I will love again

Advent special Part 4

While his mother was taking care of Marion's wound, Louis sat beside her all the time and held her hand in his own, rubbing the back of it comfortingly with his thumb.

Marinette had cleaned the cut on the girl's cheek with disinfectant and was now about to place a bandaid over it, while she softly began to talk to her.

"You know, maybe you should consider, to not go back there. I know, you are scared and he keeps promising you, to never hurt you again, a friend of mine had a similar situation, but tell me, did he keep any of his promises yet?"

Marion shook her head.

"I don't understand, why you went back after we....you know. You told me, you were in love with me! Why would you lie?", Louis now ranted loudly, making her slowly cower down more and more.

The older woman instantly placed a hand on the younger one's forearm, whispering soothingly:

"It's okay, you're safe, nobody will hurt you here! Lou, can you go and get your grandma, please? I am sure, she can talk more sense into your friend here, than we ever could, just because she had experienced something similar!"

The eighteen year old nodded and hurried downstairs to ask Nathalie to come upstairs with him.

"I wasn't lying!", Marion muttered, making Marinette quirk an eyebrow. She crouched down in front of the young female and looked into her eyes, while she laid her hands on her knees.

"Then why did you go back? There would have been enough room in our house, as well as here. And we would have gladly taken you in. And seeing your face just now, and how very thin you are, I would say, it would have been much better for your health. You don't have to tell me, but at least tell Louis. He seems to really like you, sweetie!"

The girl shrugged and looked to her feet, not daring to meet the woman's gaze. Then she nodded and said barely audible: "Okay!"

"That's good!", Marinette cooed and got back to her feet. Then she held out her hands. "Come, we'll go out of the bathroom and out into Leni's room. She doesn't live here anymore, so she won't mind I think. We can have a seat on the bed or the sofa. I guess, you'd find it more comfortable than the toilet seat too, right?"

Chuckling Marion took them and let the older woman guide her out of the small room with the tiled walls and into Hélène's bright and warmly coloured room.

Louis and Nathalie arrived at the same time, the boy pulling her with him, by holding her wrist.

"Slow down, Lou", she scolded, "I am not a young woman anymore. Then she saw the injured girl and her voice became soft, when she introduced herself, "hi, I am Nathalie. Nice to meet you!"

"M-Marion", came a shy answer.

The woman, who was still a little out of breath from hurrying up the stairs, nodded, then looked at her daughter in law:

"Well, Louis told me, you needed my help with something, so tell me, what is it? Something serious?", she wondered, while taking a closer look at the teenage girl from the corner of her eye.

It was the young man, who spoke first:

"It's about Marion and what this fucking asshole did to her. Can you please tell her, that she can't go back there? Mum thought, she would listen to you, because you've been through something like that!"

His mother laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Lou, please calm down a bit! We'll figure something out, okay?", she hummed and her son took a deep breath and agreed.