This has been a head canon of mine ever since we heard about Matty, before we saw her, but it kinda just made it more perfect in my mind.
I mean, the 'hate' between Matty and Jack needs some kind of explanation. And in my experience, it takes some love to 'hate' someone that much…
Jack started drifting back into consciousness. He wasn't sure where he was or why he had been out, but he figured it had something to do with the blinding pain near his right shoulder and the slightly less agonizing pain in his right thigh.
His throat was sore. Swallowing took great effort. He recognized it as a telltale sign that he had been intubated, and either the person who had done it had done a piss-poor job, or he had been laying there with a tube down his throat for some time. Either way, he was in a hospital. It was safe, he could relax as much as his shoulder and leg would let him.
He let out a small grunt as some barbed wire seemed to scratch up and down his throat as he attempted to swallow yet again. Then the semi-silence around him was disturbed. The steady beeping of a monitor was accompanied by a chair being shoved back. Shoes hit the floor, heels. Four quick determined steps then they stopped. Jack didn't need to open his eyes to know who it was.
"You scared me, Dalton." Her voice sounded somewhere to his left. "I started worrying that I might have to meet up with your parents under different circumstances than we planned on…"
Jack smirked, his eyes were still closed.
"Relax Honey…" He started in a raw voice, yup he hadn't spoken in a while. "Couldn't leave my gal like this…"
He didn't have to see her to know that she smiled, but he opened his eyes when she placed her over his left one.
"How are you feeling, stuntman?"
"Like I was trampled by fifteen wild horses…"
"Well, more like you were shot twice by some dudes in Kirkuk…" Matty sighed. "I almost thought you were about to bleed out in my arms during the medevac."
Jack winced at the sight of the look in Matty's eyes. He had worked with her for a couple of years, and had been 'seeing her' for a few months. But he had never seen her eyes this scared before.
"I'm sorry Mat…" Jack apologized. "Does it help that I probably get a bit of time off, so that we can visit my folks together soon?"
That rewarded him with a soft chuckle from Matty, a sound he loved hearing.
"Yeah, I told Charley that someone needed to look after you while you're healing. Reminded him of that Montana episode…"
"Please, don't remind me of Montana… Montana is not a good place for me, that break took six months to heal!"
"Yeah, cause you didn't stay off your leg, dumbass!" Matty answered with a roll of her eyes. "Anyway, Charley assigned me to look after you…"
"Yesss!" Jack grinned, "You gonna wear a nurse outfit too?"
"Don't… Don't get your hopes up Dalton…" She answered in a strict tone, before she softened up and smiled at him. "Might happen, but I'm not making promises…"
"Aw, you're killing me Sugar…"
"No, if I was killing you, you'd be in the ground already…" Matty shrugged.
"Yeah, you're probably right." Jack agreed, "So… When are we planning on a road trip back home to the Lone Star State?"
"When the doctor sees you fit to travel. I guess."
-A couple of years later-
"You skipped out on an EXFIL!" Matty almost screamed towards him, for once she had lost her usual calm tone and let her emotions float to the top "YOU HAD A HOLE IN YOUR CHEST AND YOU SKIPPED OUT ON EXFIL!"
"You make it sound horrible, it wasn't that bad!" Jack said, raising his right hand in a motion which he usually used when he needed people to calm down.
"Wasn't that bad?! We heard you cry out in pain over the coms, and then you switched it off a few minutes later! A week later you show up here with a sling and a gunshot injury to your chest! I'm not mad, I'm furious! I honestly thought you had died! I STARTED MOURNING YOU!"
"Technically it's my shoulder…" Jack tried to reason, pointing to where the bandage over the GSW made his t-shirt bulge.
"Yeah, the part of your shoulder which is basically your chest!" Matty barked back.
"Trust me Honey! It' wasn't that bad, and I had some stuff to finish up…"
"Don't 'Honey' me… As far as you're concerned, IT'S OVER."
"Over?" Jack felt the word hit him like a sledgehammer to the chest. "Over?"
"Yes, OVER." Matty repeated, "I can't handle this anymore! I can't live with you doing stuff like what you did back there! I can't. It's over."
"Matty…"
"No, Jack." Matty said, crossing her arms over her chest. "There is no sweet talking me. Not anymore."
Jack didn't even notice that his knees gave out, and that he ended up kneeling on the floor in front of Matty. He almost didn't register her next words either.
"I'll leave you here with the apartment. I'll go stay with Becky until I find a place of my own."
"Mat…"
"Heal up, Dalton! The CIA needs you back in business soon." She said before turning on her heel, walking towards the door and placing her keys on the counter beside it before tearing the door up and stomping out.
"Matty…" Jack whispered, his heart hurting more than his shoulder at the moment.
-Yet a few months later-
"Well, Matty the Hun wants us to go mess up the cartel. Find out where they took Mr. Greer." Nick Wesley informed, "J.D. you take sniper position up at building number 3. Scott, sniper building 4. Jackson you are on the ground, try to infiltrate as John Crossner if that goes south… Start fighting."
"Why can't Jack be the ground guy? He's better at fighting than me…" Jackson spoke up.
"Well, J.D. is still having problems with his shoulder…" Wesley, holding his palm up towards where Jack was sitting to stop him from interfering with the conversation. "Thankfully it was his left one this time 'round, so he's able to shoot…"
"Aw, Wes… You make me sound like a total klutz!" Jack drawled, grinning.
"You kinda are…" Wesley answered with raised eyebrows, "Think you have the company record of eating lead…"
"Hey, I've only been shot 8 times or something."
"Think J.D. needs a lesson in mathematics…" Scott laughed, slapping a hand down on his own thigh, "Cause I counted about 20 scars matching entrance wounds on your UPPER BODY!"
"You checking me out in the shower Scotty?"
"Nah, but I checked out your scar collection in the locker room…" Scott answered truthfully, "Had a slight case of scar-envy…"
"Well, each time I get a new scar I kinda envy you…" Jack shot back, "I mean, not one single scar over the size of a penny!"
"Anyway, Jack's dragon-ex needs us to be ready in 10 minutes." Wesley said as he picked up his bag. "How did you manage to live with her for two and a half years anyway? She's scary and bossy as hell!"
"I don't know…" Jack shrugged, grimacing as his still healing shoulder twinged. "Guess she changed… She wasn't always Matty the Hun…"
So… Hope you liked my little fic.
Anyone else out there for Matty/Jack in the past? (And possible future?)