Chapter Text
“Wh… Where am I?”
Marinette opened her eyes and looked around. Her head was pounding and she was still groggy, but she wasn't sure why. She knew she was laying down in a bed, it was slightly elevated, the room she was in smelled sterile...
She blinked as she tried to collect herself and registered she was in a hospital room.
“How did I get here?” She asked. She looked at herself and saw she was still in her everyday outfit, but there was an IV going into her left arm, and it was attached to a mess of machines that were beeping at her. Her purse was at her side.
“Tikki?” Marinette whispered. “Are… Are you here?”
“She’s good,” a familiar voice said from beside her. “She thought they might change your clothes while you were out, so she’s hiding in my pocket, going to town on a macaroon.”
Marinette looked to her right at a green hospital chair, and more to the point, the person relaxing in it.
Kicked back and playing on her phone was a young woman with short, messy brown hair. She had pale, freckled skin, and green eyes hidden behind wire rim glasses. She was in a patch-covered and extremely care-worn jean jacket and playing on her phone. She looked up at Marinette and smiled. “Have a good nap?”
“G… Gina?” Marinette asked, shocked.
Yes, shocked. I mean, can you blame her? It’s been a while for her since her time travelling daughter from the future bothered to swing by and say hello. Granted, every time they did meet, Marinette assumed it would be the last. She loved Gina, but she had come to associate her presence with major life events.
“Yo,” Gina said, grinning.
“What’s going on?” Marinette asked, fear creeping into her voice. “I remember I was in the hall, and Alya had gone back for her books, and there was, there… What happened, exactly?”
Gina let out a long breath. “Weeeeelllllll… You passed out at school. The paramedics rushed you here and found you to be exhausted, dehydrated, and, um…” Gina snorted. “Other stuff.”
Marinette looked around. “Where’s mom and dad? Do they know?”
Gina nodded. “Oh, they know you’re here. They’ll be here in about two minutes, and so will the doctor. Your friends are in the waiting room, worried out of their minds.”
Marinette looked back to Gina. “Why are you here? I mean, I’m thrilled to see you, but… Is there an emergency? Did something happen?” Marinette’s eyes widened. “Is something going to happen? Am I supposed to die today or something?”
Gina leaned forward and stared at Marinette over her glasses. “If you’re dead, then how am I here? No mom, that’s not what today is. Sorry.”
“Right,” Marinette said, nodding. She noticed Gina was fiddling with her phone. “Um, not that I’m ungrateful for the company and it’s, it’s amazing to see you again, but, um, why are you here?”
“Couple reasons,” Gina said as she pointed the camera of her phone at Marinette. “Okay. I only have a minute before all Hell breaks loose, so I need you to listen.”
Marinette nodded, her face serious. “I’m listening. What’s up?”
“Twenty years, three months, and four days from now, I will get in-school suspension for allegedly beating the snot out of a girl named Madeline with my lunch tray.”
Marinette blinked. “What?”
“Focus!” Gina snapped. “She was bullying another kid. I saw her dump a carton of milk on his head, so I cracked her with my tray. You grounded me because, um, yeah, I totally deserved that one. I could have made a better choice.”
“Um, Gina?” Marinette asked. “What does this have to do with...?”
Gina shook her head and focused. “Right. Anyway, what you didn’t know, or won’t know, is that I just dumped over 400 Euros I spent months saving up so I could go see The Anarkists reunion tour, which is performing for one night only. Also you told me you weren’t comfortable with me going and I was hoping to say I was going bowling instead and just go anyway, but now I’m under superhero house arrest, so my awesome plan is shot.”
Marinette started to get the picture. “Did you… Oh, my God. Did you abuse time and space so you could go see a concert?”
Gina shot a panicked look to Marinette. “You don’t understand! I need to go to that concert! It’s… There are numerous, layered reasons, all critical to my life for me to be there, and I don’t have time to go into them! Just… Remember this conversation? Please? And that I was here to act as your buffer?”
Marinette eyed her panicked daughter. “Okay, but… Buffer? Also, are… Are you filming me?”
Gina glanced at her phone and then at Marinette. “No. Maybe? Um, yes. I, um…” Gina blushed. “This is, oh geez. This is embarrassing. For me, I mean. Not you. Well, yes you, but, I mean, not yet? I… Okay. Plagg offered to comp me for the tickets if I recorded the next ten minutes of your life for him.”
“What?” Marinette asked, horrified. “Gina, what, why would he…? Gina, what’s about to happen to me?”
“I love you so much,” Gina said, cringing, “but, like, I’m out 400 bucks and he is very persuasive. So, um, priorities?”
“Gina, I… Plagg has money?”
Gina shrugged. “I know, right?”
Marinette had a slew of questions, all legitimate, but they would have to wait as there was a knock on the door.
“IloveyousomuchandI’msorry,” Gina quickly said before scrunching into her seat.
“Hello? Are we awake yet?” An older woman with a kind face asked. She was in a white coat and carrying a chart, and Marinette assumed she must be the doctor. Behind the smiling woman were her parents, both looking anxious.
“Oh,” the doctor said when she saw Gina. “I’m sorry, young lady, but you’ll have to wait out in the waiting room with the rest of your friends.”
Sabine put a hand on the doctor’s arm, her eyes wide. “Um, it’s okay. She’s family.”
“Gina!” Tom asked, confused and delighted. “Oh, my goodness! What are you doing here? I thought, um, wow!” He was giddy, while Sabine just stared at her.
“Why would you be here?” Sabine asked. The gears in her head began to turn.
She looked at Gina. In her mind’s eye, everything went black and white as Gina suddenly flashed with red and black spots.
She looked to the phone in Gina’s hand. It flashed red and black.
She then glanced at Marinette in the hospital bed, who also flashed red and black.
‘TODAY?!’ Sabine mouthed to Gina.
Gina flashed a helpless grin and nodded.
Sabine closed her eyes and composed herself. She patted Tom on the arm. “Honey, we can get excited about our visitor later. Right now, I think we should listen to Dr. Harper.”
The older woman, Dr. Harper, nodded in thanks. She walked beside Marinette and took out a flashlight to check her pupils. “How’s your head? Your friends said you took a nasty fall.”
Marinette rubbed the back of her head. “It’s fine? I guess? Um, what happened? Why am I here, exactly?”
Dr. Harper smiled at Marinette and quickly glanced to her parents before looking her in the eye. “You fainted, dear. You passed out from exhaustion and dehydration.”
Marinette stared in shock. “But… I know I let things go, but I… I’m not that bad!” She looked to her parents. “Am I that bad?”
Her mother nodded as her father tilted his hand back and forth and cringed.
“I’m not surprised your body reacted the way it did, what with you pushing yourself,” Dr. Harper continued. “Tell me, have you felt dizzy lately? Nauseous?”
Marinette nodded. “Um, yes, a little?”
Dr. Harper nodded. She cleared her throat and again glanced at Marinette’s parents. Sighing, she turned to Marinette and asked, “Dear, I have to ask. Have you, to your knowledge, been sexually active lately?”
Marinette turned the color of a tomato. Behind Dr. Harper, Tom locked up. “What did she ask?” He said.
“Why, um, that’s not, I really don’t see how, why would you even ask something like…?”
"Oh dear," Dr. Harper said. "I wondered if this was the case." She gave Marinette a sympathetic, knowing look.
“You’re pregnant, dear. About 12 weeks.”
Marinette stared at the doctor, her jaw unhinged.
“What?” She asked, her voice strained.
“Fortunately,” Dr. Harper continued, not even phased by the reactions around her. “Per the bloodwork, the baby seems healthy enough. We’ll know more when we do an ultrasound. Your poor body can only do so much, you know. You’ve been running yourself ragged, from the look of it.”
“What?” Marinette asked again.
“Whaaaaaaat did she just say?” Tom asked again, his critical functions crashing and rebooting.
“We’re not quite ready to know the gender, but we can take a look at the little peanut, if you would like. Congratulations, dear. You’re going to be a momma.”
Dr. Harper patted Marinette’s leg.
“…What?!” Marinette asked, again, nearly shrieking.
“WHAT. DID. SHE. JUST. SAY?” Tom asked again. He was turning red.
“Doctor?” Sabine asked. She put a hand on Dr. Harper’s shoulder. “Could you be so kind as to give us a few moments alone? I think we have some things to discuss.”
Dr. Harper nodded knowingly. “Well, when you’re ready, I have quite a lot to go over with you. Just hit the button when you’re done, loves.” She scooted past Tom, who had gone rigid, and left the room.
And with that, they were alone.