After rewatching all the Despicable Me movies, I browsed through the fanfiction archives and realized that there are no fics where Nefario is confronted about calling Miss Hattie. So I decided to write one myself, especially because after Rise of Gru I have few headcanons about relationship between Gru and Nefario. It took me three months due to various factors.

The characters might be a bit OOC.

Please, leave a review.

Doctor Nefario apologizes

For better or worse, everything was over – the Moon was in its place (well, maybe a little bit closer than earlier, but it could be fixed later), Vector was defeated and the girls were safe and sound, alongside with their father.

But for some reason, on their way home, Doctor Joseph Albert Nefario could feel tension between him and Gru. Specifically – he could feel how his employer and best friend was looking at him with awkwardness. Nefario suspected that there was something on his mind (the mad scientist even had some theory on what it actually was), but he also knew that Gru didn't want to say it now, while holding girls in his arms. He didn't want to bring out what Nefario has done when he was just reunited with his daughters after fighting off a psychopathic manchild. No, if Gru and Nefario were going to have this conversation, it was going to be when the girls would be asleep and unaware of what really happened.

And so Doctor Nefario was just piloting the airship, thinking about all the arguments he was going to make. It was obvious that Gru was never going to give up the girls. He said it himself: "I will never let you go again." Nefario knew about such cases – about villains who would not only get married but also have bunch of their own kids; or just getting attached to some urchins and taking them under their wings in old years (Wild Knuckles was, of course, the most obvious example…). When the villains just got married, most of the time not much was changing; in fact, most of the time the freshly baked man and wife were committing acts of villainy together… but when children appeared, the effect varied from person to person. Some criminals were preparing their offspring for taking the reins one day, and others had bright ideas to just leave life of crime altogether to protect their children.

Doctor Nefario suddenly remembered how he was hired by Gru – a mere eleven year old boy who showed up in Criminal Records with his army of small, yellow critters. The scientist initially declined the job offer because he wanted to focus on different things… but then he was met with rows upon rows of big, sad eyes staring into his soul. But the only eyes that mattered; the only ones that really got through his defenses, were blue as summer sea and belonged to a child…

Nefario clenched his hands around the airship's lever. It was actually amazing and kind of terrifying how powerful a child could be. As a scientist, he knew that so called cuteness proximity was just an evolutionary mechanism meant to protect human young from those who wanted to harm them. After all, it was hard to hurt a child, if one found them cute. Plain and simple, there was no magic, just pure, unadultered biology…

Then again, who was he to argue with evolution? He already lost this battle.


As one could suspect, when they've got home, Gru spent rest of the day with the girls and he even wrote them a personalized bedtime story to once again hammer idea of how much he cared about them and regretted sending them back to Miss Hattie…

Doctor Nefario, who was standing in the corridor waiting for the inevitable conversation, was listening to it all with mixed feelings. He expected for Gru to reveal that he wasn't the one who called the orphanage – giving all the heartache it caused, he had every right to tell them about Nefario going behind his back; to clean himself from the blame so his daughters wouldn't think bad of him. And yet he didn't mention it even once – in fact he took the full responsibility. Maybe he just didn't want to complicate things further… or maybe he still felt guilty for letting it happen without much protest, so – in some way – he was responsible too.

Either way, Doctor Nefario felt it was wrong. The girls should know that he was reluctant to do it; that after they were gone he tried to focus on stealing the Moon but it was clear that he couldn't stop thinking about them. And when the mission was over, he quickly flew to the ballet school to see their performance. He even gave up Moon for them…

It wasn't like Nefario hated the girls. They were sometimes annoying, yes, maybe even obnoxious to some extend… like Minions and, over time, the mad scientist got used to those yellow critters, if only because they proved to be fiercely loyal and Gru had soft spot for them. But – aside from motivating Gru to not give up on his plan – the girls were mostly a distraction from the Moon stealing operation. And Nefario knew how much this operation meant to his employer – it wasn't just a way to stay in the game; it was also a childhood dream come true…

The door to the girls' bedroom opened but for a moment Gru wasn't coming out. After few seconds Nefario heard a quiet voice of Margo saying: "I love you" that was followed soon after with Gru's: "I love you too". Only then the man left the room, carefully closing the door but immediately he was met with a crowd of Minions waiting for good night kiss too.

Finally, when all the girls were put to sleep and all the Minions were kissed, Gru looked at Doctor Nefario coldly and whispered to him:

"To the lair, now."

They walked to the living room and took the elevator in silence. It was quite unnerving really, and Nefario wondered if this was some form of torture on Gru's part; if he deliberately was prolonging the silence to up the tension and punish his mad scientist. Nefario was thinking about the way to break the silence, after all, he was the one who made a mistake and had to apologize… But he didn't know where to start. "I'm sorry" seemed to not be enough. Not in this situation. Just explaining himself wasn't good idea either; he could imagine it making Gru even more mad.

Finally, as both men started to ride down, Nefario spoke:

"Why didn't you tell the girls that I was the one who sent them off?"

Gru looked at him… but not with anger or coldness, as Nefario would have expected him to do. Rather he seemed to be taken aback a bit about the question. For a moment he didn't respond. He just turned his gaze back on a door. Nefario observed him for a while – Gru was hunched as always, and he was holding his hands behind his back… but this time he seemed to be tense.

Almost as tense as when Miss Hattie came and Gru had to act like he didn't care all that much she came to take the girls…

They finally reached the lair and the elevator door opened. Astonishingly enough, there were almost no Minions at this hour of the night (maybe they went asleep after goodnight kiss… or were causing mayhem in the supermarket; it was hard to tell sometimes). Nefario silently followed Gru to the lab area where the two of them sat on the chairs.

Gru suddenly seemed to be very tired. He gave a deep sigh and slouched his shoulders. Then he looked at Nefario with expression of sadness. Not anger, not coldness, just… sadness. And the mad scientist felt as if the time stopped. Suddenly Gru wasn't a grown man, but a child again; a child neglected by his mother, without friends in school and without a father to guide him.

There were times – many times in fact – when he was coming to the lair with this expression of utterly crushing sadness and then, the first instinct of Minions was to cheer him up. But they couldn't do it. They were simple creatures and there was just a lot of things about humans they didn't understand. In times like these Nefario found himself desperately wanting to solve the problem. His more rational part thought it was ridiculous – after all, the kid wasn't even related to him, he was only his employer… but the more primal, emotional part of him didn't care.

But this time both parts were in agreement that Gru was hurting because of him.

"I…" Gru finally broke the silence, moving his eyes away from Nefario. "I understand that you did it for my own good. I understand that you only wanted to help me achieve my dream." He gazed at the mad scientist again. "But I wish you hadn't done it."

Nefario lowered his own head in shame.

"You were always one of my closest friends, Doctor Nefario. You were always by my side. I wouldn't have… come as far as I am today, if not for your inventions, support and friendship. But now I'm angry with you."

"I know and I understand." Was all Nefario was able to reply.

"You did something awful." Gru shot him a cold glare.

"I know." Nefario, on the other hand, lowered his gaze and clenched his fist.

"You hurt not only me, but my girls."

"I know, Gru."

"But do you understand how much it hurts?!" Gru raised his voice. "How much it hurts that the person I care about does something so awful to little girls I started to care about too?! Do you understand that every time when I look at you, I think about Miss Hattie coming to my door?!" All of a sudden, he stopped yelling and just sighed with resignation. "And about how I let her take them? As if these past few weeks never happened?"

Another moment of silence. Nefario gathered his thoughts into words and looked at his employer and best friend.

"I didn't understand it back then, but now I do. I forgot how strong parental feelings can be… and how good influence a child can have." He gave Gru sad smile and felt his eyes tearing up behind his goggles. "I guess it was foolish of me," He realized that his voice was cracking, but he didn't stop smiling and continued: "to forgot that the same thing happened to me once…"

Gru gave him a surprised look.

"Long time ago I had plans to pursue a different path." Neferio went on. "But then a child convinced me to work for him… and it was the best decision in my life."

Tears ran down his wrinkled cheeks. Once again he remembered those big blue eyes staring at him longingly from the counter. The same blue eyes were now looking at him but they weren't child's eyes anymore.

"Don't blame yourself for my mistakes, Gru. You're a good father. Even if you went along with my foolish actions and let Miss Hattie take the girls, in the end you came back for them." Nefario's smile got even wider, but then he lowered his head again. "And I'll understand if you fire me right here and now. What I did was unforgivable."

Suddenly Gru's eyes became fierce. At first he didn't respond to that. He only stood up and observed Nefario.

"You asked me why I didn't tell the girls what you did." He finally spoke. "The fact is, as much as I'm angry with you, I still want you by my side. But I also want you, Margo, Edith and Agnes to be on friendly terms." His gaze upon Nefario softened. "You are all very dear to me, so would really like you to get along. That is why they shouldn't know about what you did. They should think of you as if you were their grandpa or an uncle."

Nefario smiled.

"I understand. I will do my best."

Gru's face tensed.

"But if you try to harm them again, I won't forgive you."

In those blue eyes Nefario saw fierce protectiveness; the same one that probably Vector got taste of earlier. The scientist's smile got even wider.

"Don't worry. I won't make the same mistake again."

After all, who he was to fight with father's love? Everyone foolish enough to do it, would lose this battle.


After that conversation Nefario tried to spend some time with Margo, Edith and Agnes. Every time when they were coming to the lair, he was moving away from his work to greet them and talk with them; get to know them better. He quickly realized that the girls reminded him of their father when he was a child. Margo was very science-oriented and was even asking Nefario if she could help him with some projects. Edith loved some mayhem and had a bit of a mischievous and pettily vengeful streak which resulted in her giving him ideas for inventions ideal for pranks. Finally Agnes was adorable little thing who's big eyes were making him weak to suggestion. Over time, Nefario found himself really attached to them.

At the same time he also felt a pang of guilt every time when he remembered that he sent them off and that Gru took the blame for him. Nefario still thought it was unfair that in girls' minds their loving father abandoned them. The scientist often deliberated if he should tell them the truth… It would probably change the way they looked at him and Gru, but maybe it would be for the best.

He decided for a different approach.

"You know that your dad love you very much?" He asked one day.

"Yes, of course." Margo nodded and her sisters followed suit.

"You must know that he wasn't the one who called Miss Hattie that day. He would never do that to you."

"Then who did it?" Edith asked.

"A fool." Nefario replied. "An old one at that."

He decided to be vogue. He knew that Margo and Edith will quickly catch up to what he was trying to say, and Agnes might realize it too, but maybe much, much later.

For now all three of them seemed to be a little confused, but he suspected that it was because they didn't know what to think.

"But this old fool got wiser and realized it was a mistake. He doesn't expect you to forgive him. He only wishes for you to not think that Gru would ever want to get rid of you."

He waited for their reaction. At first the girls didn't say anything. They just looked at each other, probably wondering what to say next. Finally Margo was the first to spoke.

"This old fool… why did he do that exactly?"

"Well… he thought you were distracting your dad from work." Suddenly Nefario got hit with a realization. "But it was because of you that he even tried to continue."

"And this old fool helped to save us later from Vector?"

Nefario felt nervousness rising inside of him.

"Yes, but mostly because he wanted to help your dad and because the Moon was unstable."

"Does he likes us now?" Agnes asked suddenly and the innocent way she said it, took Nefario aback.

But then he smiled to his thoughts and replied:

"Yes, yes, of course. He got to know you better and realized that you three are very special."

"I don't think he's a bad person." Agnes said.

"He did bad thing but he tries to be better." Margo added. "Besides, he wouldn't try to do it again."

"Of course not." Edith leaned closer to Nefario. "Because this time he would get his ass kicked. By Gru and us." Then she leaned even closer and whispered to the scientist's ear: "But I reserve the right to three pranks. I don't guarantee they won't end with a heart attack on the old fool's side."

This time Nefario chuckled.

"I expect nothing less."

To be fair, Doctor Nefario felt a little bit better. Now, when he doesn't have to fight with nature, he could focus on more important things.


Yeah, I'm not happy with this ending, but I hope that this fic will inspire others to write their take on Nefario apologizing to girls.