Author's Note:
So...I think it's high time our Sunshine Boy with a shiny spine gets his mom back, don't you?
'Waiting is the hardest part', or that's what everyone says at least. For Adrien? He was sure that waiting was just a form of self-torture at this point.
When his mother had vanished, he had waited for some sign that she was found...even if, through his waiting, he had begun to question if it was his fault that she had vanished. Those thoughts: had he done something to make her leave, had he done something to make her not love him, was it his fault that his father had changed so drastically after she left? In truth, he had voiced those thoughts only once to Nathalie who had looked so horrified at the idea before she had pulled him into a hug, petted his hair, and done her best to reassure him that, under absolutely no circumstances, was anything his fault and that his mother would be there with them if she could.
In retrospect, he should have paid more attention to the dark-haired woman's phrasing.
After meeting Plagg and becoming Chat Noir, his life had become a waiting game, in between battles against the akuma and Hawk Moth, in hopes that, one day, Ladybug would agree that she should share their identities with one another. Meeting Marinette had been a waiting game while he sorted out his growing feelings for the girl and came to realize the feelings that she had towards him. Through all of that, he had also found himself in a waiting game that only grew more painful as his father had pulled further and further away from him until he wasn't even sure what to really consider the man as anymore.
Figuring out that his father was Hawk Moth, and Nathalie was Mayura, had been more painful than he let on to anyone. He felt betrayed, not only because of the crimes that they had committed and all the lives that they had endangered and ruined for his father's own inability to admit to his mistakes as well as both's inability to ask for help, but because they both had known exactly what had happened to his mother and where she was, and they had spent all of their time lying about it. He could deal with people like Lila, or any number of paparazzi or celebrity-related feuds that popped up because those people were just enemies to be knocked out of his way when the time came...they were nothing. Alya and Nino's betrayal stung, but it had hurt his Marinette more than him.
But his father? Nathalie? They had betrayed him in so many ways...and there was little worse than a traitor.
Rescuing his mother and getting her to a hospital had, for a moment, made him so certain that the waiting was finally over. She was right there, he could reach out and touch her hand...but then his father's words had been confirmed: aside from being able to provide her the care that she had not exactly been receiving, the doctors couldn't do anything to revive her. Adrien had wanted to scream or even throw something just from the frustration of being so close yet so far...but then Marinette, his brilliant beloved lady, had reminded him that his mother's condition was caused by a miraculous and that Master Fu might be able to help.
And then...the waiting began again.
It had taken a full week before Master Fu had confirmed that he could try to do something...but that it would take time because, from what the man could tell, Emilie Agreste's prior illness and current coma were because the damaged miraculous was, seemingly, leeching off of her very life force in order to maintain itself, Duusu, and the powers of anyone using the miraculous in it's current state. Adrien could barely believe it, but he knew that he had no choice but to believe the man's words. Master Fu had, of course, promised to be diligent in his efforts to revive the comatose woman and had held to his word...but the waiting was still agony.
Despite his busy schedule of school and private lessons, the odd photoshoot on top of the almost daily management of Gabriel, legal issues that had a tendency to crop up until the Law Squad put them to bed, the odd phone call to his father and to Nathalie because he just couldn't bring himself to cut them from his life despite the pain, training alongside of his lady under the Gorilla's instruction, and his nightly heroics at his Ladybug's side, he was still trying to make the time for at least one hour a day to be at the hospital to check in on his mother in hopes that her condition changed.
It never did...but still, he waited.
And then...Master Fu said that he had succeeded in breaking Emilie's connection to the peacock miraculous, as well as Nathalie's. He said that Emilie should awaken at any time now that the miraculous wasn't leeching the woman's life...to which Duusu had apologized for their role in the current problem, even though they hadn't had any control over what had happened to begin with. Even Nooroo had apologized...for not trying harder to stop Emilie from using Duusu's power, and Adrien had to step in to reassure the butterfly-themed kwami that nothing that the blond's parents had done was Nooroo's fault, just like his mother's condition wasn't Duusu's fault. His parents were adults...and had made their own choices that they alone should have to answer for.
Even if that meant that he had to accept the fact that his mother, despite how good of a person she had been, had still been reckless enough to continue to use Duusu's miraculous despite knowing that it was the cause of her illness and could do her even greater harm.
But, for now, Adrien set a vase containing a bouquet of pink peonies-his mother's favorite flower-and white gardenias, on the table next to the head of his mother's hospital bed, before he moved to sit in the chair that he had positioned at her bedside ever since she had been placed in this private room.
"Hey mom...I know I came to see you yesterday, but...well, I guess I'm making up for lost time?" Adrien said cautiously, reaching out to take his mother's hand in both of his just as he did every day. He stared down at her hand in his, gathering his thoughts on what all to say today. "I talked to father...he, well, he's not happy where he is but...he put himself there, so it's his own fault really. I told him that...that you might wake up soon and, well, he sounded relieved...happy even. I think he was happy anyway. I don't really remember what he sounds like when he's happy so...I don't really know."
Talking about his father hurt and, to be completely honest, Adrien wasn't sure if it would ever stop hurting.
"...Nathalie is fine, she's accepting of where she is." Which didn't surprise him as, aside from a few moments, the dark-haired woman seemed to just go along with whatever happened. "I told her that you might wake up soon and she said that she was happy for me, but...well, you know how she is. I'm pretty sure she was sincere about it but I don't really know for sure."
Plagg had told him that, even if the hurt didn't stop, it would get easier to deal with, it just took time. Tikki, despite being non-plussed by Plagg's wording, did agree with him. And Gorilla...Gorilla had told him that eventually the emotional wounds would stop hemorrhaging...yes, there would be scars left behind, but it would happen and that Adrien just needed to remember that he wasn't alone and that he had plenty of people who love him that he could talk to whenever he needed them. "Gorilla, my bodyguard, is mostly making sure I don't run myself too ragged. He's...also teaching me some basic self-defense stuff for just in case."
That wasn't the whole truth, but it was good enough. "Marinette and I are still together. I still think you'll really like her when you wake up and get to meet her. She's so brilliant and kind and brave and...she's just amazing. She's always willing to help someone, and she...I just know you'll like her. I...I love her so I-"
Adrien stopped short when he saw his mother's hand closed over his own. He snapped his head up-internally pleading for this to not be a dream or a muscle spasm-and found himself staring into a pair of half-lidded, green eyes so much like his own. Emilie tried to wet her lips to speak and that was enough to break the spell for Adrien to fumble for the cup of ice water that he had poured for himself, but had not bothered to drink from, and move to stand next to his mother. He helped her lift her head enough to take a few careful sips from the straw. "Mom...do you...please tell me you remember me?"
The doctors had said that, with the length of the coma, there was a chance that...
A small smile, so aching familiar, formed as the woman gave a barely perceptible nod. The blonde woman parted her lips to speak-her voice so soft and weak from disuse. "...my sweet son..."
Adrien couldn't help the smile forming on his own face even as tears began to streak down his cheeks. "Welcome home, mom."
Author's Note:
Sorry this was a bit short...but I hope everyone likes this?
Also...anyone need this box of tissues?