Long time no see… Well… For this story… At least…

"How's my buddy doing?" Bozer asked as he entered the apartment.

When no answer came from his friend, Bozer went on a mission to find Mac. He found him outside, sitting on one of the homemade garden chairs with his leg propped up on an upside-down bucket.

"There you are!" Bozer smiled, "How're you doing?"

Mac looked up, then down at his cast.

"Holding on…" Mac sighed, running a hand over his cast. The fiberglass was rough under his fingers.

"You look pale…"

Mac tried to pull himself a little higher and grunted as his leg protested loudly. He didn't want to sound like a whiney brat, but felt that he failed when he answered. "Leg is acting up…"

"And you've taken your medicine?"

Mac nodded, letting his head loll back. "Yeah… The leg is just cramping up on me…"

Bozer studied the way Mac's face was pulled in a light frown. The way he was white-knuckling the armrests. Bozer felt a stab of pity for his friend, he knew Mac wasn't one to bitch about small stuff when it came to pain. This alpine injury had obviously messed Mac's leg up bad.

"Want me to bring you something?" Bozer asked, "Coffee? Sandwich? Cereal?"

Mac shook his head.

"Want me to fire up the grill, call that coworker of yours, Jack… Have a little barbecue party?"

"I really don't think I'm up for a party…" Mac looked down at his leg. "I'm barely up for sitting up…"

"Yeah, but I'm not talking a big party, like wo-hoo party… I'm talking about friends spending an easy evening together, eating good food."

"Bozer… I'm tired, but I can't sleep…"

"Well, that's because it's four o'clock in the afternoon…" Bozer reasoned, "It is hours until you're supposed to sleep."

"That might have been true if I hadn't been kept awake by this stupid ass leg all night…"

"How bad was the break really?" Bozer questioned, "Because I've seen you have some sick injuries, you klutzy kid… You've never acted like this though…"

"It was pretty bad…" Mac shuddered at the thought, "And messy…"

"Okay, you mentioned messy, I don't wanna know anymore…" Bozer held up his hand to signal for Mac to stop.

Mac nodded. "Okay, I'm not gonna go into detail then…"

"Good…" Bozer clapped his hands together, "Now, about that barbecue. Want me to call Jack and throw something on the grill?"

Mac shrugged, "Sure, but I can't promise that I'll be good company…"

"That's alright… I get that you're tired and all, but I think a little visit could be good for you…"

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*A few hours later*

"Man, this steak is really good!" Jack sighed, smiling from ear to ear. "And I'm from Texas, so I should know!"

"You know what, Mac? I like this guy, we should keep him around!" Bozer pointed to Jack with his fork.

"Do that!" Jack grinned wide, "Just feed me from time to time, and I'll keep coming around!"

Mac had barely touched his steak, right now he was just sitting there and poking the meat on his plate.

"Ain't you gonna eat that, kid?"

"I'm not really hungry…" Mac sighed and sat his plate away.

"Is that leg of yours hurting bad?" Concerned brown eyes drilled into Mac's blue ones.

Mac nodded as he tried to reposition his casted leg.

"How bad?"

"More than I prefer…" Mac.

"Do you need someone to take a look at it?"

Mac shook his head, "No, it's not alarmingly painful. Just too much for my liking…"

"Okay, that's good, I guess…" Jack looked at the area of Mac's thigh where they both knew a large gaping hole had been. "You make sure to tell me if that changes, right?"

"Sure…" Mac answered without truly committing.

"Okay, but if you're not up to eating, you should at least drink something…" Jack almost demanded, "We are in the sunny south of California… Make sure you don't get yourself de-hydrated… Happens about as easily here as in the deserts of Africa and the Middle-East…"

Mac raised an eyebrow at Jack.

"You've got water bottles in the fridge, right?" he asked and pushed himself up.

Bozer nodded.

"And how long is it since you took something for the pain?"

"Little over five hours…"

"Okay, time for two more pills then…" Jack commanded, "Pills are in the bathroom, right?"

"Yeah, Jack…"

"Okay, just sit right there, and I'll get it for you." Jack ordered as he headed indoors. "You look like you're hitting a nine on the pain scale…"

"Actually, more like a strong five…" Mac shot back.

"Well, whatever… You're taking your pills, and you're drinking some water. And if you're able to, you eat something too…"

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Bozer really liked Jack. He seemed like a great father figure for Mac, even though he might have come around a few years later than what his friend could have needed. But Mac had turned out okay, and if Jack could be around and keep Mac safe from himself and his crazy experiments. That would be great!

Bozer felt like this was the beginning of a deep and powerful friendship. All three of them.

He couldn't wait to get to know the older man better. It had only been a few months since Mac came home, mentioning this new dude he was working with. Jack had visited a couple of time, and then he had been over at Mac's welcome home party…
Yeah, Bozer hoped that this could be a great friendship.

Hope you had fun.