Jack woke several times in the night as it approached time for more pain medication. It wasn't the worst pain he'd ever been in. In fact, compared to the back injury of a few months ago, this was nothing. And the staff was being extremely attentive, so he never had to wait long.

It was amazing the difference in how you got treated when people thought you were some kind of government VIP as opposed to just some grunt. But what amazed him even more was his silently sleeping roommate.

Elliot had somehow convinced Mac that back in a bed, on fluids, and monitored was where he belonged. He'd grinned last night when he told Jack how agreeable the kid had been about it too. "Must feel as bad as he looks, because he only argued the fine points for about twenty minutes."

Knowing Mac was back to getting taken care of made it easier for Jack to sleep, even though he was hurting. When Jack woke for the day just after sunrise, he was a little more concerned. Mac was still out like a light. The bright morning sun, the white sheets, the while gown, all conspired to make Mac's bruises look deep and painful. They also pointed out just how pale the kid was.

Jack had already had a request for coffee shot down by a nurse telling him it was too early and to go back to sleep. Since that wasn't likely to happen, Jack sat going over recent events in his head, while looking guiltily at the banged up young man sleeping a few feet away.

Elliot came in a few minutes later and started laughing at the expression on Jack's face. "Trust me Dalton, he doesn't look any worse than you."

"That's not very nice. Especially comin' from somebody who was not denied his morning caffeine." Jack smiled and shook his head. "It's a little early for insults against the uncaffeinated, ain't it?"

"I suppose it is. They let you get any sleep?"

"Yeah, some. And I don't think Mac so much as rolled over all night even with people in and out a bunch. He was resting so well they just let him be."

"He nearly passed out on me last night." Jack frowned. "They had him for almost two weeks, Jack. He was beaten, starved, kept on inhumane water rations, with the exception of what they saw to it made its way into his lungs. Fever of a hundred two last night when I finally got him settled in here to wait for you. I'm a little surprised he racked out before he laid eyes on you, but only a little. He's a wreck."

Although Elliot was standing right next to him, talking at full volume, Mac hadn't stirred. Jack frowned. "Did they dope him? I've never seen the kid sleep like this."

"Nothing other than some non-narcotic pain meds and something for the fever and infection. This is just what pushing past your limits looks like. That's all. He kept going long after he should have just given in and gone to ground to heal up. He finally just crashed."

Jack nodded. "I guess we've all been there. Hopefully he learned his lesson this time and gets a little less likely to play superhero."

"Have you learned yours yet?" Elliot laughed.

"Ah, I'm gettin' there, Doc."

"Mmmmmm," Mac grumbled, and pulled the pillow over his face.

Jack grinned at the grumpy sound from the younger man. Between the two of them, Mac was usually the morning person, up with the sun, ready to Energizer Bunny his way up through the Hollywood hills, and tease Jack for just sitting around staring blearily into his coffee.

"Mornin', kid. How ya feelin'?" Jack asked.

"Shhhh, quiet," came out muffled by the pillow.

"Headache?" Elliot asked.

"Mmmm."

"I was going to let you guys in on the plan for getting back to LA as soon as you were up."

"Mmmmm."

"And offer to get you some clothes," Elliot added.

The covers were thrown back and the pillow shoved aside. "Real clothes?" Mac asked, wide awake and half swinging his feet over the edge of the bed.

Elliot laughed. "I was thinking more like some sweats, but maybe I should walk back that offer and stick to getting you a bathrobe. Probably shouldn't do anything that might encourage another episode of you wandering off. You are too sneaky for your own good already."

Mac's blue eyes were wide and innocent. "What do you mean? I haven't tried wandering off here."

Elliot leaned against the wall by the foot of Mac's bed. He raised his eyebrows and gave Mac a knowing look. The way the young man's eyes widened just a little let Elliot know he was right. Mac gave a slight head shake and a pleading look that said, "Please don't say it. Not in front of Jack."

So of course Elliot did.

"You were pretending to be asleep so the staff would leave you alone."

Mac's face flushed and his expression became the picture of indignant. "That's ridiculous! I was exhausted. I hadn't actually slept in … I don't know how long other than that nap in the back of the truck. I was just really tired."

"Definitely pretending. At least this morning, but probably longer."

"I don't know what would make you say that," Mac said with an indifferent shrug. He made a face that said he'd forgotten shrugging was going to hurt, then casually added. "But you also said clothes and plan. I like both those things. So, let's just talk about that."

"I know what made him say it," Jack chimed in. "Nobody sleeps that deep. 'Specially not you. And you looked comatose until Elliot said clothes. Then you shot up all bright eyed and bushy tailed."

"You guys woke me up!" Mac insisted.

Jack legitimately looked like he wanted to believe him. "For real?"

Mac's expression was so sincere it almost made Elliot laugh. "Yeah, for real. I'm still pretty beat. I should have just stayed where you guys left me yesterday, I guess."

Just the right note of contriteness, too. Damn, this kid was good. Elliot was about to call bullshit, just for fun. Mac apparently saw the look in his eye because he very smoothly moved the conversation on to something to distract Jack's interest.

"So, back to LA? This morning?" Mac asked pointedly.

"Yeah, that'd be great," Jack agreed.

Elliot didn't miss Mac's slight smirk but it was gone almost before it registered. He let it go. Mac was going to be Mac, and as far as he could tell from what Miles had shared, not much was likely to change about him. It was as likable and endearing as it was vexing. "Yes, back to LA. This morning. We'll get going in an hour or so."

Mac beamed and, split lip and all, it was a genuinely sunny expression. "Awesome, so how about the aforementioned sweats?"

"I thought I took back that offer."

"Yeah, but you didn't mean it."

Elliot had to admire the kid's tenacity. But he was a fair reminder of why Elliot preferred pathology. Dead people don't argue. "Alright. I'll go find you both something a little more dignified for the flight home."

"Now you're talkin'," Jack said, sharing a look of relief with Mac.

"Your Director Thornton is sending some of her medical folks to look after you on the flight home. Apparently I've earned a break."

"Aw, man," Jack groused.

Mac just shrugged. "Bring me real clothes and I can put up with anything you say between here and LA."

0-0-0

They weren't even in the air yet when Mac was out cold on one of the couches on the luxurious jet Thornton had sent for them. Jack wished he was more tired because he was already more than half annoyed with the staff Thornton had sent along, if only because they'd informed him that the director had already ordered the two of them to the infirmary once they landed.

When the little blond pixie of a nurse who Mac referred to as Demon Tinkerbell, and Jack thought of now as Tink, finally stepped away for a few minutes, Jack studied Mac. He said quietly, "You are faking so they'll leave you alone."

No change registered in Mac's expression, and his lips moved almost imperceptibly, "Yeah, and it works great. You should try it."

"I should rat you out."

"She'll come back and bother you too, the second you open your mouth."

"That's a good point."

"So … go for it," Mac whispered.

It took two more rounds of being irritated by DXS's medical staff for Jack to succumb to the temptation. But when he finally did, he had to concede its advantages.

"Dude, this is perfect." Mac didn't answer. "Dude, yo Mac, this works great."

When Mac didn't answer the second time, Jack cracked an eye open. The slight drool that went with Mac's slack features this time around said that all the pretending had become real sleep once again.

A good idea was a good idea. Jack closed his eyes and was snoring for real in less than ten minutes.

0-0-0

Jack almost felt bad as he made his way to the parking garage. He was slightly hindered by his crutches, but only slightly. He'd been on crutches a bunch of times. He had a pocket full of prescription bottles for pain and to prevent infection, but all things being equal, he wasn't badly off.

Thornton had been rather insistent that he stay the night after they arrived. One of the nurses he'd been flirting with for a while was on the night shift and she was particularly attentive. Not that she bought the whole pretending to sleep thing. Jack hadn't minded all that much.

Mac on the other hand had been grumpy as hell. It started the minute Elliot went home and let the doctor on duty at DXS to take over and the new guy insisted Mac belonged back on an IV. This morning, Foster was on duty. And no one thought he was okay to go home. Poor kid.

At least Patty had taken care of a cover story for Mac's friends. As far as Bozer knew, Mac had gone to a car show in Boston for Ainsley's and was busy working and visiting with college friends. An email a day seemed to be keeping Boze happy.

Mac had been anything but happy when Jack had left. Between Foster's usual power tripping, Thornton suggesting the company shrink "after what he'd been through", and Mac's general dislike for the situation he was in, Mac was getting short tempered. He'd more or less kicked everyone out of his room when Jack was leaving, snapping that he was going to get some sleep.

Jack planned to return later with some dvds or puzzle books or something. It seemed likely Mac would be expected to hang around for a couple of days. Between his injuries, the conditions he'd been held in, and how he'd been injured, there was probably an annoying amount of medical and psychological intervention between Mac and freedom. Patty had been pretty clear about that; even putting off the debrief until Mac was discharged. Tuesday at the earliest, she's said.

Jack got off the elevator and started his lumbering trek across the garage to his car. He'd forgone real pain relief this morning so he could drive. He was happy the GTO was a column shift because otherwise he'd have had to leave it in the parking garage.

He leaned against the car and fumbled with his keys, swearing loudly when he dropped them. He was maneuvering to lean down and pick them up, when a set of sneaker clad feet appeared in his field of view and a hand with bruised scraped knuckles scooped the keys off the floor.

"Lemme get those for you, pal."

Jack stood up straight, his most disapproving expression already on his face even before he met Mac's eyes. "I thought you were supposed to stay in bed."

"Meh," Mac shrugged. "Foster didn't ask nicely. So I decided to ignore him."

Jack's eyebrows climbed, "Thornton …"

"Didn't ask nicely either."

"She ordered you to …"

"I don't work here. Remember?" Mac grinned. "So let's get out of here. I'll drive."

Jack didn't move from where he was leaning next to the driver's side. "She's gonna send security down here after you, betcha fifty bucks."

"Betcha fifty bucks they don't know I'm gone till dinner." Mac smirked and gave a playful double raise of his eyebrows.

Jack just got out of Mac's way and hobbled around to the passenger seat. "Did you just pull another Houdini and escape the DXS infirmary?"

Mac laughed and got in. "Yeah, but for my next trick, I'll need a volunteer."

Jack laughed too and Mac started to maneuver the car out of the garage. "Oh really? You wanna saw me in half or somethin', do ya, brother?"

Mac adjusted the visor as they pulled up to the exit. Jack realized it blocked the camera from fully seeing the driver's face. Sneaky little shit. The garage attendant eyed them both suspiciously, but didn't stop them.

"No sawing. I just need a place to disappear for a night or two. If I go home looking like this Bozer will freak."

"Alright, kid. You can crash with me again. Even though you still belong in the …"

"Nope. Don't start."

"Start what?"

"That overprotective thing you do."

"Mac, I never …"

"Right," Mac interrupted. "Look, just let me focus on driving. Traffic sucks."

That was fine with Jack. He had some thinking to do. Mac needed a talking to, but he was going to have to handle it carefully.

Kid was defensive and kind of prickly.

No surprise after what O'Neill and his people had put him through. But he needed to stop and think before he got himself killed. Jack needed to get him to see that. But he'd been trying for years now. This time he had to get the kid to listen.

He just wasn't sure how.