"No, no, no, don't you dare even think about leaving me behind," Jack says, grabbing his arm, and the unexpected contact, unexpected to Mac anyway, has him tilt forward suddenly, Jack's hands the only thing keeping him from hitting the floor in a rather embarassing fashion.
Mac hates this feeling of helplessness.
"Why not? You didn't have any problem leaving me behind two years ago." Mac regrets his words as soon as he said them, and while he can't see Jack flinch, he can definitely feel it in the way Jack's hands tighten on his arms.
Dammit, Mac still hasn't learned has he? They don't talk about that, about Mac anger and the resentment that's been slowly building up ever since Jack left.
He'll be lucky if Jack lets him say goodbye properly this time before getting his ass back on a plane to (location redacted).
"Hey," Jack says, voice low and insistent. Instead of leaving the hospital room, Jack's hands come up to frame his face and he presses his forehead to Mac's.
"Leaving you was a mistake. One I can't make alright again, but I can make damn sure it's a mistake I'm not gonna repeat." Jack takes a deep breath and Mac thinks that his heart is beating loudly enough to hear across the street by now.
"I'm going were you're going and that's final."
Mac lets out a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob. "What are you even going to do, Jack? It's not like I can still go into the field, being as I am now." He gestures vaguely at his face and knows that Jack will unterstand what he means.
"No idea. Maybe I'll teach people how to surf."
Mac is definitely laughing now. "Jack, you can't even stand upright on the board on a good day."
"It'll be an adventure," Jack answers, and Mac wishes, like he's done so many times since his last op, that he hadn't been standing as close to the explosion as he had, that he could still see the way Jack shrugs at him and smiles, warm brown eyes crinkling with amusement instead of having to imagine it all. What wouldn't he do right now to get his sight back.
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So, I'm running a fever, lying in bed, and of course now I have an idea for a lengthy one shot, so tumblr has to be my notebook right now...
