The food arrived only half an hour after Gabriel had ordered it. The designer even went for the gate himself, when he heard the ringing of the doorbell.
He gave the pizza girl a very generous tip to then rush back to the woman he truly loved, to try and get some food into her system eventually, before she would pass out from the lack of nutrition.
Nathalie had closed her eyes, hoping, that if she could sleep, she wouldn't feel so sick anymore. But instead, she felt only worse, because now she really was hungry and her stomach ached from the lack of food. She groaned, knowing, that whatever she would eat, was most likely coming back after a short while. But maybe Gabriel had been right and she really couldn't deal with all the healthy stuff, that doctor had told her to eat.
She heard him enter her room, but kept her eyes still shut.
"You don't need to try and be silent", she whispered, "I am not asleep, though I wished I was!"
"For the moment it's good, that you're not", he replied."Maybe you can eat a little and then fall asleep, and this will do the trick to keep the food in!"
"Tried that too, doesn't work. I wake up when the urge to throw up gets too strong!", she tried to explain. Though the tea had calmed her throat, her voice was still rasp and barely audible.
"We'll see", he gave back. "Would you rather go with the soup or really try this?", he pointed at the pizza carton.
"The soup will probably be much easier to swallow, right?", she questioned.
Gabriel nodded. "I would say that too."
"Let's try the soup then!", she sighed.
He carried the bowl to her nightstand and set it down there, to help he young woman sit up first. She tried to hold in another coughing fit, while she was in Gabriel's arms, but failed and coughed violently into his shoulder.
"Maybe I should call a doctor, Nathalie. You are really starting to scare me.", the concerned man suggested after she had stopped coughing.
"Please don't. I'm gonna be fine, I promise", she croaked.
Sighing he stared into her eyes.
"Maybe I won't, if you tell me what you haven't told me yet. What are you hiding from me, Nathalie?", he begged her with pleading eyes.
"There are things I just can't talk about, things I am to embarrassed to talk about. So can you please leave it be."
"My dear Nathalie, I have not only seen all of you, I have also touched and kissed you everywhere. I did literally screw you until you screamed. And still there are any health conditions that embarrass you in front of me?", he blurted his thoughts straight out, not able to contain them any longer.
"Maybe that's part of the issue", she heavily breathed out, trying to get away from him. But he just didn't let her and pulled her even tauter against his chest.
"So you're telling me, you're embarrassed, 'because' I've seen all of you? You didn't get hurt while we were....?", he now asked even more worried than before.
She shook her head rapidly.
"No Gabriel, I didn't get physically hurt while we were, how did you just call it, screwing? And neither of us was at fault for the mental pain after that. Except maybe me, when I bailed out", she hissed in a squeaky voice.
"So you do know, what's causing your actual condition?", he was almost yelling at her now.
Nathalie again shook her head. Then started to cough again, to hold her mouth shut with her hand right after that. But this time she could hold it back as there wasn't anything left she could have thrown up anyway. The designer instantly stopped ranting and held her tight again, stroking her head until she calmed down.
"I'm sorry, love", he hummed. "I'm just so fucking scared. Come on now, try to drink a little of that soup!"
She leaned against him, softly shaking her head.
"There's no use in trying right now. It would come back faster than I can get it down. Give me a little time please", her request was desperate.
"Okay", he cooed softly. "Take all the time you need."
"Thank you for staying here with me, Gabriel. I feel already better just feeling you close!"
The grey haired man looked at her with a mix of surprise and concern.
"Are you sure, that you have no fever? Because I have the feeling, you are a little delirious, otherwise you would have never admitted that", he jokingly said.
Nathalie started to laugh but that quickly turned into a cough again. Though this one did pass rather quickly, she begged him with her strained voice: "Please don't make me laugh."
"I'm gonna try, love."
"Could you stop with..."
" Nope. Until you're much better I won't stop with the pet names, my dear", he stated and smirked as she groaned. "And now, you're going to eat some of the soup.
He tried to put her into a seating position again and succeeded this time. He then opened the lid of the soup bowl. After stirring it a little, he filled a spoon with the warm fluid and the vegetables and said: "Alright then, open your mouth."
"I am not an infant nor am I some old woman who can't eat on her own anymore. So would you please hand me that spoon before I burn my mouth?", she whined.
"I won't do that, my love. Why can't you just admit that you are feeling bad and let me help you? I have never been one of those men, who think they are too 'good' to do things like that. Now open your mouth please, or I'll start to eat that pizza right in front of you without sharing a tiny piece. And I've been hearing your stomach since I got here with the food."
He was now furious. How could one woman be so stubborn?
Nathalie just gave in. She was too weak to fight him right now, no matter how pathetic she felt for being fed.
Spoon after spoon he made her eat the entire portion of soup. He even blew onto it so it wouldn't be too hot. The female watched him doing all those things and thought that it was actual really sweet of him.
"Are you feeling a little better now?", Gabriel asked her tenderly, after placing the bowl and the spoon back at the desk.
She nodded.
"Do you like something else?"
"I would like, but as long as this is staying down, I won't tempt my luck!", she mumbled.
The designer smirked. "And your voice is much better as well. Maybe you will be able to get some sleep now?", he suggested then.
The young woman looked away from him, when she started to stutter:
"D-d-do you th-think........y-you..........I-I.........would l-like......i-i-if you c-c-could s-stay a l-l-little........longer!"
Her pale face now had red stains on the cheeks and forehead. Gabriel sat down beside her and took her hand.
"Didn't I already tell you, that I won't leave you, until you are feeling better? I will just send a message to Adrien to inform him and maybe, when you are asleep, I will go and cancel my appointments for the rest of the week. And don't try to say anything, I'll do it either way!"
Nathalie closed her eyes and laid her head, which she had just lifted to object to his words, back into the cushion.
"Do you want or need anything else? If not, then..." He took of his blazer and shoes and placed himself on the bed beside her. Then he pulled her towards him, her back against his chest. "You're cold", he whispered. "Why didn't you tell me? I would've gotten you another blanket. They're all still over there on the chair." He wanted to get up again, but the female caught his arm and held it tight.
"I'm okay now", she huskily hummed as she was already falling asleep.
He stayed in place and held her, ignoring the slight smell of vomit that came from her hair, as well as the sweaty strands, that tickled his face. All he cared about was, that she would be feeling better soon.
At some point he fell asleep too, while he was listening to her deep breaths. When he woke up from the movements beside him, it was already dark outside. He noticed, that the woman he was holding just a moment before wasn't there anymore, but was sitting on the rim of the bed obviously about to try and stand up.
"What are you doing?", he asked, making her flinch and almost slip off of the mattress. She could catch herself barely and groaned.
Gabriel quickly got on his knees and supported her back, while he laid his arms around the trembling body, to hold her.
"What on earth were you trying to do? Why don't you just ask me to help you?"
"I didn't want to wake you", she said hoarsely. "I just needed to go to the bathroom!"
He didn't say anything else but scooted forward and sat beside her, to then pull her to her feet with him.
Nathalie quickly clang on to him as she felt a little dizzy and nauseous but as that passed after a short moment, she felt good enough to try and walk, so she told Gabriel: "Ok, I think I can go now."
The tall man held her steady in his strong arms, and slowly they made their way to the bathroom.
"Uhm", Nathalie began hesitantly, "I....uh....need a.....little......alone time? You know....for....well....."
He chuckled. "Are you good to let go? Otherwise I'll help you to...you know....take off your..."
"I'm fine", she quickly interrupted him.
"Okay, but please don~t feel to embarrassed to call for help if you need any, alright?", Gabriel looked at her intensely so she would understand that he was being serious.
"Would you please...", she begged.
"I am right behind that door", he added as he stepped outside.
A moment later he heard her try and call with her still rasp voice: "Why didn't you tell me, that I reek of vomit? How did you even stand that smell?" Next he could hear the water in the shower splattering onto the tiled floor.
Instinctively he turned the handle and walked back inside her bathroom. Nathalie was sitting on the now closed toilet lid, from where she obviously had opened the faucet and was now trying to take off her clothes so she could go and wash herself.
"Would you please stop that?", he shouted to be heard despite the running water, to then turn off the shower. "You couldn't get into that room without help, how do you think, you will stay on your feet long enough to take a shower?"
"But I.....really.....I can't stand that smell......it makes me feel sick again!" she objected.
"What about going to my bathroom and taking a bath? And I'm not saying that to get you into my room or to get to see you naked, I am suggesting that, to make you feel more comfortable, because even if I help you in and out of the water, I won't have to keep you on your feet and help you get washed in the tub, am I right?"
Nathalie closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, then nodded.
"Yes, you are right. I am so sorry to be a burden for you once again!"
She lowered her head. Gabriel now knelt down in front of her and put his hands on her thighs. He then leaned his forehead against hers.
"Haven't I told you, that you'll never be a burden to me? Come on, let's get you into your nice warm bath, and then immediately back to bed, so you will hopefully get better at some point."
With that he lifted her up, not even trying to let her walk all the way, and carried her through her room into the hallway and to his own bedroom, where he wanted to lay her down at first, but Nathalie stopped him:
"Please, there's no need to get your bed as smelly as mine. I can just wait in the bathroom. If on the toilet or on the floor doesn't really matter to me."
He shook his head, as he took her into the bathroom with him and seated her on the toilet lid.
"You didn't really believe, I would let you sit on the floor, did you?" he scolded her. Then he turned around to let warm water fill the oversized tub. "Can you undress yourself? There is my robe, just put it on, when you're done, and then I can help you get into the water. If you're good with that."
"A-a-actually, I-I-I think, I n-n-need s-s-some help", she stammered quietly, to start sobbing right after that.
Gabriel's heart ached as he saw her like that, saw how she suffered under the situation of needing help for anything. So he just stepped over and got down on his knees again, to then pull the crying woman into his embrace.
"Can you stand on your own?", he asked softly.
"I think so", came from the female, who blushed at the thought of him undressing her despite everything they had done before. But Gabriel's face had turned red as well. Imagining taking her clothes off, seeing her naked, maybe even helping to wash where she couldn't reach, made him think of very inappropriate things. So he tried to not let her notice and slowly pulled her to her feet, turning his head, to not let her see his red cheeks.
He helped her get to the tub, than closed his eyes while pulling down the blue sweatpants she was wearing as well as her underpants, which he could tell just from touching them, that they were mainly made of lace. As he straightened himself again, he shortly looked at her face, before he grabbed her shirt and pulled it up.
Nathalie lifted her arms, so Gabriel would be able to take the shirt off of her upper body, but her legs were weaker than she had expected and started to give in the moment she was completely naked. Luckily the man in front of her had already reached for her waist and caught her before she could collapse to the floor.
There they were, standing in his bathroom, he holding the naked woman to his body, while she was hanging helpless in his arms. To make the embarrassment complete, Nathalie felt her stomach turn and though she tried to push herself off, she puked directly on his shirt and pants.
And Gabriel Agreste, being covered in smelling stomach contents, holding his pale, naked assistant to his chest, couldn't help it and started to laugh. While he did, he carefully lifted the again crying woman up and placed her inside the warm water, making sure, she was feeling good enough to not drown, before he mused:
"I hope, you don't mind, if I take a quick shower while you're here."
He kissed her forehead and got to his feet, to open his pants and his shirt and slowly, to not spread the fluids all over the room, he took them off of his body, to at the same time wipe away the remaining vomit on the floor. Nathalie could only bury her face in her hands, the moment she saw him do that.
"I still can't believe that you can keep so calm despite that", she rasped.
He chuckled.
"I remember you doing the same, when Adrien was younger and got sick. You didn't care about cleaning yourself until you knew, he was alright."
"That was right after I started working for you. He wasn't older than six by the time. What should I have done? Yelled at him? That would have only made it worse", the young woman objected.
"See, I am doing just what you did. I see it as what it was. An accident. So no need to get all worked up. In a few minutes it's gone, and we won't mention it again, okay?", the wiping designer suggested. "And now, try to get done, while I take that shower, before I start considering different things, when I remember you being completely naked in that bathtub!"
He turned around and walked away, leaving her red cheeked and flustered, but he didn't feel the slightest better himself. So he turned on the water and after taking off his underpants, he rinsed the rest of the body fluids off.
Nathalie, though still embarrassed and scarlet red, and despite still feeling her stomach burn, could not take her gaze away from him. Good thing he stood with his bare butt towards her and didn't show his front. She shook her head, to clear it from those thoughts and started to out some shampoo into her hair. Then she scrubbed every inch of her body from head to toe, to get rid of the smell, she thought she had everywhere on her skin. When she finally closed her eyes and reached for the tap, to rinse her hair, she heard Gabriel approach her. He was wearing his robe.
"May I help you?", he asked rather shyly.
"Uh, what.....I.....why....you..."
"Just calm down, I'm only looking at your head. I just thought, it would be easier for me, than it is for you right now."
She shrugged and gave in. "If you say so! You would have made a brilliant nurse, I must say", she giggled.