Another Chance

6

  There were only four days left before Adrien had t ack to college, and it had been two weeks since he’d last spoken to his father. Which was uncommon these days since they’d gotten into the habit of making at least one weekly call to see how the other was fairing. 

Adrien had been distracted by his holiday true, but he found it odd that his father hadn’t reached out yet. Not wasn’t exactly concerned, but at least curious, he called.

“Dad?”

“Hello, Adrien how's your vacation going? Is Marinette enjoying it?”

“It was great, actually. I’m calling because I’m in Paris now. I came to see you but there’s no one home. What...what is all that noise?” There were sounds of people talking and at least one of those voices sounded like a child. 

“Oh...” His father prided himself on always knowing what to say. Adrien remembered being scolded for stuttering when he was younger. Then he heard his father say, “It’s Adrien,” to somebody else and back to him “Just a minute son.” Then “Should I tell him?” and a female voice saying, “You’ll have to, eventually.” And his father again, “Can I take this from your bedroom?” followed by the woman’s voice which he now thought he vaguely recognized saying “Sure” then silence and his father again “Ok, we can talk without the noise now.”

Everything was so confusing. What was his father doing? “Are you seeing someone, father? Who is she?”

“I’m not!”

“I’m sorry, I just heard a woman’s voice and you’re not at home. I mean, you’ve been alone for a long time now.”

“Adrien, I’m not dating anyone.”

“Oh.”

“I’m in Toulouse. At Nathalie's house. It was her voice you heard.”

“What?! You’re at Nathalie’s? As in our Nathalie?”

“Yes, Adrien. What other Nathalie do we know?”

“I’m sorry, father. You just took me by surprise.” Then suddenly it hit him, “And the child?”

“That’s her son.”

“Oh. Wow. Is she married?” Adrien couldn’t help to have mixed feelings about that. On a conscious level, he knew Nathalie deserved to have her own family, but on a more basic level, he felt left behind. 

“No, she isn’t. Can you take the next flight here? We have some important things to discuss with you.”

Adrien perked again. “So, you...”

“No, Adrien, we are not. But there are things I want to talk about you. I’d rather not do it right now but since you’re going back to London in 4 days perhaps, I won’t have another chance for another few months otherwise.”

Ok. Now he was intrigued. And feeling his father’s seriousness he answered “Ok. I’ll see what I can do.”

“In the meantime, we’ll see to the arrangements for your stay here.”

---

“Adrien.” He heard his father’s voice from behind and looked back trying to find him, but it wasn’t until the man behind him spoke again that he realized that that man was Gabriel Agreste. And who would have known because he was out of his usual four-piece look, wearing instead slacks and a jacket, and his hair was not styled? Adrien couldn’t remember the last time his father had gone out without his signature hairstyle. 

“Father? Is that you?”

“Of course, it’s me.” He sounded unfairly exasperated, “Who else would I be?”

“Well, it’s just that I’ve never seen you like this before.”

“Like what?” His father looked down clearly inspecting his clothes to see if anything was out of place.

“Like this.” Adrien made a circular movement with his hands trying to convey the concept, “All this. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you dressed this casually.”

“It’s easier here. People in this city don’t seem to connect the man you’re seeing now with me. I guess I’m just not expected here.” He figured his father wasn’t being clear on purpose, as there were people around in the lobby. “It’s easier to move around this way unrecognised. I don’t think this would work in Paris though. Are you done here?”

“Yes.”

“Let’s go, then.”

---

“So, father.” Adrien started after he put his bags down in the hotel room, “What was so urgent for you to want me to come here on such short notice? And how did you manage to find Nathalie after all this time?”

“Well…” His father started, “I’m not proud of what I am going to say but I hired a private detective to find her.”

“Oh. And…” Adrien couldn’t hide his anxiety because he just remembered, “She’s not ill again, is she? That isn’t be why you had me come in such a hurry.” Adrien had worried a lot for Nathalie during her illness, and he’d never wish for her son to go through the same, but she’d seemed mostly physically alright when she left them. Hopefully it was unlikely that she’d had a relapse just as his father had managed to find her.

“No, Adrien. Calm down. Nathalie’s fine. She’s…well, there’s no easy or not embarrassing way to confess what I’m about to, especially to my son, but…” For his father to be this embarrassed it could only mean that he and Nathalie were finally together, but if that was the case, he didn’t think his father would have denied it over the phone which just made things more awkward because what could else make his father act like this?

“Dad! What. Is. It? Just say it and get over with this.”

His father sank down on the bed and rubbed his hands on his face before he spoke.

“Well, you see… Nathalie and I, we…”

“You’re together?”

“No, Adrien, we’re not, and stop interrupting. What I have to say is already embarrassing enough. We…slept together before. Once, when she still lived with us. I swear to you it wasn’t a thing between us, but it did happen once.” And then he stopped as if trying to find the words again. 

Of course, they had. Adrien hadn’t been blind regarding his father and Nathalie’s relationship; he’d seen how they both were always orbiting around each other and not just Nathalie around him as would be expected of her as his assistant. 

His father has never shown the affection he’d shown Nathalie to anyone outside his mother and Adrien himself, and for a time not even to him. So, it had only been natural for Adrien to make inferences about the actual status of their relationship. But he hadn’t thought his father would keep a relationship with Nathalie secret either. No, that would be demeaning to her but there had definitely been something there that Adrien was never quite able to put his finger on.

As his father seemed to come to a stop, Adrien made a hand movement for his father to proceed.

“I don’t want you to think less of us, son. Especially of her. Nathalie has always been very…” 
This was painful to watch.

“Father, you do realize I’m an adult now, don’t you? You’re not traumatizing me or anything.”

“Ok.” Then Gabriel looked up at his oldest and Adrien could actually see his father shaping up again and “There was one night, after Fashion Week, Nathalie had done a brilliant job organizing everything, everything went so perfectly fluid. It was a personal victory for her; because you remember how sick she’d been and it was a major success for the company too, so we…celebrated and….” Gabriel made a sideways movement with his forearm.

“I get it, father. You don’t have to spell it for me.” 

“Well, as you might also remember, my old self wasn’t in a good place emotionally and I didn’t deal with the aftermath very tactfully. When Nathalie discovered she was pregnant, she…” 

But Gabriel was interrupted by an astonished “Wait, wait, Nathalie was pregnant?”

“Yes. She was. That’s why I wanted you to come here. This isn’t something to talk about over the phone.”

“Did you tell her to have an abortion or something? God, father! I can’t believe you!”

“I did no such thing!” His father raised his voice as his whole body went rigid.  “I didn’t know she was pregnant when she left.” And in a more subdued chagrined voice, “She never told me.”

The hairs on the back of Adrien’s neck stood up, “Why wouldn’t she want you to know?”

“Nathalie felt I wouldn’t be…supportive of her. That I wouldn’t want the child. So, she left. That’s why I couldn’t find her afterward. Because she didn’t want me to discover that we had a child together.”

“Damn, father. You must have really messed up with her afterward for her to hide from you like that.”

He scowled back at him, as he attempted to loom over Adrien. “May I remind you I am still your father, boy.”

But Adrien wasn’t cowed the way he’d been as a teenager.  “May I remind you that I’m not a boy anymore.”

There was an odd feeling forming in his belly and a constriction in his throat at the thought of meeting Nathalie again. Knowing now that she could have been with them if not for his father. He didn’t want this feeling to fester, so he had to ask. “What did you do to her that she felt she had to leave us?” 

By the look on his face, it was clear that Gabriel hadn’t expected to have to answer that question. “I…” And judging by the amount of time he was taking to formulate an answer, his father had indeed done something. “I ignored her. I treated her as if she was merely an assistant. I refused to talk about anything that wasn’t work.”

“You didn’t.” Adrien couldn’t mask the outrage he felt on Nathalie’s behalf.  “Father! How could you? It was Nathalie!”

“I know, Adrien!” Now it was his father’s outburst. “Don’t you think that I know? And I lost her because of this.”

“No, father.” Said Adrien trying to keep his voice leveled, “You deserved to lose her. I didn’t. Nathalie was like a mother to me when there was no one else. And I lost her because of you. Because you couldn’t let go of the memory of mom! I lost another mom because you ignored her after you slept with her!”

His father’s back hit the mattress as he hid his face in his hands and breathed deeply repeatedly until his jaw stopped clenching and Gabriel was able to speak again. “I know. I’m sorry. I know it doesn’t erase what I did or fix things, but I want you to know that I’m sorry.”

Adrien didn’t know what to say or how to react to that. His father just accepting he made a mistake wasn’t new nowadays, but it was not a common occurrence either. So, Adrien just imitated him and laid down too.

“Nathalie wants to see you.” His father says. “She told me to ask you if you want to have dinner at her house.”

“You’re going to be there too, I gather.”

“Of course, I will.” 

“Ok.” He says looking at his cell phone to check what time it was.” It’s almost seven. Is it too far from here?”

“No. Not too far.”

“Do I have a brother or a sister?” 

“A brother. His name is Bastien.”

“Oh, boy.” Now it was Adrien’s turn to sit on the bed and “Wow, father. A brother.” And then “And how are you, father? With all this?” Because this must have been a shock.

“I am surprisingly alright. I mean, it was never my plan to have another child, but I won’t abandon Nathalie a second time.” And then “You’re taking this very maturely, son.”

“Things are the way things are, father.” Adrien shrugged. And saw his father give him a half-smile. 

“How did you manage to find her, anyway? As I recall, you told me you had tried in the past with no success.”

“I hired a private detective. That was how I found out.”

“And how did Nathalie react to seeing you here?”

“Better than I expected, actually. She even let me see him.”

“You did? When? How was it?”

“About a month ago. I’ve been coming here almost every day to see him. He’s three years old, very intelligent, and articulate for his age. I’m sure he inherited that from his mother. He also looks like Nathalie. Has her eyes and hair. I was hoping you’d want to meet him.”

“I do, of course, I do, but does he know you’re his father? Will you tell him I’m his brother?”

“He knows I’m his father and that I have a son yes.”

“And how did he take this?”

“Surprisingly well. I can’t imagine that I would if I were his age. Perhaps it was the fact that Nathalie hasn’t let any ill feelings she had leak to the child.” Adrien was impressed because he was an adult and was still trying to digest the fact that his father had a child with Nathalie.

Nathalie, the woman who raised him. Who they hadn’t seen in at least four years.

“And how is Nathalie taking your presence back into her life?”

“She’s been…” It was hard to see his father struggling with words. He always knew what to say and the fact that he was having difficulty expressing himself was a testament to how everything was weighing on him. “She remembered how I was before, and she’s been careful with how much I interfere in Bastien’s life but she’s willing to give me a chance and that’s more than I could have hoped for after what I did to you.”

“Father…” But his father wasn’t finished.

“And to her.” He stopped talking for another moment and then, “I told her I want to participate in Bastien’s life. That I wanted to be there for both of them. Nathalie’s been doing this alone from the beginning and that’s long enough. I won’t dodge my responsibilities anymore.

---

Before, there was a time when he had always felt warm and protected in Nathalie’s presence. After, during a period when she had drawn off from him, he’d felt cold and alone. Now, after all this time, he was nervous.

When Nathalie opened the door Adrien felt like a child again. He never thought he would feel so anxious. She was so different from what he remembered. She looked so much younger even though four years have passed. And he’d never seen her hair down. It was beautiful and her haircut made it wavy and gave her a messy and slight romantic look that deeply contrasted with all the memories he had of her, especially as she was also wearing a simple purple canoe collared two-layer dress that flowed very nicely around her until it reached her knees. 

Nathalie was more beautiful than ever.

Then after what seemed like hours, she put both of her hands on the sides of his face and said, “You turned into such a handsome man.” Smiling but at the same time trying to contain tears.

“Hi, Nathalie.” He intelligently answered as he was sure his expression mirrored hers. 

“Hi.” She whispered.

Then he hugged her, and she hugged him back and told him, “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.”

When they parted, Nathalie turned to look down at the little boy behind her and his father was right, he indeed looked like his mother but there was something of his father in him that Adrien knew was there but couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was.

He looked expectant. And his eyes went from their father to Adrien as if trying to fish for any resemblance, until Nathalie told him. “Bastien, this is Adrien. He’s Gabriel’s son.”

Adrien squatted to see his little brother better and said, “Hi, Bastien. Nice to meet you.”

Bastien extended his small hands in return and answered, “Hi, Adrien. I’m mister Gabriel’s son too.

And Adrien didn’t know if he would die right there from the boy’s cuteness or if he should be horrified by the fact that Bastien had called their father mister Gabriel, but he pushed that feeling aside and said, “I know, father told me. That makes us brothers, right? That makes us family.” Adrien was speaking very calmly to his little brother. Explaining and at the same time...he didn’t actually know what. Bastien just smiled adorably at him. He never thought he’d be in a situation like that, but Nathalie saved him.

“Let’s get inside.”

He felt a little bit watched by his father, but that feeling was soon forgotten as Adrien took in his surroundings. Nathalie’s house was simple, with white walls and her furniture was all made of reddish wood. Her sofa was dark blue as were the chair seats and the stool seats. He could see the similarities with her old room. The wood, the books. There weren’t a lot of decorative objects on the shelves as they were full of Nathalie’s books. 

“Wow.”

“What?” Nathalie asked.

“I…” Adrien felt he’d never seen Nathalie in her own environment, and this was a little bit too much considering that no one he previously knew looked like the people he remembered. His father was still elegant but the Gabriel Agreste he knew never wore a less than formal outfit at home, let alone in public, Nathalie never looked so carefree and neither of them used to have a son together because as much as he always wanted them to be a couple in the past his father has always been too wrapped up in his mother’s memories to give Nathalie (or any other woman) a chance. So, to be here now and for this reason, was surreal.

“You look so different.”

She smiled. “You too. I can see more of your father’s features in you now.”

Adrien looked down to Bastien and said “He looks a lot like you too. Got your best traits.” And then to his brother, “Do you think you look more like your mommy or like our dad?”

The boy smiled at Nathalie and said, “Like mommy.”

“I do too.”

Just then Bastien raised his hands up to Gabriel, who up until that moment had been mute, and his father picked him up and then he began to inspect his father’s face by touching the contour of his cheekbones, sliding downwards past his nose. He then looked at Adrien and extended his little hands in his brother’s direction propelling Gabriel to move closer and even though Bastien didn’t try to exchange arms, he did try to reach Adrien’s face running his fingers over the same places exactly like he did to their father. When he was satisfied, he stated, “You look like him.”

Adrien was quite taken aback by that. His father had mentioned that he was an intelligent boy but being so intensely scrutinized in such detail and the tenderness of Bastien’s little fingers was an intense experience. Not unpleasant, no. But very intense, making Adrien look for support from his father who, at this point, was looking back at him looking equally affected but for an entirely different reason because Gabriel said, “No one’s ever thought you had any resemblance to me at all. It’s nice to finally hear someone say that.”

Ding!

Nathalie looked over at where the sound that had broken the intensity of the moment came from, and announced, “Dinner is ready.”

It was a new experience seeing his father carrying his little brother and the way Bastien wasn’t at all shy around him. It suggested they’d had some time to get used to each other. Adrien had no memories of Gabriel doing the same with him and wondered if he ever did. He couldn’t deny the emotion in his father’s eyes at the recognition of their resemblance so perhaps that had been a sensitive issue for Gabriel. A secret wish.  Maybe he’d always wanted to see himself reflected in his son. In him. Adrien. Not Bastien. 

Was he jealous because of the attention his father was bestowing Bastien while he had no recollection of his father giving him this kind of affection in his own childhood? Now was definitely not the time for his childhood issues to emerge.

---

It was like his father already belonged here. The way he helped Bastien to his highchair, how he obviously knew where things were in Nathalie’s kitchen, how easily they both instantly fell into what looked like a routine with Gabriel setting the table without being told and Nathalie arranging the food in their bowls and when she was done, he helped her bring everything to the table.

It was eerily reminiscent of how well-oiled they’d always worked but there always had been the fact that there was a hierarchy between them. A formality during all the time Nathalie had worked for his father and then afterward when she’d lived with them. For example, even after she started living at the mansion, Nathalie never had any of her meals at the dinner table with them. Watching them now, it was difficult to reconcile that with this because they looked like an old married couple. A couple that had a kid together. 

That was without mentioning that never in his entire life, had he seen his father set the table, make coffee, or even put the dishes in the dishwasher. They’d always had staff for that. Someone to cook, clean, take care of the landscaping around the mansion, everything. All of that was under Nathalie’s supervision. His mother did tend to her roses, but that was the extent of manual involvement any of his parents ever had in the works of their house. As an adolescent, Adrien had never spared too much thought to the house’s management, but it became painfully clear that Nathalie went above and beyond her duties as Andrea had refused to include that in her contract.

“This is delicious, Nathalie. Did you know how to cook like this when you still worked for father?”

“Why is it that everyone asks that?” She said indignantly, and then, “But no, I didn’t know how to cook then. It was all Bastien’s fault, wasn’t it, honey?”

“Yes.” He said smiling at them.

“So, Bastien how old are you?” Adrien asked knowing full well the answer to that, but he wanted to include his brother in the conversation, and it was less awkward than the conversation he’d probably have later with Nathalie and his father. 

--- 

Bath time was something very disconcerting for Adrien. It was going even deeper into this alternate reality where his father behaved like an ordinary man, in an ordinary family. It all began when Nathalie asked his father, “Can you bathe him today? I don’t want to ruin my dress now that we have visitors.”

“I- I’ve…never done that.” His father looked like a deer in the headlights, looking from Nathalie to Bastien and then back to Nathalie.

“Oh, there’s no mystery, you’ve seen me do it plenty of times already. Just use the handheld showerhead and please don’t let him get his hair wet at this time of the night. I’ll get his clothes.”

As he saw his father move to obey Nathalie’s instructions and Bastien follow him into the bathroom, his mind couldn’t help thinking why had he never got this? His father had this in him. He could have been like this all those years ago. 

Rationally, he knew that back then his father was still young, proving himself to the world and probably to his mother’s family because he knew his father didn’t come from money while his mother’s family was a very traditional, influential, and wealthy one. His mother must have really loved his father because there was no way his grandparents would have approved of her marrying outside their high society circle.

Rationally he knew his father had been depressed after his mother died and that it had taken his almost death to take him out of that inertial state. But it still hurt to see what his father was capable of doing if you took away all the that had been restraining him for all that time. To see what could have been. To imagine his thirteen-year-old self with a little brother like Bastien. Nathalie bathing Bastien and asking Adrien to pass her the baby shampoo. Him, giving her the towel. It was all too idyllic. If only his father had seen Nathalie before.
 
---

Only his father would make him go through a backward situation like this one, where Adrien played the role of the father and Gabriel played the part of the son seating beside the girl he liked to confess that they’d had an accident. 

“So,” Adrien said. 

“So.” Both adults said in response and Adrien ironically thought:  There! There’s the well-oiled machine again!

“So, what are you guys going to do? Have you talked about it?”

It’s his father who speaks first. “Yes, we have. We’re still figuring out the details, but I want to be part of your brother’s life. I’ve learned from my mistakes, son.”

Adrien nodded. He should be satisfied with his father’s answer. Oddly, he wasn’t. “Are you talking about shared custody? How would that even work with you both living so far apart?”

“No, no. I’m thinking of coming here during the week to see Bastien and help Nathalie with things.”

“What about the company?”

“What about the company? I’ll keep working until around four o’clock then I’ll get in the jet and come here, just as I’ve been doing for almost a month now.”

“Why don’t you move here then? It would be the same number of flights, but you wouldn’t have to go back and forth in one night.”

There was a silence that Adrien knew meant his dad wasn’t telling him something and then Gabriel spoke, “It’s an option we haven’t considered” looking at Nathalie. 

“We haven’t thought of that, but I could look for something for you nearby if that’s the best option,” Nathalie said in response to his dad’s look. Interesting how both of them were using the plural in their answers.

“Would you consider a bigger house?”

“Gabriel, I don’t think any love interests you might have in the future would be understanding of that situation. Of you living platonically with your friend with whom you also have a child. No, you’d end up moving out sooner or later and Bastien wouldn’t understand that. But I do think a bigger house would be a good thing for when you and Adrien are in town visiting. I’m sure you’d appreciate a more comfortable bed and not to have to live out of a suitcase every time you’re here” Looking at his father’s face Adrien could see some longing and dissatisfaction in the face of Nathalie’s response even if it all made perfect sense and the result was indeed the best one possible, but then Nathalie amended, “I’m sorry, Adrien. I didn’t mean to presume you’d want to stay in my house or anything. I realize this must be overwhelming for you. It’s just…” 

And that just squashed whatever romantic thoughts he’d had about what was happening between his father and Nathalie again. But this time, it looked that she had done just the same to his father’s hopes too? Maybe? If Adrien was reading the situation correctly? But it made sense that Nathalie would be reticent about giving his father a chance given his history. Adrien understood that completely because Bastien made Gabriel a fixture in their lives, and she didn’t need any more complications than she already had being a single mother and all.

“No, Nathalie. I mean, yes, it is unexpected, but it’s a good surprise. I mean, Bastien is great, and you know I’ve always wanted a sibling. And of course, I’d prefer to stay with you then in a hotel.”

“Yes, you did, but…I’d think that whenever you imagined that you’d never thought it would be like this.”

“No, I didn’t. I thought father would marry you first.”

Adrien didn’t remember having ever seen Nathalie blush, “Oh, don’t be silly. It was never like that between us.” She spoke.

Adrien raised an eyebrow silently implying there was something between her and his father making her blush deeper when he heard said man say, “Tread very carefully there, Adrien.” And when Adrien looked at him, his father’s countenance wasn’t friendly anymore. “I won’t tolerate you talking to Nathalie like that.”

“I didn’t mean to offend you, Nathalie.” And to Gabriel, “You know that ever since I came to terms with mother’s disappearance, I’ve wanted you two to be together, father.”

Now it was Gabriel’s turn to blush a little. 

“You did?” Asked Nathalie. 

“Of course, Nathalie. You were like a second mother to me. Even when mom was still around you took care of me and after…well, after you were all I had until father got back on his feet. I missed you.” And he really wanted to have finished that sentence calling her mom, but he couldn’t because he didn’t know if she’d be comfortable with it and because of the lump that had formed in his throat. 

But Nathalie seemed to still know him and just crossed the space between the sofa she’d been on with his father and the chair he was on, knelt in front of him, and without asking for permission hugged him tightly, sinking her face onto his shoulder. 

“I’m sorry I left you.” She said, crying if the humidity in the collar of his shirt was any indication. “It was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I’m sorry if I hurt you, Adrien.”

---

After their son-parents eye to eye session was over Nathalie had asked him how long he’d be in Toulouse and if he really preferred to stay at the hotel or her house. Nathalie’s house wasn’t big and having him and his dad there, as he just discovered his father always stayed over (and that was another source of concern), felt like it was pushing it, but she said they had plenty of space. Adrien told her he’d sleep tonight at the hotel since his things were all there anyway, but that he’d bring his luggage in the morning.

It made sense and it was all true, but Adrien did intend to make use of that neutral territory to have a little chat with his father.

---

"You're good with him." 

Gabriel looked over in surprise. "You think?" 

"Seemed like it out there," Adrien fiddled with the cuff of his sleeve but then looked up meeting his eyes, "Are you going to be able to keep it up?" 

"What?" 

"Because that little boy," 

"Your brother." Gabriel corrected him.

"My brother doesn't deserve to be let down by you. And neither does Nathalie." 

"I'm not planning to let them down," Adrien could see the defensiveness and hurt rise in his father. 

It must be hard to think you could never be forgiven for your past mistakes, but he couldn’t help it. He couldn’t deny to himself that seeing his father with Nathalie and Bastien had had an effect on him, but that wasn’t why he needed to say this, and he had to say it. "Dad," Adrien's tone was softer, "I know you're trying to make things up to them both for missing the first three years of his life but, this, being there all the time. Playing with him. If you can't keep it up, then it's fairer not to give them such high expectations in the first place. Nathalie might understand, but Bastien's too young." 

"I kept it up with you, didn't I?" Gabriel says. 

"I was a teenager. That’s not the same thing. I mean, Nathalie says you've volunteered to take him to his swimming lessons? That's… you never did things like that with me even when Mom was around."

“Then I was still building my name and the company. It's different now that things are settled." 

"You weren't still building the brand when Mom left."

"Your mother..." His voice was strangled, and he trailed off, as Adrien wondered how much of that time he’d never talked about to anyone. "I know I didn't deal with her absence in the best way. I know that, Adrien. I know how much I hurt you in the process and you didn’t deserve that. I won't make the same mistakes now."


"I know. You've apologized before. But I don't know."

"Don't know what?" 

"It doesn't matter." But before Gabriel can say something, else Adrien says, "does that not making the same mistakes refer to Nathalie too?"

"What do you mean?"

"You come here every night." Adrien's serious about this. "You already got her pregnant once." 

It was evident that his father wasn’t expecting that from him if his popped eyes were any indication. “Watch out…” but now that Adrien he had started, he would go to the end. 

"What are your intentions with her, dad?"

“What?” 

At this point, Adrien’s internal monologue answer to his father was I am asking myself the same question because this conversation is all backward. It should be you telling me all this. Not to get my girlfriend pregnant and ask me what my intentions with Marinette are, but hey! Let’s just go with the flow, ok. But what Adrien actually said was "you said it's a co-parenting thing but now I've seen you two together, that's not how you look at her. You have to think about what you're doing with her and how this will affect your future relationship with Bastien."

"How do I look at her?"

"Not very platonically.” 

"What? No." He blushed, and Adrien has never seen his father blush in his entire life, and this was the second time just tonight. "Do you think she's noticed?"

"I don't know." Adrien said, "I'd have thought she must have, but maybe she's convinced herself to ignore it for his sake. She seems pretty comfortable with you though.” A little taken back by his father's sudden admission and despite all the warnings about not disappointing Nathalie and because Adrien did think they could be good for each other he added, "Maybe she's just waiting for you to make a move.”

“You think?” Gosh! His father was such a teenager! You’d think his mother was his only girlfriend in his entire life, but it made sense in a weird way if you think about it, since he married his mother more than twenty years ago now and he’d never seen his father show any romantic interest for any other woman other than Nathalie and look how things turned out there. 

“I think she might, but dad I’m serious about this. Nathalie was the only mother figure I had after mom left, so don’t hurt her because I won’t be on your side."