Future plans

Gia didn't think that she was likely to fall asleep after that little episode, but her exhaustion won out over her frantically beating heart and she drifted off almost immediately. When she closed her eyes, she saw memories of the attack from that morning and she moaned quietly in her sleep, her brows creased from the remembered horrors and pain. Her mind registered a soothing sensation brushing across her forehead and back across her head smoothing her brows and her hair. The dream quickly shifted to that of her living in a beautiful cottage, Braelyn running around playing about four years old and as she looked next to her she saw Nikolas and he had his arm around her shoulder.

"I love you sweetheart." He whispered into her ear while the hand not resting on her shoulder was rubbing her stomach. Looking down she saw that she was pregnant. She smiled a contented smile. A smile that was seen by no one except for Nikolas, who had come back to ask a question and had seen her looking scared and uncomfortable in her sleep, so he smoothed her brows and stroked her hair a few times, it seemed to work so he left with his question for her still unanswered.

Nikolas had intended to ask Gia if she would like to move the meeting to that evening instead of the morning, he knew she was anxious and thought her nerves would get to her if she had to wait too long. He hadn't expected to see her sleeping so soon after they had spoken. It was upsetting to see her fretting in her sleep, he could tell she had been having a nightmare, so he had tried to calm her as best as he knew how. But had to admit, he enjoyed the way it felt to stroke her hair, and the feel of her cheek when he cupped her face. He had it bad, and if he wasn't careful, he was likely to scare her off before he could even get to know her.

Nikolas returned to the infirmary to visit Gia and the baby around supper time. He wasn't sure if she would be awake or if she would have an appetite, but he delivered her meal nonetheless, he also intended to join her for the meal which is why there were two plates of food on the tray he carried.

"Hello again, Gia." He said as he shouldered the door open, careful not to upset the load he was carrying.

"What is this?" She asked as he made his way to her bed.

"Your dinner of course, Mary told me you never called down for your lunch so I told her I would see to it you got your supper." He sat the tray down on the bedside table and looked her in the eyes, he had to remind himself to not let how he was starting to feel for her show.

"I wasn't hungry when I woke to feed the baby, I was more tired than I thought I guess." She looked down embarrassed, he thought the pink in her cheeks was lovely.

"That's to be expected, really, you've had a very tough three weeks with no proper time to rest, you needed the sleep, and the offer still stands for someone else to watch the baby for the night, if you're worried about someone finding out about who she is I can always sleep in the bed across the room and take care of her when she wakes, that way she is close to you but you can still sleep. That's what I would call a win-win if you ask me." He smiled at her gently trying for calming and caring but not sure he didn't come off as a little slap happy and crazy.

"I couldn't impose on you like that, really." She politely refused.

"You're not used to taking help from others, are you?" He asked her, slightly amused.

"Not really, I am the type that usually does everything for someone else, it was literally my job." Another embarrassed smile and blush crept upon her face and he fell even further than he already was.

"You're not a maid here Gia, and given the circumstances you're in, you're actually quite important and special yourself, you need to relax and let us use our small-town charm on you." Gia laughed at that.

"I will warn you it's going to be hard for me."

"I'll be there with you every step of the way, Gia, so don't you worry."

"Really?" Gia questioned. Nikolas nodded his response.

They sat together for their meal then, Gia was hungrier than she had thought. She finished her meal before she'd had time to really taste it. Nikolas just smiled and offered her some of his own.

"I couldn't possibly." She refused, it would be way too awkward to eat after someone she just met, especially someone that made her feel all kinds of warm fuzzies in the pit of her stomach. Just the thought of eating some of his dinner made her feel so nervous that she had a big ball of nerves and doubt drop in to join the warm and fuzzies and it made her feel like she had just finished five dinners, she was definitely not hungry anymore.

"You're doing it again." He said giggling.

"That was different, I'm full now, honest."

"If you say so." He said smiling at her. His smiles seemed to make her feel both on edge and at ease at the same time, it was exhausting to say the least.

After they finished eating Nikolas asked if she would like to have the discussion about the future tonight rather than tomorrow.

"I just know your nerves are frayed and you'd probably rather get it over with sooner rather than later."

"How do you know that though? How is it you seem to know me so well so quickly." She asked him in awe of how much he seemed to understand her.

"I think I just understand what kind of person you are, that is all, to me you're very easy to read."

"That's what's so strange about it though, back in the castle everyone told me that I was usually so hard to read, that they never could tell how I felt or what I was thinking, everyone except the King anyway, he always knew what I was thinking."

"Perhaps I am just a bit more like the King than I ever thought I was." He said laughing.

"It's a little strange to me though." She said pensively.

"Would you like to work it out now, we can invite Micah too, or we can figure it out and I will let him know later."

"Yes, I'd like to figure it out now, and if you don't mind you can tell Micah later." She said, a little relieved, she was used to Nikolas, but Micah still scared her some.

They talked through what was safe and not safe to tell the townsfolk, what their cover story should be.

"I think it's best to let them know you're from the capitol, hiding that might be bad. Also, we should tell them that you're widowed, your husband died before you found out you were pregnant."

"Yes, that should work, that way no one will wonder why I am not still grieving, if it's been that long then I would have already grieved his death."

"We should have a name and backstory for him as well. That way if any questions are asked you can answer them, but don't go into too much detail, you can tell them that it's too painful to talk about."

"Agreed, I would rather just avoid it at all costs."

After a little more discussion, it was decided that her deceased husband, Jon, would be a distant cousin of the King, that way if someone were to glimpse the birthmarks on the baby there would be a plausible reason for her having royal marks. Her husband would be a generation removed from the throne and raised as a normal citizen. He would be said to have been killed in a hunting accident just a month after they were married. They would say the wedding was arranged to explain why Gia was not more distraught over the whole incident.

"What will I tell them is my motivation for having travelled all the way here with a newborn baby in tow?" Gia asked, this was one detail they could not skip, everyone was likely to ask her that.

"The very reason you decided to bring her here in the first place, you knew she had magic and you were suddenly left all alone with no one to help you."

"That is true, perhaps a semblance of truth would be best."

"Agreed, something that won't be a lie would be easy for you to remember."

With all the details for who she was and where she came from all worked out Gia felt accomplished with having pushed through it. The nerves and anxious feeling she had been feeling for the last fourteen days had finally started to subside, things might just work out for her.