Sheltered
By: Ridley C. James
A/N: This is set just after the mid-season finale. It is my first multi-chapter fic in this universe though I only think it will take two chapters, three at the most. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! As we don't know the true story behind how Mac and Jack met and all the ins and outs of their first job together I have taken great creative liberty. It is also my first time writing a bigger scene with Bozer, so I hope I get it mostly right.
RCJ
Bozer hadn't even officially started his new position at Phoenix. He was still in the pre-processing procedures, whatever the heck that meant. Thornton said the holidays slowed the well-oiled machine. Jack said there was nothing well-oiled when bureaucracy was in the mix, but all Bozer knew was that he had never filled out so many forms and taken so many tests in all his life. Getting his credentials at Phoenix had to be comparable to Mac earning his degree at MIT.
So it wasn't like an interruption in the grueling paperwork was not unappreciated, but being summoned by Thornton and escorted in an unmarked black Sedan by the twin John Cena look-a-likes was not exactly the welcomed reprieve he was hoping for. Add in the fact they ended up at an Army hospital and neither of his escorts were talking about why they were there or what was with the big rush, and Bozer was ready to go back to his cubicle of doom. Riely was always a sight for sore eyes but on this particular day Bozer was overjoyed at the vision of her, even if she was looking a little disheveled when she met them in front of a huge wall of elevators in the lobby.
"Riley, what is going on?" He didn't give her time to answer. "Where are Mac and Jack?"
"The mission didn't go exactly as planned," Riley replied when they were safely on the elevator. The two hulks stayed behind to silently stand guard, of what, Bozer wasn't sure.
"From some of Jack's stories that isn't exactly uncommon." Jack had been all too happy to fill Bozer in on some of his and Mac's more incredulous adventures now that Bozer was no longer in the dark as to what actually took place at the 'think tank' he now knew as Phoenix. Mac had mostly grinned and shook his head at some of Jack's descriptions, but he hadn't flat out refuted his teammate's version, so Bozer took them as truth, if a little exaggerated in Jack-style. "I mean to hear him tell it, you guys barely make it out alive on a regular basis."
Riley paled at Bozer's words. Bozer felt his heart kick up a notch. "Everyone did make it out alive, right?"
Riley nodded, but Bozer didn't feel any better. "Where's Mac, Riley?"
"He's with the doctors and Thornton. They need you to talk some sense into him."
While Bozer was relieved that his best friend was well enough for Bozer to talk to, the fact he was with a group of doctors had Bozer's chest constricting, an unfamiliar panic trying to take hold. "Is he hurt?"
"He's been shot." Riley spoke as if that were an everyday occurrence and Bozer flashed back to the fateful night when Murdoc showed up at their home with a gun, hell-bent on killing Mac. A month ago, Bozer would have been shocked at the revelation, but now, it just seemed a part of his new normal.
"Is he alright?"
"He's good enough to argue with treatment." The elevator stopped at the top floor, the doors opening to reveal a long hallway that led to silver bay doors that also had a guard placed in front of them. "He needs surgery and refuses to go through with it."
"Surgery?" Bozer wanted to reach out and stop Riley, who had picked up her pace. He was having a hard time matching her stride and processing the information she was delivering. Mac needed surgery.
"The bullet is still in his leg." Riley stopped long enough at the doors to flash her ID.
The guard stared at Bozer.
"My magic pass key hasn't been delivered," Bozer said, realizing the guy wanted his ID.
"Thornton's expecting him," Riley gave in way of an explanation and they were waved through.
The unique antiseptic, medicinal smell hit Bozer full force and his stomach lurched. He instantly regretted the steak and cheese sub he'd consumed at lunch. He couldn't remember the last time he was in a hospital, let alone the ICU. Nurses scurried about, a tech rolling a computer nearly collided with them.
"I don't understand," Bozer finally gripped Riley's wrist, forcing her to hold up and look at him. "Why is Mac refusing treatment, and where the hell is Jack?"
Bozer had found through the years that he had little control over Mac once the man set his mind to something. He'd never wielded that kind of influence over his friend. If he had, Mac would have never joined up with the Army. Bozer had been proud of him of course, but he'd also thought he was making a huge mistake. In Mac-like fashion, he'd heard Bozer out and then did what he thought was right. The first time Bozer had witnessed Jack Dalton work his magic on Mac, Bozer had been speechless. Just as Riley seemed to be now.
"You know, the tall guy with the black tee fetish and a gift for ordering people around. I mean Jack can get Mac to do pretty much whatever he wants him to do. He even talked him out of going after Murdoc and let me tell you that was nothing short of miraculous."
"Jack can't talk to Mac." If Bozer wasn't mistaken, Riley's eyes had grown a lot brighter. There may have even been a hint of tears in her voice. Only Riley wasn't exactly the kind of girl who cried at the drop of a hat, maybe when she was pissed off, or really, really scared…
"Jack's in surgery," she said. "He took two to the chest."
"Damn." Bozer brought his hand to his mouth, glancing around at the busy corridor again. Jack's words from last week when they were being debriefed about China came flooding to Bozer's mind. "Stuff just got real up in here."
"What?" Riley demanded.
"Nothing." Bozer shook his head, but couldn't shake the reality of Jack's words. For all the fantasizing he'd done about the life of a secret agent, he hadn't thought of the potential downfalls, the consequences, the ugliness that could come along with all the danger. He blamed all the James Bond and Jason Borne movies he'd been re-watching. "Is he going to make it?"
Before Riley could answer, they were interrupted by raised voices and a crash that came from behind a door a few feet away. As soon as Bozer recognized Mac's voice he took off in the direction of the commotion, Riley right behind him.
If Bozer thought that Riley's little bomb dropping about Jack had shattered all illusions he held about the work Mac and Jack did, he was in for a harsh surprise. What struck Bozer the hardest was not finding Mac on the floor, tangled in an IV and scattered remnants of medical supplies, fending off Thornton and two women in scrubs, but the gory state Mac was in.
Blood soaked his shirt, so much blood, that Bozer was afraid Riley had lied about the bullet wound to the leg. Some of it even streaked his blond hair. There was a smear above the darkening bruise on his face, and when he looked up at Bozer, there was a hint of wild despair in his blue gaze that Bozer had only seen a few times. The night Mac's mom died, and the day his father left.
"Thank God you're here." Thornton's voice broke the moment of stunned silence. It wasn't her typical controlled, monotone, but one that at any other moment Bozer might have teased her about. It sounded almost maternal. "Please do something with him."
Bozer stepped forward, quite certain the trained medical personnel should be the ones doing something. He could see the patch of red on Mac's pants now, from just above his left knee, all the way to the cuff of his jeans. If' he'd had shoes on, the blood trail would have been on them too. As it was his socks were dotted. Mac was pale, a sheen of sweat on his brow. A coppery sweet scent washed over Bozer as he drew closer to his friend and he had to swallow hard to keep from gagging.
"Bozer."
The way Mac said his name, full of pain and desperation made Bozer's legs weak. Mac sounded like he did when he'd showed up on Bozer's doorstep the night after his mom was gone. Maybe it was because Mac was typically so unflappable that made the few times when he did let his emotions overtake him that much harder to witness for those who knew him best. Bozer was glad he had a reason to kneel on the floor.
"Mac, what's going on?"
Mac latched a hand onto Bozer's wrist. "Tell them I'm fine."
Bozer looked down at Mac's hand. His long pale fingers were hot to the touch, and there was blood underneath Mac's fingernails. Bozer swallowed again. "Man, you are so far from fine…You look worse than you did when I went through my slasher film phase and relied on you to play the victim every time."
"The blood isn't mine." Mac looked down at his shirt as if only realizing he still had it on. "It's Jack's."
Bozer was pretty certain his lunch was about to make a spectacular return. This was so far from the blood packs he used for special effects. He wanted to ask the doctor if a person could actually lose that much blood and still make it into surgery but instead he kept his gaze on Mac. "How about we get you back on the bed."
"I'm not going under." Mac shook his head. "Not until Jack's awake."
"Waiting to extricate the bullet is not advisable, Agent MacGyver."
Mac didn't even bother to look at the doctor who had spoken. He stared straight at Bozer and spoke in a matter of fact tone that was completely Mac. "Most bullet wounds are sterile due to the intense heat needed to discharge the projectile. My leg won't be septic for hours, maybe days depending on the debri that possibly entered with the bullet. Probing for a bullet at this point will only cause increased hemorrhaging."
"If we were talking battlefield surgery that may be true, young man, but considering the facility you are currently at and the skill of the attending surgeon there is no logical reasoning to wait and see if you develop a life-threatening infection. There could also be damage to the muscle or trauma to the bone. We are also contending with shock. It is not hospital procedure to wait these things out, merely because the patient desires to do so."
"Mac, you need to listen to her," Riley spoke up. She was hovering just behind Bozer. "Jack would freak out if he knew you were pulling this crap."
"Jack needs to see me," Mac continued on, talking to Bozer as if they were the only two people in the room. "He knew I was hit. He got hurt trying to circle back to cover me. We are always there when the other one comes to. If I'm not with him when he wakes up, he'll think the worst. Do you understand?"
"I get it, Mac," Bozer lied. He might have thought he understood what Mac and Jack did, what the ins and outs of their partnership entailed, but finding Mac covered in Jack's blood, sporting his own injury and refusing treatment, had skewed all that Bozer thought he knew about his two closest friend's working relationship.
Mac nodded, as if he believed Bozer. "He'll think he failed his mission. It'll kill him. He won't fight and we could lose him. I'm always there, Boze. Every time."
Bozer looked up to find all four women staring at him as if he was about to spout some magical wisdom that would convince Mac to do what they were asking. Instead he asked the first question that came to mind. "How long will Jack be in surgery?"
Thornton looked to the scowling woman in the white scrubs. The doctor shook her head. "I can't give you a definite time. I was not a consult on Agent Dalton's case. I imagine if the damage is as extensive as it appeared when he was first brought into the trauma bay with Agent MacGyver then it could be several hours."
"Then he'll be in recovery, right?" Bozer had watched enough movies to know people just didn't wake right up after a long and arduous operation. That's what bed-side vigils were for. "At least a few more hours."
"If Agent Dalton comes through the procedure, he'll most likely be unconscious for some time."
"He's coming through the procedure." The heat in Mac's words had all eyes once more focused on him. He leveled a glare on the doctor that put one of Thornton's cold stares to shame. "You have no idea about Jack Dalton."
Bozer was beginning to feel like he had no idea about either man, but this was not the time to voice his new anxieties. He put a hand on Mac's shoulder. "She may not know Jack, but I do. Riley's right, Man. He'd be pissed at you risking your health. Can you imagine the rant you'd have to listen to about him putting his neck on the line to save you, ruining his favorite black tee shirt in the process, only to have you refuse to let the doctors take care of you? It would not be pretty. If Jack was here right now he'd be putting your ass back on that gurney and rolling you into the surgery suite himself."
Mac looked ready to offer some kind of rebuttal but after a long moment, instead of addressing Bozer he looked at the doctor. "How long will it take to remove the bullet?"
"If there is no damage it will be a relatively quick and simple procedure."
"I want the lightest sedation possible, are we clear?"
"I'll speak to the anesthesiologist myself," Thornton replied before the doctor could. "I'll make sure they understand the situation."
Mac turned to Bozer again. "When Jack gets out of surgery, if I'm not awake, promise me you'll wait with him."
"You know it."Bozer nodded. "I'll tell him you're fine."
"No." Mac shook his head. "He'll think you're lying. If he wakes up before I'm out, tell him I said Guns and Roses sucks."
"Excuse me?" Bozer was beginning to worry that Mac might already have a fever from some kind of infection and was talking out of his head.
"It's a long story." Mac gave a decent imitation of his typical grin and for the first time since entering the hospital room Bozer felt a twinge of hope that things were going to be okay. "Jack will know what I mean."
Bozer flashed his own grin. "So it's some kind of secret code between agents?"
"Something like that," Mac replied.
"I can do that."
"Good," Mac suddenly looked like he was the one who might be sick. "Now could you get me off this floor, because I really don't feel so good?"
It took Bozer and the two medical staff to get Mac on his feet and settled once more on the hospital bed. Mac was pretty much out of it after they replaced the I.V., but he made Bozer promise to stay with Jack one more time and repeat back the phrase about Guns and Roses before giving into the pull of unconsciousness. Bozer must have looked a little panic-stricken when the orderlies rolled his friend out of the room because Thornton placed a hand on his shoulder, giving a gentle squeeze before leaving him and Riley alone.
"Are you okay?" Riley asked, looking almost as shaken as Bozer felt.
"I'm not the one about to go under the knife." Bozer turned so there were only a few feet separating them. "Or the one fighting for his life."
"They'll be fine."
Bozer knew Riley meant for the words to come out in her usual confident tone, but instead the words sounded more question than matter of fact. He realized that this wasn't just a first for him, but her as well. "I'm sure they've had worse and been fine."
"Mac almost died when Nikki pulled her disappearing act."
"But he didn't," Bozer countered. He thought back to that time. How Jack had called him, all broken up with the news about Nikki being killed in a car wreck. He had told Bozer there was nothing he could do, that he would go with Mac to handle the arrangements. They had been gone over a week, and when Mac did make it home, he was not himself. Bozer understood now that it wasn't just that he was emotionally wounded, he'd been physically hurt as well.
"No." Riley nodded. "He didn't."
"And Jack will pull through this time," Bozer added, making a huge effort to sound more assured than he felt. "Like Mac said, he'll do anything to fulfill his mission, watching out for Mac. If for no other reason, he'll make it back to us, just to make sure Mac made it through."
"That's Jack for you." Riley fidgeted, looking lost without her trusty computer in hand. "But what are we going to do? Wait? I don't do waiting, Bozer."
"That's good because we have a little mission of our own." Bozer reached out and took Riley's hand. "My grandmother would say the most important job of all."
Riley looked skeptical, holding her ground but not refusing the little tug that Bozer gave her. "And what might that be?"
"We're going to pray." Bozer led her towards the door. "Army hospital or not, this place has to have a chapel and I have a feeling we're going to need all the help he can get."
To be continued…
B