Disclaimer: see previous chapters

Author's Notes: Apologies for the late update. I've got this new resolution for my fanfics to update roughly about every week, as well as having the chapters at a minimum of 2000 words. So… I've accomplished those two requirements I've set for myself. Lets hope I can keep this going for the following weeks. : D

Also, thanks so much for the reviews! And yes, I think the ending is entirely lame. Sorry about that. XD

…

Nel was dreading going back to work on Monday.

All throughout the weekend, she had spent most of the time curled up in bed, her body aching at what she knew could have been a weekend of bliss, wanting so very much to pick up the phone and just give into her boss. But her own sense of pride and responsibility held her back, and she continued on as normal, dreading what would happen when she would see Grimmjow again.

Monday came around and she arrived earlier than usual, having not been able to sleep much the night before and thinking just to get the confrontation over and done with so she could return to a sense of normalcy. She tried to calm her nerves as she went about her usual morning routine, opening up Grimmjow's calendar diary, preparing the coffee, and checking her emails. She was surprised when she noticed an email from her boss sitting in her inbox without a subject line. Frowning, she clicked on the email, and read the short and direct message.

Grimmjow had gone on an emergency business trip out of town.

She was at once relieved and agitated. Relieved because she had a period of grace before the eventual confrontation between the two of them, yet agitated because she wasn't too sure if her nerves would get the best of her before that time of confrontation. She sighed and shrugged her shoulders, figuring that there wasn't much that she could do, and she spent the day calling secretaries to reschedule meetings for a week's time.

If she had thought that Grimmjow's absence would prove a lessening of work, she quickly discovered that that wasn't the case. If anything, having Grimmjow away from the office meant the exact same amount of work, yet a more difficult undertaking as instructions from Grimmjow's brief emails was not the same as communicating face to face.

But she stayed diligent, completing the set tasks given each day, bringing her closer and closer to the day when she would see her boss again. Friday saw her booking a seat on an early morning flight for Grimmjow, arranging for a driver to collect him from the airport and bring him directly to Mavericks and Associates. She sat on edge during the hours of his flight, wondering what she could possibly say to him after last weekend, if things between them would ever return back to an even keel.

Grimmjow strode through the executive reception to his office around lunch time that same day, still annoyed at the level of incompetence he had had to deal with in one of their branch offices. The last thing he wanted today was to have to deal with any more excuses, and so his arrival at his office was quickly followed by a scowl and a quick retreat to his office. His scowl deepened as he took his seat, the quick glance at his Secretary showing none of the frustrations that he had experienced all week.

Damn the woman, he thought bitterly, noting how she had appeared more or less like her general self, calm and unmoved, seemingly unaffected by everything that had happened between them last weekend.

It pissed him off.

He hadn't been able to get the taste of her out of his mind. And the constant hunger for the rest of her had gnawed at him to the point where he was seriously contemplating going over to her place and just fucking the daylights out of her, to hell with denying himself. And when Mavericks rang him to tell of a problem in one of the offices in the west coast, he had jumped at that, thinking to immerse himself in work and get his mind off of her.

But much to his annoyance, he'd found that not even work or the distance of a continent could diminish the amount of time that he spent thinking of her. And it frustrated him to no end to see that Nel was definitely living up to the Ice Queen name that he had given her.

Well, fuck her, he thought sourly, snapping open his briefcase and taking out the papers that he'd been trying to read over on the flight back home. Better if he found someone else to slake his lusts on, God knew that there was an abundance of women who would welcome his attentions.

…

Over the next couple of weeks, Nel could feel herself coming apart at the seams.

Work became a trial, in which she would have to tiptoe on eggshells around Grimmjow's temper, careful to keep her distance since it seemed to ignite at the slightest thing. She started keeping longer hours as Grimmjow took on more and more clients, held more and more meetings and business dinners with potential partners that she had to make arrangements for.

Coming home at nine, she had little time to take care of her responsibilities, to take care of herself, to sleep. Before she knew it, it would be morning, and she would have to get up again and start over again, pushing herself to make it through the day.

It was inevitable that she would fall ill.

It started off as a head cold, her head and nose becoming stuffy, making her irritable. She had fought it, taking some over the counter medicine and continuing, and it had seemed that she was gaining the upper hand, the pounding headache residing enough for her to complete the day's work and blissfully head home for a long soak in the tub, which helped to clear her head.

But on the following day, she found herself bent over the toilet, her stomach heaving though there was nothing that came up. She rinsed her mouth before popping a thermometer into her mouth, waiting for the beep to indicate that it was finished with taking her reading. Thirty-nine point eight.

Great, she thought miserably. She had the flu.

Crawling back into bed, her body racked with chills, she buried herself under the covers, willing the flu to go away. The thought that she should take care of her responsibilities and give Grimmjow a call flitted through her mind before she sank into a restless sleep.

…

His office was closed.

Grimmjow paused and frowned at that, glancing at his wristwatch. It was now after nine, and Nel was nowhere in sight. He fished out his keys and unlocked the doors leading to his office, pausing to take in the stillness of everything. He moved to her desk, looking around her work area for any clue as to why she wasn't already in the office. Not finding a single thing, he picked up her phone, dialing the extension to security, asking them if Nel had come in this morning.

"Ms. Oderschvank hasn't swiped her access card at all this morning, sir."

Grunting, he hung up the phone, his brow furrowing as he looked around the office. Nel wasn't the type of person to be tardy, or miss a day of work at that without having contacted him. He knew he'd been keeping longer hours lately, but she hadn't said a word, continuing in her calm manner as she arranged restaurant booking, meeting appointments and the likes.

He decided to give her some time to come in. Perhaps she was sleeping in, there was a first for everything. Heading to his office, he sat down to read over his papers.

An hour later, he was ready to pull out his hair. Between the phone ringing incessantly and needing to schedule appointments and meetings with business partners, it was difficult for him to get any work done, making him realize how fully reliant on Nel he was. She'd yet to call and explain her whereabouts, which aggravated him to no end. He gritted his teeth, deciding to bear with it a little bit longer, but the ringing of Nel's phone had him growling again. He grabbed his keys and resolutely strode out his office doors.

He was intent on finding that infernal woman of his.

…

It had taken some time for Grimmjow to find her place.

He'd known where she'd lived from glancing at the information in her resume, but he hadn't realised just how far she had to travel until he physically travelled it himself. And the fact that she caught public transport, which took longer than driving had him frowning even moreso, especially considering the late hours they had been keeping.

He parked on the side of the road, right outside her apartment complex, and headed towards her apartment. The building was nice enough and moderately furnished, though it was leagues away from his own place. He took the stairs to the first level, found her apartment and banged on the door.

There was no answer.

He pounded on the door again, and this time, he could hear shuffling inside, but still no answer. Gritting his teeth, he pounded on the door again. Was she avoiding him? Finally, there was a hesitant answer from behind the door, and his brows rose at the sound of a little child's voice from within. "Who is it?"

"Uh, its Grimmjow. Is Nel there? I'm her boss."

There was some whispering behind the door but it remained close. "What do you want? Nel can't see you."

"She's gonna have to see me because she didn't turn up at work today, and that makes me very angry."

A sound of alarm echoed through the door. "Please don't be mad at Nel."

Grimmjow reached for patience, something he admittedly was foreign to. "Just open the door and I won't get angry at Nel. I just want to talk to her."

"Nel told us not to open the door to strangers."

"I'm her boss, she knows me."

There was more whispering behind the door before it opened a tiny bit. He peered through the door and noted two young boys, no more than ten years old standing with wary yet determined expressions on their faces. He raised an eyebrow at that. "Who are you brats?"

They spluttered in outrage, puffing their small chests as they folded their arms in front of them. The blond haired boy spoke up first. "We're not brats! We're Pesche and Dondochakka!"

The dark haired boy also spoke up, "yeah, don'cha know?"

Grimmjow fought a grin at their indignant expressions, turning to the business at hand instead. "Where's Nel?"

The two boys looked at each other worriedly before turning back to him. The blond one spoke up again. "She's not doing well. Can you help her?"

Alarmed, Grimmjow followed the two boys as they walked through the small apartment to a closed door towards the back of the place. The boys opened the door and led him into the small room, where he found Nel under a pile of covers, moaning as she shifted restlessly under the covers. The boys started to tear up. "We woke up and she was like this. Do you know what's wrong with her?"

Grimmjow swore under his breath, moving to sit by the side of her bed. He placed his hand against her forehead, grimacing at how hot she was, at the perspiration on her face. No doubt about it, she had the flu. Grimmjow looked around the place, glancing at the two boys before looking back at the occupant on the bed. It couldn't be helped. If he wanted his Secretary to get back to work, he had no other option left to him but to help her get better.

He looked around the place again, and despite how nice and homey the apartment looked, Grimmjow couldn't deny how limited the space was. He sighed, there was nothing left to it.

Looking at the boys, he issued them their orders, "grab your things, I'm gonna help Nel get better."

…

Grimmjow left the boys in the kitchen as they ate some breakfast and watched some TV as he carried Nel upstairs. There were a few guestrooms upstairs, but Grimmjow rejected the idea of putting her in any other room but his own. He deposited her in his bed, and a moment of fierce possessiveness passed through him at the sight of him in his bed. Granted, it wasn't exactly how he would have imagined it, but she was there all the same, and he planned to keep her in it.

He headed to the kitchen to grab a glass of water, grunting at the sight of the two boys still fixated to the TV screen, before heading back to the room with the medicine that he had brought on the way to his house, mashing the tablet into tiny pieces and coaxing her to take them with a sip of water.

The hours passed with Grimmjow watching over her, alternating between placing a cup of water and a cup of tea to her lips every time she surfaced from her feverish haze. It wasn't til the following afternoon that the fever began to break, and she gained enough lucidity to ask where she was. Grimmjow had answered her gruffly, and was surprised when she opened her eyes to look at him, her gaze direct.

"I'm glad," she whispered, before she nodded off again, and he was left wondering, not for the first time, just where exactly it was that he stood with her. She slept til morning, and the next time she woke, Grimmjow himself had dozed off beside her on the bed. Nel shifted slightly, a soft moaning leaving her lips as her sore muscles protested at the movement. Grimmjow woke at the sound, sitting up quickly in the bed to look down at his charge.

"So you're awake."

"Yes," she hoarsely whispered, grimacing at how tight her throat felt. "Where are my nephews?"

"Those two little boys?"

She nodded desperately. He was quick to reassure her, "they're fine. They're in their room."

"Do you have any water?"

He nodded, passing her the glass on the nightstand. She could only drink it at a trickle, for it was a chore to swallow, but it was enough for her, and she gratefully handed the glass back. She leant back against her pillows, watching him beneath her lashes, a charged silence settling in between them.

"Thank you," she said, finally breaking the silence.

Grimmjow grunted. "Don't worry about it."

"Really, you didn't have to do any of this, especially considering… well, I just wanted to say thank you. I mean it."

Grimmjow watched her silently. "Just answer me one question. Are you afraid of me?"

Nel ducked her head, drawing her knees up and wrapping her arms around her legs. "No—yes. I'm afraid at what would happen to me once I decide to give in to you. I don't think I would be able to survive an entanglement with you. And… it's not just me that I have to think of. I've got to think of my two nephews and everything and… I just don't want to get involved in a messy situation."

He brooded over her answer, staying quiet for a long time. Finally, he gave her a gruff reply. "Then it's a good thing for you that I never let go of what is mine."