"Almost Like A Family" (Miraculous Gabenath)

Chapter XII

Mayura was in the middle of a fight with superheroes, but unfortunately she was slowly losing strength. Ladybug caught her in her yo-yo and Cat Noir tried to remove her miraculous. With the last bit of strength she still had, she pushed the boy away with her foot, then stood up, turned around and pushed Ladybug away. They both immediately got up and attacked Mayura, who no longer had the strength to defend herself. Just as Cat Noir was about to hit her with his staff, Hawk Moth suddenly appeared.
-Leave her! - he shouted. -You'd better give up and give us your miraculouses back! - the girl shouted. - And the ones Mayura stole recently!
-We won't give you anything. We don't owe you anything. Now leave us alone.
-But you started it! - Chat Noir shouted irritably.
-It doesn't matter who started it, what matters is who ends it and who wins. - the villain smiled slightly and then moved straight at the heroes. Ladybug jumped aside and ran straight towards Mayura. Meanwhile, Chat Noir was fighting Gabriel. The girl grabbed Nathalie again with her yo-yo and was about to take the miraculous from her when Hawk Moth pushed her partner away and charged at the heroine. He grabbed her and held her, trying to remove the earrings. At that moment, Cat Noir captured Mayura.
-Release Ladybug!
-Let Mayura go first...
-Just so you can escape with the earrings. Never! You first. Hawk Moth sighed heavily and struck Cat Noir's leg with his staff. He let go of the woman and she fell. Without hesitation, Gabriel left Ladybug to help her up.
-And the miraculous?! - Mayura looked at him with disbelief, regret and slight irritation. Before Gabriel could answer, Ladybug said ironically:
-You couldn't let something happen to your beloved, could you? Mayura and Hawk Moth looked at each other, blushing. When the man turned his head, he saw Cat Noir running towards him.
-Cataclysm! - he shouted and was about to hit in Hawk Moth's miraculous, when at the last moment, Nathalie pushed him aside, so that the hero landed on a building. The building began to collapse, which caused enormous chaos, as a result of which the villains were able to escape safely.

When they got home, Gabriel helped Nathalie up the stairs, and then they both sat down on the couch in the designer's office.
-Why did you do that? - he asked worriedly. - You risked your life. You can't expose yourself like that and put yourself in danger all the time. The woman looked down.
-I wanted to get these miraculouses for you... I know you miss Emilie very much... I wanted you to be happy again...
Then there was a moment of silence. Gabriel wanted to say that it didn't matter anymore, that he loved Nathalie now, but he still lacked the courage. Suddenly the woman started coughing very intensely. Gabriel didn't know what to do, so he picked her up and led her outside to get some fresh air. As he stood there, he thought a lot.
-I can't lose her now. I have to get these miraculouses for her. Nathalie can't suffer like this, I have to heal her... - he thought.
-Thank you... I feel better... - the woman replied after a while. Then the designer took her to a room to rest a bit while he started thinking about something smart plan to obtain miraculouses.
-Ehhh... this wouldn't have happened if I'd told her earlier how I felt about her... but I can't, I'm afraid she'll reject me...

The next weeks passed and the situation looked quite complicated. Gabriel now fought the heroes more often so that he could heal his assistant. The woman wanted to help him, but he kept refusing her due to her health condition. Still, she kept insisting, so he had to agree a few times. He didn't want to tell her about his feelings yet. He decided that he would only tell her once he had the jewelry. He often wondered what the point of it all was. After all, Nathalie used the brooch and became ill in order to obtain the miraculous, which Gariel fights for to heal her.
-It all could have been avoided if I hadn't been so blind. If I had realized earlier that I loved Nathalie, if I had admitted it earlier, if I had told her, I wouldn't be chasing a couple of teenagers now to get stupid earrings and a ring. I feel like it's a never-ending cycle of wrong, stupid decisions. But I won't tell her now that I'm fighting for a miraculous for her, she'll be angry with me because it all makes no sense. I have nothing to help her now anyway... Once I get the miraculous, everything will surely work out. Nathalie will be fine, I will tell her how I feel about her. If only it wasn't too late. I don't want her to use that damned brooch, I want her to rest, but she's too stubborn, she wants to help me so much. I can't refuse her all the time, after all, I've used her help before, she'll figure out that something is wrong. And I'm not ready to confess my love to her, to tell her the truth. On the other hand, I can't watch her suffer because of my fault, because of my mistakes, and suffer because of me, because I can't find some small jewelry to help her!!! I can't protect anyone!!! I've already lost Emilie, I don't want to lose Nathalie again!!! I don't want to, I can't! I won't be able to recover from such a loss! And what will happen to Adrien then? I'm a terrible father to him! I don't listen to him at all, I don't spend time on him! He lost his mother because of me, something will happen to Nathalie soon, it's also my fault! I am only destroying our entire family!!! - Gabriel cried.