A/N: I can't believe I'm posting a story during whuptober that dosen't have any whup in it! I feel like I have failed as a fanfic writer, lol. One of these days I'll find the prompt and actually participate (I'm not on Tumblr) As always I don't own MacGyver, nor do I own the DAR. A massive amount of thanks to my beta, who is amazing.
Matilda Webber sighed and looked over the information she had just received trying to think of any other way to apprehend the man who was implicated in the selling of classified information. She didn't like it when the different parts of her life overlapped or when she had to be out in the field. Both her and Oversight believed that a good leader could lead better when they were separate from the situation and could see all of the different angles, not just the one present when one was in the field. In her opinion it was one of the main reasons that her predecessor, Patricia Thornton, had turned out the way she did because she was in the field way too often. This op was shaping up to be one where it looked like she would have to be out in the field while also revealing more of her personal life than she was comfortable with to her team. But despite staring at the information for almost an hour and running a dozen different simulations she simply could not come up with a different plan. With a frown of frustration, she sent the text summoning MacGyver's team to the War Room to brief them on their next assignment.
The team arrived with their usual jovialness, but quickly quieted down soon after they walked in. Mac had taken a seat on the couch after grabbing a few paperclips from the large bowl on the table, Riley was perched on her usual chair, laptop at the ready, and Jack was in the middle of telling some story to Bozer who was also trying to tell his own story.
"You alright there, Boss Lady?" Jack asked sitting beside Mac while Bozer stood behind them, both their stories forgotten. "You've got your grumpy face on." He gestured to her face.
"Dalton!" Matty said sharply, reprimanding him.
"Sorry," Jack said, not looking remorseful at all, while Mac tried to hide a smile at the interchange.
Matty sighed, sometimes wrangling this team was like trying to herd cats. "You probably don't know this, but I am a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution. That means that I can trace my genealogy back to my four times great-grandfather Ebenezer Webber, who was a Captain in Massachusetts during the American Revolution." She dared for Jack to make light of this, but he seemed interested. "In fact, I am the chapter regent of my chapter, the Don Jose Verdugo Chapter."
"Not that I don't find all of this fascinating, but what's it got to do with our mission? We dressin' up an' pretending to be old ladies to infiltrate the Don Diego club? And what's a 'regent?'"
"That's Zorro, Jack." Mac automatically corrected.
"Who's Zorro?" Jack frowned at Mac.
"A chapter regent is the official representative for the chapter. She shall keep the membership informed, provide interesting programs, and in good standing publicly." Riley red from her laptop.
Matty resisted the urge to smack Jack, but only barely. "Focus Dalton, and thank you Riley. Yes, I am the one in charge of all the chapter meetings." At Jack's blank look she simplified it even further, "I'm like the club president for my group." When she was sure that he understood she continued. "This weekend the DAR is having our annual state convention and retired Gen. Frederick Dunkin is going to be honored at a dinner." She pressed a button on the small remote that she held and a picture of General Dunkin flashed onto the big screen behind her along with his dossier. "The general has been under surveillance for the past month after it was discovered that he was trying to sell some classified information. It is believed that he is going to use the DAR convention as a way to pass the information on."
"Why do they think that?" Riley asked frowning.
Mac picked up what she meant, "There has to be far less high profile ways to pass the information on." This is what made Matty so proud of this team, they looked at all the angles.
"The General has canceled all other outings, and surveillance has shown that he has basically been a hermit. He accepted the invitation the DAR sent out several months ago. So I'm thinking it was the most convent way to pass it on." She looked to see if they had other questions before they moved on.
"Do we know who the buyer might be?" Bozer asked thoughtfully.
"Excellent question Bozer," Matty acknowledged, "As of right now we do not. So that's why I am going to be sending you in undercover to monitor, hopefully intercept and takedown both Dunkin and his buyer." Jack started to say something, while Matty glared at him "You better not be telling me how well someone looks in a wig." His mouth quickly snapped shut. "Dalton your cover is simple. Despite my better judgement you will be honored with the DAR Distinguished Citizen Medal, it is a high honor, so please treat is as such."
Jack looked moved, "Yes, ma'am."
"General Dunkin will be receiving the DAR Medal of Honor for his service to his country, so you will be sitting beside him." Matty turned her attention to Riley, "You will be going undercover as a page." Riley's fingers started moving over her keyboard no doubt looking up what a page was. "Pages are DAR members who are under the age of forty and they help to run the convention. They wear all white to stand out and help where they are needed." Matty hit another button and a picture of a lady who appeared to be in her mid 60's popped up on the screen. "This is Madeline Williams; she is the state regent of Tennessee and there is a strong possibility that she might be the buyer or an intermediary for the buyer. Riley you are going to be her personal page." Riley nodded her understanding. Jack's hand shot up, "What Dalton?" Matty snapped, at the end of her patience with him.
"Well, a second ago you didn't have any suspicions, but now you're stickin' Riley with that Tennessee lady?"
She hated to admit that Dalton had a good point. "Madeline is the only one on the dais with General Dunkin that I can't rule out as a suspect. So, while she's not technically a suspect, I want a closer watch kept on her because of her proximity." She paused waiting for any more questions and when there were none continued. "Since I'm going to be in the field for this mission, Bozer, I am going to need you here running the op. Think you can handle that?"
Bozer grinned at her, rocked back on his heels, "You've picked the right man for the job!"
Nodding she turned her attention to Mac, "Congrats you get to be a HODAR."
"A what now?" Jack questioned, his eyebrows raised in confusion and mirth.
"Husband Of a Daughter of the American Revolution. It was the only way to get you into the ballroom. You and Riley have been married for a year, Congrats!" At Mac's quizzical look Matty explained further. "I also needed a reason for Riley not to have to share a room, and having her husband here is an excellent reason. I'll have a full information packet to you by tomorrow. Riley, I need to go over a few more details with you, so you know what to expect and what is expected of you, but everybody else can leave."
After the guys left Matty walked over to Riley, "I reached out to a friend who is one of the chairs of the page committee and she gave me the contact info of another page who can answer your questions and help in any way possible. I told her that you were my niece and had just joined DAR to spend more time with me, your last living relative" Matty handed her a card, "Her name is Cordy Lonigan and here is her number, she is expecting you to make contact when you arrive."
"Yes, ma'am. Funnily enough since meeting my grandmother I've been interested in finding out more about my family and where they come from. Who knows I might actually be able to join the DAR."
Matty smiled at her young employee, "If you really are interested after all this, I'll bring you to one of the meetings, and introduce you to our lady who knows all the tricks to finding your ancestors."
Riley smiled, "Thanks Matty, now I've gotta go find a whole new wardrobe, too bad they don't dress in all black!"
Riley tugged nervously on her white dress while Mac was driving them to the hotel that the convention was being hosted in. It was her first day of paging and their target was due to check into the hotel that night. The operation was set to go down the next night, but to maintain her cover Riley was going to have to play her part for the entire weekend. "Need a paperclip?" Mac's voice interrupted her rambling thoughts. "Having something to fiddle with helps me focus." Mac shrugged as he navigated a lane change.
"I don't know why I'm so nervous about this mission. It's not like I haven't hacked the NSA, been held hostage by a serial killer, and almost been caught for spying in a foreign country." Riley sighed and adjusted her dress again.
"It's because this is so far out of your comfort zone. You don't usually wear dresses like that, and your end of our missions generally include some sort of hacking. This time you aren't behind a screen, but in the middle of the action."
Mac wasn't wrong, but Riley didn't want him to get a big head, so taking a page from Mac's book she changed the subject. "So, when we get there, I have to go check in with the other pages, and you can get our room set up. Jack should already be there waiting in the room for us. According the hotel records General Dunkin is scheduled to check in about two. Jack's going to shadow him until the dinner tomorrow night. I'm going to be sticking close to Mrs. Williams as her personal page and trying to search for any signs that she is the contact. Am I missing anything?"
Shaking his head Mac pulled into the parking lot. "I think you've got it covered." He pulled up to the double doors where several ladies were entering, including a couple of ladies who also wore the all-white ensemble. "Have fun sweetheart!" Mac grinned at her. With a roll of her eyes she unbuckled, grabbed her backpack, and discretely flipped him off as she exited.
Taking a deep breath Riley steadied her nerves, 'You've got this Riles' she said to herself and went in with a big fake smile plastered to her face. Inside there was a sea of ladies, mostly in pantsuits with ribbons attached to the left breast of their jackets. In the middle of the foyer a table was set up with ladies about six deep. Not knowing where to go Riley stood there for a moment taking it all in and looking for others dressed in white.
"Are you Riley?" A voice asked off to her left.
Turning around Riley saw a plump lady with grey and light brown hair twisted into a beautiful updo, standing off to her left. The face matched the picture that Matty's DAR friend had sent her of Cordy Lonigan. Riley had texted with Cordy a bit, learning what she was expected to do and how to do it. she had offered to meet Riley at the convention to help her register and get started. "Cordy?"
The lady grinned a megawatt smile that lit up her whole face, "That's me! It's great to finally meet you, and just let me say that dress looks wonderful on you!"
Riley blushed slightly, she had had the option of going through the wardrobe that the Phoenix kept for missions like this, but she had decided to grab Bozer and they went shopping instead. She had found three white dresses and two formal dresses that she thought looked pretty nice. She was especially excited about color night when she could wear the stunning blue number that Bozer had somehow found on discount. He had turned out to be a way better shopping partner than any of her girlfriends. "Thanks! You look great also."
"This old thing?" She grinned, "It's got pockets!"
Riley grinned back, "So does mine!" Well, it did after she made Bozer add some. If she couldn't carry her backpack, she needed some pockets for all of the items she wanted to make sure that she had at hand.
"Let's get you registered then you can put your backpack in the page room, and then I'll introduce you to your lady! Mine is in the room next to her so we'll be seeing a lot of each other." Cordy led her through the registration process and gave her the 'CSSDAR Personal Page' sash, then escorted her to meet Mrs. Williams. Cordy handed her the program booklet, "This has the schedule in it, I'd take a picture of it with your phone, memorize it, or keep it close at hand so that way you know where your lady goes next and at what time. There are some events where you can just drop her off and then pick her back up when they are done, but a few of them will need the pages to help run the meeting. Just ask the page at the door what is needed or a page that has a sash that says that they are on the page committee because they're the ones running the show." Cordy stopped, "I bet you have a million other questions, but you'll do just fine and once you get started it will be easy." At Riley's nod, she led Riley to two older ladies sitting together in the eating area, plates empty and stacked, talking quietly with each other.
"Mrs. McGill, Mrs. Williams, this is Riley Davis. Mrs. Williams, Riley will be your personal page."
Mrs. Williams looked to be in her early to mid-sixties with a trim figure and a light tan. Her green pantsuit flattered her. Standing up Mrs. Williams took Riley's proffered hand. "It is a pleasure to meet you Ms. Davis, I'm very much looking forward to your help this weekend."
"Please, call me Riley, and this weekend will be great!" Riley hoped that her sincerity came through.
"If you want to take a few more minutes to get settled I won't need you until a little closer to time." Mrs. Williams instructed as she sat back down.
Riley nodded, "Yes, ma'am. I'll see you in a few minutes." Riley thought that would be a great opportunity to remote hack her phone, however Cordy had other ideas.
"Great, now I can introduce you around to some of the other pages! First let's head over to the page's booth. I know a couple of the girls that are working it, plus they have some really good merch! I know you're just getting started, but it it's never too early to start your pin collection"
After getting dragged around by Cordy and introduced to anyone that would stand still Riley was thankful when it was time for the two of them to head back to their ladies. They escorted the women to the first business session and were asked to sit in just in case their help was needed. Riley had to admit that the session about the different types of gravestones and what they could tell you was fascinating. Then there was a small break, and Riley had plans to try to get Mac and break into Mrs. Williams room while she was preoccupied with the events.
After getting Mrs. Williams settled again Riley gave Cordy an excuse and then quickly made her escape; texting Mac to let him know that she was on her way up. Mac met her outside of Mrs. Williams room. Riley grinned at him, "Want to see who can get the door open first?"
Smirking back at her Mac said, "I would totally win that race, 'cause I got a key to her room already."
"Cheater."
"According to Jack it's not cheating if you don't know about it."
Riley sighed, "That sounds just like Jack, well let's get on with it, there is only so much policy they can talk about, and I need to be back before they are done."
Their search of the room didn't turn up anything incriminating, just clothes, lots of alcohol, and books. Riley found a laptop and was about to delve into its inner resources when her phone dinged, looking at her phone she saw that she had received a text from Cordy, 'Where r u? Meetings about over.' She turned to Mac and said, "We're going to have to finish this another time, I have to go, the meeting is ending." Mac gave a quick nod and started putting things back the exact way they had been. Riley replied to Cordy, 'Went up 2 room. Be back soon.' Five minutes later Riley was back in the lobby to pick up Mrs. Williams.
The rest of Riley's day was spent either in meetings with Mrs. Williams or helping with another job. Then she attended the mandatory page meeting where they went over what was expected of them during the formal dinners and their jobs and the page party which was to be held the next night right after the dinner. The committee chair asked for those who had a good paging story to leave it in the basket and at the page party they would be read, and you would have to guess who the story belonged to. Riley hoped that she would be able to attend. She was getting to like some of the other pages she had had a chance to talk with, and while she didn't have any paging stories, she'd love to hear some of the other ladies' stories. Too bad they didn't allow stories from her job; she had a lot of 'wtf' stories.
Quickly Riley hurried to her room to change into the white formal outfit that was required for the evening session. Jack was loitering in the room while Mac was hunched over something on the table in their room. She arched an eye at Jack, "Business or social call?"
Jack shrugged, "A little of both."
Riley grabbed her dress and the make-up bag and headed for the bathroom. "In just a second you can help me finish getting this dress on." Closing the door, she looked at her face trying to decide how much more make-up to add. Maybe a bit more liner and a touch of eyeshadow, and once she had the dress on, she'd worry about how to wear her hair which was currently up in a messy bun. She quickly exchanged one dress for another, this one a floor length white dress with a corset style back which made the bottom flair out a bit. She was able to get the corset started, but then had to step out to get Jack to help her finish lacing it.
"Sweetheart, you look stunning!" Jack exclaimed.
"Thanks," Riley said quietly. She knew she was faintly blushing. "Think you can finish the back up?"
"No problem," She felt Jack start to tighten the strings. "So did I ever tell you about the night my sister went to prom?" The sigh Mac let out indicated that he was quite familiar with the story.
"Nobody wants to hear about that again Jack." Mac said as he made his way over to where they were. "And you really do look nice Riles."
"Fine," Jack huffed. "And…done!"
"Wait really?" Riley asked surprised at how quickly Jack had gotten the back laced up.
Jack smirked and winked at her, "Let's just say if you can take one off, you can lace one up."
"Did I really need to hear that?" She groused at him, then glancing at her phone to see what time it was Riley realized she only had a few minutes to finish getting ready. "Crap, it's almost time and I still don't know what to do with my hair."
"Have a seat, Ri" Jack said as he pulled out the chair Mac had been sitting in. "I'll fix it how I used to when you were younger." Riley quickly sat down, many things could be said about Jack Dalton, but he had always managed to wrangle her hair even when her mom couldn't. In a few minutes he had it pulled back in a sophisticated up do with a few tendrils handing down.
"I don't remember seeing beauty school on your resume," Mac commented. "That looks really good!"
"I am a man of many talents young Padawan." Jack said bowing. "A girl I dated in high school went to beauty school and she made me learn so I could do her hair." He laughed, "It used to make my sister so mad that I could style hair better than she could."
"As entertaining as you both are, I've got to get going." Riley scooped up her purse and sash, put her heels on and started towards the elevator. Once she got to the right hallway, she saw that there were two other pages waiting. One that she had met earlier named Summer smiled at her.
"Yeah, we got here a bit early too, welcome to the club."
Smiling Riley chatted with them until it was time, and then each one went to their assigned lady's room and it was a procession of knocks coming from down the hallway. Soon everyone was on their way down for pictures and for the big entrance. The evening went by quickly. During the dinner portion Riley tried to remote hack Mrs. Williams phone, but Cordy kept leaning over to talk to her, so she didn't get a chance. She would be so glad when it would be Mac sitting beside her for the dinner tomorrow evening. Finally, it was over, and she escorted Mrs. Williams back to her room and was then able to go to her own room.
This time it was only Mac in the room, and he had his head buried deep in some book that looked very technical. He looked up, "Need any help undressing, I mean taking your dress off, I mean unlacing the back. Auggh!" By the end Mac was blushing and Riley was laughing.
"Thanks Mac, if you could get the back started, I'd appreciate it." She walked over so he wouldn't have to get off the bed, and once the back was open, she grabbed her PJ's and headed to the bathroom. When she was finished and had sat on the bed beside him she asked, "Did we get any new info?"
Mac shook his head, "To quote Jack, 'All's quiet on the Western front.' The General is supposed to be arriving in the morning, and Jack's going to be his shadow, so as usual it's a whole bunch of hurry up and wait. How about on your end?"
Sighing she sat one the bed, "I kept trying to remote hack Mrs. Williams phone, but kept getting interrupted. Maybe tomorrow I can get that done."
Frowning Mac asked, "Why can't you do it now?"
"The cell phones have to be a certain distance away for it to work." She explained.
"Makes sense."
"Well I'm going to take advantage of the down time and get some quality shut eye. As you and Jack have taught me, grab rest when and where you can." With that she went curled up on the bed and went to sleep.
AN2: Liked it? Found a mistake? Let me know!
