Marinette goes to sit back down in the waiting room.  She thinks that it is odd she could have sworn Adrien was still her when she went to speak to Luka.  Now, where on earth could he have gone off too?

           Adrien sits down beside her without a word.  He frowns as if something troubles him.  

          Marinette looks up when she hears someone take the seat next to her.  She is glad to see it is Adrien.  She should have known he would not have gone far.  She wonders why he does not say anything.  

        A few minutes later, she can no longer take the silence, so she speaks up,  "Adrien, is everything alright?"

        "Is everything alright?  Are you kidding me?  Emma is in there struggling onto her life, your ex-husband and you seem to be just peachy.  Yet, you ask if everything is alright?"  Adrien states with a scowl.

       "Adrien, I do not understand,"  Marinette says as she reaches her hand out and touches his hand.

         "Marinette, I think it is best if we do not hold hands ever again,"  Adrien says sadly.

        "Adrien?"  Marinette looks at him in confusion. She can not understand what brought his sudden change in his demeanor all of a sudden.  It is almost as if he is jealous of Luka.  

         "Look, Marinette we know that you only want to contact me when something bad happens in your life.  The truth is it hurts me, and I will do what I can for you and Emma, but I rather not be around Luka if you get what I mean," Adrien explains.

         "Luka, what does he have to do with all this?" Marinette asks.

        "Well, it seems you were all friendly with him earlier," Adrien scoffs.

         "Adrien, I  only thanked him for signing the forms for Emma's treatments. He told me to tell you to take care of Emma, and he wishes us all well. He also, said the craziest thing ever,"  Marinette says.

        "Yeah, I can only imagine it," Adrien states with sarcasm in his voice.

        "There you go jumping into conclusions again, Agreste," Marinette remarks.

         "The crazy thing was he admits he is a bad father figure for Emma.  He promises to keep his distance from us, but he also told me that he believes you would make a great father for Emma. The whole thing is ridiculous right?  I mean that is impossible because we are not like that Adrien,"  Marinette blurts out.

         "Yes, it is crazy.  Besides, everyone knows that we are best friends and that we always stay that way,"  Adrien sadly says. 

            "If you will excuse me, I  have to go to the bathroom, then  I will be on a walk.  Do not bother looking for me cause I will come back.  I always come back for Emma and you,"  Adrien remarks.

         Adrien stands up and walks away. He enters the men's room with a frown.  He wishes he could confess right then that he loves her, but how?  How when she makes it clear she wants nothing from him, but his help?   He should have known she could not love him. 

        Marinette remains in the chair.  Suddenly she feels like the warmth in her hand is gone.  She can tell the tension between her and Adrien has gotten worse.  She does understand it. She thought he would be happy to consider her, his best friend.  She frowns at the knowledge that perhaps there were more things she did not know about him after all.

        She thinks strange how earlier Adrien was happy to hold her hand, but now he appears to be upset at the thought of such a thing.  She wonders if he could be jealous of Luka despite everything she just told him.   She sighs when it dawns on her that he must have seen her hugging Luka.

         "Oh, now what I am to do?" Marinette asks no one in particular.

              Adrien finishes in the bathroom and goes out of the front exit.  He paces back and forth unsure how to break the news to her.  He has to tell her that he will support her even if means she goes back to Luka in the end.  He continues his walk for a few about thirty minutes. He feels as if the fresh air did him some good.

             "Marinette, hi, I  uh, hope you did not think I forgot to return," Adrien says when he sees the look of surprise in her eyes at the sight of him.

            "Adrien, I knew I could count on you to come back,"  Marinette says.

              "Listen, I want you to know that I will support you and Emma in whatever way I can. I will even do so if you decide to get back together with Luka," Adrien remarks.  His voice shakes as he speaks.  It was harder than he thought to tell her this anyway.

             "Adrien, do not be silly.  Luka and I are old news, there is no way I crawl back to him,"  Marinette says.

             "How am I supposed to believe the woman who hugs her ex-husband and says, Adrien and I are just friends?"  Adrien blurts out with anger in his eyes and voice.

                 "Adrien? " Marinette responds. She can not believe how furious he sounds right now.  So she was right he is jealous of Luka.

                "I can prove it. I do not love him anymore," Marinette tells him.

                  Adrien smiles at her and pulls her close. He hugs her and sobs once more.  

                  Marinette wonders what brought on the tears as she can not recall having done anything to hurt him. She places both hands on his cheeks, and says, "Adrien, I..."

                  Adrien blushes at her touch, and whispers, "Mari, please do not touch me. It only makes me want to kiss you more."

                 Marinette looks into his eyes and thinks did he just say what I thought he did?  She kisses his cheek, then pulls away.

                 Adrien feels as if his heart will break again.  He sighs, then asks, "Why did you caress my cheeks and kiss me on my cheek?  Marinette?"  

                 Marinette sees his look of confusion as he speaks to her.  To be honest she does not know why she did what she did right then.

               "I am s-sorry, I do not know.  I do not know, anything, I swear," Marinette says.

                 Adrien feels his feet give way as he collapses on the ground. He mutters, "M-Marinette, call the doctor, quick!  My ch-chest it h-hurts."  Then, he closes his eyes.

               Marinette tries to shake him to get him to say something else, but he does not move. She runs to the front desk at the hospital,  "Help!  Somebody, help!  It is Adrien Agreste he fell and before he blackened out he said, his chest hurt.  You got to something!"

                 Doctor Brown hears the commotion in the hall and comes out to see what all the noise is about here.  He sees Marinette in hysterics and asks,  "What is the matter, Mrs. Cuffaine?"
              

                 "It is Adrien, I think he had a heart attack!" Marinette blurts out.

                  Find out more in part 4

                  -Summer out!