Okay, here's the final chapter. Thank you all for the kind reviews, follows, and favorites! You're the best! Hopefully I can be back with another story soon!
MacGyver was getting too used to waking up in hospitals; he wasn't even confused about where he was once he heard the steady beeping of his heart monitor. The beeping got slightly faster the more he woke up, and he cracked his eyes open, squinting at the annoyingly persistent machine. Sunlight was hitting the door he was facing, and from the brightness and angle, Mac guessed it was around midday wherever he was.
Feeling someone watching him, he turned, expecting to see Jack sitting there. Unfortunately it wasn't his friend. It was his father staring at him instead, and Mac's expression fell into an annoyed scowl.
"Where's Jack?"
"He went to get food."
Mac didn't respond after that, and he simply laid his head black on the pillow, staring up at the ceiling. After a few moments, he could practically feel his father gearing up to say something else, so the blond decided to control the conversation himself.
"How long was I out?" he asked.
James, who had opened his mouth to speak, shut it again briefly before he answered. "Just over forty-eight hours; long enough for Phoenix to transfer you to their medical facility."
The younger MacGyver nodded. He'd figured he was somewhere owned by Phoenix. He once again lapsed into silence, and James took advantage of it this time.
"Angus, are you … are you okay?" James asked, looking at his son.
"That's a relative term," Mac grunted, reaching up and rubbing the bridge of his nose. He was weak, that was for sure. He made a mental note to ask Jack what the drug had done to him once his friend got back, because he wasn't going to talk about it with his father, that was for sure.
James looked at his son, clasping his hands together. "You shouldn't have done that," he said quietly. Mac blinked, not sure if he'd heard his father correctly. He looked over at James with an incredulous look.
"Done what? Save my best friend and my father's lives? You're right, I'll just let you die next time." MacGyver honestly wasn't sure whether he was being sarcastic or not.
"Walsh almost got the recipe for the drug," James shot back. "Can you imagine the ramifications if he'd actually succeeded?"
"Actually I can," MacGyver snapped. "Human test subject, remember?" He couldn't believe his father was berating him for this.
"So why would you give them the means to create more?"
"Because unlike some people, I actually care about my family." Mac's voice was raising with every word, and he drew in several deep breaths to calm himself down. His heart rate monitor had started beeping slightly more frantically as his heart rate elevated.
"Angus, you can't put your own needs above the needs of everyone else," James scolded.
"What, like you did?" Mac shot back.
"What?"
"Like you did when you left?"
"I already told you, I left to protect you!"
"No you didn't! You say it was for my own good, but Dad, you left because I reminded you of Mom, and it made you angry! It may have been under the guise of my own protection, but we both know that's not true. So don't you dare pass judgment on me for caring about my family!" Screw calming himself down; the heart monitor was going wild. MacGyver began coughing after his outburst, and his face wrinkled in pain as he jostled his injured arm, which was currently residing in a sling.
"Angus, you need to calm down," James said, standing up and staring at the heart monitor. MacGyver wanted to laugh, but he was still coughing.
"Please leave," the blond said hoarsely after he finally finished coughing. James looked like he was going to argue, but Mac turned his head away. James sighed and walked around to the other side of the bed, heading for the door. "Wait," Mac said as he walked towards the door. When James paused and looked at him, Mac asked, "Did you destroy the files?"
James hesitated for the briefest of moments before smiling at his son. "Got 'em, destroyed 'em," he said. Something about that statement seemed off to MacGyver, but before he could answer, Oversight turned and opened the door, revealing Jack balancing food in his arms as he tried to reach down and turn the knob himself. James started slightly in surprise.
"Dalton," he greeted curtly after he recovered. Jack didn't reply to the man, but looked back once the door was shut, leaving Jack and Mac alone in the room.
"Everything good in here?" Jack asked slowly, staring at Mac with raised eyebrows.
"Couldn't be better," Mac replied drily. He wasn't looking at Jack though; he was staring after his father with a skeptical glare.
"The constipated look on your face says otherwise," Jack pointed out as he set food down on the table. Jack's comment broke Mac's concentration, and the blond looked at Jack with an amused expression.
"I don't look constipated."
"Yeah, you do."
Mac did chuckle then, trying to do it softly so that it wouldn't jar his throat as badly. "Yeah? What do you think it means?"
"I dunno, but I'm thinkin' that the fact that your dad was the one you woke up to has something to do with it." Jack looked his partner square in the eyes as he sat down. "So you two finally have that conversation he's been tryin' to have since you left?"
Mac scoffed and rolled his eyes, though Jack knew the action wasn't directed at him. "Something like that," the younger man replied.
Jack studied the blond for another minute. "Nah, that's not it," he announced.
"What's not it?"
"I mean, whatever argument you had with your dad, that's not why you're upset. That wasn't anger you were staring at him with when I walked in."
"Come on, Jack, it's nothing. I—"
"Clearly it's not 'nothing,' and I'm not letting this go until you tell me what's wrong."
The ex Delta met Mac's glare with a calm expression until the blond sighed in defeat. "I just get the feeling that he's hiding something," MacGyver said with a shrug.
"Want me to go get him and bring him back here? See if we can make him talk?" Jack waggled his eyebrows, and Mac chuckled.
"Nah, it's fine."
"I can do it, man. It would help me let out some anger!"
"No letting out anger," Matty said as she walked in the room, followed by Bozer and Riley.
"Hey Mac," Riley greeted, coming to stand by the side of the bed, her hands in her pockets casually.
"Hey," Mac replied with a smile, pushing thoughts of his father to the back of his mind. His real family was here now, and he wasn't going to let thoughts of James ruin his time with them.
"You feelin' okay?" Bozer asked.
Mac shrugged his food shoulder. "For being injected with a serum that is known for causing heart attacks, and being shot, yeah. Guess I could be worse."
"Well, you're gonna stay in that bed until the doctor says otherwise," Matty ordered. "They're still working at flushing the rest of the KX7 out of your system; you're not out of the woods yet."
"Are we ever 'out of the woods' with this job?" Jack asked sarcastically.
Matty raised her eyebrows at the older man. "Not with that attitude you're not."
"Guess it's a good thing we're not in the job anymore," Jack said, not so subtly announcing his resignation.
"Wait, what?!"
The surprised outburst came from both Riley and Bozer, while Matty just stared at the older man. She wasn't surprised. She knew Jack and Mac were basically inseparable, and she was honestly more surprised that he'd lasted as long as he had without Mac being at the Phoenix.
"Jack," MacGyver said, staring at his friend with disappointment. To be honest, he'd actually forgotten that his friend had impulsively decided to resign. "You can't leave these guys high and dry."
"Bud, I think you're forgetting-"
"I don't get to do anything stupid without you, yeah, but Bozer and Riley need you too. You have to go back."
"Not without you," Jack replied stubbornly, crossing his arms. Matty, Riley, and Bozer were watching the exchange curiously, wondering whose stubbornness was going to win.
"You come back, I come back." Jack shrugged.
"That's not fair to Bozer and Riley, Jack," Mac argued.
"What, and you think you leaving was?"
"I left them with you!"
"Mac, I'm done having this conversation. I'm my own man, and I get to make my own choices. You left the Phoenix, so that's what I'm doing too."
Mac glared at his friend, but after a moment, he sagged back into the mattress. "Jack. If you stay at the Phoenix, I'll think about coming back."
"You aren't getting off that easy, bud," Jack replied, shaking his head. "You say that, I go back, and then you say 'Oh I thought about it, nah, I don't wanna come back.'"
"First of all, you do a terrible impression of me—"
"False. Spot on."
"—second, you're wrong. I will give it some serious thought." Mac could tell Jack was still skeptical. "I promise, I will seriously think about coming back."
Jack's expression didn't change, and MacGyver rolled his eyes. " Jack, how many times have you trusted me in the field? Just trust me again when I say that I'll seriously think about coming back."
After another moment, Jack relaxed slightly and nodded, though he still looked a little skeptical. "Okay," the Delta finally conceded.
"You guys need to make up your minds," Matty muttered under her breath, though she was secretly relieved that Jack was sticking around. She didn't know if MacGyver would actually decide to come back or not, but for the moment, at least things had a ray of hope, and the director knew that sometimes, that was all you needed.
0-0-0
James MacGyver walked into his office, shutting the door and locking it behind him. He quickly made his way over to his computer and pulled out a flashdrive, sticking it into the USB port in his laptop.
He'd told his son the truth; he had burned and destroyed the files on the KX-7, but only after he'd taken pictures of everything in the files. With Angus figuring out how to potentially stop the heart attacks, the benefits of KX-7 were back to outweighing the risks of the drug, at least in Overisght's mind.
He began clicking through the files, scanning the pictures he'd taken. There were his notes, notes from Walsh, and … nothing. James groaned, sinking his head into his hands. His son hadn't made any notes about what the additional ingredients were to beat the heart attack side effect. James rubbed his eyes tiredly. Apparently the only way he was getting the finished formula was becoming closer with his son.
"That'll be a journey," he muttered to himself, closing the laptop and taking out the USB. He put the drive in a secret compartment in his desk, which he then proceeded to lock.
He sighed deeply and looked out the door as if he could see the medical center from there. He and his son had a rocky road ahead of them, but James was willing to go the distance for the final ingredients of KX-7.
Haha, idk if you guys can tell, I don't like James. At all. So ... yeah.
Let me know what you guys think!
