Late November , 1792



Olivia was so busy that she didn' t notice things other than the need for naps and the the fact that scents were starting to bother her. She had just finished paperwork in the library and headed to the dining room to eat lunch. She sat down and a servant brought her a goblet of water, while Olive bid him to go get Gil for lunch.

She sipped at her water and then yawned, stretching her muscles... The room tilted for a moment and she closed her eyes against the sensation. She hadn't been feeling well; the smell of manuer had her gut in turmoil until she sought refuge in the house... And then it was the scent of Gil's tobacco lingering on furniture... And then? Then it was the scent of the chamber pot. Perhaps broth wod be a better lunch...

Gilberto had seen the sights before. He had been in so many beds and spent time with so many women to be ignorant to such things. Olivia had appeared more tired than before, more bothered by certain scents. For her sake, Gilberto decided to smoke outside, and to not to drink near her.

But what worried him was that her moonblood hasn't come in weeks. He was not bothered by it during sex, but he noted it.

Yet what he suspected terrified him. So he decided to ignore it. He convinced himself than it was nothing; than it was irregularities, nothing more. So he didn't mention anything.

He was rehearsing in the ballroom, when he was called for lunch. His grumbling stomach agreed to the call, so he went gladly to meet Olivia.

He greeted her with a smile and a kiss, "Ciao, ill mio amore. Are you enjoying my gift?", then he sat next to her. Ocasionally he spotted her scribling on the book, which pleased him greatly.

The same servant came with the first dish: a plate full of fresh oysters, seasoned with parsley, lemon and sea salt. Gil inhaled the steamy scent gladly. While he missed the food from Firenze, Venetian food grew on him.

She smiled at Gil when he sat down near her, greeting her and asking about the book. “I have enjoyed it, thank you…” She smiled, though she looked like she was not feeling well if the pallor of her skin said anything. She needed to try and eat, however, and was looking forward to the capon she had the cook prepare for a main course.

The smell of the shellfish hit her before it even neared her, her stomach curdled. She looked at the platter filled with the oysters for a moment or two, and then clapped her hand over her mouth to cover the sound of a loud gag, and then a second one as she stood abruptly. Her chair toppled backwards and she only made it to the hallway before retching onto the floor.

Thoroughly embarrassed by what just happened, she headed quietly toward their bedroom while a wide eyed maid was summoned quietly by the housekeeper to clean up the mess. Once in the bedchamber, she moved to the ewer and splashed water on her face, then into her mouth to rinse the vomit out.

Thinking she was done, she was about to lie down when another bout of nausea hit and she moved to the chamber pot, which didn’t help matters either, and she emptied her stomach of contents so thoroughly that she was dry heaving at the end of it all.

It happened so fast. Gil watched in horror as Olivia rose, ran and lost her breakfast on a hallway. He whispered a curse as he followed her.

A thousand things crosses his mind at once, none of them good. Careful to not to step on the vomit, he ran before her towards their room, just in time for him to catch her puking again and dry heaving.

He knelt besides her and softly patted her back, trying to confort her, not knowing what to do. But he was sure of something... his fears were confirmed.

She was with child.

Her stomach felt as if it left her throat, and now she was being pat on her back and rubbed. Her body continued to shudder some and she held there just in case more decided to follow. But nothing did after several minutes. "Tell them to get it out of here before I vomit again. Please, for the love of god, the smell!"

She closed her eyes as she sought to control her belly, which cramped in protest still from the chamber pot. Olive moved away from it and to the closest window to wrench that open and pretty much stick her face outside and gulp in the fresh air. She had a sickly pallor to her at the moment, and she thought that it was simply just something she may have eaten.

"Uhhhh.... What did I eat?" she asked herself, forgetting she wasn't alone.

In how much denial he had to be? Everything pointed in that direction, and he tried to delude himself than it was nothing.

But it was something... a big something that neither of them couldn't hide.

A worried servant came to ask if everything was alright. Gil quickly ordered to get rid of everything with strong odors - the chamber pots, seafood, everything! The order was carried with haste, while he went to Olivia.

She was pale and looked sickly; after what he considered a prudent ammount of time, he softly took Olivia and helped her to sit, then gave her some cold water.

"Olivia... it's not something you ate", he began. He could feel his hair standing on an end. He gripped his own hair, trying to tell her the news... but the words died at his throat, "It's... cazzo!"

"Whatever it is, I don't care. I have work to do. Gah. All I wanted was to eat my capon and go feed my lovely horses some fruit before I had to check on the olive trees. But no, no, here I am wanting nothing more than to bury my face in the privy and give it everything I have in my gut." She was really grumpy at that point, but who wouldn't be after what just happened? She let him direct her from the window and then sipped the water gingerly.

She looked at him miserably, "Now my lunch is ruined, and everything stinks so badly, and... and..." She went from mad to crying in an instant. Not this again! The crying just made her angrier, so she moved to crawl into the bed and curl up tightly, sniffling and swiping her tears with the jerk of her hand.

Gilberto had to bite his knuckle. He couldn't stand seeing her cry... for a moment, he thought he might cry himself.

Poor Olivia... she was carrying a child, and that took a tool on her emotions. He could do nothing to try to confort her, so he crawled on bed and embraced here, softly kissing her head, "There, there...", he whispered.

"Don't cry... I'm here with you, amore. It's just a bad day, that's all", he helped to dry her tears with his sleeve.

"No, it's not just a bad day, it's been a bad week." she sniffled helplessly, referring to all of the mood swings and napping that went on, disrupting her routine. She was a creature of habit, something she didn't mean to do, but it always threw her off when something changed her routines. It happened when she met Gil, it happened when she married Pierre, it happened when Paolo came along, and now it was happening from crying and throwing up.

God, since when was she so melodramatic? That was new and it made her the most irritated. "I don't get sick," she said, and god damn it, she was pouting like a petulant child because she just couldn't help it. "I have too much work to do, I can't afford to be sick."

It was true: unlike Gil, Olivia had a routine that hardly got disrupted. During the day, he was content to just let her do her chores, helping if he was asked, but other than that, doing his own thing. He knew that it would be worse from here on out...

He sighed, "Relax, amore. I will help you. Would you like that? I can do your chores, until you feel better... I'm here for you, you know that", he hugged her tighly against him, inhalid her scent. This was one did for love, right?