Rich Mess ; Adrien vs. Felix

2 - Captured in a Polaroid

Marinette's POV

"You need to prepare yourself." Doctor Pierce said.

Though her tone was gentle, these five words repeated inside my head like a never-ending nightmare. Once again, my heart clenched, my throat tightened and tears filled in my eyes.

It's been 5 days since the accident. I've spent every minute of these days next to Emma's incubator, with Alya and Felix by my side most of the time.

I've never even held my baby girl, and now she's on the brink of death. She practically came out of me dead, and it's killing me. I feel like my heart is breaking in a thousand pieces.

Once upon a time, Adrien would've known what to say to comfort me. His strong arms would've hugged me and this situation would be a little better.

"Doctor... I need to hold my baby, or I think I'm gonna go crazy. I need to hold my baby before she..." I started, the word 'dies' didn't come out. "please..." I muttered.

I know what this means. If Emma is not hooked up to these machines, all of her organs will fail at once. But she's already dying, just slower... and alone. And I don't want her to be alone.

I want to be able to hold her against me and tell her how much I love her. How sorry I am for not protecting her, when it was the one job I had to do.

And that's exactly what I did. Doctor Pierce unhooked Emma, and I finally held her close to me. The doctor escorted us to my room and gave us privacy for a moment.

"Oh, Emma..." I whispered once we were alone. No matter how hard I fought, no matter how hard I tried not to cry, tears came out of my eyes uncontrollably.

"My baby girl... I love you so much. Mommy loves you so much, it hurts..." I said in between sobs.

I caressed her small cheeks and pressed a sweet kiss on her forehead. "I'll always love you..."

"I'm sorry I hurt you, I never meant to hurt you..." I apologized frantically.

Her head was smaller than the size of my fist. She was so cute... She was gorgeous. Even if she couldn't open her eyes, I could tell they were green. Just like Adrien's.

"I wish your daddy was here to see how adorable you are..." I whispered and shut my eyes in an attempt to forget the fact that he abandoned me... us.

"I wish he was here to hold us..." I muttered under my breath. I sniffled and let out a small chuckle.

"But it's okay, we're okay... You just go to sleep, okay? You're gonna meet your grandparents soon, my mom and my dad!" I let out cheerfully.

"They will take good care of you... They will love you as much as I love you. You'll see, heaven is so much better than Earth..." I said sweetly in between nods.

Right now, time didn't matter. Time didn't exist. The only thing that I cared about was this little angel in my arms. I examined every little detail of her. I don't want to ever forget her.

With one finger, I traced her little arms. I wished her tiny fingers could squeeze my finger... But of course, she couldn't do that.

"Can you breathe, Emma? Can you please breathe for mommy?" I asked on the verge of desperation.

My vision became blurry from all the crying, but I didn't care. I waited for her to breathe.

I waited, and waited, and waited.

But we live in a cruel, messed up and dark world, in which my daughter lived for less than a week.

I kissed her forehead, her cheeks and her hands over and over again.