AN: Obviously, this contains heavy spoilers for 2.10, War Room + Ship. Please don't read it if you haven't seen the episode!

My thoughts on the ep can be found in the December 9th update of It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas; I didn't want to double-post them!

JACK'S RESIDENCE

LA

Jack walked towards the door, already knowing who would be on the other side, who was knocking firmly. He glanced at the recently-vacated armchair, sadness in his eyes, then opened it.

'Hey, Riley-'

The young hacker looked past Jack, into his condo, then up into his eyes. There was something plaintive and vulnerable in there, and for a moment, he saw a scared, sad little girl instead of a strong, tough young woman.

'He's gone, isn't he?'

Jack just nodded sadly, leading Riley into his home, to the kitchen counter, nudging her to sit at one of the stools.

'Yeah, but he's coming back, Riles. Swore he would.'

Riley snorted, looking down at her clasped hands on the counter, as he busied himself making some tea.

(He had all these teabags now, might as well do something with them. Besides, tea was supposed to be soothing, calming, and he didn't know the recipe to Bozer's top-secret hot chocolate.)

He looked back over at Riley as she looked up, then down, then up again, then down, before speaking.

She looked like she was being torn in two, almost. As if half of her believed that Ellwood had really changed, and half of her was scolding the other half, telling her that there was no reason to believe him this time, not after so many previous betrayals.

'He always says that.' Riley snorted. 'And I always fall for it.'

Jack set a cup of tea down in front of Riley, then leaned over the kitchen counter so he could put one of his hands over hers, locking eyes with her.

'Riley, you know how you were saying that he's never made any sacrifices for you?' She just nodded, looking down for a moment, before looking back up at him, and Jack continued. 'Well, he just did, Riles. $10,000 worth.' Riley's brow furrowed; she knew he didn't have that kind of money (he didn't really have any at all, which was how she'd wound up paying for the dinner he'd invited her out to), and Jack squeezed her hands with his, nudging the tea mug towards her with his free hand. 'Paid in blood, Riles.'

Riley's eyes widened, and Jack recognized the little ways her face changed, her posture changed, when she was fighting not to cry (and succeeding, usually).

'Is he-'

He squeezed her hands again, bringing his other hand over to cover hers too.

'He walked away, Riles.' Wryness crossed his face for a moment. 'Mostly. Needed a little help.' Jack paused, seeing some of that tension and worry leave the young woman, before continuing. 'Brought him back here, patched him up best as I could and then…'

Riley looked at their hands for a moment.

'He left.'

There was an awful lot of meaning and hurt and history and pain and hope in those two words.

Jack squeezed her hands again.

'He left 'cause he didn't want you to see him like that, Riles. He's coming back.' Jack lifted Riley's hands up a little, off the counter. 'That wannabe tough guy threatened you when your dad said he couldn't pay him for the baseball. Then, after we got the fake to him, he demanded $10,000 in interest.' Jack paused, and his voice was a little rough when he continued. 'He took a $10,000 beating for you, Riles. He's coming back. For you.'

Riley lost her battle with her tears, and they started to flow, and wordlessly, Jack leaned over the counter even more and pulled her into a hug as best as he could, given that the counter was in the way. She clung tightly to him, crying into his shirt, and Jack simply made soothing noises, rubbing her back.

Later, after a thrown-together dinner that was nowhere near what Bozer could make (he was, thankfully, going to be home from spy school very soon; they'd missed him and his cooking), Jack and Riley sat on the couch, sipping mugs of tea in comfortable silence.

Riley broke it, eventually, giving Jack a small, but very heartfelt, smile over her mug, then socked him none-too-gently in the arm with her free hand. Jack yelped and rubbed his arm as if it was tender.

'Ouch, Riles! What was that for?'

Riley snorted, but her eyes were soft and fond and exasperated nonetheless.

'I'm still mad at you for, you know, breaking your whole promise to me to stay out of it but…' Her expression softened. 'Thanks, Jack.'

She didn't really need to specify what for.

For putting her dad into 'protective custody'.

For doing so much to help him.

For taking care of him after.

(All for her.)

For being there for her all those years ago.

For being there for her now.

Jack just smiled that soft little smile right back at her, and put down his mug of tea on the coffee table, gently taking Riley's from her hands as well, then held his arms up.

'Give the Wookie some love, Ri.'

She shook her head, a gesture full of fond exasperation, but hugged him anyway.

Jack tucked his head over her shoulder and spoke.

'Riles, any man would be happy and proud to have you as a daughter.' Jack's voice was hoarse with emotion and very, very heartfelt. 'Heck, I'm prouder than punch to be substitute dad, or dad to 50% of you, or maybe me and Ellwood could work out a time-share thing…'

Riley, her head tucked over Jack's shoulder, shook her head as best as she could, fond exasperation in the gesture yet again, but smiled and hugged him tighter, hoping he'd get the message.

Jack's smile widened.

He did, loud and clear.

Riley was a lone wolf, in many ways. Wanted to prove to everyone that she could do everything herself, and did so, as a result.

But, as Jack knew, every lone wolf needed a pack.

He was honoured and beyond happy that Riley had chosen to make him part of hers.

OUTSIDE A FUNERAL HOME NEAR ZOE'S UNIVERSITY

Jack looked over at his partner, dressed in his sombre black suit with his black tie and a dark shirt, clearly lost in thought and in grief, toying with a paperclip.

This was the second time Matty had granted Mac leave to go to a funeral.

The second time Matty had granted Mac leave to go to the funeral of a woman for whom he'd had feelings.

(Last time had been feelings let go, a love from a different, past life. This time had been that first blush of attraction, a newly-blooming crush. Both, though, were still feelings, strongly and deeply felt regardless.)

(Jack might not have been there for what turned out to be, tragically, Zoe's last twelve hours. But he had his sources.)

(The ever-observant and brilliantly analytical Cage. Riley, even though she'd been distracted, understandably, at the time. And Matty, who'd, to her credit, gone to check on Mac, briefed Jack on what had occurred and even, extremely covertly, given him the only copy of the footage from the war room's security cameras for select periods of those twelve hours.)

Most people would probably say that developing feelings for someone in less than twelve hours when you hadn't even met in person was insane. Impossible.

But impossible was not a good word to use with anything to do with Mac, Jack knew. Besides, Mac so rarely got to meet people like him, and thus, it was only natural he connected so quickly to Zoe. And Jack personally thought (probably due to his own experiences) that lifelong bonds could be forged in a few desperate hours, while fighting for survival.

Maybe it would never have been more than a flirtation. An ice-cream date or two.

Or maybe it would have been a lifelong bond, romantic or otherwise.

Unfortunately, no one would ever know. Could ever know.

This time there'd be no revelation of a faked death.

Jack looked down at Mac's hands, in which an ice-cream-cone-shaped paperclip had appeared.

(He made a mental note to force Matty to overturn the ban on Mac's paperclip thing, no matter what it took. His partner needed something to keep his hands busy, now especially. Jack knew from their conversation in the car on the way here that Mac still blamed himself that it'd been 31 souls rescued from that ship, not 32 like it should have been, even though Mac also knew that there was nothing that he could have done, that without his and Zoe's work and her sacrifice, no-one would have been left alive to be rescued, that he'd done absolutely everything he could have. This, Jack knew, was normal for Mac; he knew that the blonde carried the weight of every life he'd failed to save on his shoulders, in his mind and in his heart. The connection between him and the glaciologist only made that weight heavier, that wound deeper, that scar more prominent.)

(Honestly, he should probably have fought Matty on that earlier. Should have the day the bowl of paperclips disappeared from the war room's coffee table. Jack kicked himself internally for that.)

He wrapped an arm around his partner's shoulders, and pulled out his phone with his other hand, quickly typing something into Google.

'Come on, son, I'll buy you some ice-cream.'

That made Mac swallow, and he looked down at the paperclip in his hands, made a noise that cut Jack all the way through to the core, and shoved the paperclip into his pocket. Then, Mac took a deep breath, and nodded.

ICE-CREAM SHOP NEAR ZOE'S UNIVERSITY

(ZOE'S FAVOURITE)

(NOT THAT THEY KNOW IT…YET)

Mac still didn't seem to feel like speaking when they got to the ice-cream store, so Jack simply ordered two scoops of rocky road in cones for both of them.

(Rocky road was Mac's favourite, he knew well, but it wasn't his favourite. However, he thought it was appropriate. In Zoe's honour and all.)

The man behind the counter simply gave a very sad little smile. Jack noted that there were four tubs of rocky road in the display, not the usual, expected one. The ice-cream seller noticed where Jack's eyes were going, and that smile grew even sadder. He gestured to the shop in general by way of explanation.

'This place was her favourite.'

Mac swallowed again, tears welling in his eyes as Jack reached out and took the two cones from the man, handing one to Mac, who took it on autopilot. He reached into his pocket to pay, but the proprietor shook his head.

'It's on the house.'

Jack nodded in thanks, and steered Mac to a table in the corner.

Once they were both seated, Jack held his ice-cream cone out to Mac's, touching the cones together in a toast of sorts.

'To Zoe.'

Mac swallowed and nodded, raising his own cone, voice hoarse and rough when he repeated the words.

'To Zoe.'

They sat there and ate their ice-cream (Zoe's absolute favourite ice-cream) in silence that was far from hollow.

Jack couldn't go back in time and save Zoe. He couldn't prevent Mac from carrying this weight, this wound, this scar, for the rest of his life.

But he could be there for Mac, try and relieve this burden in any way he could, try and help him heal.

And of course, he would do that, to his very last breath.

Every lone wolf needed a pack, after all.

AN: Did you like that? I think this follows on fairly naturally from my episode tag from last week, There's No Manual For This…even if I was a little wrong about what way some things would go!

I'm thinking of writing another one-shot version of this episode similar to Full Circle from Two Paperclips and a Stick of Gum, my version of 1.19, Compass…anyone interested in reading that?