Mac came back to the office a couple of hours later and handed Matty a form from Dr. Andrews, who was honestly Mac's first choice if he had to deal with Medical since the man almost never argued much with Mac's self-assessment and didn't ever push medication unless it was truly necessary. Although, Mac had a suspicion that Matty had called ahead after he'd stormed out because this time the doc had insisted on an x-ray to confirm his diagnosis and on wrapping Mac's ankle before he left. Matty scanned the form quickly while Jack pretended to be checking his email. Riley had been excused a while ago to grab lunch and do some hand-to-hand training and had left gratefully, not wanting to hang around and watch Jack check the clock and look like a kicked puppy because he knew Mac was mad at him. Mac was looking slightly smug, but a lot less hot under the collar than he had earlier. Matty looked up and gave him a small smile. "Slight sprain. No restricted duty necessary." Mac opened his mouth to speak, but Matty continued, "However, Dr. Andrews does note here at the bottom that several days of rest, ice, and anti-inflammatories would benefit you." Mac's mouth closed and his eyebrows went up, wondering where this was going. "Mac, you and I both know that Tom knows you well enough not to phrase anything as 'doctor's orders' but that if he put the note on here at all, it's what he's really recommending."

Mac sighed, "Yeah." He paused to cast a look at Jack, who was very deliberately not looking up. "So, am I going home, Director Webber?"

"I get how you operate now, Mac. I'm Matty when you like what I say and I'm Director Webber when you don't. I think I'm going to decide to be flattered that you feel any particular way about me. Makes me wonder what you call Dalton when he's fallen out of favor though."

Jack looked up with an almost hesitant grin. "Jackass. He calls me Jackass."

Mac flashed a quick grin of his own. "Well, what else am I gonna call you?"

Now the tension had eased a bit, Jack's grin grew. "What it lacks in originality, it more than makes up for in accuracy."

Matty approved of the more normal way they were interacting and chased them both out of the office, telling Mac that Andrews might not like to say 'orders' but she had no problem with it. Two days. Doing everything the doctor suggested. With Jack as a chaperone. Because Jack might care if Mac was mad at him, but she didn't. He just nodded and mumbled, "Yes, ma'am," as he left with Jack following close behind.

The ride home was quieter than it might usually have been, but other than that, neither Mac nor Jack had any interest in bringing up Mac's earlier fit of temper or that Jack might have overstepped his role a bit when he told Matty about Mac getting hurt. Jack was just so happy that Mac had actually gone and taken care of himself and that he hadn't argued with Matty about going home that he wanted to reward good behavior. He also felt a little guilty about setting Mac off and hoped to apologize the best way he knew how. He stopped and got take-out from Mac's favorite taco place and then pulled into the grocery store a few miles from Mac's and grabbed a twelve pack of the beer Mac preferred, never once saying that bean tacos were weird or microbrew was anything other than the manliest of beverages. When Jack pulled into the parking area and turned off the car, Mac felt like he had to say something before they went inside. "Jack … I'm sorry I snapped … I've got a lot on my …"

Jack waved him off. "Don't even worry about it, brother. Everyone gets a little prickly sometimes. And I know I'm the worst mother-hen you ever met. Worse than Boze, even. Riley read me the riot act about it a little after you left. I think what she said was, 'You're not the dad of me or Mac either. Unless we ask you to be'."

Mac chuckled, picturing Riley and the way her eyebrows seemed to want to connect with each other when she was upset. "Sometimes we both need you to be the dad of us … Most of the time I just need you to be my partner though." Jack smiled so broadly when Mac said they needed him as their dad sometimes that Mac thought the man's face would split. "I shouldn't have flipped out on you. Just … sometimes it feels like you think I'm thirteen instead of going on thirty." Jack was going to say something but Mac held up his hand. "Don't even say it. I'm a lot closer to thirty than to twenty … But I know sometimes you still see the kid you found in that cave; wounded and beaten, dehydrated, hungry … I get it. Just sometimes, I don't want to be reminded of it. Okay?"

Jack was doing the thing where Mac was pretty sure the man was looking into his very soul. Sometimes that look would make him want to find somewhere else to put his eyes. After a minute Jack nodded. "I didn't realize that's what I was doing. I'm sorry."

Mac shook his head, now sorry himself that he'd put it like that. He was also sorry he'd mentioned their meeting, because it almost assuredly meant he'd be up with nightmares tonight and he wouldn't even have work to distract him from it the following day. He wanted to lighten things up, so he hedged, "I'll admit that from Day One I've probably been training you to think I need a fair amount of looking after."

Jack got out of the car, effectively ending the serious part of their conversation and, determined to get Mac into a better mood, off his feet, and out of the dark headspace he was sure Nikki was responsible for, he just headed toward the door without checking to see how Mac was managing on his recently-wrapped ankle. When he got there first he called over his shoulder, "Hurry up, Gimpy! Our tacos are gettin' cold and our beer is gettin' warm."

Things were back to something resembling normal for a little while, at least. Then, as they were winding down for the evening on the second night, they'd gotten a phone call from Matty saying she needed them in the office ASAP. While that felt like the most normal thing in the world, it didn't take them long to figure out how wrong they were.