Author's Note:

Welcome back everyone! Here is the continuation of Picking Up The Pieces.

There is a little bit of a time jump from when our last story ended and this one begins. But throughout this one you will get to see moments that happened between them.

Review are welcome!

CHAPTER ONE:

"So…uh…I know how much you hate it when I keep asking when you'll be finished but…when will you be finished?" Jack nervously asked Mac.

Mac just ignored him and continued working.

Their current situation, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being an easy escape and 10 being well…death….was rated at about 8.5 and quickly approaching a 9. The door on the other side of the room was clearly moments away from breaking down as the assailants fought their way through. And Jack, unfortunately, was out of ammo.

"Just need to attach this wire to here…. and…..voila!" The locked door they had been standing at opened and Mac and Jack both took off just as their assailants broke through.

"Riles?" Mac asked over comms as they made their way outside.

"Turn left and take the alley."

The two men followed the hacker's instructions and ran as fast as they could. They made it to the alley and spotted the van, back doors opened, and hopped in. Riley took off and they were home free.

"Please tell me you have it?" Mac asked breathlessly to an also breathless Jack.

Pulling a small vile from his jeans, Jack produced what the entire mission had been about…retrieval of a bio-agent.

"Russ and Desi are already at exfil with Stein. We should be there in about 3 minutes." Riley relayed.

Mac nodded, even though Riley couldn't see, then turned toward Jack.

"Hey, uh, any chance I can stop by tonight? I need to talk to you about something." Mac whispered.

"Yeah, yeah, of course. Everything ok?" Jack asked, concern dripping from his voice.

"Yeah everything is fine."

'Knock'

'Knock'

'Knock'

Jack got up from the couch, placing his beer down on the table and walking over to open the door.

"Hey, buddy. Come on in."

"Thanks."

Mac turned and closed the door behind him as Jack went into the kitchen to grab a beer for him.

"So…." Jack began, taking up his spot on the couch, "What's up?"

Mac sat in the arm chair and let out a sigh. He had felt a little on edge lately. He had been thinking about doing something and knew he needed his 'Jack therapy session', as Riley liked to call it, to help reel his emotions in.

"So…..next weekend is Riley and my one year anniversary."

Jack let out a whistle. "Damn. Been a year already?"

Mac smiled. "Yup. Remember when Riles had just started with us….I told you that she would be the most stable relationship we would ever have with a woman? Looks like I was right."

Jack laughed. "Guess so. So what did you want to talk to me about?"

Mac leaned forward, elbows on his knees as he played with the bottle in his hand.

"Things have been great between us. We've handled work and our relationship really well."

Jack agreed. He had never seen two people so in sync and compatible. It probably helped that they had years to learn each other's quirks. And since he had returned from being away, Jack had seen how great Riley was at getting through to Mac, which was no easy task….he should know. He'd also seen how Mac was always there for whatever Riley needed…whether it was to give her space, a shoulder to cry on or a distraction.

Jack didn't voice his agreement though, just continued on listening.

Mac cleared his throat, "But…well….I've been thinking a lot and….."

Jack didn't like the direction this conversation seemed to be heading. "Hold up, you're not thinking of breaking up with Riley are you? I'm serious, Mac. I may love you but you hurt my girl and I don't care who you are, I'll make you pay."

"What? No, Jack. I'm not breaking up with Riley."

"You're not?"

Mac shook his head. "Of course not!"

"Good…good…then what's up?"

Mac stood up and started pacing. This had been on his mind for a few months now and despite knowing he wanted to be with Riley forever, wanting this was well….it was nerve racking.

"I want to propose to Riley."

The bottle Jack was bring up to his mouth stopped half way as he froze in place. A few moments and Mac got more nervous by the second. Finally Jack came out of his stupor and got up from his seat, placing the beer on the table. Walking over, he came to stand directly in front of Mac. The expression on his face was one Mac had never seen before. His nerves began to grow even more and because of this, rambling Mac appeared.

"I mean….I've always known I wanted to be with Riley for as long as we are able to be…you know….given the danger of our job…but something in the last few months…..I don't know….I never thought of myself as one to get married….probably because of our job…but with Riley….God, Jack. I love her more than I ever thought it was possible to love someone….and life this past year has been better than I could have imagined and…"

Jack threw his arms around Mac, stopping him from talking.

"Congrats!"

Hearing Jack's excitement made the nerves and worry Mac had been experiencing subside.

"Jack…I haven't asked her yet."

"I know man but come on! Of course she will say yes!"

"You think?"

"Listen," Jack started, his hand on Mac's shoulder, "I've known both of you for a long time. I know your strengths and weaknesses. And I have never seen two people make a relationship look so easy as you two do. She'll say yes."

"Thanks Jack."

"So, hoss, how you gonna do it?"

Mac sat back down, taking a sip of his beer. That was the other reason for his visit.

"Not sure yet. I just know that I want to ask her on our anniversary."

"Ok…so not a lot of time to plan. Do you have a ring yet?"

Mac shook his head. "No…I was thinking that if we have a 'no mission' day this week, I'd sneak out and go ring shopping. Wanna come with?"

"Sure, man. Though you know our chance of a 'no mission' day is slim. Especially lately."

"Dinner's here!" Mac announced as he entered the house. After leaving Jack's he had stopped off and grabbed Chinese food for dinner.

Riley had been sitting on the couch, feet perched on the coffee table as she flipped through a magazine. Spotting Mac and the food, she jumped up and walked over to the kitchen.

"'Bout time! I'm starving!"

Mac chuckled. "Sorry. Kind of lost track of time at Jack's."

"Good therapy session?" Riley teased. Though in all honesty she was happy he had Jack to talk to.

Grabbing the bag of food, Riley headed for the deck while Mac grabbed some drinks.

The sun was setting in the horizon and a warm breeze blew around them. Riley loved nights like this. Just the two of them and a beautiful view.

"So you know what next weekend is?" Mac asked, trying to keep his nerves under control. Talking to Jack, they had agreed he should broach the subject of the anniversary and see what Riley would like to do for it.

"Yeah it's the 10th right?"

Mac rolled his eyes. "Very funny."

Riley smiled and bumped her shoulder into his. "Yes, I know what it is. How could I forget the best day of my life?"

Mac smiled shyly at her. "So I, uh, I wanted to see if you had anything special you wanted to do that day?"

Riley thought for a moment, "Not really. Just spend it with you is all."

Mac took another bite of his food. She wasn't really helping him with any ideas. "How about dinner? I was thinking we could get dressed up…go out somewhere nice?"

"Yeah I like that idea. We don't really do that."

Usually they grabbed food and brought it home and sometimes Bozer would come and cook for them. A dinner out at a nice restaurant sounded wonderful to Riley. If they got dressed up for something it was because they had to for a mission. Now it gave her an excuse to go shopping. She wanted to make Mac speechless when he saw her.

"It's a date. I'll make a reservation this week."

Later that night, Mac was sitting in bed reading a new physics book that had come out. Riley was finishing up taking a shower and came out of the adjourning master bath in one of Mac's shirts, toweling off her wet hair. Mac stopped reading and put the book down. Riley looked absolutely gorgeous. Don't get him wrong…he thought she looked gorgeous with dirt all over her after they just did something ridiculous…but just out of the shower Riley always reminded him of their first time.

10 Months Earlier….

Mac and Riley had been trying to take it slow with their relationship. Sure they had been friends and co-workers for nearly 5 years but going from that into a relationship where one of you had just broken up with another co-worker very recently….well….there wasn't a playbook for it. So they had agreed to go slow.

Bozer and Jack were the only two who know about them, so when they were alone with them, they'd let their PDA show. Otherwise, it was business as usual. At least until they got home.

At night, they had come to an unspoken agreement that Riley would sleep in Mac's bed. But it never went any farther than that. Almost 2 months in, however, things changed when a mission put their secret relationship at risk of being exposed.

The team had been tasked with going to Russia where a group of insurgents were stockpiling a massive load of guns, IEDs and long range missiles. Intel still wasn't clear on what exactly they planned to do with it…..just that it was intended to be used toward possible retaliation with the US.

They were to try and capture the head of the group, Arcadie Ragonoff. Ragonoff was very powerful and was not easy to get alone since he traveled at all times with a group of 6 body guards. So of course, Russ, Jack and Desi were the ones who would be dealing with taking out the guards while Mac captured Ragonoff. Riley was set up in a van not far from Ragonoff's compound, hacking into the security feed he had to help the team complete their mission.

During the fight, Ragonoff was able to escape with Mac after him. Riley had seen from the van that Mac was on his own and decided to back him up. Jumping into the driver's seat, Riley put the van in drive and floored the gas petal, heading straight toward the large iron gate at the entrance of the compound. She crashed through it just as Ragonoff rounded the corner of the mansion, Mac not too far behind him. One of the guards that had been at the gate came up behind Riley, pulling her from the van and holding her against him with a gun pointed at her head. Mac came to a screeching holt…his worst nightmare playing out in front of him.

Ragonoff saw Mac's demeanor change and started to smirk. Mac began begging for them to let her go but Ragonoff didn't care. Walking over to Riley, Ragonoff grabbed her by the neck and began choking her with both hands, the guard with his gun now trained on Mac, making it impossible to get close to stop it.

Tears began burning Mac's eyes as he tried to look for anything he could to help Riley. But it was useless. Mac continued to beg Ragonoff to stop. Just as Riley's body began to go limp from the lack of oxygen, two gun shots sounded from somewhere behind Mac. Suddenly Riley, the guard and Ragonoff all fell to the ground. Mac took off running to Riley, not realizing that Jack and Desi were right behind him.

"Riles? Come on honey. Stay with me…please," he whispered as he checked for a pulse. It was weak and she wasn't breathing. Mac began doing CPR while Jack stood by pacing, hands in his hair praying to God that Riley would be ok.

Desi, meanwhile, relayed what was happening to Matty and Bozer back at The Phoenix and that they needed EMS ASAP.

Finally, Riley began coughing, Mac brought her up to a sitting position, leaning against his chest. He stroked her hair, murmuring to her that she was alright and he had her. A few days later they would finally announced to the whole team that they were together.

Hours later they were all back at home. Riley had gone to take a shower as Mac sat on the foot of the bed trying to comprehend what had almost happened that day. He had nearly lost Riley. But it was the job, wasn't it. No guarantee that when they went on a mission that they would make it back home. They both knew this. But after today, he didn't want to waste a single minute with her.

Stepping out of the shower, Riley realized she had forgotten to grab clean clothes. She had been so out of it since regaining consciousness and when they had gotten home, all she had wanted to do was take a shower. Wrapping herself in a towel, Riley cracked open the door to the master bath and saw Mac just sitting there.

"Uh…Mac? Can you grab me something to wear? I kind of forgot to bring clothes in with me."

Mac turned to look over at her, her body was mainly covered by the door and towel.

"Sure." Standing up, he walked over to his dresser and grabbed an old MIT t-shirt and handed it to her. She smiled at him before closing the door once more to get dressed.

A few minutes later, the door opened again and Riley stepped out of the bathroom, toweling off her wet hair. Mac sat for a moment watching her as she finished getting ready. As she turned around, he stood up, coming to stand right in front of her. Brushing her wet hair back, Mac leaned down and let his lips caress her's…trying to put as much feeling into the kiss as possible. He needed her to know how much he loved her. Riley brought her arms up, wrapping one arm around his neck while the other snaked around his back, pulling him as close as possible to her.

Pulling back for air, Mac searched Riley's eyes for any hesitance she might have about where things were about to go….but there was none. He knew she needed this just as much as he did.

Mac lifted her up, Riley wrapping her legs around him, as he walked them toward the bed. Laying her down, Mac climbed on top, there lips dancing passionately together as they finally showed each other how much they truly loved the other.

Riley noticed the far away look in Mac's eyes and wondered what he was thinking.

"Penny for your thoughts?," she asked, climbing into the bed.

Mac just smiled at her as he pulled her toward him. "Just thinking how lucky I am."