Marinette's eyes fluttered in her sleep. In her dream she was walking down along the Siene, with her arm linked closely with Adrien Agreste. His black umbrella sheltered them from the heavy downpour surrounding them. The sheets of rain were like translucent curtains. As each drop hit the pavement, another, and then another would follow in succession. The result was a hypnotic white noise that calmed her to her core. She tipped her head happily onto his shoulder, and drew herself in closer to his side. "I love you so much," she murmured into his shoulder, and then she felt him pause.

"You do?" his voice against her raven hair asked in surprise.

"Yes, of course," she answered in confusion that he would have any doubt.

"Oh," he said, still not seeming convinced.

"How could you not know?" Marinette gripped his arm tightly.

"You never told me," he replied dumbfounded.

"But I've told you every day! I mean...maybe not in those exact words...but I've loved you with every action...ever fiber of my being since the first day we met..." Marinette finally looked up and him, and was shocked to discover that it was not Adrien Agreste who she was holding onto, but Chat Noir!

Chat Noir's cat-like green eyes studied her carefully, and he drew a gloved hand across one of her bangs tenderly. "You must have confused me with someone else Princess."

"I...I...uh..." Marinette stammered.

"Do you really love me?" Chat Noir locked eyes with her, and tilted her chin up to his with the tip of his paw.

"I...um..." Marinette felt her pulse quicken, as her eyes darted from the intensity of his eyes, to the pale peach of his lips drifting electrifyingly close to her own.

"Do you want me?" Chat Noir breathed against her mouth, drawing his other arm around the small of her back.

The tension between passion and pain, surrender and rejection, love and refusal was so acute that Marinette could barely breath. She went from stumbling over her words to completely speechless. He searched her face, clinging to her only a moment longer. His shoulders dropped, and he let his arm drop from her to his side.

"It isn't me you want after all," Chat Noir sighed despondently.

The chill that shot through her as he stepped back was unbearable, and she felt like she was suffocating.

"No! Wait!" Marinette finally found her voice, and reached out to catch him by the arm to draw him back.

"I have waited...but you still don't know what you want!" he brushed off her hand, and trudged out into the rain alone, leaving her holding the umbrella.

"I know what I want!" Marinette called out after him.

Chat Noir's shadowed faced turned back towards her, with think drops of rain beading down each dripping lock of gold hair.

"I want you!" she cried with such emotion, that it catapulted her forward, into his arms. The force of her embrace knocked him back, with her tumbling over on top of him. She pressed her lips against his, and felt him gasp, before kissing her back. She arched her fingers through his hair, and she closed her eyes in pure bliss. She felt the buzz of his joy-filled laugher tickle her lips, making her pull back. Her heart stopped when she found herself nose to nose with not her Kitty, but Adrien Agreste!

"I wondered when you'd finally tell me!" the smiling face of Adrien looked up at her.

Marinette gasped, and jumped back from him, falling back into a frigid puddle. Her eyes snapped open, and she felt the earth give way beneath her. She found herself back in her own bed, where she had apparently knocked a glass of water over, drenching herself and waking up with a start. Marinette picked up the glass, and set it carefully back on her shelf. She groaned at the puddle, pooling, and dripping down onto her oversized cat pillow.

She shook her head, and looked over at the cork-board filled with pictures of her friends...and VERY good friend. What was wrong with her. She had finally convinced herself to admit that she needed to be Adrien's friend, rather than trying to force a relationship with him. She had spent the evening trying to cheer Chat Noir up with cat-puns and cookies. She felt something...something different in those moments last night with Chat Noir. It was something surprising, and yet, something that felt so right. All of that, and her unconscious mind still betrayed her by displaying her flip-flopping heart! Switching back and forth between the leading man in her fantasy...how messed up was that! Was it really because she couldn't make up her mind? She felt like she was betraying both of them. She had always been so devoted to Adrien, and her heart had been so wholly his. Even Luka, as truly incredible as he was, had not even got a foothold in her heart. She felt fickle and shallow for having her feelings so divided.

"Oh Marinette! You did have another nightmare didn't you?" Tikki popped up beside her sympathetically.

"Actually it wasn't a nightmare like the others, not really...parts of it were pretty...great..." Marinette brushed her bottom lip with her fingertip, trying to remember how she imagined the kiss with Chat Noir...or was it Adrien? Oh...and there came the heavy weight of guilt punching her in the face again, ruining a perfectly amazing dream!

"Umm...well you seem a little...uneasy," Tikki tried to choose her words wisely. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"No," Marinette breathed out a heavy sigh for such a little word. "Is it usually so hard to move on from someone that you never were even with?"

Tikki regarded her weilder with her big blue eyes, and nodded with understanding. "Love...especially first love...is not something that just evaporates into thin air. It lingers...and with it the thrill of those moments of anticipation to be near him...mixed with the regret of what never was. But if you don't move on you will never realize how much deeper love can be. Alexander Graham Bell once said "When one door closes, another opens; but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us."

"So you think that I should stop pinning away after Adrien, and give Chat Noir a chance?" Marinette looked over at her red spotted kwami.

"I'm just saying keep your eyes open Marinette," Tikki patted her cheek affectionately, "and do not give up hope that one day a great you will find the key to open the right door."

Marinette smiled at Tikki and rubbed the spot at the center of Tikki's forehead, "You're always the voice of reason Tikki! What would I do without you!"

"Well, I actually had come up to see if you were skipping breakfast again today," Tikki pointed to the clock.

Marinette grabbed the clock with both hands and held it against her face, "Why did my alarm not go off! My does the alarm never go off! I'm going to be late for school AGAIN!"

"You had such a late night with Chat Noir, I guess you forgot to set it," Tikki offered, shrugging her tiny shoulders.

Marinette slid down her banister to the the main floor of her bedroom. She scattered a pile of waiting fabric on one table, and knocked over her life-sized Jagged Stone cut-out in the opposite direction. She dug through her closet, pulling out her go-to outfit, and tried to tug it on over her pajamas. She noticed her error, and sorted things out. The other kwami had been roused from sleep but the commotion, and were silently watching the daily chaos of their Guardian unfold. Marinette raked a brush through her hair, while trying to put a bit of black mascara on at the same time. She failed and poked herself in the eye, making her shout out in protest against the offending item, and blotted the smeared mascara more delicately. She pulled up her hair into her standard dual pony tails. Then finally she tugged on one ballet flat, before frantically trying the track down its mate.

"Tikki! Where is my...ouch!" Marinette called over her shoulder, while crawling on her hands and knees to check under her desk, and bumping her head. "Oh! Never mind! Found it!" In victory she produced the missing shoe, and popped it onto her foot, hopping up and down. Then she hastily swung her purse over her shoulder (which Tikki fazed into), and clamored down the stairs to the kitchen.

Marinette didn't even pause to grab anything for breakfast, and few out the door to their apartment and down the narrow stairs. She flew past the bakery where both of her parents where already busy with the morning rush of customers. "Hi Mom and Dad, Bye Mom and Dad!" Marinette called mid-sprint.

"Honey, what about breakfast?" her Mom called after her.

"No time! I'm fine. I'll have to get something later," Marinette called not breaking her pace. "Love ya!" Then she was out the door with her parent's echo of affection sending her on her way.

ooooooo

A seemingly ordinary start to the day...which is about to be turned upside down...

Please Like or Follow so you don't miss what is coming next. I'm having some fun playing with this next new chapter;)