Nathalie creeps through the corridors of the mansion as quietly as she can. It's not so much Emilie or Adrien that she worries about waking, it's Macaroon. If the dog awakens, then she knows that he'll start creating a fuss and disturb his owner with his attempts to leave the boy's bedroom.
She flicks on the light. Inside her room, nothing has changed. She could lock it, arguably should now that Emilie's back but she's gotten so used to living with Adrien, who respects her privacy as if it's something sacred, that any such precautions seem excessive to her. It would be easy to become innocent and careless through spending too much time around her charge. So she ensures that anything private or important is either well hidden or on her at all times, memorizing things such as passwords instead of noting them down and ensuring that her tablet is locked at all times when she doesn't have it with her.
Letting out a sigh, she allows her handbag to slip off of her shoulder and onto a chair near her dresser and slips out of her shoes. She's tired. It's been a long day, albeit a pleasant one. She spends a few moments replying to some texts, a faint smile on her face as she does so.
Perhaps ten minutes after that, she's ready to begin her evening routine. She gets up, moving a little sluggishly and makes her way towards the windows. Her bare feet pad almost silently against the floorboards. She opens the window, eager for a breath of fresh air. It's a bit chilly but the evenings are gradually growing more clement. She doesn't do it for the warmth at any rate. After a day essentially spent cooped up indoors, she needs to feel a breeze, some fresh air to remind her what the outside world feels, sounds and tastes like. It's a habit she's gotten used to and even on days when she does get out and about, five minutes looking out at the city lights can do her a world of good.
As she opens the window and leans out against the cast iron balustrade however she quickly realizes that she isn't quite alone:
"Fancy bumping into you out here mademoiselle Sancoeur."
"Well, I happen to live here." She opts to humor the young man for a few moments. "-but it's not every day that we have one of the heroes of Paris on our roof. Do I have anything to worry about?"
"No, Ma'm." He assures her with an amused huff, trust her to always assume the worst. "Just enjoying the scenery."
A few seconds later, Cat Noir is perched on the balustrade. She offers him a somewhat tired smile. Anyone else, she might question just what they were doing up at this hour bothering her. She glances at her watch. With school tomorrow, Adrien really should be in bed. All the same, the woman doesn't scold him. More often than not, he has a good reason for his actions as bizarre and twisted as it can be. Sometimes however, it's made more difficult by the fact that he himself struggles to explain or even understand what's motivating him. It's an itch he can't scratch and some patience can be required from both parties.
Tonight however, his attention is rooted on her. He squats on the railing, held tilted slightly to one side contemplatively. A brief moment later, he declares neutrally, all tone of amusement gone from his voice:
"You're back late..."
"Yes. I suppose I am." There's no point in lying. "Have you been waiting up for me?" She gets a single nod as a reply. "Why?"
Cat Noir looks around glancing over his shoulder and down towards the street below, then around him once more. He seems to be somewhat nervous, something which instinctively causes him to tense up and worry. Oh God what's he done now… Is all that comes to her mind as she stands there. It's difficult not to sometimes imagine the worst where Adrien's concerned. He does have a particular knack for getting himself into improbable situations. Sometimes, if they're messy enough, he turns to her for help…
She's a little bit surprised when he reaches into his pocket, his expression changing to a slightly mischievous grin. He extends his hand before opening it and revealing a familiar jewel. Nathalie's eyes widen as she recognizes it. The look that she gives him is somewhere between curious and accusatory, in short, she requires and explanation.
"I'm supposed to take this to Master Fu tomorrow morning..." The teen explains quickly. "-but I figured that you could maybe hold onto it until then."
She fixes the miraculous with an instinctive sense of dread. After several unpleasant experiences, the last of which had been a near death one, her survival instinct has hardwired into her mind that this particular broach is dangerous. No matter how much she tries to reason that it's safe now, it's been repaired and no longer represents a threat to its user, it's a deep seated fear which takes hold of her, perhaps even causing her to instinctively recoil upon having the jewel presented to her in such a fashion.
She can still feel the icy chill as it leeches her strength, taking everything that she has and then just that little bit more. She finds herself back in that dingy bedroom in the high rise on the outskirts of Paris, struggling to do so little as breathe much less help injured boy who desperately needs and pleads for her assistance and guidance. The woman shakes her head, struggling to bring herself back into the real world and out of her memories.
Adrien fixes her understandingly, his attention falling back upon the miraculous.
"I don't like holding it either." He confesses in a quiet voice.
"I can't Adrien..." The woman tells him, her voice quieter than it usually is. "Not after everything that happened-"
It's as close as she'll ever willingly come to confessing to him that she's afraid.
The teen's gaze softens and he doesn't insist, closing his palm over the jewel. There's a gentle smile on his face as he switches to simply sitting on the railing. He kicks his legs letting them dangle in front of him. Apparently, he's not quite done here. Although the way that his gaze travels round the room somewhat listlessly informs her that he's not quite done yet. He seems unsettled, although perhaps not upset. At this point, she's somewhat used to him having… 'odd' moments. She's tired but tries to conceal that much from him.
"Is there something on your mind?"
"I dunno..."
Hardly helpful… Although, in retrospect, he's not being entirely truthful. A better way of putting it would have been to say: "Yes but I haven't worked out how to bring it up yet and I'm worried about upsetting you or making things awkward." She's acutely aware that that's what he really should declare but naturally doesn't.
Without saying anything, Nathalie sets about trying to work out what could be on his mind. It's unlikely that he's done something foolish and gotten into trouble, she trusts that he would be a good deal more straightforwards if that were the case. No, it's more likely that the matter is a good deal more personal and closer to his heart. That being said, he evidently isn't entirely comfortable with bringing it up around his mother, otherwise he would have done so over dinner. Following that logic, it would seem that something's bothering him about the woman or about their relationship. At the very least, he has a question or a doubt about his parent and has come to her for answers or guidance.
After a few moments, he lets out a tired sigh, allowing his head to fall backwards at an angle which causes the woman some concern, for a moment wondering if his entire body might be about to follow suit and end up slipping from the railing. He opens his eyes, starring up at the sky for a few instants before eventually turning back to look at her:
"I don't know… Feels like we haven't been chatting much recently."
Nathalie raises an eyebrow, unsure just what he's getting at. Adrien doesn't bother specifying what he means, shying away instead. He seems distracted, somewhat distant. Perhaps a little unsettled. She doubts he's been to bed yet and is thus able to discard the theory of him having suffered a nightmare. His current behavior is unusual but in a strange way, it actually reminds her of what he'd been like as Dylan during those first few months in their flat.
He flexes on the balcony railing in a way that she'll never be comfortable with. Black Cat or not, that's a long way to fall. She bites her lower lip to avoid commenting on it. Instead, the woman chooses to try and distract him by a conversation and hopefully convince him that walking a tightrope of iron isn't the best idea he's ever had:
"Chatting much?" She repeats his words before getting to the point. "What do you want to talk about?"
"Nothing." He shrugs, his voice is raised slightly, seemingly in annoyance. "I just want to talk about something that isn't to do with miraculouses or Gabriel or-..." His voice trails off for a few moments. "I just want to talk about nothing."
The request would seem to make no sense, to be a contradiction in terms. Perhaps that's why he feels so awkward, balancing in such a fashion to try and distract himself from the strange situation he finds himself in. He doesn't dare to look at her for a moment, instead glancing out over the city. She takes the opportunity to go back to her wardrobe and pull out a woolen shawl which wraps around her shoulders, heading towards the open window. With her left hand, she keeps it around herself whilst she grips the iron railing.
Cat Noir glances down at her through his peripheral vision. She offers him a gentle smile:
"The city looks nice tonight."
"Yeah..." Adrien swings his legs round so that they're dangling over the railing. "Shame there's no stars."
"Oh… The stars will be out." Nathalie assures the teen. "The moon is there and there aren't any clouds. There's just too much light here to see them."
"I guess that's why they call it "City of light"." Cat Noir scratches his chin pensively.
"Yeah. It took be a long time to get used to it, when I first moved out here."
He adjusts his gaze to focus on the dome of the Invalides, just visible in the distance. He's seen Nathalie's hometown, the small chalet in the middle of nowhere she was raised in. It's a world apart from the hustle and bustle that Paris has to offer. Whilst he's not sure he could ever live there permanently, he will admit that the seclusion does have some appeal to it. He'd found that the quietness had served to calm him in the weeks following Hawk Moth's defeat. The rhythm there is so much slower and more relaxed, coupled with the warmth that it had allowed him to get his ideas back in place. Again though, heading down there is almost like starting another life.
Even now, trips to the south feel almost as if he's traveling to another plane of existence.
"When are you planning on heading back down to the cabanon?"
"Same time as always, early July." It's been that way for the past three years now. "You thinking of tagging along?"
"Am I invited?" For the first time, he sounds a little unsure.
"As always. You know Mamita's going to be nagging me about you one way or another."
The thought of the elderly woman is enough to cause Chat Noir to snort with amusement. She's one of the few people on the planet whom Nathalie genuinely seems to have a healthy respect for, in the sense that she will tolerate being bullied by the elder. Then again, he himself knows that the grandmother approaching her nineties is a force to be reckoned with.
Silence settles in once more. The chill of the evening air is no longer the sort which stings at the eyes and numbs the face but it is still enough to send some shivers down her spine, even with her shawl. Cat Noir is oblivious to that much, his miraculous makes him immune to the effects of such a mundane temperature as the one that the city is experiencing today. He toys with some of the paint which is beginning to flake off of the balustrade.
"Mom said I could go to the party."
"You're surprised?"
"A bit… I mean, she was never too keen on me going out before." He pauses, reflecting on those times for a moment. "It was too dangerous and all that..."
"Well, you'll be eighteen soon enough and you've been out in the real world." Nathalie offers the only explanation that she can.
Adrien hums thoughtfully. He's still trying to make sense of things. That much is clear. It's an odd position he's found himself in. No doubt that's why he's come to seek her out, for some familiarity. She's getting tired and guesses that he must be as well. Hopefully, the party will act as confirmation that his life's not going to be utterly different now that his mother's back. There's a balance to be found.
Adrien isn't quite done yet. Something remains unsaid. He keeps his eyes closed, unsure just how to begin. There's clearly something that's on his mind. Nathalie is reluctant to pry. Sometimes it does some good, others it can cause the teen to clam up. He fidgets with his ring. Toying with it. Periodically, he glances at her, nervous and uncertain. After a few moments, the woman's resolve breaks and she takes a chance:
"What's on your mind?"
"You… Uh." Finally, he lets out a sigh, deciding to take the risk. "You're not feeling- I dunno, after the walk I went on with mom-"
"You need to spend time with your mother, I understand."
Is she a bit jealous? Yes, perhaps in part. There's a good deal to envy Emilie Agreste for – although, it has to be said, perhaps not the five year coma – she has a brilliant son and had a husband who was willing to do almost anything to bring her back. She's not so foolish as to resent Adrien for wanting to spend time with a woman he had assumed he would never get to talk to again. So, for the time being at least, she doesn't let it bother her. Especially not in a context where she's hardly being ignored. The woman chalks it down to some of the lad's insecurities.
He tries so hard to hold on to the past sometimes. It's a trait that he must have inherited from his father...
"Things change Adrien, you know that."
"I know." He concedes in a quiet voice. "-but not everything..."
"No… Not everything."
Everything is quiet once more. Albeit things are more comfortable.
Cat Noir kicks his legs out a few times, he relaxes. The city is growing quiet or at least as quiet as the capital ever gets. Time marches on slowly and both allow themselves to forget their doubts. Nathalie doesn't know if this little chat will have helped him in the long run. He has good days and bad ones. All it will take is a nightmare or two and all of this could be for naught but then she's learned that even just little conversations can help make things more bearable for a teen who's lived through so much.
"Come on!" She tells him after a while, checking the time. "A la couchado! You have school tomorrow!"
"'Night Nathalie."
"Goodnight."
Cat Noir leaves her a moment later. Nathalie lingers by the window only for a moment. He'll be fine. She tells herself. We all will.