Zero Hour

She can feel the time running out on them with each new breath she takes and Riley tries not to let that lead to a panic attack, knowing that'll bring more harm to the situation than good, and it's not like they need more things going against them. The wound in her leg hurts like a bitch and she can tell she's still losing blood no matter how hard Mac tried to stop it. Somehow, it's the least of their problems, and she watches Mac as he finishes the next invention that's supposed to get them out of there - or at least help the others do that - but she was too tired to pay much attention, couldn't get her brain to work amongst the pain and exhaustion she felt.

Mac sits down next to her and Riley tries not to think about how closely. She can't make out exactly what he said, but she knows it was something reassuring so she nods and tries to shake away some of the weight from her head.

"We're gonna get out of here, Riles." Mac says and she hates how well she can read him, hates that because of that she's able to read his running nerves and the fear that he usually manages to hide even from her, even from Bozer who's known him their whole lives. "I promised."

"Don't worry, Mac." she tries to lift herself from the wall and stand up straighter, give the idea of feeling well, but it only makes her feel dizzy. She hopes he doesn't notice, but even though he stays silent she knows he has. "I won't hold you to it."

He flinches and she knows it hit a nerve. "You're gonna be fine, Riley." she's not sure who he's trying to convince more, but she let's him have it because she herself could use a bit of hope right now.

Riley puts a bloodied hand on his knee, the jeans soaked in blood - she's not sure if it's hers, or Mac's, or someone else's - and pats. "I know."

She doesn't want to think about how they're deluding themselves. Even if she doesn't bleed out to death they'll probably choke; the container isn't meant to keep them alive much longer, it was meant to kill them in the first place. If the others don't locate them soon, if Mac's idea doesn't help, they're both as good as dead.

For a moment, Riley thinks about what they'll tell Aubrey. Thinks about how Matty will have to do a cover story, thinks about how he'll deal with it. It pains her, the intrusive thoughts coming back of how she never should've tried to make it work with someone else, especially someone who wasn't a part of this life. In the end, she'll just break him; blow up his life over her own selfishness.

"Riles, I'm losing you." she hears Mac's voice call to her and breaks away from her thoughts, looking up at him. He was always so damn tall, even sitting next to her. The hand he put on her neck to wake her up burns her, his thumb tracing her cheek makes her breathing harder. She tries to put it all on the wound; the chills going down her spine are just the reaction of her body to the lack of oxygen.

"I'm awake." she says but knows it's barely a whisper. "I'm here."

Slowly, she can feel his hand move from her cheek. Mac caresses her arm as he goes down, before he reaches her hand and lets their fingers entwine, holding it.

Riley looks at it then at him and it takes her back to that building in Germany, the feeling in the pit of her stomach the same. The look in his eyes is different yet the same; where he was relieved and happy in Germany, he's now scared and anxious. Though, underneath all that there's that same shine of what she has since then defined as love - the love he feels for her, the one he shouldn't. After a few silent moments of them just looking at each other Riley thinks he's since defined it, too.

"Mac, you know I can't-" she starts, but can't finish. She hopes he gets it regardless. She can't have her last moments be a betrayal. Can't do that to the man she's spent so much of her past year, has shared so much. Ultimately, it fades in comparison to what she has with Mac - fades in comparison to what she might feel for Mac, too, but she hasn't completely defined that, yet - but Aubrey deserves better than to have a woman he loves die giving everything that matters to someone else. If she dies, the last memory he has, the last thoughts of her and their time together he has, can't be a lie.

Mac closes his eyes. "I would never ask you to, Riles." he says and she knows that. Knows that like she knows how to hack any computer in sight, all the way to her bones. Knows him. "I wouldn't make you." Mac doesn't look at her, almost avoids it. Instead, he looks at their hands so intently as if he can't figure out where he ends and she begins. "But if we don't make it out of here, this is the only way I want to go." his voice breaks and her heart with it. Carefully - more gently than he's handled anything in his life - he lifts her hand up to his mouth and kisses it. The touch of his lips burns her skin. "The only way."

Riley thinks about what he told her that same day, amongst the ruins of a building and standing next to a bomb that'd go off in twenty-six minutes. Knows this is the moment he envisions his idea failing, envisions himself dying. The moment he regrets he's alone.

"Angus." she says, doesn't know where she found the strength to. "You're never alone."

He finally looks up at her.

And that's when the container bursts open.