Cairo Day 2020 - Day 4 - Chance meeting

Apr 16, 2020 07:50

Author: NYWCgirl
Fandom: Macgyver 2016
Pairing:  none
Characters: Angus Macgyver, Jack Dalton, OFC
Warning/genre:   Friendship, Team as family, (emotional) hurt/comfort, army, injuries, outsider POV

Spoilers: none

Rating:  Gen

Author's Notes:   This ficlet was written for Cairo day 4 - prompt was ‘Outsider POV’

Word Count: ~ 1280

Disclaimer:  Characters are not mine…
Summary:    Working in a combat area has it challenges, for everybody.

This fic can be found on AO3

 Sometimes there is a ray of sunlight in a war zone.

She is tired and even though her shift was over two hours ago, she is not ready to call it a night. There is still a lot of work to do, so she takes a deep breath and gets up to refill her coffee mug. She is hungry but she needs to get through the orders she received from all the medical teams. Supplies are limited and she has to make some hard decisions about which team receives what. Taking a sip of coffee, she starts checking the supply list and outstanding orders.

Half an hour later, she smiles, this is the best she can do for now, all she has to do is update the system, so tomorrow morning, all supplies find their way to the right team.

When she is done, she checks the clock, realizing she needs to hurry to get dinner. Closing the laptop she gets up and leaves for the mess. A helicopter is touching down and she can see the medical teams standing by with gurneys, a normal sight this close to the battle front.

When she enters the mess, there are only a couple of people left. She greets them, taking a tray.

‘Hi Nancy, ready to call it a night?’

‘Yeah, anything left?’

‘Sure.’

She is handed a plate of food, thanking the guy and walking to one of the tables where others are sitting.

‘Mind if I join you?’

‘Of course not. So how was your day?’

‘A logistical nightmare, six out of ten orders are in back-order.

While the others chat, she starts eating.

‘Nancy?’

She looks over her shoulder.

‘Yeah?’

‘We have a seriously injured and there is nobody who can get to the supplies we need.’

‘Coming.’

She quickly stuffs a piece of meat in her mouth before getting up and following the private. She quickly dons on the mandatory gown before entering the emergency ward.

‘What do you need?’ is the first question out of her mouth when she enters the space. One of the nurses is manually breathing for their patient. There is so much blood. She can´t really see what injuries the patient has.

‘The damn ventilator is malfunctioning.’

‘Ok, wait.’

She runs towards the space the biotech uses. Inside are several spare ventilators, so she grabs one and returning back to the team. The machine is started, connected and drugs are pushed while the anesthesiologist intubates their patient.

‘What else do you need?’

A nurse sums up a list of stuff they need and she leaves the room. Returning with all the supplies, she puts everything on a table. The nurse nods his gratitude before she leaves the room. Outside is a sergeant waiting, the moment he hears her, he turns around.

‘How is he?’

‘I’m sorry?’

‘I brought my EOD tech in.’

She studies the man, it is more than clear he is worried.

‘You’re his overwatch?’

‘Yeah, sorry, Jack Dalton.’

‘Hi Jack, my name is Nancy. Have you been checked over yet by someone?’

‘I’m fine.’

Jack looks exhausted and the worry is visible in his whole posture. He is covered with dust and grimy looking. But more worrying is the blood on his uniform.

When she points at it, he looks down and shakes his head, ‘that’s not mine.’

She isn´t completely convinced, because she can see abrasions and lacerations on his hands and face.

‘Well, You’re not fine either, Jack. Why don´t you sit down and I will get you something to drink.’

Jack nods but doesn´t sit down. She tells him she will check on his partner and leaves. She walks up to the vending machine and gets two snicker bars and a bottle of coke.

When she walks back through the doors, Jack whirls around, ‘and?’

‘They are still stabilizing him. Here, sit down.’

She hands him the snicker bar and the coke, ‘eat it, before you keel over. And I will get you a nurse.’

‘No, let them take care of Mac first, it is all superficial.’

She sits down across from him, trying to figure out if Jack is more severely injured. When she rips off the wrapper, he mimics her.

‘What happened?’

‘An IED. I didn´t see it, Mac did, but too late. It was located on his side of the car. I…’

She can see him breaking up inside.

‘Hey, hey, it’s OK? They are taking care of him. He has an ace team operating on him.’

She pushes the hand holding his coke, towards his mouth and he lets her, taking large gulps of the bottle. Slowly color returns to his face.

‘OK, Jack, let me get you a change of clothes so you can take a shower. They are working on your EDO tech, taking good care of him. You should take care of yourself, so you can be strong for him.’

‘Mac.’

‘I´m sorry?’

‘His name is Mac.’

She smiles, nodding and getting up to get some clothes. As a logistical officer she knows where to get stuff, so when she returns, she is carrying a new set of clothes, a towel, soap and a razor blade. Jack looks up with anticipation, sinking back when he sees it is her.

‘Sorry, it’s just me.’

She hands him the package, ‘I couldn´t find shaving cream.’

‘That’s OK. Thank you.’

‘Let me show you where you can take a shower.’

*  *  *

She has been restocking supplies for three hours when the doc comes out.

‘Oh good, Nancy, you are still here. Can you arrange a medevac to Kabul?’

‘Sure.’

She doesn´t ask questions, the EOD guy, wait, Mac, must be worst of than she thought. She takes the phone and makes the necessary arrangements. She can see Jack talk to the doc and it is clear by the look on his face that the news is not what he wanted to hear. When she puts down the phone, Jack walks up to her.

‘Did you arrange the medevac?’

‘Yes, I did. He is the first on the list.’

‘Can I make a call?’

‘Of course.’

She hands Jack the phone and gives him privacy.

Five minutes later, Jack comes and finds her, handing her back the phone.

‘Thank you.’

‘How is he?’

‘They stabilized him, but they are sending him to Kabul.’

She nods in understanding. It doesn´t take long before they can hear the whoop whoop of a helicopter. Suddenly everything goes quick and the medical team comes out with the gurney carrying Mac and all the equipment connected to him. Jack scurries towards the gurney, running along when the medics don´t stop.

She grabs Jack’s stuff and hurries behind them. While the gurney and all its machinery is installed, she hands Jack his gear.

‘Good luck!’ she shouts to be heard above the blades’ noise. While Jack hops in, she steps back. He salutes her, mouthing thank you.

*  *  *

‘Nancy, mail!’

She looks up from her computer, accepting the envelop. She tries to find clues from the envelop, because she hasn´t received snail mail since she deployed. Everybody she knows uses social media and email. She pulls out the letter and unfolds it. There is a picture inside. She turns it around and recognizes Jack. She assumes the guy smiling in the hospital bed is Mac. She doesn´t recognize him, cleaned up and with all his blood on the inside. She smiles because of Jack´s big grin and thumbs up. So Mac made it. Good!
After pouring herself a cup of coffee she starts reading the letter.
 .

army, (emotional) hurt/comfort, injuries, day 4, cairo day 2020, friendship, outsider pov, team as family

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