Okay y'all, I didn't completely hate episode two, it had a lot of great Jack /Riley moments that I had been waiting for, I just hate that they did it at the expense of Mac and Jack's partnership. I needed some SERIOUS bromance after all that and this is the result.
Mac had taken a lot of hard falls in his life. Out of windows, off the top of buildings, through walls, and off cliffs just to name a few. He had even attempted a trial run of the mechanical wings he and Bozer had built when they were twelve. There was no reason why he survived the running leap off the top of his grandfather's work shed, with what were basically scrap metal kites strapped to his arms, without a scratch and he managed to mangle his leg to shreds climbing a tree. But, as Jack would say, that's just how the cookie (or in this case, leg) crumbles.
They had been hiking through the Canadian wilderness, searching for a cabin belonging to a fixer the Phoenix Foundation had been tracking for nearly six months. The man worked entirely off-grid, so finding him or proof of his crimes, had been nearly impossible. Mac and Jack had been sent out to find, what had been rumored to be, the home he stayed hidden in between jobs. They had finally found the cabin, after a six mile trek away from the Jeep they had driven as close to the forest as they could. Now all that was left was to send Maddy the coordinates they had found wadded in the trashcan in the cabin. The coordinates that would presumably lead to the man's next job. The only problem was that their target had picked a perfect spot for an off-grid cabin. There was no cell phone service for miles, a problem that hadn't been factored into packing for the mission, which was why their sat phones had been left back in L.A.
"Dude, we have been walking for hours." Jack complained, reaching back and adjusting the straps on his pack. "How are we not back to the car yet?"
"It hasn't been that long." Mac countered, pulling his cell phone out of his back pocket and checking, yet again for reception. Still nothing. "And besides, you being tired isn't exactly taking top priority right now. We need to get these coordinates to Maddy. Preferably before this guy beats our team there and we have to start all over."
"Yeah, yeah, whatever, man." Jack grumbled. "I'm starving to death out here!"
"You wouldn't be hungry if you hadn't eaten all our food for the entire hike on the first leg of it." Mac argued. He had a few emergency protein bars hidden in the very bottom of his bag but he wasn't revealing them until there was actually a risk of starvation. Hopefully they wouldn't need to use them.
"I was counting on raiding that guy's fridge when we found his house!" Jack reminded his partner. "How was I supposed to know that what Maddy called living 'off-grid' really meant living off the land? There was like, no edible food in that place!"
"There were those jars we found in that one cabinet." Mac reminded the older man, glad he was walking ahead so Jack couldn't see his smirk. "I think they were homemade sauerkraut or something."
"They were brown." Jack growled, slapping a tree branch out of his path. "And wipe that smirk off your face, this isn't funny."
Mac continued walking, long ago having accepted how easily his partner could read his tells even without seeing his face. "You know, I bet cell reception would be better up high. Maybe we just aren't getting any signal through these trees."
"So we write out a text to Maddy, hit send, and then throw the phone as high as we can? And just hope it stays above the trees long enough to send?" Jack asked.
"Or I could just climb a tree and send it." Mac replied with an eye roll.
"Or that." Jack agreed with a grin.
Mac smirked back and slipped his pack from his shoulders, reaching it out to his partner. "Hold this for me." He tucked the phone safely in his front shirt pocket and began searching the trees aroud him, looking for the best option for climbing. "This one should work…" He said, walking a few steps towards a large oak tree.
"You want a boost up?" Jack asked, noting how the lowest branch was well above his partner's blonde head.
Mac effortlessly jumped and grabbed hold of the large branch, pulling himself upward until he could swing his legs onto the branch with the rest of his stronger-than-it-appeared body. He stood up on the branch, only bracing himself with one palm resting leisurely against the trunk of the tree, and smiled down at Jack. "I think I got it."
"Yeah, yeah, stop your braggin'." Jack grumbled, the words softened by a fond smile. "You're makin' me feel old. And be careful. The last thing I need is you fallin' out of that damn tree."
"I'll be careful." Mac promised as he began to climb.
"Hey, while you're busy pretending to be a monkey, I'm gonna go look for some berries or somethin' to eat. I was serious about starving earlier." Jack called up, only half joking; he really was hungry.
"Do NOT eat anything you find unless you know for sure it's safe!" Mac ordered, images of him dragging a poisoned partner out of the woods flashed through his mind as he climbed up another rung of branches.
Jack laughed quietly to himself as he wandered around the forest, never straying far enough away from the tree Mac was climbing that it was out of his sight.
Mac used to think the good thing about falling, if there was a positive side to it, was that unlike most ways you could injure yourself, you had time to prepare yourself for the crash, for that sudden explosion of pain. You had a few precious seconds that you could use to minimize damage, to get yourself ready both physically and mentally for the impact.
There was none of that this time.
In his defense, Mac didn't scream out as the branch snapped beneath his boot and he began his descent. He didn't have time for his mind to process all the information he had about surviving a fall. He didn't react in time to tuck his arms and legs as close to his torso as possible and prepare to roll out of the fall instead of crashing, or try to twist his body around in midair to make sure he didn't land on his head. The only thought that entered his mind during the tenths of a second that he was airborne, was "Jack is going to be so pissed."
Jack didn't see the fall, his back was turned to the tree and it's unstable limbs. He had given up on the hunt for any wild food he hadn't really intended on eating anyway, and had begun following a trail of what appeared to be raccoon tracks. He hadn't traced the little critter two feet before he heard the sound of something crashing through the trees. His first reaction was that it was a bear, or maybe a moose. It had to be something big, to be making such a loud sound with no regard to the things growing in the forest that had the bad luck of being planted in this creature's way. Quickly though, he determined that the sound wasn't coming from his level, but above, and by the time he had turned around and was searching the treetops for the last place he saw his partner, Mac was already on the ground.
Jack cursed, both backpacks falling to the ground as he took off at a run, desperate to get to his partner. He let out a shaky sigh of relief as he dropped to his knees by Mac's shoulder and saw two blue eyes staring up at him. "Don't move." He ordered, pushing his fears aside and letting his years of survival training take over. "You're alright, you're alright. Just stay real still and talk to me, okay? You hit your head?" Jack asked, his fingers gently reaching out and combing through blonde locks, searching for damage.
"Leg." Mac answered, trying to sit up and see the damage for himself. "Bad."
"Okay now, easy!" Jack exclaimed, carefully pushing Mac back to laying flat on the ground. "I'll check it out. Just stay there."
"Bad." Mac repeated again, his voice thin with pain, as his eyes closed in a grimace.
"Well we'll just let Jack be the judge of that, alright?" He asked with a forced smile. "Anywhere else hurtin'?" He asked as his hands made their way down each of his partner's arms, checking for damage, only pausing to give a reassuring squeeze to his hand before moving on to checking for broken ribs.
Mac shook his head no. "Just my leg, I think."
"Then we got lucky." Jack assured. "Didn't I specifically tell you NOT to fall out of the damn tree? I'm pretty sure I remember using those exact words."
"Didn't fall." Mac argued. "Branch broke. Not my fault."
"Yeah, brother, but either way it's you who's payin' the price for it." Jack said with a sigh. "Alright, let's get a look at that le…"
Mac opened his eyes at his partner's trialing words. "Jack?"
Jack pulled his tactical knife, a well worn thing all leather and steel, easily three times the size of Mac's Swiss army knife and missing all the cool gadgets, from his back pocket, and flicked the blade open with his thumb. Without meeting his partner's eyes, he answered steadily. "You're bleeding."
Mac bit back a hiss as the sound of ripping denim gave way to a rush of cool air, something that wouldn't have triggered more pain on a normal broken bone, but this time sent spikes of red hot pain shooting up his leg. His fears were confirmed when, after a faint click of Jack's knife snapping closed, the words "compound fracture" fell from his partner's lips.
Mac fought back a groan, having suspected as much. "You sure?" He asked, knowing that it was a pointless question but hoping Jack was wrong.
"Unless there's another reason for there to be a bone stickin' out of your leg, yeah pal, I'm sure." Jack replied with a sigh. "And there's no cell service to call for a medevac."
Mac's eyes snapped back open at his partner's words, his current predicament forgotten. "My phone. See if that text sent."
Jack ran a hand across his face, reminding himself to keep his temper under control, that Mac didn't need him blowing a fuse right now. "Buddy, unless you added 'By the way, I'm falling out of a tree to my potential death at the moment, send help.' to the end of that text, I don't really care if it sent or not."
"Jack, come on." Mac said, trying to turn his head to search for the phone without moving his leg. "At least if it sent this wasn't for nothing."
"Alright, I'll look for it." Stop movin' around." Jack grumbled as he stood up, kicking away leaves and pine needles until he finally found Mac's phone a few feet away.
"Don't look like this thing's gonna be workin' any time soon." He announced walking back towards his partner and holding up the phone with it's shattered screen. "At least it was your phone this time instead of mine." He smirked as he settled back down beside Mac. "Guess we'll just have to wait until we hit a stretch of road with reception before we can get ahold of Maddy. See if your crazy little stunt worked."
Mac took a shaky breath, preparing himself for the pain moving would bring. "Think you can find me some tree limbs stable enough to work as a crutch?"
"Even if I could, you ain't hoppin' out of here on no damn crutches!" Jack exclaimed. "Do you know what that could do to your leg?"
"Then how do you expect me to get out of here, Jack?" Mac asked with a sigh.
"I guess I'll just carry ya." Jack answered as if there hadn't been another option in his mind.
"You're not carrying me." Mac answered, the determination in his voice came through loud and clear despite the pain.
"Well then what do you want to do?" Jack asked.
"I don't," Mac started, his voice breaking. "I don't know, Jack. It just hurts." He covered his watering eyes with a forearm, hand clenched in a tight fist. "I can't think."
"Hey, hey." Jack rested a hand softly on Mac's shoulder. "It's alright. We're gonna be just fine, you and me. Just take a minute and catch your breath."
Once Jack had thwarted what could have quickly turned into a full blown panic attack and Mac had regained as much composure as one could have while bleeding out from a broken leg in the middle of the wilderness, Jack stood again. "I'm gonna go get you some water, alright?" It was the best excuse he could think of to give Mac a moment of privacy to collect his thoughts.
He returned to his partner a few minutes later, carrying an already opened water bottle and both of their packs. He carefully helped Mac sit up enough to take a drink but not far enough for him to see his mangled leg. Once he was laying back down, head resting on one of Jack's spare shirts from his bag, Mac spoke. "If you built some type of sled you could just pull me back to the car."
Jack sighed at his partner's stubbornness. "Mac, bud, we don't have the time for that." He glanced down at his watch. "It's already gettin' late and by the time you walked me through buildin' something that would work it would be near dark. That's not factoring in how long it would take for us to get out of these woods. And besides, me yankin' you across this ground? All the bumps and jerks, man, that would be hell on your leg."
Mac knew Jack was right, it wasn't the best option, but it was the only one he could think of. Jack pressed on, interrupting Mac racking his brain trying to think of another idea. "Just let me carry you, kid. Get you out of here. Find some nice hospital, let 'em get you all patched up, alright? It's not even that far to the road, probably just a couple miles."
"You carrying me is gonna hurt too." Mac pointed out, knowing that he sounded like a petulant child but was trying to stall for time to come up with a better idea.
"Yeah, I'm not gonna deny that, but I think I found somethin' to help." He walked back to where he had been standing earlier when Mac had fallen and returned carrying a long piece of tree bark. "I noticed this when I went back for our packs. I think it's long enough, and see how it's still got the curve of the tree? I think it'll fit right around your leg. It should brace it enough to keep it still. That's a Jack-Gyvered fix if I've ever seen one."
Mac looked at the piece of bark in his partner's hand. It was just about the perfect size. And all it would take would be a few strips of fabric to hold it to his leg, keeping it practically immobile through the trek back to the road.
Mac didn't have to say anything for Jack to know that he had given up on finding a better idea. He watched the stubbornness in his eyes turn to a mixture of defeat and dread. Jack knelt down beside Mac's shattered leg. "You'll thank me for this once we're outta here." He promised as he got to work on his makeshift brace.
The hike out of the woods was a miserable experience that neither man hoped to ever have to repeat. Jack carrying two backpacks of hiking supplies and an injured partner, apologizing every time his boot slipped on a rock or he stepped wrong, causing Mac to bite back hisses of pain. Eventually the younger man had gotten past the embarrassment of being carried out of the woods like a damsel in distress and tucked his face into the crook of Jack's neck, hiding in the safety of his partner's arms.
The sun was setting as Jack finally made it to their Jeep, and the stars that Jack didn't get to see nearly enough now that he was living in LA were one by one making their grand appearances as they pulled into the parking lot of the closest emergency room. A four hour operation, followed by another three hours of Jack watching his partner sleep, made for a long wait before Mac's blue eyes finally opened.
"Easy, bud. You're okay." Jack assured, his hand coming up and resting on Mac's face, thumb brushing blonde hair away from his temple. "We're in the hospital." He reminded, free hand reaching to the bedside table and bringing a cup of ice water, holding the straw for Mac to take a drink. "You remember what happened?"
Mac's face scrunched in concentration as he tried to push through the fog of surgical drugs clouding his mind before finally remembering. "My leg. I fell."
"Didn't fall, branch broke. Not my fault." Jack threw Mac's previous words back to him with a sly grin, causing Mac to crack a smile. That smile lifted a weight off Jack's chest that had been there since he saw his partner lying on the ground after falling from that tree.
"How bad?" Mac asked, nodding towards his leg.
"Pretty rough, kid, I'm not gonna lie." Jack admitted, rubbing the aching muscles in the back of his neck. "You've got some permanent hardware holdin' that leg together now. Doesn't give you permission to go diggin' in there with your knife next time you're in the field and ya need a screw though." He teased.
"Yeah I don't plan on seeing the inside of any more limbs any time soon." Mac agreed with a shudder. "And besides, I'm guessing it's gonna be a while before I'm back out in the field?"
"Oh yeah." Jack agreed. "A good long while. You got a few months of physical therapy ahead of you, my friend. At least the last one was a success."
"It worked?" Mac asked hopefully. "The text sent?"
"Yeah. Mission accomplished, pal. Maddy got the text, sent out a team, had some guys waiting to take the mark down when he arrived." Jack assured. "So at least we went out on a high note."
"We?" Mack asked. "You can still work, Jack. You're not the one with the messed up leg."
"My job is watchin' your back." Jack reminded him. "I'll go back to the Phoenix when you can, until then I'll be makin' sure you don't do anything else stupid and hurt your leg worse."
Mac groaned. "You're going to drive me absolutely crazy, aren't you?"
Jack smiled. Neither one of them would have it any other way.
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