Author: NYWCgirl
Fandom: Macgyver 2016
Pairing: none
Characters: Angus Macgyver, Jack Dalton,
Warning/genre: Friendship, Team as family, aftermath, (emotional) hurt/comfort, injury, amnesia
Spoilers: none
Rating: Gen
Author's Notes: This ficlet was written for Cairo day 5 - prompt was ‘In sickness and in health’. This fic is a sequel to Mac + Murdoc + Amnesia, which can be found
here.
Word Count: ~ 1220
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine
Summary: Mac is healed enough to be discharged from the hospital, but not good enough to go home. The team decides a care facility is the best option as long as he doesn´t trust them.
This fic can be found on
AO3 Mac is being transferred today to a new facility. He’s being discharged from the hospital and they haven´t disclosed where they are taking him, but he expects to be transferred to some undisclosed location. They still haven´t said what the charges are against him, but he is smart enough to know that domestic terrorism will earn you a one way ticket to a black site. He has vague memories of having been accused of before, more disturbingly are the flashback he has from prison. So he must have been convicted before. He has being trying to grasp those memories, but they always get away from him before he can figure them out. One thing is clear, he is not as innocent as the nurses think he is.
He has been studying his surroundings and already assessed escaping will be easy. He will have to be careful with his injury, but he knows he can do it. He has gone through worse.
After the nurse brings his breakfast, he knows he will be left alone for at least fifteen minutes. He is already changed in the clothes that were brought in yesterday once it was announced that he was going to be discharged this morning. When she enters with the tray he asks if she can leave it at the table as he needs to use the bathroom. She nods and exists the room. The moment he is sure he is alone, he leaves the bed and checks the hallway. It is a risk going through the regular corridors, but with his busted shoulder, he can´t escape through the window.
When the coast is clear, he leaves the room, quickly making his way out. He studied the evacuation plan that hung in his room and he has a detailed escaped plan in his head. He doesn´t encounter anybody and he leaves the hospital without any fuss.
Now that he is out, he will need a place to stay. He has some memories about a house but whenever he tries to dig into the memories, the migraines built and he has to stop. He needs to focus on the now. First things first. He needs money, cash preferably. Credit cards are too easy to trace. It takes him five minutes to pickpocket enough cash to get a motel, so he hails a cab.
* * *
‘What do you mean, he is gone?’
‘Mister Macgyver left the hospital during breakfast.
‘Send all camera footage to this email address,’ he hands Riley´s email address to the security guy.
Damn it Mac, what did you do? Jack stalks out of the hospital and studies the street. He could have gone anywhere. Jack takes a deep breath. He will need to think like Mac. What would Mac do?
He will need money, he’s too experienced to use his credit card, so he needed cash. That’s no problem. Mac has nimble fingers, pickpocketing is not an obstacle. He probably took a cab and checked into a motel, as he will need to lay low. He will need pain medication. His injury is too severe to just tough it out.
He calls Riley, telling her to check the cab companies, motels and pharmacists. He paces the street while waiting for Riley to call back. What was Mac thinking? What was he thinking? He should have stayed with Mac, instead of listening to Matty to be briefed on Murdoc. It seemed like a good plan then, now, not too much. He needs to find him. So when Riley calls, he picks up anxiously, ‘what did you find?’
Cab brought a young man, fitting Mac´s description to the All-star motel, I texted you the address. There is a Walgreens just around the corner.’
Jack is already jogging towards his car while Riley talks. He drives to the address she sent him. Now that he can do something, his anxiety fades to the background, his worry doesn´t. When he pulls up to the motel, he thinks of a story and enters the front desk. It only takes him a minute of explaining when the old woman hands him a second key, ‘You take care of that boy. I am glad someone cares about him.’
‘Thanks ma’am, I will.’
He carefully approaches the room, knocking and calling out to Mac. He’s cautious, Mac knows to be careful and to take down enemies. And with his amnesia, Jack is the enemy.
When there is no response, Jack slowly turns the key and opens the door. As expected, there is a tripwire. Jack smiles, he doesn´t expect anything less from Mac. Once inside the room, Jack stops when he finds Mac asleep on the bed. It worries him Mac didn´t wake while he took care of the tripwire. Jack can only assume it has to do with the pills on the nightstand. Mac must have been in considerable pain to voluntarily take pain medication. Mindful, he approaches, knowing what Mac is capable of, even injured.
‘Mac?’
Apprehensively, he sits down next to Mac, ready to duck if Mac wakes up swinging.
‘Mac! Come on kid, wake up.’
He can tell the moment Mac wakes. He has known Mac long enough to know Mac’s tells.
‘Hey kid, come on, I know you are awake.’
Mac slowly opens his eyes.
‘Hey Mac, how are you feeling?’
Mac looks confused. It is clear he didn´t expect Jack to be here.
‘What do you care?’
Jack sighs, so his memory is not back yet.
‘I do actually care Mac, more than you know.’
Mac rolls his eyes, ‘yeah sure.’ Sarcasm dripping of his words, ‘OK, so you got me. What happens now?’
‘As long as your memory is sketchy, it is best that you stay in a facility, Mac. This little stunt is proof of that. What were you thinking? You could have gotten hurt.’
‘That’s not an answer to my question. And what I was thinking? Would you like to rot in some black site? Excuse me for wanting to get away from a lonely existence in some hell hole.’
‘What are you talking about?’
Mac can´t seriously think… and then it dawns on Jack. Mac thought he was being shipped off to some black site as some common terrorist. Why didn´t he think of that before? He takes a deep breath.
‘Oh kid, hear me out. Let me tell you a story.’
‘This better be good.’
‘It is, trust me.’
Mac looks Jack in the eye and he keeps eye contact while he starts taking. Telling stories about their life together, how they met. Somewhere along the way Mac starts nodding off and Jack lets him. Mac needs his rest, his brain needs to heal.
When Mac wakes two hours later, Jack is sitting in the chair next to the bed playing on his phone.
‘You’re still here?’ It is clear Mac seems confused by the action. He probably expected to have been shipped of already.
‘Where would I be man? You go kaboom, I go kaboom.’
Mac looks pensive, ‘don´t you mean in sickness and in health?’
Jack gives Mac a big smile, ‘we’re in this together and we will figure it out kid. We take care of each other.’
.