Crimson

It's complicated... very complicated

When Marinette woke up in her childhood bedroom, all windows open so as much sun was getting to her as possible, and her mother holding her hand, with a chair pulled up to her bed, head resting on her legs as she slept peacefully, her first thought was... 'crap'.

She gently moved Lois's head off her legs and carefully got out of bed. She opened her window to fly out of it but as soon as her feet left the ground, she was hit by a new wave of pain and she crashed to the ground with a loud thump and a pain filled groan.

"Huh?" Lois woke up. "Marinette! You shouldn't be moving you need rest..." She said softly, trying to help her up.

Marinette fought against her for a moment but realised that she probably couldn't stand without help.

"Why am I here?" Marinette asked once Lois had helped her back into bed.

"Your father brought you here to recover. It was Damien's idea... You've been here for 3 days..." She brushed some hair from Marinette's face, careful to avoid her scrapes and bruises.

Marinette didn't know what to feel. She'd never gotten this kind of affection from them before. It hurt a bit... Being with her then, after so many years. But she was in too much pain to get angry... She just wanted her Mom. She hated her room, she spent way to much time in it as a kid... But again, she couldn't bring herself to feel anything negative except physically at that point. She felt so special just from getting her attention.

She couldn't bring herself to care about anything from before in that moment.

She teared up.

Both of them did.

"I missed you so much Mari I'm so sorry..." She knelt down next to her.

"Mom..."

"I should have been better! I won't let you get hurt again I promise!"

"Mom."

"I love you so much I'm so sorry! I'll do whatever I can to make things better! I-"

"MOM!" Marinette yelled, to get her to stop rambling. "Not now... Please I just... Want my mom... We can... We can get to the conflict later..."

Lois relaxed a bit and wiped her eyes. She grasped her hand in both of hers "Of course Mari... I'm not going anywhere."

It was a few hours later when Marinette remembered something rather important. "PARIS!" She sat up with a jolt, regretting it completely. "I-i need to get back I need Tikki! The akuma what happened?!"

Lois gently pushed her back down. "It's okay, the akuma was taken care of. There haven't been any since."

"You know... Dad knows... You know I'm a hero..." her breathing quickened.

"Hey hey! It's okay! It's okay we're only here to help you honey. You aren't in trouble, we can help you!" Lois tried.

"No you can't! No one can help us. You don't know what we're dealing with! Dad isn't invincible with Hawkmoth! I-I need to get back, my team need me!"

Lois frowned and gently poked at her wound, eliciting a yelp in pain from Marinette.

"I barely touched it and that happens. You aren't going anywhere. You're hurt Mari. Too hurt." She said softly.

"As soon as I can fly again I'm going back!"

"We can't stop you..." Lois sighed.

"I've got responsibility now..."

Marinette couldn't decide how to act. Part of her wanted to cling onto Lou's and never let go... But the other part wanted to run and never look back... Again.

Both of their thoughts were interrupted by two sets of whispers outside the door.

"Can we really go in? What if she doesn't want to see us?"

"If we don't go in then we'll never know! I'm not leaving her again"

"Fine! You first!"

"What!? No you're the twin! You first!"

It continued like that for a few minutes before Lois turned to Marinette. "Are you ready for a few visitors?"

Marinette sucked in a breath and nodded.

Lois went and opened the door. She blinked when she saw her sons in a tangle of limbs on the floor. Both quickly brushed themselves off and stood up.

"Come on... But be gentle..."

Konner and Jon slowly shuffled into the room.

Both stood in the centre of the room.

Very awkwardly.

"Oh come on. It's not like I died. That you know of. " She mumbled the second part.

"You've died!?"

Oh right... Super hearing.

"Not many times. And hey I'm alive now right?" She grinned.

All 3 of them stared at her like she'd grown another head.

Marinette giggled slightly.

Just for a while...

She could pretend that nothing went wrong.

If she began to think about it, with her injuries, she wasn't sure if she'd be able to survive.

Clark and Damien were standing at the door.

Damien sat down next to Marinette and held her hand, quickly pecking her cheek before addressing the others. "Hello."

Marinette giggled.

Her brother's stared at them in shock.

Lois and Clark blinked but they probably already knew about them on some level.

Marinette sat up, slowly this time. She looked up at them nervously. "I know this is... Not how any of us expected... This ... To happen... But um... Is it weird to ask for hugs?"

No one hesitated in quickly pulling her into a family group hug. Kara leaned against the doorframe and smiled softly. There was a long way to go. When Marinette was healed, she was unlikely to be this accepting. Both she and Damien knew that she wasn't ready for a proper talk with any of them. But the first step was finally made. For now, they wood let her have her dream family, let her pretend she didn't have many more emotional wounds.

Pretend things weren't as complicated as they all knew it was.

They all slowly let go, but Lois and Clark took a little longer to let go than the boys.

They were all interrupted when a white portal appeared in the room.

Marinette perked up, everyone else hot into a defensive position.

A very familiar Black cat walked through.

"Cat!"

He did not look happy. Judging by a very harsh glare sent towards Clark.

I had a plan for this chapter.

I ended up ignoring it completely.

Hope it isn't too odd lol. Bye!