Episode 12: Screwdriver

Mac sprawled out on a recliner his long leg hanging over the side. He sipped his beer and looked over at Jack. Jack was sprawled on the couch a small pile of empty beer cans scattered on the table beside him. Mac knew the man was totally drunk, he'd been pacing himself but was definitely passed buzzed. Mac felt like all his energy was going toward digesting the extra piece of pizza he shouldn't have had.

Mac closed his eyes. His mind drifted to Nikki. He found himself remembering the night they'd had together. Sparks had flown like they always did, chemistry had never been the problem with him and Nikki, but his heart...he felt frozen. He wanted it to go back to the way it was before but it couldn't. Still that night…

"Shut up." Jack said. Mac looked over at him puzzled.

"What? I didn't say anything."

"I could hear that smirk from here." Jack said leaning forward to get another beer. Mac was going to caution him to slow down, but figured what the hell they were at Jack's house and going to Sarah's wedding had really sucked for his friend.

"I didn't smirk." Mac said. Jack rolled his eyes.

"Yes, it was the what a great night I had, I got laid smirk." Mac actually felt himself blush, but he couldn't deny it could he?

"I'm sorry, I'll try to smirk quieter." Mac said dryly. Jack laughed and waved a hand.

"I'm just kidding. I'm glad somebody got something good out of this week." Mac frowned and took another sip of beer. They were slowly making their way through Bruce Willis's complete collection. Mac didn't mind Die Hard but now they were watching something about golf and an assassin or something. Mac hadn't really been following it, his mind as usual busy with a hundred thoughts per minute.

"What do you think about Thornton?" He asked. Jack looked at him curiously taking a sip of beer.

"I can't believe she fooled us like that. I keep going over all the missions and trying to find evidence...I can't, but I've always known she's the best covert operative on the globe." Jack looked meaningfully at Mac. Mac looked down sighing. He didn't say it, but between Nikki and Thornton, Mac wasn't sure of who to trust anymore. "So how do you feel about Thornton...and Nikki?" Mac glared at him as Jack slipped in that last part. Mac stood up to gather up the empty pizza container. "Leave that! Look this is important."

Mac stood a long minute his back to Jack. Slowly he deflated and his shoulders sagged. He turned around and perched on the edge of the coffee table. He looked down at his hands.

"I don't know." Mac said honestly. He looked up and Jack could easily read his turmoil. Jack sat back and smiled.

"You seemed to get along...at least one night." Mac rolled his eyes stood up and moved back to the recliner. Jack shook his head, "Sorry, man. I know I keep teasing you about it, but I'm not sure hooking up with Nikki is a great idea."

"No, I know it wasn't...It's just…" Mac's eyes drifted to some faraway place. Jack leaned forward, his face serious.

"It happens, you're there, she's there...and she is your kryptonite." Jack took another sip of beer. Mac looked down at his hands.

"I don't know...I guess I wanted it to go back to the way it was…"

"But it can't." Jack finished. Mac stood up to pace.

"I mean it was good...great…" Mac smiled at the memories. His smile faded. "But I didn't trust her, I don't trust her...I know she's on our side again...but…?" Mac threw up his hands and looked at Jack confused.

"It's hard to love someone while you're waiting for them to pull out a knife and stab you...or shoot you." Jack finished, "Did she apologize for that at least?" Mac sighed and sat down.

"Sort of."

"Sort of?" Jack snorted.

"So are you going to tell Sarah how you really feel?" Mac said. Jack sat back and blinked.

"No we're talking about you." Jack tried. Mac smiled.

"And now we're talking about you. I think you should tell Sarah how you really feel."

"Dude, it's way too late now! She's someone else's wife." The tears in Jack's eyes made Mac regret changing the subject. He sat back not wanting to hurt his friend any further. "Besides, can you imagine us together? Off in the jungle somewhere with little Jack in one of those halter things? I mean who can you find to babysit while fighting terrorists?" Mac frowned at Jack's attempt at humor.

"For you and Sarah, it'd be perfect." He said gently. Jack looked over at him, his face slowly crumbling. He wiped away wetness under his eyes.

"Nah, something would go wrong, I'd screw it up, I always do." Mac sighed and shook his head.

"You don't know that...besides it'd be worth the risk wouldn't it?" Jack looked at Mac and started laughing. Mac frowned, "What?"

"You know, Mac. I think this week should go down in history as the worst double date ever." Mac looked at him surprised then laughed with him. He reached over and they clinked beer bottles.

Episode 13: Large Blade

Mac opened his eyes and winced his head felt like it'd been put in a blender. He blinked his last memory being Bozer screaming his name over the coms.

"Mac! Help me get her out of here!" Mac blinked. He'd been thrown from the helicopter. He stood up and almost fell over. He staggered over to Cynthia forcing his sluggish brain to process what had to be done. He looked over at Jack worried by his bloody nose, slightly slurred speech and dazed expression. Still it could have been a lot worse. Mac was tightening the seat belts around Cynthia's leg when Jack gave the bad news. Mac snapped at him and instantly regretted it as Jack answered confused. Mac put his hand to his forehead getting himself under control. He went to make a crutch giving Jack some space.

Mac sat on his haunches as the grass began to smoke. The fire was hypnotizing as he fed it. Sudden dizziness made him almost fall to his side. He caught himself and shook his head to clear it. Unfortunately that just made the woods cartwheel around him. He bit down to keep the sour taste in his mouth from emerging as vomit. Mac straightened. Jack was still bent over talking to Cynthia, he hadn't noticed. Mac was in better shape than Jack or Cynthia. He didn't have time to slow down until they were rescued. He knew the ache in his head might be a small concussion but he had work to do.

Mac sat down a minute to rest. He took a deep breath and forced his mind to focus on weaving the branches to his last trap. Suddenly he found himself bent over puking. He leaned against the log trying to take deep breaths. With one hand leaning on the huge fallen log. Mac moved closer. He glanced around to check the traps were right then lifted the solid log he'd chosen as a club. Mac found everything going blurry, and double. He closed his eyes. He just had to get them out of this mess then he could fall down dead for all he cared. Mac felt his stomach rumble. He felt miserable. Didn't mean it wouldn't suck until then, he admitted to himself.

Mac blinked and was having trouble breathing. Everything went bright, painful, black then blurry. It took him a minute he was alive. His head felt like it was a mile underwater. He turned to check on Jack who looked paler and in pain, but was smiling. Mac tried talking to him and found they both were missing a good chunk of their hearing. Mac staggered over to the bottle. He fell to his knees beside it and almost couldn't get back up. Stubbornness put him upright, and he helped Jack back to their camp. They made the call and his heart thudded as the military vehicles slowly whirred closer.

The blackhawks looked like wasps flying in formation. The missiles they sent down to the terrorists were very effective stingers. Mac grinned at Jack who patted him on the back. Mac heard him yell something about going home, then everything went black.

"Mac!" Cynthia yelled, reacting faster than Jack did. Jack crossed to his friend. He checked him over but couldn't find anything wrong. He frowned. That meant his injury was somewhere inside. Not good. He glanced up as military personnel surrounded him. They were snapping questions at him, but they were spinning. Jack closed his eyes, swayed and fell to the ground out cold.

Jack woke up in a bed in Phoenix medical. He groaned, his face felt like he'd been smashed into a cement wall a hundred times. Thinking about how many times he was headbutted and the crash itself of course...he might as well have been.

"Hey." Cynthia said. Jack grinned up at her. She looked a whole lot better than the last time he'd seen her. He glanced down and saw she had a surgical boot on her broken leg. He frowned.

"Aren't you going to have surgery on that?" Cynthia smiled and put a hand on his arm.

"I already did." Jack's eyes widened and he pushed himself up to sitting, and regretted it immediately. Cynthia pushed him back down. He put a hand on his forehead and groaned waiting for the world to stop sloshing around in his head.

"How long have I been out?" His eyes went wide, "Mac? Where's Mac?" He grabbed Cynthia's hand in panic.

"You've been in and out two days, and Mac…" She pointed to Jack's left. He let out a breath. Mac layed in the bed beside him. The younger man looked like he was sleeping. Jack frowned, he still didn't see any signs of injury. "He's going to be fine, they said that he had some sort of shock injury, they've been giving him some medicine to stop his brain from swelling…"

"Brain swelling!" Jack exclaimed alarmed.

"Yeah, I guess when he fell out of the helicopter he landed badly and his brain sloshed around...or something. They explained it but I'm a stick hockey not a doctor."

"But they say he's going to be alright?"

"They just brought him back from a scan and they said everything was 'better than expected'"

"What the hell does that mean?" Jack said managing to sit up without puking

"I think it means he's a tough son of a bitch like his partner." Cynthia said with a smile. Jack nodded.

"Damn right." Jack didn't even try to control the pride in his voice. A moan from Mac interrupted them.

"Mac? Hey bud." Jack called. Mac's eyes slowly blinked open. He put a hand over his forehead and slowly turned to face in Jack's direction. Mac closed his eyes and looked like he was going to be sick. Cynthia kicked the garbage pan closer with her good foot. Mac smiled weakly as he opened his eyes again.

"You look better…" Mac managed to say. He squinted giving Jack a once over, " You...not so much. Are you ok?" Jack laughed relieved they were all going to be ok after surviving a really bad day.

"It's all those knocks to the head everyone keeps throwing my way." Jack said defensively. Mac smiled and closed his eyes.

"Well if you had brought the right amount of restraints in the first place…" Mac said.

"Not gonna let it go are you?" Jack grumbled.

"Probably not." Mac's head turned and Jack could see he was fighting sleep.

"Well fine, next time you bring the restraints! I have to carry all the guns and ammo anyway. Maybe I shoulda just shot Victor…" Jack said. Mac chuckled.

"Any excuse not to bring restraints."

"Well it would have saved time." Jack said defensively.

"And pain." Mac grimaced as he turned his head.

"Seriously, are you ok, brother?" Jack asked worried. Mac held up a thumb's up not wanting to cause more pain. He held out a hand and Jack fist bumped it. Cynthia laughed as she gathered up her crutches. The two men looked at her through painful squints.

"You two are adorable." She said as she slowly made her way to the door.

"Just wait and see if we ever fly Cynthia airlines again!" Jack yelled.

"The service sucked." Mac agreed, more softly. Cynthia turned to wave at them and turned out the lights, leaving the door cracked open. She paused turning.

"Thanks boys." She said softly.

"Anytime, darling." Jack murmured.

"Uhmmm." Mac answered.