AN: This is the fourteenth installment of my personal challenge to write a tag for every episode. This is a tag for 1x14, Fish Scaler. It's shorter than I wanted but my next tag is completed and suuuuuper long, so I think that's fair. I hope you enjoy, and please leave a review!
Of course she liked Bozer. Bozer was funny, charming, charismatic, and confident. How could anyone not like him? Mac, on the other hand, knew he was not liked by many. From childhood bullies, to jerks in the army, to agents at Phoenix who persistently gave him the cold shoulder, to a father that had completely abandoned him, being disliked was nothing new to Mac. Usually, he couldn't care less if someone disliked him. It was their decision, and that was on them. But when it came to people he worked closely with, Mac liked to at least have an understanding. That's why it was bothering him so much that Director Webber - Matty, as she insisted on being called - didn't seem to like him at all. If they were going to work together, they needed to have an understanding, which they definitely didn't have. Sure, the director knew he always got the job done in the past, but she didn't trust that he could continue to do that.
The front door swung open, causing Mac to jerk up from his position underneath the bike he was tinkering with. Upon seeing that it was just Jack - he'd gotten a key years ago - he sighed in relief.
"Wanna maybe warn me next time you're gonna give me a heart attack?" Mac chuckled, letting himself fall back to the floor, and get under the bike again.
"How'd your review with Matty the Hun go?" Jack asked, ignoring Mac's jest. "I came over because my partner wasn't answering his texts about it other than with 'fine', and he wasn't answering his calls at all, which means that it wasn't fine, and he's stewing. I figured under the bike was a good place to check for him first." Jack stopped just inches from Mac's feet, his arms crossed in front of him, glaring. Mac stopped tinkering, but didn't meet Jack's gaze.
He wouldn't tell Jack, but he was kind of scared, in a way, not that he couldn't stand up to Matty's challenge, because he knew he could, but that Matty would split up the team. He knew that he and Jack were quite the unconventional pair, and Riley had told him a bit of what Matty had said in her interview. What if Matty decided that Riley was too much to handle and sent her back to prison? Or sent Jack to lead a TAC team? Or even sent Mac himself down to the labs?
"Come on, man," Jack said, giving Mac's foot a light kick with his own. "What's goin' on in that big ol' brain of yours?"
Mac sighed, but slid out from under the bike. He sat up, but rested his elbows on his bent knees in a decidedly childlike manner.
"Nothing, it really did go fine. It's not like I'm fired or anything," he started, still not meeting Jack's eyes. "It's just that I'm nervous. Matty said she really hates how I improvise everything, but I can't change that, it's a part of who I am," he continued, his shoulders and voice rising defensively. Jack didn't say anything, waiting until Mac was finished. "She said that if I mess up even one time, it's over, I'm done."
Mac took a glance up at Jack, who was still standing above him. The man relaxed his arms, and carefully took a seat on the ground next to Mac, muttering something about not being able to get back up.
"But that's not what's really bothering you. You know that you can take any challenge she throws at you, so I know you're not worried about that. What else did she say?" Jack asked, ducking his head to catch Mac's eye. Mac slowly brought his gaze up, hesitantly meeting Jack's.
"It's just the way she talks about us, about all the agents. It's so different from Thornton. She would always talk about as people, first and foremost. But Matty? She talks about us as assets, and only assets, which just makes me wonder what she's planning on doing, how she's planning on using us. Jack, she could split us up if she wanted."
"No," Jack said immediately. "No she couldn't. I would never allow her to do that. If she even tried, I would make her fully aware of the ramifications. Split us up, and we're done. Split us up, and she loses you, her best agent ever."
Mac knew what Jack was referring to. The two had agreed long ago that if one of them left, the other did too. That's just how it worked between them. Their partnership had become so deeply ingrained in who they were as people that they would never work at Phoenix if they weren't partners. It just wouldn't happen. No one could ever protect Mac as well as Jack could, and no one could ever do what Mac could do. If someone tried to mess with their partnership, both would leave, and find some job somewhere else where they could still be together. Some people might call that unhealthy codependence, but Mac just called it love - or at least he called it that in his head. No one was more important to him than Jack, no one was more of a big brother, more of a father, than Jack. To the man's face, Mac wasn't sure what he'd call it. It would depend on the context and the tone of the conversation. But that was okay. Jack knew how much he meant to him, of that Mac was sure.
"You're right, but I never want to leave this job," Mac said, shaking his head. "This job means the world to me, you guys are my family. I've never felt like I'm doing more good in the world than when I'm doing this job," he said. Mac couldn't imagine quitting, but he knew he would if it came down to it. The job may have been a defining part of his identity, but it wasn't the most important part of his world.
"And neither do I," Jack replied calmly, his tone having a soothing effect on Mac's nerves. Jack always managed to calm him down, no matter what. "Which is why I would make Matty aware of the consequences if she did try to split us up. I'd bet my grandparents' farm that she we would rather us stay together as a team, than lose us both. But no matter what happens, I'm not leavin' you kid, ever. No matter if we stay at Phoenix as partners, or if we go off on some new career path together, we'll do it together, Matty be damned," he finished with his signature grin.
Jack reached out his fist in a gesture for Mac to reciprocate, which the blond did with a small smile and a nod. Jack was right. It didn't matter if Matty tried to split them up or not, because they would never be split up. Their partnership ran more deeply than anything, and Matty couldn't sever that if she tried. The woman may have been fierce, but she wasn't God. There was nothing she could do that would change the two of them.
Mac gave Jack a larger, more sincere smile, and moved to get back to work on his bike. He may not have replied to the man verbally, but he knew his smile would say all that Jack needed to hear. Thank you.