Marinette notices that Father is almost always in the Cave when he is not at Wayne Enterprises or patrolling, unless Alfred has made him go to sleep. It is how he avoids his problems, and maybe she should not be judging him considering she still hasn't stepped into her old room, but it has been four months. Father has not even attempted to move on.

"He's... trying to bring Damian back." Tim responds when she asks. "Not the Pit! Never the Pit." He amends hurriedly at the look in her eye.

"There is no other way." Marinette says, before shutting herself in her sewing room for four hours and making a nice Robin-themed jacket. She won't get her hopes up. She won't. It's impossible.

.o0o.

Of course, being present at the Winter Gala means a kidnapping. Or an attempted one, anyway.

One of the waiters gives her a spiked drink. Ketamine is supposed to be tasteless and odorless, but Marinette has built up enough of a tolerance that the minute amount of dizziness that sets in fifteen minutes later, along with the waiter subtly tailing her throughout the hall, clues her in.

It would be odd if she didn't show any sign of the drugs taking hold, so she pretends to stumble and sway before collapsing, discreetly hooking her leg around the "waiter's" ankle and sweeping his feet out from under him so his head hits the marble floor with a crack.

Marinette calculates her fall so that she careens straight into Jason, whose arms lift her limp body with ease and carry her away from all the commotion, into one of the spare rooms down the hall.

"He tried to drug you?" Jason asks. Her siblings know the protocols.

"Ketamine. Built up a tolerance, but I suppose I must stay here for the rest of the gala to avoid arousing suspicion. What a shame." Marinette says sarcastically. They all hate these galas. To get out of one is a treat.

Of course, the attempted kidnapping of Marinette Wayne is on the front page of every newspaper on the East Coast (reporters, ugh. The only respectable ones are Jon's parents, and Lois wrote the article for the Daily Planet.) but it was unavoidable. Besides, if she was kidnapped, the twelve trackers on her person at any given time and the subdermal one at the base of her neck means that the Bats will come save her. Marinette trusts her family.

.o0o.

Not a lot of people experience strong negative emotions during the holiday season, or maybe Hawkmoth was busy celebrating with his own family. Marinette shudders at the thought of whoever could have the misfortune of being related to that man.

She does zeta back to Paris a few times to fight an overworked mall Santa, a girl whose boyfriend dumped her the day before her birthday, and a man who insists Christianity is the only valid religion (Ladybug punches him in the face a few more times than necessary), but that's it for her entire Winter Break. They don't take very long, and Marinette is gone and back in half an hour at most every time.

She ends up telling Jon because she had to leave halfway through their lunch at BatBurger. Thankfully, he takes it very well.

"Honestly, I don't think anybody else would do it half as well as you do, Mari."

Marinette, luckily, has practiced lying using Jon as a human lie detector before and therefore knows how to keep her heartbeat (fairly) steady and her breathing even and hopes that his super hearing didn't pick up on the split-second change.

Tim helps her transfer Hawkmoth's case file, which is getting larger by the week, onto the Batcomputer, and together, they narrow down the list to only five suspects.

Gabriel Agreste, who wrote the book that was her first birthday present from Tim, is one of them. Marinette thinks of the designer's reclusive nature, the way he directly caused Jackady by blowing off the hypnotist, the way his body screams that he is hiding something, and Adrien's false personality at school, and writes him down as the priority suspect- the first to be investigated.

.o0o.

On Christmas morning, Marinette wakes up to find a text from Jon.

Merry Christmas Mari! ҉*( 'ω' )/*҉

Merry Christmans, Jon. I am surprised you awoke before me.

I was excited!

Ma n Pa are coming over, and u kno how much I love Ma's apple pie!

Yes. Yes, I do.

She goes downstairs, still clad in her oversized Nightwing t-shirt and bat-patterned pajama pants, a rare sight.

Alfred makes even more food than normal for breakfast, and then they exchange presents.

Father actually smiles when he sees Marinette's mug and the turtleneck she knitted with a subtle bat logo on the inside of his right wrist.

Richard hugs her (a common occurrence) when he unwraps a Nightwing onesie, and all her siblings laugh when they find similar onesies with their respective alter egos too.

Tim turns beet red when he sees the mug with Conner on it. It makes all of her siblings laugh again, but they stop when Tim threatens to change the Wi-Fi password.

Alfred gets a cookbook filled with Dupain-Cheng recipes that Tom and Sabine allowed Marinette to compile, hand-written in her neat, looping script.

Marinette's phone buzzes, and she opens it to see a message from Jon. Attached is an image of him wearing the navy blue hoodie she made him, and Marinette smiles. He really does look good in blue.

Father's present to her is a large array of dolls, modeled after her. Well, Starling.

"They make these now?" Marinette asks as she observes one miniature version of herself, holding a tiny fan.

"Someone got a lucky shot." Father replies. Translation: he anonymously leaked a picture to a toy company so she wouldn't be left out of the Bat collection.

Cass gives her a pair of sai with a single ruby embedded into each handle. Marinette recognizes them as the ones Lady Shiva gave Cass shortly before she ran away. "Are you sure, jiejie?"

Cass nods, brown eyes piercing into her soul. "You are worthy."

Richard gives her a scrapbook of family moments she didn't know she needed. There are pages for individual members, as well as ones for the group as a whole. This time, Marinette initiates the hug.

Jason gives her another ceramic dagger, as he does for every holiday, much to Father's disapproval. This one has a hollow compartment in the handle that she could store her earbuds in.

"...Why?" Marinette asks, when he informs her of the compartment's function.

Jason shrugs. "Dunno. I got it 'cause it was cool."

Tim's present is a weighted blanket patterned with robins. Marinette finds a picture of herself and Jon eating ice cream tucked into the folds, and it is her turn to flush red as Tim snickers.

Alfred gives Marinette a book on casual fashion, written by Audrey Bourgeois. He doesn't know Audrey's daughter is the biggest bully in her class (or maybe he does, one never knows with Alfred.) Either way, Marinette looks forward to reading it in her free time.

Ironically enough, when Marinette opens the package Jon handed her when they exchanged gifts the day before, it's a version of his old Superboy hoodie in her size, short cape and all. She puts it on and takes a picture before sending it to him.

This is a betrayal to all my fellow Gothamites.

is typing...

is typing...

is typing...

wow u look rlly nice in that Mari!

Are you implying that I do not look nice normally?

NO!

Just joking. Thank you, Jon.

.o0o.

On New Year's Eve, all of them change into costume and zeta to the Watchtower for the annual Justice League New Year's Eve party. Marinette spent the day beforehand altering her Starling suit. She hit a growth spurt in the four months she was gone, and Marinette was now three inches taller than she was the last time she was in Gotham.

The satellite orbiting Earth is filled with heroes from all over the world, with light and laughter and the melodic voice of Black Canary at the karaoke station, crooning an old-timey jazz tune.

Starling is immediately intercepted by Superboy, and together, they head over to the kids' corner (read: no alcohol.)

The Teen Titans are already milling around the area, chatting, and Beast Boy waves when he sees them. "Starling! Superboy! Over here!"

Starling's heart clenches when she notes that Beast Boy, Blue Beetle, Raven, Starfire, and the newer recruits, Wonder Girl (Cassandra Sandsmark), and Impulse (Bart Allen- Barry's grandson from the future? Or something along those lines?) are all there. Technically, Starfire belongs with the adults, but she seems more than content to play den mother for the kids. The only one missing is Robin.

Superboy hears the change in heartbeat and looks at her with sympathetic blue eyes. Starling takes a deep breath in, steeling herself, and walks towards the group.

"Hello Beast Boy, Raven, Wonder Girl, Impulse, Blue Beetle, Starfire. It's been a while."

"Indeed, it has." Starfire replies. Her feet, previously hovering a foot above the ground, touch the floor- a sign that her joyful mood is dulling. "We are very sorry for your loss."

"...Thank you. I am also sorry. He was a member of your team too." Starling says quietly. It has been four months, and she still avoids the subject. Starling supposes it is only natural though. She feels her eyelids burn and forces the tears away. She won't cry. Not here. Not now.

"So!" Superboy interjects, with a forced smile on his face. "Did any of you guys get the new Ultimate Mecha Strike game?"

Starling appreciates the change in topic. "I am certain the Watchtower has it, actually. My brothers made sure of it. Computer, activate Ultimate Mecha Strike 3." She commands, and a holographic screen pops up, along with holographic controllers.

"Sweet!" Blue Beetle cheers, and Wonder Girl grins.

"Ultimate Mecha Strike tournament!" She hollers, and Impulse immediately grabs a controller Superboy takes the other.

"I'll referee." Raven says. "I'd rather not participate. The rules are simple. Play fair, and powers are not allowed."

Impulse beats Superboy and Beast Boy but loses to Wonder Girl. Starfire decimates Wonder Girl and Blue Beetle, and Starling finds everyone begging her (?) to not let Starfire beat them again at videogames.

"Please, Mari?" Jon-El (curse him) brings out the puppy eyes, and Starling hates herself for finding it absolutely adorable. "Video games aren't even a thing on Tamaran!"

"Code names, Superboy." She grumbles before taking the empty controller and choosing the ladybug-themed bot. "You're an alien too, you know."

Starling has never played Ultimate Mecha Strike before, but she has played a few others during Richard's family game nights. She easily gets the hang of the controls.Thirty seconds into the round, Starfire's bot is in pieces, pixelated sparks flying from the broken machinery.

The Titans cheer, and she smiles. It felt good to be among fellow teenagers who understood the struggle of being heroes and still do normal things. It was nice to not worry about Hawkmoth or the next Arkham breakout (logically, she knew that both were currently active threats and that Tikki was hidden in her utility belt, but there was something about being in space that just... relaxed her.)

"Hey guys!" Superman's cheerful voice resonates from the satellite's speakers, and he waves at them from the karaoke stand. "Just wanted to let you know that there's three minutes until the New Year. Join us so we can count down together!"

The main hall of the Watchtower is truly majestic, with its massive windows overlooking planet Earth, surrounded by the inky darkness of space.

All the heroes (though some prefer vigilantes) of Earth gather in one enormous room, chanting as one whole as the clock ticks down from ten to one.

"Happy New Year, Justice League." The Watchtower computer intones, and suddenly, everyone around Starling is kissing. Black Canary and Green Arrow, Superman and Lois Lane-Kent, Flash and Iris West-Allen, Nightwing and the now-retired Kid Flash, a helmetless Red Hood and Starfire, then Starfire and Arsenal, then Arsenal and Red Hood- okay. That was a lot to unpack.

Red Robin yanks a surprised Kon-El down and forcefully kisses him, and the original Superboy responds with just as much fervor once the shock wears off a little. Black Bat lurks off to the side, content to watch the romance but never take part.

Starling and Superboy quietly cheer, celebrating that their brothers have finally gotten the courage to kiss.

Starling steals a glance at Superboy, and is surprised to see him looking right at her. A light pink dusts his cheeks, and her heart is pounding so loud that it must be deafening for him.

She gathers her own courage, spurred by Red Robin's boldness, to stand on her toes, chin tilted up because Jon-El is so tall, and close the difference between them.

Her lips lightly brush Superboy's cheek, which immediately flames red.

Marinette smirks at a frozen Jon-El (what was that phrase he taught her? Superboy.exe has stopped working?) before pulling up her mask to hide how her own face burns.