A/N: Hello lovelies! I had said that the following chapter would come out relatively soon, and here it is! I got a lot of comments about how horrid that cliffhanger was and I was actually surprised to see so many people torn up about it, haha. But trust me, there was a reason. This chapter is very dialogue heavy, so I'm sorry if that bores you to death, but I think there might be enough fluff in here for you to forgive me. Please enjoy!

Marinette's eyes felt heavy and her body somewhat sore. She shuffled her legs some, trying to wake herself up.

"Marinette, don't move too much. You took a hard fall there." She opened her eyes finally to see her mother sitting by her side. "Hey, sweetheart."

"What happened?"

"Exhaustion. The doctor said you were severely dehydrated. That added onto the fact that you hadn't eaten much and worked well beyond your hours, your body just couldn't take it. You fainted at the end of the dinner and were brought directly to us."

"What about Caroline?"

"She's fine, Marinette. She's not angry at you or anything. Actually, she feels kind of bad for assigning you dinner duty after dealing with the Bourgeois home. She's relieving you of some of your duties tomorrow, and maybe the day after, depending on how well you feel. I think it's about time someone covers for you instead of you covering for everyone else."

"Maman, you don't mean that. The others need their rest too." She was fully sited now. "And I should get back to work as soon as I can. If someone needs to fill in for me, then someone will just be getting hurt again."

"What have I done to deserve such a kind daughter?" Sabine said. "But I'm still wondering why you've been up so late at night. And don't try telling me you haven't been awake through the night, because you are a heavy sleeper – who snores."

Marinette's stoic face gave a whisper of a laugh. "I'm not trying to lie to you. I have been staying up late. But I've been working on this project. And it's kind of time sensitive." Her mother raised an eyebrow. "I can't really divulge much information. You know, top secret stuff? But I finished my project, so no more staying up late and no more exhaustion, I promise." Her mother looked at her warmly and patted her daughter on the head. The two continued to talk for a bit, when finally, Alya made her way up to Marinette's room.

"I'll let you two talk for a while, but then Marinette really needs to get some sleep." Sabine stood up and left through the small staircase.

"So, you gave us all quite a scare there," Alya sighed.

"I know, I'm sorry."

"Marinette… You should have told me you weren't feeling well."

Marinette looked at the brunette apologetically. "I didn't feel unwell! I was tired and maybe a little hungry, but it wasn't anything I hadn't felt before, so I didn't think much of it. Trust me, if I had known it would lead to me fainting, I wouldn't have accepted Caroline's assignment." Alya gave her a look of disbelief. "I would at least have tried harder."

"You can't say no to anyone, Marinette. You're too nice and easy-going for your own good." Looking at the young maid, Alya sighed again and apologized. "I don't mean that in a bad way… Well, a little bit, I guess, but your willingness to help others opens you up to being used and over-exhausted like this. You should be more careful."

"I know. And I now you didn't mean any offense." The two sat in silence, not completely uncomfortable by the lack of conversation. Alya suddenly started grinning. "What?"

"Well, not all bad came of this situation though."

"Oh, well, please do tell me how fainting while I was working a royal dinner is not catastrophic," she said sarcastically. Sometimes she really didn't understand how the gardener's daughter brain worked.

"Oh, well, you know, you had to be brought here by someone." She began looking at the walls purposefully, making sure Marinette knew she was hiding something.

"Yes, and who was that someone so I may thank them tomorrow?"

"No one you know too well."

"Alya, just tell me already."

"Oh but it's so much more fun when you guess."

"Was it Nino?" Wait, it couldn't have been, he was in the foyer for the music. Maybe Ivan? He seems strong enough to have picked me up and Mylène might have told him that I was down for the count." Alya kept shaking her head, her smirk growing stronger every time Marinette threw out a name. "Well, I don't know! I don't know who would be able to make you smile so much and torture me with this knowledge."

"If you want a hint, I'll at least tell you that he's blond."

"I don't know any blonds."

"With green eyes…"

"Green eyes? Who in the world has green ey-" Marinette left her mouth gaping open. She looked at her friend, her jaw hanging. Alya broke out into a full smile and started giggling. "No." Marinette uttered in complete disbelief. "No".

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"Prince Adrien?"

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes, Marinette, he did! I swear to you he did and I am not the only witness to it! You can ask several of the other maids, including Mylène, by the way. They all saw it."

"He brought me here? But how? He had that dance and his father's supervision – there is no way he could have carried me all the way here."

"Well he didn't do all of that exactly. But according to some of my sources," Marinette rolled her eyes at this. "the Prince heard the commotion as he was leaving the room and ran over. He picked you up like you weighed nothing and brought you all the way to the kitchens, running."

"Running? He may be strong, but I seriously doubt he could carry my entire dead body weight while running."

"It doesn't matter whether you believe it or not, it happened!" Alya clasped her hands together near her heart. "It was so romantic!" She said dramatically, batting her eyelashes.

Marinette reached over to smack her on the arm. "Stop it!" She giggled. "You're the worst."

"I am not the worst and you know it," she began tickling her sick friend.

"Ok, stop, I surrender! You are not the worst." She put her hands up. When Alya ceased the tickle attack, both began rubbing their eyes, wiping away any tears from their laughing fit. "You really, aren't, I know. But how embarrassing to have had the prince drag me through the castle hallways…"

Someone else cleared their throat then. The two girls looked at the small staircase and perceived Nino standing there awkwardly. "Hey, Mari. Um, I was just coming up to see how you were doing."

"Oh, I'm fine, now Nino. I think that nap really helped me. Thank you for your concern."

He cleared his throat again, placing his hand on the back of his neck nervously. "Well, yeah, of course. You're my friend and all."

Alya looked at him quizzically. "What are you hiding, Nino?"

The boy blushed. "Uhh, nothing." His eyes began to dart about the room. The brunette stood up to inspect her friend closer when the young man started panicking. "Really, Alya, there's nothing that I am hiding. Nothing at all. So you can just sit back down next to Marinette and make sure she's alright. Ok?" Alya ignored him and gently shoved him to the side so she could head downstairs.

Marinette gave Nino an empathetic smile. "She can be pushy. Literally." At this, Nino chuckled.

"You know, you could've come up. She's not going to rip your head off". Alya's voice could be heard meekly. Someone must have responded, because Alya just huffed and stated, "come on".

Two set of footsteps walked up the stairs up to Marinette's room. When she looked over, the maid saw a tuff of blond hair. Then a set of green eyes. Her mouth fell open, again, and she stumbled to get out of bed. "Prince Adrien!" She tried to curtsey in her flimsy nightgown.

"Please, you don't have to!" He put his arms out to appease her.

"You saved my life! Of course I must thank you."

"I wouldn't go so far as to say I saved your life. I just made sure you didn't spend your night on a cold hard floor." The two looked into each other's eyes, a silence dropping into the atmosphere.

"Marinette", Alya said quietly. "You should get back into bed. You need to rest." As Alya started to help her friend, Prince Adrien moved and escorted the maid back to her bed. He lifted the covers for her and told her to lay down. Marinette cooperated, still somewhat in awe of the entire situation. "Come Nino, let's get something to eat." The childhood friends descended, leaving the Prince and Marinette alone.

"You can sit down if you want," Marinette finally suggested, after seeing Adrien standing awkwardly in her small room. "There's not a lot in here, but that chair can be quite comfortable."

Adrien sat down. "Thank you. It is pretty cozy."

Marinette giggled. "I really am grateful for what you did tonight."

"Just make sure it doesn't happen again." Once again, they shared a silent moment. "You know, I was beginning to worry about you, since I hadn't seen you around much. A few weeks ago, I could still see you around in the gardens with your friends or hear you striking up some conversation with someone else somewhere in these walls. But it was pretty silent lately."

She blushed and said, "Well I'm sure my absence wasn't too noticeable. I mean, you have Miss Chloé,yl after all."

"It isn't the same." He looked to the side, as if he were contemplating something.

"Ah!" He jerked back to look at her. "I almost forgot." She pulled her covers back and swung her legs out of her bed.

Prince Adrien reached out for her again. "How difficult is it for you to rest? This is the second time I'm putting you-" Marinette stood up anyways, not listening to what he was saying at all. She walked over to her desk and pulled open the small drawer. She took out a black folded piece of clothing, walked back, and handed it to him with both of her hands.

"This is for you."

He grabbed it and inspected it. "What is it?" He breathed.

"A night suit, or at least that's what I'm calling it. A while ago you said how much you would like to roam the property around the castle, so I promised you I would find a solution. This is my solution. It's a black body suit, covered in pieces of leather, so that you could leave the castle covered in darkness. The leather is in case you need to hide somewhere or climb someplace without scraping yourself. It also helps protect some against the cold. The gloves have some extra protection, just in case."

Adrien unfolded the garment and kept flipping it over, admiring the detail.

"Do you like it?"

"I – I love it. I've never seen anything like this. Where did you get it?"

"I made it." He looked at her suddenly. She blushed. "When we went out to the village that time, I went to get material for this. I got most of your measurements from the seamstress when I helped her out with some of the musicians' costumes. She makes quite a few repairs to your clothing, so they weren't difficult to find."

He looked at her deeply. "Thank you. Truly, thank you so much."

"You deserve to see your lands. Your gardens. To experience the air outside." He got up and hugged her. Marinette froze at the sudden contact. Not that she wasn't pleased, of course, but she was just so surprised that the Prince (the Prince!) seemed so grateful for something so little. "You're welcome?"

"This is amazing, Marinette. I can't even – It's so - "

"Marinette!" her mother called up the stairs. "You need to sleep. The sun has been down for hours now. Your guests need to leave."

"Yes Maman!" Marinette shouted down the stairs. "You'll have to go." She told her blond visitor. "Not that I want to kick you out. Er, I mean, heh. I mean that you're always welcome – wait, that's not right either."

The Prince laughed. "It's alright Marinette, I know you don't mean any offense. And I really do need to leave if we don't want you fainting again." He grabbed her hand and brought it close to his face. "Goodnight, Lady. Sleep well." And with that, he went downstairs to sneak out from her parents' view.

Marinette just stood in her room, red faced and stuttering. "What just happened?" She held her face with both hands. "I'm delirious. I have a fever and I'm crazy. Yep, that's what it is. Just a fever dream. It'll all be gone tomorrow. Uh-huh." She tucked herself back into bed and, although her thoughts were firing at a thousand miles an hour in her brain, she fell asleep almost immediately. Indeed, she was exhausted.

End note: In my last chapter I said I had a clear idea about what I wanted to happen next. This time… not so much. It might take me a while to come up with what I think will happen to the characters. But at least the project was finally finished and gifted! Woohoo! But yeah, it might be awhile until the next chapter, so please be patient with me. As always, thank you for following this story and all of your support: it means so much to me. Happy New Year to all of you lovely people.