Changes

Part 2

Notes: So, MacGyver puts in his appearance in this chapter. As I mentioned before I'm not an expert on MacGyver so any input on characterization and his history will be appreciated. Or any comments at all on anything. I like hearing what you think.


"So this is your sanctum sanctorum, Jack?" At Jack's perplexed look Daniel explained, "Your inner sanctum."

"Wow, sir. This is beautiful," Sam said as she slowly spun around to take in the entire area. "I'm impressed."

"Ack, stop right there," Jack ordered, but couldn't keep the smile off his face. He couldn't express how happy it made him that Sam liked the place that was nearest to his heart. "My sanctum, my rules. No 'sirs' or 'Generals'. Just Sam, Jack, Daniel, and Teal'c. Four friends on vacation, relaxing together."

"Yes, sir," she said seriously, then winked at him to let him know she was kidding.

"What am I going to do with you?" he asked in mock exasperation.

"Take me fishing."

"We can do that."


After the best day in Jack's recent memory, he and Daniel had set about making dinner. Teal'c kept Sam occupied at gin after she had been banned from the kitchen. None of the men wanted their trip to end in food poisoning. Dinner had turned out to be the best dinner in his recent memory as well. They had laughed, recounted sometimes inglorious tales of their time together at the SGC, and, especially in Daniel's case, drank too much wine. Teal'c had bundled off a plastered Daniel to bed and Sam had spent the last hour in the bathroom reveling in the big old fashioned claw footed tub. Jack tried to ignore the part of himself that wished he was in there with her and focused on aligning his telescope.

"Mind if I join you, Jack?"

Jack turned to see Sam standing there in her flannel pajamas (that unless he was mistaken had the periodic table printed on them), her sneakers, and her black leather motorcycle jacket. The whole look was more than a little incongruous and he couldn't help smiling.

"What?"

"Nothin'. Sit down," he told her gesturing to his chair. "I'll go grab another."

Sam waited for sometime, peering through the telescope. She was beginning to wonder what happened to Jack when he returned bearing a lawn chair and two steaming mugs. He handed one to her. "What is it?" she questioned sniffing the contents.

"Oh, just my Uncle Charlie's secret hot toddy recipe."

"Are you trying to get me drunk, Jack?"

"Nah, just keep you warm."

They spent a couple hours studying the stars and comparing notes. Sam's knowledge was more on the abstract, technical side, while Jack seemed to know every constellations and the legends behind them.

All of a sudden Jack froze and quieted Sam in the middle of an explanation. "What?" she whispered.

"Someone's coming through the woods. Go inside and get my gun. Let Teal'c know what's going on, but tell him to stay inside."

Sam nodded and quietly made her way into the cabin. Jack pretended to continue to look through his telescope, but kept his senses alert. He knew the intruder had stopped just short of the wood planking of the dock.

"Don't move!" he heard Sam order. "Keep your hands where I can see them!"

Jack finally turned around and by the moonlight could just make out the face of the interloper. "Angus," he acknowledged.

"Jonathan," the other man replied and nodded towards Sam behind him, "You want to tell her not to shoot me."

"Oh, I don't know," Jack paused, considering. "I think I'll let her shoot you, because last time you showed up and I ended up in a Burmese prison."

"I got you out again!"

"No, you got your ass locked up too and I got us out! Your Burmese sucks, by the way."

The stranger sighed heavily, "Do we really have to go through this again?"

"Uh, Jack, do you know this man?" Sam questioned though she still kept her gun trained on the man.

"Unfortunately, I do and he's nothing but trouble," he told Sam. Then he addressed the man again, "I should really let her shoot you."

"But I've got cake," he replied waving the white box in his hand.

"What kind?" Jack questioned.

"German chocolate."

"Hmm. My favorite. You must really be desperate, Bud."

"Well, you do tend to hold a grudge, Jack. I thought it best."

"Grab the cake, Carter," Jack addressed Sam again. "Then shoot him."

"Jack?" Sam and the stranger questioned simultaneously.

"What the hell are you doing creeping through the woods this time of night anyway?" he demanded from the stranger in exasperation.

"I wanted to talk to you about-."

"No," Jack cut him off. "Whatever it is, no. I don't wanna hear it. We can eat cake and you can spend the night, but in the morning you're leaving. I'm up here on vacation with my friends and I'll be damned if I'll be sucked into one of you're 'adventures'. "

"Okay, Jack. I just wanted to hang out with you anyway. It's been a while."

"Not long enough," Jack muttered but signaled Sam to lower her gun.

The man lowered his arms and turned to Sam. "You want to introduce me to your bodyguard, Jack?"

"Not really," Jack walked passed the man and snatched the cake box from his hand. He stopped next to Sam and gestured to the man whose face was still hidden in shadow. "Sam, this is my troublesome cousin, Angus."

"Watch it, Jonathan."

Jack just smirked and continued, "Bud, this is Lt. Colonel Doctor Samantha Carter. She is way smarter than you and can permanently disable you in under 30 seconds. Don't piss her off."

"Astrophysicist, right? I've read a couple of your papers."

"Really?"

"Yeah, really fascinating theories about wormholes and black holes, Doctor- or is it Colonel?"

"Just Sam."

"I'm Mac," he held out his hand and stepped closer to her just enough so that the moonlight revealed his face.

"Holy fucking Hannah!" She turned quickly to Jack and began to stammer, "Thor… again… what…"

"Easy, Sam. Don't burn out that big brain of yours. He really is just my cousin."

"Wow." Sam stared at the man whose hand she still clutched. It really was uncanny. She'd have thought after running into so many 'duplicate O'Neills' she'd be kind of jaded, but it was really shocking how much his cousin looked like Jack. Except for the hair. The hair was definitely not regulation Air Force and had a lot less grey than Jack's. Actually Jack's was completely grey now and his cousin's was really only starting to grey at the temples. Mac's face wasn't quite so weathered and careworn as Jack's either. It was more relaxed and unguarded. His eyes were the same deep brown, but didn't have the same dark shadows that frequently clouded Jack's. He smiled at her and it was the same boyish smile she saw so rarely on Jack's face. "This is weird."

"C'mon, Carter. Let us eat cake."

Sam, embarrassed, released Mac's hand and quickly followed Jack up to the cabin with Mac trailing behind them. Jack banged on the locked door, "Teal'c you can open up. It's okay. It was just my goofy cousin thinkin' he could sneak up on me." The lock clicked and the door opened. Jack pushed past Teal'c and headed for the kitchen. He dropped he cake box on the table.

Daniel gaped at the look alike cousins, "Teal'c, what was in that wine? I'm seeing two Jacks and one, strangely enough, has long hair."

"I do not believe it was the wine, Daniel Jackson. There are in reality two."

Daniel shook his head in disbelief, "Geez, Jack what were you, voted most likely to be duplicated in high school?"

Teal'c just raised a questioning eyebrow.

Jack just sighed. He really hated this kind of thing. "Bud, this is Teal'c and Dr. Daniel Jackson. Guys, this is my cousin MacGyver."

"MACGYVER? The MacGyver?" Sam practically screamed.

Mac jumped and looked a little embarrassed. "Uh, yeah." He sat down at the table as Jack put the coffee on. SG-1 sat down across from Mac and just stared at him. "Um, Jack, why are they staring at me like I'm an alien?"

Jack set some plates and forks on the table and walked over to stand behind Mac. He studied his friends' expressions for a moment, before stating, "Nah, that's not how they look at aliens. Car-er-Sam is probably in awe and a little embarrassed because she's turned your name into a verb. Daniel, well, he's probably still pretty drunk and confused by the whole look alike thing. Teal'c, he just likes to impress people with his eyebrow raising skills." Jack popped open the box and began slicing the cake. He slid a slice of cake over to Sam but she ignored it still staring at Mac. "If you're a good girl, Sam, and eat all your cake, I'm sure Mac will teach you how to make a atomic bomb out of a piece of chewing gum, a tooth pick, and duct tape."

"Can you really?"

"For cryin' out loud, Carter, you're a scientist!"

"Right. Sorry."

"It's okay," Mac smiled. "I get that a lot."

"Well, you should see the stuff Sam's done. She'd put you to shame, Bud," Jack said smugly.

"She's blown up a sun," Daniel added proudly.

"Zip it, Daniel."

"Oh, right, sorry. I was exaggerating."

"Uh, yeah," Mac nodded but he had a suspicious feeling that Sam was quite capable of blowing up a sun.

Daniel grinned drunkenly at Mac, "Y'know, I actually discovered Atlantis."

"Daniel, button it," Sam snapped before Jack could. "What part of classified do you not understand?"

"Y'know, Sam I thought I had gotten rid of Jack bossing me around when you took over SG-1, but you're really just Jack in a skirt."

"Daniel Jackson, I believe it is time for you to retire," Teal'c suggested.

"No, I'm not tired, Teal'c."

Teal'c merely looked at him, eyebrow raised. Even drunken Daniel understood that look.

"Well, maybe I am a little bit tired," he amended and allowed Teal'c to lead him to their room.

"Danny's a light weight," Jack told his cousin by way of apology.

"Anybody's a light weight compared to you, Jack."

"It's those fine Irish genes. The ones you apparently didn't get, Bud," Jack said finishing of the last of his cake. He collected the other dishes and dumped them in the sink. "Well, it's late. I think I'm gonna hit the sack. Got a lot of fishing to get in tomorrow."

Mac gave him an amused smile, "Jack, you're as bad as Harry, fishing with no fish."

"And whose fault is it that my lake has no fish?" Jack glared pointedly at Mac who didn't look completely innocent.

"It was an accident, Jack."

"You blew up my fish, you damn pyromaniac. That's another reason I should have let Sam shoot you," Jack said before he quickly turned his attention to Sam who was stifling a laugh. "What have I told you about giggling, Colonel?"

"What happened to just 'Jack' and 'Sam'?" she asked with a teasing smile. "Or are you just pulling rank to get your way?"

"Oh, Samantha," he drawled his eyes twinkling mischievously. "I don't have to pull rank. I have other ways of getting what I want."

"Oh, yeah, what are those?"

"You'll find out one day. If you're lucky." He grinned at her before turning back to Mac who was eyeing them speculatively after that exchange. "You can have the couch."

"You're a lousy host, you know that, Jack?"

"Hey, I didn't invite you."

"But I brought cake."

"And that's the only reason you're not sleeping on the dock. Take it or leave it," Jack turned away from them and headed across the living room to the bedrooms and called over his shoulder. "Night, Sam."

"Good night, Jack."

Jack paused at his door, "Hey, Carter. You watch out for him. He may act like a cub scout but he's a philanderer."

"I think I'll be alright. Remember Turgan?"

Jack laughed and grinned malevolently at Mac, "You are so dead."

Sam shook her head and watched him shut his door. She smiled at the man across from her. "Sorry about the gun thing earlier."

"That's not your fault, Sam. That was just Jack being an ass."

"Well, I'm sorry about that too."

"Don't be silly. This is how we've always been. We'll be the best of friends again by tomorrow night. Jack just has to get all the bluster out of his system and I have to get the needling out of mine." He glanced at his cousins closed door, "So, you and Jack …"

Sam shrugged, "It's complicated."

"What with Jack O'Neill isn't?"

"That's true."

"Look, Sam I didn't mean to interrupt your vacation,' he told her seriously. "I haven't seen Jack in a while and there were some things I wanted to discuss with him."

"It's okay. We're all just kind of shocked to meet any of Jack's family. He never talks about it. We didn't think he had any left."

"Well, I'm about all that's left. Jack's had a tough time with his family. His parents died when he was twelve and his Uncle Charlie raised him. He died not long after Jack graduated from the Air Force Academy. Then, of course, there was Charlie and Sara. Jack tries to shut people out to protect himself. But it looks like he's got quite a happy, though strange family with you guys."

"We've been through a lot together." Sam yawned, "I think I'm going head off to bed too. Jack'll probably have us up at the crack of dawn to fish for imaginary fish. Good night, Mac."

"Night, Sam."

TBC