Hello my quarantine buddies!

If u are excused from work (like me) and are spending your days at home, I hope u are reading and writing as much as u can.

I know it's been a while and I apologize. I at least wanted to have more of this ready by next May (MariChat May, of course) but when I realized how close this chapter was to completion, I figured I owed it to u guys to just post it now.

The waiting room at the hospital was filled with one huge party consisting of the friends/classmates and family of Marinette Dupain-Cheng. All worriedly passing, tapping their fingers or bouncing their legs if they were sitting.

The sweet bluenette girl they all loved dearly was still being checked out by the doctor and settled into a room. They all knew they probably wouldn't all get to see her but they all wanted to know how she was doing as soon as humanly possible. Plus, some of them came baring gifts.

The girls and Nathanael had stopped by the same flower shop to pick up bouquets for their dear friend.

Nathanael had picked out a small arrangement with a couple of sunflowers, some mini-pink lilies, and a few white daisies. It was simple but pretty. It was all the young artist could afford with the money he had on him. He didn't want to delay arriving at the hospital anymore by going home to get more money for something bigger and fancier. He knew Marinette would love it no matter what.

Alya and the rest of the girls all pooled the money they had on them and bought Marinette a bigger but modest sized bouquet. They knew Marinette loved pink, so they got her a lovely arrangement of pink carnations, more mini-pink lilies, and some white roses. And in the middle of it was a single but very large pink lotus flower—like her codename.

Juleka had texted her brother about what had happened and arrived not long after her and the rest of the class. On his way, Luka had picked up a 'get well soon' card and let everyone signed it while they waited.

It had been over an hour since the ambulance brought Marinette in and there was still no news from anyone.

Tom and Sabine were seated on one of the couches, holding each other. Alya was pacing the floor just to the left of the worried parents. Their other classmates were scattered throughout the room, doing what they could to pass the time.

Sabrina was among them. Chloe had left the school before the akuma attack. She had a special lunch planned with her mother and had left immediately, eager to finally spend some one-on-one time with her. Sabrina had texted her what had happened as well, Chloe's only reply was 'she'll be fine,' which was sort of a sign that she cared and was confident Marinette would be alright. And, coming from her, that was better than nothing.

Alya raised her phone to text Nino again, to ask if he and Adrien were coming anytime soon. Nino texted her earlier that they were picking up another bouquet for Marinette, but she didn't think it would be taking them this long. Before she could start typing, however, the doors to the waiting room opened and out stepped the two boys.

All eyes in the room snapped to the pair of best friends as they stood holding the doors open.

"There you guys are," Alya said as she walked over to them. "What took you so-?"

The young reporter fell silent, her other classmates coming up behind her—also speechless—as they all watched what came walking through the doors to the waiting room.

Right behind the boys—who they were holding the doors open for—was what looked like at first, the biggest and pinkest flower arrangement any of them had ever seen. When the doors closed behind the enormous bouquet, they could barely make out the large hands holding the glass vase underneath it, as well as the lower body of who they assumed had to be Adrien's bodyguard.

The arrangement consisted of many pink roses, large pink lilies, mini-pink lilies, pink peonies, pink carnations, huge pink gerbera daisies, pink chrysanthemums, and a few tuffs of baby's breath throughout the bunch. Plus, a pink ribbon with white poka-dots was wrapped around the glass vase in a fancy bow.

As the large man holding the bouquet big enough to hide the entire upper half of his body stood there with the two boys, the rest of their friends crowded around them. Tom and Sabine stayed on the couch but could see the boys and the extravagant arrangement from where they sat.

"Oh, it's so pretty!" Rose squealed. If there was one person in their class who loved pink more than Marinette, it was Rose.

"Oh, it's so huge!" Alix said, not believing a bouquet could be made that big. "What'd you do? Ask them for every pink flower they had in stock?"

"I just asked them to make a bouquet using at least every type of pink flower they used. As big as they could make it," Adrien replied, still crestfallen. "But this didn't deplete every pink flower they had." Although, he was fairly sure they were at least short on pink flowers now and would need to order more soon.

"Still, that thing is huge," Kim added as he looked the arrangement up and down, sizing it up, thinking he could bet his friends he could lift it. He knew his friends would have doubts and honestly, he sort of did too. Adrien's bodyguard didn't seem to be struggling at all with it, but that guy was as strong as a gorilla.

"How did that even fit in your bodyguard's car?" Alya asked.

"It barely did," said Nino. "Adrien had to sit up front while I was in back, being smothered by this big pink monster," he whined, gesturing to the bouquet in the Gorilla's solid grasp.

"Well I think Marinette will love it for sure," Mylene said sweetly. Ivan stood beside her, holding the smaller flower arrangement the girls had bought together.

Adrien was startled back into a slight panic at the mention of her name. "Any news on her?" he asked worriedly.

"Not yet," Juleka uttered, crossing her arms. On one side of her, Rose wrapped her arm around her middle. On her other, her brother placed a gently hand on her shoulder before stepping up to the blonde model and the DJ.

"Here guys," Luka greeted them before holding a colorful card that said 'Get Well Soon' on the cover out to them, along with five different colored pens; black, green, blue, pink, and red. "I brought a card for Marinette. Everyone else has signed it," he told them, inviting them to sign it too.

Nino took the card and pens first, signed his name with a little well-wish, and added a drawing of a music note before handing it to Adrien. He and Adrien sat down in some empty chairs by the door, his bodyguard standing close by. As this was happening, everyone else went back to sitting or standing where they were before, still waiting for news.

Opening the card, Adrien looked it over. Luka had gotten a card that was completely blank on both pages on the inside so there was plenty of room for everyone to write their names and their own well-wishes. Some even added little doddles.

Next to Nathanael's signature was a tiny sketch of Marinette's head in pink ink. It was a rough sketch and a little cartoony, but it was still very good and adorable.

After writing his name—he took his time writing out his name and not quickly scribbling it like he did with autographs. This was a signature from a friend to a friend, not a celebrity to a fan—then paused again, thinking about what else he could write.

The first thing that popped into his head was 'I'm sorry' then maybe a quick doddle of a sad cat face. But both those ideas wouldn't be smart.

This was Adrien signing the card, and both those things were too Chat Noir.

Finally, he came up with something sweet but wasn't going to reveal his identity, and wrote it down right below his name.

When he was done, Adrien got up and handed the card and pens back to Luka. Just as the young musician pocketed the colored pens, the other doors to the waiting room opened to a doctor in scrubs and a long white coat.

"Is the Dupain-Cheng party here?" he said to the room after looking down at his clipboard.

Everyone in the room immediately snapped to attention. Tom and Sabine went over first and the kids let them through, watching and listening from behind and beside them. "We're Marinette's parents," Tom said.

"How's our little girl, doctor?" Sabine asked the doctor worriedly.

"Well, the rubble that hit her in the head did a bit more damage than we first thought," the doctor said. That didn't sound good to Adrien or anyone else in the room. "We did a CT scan to determine the extent of her injury and we found a fracture on her skull."

The whole room gasped.

"Marinette has a skull fracture?!" Alya exclaimed. Nino grabbed her arms to stop her from wigging out too much. It took everything in Adrien to not do the same.

"A simple skull fracture," he reassured the frantic parents and crowd of young people before explaining further. "Her skull has a small crack but the break wasn't so severe that it caused the bone to cut into her brain or its covering. That's why it's also called a closed skull fracture, because the skin hasn't been broken. There was no bleeding or other damage to the surrounding tissue."

"So, she's gonna be okay?" Luka asked.

"Yes." This made everyone sigh in relief, some even shed a few tears. "She also needed three stitches for the cut on her right temporal lobe, but other than that, just a few small bruises and some scratches."

Adrien leaned down, propping himself up with his hands on his knees. He too felt like crying for joy but held it in.

She was gonna be okay.

Marinette was gonna be okay.

"Can we see her?" Sabine asked the doctor.

"She's still asleep, but you can go in."

"What about us?" Alya asked; sort of to the doctor but also to her best friend's parents.

"We have presents," Nathanael said, holding his small flower arrangement for them to see. They all wanted to deliver their gifts to their dear friend but they also wanted to see her.

Adrien really wanted to see her too. But was sort of afraid that if he saw her unconscious on a hospital bed, all bandaged and unmoving, his will to hold his emotions in would break and he would break down sobbing apologizes to her in front of his friends. And again; that would be too revealing to his identity as the 'hero' that put her there.

"Sorry, family only for now," the doctor said apologetically to the group of worried children.

"We'll just take those in for you and when Marinette wakes up, we'll let her know who they're from," Sabine told them, taking Nathanael's arrangement from him, as well as the card from Luka. Tom took the girl's bouquet from Ivan.

"Uh, what about-" Nino gestured behind him to the ginormous pink arrangement. They couldn't carry that in with the other gifts. The doctor himself wasn't sure any of their strongest male nurses could lift that thing.

"Oh. Well, I suppose he could carry that in himself," the doctor said. "As long as the parents are okay with him stepping in for just a second," he checked with the parents.

"It's fine," Tom smiled, giving a reassuring nod to the much larger man. The Gorilla walked over to the parents and stood with them.

"Can we visit her after she wakes up?" Max asked.

"Well that depends on how she is after she wakes up," the doctor said to the kids before turning to the parents. "But we'll let you know when she can receive other visitors."

"We'll call you all when she's awake. But I don't think we have all of your numbers," Sabine said to her daughter's classmates.

"I have all their numbers," Alya spoke up. "How about you just call me when she's awake and then I'll send a mass text to everyone here and let them know," she suggested. She knew Sabine at least had her number.

Sabine and Tom smiled. "Perfect. Thank you, Alya," the bluenette woman thanked her.

"For now, I think you kids should all go home," Tom suggested to the group.

Slowly, the whole class started to leave the waiting room. Adrien wanted to leave too. He was both physically and emotionally exhausted and just wanted to go home and collapse on his bed, then maybe shed more tears he was still holding in. But he couldn't yet. His bodyguard still had to bring the bouquet into Marinette's room.

The Gorilla looked back at him. "I'll just wait here for you," Adrien told him. The Gorilla nodded before following Tom, Sabine, and the doctor through the doors to the hallway of patient rooms.

Adrien sat down on a couch while he waited for his bodyguard to come back. He sat there, looking down at the floor where his feet were, not paying anything else in the room attention. A few seconds later, he felt someone sit on the couch cushion beside him. The blonde model looked to his right and saw that it was Nino. Giving the rest of the room a quick look, he saw that everyone else had left.

"Dude, you okay?" the DJ asked his best bud, placing a concerned hand on his shoulder.

"I just-" Adrien uttered. Still trying not to break down again. "I was so worried."

"I know. We all were. But you heard the doctor, she's gonna be fine," he squeezed his hand on his buddy's shoulder a bit tighter, trying to be more reassuring. Adrien turned his head and gave his friend a small smile, but he could tell it was obviously forced. He couldn't even manage a fake, model smile he had perfected a long time ago. Nino knew Adrien was upset. He himself was upset. As well as Alya and the rest of their class, but there was something about Adrien's vibe that said something deeper to him than just worry. "Come on man, what's wrong? Do you like, feel guilty or something?"

This startled Adrien. Why would Nino ask him that? Unless he knew he was the one who hurt Marinette. Unless he knew he was Chat Noir.

"Guilty? W-what do you mean?" Adrien stuttered out nervously.

Nino shrugged. "I don't know. Guilty that you weren't there with us when we found Marinette in the courtyard with Chat Noir?" he replied. Adrien sighed through his nose, but not so loud for the DJ beside him to notice it was much deeper. Nino hadn't figured out anything.

He had told Nino in the car that he had been in the locker room getting his bag and hid in there during the akuma attack, then he climbed out a window and ran to the front of the school just as the paramedics were looking over Marinette.

"I…guess," Adrien muttered. That was a lie. He knew he felt guilty, but it was a good enough excuse for Adrien's behavior.

"It's okay, man," Nino told him. "She'll be awake before we know it, and then we can all come back and visit her." Hearing this made Adrien smile at him in agreement, but this time, it was a more genuine grin. "You want me to wait with you?"

"Don't you want a ride home?"

"Alya and the girls are waiting in the lobby for me. I was gonna go home with them after I made sure you were okay."

Adrien appreciated the gesture—Nino was such a thoughtful friend—but he wanted a little time alone before his bodyguard came back. Then he'd get all the alone time he wanted when he got back to his room. "Oh. Then yeah, go on ahead. I'll text you later," he told him.

Nino smiled, they bumped fists, then he stood up. "See ya bro," he waved before leaving the waiting room.

When he was alone, Adrien leaned back and started thinking about what just happened and where he goes on from there.

He had to come back here when Marinette woke up to see for himself that she was okay. But, on another hand, he didn't think he was strong enough to face her and not break down with apologies for what he did to her. And that was basically the same as him admitting to a dozen people he was Chat Noir.

The blonde model sat up as the realization hit him.

Adrien couldn't appear to be as guilty as Chat Noir was supposed to be. Adrien wasn't the one who hurt her, Chat Noir was. It would look suspicious if he tried apologizing to her as Adrien, or did anything for her that showed his deep, heartbreaking guilt for what he'd done.

He shouldn't be trying to make it up to Marinette as himself at all. He needs to do it as Chat Noir. Chat Noir was the one who should be feeling guilty and trying to make it up to Marinette, not Adrien.

Adrien felt guilty for what he did—accident or not—but Adrien couldn't be the one giving Marinette expensive gifts—or at least, anymore. As long as he didn't do anymore big gestures like the bouquet, he doesn't think anyone will be suspicious.

Besides, the last thing he wanted to do was do what his father usually does and try to solve all his problems with money. The best money could buy wasn't going to pay off the guilt he felt for hurting Marinette.

He'll just have to pass the bouquet off as him being a concerned friend but he admits he might have gone a bit overboard. This was the first time any of his friends have been injured like this.

And with God as his witness, it would be the last.

Because Chat Noir was going to make sure nothing ever hurt Marinette like this ever again. He was going to find some other way of making it up to her if it was the last thing he did.

I have more ideas about where this story goes from here so don't u guys worry about that.

I'll be sure to have more of this ready by next May (if not sooner).

Thank goodness for fanfiction to keep me occupied this past week of quarantining in my house.

Be smart and stay healthy people. This is not to be taken lightly.

See ya ;)