For Jack, downtime was it's own special Hell. He'd played a shooting game on his phone for a while, but had started pacing before the forty five minutes they'd estimated for the surgery was even up.
Fortunately, Riley rejoined him by the hour mark.
"Thought you had a mission, kiddo," Jack observed, welcoming the hug she offered.
"Like I'm gonna let somebody's bugging up my code keep me away from you guys." She chuckled as she pulled away to get her rig out of her bag. She sat, feet on the coffee table, and began typing.
"Still debugging?" Jack joined her.
She smirked, "That didn't even take till I got to the office, thanks to the world's least chatty Lyft driver. Now I'm making whoever it was run down the dark web rabbit hole they crawled out of."
"That's my girl. Chase 'em off good."
Ri shook her head. "I'm following them. Then I'm gonna wipe any clean identities they've got and empty all their bank accounts and give away their NFTs."
"I only know what about halfa that meant," Jack chuckled, glad for the distraction from the clock Riley provided. "I'm surprised Matty let you join us to finish this."
"I'm off the clock. This is personal." She clacked away for a few minutes. "Has Mac seemed jumpy to you?" She asked, as if from nowhere.
Jack shrugged. "Mac doesn't exactly do 'sick' real well. Combine sick with surgery, plus his old man butting in—"
"No," Ri shook her head. "I mean for a while now."
Jack nodded slowly. "He's … never mind."
"Is it about Murdoc?"
Jack felt a chill run up his spine. "What makes you ask about Lord Nutbar now?"
She shook her head. "Nothing. Just … when we've had to crash in the same spot … he's been having nightmares of the not quite as quiet as he'd like them to be kind, and…"
"And What, Ri? What're those Dalton coached spidey senses tryin' to tell you."
"This code wrangler I'm chasing … it reminds me of the stuff we pulled out of Phoenix after the siege."
"That's not great."
"It's not exactly like, but it's … well, it's too similar for me to ignore."
0-0-0
Mac first became aware that though his eyes felt cemented shut, there was light in the room, because he could see a reddish wall instead of a black one.
After a while, the gentle beeping of a post surgical heart monitor, accompanied by the total lack of softness in the mattress beneath him reminded him of where he was and why he was here.
Against a tongue that felt about twice it's normal size, and a mouth so dry he wondered if it was packed with gauze, not to mention his better judgment, he tentatively swallowed what little spit he had. "Goddamn," he whispered, hearing too much Jack in his own voice.
"Hey there, Trouble. I figured you'd be up around now," Melody Sullivan said from somewhere off to his right.
He tried to open his eyes, but couldn't quite get there. "When's now," he rasped.
"Oh, you know, about a half our before your vitals should've even changed. We just barely set the break on your gurney."
He gingerly cleared his throat and started working harder at opening his eyes. "I'll have you know that Trouble is my middle name, not my first."
"No, it's not. That's Henry."
Mac's lids snapped open. "How in the Hell do you know that?" he asked, louder than his throat was entirely happy with.
"Same way your partner knows that mine is Brigid. Being nosy and having a little mean streak."
Pain or no pain, Mac couldn't help but chuckle. "That tracks. Where is the old man anyway? Figured he'd have muscled his way in here by now."
Mac made a mental note to have Jack go find the anesthesiologist's assistant to tell him that Mac not only remembered the conversation from the preop holding area, but also their chat about liking the same football team in the OR. He wished all medical personnel listened as well as Elliot and the ones who were at Phoenix now. Imagine some cocky anesthesiologist not listening to a patient about how they responded to meds and the poor bastard waking up mid surgery. The thought gave Mac the shivers. Melody still hadn't answered so he tried again. "Sully? About Jack?"
She paused and bit her lip.
"Sully?"
She finally puffed a short sigh. "He's been back here about ten times already, but you weren't out of surgery yet. I was just about to go get him."
"Not out of … why…?" The blurry vision that always came with anesthesia finally cleared enough for him to see the clock. "What the hell?" That was loud enough to hurt and Sully clearly knew it because she passed him a cup of ice water.
"Small sips," she admonished before explaining. "You had some complications so it took a while longer than we expected. You had a tonsils stone on one side bigger than the other tonsil."
Mac's eyes widened, but he wisely didn't speak, just kept sipping the cool water carefully.
"When the tissue looks that bad, docs sometimes run pathology while the patient is still out in case they need to remove anything extra." She paused again, then cleared her throat. "With cancer running in your family, it seemed like the logical thing to do."
Mac accidentally swallowed an ice cube and grimaced. "Straw?" he asked, wondering why there wasn't one. There was always a straw. Half the time, medical staff fussed so much he was surprised beverages didn't come in a sippy cup.
"Sorry, Mac. The suction increases the risk of bleeding. Just go slow, okay?" He nodded, a frown creasing his brow that had nothing to do with the pain
He swallowed again carefully, then asked, "So … the pathology…?"
She immediately put a hand on his arm. "I'm sorry I should have said this first; everything came back fine. There was some indication that if you hadn't had it removed it could have caused you some real trouble, but you made the right decision and you did it in plenty of time to not need more than popsicles and sympathy."
He smiled at that. "That's good news." He shifted, trying to get more comfortable, but finding it impossible in the half sitting up position he was in. But his head still felt fuzzy enough that he didn't want to sit all the way up either. "I'm still getting out of here today though."
It was more a statement than a question, but it rose a little at the end with uncertainty.
"As far as I know we're gonna cut you loose in a couple of hours after the numbing medication wears off so we can really assess your pain and once the biggest bleed risk is over. Also the docs need a chance to get in here and harass you a little bit about recovery instructions."
A relieved half smile flickered over his face. He just wasn't up to pretending to be Alan Green all night once Elliot and Sully left. And he wanted his couch and his quilt, which he would never tell anyone, not even Jack, was lined with the blanket his mother had made him as a little kid. Once she got sick she crocheted all the time because the pain kept her from sleeping. He slept better under it than any other blanket he'd ever had, even the weighted one the Phoenix shrink had suggested when he kept having nightmares after Murdoc had kidnapped him and held him in that underground hell hole.
Before he could ask, Sully patted him on the shoulder. "I'll go get Jack to help you while away some of the time. Then I've got to check in with the home office. Elliot and his ENT buddy will be along in a bit."
Mac nodded his thanks as she left, gratefully accepting her offer of an ice water refill on her way out.
He knew the anesthesia hadn't quite worn off because it was the middle of the day and he could feel himself wanting to nod off. He set down his cup on the tray table Sully had left accessible and closed his eyes to indulge the urge, at least until Jack got there.
He'd almost gotten all the way to sleep, had started to dream of his mother's soft voice humming like she did if he got sick as a kid when the bedside phone jolted him back to full consciousness with its old-fashioned blaring ring. That's right, you left your phone with Jack.
He picked it up almost as a reflex. "Hello?" He thought considering what his throat had been through this morning, he sounded pretty good this time.
"Angus, you sound better than I expected, considering."
"Hi, Dad," he said, keeping the irritation out of his voice. Of course his father knew the second he was out of surgery and awake. The man seemed to know everything, all the time. Except for how to relate to his son. That seemed beyond him.
"How're you feeling, son?"
The genuine concern made Mac pause for a moment. He decided to be honest rather than downplaying anything. It would probably catch his father off guard and get him out of this conversation sooner. "Honestly? Kind of rough. I was under for longer than they planned and anesthesia and I don't get along very well. If it wasn't for the fact that it's a bleeding risk I'd probably toss my cookies every time I breathe deep."
"If you feel nauseated, don't be afraid to ask for something, Angus. The staff is there to make sure you're comfortable. Especially my staff."
Mac suddenly wondered exactly what kind of orders Sully had gotten when she'd been given this assignment and the idea of someone bossing her around made him smile a little. "I'll say something to Sully when she comes back."
"Why isn't she with you now?" his dad asked sharply.
"She went to get Jack to keep me company until they decide I'm good to head home." Before he could stop himself, Mac asked, "Are you gonna come by later?"
There was a slight pause, followed by a soft, "Would that be okay?"
"I … yeah. I mean, I'd like that. You were right about all of this. And I … I guess if I hadn't taken care of it it could have turned into a real problem." He couldn't bring himself to say the word cancer out loud to his dad.
"I've seen the pathology report." Mac had to bite his tongue not to snap that the whole reason he'd gotten this arranged at an outside hospital was to keep Oversight out of his damned business. The urge was softened by the huskiness in his father's voice when he said, "I'm awfully glad you took action when you did. And I'm sorry if my interference kept you from doing it sooner."
"Dad, I—" His voice cracked and he couldn't get any more sound to come out.
"You did the right thing, son. Do some more of it and get some rest." It wasn't spoken like his usual order either. Just like a worried parent. It caused a lump in Mac's already sore throat he knew he couldn't speak past. "I've made sure Dalton's place on the duty roster is as your Overwatch just like you were here in this office. I've already caught the rough side of Ms. Davis's tongue for having Matty call her away this morning. Your team is all yours, even if all they do is watch TV with you."
"Thanks," Mac rasped, finally able to talk.
"When I come by, I'll bring ice cream. It's a perk I promised almost twenty five years ago. I can't let you down now."
Mac smiled. All the ice cream in the world couldn't have convinced him to have this surgery when he was five, but right now, even though he'd heard dairy wasn't the best idea after tonsillectomy, it sounded like heaven.
"If I'm remembering right, your favorite is rocky road, but that might be a little tough on your throat. How about some plain chocolate? I bet I can even find some good vegan stuff so you're not violating any prevailing medical wisdom."
"That sounds great, Dad. Thanks."
"You sound like you're still a little drowsy. I'll let you go so you can catch a nap. That ought to make the rest of your time at the hospital go quicker."
"Sounds like a plan"
"I love you, son," his father said in one breath, quick to end the call before Mac could respond, or fail to.
Mac had barely closed his eyes when a cool hand brushed his cheek. "I thought you said he was awake?" Riley whispered.
"I am," Mac said and pried his eyes open again to give her a reassuring smile. It collapsed into a frown when he looked around the room. "Where's Jack?"
Riley's brows drew together in her most irritated expression. "He got called in for a mission by Oversight. You know, the 'get your ass in here or you're fired' kind."
Mac pushed himself upright. "No."
"I didn't think he'd be that big a jerk either, but—"
"No, I just talked to my dad. He called to see how I was and said you guys were all on Mac duty until I'm cleared to be back at the office."
Riley's eyes widened.
"Did he leave you my phone?"
Riley wordlessly fished Mac's cell out of her bag and handed it to him.
He powered it on and swore in full military fashion that Riley rarely heard him use.
Wakey, wakey sleepy Angus. You've got some business to attend to.
It never ends well when we let down our partners.
'I'll be seeing you, in all the old familiar places.'
He handed Riley the phone so she and Sully could see it, and she shared a Dalton-worthy curse of her own.
"I'll go get the rest of your stuff," was all she said before turning to go find the room his belongings had been left in.
Mac started peeling off monitor patches, and was about to pull the tape over his IV.
Sully finally spoke to stop him. "You keep your backside parked right in that bed Angus MacGyver. I'll go get Elliot and Steve."
"For what?"
"To make sure you're not going to just start bleeding everywhere, because they're doctors, and to follow your reckless ass to wherever those old song lyrics are taking you because Steve knows his stuff and in addition to being good at intimidating even Matty, Elliot's also a damned good spy."
Her tone said he hadn't better argue, so he sat back to wait for her to return with Elliot and Riley to get back with his clothes, but it didn't stop him from eyeing the door longingly.
"Hang in there, Jack," he said softly. "We're on our way."