A/N: Hey y'all! Hope everybody is doing well! I celebrated my birthday yesterday! I was very disappointed to find out that nobody purchased MacGyver for me, so I guess I just have to keep on writing fanfiction, lol. Thanks to booksfallquietly for looking this over.

Thursday and Friday passed quickly with nothing new to show, except all of the school knew Mac liked to fix things. He had expected this after fixing the microwave the first week, but Mel was the one telling everybody who held still long enough. Each day had several teachers bringing him things that the kids had messed up for him to work his magic on. It was fun, but tiring. Now it was Saturday, the day he had promised Marie he would pick her up and help with her church's Community Thanksgiving dinner, He wished he could sleep in, but daylight was burning as Jack would say. He arrived at Marie's house ten minutes before the appointed time. He debated whether to go to the door and knock or just to wait in the Jeep and text her. He inner Jack told him that a gentleman always knocks, so with a sigh, he got out of the vehicle and was about to knock when Marie opened the door.

With a bright smile, "I'm glad you're here!" She then thrust a crock-pot full of something into his hands. "Could you put this in the Jeep? I've got a few more things to grab to take with us, and then we'll be ready to roll. By the way, do you want anything to drink, some of my hot chocolate?"

He debated about getting anything, but he had liked the little bit she had given him. "I'll take a small cup."

Marie grinned at him, "Coming right up!" She then let the storm door close and retreated into the house. He carefully placed the crock-pot in the back floorboard and tried to figure out what the mixture in it was. The first description that came to mind was puke, it looked like puke. Unable to figure it out, he decided just to ask Marie when she got back out. He just got back to the door when Marie popped back out with a box. "If you'll take this, I'll grab the drinks and we'll be on our way!"

Mac did as requested and soon they were driving down the road. She gave direction very similar to Jack, using landmarks instead of road names; it must be a Southern thing. His curiousity piqued he asked Marie, "So what's with using landmarks instead of miles and street names?"

Marie laughed, "Well I think it's bred into us. I can only speak for myself, but I am crap at distances and street names, so if you tell me to go 12 miles and take a right on Kitty Street, it's going to be a struggle." She held up a finger, "But if you tell me to keep going straight till you see the gas station then turn right, it's much easier. Also, I don't have to slow and try to read every street sign I come across."

Mac had to admit, it did make sense. Marie added a second later, "Plus if you are in Atlanta, half of every street is named Peachtree, so landmarks are a must. I don't remember half of the streets it took to get to my aunt's house there, but you give me a familiar place and I could get you right to her doorstep! Also, take this next right, then the next left and we are the first church on the right."

"First church?"

Marie chuckled again, "One thing our town is blessed with are car lots, banks, and churches. I wonder what that says about us?"

Mac pulled into the parking lot and parked the Jeep. Marie turned to look at him. "I've got to go in here to disarm the security system. So if you just want to wait I'll get it turned off and the door unlocked." Mac nodded, and she hopped out, quickly climbed the few steps, unlocked the door and dashed in the church. Mac got out and was grabbing the mysterious crock-pot when Marie came back out.

"Ok, so what is in here?" He was pretty sure it wasn't vomit.

She shot him a questioning look. "It's dressing, didn't you say you wanted to try some?"

Mac's eyebrows rose, that wasn't what he was expecting. "It looks watery, and not very editable."

Marie laughed loudly, "That's because it's not done yet. I just mixed it up, it needs to cook a few hours. It's usually made in a casserole dish and baked, but I promise you it will be good."

Mac looked at her dubiously, "If you say so. It's cold out here, let's get this stuff in." He handed her the crock-pot filled with dressing and grabbed the box, locking the Jeep and following her inside.

"So the fellowship hall is where we'll be set up is down this hall and then downthe steps. To get anywhere in this church you have to either go up or down a flight of steps, so be prepared." Marie led the way. When they came to the bottom of the stairs she set down the crock-pot and went to a closet to turn on the lights. Mac heard the sound of breakers being thrown, and the lights came on.

When she stepped out of the closet he had to ask, "Are you using the circuit breakers as your light switches?"

"We're noting but high tech here." She said with a shake of her head.

"Do you know how dangerous that could be?" Mac was concerned.

"So I've heard. I'm frankly surprised that the building hasn't burned down by now. Truthfully I consider it a miracle of God, and I wish I was kidding." Now that the power was on he could see how dated the kitchen area was. It had a stove, two old refrigerators, a food warmer, and not much else besides the counter and shelves. He noticed a foul order in the air but didn't want to mention it, but Marie did. "What the heck is that…." She trailed off walking over to the warmer and opened the door the smell got worse. "Great, it still stinks!"

Marie must have picked up on Mac's puzzlement and explained it. "You remember the other day when I was complaining 'bout how everybody was texting me?" Mac nodded, and she continued. "So apparently after the last lunch we had were, which was several months ago something was left in the warmer. It completely rotted. I was told that mold had even eaten through the aluminum foil." Marie shuttered.

Mac smiled, "Well if it was left tightly wrapped in this warmer, I can understand how that could happen. If you are interested, the breaking down of the food probably produced… Mac trailed off recognizing the glazed look like the one that Jack got when he goes full nerd on him.

Marie apologized," Sorry, science isn't one of my strong suits. But look at how organized the warmer is." She gestured like she was Vanna White. Mac did notice that all the trays were labeled with duct tape. "Did that awhile back so we wouldn't have to go huttin for a specific item. So if you will follow me in here, and I'll get the crock-pot going." She grabbed the crock-pot and led him into another hall that had lots of doors both on the right and left.

"These are all either storage rooms or old Sunday school rooms, or both." She continued talking as they went into the first room on the right. The room was big and mostly empty; a few odds and ends lying around, and two folding tables. "If you could grab me that power strip out of the box, I would appreciate it."

Mac stepped back in the main room. The main room was spacious with wood paneling that was popular in the '70s. The only ornamentation on the walls was a single tapestry of 'The Last Supper' hanging by the stairs. The room was filled with tables and chairs. The tables were bare, and Mac hoped that they would decorate them somehow. It always made him feel sad when the soup kitchens he volunteered at quit trying to look nice. He went to where he had set the box, rummaged around till he found the power strip, grabbed it and took it back to Marie. Soon enough she had the crock-pot plugged up and cooking away.

"So we need to decorate, get set up, put everything where I want it, and if you want I'll give you the ten- cent tour. Or you are free to roam around the church as you wish." She stopped wrinkled her forehead, "Dang it! I left my drink in your car." She groused. "Mind if I borrow your keys to go grab it?"

Mac offered, "How about I come with, because I left mine in there also, then you can give me a tour." Jack and his training officers at spy school drilled into him to know as much about where he was at as possible. The two tramped back up the steps and back to the door. Mac volunteered to go and grab the drinks.

"Thanks, I like to keep the door locked when I'm here," Marie said. Mac knew there had to be a story behind that, but it would have to wait until he had the deliciously warm drinks in hand. He quickly liberated the two cups, thankful that they were warm on such a frigid day, and quickly made his way back into the church where Mare was holding the door open for him. She quickly accepted her drink and took a deep drink.

Mac laughed, "So what's the story with the locked door?"

Marie sent him a wily look, "I was wondering if you had picked up on that." With a sigh, she said, "Several years ago, a friend and I were painting our Sunday school room, and we thought nothing of leaving the door unlocked, especially since we knew our Sunday school teacher was bringing us some equipment. So we are working and all of a sudden we hear someone clear their throat behind us. I thought it was our teacher, but when I turned around it was a stranger who had came in to beg for money. Scared the living daylights out of me! This isn't the nicest neighborhood; heck my car's been broken into. Since then I've been a lot more cautious."

Mac nodded, it made a lot of sense. "So let's have that tour, but I might have to owe you the money, ten cents is a lot."

"Tell me about it! They don't pay us subs hardly anything. Did you know that we technically make less than minimum wage? We get $50 dollars a day, $25 for half day." With a savage shake of her head, she changed the subject, "So through this door is the sanctuary, and we're walking." Marie opened the white door into the sanctuary of the church. "And this is, what the heck?"

Mac directed his attention from looking over the unfamiliar room to where Marie was looking. In one of the panes of stained glass was a gaping hole. "So I'm going to assume that is not usually there?" Mac asked joking.

"Yeah, that would be a huge no." Marie then headed over to the other side of the church where the window was located. There was glass scattered over several of the pews. Marie sighed, "Well this is going to be fun to clean up. Guess it's a good thing that I'm also one of the janitors, and I just freaking vacuumed yesterday!" She growled under her breath. "Why couldn't they have done this before I vacuumed?"

Mac chuckled, "Is there anything you don't do? Also if you are planning on vacuuming it up, do you know what type of bag is in the vacuum? Because if it's a paper bag, the glass might tear right through the bag, and make an even bigger mess."

Marie sighed; she was still staring at the damage. "Nope, I'm a one lady show. It's hard on Sunday's when I have to both preach and be the audience." She laughed. "Anything to earn a little bit more money, a girl's gotta survive. And to answer your other question, yeah a paper bag is in there. I remember this because the other one exploded creating the mess you were just describing. Can nothing be easy?" She whined this last part while rubbing her face with the hand not holding the hot chocolate.

Mac agreed wholeheartedly, nothing ever went easy for him, like ever including this mission. "I know of a way to catch the glass so it won't perforate the bag. Do you know where any pantyhose might be?" Mac knew it was a long shot, but it would work best in this situation.

Marie nodded, "You know what? I think I just might! This church has a little bit of everything, somewhere, but I think I might know where I can find some hose. If you want to follow me, and grab the vacuum, I'll get the pantyhose, and you can show me your idea."

Mac nodded and followed her out of the door on the other side of the sanctuary. It led them back into the hallway that had the steps leading down to the fellowship hall directly on their right. She turned left and into the church's library, and opened a door that hid a small closet withheld the vacuum and a lot of flower arrangements.

"Want to guess at some of the other hats I wear?" Marie joked. Mac laughed. "If you'll drag this old thing to the sanctuary and get it plugged up, I'll hunt up some hose." Mac nodded his agreement, and Marie took off.

Mac wrestled the vacuum into the sanctuary, suddenly thankful that Bozer took care of that particular chore for their house. He had finally got it all hooked up and was examining how it went together when Marie came back holding a pair of pantyhose. She grinned triumphantly, "I told you we were a bunch of hoarders!"

Mac took the proffered hose, brought out his knife and cut off several inches up from the toe. He then took the vacuum tube off, and slipped the hose over the hole, and poked it down a little bit then put it together again. "Ok this should suck the glass up, but just make sure than when you turn the vacuum off that the end is in the air, so the glass pieces won't come tumbling back out."

"You really are a freaking genius aren't you?" Marie asked in wonder. She tried it and it worked like a charm. She turned off the vacuum and turned to Mac. "So this is probably going to take me a few minutes so if you want to go exploring while I finish up here go ahead." She then turned back to vacuuming up the glass.

Mac decided to take the self- guided tour, heck maybe he could find those printing plates and stacks of one dollar bills! After wondering all around the church, and Marie wasn't lying when she said they were a bunch of hoarders with a lot of steps. He was sorting through the box of items that Mare had brought from her house when Marie came back down the stairs

Mac looked up, "Finally got it all done?"

She gave him a deadpan look, "Finally got through snooping around the church?" Then she broke and started laughing. "You should have seen your face! Thanks for the hose suggestion it worked like a charm! So you ready to get some real work done?"

"Sure. What do we need to be doing?"

"I want to get this set up the way that I like it, then we can start decorating. We have some table clothes in the pantry, then we have some Thanksgiving decorations somewhere, and to add a little bit of cuteness, I have some turkeys that the Wednesday night kids made. Oh, and then my sister said she was coming and bringing a pizza. What do you like on it?"

Mac grinned, "I will eat pretty much anything on a pizza. I have one friend that will only eat meat lovers, another who enjoys weird combos, and a third who likes the classic pepperoni. Also didn't you say that you needed to cook a turkey?"

A look of terror came over Marie's face, and she slapped a hand over her mouth. "Holy crap! I freakin forgot about the stupid turkey!" She dashed into the kitchen area, opened the fridge, and pulled out a behemoth of a turkey. "If you could grab that pan that I brought in and the plastic bag from the box, I would appreciate it." Mac had reached the box when she hollered. "Also if you could grab the container with the red top and the blue gloves that would be great!" He returned a few minutes later with the requested items. "Thank you so much! Ever cooked a turkey?"

Mac laughed, "I'm not known for my cooking skills, so my friends mostly have me set the table."

Marie arched her eyebrow and grinned. "Well, today is your lucky day. Chef Marie will instruct you in the cooking of your first turkey."

Mac wasn't sure how he felt about that. He didn't want to ruin any of the food, but Marie seemed sure that he wouldn't mess anything up. "All right, tell me what to do!" Marie grinned and passed him a pair of gloves.

"I always used these, you don't have too, I just hate getting all that ickiness on my hands," Marie explained. Mac shrugged and donned a pair. They were standing at the sink where Marie had deposited the turkey with the items Marie has requested. "So the first thing is to set the oven temperature." She stepped over and did just that. "Next is to get the turkey out of the packaging and seasoned. I brought my homemade secret seasonings from home." She looked at Mac expectantly.

"Am I supposed to ask what's in it?" he questioned.

"So since you asked, it has basil, rosemary, sage, and garlic." She smiled at him," Not a secret, but makes it taste freaking good! So where was I?"

"Unpackaging the turkey." Mac reminded her.

She smiled, "Thanks, sometimes ADD sucks. So now that's it's unpackaged I'm gonna grab the olive oil to mix with the spices and we'll rub it on the skin!" She grinned when she came back with the oil. "It's getting a message before it gets roasted!" She laughed at her joke. Once they got the coating on Marie gave further instructions. "So we gotta fish the neck and giblets outta its butt, then fill it with those apples and oranges then I'll drizzle the rest of this rub on it."

"There is something shoved up the turkey's butt? I thought.." Mac started to say, but Marie cut him off.

"Ok, so it's not the turkey's actually butt, but." Marie laughed at her joke and tiled the turkey up and plunged her hand in the opening. "If you want to be technical I guess it's the abdominal space, where the organs used to be. Fun fact, the turkey won't turn out icky if you don't remove this stuff. How do I know this you ask? Well, my first turkey neither my friend nor I knew about the neck and giblets so we roasted it with them in there. Imagine our shock when they slithered out later." She laughed at the memory. "We may have screamed." She fished what Mac guessed was the neck then a pouch out. She pointed to the neck and had a look that Jack would be proud of, "Looks like something else right?" She cackled as she threw the neck and giblets into the sink, and then shoved the fruit into the space. Mac had to laugh at the very Jack like joke. "So if you will grab the oven bag, we'll shove her in, put her in the pan, and then Big Bertha gets roasted!" Mac helped Marie do exactly as she requested and soon Bertha was in the oven.

"So, do you remember what we were talking about before you saved my bacon?" Marie had wondered back out into the main part of the fellowship hall.

"I think you had just asked me my pizza preference, and I was telling you that I would eat just about anything."

"Oh yeah!" Marie exclaimed. "This one will be half pepperoni and half just cheese if that's ok? I'm the weirdo who only likes cheese on her pizza." She motioned Mac over to where she stood at the bottom of the steps. "I would like to push that table" She pointed at a small teacher's desk that held the plates and eating utensils. "To almost flush with the entrance to the kitchen, then line the two long tables up so that I can set my plates on that first table and we can serve from the other two. What I like to do is have the people come in from the outside door and get in line. Then we can serve them right down the line, and they can go sit and enjoy their food. "

Mac could see what she was saying, and it made a lot of sense to him too. So they go to moving tables and getting the arrangement correct. Marie had just opened the pantry to show Mac where they stored the table clothes when they heard the door alarm chime and a voice call out. "Hey loser, where you at?"

Marie hollered back, "Down here, freak face." She rolled her eyes, "It's my sister."

Mac then heard someone coming down the steps noisily, and a girl who looked nothing like what Mac expected her sister to look like appeared with a pizza box. Setting eyes on Mac Marie's sister's eyes lit up, "Well hello there!"

Marie came around Mac to grab the pizza box out of her sister's hands. "Brat this is Mac, Mac meets Brat. He is working at Lawrence filling in for Jessie right now."

The sister nodded, and held her hand out, which Mac automatically took, "Most people just call me Annie. And it's very nice to meet you, Mac. So you've got to have a girlfriend, she know that you're hanging out with my loser sister?"

Mac tried to stammer out a response, but his voice failed him. He knew he was blushing. Thankfully Marie came to his rescue, "Annie behave, it's none of your business if he's got a girlfriend. He is here to help with the dinner, not to pick up girls." She stopped and looked at Mac. "You're not here to pick up girls, are you? Cause all your gunna find is a bunch of old ladies." She got that grin again, and arched an eyebrow, "Unless wrinkly old ladies are your thing?"

That got a laugh out of Mac, "No, I'm not here to try to score a date old or otherwise." He tentatively went over to where Marie had set the pizza.

Marie had walked back into the kitchen and was looking into one of the refrigerators. "You want a coke?"

Mac was pretty sure she was talking to him, "Sure."

"Ok, what kind do ya want, Coke, Sprite, Sun Drop, or some sorta orange drink?"

Mac was confused, "Sprite I guess?"

"Comin' right up!" Marie grabbed the drinks, and while carrying them over to Mac she addressed her sister. "Don't you have something to be doing? And where is my mini-me?"

Annie quit her staring at Mac and looked at her sister. "She is with mom and dad, and yeah, but I don't wanna go shopping. You owe me for that pizza, by the way."

Marie handed Mac his drink and sat down, "It's your gift to me. You make a lot more money than I do!" She grinned and took a huge bite of pizza. "Too bad, you better get going or you'll be late getting back, and you know it will be all hands on deck."

Annie sighed, "I'm fixin to."

Marie shot her sister a look, "Quit fixin, and do it."

"You sound like mom, and I'm going. You still owe me for that pizza!" Then turning up the wattage on her smile she looked at Mac. "It was a pleasure meeting you Mac. I'm looking forward to working with you later!" Then she turned and sashayed off.

Yelling after her, "Good luck getting blood out of turnips!" Marie then sighed and turned to Mac, "I apologize for her, sometimes I think I hit her too hard as a child." She eyed him. "You need a plate or something? Dig in before it gets cold."

Mac grinned, "You know some people would argue that it's better that way."

"You just hush your mouth! That would be sacrilege!" She seemed truly appalled at the thought. "So what do you think of our church?"

Mac took a bite, it was delicious. "This is great. And the church was as advertised. If I went to church I think I would enjoy coming here."

"Yep, Annie got it from the best place in town, a little mom and pop place. Do you not go to church?" Marie looked puzzled.

Mac sighed not knowing how to describe his religious beliefs, "No, I don't go to church. My grandpa took me some as a child because that's what he thought my mom would have wanted, but it never really meant anything to me. I guess I'm too much of a scientist to really believe in the Christian version of God."

Marie had a sad look on her face, "You do know there are scientists who are Christians, right? I was just reading about some of them the other day. There's this dude, crap what was his name again? Andrew… it was something like Pinterest ummmm, Andrew Pinsent, that's his name! he's like this Catholic priest who also contributed to the creation of CERN, has degrees in physics and philosophy, and wrote a book on theology." She took another bite of pizza. "Apparently Sir Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, and Galileo were all Christians. There were some other people including like one of the first ladies to win a Nobel Peace Prize, I remember she has an element named after her."

"Lise Meitner." Mac supplied.

Marie snapped her fingers, "Yep, that's her. I know a little about a lot of things." She took another bite of the pizza and grinned. "Just enough to be dangerous."

"Fair point." He conceded, "So how long have you lived here?" Mac figured now that conversation was flowing and food was being consumed would be a great time to try to grill her to see if you knew anything about what was going on at Lawrence Elementary.

"Born and raised here. I was born at a county hospital that is now a nursing home. Did I tell you that my parents used to teach at Lawrence Elementary?" Marie grabbed another slice of the pizza. "It feels like home, as funny as that sounds. I've done a lot of playing in those hallways!"

This was it he felt, if she didn't know what was going it then nobody would, but how to broach the subject without straight out asking about it. Then it hit him, use the drug angle. "I bet you've seen a lot of changes over the years!" He got another slice of pizza himself, it really was delicious!

She laughed, "Like you wouldn't believe! Buildings have been destroyed and built, teachers have come and gone, but I like to think the essence is still there you know. What makes Lawrence School is what it is. Does that make any sense what so ever?" She cocked her head and looked at him.

Mac nodded understanding what she was saying. He tried to choose his next words carefully not wanting to overplay his hand. "I've heard about how other rural county schools have been affected by the drug epidemic. Is that something you see affecting Lawrence?"

Marie fidgeted and started picking at her pizza, which were classic tells that she wanted to avoid the subject, but Cage had done a great job of giving the team some pointers on how to be a better interrogator. So he let the silence stretch until she answered, "Of course." She paused again, and with a deep breath. "It's horrible how some of the kids are affected. Kids of my classmates are telling me about mom and dad's visits to rehab, and how they have to live with grandma or other family members. It's so freaking sad." She shook her head. "But what I think is the worst is that the…."