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Her groceries didn’t even have time to scatter before a handsome, well-dressed man was leaning over and picking them up. She froze watching him before bending down and attempting to help gather them. The now bruised produce managed to go back in the little bags she had used, but she couldn’t get everything to fit in the other bag with the rest of her things. Her arms were full and then she was stuck down, unable to move.
He took the bag as well as a few of her items before reaching out to help her up. He stuck out his arm and she took it while trying to form the words to thank him. Surely it was just another day that she was struggling with the English language and not anything about him that made her stutter through it.
“Merci,” she said softly.
“Yes ma’am,” he replied with a nod.
“Thank you,” she corrected herself.
Later, she would realize that she could have just gone in back into the store and requested another bag rather than walking a stranger right to her door. She unlocked it, but stopped herself before the words to invite him in spilled out. That would be needlessly foolhardy.
Instead, she dumped the items in her arms on a nearby chair before popping back out to collect the rest from him. It was almost like a dream when she thanked him. Even now she could picture his face as he reached to brush an errant strand of hair away from her face. She couldn’t even remember his name. She knew they talked the whole way walking to her house, but she couldn’t think of a single detail he had said about himself.
—
She was coming out of the coffee shop and walked right in to him. He caught her up in his arms and stopped her momentum, somehow keeping the coffee from spilling on either of them. She was looking up into his eyes too long. She pulled back suddenly and that is when he released her from his arms. But that wasn’t strange. He would want to make sure she was secure first.
“You, appear to be a danger,” he said. He didn’t smile, but his voice conveyed the light tone.
“I am definitely a disaster. I’ll have to keep you around to reign me in,” she joked.
“Accepted, where am I taking you?”
“Oh. I was joking. I can’t actually take up all your time. I am heading to the fabric store,” she pointed at a building nearby, “but I was going to walk around while I finished my drink. She won’t allow me to bring drinks in anymore.”
“Perhaps she would make an exception if I were with you,” he smiled again, “but just in case, I will walk with you to keep the disturbances at bay until you have finished.”
She nodded, and then they walked. It was a pleasant time with him. The sun moved from high in the sky to dimming, her coffee cup thrown away long ago before she finally made it to the fabric store not long before they closed.
She still didn’t feel like she knew very much about him, but he left her feeling good.
—
It was raining and she didn’t have an umbrella. The cabs all seemed to be elsewhere even though there was always a cab here. She typically preferred to walk because it was almost always faster, but the rain was pouring down and her dress would be soaked. She grit her teeth and moved out from under the awning to rush in hopes of only making it slightly late to her appointment. The rain had nearly let up. It was a drizzle instead of a downpour. I was now or never.
“Seriously, what the hell?”
She stepped off the curb and the drop was too far down, as her heel continued through a grate. She would have fallen if there were not arms there to catch her. She felt relief as she recognized them. Apparently, it was possible to recognize arms that caught you from behind. He held her close, his umbrella blocking the rain from coming down on her with the arm that stayed around her. He bent down and she could feel his fingers find their way down her leg until he reached her stuck shoe. She had already tried to pull it out, but he didn’t seem to have any difficulty. He pulled with his hand and the heel came free.
“You do seem to always be in trouble, don’t you?”
“You always show up just in time to save me though. Do you have super powers?” she said with a laugh.
“That would be telling,” he whispered in her ear.
He released her and nodded. She paused only for a moment before remembering she was already late.
—
She found the building, but she wasn’t sure which room. She had clearly walked down the wrong hallway as she could see that it ended, but she kept on towards the voices she could hear. She didn’t want to interrupt a meeting, but she was already so late that finding the right room was more urgent than the feeling of embarrassment at barging in.
“She didn’t show today, so it may already be a lost cause. Damian and Cass are sitting on her apartment in case she comes back.”
She rounded the corner to see the owner of the voice, but she covered her mouth instead. One man had a gun out and on the wall were what looked like security video feeds. She processed the words she had heard as she saw them looking at a feed of her apartment and another scrolling through locations she had been recently.
Scattered across the table were pictures of her. The smaller man in the room sat at a computer and adjusted the feed to the building she had just entered. She saw herself walk across the screen.
“We may be in luck,” he said.
She nearly threw up at the thought. She was in their trap.
She backed away slowly. Silently.
She pressed her back against the wall and slid her shoes off. She couldn’t have them give her away. She made her way back down the hall, barely breathing, but nearly running. She came to a junction and made a quick decision to go down the one she hadn’t come from. Hopefully she would find a different way out.
Two women stepped out of a room ahead. Looking at the wall, she could see that it was the room she should have ended up in. She saw the recognition in their eyes. She froze in place. She looked back and the two men were at the other end of the hall. She backed herself against the wall, panicking about how to get out of this situation.
“It’s okay,” the red head said. “We just need to talk to you.”
“Talk about the people waiting for me back at my place or about all the pictures you have of me?”
“Shit,” said the blonde.
The men were moving steadily down towards them. They weren’t rushing. They wanted to lull her into feeling safe. As if they could make her forget everything she had seen.
The red head spoke calmly, “We just want to warn you about Dick. I know he seems like he is the perfect man, but he will hurt you. We know you have been taken in by him.”
“You are warning me about a man who has been a perfect gentleman by having my entire life streaming for your amusement?” her voice was going high and desperate.
The blonde one was stepping closer to her, boxing her in. They were trying to cut off the escape. She had her hands up in a surrender gesture, but if she kept moving Marinette would have nowhere to go.
“He isn’t what he seems,” she said.
“And I suppose you all aren’t what you seem,” she retorted.
It was her only shot. She rushed past, slamming into the blonde trying to block her in rather than the two men who were nearly to them. Dropping her shoes and purse so nothing would slow her down, she ran to the end of the hall and turned right. Relief flooded her when she saw the doorway to the stairs.
She pushed it open and ran down the stairs. The exit she came to was an emergency exit, but it wasn’t locked. The alarm sounded as she pushed it open. Once she got outside, she could barely hear it over the sound of the rain pelting down. She was soaked instantly, but she ran as fast as she could. The pavement was slick and hard under her bare feet, but getting to safety was all she could think of.
She rounded a corner and then she saw him. She was too far away to recognize him, but he was standing there with his umbrella, waiting for her. She could even think of his name now that the others had said it.
He opened his arms and she ran into them. He scooped her up and she relaxed against his chest. She didn’t know where he was carrying her, but she knew she couldn’t go back home.