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The crew hunting them spent nearly 10 minutes near the waterfall. 10 minutes where Mac and Jack were sitting in the cold water behind the waterfall.

"Man, this sucks…" Jack whispered with a grimace after another shiver had run its course through his body, giving the injury at his shoulder the opportunity to make itself loud and clear.

"I know, buddy…" Mac whispered back, still keeping an eye on the 'hunters' as they were about to leave the valley outside. "But you should have told me…"

"Yeah… I know that…" Jack sighed, "Sorry…"

Mac brought his full attention back to Jack as the crew left over the ridge.

"Exactly how much noise do you think you will make if I remove your backpack?"

"I don't know…" Jack squeezed his eyes shut, "I'll probably scream…"

"Okay…"

"Or pass out…"

"Let's hope you pass out then…" Mac shrugged as he started loosening the straps so that it would be easier to guide Jack out. He didn't miss the small flash of terror which fled across his best friend's face.

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"Please don't…" Jack begged, "Man, it's going to hurt like…"

Jack was cut off right there, his plea was a little too late, and his general comfort was a little too far down on Mac's list of priorities for him to stop as he grabbed Jack's wrist and shoved it past the strap, freeing Jack from the backpack.

"SONOFABITCH!" Jack gasped, clutching his left arm with his right hand.

"Hey, look at that…" Mac cocked an eyebrow, "You didn't scream… And you didn't pass out…"

"Kid, I want to punch you so hard right now…" Jack confessed as he tried to fight a grimace off his face, before he went back to whimpering.

"Yeah, how about you get a raincheck on that one?" Mac offered as he unbuttoned Jack's shirt and pried it off him. Noting that there was an exit wound at the back of Jack's shoulder.

"I probably won't punch you…"

"Yeah, I know…" Mac huffed a laugh.

"How'd you know that?"

"Because you're always protecting me…" Mac shrugged.

"You know me too well kid…"

"If I knew you too well, I would have realized that you'd been shot a couple of miles ago…"

Jack flinched, and Mac wasn't sure if it was because of the physical injury, or because of his own tone. Maybe a mixture of both.

"Sorry…" Jack exhaled, as he dropped his chin to look at the hole in his t-shirt.

"It was a stupid choice not to tell me about this…" Mac gestured to the hole in the tee as he fished out his pocket knife with his other hand, "But if any one of us is supposed to say 'sorry' it should be me… So… I'm sorry, Jack…"

"For what?"

"For not realizing that you had been shot. For pushing us so hard…" Mac answered as he folded out the blade, "And for pushing down on your shoulder when I wanted you to know how incredibly stupid that act of yours was…"

"Yeah, that did hurt…" Jack frowned, "But it's all good…"

"No it's not…"

"Kid, I had it coming…" Jack sighed, "I deserved it…"

"No you didn't…" Mac scowled, "Now, you want me to cut away your t-shirt, or do you want to try to shrug it off…"

"I sure as hell don't want to shrug it off!" Jack growled, and swallowed hard.

"That's what I thought…" Mac nodded to himself and started cutting away the fabric near the shoulder.

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"Kid, please tell me it's cold in here…" Jack begged, as his body trembled yet another time.

"It is…" Mac answered fighting off a shiver himself, "But you being Captain Blood-loss doesn't help you at all…"

"But it is cold here? Right? It's not just me?"

"No, it's cold."

"Good…" Jack nodded and relaxed a little. "That's good…"

Mac cast another glance outside, calculating the pro's and the con's.

"But we need to get you dried up. I think this water is leading down from a glacier or something, the air temperature doesn't call for this cold water in any other way…"

Jack nodded, "I'm all for that… But what if the crew is just up there waiting for us to go out?"

Mac was about to answer when a violent shiver ran through Jack, causing the tough man's face to contort in pain.

"I say that's a risk we just might have to take… Because you're susceptible to hypothermia right now, and even I'm colder than I prefer in this water… We don't need to add to what's wrong with you right now…"

"No, but if we stay here, at least you'll be safe."

"Nonsense, I'll get hypothermia eventually if I stay here too… Might take me twice as long as you, but I need to get out of this water too…"

"Mac…"

"Jack, you've probably been in this water way longer than you should have already… And right now, I think I'm stronger than you… So you don't really have a say in this…" Mac explained, before he grabbed a hold of Jack and dragged him towards the bank of the river.

"SET ME DOWN!" Jack growled, trying to sound as menacing as he possibly could.

Mac only smirked, "You know, there is something about being carried that makes you look a whole lot less threatening…"

"SET. ME. DOWN."

"I will…" Mac grinned, and looked around.

"NOW…"

"Yeah-yeah…" Mac shrugged, and headed for a tree. Then he kneeled and set Jack down leaned up against it.

"I feel violated…"

"Well, if I remember correctly, one of your personal blood loss symptoms is losing balance and the ability to carry your own weight…" Mac truth-bombed, "Didn't want to see you injure yourself any further…"

Jack pouted, and scowled up at his blond partner. "That was one time!"

"Eight." Mac corrected.

"One, eight… Same shit…" Jack tried to justify.

"No, not the same…" Mac rolled his eyes, and started cutting off the rest of Jack's tee. "Undress… I'm going to fish out your backpack too… Find you a dry set of clothing from one of the waterproofs."

Jack didn't respond, so Mac continued.

"Go ahead, you've never been shy before…" Mac nudged Jack's knee with his boot. Then his brows creased together as he hunched down on his heels beside Jack. "Or are you hiding more?"

Okay! See you around!