Mac found leaving the ranch harder than he would have expected.

Some of it was Sioda, aka Forty-two, who seemed to be trying to prove to Mac that Jack had always been right. A horse could be a friend in a way that was as deep and as complicated as any human.

But a huge part of it was what had led to him having Sioda in his life at all. It was like some weird unofficial adoption that despite its unwritten nature somehow felt as official as anything that went through court.

Jack always got choked up when they were leaving the ranch. Mac was actually used to that after the visits they'd taken to Texas since they met. But he was surprised that he nearly lost his composure, too. Well, nearly lost his composure saying goodbye to Nana and Pops. He absolutely had when he'd gone out to the barn by himself that morning to say goodbye to Sioda. But he didn't think she'd tell anybody.

He wasn't sure about Jack's horse, Cogburn. Cogs looked like he might be planning to rat him out to Jack, and Mac couldn't quite convince himself that the damn horse didn't speak human, or that Jack didn't speak horse.

When he got himself together and stepped out of Sioda's stall, Cogs butted his head over the door and sniffed at him in a way he was half suspicious of being nosy.

But Sioda just tossed her golden head and gave Cogs a very superior look over her stall door.

The large chestnut with the black mane turned away huffily, making Mac laugh, and somehow making it easier to leave to get his bag to head to the airport. Still, he turned back before he headed out the door. She whinnied at him and shook her head.

He half smiled. "You don't want to let me out of your sight? You're gonna fit right in with the Daltons."

She stepped closer to her stall door and stomped her hooves, which Mac had learned between Christmas and New Years meant, "Get your ass in gear and take me out for a ride."

"We already went out." Mac shook his head. "I'll be back to visit as soon as I can."

Her head bobbed several times like she was nodding, and Mac left before he could convince himself that maybe she spoke human, too.

Mac managed to make it through the rest of being seen off with all the appropriate smiles and hugs and handshakes. He even laughed when Nana extracted a promise that they'd visit again soon, maybe just because they wanted to and not because they'd managed to get themselves in some kind of trouble at work.

As soon as the plane took off, Mac scrunched down on his seat and closed his eyes, letting his face go slack.

After a few minutes, Jack said softly, "You know I know you're not asleep for real, right?"

Mac sighed. "I was sort of hoping you were over that watching people sleep thing. I'm actually trying to get a nap."

"How late did you stay out in the barn with Sioda last night? I never heard you come in."

Mac opened one eye. "I don't know. Kinda late I guess." Mac smiled fondly. "She's a good listener."

"I guess she was a good idea then." He paused. "I was a little afraid she'd be too much, but once Pops makes up his mind about somethin', there's not much anyone can do."

"So that's where you get it from."

It was clear Jack wasn't going to let him pretend to sleep, so he sat up and gave him his full attention. "Sioda's not too much." He looked at Jack fully so he could see Mac was sincere. "She's perfect, Jack." He thought for a minute. "And so is the stall, and the spot of my own in the tack room, and even the damn hat that I still feel kind of silly wearing. Iâ"

Jack eyed him speculatively. "What is it?"

"You've been telling me that â that we're family for years. And the whole Wookie Life Debt thing. Since the day you stepped on that pressure plate â and every time we've been to the ranch, it's â" He looked away, then back at Jack, glad their flight was noisy and crowded. "No matter how much I've pushed away. You â all of youâ"" He stopped.

"You tryin' to say that you finally get it? That we finally penetrated the thick skull that protects that ginormous brain a yours?" Jack asked with what Mac found to be exactly the right amount of teasing.

He flashed his trademark self-deprecating grin. "I don't know if I really do." Then he shook his head just a little. "But I want to."

Jack grinned, "Well, if you want to understand somethin' I'm guessing there's not much in the world that'll stop ya, kid."

Mac shook his head a little. "We're actually talking about the stuff that's usually hard for me to understand. And I guess now you know a little about why." His brow furrowed slightly. "I'm still sorry we both got mad though."

"Me, too. But I'm not sorry it made you tell me the things it did. It made a lot of stuff make a lot more sense."

"That stays between us, right?" he asked, crease in his forehead deepening.

"Not even Nana and Pops?"

Mac pressed his lips together. "I â Nana knows â All that stuff." Then he flashed another grin. "I think that's how I got her on my side with the glitter you-know-what."

Jack looked at him funny.

Mac snorted a laugh. "That's not a word you say on a plane, Jack. I'm not looking to get tackled by an undercover Air Marshall."

Jack laughed. "Good point, kid."

Mac yawned despite usually not being a terribly easy flier.

"You were actually gonna take a nap, huh?"

Mac smiled. "After I managed to clock out after the Vortex of Death, I figured I might as well give it a shot."

"I'll wake you up before touchdown, kid."

"Thanks, Jack," he said as he scrunched back down in his seat. He meant it. For a lot of things.

0-0-0

The following Monday, when they arrived in her office, Thornton didn't say anything about the way they'd left DXS the last time. She just welcomed them back to work, said she had some intel of interest, but that before they went over it, they were to report to the infirmary to apply for medical clearance to return to the field.

Which was fine.

It was how they'd expected to be spending their morning.

But Mac became increasingly sure that how he was being treated was some sort of tactic, meant to make him uncomfortable.

Some sort of punishment for simply making sure his boundaries were respected and that no one was overreaching the last time he was there.

First, even though the place didn't appear to have any other patients at the moment, and had plenty of staff, Jack was immediately taken in the back to be seen, while Mac was told someone would be with him "in a bit."

Jack had come back out, according to Mac's mental calculations, roughly three years later, and was headed for physical therapy, while Mac was still sitting in the waiting area, thumbing through a Time magazine that was published right around the time Penny Parker threw up on his shoes in the high school biology class that almost cost him his track eligibility.

Once they finally escorted him out back, Mac was trying really hard to not get pissed off while he waited in the cheap plastic chair next to the exam table in the overly cramped room he found himself in. But he wasn't very successful.

The nurse he'd had to deal with initially hadn't helped.

Demon Tinkerbell. Whose actual name was apparently Darlene. Negative associations all around as far a Mac was concerned.

She was the irritating, fake sort of perky he found grating even when the environment he was in was pleasant. And she made the mistake of putting her hand on his elbow to escort him back to the furthest, smallest exam room, so he had to walk through the whole damn department and felt like everyone he passed was staring at him and seemed to find something funny.

She'd told, rather than asked him, to change into a gown. And when he just ignored her and situated himself in the chair next to the exam table, she'd given him an amused little head shake and typed furiously on her laptop for a full minute.

Then she'd gotten in his space without asking, or even warning him, to take his vitals. She'd informed him she had orders for labs to verify he had fully recovered from the internal bruising, and when he said that didn't make any sense because his labs had been normal a month and a half ago when he was injured, she'd definitely smirked.

"You don't have to be happy about it, Agent. But if you want to be cleared for duty, you do have to roll up your sleeve. Orders aren't just from the doctor this time, they're signed by Oversight as well."

He'd given her a hard look. "Because?"

"I guess the boss is hoping you'll realize that another daring escape won't get you back out in the field."

Mac's own eyes rolled without consulting him. "I haven't ever escaped anything. That's just you guysâ" He threw up his hands and just unbuttoned the sleeve of his flannel and rolled it up. "You know what? I don't care. Whatever."

After she'd complained about his veins and unsuccessfully skewered him four times, he finally snapped, "For someone who looks so smug, you're not very good at this. Go get somebody who knows what they're doing!" He rolled his sleeves down and folded his arms, leaning back in his seat and daring her with his eyes to argue with him.

Sully had been the one to return and she was already giving him an earful before she was all the way in the room. Then she got a look at his arms.

"Oh, Mac. Jeez."

"I know." He sighed. "Think you can do any better?"

Sully raised an auburn eyebrow. "I'm sure I could if Dar hadn't blown so many, so badly."

He sighed. "If I just told you to use the back of my hand, would you do it, or are you gonna argue with me, too?"

She frowned. "I'd normally say I'd rather go prospecting because that hurts moreâ""

Mac interrupted. "It hurts less than fifty bruises from someone being bad at the job while they bitch about your veins the whole time."

She gave him what he interpreted as a fairly sympathetic look for her. "I was going to say that she didn't leave us a lot of good optionsâ""

"I told her just to use my hand to begin with."

"And," she went on like he hadn't interrupted. "I also generally like to listen to my patients rather than just insisting on honoring my own preferences." She smiled at his look of slight surprise. "Which hand is going to get in your way the least in the event that my skills aren't as good as I like to think they are and it's sore later?"

Mac shrugged. "I have a right hand preference but I'm close to ambidextrous, so whichever one looks like it's less likely to earn me more bruises is okay with me."

"Alright. Let's have a look. Then I'll get Dr. Rodgers back here and get you out of here asap."

0-0-0

Mac felt like he'd waited roughly another two years before the doctor tapped on the exam room door. So long, in fact, that he'd felt okay peeling the tape and gauze off his hand and being unable to decide if he was happy that Sully had been right and not left a bruise or irritated that she'd have a reason to be smug if she found out she'd been right.

He'd made up his mind to be as agreeable as possible to just get cleared for duty and get the hell out of Medical as fast as possible. Because he'd been there for long enough today that if he'd put on his watch or had a clock in this tiny room that reminded him of the sarcophagus he and Jack had been shut it in Cairo he was pretty sure it was after lunch at this point.

But when Steve came through the door with the ubiquitous laptop, Mac felt his temper flare again. His arms crossed again almost against his will.

"Hey, Mac. Sorry to have kept you waiting. I was picking some buckshot out of someone who accidentally found themselves on some farmer's back forty while chasing an unsub in an arms deal upstate, and Melody figured you'd rather wait than see Foster."

Mac took a deep breath, but it didn't help. "She would have been right a few weeks ago. But after you talked about me behind my back to Jack, I don't know what to think."

Steve put the laptop down on the counter and sat on the "Staff Only" stool across from Mac. "Mac, I didn't mean to upset you byâ""

Mac sat forward. "Why the hell would you say anything to Jack to begin with?!?"

"Of course I said something to Jack," Steve said levelly. "You wouldn't have a conversation about it."

"Because there was nothing to talk about. You said so yourself. Said it could even be an artifact on the scan and that if it wasn't it was so minor as to barely warrant worrying about."

"Macâ""

"And you said you weren't worried about it. But that Oversight has preferred protocols."

"Which you didn't want to discuss either."

"I don't need someone who's never even met me trying to manage my healthcare for me because they â I don't know â have control issues or the world's biggest ego â or whatever their problem is."

Steve shook his head. "I mean as far as Oversight goes that feels fair, but it still doesn't meanâ""

"What?" Mac folded his arms.

"We could have done an MRI to be sure. Or you could've stayed a day or two and let us rerun labs a couple of times to keep the boss happy and make sure you weren't in any danger from it."

"If you weren't worried about it, there was no reason for me to stay in Medical on lockdown. Which you agreed with when I left. You gave us a ride."

"After you took off and ran all over the neighborhood just to prove you could."

Mac shrugged. "I didn't need to prove anything. I wanted a coffee."

Steve laughed, but Mac couldn't tell if it was in amusement or "at him" or a combination of the two.

"Regardless of what Oversight said or wanted, there was a chance you could have had complications from that bruising. And whether it's fair or not, you've got a reputation for ignoring injuries and pushing past the point of endurance."

Mac made himself unfold his arms. "It's not fair at all. And it still doesn't explain why you talked to Jack. Just because he's my partner doesn't mean he's inclined to my private health information."

Steve raised an eyebrow. "No, but the fact that he's listed as both your next of kin and emergency medical contact and limited power of attorney is."

"Iâ"" He stopped and rubbed his hands over his face, puffing out a long breath. "I forgot about that."

"Well, you had a concussion. And you were in a tear to get out of Medical." He grinned. "And Sully was ready to just write it off as hating her entire staff and the whole place on general principles." Then he gave Mac a slightly more serious look. "But she's not military. I am."

Mac swallowed hard. He hadn't really given why he had felt the need to get the hell out of the infirmary a lot of conscious thought. All he'd known was he wasn't about to be pushed into staying there by a supervisor he'd never been in the same room with, and that he couldn't stand to be anywhere with anyone telling him he couldn't leave.

Now, knowing why Steve had spoken to Jack at all, he felt even worse for how angry he'd gotten with Jack about it. Not that he was okay with them talking about him necessarily. But he thought he understood now.

"Alright," he said. "I'm not saying it was okay." He sighed, just barely audibly. "But I get it."

"Good. Soâ""

"Don't do it again."

The eyebrow went back up. "You want to make changes? Jack isn't who you want on your paperwork?"

"No. Jack is who I want on my documents. But what I want is for you not to go behind my back. Unless I'm actually incapacitated and unable to make a decision, your only job is to respect the ones I make."

"I'm sorry, Mac. Honestly. Oversightâ"

"Will be looking to replace me if they butt into my personal life. And that's what that was."

Steve flashed a smile. "I've never been a fan of being treated like government property myself."

"My first impression of you was that you're someone Jack and I could maybe count on here. Was I wrong?"

"No, I hope you weren't."

Mac relaxed. He'd made his point, the doc seemed to get it, and he thought maybe, even if his original reasoning for talking to Jack had been kind of justified, he'd now think twice before he did anything like that again. "Good.

"So you gonna let me have a look at you, see if we can get you cleared for duty?"

"That's why I'm here." Mac stood hop up onto the exam table. "Can I ask you something else first?"

"Sure."

"Why the hell did I get dragged back here to the equivalent of a supply closet?"

"It's the furthest room from the lobby." Steve snickered. "Sully was afraid you were gonna yell at me, I think."

He made a face. "I don't yell."

He smirked. "Or maybe she was afraid you'd stage another daring escape if you were too close to the door."

Mac just rolled his eyes. "I have never, no matter what you all tell yourselves. Walking out the front door is not an escape."

"So, that wasn't a possibility?" Steve joked. "Front door or otherwise?"

"Please," Mac snorted. "Not only am I ready to get back to workâ" He smirked. "There's an exit to the parking structure right around the corner from this room. You wouldn't even have known I was gone before I was halfway home."