Days in a snow cave had not done anything great to either of their dispositions, but Jack sort of felt like Mac had done a better job of not losing his crap out there. Mac was too happy to be safe and warm to be feeling particularly judgmental one way or the other.
Jack shivered, draped in blankets fresh from the warmer, sipping warm broth out of a coffee mug. In between sips, that the medic on the flight kept encouraging with raised eyebrows and occasional verbal reminders, Jack was throwing Mac semi-guilty glances and had been since they'd transferred from the rescue helicopter to the Phoenix jet in the airport near Novosibirsk.
Sitting across from him, in blessedly soft, comfortably loose sweats and basking in the almost volcanic-level warmth of the blankets, Mac could have been accused of power chugging decaf chai. He would have admitted to it, too, and been perfectly comfortable telling anyone who asked that he was a) pretty dedicated to avoiding the IV of warmed fluids that the medic had offered (or was that threatened him with – he couldn't decide), and b) he kind of just liked the stuff and he was hungry and thirsty and the crew was being stingy with the food absent a more complete medical evaluation. He just rolled his eyes at that and accepted more tea. He was perfectly fine, thank you very much. Jack on the other hand … Jack didn't look so hot.
"How you feeling now, Jack?" Mac asked at yet another semi-guilty glance from his partner.
"I still can't feel my backside," he whispered, glancing around, half embarrassed, and more than half worried about it.
"You're probably better off," Mac shrugged. "Frostbite's a bitch. You know when you start to thaw out, you're gonna wish it was still numb."
"You be quiet," Jack snapped. Then he took a deep breath and kind of heaved a sigh. "I'm sorry I hassled you about your dad's watch," Jack said haltingly.
"Jack," Mac smiled at his partner. "It's fine."
"No, it's not fine. I've been kind of touchy lately …"
"You mean crotchety and mean?" Mac smirked.
Jack looked like a kicked puppy at that and Mac almost felt bad. "I'm sorry, man. I know that stuff went sideways when Ri …"
"Jack, we already talked it out. I'm just giving you a hard time. We're good. You were scared. You get … What's your gramps say about you ..? You get 'real ornery' when you're scared." Mac grinned. "And he's so old it hardly sounds wrong when he says it."
Jack's expression relaxed a little. "I'm known to get a little ornery when I worry, that's true," Jack shifted his position, then grimaced. "Ow, ow, ow!" he practically yelped.
Mac's face was sympathetic. Frostbite really was a bitch. "Stuff starting to wake up?"
Jack's face scrunched up as he nodded, a little too vigorously. "Mmmhmm."
Mac winced in sympathy. "That sucks, man. Maybe you should let them start that IV." Jack shot him a glare. "I know how you feel about it, but you'd warm up faster and maybe they could give you something for the pain." Jack continued to give him a look of vague betrayal that almost made him laugh.
"I'm fine," Jack lied, face still pinched and voice taut.
"Liar," Mac accused with a grin. "I'll hold your hand if you want."
"Shut up," Jack glared, but he half grinned.
One of the crew came back and offered more warmed blankets. Mac took one with a "Ah, thanks, man" and a big smile. Jack took one without saying anything and if anything he looked even grumpier. "What's the matter now, Jack?"
"Nothin'," he grumbled.
"Jack," Mac prodded.
"I don't know why we should bother getting all warm and comfortable. We're gonna land and go to Phoenix and get ordered to Medical …"
"We already got ordered there," Mac interrupted.
Jack responded with another glare. "Which means the floor where they never turn on the damned heat, being handed those ridiculous gowns that might as well be made of spider webs, and being tormented by Nurse Frosty, the new gal who hates us, until we find a way to annoy them enough to kick us out."
Mac chuckled. That was actually a pretty fair assessment of what they were in for. "What is her name anyway? I think it's Lisa … Or Alyssa … Liza?" Mac frowned, genuinely trying to remember.
"Lucifer?" Jack shrugged and Mac laughed. "How the hell do I know?"
Mac shook his head and accepted another cup of tea from the passing medic who gave him an approving look which Mac took to mean his color must be better. "Just don't give everybody a hard time, and I bet we'll be out of there by dinner."
"I don't give anybody a hard time!" he protested defensively.
"He said, knowing it was a lie," Mac smirked.
"Like you're any better," Jack grumped. "Somebody usually has to drag you to Medical by the ears even if you're dying."
Mac grinned, "But once I'm there, I know when I'm beat. Don't be a pain in the ass over your pain in the ass, and maybe … for a change … the infirmary will just be a pit stop on the way to the promised four-day leave Matty mentioned."
Jack exchanged his empty cup for a full one with a nod. "A little leave does sound nice," he admitted. "We could take apart your watch a little more and check out that clue you think you found," he hedged as a peace offering for his behavior in the snow cave.
"Yeah," Mac nodded. "And we could hit the beach and let the sun remind us of why we live where we do instead of …"
"Anywhere else?"
"That. Definitely that."
Jack was starting to relax a little. Mac wasn't mad at him for being a jerk out there in Abominable Snow Monster country and the beach plan sounded pretty great. "Besides," Jack said, reassuring himself aloud. "It's just a little frostbite. Medical won't be a big deal. In and out. Fifteen minutes."
Mac raised his eyebrows but didn't say anything. That was on the delirious side of overly optimistic, but he didn't want to bust Jack's bubble at the moment.
Delusionally optimistic Jack would quit worrying and whining and relax a little. And not to be a selfish jerk or anything, but Mac really wanted to sleep under these warm blankets and forget what was behind them, and maybe even what was in front of them, too, even for a little while.
