Man, this is turning out to be one of my longer stories. Probably because it's got the backstory woven into it, but still *shrugs*

Btw, what do you guys think of the backstory? A lot of you have already pointed it out in your reviews, but yes, the backstory is based off an original MacGyver episode from season 1, called 'To Be a Man.' It's a really good episode, go check it out if you can! :D

Also, can I say that I'm so glad you guys all like Aadela and Atar so much? I've missed writing OCs...hmmm...maybe one of these days I'll have to write a story with Aadela, Atar, and Anja! *eyebrow waggle* Huh...I've got a thing for names that start with 'A' apparently... XD

Anyway. Sorry for the rambling AN, enjoy the chapter! :D

Present Time

"Ma'am, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to return to your seat," the flight attendant said as she walked past them. "We're coming into our final descent, and all passengers must be in their assigned seats to ensure that everyone collects their luggage in an appropriate and timely manner."

"Oh, well...I don't have any luggage, so is it okay if I stay here?" Riley asked.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," the flight attendant replied, though she didn't really sound all that sorry. "I need you to return to your seat."

"See, the thing is, this is my uncle," Riley said, placing a hand on Jack's arm. "He uh...he can get a little frazzled sometimes if he isn't around people he knows at all times," she explained. She leaned over Jack to whisper to the flight attendant, "He's not really all there, if I'm being honest. Me and my cousin here have to stick with him at all times, otherwise he gets confused and starts causing a ruckus."

Jack looked extremely offended at the statement and went to argue, but Riley gently squeezed his bicep where her arm was still placed, and the Delta man grudgingly stayed silent.

The flight attendant looked confused and was about to answer, but one of her fellow flight attendants called out to her to come help at the back of the plane. The woman looked at Riley for another minute while the hacker smiled her most charming smile, and finally the flight attendant gave up.

"Fine," she said before walking to the back of the plane to see what her coworker needed. Once she was out of hearing, Jack turned to Riley in annoyance.

"Really?" he asked. "That's the best you could come up with? I'm crazy and need twenty-four hour surveillance?"

"I didn't say that," Riley defended, though her impish grin suggested that it was exactly what she had meant. Jack grumbled a bit at the girl, but Riley interrupted him as she spoke to Mac. "So was that the end of the story?" she asked. The blond shrugged.

"Pretty much," he replied. "Pena and the team showed up, and they arrested Habib on charges of terrorism. I thought he was secured, but apparently he wasn't," Mac added, the dark tone of voice coming back slightly.

"What happened to Atar and his aunt?" Jack asked.

"We said goodbye," Mac stated simply.

0-0-0

Four Years Ago

"Atar!" Aadela ran forward, grabbing her nephew in one of the biggest hugs MacGyver had seen, nearly squeezing the life out of him, if the look in Atar's eyes meant anything. Aadela muttered to the young boy in Arabic as the ties around his wrists were cut; once his hands were free, he returned the embrace from his aunt, though it was only for a few seconds. He pulled away after a moment and turned to face MacGyver.

"You saved me," Atar stated. The blond's own bonds had just been cut, and he shrugged as he massaged the circulation back into his wrists.

"You saved me first," Mac replied. "I would have been caught and killed last night if it weren't for you."

"Thank you," Aadela said, releasing her nephew only long enough for her to give MacGyver a hug and a kiss on his cheek before she grabbed Atar again. Mac got the feeling that if it were possible, the woman would never let go of her nephew again.

"Mac," one of the other army men yelled from their trucks. "C'mon man, we gotta go!"

MacGyver looked over to the soldier and nodded, letting him know he was coming, then he turned back to Aadela. "Gotta go," he said. "You guys take care of yourselves," he added with a smile.

"Will we see you again?" Atar asked, his eyes wide. Mac stared at the young boy.

"Maybe," he finally replied, though he honestly doubted that they would ever see each other again. "If I ever get the chance to stop by, I will, how's that?" he finally offered. Atar grinned and nodded enthusiastically, and when MacGyver made eye contact with Aadela, she smiled gratefully at him. She knew that the chances of them seeing each other again were slim, but she appreciated the American not dashing her nephew's hopes.

"Mac!" the man from the truck called out again. MacGyver gave Aadela and Atar one last hug before turning and limping towards the truck, accepting the hands that were offered to help him get back in. As the truck drove away, Mac turned and looked out the back at the village, waving with his good hand at the two figures still standing there, and he watched as they waved back. As they drove away, Mac actually felt a small pang of sadness; he hadn't grown especially close to the family in the fourteen or so hours that he'd spent with them, but he felt like they were a family he'd have liked to have gotten to know better, and now he realized he'd probably never have that chance.

0-0-0

Present Time

"That was the last I'd heard from them," Mac finished, sitting back in his seat and looking at his hands. "To be honest, I'd actually let them slip to the back of my mind once I got back to the States, and then with everything that's happened in the past two years alone, I honestly forgot about them, but it seems like Habib didn't have a hard time remembering them at all."

Jack knew exactly what his partner was thinking when he looked at the kids face, and he shook his head. "We're gonna get him back, Mac," the older man assured his friend. "We're gonna find Atar, get him back home to his aunt safely, and put Habib back behind bars again. It's what we do," he added in what was supposed to be a heroic Texan drawl.

MacGyver nodded, though he was still obviously beating himself up about putting the family in danger once again. Jack was going to keep talking, but it was at that moment that the pilot came onto the intercom.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived at our destination. Please, make sure that you remove your carry-on luggage in a orderly manner. On behalf of our entire crew, thank you for flying with us, and we hope that you choose us again next time you decide to grace the skies with your presence."

The message was repeated in Arabic as the plane taxied to a stop on the runway, and all the passengers got up to remove their luggage from the overhead bins. Since the three Phoenix agents had no luggage, they were some of the first to get off the plane.

They made their way through the airport, then outside until they found a car rental agency. Once they found and rented a Jeep, the three of them took off, following the GPS on Jack's phone to the village of Ak Toba.

0-0-0

Mac was staring out at the passing scenery, coming up with a plan to get Atar back from Habib, and he almost didn't notice they were passing a familiar-looking stream until Jack drove over a bridge that had been built. The bumpiness of the bridge knocked Mac out of his daze, and he looked ahead. In the distance, he could see the outline of their destination, and suddenly his stomach felt like it had a dozen or so heavy rocks piled inside of him; if Aadela was still in the village, Mac didn't know how he'd be able to face her, knowing that it was because of him that her nephew had been taken.

Four hours after their plane touched down and the three agents rented their car, they arrived in the village where MacGyver had been brought after being shot, but it wasn't the same village. Many of the houses had been burned down, and if they weren't completely destroyed, they were pretty darn close. Jack pulled the jeep to a stop just a few hundred feet away from the closest house, and he, Mac, and Riley got out and began walking.

Many of the villagers were outside cleaning up rubble, and they hardly paid the three newcomers any mind. A few of them did a double take as they thought they recognized Mac, but most of the villagers had only seen the American for a few minutes the first time he'd come to their village, and they couldn't remember where they knew the blond from.

"This way," Mac said quietly, turning to the right and heading towards a house closer to the edge of the village. While this house was the most out of the way, it looked like it was the most damaged out of all the houses in the village, and the sinking feeling that had been plaguing MacGyver since he saw the video of Atar got worse. The blond picked up the pace, almost jogging over to Aadela's house, barely hearing Jack and Riley asking him what was wrong.

"Aadela?" Mac called out as he reached the house. The front door had been kicked in, so MacGyver stepped through, dreading the thought of what might be inside. Thankfully when he looked around, Mac saw no sign of a body, and his hopes began to rise slightly.

While Riley and Jack were standing in the doorway watching their friend inspect the house, neither of them noticed the figure creeping up behind them, holding a metal pail in her hands until she began beating Jack with it. The figure hit Jack over the back first, giving the Delta soldier enough chance to duck and cover his head before the stranger could bash his skull in, but the stranger had the element of surprise. As she continued to deliver blow after blow against Jack's back, she started yelling.

"Who are you? What do you want? Haven't you taken enough? Get out of my house! Get out!"

Mac heard the commotion behind him and turned around, and when he heard the voice and saw who was beating his friend, a relieved smile broke across his face. "Aadela," he said, rushing past Jack and grabbing the Afghan woman's hands. She struggled in Mac's grip, trying to get away, and Mac tried talking to her again. "Aadela, stop. It's me, MacGyver."

At that, all struggles ceased and the woman looked up, tears welling up in her eyes as she indeed recognized the blond American standing in front of her. "MacGyver?" she asked, not sure if she believed it. When Mac smiled caringly and nodded his head, Aadela couldn't stop the tears that escaped her eyes, and she collapsed against the young man, her whole body trembling as she sobbed.

0-0-0

"What happened?" MacGyver asked as Aadela and the Americans stood in the charred and gutted remains of her home.

"They came at night," Aadela began. "I was inside cooking dinner, while Atar had gone out to feed the animals their supper. He had only been gone a few minutes when I heard screaming from the neighbors. I ran outside, and Atar was coming back for me, but someone jumped out and hit him over the head. When they picked him up, I tried to grab him but they hit me too," she explained, gesturing to an ugly bruise on her cheek.

Mac felt his anger rise when he saw the injury, but he didn't say anything as Aadela continued her story. "By the time I woke up, they had Atar in their car and were driving away. Before they left though, the men had gone through the village and set fire to some of the houses, including mine. We tried to stop the fires, but it destroyed most of the homes before we finally got them put out. I tried chasing after the men who had taken Atar, but they um...how do you say… fasabaq? Went faster?"

"Outran?" MacGyver supplied. Aadela nodded.

"Yes, they outran me easily. I followed them for as long as I could, but I finally had to come back and save what I could, which wasn't much." She looked around her ruined house with a sad look on her face. Mac recognized the look; it was an expression people had when they knew they'd lost everything. He'd seen it on more people than he wanted to admit, but he steeled himself. He was not going to let Aadela lose her nephew; he was too late to save her house from burning, but he wasn't going to rest until Atar was back home safely.

"Aadela," he said, placing his hand over hers. "I am going to get Atar back. These are my friends, Jack and Riley, and they're going to help me."

Aadela looked between the three of them, a small glimmer of hope beginning to shine on her face. "How can I help?" she asked.

"Do you have a map of the surrounding area?" Mac asked. Aadela shook her head.

"The only one I had burned in the fire; it's the same with the others in the village," she added, anticipating the American's next question. "I could come with you, though," she offered. "I know the area and I could guide you."

MacGyver immediately shook his head. "No," he said. "I'm not going to put you in danger too."

The Afghan woman stared at him with a hard look in her eyes. "He is my nephew," she replied. "I am not going to sit back here while you and your friends go off and play hero; I am coming with you."

"Aadela, I don't think I could live with myself if something happened to you," Mac argued.

"It is too bad that I am not asking permission," Aadela said, her voice and expression telling Mac that she wasn't going to back down. Jack stared at the woman with newfound respect on his face, and he looked over at MacGyver, who was staring at him, expecting Jack to back him up.

"Don't look at me, man," Jack said, holding his hands up in a peaceful gesture. "I'm not gonna go up against this woman. I've learned the hard way not to get in a woman's way if she sets her mind to something. Remember Anja? That woman is terrifying if you stand in her way, and I get the feeling that she's the same way." Jack jerked his thumb at Aadela, and the Afghan woman got a slightly smug look on her face, and she smirked at MacGyver.

"I like your friend," she stated. "He's got a good head on his shoulders."

"Traitor," Mac muttered under his breath.

"Is no one going to ask me what I think?" Riley asked, sounding somewhat offended. Mac turned to the young hacker, hoping that she would side with him and they'd be able to convince Aadela to stay behind.

"Riley, please. Tell us what you think," Mac requested.

"I think she should come," Riley responded, giving Mac a shrug and an innocent expression. Mac's mouth fell open as he stared at Riley, but the hacker merely continued with her innocent smile. Aadela and Jack stared at MacGyver, waiting to hear what the blond's next argument was.

Mac stared between the three of them, having an internal argument with himself. Finally he huffed. "Fine," he conceded. Riley and Jack high-fived, and Aadela looked relieved. "But you need to stay with Riley and be our eyes and ears when we get to the compound," he added, not willing to budge on that part of the deal. Aadela shrugged, not agreeing, but not disagreeing either. Mac decided to take that as a win for the moment, and deal with her staying behind when they crossed that bridge.

"Do we have a plan?" Aadela asked. Mac checked his watch; they had a little less than three and a half hours before Habib's deadline.

"We're going to go to the compound. When we get there, Riley's going to give herself access to the place's cameras; while she finds where they're keeping Atar, Jack and I are going to sneak inside. We find Atar, get him out, and get Habib once you two are secure," Mac explained.

"Sounds simple enough," Aadela replied. "Let's go get my boy back."

Okay! There's chapter 6, what did you guys think? Are you enjoying the story? I know that I'm rusty writing for this fandom, but hopefully I'm working out the bugs as I go along.