AN: Thoughts on 2.17, Bear Trap + Mob Boss, at the end of this one-shot.

MACGYVER'S RESIDENCE

LA

In the Old English epic poem Beowulf, the titular character proves his strength at impossible odds against supernatural villains.

Now, despite what Jack insists, I have never faced down a supernatural villain, and nor will I, because monsters and dragons and the like aren't real.

But, and pardon the fact that I admittedly do sound a little conceited, I reckon Beowulf and I have got a few things in common.

Like Beowulf, I do my best to protect others, especially my people. My loved ones. Granted, that's not quite the same as for Beowulf, since I'm not a king of anything or anyone, but just follow this analogy for a moment.

Like Beowulf, I've definitely faced my share of seemingly-impossible odds.

But Beowulf didn't do it alone, not really.

Mac knocked on his roommate's bedroom door.

'Boze? I need your help.'

At Bozer's come in!, he opened the door and stuck his head and upper body inside.

His roommate was lounging in his desk chair, feet up on his desk and FaceTiming Riley, looking like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place and saw absolutely no way out. Riley was currently typing, a furrow in her brow.

'…I've got the false trails set up, that should buy you some time…'

'Thanks, Riley. You're the best!' Bozer jerked his thumb in the direction of Mac with a grin. 'Anyway, I gotta go, Mac needs me for something.'

The blonde walked into Bozer's room and held up a hand.

'Actually, Riley, don't hang up.' He sat down on the edge of Bozer's bed. 'I could use your help too.'

Bozer and Riley exchanged a worried and very meaningful glance, which they (or, at least, Bozer) probably thought was subtle, but really wasn't. They then both glanced at Mac, with Bozer speaking.

'Should I call Jack for a family meeting then?'

'He's gonna be really annoyed if we leave him out of the pow-wow, Mac.' Riley punctuated the pow-wow with air quotes and an impression of Jack, then shrugged with affected nonchalance. 'Besides, he knows Matty best, and he's actually pretty wise. Despite appearances.'

Yeah, given last week's big reveal, there's one logical conclusion as to what I need help with.

Mac bit his lip and stared into the distance for a moment. He pulled a paperclip from his pocket and began to toy with it, then pushed those thoughts aside (with a lot of effort) and returned to the present and the problem he actually needed Bozer and Riley to help with, shaking his head.

'Actually, I need your help with something for Jack.' He held up the paperclip, which had taken the shape of a chunky ring, with a wry and rather sheepish smile. 'I kinda owe him a new wolf ring.'

'Hate to break it to you, bro, but you're not gonna be able to replace Beowulf. There was only one Beowulf, and we all know Jack thought he was sacred.' Bozer made a face as something hit him. 'Has Jack actually read Beowulf?'

Mac and Riley exchanged a glance and a snort of laughter, before both shaking their heads.

'Nope.'

'He just thinks the name sounds cool.'

Bozer nodded with a grin, pointing at Riley on his phone screen.

'It totally does.' At Mac and Riley's looks, he held up his hands. 'Okay, okay, getting back on topic. What do you need us to do, Mac?'

The blonde gestured at Bozer's laptop.

'Can you bring up your image enhancing and editing software, Boze? And any photos you might have of Jack's hand?'

'You wanna put together a composite sketch sorta thing? So you can have a replica made?'

Mac nodded with a smile.

'Yeah. I think I remember most of the details, but you've got a better eye than me for this sort of thing…'

Bozer grinned and cracked his knuckles, then reached for his laptop.

'On it, bro.'

Mac turned to Riley.

'Riley, can you find a jeweller or a silversmith in LA who'll make the ring to our specs?'

The hacker nodded, a smile appearing on her face as she turned to her own laptop.

'Running reviews of all jewellers and silversmiths in LA who do custom work, weighting the algorithm towards those who can do a rush job…' Her fingernails clacked on her keyboard as she typed. 'I'll have a shortlist for you in fifteen minutes, Mac.'

Bozer glanced over at Mac from his laptop, which now had a reasonable facsimile of Jack's ring on it.

'How's that look for starters, bro?' Bozer pointed out the ears. 'They gotta be pointier, and the silver was a touch more tarnished…' He started making some changes. 'It's not gonna be 100% the same, bro, and I dunno why Jack was so attached to this hunk of metal he got from some random dude in Panama, but he was, and you can't put that sentiment into this new Beowulf…'

Mac nodded, fingering his Swiss Army knife in his pocket.

(It was, functionally, identical to his old one, and if he was back in that situation again, he'd have done the exact same thing – and he was as sure as he could be that in the end, for all his complaining, Jack would have given away his ring again too – but it wasn't quite the same as the one his grandfather had given him.)

'I know, Boze. I know. But I've got to try.'

With all I owe Jack…it's the least I can do.

TWO DAYS LATER

(HEY, IT WAS A RUSH JOB)

(IT COST AN ARM AND A LEG, BUT IT'S WORTH EVERY PENNY)

Sitting by the fire-pit between Mac and Riley, Bozer on Riley's other side, Jack grinned as he opened the box (a re-purposed paperclip box, with a duct-tape ribbon decoration on top) and found the replica wolf ring inside, wrapped in a replacement leather wristband.

He reached out and pulled Mac into a hug.

'Thanks, brother.'

Mac smiled and hugged Jack just as tightly back.

'I owed you one.'

A little while later, as Bozer and Riley laughed in the kitchen as they made fajitas, the hacker flicking a piece of bell pepper at Mac's BFF, Jack walked out onto the deck, two cold beers in hand, new ring firmly on his finger, new wristband on his wrist, and walked over to the railing, where his partner was standing, unwinding a paperclip and staring into the distance.

Jack sighed internally with worry.

'I'd ask if you'd given our superglue-sticky situation any thought, son, but clearly your big brain's been giving it way too much thought.' The older man nudged the younger with a shoulder, then handed him one of the beers. 'Drink up.'

Mac put down the paperclip (which was, again, in the shape of an eye) and took a swig of beer on autopilot, running a hand through his hair.

'I don't know what to do, Jack.' There was something very vulnerable, almost a little scared, in his voice. 'I don't know how I'm going to do it. I don't know who my dad is anymore, and I don't even know if I know who Matty really is either. I don't know where or when this is all going to end, and I don't know why this is even happening!'

Jack nodded, taking a drink from his own beer, putting an arm around Mac's shoulders.

(With Mac's never-ending streams of thoughts and insatiable, burning curiosity, that desire to just know things, all of these questions without answers would be driving him spare, never mind the fact that they were all fundamentally to do with his life. With a very personal aspect of his life. With an old wound that Jack wasn't convinced had ever healed properly that was now being opened up again.)

'You and me both, son. You and me both.' He clinked his beer to Mac's, seeking out his eyes. 'But I know one thing.' He gestured between the two of them with his beer-holding hand, then gestured with his head towards Bozer and Riley in the kitchen. 'Whatever's happening, we're gonna face it together.'

After a moment of staring at him, the blonde gave a little smile, clinking his own beer to Jack's.

Like Beowulf, when I go to slay my dragon – figuratively speaking – I'm not going to be able to do it alone.

But unlike Beowulf…I have no intention of trying to do it without Wiglaf by my side in the first place.

I am really not one for plans.

But Jack was right.

I need a plan to deal with this situation, and for that, I'm going to need to bide my time, gather some more information. Do some more thinking.

Right now, there's not much to this plan.

But I know that I'm definitely not going to be facing this dragon without my Wiglaf – or, more accurately, Wiglafs – by my side.

AN: Yeah, I know, laying on the Beowulf analogy really thick there…but did you guys like that? I headcanon that when Mac is focused on a mission and/or an idea, he tends to mostly forget about everything else (everything else becomes very low priority in that big brain of his), hence his tendency to completely disregard things like manners and respecting other people's property! He then remembers and tries to make amends later…

I am not necessarily convinced that Mac is actually going to not 'try and slay the dragon' alone – he's lone-wolfed it on the hunt for his dad twice already, once essentially breaking a promise to Jack, but I think given the fact that it's now all tied to Matty, and that it's clearly bigger and more complicated than any of them ever considered, and that they're already all deeply involved, this time, he'll bring Jack, Bozer and Riley along/keep them in the know, whatever he winds up doing. Of course, Mac being Mac, he'll probably still try and shield and protect them by lone-wolfing it if he thinks that it's necessary…

Thoughts on 2.17, Bear Trap + Mob Boss – I really enjoyed that episode, it had our usual rollicking good fun and banter, and I really like how they handled the whole 'big reveal' from the last episode (Mac getting lost in his mind, family meeting, everyone trying to help him out without even needing to be asked, Bozer bringing up Thornton, Jack defending Matty, Riley asserting that Mac has a right to know…it was all so beautifully in-character, in my honest opinion!). I'm also quite sure that Matty knows that they know…either that, or the show is laying it on super thick! I also kinda want to grab Mac by the shoulders and shake him and point out 'Yes, you thought your dad was an inventor/mad scientist…what's your cover again? Oh, mad and brilliant think-tank engineer!' As for exactly what Mac's dad was actually up to – I think that my was-a-bad-guy theory still holds water, though I'm now also wondering if the dossier was a recruitment one…what if Mac's dad was (possibly somewhat forcibly/under coercion) recruited by the CIA, doing more-or-less what Mac is doing now? That is, Mac's not the first person to do things his way…and he's not even the first MacGyver to do what he does? And anyone else thinking that the CIA involvement means it has to be bad? Seriously, whenever the CIA is involved in this show, it seems to mean emotional pain for the characters, particularly if the CIA agent is a woman– Sarah, Nikki, even Allie, sort-of. Based on that (admittedly pretty silly) logic, there's definitely something really hinky going on with Matty, and Leanna and Cage will somehow cause Bozer and Mac, respectively, emotional pain/break their hearts…