This was a competition entry for the 24FanFic Archives. It was also my first try at writing any type fanfic. So...read and enjoy!!

Jack sat in the meeting room; head pounding, trying not to make it look noticeable. He had been in this room for almost two hours now and it wasn't even 10 o'clock. The Secretary had insisted on an early start and the meeting with the Generals was beginning to drag on. He wasn't taking in anything anybody said and Jack was thankful nobody was asking him any questions. All he could think about was wanting to crawl back into bed and sleep for the rest of the day. Preferably with Audrey, but he didn't want to risk getting her ill as well.

Audrey. The woman he was completely head over heels in love with. They had been seeing each other for a while, but without anybody else knowing. They kept it strictly out of office hours. Not even her father knew about it, until two weeks ago. He still remembered being curled up with Audrey on her couch, falling asleep watching some soppy romantic film Audrey had picked, when her fathers face appeared at the window. That evening had been priceless. But in the end, her father gave her the benefit of the doubt and allowed the relationship to continue, as long as they kept it out of the office.

Suddenly, everybody stood up. The meeting was over, and Jack couldn't remember a single word that was said. Soon, all that was left in the room was himself, and faint fuzzy outlines of Audrey and her Father. Somebody was talking to him, he needed to focus. Easier said than done.

"….don't look so good, Jack, maybe you should go home." It was Audrey. Always looking out for him. But he couldn't go home, he had about 5 reports to finish by the end of the day.

"No, I'm alright, I have work to do," Jack replied, trying to put on a brave face, while inside his body screamed at him to agree with her. He attempted get to his feet. But as soon as he stood up, the room upended itself and he had to sit back down again.

"Right Jack, that's it, I'm sending you home on sick leave." the Secretary stated, "and I don't want you coming back until you're better, understand?"

"Sir, I'm fine, I can still work."

"No, you can't. What was the meeting about, the one that you have just sat 2 hours through?"

"….."

"The work will still be here when you get back. Go home, Jack."

"I'll take him home, dad. He's in no fit state to be driving anywhere."

As Audrey struggled to get Jack to his feet, her father told her to take the day off to look after him.

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Somehow, they managed to get themselves to her car and drive back to her house in Morningside. They struggled up the steps and she led Jack into her bedroom. She carefully stripped him down to his boxers and put him in bed. Moments later, she disappeared out of the room, leaving Jack to lie there, shivering. Audrey returned with a glass of orange juice and some aspirin and helped him take them, then covered him with an extra blanket because he was still shivering.

"Get some sleep, Jack. I'll be here when you wake up."

Audrey pulled out her laptop and set it up on the bed next to the now sleeping Jack. 'IHe looks so adorable when he's asleep/I' Audrey thought to herself, watching Jack's face as he slept. 'I It's a shame that nobody else gets to see this side of him./I' She checked her e-mails and found one from the newly appointed Regional District Director in LA, Bill Buchanan. It asked her if she could set up a meeting between her Father and himself. She replied to him and then started on some reports.

After Jack had been asleep for a few hours, Audrey moved to the kitchen to cook something light for him to eat. After a few minutes, she heard Jack moving around in the bedroom. She took the chicken soup from the stove and put it in a bowl. Jack had managed to get himself into the bathroom and out again. She guided him to the bed and sat him up.

"Here Jack, I've made you some soup, you need to get your strength back." Audrey tried to feed it to Jack, but he wouldn't take any of it. "Come on Jack, you need this, and I know I'm not the best cook in the world, but I can at least heat some soup out of a can."

"You didn't make it yourself?" Jack asked.

"No, I didn't. Why, would you have not eaten it if I had?"

"Just being careful, don't want to get poisoned……"

"Why you….If you weren't sick you would a beating for that!! Stop sidetracking me from getting you to eat this soup, and eat it!" Without another word, the spoonful of soup had landed into Jack's open mouth and he was forced to swallow. "There, that wasn't so bad was it?"

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Now that the soup had all gone, Audrey let Jack lie down and told him to get some more rest. She got of the bed and started to turn around when she heard a faint

"Audrey…."

She whipped back around to find Jack trying to reach out to her.

"Please stay…." It was barely more than a whisper. Audrey climbed back onto the bed and let Jack snuggle up next to her.

"Is this what I am to you, Jack? A big teddy bear?"

All she got in reply was a smile and with that he fell back asleep and slept soundly until the next morning.

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Within a week, Jack was back in work and found out that he had managed to spread it to nearly every person in the office. But the Secretary was right – his workload was still there, grinning up at him from his In-Tray, but now, there was 3 times more. With a sigh, he got on with the first report, wishing he was still ill and curled up next to Audrey.

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Well...there you go. Please review and tell me what you think!