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The hospital was big and loud, and the signage was in French; Jack was not in the mood to deal with any of it. He hit Riley's contact on his phone and shoved it against his ear.
"How do I get to Mac's room from the entrance?" he asked without preamble when she answered the call.
"Take any of the elevators on the left up to the 5th floor." She sounded tired but also like she was expecting this call. He'd talked to her from the plane about an hour ago, so if she didn't immediately mention any changes in Mac's condition, there must not be any. "Turn right off the elevator. There's going to be a sign for the ICU there. Turn right again. When you go through the double doors, there's a waiting room on the left. We're all here. The doctors are with him now, so we can't go back there."
"Be right there," he said and cut the call.
The elevator was slow, and Jack wished Riley had given him directions to the stairs. How could he not have been there for this whole FUBAR op? Mac, Riley, Bozer, and Charlie were hurt, and Jack was not there. He wanted to punch something or someone, but the Ghost was dead. And he hadn't been there.
When the doors opened, he ran down the hall until he got to the waiting room, where he saw his family for the first time. Riley, Bozer, and Charlie were bruised and bandaged.
They all stood to greet him, and Jack was careful to be gentle when giving both Riley and Bozer hugs. He kept one arm around Riley and pulled her against his side as he shook hands with Charlie.
"Any news?" he asked as they sat down.
Bozer shook his head. "Mac's doctor should be out any time now, so we'll know more then."
"How are you guys doing?" Jack eyed them closely, noticing the white bandage taped to Riley's forehead and the boot on Bozer's leg for the first time. Charlie wore a sling, and they all looked exhausted. He'd already been told their worst injuries: concussion for Riley, badly sprained ankle for Bozer, and dislocated shoulder for Charlie.
"We're okay," Riley replied. "Worried about Mac."
Before Jack could respond to that, Riley got to her feet to meet a doctor coming their way. Bozer and Charlie also stood, so Jack did too. The doctor was about Bozer's height with dark brown hair and a friendly expression. He was wearing a pair of green scrubs without the white lab coat Jack was so used to seeing doctors wear in the US.
"Apologies for the delay," the doctor said with his French accent. He noticed Jack and introduced himself, "I'm Dr. Toussaint, and you are?"
"Jack Dalton. I'm Mac's next of kin, power of attorney, whatever you call it in France."
"It's nice to meet you, Mr. Dalton. I wish it were under better circumstances."
"Me too, Doc. How is Mac?"
"He's doing as well as can be expected. Have you been made aware of his condition?" Dr. Toussaint looked over at the others, who all nodded.
Jack knew about Mac's most serious injuries: the skull fracture and the badly broken leg. He also had some broken ribs and his shoulder had been dislocated. The Ghost's bomb had brought the catacombs down around them, and Mac had taken the brunt of it.
"He's sedated and on a ventilator for now. We're keeping a close watch on the swelling in his brain because of the skull fracture. There's a possibility of damage to his optic nerve, but nothing is definitive yet. Once he's stable, we'll take him to surgery for his leg. Right now, we've applied external fixation for stability."
That was a lot of information to take in at once, and Jack looked to Riley for help. He'd nearly checked out when the doctor mentioned brain swelling. Mac's brain was... well, Mac's brain. If something happened to it because Jack wasn't there, he'd never forgive himself.
"There's a metal cage, kind of, around his leg right now. There's..." she trailed off and glanced at Bozer and Charlie as if she wasn't sure what else to say.
"There's a lot of bruising and bandages," Charlie spoke up for the first time. "He's a mess, Jack. There's no other way to say it. But he's hanging in there."
Jack nodded as he turned to look back at Dr. Toussaint. "Can I see him?"
"Yes, of course. I'll have the nurse show you to him. Do you have any other questions?"
He shook his head and sincerely said, "Thank you."
It only took a few minutes for the nurse to come and take him to Mac's room in the ICU. Riley, Bozer, and Charlie stayed in the waiting room to give him time to see Mac alone.
Though they had tried, nothing could have prepared him to see Mac in that hospital bed. There were monitors, tubes, and wires everywhere. The ventilator tube was taped to the side of his mouth, and Mac's head was wrapped in white gauze. The right side of his face was heavily bruised, and that eye was swollen. Mac's leg was the worst, and he could now understand why Riley had hesitated when describing it. From his foot to his hip, there were metal rings and pins drilled through his skin. The leg was elevated on a stack of pillows, and the skin under all the metal was bruised and swollen.
Jack pulled a chair close to Mac's bedside and sat there for a few minutes, taking in the damage and thinking through possible outcomes. Mac was strong and athletic and, above all else, a fighter. Jack was confident that Mac would survive, and as long as Mac lived, everything would be okay.
If there were any physical issues after he healed up, they would work through those together. Jack had a Wookie life debt here, and he hadn't been keeping up his end of that, so he was putting his foot down with Matty when he next spoke to her. He wasn't going to be separated from Mac again, whether that be in the field or in retirement or something in between.
Slowly, Jack leaned closer, picked up Mac's left hand, and cradled it between his own hands. It was warm, but it was far too still. Mac was always in motion, and it pained Jack to see him lying so stationary. Jack shifted Mac's hand so that he could press two fingers to the pulse point on Mac's wrist. His heartbeat was strong and steady.
"I'm sorry, bud," Jack whispered. He was still looking at Mac's hand, unable to look at his face. "I should have been there. I can't watch your back if we're on two separate continents. This one's on me."
He imagined Mac arguing with him that they hadn't even had a case when Jack had left for Brazil.
"I shoulda known that something would come up. We've made too many enemies now, between us, to let our guards down."
Mac would scoff and tell him that they can't live their lives in fear. And they can't let innocent people die if there's something they can do about it.
"You don't go running off into danger without me. Isn't that supposed to be the deal?"
The Mac in Jack's head was quiet in response to that. Jack shook his head and scrubbed at his face with one hand. He was surprised to find tears falling down his cheeks.
"I can't lose you, hoss. You have to fight through this. I'll be here. I'm not going anywhere this time."
And Jack sat next to Mac's bed for hours, only leaving when the ICU nurses asked him to step outside for bandage changes or sponge baths. Eventually, they worked out a schedule where Mac was never alone, and Jack took the bulk of the time with him. Riley and Bozer rotated in and out as Jack dictated. Charlie took as many shifts as he could before he had to head back to his work at the FBI, and they all promised to keep him updated.
Mac had more surgeries and was finally weaned off of the sedation drugs. Jack had never been more impatient or more afraid for anything in his life than when Mac was going to wake up and find his life forever changed by a bomb that he hadn't seen coming.
It was Jack who was with him when he finally surfaced to consciousness, weeks after that bomb nearly killed him, and it was Jack who held him when he cried from pain and fear, and it was Jack who reassured him that everything was going to be okay.