AN:

Hi guys. Ready for another story? This takes place after the season two finale. Enjoy and let me know what you think. Still no medic, still no native speaker so all mistakes are mine. I don't own anything apart from Doc Ward and nurse Angela.

Chapter 1

Hi sunshine,

I hope all is well in LA. It's weird to be back in the sandbox. Hell, I've grown up in Texas and have lived in Cali for such a long time, you would think I'm used to the heat. Forget it, this place is a scorching oven. You literally can feel how your brain cells get cooked. I know, I know not much to get cooked up there, but anyway it's hoooooooot, honey. Can you imagine I've been teamed up with my old war buddy Ferrari? His real name is Rico Fusco, he's half Italian and a huge car fan hence the nickname. Ferrari is only a couple years older than Mac, but the war and the tattoos he got over the last years make him look much older now. Ups, I just realized the last time I was in the army my hair was brown. Well, I guess we're all victims to the ravages of time. Take care baby.

Love

Jack

Riley ran her fingers over the letter and understood suddenly why Jack had insisted they communicate by handwritten letters. To hold this piece of paper, she knew her surrogate dad had touched and filled with an ugly but familiar scribling, was comforting. At first Riley had rolled her eyes and teased Jack to be a dinosaur. Why go to the trouble to write a letter by hand and wait for a whole week until it is delivered, when you only had to hit a few keys on a computer and press send to deliver the message in minutes? Because it was so much more this way. Sure, you can print out an email and hold it in your hands, but it wasn't the same. The words would be the same of course, but portrayed in a cold Arial font would rob you of something special. They were such a huge distance apart from each other, but this piece of paper connected them and it did tell Riley more than only the content. Letting her eyes wander over the words reassured her that Jack had been relaxed when he wrote them.

When Jack had lived with Riley and Diane he always had left notes. Nothing important, just reminders he would bring take out, that he met with a friend or even orders to tidy her room. At times they were apologies when they parted in anger after a fight, followed by promises to talk it out once he was back. Riley had always asked him why he didn't send SMS instead and Jack had answered that paper can't be destroyed by a virus like a smartphone could be. She knew it was only a excuse, because Jack loved it to write notes and the few times Riley left one for him, he put them in his wallet, Diane had told her. The little pieces of communication made the hacker as familiar with Jacks handwriting as with her own. Riley could tell, if the Delta was sad, happy, angry, relaxed or exhausted, it was all mirrored in his writing style. As a teen she had collected the notes, but when Jack had left she had burned them all. That was something she regretted deeply now.

With a sigh Riley read the letter one last time before she tucked it away in her backpack. She knew it would be at least a week before she would get another one and wanted to keep it close to her. Jacks Dallas Cowboy hoodie hung over the back of her couch. Riley had found it on the backseat of the GTO. The Delta had asked her to take care of his car and the hacker felt honoured by the request. She got up and made herself a cup of hot chocolate, pulled on Jacks hoodie and snuggled into a corner of her couch. A wave of sadness washed over her, when she thought how her new found little family broke apart in a few short weeks.

It had been a shock to learn that Macs dad was Oversight. None of them had expected it. Mac had spent a whole year searching for his father. Travelling around the world and chasing mysterious leads had taken a toll on the blond. He was ready to throw in the towel and accept that he would never know what had become of his dad. It had been Jack who convinced him to continue. The Delta had even broken into Mattys house to help Mac, an action that could have landed him in jail easily, if Matty hadn't forgiven him. To learn that James MacGyver was Oversight had caused Mac to leave without even a goodbye or a notice where he went. Of course they were able to find out, that the blond went to Nigeria within a few hours, but it had hurt Jack deeply. He tried not to show it, but Riley knew him too good not to see.

The first few weeks everybody tried to keep up the good spirit. Mac would come back for sure, he only needed some time to figure things out. Well, at least that's what they tried to convince themselves to believe when they met at the firepit at Macs house. They tried to keep up the facade of the situation being temporary in vain. Mac didn't respond to phone calls, emails or messages. Riley could have lived with that, but when there was no reaction to Jacks video calls she knew something was wrong. The blond had cut all ties to his old life. He had started a new chapter, and obviously no one of the Phoenix family was part of it.

Losing Mac like this was hard on Riley as she felt like she had lost a brother, but she understood that he had to get away. It was no secret to her, that the blond had abandonement issues, and to find out that his father had been pulling the strings was like a slap in the face. It pained Riley to see how Jack suffered from the situation. He felt guilty for pushing his partner to keep searching when the blond was ready to give up. What riled him up even more was James indifference to his sons leaving. It all came to a head when Oversight entered the war room one day and exclaimed, that Mac would be replaced by a young agent from the CIA.

Riley closed her eyes, when she remembered the ugly scene, that unfolded. They all stood there dumbfounded, even Matty. Jack stood up and stepped into James personal space. His voice was quiet, but this was even scarier than a screaming Jack would have been. The words that left his mouth were cold, but they all could sense the fire that was raging behind the calm facade.

„REPLACED? What the hell is the matter with you? You can't seriously mean that! Nobody, I repeat nobody could ever replace Mac not in a million years. Do you even care about him, if he is alright? You shattered his whole world, you pulled the rug out from under him. You pulled the strings of his life all these years, you didn't even care if he was lying in Medical fighting to survive. And now that he refuses to be your puppet, you turn your back on him. This is your son, you are talking about, dammit!" Jack seethed.

James lifted an eyebrow in annoyance. „We are talking about agent MacGyver, it doesn't matter that he is my son …" He didn't get any further as Jacks fist landed in his face with a sickening crunch. Oversight stumbled back reaching for his broken, bleeding nose with his hand. The Delta was on him a moment later pummeling him with his fists. A hit to the head and one to his midsection brought him down, but Jack wasn't done. The Delta straddled his boss and got in a few more hits until Bozer and Riley were able to pull him off James.

Long story short Jack was fired and if it hadn't been for Matty the Delta would have been arrested. He left Riley a message that he had to go away for a few days. When he had shown up at Rileys doorstep a week later he looked defeated. „I need to talk to you honey."

„Oh Jack. You know you messed up badly, don't you? There's no way you can work for the Phoenix again, even if Mac comes back." Riley stated sadly.

Jack shot her a sad smile. „I know Ri, but I don't regret beating him up. I couldn't let him talk about Mac like that."

The hacker nodded. „I know, to be honest I would have loved to get in a kick or two. But what will you do now?"

Jack sat down on her couch and patted the place beside him. Riley snuggled against his side and laid her head on his shoulder. He allowed himself to enjoy the closeness of his chosen daughter before he explained haltingly.

„Uh, I … I've come to a decision, but you won't like it, I'm afraid. I've signed up for another tour with the Army. I'm going back to Afghanistan in two days."

There were a few seconds of silence until the enormity of these words were registered in Rileys brain. Furious she jumped up and shouted. „What? Are you out of your mind? You can't do that!"

The Delta had expected this kind of outburst. „I can and I will Ri, I know you don't like it, but let me try to explain. I've thought about is thoroughly these last days. Going back to the CIA is out of question as they don't give a damn about their agents, been there done that. Sure I could take a job in the security department. I've talked to a couple of companies I was interested in, but obviously Oversight has a long reach and he made sure no one in this area will give me a job apart from being a night guard in a shopping mall maybe. I can't do that. I need to make a difference and in Afghanistan my skill set is still in high demand. This is what I'm good at. It's only for a year." His heart broke when he saw Rileys eyes fill with tears. She tried to be tough and blinked them away and Jack loved her even more for that.

„I hate it, but I see where you're coming from. Just promise me to keep me updated, yeah?"

Jack stood up and pulled her in a tight embrace. „I promise. I'll try to write every week."

„You better will. And don't try to bullshit me or sugarcoat anything. You owe me the truth about what's happening over there." She demanded.

„I'll probably regret this, but I promise to be honest baby." Jack pressed a kiss into her hair.

„And don't you dare get yourself killed." She mumbled into his shoulder. Jack stroked her head and answered. „You know, I can't promise that, but I have a damn good reason to come back in one piece. A feisty little hacker, who used to drive me nuts when she was a teenager."

Riley had to smile. „I wasn't that bad."

„Not that bad my ass. Being on a mission with the CIA back then was more relaxing than watching you in a skate park." Jack teased. They managed to fight back their emotions and enjoyed an evening with pizza and Die Hard, on Rileys insistance. The Delta understood her need for making this evening a memorable one, as it might easily be their last time together.

Jack was in the middle of packing, when his doorbell rang. „Hi Matty, thank you for coming by. I need to talk with you." He greeted his former boss, who shot him an unfriendly look.

„I've already heard of your stupid idea of playing in the sandbox again Jack." She started, but Jack interrupted her.

„I don't expect you to understand my decision, but please respect it." The Delta pleaded and Matty sat down and studied her former employee. Jack looked older and … tired, but not a tiredness a good nights sleep could cure. He hadn't been himself since Mac has been gone and she knew he was still beating himself up for at least part of it. Gone was the easy-go-lucky Texan cowboy, replaced by a sobered and somber soldier, who had seen too many battles. Mattys heart got heavy, when she thought about how fate had ripped apart her Phoenix family. When she had accepted the position as director she had worked her way through the countless files of her subordinates. At first she wasn't excited about having to deal with Jack again, as they had a difficult past. But when her godchild was killed by a copycat of the Zodiac killer Dalton proved to be loyal to a fault. Without questioning her he promised to do anything he could to help her, not caring that it was a personal case of Matty.

She took a deep breath and smiled at him. „Oh I understand it Jack, I really do, but that doesn't change the fact that I'm worried you'll get yourself killed over there. I've spent half the night going over the latest status reports. Afghanistan is more unstable than ever. Since Uncle Sam has reduced the numbers in soldiers over there, the Taliban activity has increased considerably."

Jack nodded. „I see, you've done your homework Matty, but that's not what I wanted to talk about. I know I have no right to ask you this, but I have to try anyway. Can you keep Riley from doing dangerous shit on the missions? I know you'll assign her on a new team, but someone needs to have her back, really have her back not only doing what he's paid for."

„Maybe you should have considered this, before you beat the crap out of James," Matty couldn't bite back.

Jack winced as if she had slapped him and Matty immediately regretted her harsh words. „I'm sorry Jack, that was uncalled for."

The Delta shook his head. „No, you're right, but to be honest I don't regret beating him up."

Matty got back to their previous topic. „With Macs leaving and now your absence too, I'm robbed of a team. You know as well as me, that you can't put a functioning team together so easily. This has to grow. I decided to let Riley work more from the war room, instead of sending her out in the field. If I find a place for her where she fits in, she's going back out, but she won't be in the action as much as she was with you. Bozer will be working in the lab mostly, I can't send him out. He's way to inexperienced. That was only possible with Mac and you, as you both know him so well."

Jack nodded in agreement. „That sounds fair Matty. Thank you, it would kill me if anything would happen to my girl."

Matty raised her finger threateningly. „I will kill you Jack, if you let anything happen to yourself. So you better come home in one piece."

Jack saluted. „Yes ma'am."

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