Author's Note: I just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone for the support you have shown this story, it means so much to me, and I am forever grateful! Seriously, thank you!

Chapter Seven

Matty woke up to her phone's ringtone blaring mercilessly by her head. She reached over and pulled the phone to her by the charging cord, her eyes squinting against the unnatural light igniting the screen, and answered it by the third ring.

"Hello?" She said, forcing the grogginess out of her voice. She had only left the hospital a few hours ago based on the red numbers of her alarm clock and was truly exhausted in the wake of everything that had happened to her agents – who was she kidding, her family.

"Director Webber?" the voice was familiar, one of the nurses taking care of Mac, and overtly terrified. There was a loud crash in the background, followed by the wobbly, tinny sound of something metal spinning on its rim.

"Sir, Agent Dalton, please calm down."

"What's going on?" Matty demanded, flinging the blankets off her and racing to her bureau to get dressed. Something was wrong, really wrong, and her gut was screaming at her to get to the hospital.

"There was an attack, I'm sorry I don't know what happened exactly, but someone attacked Agent's Dalton and MacGyver. You need to get down here."

"Are they hurt?" Matty asked, hiding the fear blossoming inside her. She turned on speaker phone as she dressed, throwing whatever her hands touched on without caring about what it would look like. When she was done, she grabbed the phone and raced to the door. She grabbed her keys from the small dish on the table by her front door and hurried to her car.

"They were drugged with something. Agent Dalton is recovering from it, but he's incredibly agitated, Agent MacGyver is reacting more strongly, and some of his stitches were torn so they're working on getting the bleeding under control enough to fix them."

"I'm on my way," Matty said sternly, ending the call. Where was the security guard at Mac's door? She knew deep down that it had to be Murdoc but how did he get through. This was a hospital that was used to helping them, one of the few places that actually knew who they were and what they did – it was always a calculated risk to let anyone in on the secrets surrounding their work but there were times, like now, when they were too injured for Phoenix Medical and they needed a safe place that was in the loop.

They maintained cover if they had to receive emergency assistance from other facilities but since UCLA Medical was their go-to, the people who worked there had to know what kind of dangers might follow her team. Especially in situations like this.

She arrived in record time and darted into the hospital, taking the elevator to the right floor for the ICU and charged straight for Mac's room.

"Please calm down," she heard the commotion before she got there. The nurse's voice had taken on a slight hint of desperation. She was hiding it well but clearly new to the job, new to them. There was another banging sound and Matty glanced down at the security guard sitting with his back to the wall and rubbing his neck, as another nurse checked his eyes with a penlight.

"What happened?" She asked him steadily. Even though she hadn't said it accusingly, the man still looked up at her with shame and regret. He wasn't a Phoenix guard, he worked for the hospital, and Matty made a mental note to get some of their guys down there – ASAP.

"I don't know, ma'am." The man, Stanley, Matty remembered, said. "There was a commotion down the hall and when I looked over to see what was happening I felt something sharp pierce my neck. Next thing I knew, I was face down on the ground and couldn't move. I never saw who did it."

Matty had a pretty good idea.

She could have kicked herself for not getting Phoenix security there immediately, she never thought Murdoc would attempt to go after Mac in the hospital, especially not the ICU. But he had breached Phoenix itself so she shouldn't be surprised he was willing to go to extreme and dangerous lengths.

She did know one thing, though; she was never going to underestimate the madman again.

There was more crashing coming from inside the curtained off area and Matty nodded encouragingly at the man, hoping it eased his guilt and hurried inside.

"Agent Dalton, please sit down." The nurse's voice begged and Matty pulled the curtain aside. Jack was standing on shaking legs against the wall, hands scrabbling around as he tried to gain his balance. His whole body was swaying dangerously, listing sharply to the left, and Matty caught the eye of the nurse who was hovering near him in case he fell. She was trying to get him back in the chair near the empty space in the room where Mac used to be.

"I'm gonna kill that sonofabitch," Jack slurred before swinging around and careening into the small tray table in the corner. He caught himself on the edge but the table wasn't balanced enough to support Jack's off kilter weight and it tipped over, sending Jack and the cart crashing to the ground in an uncoordinated heap.

"Jack!" Matty said and stepped toward her agent, worried he might have hurt himself in the tumble. Also, very concerned about why he was so disoriented. He looked like a fowl taking its first steps, not at all like the seasoned, highly trained Delta she knew he was.

The nurse kneeled down by the fallen man and gripped him under the arm before hoisting him with a surprising amount of strength for her small size into the chair. Jack leaned back, face pale and eyes roaming listlessly around the room.

Matty walked up to the pair and the nurse glanced at her.

"Stay with him," she told Matty. "I'm going to get someone to come help me get him back into a bed. The drugs he was given are reacting poorly to the concussion and he needs to be checked over properly."

"I will." Matty promised. "What about MacGyver?"

"They brought him in for some tests," the nurse informed her. "They'll know more soon."

With that, the nurse took off and Matty was left with a swaying, discombobulated Jack. She placed one hand on his knee and the other caught a restless fist in order to steady him. His eyes snapped to hers and she could see the despair written all over his face.

"Are you hurt?" She asked and watched as Jack wiped his free hand down his face and sighed.

"The bastard didn't touch me, except with that damn needle." He told her.

"What happened?" She asked. Normally her voice would be made of steel, demanding answers instead of asking for them. But she couldn't do it right now. Jack didn't deserve her hard ass bossiness; he needed the support of an old friend.

"That monster waltzed right in here, drugged us, and then ran his disgusting hands all over Mac while I just sat there and watched it happen." His voice got louder and louder until he was practically yelling at the end. He was breathing heavily and tried to sit up again but Matty easily pushed him back down. He leaned forward completely and pulled his hand in hers free before covering his face with both of them, elbows on his knees. It was the positon he had assumed the most since Mac had been taken and she hated seeing her people like this. Murdoc was tearing their family apart and she didn't know how to stop it.

Her stomach crawled at the implications of Jack's words. She swallowed hard, not wanting to have to ask her next question but needed to know the full scale of what had happened here.

"Jack, did Murdoc…" She didn't get any further before Jack shook his head.

"No, he didn't get that far, but he cut open his hospital gown and pulled off the dressing over his wounds and then studied him like he was a cadaver. Neither of us could move, Mac just had to sit there and take it and I couldn't do a damn thing but watch."

Matty could feel her own skin crawl just thinking about how horrible it must have been for the two of them, especially Mac. She couldn't image what it must have been like to be paralyzed and exposed as Murdoc did whatever he wanted. Thank God Murdoc had kept it above the waist but it was by no means okay what had happened. Mac should have never been subjected to such a revolting situation and she hoped that this wouldn't put off his recovery too much. There was no way this wouldn't leave psychological scars but they would be there to help him through it, just like always.

"I'm going to kill him." Jack stated simply, the heavy eye contact saying more than even his words implied. "I'm gonna hunt the sick freak down and then I'm gonna kill him."

Matty knew she shouldn't be hearing this because she knew he was telling the truth. She was not allowed to sanction that kind of mission without authorization from Oversight, and as much as Oversight should care about what was happening, she wasn't sure if he would approve.

She knew she shouldn't do it, she knew it might get all of them in trouble, but Murdoc had messed with her family one time too many, this was the final straw, and she wanted to see the psychopath in the ground as much as Jack did.

With lips pressed tight into a line, and her brow furrowed under the heavy weight between them, she nodded her support and knew deep down that Jack was going to make good on his promise. She felt nothing but hope that he would.

Jack wasn't a heavy sleeper, he never had been, but when Mac was hurt it got to a point where he barely slept at all. The weight of the past week finally crashed over him, though, and his eyes drifted shut. He could sleep because he could feel the solid weight of Mac on the bed above where his head had come to rest by the kid's side. He could feel Mac's hand in his and the soft beating of his heart in the wrist under Jack's fingers. He slept more soundly than he had for a while because he could physically feel that his kid was safe.

It was the crushing exhaustion and false sense of security that everything would be okay that made it so Jack didn't wake up immediately when Murdoc pushed a syringe filled with nothing but air into the IV of a man down the hall, which caused a sudden cardiac arrest episode for the poor man a few moments later. He didn't wake up when the Code Blue was announced or when Murdoc took out the security guard. He didn't wake up when Murdoc pulled back the curtain and walked up behind him. He only woke up when the needle bit into his skin and the paralyzing agent froze his body, leaving him completely immobile but wide awake.

He tried to move, tried to fight or scream or do anything except just lie there helplessly as Murdoc's soft whistling filtered in as he walked around to Mac's other side. He heard the soft grunt Mac made when Murdoc injected him, too, and continued to whistle. Jack could feel Mac's hand flinch in his grip before stilling completely, the soft beat of his heart unwavering, just like Jack's. That's when Jack realized how many sensations he could still feel. He could feel everything, even terror, but his body wouldn't respond at all. That must have been how it was for Mac, too, totally immobile but completely aware. Locked and trapped inside a heavy, immovable body.

"Hello again, MacGyver." Murdoc's quiet voice was light as air as he taunted Mac. "When I told you I'd be seeing you I didn't intend for our next meeting to be so soon, but I heard about your grievous injuries from my little rocket launcher attack and I had to see the damage for myself."

Move, Jack begged his unresponsive limbs, gotta help him…

"You won't be moving any time soon, I'm afraid." Murdoc explained, as if reading Jack's thoughts, which only caused Jack to fight harder. What the hell had Lord Nutbar done to them? "I wasn't kidding when I told you that you inspire me, MacGyver. The way your mind works is so…unique, and beautiful, and you have really made me see the world in a whole new way. I want to start this by thanking you for that."

"Don't you worry about good ol' Jackie boy, Angus." Jack could feel Murdoc hovering over him, so close he could feel the madman's hot breath on his neck. Oh man, Murdoc was lucky he couldn't move. "I gave him the same thing I gave you. I had to get creative with this one. I needed to find a drug that would paralyze you, keep you awake and aware, and yet stop your heartrate and blood pressure from changing enough so the lovely staff at this fine establishment didn't run in and ruin all our fun. I would hate for anything to happen to innocent people just doing their jobs, wouldn't you?

There was a beat of silence.

"You don't have to answer me, MacGyver." Murdoc said with a jovial chuckle. "I know you. You're the blond boy scout on his noble mission to find dear old daddy, the Big Hero Angus MacGyver. You would never let anyone get hurt; I don't know how you get through the day. It must get so boring being so good all the time.

"You don't have to worry about that anyway, I caused a bit of a medical emergency on the other end of the hall. Unfortunately, I don't think the nice doctors and nurses are going to have any luck with the poor man playing the role of 'distraction' but it should give us enough time.

"I'm sure you're curious about the drug I just gave you. Don't worry; it's nothing like the last one. I had to get creative, like I said, so in order for all of those pesky little things to be possible I played scientist and mixed a few of my favorites together. I thought you of all people would be proud of the influence you've had on others to get involved with the physical sciences.

"First, to paralyze you I used a dash of Atracurium besilate to stop that pesky Acetylcholine from doing its job. And then, to keep your heartrate and blood pressure under control there's a pinch of acebutolol. Finally, and my personal favorite, to keep you conscious there's a sprinkle of good old fashion adrenaline. Just enough to keep you from being able to fall asleep on me while we're having our fun. What do you think about that, Jackie Boy?"

Jack had been focusing so hard on the explanation of the drug combination Murdoc had used that he almost missed it when Murdoc's attention jumped back to him. He felt a hand grab onto the back of his shirt and pull him up, his hand falling away from Mac's, and he longed to have that contact back. He felt his head loll like a puppet on a string as Murdoc propped him up against the back of the chair, his chin falling before Murdoc orienting him so he was staring directly at Mac's limp and yet somehow still tense frame. He couldn't move his eyes, which were burning like they were covered in fifty years of dust, but he could see Mac's face. He looked scared - frozen and terrified. His face was too pale, his breathing steady but hitching slightly during every inhale. There were thin lines of stress creasing Mac's forehead and he could see in those paralyzed blue eyes that Mac was fighting, too.

Come on, kid, you can do it. I won't give up, either.

"It really is quite remarkable. Hold that for me will you?" Jack felt the weight of Murdoc's jacket falling over his legs and would have growled if he could have. "I didn't know if it was going to work, all those drugs mixed together – who knew what would happen to you two. But I think you're rubbing off on me MacGyver, things seem to be going exactly according to plan.

"Now, you don't have to worry too much, my friends, I don't plan on hurting either of you. I just want to see."

What the hell did that mean?

Jack watched with bated breath as Murdoc crossed back into his vision, on the other side of Mac's bed, and pulled the kid's arm out of the sling strapped across his body. Jack's vision turned red when Mac actually grunted at the pain the motion caused when Murdoc straightened his arm to his side. He was going to kill the psycho. Murdoc actually had the gall to apologize and sound sincere about it.

If you don't want to hurt him, stop touching him where he's injured, maybe? Jack thought venomously.

As soon as he saw the scissors come into view, he snapped. He didn't care that he was paralyzed, he didn't care that it was impossible to move, he kicked and fought and clawed his way through the haze of drugs until his whole body was shaking with the sheer force of his rage.

Don't you fucking dare…

He could do nothing but watch as Murdoc cut Mac's hospital gown down the middle and pulled the two halves aside, presenting Mac's ruined torso for both of them to see. Jack gulped at the sight of the bandages and bruises. The long one down Mac's stomach was the worst. He knew the kid had a splenectomy to remove his badly damaged spleen, and it had been explained to him in greater detail later on that the mid-line incision had been necessary because they found a few bleeds and needed to do a more in depth search for more. One of them had been bad enough that if they hadn't found it when they did he would have bleed to death before they could have gotten him back into the OR. The scar was going to be pretty big this time but at least he was alive to have one. If Murdoc didn't kill him, now.

The sight of it still stung Jack. It was vivid proof of his failure to protect Mac, to stop all of this from happening. Even now, Jack was right there but could do nothing to help, to stop whatever Murdoc had planned. Like always, he was so close and yet too far away to do anything.

Murdoc carefully took off his black gloves and set them down with the scissors before peeling the dressing off the wound. He did it gently, proving yet again that he wasn't intending to hurt Mac. But Jack knew you couldn't trust someone like Murdoc, he could change his mind at any moment.

When he was done, he stepped back and seemed to simply admire every single one of Mac's injuries. Jack grimaced internally at the sight of Mac's broken body.

I'm so sorry, kid, so goddamn sorry…

"I didn't intend for this but you look so good covered in bruises and scars." Murdoc said as his hands came up to brush against Mac's bruised skin, tracing his fingers along his side. When Mac physically flinched at the contact, Jack flung himself against the wall holding him still. He shifted a little more than he had before and the progress made him fight even harder.

I'm coming, Mac, just hold on…

The small trail of blood that seeped down Mac's side made his heart go cold as he watched Murdoc continue to explore every trace of visible injury, his hand roaming all over Mac's exposed chest and abdomen. He could see that even though Murdoc wasn't intending to hurt Mac, he still was. He could see the struggle, see Mac's fingers twitching and was highly tuned to every single hitch in Mac's breathing.

Jack jolted forward a little, his chair scraping against the floor quietly as Mac's hand balled into a fist at his side. They were doing it; just a little bit more and they'd both be free. Murdoc was so entranced by his exploring he didn't seem to notice that his prisoners were both gaining back control over their bodies.

Jack became so distracted by his own desperate attempts he didn't even notice when Mac got a grip on the scissors. He had never been more proud of Mac in his life when the kid slammed the pointy end into Murdoc's gut, the crazy man grunted in pain.

Shit, no, damn it…

The fingers dancing across Mac's incision dug in and pulled, blood seeping from the torn sutures, as Murdoc smiled wickedly down at Mac. The alarms began blaring as the sedative released its hold on Mac's vitals and his heart jolted into a shrieking gallop. Jack could feel his own heartrate pick up and he jerked his body forward, now able to keep his head up on his own when he moved.

Great, now I can do what a four month old baby can…

At least it was better than before.

"You win this round, MacGyver, but I'll be seeing you real soon." With that the sick bastard turned on his heels and bolted away. Jack ignored the medical staff that ran in before standing frozen in confusion.

"M…Ma…" Jack stumbled over the words, his lips felt heavy but he forced himself to move closer, he had to protect his kid, who was now gasping for breath as his injured lungs struggled. He hovered above Mac, not sure where to put his hands or what he could do to make it better. "Mac, jeez..kid…ok-kay?"

Of course he wasn't but he needed to get some kind of response from the kid, other than the frantic gasping and desperate eyes. The blood was washing down his torso like a crimson waterfall, turning the cut hospital gown red.

"What the hell happened here?" The doctor demanded but Jack still didn't have enough control over his lips to explain.

"Help him," was all he could get out and the medical personnel immediately jumped into action. The doctor ran forward, lifting Mac's eyes and flashing lights into them. Mac jerked in response and Jack wasn't sure if he was seeing much of anything right now.

"Pupils are dilated," he announced to the room. "Heartrate is 130 and climbing, Pulse Ox 89 and falling, and BP is almost non-existent."

"Wha' does tha' mean?" Jack asked, his tongue felt like it was made out of rubber.

"He's going back into shock," the man explained quickly. "We need to stop the bleeding and run some tests, Susan get some oxygen on him."

"Stay with me, kid." Jack begged, taking Mac's clammy hand in his. Jack watched as Mac's eyes fluttered shut and his body lost all tension. He watched as an oxygen mask was placed over Mac's face and his breathing smoothed out a little. That was good, right; it meant he wasn't too bad off - right?

"We were drugged." Jack said, pointing toward the empty syringes sitting on the bed by Mac's head.

"We'll test these and take some blood samples; he may be experiencing a more severe reaction to whatever he was given."

"BP just bottomed out," one of the nurses instantly announced as the beeping on the monitors grew louder and Mac was immediately rolled away. Jack could only sit and stare at his empty hands before the anger crashed over him all over again. He was going to kill Murdoc for touching Mac, for getting anywhere near him. He felt a small hand on his arm but jerked away from the touch, his arm crashing into something but he ignored it. He had to get up, Murdoc was still close. He couldn't have gotten far. He could end it right there and then.

"Director Webber?" He heard the voice ask but he wasn't paying attention, he had to get Murdoc, he had to get to Mac…He shouldn't be alone right now. Not now…never again.

As he desperately tried to find purchase on something he could use to help him stand, his arm knocked against something else and it was immediately followed by a loud clang.

Have to get Murdoc, have to get to Mac, he needs me, I have to be there for him…

"Sir, Agent Dalton, please calm down." There was a new voice but Jack ignored that, too. He would not calm down. How could he? After what just happened – no, he had to go right now.

The voices continued around him but he only had one singular goal – get up, protect Mac. He fought against hands that kept him in the chair and as his strength came back to him a little bit at a time he only used it to fight harder. He had no concept of time. How long ago had Mac been taken away from him? How far of a head start did Murdoc have? He could still stop him if they would just let him go!

"Let me go, damn it!" He said and lashed out, his fist catching something solid and a grunt followed.

"He's combative," someone said by his right side. "Should we get the restraints?"

"He was drugged and couldn't move," someone responded. "And now you're holding him still again, just let him go."

"He could hurt himself or one of us."

"There's a higher chance of that happening if you keep him physically restrained, I think."

The arms released him after a moment's hesitation and he stilled, exhausted from the monumental amount of energy he had been expending trying to escape the hold of the drugs and then fighting against the restraining hands.

"We just got paged, another Code Blue. What is going on tonight? He's exhausted; can you watch him until his boss gets here?"

"Yes, I got him, go!"

"What the hell happened in here?"

The voices faded away quickly and Jack blinked his eyes open. He hadn't realized they had closed. All he wanted to do was sleep, the massive adrenaline rush making him crash hard.

"Stay still, Agent Dalton." The young woman told him, kneeling down by his side. "Are you injured?"

Jack shook his head and she smiled reassuringly.

"Director Webber is on the way," she told him calmly. He could feel his heartrate picking up again, the faint echo of Murdoc's creepy whistling ringing in his ears. He couldn't stay here waiting for Matty, he had to get up and do something. He bolted forward and nearly tipped out of his chair. The woman raised her hands to try to calm him down and took a step back, her eyes darting around frantically for assistance.

"Woah, no, no, no, just sit for a minute, okay?"

No, he couldn't do that. Murdoc was getting away.

He finally made it to his feet and swayed dangerously, his legs were weak and the world spun around him but he fought for balance. He thought he was doing okay, too, until his hands hit the wall and he held on for dear life so he wouldn't tip over.

"Please calm down." She begged but Jack could only grasp around, desperate to find something he could use as a weapon. What if Murdoc came back, he wouldn't let the sick bastard touch Mac again, he had to be able to defend him and he couldn't do that if he could barely stand and didn't have a weapon. He would kill the psycho with his bare hands if he had to but he didn't know how effective that would be right now.

"Agent Dalton, please sit down."

"I'm gonna kill that sonofabitch." He seethed before the whole world spun upside down and before he knew it he was crashing to the ground. He barely felt the impact, immediately trying to rise, when he heard Matty's voice calling out his name, quite loudly, too.

Before he knew what was happening he was hoisted back into the chair and Matty was there, her face blatantly showing her worry in a way it very rarely did. She was usually great at keeping her emotions in check and Jack wasn't used to see her so rattled.

He swayed as Matty talked to the nurse, blinking rapidly to clear his foggy vision. He could feel himself slowly passing out but refused to let himself fall into that oblivious void. He had to stay aware enough to fight, Murdoc could be anywhere.

"What about MacGyver?"

Matty's voice trickled in, his ringing ears highly tuned when it came to Mac, and he silently begged the nurse for answers. Mac had to be okay, it would kill him if he wasn't.

"They brought him in for some tests. They'll know more soon."

That wasn't enough. He needed more information than that. Before he could even attempt to ask for more information, the nurse was gone and Matty was holding onto his arm like she was afraid he might blow away in a soft breeze.

"Are you hurt?" She asked him and he frowned, he wasn't the one she should be concerned about - even if he had the structural integrity of Jell-O right now.

"The bastard didn't touch me, except with that damn needle." He felt nausea churning in his gut as his mind ran through everything that had happened in rapid succession.

"What happened?" Her patience threw him off. Jack wasn't used to her being so…nice…to him. Their relationship had always been complex, rocky at the best of times but it had gotten significantly better since she became Director. Her calm reassurance that it wasn't his fault when Mac had been taken was appreciated even if he didn't believe it himself, and so was when she talked him down from the brink of a mental breakdown when Mac was hooked up to the ventilator, but he there was only so many times a man could hear that it wasn't his fault before it became abundantly clear that it actually was.

"That monster waltzed right in here, drugged us, and then ran his disgusting hands all over Mac while I just sat there and watched it happen." The words tumbled out, fast and out of control, and he shivered as he said them. He saw Matty's face pale and nerves tried to propel him out of the chair again but he was too weak to fight when Matty pushed him back down easily. He leaned forward, burying his face in his hands, his eyes burning and not just because they had been frozen open for what felt like an eternity.

"Jack, did Murdoc…" Matty's voice was low and it only took a second before Jack realized why her tone had changed so dramatically, what she was thinking…no, it was a damn miracle nothing worse had happened. That didn't necessarily make things better, though, just not as bad as they could have been.

"No, he didn't get that far, but he cut open his hospital gown and pulled off the dressing over his wounds and then studied him like he was a cadaver. Neither of us could move, Mac just had to sit there and take it and I couldn't do a damn thing but watch." He felt compelled to explain, he needed her to understand just how terrible it had been. And her face took on a haunted, darker expression, one that twisted barbed wire around Jack's heart.

"I'm going to kill him." Jack said and he had never been more serious about anything else in his life. "I'm gonna hunt the sick freak down and then I'm gonna kill him."

He left out that he wasn't going to make it quick. He didn't say that he was going to enjoy it and there was a part of him that was afraid of what he would become when he made good on that promise. He would do it, though; no one hurt his family and got away with it.

Matty paused for several long seconds, and Jack knew deep down that he was putting her in a tough position by telling her this, but he also knew that subconsciously she wanted the same thing.

That's why it didn't surprise him in the slightest when she agreed.

Riley and Bozer were sitting in a booth in an old diner down the street from the hospital because neither of them wanted to go home.

For Bozer, the house was too quiet when Mac wasn't there. It was different when he thought his roommate and best friend was just on a business trip but knowing he was injured and stuck in a hospital made it impossible for him to relax there.

His own hospital stay was still so fresh in his memory. Before getting stabbed, he had never really felt pain before, he realized. Nothing else in his life even came close and it made thinking about Josh's death all those years ago so much worse. Now he had an idea about how much pain his baby brother had been in when he died. He always thought not knowing was worse but it wasn't, knowing was way worse.

It made Mac being seriously injured and hospitalized so much harder to handle, too. He knew Mac had been hurt badly before, worse than what had happened to Bozer in the lab even, but again – knowing what it was like made it harder to be the observer, the worrier.

Riley didn't want to be alone either.

It was so hard to wait for visiting hours. Jack had been given special permission to stay with Mac all the time but that invitation only extended to him. Matty could probably be there as much as she wanted, too, but she had gone home to give them some space.

Her freezing hands tightened around her coffee cup as she tried to leech any more heat from the long-cold mug. It was still full; she didn't think she could handle caffeine right now. She was already so wired, even decaf would be too much.

"You know, when I first met Mac he was getting beaten up by the school bully." Bozer voice startled Riley and she raised her eyes from the coffee mug to find Bozer staring off into space, a small frown pulling down the corners of his lips.

"Donnie Sandoz, right?" Riley said, remembering their trip to Mission City a few months ago, and Bozer nodded.

"Yeah, Mac was kind of small for his age for a while. He had a major growth spurt in high school but when we were in junior high he was one of the smallest kids in school. I didn't really know him, he was just the annoying smart kid who always made the rest of us look bad by answering all the questions right, and I almost didn't help him."

"Really," Riley was surprised to hear that.

"Yeah, I've never told anyone that before but I wasn't going to get involved. But as I was watching this little blond kid getting the crap kicked out of him by someone so much bigger and stronger something stood out to me."

"What was it?" Riley asked, beyond curious.

"He didn't make a sound, not once. He was on the ground and Donnie Sandoz was kicking him pretty hard but he didn't cry or beg him to stop, he just glared up at him with a kind of fire in his eyes I had never seen before. He was the one on the ground, he was the one getting hurt, but it was Donnie who was losing. Does that make any sense?"

"Yeah," Riley said. "I think I know exactly what you mean."

"I knew in that moment that this kid was special. He wasn't just the nerd destroying the grading curve for the rest of us; he was the strongest and bravest person I had ever seen. I knew in that moment I had to help him, had to give him a chance and get to know him, and I haven't regretted that decision for a single day of my life. Even though Donnie got in a good hit to my nose and ruined my favorite shirt."

"Not even the day you realized Mac had been lying to you about what he did?" Riley asked. Bozer had been so angry, so confused, when he found out about what the Phoenix Foundation really was.

"Even then, I told Mac being mad at him was like being mad at a puppy. It's impossible, and I knew deep down he only kept the truth from me to protect me. It made so much sense, too. That brilliant, creative kid who was getting wailed on and never even flinched, of course he grew up to save the world every day."

"Hmm…" Riley hummed, smiling softly. "The first day I met him, the day Jack convinced Thornton to give me a chance and I got out of Super Max, I watched him chase down a plane, catch up to it on foot, and take off in the landing gear. In flight, hanging onto the bottom of the plane, he damaged the landing gear enough so they had to land and when he rolled out from under the plane he just hoped back up and kept going as if nothing had happened. It was like he was a superhero or something."

"Damn," Bozer whistled. "He didn't tell me that one."

"He does these incredible things and doesn't even take credit for them. He doesn't try to get attention or even think of them as anything other than just something that had to be done, I don't think."

"He's so capable I think sometimes we forget he needs help sometimes, too." Bozer said. "This whole thing with Murdoc, it reminds me of seeing Mac on the ground, taking a beating silently, with fire burning in his eyes. But this is a much bigger and way more terrifying bully than Donnie Sandoz ever was and I don't know how to help him this time."

Riley leaned forward and reached for one of Bozer's hands across the table. As soon as he wrapped his fingers around hers, she shook it a little to get him to look at her.

"You're not alone, this time." Riley promised him. "I'm here, and Jack, Matty, and Cage – we're all here with you both this time. You don't have to protect him alone and we'll find Murdoc, we won't let him anywhere near Mac again."

Bozer nodded, and Riley offered a warm smile before leaning back in the booth. Bozer's phone buzzing caught their attention and Bozer picked it up off the table, he stared blankly at the text for several seconds before his face paled.

"What is it?" Riley asked nervously.

"I think we might be too late."

To Be Continued.