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Another team had come to drag the Merchant away to a more secure location, and Mac hadn’t taken his eyes off of him the whole time. The security guard assigned to make sure Mac stopped trying to kill the guy was still diligently doing his job, holding his shoulder securely even as the young man slipped to the floor in defeat. He’d stopped actively struggling but his body was almost vibrating with tension, anger radiating off of him.
“Mac? Mac, talk to me,” Desi tried, coming over to kneel in front of him, trying to make eye contact. It seemed like his mind was a thousand miles away, and he jumped as she gently touched his chin to turn his head towards her. He opened his mouth like he wanted to say something, but all that came out was something akin to a whimper before his breathing sped up again and he began to shift nervously, scratching his hands against the floor and looking around like he was trying to find a way out. Desi tried a placating hand on his shoulder and he jerked back, bringing up a hand to block hers. He had her wrist in a vice-like grip before the security guard efficiently restrained his hands again, murmuring for him to take it easy, man. Desi retreated, walking back over to Russ who had witnessed the exchange in between giving orders to various members of staff.
“He won’t- he won’t talk to me. I can’t help him, I don’t know how. I-“ She started, shaking her head.
“Desi, it’s all right,” Russ interrupted, lowering his voice to address her. “You’re too close to him emotionally and I don’t think he can handle that right now. Instead, I need you to rendezvous with Riley and Bozer downstairs – they should be coming up with a new plan alongside Matty and the team. I’ll be there as quick as I can after I deal with Mac, okay? I need you on this, it’s important.”
Desi looked sceptical, but nodded and tried to ignore Mac’s heaving breaths and wide eyes as she turned away from him to concentrate on the mission at hand. Russ had already sent for Dr. Young, head of Phoenix Med, hoping that his plan to keep Mac in line would work.
Almost immediately after Desi had left, Young appeared with a questioning gaze directed towards Russ. The latter nodded his head in Mac’s direction and the doctor turned, understanding immediately what was happening. He quickly went over to crouch in front of Mac, the younger still looking like he was on the brink of hyperventilating, red marks scratched across both of his arms as he tried to bring himself down from his state of panic.
“Mac, can you look at me please?" The doctor was trying to examine his patient's eyes with a penlight, but they were roving wildly around the hallway, focusing on nothing and everything at once. Mac himself was still trying to twist away from the guard keeping him still, letting out an annoyed cry at the invading light in his field of vision.
“I’m sorry Mac, it’s all right,” Dr. Young soothed, bringing a hand across the pulse point on his neck to gauge his heart rate. It was hammering away under his skin, and while he’d heard that most of the bruises and scars marring Mac’s skin were fake from his undercover op, he couldn’t rule out some actual injury. He felt Russ’ presence behind him and spoke, still keeping his attention on Mac as he checked his skull for any bumps.
"He's distressed, obviously, but I can't immediately see any signs of a concussion or injury. We should take him up to medical though to run some tests, and let him calm down some in a more relaxed environment," he noted. There were still a number of agents milling about, some still in foreign military uniforms, and the overall noise of changing mission plans was keeping Mac on high alert.
"You can run any tests you want later on. He's just had an emotional day, the mission went sideways and I need him somewhere secure for now until he can settle down."
"I can give him something to calm his system, if he'll agree to it," the doc offered.
"No, don't bother. I might need information from him later depending on how this plays out, so he should be kept awake. Instead, I want him in restraints in one of the rooms in Medical, and a guard outside the door in case he, well, MacGyvers his way out of there," Russ ordered, trailing a hand through his hair as he tried to think of a way to rescue his op. He didn't have time for Angus' emotions right now, not when they were so close to figuring out where Codex operated from.
It didn’t take long for them to obtain a wheelchair and escort Mac up to the medical bay, security guard trailing behind in case the young man lashed out again. Russ was texting on his phone the whole time, whispering the occasional dammit under his breath and completely ignoring the now shivering form in the chair in front of him. He stopped outside one of the recovery rooms and motioned for them to go in without him as he dialled one of the security agents downstairs with the full intention to yell at them.
A couple of nurses were already inside the room and preparing the bed for their newly admitted patient, while Mac was surprisingly compliant as he was helped up onto the bed and gently laid down on his back. He was still flexing his fingers nervously though, and looked like he was lost in his own mind, so Young was unsure of how well he would react to what they were about to do.
"Hey, Mac. We're just going to slip these onto your hands so we can leave you to get some rest, alright?" He approached the young man with a relaxed demeanour and clear intentions, actions that he knew were vital in dealing with patients experiencing heightened emotions. However, Mac's reaction to that was poor at best as he immediately began to struggle, arms flailing so he was mere centimetres away from hitting one of the nurses in the side of the head and wrenching his foot away every time someone tried to grip onto it. Russ could hear him screaming from outside as he thrashed and arched his back, trying to make it as difficult as possible for the people around him to secure the material around his wrists and ankles. When that didn't work, he resorted to yelling, voice turning hoarse as he screamed. Russ made out a number of threats and swear words directed at him, simply brushing them off as he waited for the medical team to finish. Eventually his annoyed wails dissolved into desperate pleas for them to let him go, turning into sobs as they exited the room.
"It's done. We've dimmed the lights and put on some calming music so that will hopefully help him settle. Someone will check on him every fifteen minutes to make sure he's safe," Dr. Young reported.
"Fine. Alert me if anything changes or if he's calm enough to be let out. I could still use him on this op if he were less... feral."
Young hated the idea of keeping Mac contained like that. He was clearly emotionally and physically burnt out which resulted in him not fully understanding why they were tying him down and leaving him in a darkened room alone. It seemed like it would only do more harm than good for Mac mentally, but Young knew he was getting paid pretty handsomely for his work at the Phoenix, and didn't feel like explaining to his husband why he'd lost his job by deciding to disobey a direct order from the head of the company. However, he'd known Mac a long time and therefore also knew how out of character it was for him to be so angry that he would do anything to try to physically outmanoeuvre people he usually trusted.
Normally, Mac would grumble a little during any trip to medical, bargaining with staff to let him go home as quickly as possible, even if the entire medical department would agree he wasn't ready. And he wasn't above bribes. Within a few weeks at starting at DXS, Young had already gotten used to Mac's antics, and came in for a post-op check to find his patient with one shoe on, attempting to rig the heart monitor so it wouldn't trigger an alarm when he disconnected himself from it. As his doctor was removing the left shoe from his right foot and tucking him back into bed, Mac tried to strike up a deal - allowing him to leave Medical in exchange for his most prized possession, pointing to the object on the tray table in front of him.
"Firstly, Mac, you're only a few hours post-op on a pretty invasive surgery on your leg, and you're on some of the strongest painkillers we have. I'm not even sure you should be awake right now, never mind going home." Giant blue eyes stared up at him as he pouted, clearly unhappy with the outcome.
"Secondly, although your paperclip sculpture is very nice and artistic, it's a terrible bribe. Maybe try something else next time, alright?" His patient didn't seem too offended by this and merely blinked slowly, before yawning and zoning out of the conversation completely.
"Get some rest, Mac," he chuckled before leaving, asking at the nurses station for them to keep a special eye on the patient in Room 402. In the same room just minutes ago however, getting Mac into those restraints had been traumatising for everyone involved. Coaxing Mac out of the headspace he was in would be difficult, and he only knew of one person that would be able to get through to him. He waited only until Taylor had turned the corner before scrolling through his contacts to find Jack Dalton and hitting Dial.
As it turned out, Riley had already messaged Jack earlier on in the day to express her own concerns about Mac’s health, so he was already on his way over from the airport when Dr. Young called. He’d been trying to keep up with the mess that was Codex and how is was affecting his kids over the past few weeks, but he’d been holed up in Texas looking after his Mama while she recovered from a hip replacement, and was kicking himself for not flying back sooner, knowing he should never have trusted the plethora of I’m fines that accompanied every phone call with Mac.
Jack stormed into the Phoenix and straight to the medical bay, worry skyrocketing after messaging Dr. Young and not hearing back from him in over twenty minutes. His heart plummeted to his stomach as he neared the room they were keeping Mac in and could hear his boy yelling, several staff members spilling out of the room.
“Don’t touch me! Don’t come any closer. Just- don’t!” His voice was shaking but he sounded adamant, and Jack noticed why they were all taking him at his word as soon as he caught sight of Mac.
He was dishevelled and covered in a mix dirt and blood, some of it fake, some of it not. Looking closer, Jack could see his eyes were bloodshot and the skin under his eyes looked like it was bruised, deep shades of purple contrasting with his pale skin. Alarmingly, he was brandishing some sort of sharp object and pointing it at anyone who tried to get close to him.
Russ Taylor, who Jack trusted even less now that he knew he was the man to blame for Mac being in this predicament, was very much near the back of the crowd. Probably for the best in case Mac really did turn violent, but Jack thought it more likely that he himself would be wringing the man’s neck first.
“He was supposed to be in restraints,” Russ looked on in confusion, “how did he manage to get out of them?”
“Have you met Mac?” Jack scoffed, glaring at his boss as the latter tried to hide his surprise at Jack’s arrival. “Besides, the weak point is underneath where the straps connect to the bed. Every good agent knows that,” he finished, before pushing through a couple of nurses to get to Mac.
“Hey bud, you wanna tell me what’s going on?” Jack thought Mac might pass out as he stood frozen to the spot, still holding in his hand what looked like a security guard’s swipe card broken into a triangular spike. He swayed a little but lowered his weapon to allow Jack to wrap his arms around him in a tight hug.
“I got you. You’re all right,” Jack soothed, cupping the back of the younger’s head with his hand, hoping that if he held Mac tight enough he’d stop shaking.
“Jack. I can’t do this,” Mac whispered, breath catching as his anxiety climbed again.
“You don’t need to do anything right now. Just focus on me and my breaths, okay? Breathe with me, if you can,” Jack centred all of his attention on Mac, and had just about gotten him to start taking some deep breaths when Russ piped up a little too loudly behind him.
“We should get him back in bed. Dr. Young, maybe give him something to calm him down, like you mentioned before? The op’s been taken care of now, after all.”
Jack wished for the second time that he could strangle his boss as Mac pulled back from him, eyes ablaze with anger.
"No. No! You don’t get to do what you want with me or stick me in some room somewhere. It’s my decision. Not. Yours!” He lunged towards Russ, but didn't make it very far before Jack wrapped his arms around the younger’s midsection to stop him, carefully but firmly attempting to tuck his arms in to stop him from hurting himself or anyone else in the room.
"Stop! Jack, stop it. Let me- go!" The younger struggled with renewed effort, trying to elbow and kick his way out of the strong arms caging him in. Jack somehow managed to get them both to the floor, kneeling behind Mac as the younger continued to grab at the arms holding him, clawing at the skin and using his entire body weight to try and surge forward. Jack had never seen him so rattled, never experienced him fighting so hard, digging his nails into Jack's skin so it drew blood and the elder hissed at the sting. The kid needed a break, a proper one, to deal with all of the emotions from his father dying and the blame he took upon himself for the death of that power plant engineer, both on top of Charlie's sacrifice that he dealt with by drinking himself into a stupor more nights than not. Mac wasn’t himself, and he couldn't see the help he needed. Jack vowed to help both Mac and the rest of the team come up with a plan to get him back on track emotionally later, but physically the younger was panicking badly, whimpering with each stuttered breath out. He needed to deal with this right now.
Jack noticed Young drawing something up into a syringe as Mac had been struggling and knowing it was a sedative, Jack nodded at the doctor to come over. He approached alongside a nurse, the latter gripping one of Mac's flailing arms and holding it steady. That only aided in making the young man even more panicked as he tried to use his sock-clad feet to gain purchase on the slippery flooring. His eyes widened as the doctor unbuttoned the top of his coveralls and rolled them down over one shoulder to expose his upper arm, gently wiping it with anti-septic.
"No, I don't want this," Mac croaked, still trying to escape the people surrounding him, holding him down.
"It's just to calm you down a little, you'll feel a lot better afterwards," Young soothed, expertly injecting the sedative into his patient. Mac flinched and started to sob, gripping Jack's arms tightly instead of trying to push them away.
"I don't want to sleep. I can't, I c-can't," he whimpered between breaths, tears flowing freely down his face and onto Jack's arms.
"I know bud, you're alright. Shh-shh, I got you," Jack mumbled into his ear, feeling how Mac physically melted into him, breaths coming easier as his nervous system calmed. He could tell Mac was still fighting it though, muscles spasming as he resolved to maintain control over his body and his consciousness. Jack continued to soothe him until some time had passed, and then scooped him up from the floor to deposit him back onto the bed, gently brushing his hair away from his face and watching as his eyelashes fluttered ever so slightly.
“We should try and clean him up a little and get him into a gown. I’m sure that gash on the side of his neck isn’t a fake one and I don’t want it to get infected,” Dr. Young noted after a while, watching on as Jack continued to stroke Mac’s hair.
“Yeah- yeah, that’s a good idea. I’ll help you. And if we could get a chair in here as well, I’m staying with him until he’s awake.” Jack’s authoritative tone had a nurse practically scrambling out of the room to get the requested chair, returning with one (alongside a comfortable looking pillow) in next to no time at all. The rest of the staff left along with Russ, who’d had the audacity to try and explain his actions to Jack then and there. Without taking his eyes off of Mac, Jack had held up one hand, signalling that he wasn’t going to talk about it now. Not when he needed to stay calm and focused on his boy. Later though, that was a whole different story.
Jack ended up taking over most of getting Mac out of his grimy outfit and into a gown, very much used to manoeuvring the long gangly limbs out of various pieces of clothing during periods of sickness and injury. Cleaning and dressing the wound on his neck, placing an IV to keep Mac hydrated and forgoing the restraints without even asking his guardian, knowing the kind of response he would get, Dr. Young left the room finally knowing he’d done the very best that he could for his patient.