What am I for you?

Butterfly-effect

Gabriel angrily let the receiver slam into the fork while his fist was allowed to make another acquaintance with the desk in front of him, which made it shake and let a huge pile of paper slide from the table onto the floor.
With a loud growl, the fashion king dropped his head back in grief. The papers now all scatterd across the room was the last thing he needed right now. Gathering up and sorting all this paper would cost him even more precious minutes, if not hours, of his already far too little time.
Adrien would soon be home for his lunch break too.
Despair spread in the fashion king. All of this work was too much for one person to complete.
Far to much. The despaired wish to have Nathalie by his side again came up in his mide making him sigh again this time with sadness in his voice.
But why was Gabriel even alone in this huge mountain of work. Where was Nathalie? Why wasn't she here?
Let's rewind a bit in time to the events which resutls in that outcome, shall we?

Nathalie ran hastily up the stairs to her room. The thoughts of what had just happened still made her heart beat faster and drove the blood to her cheeks.
The door to her room was just thrown open by her and closed again at a remarkable speed. Gabriel had really managed to give her the rest with this action now. Why did he have to pull her onto his lap? Why did he pulled her closer anyway?
Nathalie had been so close to him that the smell of his perfume still wafted through her nose, the look of his dark blue eyes still haunted her and the feeling of his soft hair on her fingers made her completely gone mad.
'Stop thinking about it!' she admonished herself over and over again in her head.
You should calm down. As soon as possible. Slowly she closed her eyes and focused her thoughts on her breathing. On and off, and on and off again. That would help her.
A sudden knock on the door and a voice that spoke to her pulled her from her thoughts completely back into reality.
"Nathalie?" Gabriel must have followed her to her room. Yet he was the person Nathalie least wanted to see right now.
A slight scratching could be heard on the door as if Gabriel were slowly placing his hand on it. Was he about to enter?
"Nathalie" he repeated this time even more gently and quietly "please talk to me"
Nathalie slowly got back on her legs with her remaining strength to go to the door. One last deep breath before she opened it and looked into the eyes of the man standing in front of her.
A soft reliefe made his way into Gabriels face much to the despar of Nathalie who was still struggeling to keep herself down.
"Gabriel .. I can't do that .." she explained to him with a dry and scratchy voice "you can't keep pushing me away from you just to want to pull me back to you." Silence fellt the room for a moment. Suprised now took place in Gabriels face as he looked down on the woman in front of him before he found his voice again to speak.
"I'm .. I'm sorry .." Gabriel said softly "I didn't mean to hurt you .."
"I know .." said Nathalie quietly "But it can't go on like this. You .."
"I'm exceeding your limits .."
"Yes .." she confirms while slowly lowering her head. It was hard enough to look in the face in such a moment if everything in her wanted to satisfy the urge to get closer to him again. Even if she knew exactly what a stupid idea it would be and how it would not fit the serious situation at all. At least she hoped for a serious situation.
"Nathalie .." Gabriel began cautiously, "You know I'm not good at things that need feelings. I'm really sorry. Hurting you is the last thing I want."
"I know," Nathalie said it again. She knew that even tho Gabriel could be a complicated person, which a shell so hard, piercing trough it seems impossible that deep down, he had a really soft core. He would struggle with basic human interactions as much as Nathalie but she still believes him that he don't mean to harm her in any way. The conversation however was more than a little uncomfortable for her and the time to bury it and carry on as before was long overdue in her eyes. She wasn't used to talk so much about her feelings and she liked it even less. So it would be the best in her eyes to end it, just like they always did. "I know you don't want to hurt me. Let's just forget about it. It's late. We should let it rest" she suggested.
"Are you sure?" he asked surprised what Nathalie confirmed with a slight nod. "If you say so. Then I wish you a good night, Nathalie."
"Thank you sir. I wish you that too"
With that she closed the door behind her again and darkness once again filled the room. She stood like that for a few minutes before she was able to move again.
She decided to move to the bathroom to take a shower. Hopefully that would help her to calm her mind and get rid of all the toughs now crossing her mind.

The next few days in the villa passed very quietly, which surprised even Nathalie. Gabriel kept himself at a certain distance from her and didn't get any closer than necessary, which she welcomed very much. They had the natural working relationship again, which both had hatched and cultivated over the years. But something was still bothering her. Gabriel started no attempt of using his miraculous in all the days passing by.
It was now the third day that Gabriel had found it absolutely unnecessary to give in to the desire to wake his wife from her deep sleep. He hadn't followed any feelings that could lead to an akumatization and Nathalie was sure that he would have had at least one opportunity in all the days making her wonder what made him choose not to act.
Slowly her gaze wandered from Gabriel to her watch on her screen. It was 2pm, the afternoon of the 4th day. She carefully focused her gaze on Gabriel again and began to study every inch of his face, hoping to find something in it. A small twitch of the eye, a slight grimace or just a noticeable blink.
But nothing. He had his gaze completely focused on his screen in front of him on which he was designing new clothes with his finger while completely ignoring the stare focusing on him.
"Nathalie" he began softly
"Sir?" she said surprised making her look away in an instance as she didn't spend the last minutes completely looking at him.
"Did the client contact you?"
'Right' it shot through Nathalie's head as she reached for her tablet. There were more important things to do than to deal with what was probably going on in Gabriel's head.
"I had a conversation with him to discuss the postponement of the appointment. He agreed to postpone it to next Thursday." she informed him while she ran her finger over her tablet
"Very nice" confirmed Gabriel with a nod
"Sir?" she said. While they where on the topic she renumbered another thing she had do discuss with Gabriel.
"Yes?"
"Adrien had a request that I should present to you. His friend Nino Lahiffe had invited him to a small birthday party. He asks permission to go there. I should also tell you that it is very important to him."
Only now did Gabriel manage to tear himself away from his screen for a few seconds. He really seems to be considering it.
"Who's going to be there?" he asked while he finally looked at Nathalie with a look as if he needed her advice.
"It would only be a small meeting. In addition to Nino Lahiffe and Adrien, Alya Césaire and Marinette Dupain-cheng would be there."
"just the three of them?"
"It's probably just a small get together because they have school the next day."
"If his bodyguard agrees to drive him there and pick him up, I will agree."
"Of course sir. I'll inform him immediately," Nathalie said before turning to her cell phone with a slight smile on her face. Adrien would be happy to be part of his best friend's birthday party.
After a short pause, Gabriel continued, "Nathalie? .." He asked carefully what drew the woman's attention back to her boss.
"May I ask you something too?"
"Of course sir," she blinked at him in amazement, which Gabriel took as a request to step closer to her until he stopped in front of her desk, which was now standing between them. Slowly he fished the peacock miraculous out of his pocket which he was now holding out to her.
"I have a new plan. But my recent failures have shown me that I cannot work alone. Your performance in the past few days has also shown me that. That's why I ask you if 'Mayura' could help me this time . "
At these words, Nathalie was excited. In a positive sense. Slight success spread through her. Gabriel had always been such a lone player. To see him now asking for her help and assistance made her more than proud. But of course Nathalie was still professional and didn't show anything. There was always nothing going on the first time.
"Of course Gabriel. I will always help you." she said now with a slight smile "What's your plan?" she asked while she took the Miraculous back and greeted Duusu with a small nod.
"Something bigger. I will explain the details to you when I explain every detail in more detail when I have planned everything to the end. We will try a little bigger. Our opponents are getting stronger. So we shouldn't be afraid to hurl everything we do at them to have"