Archive of Our Own (AO3)

A Helping Hand (XE)

Nathalie had been stuck in bed quite a while, and at this point, she felt like she needed a shower. It's been rather hard, as it seems like her dizzy spells keep happening frequently and making it hard to move, let alone get up to shower alone. She was feeling alright now, so she decided to take advantage of the moment. Gabriel was presently in her bedroom, checking in on her as he usually does. "Well, now that I feel up to it, I believe I'm going to take a shower."

"Alone? I'm sorry, I simply can't allow that to happen." He replied sternly.

"Gabriel, do you really think I can't take a shower by myself? You bought me a very nice shower bench to help with that. I think I can manage. Now if you excuse me..." Nathalie huffed, as she slowly swung her legs over the edge of the bed. She pulled herself to her feet, but then after a few seconds, she fell back down. She put a hand to her head as she closed her eyes.

"Look at you, Nathalie, you keep getting dizzy. What happens if you slip and fall? What if you receive a head injury? I can't let you do that to yourself... who knows how a concussion would affect your sickness..." Gabriel placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked at him, her cheeks already blazing.

"Okay, fine. But you are not to touch or enter the shower with me. You will be sitting just outside the shower stall, and only assisting me when I ask you. Understand?" She spoke firmly.

He nodded, as he helped her up. His arm curled around her waist as he supported her. "Of course. This will only be to make sure that nothing bad happens to you." Together, they slowly walked to the bathroom. Once in the bathroom and the door was closed, Nathalie began to undress, albeit slowly as she still felt slightly awkward undressing around him. This wasn't the first time he's seen her undress, as he had helped her previously when she was even more ill and definitely didn't have the strength to get herself ready. Her illness wiped any shame she had of others seeing her naked, especially him, since he would be the most frequent person to help her. She wasn't sure why, though- surely he had more important things to do than to help her. Gabriel awkwardly turned his head away, chewing on his lower lip to hopefully ease thoughts he shouldn't be thinking. He certainly shouldn't be looking at her the way he does, but he couldn't help it. Nathalie was extremely attractive, with and without her clothes.

Once she was fully undressed and her hair down and brushed out, she stepped into the shower and turned on the water. The feeling of the warm water coursing over her body caused her muscles to relax, and her head to clear. The permanent mental fog that loomed seemed to melt away, even just for a moment- she almost felt like her old self momentarily. She bent down to pick up her shampoo, but straightened out far too quickly. Overcome with a wave of dizziness, she sat herself down on the bench in the shower. He perked up at the sound of her dropping her shampoo bottle. "Nathalie, are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm okay... but my legs feel weak." She mumbled as she closed her eyes. She hung her head.

"Do you need me to help?"

"No!" She blurted out, "I mean... No thank you. I'm okay..." She tried reaching for the shampoo bottle, but struggling.

"Are you sure you don't need help?"

Realizing she probably wouldn't be able to reach it anyway, she exhaled. "Actually, yes. I can't reach the shampoo bottle. Can you help me get it?"