Okay, so this is the last chapter. I was maybe going to do an epilogue, but then it just sorta ... ended XD Longer AN at the bottom.

I don't own anything to do with MacGyver.

Jack, Bozer, and Riley were off gathering some of the materials Mac needed to catch Baude, while the agent himself was busy setting up traps with things they already had. He was so intent on what he was doing that he didn't notice someone sneaking up behind him until they were right there. He glanced to the side and jumped, closing his eyes as he attempted to calm his heart down.

"Jill," he said, chuckling.

"Sorry," she said as she took one end of the large stick Mac was lifting. "Didn't mean to scare you."

"Eh, wasn't so much a scare as it was just making sure my heart's still working," he replied with a light smile. She helped him attach the log to the rope, then they leveraged it up over a tree branch. "How're Jack and the others?" he asked.

"Good, I think. Jack's complaining about not knowing what size of sticks to get, asking why we can't just dig a hole and cover it, stuff like that. So, at least we know he's acting normal," she added with a wink. "They're a little less than half a mile that way." She pointed east, and Mac nodded. Jill looked at what Mac was working on.

"So this one's like a battering ram?" she asked.

"Basically. He trips this rope right here, the log swings, and hopefully he stays down."

Jill didn't respond, and Mac looked over at the young woman. She was staring at the trap, chewing on her lip subconsciously. Mac sighed.

"Look, Jill, about earlier, I—"

"No, it's okay, I get it," she cut him off hurriedly. "I know, I'm not a field agent. I just didn't want to seem like … I couldn't do anything. Especially after the bridge."

"Jill," Mac began. "Listen, you've got nothing to prove. That would have freaked anyone out."

"It didn't freak you out," she said.

"Oh, I was plenty freaked out," Mac assured her.

"Well, you kept your head better than I did."

"Hey." Mac set the stuff he was holding for the trap down and put a hand on her shoulder. "Like you said. I'm a trained field agent. Do you know how long I had to train to not be physically affected by stuff like that?"

Jill hesitated, and Mac continued. "The important thing is we're safe. We'll catch this guy, and then we can go home."

Jill nodded in agreement, and Mac smiled at her reassuringly before turning to pick up his supplies again. As he turned though, he became a little more lax in his attempt to hide his injury, Jill caught sight of the discolored skin.

"MacGyver, what happened?" She made a grab for his injured limb, but Mac managed to pull it out of the way before she could touch it.

"It's nothing," he lied.

"Did that—was that because of me?"

"Jill, it's not your fault," Mac repeated emphatically. He could tell by the look in her eyes that she didn't believe him. "I swear. It's not as bad as it looks."

"How can you even say that?" she asked as she gestured wildly at him. "If, I hadn't frozen on that bridge, if you hadn't had to catch me, we could have gotten across before Baude had the chance to cut the rope!"

Mac scrunched his face up as he searched his memory. "I—we were barely halfway across the bridge," he reminded her. "You didn't freeze until after the first rope was cut."

"Still. We could have run. You could have gotten around. If you hadn't had to save me, I—"

"Jill," Mac cut her off. "You are taking way too much responsibility for something you couldn't control.. None of this is your fault."

"You may say that, Mac, but that doesn't mean that it's true! I—"

"Wait." Mac held up a finger as he motioned for silence.

"Mac, if you're trying to stop me from apologizing, this—"

"No, I'm serious. I think …" The blond didn't have time to finish his thought because at that moment, someone jumped off the branch above them. He landed right on MacGyver's shoulders, knocking the agent to the ground.

Jill shouted in surprise as Mac and Baude began wrestling.

MacGyver grunted as he rolled over on his injured arm, sending pins and needles through the limb. With a kick, Mac sent Baude flying off him, but that didn't keep the convict down. Almost immediately, the man was back on his feet and running at MacGyver. Baude was still holding the sharp piece of metal from when he cut the bridge down, and he proceeded to swing it at the blonde. Mac tried to dodge out of the way, and succeeded for the most part, but he couldn't dodge the attack entirely. The blond hissed in pain as the sharp metal cut through his shoulder.

We have to get him to step in one of the traps, Mac thought to himself as he pushed through the pain firing in his shoulder and hand.

Jill seemed to be thinking along the same lines. "Hey!" she shouted, running past the convict, trying to lead him towards the trip line.

There were at least four different traps set around where Jill was running, and she was able to slyly miss triggering them, but Mac was surprised when Baude also missed them. He thought it might have been just pure luck for the first two that he missed, but as the man danced out of the way of the third trap, Mac's stomach sank. Somehow, Baude knew where each and every one of their traps was laid, and what would set them off.

"Mac?!"

Jill had come to the same conclusion, and she was looking at Mac, wondering what to do. The Phoenix agent knew that they had to try something else.

"Come on!" he said, motioning for him to follow her.

There was an old lookout post less than a mile away from their current location, and Mac was hoping he could find something to help them out. He reached out and grabbed Jill's hand as she neared, and the two of them tore through the growth of trees and plants. Baude chased after them, but Mac kept his eyes forward, searching and scanning for the tower.

Finally it came into sight. Mac finally stole a glance behind them. Baude was too close for both of them to make it up. He knew what he had to do. "Jill," he panted. "You've gotta get up there. Find something to help, let Jack know where we're at."

"What about you?" she asked, also panting.

"Hopefully not die," the blond responded. They'd reached the base of the ladder leading up to the tower, and without waiting for Jill to argue or respond, he pushed her towards the structure before turning around to face Baude.

The convict slowed as he approached MacGyver, an unsettling grin creeping slowly over his face. "So you're the idea man," he stated. Mac didn't bother responding. He just glared at Baude and tensed, preparing for a fight. "I was impressed with what I saw," the convict continued. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Mac jumped forward before he could, forcing Baude into the fight. Mac's hope was that he would use the element of surprise to help him get the upper hand, and it did. For a moment, anyway.

MacGyver was trained for all sorts of combat, including hand-to-hand, and he was good. He just didn't have the use of both hands at the moment, and Baude was still holding the sharp piece of metal. After a few seconds of fighting, Mac was forced to jump back in order to avoid getting another slice from the makeshift weapon.

Baude took the opportunity to lunge forward, swinging the metal in Mac's direction, which the blond was thankfully able to avoid. Baude's fighting was sloppy, definitely untrained, but he was desperate to get away, and desperation can make a person do crazy things they normally couldn't accomplish otherwise. Which meant it was a good thing Mac was also desperate. Desperate to keep his friends safe.

The two squared off again. Baude made a few attempts at an attack, but Mac easily blocked and countered with his own. A blow to his nose and cheek had Baude reeling back in surprise, but he didn't let the injuries keep him down for long.

He straightened back up, but MacGyver ran around him and jumped on the man's back, wrapping his arms around his opponent's neck. The convict began gagging, and his fingers scrambled over Mac's arms. The blond winced as he felt the metal dig into his skin, but he didn't let go. This wasn't the first time he'd piggy-backed someone to take them down, and while it was never as easy as the movies made it seem, Mac still managed to hold on. At least until Baude's head connected with Mac's nose. Stars exploded in Mac's vision as he released his hold on Baude and fell to the ground, but he pushed through the pain and rolled back to his feet.

Baude had backed away gasping as he tried to get his breath back, but when he saw the agent getting back to his feet, he immediately charged. Mac saw the other man jumping for him, and he was able to simply duck down and let Baude fly straight over his back. When Mac turned around to finish the fight though, he was met with a branch in the face. Instinctively Mac closed his eyes, so he avoided getting them scratched, but the rest of his face wasn't so lucky. He could feel the stinging of fresh cuts, and a drop or two of blood even began making their way down his face.

Thankfully, Baude was still holding the metal in one hand, so his grip on the branch wasn't as strong as it could have been, and MacGyver was able to yank the wood out of the man's hands with relative ease.

The Phoenix agent was about to go in with another attack, this one aimed for the stomach, but a sudden bang and a bright red light from above distracted him.

Mac glanced up and saw a rocket flying into the sky. Flare gun, he thought proudly. That'll definitely work.

Now that they'd hopefully gotten Jack's attention, Mac turned back to the fight at hand, only to realize a second too late that by letting himself get distracted, he'd opened himself up for an attack from Baude, who hadn't paid any attention to the flare.

A kick to the stomach sent the blond stumbling back. He blocked the next attack, a kick aimed for his kneecaps, but was too slow to stop the following uppercut. As he fell backwards, he tried to catch himself, but he landed on his injured arm, and ended up crashing to the ground anyway. Baude didn't waste any time. He ran and stood over MacGyver, the metal raised high.

Mac watched Baude at first, but something above the convict caught the agent's eye. Baude didn't seem to notice, scoffing slightly as his weapon began descending.

Mac waited until the last possible moment, then rolled out of the way right as Baude's makeshift weapon should have entered his gut. The convict didn't have enough time to recover and try again though, because at that moment, something crashed down on him from the sky, knocking him to the ground. Without another minute of hesitation, MacGyver lunged forward and planted his boot against Baude's forehead, and the man went limp as he fell unconscious.

As he pulled off his belt to secure the newly-caught convict's arms behind his back, Mac looked over at the large box that had been Baude's downfall. Then, he turned his gaze up and saw Jill staring down at him, hand covering her mouth.

"Are … are you okay?" she called down. MacGyver looked at Baude, then back up at Jill.

"Yeah. I'm good."

"I'm coming down!" She disappeared from the platform, and a few moments later, she appeared at the top of the ladder, making her way down as fast as she could.

MacGyver finished securing Baude's hands just as Jill got to the ground, and he brushed off his hands as she came closer.

"You sure you're okay?" Jill asked, her eyes immediately going to his injured hand. Mac nodded.

"Thanks to you," he replied. "You saved my life." He smiled at her, and a bit of red crept into her cheeks.

"Oh no, I'm sure you would have found another way out of the situation. I didn't do anyth-" She caught Mac's expression, one of amusement mixed with exasperation. "I mean … you're welcome."

At that moment, Jack, Bozer, and Riley came crashing through the trees. Jack's fists were raised as if he were getting ready for a fight. The older agent paused when he saw Mac and Jill standing over the body, and he lowered his fists. The older man stared at MacGyver, taking in his scratched face and arms, along with the blood covering the back of his shirt when Mac turned around. Jack was clearly going to ask what had happened, but Bozer beat him to it.

"So uh … what happened to trapping him?" Bozer asked.

"Didn't go quite as planned," replied Mac.

"Does it ever?" Riley asked as she crouched down next to Baude, snapping a picture of the man and texting it to Matty.

"No, no it does not," Jack said, crossing his arms and staring at Mac. The blond gave his friend an innocent shrug.

"What?" Mac asked.

"You know this is why we shouldn't go out and try to do physical things, right? Because of stuff like this?"

Mac gave his partner a weird look. "How often have you gone out hiking and gotten attacked by an escaped convict?"

"Well, okay, now this is a first, but seriously dude. You're like a trouble magnet."

"How am I a trouble magnet?"

"No matter where we go, it seems like every week we're getting into some new trouble, whether it's at work or not."

"Jack, correlation doesn't equal causation," Mac quipped at his friend. Jack glared at the blond.

"When it concerns you, I think it does. Are you going to explain what happened or not?"

"Are you gonna keep calling me a trouble magnet or not?" Mac danced out of the way as Jack grabbed for him, the blond unable to stop his smirk as Jack ground out threats he didn't mean at all.

Finally, MacGyver explained what had happened, ending with Jill dropping the large box of old equipment on top of the convict. "And that's when you guys got here," he finished. Everyone looked at Jill, impressed.

"Jill, you just saved your first damsel!" Jack said proudly, clapping her on the shoulder and making a face at Mac. "How's it feel?"

Mac threw up his hands in slight exasperation, but it was all play. He was glad Jill had been there, because if she hadn't, he'd have several more holes in his body than were necessary.

Matty chose that moment to call them, giving Mac a Jill a reprieve from the good-natured teasing from the team. Okay, mostly just from Jack.

Matty let them know that the search party was only a few minutes away, and to sit tight. As the group stood around their downed convict waiting for the cops, Mac looked at his group of friends. Maybe Jack was right. Maybe trouble sought him out. But he also knew that no matter what trouble any of them got into, they were always going to be there to get each other out. And even if that meant Jack mother-henning him for the next week as his cuts and scrapes healed, Mac wouldn't want it any other way.

Okay, so what did you think? Like I said in the first chapter, I wasn't planning on this being a huge multi-chapter story, just a quick little thing, but what did you all think?

Sorry it took me a while to post it. I'm at my parent's house, and their wifi really doesn't like me. Like at all.

Also! For those of you who have asked if I'm going to finish Vixen, fear not! I have it open and I'm looking at it, seeing where I left off and such! So hopefully it'll get updated soon :)

Also, I feel like my last few stories have ended rather abruptly. I just haven't been writing as much as I should recently (Stupid tv shows that I can't stop binging), and I think I'm just out of practice, so I apologize for how abrupt this is *toothy grin*

Anyway. Lemme know what you guys think, and thanks so much for supporting this story like you amazing people always do!