A/N: Hey y'all last chapter! I never thought I would write one Spn MacGyver crossover, much less two! I want to thank everybody who has taken the time to read & review! I appreciate them more than you ever know, especially those of you who leave feedback! Thanks to BabyGenius for the beta, and as always I don't own MacGyver or Supernatural.
When the rope snapped Riley's heart almost stopped, but when her feet hit she realized that she had only been a few feet from the bottom. She wobbled, almost falling over the first aid kit, but managed to keep her balance. As she tried to calm her heart and breathing, she heard Jack yell down from above.
"Riley? Are you okay?"
She could hear the panic in his voice so she picked up the walkie so she wouldn't have to yell. "I'm okay, but kinda stuck down here since the rope broke." She could see their light up top, and flashed hers at them.
"How's Sam?" Dean's voice came over the walkie.
Riley sighed, "I'm heading over right now." Shaking out her hands which were in better shape than she was worried they would be in, since she hadn't done any rope climbing like that since high school. She then hung the walkie back on her pocket, grabbed the first aid kit, and used her flashlight to pick her way through the rubble and piles of supplies to where the other Winchester brother was half standing, half laying against a large piece of looked like the floor. Sam had his eyes half-closed, and for a second she was worried that he was dead.
"Sam? It's Riley." She didn't know what else to say.
His eyes slowly opened, "Hey Riley." His words were slow, but not quite slurring. She played the flashlight down his torso and saw the rebar that was impaling him; it was covered it blood,—she had to bite back the urge to puke—but only a little bit of blood stained his shirt around the area. He looked down, "I think most of the bleeding is internal. There's not much that you can do. Go check on your friend." He gestured to where Mac laid sprawled on the floor. She really wanted to run over and check on the man she loved like a brother, but Sam needed her that minute.
"I will in just a sec. I've got something in here that should help a little bit." She kneeled down and switched the flashlight to her left hand to grab one of the morphine needles out of the kit. "To help with the pain," she said, showing Sam. He gave her a weak smile. She injected it just the way that the first aid instructors had taught her during her medical training classes. After taking a second to make sure that Sam would be okay she finally made her way over to Mac.
He was laying crumpled over on his right side. Sam started talking as Riley kneeled to check him over. "He was unconscious when I first awakened. I was able to get him awake and talking earlier, but when the building shook he tried to steady himself on his right leg then went down." Riley shined the flashlight on his ankle, it was easily doubled in size.
"Yeah, it's swollen pretty bad," Riley let Sam know.
Sam grunted, and she could hear him swallow hard. "Yeah, I think he might have a head injury, I mean he does have a head injury, a cut, but I think he might have a traumatic brain injury. He didn't know who I was and was confused about what had happened." Riley moved the flashlight back up Mac's dusty body. His face looked horrible, with blood covering about half of it. There was a goose egg under where he had hit his head.
"Mac, it's Riley. Can you wake up for me?" She asked gently. He didn't even twitch so she tried again, but louder. "Mac, wake up." Still nothing. She was hesitant to try touching him to wake him up. She had learned that lesson from waking up a sleeping Jack. Deciding that she had no choice, she pushed her knuckled into his sternum and rubbed. That brought a moan from his lips. "Hey, Mac, you need to open those eyes for me," Riley instructed.
This time he stirred a little bit, moaning weakly. If it wasn't for the setting and all the blood, Riley could just imagine someone trying to get Mac up for school, but the image passed quickly as the gravity of the situation hit. She was stranded with two seriously injured guys. If Sam didn't get treatment soon he would possible bleed out, and Mac needed a CT scan to see what was going on with his head. But, like before, she stuffed it in a box and concentrated on the task at hand."Mac. I need you to open your eyes," Riley commanded.
She stared at him, the flashlight pointed at his chest so it wouldn't be too blinding for him. Slowly his eyes started to creep open. "Good job Mac!" She praised him. "Keep going." He managed to mostly get them open. He blinked a few times before his eyes widened and he shot straight up, then leaned over and vomited all the food that he had just eaten.
"Awwww, Mac," Riley said as he vomited again. He started to flop back to the ground, but she gently grabbed his back and held him upright. "Don't go laying back down on me just yet, okay?"
"Kay," Mac replied.
Riley scooted him over so that he could rest his back against, well, Riley wasn't sure what it was, but hopefully it would hold Mac upright. Then she grabbed the first aid kit that she had left in front of Sam. "You holding up okay Sam?"
He was starting to look pale under the dust. An idea hit her. "You want to talk to your brother? I brought a walkie with me."
Sam smiled. "Yeah, thanks."
She smiled back. "You're doing the hard part." She handed him the walkie, ignoring their conversation so that she could concentrate on Mac. She fished a water bottle out of the pack, twisted off the lid and almost handed it to Mac.
"Want a drink?" Riley asked.
Mac barely nodded, but didn't move to take it from her despite his eyes being on her. She carefully helped him take a sip. "So you and Sam over there fell through the floor when an earthquake hit. You've hit your head pretty hard."
"S'ry," he slurred, shutting his eyes.
"Don't be closing those eyes on me MacGyver. I need your help getting out of here. My rope broke coming down, and the opening up top is pretty tiny with all sorts of jagged pipes. I'm counting on your big brain to figure out a way to get us out."Riley explained.
Mac opened his eyes and looked up, at the bright hole. He frowned and lifted his hand to his head, bringing back bloody fingers. "Wa ha'pn?" He slurred.
Internally Riley sighed. "Earthquake, you fell."
He nodded sluggishly. "Need get up."
Maybe there was hope after all, she thought, as that sentence actually made sense. "Yeah, Mac, we do. Here, take my flashlight and see if you can spot something that can help us." She handed the flashlight over to Mac who held it loosely in a fist. Riley grabbed the other one from the first aid bag. While Mac clumsily used the flashlight, she decided to check on Sam again. Standing up she stepped back over to him.
"How are you doing?" He had a lazy smile on his face and the walkie was dangling in his hand. She liberated it and looked at him.
"Peachy. I think the morphine's kicking in, don't hurt as much, but really want to take a nap" Sam said slowly.
From the side of her eye she noticed the beam of the flashlight cant down, then she heard it drop. "Stay awake. Do you want to talk to your brother some more?" She asked as she stepped back over to Mac.
"I'll be okay. Worry about him," Sam ordered.
Riley didn't need any more prompting and turned her attention back to Mac, whose eyes had closed again. "Mac wake up!" She ordered.
His eyes blinked open. "Ri."
"Yeah, Mac it's me. Did you find a way for us to get out of here?" She was worried by how he kept losing track of what he was doing.
A slow nod. "Ya, we n'd to mo' th't," He stopped, pointing in the darkness, "Then we can…" He stopped, his eyes sliding shut.
Jack's voice came over the radio, stopping her from trying to rouse MacGyver again. "Help is on the way. I've got two guys coming down to join you."
'Thank goodness' she thought. Over the radio she said, "I'll be waiting." From the roof she heard the thump of a rope hitting the floor then saw the headlamp of first one form then another. One form stayed near the rope while the second one made its way over to her. She could make out their dark green matching jumpsuits if she kept the light on them, otherwise they would have been moving shadows.
When he got within range he introduced himself, "Hi, I'm Danny with the LA County Sheriff's Search and Rescue. My partner back there is Mitchell." He raised his voice, "Say hi Mitch." The figure under the rope waved. "Could you introduce me to these two gentlemen?"
Danny's easygoing manner comforted her and made her feel at ease. As they came to a stop in front of Sam, he slipped his backpack off of his shoulder and rummaged through it while giving her his attention. "This is Sam Winchester, he fell and as you can see has a piece of rebar through his side."
"Hey, Sam," Danny greeted him. "Let me just slip this on your finger and we can get some vital signs real quick." He slipped a metal thing on Sam's finger and slipped a BP cuff around his arm. While they were doing their jobs he said into the radio on his shoulder, "We're going to need some bolt cutters with the backboards."
"10:4" Came back over the radio.
He pulled a pen from his pocket and jotted the numbers down on the back of a glove. "How're we feeling there Sam?"
Sam blinked a few times from the bright light of the headlamp. "Been better. Morphine's helping."
Danny turned to Riley who explained about the first aid kit. "Good job with the pain relief. But I think we're going to get an IV started if that's okay." Sam nodded and Danny stripped off the gear that he had used to get Sam's vitals, and handed it to Riley. "Do you think you can place this on your other friend over there?" He nodded at Mac. "Just clip this pulse ox on one of his fingers and make sure the BP cuff is tight before you start it."
Riley nodded and turned her attention to Mac while Danny got the IV going. She could hear him softly talking to Sam while he slipped the pulse ox on a finger then wrapped the BP cuff around his upper bicep and hit the button. A few seconds later the machine beeped and Danny stepped over to write the results on the back of his other glove. "Okay, tell me about my new friend here."
"This is Mac. As you can see he has a nasty cut on his forehead. I got him awake a few times, but his speech was slurred and he could not stay awake. Sam said he was awake and talking before we got down here. His ankle is also twice the size it usually is." Riley felt bad that she hadn't tried to bandage his forehead now that she thought about it.
Danny shined a pen light in both of Mac's eyes and made a clucking sound. "We're going to put a cervical collar on Mac here, just to be on the safe side." He pulled the collar out of his pack and swiftly had it around Mac's neck, making sure his neck didn't move.
Mitchell jogged over. "Kowalski's got a way to get us out, but we need to cover up. They're sending…." He was interrupted by a large thump. He shook his head, the light on his helmet bouncing from side to side. "Correction, they've sent the blanket down. We'll let them know when we're ready." With a nod Mitchell jogged off to get the blanket.
Danny turned to Riley. "Mitch's gone to get a large blanket to keep debris off of us while they do some work on getting us out of this basement. We need to bring Mac closer to Sam and then the four of us will cover up." They each hooked an arm under Mac's armpits and scooted him over beside Sam.
The blanket was more of a rigid plastic shell that when the debris rained down it wouldn't be able to go through. Once the five of them were situated Mitchell used his radio. "We're good down here boys. Let'er rip!" Then the sound of things breaking, tearing, falling, combined with the loud motor of a large machine filled the small space. As the debris rained down on their small shelter Riley was thankful that they were under the protection of the 'blanket'. After a few minutes the sounds subsided, and over the radio they heard. "Olly olly oxen free."
Under his breath Mitchell muttered, "I'll show him who's free." They took down the 'blanket' and Riley was amazed to see a much bigger hole in the ceiling that was letting a lot of the morning light in. As she watched, a litter was lowered down. Both Mitchell and Danny ran over to grab it and the bolt cutters that Danny had asked for earlier. They set the litter down in front of Sam. Riley wasn't sure what she could do to help. Mac was unconscious, and they were prepping Sam for transport, but she decided that all she could do was ask in case there was something helpful that she could be doing.
"Is there any way I could help?"
Danny paused for a second, thinking, as Mitchell arranged the straps that would hold Sam in place once they got him on the litter. "If you could hold his left hand while we cut the rebar." At her quizzical look Danny explained, "Instead of pulling the rebar out, which would be very painful and could cause profuse bleeding we are going to leave it in until he is at the hospital where they can remove it surgically.
"That makes a lot of sense," Riley agreed as she stepped over to Sam. Sam looked a bit better than he had earlier.
"I think they gave me some more meds," he said slowly and smiled. "I like it."
Riley gave a small laugh and watched as Mitchell got ready to make the cut.
Danny was standing in front of them. "Okay Sam, we are about to get you out of here. Mitchell will cut the rebar, but it's going to hurt like hell." Sam gave a slight scoff. "But after that we're going to need your help to get in the litter, then you can take a nap if you wish." When Sam didn't respond Danny prompted him with, "Is that okay?"
At Sam's nod, Mitchell must have cut the rebar because Sam let out a sound like a hurt moose and Riley felt just how strong Sam was as he held her hand in a tight grip. "You're doing great Sam," Danny said assureingly. "Just a couple of steps then you can take that nap we talked about." Sam managed the few steps wavering with all three of them supporting him.
Once he was laying down, Mitchell and Danny quickly got the straps fastened around him. Mitchell looked up at Riley, "Do you think you can help us carry him over to the egress point? He's a big dude!"
Riley smiled. "Be glad to."
"On the count of three. Remember to lift with your legs, not your back," Mitchell ordered.
"We know," Danny responded with a tone that said the Mitchell must say that every time they lifted something together.
"One, two, lift."
The three smoothly lifted Sam, and Riley realized how heavy he really was. 'Glad we're only going a few feet away. The dude weighs a ton!' Riley thought as they carefully made their way to the ropes. She set her side down with a sigh, and the two quickly got Sam hooked up and were lifting him to where two familiar faces, and a couple of un-familiar faces, waited.
Over her walkie Riley heard Jack ask, "You doing ok?"Riley didn't feel like talking so she just gave him a thumbs up. "You kids and your gang signs." They had Sam at the top and were attaching an empty litter to collect Mac. "You hurry up and bring our boy back up here," Jack said before he disappeared.
Getting Mac onto the litter was a bit harder because he was still unconscious, but he weighed a lot less than Sam had. Once they smoothly transferred Mac to the litter following Danny's instructions, the three of them once again carried the litter to the hole in the ceiling. Mitchell got the ropes hooked up and soon Mac was rising smoothly through the air.
Mitchell turned to her. "All right, you are next." He handed her a harness. "If you need any help let me know."
"I've got it. Thank you." She set it on the floor to step into when she realized that she had left the Phoenix's first aid kit back where Mac and Sam had been. She quickly ran back, grabbed the kit, and secured herself in the harness. Before she knew it, she was topside, and Jack was there to help her out of her harness.
"Took you long enough," he said with a smile.
Riley looked around. "Where's Mac?"
The smile fell off Jack's face. He pointed with his head as he helped Riley shimmer out of the harness. "They've got him in the back of the ambulance, I told them to wait for you, so we could all ride together."
Stepping out of the harness she headed for the ambulance. "So what are we waiting for?"
Jack quickly grabbed her backpack, caught up, and filled her in. "Sam and Dean left in the first ambulance, well, Sam left in the ambulance Dean was following in his car. We are all going in the second one."
"We all? Which hospital?" Riley asked as she climbed into the back, where the paramedic had just finished hooking Mac up to monitoring devices.
"We all would include me," Danny said as he climbed in and shut the back doors. Once the door shut the driver stepped on it hitting the siren and driving as fast as she could maneuver the bulky vehicle around the curves. Danny shimmied over to squat beside the paramedic so he could relay Mac's vitals from earlier while Riley and Jack talked.
"We are headed to our usual hospital, Spring Grove," Jack filled in. Spring Grove Medical Center was located close to the Phoenix Foundation, and while it wasn't affiliated with them, the hospital took all the cases that their on-site clinic couldn't handle. They even had their own secured ward at the hospital; it made getting treated much easier.
Riley nodded. "Good. Is that where Sam in going also?"
"Yep, Matty got it cleared. He'll be seen by our docs." Jack tried to move, but hissed in pain.
Riley's suspicious gaze settled on Jack. "What's wrong?"
Jack sighed. "I'm pretty sure I dislocated my shoulder."
"Jack!" Riley exclaimed. "Why didn't you say anything?"
"When did I have time?" He threw up his hand. "After you pulled us out it was a race to rescue Sam and Mac." He must have realized how mad she was. "I promise that I'll get seen at the hospital, as long as you do too."
"But, I'm f…." Riley started to say, but Jack cut her off.
"Don't you dare try to feed me that 'I'm fine' crap, like Mac does," he said angrily. "Your hands need looking at."
"Fine," Riley agreed, because now that she thought about it, her hands were really starting to throb. She let out a deep breath and leaned against the side of the ambulance. Riley could feel the adrenaline leaving her system, but she had to hold on for a little bit longer before she could collapse somewhere and take a much needed nap.
A few hours later saw the whole group situated in Sam and Mac's large hospital room. Dean had the gash sewn up on his face and a few other places that he didn't realize had happened. Jack's arm was in a sling with a warning that if his shoulder became dislocated again, he would probably need surgery to repair it. Riley had her hands cleaned out and patched up, She had a few pieces of gauze and some bandaging on her fingers and palms, but nothing like she had feared. Sam was still unconscious from the surgery. He was hooked up to the usual equipment and was receiving blood as well as pain management, but Dean had said that the prognosis was good. Mac's CT had revealed that he had a hairline fracture of the skull and some bleeding, which the doctor told them they were optimistic it would clear up on its own, but his ankle was a mess. The doctor said that it would have been a much easier recovery if he had just broken it, and surgery to fix it was not off the table yet. They were waiting for the head trauma to resolve itself before they decided on a treatment plan for the ankle, so for now his foot was in a walking cast to keep it immobile.
Dean was sitting beside Sam's bed playing poker with Jack and Bozer, who had arrived with coffee and doughnuts for everybody. Riley had begged off, preferring to sit beside Mac and watch a couple of shows that she was behind on. She almost missed it when Mac's eyes fluttered open.
"Jack, I think he's waking up again," Riley announced. Mac had woken up once since they had gotten to the hospital. He had asked if he was still in Mexico, then drifted back to sleep. Jack folded his hand and stood up, taking the couple of steps over to Mac's bed.
"Hey Bud, show me those baby blues," Jack coaxed. Mac's eyes opened and they rolled for a second before settling on Jack's face. "There you are!" Jack exclaimed quietly. "You with us again?"
Mac frowned. "Have I not been with you?" He asked softly.
Bozer patted Mac's leg, "Yeah Roomie, you haven't been with us."
Mac looked around the room, his eyebrows starting to draw together until it pulled at the laceration. He reached up touching it, "Where'm I? Mex-co?" He was still slurring a few words and they have given him some Phenergan to keep the nausea at bay.
"No, Mac. You don't remember getting kidnapped with this handsome dude?" Jack asked, pointing at Dean who had moved closer to see how his new friend was doing.
"I…I don't'mber." Mac said, starting to get agitated.
"Hey, it's ok," Jack said calmly. "Get some more sleep, ok?" While Jack had phrased it as a question, it was meant as an order and Mac knew it, messed up head or not.
"'Kay," he murmured and his eyes slid shut, his forehead smoothing out in sleep.
"Well that's the second time that he didn't recognize you or know where he was," Jack said to Dean as he rubbed his face with his good hand.
"Maybe it's for the better," Dean offered. "Not everybody is ready for the truth."
"The doctor said he may or may not have clear memories of the last twenty-four hours, so who knows," Riley said.
Bozer frowned, looking at his two friends suspiciously. "What're you talking about 'not ready for the truth'?" When nobody said anything… "Don't leave a brother hanging!"
Riley laughed. "I don't know if you would believe us or not.
Meanwhile, back in a bar, Chuck was trying to make the music sound just right, but he was missing a cord. With a sigh he checked back in on the Winchesters and shrugged, they were much better apart than together. With a sigh he tried another cord; he was getting there. It wasn't his best ending, but it was an ending.
A/N 2: And as it is my tradition of shamelessly promoting my next story. I have several one-shots written (two for my Teacher 'AU) and a multi-chapter story about The Phoenix crew going on an ill fated camping trip. But next up is 'The First Time is the Hardest' It's Riley's third mission with the team. They are trying to make it to ex-fil, but Jack and Mac need medical attention, now! Riley's about to get a crash course in advanced first aid. I'll have it posted as soon as my beta has time to look it over! Thank you again for taking the time to read and review, much love!