Not by blood, but by fire and water

Chapter 20

The medics were a flurry of activity, once inside the aircraft. One was taking vitals while the other established the IV and began the transfusion. The younger man kept ahold of Jack's hand, refusing to break contact with his partner.

They attached the heart monitor to the Delta's finger and Mac watched it, willing the beats to strengthen and even out. As if to spite the Phoenix agent, the machine showed the opposite. Instead of strengthening like he wished, the white line that signaled the beats with a slanted letter N became erratic, taking on a wave like pattern. "He's in V Fib!" the medic stated, sharing a nervous look with the other medic.

"Sir, we need you to let go," the voice from one of the medics finally filtered through to Mac. Not fully understanding the request, the blond furrowed his brow.

"Agent MacGyver, we need you to stand clear so we can shock your partner and try to get a normal rhythm."

Mac nodded and released Jack's hand. He immediately missed the contact.

The AED counted down and delivered a shock. Jack's back arched with the current, then went still.

They all watched the monitor intensely, first one beat then another. The small glimmer of relief at the sight of those two beats vanished when that line flattened out.

A continuous beep sounded, confirming what the young agent was seeing. His best friends heart had stopped. That beep sucked all the air from his lungs. This wasn't happening… this couldn't be happening.

The medic, who had spoken to him, didn't waste any time and started compressions, the other one pulled a ventilator bag from his med kit and sealed the mask over Jack's mouth and nose.

Mac wanted to scream, he wanted to hit something or someone. He wanted to hunt down everyone that ever knew that bastard Sinclair and make them pay for allowing his existence.

"Push one of epi," The medic, manually pumping Jack's heart, ordered.

Mac's heart constricted painfully and tears pooled in his bright blue eyes. "Jack," Mac choked out brokenly. "I- I can't lose him," he stammered, practically begging the men to bring his best friend back, though his eyes never left Jack's face.

The medic, operating the vent bag, glanced up and offered him a look full of compassion.

Mac nearly snapped back at him that he didn't need his pity, that if one person could make it through everything they had been subjected to the last few days it would be Jack.

The medic doing compressions paused for his cohort to administer the two rescue breaths and watched the heart monitor which remained unchanged. He shook his head and they shared a look of disappointment.

Mac's jaw dropped slightly as he took in the scene before him. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. They were giving up on him.

The blond slid over on his knees and pushed the medic out of the way so he could take over doing compressions. "He would never give up on me, I'm not giving up on him."

The medic dared not interfere with the stalwart agent. Even though he thought Jack was a lost cause he had heard about some of the duo's exploits and knew the two were close, more like family than partners. In his line of work, he often saw just how difficult these situations were for the survivor, most of them being plagued with suffocating guilt and what if's.