It took two more weeks post-surgery, but they finally got the news they'd all been praying for. Marinette had finally opened her eyes after months of unconsciousness. He hadn't had the chance to visit her physically, but he did talk to her on the phone when he could. Most of the time she still slept, but definitely not comatose anymore. The doctors had pumped so many powerful antibiotics, morphine, anti-inflammatories, and a cocktail of various other medications into her that she couldn't stay awake very long. Any sort of stress was dangerous right now so she wasn't told about any comas, Erek's concern for her, or anything that could invoke negative emotions. Everyone was positive, cheerful, and encouraging.

Alya and Nino had the misfortune of always seeming to catch her when she was asleep or nearly asleep. She was no longer in the ICU, which was great news, but every time she was awake, it looked like she was dazed and confused. Her eyes were glossy and her reactions to anything were delayed and slow. Even following someone with her eyes appeared to be a struggle. Very small, very simple tasks had become harder for her to perform, at least for the time being. Although the doctors said this was normal, it didn't feel normal.

She had, at least, started talking within the past few days. Her voice was scratchy and weak but she would articulate short, simple sentences to communicate her needs. He always remembered her to be so stubborn about someone else helping her but in the hospital she would wake up absolutely starving. She would beg for food but the hospital staff was under orders to ration her food intake. All the drugs she was put on would frequently upset her stomach so eating very small portions at a time allowed her to keep it down…most of the time, anyway.

She seemed most awake and aware when it was time to eat. He had to assume it was because her body was instinctually driving her to eat something. It couldn't feel too good to consistently have nothing in her stomach after months of sleeping through all that hunger. He would venture to say she never stopped feeling hungry, which actually posed a problem for the nurses taking care of her. Everyone had to be cleared from the room because it embarrassed her, but she had essentially forced nurses to spoon feed her. They had tried several times to let her eat on her own. She was physically capable of it, but she always ate too fast, scarfing down anything edible in seconds. Her stomach wasn't prepared to receive that much food in such a tiny amount of time and it never ended well for her, unfortunately not responding to the anti-nausea medicine. She had been told repeatedly to slow down, but in his eyes, she was just too hungry and he didn't think she was actually able to slow down that much. Now they had to spoon feed her, which completely destroyed her pride.

Maybe that was part of the reason she was tired and disoriented most of her conscious times. Everyone tried to be understanding of this but she would doze off in the middle of a conversation, wake up sometime later, and not remember half of it. Communication was difficult and this could all be so frustrating at times. It wasn't her fault and nobody blamed her…it was his fault, really…yet he was the only one who blamed himself. That was a little frustrating too, for him anyway.

He watched her, alone, in her room as a nurse fed her. Marinette reminded him of a baby bird, her mouth wide open again as soon as she was done swallowing, so incredibly focused on that spoon, as if it was the only thing in the world that mattered to her. She didn't seem to mind the restrictive soft food diet at all…she genuinely only wanted to eat. He knew it couldn't possibly be enough to quell her hunger pangs but it was the only time he would ever see her excited about something, using all her strength to push herself into a sitting position.

She never seemed to see anyone if they looked through the one small, rectangular window on the door, so they could at least watch her progress without her getting embarrassed. She probably still figured they thought she was eating on her own.

Sabine explained to him that the reason Marinette was like this, the reason she was so unwilling to accept help or show vulnerability, was because she had chosen to isolate herself. By chance, she met Erek's father—whose name was Pascal as he finally learned after all this time—and the two instantly connected with each other. Sabine was reluctant to give out too many details, but she said their relationship crumbled after Marinette became pregnant with Erek, and continued to worsen after he was born. They'd broken up a few years after his birth and Marinette was largely left alone to raise him. Sabine and Tom helped when they could but they still had the bakery to run and they weren't getting any younger. With Tom's back problems, it hadn't been as easy to run the store as it used to be. Marinette would put aside her plans, if and when she had any, to come help them. It would eventually take a toll on her and she would wind up in the hospital again…and again…and again…with an illness nobody could identify.

The end result of all this was Marinette deciding she didn't have time for other people or relationships and accepting help made her feel useless, which was a difficult thing to deal with when she had been doing so much for herself, her child, and her parents for so many years.

Which meant that her cutting herself off, not talking to him much, and keeping herself so distant was nothing personal. In fact, Sabine and Tom were both convinced she still saw him, Alya, and Nino as friends. Maybe not close friends anymore, but friends nevertheless.

It only came as somewhat of a relief though. She should never have had to take care of Erek on her own and she should never have had to struggle by herself.

The nurse finally finished and Marinette leaned forward with a frown. She started speaking to the nurse but he couldn't make out the words behind the door. The nurse said something back and Marinette's eyes became pleading. She started talking again as the nurse helped strap an oxygen mask back on her.

He moved out of the way—and away from the window, out of her sight—so the door could open. He heard Marinette begging again as the nurse left. Just a little bit more. Just one more bite. Wait. No. Come back.

The door shut behind the nurse and said nurse glanced over at him.

"It's not fun for us either," she sighed.

The nurse walked off with a bowl that had been scraped clean and he decided to wait a minute, seeing Marinette growl and beat her fist repeatedly against the bed sheets until she started to wear herself out. It pained him to see her like this but his pain was nothing compared to hers.

She threw herself back down onto the bed and clutched her stomach.

He quietly opened the door to hear her groan.

"Marinette?" he said softly.

She grunted through the mask and lifted her head just enough to see who had called to her. He wasn't sure if she was disappointed or mad, but she dropped her head back once she recognized him.

"Heeeyyyy, Marinette," he said as he walked up to the side of her bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Did you bring snacks?" she croaked.

Sometimes her voice came out a bit strangled but it appeared to be more from using her throat than any emotion.

"Sorry, they wouldn't let me," he answered.

She growled again at the unwanted response and stared hatefully at the ceiling. Well…either hatefully or hangrily.

He put a gentle hand on her shoulder, feeling the bones stick out slightly from months of zero diet.

"When you get out, I'll take you to a nice restaurant and let you order anything you want," he said. "Does that sound good?"

She sighed and nodded her head, cracking a small grin at the thought of stuffing herself.

She turned her eyes from the ceiling to him. "Anywhere at all?"

"Anywhere at all," he confirmed.

She let out a relieved breath and said, "That sounds good."

"How do you feel about Erek coming to see you later?"

"Uh…" She anxiously bit her lip. "I don't…want him to see me right now…"

"I understand. I'll tell him you were too sleepy."

"How is he doing?"

"I think he's pretty settled in now. He's with Alya at the moment. I'm pretty sure he's starting to make friends with her kids. He misses you a lot. Asks to see you every day."

"Are the doctors saying I can ever get out of this place?" she scoffed.

"They're optimistic about your recovery though, that's good."

She turned her eyes back to the ceiling.

"It'll be good when I can get out… I haven't eaten in days." Her eyebrows furrowed for a moment and she muttered under breath, "And my body looks like it's already wasting away…"

Marinette thought the akuma attack had taken place only a few days ago. Nobody had even hinted that she'd been in the hospital much, much longer than that. Nobody actually lied to her, they more or less danced around the subject and let her assume she woke up the day after. She would be filled in when the doctors said she would be able to safely handle that news.

Most patients waking up from comas had no recollection of it and Marinette was no exception to this. The reactions many of them had to the news were unpredictable. Some people had been thrown into seizures—although these were patients who'd suffered head injuries. Some people had full blown panic attacks. Some became severely depressed. Some went completely numb and shut down. Some patients even refused to talk or eat in their shock.

In Marinette's case, they feared any reaction that involved heavy breathing. Her lungs were healing but they had sustained so much damage that her time in the hospital was indefinite, and they hadn't healed enough to remove the risk of more lung damage. The doctors best described this as a nasty cut: it would scab over, but stretching and tearing and picking at the scab would make it bleed again, and a new scab would have to form to continue the recovery process. They also explained that like the nasty cut, there would likely be scarring in her lungs from the surgery and the way the tears were expected to heal. So, for the time being, it was best to just leave out the entire coma chunk of her story.

He also hadn't had the chance to tell her about her home being crushed under the snake, which also meant he hadn't asked her about reconsidering moving in with him. While her stay at the hospital was hard to watch, he still wanted her with him and Erek, even if he would have to see her go through all that again.

"Then you should make a list of all the restaurants you want to go to," he said.

"I think…every one in Paris…maybe all of France…"

Her voice was getting quieter, softer. He noticed her eyes were starting to gloss over again. Her blinks were slow. Her breathing was even. The heart monitor was beeping slower—not slow enough to be concerned about but slow enough to tell him she was about to go to sleep again now that the food was gone.

He couldn't help but chuckle at how she only cared to wake up for food, even though he knew how little they were actually giving her.

She rolled her head to the side and looked at him.

"Mmm?" she lazily hummed.

"Nothing. Just remembered something funny."

"Mmm."

He patted her shoulder and stepped back from the bed.

"You should get some rest. You—"

Her eyes slid shut.

He would've talked longer but once she went back to sleep it was no easy feat getting her to wake up enough to converse. Sometimes she wouldn't wake up at all.

He had to get back to Erek anyway. Maybe tomorrow he would visit her again and bring her a few of Erek's pictures, if he could catch her awake and if Erek would let him. It hadn't been the most productive day but at least he had some kind of conversation with her. That was worth something, he supposed. He would have to remember his vow to take her out to eat when she got out.

…If she got out.

A/N

Marinette be spending so much time at the hospital but is it a coincidence? Also, out of curiosity, did everyone just run out of things to say about this fic or are so few people reading it? I'm pleased to entertain either way, just wondering if I'm doing something wrong here and what it is.

*I edited the summary to avoid triggering people, this story does and will (later) develop themes that may disturb some people.