“You spoke with the father in jail?” Marinette stops washing her hands for a moment to throw a look of bewilderment toward the nurse who is also washing his hands.

It is around two in the morning and they are the only people in the operating room since it is part of Nurse Adrien’s plan to make sure that the surgery won’t be noticed by others. Those in their night shifts won’t ever think that any of the operating rooms would be in service and all patients on the floor are asleep.

It’s the perfect time to conduct this secret operation.

Because of her endless curiosity, Marinette asked Adrien to tell her everything he had planned for this surgery to happen. That’s why she’s surprised that he took great lengths in obtaining the information needed for the surgery by asking Nurse Nino to gather the child’s information from the pediatric department and even visit the child’s father in jail.

“The person who knows the child well is only the father,” the nurse says, “I had to visit the father to understand why the child was never given any treatment when he was still an infant.”

“And what did he say? Why was his son never operated on as an infant?”

Adrien slowly stops washing his hands and sets his eyes downcast as he simply answers, “They did not have money for the son’s recovery, doctor.”

“Oh,” was the doctor’s only reply. It’s always about money. The world revolves around it. They stay silent for a moment before she suddenly admits, “I never expected you to do something like this. You always went the extra mile before for our patients, but never to this extent of planning a whole secret surgery.”

“I…” Adrien hesitates for some time. He wants to say something else, but it may not be the best time to say it. So he settles with a safe reply, “I’m doing this for the patient, doctor.”

A small smile plays about Marinette’s lips. “I know,” She whispers. Her face then falls, turning somber. The doctor has not had a conversation like this with the nurse in a long time. And she’s aware that they both can’t deny that it’s still awkward between them. She has so much to say to him, but the night they fought keeps on playing in her head. She’s still hurting and she’s aware that so is he.

Once they finish washing their hands, they walk together to get changed. “Nurse?" the doctor calls out softly. The nurse stops and raises his eyebrows at her, waiting for the doctor to continue.

“Yes, doctor?”

“I…” The doctor trails off. She can’t seem to continue. I’m sorry for everything, she wants to tell him that and she wants him to know that she means it. I miss you very, very much. It hurts me to stand beside you and act as if we never made any good memories together.

But if there’s one thing that Marinette should know about herself, it should be that she is not as courageous as she thinks herself to be. “L-let's not waste any more time,” she utters in an authoritative voice. “We must start the surgery while we still have the time.”

“Yes, doctor.”

Upon changing into the right attire for the surgery, they both enter the operating room and find three people inside with the patient who is lying on the bed.

“Chloé!” Doctor DC utters in shock as she gapes at her colleague. If they weren’t wearing surgical masks, she would have seen Doctor Chloé smirking at her. “What are you doing here?”

“I asked her to be here,” Nurse Adrien answers.

“And I made sure to tag an anesthesiologist along,” Chloé adds, “You thought that you can handle this on your own? You have people to help, Marinette.”

“I’m sure you also need a scrub nurse, right?” Nurse Nath chimes in. “We’re all here to help, doctor.”

Doctor DC turns to Nurse Adrien with wide eyes. “You asked them all to be here? I was worried that I was going to do the surgery all alone.”

And the nurse’s reply was one for the books, “You were never alone, to begin with, doctor.”

His words almost brought her to tears, but before any of that, she has her duty to save the patient on the operating bed. “Thank you,” she whispers for only Nurse Adrien to hear. Then she turns toward the people before her. “Our patient is in need of surgery to close his ventricular septal defect. Let’s begin the procedure. Scalpel.”

—---------

Two hours have passed since the surgery started and Marinette feels that they’re almost done.

“How are his vitals?” She asks.

“Holding steady, doctor,” Nurse Adrien answers.

“Good.” Her eyes dart toward the patient who is sleeping before her. “Hang on a bit more,” she whispers to the patient, her eyes still focused on the task at hand. “I’m going to make sure that you’ll feel better after this. I promise this to you and your father.”

Doctor DC looks up at the digital clock on the wall on top of the door. She sees how many hours she’s been doing the procedure and the current time of the day. It’s nearing four in the morning already. Who would have thought that time would pass by so fast.

“Doctor?”

Marinette blinks and turns her head to look at the nurse beside her.

“Doctor?” Adrien repeats in a softer voice. “Are you all right?”

“Yes,” she answers. Only then does she notice that the nurses and doctors in the operating room are looking at her. “I just…do we still have enough time to continue with the operation? Won’t the security team find out-”

“You do not have to worry about any of that, doctor,” Adrien reassures her, “What matters is that you continue with the operation without worrying about the time you still need. Let me handle the rest, doctor.”

“You sure?”

Adrien nods in conviction. “Whatever happens outside the operation is none of your concern. I will take care of you, doctor. Please do not worry.”

The doctor then nods back at him. “Okay. I trust you,” she utters in a voice above a whisper and shifts her focus back to the procedure. What the doctor-nurse pair was not aware of were the playful smirks on the faces of the other two doctors, and nurse.

After 30 minutes, Doctor DC happily announces to her team, “We’re almost done. There are some things we need to do then we can start cleaning up.”

“Come on, Doctor DC,” Doctor Chloé cheers her on. “You can do it.”

“We can do it,” Doctor DC corrects her colleague. “I wouldn’t be able to do this without any of you. Prepare 5-0 sutures. We’ll be closing this up in just a few-”

“Nurse Adrien!” Someone says in a loud voice through the intercom. This catches the attention of the doctors and nurses in the operating room. All of them look at the man standing on the other side of the viewing window of the operating room.

Doctor DC furrows her brows and utters in a mix of shock and worry, “Luka?” She then looks at Adrien, “What is Luka doing here?”

Adrien does not answer as his attention is still on a frazzled- and dreadful-looking Luka. “Doctor Couffaine? What’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry, Nurse Adrien,” Luka continues through the intercom. “I couldn’t hold them back any longer!”

“Luka was part of this plan as well, Adrien?”

Adrien still could not answer as a few of the security guards stepped inside the viewing room. One of them stops Luka from moving away from them and another takes his place to speak into the intercom. “Doctor DC, you must desist.”

“Let her finish!” The ones in the operating room could hear Luka shout at the security team.

Adrien instantly replies to the security team. “We will step out of the O.R. once the procedure is finished. Let the doctors finish their work, then we’ll talk.”

Doctor DC murmurs in worry, “Adrien?”

“Marinette,” Doctor Chloé sharply says her name. “The people around you do not matter now. Go back to fixing your patient. Listen to what Nurse Adrien said and let him continue to handle the rest. Save the patient first.”

Doctor DC sets her lips into a tight line and turns toward the glass where she could see the security guards standing. “Talk to me when I finish. For now, I won’t listen to any of you unless you’re assisting me with this procedure.”

—---------

Marinette could not stop pacing back and forth in their office. She can’t stop biting her knuckles out of worry.

“Doctor, please sit down,” Doctor Couffaine says for the nth time.

“I can’t. I can’t sit down knowing that something is bound to happen.”

“I know you’re worried, but we will fix it. It’s all part of the plan.”

“That’s the thing. I don’t know the plan. I don’t know what Adrien has in store for me, for all of us!”

It’s now around 10 in the morning. Exactly five hours after Doctor DC finished the operation. Thankfully, it was a success, but there are still obstacles to overcome.

Luka has been trying to calm the doctor down for the past hour, but Marinette is not having any of it. Anything bad could happen from now on. Marinette doesn’t care if it happens to her. She just doesn't want it to happen to Adrien.

“Marinette, how about you stay here while I’ll get you your favorite chocolate croissants. Maybe that will calm you down-”

“No, nothing can calm me down now. Everything is on the line here, Luka. I am willing to be fired if ever, but I can’t leave just yet. I have to stay. I have patients here who still need my help and I know that I can still heal them.”

“And nothing will happen to you, I promise you that.”

“How sure can you be? Don’t make promises if you’re not…sure,” her voice trailed off when a sudden realization hit her. She stops in her pacing and faces the other way to look straight into Doctor Couffaine’s eyes. “Luka, you’ve been wanting me to stay in the office for the whole morning.”

“Of course. I can’t let you work when you’re stressing out here-”

“You, of all people, know that I need to work when I’m stressed,” she harshly cuts him off. She takes a few steps toward him. “Luka, what’s going on?”

“N-Nothing going on, Marinette.”

“Then you won’t mind if I leave the office-”

“No, no, please!” Doctor Couffaine runs toward the doorway and blocks Doctor DC from leaving the office. “You need to stay here, Marinette. That’s an order.”

“Order?” She scoffs, “I never listen to any of your orders. Now move out of the way. I’m not listening to anyone’s orders from now on!”

He breathes out a defeated sigh. “It’s not my order…it’s Nurse Adrien’s,” he admits.

Marinette stops, caught off guard by what Luka said. “Nurse Adrien? Adrien does not want me out of the office now? Why?”

“God, I can’t keep anything from you, can I?” Doctor Couffaine mutters under his breath.

She hits his chest. “You said it out loud, so spill it!”

Doctor Couffaine lets his head fall before saying, “Nurse Adrien is in a meeting with the board of directors now.”

“What?” Marinette spits out in bewilderment. “When did the meeting start?”

“Around an hour ago-”

“Why did you not tell me?!”

“Nurse Adrien requested me to keep you here. This is all part of his plan, Marinette. He does not want us to interfere with it-”

“To hell with that plan!” Doctor DC pushes Doctor Couffaine out of the way and he lets her do it, knowing that fighting back would be useless. Without another word, she starts to run to the building where the hospital’s conference room could be found.

Doctor DC could feel the adrenaline rush through her veins, her heart was rapidly beating against her chest, and she was breathing hard as she ran as fast as she could to stop the meeting.

Stupid Adrien, She berated him internally. Stupid me, she berated herself. She should have known better. She should have thought of what he planned to do even after the operation.

She can’t let the nurse leave. Not here, not now.

The doctor continues to run, passing through busy corridors and not even bothering to greet back different hospital staff members who would greet her a pleasant morning. Nothing is pleasant with the morning if she misses the board meeting that Adrien is attending!

Finally, she reaches the building where she’s supposed to be and chooses not to wait for the elevator to take her to the fourth floor. She dashes up the stairs, not stopping to even catch her breath. Her feet may hurt a bit but this is no time to care about herself. Without any hesitation, she pushes open the door of the conference room and stops in place, breathing heavily as she finds herself in the middle of Adrien speaking before the board of directors.

“-It was an act of coercion,” he says with all seriousness. “Nurses Nathaniel Kurtzberg and Nino Lahiffe, Doctors Chloé Bourgeois, Luka Couffaine, and Marinette Dupain-Cheng were all coerced into keeping the operation of the boy hidden from you. This was a plan I formulated all on my own. Only one person must be blamed and it should be me.”

She’s too late.

Doctor DC shakes her head as she marches inside the conference room. Adrien’s eyes widen when he spots her at the back of the room. “No, that’s not true!” She shouts all of a sudden, gaining the attention of some of the board of directors of the hospital administration. “None of us were coerced by Nurse Adrien!”

“Sirs,” Adrien immediately speaks into the microphone, “please do not mind the doctor. I asked her to lie to you. I will take any punishment you give me. Any.”

Some security guards standing by the side of the big conference room run to where Doctor DC is and stop her from moving any further. “You need to listen to me first!” She tries to argue, but her words fall on deaf ears.

One of the directors stands and brings a microphone close to his mouth. “We have actually reached a decision,” he announces to everyone in the room. “The board has decided to dismiss you, Adrien Agreste, from this hospital for insubordination. Your nurse license will be revoked.”

Doctor DC feels her heart drop. “N-No,” she shakily murmurs. “No, no, that’s not supposed to happen.”

“You are all dismissed,” the director continues, signaling that the meeting has finished and there is no way of changing their decision.

Two security guards walk toward Adrien. One stands on each side of him and they start to escort him out of the room.

“Please!” Doctor DC begs the security guards holding her back. “Just let me speak to the nurse. I beg of you!”

Just when Adrien is merely a foot away from her, the doctor uses all her might to push herself away from their grasp and hold onto him. “Nurse Adrien!” she cries.

“I instructed Doctor Couffaine to keep you away from here.”

She shakes her head. “Why do you care about that? Why did you not tell me that you were going to be here? Why was this your plan all along?!”

Adrien then whispers in a soft voice, “You can’t leave the hospital, doctor. There are a lot of people who still need you here.”

“And what about you?” she whispers back, on the verge of tears.

To the doctor’s shock, Adrien manages to show her a small smile. One that clearly did not reach his eyes. “Didn’t I tell you to not worry over me?”

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

I'M BACK WITH DEM ANGST

I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

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