Well, this is it! I hope y'all liked it!

Jack and Mac both stared at the bomb in horror. Mac's surprise only lasted a fraction of a second, however, as his training kicked in and he pried the bomb's cover open and began to carefully sort through the exposed wires. Jack, recovering a moment later, grabbed his phone from his pocket and sent a terse text to Matty: bomb activated 2 min til blast get evry1 out

Jack replaced the phone in his pocket and took a step closer to Mac. He watched the young man's steady movements, the way he kept calm even as the numbers ticked down. Mac said, without taking his eyes from his work, "You should get out of here. You can distance yourself from the blast enough that you won't be killed."

Jack huffed out a sarcastic laugh. "What, and leave you? No can do, man."

MacGyver scowled. "I'm not kidding, Jack. You need to get out of here."

The older man said seriously. "Neither am I. I'm staying with you."

A beat of silence, and then- "There's nothing I can do to convince you, can I?"

"Nope."

The blond pulled four wires from the inside of the paneling, one green, one red, one blue, and one yellow. "It's one of these."

Jack watched the numbers tick down, and then heard his friend's voice say with a hint of panic, "I don't know which- there's nothing to tell me-"

Jack gently grabbed Mac's chin with his hand, bringing blue eyes up to meet warm brown ones. "Hey. I trust you, brother."

The last word hung in the air, and somehow, it was understood by both men that in that moment, it meant more than the casual nickname that Jack threw around so often.

MacGyver nodded once, his face echoing the same sentiment, then turned his attention back to the bomb.

Ten. Nine.

MacGyver picked the yellow wire.

Eight. Seven. Six.

The young man positioned the knife.

Five. Four.

He looked at Jack, nodded, and pulled.

Three. Three. Three.

The bomb stopped counting.

Jack clapped Mac on the shoulder, his face split in a grin of relief. "I knew you could do it, Mac."

The younger man grinned back at him, his eyes filled with relief. Jack felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, and pulled it out. He glanced at the screen, then back at Mac. "You gonna be okay if I take this?"

The blond waved him off silently, and Jack turned to take the call. "Matty."

The dry voice of his boss came over the line. "Since nothing's blown up, I'm assuming you disarmed the bomb?"

Jack blew out a sigh. "Yeah, Mac did. It was close, though."

There was a moment of silence, and then Matty said, "I'm glad. You might not be my favorite person, Jack, but I don't want to lose you."

Jack was stunned, that was something that he was not expecting, to say the least. Clearing his throat, he turned back to face Mac, only to find him crumpled quietly against the wall, his injured leg stretched out in front of him.

Jack cursed quietly before saying quickly into the phone, "I gotta go, Mac just collapsed, he was shot and lost a lot of blood, send an ambulance."

With that, he ended the call and hurried to his friend. Carefully, the older man laid the younger out on his back. Then he looked at the bandage that was covering the wound. It was soaked through with blood, and when Jack touched it, Mac winced in pain, even through his unconsciousness.

Jack cursed again. This was very, very bad. He knew that the younger man had been in pain, but had hoped that the adrenaline from the situation would've been enough to hold off unconsciousness for just a bit longer.

It was a long few minutes waiting for the ambulance to arrive.

When the paramedics- from Phoenix, of course- arrived, they found Jack holding a towel down over Mac's wound in order to try and stop the bleeding. They took over quickly and efficiently, and before Jack knew it, he was on the way to the hospital in the back of an ambulance, staring at his pale, unconscious partner and taking comfort in the checks that the paramedics did for a pulse every so often.

They were halfway to the hospital when Jack's phone rang. He answered it, knowing that it was Matty, without taking his eyes from the limp form in front of him and nodded to the paramedic that motioned for him to keep the call short. "Dalton."

"You're on the way to the hospital?"

"Yeah. They got here pretty fast."

"Good. I've been told that this is a hospital that Phoenix frequents?"

"Yeah. It's actually ours, but they serve everyone else too, as a front."

Jack kept his replies short, too consumed with worry for his best friend to give extended details. Matty sensed his worry through the line and said, "When he wakes up, tell MacGyver that I expect to see him ASAP for his debriefing."

Jack swallowed. "Yes, ma'am."

He hung up, recognizing Matty's reply for what it was: a few words of comfort and the statement that Mac will be fine, expressed through her usual abruptness.

Strangely, it helped.

When the ambulance finally reached the hospital, Jack saw a group of people waiting outside with a gurney. He watched from the side of the ambulance as his friend was brought out of the ambulance and put onto the gurney, and then followed the team of doctors and nurses as far as he could.

The doors swung shut in front of the brunet, and Jack returned to the waiting room. To his surprise, he found Bozer and Riley there as well.

Well, he reflected, maybe it's not so surprising.

The three of them settled in for a long wait.

A doctor approached the group. "Family of Angus MacGyver?"

Jack stood, nodding, his heart in his throat. The doctor looked up from his clipboard with a smile. "The good news is, everything's going to be fine. Mr. MacGyver was extremely lucky; the bullet barely missed some major arteries. As it was, the bullet caused a complete fracture of the bone, but the way the bone was broken, it wasn't visible from the outside. As you can probably guess, that caused him extreme pain, but he'll recover just fine with some therapy."

Jack sat down on his chair again, hard. He blew out a breath in relief, then looked up just in time to hear the doctor's next words. "He's coming around from the anesthesia- which is surprising, because most people are out for at least another hour- if you guys want to see him."

The entire group nodded at once, and the doctor held up a hand. "One at a time, though."

Jack rubbed his hand through his hair. "You got it, Doc. Thanks so much."

The doctor nodded, giving a friendly smile before walking off. There was silence, and then Bozer said, "Jack, I think you should go see him first."

Jack looked up in surprise, only to see Riley nodding in agreement. "Yeah. We'll wait out here."

When Jack didn't move, Bozer made a small shooing motion with his hand, and, with a small, relieved smile on his face, Jack began to move in the direction of the nurse's desk. "Um, I'm looking for Angus MacGyver, ma'am?"

The nurse looked up. "He can only see family right now."

Jack swallowed, thinking of the few words that he had exchanged with Mac in the house. "I'm family."

Jack peeked into the hospital room. MacGyver was lying on the bed, pale and still, his eyes closed. As Jack quietly made his way into the room, though, blue eyes made their appearance and tracked the older man as he drew a chair up to the younger's bed and let himself fall into it. "J'ck," Mac slurred tiredly.

Jack grinned slightly. "Hey, buddy. How you doing?"

Mac rolled his eyes. "Hurts. B'llets suck."

The brunet nodded. "Yeah, they do."

There was a moment of silence, and then Jack began to stand. "Well, Riley and Bozer'll want to see you too, I'm sure."

Mac reached out to stop the older man. The pale hand didn't get more than an inch off the bed, but it was the thought that counted. Jack sat back down, watching his friend. "You okay?"

The blond took a moment, as if to organize an argument, then said, "Wasn't y'r fault I got shot."

Jack was silent for a moment, then said, "I should've distracted him."

Mac stubbornly shook his head. "Wasn't anything you c'd do. Dryer made th' ch'ce."

Jack sighed, rubbing a hand over his face, then looked back at the younger man as the still-somewhat-slurred voice said, "D'd you aim th' gun? P'll the trigger?"

Jack reluctantly shook his head. "No."

"Not your fault."

It was the stubbornness in those piercing blue eyes that convinced Jack more than the younger man's words, but the message got through. Jack let his shoulders slump as he reached forward and softly ruffled soft blond locks. "Okay, Mac. I believe you."

Mac regarded his friend with narrowed eyes, then announced, "'M tired."

Yeah, Jack thought in amusement, the drugs'll be kicking in about now.

Jack drew the blanket a bit higher on the younger man's chest. "Go to sleep, buddy."

Blue eyes suddenly shot open, wide and panicked. "You gonna be here when I wake up?"

Jack nodded. He knew that Riley and Bozer wouldn't mind Jack staying until Mac woke up, as they could peek in while the blond was sleeping. They had both seen the young man on powerful drugs before, and the way he always panicked if he couldn't see Jack when he woke up. "Yeah, Mac," he said softly, "I'll be here."

After all, Jack added to himself as he watched the blond's eyes slip closed, that's what brothers are for.

does anyone have anything that they're getting ready to post in this fandom- stories, new chapters- pls im desperate for something new to read