You weren't supposed to know

Phone call

The first couple of days went well. Nathalie had times, when she suddenly vanished in the bathroom and didn't return for about half an hour, but everything else was as usual. At least until Nathalie was accompanying Adrien to a fencing tournament and left her phone on her desk. After he had ignored the incoming calls twice, he walked over and wanted to shut it off, when he read the words 'Cécile Daycare' on the phone and narrowed his brows.

Maybe that was for her relative's child and she was one of the contacts. If they were calling her, it most likely was important. So he answered the call.

"Miss Sancoeur's phone, this is Gabriel Agreste speaking!"

"Oh, sorry, but we really need to talk to Miss Sancoeur, it's urgent. It's about her little daughter!"

He had to sit down immediately.

"Her daughter?", he asked.

"Yes. She is having a fever and won't stop crying. We don't take care of the babies, if they are sick, so she has to come and get her. Would you mind to get her to the phone?"

He inhaled deeply.

"Well, she is actually working somewhere else, but I'm going to come over and get her, if that's okay with you!"

"Agreste was your name? Yes that's okay, you are in the contact list for emergencies."

"Well, if you tell me the address, I'll be there in a couple of minutes!"

He had to close his eyes and take deep breaths for some time, before he could get up and into his car. On his way he remembered, that he didn't have a car seat. But then he pushed that thought to the back of his head. First he had to get there and see for himself.

When he arrived and rang the doorbell, a young woman opened, instantly handing him the crying baby in the car seat and a bag full of baby stuff.

"I'm sorry", she explained, "but I have more than one child and if she has something contagious, I can't take the risk of getting the others sick too. I hope you know, how to get her into the car and fixed?"

"I do know that. Thank you. And I am very certain, that you won't have to fear about her being contagious in the future, as she won't come back to a place, where a sick child is almost tossed into the cold, as soon as the door opens. Good bye!", he stated contemptuously and then walked away without waiting for a reaction.

He quickly fixed the seat in the back of his car and hit the road to get back to the mansion. He had considered, to take her out of the seat to comfort her, before he did, but then decided, it would be better to do that at his home.

He arrived a couple of minutes later and rushed inside now, to try and calm the still crying baby down. He placed the car seat on Nathalie's desk and opened the belt, that held the little girl. Then he carefully lifted her up and held her to his chest. He felt her forehead, while he softly rocked her on his arm, then started pacing around until she eventually was so exhausted from all the crying, that she fell asleep on his shoulder.

Nathalie, who had noticed, that she didn't have her phone with her, stormed into the office only a quarter of an hour later, to stand there petrified and stared at Gabriel Agreste holding her precious little daughter, who was still asleep on his shoulder. She run towards them and was about to take her from him, when he shook his head and whispered:

"Don't, she has just gone to sleep. I'm fine, holding her."

She didn't dare to look into his eyes, as she asked: