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Jack walked out of the bathroom with his hair still humid after trying to wash away the dust still partly on them. He could feel it itching under his clothes too, but the airplane’s small bathroom wasn’t the best place to take a full-body shower.
Passing the towel over his face, he then looked down at his bandaged ankle. Yeah, this also might be a problem, he sighed, trying not to think about how that'd hurt the next day.
Opening the metal door, he started limping down the corridor, holding onto the seats until he reached the onces where Mac was lying, facing the other way. As Jack was going to talk, turbulences forced him to hold tight on the seat and he barely held back a gasp of pain as his ankle bumped against it. "I'll need a vacation after this one..." he murmured, noticing Mac shivering slightly. "Mac?" he called, gently moving his shoulder, but the other didn't wake up. "Mac?" he called again, worry creeping into his voice. As he turned him around, Mac flinched and woke up with a little gasp.
"Hey- What?" Mac asked, holding his arms. “You good?”
“Y-yeah... Sorry, didn't mean to wake you up.” Jack let him go and carefully sat on the parallel row, taking a deep breath.
"How's your ankle?" Mac sat up as well, unable to stop a yawn. "Does it hurt?"
"Nah, it's fine," Jack lied. “You know, I think it’s the first time I didn’t break anything after an explosion.”
“Let’s try keeping it that way, then.” Mac sighed, looking down. “Splitting up was a terrible idea…”
“It was the fastest way to find our guy.”
“And to almost get you killed.”
Jack grinned. “We were too close to the city. Couldn't risk him going back to finish the job.” He friendly bumped a fist on Mac’s shoulder. “We’re alright, and the guy is locked up now. We did good.”
“Cage did. She's the one that stopped him.” Mac corrected him with a little smile.
“Right. I say we all deserve a drink to that. Where is she?” Jack stood up, checking the seats but seeing no blonde hair behind them.
“Maybe she fell asleep too?” Mac said, doing the same thing.
“Cage? How about a drink?” Jack called, limping further down the corridor until he eventually found her asleep, just like Mac was. “Cage?” he called, touching her shoulder, but she didn’t answer. Jack was going to let her be, but then noticed a dark stain on the floor, right underneath Cage.
“Uh, Mac?” he called, unsure, before moving closer to turn her around. Jack’s eyes widened as he found a dark stain on her shirt too, and a pained expression on her face. “MAC!”
He came running down the corridor, quickly scanning the situation. “What happened?!”
“I don’t know, I found her like this! She’s hurt!” Jack moved aside to let him check on her.
“She got stabbed…?” Mac frowned, slowly pulling her shirt up just enough to reveal the wound on her side.
“She what?” Jack asked in disbelief. “How? And when??”
“I don’t know! Cage?” Mac tried to wake her up, but she just groaned slightly. Mac allowed himself ten seconds to think. “Towels. We need–” he turned and snatched the towel from Jack's hand, folding it before placing it on Cage’s wound. “Here, hold this, slow the bleeding. I need the emergency kit!” He dragged Jack closer before running to collect everything he needed.
Jack kneeled on the fuzzy floor of the plane, ignoring the pain coming from his ankle, pressing the towel on Cage’s wound, looking worriedly at her as she cried softly in her sleep. “You’re gonna be fine, Cage, I promise. You’re gonna be alright…”
(1/2 - continue on DAY 4)