Cooper's Children's Home // BradGa

S I X

"Hey. Stefani." Bradley said, stopping her from picking up some toys off of the floor. The kids were playing outside since the sun was out after two days of rain and that gave them plenty of time to clean up the house a bit.

She sighed and turned towards him, holding her head when she got dizzy. She'd been dealing with dizziness and headaches for a few days now, but she kept pushing herself to work and acted as if everything was okay. She couldn't fool Bradley though.

"Sit down, come on." He grabbed her arm and helped her sit down on the couch, taking a seat next to her. "What did you eat today? How much did you drink?" He asked. "And how much sleep are you getting at the moment? Every time I pass by your room at night your lights are on and I can hear you typing on your laptop like a maniac." He said, eyeing her closely. Her under eye area was dark from the lack of sleep and she looked much paler than usual.

"I'm fine." She said, giving him a rather unconvincing smile. "It's just the final stages of the album and that's always a bit stressful but it's almost done and then I'll go back to giving you a hard time, I promise."

Bradley chuckled and opened his arms for her. "Come on. Don't be shy. Let me give you a damn hug." He said when he saw her raise a brow.

She rolled her eyes and wrapped her arms around him, placing her head on his chest. "Thank you." She mumbled after a while.

"For what?"

"For not pushing me to talk about it."

••••

Stefani ran around the house, chasing a giggling Bree around who held up a stuffed animal parrot. "Bird fly!" She yelled, squealing when Stefani caught her little waist and threw her up in the air.

"Now you're a little bird as well!" She giggled, twirling around with her in her arms.

Bradley watched Stefani run around the garden with the kids, much happier and relaxed than she'd been just a week ago. He'd called Bobby and asked him to cut her some slack, give her more time off and even though he'd never tell her that, he was happy that Bobby had listened to him. He started to like having her around actually. She brought some life back into the house and as soon as the kids started warming up to her as well she was a great help. It took some pressure off of him as well. He smiled at her bright smile and loud laugh and caught himself getting lost in her. She was radiant and beautiful, strong and successful. Everything about her attracted him towards her more and more each day and there wasn't anything he could do about it at this point. He knew he was long gone and that he couldn't picture his life without the sassy superstar in it anymore.

"Come on, old man. You've been watching us for an hour now." Stefani giggled, grabbing his hand to make him join them during a game of American football.

"Old man? Excuse me, miss." He teased, poking her side with his finger, making her squirm away from him with a laugh. "Are you ticklish?" He asked, making her widen her eyes before she ran off. "Everyone! Stefani is ticklish!" He yelled. The kids all started chasing her around the garden while she ran away letting out a tiny scream.

The group obviously soon caught her and they attacked her with their little fingers all tickling her until she was on the floor, crying from laughter.

"Okay, enough!" Bradley laughed out after a while. "It's bath time!" He announced, making some kids groan in protest.

Stefani let him help her up off the grass while the kids all went inside, getting ready to go shower one by one while Stefani and Bradley grabbed the little ones to bathe them since they obviously couldn't do it by themselves yet. Bradley placed Bree into the bathtub first and blew raspberries on her stomach, making the little girl giggle adorably. She grabbed his cheeks with her tiny hands to push him away.