A/N: Watching the episode I was like, there is no way Mac was physically fine after he stumbled out of the stairs on top of the dam, so I had to write a little fix it since the writers wouldn't do it (man it's hard having to do their job for them, lol) I hope you enjoy, and I do love to hear from ya'll! Lots of thanks to my amazing beta, bkworm4life4! You are much appreciated. And as always I do not own MacGyver (if I did there would be a whole lot more hurt/comfort, and a new episode would be on once a week)

The car ride to the airport was quiet. The only sounds were Russ's quiet curses as he gave directions to Desi who was driving, and the occasional coughs from both Riley and Mac. Desi helped Russ hop onboard, while Mac and Riley trudged up slowly behind them.

Russ went straight for the advanced first aid kit and auto-injected himself with the morphine that was stocked within. He then pulled a blanket over himself and was asleep before the jet even started rolling off the tarmac, no doubt exhausted from all that they had been through in the past couple of days. Desi stalked back to the back of the plane and sat in the furthest seat available. Her body language screaming "don't even look at me". Mac wearily dropped onto the couch glad to prop his aching body up on a soft surface, and Riley sat in the seat across from him.

"Hey," Riley said quietly getting Mac attention. Mac cracked one eye open. The engines started to whine and he could feel the acceleration as the airplane gained speed. A harsh cough slipped out from deep in Mac's lungs. Riley replied with her own cough. "You want to talk yet?" Not feeling like talking, or wanting Riley to hear how raspy his voice was after being in two explosions in two days he just shook his head tiredly. She nodded in understanding, "I'm here if you need to." She gave him a real smile. "Now I know I'm not Jack, but I can try."

In return Mac gave her a matching smile. Then he tried to make himself comfortable for the short flight back to LA, but everything hurt, and his mind wouldn't stop going in a million different directions. So much had happened this past week. He had betrayed the Phoenix at least on the surface, but at least Bozer, Riley, and Matty had still had his back. Then the incident with the missiles followed by… nothing.

Settling down in her chair across from Mac, Riley closed her eyes and tried to take a nap like Mac and Russ were doing, but sleep proved to be elusive despite the very long couple of days that she had put in. She yawned which spawned another coughing fit. Clearing her throat she dug a bottle of water out of her backpack and took a few sips to moisten her throat. With a sigh she leaned back in her seat and started to think back over the last few days and how it could impact her continued employment with the Phoenix Foundation. She was pulled from her introspection by harsh coughing coming from Mac.

Riley frowned at she looked at Mac who was still napping. He had been in two explosions in two days, not to mention that that giant dude had tangled with him a couple of times. He had to be hurting both physically and mentally. While she couldn't do anything about the mental part right now, she could make sure that he visited the infirmary when they got back to the Phoenix. She knew that she would have to pull a page from the Jack Dalton playbook because Mac wouldn't go willingly. When she felt the plane start to descend she enacted her plan.

"Hey, Mac," Riley said giving him a gentle shake. She coughed a few times, the tickle in her throat making it easy. Blurry eyes met hers before he let out a small moan and rubbed his forehead. "Headache?" She asked gently.

"Yeah, are we almost back? I can't wait to take a shower and wash the past few days off of me." Mac replied, his voice raspy as he sat up stiffly rubbing his chest.

"Descending into our usual airport. Hey, is your chest hurting too? I keep coughing and sometimes my chest feels tight." Well that wasn't technically true, it still caused the desired effect.

Concerned eyes looked at her, "You might want to stop by the infirmary and have them check you out, just to make sure that you," Mac paused as he coughed, "don't have anything wrong."

Riley waved him off, "I'm sure it's nothing. You were exposed more than me. So if you're not going then I sure don't need to." She could see the wheels in Mac's mind turning. She threw in another cough to persuade him.

"What about if I came with you?" Mac offered, not realizing that's exactly what Riley wanted him to say.

Not wanted to give herself away, Riley pretended to think about it. "Yeah, I guess I could do that since you are going," she shrugged pretending not to care.

The plane bumped, once, twice, then stayed down and they smoothly taxied to their usually hanger. Desi strode past the two of them and waited for the steps to open so she could exit. Her posture was still stiff, giving off the 'don't even look at me' vibe. Once the door had been opened and Desi exited, two EMT's came on board the place to take Russ to the hospital. As they were loading Russ onto the stretcher Mac had another coughing attack. One of the EMT's addressed them, "We can fit two more in the ambulance if you want to ride with us."

"That's ok…" Mac started to say.

But Riley talked over him, "We'll do that. Thanks." She smiled gratefully as they rolled Russ to the steps.

With a groan Mac stood up. "Why did you do that?" He asked grumpily, "I don't want to waste their time with a little cough."

'Little cough my ass.' Riley thought, but out loud she answered. "Do you really want to ride back to the Phoenix with Desi right now?" Mac grimaced, showing his displeasure at that thought. "Plus you know how Medical can be. At the hospital I'm sure that we can get in and out quicker." And technically that was true. When a patient was too sick for Phoenix Medical they were transferred to their sister hospital. Phoenix had their own secure wing at the hospital where their doctors and nurses rotated between it and Phoenix Medical.

The ride to the hospital was quick and besides for both of them coughing a few times it was pretty silent with Russ mostly out of it for the whole ride. After the EMT's had unloaded Russ, Riley led Mac to the Phoenix wing. She was pleasantly surprised to see that one of their favorite nurses, Justin, was stationed at the front behind the glass doors leading to their wing of the hospital.

He looked puzzled to see them at first, then he broke out in a smile. As soon as they pushed through the doors Justin greeted them, "Man, I'm so glad that you guys weren't really traitors. You had me worried for a few minutes!" He looked at both of them, "So what brings you by here? Normally I wouldn't expect to see Mac step foot in here unless he was losing copious amounts of blood." Justin grinned at the pair obviously trying to get a smile out of Mac.

A ghost of a smile flirted across Mac's face before it went back to the same weary expression he had had since stumbling out of the stairs on top of the dam. Riley and Mac answered at the same time. "She's been coughing…"

But Riley was louder, "Mac was in two explosions in two days, I know he took some hard hits from Sabretooth, and has been coughing alot. I'm worried about him."

Justin's eyebrows climbed into his hairline and he hold up both of his hands, "Okay, we're going to check both of you out. Now most of our trauma bays are full. We had a tac team wreck their car, and Russ will be in one once he gets back from imaging." Justin consulted his iPad, "So would you mind sharing a room? It's either that or you rotate out, and well sorry, Mac, but I don't trust you not to run away." Mac's expression turned from one of weariness to exasperation, and Riley had to bite her cheek not to laugh out loud. Justin just quirked an eyebrow, "You know I'm not lying."

"Fine," Mac huffed.

"It's fine with me," Riley agreed. 'Plus this way I can keep a close eye on him' Riley thought.

"Okay, so just head into bay one and I'll be right there." Justin headed off down the hall presumably to gather supplies.

Riley waited until Mac started trudging down the hall and she fell into step behind him. Entering the room Riley closed the door behind her. In the room there was a patient bed, two chairs, and the medical practitioner's rolling chair. Mac opened his mouth to say something, probably to offer Riley the bed, but she cut him off. "Take the bed." When he didn't move Riley told him, "Look Mac, it's been a rough couple of days, especially for you. Take the dang bed, and I'll drag one of the chairs close."

Letting out a huff Mac went over and climbed up on the bed, "Whatever you say, Jack." He followed this up with a coughing fit.

Riley smiled as she sat in her seat, "Yeah, it was a pretty Jack move wasn't it!

Hoarsely Mac replied, "It wasn't a complement."

"Too bad, I took it as one." Riley said as she stuck her tongue out at him and winked.

A knock sounded from the door and Justin walked in carrying a tray. He placed it on the rolling tray in the room and grabbed the rolling stool. "So which of you goes first?"

"Mac."

"Riley." They said simultaneously.

Justin chuckled, "Okay, so I'll hit up Mac first, since you are already up on the bed and all, then it'll be your turn Riley." Giving his full attention to Mac Justin said, "Even though Riley is in the room if you feel uncomfortable with anything that I'm doing I will ask her to leave." He turned to Riley, "Same goes for you."

Riley shook her head. Mac gave a light smirk, "It's not anything that she hasn't seen before."

Justin burst out laughing, "Ok Casanova." Justin bulled the blood pressure stand over and slipped the Pulse Ox on Mac's finger while he started the BP machine. Looking at the Pulse Ox meter he hissed a breath, "Not good Mac." The BP machine beeped that it was done, "Okay, your BP is okay-ish. I'm going to do a blood draw and run an ABG and CBC to check on your blood oxygenation levels, and an IV is possible." Justin took off the BP cuff and pulse ox and then scooted over to Riley, ignoring Mac's groan of protest. "Your turn my dear." He went through the same procedure. "Not as bad as Mac's." Riley shot a grin Mac's way. "But! I want to run those blood test on you too." This time Mac shot Riley a smirk. Justin made short work of drawing their blood. "I'm going to drop this off so we can get some results quickly, I'll be right back."

Sighing Riley looked at Mac, who truly looked miserable. "I'm sorry for tricking you, but I figured you wouldn't come if someone didn't make you."

Mac gave her a wan smile, "You're probably right. Thanks for looking out for me."

That right there was why Riley loved Mac. He was willing to admit when he was wrong, and... her internal musings were cut short by the arrival of Justin. This time he was carrying a small oxygen tank. "I brought back some goodies for you guys!" He pulled over the spare chair beside Riley. "This lovely oxygen tank is for you my dear."

Riley groaned is displeasure, but took the proffered nasal cannula and attached it to her face. "I hate how this tickles my nose," she groused, wiggling her nose around the intrusion. She heard Mac snort a laugh that turned into a coughing fit.

Justin turned to Mac, "I also have one for you, but I'm going to do my examination first. So, what are your symptoms, and be completely honest."

Nodding Mac said, "Well you know about the coughing. I've got a headache, and my chest feels tight like it's hard to take a deep breath. And I'm sore, but I think that's from Roman showing me how much he liked me."

Justin was taking notes on his iPad as Mac talked. Standing up he took the otoscope off the wall. "Open up," he peered down Mac's throat. "Okay now the nose." He set it down and pulled his stethoscope from around his neck, placing it on Mac's chest, "Okay you know the drill, deep breaths." Mac was able to do two deep breaths before he had another coughing fit. After he finished that up Justin instructed Mac, "All right Casanova time to strip those top layers off." Wincing Mac pulled the shirts off displaying all the bruises he had received. There were a few faint bruises along his ribs, but a dark bruise that looked like a shoe print marred his chest. Justin pressed around the bruises, eliciting a hiss from Mac. "Turn around. I'm assuming that your back is also bruised up?"

"Yeah," Mac admitted as he shifted so that his back was to Justin.

Riley hissed at the sight of the bruise on his back. His entire lower back was one big bruise, with a deeper bruise over his lift kidney. "Why didn't you tell us it was that bad?" She asked upset that Mac had to be hurting and hadn't said anything.

In true Mac fashion he just shrugged. "Okay, well I'm definitely going to be giving you an IV." Justin commented as he palpated the area. Ignoring Mac's protests he asked, "Have you been passing blood in your urine?"

Flushing pink Mac answered, "Only a little."

"You can turn around now, and put your shirt back on if you wish," Justin said. Sitting back down on the stool he input his findings into his iPad, and verbalized it at the same time. "So, in your nostrils I found signs of soot, which isn't good. I got your ABG back and it indicates low oxygen levels in your blood which is one of the reasons you have a headache and the tightness in your chest. As a result, I'm going to put you on some oxygen for a while. I'm also going to get you started on an IV with some light muscle relaxers to help with all bruising and a light pain reliever." Before Mac had a chance to protest Justin added, "It's not enough to knock you out or anything, and I'll re-check everything after the first bag is in." Justin got the oxygen going on the other oxygen tank and handed the cannula to Mac. "You know what to do."

He picked up his iPad and rolled down to Riley. "I do believe it's your turn."

"Anything to get this thing off, I can see why Mac doesn't like them." Riley answered as she took off her nasal cannula and rubbed her nose vigorously.

Letting out a laugh Justin again went for the otoscope and did the same tests on Riley as he had on Mac and consulted her blood-work on his iPad. "Okay, you get to escape the dreaded IV, your oxygen isn't as low as Mac's but it's still not where I would like it to be. So, I'm going to keep you on oxygen for now. So put this back on." He handed her the cannula. With a sigh she hooked it back on her face.

"Okay, you guys, I'll be right back with that IV, then you get to relax for a bit, and I'll be around to check on you. Once the IV is done, I'll redraw the ABG and see how you both are doing." Mac opened his mouth. "Yes, I hope to have you home by tonight. Any other questions I can answer without you even asking?"

This was precisely why he was the teams favorite. He knew them and how to deal with each one of them. When nothing was said he stood up, "I'll be back in two shakes of a lamb's tail to quote one Jack Dalton." That drew a smile out of both Riley and Mac.

Once Justin got the IV going, Mac asked, "If you want we can switch? You would probably be more comfortable up here."

Riley snorted, causing herself to cough. "Did you see those bruises on your chest? Your butt is staying in that bed. I'm just fine on this chair." She pulled out her cell phone, "In fact there are some e-mails that I need to check." She pretended to work on e-mails, but kept an eye on Mac as he laid back on the bed and started to doze fitfully. Riley played on her phone and sent a text to Jack about their latest mission. She knew that Mac would want to talk to Jack about everything that had happened, heck she wanted to talk to Jack about everything that had happened. She looked over to where Mac was laying on the bed sleeping. She saw that he had relaxed a little in his sleep. He was semi-curled up with a peaceful look on his face and she pondered how she had fallen in love with him. On their first meeting she had just thought that he was a pretty face, but the more that she worked with him the more that she realized not only the genius that existed beneath the lovely exterior, but the caring person that he was as well. Sometime, she didn't know when exactly, in the ensuing years she had fallen for him. It had struck her in Germany when that old bomb had almost hit her, that she was in love with him. It was the fact that Mac went out of his way to make her feel safe even though they had been apart for months. And since she was being honest with herself, that was mostly her fault. Mac had invited her over several times after the Phoenix fell, but it hurt seeing what was lost, then it got to be habit, then she met Aubrey and wanted to keep that part of her life from tainting him.

Justin knocked and stuck his head in the door, "you can take the cannulas off now. I'll be back in twenty to re-draw the ABG." Then he closed the door. Riley ripped hers off and shut off the valve. Mac hadn't stirred, so she quietly walked over to the bed and carefully turned the flow off and slipped off his nasal cannula too. Riley knew it had been a long time since Mac had experienced a decent night's sleep, especially since she could hear him wander the house from her room, so she was going to let him rest for as long as possible. Realizing that he would still be zonked when they finally got back to the house she began to plan how to make sure that Mac finally got a good night's sleep.

In the twenty minutes while she waited for Justin to come back to do the blood draws, Riley had somewhat of a plan mapped out in her head. When Justin knocked and walked in, Riley held her finger to her mouth and pointed to the bed to keep Justin from waking Mac before he had to.

"He not been sleeping good again?" Justin questioned as he tightened the tourniquet to do the blood draw.

"Nope," she answered then hissed when he slid the needle in. "Think you can get that done while he sleeps?"

Shooting her a wry grin he said, "I can try." Justin was able to get the draw without waking Mac up, which told both of them just how exhausted Mac truly was. After a while Justin came back and unhooked the IV, and bandaged up the small wound it left behind.

Consulting his iPad Justin typed a few things in then instructed Riley, "We've got the results back so go ahead and wake him up. There's a few things I want to go over, then you'll be free to go." Then Justin left again.

Riley did as she was instructed and there was one groggy Mac waiting when Justin walked in, holding several items. "Okay, I'll start with Riley. You second ABG looks good, but if you experience any tightness or headaches either go into Phoenix medical or text me. Now as for you Mac, I still don't like where your numbers are, but I'm willing to let you go home if you promise to use this inhaler. It will help open up your airway and will relieve the tightness that you are experiencing in your chest." Mac took the proffered inhaler. "Do you remember how to use it from the last time?" Mac had contracted pneumonia from inhaling water about a year before and had been forced to use an inhaler for about a month.

"I remember," Mac said his voice low and scratchy.

"Good, and as always drink lots of fluids and try to get some rest. Real rest Mac, not catnaps. You're both free to go, as long as Riley or another able-bodied adult drives." He held out a sheet of paper each to both patients. "And here is your discharge papers, try not to see me professionally anytime soon!" He called as he exited the room.

That was another reason Riley liked coming to Phoenix related facilities, they didn't have to do the whole patient discharge thing or worry about payment, it was as simple as walking out. Mac stumbled as he got off the bed. "Need some help?" Riley asked concerned.

Mac held up his hand, "I'm OK. Just got to get my legs under me then I'll be good. Whatever Justin gave me knocked me out."

Chuckling Riley replied, "Or that could be the hardly sleeping finally catching up to you."

"Or that. Let's get home." He suggested. Earlier Bozer had texted her that he had parked Riley's car in the hospital lot so they would have a way to get home. The ride was a quiet one with Mac dozing off a time or two. Parking in the garage she told Mac, "Hey, go wait for me on the couch," as she climbed out of the car

"Okay," he replied through a yawn.

With a small smile at how cute he was, she hurried into the house enacting her plan. First, she found that aromatherapy candle set that a friend had given her that was supposed to promote sleep, then she grabbed the sleepy-time gummies that her mom had sent her. Passing the thermostat she bumped it down a few degrees, and lit one of the candles in Mac's room. She lit the other in the living room, where Mac was sitting with his eyes closed. She then filled two mugs with water and put them in the microwave to warm up, after the water was hot she added honey and a tea bag filled with chamomile tea, and lastly, she found a relaxing playlist on YouTube and started the music playing quietly over the houses sound-system.

"Here you go Mac," Riley said to roust him a bit.

He opened his eyes and accepted the tea. Sniffing it he asked, "Chamomile?"

Riley nodded, "It's supposed to be relaxing and help to promote sleep." She said as she innocently took a sip of her own tea.

Mac narrowed his eyes at her as he catalogued the changes, "Are you trying to help me sleep better?"

"Guilty. I'm tired of getting woken at way-too-dang-early o'clock in the morning, and after these last couple of days, you need to get some rest."

With a soft smile Mac took a drink of his tea, "Thanks, Riles. And uhh, well. Thank you for backing me up. I know it wasn't easy, but thank you for trusting me when no one else did."

"I'm pretty sure both Matty and Bozer had your back too Mac. It was mostly Russ and…." Riley let her voice trail off not really wanting to finish that sentence.

"Desi," Mac answered sadly, then distracted himself by taking another sip of the tea. "I…we…uhh," he shook his head obviously not knowing quite what to say. Setting his mug down Mac stood up motioning her to do the same. When she did he enveloped her in a warm hug. "Thanks for this Ri, it means a lot." He let go of her.

Riley really didn't know how to respond to that except for handing him the bottle of good-night gummies, "Uh, you might want to try those too. My mom sent them concerned that I wasn't getting enough sleep."

Mac grinned, and was about to reply when his phone started buzzing. After glancing at the caller ID his face split in a wide and easy grin, "Jack." He said simply. He answered on the second ring, "Hey Big Guy, how're you doing?" With the tea mug in one hand and the phone in the other, and the gummy bottle tucked under his arm. Mac left the living room heading to his room.

Riley watched him go and hoped that he got a good night's sleep

A/N2: Liked it? Found a problem? Let me know!