The next morning started off uneventful, Jack woke up to find Mac sitting with his books, he'd have to bring the kid some more, he knew he'd read them both already. Breakfast came and they ate in silence, Jack wanting to talk, but he didn't want to push until he'd spoken to Vanessa. He got a text from Matty asking him to meet her in Dr Fray's office as soon as he could. He felt ok leaving Mac knowing he'd had eaten.

"Hey kiddo, I've gotta go to a meeting, why don't you have a shower and change your clothes, there's fresh ones in that cupboard, I shouldn't be gone too long."

"Ok," Mac said, happy that he was being allowed another shower. He hoped he could keep the hoody, but he didn't want to ask. He looked up and then down at it, biting his lip again.

"That hoodies yours now, you can wear it however much you want," Jack said, watching the small debate go on in Mac's head. He then left, hurrying to the meeting.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Jack asked, walking in.

"We were just talking about how long we should leave it before telling Mac he's not going home," Matty said.

"I'm worried about dragging it out too long, it's been almost two days since he was told 'soon', I would say he'll start thinking by tomorrow that he'll be leaving," Vanessa said. "I don't want him to go through all that emotion if he doesn't have to."

"So, you want to tell him today?" Jack asked, sitting down. "I think he's getting comfortable, or as comfortable as he can get. He almost asked me if he could keep the hoody I gave him, when I told him it was his, a weight seemed to lift off his shoulders."

"That's good, probably best to leave it until tomorrow, I still want to assess him today. I also want to discuss the cuffs."

"He needs those gone, they're just a reminder."

"I agree in some respects, but again we have to tread lightly. He's had them on for a long time, they don't seem to bother him."

"What so we just leave them on?"

"No, definitely not. It needs to be his choice though. The best thing for us to do is at least wait until he knows he's not going back before we bring it up. So, we leave the topic alone until tomorrow afternoon, the day after preferably. Dr Fray has said there's no medical reason they need to be removed sooner."

"I took another look yesterday, the surrounding skin is fine, obviously I can't say what the skin underneath will look like, but usually if there was an infection we'd be seeing some signs."

"I just hate seeing them, it's a constant reminder," Jack said, rubbing his hand down his face.

"I totally understand, except this isn't about you, this is about Mac," Vanessa replied.

Jack nodded; he'd do whatever he could to make things easier on his kid.

They continued discussing their course of action for the day. Meanwhile Mac had taken off his hoody, folding it up and putting it on the chair, getting some clean clothes and going to take a shower.

The water felt really good, it soothed his still bruised skin and he wished he could stay under there for longer. He wanted to be finished before anyone came back though, he never knew if someone was going to be angry at him for doing things. He dried himself off hearing a noise in the room, damn someone was there already. He quickly dressed and walked out, wanting to grab the hoody and sit down. He looked up and there was a strange man in the room, gathering the breakfast things, that was ok, the man was just cleaning up.

He ignored him and reached the chair, the hoody wasn't there, his breathing quickened, where was it. He knew he'd put it there, maybe it'd fallen to the floor, nothing. He looked up, maybe the man had moved it accidently, he wanted to ask but couldn't get the words out, he couldn't lose that hoody, it was his.

The man turned to look at him and he saw the material sticking out of his bag, before he knew what he was doing Mac was walking over, grabbing it.

"Hey, get away from there," the man said, pushing Mac back.

"It's mine," Mac said, not caring that he wasn't behaving like he should.

"Finders Keepers and all that, now get away from me I've got a job to finish."

The man went to turn, and Mac grabbed the bag, the man was stealing from him. As he pulled the man lost his balance, the breakfast stuff smashing to the floor, Mac froze, he was going to be in so much trouble.

"You little shit," the man cried, backhanding Mac across the face, then grabbing his upper arm hard and pushing him across the room. He twisted his arm behind his back pushing him against the wall.

Mac was breathing hard, shaking, he couldn't believe what he'd done, this man was going to punish him for sure, he supposed he deserved it.

"What are you, some sort of criminal?" The man asked.

Mac was confused, what did he mean by that, he soon found out as the man pulled his other arm behind him like his father did when he cuffed his wrists together. He felt the click and then man shoved him to the floor hard, his broken ribs hitting one of the books and he whimpered, backing up and curling into the wall. He heard the man swear and then run out of the room.

Mac started crying, he thought he was safe here, he was finally starting to believe that the Jack look alike was his friend, but it was all a lie. They were probably all working for his father. He heard someone come into the room and gasp, but he wasn't interested, he just sat waiting for his father to come, he knew he was in a load of trouble.

"You need to come quickly, something bad has happened to Agent MacGyver," a nurse said, popping her head in the door.

They all followed her, she didn't know much, only that he looked hurt and he was crying.

"Dammit I wasn't gone long," Jack cried, finally getting to the door. He went over, thinking maybe Mac had fallen, what he saw chilled him to the bone. "What the hell, who did that to him?"

"Let me though," Dr Fray said. "Did what?" He looked down and saw what Jack was referring to, the cuffs around Mac's wrists were locked behind his back.

"I swear to god, when I find whoever did this I'll kill them!" Jack exclaimed.

"Get in line," Matty said, taking the nurse outside to question her about what happened.

Jack approached Mac carefully taking the keys from the doctor, he knelt and touched Mac's arm gently. "Mac, I'm gonna take these cuffs apart ok."

"I'm sorry, it's my fault, I'm sorry," Mac was repeating.

"No kiddo, it's not your fault, I promise," Jack said, he had no idea what had happened, but he couldn't have done anything to deserve what had been done to him.

Jack gently unlocked the cuffs and Mac pulled his arms away to wrap around him, gasping when they touched his ribs. "Mac are you hurt?"

"I'm fine."

Wow that was such a Mac response that it threw Jack for a minute.

"Mac, if you're hurting, I can help," Dr Fray said. "But you need to turn and face us so I can have a look."

Mac's breathing slowed a little, the tears slowing, he moved gently so that he was sitting with his back to the wall. Jack sucked in a breath, seeing the split lip and bruise already forming on Mac's upper arm.

"Are your ribs hurting?" Dr Fray asked.

Mac nodded, a few more tears falling, he went to bite his lip but cried out when his teeth touched the open wound. He started crying again in earnest, Jack wanting to just gather him up in his arms.

Dr Fray got up and said he'd be back, Vanessa crouched down, wishing there were something she could do.

"I'm sorry," Mac was mumbling once more, he couldn't believe he was crying this hard, whatever would his father think.

"Don't worry hoss, it's ok," Jack did the only thing he thought Mac might accept, patting him on his leg.

Mac froze he recognized that voice, didn't he, he thought he'd imagined the likeness, but it was Jack, he was sure of it.

Vanessa was looking around the room, trying to see what had happened, there was a bag near the door and the breakfast things smashed on the floor. She walked over, pulling a hoody out of the bag, things becoming clearer.

"Here you go Mac, I think this belongs to you," Vanessa said, handing Mac the hoody.

Mac looked up and grabbed it so fast she was sure it had hurt him, he hugged it to his chest, breathing a little easier.

Dr Fray came back and bent down once more. "I've got some ice for your face and some painkillers; I think you need them. Will you let me give them to you?"

"Yes please," Mac said, feeling better now that he had his hoody back, he was in pain though, it hurt every time he breathed.

"We'll let them kick in and then I'll check you ribs, make sure they're still ok."

Mac nodded, leaning his head against the wall again.

"Let's give him some space," Dr Fray said, everyone getting up and leaving.

He didn't want everyone to leave, everyone always left him, maybe he deserved it, but he didn't want to be on his own. If that man were Jack, he wouldn't leave, would he? The man got up with the others, turning away. Mac whimpered, tears falling, he was shaking, and he didn't care, his father could beat him all he liked, he was upset, and he didn't want to be alone.

"Jack," he whispered. "Don't leave."

Jack turned, had he just heard what he thought he had, the kid was a mess, he was shaking so hard he thought he'd break another rib if he weren't careful, sobbing into the hoody. He turned back, sitting right beside Mac, ready to get back up if he'd heard wrong and Mac didn't want him there. Instead Mac leant against him his hand coming to grip the fabric of his shirt.

"Don't leave me."

"I'm not going anywhere kiddo, I'm staying right here, for as long as you want."

An hour later found Mac curled up into Jack's side fast asleep, wiped out by the stress and pain of the morning, Dr Fray had injected the morphine into the port he'd had inserted and then left the room, determined to get to the bottom of what had happened.

Vanessa was sitting on the chair opposite the pair, her brow furrowed.

"What is it?" Jack whispered, not wanting to wake Mac up.

"I'm glad Mac's finally realised who you are, I'm just concerned this isn't going to last."

"Don't worry doc, as much as this feels great, I know he's probably going to push me away once he wakes up."

Vanessa raised her eyebrows, shocked that Jack knew what she was thinking. "Why do you say that?"

"You said yourself he's traumatised, he's not just going to do a one eighty and suddenly be fine with people touching him, go back to the way things were. I'm hopeful he'll know it's me and talk to me, but I think this is a one off, for now. His emotions got the best of him and he was in pain, that can-do strange things to the body and the mind."

"Are you sure you're not a psychologist too?" She smiled, glad that they were on the same page. "Are you happy for me to stay until he wakes up? I think it might be a good time to do my assessment."

"Sure, I'm happy where I am right now. You can't imagine how hard it's been not being able to give him a hug."

"I can imagine."

They sat there in silence, both watching Mac, knowing as soon as he woke up, Jack was right, he pushed himself away, leaning into the wall instead, his favourite words coming out. "I'm sorry."

Jack got up slowly, moved away but sat back down. "It's ok kiddo, you haven't done anything wrong."

"Are you sure?" Mac asked, looking down at his lap.

"Yeah, of course. Whoever hurt you will be the one in trouble, not you."

"It was my fault, I deserved it." Mac cried out, flinching slightly after he'd spoke.

Jack looked at Vanessa and she decided to speak. "What did you do that was so bad?"

Mac looked up, it was the nice lady who'd given him his hoody, he didn't know who she was, but she'd asked a question. "I grabbed his bag and made him drop what he was carrying, it all smashed."

"And why did you grab his bag?"

"He had my hoody."

Vanessa nodded, knowing that the hoody was important, and Mac would have wanted to get it back. "Did you ask for it back first?"

"Yes, but he said 'finders keepers'. I got mad and tried to grab it, and I shouldn't have done that."

"So, the man hurt you and you think that's ok?"

"Of course, I did something bad and he punished me, father probably would've done worse than hit me and cuff my hands together."

"Did you mean for the breakfast things to smash?"

"No, but that doesn't matter, I caused it, so it's my fault."

"Ok, I understand," Vanessa said, shaking her head to stop Jack from interfering. "Do you do a lot of bad stuff at home?"

"All the time," Mac replied.

"What sort of things?"

"Breaking things, disobeying my father, asking too many questions. Lots of things."

"And you get punished for it."

"Wouldn't you punish someone so bad?" Mac asked, then realised he'd spoken wrong, lowering his head.

"What are some of the worst things you've done?" Vanessa wanted the conversation to continue, it seem Mac would speak fine, but only if asked a direct question.

"I ruined my fathers breakfast once and broke a coffee mug and then I cried when he left me to think about what I'd done. And I started a small fire in his workshop."

"And how did he punish you for those?"

"I was made to strip and wear a blindfold and he restrained my tightly so I couldn't move, then he beat me. He poured freezing cold water over me once he was done and left me to think about what had happened. It hurt a lot, especially when he came in and dried me with a towel, he kept hitting the bruises. Oh but the fire punishment was much worse, it lasted longer, and he hung me from the ceiling for that one, he didn't just beat me and use the water, he used the cattle prod too, I knew he was mad when that came out. That punishment lasted for hours and he left me for longer, that wasn't that long ago, sometime last week."

Jack was sitting rigid, his hands formed into fists, his breathing deep, he wanted to hit something, and he thought he'd have to leave soon, or he'd scare Mac.

Vanessa looked calm on the outside, on the inside she was screaming, Mac was telling her about those punishments like they were the most natural thing in the world. Nobody should think like that, and she wasn't sure how she was going to make Mac see that those things weren't what he deserved, that his father was a monster who had abused him. She decided she had enough for now and wanted to get the subject changed, knowing that Jack was struggling too. "Are you hungry Mac? I think it's time for lunch."

Mac looked at her, unsure what he should say, he was hungry, but he didn't think he should have lunch, they'd just discussed him being bad and needing punishment. If he said yes, she might just say tough, he didn't deserve food. He almost bit his lip again, he wasn't sure.

"I'll go and get something and then you can decide," Vanessa said, seeing that the choice was frustrating him. "Jack, give me a hand."

"I'll be right back kiddo." Mac nodded, he'd be ok, Jack always came back eventually.