Title: Untitled
Author: Meg
Fandom: Alias
Rating: NA
Disclaimer: NA
Summary: NA
Notes: This was written for the Sneezefic Halloween-themed challenge as a mix of bunnies #1 & #2: write a story using the words/phrases 'trick or treat', 'haunted', 'raining', 'but I'm afraid of the dark', "werewolf", "Is that you?", and "freezing"
Feedback: Yes!

Untitled

"Okay, Honey, you know what to say."

"Yes, Mommy."

Laura and Sydney Bristow were standing on the porch waiting for the front door to be opened. The sound of footsteps was heard and the lock came undone, the door opened...

"Twick o' Tweet," Sydney says innocently and holds out her bag for candy to drop in.

"Who could this be?" Emily Sloane asked as she dropped a couple of Kisses into Sydney's bag. Sydney looked up from her candy and into the face of the woman she had come to call "Aunt Emily."

"It's me! Don't you know?" Sydney said as she took off her cat-eared headband.

"Oh, there you are! Is that you? You had me fooled for a minute their, Sydney." Emily joked. "Laura, it's good to see you. It's been much too long." Emily said, giving Laura a hug.

"It has been. Sydney, what do you say to Emily?"

"Thank you, Emily." Sydney said looking up from her bag again.

"You're welcome, Sydney. Arvin, Sydney and Laura are here. Come and see how cute Sydney is! Bring the camera!" She called over her shoulder. "Well, come in. You know you're always welcome here." Emily moved out of the doorway so Sydney and Laura could come in.

Just then Arvin appeared out of the library. "There's my Sydney!" Arvin crouched down and opened his arms. Sydney came running to him for a hug. "Got anything good?" Arvin looked into her bag.

"Yes." Sydney broke the embrace and held out her bag for Sloane to see.

"Mind if I steal a piece?" Sloane joked and reached his hand into the little girl's bag.

"Arvin! Leave Sydney's candy alone. She earned it, not you." Emily came over to see what the two of them were doing.

"Yes, Dear." Arvin said, sounding like a shunned puppy.

"Arvin," Laura said walking up to Sloane and giving him a kiss on the cheek. "Good to see you."

"You too." Sloane said giving her a kiss back. "And where is Jack this evening?"

"At home. He might be coming later though. He came home from work all sick and sniffly so I told him he didn't have to come, but he insisted. He wanted to take a shower before he came though, to clear his head."

"I thought Jack didn't look so well at work today." Sloane said. "I was going to suggest that he take a break but you know how Jack is..."

Laura, Emily, and Sloane laughed. Sydney just stood looking up at the adults in the room in confusion.

"Arvin, where's your costume?" Emily asked, hands on her hips.

"I told you that I would wear the tie, but not that ridiculous costume!"

"I bought Arvin a devil costume to wear, you know so it would match mine;" Emily turned around in a circle, modeling her angel costume. "But, he insists on not wearing it. He's no fun. I'm just happy that he's wearing the tie I gave him, so he could be a little festive. Arvin, show Sydney your tie, she'd get a kick out of it."

Sloane opened up his suit jacket and pulled back the front to give Sydney a good look at the black tie. "Not only does it have pumpkins on it..." Sloane picked up the point of the tie and pressed a button that was on one of the Jack o' lantern noses, "it makes noises." The sound of a werewolf howling came out of the little speaker hidden in the tie.

He sighed and let the tie fall down again so Sydney could see. Sydney giggled when she saw the eyes of the pumpkins flashing. Her father never wore ties like this one, this one was fun.

"And here I thought all along that you were supposed to be a gangster of some sort." Laura laughed.

"Funny. No, I'm just myself." Sloane said, looking at Laura's costume.

Just then the doorbell rang.

"I'd better get that." Emily said turning to the door.

"Well," Laura said looking at her watch. "I'd better go home for a minute and see how Jack's doing. You don't mind if I leave Sydney here for a few minutes?"

"You know we don't" Emily said as she shut the door and put the bowl of candy down.

"Yeah, and I'll take her around our neighborhood so she can get some more loot. There's a great haunted house that one of the neighbors sets up every year." Sloane looked down at Sydney standing next to him and ruffled her hair.

"Sounds like you two will have lots of fun!" Laura said as she bent down and kissed Sydney on the cheek. "Be a good girl and don't get too scared."

"I'm not afraid of the dark anymore, Mommy!"

"Good, Sydney. I know you're a big girl, but be careful and listen to Arvin, all right?"

"I'll bring a flashlight." Sloane went over to the coat closet and pulled out a light.

"Okay then, I'll be right back. You know the house number if you need to get me. I'll be back as soon as I can and maybe Jack will come to if he's feeling better."

"Take your time, we love taking care of Sydney." Emily said standing on the porch watching Laura walking to the car.

"Have fun, sweetie!" Laura called to Sydney before getting in the car.

"Bye, Mommy!"

With that Laura got in the car, and was off to see how Jack was doing at home.

It had started raining again by the time Laura pulled in the driveway. It had rained earlier in the afternoon but had stopped just in time for prime time trick or treating. Laura hoped that Arvin and Sydney had gotten back inside before the rain had started. The last thing she needed was a cold and sick Sydney to take care of with an already sick husband.

She sighed as she reached the porch and found a chair with a tipped over bowl resting on top, a piece of paper on the ground below the chair. She bent down and picked up the paper, which read: "Please take ONLY ONE piece of candy. Thank You." Of course this didn't happen and the first bunch of kids to have arrived took off with all the candy in the bowl. Laura sighed again, unlocked the door and picked up the bowl in one hand and carried the folded up chair in the other.

"Jonathan, I'm back." Using his full name would get his attention quickly if he were around. He hated to be called Jonathan, he preferred Jack. "Jack, where are you?" She called again when she got no reply.

Then she heard him. "Ehh-HEHKTchhhh! IHKTChhuhhh!" Laura sighed as she put the chair and the dish down in the hall and went deeper into the house to look for her husband.

When she reached the living room she saw him lying on the couch, a quilt on top of him, pulled up to his chin. His suit jacket lying on the back of the couch, a trail of water dripping off the coat into a puddle on the floor. He let out a moan and a few coughs and sniffles when she turned on the light above him.

"Jack, what are you doing in here? Are you all right?" She asked coming into the room to get a better look at him.

"Laura, please," he croaked, voice hoarse. "Turn off the lights again. My head hurts."

She went back to the switch and turned out the lights then came over to him again, sitting at the foot of the couch next to his feet. She looked at him. Then looked down at his feet that were next to her. He still had his shoes on. She wondered how long he had been lying there and how bad he must be feeling to not even bother taking off his shoes.

"Jack, honey, how are you feeling?" She asked soothingly removing his damp shoes to massage his feet.

"To tell you the truth Laura, I feel like I'm going to die." He let out a harsh cough, which made his body rock on the couch.

"Shush, Jack, don't say things like that. You're going to be fine. It's just a cold."

Jack sat up leaning on his elbows. "Where's Sydney? I thought you were taking her to Arvin and Emily's."

"I did. I came back to see if you were all right and see if you wanted to come back with me. You know it is your daughter's first time tick or treating in LA, and I thought that you might want to go with her. She sure wanted her daddy to."

"You're back so soon. I thought you would have been gone longer."

"Gone longer? I was gone for nearly two and a half-hours with all the traffic."

"Man, I must really have passed out then. ehh-Katchoo! Chushoo!"

"Bless you." She handed him a tissue from the box on the end table. "Jack, you're soaked. Don't tell me you were outside when it started to rain."

"I was standing out on the porch for a while; trying to meet the new neighbors like you said I should. And then it started to rain. I didn't notice how cold it or soaked I had gotten until I actually got inside." He turned his head away from her and "ehh-Choo! Ahh- Chishoo!"

Laura sighed, "Jack, you know that you shouldn't have been outside with your cold."

"Laura, please! I know how to take care of...ehh-Choo! - Myself. It was my mistake and now I'm paying for it. So drop it!" Jack then went into a coughing fit, immediately making him regret having raised his voice.

"Come on, let me help you get into bed." Laura started pulling on his arm to get him to stand.

"Yes, Mother." Jack mocked and reluctantly got up from the couch, draping the quilt around his shoulders, shivering terribly.

"Honey, you can't be that cold, can you?" Laura, noticing his shaking, asked as they came to the stairs.

A harsh "ehh-Katchoo!" was his reply, which also caused him to lose his balance and hit his foot on the first step.

"Are you okay, honey?" Laura asked.

All Jack could do was let out a groan. "Great, now my foot hurts too." He sniffed hard which only made him sneeze again. "Ehh-Choo! Ahh-Chishoo!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. Let me help you up the stairs..." She stood up on her tiptoes and gave him a soft kiss on the forehead. "...And into bed so I can check you're temperature. You feel a bit warm to me." She grabbed him around the waist to steady him as they slowly but surely made their way up the stairs and towards the bedroom.

After she helped him lay down in bed, Laura went into the bathroom to look for a thermometer. When she emerged, shaking the thermometer in her hand, she saw that Jack had crawled under the covers, his back towards her. She sighed and went around the bed so she could face him. Jack had the blankets all the way up to his head, so that only his eyes peered over the top, but they were closed. Laura pushed Jack's form over a little so she could sit on the edge of the bed.

"Come on, Jack. Sit up so I can take your temperature." She touched his forehead, trying to get an estimate of how hot he was, but he pulled back at her touch.

"Laura, I'm freezing, so unless you're going to get in bed with me to keep me warm, leave me alone." With that Jack coughed hard and shook the bed. He groaned and pushed the blankets all the way up so that they now covered his whole head.

Laura sighed again. Jack was such a baby when he was sick. "Honey, that's the fever that's making you cold. Let me see how bad it is. If it's not too bad, then we can get it down before it gets high so we don't have to take you to the hospital."

Jack definitely did not want to go to the hospital. Laura could see him shake his head under the covers then slowly poke his head out of the top again. "Yes, dear," he said and started to sit up straight, Laura pilling the pillows up behind him.

"You know I love you Jack, and I don't like to see you like this anymore then you like feeling the way you do, but I need to look at you so I can get you better."

Great, Jack thought. Now she's talking to me as if I'm a baby. So he decided not to whine so much anymore. Once Jack was propped up straight, he let Laura slide the thermometer under his tongue. Laura sat beside him on the bed leaning her head on his shoulder and holding his hand, trailing her thumb over his knuckles, listening to him sniffle. After a few minutes Laura checked her watch to see if it was time to take the thermometer out. It had only been two minutes; she wanted to keep it in for at least three to get an accurate reading. She was happy that his sneezes seemed to have stopped for the time being so that he wouldn't accidentally bite down and break the glass. Just then she heard Jack's rhythmic breathing stop, his breath caught in his chest. She turned her head to see him running a hand under his nose; his eyes closed in concentration. "Please, Jack, don't sneeze now!" She begged looking at the desperate look on his face. "Jack, if you sneeze now you might bite down and break the glass." She expressed the thought she had before.

Jack saw the look on his wife's face and realized that she was right. The last thing he wanted was a mouth full of broken glass and potentially dangerous mercury. He nodded his head the best that he could without disturbing the tickle, the realized that maybe it wasn't a good idea and stopped, staring at his wife with wide fever dazed eyes as if pleading her to tell him what to do.

Laura looked at her watch. "Hon, can you wait just thirty more seconds? Please?" This time Jack just blinked his eyes. She gave Jack a quick kiss on the cheek before reaching over to the nightstand and pulling a few tissues out of the box. She took a quick peek at her watch then proceeded to clamp the tissues over Jack's nose ready for him when he could finally let the sneeze out.

"Here, Jack, I'll trade you. When I let go, you hold the tissues and I'll get the thermometer." She gave him another quick kiss on his warm cheek before checking her watch again. She then straddled him so she could look him in the eye better. His eyes went cross so he could see as she took his hand and put it on hers that was on his nose. Under other circumstances he might have gotten turned on if his wife had straddled him but all he could think about at the moment was another thing and it wasn't sex...

"OK Jack, hang on. When I say so all right?" Laura was now counting down the seconds in her mind. Jack had by this time closed his eyes in preparation, his mouth gaping open a bit, his breath ragged. Laura's other hand hovered in front of the thermometer, ready to make the switch, she was ready and steady as if it was her mission to disarm a bomb.

"Ready?" Jack shook his head ever so slightly. "Three...two...one..." Laura quickly slid her hand out from underneath Jack's while simultaneously taking the thermometer out of his mouth with the other hand. In fact, she was so happy and relived that she had managed to get it out of his mouth before he could break it, that she didn't roll off of him in time and got hit with the spray that came out of his mouth along with the onslaught of sneezes:

"EHHHChuhhh! IhhSHuhhh! EhhhSheshhhh! IHHHSHhhh!" When he was done he placed the tissues back on his nose and blew strongly before looking at his wife.

"Ugh... Jack." Laura said, her tone however wasn't harsh or scolding, it was understanding. She reached over him to the tissue box on the nightstand.

"I'm sorry, Laura. I didn't know they were going to be so strong." Jack admitted sheepishly, seeing the gleam on her face and flushing a little more, if that was at all possible.

Laura took the tissues and wiped her face clean, still holding the thermometer in her hand. "It's all right Jack. You don't have to be ashamed in front of me. I'm your wife." With that she kissed him on the bridge of his nose and rolled off of him onto the other edge of the bed. She raised the thermometer up to the lamp and read what it said. "God," she whispered. "Jack, take your clothes off." She ordered as she ran into the bathroom.

Jack sat up and started taking off his shirt, wondering how bad the damage must be to send her running into the bathroom like that. Then Jack heard the sound of water running. Laura was filling the bathtub. "What are you doing?" Jack yelled to her deciding not to do that again when it hurt his throat. "Oww..." He sat on the edge of the bed with his shirt off, freezing again. He started to shiver, and tried to figure out if he should go in and see what his wife was doing or wait on the bed. He decided that he couldn't wait for her to come back out and started to get up when his head started throbbing again, causing him to sit back down, massaging his temples. "Oww..."

Laura reappeared from the bathroom, "Jack, stand up. Let me help you take off your pants." She went over to him and helped him stand and steadying himself before she unbuckled his belt and unzipped his slacks. She pulled them down to his ankles and he stepped out of them, now only standing in his boxers.

"Laura, no... no sex. I don't feel well."

"I know, honey. But that's not why I asked you to do this. Go get in the bathtub. Besides, it would be kind of hard for me to make you any hotter than you are right now." She started towards the bedroom door calling over her shoulder; "I'm going down stairs to get some things. Leave your boxers on." Jack sighed and reluctantly went into the bathroom. Meanwhile, Laura was downstairs in the kitchen getting the ice cube trays out of the refrigerator.

When Laura returned she found Jack sitting on the down turned toilet seat lid, his arms crossed across his chest, a bath towel draped around his shoulders just as the blanket had been earlier. He had been staring at the water rippling in the tub but looked up at her when he heard her enter.

"Jack, I thought I told you to get in the water."

"It's freezing, Laura. I'll get hypothermia if I go in there."

Laura put the ice trays down by the sink and pulled on his arm. "You know just as well as I that we need to get that fever down. Now get in the water!" If she were back in her homeland she would have just pushed him outside and into a snow bank. However, since they were in LA in the middle of autumn, there was never any snow.

"I know. All right, all right I'm going." He stood up and walked over to the bathtub. He slowly and regretfully slid into the basin. Laura took the towel off his shoulders as he slipped the rest of the way in. "Jesus, this is cold!" He said wincing, goosebumps started to form on his skin.

Once he was all the way seated Laura got the ice tray and started breaking the ice apart and dumping it into the water.

"Okay, Jack, I want you to just sit there and relax for a while, if you can." She said standing up. She went over to the sink again, sitting the trays down and opened a drawer and got out a washcloth. She went back to the bath crouching down again so that she could easily wash Jack's forehead with the cloth. She dipped the cloth into the bath water then placed it on his head. Jack leaned his head back against the tile wall and closed his eyes, letting the icy water slide down his feverish face. Laura rewetted and replaced the washcloth several more times before Jack opened his eyes again.

"Does that make you feel better, honey?" She asked smoothing his hair down.

Jack nodded yes then whispered; "do you know how beautiful you are?" He smiled.

"Jack, quiet, you're delirious." She laughed then bent down low and kissed him on the forehead. Surprised at how cool he felt to her lips she retraced and put the back of her hand to his forehead to make sure. "Honey, you feel much cooler. I didn't expect your fever to break that fast. Let me go get the thermometer and check to make sure." With that she got up from the floor and went over to the bedside table and retrieved the thermometer.

"Okay, lets try this again." She said coming back into the bathroom shaking the thermometer. She crouched down beside him again and looked him in the eye. "Three minutes right? And you're not going to give me anymore problems are you?" She was treating him like a kid again. Jack sighed and shook his head. "Good."

She leaned in and stuck the thermometer under his tongue and checked her watch so she could time. "Geez, it's almost eleven. I should go and pick up Sydney after I'm done with you." Jack tried to say something around the thermometer. "Keep your mouth closed, honey." Laura told him. "I'll help you get into bed so you can rest if you're cool enough, if not I'll just have to stay with you until it is; I don't want to leave you alone when you're like this." Her hand went to his head and she started playing with his short brown hair again. "You know, Jack, you're starting to get some gray hairs." Jack made a face and looked like he wanted to say something but restrained himself this time.

When three minutes was up Laura took the thermometer out and held it up to the light to study the silver liquid. She was stunned at how fast his fever had gone down. "Am I all right?" Jack asked looking at the expression on her face.

"You're fine, honey. Back to normal."

"So I can get out of this torture chamber?"

"Yeah, let's go get you dried off and into some warm clothes and to bed."

"Can I go with you to get Sydney?" Jack asked trying to stand on his numb legs.

"I think you'd be better off resting."

"But you said that I should have been the one to take her trick or treating tonight in the new neighborhood."

"Yeah, I did. But-"

"So the least I can do to show that I'm a good responsible and loving father is to be there when you pick her up, right?" He sniffled.

Laura handed him a towel. "I guess. Well, hurry up then, I don't want to be out too late; Arvin and Emily must be wondering where I went."

"Right."

Laura went to go and get his clothes out for him while he dried off in the bathroom. She picked the warmest things she could find at the moment: navy blue sweat pants, a Dodgers T-shirt one of the neighbors had given him when they had moved in, and a UCLA hooded sweatshirt she had given him the previous Christmas.

When Jack was done dressing he found Laura downstairs blowing out the candles that were in the pumpkins."Ready to go?" He asked coming down the last few stairs, his voice startling Laura.

Laura turned to look at him, although his fever was gone he still looked tired and disheveled. "Jack, are you sure you want to go with me? I mean, you could stay here and rest. I'm sure Sydney wouldn't mind."

"No, I'm sure I can make it, besides I want to do this." He said taking her hands and kissing her.

"You know, just because your fever is gone does not mean that your all better yet. How's you head feel?" She asked when they broke.

"It still hurts a bit but not as much as it was before."

"Hang on, I'll go get you some aspirin. It'll help keep your fever down too." She left Jack in the hallway and went to the nearest bathroom. When she came out she found Jack staring one of their wedding pictures that was hanging on the wall. "Your voice still sounds hoarse. Do you want some cough drops too?"

"Was it the happiest day of your life?" He asked as he heard her approaching, shaking the aspirin from the bottle into her hand.

Laura looked up from what she was doing and bit her bottom lip. "Yes, honey, of course it was."

"You know what I do is so hard that I don't know what I would do if I lost you or Sydney." He said turning and pulling her close to him, wrapping his arms around her middle.

"Don't worry, nothings going to happen to us." She reached up and rubbed his back.

"I know, but it still scares me." He nuzzled her hair and breathed in her scent the best he could through his stuffy nose. He let her go and held her at arm length to look at her. She smiled at him. "All right. Let's go."

"Here," she said handing him the aspirin. "Don't forget to take these."

"Like I said what would I do without you?" He opened the door and they stepped outside.

When the doorbell to the Sloane house rang, Emily answered finding Laura and a tired and worn Jack Bristow standing on her porch.

"Hi guys. We were just getting ready to form a search party." She said moving out of the doorway to allow Jack and Laura to come inside. Emily had changed out of her costume and stood in the hall in a nightshirt, sweats and slippers.

"Sorry we're late. We lost track of time." Laura said as she shut the door behind her.

"That's okay, I think Arvin and Sydney had fun." Just then Jack coughed. "My God, Jack, you look awful. Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I just caught a cold, that's all." Jack blushed and sniffled; wrapping the blanket that her was holding closer his body.

Laura saw that Jack was embarrassed, as he didn't like people fussing over him so she directed the conversation in a different direction: "So where's Arvin?"

"Oh, he and Sydney are in the living room watching TV." She started leading them to the living room. Once there they saw Sloane sitting on the couch watching the nightly business report, Sydney fast asleep with her head on his lap. When Sloane saw them he turned off the TV and got up as carefully as he could, making sure to not to wake the little girl next to him.

"Hey you came back. I was starting to think that Emily and I would have to keep this one." He said walking over to Jack, shaking his friend's hand. Sloane to had changed out of his "costume" and was wearing a casual black turtleneck and jeans.

"Uh, no, I like you Arvin, but not that much. Maybe for your next birthday you can watch her again." Jack laughed then quickly cupped his hand over his nose and mouth to catch an unpredicted sneeze. "Ehhh, Hetschoo!" He sniffed hard then pulled a tissue out of his pocket and blew his nose.

"Even though you're sick you still remembered my birthday." Sloane said mocking surprise.

"How could I forget? You're starting to look older and older every day." He laughed and folded the tissue up and threw it in the trashcan next to him.

"Hey, don't forget, buddy, that you're seven months older than I am, you know."

"How could I? In fact just tonight, Laura said that I'm starting to get gray hair." He sighed and looked at his wife. "Are we really that old?"

"No, honey, it's just the world is getting younger." Laura smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"Oh, well. I guess I have to give you your daughter now." Sloane said walking over to the couch again, gently picking up Sydney and carrying her over to her parents. "We collected candy, and then we came back and tried to watch the Great Pumpkin. She was so tired that she fell asleep before Charlie Brown got a rock in his bag." Sloane said and handed Sydney to Jack who wrapped the blanket around his daughter and held her close to his chest.

"So I guess she had fun then?" Jack asked looking down at Sydney.

"Yeah. She passed out pretty quickly." They started making their way toward the front door.

"Oh, Jack wait a second." Emily said and ran into the kitchen. When she emerged she had a thermos in her hand."Arvin told me that you weren't feeling well so I made you some soup." Emily handed Jack the thermos as he shifted Sydney in his arms.

"Here, Jack, let me take her." Laura said reaching out for Sydney. Jack sighed and placed Sydney in his wife's arms.

"Thanks, Emily." Jack said, giving her a hug good-bye. "Thanks, Arvin. Happy birthday, old man." Jack shook Sloane's hand.

"Yeah, right." Sloane said sarcastically as he opened the door. "You know, I'm thinking of growing a beard." He said rubbing his chin in a thoughtful motion.

"No, Arvin, don't." Emily came up next to him and gently hit his arm. "It'll only make you look older."

"I don't know, don't all the cool, hip kids have facial hair nowadays?" Sloane said stepping onto the porch with Laura and Jack.

"I can't keep up anymore." Jack said as he ran a finger under his nose.

"Here, take this to." Emily tossed him a box of Kleenex that she got off the table next to the doorway where she stood.

Jack caught it in one hand and put the box into he crook of his arm, "Thanks again, guys." He said and pulled out a tissue with his freed up hand.

"Have a nice weekend;" Emily called as the Bristow's made their way down the walk to their car. "And take care of your cold, Jack."

Jack put his hand up and waved before he shut his door. Laura had just finished putting Sydney, who was still asleep, in her car seat and came around and got in the driver's side. Jack had his head leaning on the back of the seat, his eyes closed.

"Are you okay, honey?" Laura wondered. "You're shivering."

"I'm just cold."

"Okay, let me get the heat on." Laura started the car and turned on the heating to get Jack and the car warm then put the car in gear and drove away.

While she was stopped at a red light, she looked up at the sky and looked at the stars. "Honey, look at that moon. Isn't it big?" Jack didn't respond because he was sound asleep, his arms crossed over his chest in an attempt to keep warm. Laura sighed and drove in silence the rest of the way home.

After she parked the car in the driveway she reached over and gently shook Jack awake. "Jack...Jack, we're home."

"Huh, wh-what." Jack said still half asleep.

"We're home, sweetheart." Laura gave him a kiss on the cheek, opened her door and got out to get Sydney. Jack stretched; collected his things then got out as well. Jack was the first one to the porch and waited while Laura walked up the driveway carrying Sydney in her arms.

"Want me to take her?" Jack asked suppressing a yawn.

"No, I've got her." Laura said fishing her keys out of her pocket.

"You want me to put her to bed." Jack reached out for her making Sydney stir and make a noise.

"No, I think I've got it. Besides, you should go up and get ready for bed. She opened the door and turned on the porch light.

"All right, I'll wait for you." Jack said heading up the stairs.

"Okay," Laura slid her purse off her free shoulder then started up the stairs after him.

"When Laura was done changing Sydney into her sleeping clothes she did something she hadn't done in a while, she rocked Sydney in her arms while walking around the room softly singing a lullaby in her native Russian tongue. When she was sure Sydney was fast asleep and would stay so through the night she went back to her own room hoping to find Jack awake. Instead, she found him lying on his side huddled under the covers.

Laura sighed and changed herself and got into bed next to him. It was the first time since they were married; she was too tired to go through her husband's briefcase. She sighed and leaned over trying to see if Jack was still awake. She could tell by his soft snoring and gentle stuffed breathing through his stuffed nose that he was comfortably asleep.

Laura turned off the light and draped her arm across her husband's chest. She pressed her ear against his chest and listened to his rhythmic heartbeat once again that eventually lulled her into her own, comfortable sleep.