"You shouldn't go in there, Jack." Bozer had only wanted Riley and Matty to go in, knowing they'd be able to handle it better than the older agent would.

"Why not?" Jack inched towards the door, wanting to see his pseudo-son slash best friend.

Bozer quickly stepped in front of the door. "He doesn't remember us."

"What do you mean, 'He doesn't remember us?!" Jack pushed past Bozer, opening the door to fully take in the sight of the blond. Mac flinched, stepping back, eyes wide. "Come on, Mac, you remember me, right?" Mac trembled all over, giving Jack the saddest puppy eyes the older agent had ever seen, no hint of recognition in the kid's eyes.

"Jack-" Bozer came into the room. Riley and Matty followed close behind. The look of pure terror on Mac's face and the trembling of his thin form brought tears to Riley's eyes. Matty looked sympathetic, yet kept a strong facade for the team.

"You remember me, right, Mac? Come on, man. Afghanistan? Morocco? Remember those? Those times you saved my hide from the bad guys tryin' to kill us?" Jack quickly stepped forward, making Mac cower away, turning his head to the side as his shoulders hunched, brushing against his ears. He hid his face behind balled fists, breath catching at the sudden irritation brought to his wounds.

Jack couldn't help but feel bad when he'd scared the kid. But when he noticed the wounds on his arms, he wasn't able to stop himself from swiftly moving forward, grabbing Mac's bruised arms and turning them, seeing the handprints near his wrists. "Did they do this to you?" Mac nodded, slowly. It sounded like this older man cared. Why, though?

"Jack, that's not all of it." Bozer kept his hands up, as to let Mac know he meant no harm and moved slowly to the agent. He gently grabbed the bottom of Mac's shirt, raising it fully off of him.

"Oh, Mac…" Jack took in the sight of Mac's back, fully covered in cuts. Some deeper and worse off than others. Jack's eyes were glassy. He looked to see Riley and Matty, hands over their mouths. Matty remained on the verge of tears while Riley lost that battle, letting out quiet sobs for her friend.

"Jack." Bozer turned Mac around, showing the older agent the taser burns all over his chest and stomach.

"I'm so sorry, Mac." Jack rubbed a hand over his face. "I'm so, so sorry."

After the team had finally managed to convince Mac that they weren't gonna hurt him, they brought him home, where they had ordered some take-out from the Chinese place down the street. They all sat outside on the deck, overlooking the city. Mac had a large plate of General Tso's chicken and rice, and boy was he taking it down. Everyone was eating off of each other's plates, laughing and telling jokes, trying to get Mac to join in. He was so hungry, he couldn't focus on anything other than the protein, carbs… food.

Riley thought she'd try to include him by taking a piece of chicken from his plate, but before her fork could make contact with the meat, Mac grabbed her wrist with a tight grip, nearly bruising her skin. The look on his face was terrifying. Much to everyone's pleasure, it quickly melted away when he went back to eating his food.

"Woah!" Riley hissed at the pain when he'd released his grasp. He continued to shove the food down, not reacting or apologizing for what he'd just done. Something the team noticed was out of character for the normally-kind guy.

"What the hell was that?" Matty looked at the agent in disbelief.

"Hey." Jack looked at Matty, motioning for her to follow him back into the house.

"What?" She put her hands on her hips, ever-so-slightly tilting her head, raising her eyebrows at the agent.

"Okay, so I went to the hospital and talked to the first six victims we rescued and the ones they got out after they stormed the place when Bozer got Mac out." Jack's words came out in a rush, giving Matty only the smallest amount of time to process.

"Jack, I told you-" Matty stepped forward, causing Jack to step back, hands in the air.

"I know. I know. But I had to know what I was dealing with, here." He gave her a look of desperation that even she couldn't ignore. That wasn't just some suspect or random victim out there. That was Mac who had just lashed out and physically harmed his friend. Something the normal Angus MacGyver would never do.

"So?" Her tone was firm and impatient.

"They said that if they broke any of the 'rules'," Jack used air quotations around the word, "they'd get punished with either cuts or tasering. One of the most recent victims said Mac had a thing for breaking the rules, in there. But the food thing… They said that you got one meal a day and it wasn't much. Just some bread and two cheese sticks. They said that 'cus they only had a little bit of food every day, that they'd have to fight to keep it because people would try and steal it. I guess our guy out there just did what he had been doing in there."

"Poor thing. Has he remembered anything since the car ride over here?"

"Yeah, he remembers the house but that's it, so far." Jack ran a hand through his hair, shifting his stance. "I need Mac back, Matty."

"I know. We all do."

Getting him to sleep was easy, poor thing was exhausted, but doing anything else took patience and a lot of reassurance. Mac became more comfortable as time went on, and remembered more and more from the things around him and the places they went to.

Jack knew that sleep was important for the healing of brain injuries but even he was impressed when, one morning, Mac suddenly remembered his best friend.

"Bozer!" Mac dropped his spoon into his bowl of cereal. Bozer turned, frantically, with a worried look on his face. "I remember!" He jumped up and ran across the kitchen where his friend was and gave him the tightest hug he possibly could without hurting the man.

"You remember?!"

"I remember!"

Jack smiled, laughing while he walked to the kitchen, himself. "You remember anything else, buddy?" He smiled as big as he could, pointing his thumbs at himself.

"I-I can't. No. I'm sorry." Mac's head hung low before Bozer broke the silence.

"We gotta get to work in a little bit so go get dressed!" Bozer took a drink out of his glass and set it down, looking at the saddened older agent. "He just needs time, Jack."

"I know." He nodded. "Any nightmares last night?"

"Yeah. When I woke him up, he almost hit me."

"That bad?" Jack sighed, pacing for only a moment.

"Ready to go?" Mac had his hand on the door, looking at the agents.

"Yup!" Jack changed his tone to a lighter one for Mac's sake and they left together, hoping to jog Mac's memory.

The team walked into the War Room to see what Matty had in store for them that day, to find her sitting, sipping coffee. The TVs were all turned off.

"Good morning, Vietnam! Whaddaya got for us today, Matty?" Jack strolled into the room, plopping into one of the chairs.

"You take every chance you possibly can to remind all of us how old you are, don't you, Dalton?" Matty's tone was funny to Mac. Familiar…

"Matty! I remember!" He raised his fists in the air, with a big smile on his face.

"Nice to know that a smartass comment is what it took for you to remember me." Matty laughed while she watched the blond, smiling and happy. Dammit. You can't help but love this kid. "Anyway, I called off any missions for the team until Mac has his entire memory back. Not that I don't trust you to make good decisions, but right now, it's most important that Mac is fully operational. We don't want the higher ups looking for an excuse to give us more trouble than they already do."

"Agreed." Mac set his dog paper clip sculpture on the table, leaving the room to go see what Bozer was working on.

Jack stood from his seat and walked forward, grabbed the sculpture and put it in his pocket. "I don't know what to do to get this kid to remember me. We watched all of the Die Hard movies, I said a bunch of stuff I say a lot, according to Bozer… I just don't know what to do."

"Jack, he just-"

"He just needs time. I know. How much time, though? What if he never remembers me?" Jack crossed his arms. "I can't live with him not remembering me."

"Hey, I ran in front of Mac real quick but I think I figured out to get him to remember me. I mean, he remembers almost everything but me!" Jack ran into the War Room and looked behind his shoulder, making sure Mac wasn't walking in.

"Well hurry." Matty motioned for him to continue.

"I'm gonna bring up Cairo."

"Jack-"

"Hear me out. I know it was a really bad mission but maybe the memory is strong enough that it could bring me out of whatever hole is in his memory."

"Jack, he could remember and have a really bad reaction, or you could confuse him further. I don't think it's a good idea." Matty's look of sympathy was rare and Jack had just received it. He hated it.

"I'm doing it." Jack stood firm in his decision.

"Doing what?" Mac walked in, sitting down in one of the chairs. He grabbed a paper clip and began working on his sculpture.

"Mac, do you remember Cairo?" Jack's quick blurting of words angered Matty and made Mac pause. He set the teacup paper clip sculpture down on the table. Mac kept his eyes trained on the floor, refusing to look at Jack, fearing the hurt look he would have on his face.

"I'm sorry." His words were barely audible.

"What?" Jack's voice was kept in a quiet and soft tone.

"I-I know that there's something there. I can feel how important you are to me. I just don't know why. I really am trying to remember you. It's just...I'm sorry, Jack." Tears formed in Mac's eyes and when he looked up to Jack, the dam broke.

Jack stepped forward, kneeling in front of Mac, putting his hands on his knees. "Don't do that. Don't beat yourself up for something that isn't your fault, you hear me, bud?" Mac nodded and sniffed. Jack's eyes glazed over, but he'd managed to keep the tears from announcing their presence.

"I promise I'm trying." Mac watched Jack stand up and leave the room.

"He's not mad at you, you know?" Matty stood next to the agent, watching as Jack walked back inside.

"I have one last resort for you, buddy. One last thing." He set the big black box on the table, having moved the bowl of paper clips from the middle. He opened it, revealing hundreds of paper clip sculptures, all looking familiar to Mac. Jack picked one up that looked like a penguin. "Remember this one? The one where you made a radio from a snowmobile? That was a crazy one." Jack could see the gears turning in Mac's head. He felt like he was getting traction.

"What about this one?" Mac picked up one that looked like a tree.

"Oh, man! That was the one in Florida when we jumped out of a three-story window into a swimming pool. That pool boy was so mad!" Jack laughed at the memory of it all.

"Jack-"

"I mean, we didn't know we were gonna be chased by knife-wielding ninjas!"

"Jack!" MacGyver's voice was strong. "I-I remember." He couldn't hold his emotions back, as he began to sob.

"You remember?!" Jack hugged Mac, trying not to hurt the kid.

"I remember, Jack! I love you so much!" Jack could feel Mac's shoulders shaking as he cried. Before all was said and done, the whole room was full of crying people. Bozer and Riley had walked in and seen the exchange between the two.

"This means we get to go on another mission!" Bozer's cheers gained him a look from everyone in the room. "What"

"Sweet Christmas, Boze, can't you wait for just a second while we have our little heart to heart, here?" Everyone laughed at Jack's half-serious whine. Mac squeezed even harder on the older man's torso, finally feeling whole again. Finally feeling like everything was gonna be okay.