Okay… So I managed to write another chapter… Hope it feels good.

-On this one and possibly the next chapter, I think I should warn you. It may be triggering for some people. In the story it is NOW September 10th and the NEXT CHAPTER will probably be September 11th
-I don't have to tell you what will be going on in these chapters then, do I?

Read at own risk, I guess…

It was good, he felt like he belonged. Felt like family already. This was another home for him, he was accepted and he liked them. All of them. (Well, all those he had met until now. He still hadn't met Danny, but he figured he had to be a good guy too.)

Conversation went easy and everybody were having a good time.

They ate, they talked… They ended up drinking coffee and eating cake by the living room table.

MACGYVER2016MACGYVER2016

"Oh, the 8 o'clock news has started…" Rory noted as he glanced up at the clock on the wall.

Lorraine clicked the button on the remote and the television started up.

"It's September 10th and tomorrow marks the 16th anniversary of the tragic events that took place during 9/11." The reporter informed as an old video of American Airlines flight 11 crashing in to the northern tower played in the background. "It was early in the morning, Tuesday September 11th when a plane crashed into the first World Trade Center, people were just coming in to work. Just a little over 15 minutes later, the south tower was hit by another plane. Nearly 3000 people lost their lives that day"

Rory was the only one who saw how Jack suddenly paled and tensed up instantly at the sight on the TV.

"I've got to get some air…" Jack uttered barely above a whisper as he got up and quickly headed for the front porch.

MACGYVER2016MACGYVER2016

The sound of the plane coming in low. The way the ground trembled beneath them as they stood looking up at the unbelievable sight in front of them. A freaking plane just crashed into one of the twin towers. Jack and Charlie and every other person out in the streets of New York stood staring up at the smoke billowing out from the north tower at 08:46 in the morning. They were all equally stunned, stuff like this just don't happen.

"Holy shiiit!" Charlie gasped, he's the first one to recover enough to say anything.

"Crap!" Jack called out a second or two later, before he taps Charlie on the shoulder much harder than he actually intended, "Dude, we've got to go! We've got to help!"

Charlie nodded as they took off running towards the towers.

MACGYVER2016MACGYVER2016

Jack slid down along the wall outside the door, just beside the rail of the porch. He tried to fight off the images of the flaming towers, the falling bodies and all the injured and dead he saw later. His hands were shaking, it was hard to breathe.

MACGYVER2016MACGYVER2016

They reached the area outside the towers, people from the lower floors had started pouring out onto the street. Some were leaving the tower that hadn't been hit too. Smart thing to do.

"What's the plan Jack?"

"Help." Jack answered, looking up at the inferno. "Anyway which we can…"

Charlie nodded, their relaxing little R&R had just been cut short.

"Yesterday, did you notice easiest way to guide large masses of people away from here?" Jack asked.

"Quickest would be down there…"

"Up west street?" Jack asked, Charlie nodded. "I thought the same…"

"But there's going to be too many people…" Charlie sighed, "Best we can do is just to get them away from the building all together. Make sure they don't stop and block the way for the next one in line…"

"You're probably right about that Charlie…" Jack nodded frowning up at the now burning building.

MACGYVER2016MACGYVER2016

Michelle found Jack sitting on the corner of her parents porch, hyperventilating and covering his head with his arms.

"Jack…" she whispered, she didn't want to startle him. "Jack?"

He didn't answer, just kept on hyperventilating and cover his neck and head with his arms.

"Jack?"

MACGYVER2016MACGYVER2016

The first one was mind blowing. He couldn't believe his own eyes as the first body plunged towards the ground. Couldn't believe that he had just witnessed someone ending their own life.

Through the layer of smoke and straight down to the concrete below. He just couldn't believe it.

"Don't look at it Charlie!" he called out, but Charlie was also staring up at the horrific sight, exactly as stunned as Jack felt.

"Poor souls…" the blond Californian swallowed, "They're trapped up there Jack…"

MACGYVER2016MACGYVER2016

"COVER!" Charlie's voice boomed from his left, and pure instincts had Jack diving for the closest piece of sturdy mass.

They both made it behind a concrete wall just as a second plane crashed into the other tower.

"Shit man! This is bad!" Charlie cried out, as various debris rained down all around them.

"YOU HAVEN'T FIGURED THAT OUT ALREADY?!" Jack screamed back.

"OF COURSE I'VE FIGURED IT OUT! I JUST DIDN'T WANT TO SAY IT!" Charlie called out.

MACGYVER2016MACGYVER2016

"Jack? Honey…" she tried again, kneeling down a few yards away. "Can you hear me?"

She wasn't quite sure if he nodded or not.

"Can you hear me?" she repeated.

That was definitely a nod.

"Is it okay if I touch you?"

He shook his head, "Not yet…"

His voice was trembling just like his hands.

MACGYVER2016MACGYVER2016

"The two of us, we are Delta Force Operators…" Charlie informed both the police and fireman in charge. "Please let us help you."

Both the policeman and the firefighter had tried to usher them away, tried to get them to go to safety.

"It would be a lot safer for you to head away, like the rest of the people here."

"We want to help. Okay!" Jack almost sneered, "I get that you can't let us follow you up the buildings or anything, but let us stay here. Let us help with the wounded or something. We're both more than aqueduct with first aid!"

"He means adequate…" Charlie quickly corrected, he was amazed that someone who were fluent in as many languages as Jack still struggled with his mother tongue. In his mind he would chalk it up to some sort of dyslexia, he was pretty sure the Texan had it.

The two officials shared a look.

"Okay, but don't get too close to the buildings. We don't know how much damage there is… The structural integrity cold have been damaged. It could come down as a house of cards…" the man in charge of the firemen informed.

"We'll keep a safe distance…" Charlie answered, knowing full well that he was lying through his teeth.

The two uniform wearing men nodded.

"Okay, we'll let you stay. Just put on these vests…" the policeman sighed, pulling out two reflective vests from the closest police car. "Then we'll know it's you, and we won't guide you away…"

Jack and Charlie nodded, putting on the vests.

"Okay, see you guys later…" Jack nodded to the police and firefighter before he turned.

"We've done crazier stuff than this…" Charlie whispered under his breath looking over at Jack.

"Can't exactly remember when or what, but…" Jack shrugged, "And you know I'm going as close as possible, right?"

Charlie nodded, "Of course I knew that! I was lying so they would let us stay!"

MACGYVER2016MACGYVER2016

Jack looked up tears streaming from his eyes.

"Was it the news?" Michelle asked calmly.

Jack nodded.

"You were there that day?"

"Me and Charlie…" Jack nodded again, "The guy that…"

Jack made a pistol shape out of his left hand and held it to his mouth, "Poof…"

Michelle felt tears stinging in her eyes.

Jack wiped away a few tears with his sleeve, "We were on R&R, thought we'd see NYC…"

Michelle nodded, but didn't interrupt.

"We flew in on the Friday, 7th…" Jack cleared his voice in a hope that it wouldn't crumble even more. The weekend we spent drinking, eating at a few places we'd heard of. Charlie, you wouldn't believe the things he could eat."

"That's coming from you?" Michelle half-joked, earning herself a brief laugh from Jack.

"Yeah, that's coming from me…" Jack sniffled, "On Monday we…"

Jack fell silent.

"On the Monday you?"

"We went up the south tower. We climbed it, the stairs… All 110 floors of it. Early in the morning. Reached the top about five minutes to nine…" Jack answered as he started to shake all over again. "One day later… And…"

Michelle said nothing.

"On the Tuesday we were planning to see the Empire State Building and some other stuff." Jack squeezed his good hand as hard as he could, trying to stay in control, his knuckles cracked "We were only 300 yards away when the…"

Jack let his good hand glide through the air like a plane, before mimicking it crashing into a building.

"Oh…" Michelle said, frantically searching her brain for ways she could help Jack. But she came up empty.

"As any other operator would do, we ran towards it. After we realized what we had just seen…" Jack swallowed hard. "I think that's one of the events that has messed me up the most…"

He broke out in silent tears again.

"Right now I want to hug you, cause that's really the only kind of comfort I can offer…" Michelle whispered, looking at the older man. "Would that be okay?"

Jack pulled his shoulders up in a shrug.

"Not yet…?" she asked.

Jack nodded.

The door to the hall opened, but Michelle waved her father away. He nodded and closed the door again.

Jack pulled a deep breath, "We helped out. Almost got hit by jumping people, falling debris and airplane parts… Almost got trapped when the towers started falling too…"

Michelle kept her silence.

"After the dust had settled and all, we helped NYFD search for survivors." Jack bit out, "I remember stepping in goo… -It wasn't goo…"

Michelle shuddered as she involuntarily pictured a younger Jack Dalton stepping in what she imagined had to be a squished person.

"Neither of us slept okay for weeks after that…" Jack admitted, "Then we shipped out to Afghanistan…"

He pulled a deep breath, and let go of it slow and steady. His voice cold and controlled as he went on, "Tomorrow's 16 years since the twin towers. But there is another horrible anniversary there too… Tomorrow makes 11 years since Charlie…"

His voice broke completely at the mention of Charlie, and Michelle's heart broke with it.

She was relieved to see his guard come down and his arms spread wide, the universal sign for 'please hug me'. She crawled in closer, one knee on each side of his legs. He wrapped his arms around her, buried his face in her shoulder as the floodgates opened completely. She let her right hand run over his hair, her left hand was rubbing circles on his back.

MACGYVER2016MACGYVER2016

It took a full hour before Jack was able to quiet down again. Michelle's top had a big wet spot from where Jack had held his head, and she was about emptied out of tears herself too.

"I'm sorry…" he whispered, finally wiping tears and snot away one last time. "I'm sorry you had to see that…"

"Don't be…" Michelle murmured, wiping away some tears of her own, "If I get you for the good times, then I'm in for the bad ones too…"

Then she bent down and placed a quick kiss on his lips.

Jack let out a shaky mess, "Great, now your family must think I'm a hot mess…"

Michelle shook her head.

"I don't think they will…" she whispered. "They'll just know you've been through some stuff…"

Jack didn't respond.

"You want to go back in? I think there's more cake left…" Michelle asked as she brushed a couple of fingers against his jaw.

"Could we just sit here for a few more minutes?" Jack asked softly.

"Of course… We'll sit here for a little while longer…"

Okay… So…
Hope I didn't offend anyone with this… If I did, that certainly wasn't the meaning…