Invisible Wind

by DreamWvr73

A simple trip to the fruit stand wreaks havoc for MacGyver and Gillian.

The grass of Green Acres Memorial Cemetery was a deep green. The beautiful highly maintained lawn stretched out for what seemed like miles in every direction. A large white tent had been set in the middle of the cemetery; under it was a large carpet of artificial turf that had been laid out around a large hole with a silver casket sitting on top of it.

Gillian was standing just outside the tent, she didn't want to go in, she couldn't believe this was happening. She had her arms crossed over her chest, she was rubbing them. She had a chill in her bones despite the warm morning air. She was dressed in a long black dress; it was very plain and went down to her shoes. There were few people there, most of them were people she had never officially met, but that wasn't going to happen now. She lifted her head and just kept staring at the silver box; she didn't want to say goodbye but she knew she had no choice. She took a deep breath and sighed, she was trying to keep it together as she walked under the tent. She sat down in the first chair, she just kept looking at the coffin. She could feel a thousand pitiful and sorrowful looks piercing through her back.

An older man with white priestly robes, clutching a bible in his hands got up and stood next to the silver box; he looked down at Gillian and gave her a tiny smile.

"Good Morning dear friends, I know you are all here today under very unpleasant circumstances and I wish I could change that but I cannot, I am only a simple man of God. We are here this morning to say goodbye to someone we all loved dearly, Angus Ian MacGyver."

He looked down at Gillian. She had put her head down, she didn't want to look at anyone, she felt her first tears slowly slide down her face. She could hear the priest talking but she wasn't listening to him. This wasn't real, this wasn't really happening. She shook her head and squeezed her eyes shut, it wasn't really her husband in that casket but she knew better than that.

MacGyver was in that box that was going to be lowered into the cold ground and covered with dirt. Her chest tightened and she put her hand to her mouth. "Mac."

There were so many things coursing through her, she touched her hand to her chest and felt her locket; she lifted it and opened it. The tiny picture of her and her husband was still in it, she saw how happy they looked, both of them with their arms around each other smiling widely. She was never going to see that face or that smile again and she choked out a sob. She stood up and walked over to the silver box, she wasn't paying attention to anyone, not even the priest that stopped briefly to look at her.

The coffin hadn't been sealed yet; she opened the lid and looked into it.

MacGyver was lying down; he was in his wedding clothes, his long sleeved white shirt and his khaki pants. Gillian reached down and put a shaky hand to his face, he was so cold that it stunned her. It only made her that much more upset and the reality of it all hit her hard. His hands were folded on his stomach, his left one on top of his right one, just above his belt buckle. Gillian squeezed her eyes shut again and took a very shaky breath. She reached up and unhooked her silver locket; she took it off and gave the silver heart a kiss. She took the chain and carefully wrapped it in between his fingers, placing the heart beside his wedding ring.

"Goodbye My Sweet."

She leaned over and gave his lips a tiny kiss, they were ice cold and this only made her cry harder; she was used to his lips being so warm, so full of life.  She felt someone put their arm across her waist and move her back a little, she turned and saw that it was Pete, she gasped. He was in a black suit and tie; he looked at her with eyes so full of pity and sorrow that it tore at her heart. "Come on Gill."

"No." Gillian shook her head, she didn't want to go.

Pete sighed. "You have to let go." He moved her back with a little more force, she had her hand on the edge of the coffin and he took it off and closed the lid.

"Please Pete, I don't want to go. I don't want to leave him." She was struggling a little against his hold.

"Come on, it'll be all right."

"No it won't, it'll never be all right again." She turned towards him and hugged him. The stout man simply held her, he pressed his hand to the back of her head; she was sobbing against his shirt.

"Let me help Pete."

He turned his head and saw Jack Dalton, he was also dressed in a black suit, he nodded. Jack put a hand on Gillian's back and took her right hand; they both walked her away from the silver box. They didn't sit her down, they both simply stood with her.

Pete purposely turned so that her back was to the coffin. The priest was finished; he looked at the stout man. "Does anyone want to say anything?"

Pete shook his head, he was too upset. "No, I don't think anyone can, this was all so…sudden."

The older man nodded. "Very well, as soon as everyone leaves they'll begin the burial."

"Thank you." He took his right hand off of Gillian's head and shook the older man's hand.

The priest gently touched Gillian on the shoulder.

"I am very sorry Mrs. MacGyver; please take with you my deepest condolences."

The older man squeezed her shoulder and walked away.

All of the people gathered there left, now it was just Pete, Gillian and Jack, she was still extremely upset.

Jack sighed, he was rubbing her back. "I just don't understand Pete, what happened to Mac?"

"I don't know Jack. I really don't know, the only one that can tell us is very upset right now and I can't blame her." He turned to Jack. "Take her for a minute will you?"

Jack nodded, Pete stepped back and Jack stepped in his place.

Gillian leaned her head against Jack's chest. Jack turned, he was watching Pete as he walked back over to the silver box and shook his head at it, he reached out and touched it.

"You were my best friend Mac; you saved my life more times than I can count. You were always there for me and I'm going to miss you terribly for the rest of my life." He closed his eyes briefly, the tears of grief starting to leak from his eyes. "Goodbye Mac, I hope we meet up again one day."

Pete gave the coffin a pat; he pressed his lips together and walked away from the box. Jack was also very upset but he couldn't do what Pete had done, he didn't have the courage, he simply put his arms around Gillian and held her tightly to him.

Pete wiped his face and cleared his throat. "We better take her home."

"No, I don't want to go home." The shaky voice of the grieving widow rang out suddenly.

Pete started stroking her hair. "You have to Gill, you can't stay here."

Gillian lifted her head from Jack's chest, her dark eyes filled with incredible sorrow and grief. "I can't leave him."

The workmen started showing up with shovels; it was time to bury the casket. The two men looked at each other, they definitely had to get her out of there, they knew she couldn't bear to see that.

Pete swallowed hard. "Come on Gill, it's going to be all right."

The two men walked her out from the tent just as the coffin began to lower.

Gillian was walking with her head against Jack. Pete had her left hand, both men walked her over to a huge black stretch limo; a man in a chauffer uniform tipped his hat and opened the door. Gillian let go of Jack and climbed into it, Pete and Jack followed.

Gillian was sitting on the bench seat. She had finally calmed down some, she leaned forward and wiped her hands down her face. "I can't go home just yet, there's some unfinished business I need to take care of inside the funeral home, it can't wait."

The two men nodded. "Okay."

Pete picked up the phone and told the driver what was happening, he wasn't going to leave unless Gillian said so. The young woman covered her eyes with her hands, she breathed through them.

"Gill, I know this is the worst time, but what happened? Neither Jack nor myself know exactly what happened. How did Mac…" He couldn't even say the words.

Gillian uncovered her face. "I don't want to talk about that right now Pete if you don't mind."

The stout man nodded. "I understand."

She shook her head. "No you don't, but you will." She checked her watch. "Will you both come with me to the funeral home?"

Jack reached out and touched her hands. "Of course we will."

The three of them got out of the long black car and walked over to the large white house. The funeral director gave her a nod, he was standing guard, he closed the doors behind them.

Gillian wiped her face; she bolted the doors and made sure the windows were covered.

"All right you two, follow me to the basement."

Gillian started to turn and Pete grabbed her arm. "Gill wait a minute, what's going on?"

"I know you have a lot of questions. You both do but come with me to the basement and you'll understand everything."

They took a flight of stairs down to the basement, Gillian made sure the doors and everything were locked. It was a creepy basement; a buzzing fluorescent life was overhead, casting an eerie glow on everything. There was a long conveyer belt that led into a big white furnace that was used for cremation. The silver casket that the two men saw being lowered into the ground was sitting a large silver table just off of the furnace, next to it was a tray filled with medical supplies.

Pete shook his head. "What is this doing here?"

There were two crowbars lying next to the coffin and she picked them up and handed one to each man.

"I need you both to pry open Mac's casket for me."

She picked up a black remote control and the table the casket was on lowered to the ground, both men made faces. "Gillian are you nuts?"

"I'm not about to play grim reaper!"

The young woman sighed. "Please."

The two men thought she was morbid but they did what she asked, they both stuck the ends of the crowbars into the lids and they popped open. Both men were hesitant but they slowly opened the lids and looked into the silver coffin. They both saw MacGyver lying in it.

Pete lowered his head; he was absolutely devastated that his best friend was dead. Jack too looked upset, he shook his head. "I just don't understand what happened?"

Gillian looked into the coffin, she reached down and took her necklace and put it back on. "You two lift him out of there."

Jack and Pete shook their heads. "No, we aren't going to disturb him."

Gillian was going over the medical supplies; she picked up a large hypodermic needle and looked at it. "Just get him out of there, you won't be disturbing him."

Pete sighed and put his hands up. "Okay, fine."

Jack was standing near MacGyver's head, he shuddered but he carefully put his hands under Mac's arms and lifted him. Pete had a hold of his legs and they took him out of the coffin.

Gillian put the needle aside and pushed the coffin off the table. "Okay lay him down." She took a vile of clear liquid out of her pocket. "Hand me that alcohol swab and that large hypodermic needle, they're sitting on that tray."

Pete grabbed the two things and handed them to her, she stood over her husband and picked up his right arm. She unbuttoned his cuff and rolled his sleeve up. "Pete the rubber tube too please."

Pete handed it to her and Gillian tied it around Mac's arm and started patting it. She found a vein and tore open the swab, she rubbed it on his arm and let it dry. Gillian took the cap off the large needle, she stuck it into the vile and pulled back on the plunger, she filled the hypodermic totally up.

"That should about do it." She pulled the needle out of the vile and tucked it back into her pocket. She tapped the needle and squirted a tad of the clear fluid out of it. She sighed and touched her husband's arm. "Okay Sleeping Beauty, time to rejoin the rest of the world."

She carefully sunk the needle into his arm and slowly pushed on the plunger.

Gillian paced back and forth. She was getting worried, she kept checking her watch, it had been 7 minutes, the injection was supposed to wake him up after 5. "Come on."

Pete crossed his arms over his chest; he thought that MacGyver's widow had completely lost her mind. Jack walked around the table and stood beside him. "Pete, am I the only one here that things she's crazy?"

"No, you aren't."

Gillian couldn't take anymore; she walked over to her husband and unbuttoned his shirt. She put her head down on his white t-shirt and listened, she heard nothing. "Damn it."

She was watching his chest, he wasn't breathing. "I gave you enough now come on!"

Pete and Jack were standing there watching her, they thought she was grasping at straws, her husband was dead and she simply couldn't accept it.

Pete had seen enough, he walked to her and touched her shoulder. "Gillian, he's dead, there is no coming back."

Gillian shook her head. "He's not dead Pete; he just needs more time to wake up."

The stout man looked at Jack; he didn't know what to do or say. Jack joined him and took her hands. "Gill, we know how hard it must be. We loved Mac too, but you have to let him go. He's gone and there isn't any magic liquid that is going to change that."

She realized that they not only did they not believe her but thought she was insane. "You both think I've lost my mind don't you?"

Jack squeezed her hands. "Of course not, it's just the grief."

She shook her head at them. "I am not insane, okay?" She looked at her watch, it had been 12 minutes, she was starting to get scared. She got away from the two men and started checking over her husband, he was still cold and pale; he had no signs of life. She shook her head. "It should have started working by now."

Gillian looked around for her purse; she saw it over near the stairs, hanging on the wooden banister. She picked it up, she started rummaging through it. She took out a clear tube with a few bright yellow stickers on it, it was an epinephrine pen.

The two men saw what she was holding in her hand. "Gillian, what is that?"

"An Epipen, it's for allergic reactions. I have to keep one in my purse at all times."

Pete creased his brow. "What are you allergic to?"

"Bee stings." Gillian started unbuckling her husband's belt.

Jack and Pete looked at each other. "What are you doing?"

Gillian unzipped her husband's pants and pulled them down enough to expose his left thigh. She took the grey cap safety off of the end of the Epipen. "Just give me a minute or two guys then we'll see who needs a straight jacket."

She took the epinephrine pen and pressed it against her husband's thigh; she started counting to ten out loud. When she got to ten she moved it away and checked the pen, the injection had gone into his leg. "There, I hope that does it." Gillian tucked into the pocket of her dress and started fixing her husband's pants.

Pete cleared his throat "Gillian what was that you gave him?"

"The Epipen delivers a shot of adrenaline, it stops severe allergic reactions. I'm hoping it is enough to help him wake up."

Gillian crossed her arms over her chest, she was shaking from fear and she kept watching her husband. "Come on Mac please."

Both Jack and Pete were totally convinced now that Gillian had lost her grip on reality, they watched her pace back and forth in front of the table where Mac was lying, Jack leaned close to Pete. "What are we going to do?"

Pete sighed and shook his head "I don't know. I guess we humor her for now."

Gillian was terrified; she stopped pacing and stood over her husband. She put both hands on his face, he was still cold. "Mac, please, come back to me." She leaned down and pressed her forehead to his.

There was a strange sound that rang out, it sounded like a tire being inflated. She creased her brow, the sound was close by, she let go of her husband and stepped back her mind started racing. She was familiar with that sound. Gillian suddenly realized the sound was of someone taking a very deep breath; she looked down at her husband. Her heart started racing, his face looked less pale, he was starting to wake up.

MacGyver suddenly rolled off the table and hit the floor; he was on his hands and knees coughing really hard.

Gillian crouched down and touched his back, it was cold; that was the reason for his shaking. "Easy, easy, breathe deeply."

She looked up at Pete and Jack. "Give me your blazers."

The two men were standing there completely stunned, her words snapped them back to reality. They unbuttoned their jackets and handed them to her. Gillian put them both over her husband's shoulders and rubbed them. "This should help Mac, it'll warm you."

MacGyver had finally stopped coughing; he was breathing hard and looked at his wife. "I think I'm going to be sick."

Gillian looked around and saw there was a sink on the far side of the basement. "Come on, get up." She got to her feet, she bent down and put her arms around his waist and lifted him up.

Mac got to his feet; his legs were shaking as she helped him over to the sink.

"It's just the herb Mac, that's all it is." She had one arm around his shoulders, with the other she turned on the water and wet her hand. She touched his cheeks gently. "Rinse your mouth out."

MacGyver was bent over the sink, he cupped his hands and drank some of the water and rinsed out his mouth. He took a drink of water, his throat felt dry.

Gillian glanced at the sink and saw the green liquid she had injected into him in the bottom of it. She turned off the water and helped him straighten up. She walked around him and stood in front of him; she took the coats off of him and helped him put them on the right way.  She wiped the water droplets from his face. "Are you okay?"

Mac was still feeling a little shaky, cold and sleepy, he nodded. "Yeah, I think so."

Gillian smiled at him, she was so glad and relieved he was awake again. She put her arms around him and squeezed him tight. "I didn't put enough adrenaline in the mix; I had to use my Epipen to wake you up."

"That would explain why my heart is beating so hard." Mac hugged his wife; he was starting to feel better.

Gillian pulled back from him and smiled. "And here I thought it was because of me."

MacGyver smiled at her. "I think it's both." He got a chill. "Man I'm freezing."

"Allow me to warm you up." Gillian put both hands on his face and kissed her husband. "Better?"

Mac opened his eyes. "That helped but I think it's going to take more than one."

Gillian suddenly realized that they had forgotten something; she turned towards the two men. "Oh God I'm so sorry you two."

MacGyver realized that his two best friends were there, he looked at Jack and Pete. "Hi."

Pete shook his head slowly; he couldn't believe his friend had gone from stone cold dead to being alive in the space of a few minutes. He walked up to his friend and looked at him, his face was passive.

"Mac, if I wasn't so glad to see you really aren't dead I would be punching you in the nose."  The stout man hugged his best friend hard. "Thank God you're all right."

Mac returned his friend's hug. "I know and I would deserve it."

Pete stepped back and Jack hugged his friend next, he squeezed him hard. "Same goes for me Mac."

MacGyver held his friend and patted his back. "I know you two are probably angry but Gillian and I had no choice, we had to stage all this."

Gillian was standing beside her husband. "Mac, I think we both need to explain how this all came about."

"Yeah we do."

The couple went back to the silver table and sat down on it. There were two chairs against the wall and Jack grabbed them and handed one to Pete, they both sat down in front of the couple.

MacGyver sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "This whole thing started because I went to the fruit stand." The couple started explaining how an innocent trip to buy some vegetables and fruits had created such a ruckus…

MacGyver was on his bike, he was on a mission to go buy some fruits and vegetables for dinner. Gillian was at home; she was cooking dinner and needed something to go with the chicken she was making. There was a nice fruit stand that was only a few miles from the house. It was a gorgeous Sunday; the weather had turned slightly cool to show the start of fall.

Mac was in his black sweat pants, and a blue turtleneck, he had his black windbreaker over it. He cruised his bike along the busy street, he spotted his favorite fruit stand and rode up on the sidewalk and headed for it.

A young man named Manny was in charge of the fruit stand today, it belonged to his grandfather but he had taken his place so the older man could rest.

Mac stopped his bike in front of the wooden fruit stand, it looked like a little shack; there was only enough room in it for one person to step inside and look around. He spotted his friend and he smiled.

"Hey Manny."

The young man in his early 20's with a medium complexion and dark hair, smiled.  He was wearing jeans, a t-shirt and a smudged white apron. "MacGyver!"  Manny stuck out his hand and Mac slapped it, and the young man slapped his hand in return.

"How's it going Manny?"

"Good, how's the wife?"

MacGyver smiled as he climbed off his bike and leaned it against the little shack. "Fine, cooking, so I have to hurry."

"Okay so what'll it be?"

He scanned all of the fruits and vegetables. "Oh wow nice selection."

The young man nodded "Yeah, we got every kind of vegetable that God made today. What do you want?"

Mac sighed. "Tough decision, give me some asparagus, carrots, tomatoes, and some celery."

Manny nodded. "Sure, give me a few minutes to get it all together." He reached behind him and tossed his friend an apple. "Here, while you wait."

"Thanks, I love apples." MacGyver polished his apple against his sleeve and took a bite.

Gillian was in the kitchen; she turned off the stove and put the glass lid over the skillet. The chicken in cream of mushroom soup was done; all she needed now was for MacGyver to get back with the fruits and vegetables. She checked her watch, it was half past 5.

"Come on Mac, you were supposed to go buy them not get a hoe and grow them."

She had on blue sweat pants and a white turtleneck, the air was getting pretty chilly and she got a shiver that ran up her spine. She shuddered and rubbed her arms, there was something suddenly very eerie about the way the air felt. Gillian's grandmother Corinne used to tell her about something she called the invisible wind. That was when you were cold and chilled when the air was still; her grandmother's words came back to her.

"Beware of the invisible wind Gilly Beth, it means danger is coming. When you can feel the air chill your bones and there's no wind blowing, take caution. Hold onto everyone you hold dear and stay very still, if you do this it just might blow right over you and take its menace with it. But if you aren't still and quiet, it will hit you hard and take over your entire world."

When Gillian was little she used to think her grandmother didn't know what she was talking about. She thought her lessons were silly and old fashioned; she never paid much attention to what her grandmother sometimes had to say. Now that Gillian was older with a husband, those words she never paid much mind to, made perfect sense.

"I wish you could have met Mac Grandma. I think you would have like him."

Gillian could just picture the two of them talking. She could see her grandmother pinching Mac's cheek and telling him he was a sweet boy and that she hoped he was taking good care of her granddaughter. She could see MacGyver giving the older woman his reassurances that he was.

"He's a good man Grandma, and he takes very good care of me. Don't you worry about that."

Gillian got another chill and she rubbed her arms harder, she wished her husband would hurry up and get back.

MacGyver was almost finished with his apple, he was down to the core; he checked his watch and saw what time it was.

"Oh man, Gillian's going to kill me."

There was a jewelry store down the street; someone came bursting out of it. Mac was standing in the middle of the sidewalk, the man that was running took off his ski mask and he put it in his pocket. The man was dressed in black, he came straight at Mac.

MacGyver barely had time to breathe, he turned and saw him but it was too late to get out of the way. The man slammed into him going at full speed, the two men rolled onto the sidewalk. Mac was flat on his back; he looked up and saw the man. They both just stared at each other for a very brief second. The man got to his feet, quickly covered his face, picked up his mask and his bag and ran off.

A police car was right there, it pulled up and two cops saw everything that had happened. One of them picked up the CB mike and pressed the button.

"Surveillance here, he got away but I think we might have gotten lucky."

The policeman watched as MacGyver got up and brushed himself off. He was fine, just got knocked down.

An answer came over the radio and the cops acknowledged it, the two cops got out of their car and walked over to where MacGyver was standing.

"Sir?"

Mac turned around and looked at the policemen. "Afternoon Officers."

They gave him a nod in return greeting, the one that had been on the radio cleared his throat. "Sir, I'm afraid you have to come with us."

MacGyver looked surprised, nevertheless he nodded. "Okay, can we take my bike? I don't really want to leave it here."

The other officer nodded and went over to it; he lifted it up and headed to the back of the patrol car.

MacGyver was escorted over to the car. "Sir for your safety and ours I'm going to have to frisk you. Will you put your hands on the hood please?"

"No problem." MacGyver was not about to give the police a hard time. He assumed the position and let the

policeman frisk him. He found his Swiss Army knife in one jacket pocket and put it on the hood. He found his wallet in other pocket and also put it on the hood.

"Thank you sir."

Mac picked up his stuff and the back of the car was opened for him. He stepped inside and the door was closed.

Gillian heard someone at the door; she thought that maybe Mac had forgotten to take his keys. She opened the door and much to her surprise there were two more uniform officers behind it, one blond haired man and one blond haired woman.

"Gillian MacGyver?" It was the policeman that was speaking to her.

The young woman nodded. "Yes, how can I help you Officers?"

"Ma'am we've been ordered to bring you down to the station with us."

"Can I ask what this is about?"

"I'm sorry ma'am but we were told you bring you back."

Gillian swallowed hard. "Just let me get my purse."

The female officer with the long blond braid went with her as she stepped back into the house and went down her the hall to her bedroom. Her purse was hanging on the back of the door and Gillian picked it up and put it over her shoulder.

The female officer didn't say one word to her, she simply walked behind her.

"Can I leave a note for my husband? He should be back any minute."

The policeman shook his head. "There is no need for that ma'am, this involves your husband."

Gillian took her keys out of her purse and walked out the door; she turned around and locked the front door. She was escorted to the patrol car, her purse was checked and she was frisked by the female officer and was put in the back of it.

Gillian was escorted into the police station. She was led to an interrogation room, the door was opened and she went inside; her husband was sitting at a grey table. The young woman dropped her purse on the table when she saw him.

"Mac."

He stood up and she went to him and hugged him hard. "Are you okay?"

MacGyver closed his eyes and held his wife to him, he was very glad to see her. "Yeah, I'm fine."

"You scared me to death, all of a sudden two cops show up at the door asking me to come with them."

"I'm sorry if I scared you."

Their hug ended and she took his hands. "What is going on?"

"A very good question Mrs. MacGyver."

Two more people came into the room, they were two men both of them dressed in expensive looking suits, one man was older with grey hair; the other was a man in his mid 30's with jet black hair. They both took out badges, Agents Tyler and Henderson, FBI."

Gillian swallowed hard. "Okay, so perhaps you gentlemen can explain to me why we are both here or maybe I'll call my lawyer and you can explain it to him."

Mac was behind his wife and he put his hand on her shoulder. "Easy now Gill, I'm sure they'll tell us."

The older man, Agent Tyler extended out his hand. "Please Mrs. MacGyver, have a seat and we'll tell you both why you were brought here."

Gillian sighed, she pulled out a chair and sat down. Mac was beside her and she took his hand and held it.

"Thank you, you see Mrs.-"

She put her hand up. "Gillian."

The older man smiled. "You see Gillian, the reason you are both here is because your husband was a witness to a robbery that occurred near downtown."

Gillian turned towards her husband. "You were?"

Mac nodded. "It was a few stores down from the fruit stand."

Tyler also nodded his head. "Yes, the perpetrator ran right into your husband and he saw his face clearly."

Henderson was standing beside his partner. "Your husband's description of him matched someone we know as Michael Carson; he is known to have ties in with organized crime."

"And your husband saw him."

Gillian sighed and wiped her hand down her face. "Don't tell me you guys are going to put us in the Witness Protection Program?"

Tyler shook his head. "No ma'am, we are going to simply kill your husband before the mafia does."

She squeezed her husband's hand. "With all due respect to you and your badge sir, but if you think for one minute you are going to touch him, think again. You both will be having those shiny tin stars for breakfast before I let you near him."

The two men put up their hands; they could see in her face that she was serious. "Gillian, now don't get defensive."

"You two come in here and tell me you are going to kill my husband and I'm supposed to sit back and say oh sure go right ahead?"

Mac put his arm around his wife's shoulder. "Gillian, relax, I don't think they meant literally." He was secretly tickled at his wife's display of temper; it also made him feel good that she was defending him.

Tyler sighed. "Thank you MacGyver, and yes you're right. We didn't mean literally. We feel that this is the best way to protect the both of you, with your husband dead they can carry on business as usual."

Gillian rubbed her hand down her face. "So we are going to stage a funeral? Is that what you are saying? I'm going to wear black and cry a lot?"

Agent Tyler nodded. "Yes ma'am, that's exactly what we are saying."

Gillian sighed. "And that's exactly what I did; I didn't think I was going to be able to do that. I knew that Mac really was in that silver coffin, you'd be surprised how well that worked."

MacGyver reached down beside him, he picked up her hand and kissed it. "I'm sure you did good."

"At that moment I really felt like a widow." Gillian turned and looked at the two men. "The FBI told me to not tell anyone that Mac was dead. They said it would be too difficult to try and explain to his friends what was going on." She looked at Pete. "I didn't expect either one of you to be there. You surprised me but at the same time I was glad, you both made it a lot easier."

Jack sighed. "You sure had me fooled."

Pete nodded. "Me too."

Jack looked at the couple. "So where are you guys staying?"

The couple shook their heads. "We can't tell you Jack, they told us not to."

"I understand that, it's okay." He smiled. "As long as you're alive Mac, that's all that matters to me."

Pete nodded. "Me too, I was so torn up inside. I couldn't believe it."

Mac looked at his two best friends fondly. "I'm sorry to put you both through that, I really am."

Pete reached out and patted his friend on the arm. "Like Jack said, you're alive and that's all I care about."

Jack totally agreed with Pete he just had one question. "What was it that you took to make yourself appear to be dead Mac; I mean you weren't breathing or anything."

MacGyver turned to his wife. "Ask Gill, she was the one that did it."

The young woman sighed. "Well it wasn't easy that's for sure. I had to go into some herbal shops and gather all the ingredients." She started telling the story to the two men…

Gillian was standing in front of her stove; she was tearing up plants and putting them into a boiling pot of water.

MacGyver walked into the kitchen holding his nose. "Gill what is that terrible stink?" He was wearing a white muscle shirt and grey shorts.

Gillian was in a cream colored tank top and red shorts; she looked at her husband and smiled at him. "Osiyo Uyahi."

Mac looked at her, his eyebrows went up. "What?"

She grinned and finished tearing up the herbs she had gotten and put them in the pot, she put the lid on it. "Sorry that was Cherokee."

"What did you say?"

Gillian put her arms around his neck and kissed him. "I said hello husband."

Mac nodded. "Well I prefer the way you just said hello, like this." He gave her a small kiss. "See that's much better."

"True it is, but I'm still in Cherokee mode."

"I didn't know you knew any."

"I know some, my grandmother taught me."

MacGyver leaned over the pot. "You still didn't answer the question, what's in the pot?" He wrinkled his nose when he got a whiff of the steam. "Please tell me this isn't dinner."

Gillian laughed. "No, it's what I came up with in order to make your funeral that much more real."

Mac creased his brow at her. "What do you mean? Any more real and I'll be dead."

"That's the whole idea." She saw how confused he looked. "I found a recipe in my grandmother's herbal cookbook for something called Oyohusaatsila Awes."

"What does it mean?"

"The Death Plant, once it finishes cooking. I'll sift out the plant parts that didn't dissolve."

"And then what?"

Gillian swallowed hard. "Then I'll inject you with it."

"What will it do?"

She licked her lips. "Mac, this plant will make you appear to be dead. No one will be able to find your pulse and it will look like you aren't breathing."

"But Gill, that is death, no pulse and no breathing."

Gillian put her hands on his shoulders. "You won't be dead Mac; it will only lower them to the point of non detection."

MacGyver wasn't at all sure about this. "Is that all it does?"

"No, it also lowers your body temperature; if anyone touches you they'll feel that you're cold. That's why it's called the Death Plant. It gives the perfect illusion of death but you really won't be, you'll just be in a deep sleep."

"How do you wake up?"

"It's called Ganodu Unasdetlv, the Root of Life. I have to boil it like this and give you a shot of it mixed with a tad of adrenaline."

"What's the adrenaline for?"

"Normally the root takes 24 hours to bring a man out of the sleep. The adrenaline will speed it up, it should only take a few minutes."

MacGyver sighed. "And you're sure both of these will work?"

"I'm positive; my grandmother got them from my great grandfather. He wrote about how the Cherokee would often use these plants to fool their enemies into thinking that they had taken their own life. It was a battle strategy they used all the time."

MacGyver ran his fingers through his hair. "All right, if you are sure then I'll do it." He put both hands on either side of her face. "I trust you."

Gillian and MacGyver were in the basement of the funeral home. He was sitting on the silver table dressed in his wedding clothes, he was nervous. Gillian was in her widow's dress, she came into the room along with the two FBI Agents. Tyler was in a light grey suit; Henderson was in a navy blue suit. The older man crossed his arms over his chest, he was very skeptical about this whole thing.

"Are you sure this is going to work Gillian?"

She walked over to her husband and stood in front of him. "I'm positive Tyler, if it worked for my ancestors over a hundred years ago it'll work now for Mac."

Tyler sighed. "All right, show me."

Gillian had her purse with her. She opened it and took out a vial of green liquid; she set her purse down on the nearby tray and picked up a large syringe, a rubber tube and an alcohol swab. The couple faced one another and looked into each other's eyes. "Nervous?"

Mac nodded. "Yeah."

Gillian swallowed hard. "Me too."

They hugged briefly. "I trust you Gill, you know that."

"I know. I trust my grandmother, this will work and you'll be just fine."

They let go of each other and Mac unbuttoned his right sleeve and started rolling it up. "Okay, give it to me."

Gillian extended his arm and tied the rubbing around his arm; she found a vein easily and rubbed the swab against it. Her hands were shaking as she picked up the vile and stuck the syringe into it; she filled it up and pulled the needle out. She set the vile down on the nearby tray.

MacGyver was looking at his wife, he gave her a smile. "Come on, time's a wasting, we both have a funeral to go to."

Gillian laughed a little, she picked up his arm and held it straight out and turned it over. She swallowed hard as she laid the needle against his skin. "I love you Mac, I'll be waiting for you when you wake up."

He reached out and touched her face. "I love you too, I'll see you soon."

She closed her eyes briefly and stuck the needle into his arm.

MacGyver flinched as the needle pierced into his skin, the liquid felt cold as it went into his vein.

Gillian injected the whole thing into his arm, she untied the rubber tubing and pulled the syringe out. She set it down on the tray and pulled his sleeve back down and buttoned the cuff. "Okay, give it a few minutes and you should start to feel something."

Mac nodded and took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Did your grandmother's diary say what I'm supposed to feel?"

"No, it didn't say at all. We're just going to have to watch you and see what happens."

"Yeah."

The two FBI agents were getting pretty impatient, especially Henderson, the younger of the two G men. He was young and ambitious and didn't have the wisdom and experience his more seasoned partner did.  He shook his head. "This is a waste of time; we should just go with our original plan."

Gillian turned around and scoffed at him. "I don't think so, this is the best way."

"No Gillian, your little stunt isn't working so far."

The young woman shook her head. "Have some patience; it has only been a few minutes."

Tyler was watching all this; finally he put his hand on his partner's arm. "She's right Henderson, just give it some time."

Mac was looking down at the floor, he got a chill and crossed his arms over his chest and started rubbing them, he suddenly felt cold. "Gill?"

His wife turned around and looked at him, she saw him rubbing his arms. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I just got cold."

Gillian looked at all the medical supplies on the nearby tray, there was a thermometer and she picked it up and shook it out to make sure the mercury was down. "Here open your mouth." She stuck the thermometer in his mouth and looked at her watch. She let the second hand go around the dial twice; she took the thermometer out and held it up to the fluorescent light. "93." She looked at her husband. "It has to be working; your body temperature has dropped 5 degrees."

She set the thermometer back on the tray and reached out; she put her hands on his face. "Oh my God." He felt cold.

Mac swallowed hard. "What?"

Gillian sighed. "You're cold, your face is cold."

There was a sudden tightness he could feel in his chest, he started rubbing it with his hands; it felt like a heavy weight was put there.

"What?"

MacGyver took a deep breath and let it out slowly, it took some effort for him to do it. "My chest, it's heavy."

Gillian nodded, it was happening right in front of her and a lot faster than she thought, her heart started to beat hard. "Here, lay down, it might make it easier for you to breathe."

Mac swung his legs up onto the table and his wife helped him lay back. The tightness was getting worse, he was starting to breathe hard. "Gill, I feel like I can't breathe."

"I know but that's part of what it does, just relax and try not to think about it." She swallowed hard and started stroking his hair.

MacGyver was really cold now; he could feel his whole body shivering, like he had fallen through some thin ice. "I'm freezing Gill."

Gillian picked up his hands and held them, she started rubbing them, they were cold. "Better?"

"Yeah." Mac was trying to relax; the things that were happening to him were starting to scare him a little. He got a sudden pain in his chest, like he had been punched in it. He temporarily lost his breath it had been so strong. He lifted his head and looked at his wife. "Gill."

Gillian saw how frightened he suddenly looked. "What? What is it?"

Mac got another pain and he closed his eyes against it. "Pain."

Gillian was expecting it; it was the last thing that the herb would affect, his pulse. "Chest?" He nodded and she licked her lips. "It's the herb slowing down your pulse Mac."

MacGyver was trying not to think about it, he got a bad pain and he suddenly couldn't breathe. He opened his mouth to tell his wife but nothing came out.

Gillian saw him and she put both hands on his face. "Mac, remember what I told you, your temperature, your breathing, your pulse, it's just the herb doing all this."

He reached out and put both hands on her shoulders and gripped them, he was looking at her with wide eyes, he still wasn't breathing.  Gillian was scared too, she took his hands from her shoulders and hugged him, putting his head against her chest. "It's okay Mac, it's okay. You're going to be okay, you're not dying."

Gillian held him to her tightly. She felt him totally relax against her and she squeezed her eyes shut, it was over and done with. "Mac?"

She pulled him away from her, his eyes were closed. She laid two fingers against his neck, she felt no pulse. She laid him back on the table and put her head against his chest, she neither heard nor felt anything.

Gillian sighed and lowered her head briefly; she turned around and looked at the two men. "He's asleep; did you both do the things I said?"

Tyler nodded. "Yeah, the coffin is lined with oxygen tanks; they'll start when the lid is closed."

"And the hole?"

"Yeah, there is a false bottom on it, as soon as the coffin touches it'll open up, it will go through the underground tunnel and emerge in the cremation pit. The funeral director will put it on the table for you."

Gillian turned back around and gently touched her husband's face; she folded his hands on his stomach. She leaned down and kissed his forehead. "See you soon Mac." She glanced over her shoulder. "All right you two; he's ready for his coffin."

The older agent sighed. "Don't worry, we'll take care of it."

Henderson nodded. "And we'll be-"

Gillian did an about face and looked at the two feds. "No, don't tell me, I don't want to know where you guys are or that you are going to be watching. I don't want to know who shows up from the mob family to pay their respects. I don't want to know a damn thing. You two stay away from me, I better not see you because if I do I won't be able to do this. Do you both understand?"

Henderson opened his mouth to say something but Tyler put his hand up. "We understand Gillian, don't worry you won't see us at all. You have my word."

Gillian nodded. "Good, now if you both will excuse me. I have a funeral to get ready for."

The young woman took one last look at her husband before she left the basement.

Both Jack and Pete sighed and shook their heads. "Gillian that is amazing. How in the world did you find the guts to inject him with that stuff?"

Gillian shook her head. "I don't know Pete, I still don't."

Jack rubbed his hand over his face. "Where did you get those herbs?"

Gillian smiled. "Some from local shops, the rest from the woods, some of them weren't so easy to find."

Pete nodded. "Can you tell us what you used?"

"Well, it's a secret recipe that has been in my family for generations. I would rather no one else knew, if it gets into the wrong hands it could be dangerous."

"I understand Gillian." Pete reached out and touched her hands. "Believe me; I don't blame you for keeping it a secret."

Gillian and MacGyver were in their hotel suite, they were staying at The Beverly Hills Palmetto, checked in under the name Mr. & Mrs. Andrew Birmingham of El Paso, Texas.

Mac was in the shower; Gillian was sitting on the king size bed in her teal tank top and shorts pajamas, she was waiting for him. The room the FBI picked to stash them wasn't bad; it was decorated in a pastel motif. The colors of lavender, light peach, sea foam green, baby blue and pale yellow where everywhere, the bed spread had a combination of all these colors.  She had the pillow in her lap, she was still feeling the affects of the funeral; all she wanted her husband to do was make her forget everything she had done that day.

The bathroom door opened and Mac came out. He had on a pair of black shorts, he was drying his hair with a towel, he saw the way his wife looked.

"Gillian, are you okay?"

Gillian nodded. "Yeah, it's just been a really hard day Mac, and one that I would really like to put behind me."

MacGyver walked back into the bathroom briefly and put his towel over the shower curtain rod; he brushed his hair in the dresser mirror and set his brush down. He walked over to the bed and climbed into it, he sat down beside his wife. "I know you had a tough time today Gill."

She laughed. "Tough time? That is a nice way of putting it Mac and probably one of the biggest under statements I've ever heard in my life."

Mac put his hands on her shoulders and turned her towards him. "I can't imagine what you had to do out there in front of a bunch of strangers, getting all upset, pretending I'm dead."

"It wasn't easy but I had to do it." She closed her eyes briefly. "Do you know what I want to do now?"

Mac shook his head at her. "No, what?"

Gillian smiled. "I want us to order dinner and then when it comes I want to hang the do not disturb sign and lock the doors and pull the shades on the windows. I want us to lock ourselves in this room." She put her hand on his cheek. "Just the two of us Mac, forget the rest of the world outside that door. I want to hold you so close I can't breathe, just lose myself in your arms and never come out again."

MacGyver touched the hand that was on his face. "I think we can do that. I think we need to do that to help us both get over how tough this day has been."

"You're right, is there anything I can do?"

Mac nodded. "Yeah there is." He leaned close to her and kissed her, touching his forehead to hers. "Make me feel safe and warm and alive."

Gillian pulled away from him and laid down on the bed, she stretched out her arms to him. "Come here."

MacGyver closed his eyes and simply laid down in his wife's arms. Gillian wrapped her arms around him and held him.

The couple had gone to bed, the sun was still up, it was only early evening but that didn't matter to them. After dinner they had peeled back the bed, turned on the TV and had started watching a movie on one of the pay channels. They had liked the movie but the long and emotional day had taken its toll on both of them, they only got halfway through it before sleep overtook them.

MacGyver had his head leaning on his wife's shoulder; he was snuggled up against her. The white phone on the nightstand on Gillian's side of the bed started ringing, it started the couple awake; they both jumped at the sound of it.

"Now who can that be?" Mac buried his head in his wife's shoulder.

"It has to be Tyler, he's the only one that knows where were we are." Gillian sighed as she reached over and picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Gillian it's Agent Tyler."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, what's going on?"

"My partner and I need to see the both of you, is it a good time?"

Gillian looked down at her husband. "Well, not really but that doesn't matter now does it?"

"It's important."

"All right Tyler, come on over." She hung up the phone and turned towards her husband; she put her arms around him and kissed him a couple of times. "Baby, our attempt to block out the world has failed miserably."

MacGyver returned her warm kisses. "Let me guess, our two pals want to come by and talk to us?"

"Yeah, they said it's important."

"With the FBI it's always important." He gave her a deep kiss before he rolled over and got up. He went over to the dresser and got out a t-shirt, he didn't want to talk to the FBI in only his shorts.

Gillian had put on her shorts and tank top pajamas; she had to put some clothes on. She too got out of bed and went to the dresser, she tried to open a drawer but her husband moved over and blocked her. "Excuse me?"

Mac didn't move, he had his back to her and was smiling. "Is there a problem?"

"Yeah you're in the way."

"Oh, I am?"

Gillian knew he was playing, she whacked him on the butt and he jumped. "Hey! Don't beat the dead guy!"

He stepped aside and Gillian started laughing as she got out a change of clothes. "You'll live."

Mac turned around and looked at her sideways, she just grinned at him. "Very funny, a regular wise girl aren't you?"

She shrugged her shoulders and put her arms around his waist. "You know, you are pretty cute for a corpse."

"I am huh, what are you going to do about that?"

"Nothing for the moment but later after the Feds leave we can do something about that." Gillian suddenly started laughing; she touched her forehead to her husband's chest.

MacGyver put his hands in his wife's hair. "What's so funny?"

She lifted her head and bit her lip a little. "Does this mean I'm a necrophiliac?"

Mac closed his eyes and started laughing. "No, I'm too alive."

"This is the man that knocked you over isn't it?"

Tyler and Henderson had arrived at their suite a half hour later; the foursome was sitting at the little white table at the far side of the room. The older man handed Mac a photo, he looked over it and nodded.

"Yeah that's him, where did you take this?"

"The funeral, he was there."

Gillian was sitting beside her husband. "Can I see that?"

Mac handed her the photo and she gasped. "Oh my God!"

"What?"

Gillian looked at Tyler. "This guy, he talked to me just before the funeral started."

Tyler was very interested in this bit of news. "Gillian we were watching the funeral, we didn't see him."

"Check your tape again because I'm telling you that he came up to me when I was standing outside the tent and he shook my hand and told me how sorry he was for my loss." She looked at her husband. "He said he was an old friend of yours."

Mac scoffed. "Yeah right, he couldn't come up with a better story than that?"

"I knew he was lying. I almost tore up the card he gave me."

Henderson got excited. "He gave you a card?"

"Yeah, he said if I needed anything to let him know."

The two feds looked at each other. "Gillian can I see that card?"

"Sure Tyler, I think it's in my dress pocket." She got up from the table and walked around it over to the door beside the bathroom. She opened it and her black dress was hanging in it, she reached into her pocket and took out a card. She walked over to the older man and handed it to him. "Here it is."

Tyler looked at the beige business card; it looked like every other business card he had ever seen. He turned it over and there was a number written on the back. "I wonder what this number is too, he didn't say anything else?"

Gillian shook her head. "Said no, but I could tell he really wanted me to call him." She shuddered a little. The man she had talked to was a big guy, over 200 pounds. He had brown thinning hair and a weak chin; he was not handsome in the slightest and had given her the creeps.

Mac didn't like what his wife had said; he picked up her hand and held it in his. "Oh nice, hitting on a widow when her husband isn't even in the ground yet."

"I know, didn't waste any time did he?"

Tyler cleared his throat. "Henderson, call this in and see if they can find an address for it."

"You got it." Henderson took the card and got up from the table. He went over to the bed and sat down on it as he picked up the phone and started dialing.

Tyler looked at the young woman. "I know all about your little talent Gillian."

Gillian wasn't at all surprised about this. "You wouldn't be doing your job if you didn't Tyler; I know the FBI is very thorough."

"Do you really think he was interested in you?"

"Yeah he was, trust me."

Henderson thanked someone on the other end of the phone and hung it up; he walked back over to the table. "Sorry Ty, no trace on that number, but Dobbs did say for me to remind you that Carson does have that place that we haven't been able to touch. The private beach that he owns, this could be the number to it."

Tyler rubbed his hands over his face. "The one place that not one judge in this state has granted us permission to set up a tap wire or surveillance for."

The older man sighed and shook his head, they were so close to catching this guy but they just needed access to that house.

Henderson sat back down, he too looked disappointed. "If we could just get a little more evidence we could nail this guy and put him away."

"Yeah I know." Tyler looked down at the table. Henderson had set the card down in front of him, he was staring at it, he turned towards Gillian and looked at her, a small smile suddenly came to his face.

MacGyver saw it and he narrowed his eyes a little, then widened them; he suddenly realized why the FBI man was smiling. "No, no way, don't even think about it."

Gillian creased her brow. "What Mac?"

Tyler picked up the card and turned towards MacGyver. "Yes you see it would be so simple."

"No! There is no way you are going to do that! There has to be another way!"

"There isn't!"

Henderson suddenly got it. "Tyler's right, this is the only way, everything else we have tried has either failed or the door has gotten slammed on us."

Mac shook his head. "Try another way!"

Gillian shook her head. The three arguing men were not making any sense to her, she let go of her husband's hand and stood up. "Gentlemen, will you please enlighten me as to what it is exactly that the three of you are arguing about?"

The two feds looked up at her. "A way to bring your husband back to life."

MacGyver was shaking his head hard. "No! Not that way! It's dangerous!"

Gillian sighed. "What way Mac? What are you talking about?"

Mac licked his lips and looked at her. "They want you to go give your new buddy a call so they can get access to his beach house. They want to use you as their way to get a wire into it."

The young woman's eyes got big. "Is this true?" She turned her attention to the two agents.

Tyler nodded. "He's right, but all you would have to do is go in and plant something small for us, that's all. You wouldn't be in any danger and with a wire there we can finally bust him." The older man looked at her seriously. "Gillian, if we can't put him away your husband will be dead for who knows how long, his life is in danger as long as this guy is free."

Henderson saw the conflict in her face. "Gillian, we worked very hard to convince this man your husband was dead. If something happens and he finds out that MacGyver is still alive, he won't hesitate to take him out. Tyler is right, as long as he is free, your husband isn't."

Gillian rubbed her hands over her face and walked away from the table, she had her back turned to the three men. She thought about everything that the two FBI men had told her, she knew deep down they were right. They would never be able to go home or get back to their lives until Carson was behind bars.

"I'll do it."

MacGyver heard her and he got up from the table and walked around her and stood in front of her. "No, you aren't going to do it."

"Yes I am, I have to."

"Why?"

She took a step closer to him and touched his face. "They're right, we can't go back to our lives until this man is caught. What if he finds out that you aren't dead? We're going to be in danger until he's behind bars Mac and you know that."

MacGyver knew his wife spoke the truth but the idea of her putting herself at risk because of him was something he simply wouldn't allow. "You can't put yourself in a bad situation for me Gill, what if something goes wrong?"

"This is no different than some of the things we have done for the Foundation Mac. We both have done dangerous things for someone else, but this time it's not for peace or for national security, it's for you and for us." Gillian looked at him, her eyes grew shiny. "Mac if I don't, you're a dead man and I can't allow that. I buried you once for pretend and that was bad, if I had to do it for real it'd destroy me."

Mac put his hands on her shoulders and drew her to him; he put his arms around her neck and hugged her. He sighed heavily; he knew they had no choice.

Gillian walked up the lawn to her front door, behind her a long stretch limo was pulling into the driveway. A dark haired man in a chauffeur uniform complete with hat and mirror shades got out and followed her. She unlocked the front door and walked into the living room, there were flowers of every variety all over everything.

"Oh my God." She looked around the room; she couldn't believe how many arrangements there were. She turned around; the chauffeur came into the house and closed the door behind him. "Will you look at all of these?"

MacGyver took the hat off of his head and his mirror sunglasses; he had put a dark rinse in his hair turning it from almost platinum blond to a dark brown color. "Great, a flower shop exploded." He set his hat down on the kitchen counter and put his sunglasses and gloves into it, he started unbuttoning his uniform.

Gillian picked up the pile of cards that were left on the counter. "Pete said that they were all from the same guy." She opened an envelope and looked at the card inside. "Something to cheer you up, Michael Carson."

Pete and Jack had stayed in the house for two days, the FBI had asked it of them to see if anyone was watching the house. When it was determined no one was, MacGyver and Gillian were allowed to go home.

Mac took off his jacket, he had a white tank top underneath, he headed down the hall to their bedroom. Gillian set the card down and followed him; she saw the way her husband was scowling.

"Mac?"

He hung up the coat in his closet and started unbuckling his belt; he had a pair of red shorts underneath his pants. "What?"

Gillian sighed and walked up to him. She touched his shoulder; he was slightly turned away from her. "I know you aren't happy about all this."

Mac turned a little and faced her. "Not happy? No I'm not." He sat down on the bed and pulled off his long black boots and set them aside. He pulled his pants off and folded them up. "You're going to be used like a worm on a hook just so some FBI guys can get their wire tap."

Gillian sat down beside him. "Mac if that was the reason I wouldn't be doing this." She touched his chin and turned his face towards her. "Listen to me; I'm going to do this so you will be safe."

MacGyver set his pants aside and leaned forward, his elbows were on top of his knees. He covered his face with his hands. "I just don't like this."

She leaned towards him and rested her chin on top of his shoulder. "I know Sweetie, believe me I'm not thrilled either but I'll do what I have to do to protect you."

He uncovered his face and turned towards her. "I don't want anything to happen to you Gill."

"I'll be careful, I promise." She touched his forehead to his.

Mac closed his eyes and sighed. "That's why I talked to Tyler and Henderson and convinced both of them to let me help with this."

Gillian leaned back. "Help how?"

"They said I could be there when the surveillance is taking place."

She sighed. "But that could be dangerous, what if someone sees you?"

MacGyver touched his darkened hair. "With this? No way, and even if someone does I don't even look like me."

Gillian nodded. "That's true you do look rather strange, maybe you should go wash it out or I'm going to feel like I'm sleeping with a stranger."

Mac grinned. "It could be exciting, sleeping with a dark headed stranger." He wiggled both of his eyebrows. "Or maybe I'll wash it out and use red instead."

Gillian wrinkled her nose. "Red?" She shook her head. "No that's okay, stick with the brown."

MacGyver started laughing as he took his wife in his arms. "That's true, there's already one fiery red head in this house, two would be too much."

Gillian hugged her husband. "Just promise me you'll stick with Tyler and Henderson and be careful?"

"I promise." He gave her a kiss and got up; he went to wash out the dark rinse from his hair.

Gillian was lying on her side of the bed, she was waiting for her husband to come out of the bathroom. She closed her eyes for a moment, thinking about what she had to do. She didn't really want to do it, she was afraid, but she wanted her husband to be safe. The bathroom door opened and he raced out and jumped on the bed.

"It's the return of the Blondie!" He started jumping up and down on the bed.

Gillian sat up, sure enough her husband was blond haired once again. "Hey the corn head is back."

Mac stopped bouncing on the bed; he dropped to his knees in front of his wife. "Corn head?"

"Yeah." She reached out and touched his hair. "See, corn colored."

"Okay so maybe it is."

Gillian grinned. "That's okay though, I like corn, you know why?"

MacGyver sat down on the bed. "No why?"

She moved closer to him and sat down on his lap, she put her legs around his waist. "Allow me to demonstrate." She turned his head to the side and started gently biting his neck.

Mac touched her head. "Because you can nibble it?"

Gillian stopped and looked at him. "Exactly." She smiled at him. "So can I nibble some more?"

Her husband shrugged. "Well, there are things more fun than just nibbling."

"Really? Like what?"

MacGyver smiled. "Do you really want to know?"

His wife gave him a slight nod of her head. "Perhaps you can show me."

"I'd be happy too." Mac put his arms around his wife and started kissing her gently.

Tyler and Henderson were over at the house, they had tapped their telephone; there was listening equipment all over the dining room table. Tyler had on a set of a headphones, he turned everything on and nodded to Gillian. The young woman sighed and picked up the phone, she took the business card Michael Carson had given her and started dialing.

MacGyver was standing behind her, his hands on her shoulders; he could feel how tense she was. "Just relax Gill."

"I'm trying."

She finished dialing and put the phone against her ear, it started ringing.

"Yeah?" A deep voice answered and Gillian swallowed hard.

"Can I please speak to Michael Carson?" She reached back and touched one of the hands that were on her shoulders.

The voice sounded hostile. "Who is this?"

Gillian sighed. "Gillian MacGyver, Mr. Carson was at my husband's funeral three days ago."

"Oh!" The voice became kinder. "This is Michael Carson. I'm sorry I didn't recognize your voice, call me Michael please."

"All right Michael, you probably didn't expect to hear from me."

"I'm very pleasantly surprised Mrs.-"

Gillian shook her head. "Just Gillian please, I really don't want to be called that right now, if you don't mind." The young woman squeezed her husband's hand. She looked at the two FBI agents, they both gave her nods of encouragement.

"Gillian it is then, how can I help you?"

She sighed. "Well, I finally got back to my house and pleasantly discovered that it was covered with flowers, all of them were from you."

"You got them then? That's good, it pleases me."

"I remembered the card you gave me so I decided to call and thank you, I love flowers."

"I wanted you to do something to make you feel better; I know how tough things must be for you right now."

Gillian felt a lump in her throat; she cleared it, trying to push it down. "I appreciate it, and you have no idea just how hard it is right now; being in this house, everything I see is only a reminder."

Mac could hear the emotion in her voice; he leaned down and rested his chin on top of her head, closing his eyes.

"I understand, but if you need someone to listen."

"I do, I do need someone to listen. My husband had a lot of friends but very few have been around, I think that they don't know how to deal with me, or what to say so because of that they have been staying away. Even his very good ones have been avoiding me."

"That's wrong Gillian, you need them more than ever now." He paused for a second. "Why don't you meet me somewhere?"

Tyler got excited, the older man grabbed a nearby pad of paper and wrote something down; he handed it to her. Gillian looked at the paper. "Meet somewhere? Like for coffee?"

"We could do that, got any place in mind?"

She glanced at the paper. "Actually I have a favorite place that I always go, it's called Café Café."

"I know that place, down on Hunt and Greenwood, right?"

"Right, when do you want to meet there?"

"I'm free this afternoon, how about 4?"

Gillian looked at the two agents, they nodded. "Okay 4 it is."

"See you then Gillian, goodbye."

"Bye." She hung up the phone and Tyler stopped the equipment and took off his headphones. "You did great Gillian, I think he bought it."

She sighed. "I certainly hope so." She turned around in her chair; she put her arms around her husband's waist and leaned her head against his stomach.

MacGyver hugged her head, stroking her hair. "You okay Gill?"

"Yeah Mac, I think I just get a little too into my role and the fact I couldn't see you didn't help, that's why I started getting upset."

"You're supposed to be emotional. I'm sure Michael is going to expect if from you, after all, you just became a widow."

Gillian lifted her head and looked up at him. "Boy you are pretty active for a dead guy, talk about an exciting afterlife."

MacGyver shook his head at his wife. "You know you are way too funny for a widow."

Tyler cleared his throat. "All right Gillian, we're going to go now. We have to set up the café for your meeting with Carson."

Gillian let go of her husband and turned around. "Okay, are you going to come back?"

"Yeah, we have to wire you." Tyler checked his watch. "We'll be back in two hours."

The two feds got up and opened the front door. They checked to make sure everything was clear, when it was they closed the door behind them.

Gillian was standing in the middle of her bedroom; she was in her gray sports bra and a short black skirt. She had two men around her, taping a small transmitter device to her stomach; it was square about the size of a postcard.

MacGyver was sitting on the bed shaking his head, he had one leg up. He was in a grey tank top and black shorts. He had been keeping silent but he could not keep his mouth shut anymore.

"You know, that thing is way too bulky and my wife is too skinny. You're going to be able to see it."

Tyler was putting tape on Gillian's stomach. "This transmitter is state of the art."

"That doesn't mean it won't be seen Tyler."

The older man shook his head. "It'll be fine."

Mac shook his head. "Okay, but just wait 'til she puts her shirt on."

The two men finished and back away from her, Gillian looked down at herself. "Interesting."  She saw the metal square that sat in the middle of her stomach, covered with tape with a big white X. "Are you guys sure about this?"

Tyler and Henderson nodded. "Yes."

MacGyver scoffed. "No."

Tyler turned around and shot the dead man a narrowed eye look. "Yes, go ahead and put your shirt on."

Gillian walked over to her closet and opened it. She took out a dark blue knit shirt and slipped it over her head, she pulled it down and her husband burst out laughing.

Mac got off of the bed and walked over to her. "Gill, I think we need to talk about the way you keep in shape, you sure are looking square." He wrapped his knuckles against the extremely obvious square she had in the middle of her stomach. "Good job boys, a neon sign above her head that flashes WIRED would be less obvious."

Tyler sighed, he had an annoyed look on his face. "I suppose you have something better for her to wear?"

MacGyver put his hands on his hips. "As a matter of fact, yeah. I've built transmitters that are a lot smaller than that."

Henderson scoffed. "Yeah but do they work."

Gillian nodded. "Yes they do."

Tyler wiped his hand down her face. "All right, get yours and we'll try it out."

Mac left the bedroom and went into the garage; he opened a drawer on his wooden workbench and took out a small grey box. He went back into the bedroom and took his wife by the hand and led her over to the bed. He sat down on it and set his grey box aside. Gillian was standing in front of him and he lifted her shirt. "I'm going to take off the tape."

She nodded. "Go ahead."

"I just wanted to warn you." He started peeling back the first aid tape and she flinched, he stopped what he was doing. "Slow isn't going to work." He stood up and put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her towards him. He kissed her hard, his hand wandered down to her stomach and he jerked it off. He felt her gasp against his lips. "Sorry I tried to make it as pleasant as possible."

Gillian shrugged. "Nice effort but it still hurt."

Mac sat back down and lifted her shirt again. She had a red mark from the tape, he rubbed it a little. "Better?"

"Much."

He picked up the grey box and opened it; there was a variety of different size transmitters he had made. Tyler and Henderson sat down beside him on the bed and peeked in the box.

"The smaller the better."

MacGyver picked up a pair of tweezers he had in the bottom of the box and chose one that was about half the size of a postage stamp. "How about this one?"

Tyler nodded. "That's good, but where are you going to put it?"

Mac looked at his wife. "Well it can't be on her stomach, too obvious no matter how tiny it is because she's so skinny it'll be seen." He thought of something. "I know where but you two are going to have to leave the room. Why don't you go in the kitchen and see if you can pick up sound from your equipment."

"All right, let's go Henderson."

The two feds left the room and closed the door behind them; Gillian looked at her husband curiously. "Exactly where are you going to put that?"

"No where that special but they still had to leave." He reached around his wife and unbuttoned her skirt; he unzipped it and slid it down her legs. "Where did those guys put that tape?"

"The dresser."

Mac got up from the bed and picked up the roll of first-aid tape off the top of his dresser. He sat back down in front of his wife and cut a small piece; he put it on his tank top and set the roll aside. "Okay Gill, this might tickle."

Gillian was looking down, watching him. "Why do you say that?"

"You'll find out." Her husband put his left hand on her stomach; he bent his head down a little and started messing with her belly button.

"What are you doing?" She bit her lip, trying not to laugh.

He picked up the tweezers and put the transmitter up against it, and started trying to put it inside it. "Hold still."

Gillian covered her hand with her mouth, he was tickling her bad. She couldn't take it anymore, she burst out laughing, she was moving a lot and he sighed and looked up at her.

"Gill, I can't do this if you are moving around too much."

"I'm sorry Mac but you're tickling me!" She took a few deep breaths and finally was able to stop laughing. "Okay, try again."

MacGyver leaned forward again; he got the transmitter into her belly button. He quickly pulled the tape off of his tank top and put it over it. "Got it."

Gillian started laughing really hard. "Man that tickled!"

He bent down and pulled her skirt back up and fastened it for her. The black material covered her belly button and he put his hand over it, he didn't feel the transmitter. "There, that should do it."

Gillian pulled her knit shirt down. "You can't see it?"

"Nope, and I can't feel it either."

"What about the sound?"
MacGyver leaned forward. "Tyler, Henderson, come back into the bedroom if you are receiving this."

The couple both looked at the door, it opened and the two men walked in.

Tyler nodded. "We got you; the sound comes in really well."

The Café Café was a tiny little tiny coffee shop located on the west side of LA. The dinky stucco building was painted a bright blue. The owners thought the brighter the color the more customers it would attract, their unusual strategy had worked, the little shop was always hopping.

The FBI had talked to the owners; they had convinced the couple to empty the coffee shop of most of their customers. They had reluctantly agreed, shooing most of their business out, claiming they needed to close early.

Gillian was sitting at a round black wrought iron table; it had a matching wrought iron chair. She had her legs crossed, a pair of dark shades on her face. Her face reflected a look of sadness and deep thought as she waited for the man that had killed her husband to make his appearance.

The older man that owned it brought her a large cup of tea and a pastry from the huge glass display case that was in the front, they had every kind of cookie, donut, Danish and muffin ever created inside of it.

"Thank you." Gillian gave him a small smile.

"Sure." The older man dressed in a dark green shirt and a white apron smiled at her and went back to his counter.

"It's 4, he should be there any minute now." Henderson was looking at his watch.

Tyler, Henderson and MacGyver were on the floor above, they had drilled a small hole in the wooden floor and had a tiny camera in it. It was close to Gillian, they could see her clearly through the monitor. The floor above the café was a small apartment the owners occasionally used when they worked late. It had big windows all over it; the shades had been drawn to keep their presence a secret.  

Mac was sitting on a chair watching the color monitor. He had his wife's necklace in his hand; because he was out of the house he had put the dark rinse back in his hair. He had a black baseball cap on and was wearing jeans and a worn looking light colored jean jacket.

Henderson was in a chair near the window; Tyler was in a chair next to MacGyver. "Yeah he'll show up, he sounded pretty anxious on the phone."

MacGyver turned his head towards the older man. "He did?"

Tyler nodded. "Yeah."

Mac sighed and shook his head; he still couldn't believe his wife was going to have to be friendly and nice to the man that had put him in the ground. "Great, I'm dead so this guy is going to think she's fair game."

"Probably." Tyler saw how well he took this news; he reached out and patted his witness on the back. "I know you aren't happy to hear that but remember she is doing this so you can testify as to what you saw and put a criminal behind bars. It should make you proud that your wife is such a good citizen and is doing her part."

MacGyver shook his head. "She's not doing this because it's her duty as a citizen Tyler; she's doing it for me."

"He's here!"

The two men turned towards Henderson, he had pulled back a shade and was peering out through binoculars. "His black BMW just pulled up to the café."

Tyler sighed and turned back towards the monitor. "Showtime."

Gillian heard the door open. The little bell on the top of it rang and her heart started beating hard, he was here. She swallowed hard and took a deep breath. "Mac, remember Mac." She whispered to herself as she tried to relax.

"Gillian?" A deep voice was beside her and she turned and saw the same man she had seen at the funeral. She took off her glasses and got a good look at him, at the funeral she wasn't really looking at him, but now she was. He was no doubt in his late 40's, his dark hair was getting a little thin on top. He was almost 6 feet, probably about 215 pounds, he wasn't fat but he wasn't thin either. He had worn sunglasses when he had spoken to her, now she could see he had hazel eyes. When she had first met him she thought he wasn't handsome at all, but now that she got a better look, he wasn't that bad. His face was slightly round, she remembered his weak chin. He wasn't as handsome as her husband but he wasn't all that unappealing to the eyes. He was wearing a blue pinstripe suit and gave her a smile.

"Hi."  The young woman stuck out her hand, he gently shook it, then he put his hand on top of it.

"How are you doing?"

Gillian closed her eyes briefly. "Surviving, barely." She could feel a wave of emotion hit her and she pressed her lips together and cleared her throat.

Michael nodded and squeezed her hand. "Why don't we sit down?"

She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, he still had a hold of her hand as they sat down at the table. "Have you thought about what you are going to do?" He finally let go of her hand.

Gillian sighed and had a sip of her hot tea, she set the cup down. "I really don't know, for now I just don't have the desire to do a whole lot." She closed her eyes briefly. "Right now it's just hard enough to find a reason to wake up, not that I've been sleeping a whole lot."

Michael nodded. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"How long were you married to him?"

Gillian looked down at the floor for a moment; she could feel her emotions starting to get the best of her. "The 30th of this month would have been our 17th month." She felt a few tears slowly roll down her face; she casually wiped them away as she lifted her head and looked at Michael.

He shook his head. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to upset you."

"No, it's okay. I have to get used to those kinds of questions, I can't just hide in my house and pretend that it didn't happen."

Michael smiled at her; he reached across the little table and touched her hand. "You have a lot of guts Gillian, I admire you for that. I've seen many people in your situation just curl up and die. You have a lot of strength; you're going to make it."

"I don't feel all that strong Michael, not when asking me how long I have been married makes me break down and cry."

"It's just the grief, give it time."

"Ten thousand years wouldn't be enough time to get over him." She covered her eyes with her hands and breathed through them. "I need to go someplace and just forget all this, LA, my job, him, everything."

"Maybe you should consider it."

"I don't know, I feel so damn lost."

The three men were watching the monitor, Tyler shook his head. "She should consider a career in the movies, she's very believable."

Henderson nodded. "Yeah she is, she really acts like a widow."

MacGyver sighed and closed his eyes briefly; he could tell that this was really hard for his wife. "When this is over you guys can get her a gold statue." But they were right, she really did seem like a widow and Mac knew that was how she was thinking too. That was the only way she could pull this off, pretending that he was truly dead.

Michael nodded and reached out, he touched her red hair, he smoothed it back away from her face. "You aren't lost, you are just hurting. What you need is someone to be your friend and help you through it."

Gillian shook her head. "No one will get near me Michael, I have never felt so alone in my whole life then I do right now." A tear streaked down her face, he hesitated for a second, then he touched her face and wiped it away.

"You aren't alone, I'm your friend Gillian and I'm here for you. I know we don't even know each other but I am."

MacGyver got up from the chair, he had heard enough. "I don't believe this guy!" He went over by the window and took off his baseball cap; he wiped his hands down his face.

Tyler also got up. "Now just keep it together MacGyver. This guy is not Prince Charming and your wife knows that, she isn't falling for his lines."

"She has to Tyler otherwise this is all for nothing." He put the cap back on his head. "She has to sit there and believe all that bull he's telling her."

Gillian gave him a small smile. "Thank you Michael, I could really use a friend right now."

"Maybe we can have dinner tomorrow night?"

Her smile slowly faded. "I really don't feel like going anywhere, I'm sorry."

He shook his head. "Well if you don't want to go anywhere." He thought about his house but he wasn't sure.

Gillian had another sip of her tea. "It was very sweet of you to offer though." She looked up at him. "You know, in some ways you remind me of my husband."

Michael looked surprised. "I do? How?"

"He was also very sweet and considerate, and very trusting. He used to say that sometimes he was too trusting."

Michael smiled. "Thank you Gillian, I'll take that as a compliment." He made up his mind about the house. "Since you don't want to go somewhere, how about we have dinner at my house? I have a beach house that's pretty secluded."

Gillian sat back in her chair. "Well, maybe it would do me some good to go to the beach; it might help me sort things out."

He took out a pen from his inner jacket pocket and grabbed a napkin. "What's your number?"

"555-4622."

Michael wrote it down. "I'll give you a call in a few days and we can talk more about it then."

Tyler and Henderson turned towards each other and shook hands, they were very happy that she had convinced Carson to take her to his house. MacGyver was the only one in the room not celebrating, he was watching the monitor, they were saying goodbyes. Michael had her hand in his and was patting it gently. Gillian was smiling a little at him. He walked away from her and left the café; Gillian sighed and sat back down at the table.

Henderson went over by the window and pulled back the shade, the black BMW started up and he watched it pull away. "He left."

Gillian got up from the table and walked off camera.

There was a knock on the apartment door, Tyler looked at MacGyver. "That's for you."

He got up from the chair and walked across the apartment, he opened the door, his wife saw him and hugged him hard.

MacGyver put his arms around her and squeezed her. "You okay?"

"I am now." She buried her head against his shoulder. "That was so hard Mac."

"I know but you had the three of us convinced."

"I just hope it was enough to convince him."

Tyler cleared his throat. "Okay you two, go home. We'll be across the street at that place for rent, if you need anything give us the signal."

The couple let go of each other and nodded. Mac took his wife's hand and they walked out the door.

Pete was in a dark grey suit standing at the white wrought iron door, he rang the doorbell. The wooden door opened and Gillian peeked her head out of it, she saw Pete and she smiled widely.

"Pete!" She unlocked the door and opened it, she hugged him hard. "I'm so glad to see you."

Pete returned her hug; he was close to her ear. "Are we being watched?"

"The FBI is across the street in that house for rent."

"It's good to see you too."

Gillian let go of him and took his hands. She led him into the house and closed the door; she locked it and looked down the hall. "Mac?"

MacGyver cracked open their bedroom door. "Who is it?"

Pete shook his head and smiled.  "Get out here or you're fired!"

Mac opened the door all the way and came out of the bedroom; he saw his friend at the end of the hall. "Hey!" The two men hugged. "What are you doing here?" Mac smiled, he was so glad to see his friend. He had been dead for almost 10 days and he hadn't seen his friend since he woke up in the basement.

Pete let go of his best friend. "I had to come by and see how things were going."

Mac had his arm slung around his friend's shoulder. "Come on let's sit down."

The threesome walked into the living room and sat down on the couch, Pete was between his two friends. "So how are things going?"

Gillian sighed. "Well, okay, I'm supposed to have dinner again at Michael Carson's house tomorrow night, they want me to plant the bugs this time."

Pete creased his brow. "Why?"

"Because they said that Mac can't return to the land of the living until he is in prison."

Pete turned towards his friend. "Really?"

MacGyver nodded. "Yeah, so Gillian is pretending to be interested in him so they can get what they need and get him." He saw the look in the stout man's face. "Believe me I'm not thrilled with this either. I don't like them using her for bait."

Gillian cleared her throat. "How are things at the Foundation?"

"Good, pretty much normal."

"And no one knows I'm dead right?"

"Right, I told the board I sent you on a special assignment for me, no one seems to be the wiser about that."

Mac leaned back against the couch and sighed. "I wish this would hurry up and end. I feel like an escaped prisoner. The FBI insists I wear a disguise."

"Really?"

Gillian nodded. "Yeah they gave us 12 bottles of this rinse solution, it turns his hair dark brown; he looks really weird."

Pete started laughing. "Oh I bet that's interesting."

MacGyver scoffed. "Yeah right, it takes like 3 shampoos to get that stuff out. At this rate it I'll end up with dark hair permanently."

Pete slung his arm around his friend's shoulder. "Well Mac think of it this way. No matter what color your hair is, it beats being dead."

He turned to his friend and looked at him. "You really know how to cheer me up, don't you?"

The stout man started laughing. "Hey, after being at your funeral and watching you come back to life in a dank basement. I'm just glad you're still around to tease."

Gillian was getting ready to go to dinner, she had on a short black dress with very tiny white flowers on it, it went to her knees. She was looking at herself in the mirror; she had put her hair up in a French twist. The door opened and her husband walked in, his hair was dark and he was in a pair of medium blue coveralls. The three men were going to be down the road from the beach house at a nearby mechanic's shop listening to everything.

"Gill, I've got something for you."

She turned towards him. "What?"

Mac opened his hand; he had two of her little jeweled bobby pins on his palm. "These."

Gillian looked at his hand. "My bobby pins?"

"I put two tiny transmitters in them; I figured it was easier than wearing it in your belly button."

She took them out of his hand and slid them into her hair. "What do you think?"

MacGyver looked her up and down. "You look too good for the likes of him." He gave her a small smile. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

"What choice do we have? I have to plant those bugs."

"I know, I just wish there was another way."

"There isn't, he trusts me now."

Mac was really nervous about this; he didn't want his wife to go back to that house. "Be careful."

"I will." Gillian was just as nervous as she was. "I've got the transmitters and everything that I need, it'll be all right."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." She reached out and touched his face. "Maybe you shouldn't be there with Tyler and Henderson."

"No, I'll be there."

There was a knock on the door. "Gillian?"

"Yeah? It's okay Tyler open the door."

Tyler was in a black pair of coveralls. "It's time to go."

Gillian nodded. "Okay." She took her husband's hands and squeezed them, she closed her eyes briefly. "I guess I better get moving."

MacGyver looked down for a moment. "Yeah, you have to drive a little ways."

Their eyes met and Gillian saw the look in his, all of her courage bled out of her body. She let go of his hands and hugged him hard. "I'm afraid."

Mac could feel her trembling against him. "So am I."

"I don't know if I can go through with this." There were tears leaking from her eyes.

"We've been in tough situations before where you've said that and when it came right down to it you did it, this time is no different."

They let go of each other and Mac wiped her cheeks. "Go on and go, you'll be late."

Gillian nodded and gave him a kiss; she turned around and left the room before she got upset again.

Michael Carson's beach house was located right along the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. It was a beautiful drive; the air was slightly cool and filled with the salty smell of the nearby ocean. Gillian had to drive 30 miles to get to it; she was behind the wheel of her husband's Corvette.

There were a lot of things going through her mind that she tried not to dwell on. She followed the PCH into Malibu and turned onto a private road that took her right down to the beach. She parked the Vette and turned off the engine; she picked up her purse and reached into it. She took out a deep nice shade of red lipstick and put it on her lips. She looked at herself once in the mirror.

"I love you Mac."

She pressed her lips together and took a deep breath; she picked up her purse and got out of the Corvette.

There was a red Spanish tile trail that led to the front door, her heels clicked as she made her way down to the front door. Michael's beach house was an Italian villa, right on the shore. It was beige stucco that looked like three or four mini houses that had been squashed together. The roof was made of the same bright red Spanish tile that she was walking on. In the center of the group of C shaped structure was a beige fountain; there was a light trickle of water coming up from it.

Gillian made it to the house and she walked around the fountain. There was a double set of oak doors, she lifted the heavy handle and banged against the door. The doors were being unlocked, they parted and Michael was behind them, he smiled at her.

"Hi." He was dressed in a white silk shirt and neatly pressed black pants. "Come on in."

"Thanks." She carefully stepped over the threshold.

The whole house was nothing but wall to wall pink marble; there was very little furniture in the whole house. She could see a living room set of light beige leather furniture at the far side of the room. The whole back wall was nothing but windows; the ocean was just outside them. There was a black entertainment center, and a beige stucco fireplace in front of the furniture.

Gillian turned to her host. "So where are we going to have dinner tonight?"

"Actually that is a surprise, close your eyes." He reached down and took her hand.

Gillian didn't like this but nevertheless she closed her eyes.

Michael had a hold of her hand; he led her to the living room and out a fancy glass door. He walked her around the house down another Spanish tile pathway to a secluded section of his property; it was right out, practically on top of the water. He had set up a table with candles and a silver bucket with a bottle of wine. There was a mini version of the house that was also there beside it, it was a guest house.

The table had been set out on the cemented front porch of the little house. There were poles with round light fixtures that started coming on; the sun was beginning to set.

"Okay, here we are."

Gillian opened her eyes. "Wow." She saw the little house. "For guests?"

"Yes, and those people that are special to me."

Michael let go of her hand and walked over to the little square table, he picked up the bottle of wine and touched it, it was nice and cold. "Care for a glass?"

Gillian walked over to the table and sat down in the wrought iron chair, she crossed her legs. "Yes, please."

Michael picked up a corkscrew and started opening the bottle.

MacGyver, Tyler and Henderson were sitting in the closed mechanic's shop; it was a small office with a desk, a couple of filing cabinets, and a strong smell of oil that permeated everything.  Mac was sitting on a chair in behind a paper covered desk listening to all of this. He sighed and shook his head. "This guy, he's very smooth."

Tyler was on the other side of the desk, he nodded as he reached out and adjusted the volume on the transmitter; it was big and black and had about a thousand knobs on it. "We know, he's quite a smooth operator, that's how he's been able to avoid prosecution for so long."

Henderson nodded; he was in dirty green coveralls. "He's a real scum and nothing will stop him from getting something once he has his eye on it."

MacGyver looked at him, he was frowning. "Does that include people?"

Henderson was about to open his mouth when he partner cleared his throat. "Henderson why don't you check the perimeter?"

The younger man with the black hair closed his mouth and stood up. "Right Tyler, I'll be outside."

Henderson left the tiny office, Tyler watched him leave. "He didn't mean that MacGyver."

"Yeah I bet." He sighed and wiped his hand down his face as he listened to his wife's voice coming through the transmitter.

Gillian was leaning back in her chair; she was holding a glass of red wine that she was sipping. "It does feel good to get out of the house; I don't really do it to much." She looked out into the water. "And this place is beautiful."

Michael was sitting across from her; he set his glass of wine down on the table and stood up. "Excuse me; I better see how dinner is going."

He walked back down the path, as soon as he was out of sight she poured some of her wine out, he had given her a full glass. He came back rather quickly.

"What is on the menu tonight?" She had another sip of wine.

"Lobster with shrimp scampi, Caesar salad and chocolate mousse."

Gillian nodded. "And you made it all yourself?"

Michael sat back down at the table, he smiled at her. "Of course." He reached out and touched her hand.

"You seem a little happier then you did when we had dinner the last time."

She sighed. "Well, I've had a lot to think about, and some realizations to come too." She looked a little sad. "I think I'm slowly starting to realize that my husband might be gone but I'm still here." She squeezed his hand. "You've helped me a lot Michael, thank you."

Michael gave her a slight nod of his head. "You're welcome." He cleared his throat. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Are we friends Gillian?"

The young woman gave him a slight smile. "Yes, we are Michael."

Michael smiled widely. "Good, because I want us to be."

MacGyver leaned forward and covered his face. "Oh man he's good."

Tyler had his arms crossed over his chest; he saw the way his witness was sitting.  "Are you okay?"

He uncovered his face and looked at the older man. "No, I'm not. How would you be if that was your wife on the other end of this transmitter?"

"I see your point, but if it's bothering you so much to listen to this, there is a couch in the next office. Go take a nap or something."

Mac sat up. "No, I'm not going anywhere."

"Then relax, the evening has just barely begun."

An hour passed, Gillian and Michael were just finishing up dinner, she sighed and pushed her plate back. "That's it for me." She had finished about half of her dinner.

Michael looked at her plate. "That's all? What about dessert?"

"I will try a couple of spoonfuls since you went through all the trouble to make it."

"Good, let me go get it." He wiped his mouth and got up from the table.

Gillian waited until he was out of sight, she reached across the table and picked up his glass. She reached down and a small vile out of her purse, she opened it and dumped its contents into his wine. She put the vile back in her purse and put his wine glass back in its place.

"I think you'll like this it's very light and smooth." Michael was carrying a black tray with two crystal bowls; he picked one up and handed it to her. "Here you go."

"Thank you." She took it from him and picked up a spoon, she dipped her spoon in and had a bite. The mousse was smooth and creamy. "It's good."

Michael sat down and took his mousse off the tray. "Thank you."

Gillian had another spoonful, she looked at her glass, it was only about a quarter of the way full. "Can I have some more wine?"

"Of course." Michael picked the bottle up and poured her another glass; he filled his up and picked it up. "To new friends."

She lifted her glass and touched the crystal glass to his. "To new friends."

They both drank their wine.

MacGyver was getting antsy, he had his arms folded across his chest and his legs were bouncing. "Think she's given it to him by now?"

Tyler was very calm and cool, he nodded. "Yeah probably."

"Did she say how long before it worked?"

The older man shook his head. "No, I have no idea."

The bedroom door to the guest house opened and Michael and Gillian went inside. The room was done totally in white; the carpet, the walls, the bed in the center of the room, everything in that room was white.

"Very nice Michael, I like it." Gillian walked around the room.

They had finished that whole bottle of wine, little did Michael know that Gillian had poured out most of hers and he had no idea she had put something in his.

Michael smiled. "Good, I'm glad you like it."

There was a sliding glass door, and Gillian saw a balcony on the other side of it, she opened the door and stepped out onto it. The ocean was right there; she looked out across the dark water and breathed in the air.

Michael followed her out there, he was standing behind her and he reached out and put his hands on her shoulders. "You look so beautiful in the moonlight."

Gillian closed her eyes; his touch made her want to run screaming from the room, she turned around and faced him. "You just didn't bring me into this room just to show it to me, did you?"

Michael shook his head slowly. "No." He moved closer to her and kissed her.

Tyler looked at Gillian's husband, he had his head tilted back, his hands over his eyes. He knew that Michael had kissed his wife.

"MacGyver?"

Mac took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Yeah?"

"You okay?"

"You don't want to know."

Gillian opened her eyes and swallowed hard. "Why did you do that?"

Michael put his hands on her shoulders and slowly rubbed them down her bare arms. "I've been wanting to do that since we first met at the funeral."

Her heart was beating hard out of fear. "Michael, I-"

"Gillian, losing your husband has been very difficult for you, but we've gotten to be friends, haven't we?"

The young woman nodded her head. "Yes, we have, you've been there for me like no one else has."

Michael brought his hands back up to her face. "Then let me be your friend." He closed his eyes and brushed his lips against hers, he felt her mouth move, she was returning his kiss.

Gillian suddenly put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him away. "Michael, I can't, it's way too soon."

He nodded his head. "You're right it hasn't been very long but you told me you realized that you are still alive Gillian."

"I am still alive."

"Then start living again." Michael put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her to him, kissing her again, this time she put her arms around his neck and started kissing him.

The kiss ended and they both were out of breath, Gillian put her forehead to his chest.

Michael touched his fingers to her chin and lifted it; he was looking into her face. He could see the fear and uncertainty in her dark eyes. "Are you afraid?"

Gillian nodded slowly. "I...I didn't expect this."

"Expect what?"

She swallowed hard. "To have feelings for you, I mean so soon after." She looked away from him.

Michael nodded. "I understand, you probably have a lot of conflicts inside of you right now." He turned her face back towards him. "I think I know of a way to make it all a lot clearer to you."

Gillian was looking at him. "How?"

Michael stepped back and reached down. He took her hand, he led her back inside the room and over to the bed. He reached around her neck and touched the zipper to her dress, he slowly started unzipping it.

The sound of a zipper opening came across the transmitter; MacGyver heard it and he covered his eyes. "This isn't happening, tell me this isn't happening."

Tyler licked his lips and pressed them together. "MacGyver-"

He brought his hands down from his face and scowled at the man, now he was angry. "Tyler if you tell me she is doing this because it's her duty I will bust your nose."

"I wasn't going to say that."

Mac nodded. "Good, and don't tell me you know how I feel because you don't!"

Tyler cleared his throat. "I think it's time you took that walk now, in fact I insist. You need some air."

"No, I'm not leaving this office."

Tyler stood up fast and leaned across the desk. "Then get it together or I will walk you out that office door and take you to get air myself!"

MacGyver was still scowling, his dark eyes filled with anger. He leaned back in his chair and took a few deep breaths, he was trying to calm down.

Tyler saw him and nodded. "Good, I'm glad we understand each other." He sat back down and folded his arms over his chest.

Gillian felt her dress start to slip off her shoulders; she didn't do anything to stop it. She let her arms fall to her sides; her dress slipped down her hands and became a pile of black material at her feet. She was standing in front of Michael in nothing but her underclothes.

Michael was looking her up and down, getting quite an eyeful, his vision blurred a little but he shook out his head. He smiled at her, she was beautiful, he could see though that she was slightly trembling.

"Nervous?"

She swallowed hard. "Yeah."

Michael reached out and put his hands on her shoulders and moved her closer to him, he kissed her. "Don't be."

"I can't help it, my husband was…" She turned her face away from him. "He was the only man I ever considered to be my lover."

Michael nodded. "Of course he was."

The young woman turned back towards him. She reached up and put her hands on his chest, she moved them up it and around his neck. "I think we should take things nice and slow."

Michael got another flash of blurry vision; he rubbed his eyes a little. "All right, if it will make things easier for you."

Gillian could see that her little addition to his wine was starting to kick in; she gave him a small smile. "It will make things a lot easier." She kissed him, she let go of his neck and moved her fingers to the buttons of his shirt. She started unbuttoning them one at a time.

Michael felt what she was doing, he put his arms around her waist and backed her up against the bed, they both fell back on it. He started kissing her face and neck, he was moving down to her chest.

Gillian closed her eyes, she didn't want to even see who was doing this to her. She kept thinking about her husband and what he must be going through listening to all of this.

Michael was at her stomach, he kissed it a couple of times, he felt really dizzy but he figured it was because of the wine. He lifted his head and looked at her.

Gillian reached down and put her hands under his arms. She pulled on him a little, he got the message and came back up, he started kissing her. That's when Gillian's little addition to his wine finally kicked in, he passed out in mid kiss. Gillian rolled him off of her and sat up. She was so relieved and she got up and put her dress back on.

MacGyver had his legs drawn up, his arms were crossed on top of them and his head was down, his eyes were closed. He kept hoping and praying that the drug his wife had given to Michael would hurry up and take affect before things went too far.

Tyler knew better than to say anything, he knew that the best thing would be to leave him alone.

"Mac?"

The voice of his wife rang out, he lifted his head and looked at the transmitter.

"He's out Mac, he's passed out."

MacGyver sighed and leaned his head back against the wall. "Thank God."

Tyler took a deep breath and sighed. "That was very close."

Mac started laughing; he was incredibly relieved that the drug had finally gotten to him. "Yeah, tell me about it." He ran his hands over his face and shook his head. "That was no fun at all."

"Imagine how it was on her end."

"Yeah, so now what?"

Tyler looked at him. "Now she plants the bugs."

Gillian had left her purse outside; she ran out and got it. She opened it and took out a small blue plastic box of microscopic transmitters. She sat down on the bed and opened the box, her husband had given her a tiny tool kit. She took it out of her purse.

Michael was lying flat on his back on the bed; she grabbed his left wrist and took his fancy Rolex watch off of it. She turned it over and using a tiny screwdriver she popped off the back of it. She picked up a pair of tweezers and gently placed one of her husband's tiny transmitters into the guts of the watch. She replaced the silver back to his watch and slipped it back on his wrist.

Gillian was thinking about what else she could bug on him, she rolled him over onto his side and touched his back pockets. She felt his wallet and took it out and placed a bug in one of the inside compartments, she put his wallet back.

Gillian checked her watch; she had one more hour to go before he would wake up. She picked up tool kit and her box of transmitters; she left the bedroom and headed for the main house.

Michael slowly opened his eyes. He was lying on the guest bed, he looked down at himself and saw he was shirtless; the white sheet was up to his chest. He lifted it and discovered he didn't have any clothes on. His head felt a little achy, he thought about the bottle of wine and he pinched the bridge of his nose; he had way too much to drink. He suddenly remembered Gillian, the last memory he had was of the two of them on the bed kissing pretty heavily, he turned and saw her lying beside him.

The young woman was asleep, the sheet pulled up to her chest. She was on her side and her left leg was uncovered, it was bare. He turned towards her and touched her face; she stirred and opened her eyes.

Michael smiled at her. "Hi."

Gillian tried to smile but she really couldn't do it convincingly. "Hi."

She touched the sheet that was on her chest; she sat up and covered her eyes with her hand.

Michael touched her hair, her behavior and her obvious state of undress told him that they had been together. "Are you all right?"

Her long hair was partially covering her face. "I don't know, I don't know what I am Michael."

Michael nodded and put his hand on her shoulder. "Things must be pretty confusing right now, aren't they?"

"Yeah, I think I need to go home."

"All right, but before you do I want you to look at me."

Gillian turned around and faced him, her face reflected sadness, she was looking down at the bed.

Michael lifted her chin and stroked his face with the back of his hand. "I'm not sorry about what happened between us. I know you probably are but don't be. All you did was get back to your life, okay?"

Gillian nodded. "Okay."

Michael leaned forward and gently kissed her. "I've got some business to attend to over the next few days. When it's over I'll call you, will that be enough time to think about things?"

"Yeah, that'll be plenty of time."

"Good."

Gillian turned her back to him, she still had the sheet covering her chest. She saw his t-shirt right there on the floor near the side of the bed she was sitting on. She swung her legs off of the bed, she reached down and grabbed it and put it on. She flung back the sheet, and started gathering up her clothes.

"The bathroom is around the corner." Michael watched her; she picked up all her clothes and her shoes and headed for the door. She turned towards him and gave him a slight smile before heading for the bathroom to change.

The drive home was not a pleasant one, thoughts of her husband kept running through her mind. She hadn't been with Michael but they had done enough to give her a guilty conscience. She had been kissing and touching a man that was not her husband and worse of all MacGyver had been given a front row seat to the whole thing.

Gillian felt like a cheating wife, how was she going to be able to face Mac knowing everything she had done. Was he going to be able to look at her without picturing her and Michael?

Gillian put the Corvette in the garage; she walked into the house through the side door and looked around for her husband.

"Mac?"

The truth was she really didn't want to face him but she knew she had to.

"I'm in here Gillian."

She heard his voice call out from their bedroom and it made her heart beat hard. He sounded angry and upset; she didn't like his tone at all.

Gillian walked down the hall to the bedroom; she opened the door and saw Mac sitting on the bed. He had on a black tank top and red shorts; his hair was once again back to its normal color. He was leaning against the headboard, a deep scowl on his face.

She swallowed hard as she walked into the room. "Hi."

His face didn't show its usual smile and happiness to see her. "Hi."

Gillian was standing there playing with her fingers, she didn't even know what to say. He had heard everything that she had done in Michael's house, even though they didn't go all the way she still felt terrible. "Mac, I-"

He got off the bed fast and stood in front of her. He was looking down at her, there was something in his eyes that she couldn't quite figure out, it was like a combination of anger and horror.

Gillian could feel her heart slam into her ribs, she had never seen this look on his face before. He looked as though he was going to tear her apart with his teeth.

"Mac, I know you're angry and I don't blame you."

Mac turned his back to her. "Do you have any idea what that was like for me Gillian?"

Gillian went to touch his shoulders but she was afraid. "I know, I tried to tell you not to be there. I didn't want you to have to hear all that."

She gently put her hands on his shoulders. "Please Mac, don't be angry with me. I did what I had to do to protect you; I would walk through fire for you."

MacGyver put his hands to his face and wiped them down it. He turned around fast; he was looking at her, his dark eyes intense.  He grabbed her shoulders and pulled her to him, he wrapped his arms around her and picked her up. He sat down on the bed and put her on his lap and hugged her hard.

"I'm not mad at you Gill, I'm mad at me. I'm the one that put you in that situation; it's because of me you had to go through all that."

Gillian buried her head in his chest; she curled up in his arms and let him hold her. "No, it's not your fault; I was the one that was messing around with another man."

MacGyver shook his head; he put a finger under her chin and lifted it. "No you weren't, you did nothing wrong." He put both hands on her face, he started kissing her hard.

Gillian tried to put her arms around his neck but he grabbed her wrists and held them. He broke the kiss and looked at her. He still had that intense look in his eyes, the look that told his wife that he was going to wipe away all trace of Michael Carson from her.

Mac had a hold of her hands; he leaned back on the bed and pulled her on top of him. He rolled them over once and was looking down at her.

Gillian wanted to touch him but he had a firm hold on her wrists, she just looked at him above her and swallowed hard. She wasn't exactly sure what he was going to do.

MacGyver put his arms above her head, with one hand he pinned them to the bed, the other he used to trace his hand down her body; he touched the bottom of her dress and started pulling it up. The material wasn't allowing him to so he simply ripped it.

The dress started tearing straight up the middle; he made it rip all the way up. He parted the material, exposing her body and her underclothes; he put his head down on her stomach and closed his eyes. He stayed that way for a moment or two just enjoying how good she felt. He lifted his head and moved back up to her face, he started kissing her.

He let go of her wrists and she put her arms around his neck. "Mac?"

"Yeah?" They were nose to nose.

Gillian smiled at him. "Do me a favor?"

MacGyver nodded. "Name it."

"Make me forget what I did tonight."

Gillian's eyes still reflected a lot of guilt. Mac saw it; she looked like a woman that had commit adultery. He knew there was only one way to extinguish it. He had to reclaim her, she had to feel like she was his again.

Mac didn't say a word; he simply lifted his tank top over his head and dropped it. He put his hand behind her neck and lifted it. He pressed his lips to hers hard, guaranteeing she wasn't even going to remember her name by the time he was through with her.

Gillian slowly opened her eyes, she lifted her head from her pillow, she was lying on her stomach. She could feel the weight of someone pressing against her back; she knew who it was; the arm across her waist told her. She tried to move but there was no way, Mac had her basically trapped beneath him. She wasn't even sure what time it was or even what day it was, she put her head back down. She felt a hand suddenly start going down her right arm, caressing it.

"Trying to go somewhere?"

Gillian laughed a little. "Trying, but someone has me caught."

He moved back and she was able to roll over towards him, he was on his side looking at her. "How do you feel?"

Gillian sighed; she shook her head and smiled "Well, sort of like a conquered country."

MacGyver laughed. "Good."

She moved closer to him and kissed him; her smile faded, replaced by a look that was a little serious. "You did that on purpose didn't you?"

"Did what?"

"Tore up my dress, you were a little rougher with me than you usually are. You did those things to make me feel better, didn't you?"

Mac put his fingers to her face and moved them down her cheek. "I wanted you to stop feeling like you cheated on me."

Gillian touched the hand that was on her face and squeezed it. "So you remarked your territory?"

He nodded. "Sort of, yeah. I had to make you feel like you belonged to me again."

She put her arms around his neck and kissed him. "I do."

Mac gave her another kiss and touched his forehead to hers. "Can I ask you something though?"

"Sure."

He smiled at her. "Was he a better kisser than me?"

Gillian scoffed and shook her head. "Baby there ain't no comparison." She reached out and gently moved her fingers across his lips. "No one has more talented lips then you do. I could spend days just kissing them."

MacGyver grinned. "Now there's an idea but I do think that would lead to other things."

Gillian smiled widely at him. "God I hope so." She closed her eyes and gave his lips a couple of small kisses.

Over the course of the next three days the FBI monitored Michael Carson; the bugs that Gillian had planted on him had given them access to all sorts of privy information. Tyler and Henderson were both over the moon, the bugs had worked out even better than they expected. The one thing that was still out of their grasp was Michael's admission to the jewelry store robbery.

The only thing they had to link him to the crime was MacGyver witnessing his get away. In order to convince the DA of Michael's guilt, they had to get evidence of some kind that would prove he was behind the robbery.

Gillian was sitting on the other side of the stove, on one of the stools; she was watching her husband cook. MacGyver was standing at the stove with a wooden spoon in his hand; he was stirring meat and vegetables in a skillet. For the past three days the couple didn't leave their house, they had spent all that time just being together. This whole thing with Michael Carson had taught them both to appreciate the smaller things in life, it was a lesson they wouldn't soon forget.

Gillian leaned forward. "So what are you making?"

Mac smiled. "Beef Veggie Surprise."

It looked good, it was cut up steak with a bunch of different vegetables, potatoes and chopped onions. "So what's the surprise?"

Mac cleared his throat. "Well, the surprise is if you live after you eat it."

She shook her head at him. "Oh very funny. You don't cook that bad Mac, I've eaten everything you have made and I'm still here."

The couple was in tank tops and t-shirts, both in their bare feet, it was so nice to just forget everything that was going on, they were both finally able to relax.

MacGyver added a little garlic to his mixture and scooped some up in his wooden spoon, he lifted it towards his wife. "Care to try it?"

"Sure." She took the spoon from him, she was about to eat it when he grabbed her hand.

"You do have life insurance right?"

Gillian looked at him sideways. "Hilarious Mac." She ate the mixture, it was good, she swallowed it and suddenly grabbed her throat, she keeled over backwards off of her stool onto the kitchen floor.

Mac sighed and walked around the stove, his wife was lying on the floor, her legs in the air. "You know its stuff like this that makes it so much fun to be married to you." He crouched down and touched her shoulder. "Gill?"

She didn't move and he shook her a little harder. "Gill?"

Gillian still didn't move, he leaned down close to her face, she suddenly grabbed him around his neck. "Trying to kill me are you? Now you must pay!" She started kissing him roughly, making loud smacking noises as she did so.

MacGyver was being assaulted, he was laughing as he tried to get away from her. "Will you stop it? I'm going to burn dinner!"

Gillian stopped kissing him and let him go. "Okay okay go finish dinner."

Mac got up and pulled his wife to her feet. "Thank you, now that I have been ravaged."

She sat back down on the stool. "Oh please you loved every minute of it."

"No comment." He stirred his mixture a little more and turned off the stove. "Okay! Done!"

He turned around and opened the cabinet, he got out two white plates, he scooped some of the mixture out and handed it to her. "Here you are Madam, take caution when you eat it."

Gillian shook her head. "Will you stop already? I told you that you don't cook bad."

Mac served himself some and opened the drawer next to the stove. He got out two forks and handed one to her; he walked around the counter and over to the dining table.

Gillian set her plate down on it. "I'll get the drinks, what do you want?"

MacGyver sat down across from her place. "Cow juice on the rocks please."

"No problem."

Gillian got out two small glasses of milk and opened the freezer; she got some ice cubes and put them in the glass. She opened up the fridge and took out the milk and filled the glasses with it.

"Cow juice on the rocks." She walked back over to the table and handed one to her husband.

Mac was eating his creation; it had come out pretty good. "Think we are going to hear from our friends?"

Gillian shrugged as she started eating. "I don't know, I'm sure if something goes wrong or they want something else they'll be in touch."

"Yeah that's what I'm afraid of." He had a sip of milk. "They will probably want you to contact Michael again."

Gillian got up from the table and got a couple of napkins, she handed one to her husband. "Maybe."

Mac took the napkin from her and wiped his mouth. "If they do want you to see him again, will you do it?"

"I don't know Mac."

He put his fork down and sat back in his chair. "I don't think you should."

"If I just stop he might get suspicious."

MacGyver sighed. "And what if he wants you to come over and, I mean he thinks that you two..." He wiped his hands down his face. "What if he wants a second helping from the dessert tray?"

Gillian was eating, she was in mid swallow. She coughed and covered her mouth; she couldn't believe her husband had just said that. "Mac!"

He laughed and shook his head. "Well its true Gillian, he's going to want into your pants again." He saw the look his wife had on her face. "If I were him I know I would want to take you to bed again, especially if I didn't remember what it was like the first time."

Gillian sighed, her husband made a very good point. "Okay, well that is definitely not going to happen, if he tries I'll just tell him that we are moving too fast."

Mac had a sip of his milk. "And you think he is going to just buy that?"

"Why not?"

MacGyver shook his head. "Gill, he's already had you once, that line is not going to fool him."

She put her fork down. "Great, so what do I do?"

Mac thought about it for a moment, the answer came to him and he reached out across the table and touched her hand. "Sweetheart you have been blessed with something that makes any man instantly panic." He thought about what he said. "Well maybe not this man."

Gillian creased her brow. "And what might that be?"

She was rather curious as to what he could possibly be talking about. "My abilities?"

"No, better."

"So what is this wonderful ability I have to make men panic?"

MacGyver grinned. "Tears, the one thing in this whole world that will turn a grown man into a complete boob, just turn on the faucets and he won't know what to do."

He picked up his fork and continued eating his dinner.

MacGyver and Gillian were sound asleep. They had both fallen asleep on the floor in front of their fireplace; they had spread a blanket out and were watching a movie. The television was nothing but static, the tape they were watching had rewound itself.

They were lying on their backs, Gillian was snuggled up close to her husband, he had his arm across her shoulders. The phone started ringing, it woke them both up and Gillian slowly got up and stumbled into the kitchen, the phone was near the dining room table, she picked it up on the 4th ring.

"Hello?"

"Hi."

Gillian was still waking up, she rubbed her eyes. "Who is this?"

"It's me."

She suddenly realized who it was. "Michael?"

"Yeah, sorry did I wake you up?"

Mac got up from the floor and turned off the TV; he walked over into the kitchen and leaned against the counter.

Gillian pulled out a chair and sat down. "I fell asleep watching a movie."

"I've been thinking about you ever since the other night."

"Yeah, so have I." She saw her husband and she curled her finger at him. He walked over and sat down on the table, she leaned her head against his thigh.

"I think we should get together again Gillian, I want to see you."

Gillian put her free arm around Mac's waist. "I don't know Michael."

"Please, I really want to see you."

MacGyver reached down and stroked his wife's hair, trying to make it easier for her, she sighed. "All right Michael, tomorrow night, 9 o'clock at your house."

"Good, I'll be waiting, bye."

"Bye." Gillian hung up the phone; she put both arms around his waist now. "He wants to see me tomorrow night."

"I heard." Mac was still stroking her hair. "You better give Tyler and Henderson a call and let them know."

Tyler nodded his head, he and his partner were sitting on the couch. MacGyver and Gillian were sitting on the loveseat; Gillian was on her husband's lap.

"Good, I'm glad he called, there is something we need to talk to you both about."

Mac shook his head; he didn't like the sound of that.

The two FBI agents were over at their house within the hour, it was now almost 10 o'clock. Tyler had explained to the couple why they had been scarce for the past few days.

MacGyver had been right about not liking what Tyler had to say, he sighed and briefly pinched the bridge of his nose. "Just hold it a second Tyler, now you wouldn't be telling us all this unless you wanted something, so why don't you spare us the long version and get to the point."

Henderson didn't like his tone. "What's with the attitude MacGyver?"

Mac turned his attention to Tyler's partner. "I don't have an attitude Henderson but what I do have is lack of patience. I've been dead for two weeks now and I've watched the two of you do nothing while my wife does your job." He put his arms around her. "She has done more to help me then the two of you and now you are back to ask her to put herself in a compromising position yet again, is that right?"

Gillian wanted to say something but she decided not to, she let her husband get a few things off of his chest; she simply sat there and let him give the FBI a hard time.

Henderson started to say something but Tyler reached beside him and touched his arm. "All right MacGyver, you're right. We have put Gillian at risk but she has really helped us a great deal. Believe me if we had an alternative we would take it but unfortunately we are in too deep to stop now."

Mac was frowning at the older man. "No, you mean she is in too deep to stop now. What do you want her to do this time?"

Tyler sighed and closed his eyes briefly. "We need proof that he robbed that jewelry store."

"You mean to tell me that all that bugging hasn't given you one shred of proof?"

The older man shook his head. "No, we've gotten everything but that, and that is the one thing that the DA needs to complete his case and arrest him."

MacGyver sighed and leaned his head back against the love seat. "Great, that's terrific."

Gillian touched her husband's face. "Don't worry Mac, it'll be all right." She turned to the two men; she had finally decided to join the conversation. "If you want me to find proof then that's what I'll do."

Gillian was back in the guest house bedroom. She was sitting on the edge of the bed, she had worn a dark blue dress, it was very plain; she looked down at the white carpeting.

Michael was sitting beside her, dressed in a light grey polo shirt and dark grey pants, he touched her knee, he could see the look on her face. "What's wrong?"

She shrugged. "Nothing, I'm just having a bad day."

"Want to tell me about it?"

"Not really."

Michael touched her chin and turned her face towards him. "Try."

Gillian lifted her eyes to look at him. "The funeral home called me today. My husband's tombstone is ready; they wanted to know if they could put it on his grave."

He nodded and touched her cheek. "I'm sorry, why don't you let me make you feel better." He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers; he put his arms around her waist and drew her closer to him. He titled sideways and they both fell over onto the bed.

Gillian could feel his hands start to go down her body; she struggled against him and pushed him away. "Michael, stop."

She sat up and covered her eyes with her hands, she leaned forward and Michael sat up. "What's wrong?"

Gillian suddenly burst into tears. Michael could hear her crying, he put his arm around her shoulders. "It's okay Gillian, I'm sorry." He let go of her and got up. "Let me get you some tissues." He left the room in search of tissues.

MacGyver, Tyler and Henderson were in a blue van just outside the access road that led to the beach. He didn't put the rinse in his hair this time, nor did he wear anything to disguise himself. He was in jeans and a blue t-shirt, he started laughing.

"I told her that would work, stopped him dead in his tracks."

Tyler shook his head. "So that was your idea huh?"

"Yeah, just in case Mr. Charming wanted to play the horizontal version of Twister."

Henderson was sitting behind the wheel of the van, he started laughing. "You have a way with words MacGyver."

Gillian finally pulled herself together, she wiped her face. "I'm sorry." She had her head down; she was looking at the floor.

Michael shook his head and stroked her hair. "No, it's okay, I shouldn't have done that."

"It's just been such a hard day, watching them put that stone on his grave." She shook her head and started crying again. "I'm all alone now Michael."

She leaned towards him, he put his arms around her and held her against his chest, he kissed her head. "No you aren't alone, I'm here."

Gillian took a shuddering breath. "What am I going to do?"

Michael put his chin down on top of her head. "You're going to move on."

"Everything just seems so hopeless, it's like being in a dark tunnel and there isn't any light at the end."

He moved back from her and put his hands on her shoulders. "No, don't think like that, you're young. You have a lot of life ahead of you."

Gillian's face was streaked with tears, they were catching the light; her cheeks were shiny and she dabbed them with a tissue. "I want to believe you Michael but I just can't right now."

Michael wiped her face with his hands. He was looking down at her, his eyes went to her chest and he suddenly noticed the necklace she had on; it was a long silver chain with a silver heart on it. He thought back to the funeral. He had been sitting in the middle, he had watched her take something off of her neck and put it in her husband's casket. He remembered seeing a flash of silver as she bent over the coffin.

Gillian saw the way he was looking at her. "Michael? Are you okay?"

Michael's face suddenly became dark and dangerous; he grabbed her by both arms. "Your necklace, tell me how that necklace got from your husband's coffin to around your neck?" He was squeezing her arms hard.

"Necklace, what are you talking about?" She tried to pry his hands from her arms.

He shook her a little, he let go of her left arm and grabbed the heart. "This Gillian, I was at the funeral I saw you put this in his casket, if it is buried how did you get it back?"

MacGyver's heart starting beating hard, his wife sounded like she was in trouble. "Oh my God."

Tyler shook his head. "Just calm down MacGyver, let's see if she can talk her way out of it before we start panicking."

Gillian was breathing hard, she was terrified. "Necklace, I…" She swallowed hard, she knew there was no way to explain away how she got her necklace; she closed her eyes briefly. "Michael, I want you to know this wasn't my idea! They made me!"

Michael was glaring at her, he reached out and opened the drawer on the nightstand that was beside the bed. He took out a gun and pulled the hammer back.  "Who's idea was it Gillian?"

She looked at the black gun that was being stuck in her face. "The FBI, they said if I didn't do this they would kill me." She lifted her eyes and looked at him. "Michael, please, I didn't want to do this. You have to believe me."

Michael was scowling. "Oh so I'm supposed to believe you?"

MacGyver shook his head, Gillian was in very big trouble and he couldn't just sit there.  "Damn."

He was sitting in the back of the van, he reached out and went to open the doors. Tyler and Henderson both grabbed him.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm going in there! I'm not going to let him hurt her!"

Tyler shook his head. "Oh no you aren't! We need you!"

Mac moved their hands aside. "And I need her, I'm going in there and there is nothing you two can do about it."

Henderson started to pull out his gun, Tyler grabbed his wrist. "No, don't." He looked at MacGyver. "All right, go."

MacGyver nodded and opened the doors, he ran down the road towards the beach house.

"I'm telling you the truth Michael! I didn't want to do this but the FBI said that I had no choice, what was I supposed to do?"

Michael stuck the gun under her chin. "And just what is it that they made you do?"

Gillian felt the cold metal press into her skin. "Please, don't hurt me Michael. I'll tell you everything."

"Let her go Michael."

The two people turned and Gillian saw her husband standing in the bedroom doorway. "Mac."

Michael realized who it was, this only made him angrier, he looked at Gillian. "He isn't even dead! That's how you got your necklace back! Your husband's not even dead!" He was yelling in her face, pressing the gun deeper into her skin.

Gillian cried out, she was sure she was going to have a bruise from the barrel of that gun. "I told you they made me! He did too! He is working with the FBI on this!"

MacGyver nodded. "She's right, this has nothing to do with her Michael, she had no choice."

Michael took the gun from under her chin and aimed it at him. "Well, now she can really bury you."

Gillian reached out and put her hand on the gun. "Michael wait!"

He turned towards her. "What?"

Gillian licked her lips. "I want to do it."

The two men both blinked a few times and looked at her. "What?"

MacGyver's eyes widened a little. "What did you say?"

Gillian's face went from scared to almost wicked. "I said I want to do it."

Michael looked at her. "More lies Gillian?"

She shook her head. "No, he forced me to do this; he made me get to know you and make love to you." She grinned. "What he didn't know was that I liked it. I liked the excitement, the danger." She reached out and touched his face. "I know all about you Michael, the crimes, the cons, the mob connections, all of it."

MacGyver couldn't believe what he was hearing. "Gillian you are my wife, it was because of this man that I had to fake my own death."

Gillian turned her attention to him. "Your wife? What wife? I'm not your wife, you don't even appreciate me! Michael has shown me more tenderness and kindness in the couple of weeks I've known him then you have our whole married life!"

Michael smiled. "So all that, you weren't lying to me?"

Gillian shook her head, she put both hands on his face and kissed him deep. "No, I wasn't, it's probably the most fun I've had in almost a year and a half."

Michael looked at her, a wicked look in his eyes; he passed the gun to her, still keeping the aim of it at MacGyver. "Go ahead Gillian, pull the trigger. You and I can leave the country tonight."

Gillian took the gun in her left hand; she wrapped her fingers around it and pointed it straight at the center of her husband's chest. "Goodbye Mac, it's been fun but I got a good strong taste of danger and I liked it, it excited me, sorry but you are just too dull for me."

Her husband looked at her. He was breathing hard, he was staring down the barrel of a gun and his wife was the one pointing it at him, he swallowed hard. "Gill, I love you, don't do this."

The young woman shrugged. "Sorry."

Gillian looked straight at her husband and pulled the trigger.

The first bullet hit MacGyver right in the chest. He stumbled back and touched his shirt, he looked down at his fingers and saw they were bloody. "Gill."

He reached out to her and she pulled the trigger again, this one hit him in the stomach. Before he could react she fired the gun 4 more times, the bullets hit him in his chest, the last one flung him back against the door; his eyes were still looking at her as he slid down it.

Gillian sighed, she turned and handed the gun to Michael, he set it down on the nightstand. She walked over to the door and touched Mac's neck. "He's dead." She crouched down and closed his eyes.

Michael started to laugh. "Wow that was something."

Gillian straightened up. "Yeah I know, it felt great though."

"Well we can't leave him here."

"True, we can't have bodies cluttering up the place." Gillian opened the door, her husband's body fell back against the white carpeting. She stepped over him and picked up his wrists, she dragged him out the door.

Michael was watching her. "What are you going to do?"

"For now just put him outside, then later I'll sink his body in the ocean." She disappeared out the front door dragging the body with her.

Gillian came back into the bedroom and brushed off her hands. "Well that takes care of that."

Michael nodded, he was impressed; she was just as cold hearted as he was. "I don't know what to say, I'm amazed."

Gillian walked up to him, a devious grin on her face. "Who said you had to say anything?" She put her arms around his neck. "I think the time for talking is over." She kissed him deeply, her fingers going into his hair.

Michael put his arms around her waist and picked her up. He carried her over to the bed and laid her down on it, he stretched out on top of her. "So where should we go?"

She shrugged. "Oh I don't know, someplace far with no extradition just in case they find my poor dear late husband."

Michael nodded. "Good idea." He kissed her again. "So, my life excites you?"

Gillian smiled at him and gave him another kiss. "Yeah it does, all those crimes, it's a lot of fun isn't it?"

Michael started laughing. "Yeah it is, except when you run into complications, like I had at that jewelry store." He shook his head. "I'm surprised I didn't hurt your husband. I was running pretty fast when I ran into him. I had no choice though, but now that he's dead I won't have to worry about that anymore, we can take the jewels and sell them."

Gillian nodded. "Okay, sounds good, we can use the money to start off our new life." She rolled them over once; she was looking down at him. "But we can talk about that later." She leaned over and started kissing him, her hands moved down his sides and touched his wrists, she put them over his head.

Michael laughed. "Getting turned on are we?"

"Oh yeah, very turned on." She pressed down on them with her hands. "But before we make love Michael, there's something I want to tell you."

Gillian reached under the pillow and took something out. "Something I have been dying to tell you since the funeral."

Michael smiled. "Whatever is it, I'm all ears."

Michael was too excited to pay much attention to what was going on behind his head; Gillian looped something around the pole on the headboard.

She kissed him again. "I'm so glad to hear you say that." She suddenly slapped a pair of handcuffs on his wrists. "Because you're under arrest."

Michael heard what she said but he didn't believe it. "What?" He started struggling against the cuffs but there was a chain in between the cuffs and he was attached to the headboard.

Gillian climbed off of him and smiled. "That's right Michael; you are off to the Crowbar Hotel."

Michael grew very angry. "If I go down then you go down for murdering your husband!"

"I don't think so."

Gillian turned to the door and smiled. MacGyver was standing in the doorway, his t-shirt was blue, now the whole front of it was purple with blood. She smiled widely at him. "Hi Baby!" She walked over to him and kissed him.

Mac sighed and looked down at his now ruined t-shirt. "You know Gill, this being dead thing is really starting to get old."

Michael's eyes grew wide. "But…she shot you!"

The gun was sitting on the nightstand; Gillian picked it up and pointed at him. "You mean like this?"

She aimed at his stomach and pulled the trigger, his light grey polo shirt suddenly turned red. She reached out and touched the red spot. "A special design of my husband's, red corn syrup bullets. They look like blood but they aren't." She stuck her finger in her mouth.  "Sweet."

MacGyver rubbed his chest. "They hurt though, felt like I was being pelted with rocks."

Gillian put her hand on his chest. "Aww poor Baby." She touched his t-shirt, the corn syrup had dried but his shirt was rubbery. "Those things worked out great."

"They did didn't they?"

Tyler and Henderson walked into the snow white bedroom and saw what was going on. "Are we interrupting something?"

The couple shook their heads. "Oh no not at all, come on in."

"Oh good."

Tyler and Henderson walked over to Michael and flashed their badges. "FBI, you are under arrest for theft, robbery and various other criminal activities."

Michael shook his head. "You both don't have anything on me; I'll be free by tomorrow morning."

"I'm afraid not, we have enough on your to send you away for the rest of your life."

Henderson nodded. "That's right we do, we even have you for the Simms Brothers Jewelers robbery as well."

"I never admitted that, good luck proving it. You have your witness but what evidence do you have?"

"Oh we have you on more than just me interrupting your get away." Mac walked over to Michael and leaned over close to his watch. "Go ahead and say Hi Michael."

Michael looked at him like he was insane. "You are talking to my watch?"

Gillian shook her head. "No, to the bug inside your watch."

The handcuffed man glared at her. "And when did you do that?" He thought about it and smiled. "After we made love?"

Gillian started laughing. "No Michael, after I drugged you, we didn't do anything."

Tyler took a key out of his pocket and unlocked his cuffs. "Time to go Carson."

The two men sat him up and put his hands behind his back, they cuffed them and stood him up; they started walking him to the door. Gillian put her arm around her husband and watched as they took him away.

"Oh Michael?"

Carson turned around and looked at her, she gave him a smile. "See you in court."

The handcuffed man glared at her as he walked out the door.

Gillian and MacGyver returned to their house and parked the Corvette; they came in through the side door and walked down the hall into their bedroom.

"Oh I feel so sticky." MacGyver lifted his t-shirt over his head and wadded it up, it was ruined there was no way that corn syrup and red food coloring mixture was ever going to come out. He looked down at his chest and saw that the red corn syrup had stained his skin red. "Wonderful, now I look like I really did get shot."

Gillian unzipped her dress and stepped out of it, she tossed it near their hamper. "Yeah you do." She walked over to him and looked at his chest. "You know shooting you was a lot of fun."

Mac raised an eyebrow. "Well don't make a habit out of it, I've died twice in a two week period, I've just about had my fill of it."

"My poor Honey." She put her arms around his neck.

He stepped back from her embrace. "I wouldn't do that, you're going to get messy."

"That's okay, I'll risk it."

"Okay but you are going to get corn syrup all over you."

Gillian kissed her husband; she pressed her forehead to his collarbone and sighed. "It's over Mac, it's finally over."

MacGyver put his hands on the back of her head. "Yeah I know, well, with the exception of testifying."

"That won't be a big deal will it?"

"Nope, just tell the jury what I saw, that's it."

Gillian lifted her head and looked into her husband's eyes; she gave him a big smile. "Welcome back to the land of the living Mac."

He gave her a smile. "Thanks."

Gillian looked at the clock and saw that it was almost 11 o'clock. Despite the fact it was later than their usual bedtime, neither one of them was tired, there had been too much excitement.

"So what are we going to do now?"

Mac sighed. "Well, a few ideas come to mind."

She looked at him curiously. "Like what?"

He put his hands on her shoulders and rubbed them down her arms. "We could read a book."

The young woman wrinkled her nose. "Nah."

"Okay, we could watch a movie."

Again she crinkled her nose and shook her head. "No movie."

Mac thought about it for a moment. His wife didn't like his two suggestions, he was thinking about a third and tilted his head a little from side to side. "Or maybe we could play a game."

Gillian creased her brow at him. "A game? What kind of game?"

He gave his wife a wicked grin. "Ever heard of Twister?"

"Well who hasn't but we don't even have it."

MacGyver wiggled his eyebrows at her. "In the version I play you don't need it."

Gillian finally got the message, she nodded. "Okay, so what do I get if I win?"

"We play for prizes now?"

"Sure, so what's my prize going to be if I beat you?"

Her husband licked his lips and pressed them together. "If you win I'll let you be my loofa sponge for a week."

Gillian grinned. "A whole week? I like that idea."

Mac cleared his throat. "And if I win?"

The young woman sighed. "If you win, you can take your pick from the dessert tray every night for a week."

MacGyver nodded his head enthusiastically. "All right, you're on." He backed away from his wife and climbed onto the bed. "And I'll have you know I am an expert at this game."

MacGyver opened the fridge and took out a bottle of apple juice. He took a sip and closed the door; he took it back to the bedroom with him and quietly opened the door. He poked his head in and saw that his wife was on her left side in her lavender night gown; she had kicked the sheet off of the bed. 

Mac snuck back into the room and carefully sat down on his side of the bed, he had a sip of his juice.

Gillian groaned and rolled over; she slammed against him, draping her arm across his waist. She felt something that wasn't skin and she opened her eyes and saw grey shorts. She lifted her head and saw her husband. "Hi."

"Hi, what time is it?" She slowly sat up and rubbed her eyes.

"12 45." Mac had a drink of his juice and handed the bottle to her. "Apple juice?"

"Thanks." She sipped it and put the cap back on.

"So what did you think of my game?" Mac gave his wife a smile as he reclaimed his bottle of juice from her.

Gillian laughed a little. "It was a good game although we both should call it a draw."

MacGyver nodded. "Good idea, that way we both get our prizes."

His wife shook her head. "Nah that's okay, you don't have to let me play loofa sponge if you don't want to."

"Why not? You earned it."

Gillian leaned her head against her husband's shoulder. "Well, I don't need a prize."

"How come?"

She lifted he head and smiled at him. "I already got the greatest prize in the whole world… you."

MacGyver smiled at his wife and hugged her hard. He closed her eyes and sighed, he never felt so happy and so relieved to be alive.