Day 7: Secrets

The last one. I hope you all enjoyed this one-shot collection and that this one won't be an exception.

Content notice for a brief, non-graphic description of a pepper-spray assault.

There were days when Nathalie hated her job. After months of Adrien pleading and Chloé Bourgeois throwing her father's name and position around, Adrien was to be enrolled in a public school. All the paperwork had been done, supplies had been obtained, lectures had been made on proper behaviour. You could practically see the joy shining out of the boy's eyes.

And then Gabriel suddenly decided to take it all back. No explanation, just his usual 'my will shall be done'. It was one of the few times Nathalie had dared to voice her disagreement but Gabriel had shut her down with the flimsy reasoning of wanting Adrien to be safe.

Needless to say, Nathalie wasn't in the best of moods when she got home that evening. She was angry, frustrated and tense. So it was perhaps logical that her reaction to seeing a tall figure in her living room - a tall, decidedly male figure with a cane and wearing an ugly mask with an even uglier tuxedo of some sort - was to reach into her pocket, pull out her pepper-spray, release the safety and spray the unknown intruder right in that ugly mask.

As the man crumbled to the ground with a torrent of pained cursing, Nathalie pulled out her phone and got ready to call the police. While what she had done was not strictly speaking legal - technically, she had attacked first - she suspected she might get some leeway for pointing out that the man had worn a mask and had somehow got into her locked and secured flat.

"Wait! Don't!" the man pleaded as he squinted up at her, tears flowing from his reddened eyes. "I can explain."

"You can explain it to the police," she told him and pushed the call button.

"Dammit! Nooroo, dark wings fall!"

There was a flash of purplish light and the suit and the mask seemingly disintegrated into nothingness, leaving behind someone very familiar. Nathalie ended the call and slowly put away the phone.

"I really hope the explanation is good," she said in her most biting voice. "Sir."

After providing the first aid care for her boss she had accidentally maced, Nathalie prepared some coffee. She really needed some caffeine boost, especially when that small, purplish thing that Gabriel had introduced as Nooroo softly asked for some fruit juice. Gabriel himself was still washing out his eyes with the water and detergent solution that was recommended as the most effective means of getting the capsaicin oil from the spray neutralized.

Nooroo was watching her and Nathalie did her best to act as if assaulting her boss over a case of mistaken identity and encountering an unknown talking and flying being was something that happened to her every Tuesday.

"Nathalie?"

She didn't turn around and waited until he sat down across from her before she pushed a cup of coffee towards him. He looked awful and maybe if she didn't feel so irritated, she would be pitying him. As it stood, though, she couldn't muster anything more than a vague feeling of concern and even that was overshadowed by her worry about her own future.

"You promised an explanation."

"Don't you have something to say first?" he asked. Nathalie rolled her eyes.

"If you expect me to apologize for reacting the way I did to a strange man in a weird costume waiting for me in my living room, we're going to be here for a long time."

"I see."

He was quiet after that, most likely struggling with his pride. But he wanted something from her. Something that necessitated him coming to her outside of the house and the office. She saw the moment he reached his decision.

"Do you believe in magic?" he asked at last. Whatever opening statement she had expected, it had not been that one. She opened her mouth to say no but then she remembered how his appearance had changed after he had uttered words that had sounded like a practiced phrase.

"I don't know," she admitted. He nodded and took a sip of his coffee.

"It is very much real. There is a particular type of magic of which Nooroo is a representative. A Miraculous," he said almost reverently.

Okay. She could deal with this. Magic was real and that little thing was magical, too. But-

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I'm going to need your help. This type of magic, it's powerful. Powerful enough to do even the impossible. I believe that if I obtained more Miraculouses, I would be able to bring her back."

Nathalie didn't have to ask who was the her. And it made sense that Gabriel would go to such extraordinary lengths for her sake.

"I understand that but what do you need from me? You already have one of these... Miraculouses. I suppose I could do research on the others but you obviously know more about this than me."

"I already have a plan. This particular Miraculous is well-suited for locating others. What I need from you is a logistical support. Magic is unpredictable. There will be times I will have to be incommunicado. You would run interference for me, make-up excuses, provide alibis, things like that."

"Should I be concerned about the alibi comment?"

Gabriel smirked.

"My plan is not illegal. I was talking figuratively."

"Of course," Nathalie said but she wasn't particularly reassured. Something not being illegal was not the same as something being moral. If the existence of magic was relatively unknown, then it stood to reason there wouldn't be any laws concerning its use. It was a nice loophole.

"Things could get dangerous for a while," he admitted grudgingly. "Which is why I changed my mind about Adrien's schooling. My plan is about to start and I don't wish him to be caught in it. It's best if he stays mostly at home for now. Once I bring his mother back, he will be sent to school if he still wishes it."

Nathalie sloshed the rest of her coffee around the cup. Gabriel made a convincing case for himself. And if it reunited the broken family... It left only one question to be answered.

"Why all the theatrics with breaking into my home?"

Gabriel cleared his throat and she heard a very quiet giggle from Nooroo.

"I thought to demonstrate the magic to you. It obviously didn't work out that way."

Nathalie hummed in agreement. She should probably ask for a time to think the offer over. But over her time working for the Gabriel brand, she had come to like the family. And if she could help in restoring it... Adrien would be so happy.

"Very well, I'll help."

"I don't have to mention the need for discretion, do I?"

Nathalie threw him an offended look for that one. Like he had to ask.

She realized her mistake the moment Stoneheart went on a rampage across the city. Unfortunately, she had already agreed to help and she knew Gabriel wouldn't let her back out. She would just have to keep this secret and hope he would succeed as soon as possible.

The wait for it all to be over was going to be long.

A/N: Gabriel getting punched is a running joke in my part of the fandom. And because I'm extra af, I had to up the ante somehow.