AN: This one won't make much sense if you're not familiar with Every End is a Beginning and is set the Christmas after it ends.

MACGYVER'S RESIDENCE

LA

'…it's awesome, Valerie, thanks!'

Mac grinned at the teenage girl on his laptop screen, who'd sent him approximately 1/3 of the engine of a 1973 Ford Mustang for Christmas.

Valerie grinned right back at him.

'Have you got plans for it yet?'

She sounded very, very eager and excited, and Mac chuckled and shook his head fondly.

'No, not yet, but it's going to become something very special.' He shrugged. 'Just don't know what yet.' His smile widened. 'But I'll let you know what I make it in to, promise.'

Valerie's grin widened.

'I think I already know what I'm going to do with some of your present…' Mac had sent her a box containing a selection of bits and bobs that he'd accumulated and thought were especially cool. '…Ralph's coming to visit for a couple of days straight after Christmas, and I thought we could make something together…'

Beth, Bozer and Riley looked up from their various Christmas preparations (it might only be the 23rd, but with their line of work, you prepared for occasions when you had the chance, since you might find yourself on a plane to Timbuktu – plausibly literally - in two hours' time) as Mac stepped out of his room, his Skype call with Valerie finished.

'How's your gender-swapped mini-me, bro?'

Mac smiled fondly.

'She's doing great, and she really liked my Christmas present.' Then, after a pause, his expression soured and he looked a bit like someone had stolen all his paperclips. 'But she won't stop talking about Ralph.' He ran a hand through his hair. 'She's only fourteen!'

Bozer, Riley and Beth exchanged fond, amused glances, with hints of smirks breaking through.

Bozer pointed at his roommate.

'Mac, man, when you were fourteen, you had a massive crush on Darlene Martin, who in hindsight was just using you and being nice to you so you'd do all the work in chem class and her homework too…' Bozer looked rather apologetic and made a face. 'Sorry, bro, I should've picked up on that, shouldn't have made you ask her to Prom…'

Mac shook his head, reaching out to put a hand on Bozer's shoulder.

'It's fine, Boze. It wasn't your fault, and it's also ancient history.' He paused. 'Figuratively speaking.'

Beth reached out and put her own hand on Mac's forearm.

'With Ralph, Valerie's never going to have to worry about that…'

There was something soft and gentle and very happy in her voice, something born from empathy for the young genius that Mac mentored.

Mac nodded in agreement, quiet for a moment, before he sighed and ran a hand through his hair again.

'I know, and he sounds like a great kid, it's just…'

He shrugged and half-flung his hands into the air, which made Beth pat his arm with a wry little smile, Riley shake her head with much fond exasperation and a little smirk, and Bozer smirk widely and knowingly and point at his BFF.

'Bro, you're gonna be the world's worst overprotective dad one day.' He leaned over and stage-whispered to Beth. 'Good luck.'

That made Mac's ears turn very red and Beth's cheeks turn very pink.

'Um…'

'Uh…'

Riley rolled her eyes and socked her boyfriend none-too-gently in the arm.

'Seriously?' She shook her head. 'Too soon, Boze. Way too soon.'

AN: I feel like Bozer would definitely make such a timing-inappropriate joke. It seemed very Bozer! And yes, I feel that Mac's got a bit of Daddy-on-the-porch-with-a-microwave-death-ray in him.

Tomorrow's ficlet: 'Boze, is that pastrami?'

You're not getting more of a hint than that!