Marinette needed to be brought in for surgery, which took a few hours. Her injuries included a few broken ribs, a slight concussion, and a torn large intestine. Not to mention the obvious gaping hole in her side which made her lose a nearly deadly amount of blood.
The doctors had told Adrien that she was very lucky Chat Noir got to her when he did.
~ ~ ~
Everybody has questions, and the only person who can answer any of them is still unconscious.
The Dupain-Chengs finally arrive after their daughter's surgery. They bring with them a complete whirlwind of emotion: fear for Marinette's health, but relief that she's alive.
They both tearfully embrace Adrien, apologizing for ever casting doubt on him. He was the one, after all, "Chat Noir" had trusted to handle everything.
He can't provide an explanation outside of an akuma attack; but what kind of akuma kidnaps a girl and tortures her for hours on end? And why was she in his house of all places?
There probably isn't much he'll be able to say to police without casting suspicion on himself once again, because the evidence really does pile up against him when he looks at it.
The alibi of being in the police station at the time is the only thing that could possibly help his case.
"Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng?" A nurse holding a clipboard walks out into the lobby.
Tom and Sabine both get out of their seats at the same time and head to the woman, desperate for any news.
The nurse continues, "Your daughter is stable -but still unconscious - if you'd like to see her briefly."
Her parents and Adrien all let out a sigh of relief, the couple following the nurse to a room in the back. Sabine turns back while walking and waves her hand at Adrien to follow them.
He quickly stands up and jogs after them, desperate to see Marinette.
He feels his back pocket, the lump of the Ladybug Miraculous still there. Finally, Tikki will be able to go home.
~ ~ ~
It's dark in her room, the covers that are up to her chin much too hot. She kicks them off and tries to go back to sleep, but a quiet crying from the corner of her loft keeps her wide awake.
"Hello?" She sits up in bed, trying to find the source of the noise.
"Marinette." A voice softly says from that general direction. Adrien appears from out of the dark and crawls into bed with her.
"Adrien? Are... are you okay?" She asks.
"I just missed you is all." He buries his face in her shoulder and she all of a sudden feels his body shake with sobs.
"Hey, it's okay, I'm back now. I won't leave you again."
She gently lays them both back down on her pillow and runs her fingers through his hair to comfort him, her nightgown obviously getting stained by tears.
"Promise?" His voice is all of a sudden calm and low, causing Marinette to look at him again. In Adrien's place is her partner, Chat Noir.
"I promise."
"Good," Chat sits up slowly, leaning on his hand, "Cause I couldn't live without you, Bugaboo." He cups her cheek in his clawed hand and kisses her softly. He goes to move away, but Marinette grasps the back of his neck, guiding him on top of her for another kiss.
'What am I doing?' She thinks, but she doesn't stop... She doesn't want to stop.
Chat intertwines the two of their hands above Marinette's head and guides his other hand down her side, almost like he's trying to memorize her outline. His kisses start trailing down her neck, but slowly become painful.
"Chat..." She says quietly at first, until another sting comes from her collarbone, "Chat! Stop!"
She shifts underneath his unmoving weight, trying to wiggle under his legs.
He acts almost as if he can't hear her, keeping her firmly in place. His claws gently trace down to her stomach and find their way to the bare skin her movements just exposed. His hand stops above her hip, his lips still busy on her neck.
Without even looking up from what he's doing, he slowly digs his claws into the skin on her right side.
Marinette screams in agony, hitting the cat with her free hand, but he pins that hand down too and continues his work on her hip.
The kisses keep going on her neck, only getting lower down and burning more and more.
"Chat!!" She screams.
"The cat's not here to save you now." The deep man's voice from on top of her growls. She looks at the man's face: there, in the place of her Chat, is Hawk Moth with a braided rope around his neck.
Hawk Moth digs his hand further into her side, and she can only choke on her pain, words not escaping her throat.
"Shhh," He says, "I'll always be here with you."
Marinette wakes up with a start, her side stinging from her injuries. A heart monitor in the room she's in is beeping almost unnaturally fast.
"Hey, hey, take a deep breath." A hand gently takes a hold of hers, but she flinches away.
Her eyes dart around and find Adrien next to the hospital bed she's laying on. Her breathing won't slow down.
"Marinette, are you okay?" Adrien asks in a worried tone.
Marinette feels her right side: no more blood, and a healing stab wound.
"Y-yeah," She finally stutters, "I just had a bad dream."
The girl sits up slowly and pulls her knees towards her.
"Just a bad dream," She whispers to herself.
The realization that Adrien and her are alone in her room completely goes over her head.
"The- um... The nurse said I could stay here until you woke up. They've been checking in every once in awhile." Adrien rubs his eyes and yawns.
"How long have you been here?" Marinette asks, hugging her knees a little tighter.
"Oh, uh," The boy checks his watch, "About 9 hours."
"9 hours?!" She yells, but then remembers her manners and whispers, "9 hours? Are you serious? I thought I was only out for a few minutes."
"Yeah, not quite: you were in surgery for about 3 hours and then got blood transfusions and the like. You've been asleep for the other 6." Adrien explains.
"A-and you've been here the whole time?"
He looks down at the floor nervously, "Yeah. I hope that's okay with you. Your parents needed some rest about 5 hours in, so I offered to stay and keep them updated."
He shows Marinette a thread of multiple text messages to her parents that are all some variation of 'Still asleep.' Adrien sends another one letting them know she's awake.
"Adrien? Did they find Hawk Moth?"
"Well no, and they couldn't find the akuma who did this either." He grits his teeth slightly.
"No, Adrien, it wasn't an akuma. It was Hawk Moth." She seems to struggle to say his name.
"What? What do you mean?"
"He - um..." She hesitates and sniffles a little, "He kept me in this secret room and would question me constantly. He thought I was Ladybug of all things."
She starts trembling just thinking about it, "I lied to him and told him I was cause he threatened to..." She stops and looks up at Adrien, "Uh- but he didn't let me go, he just kept asking where Ladybug's Miraculous was and he..." Marinette can't help but break down crying.
"Hey, hey, it's okay. You don't have to tell me any more." He puts his hand on hers again, and she doesn't pull away this time, "Marinette, why would he think you're Ladybug, though?"
Adrien hopes she'll confess to him right then and there so he won't have to admit that he knows her secret identity.
She wipes one of her eyes, seemingly thinking of the right answer, "I'm... I don't know."
Adrien looks down at the ground. Should he tell her he knows? Maybe she's too fragile to handle the news right now. The Ladybug Miraculous seems to be burning a hole in his pocket, quite literally. Tikki must be pretty desperate to go back to Marinette.
"Don't worry yourself too much over that. It was a silly question anyway. Get some more rest." He says and kisses the back of her hand.
Adrien helps her lower her head back to the pillow and he returns to his seat. Once Marinette falls asleep, he gently puts the earrings back in her ears where they belong and then falls asleep himself in the armchair.
~ ~ ~
Author's Note:
Wow guys, thanks so much for 200 views! Keep reading and voting so I can keep writing. 😉