Firepit + Risk + Decision

5x15: Even though he wants Mac and Riley free from the nanotechnology, Jack has a hard time accepting the risk they are both about to take in the hyperbaric chamber.

XxX

Everything about the nanotrackers in Mac and Riley's bodies was nightmarish to Jack.

Those two, they were the most important people in Jack's world and it killed him to know they were suffering because of something he couldn't protect them from, something he couldn't even see.

He didn't need to see them to know he hated the little microscopic robots that were ruining his kids' lives. First, Mac lost control of his hands, and then they had been kidnapped, experimented on, and poked and prodded so many times the Phoenix medical staff lost count.

That was so far beyond unacceptable.

And it had happened under Jack's watch. He promised them he would protect them, with his life if necessary, and yet here they were. Mac and Riley were facing the scariest decision of their lives, and the rest of them could only stand with them, fearing whatever choice they made.

"Are you telling me there's been a secret escape hatch in this house all these years and you guys never told me about it?" Desi asked while cracking open a beer and handing it to Mac, who continued passing it down the line.

"Oh yeah," Jack raised an eyebrow thoughtfully. Desi shook her head in mock disbelief and none of them could help but laugh.

"If it makes you feel any better, I completely forgot about it." Riley said, taking a sip from her beer. Jack's eyes landed on Mac, the way he was smiling, it reminded him of old times.

He noticed a change in the kid since the Kovac mission a few months earlier, when the whole team truly thought Jack had died. He didn't joke as easily, didn't smile as brightly as he had before, and it broke Jack's heart every time.

It started a little before that, though. Maybe with Charlie's death? Or after he lost his dad, his aunt, and learned the truth about his mother's involvement with Codex? That knocked him down pretty good, too.

Or maybe Mac had been broken for longer than any of them had noticed. The nanobots took the rest of the light out of his eyes, especially after he and Riley were kidnapped and experimented on.

The thought of that was enough to send Jack into a blind rage. Someone had taken his kids, forced them to hurt each other, and who knows what else. The whole situation was beyond disturbing and it was clear to see how horrified both of them were about the whole thing. Who wouldn't be?

That's why this choice was so important. Between the negative side effects of the nanobots, like Mac's hands, and the threat of mind control, there were very little up sides to keeping them intact. Jack wanted the little bastards out of Mac and Riley but he didn't want to risk losing either of them in the process, or both of them. The thought was too horrible to even consider.

"I didn't." Jack added, joining back into the conversation, if for any reason just to take his mind off of the uncertain future ahead. "We nearly had to use that thing when The Ghost rigged this place to explode, remember that?"

"Yeah," Mac's gaze turned retrospective. "We faced a lot of people who wanted us dead over the years. The Ghost, Murdoc, Helman."

"Don't forget Mason." Riley said, not like any of them could forget the man who killed Charlie."

"Teague, General Ma, Silas." Desi added.

"Leland, The Merchant, all the Codex nutbags." Bozer was quick to continue.

"Jonah Walsh, El Noche, Harper Hayes." Jack frowned as the list went on and on. They had been able to protect each other from every single one of the bad guys on that list, but the nanotechnology...that was something different. How was Jack supposed to protect his kids from something microscopic?

It felt like the time Mac inhaled nerve gas. Jack had felt just as helpless then, too, but at least there was an antidote - something to make his kid better. The nanobots were just...there...wreaking havoc and putting them in so much danger every single second.

"After all the enemies we've faced, I never thought it would be something microscopic that might actually kill me." Mac admitted quietly, his eyes glued to the fire.

"Kill us." Riley frowned, looking just as lost, and the reminder hit them all like a punch to the gut. No, a punch to the gut would have been preferable, and way less painful.

"I ain't gonna let that happen." Jack practically growled, his eyebrows pinched together so tight they almost connected in the middle.

Mac's clear, blue and Riley's big, brown eyes shifted to him. Riley with a look he hadn't seen on her since she was twelve, like maybe he really would be the one to save her. Mac's was only full of sadness. He knew, better than anyone, that Jack was just as powerless as they were. Jack might not be the one in danger of being mind controlled again, but that didn't mean he wasn't just as out of control.

Damn, and mind control used to be so cool, too.

Not when it was real. Not when it sent Mac crashing head first into a wall hard enough that his whole right side was covered in deep bruising. Not when it forced his kids to physically harm each other. Not when it made the two most important people in the world to Jack look so violated.

Mac's sad, terrified eyes shifted back and forth between Jack and Riley. Jack could see the muscles in his jaw working overtime as he ground his teeth in a way that told Jack that Mac's dentist must hate him - or love him - depending on whether or not they liked having extra work to do.

"I want to go first, Riley." Mac finally said. "In the hyperbaric chamber. I want to test the side effects before you do."

Jack felt like he couldn't breathe, none of them could. They could have heard a paperclip drop it was so quiet as their little family absorbed what Mac had said.

Somehow, having Mac want to go first, to test the effects of the procedure before Riley did, made the danger seem more real. Jack watched Riley's face carefully as her features hardened, determined.

"No way," she shook her head. "If we're gonna do this we have to do it the way we always have, together.

Mac's lips twitched in a faint smile. Clearly they both felt comforted in knowing they wouldn't have to do this alone. The rest of them still weren't sure, though.

"So you've both decided to go through with it." Desi said. It wasn't a question, it was clear that the decision had been made.

"I know it's scary," Mac said, his voice fading as the words hung in the air. The only thing that moved was the fire that danced before them, flickering shadows over all their faces. "But it's our only option."

"No way, man." Jack shook his head, his entire being buzzing with protective adrenaline. His whole body felt like a live wire, like he was attached to a spring, the same one as when a gun was pointed at either of them and he felt compelled to jump in front of it, to take the bullet so they wouldn't have to. But there wasn't a bullet to jump in front of, no gun, nothing that simple.

No, this time his only job would be to sit there and watch, to hope for the best, and pray that they came out of it without brain damage, that they came out alive, even.

"There has to be another way." Jack said, quiet and desperate.

"No, I can't live like this, Jack." Riley interjected immediately. "I can't live with the fear that when I open my eyes I might be in a completely different place, that I won't know what I did, or how long I've been gone."

"Me neither," Mac said, subconsciously flexing his hands. "There is a risk involved in doing this, but the risk of leaving them be is...we just, we have to try. This is the best option."

As much as he hated it, Jack knew they were right. He could see it in their eyes, in the way they carried themselves since they reappeared in the middle of that damn field. They wouldn't be able to live comfortably, rest, or let their guard down for even a second if they nanobots stayed active in their bodies. Jack didn't want that for them, either. It was no kind of life to live.

Mac had already suffered the consequences of leaving them be. It was a miracle he regained the use of his hands at all after Italy. And both Mac and Riley had experienced the kind of danger that came with having technology in their bodies that someone with the right know-how could use to control them. If that got in the wrong hands…

When it was clear none of them were going to say anything, Mac turned to Desi first.

"I need to know you'll be there." He said. Her face crumpled a little. Having known her before she joined the team, Jack never expected she would let her walls down so much with them. She had always been so guarded, so hardened from having to prove herself in such a male-dominated field, but with the team she was different. She was more open, gentler. In the couple of years since she'd been on the team, she had become just as much a part of the family as any of them. "Will you help us?"

Desi sighed before schooling her features into a softer, more supportive smile. She reached for his hand, a comforting gesture, and ran her thumb over his knuckles.

"Yeah, I'll be there. No matter what happens." She said, both to Mac and to Riley. Riley nodded, her eyes shining from grateful, unshed tears.

"Boz," Mac's voice hitched a little as he turned to his oldest friend. His first best friend. The person who stood by his side since they were kids, defending him from bullies, supporting him through his years in the military, and who forgave him so completely when the truth about what Mac really did at the Phoenix came out. "I need to know you'll be there by my side."

Bozer, who arguably looked more scared than the rest of them combined, pried his eyes away from his own clasped hands. He looked at Mac like every single memory they shared was flashing in front of his eyes and said, unhesitatingly, "brothers for life."

Mac swallowed hard, relief loosening the tension in his shoulders a little. "Brothers for life."

Jack wasn't ready for the three sets of eyes that fell to him next, so expectantly. Jack didn't know how to leave them, but he also didn't know how to do this part either. It wasn't the first time they were facing a life-or-death risk. He had sat for hours in the waiting room of some Italian hospital after Mac was shot at Lake Como. Riley had been poisoned once, and when Mac found her she was barely breathing. But this was different. They were both sitting there, alive and as well as they could be after everything. They weren't actively dying, they weren't hurt. But going into those hyperbaric chambers could hurt them, could kill them, and Jack didn't know how to go from sitting with them around the firepit, to letting them get in the chambers.

"We can't do this without you, Jack." Mac said, Riley nodded, and in that moment Jack knew this was what they needed. Mac was right, there wasn't a better option. The firework nanobots had died from lack of oxygen. If the choice was between putting Mac and Riley in a room and sucking all the air out, or putting them in a hyperbaric chamber and putting more oxygen in, then the choice was easy.

They were both scared and they needed him. It might be the hardest thing he ever had to agree to, but he would do it, for them. Because if they got through the procedure with flying colors, he wanted to be there to celebrate. If something happened, then he wasn't going to let it happen without him being right there.

Mac and Riley were the two smartest people Jack had ever met. If they made the decision to go through with the procedure then it was because it was the right one to make. They had all survived every single one of those bad guys on that list because they had trusted each other.

Even thought Jack would have done anything to trade places with them, the simple truth was he couldn't. He had to trust that it was the right choice, that Mac and Riley were strong, and they would be okay.

If they were strong enough to face this, then so was he.

"I'll be right there with you, hoss." Jack said. "You too, sweetheart."

And the look of pure relief on both of their faces was enough to make Jack believe that maybe everything really would be okay.