Chapter 45: Feeling Sick

It had been ages since Gwen had woken up feeling so poorly. The sheet beneath her was soaked in sweat; her head was heavy and her whole body ached. Even the slightest movement made her regret moving at all.
“Oh, God…” she murmured to herself.
“Are you alright?” Finn's voice echoed in the dark.
The whole room was dark and it was hard to tell where exactly she was. She saw Finn’s silhouette as he slowly opened a curtain, letting in the morning light.
Gwen blinked a few times to adjust her sight to the sudden brightness, and then she saw the most beautiful sight she’d ever seen. Finn was there, looking at her with concerned eyes, his hair wet, wearing only black clothes which Gwen though that made him even sexier.
He came towards her holding a tray full of fruits, pancakes with syrup, orange juice and cereal. A whole breakfast meal just for her; and in bed, which was something that Gwen was not used to at all.
“I… I think I’ve had better days,” she finally answered, after recovering from the shock of seeing such a romantic scene happening right in front of her eyes.
“Yeah, I guess you overwhelmed yourself lately. The doctor said you need to rest completely for a few days,” Finn explained, putting the tray on her lap.
Gwen sat down and leaned her back against the headboard, picking a strawberry from the bowl of fruit. She wasn’t feeling hungry at all, her stomach was sick and nauseated, but she couldn't refuse such kindness.
“But I have to work,” she complained, frowning. “I can’t stay in bed for days without doing anything.”
“Well, you can and you will. You will stay here until you’re feeling as good as new,” Finn stated with his commanding CEO tone.
Gwen raised her brows.
“Stay here? Why? I can rest in my apartment.”
“You can, but you won’t have anyone to take care of you there, so you'll stay here. Cody will come here after school as well, so you don’t need to worry about him.”
“How is he?” she asked looking to her side. Cody was sleeping there last night, but she did not see him get up. In fact, she didn’t even know how she got into Finn’s bed. He had probably taken her there after she fell asleep in the balcony.
“He woke up feeling much better, although still very quiet. I asked him if he wanted to stay at home today, but he refused. He said he wanted to tell his friends about what happened.” Finn gave her a modest smile. “Anyway, I’ll pick him up at school later, and I also sent a few of my men to watch him during the day.”
Gwen nodded, feeling much more relieved after hearing those words. Knowing that Cody was protected helped ease the pain in her heart.
“Now, let’s talk about you for a moment, shall we?” Finn raised his brows, sitting on the bed next to her. “The doctor said you’re pretty weak and anemic. You need to rest and take care of yourself, otherwise you won’t be able to get out of this bed for a long time. And I’ll make sure of that.”
Gwen swallowed the acid strawberry with a grimace. She didn’t feel like staying in bed all the time; in fact, she hated it. She felt incompetent, powerless, dependent. But she couldn’t deny that being treated as a princess with breakfast in bed by Finn was very tempting.
“Cody and I need you well and healthy. So please do it for him, alright? Stephanie said she would come to spend the day with you, so you won’t be completely alone. I just need to go to the company for a few hours and I’ll be back.”
And then Finn did something that caught Gwen off guard. He lowered his head and placed a soft kiss on her cheek. It wasn’t something out of the ordinary, but she wasn’t expecting such an intimate gesture from him.
Of course their last kisses had been more than intimate, she thought, but this one was different. It was caring, affectionate, gentle.
The passionate teenager inside just wanted to be able to cuddle with him, be taken care of, hug him and tell him she loved him. She couldn’t stop picturing their little family together, traveling around the world, going to a picnic in the park, doing things that a normal family did.
She watched Finn get up and turn his back to her, leaving her alone in that enormous room. While daydreaming about what a perfect life they could have together, an odd thought hit Gwen’s mind.
If she decided to risk it all and be with Finn, could his mother really do something to her or Cody? Finn was a billionaire; he had a lot of influence, contacts and money. Even if he didn’t believe that his mother was involved in anything unsavory, he wouldn’t leave Gwen and Cody unprotected.
Gwen ate her breakfast, which she didn’t think she would be able to finish, but she devoured everything on the tray. Stephanie arrived a few hours later and they spent the day chatting and watching movies.
They ordered something for lunch, talked about Gwen’s new ideas about her relationship with Finn, and Stephanie helped her take all the medicine the doctor had prescribed.
Gwen was feeling much better by the end of the afternoon when Finn arrived with Cody.
“Mommy, look at the drawing I did today,” Cody yelled, running towards her with a piece of paper in his little hand.
Gwen’s entire world lightened up with the sight of her baby looking so happy. Finn was right behind him, looking as pleased as her. He closed the door and took off his blazer as Cody jumped on the couch between Gwen and Stephanie.
“That's a very nice drawing, kid,” Stephanie stated, looking at the paper. Gwen did the same and examined the figures made with crayons. Cody’s skills were amazing, even for a four year old boy, but something else caught her attention. There were four people represented in the paper.
“Who are these, Cody?” Gwen asked, already fearing his answer.
“This is daddy,” he pointed at a man with yellow hair. “This is you, Aunt Steph and grandma,” he concluded, pointing at a woman with red lips. “I heard her talking yesterday and I missed her.”
Gwen looked at him, shocked and puzzled.
“What do you mean you heard her?” she asked, frowning.
“When I was with the… bad guys,” he explained, a bit shy. “I heard grandma's voice… I thought she was going to pick me, but she didn’t.”