I want it to be noted that I'm not sure if Luka, Anarka, and Juleka are Irish, but I've kind of assumed that or Scottish because of her accent. Sorry for the delay in an update, I just have been SO unmotivated to write and schools been having me just a little stressed(What. Is. The. Point. Of. Algebra. Like. I. Will. Never. Use. This. Bullcrap. In. Life. Just. Teach. Me. How. To. Do. My. Taxes.)

Chapter Twenty Eight

Anything But Perfect

"I never thought a biscuit could taste so good," Lyric stated as she slowly bit on the fluffy biscuit and forced sips of water down her throat. The doctor had suggested she wait a bit or at least eat slowly but when her mom had handed her the delicacy all of that had been thrown out the window.

Kagami laughed, pleased to see her daughter was in a talking mood. When she'd finally gotten to see her, the girl had been an emotional blubbering mess and it had taken some time for her to wrangle her emotions."You deserve it," she said with a half forced smile. Even after years of watching patients survive and watching some die, it was still hard for her to deal with any medical problems of her children's. After some time she'd eventually chalked it up to her knowing the possible outcome of everything. How an undiagnosed cold could lead to death or strep throat untreated could as well.

At the sound of movement from beyond the door, Lyric's eyes snapped, staring at it to only be disappointed when it didn't open."How long is it going to be before they tell us if she'd okay?"

Kagami stiffened at the question, hesitant to answer."I'm not sure." There was a clear disappointment on her daughter's face at the response and she felt guilty for not knowing the answer."I'm not sure what tests they plan on running. She's very early so either way, she'll have to stay in the NICU for some time but I'm sure they'll let you know how she's doing soon."

Although the quiet cries had confirmed that she was alive, Lyric could have no way of knowing if she'd make it or if there were any health complications."When do you think I'll get to see her?"

She inhaled, frowning at her daughter with a simple shake of her head."I don't know, I'm sorry." It felt like she should have all the answers and hurt that she couldn't answer the simple question of when her daughter would get to meet her own. Kagami reached her hand out, holding Lyric's free one."I know things have been hard and I'm so proud of how well you've been handling it all. And I can assure you, soon you'll get to see her."

No smile surfaced but Kagami could sense it had livened something within her." Thanks, mom," she said, appreciative of how her parents weren't resenting her. She was happy that her parents had been through the same thing, not only because if it hadn't she and her twin wouldn't exist but it gave her the right to call them out if they were to show true disappointment. Luckily that had never happened with either of them, and she was happy that besides the first few weeks, they'd been oddly casual about the entire situation. Yes, her mom had been a little angry at first but she assumed that had mostly been pure shock rather than disappointment.

Kagami laughed quietly, something she still didn't do often. It caught Lyric off guard at the sound, mainly since their conversation was relatively serious. Throwing her head back to laugh, Kagami ran her fingers through her short hair." God, why'd you have to make me grandmother at 35?" she asked, continuing to laugh quietly.

Lyric rolled her eyes, wiping her hand on the thin blankets the hospital provided."You made Gramma a grandma at what?"

"Tusche," she sighed, still clearly baffled by the fact her own child was now a parent." I guess young parenthood runs in the family," she said, obviously referring to Anarka. From the little Lyric knew, her Grandma had been 19 or 18 when she'd had her dad and another year later her aunt had happened. The detail she didn't know was their father. She'd gathered both her aunt and dad had the same father who had tried to work things out with her Gramma, but ended up bailing after her aunt was born.

"Well was your mom young?" she asked as a joke but almost immediately regretted it. Her mother's cheery face fell to one of pure agony as she stared at her with weary eyes. If she knew very little about her Grandma Anarka's dealing with young parenthood, she knew not a thing about her other grandma. Once or twice she'd asked, but her dad had always simply told her that they just don't see her and that was it. There were no photos, laughs about her, and apparently how bitchy she'd been. Not a thing.

Kagami managed to shake her head." I'm not sure," she answered, turning down at her cell phone to answer an "Email".

Lyric frowned, turning her eyes away. The only thing she knew about her other grandma was that she'd walked away. There had never been an answer to why(though she'd bet a million she and Blossom were the reason) and she had never been able to tell if her mom was glad she did or wished she still had a connection with hers." Sorry," she mumbled.

Kagami's eyes snapped up and she sighed with a shake of her head."Don't apologize, I know you were just asking as a joke." But it wasn't just a joke. She and she knew Blossom had also been curious about their Japenese roots. About their family in Japan and what it was like for her mother to be raised there. From time to time, they'd sometimes hear her mutter stuff in Japenese(usually when she was upset with someone) and the two had always been curious as to what. The disconnect from that side of the family and that part of their heritage had always been annoying, especially when they knew a lot about their father's Irish roots.

Even seeing some photos as her mom as a kid would be enough and although her parents had told them one day they'd take a family trip to Japan, she was well aware that wouldn't be for many years. They'd only recently moved from a two-bedroom apartment to a three and though her parents never spoke about it in front of them, she knew money was growing tight. Adding on all of her hospital visits and her operation, she knew it would be some time before the word Japan was ever mentioned in their household.

"Do you ever wish we knew her?" Lyric asked curiously.

Kagami hesitated, words bubbling in her throat." Leer," she breathed out as if she had to prepare herself to speak."What you need to understand is I was brought up very different than you."

Although the statement barely pertained to her question, Lyric gathered she meant her mother had a different way of doing things." But do you wish we knew her?" she asked again.

"I-" Kagami stuttered. She hadn't thought much about it or rather she tried to avoid thinking about it. Even before she knew Luka and long before the whole twin situation she and her mother weren't close. Tomoe had a way of doing things that didn't follow the usual 'caring mother' way. And her lack of a father made it so her mother ran her entire life. But even though they never were close, that didn't mean she didn't miss her. She had been her mother after all and to know she would easily abandon her had hurt her in a way she'd never been hurt before.

"I don't know," she finally said a true lie. Every bit of her wished her children knew their grandmother and every bit of her wished she wasn't viewed as a disappointment by her mother.

"Have you seen her?" Lyric asked, "Like recently?"

She shook her head again."I spoke to her once. But that was a long time ago," she stated, thinking of a way to end their grueling conversation."I suppose we'll have to get all of your old baby stuff out."

Lyric was aware of what her mom was doing but she opted not to pry. She got more out of her than she ever would've expected and no she had to deal with yet another complication. Baby stuff. After the miscarriage, she'd donated the baby items she'd gotten over the past months. At the time there hadn't been much, but enough to break her heart as she packed every item away for donation. With the chaos strayed over the past few days, she hadn't even considered the fact they now needed to get everything.

"But we'll handle that," Kagami assured her with a smile."All I want you to do is rest and heal up,"

There was no point in arguing that. Although she felt the urge to do something. Even simply walking around her hospital room would make her feel more useful but she was on strict bed rest for the net day so that was crossed out. But when it came to her mom, anything medical couldn't be argued.

Part of her wondered if her mother had gathered that from her own mother. It was clear she'd had a strict upbringing and when it came to parenting her mom had always been the stricter one so she could only wonder if that came from anywhere.

"Is that clear young lady?" Kagami asked with her eyebrows raised.

With a roll of her eyes, Lyric nodded, folding over the top of her bag."Yes mommy," she said mockingly.

Kagami chuckled, throwing her bag over her shoulder."I'm going to see if I can catch your doctor in the hall, you good on your own."

Lyric nodded her head, finding it funny her mother was acting as if she were a child when she herself had just become a mom.

Marinette ran her fingers through the light blonde hair she used to drool over as a teenager. Sometimes it still seemed like a dream that they were really married and had three beautiful children, and now one precious granddaughter. When their relationship and the fact she was pregnant became public knowledge it had been awkward. On occasion she'd be recognized as that model Adrien Agreste's girlfriend and whenever she was she'd feel bad about herself. She was a nobody compared to the perfect Adrien Agreste, but that was the thing their relationship had taught her.

No one is perfect. Not even Adrien Agreste.

Everyone has things they aren't proud of and everyone makes mistakes, but what being Ladybug had taught her was you needed to fix those mistakes. If she had fixed the mistakes she'd made with Lila Rossi when she was a teen they could've avoided Hugo nearly dying at the hands of Gabriel. She could've learned that Lila had a bad family life and could've helped her before mentally losing it.

It had been hard to come to terms with the fact she'd messed up a lot but she'd tried her best to fix them. It had taken some encouragement from Adrien but she finally visited Lila in the psychiatric ward she'd been living in. Slowly but surely she'd fixed something between them. They weren't friends and would never be friends but Marinette was pleased with how Lila had managed to change. Talking to people had seemed to help and though neither kept contact and Marinette doubted they'd ever meet again, for what she knew Lila was back living in Italy with her distant relatives.

She'd managed to fix her biggest mistake, and so had Adrien.

No matter what he said nor did, she'd never forgive him for killing their grandchild and using a miraculous without her permission, but in a way, they'd won. Gabriel had admitted to crimes and had been sentenced to life in prison. Emilie was slowly but surely waking up and with the way, things were going it seemed Adrien would be awake soon too. And Posie was alive. Though they'd been assured that she'd have to deal with health and/or mental complications later in life, she was alive.

Maybe he wasn't perfect and maybe he hadn't made the right choices, but somehow they were figuring things out. Like they always did.