24-Hour Cold - (24 Parts)

[W.I.N.]

Title: 24-Hour Cold

Author: Me!

Fandom: "24"

Disclaimer: Not mine, etc. Just playing. Please don’t sue.

Rating: Totally work safe (uh, would that make it PG?)

Summary: Chloe heads out to find Jack during his self-imposed exile between Seasons Four and Five in order to bring him important documents, only to find that his enemies have tracked him down. Unfortunately, Jack also appears to have come down with a heck of a cold.

Author's Notes: This is my first attempt at sneezefic, and my first attempt at fanfic for that matter. Please please please be nice, although constructive criticism is welcome! Pointing out typos, mangled sentence structure, and other errors is all good. If this seems long on sneezing and short on plot, well... that's 'cause I wasn’t as invested in the plot.

There will, if all goes well, be 24 parts to this little endeavour. I've tried to structure it a little bit like the show, only, y'know, with less torture and explosions and a whole lot more sneezing. If people like it, I'll keep going. So far it's about 1/3 done.

Part I

06:00-07:00

The rain had been pouring down for nearly an hour now. Chloe O’Brian hurried along the deserted streets, her sensible shoes splashing through the puddles on the wet pavement. She clutched a satchel under one arm, her purse slung over her shoulder, and was dragging her small overnight bag with her as well. Although she was wearing a navy blue waterproof jacket and had the hood pulled all the way over her head with the drawstrings pulled tight, she had the impression that the rain was soaking her to the bone. Certainly the cuffs of her pant legs were wet, as were her feet. Her jacket clung to her arms, and she felt uncomfortably clammy.

She shivered as she made her way toward a deserted factory, trying to see in the torrential downpour. Jack was here somewhere, but knowing him she wasn’t going to see him until her wanted her to see. She ducked into a doorway, found the door unlocked —just like he said it would be— and went in. The place was deserted, and her footsteps echoed eerily as she walked.

“Jack?” she called as quietly as she could, cringing a bit as her voice bounced off the walls. “Are you here?”

She wandered in circles for a few minutes, pulling down her hood and looking around nervously —she hated this cloak-and-dagger crap, it wasn’t what she was hired for. Damn Tony Almeida and his stupid bright ideas. Suddenly a pair of strong arms grabbed her from behind, and a hand clamped over her mouth, stifling her shriek of dismay.

“Were you followed?” Jack Bauer’s voice whispered in her ear, his breath hot on her throat. She relaxed as she realized who it was, and he relinquished his hold on her.

“Jesus, Jack, you scared the shit out of me! No, I don’t think I was followed: I was careful.”

She turned to look at him as he backed off, and bit back a dismayed cry as she saw just how awful he looked. Months of living on the run had taken their toll: he was thin and drawn, with severa days’ worth of stubble making him look scruffy and disreputable, his eyes sunk deep in his head and underscored with dark circles. His clothes, soaked from the rain, were stained and filthy, and looked as though he’d pulled them out of a dumpster. Perhaps he had. He turned his head aside to cough into the crook of his elbow.

“You look terrible,” she said, trying to sound matter-of-fact.

“Yeah, thanks,” he managed a wry smile, though she noticed his eyes were continually tracking someone or something she couldn’t see over her shoulder. Everything about him screamed of nervous tension.

“So, uh, I got you the papers you wanted,” she held out the satchel awkwardly. “New identity, new everything, so you can start over... Jack?”

Jack clearly wasn’t listening to her. His face had taken on a distant expression. Then, to her surprise, his eyes half-closed, his mouth went slack, his breath hitched, and he wrenched to the side as a powerful sneeze erupted from him. “Huh... HUESHOOO!”

“Uh, Gesundheit?” She couldn’t remember ever seeing Jack Bauer sneeze. Or even sniffle, for that matter. He usually seemed indestructible. It was a little unsettling.

Jack groaned almost too softly for her to hear, touching the back of his wrist to his nose. “Sorry. Come on, let’s walk. It’s not safe to stay in one place too long. I’ve already been in this city longer than I’m comfortable with.”

She hurried after him as he headed out through another door of the factory and across what must once have been a parking lot or perhaps a yard for the trucks, noting that the rain was finally starting to let up, just a little. When they reached a warehouse on the other side of the yard he pulled his pistol from where he’d tucked it into the belt of his pants, and let himself in through the door, checking all his angles. When he was sure the coast was clear he motioned to her to join him.

“Jack, what’s going on?”

“I think someone’s been trying to track me down. I saw them a few days ago, managed to lose them for a while, but I think...” he hesitated, and Chloe saw his nose twitch, “I thin— huh... huh!” His head tilted back, and once again he twisted forcefully away from her in order to sneeze. “HUESHOO!” He sniffled, looking annoyed, and swiped at his nose with his sleeve cuff. “Sorry.”

“You’re sick.”

“It’s just a cold,” he said impatiently. “I’ve ha— had wor— worse... huh... HUESHOO! HUESHOO! ESHOO!” his head snapped forward with each subsequent sneeze. He forestalled any attempt to say anything on her part with a glare. “What’ve you got for me?”

She held out the satchel again. “Passport, credit cards, documentation, a whole new identity, courtesy of Tony. Only you, me, Michelle and Tony know about it. We’re putting you on a plane to Florida ASAP, with a few detours along the way, just in case.”

“You haven’t bought the tickets?”

She shook her head. “No. There’s enough cash in here for you to buy two or three tickets on domestic flights —we’re trying to minimize your trail.”

He reached to take the satchel, then turned away as another volley of sneezes exploded from him. “Huh... huh! HUTCHOO! HUESHOO! HAH-ESHOO!”

“Bless you.”

He sniffled again, looking abjectly miserable, then held up a hand. “Quiet,” he whispered. “They’re here.”

Immediately Chloe shrank in on herself, clutching the satchel to her chest, and looked around, though she saw nothing. Jack brought his gun up, scanned the place, and before she knew it he had caught her in a flying tackle and sent her sprawling to the ground as what sounded like a hail of bullets ricocheted above their heads.

[Aprilcot]

WOW!!!!!

That's all I can say!!!!

Omg! I LOVE this!!!!

Please can you write more!

I don't know the fandom, but I sure do like the story!!!

Brilliant!

Please keep writing!

[krazykat]

Tee hee hee...

The man who has survived heroin addiction, his wife's death, his daughter severing all ties with him, being dead, being tortured by the Chinese and much much more is to be felled by a simple rhinovirus...

PLEASE continue!!!

[Tarkus]

Wow ...just wow

Ohmygoshthatwassosexy!

You are an amazingly talented writer, m'dear I love how you write Jack's sneezes.

Can't wait for more sexiness to come

[W.I.N.]

Thanks for all the kind comments!

Aprilcot: there is definitely more to come! The fandom itself isn't... well, let's just say the show got way to violent for my taste, but I really enjoyed the first few seasons.

krazykat: I know! Isn't it silly? Mind you, he hasn't been tortured by the Chinese yet in the timeline where I've set him, since that's post-Season 5, but otherwise he's a pretty tough cookie. I expect that's part of why I enjoy making him sneeze so much. The whole losing control part of sneezing just has endless appeal for me.

catmuffins: I love your username. Thanks for the compliments!

I figure that I'll post a new installment every day, which ought to give me plenty of time to finish the story. Stay tuned for Part 2, coming in just a moment.

~W.I.N.

[W.I.N.]

Part II

07:00-08:00

Chloe managed not to scream at the top of her lungs as bullets rained around them, ricocheting off the walls and abandoned crates and scaffolding. If she got out of this alive, she swore to herself, she was going to kill Tony Almeida. Him and his bright ideas about Chloe being less recognizable because she was always indoors.

“Run!” Jack grabbed her by the belt and hauled her to her feet. “Go go go!” He shoved her unceremoniously before him, and she found her long-ago field training coming back to her in drips and drabs.

Jack followed close behind her, spinning to return fire at the source of the gunshots. She heard a cry of pain —male by the sounds of it— followed by a clatter, presumably when the man lost his weapon and keeled over. More gunshots rang out, none of them coming even close, and Jack wheeled and fired again, and was rewarded by yet another scream. She and Jack made it to the far side of of the warehouse, where Jack forced her down behind a large pile of crates.

“I don’t have enough ammunition to deal with them all,” he said in a low whisper, his breathing ragged and harsh in her ear. “We’re going to have to wait them out, make them think we’re outside. Stay here, I’ll be right back.”

“But—”

Jack was gone. She huddled behind the crates, trying not to breathe, trying not to move, and thinking small-and-invisible thoughts as hard as she could. She flinched as more shots rang out, then stopped. There was shouting in what sounded like Arabic, but since she didn’t speak any language other than English and a whole bunch of various programming languages, she couldn’t be sure. She jumped as Jack returned what felt like hours later, and sank down beside her, breathing hard and sweating profusely.

“They’re not gone, but I’ve given them a false trail leading outside. Sit tight, and let’s hope they take the bait.”

Chloe nodded, keeping her mouth tightly shut. The cement floor was freezing cold, and she could feel a chill seeping through her. She could hear at least five different voices moving about the warehouse, all of them seeming (at least to her) to be moving in the same direction, toward the door. Beside her, Jack shifted his weight uncomfortably. She glanced at him, trying to see what he was planning to do next, and saw that his gaze had gone vacant again, his expression slightly panicked as he felt a sneeze beginning to well up.

“Jack, no!” she mouthed at him, but it was no use. May as well order a volcano not to erupt.

“Huh... sniff... huh!” his breathing hitched, and he reached up to pinch his nose shut, clamping down on his irritated nostrils. It was too late, though: the sneeze was well and truly settled in his nose.

Chloe watched as Jack struggled to contain the sneeze, praying hard that the men would make it outside before he lost control. His breathing grew more ragged and uncontrolled with every passing second, until she was sure there was no way he’d be able to hold on. On an impulse she reached over and placed her finger under his nose, jamming it hard against his reddened nostrils. A slightly bemused expression crossed his features, replacing the pre-sneeze look, and he heaved a sigh of relief. The sneeze wasn’t gone —she could still see his nose twitching— but it had receded enough to give them some breathing room. She kept her finger where it was, until the sound of the men’s voices disappeared through the door, and then slowly withdrew.

Almost immediately Jack’s head reared back, his jaw went slack, and he let the sneeze overpower him, snapping him forward through sheer force. “Huh... huh! HUH-ASHOO!”

Chloe glanced back fearfully at the door, but after a few minutes without anyone storming in with guns blazing, she allowed herself to relax.

Jack struggled to his feet, stifling yet another sneeze in the crook of his arm. “Ngkssh!” He groaned, softly. “All right. We’ll give them another fifteen minutes, and then we have to get going.”

[LoneStar]

Oh this is fantastic! I was hopping one of these would crop up! And you're writing it very well. And the sneezing while hidding classic, simply wonderful.

I can't wait for the next part.

[krazykat]

Poor Jack...

Got to love the Chloe snark though!

[W.I.N.]

LoneStar: Glad you like it! I love the sneezing-while-hiding trope, so I plan to exploit it shamelessly in the stories I write at least once.

krazykat: Poor Jack, indeed! Chloe is my favourite character, though. Even though I'm not really part of fandom, I am something of a Jack/Chloe shipper (when I'm not having naughty thoughts about Jack/Tony, but that's a whole different kettle of fish...). I don't much like Audrey, although I have a very NSFW plot bunny for her and Jack that cropped up in my head while I was busy writing this. Who knew? Anyway, I can't post it (did I mention NSFW?), but maybe when I have posting access I will. Supposing it ever gets written. *cough*

Thanks for the lovely comments, everyone! Part III is going up in a moment.

~W.I.N.

[W.I.N.]

Part III

08:00-09:00

“Who were those people?” Chloe’s knuckles were white from clenching the steering wheel of her rented car. She’d parked far enough away from the rendez-vous point that Jack had reluctantly agreed the car was still safe. It was either that or walk through the rain, which was still coming down hard, though the downpour from before had lessened considerably. Somehow, Chloe didn’t think Jack would relish the idea of getting soaking wet all over again, especially not with that cold.

Jack, sitting in the front seat, scanned the streets warily as they rode. He reminded her of an alley cat, looking for danger in every shadow. She pursed her lips: it was a hell of a way to live. Thank goodness she wasn’t a field agent. “I’m not sure. I can only conclude they’re involved with the Chinese in some way. I’ve never been able to ask them directly,” he added wryly. “They were too busy shooting at me.”

“So where are we going now, then?”

He didn’t answer right away, and when she glanced over she saw that he was preparing for another sneeze, one hand raised, forefinger crooked under his nose, chest heaving spasmodically, nostrils twitching. She rolled her eyes and focussed on the road, stopping at a red light and muttering under her breath.

“I guess I’ll go toward the airport, then, until you tell me otherwise. I can’t believe I’m doing this. All I was supposed to do was go in, hand over the papers, and get out. Now there’s people shooting at me, and we’re fugitives, and I just wasn’t cut out for this kind of work!” She hit the gas viciously as the light turned green.

“We sh-should... huh...” Jack tried to speak through the impending sneeze, “huh... sniff... huh! HUESHOO! HEH-ESCHOO! HEH-ESCHAH! Sniff... huh...” he began a second build-up, breath hitching desperately, then turned away toward the passenger-side window. “Huh... sniff... heh... huh-huh-huh huuh! HUH-ISHOO! HEH-ISH! HEH-ISH! HEH-ISH! Oh...” he let out a sigh that was part groan.

She came to a stop at another red light, and turned to look at him more carefully. That was when she noticed the dark stain under his arm, which she was pretty sure hadn’t been there before.

“You’re hurt. Why didn’t you say anything?”

He didn’t look at her. “It’s a scratch, not worth mentioning. I must have caught myself on the scaffolding back there.” He coughed into his fist, and now that she was looking she saw him wince.

“Huh,” she snorted. “Some scratch. We’ll have to take care of it.”

“N-not... HUH-ISH!” he twisted aside again. “Not here. Later. ESHOO! When we’re s-secu... HAH-ISHOO!”

“Airport?” Chloe prompted.

“Yeah. We need to get out of here a-as q-qui— heh... quickly as po— huh.... HUSHOO! As possible,” he managed, his face still buried in the crook of his elbow.

The sneezing turned into a coughing fit, and Chloe gave the whole thing up as a bad job, driving on in silence. There would be plenty of time for catching up later, if needs be.

[wishiwassneezy]

SO GOOD!!! I love 24 and this is AWESOME!

[Tarkus]

*le sigh*

Nothing makes a day better than reading about a sexy, sneezing Jack Bauer.

It'll be cool to see how the next part turns out!

[W.I.N.]

wishiwassneezy: Hello, and thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it. Jack Bauer just seems to lend himself well to sneezing, don't ask me why. Maybe it's because he's so very much in control all the time on the show...

catmuffinz: (I think I misspelled your username before: sorry!) Glad to see you're still around!

Part IV is forthcoming (no pun intended).

~W.I.N.

[W.I.N.]

Part IV

09:00-10:00

“I need to buy two tickets to Chicago, please,” Chloe was trying very hard not to look as though she was a frightened refugee, which was pretty difficult when she was standing, dripping with rainwater with only two small bags to her name and paying for airline tickets with cash.

“We have a flight leaving in two hours,” the girl behind the counter said, not even bothering to look up at her. “You’re in luck, we still have a couple of seats next to each other. That’ll be three hundred and seventeen dollars even. Flights are non-smoking, and you’re only allowed one piece of carry-on luggage and one small personal item, like a purse. Don’t take any liquids or sharp items into the cabin. This is a list of all prohibited items,” she held out a small plasticized paper without so much as glancing up.

“Uh, yeah. Thanks.” Chloe took the list and fled back to the seats, where Jack was sitting hunched over in a corner where there were no windows, shivering. At least his clothes weren’t soaking wet anymore, she thought.

He seemed to sense her coming, as his head lifted at her approach. He gave the impression the lie a moment later, though, as his eyes fluttered shut and his nostrils flared. “Huh... huh... heeh... HESHOO!” His head snapped forward again.

“I’ve got us tickets to Chicago. We’ll find a different flight from there.”

“Good, we can...” he was interrupted by a fit of deep, racking coughs. “We can be across the country by this evening if all goes well.”

She sat next to him, peeling off her jacket and enjoying the feel of the air on her arms. It had been hot and stifling in the jacket, even once the rain had stopped. Jack sniffled next to her, looking utterly miserable.

“At the very least, we’re going to have to get you something decent to wear. They’ll never let you on the plane looking like that.”

Jack buried his nose and mouth in the crook of his elbow in a fit of sneezing. “Huh... HUESHOO! HETCHOO! HEH-ISH! Sniff! HISHOO! Huh... huh... HUH-ASHOO!” The force of the sneezes bent him over at the waist, and as he grew short of breath the sneezes grew more desperate-sounding. “HEH-ISH! ISH! ISH! HEH-ESH! ISHOOO!”

She patted his shoulder awkwardly and stood up. At least the violence of his cold was making people give them a wide berth. “Gesundheit. I’m going to go find you something to wear —and something to take for that cold.”

He shook his head. “No. No meds. I... HEH-ISH! I need to k-keep m-my wits about... ab... HETCHOO! I need to keep my wits about me,” he managed finally.

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, ‘cause you’re SO effective when you’re sneezing so much you can’t see straight. I’ll be back soon. I have a prepaid cell on me, the number’s on this paper if you need to reach me,” she pressed a scrap of paper into his hand. “Sit tight.”

He nodded, face going slack again. “HAH-ESHOO!”

She slung her jacket over her arm and hurried away, hearing him succumb to another coughing fit as she left. She pursed her lips and kept going, shaking her head. This was a complication they didn’t need.

[krazykat]

Priceless... although given that Jack did Heroin so that he could keep his wits about him I wouldn't have felt it out of character for him to accept some Dayquil

I am really enjoying this, but the downside is that I want it to be Monday night so that I can watch Jack and his man-bag mince across Washington DC!

[SneezyCreed]

Excellent job!!!

[Tarkus]

Still lovin' it!

Can't wait for more

[Aprilcot]

This is brilliant!!

Ohhh I feel sooooo sorry for Jack!!!

But i want him to be tortured more!!! I'm so evil!

Anyways....

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR CONTINUING!!!!!(don't know if that's spelt right)

Please carry on!!!

[W.I.N.]

krazykat: I figure Jack is full of contradictions. After all, men are pretty irrational about treating their colds, in my experience. They're all about the stoic suffering and all that. Nonetheless, I think Chloe's powers of persuasion might actually be a match for Jack's stubbornness this time. It's all part of my nefarious plan.

I'm always about a year behind on all TV shows, because I don't get any channels at all on my TV (no antenna, no cable), so I am heavily dependent on DVDs. Is 24 taking place in Washington this year?

SneezyCreed: Thank you! I'm glad you like it.

catmuffinz: You're totally turning into this story's #1 fan!

Aprilcot: Thank you! You may be evil, but I too want him to suffer more, and I'm actually doing it. So what does that make me? The story's still not done, but I have plenty written, so I have a "buffer" for a while yet.

Part V is coming up!

~W.I.N.

[W.I.N.]

Part V

10:00-11:00

It took longer to find decent clothes than she’d anticipated. It was funny how airports didn’t stock up on stuff that wasn’t sweatpants and touristy junk. Eventually she managed to find some ugly but functional cargo pants and a grey “I <3 NY” hoodie sweater that didn’t look too terrible. She stopped by a drugstore, where she bought several bottles of decongestants and as many packets of tissues as she could fit into her purse and the satchel she’d prepared for Jack.

She heard him sneezing long before she reached him, and bit her lip, anxiety gnawing at her stomach. What if he was too sick to keep going? She wasn’t even meant to be here anymore: the deal had been to go in, give him the documents, and get out, but it was obvious he was in no state to be left alone. She was definitely going to kill Tony when she got back to CTU. Maybe by strangling him with her pantyhose. The thought gave her a pleasant feeling: that would teach him to lecture her about her attitude problems. Then she sighed, coming back to reality. It was a nice fantasy, but CTU hadn’t hired her because she was a violent type. In the meantime, she had a sick agent to deal with, and she wasn’t exactly the nursemaid type, either. She was worried, though: under normal circumstances something like a cold wouldn’t slow him down, but he’d been living on the run, without access to resources and sometimes even food or shelter, for months now, and that had to have weakened him, leaving him vulnerable to whatever bug came his way.

He didn’t even look up as she approached, bent double in yet another sneezing fit. “HEH-ESHOO! HUESHOO! HAH-ESH! ESHOO!”

“Here,” she shoved her plastic shopping bag at him when he finally straightened out. “I found some clothes. There’s a washroom around the corner, so you can go change there. The clothes are ugly, but they’re better than what you’re wearing.”

He leaned his head back against the wall for a moment, eyes closed, and she felt stupid, standing there with the bag held at arm’s length. Then he pulled himself together, took the bag from her with a nod.

“Thanks, Chloe.”

He disappeared around the corner, and she sat on the plastic seat, trying not to fidget. She wished she’d brought a book. It might attract attention if she pulled out her laptop, so she couldn’t even make the time pass that way, even if she was just playing solitaire. She jiggled her foot impatiently, her hands clasped between her knees.

Just when she was starting to worry about how long it was taking, Jack came back, looking slightly more respectable in the cargo pants and hoodie. He’d obviously taken pains to wash up as best her could, too: he still had several days’ growth of beard, but his face was scrubbed, and his hair was wet and stringy about the nape of his neck but clean.

“What did you do, climb into the sink?” she asked.

He coughed into his fist, turning aside to do so, and she found that she was amused by this unsuspected delicacy on his part. “Sort of,” he answered in a voice grown hoarse from the worsening cold. “At least I don’t smell like I’ve been sleeping under a dumpster anymore.”

“Is that where you were?” she raised an eyebrow, suddenly suspicious.

He shrugged, looking a bit sheepish, to her surprise. “I’m going to plead the fifth on that.”

[krazykat]

Excellent as always!

Yes, 24 is set in DC this year and I am not going to say anything else in case I let slip something... my SO started watching the show two years ago and had one episode left of series 1 when someone accidentally let slip the ending so I know how frustrating that can be!

[Aprilcot]

I second the'EXCELLENT' part of krazykat's reply.

This is still fantastic and I'm totally in love with this!!

Thank you!!!!

btw...

Writing the story and still wanting Jack to be tortured means you're not torturing him enough and you're as bad as me!!!!

haha

[Tarkus]

Awesome as ever!

BTW, seconding krazykat, 24 is set in DC. My parents live there and when I went to visit, I saw the crew of 24 shooting a car chase. It was sooo cool!

[wishiwassneezy]

Awesome as ever!

BTW, seconding krazykat, 24 is set in DC. My parents live there and when I went to visit, I saw the crew of 24 shooting a car chase. It was sooo cool!

I agree

You saw them shooting a car chase form 24?! No fair!

[W.I.N.]

krazykat: Thanks for not posting spoilers! It sounds like Season 7 is going to be very interesting indeed...

Aprilcot: Not torturing Jack enough, eh? Sounds like a challenge to me.

catmuffinz: I am officially jealous! I've always wanted to watch someone film a movie or TV show.

wishiwassneezy: Thanks for coming back! I am jealous of catmuffinz too.

Part VI will be up in a few minutes.

~W.I.N.