Rumor Has It | Mac

[Ezra Parker]

Ezra knew to never trust the rumors that floated around camp, but he couldn't help but wonder if there was some legitimacy to this one he heard. Mac was supposedly back, months after their mission together. Ezra couldn't help but wonder. She was left for dead in Washington state. She was supposed to be dead or, at least, that's what his mistress told him all those months ago. But she was out of his life at the moment, but was Mac really back?

So he went to go check it out myself. They were in the same Cohort, so he figured that she was probably getting her things in order before she greeted the rest of the camp. Little did she know that she would have a welcoming party of one. So he headed back to the bunkhouse that housed her bed and entered it unannounced. Lo and behold, she was there and looking just as beautiful as he remembered her to be. A smirk crept onto his lips as he crossed his arms over his chest and leaned up against a bunk. "Well," he chuckled as he checked her out, "I guess the rumors are actually true for once."

(tag: McKenzie Carter )

[McKenzie Carter]

Mac was glad to be back, for the most part. She was horrified at the idea of seeing Ezra again, but she tried to push those thoughts aside... yeah, right. He was all she could think about. She was to give a debriefing to the Praetors once she was all settled and gathered her bearings.

She was sitting on the bed, face turned away from the door in order to look out the window. Her shoulders were hunched forward and she sighed, just in time to be startled by a voice that she knew well.

She spun around, a glare on her face. "Are they? Didn't think you listened to those," she said.

Breathe. Just breathe.

[Ezra Parker]

Ezra smirked as he admired her backside as she appeared startled by his presence. She was always been so beautiful to him, along with the other girls he'd been with. However, there was something special about Mac that he couldn't find in other girls and he couldn't put his finger on it.

He smirked to himself as she turned to look at him. “I don't,” he said as he shrugged his shoulders. “But sometimes I have to… investigate the interesting ones.” He chuckled to himself as he took a few steps closer to her. “How’re you doing, Mac? Looks like Washington treated you better than I thought it did.”

[McKenzie Carter]

She felt her fists starting to clench the more he talked, but she kept her tone even. "Interesting. Right," she muttered as he chuckled and stepped closer. She froze, leaning back a little. At his words, she raised an eyebrow. "Washington treated me better than you did, you mean," she said, her eyes narrowing. "I'm fine," she said then, straightening up so she wasn't leaning away anymore.

Looking into his eyes just made her stomach tighter and it made her want to vomit. She held her ground now, or tried, but she could already feel her eyes shaking and her lip almost quivering. It took all her energy to hold still.

[Ezra Parker]

Even though Mac tried to keep her tone even, Ezra knew there was resentment in those words. He really didn't expect Mac to love him for all that he did back in Washington, but, then again, he wasn't expecting her to come back from Washington. At all. He lifted his hands in the air as a sign of surrender as he took a few slow steps towards her. "I get it. You're mad at me because of all that happened back in Washington." He lowered his hands as he looked at her seriously. "But you weren't there, Mac. Well, at least, not on our side. We honestly thought that when that building collapsed on you that you were dead." He was telling the truth, mostly, but he wasn't going to add in the part where his then-mistress was telling him to leave her. But he could lie through his teeth quite well. A perk of being a Mercury kid. "We thought no one could survive that. Plus, we were still battling that cyclops. We tried to save you or at least recover your body, but we would've been killed as well."

[McKenzie Carter]

As his hands lifted in surrender she took a step back, oddly afraid of those hands right now. He moved towards her slowly and she stopped, holding her ground again. She narrowed her eyes as he started to speak about Washington, but her gaze softened slightly when he explained that she wasn't there... on his side. That they thought she was dead. Then he brought of the Cyclops which made her eyes narrow angrily again. "I don't care,"s he said harshly. Of course she cared that they would have been killed, but right now her emotions were running too high for her to think about that clearly. Especially since she knew that anyone else's boyfriend would have come after them, no matter what. "Aren't you just so lucky and special for living through that. Good for you. I still had to fight that Cyclops when I got out," she explained, her attempt to stay calm completely gone now, "and I got past it. You couldn't do that. I could. I was always a better fighter than you. If you were under there-" her voice cracked, "if you had been buried I would have dug until my fingers bled to find you. I would never, ever have left you behind. Never," she took a few breaths to steady herself, which actually seemed to work. Then, oddly, she smiled, "but that doesn't matter now. I didn't need you. Any of you."

[Ezra Parker]

No matter what kind of smoothing that Ezra was trying, Mac was not going to buy it. He had hoped that she would maybe fall for it for just a little bit, but Mac was strong willed, something he'd always admired about her. But she was lashing out to him verbally and he guessed he deserved to an extent. But really, how was he supposed to know? The girl was tugging on his arm and that cyclops they were battling didn't look any friendlier. Yes, Mac had to suffer the consequences, but she made it back to camp in mostly one piece.

Ezra kept his face straight as she explained to him and he caught her voice cracking. He raised an eyebrow. Was she going to break down and cry and he would be there to comfort her? That would get him on her good side quickly, but that didn't seem to be the case today. "I know you would Mac," he said calmly as he looked at her. "I know you would. You're a strong person. And you think about others before yourself, but sometimes, you gotta know when to put yourself first. We would've been no good to camp if all three of us died there."

[McKenzie Carter]

Ezra's voice softened and that just caused her heart to ache. She didn't realize that she was slightly leaning toward him, but only just a bit. He might notice, though, because he always had an eye for details like that. At least when it came to them he did. He was even right, in a way, that they did what they had to. That they had to know when to think of themselves... still, she would have told the others to go ahead and stayed, at least until she found a body.

She sighed, paused, then took in a deep breath before speaking, "it doesn't matter now, Ezra. Thanks for coming by," she turned around, back toward her back, and continued unpacking, acutely aware of his presence but not saying anything further to him just yet...

(we don't have to end it yet haha she's just being stubborn.)

[Ezra Parker]

Ezra did notice and he did notice that he was playing his cards just right. He knew Mac pretty well to know how she would react to a few things that he did and he wanted to make sure he stayed on her good side. And Mac being best friends with the Praetor probably was a good incentive too, since he didn’t want Cheyenne to threaten his crotch or anything. But she seemed to snap out of the little bit of a trance he put her in and he swore silently to himself. She turned her back to him and started unpacking some more. This couldn’t end this way. “C’mon, Mac,” he said as he finally walked over to her to close the gap and put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t be that way. What do you need me to do to show that I’m sorry? Do you want me to take you out to dinner at that restaurant you like? You can’t deny you probably missed it while you were away.”

[McKenzie Carter]

Mac wasn't surprised that he didn't stop talking, but she was surprised that he had the nerve to touch her. She spun to face him, attempting to shrug his hand off her shoulder harshly. What? He wanted to know how he could show he was sorry? Take her to that restaurant. "No thanks," she muttered slowly, blinking rapidly. Then she swallowed hard before speaking again, "I don't know what you can do, Ez," she winced at calling him that. "Maybe we can try again another day but... I just got back. I need to see Cheyenne. She'll give me some perspective on all this," yes, she was name dropping.

[Ezra Parker]

Ezra's attempts weren't working and he knew he was losing Mac fast. Even her favorite restaurant wasn't going to win her over? Try again another day? He put a hand up to grab her shoulder and stop her, but then she said it. She named dropped her friend the Praetor. It wasn't a secret that Cheyenne had her friend's interest and she didn't like him at all. It was probably a matter of time before his crotch was threatened by her. He paused for a moment as he gripped his hand into a fist before he lowered it. "Fine, fine," he said as he ran a hand through his hair. "Fine. You go see her. I'll see you later, Mac."

[McKenzie Carter]

Mac saw his fist clench and she knew she had won this one. She didn't let out her sigh of relief yet, though. She wanted to wait to see what he was going to do first. She wasn't safe until he walked out. He ran his hand through his hair and she held her breath a little more before answering. "I will. Have a nice..." day? Week? Life? She shook her head, turning away from him. "Bye," she finished. She needed to talk to Cheyenne. Maybe she should learn some of that karate. She was a good hand to hand fighter, sure, but maybe she needed to use those kicks more. Heaven knew Ezra could use a kick in the head.

(the end or you can do one more XD)