"M-my love, p-please continue moving those wonderful hips like that!"
"L-Like this?"
"Oh just like that!"
Gabriel moaned with a shaking voice as he reached out to grab Nathalie's waist but once his hands slid under her shirt the designer could once again feel her rough scar. And just when he accidentally brushed across the 'mark' the young woman immediately pulled back.

"Sorry." Both adults mumbled at the same time which afterwards caused total silence. So they stayed like that for a minute or two before Nathalie sighed and got off of her boss's lap.

"I'm sorry." She said once again "I wish I could do a better Emilie impression but it's difficult"
"No It's fine. You did great." Gabriel smiled as tried to hold his assistant in his arms but the young woman rejected him. "Nathalie? Look at me please."
"N-no!"
"Please Nath...did I make you uncomfortable when I touched your...scar?"
"Well a little..." She whispered hesitantly "...but that's not your fault."
"Yes, I understand." Gabriel slowly shifted closer to his assistant and after he earned an agreeing nod from her he pulled the blanket over the both of them. "Don't hesitate to tell me if anything I do makes you feel awkward. I wouldn't want to hurt you in that way."
"Alright, thank you."
"Please, it's the bare minimum." The designer chuckled as he laid a kiss on top of Nathalie's forehead and wished her a good night.

...

Gabriel woke up first since he was afraid that Adrien would once again sneak into the room and surprise both adults with his hateful comments. But thankfully there was no sight of the kid, so to make sure that he wouldn't get in later throughout the day the designer went to lock the door.
As he did so his assistant woke up to the sound of the keys clattering and once she rubbed her sleepy eyes she could see her boss closing the bedroom exist.
For a second the young woman got scared that he might be onto something sketchy so Nathalie quickly jumped out of bed and stood the furthest away from Gabriel.

"What do you want!?" She shouted to which the grey haired man froze in one place confused.
"N-nothing? I just wanted to lock the door..."
"Why? Why does it need to be locked? So I can't run away?!"
"What? No-no-no Nathalie, it's so that Adrien can't get in." He laughed "remember when he started fussing about us sleeping together but we didn't, well I just couldn't let that happen a second time so...don't worry you can leave whenever you want to, I'm not trying to keep you hostage.
"O-oh...sorry...I really thought...you wanted something...gosh I'm so stupid!"
"You're not don't worry. It was only a quick reaction out of instinct...because of well...Tom I assume. Did he lock the door many times?"

Nathalie nodded to his words embarrassed.

"I thought so. But don't worry, you're safe now and I promise nothing bad will ever happen to you." Gabriel whispered whilst he made his way over to the terrified young woman who was still somewhat shaking from the thought of her past. "I'll protect you at all costs Nath."
"T-thank you." She faintly smiled feeling her boss's arms pull her close "Y-you're really sweet."
"I'm just doing the bare minimum."

And so he was, but to Nathalie that was much more than just "the bare minimum" it was the nicest anyone has ever been to her. So within seconds the assistant couldn't help it anymore but fall into tears.

"T-thank y-you a-agin, t-this m-means s-so m-much t-to m-me."
"What exactly?"
"Y-you s-saying a-all of t-those n-nice t-things."
"Oh Nathalie, you can't be serious right now. Has no one ever cared for you?"

She hesitated to answer.

"I thought you and Martin were-"
"He did care but I didn't. I'm not sure if I ever really loved him, because he was just a distraction..."
"A distraction? What for?"
"So that I wouldn't feel so pathetic about myself!" The young woman cried "I needed validation, and there he was giving it all to me, so I took my chance and...and now here I am...calling him a distraction..."
"Oh...well I'm sorry. I hope you find someone-"
"I hope so too."
Nathalie sighed as she now broke free from Gabriel's arms and walked up to the door, but when she tried to push down the handle that cursed thing didn't open.
"Do you-"
"-yes...I want to leave! Please open the door."

Without hesitation the designer handed over the key to her but even when Nathalie managed to get the door open she didn't leave right away. Instead she looked back at her boss and quietly mumbled.

"Thank you, for everything."

Gabriel nodded and he was about to reply with "you're welcome" but before he could do so his assistant slammed the door shut leaving the grey haired man speechless.

The designer also feeled a bit guilty, but he didn't exactly know what for.
Maybe it was because he pitied Nathalie a little too much or because he also found himself in the same situation as her.

"I'm not sure if I ever really loved him, because he was just a distraction..."

The young woman's words stuck with him.
And maybe she made her boss realize that this exact feeling applied to both him and Emilie.

I mean after all they didn't love each other by choice, it was simply because both of their parents quite literally forced the two young teenagers to like one-another. So potentially the designer never actually thought about his feelings towards the woman he used to call "wife."

But at the same time Gabriel wouldn't have terrorized the whole of Paris if he had no feelings towards Emilie.

So now the grey haired man shook his head confused as he was not sure what to think.
Did he love her or not?

Meanwhile this Nathalie was walking back home all on her own, but suddenly she decided otherwise and took the other turn which lead straight to the Eiffel Tower.

There she decided to take a stroll and admire the view of Paris which she hasn't seen in a long time since the young woman mostly spent her time in the office only staring out the window and not actually experiencing it real life.
So without even noticing how quickly time had passed Nathalie was still there when the sky turned dark and the stars were her only source of light alongside with the moon.

The young woman rubbed her sleepy eyes as she took one last look at the sky and almost feel asleep right then and there, but before she could do so a loud crash woke her up.

"Oh you bastard! You broke my fucking shell!"
"Too bad!" A familiar voice laughed and it didn't take long before Nathalie recognized that this was her boss's voice making fun of some...kids?...The heroes!

But how was that possible?! And what did he want?!

Gabriel already had both miraculouses he needed to bring back his wife...but he wanted more?
The assistant didn't know what her superior's intentions were but she could sure see that he wasn't satisfied with what he had.

"You! Turtle boy! Come back! It's not worth fighting Hawk Moth he's too strong!"
"But M'lady! He is alone, with no Mayura! We can win!"
"Boy! Don't risk it!"

But it was already too late as the blond superhero who was originally Chat Noir now 'Trutle boy' had jumped after the villain and left his lady with no other choice but to follow him.

Although she wasn't even involved in the fight Nathalie still felt extremely worried for her boss because he didn't have Mayura with him, so without thinking anything through she tried to get her partner's attention by yelling his (villain) name.
And fortunately for her Hawk Moth heard the assistant's shouting.

"What do you want?!" He asked jumping down to the ground where the young woman stood.
"More like what do you want!?! You already have the miraculouses."
"Okay but I need something else!"
"And what's that!?!"
"The bunny miraculous!"
"What?! Why?!"
"Because." The villain sighed looking away for a moment "...because I want to go back in the past and see who took my daughter."
"Sir that's dange-"
"I KNOW ITS DANGEROUS! C-can you just trust me for once and let me do this on my own?"
"B-but I can help!-"
"No Nathalie no, I'm not hurting you ever again for my own selfish reasons." And with that Hawk Moth kissed her hand before leaving the young woman all flustered as well as speechless.

"Did you have a nice chat with your girlfriend?" The ladybug girl now dressed as Rena Rouge laughed but her partner didn't, instead the blond boy gave his enemy a death stare before yelling:
"WHO WAS SHE!?!?!"
"A friend."
"Liar! You're probably using her for some evil plan of yours!!"
"I-I'm not!" Hawk Moth stuttered to say as he noticed that the hero in front of him became awfully protective of Nathalie although they couldn't possibly know each other. "But even if I was...why would that bother you? Huh?"
"DONT 'HUH' ME!" Said he, but Gabriel couldn't focus any longer to what the child was saying since the "don't 'huh' me." reminded him of something:

~~
"Don't 'huh' me! You know what to do! Fuck me Gabriel!"
"I'd rather not...you also don't want it-"
"-Do you want our parents to 'take matter into their own hands'?!?! DO YOU?!?!..." She yelled to which the young man vigorously shook his head "...No, exactly. So since I'm so incompetent maybe you can just-"
~~

"What's wrong grandpa?" The kids laughed as their enemy was now shaking his head trying to forget all about his past but he was simply unable to.
"Oh I think a bug got into his ear."
"M'lady that's not possible, haven't you seen his helmet?"
"SHUT UP! THE BOTH OF YOU JUST BE QUIET"
Hawk Moth shouted to which everything and everyone fell into silence, but only for a little while, because after a few seconds the kids were back to normal laughing just like they did before.
So as quick as he could the villain decided to make an escape.

Of course Nathalie who was still there watching this whole show saw that her boss was now fleeing the scene so without hesitation she followed him home where he de-transformed and collapsed onto the floor crying.

"Sir!!" The young woman fell next to him as she was out of breath from sprinting all the way here, but after a few seconds she managed to catch her breath and talk normally "what happened?"
"The-the boy...he reminds me...of Emilie."
"Pardon?"
"You know! That blond kid who was Chat Noir but now is using the turtle miraculous! He! The way he said the things he said sounded so much like her..."
"S-sir...you know what that mean..."
"That I'm going insane?"
"No." The young woman gulped before putting on the most serious expression of them all and staring her boss straight in the eyes "you might know this boy."
"Elaborate..."
"Gabriel!" She shouted now gripping his vest and pulling the grey haired man closer "THINK GABRIEL THINK!!"
"TELL ME NATHALIE TELL ME!!"
"THIS BOY MIGHT BE YOUR SON!!"
"WHAT?!?!"
"It makes sense." The assistant explained "he sounds like Emilie, also has green eyes and blond hair...Adrien!"
"No-...b-but w-why w-would m-my son b-be a h-hero?"
"Because he just wants to make things right."

And with that the designer realized that there was something much more important than getting the bunny miraculous...which was to find out who hid behind the mask of Chat Noir and Turtle boy.

To be continued-