Authors note: I am sorry if this isn't the best chapter. My mind has been in a brain-fog, but despite it I really wanted to write, even if it is a shorter filler chapter.
~Gemma's POV:~
Day in.
Day out.
I was up early in the morning, almost before the sunrise—like how I was at my father's compound, I would dress myself in athletic workout clothing I had chosen for myself before picking at my breakfast.
No one noticed, no one noticed how tired I was or how I could hardly eat and part of me was thankful for that, the times I did manage to eat more then one or two bites I'd be hiding in the bathroom puking it back up before continuing my day. Kane haunted me, he haunted my emotions that were never settled, he haunted me through the day in the memories and when I would fall asleep for the short amount of time, he would haunt me there too in dream's I felt like I was drowning in.
"Nyx, you almost ready?" Nicholas asked from the doorway, the others were all out for the day doing their own jobs, Helen had to be at the shop to train Luke on how to handle the prep in the mornings, even the baking aspect of it and from Helen has been saying, he is a fast learner, and she was sure she wouldn't need to train him too much on it.
Nodding my head, I rose from the table watching as he exited before I did. Putting my breakfast in the trash and my plate in the dishwasher, I headed towards the training matt her had outside, both of us working on our warmup routines together, he would walk me through it day by day. "Okay, what is today's lesson?" I asked as I put my hair up in a ponytail to remain out of my face. I learnt the hard way that hair being in the way could cause a distraction, and Nick also explained to me that you weren't going to always have time to tie your hair up, so it was something I also eventually needed to get used to.
He had his hair in a messy bun on top of his head like he usually did. He wore sweats and a muscle shirt like usual. "Basics still, you are getting the hand of it quick and when you know that we will be moving on to fighting with weapons" he smirked as he lifted his hands.
Basic training had been going on for roughly a week now, he was impressed how quickly I learnt and even though I took him down on the first day last time, it was near impossible to do now. Helen of course had the chance to redeem herself and Nick's ass was surely whooped that day, as well as mine.
Movement felt like a blur, my whole body feeling as if it was floating in a way—the dizziness would come and go from my stomach not being able to hold anything down, but I would push through, I needed to push through. Training was the one escape I could use for now and within that two-hour lesson I could just let go of everything before needing to return to it.
Gritting my teeth as sweat slid down my back, Nick furrowed his brows. "You need to focus, Gemma, come on" he said but his voice felt distant to me as my heart quickened.
What was happening to me?
Feeling the wave of dizziness slam into me again, I couldn't help but lean into it as my body went tumbling to the ground, Nick's voice sounding distant as he hollered my name out to me.
I only let darkness consume me, feeling the coolness of it relaxing my muscles as Nick shook me, calling my name.
~Nicholas's POV: ~
She tumbled to the ground. Cursing, I bolted to her as I lifted her head in my lap. "Gemma! Gemma?" I shook her gently. Her whole body was coated in sweat and her lips looked dry. "Nyx, wake the fuck up—that's an order" I said shaking her slightly more.
Hearing her groan, I let out a sigh of relief as those green eyes fluttered opened, they looked dimmed, not her usual bright-eyed self. "What. . . What happened?" she groaned trying to sit up, only I could see how dizzy she truly was.
Easing her into my chest, she leaned on me. "You just passed out. . . Were you not feeling good?" if she wasn't feeling good I wouldn't have pushed her this hard.
Gemma shook her head, closing her eyes as she let out a sigh. Scooping her up, I headed back into the warmth of the compound. When we got inside I took her to a study we used, placing her on the long lounge chair, she was out of it and as she curled up on the chair, she closed her eyes saying she just needed a minute before she would be good to go again.
Todays lesson would be cancelled.
Sending a text to Jolly, he didn't take long before rushing home. He was the most medically trained one of us all, he took a few years in hospitality, and he could draw someone's blood or even place an IV in one of us—it came in handy since all of us were stubborn. "Where is she?" he asked walking in, his jean jacket not even coming off.
"She is in the study; I don't know what is wrong with her. . . We were training and then she just passed out" I said leading him to the room.
Jolly wasted no time as he began checking her vitals, even managing to draw blood from her. How she didn't flinch or complain about it was beyond me, she was resting which was good but the fact she didn't budge had me concerned.
Following him down to what we considered a clinic, he began getting to work as I stood there helpless.
Unsure how much time passed, he got himself up grabbing and IV bag and turning to me. "Princess is dehydrated, maybe even a little malnourished, when was the last time she actually ate anything?" he questioned grabbing what he needed for the IV.
Thinking, I couldn't remember when the last time she ate more then one or two bites was. . . Before Kane surely. "I- I don't think she has had anything really since Kane, when we went out for lunch that first day of training, she gave her lunch to Luke." I cursed into the air between Jolly and myself, "Fuck, she hasn't been eating—that is part of the reason why she passed out today" Jolly nodded as I followed him back up the stairs.
He found a vein suitable enough before he hooked her up to the IV—once more, she wasn't budging which had my heart racing. "Fluids will help her, make her some food when she wakes up but don't overwhelm her system, do soup or something light, nothing heavy, and not a lot of spice as well, understood? I nodded to show him I understood what he meant. "Good, text me if you need me again but I need to go finish this job, I think I might know where the USB is" we had been trying to find a USB that contained files we needed, but after a member of our party passed away, we had spent years trying to find it.
Around lunch, I sat in the room with Gemma, I had the TV on as noise, but I mainly doodled on my notepad I had. Drawing a character underneath the mood, one who was battling demons as they wanted to get at her.
Hearing a groan from the lounge chair, my head flew up seeing Gemma waking up, she hissed when she moved the hand that had her IV in it. Shooting to my feet, I rushed to her to stop her from pulling it out. "Gemma, hey, look at me" her green eyes fluttered open once more, "you gave me a heart attack out there, Nyx" part of me wanted to be so angry, but the other part of me was just glad she was okay.
"What the hell is in my hand?" she glanced down at the IV that was currently hydrating her.
Standing to my feet, she watched as I looked down at her. For a second, I could have sworn a blush crept on her cheeks even. "Well princess" she looked back up at me at the tone I used, it wasn't as cold as the night she snuck out, but it wasn't going to coddle her either. "You seemed to be dehydrated, you were so dehydrated and even malnourished that your body basically went into overdrive, so you are currently getting fluids and I am about to grab us something to eat, together" there it was, the fear bright in her eyes at the thought of trying to stomach something. "I'll be with you the whole time, and if you puke it back up then we try again in a bit. . . I wasn't lying to you when I told you the first time I killed someone I couldn't keep anything down for the first day." She watched as I went to the door. "Watch something on the television, and I will be right back" before she could protest, I left the room.
It wasn't a heavy soup I made. Just a package of chicken noodle, something to get into her system and enough for both of us to have. I placed it into two soup cups before placing the spoons inside and carrying them and a package of crackers to the room she was in. Her eyes went straight to the steaming cups of soup in my hands. "Nicholas, I don't know about this. . ." she admitted softly, maybe more so to herself rather then to me.
Pulling the small table between us closer to her, as I took a seat in the chair beside her, placing my ankle over my knee and passing her a cup of soup. "We are going to try, when I couldn't stomach that day it was Jolly who took care of me, like this actually—I was hooked up to an IV to make sure I was receiving something, and he made me soup. . . When I puked it back up, he was never angry or disgusted with it he would hand me a cloth, help clean up and then we'd try again because your body just doesn't understand right now that you need to eat, your mind tricks you into thinking you physically can't and so your body and mind work together, which is why we are starting small" I said taking a spoonful of soup into my own mouth, watching the anime she had put on while I was away in the kitchen.
Gemma was hesitant, it wasn't hard to see that. "What about training?" she seemed sad at the thought of not being able to train.
"You are training," she looked at me confused. "Right now, you are training your body to take in the proper nutrients you need to survive, once we know you can do that then we will resume where we left off" she wanted to protest, but my eyes looked at her which had her closing her mouth. "I am not having you pass out like you did today—what do you think your father would have said? He is currently on his honeymoon for another few days and if he heard—"
She cut me off, her tongue felt like steel as the words flowed. "If he found out, he wouldn't care about it because I was nothing but a pawn in the media for him" her green eyes a shade darker as if the light in them dimmed to shadows to show her emotions. "He wanted a boy, settled for the fact I was a girl and told me to get over my mothers' death on her birthday, if anything whatever he and I had is gone and I will never trust him" she took a spoonful of soup as we fell into silence.
It was a relief to hear she no longer trusted him, but at the same time I didn't want to push it too far knowing she was still healing from the damage he had caused her.
"I am here Gemma, let me help you" I said letting the words soak into her emotions, she needed someone and maybe if she heard me say it she knew it was okay to talk to me.
She managed to eat half her soup before she felt sick, I had given her a bucket in case she was, but the sickness never came. "Kane will haunt you, but you can't let him consume you" I said handing her another cup of soup once dinner time came around.
And we repeated it, until we both woke up the next day, we repeated it.
She was able to hold her food down and as we slowly worked on the training again, I could notice a difference in how she moved. She was more focused, more fluid in her movements.
As I went hand to hand with her, she ducked my every move and slammed herself into me causing us to fall, her on top of me. Not even thinking, she grabbed my hands pinning them above my head with one hand like I had done to her so many times, her arm pressing down on me as her breaths were calmer. "I whooped your ass, Ruffilo" she smiled down at me, I could feel her breath fanning over my face.
Shaking any thought from my head, I nodded my head as I smirked. "Congratulations, Nyx." We stood up brushing dirt off ourselves. "I'd say you're able to graduate basics." She watched as I walked over to the weapon rack we had, pulling out knives her eyes widened. "Relax, these ones are fake, the real ones are for later—but now we get to learn everything you just did, and this time we are adding weapons" but she didn't know, she was the biggest weapon we currently had.