For the upcoming week, Nathalie stayed in her room most of the time. She knew Gabriel's schedule very well and could easily get to the kitchen and back, to get her meals, without meeting him accidentally.
The designer tried to give her the space she had asked for, but he couldn't keep himself from watching her getting her meals, once he had figured out her regular walks to the kitchen.
He just watched her from afar, so she wouldn't feel as if he was stalking her, but it pained him, to see, how she suffered under all that had happened.
Twice he had knocked on her door, hoping she was ready to speak with him, but each time she had told him, that she had made her decision and kept the door closed. He knew, she didn't lock it, but he respected her privacy too much, to just step inside.
So he did, what he had always done, when he was feeling sad or troubled, he buried himself in his work.
Adrien had after half of the week had passed without any progress, decided to stay with Marinette for sometime, to give them a little more space.
The week passed rather fast and Monday morning approached.
To avoid any awkwardness, Nathalie just did, what she had done for years, she kept all conversation emotionless and professional. So when she entered the office, shocked that he was already at his work, she only said a cold and quiet: "Good morning, Sir", before she went to her desk and switched her Computer on.
To Gabriel her words felt like a step into his heart and so he had to take a deep breath, before he softly answered: Good morning to you too, Nathalie."
He watched her from the corner of his eye, noticing her covering her face with both hands for a second, when she thought he wasn't looking. He had almost walked to her and tried to hug her, he already had lifted his right foot to leave his working place, when he noticed what he was doing and set the foot back to the floor, to continue working on his latest design.
Around noon, Nathalie started coughing again. The concerned designer immediately rushed to help her, but she muttered a short: "Excuse me, Sir", and quickly stepped out of the office and into her own room. She returned about fifteen minutes later and acted as if nothing had happened. He stood in front of her desk to ask:
"Are you alright, Nathalie?"
"I am fine, Sir", she only responded. He sighed and turned around, tears in his eyes. He told her, he'd be back in a few minutes and left the room. In the hallway he quickened his pace until he was almost running and bumped his bedroom door against the wall, as he pushed it forcefully open. He closed it behind him and leaned his back against the door, his eyes shut his body trembling. Taking his time to pull himself together, he spent 20 minutes like that, before he felt he could face her again.
The rest of the week went just like this. The only conversation between them, was good morning and good night, as well as all the work related things. Nathalie had all emotions locked up deep inside her and acted colder than ever.
Over the weekend both were back to their avoid-the-other tactic.
Monday morning started just the same as did the week before. Gabriel was already prepared for that and tried to focus on his work. Then, on Tuesday, she didn't come to her desk at eight as she usually did. He noticed that, without further concern, thinking she might be busy with one of her other tasks. But when nine o'clock passed and it was almost quarter to ten, he was by far more than worried and stepped back from his tablet, to go look for his assistant.
He knocked on her door very softly. Nothing. He knocked again, louder this time. Still nothing. He hit the door with his knuckles, but still he couldn't hear any reaction from the inside.
So he inhaled deeply and turned the handle to open the door a little and take a peek inside. He saw her lying in her bed, eyes closed and let out a sigh of relief, when he noticed her chest going up and down with every breath. She had kicked her blanket off her upper body and was only covered onto her upper thighs. Feeling guilty, because he was looking at her beautiful body only dressed in a short, pink shirt and a pair of yellow, laced panties, he quickly picked up the sheets and laid it over her. Then he sat down and carefully touched her shoulder, while he called her name:
"Nathalie?", he softly shook her, "Nathalie my de..." he sighed again. "Nathalie, wake up, it's getting late already."
Her eyes fluttered open and as she saw him sitting on her bed she smiled at first. Then her smile turned into a grimace and she stared at him in shock.
"W-W-What are y-y-you d-doing i-in my room?", she questioned.
"I was worried because it was getting late and you hadn't shown up yet, so I came to look, if everything is alright." he softly said.
"Oh no, what time is it?", she cried out and sat up quickly, what ended in a sudden coughing fit.
Gabriel had his hands on both her shoulders now and pushed her carefully back into her cushion. He took her so off guard with that, she just let him.
"It's alright", he sad softly and cupped her cheek for a short moment. She immediately held her breath. "It's almost 10, but I want you to take it slow. There is nothing that can't wait. I was just worried."
Neither of them spoke, they stared into each others eyes, not able to avert their gaze. Slowly he leaned in and Nathalie closed her eyes, still not able to move, as she waited for the kiss. But he only kissed her forehead and stood up quickly to rush out of the room.
Back in his office he punched the wall with his clenched fist. Hard.
"Idiot", he hissed. "She would have let you kiss her and you chickened out. How could you be so stupid?"
He looked at his hand. It was bleeding in several places and already started swelling.
"Crap", he blurted and wrapped a piece of left over fabric around it. Then he went to get some ice. A few minutes later he returned to his tablet, his hand covered by a second cloth, that held the ice pack.
Nathalie entered the room at 10.23, and quietly said: "I am sorry for being late, Sir. Thank you for....waking me up."
She was about to walk to her desk, when she noticed his hand. While she was still considering, if she should ask him about that, her mouth was already talking: "What happened to your hand?", she heard her own voice ask.
"It's nothing", he tried to convince her. But the assistant knew him too well and was already approaching him. She reached for his arm and unwrapped the hand, putting the ice and the pieces of cloth aside, to have a closer look. Nathalie narrowed her brows. as she gently brushed over the bruises, then told him to follow her.
She took him to her room and sat him on a chair next to her small desk near the window.
"Stay!", she ordered and went into her small bathroom, to return with a first aid kit. After spraying some disinfectant onto the wounds, she covered the back of his hand with a compress and bandaged it lightly, wrapping the ice pack into the last rounds.
"Will you now tell me, what you did?", she called out to him from the bathroom, while she put everything back in place. As he didn't answer at first, she looked at him expectantly . "So?"
He stood up and walked towards her. Taking his other hand, to grab hers and place a kiss on its back, he just said with a husky whisper: "Thank you for your help, Nathalie!"
Then he left her standing there, her cheeks blushed and her legs trembling. She needed some time, before she was finally able to start working.
She sat down behind her desk past 11 o'clock. After cross reading all the tasks she had to attend to on this day, she covered her eyes with her hands for a moment, then took a deep breath and started typing.
Schedules, appointments, orders of fabrics, payments, those were things she could do from her desk. Then there were several phone calls, she would try to squeeze in between all those things. If she did all of that really fast, she might have an hour left, to run at least most of the errands that were on the list for today.
She worked as fast as she could, but after more than seven hours without even looking up from her screen, except for calling somebody, Gabriel had enough. He had finished his work for today already and had been watching her for the last hour with growing concern. She was pale, she held and rubbed her head, as if it was aching, and she didn't even bother to get something to eat or to drink. And he knew, she had nothing for breakfast, probably not even a glass of water for the day.
Nathalie was so focused on her work, she neither heard nor saw him walk behind her chair, so she jumped and almost punched him, when he laid his hands on top of her shoulders.
"I didn't mean to scare you. I just wanted to let you know, that you have done enough for today", he calmly told her,
"But Sir, I haven't even...."
"Shush. That's an order. Turn off that computer and leave the rest for tomorrow. And please get yourself something to eat and to drink, you look as if you were about to faint every second. And take something for that headache."
The assistant shook her head.
"I'm fine, I'll go eat and drink, but I don't need medicine for a tiny headache. I'll go now", she stated and pressed the button that turned her computer into standby.
He stepped in her way, before she could leave the office. Cupping her cheek with the bandaged hand he told her: "Go and get some rest after you had dinner. I don't want you to get even sicker, Nathalie. Please, do me the favour."
She only nodded and stepped around him, to take her dinner and maybe her lunch too, if it was still there, and retreat into the security of her bedroom.
She really had brought her lunch and her dinner to her desk, and was now considering, what to start with. Luckily she didn't have to eat, what Gabriel and Adrien had on their diet plan. Her lunch was a large portion of Spaghetti Bolognese, a small Italian salad, and a portion of her favourite dessert, Tiramisu.
Her dinner was half a Baguette, several sorts of cheese, Prosciutto, Salami, and a sour cream, with a shot of vinegar, seasoned with only salt and pepper, that she had mixed herself, because the Chef refused to mix these ingredients.
Taking a look at her lunch she thought, that a spoon full of sour cream would be just right to give it the last touch.
After eating up almost everything she had brought, and drinking a bottle of water so her headache would calm down, and it luckily did, she went to brush her teeth and fell into her bed. When Gabriel knocked around eight, to see how she was doing, she was already fast asleep.
He quietly stepped inside and took of her shoes, then tucked her in and pecked her lips tenderly. Though she had obeyed his orders, he was still worried. She usually didn't sleep so much, and he was scared, that her coughing fits were keeping her awake at night.
He decided to ask her about it tomorrow, because he certainly wouldn't want to wake her up for that. He got himself ready for bed, but it took him another four hours before he eventually drifted into a light sleep.