"You promised me you wouldn't do anything stupid." Stacy whined a little, and looked forlornly at the loose, crooked stitches across Adrien's shoulder, "Doctor Lys did such a good job, and you've wrecked it." She touched the skin near the stitches with gloved hands.

Adrien huffed, "I didn't intentionally do something stupid." He made a face as a sharp pain shot through his shoulder as Stacy prodded at him. He paled as he realized that he was telling the truth, but also telling a lie. He hadn't meant to collapse to the floor of the Dupain-Chengs living room, that was certain. But he had very intentionally jumped out the window as Chat Noir a few minutes prior. He had very intentionally and recklessly gone out with an injured shoulder against the advice of his closest companion. He winced a little as she poked the swollen skin again.

Stacy shot him an angry look, then turned on her spinning stool and pulled a syringe from the drawer under the counter, "You're just lucky that Doctor Lys is here today, and in a good mood. You're lucky he's stitching you up and not me."

"Is he normally not in a good mood?" Adrien looked confused, and eyed the syringe she was holding with suspicious green eyes. He squinted at it a little.

She popped the cap off of the syringe and screwed on different colored cap, "Doctor Lys is a," she paused, looking for the word, "complicated man. He's hard to impress, and doesn't stay interested for long. He is put off easily. The new doctors and nurses think that he's mean. But really, he just doesn't care to waste time." She stopped, "But this morning, he found out that his wife is pregnant, so nothing can bring him down." She pulled off the cap to reveal a long needle.

"That's exciting." Adrien offered nervously, looking at the frighteningly long needle. He tensed, waiting for her to tell him there would be a pinch or to count down from three.

"It's more annoying than anything." Stacy rolled her eyes, "It's his fourth kid, I'm not sure why he's so worked up over it. He already has three of them, surely one more can't be that exciting. He won't shut up about it." She stuck the needle in the deep muscles of his shoulder and pushed the plunger all the way down before Adrien could react.

He pulled away quickly, but it was already too late, "What was that!?" He almost screeched, "Why didn't you warn me?"

"Why would I do that?" Stacy threw the syringe and needle away and pulled off her gloves quickly, "So you could be like 'No I don't like needles!'?" She did an overly dramatic impression of a child in a doctor's office, "I don't think so." She stood up briskly and, pointed at his shoulder, "Five minutes, and then it'll be numb and then Doctor Lys is going to come and tighten those loose stitches."

Adrien smiled, "Thanks, Stacy."

She smiled, relaxing a little, "You're welcome."

The door closed behind her, and Adrien sighed, looking at the gash in his shoulder, feeling a little bit like a child in trouble. He had been hoping that Stacy would be a little nicer to him, not that he deserved it. He closed his eyes, feeling the weight of his situation really settle on his shoulders. He would need to be more careful. Even more careful. He knew that he needed to be careful about not overworking it. But if the fight with the latest akuma had been anything more strenuous he would have lost the use of his arm forever. Obviously Plagg would help him move his arm as Chat Noir. But it was riskier than he'd originally thought. He couldn't rely on his Miraculous like that again. It would start to be suspicious if he came back to the hospital every time that an akuma was defeated. Even if no one figured out he was Chat Noir, he would still get put on house arrest for aggravating his injury. He would have to learn to scale it back and only do what he knew he could handle. No stupid risks - like jumping out of the Dupain-Cheng's second story window. He put his head in his left hand, and sighed. Ladybug would notice he was slower, and less helpful. She would have to do even more than she already did. It would still be worth it to help her, right? She still needed him, right? He was still useful wasn't he?

He pushed his hand through his hair and hung his head. He pulled at the hair on his neck. What if Ladybug decided that he wasn't worth the trouble he was sure to cause her? Would she really let him stay even if he was more of a burden then a help? Could he handle losing his best friend over this?

He could feel the strange, cold numbness of the medication in his shoulder starting to take over, and he was grateful for the small amount of comfort the loss of feeling gave him. He slumped a little more in his chair. What if this ruined everything? What if he could never be the Chat Noir he used to be? What if he could never really be Chat Noir again? What if he couldn't be an officer anymore? What would he do if he failed at this too?

His mind raced as he spiraled around and around in his mind. He was starting to give himself a headache when he heard the door click open. He didn't have the energy to pretend to be alright. He looked up slowly to see a doctor in dark blue scrubs. He was lanky, tall, and had the whitest hair that Adrien had ever seen. Adrien smiled a weary smile, "Hello."

"Good afternoon," the doctor said shortly, "I am Doctor Lys. Stacy told me that you pulled your stitches loose."

Adrien laughed nervously, his spiraling thoughts set aside, "Uh, yeah, not my finest hour."

Doctor Lys didn't look at him, but moved to look at the stitches, "Surely not." He pinched Adrien's skin, and tugged lightly at the stitches, "It will be better to restitch this rather than just make them tighter. It will not take any longer, and you will heal quicker." He pulled a pair of pliers from his pocket and began clipping at the stitches.

Adrien felt as the stitches loosened even more, and then felt the tug on his shoulder as the doctor pulled the fresh stitching thread through the sensitive skin. He tried to turn and look, but Doctor Lys turned his head away. Adrien sighed again, and closed his eyes, letting his worries slip away. Stacy and Doctor Lys had both said that he was fine. He should believe them. With a final tug the doctor clipped the string.

"I am going to dress it and then you will be done."

"Thank you." Adrien looked away nervously, feeling strangely out of place, and searched for something to talk about, "So." he started, and then smiled to himself, "Stacy told me that your wife is expecting. Congratulations."

Doctor Lys stopped dressing the wound, and looked at him with almost sparkling eyes, "Would you like to see a picture?"

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After sleeping on it, and after talking with Alya about what had happened, Marinette had decided to take Adrien to the hospital to make sure his stitches were okay. Marinette sat in the waiting room outside of the clinic doors. As soon as they had told the nurse what they needed, Adrien had been whisked away by a nice nurse in pink scrubs, back to the same-day rooms. The nurses and doctors had asked Marinette to wait here while Adrien went to see the Doctor. After thinking about it, Marinette was glad that she didn't go with him. She didn't really want to see the inside of Adrien's bullet wound. Marinette had found a relatively secluded spot near the windows of the hospital. She sat in a large padded chair with her scarf tied around her neck and her legs crossed, hands in her pockets, and waiting for Adrien to come back.

After a few minutes the same nurse came back out, and sat down next to Marinette, "How are you feeling?"

Marinette yawned, "I'm alright. How's Adrien?"

The nurse looked a little annoyed, and sighed, looked tired, "You did the right thing bringing him back in. He would have healed just fine if you hadn't, but giving Doctor Lys a chance to tighten the stitches will help it heal faster."

"I'm glad I made him come in then." Marinette smiled at the nurse.

She smiled back, "He should be almost done, I just wanted to keep you updated. Thanks for taking care of him."

Marinette laughed a little, "If I don't, no one will." She smiled at the nurse, "Thanks to you, as well."

The nurse stood up with a small snicker, "Of course." She turned and walked back through the clinic doors.

Marinette relaxed, it was going to be fine. Adrien was going to be find. She leaned back in the chair. The air in the Emergency Room was a little too warm, and she was feeling more and more tired. The air was cold outside but the sunshine was warm, and it was pouring into the waiting room and over the chair she was in. The warm sun was somehow calming. She closed her eyes for a moment, and decided a short thinking nap wouldn't be a bad idea. A small moment of time to think about nothing. She slipped off her shoes, and tucked her feet up underneath her legs. She snuggled into her scarf, and leaned on the arm of the chair.

She felt herself slip into a dazed kind of consciousness, not quite asleep but not quite awake either, and her mind started to run away with her. She imagined herself up on the ledge of the Eiffel Tower where she normally met Chat Noir. Only she wasn't Ladybug, she was just Marinette in a pair of jeans and a sweatshirt. That didn't seem right, but she couldn't quite put her finger on why. She looked over the edge, feeling her stomach turn. She had never been afraid of heights before, but looking down made her feel a bit sick. Beneath her was Chat Noir, waving at her with a smile. He called out for her, repeating her name over and over.

"Marinette." She opened her eyes, almost expecting to see Chat Noir, and looked up into the green eyes of Adrien, who was standing over her. She felt a little confused, but rubbed her eyes and ignored it.

She sat up and stretched, "Sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep. It's just so warm in here. How long have I been asleep?" She slipped her feet back into her shoes.

"I was only supposed gone for like two minutes." He sighed, "But I made the mistake of asking the Surgeon about his kids. It took him thirty seconds to fix and tighten the stitches. But it took him another thirty minutes to show me the full-blown photo album of all of his family on his phone."

Marinette hummed, "How sweet."

Adrien looked at her, a little surprised, "Yeah," he smiled, "I guess if you think about it, it is sweet." He held out his hand to her, "Sorry I took so long that you fell asleep."

She took his hand, feeling her heart flutter a little, "It's a lot of work to take care of a gunshot victim."

He gave her a displeased face, pulled her to her feet, and then rolled his other shoulder slowly, "Everything is tight again. It's so much more sore than it was before. I was doing so well keeping everything loose and now I'll have to start all over again."

Marinette yawned again, "And who's fault is that?"

Adrien huffed, and crossed his good arm over his useless one, and frowned, "Not mine."

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Nathalie looked down at her phone to see the long string of text messages from Robyn. She rolled her eyes. After Gabriel had effectively adopted her into the company, he had transferred everything into Nathalie's care. All communications between Robyn and anyone in the business had to go through Nathalie first. All of Robyn's needs were seen to by Nathalie, and Robyn made sure she was always busy. Nathalie was, of course, up to the task, and took the extra work in stride, learning to ignore Robyn's long strings of text asking for things like shoes and coffee. That wasn't her job. Her job was to manage her schedule and her finances. Someone else could go buy the spoiled American girl a pair of designer shoes. Nathalie let out a sigh while she typed the latest email to the local fashion magazine. Robyn could have Gabriel design her a pair of shoes for heaven's sake. Nathalie signed her name at the bottom of the email, and pushed send. While the computer whisked the email away, she unlocked her phone, and scanned through the texts. There was nothing of importance. She quickly typed a short message back, telling Robyn thank you for the pictures she wouldn't stop sending and locked her phone again. The picture of Adrien still remained as her lock screen photo, and her heart hurt a little more every time she saw it. She clicked the button making the screen turn black and returned to the computer, where two new emails were waiting for her.

She allowed herself two seconds to ponder about Robyn. Robyn had once caught a glimpse of Nathalie's phone, and noticed the picture of young Adrien. Since then, Robyn had been sending her picture after picture of herself at all different ages, and a long string of selfies taken all over France and with Gabriel. She had perhaps thought that she could take the place in Nathalie's heart that belonged to Adrien. Nathalie blinked, and set her hands on the keyboard to begin again, feeling the small painful ping of loss over Adrien. However, she would always have her memories of his childhood, and he was out of this place that stifled him so much. She hadn't heard from him, and she suspected she never would. She had never done anything remarkable to show that she cared for him or that she deserved to know where he was. She was the head secretary of every business endeavor that Gabriel had his hands in, and she was at the top of her game. She didn't have time to worry about how Adrien spent is days. She had her own career to think about. She copied and pasted the rejection letter into the email and hit send.

88888888

"Please Nette, you have to come." Alya almost whined, "Nino's friends from the record company are throwing a party, and there's gonna be so much to see and so many people to talk to."

Marinette laughed, "You know that I love you, but I don't really like big parties."

Alya whined for real, "But you're my best friend, and I can't even imagine going to a party of this caliber without knowing that you'll be there too. Please? Please? Please?" She begged. Marinette could see Alya in her small kitchen bouncing around the small space, and disturbing Nino as she did.

Marinette smiled, "How much of my time is this going to take?"

Alya squealed, "Oh Nette, really!?" She squealed again, "I'm psyched! This is going to be the best Halloween party, EVER." Alya gasped, "You have to help me make my costume."

Marinette laughed, delighted to realize that Alya hadn't even thought about that when she invited her. She just wanted her to come, the fact that she could make her a killer costume was a secondary bonus to her friendship. Her heart warmed, "Of course I will, Al. That's what friends are for. What monster are you dressing up as this year?"

"Girl, you know I'm gonna be a werewolf. I'm gonna need some yellow contacts, a few cans of hairspray, some prosthetic teeth, and a wicked gorgeous leather something to wear on my wicked gorgeous body. Can you do that?" She begged.

Marinette could already see the costume coming together in her mind, "Yes I can."

"Ugh," Alya smiled, "You're a goddess. A resplendent, sewing, sunshine goddess. I have to go for now, but I'll text you some ideas later. We'll make a day out of it."

"Bye, Al." Marinette waved to the phone. There was a beep, letting her know that Alya was gone.

Marinette sighed, a costume party at the Record Company. How did she let Alya convince her to do these kinds of things? She rolled her eyes, because she loved Alya, and she usually had fun wherever Alya was. She picked up her phone, and quickly texted Adrien. She pulled out her phone and started to flip through pictures on the internet. She would need to have a costume, wouldn't she?

Her phone pinged right back, and she smiled. Perfect.

She returned to her internet browsing and after a few minutes of searching ordered some supplies, and paid for express shipping. The sooner she started the better. She tucked her phone back into her pocket, and descended from the loft of her room, and down to the main floor. She stretched and laid back down on her couch. It had been a long time since she'd been able to just relax, and now that she was being lazy she couldn't bring herself to want to get anything done.

Her phone pinged again, and she looked at it. It was a message from Adrien. She read the message and then rolled her eyes. He could make his own choices.

88888888

"Marinette!" Adrien's voice called from behind her and she turned to see him leap down the stairs and into the bakery door. He bounded to her, and nearly crashed into the counter of the bakery. He grabbed her by the shoulder and leaned down very close, "Marinette I need your help."

Marinette gently plucked his hand from her shoulder, "Calm down, or I'm going to have to take you to the hospital again." She smoothed out his shirt and checked his sling.

He turned his arm away from her and looked at her again, "I need you to help me with something. Stop fussing over my shoulder. It's fine. I just took my pain meds. I could fly if I wanted. Now please?" he looked at her with big green eyes.

She looked up at him, and felt her heart skip a little. She cleared her throat and tried to keep her cool, but was suddenly very aware of how close he was standing. Her conversation with Alya about how she felt about Adrien had made her annoyingly aware of her blossoming feelings for him. As a result she was very aware of his proximity at all times. She tried to brush it off. She smiled up at him, "What is it Adrien? What could be so important that you almost did a front flip over my counter?" She gestured at the jostled countertop, and congratulated herself on keeping her cool.

He smiled a sly smile at her, watching as her cheeks dusted a light pink, "I'll only tell you if you promise to help me."

"Adrien I swear if this has to do with that silly costume party again.." she started.

Adrien held up his one arm, "Oh no no, my sweet Marinette. I will be making my own costume. It will be amazing and it will be better than yours. You can be sure of that."

Marinette raised an eyebrow at him, "I'm not sure if I-"

"No I need your help with something much more important." He interrupted her again.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. She organized the papers on the counter and tucked them safely between the register and the glass display case before Adrien could jostle them again with his seemingly endless supply of energy. She turned back to him, and tripped over her words, "Well I, I mean, wha- ah, I uhm." She stopped, and tried again, "What am I helping you with?"

"Well," he put his hand on the back of his neck, suddenly bashful, "I wanted to repay your parents for all they've done for me. I need to know how I can repay them. Or," he smiled, "At least show them that I appreciate them. I thought I might use my baking skills," He picked up a rolling pin, and twirled it in his hand, "make them a cake or cookies or … something. But they own a bakery, surely me making them a childishly horrible cake wouldn't be the right thing." He set the rolling pin down.

Marinette looked at him curiously.

"Then I thought maybe I could make them something to eat!" He sighed, "but I would need more help than I would like to admit to do that." He perked up again, "And then-"

Marinette held up her hands, "Whoa, slow down." Marinette laughed, "Where is all this coming from?"

Adrien blushed a little, "Well, your family has been so kind to me. You and your parents have taken care of me in every way I can imagine, and I've never had that kind of," he paused, looking off into the distance while his mind searched for the word, "attention… before. I want them to know how truly grateful I am. I feel like words aren't enough."

Marinette felt her heart flutter a little. She wasn't sure where this exuberant and outspoken version of Adrien had come from, but she wasn't complaining. It was nice to see that he was still just a normal person under all of that perfect skin and shimmering hair. It was also refreshing to see him feeling better. Since the visit to the clinic he'd been more willing to do the exercises needed to help him heal, and it was really good for him. He'd also been able to sleep more comfortably the last few days, making him more energetic and positive. She smiled up at him, realizing that this wasn't new, she just hadn't seen this Adrien in a little while, and she was happy to finally have him back. She had missed him.

"Adrien." Marinette smiled, "we're your family, now. And that's what family is for."

"I know that you feel like you have to take care of me and I just don't want to," Adrien stopped and turned to look at Marinette. He blinked, "Really? Just like that?"

Marinette laughed, "Yes. And we take care of you not because we want a reward, but because we care about you."

Adrien felt his chest swell, "I don't. I-"

Marinette smiled at him, "Why don't I help you make some cupcakes? They're papa's favorite, and I'll even help you make the frosting lace that my mom loves. We can do it as soon as the bakery closes in a couple hours. We'll have them for dessert. They'll love it."

Adrien perked up, "You're amazing, Marinette. Thank you!" Adrien leaned down and kissed her cheek. He leaned back, beaming at her, "I have to go finish emailing some things to Cherlie, and then I'll come back down." He waved and disappeared up the stairs just as quickly as he had come down them.

Marinette slowly moved her hand to her cheek and felt the tingle of his lips still there. She smiled a little and heard his words echo in her ears. My sweet Marinette. She shook her head, and patted her cheeks a few times with her hands. She had things to get ready. If she was really going to decorate cupcakes with Adrien, she needed to get everything set out for him.

She set her mind to listen for the door bell, and went back into the bakery to gather everything they would need. If Adrien wanted to make cupcakes she was going to make sure he could do it with confidence.

88888888

"Marinette!" Alya almost screamed up the stairs, "It is time to GO, girl! You gotta get your Chinese Parisian self down here ten minutes ago!"

Marinette's voice came muffled from the bathroom, "I'm almost done, Al. Put on a hair net, and chill!" She laughed.

Alya fluffed her ratted and tangled hair, "Can't do that baby, it's too fabulous to be tamed."

Marinette's laughter floated down the stairs as Nino rolled his eyes.

Adrien appeared from his room wearing huge footie pajamas that were decorated with large black spots, black hands and feet. He had a headband in his hair with two large black foam balls on long springs. Alya shot him a look.

"I love it, darling." She smiled, "Especially the headband."

"Thanks," Adrien smiled, "Ladybug is my favorite hero." He shook his head, making the balls spring back and forth. Alya laughed a little. He put his left hand in his pocket, "Sorry it took me so long."

Nino snickered, "I'm jealous of how comfortable you look." He smiled, showing a matching set of prosthetic teeth and unnaturally yellow eyes to his wife.

"Mar. I. Nette!" Alya yelled.

"I'm coming right now!" Marinette yelled back.

Marinette came down the stairs and fluffed her perfectly straight hair. Adrien felt his face turn the same shade of red as his costume. Marinette who normally wore cute, pink sweaters and flouncy skirts, was dressed head to toe in black, tight leather and latex. She was wearing black wedge heels that only Marinette could pull off. There were patches on her knees and elbows, and her hips and chest were covered in what looked like velvet. Around her waist was a long belt that was bent into a curling tail shape behind her, and around her neck was a thick leather choker with a comically large bell attached to it. Her normally wavy hair was shimmering and pin straight. Perched on top of her head were two black cat ears. Her makeup was all black around her crystal blue eyes and she smiled at Adrien with pointed canine teeth. He felt his knees get a little weak. She put her hands on her hips, showing long, jet black and pointed nails.

"Looks like great minds think alike." She looked him up and down, "My Lady." She winked at him.

Alya whistled low, "Damn, Nette. If I wasn't already married to Nino I might ask you to be my wife."

Marinette looked at Alya, "Sorry, I only have eyes for Ladybug. Everyone knows that." she turned back to Adrien, and with a very Marinette smile told him, "I like your antennas."

Adrien's voice cracked, "Thanks."

Alya laughed, and grabbed Marinette around the waist, "Come on, guys, we're gonna be late! I heard that our old pal, Jagged Stone, might show up!"

"Well then by all means," Marinette teased, "Let's get going!"

88888888

Adrien leaned on the counter and looked at Marinette with sad eyes.

She didn't look back at him, but continued to rotate the pastries in the display case and clean the hot chocolate machine. She snickered, "Don't look at me like that. It's not my fault you can't go back to training until your arm is healed."

"It's not mine either." he whined.

Marinette turned to him, "Would you like a job? If you're going to sit down here in the bakery with me all day every day, the least I can do is give you something to do."

Adrien slumped further onto the counter, "What can I even do with one arm?"

"Goodness, you're too much." She huffed, "Would you like to organize the pastries in the display cases? You have to grab them one at a time anyway. You could also run the register. That doesn't take too much effort." She offered.

Adrien perked up, "You're serious? I can help?"

"Duh," She laughed, "That's why I offered."