Sick Day

By: MoonbeamDancer

Author's Notes: No, I don't own Law and Order, Dick Wolf does, so that means he also owns Jack and Abbie. If I owned them, Abbie would have stayed and she and Jack would have gotten together. Check my bio page for the e mail addy.

Jack heard the coughing as he walked into the apartment. Yep, she was still sick, he put down his briefcase and the bag he had picked up on the way home, before walking into the bedroom. The source of the coughing was currently sitting in bed; hand over her mouth as she did her best impression of hacking up a lung.

"Hi Jack." Abbie croaked and cleared her throat.

Jack smiled at her, handing her a Kleenex and then the cup of water next to her. "Hi. Feeling any better at all?"

Abbie quickly wiped off her hands and took a drink. "A little, not so much "dead" as is "half alive". She sighed and Jack could hear the rattle in her lungs, still too much phlegm. He brushed his fingers across her still warm forehead and knew what would help break it up and get it out of her system.

"I'll be back in a minute, you need a shower."

Abbie just made a face at him, though she did actually agree, her skin had that sick, sticky feel to it and her hair was a mess. But a shower meant moving, and moving meant getting out of bed, Abbie wasn't so sure she was up for that. Jack went back to the bag her had brought home and reached inside pulling out a box of the shower tabs, the kind with the eucalyptus vapor. He shook one out, stopping briefly in the bathroom to set it on the counter and start the shower running, warm enough so that there was steam, but cool enough so that Abbie would be comfortable. He went back and slipped one arm around Abbie's waist and put her arm around his neck.

"Come on, let's get you cleaned up, you'll feel better." He helped her from the bed and they started walking down the hall.

"Jack, I can walk myself."

"I know, just let me take care of you."

Jack flat out knew that Abbie was perfectly capable of walking to the shower and taking care of herself, and had on occasion, but he also knew that she liked it when he took care of her. The two walked into the bath room and Abbie leaned against the counter, stifling a yawn while Jack tossed in the tab to steam and got a couple of towels ready. He turned to her and helped her get out of her pajamas, a matching light blue shirt and light pants, before getting rid of his own clothes.

"They'll wrinkle."

"I'll deal with it later."

The two stepped into the shower and Abbie automatically stood under the showerhead, just to wash the sick feeling off her skin. The temperature must have been fine, because she stayed there for about two minutes before stepping back out.

"Starting to feel better?"

"More human." Abbie replied, sniffing. "I saw you toss something in, what was it?"

"One of the vapor tabs, saw we were out, so I grabbed some more."

"Oh." Abbie toed the tab sitting on the drain and breathed in. "Nice, thanks."

Jack nodded and pulled her a bit more out of the spray so he could give her an actual bath.

"What are you doing?"

"Taking care of you."

"So really, just shut up and breathe for now."

"Yeah."

Jack grabbed the soap and wash cloth and soon Abbie was clean and feeling a lot better then she had been for the past couple of days. Jack moved her back towards the shower head to rinse out the conditioner and when all traces of it were gone, turned off the water, and wrung out Abbie's hair for her before they both left the shower. Once out of the stall, he quickly dried her off and wrapped her in her robe and wrapped a towel around her hair. He dried off as well and took Abbie back to their room, helping her into a fresh set of pajamas, and back into bed. Jack crawled in next to her and began to dry her hair, stopping to brush it every once in a while.

"Thanks Jack."

"No problem."

"I'd kiss you, but I don't want you to get sick too."

Jack laughed softly. "I'll risk it, I was gonna get sick anyway."

The End