I will love again

Part 23 - A confession?

The next week passed by without any unusual incidents. Except for Nathalie oversleeping for several times, which Gabriel just ignored, because she looked much better lately, she had barely struggled with her breathing and coughing and she was finally eating more healthy and a lot. As if she was trying to gain everything back, that being affected from the miraculous for so long had taken from her.

He didn't make the mistake to mention that he could see where she put on those few pounds, but he liked the way her butt and breasts had gotten fuller. And though he didn't tell her why, he did tell her that she looked gorgeous every morning and 'that' seemed to benefit her recovery.

It was as if the room lit up each time she entered it.

It was in the second week after her appointment with the doctor, when Gabriel saw Nathalie struggle with staying awake while she was typing on her keyboard.

After observing her for some time he couldn't stay quiet any longer and said calmly: "Wouldn't it be for the best, if you would take a break and get some sleep? Your work doesn't go away, you know?"

But Nathalie just shook her head.
"I'm just a little tired. I haven't had any coffee this morning and I have been up too long because I was doing some research about a few rather painful things that I will have to go through in the future and after that I couldn't fall asleep for quite a while."

"Painful?", Gabriel furrowed his brows as he stared at her. "Is that really necessary? Maybe you should consult another doctor!" He seemed to be very shocked.

"Believe me, each doctor will tell me just the same. There are just the two procedures and as far as I could find out, both of them hurt, one just later and longer", she explained.

"Now I am feeling guilty again. Knowing that it's all my fault...", he started. But the young woman stopped him by shaking her head vigorously while she yawned soundly.

"It's not your fault. I wanted to do that just as much and none of us could have known what would happen. Well we could but we both didn't care", she tried to soothe him.

"But I did care. How many times have I told you, not to use the broken miraculous? If only I hadn't let you go on with that." He had walked over to his young assistant, he just couldn't stop thinking of.

"Just trust me with that, Gabriel, it's not your fault, if anyone's than it's our both."

The worried man sighed. Then he proposed: "As I cannot get you into bed anyway....I....mean...your bed...alone....to rest....uhm....can I at least get...you that coffee?"

Nathalie chuckled over his desperate attempt to explain that he didn't mean that the way he had said it. She wanted to object to his offer at first but then nodded and replied: "That would be great, thank you."

He left and made his way to the kitchen, where only a very young girl was busy with preparations for their lunch. He had never seen her before and she obviously had only heard some horror stories about him, because she seemed to be utterly scared of him. With a dark red head she somehow stuttered out the question, if she could do anything for him.

With a sweet smile he told her, that he could handle that on his own.

"You're new, right?", he asked friendly, while he had his back towards her.

"Y-yes, Sir", she answered.

"What's your name?"

"My, uh, name? Uh, Charlie, Sir. It's short for Charlotte."

"Well, Charlie, it's nice to meet you.", he mused.

"You too, Sir", she mumbled and went back to her work.