Chapter 7

Gabriel was tucking in bed his son, again. They had managed to get Adrien to change his clothes when he regained consciousness hours later. They gave him some water and put a new cold compress on his forehead to lower his fever. Nathalie canceled the scheduled classes with Adrien's tutors for the next few days. Then in the morning, she called the school to deliver Adrien's medical excuse.

None of Adrien's classmates knew how he was doing after he finished the school day. He did not answer the messages they sent him, nor the calls they made. The next day, Nino and Marinette were worried because they thought something bad had happened to him.

"What if I tell Mom to call Gabriel's assistant?" Marinette suggested

"Sure, that is a good idea," Nino said excitedly.

"When I get home, I'll tell her."

But then they saw it was not going to be necessary as Nathalie appeared in the front door. Marinette took the initiative and approached her.

"Good morning, Nathalie," she greeted a little nervous. "Well, I was wondering, we were wondering, what happened to Adrien?"

"He is sick at the moment. That's why he's not here" Nathalie replied.

"Can we see him?" Marinette asked, clasping her hands in supplication.

Nathalie looked at the ground for a second before answering.

"I can't answer that question. Only Mr. Agreste is responsible of this decision."

"Can't we send something to Adrien?" The girl in pigtails suggested.

"Yes, that would be another possibility" Nathalie was thoughtful for a moment. "Although perhaps there is a way for one of you to enter, but you have to be cautious. I would prefer it was someone Mr. Agreste wouldn't disapprove of in case he sees us" Nathalie hinted.

Apparently, with that, the girl got the idea.

"Thank you very much, Nathalie. I'll be there tomorrow as soon as I get out of school."

Marinette went with Nathalie to the address so that she could deliver Adrien's medical excuse. At the end of the day all of Adrien's classmates gathered in the courtyard.

"Well, what did Gabriel's assistant tell you?" Ayla asked.

"She said could come visit him" Marinette said. "Some who she can trust. You know how his father is like."

"Damn, I expected that" Nino exclaimed, and Ayla nudged him in response.

"But she said we could send him something so I thought we could create a poster together." Marinette said.

"Great so we can tell him to get better." Ayla said.

They all gathered in the cafeteria to do something to their friend. While working on the poster, Marinette he received a message from Kagami asking for Adrien. She replied that he was sick and mentioned that she could send him something. She agreed and went for a moment to the school. Luka who had gone to pick up his sister was also there to help.

When they finished, they all signed and rolled up the poster. They decided that Marinette being their classroom representative, she could use the excuse that she would go to the mansion to give Adrien his homework. She also decided to tell her mother and Sabine promised to make one of her favorite recipes for her to take with her. Besides that, Marinette looked for the present that she had reserved for Adrien's next birthday, which was a very fluffy stuffed cat.

The next day after school she went straight to the mansion and rang the bell. She waited until the security camera came out.

"Yes? Oh, it's you Marinette."

Nathalie thought again for a few seconds if it was a good idea for her to let her in. Gabriel had already scolded her once, when Lila Rossi had tricked her into entering the mansion. But he knew Marinette and she knew that she was trustworthy. In addition, Gabriel was not at the mansion at the time and would not be back in a couple of hours so it was the perfect opportunity.

In response, she opened the gate of the mansion. Nathalie opened the front door of the mansion and let Marinette pass.

"I'll let you in, but only for an hour. Not a minute more, not a minute less" she said strictly.

"Thank you, Nathalie."

Nathalie led her to Adrien's room. When Nathalie opened the door, Adrien greeted her from his bed.

"Hi" he said weakly.

"Hi Adrien" Marinette whispered. "I brought you the homework and I also brought some things that our friends sent."

She pulled out the poster to show him.

"Thank you, I really appreciate it."

"I'll leave you my notes on the table." Marinette walked over to her desk to drop the poster and a few sheets of paper. "I brought you this too." She took the following item from her backpack, showing it to Adrien.

It was a stuffed black cat. When the girl handed it to him, Adrien hugged the stuffed animal, noticing the slight sweet aroma it gave off. After Marinette handed over the food that Sabine had prepared, Nathalie decided to leave them some privacy. She hoped that one day Adrien would realize the girl's feelings. Not everyone would do that for a loved one.

She looked at the clock and saw that one hour had passed. As she made her way to Adrien's room, she heard the sound of a car parking. Gabriel arrived earlier than usual, she had to hide the girl!

She saw the gorilla out the window and sent him a message. He saw her and she beckoned him.

"Marinette has to go now. Mr. Agreste just arrived." She saw the girl's worried face.

"I don't want to bother you, Nathalie."

"Gorilla will escort you to the exit. Makes sure that if Mr. Agreste leaves his office, he doesn't see you."

The girl said goodbye to Adrien and briskly left the room after they made sure Mr. Agreste was in his office. Marinette followed the gorilla, who had already entered the mansion, with Nathalie on his heels. But just at that moment, Nathalie heard the atelier door open, making her wince. Gabriel poked his head out, where he saw Nathalie and the Gorilla standing idly by. He first he addressed the Gorilla.

"What are you doing there? You have to be at Adrien's door right now.

The Gorilla grunted affirmatively.

"Don't let it happen again." Gabriel went back into his office. "Nathalie, let's go to work."

Nathalie with wide eyes went behind Gabriel but not before taking a look at where Marinette was without being able to see her until she saw her pink shoes behind the Gorilla. Marinette was really still in an awkward position. She managed to hide behind the gorilla in time. Nathalie sighed in relief and nodded to the Gorilla and he already knew what to do. He walked Marinette to the door. When she reached the courtyard, she passed the fence and ran as far as she could from the mansion. She released the air that she held as she escaped from Gabriel Agreste's sight.

"Marinette that was great." Tikki came out of her purse.

"Do you think Tikki?" Marinette was catching her breath.

"Sure, you kept Nathalie from getting in trouble with Mr. Agreste."

And with that Marinette headed back to her house.

Nathalie left the office a while later and went to see Adrien to see how he was doing.

After Marinette left, Adrien took a nap as he felt a bit sleepy from the medications he had to take. Nathalie brought a new glass of water and set it on her nightstand. She arranged the pillow for him and the blanket he was wrapped in. While she was organizing things on Adrien's desk, he woke up.

"Nathalie?"

She came over sitting on his bed and taking one of his hands.

"How you feel?"

"Dizzy."

"You can get up?" Nathalie spoke in the gentlest way possible.

"I think so."

Adrien got up with difficulty and with little energy.

"Try to take a hot bath, okay? Then you go to bed again." Nathalie put a hand over his shoulder to guide him to the bathroom. He slowly entered it.

Nathalie would stay there at the door in case he needed her help. She heard the sound of the shower turning on and how the water fell. Adrien came out a little better, the bathroom looking a little better.

"Here" She handed him her cell phone once she got out of the bathroom. "Maybe you should talk to your friends before you go back to sleep."

He gave her caretaker a tender look and took her cell phone in her hands. He saw several messages from his friends. He tried to answer as many as he could. When he got tired, he put the phone aside and went to sleep. He felt Nathalie run her hand through her hair.

That night, Emilie returned to her dreams.

"I know you've been taking care of my son, Nathalie. Gabriel told me. You are concerned about his well-being and therefore I think you are the one for Gabriel."

"Emilie..."

"I know, I know. It was worth a try."

In those moments she didn't want to think about it.

Luckily, Adrien made a full recovery just in time for the Vienna event, which was just around the corner. He also took up other responsibilities that he had, such as the fencing competition he had to attend and for which he had been training hard for weeks.

After the school hours as he trained, he felt he owed Nathalie a big thank you for taking care of him. He thought of giving her a gift, one that he could make himself. And he knew who was the right person to help him.

"Marinette! Wait!"

She was about to return to her house when Adrien caught her attention.

"I wanted to thank you for the other day, I didn't get a chance to tell you! For bringing me homework, the delicious food, and the stuffed animal you gave me, which is quite cute."

She thanked him a little embarrassed, before getting back on her way

"Wait!" He took her hand to stop her from leaving. "Maybe you could help me."

He told her about his idea of giving Nathalie something.

"Umm, could you give her something she can wear," Marinette suggested. "Is there something she likes? We could work on something."

Adrien had never seen Nathalie wear anything more other than sweaters. She maybe she could give him a scarf like the one that her dad gave her on her birthday.

"Well, it wouldn't be bad if she had a scarf. I've never seen her wear any and she's gotten pretty sick lately."

Marinette became visibly nervous. She feared that she might find out that the blue scarf she made for him long ago was not from his father, but from her.

"W-Well we could make a scarf out of wool" Marinette said.

"Could you teach me?" Adrien asked.

"I don't see why not."

They were both deciding when the color and design: A red scarf with decorations on the edges. Adrien bought the materials. They worked on breaks and she also helped him by video call. They finished relatively quickly since it only took two days to do so, with Adrien not sleeping an entire night.

But Adrien noticed something while he was working on the gift. It was very strange but the knitting pattern that Marinette worked on was quite similar to the one that he had on his scarf. He began to get suspicious. Adrien took it to his father for advice.

"What's that?" Gabriel took the scarf in his hands.

"Oh, it's a scarf. I finished it yesterday."

"I didn't know you were interested in knitting." Gabriel was examining the piece. It had some beginner mistakes, but overall, it was pretty well done.

"What is this for?" Gabriel asked, eyeing his son.

"It's for Nathalie. I want her to have a gift. After all, she has been here for a long time."

Gabriel was going to say something to him, but he preferred to be silent. This was none of his business or a least that is what he thought.

In the afternoon Adrien prepared the wrapping paper. In addition, he searched among his things for something that he knew would complement his gift. He held it in his hands, a little sad. It was for Mother's Day last year. He had it a year ago before his mom disappeared. He held the gift box. It was a nice bracelet in which has a space for charms. He bought some silver charms that he thought represented Nathalie very well, like a coffee mug, a book, and even little glasses.

When Adrien finished his classes and Nathalie appeared in his room as was routine, she presented the two gifts in wrapping paper.

"What is this, Adrien?" She said while she received the package.

"It's a gift for you, Nathalie."

She put a hand to her chest, clearly touched. She opened it and noticed the scarf on it. She pulled it out of the package to stretch it out, but something shiny fell to the ground. She picked it up and realized it was a bracelet.

"It was for my mom, but I wanted you to had it. I made the scarf, with the help of Marinette of course" he said as he ran a hand around his neck, a little nervous.

"Is beautiful. You shouldn't have bothered." Nathalie put the bracelet on. It fit perfectly. She then she placed the scarf over her shoulders and hugged Adrien "Thank you Adrien."

She went out into her room to put the scarf away. I examine the bracelet in more detail. Those figures brought back memories of when she became interested in the Miraculous, when she was just a young girl.

At that time, she was interested in all this magic jewels. According to many of the old books in the library in the town where she lived, there was a place in Tibet where monks used to train and in that place, they also kept something called "Miraculous". Some artifacts that granted powers to those who wore it. There was little information about them, but with the little information she got, she wanted to know more. What caught her attention powerfully was that these artifacts were said to be capable of fulfilling a wish, any if all were obtained.

A few years after changing schools, she found just what she was looking for. A rather old and dusty book in a not very well known and visited library was the most valuable information she found on the subject. She wrote everything down in a notebook. She didn't know how much of that information was true, but it was quite informative. She knew in advance that this book must be from before the World War II. She remembered that she read somewhere that the Nazis were looking for something in Paris, but that it was not really known for sure what it was.

Years later, everything was a tremendous coincidence. Or maybe it was fate.

Adrien wanted to find out if the scarf that belonged to his father really belonged to Marinette. He was dying to know if her suspicions were correct. He would bring it up when he could.

Late at night, Adrien went to see Nathalie. She was getting ready to sleep. Adrien knocked before entering.

"Nathalie, can I talk to you?" Adrien asked.

"Sure, come in."

"Why do you have your streak of hair of that color?" He asked her trying to get her into a conversation, as he sat on the bed in the room where Nathalie was staying.

"Adrien wouldn't want to talk about it with you right now." Nathalie thought that maybe the story wasn't right for Adrien's age.

"Oh please, Nathalie, I've been waiting for this moment for years. You can omit details."

She looked at her reflection in the bedroom mirror and then returned her gaze to the boy.

"Okay, I'll tell you. I dyed my hair long before I met you."

"So, before I was born?"

"Actually, long before that. It's a way of representing my freedom" she said.

She searched the drawer of her nightstand for a slightly worn photo. She was younger next to a man much older than her. She had her hair in a ponytail while the man had black hair with some gray streaks in his hair.

"And who is he?" Adrien asked as he pointed to the photo.

"He is my father."

She looked longingly at that photo. She closed her eyes for a moment, remembering the way her father smiled every time he looked at her.

Adrien decided that this was the perfect time to question her about her blue scarf.

"Nathalie I couldn't help but notice that my scarf, the one my father gave me on my birthday is very similar to yours. Is there something you are hiding from me?"

That made her alert and a little tense. She now knew why she went to see her.

"Please tell me the truth Nathalie."

She sighed, defeated.

"Alright. I took Miss Dupain - Cheng's gift to pass it off as a gift from your father. It was my idea only, not your father's, he doesn't even know it.

"But why?" Adrien asked, a little hurt.

"I didn't want you to be disappointed again like every year"

"But that's dishonest. You know how hard Marinette works with her designs."

She couldn't deny it. She had seen her work before and her technique was almost flawless and she was too talented. Her boss knew it from the moment she saw the derby hat she presented at Gabriel's contest.

"I know I did wrong Adrien and I'm very sorry. I guess I was tired that you always were sad that I gave you the same pen every year.

"Look, I know you had good intentions, but it wasn't the right behavior. What's more, I'm a little surprised coming from you" Adrien looked at her a little sad.

He bid her good night and retired to his own room. It was that day that Nathalie knew she had to make up for her mistake.

At last a new chapter. Sorry if a long time has passed after the last time I updated, it's just that my university was kicking my butt. I also made some art for the story which is in my tumblr and instagram account the username is theredeyeswolf