Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Nathalie had been edgy and distant for a whole month before she’d left, and even more strangely she didn’t even offer once to help him as Mayura. Which had come as a relief, if he was honest, because she was a prideful stubborn woman, and he knew he was unable to stop her donning that Miraculous if she chose to. Even if she didn’t show it outward because of her often obedient and subservient behavior. When she decided to do something, she refused to return empty handed. So, her lack of will to be Mayura had been both a comfort and disconcerting at the same time.

Then she'd resigned.

She’d waited until the last minute possible to tell him. The very Monday morning her replacement came in. It seemed obvious that, she would have waited more if the new girl’s presence wasn’t such a big give away that something was going on.

Nathalie didn’t come in the next Monday. Changed her cell phone number and address, and never provided him the new ones or any method of reaching her at all.

So, it was a surprised to get a call last night and discover he was still listed as her emergency contact and was the mandatary in her Procuration Médicale par Défaut.

That’s how he'd ended up by her bed in this hospital, in another city, with a baby in his arms while Nathalie was wired up to one machine monitoring her vitals and another that blowing precious oxygen into her lungs through a tube, after no contact from her for seven months.

The doctors say the baby is healthy, thank God, but that Nathalie’s condition is delicate. She is after all a 38 years-old woman with a complicated medical history and that combination had led to a high-risk pregnancy.

A high risk pregnancy she'd gone through alone. And now that he did the math, and with this baby in his arms, it’s brutally clear why she’d felt the need to leave.

Still, he wants to ask how could she? It’s his son, for goodness’ sake!

It had only happened once while they were both drunk, after an exhausting fashion week was finally over but the timing fits exactly. They’d never spoken about it afterwards. He’d felt so guilty about having cheated on his wife that he sent akumas every day that week.

He’d called Adrien and told him to pack clothes for them both to last a week and to come to Toulouse immediately, preferably by air and then called his PA to make travel arrangements for them.

He couldn’t take care of Nathalie and a baby alone, and even though it meant he’d have to confess to have broken the vows he’s made to his mother, there was no one else to call.

--

“Dad?”

He glanced in the direction of the door and was greeted with the sight of Adrien’s head coming in first, as if his son was confirming that he was definitely in the right place and on recognizing it was his father sat there, the rest of Adrien followed in.

Only Gabriel wasn’t alone. Adrien looked curiously at him, and Gabriel’s struck by how inexplicable his position in this chair with a baby in his arms must be to his son.

“Whose baby is this?” Adrien asked while he comes near to better see the bundle in his father's hands.

“It’s Nathalie’s”

And that’s when Adrien turned to see the person laying on the bed he could barely recognize as Nathalie.

“What happened to Nathalie?”

“She had complications during the birth due to her being ill last year.”

His son looked at Nathalie with such compassion and asked “But why did the hospital call you? Doesn’t she have family? Why didn’t they call her boyfriend?”

His father’s complexion was a mix of pensiveness and embarrassment when he answered “Because she has no family alive. And I am sure she doesn’t have a boyfriend.”

“So, who’s the father…oh.” Gabriel could see the exact moment when every piece of this puzzle fell into place in Adrien’s mind. He couldn’t stand Adrien’s stare long, so he looked down, at his baby.

It was difficult to see anything from him or Nathalie yet. His face was puffy and wrinkled and he could be anyone’s child, but he knew the baby was his. He had no doubt of that. What other reason could there be for Nathalie flee from the face of earth like that.? His hair was dark, though, so he knew at least that he got from his mother. He’d have to wait and see who he would resemble in the future.

Adrien came near to see his baby brother. Really see him. He was so tiny. So perfect. “Can I hold him?”

Gabriel expelled a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “Of course…of course.” It was a rare sight for Adrien to see his father with his defenses so obviously down.

“Dad, is he the reason Nathalie quit?”

This was a difficult conversation for Gabriel, but Adrien’s voice was so small and devoid of judgement it made it easy for Gabriel to answer, “I think so.”

“Did she tell you about it before leaving?”

“No. I just discovered it a few hours ago.”

Adrien just hummed and looked from his brother to the bed where Nathalie laid and then “Were you in a relationship?”

“No.” And Gabriel froze waiting for the judgment to come now.

Instead, all he got was another “Hum” followed by a “He’s beautiful. I hope he gets Nathalie’s eyes to go with the hair.”

An uncalled but not unwelcome smile comes out with an exhale of air and it’s the first time since that day began that Gabriel feels at least some of the tension in his shoulders and neck go.

Adrien was…the best word to describe him was shocked. But he recovered fast went from shock to worry about Nathalie’s state to complete bliss as he digested the news that he had a sibling a velocity that impressed Gabriel. A little brother the size of his forearm and that fit perfectly there while he slept and, he thinks, smiled.

Gabriel was amazed by Adrien. In that huge house of his, he barely saw his eldest. If it wasn’t for Nathalie, he wouldn’t even know if Adrien was well fed. In his pain, he neglected Adrien and retracted himself from him. Now, with her gone, Adrien was the only person he could count on for this. He arrived in Toulouse about three hours after he called, had shown nothing more than support and understanding. Nathalie has done a good job raising his son.

That night Adrien went to the hotel to sleep while Gabriel stayed with Nathalie and his son at the hospital. But the next day he needed more baby clothes, diapers and formula at least because the while Nathalie had packed a bag, she didn’t expect to be there for so much time. That’s how Adrien was tasked to care for them for a few hours, while he went to Nathalie’s apartment to retrieve baby stuff she had bought.

--

Nathalie’s condition was improving but it was slow, much slower than he’d like and after it became clear that Nathalie’s time in the hospital wouldn’t be a short one Gabriel realized that it would be impossible for him to run his company and care for a newborn from a hotel room hundreds of miles from Paris and that he couldn’t keep Adrien from school either. The only way to make this work until Nathalie was back on her feet and able to care for their son was if she was there in Paris with him. He immediately called his PA to take all necessary measures for as soon as the doctors gave him a green light to take her home.

When that happened, Gabriel went to Nathalie’s apartment again. Only now he wasn’t so nervous and insecure about what all that was happening. The first time, he could barely think straight enough to function properly to react to the fact that he was a father for the second time in his life, that the baby was already there and that he was alone to care for it, at least until Nathalie was on her feet again. He couldn’t think much more ahead than that.

Back in Paris, before she went to live in the mansion, he’d never visited her in her home. All he’d known was the proper and professional side of her persona. Then, during her illness, she moved to one of the rooms at the mansion and she was given permission to decorate however she liked it, he came to learn that she preferred her personal space warm and cozy, with wood textures and yellow lights to lend an even more intimate atmosphere. That, coupled with her love for books, chess and, surprisingly, mess made her room one of his favorite places of his cold minimalistic giant house and so different from the gelid persona she donned to interact with people at work.

Now, at her new apartment, Nathalie also favored the yellow-reddish tones of wood, just as he remembered, but it was tidier that her room at the mansion. There was a stroller folded near the entrance and a playpen in the living room visible from the kitchen. He went to the nursery but stopped at the entrance of her room. He tried to imagine it but didn’t want to invade her privacy just yet.

He decided to start with what was easier, so he just went to the kitchen to get all the baby supplies she already had acquired. Second was the nursery. Since he never imagined Nathalie as a mother, he didn’t know what to expect. It was simple but tasteful. The colors were mostly pastels but for a panel painted with leaf green, a crib and a chest made of wood and a few baby decorations and a place where she could change him.

He debated if he should keep her place intact and buy everything new in Paris or if he should just shut it down tell the tenant to sell everything. In the end, he decided to send some movers in and put Nathalie’s things in a storage in Paris and buy everything his baby would need for whatever time Nathalie would be hospitalized or, eventually, in physical therapy. If he was honest, he didn’t feel comfortable with her in another city sick and alone taking care of his child. He should have some say in this, damn it!

With that out of the way, he couldn’t postpone packing Nathalie’s stuff too. He stopped at the threshold of her bedroom for a moment before stepping in. It was such an intimate feeling to be in her room now. He felt like an intruder. Even if she even if gave him permission to sleep on her bed. To sleep with her. To do things to her body that one time, she didn’t give him permission to be here. He didn’t know how to feel while he went through all her personal clothes and belongings. He didn’t want to find out things about her like this. He wanted her to tell him about her, because if nothing else, he thought that, at some point, they might at least have been friends, although a friend wouldn’t treat her the way he did after they slept together. And a friend wouldn’t hide she was pregnant with his child denying him the knowledge that he was going to be a father again.

On the other hand, if he was being sincere with himself, he never asked such personal things to his assistant. Never showed any interest in knowing her better outside of work, so how was she to know? Their only topics of conversation were work, Adrien and how to put their hands on those damn jewels.

At that point, he had already packed everything that was in her room but sheets and towels. There were things there he didn’t think he or Nathalie would want the movers to touch.

That same week, he was told she could be moved to Paris and two weeks later, the doctors took her out of the artificial ventilation. The next day she woke up. Gabriel was sat by her side, holding her hand, when he heard a soft grunt. He looked up to her face and when he saw her blink sleepily and make strangled sounds with her throat. Then he rose and touched her cheek whispering “You’re awake. I was beginning to worry.”

Suddenly, her eyes snapped open, and her monitor started to beep, her breathing got faster. All he remembers is the panic in her eyes and the nurse telling him to leave. He wasn’t allowed to go back to her room and was told to go home.

The next time she woke up he was there too. But this time she didn’t panic. He was holding her left hand near his chin while his was supporting his forehead on the mattress, afraid of a repeat of the day before. He is so scared and apprehensive with everything that when he felt her pull her hand from his grasp, he looked up to see her fully awake and lucid, the only thing that got out was “Oh, thank God you are alright. I was so worried, Nathalie.” But she just kept looking at him and then “Where’s my son?”

“With Adrien. At home.” And after a few seconds of silence “You don’t seem surprised to find me here.”

“The doctors already have filled me in.”

“And how are you feeling?”

"I don't know. Tired, I guess, even though I spent all this time sleeping. But I'm not in pain."

Gabriel wanted to talk about them. About the fact that she hid and fled carrying his child. But he knew that even though he was ignorant of that fact, he is to blame for it too. So, he just sits there awkwardly until she says, "I want to see him."

"The doctors said hospitals are not the best environment for such young babies. He could catch something. You can see him when you go home."

"Home?"

"Yes. You're staying with me for now since you'll still need help."

She just nods. Not ready yet for heavier subjects.

Chapter Text

“Father?” Said Adrien while he watched Gabriel put his baby brother in his crib.

Andrea had done a good job putting a nursery together in so little time. It wasn’t painted yet, but she’d arranged for the queen bed to be removed to make space for a brand new grey wooden crib that along with a changing table and a comfortable armchair. She’d even bought a beautiful mobile to put over it which, in Adrien’s opinion, was very sweet on her part.

“Yes.” Said Gabriel without looking up at his eldest.

“Why do you think Nathalie never told you she was expecting your child?”

Gabriel had been expecting his son would eventually ask him about this, but the question still made him uncomfortable.

“I don’t know, Adrien.” He said “That’s something we’ll have to ask her.”

Adrien had so many things so ask. There was so much he wanted to know. He’d seen the change in his father and Nathalie’s relationship over the years, but his father had never admitted that there was anything romantic between them. Yet even before the shock of his brother’s existence it was clear that their working relationship had evolved to at least some kind friendship some time ago.

Although Nathalie was still formal around him and his father, there were some moments when they were alone and unaware of Adrien’s presence nearby, that he’d seen their postures loosen, and his father’s countenance soften, sometimes even looking at her with obvious affection.

Once, when his father was being particularly stubborn about something he’d even heard her telling him to “Stop acting like a drama queen.” When his father turned around to see her Adrien had been surprised to see not the angry face he’d been expecting, but that his father was trying hard to keep his face serious while a smile was escaping by the corners of his mouth until it was finally out and his whole face was smiling too.

“I thought she’d loved you.”

His father just looked at him. Adrien thought his father must have been waiting for him to broach the subject of his and Nathalie’s relationship at some point, but it looked like it still left him speechless.

“I don’t think so.”

Maybe his father was stupid, or maybe he was just blind because Nathalie was known as the best PA in Paris, which meant she didn’t need this job. If she’d decided his father’s eccentricity and eternal grumpiness was not worth the pay, she’d have left them in a heartbeat and there would be lots of competitors and politicians fighting for her pass.

No, Nathalie cared. It didn’t matter that she kept up that serious and cold demeanor. She loved them. She didn’t have to fight with his father for him to go to school, or see if he’s eaten, or if he needed help with his homework. No, those were things she did because she cared about him.

And the amount of temper tantrums and other absurd things she let his father get away with couldn’t be explained any other way...so yeah, maybe his father was stupid.

That’s why that answer got Gabriel a raised eyebrow to what he responded with a raised and a face of “What?”

“It’s just...well, I thought it was obvious she loved you.”

“Oh, now you’re just being ridiculous. I love your mother and that’s not going to change.”

Oh…Adrien thought. His father hadn’t realized, but he’d just answered his question. That’s why she had left. So, shielded by his sleeping baby brother, he dared to go further.

“Why’d you sleep with Nathalie then?”

And he saw his saw his father’s whole body go taut and assume a defensive posture and his countenance become hard and serious.

“Don’t forget I’m still your father, boy.” he snapped.

“Why? I know this is your life, but it’s mine too!” And Adrien couldn’t keep his voice low any longer. “Nathalie is the closest thing to a mother I had since mom’s left us and you’ve made her go away because it seems you can’t get over the fact that either mom’s deliberately left us or is dead.” And then with his voice in a lower tone and eyes tinged with drop of despair for his father, “It’s been three years dad.”

Gabriel had not been as angry as Adrien supposed he’d be after being talked by his son like that. His posture and face were completely rigid, his skin white and he could actually see the thoughts moving around inside his father’s head through his eyes.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about”

“Don’t I, father? Or is it you that refuse to accept that?” His father responded that with silence, so Adrien kept pressing “Do you want to risk losing Nathalie again?” And then, pointing to the crib where his brother laid without taking his eyes from his father “I don’t want to him to be kept away from us.”

For a moment, Gabriel hadn’t reacted but suddenly, he saw his father’s posture change again to one of tiredness and sadness, as if he’d lost some internal debate with himself, and then move to the door with his head down. And that was it, Adrien thought sadly, their conversation was over, until he heard a low “Come with me.”

At first, he thought was preoccupied that his brother would wake up with all the noise they were making. When they got to the atelier, his father positioned himself in front of the portrait of his mother and just stood there, looking at it as if he was asking her some question only, she had the answer to and after a minute or two or ten Gabriel turned his head to face him and said, “Come here, son.”

Then he extended his hand to Adrien, who took it. His father then positioned him very closely in front of him and warned “Be still, we’re going down.”. Then, extended one of his long arms past him to touch the painting. To his surprise, the ground below him moved and then they were in a cavernous room, with a huge window with the design of a butterfly.

“What is this place, father?”

Adrien was so amazed and intrigued by this place he hadn’t known existed below his house and at the same time didn’t understand what that had to do with anything they’d been talking about up until that point when his father said “Follow me. I’m going to take you to see your mother.”

“What?”

“Come. I’ll show you your mother.”

“What are you talking about, father?”

But he was ignored while his father just started walking away through a catwalk and Adrien couldn’t see from past his father, where they were going. When they got to the other end of the catwalk, to a place that looked like a garden, Gabriel finally stepped aside and now Adrien was finally able to see he felt the he air leave his lungs and the floor move beneath his feet, because in front of him he saw his mother sleeping angelically in what looked like a crystal coffin with bright beautiful butterflies flying around her as if she was something out of a fairy tale. Only in fairy tales there wasn’t cables and tubes going to and from the princess’ coffin.

“That...that’s mom.” Adrien said a hand over his mouth.

It was not a question, but Gabriel answered any way.

“Yes.”

“And she’s been here the whole time.”

Again, not a question.

“Yes.”

“And you knew she was here all this time and never told me.” Not a question again, but this time Adrien looked at his father with fury in his eyes and voice. “How could you? How could you keep her from me? I thought she’d abandoned us. ME.” He screamed but then as suddenly as the anger came it went and his voice turned darker and sadder when he said, “Or that she was dead somewhere. I thought…I thought so many things, I didn’t know which one of them I was crying for sometimes.”

His father, it seemed, was not in any state to give him answers, until Adrien asked, “What happened to her?”

“She used a broken miraculous.” And then, in a mechanical drone his father started telling him the truth about his mother “It stated affecting her health, we didn’t connect the two things until her illness was already too advanced but then she refused to stop using it. We had the best doctors in Europe see her but nothing they prescribed seemed to do more than alleviate her symptoms briefly. Then they’d start to stop working at all and whatever the peacock did to her started all over again.”

Adrien was still in shock when he heard the word miraculous but his eyes where almost out of their sockets when his father said peacock.

“What?”

“Your mother used the peacock miraculous, Adrien. We found them on a trip to Tibet.”

“Them?”

“Yes. We found the butterfly miraculous too.”

“So, you’re…” Adrien’s eyes couldn't be more open.

“I’m Hawkmoth.”

Adrien couldn’t believe his ears. If his involvement with the people involved in this mess wasn’t so close as it was, if he’d known what was coming or at least that something, anything was coming he could have prepared better. Detached himself from the situation. He could have had a better answer that an anxiety crisis.

He started to feel lightheaded; nauseous and sweaty. His heart felt like it was going to overwork itself any second now and his thoughts were everywhere at the same time. His mother used the peacock miraculous. The peacock miraculous killed her. His father was Hawkmoth. Hawkmoth had a child with Nathalie. His baby brother was Hawkmoth’s son too. The sound of his blood running through his veins was deafening. Too fast. He was Chat Noir. He was Chat Noir, and his father was freaking Hawkmoth! Then it clicked. Everything went dark.

When he woke up, he was in his room. Everything was dark but as soon as he tried to move, he heard his father moving from his chair to the side of his bed and then sitting down bedside him.

“How are you, Adrien?”

Chapter Text

“How are you, Adrien?”

He’d heard a hustle sound coming from the bed and looked up from where he was sitting at Adrien’s desk. When he’d moved up to him suddenly felt a rise of emotions again and hurried to his Adrien’s side.

“It’s okay, son. I’d never do anything to hurt you.”

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, he realized how appalling it was that he had to reassure his son of that. That Adrien would believe he was truly capable of it. Because if he was being completely honest with himself, he'd know they were not true, as much as he wished them to be… because he remembered what he’d done and the lengths he’d been willing to go to be reunited with his wife again. He had in fact put him in danger countless times. He ‘d been reckless and worse than reckless.

There was that one time, when he’d transformed Adrien’s bodyguard into a giant gorilla, and his son had almost died in the fall off that building and Adrien was only alive now because he’d told the beast to let go of Ladybug to save him. He’d shoved that memory to the back of his mind, so he never had to look at it again, but now it rose back up with full force. Maybe he shouldn’t have hidden it so deep because otherwise it might have helped him protect Adrien from himself and his stupid recklessness.

It seemed that his words had no effect on his son (and he chose to analyze that at a later moment) but his hands on his arm did the trick. Adrien calmed down.

“Can I lie down here with you?”

It took a moment, and he thought maybe he’d spoken too quietly, but then Adrien moved a little to his left opening a space for him. Gabriel took it, laying there with the upper portion of his back against the headboard and his hands over his stomach, in a position remarkably similar to that of a patient in a therapy session. The comparison made him internally scoff.

After a while, it became clear that this conversation was going to be tough for both of them, given that neither of them seemed brave enough to initiate it, but then “So, what are you still doing here, Hawkmoth?”

There’d been a meaning there that did not go ignored by Gabriel.

“I’m not Hawkmoth. Not right now. Right now, I’m your father, and I’m worried about you.”

“And why is that? Why now? I mean, it never felt like Hawkmoth differentiated between Adrien Agreste and the rest of Paris.”

“That’s…you’re right. But that was never my intention. I ‘d never put you in harm’s way deliberately.”

“Oh, that’s why you akumatized half of my school friends while I was right there?”

He had no arguments to defend himself on that count. He had been thoughtless.

“You are right. I won’t defend myself. I was irresponsible.”

“Umpff…I am so relieved you understand that father.” And the irony was Adrien’s tone was telling him a whole different story, but Gabriel had bigger fish to fry. He had to tell Adrien why he’d been doing what he’s done. So, he just ignored it for now.

“Do you want to know why I became Hawkmoth?” And a few seconds, he took his son’s silence as a yes and continued. “Your mother, she’s not dead. She’s not alive either. Her body is there, but I am not sure that her soul is too. It was just recently that we got the translated version of that book you took from the safe, and we were beginning to understand it all better.”

“We?”

“Yes. Nathalie and I.”

He heard a hum and then “So, Nathalie’s been Mayura this whole time.” An affirmation, not a question. His son was smart. This conversation would go much easier if he didn’t have to confess to every one of his sins.

“Yes.”

“Was that why she was so sick?” And this time he could see that the shadow of his son he could see in the darkness of his room had turned to look at him for the first time.

“Yes.”

“Did she know it could kill her?”

Gabriel understood very well the soreness of this exact point.

“Yes.”

“And you let her do it anyway?” And this was said with more feeling than anything his son had said up to this point. He didn’t need his miraculous, even though it was there in its usual place, to feel that desperation, indignation raised above a myriad of feelings. But surprise was not among them. That hit Gabriel differently from what he was prepared for.

“And after you confessed to all this you still slept with her?” Now, that was that surprise. “Now I know why she left you!”

Could he count that as a low blow? Or was it exactly what he’d deserved to hear? He didn’t know. What he did know was that that hurt more than anything his son had said until now.

“She loved you, dad. And you treated her like garbage.”

Now that was...that was…his thoughts were all jumbled. “I didn’t...she didn’t…” and then finally “She didn’t love me!” with an unintended emphasis because she obviously didn’t and because if she did it would make him a much worse person that he already was and because he would have known, wouldn’t he? He should’ve. She was right there by his side every day. She…oh, hell. She was there every day, and he chose to ignore those little signs because it was impossible that they were true.

That was a thought he’d always kept hidden far in the back of his mind. Nathalie had always been a master in controlling her emotions, walling them even from the butterfly most of the time. She could wall them and even smother them, he suspected. She knew how to compartmentalize. But now, he was being forced to look back and analyze all his interactions with Nathalie. Every little thing he’d ignored or brushed aside because she was either too fast to put herself together whenever her emotions began to slip through cracks on her walls or to overflow them. It made him think he was seeing things, so he just shook the feeling off, but maybe he just didn’t want to see it because if he did acknowledge that Nathalie in fact had such feelings for him then he’d have to let her go. Fire her, transfer her to one of the offices, lose her support in every area of his life, lose their camaraderie. Lose their friendship.

Or at least the friendship Nathalie had given him, because was it friendship what he’d gave her in return? Maybe not, if she had so little faith in him and had hidden that she was expecting his child. And maybe it wasn’t friendship what Nathalie had given him all this time. But what it was…he was unable to utter the word. Because it would make it real. It had been real.

She was right to leave, though. If he’d been in her shoes, he’d done the same.

He knew he was a man in a mission to bring his wife back. He’d terrorized an entire city to achieve that. What was he to tell Emilie if he’d succeeded? In what position would that put Nathalie and the baby? Now, he was fathering a teenager and a baby without Nathalie’s help and on top of that there was still his company to maintain. All this considered, it was impossible for him to be Hawkmoth. While his new assistant was no Nathalie, she wasn’t a bad one either and frankly, she was the only one that survived past the first week. But he didn’t trust her not to call the police if she so much suspected he could be Paris worst enemy.

So, Hawkmoth has not released any akumas since he discovered this beautiful baby butterfly. Because, yes, he loved his son. He’d known it from the moment he’d held him in his arms. He wouldn’t want to put him in the spotlight as soon as the media sniffed the possibility that he was his and his assistant’s baby.

He understood why Nathalie would think that move as far as she would be a good idea. What he couldn’t understand was why she chose not to tell him.

But he had to go back to Adrien now even though he had no good answer for him and no way to defend himself. So, he made his last confession of the night. The only thing good he could possibly say, and that was sincere to.

“I won’t be Hawkmoth anymore. At least for now. I can’t do it with you, Raphael and Nathalie to care for.”

“I wish you’d just give it up entirely.” Now it was Gabriel who’d been caught on his back foot.

“Do you want me to abandon your mother to die?”

“Father,” Adrien he’d heard Adrien say this with a love and tenderness in his voice Gabriel wasn’t expecting at all coming from his eldest, especially considering the situation they were in. “Mom’s gone.”

“What, no, Adrien...” But he was interrupted by Adrien’s hand over his and because his son raised up from his position to sit beside him with his legs crossed and even though the room was dark, his eyes were already accustomed enough to distinguish love his eyes when he said:
“Father, stop. She’s dead. You said it yourself to me when we were down that place. She has no soul.”

“But with the miraculous I could make her alive again, Adrien. I could...”

“No, dad. You couldn’t.”

“Yes, I could. I…”

“Dad, the wish doesn’t work that way.”

“No, it…” And suddenly Gabriel heard something click in his head. “How do you about the wish?” came out as a whisper.

Adrien was silent for a moment. Then he raised from the bed and went to turn on the lights and from that spot by the bedroom door he said:

“Because I am Chat Noir.”

“…”

“…”

A pin hitting the floor would have been heard. How could this be?

“No. That can’t be.”

“Plagg, claws out.”

And there, stood Chat Noir in all his black and green glory but with none of the cheekiness he was known for. On the contrary, his eyes were tired and serious. The only thing Gabriel felt he was able to do was look at him and breath, because he certainly momentarily lost all his capacity to speak, blink and think. And just as an old car with battery problems he pushed himself to function again, but when that happened, the only thing he could do was to sit properly on the bed with his back to Adrien and support his head with his hands while his own arms got the support they needed on his legs while he muttered “This can’t be happening.”

Then he saw booted feet and looked up to his son. To Chat Noir, who looked back at him with sad concerned eyes.

“Father, if you make the wish, one of us will die.”

“What do you mean?” He whispered. The lump in his throat was making it difficult for him to speak.

“The universe needs balance, if you wish mom back, someone of equal value to you will have to take her place.”

“No. That’s a history invented to…”

“Father, No! Stop that nonsense! Don’t you think if we could make the wish with no consequence, we wouldn’t wish for Hawkmoth to surrender, or for us to defeat him in battle or Ladybug and I could just wish selfish but things for us?”

Gabriel’s shoulders suddenly sag and he felt all the life leave him as he let out one heavy breath “So, everything I’ve done for all these years,” A pause and “it was all for nothing?”

Gabriel stood up looked to Chat Noir’s face. To his son’s face with such a defeated expression and said, “I’m sorry, Adrien.” And went to leave the room. When he reached the door handle, he said, “Could you take the next round with your little brother?”

Adrien nodded and Gabriel left.

-

Gabriel had gone directly to his room to lay down, apparently, because sleep was not coming to him any anytime soon.

He had taken of his miraculous off and deposited it in its box that was currently inside drawer of his bedside table. But through all the time while he had his eyes only half shut, he could see another little god floating near his door looking at him.

He’d wanted to believe that his son had sent the little being to ascertain his wellbeing, but the truth was that Adrien probably didn’t trust him not to try to steal his ring I the middle of the night.

So, he’d decided to pretend he really slept to see if the little black creature would tire of watching him doing nothing and leave him alone.

The next time he’d opened his eyes to look for the kwami it was already daylight.

Chapter Text

Gabriel wasn’t hungry and he didn’t want to get up. All he wanted was to go back to sleep and never wake up.

All this time. He'd spent the last three years of his life fighting a battle he’d never had a real chance to win because even if he did, then he’d just have lost something equally precious to him, and he couldn’t let Adrien die in Emilie’s place. Even if he could claim he didn’t know that would happen, what kind of excuse was that when you’d murdered your child?

Add to that the fact that he’d almost killed Nathalie in the process. That then she’d had to go through a high-risk pregnancy all alone and almost died giving birth. And if Adrien was right, she had risked her life out of love for him, and he’d admittedly chose to overlook what was right in front of his eyes. Yes, he couldn’t pretend otherwise because even if she stonewalled her emotions only a blind fool wouldn’t question her reasons when she said she’d do anything for his happiness when that meant abdicating of all the possibilities life had to offer her.

Nathalie was a caring beautiful strong woman, and any man would count himself lucky to have her. And call him an idiot, because at this point, he was thoroughly convinced he was one, but he’d never questioned why she’d agree to live with the sole purpose of making his life easier. To make him happy. Because stupid he might have been, but he was still a man with eyes and ears, and he knew what other men thought of her.

When Emilie was still alive and he still went to the company offices, he had heard all sorts of comments from men, some of them married, that lusted after his assistant when she out of hearing. Some of them even had the insolence of asking him if she was good in bed and if he was ok with sharing.

He’d always felt offended on both his and Nathalie’s behalf.

But he was digressing. He had to think straight now. Emilie was dead and if he wasn’t trying to revive her anymore it would be cruel to keep her in that stasis pod.

--

He knocked on his son’s door.

“Adrien.”

“Come in.”

Gabriel entered his eldest’s room with the youngest angelically resting on his shoulder. He thought he saw Adrien’s eyes soften at the sight of his baby brother and that brought a small smile to his face. He sat on the sofa and began to talk very gently as not to disturb the child.

“I’ve spent the night thinking about what you said. About everything that has happened since…I don’t even know, since things started to become so complicated for this family.” A pause and then, “I’ll give up being Hawkmoth permanently. There’s no point and I don’t want to anymore.” Another pause and “I have to take care of the family I still have.”

“Father...” Adrien sat by his side but didn’t say anything else. It turned out, he didn’t have to, because Gabriel found he wasn’t finished yet.

“The doctors said there’s no reason why she shouldn’t be awake yet” he said trying to distance himself from the subject he came here to talk about in the first place, “and I fear that she won’t.” came out in a constricted voice. “Anyway, I came to ask if you’d want to give your mother a proper funeral.”

With sad understanding eyes, Adrien answered “Yes, I’d like to, father.”

--

Emilie was found by the police in the forests of Metz. Gabriel was called to identify her body.
The official police report admitted that were no vestiges of violence on her body, recent or otherwise. They had no clue as what had happened to her, how she’d ended up where they found her, or about her previous whereabouts in the time since she’d disappeared. To the public, whatever had happened to Emilie Agreste would forever remain a mystery.

After the police released her corpse to be transported back to Paris, Emilie was cremated, and a private ceremony held with only her family in attendance.
That unfortunately included Amelie.

--

Gabriel cut straight to the chase. “They found Emilie’s body.”

He was met with silence from the other side of the line, and then “Where? What happened to her? Her voice was devoid of emotion.

Maybe Amelie had been expecting to receive this very call for a long time now. Maybe he was the only one who still hoped that Emilie would come back but then he was the only one who knew all the facts.

“She was found by a local in the woods in Metz. The police don’t know what happened to her. They said there was no sign of violence. That she was well dressed and that it appeared she was not malnourished.” More silence from the other side. “I’m seeing that the body is transported back to Paris today. We’re having a small ceremony in her memory in two days. Are you coming?”

More silence, and as it seemed that no answer was forthcoming, he asked again.

“Amelie?”

“Hum?”

“I asked you if you’re going to attend your sister’s memorial. It will be in two days, here in Paris.”

That seemed to do the trick because this time she responded.

“Yes. Of course, I will. Ask your assistant to arrange for someone to pick me up at the station.”

“Alright then. Goodbye”

--

When he opened the door, he was greeted by a somber “Hello, Gabriel.”

Amelie was standing in front of his door. She approached him and gave him a quick hug that he surprisingly didn’t dodge.

“How are you?” she asked looking at him, and unexpectedly her expression seemed sincere and without malice.

“As good as can be expected.”

“And how’s Adrien?”

“Better than I thought he would be.”

“I want to see my nephew. Would you ask your assistant to take my luggage to my room?”

“Yes, of course.”

When Gabriel turned to his right to speak with his assistant Amelie noticed for the first time that something was different.

“Where’s Nathalie?”

“She doesn’t work for me anymore.”

Amelie made a surprised expression. “Well, that’s shocking, considering how many years she’s worked for you.”

He didn’t bother answering that. Just ordered Andrea to do as she’d asked and took Amelie to Adrien’s room.

Gabriel was, of course, expecting conflict. He knew that it would be impossible to hide Raphael from her, but he also thought he would have a little more time to postpone it. But as soon as he opened the door of Adrien’s room, he knew he could say goodbye to the sweet and sincere person that Amelie was forcing herself to be in his presence out of respect for the situation that brought her here in the first place.

“Adri…” She cut herself off, obviously startled by the view of Adrien changing the diapers of a tiny baby placed on his bed. “Oh, God.” She whispered. “I hope this baby isn’t yours.”

Adrien looked up at his aunt and smiled at her while securing the new diaper in the right place to protect himself from any unwanted presents his brother wanted to give him. “Don’t worry, aunt. He isn’t.”
With that Gabriel knew the next minutes would take the next two days to an unbearable level of sourness.

“And whose baby this is?”

There was an exchange of glances between father and son before Gabriel finally answered, “Mine.”

At this, Amelie’s head turned violently in Gabriel’s direction and with fire in her eyes she asked, “And who’s the mother?”

“Nathalie.”

“What?” She kept looking from Gabriel to the baby that at this point was in Adrien’s arms and it was like there were a thousand questions and another thousand accusations she wanted to make but what she finally managed was “How could you do this? How could you cheat on my sister with that woman and make her son to care for your bastard? And then to add insult to injury you bring me here to watch this…this spectacle.”

“He’s not a bastard, Amelie. I gave him my name. He’s as much an Agreste as Adrien is. You can say whatever you want about me, but I won’t allow you to insult either of my children.”

Anger painted her face as she spat through her teeth, “You cheated on my sister while she was missing! While who knows was happening to her.”

His jaw clenched and his eyes turned even more grey. He wanted to scream at her and take all his frustration out on her because he knew that yes, he was an adulterous man, but that was not all that he was. He couldn’t say he’d spent the last three years of his life as Hawkmoth, fighting for the magical jewels that would magically bring her sister back to life.
He couldn’t defend himself properly. He couldn’t defend himself in any way. He didn’t know what Amelie knew about her sister, but he couldn’t say he knew where Emilie has been all this time, so he had to listen to everything she said and take it silently.

And then, finally she decided to put an end to his misery.

“I won’t stay here for one more minute. I’m leaving immediately.”

From the window of the car, she looked up at Adrien and said, “I am so sorry you have to be subjected to this. That you have to stand there with this bastard child for the sake of your family” and then she was gone.

Amelie, of course, was her old familiar unpleasant self when they met at the ceremony. Gabriel had to endure her passive-aggressiveness while they were in front of Adrien, thank goodness the woman had some restrain in front of her nephew, and her undisguised contempt for him when they were alone.

--

When everything was over, Emilie finally put to rest and Amelie gone, he felt old. Very old. But when he woke up the next day, it was like a burden had been taken off his shoulders.

He changed and fed Raphael and then asked Andrea to buy a portable crib to put in the atelier. The business world didn’t care if you were a single father of a newborn. And that thought, the thought of him as a single father brought his mind back thinking about Nathalie.

He hoped she would wake up soon.

Chapter Text

The doctors had kept her at the hospital for a couple of days more after she woke up from her almost three week long sleep and Gabriel had made sure to keep his presence there a constant.

They’d barely talked about anything but the essentials. She didn’t want to talk and even though he’d chosen to be there with her it seemed he also didn’t know what to say, and he’d just spent whatever time he had designing on his tablet instead.

She wasn’t ungrateful for his concern, but she didn’t know if she should be happy that he was there, because she didn’t know what caused more damage to her; his presence, or his absence. And she still didn’t know if he had already figured out that it was his baby that was back at his home with Adrien right now.

She asked about her son every day as soon as Gabriel entered her room every morning. Adrien, God bless that boy, was sweet enough to send baby pictures hourly. She was extremely grateful for his kindness because she was crazy to meet her child and it had the added bonus of distracting her from Gabriel’s presence. It was extremely awkward being around him now, with him once again so close to her and what they did that one night being shoved right in their faces.

That he still hasn’t said a word about the fact that he probably knows now that she left him whilst was carrying his child, his illegitimate child rattles her. If he’d figured it out then surely he would have said something by now. or at least she’s sure he will as soon as she’s out of this damn hospital.

Unless, he hasn’t. Then his silence could be nothing more than Gabriel being himself when he’s in the presence of someone he doesn’t care much about, even if the fact that he went through all this trouble for her and her child seemed to attest to the exact opposite, unless it was that he really really was pissed at her for leaving him the way she did.

In Nathalie’s estimations, neither of these scenarios were good for her, though.

When she’d woken up the morning after that fateful Fashion Week, her boss hadn’t been in her room anymore. Actually, there’d been nothing there to indicate he had slept there the night before, much less what they’d done, besides the messy sheets on the other side of her bed and how his smell had still lingered on her bed and pillows.
With no other option she’d dressed and headed down to work as normal.
“Good morning, sir.” She’d said in the emotionless tone she was so used to using, but which she was at that moment struggling to maintain.

With no acknowledgement forthcoming from him, she’d just positioned herself a couple of meters away from his podium and started to drone his schedule in the same monotonous tone that ended with a “If you’d excuse me now, Sir, I’m going to see that Adrien isn’t late for school.”

Then he’d finally reacted to with an almost imperceptible nod.

As the weeks had passed, it became blatantly clear that Gabriel regretted what they did so deeply that he’d started to avoid any interactions with her, unless it was extremely necessary and even on those occasions, he always had a frown between his eyes and tended to look to the floor or the wall behind her instead of at her face when the screen of his podium was not near him enough to serve as an excuse to not look at er.

Of course, the fact that he’d started to send akumas daily was another obvious give away.

When the vomiting had started, she hadn’t gotten concerned. She’d shoved it to the back of her mind cataloguing it as just one more effect of the peacock miraculous. But when her period hadn’t come, it was like a fire alarm had gone off inside her head and she’d felt like she needed to install a pacemaker so her heart could go back to the right rhythm again.

Still, there was a reason for Gabriel to have hired her and for her to have lasted for so long as the assistant of someone so perfectionist and demanding as he was. He’d often said Nathalie was the most levelheaded calculating person he had ever met, and that was saying a lot considering who he was and the business they were in. She prided herself that she could plan and pull almost anything he had ever demanded of her in record time. It didn’t matter who she’d had to lie to or bribe.

After the confirmation that she was, in fact, expecting, her first reaction after the shock subsided was panic, followed very closely by sadness. Gabriel was a man in love with his wife. It didn’t matter if Emilie was alive or not, because he loved her enough to fight death itself over the flimsy possibility of having her back.

Only a fool would think he’d want to present a bastard son, conceived on a drunken night with his assistant to his precious wife on the revival he was unable to give on.

A bastard son. That gave her a pause. Gabriel neglected Adrien, the product of his love with Emilie, in the hope he would succeed in getting her back. Would he even spare a second thought for a child conceived in a drunken night with the person who was helping him to bring his wife back? Would he even want to know her child? Would he even be able to look at him, the living proof of his infidelity?

It wasn’t just preposterous. It was completely ridiculous.

Nathalie's weighed Gabriel’s reaction after their night together. His silent treatment of her until that point screamed what his mouth couldn’t. That he’d regret it was expected, but this...this spoke of how little she meant to him. It looked like she was now nothing but a reminder of his sins against his sacred vows.
Even though she could understand this refusal to even look her in the face it made her feel like she didn’t matter at all. As if she was some new girl that her boss could fuck and forget aside. It made her rethink about all those times she and Gabriel shared while she was on bed rest when it almost seemed that he had considered her a friend.

Back then she’d thought she finally understood the nature of their relationship and that it had never changed after all. It had always been nothing more than a contractual employer-employee relationship with the added bonus of her offering her services to act as a henchwoman completely free of charge, which Gabriel, being the man that he was, accepted with little resistance.

She had tried to lie to herself into believing that that flimsy resistance he offered to her using the peacock brooch was a signal that he, at least in some measure, cared for her. But now, after all that was not said and done, she saw the truth behind it. That concern was just Gabriel’s concern that he’d lose a valuable and convenient tool he could use in so many different ways and areas of his life, since she cared for his and his son’s wellbeing, house, company and more recently, she’d also aided him in his super villainous activities.

She was a fool, no big surprise there.

What made her even more of one was that she’d discovered that she didn’t want to terminate that pregnancy. That she’d wanted that child to be born. That she’d wanted to be a mother. Something she’d never considered all her life, especially after she started to work in the fashion industry, she now felt was imperative. A necessity that she never knew was there, simmering underneath her devotion for Gabriel, but that now surpassed it.

She’d wanted this child and she’d wanted to protect it from all the sorrow and pain this world had to offer, even if this hurt came in by the actions of its own father. That was why she’d had to work out a solution to get out of this situation fast. Gabriel should never discover this pregnancy.

And now, here she was, confined to a hospital bed, with Gabriel taking care of her and her son. Worst yet, she’d still be living in his house again at least until she could move around without help and she still had no clue about how much Gabriel actually knew.

Destiny sucked.

Chapter Text

She’d never thought she’d see this house again. Let alone live in it, she thought bitterly. She wanted everything to just explode and to never have to come back here. She’d gone away for a reason.

But her son was here and that gave her pause, and there was no escaping the fact that her body was still recovering from childbirth nevermind … everything else.

Weak was not a word she’d ever thought to use to describe herself before. Quite the opposite, actually. Nathalie had always taken pride in her strength and physical and mental abilities. That was until she’d encountered the broken magic of the peacock miraculous. That had been the first time she felt weak, but at the same time, it had also been the first time she felt cherished by Gabriel. Had felt that he’d seen her beyond the assistant persona she donned to work or the lithe and mysterious Mayura.

How stupid could one be? It all seemed so long ago now.

But none of that was relevant now. She wasn’t here because of work or magic. She was here because it’s where her baby was and because she knew she was in no shape to care for him by herself yet. After being bedridden for almost three weeks, she needed to undergo physiotherapy. Her legs were shaky and her arms weak. She couldn’t even hold her baby yet without letting him fall.

She would be completely dependent on Gabriel.

She resented that. She resented him. But she blamed herself. It was her choices that had brought her here, even if this was the last place on earth she’d wanted to be.

She berated herself again for feeding these circular thoughts that took her nowhere because none of that mattered now. None of it could be changed now she’d have to make a lemonade with these lemons life was giving her.

“Go get Nathalie’s wheelchair from the trunk.” Gabriel ordered Gorilla as soon as he heard the engines turn off, and then to her, “Come on, let me carry you.”

Everything was oddly familiar as she said, “Just a minute.” While positioning herself to help him find a better angle to retrieve her from the back seat.

Gabriel carried her up the front steps and deposited her in the wheelchair he had bought for her. When the front door open, she saw the most beautiful scene she ever thought possible, her son in Adrien's arms. Her lips began to tremble. She’d never imagined Adrien would meet his younger brother, let alone carry him with such tenderness. Such a pity he would never know he’d once had his little brother in his arms.

“Hi, Nathalie” he smiled “It’s so good to see you out here.”

Gabriel pushed her inside and Adrien came closer to give her baby, but she flinched back saying, “I’m afraid I might drop him. My arms went without use for too long.”

“I could put him on your shoulder like this,” said Adrien while doing exactly that without waiting for a response.

When she felt him finally in her arms she hugs to her chest as tight as she can manage with her weak limbs and silently cries. She was so worried she might have lost her baby. And what if she’d really died, what would be of him?

Gabriel's presence there evokes a lot of emotions making everything harder because this is her baby’s whole family right here, and yet they weren’t.

“Here, let me finish making Raphael burp and put him to sleep. He’s a fast sleeper once his belly is full.” Adrien says giving her as much information he can about her child, but then something catches her attention.

“Raphael?”

“Yes, that’s what we named him.”

“It’s a beautiful name, Adrien, but I’m planning to call him Bastien.” Even though she’s correcting him she smiles as she does so, touched by Adrien choosing Raphael to be her baby’s name.

But for some reason Adrien grimaces, “Well, then we might have a problem.”

“Why would that be?”

“Well, because father already registered him with this name.”

“He what?” And her head snapped to look in Gabriel’s direction.

“Adrien”, Gabriel chose this precise moment to strategically say. “Take Raph…” He interrupts himself clearly not wanting to make things worse, “go make the baby sleep in the upstairs.”

“Ok, father.” Then facing her, “Nathalie, may I?” He asked, moving to retrieve the baby from her.

She made a sad face then a meek “Yeah.”

“See you later, Nathalie.” He says turning his head to her as he goes upstairs.

She inclines her head to the right and “Gabriel, why would you register my child?”

He looks at her oddly, as if he was going to say something but thought better of it, and instead what came out was, “After a baby is born, you have three days to register it, so I did.”

“Yes, but…”

He cut her off. “We have a lot to talk about.”

He said looked the most serious she’s ever seen him, and she wasn’t sure if it was about them and everything that led her to quit or if he had indeed figured out her son’s paternity, but he interrupted her thought process by saying “But not now. You’ve just left the hospital, so let’s get you settled first. Adrien and I have been taking care of … Raphael upstairs”
He made a gesture with his hand while saying the name of his son slowly as if to show repentance for choosing a name not of her liking. “We’ve converted one of the guest rooms into a nursery”

Things were happening too fast, and she was having difficulty following them, so she just repeated, “A nursery? Why would he need a nursery here?”

“He’s been here for almost a month now and the doctors didn’t know when you were going to wake up and” in a much lower volume, “well I was afraid…you know…that you’d never…you know.” He said looking down, and then in his normal tone again “they said that after that you’d still need some time to get your strength back, so Adrien and I thought it would be convenient for him to have a permanent space here with us.”

That was…sweet , actually. That he’d want to raise her child as his own and at the same time it was incongruent with the image of the Gabriel she knew. Would he keep this up once he knew?

At the same time, it was overwhelming because Gabriel had gone and registered her child with a name she’d had no input in. Had he left the name of the father field empty on the birth certificate? Was he willing to adopt him if he’d thought she’d go through the same fate as his wife? He probably still harbored some measure of guilt for her illness, otherwise, why would he want to give her son a permanent place in his house?

“May I?” Asking for permission to carry her upstairs too and she had no other option but to comply. Her stiff posture probably made it more difficult for him, but Gabriel didn't complain.

He took her to a room that was not her usual when she was recovering from her illness here. This one was nearer Gabriel’s, and the nursery was situated between both of theirs. The door was open, and she could see Adrien sitting in a rocking chair lulling his brother.

The room had everything a newborn would need, despite the absence of the customary baby decoration, but that was to be expected, of course. Whatever Gabriel said it wasn’t as if her son was going to be a permanent resident here.

When he settled her on her new bed he said, “We brought all your personal belongings from Toulouse, so your clothes are all here. I arranged for the rest to be put in storage right here in Paris, as...you know, I didn’t know if you’d...”

“I know. “ she rescued him, “Thank you.”

“I also told the chef to prefer broth for you.” And at the face she made he added, “It's for the baby. It will help you producing milk. You need to be hydrated.”

“Oh.” She was bit stunned at that and she probably looked it too. “Ok, then.”

“I’ll…” he frowned and suddenly looked at a loss of words and, “Do you need anything else?”

“No, I don’t think so”

“Ok. I’ll leave you to rest, then. Call or text if you need anything. I…” another pause, “saved my number in your phone.” Then he left and she was left there to ponder on everything.
--
Well, the fact was that she didn’t know Gabriel anymore. He wasn’t behaving the way he had when she left this house. She couldn’t recognize him. Almost. He reminded her of the man who took care of her through her illness. The person she mistook for a friend. She needed to tread very carefully not to fall into the same traps again. The problem was that easier said than done when he presented himself so eager to help whenever she needed it.

She needed to remember that this wouldn't last. That it was just guilt.

Her other problem was how much she actually needed him. For one, her breasts were fuller, and it was so humiliating that she needed his assistance breastfeeding Raphael.

Raphael. Not Bastien. She needed to adapt to his name now.

Back to her real issue, the thing was that felt still didn’t feel secure enough to do it on her own, so she had to rely on Gabriel to help position the baby so he could latch. That was…awkward, to put it mildly. Even if Gabriel had already seen her in far less when she was so ill that modesty was just an impediment for him to take care of her. Even if he had already seen her wearing nothing in that foolish night. Because now they were both very aware of what was happening and about what part of herself she was exposing.

The first few times the baby was having difficulty latching. It was frustrating for her as a mother. She felt like she couldn’t do anything for her son and even the little she could she wasn’t doing right. She wanted to cry constantly and that made her even more snappy with Gabriel.

As days went by, she felt her strength coming back to her, her confidence level was also increasing, and she began to venture around the corridors to go and pick her son up whenever she heard him cry or just to watch him sleep.

So, one night, Gabriel was coming back from putting their baby in the crib after a breastfeeding session when she asked him, “Do you think you could have the crib moved here? It'd make it easier for me to get to him when he cries.”

“We could, but it would make it harder for me and for Adrien to take care of him in the middle of the night or if you’re not decent.”

“I wouldn’t mind if he woke me. I’m his mother. Besides, it wouldn’t be that different from how you act now, and Adrien knows how to knock.”

“Nathalie, you still need your rest…”

She cut him off. “I am getting better every day”

“You’re still not recovered yet.”

“He's my son, Gabriel. I should be able to care for him!”

“Nathalie.”

At his insistence, she raised her voice, “Why are you trying to make it harder for me than it has to be?”

“But I’m not! Nathalie I’m not trying to keep you away from our…from Raphael.”

Silence reigned for a whole minute.

She feet like the floor under her feet had disintegrated. Her eyes lost all focus as she whispered “So, you figured it out.”

“I did.”

“When?”

“The minute the nurse gave him to me. I did the math.”

She took a very deep breath and said, “Don’t worry, I wasn’t going to tell anyone. And I’ll leave your house and take him with me as soon as I can.”

“What?”

“I said that you don’t have to worry.” She repeated slower this time. “No one will ever know about him. Emilie won’t ever find out. He is only my son, for all intents and purposes.”

“Nathalie, what are you talking about”

“Are you being purposefully obtuse?” She snapped.

“No. Are you?”

They stare at each other until Gabriel said, “I already registered him anyway.”

She took her hand to her mouth before uttering an “Oh, my God. What have you done? I thought you’d left the paternity field empty.”

“What do you mean what have I done? I gave my son my name. Who do you think I am, Nathalie?” And now it’s him that raises his voice in indignation.

Another staring contest in which he dared her to say what she was struggling not to. And instead of telling him what she wanted to, she asks, “Does Adrien know?”

“Yes. I told him right away.”

My gosh...What would Adrien think of her right now? How could they have sunk so low as to give him reason to think of her as his father’s mistress? How would she look Adrien in the eye again? Of course, he never outright disrespect her, but that’s just how he was raised. It didn’t mean anything.

How stupid could Gabriel be to confess to something like this? Couldn’t this man, just once, chose the easier path?

After another minute of consideration, she breathes heavily and then says, “Ok. This changes nothing. If this information is kept just between us, and of course, Emilie when she wakes up, then we can still salvage things.”

Another pause and “Nathalie.” He sighed and suddenly looked so much older and tired, “I’m not trying to bring Emilie back anymore.”

“What?”

“What you just heard.” He put her hand over hers and continued to tell her “I gave up being Hawkmoth.”

She looked at their joined hands and took her back. “You’ve already done that, remember?” She said with a sweetness and a wistfulness that does not go unnoticed by any of them as she stares sadly at his face.

He held her gaze with his. “Yes. But this time it’s for real. I’m not going to change my mind.”

“And what makes this time so special”

“I told Adrien everything.”

Chapter Text

“I told Adrien everything.”

At this Nathalie opened her eyes impossibly wide “You did? I mean...I always thought you should but you actually did it?”

He could do nothing else but nod his response.

“And how did it go?”

“Well...,” he inhaled as he tried to condense everything that had gone down between him and Adrien, “That’s a question with multiple answers, but in general I think it was good.”

“What do you mean?”

Now he looked at her squarely in the eyes as most somber expression took other his face and admitted, and said, “Adrien was Chat Noir.”

He couldn’t help but raise his brows just a little in chagrin.

“Wha...” Nathalie barely managed before a coughing fit took her again until she was able to say again, “What?”

Gabriel couldn’t resist the urge to gather her into his arms.

I thought the doctors said you were alright now. Are you really feeling better or are you hiding your symptoms again?”

He pulled her closer and made small circles on her back. In an attempt at comfort.

Nathalie seemed to ignore his hand for a moment and answered “No, I am really ok. It was just the fright. How... how could we have missed that? How could I? This...this house has cameras everywhere!”

He’d thought the same thing many a time since Adrien had admitted being one of the very superheroes they were fighting.
They’d been so stupid. He’d been so stupid, for he could hardly fault Nathalie when she’d had so much else going on.

“It’s not your fault.” He hurried to reassure her. “It’s hard to be in two places at the same time.”

Nathalie looked out at him and he tried to convey with a tilt of his head how much this was a joint failure between them but he wasn’t sure she quite understood.

“Still...” It was clear that Nathalie didn’t quite know how to feel about that bombshell and Gabriel couldn’t fault her for her attempt at deflection when after a long considering gaze she went for “Anyway, that explains why you’d chose not to be Hawkmoth anymore, not why you’d abandon your quest to revive Emilie. Why didn’t you try to take his miraculous as soon as you found out? Surely you could have found a way to steal it from him.”

“Well, I...” the way she’d put things made him feel simultaneously guilty for his decision to letting Emilie go and a terrible father for what he’d done to Adrien until then but he had to remember that “There was a price to pay. Adrien confirmed it. The wish was going to choose someone of equal value to me to take Emilie’s place. It could only be one of my two sons. Or you.”

Gabriel said this last bit in such a repentant manner, but Nathalie had to choose to ignore it because he was giving her a lot of mixed signals.

He’d gone from treating her as simple employee to caring for her as a friend, maybe? Only then after their night together, to pretending she didn’t even exist and now this. Openly assigning her the same level of importance in his life that his wife used to have. It wasn’t even funny.

But to dwelling on how their non-relationship had ended without it even having actually existed would mean another conversation entirety.

“So.” Nathalie opted for the safe choice and asked instead, “What happened then? How are you two holding up?”

“As well as one might expect.” There was a brief pause as he to put his thoughts in order and then he said “I don’t know. I am still dealing with it I guess. I feel stupid for everything I’ve done. I suppose it helped that we get to have closure. We cremated her.”

She knew the size of her eyes must have given away all the surprise she was feeling.

As if Gabriel hadn’t noticed he continued, “We had a memorial and Amelie came. I should warn you that she knows about Raphael.”
Panic squeezed her throat.
“Damn it, Gabriel. That woman…” Her voice came out with that high pinch that only Amelie could bring out.

“Will do nothing.” Gabriel said as firmly as she’d ever heard him.

“How are you so sure about that?” She said, less so because she doubted his confidence and more because she knew Amelie.

There was a hint of a smirk on Gabriel’s lips despite the guilt lying heavy in his eyes. "She won’t do anything to hurt Adrien and acting against his brother would be to indirectly do just that.”

“How did Adrien take it all?” Her voice was thankfully back to normal again, though she wouldn’t have minding if her concern for Adrien was evident.

“Much better than I expected, actually” And with an upwards movement with his eyes, Gabriel added “Definitely better than I deserved.”

She considered the repentant man in front of her. “I expected that.”

Oddly, he seemed surprised. “You did?”

She had to nod, “Uhum. I didn’t know how he would react, but yes…I thought he’d come around eventually, especially when he discovered your reason.”

“He knows you’re Mayura too.”

That wasn’t really a surprise. He couldn’t have not had after figuring Gabriel was Hawk Moth and yet it still triggered a brand new wave of resignation as exhaustion weighed her down.
Taking a moment to rebalance herself she inhaled and then expelled the air in her lungs s and said, “Did you tell him, or did he work it out?”

“The later.”

Nathalie didn’t know what to think, “He never mentioned any of this with me, but I guess that makes sense. Does he resent me?”

Gabriel looked down at the floor. “He defended you from me.”

Well, that was a surprise. “Why would he do that?”

He looked down and, “he said I had treated you like…I won’t tell you the exact words, but he made it perfectly clear that he thought I hadn’t treated you well. That you were right to leave me.”

And in the face of Adrien’s impossible kindness Nathalie didn’t know what to say and her mouth hung ungainly open as she searched for words couldn’t close her it.

That was until Gabriel took her hand in his and said, “And he was right. I didn’t treat you right.”

It was too close to what she’d once hoped for, and she took her hand back and felt relaxed posture instantly disappear. Despite her best effort her whole body went stiff and no doubt any acceptance in her eyes turned into stone whatever sympathy she had for him.

As if she could make it all go away she repeated. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Nathalie, we need to. It’s past time.” The father of her child said with a sympathy in his eyes that hurt.

“Why?” She asked, because after all, “Why do we need to? It’s been months and you never wanted to do that before. In fact, you…forget it. It doesn’t matter now.”

That did gain her a rather gratifying wince from Gabriel but still he persevered, “Nathalie, we have to”

They might have to. He wasn't wrong about that. But Nathalie wasn't ready for that yet.

“Can you bring me my son now? It’s feeding time.”

Something seemed to sag in Gabriel in front of her eyes. “Nathalie”

She ignored his begging with the sudden need to, “Can you, please? Bring my son here? Now?”

Gabriel’s jaw remained tense, as were his arms, but his eyes were sad as he conceded “Ok. I’ll bring him to you. But we will have talk about us at some point, even if it’s only for his sake.”

She averted her gaze as she said, “I know. Just not now. Please. I promise we’ll talk.”

It was interesting how they’d progressed so much in some areas of their relationship while in others they’d made no progress at all. In fact sometimes, it almost felt like they were regressing, Gabriel thought.

Even though it had been a week since that conversation, Nathalie still refused to talk about what happened between them. But Gabriel could see that some things were improving. Or at least he thought they were.

At the beginning of Nathalie’s stay here at in his house he’d felt her defensive and uncomfortable to even exist in the same place that he did.

The first time he had to assist her with breastfeeding, he had noticed her every move had seemed stiff and forced and it was obvious that even though she knew he’d already seen her in much more immodest states of undress for very different reasons, Nathalie was feeling very self-conscious when she had to let him see her like that.

What intrigued him was why he was behaving so shy about her in these situations too. It wasn’t as if they were in any sort of compromising position or as if he was having impure thoughts about her. Still, it was…different. Intimate.

Intimate. It was something a husband would do to his wife, and he didn’t think she considered him even as a friend anymore. He missed that unspoken pact. That complicity that no longer existed.

That first time, ironically, he had felt like a one-night stand that had gone wrong. Like the sperm donor that suddenly had to take care of the mother of his newfound child. Like they’d never had a bond at all. It was obvious that if Nathalie had any other option, she wouldn’t be there. She wouldn’t give in to his presence.

He had felt like Nathalie probably did all those months ago.

But now, as he looked at her lying on her side, with their baby between them still latched on her left breast, while they were both half asleep, he thought how him here half laying on her bed watching her, the mother of his child, in such a vulnerable position, how she may still trust him somehow. How they looked like they were family. And he asked himself if their relationship was still salvageable.

Because the other option was him seeing his son only at the weekends and perhaps even calling “uncle” to another man. It struck him that he didn’t know how to feel about that and not only because of his son. He didn’t know why the thought of another man in Nathalie’s life bothered him so much.

That was when the baby left her breast, and she was completely exposed to him. Sleeping so peacefully, looking like a tired angel. With the utmost care not to wake her, Gabriel repositioned her camisole and pulled the strap back up.

She just half opened her eyes and whispered a raspy “Thank you.”

And that was it. She was asleep again.

He considered if he could just leave the baby right there and sleep there himself.

He woke up with Adrien by the side of the bed, whispering to him in an effort not to wake Nathalie up, that he had a group work for school and if he could go to the girl of the hat’s house to lunch.
All he could answer “Yeah, yeah, you may” with a raspy voice, then he turned on his side and went back to sleep.

It was over a month when Nathalie entered his atelier for the first time since her return. He thought how different it felt from old times because since she wasn’t wearing heels there was no bump sounds announcing her arrival and when he looked up from his screen and saw her wearing a lavender dress with buttons on the front.

He gave her a small smile and greeted her “It’s good to see you up and about again.”

She smiled too, and he immediately thought this was a good sign.

“It is good.” She agreed. “I’m starting to feel like myself again. That’s why I wanted to talk to you.”

“What about?” he smiled back at her.

He heard a change in the tone of her voice, from that soft one he was just starting to enjoy to the more serious one he was so used to hearing these days. “I’d prefer to have this talk sitting if you don’t mind.”

He nodded and moved to sit on the sofa, but the seriousness in her voice made him instantly alert. Now, he thought maybe he had read her wrong and that Nathalie’s smiles were not to be interpreted always as good signs, after all.

“So, it’s no secret I moved to Toulouse to prevent you from finding out about our son.” It was the first time she referred to Raphael as being theirs and he noticed how she said that took a conscious effort of her part. “But now…well, it makes no sense to deprive you and Adrien of seeing Raphael, especially since it’s obvious how you are both so attached to him. And how it wouldn’t be fair to him not to be allowed to see his father when you’re making so obvious that you want to be part of his life.”

She made a pause just like when people do when they have to think about the best way to deliver bad news.

“So, I already have a few job interviews for companies here in Paris and begun to look for apartments nearby. I found one only three blocks from here. The owner is one of your clients and he will send someone with the contract as soon as I move in.”

He was speechless. He should have expected that. He did expect that, but still, it did nothing to assuage the blow.

“I thought…I thought you might want to stay here.” He'd known they were not seeing eye to eye yet but, somehow, he still hoped.

At that, she looked like he had grown a second head and got hit on both, because “Why would you think that?” As if it was the most obvious thing in the world that the mother of his child would want to live away from him. But of course, he knew that was not exactly what she meant, even if it was not so far away from the truth. Nathalie was a very practical woman, after all.

“I mean…well…it’s obvious I would think you would at least consider living here as an option.” And by the way her brows went up, he knew she thought he was being absurd, so he explained himself, "You wouldn’t need to rent an apartment or even work, Nathalie. You wouldn’t need money. I am here for that I can provide for you and our baby.”

"I don't want your money, Gabriel. I never did. I am completely capable of raising Raphael without it." She said in an aggravated manner "And have you ever considered how bad this would look for me?”

“I have, and we can work around it.” It was a lie, he hadn't.

“No, I don’t want to. You’re a man. A famous and wealthy one at that. While public opinion would be lenient with you it would be brutal with me and our son and it would make it more difficult for me to get a job. So, no.”

“You could go back to work for me.”

“Gabriel, you just don’t get it, don’t you? Why are you making this so difficult?” Everything in her screamed that she was losing her patience, but he didn't want to let them go.

But he refused to make it easy for her to leave him this time, so “No, I don’t get it. We have the space, you already live here, and you could have your old job back." Giving her something he thought probable that she would agree to.

"So, nothing would have changed, Gabriel. Don't you get it? I'd still be your live-in assistant." She still said that in an aggrieved way, but then he saw all the hurt she felt through her eyes and her posture turn to a very tired one as she continued, "I want to build a life outside your circle of influence, Gabriel. Somewhere where you don’t reach. I can't do it living in your shadow."

He was crushed by her last statement. "It's not my shadow, Nathalie! I am trying to do things right here!”

He could see her getting exasperated again. "Right for whom? You’re still the same selfish man from ten months ago. You’re only thinking of how you could make your life easier. And how do you think I’ll feel when the press gets wind and interprets that as a confirmation that I’ve been your mistress all along and now was finally able to catch you with the oldest scheme on the book. Have you thought about how this would impact Raphael’s life when he gets older? What would that mean for me if I wanted to start seeing someone again?” Without warning, that tiredness and sadness came back to her giving her voice and eyes an impossible tenderness as she spoke “Or for you, Gabriel. You might not be ready now, but eventually, you will want to find love again.”

The only thing he was able to articulate was, "You want to start seeing men?" because he felt she had just punched him in the stomach.

"Not like this, no!" She said, defending herself. "But one day, who knows? I want a family of my own, Gabriel. I want a place that's mine by right, not convenience."

As sad as it was, even he couldn’t deny that she had a point. Or maybe he could but wouldn’t. Because Nathalie didn't feel like a convenience to him. And yes, when he looked back and could see he had not treated her right at any point of their relationship, and even if he knew she deserved happiness with someone that valued and loved her, he still found the idea of her being with someone else abhorrent.

But he could also see why the idea of them together would also seem abhorrent to her. She would never want a man like him again in her life. She was a completely different woman from that one that left the Agreste house a year ago. She was cured of him.

And he didn’t know how to feel about that. She’s been his only support after he lost Emilie. She’d been his everything and he hadn’t seen it. He hadn’t seen her. He’d hurt her one too many times in too many ways.

They looked at each other sadly. He was tired. They both were. "You could at least take your job back. You'd work from here and it would allow me and Adrien to see baby regularly and you wouldn't need to worry about daycare. We could hire a nanny…”

He was interrupted by her saying “I accept.”

“I’m glad.” He releases a deep breath. “I didn’t think you would.”

“Are you retreating your proposition?” She suddenly looked insecure as she’s never seen her before.

“No, no. But it’s obvious that you’re trying to put as much distance from me as you can.” He said looking down.

"I’m not…you’re right that’s precisely what I was doing. What I should be doing for my own sake, but there is Raphael to consider now and you’re his father and you want to be in his life. I would never deny him that. So, you’re right. It would be convenient."

There was a long uncomfortable silence and when it seemed they were not going to say anything else she started to the door, leaving him to work in peace, as she knew he liked.

He wasn't satisfied with their agreement, but he would take what he could get. However, it didn’t escape him that he was only indirectly considered as a cause for her to accept the job. How he was not her primary cause for anything anymore apart from moving away.

Chapter Text

Adrien was worried, and he could tell. The past few days he’s been more quiet and when Plagg had eaten all the camembert in just one go, Adrien hadn’t even noticed, scolded him, or bought more cheese, just telling Plagg to use the phone app to do it himself when he’d had to raise the issue himself. The kwami decided to ask Nathalie instead.

That’s what tipped him off that whatever was on Adrien’s mind was serious stuff, because in Plagg’s Psychology 101, if someone didn’t care about camembert, then something must be really wrong.

So, he decided to take matters into his own hands, after all, now that everyone here knew that Adrien was Chat Noir, Plagg didn’t have to hide anymore. Of course, he still had to be careful that the house staff didn’t see him, but they weren’t into the habit of wandering around the house too much and that left just Andrea as a real concern.

There were only two things, in Plagg’s estimation, that could be making his owner so restless. His family and Ladybug. They were not necessarily mutually exclusive either. And since Ladybug was out of limits for Plagg, he decided to start with M. Agreste.

Right after Gabriel had surrendered his miraculous to Adrien, Plagg was still very suspicious of the man, that’s why he had started to follow M. Agreste everywhere he went. What surprised Plagg was that despite Hawkmoth’s extravagant akumas and M. Agreste’s own flamboyant looks that started with those eyesore red pants, passed through that candy cane cravat, and ended with conic hair, Gabriel was actually a very boring person.

That’s exactly what Plagg'd been thinking when he heard M. Agreste’s voice.

“I know we were never formally introduced to each other, but after all this time, do you still think I will try to steal your miraculous?”

Surprised that the man had initiated a conversation, Plagg answered, “No, I don’t think you would. But Adrien is worried, and I thought you might know why.”

“Adrien has a problem? Why didn’t he come to me?” Gabriel said, in a disbelieving tone that made Plagg want to laugh at the absurdity of the question.

The kwami’s answer came in the form of a facial expression that could easily be read either as “Are you kidding me!” or “weren’t you the worst father of all times just yesterday?” or what Plagg actually answered, which was “I think he must be worried about you.” As incredible as that was, in his opinion.

“Me? What have I done to make him worry about me? Does he still think I might change my mind about being Hawkmoth?”

“No. That’s not it. I don’t think you are the problem this time, just that it has something to do with you”. It was clear from Gabriel’s demeanor that he wasn’t following and that he felt awkward talking to him, so Plagg decided to just spell it out. Better to end this torture for both of them sooner rather than later.
“I think the kid is worried about what he’s going to say to Ladybug now that he has both yours and Mayura’s miraculous, without getting both of you in jail.”

An “Oh”, came out of a pout. Hawkmoth pouted, thought Plagg internally screaming. “I see.” And Candy Cane Man suddenly looked very worried too. “I’ll talk to Adrien about it.” And from the easy way that he said that Plagg believed he would.

But instead of going back to his socks, Plagg uncharacteristically chose to roam around the atelier thinking about how the hell he would ask his next question. He had never ever, in his entire life considered engaging in conversation with Gabriel Agreste, let alone asking this.

He went to behind Gabriel while he was working on that big screen of his and blehh, whatever the man was drawing not as good as people said. And that’s when he decided to just rip off the band-aid in one go. “So, when are you going to ask her to marry you?”

Suddenly, M. Agreste had a coughing fit and lost control of his stylus destroying whatever he was designing completely and Plagg couldn’t help but think that that was really funny and that he should turn scaring the Adrien’s father into a habit.

“If I had known that would be your reaction I would have come and asked sooner.” Said the little god still cackling.

And that seemed to have been the right thing to say because Adrien’s father recovered from the shock and regained his everyday cranky expression and then replied, "I give you free rein to float around this house and do whatever you want because Adrien seems to be fond of you. We can talk about subjects that involve Adrien and Adrien only. My life is not of your concern."

And he was right. Gabriel Agreste’s life wasn’t his business. He didn’t care for Adrien’s father. If Plagg was given the chance to make a wish upon his own miraculous he’d probably want an unlimited supply of camembert, but it also amused him to no end to imagine how Gabriel would look if his hair had the same candy cane pattern as his cravat or maybe just a red streak to match Nathalie’s.

The thing was, Adrien loved Nathalie, Nathalie loved Gabriel and Plagg was fond of the boy and of the woman. A long time ago Adrien had even tried to play cupid between her and his father, but at the time, the man in question had shot his hopes down.

“You really are something you know that Mr. Ice Cream Cone? Do you really think I care about you or what happens in your life apart from the fact that what you do affects my kid? The only reason your sorry boring life interests me is that I see how worried Adrien is because of you and your stupidity!”

“How dare you.”

“How dare I? It’s obvious the kid loves his brother and Miss Ice Queen isn’t living here anymore.” Just then Plagg put his little paw under his chin in a thoughtful manner and very matter of factly added “Hummm, Mr. Ice Cream Cone and Mrs. Ice Queen. A combination made in heaven.” And then switching back to the topic, “And it’s obvious to the kid that you’ve fallen for the lady, so he worries because he knows how stupid you can be and that you are going to end up losing her.”

“Oh, shut up! You know nothing about my life.” Gabriel said indignantly.

“Oh, don’t I? How about this? Even if you aren’t doing anything wrong, you aren’t doing anything right either because it’s obvious that the Great Gabriel Agreste is in love with his assistant with whom he already has a child, and that you are a) still oblivious to this fact, because, as stated before, you are stupid, and I don’t mean to repeat myself” hand on the chin again “even though I really really like calling you that. Or b) You’re in denial, what I think is also possible, and lastly c) you’re just a coward, afraid to tell her because you know that you really hurt the girl and now are too scared to man up and be rejected. Anyway, is it going to take losing her again for you to do something about it?”

The stone cold Gabriel was back when he said, “Get out.”

And just like that, Plagg phazed through the wall. And the man was probably right. Nathalie probably would reject him.

---

Now Nathalie.

His first contact with her was as soon as she’d discovered Adrien was Chat Noir. Plagg knew Nathalie was not a threat to Adrien. In the beginning, because she was too weak. Then, she was the villain that had quit first and now, with a baby to care for, it was obvious that she had no reason nor the energy and much less time to be Mayura again.

So, much like wild animal’s photographer hides in the bushes studies and tries to capture how that animal behaves in its natural habitat, Plagg had hidden in a corner, trying to gather what that particular animal was about.

At the time, she looked just like most female felines feeding and protecting their kittens and it made Plagg wonder how humans had become the dominant species on earth because human kittens were so dumb and frankly useless. Even if this one was chubbier and cutter every day, cuteness wasn’t a prerequisite for survival.

Plagg had never cared about other species, but he was around for a long time now and since he now had the internet at his disposal he had a lot of useless knowledge and fun facts about everything. For example, he knew when a baby giraffe, a dumb animal in Plagg’s estimation, was born he’d suffer a 6 feet high fall right on his head then it stood by itself on its feet, walked to the mother, and feed himself.

Human babies don't see, don't walk alone, don’t feed themselves. So, how could human babies have survived and managed to dominate the most powerful animals of the food chain? A mystery Plagg would never understand.

This human, Nathalie, makes him think of a… her voice interrupted his thoughts as he heard her talk to him for the first time.

“Aren’t you tired of looking at me doing nothing? I mean, I’m here because I can’t be anywhere else.”

It wasn’t that he disliked her. It was just that she was too smart for his own good and that he couldn’t read her as easily as he could with the other humans. Even if she wasn’t a villain any longer, she never let her guard down. Not even with M. Agreste. Especially with him. And she was not one to think out loud as some humans he’d known.

If she was an animal, she would most certainly be a feline. Very sly.

Also, she got him.

“You’re Mayura. I don’t trust you.”

“Correction. I was Mayura. And you know that’s it’s been some time that I’ve not been her.” She paused and continued to clean the baby that had done some very stinky stuff in his diaper and without looking at him asked, “May I ask you what exactly is it about me that you don’t trust?” She said it too calmly and matter of fact for Plagg’s liking.

He squeezed one eye and raised the opposite brow. “I don’t know yet.”

She’d just made a sound and left it at that.

After Nathalie was done with changing the baby’s diapers Plagg went very close to Raphael’s face and studying him and making appraising sounds. Then he flew and stopped in front of Nathalie’s face and concentrated as if searching for something there.

Finally, he said “This kid is very lucky to have taken more after you than his lemon-sucking-faced father.

And that made Nathalie laugh. Really laugh. And even after she had stopped, she had an amused sparkle in her eyes Plagg had never seen before.

“There’s still time. His face will change.” She said looking fondly from Plagg to her son and then to Plagg again.”

“So, you’re Plagg, Adrien’s kwami.” She finally said. And that took him by surprise for the second time, this human. He was beginning to like her. She was smart at least and appreciated his sense of humor.

“I read your name in the grimoire if that’s what you’re asking yourself.” she said.

“And you are Mrs. Ice Queen.” He tried to provoke her

She just smirked. “I’ve been called worse.” And shrugged. She was good. She knew how to take a goading without letting it get a rise out of her. Maybe if things were different, she could have been a good black cat owner, because its bearer could never use it impetuously or in a headlong manner. The power of destruction had to be held under a very tight leash.

“See ya.” He appraised her from head to toe and left. He could see why Adrien liked her. She was like an igloo. Made of ice and warm inside.

Sometimes Plagg just watched her, sometimes he’d help her with Raphael, sometimes they’d talk. She was easy to talk to. Never pushy.

“I don’t know why people say babies stink,” Plagg said while sitting on the baby’s chest and making funny faces to him. Raphael quite liked him.

Plagg had just turned, and saw that she was looking at him with half-smile on her lips and a full one on her eyes as she responded, “People don’t say that.”

“Adrien did every time he changed this kitten’s diapers.”

“He did?” He heard amusement in her voice.

“I say the stinkier the better.”

She laughed hard. But then, suddenly she had a wistful look about herself when she said, “I miss Duusu.” And Plagg looked at her very seriously, so she added, “Not like that. I really miss her. She was so...”

“Vibrant,” she said at the same time Plagg said “A pain in the butt.” And then it was his time to ask “Did you two get along?”

“Looking back, it’s hard to tell. Duusu was always so energetic and wanted to help us, but after Gabriel fixed her miraculous, she was less so. And after that I was ill, and Gabriel started to use both miraculous and hide the peacock from me. So, what I mean is that I miss her, but I have no idea if she’d miss me.”

“That’s sad.” And it really was, so he added, “I do think she’d have liked to meet your son, though.”

She nodded, her eyes sad and her smile weak.

Plagg was feeling more and more relaxed around the ex-villainess every day, so it came as a surprise when he’d learnt that her baby was the real danger to him because as Plagg was floating above his face as he often did Raphael wrapped his little fingers around the kwami and shoved him right inside his mouth.

“PLAGG.” Screeched Nathalie as she hurried to save the little god, but Raphael’s grasp was so tight she was afraid to hurt him.

But Plagg freed himself anyway, by fazing through the baby's chubby cheek.

“Blehhh, kid! Don’t do that anymore!”

And as he was about to phase out of the nursery, he heard her say in a babyish voice, “Are your little teeth coming out?

And went to find his owner.

---

So, back to the business of trying to help Adrien have his family all together. After all, if Adrien talked to Ladybug and had to return his miraculous to her, Plagg wanted to make sure the boy would be well cared for.

Today was one of those days when Nathalie stayed with them for dinner. Right now, the three humans of this house were eating together, and nowadays they’d all sit at just one end of that ridiculously gigantic table and as they were all finishing their meals Plagg looked at Nathalie and asked.

“May I sleep at your house tonight?”

All three heads looked at him at once. Good, at least once he was receiving the attention he deserved, he thought with a smirk.

The Agrestes gasped. Thank goodness there was no food in their mouths anymore. Nathalie did too, but she recovered faster and as soon as she saw their astonished faces she smiled and answered looking at his holder.

“If Adrien allows it, yes.”

To which Plagg reacted by shifting his gaze to Adrien, “Well, do you?” He said floating over the dinner table.

“Since when are you and Nathalie friends?” Asked Gabriel, obviously still recovering from his shock after their talk that very same day when the kwami had made it very clear that he didn’t like him. Plagg was going to show him what he did know about the man’s life, because he was friends with Nathalie and in Plagg’s estimation that meant he had influence and information, the older Agreste would kill to have.

“Since about a week after I was released from the hospital.” It was Nathalie that responded to that.

“And how did neither of us know that?” Gabriel again, flabbergasted.

“It never occurred to me to tell you that we talked. Do I have to tell you everything?”

“No, but…”

Adrien chose that precise moment to finally join the conversation, “And why do you want to go to Nathalie’s?” he said looking at Plagg.

“Oh, she lets me watch “The Simpsons” on her streaming.”

Adrien seemed speechless for a moment but then, “And can’t you watch it here?”

“Yes. But can I do it there? She gives me cheese, we talk, I help her with Raphael. I am really good with kids, you know.” He said the last part proudly.

Plagg could see that his holder was half-amused when he answered, “Yes, Plagg. You can go. Just behave and don’t eat all Nathalie’s food.”

Before he left with her, he looked back at the older Agreste and stuck his tongue out at him.

---

Nathalie’s apartment was very well organized since she spent most of her time at the Agrestes’ house anyway. But first, they had to stop at the market since she didn’t have any cheese for him.

They wouldn’t actually do anything more than what Plagg had said. But he really was starting to like Nathalie and she could be the mother that his holder needed. He knew Adrien was alone and had secrets he couldn’t tell anyone. His whole family had.

And Nathalie was in on everything, she was part of them, and she actually loved Adrien. She was cold and detached, but she was less so now. Especially now that she had her own child, she probably knew how she wanted her son to be treated.

Add to that that even if Adrien’s father was acrid and sour, she still managed to not only bear the man but to love him. So, obviously, she had her flaws, but at least this one could be useful to help his owner. With that in mind, after eating half of his cheese on her sofa and in the middle of the third episode, Plagg asked, “When are you going to forgive Adrien’s father?”

“I’ve noticed that you’re developing quite the habit of saying things out of the blue.”

“That house gets boring and it’s fun to see your faces.”

“Hum” she said and just continued to watch the episode as if he hadn’t asked anything. But Plagg saw through her tactic and insisted.

“So, are you?”

He saw her take a deep breath without ever taking the eyes from the TV and then she said. “I’m not angry with Gabriel.”

“So why aren’t you with him?”

“What?” Oh, now he got her attention. But she recovered quick and said, “What does that to do with anything? And how is this your business anyway?”

“It’s not. I just thought that now that there’s no bad blood between you two, you’d want to be with the father of your child.”

Wistfully, she replied, “It takes more than that for a man and a woman to be together Plagg. You should know that by now. How old are you, by the way? Because I feel I shouldn’t need to explain this to you.”

“Oh, I don’t know how old I am. And no, you don’t need to explain that to me. But just so you know, we kwamis are very old but we’ve only spent a very small fraction of that time outside the miracle box.”

“That’s interesting and... also sad to be honest.” She said, but then she continued, “So your age doesn't exactly translate to experience.” She turned her entire body in his direction to look down at his sprawled form on her sofa cushions. “And considering that customs change depending on the century and place you were…yeah, I can see that it may be difficult for you to get used to the world all over again.”

“Yes. But this is the first time my owner doesn't have to hide me from everyone.”

“And you don’t want it to change if Gabriel finds himself another wife.”

“That’s correct but very unlikely. I don’t know how that man got himself one wife, much less how a woman like you fell for him.”

She laughed at that and then “Thanks. But convenience is not a good reason for us to be together.” She said in a resigned manner. “Gabriel doesn’t love me. I’m just his only friend with whom he happens to have a child.” Then a pause and “Gabriel feels guilty for how he behaved with me and that’s it. That’s all there is.”

“I don’t think it is.”

“But as you said. You don’t know much about life and relationships so just leave this one alone.” She said sternly and then turned back to the TV pressing play again. Then after a moment when Plagg could see her restlessness she jumped from the sofa and asked, “Has Adrien ever given you any popcorn to try?”

“Blehhh!”

“Your loss.” And she disappeared inside the kitchen.

Chapter Text

After the astonishment subsided, Adrien looked at his father and said, “What was that?”

“It seems your kwami doesn’t like me very much but is quite taken by Nathalie.”

“Yeah, that was clear. But why would he stick his tongue out at you like that?”

To Adrien he said, “Well…Adrien, you’re 16 now.” And then he muttered looking like he was talking to himself “What am I doing, talking about these things with my teenaged son?” and dropped his head in a way that made it look like it was going to fall off his neck. “Your kwami came to see me today and told me some…well to summarize, he said that I’m an idiot who’s afraid to confront my feelings for Nathalie and that you were worried about what you’re going to do about Ladybug.”

Now it was Adrien’s turn to drop his had in worry and defeat. He felt his father touching his shoulder to guide him and heard say “Can we talk?”

They sat in the sofa of his father’s atelier, and his father looked as worried as Adrien felt. 

“I’m sorry.” his father said. “It’s my fault that you’re in this position now.”

“I’m sorry too, dad.” Keeping his lips tightly pressed afterward.

“What do you want to do?”

“Nothing. I want to do nothing and just let things be the way they are now.” And after expelling air heavily through his nose he continued “This family has been broken for so long, and now that I have you back, I don’t want to lose you again.” He paused briefly to think, “But I have to tell something to Ladybug. She’s the guardian and your miraculous must be returned to her. I know what I have to do. I just don’t want to. But that would be a betrayal of her trust. She’d never forgive me.”

“Can I ask you something personal, Adrien?”

He was a little unsettled because his father’s demeanor indicated that he was going to change topics and since he was asking Adrien permission to go ahead, this could be a potentially awkward question. But he wasn’t about to refuse his father, so he said “Yes.”

“Do you like this girl?”

Adrien’s eyes popped, “Yesss.” He said, exaggerating on the s, “But I don’t see the relevance of this information to the matter at hand?”

“Do you know who she is?”

“No, father. We don’t know each other’s identities”

“That’s not what I meant. Do you know her? Are you friends or more than friends? Do you care about what happens with each other outside the mask?”

“Yes, father. I mean, we never said things that could give away our identities but yes, I think we are friends.”

“Then tell her the truth.” His father said confidently.

Adrien shook his head vehemently, “But that could get you in jail.”

“Adrien, for all the things I did, I’m sure I deserve to be in jail. But that’s not what’s going to happen.”

“How do you work that out?”

“Well, the company might not survive this, and we could end up having to leave France, and we wouldn’t be as rich as we are now, but we would be able to start over somewhere. One thing I know for sure, I wouldn’t go to jail because magical terrorism isn’t against the law in France, no lasting damage resulted from my activities and akumatized people don’t remember their actions. But even if there was a law against it, I am sorry to tell you this son, but I always had an escape plan, we have money in offshore accounts. Nathalie has always been very thorough and meticulous about everything.”

Not surprising at all, but “What about me?” he asked in a small voice.

“What about you? You were coming with us. She was thorough, but we weren’t counting on you being Chat Noir.” Gabriel promptly answered as if it was the most obvious thing in the world ad that brought Adrien such a wave of relief and he realized that he didn’t know he really needed to hear his father say that needed with that precise security in his voice. Because way his father was behaving before they discovered Nathalie and Raphael in that hospital, Adrien really thought his father might have considered him just an afterthought. But no, he was included. In an escape plan. Oh, dang! He was feeling relieved. For being included in an escape plan. This was what his life had become. He was mentally facepalming when his father chose to continue.

“My point, son, is that you like this girl. If you lie to her, you’re going to lose her either because of the guilt you feel or because at some point, she’ll discover what you did. Don’t forget the kwamis can’t say the identities of Hawkmoth and Mayura, but they can say that you knew who they were.”

“But dad…”

“Tell her, Adrien. There’s no other way. Well, there is, but that would involve you giving me the butterfly back and staging something, and that would still be a lie. Or not telling her at all.”

At the beginning, he hadn’t thought even thought that he had to tell Ladybug that Hawkmoth had surrendered. With Nathalie still in the hospital, discovering his mother was under his house and was the reason his father had become Hawkmoth, then almost becoming a second parent to his baby brother, and still helping even after Nathalie had woken up because she was still too weak. So, no. Telling Ladybug that Hawkmoth was no longer a threat was the last thing on Adrien’s tired mind.

But it’s been two days since that talk with his dad, and even though Adrien  was feeling some measure of relief that his father wouldn’t feel betrayed if he told the truth to Ladybug, it still wasn’t enough to assuage his anxiety. Because there was still the possibility that she would turn his father and Nathalie to the police, and he didn’t want to have to leave Paris and his friends. He didn’t want to lose Ladybug and he didn’t want to have his family name marred by all that his father did.

It was selfish, he knew that. But it was the truth. 
There was still another thing to consider. He didn’t want to be responsible for leaving his baby brother deprived of both parents. He was willing risk being without both his parents, but he couldn’t do that to his little brother. He wouldn’t. He was certain of that. Then he remembered that his father said about not going to jail and sudden as a lighting in his head, he understood that here was a very concrete possibility of having to leave France and all his friends and Ladybug behind.

He was postponing. Procrastinating. He had to stop that, but he was nervous. 

“Plagg, if this is our last time together, I want you to know that…you’re the best kwami and friend I could ever have asked for.”

Plagg hugged his cheek and said, “Kid, everything is going to be fine. Go ahead and say the words.” 

After his transformation, Adrien looked himself in the mirror. It could be his last time as Chat Noir. He inhaled deeply as if that act was going to give him the courage he needed to end this and finally sent Ladybug a message asking her to meet at the Eiffel Tower at 11 pm.

When Chat Noir heard a bump noise coming from his left, he knew it was time. 

“My lady.” He said, with none of the usual cheekiness.

“Hi, Kitten. Long time no see. Where have you been? Hawkmoth hasn’t been giving us any trouble, but you’ve been missing our patrols.”

He looked down and dejectedly he said “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I know why Hawkmoth stopped sending akumas.”

“You do?”

Chat nodded. “He surrendered his and Mayura’s miraculous to me.” He said opening his right hand revealing two broches. 

Ladybug gasped. “Is…are…are you sure they are real? And why would Hawkmoth surrender them to you? And when did that happen?”

“Ladybug.” He said touching her arm with his other hand interrupting her verborragy. “Sit.”

“It’s been almost two months now since Hawkmoth came to me and gave me these.” He said this while he took her hand and deposited both miraculous there.

“He went to you? So, he knows who you are? How? How do you know this isn’t all a plan…”

But he interrupted her again “It’s not. Things happened in his life. He learned that his goal was unachievable even with the wish.”

“He told you his goal?” And her mouth was impossibly opened. “Oh, my God! You know who he is!”

“Yes. And…” Another nod and a 

“Who is he?” She couldn’t contain herself. This was big.

But Adrien found himself unable to say it. He was on the verge of breaking right there. He wanted to protect his family.

“Who is he Chat?”

“Ladybug, I can’t be Chat Noir anymore.” He said, instead of answering her question.

“What?!” That swooned her thought process completely. “Why are you saying that?”

“Because Hawkmoth was my father.” He chose to be direct and end his torment.

He could see the shock and confusion on Ladybug’s face. She was still and for a moment she didn’t blink. The only part of her body that moved was her mouth but none of the sounds that she made could form a word. 

“I am not betraying you, my Lady if that’s what you’re thinking, but he is my father. I lost my mother and he wanted to bring her back to us. But things happened in our family that made him rethink his life. He could have just stopped, and I would be none the wiser, but he confessed and voluntarily gave me his miraculous. And I know I was foolish to reveal myself to him, but it was the only way to convince himself that the wish wouldn’t work the way he thought it would.” Then Chat stopped and with a very tired expression, “I’m sorry it took me so long to tell you all this, Ladybug, but I didn’t know how to tell you.”

“Where is Mayura in all of this? Did she surrender too? She’s not been seen for more than a year now.”

“She’s part of the reason he quit. She had left him. She and father…it’s complicated. He…I think he loves her, but he hurt her very badly and…” He didn’t know how to continue. He didn’t want Ladybug to think even worse of his father than he knew she already would. After all, his father was doing all that for one woman and was giving it all up for another. “He is not a lady’s man, Ladybug. Things are just so messed up.” 

She came closer to him and entwined their arms, their hands linked on his thigh and head on his shoulder. 

“Oh, Chat, what are we going to do about it?”

“We? He never thought she was going to include him in her decision process anymore. “Aren’t you going to want Plagg back?”

“Yes, I am. I trust you with my life Chat, but I don’t trust Hawkmoth not to change his mind, and having your ring right there, it’s just not safe.” And he deflated even more. “So, yeahh, I will want the ring back, but hey, Plagg can visit you. Would it be weird if I visited you?”

He gave her a weak but truthful smile. “Thank you, my Lady. You’re the best.” He said turning his head a bit so he could kiss her forehead.

“Another thing, Chat.” And she looked very serious now and a tad disappointed if Adrien was reading her correctly. “You won’t know who I am.”

“My lady…” Not that. Please, not that, he was going to say but she was faster, put a hand on his knee and spoke. “I trust you Chat. It’s just…unwise. I’m sorry.”

“And what about my father?”

“What about him? He won’t know who I am or where the miraculous are. He’s not a threat anymore. I won’t destroy your family, Chat. You came here knowing I could turn your father to the police, and you’d be alone in the world. But you came anyway. I love you, Chat Noir. If things were different, I would love to hang out with you as civilians.” And now it was her that raised her head to his neck and kissed him there.

He wasn’t going to see her again. It dawned on him now. He had nothing to lose anymore, so he asked.

“Ladybug, if I’m never going to see you again. Would you give me just one kiss?” 

“Chat…”

“Just one, Ladybug. A goodbye kiss.”

They were already so close.  And they kissed. Sweetly and not so briefly. While still kissing he took his ring off and they were showered by a green light. That’s what made her open her eyes.

She breathed an “Oh, my God.”

She seemed so upset. “I’m not what you expected, hum?”

“No, you’re not. You’re even better. Let me take you home, kitty.”

In the morning, he didn’t feel like talking at all.He missed Plagg. He wasn’t talkative at lunch either and diner was the same and the proof that times had indeed changed was that Adrien didn’t thought it was odd at all that his father ended up looking for him in his room 

“Come in.” He said after he heard a knock on the door. 

His father opened the door but just stood there at the entrance, he looked at him and then around the room and asked, “I don’t see Plagg around?”

“He’s with Ladybug now.”

That got a reaction from Gabriel. “Since when? When did you meet her?” He said walking in the direction of the bed.

“Yesterday.” And left it at that.

“Well?” His father’s curiosity obvious in his tone as he took place beside him in the mattress.

“Well, I told Ladybug everything. She knows about you and Nathalie and, of course, about me now. She said Plagg can visit, but that it’s too risky to have my miraculous near you. The good thing is that she’s not going to turn you in. She’ll say nothing. Hawkmoth has been inactive for a while now and she’s going to leave it at that.”

His father was visibly relieved. “Good. That’s good. I’ll tell Nathalie later. Now, how are you?”

“Sad? I don’t know what else I’m feeling, but I know I’m sad.”

“You miss your kwami, that’s expected.”

“She kissed me, father.” He blurted abruptly changing topics. “It was wonderful, dad. But I don’t know who she is, and now I’m here wondering if…” he paused to take a breath, “wondering if we could be together if not for this entire mess and…”

“You blame me.”

“NO! Yes. I do, but I know it is unfair. I wouldn’t even know Ladybug if it wasn’t for Hawkmoth, but I just miss her so much, Dad.”

His father looked truly repentant as he said “She knows who you are, Adrien. She can still reach you if she wants. It doesn’t have to be over. Or hopeless. But if I learned anything from this is don’t let yourself be blinded or consumed by love or the idea of love. Look around you, son. Maybe Ladybug is in your future and maybe not. Just think about it.” He said getting up.

Adrien looked up to his father and spoke. “Nathalie will come around, father.”

“That’s what I’m counting on.”  

It’s been a month since Nathalie moved and was it was obvious to Adrien that his father was not happy with it.

He wasn’t happy either. It was good that after Nathalie felt fully recovered, he could go start to be just a brother instead of a part-time parent to Raphael, but he missed his brother dearly. Not so much on weekdays because on those, Nathalie brought Raphael along with her. They had decided they would forfeit the nanny now because Raphael mostly slept, and they had Andrea to help with administrative work while Nathalie took care of the most important or sensitive matters. 

The problem was that he saw how gloomy his father’s face became after they were gone.

Adrien was almost reaching the stairs when he hears Andrea’s voice saying, “You must be really good if he still wants you around.” in a snarky tone he never heard her use before.

He stopped at the top of the stairs and listened. It doesn't look like they heard him approaching, because they hadn’t looked up nor started pretending to be talking about something else.

He waited for Nathalie’s response, as she stops doing whatever she is doing and looks at Andrea for a moment as if considering her reply but instead her face changes to one of profound curiosity. Like a person looking at a new animal at the zoo. As if she was considering the woman in front of her as a whole and he could see that Andrea’s whole demeanor changed to one of discomfort as she must have felt like she was being studied, analyzed, categorized, and then labeled not important enough because Nathalie just looked back to what she had been previously doing without dignifying Andrea with an answer. 

Adrien was amazed by Nathalie’s ability for intimidation without even uttering a word. With not so much as pressing her eyes slightly closed and tilting her head a little in serious contemplation. 

He was very happy he never did something to warrant that.

After Nathalie announced her departure, Adrien went to his father’s anteroom, that same one that had once belonged to Nathalie before his father had put a desk for her inside the atelier just across from his.

He stopped in front of Andrea’s desk and asked.

“Andrea, could I have a moment of your time?”

She smiled at him “Of course, Adrien.” And as soon as she saw he was so serious she amended “Can I help you?”

“No. I just wanted to talk to you about something. You see, I heard what you said to Nathalie this afternoon.”

At that Andrea paled.

“Let me tell you something about Nathalie’s history in this house. She was the only mother figure I had after my mother disappeared, she practically raised me, and she was the one who kept this family together through it all. She’s made more for this family than even father did. She’s the reason why Gabriel is still standing for the past five years. She is the reason you still have this job, so you should show more respect for her. And not because I am telling you, but because she deserves.”

With that, he left, not waiting nor wanting for a response, leaving poor Andrea static on her chair. 

Chapter Text

He didn’t know how Adrien and Nathalie could bear, much less befriend Adrien’s kwami. But then he considered Nathalie had loved him when he was at his worst, lowest, grumpiest point, so maybe she wasn’t much of a parameter. 

But the kwami had not so gently pressed on his wounds and it hurt. It made him think. 

His surrender hadn’t been planned. He didn’t regret it, but it wasn’t what he had wanted. He had wanted his family back together. With Emilie in it. 

That’s not what he had now, but he counted himself lucky anyway, because he still had a family. He still had Adrien and because now he had Raphael too. And Nathalie. Even if they were only co-parenting, Raphael had bonded them for life. 

He and Nathalie hadn’t actually discussed how they were going to do handle raising their son Instead, they’d been talking things as they came along. Anyhow, it wasn’t as if Nathalie denied him access to his son or made all the decisions alone. On the contrary, for all her reluctance in the beginning she seemed to want his involvement and even encouraged him to participate the more he could. He was grateful for that.

If only Nathalie had agreed to live with them at the mansion, then everything would be perfect, but he still got to see them almost every day, and sometimes she let Raphael stay with him the whole weekend. 

She'd even said that if he wanted to come by her apartment to see their son, he was welcome, he just had to give her a call. To see his son. Not her. Never her. Their relationship now revolved around their children and work. 

It wasn’t the same without her there though. He missed her every moment she wasn’t there. He missed his friend, his partner in crime, the only one who believed he could do the impossible.  But she’d been very clear when she said that she wanted to reserve a part of her life just for her. A part that was meant to be Gabriel-less. A part where he didn’t belong and wasn’t welcome anymore. 

And he hated that part. He was jealous of it. He had discovered a whole new part of himself, one that wanted to know what Nathalie was like when she wasn’t the prim and proper executive assistant all Paris knew. He wanted to see her wearing casual clothes, he wanted to be able to just be in the same room with her without having a reason to be, or needing to talk at all, just to feel her presence near him. He wanted to take her out and to discover all her likes and dislikes and all the little things lovers know about each other.

And that thought surprised Gabriel. It wasn’t so long ago that he’d accepted Emilie wasn’t coming home. It wasn’t that long ago he was still terrorizing Paris and fighting his son. 

Maybe what he missed was just his friend and the structure of a family she had provided him with in the past. Maybe he just longed for the companionship that came with a life partner. Maybe Nathalie was right, and he would want to find love again. 

Because what he felt for Nathalie wasn’t at all similar to what he had felt for Emilie. Then, he had been completely entranced by the woman who later became his wife. She was so vibrant, and like a star she irradiated light in every direction. Being chosen by her was like winning the big prize. Moreover, it was a validation, because he was a promising nobody who had the intelligence and the guts to take each and every opportunity life had presented him with, but a nobody, nonetheless. 

Then later, when he had already become The Gabriel Agreste, known for his talent but also his ruthlessness, she had been his human credential, because if that sunshine could love a man like him, then he couldn’t be as bad as his reputation suggested. It meant must have redeeming side at least.

Then he had felt all those symptoms of the sickness called love. The nervousness, the clammy hands, the fluttering in his stomach. He felt none of those with Nathalie. With her everything was different.

He hadn’t felt nervous with Nathalie, he’d felt secure. He'd never felt he had to impress her. With her, he could just be himself, certain that he was accepted by her with all his bad moods and habits and even with his obsession for bringing his wife back from the dead. She’d been his rock and he hadn’t foreseen how lost he’d feel without her all those months ago.

She’d always supported him. Emilie had too, but Nathalie was the one who actually helped his dreams come true. Even at the expense of herself.

“This is a sight I’d never thought possible.” He heard Nathalie say as she entered the atelier, her tone, very matter of fact.

“It’s freeing, actually.” And then his attention was dragged back to the portrait “can you give me a hand here?” 
As he said it, he gave another tug in his attempt to unfix the giant painting from the wall.

“Oh, my god. What are you doing?” She said, running to help him balance the painting. “This is going to fall on you.” 
Having managed to safely catch it between them, they both put it on the floor and just stood there contemplating the majestic thing.

Nathalie spoke first, “What do you want me to do with it?”

“I don’t know yet. I was thinking that for now we could put it in the attic or send it to the storage for if Adrien wants it.” Then raising his shoulders, “A museum, maybe”

“Ok. I’ll tell Andrea to call Guillermo to help take it up. You can decide later. Let’s just take it outside so between of them see those buttons, ok.”

After the painting was gone and it was just them again, she asked him, “So, what were you saying before almost being crushed?”

Being crushed by Emilie for the second time, even if the irony wasn’t intended, it was not lost to either. 

"I was saying that taking it down felt like cutting the last thread that tying me to Emilie”

At the evident disbelief in her face, he tried to elaborate.

“How can I explain?” He said squinting his eyes in thought. “It was hard at the beginning, knowing I would never see her again, knowing all I had done to Adrien, to you was for nothing...I felt so stupid and frustrated with myself for having neglected Adrien for so long and for trying to isolate him to protect him from myself of all people!” He made an ample gesture with his arms to emphasize the absurdity of the situation, then he took a deep breath to continue, “And then there were you and almost having lost you too and all the pain and suffering you had to deal with because of your illness...then you alone, dealing with a high-risk pregnancy while I was here licking my wounds. God, Nathalie, I could have lost you. I could have lost Raphael without even knowing I was going to be a father again. You could have died, and all I would have received was a notification from the hospital.”

She held his hand and pulled him over to the sofa. When they sat down, she didn’t let go of him and said “Let’s just put the past behind us, ok. Nothing happened and we’re all here.” very softly.

“Yes, but...” and now his countenance was deeply serious as he positioned himself sideways so he could look at her better. “I have so much to atone for with you. The way I treated you, everything with the miraculous...I shouldn’t have allowed things to go as far as they went. I should have taken care of you better. I shouldn’t have let you go the way I did.”

She kept shaking her head as he progressed with his speech until apparently, she couldn’t anymore and   cut him off right there instead.

“Stop.”

“Stop what?

“We’re not going there.” It was impressive how Nathalie’s countenance changed so quickly from concerned to stone cold. “I’m not an idiot. I knew exactly what I was doing, so don’t go down that road.”

“Nathalie, there are things…”

“That I don’t want to talk about!” And every word was heavily punctuated. She paused for a brief moment, and she turned her face down with a frown between her eyes.

When she looked at him again, she said, “Look, I’m happy that you found it freeing to let Emilie go. I really am. And that you’re mending things with Adrien but what happened between us? there’s nothing to talk about there. My health is better now and we’re managing with Raphael and I can see that you’re making a noticeable effort to be a good father for him. I’m grateful for that, you don’t know how much, Gabriel but…”

“Nathalie, how…”

“No, Gabriel. Hear me out. Whatever consequences I had to deal with because of the peacock miraculous was not your fault. It was my choice and my choice only.” A pause and, “And what happened between us that night was obviously a mistake. You made that clear enough and I get it. You don’t have to explain yourself to me. So, if you still want me to work here let’s just pretend it never happened.” And he thought that was absurd because how could they when they had a son together. “Let’s just focus on the work and the children, ok.”

Then she stood up and left without waiting for a reply. Leaving Gabriel behind and stewing in frustration because he wanted to have a say in how they were to conduct their relationship too, and he didn’t know how to convince Nathalie to allow him.

He was sure Andrea found it odd that she wasn’t allowed inside his atelier anymore, but he wasn’t risking his secrets, and thankfully his reputation as an eccentric and difficult boss already preceded him so it wasn’t as if she was likely to become suspicious or anything. Especially since Nathalie had told her that he was in the middle of creating a new collection and secrecy was paramount.

It was taking longer than he’d expected to have a new painting done to substitute for the old one because he  wanted a painting of his family but  Nathalie was very resistant to the idea of posing them; alleging that  she wasn’t family. Which was absurd, in both his and Adrien’s opinion, but she insisted that if he decided to marry again, then his new wife wouldn’t be comfortable with having  a picture of him with his assistant looking at her from above and it could only complicate things for them even further.

Gabriel hardly saw that a painting would matter in that situation compared to the fact of Raphael’s existence and the truth that Nathalie was part of his family but Nathalie had stood firm on the matter.  

So, in the end, here they were covering  that one wall with wallpaper to hide the buttons of the lift, on the weekend. Even though Nathalie  didn’t work those anymore, she had agreed to come and help him with that, since they couldn’t call professionals to do the job.

And boy, he didn’t know what to do and how to behave around her at all because she was wearing jeans and a simple white blouse that was already untucked for ease of movement.

He was holding the ladder still and she was up on the top applying the paper on the upper part of the wall when he and looked up to talk to her about something and got an eyeful of her belly and lingerie. He couldn’t help thinking that in those Gabriel-less moments of hers, Nathalie must have been working out and that black lace really suited her.

"Gabriel!” She said kicking him softly on the shoulder.

“I’m sorry. What?” He said dumbly.

“I asked you to pass me the knife” She said impatience in her voice but amusement in her eyes.

“Oh, that. Ok. Here” he said very quickly and completely flushed because she’d caught him looking, but in an attempt to save the what dignity remained to him he feigned a coolness he didn’t feel to downplay his teenage behavior. He’d bet even Adrien wouldn’t do that. Or at least he hoped so. They had raised him better than that. It was just that the damn house was so high that whenever he had to look up to talk to her or give her a tool he got an eyeful. It really wasn’t his fault! So, he climbed two steps to hand her the stylet trying very hard not to look up and disgrace himself further in her eyes.

“Thanks.” He heard her say.

But Nathalie was unwittingly trying his sanity because he wasn’t sure if she’d those hips before. They seemed somehow rounder and fuller and that swaying from one side to the other had never made him feel this way before. 

Of course, he knew Nathalie was a beautiful woman before and when he became  someone else and she was someone else too, he’d felt like he could indulge even if only a little bit. That  if only for a brief moment he could touch her in a way he never dared when they were Gabriel and Nathalie.

And what was best, was that he could blame the miraculous for that, even if he knew it wasn’t true. He knew that in those times he felt liberated by the mask. He could be someone else. Someone freer. And so could she. Because she too had indulged. She had responded to his every touch with one of her own. Or a look. A smile. And they never needed  to talk about it  when their transformations were over. Or perhaps they should have, but the fact was that they hadn’t.

“Careful!” In his distraction, he had caused her to ass pass right in front of his face and that made him take a step back taking the ladder with him and Nathalie to the ground. But quickly, he caught her by the waist, pulling her to him.

She effectively crashed against his torso with her hands on his chest, breathing fast from the scare, and when she looked up, he could feel her breath and looking at those plump lips  suddenly the atmosphere around them changed to one where the air felt heavier and he felt unable to contain himself anymore. 

He didn’t contain himself anymore.

It was fast and it was needy. They both were. Because to his surprise, she promptly responded with the same intensity opening he mouth to him. She tasted so sweet.

It was something they both longed for for a long time. He knew he had. Even when he fooled himself otherwise, mentally reiterating that he only missed her companionship, he’d known he wanted to remember that night with her. Because he didn’t and that left him with only his imagination to answer the questions he had. At nights, or on the weekends, he was free to wonder what they had done. What did she taste like  ? How did  her skin feel against his? How soft was her hair ? What were the things he did that made her squirm?

He wanted to remember that night.

But even if he couldn’t remember any of that from their first time because of his inebriated state, he’d take the chance to learn everything he could now. For one thing, he was learning  that despite the subservient way she behaved in her role as his  assistant, Nathalie wasn’t shy at all. And he got further confirmation of that when he pushed her against the brand-new wallpaper they had just finished applying and she immediately climbed him, unbothered by his hands on her behind and his mouth on her neck. 
Another mental note. Her mouth tasted so fresh. So sweet. So delicious. He’d never have enough, he was sure of that.

When he started to walk them to the sofa he’d kept there since her illness he needed to watch where he was going, and she took the opportunity and used it to ravish his neck, her fingers helping, undoing the top buttons of his shirt. She kissed him just below the ear and he wondered if she knew, because that was one of his weaknesses.

When they reached the sofa, she climbed down still managing to not stop kissing him and caressing the hairs on his neck. It was just when he tried to undo the buttons of her blouse that she whispered into his mouth, “Wait.”

But he was too far gone to understand and just kept on what he was doing. “Wait, Gabriel. Stop.” She said again when he tried to kiss her again. 

“What?” Her panic finally made her words register in his brain, “Did I hurt you?” 

“No. No, it’s just…” She stopped to get some air. “We shouldn’t be doing this”

“What?” His mind  was under her spell and consumed by her smell and kisses, so it was hard to think with words again.

“We should stop. This isn’t right.” She said again sitting down on the sofa, breathing still a little ragged and buttoning back up the top buttons of her blouse.

Coming down from heaven. That’s how he felt when he heard her say that again.

He was sure his face was one of despair and he didn’t care how needy it made him look. “Why?” and he sat beside her, putting his hand on her shoulder, and although she didn’t take his hand off she put more distance between them, producing the same effect.

He looked down. Disappointed. Hurt even. He was sure she could tell, but he didn’t have the emotional control he usually had to pretend otherwise right now.

“Gabriel. We can’t do this. We can’t risk whatever relationship we have now for another night we’ll regret the day after.” He could hear  all the hurt and insecurity Nathalie felt in her voice. 

He knew what she was trying to avoid, so, “Nathalie. It’s not like that.”

“But it is, Gabriel. It is because Emilie’s not here anymore, but you don’t love me. You’re obviously attracted to me but that’s not the same thing. And…” She turned redder and how could she after what they just did, but then, “it’s been some time for the both of us. It’s only natural for us to react like that to proximity, but…”

“Are you saying I kissed you because I was horny?” He felt insulted. How could she think that?

“Wasn’t it? Are you telling me you were in love with me all this time and pushed off the ladder so you could kiss me?”

“Of course not! I didn’t plan that.”

“Then what was it?”

"It was…” He couldn’t articulate what it was. This was important and he couldn’t put his thoughts together and or find the words to explain  his feelings  the right way. It was only  now that he was starting to be honest with himself about what he wanted and why he wanted it and more importantly with whom he wanted it with. He needed time to think. “…It was. Damn, Nathalie, why does it have to have a name?”

“Why?” Oh, now her face was one of pure anger. “Why?” Her voice went up a pitch and he could see a million thoughts passing through  her eyes. So many, compared in number and colors to the myriad of emotions that went through her face as her breathing started to accelerate. He saw her fury go up high, reaching the impossible heights of the  heaven he’d been in in just a few minutes ago, and no words come out of her mouth. She just went and leaned over to pick her purse up to leave him behind again, as  was becoming her habit. But as it turned out, he was faster and grabbed her by the arm.

“No, you won’t just leave me talking to myself again. We’re going to address this now.”

“Then answer my question. Why did you kiss me? What is it you want with me? Why can’t  you just let me go?” Her eyes, anxious and desperate at the same time.

And he ignored all her other questions in favor of the last because “Is this that you want?” His eyes, sad and expectant. “Do you want to leave me?”

She sat down again. Tired. Her purse lay forgotten on the floor by her feet. She breathed very deeply, visually trying take back the control she’d apparently lost. “No. I don’t want to leave you. Not the way you are implying. Not completely. We have a son together, and I don’t want to damage the  relationship we’re still managing to have for his sake for another stupid mistake.”

He had to ask, “Is it? Is it all because of him? Did I hurt you so much that Raphael is the only thing binding us together?” And motioning his hands between them he asked, “Do you think this is a mistake?” 
 
She looked to her purse by feet and picked it up and put the strap on her shoulder. “No, he isn’t the only thing binding us together and of course this is a mistake. You don’t know what you want, Gabriel. And I don’t want to leave like this anymore.”

And with that, she left. 

It seemed she always had the last word these days.

She had given him the chance of his life and in his confusion, he’d gone and made things worse. 

Nathalie was true to her word. She  cut him out from part of her life. Now he heard her talking on the phone more to people he didn’t know. And with she had Andrea under her, she didn’t need to take care of every little thing like she used to, which meant that she had more time to spare for herself and Raphael.

And as his youngest grew up, he was getting increasingly independent from his mother and spending more time with him and Adrien. It seemed Adrien’s friends had adopted him as a kind of mascot and played with him and spoiled his Raphael to no end. So now Nathalie truly did have time to herself.

Today was Sunday and therefore one of those Gabriel-less days Nathalie was so fond of, and he was sitting on the sofa of the dining room pretending to read the news on his tablet while he waited for her to arrive with Raphael and wondered what it was that she thought was so important that their son couldn’t be a part of it when he heard the door and knew that they had arrived.

“Gabriel?” He heard her call.

“In here.” He responded. The next thing he saw was Raphael running in his direction in that funny almost tumbling way that made his and Nathalie’s hearts accelerate in fear that their child was going to fall or hit his head in a corner. But none of those things happened and his son was suddenly hugging his knees.

“Daaa!”, Raphael spoke extending his hands to him, with his delight clear on his little face.

Gabriel couldn’t help but smile back. How his and Nathalie’s child could be such a smiling child he had no idea. “Up here, Raphael.” Because he refused to call his son by any nicknames. 

And the child was already climbing on his legs and taking control of his tablet. “Pael, da.”

Gabriel leaned on the back of the sofa and said “Ok, ok. Here. This is you.” showing him his baby pictures.

When he looked up, Nathalie was smiling at them from the door, and once again he could only smile back. Then he noticed her outfit and said “You’re beautiful. I mean, you always are but today you’re especially beautiful.”

He saw her blush.

“Thanks. I…” Her blush hadn’t subsided, but now he noticed that she was also looked extremely uncomfortable, “have a date.”

He froze. He couldn’t blink or close his mouth, which was suddenly so very dry. She what? “You what?”

Yes. Uncomfortable was certainly one way to describe her. “I have a date.” She repeated, this time looking down and if he was reading her right, apparently feeling guilty too.

“Oh.” He wasn’t expecting that. “Do I know him? Is he in the business?” He asked trying his best to feign nonchalance.

When she’d said she didn’t want to be with him he hadn’t taken it as well as he’d tried to make it seem  to her and to the rest of the world. He still wanted Nathalie and call him stupid, but he’d never really considered her with another man. It wasn’t that he thought men didn’t notice Nathalie, it was just that he’d convinced himself that perhaps, if he gave her time, then she’d come around. He’d thought she just needed space and that he would have another chance.

This proved that  wasn’t the case. 

Maybe she’d been  the one giving him time to make up his mind and come for her. To reach out to her and tell her that she was the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with. That he loved her. And in all those months after he kissed her, he’d had plenty of   opportunities to do just that. And he hadn’t. But apparently someone else wasn’t as stupid as he was.

“No. He lives in my building.” She said still looking down, in a tone that tried to downplay the whole situation.

“Oh.”

“Yeah…ok. Hmm…I have to go now.” 

He thought “Stay.” But said, “Ok.” And bit his lip hard.

“Ok. See you tomorrow.” 

He was sure the humidity fighting to come out was from the sheer force of his jaw against his head.

Chapter Text

Nathalie still couldn’t understand how she could have fallen into the same trap again. And with the same man even. Sure, at least they hadn’t been drunk this time, but still… Nathalie had thought she was smarter than that.

She vaguely remembered that a long time ago her mother told her that despite the variety of personalities in existence around the world, there were actually only three kinds of people. The wise ones, who avoid making mistakes by learning from the mistakes of others; the intelligent ones, who make mistakes and learn from them so they don’t repeat them and the dumb ones, those who never learn and keep on falling into the same mistakes again and again despite all the suffering and pain it brings them.

Call her snooty, but Nathalie had always placed herself in the first category, looking for where other people went wrong to dodge those pitfalls. Sometimes though, she could admit that she’d missed things and made her own missteps, though sometimes she could comfort herself that it was unavoidable.

Still, she’d never thought she belonged to the last category.

Yet.

Yet, here she was. Dumb, dumb, dumb.

Nathalie couldn’t forget that day when she and Gabriel had made out like teenagers in his atelier. How he’d devoured her lips and her neck and how she’d let him. How she’d not only given him the permission he never asked for but also willingly participated and devoured him in return. How he hadn’t been gentle at all, but desperate instead, and how she’d been in heaven because it was her that he needed.

But then, oddly just as things had started to heat up, her reason had broken through the surface of their reverie, and Gabriel had been unable to say that he wanted her beyond what they were doing, beyond that physical madness. That he wanted to be with her for more than one ephemeral moment.

That crushed her for what she’d decided had to be one final time. She’d felt used again, and worse this time there was no alcohol to put the blame on.

To try to make herself feel better about it she’d attempted to reason out and understand what in that mind of his could be hindering him from being with her but…it was difficult.

At first, she’d thought that perhaps despite his hesitation he did want to be with her. To date her. To be in some kind of serious relationship with her.

But that was obviously not the case, since it had been months since their make-out session, and he’d never ever tried to talk to her about the subject. Not even only to clear the waters never mind telling her he wanted her.  In fact, just as he had before, Gabriel seemed content to just let the matter slide as if nothing had ever happened.

And Nathalie had waited. She’d waited a lot. She had given him all the time he could need to think about and ruminate on what he wanted. About what she meant to him apart from being the mother of one of his children.

After all, she might have been dumb but she wasn’t completely stupid. She knew that Gabriel had always been her weakness and that was why she was in this mess in the first place, but she was cognizant that he’d never willingly given up on Emilie. That it was a decision made by the knowledge he'd acquired when he discovered he’d been fighting Adrien all that time for a wish that would not only fail to make his family whole again but only break it further in ways that the remnants of it could likely never recover from.

He'd lose one of his sons and maybe even Emilie forever too once she discovered what her own carelessness had cost. Even if the cost was Raphael, the one representing her husband’s infidelity, Nathalie couldn’t say that the woman would be so heartless as not to see the magnitude of what she and Gabriel had done. Emilie, in her own recklessness and arrogance, and Gabriel with his disregard for anyone else’s life besides hers. Surely he’d look like a monster in Emilie’s eyes, though Nathalie knew that his laser focus on her would only further inflate the balloon of Emilie’s pride.

Perhaps, it was Gabriel who wouldn’t be able to look at his wife without seeing the face of the child he’d lost.

So, no. A man like Gabriel would not automatically shift his focus to his assistant just because he’d lost his chance to save his wife.

But if that was the case, why was it that he wanted her there near him?

He knew she wouldn’t spill his secrets. They were hers too after all. And he knew she would never stop him from seeing Raphael whenever he wanted. She was happy, if a little surprised, that he wanted at least to be on familiar terms with her son.

So why, in heaven’s name, did that man have to kiss her like that? Did he think she was there at his disposal?

No, she didn’t believe that. Even he wouldn’t be so disrespectful to her, despite the similarities between the way he was behaving now and the way he’d treated her when they’d slept together.

There was the possibility that Gabriel just missed having a family. A whole family. Mother, father, and children. He missed having his life structured and organized the way it had been.  And she was the mother of one of his children and had helped him raise the other so much that it could be construed that she was Adrien’s mother by right, if not biologically. And that made her the perfect candidate for the role of his wife. Not that that was what he was offering here. He was offering nothing. So, she put that possibility aside.

Maybe, he just missed the company of a woman beside him. And for all the progress Gabriel had made with Adrien and for all his recent outings before she was back at her feet (incredibly enough, he’d been the one to take Raphael to get all of his vaccines in their son’s first two months of life) he was still a recluse. So, perhaps in his mind, she was just the only option for a romantic relationship. Thus his interest in her was just the simplest resolution to a logistical problem with the added bonus that he wouldn’t need to worry about keeping his secrets from her because she already knew them.

Nathalie bit her lip at that thought. That idea was not flattering at all. In fact, it was the opposite of flattering. It was revolting. Humiliating even. She didn’t want to be his physical relief or his convenient companion.

Unfortunately, that most humiliating possibility was also the most probable one because Gabriel hadn’t admitted to wanting anything with her apart from a physical relationship and even hadn’t been suggested in any actual words. It was more a spur-of-the-moment thing and that she couldn’t accept. She wouldn't.

She refused to live like him; a prisoner of a dream. For her a beautiful dream of what could have been if he indeed returned her feelings. A dream of not having to go back to her lonely apartment every night and cook for one. Well for two now, but Raphael was still little, and even though he was the light of her life, he wasn’t a source of adult conversation yet, and sometimes she needed the company of another adult to talk about adult stuff, not the best brand of diapers. And even if Raphael distracted her from his father, there were times when he looks so much like him that it’s impossible not to think “what if” again.

On the upside, Nathalie had had a lot of time to think about what she wanted and even if Gabriel is the love of her life and how she’d wished s could move on. She’d decided that she wanted to be the love of someone’s life too. That she deserved to be loved like that. Not to be measured by how useful she is to someone. To not to be measured at all, because it didn’t matter what she did in life, who she’d known, or what she’d have. Where all that mattered was her.

Alas, Gabriel was not the man who would give her that so she’d decided she had to move on from him.

And that’s how she’d ended up agreeing to go on a date with her neighbor from two floors below.

She’d met him in the local grocery store but only started to engage in conversation with him when they’d realized they were going to the same condo.

He was handsome, she had to admit to that, and the best part was that he reminded her nothing of Gabriel. He was tall, but not as tall as Gabriel and from his arms, she could see he was more muscular than Gabriel, though without it being exaggerated. He wasn't rich but was very well set up in the car maintenance business. He was not presumptuous at all and was a very good listener. He also knew she had a child. In fact, when they’d met, she’d had her baby with her and he had helped her take her groceries up to her apartment and put them away in the cabinets.

Of course, at the time Nathalie had just been grateful and had never thought anything much of it, but now she wondered if he was already interested in her right from the beginning.

She wasn’t doing this to spite Gabriel. Not at all. But she couldn’t deny that it had hurt to see him so unaffected by the news of her date. And it was unfair to Louis too because while she wanted to be the love of someone’s life and he did make her feel special and she was putting effort into making him feel special, he just wasn’t Gabriel and that made all the difference.

It was only going to be their third date, but still, she wasn’t that excited about it anymore. Their first date had been...she’d felt a mixture of excitement and awkwardness. Excitement because it’d been an eternity since the last time she’d had a proper date with a really nice guy and a handsome one too! She’d wanted to impress him. To really impress him. And she thought she’d succeeded at that. So much so that he’d asked her out again not once but twice.

But since that first time she had begun to consider that perhaps it was still too soon to start dating again. That she had to try and clean Gabriel out of her bloodstream first. That this arrangement of her coming back to work for him was hampering her progress there and now that she knew without a shadow of a doubt that she and Gabriel would never be together she should seriously think about getting another job, preferably outside the industry. She’d never leave Paris, no. She wouldn’t be so selfish as to deprive father and son of each other, but perhaps she needed some distance to be able to free her heart and mind from this man.

But that didn’t matter now, because here she was again, at Gabriel’s door, telling him not to let the boys sleep too late and kissing both their kids’ cheeks goodbye. And to her surprise, Adrien gave her a wicked smile and said, “Behave, Nathalie.”

“Oh, hush you.” She said half amused half sheepish at Adrien of all people telling her that, and before Gabriel could have a chance to berate her boy she added. “Bye.” with her hands on both sides of Adrien’s face. Then, moving on to Raphael again to give him one more kiss on the forehead she told him, in that very sweet voice her baby brought out in her, to “Be good for daddy, ok.” And to Gabriel, “See you tomorrow, but call me if anything happens, alright”

Louis came up to her floor to leave her at her door. She put her key in the door lock and opened the door leaving it ajar and turned back to him. She felt this time would be different despite her and Louis sharing so many interests and being obviously attracted to each other, she had made it clear that she wanted to take things slow. She was a mother and she wasn’t after an adventure or seeking something that was only physical. And he had respected that. But today, after she unlocked her door, she felt he was going to make a move.

And he did. He tried to kiss her very gently on the lips, but at the last moment, she moved her head a millimeter just as he was about hit his mark and he ended up kissing just the corner of her mouth instead. She felt sheepish as if she was misleading him.

“I understand.” He whispered with their noses still touching. Then he gave her a wistful smile and left.

Guilt stirred in Nathalie as she watched him descend the stairs. She did like Louis. She just wasn’t over Gabriel.

“Ahem!”

Nathalie was startled at the sound of someone clearing his throat coming from inside her apartment. When she looked through the ajar door, there, bathed in only by the moonlight that penetrated through her balcony door, was Gabriel. He looked like he’d seen a ghost. And that he was furious with said ghost.

“Gabriel, what are you doing here? Where’s Raphael?” She asked in a panic turning the lights on and leaving her purse on the floor beside the sofa while trying to look behind him.

“He’s at home, with Adrien.” His jaw was tense and his eyes hard, but his answer calmed her anyway.

“Then what are you doing here? How did you get in?” She asked with a raised eyebrow because of course, she knew how when she’d been the one to give him means of entry.

“I used the spare key you gave me.”

“I gave you that key for emergencies only. Is there an emergency?” She asked despite it being obvious that whatever had brought Gabriel here was not an emergency by normal people’s standards.

Now he looked a little abashed, unlike the Gabriel she thought she knew. unlike the one she’s been trying to decipher since she woke up in that hospital bed.

“Well...Not an emergency per se, but I had an urgent matter I wanted to talk to you about and thought waiting for you outside your door would be uncomfortable and would only fuel gossip.” then he added in his own defense, “And it’s not as if I was going to steal anything, you know.”

“I do know, and that’s not the point. This is my house, Gabriel, and you should respect my privacy.” She stated the obvious. “Anyway, what is it that you couldn’t wait to tell me? You do know that I work for you and that you see me every day, don’t you?”

“I do, but...” He trailed off again, in one more display of this odd insecurity. “...aren’t you going to offer me coffee or tea or...”

She just looked at him with unable to stifle her tinge of impatience then rolled her eyes. “Alright. Which do you prefer?”

“Tea.” He said simply.

“Alright. Come on.” She said, showing him the stool by the counter while she went to put the water on the stove. But when she went to get the cups from the cupboard, she felt his front press against her back as his hand reached hers up above her head and felt his nose on the top of her head.

She froze. Even breathing was hard now. And he didn’t move either. She couldn’t see him. Only his hands putting the cups on the counter in front of her and then his arms holding her by the waist very gently.

“I’m sorry.” She heard him whisper in her hair. “I’m sorry for how I treated you. But I can’t stand the thought of you with another man.”

That statement made the hairs in the back of her neck stand up but then “Oh. So, that’s why you came.” She said unable to keep a small dose of her sadness out of her voice as she moved to get out of his embrace.

“Of course, that’s why I came.” He said as if it was not only obvious but also expected.

“Then you can go now that he’s not here anymore. You don’t have a reason to stay here any longer.” She said trying to contain her hurt.

And apparently, he noticed because “What? Nathalie? Isn’t this what you wanted? For me to make up my mind about us?”

“No! This isn’t what I wanted at all, Gabriel. What I wanted...what I hoped for was for you to realize you had feelings for me.” She said dropping all pretense “For you to want me because you loved me, not out of some caveman feeling of possession or petty jealousy.” Her earlier impatience came back in full force now accompanied by anger.

“It’s not like that, Nathalie. I can admit that’s what pushed me into action, but I do have feelings for you. I love you.”

“No, no you don’t. You might think that’s the case because you’re afraid to lose the one woman who’s always been there for you and you’re insecure about it, but that’s not love.”

“You’re right. I am afraid to lose you, but it’s because I love you. You’re the mother of my child and I can’t stand to see you leaving me to go and meet with another man when it should be us, Nathalie, not you and some man.”

“What you’re describing is so far away from what it should be. You're talking about a relationship because I’m the mother of one of your children and that I helped you raise the other, plus the fact that you can’t stand to see me having a life outside of you. That’s not love, Gabriel. That’s convenience and jealousy. And I will not be in another convenient relationship to you. If you could even call what we had that was that what we had at all.”

“Do you think there’s anything convenient for me about loving you? It’s the most inconvenient thing I ever felt. I feel incomplete every time you and Raphael go home every night and now this guy comes, and suddenly you're going on dates with him and who knows what else? What am I supposed to do, Nathalie? I’m here now.” It was clear he did not anticipate this much resistance.

 She realized then that he must know she loved him.

Perhaps that was why she chose to ignore everything else he’d said and focused on that last bit. The words had been stuck in her throat since the start of this stupid conversation and now she screamed her response at him, “You’re supposed to think that I finally found a guy that still looks at me when he’s sober and wants me for more than one damn night and be happy for me!”

She was breathing heavily and her unparalleled fury felt strong enough to strike him down with just her glare as if she was akumatized. But then she deflated. Because she knew it was a low blow.

In the beginning, yes, it had all been on him, but they’d never addressed that night after she woke up mostly because she didn’t want to relive how she’d felt when he refused to even acknowledge her after their night together. Because it still hurt so much even after all this time and how that hurt just increased after that day in his atelier. Because she didn’t want to hear out loud that he was sorry for what had happened between them that night. That he was happy that they had Raphael, but that was it.

So, instead of focusing on what could have been, even as she’d been unable to face his verbal rejection, she’d decided to focus on what was. And that was Raphael. Her son with the man she desperately loved but who had never loved her back. Not then and not now. As confused as his feelings for her were seemed to be. But it would be oh so easy to give in to this illusion Gabriel was building up for them.

“You’re supposed to be happy for me.” She repeated emptily. Then sad and tired and wistful she added “You’re supposed to want me for more than just because it seems obvious or easy. Gabriel. I... I understand you might think you love me now and that you’re trying to justify this...this whatever it is you think you feel for me, but this isn’t love, Gabriel.” Her eyes were not doing a good job at holding her tears at all.

“It is, Nathalie. Please, believe me when I say it.”

“How can I, Gabriel? How can I believe a man that whenever had the chance to be with me ran from me instead? And then suddenly when his idea of a family is threatened by the presence of another man, comes to claim me as the one he loves. That’s not what I want from you anymore. I don't want a family of convenience. Now that you don’t have Emilie apparently I’m the next best thing, but I don’t want her place, Gabriel. I want a family that’s my own. I want a place where I belong. I don’t want to fill a vacancy.”

There was a time when Gabriel was the one man she trusted most, but he had hurt her so badly that she couldn’t anymore. Oh, she still trusted him with plenty of things, just not her heart. Not anymore.

“Then you may stop looking because this is your family Nathalie, and no one else could take your place. Adrien already thinks of you as his mother and there’s no one else for me but you...it’s been...last year was the worst year of my life and it wasn’t because Emilie wasn’t here. It was because you weren’t. I missed your companionship, your advice, your dry sense of humor. And now there’s Raphael and yes he has tied us together, but you can’t tell me it’s just that.”

“Gabriel...”

“Give me a chance, Nathalie. That’s all I’m asking you.” His plead in almost a whisper.

“I can’t.” Her voice came out thinly betraying her emotional exhaustion.

He came close to her and put his hands on both sides of her head, “Why not? I know I wasn’t man enough to be with you the first time, but I was in a quite different place then.”

“I can’t, Gabriel. I just can’t”, and there’s real raw pain in her eyes.

“Give me one good reason. We could be good together. You’re good to me, let me be good to you too.”

“I can’t, Gabriel, because I love you too much. I love you and I can’t go through that all over again when you wake up from this high of jealousy and remember you don’t really love me. You never did.”

“But I do, Nath…” He’s never called her by a nickname before.

Maybe it was that, or maybe it was just the tiredness, the sadness, and the frustration she could see in his eyes and sunken shoulders, but something stopped her from disagreeing immediately again.

Gabriel took the chance she offered. “We could start small then. We could start by getting to know each other again.”

And she tried to smile but she was sure it came up so weakly that it was barely a smile at all as she reminded him, “You’re forgetting that we already know each other, Gabriel.”

“No, we don’t.” He said sitting on her sofa and pulling her down with him by the hand. “You know that I’m not the Gabriel you left in Paris anymore. I’d hope you could at least agree with that. And you’ve been keeping your distance, so there are things of me now you don’t know yet. And I don’t know you too, I mean, I know part of you but I’ve never seen you in your own environment like this” and he looked around making a circular gesture with the hand that wasn’t holding hers “It’s the first time I’ve seen your apartment here. I didn’t know your taste in furniture, what color palette you’d chosen. And I’ve never gone for a walk with you. We’ve never had quality time together during off-hours or just talked all night or watched a movie or…”

“What you’re describing is a date”

“Yes. I want to date you. To court you as you deserve.” He seemed so sure, and his eyes held all that love he insisted on professing.

That lump in her throat was back again. This was…everything she had ever wanted, but “I just don’t want to get hurt again, Gabriel. Please, don’t say these things just because you’re jealous. Don’t say them if you don’t mean them. Because I won’t ever forgive you if you're just doing this for selfish reasons”

He put his hands on both sides of her face again and said, “I promise you I’m not. You’ve been on my mind since you came back to my life.  Whenever I helped you feed Raphael, I thought this is my family now every time you come back to your apartment half of my heart goes with you.” He rested his forehead on hers “So please, Nathalie, believe when I say that I love you. I. Love. You.” He whispered pausing at each word as if that would make her listen and know it was the truth.

Then she felt him tenderly kiss her.

The kiss was soft and slow as if he was testing the waters. It was the exact opposite of how their last one had been. She could feel Gabriel’s mouth moving as if he was afraid that at any sudden movement she would wake up and send him out the door.

But that wasn’t what she was doing, because this was the sweetest kiss she had ever received. It made her want to give him a chance. It made her want to believe in every word he said. So, she tilted her head a little bit and opened her mouth slightly for him to enter. And enter he did, with the utmost gentleness, it seemed Gabriel was intent on making her feel loved, and once again her damn eyes failed completely to keep her tears inside where they belonged.

“What is it?” She heard him whisper and felt his fingers drying her tears away.

“It’s just…this is just so perfect. I’m afraid it won’t last. That you’ll wake up and realize…” But he interrupted her.

“Shhhh. I’ll show you every day that I love you, ok?”

Then Gabriel reclined back on her couch and pulled her down with him with his arm on her back. That arm stayed in place gently rubbing her back in reassurance and Nathalie was surprised but relieved that Gabriel seems satisfied to just cuddle.

It made it easier to believe he really cared for her and this wasn’t just some misplaced lust compounded by envy.

It was only when sleep was almost claiming them that she thought to ask, “Don’t you have to get back home? What about Adrien and Raphael?”

“Adrien’s decided to have his brother sleep in his room tonight and when I left, he was already asleep, so no, I don’t have to.” She heard him say, his voice sleepy.

“And are we going to sleep here on this couch?”

And this seemed to wake him a little because she felt his chest rise a little and his head moved, probably to look at her better, as she heard “I was afraid that if I suggested we moved to your room you might kick me out of your house.”

At that, she giggled softly and tried to rise but his arm on her back didn’t let her, so she lifted her head from his chest to say, “Let’s go to my bed then.”

When Nathalie came out of her bathroom wearing a casual set of summer gray sleepwear, she was met with Gabriel only in his boxers and she must have made a face because Gabriel immediately explained “I just didn’t want to sleep wearing a suit. Nothing has to happen. And extending his hand to her “Come, let’s sleep.”

And sleep they did.

Chapter Text

He was feeling so peaceful he didn’t want to wake up. It’d been years since he’d last felt like this. Sometimes, just as he was waking up, he did, but then as he became more aware of his surroundings, the sadness and gloominess would come again.

Even after he had abandoned his quest for the Miraculous, and he no longer felt the weight of his obligation toward his late wife, he’d never felt quite so peaceful until now.

Once Gabriel finally properly woke up, the first thing he noticed, even before he had opened his eyes, was the smell of Nathalie’s hair. That smell slowly took him from his hazy state of mind to the full awareness of exactly who the woman beside him was and where he was.

Nathalie felt a kiss behind her ear and heard a whispered “Stay in bed for a little longer”. Her sleepy mind agreed, and she went back to dreamland.

The next time she woke up it was because she’d heard clanging noises coming from her kitchen and sensed the smell of coffee and bacon.

“What are you doing?”

Gabriel heard the sleepy voice coming from Nathalie’s bedroom door. When he turned to answer, he was greeted with the cutest vision of Nathalie leaning on the door frame, rubbing her still half-closed eyes, and letting out a yawn at the end of her question.

She walked into the kitchen to stand beside him and in her sleepy state leaned her head on his shoulder before turning her head just a little to kiss his deltoid muscle.

“I’m preparing us breakfast. Why don’t you take a seat?”

Nathalie was sitting at the table, facing Gabriel, with her neck bent to her right admiring how nice those boxers looked on his behind and wondering how he managed to have his arms and back muscles so well-toned. Not exaggeratingly so, but they were nice…more than nice in her opinion.

Gabriel set two plates of bacon, eggs, and toast along with two mugs of coffee down in front of them.

As they ate, he found it endearing and sexy that Nathalie sat with one foot up on her seat and thought about how he’d never really known her at all and how he was going to love discovering all these little things about her. About who she was when she wasn’t trying to be the proper and professional assistant or the daring Mayura or just the cold and distant Nathalie persona she donned whenever she wanted to keep people away.

“Gabriel?” Her voice broke through his daydreams.

“Hum?”

“How are we going to do this?”

“Do what?”

“Us.”

“I know that. I just don’t understand the question.”

“I know we agreed to start slow but…well, you mentioned walks, and then people already know that you have another son, even though you were able to shut the most malicious headlines down…I guess, what I’m asking is how public do you think we should be with this? And there’s also Adrien to consider, I mean…I know he likes me and is crazy about his brother, but.”

“Let’s break the problem down into smaller more manageable ones, ok? You taught me that.” He reclined further back on the chair as he relaxed into what he wanted to say. “Starting with Adrien, I can assure you that that’s no problem at all. If anything, I was the one who should’ve been worried about going back home empty handed.”

“Empty handed? What do you mean?”

“I mean that after you left us yesterday, I got scolded by my sixteen-year-old son. He told me in no uncertain terms that I’d better hurry or I was going to lose you forever.”

“Adrien said that?”

“Yes, he did.”

She smiled softly. “He’s always been a good boy like that. What about the rest?”

“What rest? You mean the press? The company?”

“Of course, Gabriel. You know how this looks already. Nobody will say anything in front of you but…” She looked down and pressed her lips together.

“Well, our son is already an Agreste, so at least some people are already certain that we were in some kind of relationship and after the time you spent recovering at my house I’d say most must believe that it’s an ongoing thing given you still work for me. So it wouldn’t be a surprise if they saw us together.” Then as his thoughts caught up with him it occurred to him that, “Do you not want that?”

“No, I mean, yes, I do want that. It’s just that I’ve always wanted to be with you, and I’m used to the gossip, but it’s different now it’s true. I guess it’s just hard for me to accept that but you’re right; it’s unavoidable.”

“It is. Just let me know if it’s too much and I’ll take care of it, ok.”

She hummed in response because her mouth was full now but then “This is delicious. I didn’t even know you remembered how to cook.”

He smiled. Happy that she was letting the matter go, at how all this domesticity suited them and because she was right. Their breakfast was really good if he did say so himself.

It was difficult not to look beneath his chin. Worse still when she heard him smugly say “Do you want me to get dressed now?”

“I, no. I mean, you could. I mean…urghh.” She dropped her head in surrender, “There’s no good answer for that question, is there?”

“I would have to disagree.” He smirked.

At that, she looked up from beneath her bangs with a raised eyebrow and recovering from the embarrassment said, “I’m sorry, it’s just that, this. Everything.” Then she pointed to the table and kept going, “You in my kitchen cooking for me and…well the fact that you’re almost naked doesn’t help either.” She must be the color of a tomato now. “And why are you still wearing only boxers anyway?”

He froze at that, but then “Do you want me to…”

“No.”

He suddenly looked too sly for her taste, obviously amused, and she wanted to kiss that smugness of his face even as she wanted to attempt to defend her honor “You don’t have to. It’s just that we have a son together, we’ve sort of lived together, and yet I don’t remember ever having seen you like this. It’s all so new. So domestic. I never thought you’d be like this.”

From the glint in his eyes she’d pricked his interest there. “And how did you think I would be?”

“I don’t know.”  It sounded more like a question than she’d meant. “But I certainly never pictured you in your underwear walking around my kitchen.”

“I told you there were still things about me you don’t know.” He replied smiling in a way that was more sweet than smug at her and leaned over the table to kiss her softly. Then, as he pulled away, “Come here.”

This time her right brow went high up, and she tried her best a are you serious face but couldn’t stop smiling and she was sure her eyes were twinkling.

Certainly, he looked unrepentant, so he said “I don’t bite, Nath.”

“Somehow, I doubt that.” but she went and sat on his lap anyway, and they finished their meal between kisses.

Delightful as this all was, responsibility and love reminded her, “Shouldn’t we go see if our progeny is still alive and the house still standing?”

Gabriel huffed and though his voice said, “We should.” his tone and body language told her screamed, “Do we have to?”

“Hello, children.”

“Mama!” Adrien was close to having lost all the air in his lungs when Raphael spied Nathalie and gave up his game of jumping on Adrien’s stomach, to run to his mother instead. Their mother if his father hadn’t screwed things up even more.

Though it didn’t look as if he had.

“I’m almost an adult, Nathalie,” Adrien said smiling at the upside-down image of Nathalie, and his father standing at her side with his hand on her waist. “So, I see you followed my instructions, father?”

“What instructions?” Asked Nathalie looking curiously between them.

“None.” His father said rather quickly.

Taking pleasure in putting his father under the spotlight, Adrien said, “I told father he should do whatever it took to get you back.”

 His father looked very sheepish as Nathalie glanced at him in amusement

Nathalie found that embarrassment was actually a rather endearing expression on Gabriel’s face. Then Adrien rose from his bed and came up to her with a very sly expression before he turned the tables on her and said, I told you to behave mom. Did you?”

This was a whole new side of Adrien she was getting to know. Even after they’d all discovered Adrien was Chat Noir it had been hard to see it at first. Things in this house had been difficult, especially between her and Gabriel and that heavy atmosphere had expanded itself beyond their relationship, affecting their children too. She could see that now.  Yet at this moment with Adrien letting out all the mischief and cheekiness he’d used to display as Chat Noir, it was difficult to understand how they didn’t see that before.

“If I’m going to be your mother, then you’d better watch out your mouth, boy, or you’ll be in big trouble.” Her harsh words were belied by the love in her eyes and the smile on her lips conveying the affectionate and playful way they were meant. “But yes, your father did everything right.” She smiled again and looked at Gabriel.”

“You aren’t going to be my mother, Nathalie. You already have been for a long time.” His words were spoken with such love it truly touched her. It wasn’t like she didn’t know Adrien loved her by now, but it was the first time he was being so open about it.

“So,” Adrien asked, “when are you moving back in again?”

“Not yet. Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself? We’ve only just begun dating.”

“Father!” Adrien said with a tinge of fake indignation. “Haven’t you given it to her?”

“What didn’t he give me?” She said now really confused.

The room was suddenly silent and both men were very still.

It was Gabriel who looked to his feet and then to her before speaking “I was ready to ask you to marry me to show you how serious I was…am” he corrected himself, “about us if that’s what it took to make you believe me. I…” He looked down again, at his pocket, from which he produced a tiny velvet box. “I bought this a while ago, but I respect that you want to do this at a slower pace.”

Adrien had never seen Nathalie react like this before. She was completely unresponsive. Her mouth agape, her eyes wide open and unblinking. He was almost surprised that she didn’t let his brother fall from her arms.

“Nathalie.” He tried. “Nathalie.”

“Yes.” She answered, apparently recovering her senses and ability to move. “Humm…have you two eaten anything today yet?”

It wasn’t exactly what Adrien had expected her to say but he truthfully answered, “No.”

“Let’s go, then.”

After some consideration, they decided that the best way to present their relationship to the public and avoid the worst of the talk about how she just aiming for his money and the other unpleasant comments people would surely make was to go out for a family dinner.

This would show the public that what they had wasn’t some hidden affair, but quite the opposite. That they were serious about each other, and that Adrien approved of their relationship. And not only that but that even though they weren’t even engaged yet, they had reached a point where that would most likely happen rather sooner than later.

On the other hand, the fact that they already had a child counted against her and could be used to fuel gossip that Nathalie was using this as leverage to get married to one of the richest men in France, but they would and could deal with that later.

After all, during the interview they’d given to Style Queen, when Gabriel had flat out told the reporter that he was the one pursuing her and not the other way around, the woman interviewing them had let out an “Aw…that’s so romantic, Mr. Agreste. It sounds like a fairy tale.”

Gabriel had been in such a good mood that day that his answer to that comment had surprised everyone in the room since his abruptness was well known by anybody that worked in the fashion industry, so no one was expecting him to say, “Only if I’m the Beast Nathalie had to put up with for so long.”

At first Nathalie had been ok with this plan, but it seemed that as the date of their family diner was getting closer, she was becoming increasingly nervous about it.

“What’s wrong?” Gabriel asked her, putting his hand over hers.

“Nothing. It’s just not the same when I know I’ll be their focus too now that the interview was published.”

“You’ll do all right. You’ve managed them before. I know you’re just nervous because they’ll be looking at you now, but you know what to do. Just focus on our family and let them get their photographs as if we didn’t even notice they were even there.”

“I know, I know. It’s just different, that’s all.”

“Don’t forget. We’ll be there with you.” He took the hand he was holding to kiss it. “Ready?”

“Uhum.”

“Let’s go then.” Said Gabriel, leading the way.

Once inside the Le Grand Paris, they were taken to less secluded part of it, than they’d usually pick. Here they could be seen but thankfully only from afar and they’d still have a little privacy in terms of people being able to listen in to their conversation.

Adrien couldn’t remember seeing his father so happy. Yes, his father had been happy with his mother, but those memories were from so long ago and seeing his father acting so romantic with Nathalie now it was like seeing a completely different person. It made him wonder if that’s where Chat Noir got his romantic tendencies from and he wished his lady were here with him too, but it was also good to enjoy this moment, which had seemed impossible so recently, with his family.

Raphael sat in a high-chair playing with a few toys Nathalie had taken with them to distract him so their son wouldn’t make a fuss. It proved to be a good strategy because Raphael behaved very well much to his parents and brother’s relief

After their dinner, they all agreed it would be nice. It was Raphael’s first family outing and, even though Nathalie had participated of many formal dinners with Gabriel and Adrien, they were all related to her role as Gabriel’s assistant. This was her first dinner as his girlfriend and even if the word didn’t quite represent what they had, it still made her feel girlish when she thought about it.

It was a warm night, and Gabriel wished it was just a little cooler so he could use it as a pretext to put his arm around Nathalie. As it was, he went ahead anyway, putting a hand on her shoulder and bringing her closer to him. She looked up and gave him a shy smile then said, “This is really nice, Gabriel.”

“It is, isn’t it? We could do it again.” He responded also smiling. To think that he could have had this for such a long time…

“What are you thinking?” He heard her say.

“What?”

“You looked so happy and then suddenly your face changed.” She looked worried about him and he was immediately reminded of what she’d said that night in her apartment. About how she was afraid that one day he would wake up and realize he didn’t love her. He never wanted her to feel like that again. He’d told her he would make her feel loved every day of his life.

Now was a good night as any to show her and the world that he was a taken man.

“I was just thinking that if I wasn’t such an idiot, we could have been like this for a long time now.” Then he stopped to embrace her and kissed her forehead. He then looked around to make sure that Adrien and Raphael weren’t too far ahead of them and pulled Nathalie in by the waist to kiss her.

It was a sweet kiss and he was loving every second of it. Even more when he felt Nathalie’s fingers in his hair. He’d discovered that she loved to play with his hair. He loved it too, but the result was that she’d always left it a mess. He’d started not to style his hair so much because he knew she would, in fact he was counting on her to undo all his hard work.

It was that or asking her to stop messing with his hair but that he wouldn’t do because

her fingers were always so gentle and he loved their caresses too much.

“Guys.”

…

“Ok, guys they already got their pictures of you kissing.”

…

“Dad. Nathalie. Oh…come on Raph. They’ll need air eventually and it’s not like they need us to go home.”

Some days were harder than others when it came to making her boyfriend remember that she was still his employee and needed to work. Never mind that she wasn’t the only member of the company staff working for him in his house anymore. It was…annoying actually, because Gabriel, no matter how well-intentioned it was on his part, was not helping her image at all.

It wasn’t that he was exaggeratingly affectionate in front of Andrea or anything, it was how he sometimes stood too close to her when they were talking about something related to work, and before he or she left he would just lean in and kiss her forehead, cheek or give her a peck on the lips.  

Thankfully, he had the sense to wait for the staff to go home before starting something more…meaningful. And he was getting better at surprising her because this time she didn’t notice him approaching from behind until his hands landed on her hips.

“Don’t go to your place today,” Gabriel whispered into her neck, between kisses. He’d discovered this is one of her weak spots and felt no remorse about using this knowledge to make her stay a little more.

She just moaned and said, “I know what you’re doing and it’s so unfair.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He said while continuing his ministrations.

“You’re…ohhh…you’re distracting me. I…I need to finish this. Then…oh, you’re just being mean now…then I’ll stay.”

“You’re so easy, my dear.” He said smugly and didn’t let her finish her papers either.

So. They’d already established that she was easy. But now, lying in bed with Gabriel, she was pondering just how easy she was because Gabriel had subtly been giving her hints that he was ready to move forward with their relationship and perhaps she was ready too.

So, now, kissing up from his stomach to his pectorals to his neck she whispered in one ear “Would you help me bring my things back to my old room?” Then she moved to his mouth as if she didn’t know he’d need it to give her an answer.

And her body was so warm. He wanted to answer. He really did, but…

“Were you being serious?” Gabriel asked while caressing her messy hair.

“Yes. If you think we’re ready for that.” She answered. Her head resting against his chest with her eyes half-closed.

“I do.” But after a minute of silence, he amended, “But I’d like it better if your things were here in this room.”

She raised her head to look at him. “Are you sure?”

“Of course, I am. We could go later and I’ll help you pack everything.” He said giving her a kiss on the forehead. “Now let’s sleep a little. I’ll need my strength back if I’m going to help you carry your stuff.”

When sleep was almost claiming him he heard a small “Gabriel?”

“Hum?”

“I love you.”

He felt an involuntary smile form on his lips as he said, “I love you too.”

And they both went to sleep.