Take a Little Time
By: AndiKaneUnderwood
A tag to X-Ray Penny. I felt that we needed the scene where Jack came to get Mac because we all know nothing was gonna stop him. The writers left much to the imagination when they produced this episode.
I apologize for how late it is! I meant to have it out earlier, but I got distracted by a plot bunny.
Jack walks up to the house of his best friend and doesn't bother with the door bell, simply tests the door to see if it's locked and let's himself in when he finds it's not.
(Mac's been known to invite people over, but forget to unlock the door. The only reason it's ever locked is because of A) his thieving neighbor, B) Murdoc knows where Mac lives and even before that, Mac knows what's out there, he knows what very well could happen if his doors aren't locked, and C) Jack threatened to change the locks and not give him the key if Mac didn't start locking his door.)
"Okay, okay, you had me at warm beer." He calls, kicking the door closed with his foot. He doesn't bother calling a greeting to Bozer, who's out on some kind of camping trip with an old high school friend. "Now about that apology."
Once he follows the clues left behind, the duct tape, the water on the floor, the phone on the island, he realizes.
"Are you even here, Mac?" He called into the house, hoping desperately that Mac just grabbed a quick shower or a nap or something before repairing the fridge and talking it out with Jack.
Deep inside he knows he's wrong.
He pulls his gun from his waist band.
(Yes, this is Mac, and Jack knows Mac would never intentionally hurt him, too afraid of driving him away, too afraid of loosing him. (Completely disregarding the incident in Paris, Mac was just really upset, on his last leg after just coming off a mission only to hop a plane to Paris with in the next few hours.) All the same, Jack is always prepared, so even to Mac's house, Jack carries the gun. Just in case.)
When he finds the final clue, Mac's knife in a bottle of wine next to that same fucking mask, he knows.
And immediately he's on the phone with Riley and Bozer.
"Someone call Matty." Jack says "Murdoc's back."
MacGyver~MacGyver~MacGyver
Mac wakes up in a foggy haze. Everything is blurry and grey and he doesn't know where he is and wasn't he supposed to be fixing the fridge?
He tries to sit up and his brain apparently decides that no, staying in the chair is better and Mac's head starts pounding.
He tries to reach up and is stopped by a pull on his wrists, followed by the pain lancing through his right arm.
Mac immediately wishes he could go back to be unconscious.
Instead, he looks around, tries to get his bearings and find out where he is, he yells. "Hello?" He shouts.
A whistling came floating through the air. Was that...? Was that Home on the Range?
There's a door opening and Mac is suddenly aware of the stairs he's sitting next to.
He may be drugged to kingdom come, but he knew what had happened and memories had come back, finally. He remembered.
As his captor came down the stairs, Mac suppressed his shudder of disgust, knowing it could easily be read as fear rather than what it was.
(That wasn't to say Mac wasn't afraid. He may be brave, but this was still scary as Hell and he definitely couldn't wait until Jack found him/he found an escape and got out, then phoned Jack to come get him)
"Hello MacGyver." Said the voice.
Mac looked up, his face carefully blank, into the face of Murdoc.
Jack, please hurry.
MacGyver~MacGyver~MacGyver
Jack wasn't really listening to Matty and Riley and Bozer and Cage. Not really.
He knew what they where saying, but he wasn't really paying attention, how could he when Mac was out there and the didn't know where he was or if he was okay?
"You really think he has Mac?" Riley asked, looking at Bozer, then at Jack again. "What about that guy you grabbed in Paris?" She asked.
Jack shook his head. "No, that guy's sucking soup through a straw in a dark pit somewhere thanks to an old buddy of mine with the French Military of Defence." He replied. "No. My... My Spidey senses are telling me the same thing. It's Murdoc." He replied with a nod to Mattie.
Things blurred until Cage asked if Jack was sure.
Jack stood, an angry look on his face, the lines on his face tight with rage Cage didn't deserve, but was receiving anyways. Mac was in trouble. He didn't have time for what ifs when he knew the truth.
"That's Mac's little red knife in there." He pointed to the outdoor deck. "Stuck in the same wine bottle he use to blast Murdock out that back window, next to the same geriatric mask he wore when he first attacked us!" Jack seethed, anger in every word, dripping from his lips like poison.
"I really need to throw that thing away." Bozer added decisively.
"Yes, please do. Riley, Riley can you find anything?" He asked, begging coloring his voice.
"I'm working as fast as I can, Jack." Riley replied. Jack wasn't the only one to hear the underlying offer of comfort. If he's out there, I'll find him.
"Okay, just, come on, just a little bit faster, please, please." He sat back down with his head in his hands.
Matty came over and reassured him. "Hey, this isn't your fault."
Jack looked up at her. "Then who's is it?" He asked. If it wasn't his, then he needed to know who to punch. He needed to know who he was going to kill.
"Not yours." Matty insisted firmly, but gently.
Jack tuned them out again until Riley found the right van.
Jack reset his brain, flipping a switch that turned him from Jack to Captain Dalton. There couldn't be any panicking or fear right now. Not until the mission was over.
"That's him, that's Murdoc." Bozer said.
Jack stood, "Gotta be," and cocked his gun and looked at Matty. Waiting.
She looked back at him and nodded. "Go. Now." She looked at Cage and then at Jack. "Bring him home, Jack."
Jack nodded then he and Cage where out the door.
Most of the car ride after Bozer's addition was pure silence, Bozer had the sense to stay quiet after seeing Jack's gut a bitch look.
The only break in the silence was when Cage brought in her own offer of comfort.
"Jack." She questioned softly. "We're gonna find him." She reassured him.
Tell me something I don't know.
MacGyver~MacGyver~MacGyver
Mac doesn't remember much of his time underground.
He knows he was talking to Murdoc, he doesn't remember much of what either of them said said.
He knows he picked the handcuff keeping him tied to the chair, he knows he made a hydraulic jackhammer and busted the door open.
He knows he somehow stumbled into the sewers, but after that it's a blur of grey and brick and a shout and water and sirens and church bells and light.
Light is good. He wants out of this sewer. He needs to get to Jack.
Jack... Jack was supposed to come over and help him fix the fridge. What happened to Jack?
He starts panicking until he remembers the fight and promised himself that if he gets out of this alive, he'll never take Jake for granted again.
He finds a manhole cover and goes for his knife to pry it off, but he doesn't have his knife. Or his phone and how is he supposed to reach Jack without his phone? How will he let Jack know he's okay?
Hey, hey. Calm down, okay? Listen, I know you're hurting, I know you've been through some rough shit, but I'm here now, alright? I won't leave you. So take a breath and calm down. You can do this. Think, Mac. The voice in his head that sounds exactly like Jack tells him.
Mac can just imagine Jack taking his head between his hands, forcing him to focus on one thing and one thing alone. Making him calm enough to think.
Mac remembers his underground training from the Army and begins looking.
He needs to get that manhole out of the way. Maybe he can push it.
When it comes loose, Mac grins and Jack's voice laughs. See? All you had to do was calm down some, man. Mac lifts himself up and looks around, finding himself in the middle of the street.
He weaves slowly in and out of the passing cars, nearly getting run over by one when he isn't fast enough.
He finally collapses on the street and a young girl and her mother stop.
"Someone call an ambulance!" The mother calls as people start getting uncomfortably close.
Mac groans softly. "Jack..." He murmurs.
"Hang on, honey, help's on the way."
Mac doesn't know what happens next, all he knows is he can hear a car screech and a voice shouts.
He knows he passes out, but when he wakes up, he sees the paramedics and knows that Jack will be here soon.
MacGyver~MacGyver~MacGyver
Jack gets the call from the paramedics about thirty minutes after they get back from the warehouse.
He's immediately running out the door and calling to one of the Phoenix officers to get the "team" together.
He ignores Matty, Cage, and Bozer when they call him back, but he's thankful when Riley tells them to stop, that he's found Mac.
Jack slams the door of his car and still on the phone with the paramedics, looks at Michael Sanders. "Drive." Then puts the paramedic on speaker to send the address.
Sanders nods and they're off, speeding down Mac's driveway and into the streets.
Sanders is the only other person Jack trusts besides himself to get him to Mac within a reasonable amount of time.
"Okay, I'm sorry, what was that?" Jack speaks into the phone again.
"We have a young man here who's insisting we call you and let you know where he is. He says his name is MacGyver? Does that mean anything to you, sir?" The man asked.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Mac's my boy. Can you put him on the phone? Please?" Jack pleaded.
"Just a second, sir." There's the sound of his speaking indistinctly and then there's a cry of what sounds like relief. "Dad?" A new voice asked.
"Mac! Thank God! Mac, are you alright? Did that bastard do anything?" Jack asked.
"I'm alright. I'm okay, Dad." Jack hears the underlying fear and vows then and there that Murdoc would be dying the second Jack could lay a hand on his.
"Alright. I'm on my way, Mac, alright? I'm coming to you, I'll be right there. The police are hunting down that guy and he's not gonna touch you again, okay?" Jack asked. "I promise."
"Dad, I'm scared." Mac replied, sounding every bit like the scared 22 year old he was, younger even, and Jack pulls the phone, looking at Sanders pointedly.
Sanders nods and the car goes faster, nearly clipping a small Ford Fiesta in the process, but there aren't any kids in the back or passenger seat, so Jack can't find it within himself to care.
Jack really hoped Mac's use of "Dad" was just for a front and not because this was a very bad, nightmare/panic/anxiety inducing incident. Deep inside, in a part of his mind he's trying hard to ignore, he knows he's wrong.
"It's alright. I'm almost there, okay?" Jack tries very hard not to betray the fact that he's just as scared as Mac is, if not more.
"What are you driving?" Mac asked.
"Sanders is driving me over, he heard what happened and wanted to help. You had us all worried sick, kiddo." Jack looks up. "I see the ambulance, I'm here. Stay on the phone til you see me, alright?" He hops out of the car before it's stopped moving and is running around the front.
Jack sees Mac sitting with his head down and his blonde hair covering his eyes.
He nearly cried with relief.
MacGyver~MacGyver~MacGyver
"Angus!"
Mac's head snaps up at the sound of his name because he can count on one time the number of times anyone had called him that since he'd joined the army.
Only five times. All of them Jack.
He sees Jack come running from in front of Michael Sanders' car and struggles to stand.
Jack gets to him and throws his arm around Mac's body. Mac's hands fist in the front of Jack's shirt and Mac can finally breath properly again. His face is pressed against Jack's broad chest and he can smell the aftershave Jack had put on and he's still fuzzy and his head is swimming but Jack is here and that's all that matters.
"Tell me the truth, Mac, what did he do?" Jack murmured several heartbeats later.
Mac couldn't bring himself to answer, still foggy and uncoordinated and he's not entirely sure.
The paramedic who'd called Jack stepped forward and offered an answer.
"He's got some kind of drug in his system and he's a little beat up. Concussion, a tazer burn, and," the paramedic slowly and gently took Mac's arm and Mac reluctantly let go of Jack momentarily so the paramedic could show Jack the butchered IV job Murdoc had done, "we're unsure if this was an actual IV line or the drug, but he does need medical attention."
The second the paramedics let go of him, Mac was immediately latched on the Jack again, leaning closer and trying to get away. "We'd like to take him in-"
"I've got him from here." Jack responded instantly and Mac was grateful for Jack's ability to read the blond like a book, even through the walls and defences Mac put up to keep others out.
The paramedics nodded and began packing up their things.
Mac waited.
He was alright with that.
Jack was here now and that was all he needed.
MacGyver~MacGyver~MacGyver
The paramedics left and Jack looked at Sanders.
"Find the rest of the boys and scout the area, if you find Murdoc, you know what to do." He commanded.
Sanders nodded and he was gone in the blink of an eye.
Jack turned his attention back to the trembling body in his arms.
"Mac?" He asked.
"I thought he had hidden me too well. I thought you wouldn't be able to find me." Mac murmured back, his voice muffled by his head buried in Jack's chest.
"It's alright now, Mac. I'm here, I ain't going anywhere and you know that."
"I was so scared." Mac continued as if he hadn't heard. "He was gonna torture me, Dad."
Dad. Oh, that tore Jack to pieces. It wasn't a front like Jack had hoped. This had well and truely rattled Mac, there was no way it hadn't.
The next week would likely be spent at Jack's house with little connection to the outside world.
Jack pulled Mac back so he could look in the blond's blue eyes. "Now, you listen to me, Angus." He said firmly, using Mac's given name to make him listen.
Mac's eyes cleared a bit, marking his attentiveness.
"I would never, ever, let that bastard hurt you again. Okay, not if I can help it. We're gonna find him, we're gonna catch him, and I'm gonna put a bullet in his head for what he's done to you. Okay? Nothing, short of my passing, is ever gonna keep me from keeping our safe, okay?" Jack waited until the words processed and Mac nodded to pull the younger back in.
Jack heard Mac sigh and he knew that while the next week would be rough, his partner would bounce back.
It would just take some time.
