Chapter Text

Nathalie Sancouer, assistant to the famous Gabriel Agreste, was typically the image of calm. The clicking of her heels was known to keep tempo in an otherwise chaotic environment. There were rare, isolated moments where Nathalie let her expression slip, revealing a slightly troubled twitch of her lip. On this particular day, on this particular moment, Nathalie was so troubled as to not only allow a twitch, but a nervous glance as well.

She walked her usual path through the Agreste mansion, making her way to Gabriel Agreste’s office. In her arms she held a clipboard and folder containing all of the work she had done while taking her mandatory leave. She took a quick moment to restore her neutral expression as she stood before the grand doors. Once satisfied, she pushed the doors and stepped in, her eyes locking on to Gabriel.

“Nathalie.” Gabriel looked up from his design tablet at the sound of the doors opening. He stepped down from his platform and walked towards Nathalie, his brows furrowed. “How are you doing now?”

“I’m perfectly fine, Gabriel. I could have gone back to work straight away, I really didn’t need 3 days-” Nathalie said, clutching the clipboard against her chest. Gabriel’s eyes darted to her hands.

“Perfectly fine?” He took one of her hands in his, examining it. “Your hands are shaking.” He shook his head, dropping her hand. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you come back yet.”

“Gabriel, it’s nothing.” Nathalie assured her boss, readjusting the clipboard.

“You know what the peacock miraculous can do.” Gabriel rubbed the bridge of his nose. “You should be resting now.”

Nathalie contained a sigh, trying desperately to make him understand. “I only used it once. She... used it many, many more times than that.” Nathalie said, hesitant to mention her.

“I don’t want it to happen twice.” Gabriel frowned.

“I understand.” Nathalie said. “But you can not keep me from work much longer. There’s only so much I can do online.” Nathalie tipped her head towards her clipboard.

“I suppose since you’re already here there’s no use in sending you home.” Gabriel resigned. “However I’m ordering you to take it easy today, don’t do anything that requires you leaving the mansion.”

“But Gabriel, you have a fashion show at 3 pm and I need to be there to represent you.” Nathalie protested.

“I’ve requested an intern go in your place in the case that something like this were to happen.” Gabriel looked sternly at her. Nathalie stopped her shoulders from sagging at the thought of someone else taking her place as Gabriel’s assistant. She shook off the feeling, keeping herself professional as usual. Gabriel took note of the slight movement in Nathalie’s face and softened his eyes.

“For both of our sakes, restrain yourself to desk work today.” He said, nodding his head to Nathalie.

“Understood.” Nathalie said, turning around and walking out of Gabriel’s office and back into the foyer. She passed by the grand staircase, glancing up to the portrait with Gabriel and his son, Adrien dressed solemnly in black. The sorrowful expression painted over Adrien’s face brought Nathalie back to the time it was painted and the tragedy that had occurred shortly before.

She paused, the conflicted emotions she had repressed bubbling back up, tightening her throat. Turning her head away, she rejected the memory from her mind and restored her formality, continuing through the foyer and up the stairs. She took the familiar turns to Adrien’s room and knocked lightly, waiting for a familiar “Come in” to sound out. She opened the door and stepped into the large, multi floor room. Quickly scanning the area, she locked onto Adrien who sat at his desk. She approached him, pulling a paper from her clipboard.

“Nathalie!” Adrien smiled. “Are you feeling better? Father said you caught the flu. I was worried since you’ve been here pretty much every day for the past few years so it had to be pretty serious, right?”

Nathalie took a mental note of Gabriel’s chosen excuse before handing Adrien the paper. “I’m doing much better, thank you.” She nodded to the teenage boy before her. “Here is your photoshoot schedule for today and tomorrow.”

Adrien scanned it over and frowned. “4 shoots tomorrow?”

“Unfortunately none of the photographers were able to reschedule for other days.”

Adrien sighed. “Alright. Thank you, Nathalie.”

Nathalie nodded her head. Her lips pursed as she caught sight of Adrien’s desktop background. His mother smiled into the camera, her blonde hair cascading past her shoulder. Nathalie turned on her heels and exited the room swiftly, clicking the door shut behind herself. She walked down the hallway and to her desk, taking her usual seat. She quickly adjusted her glasses before turning the computer on and typing in her password.

As she began working, her mind drifted. Using the peacock miraculous was a last resort, and she fully understood the danger surrounding it. She had seen it take effect first hand, after all. However, despite this knowledge, Nathalie would do it again in a heartbeat. She would do just about anything to help Gabriel. Keeping him safe and as happy as a widower to an allegedly missing, publicly presumed dead, wife could be was Nathalie’s first priority.

Well, that and doing her job. She had grown fantastic at hiding her emotions, keeping her composure in all but the most stressful situations. However, after the events of heroes’ day Nathalie found it more and more difficult to keep her feelings under control. Whether that was due to the damaged miraculous’ effect or due to her increasing desperation for Gabriel’s attention was still up for debate.

Nathalie, for one, would argue for as long as she could keep her eyes open that it was from the miraculous. Recently she had been letting her not so recent feelings express themselves in the form of a comforting embrace, or lingering eye contact with her boss. It certainly didn’t help that he appeared to reciprocate. Returning her gazes, resting his hand upon hers in times of worry, caring for her wellbeing, et cetera, et cetera. She was well aware of Gabriel’s intended wish, who he wanted to bring back. Some may say her constant aide contradicts her increasing feelings towards Gabriel.

Most would say that bringing someone’s wife back isn’t the best way to woo them. But conflicting emotions lead way to conflicting actions. His wife, Emilie, could be considered a friend to Nathalie, perhaps even a close one. They weren’t the type to go to bars together or anything of the sort, however they would often share a dry joke at social events in the fashion world, and frequently enjoy a glass of wine late in the evening once Nathalie’s work was done.

Therefore a large part of her wanted to bring Emilie back. To have her help maintain stability in the household, to have her keep Gabriel happy, to be good company.

And so Nathalie helped Gabriel hatch plans to defeat Ladybug and Chat Noir. If not to bring Emilie back, then at the very least to see the glimmer of eagerness painted over Gabriel’s face while they spoke of an undefeatable plan. Seeing him genuinely happy was enough for her, and helped mask the pain of watching him lose over and over again, watching him lose hope, and watching her chance to bring her friend back vanish in an instant.

Every day was bittersweet for Nathalie, and that definitely helped to keep her melancholic expression constant. Every loss meant Emilie was yet to return. Every loss meant Gabriel was still technically a single man.