25 Comfortable in the Warmth

Amelia felt her face touch the pillow and the coldness of the bed caused her to shiver and shake. She was too weak to talk or move now but she sort of heard what Aiko said. "Gab-riel."

Gabriel walked over to the bed and removed his slippers. Then he pulled off his work shirt and pants. He climbed under the covers and pulled her shivering body into his embrace. "I am sorry for doing this to you when the two of us are not even together."

Amelia felt the warmth through the clothing and touched her hands to his arms that were wrapped around her waist. She moved closer into his embrace and her breathing evened out as she fell into a deep sleep and her body slowly stopped shivering.

With the way Amelia was laying now it made it impossible for Gabriel to sneak away he held her in his arms and could feel her breathing. He kissed the top of her head forgetting that Aiko was in the room.

"You are so smitten by her. I am happy for you and her. If you become her marriage partner then you will be able to take care of her. So long as she keeps taking all the medicines she will live a long life or at least that is the hope. It is hard to diagnose her when she is the only case that there is at this time. We were not able to figure out what was wrong with her." Aiko sat down and started to drink the tea.

"What do you know about this disease? Will you please tell me everything that you know so that I may have a better understanding, Aiko?" Gabriel held onto Amelia as she slept in his embrace peacefully.

"Where do I even start? She was only one year of age when she was first brought to the hospital and your grandfather started to take care of her regardless if the family could pay. Your grandfather helped set her up with the medicine man that they dealt with only because he met the man and paid for half of the medicine that the family bought for the girl. The first time she was hit with an attack she was just starting to walk and run. She started coughing and threw up and it was all blood. I was just starting to work here. Your grandfather let me work here and said that it would help to have a female to talk to. I was rejected at the other hospital purely for the fact that I was female," Aiko sighed.

Gabriel was listening to Aiko but as he listened to her talking away his eyes closed and he drifted to sleep.

Aiko got up and placed the blanket over the two of them. "I will continue the story later. You both need to rest. I am grateful to your family for allowing me to stay working here after Saito Sensei passed away." She walked back to the chair and drank the tea that Gabriel had made.

Six hours after Amelia fell asleep she started to wake up and was warm she felt an arm around her waist and was confused. She turned her head and saw Gabriel's sleeping face. She moved his arm off of her and slowly moved away from the warmth.

"How are you feeling, Amellia? You were shivering so much last night and you called for Gabriel. He laid down next to you to warm you up and fell asleep." Aiko walked over to Amelia carrying the green and yellow powders.

Amelia opened the yellow one and swallowed the powder and then took the green package she stood up and shivered as the air touched her. "I am sorry for the trouble I caused."

"Nonsense, you are the patient. You can cause me trouble anytime. Come I will help you to the bathroom." Aiko helped Amelia stand and watched as she walked to the bathroom. "The mess you made in there was already cleaned up so you do not need to worry about it."

"Thank you, I am still sorry that you had so much trouble." Amelia went into the bathroom and went to the bathroom then washed her hands before leaving the room. Her body started shaking for the cold but at least this time she didn't start coughing. She slowly walked back to the bed. She climbed back under the covers shaking from the cold.

Gabriel woke up as she left the bed and heard her apologizing. He reached out and pulled her back into his embrace. "I will warm you up again. You are shivering as if you are freezing. I am sorry that I entered the bed without your consent."

"I didn't mean to make you apologize to me. Thank you for warming me up using your warmth. It," Amelia yawns, "makes me sleepy."

"I am glad that you are not mad at me. Aiko was the one that suggested that I lay with you. I didn't want you to feel cold." Gabriel was holding her and kissed the top of her head again.

Amelia felt him kiss her head and felt her cheeks begin to turn read. He's treating her so gently that it made her heart warm up. "I bet you are concerned about my condition. Gabriel, there is something that I want you to know. There is a high chance that I will not live past my twentieth birthday. I was told originally that I might not live past the age of ten but I struggled to live all this time. I would hate for you to get attached to me and I not make it through everything." She turned around and touched his cheek.

"No, it is too late for that. I will shower you with all of my attention. You want my honest confession. I have only had my eyes on you for the last six months. I would watch you and my eyes followed you. I knew that you did not participate in gym class. I would look for you as my class had gym at the same time. Sometimes you would sit in the shade and rest your eyes and other times you would be reading a book. I thought that you were beautiful then and I still think you are beautiful now. So it is too late to try to get me to choose another."

Comfortable in the Warmth