One Way or Another

A Winner, An Enchanted Sleep and Fate

"Thirty-nine point nine," Nathalie whispered to Marinette, putting the first aid kit back on the table.

She replied with a nod and turned her attention back to the conversation.

"...But maybe it's 'born,' like the literal definition of the word," Adrien was saying, running his fingers through his hair.

"It makes more sense for it to be figurative," Gabriel argued. "Like having a natural ability."

With a sigh, Adrien stopped pacing and sat down. A second later he stood up and started pacing again. "Have there been any other ideas posted to the Ladyblog?" he asked Nathalie.

She checked her tablet. "Nothing new since you asked ten minutes ago."

Frustrated, he went over to Marinette and kneeled down in front of her chair. "How are you feeling, Princess?" he asked softly.

"I'm... okay."

"How's the pain?"

"About the same," she lied.

"Don't worry, we'll keep working. And we'll figure it out real soon. I can feel it."

She reached forward and caressed his face with her fingertips. "What do you think about recording a video to announce a winner of the contest?"

And the smile that appeared on his face at her touch suddenly disappeared. "A winner? But, no one has solved the riddle yet."

"Yeah, I know," she murmured. "But someone has to win the prize money. We'll just pick the person who got the closest to correctly guessing the other ingredients."

Adrien shook his head. "If we announce a winner then people will stop uploading their ideas."

"They've already stopped. We haven't gotten any new ideas in days. I think if someone was going to solve it, it would have been done by now."

He actually considered the idea for a moment, but then quickly dismissed it. "Let's just wait a little more. If no one solves it by next week, then we'll announce a winner. How's that sound?"

Her heart felt like it was breaking as she looked at him. The poor thing was still in denial. "Okay," she whispered. "But why don't we take a break from all of this right now? So we can get some breakfast."

He tilted his head. "Princess, we already had breakfast. Don't you remember?"

Marinette blinked at him. "Uh yes, I remember. I'm sorry, I meant to say lunch."

His heart felt like it was breaking as he looked at her. The poor thing was confused. "Princess," he said gently. "We already had lunch too. It's almost three o'clock in the afternoon. You don't remember any of that?"

"I... I..." she sputtered, putting her hand to her forehead.

Adrien kept staring at her.

"A break is an excellent idea," Emilie said, coming to the rescue.

"No, we can't take a break," Adrien insisted. "We have to keep going. We have to keep going until we figure it out."

Marinette leaned closer. "Let's take a break. I have something important to talk to you about." And she leaned back with a smile.

"I'm sure it can wait, Princess. We should keep working."

The smile fell. "It can't wait."

Stuck, they stared at each other until Gabriel spoke. "We'll take a short break, and reconvene here in five minutes."

They both nodded to the compromise.

"We'll go check on Annabelle," he continued. "That way you'll have some privacy here."