I remove the large shirt I have on and sit on the ground suddenly feeling extremely hot. It seems as if little by little, everything was beginning to become a bother to me.
"Am I the only one sweating?" I ask looking over at Giovanni. "My entire body feels as if it's on fire, Gio"
"No, but I can go turn on the AC even higher if it'll help you or run you a cold bath," he says not bothering to look over at me.
At the moment he and Luc were engaged in what seems to be a long discussion over something. Luc would at times raise his voice and point at me before going on to blabber some more.
"No, that's fine, I just wanna go on a vacation to somewhere far away," I say fanning myself. "Maybe for our honeymoon," I say hopefully.
The few times we spoke of a wedding, I am usually the one coming up with things while all Giovanni does is agree with me as if he had no care in the world.
"How does the idea of heading back home sound to you?" Giovanni asks casually with a tired Luc sitting on his chest. I'm shocked that he's still awake and know that that only means he'll be asleep until late morning tomorrow.
"Home?" I ask turning to face him. "I've removed all of my stuff and Luc's from my old apartment. Plus, it's not so sad here if you think that's it, I was kidding about the vacation part."
"No, I mean home, back to the states," he walks over and lays Luc in his crib before sitting across the floor from me. "Don't get me wrong I love being here but I miss Jessica and my father and Tonya and I think some time away from this house would be good for all of us" he says scrathing the back of his head.
"Why would I take any offense in that?" I ask.
Sure, at times I wish I was the first to birth his child but nonetheless, I didn't despise Katarina for having Jessica or for being his first love.
"Never mind that question, do you want to go?"
The idea of heading home and facing my family, Khloe, and John all over again, scares me. Having to explain to them why I left and why I didn't bother to say bye, all of it seemed too overwhelming to do at a time such as now.
"Shouldn't we wait until you're all healed up?" I ask not bothering to look up from the ground. I know in am instant, he would be able to see the relent in my eyes.
It has only been a month since his surgery and although he has been recovering fast, I could tell it wasn't fast enough for either him or Lester.
"Maybe," he says standing up. He removes his shirt and climbs into the bed without saying anything else.
"Giovanni," I say finally standing up and making my way towards the bed. "I know you're still upset over what happened but please stop beating yourself up over it, you guys will catch him."
"I know, Nadiyah," he says not bothering to turn around. "I just wish we would finished the bastard right then and there."
"Look at me," I say sitting down at the edge of the bed. "I love you," I say removing the cover. "Thank you for everything."
"Stop thanking me Nadiyah," he says finally turning to face me. "I'm sorry for the way I've been acting, okay?" He says cupping my face.
"I worry about you sometimes," I say resting my head on his chest. "I know you don't want me to, but I do, I have to."
"You shouldn't, it's not good for you," he says tucking my hair behind my ears. "Leave all the worrying to me, you just relax."
"Well I do," I whisper.
His hand finds its way around my stomach and rests there.
"Eight more months," he says looking down at me.
"Yeah," I say wrapping my hand over his. "Eight more months."
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I watch him sleep as I once again turn around sleeplessly.
He looks so handsome when asleep and no matter how many nights I lay on the same bed as him, it always felt like the same. The butterflies I would get from just thinking of us being all over each other were still very much the same.
As much as I try to hide, there is still fear in my heart over what Leo could do if he were to strike again. I know that no matter what, I wasn't going to allow Luc or my unborn child to get hurt and that meant me staying out of dangers path as well.
He turns around and takes his hand into my hand before slowly opening his eyes.
"What's wrong, is it the baby?" He asks turning to fully face me.
"No," I say pulling the cover over myself. "I'm tired, that's all."
"Tired or stressing?" He asks sitting up. "Are you worried about what could happen to the baby?" He asks squeezing my hand.
"Yeah," I say softly. "I don't know, everything that's been going on and yeah, it's been a month but who knows when he could come back up again?"
"Rest assure, Leonardo won't be coming anywhere near you and the baby or Luc, so don't keep yourself up thinking about that my love," he says bringing my hand to his mouth before kissing it.
"You're right," I say yawning.
"Of course I am," he says with a smirk. "Now get some rest please, or else we'll both be up all night together." He kisses my forehead before bringing our body's together.
"We could also make love, if that'll help you rest," he whispers squeezing my ass. "It'll make you feel better."
"Oh yeah?" I ask yawning once again. "Sex?"
He whispers something else, my eyes shut down before I can put his words together.
"I love you, Gio," I manage to mumble out.
"I love you too, Nadiyah."
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THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM . . .
