Okay, so… TinkerBella7 and I decided to have a friendly write-off. And she made me go first… (She's probably going to kick my ass, with a story 10 times better than mine… Can't wait to read it…)

We both wanted to read a pre-series story where Jack makes sure that Mac can fight for himself. Even though Mac certainly had some training from the military, that wouldn't be good enough for Jack. Not when Mac's about to become his partner/team-mate.

Here's to hoping I don't butcher this thing…

"Boss lady told me I would be meeting my future partner in room 209. This is it, right?" a dark haired man asked pointing his head inside the door.

"Yeah, room 209…" Mac nodded.

"Have you seen anyone else here?" The dark haired man asked as he stepped in, massaging the wrist of his right hand.

"No, just me here…" Mac answered with a smug grin. He figured the other man was convinced that Mac was too young to be his new partner.

"Are you waiting for anyone?"

"Yeah, I'm waiting for you, apparently." Mac grinned, pushing off the chair he sat in.

"Aren't you a little young?"

"I'll be 21 in a few weeks…"

"You're young enough to tell your age by saying how old you'll be soon… You should be off checking up chicks and drinking at some college party…"

"I bet you were handpicked for this job…" Mac prompted, running a hand through his hair.

"Yeah…" the dark haired man nodded.

"Well, so was I…"

"I'll be working with you? You're a kid!" the older sputtered.

"Soon to be 21…" Mac sighed, "I'm not a kid, trust me…"

"As far as I know… We'll be going on hot missions together, kid…" the man crossed his arms, "You know how to defend yourself?"

"Served with the military since I graduated high school… During the training we learned what we needed to know…"

"So you have basic military training, that's cute…" the man raised one eyebrow. "That's not gonna cut it with me, kid…"

"Then what will? Because I think we're stuck together… Whether we like it or not…"

"Throw me down… Knock me out… Render me harmless…" the older man said with a shrug, "Or at least hold your own in a fight against me, and I'll be okay with this arrangement."

"Okay…" Mac furrowed his brows at the man. He didn't seem to be joking.

"Come on, kid… You get the first move…"

"You're going to have to stop calling me kid…" Mac frowned.

"Oh, I think I'll stick with it…" the man grinned, "Unless you downright whoop my ass… Then I might consider coming up with another nickname for you…"

"You know… You could just call me MacGyver, that's my name… Or Mac for short…"

"Nah… Where's the fun in that?"

Mac shrugged, "What's your name?"

"Jack. Jack Dalton…"

"Nice to meet you, Jack…"

"Aw, come on kid… Show me that I won't have to look over my shoulder to check on you every other minute when we're out on assignments."

"There really is no way around this?" Mac frowned.

"No. And if you wait much longer, I'll throw the first punch…"

Mac shrugged, and stepped closer to Jack. "Really?"

"Go ahead kid… You'll probably want to kick my ass soon enough…"

When Mac didn't do any more for almost ten seconds, Jack jumped forward and wrapped his hands around Mac's shoulders. He shoved Mac towards the nearest wall. Mac tried standing up against the force of the other man's hands, but the attempt was futile. The next thing Mac did was to drive his arms up between Jack's elbows, forcing the guy's elbows apart.

The move stopped Jack from forcing Mac backward, but it didn't throw him off his game. Within a split second Jack changed from pushing to pulling. Then he flipped Mac around and held him in a headlock.

Mac countered with digging an elbow into Jack's ribs, causing the older man to double forward. As he did so, Mac used the chance to hook an arm behind Jack's right knee before yanking the man's leg out from under him.

They both landed on the floor. Mac on top of Jack.

"Happy now?" Mac asked, putting all his weight over Jack's chest and arms.

"You got lucky…" Jack groaned, "Still gonna call you kid, though…"

It was at that moment Patricia walked in. She stopped a few feet into the room, looking at the two men on the floor.

"You two want to explain what's going on here…?" she asked with a blank expression.

"Nothing!" Jack and Mac rushed out in unison, as they got off the ground and away from each other.

"Well, then… Usually we put new teams through a training period of three weeks, but I've got a mission for the two of you. This will have to double as your training period."

"Learning by doing! Love it!" Jack grinned. "For the record, Mac, I'm gonna teach you some of Jack Dalton's fighting skills later on… You're gonna need em…"

Patricia rolled her eyes and wondered what kind of whack job her hiring-team had hired this time…

Can't promise this will have multiple chapters, but we'll see… Okay?