Jack of Hearts

A/N – Tag to Episode 7 Duct Tape & Jack. This one was so much fun I had to tag it. The title is a nod to the original Jack, since there was a whole episode about him in the OG called something like this. And we know our Jack likes cards, and puns, … And I have no self-control. Probably be a few chapters worth of me being self-indulgent. Still own nothing but a mighty need to write.

As Mac stood looking at Jack, his face said everything it needed to, and nothing that he wanted it to as they prepared for the jump, somewhat on the fly and knowing they were not over anything resembling a good drop zone.

Jack raised his eyebrows. "You sure?"

Mac closed his eyes for a second and nodded.

"And you really have a plan."

"Yes, Jack. I have a …" The noise from the barricaded door of the cockpit started to get louder. "Now, Jack."

"You don't get to get mad at me later because you told me to …"

"Just do it, Jack."

"Alright," Jack said, putting his hand in the middle of Mac's chest and giving him a shove. It was not the first time they'd gone out of an aircraft that way. And it wasn't that Mac couldn't jump. Just, it was bad enough that they had to go out that way at all. Getting pushed was easier. Jack followed after his three-count.

Fortunately, they were good chutes, and this was old hat to Jack. Steering a little was no big deal. And they landed together, managing, somehow, to not get too torn up as they passed through the canopy.

They just swung on the ends of their lines for almost a full minute. Mac was pale and clutching the straps of the chute with his eyes closed, chest heaving. Then he forced his eyes open, looking directly at Jack's face. "You okay, partner?" came out sounding a little shaky, but considering what they'd just done, he thought he sounded pretty good.

Jack gave a small smile. "I'm great, bud. But …" He pointed up at where the chutes were caught in the branches rather than indicating the ground.

Mac looked up, and then, almost like a reflex, looked down. The branches they were on all jerked at Mac's involuntary reaction to calculating how high off the ground he was. "Shit!"

"Yeah, bud, that about covers it. And the real pisser is that I'm betting those guys have let their buddies on the ground known we were headed their way."

Mac swore again and started, what looked to Jack, like a slightly frantic attempt to figure out how to get them down, as much because he wanted back on terra firm as to evade the bad guys. As he often did, Jacks started a stream of chatter meant to distract Mac from his fear of heights, which Jack thought probably felt like a belly full of pop rocks and a brain full of meal worms.

When Mac started arguing about Star Wars, Jack knew he'd been successful. That was always a good gauge of how helpful they were being in distracting each other. They'd once had a ten-minute argument over which superhero in the DC universe was the most overpowered while a half-qualified nursing student (who was really their best option) dug a bullet out of Jack's shoulder in the middle of a veterinary clinic during a hurricane.

When the Bosnian drug runners back up team showed up with a chainsaw, neither one of them was doing too hot at keeping up their end of the banter. By the time they got to the ground, fought their way past the second wave of bad guys, and got to the exfil helicopter Matty had rerouted to pick them up, Jack thought Mac had probably forgotten all about their Star Wars discussion.

But knowing how much his partner liked having the last word in even good-natured arguments, he wasn't altogether surprised when on the flight home, as he was dozing off he heard Mac snicker. "What's so funny?" Jack asked, cracking an eye open to see Mac slip his phone back into his jacket pocket.

"Nothing," Mac replied, shaking his head, but grinning. He was tired, and dirty, and he'd had a hell of a bad day. He'd needed another tension breaker, but he didn't want to start up a pointless discussion and keep Jack from catching some sleep.

"Spill," Jack ordered. "If you get to laugh so do I."

Mac snickered again. "You're not gonna think it's funny," he warned. Jack cocked an eyebrow at him. "Okay, but I took a poll, and the rest of the team agrees with me. Ewoks don't eat people."

"Your first babysitter hadn't even been born yet when that movie came out. I saw it in the theater. I think I get to be the Star Wars authority around here, kid."

Mac barked a laugh and then pressed his lips together like he didn't even want to say what he'd thought because he found it so funny in his current exhausted state that he might get started laughing and not stop. "Okay," was all he said, straining not to laugh.

"Just because you're smarter than me don't mean you know more about everything, you know."

Mac couldn't help himself. "Maybe not, but I don't think you should trust your memory, Jack." Jack frowned. "That was 'long long ago', Old Man." He started laughing, finally feeling the tension of the mission starting to bleed off.

Jack gave him a mock dirty look. "Oh, no you didn't." That just made Mac laugh more. "Fine. You get to make lame movie references to make fun of me, then I am bringing back my pun game. Stronger than ever. Maybe even some dad jokes, too."

Mac stopped laughed. "Please don't. Whatever twelve step program you've been doing to ditch the puns has been great for everyone in your life."

Jack winked. "Learn from your elders, you will, young Jedi."