Hello again! Missed me?

"How're you feelin' bud?" it was his brother's voice. Jack struggled to open his eyes. He had never known his eyelids to be this heavy before.

"Who hit me?"

"What?"

"Somebody hit me with a car? Right?"

"No, bud…" Nick almost chuckled, "You got shot… And you pulled out your shoulder, again…"

Jack sighed. "Again…"

"Again…" Nick echoed, he knew full well how much trouble Jack's shoulder had caused in the past. But he also knew that his twin was a tough son of a bitch.

"This is gonna suck…"

"Think it already qualifies for that…" Nick placed his hand on top of Jack's uninjured one.

Jack made an agreeing sound.

"How's the kid?"

"The kid?"

"Mac…"

"He's fine… Well, if you don't mind the 105 stitches he's had since yesterday…"

"105?"

Nick nodded. "That kid is tough as nails."

"Told ya!" Jack grinned through the haze of medical substances.

"You told me he was smart as hell…"

"Told ya he was tough too, before…"

"Okay, maybe you did…" Nick agreed, running his right hand over his short hair. He studied his brother for a few seconds, before he leaned in closer.

"So… How are your shoulder feeling?"

"Exactly like all the other times…"

Nick frowned, "And your leg?"

"Obviously I've been shot…" Jack stared down to where his legs were covered by the duvet. His left leg seemed to be at least two sizes bigger than the right one. "Why is my leg so big?"

"Think that's all the bandages they used to cover up the wound, bro…" Nick smirked back. "But you really need to work on your legs once they're healed… Looks like you've skipped leg-day far too often…"

Jack scowled back. "My legs are fine…"

"They're skinny…" Nick truth bombed, "I mean, your arms are fine, but really? When was the last time you squatted?"

"You're really gonna talk about squats right after I've been SHOT through the THIGH?" Jack moaned.

"Just making sure you know that your legs are embarrassingly thin…"

"Oh, shut up!"

"Okay, okay, okay…" Nick chuckled as he got up from his chair. "Just making up for the time you mocked me for my wheelchair skills…"

"You looked like a fish on land. You were fair game…" Jack smirked back.

"And that makes you fair game now…" Nick shot back. "But hey, doc said you'd be fine… Just a whole lot of rehab before you're up and at it again…"

"What did he say 'bout my shoulder?"

"Same old, same old…"

"Crap... Going to be a hell of a rehab, right?"

Nick nodded, "But hey… You've been through it before…"

"Really hoped I didn't have to go through it again though…"

"Me too Jay… Me too…"

MACGYVER2016MACGYVER2016

"Knock, knock…" someone spoke outside the door.

"Come in!" Jack called, and breathed a sigh of relief when a familiar shaggy, blond head came into view.

"Mac! Good to see you buddy!"

"You too Jack… You too…" Mac nodded back, "You're still a bit pale though…"

"Hey, a man gets shot in the thigh, don't expect him to look like the picture of health the next day…" Jack arched his eyebrows.

"Guess you have a point there…"

"You know I do…" Jack grinned. "How about you? How are you feeling?"

"Sore…" Mac revealed, "All over…"

"And your hand? That's a pretty big cast…"

"Throbs… Got a total of five pins stuck into two of my fingers…" Mac lifted the cast to study it. His thumb, index and pinky finger were the free ones. His middle and ring finger were encased in the white fiberglass cast.

"Hand injuries are painful…" Nick decided to add from where he was sitting in the corner.

Mac jumped, he really hadn't noticed the other Dalton in the room yet.

"There's two of you?" Mac gasped, his good hand pressing against his chest.

"Told you I had a brother!"

"Didn't mention it he was your twin, or here…" Mac looked between Jack and Nick for a few seconds.

"Well, finally you've met the better Dalton twin…" Nick smirked, pushing himself off the chair, ready to shake Mac's hand.

"Better?" Jack made a face, "We'll see about that!"

"Oh, you might be older… But I'm better…" Nick winked, shaking Mac's hand. "Nick Dalton… I've gone by Nick Stokes the last couple of years though… You can call me Nicky if you'd like…"

"Last couple of decades…" Jack clarified.

"Okay, a little more than a few years…" Nick rolled his eyes, "Had to use our mother's name, cause in these businesses you go by your surname way too often, and when you have a twin, and you're in the same field of work… You know how many times I was mistaken for being you?"

"Probably as many times as it happened the other way around…" Jack said, thinking back to their earlier days. Back when they worked at the same agency, before the CSI and CIA even…

"Probably…"

"Okay… Well… Nice to meet you, Nick…" Mac smiled politely. The nickname the man offered caused a bad taste in Mac's mouth. It was a good while since Nikki Carpenter had betrayed them, but it was still a sore subject.

"So, you're the guy I can thank for keeping my bonehead copy alive?"

"He keeps me safe, just as much as I look after him." Mac cast a glance over at Jack.

"Oh, no… He's lying… He saves my hide at least five times more often than I save his ass…"

"I don't doubt it… Remember that time you thought that umbrella would work as a parachute down from our treehouse…"

Mac looked over at Jack with an amused grin on his face.

"Got a good lesson in how gravity works, freaked our mom out too…" Jack shared.

"Freaked me out too… First time I saw a compound fracture…"

"Wasn't that bad…"

"Yeah, it was…" Nick reasoned, "You spent two weeks at the hospital…"

"Enough about the past…" Jack rolled his eyes. "Let's just act like you've met each other before… We can talk about how much I've screwed up in the past afterwards…"

Both Mac and Nick chuckled.

Okay, hope you enjoyed! Thanks for all the comments so far! Warms my heart! Thanks!