The next morning, Nathalie was feeling worse. Adrien's father told him she needed some time to recover and would not be able to teach him that day. Instead, he spent the morning studying on his own in his room, with only Plagg to keep him company.

"I'm worried about Nathalie," he told his kwami at some point, "I don't think she's gone to see a doctor, and her condition's getting worse."

"Yeah, that's pretty unfortunate," Plagg agreed apathetically, greedily snacking on cheese on the edge of the table.

"That's really insensitive, Plagg," Adrien informed him.

"Hey, if she doesn't want to take care of herself, what can we do about it?" Plagg shrugged. In a way, he was right. It's not like they could force her to see a doctor.

"It's hard for me to see someone I can't help," Adrien sighed, "I'm a superhero, I should be able to help everyone."

Plagg had no more words of wisdom to share on the topic, so Adrien remained silent about it. Mostly he was looking for something to talk about other than Marinette. That had been about the only thing he had spoken about for the last two weeks, and getting her out of his head was not easy. He knew he had to try to talk to her again, but after his last failure, he wasn't sure what he could do differently this time. The only option left, it seemed, was to talk to her as Cat Noir. That was the only way she would give him a chance. He hated the idea; it felt subversive, using his alternate identity like that, but he had no other choice.

"I have to talk to her," Adrien declared suddenly, throwing his pencil to the table.

"What are you talking about?" Plagg looked up at him. He had finished his cheese and was laying back on the desk.

"Marinette," Adrien said as though it were obvious, "I can't stop thinking about her. I have to talk to her, Plagg."

"Didn't she say she doesn't want to see you anymore?" Plagg reminded him.

"Yeah," he sighed, "but I can't stand this anymore, I have to try."

"Well, let me how it goes, then," Plagg answered, rolling over into a more comfortable position.

"Oh no, I need you to get out of the house," Adrien said with a smirk, "Plagg, claws out!"

"But I was just getting comfortable!" Plagg shouted in protest, but too late. He was sucked into the miraculous Adrien wore on his finger. With the ring charged, Adrien felt the magic sweep over him, empowering him. He was grateful, as always, that his father never insisted on installing security cameras in his room.

Shortly after that he was standing on the rooftop of the school, watching the door to his old classroom. It wasn't long before the bell rang and students began to pour out. He watched intently, hoping to catch a glimpse of his lady.

There she is, he felt joy rising in him on seeing her face, she's so beautiful. He moved a bit to get a better look at her when she suddenly looked up. Cat Noir quickly moved to hide himself from view, then leapt away, off the roof. I hope she didn't see me. I don't want her to think I'm stalking her or anything. Now he just had to figure out what he was going to say to her, and how.

Marinette had decided. She did want to give Cat Noir a chance. She had to find a time to speak to him, privately. How was she going to do that, though? He knew who she was and could drop by whenever he wanted, but she had no guaranteed method of getting in touch with him. Her best bet was to transform and leave him a message, but that wouldn't do any good until he transformed.

The bell rang for lunch break. Marinette hurried to get her bag together to leave. If I left him a message, he might not see it until the next akuma attack, she realized, and then it might just be a distraction for him. I'll have to wait until I can see him again.

"Marinette," came a voice from beside her as she shouldered her bag.

"Huh?" Marinette shook herself out of her thoughts to see Alya looking at her with concern.

"You've been so distracted, girl," she told her, as if she didn't know, "We need to get you to relax. How about we hang out tonight?"

"Thanks, Alya," Marinette smiled, "that would be great." If there's no supervillain again. Hardly a day had gone by in the last two weeks without at least one akuma. The fact that they had gotten through the morning without incident was already a surprise.

Marinette waved goodbye to her friend and she headed out of class. As she walked to the stairs, she saw movement in the corner of her eye. Her superhero instincts kicked in as she looked toward it, her muscles tensing at the anticipated danger. There was someone on the roof, she realized, looking up as she tried to find the source.

There! she spotted someone up there, jumping away, is that… Cat Noir?! She gaped in disbelief. She caught just a brief glimpse of black leather trailed by a belt. Had he been spying on her? She wasn't sure whether she should be flattered or creeped out. Still, seeing him there told her he still cared, and that meant she still had a chance with him.

Suddenly forgetting everything else, Marinette ran home, tripping only once on the way, as she tried to get to her roof before Cat Noir was too far gone.