AN: This is my seventh installment in my personal challenge to write a tag for every episode. It would mean the world to me if you checked out my other tags too! This is a tag for 1x07, Can Opener. Really the only thing I made different from the episode is the length of time Mac spends in Le Noche's house before Jack finds him. It just wasn't quite realistic enough to me that Jack got there so quickly, so in this, it took him a more realistic amount of time, and I made Mac's prison stay more realistic to what goes on in prison too. That being said, WARNINGS: this does deal with some heavier topics, nothing graphic, but there's implied non-consensual touching. I hope you enjoy, and please review! Also, this will be my last tag for a few days. I graduate high school tomorrow, then me, my family, and my best friend, are going up north to watch my dad run a marathon, and I likely will not be writing much because I'll be with my best friend, much less be able to watch more episodes. But I get back on Memorial Day, so hopefully I'll have my next tag up on Monday or Tuesday.
Jack breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing Mac alive. El Noche and his men hadn't killed him yet. The Delta quickly surveyed the scene, checking for men who might still try to hurt his kid. All men were down, so Jack walked over to Mac, pulling out his knife and cutting the tape that held the blond to the chair. He frowned when Mac didn't immediately pull the remaining tape off his wrists and stand, but instead kept himself mostly limp in the chair, his head lolling around a bit.
"Hey kid, you okay? Mac?" Jack asked, resting his hand on Mac's shoulder.
Mac heavily flinched at the touch, with a shout of "no, stop!", bringing his hands up as if to defend himself.
Jack jerked his hand back and widened his eyes.
"It's okay, it's okay! It's just me, it's Jack, remember?"
"Yeah, sorry," Mac sighed. "I'll be fine, I swear."
He tried to stand, but couldn't quite seem to get his feet to cooperate with him.
"Alright bud, here we go," Jack said, slowly moving to put Mac's arm around his shoulder while he gripped the kid's waist, hefting him up. He flinched a little at the touch on his waist, but was able to walk to the door with Jack's help. "What did that bastard do to you, Mac?" he asked as they crossed the threshold.
"Inert gas asphyxiation," Mac mumbled in response.
Jack stopped and turned his head towards Mac, saying, "what?", with his patented look of confusion at his partner's geek speak.
"Breathing in pure nitrogen. I'll be fine once the headache goes away," he insisted with a light shake of his head. Jack looked at him in disbelief.
"You don't get to dismiss something like that so easily," he said. "You're gonna sit on this here porch with an oxygen tank until we're all set to go, then you're gonna take pain meds and sleep on the flight home. Don't even give me that face, because this is nonnegotiable, bud."
Mac rolled his eyes, but didn't put up a fight. Jack sighed. Why did it only have to be after actual torture that Mac would go along with recommended medical procedures?
"Larry! Bring over some oxygen," Jack shouted with a wave of his hand. The man - Larry - quickly got a tank of oxygen connected to a mask, and wheeled it over to the two men on the porch. Jack slowly lowered Mac down so he could sit on the steps, then Larry quickly brought the mask up to Mac's face and pulled the band around his head.
Hands everywhere. Hands painfully gripping his hair, hands holding him down despite his fierce struggles, hands forcing the mask into his face. Punches to his gut, forcing him to breathe in the gas that will certainly kill him. Can't breathe, can't breathe. Again, and again, and again, and again, always bringing him back just before he falls into the blissful darkness, giving him just enough of a respite before it all happens again.
"No! Stop!" he shouted again, his eyes wide as he frantically reached up to pull the mask off his face. Larry made the mistake of grabbing Mac's wrist in an attempt to calm him down.
"Let go," Jack growled at the same time Mac shouted it.
In a wise move, Larry let go, and stepped back. Jack motioned for the man to leave, and he did. The Delta then turned his attention to the one who mattered most. Mac was shaking, clutching the edge of the step with one hand and Jack's arm with the other, clutching them so hard his knuckles were turning white.
"Mac, it's just me, it's just you and me. The Nacho is gone, and he's never gonna hurt you again. Are you hearin' me right now?" Jack asked in the voice he used when approaching skittish horses.
Mac remained quiet, but took a few quick, jerky glances in Jack's direction, and nodded a few times.
"Bud, you gotta get some more pure oxygen, so you're gonna have to put the mask back on. I'm so sorry, if we had a cannula, we'd use that instead, but the mask is all we got. If you hold it, is that gonna make it easier for ya?" Jack asked, slowly picking up the discarded mask and hesitantly holding it out to his partner.
Mac slowly released his grip on Jack's arm and the step, and hesitantly picked up the mask.
"O-okay," he said in a shaky voice.
"I'm right here," Jack affirmed, turning on the oxygen tank as he spoke. "I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."
Mac nodded again, and slowly brought the mask up to his face, his body rigid. But after a few seconds, he relaxed, the tension flowing off his shoulders as the oxygen flowed through the mask.
"There you go, bud," Jack said, slowly bringing his hand to his partner's shoulder and gently squeezing it.
The two sat there on the steps together, side by side, as the rest of the TAC team milled about, securing prisoners and taking care of bodies. A few of them tried to get Jack to join them in their duties, but he would not be moved from his partner's side. The kid had just spent six days in a supermax, virtually on his own, then was tortured by a drug cartel. Jack was pretty sure he was never leaving Mac's side for the next week at the very least. So the two sat, side by side, in silence, until they were able to leave.
Jack had come in on a C-130 with the TAC team, so that was what they had to leave in. As much as Jack wished he and Mac could have their own private plane, like they usually did, that was a bit unrealistic. Jack was able to get a slightly more secluded spot on the plane for he and his partner, which was all he could do. He convinced Mac to take the pain meds for his headache, but compromised that he could be off the oxygen tank as long as he at least tried to sleep on the flight back. Normal flights were loud enough, but C-130s were quite the racket. Still, Jack hoped that Mac's body was exhausted enough to fall asleep regardless.
In an attempt to help the young man fall asleep faster, Jack convinced Mac to rest his head on his partner's legs as a pillow. After assuring Mac that since they were behind some cargo boxes, no one could see them, the blond agreed, and carefully rested himself.
After a brief moment of hesitation, Jack began gently carding his fingers through Mac's hair. His slow, calming ministrations, visibly relaxed him, and had Mac falling asleep in a few short minutes. Jack smiled. Finally, his partner was okay.
Hands and eyes. Hands and eyes everywhere. Hands touching him, roaming his body without his consent. Eyes looking him up and down. Off the bus, through the cafeteria, in the yard. At least he doesn't have a cell mate. But he sees how they look at him like a fresh new piece of meat, to be ravaged and shared amongst themselves. There was no one else in his cell, but he's still being touched, and he tries to fight but he can't move. His arms are held down, attached to the chair. The hands are still there, roaming all over him, across his chest, in his hair. They're gripping his hair painfully, pulling it back, exposing his neck. There's hands at his neck and a mask being forced onto him. He can't breathe, he can't breathe, he can't-
Jack noticed the kid start to move in his sleep after about half an hour in flight. He noticed his face scrunch up, and his hands continuously twitched. It looked like he was saying something in his sleep, but no words were coming out of his mouth.
"Mac?" he said softly, gently shaking the blond's shoulder. "Mac," he said again, a little louder, shaking the kid's shoulder a little harder. He didn't want to wake him up, but he knew a nightmare when he saw one.
Mac suddenly jerked up, narrowly missing Jack's chin, and threw his hands up in front of him as if to protect himself.
"Don't touch me!" he cried out, cowering back and closing his eyes.
"Mac, it's okay, it's just me," Jack said in that calm voice of his, taking a glance back and making sure none of the TAC team or flight crew were paying attention to them. They weren't. "No one is gonna hurt you, you're safe." As terrified as Mac looked, Jack began to regret the whole mission, despite the success of it. He had hoped that Mac would be able to just walk off everything that had happened to him, and in no time he would be okay, but now he wasn't so sure. Jack had a pretty good guess that what Mac had dreamed about was more than just his torment at the hands of El Noche's men. Although he was fairly certain that nothing truly terrible had happened to Mac while he was in the supermax, he knew there was a chance that there may have been some close calls. It was prison, after all.
Mac slowly opened his eyes and lowered his hands, bringing them to rest on the ground beside him. He cleared his throat and looked away from Jack in a sudden shift of mood.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that," he said, studying the ground by his feet.
"You've got nothing to sorry for," Jack replied. "What you went through was something you never should've had to go through. But it's okay to still be freaked out. Despite all the amazing stuff you can do, that I could never do, you're still human, and that means that sometimes you're gonna struggle, and that's okay."
Mac looked at him with those eyes that just reminded him how young the kid really was, and how he had already been through in 24 years more than most people go through in their lifetime. He was so strong, but that made him believe that he could never show weakness, which wasn't healthy. But around Jack, maybe he could let his defenses fall a little bit, if Jack helped him to do it.
"Do you mind tellin' me what's goin' on in that big ol' head of yours? We've both been through this enough to know that it'll help, when you're ready to let it," Jack continued, tilting his head and moving slightly closer to Mac, giving the kid the option to close the distance if he wanted to.
Mac sighed, but did scoot closer to his partner, just like Jack hoped he would.
"It was kind of a mix of a flashback and a dream, really," he said, a bit unsure of himself. "But I was back in the supermax, and all the guys there were trying to- to- to do what they do, to guys in prison who are smaller than them. They never actually did it but their hands were all over, touching me all over," he continued, his voice rising in a panic. Jack slowly reached his hand out and rested it gently on Mac's arm - not enough to scare him, but enough to subconsciously provide that extra bit of security and safety that his subconscious always knew Jack's touch provided, that knew there was a difference between Jack's gentle touch and the harsh grabbing touch of the men in prison. Mac continued in a calmer voice, "then I was back with El Noche, and his men were holding me down, touching me, and forcing that mask onto me," he finished, looking down and away from Jack.
"But you're not there anymore. Those men are all gonna pay for all their crimes, including what they did to you. And those men in the supermax? They're stuck there, and you're not. They're never even gonna see you again."
"But I'm gonna see them," Mac quickly replied, his voice rising again. "I'm gonna see them in my dreams every night for a while. I don't know how Riley did it. She did it for two years and she's fine, meanwhile six days has turned me into quite a mess," said, shaking his head. "It's not even that they did anything that bad. But the way they looked at me, Jack, that's something I've rarely experienced, let alone from nearly every man around me. Even when I was just getting off the bus, all the men outside kept staring at me like I wasn't even a person, like I was just something they couldn't wait to get their hands on. And what they would say, I'll never forget. Their comments about me and my body, and my hair, and all the other men that came in with me for that matter. And when I was walking through the cafeteria for the first time, and they would reach out and touch me, my arm, my hip, my- anywhere they could get their hands. Jack, it was- it was not only terrifying, but degrading. I feel like I need to spend five hours in a shower by myself. I just don't get how Riley did it. I can't imagine it could've been that much different for her."
Mac still wouldn't make eye contact with Jack, but he did lean into the older man, although Jack doubted the kid knew he was doing it.
"Well, I can't speak for her, especially during her actual stay, but I know she's gotten through it now because she has her family to help her. We're all there for her. You, me, Thornton, even Bozer, we're all there whenever she needs us. We've given her a family and people she can count on, people she knows won't try to hurt her. And that's how you're gonna get through it too. If you don't wanna talk about it with anyone else, that's fine, but I am always gonna there for you, no matter what. Sometimes we come across missions like this that leave us a little rattled afterwards, but we always come out of it, and this time is gonna be no different. If that means that you crash at my place for a week, then I'm happy to fluff your pillows for you. Anything that you need, I'm there, 24/7, 365 days a year. So yeah, I know you're gonna get through this. But you need to sleep too," Jack said, stopping when Mac suddenly looked up him, a hint of panic in his eyes. "You need the sleep, bud. Putting it off isn't gonna make the nightmares any easier. But I am right here. I am here, and I promise you that I am going to make sure that you get through them all."
Mac looked away again, but only for a moment, before a small smile fell across his face.
"I know you will," he said softly. He would get through this, because he had Jack with him. As long as he had Jack with him, he could get through anything. With that knowledge fully ingrained in his mind, Mac close his eyes, and rested his head on Jack's shoulder, falling asleep in less than a minute.
Jack took a long look at the kid asleep on his shoulder, and plotted all of the various ways he could make sure that none of those men every let their predatory gaze fall on his kid again. Maybe they weren't all legal ways, but Jack didn't mind that technicality.