Claire was worried about Gabriel for the rest of the day, and she was keen to finally leave her last meeting at 8 pm. She was dropped off by Pattison, rushing inside after the quickest 'see you later'.
She walked into the dark hallway, catching Martha dusting the pictures.
"Hi, Martha." She smiled at her warmly.
"Good evening, Miss Thompson." Martha smiled back.
"How's Gabriel?" Claire asked with worry.
"He hasn't left his bedroom since he came back," Martha admitted. "He didn't want us to disturb him."
"Did he eat anything yet?"
"No, ma'am." Martha shook her head.
"I see. Thanks." Claire smiled. "Did you have dinner?"
"Yes, thank you," Martha responded, still surprised at Claire's attentiveness to people around. She was still curious about who Claire was as she heard the rumours that were spreading between the maids, some speculating her to be some distant relative, but also Martha knew Gabriel and she knew men enough to know the heartbreak he went through when Claire left was the kind a man only feels for his romantic partner. Part of her wanted to scold Claire for disappearing for two months, but also part of her was thankful that she returned, bringing joy back into the villa.
"Do you want anything while I'm in the kitchen?"
"No, ma'am."
"What time are you off?" Claire asked as she looked at her watch.
"Within an hour. Agnes is on duty tonight."
"I'm sure that you don't have to go around cleaning at this time." Claire looked at her with worry.
"I just spotted a cobweb so I thought that I'll get it before heading off. Please, do not worry about me."
"I can't help it." Claire laughed. "Without you, this entire house will fall to the ground."
"Oh, Miss, there's no need to sweeten me."
"I am not." Claire smiled. "I'll leave you to it though. You only have a few minutes left of your shift. Have a good night, Martha."
"You too, Miss Thompson."
Claire walked into the kitchen remembering her promise and quickly set a pot with soup.
Within an hour she poured it into a bowl and pleaded it onto the tray, grabbing some more medicine for cold, and a glass of water. She walked upstairs, up to Gabriel's bedroom.
"Gabriel?" Claire knocked on his bedroom door. "Gabriel?" A quiet grunting answered her. "I've brought you food and medicine." A slight grunt responded again. "I'm coming in," Claire warned, giving Gabriel some time to protest. But there was none. She entered a dark room, unsure where she was going as it was pitch black. She found the sideboard and placed the tray on it, searching with her hands across the room, until she found the edge of the bed and then a bedside table with a lamp on. She turned it on. The warm light filled the room. Claire quickly looked around noticing its simplicity. It was all in white, grey, and black tones. Besides the bed, there was a bedside table on each side of the bed, with lamps on each side. One side was slightly cluttered with some notebooks, paper, pens, and a few of Gabriel's devices. Then there were two doors on one wall, one leading to the en-suite bathroom and another to the closet which seemed to be half-filled with expensive tailored suits and tuxedos, and another with some pairs of dark jeans and trousers and cashmere sweaters, with very few t-shirts. Then there was a single picture on the sideboard of younger Gabriel, probably in his early twenties, some young woman of similar age and with some similar features to him, then there was a middle-aged woman that Claire recognised immediately - Diane Moore - she was a wife of Michael Moore, Gabriel's mother.
Claire only looked around for a split second, taking it all in with her keen eye.
The bed was in a mess as Gabriel laid on his stomach across it in his pyjamas which consisted of a plain white t-shirt and flannel checkered bottoms. His tailored suit that he was wearing earlier was on the floor at the end of the bed. Claire guessed that Gabriel's face was squished, making him look as if he was pouting. He had sweaty pearls on his forehead and ruby-red cheeks. "Gabriel, I've brought you dinner and medication," Claire whispered as she walked up to the edge of the bed. Gabriel grunted again, his face twisted in discomfort and he remained still. Claire leaned towards him, touching his forehead. He was burning up. She hurried out of his room and towards his study where she knew he had a first aid box. She found a thermometer in it with ease ignoring stacks upon stack of papers on Gabriel's desk. She ran back into his room, starting to feel even more anxious. Claire grabbed his arm and helped him to roll over onto his back, telling herself off for her thoughts that mused at his muscular arms. It wasn't the time for such a stupid thought in her head, but she had to tell herself off again as she lifted his t-shirt to insert the thermometer under his arm. Gabriel was barely responsive, not even opening his eyes, just grunting.
Claire fidgeted impatiently as she awaited the results until the thermometer flashed angrily in red showing a temperature of 40.2 degrees Celsius.
Claire started to panic. It was a very high temperature even if it didn't warrant a trip to A&E just yet. She grabbed the medicine from the side and started spoon-feeding him, trying to get as much liquid in as she could. Gabriel swallowed but his motion was laboured. Claire noticed his cracked lips, he was already dehydrated. She ensured that the entire content of the glass was gone before she rushed into his bathroom, trying to find some flannels, which she did successfully, but she had to run into the kitchen to find some bowl.
As soon as she was back, she started washing Gabriel's face, washing the sweaty pearls away. Gabriel sighed with relief at the feel of lukewarm water. Claire was gentle and careful, realising that she hated the sight of Gabriel being ill, and she hated him being in pain. She wanted to take it all away and she would rather be in pain herself. "You must get better soon." She mumbled. "You can't be like that. You can't do that to me." She continued as she washed his face. She kept checking his forehead to ensure that his temperature wasn't rising further, and after half an hour she measured it again. It was a relief to see that it started dropping. "Gabriel, did you take your medication?" Claire asked with worry, worried that he kissed his evening dose. She knew from experience what kind of knock-off effect that has on a person's mood. She opened the drawer of the bedside table, rummaging through it. She was quick to spot his antidepressants as she was familiar with the brand. She opened it to find that the dose labelled with Thursday was gone. Claire smiled putting it back, but as she did, something else caught her eye. There was a picture in the drawer, in a slim frame. Claire picked it up, unsure how she felt about it. It was a picture of her, in her green dress. It was a picture taken during the company's photoshoot when she just took on the CDO. But it wasn't the one used for marketing. The photographer must've captured a picture of her as she laughed at Gina's joke during the photoshoot as she popped by to pass some information to her on the day. It wasn't posed, or business-like. It was just Claire being Claire. Claire stared at it for a few moments before putting it back where it was. Claire looked around in search of somewhere to sit, but the room had the bare minimum. She wondered if she should go and grab the armchair from her room but she knew just how heavy it was and that she will struggle moving it across the doorframe. After some hesitation, she sat down beside Gabriel, on the empty side of the bed. Under normal circumstances that would have been way out of her comfort zone, but with Gabriel being completely vulnerable, she didn't give it a second of thought, still focusing on him.
Her anxiety was getting worse so she needed something to occupy her mind. She went to her room and she picked a book from the bookshelf that she hasn't read yet. She went back into Gabriel's room, sittings down on the bed and leaning against the headboard with her legs outstretched. As she was reading, without thought she started humming. She didn't notice that now as Gabriel's temperature lowered, he smiled in his half-unconscious state at the sound of her. She took his temperature again and again until at last, it was below 39 degrees Celsius. He still had a fever but it wasn't anywhere as dangerous as before. Claire continued reading for a little longer before she fell asleep.
The alarm sounded angrily waking her up. She was in a daze, lazily opening her eyes and trying to work out what was happening. She felt some motion as Gabriel turned around to turn off his alarm, but she hasn't reacted yet.
Claire was still coming through. She yawned and stretched before she finally opened her eyes properly, realising that Gabriel's eyes were fixated on her. Her first response was to reach her hand and check Gabriel's forehead, which felt cool now. Gabriel smiled at her, his dimples showing. He was thankful for all that she did to ease his discomfort throughout the night, and even more so, he was happy to wake up to her beside him.
"How are you feeling?" Claire asked with worry.
"Much better, thank you," Gabriel answered in a raspy voice, sounding as if his throat had contact with sandpaper in recent days.
"Thank god." Claire sighed with relief, getting up quickly and grabbing him a glass of water. She sat down at the edge of his bed, waiting for him to drink it. She grabbed the empty glass and was about to walk away when Gabriel grabbed her hand.
"Can you please stay with me for a few minutes?" Gabriel asked. Claire nodded, putting the glass on the bedside table and sitting back down.
"Is everything alright?" Claire asked with worry. Gabriel nodded laying back down. He gently tugged on her arm. Claire laid down back where she was sleeping earlier, not even a second of thought over how appropriate it might be.
"Looking at you makes me feel better," Gabriel mumbled weakly. Claire smiled gently.
"I need to get ready for work." She said with disappointment which took her by surprise.
"It's only 5 am," Gabriel grumbled. "Besides, why are you in such a rush to run off after spending a night with me?" He joked.
"Wow." Claire laughed. "I'm going to let you off just for today as you're ill."
"I'm so ill that I think it might take at least a few more days of your attentive care during the night."
"Don't push your luck."
"Pushing my luck would be if I asked you to take a day off and just lay here with me for the rest of today." Gabriel's eyelids still seemed heavy. He was still fatigued from the high fever.
"I can call Mark if you want someone in your bed," Claire said teasingly.
"Stay with me a little longer…" Gabriel asked as he reached for her hand. Claire hasn't responded but she also didn't move. She held Gabriel's hand as he slowly fell asleep again.
Once Gabriel started snoring lightly, Claire escaped the room quietly bumping right into a maid who looked at her suspiciously.
Claire uttered 'good morning' before she run into her room, got a shower and got dressed, rushing off to work.