"Ahhhhhhhhh"
McG tried to block out the sounds of distress coming from the prone man on the table in front of him. He leaned in closer carefully exploring the wound as gently as he could but still his patient squirmed in discomfort and sucked in a ragged breath.
"Easy Preach. Try to hold still. I know it's not fun but we've got to get it out"
There was a grunt of acknowledgement from the older man and the restless movements stilled temporarily.
McG pulled back for a second, rolling his shoulders, trying to ease the tension that was building in his muscles.
He leaned in and started again but almost immediately Preach bucked under his touch causing his instrument to miss it's intended target and drawing another sound of complaint from his patient.
He sighed, this wasn't working.
"Jaz, come hold him down would you"
Jaz slid in next to the Preach's head at the front of the table, reaching down to apply pressure against his broad shoulders.
McG gave her a nod of thanks and went back to work.
It was slightly better. With Jaz's hands pushing back and resisting some of the movement, the medic was able to dig around for an extended period this time with only minor movements as he searched around under the skin.
Now where was that pesky little bugger.
He furrowed his brow in frustration, peering closer and wishing he had better light to see with.
"You had to shoot through a wall…"
Just when he thought he had it, Preach's accusation broke through his focus and he pulled back empty handed yet again and looking skyward in exasperation.
Before he could respond, Dalton beat him to the punch.
"YOU just had to make yourself a hostage"
His retort was calm and even and accompanied by one of Dalton's patented eyebrow raises that speaks volumes about his opinion on Preach's earlier plan to put himself in danger.
Instead of harping on it, Top quickly bows his head and goes back to filling in the paperwork in front of him. Off in the corner, he makes every effort to go back to portraying casual indifference to the goings on around him.
Preach looks suitably abashed for a second and stills long enough for McG to resume his ministrations
"Seriously though... through the…. Wall."
Each word is hissed through gritted teeth as the metal dips back into his wound. They come out in staccato bursts punctuated by small inhilations that correspond to the prods and pulls in his back. McG pauses to shake out a cramp in his hand and his patient takes the reprieve to get a full sentence out uninterrupted.
"I mean whose bright idea was that? Had to be your crazy plan Top"
"Technically the DIA did the aiming. Send Patricia a complaint. I'm sure she would love to hear your grievance and arrange some hazard pay for your pain and suffering."
This time Dalton responds without even looking up but the smirk is practically audible in his voice nonetheless as he volleys back, effectively dodging around the accusation
His best efforts to deflect are completely futile.
Of course it was his idea.
They all know it. Who else would have come up with that kind of thing. But their leader is apparently going to plead the fifth and dare his friend to call him on it.
Before Preach can call bullshit, McG finally snags a piece of what he is looking for and quickly pulls out one of the fragments from the wound with a triumphant "Aha"
"Ow, jeez McG thought you had a license or something for this"
The medic shakes his head in disbelief "How is it you take a bullet and let me dig it out with no complaints but this… THIS is the end of the world."
Preach snorts, not denying the accusation, and attempts to push up off the table, "Just leave it then, the rest will work it's way out eventually"
"Yeah after it gets infected... Stop being a baby" McG snaps back as both he and Jax push the older man back down to the table. The time for kids gloves is long over in his book.
Amir walks by whistling a tune that speaks of all the cheer a hot shower and clean clothes can bring. His happy demeanor is in sharp contrast to the harried medic still in rumpled dirty fatigues and desperately in need of a freshen up himself.
"Do you want me to try?" The smaller man offers with a grin, strolling good naturedly into the kitchen and rummaging around for the ingredients to start dinner. He quirks a head at the table and Preach's prone form and continues on "I excelled at operation as a child. I am very talented with tweezers. Never set off the alarm even once." He mimes tweezing something off the counter with two knives as if to emphasize his point.
Jaz snickers and jumps on board, "Or I could do it. Can't be any more challenging that plucking an eyebrow right?" She says raising one perfectly groomed eyebrow as if challenging McG and Preach to question her skills.
McG rolls his eyes, his teammates never cease to amaze him. Not for the first time he wonders if they hold team meetings without him and strategize different ways to make his job more difficult.
Preach seems to share his exasperation, shaking his head at the two of them circling like vultures with eager expressions on their faces.
"Back off … all of you. I will take my chances with the profesional"
"Your confidence is overwhelming" McG mutters dryly, bending back over and trying to refocus on the task at hand.
But twiddle dee and twiddle dumb aren't done with their stand up stick.
Jaz continues on in a mock serious tone "I don't know Preach, I've seen him try and eat with chopsticks. Not sure I would trust his coordination judging by the amount of food that usually ends up on his shirt."
Amir pipes back in from the kitchen "That is a very valid point…. Joe even has that eating shirt he wears. Which I still think is disgusting by the way."
Jaz nods emphatically in agreement "Exactly… an eating shirt. I mean…"
McG was a little taken aback.
He wasn't at all phased by the lighthearted barbs, that was standard and he would happily give it right back. No, the weird startling part was who was the pair of them working together to throw them. He caught Dalton's subtle change in posture out of the corner of his eyes, and realized he wasn't the only one picking up on this new development in the slow thaw between their sniper and their new invisible man. This interaction felt dangerously close to the type of comradery and easy conversation that the rest of them shared.
That fact alone, forced him to swallow any annoyance and play along to keep the light hearted atmosphere going. He shrugged his shoulders good naturedly, "What?! Its practical...Why get stains on multiple shirts, when you can sacrifice one and save the rest?"
Dalton snorts, and dryly opines "most of us manage to just put the food in our mouths in the first place"
McG shrugs again, still completely unabashed.
"Whatever... My lack of chopstick skills have nothing to do with my ability to operate these" he holds up the metal instrument in his hand. 'I'm well acquainted with using them'
Jaz, glances conspiratorially at Preach still feigning concern about the situation. "I dunno, have you seen his eyebrows. He's definitely not THAT well acquainted with tweezers,
"These are forceps Jaz, not tweezers... FORCEPS." It isn't the first time he has made this distinction and his tone reflects it.
When he looks up to make sure his point is landing he finds Jaz mouthing "Unibrow" in Amir's direction. She tries to pretend that she is just rubbing her forehead but is fooling no one that her fingers weren't just implying something about his brows.
She doesn't see the roll of gauze flying through the air at her head until the very last second. Even her lightning quick reflexes aren't enough to save her and the package makes a satisfying enough contact to make McG and Preach smile.
Preach's smirk quickly turns into a grimace and he lets out a loud groan "Owwwwwwww"
Just as McG proclaims "Got it"! and holds up the last small piece of wood fresh out of Preach's skin.
Held tightly in the forceps it looks like nothing more than a glorified sliver. Albeit a very long, fairly thick sliver, but a sliver nonetheless.
Unfortunately for Preach the bullet going through the poorly constructed wall just above his shoulder sent many, many wood fragments down in his direction and a bunch of them burrowed into his skin and his upper torso giving him the slight appearance of a pin cushion.
His patient wasted no time and pushed off the table with a relieved sigh and a still slightly grumpy disposition that was uncharacteristic of the normally easy going man. It was suprising seeing as Preach was usually his best patient. Compared to the others, it wasn't even remotely close.
McG suspected that there was a touch of embarrassment at work, possibly related to the excessive amount of porcupine jokes that had dominated much of the plane ride home. That and it had been a long tedious process to get them all out. Most of the larger ones had come out easy enough but as they got down to the last few it had become trickier to fish out the smaller, more deeply entrenched ones.
Still muttering about exploding walls and ill conceived plans, Preach made his way past the corner where Dalton was making himself scarce.
Dalton's head raised and his eyes tracked his long time friend's movements across the rest of the common area and towards their living quarters.
Just as Preach reached the doorway Dalton called out "McG, I think you missed one"
Preach froze in place, shoulders raising and body tensing, and then relaxing a second later when he realized it was just a joke. He refused to turn around, refused to give them any more satisfaction. Instead giving them all a wave with his back still turned as he departed down the hallway.
There was a second of silence before it was broken by a soft snicker from Jaz, that dissolved into full on laughter. McG, Amir and Adam were quick to join in and the common area rang with peals of laughter at the expense of poor Preach the prickly porcupine.
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Full disclosure - I have an eating shirt, and like McG ... I am unashamed of it ;) Its practical!