Jack woke to the sound of the steady beeping of his heart monitor and the muffled sniffling of someone nearby. His head throbbed in sync with his heartbeat, each pulse sending a fresh wave of agony through his skull. He cracked his eyes open carefully and groaned, the too-bright light in his room piercing his vision like twin daggers stabbing into his brain.
He heard someone moving around, the soft rustle of clothing and the quiet padding of feet. Then, a familiar female voice broke through the haze of his pain.
"Is that better?" Riley asked softly, her voice tender and full of concern.
Jack cracked his eyes open experimentally once more, finding the pain much more bearable as the harsh light dimmed slightly.
"Ri?" Jack questioned, his voice rough and scratchy, each word scraping against his throat.
"How are you feeling?" the hacker asked, her voice wavering with barely suppressed emotion.
"I'm alright," Jack answered, though his voice lacked conviction.
As his vision cleared, Jack could see the telltale signs of tears on Riley's face. Her eyes were red-rimmed and puffy, a stark contrast to her usual composed demeanor. It was clear she had been crying for some time.
"Ri, what's wrong?" the older agent asked worriedly, his stomach dropping with fear. Had something happened to Mac? Nigeria wasn't exactly the safest country, and the kid was like a magnet for trouble.
"Do you have a death wish or something?" Riley asked, her voice a mixture of anger and desperation.
"What?" Jack furrowed his brow, unsure of what she was saying.
"Ever since Mac left, you've been volunteering for every dangerous mission at the Phoenix. You almost died, Jack. If that bullet had been just a few millimeters over, you would have." Riley wiped at her damp cheeks with both hands, her fingers trembling.
He had never seen Riley this emotional before. It was very uncharacteristic of her, and it tore at his heart to see the tears freely flowing from her beautiful face.
Riley had been in the War Room as tech support for the mission and had seen it all happen live in high-definition clarity. The drone captured the very moment her father figure received two rounds to his vest, one to the shoulder, and a deep graze above his left ear. She had watched in horror and screamed, as he collapsed to the ground, blood pouring from the deep groove that had been carved out by the bullet, on the side of his head. Her laptop clattered to the floor and she covered her face unable to look at the bloody collapsed form of Jack as he laid there lifeless.
She had thought she had just watched him die, and the scene kept replaying over and over in her mind.. broken down so much that Matty had to have Jill take over for her for the remainder of the mission.
This was the second time since Mac left that Jack had had a near miss and had woken up in Phoenix Medical. Jack hadn't handled Mac's absence and lack of communication very well. Each ignored call and unanswered message felt like a fresh wound, deepening his sense of abandonment.
Did Mac even care about Jack anymore? It certainly didn't appear so. All his attempts at contact were met with silence, as if Mac wanted nothing to do with him, and that hurt the older agent deeply.
Maybe he had been playing a little fast and loose with his life since Mac left. The reckless behavior, the constant need to throw himself into danger—it was all a way to numb the pain, to fill the void Mac had left behind.
"I love you, Jack… I can't lose you again, so I need you to be a lot more careful, okay?" Riley's voice broke, and she swiped another tear off her face. "I know how important Mac is to you, but you are important to me."
"I love you too, honey…" Jack's eyes teared up with his girls admission.
"I'll do my best, okay?"