Hey y'all! I'm back with another chapter! This one is based off a suggestion from MarvelObsessed. Thank you soooo much for the suggestion and I can't wait to see what y'all think of it! Just a warning for those of you who like James' parenting and just James in general: I don't. Enjoy!
Fears. Jack knew that everyone had them. Some fears were easy to overcome while others were debilitating and froze someone to the spot. Some people were scared of silly things like clowns or birds while other were scared of perfectly reasonable things such as, in Jack's case, the robot apocalypse. Jack expected his partner, Angus Macgyver, to have a fear. After all, everyone had them, right? What he didn't expect was for Mac's fear to surface at a time when Jack so desperately needed a clear and level headed partner.
"Mac, you have to jump," Jack yelled from his position on the ground. he stared up at his partner who stood frozen on the edge of the small roof. Jack had jumped before realizing that Angus Macgyver, the genius wonderboy was rooted to the roof in fear of the ground below him, "you have to jump off now."
Jack could hear the enemy firing at the blond. Bullets whizzed around the young genius as he ducked down behind a crate and jack lost sight of him.
"Dammit, kid," Jack cursed into comms, "you have to jump off that roof. I'm right under you, buddy, I won't let you get hurt."
Mac's voice was tight with fear, "Jack... I..."
"I know kiddo," Jack ducked behind a wall as two soldiers came around the corner, "but you have to jump, okay?"
Up on the roof, Mac was only half-listening to his partner. His genius mind had short circuited when Jack had told him to jump, right before leaping off of the roof into the abyss that was free falling space. Mac had pinwheeled to a stop before his fear overtook him and rooted him to the spot. Panic had clawed its way up into his mind as his fear caused the ground below to blur. Images slammed into Mac's mind before he could do anything about it as panic took over.
5 years old. Mac stood on the edge of the diving board. He couldn't swim, but his father was calling to him, urging him to jump in. James promised that he would catch Mac. He promised. So Mac jumped. His father dropped his arms as Mac free fell through the air and slammed into the water, knocking all the breath out of his lungs. He called for his dad, but his mouth filled with water. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't swim. He...
Mac was jerked back to reality by a bullet whizzing past his head. he was vaguely aware of Jack calling to through the comms. He was making the same promises that James had made. I'll catch you. You won't get hurt. The words taunted Mac and he curled in further.
9 years old. He climbed to the top of the electric pole, his thin frame shaking in terror. With a mop in one hand, it was nearly impossible to get a good grip on the pole, but Mac was managing. Until he wasn't. he slipped from the pole and plummeted through the dark. His father was yelling at him. Bozer was crying. Grandpa was yelling. There were so many swirling lights. So much noise. It was so high up...
"Jack," he managed to say through his panicked gasps, "I..." he was desperately trying to tell Jack that he just couldn't. There was no way that he could jump off that roof. He just couldn't do it. Suddenly, he was 12 years old again.
12 years old. A slippery roof. Christmas lights. Pain radiating up his arm as he lay gasping on the ground. Bozer screaming from up above his head.
"...have to jump, okay?" Jack's voice broke through his panicky flashbacks, "I'll be right here waiting for you. You have to jump."
"Jack," Mac gasped out, "I can't... I'm sorry, I can't!"
"Listen to me," Jack's voice turned sharp, "now Mac, you listen to me! I know you're scared, and that is perfectly okay, alright? And as soon as you get down here, we can talk about it, buddy, but right now you've got seven very angry Taliban members on your tail who will not take prisoners. Now, I no you think you can't jump, but I know I can't lose my partner. You get me?"
"Jack," Mac whimpered, trying desperately to fight the fear that had taken control of his body, "it's so high up..."
Memories turned to nightmares in his mind as his brain brought to the surface all the times that being up high had hurt him. For years he hadn't even been able to stand next to a two story window. He'd almost drowned, fallen off a light pole, fallen off a roof, along with countless other heights related terrifying experiences; and now Jack wanted him to jump off a roof. Impossible.
He heard Jack's sharp intake of breath. he hadn't realized he'd said those things out loud. He waited for the yelling, cajoling, and berating to start, as it inevitably always did. Instead jack's voice softened and he spoke gently, "I know you think it is, Mac. Trust me, I know. But it's not impossible, kid. I don't like it but it's our only option. I'm not gonna let you get hurt Mac, you have got to trust me. You have to jump."
Mac didn't know if it was the tone in Jack's voice, the fear of the Taliban, or the desperate desire to be able to trust someone other than himself, but he found himself edging towards the end of the roof. He peered over it cautiously, very aware of the men approaching his location. He could see Jack below him, could hear him talking over comms.
"Come on kiddo," Jack lifted his arms towards Mac, "you're light. i can catch you."
Mac took a deep breath, stood up, and froze again. He couldn't do it. He was too scared. He could hear his father's voice mocking him. He could hear it too clearly. What are you doing, Angus? Just jump! I did not raise a coward.
"You're not a coward, Mac," now Mac knew he hadn't spoken aloud that time, Jack could read him like a book,"everyone is afraid of something. You're no less a person or a man because you can't stand heights. Tell you what, you get down here, and I'll tell you what I'm afraid of."
Down below, Jack sighed mentally. He hated admitting to anyone what he was afraid of. Unfortunately, he also knew that the only way to get Mac working again was to get his wheels turning. And the best way to do that was to spark his curiosity. Jack hoped that by admitting that he was scared of something, but not telling him, would get him curious enough to ignore, or at least push aside, his fear. It seemed to work because a few seconds later, Mac's familiar shock of bright blonde hair appeared over the edge of the building.
"Good start, kid," Jack grinned, "now, don't look at the ground, look at me. Look right at me. See me waving at you?"
"Yeah Jack, I see you," Mac's voice quivered, "god, it's so far down."
"You gotta jump, kiddo," Jack decided to roll the dice a bit, "it's just the law of thermodynamics, right? What goes up must go down, or something like that."
"That's Newton's law of gravity, Jack," Mac snorted, "but yeah, it must come down."
"Then come on down, kiddo," Jack smiled, despite having know that the law was created by Newton and that it was not thermodynamics, he figured distracting Mac from his fear had to work in some way, "you wouldn't want to prove Ol' Newty wrong now wouldja?"
The delta could see Mac shake his head, "then get down here, Mac. I've got you, I promise."
"Okay," Mac replied slowly, "I'm gonna jump."
Jack felt urgency creep up as the Taliban men got closer to his partner, "and I'll catch you."
Mac took a deep breath and, before he could convince himself not to, hurled himself off the edge. Jack reached out and his arms closed safely around his partner as Mac slammed into him. They tumbled in the dirt, kicking up a small dust cloud in their wake. They slowly disentangled themselves before getting up and running as the ground around them was peppered with bullets. They quickly found the vehicle and sped out of the village.
Mac stared at his partner out of the corner of his eye. Confusion and shock battled inside of him. Jack had actually caught him. After so many years of Mac just having to fall, someone had finally caught him. And it hadn't been his father, it hadn't been Bozer, it hadn't been his grandfather... It had been Jack. The loud, Texan ex-delta with a chip on his shoulder who no one had wanted to work with. The overly cocky jackass from the south who used to start fights at the drop of a hat. Jack Dalton had caught him. Something inside Mac shifted as all the pieces suddenly clicked into place. All the words Jack had been saying suddenly made sense. All the times that Jack had told him to trust, to let him take care of something. It suddenly made sense why he'd bought Jack a birthday present, even though he'd felt weird doing it. It had felt right. So much about working with Jack felt right, and now Mac knew why. He'd become attached to Jack. Somewhere between all the fighting, arguments, and life or death situations, Mac had learned to trust Jack. He'd grown attached. His dad had always told him that trusting someone was dangerous, but suddenly it didn't seem so bad anymore. Mac certainly wouldn't have made it off that roof without Jack, and that was only one of the examples. Mac found himself rethinking many of the things that his father had taught him, suddenly not sure which ones were true and which weren't. He was sure of one thing, though. He could definitely trust Jack.
A weight lifted off his shoulders as he finally allowed himself to see the truth. He had someone who he could trust. Someone he could count on. And that someone was Jack Dalton. The realization filled him with a profound sense of relief and happiness. A feeling he'd never truly felt before.
Once they were a safe distance away from the city, Jack pulled over to make sure there weren't any injuries. he really wanted to check on his very quiet partner, but he knew by now that the best way to get injuries out of his partner were to let them show themselves. Jack climbed out of the Humvee and stretched painfully, knowing that his ribs were slightly bruised from where Mac had landed on him. he became aware of someone's eyes on him and he turned in time to catch Mac as the younger man threw his arms around the delta, sending him staggering back a few paces.
"Whoa, kiddo, what's this for?" Jack asked, chuckling lightly as he accepted the hug and returned it with equal fierceness.
"Thank you for catching me," was all Mac replied with before releasing his partner and climbing back into the Humvee.
Jack stared after his wunderkid, an odd feeling welling up inside his chest. He knew something momentous had just happened... he just wasn't sure what exactly it was. The ride back was mostly silent until surprisingly, Mac broke the silence.
"So..." the blond grinned softly, "what are you scared of?"
Alrighty y'all! There you go! Hope you enjoyed that chapter, and thanks to MarvelObsessed for suggesting it! I honestly probably wouldn't have though of this if you hand't suggested it so thank you! Leave me a review and tell me what you guys think! Can't wait to update again, love y'all!
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