Chapter Eight: Sick (part one)

AN: This one will come in a few parts. Here's part one!

"Jack? Jack, wake up." Gwen shook his shoulder very gently. "Jack…" And then she realized how very sweaty his shirt was.

Jack felt like crap. Absolute total 100% crap. His inside was broiling but his skin was freezing. He felt as though something was compressing his head both from the inside and from the outside, his throat was on fire, and his stomach was turning circles, just moments away from turning inside out. And waking up was the last thing he felt like doing.

"Gwen…" He cringed at how completely awful his voice sounded.

He felt her hand brush his cheek. "Shhh," she murmured. "Just relax." His covers came off of him and he instantly felt freezing. He tried to reach to get them back but her hand stopped him. "Sorry, Jack," she said, tracing circles on his wrist. "You've got a fever."

"Yeah, I figured," he muttered. "But whatever." He tried to sit up, but Gwen pushed him back down.

"And what do you think you're doing?"

"Getting up…"

Gwen shook her head. "No way. You need to rest." She pulled one thin blanket from the mass of covers and draped it over Jack's shivering body. "There, now you won't be complaining that you're cold."

"But Gwen," Jack whined. "I'm still cold." He gave her a very manipulative pout.

"Ah-ah, that's not going to work on me this time, Jack. You can't have any more blankets. That's that. So you can just stop that little cute face right now."

"Awwww," Jack sighed.

"I'm no sucker, Jack," Gwen grinned. "Unlike someone I know…" She gave him a playful little nudge.

"Hey!" Jack laughed. "I'm not a sucker at all."

"I'll remind you of our Christmas party…" Gwen half-sang.

"That was you and the rest of the team. It doesn't count," Jack said defensively, trying desperately to prove an absolute lie.

Gwen leaned in and kissed him gently. As she pulled away, she whispered, "Liar."

"Fiiiiiiiiiine," Jack whined. "I'm a total sucker for you. Happy?"

"Yes," Gwen said with a very cheeky grin. "Now. I need to get ready for the day. I'll come check on you later, alright?"

"Gwen," Jack moaned. "Why aren't you going to stay with me?"

"Because you are perfectly capable of lying in bed all day, and don't you dare try to pout your way into getting me to stay. I have things to do."

"But Gwen, I want you to stay." He looked truly and genuinely sad, the illness so clear in his eyes.

Gwen felt her heart melt a tiny bit. She loved him so much and didn't really want to leave him alone. What if he actually was sicker than she thought? She felt his forehead again with the back of her hand and noticed that he really was quite warm. She couldn't tell exactly how bad his fever was, but he had a pretty high fever. Perhaps she should stay with him…

Jack felt as though he were dying. Even though he knew he couldn't actually die, he felt as though he were barely clinging to life. "Gwen, please," he choked out, feeling tears in his eyes. He didn't want to be alone. Honestly, he was scared of how ill he was. He hadn't been this weak before, and he wanted nothing more than for Gwen to just stay with him.

Gwen looked down at Jack and saw that he was actually crying. Her strong, stable Jack, now crying. It shocked her a bit, seeing him like this, but it was enough to sway her. "Shhh, don't cry," she soothed. "I'll stay. Don't worry, okay? I'm here."

Jack instantly felt better. He wiped the tears from his eyes and relaxed. What would he do without his sweet Gwen? Always there for him, caring about him until the end… he'd be so, so miserable without her.

Gwen perched on his end of the bed, right next to him, and began to run her fingers through his hair. Her voice took on the sweetest of tones as she murmured in that damn Welsh accent that always caused his spine to tingle.

"Try to sleep," Gwen said softly, wiping beads of sweat from his forehead. "It'll help." He looked up into her eyes, full of concern and care, and he somehow knew that everything would be okay, as long as his Gwen was there for him.


Hey everyone! Chapter eight is here! Chapter nine is being uploaded with this one, so y'alls get a double dose today! And chapter ten should come pretty quickly as well as it's a part three.