Red Carneau

Chapter 5

"Will... I...-"his name barely left her lips but it was all that she could manage to say before everything went black.

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William turned around when he heard Grell say his name just in time to catch her as she fell. Her face was flushed and she was sweating. He pressed his hand against her forehead and confirmed what he was already suspecting, she had a fever. He carried Grell to his room, before realizing that leaving her in her wet clothes would only make everything worse.

He needed to get her out of her clothes.

William's heart began to race at the thought of undressing the woman that he loved but quickly made those inappropriate thoughts leave his mind as her health was his priority. He had seen people undressing others while unconscious in movies but never in his life, he thought he'd be doing it or that it would be such a hard task to perform.

William dressed Grell in his clothes as he didn't dare to go through her suitcase. Once that was done, he put a towel over the pillowcase to lay down her hair and head carefully, thankfully it wasn't damped anymore but only slightly wet. He carefully covered her with the duvet before going to get a cloth, wetting it with cold water before putting it on her forehead.

He quickly changed his own clothes before taking a chair from the dining room, he took a small bucket and filled it with cold water to wash the cloth on Grell's forehead, placing it on his bedside table before sitting down in front of the bed.

Grell opened her eyes soon after but quickly fell asleep, William kept wetting the cloth on her forehead until the water wasn't cold anymore and he got up to replace it before sitting back down again, at some point he noticed the clock indicating 4 am but he barely paid it any attention as his focus was on Grell and her getting better, his eyes were barely staying open so he kept slapping his own cheeks to stay awake. He could not fall asleep, he had to take care of her.

William couldn't remember at what point he had fallen asleep but he woke up the next morning, still in the same chair but he had a blanket over him, and that the bucket of water wasn't on the bedside table anymore. He noticed after a minute that the blanket that was draped over him was the one from his living room.

"You look so disoriented." Grell's voice rang in his ears. He looked at her and there she was, sitting down on the bed in front of him, a smile on her face as she looked at him. "Did you take care of me the whole night?"

He nodded, pushing his glasses back up on the bridge of his nose before leaning in and pressed a hand to her forehead.

"You don't have a fever anymore, that's good." He sighed in relief

"How did I change my clothes?!" Grell screamed as she took off the covers from on top of her, looking at herself in clothes that did not belong to her.

"I changed you." William answered, matter of factly, pushing his glasses against the bridge of his nose once more.

"Y-You what?!" Grell's face was bright red by now, looking at William with wide eyes. She quickly took her glasses from the bedside table and put them.

"What did you expect me to do? I couldn't leave you in wet clothes, you would have gotten sicker." William said, taking the blanket off him, getting up and rolling it into a ball before putting it on the chair. "How are you feeling? Can you stand, or do you need my help?" he asked at Grell's lack of response, clearly not finding an argument good enough to contradict him.

She moved, slowly getting up but sitting back down as quickly as she stood. "I still feel slightly dizzy... but, I want to take a shower."

William shook his head "No shower, you might lose consciousness again. I'll draw you a bath, wait here." He said before going to the bathroom and turned on the bathtub faucet before taking out a fresh towel and putting it close to the tub so Grell could reach it without any difficulties, then, he went back to the room to get her some new clothes, still not taking out her clothes. Once he had checked that the bath was warm enough but not too hot, he went back to get Grell.

"I've laid out some fresh clothes of mine, I won't go through your belongings." He said making Grell laugh at his words as he helped her up and into the bathroom.

"I'll be making breakfast, be careful not to fall, call me if you still don't feel well enough to walk after the bath." He said before moving closer to the bathroom door.

"I'm not made of glass Will darling, I'll be alright," Grell said with a chuckle

William's heart skipped a beat as he heard Grell call him darling, it had been years since he had last heard her call him that. That nickname that he used to dislike, now, made his chest warm. He went to make breakfast, making toast, wanting to make something quick that would still taste good even cold, not knowing how much time Grell would take in the shower.

He was putting on the table when he saw her arrive in his oversized sweater and sweat pants, her face without any makeup and her long red hair still wet, droplets of water cascading down her shoulders and past her hips.

"What are you doing with your hair wet? You're going to get sick again." William scolded her, putting down the silverware on the table before getting closer to Grell. "Come on, you need to dry your hair."

"I'll do it, after eating, come on Will~ I'm starving! ~" Grell whined but William wasn't going to change his mind.

"No way, you're drying it now, I'm not taking care of you again tonight." He grumbled before pulling her along.

"Sit down." He ordered, Grell complied and sat down on the bed. William went to get the hairdryer before plugging it close to the bed. He slowly took her wet hair in one of his hand before turning on the hairdryer with the other, starting to dry her hair.

"Will? What-" Grell tried to ask what he was doing, clearly surprised by his actions.

"You're too lazy to do it yourself and I'm not ruining my night of sleep by looking after you again so someone has to do it." He simply answered as he gently blow-dried her hair.

Grell didn't say anything more and he didn't add anything either.

Was this what their daily lives could have been if only he had the courage to confess his feelings? He wouldn't have minded taking care of Grell for the rest of his life but it wasn't his place. He always wondered what if would have been like if she had been his... She wasn't his, she could never be his because she already belonged to someone else.

 I hope you enjoyed this chapter!!!~☆, if you want you can send me asks on my tumblr  http://kuronezushi.tumblr.com/  or just talk to me~ ~ ❤ ☆