Gabenath/Adrienette AU

Part 3

Nathalie patted the back of her hand, then handed her a tissue.

"How long will it take you to pack up your things?" She wondered.

"Less than two hours. There isn't much I still own. Emma's clothes and her toys and stuff, and of course my things. We left the furniture behind, not knowing where to put them anyway."

"Good. I'll accompany you there and we'll get it done in less than one hour. Gabriel can take care of finding a room for you, whilst Emma can stay in Adrien's old one. He's still sleeping on the sofa in your old living room." Nathalie sighed and Marinette could tell that she was worried about her stepson.

"I wished I could do something. But whenever I tried to at least talk to him, find closure, he would hang up or run away. He doesn't know about Emma and hearing about his actual lifestyle I'd prefer he wouldn't find out!"

"Yeah, I thought you'd say something like that. But please think about it, once you've calmed down. Maybe meeting 'his' daughter will make him want to turn his life around again. I know, after everything, after nobody believing you or trusting in you, you have no reason to help him or Gabriel. But maybe you have a last bit of friendly feelings for me and help me to not lose them both."

"I can't decide that now, Nath. I..."

"I know. Take your time!"

After a couple of weeks, in which Marinette was living, working and sleeping in a room just next to Adrien's old bedroom which had become Emma's and started to look a little more girlish with each passing day, due to Gabriel showering her with presents, the half Chinese slowly began to relax. She wasn't all of the time in a stressful situation any longer and started to feel the safety of having a place to stay for the first time in ages again.

That stopped immediately when she was walking down the stairs, her eyes focused on the design she was looking at on her tablet, and bumped directly into her former fiance.

Squealing in shock, she looked up and gasped, then simply stood there, not able to talk or move and stared at him.

Adrien, who was just as terrified, found his voice first and spat.

"What are you doing here?"

"She's working for me. Not that you would care about anything here at all. I expect you to treat Marinette with respect. Do you understand me?" Gabriel scolded him from the first floor.

"Whatever!" He was about to turn around and leave again, when his father ordered.

"I want you to stay and help us with some important things. There are several boxes in the atrium and while you carry them into my office, Marinette can open them and put away the things that are inside. Once she has figured out a system, you will help her with that as well."

Grunting the young model gazed downstairs at the huge wall of boxes.

"I can do that on my own, Gabriel. Just..."

But the designer interjected.

"You will work together and learn to be polite and get along. When we are all living here together, this needs to be solved. Now go. The work won't be done by itself."

Not even giving Adrien a glance from the side, Marinette walked further down and grabbed the first box she could reach, almost making the whole pile collapse.

To her surprise Adrien was at her side in time and caught the swaying boxes bringing them back into position.

"Thank you!" Marinette muttered.

"Yeah, no problem!"

They worked in silence for a while and the young woman could tell that he was watching her. She could almost feel his eyes on her. After some time he posed one question.