Love is Timeless (Time After Time)

Second Sequence

It's beautiful and she doesn't know if she can turn the page.

But she does and she sees how Gabriel has gone into further detail. One page focuses simply on the earrings, while another goes into extravagant detail on the necklace. It's the page on the tiara itself that makes her feel out of breath, queenly and elegant in design.

"Do you like them?" he asks and every question from him so far that night has felt loaded and so much, and she turns to him with teary eyes, gently dropping the book on the work desk and standing up.

She stands on her toes and presses her lips to his, feeling his own arms wrap around her waist. When she pulls back, her smile is sad and lingers with longing.

"I adore them, Gabriel," she says sincerely and leans back into him, hiding her face against his neck and refusing to say anything about the tears that drop.

Marinette is from the future and knows she can't have this.

Emilie will be gone somehow and Gabriel will not know her, won't remember or recognize her.

Those are the facts she lives by every day that she tries to live happily in peace with them.

VII: Every Breath is a Hallelujah

She and Emilie bask in the sun, eyes closed and relaxed against the grass. They do this often and it is usually their thing together. Gabriel hates the outside really and prefers the indoors. It amuses them how prickly their lover is about being outdoors and of sweat and of dirt, and they tease him sometimes about his meticulous nature.

They, on the other hand, don't mind being outside of the manor and laying on the grass, enjoying the sun beating down on them, or the slight sheen of sweat that gleans their skin from the heat. When their activities include a more pleasurable variety, Gabriel does not mind the sweat that builds; but in this, he'd probably hide in the manor with his air conditioning and ready shade.

"Did Gabriel show you his work yet?" Emilie asks and Marinette looks to her side at her.

"He did."

"Did you like it?"

"It's overwhelming," she whispers. "It's so beautiful, but I'm hardly worth that. How on earth did he ever get inspired to design that over me?"

Emilie moves onto her side and kisses her sweetly. She pulls back to smile gently at her and brushes her fingers lightly against Marinette's cheek.

"You don't see yourself the way he sees you. The way we see you."

The blonde moves closer and brushes feathery light kisses all over Marinette's face and they stay like that for a while.

~*~

Marinette smiles in contentment and just a bit of longing at seeing Gabriel and Emilie kiss on screen, white on the bride and groom, who elegantly crosses the pathway from the gazebo towards the camera and wherever their destination was past it. She's always dreamt of getting married like that, dressed in traditional white and marrying the love of her life.

She knows she's already somehow met the loves of her life (both of them), but they're already married, and she can't marry both of them anyway.

That's not even counting that she's not even in her correct time.

"Marinette, there you are!" Emilie exclaims and she's too flustered to have been caught watching their wedding video.

The blond couple enter the suite's living area, notices her curled up in front of the television, and head over to her, They sit on either side of her and turn to watch their wedding, and both of them slide one of their hands into one of Marinette's.