The wait to get into the room wasn't too long, and a nice nurse had helped her to the x-ray.

She set her leg onto a table, a machine scanned her multiple times, though it didn't take a genius to tell you her ankle was broken. It also didn't take a genius to know that she wasn't in a good headspace.

But it's not like she really wanted to talk to anyone anyways. She was led into a different room, resembling a normal doctors office.

"Well, we're gonna have to put you in a cast, it's got to go a little ways up your leg." The nurse explained, pulling a few rolls of material out of a cabinet.

"Luckily, you don't need surgery." She set the rolls down onto a table next to her

"Lucky me." Marinette sighed, earning a soft chuckle from the woman.

She was a soft spoken lady, with gold- brown eyes and dirty blonde hair. Her skin was fairly smooth, apart from the faint smile lines around her mouth and little crows feet next to her eyes.

"So how long am I going to need a cast?" Marinette asked, feeling the woman begin to wrap up her leg.

It was painful, but it wasn't much worse than the pain Marinette was already in.

So she didn't complain.

"Usually about 6 weeks, depending on how your bones grow and if you're gentle on it. You'll have to use crutches at first, but eventually we can put you in a boot." She smiled, wrapping the fabric around her ankle and up her leg.

Marinette sighed, running a hand through her hair.

"Something wrong?" the woman stopped, looking up to see Marinette's
distressed expression.

"Lets just say....my job doesn't really allow me to work broken." She chuckled, biting her tongue before she said too much.

"You must have to walk a lot huh?" The woman moved her hands to work again.

"Yeah." Marinette turned away, choosing to look around the room at various posters and tools along the walls.

"Don't worry, no one can blame you for this." The woman finished the under layers of the cast.

"If you don't mind me asking, what happened?" She looked up, smoothing out the material on Marinettes leg.

"I'm really clumsy, I took a pretty bad fall." she chose to leave out the little details of swinging around rooftops with a yoyo.

"Make sure you're careful next time."

"Of course."

The nurse stood up, going over to her cabinet once again.

"What color would you like?" she asked, holding up a few different rolls of casting material.

"Do you have red?" Marinette looked beside the woman, trying to catch a glimpse of the other colors.

"Yes." She turned around and grabbed the red, closing the cabinet and walking back over to Marinette.

"Thank you." Marinette sat up a bit more, turning her entire leg for a better angle, biting her lip as the throbbing pain shot through her.

"No problem, just doing my job." She was at work again, wrapping Marinettes leg in a red cast.

She worked in silence, before she was finally finished.

She left the room, and Marinette turned to have her feet hanging off of the edge of the table.

Red was probably not a good idea.

The weight on her leg was strange, but not too heavy or overly annoying. Not that she couldn't handle if it was.

The nurse came back in, and set Marinette up with a pair of crutches, adjusting them to her height.

She finished up the unscheduled appointment, and finally sent Marinette on her way. Her parents would be called by the hospital eventually.

Marinette stood by the entrance, leaning against her crutches, internally dreading what she was going to have to do.

She could either go home, walking with crutches. Or call her parents for a ride. Either way, she would have to make up an excuse as to why she was out in the first place, and admit that she had snuck out.

They were gonna know, she couldn't hide a cast.

She decided on the option to get a ride, and pulled her phone out of her purse, Tikki giving her an encouraging look.

"Hey." She spoke, and tried to make her voice sound as natural as possible.

"Hey sweetheart....why are you calling me from upstairs? If you needed something you could just come down, I'm in the kitchen." Her mother said through the phone.

"About that...." She let out a half chuckle, half breath of nervousness.

"What?"

Marinette could almost see her mom, leaning against the counter, putting full attention into whatever she was about to say.

She gulped.

"Uh....so....don't be mad....but...so...Well......"

"Use your words dear." Her mother chuckled.

She took in a breath, before she nearly lost it speaking.

"Ok so I might have snuck out to go for a walk and then an akuma attacked so I ran away but I tripped and broke my ankle and Chat Noir took me to the emergency room and I need you to come get me." She rambled quickly, hoping it would dissolve some of the heat she would get for sneaking out.

She heard her mom take in a breath.

"You snuck out to take a walk?" Her mother asked, her voice way calmer than what Marinette had originally expected.

"Yes..." Marinette nodded, before realising her mom couldn't even see it.

"And you broke your ankle?"

"Yes...." She didn't nod this time.

"Are you okay?"

That wasn't what she expected.

Yeah, her mom was a very caring, sweet woman. But that didn't mean she was okay with her daughter randomly sneaking out. Or sneaking out at all.

"I'm fine....?" Marinette mentally scratched her head, confused at the calm reaction her mother gave her.

She never really did anything wrong, maybe she had overestimated what happened if she did.

"Then that's all that matters, I'll come and pick you up." Her mother said softly.

"Wait....you're not mad?" her eyebrows raised, another small detail her mother wouldn't notice.

"Well, you're old enough to go for a walk on your own, and you didn't 'sneak out' to do anything bad. So I'd say, you breaking your ankle is far punishment enough dear. You've got to be careful, are you sure you're alright?" her mother's voice seemed a little more frantic, worried.

Marinette felt a smile form at the thought of her mother's care.

Of course she knew it was there, but it was moments like this when she could really see it. Or rather hear it.

Too bad she had to break her ankle though.

"I'm okay mom I promise." She reassured her.

"Okay, I'm going to head down there now. I love you."

"I love you too."

She stuffed her phone in her back pocket and sighed, almost feeling bad for being let off the hook. But since she had expected the worst, she felt the relief of the best.

"That went well." Tikki called from her purse, peeking out between the fabric.

"Sure did." Marinette agreed, leaning back against the wall of the hospital.

She was secretly relieved her mother hadn't asked anything about Chat. Specifically, why he hadn't taken her home after her visit with the doctor.

She could say his transformation was about to wear off. It wasn't like she could explain the whole situation to her mother. Even if Chat had offered to take her home it wouldn't have worked out, because she would have had to tell him where she lived, exposing her identity.

While she wasn't sure if he would know who lives at the bakery, it was too much of a risk to take.

But even if her mother hadn't asked about Chat, it didn't keep him off her mind.

He acted differently today....almost more mature?

It wasn't like he wasn't mature in the first place, when it came to being a hero he did his job well. But he was also quite the entertainer, and there was nothing he loved more than brightening up someone's day. Even if that meant potentially embarrassing himself for someone else's happiness.

That's just who he was.

But today....today he seemed authoritative. More concerned about Ladybug's safety than anything. He was serious.

He was always taking hits for her, always being a distraction so she could get the victory, and he would take the blow.

And never once did he complain.

She was always put in the spotlight, always first, Chat always a step behind. But that's not how it really worked. They were equal, and their strengths were in different places. They needed each other to succeed.

It was like he was pushing her into the spotlight, onto that pedestal, and taking his place in 2nd.

And she couldn't handle that.

It was too much sometimes.

He so willingly puts himself in the line of fire for her. In the beginning, Chat was a stranger to her.

That's what all people start out as, strangers.

Even those you know feel like strangers sometimes. But even without knowing his name, or his life, he didn't feel like a stranger to her anymore.

He felt like a friend. A partner.

They knew each other.
He was hero. As was she.

They went out saving lives almost every day. But who was underneath was the one who had to face the reality of life.

The bitter-sweetness of it all.

And glancing down at the red cast wrapped around her leg, She could tell life was about to get a bit tougher.

She saw her mother's car pulling into the parking lot, and carefully made her way out to meet her. Her mother helped her climb into the car, and began talking to her.

But she wasn't really listening.

She was too busy worrying about the struggles she could almost feel creeping her way.

She shivered, closing her eyes and leaning her head against the window.

Isn't this just great?