Miraculous:

Tales of Ladybug and Cat Noir

Chapter Ten: Distractions and Recuperations

Marinette POV

Marinette shifted slightly in her sleep, the action causing a dull pain to spread throughout her body. She whimpered and slowly opened her eyes. She didn't recognize where she was and immediately went on alert. She tried to sit up but that caused more pain and she hissed, clutching her stomach.

"You shouldn't move yet…" a concerned voice said from her side.

The girl turned and saw Adrien get up from a chair placed near the bed she was on. Her senses told her he wasn't being controlled anymore but she still turned her eyes away in shame. "A-Adrien…" There were so many things she wanted to say and ask but she didn't know where to start so she started with the simplest. "W-where are we?"

"My penthouse, apparently." He stuck his hands in his pockets and looked around. "We're still in the dimension Etain created. I wasn't sure if I should cross dimensions with your injuries and besides that, Kaalki didn't seem eager to have me use her power. I think she's holding a grudge."

That made Marinette smile a bit. The kwami were loyal little guys, no matter the situation. She remembered when Chloe had tried to get them to do her bidding without even bothering to learn their names. Kaalki was a prima-horse and prided herself on only working with the best and the beautiful unless the situation called for it otherwise. "So, what happened after the tower? I'm afraid I don't quite remember."

"You almost died, stupid!" Tikki came flying over and stationed herself right in front of her owner's face. "You purified pure darkness with pure light at the very moment you used up your five minutes! It's as if two magnets—true negative and true positive—were slammed together by force. The energy exploded and you almost died!"

Marinette closed her eyes in grief. "It would have been worth it."

"Don't say that!" Adrien exclaimed. "You risked yourself, made the ultimate sacrifice, to save me from myself. If you had died as a result…I never would have forgiven myself."

Plagg snorted. "And despite your best efforts, you still managed to come away with several fractures, lots of bruises and scrapes, not to mention those beautiful burn marks on your arms. It's gonna be while before you recover."

"I can just use my miraculous ladybugs to fix everything, right?"

Tikki shook her head. "I don't think that's quite gonna work this time. You purified Adrien but you ran out of time when you did so. The lucky charm doesn't exist anymore."

"Oh, that's right…" She still had her head turned away from Adrien and her voice was full of melancholy. How could she face him after hurting his heart so much that he was able to fall under Etain's spell. What could she say to make up for that? Her fingers curled into fists in her lap.

"Marinette, look at me, please?" Adrien asked.

Her form shrunk and she refused. "I don't deserve to look at you. I don't deserve to have you here at my bedside. I'm the reason you were hurt in the first place!" The tears came and she would have hidden her face in her hands if she could move her arms without pain.

"That's not true!" Adrien fell to his knees, the loud bang on the floor causing Marinette to spin and look over at him. He was on his hands and knees, dropping his head to the floor in a manner she'd only seen in Japanese movies. It was the ultimate submission of fealty, respect and loyalty. "It was my weak heart that allowed my own thoughts and fears to turn me against you. You made a mistake, and I should have forgiven you for that, but I was afraid. My father has kept so many secrets from me that I felt the same sting of betrayal. Only I should have realized you and my father are not the same. You kept something from me, but I can understand why you did, even if I didn't agree with it at the time. I should have sat down and talk to you about it. Simply because you kept one thing from me, didn't mean every other aspect of your life was an open book to me."

"Stop Adrien, please!" Marinette leaned forward to get him off the floor, but she lost her balance and she rolled out of bed instead. Adrien looked up in surprise and caught her in his arms.

"Marinette, you shouldn't move! You're still terribly injured!" He cradled her and picked her up bridal style only when he tried to put her back into bed, she clung to his shirt and continued to cry. "Please don't cry, Marinette. The sound of your sadness hurts my heart than any akuma or cataclysm ever could."

His voice was so gentle and soothing. "I'm not good enough for you, Adrien, and I was a fool to think that I was."

Since she didn't want him to put her down, he carefully sat down in the bed with her in his lap. "If you're not good enough for me and I'm not good enough for you then we must both be fools."

Marinette's head shot up at this and she countered, "No, Adrien you're…!" Adrien kissed her then, cutting off her words. She wanted to pull away, wanted to stop him, but somehow her body responded on its own. Her felt her eyes close, shoulders relax, and she sighed with contentedness. When he finally pulled away, a part of her mourned his departure from her lips. Her eyes slowly fluttered open. "You're…really good at that, did you know?"

He laughed and his cheeks pinkened adorably. "Yeah, so my girlfriend keeps telling me." He rested his forehead against hers. "Why don't we start over and forgive each other? We're gonna need to be at our best, together, if we're going to get out of this mess."

There was a knock at the door and Marinette tensed. Tikki flew down and hid in Marinette's purse down by the floor. "Who's that?"

"That would be the doctor." Adrien made an odd face, somewhere between embarrassment and something else she couldn't identify—like he was about to give her bad news. He stood up and placed her carefully back into bed, fixing the blanket. "When Etain created this world, apparently, she gave herself and me incredible status. I'm like the top CEO of my own modeling company—at 14 years old, who knew? She made herself come from a prestigious family equal to the Bourgeois or something. Basically, she's stinking rich for no reason and everyone comes at her beck and call—me included up until recently."

A knock sounded at the door again and Adrien turned to replied, "Come in." As the doctor and an assistant entered, he held Marinette's hand. "I can't stay but I'll be right outside the door, okay? We can talk more after."

Marinette reluctantly nodded and allowed him to leave. It was still a lot to process.

Adrien POV

Adrien closed the door behind him, little Plagg having dived into his pocket to remain hidden. He remained there, with his back to the door, as the physicians removed the bandages and got to work cleaning and adding ointment. Adrien knew how bad the wounds were. After he'd pulled Marinette from the water, her blood completely soaked his lap and pooled beneath her. Someone had immediately recognized him, because of his status, and he was able to get her to the hospital. Unfortunately, when people started asking questions about her injuries, even in this fake Paris, he didn't have a big enough excuse to placate them. So, he used his apparent status to get the hospital to release her and take them here to his private penthouse. It was spacious and he was able to use his abundant resources to hire a private doctor who wouldn't ask questions.

Marinette's voice sounded through the door and what started off as whimpers became full cries of pain as the bandages were removed. Adrien clenched his eyes shut in agony as he heard his beloved go through that. He wanted to save her the way she had him but without her lucky charm, she would be forced to heal the traditional way. And I won't leave her until she's back to 100%. He also knew Etain wouldn't just leave them be. They were in her world, her dimension, which meant her rules. She wouldn't need Lila to work through here. I won't let her separate us again. I'm going to use every ounce of my power to make sure Marinette never gets hurt like this again.

A little while later the doctor and assistant came out of the room and looked at Adrien. "We wrapped what we could and made sure to clean the wounds. She'll heal but she'll probably scar, especially her arms. There's no avoiding that. We gave her a sedative for now to help her sleep. What she needs now is rest."

"Of course. Thank you." Adrien allowed his butler to see them out and lowered to the floor with shaky breathes. Plagg came out when the coast was clear. "What do I do, Plagg? I have to get her home, but we can't explain away injuries like that to her parents. They'll never trust me with their daughter again."

"For now, all you can do is rest. You've been up for 36 hours at least!" the kwami pointed out. "You won't be any good to her if you don't take care of yourself, too."

"How can I sleep when I know she's in so much pain?"

"A full stomach always helps me sleep," came the expected reply.

Adrien smiled. "You and your stomach." Then he got an idea. "You know what? Food sounds like a great idea."

Marinette POV

When Marinette awakened a second time in the same large, lavish room she wasn't as put on guard. Looking out the window, it looked like it was dusk, and the beautiful reds and golds made her smile. "Even knowing it isn't our Paris can't take away natural beauty like this," she said to Tikki. Then she remembered something. "Oh my gosh, Tikki, my parents must be flipping out right now! I've been missing for like 2 days or more!"

Tikki shook her head. "Nope, chances are time isn't flowing here like they are in the real world. It's a separate dimension. I wouldn't be surprised if time has stopped completely in your world, well relative to this world anyway."

"So, we could just stay here together in this house and grow old and have kids and our world wouldn't know the difference?" Marinette asked, her eyes getting a sparkling, far-away look.

"Nuh uh, no, don't even think about it!" Tikki chided. "You have a responsibility to protect Paris as Ladybug, that means getting out of this pretend world created by your enemy!"

"Hee hee, I know Tikki, I was just kidding," Marinette giggled. "The thought had promise though."

"Well," the kwami relented. "I would say take this time to rest and get better. There's no rush. As long as you take it easy, I don't see why you can't enjoy yourself a little bit playing house."

Marinette laughed and finally began sounding like herself. Someone knocked on the door and Marinette tensed, not knowing who it was.

"Hey, Marinette, it's me," Adrien said from the other side. "May I come in?"

"Sure, I'm decent." Her face immediately turned red and she started waving her hands with embarrassment when he walked in. "I mean, of course I'm decent and you wouldn't want to know if I wasn't, I mean you would—oh God, someone kill me now!"

Adrien laughed and came in pushing a cart full of food. Marinette gasped and found her breath caught in her throat. Adrien was wearing an all-black butler outfit with a white shirt barely showing underneath. His hair was slicked back and he completed the look with white gloves.

"A-Adrien?"

He smiled, seemingly enjoying her reaction. "Does Milady have an appetite yet? The doctor said you were to get absolute rest so be assured that all of your needs will be taken care of by yours truly." He bowed dramatically, waving a hand in front of his waist in true Cat Noir flair.

My…every need? Mind. Enter. Gutter. Marinette's mouth was hanging open and she was pretty sure she was drooling out of the corner of it. "Duh uh ruh ble…?"

Tikki waved a hand in front of her face and rolled her eyes. "Yep, she's broken as Alya would say."

Adrien POV

Adrien rolled the cart up and lifted up several of the domed lids. Underneath there was hot soup, fresh bread, steak so tender it would melt in your mouth, and of course a piece of the most succulent and creamy cheesecake—insisted by Plagg. "Seriously though, you need to eat to keep you your strength."

Marinette seemed to blink out of her stupor, as adorable as Adrien thought that was, and started to reach forward to get a piece of bread. Adrien intercepted her gently and pulled up her hand to kiss the back of it instead. "Uh uh uh, absolute rest. Doctor's orders, not mine."

Marinette rolled her eyes then and smirked. "Okay, genius, so how am I supposed to eat then?"

Adrien tore a piece of the mini loaf off and held it up to her mouth. Marinette's face immediately reddened and the boy just couldn't help himself. "Say ah."

Marinette tried to snag the piece out of his hand, but he was faster than she was. Forgetting some of her wounds, Marinette punched her lap, making her wince in pain.

"See? Now, don't resist. Trust me." He winked, using her own words—some of her first to him—against her. "Let me serve you, Milady. It's the least I can do."

He knew he'd won when her shoulders drooped and she eventually opened her mouth to accept the food. When she'd had a couple of bites, he brought up the bowl of soup and after taking a seat in the chair by the bed, he proceeded to spoon feed her and he enjoyed every minute of it. "Thinking about it, Maid Marinette was super cute at the Ladybug and Cat Noir movie premiere."

Marinette choked on the bite she was chewing and Adrien laughed as he gave her a drink of water. "How do you even remember that?" she balked. "I so wish you didn't remember that!"

He shrugged casually. "I think you're cute in anything you wear really." With her main food finished, Adrien traded the bowl for the dessert dish with the cheesecake on it. "Ready for dessert?"

She looked at him and smiled. "You're too perfect for this world, you know that, Adrien?"

"Funny, 'cause I could say the same about you." He used a clean fork and cut off a small piece of cheesecake. "I promise you've never tasted anything more delicious in your life."

Marinette's eyes did a once over of his form and he could've sworn her heard her mutter, "Not yet, anyway." When her eyes caught his, she lifted her blanket to hide her face. "I cannot believe I just said that! Uh, this is all your fault, looking so hot in that outfit! If I run a fever tonight, I'm blaming you!"

He could feel his own cheeks heat up and he nervously scratched the side of his face. "So, what's better? Butler Adrien or Cat Noir?"

His girlfriend froze and lowered the blanket, her nose scrunched in traditional Marinette fashion when she was deep in thought. "That's a hard one. Really hard… the butler you with the serving and commitment is really attractive but the leather you, swinging your staff, fending off evil to protect me—there's nothing that can compare to that. Both have their draws, I suppose."

Now Adrien laughed.

She looked at him. "What?"

"Haha, I guess I didn't expect such a well thought out and comprehensive answer," he admitted.

Marinette held up a finger and closed her eyes as if lecturing. "Now, combine them and you'd have a sensory overload for any teenage girl."

He blinked, not expecting that. "You lost me. Combine them how?"

Marinette counted off on her fingers, eyes still clothes. She seemed to answer honestly without filtering what she was saying—also in typical Marinette fashion. "Well, cat ears, butler tie, no shirt, black pants, and cat tail…" and like a tea pot that finally came up to temperature, the imagery that came to light in the girl's head made steam come out of her ears and she quickly buried her head in her blanket again. "I cannot believe I just said that!"

Adrien shrugged, the model in him not completely opposed to the idea. "It's doable. Might be fun, actually. I could make it happen." He made sure he met her eyes with a smile as she peeked out from behind the cloth. "For you, anyway."

Once Marinette had eaten and laid down to go to bed for the evening, Adrien left her room and returned to his own. While it wasn't his room back in the real Paris, it was comfortable so it would serve his purpose while he was here taking care of her. Plagg had already explained the time difference, so Adrien would do as he pleased until Marinette was well again.

"Something tells me you enjoyed that," Plagg teased when Adrien started taking his outfit off to get ready for bed.

"I want to make her feel better, Plagg, and I'll do anything to help with that. I can't heal her wounds, but I can make her stay here more enjoyable, don't you think?"

Plagg laughed, "Oh, she enjoyed it alright and if she wasn't wounded, I bet she'd enjoy it more."

"P-Plagg! You're such a pervert!" Adrien pulled off his shirt and replaced it with a nice flannel PJ shirt and pants. The highest quality silk material surrounded him on all sides and he had to remember to buy a pair when he got back to the real world. Huh, maybe I'll buy Marinette a pair and we can have matching sets.

"How am I the pervert when you were the one playing tonsil hockey with that witch!"

Adrien dropped into his bed and sighed. "Oh, Plagg, Etain really messed with my head and while I don't remember a lot of it, I feel really bad that Marinette had to see me like that."

"You're a teenage boy; these things are natural!" Then he added, "Well maybe not exactly what you were doing. You should be a little older to do that stuff…"

"Plagg, knock it off, will ya!" Adrien threw a pillow at him, which the kwami just phased through when it hit him. He sighed and draped an arm over his head, looking up at the ceiling. It's not like I don't think of Marinette like that…I just don't want to mess up anything with her by going too fast. That time on the piano…I would have been happy if we just kept kissing like that. She's just so…perfect, like a goddess incarnate. He smiled to himself and fell asleep with thoughts of 'the woman from his dreams'.

Marinette POV

While Adrien had mentioned that he had several servants from cooks, to butlers, to gardeners and the like, he refused to let anyone into Marinette's room except himself, the doctor, and his staff. Marinette was making progress, but she still couldn't take deep breathes or hold anything for long periods of time. Her legs were mostly undamaged as the blast was centered from Adrien's chest so when she got well enough, he started showing her around the house.

"This is the living room," he walked her down the stairs into a room with wooden floors, white walls, and grey contemporary furniture. "If nothing else you gotta love the view." They were high enough, maybe five floors up, that the view allowed them to look over the rooftops of Paris all the way to the Eiffel Tower. One side of the living room was entirely made up of windows, so it wasn't hard to see. There was a thin balcony patio that extended across the length of it, complete with lounging chairs.

In the corner of the living room was, of course, a grand piano. Marinette took a seat on the couch and looked around in amazement. "It's so beautiful. I didn't know such places exists in Paris."

"They may not but they do in this dimension," Adrien replied. The butler came and brought them some tea and cookies which he took from his servant then promptly sent him away again. "It's not like I don't like the service but aside from Nathalie and my bodyguard, I was never used to this many helpers."

He sat opposite of Marinette and together their shared the mid-afternoon snack. "You know this is kind of weird," she commented while they ate. "I guess I've always been doing stuff that being able to sit and do nothing…well, I've never done that before, haha. Whether it was school, or baking for my parents, or hanging out with my friends I was always doing something."

"I know what you mean. For me I was always modeling, or fencing, or studying foreign languages that I don't think I can remember a day I had so much downtime."

Marinette blinked. "You said foreign languages, plural. So, you know more than Chinese?"

"Oh sure, my father's had me learn Chinese, English, and Japanese. Anything that can improve our business relations oversees to eventually grow the Gabriel Agreste line."

"Wow," Marinette was impressed. After they were finished eating, she eyed the piano. "Would you play for me?" she asked timidly. "It was so beautiful the last time I got to hear it."

Adrien smiled warmly at her and nodded. "It will be as Milady wishes."

He sat at the piano, closed his eyes, and played Debussy's Clair de Lune. While Marinette had heard it several times before, to hear it played by someone who loved her so much, the notes of the song seemed to carry so much more weight and feeling to them than ever before. She closed her eyes as well and just listened.

Suddenly Adrien's lips were on her and she gasped and opened her eyes. She hadn't even remembered the song finishing or hearing Adrien kneel down in front of her. "What was that for?" she asked.

"You just looked so beautiful; I couldn't help myself," he replied. "May I kiss you again?"

His manners could be so romantic sometimes, but she knew why he asked. She was still tender and he couldn't so much as hug her yet. She nodded and he carefully leaned forward to kiss her again, this time putting a hand behind her head to deepen the kiss. There were so many things she wanted to do with Adrien, but this just wasn't the time for it. For now, she would take what she could get.

Adrien POV

The butler announced himself and bowed at the door. "Sir, your purchases have arrived. Shall I send them up to Lady Marinette's room?"

"Not yet, please have them brought in here. I want to show them to her," Adrien stood up and looked at his girlfriend with a childish, excited grin.

"What's going on?" Marinette couldn't help but mirror his smile. "What delivery?"

"Um, I went shopping for you. I didn't have much here for a lady such as yourself to wear, so I decided that was something that had to change." He moved aside as delivery men came and dropped off box after box of clothing. If Adrien knew anything, he knew fashion. He'd long since memorized Marinette's, as well as Ladybug's, figure (the red superhero suit made that impossible to forget) and thus he picked out colors that he felt suited her in styles that were appropriate for the season. "We have dresses and shirts with shorts, a few formal pieces of clothing. Along with all of the accessories that go with them."

"Adrien, this must have cost you a fortune!" she openly gaped that the end haul. "Are you sure you should have spent all this money on just me?"

"Just you?" he raised an eyebrow. "It's not just you. You are the woman who sacrificed herself for me, who chose me ages ago when you could've had someone like Nathaniel or Luka."

She laughed, "Well, none of them had a chance against you." She winked and together they laughed.

Adrien picked up the first box and brought it over to her. Opening it revealed a beautiful blue summer dress that hung off the shoulder and had straps that wrapped around the neck from the center. It was thin, light material that had ruffled down the front. "I thought this one matched your eyes." He pulled up another one that was white with a large green floral design and had a matching green, thin short sleeve wraparound that went with it. "This one, well this one matches my eyes, haha."

He showed them all to her and she look completely overwhelmed. "They're all so beautiful, Adrien. I don't know what to say except thank you."

"Well, I know we won't be in this dimension long, but don't think this will only happen here. Once we get back, I'll make sure you'll never have a want in your life again."

Marinette POV

Once she was back in her room, Tikki came out and regarded all of the new clothing with excitement. "That was really sweet of Adrien to get you such nice outfits!"

"Yeah, I guess, but I can't really wear any of them." Marinette sat down on her bed sadly. Truth was she'd been wearing nothing but big muumuus that allowed for all of her bandages and constant changings.

Tikki flew over to her, confused. "What do you mean? Why not?"

Marinette held up her arms still wrapped in bandages. "This is why, Tikki. I need long sleeves to cover up my injury. Even when they heal, people will look at me and make faces. I just can't bear to think about it."

"Marinette don't feel like you have to hide from the world. Some people may look, sure, but your loved ones will understand."

The following morning Adrien introduced her to someone new. "This is Nausia. She's going to be your assistant from now on."

"What?" Marinette frowned. "Why do I need an assistant?"

Adrien made an embarrassed face. "Well, in order to change clothes, you'll need someone to help you and that someone really shouldn't be me."

Marinette blushed at this and nodded. "Right, okay. That makes sense." She looked at the woman and nodded. "Um, nice to meet you, Nausea." She reminded Marinette of Mrs. Chamack back at home.

Adrien POV

Adrien left Nausia to handle Marinette and went downstairs. He wouldn't say it, but he'd interviewed dozens of women as potential helpers for Marinette throughout the week and, ultimately, he'd decided to Nausia because she was also a skilled martial artist. She would double as Marinette's bodyguard should anything happen. While she should be well enough to travel soon, it wouldn't be long that more possessed people tried to fight them either for Lila or Etain. He didn't want anything to happen to Marinette in the meantime.

One morning he was making his way up to Marinette's room where Nausia was already helping her get dressed. He heard Marinette's voice and paused outside of the door.

"No, not that one. Something with long sleeves, please," Marinette said.

Nausia replied reluctantly, "Madam, it's almost summer. Surely the temperatures are too warm for…"

"Don't worry. I'll be fine," Marinette cut her off. "Long sleeves will do."

Adrien was saddened by this because much of what he bought was short sleeve but she'd never mentioned not liking them to him before. Why would she want long sleeves? She would look so beautiful in… Then he stopped. The answer was obvious.

His suspicions were confirmed when another time he heard Marinette complaining to Tikki one night after Nausia had been excused for the day.

"Why? Why do my arms still hurt even after all this time? It feels like they're on fire even when something just brushes against them softly!" Marinette cried. "How do I even have nerve endings left, the feeling in my arms should technically be dead now."

"The wounds aren't natural. We have no idea how long it will take to heal properly, Marinette. Just have patience," Tikki tried to soothe.

"I feel like Quasimodo and Adrien is Esmerelda. He's beautiful and I'm hideous. It's hard to even stand next to him." Adrien wanted to bust in there and tell just her beautiful she was. "And Tikki, don't tell him that because he'd probably like dress up as a gypsy with as much fun as he had as Reflecta. I can't even walk in platforms as well as he did."

Adrien watched Marinette carefully over the next few days and while she smiled and appeared like herself whenever she knew he was watching, when he looked at her and she didn't notice, the clear depression was evident on her face. She was losing hope and Adrien wasn't sure what he could do to fix that.

One morning when both were on the rooftop patio reading, Adrien was announced there was a visitor. "I'll be right back. Probably just my agent or something." He'd been pushing off work, claiming he was on sabbatical, but truth was the work here didn't matter because it wasn't real. Only Marinette mattered.

He came downstairs and almost fell over in shock. There, standing in his living room, looking out into the city was Etain. He growled and looked at his butler. "What is she doing here? I told you she'd not allowed entrance!"

Etain, dressed in a black and green piece this time, still strapless but it went down to just above her knees, wore a wide brimmed hat and sunglasses. She turned around and nonchalantly removed her shades. "Come come now, Adrien. It's not his fault. All of your staff reports to me and have been this entire time." She smirked and waved away the butler in exchange for some privacy.

Plagg was in his pocket so he could transform whenever he wanted to but he was worried about Marinette. If a fight broke out and anything happened to the building, she wouldn't be able to escape. Since he'd been the one to hire Nausia, he doubted Etain controlled her like the others but he couldn't take that risk.

He flexed his fingers as they had balled into fists by instinct and he regarded her anew. He was still on edge but for now he'd wait. "What do you want, Etain?"

"This is more about what do you want, Adrien?" she smirked at him. "It's been told to me dear Marinette still isn't well enough or else the two of you would have left this realm by now, am I right?"

Adrien said nothing.

"Oh, come now, no need for such hostility, Adrien. Really." She was beginning to sound like Chloe's mother. "A simple spell and all of Marinette's wounds and scars would poof go away."

He started at this but shook his head a moment later. "No. Why help us? What's in it for you?"

"A stone," she replied. "The Jewel of Alexandra."

Adrien searched his memory for the familiar term. "The old Romonov relic? It once created for the Czar of Russian Alexandra and was thought to be lost at the turn of the century when the Romonov's fell from power and Rasputin died."

"Rasputin, now there was a smart fellow. He worked for the Romonovs trying to get the stone but was unsuccessful." Etain turned to Adrien. "You are going to be successful."

"What? I'm not helping you."

"You're going to help me because otherwise when Marinette gets back home, her parents will never in good conscious want her to be anywhere near you with those scars. I can make them go away…in exchange for the stone."

Adrien crossed his arms. Why am I even considering this? His thoughts going up to the girl above them, he knew why he was considering it. She'd never agree to it. It's dangerous for sure. Part of him thought of moving forward without telling her but then he'd be a hypocrite. This is exactly what she must have gone through when she came up with that plan because she wanted to defeat Lila. "I can't make a decision until I've spoken with Marinette."

"She won't agree to it and you know it." Etain walked around him and still regarded him like eye candy. "Be a big boy and make your own decisions."

"No, we're a couple, and we make decisions together." He waved a hand towards the door. "Now if that's all, there's the door."

"Oo, someone's matured in the last two months." She put her glasses on and her nose in the air. "While time is on your side here, my patience is not. You have two days to decide."

While his butler saw her out (Adrien made a mental note to change his entire staff), Adrien returned to the roof. Marinette saw his expression and lowered her book. "Is everything okay? Who was at the door?"

Just because I'm trying to pick the high road, doesn't make it easy. "It was…Etain."

"What!?" Marinette gasped, then immediately clutched her ribs getting Adrien to worry. "What did she want?" she hissed.

Adrien rubbed the back of his neck, really wishing he could just be like most guys. What was the saying? Tis better to ask for forgiveness than permission? "Etain says she can heal you."

"Well, don't believe her. She lies." Marinette stated shortly with narrowed eyes. "And even if she could, there would be a cost, am I right?"

He nodded, "She wants me to get some rock from Russia."

"Russia? Why would she want a rock from there?"

"I don't know, but Marinette," he turned to her and held her hands in his. "I know how much trouble you've been having with your wounds." He met her eyes and she looked away sadly. "I know how much they hurt you and while you will always be the most beautiful woman in the world to me, if there's a chance for me to fix what I've done…"

"Adrien, this isn't because of you," Marinette said, turning back to him. "Don't think that way. I saved you back then because I love you and given the choice, I'd do it again in a heartbeat, regardless of the consequences." She cupped his cheek. "I can't lose you."

He covered her hand with his. "I know it's risky and I'm fool to consider it, but…" he looked at her bandages and felt his heart twist in pain. "I want to make you happy and this could be our only chance."

Marinette bit her lower lip and sighed. "I wish I could go with you but…"

He leaned forward and kissed her tenderly. When they broke and he rested his forehead against hers, he smiled, "Let me do this for you. Let me make it up to you. Cat Noir can be your knight in shining leather."

She giggled. "Alright, you win. Now stop with the kitty eyes." She rubbed noses. "Just promise to come back to me."

He dropped to one knee and kissed the back of her hand. "As quickly as I can fly, Milady." He left her and started making plans. It hadn't escaped his thoughts that Etain might try something while he was gone. First, he had to change his staff and come up with a story for Nausia. She was about to earn mad overtime. He was going to want Marinette watched 24/7 but without it being too suffocating.

Two days later, he appeared at Etain's mansion this time and crossed his arms in clear revulsion. Just being back here caused him to shiver. If time didn't pass relative to this world, then during the time Marinette was still coming for him, he could have technically done all sorts of things with Etain and not remembered.

"So, what is your decision, Adrien?" she asked, coming to greet him.

"I'll do it. I'll bring you the Jewel of Alexandra. In exchange, you will heal Marinette completely of her injuries and scars." He held out his hand and she shook it with a smirk. Suddenly, though, he yanked her forward and whispered low in her ear. "And you better keep your word or you're going to learn to fear the black cat of the night because I'm going to become your living nightmare." When he pulled back again, he smiled like the normal Adrien. "Oh, and stay away from Marinette while I'm gone too or the deals off and I'll drop the stone into the ocean first chance I get. Got it?"

"Oo, the kitty has claws." She purred and looked him up and down. "Are you sure you don't want to use the claws on me in one last little—"

"No, not a chance. See ya." He spun on a heel and left. Her mind games were below him now. He had a mission and he would be successful no matter what.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Okay, I may have had a bit more fun with this chapter than I expected too. Cat Noir/Butler Adrien just came to me and my mind entered the gutter, complete with steam in the ears but it was a cute scene and it worked so… I just watched Anastasia again and got inspired so Chapter 11 will be a Cat Noir special. Review and stay tuned!