The Gala

Chapter 3

"Kid, what are you doing, you've been staring at the ceiling for the past hour."  Plagg said, then stuffing camembert in his mouth.

"There's some boring gala coming up and I have to go it.  I wish i could bring a friend..." Adrien replied back to his kwami.

"Then why don't you ask that weird assistant, she seems to have a way of making your dad say yes to stuff."  Plagg flew over to be right in front of Adriens face.

"She's not weird, Plagg." Adrien scowled at the little kwami in his face, sitting up.

"Sure she's not.  She only randomly got sick, never shows emotions, gets your father to do stuff he had already said no to, but no, she's totally normal." Plagg rolls his eyes.  Adrien looks down.

He sighs, "It'd be less boring if Nathalie could come, then at least I wouldn't be stuck with Chloé...But Nathalie needs rest, besides, I don't think father would even let her go at this point.  He's so worried about her, despite when we had to come home from the Louvre, he told me," Adrien makes air quotes, ""You don't need to worry about her"" Adrien says, rolling his eyes.  Plagg stares at him.

"Why don't you see if you could do something with her if you miss her so much."  Plagg says, putting more cheese in his mouth.  Adrien blinks for a moment.  "Uh- Adrien..?"

"THAT'S A GREAT IDEA, PLAGG!!!"  Adrien grabs Plagg and stuffs him in his jacket pocket, running downstairs to the atelier.  Adrien knocks softly on the door with huge smile on his face.  He waits there for a moment before his father comes to the door, looking down at him with his hands behind his back.

"Yes, Adrien?"  Gabriel looks down at Adrien because when he opened the door Adrien just stared.

Adrien blinked, realizing he'd zoned out.  "Oh- uhm- I was wondering if maybe Nathalie could join me for lunch today?  In the dining room?"

Gabriel thought for a moment.

Two moments.

Three.

"Uh, Father?" Adrien said.

"You can eat with her in her room, just have someone bring the food up, and no matter what she says, don't let her walk without the the help of you or her crutches.  And if she says no, then no, but if anything happens come get me.  She has a table in her room, you can eat there."  Gabriel looks down at Adrien, his heart being warmed when Adriens smile grows bigger.  Adrien hugs Gabriel tightly, and Gabriel tries to hug back, but Adrien pinned his arms down to his sides.  "Well, she's waiting, now isn't she?" Gabriel says and Adrien let's go.

"Thank you, father!" Adrien runs out of the room.  Gabriel alerts the kitchen staff to make Adrien and Nathalie food and to bring it up to her room.




Nathalie hears a knock on her door and Duusu hides under Nathalies bed.  "Come in."  Nathalie says, not looking up from her tablet, and Adrien comes in.

"Hi, Nathalie!"  Adrien says, and Nathalie looks up.

"Oh hello, Adrien. Was there something you needed?"  Nathalie questions her happy sunshine child.

He fumbles with his fingers, standing next to her bed.  "Well I was wondering if you'd like to eat lunch with me...father said it was ok, as long as we ate in here."  Adrien looked down at his hands.  "If you're not feeling well that's fine."

Nathalie stares at him.  "No, it's ok Adrien, I'm feeling just fine, I'll eat with you." She sets her tablet down on her nightstand.

"Father said you need your crutches or me to walk.  And that no matter what you say about not needing them, that you do."  Adrien smirked at her.  Nathalie scoffs and grabs her crutches from under the bed.  She weakly walks to the table and sits and down, Adrien behind her, feeling sad to see her like that.

"Are you sure you're not just doing this to be nice Nathalie?  If you're not feeling well I'll leave."  Adrien offers to her.  She looks at him with a tiny reassuring smile.

"I said I was fine Adrien." She says, and Adrien looks like he still doesn't fully believe her, but she can't say anything because someone comes in with their food and sets it down on the table, and leaves as quickly as they came.  Adrien sits down and gobbles up his food.

"So why did you want to eat with me, Adrien?" Nathalie asked, taking bites of her food.

Adrien swallows his food before talking.  "Well I guess I just missed you, Mom." Adrien continues shoving food in his mouth, but Nathalie freezes up.  Adrien looks at her with concern.  "Is something wrong, Nathalie?"

Nathalies shoulders go up and she looks to the right and towards the ground.  "Adrien I'm not your mom..." She mumbles, and Adrien looks confused until he realizes what he said.

"I-I'm so sorry Nathalie I didn't mean to upset you!"  Adrien frantically says to her.

Nathalie coughs into her arm, "No it's fine, Adrien,"  She continues eating.  "I'm just not your mom.  Don't tell your father though, ok?"  She smiles a little bit.

Adrien smiles and they continue eating.

                                                                ~20 minutes later~

"I'll see what I can do about getting your father to let you bring a friend.  Who were you thinking about bringing?"  Nathalie asked.

"Well, I would ask Nino if he wanted to go, but he's busy, so I'm probably going to ask Marinette?" Adrien replied back.  Nathalie remembered Marinette because she was the one that Nathalie had made Audrey Bourgeois furious, all because Marinette got in the front row and she didn't.

"Is she your girlfriend, Adrien?" Nathalie asks, intrigued.

Adrien smiles, "No, Marinette's just a friend!" (Author: YOU KNOW I HAD TO) Nathalie smirks, Just like his father, she thinks.  Adrien's about to say something when they hear a knock on the door. 

"Come in."  Nathalie says, looking at the door.  Gabriel walks in.  "Hello, sir."

"Hi Nathalie, hi Adrien."  Gabriel looks at them both and pulls up a chair to the table.  "I hope Adrien hasn't been bothering you, Nathalie."  He puts his hand on top of hers, which is sitting on the arm-rest.

"No, he hasn't." Nathalie replies with her usual emotionless face.

"How are you feeling?" Gabriel asks her.

She sighs.  "I'm feeling fine, you and Adrien are like the same person sometimes."

"Do you think you're going to feel well enough to go tomorrow?" Gabriel ignores the part where she said he's like his son.

"Only time will tell, sir."  Nathalie replies, slightly annoyed that they won't stop pestering her.

Gabriel sighs.  "Well we should both get back to work.  Adrien I think it's time you give Nathalie a break for awhile."

"Wait- Nathalie you're going to the gala!?" Adrien exclaims really loudly.

"Adrien please stop shouting, it's giving me a headache." Nathalie says quietly.

Adrien looks sad, feeling guilty.  "Oh....I'm sorry Nathalie..."  Adrien says sadly, and Gabriel glares at him and then looks at Nathalie with concern.

"Maybe you should get some rest, Peahen."  Gabriel says softly to her.

"I'm fine, sir."  She says.  "I'm not tired."  She looks back at Adrien.  "So far, yes, I am going."

Adrien blinks at her.  "BuT yOu CaN bArElY wAlK."  Plagg holds back laughter in his pocket.  Nathalie scowls at him.

"I'll be alright."  She replies, slightly angry.

"Alright, Adrien, me and Nathalie need to talk about work and you have to practice piano now."  Gabriel says.  Adrien sighs and leaves the room.  Gabriel watches the door until he can hear Adriens footsteps fade away and he picks Nathalie up bridal-style, and carries her to her bed.  "Please rest for a while, Nathalie.  You shouldn't over-work yourself."  He says as he pulls the blankets over her.

Nathalie sighs, defeated.  "Fine."  She says and she takes off her glasses and sets them on her nightstand on top of her tablet.  Gabriel kisses her on the forehead and then leaves a blushing Nathalie.