“Jagiya?” Jaejoong said softly as he walked in the door. He'd been gone for two months promoting overseas and was so excited to be home if only for a couple of days. When he heard no reply, he searched in the kitchen and office hoping to find his longtime girlfriend, “Jagiya? She must be out.” he said to himself and decided to wait for her in the living room. She would be so surprised to see him at home, he thought as he smiled to himself. However, as an hour rolled by, Jaejoong started to worry. Where could she have gone for so long a time? The truth was that he was feeling rather impatient to see her himself and started to panic, thinking of all the terrible scenarios that could have happened, and decided to call her cell phone. It might ruin the surprise, but at least he would know that she was safe. He hastily dialed her number only to hear the ring tone coming from within the house. Jaejoong's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he followed the sound to find his girlfriend's purse and keys, but where was she?

 

He wandered aimlessly around the apartment trying to think where he hadn't yet checked. Was she hiding from him? He debated whether or not to search the closets and behind the shower curtain before deciding that, no, it had already been an hour and she would have come out by now. Kitchen? No. Office? No. Living room? Definitely not. Their bedroom? No. Then it dawned on him. The guest bedroom. Why would she be in there? It was the only place left though.

 

He opened the door and peeked his head in, “Jagiya?” Sure enough, there was a figure on the bed curled up underneath the covers facing away from the door. Jaejoong looked at the clock in the room: it was 2:30 in the afternoon, what was she doing in bed? 'Without me?' he smirked to himself. He walked quietly to the other side of the bed and had his answer; the red nose and dry lips gave it all away, his baby was sick. He knelt in front of the bed and frowned a little to himself as he watched her snuggle into the comforter and let out a weak cough. After her body had calmed back down, he let his hand caress her cheek before tucking a rogue strand of hair behind her ear. The small movement was enough to break her out of her sleep with a pained moan.

 

“Jae?” she called to him in a weak, sleepy voice that nearly broke his heart.

 

“I'm here, baby.” he whispered, leaning in to kiss her, but she stopped him by pulling the comforter up and over and nose.

“I'm so gross right now, Jae.”

 

He smiled sympathetically and pulled the comforter back down, “My girl will never be gross. She's too beautiful. Please let me kiss you.”

 

“...but you'll get sick, too. What about your show?” she reasoned.

 

“I'll be okay, but only if you let me kiss you now.” he explained, moving closer to her face and planting a sweet kiss on her cheek and then the tip of her sore nose. He moaned a little in appreciation as he sat back on his feet, “Thank you, Jagi,” he her hand that was still curled in the blanket, “Why didn't you tell me you were sick?”

 

“It's just a cold, I promise.”

 

“I came back and couldn't find you. I was so worried, baby. I just wanted to see your beautiful face.”

 

She coughed again at the cheesy compliment, but opened her palm up to hold his hand that had previously been hers, “I'm sorry, babe.”

 

He leaned over and kissed her cheek again, “It's okay, baby, I've found you now and I'm not going to leave your side.” He stood up and moved to the other side of the bed before sliding in next to her and pulling her weak body into his arms, like he had a thousand times before. She let out another congested moan at the movement and he smiled again before burying his face in her hair. “I missed you.”

 

“I missed you, too, my Jae-baby. You're going to get sick though. You should get away from my germs while you still can.” she laughed softly.

 

Jaejoong pulled her hair off to the side and started to kiss her neck and jaw, “Never. I like your germs. I'm not going to leave you alone until I make you feel better,” he said, sliding his hands down to rest on her lower stomach between her hipbones. She sighed again, knowing what the movement meant. Whenever he wanted , or even when he was making love to her, Jaejoong's hands always found their way to that exact spot. She slid her hands down to rest on top of his and smiled; she loved the way he touched her, but loved this touch the most. It was as if he was protecting her womb and every time, she couldn't help but wonder how great he would be at protecting it if it weren't empty. She frowned a little knowing that he was being so sweet to her, but she couldn't give him what he wanted. He was too good to her.

 

“I'm sorry, babe.” she whined before coughing again.

 

“I love you. That's all that matters.”

“But...”

 

“No. Maybe this isn't the context I was hoping for, but I still get to spend all day in bed with my baby. I'm happy, reallly, I am.” She turned her head to look at him over her shoulder and he rewarded her with another sneaky kiss on the cheek, “Besides, you'll make it up to me. You're going to need all of your strength back first, though.” he smiled naughtily before changing the subject, “have you eaten, my love?”

 

She looked down guiltily, knowing that she hadn't, but not particularly wanting to tell him that. However, her body betrayed her when he heard her stomach growl. “Bad girl. How are you supposed to get better if you don't eat?” he laughed, moving to get off the bed, “I'll make you feel better.”

 

She placed a hand on his arm, “I'm really not hungry, babe, I promise.”

 

He leaned down and kissed her forehead, “You need to eat.” he said, leaving no room for arguments. He was rarely so authoritative, but she thought it was adorable.

 

“Yes, appa.” she laughed, bringing on yet another weak cough.

 

“Yah!” he smiled back, “Someone has to take care of you! If that makes me your appa, then I'm guilty as charged.” Jaejoong walked back to the kitchen to prepare some soup for the sick girl in the guest bedroom and shook his head, “Appa, she says” he said to himself, “I love her, but not like an appa.” he smirked as he placed the soup in a bowl and carried it to her on a tray. When he entered the bedroom, she was fast asleep again, covers halfway over her face and it broke Jaejoong's heart to know that he'd have to break her out of her sweet sleep, “Jagi,” he whispered softly, and again when she didn't respond. He carefully peeled the covers back and placed a quick kiss on her lips when her eyes opened, “Well, hello, my sleeping beauty.”

 

Her fingers delicately touched her lips, “Did you just kiss me on the lips?”

 

He leaned over her and helped her to sit up, “I did.”

“Jae...you're going to get sick...” she whined, her nasally voice causing him to chuckle.

 

“I told you that I don't care.” he said, taking the bowl of soup into his hands and offering her a spoonful, “Now listen to appa.” She pouted, but eventually gave in when he demonstrated that he wasn't going to relent.

 

“I'm not hungry.”

 

“Just eat a little bit, please? Do it for me.”

 

“Now you really do sound like an ajusshi.” she laughed.

 

“'Ajusshi'! 'Appa' I'll take, but 'ajusshi' is too much.” he protested while she continued to laugh, “Babe...” he whined, “stop fighting me and let me take care of you.” She stopped laughing and opened for him, allowing him to spoon more soup into . Once she convinced Jaejoong that she had had enough, he quietly collected the tray and started to take it out before turning around, “Will you wait for me?”

“Always,” she smiled, turning her body to him.

 

He came back to the room to find that she had kept her promise and was now laying facing the door. He stripped off his sweater and crawled into the bed next to her and pulled her against him again. She looked up at him confused, but appreciating that she could now touch his bare skin, “It was too hot in here, babe. You're always hot, but now you're too hot for me.”

 

She smiled up at him and just looked into his eyes, “I love you.”

 

“I love you more.”

 

“I don't think so.”

 

“Oh?”

 

She yawned and snuggled into his chest, “You take such good care of me.”

 

“It's my job to take care of you, jagiya.” he smiled, pulling her head up onto his chest and her hair.

 

“You don't have to do such a good job.”

 

“I do, baby. Now go to sleep. We can argue about it later,” he laughed, knowing that she probably would fight him later on it, but it would mean that she was feeling better, “Right, baby?” he continued, looking down at her. She would have answered, but she was already fast asleep on his chest listening to his steady, protective heartbeat.