No Way Out

A Vacant Apartment and A Wish

It was very strange walking into the Tom and Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie. Everything was the same. The same types of breads and pastries were in their display cases. The same colors decorated the walls. The same smells wafted through the air.

It was the same, but simultaneously, everything felt different.

Marinette held it together until Tom joined them. Seeing yet another aged face, however, finally made her emotions spill out.

Both her parents hugged her as she cried, and they all remained like that for a minute until she regained her composure.

"Everything will be okay," Sabine repeated for the tenth time. "I know you must be scared right now, but we're right here to help you. I'm sure your memory will come back soon enough."

Marinette wasn't sure if that was true, but she nodded and wiped the tears away.

"What's the last thing you remember, sweetie?" Tom asked.

"Coming home from school. It was the first day of my last year at lycée."

"And you don't remember anything that's happened since? Not even a few things?"

"Nothing," she said.

Tom looked over at his wife. "We need to take her to the doctor's."

"Gabriel told me that he already spoke to the doctor from the emergency room," Sabine replied. "I guess this type of thing can happen after a head injury. He already set her up with an appointment tomorrow."

Not knowing what else could be done, both Tom and Sabine didn't speak for a minute. Neither of them knew how to proceed from there.

So Marinette spoke instead. "What am I supposed to do?" she asked, tearing up again. "I'm... old now. I'm a designer, but I have no memory of anything I've designed. I'm... married to someone I don't remember..."

Listening to his daughter, Tom felt his  heart breaking.

"...and live in a house I don't recognize. How am I supposed to function as an adult when I still feel like I'm thirteen?"

Sabine hugged her again. "I know it will be tough, sweetie, but you can do this. You're strong, and you're the fiercest person I know. And we're all here for you."

"I'm not strong or fierce," she cried back. "I'm just the same timid girl I always have been. At school this morning... or, a long time ago, I guess... I found out that Chloé was in my class again. And she walked all over me like she's always done before."

"You're not that same timid girl anymore," Sabine said, looking at her. "You really blossomed that last year of lycée. I don't know why, but all of a sudden you became fearless, and determined, and confident. You were finally able to stand up for yourself, and for everyone else around you."

Shocked to hear that, Marinette couldn't respond.

"Well, maybe your mother doesn't know why you changed," Tom added, "but I think I know."

She raised her eyebrows in anticipation.

"I think it was because of Adrien." Tom paused as he watched her face blush, and then he continued. "After you met him and fell in love, you were different. You did some great things, and some... not so great things. But when you two started dating, you finally became the best version of yourself."

Her face turned a deeper color.

"The same thing happened to him. Adrien became the best version of himself, too. You bring out the best in each other, and I think that's why you two have always been so happy."