Slight (maybe) AU. We didn't see any evidence of this in the show, but hey, they skipped some time.


MacGyver groaned softly as he tripped over a root. Stumbling, he tried to regain his balance, but failed. The blond was sent sprawling, and Jack turned with an alarmed expression plastered to his face, no doubt put there by the small 'oof' that Mac had emitted as he hit the ground.

Working up his courage to regain his feet, the young man allowed himself to rest until Jack's boots were right beside him, then shoved himself upright. His actions were aided by Jack's hand on the back of his collar, but the motion was still painful.

Jack looked at him with worry in his eyes, and Cynthia, a few feet away, echoed his expression. MacGyver shook off Jack's hand, which was still resting on his shoulder. "I'm fine."

Jack narrowed his eyes. "You normally have, like, perfect balance, dude."

MacGyver shrugged. "I just- got knocked around in the crash a bit, I guess."

Cynthia immediately looked guilty, and Mac bit back an irritated sigh. He shrugged, not allowing the pain that came from his ribs protesting the movement to show on his face. "It wasn't anyone's fault."

Darkly, Jack muttered, "It was Viktor's friends' fault."

The blond grinned slightly. "I won't fight you on that."

The older man peered at MacGyver for another moment, then glanced up at the sky as the wind howled. Wordlessly, but with a reassuring squeeze of Mac's shoulder, the brunet turned back to lead them along the trail.


All was quiet for another ten minutes, and then MacGyver tripped again. This time, though, he was close to a small hill. Cursing his luck in the second it took for him to hit the ground and begin rolling, Mac felt his ribs begin to ache even more. After a few seconds, he came to a stop, his face turned towards the sky as he rested on his back. Jack was already halfway down the hill- it was rather small, MacGyver reflected aimlessly- and soon skidded to a stop by his partner. "Mac? Buddy? You alright?"

The blond began to sit up, then hissed. Jack immediately pushed him back down. "Hold on a sec."

Gently, the older man peeled back the hem of Mac's shirt and let out a low whistle at the sight that greeted him. "Dude, you bruised your ribs pretty bad. They're probably cracked."

MacGyver let out a tiny groan. Jack looked tormented for a second. He dropped the bottom of his friend's shirt and waited a moment before saying, "You know what I have to ask, man."

The blond swallowed and replied, "Yeah. Just- just give me a minute."

Exactly sixty seconds later, MacGyver tapped his hand against Jack's leg. "Okay. Help me get up."

Silently, Jack grabbed his friend's hand and helped pull him to his feet. As they turned to head back up the hill and back to the third member of their trio, MacGyver clutched Jack's arm. "Hey, don't tell Cynthia. She doesn't need to worry about this."

Jack grinned, but the expression fell far short of its normal exuberance. "Wasn't planning on it."

MacGyver nodded, then pasted a sheepish grin to his face and started climbing, forcing his feet to move.

After that, adrenaline took over and carried him through the mission. The blond knew, in the small part of his mind that wasn't completely taken up with trying to figure out how to make the sat phone work, that he would crash after the mission was over, but for now, he had one focus.

Making sure they survived.