AN: Set between 2.19, Business Card, and 2.20, Pool Cue. Schmoopy, fairly-romantic fluff with light humour. That's all this is!

He found himself standing in his bedroom, dressed, as he often was, in tan chinos, a button-down shirt (this one was light blue), and his favourite brown leather jacket.

Without knowing why, or, in fact, remembering pushing the door open, he found himself walking through the living room.

He stopped a little way in front of the door leading onto the deck.

Again, for reasons that he didn't know, Beth was sitting on the deck, wearing grey jeans and a soft-looking blue knit sweater, her hair braided and wearing socks but not shoes, yet again for reasons unknown.

She was also reading What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions. There was an absurdly, comically huge slice of pumpkin pie on a plate beside her, and she was sucking absent-mindedly on a spork, smiling as she read.

As he watched, seemingly unnoticed by her, she laughed, throwing her head back a little, removing the piece of cutlery from her mouth.

Then he was, somehow, standing out on the deck, just a few feet away from her.

Completely and utterly unfazed by his sudden appearance, the doctor just smiled widely up at him, as if she'd been expecting him.

'Hi, Mac.' She put down the book, carefully marking her place with a bookmark that he hadn't noticed had been tucked into the front cover of her book before, and pulled another spork seemingly from nowhere. He sat down, and she offered him the spork and gestured to the huge slice of pie. 'Would you like some pie?' Her smile became a bit more sheepish. 'If I really, really wanted to, I could probably eat the whole thing, but I think that'd be a bad idea…'

As soon as she'd finished speaking, however, she helped herself to another spoonful of pie, and with a chuckle, he, too, took some.

When he'd swallowed his pie, he gestured to the fire pit, which was lit, but the flames had burned down to embers, the kind that Bozer would say were absolutely perfect for low and slow barbecue.

They were, however, not terribly good for keeping warm.

'Why didn't you bank the fire?'

It was very much a small-talk kind of question, idle curiosity, really, but she looked up at him, meeting his eyes, as if it was a very, very serious question indeed.

She gestured to the surroundings in general (it was a relatively warm, sunny, fall LA day), then the fire, then her sweater.

'I'm not cold. In fact, it's just right. Nice and warm, but not hot or stifling.' She shrugged again, and she glanced over at the fire pit, then back at him, something in her eyes, something soft and gentle, even as it seemed as if she was looking right into his mind, right into his soul. 'Though, I'll need a proper fire eventually, when winter comes.' She studied him again for a moment, then took another spoonful of pumpkin pie, sucking on the spork again as she stared at the embers for a beat. Then, she looked back at him and took her spork out of her mouth. 'Besides, I'm a doctor. It's not my place. And it's your fire pit.' She reached out for another bite of pie, then nudged the plate towards him, quite deliberately. With an affectionate smile and head-shake, Mac helped himself to another generous spoonful of pie, and then Beth picked up her book again, a grin appearing on her face. 'Have you ever wondered how dangerous it would really be to be in a pool in a thunderstorm?'

He, too, grinned.

'Of course!'

Beth's grin widened a little, and she gestured to the open pages of her book.

'Well, we've finally got an answer!' Then, her eyes narrowed as she seemed to realize something. 'Please tell me you've never actually tried testing that yourself…'

He chuckled, and picked up the giant piece of pie and scooted over to sit right next to her, so that they could both read the book simultaneously.

'I've never gone for a dip during a thunderstorm to test that.'

Beth looked placated for a moment, eating another bite of pumpkin pie, before her eyes narrowed again and she pulled her spork out of her mouth with a pop and poked him in the arm.

'You went swimming during a thunderstorm? Mac...'

His expression turned more wry as he swallowed his own mouthful of pumpkin pie.

'I didn't want to go for a swim. I wasn't really given much choice in the matter…'

Mac woke up.

A moment after consciousness returned, he recalled his dream, with surprising clarity.

He shook his head with a groan.

His subconscious, it turned out, was almost as bad at analogies as Jack.

He muttered to himself, rolling his eyes.

'The fire pit, as a symbol for…' He gestured vaguely. '…our relationship? Connection? Something? Really?'

He made a noise of frustration. He had a gargantuan vocabulary, and yet he couldn't come up with something that sounded quite right.

With another shake of his head, he glanced at the clock on his bedside table, which showed that it was 6:30 am.

Mac threw off the covers, and got out of bed.

Going for a run solved a lot of problems.

Dressed in an MIT T-shirt and basketball shorts, carrying his running shoes, Mac paused in the living room, staring out towards the deck, at the very spot by the fire pit that Beth had sat, enjoying her pumpkin pie and her book.

And your company, a little voice in his head that sounded a bit like Jack and a bit like his grandfather and somehow also a tiny bit like Bozer said, a voice that was somehow teasing and reassuring and encouraging, all at once.

He gave a soft little smile.

It was a very pleasant mental image.

It was a nice day for a run.

Warm, but not too warm, sunny, lovely fall weather.

AN: This was another 'deleted scene' from Every End is a Beginning (or, at least, deleted in the sense that I came up with it/thought it out in fairly significant detail but decided not to write it into Every End is a Beginning). It was supposed to be the counterpoint to Mac's nightmare about Nikki featured in 2.03, Lipstick, and would probably have slotted in as the closing of 2.19, Business Card, or the opening of 2.20, Pool Cue. Honestly, I like it much better here; it doesn't quite fit what I was going for in those episodes of Every End is a Beginning.

What did you guys think? Is Mac's subconscious' analogy as bad as Jack's? (And yes, Mac's subconscious wants to supply Beth with a giant piece of pumpkin pie. Because I maintain that Mac's subconscious reflects the extremes of all of his feelings – from being schmoopy and adorkable to his deepest fears and darkest thoughts, a la his nightmares featured in Every End is a Beginning.)

Next chapter: MacGyver's Girl. As the Edwards team heads off on a top-secret, long-term undercover mission, Alex Lucas muses on being turned down by the Phoenix's doctor.