AN: These stories are all set in the same universe, my Every End is a Beginning/Somewhere in the Middle AU. However, quite a lot of them make sense without knowledge of that AU and many are reasonably canon-compliant, so you should still be able to read this story (or, at least, 16 or 17 of the ficlets in it) without having read those two stories. Furthermore, for those that do reference that AU more and don't make sense without knowledge of it, you only have to have read Every End is a Beginning, not Somewhere in the Middle. I'll put a note at the start of each ficlet as to whether you need knowledge of that AU or not. The ones that do need knowledge of that AU all have pretty major spoilers for Every End is a Beginning, so if you haven't read it, but might in the future, you might want to skip those chapters! The biggest spoiler is for events that occur in the very first chapter of that story, so my recommendation is that if you care about the spoilers, read the first 'episode', The Falling, before we get to December 9th.
This one is set pre-canon, and canon-compliant with Season 1 and Season 2 (so far). No knowledge of Every End is a Beginning required.
KUNDUZ PROVINCE
AFGHANISTAN
Jack tossed an MRE down in front of the unit's young blonde EOD (not that one could tell all that easily, with his hair hidden by a bandanna, you had to examine his eyebrows – he seemed to hate his military haircut and concealed it whenever possible).
Jack had been sceptical when he'd first met the young EOD tech. Mac wasn't old enough to drink and looked like he belonged in some teen movie, not disarming bombs in a combat zone.
But he'd been quickly won over (like almost every single one of Mac's other doubters – of which there'd been many, Jack knew), as Mac had shown how capable he was, how talented and brilliant he was, and had demonstrated that in many ways, he was mature beyond his years (in a way that Jack knew often came through hardship, which he was quite sure Mac had known plenty of in his short life). It'd also become very clear to Jack very quickly that Mac was simply one of those people who were genuinely good in all ways, and besides, Mac was practically impossible not to love.
(He was a little bit like a puppy. One of those super-brave golden-retriever-type puppies that saved their owners after they'd been injured in a fall or something, but definitely a puppy.)
Long story short, Mac had quite quickly taken up residence in a special place in Jack's heart, right next door to that space that Riley had occupied (and still did, even if Jack wasn't sure he'd ever see her again, or, more importantly, if she would ever – could ever - forgive him).
Jack trusted Mac and his abilities. Managed to treat him, despite his youth, despite the fact that he occupied that special place in his heart, despite that protectiveness he felt for the younger man, more or less the same as the other men in the unit a fair bit of the time, and always when they were on duty.
But there were times when that protectiveness and that affection he felt for him came out too, and right now was one of those times.
Jack gave a wry smirk as Mac looked up at him.
'Christmas dinner, brother. Eat up, we gotta get some meat onto your bones!'
He plonked himself down on the ground next to the younger man as Mac rolled his eyes, but picked up the MRE anyway and started eating with an eagerness that Jack remembered from his own youth.
Namely, a desire to ingest as many calories as possible, without care for what the calorie source was.
Just at that moment, as that thought crossed Jack's mind, Mac made a face as he chewed a particularly distasteful bite of MRE, and Jack amended the thought.
With little care for what the calorie source was.
MREs weren't pleasant to eat.
Useful, palatable (most of the time), but definitely far removed from tasty.
And they tasted even worse on Christmas Eve.
Jack made a start on his own dinner, making a face as he did so. Mac seemed lost in thought, going down the rabbit hole of his Einstein-level brain (Jack had heard scuttlebutt that Mac's IQ was actually higher than Einstein's by a couple of points, which was one of the most believable pieces of scuttlebutt he had ever heard), and while Jack was all for his friend's big brain and what it could spit out and Mac putting it to use (he enjoyed thinking, clearly, and liked time to think about and process things), he got the feeling that the thoughts running through Mac's head might not be very pleasant (Christmas Eve, Kunduz, Afghanistan, eating MREs – Jack wasn't a talented mathematician by any means, but even he could do that calculation), so took it upon himself to nudge Mac out of the rabbit hole.
'Man, it should be against the Geneva Convention to have to eat MREs on Christmas Eve.'
Mac gave a snort of half-laughter, and nodded in agreement.
'Yeah, this should definitely qualify as cruel and unusual punishment.'
Jack took another bite of his MRE and swallowed, then pointed at Mac with his spoon.
'What'd you rather be eating, brother?'
Mac chewed his own meal for a moment with a smile, lost in a happy memory, happy thoughts.
'Bozer makes an incredible Christmas spread every year, but honestly…' He gestured to his MRE. '…I'd settle for absolutely anything cooked by him.'
Jack nodded, losing himself in his own memories for a moment.
'Yeah, brother, I'd never thought I'd say this, but I'd give a thousand bucks to be eating my sister's bacon stuffing right now.' Jack jabbed the air in front of Mac's chest with his spoon. 'And that's saying something, 'cause even if it's got bacon in it, she's not much of a cook.'
Mac nodded, a little smile on his face, a halfway bittersweet smile.
'Christmas is a time for family.'
Jack, too, nodded, reaching out and putting a hand on Mac's shoulder.
'Amen to that, brother. Amen to that.'
AN: Or, in which an element of Just Another Patriotic Guy manages to slip into this universe…as seems to happen all the time for me, a quick, throwaway line of banter (Mac and Jack complain about having to eat MREs on Christmas Eve) manages to become a full-fledged ficlet. Were there enough Mac-and-Jack feels in here for you guys? Or does the limit not exist?
Tomorrow's ficlet: 'I know you and your mom don't make a big deal of it, but…it's Christmas; I had to get you a little something.'
Can you guess what tomorrow's ficlet is about? ;)