Author's note: Really sorry for the delay! Not too sure why this took so long. Thanks again for the reviews.

/

There's a flash of light which engulfs Gabriel Agreste's office. The man spins around on his heels, startled. When he sees the figure standing before him however, everything else seems to make perfect sense.

Nathalie takes long strides towards the man. She feels a little strange. Off. No doubt it's because she's tried transforming whilst injured. The miraculous is capable of masking her pain, alleviating some of it. Still it registers that something isn't quite right. Maybe it's a self-preservation instinct of sorts designed to ensure that she doesn't push herself too far, forgetting that once the magic wears off, she's still going to have to cope with a damaged body. Right now, that simple fact barely even registers with the woman.

It's the figure of Adrien Agreste which remains plastered behind her eyelids. No matter how much she might try not to see him suffer, it's an image which she can't shake from her mind. In a way, maybe that's best. It drives her. Gives her something to focus on, grounds her and makes it easier to direct her anger and she is angry. Formidably so. Unlike some, Nathalie isn't the type to start screaming or hurling foul language around. Instead, her rage burns away silently. It has a target however. Two in fact. She's methodical and plans to deal with each of them one at at time. She doesn't know where Emilie is but it's not a major concern.

Not when Gabriel's in front of her.

Curiously, the man makes no attempt to stop her. He lets the woman approach him, despite her powers and enhanced strength granted by the miraculous. On any other day, she might have found that suspicious, she would have been more careful. Right now though, she feels so tired, so angry… She doesn't care if Emilie is waiting in ambush somewhere. There is something which needs to be done.

Despite how much she wants to hurt him, she forces herself to hold back. With her current strength, she could potentially injure the man severely or worse, if she put her mind to it. Angry though she might be, she knows that crippling Adrien's father won't change what's happened. She doesn't let him get away scot-free. That would be too easy… Instead, being careful to control her strength. Nathalie slaps him across the face. It's petty really. The only thing that she succeeds in doing is inflicting some pain on the man and maybe making herself feel a bit better as a result. She likes to tell herself that the teen would have appreciated such a gesture…

"Are you happy now?" The woman growls lowly under her breath, clenched teeth fail to conceal her pain.

Gabriel rubs his cheek gingerly. It's clear that she's hurt him. Nathalie feels no remorse however. In comparison to the suffering that this man has caused both physical and emotional, it's a pinprick but perhaps not something he's used to.

Nathalie fixes him for a moment, silently daring him to react. Her question isn't one which she's particularly expecting an answer for. She knows that whatever they had planned, the car accident and Adrien's subsequent injury weren't a part of it. She doesn't need to be informed of the exact detail of their scheme to see that something, somewhere must have gone terribly wrong. They'd underestimated their son, both his courage and his fear. That had come painfully close to getting the lad killed. They're lucky the teen's still alive. Medicine might just allow him to pull through this time. The woman's here to ensure that there won't be a "next time" which will finally see the apparent luck, that's been protecting them for so long, run out.

When Gabriel fails to answer her, she doesn't insist. Taking a few deep breaths, the woman readies herself to be on her way. She heads towards the door. Emilie's out there and that's where she assumes that the cat miraculous has gotten off to. It's a shame that Kaalki doesn't allow her to teleport to anything other than a specific location which she already has in mind. It would have been useful to be able to warp directly to wherever the ring is. Still, she reasons that it likely won't be far...

"We can put things right." Gabriel tells her before she can leave, still refusing to turn back to see her. "With the miraculous, we could go back, fix him, fix everything."

That causes the woman to stop dead. There's an anger which takes hold of her, a deep resentment. It's not the first time that she's felt it either. Even back in the day, sometimes it had been there, tugging away inside of her. It was the naivety, the misconception of it all. He seemed to be able to blind himself to all of the inconvenient truths about the miraculouses, apparently that much is something which the couple have in common, as Nathalie seriously doubts that Emilie's giving it much thought either.

She clenches her teeth, spinning on her heels so as to face the man once more. This time, he affords her a brief glance. Does he really think that she's going to buy such assurances. The fact that the man seems to think this is all reparable is so absurd she can't decide whether to laugh, cry or scream.

"Don't you understand?!" The woman snaps angrily, tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. "It still happened! He's hurt because he was so terrified at the prospect of being dragged back here that he preferred to risk his life! If you fix him with a wish, someone else will have to pay the price! Will it be you? Emilie? Even if you did… Adrien won't forgive you. So what then? Make another wish, that's what you were planning, weren't you? 'Fix' things so that he couldn't remember hating you."

"What would you have us do? Let him stay crippled?" The man retorts, straightening himself to his full height. "No… I just wanted to take things back, fix my mistakes."

"For his sake or your own?"

He doesn't answer. Perhaps the answer is too obvious… She chooses not to pick him up on it. There's no sense driving home what he already knows. Her hands are still balled into fists, ready to deal out some punishment should the need arise. She struggles to keep her temper in check as the events of the past day catch up with her. Then there's everything that had happened prior. All those days, weeks and months trying to nurse Adrien through his troubles, oh how she regrets not telling him that it was okay to hate his parents… Convincing him to be patient and forgiving.

Now, she tries to put all of that into practice. Some of the tension dies down as a result. She tries to remind herself just who she's dealing with. Telling herself that they're deluded as opposed to purely evil but then maybe she's the one deluding herself by telling herself that.

"You know he's suffering, will suffer..." Gabriel stresses to her. "You do care for him. Don't you want to protect him from that?"

"I think you probably do love him. In some way..." Nathalie lets out a soft but pained sigh. "-but the truth is, you had your chance. I should have stopped you years ago, when this first started… My hands aren't clean either."

That will be her burden. Some of what's befallen Adrien is her fault.

Perhaps their argument would have lasted a while longer if it weren't for the raised voices coming from nearby. She recognizes both easily. It would seem that she's arrived just in time. Nathalie shoots the man a brief look, uneasy but keen to see if he's going to follow her or make any attempt to stop her. He seems to hesitate. The miraculous which she wears must give her something of an edge physically, she hopes that it's enough to dissuade the man from fighting her because she will struggle if he forces her hand. She would rather not have to resort to violence but at this point, the woman sees herself standing on the edge of a cliff with nowhere else to go.

She leaves the room, moving quickly towards the lounge nearby from where she can hear the voices. They're raised. Evidently emotions are running high. In the current situation, that honestly doesn't surprise her all that much. She wastes no time in entering seeing no need to draw out the torment for one of the parties.

The woman is greeted by an incredulous look from Marinette. Nathalie quickly spots the tears pouring down the teen's cheeks. She's been made aware of something… Just what, she doesn't know and she's too cynical to assume that both of the Agrestes will necessarily have told the entire truth. No, she's more inclined to assume that they'll have twisted things to their own advantage. There are a thousand lies which they could have told the poor girl and she's not about to waste time wondering just what they've told her. She's keen to position herself between Emilie and the miraculous holder. Blue eyes are quick to lock onto the ring around her finger. With a few words, she could easily turn this from a potentially heated situation into an extremely dangerous one.

Cataclysm is one word which could kill a person.

Nathalie opens her mouth, ready to explain everything, an unaltered tale of what had happened. She'll need to be quick and concise. Not so much as a syllable is able to make it past her lips before without any warning, Marinette rushes her. The teenager must see her as the only real source of comfort and familiarity in the room asides from her kwami or maybe she just assumed that she was dead. Whatever the case, the woman finds herself with a sobbing eighteen-year-old grabbing a hold of her and wrapping her arms around her waist and crying loudly against her.

Taken aback somewhat, the woman finds herself looking to Emilie. As always, it's almost impossible to read the woman's expression. Gabriel stays back. He's less proficient at hiding his thoughts – at least from his former assistant – she sees that he's not entirely comfortable with the current situation. Who knows, maybe it brings back some unpleasant memories…

She glares daggers at the two of them. It's a challenge, she expects one of them to present her with some form of explanation. They remain silent however. Are they aware that she intends to fight them if needed? The arrival of a second, potential ally for Ladybug is enough to turn the tide of a battle. Had she chosen to attempt to take the miraculous – something that Nathalie's convinced was their intention – even by force, the prospect of having to battle two superpowered adversaries would no doubt prove to be too much for her to even consider.

"Adrien..." The teen sobbed against her.

"Is still alive..." She feels Marinette tense up suddenly with the realization. "He was hurt badly but he's going to be okay, eventually."

"Th-They said there was a car accident."

Nathalie gives the couple an accusatory look. She can only assume that Marinette had been lead to assume that the situation was without hope. Maybe they'd thought that her desperation would prove to be enough to drive her to give them her miraculous. Thankfully, judging by the presence of a couple of earrings and her kwami, it would seem that the girl still had enough sense to say "no". Had she arrived a few minutes later then the woman was less sure about what the outcome would have been. There's no point worrying about it. She's here now.

Marinette pulls away after a few instants but Nathalie takes care to leave a hand on her shoulder. She's used to Adrien. His temper can get the better of him sometimes. She has no doubt that were the situations reversed, he would have been straining at the leash in order to get his revenge. Thankfully, his girlfriend is a little more level-headed although not necessarily any the less enraged.

"You told me he was dead!" She practically spits at them. "You let me think that he wasn't coming back."

"He's badly hurt." Emilie retorted, looking coldly towards the former assistant. "You forgot to mention that much. How many bones has he broken?"

"He's hurt badly. They've got him sleeping right now."

Nathalie's already decided that she isn't about to start trying to conceal things from the girl. She doesn't deserve it. At some point, she'll want to visit him. What a shock it will be if she expects to find her boyfriend a little battered and bruised but instead discovers that he broke his throat and took such a bashing that his ribs broke. No. That would only worsen things. Best that she be entirely straight so that there were no unfortunate surprises further on down the line. It would also, she hoped, get rid of some of the Agrestes ammunition. The fewer things they could potentially wheel out to use against them the better.

It isn't the news that Marinette wants to hear, she sees a shadow pass across the girl's face as a few glimmers of hope are chased away. Thankfully the teen manages to maintain her composure. No doubt there will be far more questions later on when things are a bit calmer. Right now, they have other matters on their mind.

"We can make him better." Emilie continues addressing Marinette first and foremost. "Make sure that he doesn't suffer."

"Someone else will!" The girl stresses taking a step closer to Nathalie. "It's an eye for an eye. If Adrien is healed, someone else has to suffer!"

"So we make a wish to go back, make sure the accident never happens."

"That's not how the world works." The blue eyed woman answers, frowning disapprovingly. "You have no idea what the consequences would be if you did that!"

"It would be better than him being crippled!"

Nathalie bites her lip to avoid commenting. Patience is key. At this point, it must be apparent that they aren't going to get the Ladybug earrings, not without a fight at any rate and with two miraculous holders against one – even if it's the cat and all of it's power of destruction – the odds are not in their favor. She can see the couple reflecting upon matters, weighing up their options and clearly wondering whether or not they might not be best making a break for it and hoping for the best.

The woman gave them just a few minutes longer to hopefully realize that the situation was without hope, at least in terms of their initial schemes. Both of them had brains, she knew that but they could also be terribly stubborn. So it was that Nathalie decided to speak. She gives Marinette a brief glance to see how she's taking things aware that she isn't going to like what she's about to hear and will likely protest quite vocally. Still, as the woman sees it, it has to be said and offered otherwise they'll have little to no reason to hand over the cat miraculous and this will – she's certain - end in a fight. So, the woman presents them with her ultimatum:

"Give the Cat miraculous back-" Nathalie begins softly, filling her lungs with oxygen before continuing. "-And if he is suffering too much, I'll make a wish to take his place. Is that okay by you?"

The looks she gets from all of those in the room, human and kwami alike are ones of incomprehension and incredulity. Still, she doesn't budge, making it abundantly clear that she's dead serious about all of this. She'd held off of speaking or informing Marinette of her plan, partly because it had been impossible for her to do so but moreover as she knows full-well that it's a controversial statement to make and one that's liable to lead, at best, to a disagreement and more likely an argument. She hopes that won't happen here, right now. If only because exhaustion is beginning to catch up with her once more.

"Nathalie…" The woman found herself turning to face Marinette. "Adrien will never let you-"

"I know he won't like it but I'm not sure that we have a choice." She responds to the teen's concerns, her resolve firm. "I'll be a last resort, if he doesn't heal properly for whatever reason..."

She knows the implications. She's still young enough to heal relatively easily but perhaps not as quickly as Adrien should but if she can spare him some of the pain and potentially take on some of the lasting side-effects and damage caused by his accident, then, if necessary she would. The wish, she reasoned, should have been less risky. After all, if she was willingly offering herself as the exchange. The universe should be able to balance itself that way. The main issue, well there's two really, is going to be to get the others to accept such a bargain.

Marinette will refuse on ethical grounds. "It isn't right..." and all that sort of thing. Adrien will be the same. The Agrestes however simply won't trust her. They'll assume that she'll go back on her word as soon as the cat miraculous is returned. She can see the distrust behind Emilie's eyes, anger and blame. Somehow, in the woman's mind, a lot of this is her fault. Maybe it is: she should have shouted at him when he'd made his move, told him to get back in his seat and put his belt back on. Anything to prevent him from getting hurt… She doesn't question things any further than that as her patience abruptly runs out in those few instants as she finds herself reliving, once more, despite her best attempts, the accident.

"Look-" Her tone is curt, cutting as she addresses the couple. "It's quite simple. Either you hand over the ring and we try to find some peaceful way through this or there's going to be a fight. It's your last chance to do the right thing. So what's it going to be?"