Oh my good Lord! An Update! And guess what folks? I finished the story. I'll post the last two chapters tomorrow and the day after that.


TWO HOURS LATER

SG-1 was gathered in SGC briefing room for the explanation that had been promised to them at Murdoc's shack. Mac was standing in front of the great glass window that looked out at the Stargate. O'Neill stood beside his twin, a strange expression on his face. Teal'c had chosen to stand off to the right side of the twins, his gaze locked on their backs. Carter and Daniel had sat themselves in two of the briefing room chairs and had refused to move until everything was explained.

MacGyver spared a quick glance to his left at his brother. Jack was leaning slightly forward with his hands resting on the small concrete window sill. He didn't look very happy.

/Jack?/

/Ye-es?/

/How exactly do you want to play this?/

/No idea./

Mac snorted, causing Carter and Daniel to give him a funny look.

"What's going on?" Daniel asked, finally having enough of the tense silence. "I don't understand all of this, neither do Sam and Teal'c. So please, if it doesn't cramp your style too much, explain it to us!"

Jack and MacGyver shared and easily read look that said: 'You go first! No-you!'. Their eyes remained locked for a few seconds before Jack sighed and shifted where he stood, it was obvious he lost the silent argument. He looked back over at Carter and Daniel, every time he started to say something, he stopped, unsure of exactly what to say.

"Look, it's not important, alright?" O'Neill answered finally, shifting his stance to face his team fully. Mac's action mirrored his.

"Yes, it is, Jack." Daniel answered in a strained tone. His blue eyes were like steel, he wanted answers and he wanted them now.

"No, it's not." Mac interjected. "If you don't know anything, you stay safe, end of story. Too many people have died over this. You and SG-1 do not need to be added to the list."

"Died?" Carter managed to ask in the uncomfortable pause. "Who…?"

"Our dad." O'Neill answered in a monotone. He looked Carter square in the eye. "He's dead because I couldn't get to him in time. I did something I shouldn't have and he died because of me."

Mac remained silent through this entire story. He hadn't realized it before, but the subject was still a sore spot in his heart. Despite what he'd said to Jack, he still felt his brother should have been able to do something. He himself should have been able to do something, dammit! But he couldn't because of Jack's stupid mistake.

"How did he die, O'Neill?" Teal'c asked carefully.

Mac sucked in a quick breath at the question. He knew it was only natural for one of them to ask, but he'd wished they hadn't. Going over those memories again, even if he wasn't the one telling the story, would be painful. It would hurt. And he didn't want to hurt right now. He wanted to go on not thinking about it, like he always had.

"He…" O'Neill let out a long breath. He continued in a strange detached tone, his face eerily blank. "He died on his way to the drug store. But, he went because of me. I…did something I wasn't supposed to do, something I wasn't old enough to do, and I got sick. Very sick. I think was unconscious for two days. But, because I was stupid, my dad's dead. So there. Question answered. Happy now?"

Daniel's brow furrowed. "I know I probably shouldn't ask this but…what did you do?"

"Nothing you need to know!" Mac snapped. His eyes were hard, and showed nothing. "You don't need to know, Dr. Jackson. Or you'll be dead. Like everyone else before you who learned the knowledge you're after. Stop while you're ahead, while you still have your head!"

"What's going on here?" Carter questioned, her anger finally getting the best of her. "You've been dancing around this issue because of our safety, or so you say. But, I have news for you. We're grown adults! We can take care of ourselves! And, further more, you are our friends! You don't need to fight this on your own! Let us help. Please."

"No." O'Neill answered, his tone left no room for argument. He settled his icy gaze onto Carter. "You have been ordered to not interfere, as of…now. So please Colonel, for the sake of your career, don't say another word."

"That was underhanded, O'Neill." Teal'c answered for Sam, who was too stunned to speak. "That was not the correct way for a warrior to treat his friends. You should not have done that."

"Who are you to tell me what I can and can't do, Teal'c?" O'Neill asked fiercely. "Carter said it herself. We're all adults here."

"Some would disagree." Daniel sniped. He leveled his heated blue gaze on the twins. "You've both been acting like stubborn children! What are you afraid of? We live in a mountain three hundred feet below the ground!"

"No, you live in an apartment last I checked." Mac answered back, annoyed. "You drive a car to work, am I right? That means you buy groceries, you get gas, you go to the movies or out to dinner, or even the library! Think for a second, do you really live in this mountain?"

"Now who's the kid?" O'Neill smirked, and Mac glared over at him. He looked over at his twin. "What?"

Mac sighed and rested his forehead to the fingers of his right hand. "I was on a roll, but no, you had to screw it up!"

"Me?" Jack's tone was incredulous. "What the hell did I do?"

"'Now who's the kid?'" Mac mocked. "Oh yeah, brilliant Sherlock! Absolutely genius!"

"Now who's not helping!" O'Neill snapped back, his patience was completely and utterly spent. "This is not my fault! Not this time, Mr. Wizard! You helped get us into this mess; you're going to help get us out of it!"

"I'm sick and tired of rescuing you!" Mac roared back.

SG-1 watched on, completely forgotten and stunned into silence.

"I'm done saving your ass!" Mac continued hotly. "I've pulled you out of too much crap to have to do this anymore! You're on your own, buddy!"

With those last parting words, MacGyver shoved past his twin and out of the briefing room. His angry metallic steps echoed in O'Neill's ears long after they had disappeared. He simply stood, staring unseeingly at the carpet floor beneath him. He'd done it again. He couldn't believe it. Mac was gone. He lost him. He was gone.

"Jack?" Daniel asked, quietly pushing himself out of his seat to stand next to his friend. "Jack?"

Carter and Teal'c shared a quick a look and walked over to join Daniel. The three teammates were suddenly worried for their friend. Answers to their questions would have to wait. Some things were far more important.

"O'Neill?" Teal'c intoned quietly.

Jack suddenly jerked his head up to look at his former teammates. His eyes were blazing with an anger that almost made Teal'c take a step back. Daniel and Carter suddenly did just that.

"Do you realize what you just did?" O'Neill asked painfully slow. "He's gone and it's your fault. You should have kept your goddamn mouths shut!"

In the stunned silence that followed, O'Neill stormed out of the briefing room and down the metal staircase, making an unholy amount of noise as he did so. He had to find Mac, and he had to find him. Mac didn't mean it. He couldn't have meant it. It wasn't true. He wasn't alone. He wasn't.


"Mac?" Jack pushed through the trees that made up the forest that surrounded the mountain. He had to find his brother. /Mac? Where are you?/

When no answer came, O'Neill stifled a growl and pushed faster through the trees, flashlight in one hand and his other ready to go for his gun. Anything could be out here with Mac. Things tended to happen around the two of them. The path that he was following wasn't well used, but he knew Mac had passed through this way.

Though, he wondered why his brother had gone off at him like that. What did he do? Add stress to an already stressed situation? Yes. But that's who he was and Mac had never really made such a big deal of it before. There had to be something else. The subject matter? Most likely. If that was the case, it meant Mac had lied to him.

He wasn't sorry after all.

That thought hurt more that the others did. Why would MacGyver lie to him about something like that? What was the point? Unless he wanted something. But, Mac wasn't that kind of person. He didn't lie to people like that to get what he wanted. No, Mac would have told the truth. He had never hurt someone that way as far as Jack could remember. It had to be something else.

"MacGyver!" Jack shouted again, praying for an answer. "F'cryin' out loud, Mac! Answer!"

"Why?"

O'Neill jumped, and spun around to see his twin standing in the path behind him. He let out a breath and relaxed his sidearm hand.

"Why should I answer?" Mac continued, his eyes glinting in the moonlight that filtered through the trees.

"Because I was looking for you?" Jack suggested sarcastically. "Maybe because, I was worried about you? Do you have any idea what could have happened?"

"Like what?" Mac asked acidly. "Ptah coming and doing your job for you? I doubt it."

"That was low." O'Neill ground out. His eyes flashed. "You know that's not true! What the hell's the matter with you?"

"I could ask you the same question!" was Mac's angry retort. "Where the hell do you get off thinking things are back to the way they were before?"

"I thought they were!" O'Neill's face showed hurt, but was quickly masked by anger. "You said you forgave me, Mac! Furthermore, I hadn't done anything in the first place! For once, I was the innocent party! If anyone owes anyone an apology, it's you!"

Mac winced and looked away. He took in a deep breath, then spoke. "It doesn't matter. We can't seem to keep the peace between us anyway. I should go."

"No!" O'Neill said sharply. He walked over to his twin and spun him around so he could look into Mac's eyes. "You aren't going anywhere!"

"Why not?" Mac threw Jack's hands off his shoulder. He glared angrily at his brother. "I don't owe you anything! I don't have to be at your beck and call every time something goes wrong!"

"There you go again!" O'Neill threw his hands in the air in exasperation. "What's the matter with you? When have I ever forced you to do anything for me? And when was it all my fault?"

Mac's jaw clenched in anger as he stared down O'Neill. /I've gotten more people out of more jams than you could think of! I'm sick and tired of being everyone's hero! I'm not a magic rabbit you can pull out of a hat and have it pull off the impossible!./

"I never said you were." O'Neill answered softly. /Jesus, Mac. I'm not trying to use you, I'm your brother. What ever gave you that impression?./

Mac breathing was harsh as he looked straight into O'Neill's painfully honest eyes. He didn't want to fight anymore. He didn't. He didn't want to think about his parents, he didn't want to think about Ptah. He didn't want to run. He wanted it all too just go away and never come back. He wanted to live his life in peace and never have to save the world in sixty seconds ever again.

/It doesn't matter. I'm tired Jack. Tired of this, tired of fighting! I'm done! I can't do this anymore!./

"Then don't." Jack answered simply. "Go back into the mountain; find the nearest bed and sleep. I'll finish up with SG-1. I've made a mess of things with them that I need to clean up."

"What?" Mac looked up from his scrutiny of the forest floor. "What did you say?"

"Nothing important." Jack swallowed. "I'm sorry for hurting you, again."

"You've nothing to be sorry for." Mac said softly. "You're right. I should be the one to apologize. God! What would dad think if he could see us like this? He'd probably knock our heads together!"

"Probably." Jack smirked. He looked around the moonlit forest. "C'mon, let's get inside and out of here before something happens."

"I agree." Mac smiled and the two walked down the path back towards the SGC.


Sean A. Malloy looked out of the balcony of his father's apartment. Not the greatest view in the world, but he could vaguely see City Place off in the distance. When his Dad hadn't returned his call in the last two days, he'd gone to Florida to see what was wrong, only to find an empty apartment and no clue to where he Dad had gone.

"Where are you?" He questioned the air softly. "What's going on Dad? Why did you move out of your house for no apparent reason at all?"

"Don't know the answers to your own questions?" Sean spun around to find a man with blond hair and blue eyes standing in the entry way to the balcony. He had a slight English accent and didn't look at all trustworthy. "Perhaps I can help."

"And, how, exactly, do you plan to do that?" Sean asked carefully.

The man's smile was feral. "Like this." Before Malloy could duck, the butt of a gung impacted with the side of his head. He was out for the count. "I have you this time. For sure, MacGyver. For sure."


Holy frakin' crap! The end of chapter eight. Stay tuned in the next few days for chapter nine and the final chapter ten. They are finished and are being edited. I'm so proud! I finished the story last night. And ya wanna know somethin'? Chapter has been sitting on my harddrive for a while and I didn't even know it! Sorry 'bout that! But anyway, review!