They hadn't gotten very far up the trail when they came to a large semi-flat rock. Jack stopped, coming just short of blocking the path. "Hey, maybe you two ought to sit down a minute."

Mac thought he'd done a decent job of concealing how close he'd been to throwing up, or at least dropping back down onto the ground, when Jack had first pulled him to his feel after that blast. He'd heard Jack's panicked "Please don't be dead," and rather than even take a minute to assess whether or not he was injured, Mac's immediate impulse had been to reassure his partner after just how worried he'd been after everything that happened with Murdoc, not to mention his confession that he dreamed of something happening to Mac frequently enough that it interfered with his sleep.

So, either there were some holes in his acting skills or Jack was just that good at reading him. Instead of acknowledging that he'd maybe felt a little rough for a minute and then having to explain that he'd walked it off now, he just raised an eyebrow and went to step around his partner and gave him a sideways grin. "I thought you wanted to get off this island as fast as possible. Our ticket out is that way," he waved in the direction of the base.

Jack's brow furrowed with concern. "You guys just got blown up."

Mac shook his head and included Cage in his affectionate eyeroll, indicating that this was an old argument and one she should probably get used to. "No, Jack, we just avoided getting blown up. And we now know that Prisoner Zero is still alive."

Cage grinned. "Did you just Doctor Who reference this mission."

"Usually," Mac and Jack answered together, then both laughed.

Mac knew Cage watched Who and that was an open invitation to express incredulity that Jack did as well, to tease, like the rest of them did. It sailed straight over her head. Mac kept himself from rolling his eyes at Cage's inability to pick on these subtle signals. For an interrogator she sure as hell missed out on a lot of social cues. People said he was clueless, he almost shook his head. It made him feel fort of bad for her.

Then Mac just gave his partner a reassuring nod. "We're good, Jack. No need to, you know, get yourself out of pre-flight mode …"

Jack's eyes narrowed. At least Mac had left off Porkchop this time. "Cage was holding her shoulder when we got to you." His implication being that the blast was worse than Mac was letting on.

"Oh," she nodded, catching on to what had possible triggered Jack's concern, and glossing over Mac's implication that that was just who Jack was. She didn't want to point out that she'd probably hurt it a bit when Mac threw himself on top of her. She'd noticed Mac's instinct to protect everyone else at his own expense, but even more she'd noticed Jack's tendency to take that personally. He was making a real effort to make her feel like part of the team and she knew it. She didn't want to drive a wedge between them again. So, she brushed it off. "I rolled on it hard. Still bruised from when Murdoc …" She glanced at Mac. "Just still sore is all."

"Alright," Jack said dubiously, getting out of the way. Then they started up the trail again and Jack picked back up on his steady stream of horror movie tropes they needed to avoid. No longer annoyed, and feeling let off the hook, Mac just grinned.

0-0-0

Things were starting to look up when they got to the radio tower. Until they lost comms. Even Mac started to get fidgety at that. Jack noticed and started throwing out random movie facts that he knew weren't actually true. That drove Mac nuts.

As Jack anticipated, Mac started arguing with him. Then, before they could get too worried about anything else, they were talking to Commander Wheeler on the radio and Mac was leading them through the crumbling compound and they were learning all sorts of things none of them really wanted to know about the prisoner almost assuredly loose on the island with them.

The realization that that same prisoner had led them on a wild goose chase through the base caused all three operatives to share a look and know they were sharing a feeling; that top floor elevator drop moment, the one where you imagine the cable has been cut.

Another boobytrap. God. Freaking. Damnit. Last one nearly got Mac blown up. And Mac might not think he knew it, but Jack had seen how his partner had covered Cage up before pulling the door on top of them, making himself a shock absorber for the agent he was working with. He'd tried to do the same for others so many times Jack had lost count. And the kid wasn't going after this trap. Not a chance.

Jack realized his mistake even before the whatever appeared to be the floor gave out under him. Mac saw the look on Jack's face right before he fell, felt Jack grab the antenna and the device break, and was already diving to try to grab his partner before the floor completely collapsed, but he wasn't quite fast enough. Cage just barely stopped Mac from falling in after him and she had to physically haul him back from the edge to keep it from happening.

Cage didn't think Mac was aware of it, but he elbowed her pretty hard to get her to let go, barking an almost frantic, "Jack!" as he scrambled back to the edge of the hole. Jack groaned in response, but even above the blood pounding in his ears, Jack could hear Mac's voice shaking when he called down, "Jack, you okay?"

Jack did a quick self-assessment, and counted the roughly eight-inch high bricks that were stacked up making the wall he was closest to. "What do you think?" he answered, wanting to say something while he figured out if he could get his ass up off the floor. Realistically, he hadn't fallen all that far or that fast. Not that it didn't hurt like hell. But hurt was the operative word. He was hurt, not injured, as his once upon a time football coach used to like to say. Both to make himself and Mac feel better he joked, "Just fell about a thousand feet."

He couldn't see him, but he could hear Mac's smile as he answered, "Minus about nine hundred and eighty, but yeah."

Jesus, Jack thought, that poor kid is way more afraid of heights than he ever lets on. Math and estimating numbers were one of Mac's strongest skills, but by Jack's own brick counting calculations it was ten to twelve feet tops. Looking down from Mac's perspective though, it clearly looked a lot farther.

Jack was feeling pretty good about being able to get to his feet so quickly (given the age and mileage on the springs, so to speak) and was even happier that his flashlight was more or less working. Then he got straight up attacked by a damned training dummy. And he screamed like a ten year old at a haunted house party.

That scared the hell out of him. And Jack Dalton didn't like being scared. Not one damned bit. But he'd take on the whole Bermuda Triangle and every haunted house he'd ever heard of to make his partner take back what he said next. "I've got to go to the radio tower to get supplied."

Nope! No way. That was splitting up. Mac already promised they would not split up. And Mac going off on his own was what Jack had been worried about all along. Mac knew it to. But he wasn't about to acknowledge it. Not in front of Cage anyway. He wanted her to feel more like a member of the team. But even Bozer was frequently excluded from his and Jack's more personal talks.

Instead Mac tried to reassure his partner that he'd be careful in a sort of code. "We're all leaving here together I promise." He paused, making sure Jack took his meaning. "But for now I gotta go."

Jack didn't like it, but there wasn't much he could do about it. Refusing to look up and let Mac see the worry in his face, Jack just half mumbled, "Go on, but I guarantee you I'm the first one that gets it."

Mac heard him as he was headed away, and he knew the words for what they were just as surely as Jack did saying them.

Whistling in the dark.

Mac didn't think there was anyone better than Jack Dalton at just gutting it out and going on in the face of his own fear.

Mac didn't know that Jack was thinking the same thing about his young partner.