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Gabriel stops himself from waking up Nathalie countless times. He checks the time on his phone just as many times. Waking her before 6am would be useless. She’d still be in the past, wouldn’t she? Is she going to be in the past come 6am anyway?
That’s the question that keeps nagging his mind and knot in his throat.
Is she going to remain in the past?
It’s been so long since she’s… been who he remembers she becomes in the past. There were a few months, a few precious months where they both knew of their affections and didn’t have to hide it. Sure, there were lots of details of things that he had to hide from her and she from him but their feelings didn’t have to be hidden. The past few weeks, months? Hearing her call him ‘sir’ and ‘Mr. Agreste’ has been near torture. Keeping his touch away from her has been just as hard. Waking up alone in his bed has been heartbreaking. Because every morning he is faced with this question.
Is she going to remain in the past?
Will he never wake up next to her again?
Gabriel brings the chair he’s sitting on closer to her bed. As if seeing her at a closer distance will give him his answer sooner. It’s ridiculous he knows. Maybe it’s his subconscious wanting to be close to her again.
He can’t deny though that hope creeps into his mind every so often. What if she does wake up moving forward? What is he going to say? Does he have any questions to ask her since she wouldn’t have to say the phrase? Is she going to have questions for him? Is he going to hug or kiss her first? Is he going to be able to compose himself and not appear like a fool? Will they be able to have a wedding?
God, please. Let us have a future together. Let her have a future.
5:59am… Just might be the longest minute in his entire life.
6:00am
He knows he should be breathing. It’s an involuntary action of the body so why is his breath stuck in his throat? Why? Because he still doesn’t have the answer.
Was he really so stupid to think that as soon as it became 6:00am the answer would be so obvious? As if a giant neon sign would appear and either read “She’s gone forever” or “She’s alive”. He wished it were that simple and obvious. Because it’s 6am and he still doesn’t know if the love of his life has made it through the last year.
He suddenly wonders if a paradox might have happened on her end. Last year at this time did something happen? Did he do something to cause a paradox?
He shakes away the questions. None of these technical questions matter. Just the one.
Is she going to remain in the past?
Or rather: Is she in the past?
He can know now. All he has to do is wake her up. A nudge of her shoulder and he’ll know. He’s waited anxiously for hours, days, weeks, months. A whole year. But now that he’s made it… it’s so much harder to get the answer. He’s faced with the realization that as long as he doesn’t know the answer, the possibility of it being a good answer remains. But if the answer is that she is indeed gone forever, Gabriel can’t change it. He can’t return to this terribly unpleasant stage of not knowing.
If the worst is true, you could change it. You could use the miraculous.
No! He can’t take this anymore. He can’t let his mind continue to spiral and fester like this. He absolutely can’t let himself go to the place of desperation that might bring Hawkmoth back. What would Nathalie think?
He has to do something to know.
Gabriel stands, noting now that he has started breathing again. Thank goodness it truly is an involuntary action.
He reaches his hand out towards her and hovers over her face. He’s struck with the memories of brushing her red streak out of her face. Seeing her like this at night or in the morning.
Please, come back to me.
He places his hand on her shoulder.
“Nathalie,” he says at normal volume. “Nathalie.” He shakes her shoulder slightly.
She gives no response and he tries not to think the worst. She can be a rather deep sleeper at times. A part of him believes this lack of response is because she isn’t going to wake up. Why must that thought breach his mind? Logically he hardly shaked her shoulder and said her name loud enough to jump to such a conclusion. So why does his gut persist in believing the worst?
“Nathalie!” he says louder, determined to prove his doubts wrong.
He puts his left hand under her head to lift her up slightly. “Nathalie.”
She’s dead weight in his arms.
“Nathalie!”
He puts his ear against her chest and hears a heartbeat. Hope lights within him again. She’s alive.
“Nathalie!” he says again, facing her. “Wake up, darling!”
She’s completely unresponsive. But her heartbeat…
He lets her lie back in bed. She looks so peaceful it’s almost insulting against the turmoil inside him. He watches her chest rise and fall in steady breathing. She’s breathing and her heart is beating but she isn’t waking up.
She’s alive but she isn’t awake.
That’s a possibility they hadn’t considered.
Could it be that her mind… that her mind is stuck in the past and gone while her body lies alive here in the present?
Tears spring to his eyes. This seems so cruel. That she could live without waking.
Gabriel grabs her hand closest to him and squeezes it.
“Nathalie,” he whispers.
He can’t accept this. He has to do something. She’s alive! She just needs to wake up! Shaking and yelling at her didn’t work. Surely no medical means could bring her awakened mind back to the present.
There’s the wish of course. He knows exactly where the two miraculouses are. Adrien’s finger and Marinette’s ears. But he promised them he wouldn’t resort to making a wish. He promised Nathalie. But he also promised Nathalie, just a couple days ago, that he’d do everything he can to save Adrien’s mother. Emilie might not have a pulse but Nathalie still does! And she’s as much Adrien’s mother as anyone.
He won’t use the Ladybug or Black Cat miraculous. Nathalie and his son would never forgive him. Fu and Marinette would never forgive him either but Gabriel doesn’t care about their opinion of him in the slightest.
The next most effective miraculous that could fix this somehow would be the Rabbit Miraculous. If he could get his hands on that one somehow, maybe he could fix this. Maybe he could even go back to that blasted day when she got hit by inverter to begin with! Before the thought of using the Rabbit to undo the inversion was too dangerous. But Nathalie’s life is past such worries. He’s willing to risk all of time in order for her to wake up in the present again.
And he knows exactly what he can do.
He squeezes Nathalie’s hand once more, gently kisses her forehead, and leaves for his office. Quietly he closes the giant doors and heads for his safe. Opening it, he grabs the Peacock Miraculous. He meant to return it to Master Fu with the Turtle Miraculous but it slipped his mind. Or maybe deep down he wanted to keep a hold of some leverage or power in order to do something should the worst happen.
He pins the brooch under his bi-colored scarf.
Something feels like it’s missing.
He looks around.
Dusuu should have appeared.
But then he remembers. Dusuu was inverted like Nathalie. If Nathalie isn’t awake then why would Dusuu be? Is it possible for a kwami to be stuck in the past? Maybe he can still use this as leverage somehow. Surely the guardian of the miraculouses wouldn’t want a kwami to be lost forever. But could he just go to Master Fu’s and simply ask to help with Nathalie in exchange for the Peacock Miraculous. The guardian hasn’t proved helpful to Nathalie’s time issue this far. And if Gabriel gives the guardian the Peacock Miraculous and Fu doesn’t help, then Gabriel will have nothing.
His head aches and his stomach growls reminding him he hasn’t slept or ate all night. He puts his scarf in place, hiding the useless miraculous. He checks the time and decides to get Adrien off to school. He’ll tell his son that Nathalie isn’t awake yet but that he will tell him as soon as she is. No sense in worrying the boy especially if Gabriel is successful in bringing her back. Gabriel will tell him Nathalie hasn’t woken up yet with confidence that she will because Gabriel will make sure she does.
After Adrien’s bodyguard has left with Adrien, Gabriel heads to the kitchen to fix himself an egg. It’s quick. It’s easy. He just needs something in his system so he can think straighter.
Nathalie was always better at making plans.
He clenches his teeth at the thought. He already said ‘Nathalie was…’. But she is . And will be okay. He’s never hated time more deeply than right now. And currently his best plan involves the miraculous of time. He’s about to plunge straight into a very big time problem in attempts to fix another one.
He slides the over-easy egg onto a plate, returns the pan, and presses his fingers against his temples. He just needs to eat. And sleep but who has time for that? Nathalie is sleeping plenty for both of them.
As he eats and some of the fog clears, he considers again the idea of approaching Fu with the Peacock Miraculous. He even considers going over there, telling Fu that’s why he’s there, and then lunge for the miracle box to get the Rabbit Miraculous. But would that work? Gabriel isn’t even sure he knows how to open the box. And could Gabriel really get the Rabbit Miraculous with Fu right there, wielding his own miraculous? Is it worth the risk? If Gabriel reveals to Fu or even Adrien his true intentions of taking any miraculous, they will hide it from him and guard it beyond his abilities to retrieve it. After all, the only thing Gabriel has is a dead miraculous.
But if he waits until tonight when everyone is asleep, he could sneak into Master Fu’s and get the box without anyone knowing. He could go back in time, stop inverter from striking her, and everything will be back to normal. The events of the last year will probably be a bit different but Nathalie would be alive and awake and that’s all that matters.
Of course waiting until tonight means having to face Adrien again with obvious news that Nathalie is still asleep. Perhaps Gabriel can pretend to have accepted it. If Adrien believes his father isn’t even thinking about using the miraculous to save Nathalie then maybe Adrien will be so wrapped in grief and then sleep that Gabriel can leave to Master Fu’s to carry through his plan. Gabriel admits to himself that it seems cruel to deceive Adrien in such a way but he can’t think of a better plan. Plus, this way, Gabriel can actually try to sleep while Adrien is at school so that he will have more energy tonight.
“Father!” Adrien yells as he enters the mansion. “Is Nathalie okay? Father?!”
Gabriel sits by Nathalie’s bed, holding her hand, and focusing on the performance before him. He has to convince Adrien that he is mourning and has no hope of bringing Nathalie back.
“Father?!” Adrien calls out again.
Gabriel hears the office doors downstairs open and then footsteps up the stairs. Adrien opens Nathalie’s door. Gabriel keeps his head lowered on his hands that are holding Nathalie’s.
“F- Father?” Adrien manages.
Gabriel’s breath is heavy. It’s far easier to slip into the grief than he thought. He hardly needs to pretend.
It takes a moment but eventually Adrien runs to the bed.
“No,” Adrien says. He clenches his fists on the empty left side of Nathalie’s bed. “Wait,” Adrien’s tone is lighter. “Father! Her chest! She’s breathing!”
“I know.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
“She won’t wake up… She’s breathing. She has a pulse. But she won’t wake up.”
“Nathalie,” Adrien says, ignoring his father. The boy shakes her shoulders. “Nathalie, wake up!”
Gabriel’s head snaps up to bear his eyes into his son’s. “She’s not going to wake up, Adrien!” He hangs his head. “You think I haven’t tried? I stayed up through the night to wake her up at 6 but she didn’t!”
“…You tried waking her up this morning?”
Gabriel falls to the chair directly behind him, letting go of Nathalie’s hand. “I didn’t want to tell you.” He stops himself from looking at his son. Gabriel hopes maybe this admission will further prove to Adrien that he has no intent of using the miraculous to bring Nathalie back.
He assumes this worked. Adrien falls apart emotionally. Gabriel can’t tell which ache in his heart is for Nathalie or Adrien. He feels like he’s lying to Adrien. He supposes he is. But there isn’t another way. So Gabriel lets himself fall apart too. If anything it will only convince Adrien further that he has accepted this as a loss.
Gabriel isn’t sure how long they both cry until they sit in the thick silence they do now.
Gabriel eventually says, “I will call some doctors tomorrow to come and… make sure she remains alive. She’ll be considered a coma patient… I won’t inform the public for a while.”
Gabriel suddenly remembers what it was like when Emilie died. Specifically how much he isolated himself from Adrien. Is Gabriel being too open? This isn’t at all how it happened with Emilie. But thinking of it now, so much has changed, not just for him but also with his relationship regarding Adrien.
He justifies this and continues, “I won’t go out in public for a while. If you wish to take the next few days off from school, I will tell your principal that you’re sick.” Gabriel stands and leaves.
It’s 1am. Gabriel feels confident that both Adrien and the old man, Master Fu, should be asleep by now. So he leaves the mansion quietly and drives himself a block away from Fu’s.
When he, Nathalie, and Emilie were on their trips, Nathalie would try teaching Gabriel how to pick locks. He was never good at it. But he practiced for hours earlier until he fell asleep against the door he was practicing on.
Gabriel steps out of his car and arrives at Fu’s door. It takes him probably 30 minutes to do what Nathalie could do in less than 30 seconds. But he gets the door open. Slowly he closes the door behind him and enters the main room where he had seen the miracle box the few times before. Using his phone as a light, he sees the miracle box isn’t where it’s supposed to be. Frantically but quietly he shines the light all around the room. Not seeing it in the open he begins rummaging through anything that could hide a box of that size.
“Mr. Agreste?” Fu’s voice breaks the quiet though Gabriel realizes in his haste and desperation he had lost his stealth and wasn’t as silent as he was initially.
Gabriel’s hands freeze. “Master Fu.”
“We had hoped so much that you wouldn’t do this,” Fu says like a parent disappointed in a child.
“Where is it, Fu?”
“Hidden.” The old man lifts his chin. “You will not find it.”
“Fine then.” Gabriel rips off his scarf to reveal the Peacock Miraculous. “Tell me where the miracle box is or I will create a sentimonster that will find it for me.” He hopes Fu won’t call his bluff.
Finally the old man says, “I have hidden it in the Eiffel Tower.”
“Don’t lie to me! If I discover you have then I will make the sentimonster and find it regardless! Do you really want a sentimonster destroying its way to where you really hid it?”
Worry invades Fu’s features.
“It’s not at the Eiffel Tower then, is it?”
Fu scowls at him.
“Where is it?” Gabriel asks again.
No answer.
Wanting to continue his bluff, Gabriel goes ahead and says, “Dusuu, spread my feathers!”
Unfortunately Fu didn’t interrupt him with the information he wanted. Fortunately, however, Gabriel does transform. Much to his own surprise and Fu’s horror.
Gabriel looks down at his own appearance in shock. His skin is still tan but his suit jacket and pants have become a dark blue with the same hexagonal pattern that showed itself on Mayura’s dress. His lapels are bright neon teal, like Nathalie’s eyes. His vest is a slightly lighter blue than the jacket. The last he can make out of his appearance is that his shoes have become black.
Not that a name is particularly necessary but if he were to give himself one it would be Paon.
Trying not to look as surprised as he is in order to continue threatening Fu, he takes a feather out of the fan in his hand and clenches it in his non-gloved fist.
“Tell me where the box is, Fu!” Paon demands.
“Wayzz, shell on!” The man transforms.
Paon has no idea what Fu’s turtle hero name is and doesn’t care.
Fu responds, “The box is at Miss Dupain-Chengs, are you really going to send a sentimonster into her room to retrieve it?”
Thinking through his options, Paon realizes how much he doesn’t know about the situation anymore. Dusuu was gone, inverted like Nathalie. How could he be transformed right now? He wants to detransform and talk to the kwami but that’d be stupid to do in front of Fu.
But could it be possible that he transformed at the exact moment when Nathalie and Dusuu started going forward again?
“What time is it?” Paon asks before thinking better of it.
“What?” Fu questions, not expecting that at all.
Paon looks around and decides the best course of action would be to retreat and regroup. For all he knows, Nathalie could be awake right now.
He hardly recalls the trip back to Nathalie’s room but he makes it there. Paon finds Nathalie lying on her bed, breathing steadily just as he left her. He tries not to be disappointed as he steps closer to her.
He puts a hand on her shoulder once again. “Nathalie?”
Nothing.
“Nathalie?”
He sighs. Tapping her phone he sees the time to be 2:20am. But did he really think she might wake up at 6am? If she didn’t yesterday then why would she today?
Well, he’s away from Fu. He might as well detransform and question Dusuu.
“Dusuu, fall my feathers.”
The transformation drops and the blue kwami appears next to his eyeline with a whoop and a twirl.
“That was fun! But why did you want to use my miraculous, Mr. Agreste?” the kwami asks.
“Nevermind that. What happened? When I put the miraculous on earlier, you didn’t show up!”
Dusuu looks around as if wondering if the question was directed at her. “Well, as you pointed out, I wasn’t there so how should I know?”
Gabriel clenches his teeth. “What do you remember of the last year?”
“I’ve been living every day backwards with Miss Nathalie!” Dusuu smiles.
How could she be so happy about such a prospect?
“And what was the last day you remember?”
“The last day… hmm… Oh! I got it! It was the day with Vineguard and Interrogator!”
Gabriel runs his hand down his face. “This doesn’t make any sense. You were inverted like Nathalie, I didn’t see you when I put on the miraculous, but you came when I called for the transformation.”
“That is weird!”
“You’re no help.”
Dusuu flies over Nathalie’s face and whispers to Gabriel, “Miss Nathalie is sleeping?”
“Yes. And she won’t wake up!” His anger bursts out of him with his words.
“Why not?”
“That’s what I’m-!” He stops himself. The poor kwami knows nothing. No sense in letting his frustrations out on her. “Forget it. Dusuu, spread my feathers.”
Back to his original plan but with better execution. Paon plucks out a feather and clenches it in his fist. He realizes he needs an object to attach the amok to. He looks around the dark room and sees a glimmer from Nathalie’s nightstand. It’s the silver bracelet that Adrien gifted her for Christmas. That’ll work fine.
He activates the amok and sends it to the bracelet which he picks up for himself. He fashioned a black sentimonster monkey with a paralyzing bite and tracking skills for the miracle box. He picked a monkey because it’s the only small animal he can think of that can carry the miracle box to him.
Paon wills the sentimonkey to leave the mansion and find the miracle box.
“Father?” Adrien’s voice enters the room.
Paon turns around to face the boy who is also transformed with his miraculous.
“What are you…” Cat Noir begins to say.
“If I wanted your miraculous I would have taken it countless times by now! I’m not going to make a wish!” Paon defends.
“Then what are you doing?!”
“Whatever I can to save your-“ he almost said ‘mother’ but stopped himself. Nathalie isn’t Adrien’s mother but she will be by marriage. He just has to get her waking up forward!
“What are you doing?” Cat Noir asks even more seriously.
Should he lay out all his plans?
Paon curses at himself for considering his own son as an enemy to withhold information from. With all the guilt and regret of being Hawkmoth in fighting his own son, he’s gone right back to it. Paon is no better than Hawkmoth. Both are willing to fight their own son to do whatever means necessary to save the one they love.
Guilt smashes against Paon’s chest and sends him to his knees. In his mind’s eye he sees the sentimonkey bite Fu, still transformed into the turtle hero. It leaves Fu paralyzed, as it should.
“Father!” Cat Noir runs to his side and places a hand on Paon’s back.
“Adrien… I don’t want to fight you.”
“Then don’t! Just stop whatever you’re doing!”
“I can’t just leave her, Adrien!” From the floor Paon looks at his son’s face in anguish. “I can get a hold of the Rabbit Miraculous! I can fix everything!”
“The Rabbit? How?”
Paon clenches the bracelet in his hand and hopes his son doesn’t notice. All it would take is for Cat Noir to break the bracelet and the sentimonster will be gone.
“Father, what are you doing to get the Rabbit Miraculous?!”
The sentimonkey manages to paralyze Marinette as Ladybug. It’s found the miracle box which means it will be on its way to the mansion.
“I’m not going to hurt anyone, Adrien,” Paon says. “I’m going to fix everything.”
“You don’t know that! Using the Rabbit Miraculous could ruin everything! It could destroy all of time!”
“Time is already destroyed for Nathalie! This is all I have left!”
“What about me, Dad?!” Tears fall down over his black mask. How long has he been crying? “If you do this it could kill us all!”
Suddenly a bright light appears in the room and shines on them. Paon looks in the direction and shields his eyes until they adjust.
A hot-pink-haired woman steps through the portal.
“Mr. Agreste,” she says. “I was really hoping I didn’t have to step in but it is nice to meet your past self.” She nods to his son. “Cat Noir.”
“Who are you?” Paon asks.
“Bunnix. I am the holder of the Rabbit Miraculous.”
Paon looks towards the window where he’s waiting for the sentimonkey to arrive with the miraculous in question.
“Time is a tricky thing,” Bunnix says with a smirk. “The Rabbit Miraculous you want is still on the way. Your plan is working.”
“You’re here from the future to stop me?”
She tilts her head. “I wanted to talk to you if you’ll let me.”
Paon eyes his son. He doesn’t want to risk Cat Noir keeping him from getting the Rabbit Miraculous. Again he hates himself for viewing his own son as the enemy.
“If you talk to me,” Bunnix says. “I won’t stop you from getting the miracle box with the Rabbit Miraculous in it.”
“Then what’s the point of talking?” Paon asks.
“Does it matter?”
“What could you possibly want to talk about?”
“Firstly,” she starts as she sits cross legged on one of the chairs in Nathalie’s room. The portal closes. “I really admire how well you and Miss… Nathalie handled the last year. Neither of you created a paradox in 365 days. I watched the whole thing. I’m impressed.”
“Thank you,” Paon says, unamused.
“And your love for each other is quite admirable. I can only hope to find something similar someday.”
“So you’re a fan of ours. Glad to hear our stalker enjoys watching us.” Paon stands up, gaining some inner strength. He casually slides Nathalie’s bracelet into his inner pocket with the motion of standing up.
“Not stalker,” Bunnix clarifies. “Observer for the sake of maintaining the timeline.”
“Call it whatever you wish.” Paon notices Cat Noir standing next to him. “You’re not going to let me stop Nathalie from being inverted, are you?”
“I can show you what would happen if you did.”
“What?”
She stands and twirls her umbrella to open a portal. “I will show you what would happen and you can decide if you truly want to go through with it.”
Paon looks at the portal.
Bunnix adds, “Cat Noir, mind joining us?”
Paon and Cat Noir cautiously follow Bunnix into her portal and across the see-through floor below them. Bunnix stops in front of a blurry circular image.
“Just place your hand on the image and you’ll watch it play out,” Bunnix instructs.
Paon raises his hand slowly and finally reaches the image. The first thing he sees is himself saving Nathalie from being hit by Inverter. Without her getting hit, she didn’t pass out, and of course didn’t become inverted. He continues watching at a faster pace. Two days after Inverter he sent out another akuma. That didn’t happen the first time around because he was so worried about Nathalie being inverted that he didn’t send another akuma out for… weeks.
He keeps watching as one akuma after another is sent out. None of which happened the first time.
Nathalie continued to help with each akuma and continued to decline in her health. How could his past self be so ignorant and blind of the danger on her life!
Finally he comes to watch as an akuma pushed Nathalie too far. Only this time Fu couldn’t help. Adrien didn’t know Mayura was Nathalie so he wasn’t able to help her get to Fu in time or at all since Gabriel didn’t know Fu’s identity as the guardian either. Nathalie died as Emilie had died.
Paon removes his hand from the image.
“If Nathalie wasn’t inverted…” Paon clenches his teeth as he fights the rising tears. “She would have died?”
“I’m afraid so,” Bunnix says.
“There has to be a way. Some way I can save her,” he says, tears building in his eyes. “Back then or now. Somehow!”
“Sometimes there isn’t a way we can do anything.”
He kneels to the translucent ground, finding it too hard to stand. “How can I let her go? I barely was able to…” when I lost Emilie. He couldn’t say it. He can’t imagine having to go through the same thing again.
Bunnix puts a hand on his back. “There is always hope, Mr. Agreste.”
“There wasn’t hope for Emilie.”
“…It’s not over yet.”
Bunnix walks away and widens a portal back to Nathalie’s room.
“Renounce the sentimonster,” Bunnix says. “You might be surprised what the day brings.”
It seems he has no choice. Even if the sentimonkey brings him the miracle box, there’s nothing with the Rabbit Miraculous he can do. He considers, just for a moment, that he still has the wish of the Ladybug and Black Cat. But one glance at his son as Cat Noir and in Paon’s own hopeless state he tosses the idea aside. He doesn’t want to plan anymore. If he must grieve then he will grieve.
He walks back into Nathalie’s room. Bunnix says something in a farewell but Paon doesn’t care enough to notice.
The sentimonkey is already in the room, having arrived while Paon and Cat Noir were with Bunnix. The creature holds the miracle box up to Paon. Some light is actually coming into the room from the sun now. It almost feels insulting that the sun could still rise when Nathalie cannot.
Paon stares at the sentimonster blankly, feeling so much more empty inside than he could imagine.
Keeping his hands hanging by his sides, he snaps his fingers. The sentimonkey vanishes and the miracle box falls to the ground with a big thump.
“Dusuu, fall my feathers.”
Gabriel takes off the brooch that has caused him nothing but loss and pain. He turns and takes one step towards his son. Gabriel holds out the brooch.
“Take it. And the box,” he says.
“Gabriel?” A woman’s voice says behind him.
He thinks he might have imagined it until he sees Cat Noir’s eyes widen.
“Nathalie?” Cat Noir says.
Gabriel suddenly finds it impossible to breathe. And terribly difficult to turn around.
“Adrien, what’s going on?” she asks.
Slowly, Gabriel turns his head. Nathalie is sitting up in her bed with her glasses on.
“Nathalie?” he manages to say.
“What’s going on?” Nathalie asks.
Cat Noir rushes to the bed and hugs her. Gabriel’s feet remain frozen.
“Adrien, why are you transformed? What’s happening?”
Cat Noir just sobs.
“What day is it?” she asks.
“September 12th! 2017,” Cat Noir says in between sobs.
Nathalie’s breath becomes unsteady. She hugs Cat Noir tighter and smiles widely. And after a watery laugh her eyes meet Gabriel’s.
His legs finally start moving, crumbling towards her. When he reaches the side of her bed, his head falls to her knees and he grabs her hand that is holding Cat Noir.
“September 12th,” Nathalie says, thinking out loud. “I thought… I thought I was supposed to wake up on the 11th.”
Cat Noir pulls away. “You didn’t wake up! You’ve been asleep for- for-“
“Since your first night,” Gabriel says.
“Over 24 hours?”
“We thought you…” The knot in Gabriel’s throat makes it impossible for him to finish.
Nathalie’s eyes search the room and land on the miracle box left on the floor. Then she eyes Cat Noir again.
“Gabriel…” Her tone almost has a warning to it.
He knows she must be wondering if he tried to steal the Ladybug and Black Cat miraculous. “I wasn’t trying to make the wish! I was just… I wanted… to use the Rabbit Miraculous.”
“It’s true,” Cat Noir adds. “Bunnix came to stop him. I don’t know how she did it actually.”
“Ladybug!” a new voice enters the room.
All eyes dart to the doorway to see Master Fu.
“It’s okay, Master Fu!” Cat Noir says. “Plagg, claws in.” Adrien walks over to the miracle box, picks it up, and hands it to Fu.
The old man eyes Gabriel and Nathalie.
Ladybug comes behind Fu.
“What did you do?” Fu asks Gabriel.
“Nothing! I swear.”
“He’s telling the truth,” Adrien says. “He didn’t even open the miracle box! Bunnix came and convinced him to stop.”
Fu’s eyes narrow. “Then how is Miss Sancoeur awake?”
Now all eyes fall on Nathalie.
She feels obligated to answer even though she doesn’t have much better of an idea than them. “Well… I was asleep for 24 hours after I was hit by Inverter.”
Gabriel searches his memory.
Nathalie adds, “I lived it yesterday. I remember.” Then to everyone, “Perhaps I needed to be asleep for another 24 hours in the end to… fix everything?”
“You would say anything to defend him, Miss Sancoeur,” Fu says, keeping his look of suspicion.
Gabriel stands and steps closer to the door of his accusers. “There were only two ways the miraculous could have helped her. The first being the wish which I have my reasons why I wouldn’t use, but for my defense, I could have stolen Adrien’s miraculous the morning Nathalie didn’t wake up or tonight when I broke into your place, but I didn’t. Furthermore, I could have told the sentimonster to take Marinette’s miraculous after it paralyzed her.”
Nathalie’s eyes land on him, eager to know the full story of what happened while she was asleep.
“The second way the miraculous could have helped me,” Gabriel continues. “Was to use the Rabbit to stop Inverter from ever hitting her.” He doesn’t want to admit what he saw as the outcome of that scenario. “But seeing as we all remember her being inverted, I obviously didn’t carry through with that now, did I?”
The room itself seems to take in his confessions and defense.
“Do what you want with the information,” Gabriel finally says to break the silence. “But if you would all excuse us, I’d like to have some time with my fiancée. I haven’t seen her well in months.”
Ladybug, Fu, and Adrien leave the room with the miracle box and close the door behind them.
Gabriel slowly turns and approaches the side of her bed.
She lets her legs hang over the side, making room for him to sit next to her.
“Why didn’t you use the Rabbit Miraculous?” she asks.
“I’d rather not talk about it right now.”
She grabs his hand. “Gabriel, I’m not disappointed that you tried.” Her thumb runs circles over his skin. “But I can’t lie that a part of me would have wanted you to succeed. I loved this last year but if I could do it again forward, I’d prefer it.”
It wasn’t even a week ago that Nathalie asked him if they’d be together if the inversion hadn’t happened. And while he knows that that Nathalie doesn’t know everything that this Nathalie does about their relationship and what has transpired, he can’t help but feel uneasy. Because now he knows for a fact that without the inversion, not only would they not be together but Nathalie would be dead. He doesn’t want to risk planting any seeds of doubt about their relationship into her mind.
“Please, Nathalie… A conversation for another time.”
She looks at him sadly. “You saw something in the timeline that upset you, didn’t you?”
He hangs his head.
“I trust you, Gabriel.”
Oh, how he’s missed her saying his name.
He raises her hand to his lips. “I’ve missed you so much, my dear.”
With her free hand she turns his face to look at her. “I’ve missed you too.”
She lowers her hand to his arm that’s closest to her.
Strange how she looks the same as yesterday but the look in her eyes is completely different. He can hardly believe she’s… ‘back to normal’ isn’t the right way of saying it. Their normal before the inversion was nothing like this.
“I almost can’t believe it,” she says, looking around the room. Thoughts graze her expression but Gabriel can’t read them.
“What? What is it?” he asks. His worry for her well-being is still coursing through him.
“I was just thinking… how I very much want to sleep in our room again tonight.”
He laughs as that wasn’t at all what he expected her to say. She laughs with him. After the light laughter dies, they just stare at each other for a moment.
“What is it you’re thinking?” she asks.
“How I very much want to kiss you right now.”
“What’s stopping you?”
“You have no idea how much I’ve wanted to kiss you within the last few months.”
“Somehow I doubt that.” In less than a second she breaks the distance between them and plants her lips on his.
Her kiss reminds him that she does indeed know the pain of wanting to kiss a person who has forgotten their affections for months. In fact he wonders if they have ever kissed this deeply. Perhaps not. In the last year they were never truly at the same level of knowledge for the other’s affection as they are now. Or maybe it’s simply that they both have been dying to be in the other’s embrace for so long.
A short time later he pulls away and asks yet another question that has been nagging his mind. “Do you forgive me?”
“Forgive you? For what?” she asks breathlessly and kisses his jawline.
“For putting on the butterfly miraculous. For being the reason you were inverted.” He removes his hands from her. “For being the reason you nearly died… so many times.”
She backs away from him and looks at him sadly.
“For all those stupid things I said that night you went to the hotel.”
She sighs. “Yes, Gabriel… I was merely… It was really hard hearing you accuse me of everything I was worried I was guilty of.”
“You’re not. You’re not guilty of any of it. I was an idiot and I wasn’t thinking straight.”
She smiles weakly. “I know. Our tattoos helped remind me of how you really felt or would feel. I am so glad I don’t have to worry about how to phrase things anymore.”
“You did amazing. Far better than me obviously.”
She takes a deep breath. “It is so good not to feel the effects of the peacock miraculous anymore.”
Gabriel furrows his brows.
She notices his expression. “Gabriel, I really have forgiven you. You don’t need to feel any guilt about what happened.”
He presses his lips together until he is able to respond. “I caused the woman I love more than anyone on this Earth incredible pain. I’m not sure I can ever forgive myself.”
She runs a hand against his cheek and takes another breath as if signaling the fact that she will let that topic rest for now. “Well, shall we face the jury outside the room?”
“I suppose.” He stands. “I’ll go out first. You should get changed.”
She stands too but catches his arm to keep him from leaving just yet.
“Gabriel?”
She doesn’t say anything more for a moment so he responds with a smile, “My dear?”
She kisses him gently and then says, “Everything’s going to be okay.”
Gabriel waits a moment before leaving her room. He makes a quick stop by his own room before heading down the stairs to find Adrien by himself.
“Where’s Marinette and the Guardian?” Gabriel asks.
“They just left with the miraculouses. They’re going to be hiding the miracle box again.” Adrien scratches the back of his neck.
“Are they going to turn me in?”
“Oh. No. No, I convinced them to… Well, I’m not sure they’ve forgiven you, but they’re letting it go. I mean, you didn’t actually do anything.”
“This time.”
“You’ve never made the wish or used the Rabbit Miraculous, Father.”
“But I’m sure Marinette and Master Fu believe I will try again eventually.”
“Yes… But I convinced them that the odds of you ever succeeding are not very great.” The boy smiles sheepishly.
“Well, thank you, Adrien. I don’t know if I should be insulted by that.”
Nathalie steps out in her normal attire. Gabriel only now realizes that the day has just begun and he is flat exhausted.
“Nathalie!” Adrien exclaims as if seeing her for the first time.
Nathalie rushes down the stairs.
“Nathalie,” Gabriel starts, obviously worried about her overdoing it.
“Calm down, Gabriel! I’ve been feeling the effects of the broken miraculous for months and now I don’t feel an ounce of it!” She hugs him tightly and pulls away. “I have so much energy I don’t know what to do with it.”
“Just to make sure I understand,” Adrien says. “The butterflies can speak again?”
“Yes,” Nathalie answers with a smile of relief.
“So we can tell you everything and you can tell us everything and you and Father can actually get married now?”
“If you still want to,” Gabriel says to Nathalie.
“Gabriel,” she says, putting a hand on his chest where his tattoo is under his suit. “I said yes, didn’t I?”
“Thank goodness for that.” He puts an arm around her.
“I can’t believe we didn’t make any paradoxes!” Adrien says.
“Me neither,” Gabriel and Nathalie both say.
Adrien asks, “Nathalie, how did you find out that I had the miraculous? Father and I didn’t tell you and we were so worried you wouldn’t figure it out when you should.”
“Oh… um…” Nathalie presses her lips together in thought. “Your father mentioned something that led me to think you were Cat Noir. I stayed up late that night and well… You know the rest.”
“What did I say?” Gabriel asks.
“Gabriel, it was a year ago! I hardly remember!”
“Well, it was just this last week for me and I know I didn’t tell you he had the ring.”
“I know. You mentioned something about him realizing he had been fighting his own father as Hawkmoth or something. I put the pieces together. But since we’re asking questions, Gabriel . What were you thinking kissing me as Bourdon?”
Gabriel’s eyes widen. “Wha-? Bourdon? Nathalie, that was-“
“Nearly a year ago.” She folds her arms, satisfied about proving her point.
“A- and if I remember correctly, you thoroughly enjoyed that kiss!”
“I only wish it wasn’t my last one,” she says, remembering how sad she was that day.
Gabriel smirks. “But it wasn’t your last one, my dear.” He pulls her close and meets her lips.
“Well!” Adrien declares. “I really am glad you two are together but I’m rather tired.”
Gabriel and Nathalie separate.
“Ah, Adrien,” Gabriel starts. “I believe you still have the day off from school.”
“Yes. I’ll be sleeping mostly I think.”
“I am sorry, Adrien.”
“No harm done. I’m just so happy everyone’s okay.” He gives a tired smile, hugs them both, and heads for his room.
Gabriel is terribly tired too but Nathalie obviously isn’t. And he can’t imagine going to sleep now after just getting her back.
“Care to have breakfast, darling?”
She smiles. “I don’t remember you calling me ‘darling’ and ‘dear’ quite this much.” She nearly blushes.
“I’m making up for lost time.”
“You were having a rather rough time towards the beginning… er the end for you I guess. I remember one time you nearly slipped and called me ‘darling’. I almost broke down in tears right in front of you.”
They continue walking to the kitchen.
“I knew the end would be difficult for both of us,” Gabriel says. “but I had no idea how difficult it would be for you. I thought you’d…”
“What?”
“Well, I thought you wouldn’t have been so upset at the idea of me loving you.”
She presses her lips together in thought. “Realizing that you no longer wished- wanted to get Emilie back… It was like you were a completely different person and it devastated me. Especially to think that I could have been the reason.”
He grabs her hand. “It didn’t end up being so devastating, did it?”
She smiles at him. “No. You were right that I’d understand eventually. I really like the change in you now. Or I suppose I should say I love the change.” Her fingers tighten around his hand.
“There’s so many things I feel like we need to catch up on.”
They let go of their hands to gather breakfast together.
Nathalie gasps.
“What?!” Gabriel asks.
“The coffee!”
“What about it?”
“Gabriel, I haven’t drank the coffee from Rome in months . Do you realize how long ago we went on that trip?”
He starts doing the math.
“Longer on my end, I’ll tell you that much,” Nathalie says as she gets the coffee prepared. “You were able to have this yesterday. I was not.”
“Actually I bought the old stuff the other day so that yesterday, your very first day, you wouldn’t notice.”
She stops what she’s doing and tries to remember. “How many other things did you do to make things easier for me to process?”
“Easier to process? I wouldn’t say I did a very good job if you call what you went through ‘easy’.”
“I said ‘easier’ not ‘easy’.” She smiles.
“But I suppose to answer your question…” He pulls out the pen he gifted her with ‘Butterflies don’t speak’ on it from his pocket. He nabbed it from his room before seeing Adrien. “I did hide your birthday present.”
Nathalie takes the pen from him with a smile. “You mean my Christmas present?”
He winces as if she caught him in a lie. “It’s strange that you know everything now.”
“I can say the same to you.”
They settle at the kitchen counter with simple eggs and coffee from Rome.
“How many meetings are you behind on this week?” Nathalie asks.
Gabriel sighs. “Well, I haven’t done any the last… Well, to be honest the days have been blurring together. I haven’t been sleeping.”
She looks at him sadly. “Hopefully now that I’m waking up forwards, you’ll get better sleep.”
“Yes. I think I’ve missed the last two days of work and of course there was last week when you-“ he stops himself, not used to being able to tell her anything of what’s happened. “Ah, when you became Lynx.”
Now it’s her turn to wince. “I’m sorry about that.”
“Taking my son’s miraculous to try and save his mother is far more excusable than all I’ve done.”
“It’s in the past, Gabriel.” She takes a breath. “I’m so glad everything is in the past where it should be.”
He takes a sip of coffee.
“Do you have any shows scheduled next week?” Nathalie asks. “You know I’m a year behind on what’s going on with the business.”
“Next week…” he says, rubbing his forehead in thought. He really is exhausted. “Butterflies don’t speak.”
Nathalie purses her lips and gives him a look.
“Nathalie, I can’t-“ He closes his eyes, realizing the obvious. “I am really tired.”
“I suppose it’s become a bit of a habit anyway. We’ll have to get used to the new way of things.”
He stands, only having eaten half his egg but finding no appetite to finish. “I’m happy to be able to get used to the new way of things with you, my dear.” He kisses her temple.
He puts the dishes by the sink and struggles to keep his eyes open. Nathalie’s arms wrap around his midsection, waking him up slightly and relaxing him at the same time.
“You should go to bed, Gabriel.”
He turns but keeps her arms around him. “And miss time with you? Not a chance.”
She kisses him lightly. “You need sleep. And I’ll be right next to you the whole time.”
“Forever I hope.”
“I don’t know what the future holds… and I’m so glad I don’t.”