CHAPTER TWO

MacGyver could not have been more thrilled upon the birth of his daughter, McKenna Alexis. He figured he was about the happiest man on earth on June 14. There was nothing he could have imagined being more perfect then when he sat next to his wife, Anna, and held their newborn daughter in his arms. He had no idea that his heart was able to overflow with such love and protectiveness for something so small that he'd barely met. But there she was, Mac's little girl. All the years he'd missed with Sam he vowed to share with this tiny little perfect person. Though he said he wouldn't, he did ----- count all her ten little fingers and toes. He had only to meet her perfect blue eyes with his and he was sold. Little Mac had her Daddy wrapped around her finger.

Anna was no less enraptured. A first time mother, she was so unsure of so many things, but somehow, after holding that precious little girl, depending on her so much, things seemed to some naturally. She found confidence she didn't know she had, holding and diapering for the first time. And once she got the hang of breast-feeding, both she and McKenna seemed like old pros.

MacGyver could only look on in wonder. Even after seeing Maya and Jake, his own grandson, Mac had never realized the true miracle. All this was something he'd never taken an interest in and mostly turned his head away at, in embarrassment. But lately, he'd seen more than he'd ever expected and learned more than he'd ever wanted before. And he was enjoying every minute.

When a nurse came to take McKenna for routine tests and foot printing, MacGyver followed along like a nervous father every step. He almost cried and had to look away when they had to poke his tiny baby's heel for a blood sample. When she cried, the first time he'd actually heard her cry, in shock and pain, his heart swelled and he wanted to rush over and grab her away. These strange and new feelings continued to assault him and he knew they would come from now on. He was bursting with pride over it.

When McKenna was safely back in her mother's arms, MacGyver gave them both a tender kiss. He could barely pull himself away, but knew he had some things to do.

"I'll be back," he promised his "girls."

Anna was content to hold her new daughter and marvel at her so she barely missed her husband.

MacGyver went down to the private waiting room where Sam and Maya and their two-month-old son waited for news. MacGyver, still in hospital green shoe coverings, came in with a grin they'd never seen before.

Sam stood up. Maya, holding baby Jake, looked up expectantly.

"She's perfect!" Mac announced to his family. "She's a girl and she's perfect!"

Sam gave his father a hug and Maya smiled up at him. She's seen the same shocked/amazed/joyous look on Sam's face two months ago, when Jake was born. It was something she'd never forget, on either of these two special men in her life.

Sam stepped back and shook his father's hand vigorously.

"Congratulations Dad! You're a Dad! How big was she? What's her name? When can we see her?"

MacGyver took a deep breath, trying to make sense of it all.

"She weighed seven pounds and seven ounces, twenty one inches long. She has her mother's gorgeous blue eyes. Her name is McKinna Alexis. And after my girls get some rest, you can all go see them."

Maya stood up and gave her father/brother-in-law a kiss on the cheek. "We're so happy for you Mac. How's Anna?"

"She's great. She's so strong. The doctor says she's going to be fine. The bullet wound wasn't deep and didn't do any major damage. They sutured it up and are giving her some antibiotics in her IV."

Not the normal procedure for labor and delivery, but after all, she was MacGyver's wife. As usual, the bullet had been meant for him, fired at the Museum of Natural History, where Anna was now a curator...............

MacGyver had stopped in at the museum to look at an Aztec urn Anna had been after him to see all week. She was almost nine months pregnant, but didn't want to leave her new job at the museum until the last minute. Mac had been getting increasingly nervous as her due date approached and kept finding reasons to stop by the museum and check on her. That and he missed having her at home.
Back in the storage room he found his wife, on a stepladder. He promptly got her off and proceeded to yell at her.

"Anna, please, no more ladders!" he begged. She was giving him more gray hair than he already had.

She laughed, holding her bulging abdomen. "Ok! Okay!" she said. "I wish you wouldn't worry so much."

"I wish you two wouldn't give me so much to worry about."

It was almost closing time for the museum and Anna wanted him to see some of the relics in the new Aztec display she was putting together. They went together to the Native America wing, neither noticing a figure lurking in the shadows.

Anna pointed out the object and told Mac about their origin, while he examined them closely.

The shadow that was not a shadow at all but a vengeful figure from MacGyver's past drew a pistol and aimed dead center at MacGyver's head as he examined a pot.

Something in Anna's instinct made the hair on her neck stand up and she turned at the last second in time to see the gun, if nothing else.

"NO!" she screamed and then pushed MacGyver away, veering too closely into the path of the just fired bullet. MacGyver landed with a thud on the floor in time to see the blood spurt from his wife's chest and her falling to the floor. He barely glanced toward the gunman, moving fast to Anna, pulling her to safety behind a large adobe wall.

People were already running; a security alarm had been triggered. MacGyver heard voices. But all he could focus on was Anna: his pregnant wife lay bleeding in his arms.

He tore open her shirt to see where the wound was, cold with dread that not only Anna but also the baby had been hit. With relief like he'd not felt in years, he saw the bullet had merely scratched the surface of the front of her right shoulder. He saw the clear path of the bullet and saw it was not lodged in her body as he'd feared, but merely took off the top layer of skin and lodged in parts unknown in the Aztec ruins display.

Anna, now conscious, was moaning in pain.

"It's gonna be okay," Mac reassured her. "It's not deep."

"The baby-" Anna began.

"The baby's okay," he assured her, using his flannel shirt to stop the bleeding.

"No!" she said more forcefully. "The baby is coming! Now!"

Whether it was the adrenaline rush of the incident or just natural timing, Anna's words were accentuated, driving the point home, by a gush of fluid pooling on the floor beneath her.

Mac could already hear the sirens outside and several other of Anna's co- workers were running over. MacGyver demanded towels and blankets and was given a variety of each.

"Ok," he reassured her, as paramedics were arriving. "We're okay. Everything's going to be okay."

Anna, in the thralls of a contraction, wasn't sure who he was trying to calm more: her or himself.

A wild ambulance ride to the hospital and phone call to Sam later, MacGyver had found himself in a delivery room watching as his daughter is born. This led to MacGyver's explanation to Maya of her sister's condition.
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".Any word on the shooter?" MacGyver asked Sam now.
Sam shook his head. "The museum security and then the police went over the place with everything they had. They didn't find anything but the bullet, lodged in one of the Aztec ruins. It was a .38."
Mac looked thoughtful. "You'd think if they really wanted to kill me, they'd have gotten a more powerful gun."

Sam agreed. "Yeah. I don't think it was planned. I think it was someone who ran into you by accident and took the shot on the spur of the moment. Anyone you can think of?"

MacGyver could only shrug. "Any one of a hundred," he sighed.

"Okay, well I'm gonna go down to the police station and see what I can dig up. Maybe they got some prints or something."
MacGyver nodded.

"We'll go back to the house and come back after Anna's rested," Maya told Mac.

MacGyver gave his now sleeping grandson a kiss on the forehead. "You guys be careful," he told Sam and Maya.

"We will. I'll drop them off and pick them up myself."

"Keep the alarm on once you're inside," MacGyver told her, giving her a kiss on the cheek as well.

"We will," she assured him. And then they left.

One more thing before MacGyver went back to Anna's room. He used the courtesy phone to dial Pete Thornton's number in California.

"Hello?" Pete answered his speakerphone.

"Hey Pete, its Mac."

"MacGyver! Great to talk to you! How are you?"

"I'm good Pete. Better then good. Got some news," he said.

Pete could almost "hear" him grinning. "Oh Yeah?"

"Yep. You've got a Goddaughter. Her name's McKinna."

"Mac! A Girl! Oh boy, a girl!" Pete was ecstatic. "When? Why didn't you call?"

MacGyver laughed. "I just did call Pete. She's about," he glanced at his watch "an hour and a half old."

"Oh Mac. I'm so happy for you! And Anna. How's Anna? Is she okay?"

Mac didn't want to tell Peter about the shooting just yet. There was no need for his friend to worry so many miles away. "She's fine. She sends her love."

"Well you give her mine. And you give McKinna MacGyver a big kiss from her Godfather. I've got a lot of people to call and things to do! Oh, this is so exciting!"

MacGyver laughed. "Pete, I'm gonna go check on my new daughter. I'll give you a call when we got home, okay?"

"Of course! Now go be with your family."

"Thanks Pete."

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