Adrien hated how he could not visit Roland most of the time.

After being transferred to the ICU, only nurses from that area were allowed to see the patient most of the time.

Since he is not an ICU nurse, that area is not part of his priorities. Though, there are times when Doctor DC would do her rounds there and would bring Adrien with her. The nurse feels that she noticed how close he has become with the patient, yet she chose to keep quiet about it.

They both have been keeping quiet when it came to things outside work. They just...choose not to talk. Even the doctor would not tease him anymore for she has grown more serious than she already is.

Well, Adrien has an inkling as to why she has been acting that way. He would see it when he would pass by her office and see her hunched over her desk with her hands running through her hair in distress. One time he saw her binge-eat a whole box of mini chocolate croissants and he knows that that is not a good indication of how she is currently holding up.

"I can't believe they missed it," Adrien hears Doctor DC as she says those words to Doctor Chloé one time at their office. "I can't believe I missed it."

"Marinette," Doctor Chloé whispers, "you can't go around blaming yourse-"

The other doctor interjects, "But I could have done something! It was all in the CT Scan, that minor adhesion in his stomach linings. How could I have not seen it?" Doctor DC falls on her chair and brings a hand to her forehead while the other doctor starts to gently rub her arm.

"His gastroenterologist should have been the one to see it, not you," Doctor Chloé tries to coax her colleague.

"But that does not erase the fact that we are still doctors," Doctor DC points out, "specialization or not, we should be taking into account all parts of the body."

And that was when Adrien found out early that Roland is suffering from sepsis. His body is fighting off an infection but its response causes an imbalance of its emitted chemicals causing damage on the rest of his organ systems. Roland can fight it off, there is a possibility. But with his current condition and how he did not take any kind of maintenance medication for most of his life, the possibility is low. Really low.

Adrien has to follow the words of Doctor DC, he needs to prepare for the worst.

He is on his way to the ICU now. Visiting hours are over but Adrien can see Roland from outside his room and through a small glass window on the door. He woke up the day before and the ICU nurses informed Adrien that he was immediately agitated at the sight of a tube down his throat. He cannot speak and even emit sounds. He could only open his eyes, look at different directions, and blink them.

"Roland Leon? Which room is Roland Leon staying at?"

Adrien whips his head at the direction where he heard a woman's voice frantically asking for the room of his patient before. There is a woman, almost the same height as Doctor DC, with short auburn hair standing by the nurses' station of the ICU and is peering at all the nurses there, repeating her question.

"Ma'am," the head nurse starts in a calm manner, "are you related to him in any way?"

"I'm his daughter," she answers in a rush. "I'm Chiara Leon, I'm his only child. Please, let me see him."

"Visiting hours are over for today. You may stay at the waiting room or you can come back here at 11 in the morning-"

"I just got off my flight from Quebec after receiving a long distance call from this hospital," she cuts them off, "I never knew that he has been here for a week and now you are telling me that I need to wait?!"

"Ma'am, I'm truly sorry. It's hospital policy-"

"Unless the patient allows it," Adrien butts in from the side. Once the nurse speaking with the daughter sees the blonde nurse, she lets out a tired sigh.

The other nurse groans, "Not you again, Nurse Adrien." One could say that Adrien has been going to the ICU after visiting hours for quite some time that he has created some kind of reputation with the other ICU nurses. "The patient cannot talk, Nurse Adrien. He cannot give his consent."

The daughter turns to him and asks, "Do you know where my father is?"

Adrien nods at her then looks at the nurse again before saying, "I got to talk with Roland Leon before he was brought here. He is open to any visitor, whether a family member or friend."

"Verbal consent is not enough, Nurse Adrien," the ICU nurse emphasizes. "Also, conditions have changed ever since he was brought here."

Adrien, feeling caught with nothing else to say, makes up a lie in an instant, "Doctor DC allows visitors for him." He had to hide how he nervously swallowed down a lump in his throat after lying. He prays that if ever the doctor finds out, she won't kill him for doing this.

The ICU nurse looks taken aback. "Really?" She asks, not noticing how it came out as a lie from the other nurse.

Adrien nods once then faces the daughter whose face shows that she is in the state of internal panic. "I can take you to your father and his doctors can talk to you during the morning, would that be alright?"

The daughter lets out a sigh of relief. "Please, I don't care if I need to talk to his doctors tomorrow. I just want to see him now."

"I'll take care of her, nurse," Adrien informs the ICU nurse and she could only purse her lips.

"Don't stay in there for too long or else I'll have to inform Doctor DC," she warns him, causing Adrien to tense up a bit.

He gives her a thumbs-up. "Got that, nurse," he musters to say, smiling nervously at her. Adrien takes two new face masks from the box resting on the counter of the nurses' station. He hands one to the daughter then utters, "Follow me."

He and the daughter, Chiara, wear their masks as they walk past the doors of the different patient rooms in the ICU and stop in front of one of the last rooms in the area.

"Nurse?" Chiara suddenly calls for Adrien's attention.

"Yes?"

"Uh," she mutters and looks down at the ground, fiddling with her fingers. "What should I not do when I'm in the room? Can I hug him? Or can I at least touch his hand?"

Adrien finds it lucky for him that he's wearing a mask because his face falls the instant Chiara asked those questions. He would not want her to see that he feels sorry for her and for her father.

He starts off slowly, making sure to use the right words that would not hurt her, "Mister Leon can see, feel, and hear. He cannot talk now and he is prone to feeling agitated especially with the fact that he wants to talk to you."

Chiara looks up at the nurse with furrowed eyebrows. "How do you know that he wants to talk to me?"

Adrien clears his throat and peeks through the small window on the door. He sees Roland sleeping with the sound of the machines connected on him acting as a nighttime lullaby to help drown him in sleep. "Mister Leon talked a lot about you," he confesses, "I was his nurse before he was transferred to the ICU."

Chiara blinks in silence then looks the other way, hiding her face from his view.

"If you could keep yourself composed when you see him," the nurse continues, "that would be great for him. As much as possible, let's not let him feel agitated, okay? If you feel like you can't take it anymore, just tell me."

She turns to look at him and wipes away a stray tear falling from her eye. "Okay," she whispers.

Upon entering the room, he notices how Chiara stops herself from breaking down at the sight of her weak father on the hospital bed. It made his heart feel heavy and it clenched in pain when Chiara quietly knelt by her father's side and grasped his hand.

Roland was still sleeping and Chiara did not care. She also does not care about the different machines surrounding them which shows how strong she is holding herself up now. Other people would feel intimated by those machines and would be brought to tears by the mere sight of them.

"It's nice to finally meet you, papa," she cries out softly, "It's your daughter, Chiara."

Adrien keeps his gaze on the door, standing by the feet of the patient. Keeping his tears at bay, he tries to drown out the sounds of Chiara's soft sniffles.

"Mama told me a lot about you," she continues, her voice above a whisper. "She showed me pictures of you...but it's different now..." she reaches out a hand and traces it along her father's arm, noting the wrinkles on his skin, the lines on his face and even on the small parts like his knuckles. "You have grown old. I wish I saw you grow old."

Roland stays asleep, unaware of his daughter he has never seen for decades kneeling beside him and quietly crying tears of grief for him.

"I live in Quebec now and I'm engaged to this guy who is very kind and patient with me, I'm sure that you would have approved of him. I'm so sorry for getting the news late...I'm so sorry for not finding you sooner." Chiara's voice cracks towards the end. She covers her eyes with her hand and breaks down into more tears. This time, she stands and heads straight to the door.

Adrien follows right after and makes sure that the door does not slam shut behind them.

"I-I'm sorry," Chiara immediately apologizes, taking off the mask and leaning on a wall behind her. "I...I couldn't hold it in," she mutters, running her hands down her face.

The nurse reassures Chiara immediately, "It's okay, you don't have to apologize for feeling this way."

"Nurse, you have to help me," she pleads, her eyes clearly showing that she is begging for something from him. "You have to help me do something for my dad. Please, help me leave good memories for him..."

And Adrien knew that he had to do something, because sometimes preparing for the worst is not only for the patient, it is also for the family.

------------

Adrien remembers most of the details. From the color, to the various types of cloth, and some of the stitches on the bodice.

What is missing is a model.

He stands in front of her door and collects himself, taking in a deep breath and slowly exhaling it through his mouth, before he presses on the button of the digital doorbell.

DING DONG

It rings twice inside, he can hear it from where he is standing.

He cannot believe that he is doing this, but he knows that he should put away his own worries first and help out Chiara.

Adrien keeps his chin up, holding tightly onto a canvas bag filled with the materials he needs, as he waits for her to open the door. He hopes she's awake, though. It's late at night and he knows that he cannot waste any more time.

The door suddenly flies open and Adrien's breath hitches in his throat, setting his eyes on the woman who is clearly not happy with the fact that she is awake.

He greets her shyly, feeling his face flush when he notices that she is only wearing a black robe over her pink pajamas, "H-Hi, doctor..." he even waves a hand at her.

The doctor eyes him up to down, noticing how he's also wearing a pair of pajamas then grows annoyed. She runs her hand down her face before fixing her messy hair into a ponytail. With a groggy voice, she manages to spit out, "What are you doing here?"

"I-uh...I-"

"Get to the point, nurse," she groans, rubbing her forehead, feeling the onset of a headache.

Adrien exhales sharply then announces, "I'm following what you said, I'm preparing for the worst."

The doctor looks up at him. With pinched eyebrows, she could only look at him in confusion.

Gaining another ounce of confidence, Adrien takes a step forward which causes the doctor to move to the side of the doorway. "Doctor, I would need your help. Forgive me if I need to really step past your boundaries."

"Wha-" her voice gets caught in her throat once the nurse passes by her, boldly entering her apartment and sets up his things in her small living room with two sofas placed across each other and a coffeetable standing in between them.

"You have a quaint living room, doctor," he compliments before proceeding with bringing out the pink cloth and tulle from his bag, and some pins and needles.

"Newbie, what the hell are you doing here, barging into my apartment?!" She yells in a whisper, throwing her hands in the air. The doctor makes sure that she does not raise her voice loud enough to let Alya wake up from her sleep. Because if Alya were to see this, she would get the wrong and most dirty idea about it.

The doctor closes the door behind her and rushes to the living room, trying to make sense of what the nurse has up his ass which is currently making him act weirdly at an ungodly hour.

She watches him unfold a piece of paper on the coffeetable with a few sketches of a dress design on it. Curiosity starts to overcome her. "Please tell me what you're planning to do," she whispers.

Adrien grabs a tape measure from his bag then faces the doctor. "You talked to Chiara Leon this morning, didn't you, doctor?"

The woman, taken aback with the sudden question, answers in a stutter, "D-Daughter of Roland Leon, yes."

"So she knows everything about her father's condition...and how long he'll live?" The nurse presses on.

"Yes...I'm sorry, where are you going with this?"

"I know that you want to prolong Roland's life. I do, too." Adrien takes a step closer and now he towers over the doctor frozen in her spot. "But fate sometimes has a different plan, so we must make the most out of his short life now."

The doctor glances at his materials resting on the coffeetable then back at his eyes, softly looking down at her. "You're going to make something for Chiara?"

"I noticed that you have a similar build and height as her," he replies, "so, yes, I am making something for her."

"You are not going to get any sleep tonight," the doctor breathes out.

Adrien finds himself smirking because of her comment. "So will you."

The nurse has never had anyone moving this much when taking note of body measurements. He has also never had anyone complain with every action he would do or ask them to do.

Doctor DC is really something else. She would be every fashion designer's nightmare.

Around 30 minutes have passed and she wouldn't stop her unnecessary movements which would cause Adrien's measurements to change every other minute. As much as he wants to lash out at her, he remembers that he did wake her up from her sleep and is now making her stay awake with him. If he were in her shoes, he would also be feeling cranky.

Still, there is a limit when it comes to patience.

"Doctor," he starts, letting out another long sigh for the night then scratches his head, "will you please stop moving your arms?"

The doctor is currently holding her arms out but she would let them fall every once in awhile since she could feel the growing pain around her upper arms. She may be used to surgical procedures that could last eight to 10 hours long, but standing like a daft mannequin is truly something she is not used to.

"They hurt," she whines out, letting them fall again for a second before holding them back up.

"It hasn't even been three minutes since I asked you to hold your arms up."

"But you've been measuring and fastening cloth with different pins around my body for more than those three minutes." She lets out a yawn, then continues, "Do you even know what you're doing?"

Adrien grows a bit hurt with the sudden question which leads him to scoffing out loud. "You may be the professional at the hospital, but this time, I'm the professional here."

"Woah, I was just aski-"

"You're not the one walking with a degree in Fashion Design."

The doctor retorts, feeling annoyed, "Aside from that degree, do you also have one for arrogancy?"

Adrien immediately retaliates, "And do you have one for being impatient?"

He notices how her face turns sour and she even averts her gaze from his. What he does not know is that the doctor could not believe that he could fight her back like that.

Feeling that Adrien won the argument since she hasn't said anything back, he moves to stand in front of her. "Cat got your tongue?" He whispers, "Why aren't you fighting back, doctor?"

"Shut up - Ah!" She lets out a sharp cry in pain just as she moved her arms to strangle the nurse. One of the pins holding the cloth on her shirt is now inserted in her right arm, near the shoulder.

"I told you not to move!" Adrien scolds her quietly, moving in haste to grab the first-aid kit he always brings with him. He unzips it open and rubs ethyl alcohol in his hands before bringing out a clean tissue and placing a bit of alcohol on it.

"Well, I'm not moving anymore so get it off me!" The doctor yells in a whisper.

"I thought you're not afraid of pointy things."

"I'm afraid of unsterile pointy things!" She points out.

"Touché." Adrien counts to three then pulls out the pin from her arm. He dabs the tissue soaked with alcohol around the wound, not on it. "Woah," he utters in amazement, "your capillarity is high, doctor." He watches how fast the blood starts to gush in small droplets from the very tiny wound.

"What the- hey, stop ogling at my blood!"

"I mean, I did extract blood from you the last time, but it was through a syringe. Now, this is just your blood going against gravity on its own."

"Adrien!" She says, suddenly uttering his name out loud.

"Chill, Marinette," he utters back with a knowing smirk as he dabs a bit of iodine on the wound before blowing on it gently. He placed a band-aid, in the shape of a heart, over the wound even if there is no need to.

The doctor coughs out of disbelief. "Did you just call me by my name-" she stops just as she feels the nurse press his lips over the band-aid of her new wound.

Even that simple action alone caused her cheeks to flare up. And she hates that the most. When it comes to teasing, it should be the other way around. Not this way!

The doctor snaps at him, "Why did you kiss that part?"

"It helps with faster healing," he answers.

"So, you do this with every patient you encounter, then?"

He shakes his head, chuckling softly. "I only do it to the ones I like, and apparently, you are the only one I like," Adrien cheekily utters. He is starting to like how he can render her speechless, too.

Have their roles reversed ever since he finally has the upper-hand? The doctor is so bothered now. Where is the shy or meek nurse she is accustomed to seeing at the hospital? Where is the nurse who would only follow her lead like a lost puppy?

He is not here tonight. Instead, she has this man who wouldn't stop being so slick with her, and she does not like how her heart rapidly beats amd aches for it.

"How could you be so bold tonight?" She asks in bewilderment.

Adrien shrugs nonchalantly, turning back to his work at hand. "I don't know. Maybe it's because for once, I'm better than you at something."

And for the doctor, it was her first time to see the man in his pure element. She hates to admit it, but it made him attractive in her eyes. For a moment, she forgot the other man who made her heart go haywire like this years before.

She does not know if this is a good thing...or if it will only lead to something bad.

For now, though, she wants to enjoy the rush it gives her even if it won't last long.

"Now, doctor," Adrien starts, making sure to not say her name again, "would you finally hold up your arms for me?"

The doctor, without a word, complies with his request knowing that she has learned her lesson. And, perhaps, she might be learning more from now on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A bit of a short chapter!

Im not really proud of this one, but i hope you still enjoyed it :)

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