Mac's head was going to explode. He leaned back and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. Mentally he reviewed his calculations. Mac sighed and wiped sweat off his forehead. He'd figured the torque differential as close as he could. He wrote down a recipe after making sure the small village had all the ingredients readily available. It would be an organic oil with an extremely low freezing point. Mac sat back mentally rechecking his calculations.

Theo plopped in the seat beside him. A cold wind and snow seemed to swirl around him as the kid pulled off his multiple layers of coverings.

"I got the gears all changed." Theo said. Tiagat came over to the table with two steaming bowls of soup. Mac pushed his aside, Tiamat pushed it back. She leaned over Mac and pointed a finger an inch from his nose. His eyes crossed as he looked at it.

"Look, you are trying to do the impossible. If you don't get prepared you will die. If you die what happens to Jack and the rest of us? You don't have the luxury of shoving help aside." Mac's eyes met the woman's fiery eyes. They were a light brown with an odd glint, like tigereye. Mac glanced over at Jack. His breathing was more labored. Owan had started filling bags with snow and packed them around the feverish man. Mac met Tiagat's eyes and nodded. She smiled and patted his cheek.

"Now that's a good boy." Mac felt his face flush. He shot her an angry look and opened his mouth to complain. She smiled and filled his open mouth with a hot spoonful of fish soup. Mac bent forward choking pulling the hot spoon out. Tiagat laughed and turned to help Gela and Celia gather clothing for Mac. Mac breathed through his mouth trying to take the heat away. Theo laughed. Mac glared at him. Tiagat took pity on Mac and brought him a wooden tankard of snowmelt. Mac downed half the glass in two gulps.

"Whew, ok. Theo, I need to show you this." Theo grinned and leaned over Mac's shoulder. Mac took him through the math and showed him the recipe explaining how it should be used. Theo almost shook with excitement as he understood it part by part. Mac smiled. In another life, he might have been a teacher and would have loved a student like Theo. If he survived this, he'd have to see what he could do to help the kid learn. His knowledge has already outgrown this little village.

"Ok, any questions?"

"I get that we have to decrease the inertia for the new rotors to work, but how do we do it. In the blizzard we have enough wind so it's not a problem, but when it's quiet out…?" Mac smiled.

"Theo, I'm glad you asked." Mac went to push his soup away but stopped seeing Tiagat's fiery eyes glare at him from across the room, "Let me get this down and I'll go over it, ok? You need to eat too." Theo sighed and nodded. The pair sat down like naughty children told to eat their broccoli and finished the thick soup as fast as possible. When they were done, Tiagat immediately filled the bowls. Mac went to complain. Tiagat raised an eyebrow. Mac shook his head, too tired to fight. He ate the second bowl tasting it less than the first.

He scraped the last chunk of fish from the bowl and shoved the bowl away before Tiagat thought he could attack a third bowl. He turned back to Theo.

"Mac! Mac, no…!" Mac felt his heart drop at the pain in Jack's weak hoarse voice. Mac stood up wincing as his thigh complained.

"Hey, buddy." Mac said softly as he leaned a hip on Jack's cot. The snow melted off his partner's overheated body. Jack's eyes were slit open. Mac bundled his friend's throat in ice. Jack's head writhed back and forth. Mac dug under the bags of snow and pulled out Jack's hand. Mac yelped as the hand grabbed his shirt front and dragged him closer to Jack's face. Mac's front soaked through. Jack's eyes were half open.

"If you hurt him, I'll end you." Jack growled. Mac tried to pull away but Jack's grip was like a steel clamp.

"Jack, nobody's going to hurt me. It's ok, big guy. I'm ok. We're safe." Jack blinked his eyes slowly focusing on Mac's face.

"Mac?"

"Yeah, brother, it's me." Jack's face crinkled into a smile and he let Mac's shirt go. Before Mac could back away Jack wrapped Mac in a double armed hug. Mac blew snow out of his face. He returned Jack's hug. Jack shivered, but Mac could feel waves of heat radiate from the anguished man.

"Mac, man where've you been. I thought...I thought you were gone." Mac sighed and pulled Jack closer gently rocking him.

"Jack, you know I'd never leave you behind." Jack slumped back his heavy eyes closing.

"You 'k?" He asked. Even out of it, Mac found he couldn't meet Jack's eyes and lie to him.

"It's gonna be fine, big guy, I promise." Jack nodded and let out a long slow sigh falling back asleep. Mac stepped back and shook snow off his arms. He leaned on the edge of the cot his shoulders slumped. He just wanted to collapse and sleep or burst into tears or...something. Mac closed his eyes and breathed deeply until he was steady again. He stood up and turned jumping. Gela stood in front of him.

"Mac, come with me." Mac frowned down at her glancing at Theo who was poring over Mac's equations, "MacGyver?" Mac's eyes met Gela's immovable gaze.

Brother, there are some women who are a force of nature, don't fuck with them kiddo. You might as well try to fly underwater. Mac smiled down at Jack absently straightening his arm across his chest. Of all the weird advice the older man had given him over the years, that might just be the most valuable. Mac looked at Gela and nodded. He meekly followed her to a table close to the fireplace. Celia sat facing the fire stirring a jar of a foul smelling cream.

"Ok, strip." Mac blinked at Gela.

"What?"

"Strip, we need to take care of that leg." Again Mac opened his mouth to protest. He found himself the focus of three glaring women. Women sighed and undid the buttons on his shirt. He chose to ignore Theo's snickering. He figured the kid must be enjoying having the women bully someone else for once. Mac pulled off his shirt. He shivered. Even though it was warm he felt cold, vulnerable. Gela walked over and examined the bruises Mac had acquired during the mission. Mac squirmed when she grabbed his chest and pushed a particularly tender spot.

"Ow! Will you stop!" Mac growled. Gela looked at him sweetly.

"Now the pants, off." Mac sighed. Being in the army, Mac had lost most of his shyness but having three women study him in detail as he striped to his boxers was enough to make any man shudder. Mac moaned as he slid his pants down over his thigh. He swayed. His thigh felt three times bigger than it should be and tender.

Gela pushed him back until he slumped into a chair. Tiagat brought over a small bowl with steaming hot soapy water. Mac gasped and gritted his teeth as his pants were taken completely off and his foot was raised to another chair. Mac winced. The two knitting-needle wounds were red edged, swollen and oozed yellow-green puff. A small reddened spiderweb spread from the puncture holes. They looked like bullet holes in glass.

Gela spoke to the other two in the lyrical language of the region. All three women stared at Mac. Mac huffed.

"Ladies, we need to hurry this up." He proposed in a soft voice. The three women shared a look and nodded. Tiagat bent and scrubbed the wounds. Mac closed his eyes and bit his lip at the agony ripping through his thigh. When she was done, Mac had enough time to take in a relieved breath.

"I'm sorry, Mac." Celia said. Mac blinked.

"Aw no." He whispered. Celia smiled at him then poured concentrated lemon juice from a can into the wound. Mac's neck muscles stretched as he leaned his head back and yelled. There was a brief pause then the process was repeated on the other wound. Mac sat breathing fast. He hardly felt Celia spread the thick cream on both wounds.

"There all done. You did well." Gela said as she wrapped a thin cheesecloth bandage around the wounds. Mac sucked in air and forced himself to straighten in the chair. He was covered in sweat.

"Thanks…" He whispered, "What's in that stuff?" Celia smiled.

"Fish oil mixed with seal fat."

"It'll keep it sealed in this weather and help it heal."

"The lemon juice…"

"Was to clean it out, yeah. That's brilliant. Thank you." Mac smiled as the sting abated. He reached out for his clothes. Tiagat pulled them away. She slid over a pair of homemade long johns and long sleeved undershirt across the table. Mac didn't argue. He stood and dressed quickly. The clothes were tight, but he thought that might be how they were suppose to be. They were soft and absorbed his sweat. The women all grinned and talked in their language breaking out in giggles. Mac rolled his eyes and returned to Theo. He ran through what he needed the kid to do while he was gone. Theo gulped. Mac grabbed him by the shoulders and ducked to meet his green eyes.

"Look, you can do this. You have to do this for me. Ok?" Mac measured Theo. Theo met his gaze and jutted out his chin. He nodded.

"I will do my part, you better do yours." Mac smiled.

"That's the plan." Theo jumped forward and pulled Mac into a tight hug. Mac stood stiff, surprised for a minute before bending and returning the gesture.

"You have to come back, you have to. Promise me?" Mac nodded.

"I'll be back, I promise." Theo's eyes glittered with tears. He turned and jogged away before they fell. Mac rubbed his face. He crossed to the table piled with odd clothing. Under the careful eye of the three Trailsafe mavens, Mac dressed in layers upon layers. When he could barely move, they nodded with satisfaction.

Mac crossed to Jack. Owan was listening to Jack's chest with the makeshift stethoscope. He looked up at Mac with a serious look. Mac nodded. What needed to be said that wasn't said already? Mac bent so his head was level with Jack's.

"Jack, I gotta go save the day. I wish you were with me, brother, but I guess it's my turn to wrangle that thar' bull to the ground." Mac swore Jack wrinkled his nose at Mac's bad impression, "Seriously, partner. I promise to come back if you promise to stay with me. You promised me once you'd never leave me. Please don't…" Mac's voice gave out. He angrily brushed aside tears. He stood and kissed Jack gently on the forehead, "See you in a day or so." He whispered. He turned and waved at the others as he walked through the cold dark building to the front door. He paused to study his notes on headings and the GPS. He tucked these into a Ziploc bag and put them in a pocket he could reach easily. The swirling black swirl roared against the door. Mac pulled a wool scarf over his face and stepped into the savage claws of the storm.