Through Pain We Survive

Chapter 29

*** Trigger Warning- Drugging mentions ***

Nate walked downstairs to make some coffee and wake up. Once the coffee was brewing he stood there waiting, letting his mind wonder.

We all need a break, with all that has happened with Gwen getting drugged, what happened with Morgan, the picture leaking with me and Sara, the phone calls to Gwen, that creep messing with Gwen, now Gwen sick... I wish we could go back to normal.

Nate thought back to the night before.

Nate and Sara walked through the door from their walk. Sara's phone buzzed and she looked at it.

"Oh I'd better get going." She told him.

"Alright then! Thanks for everything tonight. I'll walk you out."

"It was my pleasure. Always great to hang out with you guys."

Nate smiled, and leaned in to kiss her. She got in her car and he watched her leave. He then headed upstairs to check on AJ and Gwen. Seeing the office dark and empty surprised him. He went over to their room and knocked on their open door. He scanned the room and saw the bathroom light on. He walked over to see Gwen curled into AJ with her eyes closed on the floor, looking very pale.

"Is she okay!?" Nate exclaimed, worry overcoming him.

AJ shook his head. "She's been nauseous and we think she might have a stomach bug," he explained.

"Do you need me to do anything? Can I get her anything?" Nate said, immediately jumping in. He knew AJ wasn't going to leave her side for a while.

"Could you maybe get her something for the nausea? Please?" AJ asked him, stroking Gwen's back affectionately. His eyes were clouded with worry.

He nodded his head and went to get his shoes on.

Noticing the coffee was done percolating, he poured himself a cup. He hoped whatever bug Gwen had would leave her system soon. He didn't like seeing her this way. He knew AJ didn't either.

AJ came downstairs, looking very disheveled.

"Hey," AJ greeted.

"Hey. You don't look like you got a lot of sleep."

"I didn't. Poor Gwen was up most of the night. If she wasn't actually getting sick, she was just dry heaving because there was nothing left in her stomach."

"Ugh. Well, did the medicine help a little last night?"

"It helped for about two hours, then nothing. She was finally asleep before the next dose was able to be given."

"I also got some sports drinks so she can keep up with her electrolytes. Dehydration is a worry too now with how often she was getting sick."

"Thanks man. I really appreciate you running out last night."

"It's no problem. I know y'all would have done it for me."

"Yeah. Of course. Speaking of, you're not feeling sick, are you? I mean, I've been around Gwen all night, and I'm not sick."

"No, I've felt fine."

"It's weird— we've been to the same places together, so if she would get sick, you'd think I would have too."

"Who knows. Maybe something she ate just didn't agree with her."

"She did try a new dish at the restaurant yesterday."

"Maybe that's it." Nate went silent and sipped his coffee. He sighed. "Oh, I started to make some progress on who posted that picture. It was posted that Monday, and it was from a local IP address."

"Really? Where is it?"

"That's the thing- it was at a coffee shop. So it's now a dead end."

AJ sighed. "Sorry, man. I thought you would have gotten a lead with that."

"Maybe I can go to the shop and see if anyone saw anything."

"That's an idea." AJ stood and grabbed a couple sports drinks for Gwen. Looking at them, he frowned. "I hope she will be okay."

"Gwen's resilient. She'll be fine. After she feels better we should all go out on a double date."

"Okay, sounds good. I'm going to get back up to her."

"Okay. If you need anything else, I'll be here."

"Thanks." AJ went up the stairs after he grabbed some crackers from the cabinet. He was hoping to get some sustenance into her.

Setting the drinks and crackers down on her nightstand, he felt her forehead. Her fever had broken sometime in the night, but she was a little warm again. Lightly kissing her forehead, he went to his side and sat down beside her. Pulling out his phone, he checked social media and then checked emails. Morgan had responded.

AJ,

     I really appreciate that, thank you. Meeting up for lunch sounds great! I talked to my dad about it, and he said he is willing to come with me to meet y'all. We only recently moved to Palmdale about four months ago, so we are not familiar enough with all the food places around this area. We are looking forward to meeting up with you!

                                                 Morgan

AJ smiled. He was glad their meet up would work out. He sent a response suggesting some restaurants they liked, and put his phone away.

Gwen stirred and rolled towards AJ. Slowly opening her eyes, she looked up at AJ. She smiled at him. "Hi Baby."

"Hey. How are you feeling?"

"Drained. But I'm not nauseous right now, so that's good."

"Good. Why don't you try eating a little something. I brought up crackers and some sports drinks. We need to make sure you stay hydrated."

"Okay. I'll drink some and then try a cracker."

Gwen grabbed the drink and she sipped some. After a few minutes, she tried a bite of a cracker. Finishing it off, she rinsed it down with a bit more drink. Then she put the cap back on and set it aside.

"You doing okay?"

"Umm, yeah, so far. Maybe it was just a short bug."

"I was thinking- you had a new meal at the cafe rather than your usual. Maybe something didn't settle right from that."

Gwen thought a moment. "Possibly. I don't know." She leaned into AJ. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her head.

"Oh, I heard from Morgan. She said meeting up for lunch sounded good. She and her dad will pick a restaurant and let us know where sounds good."

"That's good." Gwen pulled a face. "This is not setting right." She took off to the bathroom. AJ followed her and held her hair back.

When she was done, he got a cloth to put on her head. Gwen curled into him. After a few minutes, he carried her to bed. He gave her some more medicine and she went back to sleep.