Marinette knows that she needs to stop being a mean person.

Two weeks after that night she spent to comfort the grief-stricken nurse, she finally realized that she needs to apologize to him for everything she had done wrong.

Yet she does not want to do it in a way that would make her look like a sappy person.

She thought of writing on a pre-made "I'm Sorry" card but that sounds stupid and unlike her. She is not good with words, she never was. Well, Marinette knows that she can talk if it's needed, especially when dealing with patients and their families. But when it comes to different situations, she is not talented in such area.

"Let's start with oxygen therapy. Simple face mask, 4 liters oxygen, Newbie," she instructs, writing down new details on the chart of the patient on bed.

"Uh, it's Nurse Nath, Doctor DC."

Doctor DC takes a step back and turns her body toward the direction of the different voice in shock.

Nurse Nath stands behind his nurse cart smiling sheepishly at her.

The doctor immediately apologizes, "I'm sorry, I thought Nurse Adrien was with me the whole time." She starts to look around the room, and even outside, for him. "Where is he? And why aren't you with Doctor Chloé?"

"Nurse Adrien is on sick leave," Nurse Nath answers, "It was mentioned during endorsement this morning. And Doctor Chloé decided that I would be accompanying you while he's away."

Sick leave?

She's not surprised. It's about time that he'll issue a sick leave. He's been here for almost eight months and if he does not use his days for sick leaves to the fullest, he'll tire himself with work.

Doctor DC does not find his absence as a burden, though. The nurse's break is her break, too. A feeling of joy starts to spread within her and she feels a smile threatening to appear on her face. But to keep things professional, she clears her throat and holds her head high.

"Thank you for telling me, Nurse," she utters, using an authoritative voice, "but you may go back to Doctor Chloé. Even if I appreciate her gesture, I would rather do things on my own."

The red-headed nurse nods in assent. "I understand, doctor. Do you want me to find someone else to accompany you?"

"No." She shakes her head and flashes a half smile at him. "I'll be good on my own today. You can go now."

"Okay, doctor." Nurse Nath grabs his nurse cart. "I'll go ahead."

"Thank you," the doctor utters, watching him leave the room. And just as he disappears in the corridor, the doctor does a very discreet fist-pump by her waist. "Let's go, Marinette!" She cheers quietly under her breath.

Her 12-hour shift for today is definitely going to be one of the best!

Doctor DC feels like she could break out dancing right at the corridor just as she leaves the room of the patient. Of course, being a well-known and highly reputable doctor, she makes sure to keep her cool and stay level-headed.

How should she spend her shift all alone today? Oh, the possibilities are endless! Finally having time for herself without the need to look out for anyone else, aside from her patients, is something that she will treasure forever.

She can't wait to spend the day doing things that would really make her feel productive. And she knows that she can survive well without the nurse.

In just two hours, she finished all of her current reports and took another hour to study a new case and add a few related literature to it.

"Who would have thought that I would finally get to breathe lightly with this kind of set-up?" She asks herself. Leaning back on her chair, she takes a big bite out of her mini chocolate croissant and savors the flavor. Marinette then holds the half-eaten croissant in front of her face. "I'll say that I'm sorry to him, okay croissant?" She whispers, talking to the inanimate object. "But for now, I want to enjoy some alone time as I work. It's fair, right?"

The croissant 'nods', simply with Marinette making it move.

She exhales deeply and checks the time. Roughly eight hours left in her shift and she is oddly starting to feel...bored.

Marinette knows that she does not easily get bored. She loves her job and never does she feel bored or even lonely. She takes a look around her office, noting all the empty chairs of her colleagues in the department. They are all out either checking on their patients, doing surgical procedures, gaining more information for research - and here she is just sitting, working on her own. Marinette won't do any of her rounds now since it is not part of her schedule. She's supposed to be taking the newbie around by now, but he's not here.

If the newbie were here...

She breaks into a chuckle, imagining him running along with her.

"What are we supposed to do now, doctor?" He asks with a smile.

"We?" The doctor counters, raising an eyebrow. Smirking at him and points a finger. "You are not done with your work."

"B-But," he stammers, "it's my break, doctor."

Doctor DC shrugs nonchalantly. "Say what you want to say. It's my break, too."

He asks suddenly, "Do you want to spend it with me?"

Doctor DC furrows her brows. "Are you crazy?"

The nurse shakes his head, growing excited, and grabs her arm. "Come! I got something to show you!" He urges.

"We only have a 30-minute break, newbie!"

"Just enough time for me to enjoy a snack at the garden with you!"

Marinette squeezes her eyes shut and grumbles under her breath, "What the hell are you doing?"

She cannot believe that she thought about him! No, that should not continue since today is a day without him.

Yet, the memory continues to play in her mind. Is she missing him?

Does Doctor DC miss the idiotic, newbie nurse?

No way, no way. She is not pulling that front. She is not dealing with such a thought.

"That's it," she declares, "I'm going to create more work for myself so that my mind will be busier than usual."

Although she makes such a plan, it does not follow through at all.

When Doctor DC encounters a patient that needs a Nasogastric (NG) tube inserted in her, things do not entirely work out her way. Just as the nurses in-charge of the patient prepare the tube for insertion, she sternly instructs one of them, "Call Nurse Adrien, he needs to help out and review this - oh." She stops, realization settling in.

"I-I'm sorry, doctor. Who should I call?" The nurse asks, halting the procedure for the intubation.

"Nothing, no one," the doctor waves the nurse off and starts to grow angry with herself. "Continue with the intubation, now."

And it does not stop there.

When it was time to buy her lunch, she accidentally purchases another serving of salad, forcing her to eat both. Whenever she would pass by the storage room of the department, Doctor DC would stop to take a peek and see if the nurse who has been clouding her mind all day is in there.

She is acting out of her usual character that her colleague, Doctor Chloé notices it during one of their scheduled cardiac ablations.

As they take off their disposable gloves, Doctor Chloé starts, "You were extra strict toward the assistant during the ablation. What's wrong?"

Doctor DC shrugs it off. "Nothing; nothing's wrong."

"That's not a reason for you to go bossing that assistant around."

Rolling her eyes, the doctor disposes her gloves in the right bin and heads out of the room. "Come on, Chloé, you know that I'm strict with everyone."

"Not to the point that you were asking the assistant to do two things at once." The blonde doctor follows her colleague out of the room, also heading to their office for them to change back to their normal clothes. "You, of all people, should know that multi-tasking in terms of a procedure leads to more chances of human error."

Doctor DC cannot believe that Chloé directly spotted what's wrong with her and is even now giving a lecture. This is what I get for working with one of the smartest doctors in the hospital, she thought.

"The assistant should know how to do things fast-"

"Oh! Nurse Adrien is here!" Doctor Chloé announces, pointing towards the right.

"Where?" Doctor DC stops to take a look but meets the finger of her colleague poking her forehead. Nurse Adrien is nowhere in sight, only a smirking blonde doctor.

"Gullible," Doctor Chloé emphasizes, happy to catch the other doctor off-guard.

"No, I am no-"

"You miss him!"

Doctor DC argues, "I do not!"

Doctor Chloé exclaims, "Now, that is what I call 'character development'! Something that brings a ray of light in my dark and bleak world."

Doctor DC fell for something easy! She immediately starts berating herself internally for such a stupid thing to do. Stupid, Marinette! "Don't start with me, please," she grumbles. "I'm just having a rough day, okay? It has nothing to do with the newbie or whoever."

"Hey," the other clarifies, "there is nothing wrong with longing for someone's presence." Doctor Chloé places a hand on her colleague's shoulder and squeezes it. "It first takes awareness of one's feelings, and then acceptance." With a smirk, she finishes, "You should try that with the nurse. I'm sure it won't hurt." Then she leaves Doctor DC.

Upon being left alone in the corridor, the doctor exhales deeply, squeezing her eyes shut in the process. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but that idiot is making me miss him."

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

"He better open the door or else I'll kick it down," she mutters under her breath, holding on tightly to the plastic bag filled with containers keeping the food warm and her bag carrying her belongings.

After her shift, she stopped by Ping's restaurant and told him about the nurse's condition. Without asking for any form of payment, he prepared a hearty meal for both Marinette and the nurse.

"You, healthworkers, must also take care of your health!" He scolds the doctor while packing up some side dishes. "Just because you work in a hospital every day, it doesn't mean that you'll get immuned from all the diseases there!"

Thus he really made sure that the doctor would have to finish all the food he prepared.

The door creaks open, causing the doctor to stand straight out of surprise. But loosens up once the sight of a sickly and pale newbie is clear as he leans on the doorway. Guilt starts to cloud her senses when she realizes that she may have woken him up.

"D-Doctor?" The nurse whispers hoarsely then sneezes into a wad of tissue paper in his hand.

Marinette's face softens and clicks her tongue in pity. "Look at you," she utters and pouts her lips, "Go back to lying down on your couch or wherever, I got you something to eat. I told Ping about your condition, so he gave congee for free."

He lets out a dry cough then croaks out unsurely, "Con...gee?"

"Congee," she states and grabs the nurse's arm to drag him back in the apartment. If the nurse can invite himself in hers, then she can do the same thing, too. "Ah, congee," she sighs then starts looking around the room, noting the similarities with hers, "one of the best things the Chinese shared to the rest of the world."

"I...I'm sorry that the place does not look presentable."

"You're saying that this is not presentable?" She scoffs in disbelief. The apartment looks completely in order with a clean kitchen counter and a lone coffeemaker sitting atop of it. Even the refrigerator does not have any random magnets on it along with the stove being completely clean. The living room looks also in order with the books on the shelf arranged from shortest to tallest and there is no T.V. around. Perhaps the only thing that does not look presentable would be the two boxes of tissue, some crumpled pieces of it, a thermal thermometer, and half a glass of water on top of the coffee table. "I don't find anything out of place here...it even looks cleaner than mine."

He gestures toward the lone chair located across the couch with a blanket and two pillows. "Doctor, please take a seat." Adrien then grabs his blanket and sits on the couch before draping it over him.

She shakes her head and walks toward him, bending forward a bit to place her palm against his forehead. "You have a fever." She draws her hand back as his forehead burns to the touch. Marinette then grabs the thermometer on the table and places it by his forehead. After clicking the button, some numbers show up on the screen. "38.6 degrees Celsius," she mutters. "You definitely have a fever."

He sighs, "I took paracetamol an hour ago. You don't have to worry about me, doctor."

"Too late for that, now," she mutters as a matter-of-fact. "Have you said your prayers?" Marinette proceeds to ask, settling on the chair for her and takes out the food containers out of the bag.

"P-Prayers?"

She stops to look at him and furrows her brows. "Prayers!" She exclaims, finding her words to carry the most obvious message out there. "Prayers of the sick are powerful."

The nurse, on the other hand, still looked confused causing Marinette to chuckle lightly. "With every patient of mine," she explains, "I talk to them and ask them to pray. Though, if they do not believe in such, then I do not force them."

"Do you really do that, doctor?" Adrien asks, wiping his nose with a new wad of tissue paper.

She nods and prepares a plastic spoon she'll use to feed the nurse. "Of course! You think I'm lying?"

"No, no," he immediately says back. "I...uh...I just want to ask if you did that with Roland?"

Marinette flashes a soft smile and admits, "I asked him to pray for you and to take care of you."

Adrien's eyes widen in surprise. Taken aback, he still asks, "Y-You did?"

"Of course!" She replies then sharply tilts her head to the side upon noticing the shocked expression of the nurse. "Why do you look like you've seen or heard something out of the ordinary?"

Her question causes him to stammer, trying to find the right words to explain himself. "I-I...I mean, I mean that..." he collects himself and takes a deep breath, then finishes his glass of water. "I just...uh," he fiddles with the empty glass in his hand, "It never occurred to me that you'll have me in your thoughts like that."

Marinette tenses up in her seat as those words leave the nurse's lips.

He's right. Now that it is pointed out, Marinette could not help to think of a reason to explain herself. She was not lying when she said that she asked Roland to take care of the nurse more.

It happened a few hours before he passed away. Chiara went out of the room for a moment to collect herself and visit the bathroom. The doctor took it as her chance to talk to her patient in a whisper.

She made sure to keep it faint but she still said the words near his ear, while Roland kept his eyes closed.

"I do this with all my patients...and I know that you're praying a lot. If you wouldn't mind, I hope you'll include Nurse Adrien in your prayers and I also hope that you'll continue to take care of him. I do not ask anything for myself...rather, this is my prayer for him, too."

Marinette purses her lips and places the spoon on top of the lid of congee. "W-Well, I..." she trails off, finding the right words to say as Adrien waits patiently for her to reply. "I..."

"I just roll like that, you know."

Damn it, that would be a stupid thing to say. The doctor knows that she is not of such foolishness. She's more than that.

She is and should be brash, straightforward...and honest.

Honest.

It first takes awareness of one's feelings, and then acceptance.

Marinette couldn't shake off the words of Doctor Chloé because they bear the truth. Sharply exhaling deeply, she stands which causes Adrien to grow more in confusion when she sits beside him on the couch. The nurse even shifts a bit to his left to give her a bit more space.

"There may be a part of myself..." Marinette starts off slowly, clenching her hands into fists resting on top of her lap while keeping her eyes on them, "...that may have genuinely started to care for you."

"...really?"

"Personally or professionally, I wouldn't know," the doctor continues in haste, trying to play it off as nothing important. But this is not something that should be considered nothing for this deals with the feelings of another. "U-Uh, think of it as a fragment of an apology I owe you. I can prove to you that I am much more than that narcissistic bitch."

The nurse becomes bewildered with the sudden diction, "A narcissistic bit-"

"Okay!" Marinette then exclaims and stands. Adrien jolts a bit in place. "Let me get you more water from the kitchen," she continues and grabs the empty glass from Adrien's grip.

Adrien could only watch the doctor try to find her way in his kitchen. He's not going to lie, he finds the words of the doctor truthful. They bear more honesty than anything she has ever said outside of work, and it is not helping his heart erratically beating and his flustered state.

The doctor pulls open the door of the refrigerator and looks around. "Do you have any water in here?"

"Doctor."

She closes it and goes through the cupboards located below the counter. "Maybe they are down here."

"Doctor!"

"Where in the world would you keep your water dispenser-"

"Marinette!"

The doctor attentively whips her head back at the nurse, startled with him uttering her name out loud.

Even Adrien could not believe what he just did. He, too, is surprised with what he has said. He takes a big gulp then points at a small water dispenser standing by the side of post separating the kitchen from the living room. "You...you can get water there."

"Oh," Marinette utters, turning red when the water dispenser is just there, as clear as day, and she did not notice it at all.

Adrien, finding the doctor's state amusing, stifles a laugh but teases her with his next words. "After you refill my glass, I just want to remind you that the congee is right here on the table, not at the kitchen."

"Shut up," she grumbles.

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

The nurse got to rest well after eating half a bowl of congee even if he was blushing the whole time since the doctor insisted that she would be the one to feed him.

He shifts a bit in a supine position, tossing to the left to sit up on the couch. But as he does so, he shouts out of fear and shock upon setting his gaze on the doctor who is sitting relaxedly on the chair across from the couch, sifting through the pages of his sketchbook.

"Geez, for a man who is supposed to be sick, you sure do pack a voice."

Adrien coughs and wraps his blanket tighter around him. "D-Doctor?" He stutters, "Y-You're still here? You said that you would leave after five minutes of my going to sleep!"

"Eh," she simply utters and shrugs nonchalantly, eyes still on the sketchpad of designs owned by the nurse. "I changed my mind."

"You should go to sleep-"

"I've done enough 36-hour shifts for me to grow used to events like this." She throws him a side-glance then smirks at him. "You're not so slick, are you? Are you not like the Adrien who would go around scolding or kissing the covered wound of a doctor?"

"I'm not making or designing clothes, yes, I am not slick. I'm sick," he emphasizes. "Although," he pauses to place a hand on his forehead then on his neck, feeling that he is not anymore burning up as much like hours ago. "I don't think that I'm that sick anymore-" he then lets out a loud sneeze.

Marinette gazes back at the sketchpad and drawls out playfully, "Sure, whatever you want to believe."

The nurse grabs a tissue to wipe his nose and eyes the sketchpad the doctor has on her lap. He's not mad that she's going through his designs without his permission for he has always been a level-headed person (and it is his fault for leaving it out in the open in the living room). Rather, he finds it scary and nerve-wracking to see her going through them. "I...uh, I see that you found my sketchpad."

She replies, "I'm surprised that you're not mad. Other people would immediately freak out if they knew that someone else is going through their work."

"Actually, I find it...scary with a bit of irony to it," he admits.

Marinette grows puzzled with his statement. "What do you mean?" She inquires.

Adrien starts to grow bashful, but still pushes through with explaining to the doctor. "If you look at the dates of when I made those designs at the corner of every page...you'll, um, you'll see that they are connected to my emotions during work. For example, go to the fifth page," he gently instructs her and she does so, landing on a very simple design of a sleeveless yellow dress that ends right by the ankles. "That was made the night after Céline and Matthias gave their consent to have the operation done."

The doctor turns quiet, her mouth agape as the designs in the sketchpad leave a different impression on her now that she understands the story behind them. So, she continues to go through the different sketches. Some are colored while the rest are still in their pencil draft phase. One design stands out for her, though. It looks like it comes straight off a magazine featuring the latest designer clothing.

It is a stunning dark-blue gown with ornate long sleeves made out of silk. Adrien also placed details of silver glitter on the bodice and skirt.

"This one is nice," Marinette whispers and turns the sketchpad the other way to show it to the nurse. "And what inspired you to make this?"

Adrien instantly turns cold when he sees the design the doctor is now referring to, and he's sure that it's not because he's feeling sick. He cannot even fathom his next actions as he acts out of impulse; he stands and snatches the sketchpad from the doctor.

Just like Marinette, Adrien is also shocked with himself with what he did. This leads them to an awkward moment of silence with Marinette deciding to gaze down at her hands resting on her lap while Adrien closes the sketchpad and places it on top of the table.

Wanting to address the elephant in the room, Marinette starts slowly, "I'm sorry if I saw that particular design. I should have not gone through your sketchpad in the first place."

Adrien shakes his head. "Don't say sorry. It's my fault for leaving my sketchpad out in the open...I shouldn't have acted that way. I'm sorry if I startled you with acting that way." He keeps his eyes on the sketchpad resting on the table.

"Well, it must have been something you did not want anyone to see. I should have never pried in-"

"I made it after my shift when the code blue happened," Adrien cuts her off, confessing the reason behind his actions, "Instead of giving in to the temptation of chastising myself for acting so stupidly, I decided to put all frustration in myself into that design...I vowed that if ever I make another idiotic mistake, I will add to that design."

The doctor looks up to see the nurse's sullen face, his piercing gaze on the sketchpad looks like he is burning holes in it. She purses her lips then quietly exhales a breath. "...and I don't think that will happen," Marinette murmurs then stands to sit beside Adrien, once again. "I believe that design will stay that way forever," And with all sincerity, she continues while laying her hand on top of the nurse's, the nurse looks down at her hand on his then faces up to meet her eyes, "because you will never commit such mistake again. Adrien, I will repeat this until the day I die: you are an amazing nurse. And don't let anybody talk you down, including me and yourself." She peers into his eyes and Adrien's lip quivers, tears start to well up in his eyes yet he keeps his gaze on Marinette.

"O-Okay, doctor," he musters to whisper.

"I may have berated you that day, but it does not mean that I lost my faith in you. So, stop beating yourself up and continue being the strong nurse I know you are."

Adrien flashes a half smile and clears his throat to stop a small cry threatening to emit from his mouth. "Thank you...doctor. I will stick to that belief...I won't let you down."

Marinette slightly cocks her head to the side then smiles at him, and without thinking of her reputation or pride, she places a hand behind his head and presses her lips on his forehead for a brief moment before pulling away.

Now the both of them have flushing cheeks and Marinette can't stop slapping herself internally for doing something suddenly. Stupid impulse! She scolds herself.

The swift kiss brought a different effect on Adrien. His body stopped functioning for a second. It was like a fast ride that could leave one dizzy yet it was still exhilarating and breathtaking, nonetheless.

Growing completely embarrassed, Marinette gets on her feet and collects her things in a rush. "I-I think you can take care of yourself now."

"Y-Yes, t-thank you for visiting me."

She turns to look back at him and clutches tightly onto the sling of her shoulder bag out of nervousness. "One," Marinette suddenly blurts out.

"I-I'm sorry, doctor. I did not catch that-"

"One percent," she states in a louder voice. "You're up to one percent now. Okay, bye," she finishes before scurrying to the door and leaving the apartment in a rush.

Adrien's mouth stays agape even when the door closes behind the doctor. He could not believe it. He could not believe her words.

One percent.

He breaks off into a wide grin and clasps a hand over his mouth, trying to stop himself from letting out giddy sounds.

"One percent," he gushes in utter bewilderment. "One percent!" He yells in a whisper. "I guess there is a silver lining to getting sick!"

Adrien lets his gaze fall on the closed door, the last place where he saw the doctor he adores with all his heart. "And when I go back to work," he continues, "I'll make sure that her faith in me is worthwhile and permanent..."

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

Sorry that this took some time. I haven't been focused on writing these days huhuhu I've gone back to playing the piano so I'm working on Chopin's Heroic Polonaise (Op. 53 in A Flat Major). It's killing me but it's worthwhile hahaha

I hope you liked this chapter!

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