Title: A Bad Day

Author: dragonfly

Series: Light Fall

Category: PTSD, Post-torture, Comfort, Papa Jack, Trauma

Characters: MacGyver, Jack, Bozer

Warnings: None

Summary: MacGyver has a bad day. But Jack is there, like always.

A/N: A super tiny snapshot. Takes place after "From Broken Things." You'll want to read that first.

~*~M~*~

It was a bad day...which had started the night before.

After a nightmare, MacGyver had tucked himself into the corner of his room with Bones, shivering and unresponsive. He wouldn't let anyone touch him, not even Jack. But he had eventually accepted a blanket. All that was visible of him now was a few tufts of blond hair.

Feeling as helpless as he always did in these moments, Jack laid on his stomach just a few feet from where MacGyver was lying pressed against the wall. Not being able to touch him, Jack did the only thing he could think of: he talked. Slow and calm, he let his Texan drawl fill the space between them. He wasn't even sure MacGyver was paying attention, but by the sound of his breathing he was pretty sure that he was at least awake. Jack reminded him that he was safe, that he was home. He talked about nothing and everything as a pile of Goldfish crackers went untouched between them.

Time passed. Bozer brought Jack water and offered to take his place, but Jack wanted to see this one through. Eventually, his stories ended up with a little more...flare than usual, even for him. He had just finished up a rather heroic tale about how he had won a wrestling match with a werecat when MacGyver shifted under the blanket. Jack held his breath as his partner's fist slid out from under his cocoon. When it continued passed the Goldfish crackers, it took Jack a moment to figure out what he was doing. When he did, tears immediately choked him up. Throat tight, memories long and heart nearly bursting, Jack slid his own fist across the carpet and lightly bumped MacGyver's waiting one.

As MacGyver's hand slid back under the blanket, Jack tried to breathe through the emotions still rocking him. The awe and pride he held for the man before him never waned, never ceased. He wanted to pull MacGyver into a hug and laugh and cheer at this victory– not just over his fears, but for his memories. But that wasn't an option right now.

Accepting this, Jack nodded to himself, blinked back the tears and cleared his throat. "All right now, if you think that tale was impressive," he finally continued, "wait until you hear about the time Nana Beth led a cattle drive safely through a prairie fire..."

~*~M~*~

Bozer came in and out to clean and hover. Occasionally, he'd argue with Jack over the physical impossibilities of some of his stories, and how too similar others were to movies. MacGyver stayed under the blanket the entire time, but every couple of minutes as Bozer and Jack bantered, he hooked a few fingers around some Goldfish crackers and pulled them in under his blanket.