Mac didn't know how to interpret the look Jack was giving him. He sighed. "Go ahead."

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Go ahead and what, bud?" he asked.

"Yell at me for quitting my job and being all … what did you say back up north … shiftless … or some old-timey word only you could get away with using," he said crossing his arms and looking altogether like he wanted to shrink out of this situation, or at least sink into the chair.

Jack chuckled fondly. "Why the hell would I yell atcha for making a decision to take care of yourself, kid?"

Mac's mouth opened like he might respond, but he closed it again, looking confused. It just made Jack laugh a little more.

"I came and chewed you out up at your grandad's cabin because you weren't takin' care of anything about yourself, Mac. You were treating yourself like a second class citizen and burying yourself in pointless tasks, cutting yourself off from your friends. Now you're here … It's not like Boze and I are gonna let that happen again regardless of where you decide to work, bud."

Now Mac leaned back, his arms still folded, but more in the skeptical, amused sort of way Jack had become accustomed to than in the self-protective gesture he'd sported only a moment before. "You look really pleased with yourself right now," Mac observed. "What gives?"

Jack shifted on the couch and then gasped at the movement. Mac was on his feet immediately. "Hey … Did you take your pills this morning, man?"

Jack shifted again, back to a more comfortable position. "I did, ya worrywart. I also maybe walked a few laps around the house to see if I could loosen things up …"

"Jack!" Mac was incensed. "Are you supposed to be doing that yet?"

Jack laughed out loud. "Look who's talkin', gimpy."

Mac smiled and then sat down on the couch next to Jack. "You're okay?"

"I'm okay, bud." Jack put a hand on Mac's shoulder. "How about you?"

"I … I'm good. A little … upset isn't the right word. Unsettled maybe. I knew you didn't really work at a think tank though," he said with an amused challenge in his voice.

"Guilty. I don't do much thinkin' for 'em. But I guess maybe we can't really talk about that anymore, huh?"

Mac nodded. "I guess not." He gave Jack a long speculative look. "Back to my original question. Why do you look so damned pleased about that?"

"Honestly, kid?" Jack asked. Mac tilted his chin in a 'go on' sort of motion. "It used to give me fits watchin' your back in the Sandbox. Seemed like you were tryin' to get yourself killed half the time." He smiled a little at Mac's half embarrassed expression. "Then I realized you really just didn't think about it. You weren't tryin' to be reckless, you were just very focused on your job."

"Yeah, I've been told I can sort of over-focus on certain things. I never saw it as a problem though," Mac said quietly.

Jack chuckled. "I don't think it is either, bud. When you're in the lab or your garage. In the field, it scares the hell outta me."

Mac flushed a little, thinking that Jack was covering the sentiment with a laugh, but he clearly meant the words. "So you're glad I quit because you don't want to worry about me anymore?" he teased. "Good! Because you're a legitimate pain in the ass when you're worried."

"Oh, kid. Don't let's get ahead of ourselves here. As far as me watchin' your back, we are Charlie Mike."

"So, I'm a mission?" he laughed. "I don't think I'll need an overwatch for whatever I do next, Jack. I think the last couple of months have cured me … No, you know what, the last couple of years … All of it. I'm good. No more crazy assed adventures for Angus MacGyver. I think maybe I wanna be boring. Boze thinks I should be an actor anyway. That sounds boring enough."

Jack laughed. "You'd still need a stuntman, kid. Now, that'd be a hell of a job. If I ever quit workin' for Uncle Sam, maybe that's what I'll do."

Mac's face drew down into a frown. "If you ever let your back heal, man."

"Oh, man, Carl's Junior, you don't know what you're letting yourself in for. Fussing over me like the terror that is Brother Bear Bozer. I am the Overwatch in this relationship, you pup, and I call hovering privileges in perpetuity after the way you've been since I hurt my back."

Instead of responding to the amused teasing in Jack's voice, Mac got quiet. "It's my fault, Jack."

This time Jack turned and sat forward with no hesitation and as far as he could tell it didn't actually hurt quite like he imagined Hell would, so that was a plus. "Now, kid, I told you we were gonna talk about shit that was your fault, and me getting my sorry ass hurt wasn't one of the things we'd be talkin' about, right? Because that ain't your fault, kid. I was doing my job. Don't matter if it wasn't a sanctioned mission, kid. If I see something like that in progress, I don't care if I know the dumbass involved or not, I'm duty bound to step in."

Mac shook his head, his folded arms tightening until they looked stubborn. "You can say whatever you want, Jack, but the fact is …"

"The fact is that you broke into my file cabinet." Mac swallowed hard. "The fact is that you didn't give one lick of a thought to whether or not you ought to go out to the address you found, unarmed and unprepared." Mac's eyes dropped. "The fact is that you don't have any training that would have prepared you to find anything other than maybe a bomb with nobody guarding it in that warehouse. And you went anyway."

"I know, Jack, and I …"

"The fact is, if you'd cleaned up after yourself first instead of just rushing out the door, I wouldn't have known where you went. They would have taken you with them, and they would have done all manner of impolite things to you and you would have told them everything you ever learned, up to and including when you got outta diapers, kid. And then they would have killed you. And I woulda lost my favorite dumb genius." Mac raised his eyes to Jack's, looking a little like he was torn between crying and yelling. "And I never could have forgiven you if that had happened, Mac. I mean it now."

Mac nodded slowly. "I know. It was stupid. It's part of why I said no to Thornton, I guess." He paused for almost a full minute, but Jack gave him the space to think. "I'm really sorry I broke into that cabinet, Jack. Not just because it's a shit thing to do … But, I should have waited, should have trusted you. I just …"

He trailed off, the war between wanting to yell and wanting to cry finally won by the latter, and he knew if he kept talking he would and he didn't want to.

"You don't trust easy, kid. I know." Mac wasn't looking at him, but he didn't have to be for Jack to see the shine they had taken on. "And you were pretty caught up in the whole Mazari thing, especially after I showed you that picture of O'Neill. And you'd been worn out from takin' care of me, then you were sick … And I sorta think you were at your wits end from all the nightmares and what I noticed was a pretty solid suspicion that you didn't really work at a think tank based on the way you'd taken to worryin' about me. You weren't at your best."

Jack caught the edges of an almost smile then. He squeezed Mac's shoulder with his good hand.

"So, let's be clear. I'm not mad at you for just bein' people, bud. We all do something dumb once in a while … Just most people don't do dumb stuff that almost gets them killed. And maybe they can be all judgey but since I do that sort of thing all the time, I won't be."

Mac glanced up at him then and cleared his throat. "You do realize that this does mean I owe you a Wookie Life Debt, too, for sure."

Jack grinned. "I can get behind that, kid. So … not to beat a dead horse or give you flashbacks to when you were livin' in the cabin, but … what are you gonna do now? Because we both know you're too crappy a liar to be an actor no matter how damned pretty you are, Hollywood."

Mac grinned. "I think I like Carl's Junior better from you, pal." Jack laughed softly, then Mac shrugged. "I don't really know. I still have money from Mom and Gramps, so I don't have to rush right out and … I can think about it a little. And I think maybe I need to do that. Think. Not brood!" he hurried to assure Jack who had raised on eyebrow. "I won't be that guy again."

Jack nodded. "Me 'n Boze wouldn't letcha anyway. I …" This time Jack was the one to trail off. Mac frowned at him. "If you'd wanted to come work at DXS as an agent, not as a lab geek, I would have supported that, kid … But I gotta be honest with you, when I was watching your back over there … I always kinda pictured you comin' home, gettin some nerdy job, and maybe findin' a nerdy wife and havin' some nerdy babies … I never once pictured you in the kind of life I live."

Mac grinned then, more of the tension leaving him. He was astounded that Jack didn't really hold any anger against him after what happened. Seemed like maybe Jack had gotten all his anger for anyone named Angus MacGyver right out of his system the first hitch they'd worked together, and now all he had was … Mac just swallowed hard. Jack called him brother all the time. He knew he meant it.

"I've always wanted a family, too." Then, because he was terrible at actually talking about his feelings, and didn't think he'd ever openly talk about them with the ease or honesty Jack always managed, he made brief eye contact. "You and Boze are a good start, I guess."

Jack looked at him seriously. "No matter where you work, kid, no matter where you wind up, Wookie Life Debt, alright? I will always have your six."

Mac felt himself wanting to tear up again. He wasn't having it. "I'm sure you will, big guy," he joked to break the moment. He got up to grab a beer. He didn't care that it wasn't even lunch time yet. He'd quit his job and had no idea what the hell he was going to do next. That warranted a beer. "As soon as you can walk to the fridge without my help."

Jack knew what he was doing, but let it slide. Mac didn't like revealing his emotions, especially when they were running high. So he gave Mac a sideways smile that said he was about to call shenanigans. "Since I can't … you wanna grab me one of those?"

Mac's eyebrows climbed. "I thought the doc said no booze and you didn't want Thornton pissed at you." But he grabbed the beer anyway and went back over and handed it to Jack.

Jack popped the top with his keychain and winked at Mac. "Ah, hell, kid, she'll live."