Nathalie Sancoeur's secret past

Arrival

"W-what are you talking about? M-Marinette is j-j-just a friend!", Adrien stammered.

"Yeah, uhm, you didn't even believe that, before you knew, that she was Ladybug!", Duusu objected.

The teenager blushed deeply, while the adults laughed at him.

"Yes son, why don't you just admit your feelings to Miss Dupain-Cheng?"

Adrien sighed.

"Even if I would admit, that I love her, she still loves that other boy!", he spat out desperately.

But Duusu started to giggle.

"The obliviousness really runs in the family, boy. Have you even considered, that you might be that other boy? Her classmate, she would do everything for? Whose pictures she has kinda covered the walls of her room with?", she turned to the young assistant, "seriously, Miss Nathalie, if this blindness towards human feelings is genetic, you really should reconsider, if Mister Gabriel is the right person to procreate with!"

"Duusu! I told you not to talk about that!", Nathalie scolded her little, blue friend, but it was already too late.

"What?", Gabriel exclaimed antsily. Then a little calmer:

"Adrien, would you please give us a moment alone?"

The teenager nodded.

"I'll go and start to get the guest room ready for the ladies!", he said with a blushing face and ran out of the office. Gabriel turned to the young woman, who had buried her face in her hands.

"Nathalie, look at me", he almost yelled and made her flinch. He noticed and continued more quietly, "what Duusu just said, is that true? Are you..."

Nathlie shrugged.

"I don't know and neither does Duusu. I just told her, that my period is a little late and she instantly flipped. You know how extreme her emotions can be."

The designer gave her a concerned look.

"How much is a little late? Spoken in days!", he wondered and sat down beside her again, after he had jumped to his feet from Duusu's statement.

She shrugged again.

"...en I think!", she mumbled as she stared to the floor.

"I didn't hear you, Nathalie!"

She shouted at him now:

"Does it really matter? Your reaction already has proven, how you feel about it anyway. So it's my responsibility alone. What's the difference between one day or nineteen!"

"Nine......Nineteen, wow!", he muttered more to himself than to his assistant. Then he looked at her, the red, swollen eyes, the tears, that were running down her cheeks again, and immediately calmed down a little. Scooting closer towards her, he laid one arm around her shoulder to pull her taut and kiss the top of her head.

"The difference, my love, between one and NINETEEN days is, that if you really are pregnant", he now laid his other hand on her lower abdomen and whispered softly, "our baby already has a beating heart!"

She raised her head and looked at him in disbelief. But Gabriel simply smiled at her lovingly.

"Did you really think, I would be angry? Or even not want you or that child? I just told you, that I love you, Nathalie. And well, if two adults want each other so much all the time, as we did lately, that they don't even think of anything like contraception, getting pregnant kinda is one of the risks I gladly take!", he hummed seductively into her ear.

Now the young woman scoffed.

"Yeah", she mocked him, "I'd like to see you taking the risk of getting you pregnant!"

They both stared at each other for a moment then broke into a guffaw.

The doorbell startled them both.

Nathalie looked anxiously towards her desk, from where she would be able to open the gate, but Adrien had been faster and they could already hear him running towards the entrance door and then outside into the yard, to open the big, iron gate for the visitors.

When he returned, holding the door open for both girls, his cheeks were scarlet red, as were Marinette's. Fei just grinned at them mischievously.

"Welcome to our home, Miss Dupain-Cheng, Miss Wu!", Gabriel said politely and smiled at them invitingly.

"Thank you, Mr Agreste and Miss Nathalie. And thank you so much for the invitation. It's very kind from you!", Marinette gushed out as fast as she could, to not stutter as usual in Adrien's presence.

"Yeah, thanks a lot!", Fei uttered reluctantly and added quietly, "and thanks for almost getting me killed after killing my father!"

Marinette pushed her elbow into her friend's side and hissed:

"I told you, he has given up on being a villain. Just try and be forgiving, like you told me, your father taught you to be!"

The young woman sighed but nodded.

"Fine", she mumbled.

Nathalie had taken a step towards the girls and held out her hand to Marinette first.

"Hello, Marinette, nice to see you again", she said. Then she turned towards Fei and was about to hold out her hand, when their eyes met and instead of shaking the girl's hand, she laid both her palms against each other and bowed to her.

Fei instantly reacted and did the same, then stared at the older woman in shock.

Only now she noticed the same red strand as she had herself and stammered:

"You....you were....in...my...."

"In Wu sifu's school too, when I was young, yes!", Nathalie tried to speak calmly, but the tremble in her voice was audible.

Gabriel laid an arm around her waist and pulled her close as he suggested:

"Adrien, why don't you show our guests to their room already? And afterwards you can spent some time together, before the dinner is ready. If it's okay, of course!"

Adrien had noticed Nathalie's struggle and nodded quickly.

"That's actually great, father, thank you!", then he turned to his friends, "this way, you will be right next to my room"

Together the teenagers ran off and the young assistant let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you for holding me up!", she whispered, "I still feel, like I am going to faint!"