"Well, you sound fantastic."
"That's why I'm calling," Mac said, keeping the 'obviously' to himself.
"Are you actually dying? Or is this more of a sucking-chest-wound-but-you've-got-a-credit-card-to-cover-it-and-just-want-advice-about-how-much-Tylenol-to-take kind of thing?"
"Very funny." Mac sighed.
It was bad enough that there were long-time medical staff he caught attitude from, but it was somehow more irritating from the new guy. Besides, the nightmare he'd had just before waking up miserable left him short tempered. Dead-eyed Murdoc with leather-gloved hands around your throat was enough to leave anyone feeling a little raw.
"Is it just me, or are all you guys this sarcastic with everyone?"
Mac heard a snicker.
"The boss lady reserves it mostly for you and Dalton, but I'm pretty much this way all the time."
"Then I won't take it personally, I guess." Mac paused, holding his breath for a moment. Then he sighed it out. "Hey, Tony, can you tell me who's on duty this morning?"
There was a beat of silence, followed by a slightly suspicious, "Why?"
As lousy as he felt, irritation flared. Mac flopped back onto his pillows. "Because I'm curious."
Another beat of silence. "Dr. Rodgers is here this morning, along with—"
"Perfect." Mac cut him off, relieved. "Could you ask him to call me in a refill of my last prescription … um … for the same reason. To Hoyt's Pharmacy? I won't be in today, otherwise I'd just come grab it from you guys."
More silence.
"Please? I'd really appreciate it. Or if he's free I could ask him myself. I just don't want to interrupt him if he's, you know, busy."
"Hang on," Tony finally said. "Let me go see."
Mac didn't have a chance to reply before the 'hold' music came on. It sounded like Chopin on a synthesizer and was weirdly soothing.
Mac had practically dozed off, when a familiar, and unwelcome, voice that was not, in point of fact, Dr. Rodgers, yanked him out of his haze.
"Are you sick again?"
"Good morning to you, too, Nurse Sullivan," Mac rasped. It had been meant to sound wry, amused even. What it sounded was, 'like shit.'
He cleared his throat as quietly as possible, but she obviously heard him because that was as far as he got before Phoenix's Head Nurse spoke again. "Mac, seriously, this is getting ridiculous." It wasn't snappish or annoyed though. Instead, the comment had the sort of concerned sympathy he had a hard time accepting, even from his friends. It made him immediately defensive.
"You always say I'm ridiculous. How the Hell am I supposed to know if you really mean it?"
That got a laugh. "I always mean it," she replied pleasantly. "I especially mean it this morning. Tony said you called in to work?"
"So? I get personal time, Sully," he grumped, carefully avoiding calling it sick time and then feeling silly for doing it.
"Of course you do. And you International Men of Mystery earn every minute of it." She paused. "But you usually don't use it unless it's an order. Especially since…."
"Especially since what?"
After a long pause, she said, "Since Oversight came out in the open."
He ground his teeth together, but all it did was cause him to swallow and wince at the sharp sting. "Whatever." He didn't have the energy to argue with her this morning. "Can Doc call me in the meds or not?"
"Mac," the nurse said gently. "This is the fifth time in three months. And the last three times it's been one right after another."
He sighed. "I know. It's been a rough summer. Maybe it's the wildfires."
"It keeps coming back, regardless of the air quality."
Mac frowned and sat up, trying to ignore the headache that had started pressing behind his eyes. "The air's supposed to be clearing up this week. That's gotta be it. I just need another course of antibiotics to kick it."
"I'm sorry, Mac. But Steve wants to see you."
He flopped down again, and rolled onto his side. "Come on. Could you guys just … Hoyt's delivers. If he just writes the scrip it'll be in my hands in less than an hour and I won't have to drive all the way across town for the same result."
There was another long pause. "You feel lousy enough that you don't even want to get dressed. Change my mind."
"I don't need Steve to verify that I have tonsillitis. I have a flashlight on my phone and a bathroom mirror. It's not like I'm asking to be prescribed controlled substances sight unseen. I'm asking for a refill on some doxycycline for Christ sake."
He knew he sounded grumpy, maybe even a little whiny, but he was almost to a point where he didn't care. If Steve and Sully pressed the point he'd drive to Phoenix. He didn't want to. Sully was right. He didn't want to get dressed. He just wanted antibiotics. He'd feel better by tomorrow if he started them this morning.
He heard her cover the mouthpiece, then muffled voices. She came back on the line. "There's no one who could drive you over?"
"Not today. Everyone else is at a briefing."
"For a mission?" she asked, obviously incredulous that he wasn't there, too.
"Yeah. It's something local apparently. Matty said it's not exactly a subtle job, so it's really more suited to Jack as a primary."
Sully laughed again. "I think Matty Webber is just becoming as big a mother hen as the rest of your team."
"That can't be—"
"You should have seen her the day Murdoc snatched you out of your house. Nobody but Dr. Patel was allowed within 50 feet of you. And she told Oversight off on the phone right in front of me about letting you go back out to take him down."
Mac's face slipped into an involuntary grin. "Really?"
"My hand to God."
"I kind of wish I could have seen that."
"I bet I could have sold tickets. And considering how often our recommendations about how long to bench you guys after things get colorful out there get ignored by him, I know who I was rooting for." She paused. "Although sometimes Matty isn't much better."
"Well, I'm not about to let anyone else join the Mother Hen Club. So that's probably good … In all seriousness though, I don't need anyone to drive me. I just think it's silly to contend with traffic and take up an exam room,when we all know exactly what the issue is already."
"Okay … Gimme a sec."
Mac waited through another muffled exchange. "Sully?" he prompted when it grew silent again.
"Proving that your mutual obsession with old comic books is a liability and that he's a big softie, our very own Dr. Steve Rodgers is sending your antibiotics to your pharmacy right now. Along with some prescription numbing spray so you can get some real rest."
"That's great. Thank you. Both of you." Mac started to pull his phone away from his ear to end the call before Steve changed his mind.
"Not so fast, Angus," she said, like she knew exactly what he was doing.
"Yeah, Sully?"
"He still wants to see you."
"You just said—"
"The full twenty four hours off duty. Then report to Medical before you go back to the office."
"Okay. Sure. Whatever makes you guys happy." Mac ended the call before any other addendums could be added to the agreement. He called the pharmacy to let them know there was incoming and requested rush delivery. "Just use the credit card on file, yeah?" he asked when they wanted a payment method. He wallet was still in his pants and they were on top of the hamper all the way in the bathroom.
Once details with Hoyt's were squared away, he promptly fell back asleep, dreaming fitfully of blank dark eyes and slithering menace, until the delivery guy rang the doorbell.