Actions

Work Header

Karma

Entire Work

Work Text

Bozer opened the door to the war room and found Mac standing in front of the wall screen, arms crossed, shoulders tight.The screen displayed a live satellite feed. Somewhere rural from the looks of it.“Hey Mac,” Bozer greeted, closing the door behind him. “Where you been? I’ve been lookin’ for you everywhere.”“Just here,” Mac said simply, without turning around.Bozer walked up to stand beside him and watched Mac’s face. He didn’t even look over, he was totally focused on scanning the screen in front of him.“What’s up man?” Bozer asked, glancing from Mac and back to the sat feed. “We get a mission no one told me about?”“Nope,” Mac replied. No more info forthcoming.“You know, I tied for first place in interrogation at spy school, right?” Bozer joked. “So I can get it out of you if it takes all day. Or you could just tell me why you’re standin’ here watchin’ some forested hillside in...” he waved his hand to indicate wherever they were looking at. “Wherever the hell that is.”“It’s the Austrian countryside,” Mac said, still terse.“Ok, so why are you standin’ here staring at the Austrian countryside?” Bozer asked, getting frustrated with Mac’s tight lips. “Listen, if Matty’s got you workin’ on somethin’ top secret, you just say the word and I’m out. No harm, no foul, I do not want to be on her bad-““It’s not for Matty,” Mac cut him off, emotion coming through in his voice finally.“Ok, so then what’s this all about Mac?” Bozer asked, trying to soften his voice and sound sympathetic. He could tell when something was up with his best friend.“It’s Jack,” Mac said simply, still staring at the screen.“Woah, hold up, is Jack ok? Did something happen?”“Jack’s fine... as far as we know,” Mac said, sounding bitter that he couldn’t be sure. “The last time Riley hacked the DOD and got Jack’s location they were in this area of Austria. And the satellite just came around so...” Mac uncrossed his arm for a moment to wave it at the screen.“So you’re... standing in here staring at live sat feed of a place Jack might be, but you’re not sure and even if you were you can’t pinpoint his exact whereabouts?” Bozer hazarded, trying to make it sound like a totally normal thing to do.Mac sighed out through his nose, nostrils flared. “What else am I supposed to do Boze? I can’t help. They won’t even give me intel, I have to get Riley to hack in for it.”“Which is super illegal and an abuse of power, you know that right?”Mac didn’t answer.“Come on Mac, Jack’s a pro, he’s got this,” Bozer tried for the bright optimistic point of view. “He’s gonna be just fine.”The sat feed flickered and went black. The satellite was out of range.Mac’s shoulders fell, and he finally turned toward Bozer, but kept his arms crossed. “I just feel so... useless...” Mac sighed.Bozer’s brain flashed back to a time when Jack had stood in that same spot watching sat feed of Mac and Nasha. Man Karma was a bitch.“You know,” Bozer said, considering his words carefully and coming to the conclusion that they’d all been babying Mac enough. “You ever think about what Jack went through when you were in Nigeria? I think you’re gettin’ a bit of a taste of your own medicine Mac.”Mac’s eyes lit up with a combination of hurt and anger.“You think I haven’t thought about that Boze?” Mac asked angrily. “You know, at least Jack knew where I was. Knew I was safe. Knew-““Knew you weren’t picking up his calls just cause you didn’t want to, and not cause you were dead in a ditch somewhere?” Bozer felt like a jerk as soon as he said it, but sometimes only your closest friends will tell you the truth.Mac’s brow crinkled, and his eyes started to well up just before he turned away.There were more angry words welling up in Bozer, but he knew he’d got his point across, and that was all he wanted. He didn’t want to hurt Mac, just make him see.Mac spoke again, and Bozer hadn’t expected it, he’d been ready to leave Mac to stew in those thoughts. “You don’t think I regret that?” Mac asked.“I’m not the one that needs to hear that,” Bozer said.“Well Jack isn’t here,” Mac replied.“So maybe next time, when he is, you tell him you’re sorry Mac,” Bozer said. “He sure deserves it.”The door burst open suddenly and Desi walked in. “Hey ladies,” she greeted, walking to the front of the room and bringing up a file on the screen.Mac discreetly wiped his eyes before turning to the screen.“Sorry,” Desi said, insincere, “didn’t mean to interrupt your Hallmark moment, but we caught a mission.”

↑ Top · Fandoms