A/N: Thanks for the reviews. As always, thanks to Dlwells51 you rock! Also, helloyesimhere. Thanks for the advice!

Disclaimer: Don't own anything having to do with the show. If I did, I'd keep Jack all to my self... Sorry.

Chapter 4

Mac woke up early after a long night of tossing and turning. Having his shoulder immobilized made sleeping next to impossible. Every time he moved, a sharp pain would wake him up.

Hearing Bozer in the kitchen, he levered himself out of bed with a grunt. Not being able to use one arm made it difficult to sit up. Mac hated not being able to do things at a normal speed. Everything took longer. Removing the cap from the toothpaste. Showering, getting dressed without aggravating his shoulder. Getting back into the brace and lastly tying his shoes. It was extremely aggravating.

By the time he made it to the kitchen, Bozer was no where to be found.

Mac spotted a note on the counter held down by a small rubber duck.

Mac,

Went to work, be back late.

Smoothies in the fridge.

Get some rest.

B

Mac sighed. He went to the fridge and grabbed a smoothie. Sniffing the green concoction, he decided it didn't smell too bad.

Mac carried the smoothie out to the back porch and sat down. It wasn't often that he didn't have anything to do in the mornings.

Normally he'd be out for a run if he didn't have to go to work. Or he and Bozer would just sit and talk. Actually, Bozer would do most of the talking and Mac would listen.

Mac checked his phone. No messages. He hadn't heard from Jack since Jack had dropped him off yesterday after the debrief. It wasn't like him not to check in, especially if one of them was out of commission.

Now that Mac thought about it, their drive home from Phoenix had been rather quiet. At the time, Mac was grateful the older man didn't talk his ear off. Giving him all sorts of advice about what he should do with his time off. But, a silent Jack, was not a normal Jack.

Mac wondered if Jack had lied to the doctor about his head. It wouldn't be the first time but Jack had seemed normal enough. He laughed to himself. As if Jack could ever be considered normal...

Mac picked up his phone to text Jack when a new message came in. It was a text from Matty. All he saw was 'FYI Jack is... His heart raced and in a split second all manner of things ran through his head. Why hadn't he heard from Jack. What happened?, What went wrong? He opened the text.

'F.Y.I. Jack is starting weapons training with Bozer.'

Matty

He read and reread the message. 'What the hell?' He said as he got up to go back in the house. Here he thought Jack was in trouble and now he's going to teach Bozer how to use a gun!? Mac hit the speed dial for Jack, shouldering his phone as he grabbed his keys.

Mac listened to the incessant ringing, until it went to voicemail. 'Yo! What's up? Leave a message!'

Mac didn't want to leave a message. He wanted to know what the hell was going on. After a few seconds of dead air all he said was; 'Give me a call... Now!, I'm on my way to the office. We need to talk.'

Minutes later, he was speeding purposefully on his usual route toward the foundation. Trying to drive with one hand and dial the phone wasn't going to work. No sense in getting in a wreck he thought. Mac pulled off to the side of the road and dialed Bozer. It went straight to voicemail. 'You've reached Bozer. Can't answer now, I'm out on the set. If this is Spielberg...' Mac hit end before the greeting finished. Tossing his phone back on the dash, he pulled back into traffic and continued toward Phoenix.

Why hadn't Jack told him he was going to train Bozer? It just didn't make sense. What right did he have teaching Bozer how to shoot. Bozer was supposed to stay safe in the lab.

Jack pushed the button to retrieve the target. As it got closer he could see 15 blue tinged holes in the cardboard silhouette. He was pleased the training pistol was accurate. He wasn't pleased about the reason why he was at the range sighting in training pistols.

The range master walked up behind Jack inspecting his target. "Planning on shooting 'sims' for protection Jack?"

Jack smiled and removed his ear plugs. He ejected the empty clip and locked the slide open on the pistol before he turned to talk to his friend. "Hey Wayne, just checking it out. Got a newbie to train and wanted to make sure these things are accurate." He said holding the pistol up.

"Got a few more to try out with the sims then I'll be outa here."

Wayne smiled and turned to leave. "Sounds good, have fun. Nice group by the way."

"Thanks man." Jack turned back to the range. He pulled the used target out of the clips and wrote the date, distance and the pistol he'd used. He added it to the stack of used targets. Jack picked up a new target attached it to the clips and pushed the button to send it down range. He was putting his ear plugs back in when he heard his phone beep.

Picking up his phone, he saw he had a new voice mail. He checked his missed calls and saw the message was from Mac. Worried, he played the message back. His heart sank.

Shaking his head, he dialed Mac's number.

Mac was lost in thought when his phone buzzed. Without thinking he moved to reach for it with his right hand.

He was instantly reminded of his injured shoulder. "Son of a... Dammit!" Concentrating on the road, he sat up to get a look at his phone on the dash. He saw Jack's picture on the screen.

He was on the freeway now and there wasn't time to pull to the side of the road. Mac briefly thought about making a grab for the phone with his left but it wasn't one of his better ideas.

The longer the phone buzzed, the angrier he got. Finally, the phone stopped. He had another ten minutes to go before he reached Phoenix.

Mac was furious at himself for not keeping his phone closer. That was stupid. Should have thought about that before I pulled out. But, if Jack would have answered his damn phone the first time I called... Stop it. Mac, It's not Jacks fault you threw your phone on the dash... Great, now you're arguing with yourself. Mac shook his head. He sat up a little straighter and concentrated on driving, trying to stop his inner voice.

Jack listened to the phone ring. Finally he got Mac's voicemail. 'This is Mac, leave a message.'

"Hey, it's me. I'm at the range, I'll meet you up front."

Mac had said he was coming in. Jack looked at the call log. That was fifteen minutes ago. Grabbing his gear bag, he started to put the pistols and ammunition away. Once packed, Jack headed for the front entrance. If Mac is coming in, might as well head him off at the pass.

As he got off the elevator and rounded the corner, he saw Bozer. Jack set his jaw and stalked towards Bozer.

Bozer saw Jack at about the same time... Jack did not look pleased. Bozer immediately turned, inspecting the area behind him hoping the look on Jack's face was aimed at someone else. He realized there was no one there.

Bozer didn't want any part of whatever Jack had in mind. He ducked his head and started a brisk walk in the opposite direction, not caring where he was going as long as it wasn't in Jack's direction.

He felt a crushing grip on his arm and was spun around to come face to face with one very scary, very angry, Jack Dalton. "H... hey Jack. What's up... buddy?" He said nervously.

"Don't buddy me Bozer. Mac's coming in and he's pissed. You're coming with me." Jack said through clenched teeth, turning down the hallway dragging Bozer behind him like a rag doll.

"Bro, I... what's he pissed about? And, why do I have to come along?" Bozer tried to stop. Pointing back the way they had come, trying to get free of Jacks grip. "I've got some molds I really need to get to and some other important stuff so... If you'll just let go."

Jack kept his grip on Bozer and continued to march down the hall towards the entrance. "No way dude! You want to learn how to shoot, you gotta take a little fire first." He said with a less than friendly grin.

Realization crossed Bozer's face. "What?... but I didn't... I asked Matty."

Jack ground to a sudden stop, locking Bozer's eyes with a fierce glare. "Yeah? And she ordered me, to teach you! And, she was supposed to tell Mac! Looks like she did!" He said, jerking his head towards the security entrance.

Mac had just cleared security when he looked up he saw a very serious looking Jack and a very scared looking Bozer. Jaw set, he headed straight for the pair. "You two have some explaining to do, come on." He kept walking past them towards the elevator.

It was a silent, uncomfortably tense ride to the third floor. Once the doors opened Mac headed for the war room. Jack and Bozer followed. Jack was still seething. He didn't want to have anything to do with this in the first place. Bozer timidly followed.

The trio entered the room, Mac shut the door and frosted the glass. Turning, his glare shooting rapidly between his two friends.

Jack was standing feet apart arms folded. Ready for the fight. Bozer, had sat down on the edge of the couch.

Settling finally on Jack, Mac practically growled. "What the hell were you thinking?"

Jack raised his hand. "Now wait a minute Mac, I didn't want anything to do with this." He turned and glared at Bozer. "Matty ordered me to teach him. She was supposed to tell you."

"Oh she told me alright!" Mac said while trying to pull his phone from his back pocket. Grimacing when he felt a slight pull in his shoulder from the motion. He got his phone out.

"F.Y.I. Jack is starting weapons training with Bozer." He read the message and turned the phone so Jack could see the screen.

"Damn her, I knew it was too easy." Jack said under his breath.

"What was that Jack?"

"Nothin Man... Look, Matty pulled me in yesterday after the debrief and told me I had to teach Bozer how to shoot." He said matter of factly. "I told her it was a bad idea but she ordered me to. She said Bozer asked her."

Both men turned to look at Bozer. His shoulders slumped and he gazed up at his two friends. Mac's eyebrows raised expectantly. "Bozer?"

He smiled. "Mac, I just thought I could learn to shoot. You know just in case?" He said sheepishly. "I didn't know Matty was going to order Jack to teach me." He raised his hands. "No offense Jack, but you scare me a little."

"But why Boze?" Mac asked.

Bozer looked confused "Why does Jack scare me?"

The corner of Mac's mouth twitched up. "No, Boze, why do you want to learn how to use a gun?"

Bozer looked down and started to pick at some imaginary fuzz on the couch, then his hands began gesturing dramatically supplying appropriate punctuation, as he explained. "Well, between having a psycho assassin come into the house and try to kill us, and Riley being kidnapped by the fake 'zodiac.' Plus," he looked up. "Not knowing if the 'organization' will come after you, I just figured I could maybe help a little... You know, Just in case."

He pointed towards Mac "I mean you're hurt. I can do a lot of things Mac, but I can't make a bottle rocket gun or grenades or anything."

"Bozer I'm touched, really. But you should have come to me first." Mac said. "Or, you should have asked Jack."

Jack leaned to the side towards Mac. "I would have turned him down," he assured helpfully under his breath.

"Mac, I didn't ask you because I know you don't like guns. And I didn't ask Jack because well," he paused and raised his hands again waving them weakly, "no offense bro, but you're a little off and you can be kinda scary."

Mac smiled. Jack glared at Bozer. "Well I would have turned you down anyway," he said defensively.

Mac moved to squat down in front of Bozer. "Look, I understand why you would want to learn to protect yourself but," he looked over his shoulder at Jack then back to Bozer. "Shooting someone is a serious thing and I just, no offense," he stressed kindly, "don't think you've got it in you Boze."

"No offense seems to be the phrase of the day." Jack mumbled.

"I don't want to shoot anybody." Bozer assured them adamantly, "I just want to make sure if you're laid up or if you're out on some mission somewhere and another crazy assassin comes to the house... maybe I could scare them away."

Jacks eyebrows shot up. "Scare them away? Seriously dude?"

Mac glared at Jack and put his hand up effectively stopping what he was sure would probably turn into a long-winded Jack rant. "Boze, the chances of you, heck even Jack scaring an assassin away just by having a gun isn't really very realistic."

Jack crossed his arms. "I don't know Mac, once when I was in..." Mac stopped him with a look and took a calming breath. "My point is, if you want to learn how to use a gun for protection you have to be willing to use it for what it's intended... to kill."

Bozer sighed, "I guess I never thought about it like that." Mac smiled "I know buddy." He gave his friend's knee a reassuring gentle squeeze, then stood up and walked towards Jack. Jack shot a relieved wink at Mac.

Mac, satisfied he'd talked some sense into Bozer turned back to his friend and was about to say something else when Bozer stood up. "Could you at least show me how to shoot though? You know, just in case something does happen and there are guns?"

Mac opened his mouth to speak but nothing came to mind. Jack looked at Mac and shook his head. He stepped towards Bozer. "Fine, you want to learn to shoot? I'll show you how to shoot. In fact," he reached out and wrapped his arm around Bozer's shoulder pulling him into his version of a friendly headlock. "I'll show you what to do for those 'just in case' moments you keep worrying about."

Bozer's startled wide eyes stared at Mac, looking less than comfortable in his sudden imprisonment at Jack's side. Mac just rolled his eyes and shook his head. Bozer had no idea what he was in for.

To be continued...

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. I'm finding that when I try to write, my mood kind of infiltrates the theme. Kind of like going to the grocery store hungry I guess. Anyways, hope you enjoyed. Happy St. Patty's Day! If there's any glaring errors in this, I blame the green beer.