AN: Spoilers for 2.16, Hammock + Balcony, of course! My thoughts on the ep are at the end of this one-shot.

Title comes from the One Republic song Secrets.

PHOENIX JET

SOMEWHERE OVER THE ATLANTIC

ON-ROUTE TO LA

Slipping out of his thoughts, Bozer shifted a little in his seat, glancing over at Riley, who was fast asleep, head lolling and hair mussed and generally looking nowhere near as put-together as she usually did.

(He was pretty sure he saw a little bit of drool coming out of her mouth.)

He smirked mischievously, pulled out his phone and snapped a photo. Mac, sitting beside him, toying with a paperclip (there was already an assortment of re-shaped paperclips next to him – including a wedding dress, a wine glass, a bunch of grapes, a wine barrel and the chemical structure of chloroform), glanced over at him and raised an eyebrow.

Bozer's smirk simultaneously widened and grew a touch sheepish, and Mac shook his head, brow still raised, as if to say it's your funeral.

The two of them were silent for a moment longer, before Bozer swallowed and glanced over at his BFF.

'I'm sorry, bro.' He lifted a shoulder, as Mac looked a touch confused. 'You know, for not telling you the truth about me and Leanna earlier.' He looked very contrite. 'We're BFFs, that wasn't cool of me.' He lifted a shoulder. 'Even if it was just 'cause I didn't think you could lie to Matty about it, since you're pretty terrible at it and all, and you know, I didn't wanna get us fired and court-martialled…though I guess it was all moot in the end, since she knew and approved, well, you know, Matty-approved in her Matty way, but…'

Mac shook his head, reaching out and putting a hand on Bozer's shoulder, as Bozer made a face as he realized he was kind of putting a foot in his apology.

'It's fine, Boze. Really.' Bozer looked a little surprised, and Mac gave an apologetic, ever-so-slightly guilty smile, squeezing his best friend's shoulder, then returning to re-shaping his paperclip. 'It's like when I kept my actual job description from you for years. You didn't really have any other options, and you did it to protect someone you love.'

Bozer smiled, and reached out and bumped his fist to Mac's.

'You're the best BFF ever, bro.' His smile shifted into something softer. 'And love you too, man.'

Mac's own smile widened.

I am not a fan of secrets and lies.

Yeah, I know, that's pretty ironic, extremely unfortunate and rather hypocritical, given my choice of profession, but hear me out.

I understand that, sometimes, they're necessary.

That sometimes, like I said to Boze, you don't really have any other options. Or you feel like that's the case, that it's necessary. I'm man enough to admit that I've kept secrets I shouldn't have, lied when I shouldn't have.

But that doesn't mean I have to like it. Doesn't mean I don't feel guilty for the secrets I've kept and the lies I've told.

Not at all.

Still, I think if there's ever a situation where I could actually be in favour of lying and/or keeping secrets, it's when it's done to protect loved ones.

Love's a worthy cause.

Probably the most worthy cause.

RILEY'S RESIDENCE

LA

'Delete that!'

Riley put down her video game controller (she was showing Bozer how it was done, since he'd gotten stuck on this boss fight eight times), grabbed a cushion from her couch and hit Bozer (who was chuckling and smirking, having just shown her a particular very unflattering photo) none-too-gently in the shoulder with it.

Bozer, meanwhile, smirked a little wider anyway.

'Hey, you of all people should know that you can't really delete stuff-'

Riley smacked him with the cushion again, even harder this time, making Bozer yelp.

'Hand over your phone, and I can actually, really, fully delete it!'

'You can do that?' Riley shot him a look, and Bozer raised his hands in supplication. 'Not questioning your skills, just…surprised?' She raised an eyebrow, and Bozer continued, raising his hands further. 'And impressed?'

Riley snorted, but put down the cushion. Bozer let out a sigh of relief, letting his guard down, only for the hacker to smirk just as mischievously as he had on the jet.

'You know, since you two are definitely in it for the long haul, I think Leanna needs to be warned about your snoring…'

'I do not snore!'

Riley snorted again.

'What, so someone was actually using a chainsaw on the couch that night?' She crossed her arms. 'Hate to be the one to break it to you, Boze, but you snore worse than Jack.'

'Worse than Jack? I do not!'

Riley spread her palms out, far too innocently.

'Just reporting what I heard.'

'That's not normal! Blame it on Mac's go-straight-to-the-hangover potion! And seriously, I gotta talk to him about that, 'cause couldn't he have given us a little something-something to help with the hangover too?'

MACGYVER'S RESIDENCE

LA

Mac stared at the photo on Jack's phone.

Matty had lied to him.

She'd lied, baldly, straight to his face, when he'd asked her if she knew his dad.

He knew Matty kept secrets from them, from him, he knew she had to, it was part of her job…but there was just something that little bit worse about a lie straight to his face.

And about something that he felt, deep down, he had a right to know about.

His dad was leaving him breadcrumbs, for God's sake.

Clearly, he wanted him to know…well, something. He might not know what it was yet, exactly, but he definitely knew it wasn't a new family, a stepmother and half-siblings that Mac didn't know about, or all the places he'd fished in the last seventeen years, or even where to find him in the backwoods of Montana.

His thoughts started to take a dark turn.

He thought he knew Matty, thought he could trust her, thought she was family, but…

Nikki had lied to him, on multiple layers, extremely convincingly.

And Thornton (his previous boss – if he was superstitious, that'd be a terrible sign) had betrayed him, his family, the Phoenix and her country, and he hadn't had an inkling.

What if Matty...what if she…

I don't think that Matty's the type to play mind games.

Not with us, anyway.

Matty wasn't playing mind games with Bozer and Leanna. She wanted to give them a chance to see each other, and she approves of them, in her own way.

But then why have me be Leanna's fake husband? Why not Bozer?

I mean, she and Bozer would have been more convincing.

I suppose maybe she was concerned that maybe that'd out them to people who wouldn't approve, or maybe she was worried they'd get distracted…

Or maybe she just wants me to think this. Maybe she wants me to think that she wasn't playing mind games, when she really is playing an even bigger mind game…

I know, I know, I sound really, really paranoid, but can you blame me?

He shook his head, not pushing those thoughts entirely away, but putting them aside for now. Setting them into a box (but not a locked safe) in the back of his head.

He looked up at Jack, into his eyes.

(He saw concern and worry there, and plenty of confusion, and a touch of fear, of betrayal.)

(He knew Jack's thoughts had taken the same turn that his had.)

Well, at least there are some people whom I will never, ever doubt.

AN: Did you guys like that? Do my interpretations make sense?

Thoughts on 2.16, Hammock + Balcony: I enjoyed that episode; the mission was fun and amusing (though I think they hammed up the whole Mac-is-Bozer's-girlfriend's-fake-husband bit a little too much at the start; what with Mac waxing lyrical about her and all…though oblivious!Mac was definitely great!), and I personally thought that Jack's little side-mission fit well into Jack's character – yes, it was morally very dubious, but I think despite Jack and Matty's history, his loyalty to Mac (and Riley) is stronger. Despite not being a fan of Bozer/Leanna, I actually think they were better in this episode than they were in previous ones (Though does anyone else get the feeling that it seems the writers are trying to say that Bozer and Leanna, despite not actually knowing each other all that well, genuinely love and care for each other, but Bozer/Riley will be endgame? That's the vibe I got from this episode, what with Bozer and Riley being fake-married, their little photoshoot moment, and the bit of tension with Bozer and Leanna about her interrogation of him, and the fact that Leanna doesn't know about Bozer's movie stuff?), though now I wonder what the secret that Bozer is trying to keep from Matty in the next episode will be (Secret marriage to Leanna? Them breaking up? Or is the secret he's trying to keep Jack's B&E?). In terms of the episode's big reveal – as reflected at the end of this episode tag, I have no idea what to make of that. Also – the investigation opened in Jan 2000 was into A. MacGyver. Mac's dad's name in the original show was James; does that mean they've changed his name (there's no way his name is also Angus, or Mac would have mentioned that when Annabelle asked why his name was Angus)? Or was the investigation into a nine-year-old Mac?! I'm pretty sure it's not going to end with Matty being revealed as a bad guy, but I am now quite convinced that my whole theory that Mac's dad is a reformed bad guy (whose past was responsible for his wife's death and who had to leave to protect his son) holds water…

Random little science thing, as reflected (kinda) in this tag – Mac, you made alcohol dehydrogenase (which converts ethanol to acetaldehyde, which is the compound Mac was talking about that causes hangovers – it's more toxic than ethanol), but you couldn't add in a little acetaldehyde dehydrogenase? (That converts acetaldehyde to ethanoic acid – vinegar – which is harmless.)

(Pretty sure that was because it's a TV show and they thought it was funny to have them hungover, but…)