The Gala

Chapter 6

Gabriel, Marinette, and Adrien get out of the car.

Gabriel opens Nathalies door and kneels down to her, ignoring the shouting reporters.  "Is everything alright, Nathalie?"  He asks in a concerned tone.

Nathalie exhales.  "Yes. Just...a bit nervous."  She says with a small nervous smile on her face.  He grabs her hand and helps her stay up as she puts on her crutches.  All four of them hurry inside as fast as they can to get away from the reports with their questions such as:

"Mr.Agrestes, are those your girlfriends?"

"Isn't that your assistant?"

"What happened to your wife?"

"Why did you disappear?"

They finally get past all of the reporters and inside, they all sigh with relief.

"Well."  Marinette says.  "That was chaotic."  Everyone nods in agreement.  Two annoying but familiar voice come from behind them and they all shudder.

"GABRIKINSSSSSS"

"ADRIKINSSSSSSS"

Chloé and Audrey screech at the same time, running over to Adrien and Gabriel, wrapping their arms around the Agrestes necks and kissing them on the cheek, shoving Marinette and Nathalie out of the way.

Adrien and Gabriel push Audrey and Chloé off of them and Marinette looks extremely angry.

"Waring; Brat alert in the immediate facility." Marinette says rolling her eyes.  Adrien holds back laughter.

"At least I'm prettier than you, Dupain-Cheng!"  Chloé exclaims.  "Right, Adrikins?"

"Sure."  Adrien says sarcastically.  Gabriel rests his hand on Nathalies shoulder and she holds back from blushing.  Audrey bumps into Nathalie, clearly on purpose, almost knocking the beautiful woman over.

"Oh, sorry!  I didn't see you there!  You're just so small and useless that I must have just looked right over you!"  Audrey says, laughing hysterically.

Gabriel looks down at Nathalie and squeezes her shoulder.  "Goodbye, Audrey."  Gabriel says as he walks away, Nathalie next to him and Adrien and Marinette not far behind.



Gabriel walks over to Nathalie with a plate of food.  "Hungry?"  He asks her.  No reply.  "Nathalie?"  Nothing.  He looks to see if anyone's near them.  "Mayura!?"  Nathalie snaps her head up at him, being brought of her own head.

"Yes, sir?"  Nathalie asks quietly.

"You zoned out there.  Everything alright?"  He replies.

"Uhm....yeah, yeah everything's fine."  Nathalie lies, hoping he won't notice.

Gabriel sighs.  "You lie too much, Peahen.  What's bothering you?  Do you not feel well?  We can go home if you aren't."  Gabriel says to her, hoping she'll tell him what's wrong.

Nathalie hesitates before saying anything.  "Is Audrey right?"

Gabriel scoffs.  "About what?  Because not usually."  He says with a smirk.

"About...me being...useless?"  Nathalie says, looking at the ground.

"Wha- of course not, Nathalie!  You're the complete opposite of useless!"  He replies, shocked she would even say such a thing.  "Just because you're sick doesn't change anything.  You're still the most amazing, impressive, hard-working person to ever exist!"  He stands in front of her and tips her head up to look him the eyes.  "And don't forget that, My Nathalie."

Nathalie tries hard not to blush, so hard she starts coughing.  Gabriel holds her against him tightly,  her body going limp from the coughing weakening her.

"Nathalie!  Are you alright?"  Gabriel asks her, extremely worried.

Once she stops coughing she answers.  "Y-yes, just a bit tired, that's all."

Gabriel glances around the room and eyes a couch in a quiet corner.  "Come on..."  He says quietly, walking over to the couch with her,  keeping both of his on her shoulders, worrying she'll collapse any time.  Nathalie sits down on the couch, resting her crutches next to it.  "Would you like some water, Nathalie?"  Gabriel asks her, still worried.  Nathalie nods and Gabriel goes to egt her some water.



"Where's Nathalie?"  Marinette asks Gabriel when she sees him getting water.

"She's not feeling that well so I'm getting her some water."  Gabriel responds.

Concern rushes through Adrien.  "I-is she ok?  Do we have to leave?"

Gabriel shakes his head slowly.  "She's fine, just go have fun, ok Adrien?"

Adrien sighs.  "Ok, father."  Marinette and Adrien walk away to get food and Gabriel walks back to Nathalie.



"Here's your wat-"  Gabriel looks at Nathalie, who's sitting there asleep.  Gabriel sits down next to her and her eyelids flutter open.  "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you."  Gabriel says as he holds the water out to her and she grabs it, taking a sip.

"No, it's ok.  Thank you."  She says, staring at the water.  "Sorry...I know you'd probably rather be enjoying yourself tonight."

Gabriel puts his hand on her forearm.  "No, don't be sorry.  You have nothing to be sorry for."

Music starts playing and he looks at her and stands up, holding his hand out.  "Would you like to dance?  If you're feeling up for it, that is."

Nathalie sets her water down and grabs his hand, standing up and putting all of her weight into him--which isn't much--so that she stays standing and they walk over to the dance floor.  They start dancing and Nathalie looks to her left to see Adrien and Marinette dancing, Marinettes bright red face extremely obvious.  Nathalie looks up at Gabriel with a small smile on her face, and Gabriel stares down at her, the same expression on his face as on hers.

"Are you feeling fine?"  Gabriel asks, making sure she doesn't need to sit down.

"Yes, sir."  Nathalie replies softly.

Gabriel pulls her closer to him, making the distance between them disappear completely.  "Ok, My Peahen."  He says warmly.