Summary: Alessia realizes that you're overworking yourself and decides to take action into her own hands when you keep pushing yourself.
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Work was asking a lot of you during this time of the year, it was a busy period in general with Black Friday, and the holidays coming up. These months were known to everyone in your department to be the busiest of the whole year. Usually you were barely able to handle the pressure during this time, but now the pressure was even bigger.
Throughout the past months your department had been expanding. Business was going well, which meant that the workload was increasing. The company hired a total of four new people over the course of three weeks. You were grateful for this as the work would be able to be divided amongst more people but before the new hires would be able to work in full capacity, they had to finish training, which each member of your team gave them in smaller parts. It took quite some extra time to train the newest additions to your team but of course their education and being well rounded in their new functions was very important.
While training the new hires, two of your team members were expecting a baby at the end of the year, meaning they are out on maternity leave. On top of that, a coworker just quit, and if that wasn't enough, people were getting sick one after another.
All in all, you were stressed about getting everything done in time. You would come home from work, eat dinner with your girlfriend, and then excuse yourself to finish up some work. Most times finishing up something turned into hours overtime. Your girlfriend subtly tried to take you to take breaks but those hints were mostly ignored as you kept typing away.
"Darling, please come to bed." You heard Alessia say from behind you. You paused your work for a second and turned around. She leaned against the doorframe of your home office, she was wearing a pair of soccer shorts and an oversized t-shirt, her comfy look accompanied by a messy bun. Normally you would drop everything to join her in the coziness and spend the evening cuddling up with her in bed, but you knew that if you stopped now you would be even more stressed tomorrow. "You go ahead, I'll join you in a bit." Alessia knew better than to push, so she walked over to place a kiss on your forehead. You had to fight the urge to melt into her touch. "Don't make it too late, please."
The next morning when Alessia woke up, you weren't in the bed with her. She got up and walked to the home office right away, thinking you might have worked all night. When she saw you working in your pajamas, one of her old jerseys and a pair of sweatshorts, she knew you had been to bed at some point. She walked downstairs to make the both of you some coffee. "Hey, I figured you could use one of these." The girl pulled you out of your focus. "Oh, thank you, darling. I hope I didn't wake you." Alessia shook her head, "No, don't worry. I have to leave to go to training in half an hour."
Alessia sipped her coffee from the lounge chair in the corner of the room. Knowing she would not be able to pull you away from the work you needed to do, she chose to sit with you, to be able to spend some time with you. She was worried about you, never before had she seen you this stressed, or overworked. It was hard for her to let you keep going, while she could see you weren't doing alright. She made a mental note to ask her teammates for advice later today.
You managed to get a lot of work done, so you allowed yourself to have a proper meal with your girlfriend. Alessia plated the food, fully believing you would take yours upstairs to continue working but when she saw you sit down at the dining table, she quickly sat down across from you. "Hey Less, I'm sorry for not being very present at the moment. I promise I will be better when work slows down a bit." You say between bites. "It's okay, you don't have to worry about me, I know it's a busy time."
That night was the first time in a week where Alessia felt you get into the bed at night. She gave it a moment before rolling over and cuddling into your side. Your exhaustion accompanied by the warmth of your girlfriend made you doze off quickly.
Alessia was surprised to find you still sound asleep next to her in the bed when she woke up. She looked at the time and realized it would only be a couple of minutes before your alarm would go off. Knowing you had slept so little in the past couple of weeks, and seeing you still sleep so deeply now, she made the decision to get out of bed and turn off your alarm. She quietly made her way downstairs, careful to not wake you. Once she was out of hearing distance, she grabbed her phone and called your boss.
It wasn't until hours later that Alessia heard noises coming from your shared bedroom. She found you stumbling around, trying to get your clothes on as quickly as possible. "Why didn't you wake me?" You ask as soon as you see Alessia walk in. "Hey, hey, calm down." She says while moving your way to help you stay balanced. "What do you mean calm down, Less? It's 1pm. I am so late, my boss is going to kill me." Alessia hadn't really thought this part of her plan through but by the amount of sleep you got, she knew that she made the right decision. "Because your boss thinks you're sick." Your eyes shoot up at hers. "Alessia Mia Teresa Russo, why does my boss think I am sick?"
Alessia's eyes widen at your use of her full name. "Please don't be mad." She started avoiding your eyes at first, then she remembered why she did it. "You haven't slept properly in weeks, and I can see that it is taking a toll on you. I woke up a little before your alarm and realized that you were still asleep. I knew you needed this sleep, so I called in sick for you. I apologize for doing it behind your back but darling, you needed this." You sat down beside her on the bed. "You're probably right. Only one day though!" Alessia nodded, already happy that you were agreeing to take it easy for the rest of the day. "Plus you are ordering food from my favorite place because I am starving." Your girlfriend smiled up at you, "Deal, now get comfortable because we're gonna watch that movie you've been wanting to watch."
After some delicious food, you start the movie. Spending the rest of the day cuddled up with your girlfriend. You realized just how much you missed her these past weeks, and were grateful that she went to these lengths to take care of you. "Thank you, Less." You whisper in her ear before placing a kiss on her cheek. "Thank you for always taking care of me. This was exactly what I needed, you know me so well. You are the best girlfriend in the whole wide world."
