**Hello everybody! Not sure if you noticed, but my favorite holiday is Halloween so I decided to get an early jump on a Mac story for the occasion. Sorry, but Rabbit is dead. May he rest in pieces (insert maniacal guffaw). Without further ado-

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Mac coughed and blew his nose. He could feel Jack look at him from across the car. He wiped his nose and shoved the tissue into his pocket.

"What?"

"I told you to take your medications." Mac rolled his eyes then winced. His headache was spiking again. Mac pulled his jacket closer. It had been raining on and off since they got back from Jamaica.

"It's a virus, antibiotics won't do anything…" Mac paused to sneeze. He closed his eyes feeling like a hammer smashed him in the middle of the head. He pulled out another tissue and blew his nose again. He winced. His nostrils were red and cracking. Jack's face changed from annoyance and worry to plain worry.

"Only you could pick up a plague from Jamaica." Mac glared at his partner as they drew close to his home.

"It's only a cold, Jack, not the black death."
"Sure that's what you say now, but in two days…" Mac rolled his eyes sniffing.

"I'm not going to die on Halloween."

"Yeah that's what Camp Crystal Lake thought-" Jack's voice trailed off as they pulled into Mac's drive. Mac blinked and met Jack's gaze. Jack leaned forward and pulled out his Barretta his eyes roving the dark.

Tacked to Mac's door was a bloody body in army uniform. A flyer flapped from his chest held in by a long handled bloody dagger.

"A prank?" Mac asked his scratchy throat cracking in the middle. Jack slowly eased from the GTO.

"Sure absolutely, stay here." Jack glanced down at his partner, "I mean it." Jack stepped out and softly closed his door. Mac climbed out from his side of the car. Jack glared at him, "Dammit, Mac. One of these days you'll listen to me or be dead." Mac scanned the darkness turning on the flashlight he'd taken from Jack's glove box.

"You'd have the biggest I told you so in history." Mac whispered.

"Not funny." Jack growled as he stepped toward the front door. Mac caught his arm. Jack pulled free and opened his mouth to chew his partner out when he saw a familiar look on Mac's face, "Bomb?"

"Let me check." Jack watched as Mac leaned in closer and studied the stoop closely. He looked back and shook his head. Jack stepped closer. He breathed out a sigh of relief.

"It's fake." The face of the body was blank plastic. Jack turned at Mac's sudden intake of breath.

"Jack, back up." He whispered. Jack's heart jumped.

"A bomb?" Mac moved to Jack's side his back to the body. Jack didn't like how pale Mac suddenly became. Mac looked like he was going to puke.

"Worse." Mac pointed at the feet of the body. Jack jumped back with a startled yelp. Two Jack O'lanterns flickered light spookiness over a bloody human skull with two human severed hands on either side of it. Jack knew at first glance it was real. No one could fake the bullet hole in the center of the skull's forehead. Jack glanced around them one more time then grabbed Mac by the elbow and shoved him toward the GTO. For once, Mac didn't complain. Mac stared at his house sniffling. He shivered. Jack absently kicked the heat up as he drove away. Mac sneezed and pulled out another tissue. Jack eyed him as he pulled out his phone.

"Yeah, Matty? Someone got an early start on Halloween this year…"

Mac sat hunched over a cup of steaming tea his jacket pulled around him. He took a sip and closed his eyes. He felt like shit. He looked up as Matty walked into the war room. Jack in full TAC gear followed. He was in full Delta mode, his eyes constantly roving taking in every corner and movement. Bozer and Riley ran in behind them.

"Mac! You ok?" Bozer's eyes were wide, his speech fast. He sat beside Mac and put a hand on his shoulder. Mac half turned and sneezed into a tissue. He shoved it into a little baggy he'd been giving. He pulled out another pair from the massive box Matty had given him.

" 'm K, Boze." Mac said his voice congested. Bozer leaned back.

"I have to deal with a sick Angus on top of a dead body tacked to our front door?" Mac laughed then broke off coughing. Riley brushed Mac's hair back. She could easily feel the sweat and fever. Riley looked up worried.

"You look like shit, brother." Jack said crouching in front of Mac. Mac sniffed turning to Matty.

"You find out who our dead guy was?" Matty stared at Mac a long minute as if deciding something. Her lips pursed and she nodded at Riley. Who worked her laptop a long minute.

"Mac, do you know this man?" Mac's breath hitched.

"That's Frosty." Mac whispered his voice cracking.

"As in the snowman?" Bozer asked. Mac stood up and walked to the giant picture of the military ID Riley had put up on the screen.

"Darren Mitchell, EOD-" Riley looked at Mac. Mac ducked his head and ran his hand over his forehead.

"He was the head of my first EOD unit." Mac sneezed and turned away blowing his nose. The others waited in silence. Mac wiped his nose. Jack crossed to the kid and put a hand on his shoulder.

"You were friends?" Mac sighed. His shoulders slumped.

"No one was ever friends with Mitchell, that's the reason we called him Frosty. Other than Peña and Charlie...he was the best." Mac sniffed, "I hadn't seen him in years...and we never hung out or anything…" Mac ran a hand through his hair then ploppd back on the couch beside Bozer. He leaned forward rubbing his face. Everyone in the room could hear his raspy breathing. He turned to Jack.

"Did you find anything else?" Jack huffed and sat across from Mac and looked at Riley.

"There wasn't any sign of anyone going inside." Riley said.

"None of our neighbors saw anything, not even Mrs. Mason. Although she was going to report us for going too far with our decorations." Mac snorted then sneezed three times in a row. He pulled out a handful tissue and blew his nose. Matty crossed to him and pulled a paper in a flat evidence bag out of a thin folder. Mac took it from her.

It was a flyer for a haunted house. It looked like it was printed by a high school kid. The paper was an ugly green with wide black letters that read, "House of Horrors, open one night, come...if you dare." Below the title a rough outline of a grim reaper looked over his shoulder grinning at the reader a bent finger daring the reader to follow. Mac blinked as if the paper was out of focus. The others exchanged a worried look. Mac was getting sicker and sicker. Mac saw the look and rolled his eyes.

"This is tomorrow night, from 7-13:00." He stood up wiping his nose. He studied the others. Before he could say a word, Jack grabbed his arm and whirled him around. Mac wobbled. Jack's eyes widened.

"No way are you going, we're going to storm the place." Mac opened his mouth and turned away sneezing, "Besides you're sick as a dog."

"Jack's right. Riley, you and Bozer see what's up with the EOD connection. Jack we'll go over plans for the raid after you take this germ factory home." Mac glared at Matty. The effect was softened by his tired puffy puppy eyes.

"My home is still a crime scene." Mac tried to snap back, but his voice trailed off into a coughing fit. Matty rolled her eyes and nodded her head at Jack. Jack grinned and grabbed Mac by the shoulders. Mac tried to pull away but Jack dug his fingers in.

"Jack, SH-tango, tango 5. Take Alpha and Zulu with you." Jack nodded putting an arm across Mac's shoulder.

"I don't want to go to a safe house." Jack smiled at the adolescent wine in Mac's voice.

"I know, buddy, I want to take you to my place too, but you'll be on your own tomorrow night." Mac wiped his nose looking even more pathetic. Jack squeezed him close, a quick gesture of reassurance.

"Can you imagine two TAC teams in my apartment? Don't worry, brother, I'll keep you safe. Besides you need the rest." Jack opened the door to the GTO. Mac sighed and slid into the passenger seat without arguing. Jack frowned, worried that Mac felt sick enough he didn't argue.