I wanted to give a big thank you to everyone who reviewed, followed, or favorited my first story, "The New Cairo." You guys made my day! I can't tell you how nervous I was about posting it, but all of your kind words made me so happy that I did. Also, I promise you that I haven't given up on that story. I'm hoping to have the second chapter posted soon. I have started on the second chapter, but it needs some more tweaking before I'm happy with it. Haha, I'm starting to feel like I bit off more than I could chew for my first fanfic. Anyways thanks again!

Here is a tag to the first episode. This story idea was an excuse to write some hurt/comfort. I was starting to get a bit frustrated with my other story, so I decided to take a small break to write this one. Just as a note: I have NO medical knowledge, so anything medical you read here take with a grain of salt ;)

Hope you enjoy! Please leave me a review to tell me what you thought : ) There's angst galore in this story (hopefully not too much). But let's face it, is there really such a thing as too much angst? ;)

Time Heals All Wounds

Chapter 1

Jack walked up the path to Mac and Bozer's house at a slow saunter. He was trying to make this seem like a casual visit, but in reality he was here on a mission. It was killing him to get inside as fast as he could to check on his partner and make sure that he was resting and following doctor's orders. Knowing Mac, the kid would be itchin' to be doin' something and would have a hard time keeping his promise to stay put.

Jack's mind couldn't help but stray to thoughts about everything that had happened it recent weeks as he continued up the path. It had been a rough few weeks and, really, rough didn't even begin to cover it. Mac had spent two weeks in the hospital recovering from a critical bullet wound to the chest.

It really should have been longer, but Mac was stubborn and had wanted out of there as soon as possible. Two weeks was the absolute earliest the medical professionals were willing to discharge Mac. At the end of two weeks they discharged him, but no one was happy about it. Jack definitely felt the kid needed more time, but Mac had become restless. And everyone knew that if they hadn't released him soon, he would have found a way to slip past security himself.

They had grudgingly released him, but not before his surgeon and doctor had given him strict instructions to take it easy. Mac was to continue taking some medications to keep him safe from infection and was to keep the wound itself clean and well bandaged until it had completely healed. They had said absolutely no strenuous activity for at least the first month and a half. And even then, he was supposed to start out easy and slowly work his way up to higher levels of activity. They estimated that it would take him about three months to fully heal if he followed all of their care procedures; and up to 6 months if he didn't.

Jack was going to sit on him and make sure Mac was following the Doctors' orders to a T. Not to mention Jack was more than a little worried about his partner. He wasn't just worried about Mac's physical health, but was also worried about his mental health.

After coming out of surgery, Mac had been eerily silent. He hadn't said more than a few sentences the whole two weeks he had been in the hospital. Mac had now been home for about 5 days into the third week since the mission in Italy and Mac hadn't said much more. Mac had gone on full lock down. He had been pushing everyone away, including Jack, and had become distant.

But Jack was determined to get the kid back to his normal self. He had been visiting him daily to check on him. Honestly, Jack had wanted to stay with the kid 24/7 but Mac had insisted on the space. Jack had reluctantly agreed, only because he was hoping that with some space and some time, Mac would open up more.

The incident in Italy had hit Mac hard. On all fronts: physically, emotionally, and mentally. The poor kid was a mess. Losing Nikki had been a hard blow and Jack suspected Mac was shouldering the blame for what happened. He knew the kid felt he was somehow responsible for how the mission went down; that it was his fault that Nikki was killed and that the bad guys got away with the bio weapon.

Jack was going to make sure that Mac knew that none of what happened was his fault and that he had done everything he could. Jack's goal was to get Mac on the up and up on all accounts. Jack pushed aside the painful thoughts and brought himself back to the present as he reached the front door.

Jack didn't even bother to knock as he entered Mac and Bozer's house. He entered the house and was greeted by the heavenly scent of what could only be the smell of Bozer's famous waffles. "Mac, Boze I'm hoooome!" he announced as he tried to shut the door behind him. He had to awkwardly juggle the paper bag, which had a container of chicken noodle soup, with the Bruce Willis movie he had in his hands in order to close the door. He had brought both the bag of food and the movie over for Mac.

"In here Jack!" He heard Bozer shout in greeting.

Once the door had been closed, he made his way down the hall to the kitchen.

"Heya Boze! Man, those smell great!" Jack greeted as he entered the kitchen to see Bozer bustling about. He was moving around dishes, pots, and pans while wearing a flour covered apron that read: "Kiss the Chef."

Jack leaned up against the counter and pushed some items to the side so he could set his things on the clustered countertop. Moving some of the cookware aside he noticed a plate stacked tall with fluffy, golden waffles. While Bozer's back was turned, he quickly, and what he thought was stealthily, reached across to snag one of the perfect squares from the top of the stack. He gave a startled yelp when Bozer swung around and swatted the top of his hand with a spatula.

Jack retracted his hand and gave Bozer a wounded glare. "Hey! What the heck was that for?"

"Those are for Mac," Bozer scolded, turning back around. " Also, had I known that you would take Mac's offer so seriously and just barge in willy nilly, I would have never let Mac tell you that you didn't have to knock," Bozer teased as he went back to making more waffles.

"Oh, don't pretend Boze," Jack said with a sly grin, "we both know you love having me here." Bozer gave a small snort in reply, but Jack continued on as though he hadn't heard it. "Speaking of our boy, how's he doin'?" Jack quietly asked, almost afraid to hear the answer.

Bozer stopped what he was doing and turned to give Jack a somber look and a small head shake. "Not so great," he sighed. "I don't think he slept at all last night. From the sound of it, what little sleep he did get, it was not ….," Bozer seemed to pause trying to find the right word, "good." He finally finished.

Jack could tell that when Bozer said " not good" that he was sugar coating the harsh reality and wasn't giving the whole story. Well, and honestly, he didn't need to. Jack knew Mac well enough to know exactly what Bozer was saying. It wouldn't have been the first time that the kid's sleep had been riddled with nightmares.

They had gone through this whole dance before when Mac had come back from Afghanistan. And, unfortunately, they revisited it when Mac had a bad day or had experienced an especially rough mission. Things seemed to have a way to come back and haunt Mac while he was asleep and his usual barriers were vulnerable.

Jack swore underneath his breath. The kid needed the sleep to heal. Not only that, but this behavior was very telling about Mac's mental state. He clearly wasn't up to snuff and staying up all night because of recent events wasn't going to do him any favors.

Jack shifted gears. He stood up from his lean against the counter and he peered from the kitchen into the living room, searching for any sign of a mop-top of blonde hair. "Where's he at now?"

"He went out for a run. He's been gone a while now, so I'm thinking he'll be back any minute," Bozer said, adding his last batch of waffles to the stack on the plate.

Jack whipped his head around so fast he instantly regretted it as his neck popped in protest. "He went for a run!?"

Bozer stopped what he was doing to give Jack a concerned stare. It was obvious he was taken back by Jack's reaction. "Uhhh…yeah. He went for a run. What's the big deal?" he said haltingly as though Jack was losing his marbles. "If you ask me, I think a run should do him good. He's been pacing around the house like a caged tiger all week. He needed to get out."

Anger and worry were warring for dominance as Jack took in the information. Damn! Jack knew he should have been staying over to keep an eye on Mac. He had only left, because Mac had become insistent that he didn't need a "babysitter" and that he just wanted some space.

Jack had decided to ease up a little bit on the detail and had only been coming over during the day to check-up on his partner. He had really wanted to stay, but at the time he couldn't seem to deny his friend the space that he said that he needed.

Now he was full-heartedly regretting his decision. Jack could feel that his anger was currently winning out over worry. He wasn't necessarily angry at Mac, but was mostly angry at himself. He just seemed to keep failing his partner.

He definitely wasn't mad at Bozer. Bozer wouldn't see any problem with Mac going out for a run. He didn't know the whole story. As far as Bozer knew, Nikki had died tragically in a car accident and Mac had been gone for two weeks to make arrangements and to attend Nikki's funeral. He had no idea that Mac had been shot in the chest, critically injured, and had spent those two weeks in a hospital bed.

Jack tried to cover up his outburst to protect Mac's cover. "Nothing, I guess. Just surprising is all," Jack stated in a tone that he hoped was convincing.

Bozer gave Jack a long stare, but seemed to accept Jack's explanation as truth. Bozer moved around Jack to hang up his apron and grab his keys. "I'm headed to work. Make sure Mac gets those waffles," Bozer instructed, giving Jack a threatening glance that told him that he wasn't to steal any.

Jack just gave a slight nod of his head in response as Bozer slipped out the door.

He waited a few minutes to make sure that Bozer had in fact left before he sprang into action. He was going to track Mac down and give him a good talkin' to. There's no way that he should be out there running in his current state of health. Jack knew his partner well, so he knew all of the trails that Mac liked to run. He planned on searching every single one of them until he found his partner.

As he moved towards the front door his mind betrayed him with an unbidden image of a pale, sweaty Mac passed out in the middle of a dirt trail. He roughly shook his head trying to dispel the image as he reached for the door knob. His mind was showing him worst case scenarios he told himself. It was possible that Mac could be perfectly fine.

He halted his movement and took a step back when he noticed the door knob start to twist. The door swung open and relief flooded over Jack as Mac stepped in through the doorway. His feeling of relief that his partner was alive was quickly replaced with worry as he gave Mac a quick once over. His partner was alive and before him, but Mac seemed shaky and unsteady on his feet. Not to mention the kid was pale, sweaty, and breathing hard.

Jack's feelings of worry started to mix with anger. He squared his stance and crossed his arms staring Mac down, effectively blocking his path from fully entering into the house. Mac stepped inside and gave a small start when he came face to face with a towering Jack.

"Jack…..I wasn't expecting you…. until later," Mac said in a surprised tone in between harsh pants. His expression was chagrinned as though he was a kid getting caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"What the HELL do you think you're doin'?!" Jack bellowed unable to keep his emotions in check. Didn't Mac understand that he was worried about him? Didn't he know that Jack had watched him code twice on the way to the hospital that night and that he didn't want to see him die again? Didn't he understand that? Did the kid have a death wish?

Mac avoided Jack's eyes and made a move to step around him, but Jack stood his ground. They were going to talk about this whether Mac wanted to or not. Jack watched as Mac's chagrinned expression turned into one of anger and frustration. It was almost like Jack could visibly see Mac slamming his emotional barriers into place.

Mac took a step back, distancing himself from Jack. He didn't say a word.

"You're supposed to be resting! Not running. Resting. What part of the doctor's instructions did you not understand?!" Jack realized his feelings of worry and anger were mixing into a horrible concoction of emotion that was causing his voice to rise in volume.

"I don't need a lecture, Jack," Mac growled, his voice barely audible. "I'm fine." Jack noticed that Mac's chest was still visibly heaving up and down.

"Well, apparently you do. And you'll excuse me if I find it hard to believe that "you're fine" since you're panting like an asthmatic smoker who just ran 3 flights of stairs. You're never going to heal if you keep doing stuff like this," Jack chided. "You know the phrase "time heals all wounds" well the key word here, Mac, is time. A few weeks is not enough time for you to be pulling this kind of crap," Jack stated, the reprimand clear in his voice.

Mac still wouldn't look him in the eye. This wasn't how Jack had wanted this conversation to go…his emotions had taken over and had gotten the better of him. He was supposed to reason with Mac, NOT blow up at him. His fear and worry for Mac had made this conversation take on a harsh edge. Jack took in a breath and softened his voice. "You don't have to prove anything to anyone. No one expects you to be okay after Nik…."

"Don't say it," Mac quietly but sharply cut him off, his eyes briefly glancing up at Jack.

Jack saw the hurt reflected in his friend's eyes and decided to take sympathy on him. He gave a knowing nod. "I'm just saying it would be okay for you to rest and to grieve…"

Jack thought he might be getting somewhere with his partner until Mac bent his head down lower and stepped in a move to shove past him. It seemed that since Jack hadn't allowed him to step around, he was going to try to escape by pushing his way through. Jack easily intercepted him by stepping in his path and holding up his hands, "Now just wait a second, bud. Talk to me! You're starting to freak me out here. You can't just keep pushing us all away. You need to talk about this."

"There's nothing to talk about, Jack."

Mac stopped his advance seeming to recognize that it wasn't going to work and instead backed up further. Appearing to realize that he wasn't going to make it past Jack, he turned on his heel and quickly left through the front door which he had just recently entered.

Jack swore under his breath. This was definitely not how this was supposed to go...their conversation had escalated so quickly. Jack jogged through the doorway after his friend.

"Mac! Mac, wait!" Jack called as he followed after his partner. He had just passed through the open door to see Mac a few steps ahead of him on the front path when it happened. It was like he was seeing his worst nightmare unfold in slow motion. Cold panic spread through his chest as he saw Mac stumble and his knees start to buckle.

To Be Continued….

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