A/N - Hey all. Here's a short little chapter; mostly fluff and some set up for what's coming next. I'm celebrating my most recent trip around the sun today so I thought a little self-indulgent fic was a good way to do that. Hope you enjoy. ~ J
Mac decided that the whole work following him home thing had to stop. The Christmas incident with Thornton came with more paperwork than when Dodgson had nearly managed to kidnap him from there. He tossed a glare at the stack of forms he had to manually file and then threw one at his computer for good measure. He wondered briefly when Jack would be back from briefing the security detail on the new procedures Matty had come up with. At least when his partner was back they'd have an excuse to leave their desks for a few minutes, maybe hit the gym and do some sparring; anything to get away from the drudgery of the office side of the job. He picked a paperclip out of the bowl next to his keyboard and started unwinding it, not really thinking about what he was doing, just needing something to do with his hands that wasn't typing. He sighed.
At least some good things had come from Thornton's attempt at misdirection. The Organization was clearly furious, and their ire had made them more careless. Multiple leads had opened up. Matty and Sarah had arranged an interagency task force to work the case, so the investigation had become less compartmentalized, and while some argued that might make it easier to infiltrate or disrupt, others, Mac and Jack included, thought it was nice to spread the risk around a little bit. Jack certainly didn't seem to mind the necessity of regular video conferences with Sarah. Mac wasn't sure if he thought that would end well or badly for either of them, but he did think it would at least be an opportunity for some closure. And he had discovered closure was kind of important.
His dad hadn't stayed long after the Thornton incident, but they managed to recapture the good feelings they'd had back at Harry's cabin over the holiday weekend. They were certainly both still somewhat reserved, and Mac didn't think that would ever change. On some level Mac thought he'd always mistrust the man who had abandoned him at such a young age, and Mac thought that on some level James would always see Ellie in Mac's face and resent him because she was gone. Neither feeling was particularly rational and they both knew it, which would probably make having something like a pleasant relationship possible.
Mac sighed again and looked at his computer screen resentfully. Then he chuckled to himself. He'd just retyped the same sentence three times. He needed to get the hell out of the office for a little while or his productivity would be shot. He saved his progress, sent a short 'brb' text to Jack and was just getting to his feet to go grab something from the cafeteria when Mel stuck her head in his door. "Hey you. Still stuck at your desk, huh?"
He brushed his hair out of his eyes, "Stuck is the word. I'm starting to see a light at the end of the tunnel though. So I'm taking a break so I can focus enough to power through the rest of it this afternoon."
"Breaks are good," she grinned, pleased with her sense of timing. "Wanna grab some lunch with me and go eat up on the roof?"
"Yeah, that'd be great." He grabbed his jacket off the back of the chair and pulled it on as he joined her in the hallway and they started walking toward the elevators. "Hey, I thought you worked the overnight. What're you still doing here?"
Mel shrugged. "Newbie to train. And Brian is great, but I'm the damned boss so on my head be it if she screws up royally. I wanted to hang until I was sure she had her feet under her."
Trainees were, in Mac's humble opinion, the bane of most professions, but you couldn't just abandon them. He was briefly glad he wasn't the boss in this department because then that would fall to him, too. "So what you're saying is stay away from Medical for a while?"
"Isn't that usually what you try to do anyway?" Mel chuckled. "Tracey's skills are fine, but she's got the bedside manner of a junkyard dog. All business, no compassion. Damned Navy nurses anyway."
"Don't let Steve hear you say that. He married one of them."
Mel grinned. "We'll get her trained up sooner rather than later in the way I expect my infirmary to be run." Mac smiled slightly. The docs could tell themselves whatever stories they wanted about who was in charge, but he'd known Mel long enough now to know who really kept things running smoothly. "Besides, once I took care of a couple discharges, the only admission we have at the moment is Peterson and I don't mind her being miserable to him. Guy just rubs me the wrong way."
Mac gave what could only be described as a mean little snicker as they stepped into the cafeteria.
"What?" she asked, intrigued. Mac was nice to everyone.
"He and his partner were real assholes to me when I started here. They've always kind of cheered for me to fall on my ass. I'm looking forward to that particular 'Ding dong the witch is dead' retirement party. And I don't hate the idea of your newbie grouching at him."
Mel snickered. The two of them grabbed sandwiches and fruit and some bottled water and headed up and out to the beautiful rooftop garden that the Foundation maintained. Green roofing was one of the 'think tank's' special projects. Mel sat down on the east facing bench, liking the view of the mountains in that direction, and hoping to maybe nudge the conversation around to taking a hike over the upcoming weekend if he wasn't working, since she was supposed to be off unless she got tapped for field work. She was pleased to notice that even though there was plenty of room on the bench, Mac chose to sit relatively close to her. She didn't know if their brief handholding at Christmas meant anything, but he certainly didn't seem to mind the proximity.
They ate for a few minutes in silence; finally, Mac broke it. "You working this weekend?"
"Not unless I get called out with you guys or Marcus's team. Why?"
"We haven't been hiking in ages. We should go if we're both off."
She found she actually blushed and looked away for a second. "Um, sure."
"What's the matter?" he asked. That man notices everything, she grumped to herself.
"I was going to suggest the same thing," she admitted. "That's why I sat here."
He took a drink out of his water bottle to give himself a minute to think. Jack was right. She was interested in him. As a friend, sure, which he'd obviously noticed all on his own, thank you very much, Jackass, but maybe as something else, too. He thought about it. No one knew better than Mac how emotionally vulnerable he'd spent the last six months or so feeling, and he wasn't ready to take any kind of leap. He realized he was totally okay with following this path where it was leading at the moment though. Mac grinned. "A good idea is a good idea."
She grinned back, her nose doing that involuntary almost irresistibly cute wrinkle, glad she hadn't just made their friendship awkward by admitting to a little maneuvering. She got out her phone and pulled up a site with all the local hiking trails listed with photos that she'd bookmarked. "The Falls were amazing the last time we went out. We'll have to try to outdo ourselves."
Mac agreed and leaned closer so he could see the pictures as she scrolled through them, seeing several places he hadn't been in a long time that he wouldn't mind revisiting and was about to point one out when his phone chimed from his jacket pocket, once with the bosses text tone and once with Jack's. He took it out. "We may have to rethink our timing," he said, clearly satisfied with the content of the texts he'd received.
Mel's phone chimed too. "Looks like I'm being read in as well. That means Matty is cooking up a field op already. I wonder what's up," she said as he stood and tossed the remnants of their lunch in the appropriate trash, recycling, and composting receptacles.
"Riley just got a hit with that new facial recognition software she's been working on. We may have tracked down Thornton's fiancé."
"As in the likely head of the Organization?"
Mac's eyes actually twinkled at the prospect. If he could put an end to this case his life could go back to normal and so could everyone else's.
"That's the one."
