A/N: So this will probably be the last 'Teacher Verse story for a while. I've got a few other stories in the planning stages, but I'm thinking about doing a 'Spring Break' story (of course ti won't be the typical beach vacation) Just let me know what you think! So I love genealogy and tracing my family roots (mostly Irish & English, very boring, lol) and it made me realize that Mac probably don't know much about some of his family, so this little angsty fic was born. Thanks to BabyGenius for betaing the latest installment of the teacher 'verse! I always love to hear from ya'll! Oh bonus imaginary points of you catch the wink to Stargate!
Angus MacGyver sat in his classroom after school and stared at the computer screen. He had pulled up and was attempting to build a family tree. Mac was able to put in his mom's side of the family. His mom, Ellen Ann Jackson MacGyver, her dad, Henry Oliver Jackson, and so on, he had even found a cousin named Melburn Jackson, which made him thankful that he was only saddled with Angus; but there was a glaring omission from this family tree: his dad's side of the family. James had already been long gone when they studied genealogy in school, and Harry didn't know the MacGyver side of his family. So he had no clue even about where to even start. He put James Allen MacGyver, then stopped and stared at the screen not knowing what to do next. That was when one of his best friends Jack Dalton, who had started the whole mess to begin with, found him.
Sticking his head into the classroom Jack said, "You forget that Bozer rode to school with you today? He is beyond ready to go. Apparently his drama students were dramatic, who knew!" Jack must have noticed that Mac wasn't responding because he walked into the room and asked softly, "What's up, Hoss?"
Mac sat back in his chair and rubbed his forehead trying to dispel the headache that was forming. He didn't want to tell Jack that an assignment that Jack had assigned his kids was causing Mac all this ennui. So in his normal fashion Mac decided to avoid talking about it and started to grab his knapsack and close his laptop, but Jack took hold of his wrist and stopped him. "Talk to me, Mac." While his tone was gentle Mac could hear the demand behind the words, but still he go of Mac's hand Jack pulled his phone out and typed a few words then gave Mac his attention. "Bozer's gonna ride with Riley. They're gonna go ahead and get supper started, so we've got plenty of time for you to spill your guts to good ol' Uncle Jack."
Mac shuddered, "Please don't ever refer to yourself like that again!" Mac sighed and turned the computer where Jack could see it. "After your lecture this morning I decided to try to find my own family tree." In first period Mac had gone to help Jack with his presentation about and how to find people in your family tree. Mac had run the tech part of the lesson while Jack talked. Jack's sister had done most of the work of tracking down their family as they came over from England to Virginia into Georgia then into Tennessee and onto Texas. She had even applied for membership into the Daughters of the American Revolution and was encouraging Jack to do the membership for the Sons group. "As you can see, I've gotten a good ways on Mom's side of the family, the Jackson's. But I realized that I don't know anything about Dad's side of the family." He looked Jack in the face, "I don't even know the first names of my grandparents." Mac sighed and shook his head. His headache intensifying, he laid his head face-down on top of his hands on the desk.
A warm hand settled on his neck and gently massaged it. "Have you ever tried to find your dad?" Jack questioned as he continued to gently massage.
Mac shook his head carefully not to disturb Jack's massage which was doing wonders on his throbbing head. He answered, "Harry gave me a mailing address when I went off to Basic, but I never wrote to him or anything. I couldn't ever find the words that I wanted to say. Thanks Jack." Jack stopped massaging and pulled up a chair to sit in. Mac sat up blinking a few times against the bright lights, but his former headache stayed away.
Jack nodded, "Yeah, I never knew what to say to my Pops either. I'm thankful that we were able to mend fences before he passed." They sat there in the silence for a bit. "Have you ever considered trying to write him a letter now?"
"I've thought about it a time or two, but before I would get the chance, I would talk myself out of it again, and who knows if he is even still at that address." Mac paused for a few seconds. "Plus, what would I even say? 'Hey Dad, I know we haven't seen each other in a few years, can you tell me your parents names and when they were born?'"
Laughing, Jack answered, "You could do that, or just write how you feel. I'm going to impart you with a little bit of Dalton wisdom, then I'm going to give you your space. If I had just one more chance to talk to Pop again I would take it in a heartbeat, no ifs, ands, or buts. We don't know how long until our time's up, so don't let something you might can fix slip away."Jack stood up and walked to the door, where he paused. "Think about that and I'll see you at your house." With that he was gone.
Jack was right, Mac thought. We don't know how much time we have left, so he minimized ancestry and pulled up his word processing program. At the top he started, Dear Dad…
A/N 2:So thoughts? And my traditional shameless promotion of my next fic! Keep an eye out for 'Crossing Paths' My three way crossover. MacGyver and the Winchesters are recruited to join the Stargate program. I am pretty excited to be posting it! Hope I will see you there!