Birth

4

Gabriel wasn’t hungry and he didn’t want to get up. All he wanted was to go back to sleep and never wake up.

All this time. He'd spent the last three years of his life fighting a battle he’d never had a real chance to win because even if he did, then he’d just have lost something equally precious to him, and he couldn’t let Adrien die in Emilie’s place. Even if he could claim he didn’t know that would happen, what kind of excuse was that when you’d murdered your child?

Add to that the fact that he’d almost killed Nathalie in the process. That then she’d had to go through a high-risk pregnancy all alone and almost died giving birth. And if Adrien was right, she had risked her life out of love for him, and he’d admittedly chose to overlook what was right in front of his eyes. Yes, he couldn’t pretend otherwise because even if she stonewalled her emotions only a blind fool wouldn’t question her reasons when she said she’d do anything for his happiness when that meant abdicating of all the possibilities life had to offer her.

Nathalie was a caring beautiful strong woman, and any man would count himself lucky to have her.  And call him an idiot, because at this point, he was thoroughly convinced he was one, but he’d never questioned why she’d agree to live with the sole purpose of making his life easier. To make him happy. Because stupid he might have been, but he was still a man with eyes and ears, and he knew what other men thought of her.

When Emilie was still alive and he still went to the company offices, he had heard all sorts of comments from men, some of them married, that lusted after his assistant when she out of hearing. Some of them even had the insolence of asking him if she was good in bed and if he was ok with sharing.

He’d always felt offended on both his and Nathalie’s behalf.

But he was digressing. He had to think straight now. Emilie was dead and if he wasn’t  trying to revive her anymore it would be cruel to keep her in that stasis pod.

--

He knocked on his son’s door.

“Adrien.”

“Come in.”

Gabriel entered his eldest’s room with the youngest angelically resting on his shoulder. He thought he saw Adrien’s eyes soften at the sight of his baby brother and that brought a small smile to his face. He sat on the sofa and began to talk very gently as not to disturb the child.

“I’ve spent the night thinking about what you said. About everything that has happened since…I don’t even know, since things started to become so complicated for this family.” A pause and then, “I’ll give up being Hawkmoth permanently. There’s no point and I don’t want to anymore.” Another pause and “I have to take care of the family I still have.”

“Father...” Adrien sat by his side but didn’t say anything else. It turned out, he didn’t have to, because Gabriel found he wasn’t finished yet.

“The doctors said there’s no reason why she shouldn’t be awake yet” he said trying to distance himself from the subject he came here to talk about in the first place, “and I fear that she won’t.” came out in a constricted voice. “Anyway, I came to ask if you’d want to give your mother a proper funeral.”

With sad understanding eyes, Adrien answered “Yes, I’d like to, father.”    

--

Emilie was found by the police in the forests of Metz. Gabriel was called to identify her body.
The official police report admitted that were no vestiges of violence on her body, recent or otherwise. They had no clue as what had happened to her, how she’d ended up where they found her, or about her previous whereabouts in the time since she’d disappeared. To the public, whatever had happened to Emilie Agreste would forever remain a mystery  .

After the police released her corpse to be transported back to Paris, Emilie was cremated, and a private ceremony held with only her family in attendance.
That unfortunately included Amelie.

--

Gabriel cut straight to the chase. “They found Emilie’s body.”

He was met with silence from the other side of the line, and then “Where? What happened to her? Her voice was devoid of emotion.

Maybe Amelie had been expecting to receive this very call for a long time now. Maybe he was the only one who still hoped that Emilie would come back but then he was the only one  who knew all the facts.

“She was found by a local in the woods in Metz. The police don’t know what happened to her. They said there was no sign of violence. That she was well dressed and that it appeared she was not malnourished.” More silence from the other side. “I’m seeing that the body is transported back to Paris today. We’re having a small ceremony in her memory in two days. Are you coming?”

More silence, and as it seemed that no answer was forthcoming, he asked again.

“Amelie?”

“Hum?”

“I asked you if you’re going to attend your sister’s memorial. It will be in two days, here in Paris.”

That seemed to do the trick because this time she responded.

“Yes. Of course, I will. Ask your assistant to arrange for someone to pick me up at the station.”

“Alright then. Goodbye”

--

When he opened the door, he was greeted by a somber “Hello, Gabriel.”

Amelie was standing in front of his door. She approached him and gave him a quick hug that he surprisingly didn’t dodge.

“How are you?” she asked looking at him, and unexpectedly her expression seemed sincere and without malice.

“As good as can be expected.”

“And how’s Adrien?”

“Better than I thought he would be.”

“I want to see my nephew. Would you ask your assistant to take my luggage to my room?”

“Yes, of course.”

When Gabriel turned to his right to speak with his assistant Amelie noticed for the first time that something was different.

“Where’s Nathalie?”

“She doesn’t work for me anymore.”

Amelie made a surprised expression. “Well, that’s shocking, considering how many years she’s worked for you.”

He didn’t bother answering that. Just ordered Andrea to do as she’d asked and took Amelie to Adrien’s room.

Gabriel was, of course, expecting conflict. He knew that it would be impossible to hide Raphael from her, but he also thought he would have a little more time to postpone it. But as soon as he opened the door of Adrien’s room, he knew he could say goodbye to the sweet and sincere person that Amelie was forcing herself to be in his presence out of respect for the situation that brought her here in the first place.

“Adri…” She cut herself off, obviously startled by the view of Adrien changing the diapers of a tiny baby placed on his bed. “Oh, God.” She whispered. “I hope this baby isn’t yours.”

Adrien looked up at his aunt and smiled at her while securing the new diaper in the right place to protect himself from any unwanted presents his brother wanted to give him. “Don’t worry, aunt. He isn’t.”
With that Gabriel knew the next minutes would take the next two days to an unbearable level of sourness.

“And whose baby this is?”

There was an exchange of glances between father and son before Gabriel finally answered, “Mine.”

At this, Amelie’s head turned violently in Gabriel’s direction and with fire in her eyes she asked, “And who’s the mother?”

“Nathalie.”

“What?” She kept looking from Gabriel to the baby that at this point was in Adrien’s arms and it was like there were a thousand questions and another thousand accusations she wanted to make but what she finally managed was “How could you do this? How could you cheat on my sister with that woman and make her son to care for your bastard? And then to add insult to injury you bring me here to watch this…this spectacle.”

“He’s not a bastard, Amelie. I gave him my name. He’s as much an Agreste as Adrien is. You can say whatever you want about me, but I won’t allow you to insult either of my children.”

Anger painted her face as she spat through her teeth, “You cheated on my sister while she was missing! While who knows was happening to her.”

His jaw clenched and his eyes turned even more grey. He wanted to scream at her and take all his frustration out on her because he knew that yes, he was an adulterous man, but thait was not all that he was. He couldn’t say he’d spent the last three years of his life as Hawkmoth, fighting for the magical jewels that would magically bring her sister back to life.
He couldn’t defend himself properly. He couldn’t defend himself in any way. He didn’t know what Amelie knew about her sister, but he couldn’t say he knew where Emilie has been all this time, so he had to listen to everything she said and take it silently.

And then, finally she decided to put an end to his misery.

“I won’t stay here for one more minute. I’m leaving immediately.”

From the window of the car, she looked up at Adrien and said, “I am so sorry you have to be subjected to this. That you have to stand there with this bastard child for the sake of your family” and then she was gone.

Amelie, of course, was her old familiar unpleasant self when they met at the ceremony. Gabriel had to endure her passive-aggressiveness while they were in front of Adrien, thank goodness the woman had some restrain in front of her nephew, and her undisguised contempt for him when they were alone.

--

When everything was over, Emilie finally put to rest and Amelie gone, he felt old. Very old. But when he woke up the next day, it was like a burden had been taken off his shoulders.

He changed and fed Raphael and then asked Andrea to buy a portable crib to put in the atelier. The business world didn’t care if you were a single father of a newborn. And that thought, the thought of him as a single father brought his mind back thinking about Nathalie.

He hoped she would wake up soon.