AN: I haven't written for ages...but somehow was inspired to write this. Go figure. Characterizations may be a bit off; with only 9 episodes so far, I'm still getting a feel for the characters, but hopefully this isn't too far off. Let me know what you think?

MAY 2017

6 Months After the Incident in Latvia

Mac stared at the key in his hand. The little metal key felt much heavier than he knew it really was.

The woman I loved was a lie, but like every good lie, there was a grain of truth.

Nikki didn't lie about the key.

I'm still not so sure about the not wanting me dead bit.

He sighed and placed the key into the safe in front of him, and looked around the secure room in the Phoenix Foundation's headquarters. He felt much lighter, relieved of a burden far heavier than the key he'd worn around his neck for months.

Closure.

'You okay, Mac?'

Jack walked into the room, and clapped a hand on his shoulder.

'We got her.'

But we didn't get her bosses. They're still out there, and they're still a threat.

The older man heard the note of discontent in his partner's voice.

'We'll get them, just like we got her and all the other scumbags we've caught.'

Well, it's not perfect, but it'll have to be enough. Rome wasn't built in a day.

Jack clapped his shoulder again.

'Now, come on. We're going back to your place for some well-deserved drinks. Even Patty's stopping by on her way home, so I hope you and Bozer have been keeping the place clean!'

Mac rolled his eyes.

'We're a pair of bachelors, one of whom travels frequently for work. Our place isn't going to look like an IKEA catalogue.'

Jack chuckled and steered the younger man out of the room.

'I won't ever understand your fascination with that place…and Bozer might object to being called a bachelor; he does have a sort-of girlfriend.'

'You coming, brother?'

Bozer jerked his head in the direction of the fire pit, six-pack of beer in hand.

Mac looked up at Riley, Jack and Bozer, who were all carrying snacks and drinks. Thornton had already left, but the others had decided to hang around and, presumably, drink the night away.

He nodded.

'I'll be out in a minute.'

His friends looked over him concernedly, but left him to his thoughts.

'It's been a lot longer than a minute, Mac. If you don't come out soon, Bozer and Jack'll finish all the beer.'

Riley had slipped into the house again, and stood by him beside the sink.

It was probably concerning that she could sneak up on him like that, but he was in a safe place, and lost in his thoughts, and she had been training with Thornton…

Mac sighed.

She wasn't going to leave him alone.

He suspected that none of his friends were going to leave him alone until they were sure he was really okay. The others had probably sent her in, actually.

When ripping off a band-aid, it is actually less painful to pull it off quickly.

Yeah, physical wounds aren't the same as emotional wounds, but same principle.

'You know, I wasn't always like this.'

'You mean you couldn't always solve any problem with a Swiss Army knife, some gum and a couple of paperclips?'

Mac smiled wanly.

'That's never really been an issue.' His face turned serious again. 'No, I guess I wasn't always…me. I wasn't always the Mac you know.'

Riley cocked an eyebrow at him.

'So there was some point in time when you didn't dress like a grandpa?'

Mac just shot her a look.

Riley held her hands up in supplication.

'Okay, okay, being serious now.'

'Thank you.'

Mac sat down on the kitchen benchtop. A moment later, Riley sat down next to him.

'I didn't used to have much confidence or leadership skills.' Riley cocked her eyebrow in surprise. Mac was definitely their team's leader, both officially and unofficially. As for the confidence, had he seen his own crazy, on-the-fly, life-saving inventions?

'Well, I always did have confidence in what I made, but with everything else? Hell no.'

'What happened?'

Mac shrugged.

'MIT helped. The Army. DXS training. Growing up a bit.'

'And Nikki?'

Mac tightened his grip on the benchtop.

'Yeah.'

They were silent for a moment.

'I was absolutely terrible with women.'

Riley snorted.

'Really? Because I've read some of those mission logs, and heard the stories from Jack, and I was there in Germany, and despite what Bozer says, you've got game, Mac.'

'Was, Riley, was. Before her.' He pulled a paperclip out of his pocket and started fiddling. 'Back in high school, I was pretty far down the food chain. Bozer and Penny and their AV Club and theatre friends were the pretty much the only people who'd hang out with me. I get it. Skipping two grades, doing college classes, getting excited by weird things and winning every science fair doesn't scream Mr Popularity. MIT was better, but I was a skinny sixteen year old doing college in only two years, studying engineering to boot.'

'Pretty terrible gender ratios, so I hear.'

Mac nodded.

'Yeah, so you can see why. I was shy and a little awkward and not always the best with people…'

'Oh, I can totally see that.' She paused for a second. 'But then you grew up a little, faced a lot of real danger, found what you were really wonderful at, and this beautiful, intelligent woman who seemed to like you for exactly who you are started paying attention to you, and…'

'Yeah, something like that.'

Riley nodded.

'You know, I wondered why you never tried flirting with me.'

Mac turned to look at her.

'Really?'

She held up her hands.

'I know you're not Jack, and you don't flirt with every woman you meet, but hear me out, Mac. We're close in age, I know about your job, I'm also your team's analyst, and as my grandma would say, I grew up nicely.'

'You seriously think my type is analyst?'

Riley shrugged.

'Well, I know it doesn't hurt.'

Mac snorted.

'Firstly, Bozer would skin me alive, best friend or not. Secondly…I just didn't want to. And not just because of Nikki…I'm not ever going to want to.' He paused for a moment. 'Err…no offence.'

Riley fist-bumped him.

'None taken, right back at you, Mac. And for what it's worth, even though she turned out to be a baddie, doesn't mean she can't have done you some good.' She looked down. 'Prison was terrible…but it kinda helped make me who I am. Maybe Nikki was the same for you.' She looked up again. 'And I reckon you would have turned out the way you are, even without her.'

'You reckon?'

'Yeah. Might have taken longer, and you might have needed some lessons from Jack and Bozer, but you would have gotten there. You're a bit of a chick magnet on missions, you know.'

He groaned.

'That was one time. One time. And I'm pretty sure it was a case of Damsel Syndrome anyway.'

Riley raised an eyebrow.

'That's actually a thing?'

'Yeah.' Mac paused for a moment, face taking on an expression of disbelief. 'Wait, did you say Bozer? Take lessons from Bozer on how to woo women?'

Riley looked away.

'He's growing on me.'

'You know, I came home one day to him having covered the floor with rose petals and candles and preparing duck l'orange because I had a date? A second date!'

'I can't quite believe it myself, Mac, but he's growing on me.'

He shook his head, glancing down at the paperclip heart in his hands.

'In all seriousness, Bozer's a great guy. You couldn't do better.'

Her face softened.

'I know.' She jogged him with her elbow. 'Now we just have to get Thornton and Jack together, and find you a girl, and the family will be all set up for happily ever after.'

'Jack and Thornton? Really? And my game is perfectly fine, you said so yourself!'

The hacker shrugged.

'A little help from friends never hurt anyone.'

Mac shook his head.

Riley was not dissuaded.

'A special girl from high school, perhaps?'

He raised an eyebrow.

'Really? You've met Penny. There's definitely nothing there.'

She hopped off the countertop.

'Cold? Okay, how about MIT? Got a college sweetheart, Mac? A lab partner you wanted to be more than lab partners with? Girl who worked at your favourite coffee shop?' She waggled her eyebrows. 'A favourite TA, even? Ooh…it was MIT, how about a fellow science-fair-winning, grade-skipping genius?'

He hesitated a moment, and then responded a little too loudly.

'No!'

Riley grinned like the proverbial cat with the cream.

'Ooh…I think I'm getting warmer! You, Angus MacGyver, had a college crush!'

Bozer poked his head in the door.

'Sweetpea, have you and Mac finished your D&M? Can we come in now? I wanna grab some ingredients for my top-secret, so-delicious-they're-dangerous s'mores!'

Riley strode over to Mac's roommate.

'I'll go out for coffee with you…if you tell me all about Mac's college crush.'

Bozer grinned.

'My lady, you've got yourself a deal.'

'Excellent!'

And she stole his beer, took a swig, and walked back outside to the fire pit.

Mac punched Bozer's shoulder lightly.

'Traitor.'

'Hey, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do!'

The two young men gathered up the s'mores supplies and walked outside.

Jack smirked at Mac in greeting.

'What's this I hear about your MIT days? A girl? You've been holding out on me, man!'

Mac snagged a beer and knocked it back, shaking his head.

Family.

You can't live with them, you can't live without them.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

AN: Okay, this is very, very long, just explaining a series of headcanons and justifications for this piece.

1. Mac is 24 years old during the current run of the show, 25 when this story takes place. (That is as old as he can be in order to have been born after the fall of the KGB.) He was at MIT from 16-18, then served in the Army until the age of 21 (during which Jack also watched his back), and has been working for DXS/Phoenix Foundation ever since.

2. I firmly believe that Mac (as smooth and flirty as he is in 1.01 with Nikki) is still slightly socially awkward and was (and arguably still is) not so great with women. He has his awkward moments, both with Katarina and with Cindy on their date. To that end, Mac is sort-of an accidental James Bond - he does seem to tend to attract women, and enjoys their attentions, but is very much not the type to have a girl in every port and is probably a little befuddled as to why. (He is totally a closet, or maybe not so closet, romantic, yes?) I just don't think you can (from personal experience and observing my friends), as he admits himself, get excited about weird things and win 12 science fairs and graduate MIT in 2 years, without having periods of loneliness and being socially ostracized, which would have done a number on his confidence and not helped with the development of his social skills.

3. Mac has two ex-girlfriends, Penny (from high school) and Nikki. I just don't think there's enough time for him to have had any more. MIT helped him come out of his shell, and he had a fair bit of growing up to do while he was there, plus fitting in four years of college into half the time, and I don't think two years is enough time to do all that, and then start a relationship, but being a 16-18 year old, he was sure to have a crush or two while he was there...I think it's self-explanatory that 3 years in the Army probably also is not conducive to relationships, especially given his PTSD with Pena's death.

4. Mac has a fascination with IKEA. This is mostly because I feel that he'd be fascinated by flat-packs and the efficiency with which they pack and organize their furniture for assembly. (Also, this is just amusing.)

5. I have no idea how the situation with Nikki is going to resolve itself, so I've taken the lazy way out and sort-of just skipped that. Hence, this piece will probably be canon to 1.09, but might diverge afterwards- I'll try to incorporate canon as much as possible.

I'd like to emphasize that all of the above are my interpretations and opinions; I'm putting them out there not to contradict or denigrate anybody else's- I'd just like to share! Feel free to share yours or disagree with me by review or PM or otherwise!

There are probably two ways I can take this story (which I want to write as a collection of oneshots set in the same universe that reference each other, but might not directly follow each other, each based around/on a paperclip 'charm' made by Mac)- I expect you might be able to guess what the two ways are! (One would involve the introduction of a new original character, one would not, both will involve lots of team-bonding, including Thornton). I'd like feedback as to which path I should take, please!

~TheGirlWhoRemembers