Paid in Full

By: Ridley

A/N: So as the second season quickly approaches (yay!) I kept thinking about first season episodes that I really wanted to add missing scenes to or add a tag. Okay, that's most of them because as you know there is never enough bromance for a fan fic-loving heart, but one episode stood out-Compass. A few have addressed this episode so forgive the redundancy but I just wanted to see Jack's reaction to Matty's suggestion Mac might need a new partner, (part of this could be due to my paranoia Mac will get a new partner in light of the new female character they have added) but of course it expanded a little from there. Let me know what you think! Nurse Sally belongs to the lovely poxelda and Mike Briar is all Gib's creation.

RcJ

"We are never so defenseless against suffering as when we love."-Sigmund Freud

"Hold your horses," Jack Dalton called as he worked his way from the back of his house where he'd just managed a shower and a semi-shave with one working arm. He'd forgotten what a pain everyday tasks were made with a cast. Jack wasn't sure who the impatient person pounding on his door might be because Mac had a damn key and no one else he knew was up at the butt crack of dawn on a Sunday morning, but he had a sudden vision of using the heavy plaster on his arm for something useful like a handy tool for an impromptu bludgeoning. Mac would be proud of his partner's improvising.

Jack attempted to put his one good arm through his clean shirt as he walked, nearly tripping over his go bag, which he'd dropped in the hallway when he'd finally made it back from the airport at around midnight. He cursed as he stumbled on into the entranceway. At this rate his nosy neighbor, Henrietta would be calling the police or worse coming over to investigate herself, then he'd never get rid of her.

"I'm coming, damn it!" Jack yelled, finally wrangling himself fully into the shirt just in case it was Henrietta bringing over something she or one of her fellow thoughtful squad of neighborhood blue-hairs had baked. He already suspected the women watched him from Henrietta's patio as they sipped on their morning Mimosas and worried about the integrity of his neighbor's deck when Mac was over, especially if he'd wrangled the younger man into helping work on his car or doing some mundane task in the yard which might have prompted either of them to be shirtless. Jack didn't want to encourage Henrietta's spying or give the old gal a coronary by answering the door half naked.

"What?" Jack demanded, flinging the door open.

"Well good morning to you to you, too, Sunshine," Riley Davis greeted stepping past Jack without waiting for an invitation to come in.

"Damn it, Riley," Jack grumbled. "You know where I have my spare key."

"And take a chance on walking in on a scene like I once had burned on my retinas when I was ten and came home from school early." Riley made a gagging noise, moving further into the house. "I am still emotionally scarred from seeing more of you than I ever wanted to."

Jack shook his head at the girl's exaggeration, not in the mood for her poking at him or for her buddy Bozer, who was still standing in the doorway with an amused grin plastered on his face. The damn fool also knew where the key was so he could have at least come in and given the all clear sign instead of waking the whole neighborhood. Jack might have been adored by the older ladies' brigade but some of the residents of his quiet cul-de-sac didn't embrace him as enthusiastically. Have SWAT and the bomb squad show up on your lawn a couple of times and people tended to judge.

"Don't go giving me that look," Bozer said as he too slid past Jack without apology. "I whole-heartedly embrace the 'family doesn't knock' motto at mine and Mac's place, but I know all too well how many guns you have hidden around here, including the one strapped behind the toilet. Besides, I brought bagels," Bozer added shaking a bag from Jack's favorite bakery. He was also holding a drink tray with what looked like coffee and quite possibly Jack's preferred chai latte. "Welcome home."

Jack closed the door with a sigh, resigned to the fact his quiet morning was pretty much over. He followed his teammates into his kitchen where Riley already sat on one of the barstools holding Einstein, Jack's part-time roommate, half-feral cat. Apparently all the ruckus had even lured the king from his throne which was better known as Jack's bed. Jack had made the mistake of feeding the moocher when he'd shown up as a half-starved kitten almost three years before. Unable to break his habit of taking in strays, he'd tried to convince Nikki to take the adorable ball of fluff home with her. It should have been a clear warning sign that the woman was heartless when she had not even hesitated before declining and suggesting Jack call animal control. Mac had also refused but only because Bozer was supposedly allergic. He did however take great pleasure in naming the furry beast with the wild silver mane and adding the elaborate cat door to Jack's house that he promised his partner would not allow random animals entrance. Jack was still waiting to come home and find a family of raccoons living in his pantry.

Bozer took the other stool, rolling his eyes when Einstein instantly abandoned Riley, sauntering the length of the bar to rub against his black jacket, as if the cat innately sensed and was quite pleased by the fact fastidious Bozer not only hated cat fur on his clothes but would also need a heavy dose of Benadryl after the unwanted encounter.

"So what do I owe this-and don't take this the wrong way because I love you both-unexpected and unwanted visit." Jack snagged the Chai with his good hand, leaning against the stove to stare at his two suspicious teammates. It wasn't like Riley and Bozer dropped by often. Mac's place was usually their chosen gathering place for all things off the clock. Mac was Jack's only regular company, sometimes crashing in the spare room, especially pre-Bozer's adoption onto the team when Mac didn't want to explain an injury. Jack took a drink, waiting for an explanation.

"And you said he wouldn't be happy to see us," Bozer picked Einstein up off his lap and deposited him back with Riley.

"It's not that I'm exactly unhappy by your visit, but I thought I wouldn't see you until our Monday morning meeting tomorrow-emphasis on tomorrow-at Phoenix."

"You didn't miss us while you were in Austin?" Riley asked sweetly and Jack's spidey sense started to tingle. "How's Nana Beth? Did she send me anything?"

"Is that why you two are here?" Jack frowned, taking another small sip of his drink this time to avoid taking more hide off his tongue. "To get your loot from Beth?"

"So she did send us something? I knew it. That woman loves me." Bozer rubbed his hands together. "Pineapple upside down cake? A jar of her pesto?"

"Where's Mac?" Jack was done with the obvious forced chit chat. His partner's absence in light of the strange visit and weird behavior from his friends revving up his worry. He had gotten texts from Mac during the his two day trek to Texas. It had been a short trip, one Jack had planned on the spur after Matty had insisted their team step out of rotation after the whole Boston fiasco. Jack tried not to look at the mandatory time off as a reprimand for him taking a Phoenix jet without going through the proper channels or missing mandatory therapy for his arm, but more as a reward for putting away a murderer and helping Mac's friend, Frankie, get her life back-literally considering the whole visit had been prompted by her premature funeral. He and Mac had also had a successful albeit short mission in Paris, and Jack was convinced he'd made up for any infractions by his brilliant performance to infiltrate the French embassy. But now, something nagged at him, that little overly pessimistic voice in his head taunting that maybe Jack had missed something important.

"He's at Phoenix," Riley answered vaguely.

"Is he still in the lab working on that damn robot?" Jack shook his head. He'd tried to get his partner to come to Texas with him, knowing that not only would Beth and JP be ecstatic to see the kid, but that the time away would do Mac some good. They might have found Frankie alive and well, but something had clearly been bothering Mac during their time in Paris. As usual, his best friend had neatly compartmentalized whatever bad memory Frankie's exaggerated demise had unearthed, throwing himself headlong into the mission, but Jack knew Mac well enough to know when the kid was off. The nightmares during their flight home had been a clear sign, but Mac had begged off from the trip to the ranch after their debriefing, claiming Matty had asked him to actually do his science thing while they were on stand down.

"Not exactly," Bozer hedged, shooting Riley what Jack recognized as his 'what should I say' look, the one he'd adopted after several instances of his running off at the mouth had gotten the whole team in hot water.

"Okay, you two," Jack put down his drink, straightening to his full height. "What the hell is going on?"

"Mac's in medical," Riley finally answered.

"He's okay," Bozer was quick to add, when Jack took a step away from the stove, his body prepping for action, reacting to the news without thought. "So no need to be pulling out all the hidden weapons to launch an assault or anything. I mean it'd be crazy to kill someone over a concussion and some broken ribs."

"Concussion? Broken ribs?" Jack growled. He'd been thinking that maybe Mac had overworked himself over the weekend, gotten dehydrated, forgotten to eat or sleep. At the worst, Jack envisioned the robot had gone all Terminator and had maybe gotten in a few punches before Jack's tactical team had engaged the contingency plan Jack had put in place after Mac insisted good'ol 'Sparky' was harmless and refused to dismantle him. Codename Schwarzenegger's Smack Down would have had Jack's men easily dispatching of the diabolical database before it could seriously do harm to its creator.

"It's a mild concussion," Riley added, shooting Bozer a glower. "And his ribs are mostly bruised."

"But he's going to be okay?" Jack focused on Bozer, figuring his friend's tendency for drama would give him a more accurate picture than the one Riley might offer as it was painfully clear now that she was trying to keep the situation-the situation being Jack's temper-from escalating.

"He was good enough to want to leave, arguing with Sally over the IV she insisted he needed." Bozer offered a half grin. "He's actually the one who made us promise to come get you. Not to let Matty call you on the phone."

Jack let out the breath he'd been holding. He rubbed at the back of his neck where knots of tension had already formed. "How the hell did he get hurt at the lab?"

"Well…" Bozer started.

Jack didn't wait for Bozer to gather his thoughts before moving out of the kitchen into the living room to search for his damn boots. Mild concussion or not, Jack wouldn't be content until he'd laid eyes on his partner. Bozer and Riley followed after him, exchanging more worried glances that did nothing to calm Jack's growing panic.

"It sort of happened on a mission," Riley finally finished for Bozer.

Their computer tech's words stopped Jack cold. He turned his gaze to Bozer, who had the wisdom to make sure the coffee table was between them.

"That's not possible," Jack looked to Riley, who put Einstein on the couch, only to have the cat dash for the cat door. Jack didn't miss the fact that Bozer looked as if he really wanted an escape hatch of his own.

"Don't go blowing a gasket, Jack." Riley propped her hip on the couch, working hard at adopting her calm, detached attitude in the face of Bozer's open-faced anxiety. Their showing up out of the blue was making sense now. They weren't just there to tell Jack about Mac being hurt, they were there to handle Jack, a fact that only added anger to his already mounting fear. That particular emotional cocktail was never good for Jack, sort of like how him mixing Jose Cuervo and Jack Daniels usually ended up with someone getting punched. "Mac's stable and he's going to be fine."

Jack kept his gaze on Bozer, ignoring Riley for the moment. "Are you telling me that you all went on some kind of fucking mission without me? While I was in Texas?"

"Not us." Bozer was quick to deny, as if that would make Jack feel better. "We were at Phoenix the whole time."

"So you let Mac go on a mission by himself?" Jack ran his free hand over his damp hair, trying to keep himself from shaking the information he wanted out of Bozer. "What the hell, man?"

"We didn't," Bozer quickly defended, gesturing between him and Riley. "That was all Matty."

"Bozer!" Riley snapped, seeming to take offense to Bozer throwing their boss under the bus. "We talked about this in the car," she added under her breath.

"Talked about what?" Jack demanded, his anger ratcheting up right along with his worry as he started to fill in the pieces of the puzzle that painted one big picture of him being duped. "Did Mac really send you two over here, or was it Matty? How exactly were you supposed to spin the fact that my partner was sent on a mission alone and ended up being hurt because of it?"

"He wasn't alone, Jack." Riley sighed. "You know Matty better than that. She'd never send Mac alone without backup."

"I'm his back-up, Riley!" Jack yelled, throwing his hands in the air, wincing with the sudden movement to his injured arm. Maybe he didn't know Matty as well as he thought he did, because although she often got pissed at Jack he didn't see her doing something that would hurt any of her agents, especially Mac, just to punish what she saw as Jack's dereliction of duty.

"Where's your sling?" Riley rolled her eyes, pointing at the arm Jack had drawn protectively to his chest. "You need to be focusing on taking care of yourself."

"Is that what Matty said?" Jack asked, his mind staying with the fact that not only had he failed in protecting his partner, he'd somehow caused the whole ordeal by getting injured in the field. He was torn between going straight to Phoenix to see if Mac was okay for himself and getting some damn answers from Director Weber.

"Actually Matty said that Mac might need a new partner," Bozer supplied, quietly. "One that maybe understands his language better than you do."

"You did not just say that!" Riley shot Bozer and incredulous glare. "Did anyone ever explain to you why not to throw gasoline onto a fire?"

"She said what?" Jack was certain he had misheard. He took a step closer to Bozer, for once appreciative of the other man's tendency to be honest and straightforward at the most inopportune times. Only Bozer didn't look like he'd stuck his foot in his mouth nor did he seem one bit repentant that he'd obviously said the exact thing that Riley had probably told him not to say. He, in fact looked pissed. "When did this whole conversation take place?"

"After you broke your arm, just before Mac found out about Frankie," Bozer continued ignoring the slashing motion that Jack caught Riley making out of the corner of his eye. "Matty just tossed it out there when Mac was feeling guilty enough as it was after the rough time you had on the plane ride back home. You should have seen his face-like Matty had just delivered the kind of news Smitty was about to give him over the phone."

"Why would she do that?" Jack growled, his mind racing with other questions as well. The biggest being, why in the hell hadn't Mac told him about their boss's preposterous proposal. Suddenly his best friend's mood was starting to make sense.

"She heard Mac tell you to keep the damn bar perfectly normal and pointed out you didn't even know that normal meant perpendicular, like the whole world should know physics. Hell, I didn't know what it meant and I took the class with Mac. Mac tried to explain that he usually translated stuff into 'Jack' speak but Matty said that sometimes decisions had to be made that was in everybody's best interest."

"So she thinks splitting up me and Mac is in everyone's best interest?" Jack felt like someone had punched him in the throat. It hurt worse than having his arm snapped in that stinking garbage dump. He wasn't sure if the fact Matty was considering such a drastic measure caught him more off guard or the possibility that maybe Mac was on board seeing as how he hadn't breathed one word of their boss's directive.

"No," Riley was quick to jump in. "I think she was just trying to explore some options."

"Options that have left Mac looking like he's gone a few rounds with a half a dozen MMA fighters," Bozer fired back. Jack wasn't sure if he'd ever seen the younger man so worked up, at least not since the whole big reveal when Murdoc blew Mac's cover. Even then, Bozer's rare ire was tempered with a good amount of hurt. Now he was just angry, Jack realized, on his and Mac's behalf.

"I respect Matty and all, but if Mac is going to be playing super spy I prefer it that he has super soldier for his back up." Bozer jabbed a finger at Jack, before turning back to Riley. Jack got the distinct impression they were continuing a conversation they'd been dishing out previously. "I don't give a shit if Jack is smarter than a fifth grader, he always has Mac's back and I know he'd walk through hell to bring him home safe. I'm not sure Agent Sang would have crossed the damn street to ensure the same and in fact, he didn't bother to cross the street, Riley, which in fact is how Mac got the crap beat out of him. You can go all sniper on his ass if you like," Bozer returned his gaze to Jack. "I'll swear you were with me at the time of his death."

"Bozer, Mac told Sang to stay put. Besides there was a tank in the street, and militia armed with grenade launchers and flame throwers!" Riley defended.

"Like that would stop my boy Jack." Bozer harrumphed and although Jack appreciated his teammate's vote of confidence more than he could say, the in-fighting was not getting him the whole story or any closer to seeing Mac.

"Both of you shut up!" Jack's raised voice had his teammates looking his way. He picked up one of his boots, angrily jerking it on with his good hand, as he scanned the room for his keys. "Just walk me through the mission and how Mac ended up in medical. He texted me yesterday. In fact, I let him know my plane had landed last night and he sent a stupid gif. He seemed fine."

When they were both quiet, too quiet, Jack lifted his gaze to glance between them. Bozer glanced away and their handy dandy computer guru looked too damn guilty for her own good. "Shit, Riley, tell me you didn't."

When Riley remained quiet Jack felt bile rise to the back of his throat. He recalled the short and to the point conversations with his best friend, the fact Mac had suddenly taken to using a lot of memes and emojis. Jack had figured he was too busy in the lab to elaborate and the 'big foot' gif had cracked him up especially after the Harry and the Henderson's reference Jack had made when they were leaving Boston.

Jack clenched his fists, his heart picking up an even faster cadence. "Tell me you did not ghost MacGyver's phone and play text tag with me? Right?"

"Matty was afraid you'd get suspicious if you didn't hear from Mac and that you might do something stupid, like I don't know, steal a plane and interfere with the job which could have put you and Mac in danger, not to mention get you in trouble with Oversight." Riley folded her arms over her chest, attempting to appear completely justified in her actions but failing miserably. Jack could see the doubt in her dark gaze, the worry she'd crossed some line that she might not be able to step back across. "What was I supposed to say to her when she gave me an order?"

"Damn, Riley." Jack ran a hand over his mouth. He understood that Riley liked Matty, had maybe even begun to see her as a sort of mentor after Thornton's betrayal. Maybe there was a good healthy dose of fear as well over what Riley believed she had to lose if she disappointed Matty. Bozer might hate the idea of going back to mundane jobs like flipping burgers, but it sure as hell beat being sent to prison. Jack might have gotten where Riley was coming from, but it didn't keep the betrayal of his trust from stinging. "Did Mac know?"

"No." Riley quickly shook her head. "Matty asked me not to tell him. She knew he'd balk."

"And I reminded her how lies have worked out so well for us in the past." Bozer spouted off again. "One word-Murdoc."

"And I told you what you could do with your unsolicited advice. I believe it was two words. You want me to refresh your memory?"

"What was the mission?" Jack asked, stepping between the two, effectively cutting off the fresh argument he saw coming. He had been gone three days and his whole team was all to hell. Jack bent to shove his other boot on, picking up his keys he'd spotted under a dog-eared Guns and Ammo magazine. "And what went wrong?"

"What didn't go wrong?" Bozer huffed, as they made their way out the door. "Should I start with the faulty intel or the part where Mac went all dark, cancelled exfil and then blew up a building while he was still inside it?"

Jack took a breath, stealing himself for the rundown. "How about you just start at the beginning. That way I should be completely caught up by the time we make it to Phoenix."

To be continued...