When Fionna woke up, a woman in a business suit with pulled back black hair was sitting by her bedside.

"Who are you?" She asked softly.

"I am Honoria Abadeer. And you killed the Lich."

"Who... her?" Fionna sat up suddenly. "Are you going to tell the reporters?"

"No." Honoria responded. "I am not."

"Do... do you know where Marshall is? Why he wasn't there?" Fionna asked eagerly.

Honoria hesitated, then shook her head. "You... you really care for him. No, I don't know where he is. Last I saw him, we were having drinks last night. He must have drunk more after I left." She watched the girl carefully for her reaction.

"Oh... okay."

"Don't despair. He's probably just... busy." Let's see how she handles THAT. Honoria thought, before rising. "Good bye, Ms. Mertons."

"Bye." Fionna said softly.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Marshall groaned as he sat up. His skull felt like dozens of tiny workmen were banging on it, and the light... oh God, the light. He shielded his eyes, before croaking, "Some party, Fi, yeah?"

He absent-mindedly turned on the TV as he started working on a hangover cure.

"...popularly known as the Shieldmaiden defeated the lady that authorities were referring to as 'The Lich'. Her sidekick, known as The Demon—"

"Partner." Marshall muttered. "I'm her partner, not her sidekick."

"...she has been hospitalized, with head trauma, stomach wounds, numerous broken bones and her left leg appears to be shattered." 

Marshall looked up slowly from his coffee.

"No word on where she was hospitalized, or under what name. More on the Shieldmaiden story after the break."

Marshall grabbed the phone, and called Gumball.

"Where is she?"

"God, Marshall! Don't start a conversation like that. I assume you mean Fionna. Where were you anyway?"

"Hell if I know. Now, where is she?"

"Saint George's Hospital, same as before. Please tell me you're going to apologize to her, because right now I'm not quite sure you're not just going to barge in there and demand forgiveness like a wild creature." Gumball snapped.

"I'm not going to hurt her, I'm just hungover!"

Gumball was silent for a minute, then he snapped, "That girl is in the hospital because of you, and you went out drinking?!" He purposefully increased in volume with each word, and Marshall winced.

"I only remember having the one drink!"

"Marshall, her bone went through her leg! She was stabbed in the stomach with the melted end of her own sword! She fell off of the biggest building in town, and I am holding you responsible for every word that I just uttered." Gumball growled.

Marshall paled. "She's that bad?"

"Stop talking to me and go fix it!" Gumball replied.

Marshall threw on some clothes and a pair on sunglasses, feeling sick. He walked into the nearest flower shop soon after. "I need the largest bouquet of flowers you have."

"Girl put you out?" The florist asked, showing teeth yellowed by age in a grimace that was almost half-certainly meant to be sympathetic.

"Something like that, yes."

"What's your girl's favorite flower?"

"Uh... snapdragons...?" Marshall guessed.

The florist nodded, and handed him a beautiful bouquet a few minutes later. Marshall quickly paid him, and nodded his thanks.

The next obstacle Marshall faced was the hospital administration staff.

"What do you mean I can't see her right now?" He growled.

The receptionist stiffened. "She's asleep right now. And even if she wasn't, our policy is to only allow one visitor at a time, usually family... and there's a woman in there already."

"What room number?" Marshall asked, trying to keep a lid on his temper.

The receptionist shot him an angry look. "Right, because I'm that stupid. Sir, please sit down and wait."

Grudgingly, Marshall took a seat.

"Hey, it's you." Someone said next to him.

He sighed. God really hated him today.

"You're the reason my sister's in the hospital!" Cake hissed. "Now, I can deal with whatever excuse you had before, but this was just leaving her to die!"

"I didn't do it on purpose!" Marshall responded.

"Right, right. But you're still the reason Fionna has ended up in the hospital twice! And I don't care about you being disrespectful to pretty much every person you've ever met, including me, but hurting my sister is crossing the line!"

"Look, I don't like it when she gets hurt either! And why aren't you in there?"

"Because I left for five minutes to get a glass of water, and when I came back, some lady was already in there, unlike you, who couldn't bother to show up."

"Excuse you." Marshall growled. "I know I messed up, okay? But the alternative was to not meet my mother, and then Fionna would have had two, very high-powered problems instead of one, and I would probably be hanging from a telephone wire like I was the sidekick."

"Sidekicks are there when needed." Cake snapped. "And poor baby, getting theoretically tied up in a telephone wire that you can totally get out of is worse than the fact that my sister is currently unconscious and banged up because of you!"

Marshall glared at her, before sighing. "How bad is it?"

"Really, really bad."

"God... look, you do realize that I never meant to hurt her, right?"

"Oh, I get that. She probably thinks that too. But here's the thing. You may not have meant to hurt her, but now she's lying in the hospital with a shattered leg and a lot of lost blood, and you're responsible."

"I know that! I realize that I failed her, okay?! But I need to make it up to her, because I can't lose her."

Cake was about to respond when Honoria came out of the room. "Your turn, Marshall. She's awake, so you better have a good reason for this."

"You—!"

"Room 405." Honoria cut him off smoothly. "And she's quite an interesting girl. I look forward to seeing where your relationship goes."

Marshall shot her a look before running off down the hall.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Marshall took a deep breath before knocking on the door of 405.

"Come in." Fionna called.

He stepped inside and sat down next to her bed.

She looked at him, before looking away. "What are you doing here?"

"I needed to apologize."

"Why weren't you there?"

"I... I had to go out for drinks with my mom. I had one drink, and that's all I remember."

"You had to?"

"I told you, my mom... I was just planning to have the one drink, and then meet up with you, but clearly it didn't work out that way."

"Clearly." Fionna agreed softly, glancing at him. "I thought... I thought I could trust you, Marshall. And when I brought up my fears, you played it off like I was the bad one in this relationship when everything I said was completely true!"

Marshall winced. "That's... true. But at the time, I thought..."

"And you thought. But if you had just told me that you couldn't make it, I-I would have understood! But instead, you destroyed any and all trust I had in you, and now you have come crawling back, and expect me to fall back into your arms!"

"...well, that's what I wanted, but not... please, Fi. Let me just fix this."

"And then what? Are you going to destroy my trust in you again? Find some girl that you decide you like better than me?"

"What? No, of course—"

"Please, just leave! It's over, Marshall! I just can't trust you anymore!"

"But I love you!"

"I have strong feelings for you too, but you can't have love without trust, and I just... please, leave, before I have to get someone to throw you out!"

"Wh... fine. But I'm not going to give up."

Fionna looked away.

*Author's Note* 

According to the website I visited, snapdragons mean graciousness and strength, but can also mean deception and presumption.