A/N: Thank you to those who are following along on this story. Don't worry, we'll have some team moments in coming chapters.
Mac didn't even notice the tingling in his hands, shrugging it off as the too-tight bonds on his wrists. Next thing he knew, he was waking up on the floor, his headache increased tenfold. Thanks to the next ten minutes of awful dizziness and nausea, he pieced together what had happened pretty fast. Entropic cascade effect was setting in.
That was a good thing, he supposed. That meant he was still in the other reality, where either one or both SG-1s were. Where rescue was.
What if they had left him here? What if they had figured out a way back without him, and just left him here?
But he didn't get that impression from them. Especially Jack O'Neill.
So he waited.
o-O-o-O-o
Colonel Carter worked in the gate room, trying to figure out what MacGyver had done to the dialing computer while Daniel- who had relieved Teal'c awhile ago, sat in the makeshift hospital, caring for the other SG-1, who were all thoroughly wiped out at that point. Daniel found it slightly disturbing to comfort himself as the other man retched up the water he'd tried to get him to drink, but when you worked for the Stargate program, well, this was just another day in the office.
Teal'c and O'Neill worked in a conference room to try and figure out the last time they had been sure the real MacGyver was with them.
"I believe that MacGyver switched places with himself several hours, or perhaps a day before we noticed."
Jack tossed his paper onto the table and looked at Teal'c.
"Why do you think that?"
"In rearsight, he began exhibiting signs of confusion before we arrived at the SGA. He seemed to no longer know our names, or have any recollection of our time at the SGB.
"Hindsight, T. It's hindsight. But I think you're right." O'Neill thought for a moment.
"Yeah. I do think you're right." He sat up straighter in his chair, a vague memory from the past few days surfacing. He looked at Teal'c.
"I think I have a pretty good idea where he is."
o-O-o-O-o
MacGyver didn't know how long he'd been locked in the same storage closet. It must have been at least a day, but he hadn't heard any voices or other noise from outside in several hours. He wondered if the lack of noise was a good thing.
He had suffered through at least three more attacks, not counting the ones he'd surely had in his sleep. He was starting to speculate if dehydration or entropic cascade effect would kill him first, when he heard voices coming down the hall.
The way he was restrained kept him from banging on anything. Only his head was free, and he wasn't about to start smashing that into the metal pole behind him with the concussion he already had.
All he could do was sit there and choke out a few grunts around the gag he had been slowly chewing at.
Next thing he knew, there was someone pounding on the door. He grunted as loud as he could, which probably couldn't even be heard from across the small room, let alone outside.
Despite his pitiful efforts, and after much clanking and muffled curses from outside, the door swung open a few minutes later to reveal the determined face of Jack O'Neill, soon followed by the rest of SG-1.
They made quick work of his bonds, taking the time to peel off the duct tape as carefully as they could. Still, his wrists and ankles were blistered and bleeding from the rub marks.
Jack carefully cut away the gag.
"Is that my knife?" MacGyver rasped, surprised at how weak his voice sounded.
O'Neill gave him a tight smile. "Yep. We pulled it off the other Mac."
"The other...?" His eyes widened.
"Yeah," Jack confirmed. "He hoodwinked us. Sorry about the late rescue."
MacGyver smiled. "I was pretty sure you guys had left without me."
O'Neill's face darkened. "You've got a lot to learn about the way we do things on this team."
Mac felt a warm blanket being draped over his back. Glancing down, he realized it wasn't a blanket at all, but a large green jacket. Willing his stiff muscles to work, he struggled to get his arms into the sleeves, and quickly found four pairs of hands coming to his aid.
O'Neill offered an arm to Mac, who used it to pull himself up. His knees gave way almost immediately, and he was forced to let Teal'c and O'Neill half carry him out of the storage closet.
They walked him down to Carter's makeshift infirmary, where he sank onto the last remaining bed.
MacGyver looked across the four other members of his SG-1 to only familiar face.
"Jack?" He said quietly.
"What?" All three of them answered at the same time.
MacGyver looked sheepishly at the other two. "Sorry. My Jack."
A sudden touch on his arm caused him to jump about a foot off the bed. He yelped in surprise and yanked his arm back, only to realize it was Colonel Carter who had touched him, a blood pressure cuff in one hand.
"Sorry," He said, extending his arm towards her. She gave a knowing smile.
"It's okay. I'm always jumpy after captivity too."
He gave her a strange look, but returned the smile.
"Do you remember having any attacks in the last day or so?" She asked, while wrapping the cuff around his bicep. He nodded tiredly. "Yeah, at least three. I've probably had a few while I was sleeping."
"Okay. Can you feel them coming on?" Another nod. "Good. Try to give me a warning. Let me get you up to speed on what's been going on."
O'Neill butted in. "Can I? Please?"
Carter sighed, but motioned for him to go ahead.
"Well, the other you decided that he wanted to avenge the imprisonment of his friend, and thought the best way of doing that was to masquerade in your place, and shut down the gate so we can't go anywhere until we meet his demands."
MacGyver blinked sleepily. "What?"
Before O'Neill could try to explain again, Daniel cut in.
"What Jack means, is that the other Mac was driven to the point of shutting down the gate to get us to listen to him. He believes that his friend was wrongfully imprisoned because of his theories on the Stargate program."
MacGyver looked back and forth between them for a few moments, before leaning back against the wall.
"I'm just going to take a nap here. You guys let me know when you decide what you're going to do about-" He motioned around the room, "-this."
He smiled softly, and then promptly passed out.
A/N: Please review!
