Birth

12

He was feeling so peaceful he didn’t want to wake up. It’d been years since he’d last felt like this. Sometimes, just as he was waking up, he did, but then as he became more aware of his surroundings, the sadness and gloominess would come again.

Even after he had abandoned his quest for the Miraculous, and he no longer felt the weight of his obligation toward his late wife, he’d never felt quite so peaceful until now.

---

Once Gabriel finally properly woke up, the first thing he noticed, even before he had opened his eyes, was the smell of Nathalie’s hair. That smell slowly took him from his hazy state of mind to the full awareness of exactly who the woman beside him was and where he was.

---

Nathalie felt a kiss behind her ear and heard a whispered “Stay in bed for a little longer”. Her sleepy mind agreed, and she went back to dreamland.

---

The next time she woke up it was because she’d heard clanging noises coming from her kitchen and sensed the smell of coffee and bacon.

---

“What are you doing?”

Gabriel heard the sleepy voice coming from Nathalie’s bedroom door. When he turned to answer, he was greeted with the cutest vision of Nathalie leaning on the door frame, rubbing her still half-closed eyes, and letting out a yawn at the end of her question.

She walked into the kitchen to stand beside him and in her sleepy state leaned her head on his shoulder before turning her head just a little to kiss his deltoid muscle.
 
“I’m preparing us breakfast. Why don’t you take a seat?”

---

Nathalie was sitting at the table, facing Gabriel, with her neck bent to her right admiring how nice those boxers looked on his behind and wondering how he managed to have his arms and back muscles so well-toned. Not exaggeratingly so, but they were nice…more than nice in her opinion.

---

Gabriel set two plates of bacon, eggs, and toast along with two mugs of coffee down in front of them.
As they ate, he found it endearing and sexy that Nathalie sat with one foot up on her seat and thought about how he’d never really known her at all and how he was going to love discovering all these little things about her. About who she was when she wasn’t trying to be the proper and professional assistant or the daring Mayura or just the cold and distant Nathalie persona she donned whenever she wanted to keep people away.

“Gabriel?” Her voice broke through his daydreams.

“Hum?”

“How are we going to do this?”

“Do what?” He answered still looking at her with heart-eyes and maybe that was the only thing that kept her from doubting him again.      

“Us.”

“I know that. I just don’t understand the question.”

“I know we agreed to start slow but…well, you mentioned walks, and then people already know that you have another son, even though you were able to shut the most malicious headlines down…I guess, what I’m asking is how public do you think we should be with this? And there’s also Adrien to consider, I mean…I know he likes me and is crazy about his brother, but.”

“Let’s break the problem down into smaller more manageable ones, ok? You taught me that.” He reclined further back on the chair as he relaxed into what he wanted to say. “Starting with Adrien, I can assure you that that’s no problem at all. If anything, I was the one who should’ve been worried about going back home empty handed.”

“Empty handed? What do you mean?”

“I mean that after you left us yesterday, I got scolded by my sixteen-year-old son. He told me in no uncertain terms that I’d better hurry or I was going to lose you forever.”

“Adrien said that?”

“Yes, he did.”

She smiled softly. “He’s always been a good boy like that. What about the rest?”

“What rest? You mean the press? The company?”

“Of course, Gabriel. You know how this looks already. Nobody will say anything in front of you but…” She looked down and pressed her lips together.

“Well, our son is already an Agreste, so at least some people are already certain that we were in some kind of relationship and after the time you spent recovering at my house I’d say most must believe that it’s an ongoing thing given you still work for me. So it wouldn’t be a surprise if they saw us together.” Then as his thoughts caught up with him it occurred to him that, “Do you not want that?”

“No, I mean, yes, I do want that. It’s just that I’ve always wanted to be with you, and I’m used to the gossip, but it’s different now it’s true. I guess it’s just hard for me to accept that but you’re right; it’s unavoidable.”

“It is. Just let me know if it’s too much and I’ll take care of it, ok.”

She hummed in response because her mouth was full now but then “This is delicious. I didn’t even know you remembered how to cook.”

He smiled. Happy that she was letting the matter go, at how all this domesticity suited them and because she was right. Their breakfast was really good if he did say so himself.

---

It was difficult not to look beneath his chin. Worse still when she heard him smugly say “Do you want me to get dressed now?”

“I, no. I mean, you could. I mean…urghh.” She dropped her head in surrender, “There’s no good answer for that question, is there?”

“I would have to disagree.” He smirked.

At that, she looked up from beneath her bangs with a raised eyebrow and recovering from the embarrassment said, “I’m sorry, it’s just that, this. Everything.” Then she pointed to the table and kept going, “You in my kitchen cooking for me and…well the fact that you’re almost naked doesn’t help either.” She must be the color of a tomato now. “And why are you still wearing only boxers anyway?”

He froze at that, but then “Do you want me to…”

“No.”

He suddenly looked too sly for her taste, obviously amused, and she wanted to kiss that smugness of his face even as she wanted to attempt to defend her honor “You don’t have to. It’s just that we have a son together, we’ve sort of lived together, and yet I don’t remember ever having seen you like this. It’s all so new. So domestic. I never thought you’d be like this.”

From the glint in his eyes she’d pricked his interest there. “And how did you think I would be?”

“I don’t know.”  It sounded more like a question than she’d meant. “But I certainly never pictured you in your underwear walking around my kitchen.”

“I told you there were still things about me you don’t know.” He replied smiling in a way that was more sweet than smug at her and leaned over the table to kiss her softly. Then, as he pulled away, “Come here.”

This time her right brow went high up, and she tried for her best a are you serious face but couldn’t stop smiling and she was sure her eyes were twinkling.

Certainly, he looked unrepentant, so he said “I don’t bite, Nath.”

“Somehow, I doubt that.” but she went and sat on his lap anyway, and they finished their meal between kisses.

Delightful as this all was, responsibility and love reminded her, “Shouldn’t we go see if our progeny are still alive and the house still standing?”

Gabriel huffed and though his voice said, “We should.” his tone and body language told her screamed “Do we have to?”

---

“Hello, children.”

“Mama!” Adrien was close to having lost all the air in his lungs  when Raphael spied Nathalie and gave up his game of jumping on Adrien’s stomach,     to run to his mother instead. Their mother if his father hadn’t screwed things up even more.

Thought it didn’t look as if he had.

“I’m almost an adult, Nathalie.” Adrien said smiling at the upside-down image of Nathalie, and his father standing at her side with his hand on her waist. “So, I see you followed my instructions, father?”

“What instructions?” Asked Nathalie looking curiously between them.

“None.” He father said rather quickly.

Taking pleasure in putting his father under the spotlight, Adrien said, “I told father he should do whatever it took to get you back.”

His father looked very sheepish as Nathalie glanced at him in amusement

---

Nathalie found that embarrassment was actually a rather endearing expression on Gabriel’s face. Then Adrien rose from his bed and came up to her with a very sly expression before he turned the tables on her and said, I told you to behave mom. Did you?”

This was a whole new side of Adrien she was getting to know. Even after they’d all discovered Adrien was Chat Noir it had been hard to see it at first. Things in this house had been difficult, especially between her and Gabriel and that heavy atmosphere had expanded itself beyond their relationship, affecting their children too. She could see that now.  Yet at this moment with Adrien letting out all the mischief and cheekiness he’d used to display as Chat Noir, it was difficult to understand how they didn’t see that before.

“If I’m going to be your mother, then you’d better watch out your mouth, boy, or you’ll be in big trouble.” Her harsh words were belied by the love in her eyes and the smile on her lips conveying the affectionate and playful way they were meant. “But yes, your father did everything right.” She smiled again and looked at Gabriel.”

“You aren’t going to be my mother, Nathalie. You already have been for a long time.” His words were spoken with such love it truly touched her. It wasn’t like she didn’t know Adrien loved her by now, but it was the first time he was being so open about it.

“So,” Adrien asked, “when are you moving back in again?”

“Not yet. Aren’t you getting ahead of yourself? We’ve only just begun dating.”

“Father!” Adrien said with a tinge of fake indignation. “Haven’t you given it to her?”

“What didn’t he give me?” She said now really confused.

The room was suddenly silent and both men were very still.

It was Gabriel who looked to his feet and then to her before speaking “I was ready to ask you to marry me to show you how serious I was…am” he corrected himself, “about us if that’s what it took to make you believe me. I…” He looked down again, at his pocket, from which he produced a tiny velvet box. “I bought this a while ago, but I respect that you want to do this at a slower pace.”

---

Adrien had never seen Nathalie react like this before. She was completely unresponsive. Her mouth agape, her eyes wide open and unblinking. He was almost surprised that she didn’t let his brother fall from her arms,.

“Nathalie.” He tried. “Nathalie.”

“Yes.” She answered, apparently recovering her senses and ability to move. “Humm…have you two eaten anything today yet?”

It wasn’t exactly what Adrien had expected her to say but he truthfully answered, “No.”

“Let’s go, then.”

---

After some consideration, they decided that the best way to present their relationship to the public and avoid the worst of the talk about how she just aiming for his money and the other unpleasant comments people would surely make, was to go out for a family dinner.

This would show the public that what they had wasn’t some hidden affair, but quite the opposite. That they were serious about each other, and that Adrien approved of their relationship. And not only that, but that even though they weren’t even engaged yet, they had reached a point where that would most likely happen rather sooner than later.

On the other hand, the fact that they already had a child counted against her and could be used to fuel gossip that Nathalie was using this as leverage to get married to one of the richest men in France, but they would and could deal with that later.
After all, during the interview they’d given to Style Queen, when Gabriel had flat out told the reporter that he was the one pursuing her and not the other way around, the woman interviewing them had let out an “Aw…that’s so romantic, Mr. Agreste. It sounds like a fairy tale.”

Gabriel had been in such a good mood that day that his answer to that comment had surprised everyone in the room, since his abruptness was well known by anybody that worked in the fashion industry, so no one was expecting him to say, “Only if I’m the Beast Nathalie had to put up with for so long.”

---

At first Nathalie had been ok with this plan, but it seemed that as the date of their family diner was getting closer, she was becoming increasingly nervous about it.

“What’s wrong?” Gabriel asked her, putting his hand over hers.

“Nothing. It’s just not the same when I know I’ll be their focus too now that the interview was published.”

“You’ll do all right. You’ve managed them before. I know you’re just nervous because they’ll be looking at you now, but you know what to do. Just focus on our family and let them get their photographs as if we didn’t even notice they were even there.”

“I know, I know. It’s just different, that’s all.”

“Don’t forget. We’ll be there with you.” He took the hand he was holding to kiss it. “Ready?”

“Uhum.”

“Let’s go then.” Said Gabriel, leading the way.

---

Once inside the Le Grand Paris, they were taken to less secluded part of it, than they’d usually pick. Here they could be seen but thankfully only from afar and they’d still have a little privacy in terms of people being able to listen in to their conversation.

Adrien couldn’t remember seeing his father so happy. Yes, his father had been happy with his mother, but those memories were from so long ago and seeing his father acting so romantic with Nathalie now it was like seeing a completely different person. It made him wonder if that’s where Chat Noir got his romantic tendencies from and he wished his lady were here with him too, but it was also good to enjoy this moment, which had seemed impossible so recently, with his family.

---

Raphael sat in a high-chair playing with a few toys Nathalie had taken with them to distract him so their son wouldn’t make a fuss. It proved to be a good strategy, because Raphael behaved very well much to his parents’ and brother’s relief

After their dinner they all agreed it would be nice to walk a little   . It was Raphael’s first family outing and, even though Nathalie had participated of many formal dinners with Gabriel and Adrien, they were all related to her role as Gabriel’s assistant. This was her first dinner as his girlfriend and even if the word didn’t quite represent what they had, it still made her feel girlish when she thought about it.

---

It was a warm night, and Gabriel wished it was just a little cooler so he could use it as a pretext to put his arm around Nathalie. As it was, he went ahead anyway, putting a hand on her shoulder and bringing her closer to him. She looked up and gave him a shy smile then said, “This is really nice, Gabriel.”

“It is, isn’t it? We could do it again.” He responded also smiling. To think that he could have had this for such a long time…

“What are you thinking?” He heard her say.

“What?”

“You looked so happy and then suddenly your face changed.” She looked worried about him and he was immediately reminded of what she’d said that night in her apartment. About how she was afraid that one day he would wake up and realize he didn’t love her. He never wanted her to feel like that again. He’d told her he would make her feel loved every day of his life.

Now was a good night as any to show her and the world that he was a taken man.

“I was just thinking that if I wasn’t such an idiot, we could have been like this for a long time now.” Then he stopped to embrace her and kissed her forehead. He then looked around to make sure that Adrien and Raphael weren’t too far ahead of them and pulled Nathalie in by the waist to kiss her.

It was a sweet kiss and he was loving every second of it. Even more when he felt Nathalie’s fingers in his hair. He’d discovered that she loved to play with his hair. He loved it too, but the result was that she’d always left it a mess. He’d started not style his hair so much because he knew she would, in fact he was counting on her to undo all his hard work.

It was that or asking her to stop messing with his hair but that he wouldn’t do because
her fingers were always so gentle and he loved their caresses too much.

“Guys.”

…

“Ok, guys they already got their pictures of you kissing.”

…

“Dad. Nathalie. Oh…come on Raph. They’ll need air eventually and it’s not like they need us to go home.”

---
  
Some days were harder than others when it came to making her boyfriend remember that she was still his employee and needed to work. Never mind that she wasn’t the only member of the company staff working for him in his house anymore. It was…annoying actually, because Gabriel, no matter how well-intentioned it was on his part, was not helping her image at all.

It wasn’t that he was exaggeratingly affectionate in front of Andrea or anything, it was how he sometimes stood too close to her when they were talking about something related to work, and before he or she left he would just lean in and kiss her forehead, cheek or give her a peck on the lips. 

Thankfully, he had the sense to wait for the staff to go home before starting something more…meaningful. And he was getting better at surprising her because this time she didn’t notice him approaching from behind until his hands landed on her hips.

“Don’t go to your place today,” Gabriel whispered into her neck, between kisses. He’d discovered this is one of her weak spots and felt no remorse about using this knowledge to make her stay a little more.

She just moaned and said, “I know what you’re doing and it’s so unfair.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He said while continuing his ministrations.

“You’re…ohhh…you’re distracting me. I…I need to finish this. Then…oh, you’re just being mean now…then I’ll stay.”

“You’re so easy, my dear.” He said smugly and didn’t let her finish her papers either.

---

So. They’d already established that she was easy. But now, lying in bed with Gabriel, she was pondering just how easy she was because Gabriel had subtly been giving her hints that he was ready to move forward with their relationship and perhaps she was ready too.

So, now, kissing up from his stomach to his pectorals to his neck she whispered in one ear “Would you help me bring my things back to my old room?” Then she moved to his mouth as if she didn’t know he’d need it to give her an answer.

---

And her body was so warm. He wanted to answer. He really did, but…

---

“Were you being serious?” Gabriel asked while caressing her messy hair.

“Yes. If you think we’re ready for that.” She answered. Her head resting against his chest with her eyes half-closed.

“I do.” But after a minute of silence, he amended, “But I’d like it better if your things were here in this room.”

She raised her head to look at him. “Are you sure?”

“Of course, I am. We could go later and I’ll help you pack everything.” He said giving her a kiss on the forehead. “Now let’s sleep a little. I’ll need my strength back if I’m going to help you carry your stuff.”

When sleep was almost claiming him he heard a small “Gabriel?”

“Hum?”

“I love you.”

He felt an involuntary smile form on his lips as he said, “I love you too.”

And they both went to sleep.

The end

Thank you all for reading 😉
Hopefully, we'll see each other again in Another Chance.