“...-ell?!”

“...-her alone!”

"Don't tell me you drugged her so that she could go with you to bed.”

“For the millionth time, Nino, I did not drug her!” The voice hisses, “I just made her sleep on my bed, that’s it!”

Marinette could hear the voices more clearly now as she is gradually roused from her sleep. She tosses a bit on the bed she’s on and tries to snuggle in the blanket on top of her and the pillow beneath her head. After taking a whiff of the cloth, she freezes in an instant. 

Code red, they do not smell like her sheets. It’s far from the smell of her favorite vanilla-scented fabric conditioner.

And the voices do not sound like they are coming from women. Alya's is not one of them…

She peeks with one eye and meets the soft emerald eyes of a guy peering at her. 

“Ahhh!” She screams in shock and instinctively moves her hand to slap the guy on his face. 

"Ow!" The man exclaims in pain just as Marinette scooches farther away from him in bed. "It's me, it's me! It's your stupid nurse!" 

"Doctor DC!" Another voice of a man chimes in, "Take a chill pill! It’s just us!”

Breathing heavily and ready to pack an unforgiving punch, Marinette focuses her vision on the two men standing uneasily in front of her and sharply intakes a breath when the realization hits her and she can calm down for she knows who they are. 

Two of the newbie nurses are standing in front of her...and she darts her eyes around the room, taking note of the different furniture and decor around them. This is not her room. She does not have a bookshelf nailed to a wall filled with textbooks all about the different kinds of nursing (from pediatric to geriatric). Her desk does not have a corkboard with endless sticky notes posted on it and a written reminder to buy more eggs at the grocery store. The sheets she is on are not hers for they are in the color of red. In fact, they are only in the color of grey - a boring color in her opinion. And the point that stands out the most is that she never allows men in her room.

A hand flies to her chest and she throws them a look of bewilderment. “I’m...how...what?” she sputters, utterly confused. 

Nino punches Adrien’s shoulder. “Doctor’s completely lost! I knew it! I knew that you kidnapped her! ”

“Dude, how many times should I tell you that I did not!” Adrien shoots back defensively then faces the doctor to directly explain everything to her, “Doctor, you came here around two in the morning to ask if you could stay for the night. Does any of that ring a bell?”

Marinette furrows her brows, thinking hard as she recalls the events that eventually led her to be here. She remembers the talk she had with Adrien regarding his request to plan and have a birthday party for Manon. The annoyance she felt for him lingers until now...along with the pity and her desire to not make him sad again. Sometimes she finds her sensitivity as a weakness, a huge one. It prompted her to work beyond her shift to gain the signatures of approval from the different administrators of the hospital regarding the party. Now it hits her, she started to feel sick and her head was woozy due to her exhaustion from work and the extra task she did. When she finally arrived home, she banged her head against the door when she found out that she did not have her house keys and Alya was not at home. 

Thus, turning to Adrien with the hope of having a place to sleep for the night. 

She groans and slaps a hand over her face. Shaking her head, she immediately untangles the sheets from her legs and gets to her feet, prompting the two men to take a few steps back to give her space. She curses under her breath then apologizes, repeating the word ‘sorry’ countless times. “Damn it, I should have not bothered the two of you at all,” she continues, combing her fingers through her hair, detangling some of the formed knots at the tip of the strands. “I’ll leave, I’ll leave-”

Barefoot, since finding her shoes is out of the picture, she starts to make her way to the door at the end of the room, but Adrien’s hand flies outward to hold her arm. “Doctor, you don’t have to leave in a rush,” he tells her as their gazes meet. Adrien breaks it to glance at Nino for a moment. “Dude,” he utters, referring to his friend, “would you mind if you left the room first?”

Nino throws a look incredulously at Adrien but chooses not to argue further. Instead, he nods in assent and walks to the door. “Promise me that you two won’t do anything reckless.”

“Nino!” Adrien scolds him. 

Holding his hands up in mock surrender, Nino utters, “Just saying, just saying.” He opens the door and points two fingers at his eyes then points it towards the two near the bed. “I’m keeping my eye on you, both.”

“Nino, leave now,” Adrien grumbles. When the door finally closes behind his friend, leaving the two of them alone, he exhales the breath he’s been holding this whole time and gently lets go of his hold on the doctor’s arm. 

“There was no need to kick him out, you know,” Marinette quietly comments from beside him.

“He always makes a big fuss out of everything.”

“I think you do, as well, for I am perfectly fine.”

Adrien shakes his head and gently pushes the woman to sit on the bed. “Doctor, you may still be feeling sick. I don’t want you to push yourself too much.”

Marinette scoffs, but complies with what the man wants. “Look at us,” she breathes out then chuckles ruefully, “taking turns with getting sick.” Then all of a sudden, she groans in pain and rubs her throbbing temples. Okay, scratch that, maybe she is not entirely well yet. Still, she knows that she can leave his place already. She has inflicted enough damage that one’s pride could handle. Sitting on the nurse’s personal bed is embarrassing in itself. 

“See,” Adrien points out, taking a seat beside her on the bed, “you’re not yet feeling well.”

“Shut up.”

“I won’t,” he shoots back and Marinette widens her eyes at him. 

Her shocked expression meets one of a smug look and she grimaces at him. “How in the world do I have the patience to handle you?”

“I could ask the same thing, doctor.” Adrien playfully nudges her on the shoulder and smirks down at her. Then he sets his lips in a tight line and faces the other way, setting his gaze on the arrangement of his textbooks on the shelf. “On a serious note, though,” he starts in a softer yet serious tone, “there was no need for you to gain the approval of the administration that fast. You said that you would try. It never came to my attention that you would actually do it.” 

Marinette blinks, slowly letting her hands fall to her lap. She knew that he was going to bring this up. 

And she knew that she would have to explain, one way or another. 

What's the point of hiding it anymore? Internally, she admits that she hates seeing him sad and downtrodden (even if the blame of making him feel that way is mostly because of her). Her pride and prowess have beat him up too much, yet he still continues to stand. He’s amazing and she’s in awe and jealous at the same time.

She bites her bottom lip then lets it go as she breathes out a tremulous sigh. “I’m tired of hiding it already,” she whispers, “I hate it when you get sad. I hate it when I see it in your eyes and how much it puts you down for a long time.” Letting out another shaky breath, this time out of nervousness, Marinette reaches out a hand and places it over the nurse’s hand that is resting on the bed. Squeezing it gently, she keeps her eyes on their hands and continues, “I have not been the kindest person to you and even if I say sorry a million times, it will never rest well with the both of us. So I know I had to do something through actions which are hard for me because I am a mean bitch.”

Despite the sudden erratic beating of his heart, Adrien presses his lips tightly against each other, stifling a laugh wanting to leave his mouth. The doctor is fond of calling herself with such a term that he finds it hilarious every time she brings it up. He finds it refreshing to see that the ever-so-perfect doctor does have a human side to her as well. He keeps his composure and sincerely tells her, “You’re not like that all the time.”

“Oh, just accept it please to appease my guilty conscience,” she groans, listlessly looking up at him. “Being mean is exhausting, Adrien.”

He couldn’t stop himself at that moment, he did let out a chuckle to the doctor’s surprise. His sonorous laugh reverberates throughout the room and Marinette finds it melodious to the ears, though she did not tell him that. “Well,” the man begins, “a mean bitch wouldn't say yes to an invitation for coffee during our night shift later.”

Caught off-guard with what he was trying to imply, Marinette draws back and throws him a look of uncertainty. “Are...are you asking me out on a date?”

Adrien simply shrugs. “A date, a simple hang-out, whatever you like to think of it. I would just like the opportunity to talk with you. You know, maybe for once, we could talk about things that could be genuine to us.”

“After everything,” Marinette starts out unsurely, “you wish to talk to me?”

“As long as you promise that you’ll be your genuine self,” he clarifies. “So, what do you say?”

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

They agreed to meet each other at a visiting area filled with benches and trees in the hospital’s garden. Now that it’s late at night, the cool breeze makes the leaves on the branches of the trees dance along with it. The wind whistles as well, it emits a low sound yet not borderline eerie, perhaps it brings more comfort amidst the chill it spreads under the clear, starry sky. 

Those who work during the night shift at the hospital, each have at most an hour break mostly for power naps or to grab a bite and keep their energy going. Some doctors would take naps that would last sometimes for two or three hours, depending on how exhausted they feel and the conditions of their patients. 

Marinette wanted to make sure that she is giving an effort to show how sorry she is so she made sure that she was 10 minutes early and that she has two paper cups of steaming hot, black coffee. She chose a bench that stands under one of the lamps in the garden and she takes a seat on one end of it, placing the cups beside her, as she waits patiently for the nurse to arrive. Thankfully she has on her doctor’s coat that acts like a jacket to keep her body a bit warm. 

“Doctor DC?” A sudden voice calling her name makes her jump a bit from where she’s seated and she twists her body to see who it is. The corners of her mouth slowly twitch upward when the tall, blonde nurse walks toward her, his hands in the pockets of his navy blue jacket covering the top part of his scrubs. His wavy hair gets caught in the wind which causes a disheveled look for him, but Marinette still finds him oddly...attractive. Jeez, she shivers from where she’s seated, the chilly air might be causing her to have such weird thoughts. 

“Hey,” she greets him just as he nears her, the distance between them is enough for him to hear her unusual soft tone of voice. 

“You’re early,” he breathes out with a wide smile, and he eyes the coffee on the bench. “I got your sticky note telling me that you’ll be in charge of the coffee. You’re a woman of your word.”

Marinette titters softly and grabs the two cups of coffee from the bench. “You won’t mind sitting beside me, right?”

“I won’t mind at all,” he replies, hiding the fact that he is gushing internally. He takes one cup from her and takes the free space beside her. At first, he keeps his distance from her, but she scooches closer to him, making their clothed knees brush each other. His cheeky self is not complaining, though. 

“I, uh, I hope you like your coffee black. I know it’s really bitter, but it helps with keeping us awake to finish the rest of our shift.”

“I can handle any taste of coffee. Thank you for this, by the way.” He takes off the cover and watches the steam rise out of the cup. He gently blows into the cup. “I’ll reimburse you once we get back to the building.”

Marinette shakes her head and takes off the cover of her cup as well. “Don’t pay, think of it as my treat.”

“But I was the one who invited you.”

“Yet, I’m the one who is asking for forgiveness, so do we have a tie?”

“How, what?” Adrien sputters, appalled with how there is no connection with what she said. Instead of pushing the argument further, he playfully rolls his eyes and chuckles at her. “Okay, fine, we have a tie. Go drink your coffee already.”

Marinette haughtily holds her head high and utters, “See? I can create amicable settlements like you.”

Adrien could only let out another chuckle, his hands shaking a bit due to it as he brought the cup to his lips for him to take a careful sip. “Well, would you look at that,” he says, smacking his lips together for a moment as the heavy taste of coffee fills his senses and the warmth it brings soothes his body, “the nurse is teaching the doctor something.”

“I’m human, so I really do need to continue learning. And I’m lucky to have someone like you as my teacher,” she utters, smiling shyly at him. 

They continue their conversation in that manner, sometimes throwing in a few flirtatious glances and remarks at each other. Yet, overall, it was light-hearted and fun - a good break that the two needed from the daily stresses of their work and life. 

Marinette showed her charismatic side, never running out of sharing hilarious stories of the people in the department like when Nurse Rose accidentally placed salt instead of sugar in the coffee machine. That day, everyone had to suck it up and take their coffee salty and bitter since she would feel worse if they threw it away. And they did not want to hurt her feelings or make her cry because they hated the coffee she made that day. One of the other stories she shared was about Doctor Chloe and the day she was found by the other nurses sleeping in an empty patient room. All the nurses in the department thought that they had an unrecorded patient that suddenly appeared in the hospital, but when they saw the strikingly blonde hair peeking out of the blanket, they all had to hold in their bursts of laughter. 

Adrien loved to listen to her, the way her voice would rise when she would get excited and how it would get low like sharing a big secret. He loved how she was being candid with everything she was saying and feeling with him. It showed a different side to her, vulnerable yet genuine. 

With their empty coffee cups placed on the other side of the bench, Marinette now has more liberty to gesticulate as she continues to talk. “So I had to run, my two feet wearing completely different shoes,” she utters, on the brink of laughing as she recalls one of those instances when she was late as an intern, “and I had no choice but to wear them and get weird glances from people for the whole day!” 

“The perfect Doctor DC really does have her lapses!”

“Trust me, every single day. It’s a mood and a reason why I’m always tired of myself.”

They both share a fit of laughter, their boisterous voices echoing a bit in the cold, open space. 

“Adrien, you are a great listener,” Marinette tells the nurse after catching her breath and calming down, “I have not had the chance to reminisce on such fond memories in a long time. You bring this comfortable aura that allows me to just let go of some burdens I carry with me all the time.”

“Not to intrude too much,” Adrien starts off carefully, “but you can always tell me such burdens you carry if it lightens the load on you.”

Marinette gapes at him then shakes her head. “No way, I’m not going to add more heavy crap on you. You carry too much, you even have to put up with me!”

“Hey, you’re not a burden. Also, you can always try me. Maybe that’s what you’ve been needing this whole time, someone to listen to you.”

The doctor huffs and leans back on the bench, crossing her arms in front of her. “How about you start? I’ll show you that I can be a good listener, too.”

Adrien nods in agreement and replies, “Okay, deal, I’ll start.” He rubs his palms on his lap and sharply cocks his head to the side, thinking of what he could share with her. 

“Is there a burden you’ve been holding for a long time?” She asks him.

The nurse hums, internally taking note of one that has been bothering him for many years already. “There is one, actually.”

“And what is it about?” She presses on. 

Adrien meets her eyes, biting his bottom lip, then looks at the fallen leaves lying still on the ground. “There was a time in my life when I thought that I was a useless son to my parents,” he confesses, “It was before I decided to go to school to learn Nursing. I did not have a job that time when we first met. My parents never said it out loud, but I saw the worry in their eyes. The time I was carelessly wasting was hurting them as well.” Marinette suddenly loops an arm around his and he looks back at her in surprise. Her warm gaze on him makes him form a small smile. It’s not like his normal wide smile that could light up even the darkest of places, but it is still a smile out of appreciation. “Got anything to say? It’s not really that much of a burden anymore, but I get small reminders of it at times that it bothers me.”

“...You’re not useless, you never were,” she reassures him in a delicate voice, tightening her hold around his arm. “In fact, you’re one of the best nurses who have ever worked in the hospital.”

Adrien chuckles, “You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”

“I’m saying it because it’s the truth,” Marinette points out. “You’re great and that’s coming from a doctor who is quote unquote ‘well-renowned’ and all that crap they like to call me.”

“What about Devil?” Adrien quips and Marinette grimaces with that term. 

“Ew, except that one.” 

The nurse laughs, glancing down at the doctor who was starting to lean her head on his shoulder. He does not say anything against it. It’s silent permission for her to do it. “I feel better now that I’ve told you.” Adrien exhales slowly. “So what about you? What’s one burden that you would like to share with me?”

“...promise me you won’t make fun of it?”

“Of course, I’ll never make fun of anyone’s burden. I swear,” he finishes in a whisper.

Marinette swallows a lump in her throat. “I…” she hesitates for a moment, scooting closer to him perhaps to find more of the warmth and comfort he radiates, before finally saying it in a voice above a whisper, “I cannot naturally conceive.”

Adrien freezes on spot and it is like his ability to breathe was knocked right off of him. He, in any way, did not expect her to say that. Although he knows that about her already, he did not expect her to tell him up front. His mouth has started to dry, his hands have gone clammy, and his head is reeling. His heart mercilessly drops to his stomach and he knows that he has to force himself out there.

“O-Oh, I see…” Then he asks her quietly, “Do you have an illness?”

She shakes her head. “I had a salpingectomy,” she replies, her voice as soft as his. 

He could only seem to nod. 

“I mean,” Marinette continues and Adrien is surprised with how she’s holding herself up, there was no indication of her voice breaking, “there are a lot of women nowadays that do not want to raise children, but there's still that desire, that empty longing...I like to think the burden is that there is a difference between making a choice and having that choice decided for you. I carry the burden of losing something that was never even mine in the first place.”

His heart grows heavy just as she says that. Tears start to well up in his eyes as he is overwhelmed with her feeling of loss. How could she be so strong with sharing something like this? Being a man, he knows that he can never get pregnant, but the idea of raising his own children was something he freely welcomed into his mind. He knew that someday, he would be a father and he would shower unconditional love to all of his children. 

Marinette takes a deep breath and looks over at Adrien, who is staring quietly at the ground. “I-I think I’ve said too much,” she mutters then forces out a rueful chuckle as she moves her arm away from holding onto his. She fiddles with her fingers. "So, what are you going to tell me?” She catches Adrien’s attention, “Everyone has been telling me to not cry about it since there is still the option to conceive through in-vitro fertilization, or I can get a surrogate mother, or even adopt...What would you say?”

Adrien stammers with his words, trying to rack through his brain with what he could say. Frankly, he has nothing to say. So, he chooses to do the first thing that crossed his mind. 

He faces her and pulls her into a warm embrace, making sure that his arms are wrapped securely around her.

She could only widen her eyes out of shock with the sudden intimate action. Even her hands could not move out of the shock. “A-Adrien?” She utters, uncertainty laced in her voice.

"I'm sorry that this world made you believe that you should not cry over your loss," he utters, taking her by surprise again.

"W-What?" she stammers.

"If you would like to cry about it, I'll cry with you. I'm sorry that it took so long."

I'm sorry. 

That’s what everyone else could only say. For many years, people around her have been saying those two words. Marinette never understood the real meaning of those words because they always had hidden meanings to them. It was another way to tell her to accept life and get on with it. It was also another way of telling her that it was useless to cry over spilled milk. Sometimes those words were even said out of pity. 

For the first time, those words came out differently. He said them out of empathy. She knows because it’s just right there in his voice, how raw his emotions are. She doesn’t need to see his face or even notice his body language, the reassurance she needed was simply there in his voice.

"W-Why are you doing this?" She shudders against him. Her bottom lip starts to tremble and even biting it to stop is not helping her anymore. The cover on the bottle keeping all of her emotions is starting to loosen, and just as it pops open, all the feelings she has worked hard to repress come bubbling out of the surface and Marinette breaks into sobs. She instantly buries her head in the crook of his neck and moves her arms to grasp tightly onto him, crumpling the cloth of his jacket at the back as her cries echo into the night sky.

"You said that I'm good at giving comfort, so I'm giving it to you," Adrien utters, gently rubbing his palm up and down her back as she cries against him. He cannot imagine the kind of pain she goes through every single day. And if there is any way for him to lessen the pain, he would do it in a heartbeat. “You’re not a mean bitch, you’ve just been betrayed by the world. I’m sorry that it let you down.”

“Why are you being so nice?” she cries. She has been nothing but strict and mean towards him, yet he still chooses to give her the comfort she has been unknowingly longing for all these years.

Adrien sighs heavily and draws her back to look into her face. Hot tears continuously fall down her face and she sniffles, her eyes set downcast to keep her gaze away from him. He cradles her face between his palms and uses his thumbs to wipe away some of the tears rolling down her cheeks. “And why do you still doubt me?” he breathes out. 

Still crying, Marinette could not find it in her to answer him. Her gut was telling her to act in accordance with what the heart wants. 

What does she want? Rather, who does she want? She realizes it now. 

And without thinking twice, that is when she leans in to capture his lips with hers.

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

AHHHH I'M BACK! Sorry for taking a really long time! Still, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!!

Also, I have this new Adrienette book, "Loyal Dominion", it's rated-18 though so I am not forcing any of you to read it. Check it out only if you want to :)

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