Chapter Text
Gabriel found himself staring at the computer screen, unable to find the flaw in the design. It had been hours. He knew the problem; he couldn’t focus. It seemed that burying himself in his work didn’t distract him of his impending birthday in a couple of days without his loving wife.
Maybe he just needed to try harder.
Eyes wandering back to the outfit he had planned for the Adrien line, his frustration only built. The edges of a migraine caused him to pinch the bridge of his nose while Gabriel gave in to the temptation of heavy eyelids. Obviously, this wasn’t working, and if he couldn’t avoid the issue, the only solution was to face it head-on. Agreste men never back away from the problems they face; if they did, he wouldn’t be running the fashion empire he was today.
“Nathalie,” he called out.
“Sir?” She answered immediately, waiting for his orders.
“Cancel the rest of my meetings today.” The factories may be upset about the change in schedule, but Gabriel would have to deal with the repercussions after his visit.
“Of course.”
Quick, precise, and loyal. Without her, the family would have fallen apart a long time ago. He couldn't have asked for a better secretary.
“Are you going to go see her?”
That was the question, but the answer always seemed to loop back to Emilie. Gabriel offered a soft sad smile in return. “I am.”
“Very good, sir. I’ll see to it that you’re not disturbed.” He made a mental note to give her a vacation once the spring collection was complete. If someone deserved one, it was her for working nonstop without a single complaint. The door closed without a word; he turned towards the portrait of his wife.
Every time he visited her, it took a toll on him. Seeing her laying there stiff and lifeless pained his heart. He may have well been useless; he was no closer to bringing her back. Giving up, however, was not an option until life stole his last breath. He owed her at least that. The world needed more Emilie Agreste to warm the hearts of the people still living. She was his driving motivation, and he doubted that would fade any time soon. There had to be something besides the wishes he could do to reverse the effects. All she wanted to do was to help people, and the world made her suffer. The hardest lesson he had to learn was the world doesn’t care if you’re good or evil; you all suffer the same.
Her figure drew him in, and he placed his hand on the glass. If only she was awake and he could throw his arms around her. He would never let her go. “I’m sorry I’ve been away so long, my love.” It’s not that he hadn’t wanted to see her; he had been busy with the fall line. But if he was honest with himself, he could have made time to visit. “It’s my birthday in a few days,” he continued. “But it doesn’t feel like it, not without you here.”
Water began to welled in his eyes as he clenched his fist.
“I thought I was very clear; you’re not allowed to cry over me.” A stern tone snapped.
That voice.
Gabriel’s head jerked up towards the stasis chamber, storing the last shred of his wife’s existence. Nothing had changed from inside, so the voice couldn’t have originated from there. But he could swear that voice belonged to—
“You do remember promising that, didn’t you?” This time, however, the harshness melted into a warm assurance. “The last thing I ever wanted was for me to hold you back from living his life.”
He whipped around at the voice behind him and immediately stumbled back. His legs couldn’t keep up, and he fell to the ground. Gabriel barely noticed the pain as his heart thrashed against his insides.
”You can’t be.” He wasn’t supposed to see his wife, let alone walking around and speaking to him. But no matter how many times he rubbed his eyes, her image remained.
“And why not?” She sharply questioned, crossing her arms, eyebrows arched.
“Because, ”— His voice gave out and he turned his gaze from the women standing in front of him to the chamber with his wife very much inside.
Still, when magic is involved, anything could happen. If he knew the danger back when the mysteries of the Miraculous were first introduced, he wouldn’t have gotten involved. Losing Emilie wasn’t worth the power he gained. Now it seemed the price was he would be mocked with images of his wife to torment him further.
“If you are indeed Emilie, tell me something only the two of us would know.” If It were an imposter, the question would stop them in their tracks. Gabriel knew the love of his life like the back of his hand. If she lied, Gabriel wouldn’t hold back.
“Hmmm,” she hummed, tapping her finger against her chin thoughtfully. “All these years and you haven’t changed Gav.”
Gabriel gasped at the name, but his surprise didn’t seem to stop her in the least. “The way we met at the coffee shop was unique. I remember it vividly.
“I had ordered a cold brew, but I had seen you long before I got into line. You were sitting at a table against the wall just under one of the paintings. It was where I usually sat when I had the day off. I remember you checking your phone and flipping through your textbook. I could have sworn that we locked eyes once, but I got cold feet and averted my gaze away quickly. Once I got my coffee, I had every intention to walk out the door and allow you to become a memory of the cute guy in the coffee shop that I would remember from time to time. Strangely, fate had other plans.
I hadn’t meant to trip, let alone spill all my coffee all over your suit. I was mortified at the way you shot up from your seat gasping out of shock. The napkins didn’t do any good, and I offered to dry clean my mess, but you turned it down. You assured me that you could handle taking it to the cleaners. Your eyes, they held such kindness and gentleness that I found that I couldn’t look away. Before I left, I remember leaving my number in case there was anything I could do. I didn’t know at the time how much would you mean to me.”
Emilie smiled to herself as she retold the memory, and Gabriel couldn’t bring himself to tear his eyes away. This had to be her; there was no other explanation. When pressed to how they had met, Gabriel spared Emilie the embarrassment of sharing the details of the spilled coffee to the press.
“I-I called you a week later,” Gabriel muttered. “Only because it took me that long to gather the courage.”
“While I was waiting by my phone every single day.”
“I didn’t know that.”
Emilie smirked, “a woman is entitled to her secrets. Why? Would it have made a difference in the time it took you to ask me out?”
“No,” he confessed. “I think that would have made me even more nervous.”
“I don’t see why. You had me right where you wanted me.”
“Because, as I remembered it, you’ve always been out of my league.”
Gabe couldn’t help but pace the room waiting for her to arrive. During his first year of design school, he had heavily depended on Emilie’s opinion for one critical reason: she wasn’t afraid of being honest with him. It turned out that taking the plunge and calling her was the right move, and lead her quickly becoming his best friend. He had soon realized that he wanted more.
But even he was aware of how out of his league she was. Sure, he was born into money, but Emilie—she had a beauty that swelled from the depths of her soul. Without a doubt, she lit up any room she walked in and was always the first to ask how people were doing. Whenever you were around her, warmth oozed out of her. Emilie could remember little details about people and ask them months later how situations turned out, not missing a beat.
She had even had won the approval of his father —not that she knew that fact—but Gabriel was determined to ask Emilie out without allowing fear to get in the way.
He just had to find the courage.
“Still spacing Gav? That’s always like you!” Emilie's voice caused him to jump outside of his pace. He did smile at the nickname; she was the only one who called him that. Emilie had deemed it their thing. Friends had nicknames for each other, right? Either way, it caused his heart to flutter like butterflies in his chest every time she used it.
“What are you working on? Is it the final project?” The way her green eyes lit up with excitement captivated all of his attention. His eyes could only trail after her as she hurriedly made her way towards his desk.
“Wait!” He blurted out, not sure if he was ready for his crush to cast judgment on his gala dress already. Even if he could put it off for an hour or two, that would allow his heart to reach a more reasonable speed. “It's not ready.”
Emilie held the paper out of his grasp. “I’m sure it’s not as horrible as you’re making your sketches out to be. Let me be the judge of that.”
His chest tightened as he watched the various expressions dance across her face.
“Hmm,” Emilie hummed.
What, was something wrong?
Her lip curled between her teeth as she held the pause for a couple of seconds long before relieving him of his torture. “Don’t change a thing,” Emilie smiled, “it’s perfect.”
Gabriel’s heart leaped into his throat, “Really?” Emilie wasn’t the type of person to give out false compliments. If she said not to change a thing, then it was time to start the production stage.
“Absolutely,” Emilie finally handed his sketches back to him.
Gabriel gripped the papers tighter. The question on the tip of his tongue was sure to make his palms start to sweat. “I was hoping that maybe you could be my model?”
“What?”
Heat lined the tips of his ears from the base of his neck. Maybe this was too far, but she was his friend after all; she wouldn’t judge him.
“I mean, I don’t have to use a model, but I’m sure the dress would look better on you, with your body shape. I already picked colors that would flatter your cool skin tone, making your beautiful eyes pop”- The gravity of what he said sunk in. The damage was already done, but backing out of it would make him look even more foolish. Not that Emilie gave him a chance, she burst out in a small fit of laughter.
“Is that why you’ve been acting all weird the last couple weeks? Of course, I’ll be your model, Gav.”
“Thank you! I’ll take you out to dinner to celebrate.”
“Like a date?” The air around them stilled at the comment. Gabriel forced himself to turn his gaze in time to see a pink tint resting on her cheeks. This was it; she had given him the nudge that he needed.
He softly smiled. “Yeah, like a date.”
“You know, the first thing I did was gush to all my friends about how lucky I was. The man I had a crush on for the last several months liked me back. I couldn’t have been happier at that moment.”
Gabriel found himself at a loss of words. She—if she was, in fact, his wife— had never told him any of this. All he had heard from Emilie’s friends was how well liked she was, especially from the male population. Out of all the people she could have liked, they were drawn to each other. He must have been the luckiest guy in the world to catch her eye.
“I remember the exact moment I fell in love with you,” Emilie stated, catching his attention.
Gabriel, attuned to her movements, followed her as she slowly began to circle him.
”It was a couple of days before Christmas, and you took me to the skating on the outdoor rink. I had never skated before but didn't want to spoil the date. You were so patient, and no matter how many times we fell, you made a sorry excuse blaming yourself to make me feel better.
You even stood in line afterward to buy me some hot chocolate. Watching you made me realize that I had fallen for you along the way.”
Gabriel’s mouth dropped, and he dared to take a step forward. “But you waited to tell me. Why?”
Emilie shrugged in response. “I wasn’t even sure how to tell you or how you would react.” She hugged her arms across her body. “I only had to wait a couple more weeks to hear you say it. When you whispered those words in my ear as they set off fireworks, my heart exploded with them. I wouldn’t change that for the world.”
A chuckle fell from Gabriel’s lips. “If only you knew how much I was a bundle of nerves. I have practiced all week with the staff of how I would tell you, but when the time came, all that vanished.”
Emilie caught him off guard by suddenly ghosting a kiss to his cheek before continuing her pacing. “I’d rather have open vulnerability than rehearsed lines any day.”
Gabriel’s hand flew to the spot where her lips touched. There was the smallest spark of heat when her lips made contact; he couldn’t help but gasp. Meanwhile, his head swirled to the point where he would have to close his eyes and dig his nails into his palms to get a grounding.
He tried to ignore the pounding from his heart against his rib cage. Getting distracted couldn’t be an option; he still hadn’t received an answer from one of the first questions he asked.
“Emilie,” His hand ruffled through his hair. “I’ve been searching for a way to”— he couldn’t bring himself to continue that train of thought. For his heart yearned for his wife to be standing in front of him just like Emilie was now. If he finished the sentence, she might disappear. She would be so close, yet just out of reaching distance, as she’s always been.
“What are you doing here? Why can I see you?
“You can see me because you want to,” she replied simply.
Gabriel’s heart lurched. That’s all it took? But if that was the case, why was she only now showing up? He had been toiling away for years doing everything in his power to bring her back, didn’t that count for something?
“But I”—
His words stopped short when the familiar warmth wrapped over his shoulders. She was leaning into him, and all he wanted was to give in.
“Do you remember when you proposed to me?”
How could he ever forget?
”You’re stressed,” Emilie’s arms curved around his slender body pulling him in close. “Your face is doing that thing again. Is it your father?”
He didn’t know how she was always able to see right through him. Sometimes he wished that she wasn’t privy to his thoughts and stress he held on his shoulders with the Agreste name. Gabriel wanted to shield her from that life.
“It’s nothing,” he answered, hoping his girlfriend would drop the subject, or take him at his word. The second he felt the skin of her fingertips dip just underneath his jawline did he know he was in trouble. She guided his gaze to meet hers, and Gabe found himself swimming in her green pools filled with warmth and love.
“It’s not nothing. If it is weighing on you, and therefore us. Talk to me, Gav.”
A comfort wrapped around him as he allowed a sigh to slip past his lips. Of course, this was affecting their relationship; he had been foolish to think it hadn’t.
“My father is concerned about starting up in the fashion industry; he doesn’t think I’ll succeed. Emilie, he’s not going to back me.”
Even if he used what money he had in savings, it wouldn’t be enough to cover the start-up costs. His trust fund wouldn’t be available for another couple of years, and the cushion of his father’s investment now evaporated; he didn’t have many options. “Maybe I should wait, work on convincing my father to”-
“No.” Emilie’s sudden outburst caught him off guard. “You have worked far too hard to base your dreams on the opinion of one man.” Her face softened as her hands to cup his face. “You are talented, and you can do anything you set your mind too.”
“Only with you around,” he whispered. The idea hadn’t been a foreign one; he had known for a while that he was a better person with Emilie. “Marry me.”
The words were out before he could stop them. Watching the shock resinate on her face, and with a lack of an instant answer, his stomach swirled. Had he misread what future his girlfriend wanted?
“Emilie?” If she was to turn him down, he hoped she would make it quick so he could pick up the pieces of his shattered heart.
“Yes.”
“I don’t understand,” Gabe replied, forcing himself to push the memory back to the depths of his mind no matter how much he wished it to linger. “Emilie”-
The warmth from earlier had turned to a dull echo. Upon a full spin, Gabriel found himself once again completely alone, wondering if it was all just a dream.