The weather seemed to have increasingly gotten worse over the following days, and now, on New Years' Eve, Gabriel was stuck with both Adrien and Marinette in his mansion because there was no way Adrien would let Marinette return home in this weather.

She lived down the end of the road, he wasn't too sure what Adrien was so worried about, it wasn't like she would be blown away. He knew she was small but she wasn't that small. Adrien had been lucky Gabriel had allowed the girl in the mansion again to begin with — Adrien begging for her to be allowed in their house as part of his Christmas present. Like the pen wasn't enough. Cue the eye roll.

So here they were, sitting around the dining table. Him, Nathalie, Adrien and Marinette, eating what they could pull together from the kitchen as his staff were too afraid to venture out in a blizzard. He remembered back in his day he would have been forced out in weather like this to go and get a newspaper from the corner shop. What doesn't kill you makes you stronger and all that jazz. But these days, goodness, only a tiny sprinkling of snow up to their knees and nobody goes anywhere. He was extremely tempted to dock their pay.

Marinette had taken it upon herself to cook them all dinner, as well as bake them a special treat for dessert. Goodness, she just tried far too hard. Could she not understand he would never like her? This was turning into a neverending nightmare, one he just didn't seem to ever be able to wake up from.

"Bon appetit," Marinette announced, placing the bowl of steaming hot broth in front of him. He watched as she placed another in front of Adrien, Nathalie following behind with two more bowls. Goodness, they were staring down into them like hungry dogs! He'd made them all sandwiches for lunch, what was their problem?

He looked down at the combination of liquid and vegetables, and was mildly annoyed by the smell as it created a pool of water in his mouth. He must be starving to be affected this way. Gabriel thought back to what he'd eaten so far that day; a croissant, three of Marinette's pistachio macarons, a ham sandwich, a banana, an apple, six biscuits, cheese and biscuits, and a jacket potato. Yep, he was only salivating because he hadn't eaten enough.

Picking up the soup spoon (she'd even got the correct spoon out for him, dammit!) He placed it into the bowl and slowly stirred his 6 a day around his bowl. Carrots, potatoes, swedes, leeks, onions, parsnips. Where was his meat? Did she think he was a vegetarian or something? Was she? Oh no, Adrien couldn't marry a vegetarian. That just wouldn't work. He liked his meat, and he expected his dinner guests to like meat too..

Gabriel lifted his head, ready to send out his scathing comment about lack of protein when he saw something else which made his stomach churn, there wasn't a chance he would be eating now. His stomach was squeezing in on him, spiralling out of control and ready to send the Krispy Kreme donut — which he'd consumed earlier — out onto his plate. Oh, he'd forgotten he'd eaten that. Anyway, Marinette had placed the bowl in front of Adrien only for his son to turn his head and kiss her on the cheek, throwing compliment after compliment at the girl for being so amazing.

She'd thrown a few cut up vegetables into a bowl and filled it with hot water, big deal! He could have done this himself, all he needed to do was boil the kettle and find a knife… okay, maybe him not knowing where his utensils were could have been a slight problem, but he would find a way around it in the end. Maybe, with a karate chop or something? He'd been watching Cobra Kai religiously afterall!

"This is really good, Marinette," Nathalie said as she shovelled another good amount into her mouth.

Traitor!

The three around the dining table continued their conversation as Gabriel studied the bowl. How were they eating this thing?

"What do you think of the lamb, father? I don't know what Marinette did with it but it just melts in your mouth."

Lamb? Gabriel looked back down at his bowl. Nope. Definitely no lamb. Nathalie looked over to him, a frown on her face as if she was deciding how big an idiot he actually was. He shrugged at her before nodding down towards his bowl.

She took her own spoon, and with actions you'd use for a toddler, she stuck it in and swirled it around. She was being quite dramatic, and he couldn't help but feel like she was hinting at something.

Did he need to spin around before eating it? Or did he need to… nope, no clue.

Nathalie nodded down towards her bowl again, her lips in a tight line as she slowly and exaggeratedly stirred her bowl once more.

Gabriel just stared back, not quite sure what all the head bobbing was and how it made a difference with his stew. There was no meat.

Nathalie huffed, the exhale one to battle that of the big bad wolf, and rolled her eyes at him. Seriously! This woman… he had no idea what had gotten into her recently. She moved her attention from him, landing on Marinette.

"It's delightful, though a little strange how it sank to the bottom." She placed a rather intense tone over the word bottom, did she mean something by it?

"I know, what do you think caused it?" Adrien asked Marinette, stirring his own bowl before scooping up a rather full spoon and demolishing it in seconds.

Sinking to the bottom? As everyone continued to converse, Gabriel looked down into the bowl. Maybe if he just stirred it around a little? He picked up his spoon and placed it gently inside, moving a carrot and potato out of the way before stirring and watching little pieces of lamb pop up to the top of the bowl. Why didn't Nathalie tell him?

Fishing a couple of pieces out and onto the spoon, he placed them on his tongue and couldn't believe how right Adrien was. The piece fell apart in his mouth filling it with an array of succulent flavours; thyme and mint and something else he couldn't place.

He closed his eyes, pushing the strings of lamb around his mouth as he attempted to be Gordon Ramsey on the latest edition of kitchen nightmare. Holy moly!

"Father?" Adrien brought him out of his lamb filled dream and back to reality. His tone was very obvious to what he was expecting his father to say. This was going to be painful.

"It's very nice, thank you Marinette." The compliment was painful to deliver, even if it was well deserved. He wouldn't go as far as telling her, but this stew was better than a lot of Michelin star restaurants he'd been to. The meat was cooked to perfection, the vegetables weren't too hard and the seasoning was tasty and flavour sum.

"I'm glad you like it, Monsieur Agreste. I have made a galette for dessert too, I hope that's okay?"

Now the truth was coming out. She was going to give him high blood pressure and cholesterol problems at this rate and kill him off, thus finally completing her plan to take over the world his business. He was onto her, and regardless of whether the galette was made from the finest flour in France, he would not be eating it.

"Yes father, Marinette made your favourite — Rhubarb."

Shit!

Gabriel could have placed his head on the table and cried. She seemed to know all his weaknesses now and was playing a very hard game with her newly found knowledge. He needed to up his anti and stop being so weak.

"Oh, father, I forgot to tell you—"

Gabriel looked up towards his son a little too abruptly, causing liquid to run out of his mouth and down his chin. He noticed Nathalie wince as he took the napkin and blotted the warm liquid from his chin. Adrien's hand stretched out to Marinette's beside him and took it in his own. Oh no! Oh no! Oh no!

"Yes son?" His voice came out at a higher pitch than Mickey Mouse. His son's revelation kicked up his heart rate and sent it into fat burn territory.

"Do you want to tell him?" Gabriel felt his whole body quiver as he waited for what could be the worst news of his life. Did Adrien not take their talk seriously enough? He'd told him everything he needed to know.

Adrien looked at Marinette, the timid girl shaking her head and looking down into her stew. Gabriel's life flashed before his eyes as he studied Marinette, turning from that porcelain white commoners found attractive to a rather intriguing shade of pink. That would be nice for a summer dress. What shade was it? Precious pink or Scarlet Lady red… what?

"You can," she said in a timid voice, "you're more excited about it than me."

He was going to collapse off his chair. Gabriel Agreste was going to pass out, bang his head hard on the table never to wake again. How embarrassing! He hadn't even caught Ladybug and Chat Noir yet. Instead, whilst going through his will they'd find his wife trapped away like he was some sort of psycho, and the broach would never be passed to Adrien to continue his mastermind plan. He knew he should have conversed with Félix more, that kid had some sort of backbone, unlike his easily swayed son.

"Marinette… I mean… we have some amazing news." Adrien's smile was so wide the Joker would have recruited him in a second.

"You're too young and inexperienced," Gabriel said, his voice cutting ice and his eyes fiery.

Marinette sighed, pulling her hand from under Adrien's and playing with her fingers. "That's what I said."

Adrien glared at his father, his eyes frowning in annoyance. "I thought you'd understand and help give Marinette some guidance. You were the same age with your first."

No he certainly was not! The pink line incident didn't happen until they were 22 and had experienced a night out at a Bon Jovi concert. 'One Wild Night' it most certainly was.

"Adrien," Marinette said quietly, reaching out to placate her boyfriend. Adrien's temper really was getting foul in his old age. "It's okay, honestly. Your father's right, I should call and terminate."

A low growl left Nathalie's mouth, Gabriel turning to look at a mother lion ready to rip his throat out.

"No, Marinette, please. Just give it a chance. If my father won't help you, let me call someone who will."

A cough sounded from Nathalie and a head bob in the direction of Marinette. Did she actually want him to placate the girl? The girl set on trapping his baby boy?

With a sigh, and a rub between the eyebrows, Gabriel spoke. "What do you need? Money?"

The clatter of cutlery sounded around the dining room, along with gasps. Oh dear!

"Gabriel!" Nathalie scolded. "Why on earth would Marinette need money? I don't think they would appreciate another designer butting in, especially when Marinette has worked so hard on keeping yours and Adrien's names away from her job."

What? Gabriel's face must have displayed his confusion, Nathalie helping him out once more.

"Marinette's been accepted to show as a junior designer in fashion week."

Gabriel smiled, falsely congratulating her and promising it was just a joke. Placating Adrien with words of encouragement to his girlfriend and offering himself as a point of contact if she needed any additional support — not with money, of course.

As the chatter continued around the table, he felt Nathalie's eyes piercing through him, burning his soul and, probably, destroying her retinas.

"What the hell was that?" She hissed in his direction.

"I thought he'd knocked her up!" He responded back, Nathalie facepalming in response.

Later that evening, as Gabriel made his way up to his room he considered the remaining possibilities he had to remove Marinette from their life. She'd not only managed to keep Adrien on her side, but now Nathalie too, and worst of all George! (The butler if you can't remember).

After the weighty food from the evening's meal, he'd headed into the home gym to try and keep the buttery goodness of the galette from ruining his perfect BMI. Taking the (non Ladybug'd) towel from around his neck he rubbed the sweat from his face and headed up the grand staircase, springing two steps at a time only to stop abruptly as Adrien and Marinette's voices echoed through the minimalist hallways.

As he stalled on the twelfth step, he came to the conclusion as to why Adrien had given him noise cancelling headphones for Christmas. But as awkward as this moment was, again, something reached his ears which kicked him hard in the gut… and the heart.

"I love you so much, my Princess."

"I love you more, my Prince."

Gabriel felt his lower lip quiver, the nicknames bringing back the happy times with Émilie as he let out an emotional breath. It had been almost four years and Adrien was thriving. They were in love, he knew that, but Adrien was special to him and through his overprotectiveness he'd missed out on opportunities to watch the two grow together, and through his own stupidity he'd lost one of the most talented up and coming designers to an opposition.

He still wasn't certain Marinette was with Adrien for the right reasons, but this was Adrien's mistake to make and he couldn't deny the laughter and happiness she was bringing to their quiet, mundane life.

Gabriel continued up to his room thinking about a conversation he would need to have with Adrien the following day.

… It was time to let his little chick fly. After all, at some point this first love would come to an end. Wouldn't it?