laced in his tone. "But she recognised me right away." He'd finally let go of her hands to address the doctor.

Dr. Bulot scribbled more notes on her clipboard, "that's good," she said in an encouraging tone. "We'll just chat about you and your life to see how much you remember in general, okay? Now tell me about yourself."

Marinette tried to sit up higher (ignoring Adrien fussing over her) to face Dr. Bulot better. As she surveyed her, the first thing she noticed was her outfit. Her pale pink turtleneck barely stood out against her white lab coat, but complemented nicely with her deep, chocolate brown skin. Her long, elegant fingers aimlessly twirled a pen when they weren't busy filling out the chart on her clipboard with illegible notes. Marinette noted that her nails were done in a simple French tip with a nude-pink polish. She also noticed that her lipstick was fuchsia and the rest of her makeup was done tastefully with different shades of pink that all worked well with each other. In general, she was impressed by her style.

"I like pink. It's my favourite colour," Marinette stated simply while Dr. Bulot beamed. "I'm into fashion and I want to become a designer," she purposely omitted the "when I grow up" part because it felt out of place.

"Go on," Dr. Bulot encouraged, looking up after briefly jotting down more notes. Marinette nodded, failing to notice Adrien frowning in concern.

"Umm, my parents own a bakery… my best friend is into journalism…" she trailed off and shrugged. She couldn't think if anything else that to say from the top of her head. She couldn't very well say, Oh yeah, I'm also the heroine of Paris who saves the day with her cat-themed superhero partner in faux-leather from a crazy butterfly man who takes advantage of people's negative emotions in order to trick them into fighting in his place for some magical jewellery in order to make some crazy wish which would alter reality…

Her thoughts trailed off as she reflexively reached her right hand to fiddle with her earring... which wasn't there! Her eyes widened in terror as the other hand flew to her other ear to realise that that earring was also missing.

"Where are my ear-where's my jewellery?" she sputtered out in a panic. She felt a hand on her bandaged arm and turned her head to see Adrien smiling at her.

"Relax," he assured her, "I have your jewellery."

"You don't understand. My earrings are- "

"Extremely important to you. I know," he winked at her. "Trust me, I have them safe with me."

"O-okay," she managed to say. She couldn't remember if she'd actually given her friends the "family heirloom" excuse as to why she never parted with her earrings, but she'd just have to trust Adrien and hope that Tikki was somewhere safe and unharmed from the accident.

"Yes, we had to remove your jewellery to do the CT scan. Normally we wouldn't do the scan in your situation, but we thought it would be beneficial. And your husband gave us the go-ahead- "

"Wait, what?!" Marinette interrupted. "Husband? I'm married?" she exclaimed. "I don't remember that!"

"I thought you said that she recognised you," Dr. Bulot turned to address Adrien, who just looked hurt and sad.

"I mean she called my name as soon as I entered the room," he began, "I didn't realise that she wouldn't remember that-," he trailed off.

"We're married." Marinette finished for him. "You," she pointed at him, "and I," she gestured at herself, "are married." Adrien nodded. Marinette's eyes wandered to the white-gold wedding band on his left hand, which she had previously mistaken for the plain silver ring he usually wore on his right.

"What do you remember about me? About us?" he took her hands in his again and gazed deeply into her blue eyes.

"We're friends," she offered weakly. A pretty blush now dusted her cheeks. She racked her brain to recall more of their friendship. They had become better friends when she got over her crush on him while he was dating Kagami.

Kagami.

"You and Kagami broke up," she involuntarily recalled aloud. He nodded.

"Is that all you remember, ma lady?" he prodded.

Marinette froze then narrowed her eyes at him.

No. Nope. Nuh-uh. There was no way. I already had enough surprises today, waking up in a hospital with amnesia to find out I'm married to my collège crush. That would be too much if her suspicion was true. Nope. It's just not him. She stubbornly concluded. There was no way that…