Katy wiggled the key in the lock, mentally cursing when it refused to turn. Trying the handle again, with no luck, she leaned against the door momentarily, before stepping back and kicking it viciously. MacGyver raised an eyebrow, but didn't comment when the door groaned and swung open to reveal the darkened room behind. Leading the way into the kitchen, she reached out to flick the light switch. It flickered briefly, before bursting into a shower of sparks and fading out. MacGyver reacted instinctively as soon as he saw the sparks, pulling her into him and turning away, in order to shield her. She gasped.

'Perfect! First the door jams, then the lights blow… He must think I'm a right idiot!!'

She noticed he hadn't really let go of her, although he had loosened his grip. She glanced up and saw him watching her. After a moment of eyes contact, there was an awkward pause and he stepped back, rather belatedly. Katy knew she was going slightly red and ducked her head to try and hide it.

Looking up at the light fixtures, rather than looking at her, he pointed out,

"I think you blew a fuse. Looks like an electrical charge overload. Where's your fuse box?"

"Over there," she pointed to the far wall, where there was a small wooden cupboard away from the others. "There're some spare fuses in the box too."

She walked deliberately in the opposite direction, muttering something about cooking some dinner. He sighed and quickly changed the fuse, then the light bulb, which had also blown.

"Is spaghetti alright?" she called across to him.

"Yeah. With mince?"

She chuckled, "No, I'm a vegetarian."

He smiled at this. "Me too."

*****

MacGyver put down his cutlery and was finishing the last mouthful of his dinner, when a thought came to him.

"Katy, earlier today, when we met in the forest, who were you following?"

"Another one of the kids, with another bomb. I was hoping he would lead me to where the others were kept."

She picked up the plates and moved over to the sink.

"Do they always use kids?" MacGyver asked, as he got up and started helping to clean up. Katy shot him an appraising look.

"Yeah, they do. The children are sacred to their way of life, so of course, they would be the ones to destroy the world."

Suddenly there was a shout from outside, and some men with torches rushed past the window. MacGyver ran out of the house, followed closely by Katy.

"Look, look!" someone shouted. The sky lit up as something exploded somewhere down below them. The whole forest seemed to be glowing. A cheering went up around them.

"What's going on?" MacGyver questioned, a bit breathlessly. Katy opened her mouth, but they were interrupted,

"Another one has been added to our collection. You see the men going out with torches to find the spirit guides and ask for directions."

"Another one? Another bomb?!" MacGyver rounded on the stranger. The man was tall and held an air about him that suggested leadership. The other members of the gathering crowd stepped back respectfully.

"Who are you?" the man asked in confusion.

"Umm, elder, this is MacGyver. He works for the same people I do," Katy introduced him. The elder turned to her, glaring,

"Dr. Marks, you would bring a stranger into our town?"

She shrank back and remained silent. MacGyver looked back and forth a few times, before interrupting,

"How can you do this? How can you doom the whole planet? Billions of people will die!"

The elder smiled at him, despite the murderous look on MacGyver's face.

"Our god wishes it so, and so it shall be done."

"I can't allow you to do this. I can't watch you destroy the whole planet."

He laughed softly.

"It is too late. The final messenger will be sent at first light, and then this world shall end, and the new world shall begin."

There was silence through the town, as the elder looked at the two of them and smiled smugly.

"What does the final messenger do?" MacGyver whispered to Katy.

"He blows up the bombs," she whispered back, never taking her eyes off the elder.

"Although it is a shame, and I'm sorry it had to be this way, Dr Marks…" the elder added. MacGyver looked confused, and Katy looked stunned, before asking in a shaking voice,

"Who's the messenger?"

"Ben."

Katy went as white as a sheet.

"No!" her whispered protest was hardly audible. The elder stepped away and the crowd began to thin out, most of them following their elder back towards the centre of the village.

"Who's Ben?"

"He's a friend of mine. He helped me out, showed me around the forest, when I first got here. He's a good kid." Katy bit her lip as a single tear ran down her cheek.

"And now they've just put him to death!" she burst out crying as she added this. MacGyver frowned and put his arms around her.

"Hey, don't worry. It's not going to happen. We're not going to let him leave on this suicide trip, okay?"

She nodded, as she buried her face in his jacket. They stayed that way for a few minutes, and then MacGyver began to lead her back to the house.

*****

"Okay, so we need to find this Ben and stop him from leaving in the morning," MacGyver told her, as he sat down on the couch next to her. She gratefully took the handful of tissues he passed her, and wiped away the remaining tears.

"Well, even if we did stop him, there're still all those bombs out there somewhere. If Ben doesn't go, they'll send someone else."

MacGyver sighed,

"Right. We could follow him, find out where the bombs are and stop him from detonating them."

Katy shot MacGyver a slightly sarcastic look.

"And then if we lose him, or something goes wrong, the world blows up!"

"Got a better idea, have you?" MacGyver sounded impatient.

"Ben's a good kid. We got along really well, and he's quite intelligent for his age. Maybe if we talk to him, he'd understand the situation and be willing to help us out!"

MacGyver looked a little sceptical. Katy hitched a little closer to him on the couch.

"I think that sounds better than letting a child go out there to die alone."

He sighed, and added,

"Alright, that's what we'll do. Now, where does this kid live?"

"He lives with his older brother on the other side of town. I know the house quite well. But he won't be going anywhere until sunrise."

MacGyver glanced at his watch.

"It's 11.30 PM now. We should try to get a couple of hours sleep, and then we'll go over to the house."

Katy looked at him and caught his gaze. MacGyver could almost see the thoughts running through her mind. She bit her lower lip gently and said very quietly,

"There's only one bed."

MacGyver felt a quiver run through him, and he swallowed.

"I'll take the couch."

"I don't mind if…" she glanced down at her hands, before looking back up at his face. "I mean… if you want to share, I have no objections."

He raised an eyebrow and tried to look surprised, despite the warm rush of arousal that spiked through him at her words.

"That's quite an offer." He seemed to remember saying that before, to another girl. 'Yeah, look how that turned out!' he thought, as he remembered that erotic night by the campfire, a few years ago now.

"I wouldn't be asking if I wasn't serious."

He leaned towards her, stopping just before their lips touched. Breathing her in, his eyes fell closed and he kissed her. Instinctively her mouth opened beneath his and her hands slid up around his neck into his hair. MacGyver groaned and pushed her back onto the couch, hands running up and down her sides, until they finally rested on the top button of her jeans.

Breaking away, he buried his face in her neck.

"Bed. Now," he mumbled, a little breathless. Wordlessly, they stood and Katy took his hand as he led her into the back bedroom, shutting the door firmly behind them.