Nathalie Sancoeur's secret past

Acknowledgement And Acceptance

After hugging Fei, Nathalie's father looked at her with tears in his eyes. Then he cleared his throat and mumbled:

"Well, I guess, I finally freed myself from that bitch, huh? If you want, I will walk you down the isle, as a good father should do. Not because it's expected, but because I am very proud of you. I just wished I had done that back then, but well, we can't change the past, right?"

Giving her daughter and her soon to be husband a very stern look to that matter, she answered:

"Sadly we can't. But I would like it very much, if you walked me to the altar. Or the podium for the minister, we put into the dining room, but you know, what I mean!"

She turned to Gabriel and pecked his lips, then hugged Fei and nudged them outside, humming:

"I'll see you in a couple of minutes!"

They both nodded in agreement and made their way to the beautifully decorated area on the other side of the atrium, while Nathalie took a deep breath and looked at her father, then asked him:

"Are you ready to give me away, Dad?"

He shook his head. 

"I will never be. And I am very glad, that I got you back. But I will happily let that man marry you and can't wait to spent time with my grandchildren. If only I had ever learned a bit of mandarin. I would have tried to find Fei ages ago. It's good, that she is here now. When did you meet her again?"

"Just recently. But we agreed, that she will stay here as long as she wants to and we made it official, that she is my daughter, with name and everything. That's why I will keep the name Sancoeur too, but will mostly use only the name Agreste. Because well, you know how they sound together!", the pregnant woman explained. 

Mr Sancoeur smiled at his daughter and held out his arm.

"Shall we?"

Nathalie took it and nodded.

In the meantime, Gabriel and Fei had arrived in the dining hall, both getting to their positions in front of the minister, hearing an old man talk to his wife in mandarin and looked at the pair curiously. The old woman just shrugged and said something back, to what Adrien, who was still walking around to offer some refreshments, as long as the guests were waiting, replied to them in Chinese too.

Though not having heard her great grandparents conversation completely, Fei immediately heard, what her almost step brother told them and gasped. She turned around to Gabriel, who looked just as shocked, so he had obviously heard it too. 

But just as she wanted to get over to them and make Adrien stop, the music started to play and the young man quickly rushed to his position next to his father, yet not without pecking Marinette's lips as he passed her by.

The older couple nodded towards her and said something in Chinese, to which the girl frowned and gazed to the floor, mumbling very quietly, that she couldn't speak mandarin at all. 

"It's about time to learn then!", the man said with a wink, leaving her open mouthed as he turned his face towards the front.

The ceremony was short but touching, leaving nothing unsaid, until it was finally time to say:

"You may now kiss the bride!"

And Gabriel did. Savagely, making the audience gasp and applaud. Smirking they parted their lips after a long moment, but kept looking into each other's eyes.

"I love you, Mrs Agreste!"

"And I love you Mr Sancoeur!", she mused. Nobody needed to officially know, that they had both taken the other's name in addition to their own. 

Gabriel snickered and laid his arm around her, then they went to let their family and friends hug and congratulate them.

Fei and Adrien were the first to do so and while they were hugging, the young Chinese quickly explained to Nathalie, what had happened. The young woman went instantly pale and reached for her husband's hand. 

Adrien though narrowed his brows, wondering:

"What's wrong? Your grandfather asked his wife, who that girl was because of the red strand and she just shrugged and said, she had no idea, so I told him. I can't see, why either of you would have to feel bad about the situation. And if he has a problem with it, I think he shouldn't be welcome here any longer. But he didn't seem very shocked or repelled from what I told him, I would rather say, he looked sad. Well, that's about all. Oh yeah, and he said my mandarin was really good, if my partly Chinese girlfriend had taught me and well, we had a good laugh over the fact, that she just can't get it into her head!"

"Yeah, funny. I felt totally embarrassed and useless, when he spoke to me afterwards! At least he understood, that I can't speak my mother's language and told me it was about time to learn it!"

Marinette had joined them with Kagami at her side who interlinked her hand instantly with her girlfriend's.

"What?", came from Nathalie now, "did he speak French to you?"

"Yeah? Why?"

"Because he never does that usually. You can feel honoured. He hasn't said a French word to my father as long as I remember. And my dad struggles with Chinese even more than you!", she explained, to then let the younger women hug her.

The pregnant woman felt her heartbeat quicken and her legs getting weak, when she then saw her grandfather approach them. He nodded at the freshly married couple, then began to speak. In a flawless French.

"Before we talk about everything I learned today, let me tell you my best wishes and welcome you, Gabriel to our family. You my granddaughter look very beautiful though I can see, that you're about to be a mother soon. Again!", he turned towards Fei and continued, "which brings me to you young lady. As I should have done almost seventeen years ago, I welcome you in my family as my first and only, for now, great grandchild. I received a letter from Wu Sifu after his death, in which he told me about everything he knew. I regret deeply, Nathalie, that I insulted you back then and said you weren't worthy to have your hair like that, because you more than are. I saw your mother leave and asked your father to it and he told me, how she treated you back then. If only I had known, child!"

He took both her hands now and despite her being taller than him, he made her feel small in front of the old man. But then he hugged her tightly and whispered:

"It's all my fault. I am so sorry that I have caused you years of sorrow!"

A single tear ran down his cheek, as he pulled back to let his wife hug their new family members too. Obedient as she was, she didn't say much, just did as she was told, but gently stroked along Fei's cheek after hugging her and gave her a soft smile. 

"I don't know, what to say!", Nathalie sobbed and Gabriel pulled her close, while he told his wife's grandfather in mandarin, that he felt honoured to meet him and that he promised to take good care of Nathalie and Fei. 

The old man raised his eyebrows in surprise, hearing that tall greyish-blond man speak his language so well and told him, that he was glad, his granddaughter had found such a good and educated man, with a polite and intelligent son. Then he turned to Marinette again:

"Why don't you understand your ancestor's language? Did nobody ever teach you?"

The girl shook her head.

"No, for some reason, my mother never even tried. Sadly. Because when I tried to learn a little bit to be able to communicate with her uncle I totally failed and Adrien had to save me!"

Now they all giggled. 

"Why don't we all go and take a seat in the other part of the room, where I've had some tables set and decorated to have a little snack, so the caterers can prepare the buffet for later here in this part!", Gabriel now announced and everybody cheered.