Family
By: AndiKaneUnderwood
As much as Jack almost hated to admit it, he found himself thinking more and more about the team he had, and how much of a family they were.
The difference between a team of friends, and a family was not exactly clear.
There was much about the team that had to be revealed in the first place, the devoted time together, the trust and love.
Like before Riley, Nikki was a part of their family.
It had been Jack, Nikki, and Mac.
Nikki was much like the mother Jack had grown up without. She made sure he ate, made sure he was okay. She'd drag him away from a project (with help from Patricia and Mac) if she had to.
To Mac, Nikki was a sister. A kick-ass, strong, bull-headed, annoying sister. The one person who pulled everything together when everything fell apart.
Unfortunately, after Nikki's betrayal, Mac's issues with trust resurfaced and Jack spent a lot of time getting the old Mac to return, stronger and wiser, so that Mac would okay again.
Patricia Thorton was Mac's scary aunt, Jack's roll-the-eyes, "I can't believe you" big sister, and Nikki's frenemy.
Pattie was the person who glued things back together with smooth words, rare smiles, and blunt attitude with caring exterior. She kept things running, until she couldn't anymore. That was where Matty stepped in.
Matty was much like Patricia. Blunt, forceful, smart. The only thing she wasn't, was a robotic shell. Where Patricia refused to let other see weakness, wouldn't let herself be vulnerable in front of those she didn't trust, Matty was less like a computer and more like a mother. Stern, but caring.
Riley and Bozer where Jack's younger siblings, Riley like his daughter. The girl he almost raised to be a distinguished young lady, and would've if he trusted himself more. Bozer was the best friend to Mac, the man he met and simply couldn't get rid of, growing fond of him and being treated like a brother in return. That he could deal with.
MacGyver, the youngest on their team, was Jack's little brother and much like a little brother to anyone he came across. Jack was someone Mac could depend up, someone who could protect him.
Unlike Mac's father, who'd skipped out when Mac was 10 and left the poor young boy in the hands of his elderly grandfather, Jack didn't leave when things got rough.
Fathers where kind, fathers protected you, they raised you. Jack did all three and more. Mac had been raised by Jack's gentle hands more in three weeks than the 10 years that Mitchell MacGyver had with the blond.
MacGyver~MacGyver~MacGyver
"You let go of him!" Jack snarled at the terrorist holding on to the blond boy. He banged on the bars. "You hear me? You let go of him!"
Blue eyes where wild and scared under blond fringe, darting from the cell walls to the bars, to Jack's face and that alone was enough to make Jack even more upset.
Riley, Patricia, and Matty where all in a cell across from Jack, Bozer was in the cell on Jack's left, and Mac had been unceremoniously shoved into the too small cell to Jack's right.
Riley and Bozer where spitting swears that would make any sailor proud, Matty and Patricia both glared at the man holding onto Mac. Matty with a fury that burned brighter and hotter than a million suns, Patricia with a laser of ice that swirled and swarmed, freezing anything and everything in its path.
Nothing seemed to get through to this mam, not even Bozer describing in explicit detail exactly how he'd kill this man (and really, Jack thought, he didn't know the kid had it in him).
"Hammer! Where'd you go? Get up here with Blondie! We got stuff to do!" Shouted a new voice.
The man holding MacGyver smirked at Jack as he shoved the blond boy up the stairs.
Jack hit the bars again. "You leave him alone! Leave my kid alone!" He yelled. "Bring him back, damn it!" He shouted, screamed, and yelled himself hoarse, but it was to no avail. The man didn't respond and MacGyver was not brought back down.
After a few hours, something hit Riley. "Jack?" She asked softly so as not to agitate the brunet.
A heavy sigh met her question, then Jack looked up from the crouch he was in, squished into the best possible position to watch the door.
"Why did you call Mac your 'kid'?" She asked.
Matty and Patricia looked up, as did Bozer, all three with inquiries in their eyes, and waiting for answers in reply.
Another heavy sigh. "Started a long time ago in Afghanistan. Mac got captured by this underground terrorist cell. They tied him up and tried to beat the military strategies and such outta him, then they tried this diluted, shitty, not-even-been-tested-yet truth serum. We managed to get him out before he started saying things he didn't want to, but the second he was safe, he and I sat down and he told me a while bunch of things that he trusted me not to tell."
"Like what?" Matty asked.
"Like how he thought of me like his big brother. Like the daddy he never got to have." Jack replied. He was looking at them with gentle eyes, but there was steel in them too. They all understood the message that if they told anyone, they would all feel the wrath of Jack Dalton.
"Since then, he's been my surrogate little brother and kinda like my kid." Jack finished, putting his head down again.
His eyes snapped up again as a door was opened. A pair of footsteps pounded down what sounded like a set of stairs.
MacGyver was dropped on the floor in front of Jack's cell. "Here's your kid back." The man laughed mockingly, unlocking the cell and stepping back.
Jack slowly approached, as if making sure the man wouldn't slam the gates shut though he clearly wanted to have Mac in his arms now, then darted forward and snatched up the blonde's body, going back to his corner of the cage with Mac in his strong arms.
The cage was shut and locked and the man laughed cruelly as he left.
All eyes turned to Mac as a groan slipped from his lips and his blue eyes fluttered open. "D-Dad?" He murmured.
"I'm here kiddo. I'm right here." Jack replied, pulling Mac closer and keeping him warm as Mac relaxed with an audible sigh and buried his face in Jack's broad chest.
In that moment, Riley, Bozer, Matty, and Patricia learned that no matter how they annoyed, bothered, hurt, or drove each other nuts, they were a family.
And family looked out for their own.
So as Mac fell into sleep, he could rest easy under the knowledge that his team was watching over him.
And his family was there.
