A/N: Oops, I meant to post this yesterday, I totally forgot that it was Wednesday, lol. I hope everybody had a happy and safe New Year's and I wish you all the best in 2020! May MacGyver be as awesome and long running as Supernatural, lol! Thanks to booksfallquietly for looking this over, and as always I don't own MacGyver.

Today was Career day, and Mac had to admit he was kind of excited to see what the kids and teachers had come up with. Riley was going as herself, Secret Agent Davis; she had gotten Jill to fake a badge that she could wear proclaiming her a Secret Agent, which she paired with black leggings, black ankle boots, and a black top. Mac had to admit she looked pretty awesome. He asked Jill to send his lab coat with Riley's badge, so he was dressed as a scientist with his lab coat and clipboard. Jack was going as a soldier, he had borrowed the boots Mac had worn, pared them with his camo pants, and purchased an Army shirt to top the look off. The first time Mac saw him, he almost instinctively saluted; Jack had seen the aborted salute and grinned. Mac knew he was going to be harassed about that later.

Mac was already at school having got the early kids and the bus riders when Marie come in with a black dress, black knee- high combat looking boots, and make-up on, and even her hair was fixed in curls. All the kids kept on looking at her.

"So what are you dressed as?" Mac asked after she had twirled much to the delight of the kids.

She feigned shock, "You mean you don't recognize me? I'm a movie star! I'm known for my movies, 'The Substitute' its sequel "The Substitute Returns', and the third and final movie, 'The Substitute: Back to School ' they are about a cop going undercover to clean-up dirty schools. I hear it performed well overseas."

Mac started laughing, "That's pretty good, I'll give you that!"

Ainsley came up to Marie, "Ms. Marie, can I have some of your lipstick? It's so sparkly!"

Mac had to admit the lipstick was indeed sparkly. Marie squatted down, "Sorry, sweetie. I left it at home."

"Can you bring it tomorrows?"

"I'm not going to be here tomorrow."

"Oh." The little girl paused then asked. "Well can you bring it the next time you come?"

She was a persistent one. Marie answered, "We'll have to see." Then she addressed all the kids. "Ok, let's line up with Mr. Mac. "

The kids quickly lined up and followed him back to the classroom. As soon as Benny got there and in his lap, he pulled Mac's head down. "I's gots to tell you a secret." The little boy's hot breath tickled Mac's ear, but he ignored it. "I broughted one of the snacks that you gotted me at the store for my lunch!" Mac smiled, he was going to miss this little man when they left. Soon Marie was back with the other kids, and the day started in earnest.

They had just started center time, when Marie looked at her phone for the millionth time, then called out, "Everybody freeze!" The children responded very well and froze. "Everybody who is dressed up for Career day, please come over here, so we can get a picture! Mrs. Casi just reminded me!" All the little firemen, police officers, dancers, nurses, and vets all come to the rug. Mac helped then form two lines, so Marie could get a decent picture. Once she snapped a couple, she released the kids to go back to their centers and she returned to the desk chair beside Mac.

She handed him her phone, "So what do you think?"

Before he had a chance to answer a text message come through. So he handed the phone back, she quickly responded and handed it back to him. After a glance, another message came through. She took the offered phone with a growl. "You would think these grown butt adults had never done this before." She sent a reply off and tossed it on the desk. "Hopefully they won't reply."

Mac was curious, "What's going on?"

Marie sighed, "Every year for the past couple of years, my church hosts a Community Thanksgiving Dinner. This means the church fixes a Thanksgiving meal for those who might not otherwise get one. Want to take a guess to who is in charge?"

Mac grinned, "The Pope?"

"Good guess! You are 100% correct! The Pope comes to my Baptist church to direct this event. I wish!" She chuckled. "That would be a lot easier on me. For some reason, everybody has decided they need to ask me a million questions about it. It's not like we've had it for the past six years or something." She groaned and buried her head in her hands.

"Anything I can do to help?" Mac offered. He enjoyed helping out in food kitchens back home, and wouldn't mind helping out Marie if she needed it.

She pulled her hands down and ran them through her hair. "I don't know. Maybe? Honestly, I run this by the seat of my pants, with the motto 'God will provide' and he usually does." She paused a second the nodded, "Yeah, I could totally use your help, my friend who usually runs it with me left to go to college." She was about to say more, but Grayson come over to tattle that Chris wasn't his best friend anymore. She went to settle that argument, and then Mac had to go because two of the girls were fighting over a baby doll.

When they both finally got back to their seats Marie tried to pick up where she left off. "So how long do you want to volunteer for? 'Cause I'll be there most of the day, but we only serve from five to seven."

Mac thought about it for a minute. Right then they didn't have any plans for Saturday, and if he spent the day there then maybe Marie or someone else would talk about someone who maybe had more money than usual. Getting his job done, plus getting in some charity work sounded like a winner in his book. "I can be there all day." A thought occurred to him, "I'll even pick you up that morning!"

Marie seemed genuinely surprised, "Are you sure? It will be mostly boring. Me trying to cook Big Bertha the turkey, making some more dressing, cleaning, and generally getting set up."

"Sounds like fun. I've always wanted to try dressing, one of my friends is from the South too, and laughs every year when we make the stuffing." Mac was looking forward to it. Jack would always make fun of the stuffing that Bozer would make telling them they didn't know what real food was all about, then start eulogizing about his Granny Dalton's dressin'.

Marie smiled, "You're amazing," She picked up a piece of paper and pen to write down her address and phone number. "I'd say come by around 9:30 or so, there are a few things I need to take with me. And here is the address. It's easy to find, just get on the highway, and right before you get to the hospital we are the first street on the right, first house on the right. Can't miss it!" She handed him the note. "I also put my phone number in case you get lost, or need a sub!" She looked at her watch. "Shoot, if we don't hurry, we'll be late for lunch, again!"

Thankfully they were able to clean up and get the kids to lunch right on time. Mac was in the middle of eating his lunch when his phone buzzed. He pulled it out to see a message from Jack, 'I need a distraction."

Mac frowned, 'For what?' He typed back.

Jack quickly responded, 'Want 2 search ass principal office.' Then 'Can't do it after school, doors locked, don't have key.'

Mac pondered the situation, he couldn't just make two kids fight, plus it wouldn't reflect well on him and Marie as teachers, so he needed an alternate plan. He remembered seeing Jack's cleaning cart near the bathrooms as they came in. Maybe with the chemicals there, he could make enough smoke to start a fire drill. When he relayed his idea to Jack he got back. 'I'll just pull it'

And sure enough just a few minutes later the fire alarm sounded. It was horrible trying to get all twenty kids up and in a line going out the door at the same time. Several cartons of milk were knocked over, some kids had food clutched in their hands, and their line looked more like a heard of cats. With every second spent outside Mac silently cursed Jack, and hoped this wasn't all for naught. When nap time came around Mac was ready for one himself. Jack hadn't responded to any of the texts he had sent, so either he had nothing, had something, or they had figured out he was the one that pulled the alarm. Even though he doubted it was the last one. All the kids were down with a G rated movie on Netflix playing quietly in the background so those few who weren't napping to quietly watch. Mac was working on the folders, while Marie was reading a book when the phone rang. Marie quickly got up and threaded her way through the cots to answer it on the third ring, "Pre-K, this is Marie."

Marie's face went from pleasant to annoyed pretty fast, "No Kim, I'm not doing it." Then shaking her head, "Because it's gross. Make Sena do it, she lives for this." She laughed at whatever was said. "Fine, whatever. You will owe me so much!" With that, she hung up the phone. Looking up she saw that Mac was looking at her, so she motioned him over. He followed the same path she took trying not to trip over any of the cots. When he got to where Marie was she started talking, "So that was Mrs. Kim in kindergarten, and they have a kid with swamp butt. The kicker is she can't figure out who and wants me to do a sniff test."

Mac was trying his hardest not to burst out laughing, but his face must have given him away because Marie shot him a poisonous look, "So she's sending them down, and you're helping." That stopped the laughter. She beamed at him, "Just think you're helping a child develop better bathroom habits."

The three boys knocked a second later, and as soon as they stepped in the hallway you could smell the stink. Marie called each one by name to her talked to them for a second then she sent them to Mac. They both agreed it was the dark- headed little boy. So she sent them back to their classroom and called Kim. "Yeah, it's me." "We are pretty sure it's Michael." "Of course I did." "You owe us!" Marie hung up the phone," I swear you can't make this stuff up!" With that, they headed back to the desk to finish folders, and wait for the end of the day.

They had almost reached the desk when the phone rang again. Marie motioned for Mac to go ahead and sit while she turned around to answer the phone. When it didn't look to be important Mac got back to finishing the folders "Hey." Mac looked back up, "Office, I'll be right back." Mac nodded, and Marie slipped out of the room. He finally finished the folders, and was in the middle of sending another text to Jack, this one threatening, when he heard a knock. He quickly made his way to the door to let Marie in. In her hands, she held a box of cupcakes, and a balloon bouquet proclaiming Happy Birthday.

"So it's Maddie's birthday tomorrow, and she won't be here. So they sent cupcakes for a snack." Marie handed Mac the cupcake box and went to set the bouquet on the table where Maddie would sit for snack. He looked at the cupcakes, each had a ring with either a spider web or Spiderman's face on it, and the cupcakes were iced in either red or blue. Guess she likes Spiderman he thought. Mac could hear some of the kids starting to whisper, and saw a few sit up.

"Nap time's not over yet. Lay back down." The words came out of Mac's mouth even before he thought about it. He was finally getting a hang of this teaching thing, after all. Mac threaded his way back through the cots, and sat the cupcakes on the desk, while he took the chair. Mac looked down at his watch they only had about ten more minutes of nap. He looked over at Marie, who had picked up her book again. "So how does this work?" He gestured at the cupcakes."

Marie marked her place and set the book down. "Well generally we give them a cupcake and they eat it." She laughed at his expression. "Since it is a mix of both chocolate and vanilla cupcakes I wait until the kid is in their seat to ask them which flavor they like best, and we will sing Happy Birthday when the birthday girl gets up. Don't let them dictate exactly which one they want, you'll be here all day, well except for the birthday girl. Let Maddie pick the exact one. Everybody else gets what they get and doesn't throw a fit." She looked down at her watch and sighed, in a whining tone she announced, "I guess it's time to get them up. If you want to get the lights, I'll start passing out the juices."

Mac did as asked and soon the kids were stuffing their blankets under the sheet on the cot and scrambling for their seats eager for their cupcakes. Mac took the box of cupcakes after he got it open to Maddie, "So which cupcake do you want?"

She blinked up at him owlishly, "I'm gonna be five tomorrow!" She extended her hand with all her fingers extended.

Mac chuckled, "Well Happy Birthday, which cupcake do you want?"

"I wanted a vanilla cupacake wif red icing and a Spiderman face!"

He handed her the requested cupcake and after a mumbled 'thank you' she started happily licking the frosting off. He passed out a few more cupcakes before getting to Athena, "Do you want chocolate or vanilla?"

"I want blue."

"Blue isn't a flavor, do you want chocolate or vanilla?"

"Blue!"

Mac fought the urge to roll his eyes. "I'm not asking what color you want. Do you want a chocolate or vanilla cupcake?"

The little girl frowned at him, "Chocolate."

He handed her the cupcake, and noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Turning to better see, he discovered Chris standing beside the desk with his pants around his ankles and his hand down the back of his little Batman underwear.

Mac frantically looked around the classroom for Marie, but he didn't see her. In his calmest teacher's voice, Mac asked, "Chris please pull your pants up and take your hand out from your underwear."

Little vacant eyes turned towards him, "But I can feel poops coming out of my butt!"

Mac's eyes widened, "Go to the bathroom! Hurry!" Chris turned around with his pants still around his ankles and his hand still down the back of his underwear. "Pull up pants first please!"

Mac noted the twinge of desperation to his voice as the little boy toddled out of the classroom towards the bathrooms. He hurriedly passed out the rest of the cupcakes, wanting to go check on Chris when Marie walked back into the room with Chris. "Did he …" Mac started to say.

Marie interrupted. "I got him as he was coming out of the classroom, and we went to visit mom real quick, He's all good now." She raised her eyebrows and rolled her eyes. "Go sit down and enjoy your cupcake sweetie!" She waited until he was in his seat, and whispered, "You seriously can't make this crap up."

Mac trudged out of the school after the last bus had finally pulled out. He was done, or as Jack would say, 'Stick a fork in me, I'm done'. He made it to his Jeep and was about to climb in when he heard the distinctive sound of a motor not turning over. The sound repeated its self, but this time was accompanied by a lady swearing a blue streak. He sighed, it had been a long day, but he could probably fix what was wrong with the truck that was making the awful noise. As he approached, he could hear her chanting, "Please start, please start, please start." After trying again she appeared to give up, and just laid her head on the steering wheel.

"Can I help?" He asked hesitantly.

Her blonde head popped up, obviously not realizing someone was standing nearby. She pushed the half- opened door all the way open and hopped out. "Mac right? Didn't Marie introduce you?"

At his nod, she laughed, "I've heard good things about your fixin abilities. I'm Mel, I substitute here, but you already knew that." She laughed and held out her hand, they quickly shook. "Well, let's see what you can do with this hunk of junk. I've been telling my husband that it's an accident looking for a place to happen. But he won't listen to me."

While Mel was talking Mac popped the hood and was looking around to see what the issue could be. "Would you mind trying to crank her up for me?"

Mel got back in and turned the key, while Mac studied the engine. He was pretty sure it was the spark plug, but without the right tools, it was impossible to check. Luckily he wasn't one to give up. Looking around he found a long slim pipe that, with just a bit of tweaking should work just fine. He noticed Mel standing beside him watching him work. After pulling the valve covers he inserted his pipe into the hole, and carefully twisted the spark plug out. This one looked ok. So he carefully replaced it and tried the next one. Bingo! He could see where the metal connection part was broken off. He remembered seeing a small piece of wire that would do in a pinch. He quickly got it, did a little spot welding using a magnifying glass that Mel had and reinserted it.

"Ok, let's try to turn it over again," Mac suggested to Mel. She hopped up in the cab and turned the engine over. It hesitated but caught. "I don't know how long that will hold, so if I was you I would drive straight to my mechanics."

After getting out of the still running truck, Mel threw her arms around a startled Mac, "Thank you SO much! You don't know how much I appreciate this!" She then hopped back into her truck and pulled away. He went back to his Jeep, this time with a smile on his face. It was crazy how just being able to help someone could put you in a better mood.

When he pulled into the driveway he noticed that Jack's SUV was already parked; now maybe he could get some answers since the jerk wouldn't text him back! Walking into the house he didn't see anybody.

"Jack?" He called out.

Bozer stuck his head out of the living room, "We're all in here. You've got to see what Jack did." Mac made his way into the living room after shedding his jacket and washing his grimy hands. The three of them were gathered around Riley's laptop, and he could kind of make out an office.

"What's going on?" Mac questioned, coming closer to get a better look, recognizing Dawn Reeves's office.

"Me being a genius is what's going on. I guess being around you has finally started to pay off." Jack was beaming with pride.

"What did you do?" Mac's voice held a note of apprehension.

Riley answered, "I hate to agree with Jack, but it was pretty smart. Even if I had to do a fire drill with a class." She sent a brief glare in Jack's direction, but he ignored it. "So after he pulled the alarm, and Mrs. Reeves ran out, he .."

Jack interrupted her. "Hey, MY genius idea, I'm the one that gets to tell it. So there I was just me and the fire alarm."

"Get to the point Jack." This time Riley interrupted him.

"Fine, so after she left I started my search, but soon realized that she has way too much stuff for me to search before I had to leave. So I asked myself, 'what would Mac do' and it came to me! I set up a video call to Bozer, set my phone on silent, and hid it in the office with a clear view of her desk. That way if she does anything we'll see it." Jack still had that smug look on his face. "And if it's discovered I can just say that I set it down while cleaning, and forgot to pick it up!"

Mac hated to admit it, but it was a pretty genius move. "So how much longer do we have on the camera before your phone dies, and has anything incriminating happened yet?"

Bozer answered the second question first, "She has taken a few suspicions phone calls, from a phone we haven't seen before. I'm thinking it was the one that you saw the other day. But she hasn't said anything that the courts would use as evidence. And by my calculations, there are thirty minutes to an hour left on that phone. So let's just hope she does something illegal fast."