Author's note: Thanks for the reviews!

/

Nathalie makes her way through the mansion mindlessly. It's like she's on autopilot. Her brain refuses to function properly, no matter how many times she tries to kick it into gear. She's like a zombie. Anything could happen next to her and she likely wouldn't be able to react to it or even take notice of it. There's enough of a presence in her mind to tell her that she has to make her way to her bedroom, as much for practical reasons as a desperate need to be alone.

The duet on the piano continues as she staggers into her room. She has enough self-awareness to close the door behind her.

A few steps inside her bedroom, that's when everything hits her. What she's agreed to, having already signed the paperwork – her left hand is still trembling. She feels like she just signed her soul over to the devil. Maybe she didn't, not hers at least but rather Adrien's. She condemned him to the very thing that she knows he fears the most: being left alone. His parents might try and fill the gap but she knows already that they will fail. They will fail because he will hate them for this. The anger will take over and the young man that she knows and loves will disappear. Her only chance is to be there for him.

She really should have seen it coming and prepared herself accordingly. She curses herself. She's an idiot, a fool… Anyone else would have put up more of a fight, struggled tooth and nail to stay with the young man that she's raised these past four years. The thought of abandoning him makes her feel sick.

There's a pain in her throat which she hasn't felt in a very long time. She'll cry later, she tells herself. This is not the place to suffer from a breakdown.

The woman attempts to distract herself with work.

She's never been all that much of a material person. Most of her possessions can be piled into the same suitcase that she brought them in. She starts with her clothes. Folding them neatly so that they don't take up too much space. Then it's the turn for her toiletries. They go in and slowly but surely the room empties. The last few things left are a few trinkets. There's a necklace designed by Marinette and paid for by Adrien, a collection of birthday cards kept in a small box and two photos, the first old, from her youth and the second far more recent, although both were taken within only a few meters of one another.

She fixes the image sadly. It occurs to her that she won't be on the receiving end of quite so many hugs any more. Will he hate her for this? Even if she explains things to him? He's afraid that he'll see this as a betrayal and loathe her for it. With a trembling hand, she reaches out and takes the picture in her hand. Her fingers brush over the features of the smiling teen with his arms draped around her neck. It had been her grandmother the one to take the photo, originally planning to send it to Marinette to show how their holidays down south had gone. A week or so after getting back, Adrien had presented it to her in a frame. He keeps one himself. It's a link between the two of them, a reminder of what they have together. What she now stands to lose.

Despite herself, tears trickle down her cheeks. She muffles her sobs by placing a hand over her mouth.

She's close to running downstairs and starting a fight. More often than not, Nathalie tries to keep her emotions on a short leash and under tight control. She's been doing it for so long now that it's actually almost second-nature to her and requires little to no effort. From time to time however, she finds herself terribly tempted to let anger take over. She's hurting from the knowledge of what's to come. If she's able to avoid utterly falling apart, it's solely because she reminds herself that Adrien's still here. One of the two of them is going to have to keep it together and she's acutely aware that it's unlikely to be him.

Engrossed in her own sorrows, she fails to register the sound of a knock at the door and forgets to ask just for a few moments. In the life that she's grown used to, that means that it's okay to come in.

"Hey… Mom and I were about to go for a-" The teen stops abruptly, freezing in his tracks. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, Adrien..." She speaks softly. "I'm-"

She doesn't bother going any further. The woman takes the precaution of removing her glasses, trying to conceal the action of wiping her tears away as simply wanting to clean the lenses. Only once she feels that she's banished as much of the evidence that she was sobbing as possible does she turn around. As she turns around, she realizes that the game's up. He might not know any of the details but he's smart and sensitive enough to realize that something isn't right. Probably he's also aware that it's something terrible.

The young man doesn't say anything. She averts her gaze shamefully, unable to face the boy she knows she is about to abandon. Already, he seems distressed, approaching her quickly so as to get to the bottom of what's happening. She's never behaved like this before around him.

"Nathalie, what's going on? Wh-Why are you crying?" The concern is his voice is only too apparent. He fixes her with eyes wide with fright and concern. Then, slowly, it seems to dawn on him and the anger returns: "What have they done?!"

The woman lets out a shaky sigh and does her best to repress her emotions. Her own sorrow can wait, what matters now is Adrien. She can see him coming apart over this. Nathalie finds herself torn between breaking things to him gently or doing so quickly, in the same way that one might tear off a band-aid so as to limit the amount of time that an individual spent suffering. Whatever happens, she knows that it's going to be a terrible blow. His reaction is likely to be as unpredictable as it is to be powerful.

Ultimately, she opts for simply presenting him with the facts. She takes a deep breath, steadying herself for what is about to happen. Aware that she's going to have to be the stronger of the two of them for a while:

"A-Adrien." Despite her best efforts, she stutters somewhat. She closes her eyes, calming down momentarily before muttering. "I'm going to have to leave for a while."

"They're chasing you out?!"

His voice breaks at the end of his sentence. His jaw doesn't react with the automatic rage against his parents that she'd feared he would. Instead, it's pure terror which grips him. Her first instinct is to reach out and place a hand on his shoulder, fearing that he's about to suffer from a panic attack. If he collapses or otherwise freaks out, she wants to ensure that she can catch him. The young man shakes his head, as if refusing to believe what he's just been told. Plagg floats next to him, eyeing his partner cautiously, trying to judge what the rest of his reaction would be.

He holds onto the arm that's stretched out so that she can rest her hand on his shoulder as if it's the only thing preventing him from falling into some terrible abyss. She struggles to avoid displaying her discomfort. His grip is a little too tight and hurts. There's water behind his wide eyes. He's almost childlike in the way that he looks to her desperate for reassurance which she is unable to provide:

"Please Nathalie… I don't want you to leave."

"I know..." She speaks softly to him. "-but I don't have a choice… Gabriel's threatening to reveal that I was Mayura."

"So?" Plagg actually seems to be angry, flying right into her face. "You can do the same to him!"

"Then we'll both end up behind bars." Nathalie shakes her head regretfully. "I wish there was some other way. You'll be eighteen in a few weeks and-"

Adrien isn't listening. She can see that he's drifted off. He looks lost. The way that he fixes her, it's hard to keep her nerve. He pleas with her silently, begging her to do something, anything to make sure that this doesn't happen. She wishes that she could do what he wants and stay here with him, failing that magic him away with her. She can do neither so finds herself just fixing her softly, tears lingering behind his eyes. It takes all of her self-control to avoid breaking down in tern. Deep breaths, she forces herself to remain strong.

He raises his voice with his next statement, almost angry, as if he sees this as a betrayal of sorts, it's exactly what she feared:

"You promised you'd stay with me!"

"I know..." Her response is a pained one, she makes no attempt to conceal her suffering. "I know and I'm sorry. You know where I live. My door will always be open..."

"Take me with you..." It's a desperate plea, he sounds utterly terrified. "Please!"

"I can't…" She stresses to him, feeling some of his pain. "They'll press charges and it'll be all over the papers."

He looks down, unable to bear to fix her any longer. She gives him a few moments, Plagg perches himself on his human partner's shoulder. Still, it fails to register properly with him. He's dejected, perhaps seeing how she is trapped. For a moment, she contemplates doing something which she has never before done: putting her arms around him and pulling him in for a hug. Right now however, she's far from convinced that it will be enough to comfort him. It might not even be welcome right now. He's crying, she can hear that even from where she's standing. His life is going up in smoke and the one guarantee that he's felt he'd always have if things suddenly went south is about to walk out of the door, banished forever.

She couldn't have said now long that they spent like that. Too long. Every second is agony to her. Awkward, she remains frozen. Adrien continues to hold onto her arm. The pain is something that she can live with. It feels moderate in comparison to the feeling that she's been torn away from one of the few things in her life that matters.

"I-I love you." Adrien croaks out eventually.

It hurts.

Adrien's a little more cautious about throwing that word around than he once was. She hopes that's because he understands all of its implications a little more and isn't basing himself quite so much off of those cartoons he spent so much of his younger years watching. No. He actually means it. There are some things in life that she finds she knows. The teen's never attempted to conceal the fact that he cares for her. They've been living together for years and she's more or less treated him as she would if he were her own son. Of course, she knows that he loves her. Yet, to actually hear him say it…

It hurts all the more because she knows it won't change anything. Those three words should make all the difference in the world but she knows that they can't. A few times, she opens her mouth, eager to try and say something – anything – to ease both his pain and her own. A few comforting words would go a long way right now. None come to mind however.

Instead, she takes a chance in a single half step forwards. It's enough to close the gap between them. Adrien fixes her, teary eyed. He seems to get the message, slipping his arms around her and pulling her in for a hug. Somehow it still seems strange, in her mind, she pictures him as a teenager from time to time – well, a fourteen year old who didn't even come up to her shoulder. He's grown up before her eyes and she knows he's closer to a man than a boy. In those few moments however, he does seem very infant-like to her. She can feel his body shudder with sobs. He holds her close but manages to prevent himself from crushing her. It's the pain of being torn apart and the fear of the unknown which lies ahead. He clings to her, desperately. Silently, he begs for her not to leave. The woman closes her eyes, she wishes that she could grant his wish. Another life, if there was less hanging on the line, perhaps if they weren't quite in the limelight as much… If she was just a little bit braver…

He puts up some resistance when she finally does try to pull away from him. Gently but firmly, she manages to put just a couple of feet between them. Adrien's eyes are red, as tears continue to trickle down his cheeks. She looks at him sympathetically for a moment, only just managing to hold back some of her own.

"This isn't fair! None of this is!" Anger seeps through his sobs, not towards her. The resentment he feels is more general.

"Yeah… The world's like that sometimes." She tells him in a sigh, speaking in a soft voice, trying her best to mask her own distress. "You're going to have to be strong for a little while without me, okay?"

"I-I'll try..." He gives her a shaky nod as a reply.

"Good and as for you-" Nathalie turns her attention towards the kwami who is still nearby. "You look after him for me, okay? Make sure he doesn't stay up all night running over rooftops."

"I will."

She makes a move to pull away but Adrien still has her hand. Even now, he can't bring himself to let go of her. She smiles painfully and looks up into his wet green eyes, still silently begging her to stay. Nathalie reaches up carefully. Her hand touches his face, brushing away the tears which trail down his cheeks and wiping them away as carefully as she can. He leans into her palm, looking for just a little more comfort there.

A few words almost slip out of her mouth which to the best of her knowledge. Just three little words. She might have said them as Mayura, she can't quite recall what she said or did back then but she doesn't think that she does. There's a pain in her throat however which prevents her from articulating even the beginnings of the sentiment. She does try but the syllables get stuck and don't even come out.

He knows… She tells herself. It doesn't need to be said.

Slowly, his grip on her slackens. Finally, the young man releases her. She slips away. Instantly, she feels the pain of the loss. He looks away, closing his eyes. Maybe trying to fool himself into believing that she isn't about to leave him. Nathalie suffers from the opposite problem. Whilst she needs to turn away and get back to work, just closing up her suitcase at this point, she struggles to take her gaze off of the young man. She feels nothing but pity for him, aware that these next few weeks are not going to be very kind to him. He'll be eighteen soon enough. She'll call him tonight, she reasons, explain things a little more in detail to him. Let her know that in a few weeks, none of this will matter… He'll be eighteen after all.

There's the sound of footsteps, they come into the room. Terror grips her. Adrien's head snaps up. The fear and pain are pushed aside. Instead, he finds himself faced with, as he sees it, the man who is trying to tear away one of the few comforts in his life. He goes wild. Perhaps it's instinct, demanding that he does what he can to protect himself and those close to him from the perceived threat or maybe he's been hurt one too many times. Nathalie doesn't have enough time to think about it any further as he steps past her, taking long menacing strides.

"You!" The teen spits out hatefully. "You bastard!"

Gabriel is only just fast enough to duck and avoid the fist which is swung in his direction. Startled, he still isn't quite in combat-mode when Adrien slams into him. She pushes his father back as if the man is made out of cardboard.

The man grimaces in pain. His son has managed to place his right arm against the throat of his parent pushing his weight against it to an extent that it's a wonder if he can still breathe. As much as Nathalie might actually want to see the man get what's coming to him and this feels an awful lot like him reaping what he's been sowing for years now, she can see scope for this potentially ending in tragedy. Adrien is enraged. His father doesn't have a miraculous and genuinely seems to be taken aback by his son's aggression. He's not defending himself. The boy isn't fourteen anymore, she reminds herself, he could easily do some serious damage.

Out of the corner of her eye, she spots Emilie. Staring wide-eyed with horror and perhaps some fear, it's clear that she's not going to do anything to stop this. No doubt she's struggling to even believe what's happening. So it's Nathalie who moves forwards to try and stop them. She speads up when she hears Adrien bellow:

"I'll kill you!"

"Adrien stop it!"

The woman reaches out carefully and puts her arm around his forearm. She doesn't attempt to pull him away. He's physically stronger than she is and the last thing that she wants is for him to panic and assume that he's being attacked. So her efforts have to be gentle. Her intention is simply to snap him back into reality and remind him just who he is. It's a technique she's used before on occasion and has already proven its worth. Then again… It's been a while since she's seen him this angry...

Nathalie is on the floor. Why does it take him so long to realize that?!

He can only stare helplessly at the woman. Her eyes are screwed shut. Is she even breathing? The young man wants to say something, to scream but nothing will come out. It's clear that she's in a certain amount of pain. After a few moments however, she manages to pull herself together. Her eyes flutter open and drift up to meet his. She's hurt. Not just physically, that much is apparent but there's something else there. It's only present for a second before she's manages to regain control and banish it once more. It's a little too late however, he's already spotted it. That unmistakable look of betrayal.

It's not so much the fact that she's been hurt, so much as the one responsible for it. Adrien freezes, takes a couple of steps back, releasing his father in the process. D-Did he strike her? He shakes his head slowly, tears trying to come but somehow unable to do so. After a few moments, she struggles to her feet. If she can get to her knees easily enough, upon standing up, she winces and almost crashes back down once more. She's caught however by the boy's mother.

"Nathalie are you alright?" Emilie asks, helping the woman to her feet.

"Yes. I just slipped."

She isn't. It's apparent a moment later that she's limping. She winces once and tries to conceal her pain but the fact that her limb isn't playing game is much more challenging to hide. Ultimately, she ends up sitting on the edge of her bed whilst they have Gorilla load her stuff into the car for her whilst she spends a few quiet moments recovering. Adrien's parents even leave the room, giving the two of them a few moments alone.

It's silence that reigns over them however. Adrien can scarcely bring himself to even look at the woman and she's too shaken up to speak. Although sitting there, she appears outwardly at least to be relatively docile. Once more, the time comes for them to part. Her words, few in number struggle to register with him. So she takes his hand for an instant, squeezes it gently. He doesn't even turn to look at her. The woman doesn't insist, slipping out silently.

It takes him a few moments (and for Plagg to start nagging him) to pull himself together, to realize just what exactly is happening and what he stands to lose. Everything else fades away as he comes to terms with the fact that Nathalie Sancoeur is about to walk out of the door. In a flash, he rushes out, charging as fast as his legs will carry him. He makes it to the staircase just as she steps out of the door. She lingers there for a moment, spotting him out of the corner of eye no doubt. Her sorrowful gaze rests on the young man just a moment. She gives him a small nod before disappearing.

He gets the message. If she'll be there, not in person but in spirit. He can reach out to her if he needs it.

Right now however, he feels as if he's all on his own.