.
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"I never want to regret not giving us a second chance."
~~~~~ Riley to MacGyver (referencing Riley's father, Elwood), 3.04 Guts + Fuel + Hope.
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Mac and Riley were on the jet flying home and passing the time playing cards when her phone rang.
Riley looked at the caller ID, and answered. "Hey Jack. How's—?"
Just hearing his friend say Jack's name made him smile, and reminded him of how much he'd missed the older man on their recent missions.
"Jack. Jack!" Riley yelling his best friend's name immediately brought his attention to the phone conversation. "Hey! Calm down, old man. He's fine. He's right in front of me and he's perfectly fine."
As Riley listened to the response, Mac outwardly grinned, but inwardly he was incredibly touched by how worried Jack was about him.
"Mac had to use his phone in one of his builds, so…"
When Riley trails off and gets a strange look on her face as she pulls her phone away from her ear, Mac can't help but worry something might be wrong.
"What's wrong, Riles. Is Jack—?"
"He's fine…"—Riley's strange expression morphs into a cat-ate-the-canary-type smile—"Actually, he's laughing his ass off right now."
"Laughing? Why?"
Riley's expression changes to one that basically says, Seriously? Mac quickly replays Riley's side of the conversation in his head, and the answer to his questions immediately comes to mind.
Mac has to fight down several reactions, including the urge to sigh. He motions to Riley to give him her phone.
When he lifts it up to his ear, Jack is still laughing. It's a near thing, but he doesn't roll his eyes.
"You might want to take a breath there, pal."
Jack's laughter abruptly dies off, and Mac can hear him attempting to regain his breath.
"Something funny, Jack?" Mac asks.
"Heck, yeah! It's about damn time you had to destroy your own phone to make one o' your weird contraptions. I bet you were missing ole Jack right about then."
"I thought we had a rule about not referring to oneself in the third person?"—Mac sighed—"Actually…I was missing you Jack." Movement catches his eye, and he sees Riley motion towards the other end of the plane. He nods and smiles his thanks for giving the two of them privacy. "I could've used my Overwatch a few times recently."
"Sorry I wasn't there for ya, bud," Jack said, voice overflowing with guilt.
"Jack, no. You have nothing to feel guilty about. It's ultimately my fault you had to go to D.C. I'm the one who should be apologizing – again."
"Naw, man. It was my stupid idea that—"
Mac can easily imagine how many times they could go round and round in the guilt game, one which had no winners – only losers – so he interrupted his partner.
"Jack, how about we call it even?"
There is the slightest of pauses before Jacks says, "Yeah, okay. Works for me."
The pause before Jack replied and the brief awkward silence after it tell Mac otherwise, but at least they could both put their guilt aside for the moment.
"So… Your phone is toast, right?"
Mac grinned. "Yep, sure is, Jack."
Jack chuckled. "I'd say sorry, but you've destroyed way too many of my phones to get any sympathy from me."
"I didn't expect any," he said, debating if he would admit to what he'd almost done. He shrugged and decided Jack would get a kick out of it. "To be honest, when the time came, and I realized I needed something to bridge the gap between two parts of my build, I thought of your phone first and, without thinking, almost asked for it."
"I wasn't even there and you still didn't think of using your own stuff first."
Mac laughed. "Let's just say you were missed, Jack."
"Yeah, well… I've been missing you guys too. It's been no picnic out here explaining things to the big wigs. I tell you what*. That secretary dude…"
Mac listened with only half an ear as Jack started complaining about the past several days, using plenty of colorful language and weird metaphors. His mind wandered back to the build on that truck and having to use his phone to make it work.
Back when they'd first met, Jack had created that stupid rule about not touching his stuff. It had greatly amused him the first time he'd had to use something belonging to the other man even if he had really needed it to save their lives. After that, using something of Jack's was half to rile the man up and half because he really needed what he was asking for.
Using other people's things first had always seemed the best strategy overall. Whatever he had on him would be for the absolute last line of defense.
He hadn't been lying about almost asking Jack for his phone out there. It had simply been out of habit because he was so used to Jack being right there beside him on a mission. Plus, he knew not to mess with any of Riley's tech, even her phone, unless there was absolutely nothing else available.
The moment Mac realized he'd have to use his own phone, he really had missed Jack – a lot. Lately, Riley and Bozer had been pressuring him to give his dad a chance to rebuild their relationship to something they could both live with. However, Jack had practically been avoiding the subject at all costs even though Mac knew his best friend had his own thoughts on the subject.
Now Mac couldn't help but wonder why Jack had been so silent about him reconciling with his dad when he knew the older man, in all the years he'd known him, had never been shy about giving his opinion about something.
"Jack," he said, interrupting his friend's ranting about politicians, but the man kept talking.
"…so I told them—"
"Hey Jack!"
"Yeah, bud. What's wrong?"
"Nothing…well, nothing new. Uh, Jack?"
"Dude, just spit whatever it is out."
"How come you've not been trying to get me to talk to my dad?"
There was silence for several moments, and Mac could hear noises in the background which sounded like Jack was shifting positions.
"You know how I feel about my dad, and sometimes I can't help but think I pressured you into writing the letter that started it all. Your quest to find him… You leaving the Phoenix for a while once you did… I just figured you needed someone in your life that— Mac, Brother, you know I'll support you whatever you decide, right?"
Mac's throat tightened with emotion while Jack was speaking. Despite their Wookie Life Debt, Mac had never figured out what he'd said or done to garner such support, devotion…such love from Jack. And the greatest irony, paradox, or whatever you want to call it, was if it weren't for his father, then Jack wouldn't be such an important part of his life.
"Yeah," Mac said, his voice cracking as he spoke. "Yeah, man. I do know that. Thanks, Jack."
There was a moment of silence before Jack cleared his throat. "Anytime, bud. Now, can you hand me back over to Riley? I got something to ask her about this tablet thingy she let me borrow."
"Sure," he replied, despite wanting to keep talking to the man. He leaned around the side of his seat and caught Riley's eye before holding out the phone to signal Jack wanted to speak to her.
Riley nodded and started heading towards him. He put the phone back up to his ear. "I'll see you when you get back."
"Count on it, Mac."
Mac handed Riley's phone back to her, and got up from his seat, having decided to afford the two the same privacy his friend had given him so he could talk to Jack.
He may still be angry with his father, and still needed to work on forgiving the man, but James had placed someone who would become one of the best friends he'd ever had into his life, someone he considered family in all but blood. For that reason alone, he would give his father a chance.
He would at least try to forge some kind of relationship with his father as a thank you to James for making Jack his Overwatch back in the sandbox. It didn't mean he had to trust the man yet – or ever – and he may have to fake the smiles and laughs for a while, but he would make the attempt.
It was the least he could do for Jack.
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The end.
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A/N: * "I tell you what" is a colloquialism in the U.S., particularly in the South, and especially in Texas from what I've been told. The phrase is used as a full sentence, often starting or at the end of a sentence or a topic of conversation. I thought Jack's Texan would come out a little when he complained to Mac.
Many thanks to Celticgal1041 for proofing. All remaining mistakes are my fault.
Thanks for reading!