AN: This has a lot of spoilers for the ep. So does the AN at the end! Title comes from Charlie Puth's One Call Away.
HOSPITAL
LA
'…You get back here, son! Or I'll have to get outta this bed and hog-tie you! You know I can do it!'
'Hog-tying me would actually impede my recovery, Jack.'
Matty rolled her eyes as she walked towards Mac and Jack's hospital room. It was a long-suffering, annoyed gesture, though those that knew her well would have seen the affection there too.
She arrived at the door just as Mac opened it. He blinked, and she put her hands on her hips and shot him a look.
Mac gestured to the IV pole next to him, then at the needle still in his arm. Matty just arched an eyebrow and pointed at his bed. Mac's jaw set in a way that was definitely stubborn.
Internally, Matty sighed. This was just as bad as Jack had said it was.
(He did have a penchant for exaggeration.)
She put her hands on her hips again.
'Do you want me to go call Dr Taylor, Blondie, and tell her you're being an uncooperative patient again?'
(It always helped to have an inside man and inside information, and Matty never walked into a situation without good intel.)
Mac shot Jack a dirty look, then sighed and started to trudge back to his bed next to Jack's, sounding a bit like a teenager who'd been grounded by his parents.
'No, she'll lecture me about kidney function, kidney stones and UTIs. And have me restrained to my bed.'
(The doctor – a petite, pretty, sweet-looking brunette who was nonetheless, Mac was sure, terrifying if you got on her bad side – had threatened to do that should he try to escape again after she'd caught him the last time.)
Mac got back into his bed, pulling the covers up. Jack looked over at him, expression sympathetic.
'Mac, son, we can go talk to him once we're a little better…' Jack looked at Matty. '…ain't that right, boss?'
He said those last four words with a tone that very much said, it better be.
Matty just nodded.
Griggs was in custody and under guard several rooms down the hall.
She would make sure that Mac and Jack got to speak to the man properly before he was taken away to a secure psychiatric facility to spend the rest of his life.
(That'd been the best she could do for him.)
Mac just sighed.
'We left him behind.' Jack made a noise of protest, but Mac continued and cut him off before he could say anything. 'I know what he did wasn't right, Jack, but…' The blonde's voice grew small, full of guilt and shame. '…it wasn't unreasonable for him to blame us.' He swallowed. 'We left him and Hadley, and…'
The guilt and shame crossed Jack's face too, but as was his way, he still raised a hand and spoke. Tried to comfort and look after his partner.
'Brother-'
Matty gave a little head-shake and made eye contact with Jack, and a silent conversation passed between them. Then, Jack gave a little nod, handing the reins over to her.
The Phoenix's Director of Operations walked over to Mac's bed and sat down in the chair next to it.
'I reviewed the mission reports from Jakarta. What happened to Hadley and Griggs wasn't your fault, Mac.' The blonde looked like he wanted to protest, but was forestalled by Matty shooting him a look that very clearly said, I'm not done. 'You and Jack were ordered to ex-fil. You were under fire and outnumbered. If you had gone back for Hadley and Griggs – whom you believed were dead based on all evidence available to you at the time and the advice of your superior – Samrozi would have played his game with four US operatives.' She paused, waited for Mac's big brain to determine that that was the most likely outcome, by a huge margin. 'If you have to blame somebody, blame Samrozi. Or even Waller.'
Waller hadn't had anything resembling confirmation of death (just radio silence and an explosion, none of which were definitive from his position). His decision to order Mac and Jack to leave the dangerous, overrun position and head to ex-fil was a fair and justifiable one, but he also hadn't done any digging or sent someone back to check that Hadley and Griggs were indeed dead, not captured.
He should have. It wasn't only a matter of loyalty to his men and doing right by them (a good enough reason in Matty's book to bend the rules a little), but a matter of national security. Samrozi had broken Griggs and Hadley. He'd gotten valuable intel, and now they had to chase it all down and clean up the mess.
Still, because Mac was Mac, he opened his mouth to protest.
'I could have disabled the warheads faster, or we could have brazened it out like Griggs suggested or…'
He trailed off, the protests sounding weak even to his ears.
Matty reached out and patted his forearm.
'You're not Superman, Mac.'
Jack chipped in from his bed.
'We can't predict the future, son. We never know how the chips will fall; we just gotta make the best choices we can in the moment.'
Mac looked at both of them for a beat, and then, he nodded.
Jack says a lot of things.
Now, about 50% of that is grumbling, complaining, rambling and long-winded stories with no point. Mostly, I treat that as white noise. Helps me think, brings a little light into dark situations.
Another 35% relates to the logistics of everyday life and our work. Not interesting, but necessary.
Another 10% is expressions of affection, even though they don't all sound like it.
And the last 5%? Those are, believe it or not, pearls of wisdom.
Like that one.
MACGYVER'S RESIDENCE
(SOON TO BE ONLY MACGYVER'S)
LA
Mac and Jack grunted as they loaded Bozer's mattress into the small moving truck they'd hired for the day.
Then, they stepped out of Riley and Leanna's way as the two women loaded boxes labelled 'clothes' into the truck, giggling about some of Bozer's more questionable fashion choices that'd been stuffed into the back of his closet.
Bozer himself followed, holding a box of knick-knacks.
'Hey, I'll have you know, ladies, I was seventeen when I bought that shirt! You can't judge me by that! I bet you got some style regrets from when you were seventeen!'
Riley and Leanna just exchanged a glance, then smirked and spoke in sync.
'Nope.'
With that, they hopped out of the truck and walked past Bozer, Riley on the left, Leanna on the right, with model-like struts that were eerily similar.
Mac, Jack and Bozer watched them go, then Jack reached out and clapped Bozer on the shoulder.
'You're screwed, man.' He took in the look on Bozer's face as he watched Leanna and made a face. 'And you're gonna love every minute of it.'
Mac shook his head with a smile, and reached out and clapped Bozer on the shoulder too.
'Congrats again, Boze.' He paused. 'You sure you don't want to take some of the crockery and cutlery?'
Bozer waved a hand.
'Nah, Leanna wants to pick out our own, so we're gonna do a Pottery Barn trip once we're unpacked.'
'Pottery Barn?' Jack sounded faintly horrified. 'Yeah, she got you good, man!' He turned to Mac. 'We better hope it ain't contagious, brother!'
Mac shrugged.
'What's wrong with Pottery Barn?'
Jack backed away slowly, muttering about how they were both contaminated, then took off at a run back up the driveway.
Mac and Bozer watched him go, then, when he was out of earshot, burst into laughter.
Bozer reached out and bumped his fist to his best friend's.
'Nice one, bro!'
As Riley and Leanna took the last of Bozer's boxes outside, Mac stepped out of his bedroom and Jack out of the bathroom, both clad in their suits.
(New suits, of course. The ones they'd worn for their manniversary weren't really fit for a Vegas trip anymore.)
Bozer let out a whistle.
'Oh, you guys look good!' He pointed at Jack, who was wearing a hat identical to the one that Griggs had taken. (He'd had two.) 'You're rocking the Rat Pack look, man!' Then, he turned to Mac. 'Yours is almost on point, but you really need a hat.'
Jack held up his arms and mouthed, see, brother? I told you!
Mac just rolled his eyes and picked up his duffle bag.
'We have to go if we're going to make our flight.' He headed for the door, then turned around again when he reached it. 'Boze, you sure you and Leanna don't need our help with the rest of the move?'
Bozer shook his head.
'Nah, we're all good, bro. Matty's coming, and she says she's bringing reinforcements.' Bozer shrugged. He had no idea who those reinforcements were, but Matty would be as good as her word. 'Enjoy your manniversary!'
Mac and Jack exchanged a glance, then Jack pointed at Mac.
'Don't jinx it, brother. Don't you dare jinx it-'
Mac rolled his eyes again, with long-suffering, affectionate exasperation, and just held up a hand to Bozer in goodbye.
'We will, Boze.'
Fifteen minutes later, Matty showed up with James MacGyver in tow.
Leanna, Bozer and Riley all exchanged a glance, surprised, then shot questioning looks at their boss and their boss's boss. Bozer crouched down and stage-whispered to Matty.
'Matty, I know you can work wonders and all, but how'd you get him to help me move?'
Jim answered, his voice dry.
'It's classified.'
THE EXCALIBUR
LAS VEGAS
Jack, sunglasses over his eyes, board shorts on and sunscreen applied, smiled at the beautiful young woman who brought him a refill for his drink and handed her a tip.
Then, he relaxed back onto the sun lounge, and looked out over the beautifully-manicured pool area.
After a moment, he glanced at Mac, who was wearing sunglasses, board shorts and a T-shirt, relaxing on his own sun lounge and sipping his own drink.
'You know, I think you might be on to something with the whole manniversary plans, brother. It is nice to just chill and relax and do nothing by the pool, catch some rays…' Mac smiled with a touch of a smirk in it, and raised his glass. '…but we're still gonna hit the buffets, right, brother?' Jack patted his stomach. 'I lost six pounds in that box!'
'A, that was essentially all water, Jack. B, you've put it all back on already.' Mac shrugged, that smile-smirk back again. 'Then again, it is our manniversary, and we did resolve to celebrate while we can…'
Jack raised his drink at him.
'Amen to that, brother. Amen to that.'
AN: Did you guys enjoy that? This probably serves no real purpose, but I had a lot of feels after that ep, and they had to go somewhere…
Thoughts on 3.11, Mac + Fallout + Jack: I went in to this ep really worried that 'fallout' was figurative and had to do with 'falling out'. I was so worried that the writers were going to pull another Thornton and write Jack out of the show by having him fall out with Mac, and that I was going to hate the ep.
I was so much more than pleasantly surprised! What fan of this show isn't going to love an ep centred around Mac and Jack and their bromance and their past? The manniversary thing and the little opening sequence was so absurd and funny but also just so Mac-and-Jack. The way that they got out of the scenario (and I knew Jack was faking, it was kinda obvious, since Mac said that it was all down to him) was also just beautiful, and I don't know how to express all of this, but everything about it was just so them! (With the fact that George Eads is leaving the show – but appears to feature in 3.13 quite substantially, so it isn't yet – I think this might have been a little 'swansong' episode for Mac and Jack and their bromance, since I think they had quite a bit of notice. It's a nice touch.) I also enjoyed Bozer, Riley and Leanna's mission – Bozer got a chance to shine, in a very Bozer way! He's never going to be a badass in the conventional way like Jack, or a computer whiz like Riley or a genius like Mac, but Bozer's got skills too! (Matty must have seen that promise and potential, or she'd never have stood up to James and kept him employed at the Phoenix!) Also, although I still like Bozer/Leanna better this season than I did last season, honestly, I like Leanna being around more for the friendship she has with Riley than for her romance with Bozer…
Factoid – this ep reveals that Mac and Nikki knew each other for two years before they started dating, and that Nikki worked for the DXS before Mac started there. In March 2012, Jack resolves to introduce them ASAP, once they return from Jakarta. In 1.12, Screwdriver (2016), we found out that Nikki was Mac's girlfriend of two years prior to her betrayal. Thus, they got together in about mid-2014. We also know that at some point (my guess is either Feb 2012, assuming Mac did a lot of training with the DXS before they let him go on missions, or Feb 2013, assuming they tossed him in the deep end), Mac met Allie at the Kormann Challenge and they had their brief relationship. My personal headcanon/theory is that it probably took Nikki that long to get it through Mac's brain that she actually really liked him, and that Mac was really gun-shy and had pretty terrible self-esteem relating to relationships/women at that point, having been shot down cold by Darlene Martin, pined after Frankie for two years, and (maybe, depending on timing) used by Allie (or so he thought).