"Nathalie-" The fashion designer shouted in fear as he saw his assistant collapse on the floor.
"Nathalie, oh my Nathalie are you-"

"I am fine sir."The young woman smiled weakly as much of her strength had already been drained out by the dizzy spell which she had just experienced a second ago.
So although the assistant was smiling, she didn't look as if she was in a great state.
It mostly just appeared to be a forced smile, and Gabriel could clearly see that.

"Nath." her boss sighed "I'm so sorry, this is all because of me, a-and-"

"S-sir please!" She cut him off "I told you that I wanted to help you, so you shouldn't blame yourself, it's all my decisions."

"B-but-"

"Sir!" Her frustrated voice made the designer go quiet.
Instead he simply accepted his employee's selfless behavior and kneeled down next to her, so that he could at least help a tiny bit.

"May I?" Gabriel questioned as he gestured with his hands that he wanted to pick her up.
And Nathalie nodded.
So almost automatically, as they've done this multiple times before, the man without hesitation reached out, placed the woman into his arms, and carried the assistant up to his room.

Yet regardless of the fact that Nathalie has been in this situation before, she still felt a bit flustered.
In fact she blushed the second that she felt herself lying in her superior's arms which were holding onto her so securely that anyone who wouldn't have known these two would've mistaken then for a couple.

Though they weren't.

Quite the contrary.

The two adults did everything in their powers to remain 'professional' with their interactions, but clearly that wasn't working out because almost always after having a failed plan Nathalie somehow ended up sleeping tightly against her boss who also wasn't so innocent as he didn't at all hate their 'relationship'.
To be honest Gabriel very much enjoyed talking care of his employee and by that breaking some of their 'professional work partner' barriers.

However of course, his heart was still helplessly stuck on Emilie.
So although the two cuddled almost every single night, the designer still couldn't and wouldn't love his assistant the proper way.
Though she herself wasn't so bothered by that, after all she liked the affection he showed her after she'd get dizzy, or feel the tiniest bit ill.

Therefore both Nathalie and Gabriel had fun as they kept up this strange 'relationship' with one another.

"Stay here, I will be back soon." The designer whispered after placing the woman down onto the soft mattress and making his way out of the room, but this time to call for his son:

"Adrien!" The man yelled and the reply came almost instantly:

"Yes father?" His son yelled back, from the other side of the mansion.

"I have good news...you can have that sleepover with Nino."

And the second Gabriel uttered that the teenager's emotions changed so quickly that not even Adrien himself believe how happy he was to finally get out of the house and hang out with his friend.
So, as quickly as he could, the boy sprinted back to his room and started packing his bag.

-

Meanwhile this, Nathalie whom was lying on her boss's bed tired, exhausted, and just overall powerless, she still tried to get out of the bed.
For what reason exactly?
No one knows.

The assistant simply wanted to get up.

Maybe it was because she would've liked to prove that she wasn't to weak, or maybe it was because she would've wanted to change her uncomfortable work attire which she was wearing.
Either or both of those possibilities could've been her motivation, so long story short, the woman rolled over to the opposite side of the mattress.

There, next to the bed, was a little night table.
On it a picture of the happy family, Gabriel holding Emilie and Adrien in the middle of it, smiling with his adorable little toddler smile he had back then.

It even made Nathalie tear up a bit as she saw how happy everyone looked, no hurt hearts, no hurt people, it was all just perfect.

Unfortunately though, happiness doesn't last forever.
Gabriel wanted to make it last forever with his forceful ways, but it wouldn't work.
It was clear that all effort and work the two put into getting Emilie back just made everything much worse.

The assistant's health was at its lowest ever whilst Adrien's social life was nonexistent as he had been locked in the house every since the day which his mother 'disappeared'. Or at least the designer liked to phrase it like that because he thought the word "died" would be too much for the blond boy to hear.

So Emilie wasn't 'thought' of as dead, but everyone knew the truth.

Realistically, she was dead.

It was only the term he used so that his son wouldn't feel so sad and think that there was a possibility with 'finding' his mother, although there was none realistically.

Anyways, shaking her head and by that also the tears away, Nathalie attempted to place her hand on the table and like that gain support to stand up, but what she didn't know was that the table she relied on was extremely weak, so the second she placed her weight onto it, the nightstand collapsed, pulling her down also, and by that making a horrific scream echo through the entire house.

Gabriel in an instant got alarmed by the terrific  sound, so he quickly ran back to his room where he found his employee at the edge of the bed trying to stand up.

She was holding onto the bed frame now as a way to have support whilst standing, but slowly the dark haired woman's hands began slipping and she started to panic.

"Gabriel!" She exclaimed anxiously but thankfully the man reacted quick and held her before she could've fallen again.

"Nathalie you need to rest!" He picked her up "Plus what the hell were you thinking when you wanted to stand?!?! You're in a horrible condition to even move!"

"I know!" She replied angrily "I just didn't want to take up space in this bed since you also need to sleep and I-"

"Nathalie!" Gabriel cut her off "What nonsense are you talking about?!?! We sleep together like every night? Why would you want to leave now? Plus even if you'd like to go, you know that your room here at the mansion is under renovation, so you can't sleep there!"

—

Gabriel pulled the blanket over her and sat on the edge of the bed, so he could keep admiring her for a little longer.
The assistant's room was indeed under renovation because it flooded a few days ago and it was not a safe place to be.
So she had been sleeping in her office chair for the last couple of days but she didn't seem to get enough rest this way.

The designer was also worried because the peacock miraculous was also draining her energy and now his assistant looked paler than ever.

...

"Bye father!"-Adrien waved from the door as he left to Nino's house.
This was a perfect time for Hawk Moth to create trouble but he knew he was nothing without his Mayura.
So instead Gabriel carried all of Nathalie's belongings from her room to his.

The designer now stared at how peaceful she looked whilst she was sleeping, and within seconds he realized that he couldn't loose her otherwise he would never be able to forgive himself.
So after this long day of chaos he also went to bed.

*in the morning*

Nathalie usually wakes up rather early but she was so comfortable she couldn't bring herself to do so.
When she finally opened her eyes she thought she was in some type of dream.
Gabriel was next to her? How could this have happened she thought to herself.

"Sir?"
"Yes Nathalie..."
"Ummm...why...am I here..."

The designer rubbed his eyes and looked at Nathalie who was absolutely shocked, and her face was bright red.
"Well good morning Miss, don't you remember? You fell asleep here, because your room is under renovation."
He said as he got out of bed and Nathalie didn't know what to say or think.

As Gabriel left to eat breakfast Nathalie was still in bed processing what just happened to her.
Her thoughts were messed up and chaotic until a voice shouted:
"Nathalie are you coming to eat?"

She jumped out of bed, got dressed quickly, and ran downstairs.

He was there waiting for her so they can eat together, and as Nathalie saw this she blushed in a deep red color.
"Sir? Why did you call me?"
"I will need you after breakfast in my office, be there." He spoke coldly before standing up and leaving her without words.
Now the assistant thought she did something bad because he acted so ignorant towards her but in reality Gabriel was just a really moody person.

*after breakfast*

"Mr. Agreste? You needed me?"
"I need Mayura to help me with my plans."
He turned to face the portrait of Emelie and Nathalie was ready to do anything in her power to help Hawk Moth achieve his goal.
They both transformed and left to the secret room filled with butterflies.

"My dear Mayura I need you to create a very strong spell that can give anyone unlimited powers ."

She nodded and began to construct the spell. Her thoughts were still all around the place so instead of the spell being filled with power it was filled with her problems, and eventually it grew to the point where the whole thing was getting out of control.

"Mayura stoopppppp this isn't what it's meant to look like!"
"I-I-can't." She shouted before the spell took over everything and a blinding light filled the room.
For a moment everything and everyone fell into silence but within seconds when Hawk Moth spotted his assistant collapsed on the floor he exclaimed loudly:
"Nathalie!! Oh my dear!"

He quickly de-transformed and rushed to help her.
Shortly after examining her wounds, Gabriel carried her back to his bed where he laid her down.

Nathalie groaned in pain as her body felt uncomfortable in every position, but soon as Gabriel lifted her a bit and held onto her she became much more comfortable.
"Thank you." The assistant smiled as she held onto her boss who kept her safe and warm with his arms.

"Of course your welcome. By the way do you know what went wrong while you were making the spell?"
I-...I'm not sure, but maybe my emotions...they took over me." She whispered hesitantly "I am sorry I have failed you, it won't happen again."
"Oh it doesn't matter as long as you are well that's all that matters."

Nathalie stared at her boss extremely surprised, he was acting so sweet and kind towards her it melted her heart, and also pained her a bit because she knew her romantic feeling towards him were only getting stronger minute by minute.

To be continued-