Previously:
"I'm not Jack! My name's MacGyver!" He shouted, angry, stunned and confused, "We have to go back for him. I'm not leaving him behind!"
Everyone was jerked forward when Daniel slammed on the breaks. There was stunned silence in the car, as Daniel, Carter, and Teal'c stared at the man they all had thought was their CO…
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Pete and Murphy were the only ones who actually knew what was going on. Sort of. So it was amusing to see SG-1's reaction to Mac's dramatic outburst. Of course it would have been downright hysterical if it had not been for the circumstances of which this surprise had come to be revealed.
"What?!" Daniel was the first to regain their senses, "Is this some sick joke? It's not funny this time Jack!"
"I'm not Jack!" 'Why couldn't they just understand that?' "I'm MacGyver! Jack's my…" Mac hesitated, reluctant to reveal the truth, especially to his brother's friends. If he did the wrong thing, it could have horrible repercussions. 'Screw the damn secrecy.' He was tired of having to hide Jack's existence from his life, he felt robbed and cheated, and wasn't willing to have to continue it in the presence of people he knew for a fact his brother trusted. Besides, he was willing to risk it if it meant that they could go back to get Jack before this got any more FUBAR, to coin a phrase from the military man. "…Jack's my brother."
There, it was said and done, and he couldn't take it back. What happens next was entirely in their hands now.
"Bro- Brother?"
"The Colonel never mentioned he had a brother."
"O'Neill never discoursed of any family."
"Well, here I am. I'll explain everything, better yet, we'll explain everything once we go back and get Jack!"
This prompted Daniel to press the gas, pushing everyone, who had just flown forward, back into his or her seats. Each were quiet, busy with their own private thoughts, during the short car ride back to house which they had just fled.
'How the hell, could Jack not tell me he had a brother?' Daniel silently fumed. After all they had been through, they were supposed to be best friends. He knew that Jack was a private man, and most of his life was filed under Top Secret, but surely the existence of a brother- a twin brother- wasn't classified or need-to-know.
He had spoken to him about his family, and other painful topics like Sha're or his childhood, or lack of one. On many occasions they had stayed up well into the morning, drinking beer, talking- well Daniel did most of the talking, Jack had just sat there being supportive and understanding- but Jack had never reciprocated. Friendship was supposed to be about giving and receiving and Daniel had never been able to return the favor. The fact that Jack had kept something like MacGyver a secret from him angered him, but most of all it hurt. It hurt deep inside.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
She didn't know the Colonel as well as Daniel did- after all, they had been through everything together since the beginning- but she still felt hurt, like he didn't trust them.
'How could he keep something like a twin brother a secret? The General must surely have known. Somebody must have. All the military forms and background checks for security clearances… it's impossible to not know.'
Carter just couldn't wrap her mind around it, and soon found herself falling back on the familiar routine of a scientist's curiosity and analysis. It was easier to ask questions than to question. Who is MacGyver? Where did he come from? What's their story? Did the Colonel know he had a twin or is it something he just found out? Why did he keep him a secret?
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Teal'c was probably the only one who understood why O'Neill hadn't discussed this MacGyver with them. It was unwise to reveal possible weaknesses, even though you might be in safe company. After all, hadn't he done the same exact thing by neglecting to disclose the existence of his wife and son, Drey'auc and Ry'ac?
When he had revealed their existence and asked to return, O'Neill had supported him. He had convinced General Hammond to let him return to Chulak to save his son from getting implanted with his Prim'ta. He had wondered why he had been so forgiving of his deception, but now he understood.
Guilt.
It was a great motivator. O'Neill would have felt he was a hypocrite had he refused to help Teal'c because he had kept his family a secret. It must have struck a cord with the leader. He had looked a little preoccupied at times on the mission, most likely thinking about his brother.
Teal'c turned his head slightly to look at the man in the backseat behind him. He did indeed look very much like O'Neill, enough to have fooled him.
A twin. Daniel Jackson had explained what that Tau'ri term meant when he had taken him to a movie. He had been startled to see two versions of the same person, one in front of him and the other behind him in line for concessions. Daniel had fortunately gotten to him before he had made a scene. It wouldn't do to start talking about aliens and threaten young girls in public.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Mac sat quietly now, having said what he needed to in order to get back to Jack. He stared out the window, not wanting to meet the strangers' questioning gazes without his brother. He had an awful feeling in his gut that something was going horribly wrong. He knew it as soon as he left the Senator's house with alarms going off without Jack.
He had no idea what Jack was doing now. He hoped that he had made it out okay, but deep inside he knew that it wasn't the case this time.
'How did this get so complicated?' he asked himself.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Pete watched his best friend as emotions chased each other all over his face. Mac was nervous, the tension radiating off him in waves, and he couldn't help but absorb some of it through osmosis. He had rarely seen Mac so nervous, the guy had stared down some things without so much as breaking a sweat, where normal people would have wet their pants.
He had gone behind enemy lines on dangerous missions far more than anyone he knew, but when it came to family, he was constantly on edge. He remembered that when Harry, MacGyver's grandfather, was in the hospital Mac was constantly on the phone to check up on him. He was so protective of his family, now Pete knew, because he had very few left; in fact, Jack was the last.
He had wondered where Jack was when he had spotted Mac, and wanted to kick himself when Mac had shouted that they had left him behind at the house. They had practically condemned him, leaving him while triggering the alarm. Their only hope was to get back to the house in time to extract him and run like Hell.
'Poor Mac,' Pete, thought, 'He's been through so much. Why can't he catch a break?'
He turned to look at Murphy, who looked overwhelmed, but not as much as SG-1. She at least had known that Mac had a brother, after Pete told her of course. She kept looking at Mac with a sympathetic look in her eyes, almost as if she could make him feel better through pure will alone. Not that it would happen anytime soon, not until Mac could lay his eyes on his brother and make sure he was okay.
From the look on his face, it looked like he was expecting the worst.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
The car ride back felt like forever, but barely had Daniel pulled up to the gaudy house when Mac burst through the car door like a racer who just heard the starting gun go off. He raced across the lawn and hurdle into the door, that was now unlocked, not a good sign, SG-1 and Murphy close behind.
Somewhere in his subconscious, Mac realized that the alarm had been turned off, but he was more intent on searching for any trace of Jack. Looking back on it, he would realize that it had been stupid and dangerous, barging in on their "enemy's" house like that. He stopped cold at the base of the stairs. A baseball bat was resting innocently against the banister. Picking it up, Mac's worst fears came true, there was a speck of blood. Not a lot, but enough to tell him what had happened: Jack was probably startled by the alarms and Kinsey got the drop on him.
"Damn it!" he cursed, and sped right back out through the door, pushing SG-1 aside. He knew that chances were Jack wasn't there anymore, which meant that he had no idea where he was anymore. Murphy silently trailed him, letting him have a little distance, but not letting her good friend out of her sight.
Pete had followed at a slower pace, and noticed something that no one else had: the garage door was open, but the thing that scared Pete was that it was empty. At the sight of Mac storming back through the door, he cleared his throat,
"Mac," that got his attention. He tilted his head towards the empty garage, the implications clear. Know he knew that there was no way to find out where Jack was, he had been transported in the little time that they had been separated.
At the sight, Mac felt a sudden rage fill him, a rage that was uncharacteristic in its intensity. A rage that, for some reason, Mac knew wasn't his alone. Without saying a word, he spun on his heels, and stalked over to the car that he had just seconds earlier vacated. Deep down he knew that he was being irrational, and that there was nothing that he could do, but he felt that he needed to do something, anything. He hopped into the drivers seat, ignoring shouts from both Pete and the bespectacled man he now knew as Daniel, and didn't even register the second door closing.
He had no idea where he was going, a common theme he noticed, but drove anyway. He needed to think. Where would Kinsey have taken his brother?
"Mac?" Though the voice was quiet, he jumped; startled that somebody else was with him. He turned his head to his right and found Detective Kate Murphy sitting beside him in the passenger seat. He tried to get a hold of his emotions and returned his eyes back to the road.
"Mac?" she tried again, hoping this time for an answer, "Where are you going?"
He sighed a heavy breath. It sounded to her like he was closed to being pushed to his limits in the stress department. Worrying about someone you cared about was like that. Normally, she tried to put off a "you can't hurt me" attitude at work, just so no one would see how much she really cared on the inside. She recognized the almost lost look in Mac's eyes; she had seen it in the mirror often enough when her Dad was in the hospital for cancer. She had ate, slept, and drank the hospital only to be heart broken when the end came. Family was important, and sometimes it was all you had, all that kept you going in your darkest moment.
Yes, she understood quite well, the insatiable urge to do anything just for the sake of doing it, knowing that it wouldn't help at all except maybe to ease your nerves or distract them for a few precious moments. But he had something that she never had: a friend, a shoulder to lean on, her.
Mac refused to meet her gaze, instead choosing the easy way out by keeping his eyes on the road, though not really paying attention. Where was he going? What had he been hoping to do?
"I don't know," he murmured almost inaudibly to himself, "I don't know," he said louder, so Murphy could hear.
Kate knew that right now silence was the best answer. Her friend needed to think some things out, and when he would need someone to talk to, she would be there.
After a long while of complete and utter silence, MacGyver pulled over to the side of the road. They were out in the middle of nowhere. He had turned when he felt like it, just letting his instincts guide him. He felt so helpless, and it was starting to get to him. When he was out in the field or on missions for Phoenix or the DXS, he was always right in the thick of things. He didn't always have a plan, but he was very good at improvising.
The one thing that he made sure of on any mission of his, however, was that he was right in the thick of things. Right where you didn't have time to feel sorry about yourself or mourn lost comrades; his focus was on getting it over with and everyone home safe. He hated the time between assignments: that was when you had time to think. He and Jack had many a conversation about that. It was one of the reasons why he tried to become as active as possible, learning how to play guitar, paint, volunteer, work on some new tech, or something that would keep him from thinking about the assignments that went wrong.
Feeling overwhelmed, he crossed his arms over the steering wheel and gently layed his forehead on them, resting for a minute so he could collect himself and regroup. He heard a swish of fabric, the telltale that Murphy repositioned her body so that she could face him, preparing herself for a talk. But it wasn't to happen.
As Mac lifted his head to speak, a sudden wave a terror rushed through him, surprising him. Similar to the anger he had felt earlier, it didn't feel like it had originated from himself. He didn't know why he was suddenly shaking and sweating, his heart beating a mile a minute. The fright must have been evident on his face for Kate became concerned herself,
"Mac? Mac, what is it? Are you alright?"
He didn't even hear her, his thought once again focused inside. This was worse than the way he felt with heights; this was pure. But he didn't understand why he experienced it right at that moment. There was nothing to-
Then an image sprang forth from the deep abyss in his mind. An image that disgusted him and sent shivers down his spine.
"Jack!"