Mac was grateful neither Jack nor Riley pressed him about what went on with his father. When Ri hugged him, he'd nearly broken down, but he managed to pull himself together. To be fair, it had mostly been due to Riley speaking into his shoulder, "So, are we burning stuff?"

He'd snorted a chuckle and pulled back to offer her a wan smile. "I'll let you know."

She hugged him again. "I don't know how to make matches, but I'm pretty sure I remember how you improvised a flame thrower."

He hugged her back. If anybody understood unpredictability in parents, it was Riley. "Thanks, Riles. I needed that."

She flashed him an understanding smile as she released him. It said she knew if she kept holding him it was going to have the opposite effect of helping him get his emotions under control. And it also said she knew it wasn't because he wasn't willing to be open with her. He just wasn't willing to be that open at all right now.

Jack had just raised an eyebrow. It was a look that asked if he wanted to talk. Mac just gave him a little head shake. He did want to talk. Just not now. Jack tipped him a wink. It had been Dalton shorthand for "I got you," since before they'd even decided they liked each other way back in Afghanistan. "So…" Jack began, opening the fridge. "More beer?"

"Hell yeah," Mac agreed with forced easiness.

Riley gave them both a look. "Are you guys positive that's okay? Like you got exposed to a nerve agent."

"Yeah, it's fine," Mac said, not precisely making eye contact as he pulled out his pocket knife to pop the top.

Jack grinned as he opened his own on the kitchen counter (a move that drew a disapproving glare from Bozer as he passed through to plug in his cell phone). "Totally, Ri. Don't be a worry wart."

Riley scanned three countertop for the papers she knew they came in with. "What does it say on your discharge instructions?"

"It doesn't say anything about it," Jack said, doubling down on his grin.

"As far as we know," Mac snickered under his breath as he brushed past Jack and handed Riley another beer. He heard Jack chuckle in response as Mac put his arm around her to direct her outside. "Let's head out onto the deck, get a fire going."

Bozer was already out there stacking wood for the fire. Mac bent to help, but Bozer shooed him into one of the deck chairs. "You sit," he admonished. "You got basically poisoned yesterday. I got this."

Bozer tried really hard, but before too long, Mac was beside him at the fire pit. "Here. Lemme help."

Once the blaze was established, Mac sunk back into the deck chair with a poorly concealed sigh. Bozer hovered for a minute like he wasn't sure what to say. Mac had been pretty clear after the wilderness training incident that he didn't want his family playing nursemaid. It just made him feel worse. And Bozer knew he maybe had a slight history of getting a little intense if Mac was sick or hurt. It was a leftover from when they were kids. After Mac's mom died, somebody had to give a damn.

Boze wanted to give Mac his space, but his need to help overcame the impulse. "Are you okay? Can I do anything, Mac? Maybe fix you something to eat?"

Mac couldn't help but crack a smile. Bozer's tone immediately made him remember the time the ladder to the lab had broken and Mac's arm was definitely broken and Boze had danced from foot to foot agonized because Mac had told him not to go tell, and Bozer had finally sputtered, "Can I get you a bandaid?"

"Would it be too much to ask for some of those awesome waffles of yours, Boze?"

"Of course! I mean, of course not! Waffles a la Boze coming right up!" Boze pulled Riley toward the kitchen. "C'mon Ri, this is a two man job."

Riley gave him a funny look and as Bozer pulled her inside, Mac hear her say, "Two man job?"

"After all this? Mac needs to talk, and we both know he'll talk to Jack."

Mac shook his head, but one corner of his mouth curled up.

Jack waited a minute, then cleared his throat. "Is he right? Or are you still pissed at me?"

Mac sighed. "I told you I've never been mad at you for going."

"But you admitted you were mad that you didn't get to come along."

Mac sighed again, and this time it sounded a little ragged. "Yeah well, now I know why."

"Your dad fessed up for real?"

"Sort of." Mac stared into the fire.

Jack studied his profile. He wanted to ask what Mac meant by sort of. But the way Mac's jaw was clenching told him Mac was either struggling not to break down or was blindingly pissed off. Either way, Jack didn't want to ask before Mac was ready.

Finally Mac glanced at him. "He admitted to sending you away, admitted he wouldn't allow me to go, but he wasn't being honest about why." Mac looked away again.

Jack frowned. "What makes you think that?" Mac just gave a little head shake and took another drink of his beer, rubbing absently at his sore chest with his free hand. "Mac, buddy, what did he say?"

Mac got up and moved closer to the fire, then he eased himself down onto the floorboards, his back to Jack. Jack hesitated, then Mac spoke. "He pretended it was about protecting me."

"From what?" Jack asked, joining Mac next to the fire.

Mac shook his head with a snort. "From you … or myself … From improvising? I'm not sure what he was actually trying to sell me. But I'm not buying."

"From me?" Jack asked, afraid he knew what Mac was going to say next.

Mac glanced at him again. "He made like he thought you weren't taking your job seriously enough. That Desi was more his choice than yours because she works by the books."

Jack felt a chill despite being next to the fire. "Yeah?"

"Yeah … he brought up Murdoc and all kinds of other stuff…"

"Jesus, maybe he has a point."

Mac gave Jack a good natured shove. "Don't let him put you in your own head, Jack. That's what he was trying to do to me. And it's bullshit."

"Murdoc grabbing you was kind of …"

"My own fault. Both times. You're a hell of an Overwatch Jack. I wouldn't have made it home from Afghanistan without you." He shook his head again. "And Desi isn't as busy the book as he thinks. Besides … he … He's lying about Mason, too."

"What? How do you…?"

"He said I was the intelligence asset Mason's son died to save. That he'd made the call because it was me."

"Oh, man. Are you okay, kid?"

Mac shrugged. "At first that hit me really hard. Like … he sacrificed someone else to save me … and all I could feel was guilt and then like I owed Mason in some way …"

"Mac, bud, you know …"

"I didn't say it was rational," he sighed. "But it didn't last long anyway."

Jack put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze. "Mac…"

"No way he did it because I'm his son. He ordered me into the field so many times knowing I probably wouldn't come home. Oversight left us to twist … how many times, Jack?"

"Oh, I dunno kid …" Jack didn't want to pile on, but that was tough for him to swallow, too.

"He must've needed whatever we'd gotten on the mission. But making me feel like it was a big father-son thing … That would give him more power over me … I just don't trust anything he says anymore. I guess I never really have. I tried to though." His voice caught, but he repeated himself anyway. "I really tried."

Jack squeezed his shoulder again. "I know ya did, kid. I'm sorry." Mac sighed, and just added wood to the fire. "What're you gonna do?"

Mac shrugged. "I don't know. Keep doing the job, I guess. Like I did before I knew who Oversight is."

"Well, that's a relief, Blondie." Both men jumped when Matty spoke from right next to them.

"Hey, Matty," Mac said mildly. "What's up?"

"I just got off the phone with Oversight." She raised her eyebrows. "I was a little worried I was going to spend another summer trying to teach a pool of recruits the many benefits of duct tape with no success."

Mac flashed a small smile. "I'm not going anywhere, Matty." He got to his feet with a groan. "Except to grab another beer. You guys want anything?"

"I'm all set, kid," Jack said.

"I'll take another one, Mac. Thanks."

Mac waved his own empty bottle in acknowledgment and headed inside.

"How's our boy, really?" Matty asked with concern, sitting on the edge of the stonework around the fire pit.

Jack shrugged and shook his head. "I'm not sure."

"And how is his Overwatch?"

"So damned glad to be back, I can't even tell ya, Matty."

"You've been back for a while now and this is the most relaxed I've seen you. Even though you and your partner got dosed with BZ, the Phoenix is still being aired out for toxic smoke, and your boss's boss isn't exactly happy to see you and it sounds to me, based on the conversation I just had, that he tried to poison the well where you and Mac are concerned. So what gives?"

"Yeah, but now we've cleared the air some. I'm still not sure why Oversight sent me, but Mac knows that he did, and that he wouldn't let Mac on the task force, too."

"How do you think that's going to affect Mac?" she asked carefully.

Jack scrubbed his hands over his face and through his short hair. "I didn't think that far ahead, I guess. I just didn't want him mad at me anymore."

Matty smiled gently at the sad puppy expression on her old friend's face. "It's easier if he's mad at his father?"

"Well, no … yes … Damn it Matty. I'm not the one who lied to him for almost twenty years."

"That's true, but…"

"And I'm not the one who used this Mason stuff to try to manipulate him!"

"What?" she asked almost sharply.

Jack nodded. "He told Mac he was the asset Mason's kid died for."

"Oh." She took a deep breath. "Oh, Mac."

"That's bad enough. But he also told Mac that he made the call because of their relationship."

"So that's why Mac threw him out."

"I guess so, yeah." Jack frowned. "But I wonder if that's just been brewing for a minute. Mac seems like he's been thinking of all the manipulation a lot. I don't think someone as honest as Mac was ever really gonna make peace with that."

"Nothing is ever easy with you two," Matty said with obvious affection.

Mac rejoined them, passing Matty a beer. "Be honest, you'd hate it if it was."

"Oh, I don't know, Blondie. It might be nice for all of us if something just swung our way once in a while."

Mac sat in one of the deck chairs, resting his elbows on his thighs. "Can't argue with that."

"How are you holding up, Mac?"

He offered a small smile. "I'm okay, considering."

"Really?" She cocked a skeptical eyebrow.

"Sure." He leaned back and took a swig of beer.

Matty drew her phone out of her pocket and glanced at the screen. "While I'd love to interrogate you into an honest answer, I've got to make a phone call."

Keeping his tone light, Jack asked, "How are those waffles coming in there?"

Mac chuckled softly and shook his head. "They're just getting started. I think they've been having a real meeting of the minds in there."

"About you?"

"Based on how quiet they got when I walked in, I imagine so." He smiled fondly. "Also Ri found the instructions Dan sent me home with. I've been informed that this beer better not be for me." He took another swig. "So if either one of them ask, I'm absolutely not drinking this."

"Of course not. You'd never just ignore doctor's orders."

"Exactly." Mac finished his beer in several long swallows. "Just like I never ignore orders from the higher ups."

"Absolutely." It! was all well and good to joke about it, but Jack was already worried. "You gonna be able to take orders from Oversight at all, bud?"

Mac shrugged. "Much as I ever have, I guess." Then he sighed. "Maybe. I guess we'll just have to see how this shakes out."

Matty came back out onto the deck and cleared her throat.

Jack got one look at her face and was on his feet. "Matty, what's wrong?"

She looked from Mac to Jack then back to Mac again.

Mac stood, too. "Matty?"

"I just got off the phone with Oversight again."

"Lemme guess. I'm fired," Jack said trying to sound like he didn't believe that was what was going on.

"Well...Not exactly. You're not fired. But we all have a big problem."

Mac took a step toward her. "What's going on?"

"You're both going to want to sit down for this."

~End~