Jack Dalton walked briskly towards the Phoenix war room. Why Matty had called him in at 2:00 in the morning, he would know soon. But right now he was grumpy that she had even tried to contact him this early. He stalked into the war room, the very picture of a human thundercloud.

"Good morning sunshine," his boss, Matty Webber, snarked as he slumped into a seat, "maybe you shouldn't go on this top secret mission of national security."

Jack sat up straighter, "aw, shut up Matty, cut me some slack."

Matty scoffed, "yes, I'll just cut you some slack while a world-renowned criminal makes nuclear bombs in the basement of a church in Fresno. My bad, Jack, I forgot how important your sleep schedule was."

Jack sat bolt upright, "nuclear? That's big time Matty, you sure that's what I'm lookin at?"

"That's what we think it is," Matty pulled up an inferred heat scan of a large church building, "this is the Fresno Church of Christ. It's roughly seventy years old and has an extremely vast connection of underground tunnels from which we gathered these heat scans," she pointed to several hotspots, "those indicate either a small army, or large machinery," she pulled up a mug shot, "this is James Macgyver. He is a very well known bomb maker in the criminal underground. He has been seen going in and out of this building, "she rubbed her forehead, clearly exhausted from her hours of work, "your task is to find out what's going on in there. You will have a contact who has come forward and is willing to pass information to you from the inner circle, he's young and scared but he's smart and he has connections that even we don't, " she studied her operative carefully, "he only agreed because it was you."

Jack looked confused, "do I know the kid?" he racked his brain for anyone his connection could possibly be.

Matty sighed, "you have a surprisingly good history with him, actually."

"Would you just tell me who it is," a crawling sensation sent shudders up Jack's back as his brain made a connection that he hoped was wrong.

"James Macgyver's son has been trapped under his father's wing for a few years now and came to us with the information so that he could get out," Matty said slowly, "his name is-"

Jack breathed out sharply in horror, as a picture of himself and a smiling young blond man in army fatigues was pulled up onto the screen, "Mac."

***Line Break***

Angus Macgyver sat shaking, in Director Webber's office. His leg bounced up and down in fear. If his father ever found out where he was... the young blond tried to shake off his feeling of impending doom. Too bad the aching bruises brought him back to reality. He looked around the surprisingly bland office. The walls were a pale baize color with one light blue accent wall. On it hung a small picture of Matty and a man in a tux. Mac assumed it was either an op or it was someone that the director held dear. Her desk was a simple one, made of a dark cherry wood. Mac leapt to his feet as Matty entered the room. She raised an eyebrow at his flighty reaction, but didn't comment on it. To which Mac was eternally grateful. She gestured for him to sit back down.

"Agent Dalton has agreed to help you," Director Webber told the young blond, "he is anxious to see you."

Mac breathed a sigh of relief, he hadn't been sure that Jack would help him. Dalton had written letter after letter, trying to get back in contact with Mac after they both went home. Mac had answered them at first, but when his father had started around again, he had stopped. He hadn't wanted Jack to get all caught up in his father's illegal practices. When the beatings had started up again, Mac had completely cut off all contact from his friend. He was sure that Jack would hate him, but to his surprise, his over watch had instead started reaching out more. Mac had finally pushed him away, but now he needed the help.

"I'm glad," he replied when he realized that Matty expected an answer, "I'm glad he want's to help."

"I think if I hadn't asked him, and he found out, he would have shot me on sight," Matty commented dryly, "he's nothing short of motherly when it comes to former serve friends," she gathered a few papers from her desk then walked to the door, pausing to look at the flightly blond, "I'm glad you came to us Mr. Macgyver-"

"Mac," Mac corrected, without even meaning to.

She smiled graciously, "Mac. I'm sure Dalton wants to see you. From what I hear, you two haven't exactly kept in contact."

Mac blushed shamefully, and wrung his hands. He really hoped Jack understood.

"Hey Blondie," Matty's voice cut into his head, "Dalton's waiting."

Mac leapt up at her words, and exited the small office. He followed her through the halls until they came to a large, glass room. Mac could see Jack talking on his phone through one of the windows. He involuntarily shrank up against the wall. He felt horrible for cutting his friend off the way he did. As he thought more about it, he realized that this had been a bad idea. He couldn't drag Jack into this. This was a horrible plan. As the thought crossed his mind, Jack turned and saw him. He spoke quickly into the phone then hung up. He practically ran out of the glass room and towards Mac.

"Hey, Jack-augh!" his greeting was cut off as he was scooped into a crushingly enthusiastic bear hug from his former partner.

"Dang hoss," Jack's thick Texan accent rang through Mac's ears, "I was worried about you! How about letting a pal know you're alive?!"

Mac found himself returning the hug with equal ferocity, ignoring the slight resistance he initially felt at the physical contact, "Hi Jack," he grinned, "sorry, I've been a bit busy."

Jack broke the hug and searched Mac's face, "dang kid," he commented, "you keep getting skinnier, don't you? Not to worry, we'll fix that right up," his face took a slightly more serious expression, "when you told me your dad was an a-hole, I didn't realize you meant this."

Mac felt shame flushing his cheeks, "sorry-"

He was cut off by a wave of his friend's hand, "uhuh! None of that," he gently swatted Mac on the back of the head in a way that was surprisingly, happily familiar to the blond, "next time just ask me for help. Got it hoss?"

Mac smiled ruefully, "will do, bossman," he grinned, knowing that was about as close as he would get to a lecture from Jack.

He was relieved beyond words that nothing had changed with his old army buddy. He had been worried that Jack had agreed to this out of a sense of duty. But now he realized that those thoughts were ridiculous. Jack was Jack. He was never one to pass up helping a buddy, no matter how stupid said buddy had acted. He would be okay now. Jack was helping him. He'd be okay.