"Family is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream."

- George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States of America (Elected twice)

Nathalie's Resolution
Part 3
By: I Write Big

Nathalie dug through her bag, trying to keep her teeth from chattering.

While it did get cold in the winter back in Paris, she had forgotten how absolutely frigid it became in Bucharest. As soon as she stepped off the plane, she knew the fashionable light jacket she wore was useless. The night air nipped at her relentlessly. Thick fur coats wrapped the travelers around her, making them appear nearly three times bigger than they really were. Some were rather extravagant and caught Nathalie's trained eye. She'd have to bring up the idea of a winter line to Mr. Agreste. Nathalie gripped something made of cotton and she pulled out the festive scarf she received from Adrien at the Christmas party. It was a gaudy thing with ridiculous reindeer prancing across an ugly green treeline. With a grimace, she threw it around her exposed neck.

"That is not nearly enough, Natalia."

Nathalie's heart nearly stopped. A shadow eclipsed her crouched body and something heavy plopped itself on her shoulders. The wildly grinning man who quickly buttoned up the warm fur coat she now wore gave her a quick kiss on each cheek and hugged her tightly. Nathalie's arms hung limply at her side as her mind quickly put a name to the now grown face.

"Dumitru? Is that you?"

"Haha! You don't remember your own brother?" the man boomed and pointed to the pathetic stubble on his chin, "The beard threw you off, huh? I hardly recognized you too with that color in your hair. Is that how you fashion designers dress now?"

Nathalie found herself staring at the man. He was nearly twice as tall as she remembered, reaching nearly a whole head higher than her. Almost every detail of the boy she was raised with was completely different. The only thing she recognized was the familiar glint in his ever present smile. Her instincts kicked in and she resumed her default unemotional look, "I didn't know you were picking me up."

"I stayed a little longer so Mom wouldn't have to drive into the city." A twitch of his nose. The same tell from when he was twelve. Seems there were some parts of her brother that hadn't changed. "I'm only here for a couple more days. That's as long as Elena can survive with the kids without me. Haha!" Again his booming laugh filled the airport, much to Nathalie's embarrassment. His unnecessarily loud sense of humor hadn't changed either. Maintaining her business professional straight face, she picked up her bag and headed for the exit. Dumitru was close behind.

To Nathalie's further surprise, Dumitru led her to the old family truck their parents had driven them in since the two were children. The paint was rusted over and and the right headlight was still busted from when Dumitru was in his engineer phase. With Dumitru at the wheel, it was eerily similar to having the Gorilla driving her around. Unlike the Gorilla, Dumitru was talking endlessly. Nathalie adopted her tried and true method of nodding slightly and ignoring the unimportant details. It worked for Mr. Agreste. Instead, Nathalie was drawn to the passing city.

Like most of Europe the architecture was a mix of preserved classic with the occasional modern. Sparse street lights gave many buildings an almost angelic presence. There was a sore lack of the mysterious magic that only Paris managed to capture. Rather, Bucharest embodied a history of a people and a pride in a country that had struggled to stay relevant in an ever changing world.

"It is so nice to have you back, Natalia." The name momentarily grabbed her attention. She had been too shocked by his presence to notice when he used that name the first time. It had been years since anyone had called her that. When she first moved to Paris, a potential boss had simply mispronounced her name during an interview. They had struck Nathalie as the kind of boss who would not hire her if she corrected them, so she didn't and the name stuck. She got used to Nathalie. To hear her real name was… odd. "We wish you could've come sooner. You missed the fireworks and the Saint Vasile caroling. It was well below freezing, a great sign for a wonderful year. I have pictures, look." He shoved his phone into her hands. Nathalie skimmed through the album. Most of the people were strangers, but from how close they clung to Dumitru, Nathalie assumed they must have been additions to the family she never met. She found a picture of him with a rather pretty woman: Elena.

Elena had changed as well. Gone were the poorly tied braids from high school. Now, her red hair fell majestically over her shoulder. The next photo showed Dumitru and Elena laying in bed together and being rudely woken by three energetic children. The image was taken when the children were in the middle of thwacking the sleeping adults with sticks covered with multi-colored flowers.

"Sorcova."

"Yes, the only day of the year when the children are allowed to spank the parents."

Nathalie knew she shouldn't laugh. If she did, Dumitru would go on a joke tirade that wouldn't stop until she slapped him or he fell asleep, whichever came second. She swallowed the giggles that threatened to bubble over. It was such a ridiculous tradition. The first day of the new year, children would wish good health and luck to adults by hitting them with wood! Whoever came up with that one was a true genius. Perhaps she should bring the tradition to Paris; it might even help with the Akuma problem.

"Oh, so you smile for pictures of my torture but you don't smile when you see me for the first time in over ten years?" Dumitru playfully nudged her.

Her hand shot up to her face and covered her lips. She felt the upward tug of the corners of her mouth and tried to force them back down.

"Natalia, what are you doing?"

She froze. She had been hiding her emotions, like she had mastered. Keeping a cold, straight to the point exterior was the only way she earned any respect in the working world. Never had she allowed that mask to drop around anyone… except Adrien. The boy had proven himself kind enough not to turn her opinions against her. Even so, that trust only ever earned him the occasional smile.

She lowered her arm and tried to smirk for the first time in what felt like forever. "Felt like I was going to sneeze."

"I don't know what that face is," Dumitru leaned away from her in fear, "but it is very disturbing."

The smirk and her face snapped back to indifference. Nathalie supposed she was a touch rusty. A couple hours in front of a mirror would be necessary to get the hang of actually responding with interest. She returned to the phone and swiped through more pictures of Dumitru celebrating with these strangers. While she did feel some remorse for missing what looked to be a fun time, she was grateful she had avoided introducing herself to so many people she knew nothing about. The final picture was a grand group photo with everyone huddled side by side. Dumitru and his family were together near the edge.

At the center… was mom.

The doubts creeped back in. Writhing and frothing under her skin. On the first day of the year, before the sun had even risen, when Nathalie had heard her voice over the phone there were no doubts. She didn't hesitate. Nathalie had in so few words asked to come over and visit. When she had finished talking... her mom had said nothing. In that void the doubts had swarmed, finding fertile nesting ground. Then, out of the darkness, her mom agreed and that was the end of their conversation. There was no joy. No celebration of hearing from her daughter. Only the barest of acknowledgement.

"Why didn't she come and get me herself?"

"Mom is getting old. Coming into the city gets harder each time." A twitch of his nose. A lie.

Uncomfortable quiet settled between them. The truck came to a stoplight. Ahead of them was the last line of buildings before they reached the city limits. Just beyond waited home.

"You must be hungry. We can stop. You remember Greta's? It's still open! I'll buy you some Mici." She heard his sympathy. This was his way of giving her more time to mentally prepare. The Natalia from over ten years ago would've needed that time. The Nathalie of today only wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible.

Nathalie reached into her coat and gripped the ugly scarf tightly, "We can eat at home. Let's not make mom wait."

The light turned green and they drove out of the city.

Adrien returned his dinner plate to the kitchen and started washing it. Usually, he would leave the dish in the sink for the maid to clean in the morning but he desperately needed something to occupy his mind. The temporary assistant his father had hired did her job well. She kept him on schedule and was more than happy to talk with him. However, he could tell from her attitude that this was more about pleasing her boss than anything else. There was eager, then there was sucking up. What better way to suck up to Gabriel Agreste than through his son?

After his lessons had been finished, Adrien dismissed the assistant early and ate dinner alone. His phone was an ever present weight against his leg throughout the day.

'Are you coming back?'

Still no response.

He dried and stacked the plate in the cupboard before leaning against the counter. He had finished his studies between his fencing class and piano practice. The sun was down, which officially meant his curfew was in effect and any outdoor excursions would result in a Gorilla hunt. Video games didn't sound fun right now.

"Oh man, today was so boring," Plagg whined from atop his head. They peered out the window above the sink. The twinkling lights of Paris enticed them. "I'm up for a run if you got some camembert." A Chat Noir adventure sounded like just what he needed, but instead Adrien sighed and went upstairs.

Nathalie was keeping her resolution, so he had to keep his as well. No running away. He planned to slip out if there was an Akuma attack, other than that he would make do with being boring Adrien. He passed by the door to his father's office. Light illuminated the frame and the rapid typing of a keyboard could be heard through the wood. There was always the option to step inside. After dinner, father was sometimes open to talk while he worked. Adrien considered knocking but kept walking.

He collapsed on his bed and stared at the ceiling until Plagg flew into his vision. "Ugh, I don't get you humans and your weird obsession with resolutions. Why would you ever choose to give up something you like?" Adrien chuckled and gave the kwami a small wedge of cheese he nabbed from the fridge.

"That's not what resolutions are about, Plagg. They're supposed to be about committing to something tough that you know will make your life better." He found himself staring at the unanswered text again. "Nathalie didn't give up anything. She's doing something brave."

Plagg floated down and looked at the phone screen. "Geez, Adrien, it feels like you're having a tougher time with Nathalie visiting her family than Nathalie."

Adrien groaned and flipped over. Not being able to distract himself by doing awesome leaps as a superhero was going to drive him crazy. With barely a look at his phone, he opened his contacts, scrolled down to Nino and hit call. A couple rings later, the line picked up.

"A-A-Adrien?" a nervous voice that certainly wasn't Nino's answered.

He blinked and looked at his phone. The name 'Marinette' shined brightly across the top of the screen. "Oh! Sorry, Marinette, I was trying to call Nino and your name is right above his. I must've misdialed."

"Right!... That makes sense." For some reason he heard disappointment from her. Maybe Marinette was also dealing with a problem and needed someone to talk to, someone like him.

"But I can call him later, how're you doing?"

"Me?! I'm—I, hah, smooth! Super smooth here! Y'up, nothing but smooth... You?"

Adrien frowned. Nathalie taught him about this. Misdirection, she called it. Obviously, Marinette wasn't comfortable talking about what was wrong. He'd need to start for her. "I wish I could say the same. Nathalie took a week off starting today. Flew out of Paris to I don't know where. You probably have no clue who I'm talking about."

"She's, uh, she's your dad's secretary, right? The-the one with the highlight?" To Adrien's relief Marinette sounded calmer, more comfortable. He felt proud that he could get his normally stuttery friend to speak full sentences. Perhaps her social anxiety had to do with talking with people in person. She probably had a much easier time on the phone. "Actually, when I first saw the two of you together, I kind of thought she was your mom."

"My what?" a very non-model-like snort escaped his nose. "She's not my—we don't even look alike."

He heard Marinette stumble over her answer. "Stepmom maybe? She was always with you, walked you from the car to school, straightened your shirt, fixed your hair, little things like that, I don't know. It was before I got to know you better." Adrien stopped listening. Adrien couldn't listen. Adrien could only think about the 'little things' Nathalie always did. She always left a freshly sliced apple with his breakfast. She took the liberty of calling his friends over for Christmas. When she had to deliver news of father canceling yet another family event, she tried to spin it in a good light. She never succeeded, but she always tried.

"How exactly is her going bad? I mean, I know your dad's busy but it's only a week. She's just on vacation."

Adrien's throat suddenly felt dry. "If that's all she was doing, I wouldn't be worried." Nathalie was chasing a dream. Adrien didn't know what that dream was, but there was the chance Nathalie's dream would take her away forever… and he had pushed her towards that dream.

After losing his mother last year.

After slowly losing his father this year.

He didn't know if he could lose someone else.

"...Adrien, are you oka—"

"I gotta go." He hanged up and checked his texts.

'Are you coming back?'

No response.

END

Write what you know, they said! It's okay if you start crying, they said! It's healthy, they said!