Something held up the scheduled OR, so Sully had obligingly gone and gotten Jack to keep Mac company in the TV-less pre-op holding area.
Jack practically tiptoed in like he expected to find Mac asleep. He looked surprised to find his wide awake partner flipping through an outdated magazine that was clearly of little interest.
Mac flashed a little half smile. "Hey, Jack. Why're you sneaking around? Afraid somebody'll mistake you for a patient and poke you full of holes, too?" He waved the hand with the IV taped to it.
"Haha, you're hilarious," Jack said wryly as he pulled up the single folding chair next to the gurney Mac was stuck waiting around on. "And it looks like 'full of holes' is just you bein' grumpy, cuz I only see the one."
Mac snorted a brief laugh. "Sully's good. I'll give her that. And she always listens … well, now she does anyway."
It was Jack's turn to laugh. "Yeah, I think between all of us we finally got her trained a little." He gave Mac a little frown. "I figured I'd find you napping by now, if only because Sully seems convinced you're likely to try and escape if you're left to your own devices for too long full of less than a boatload of meds."
Mac snorted. "A guy has to make a quiet exit from the infirmary one time…."
"One?" Jack raised an eyebrow.
Mac grinned, "A guy has to make a quiet exit from the infirmary a couple of times …" He chuckled. "She must've passed her paranoia on to the anesthesiologist because her assistant came by and put something in my IV a little bit ago before the schedule got complicated."
"But no nap, huh?"
"I told the guy I'm hard to knock out," Mac shrugged. "He laughed and said I wouldn't remember having the conversation later. So, remind me to find him and rub in the fact that I definitely remember the conversation. But not until after I get my walking papers. Assuming I'm not traumatized by waking up during surgery."
"They won't let that happen," Jack said because Mac looked more than half worried about it.
"If the quality of the meds so far is any indication I'm wondering if they've decided not to knock me out at all."
"Oh, we're definitely knocking you out," Melody Sullivan said as she ducked into the cubicle. She picked up the IV line and screwed a syringe into it. "We're finally getting this show on the road, and I'm here to freshen your drink, so to speak. With something that has some chance of getting you too sleepy to change your mind between here and the third floor."
Mac snorted a laugh. "Believe me, I'm ready to get this over with."
"I'm glad. You've been in Phoenix Medical of your own volition way too often lately."
Mac's eyelids already felt vaguely heavy. "You're complaining? You're usually way too happy to have me in your clutches," he said with another laugh. Yep, she definitely broke out the good stuff.
"Since we usually have to drag you, I'm starting to get paranoid you're modifying the MRI into a medical staff mind control device or something," she teased.
Mac offered a slightly dopey smile this time but when she said 'paranoid' a slight flicker of disquiet ran through him. He'd been pretty paranoid himself lately. Feeling watched … hunted. He hoped once he'd recovered from this surgery and felt like himself again, he wouldn't get the heebeegeebies over nothing.
Another nurse, who had introduced himself earlier, but whose name Mac couldn't remember for the life of him, stepped into the cubicle to assist with the gurney.
"Catch ya on the flip side, kid." Jack patted him on the shoulder as Sully kicked the break off the gurney. "Have fun yeeting those tonsils, pal."
"Yeet to the wind!"
"What's that even mean?" Jack chucked.
"That his meds are working," Sully grinned. "I'll let you know as soon as he's in recovery, okay?"
They slid smoothly down the hall. The overhead lights flashing quickly by as the sedative slowed his ability to process his speed made Mac feel vaguely nauseated. He turned his head to look around instead, thinking that might help.
A tall male figure in full scrubs including a surgical mask and head covering strode by. His sharp dark eyes met Mac's increasingly loudly blue ones for a second and crinkled at the edges like he was smiling under the mask. But there wasn't a smile in those eyes. They were blank and predatory like a shark. Murdoc!
Mac half bolted up, but it made everything spin. "Hey!" he called out, But the man had already passed and didn't turn at the sound of Mac's voice.
Sully halted the gurney and came around the side to put a hand on his arm. "You Okay Ma-" She remembered the hospital staffer standing right there and caught herself before she used his name. "Mr. Green?" She finished.
Mac glanced at the other nurse too. It would take more than a little pre surgical doping to make him forget security protocols. He let Sully make a show of resettling him on his pillow so she could lean close enough for him to whisper, "That looked like Murdoc."
"Elliot has scoured this place. And he handled all the records transfers so your identity is as clean as the OR." She straightened. "You're nervous and that's okay. It's a totally normal way to feel." She patted his arm. "You're safe. We'll all make sure of it."
Mac nodded. It made sense, what she was saying. And it wasn't unlike what Jack had said to him about being sick almost constantly lately making him jump at shadows because he was afraid he couldn't handle the bad guys at less than his best. Today he was, and he could finally admit it, at least to himself, nervous as Hell. Tonsillectomy for adults was reported to be intensely painful, with a decent risk of complications during and after the surgery. He was also pretty heavily medicated. He ripped his chin at the elevator doors. "I'm good. Let's just get this over with."
He made himself relax against the pillow and took a few long slow breaths. Once he forced himself to relax, the meds set his head swimming.
After that Mac was only vaguely aware of the rest of the journey to the OR.
He didn't even process the part about counting back from a hundred before he drifted on an endless sea of starless black.