When Bozer breezed back into the house, he was in full Director mode, ready to put the cast and crew to work. He wanted to bring the best game to the neighborhood haunted trick or treat challenge and was convinced that the rest of the team couldn't do it without his special effects skills.

And maybe, just maybe, he'd been laying it on a little thick, trying to get Mac out of his own head after the whole Murdoc thing. He expected Jack to take it more seriously, but it didn't seem like Jack was saying much. He was just being a way bigger goofball than usual.

In retrospect, Bozer realized that happened a lot after really tough missions. In fact, in the past, before he knew about their lives as spies, Jack being the class clown coincided with what he now knew had been either serious injuries or really bad times. And Jack was staying at their place a lot, more than he was going home actually. But Mac was definitely not sleeping well, having nightmares, maybe not eating great, Bozer thought.

Halloween was the perfect distraction. And instead of getting all cerebral and annoying about it, when Boze left to go shopping, Mac seemed to be getting into the spirit of things, making hydraulic controls for the skeleton special effect Riley was working on.

When the team dropped the lead singer to the literal Dead Presidents on him, Bozer lost his temper. As he stomped out of the room with Mac's laughter at his back, Bozer missed the glare Jack threw at him. Jack was thinking he was going to get Bozer on his own sometime today.

One of the people who lived in this house had been kidnapped and tortured by the bastard who borrowed that mask and if he needed to and, miraculously, could, laugh about anything related to it, the rest of them were damned well going to let him. If Bozer needed a friendly Jack reminder about that, so be it.

Besides, Bozer was the one who wouldn't throw the damned thing out. Served him right to get scared with it. Keeping that? That was vanity is what that was. Jack's Nana would give Bozer the world's longest lecture about the dangers of vanity. Maybe he ought to take him to Texas while she was still around to give it!

Fortunately, Bozer's mini overreaction didn't seem to put a damper on Mac's mood. He was still snickering to himself when Boze came back in and he gave his friend another playful eyebrow raise and a snort of renewed laughter.

Jack thought briefly that Bozer had no business in, well, in this business. Kid might be better off going back to the movies. Even that might be a little exciting for him, if Jack was honest. Writer's room. That was it. He could fix plot holes and yell at other writers, all from the safety of behind his laptop. Jack realized he was wiping fake dish soap blood all over his shirt. Damn it.

He grinned when he turned and realized Mac was very unnecessarily stabilizing the step ladder for Cage. In a pinch the kid would climb up the side of a building like Spiderman, but if you let him think about it, he didn't even care for looking out of office building windows. Jack was sort of pleased to see that Cage didn't seem to mark it though, or if she did, for a change she was keeping her yap shut about it, in favor of bragging about her Halloweening skills.

Jack would take that over the constant mental dissection she was prone to attempting with the team. He understood she was just trying to find her place, use her skillset to fit in socially as well as logistically, but it made everyone vaguely uncomfortable, especially Mac. And most especially after the little memory game they had played to get him to recall enough to find Murdoc's … lair, for lack of a better word.

Mac said he was okay with it, but he practically flinched every time she asked him a question the last week or so. And Cage, to her credit, was treading lighter. Jack was willing to let Cage have the heavy lifting Halloween-prep-wise, since he thought a holiday that involved people in masks, jumping out at you, might seem like good clean fun on the surface, but might or might not turn out to be that for Mac given everything he'd been through lately.

His dramatic choice of ring tone and his light unconcerned laughter when he and everyone else jumped about a foot when it went off was proof to Jack that Mac was not himself just yet and was going out of his way to cover it up. Another mission was not news Jack had been hoping for. But still, a chance for him to get his partner back into a normal routine might not be the worst thing in the world.

Jack was further pleased when Mac just slid into the passenger seat of Jack's car for the ride to Phoenix for the briefing, making it clear he wanted time alone. As they pulled out of the driveway, Jack was pretty sure Mac was going to unload something that was bothering him, based on his serious expression.

"What's up, bud?"

"Jack …" Mac began like he didn't really want to talk, but needed to, just the same.

"Whatever's on your mind, kid, you know I'm here for you," Jack offered.

Mac ran a hand over his face, then sort of turned to face Jack in the seat. "You and your cousin didn't really steal a dead body, did you?" he blurted.

Jack nearly howled with laughter. If he hadn't been driving, he would have doubled over. As it was he gave Mac a Halloween-worthy scare as he made a wide turn, trying to get his mirth back under control.

"Ah, hell Mac, I don't even have a cousin George. I was just trying to see if I could finally get one over on Cage … Ah, ah shit, that's, oh, oh, man, and I got you, too. Bwahahahah."

Mac swatted him on the arm. "It's not that funny, Jack,"

Jack started to taper off. "I don't know, man. Seems pretty funny to me. 'Specially you fallin' for it."

"I've met some of your relatives, Jackass. And I've seen some of the shit you've pulled," Mac chuckled in spite of himself.

"Ah, I can't wait to collect," Jack grinned, already counting his winnings in his head.

"You know, Boze leaked the bet to Cage, so in fairness you should be able to collect from her, too," Mac smirked.

"Hmmm. Announcing that little victory ought to be worth something." Jack thought for a minute. "You wanna tell her?"

Mac frowned at him. "Why would I? It was your bet."

Jack smiled. "Because I know you say you're okay … Now, hear me out … But, she got real close to some deep stuff while you were still a little looped after everything and … just doin' her job, blah blah, but a little tiny bit of payback never hurt nobody."

Mac grinned. "Nah. I'll let you have that one." He was a little thoughtful as they pulled into the parking garage. "I was thinking though … She knows something intensely personal about all of the rest of us, but we don't really know … I think we should get to know something that bothers her, irritates her, hell, maybe even scares her … That's a good one. Entirely in keeping with the spirit of the holiday."

Jack grinned back, nodding. "Yeah, okay. I'm in."

They started to climb out of the car. Mac turned and drummed his fingers on the top for a second. "Just so you know though, I'm not forgetting that you got me with your little I was a grave robber prank, too. I owe you. Big."

"So, Hollywood is back in town, huh?" Jack smirked. Mac's pranks back in the Army were legendary.

Mac's face split into an almost wicked grin. "Oh, Jack Wyatt Dalton, my sweet summer child. There were rules back on the Goat Farm, son. Welcome to Thunderdome."

"Well, shit," Jack mumbled as he followed Mac toward the entrance.

Then again, he thought to himself, no matter what Mac did in retaliation, at least he'd gotten one over on Cage.

Worth it!