Chapter Text
All of a sudden, she saw, in the middle of the walls of black waves, a red object floating. Approaching it and looking more closely, she saw a head coming out of the water.
- “Mac”, she whispered in a breath, for herself.
A feeling of immense joy and relief took possession of her as she swam toward him.
It was stupid to be so happy to see him, because if he was there with her, he couldn't be more useful than she was for herself. But in another way, she felt almost safe knowing he was there. Mac has always a solution and he is the person you want to have with you, when your life is at risk.
Mac yelled her name when he turned to face her, but she couldn't hear what he was saying, because the wind and the sound of the waves crashing on themselves, made a horrible uproar.
When he reached at her level, she was relieved, he had a life jacket so, a way to stay alive for a minute or two in this raging sea.
But the next millisecond, she didn't understand anything anymore.
Instead of giving her the buoy, he yelled :
“Riles, take a deep breath !”
She did.
She always does what Mac asks without arguing even when she doesn't understand.
But this time she had the feeling that he was doing that, more to drowned her than to save her life.
Especially, when Mac jumped forward, catching her by her waist, while he lay on her, with all his weight dragging her underwater.
The pain in her ribs made her wince.
She found herself upside down, under water. Mac was using one hand to keep her close against him and the other to dig deeply into the water. Riley saw a wave break above them, and a thick foam formed because of the force with which the water has been brewed.
Mac released his grip around her waist, but keep his arms floating around her. Their lungs filled with air, naturally pulled them up toward the surface. Riley took advantage, a few more seconds, of the calm and peacefulness present below, before emerging on the surface in total chaos.
Wind, rain, waves, thunderstorm.
“Mac ! Mac !”, Riley panicked.
“Riles, it's okay”, he caught her hand and pulled her to him, “first rule in the ocean, never panic, it's not helping, you being tired, you lose strength for nothing and at the end you just sink !”
“Okay, okay”, she said, clinging to Mac.
“Second rule, never hang on, to a human, otherwise you both sink !”, he pushed Riley away, unwillingly.
He wanted to keep her close to him and the heat of their bodies could save them, but their weight will sink them more quickly.
“Just calm down. If you don't have enough strength make the plank.”, he advised.
She tipped herself on her back and feel herself better, she could breath almost normally without the water making pressure on her lungs.
“Third rule in the ocean,”, he pursued holding the life jacket, “when you see a wave about to break on itself, you have to dive under it, to not find yourself like in a washing machine.”, Mac explained, running a hand through his face and hair and spitting water out of his mouth.
“Okay. Something else ?”, Riley asked.
“Yes, these things are life jackets, in normal situation you put it on you, and it will save your life, but, in this situation if you do, you will die.”, he caught the second jacket which was floating on the waves and gave it to her. “Just hold it.”
“Why will it kill me, when it's supposed to save me ?”, she held it on her belly as Mac asked. It helped her to stay on the surface.
“Because the first role of this, is to keep you above the water, but if a wave crash on you, you have to go under it, if you don't want-”
“The washing machine,... I know. Okay. I will drop it if it's necessary”, she understood.
“Great, and sink as deeply as you can into the water.”
She had understood, but, even if she had him, they were in the middle of nothing and she was pretty sure that even with two life jackets Mac couldn't do anything. Yet, he didn't seem stressed.
“Mac, are we going to die ?”, she dared to ask.
“No.”
She sank her feet into the water to be in a straight position and faced him.
“You have a plan ?”
“Yep.”
Yep. That's it ! They were lost, about to die and he had a plan that he didn't share ?! What was wrong with him !
“And you said nothing ?!” she screamed at him.
“I was trying to help you relax, remember ?”
“It would help, if you had told me you had a plan !”
“I didn't have one five minutes ago”
“Mac, tell me what's the plan !”
“It's crazy”
“Mac, we work together for three years now, the fact that you have crazy plans in that kind of situations, is the reason why I always felt safe in mission and that's why I accepted to stay at the Phoenix foundation at the beginning.”
He looked at her surprised and smiled:
“ Okay, well, this one is crazy even for me”
“And I pretty sure, this is why I fell in love with you.”, she blurted out.
She didn't know why this was coming out now, maybe too much salt in a human body can have similar effects to those of drugs and alcohol. She suddenly felt ashamed and looked at her feet she couldn't see in the black, deep, ocean, increasing her arms movements to keep herself out of the water.
She felt her face heat a little, she was perfectly aware that Mac was looking at her.
A wave took them apart and they met each other in the hole between two others. The clouds above them cracked and threatened them with flashes.
Mac looked at her, baffled and stunned.
“Forget that !”, Riley said hastily, seeing Mac's reaction.
“I'm sorry, I can't.”, he pushed with his legs to stay on the surface, “Riley, I love you since we get the team back together.”
Riley blocked, but Mac could tell that it wasn't because he just disclosed his feeling for her.
“Riles ? Are you feeling great ?”
“Mac, the,...., the wave. Behind you !”, Riley warned him, raising her eyes to follow the growing wave.
Mac turned around and face it.
She was huge, maybe eleven meters and it was sucking up them to it. At the top, some foam started to form.
“Riley don't forget, you drop the buoy, sink as deeply as you can and stayed down there until you be able to see a hole at the surface.”
“Mac”, she huffed. She started to panic trying to escape without succeeded.
“I know you can do it, Riles !”
She was lost in her angst, looking at the monstrous wave which was growing, absorbing more and more water, including Mac and Riley.
“Riley !”
Mac voice, projected her out of her fear and she sank into the water.
Problem, she never knew when she had to get out.
During maybe ten seconds, she was absolutely persuaded that she will die.
But suddenly, she felt Mac hand grabbing her wrist and pulled her up.
She breathed harshly when she emerged.
“Oh god !”, Mac huffed.
“Tell me your plan is going to get us out of here quickly.”, Riley begged, choking with the water running down her face.
“Not really”
Gusts of wind sent water whipped their face and lightning were streaking the black sky.
“What's the plan”, she asked, pushing hard on her legs to keep her face out of the water.
The constant mixing of their bodies in the water began to make them nauseous.
“Okay, you saw that”
“Your watch ?”
“Yes, my father's watch.”
“Yes ?”
“Military watches have a distress beacon inside it.”
“We are in the middle of a storm, which is in the middle of an ocean, who do you want who can hear us ?”
“That's the point ! These emergency locator transmitters, transmit the signals to all the devices passing through it's emission rays.”
“A satellite ?”
“I don't know for the satellite, but, plane, boat, cargo, aircraft carrier, space rocket, etcetera. These are all devices that can pick up the signal and relay it to the land to give our position.”
“So, your plan is to hope that someone in a plane or spaceship hear our signal and gently report it to someone on a continent ?”
“Riley, all the planes and other devices have a procedure for that situation. It's on purpose.”
“Okay, so how many times do you think we have to wait before someone capture our signal ?”
“I have no idea...”, he looked at her sorry.
“Do you activate it yet ?”
“I did, at the moment I had the idea...”, he was aware of the nonsense of the situation. There was so little chance.
A tear rolled down Riley's cheek and Mac felt sick.
“How many times do we have before we just sink ?”
“Perhaps eight hours, after that, dehydration or just the lack of strength, gonna get us.”
Both of them stayed quiet, but they both thought that they have more chance to die, rather than to be rescued.
…...............................................
It was an hour now, that they were fighting against the ocean and the storm was more violent every minute. Their life gilet had vanished into the infinity of the ocean half an hour ago and they had more difficulties now to stay at the surface.
“Mac, I can't hold more longer, be honest, no boat will risk his crew in this storm to save us.” , Riley huffed, exhausted.
They were diving under all the waves now and they almost hadn't the time anymore to take their breath between two apnea.
Mac looked Riley take yet another wave in the face. She spat the water out of her lungs. She didn't complain, just suffered.
Mac breath was short and jerky.
He couldn't tell her but, she was right, it would be a cemetery for all the ships which would tried to enter it and they wouldn't hold out much longer.
Being submerged in water wasn't comfortable for the lungs and the pressure around their body was so high that their started to feel sick.
Yet again, they plunged under a wave and barely came to the surface.
Mac was about to topple his body on the back:
“Aaaaaahhh, Mac ! Mac ! Maaaaaaacccc !”, Riley yelled, completely panicked.
He stopped himself and turned to Riley. She was doing circles on herself, stirring the water that surrounded her, as if she was digging in the sand. He swam to her quickly.
They were separate from, maybe four meters, but it feels like a mile for Mac.
When he arrived at her level, she was very agitated and screaming incomprehensible things.
“Riles, calm down, what's happening ?”
“Something touched me !”
“Riles, without wanting to-”, a wave passed them, “scare you, there is 8 486 meters between us and the bottom of the ocean.”
Riley took a deep breath and calm herself. She started to topple herself on her back to recover strength, but before she launch herself backward, a big shadow passed under them.
“Mac !”, she screamed, completely panicked.
“I see”, he was freaking out.
“Mac, tell me the scientists proved that the Megalodon no longer exist nowadays !”, tears rolled on her cheek to end in the infinity of the ocean.
“Yes, they did...”
“So, what is it ?”
“I don't know Riles.”, he had absolutely no idea what it could be, just something huge swimming under their feet.
“Mac it's under us and it's doesn't move, Mac, please ! We gonna die, oh my god, please !”, she sobbed.
Mac grabbed Riley's hand and looked at the enormous things that was treading under their feet.
He tighter his grip around her hand when the animal started moving away.
Then, they saw it turning around by going around them.
They followed it with their eyes until a wave sucked them up, and that they lose sight of it about thirty seconds. When, it reappeared, they both screamed and Riley crushed Mac's hand into hers.
He didn't care.
They were about to be devoured alive by a sea monster, living in the depths of the ocean, about ten meters long and three meters large.
He was as scared as Riley was. In a last gesture to protect themselves, Mac grabbed Riley by her waist and hugged her desperately against him.
She clung to him:
“I'm sorry Riles, it's my fault, I should have never jumped. I should have take the control of the helicopter, I should have- ”, he was regretful.
“Mac, don't !”, she stuck her head on his chest and closed her eyes, while the thing approached them.
Riley was concentrating on the beating heart of Mac. That was filling her whole attention. She no longer hears the storm or the rumble of the waves which surged around them. She was like in a bubble, locked up with Mac and about to end up deep in the ocean, dead-alive.
She wondered what would happen if the thing did not take the time to chew them before swallowing them. How long can we stay alive in the body of an animal of this size ?
Her body was shaking violently and she squeezed Mac harder, wiggling her legs faster so as not to sink.
“No, no, no, no, please !”, she whispered in a loop, crying. Eyes closed to not being able to see the death coming closer.
Mac could hear Riley chattering teeth, was it the cold or the fear ? He couldn't tell.
He felt the warmth of her body invade his. When the thing was a few meters away from them, he heard nothing except his blood rushing into his ears. He pressed his head on the top of Riley's:
“I love you.”, he whispered, a single tear rolling on his cheek, when he closed his eyes.
She tightened her grip even more on him.
She was about to tell him that she loved him, when the animal got out of the water in a deafening noise, water flowing on either side of his body.
She clenched her teeth and he held her tight, counting in his head in an attempt to forget the fear. In less that fifteen second it would be over.
The sound stopped and Riley thought : “calm before the storm”.
But nothing more happened.
Once at twenty, Mac had the unpleasant feeling that something was watching him. He didn't want to open his eyes.
But nothing more was happening. No sound, no breath, just the hubbub of the storm surrounded them.
So, he opened an eye. He blanched.
The first thing he saw was that the thing was at a meter from them. It was half on the surface as if it was stranded in water. It was following the movements of the waves as they did.
He opened his second eye, and couldn't help him but smiled.
“Riles, it's okay”
He felt her moving in his arms and release her grip around him, without letting go completely yet.
In front of them, was standing a submarine of the American fleet.
It was rescued, not death, which was coming for them.
Both of them were relieved, even if the ocean went wild around them, trying to kill them at any the second, they felt safe.
A minute ago, they had no idea if someone got their emergency signal and were prepared to die, and now they were facing a submarine, here to save them.
A metallic sound made itself heard and the hatch, from above of the submarine, opened.
A man got out and smiled at them, he approached the edge of the emerged part and he motioned for them to approach.
Mac helped Riley to climb the ladder and he climb up after her. Then, they went down into the metal box and immediately, the hatch was closed and the commandant ordered to dive at four hundred meters down deep.
Perhaps thirty minutes later, Mac and Riley were watching around them when the shake destabilized them. It was their first time in a submarine and Mac was like a kid on a Christmas morning.
Yet, his eyes, rapidly found Riley, who was wrapped in a blanket, her hair were wet and she was looking around her, fascinated by the submarine.
“Hey”, he came close to her.
“Hey”, she smiled weekly at him.
“Are you feeling okay ?”, he asked more to do the conversation than to really get an answer.
He knew she was okay. He hadn't paid attention about anything around him before being sure she was all right, reheated and that her rib cage was intact.
“I'm good, considering what we just lived.”, she laughed nervously, but looked at him directly in the eyes.
He smiled and they lost themselves in their gazes.
Then, he couldn't help himself, but thought about what they had avowed to each other in the ocean.
He knew that it was probably because they were about to die, that she said that, but she seemed sincere, so maybe he should just ask.
She was looking at him patiently, waiting for him to say something.
She was beautiful and smart, she was perfect and he loved her. But, he was too afraid to lose her, to ruin everything, their complicity, oh god he didn't want to loose this complicity they had.
She already told him about anything, everything ! She trusted him with her life !
Why did he want more ? More importantly, what did he want more ?
He had the answers on these questions and without thinking even more, he approached her, circle his arms around her and lean forward to kiss her.
His heart was pounding heavily in his chest, he was scared that she just pushed him away and never talk to him again, at least not as they used to do it before. He had crossed a step and couldn't go back.
When his lips met hers, Riley was surprised but relieved, she was afraid that Mac never talked anymore about what they had said to each other, and just act as if nothing happened.
It would hurt her as hell.
She answered the kiss automatically, running her hands into his hair, her body fitting perfectly with his, when she closed the distance between them. The blanket falling at their feet.
It was soft and warm. The clean shirt Mac was wearing was as soft as his skin, and she leaned against him, pleasantly.
Mac held her tighter, caressing her cheek and waist.
When she caught his upper lip with her teeth, he groan gently, holding her close, smiling and looking at her with love, before moving forward to kiss her slowly with tenderness.
He had thought about it since she had told him, months earlier, that she had a boyfriend, then Desi came and he found it more safe than to risk his friendship with Riley. For nothing in the whole wide world he would risk to loose Riley.
However, he had promised himself that this time it was the one, he would jump, kiss her, without overthinking it, if they found a way to save their life, and got out of this deadly, with almost no exit possible, mission.
He was kissing Riley Davis. It was turning as loop in his mind.
A man passed behind them and cleared his throat. Riley broke the kiss and blushed, apologizing. Mac looked at her and smiled genuinely at her before he released her completely.
Then, he turned to the man.
“Thank you again for saving our life. So, where are we ?”, Mac asked.
“We are twenty four degrees, thirty two minutes and ten seconds North and forty degree, forty two minutes and thirty two seconds West. We have five hours to the boat which gonna bring you back in America and you will have forty five more hours after that on the ship to access the Florida coast. From there you will take a jet, which will bring you back in California. Your boss thought that a commercial flight would be too much. You know, you are lucky that we were in the area when planes started to report an emergency signal and spot you guys.”
“Thank you.”, Riley said, yawning, “for everything”.
“Perhaps, some rest could be great ! We will wake you up, when we join the ship. You can take our bed”, the commandant proposed.
“Yes, thank you”, Mac said, leading Riley to the door.
…..........................................
When they touched the American soil, Riley felt relieved. She squeezed Mac's hand, which she never let go since they embarked on the big ship. They had sleep in the whole travel to come here, even in the jet that Matty had spent to bring them back.
The automatic doors of the airport open in front of them, on the people who were waiting for their family and friends with welcome signs.
Riley spotted Bozer, running toward them. The security guard didn't succeed to arrest him and he threw himself on Mac and Riley, kissing them both at the same time:
“Never do that again, okay !”, he said, his voice full of worry and relief.
“Needless to say, that's an order !”, added Matty, hugging them too.
“I think I will stay away from the sea for a while.” Riley laughed.
“Yes, maybe the mountain could be great for our next week-end !”
“I agree !”.
She found naturally Mac's hand, and squeezed it. He looked at her, his blue gaze full of love.
Bozer saw it and frowned, but said nothing.
It could wait until the next morning.
All of them left the airport to Mac's house, to spend one of their safest evening, celebrating the accomplished mission.
Bozer was in the kitchen, cooking some waffles while Mac and Riley were talking about what happened on the mission, the part where they almost died was sensible and emotional, but according to the doctor they had seen on the ship which brought them back to the land, it was important to talk about it.
They brought up the topic of how they will handle their relation from now on, while Matty looked at them as a mom checking the good health of her children.
Finally, Bozer brought the dinner on the terrace, and they gathered around the table.
A normal evening in their line of work, together, surrounding and supporting by each other, in Mac's home, with a good meal cooked by Bozer with love.
END