By Royal Decree //Princess&Bodyguard

7.

Mia's POV:
After Theo left I spent the rest of my day in bed, having to physically restrain myself from knocking on his door and begging for him to give me one more massage. I wasn't sure where he'd learned it, but it had given me so much relief.

I didn't feel well enough to eat dinner, and by the time everyone was clocking out, I knew I needed to suck it up and call the doctor. Other than Liana checking up on me every few hours, I hadn't heard from anyone else all day.

My brother was mad at me, and Theo was on his day off and so I spent the day in bed, on the phone to Willow or staring at the ceiling.

I had the strength to get up from bed at around 7pm, opening the door to my room and walking down the hallway, stopping at the end and holding onto the bannister as I was hit with another agonising cramp.

'Mia? What're you doing up?' Liana asked, looking up at me from the bottom of the stairs.

'I need a doctor.' I croaked, kneeling down so that I could try and control the pain the best I could.

'Get back into bed, I'll call him for you, ok?' She said, softly, getting up from the sofa and walking into the main hall.

Theo's bedroom door opened behind me and I didn't want to move, or even turn to look at him. I wished that the floor would swallow me so that I didn't have to deal with another awkward encounter.

'Do you need help?' He asked, coldly, almost as if it was an empty offer.

Because of that, I shook my head, pulling myself up slowly and taking a heavy breath, trying my hardest to contain my tears. He walked forwards without me saying another word, picking me up and carrying me back to my room, laying me softly down on my bed.

He picked me up as if I weighed nothing, giving me a few seconds to notice the cologne that he wore, and how his jaw tensed when he noticed me watching him.

Shut. Up.

He pulled a chair up besides my bed and kept his distance, sitting on his phone until my brother and the doctor arrived, despite me desperately begging for him to relieve the pain the way he had before. 

'What're we gonna do with you?' My doctor smiled, closing the door behind him and putting his equipment down on the desk.

'Good to see you too, Nate.' I responded, rolling my eyes playfully, before doubling over and clutching at my stomach as another wave hit.

'We're gonna need you to sit still whilst I take some bloods from you, if that's okay? Then we can get to the bottom of this.' He said softly, checking that I was okay with what he was going to do.

'You're speaking to the girl with the needle phobia.' My brother interjected, sitting down on the other edge of the bed and taking my hand, giving the doctor better access to my arm.

Theo silently offered me his other hand and i hid my smile, taking it, keeping my eyes locked on him whilst the doctor pushed the needle into my arm.

'Shit.' I winced, clenching my eyes closed and squeezing at Theo's hand hard.

'It's in, Miss Baldwin, now if you face the other way for just a few more minutes and I'll have all of the blood that I need to do an examination.' He explained, tapping softly at the needle as he began to draw blood from me.

'Does it look gross? If I look over I'll faint but I want to know what's going on.' I asked Theo, keeping my eyes closed.

'It looks, I mean it doesn't look bad.' He hesitated, tightening his grip on my hand.

I sat in silence until the needle was pulled from my arm, listening to my brother and Theo talk as if they'd been friends for years. It was suspicious to me, how well my brother got along with my bodyguard, but I kept my mouth closed.

'Now I've just got to set up my ultrasound machine, it shouldn't take too long, and then I'll give you a quick check over.' Nick said, getting up from the chair he was sitting in and leaving the room to grab his equipment.

Nick had been my family doctor for years. Unfortunately, the doctor who delivered me retired when I turned 10, but he did a lot for me too. Our family had loyal doctors who would visit us at the most ridiculous times of the day and I appreciated it, because I'd be screwed right now if Nick hadn't agreed to help me.

'You grabbed Theo's hand pretty hard there, Mia.' Lucas teased, leaning back in his chair.

'I wish my cramps on you, Lucas and then you'll realise how hard it is not to grab something and squeeze.' I retorted, not liking the assumption that my brother was making.

He held his hands up in defence and continued reading something on his phone, leaving me in peace from his taunting, finally.

'Hey, Lucas, can you book the masseuse first thing in the morning? I could really use a massage.' I asked my brother, keeping my eyes on the ceiling, not wanting to look at Theo.

'Liana already booked him. He'll be here at 8am so you'd better be awake.' He responded.

I heard Theo tapping his foot, and so looked over at him, noticing both his fists and his jaw tense. I wasn't too sure as to what had annoyed him, but I reached out for his hand, frowning when he pulled it away from me.

I had meant it in no other way than a comforting touch, but he had shut me down before i was even able to reach him.

Nick came back before I could shoot Theo an angry gaze or say something sarcastic, setting the machine up at my bedside and wiping some gel onto the stick, lifting up my T-shirt and warning me of the cold shock I'd get when it touched me.

I turned my head so that I could look at the screen, watching as he scanned over my lower abdomen, his gaze turning into a frown as he froze on something in particular.

'I do not want to say for certain until I get your bloods back but you are coming up with some endometriosis tissue.' He said, softly, moving the stick at a different angle to show it better.

I swallowed a hard lump in my throat.

I knew it.