The One in a Million Kind

By: Ridley

A/N: Because I just couldn't resist this tiny little missing scene…SPOILERS for the finale. Be warned. I have seen there have been lots of tags and missing scenes posted, and I try not to read any if I am planning one, so this may be redundant, but I hope still enjoyable. This conversation has no real plot, but is just a culmination of things I wish had been discussed. I'd love to hear what you all thought of the finale and I'm so glad they didn't do anything to tarnish our boys'relationship!

RcJ

The plane wasn't what they were used to. For one it was smaller, seeming even more cramped for all the tension Jack knew had boarded right along with them in Mexico City, a Hoss of a fourth passenger. It was still a hell of lot better than their last mode of travel. As much as he loved horses, he was out of practice riding. His posterior was currently shaming him for not spending more time at his grandparent's ranch. He'd have to remedy that soon, drag Mac to Austin, and reclaim his Texas toughness. As it was, Jack was glad Oversight was currently glued to a computer screen at the front of the Cessna and didn't even glance up as the former Delta stiffly limped past making his way down the aisle. The man's son was another story.

"You okay there, Tex?" Mac looked up from the paperclips in his hand, flashing Jack what he imagined the younger man hoped passed as his usual teasing grin. It was a good attempt at normalcy, but the effect was diminished given that Mac's eyes were shadowed by dark circles, his face pale, proving he hadn't slept much over the last couple of days as he no doubt worried with the latest information on Matty. Jack hadn't located one scratch on the lucky kid after his stunt man dive through the window in the warehouse, nor had Mac seemed to suffer any ills from his brief kidnapping, but still, the older agent couldn't shake the sense his partner was grievously injured.

"I'm fine." Jack smirked, shoving the unpleasant thoughts of his partner metaphorically succumbing to some sort of psychological ambush aside. He offered Mac one of the bottles of water he'd bummed from the co-pilot's personal stash, before gingerly sinking into the leather seat across from him, his muscles protesting at the movement. Jack didn't know who Matty had wrangled for their second leg of ex-fil but they weren't regular Phoenix and Jack wondered if Oversight, much like the POTUS, had his own personal travel detail.

He waited for Mac to toss his latest sculpture aside and to open the water and take a drink before he leaned forward to catch the other man's eye. "Besides, that's supposed to be my question, cowboy. You're looking like you've been ridden hard and put up wet."

"Says the guy with the saddle sores." Mac answered quickly, avoiding looking at Jack by fiddling with the cap of the water bottle. He took another drink before finally meeting Jack's narrowed gaze. He gave a tired smile, that while not exactly comforting, was at least more 'Mac'. "I'm fine, Jack. Really. You don't have to worry about me."

"The mangled ball of wire you've been working on since we lifted off says otherwise." Jack took a long drink, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as he nodded to the shapeless paperclips in the other seat. Mac's typical distraction hadn't seemed to work its usual magic and Jack wondered if it had something to do with the fact MacGyver senior had actually handed the box of paperclips to him after informing them he had work to do and preferred not to be disturbed.

It was a bit like giving a kid his favorite toy for a distraction and also a sharp slap of a reminder that the man had been privy to all aspects of his son's life, with Mac never having a clue he was being watched. It was akin to living your life in plain view of a two-way mirror with no idea someone had camped out on the other side.

Jack stretched his legs out, intentionally bumping Mac's boot to draw the kid's dazed gaze to him once more. "I won't be adding that one to my growing collection. You couldn't pull any interesting inspiration from this latest mission? A horse? A couple of maracas? Pandora's Box, maybe?"

"It was a jar actually," Mac muttered. He took another pull from the water bottle, giving a sigh when he was finished. His leg bounced with what seemed to be nervous energy. "Pandora opened a jar, pithos, not a box. It's often mistranslated."

"Jar, box, it still seemed like a bad move on her part." Jack's mouth twitched, relieved a bit that his best friend hadn't lost all his typical sass and know-it-all-ness.

"I think I have a new understanding for how she must have felt after releasing all the evils into her world." Mac looked at Jack, regret registering on his face along with something else Jack couldn't pin down – yet. His partner looked so much like the nineteen year old kid from the desert, more than a bit dazed and disillusioned. As much as Jack wanted to like James MacGyver, at least for Mac's sake, the devastation he had caused his son both in the past and presently was making it damn hard.

"It couldn't have been what she was expecting." Jack arched a brow, moving slightly on his seat.

"No." Mac snorted, pinching at the bridge of his nose. He squeezed his eyes shut, looking bone-weary tired. "Disease, poverty, sadness, all shaped like moths that stung her repeatedly until she resealed the lid."

Jack didn't miss how the kid's voice broke slightly on the word sadness. He swallowed hard, hating like hell that the kid was hurting. When he finally looked at Jack again, it took all of the Delta's reserve not to go drag James back there and make him fix what he'd broken. "What the hell did I do, Jack?"

Jack lowered his voice. "From where I'm sitting brother, you haven't done anything but want some answers that you should have gotten a long damn time ago."

"But now that I have them, everything's changed. I can't put them back in the box." Mac glanced away, staring out the window and Jack's chest constricted. The kid looked completely wrecked, almost like he'd gotten caught up in the blow-back from one of his explosives, which Jack supposed in a way, he had. James MacGyver's machinations had blown his son's world apart.

Although Jack logically knew Mac was physically fine, he felt the irrational need to check him over, patch up whatever gaping wounds his partner was known to hide until the end of a mission. He'd never wish for Mac to be injured, but the kid's bad luck for being banged up tended to give him something to do, a means to feel useful. Only Jack wasn't sure there was enough sutures in the world to stich up Mac's shredded heart. Still, he had to try, by whatever means he could manage.

"Not everything has changed, bud." Jack leaned forward, rolling the water bottle between his hands. He'd decided it was safer for everyone, well mostly James, that he keep his own hands occupied on their trip home. "You know what Nana Beth would tell you about Pandora's Box?"

Mac glanced at him, and his watery blue gaze at least held a hint of mirth beneath the misery. "That it was basically a metaphor for the apple in the Garden of Eden, because Eve was the only first woman created by God and it was her act of curiosity and rebellion that unleashed sin onto the world, not some little girl opening a jar."

"Actually, smart ass, Nana Beth has a soft spot for all those Greek and Roman legends." Jack slapped Mac on the leg, keeping his attention as Mac rolled his eyes and tried to once more go back to staring out the window. "She says that there's a lot to be learned from all their foibles and fumbles, just like gaining insight from the mistakes and missteps of Jesus' apostles. Anybody who puts himself on level with God is bound to make a fool of themselves."

"I never thought to compare Hybreios, the god of pride, and Saul of Tarsus, but I could see the parallels." Mac surmised with a hint of amusement.

It was Jack's turn to roll his eyes, although he took secret pleasure in bringing the first real smile to Mac's face he'd seen since finding him and Mac Daddy Oversight at that trailhead. "She might suggest in her completely Nana Beth way that instead of focusing on the plague of bad shit that Pandora released, maybe you should think about what she kept safe in the box."

Mac held Jack's gaze for a long moment, leaving Jack uncertain he was correct in his recalling of the story. Finally the kid nodded, his voice soft as he answered. "Hope. Pandora trapped hope inside the box."

"Jar," Jack corrected, earning him another half-hearted grin. "But yeah, that's exactly what she did. As long as your old man, better known as Oversight, is still around, you've got a chance to take something good away from this whole godawful mess."

"He told me the real reason he left." Mac said suddenly, his gaze flicking from Jack's to the half empty bottle of water in his hands. The kid wasn't so quick that Jack didn't see the flash of hurt, as sure as a blade might have pierced Mac's skin. His partner began to peel at the label as he talked softly. "When we weren't sure if we were going to make it out of the lab I told him I wanted an explanation, better than the one he'd given on our little trail ride."

"Something besides him trying to keep you out of the line of fire?" Jack could understand the decision James had made- to a point, only he wasn't sure if he would have taken on a job that would have forced him to make such a choice in the first place. Taking on their kind of work wasn't something Jack would consider a good parenting move.

"That explanation made no sense." Mac's eyes were a dark and stormy sapphire when he met Jack's gaze once more, his grip around the water bottle tightening. The look of unbridle anger was rare, one Jack had witnessed only a few times. It was reserved for instances like having your girlfriend shot in front of you, finding out said girlfriend betrayed you and for enemies such as chicken-shit terrorists and sociopaths the likes of Murdoc. "Why pretend he wanted to keep me safe only to orchestrate my being put in the same crosshairs he swore he was trying to keep me from?"

"I don't know, bud, but…"

"It was all a lie, Jack. He wasn't protecting me from the job. He was protecting me from his own self-destructive anger." Mac's voice, though quieter, was uncharacteristically hard, cutting. The hairs on Jack's neck rose, as if sensing some unknown imminent danger. He found himself leaning closer to his partner as if he could shield the younger man from the looming threat, although a part of Jack understood that the damage had already been done and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about it. In fact, he felt complicit in the act. He, after all, had been the one to encourage Mac to search for his dad. "He said…" The bottle gave a crackling noise when Mac's grip tightened even more. "James said that he left because I reminded him too much of losing my mom. Every time he looked at me, he just saw her, and was reminded of all that he'd lost."

"Then he sure as hell needed Beth's lesson on Pandora, kid." Jack worked hard at keeping his own voice from quaking. He wondered what the hell James had been thinking telling Mac such bullshit. As far as Jack was concerned, the original lie was better. At least it kept Mac from blaming himself for something he had no hand in. But Jack knew all too well about a parent's flaws, their inability to love past their own issues. He wasn't sure if James MacGyver was the worse villain for leaving and sparing Mac the heartache of being a painful reminder, or if his own mother had been far less kind for playing the part of a martyr and baring up under her circumstance in a manner which always left Jack feeling more burden than blessing. Either way, it made him certain he wanted to pound James MacGyver and revoke his fatherhood status permanently.

"Because if he had, your dad would have realized he still had the best part of her right in front of him," Jack continued, tempering his sudden need to punch someone with the more present need of patching up his kid. He was a lot of things, but a hypocrite wasn't one of them. Jack Dalton could and would always put Mac before mere human failings. "Leaving you was like shooting himself in the damn foot, brother. He gave up any hope of hanging on to what had been taken from him and missed out on the gift of watching you grow up to boot."

"I don't think he sees it that way, Jack." The anger was gone, Mac's voice almost void of emotions. He relaxed a bit more into the seat, rubbing a weary hand over his eyes, before sitting the water on the floor beside him.

"Then he's the smartest, most foolish man I know." Jack ran a hand down his mouth, realizing he was crushing his own bottle in his other. He willed himself to unclench his fist, the plastic popping with the release of pressure. Jack tossed the drink to the seat beside him. "It just proves that having a huge IQ doesn't keep a man from making huge ass mistakes."

"My dad was never big on making mistakes and he especially doesn't like to look the fool." Mac leaned out in the aisle, staring to the front of the plane. Jack knew at least one of those traits was shared. Mac was never hard on anyone else when they messed up, but he didn't tolerate any slips on his own part. When Mac refocused on Jack, his face was grim, the dark shadows under his eyes more prominent. "I think that's why the whole Jonah Walsh thing has him so worked up. I've never seen him this driven, albeit a person can change a lot in fifteen years and it's possible I never really knew the man at all."

"Or maybe he just got a taste of his own medicine, bud. Walsh walked away without a word, without so much as a goodbye from the sounds of it. You and I both know family isn't just born of blood. You understand better than anyone how that kind of abandonment smarts. A father leaving is bad, but having a brother turn his back on you can't be any kind of picnic."

"What would make a man like Walsh do something like that?" Mac's face showed not only anguish, but too much trepidation for Jack's liking. He knew good and well why his partner was posing the question to him, assuming, probably correctly, that Jack and Jonah shared a fair bit of commonality. James sure seemed to think so when he called Walsh his 'Dalton'. Jack had taken a bit of offense at Oversight suggesting he might be cut from the same cloth as a traitor, but he'd held back on saying as much. Having his son even consider for a second that it might be true was an entirely different story. Jack leaned forward again, ignoring the fire his leg and back muscles sent at the movement. He made sure Mac was looking at him.

"I can't say that I can even begin to guess at that, kid. I mean your old man doesn't seem to be the warm and fuzzy type, but if he and Jonah shared half as much stuff in the thirteen years they worked together that we have in the eight I've been watching your six, it seems beyond imaginable that he'd just up and leave, give up the job of protecting James to someone else."

Mac shifted slightly in his seat, his gaze briefly flicking to the box of paperclips before going back to Jack. "I'm not saying you'd ever do that to me, but…"

"No, buts, Angus." Jack held up a hand to cut off his partner. He stared hard at the kid, hoping like hell to convey the sincerity of his words. "Let's get this straight. I would never do that to you."

"To some people, this all might be just a job," Mac offered, reclaiming the paper clip ball from beside him. He began to work at picking apart the mess. "Maybe feelings don't always come into play."

"I wouldn't know." Jack shook his head. "It was never just a job to me."

"Not even in the beginning?" Mac's hands stilled and he lifted his unsure gaze to Jack's once more. Jack picked up on the hints of fear that had been lingering in the blue depths earlier. "You seemed as surprised as I was that my dad arranged for us to be partnered in Afghanistan, but I always thought it was crazy when you suddenly re-upped for another tour after you'd been so adamant about leaving the entire time we worked together. It never made sense to me, but now…"

"Re-upping was my choice." Jack didn't mean to snap, but he was beginning to feel a bit like he'd been a puppet wielded by a master marionette. He knew the sensation was ten-fold for the younger man in front of him and that Mac had good reason to question just about everything he'd known for the last fifteen years. It didn't stop the insinuation from feeling like a punch to the gut. "I understand this is all looking like some big web of lies, and you're not sure how much of what you've done and didn't do over the years was really on your own terms. Because I can imagine how screwed over you're feeling, I'm going to let slide the fact that you would ever question my motives in coming back to the sandbox."

"I'm sorry, but that was always one thing I couldn't figure out." Mac threw the paper clips across the plane where they bounced against another seat with an unsatisfying thud. He glanced at Jack before sliding both hands through his hair in obvious frustration. "What you did had no logical explanation, Jack, or motive until now. If it was an order, just tell me, damn it. Don't lie to me. Not you."

"Mac, brother, caring about someone is its own kind of logic. I didn't lie to you then and I'm not lying now." Jack waited for the kid to look at him again, hating like hell that there was still the hint of mistrust in his partner's blue gaze, coupled with a fair amount of hurt. He briefly considered if beating the shit out of Oversight might warrant a pink slip or if the jail time he'd get for tossing him out of a plane would be worth it. "I get that it didn't fit into your specific parameters of how humans responded to certain stimuli, and you sure as hell weren't used to people coming back for you, instead of turning tale and running, but you were the only reason I signed on for another tour. You brought me back to Afghanistan. Only you."

"How would my dad be able to predict something like that? He had to know that your tour was almost up, that you would be wanting to go home, not get some new EOD on your watch. Him choosing you was actually counter-intuitive. My father isn't much for calculated risks." Mac looked completely forlorn and as puzzled as Jack had seen him. Human equations always took their toll on the genius, but Jack could see this was one conundrum Mac wouldn't be able to sort out.

"I don't know what algorithm your genius daddy plugged in to pick me, bud. Hell, he is a MacGyver. Maybe old Jack Dalton was a last minute improvisation or maybe I reminded him of Jonah Walsh pre-traitor and he figured seeing as how the apple didn't fall far from the tree with you two that maybe lightning would strike twice."

Mac's brow furrowed as he seemed to consider the ramifications of what Jack was saying, and quite likely every scenario where Jack could have still been keeping secrets from him. The Delta officer never knew for sure what was flying at warp speed through his partner's brain.

"It's possible that after what happened to Pena he became worried for my safety and needed someone quick. You might have been the closest fit to whatever model he was using to pair partners." Mac licked his lips, hesitating, and Jack knew the kid, although probably desperate to take Jack at his word, was still having a hard time. Considering what he'd been through, Jack couldn't blame him, but it didn't mean that his best friend's doubt didn't hurt like hell. "There's also the fact that Matty knew you, had worked with you and could have filled him in on unknown variables such as your need to rescue anything you see as a stray."

Jack snorted, preferring an over-analyzing Mac to a distraught one any day. "No matter how or why he picked me, I can't even pretend to be sorry he did. Not even for a minute. For all the bad shit he's done to you, the man pretty much did me the biggest favor of my life."

Mac nodded, a smile finally tipping his mouth up at the corners. Jack's chest tightened despite the kid's attempt to reassure he was convinced of Jack's loyalty. The older agent had worked damn hard to build an unshakable foundation of trust between them. He hoped to hell James MacGyver's recent revelations hadn't compromised it. His worry only increased when Mac continued on. "Yet there is always, always a possibility that something would push you to the brink of walking away from this work, even if that meant…"

"Cairo." Jack cut his partner off again, not willing to let the kid even get out the words which he knew were coming next like armor piercing bullets. He didn't know how many more hits he could take before he fired back, and Mac would not be the one in danger of the fallout. He raked a hand through his hair, giving a short sigh. "IF there was ever anything that might have made me quit the job it was that damn mission. Being betrayed by men I trusted, seeing how my agency responded, what happened to you…well, let's just say if Thornton hadn't done some might fancy footwork, and Nikki hadn't begged me to give it some time, at least until you were conscious, I'd have turned in my resignation on the spot. But even then, I wouldn't have quit being your partner, bud, or watching your back."

"That's when you started talking about starting the whole private security firm, planning out the perfect roles for me, you and Nikki." Mac's eyes widened, slightly. "You made it sound like you were merely planning for our future retirement."

"You were recovering from what that sonofabitch Craddock did to you. I didn't think you needed to worry about any other big life changes, and when I saw that you were going to be okay, that we were okay, I didn't see the need to even bring it up."

"So your money is on my dad and Walsh having their own Cairo?" Mac chose to focus on the original question instead of whatever emotional impact Jack's revelation may have brought. "You think that's why Jonah turned his back, quit the agency."

"Hell, Mac, I don't know. In all those years in the field, statistically speaking it's likely they saw some pretty bad days, maybe even one as bad as Cairo." Jack leaned forward flexing his fingers over the water bottle. Part of what made Cairo horrible was how Craddock had used Mac and Jack's bond against them, how he had played into their greatest fears and turned their friendship into a weapon he took great pleasure in wielding to hurt Mac. Jack didn't know shit about Walsh, and what he'd seen of James MacGyver, aside from admiring the man's style in the field, he couldn't be sure that when the man said Jonah was his closest friend, what that even meant, if it held anywhere near the depth of devotion Jack felt for Mac. It was beginning to appear as if the man might not have been capable of understanding the relationship he so easily compared to the one he and Walsh shared, as well as other scientist and soldier pairings along the way. Jack shook his head, frustrated at the lack of answers he had to offer the kid. "And like you said, what else would push a man to betray his brother, especially someone he felt indebted to protect. It goes against a soldier's nature, his very instinct to defend the pack."

"It's possible that Walsh was more hyena than wolf. Not every animal understands family." Mac rubbed a hand over his forehead, his frown deepening.

Jack shrugged. "Or he just didn't get the whole Wookie life debt like I do."

Jack didn't get the grin he was hoping for, instead Mac's brow furrowed. "Maybe he was driven by something a lot more sinister. Like greed." Mac reclaimed the water bottle, went back to unraveling the label. "I didn't get a chance to tell you what kind of research he stole from my dad."

"You mentioned this was all some sort of reuse, a means to get your father to come here to finish whatever project Walsh took from Phoenix last year, but it's not like we've been alone for you to get into specifics." Jack arched a brow, throwing a quick glance over his shoulder in James's direction. "Don't tell me, Big Mac built an evil robot just like Sparky and Walsh wants the prototype to launch his own Skynet?"

"Wrong movie." Mac pinched the bridge of his nose, wincing as if his head was hurting. It made Jack wonder if he'd missed something after his partner's little stunt of crashing through the window to take out their cocaine dealing friend. "Try your favorite, Captain America."

"No way." Jack leaned closer to Mac, bringing his voice to a whisper, a twinkle in his eyes. "Your old man made a Winter Soldier?"

Jack expected Mac to roll his eyes and tell him to stop being ridiculous, but instead he looked almost sick. "You should have seen what the formula did to the test subject they injected. He took three or four direct rounds to the chest and kept on coming. The injuries didn't even slow him down, only seemed to make him stronger. It was just like that scene in Avengers Civil War when Bucky was fighting the other super soldier. All I could think about was some government getting their hands on such technology. That my father could have ever considered something so heinous and unethical…"

"Okay, bud, how about let's say I might have rubbed off on you a little too much. Let's assume your dad's motivations weren't along the lines of Hydra." Jack rested his elbows on his knees, trying to figure out some positive spin he could put on the information his best friend had just dropped in his lap without making James MacGyver look like some kind of mad scientist. "People have been searching for ways to improve soldier's performance in the field for years. Stamina and strength are keys to winning battles, saving more lives which in turn keeps our country safe."

"Jack, this isn't like my dad was working on streamlining oxygen intake and usage or even synthesizing naturally occurring hormones or fortifying body armor," Mac hissed, sitting up straighter. "We're talking injecting men with a mind altering serum that caused them to ignore mortal wounds and keep on fighting, despite the inevitable end it would bring them."

"But he didn't finish it."

"That doesn't make the fact that he even dreamed it up okay!"

"I get what you're saying, brother, but I got to tell you, when I think about all the times we were out manned and out gunned I can almost understand his motivation. Honestly, if I knew I had access to a drug that would keep me going in a clutch, one that might just give me an edge or the extra push I might need to get you and our team out of a situation that otherwise we'd have no hope of escaping then…"

"And that is exactly why I would never create any such thing." Mac growled, looking at Jack as if he'd lost his mind. "My dad might think soldiers are interchangeable, like some windup toy or a walking talking SAK to be utilized to the fullest in the field, but they're not. They aren't a tool to improve or a weapon to re-engineer, Jack. They're people. Just like his partner Walsh. Just like you."

For the first time since the whole ordeal had begun, Jack began to feel like he had his old partner back. He gave his best friend a wide grin. "And that is why your dad was wrong about what he said earlier."

Mac's brows knit together. "Which thing?"

"The whole spiel about teaching you everything he knew, like he'd somehow had a grand hand in making you who you are." Jack understood the dynamics between a father and his son. He'd never have become the man he was if not for his dad, but he also knew the importance of not being stuck in another's shadow.

"And setting the trajectory of my career," Mac muttered, confirming Jack's suspicion that the kid was feeling like he'd been led around by the nose. "Let's not forget that fun factoid."

"Mac, you just proved that you're exactly where you are and who you are because of something he could never control or direct. Some things can't be taught. The man might have influenced that big old head of yours, I'm not denying that, and he might have greased doors that wouldn't have been so easily opened, but he's had no real impact on your heart, son. That's all you."

"That's not the only thing he was wrong about." Mac's voice was thick with emotion that Jack knew he was struggling hard to contain, his defenses worn thin by the events of the day and stress of the past year.

"What else?" Jack wanted to add, 'besides the whole leaving his son alone in the first place part', but held that bit of peace for a later chat with Oversight himself when they weren't on the mission field, and the man wasn't officially serving in the capacity of Jack's boss.

"When he said our partnership wasn't unique, implied that it was run of the mill even, like we were a dime a dozen." Mac gave a slow shake of his head. The kid still looked wrecked but the slightest hint of a smile played at his mouth. "He might have had Jonah Walsh watching his back all those years, and there might have been dozens of scientists teamed with soldiers before him, but none of them, James MacGyver included, was ever lucky enough to have a Dalton."

Now Jack found himself the one trying to control an unexpected rush of emotion. He swallowed hard, found his shoes suddenly interesting for the few seconds before lifting his gaze to Mac's once more.

"The feeling's mutual, bud. Oversight or not, your old man can't hold a light to you in the field." Jack cleared his throat. "I'm pretty damn sure no one could."

Mac's mouth twitched before he gave a small grin that did more to relieve Jack's anxiety about his condition than one of Nurse Sally's full body scans. "Here I thought the whole head butting thing won you over."

"I won't deny the man's got style. I mean did you catch that sweet K.O." Jack grinned, knowing that despite everything, they were going to get through this latest hardship just like they had countless others-together. He winked at Mac. "But his son, now that kid, he's the one in a million kind."

The end…for now.

PS. Coming soon! I have plans to write a tag for this episode which will be a multi-chapter piece.