Penguin: Hello chibis! Once again, I'm sorry that this is late. I'm not sure if I'm posting tomorrow because I might have a hair appointment. If I don't post tomorrow, then I'll post on Monday.

~Responses to MSM~

Reginavilla04: Thank you! And no problem!

UnicornSecrets: Hey! Haven't seen you in a while! Everything okay? c: Aw, thank you! It's alright, I didn't expect you to make separate ones xD Thank you! This is so flattering, gosh xD You're amazing, and I love you! I'm good, I'm just a little tired. I don't really overwork, it's just things keep happening. Aw, thank you! :D I will! And you're purrfect!

LadybugLover21: o-o Thank you?

"Adrien?" Marinette reached for him when she woke up. But the bed was empty. The sheets beside her felt cool. She searched the penthouse. Adrien wasn't there. Uneasiness settled within her as she dressed. Then she slipped from the penthouse and made her way downstairs.

Adrien's gaze cut to Aurore's. "We need to use your office." Because he wasn't taking this guy anywhere near Marinette. Aurore instantly nodded. "Of course! Right this way."

Adrien didn't speak again, not until he and Max were in Aurore's office. The building manager hurried out of the room, then shut the door, making sure to give them privacy. Adrien crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the doctor.

"Your timing is shit, doc." Especially right after the fire. To be in the same city… "I had to come." Max paced around the small confines of the office. "I needed to tell you- ah, damn it, you have to know the truth about her."

"I know plenty about Marinette." He didn't need this guy cluing him in to anything. "Really?" Max spun back around to face him. "Then I suppose you know all about her mother? You know that Marinette's mother was psychotic? Delusional? The car wreck that killed Marinette's parents…her mother caused that wreck. She deliberately killed herself and her husband."

Adrien didn't let his expression change. "How do you know that?" Adrien knew, he found out the truth long ago, but why had this guy dug into Marinette's past? "I know because I was worried about her." Max blew out a hard breath. "Marinette…she's too fragile. Too damn breakable."

"That's why you fucked her?" Adrien demanded, voice sharp. "Because she's breakable?" Max flushed. "I thought she needed me. Marinette does something to a guy. She makes you think, she made me want to protect her." Adrien had always wanted to keep her safe.

"But…something's wrong with her." It took all of his strength not to lunge at the doctor. "I started to suspect the truth, after a few weeks. The things she would say, what she would do…" Max's hands drove into the pocket of his coat. "I talked to the detective up in Paris. Juleka. No one pushed Marinette's car off the road. I think she drove it off herself."

Bullshit.

"Marinette told me about someone breaking into her apartment back in Paris, she told me that she felt like she'd been watched, she told me everything…" Max's words trailed away. "But you didn't believe her," Adrien finished, disgusted.

"Because it wasn't happening. I would be with her on the street, when she was so sure someone was behind her. No one was ever there. No one ever broke into her apartment. Nothing happened." A muscle jerked along his jaw. "Her mother was in her early twenties when her schizophrenia first presented itself."

Fuck. "You went into her mother's medical records."

"Delusions," Max muttered. "Paranoia. That's how it began for her mother- and how it begins for dozens of others. And that's how it's beginning for Marinette." No, it wasn't. "You're wrong. Someone is after Marinette. She was attacked at her studio. She got a concussion-"

"Did anyone see the attack?" No, his agent had found no one at the scene. Max shook his head. "How do you know she didn't do it to herself?" Because I know Marinette. You damn well don't. "A fire nearly killed her tonight. Are you seriously standing here, trying to tell me that she might have done that, too? That she torched her own place?"

"Did anyone see her attacker there?" Adrien didn't answer. "I thought so." Max's breath heaved out. "You think I want this to happen? To her? I don't. I care about Marinette. But her behavior was becoming increasingly erratic back in Paris. When I told her that she needed help…that's when she fled."

Adrien studied the man for a moment in silence, then demanded, "Why didn't you say something when I questioned you at the hospital?"

"Because I wanted to be wrong! I wanted to be, but my gut told me I wasn't. I came here, heard about the fire just a little while ago on the news- and I knew that I had to see you. I had to warn you." He whirled away and strode toward the window on the right. "Believe me or don't, but you've been warned. I think- I think Marinette can be dangerous. As dangerous as her mother was."

Adrien kept his eyes on Max's back. "She didn't just leave because you tried to get her 'help'." He wasn't buying that line. "When we were in Paris…" And this had been bothering him… "You mentioned something about 'that night'- how it all changed then." He waited a beat and said, "Do you really think Marinette didn't tell me about what happened?" Lying was easy for him. Especially when he was facing someone like Max.

The doctor's shoulders stiffened. "No." He sighed out the word. "I figured she had." He turned to face Adrien once more. "But doesn't that just prove my point? She confused the two of us. She called me by your name. She thought I was you. For an instant, Marinette didn't know who I was- or even where she was."

She called me by your name. "No one is stalking Marinette," Max continued, his voice strengthening. "She's a severely troubled woman. Just like her mother. She needs an evaluation, medical treatment-"

"I'm not crazy." Aurore hadn't locked the door. Shit. Marinette must have been eavesdropping outside. She just shoved the door open. She stood on the threshold now, chest heaving, cheeks stained red. "I'm not imagining what is happening to me!"

Max's whole body jerked, like a puppet on a tight string. "I-I didn't mean for you to hear this-"

"Obviously, but I did hear it." She licked her lips and her chin notched up into the air. "Someone is after me, and it's not some figment of my imagination. What's happening to me is real." Max eased toward her. His voice was low and soothing as he said, "I know you think it is…"

"Yeah, I do! Because it's real!" She shoved her hair back. Pointed at him. "You want to talk about that night? Fine. Let's talk. I called you by Adrien's name because I was thinking of him. I wanted him, okay? I always think of him. Every lover-it's him. That's wrong and confused, and, maybe even a little crazy, but I know what I'm doing. I wanted him that night, so I called for him." She shook her head. "I didn't do it because I'm having a breakdown! I did it because I wanted him."

Max's face had turned stone. "No one can find any evidence of your stalker. Not the cops in Paris. What about the ones here? I'm betting they can't, either. Even Akuma Securities has turned up nothing because he's not real. Just like your mother, you're-"

"Don't talk about my mother." Her voice trembled with pain. That was it for Adrien. He leapt forward. Grabbed Max's arm and jerked the guy toward the door. "Wait!" Max squealed. "What are you doing? Stop-"

"Get your ass on a place, and get out of Chicago. If you aren't gone by noon, I'll know. Then I'll come after you." Adrien glared into the doctor's eyes. "You don't want that, got me?" Max swallowed. "I-I just want her to get help." He cast a worried look toward Marinette. She backed away from the door. "I care about you. I want to help you."

"How? By getting me committed?" Red still stained her cheeks and her eyes glinted with fury. "The stalking is real. He is real."

"No." Max sounded sad and certain. "He's not." Adrien took immense pleasure in throwing the doc's ass out of the building. Adrien glared into his eyes and barked, "And fix your fucking pants. I saw that boner from the moment Marinette walked into the office, you son of a bitch!"

"Uh, sir…" Aurore began as she watched Max storm off down the street. "He doesn't get past the door," Adrien ordered. "Not ever again, got it?" Aurore quickly nodded. "Indeed. I've…got it."

"Good." He strode back into the office-and found that Marinette hadn't moved. Her gaze was on the window. "Marinette…" She glanced over at him. "Go talk to Nino. He can tell you that someone else was in that studio. I'm not crazy."

"I never said you were." Her smile had an edge of sadness. "But do you wonder?" He took her hands in his. "No, I don't." She flinched. "I thought you were better at lying." Then Marinette pulled away from him. "I thought you were much better…"

Penguin: Damn. So much drama. Anyways, I'll see you guys maybe tomorrow. Or Tuesday! Bye!