Chapter 20
Nathalie was driving to her apartment, parking in front of it. When she entered, she noticed the light layer of dust on the furniture. She hadn't realized how much time passed since she left from there.
She took out one of the bottles of wine that she had stored years ago. She cleaned it because it was full of dust and spiderwebs. Nathalie saw that it was about ten years old so she guessed it would taste good. She took the corkscrew out of her drawer and opened the bottle, took one of the slim glasses to pour herself a little, and took a sip. She tasted it for a moment. That seemed to calm her nerves.
Nathalie poured herself another glass and then another until she felt the slight effect of the alcohol. She undressed and lay down on her bed. She wrapped herself up in the covers and hid her face between the sheets. She wanted to forget everything, she wanted to never see the sunlight again. She no longer felt the strength to continue living that way. Because her story with the Agrestes will haunt her all her life.
She felt her head spin and inadvertently fell asleep.
Nathalie woke up to the first rays of the sun. She got out of her bed stretching her muscles. Days passed without her stopping thinking about the matter. The only thing she managed to do was email her resignation letter to Gabriel's so that they would no longer bother her.
She hadn't wanted to check her phone since she returned to her home. But Nathalie was sure that her absence affected Adrien a lot. The affection he had for her was too great and the fact that he told her that he did not want her to leave broke her heart. But this whole situation, it had done her a lot of damage both physically and mentally.
About five days after her departure, she saw Adrien's voicemail, noticing how old the message was. She decided that the only Agreste she would not ignore would be him. She sat still and turning up the volume on her phone, she began to listen to what the boy had to say.
"Nathalie, I know you don't want to know anything about my father, but right now he is in very bad shape. Yesterday I found him in his room with a half bottle of whiskey. I guess it's the kind he always keeps in his safe. The bodyguard helped me carry him to his bed because he looked terrible. Not only that, the assistant he hired is a disaster, she can hardly handle all the responsibilities you handled perfectly"
She shook her head.
"I need you, my father needs you, Nathalie we need you. I know it's difficult, and I still don't fully understand how much damage my father caused you with his actions, but it would be helpful if you came back"
There was a pause in that message.
"And if you don't want to come back ever again, we'll understand."
The recording finished there. Nathalie didn't know what to think, because, although she had sworn to herself that she was not going to return to that environment, she loved Adrien very much and she wanted his happiness, even if she was no longer present in his life.
Several days passed since that message. She wanted to answer him, she wanted to; it's just that she didn't feel ready yet. She needed time for herself.
At that time, Nathalie took the opportunity to clean her apartment. She took out various things from her drawers that she no longer needed. She left it all in a box. It had been months since she was there so cleaning was necessary. A lot of her furniture was covered in dust so she cleaned it all up with a cloth. She unpacked her things and placed all of her pictures, including the new ones, on her nightstand. She put her clothes in the appropriate drawers. When taking the last garment, Nathalie found a somewhat dirty piece of cloth.
It was the handkerchief Gabriel gave her. It was still stained with her blood when she was still using the peacock Miraculous. Gabriel's initials were on the side of the fabric. She put it on the table. She would wash it and then she would decide if she would send it to Adrien to give it to his father. She didn't feel capable of giving it to him herself.
She went to bed afterwards. She hugged the pillow and stared to the void.
Nathalie suddenly heard a knock on the door that led to the balcony of the apartment. She got up and groped for her robe, in the dark of the room.
Chat Noir was on her little balcony.
"Hi Nathalie" he said this crestfallen. She noticed that he was carrying a rectangular object in his hands.
"Do you want to come in?" Nathalie grabbed his wrist gently.
"No, I was just coming to give you something and to see how you were doing."
"I'm fine thanks, Ad ... Chat Noir" Nathalie corrected herself in case anyone could hear them.
Then Chat Noir extended the object towards her.
"I just hope this changes your mind."
She took the notebook from the superhero's hands and giving her a bow, he went straight to his house. She entered, closing the glass door carefully. She went to her room and closed the door. She lay down on her bed face down, putting the notebook on her pillow and rearranging her glasses. She opened the front cover, finding something written.
Dear Nathalie,
This skecthbook contains some of the works that my father did when you were at the hospital. He worked so hard on it that he filled it all in the time you were unconscious. The content is very special to him, because every time he worked on it he thought of you, even above his own well-being. I hope I can convince you to come back with this.
Adrien.
Nathalie turned to the next page to find some pictures. But the most particular thing was that they were the designs that Gabriel gave her when he took her to the mansion to take care of her. Each and every one of them and in all of them she appeared as a model, noticing the red streak that the model drawn had in her hair.
She kept going through all the pages, seeing the notes that were also next to each one. They were quite detailed, they pointed out what fabrics to use, what threads. Gabriel thought about everything.
She flipped a few more pages until she came to a drawing of her that took up two whole pages. She wore a fairly long, translucent cloth, it just didn't fully show her nudity. For some reason it seemed familiar.
She followed to the other page that left her speechless: It was a drawing of her, asleep, or rather, in a coma. The way she was drawn was quite detailed. Her features, the calm expression on her face, her hair… It was a very beautiful piece. She ran her fingers over it carefully, feeling the slight roughness of the sheet of paper and how her fingers smudged a bit from the pencil lead. She saw Gabriel's signature at one end and traced it softly to the end.
He kept looking at the notebook until he reached the end. Each and every drawing in that notebook was hers. She closed the notebook and took her cellphone.
She reopened Adrien's message. She started typing an answer on her phone.
Nathalie_8:00 P.M.
Ok, I'll be back
She wrote and rewrote the message indecisively. Finally, she made an important decision.
She ended up sending it.
Nathalie put the cellphone on the nightstand and threw herself back on the bed. She looked at the ceiling drawing imaginary patterns and thinking about what she had just done. She stepped into the shower and let the water run. She slid down the wall until she ended up on the floor. She lasted like this for about 30 minutes, letting the water run through her entire body, as if she wanted it to relieve her of those conflicting feelings she had.
Nathalie returned to the mansion the next day. She was dressed in comfortable clothes, loose pants and a beige sweater because she didn't know what she was going to find. She rang the bell. This time it was Adrien who answered.
"Who? Nathalie is you, wait, I'll open the door."
She entered finding Adrien in pajamas. She frowned
"Where is the other assistant?"
Adrien just shrugged.
"I don't know she should be here now. Maybe she had a setback?"
She shook her head.
"She is irresponsible. Shouldn't you be somewhere else?" She asked a little concerned about the poor organization during the week.
"Well today I have nothing to do so I stayed here to try to help my father" Adrien could only play with the Miraculous on his finger.
"Where is he?"
"In his room. He hasn't come out. He only showed up when we bring him something to eat, but it's the only progress we've made so far."
Nathalie looked at the stairs she decided.
"I'll take care of it."
She went up to Gabriel's room. She knocked on the door.
"Go away!"
"Gabriel?"
She saw how the door opened and a hand took her, making her enter the room abruptly.
"Nath, is it you?" He said hoarsely. She felt the man's breath on her ear.
When he spoke, Nathalie felt the strong smell of alcohol. Apparently, he had been drinking just as Adrien had told her, and because of the bottles leaning against the walls and lying on the floor. He saw the safe open and also noticed that he had used one of his best whiskeys, the one he kept for years.
Also, she saw the state of the room. The bed was disorganized, all of Gabriel's things were thrown all over the place. The bathroom door was open.
Gabriel didn't look better. He was unkempt and had his wrinkled clothes. From the way he looked, she thought that he hadn't changed since he left, and that was only a week. His shirt was half buttoned, his vest was on the floor, as were his shoes, his bowtie and his glasses. Nathalie saw that he had wounds on his hands, some small cuts. She guessed he caused them when he broke one of the bottles.
Also, he looked pretty drunk.
Although the only thing Nathalie did not imagine was that it was so bad.
She watched as Gabriel fell to the ground. Days passed since his last meal and that caused the alcohol to take over. She amortized the fall as she could. After lying him down on the ground, Nathalie went to the bathroom with a cloth and I doused it with cold water. She then she went back to Gabriel and knelt down and wiped his face, waiting for him to react.
"What happened to you?" Nathalie grabbed Gabriel's chin to make him look at her.
He tried to focus on her.
"You came back."
"Are you crazy. Why are you hurting yourself like this?" The woman she only looked at him with concern
"Because I can't live without you. The woman I love now."
Nathalie just saw him, shattered and regretful.
Nathalie approached carefully to help him up. Putting her arm around her shoulders, she made him sit up on the bed.
"Stay here, I'll get you something for the drunkenness."
She quickly left the room Adrien saw her and approached her.
"What happened?"
"I need to give and infusion to your father. Could you bring me the kettle? I'll bring the herbs."
They both went down to the kitchen. Adrien arrived with his mother's old kettle. Nathalie washed it and then filled it with water, putting it on the stove. She found all the things she needed in the cupboard
She began to prepare that infusion that she learned from a college classmate the first time she went to drink. She poured everything into the kettle and turned on the stove. Meanwhile, she went to find the medicine cabinet, taking out some gauze pads and a little ethyl alcohol.
Nathalie waited until she got the characteristic smell and served it in one of the cups. She put everything on a tray and went up to the room finding Gabriel in the place where she left him staring into space.
"Gabriel, take this."
He refused to take the cup.
"Do it for me, please." Gabriel took the small cup in his hands and drank the contents of it.
Nathalie pulled the covers off the bed and ordered him to lie down. He obeyed without question.
He fell asleep instantly, his face half hidden in the pillow. She took his hands and began to disinfect his cuts and then bandage his hand with gauze and put some band-aids on the other. After being satisfied with her work, she gently put his hand on top of the sheets.
Nathalie left the room and closed the door behind her. She leaned against it and closed her eyes. She never thought that leaving would affect the Agreste family so much. Specially, Gabriel. Nathalie gave Adrien permission to go with the Dupain - Cheng for the day. He, though concerned, thanked her as he left.
After a while, Nathalie went down to turn on the computer in the atelier to see what schedules she could arrange. As she wrote, she heard footsteps on the stairs. She peeked in the door and was met by a much more conscientious Gabriel. He stopped at the bottom of the stairs and saw her surprised.
They both stared at each other. Gabriel passed his hand over his neck and spoke.
"Nathalie?"
"You woke up." She got up from her seat and approached him. "How do you feel?"
"A little dizzy, but not something to worry about."
There was a minute of silence between the two.
"I went to your room. Don't you remember?" She asked him.
"Not much, but I do remember seeing you in my room, helping me. Again."
The only thing he remembered was Nathalie had shown up and she'd put it back together. But Gabriel thought that all of this was the product of all the alcohol he had consumed, in an attempt to ease his pain.
"I'm sorry if I hurt you and if you saw me in that state" Gabriel looked quite ashamed. "And ... that I need you. My son needs you; the company needs you. We are nothing without you."
Those were the same as Adrien's words.
Nathalie just sighed and she crossed her arms with a sigh.
"I'll give you another chance and we'll try one more time. We will make this work. And if we do not succeed, it will be the last time I will be with you, that is my condition to stay."
Gabriel took her hand and placed it right where his heart was.
"I promise you that you will never be unhappy by my side, and even less you'll have to experience the same misfortunes that have already happened. I will make sure you're never sad again and that the suffering caused by the last name Agreste is only a distant memory. I also promise you to love and take care of my son more. To spend more time with him and give him more freedom. After all, he is growing very fast. You both will never be sad again because of me."
"Okay, we will."
He came over and hugged her. She left him.
"You could start by getting that smell off you, though."
Separating from her, Gabriel laughed heartily.
"All for you, Nath."
He leaned in to kiss her, only to feel the woman's hand blocking his path.
"No kissing until you take that breath away."
He smiled and patted her on the shoulder.
"As you order, Madame."
Gabriel went to the bedroom straight to the shower. After a bath with good cold water he brushed his teeth and applied some of his lotion. He combed his hair with his gel and took a cloth to clean his glasses, then set them on the bridge of his nose. With his phone he also ordered that his room and the whole mansion be cleaned because he wanted him to be presentable. He hadn't realized all the pigsty that he created.
Nathalie entered the room when everything was organized. Gabriel was fully groomed with his usual red pants and his blue shirt.
"You look good, Gabriel."
Gabriel got up hugging her around her waist.
"Now, I can kiss you, my queen?"
Nathalie thought about it for a moment. She was waiting for this moment so long, she didn't care.
"Of course, my king."
Gabriel leaned down and taking Nathalie's face, he kissed her gently. Little by little the kiss became more intense until they both ran out of air. They both stared at each other for a long time, with their foreheads joined.
Nathalie left the room to see if the assistant who replaced her the time she left had already arrived. Just then it was when the assistant walked through the front door.
Gabriel saw Nathalie look at the other assistant with disdain and scold her for not being on schedule. The assistant tried to make faces, but any attempt to do so was dulled when she saw the expression on Nathalie's face. She was a real beast when she put her mind to it.
The last thing she saw was how the other woman ran out of the mansion in terror.
"What did you say to her?" Gabriel stood next to her.
"I told her that if she continued neglecting you and Adrien, I would have her resignation letter on her desk without any notice."
"Fire her. I don't need her anymore" Gabriel said nonchalantly.
"Gabriel there's a little problem, I quit when I left, remember?" She looked at him. "Can I go back to my job?"
"Sure and no matter what HR says, if they say no, all I'll have to do is to hire you myself. I've done it before and will do it again. And then we will make the preparations and you will assume your position soon" He hugged her from behind her with his hands on her waist.
"But can we spend time with Adrien? You know we can't let time pass anymore" Nathalie said, leaning on Gabriel.
"I know, but I'll take care of everything, don't worry"
He took one of her hands without breaking their position and kissed it.
Things are taking a better turn this time.