Note 1: OMG, the Season Finale! Wow... I don't even have words!

Note 2: I realize that in this technological age, all the information that Tony asked McGee to 'print' would be digital. However, the opening line to this chapter always makes my grandmother dissolve into the giggles, so I had to keep it in...which meant that Mac's files had to be printed out. And, it makes it easier for Mac to begin his reminiscence. So, basically I'm just asking you to go with me on the whole hard-copy thing :)

Three reams of paper and an extra ink cartridge later, the printer was still spitting out pages of MacGyver's exploits. Bishop had separated out the cases, loading them into a set of three-ring binders so they'd be easier to work with. Tony accepted one of the binders as he continued to pull stacks of paper off of the printer. "This reads like an adventure novel… How have we never heard of this guy before?"

"I remember the details of some of these cases," McGee chimed in, flipping pages and looking up information on his computer at the same time. "Now that I'm reading all of this in context, I know I've heard that the Phoenix Foundation has been involved in a lot of stuff, but I guess they want just enough credit to keep them in government grants, but not enough that they're too well known by the criminal underworld."

"He flies solo most of the time," Bishop revealed. "They sent him in alone when other agencies, ours included, would send in a whole team."

"I guess when you have as much experience as he does, you don't need people getting in your way," McGee shrugged. "Wow… He was all over Europe before the Berlin Wall and the Iron Curtain fell… I was just a kid when all of that went down."

"He's gotta be about Gibbs' age," DiNozzo agreed.

McGee looked back at his screen, then raised his head and scanned the area for any sign of Gibbs' presence. Not seeing the Boss, but not willing to risk getting in trouble either, McGee pitched his voice lower. "He's older, actually… by about eight years!"

Tony blinked in surprise. "I hope I look that good when I get there!"

Bishop pinked a little as the words, "Nobody else could look that good!" escaped her lips. When she realized that both DiNozzo and McGee were staring at her, she reddened. "Maybe you guys wouldn't notice this, but he's… really good looking."

"He's old enough to be your father," McGee reminded her.

"So?" Bishop bristled. "Any guy who keeps himself in good physical condition and has cheekbones like that can be attractive at any age!"

The last file printed out, and Tony loaded another ream of paper into the tray before sitting down at his desk. The last case synopsis caught his eye, and he wanted to take a closer look at it.

MacGyver's style of writing was completely unique. There was a veneer of professionalism, because after all, the Phoenix Foundation was a reputable agency that worked with governments around the world. However, MacGyver told the rollicking tale it like it was, without any bureaucratic bragging or sugarcoating. There were a few redactions in the synopsis, but for the most part, all sensitive information had been carefully left out in the initial wording.

MacGyver's Voiceover: The Field Ops Division received word of a 'situation' somewhere in the Middle East; the exact location and nature of this 'situation' will remain classified. Our source, a former agent from one of the US Intelligence 'Alphabet Soup Groups', brought all kinds of intel and analyzed it with us for weeks. The intel was viable— and terrifying— so the Assistant Director and I took this to the Board. We fought a few rounds with the 'Alphabet Boys' to push them to act on this 'do-or-lots-of-people-are-gonna-die' information. Our informant disappeared, leaving the impression she felt this had to be dealt with… at any cost. Our Board finally agreed, but she was already gone. Normally the Director of Field Ops would be the last person they'd send on a mission like this, but, to be honest, this was far too dangerous for me to send anyone else in… and be able to live with myself if anything should happen to them. I found what I was looking for, right where the intel had said it was going to be. However, my intel said nothing about the added bonus of the three hostages being held by the (REDACTED). To add icing to the cake, one of these hostages was our missing informant. Her inside knowledge of the US 'Intelligence' Agencies meant that I had to get her out of there… and I figured I'd bring the other hostages home too, since I was already in the neighborhood, and all...

The 'situation' went south quickly— you don't deal with folks as serious as that and expect it to be a walk in the park. My new partner and I managed to get the other two hostages to safety, but since she knew what my mission was, she refused to leave with them. Believe me; there was no getting rid of her! She'd learned 'bullheaded stubbornness' from the best; I could guarantee that. The only way to finish the original mission was walk ourselves right into a trap and hope we weren't separated…or blown up. Fortunately, the cage they threw us in was right next to the (REDACTED). While I picked the lock to the cage, figured a way out of the building, and cobbled together some chemicals to blow the whole works sky-high, my new partner fought off our opposition by herself, using a combination of judo, karate, and good old barroom brawling techniques. After the explosion I'd rigged up finished our mission, we high-tailed it for the chopper sent to pick us up.

Well, no matter how hard you try to clean up after a party, there are always a few crumbs left over… I heard one coming and pushed her out of the way. It's a good thing the (LINE REDACTED), because when it hit, it didn't have the speed or power behind it. I knew I was either going to bleed out or pass out in seconds… I don't mind admitting that getting hit with one of those things HURT! The adrenaline kept me going until I could talk her through cauterizing it— I'm a little hazy on the details, but she insists we used wires from a spare set of headphones and hooked it up to the chopper's electrical system. She saved my life during that flight. After we'd landed and cycled through the hospital, I invited her to join the Phoenix Foundation but ,'thanks but no thanks,'; she was done working with American Agencies for a while. Any and all information about this mission's details and her identity is to be classified to the highest levels of the Phoenix Foundation."

Tony realized he was gripping the pages tightly enough to wrinkle the paper. This mystery woman sounded very familiar to him… and he missed her more than he would ever admit. If MacGyver had indeed worked with Ziva, it would help explain how he'd known as much about the NCIS Agents as he had.

Tony was about to order McGee to dig up more information about this particular mission, but he forced himself to pause and think it through. He had to decide if he really wanted to open that can of worms right now; starting a new, unrelated investigation before finishing the one they were in the middle of broke an unnumbered 'Gibbs' Rule'. He also was hesitant to let the others in on his private thoughts about missing his friend. The information wasn't going anywhere, he decided after an internal struggle. If he couldn't strong-arm the whole story out of MacGyver somehow, he could always have McGee go back into it.

"That was sure some thought process," McGee's voice cut in, jolting Tony back to the reality of the other two grinning at him conspiratorially. "What did you get lost in over there?"

Tony immediately slid on his condescending smile, the one he used often to cover his emotional insecurities. "Just trying to put myself in his shoes… What kind of man does this? A thrill seeker out to get his kicks? A glory hound seeking the limelight? A psychopath with a death-wish… Oh, Hi, Boss!" Tony interrupted himself, jumping to his feet as Gibbs rounded the corner of the bullpen.

Instead of blowing past him, Gibbs came right up and stood nose-to-nose with DiNozzo. "MacGyver is one of the best men I've ever known," the Boss said, and while his voice was arctic and warning, there wasn't the danger in it that DiNozzo expected to hear.

DiNozzo pulled himself out of an embarrassed wince. "Understood, Boss!" Feeling emboldened by the lack of anger in Gibbs' expression, DiNozzo cleared his throat. "Boss, I just gotta know…" When the expected head slap didn't follow his words, Tony continued. "First off… where is MacGyver?"

"My house… Sleeping."

"And you're okay with leaving him there all by himself? Of course you are," Tony gibbered as Gibbs' only response was a flicker of an eyebrow. "You wouldn't have left him alone otherwise…"

"Your question, Tony?" Gibbs demanded, taking a half a step back.

"What is it with this guy?" Tony had to ask. "I mean, seriously, Gibbs… It's been fifteen years since you've seen him, he's been everywhere, done everything… what do you really know about him?"

Gibbs drew in a long breath. "You've read his file," he started, glancing at the binders they'd been pouring over. "You know why he's done what he's done."

"No, I don't," Tony admitted. "I'm all for protecting people… that's why I do what I do. I bring bad guys to justice. I've saved my share of lives, so I get that. But if this guy did half of what is written here…"

"He did. Probably more."

Tony shrugged. "Then, why?"

Gibbs picked up one of the binders, paging through it to look for a specific date. When he found it, he passed the book back to Tony. "Read it," he said, tapping the page. When Tony pulled the binder closer and squinted, Gibbs shook his head. "No. Out loud."

A little uneasy with the directions, especially with Bishop and McGee leaning in to catch every word and Gibbs staring at him to make sure he didn't miss a detail, DiNozzo cleared his throat and started in.

MacGyver's Voiceover: November, 1988. This mission was supposed to be a routine one, typical of being sent to the deepest jungles of South America to rescue a Marine that had been pretty much dumped in the laps of the drug cartels… if one could consider that typical. This Gunny had apparently done quite a bit towards taking apart the cartel… and then had dropped off the face of the planet. My intel said this gunnery sergeant was a smart guy, since he'd successfully survived a similar assignment despite being all shot to pieces… so his chances of survival were better than most. Except for the fact that he'd once again managed to get himself all shot to pieces. I'd come in via chopper, but my plan to rappel down at a nice leisurely pace didn't look like it was going to work out. I ended up having to 'jump' out as a hail of bullets caused the pilot to jerk the controls upwards… Yes, I still hate heights! Fortunately, I landed on the canopy of one of the trees, and managed to shimmy to the ground without being noticed. Our Gunny sure knew how to lay low, so finding him was another adventure. Fortunately, he'd made friends with the locals, and they were able to point me to the rag-tag group of orphaned children who had dragged him out of the forest. Those kids were pretty amazing… and resourceful. Not only did they know enough to keep our Gunny alive, but they also 'appropriated' everything I needed to get us out of there; a canoe that just needed a hasty patch job, the cage and props from an industrial ceiling fan from the drug processing house, a few rolls of duct tape (bless their little thieving hearts!), and a rocket constructed from an old muffler and a touch of kerosene. With their help, we roughed together an air boat that had held together long enough to get everybody, the orphan kids included, back to the military base, and from there, back to the States.

"He risked his life to come find me," Gibbs said. "And he refused to abandon those kids. Four are in Med School, and the other two are in Law School now."

"How many other rescue teams would have felt horrible about leaving those kids there, but left them just the same?" McGee wondered, his voice thick and hushed by awe.

"When you said there were 'two kinds of people in the world; MacGyver and everyone else', I didn't know what you meant. I do now," Bishop added in softly.

Tony gnawed his lower lip. "Thanks, Boss. I understand now."

"He says he saw Salazar shoot Schwimmer… so, let's find Salazar," Gibbs said, taking the binder of mission files out of Tony's hands. "Stop wasting time figuring Mac out. Solve our case."

Tony picked up a pile of papers from the corner of his desk. "We've tracked down three of his drug processing facilities. Since we know Salazar rabbited, we turned this information over to the DEA so they could take down the drug houses."

Gibbs shrugged. "Getting others to do our heavy lifting… I like it. What else?"

As McGee and Bishop dutifully jumped in and reported their findings, Tony's mind drifted back to the dusty Middle Eastern building where MacGyver had met the woman who could only have been Ziva. What did she look like now? Did she miss her old life? Would she ever come back? Tony could almost smell the sandalwood of her hair and see the flash of her eyes in the words Mac had written. He vowed he would get the whole story from MacGyver somehow.

Note: We have a Title! Ladies and Gentlemen, We Have A Title! For those of you who have guessed who the Unforgettable Friend is, you have now won an Imaginary Autographed Box of Jumbo Paperclips! Huzzah!