2 AM
MACGYVER'S RESIDENCE
In his sleep, Bozer grinned in a way that was almost a smirk, as his very active imagination kicked into gear even as he slept…
'Man, chicks are gonna be all over this spy thing.'
He was a spy.
Mac was a spy.
Jack and Riley were spies.
Awesome.
Standing in a very classy, modern room with lots of glass, Bozer grinned at his BFF, who just raised an eyebrow and shook his head.
'Yeah, but you can't tell them, remember?'
'Hey, Bozer, you alone?'
Bozer, wearing a lab coat and working on a truly impressive (even if he said so himself) full-head prosthesis in a really high tech lab, looked up at Riley as she walked in.
'Looks that way. Why, what's up?'
Riley, her expression serious, simply hit a button that caused the lab doors to lock and the glass to frost over.
'…I think we have another mole in the Phoenix.'
Bozer stared at the young woman in front of him and sighed.
'It's me.'
'You?'
Riley looked very confused, and he continued.
'I met someone. At spy school. Her name's Leanna. She's amazing. Like, amazing amazing…'
'You can't tell Matty.'
'I don't want to, but if she finds out that I knew about this and stayed quiet…'
'Look, I already made my choice. So now I guess you got to make yours.'
'…Look, Bozer, what you did was stupid and selfish and short-sighted. But, after I decrypted your messages to Leanna, I may have read a few.'
'You did?'
'It was kinda hard not to, Snuggle Bear.' Bozer laughed sheepishly, as Riley continued. 'And the parts that didn't make me want to throw up were actually really sweet.'
'So you're not gonna turn me in?'
Riley smiled.
'I don't have to turn you in, because you're never gonna get caught.' She held out her hand. 'Let me see your phone.' Bozer handed it over. 'I built you guys a way more encrypted app. Completely undetectable on the Phoenix network.' She handed him back his phone. 'Which means this conversation right here never happened.'
Bozer smiled widely, completely and utterly overcome with emotion, with gratefulness. He reached out and pulled Riley into a very, very tight and very enthusiastic hug.
'Riley. Riley! Thank you, Riley.'
She hugged him back (almost) as tightly and enthusiastically.
3 AM
Fast asleep, Mac turned over, seemingly a little restless.
Even when he was asleep, the cogs in his brain never really completely ceased to turn…and memories that his conscious self chose not to dwell on came to the surface…
Face burning with rejection and humiliation, fourteen-year-old Mac hightailed it out of his Chemistry classroom, supremely grateful that he'd chosen the end of the last period of the day to fulfil the forfeit of the bet he'd made with Bozer, heading to the nearest janitor's closet. He picked the lock with a paperclip without even thinking about it and stepped inside, closing the door behind him and plonking himself down on an overturned bucket.
You're supposed to be a genius, MacGyver.
Darlene's the prettiest girl in the school. She's popular, really popular, and two years older than you.
Of course she was only nice to you so that you'd do all the work in Chem class, and all of her homework too.
Of course she doesn't actually like you. You're you.
There was a knock on the closet door.
'Mac, bro? I know you're in there…' Bozer sounded very, very guilty. 'I'm really, really sorry, bro, I thought she really did like you, 'cause you're you…'
'…Wait…am I now you and Bozer's mutual ex-girlfriend?'
Mac's rather sad expression (even if he agreed with her that they were far better off as friends and that they probably only loved each other as friends, he was still sad that they hadn't worked out) lightened somewhat at Penny's comment, and he gave a little smile and a snort of laughter.
As they worked on one of her projects in the lab (Mac's own science needed to breathe…and he really, really liked spending time with Frankie; she was so incredibly brilliant and also incredibly gorgeous and they spoke the same language and she loved Mobius strips and…well, he was always happy to play her assistant), Frankie's phone buzzed with a reminder, and she glanced over the project, then put the electrodes she was holding back onto the bench.
'Okay, boy genius, we've got to call it a day.' She held up her phone. 'I've got a Valentine's Day date to get ready for, and you've got plans, right?'
Mac toyed with his Swiss Army knife as he finished tightening the last screw.
'Uh…yeah. No. Maybe. Kinda?'
I'm not sure that working on a non-faculty-approved experiment in a corner of the Tombs that even most of the regulars don't know how to get into with a pepperoni pizza and a pint of rocky road counts as Valentine's Day plans, but those are my plans.
As you can see, I am not good at plans.
Frankie raised an eyebrow at him, looking, unusually for her, a bit bemused, then shrugged.
'Well, have fun, Mac.'
'You too!'
He cursed himself for how unnaturally high (and just plain unnatural) his voice sounded, but Frankie, at least, didn't seem to notice as she made some last checks, then slipped off her lab coat and hung it over the back of a chair.
'Catch you later, boy genius. Thanks for your help!'
'Anytime!'
He watched as she left the lab, trusting him to not steal her ideas or sabotage her work and to secure everything properly for her when he left.
Mac sighed.
'Allie? What are you doing?'
At 8:27 AM (he didn't usually sleep in that late, but he'd spent a good portion of the night awake…and using a lot of energy), Mac, a little bleary-eyed, sat up in bed, letting the covers slip down to his waist, leaving his chest bare, and stared at the woman wearing his shirt, sitting at the little hotel room desk in front of his laptop, which was displaying the schematics for the JPL entry into the Korman Challenge.
Allie froze, caught red-handed.
She's extremely intelligent. She's also beautiful, confident…and has a competitive streak several miles wide.
I'm an idiot for falling for it.
Mac, holding a bottle of wine and standing beside a bunch of dropped flowers (they were supposed to be a surprise gift; he'd taken the afternoon off despite the fact that he was working on a very important project, because it was the third anniversary of the day that he and Nikki had first met), stared at his now-presumably-ex-girlfriend in her apartment, resolutely ignoring the other man sitting on the couch with her.
(He vaguely recognized him as one of Nikki's co-workers at Google.)
They'd practically flown apart guiltily when Mac had let himself in with the key she'd given him.
He willed himself not to cry. Not in front of them. Not in front of her.
'Was it all a lie?'
'This isn't working out, Mac.'
Mac, who'd been lost in his thoughts, trying to pin down why this third date felt off (they'd had two really good dates, but something was just not right tonight), gave Cindy a sheepish little smile, biting his lip.
'It isn't, is it?'
She nodded, then shrugged.
'Ah well, we tried. It's a shame, though; you're really good at escape rooms.'
He managed a near-chuckle.
'Sorry for ruining your perfect record for nothing.'
'It wasn't for nothing; I had fun.'
'So did I.'
They sat there in the diner awkwardly for a moment, before Cindy got up.
'See you around, Mac.'
He smiled and waved at her, hoping that it didn't look as awkward as it felt.
'See you, Cindy.'
She walked out of the diner and left him there to finish his pie.
Dating was weird, and hard.
Mac and Jack, dressed in black suits with dark shirts and ties, sat at a little table in the corner of the ice-cream store.
The older man raised his ice-cream cone (rocky road, even though it wasn't Jack's usual order) to Mac's (also rocky road, of course) in a toast of sorts.
'To Zoe.'
Mac swallowed the lump in his throat.
'To Zoe.'
4 AM
RILEY'S RESIDENCE
As she lay in bed sleeping, Riley's expression shifted into something plaintive, vulnerable, as her imagination kicked into overdrive…
'Riley, come with me.'
Bozer was lying on the floor of a high-tech lab, bleeding from a stab wound in his abdomen as she applied pressure (more pressure than she thought was appropriate, as per Mac's instructions) to the wound.
She glanced up at the very short brunette woman who was standing near the door, who'd spoken.
Matty, Bozer's boss.
(And her boss, apparently.)
'I don't want to leave him.'
Riley, a little shaken, but very, very relieved, reached out and hugged Bozer as the fake Zodiac Killer was taken away. He hugged her back just as tightly.
'Riley, I'm glad you're safe.'
It was completely genuine, no flirtatious undertone or innuendo, just pure and simple relief, relief that someone who mattered, whom you cared about, was okay.
It was real.
The real Bozer.
She chuckled.
'Me too. Heard I have your keen skills of observation to thank.'
Bozer seemed a little flustered, sheepish, at that.
'Uh, well, you know, learning to be a spy, I've just been practicing my-'
That made Riley smile wider.
Real Bozer was awesome. And pretty cute.
'It's all good, Bozer. Seriously. Thanks.'
Riley sat in a van, surrounded by computer screens displaying satellite imagery of what looked like half of a state forest.
However, they did not show what she was looking for (or, rather, the two people she was looking for), despite her best efforts.
Bozer, sitting beside her, put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently.
'Hey, they're gonna be okay, Riley. Mac's smarter than Einstein, and Jack's more badass than, like, two John McClanes. They're gonna be okay.'
Riley, lying with her back on the ground, stared at Bozer, who was on top of her, having tackled her to the ground as something exploded behind them, saving her from what would have probably been a really nasty injury.
'Are you okay?'
She nodded.
'You're on fire.'
Bozer, being Bozer, smirked.
'I know, right? That was pretty dope of me. Move over, Liam Neeson, the B-O-Z-'
If the situation was less serious, she would have face-palmed.
'Bozer, you're on fire! You're on fire!'
'Huh?' He finally seemed to realize that she meant it literally, and screamed like a little girl, then rolled off her and on the ground to put out the flames. Then, he looked up, looking a little sheepish and rather hopeful, almost pleading. 'Any chance we can pretend that last part didn't happen?'
5 AM
JACK'S RESIDENCE
Sound asleep, Jack tugged the spare pillow on his bed closer, grinning as he dreamed that almost all of his dreams had come true…
Jack sat in one of his La-Z-Boys, wearing his Cowboys jersey, his Cowboys baseball cap and his Cowboys giant foam hand, cheering like mad as the clock ran down and the Cowboys won the Superbowl.
He whooped loudly and tossed his Cowboys baseball cap into the air, revealing his much-receded and very-much-threaded-with-grey hair.
Sitting on his couch was Riley, her hair cut to shoulder-length, and there was a little girl of about six with dark curls, toffee-coloured skin and Riley's eyes curled into her side. Both mother and daughter were wearing Cowboys regalia, though the little girl wore a full get-up, while Riley had only a baseball cap.
On the other side of the little girl was a blue-eyed, blonde boy of about the same age with a startling resemblance to Mac, enthusiastically setting off the Cowboys Cheering Contraption he'd made with some help from his dad (it said 'Go Cowboys!' in five different voices and fired off appropriately-coloured streamers and confetti, but no glitter – that had been vetoed by his mother), while Mac himself sat on the other La-Z-Boy, grinning proudly at his son, with his three-year-old, brown-eyed, dirty-blonde daughter in his lap, the little girl clapping eagerly and excitedly, though Jack wasn't quite sure, despite the little Cowboys cheerleader dress she was wearing, if that was for the Cowboys' victory or her brother's contraption.
Bozer, wearing a Cowboys apron, was in the kitchen prepping some 'victory-celebrating snacks', enthusiastically describing the bacon-wrapped hotdogs and bacon-and-egg-baskets and maple-bacon cupcakes and chocolate-coated bacon that he was preparing.
Diane, who was perched on the arm of his La-Z-Boy, snuggled closer to Jack, nudging him to move over a bit to make more room for her with a hip, then grabbed his Cowboys baseball cap and jammed it over her curls, kissing his cheek with an unrepentant little smile in apology.
6 AM
MACGYVER'S RESIDENCE
Mac woke up two minutes before his alarm went off, sat up in bed, stretched, then tossed the covers off and got up.
Valentine's Day or not, it's still also Wednesday. I run every weekday morning.
Besides, I always feel better after a run.
Endorphins are great.
He walked over to his closet and grabbed his running shoes and a pair of basketball shorts (he'd wear the MIT T-shirt he'd worn to bed for his run; he'd have to shower and change afterwards anyway).
Mac walked quietly through his house, to the front door, being careful not to wake Bozer, whom he knew would still be asleep.
He stepped outside, closed the door carefully, and took a deep breath of fresh air, before setting off at a jog towards his favourite running track.
7 AM
Fresh out of the shower, Mac, dressed in his usual chinos and button-down shirt (today's chinos were olive, while the shirt was navy-blue), running a hand through his damp hair, walked out of the bathroom. A still-bleary-eyed Bozer was in the kitchen, wearing an apron over his pyjamas, sipping from a mug of coffee.
He was also mixing up his world-class waffle batter, and there was a heart-shaped waffle iron on the counter.
Mac's best friend grinned at him as he walked into the kitchen and handed the blonde a mug of coffee, black with two sugars, exactly how Mac liked it.
'Happy Valentine's Day, bro. Love you.'
Mac grinned back at him, bumping his fist to Bozer's to start their secret handshake from when they were kids.
'Love you too, Boze.' He sipped his coffee, which was amazing, as always. Bozer made excellent coffee. Despite his best efforts, Mac had never been able to quite get the 'automatic' mode he'd installed on their coffee maker to match it. 'Happy Valentine's Day.'
8 AM
RILEY'S RESIDENCE
As they dug into a breakfast of French toast (a favourite of both of theirs, and one of the very first things that Riley had asked Bozer to teach her how to make, his way – French toast was one of the very few things that Riley had known how to cook beforehand, which she would neither confirm nor deny was a result of it being one of the approximately four things that Jack had known how to cook when she was a girl, but Bozer made it far, far better than she – or Jack - ever had), Diane smiled knowingly and pointedly at her daughter across Riley's little dining table.
'I know what you're doing, baby girl.'
Diane had always, always known her daughter very, very well. Could read her like a book.
Riley had tried to lie to her mom many, many times (she'd had a very rebellious phase, getting up to non-mother-approved activities ranging from getting her belly button pierced to hacking into the Pentagon), but had succeeded only a few times.
However, ever since she'd gotten a second chance and gotten out of prison, Riley had resolved to turn over a new leaf, at least somewhat.
(She was never going to change who she was, at heart. She was always going to snark, she was always going to be into hacking and coding, she was always going to have a fondness for leather jackets and slightly 'edgy' fashion, and she was going to have colourfully painted nails and multiple piercings in her ears no matter what some of her colleagues at JPL thought.)
But she was done dating 'bad boys' who, she realized in hindsight, didn't truly respect her, or other people, for that matter.
She was done doing black-hat work.
And she was going to stop trying to lie to her mom.
Now, a little denial here wouldn't really be lying, not truly.
It'd be a bit like lying about someone's surprise birthday party, which any reasonable person had to think was perfectly okay.
(Even Boy Scouts like Mac.)
But Riley knew it was pointless, and she'd given Jack the truth, it was only fair to give her mom it as well.
'I don't think you ever completely fell out of love with Jack, Mom. And now you two could have a second chance…'
Diane was silent, introspective, for a moment, recalling what had happened two Christmases ago, when she'd come to LA from Vancouver to visit Riley her first Christmas out of prison, after The Collective had been taken down, thanks to D.A. Patricia Thornton.
Sitting in Mac's dining room, the two of them alone, as he finished his explanation and apology, Diane leaned over and kissed Jack on the cheek, smiling as he froze in shock.
She smiled at her daughter over their breakfast, repeating those same words she'd told Jack that Christmas.
'Maybe it's not too late.'
AN: The dream sequences were so much fun to write (well, maybe except Mac's, which were really sad…)! Jack/bacon seems to be a pretty popular ship (shout-out to deepandlovelydark, who has the same OTP :P); hey, any fandom has its shipping wars, surely, but I'm sure we can all agree on Mac/paperclips, Mac/duct-tape, Bozer/pastrami, Bozer/movies, Bozer/burgers, Riley/her rig, Riley/her leather jackets, Jack/bacon and Jack/Cowboys, right?
Oh, and I forgot to put this in last time (sorry!) – I can take no credit for most of the charades scene and Jack and Riley's little chat while they were getting refills (most of the dialogue is taken from the show), nor can I take credit for most of Bozer and Riley's dreams (those are also from the show!).
