Phone call
The first couple of days went well. Nathalie had times, when she suddenly vanished in the bathroom and didn't return for about half an hour, but everything else was as usual. At least until Nathalie was accompanying Adrien to a fencing tournament and left her phone on her desk. After he had ignored the incoming calls twice, he walked over and wanted to shut it off, when he read the words 'Cécile Daycare' on the phone and narrowed his brows.
Maybe that was for her relative's child and she was one of the contacts. If they were calling her, it most likely was important. So he answered the call.
"Miss Sancoeur's phone, this is Gabriel Agreste speaking!"
"Oh, sorry, but we really need to talk to Miss Sancoeur, it's urgent. It's about her little daughter!"
He had to sit down immediately.
"Her daughter?", he asked.
"Yes. She is having a fever and won't stop crying. We don't take care of the babies, if they are sick, so she has to come and get her. Would you mind to get her to the phone?"
He inhaled deeply.
"Well, she is actually working somewhere else, but I'm going to come over and get her, if that's okay with you!"
"Agreste was your name? Yes that's okay, you are in the contact list for emergencies."
"Well, if you tell me the address, I'll be there in a couple of minutes!"
He had to close his eyes and take deep breaths for some time, before he could get up and into his car. On his way he remembered, that he didn't have a car seat. But then he pushed that thought to the back of his head. First he had to get there and see for himself.
When he arrived and rang the doorbell, a young woman opened, instantly handing him the crying baby in the car seat and a bag full of baby stuff.
"I'm sorry", she explained, "but I have more than one child and if she has something contagious, I can't take the risk of getting the others sick too. I hope you know, how to get her into the car and fixed?"
"I do know that. Thank you. And I am very certain, that you won't have to fear about her being contagious in the future, as she won't come back to a place, where a sick child is almost tossed into the cold, as soon as the door opens. Good bye!", he stated contemptuously and then walked away without waiting for a reaction.
He quickly fixed the seat in the back of his car and hit the road to get back to the mansion. He had considered, to take her out of the seat to comfort her, before he did, but then decided, it would be better to do that at his home.
He arrived a couple of minutes later and rushed inside now, to try and calm the still crying baby down. He placed the car seat on Nathalie's desk and opened the belt, that held the little girl. Then he carefully lifted her up and held her to his chest. He felt her forehead, while he softly rocked her on his arm, then started pacing around until she eventually was so exhausted from all the crying, that she fell asleep on his shoulder.
Nathalie, who had noticed, that she didn't have her phone with her, stormed into the office only a quarter of an hour later, to stand there petrified and stared at Gabriel Agreste holding her precious little daughter, who was still asleep on his shoulder. She run towards them and was about to take her from him, when he shook his head and whispered:
"Don't, she has just gone to sleep. I'm fine, holding her."
She didn't dare to look into his eyes, as she asked:
"What happened? Why is she here? I should have never left my phone, how could I be so stupid!"
"Shush. You are going to wake her up. Just relax. She has a little, and I repeat, a'little' fever and she was crying a lot, that's why they called you. I was just about to call a doctor, to have a look at her, but I thought, she would feel a lot better, if someone would comfort her before doing so!", he informed her calmly.
Nathalie reluctantly got closer to him and looked into her sleeping daughter's face. Then she very carefully touched her skin and nodded.
"You're right. It's only a light fever. I should still take her home and call the doctor to look at her!", she sighed, "Thank you for taking care of her."
But Gabriel objected.
"There is no way, that you are taking her outside like this and into the train station to wait for the Metro to take you home. Go call her doctor and tell him to come here, like now. Or even better, call Adrien's pediatrician. He knows what to do, when he hears the name Agreste. And Nathalie?"
"Yes?", she said quietly.
"I think we need to talk right?", he asked sternly.
"I...we...later okay? I need to know, that she is alright first."
Gabriel nodded.
"Of course. That's out of question."
Of course the little girl woke up and started to cry again, when the doctor started his examination. Nathalie, who couldn't bear to see her child being sick, closed her eyes and held on to the frame of Gabriel's bed, on which Cécile was lying now.
The designer had noticed her struggling and laid an arm around her shoulders. She gave him a puzzled look, but soon leaned against him and let him hold her. When the doctor was finished he smiled.
"It's nothing serious. I can feel the first teeth breaking through and though it's early, the reaction of her body is completely normal and nothing to worry about. How old is she exactly?"
"Almost eight weeks", Nathalie replied, avoiding Gabriel's gaze again.
The physician nodded.
"Try to cool her gums with something. She's a little small, to hold it herself, so she probably needs your help. But you don't have to worry, she's a healthy, little girl."
"Thank you, doctor", Gabriel now said and shook the man's hand. "I'll walk you out, while Nathalie can take care of the little beauty!"
When he returned, Nathalie was sitting on his bed, breastfeeding her child.
"Sorry", she began, "I'll leave as soon as..."
But he interrupted her.
"Don't, just take your time." He sat down beside her, his eyes fixed on the little baby.
"Why didn't you tell me?", he cleared his throat and Nathalie noticed, that he was crying.
"How should I have done that? And when? After you were yelling at me, I wasn't really looking forward to making you yell some more. I...just was scared. You weren't supposed to find out. I...if I hadn't forgotten that bloody phone...", she looked down at her daughter again, trying to hide her tears.
Gabriel scooted closer and laid an arm around her.
"She's beautiful", he said hoarsely, "just like her mother!"
Nathalie sniffled.
"I thought, she looked more like her dad", she objected.
He cupped her cheek and turned her head now.
"Look at me Nathalie, please!"
She slowly followed the soft pressure he gave to her cheek and eventually their eyes met.
"I...", she started, but Gabriel just shook his head. "Shush, let me speak first."
And then he leaned in and kissed her very softly.
"Now you can speak", he mused after he parted his lips from hers.
The young mother laughed and leaned her forehead against his.
"I...uhm...may have told that woman at the daycare, that she won't see that little girl again. She somehow made me furious, when she brought her and her stuff to the door as soon as I rang the bell", he admitted, trying to look as innocent as possible.
"I understand how you felt, but you can't imagine, how long I've been searching for a good daycare, that was close enough and that I can afford. You shouldn't have done that", she ranted.
"Well, I have a solution for this problem!", he blurted out.
"Oh yeah, and what would that be?", she asked mockingly.
"The old fashioned one. You take care of your daughter, as long as she needs you, while I take care of everything else", he raised his voice angrily.
Cécile flinched and almost started to cry again. Nathalie gave him a furious look.
Seeing his daughter getting scared because of him immediately calmed him down.
"I'm so sorry, my little princess", he whispered and bent down to kiss her head, then he looked up at his assistant and asked:
"What do you think about giving that old fool in front of you the chance to show you, what you both mean to him? No more excuses. I will tell Adrien everything, as soon as he comes home. And then we will have a real funeral for Emilie, so he can say his goodbye. Are you willing to give me one last chance to make you happy, Nathalie Sancoeur?"
Tears were running down her cheeks, when she said:
"Under one condition. Stop staring at my breasts!"
He blushed immediately and mumbled sheepishly:
"Well, it's not that easy to not look at them. I love, how much they've grown!", he chuckled and looked up into her eyes, "I love 'you'."
And then he kissed her. And finally Nathalie knew, that everything would soon be good.
