Miraculous - The New Guardian

Part 22 - Let out the animal in you(edited)

Attention: contains detailed descriptions of medical conditions, that might disturb sensitive people! Particular lines are in italic!

As Gabriel Agreste entered the room, the doctors had put Nathalie in, so that she could rest and make a full recovery, before she pushed herself too hard again and have any symptoms stay for a long time, or even the rest of her life, his mind all of a sudden was completely clear, and he could make a decision for his future without hesitating or having second thoughts.

The moment, his eyes saw the 'sleeping beauty' resting in that hospital bed, after they had given her a sedative, to let her get some sleep, he knew, that he loved Nathalie more. Even if Emily did survive, what he was still hoping for, she would understand. Somehow she already had, when she silently granted him permission to tend to the younger woman first, before he took care of her.

But the doctors had left no reason, to hope for that. As he was told weeks before, her body was shutting down. She strictly rejected any kind of transplant, and as her kidneys were already failing, she could survive with undergoing dialysis, two or three times a week, for some time. But as her liver wasn't working properly as well, her body would soon be flooded with the toxins, that those organs usually filtered out of her blood.

Not to mention the pressure ulcers on her back, due to the bad blood circulation at the places, she was lying on for so long. Not even the newest air bed technologies were able to prevent that. The toxins would only make those ulcers worse, for they would damage even more tissue, until even muscles and bones would become necrotic, meaning, they'd die and turn black.

The doctors weren't holding back with their picturesque descriptions. The only thing that mattered to him:

Her inner organs were dying, and by doing so, they were poisoning her and so she was dying with them, in the next couple of weeks.

As if he could throw those thoughts out, he shook his head desperately, before he silently walked to Nathalie, and carefully, not to wake her, sat down on the bed, to take her hand and, well, just be with her. The young woman, now without any makeup on, looked exhausted, almost old and worn. He felt guilty, as he noticed that, for it was only his fault. He could have excepted his wife's fade years ago, and neither endangered his assistant nor his son, or anyone else, he once tried to manipulate.

Nathalie did not fully wake up, but she held on to his hand the moment she felt it in her palm. It wasn't long after that, when his own exhaustion overwhelmed him and his eyes fell shut. Gabriels shoulders sank onto the bed aside Nathalie, while he rested his head on her stomach, to which she reacted in her sleep, by laying both hands on his, from the hair product he used to comb it back and somehow 'glue' it to his head, hardened hair. As both immediately felt 'at home' they drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep.

In a different part of the hospital, Adrien was close to having a nervous breakdown. Not only was it a lot to deal with, what his mother had told him, but as he had asked a doctor for a report on Emily's actual condition, he had gotten the same detailed description as Gabriel. And even though his father had already told him, that there was very few hope, he had not believed him. It wasn't fair, he thought. After almost four years of uncertainty, he had just gotten her back, to find out, that she would soon leave him forever. He couldn't cry anymore, he was just feeling numb, there was no pain, no sorrow, no joy, no love, just nothing. Well not exactly nothing. There was an endless amount of rage, that gnawed away everything, that once felt good and made him happy. All that was left was this rage, and the emptiness inside.

But just as he was about to do something really stupid, there was that one girl looking up to him with her ocean-blue eyes and as if it had never been there, the emptiness and the anger dissolved. Without any explanation, not even a word, she took him by his hand and led him outside the clinique, pulled him in and out of small sideways, until they were right at the back door of the bakery.
Still completely silent, she took out her key and unlocked it, to shove him inside and upstairs until they reached her room.