Until Next Time, My Lady

Your Wish is My Command

"I know why you left me to cry alone that night..." She bit her lip uneasily.

In a way, she wasn't sure how to ask the question without hurting him. His green eyes were searching her face as if to try to figure out why she'd trailed off. Instead of asking or pressuring her to continue, he seized the unopened bottle of wine off the coffee table.

Adrien pulled the wine key out of his pajama pants pocket. A mischievous grin came over his lips as he flipped out the tiny knife. It shined in the candlelight before he pressed it gently underneath the foil against the cork. With a quick tear, the foil fell into his lap. He tucked the knife carefully back into its place along the handle, then opened the corkscrew to its full potential. His gaze snapped up to hers as he pushed the worm into the cork and started to twist.

She had no idea how he'd learned to open a bottle of wine in less than five minutes. Everyone else she'd tried to teach seemed to either give up or couldn't figure it out. The worm made a squeak as he got it almost to its base before he used the double hinge to coax the cork out. A dull pop eventually resonated throughout her tiny den. He reached for the empty wine glass in her hands, which she reluctantly released to him.

"Don't act like you don't want it." Adrien chuckled, pouring the maroon liquid into her glass before handing it back to her and then filling his own.

"It's not that I don't." She gave him a small smile before looking away from his gaze. "It's just that I'm trying to figure out how to ask you this question without hurting your feelings..."

"Mari."

The soft tone in his voice made her look back up to him. His eyes seemed to be filled with immense understanding. He set his wine glass and the bottle on the coffee table. Then Adrien reached for her hand and laced his fingers with hers.

"You can ask whatever question you want, princess. It won't hurt my feelings."

"Alright." She whispered, tightening the grip on his hand. "I know why you left me to cry alone that night, but what I want to know is how you trusted me enough to believe that I'd eventually come back to you? I just feel as though it was kind of naive of you to think that if you thought I was in love with someone else..."

She heard her own soft voice continue to echo through the room; making it feel as though she kept asking and insulting his love for her over and over again. Her heart dropped as a shocked look flashed through his eyes. He looked down for a moment, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand.

"Marinette, I chose to trust you because you were my partner." He answered, looking back up to her. "I loved you unconditionally. I needed to believe that you would come back to me. Plus, we'd saved each other's lives more than once and you'd always hated liars. Why would I have had any reason to believe that you would lie to me?"

"I don't know... I just don't see how you had that much faith in me to return," she sighed. "What if I never came back?"

"If you'd never came back, I still would've found you." He smiled, bringing her hand to his lips and gently pressing a kiss onto the top of her hand.

"How?" She felt tears starting to begin to prick into the back of her eyes. He couldn't have had this much faithfulness in her, could he?

"Well, I just think that the universe has a crazy way of bringing people together that are just meant to be," he mumbled.

"I know you're trying to be really romantic, but I think you talked with Jules too much last night." She smiled, rolling her eyes at him playfully and blinking away the tears.

"Maybe I did." He shrugged, slowly letting go of her hand. "But I think it's my turn to ask a question."

"Alright then, ask." She took a sip of her wine, placing the glass on the coffee table. Her heart started to beat harder as she waited for the question to leave him. He opened his mouth, then clamped it shut. His lips went into a pursed line, then the question suddenly left his mouth.