Of course after Elizabeth's request, Abigail had made her way over to the jail to get Jack. She slowly opened the door where Rip perked his head up upon hearing her entrance, "Hey boy," she said letting him sniff her hand. She walked over to Jack's sleeping form and slowly shook him, "Jack! JACK!" she whispered.

Upon hearing his name, Jack slowly opened his eyes and rolled over to face the voice, "Mrs. Stanton?" he questioned, "It's the middle of the night. What are you doing up?"

"It's Elizabeth. She's very sick and she needs you," said Abigail.

"Elizabeth? Teacher Elizabeth? Elizabeth Thatcher? My Elizabeth?" he finally muttered softly.

Abigail nodded, "Her cough has gotten worse and her fever is high. I've already called the doctor. He's examining her now."

Jack quickly bolted out of bed and pulled on his jacket and boots not bother to get dressed out of his pajamas. He went over to the café and up the stairs as fast as his legs could carry him. All he could think about was getting to Elizabeth, sweet Elizabeth, his Elizabeth. He knocked on the door when he found it closed, "Elizabeth?"

"Jack," she croaked and coughed from the outside. He opened the door to find Elizabeth looking like death warmed over but he wasn't about to say that. She smiled a little and said, "Jack, you're here."

"Of course I'm here," he said running over to her, grabbing her hand, and kissing it.

"You came in your pajamas," Elizabeth observed.

Jack looked down, noticing for the first time that he was in his pajamas, "Yeah I did," he chuckled.

"How bad is it doctor?" asked Abigail entering the room once again.

"Well, it's definitely not good news, Ms. Thatcher has pneumonia," said Dr. James.

"Will she be okay?" asked Jack holding Elizabeth's hand protectively. He couldn't imagine her dying. He couldn't imagine a life without her.

"Well, just like any other illness, she'll need bed rest and fluids," said Dr. James, "And I'm going to prescribe some medicine that should attack the bacteria."

"Anything to get rid of this cough?" asked Elizabeth miserably coughing some more.

"I can prescribe a cough syrup but I'll only have you take that right before bed. You need to be able to cough up the fluid accumulating in your lungs," said the doctor. Elizabeth nodded her understanding, "I might have you both take some of the medicine as well since you both have been exposed and since pneumonia is highly contagious."

"Of course doctor," said Jack. The doctor left the medicines behind and bid everyone farewell. Elizabeth sighed back into the pillow and coughed some more while Abigail poured the medicine for her.

"Here you go Elizabeth," she said offering it to her.

Elizabeth swallowed it and coughed, "Man that stuff's awful."

"Most of the time medicine is I'm sure," chuckled Jack.

Elizabeth glared at him and said, "Glad to see my misery is amusing you."

Jack sat down next to her on the bed and kissed her warm forehead, "Never my sweet Elizabeth," he whispered.

Elizabeth closed her eyes and leaned back into his embrace, thinking about how good it felt with his arms around her, but also thinking how inappropriate it probably was for him to be with her like this, considering they had only been courting a short time, "Elizabeth Thatcher. You are ill. He's just taking care of you," she thought, "Jack?" she asked looking up into his eyes.

"Yes, Elizabeth?" he asked.

She gently rubbed his hand and said, "Please don't leave me alone tonight."

He kissed the top of her head again and said, "I would never leave you alone when you need me Elizabeth."

Sorry this chapter was short. I promise I'll try to make the next one longer.