Chapter Text
“You sure ya know what yer doin?”
“Considering this is a custom machine that doesn’t follow any sort of detail oriented plan, and I have to figure it out as I go, I’d say I’m doing a pretty good job.”
“That didn’t answer my question at all.”
“If I say yes then you’ll tell me to go faster. If I say no then you’ll tell me be careful and go faster. That’s all you get.”
“Well can ya go faster?”
Mac sent Jack a halfhearted glare over his shoulder, meeting Jack’s pleased smirk before rolling his eyes. It was just the two of them for that mission, Riley and Bozer both being lent out to other teams. It was supposedly a milk run, and up until that point, it had been; a simple get in, steal info, get out type of deal, and that time they were actually going to succeed in going with the plan.
At least, until they found the machine.
“What do you mean you found a machine? What kind?”
“I don’t know for sure, but it kinda looks like an old printing press but, not for a newspaper, or even money.”
“Looks like one of the machines ya’d find in a post apocalyptic movie that’s used for weapons of mass destruction. Ya know where all the big bad things go in and then a tiny little button with the power of a black hole comes out?”
“Thank you for that vivid description Jack. It’s like I’m there with you.”
“I know this is just a grab and go mission Matty, but if this is something that has anything to do with weapons, I’d like to put it out of commission.”
“If messing with that messes with your ability to get to exfil, you’re both grounded.”
The place they were in wasn’t even the typical bad guy compound they were so used to. More so, it was most likely just a drop site. From what they could tell, there was no cameras, no security, no traps of any kind to deter unwanted visitors. It did appear as an old abandoned building, but that normally didn’t stop anyone and everyone from taking a peek or exploring. Maybe there was some sort of hidden security feature, but Mac and Jack just somehow fit the urban explorer look that didn’t raise any flags.
“Okay, I’m not going to completely ruin it; just make it look like some sort of faulty mechanism malfunctioned so they don’t suspect anything.”
“Hell, let’s just burn the place down and blame it on faulty wirin. Feel like if I scrape on anythin I’ll need tetanus.”
“In all fairness, you’re probably right.”
“Bout burnin this place down?”
“Tetanus.” Mac grunted. “Here, I need you to pull this thing slowly.”
“You want me to get a shot don’t ya?”
“I could think of a lot easier ways to get you to get a shot. The sooner I get this done, the sooner we can leave and lessen your chance of getting a shot.”
“Yeah yeah, let’s just get it over with.” Jack grabbed the leaver and pulled slightly, listening to the creaking of the machine.
“Wait a sec… okay go again.”
“Same speed?”
“Yeah.”
“You just tell me—”
“Stop!”
“Make up yer mind! You want go or stop?”
“It’s a delicate process Jack!”
“I’m just sayin.”
“I know, just— it shouldn’t take much longer.”
Jack would be lying if he said he understood what was happening, at all. Normally Mac would give a scientific speech about his current plan, but that time he just went full on into doing— whatever it was he was doing.
“Okay, okay— when I say now, I need you to pull as hard as you can. I should be able to lodge the pipe just long enough—”
“Bud you know I trust you, and I might not know what yer doin right now, but this thing is kinda heavy, so you can spare the explanation until the end.”
Mac merely nodded. “Get ready— now!”
Jack pulled, Mac set.
Apparently whatever he was doing wasn’t enough, because the machine he was working with quickly clamped shut.
Right around Mac’s arm.
The yell he let out was something that would stay in Jack’s mind for a long time.
He stood stock for a moment, not knowing how or what to do with the situation. Only when Mac’s scream tampered off into a strangled sob did Jack move.
“What can I do for you Hoss?” He stood, hovering inches away, fearing Mac more pain if he touched him at all.
Mac just shook his head, eyes clenched shut, tears pricking the sides.
“Please, I wanna help.”
It took too long for Mac to answer, took too long for his breathing to even out slightly, too long for three words to leave his mouth.
“Pull it back.”
Jack breathed out, resisting the urge the comfort Mac in any way, and went back to the machine.
“I gotcha Hoss.” His hands were back on the leaver. “On my signal—”
Mac merely nodded, working on keeping his breathing even. It reminded him of when he broke his arm when he was at MIT, a story he wasn’t sure he’d told anyone.
“Now!”
When the metal had been forced apart, Mac all but fell back, not concerning himself with anything that might be behind him. He only made sure not to land on his previously crushed arm and cause more damage. He didn’t hear whatever Jack was saying to him, too busy concentrating on keeping his breathing steady in case he were to go into shock, and trying to ignore the heartbeat he felt through his arm.
It wasn’t the most painful thing he’d experienced, he didn’t think. Being shot definitely wasn’t fun, nor was getting stabbed— even if he was the one to do it. He could probably mostly compare it to electrocution; the shock of the volts going through the body was definitely on par with the tingling he felt in his arm. The bone was definitely broken as well, most likely in multiple places, and trying to move his fingers just sent more pain than he thought was capable.
When his hearing slowly started coming back, it was to Jack, probably on the phone with Matty given how different his speech pattern was than how he’d be speaking to Mac.
“—and I don’t care if it’s gonna take another team hours. Mac’s hurt. We’re done. I’ll get him to exfil fast as I can, and there better be medical waitin for him when we get back.”
He knew he’d have to move, but the thought of doing anything but lay there on the ground nearly made him sick.
“What can I do Mac?”
Jack’s voice sounded far away. The muffled ringing in his ears drowning out everything except for his own heartbeat. He couldn’t answer Jack, not without feeling like he’d lose what little food he had in his stomach. He just needed to lay there for a second; wait for the adrenaline to ware off and the sickness to subside. But he knew they needed to get out of there as quickly as possible.
“Give— just give me a sec.”
“Take yer time brother. We ain’t in a rush.”
“Except we are.”
“We’ve been here for hours and ain’t no one else has come by. We ain’t even due to exfil for another hour. You can catch yer breath.”
“But we— need to go.”
“And normally I’d agree with you; I mean hell, that thing did a number on ya, but I can see yer fittin to pass out if you attempted to get on yer feet. So we got time.”
Mac didn’t understand how Jack could be calm. Not only in that situation, but others before. Jack was the one that often blew paper cuts out of proportion, always there to make a small situation into something that was much larger. This time wasn’t a paper cut, but it definitely wasn’t as bad as when he’d gotten shot. Jack was calm that time as well—
Oh.
“I— don’t look good, do I?” A defeated smile crossed his face. “You’re only calm like this when it’s bad.”
It was a tactic that he’d subconsciously took note of throughout their years together.
When it was something small, something that could be dealt with right then and there, Jack always raised a big fuss, always chided Mac, telling him to be more careful.
But when it was something Jack couldn’t deal with, he went serious. His tone always quieted, his movements slow and measured, his words carefully picked out. Mac could see Jack running through scenarios in his head about which course of action to take, and Jack being calm and composed meant the situation had gone bad.
“No bud, ya don’t. Probably feel worse at this point right now.”
“One way of putting it.”
“I don’t feel right messin with that are anythin more than fittin it in a sling, if even that. And I know you ain’t up to anyone but yerself touchin it. We don’t even have an aid kit between us.”
So much for Matty’s milk run.
“Go find one.” Mac shifted slightly, immediately stilling at the pain that jolted through him. “Building— like this aught to have one, even if it’s supposedly abandoned.”
“I ain’t leavin ya Mac.”
“I’m not gonna be good to move for a while, not until the adrenaline wears off and the shock comes and goes. One of us might as well be doing something productive.”
Jack stared at him and shook his head.
“The longer we wait, the higher the chance of developing an infection and disfiguration. They both normally take days, but depending on how bad the break is, it could always be sped up, and I don’t think I need to tell you how bad of a break this is.”
“No. No ya don’t.” Jack sighed. “Okay. I’ll go try to find somethin. If anythin happens, you holler. Even if there’s a bug on ya.”
“Just— try to be quick, yeah?”
“Yeah. Don’t worry, I gotcha.”
Mac let out a pained breath when he assumed Jack was out of ear shot. He didn’t like playing the guilt card, but he needed Jack to leave, even if just for a minute, because he needed to let himself feel the whole extent of the injury, and he couldn’t do that with Jack being there because he would undoubtedly blame himself.
And his arm hurt .
If he was lucky, it would only be a traverse fracture, but knowing him it was probably comminuted. That was something that would definitely be needing surgery. He’s seen crush injuries before, both on TV and in real life and it never occurred to him that he had been extremely lucky not to obtain one in their line of work until that moment. At least it hasn’t been compound.
His mind flashed back to when they were trapped in the garbage compactor, of when he got Jack’s arm broken. Not a crush injury but now they’d have another thing to bond over, though Mac highly doubted Jack would want to sit and think about all the time Mac got hurt in his presence.
There was some sort of irony in the whole situation; Mac giving Jack a metal pipe in the trash compactor, and Mac having a pipe himself for the machine, with both instances ending with broken arms. Maybe he should stay away from those for a while.
The dull rhythmic thudding that had been in his arm had lessened, and Mac could only mentally prepare himself for the full amount of pain to set it. He wished the adrenaline wouldn’t wear off, not until they were at exfil where he could get something to numb it.
He could feel tears slowly going down his cheeks, but couldn’t outright say he was crying. More so his eyes were just watering in an attempt to somehow release the pain.
But then he’d be crying, which he wasn’t.
He let out something between a laugh and scoff. He couldn’t think straight.
Jack had been gone a long time. Maybe there wasn’t anything there. Maybe Jack finally decided he wasn’t coming back.
No. That wasn’t right. That was the pain messing with Mac’s head. Jack would come back. Jack always came back. But what if that was the last time? Mac’s last mistake that finally caused Jack to snap and be done with him?
That had Mac actually crying. The thought of being alone in some weird abandoned location while heavily injured— that definitely wasn’t how Mac thought he was going to die.
He heard footsteps, probably someone that the machine belonged to, most likely coming to finish him off. He didn’t want that. He wanted to be home; home with Bozer and being every character in his movies, home with Riley and taking apart computers to see how far they could push them before the caught fire.
Home with Jack. Watching every Die Hard out of order and eating takeout.
“Managed to find a kit; didn’t have a lot in it though but— ah hell Mac.”
Mac turned his head. Jack was kneeling at his side. “Jack.”
“I’m so sorry bud. You just let me take care of everythin from here out. I knew it was bad but enough for the waterworks means it’s bad .”
“You came back.”
“Course I did. I’m gonna get you fixed up and over to exfil. You don’t gotta worry bout anythin else. Just leave everythin to me, alright?”
“Sorry— putting you through this.”
“Mac, yer the one that got yer arm caught in whatever the hell that machine is. I’m sorry yer the one that’s gotta deal with the pain. If I could take it from ya, I would in a heartbeat.” Jack opened the kit, but Mac couldn’t see anything inside. “I ain’t gonna lie to you, this is gonna hurt like hell. Don’t you fight anythin yer feelin. It’ll just make it worse.” He took a deep breath. “Ya ready?”
Mac turned from Jack, eyes staring again at the ceiling. “Not one bit. Get— get it over with.”
“Remember, don’t fight anythin. Just let it happen.”
Mac thought Jack was taking about him lashing out, trying to push away the thing that was causing him pain
It didn’t occur to him that Jack barely touching his arm would cause him to black out.
***
Mac was getting tired of waking up in hospitals.
Jack would say he made a habit of it, joked about getting the Phoenix med team to make a punch card for Mac; see how many visits it would take to get Mac a new brain, one that doesn’t constantly make him put himself in danger.
Sadly, he was getting good at deciphering the noises and placing them with the equipment they went to, along with the various things he felt attached to his body; oxygen pulse meter on his finger, IV probably pumping him with pain meds, lack of oxygen mask or cannula, very tight and heavy feeling on his right arm.
Man, the next few weeks were going to suck.
He moved his fingers, feeling the rough casks between his thumb and index finger. He wouldn’t be able to grip anything properly, his handwriting was going to be a mess, there would probably be at least one broken coffee mug in the future.
He heaved in a large breath and opened his eyes, and was met with Jack sitting by his bed with a small smile on his face.
“Took ya long enough. I was beginnin to think you were just takin a nap for the hell of it.”
“How long was I out?”
“Couple a hours; passed out the second I touched that arm of yers. Basically been in surgery this whole time.”
“How bad?” Mac tried to meet Jack’s eyes, but Jack’s went to the floor. “I’d rather hear it from you than the doctors Jack. How bad?”
Jack sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “Got off easy for your humerus, no break in that but it’s gonna be sore as hell for a while. Doc said the amount of muscle and fat provided a decent enough cushion. Ulna was linear pretty much all the way through; got some pins holdin it together right now. Radius was pretty much shattered beyond repair, so as yer power of attorney, I okay’d it with the doc to have them place ya with a titanium one. It was the only option that would give you the chance to fully regain strength and motor function in the long haul.”
Mac was quiet as the information sank in. Logically, everything made sense. He knew that it had been the right course of action and deep down was glad Jack made the decision, but at that moment, there was grief and anger settling in, something he knew, logically, he had to get past.
“Okay.”
“Yer gonna be out of the field for a long time for PT. Matty said that as long as the initial healin is going well and ya follow all the doctor’s orders, you can be in the lab as much as ya want. Also didn’t say we were grounded anymore, seein as keepin you out of the field is punishment enough.”
“Yeah.” Short. Snappy. Annoyed. Mac wasn’t angry at Jack, no, he was extremely grateful for everything he’d done.
“I’m sorry ya have to go through this Mac. If I could trade places with ya, ya know I would.”
“Wouldn’t want you to. It sucks.”
“Bet it does.” That got a snort. “Why don’t ya try to get some more sleep?”
“Will I be able to leave when I wake up?”
“I’ll see what I can do, but I ain’t makin any promises. Doc was pretty serious bout followin instructions this time.”
“She always is.” Mac huffed. “Jack?”
“Yeah buddy?”
“Thank you, for everything.”
“You don’t gotta thank me. I’m just doin my job.”
“I highly doubt you’re getting paid for this.”
“Not that kinda job kiddo. Go head and get some sleep, huh?”
“Be here when I wake up?”
“Course I will. No place I’d rather be.”