An incessant beeping woke him. It was annoying, really, but it was also sort of familiar. Beep…beep beep…beep beep…beep. His mouth was dry and tasted weird. He gathered up the strength to finally open his eyes and slammed them back shut immediately when an excruciatingly bright light overloaded his senses. He couldn't help the groan that escaped from his throat at the pain in his optical nerves. But before it subsided, someone put something pleasantly cool in his mouth that dripped down to soothe his sore throat, and the relief quickly overshadowed the fading pain. As his foggy mind cleared, he realized that this place smelled very unpleasant, like antiseptic, like a hospital.

'Shit'

He heard someone tell him to try to open his eyes. He sounded familiar, someone he knew he trusted, someone he knew he should listen to, so he did. He opened his eyes and noticed that the lights had been turned down, thank god. He could actually see now. He looked around the room and what he saw confirmed what he had already realized. It was a hospital, the last place he wanted to be. His eyes finally found the face that matched the voice that was speaking to him in comforting tones. He tried to speak, and was surprised when all that came out was a squeak. He closed his mouth, cleared his throat, then tried again,

"Mac?"

"Yeah Jack. I'm here." He knew that Jack was going to be mad at him for taking him to a hospital, but he figured it was worth it. It gave Jack a chance to heal a little, and get proper medical attention, which he had desperately needed whether he agreed or not.

"Why the hell am I here?"

Mac did a good impersonation of a guppy, trying to come up with the right thing to say that would appease him, but before he could speak, the memory of something far more important came to Jack's mind. "Crap, I need to get out of here." He struggled with the sheets; a little weak because of the after-effects of the anesthesia and the added fact that Mac was trying to push him back down on the bed.

"Jack hold on, calm down. Jack…Jack stop!" and he did, for a little while, "What's the matter?"

"I know who's behind all of this, the scum sucking little-"

"Jack! Who?" Jack looked at him with an expression of pure hatred and anger and something else MacGyver couldn't identify.

"Kinsey," the word was spat out like it was something putrid. Mac was shocked.

"Senator Kinsey? Senator Robert Kinsey?" he didn't need and answer, and it was just as well because Jack wasn't ready to give him one. He had started pulling out all of the different tubes and IV's that were attached to various places around his body, pausing long enough to notice the bandages wrapped around his midsection.

"Bastard!" At the expletive Jack stopped. He rarely heard that kind of language come from his brother.

"What?"

"Didn't you hear me when I was told you about the case that I was investigating for a friend? The one in DC."

"I heard, but you never mentioned names."

"What about with Pete?"

"Um, to be honest, I was a little preoccupied with being ambushed, shot, and kidnapped."

"Oh right…well the shady senator I was tailing was Kinsey. Senator Kinsey. I uncovered a lot of dirt on him, but nothing along the lines of arranged murder. Bribery, illegal campaign contributions, blackmail, misappropriations of funds, and a lot of stuff like that. He must have gotten wind of the investigation…"

Jack had stopped listening, trapped in his own thoughts after he heard that Mac had his own fight with the jerk. He had thought it was his fault that the slime was after Mac, and was relieved that it wasn't, but he was even more afraid for him now that the senator was after him for a totally different purpose, one that didn't include Jack. 'But he knew enough about Mac, he must know what he looks like, then…' He realized that it didn't change anything, he still would have seen the similarities between the two twins, they were identical, and he would have made the connection, and that would give him extra incentive to get rid of Mac, because of himself, so still no change.

He looked up, realizing that Mac had stopped talking, and figured that they needed to get out, now for a different reason: they were sitting ducks in a hospital.

"Mac, go find me some clothes, we need to go."

"Are you sure you should leave?"

"Mac," he warned, "I'm fine. Go!" Mac looked him over, clearly deciding if he should take what he said at face value, and then walked towards the door. He threw him a questioning look to which Jack replied with an impatient nod, and left. Jack sighed and threw his head back onto the pillow,

"Damn!"

It wasn't long before Mac returned with a pair of scrub pants with little puppy dogs on them and a white shirt with the hospital's name printed in red letters on the front. He tossed the clothes on the bed, which Jack quickly hopped off of.

"Can you believe they have gift shops in hospitals now?" Mac asked, completely amazed at what our society has come to.

"They have them everywhere now, it's annoying," He pulled on the pants while giving Mac a look of 'you really want me to where this?'

Mac sent one back that said 'you do if you want to get out of here.' Jack continued dressing while still going on his rant about gift shops, "Anywhere you go nowadays you have to get out through the gift shop," He quickly pulled on the shirt as they both shook their heads, sighing, and Mac handed him some flip-flops.

"It was all they had, I promise," He also placed a Los Angeles Anaheim Angels ball cap on his brother's head, "to hide the bruises on your face. Wouldn't want to scare any small children."

Jack threw him a sarcastic smile and put them on, 'After all,' he resolved, 'the first place we go after this is a clothing store. They walked out of the room and down the hall towards freedom.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It turned out that the soonest flight to LA was a civilian flight. They had made good time, (it helped when they got to skip all the lines and security checks by flashing their military ID) landing in LA in a little under two hours. Major Carter had called ahead and booked a rental car and had it waiting for them when they arrived. Daniel had sat in the back seat with the map, navigating, and Teal'c sat in the front seat of the small sedan because he couldn't fit in the back. Traffic was nonexistent because it was late, or rather early. They arrived at the hospital and jogged through the hallways until they reached the nurse station. Already there was a blonde woman and a bald, chubby man engaged in a heated discussion with one of the on duty nurses.

Daniel approached the other nurse that was there,

"I'm Doctor Daniel Jackson, I spoke to one of the nurses on the phone regarding my friend Jack O'Neill." Pete turned his head at the mention of the name of the man he knew was his best friend's brother. The man he was trying to see. He and Murphy had listened to police chatter on the scanner, hoping to find any hint of MacGyver and O'Neill's whereabouts when they had heard a call from an officer requesting back up after responding to an anonymous call. He had been at the old Spring Valley Psychiatric Center, where the caller had reported an attempted kidnapping, and when he arrived he had found several men unconscious. Pete and Murphy had headed out to the scene, where Murphy got to have a look around. She had come out and told Pete that it looked like Mac had been there, his handiwork highly obvious to those who knew him.

They had headed out to the closest hospitals in the area, searching for them, asking about all recently admitted patients. They had found this one where a man matching Jack's description was admitted, except the darn nurse wouldn't let them check in on them because it was past visiting hours. Murphy had been arguing with one of the nurses, but she, like Pete, had heard the name O'Neill. She moved away from the nurse mid-sentence, and walked up to SG-1.

"Hi I'm Lieutenant Kate Murphy, this is my friend Pete Thornton," she stuck out her hand and shook it with Daniel who really didn't want to deal with pleasantries at the moment, "I couldn't help but overhear that you were looking for a friend…did you say his name was Jack O'Neill?" They all turned toward the blonde woman, with surprise and suspicion.

"Yeah, why?"

"He was kidnapped with a friend of mine, they escaped and ended up here. We are trying to see him, but they won't let us." Just then, the nurse that Daniel had spoken to made her reappearance,

"Doctor Jackson, If you and your friends would follow me," SG-1 plus two moved down the hall to the room where Jack had been placed, "You have five minutes then I'm afraid you have to leave." She opened the door and they all stepped through.

Six mouths dropped to the floor when they realized that the room was empty, on the bed, their only trace: a dripping IV.

"Where is Colonel O'Neill?" Teal'c spoke up.

"I…I…I don't know," the nurse sputtered. Her patient was gone. Last time she checked on him, He was sound asleep, and his brother was there watching him. She rushed over to the chart and made sure that he wasn't moved last minute without someone telling her, but the last entry on it was her own.

"They couldn't just get up and walk away, could they?" Murphy asked, turning towards Major Carter.

"Knowing the Colonel, he could have. We'll need to view the security tapes of the front door."

"Sure…sure, follow me,"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

They had reviewed hours of footage and gone through three pots of coffee before they saw it.

"Stop it right there Sam, go back a bit," Daniel, who was very keen at looking for slight details, it happened when you were an archaeologist, was pointing on the screen at the backs of two people. One was clad in a weird assortment of clothes, and the other was semi supporting him as they walked out the hospital doors. "That's got to be Jack, but who's the other guy?"

Murphy had come closer to examine the screen at Daniel's original outburst and upon seeing the familiar figure, she answered,

"That's Mac…I wonder where they're going?"

"I wonder why they're leaving," countered Carter, "he's obviously injured. He needs to be in a hospital."

"The only reason why Jack would leave was if he felt he was in danger here or someone else was in danger," Daniel counted himself Jack's best friend, if anyone knew Jack O'Neill it was him, or so he thought.

"So we are left with even more questions than answers."

They all looked at each other, silently willing one of them to come up with the solution out of thin air. But it wasn't going to happen.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

After "escaping" the hospital, Jack dragged his younger brother to the nearest clothing store he could find, which happened to be a place geared more towards teenagers. He plucked a pair of jeans of the rack and grabbed a baggy sweater, one that could easily hide the conspicuous bulge of a gun. Walking through the store, they both suddenly felt really old, it also didn't help that every person there was staring at them. If Mac wasn't feeling really awkward, he would have laughed, seeing the way Jack was dressed. It looked like a two year old had dressed him.

Jack put the clothes on in the privacy of the dressing room and pulled off the tags, leaving the hospital clothes Mac had gotten him in the stall, he was about to leave when he turned around, and grabbed the puppy dog scrubs, tying them around his waist, 'I'll just hang on to these, they'll make great payback,' he thought with a positively wicked grin. He was still wearing the cap low on his face to hide his features as he joined his twin, handing the tags to the cashier so Mac could pay. He had his wallet that had been taken from his person when he was stripped for surgery.

As they left the store, now more able to blend in, Jack spotted a pay phone booth,

"Mac, give me some quarters…I've got to make a phone call,"

"Do I dare ask?"

"Not if you don't want me to shoot ya,"

Mac forked over the money as Jack jogged across the street and entered the booth. He quickly dialed an old number from his past.

"Hello?" A gruff voice asked.

"Dave, it's me, Jack,"

"Jack O'Neill? Damn it's been a long time,"

"Yeah. Hey, listen, you remember that favor you owe me?"

'Uh oh,' Dave thought, "Yeah…"

"I'm considering us even."

It was a few minutes later when Jack sauntered across the road back to Mac.

"So?"

"I got us a plane, fueled and ready to go, at Edwards Air Force Base. Once we arrive in D.C.-"

"Whoa whoa whoa, since when are we going to D.C.!" He knew why Jack was going, and he knew what he was most likely going to do. He just wasn't sure if it was the best idea, or if it would make things worse. Jack looked Mac right in the eye. His face, attitude, and aura all screamed his determination,

"I'm going with or without you Mac, but I'm going."

MacGyver was never really one for vigilante justice; he preferred to go through the proper judicial process. After all, he did already have incriminating evidence against the Senator, but when he remembered the fact that he had give the order that had almost harmed the most important person to him in the world, none of that mattered. Jack had filled him in on some of his own dealings with the senator, which made him dislike him even more. He wanted to make sure that the man was in a position where he could no longer be able to hurt anyone else. He wasn't going to kill him, he couldn't, it wasn't in his nature, and he sure as hell wouldn't let Jack kill him as much as he wanted to, because he didn't want his brother to spend the rest of his life rotting in jail, or worse, so he had to go along. Not that it was even an option to him not to go.

"I'm going Jack…someone has to watch your back and keep you out of trouble,"

A brief smile found its way onto Jack's face at the comment before it was quickly suppressed and replaced with an all business attitude.

"Okay, so as I was saying before, I'll fly us there where we'll have a car waiting for us at an abandoned air landing strip in Southern Virginia, We'll drive the rest of the way,"

"Sounds like a plan."