OMG! Is it weird to be excited about your own story? Well, I don't care if it is because that's how I feel about this one! I was so excited to post another chapter of this story. I got so engrossed in this one that I couldn't resist the temptation to write. One note before I start: I've never done the "in the previous chapter" thing before, but I feel that it fits this story well, so I am going to go ahead and do it. Anyway, here's the next chapter!
Previously:
"Let's go," he said drawing his gun. Landers and Lithes did the same and followed him down into the darkness.
0000
With slow, careful steps, the three agents made it down the stairs. It was pitch black in the room, but Casey was quick to draw out her phone and turn on the flashlight. She handed the phone to Jack who took it with a nod of thanks. The light from the flashlight cast an eerie glow over the room and the three agents got their first good look of it.
From top to bottom, it was made completely from cement. There were no windows, nor even a source of light. The whole place was held up by two large metal columns in the center of the room. Jack swiveled the light around in order to get a better idea of what they were dealing with. It seemed to be an empty room.
"Damn it," Jack sighed, running a hand through his short-cropped hair. He had felt for sure that this was going to be some secret lab full of evidence to convict MacGyver with. No, he was lying to himself. He had hoped to find the little boy. He knew that it was slim that they were ever going to find the child, and Matty knew it too, but he couldn't help wanting to find the two-year-old. Who knew where the kid was anyway? It was likely that he wasn't even on the property. If he's still alive a little voice in the back of Jack's mind nagged him. As much as he hated to admit it, it was more likely that the voice was right in this situation.
Jack motioned to his companions to head back up the stairs. He would send some lab techs over here to check it out later, but he really didn't think that they were going to find anything. This guy was too easy to apprehend; he knew there was going to be some sort of catch later on.
He was just about to step on to the first step when he heard a quiet noise. He froze, straining his ears in an attempt to listen. He was about to shrug it off as his overactive imagination when it came again. It sounded like a small animal, possibly hurt, or…a baby. Once the thought crossed his mind, Jack was almost confident that it was the tiny whimper of a very young child. He whipped back around determinedly strained his eyes in the limited light. He stopped when his eyes landed on a particular corner.
In the corner was a tiny toddler. He was curled as far into the wall as he could get, but he tried to press himself further into it when he noticed Jack watching him. He had on a dark blue t-shirt, jeans, and bare feet. His blond hair was dirty, as was his entire body. Jack could only stare at him. His big, scared blue eyes sliced into Jack's heart like a white-hot knife. Tears trailed down the small baby face and he sniffled pitifully. The toddler was shivering violently, probably out of both fear and chill.
It took him a moment, but Jack eventually broke out of his trance and slowly made his way towards the boy, holstering his gun in the process. His colleagues were quick to follow in putting their guns away, but they remained back as to not scare the boy anymore than necessary. Jack kept his hands up where the toddler could see them as he approached. The boy sobbed and curled in on himself even more as Jack approached.
"Hey, buddy, I'm here to get ya outta here. How's that sound?" Jack asked as gently as he could. The boy only gazed at him with tear filled eyes in response.
"Your name's Angus, right?" he tried again, "Do you know how to talk yet, bud?" Jack finally reached the small boy and he slowly knelt down so that he would seem less threatening.
"Mac," the little boy whispered, barely audible even in the silent room.
"What was that?" Jack asked quietly.
"Not like Angus. Mac," the boy murmured again.
"Is that what you want to be called, Mac?" Jack asked, finally understanding. The toddler didn't like his first name, so he took the first sounds of his last name MAC-Gyver and gave himself that name. The child gave a barely perceptible nod in response to Jack's question.
"Alright, Mac, my name's Jack. Now let's get ya outta here, huh?" he asked again, raising his arms in a gesture to pick him up. Unfortunately, he took it the wrong way and coward back against the wall. Fresh tears began to flow down his dirty face, "Pwease no hit. I be good, I be good."
Immediately, Jack withdrew his hands. The raw fear in Mac's eyes made Jack's blood boil. No two-year-old should be in some dirty basement, terrified that someone was going to hit them at any moment. "Hey, hey, I'm not gonna hurt you. I just want to pick you up so I can take you out of here," Jack said in a soft tone, "Can I pick you up?"
Mac nodded and stared at the ground. Jack moved forward and slipped his hands under the toddler's armpits. He lifted him into the air, setting him on his hip, and the boy tucked his face into Jack's neck. He had to hold back a gasp when the boy's freezing face met his warm neck, but he recovered quickly and began to gently rub the boy's too-thin back. Jack seethed when he felt his spinal cord and bony collar bone through his shirt and now that he was close up, he could hear the raspy, labored breaths that the little boy was taking in.
He walked forward with the little bundle and met up with Landers and Lithes who had remained where they were. Mac whimpered as the two agents came closer and tries to snuggle deeper into Jack's shirt.
"I'll radio for an ambulance," Lithes whispered and Jack nodded. She ran ahead and up the stairs, taking Landers with her. Jack ascended the stairs slowly, rubbing the small boy's back the entire time. When they got to the top, Mac burrowed his face farther into Jack, cringing at the light. Jack secretly wondered how long the boy had been down there in order to have him cringing away at the light like that.
The pair got more than a few horrified, sympathetic glares as they made their way across the lawn. He spotted the rest of his team gathered on the front porch and he made his way towards them.
"We found him," he whispered quietly. He felt little tears wet his shirt when he began to speak.
"We heard," Reyes responded. She was staring at the little boy. Amber was not a mother, nor did she really have a steady boyfriend. She claimed that she just didn't get along well with kids, so she tended to shy away from them. According to her, she never planned on becoming a parent in the future anyway. But it seemed that she was looking at the boy with a different light in her eyes.
"Hi little one," she said hesitantly. The little boy sobbed and clung to Jack and she sighed.
Darius laughed, "Kids really do hate you, huh Reyes." She threw a glare in his direction, "Shut up, Cooper."
"All of you be quiet," Jack hissed as the toddler sobbed harder. He turned his head to look at the little boy. "Hey, little buckaroo, it's okay, we're not going to hurt you." He then continued to rub mesmerizing circles on the boy's back until his sobs died down to sniffles.
Lithes leaned over to him, "Ambulance is on its way up the drive now."
He turned towards his team, "I'm going to take Mac over there. You guys keep searching like Matty told us until I hear otherwise, okay?" Everyone nodded and dispersed to once again search the house for evidence. So far, they had found nothing, and honestly had no hope of doing so at this point.
Jack stood in the yard for a moment until he saw the ambulance pull up and park a few feet away. He carried the boy over as the EMTs opened the back. He climbed in and set the boy on the bed. He tried to cling to Jack's shirt as he shivered and cried.
The EMTs tried to come over to check him out, but he cried whenever they got too close. Now that there was a lot of light, Jack could easily see that Mac had a lot more injuries than he had initially noticed. On top of the raspy breaths, hinting towards hurt ribs, the toddler had a nasty purple bruise consuming the right side of his face. His skin was way too pale, accenting the bright red gash on the little boy's arm. Jack hadn't noticed it before, but it was poorly clotted and looked fairly fresh. Jack lowered himself down beside the boy.
"You need to let these people take care of you, buddy. You'll feel a lot better when they do. They're gonna clean you up and make ya all nice and warm. I have to go make a phone call, but I'll stay where you can see me, kay?" Jack explained softly.
The little boy's eyes watered but Jack stood up and left. He knew that if he didn't leave to make the call right then, those innocent blue eyes would keep him right there forever. He tried to ignore the tiny cries he could hear coming from the ambulance as he walked out of earshot, but still close enough to be seen by the boy.
"Hey, Matty," he said into his com.
A snapped reply came back, "I haven't had an update in an hour and a half. You better be telling me that you either found the boy or you found evidence against the scumbag. Actually, I would prefer both."
"We found the boy," he told her, "He was in this hidden basement room. Matty, he's dirty and hurt and scared. He's way too thin and he's probably dehydrated and starving. This bastard needs to be locked away for good."
"I understand that Dalton, but this is a good thing. Not the state of Angus, but with him the way he is, we don't need proof of the bomb's he made. It would be nice because it would lock him up indefinitely, but he could be put away for child endangerment," Matty explained.
"Matty I don't care how you have to do it, just make sure this guy pays. You should see the little guy. He's so darn cute, but he's absolutely terrified of everything. I'm calling you from right outside the ambulance so he can see me. I'm the one who took him out of the basement, and he cries and whimpers anytime anyone else comes near him," Jack said.
"Can he talk yet?" Matty asked.
"Yeah, he can. I called him Angus when I first met him, and he flat out told me that he doesn't like that name. He likes to be called Mac," he answered.
"If he trusts you, then I'm changing your objective. I want the rest of the team to remain at the house for a while longer, but you need to go with him, Dalton. Ride with him to the hospital and stay with him until we figure what's going to happen. That's an order," she commanded.
"Yes ma'am," he said in answer.
"I'll call Landers and fill him in on what's going on and the mission change, so don't worry about any of that," she said.
"Bye," they simultaneously said and hung up the coms.
Jack headed back towards the ambulance where sniffles could still be heard from inside. When he stepped inside, he immediately saw the change in the boy's situation from when he had left. Somehow, the EMTs had wrestled the small boy out of his dirt clothes and into a clean white hospital gown. The gown stuck out strikingly against his dirty frame. He also now had a small IV in the back of his hand that was connected to a bag of clear liquid. He had a tiny nasal cannula tucked over his ears and when he gazed up at Jack, he looked absolutely pathetic.
Jack took a seat beside the bed. "Hey, buddy," he said gently. Mac reached a tiny fist out towards Jack and he took it.
"Pwease no weave," Mac whimpered.
"I won't leave you, I promise," Jack whispered back in reply.
"Alright, we're ready to head out. Is everyone situated for the ride?" one of the EMTs asked. Jack nodded. The EMT shut the doors and the ambulance started up a few seconds later. Jack felt the jerk of it starting to move, but Mac gave a small cry of surprise at the sudden movement.
"Hey, have ya never rode in a car before?" Jack asked him gently.
"N-no," the small boy squeaked, "D-daddy says that onee good boys wide paces."
Jack was not expecting that. Even though he wanted to kill James he said, "I'm sure you're an amazin' little boy. You shouldn't listen to anything that your father told ya."
"I good boy?" he asked in amazement, almost as if he couldn't believe it.
"Of course, you are," Jack said quietly. After that, the boy went quiet. The pair and the EMT rode in silence the rest of the way to the hospital.
When they got there, Jack walked beside the stretcher as they wheeled the terrified boy inside. They immediately placed him in a room and admitted him. A pretty young nurse came in then.
"I came in to give Angus a bath," she said sweetly.
"He prefers Mac," Jack told her.
"Alright then, I'd like to give Mac a bath is that okay. After he's all cleaned up, we'll get him checked out," she explained.
"That's fine," he answered and then turned to Mac, "This nice lady is going to take you to get a bath, kay?"
The boy gazed at him, "You come?"
Jack shook his head, "No buddy, but you'll be back in a few minutes and then you get to stay." He then nodded to the nurse who disconnected Mac's IV and his cannula and swept him up in her arms. Tears filled the boy's eyes, but the kind nurse rubbed his back soothingly. She walked out of the room, whispering to him the whole time. Jack liked her already.
He sighed to himself. When he had left this morning, he never dreamed that he would be sitting in a hospital watching over a traumatized toddler. He remembered how he had told Landers that this one was going to be different, and this was apparently it. He wanted to throttle James MacGyver, now not only because of all of the people he had killed, but because of that little boy that he had hurt.
Jack was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even realize when twenty minutes had passed, and the nurse brought Mac back into the room. His skin was now a shiny white, still too pale, but clean. His matted hair was now in tufts of fluffy blond. The nurse set him back down and hooked him back up to his cannula and IV. As she left, a doctor came in.
He greeted Jack with a nod and then took a seat beside Mac. "Hi, I hear you like to be called Mac. Well, were going to get you all fixed up," the doctor said in a light tone.
He set to work then, carefully wrapping the gash on his arm in white gauze and examining the bruise on his face. He went over to a cabinet and retrieved a bag of yellow liquid. He then grabbed another IV.
"Alright, Mac, you see the IV in your hand? Well, we need to put another one in the other so we can give you some medicine. Is that okay?" the doctor, Doctor Ross, said.
Mac tried to squirm away, but Jack stood up and gripped his hand silently. The doctor took the opportunity to quickly put in the IV and hook up the equipment. Surprisingly, Mac only let out a small whimper when the IV went in. After that, the doctor stood up to go.
"You did really good, Mac. I'll be in later on to check on you, bye friend," he said kindly. Doctor Ross waved Jack out towards the hall. Before he left, he turned to Mac,
"I'll be back in a few minutes bud. I'll be right here, I promise." Mac looked like he wanted to cry but he just snuggled deeper down into the heating blanket that the nurse had given him.
Jack went out with the doctor and stood across from him, "What's the deal, doc?"
"He is seriously dehydrated, so we're giving him fluids for that. I also just hooked up a bout of antibiotics to ward off any infection from that cut on his arm. The cut itself will heal just fine; he probably won't even have a scar. The bruise on his face will just have to heal over time and I don't even have to do x-rays to know that he has some broken ribs. We'll keep him on the cannula to help him breathe while he heals. I'll have a nurse bring him some yogurt or something later on, the doctor informed Jack.
Jack's blood boiled for the umpteenth time today, but he asked the question he had been wanting to ask since they found him in the basement, "What will happen to him when he gets discharged?"
"I don't know."
And there it is. I will be updating my crossover next, so don't forget to head over and read that. Please don't forget to leave a review! Bye!