Can You Keep It A Secret?

Chapter 26: We're All Here To Stay

"Marinette. We need to prep Chloe for her date tonight and you still have to tell us how everything happened with Adrien. My house after school! You better be there girl." Alya says as her and Nino walk over to the table and sit with us. "I told you I will." As I say that, I feel my chest tighten and I immediately start coughing. "Mari are you okay?" Adrien asks and places a hand on my back. I nod my head as I continue to cough.

"Have you seen anyone about the cough yet?" Alya asks once I finally stop coughing. "Yeah they said I'm fine." "Marinette you coughed up blood. Twice. That's not normal. I think you should see a different doctor." "You coughed up blood? That's can't be safe Marinette. You really should see another doctor." Chloe adds. "Don't worry I'll be fine." I say and give them a smile. "We're going to be keeping an eye on you then." Nino says. "You have to take care of yourself." Luka adds.

"I'll be fine guys. I prom-" I stop when I start coughing again. I cover my mouth with a napkin once again. I pull it away and sigh of relief. "See nothing." "Mari-" "I'm fine Agreste." "I don't know Marinette. I don't think it's healthy to be coughing like that."

"I'm fine guys." I say and start to get up but my knees immediately buckle and I fall back into the seat. "Marinette you don't seem fine." "What's going on?" "Is everything okay?" "Marinette are you okay?" "Marinette..." I zone out as soon as they start asking me questions.

No no no! Don't worry about me! I don't want to cause you guys to worry. I don't want you to be scared. "I'm fine!" I shout when I get out of my thoughts. I look at their faces and see them drop. "I- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell." "Mari are you okay?" Adrien whispers to me. "I just lost my balance that's all." I say as I carefully stand up again. "See? I'm perfectly fine." I say and start to walk away.

Adrien gets up and follows me. "Mari I think it's time you tell them." "No way! I don't want them to worry." "They're already worrying." "But they'll worry even more when they find out that I'm going to die in 3 months." "Mari-" "Agreste! I'll tell them when the time is right." He sighs and nods his head. "It should be soon though. They're just going to keep asking questions." "It'll be soon."

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"Oh my gosh that's so romantic." "Like a scene from a movie." Alya and Chloe say after I finish telling them how Adrien and I got together. "So what made you change your mind? One second you're scared to hurt him and the next you're confessing your love?" "Oh I still am scared but life is way to short to let fear control you. And I love him so much that I just couldn't run from my feelings anymore."

"Well I'm glad you guys are finally together." "Me too. Now, what am I going to wear?" I giggle and walk over to the bag Chloe brought. "Hmm. How about this?" I ask as I pull out a yellow dress. She smiles and nods. "I was hoping you'd say that."

We spend the rest of the time doing Chloe's hair, nails, and just talking. "I'm so nervous." "You'll be fine Chloe. Just be yourself." She nods and walks out the door. "I have to go too." "Already?" "Yeah the Agreste's always have dinner at a certain time but they don't start eating until everyone is there. I don't want to make them wait." "Okay bye girl." She says as I walk out the door.

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"So Marinette." I look up from my plate of food when Gabriel starts to talk. "When is your next chemo treatment?" "Oh- um- it's tomorrow." "Do you mind if we go?" Emilie asks. "Y-you want to go?" Her and Gabriel nod. I feel tears fill up in my eyes. "Um are you sure? You don't have anything to do? Like watching over anything?" I ask as a tear rolls down my cheek. "Mari are you okay?" Adrien asks as he places his hand on my knee.

"I'm sorry, we didn't mean to make you cry. If you don't want us there we won't-" "No! It's not that. It's just that my par-" I stop and clear my throat. "Tom and Sabine hardly ever went, so I kinda figured you wouldn't want to go either." "Of course we want to go Marinette. We want to be there for you." Gabriel says. I feel more tears slide down my face and I quickly wipe them. "Well then I'd be glad to have you there. Thank you." They smile and nod.

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"I see we have 2 new faces today." Tikki says with a smile as she walks over to us. "This is Emilie and Gabriel Agreste. They're Adrien's parents." "It's nice to meet you guys. I'm Tikki, Marinette's doctor." "And I'm her nurse Plagg." They say as they shake hands. "Speaking of parents, Marinette-" Tikki starts but stops when she sees Adrien shaking his head. "Nevermind. Choose any seat you want Marinette and we'll get started." I nod and take a seat.

Plagg sits in the seat and places everything down. "So Marinette-" "It's not going to work this time Plagg. I already know you're going to try to distract me so I don't feel the needle." Plagg chuckles. "What's so funny?" "I already hooked it up to you." "Wha- How?" "You were talking so much that you distracted yourself Mari." I turn my head and see Adrien and his family quietly laughing.

I wish my family got along like his. I'm happy for him though. When they first found out Emilie was sick, Adrien and Mr. Agreste argued all the time over the smallest and dumbest reasons. Now that she's healthy again they're getting along better than they ever had. "Are you guys sure you want to stay? This usually takes a long time." "We have plenty of time." Gabriel says as he takes a seat on the couch. Emilie nods and sits beside him.

"Don't think you can get us to leave Mari. We're all here to stay." Adrien says as he sits beside me. I can't help but smile. It must be nice to be part of a happy family. Yeah my family was happy once but that was a long time ago. Once we found out about my cancer everything changed. Now we're not even a family. "We'll be back in 30 minutes to check on you." Tikki says as her and Plagg walk out of the room.

"So Marinette now that you and my son are dating, I was wondering if you were interested in doing any photo shoots with him." Gabriel says. "Father! I told you not to even think about it. I don't want her to feel pressured into doing it." I put my hand on Adrien's arm. "It's okay Adrien." I turn my head to look at Gabriel. "I'd love to Mr. Agreste." "Call me Gabriel." I smile and nod.

"Wow my father must really like you. He usually never lets anyone call him by his first name." Adrien leans over and whispers to me. "Well what can I say Agreste? I'm an extremely likable person." "That you are Mari." He says softly. We both smile and he places a soft kiss on my lips.