Author's Notes: Many thanks to TurtleD for beta helping me with this project and to King Henry the V for inspiring the pond scene in this chapter. I was originally going with a different ending, but once I read that review, I couldn't get the scene out of my mind. And special thanks to all who sent feedback and reviews for this story. They have helped me tremendously.
Although we have reached the end of this story, I am already fleshing out an idea for a sequel which will have mini-Jack involved in some way. I know that there are a couple of stories out there already, but I can't help it. My imagination just won't leave me alone.
Please let me know what you think of this story.
The afternoon sun cast a golden tint to the landscape when Jack pulled into the parking lot of a motel in Mission City, Minnesota. He had arranged to meet Mac and his family there so that they could visit the grave of his biological mother and her husband before traveling on to Jack's cabin which was still over a hundred miles away.
Jack was so looking forward to a hot shower and a comfortable bed after two days of driving. He had taken a few weeks off in order to make this trip, knowing he needed the vacation more to relax and get away from the demands of his job than to meet up with Mac. But he also relished the thought of seeing his brother again. There was still a lot of catching up to do and Jack was looking forward to seeing his brother and to visit with their father for the first time in over thirty years.
He got out of the truck and grabbed his bags. The motel had a homey feel to it and Jack appreciated the atmosphere as he walked into the office.
"Well, I'll be damned," the clerk behind the counter said before Jack could utter a word. "Angus MacGyver. How in the world are you?"
"Uh…."
"It's been awhile, hasn't it?" the clerk continued, then proceeded to share memories of incidents Jack couldn't possibly remember. Jack tried unsuccessfully to stop him several times, then had to smile when the clerk finally stopped in mid-memory to gape at Mac, who had stepped inside the motel office to get a room for his family. Mac took it all in with just a glance then smiled at his old friend before saying, "Hey Johnny, you still here? I figured you'd be long gone by now, maybe living in Florida or something. Where's Lisa?"
The clerk continued to gape and Jack wanted to congratulate Mac on actually being able to stop the guy's prattle. From the moment he had stepped into the office, Jack hadn't been able to get a word in edgewise. Mac was enjoying himself immensely though and he turned to Jack to say, "You look familiar. Do I know you?"
It was Jack's turn to gape at Mac before grinning evilly at his brother when he realized what Mac was doing. "Not that I know of," he replied as he turned to the clerk. "Do you have a room?"
"Holy cow!" Johnny exclaimed, as he stared at the twins standing in front of him. "MacGyver? Is that you?"
"Yep," Mac confirmed, as he reached out a hand toward his old friend. "How are you doing Johnny?"
"Fine, just fine," Johnny said absently. He was still staring at the two of them and he almost choked when both men asked, "What about a room?" at the exact same time.
Jack turned to grin at Mac, who in turn smiled back at him before saying, "You sure I don't know you?"
"Ever been to Colorado?" Jack asked, knowing that Johnny was hanging onto every word.
"I was there just a few months ago," Mac replied. "Oh I remember now, you were the one who helped me get my daughter back. How could I forget?"
"You were the one who tried to impersonate me."
"And did a damned good job of it too," Mac insisted.
"What are you talking about? You got caught!"
"Only because you showed up. I had them all thinking I was you."
"They would have caught on soon enough."
"No they wouldn't."
"Yes they would."
"Jack…"
"Daniel was already suspicious."
"Daniel was sick."
"Gentlemen," Johnny finally found his voice and the ability to figure out that the two men standing in front of him knew each other. "I hate to break up this reunion, but will one of you tell me what the hell is going on here?"
"I'm here to get a room," Jack replied with a trace of anger. Mac could be so aggravating.
"Me too," Mac said, as he smiled at Johnny. "How have you been old man?"
"Who you calling an old man?" asked Johnny, having apparently collected his wits and was gearing up to go into another long-winded memory. "I'm a year younger than you and still managed to show you up at the hockey rink. Remember that time…"
"Do you have a room or not?" Jack interrupted, getting more aggravated by the minute. "I've been on the road for two days now and all I want to do is find some food and a hot shower. Is that too much to ask?" he asked the clerk.
"Well no," the clerk admitted, his expression still showing his confusion. "I was hoping one of you would tell me about the resemblance, though. How come you guys look alike?"
"Long lost twin brother," Mac answered, surprising Jack so much that he was back to gaping at his twin again. This was yet another thing that was so different about the two men. Jack was an intensely private man. He would never have thought to voluntarily give out that information to anyone, yet here was Mac telling the world as if it were a natural event.
"Seriously?" asked Johnny, his eyes wide as he took in both men. "How did that happen?"
"Do you really want him to go into detail about how twins are genetically formed?" Jack asked, his anger growing by leaps and bounds.
"No, I meant…"
Jack was saved from punching Johnny in the face at that moment when a woman came into the office from the back room and let out a squeal that hurt his ears. She continued the squealing as she came around the counter, her arms spread wide and heading straight for Jack, causing him to step back in panic before she spotted Mac and stopped in her tracks, confusion taking the place of her smile.
"Lisa!" Mac exclaimed with a wide smile, as he went up to the woman and put his arms around her to give her a hug. "Just as beautiful as ever. How are you?" he asked, as he let her go to get a better look at her.
"Mac? Is it you?" Lisa asked, as she turned to look at Jack.
Jack felt a chill go down his spine at her words, but refused to dwell on the reason for it. "What about that room?" he asked Johnny, as Mac nodded at Lisa.
"It's me. I'm the handsome one," Mac insisted as he pulled her into another hug. "It's good to see you two again."
"Smoking or non-smoking?" Johnny asked, just as Lanie and the kids walked into the office.
"That'd better be Jack hugging another woman," Lanie said as she glared at her husband. Jack was more than happy to tell her that it wasn't although he figured she already knew the answer, but Mac beat him to it.
"Lanie, come meet some old friends of mine," he said, as he turned to his wife. "This is Lisa and Johnny Barrington…"
"They went to school together," Jack added, hoping they would notice that he was still standing there without a key to a room.
"This is my wife, Melanie," Mac continued, totally ignoring Jack. "And these two here are our children, Lindsay and Pete."
"Non-smoking," Jack said to Johnny. "Although I would take anything you have right now. I'm really, really tired." He smiled when Johnny nodded at him and punched some keys on the computer.
"Nice to meet you all," Lisa said, while her husband typed away on a keyboard. Jack knew total frustration at that point when Johnny stopped typing to smile at Lanie.
"Nice to meet you Lanie," Johnny said. "Your husband and I go way back. Why, I remember a time when…"
"Will you just give me the key to a room already?" Jack demanded, having reached the end of what little patience he harbored. "You guys can reminisce to your heart's content after I leave."
Johnny glared at Jack before going back to the computer keyboard, while Lisa stared at him in shock and Lanie and the kids rolled their eyes. Jack didn't care at that point; all he wanted was to get settled in for the night. He looked over at Mac who was grinning at him, but turned his attention back to Lanie when she said apologetically, "He's a General. He's used to people dropping everything to do what he says the minute he says it."
What is with these people, Jack thought as he stared at his sister-in-law in amazement. Between her and Mac, the Barrington's will know every little detail in Jack's whole life before they leave town tomorrow. He was starting to appreciate the fact that he'd been an only child all these years. At least he'd never had someone broadcasting his entire life story to the world when it was just him.
He turned his attention back to Johnny wondering whether he was going to get a room or not, then stiffened when Lanie came up to him and put her hand on his arm. "I'm sorry Jack," she said quietly. "I didn't mean anything bad by that remark."
"I'm just tired," he said, wondering if he would screw it up if he tried to explain to her what was really bothering him. "It was a long trip and we still have a long way to go before we get to my cabin."
Lanie continued to watch him, giving him a small smile to let him know that she could relate, even though he could tell she didn't understand. Johnny handed him a printout for him to sign, which Jack was glad to do. It was one step closer to getting a key.
"Hey Uncle Jack," Lindsay said as she came up to him to give him a hug.
He smiled at her as he hugged her back. "Hey back atcha," he said.
"Here's your key," Johnny said, as he handed a card to Jack. "You're in room 130. It's the one at the end of the hallway, there on your left."
"Thanks," Jack said, as he reached down to pick up his bag. "See you guys later," he said as he hurried out of the room, intending to make his getaway as fast as possible. He didn't relax until he was in his room with the door closed, and even then he worried his family would show up to keep him company. All he really needed was some sleep. He lay down on the bed intending to try to relax, only to fall asleep within minutes.
The cemetery was quiet, being that it was situated just outside of town. The fact that it was the middle of a week guaranteed they would be there by themselves. The townspeople were busy with their weekly routines and no one seemed to notice the little group standing around the gravesite of a few of their own. This was good as far as Jack was concerned. He'd had to endure several instances where people thought he was Mac and insisted on reminiscing about old times.
A marble headstone marked the spot where James and Ellen MacGyver were buried and Jack found himself wondering what they were like as he stood looking down at the gravesite. Although Ellen was his biological mother, she and her husband were complete strangers as far as he was concerned. The only thing he shared in common with them was the fact that they could claim Mac as a close relative.
Jack knew that there really wasn't anything to be gained from coming here, but he was here anyway. He watched as Lanie stooped down to brush the leaves and grass away, while Mac stood next to Jack, his face showing no emotions whatsoever. Jack was here to pay his respects to a mother he never knew, while his brother battled whatever demons had brought him there in the first place.
Mac stooped down by the headstone and reached out to trace the letters of the names etched into it. Jack knew the grief Mac was dealing with over the death of his parents, even though it had been several decades after their deaths. His own grief over the death of his mother had diminished over the years, but he still experienced the sadness of losing the one person who had loved him unconditionally and left him alone and scared with a father who hated him. At least Mac had a parent who continued to love him long after his father had died.
Thoughts of his father were still bittersweet for Jack. He was glad that they had reunited, but he still harbored anger toward the old man for all the lost years when they could have been closer. His father had never known Charlie, or Sara, for that matter. It was the old man's loss, Jack figured, but it still bothered him that he never spent any time with Charlie as Jack did with his own grandfather.
A smile graced his features as he thought about Lanie's view on his grandfather. She was the one who thought it was ironic that the brothers ended up spending the most time with their biological grandfathers, Mac being raised by his mother's father and Jack spending a lot of time with his paternal grandfather. The fact that their biological parents were both widowed had her practically bouncing off the walls with excitement, claiming that fate had made it clear that Thomas O'Neill and Ellen MacGyver were destined to be together. This, of course, made absolutely no sense to Jack, Mac and everyone else who had the misfortune of hearing it, but Lanie didn't seem to care. Jack could see where Lindsay got the romanticism from.
Lanie stood up at that moment and smiled at Jack as she wiped the dirt from her hands. Jack smiled back at her, thinking that she was so beautiful. The sun lit up the highlights in her hair while her eyes glistened with tears and he silently congratulated Mac on snagging her. He certainly didn't envy his brother though. That woman could be such a pain in the ass when she wanted to be. That didn't matter though because Jack wouldn't want her to be any other way. He loved her just the way she was, beautiful, bossy, and not the least bit intimidated by her brother-in-law, who had been known to get his way in many situations using the best intimidation techniques in his armory.
Lanie gave him a quizzical look, clearly trying to figure out what he was smiling about in such a cynical way. Let her wonder, he thought as his smile grew wider and he reached out to pull her into a hug. Her efforts at intimidating him didn't work any more than his did on her. Mac had laughed at them one day when they were at odds with each other, claiming that they had both met their match. Jack silently agreed with him at the time, but he'd be damned if he'd let Lanie know it.
Mac finally stood up and stared out over the cemetery, seeming to be lost in thought. Jack stood there awkwardly, wondering if he should say something. He was never very good at expressing himself in these situations, although he had often tried to in his efforts to help his friends.
"All those years," Mac said quietly. Jack was saved from having to come up with something in response when Lanie went up to Mac and put her arms around his waist as she buried her face in his shirt. Mac returned the embrace, leaving Jack to definitely feel like the odd man out. He ended up looking back down at the grave and he realized what it was Mac was saying. This woman had probably spent the last years of her life wondering if she had done the right thing in letting her baby go. And more than likely grieving for the child she had given birth to, only to lose him before he was even a few days old.
"I had a good life with my father and adoptive mother," he said, as he stooped down to touch the headstone. "We were a happy family and my mother loved me as if I were her own." He stopped then, wondering if he needed to go on, knowing his words were probably falling on deaf ears, literally. "You made the right decision," he continued, deciding that it needed to be said. "Never think otherwise."
He stopped at that point, words failing him once again. What could he say to a woman who had given birth to him, only to let him go based on the whims of her husband and the wife of her lover? He could only imagine her loss, as well as her doubts and fears as she wondered if the people who took him would love him and make him happy.
"I had a good life," he repeated, as he stood up hoping his words helped, if only a little. He looked up from the grave to find both Mac and Lanie watching him, although they were still wrapped around each other. Lanie was smiling at him again, while Mac stared at him with appreciation.
"Thanks," Mac said with a great deal of feeling. "I know it means a lot to her hearing it from the horse's mouth."
Jack nodded, then snarled good-naturedly as he grinned at his brother. "Hey! Who you calling a horse?"
"If the shoe fits," Mac implied, grinning like a fool.
"Now boys," Lanie broke in before things really heated up. "This is hardly the time to get into a fight…"
"What's she talking about?" Jack asked his twin with the most innocent look he could muster up at a moment's notice.
"Dunno," Mac responded, trying on his own little halo.
Lanie just glared at them both before giving into her own smile. "See what I have to put up with?" she said to the headstone, as she gestured toward the men wearing identical expressions on their faces. "They're impossible. Come on you two," she added. "Are you ready to go?"
"Yes ma'am," Jack replied.
"Ready when you are," Mac added. His smile dimmed as he turned toward his parent's grave. "See you soon," he told them with a little wave of his hand, then turned to lead the way out of the cemetery.
"Me too," Jack added before following Mac and Lanie to the road. He stopped at one point and turned back toward the gravesite, wondering if his mind was playing tricks on him. He could have sworn he heard something… He shook his head then and turned back toward his brother and his family, anxious to get started on the drive to his cabin.
Jack loved being at his cabin - he loved the woods, the pond and even the house that could use a lot of work in sprucing it up. But most of all, he loved to sit on the dock at the edge of his pond and spend the day fishing. Nothing was better, in his opinion except of course looking for constellations and stars through his telescopes. He had bought one to use at his cabin so that he wouldn't have to transport the one he kept at his house when he came to Minnesota.
He was firmly settled into his chair on the dock, flat out refusing to even think about getting up despite the fact that he had a houseful of people staying with him for a few days. They would just have to fend for themselves. He was not going to cater to anyone but himself. This was his vacation, for crying out loud.
He knew that he was setting himself up for some deep disappointment if he believed any of that crap. He had arranged for his father to come to his cabin to meet with Mac and his family, figuring things would go much smoother if the meeting was held in neutral territory. But this meant that his little cabin was overrun with people, while peace and quiet went running into the woods in order to find themselves.
At the moment, peace and quiet had returned – Lanie and her children had gone to town to do some shopping. Jack savored the silence as he cast his line into the pond and began reeling it back in again. It was a monotonous routine, cast and reel, cast and reel, but Jack found serenity in it. It was a soothing routine and he had gotten to the point where his movements were automatic.
He looked up when he heard someone walk up to him. His father looked so old, although he still had a full head of hair. Jack so hoped he had inherited this attribute from his father.
"Pull up a chair old man," Jack told him. "There's another fishing pole around here somewhere."
"I brought my own," his father said, as he eased himself down into the chair next to Jack's. "Nice little place you have here," he added appreciatively.
"Yep," Jack agreed.
"Any fish in there?"
"Nope."
"That's my boy," Tom O'Neill said, with a great deal of pride. "There's more to fishing than catching something."
Jack just turned and grinned at his father. He remembered his father saying those very same words to him all those years ago when Jack had caught a whopper of a fish, five times bigger than the one his Dad had caught. At that time though, the words were used to hide his jealousy.
"Words to live by," Jack said, still grinning at the memory.
"Mind if I join you?" Mac asked, as he walked up behind them.
"Grab a chair," Jack replied. "There's another pole around here somewhere."
"Found it," Mac said, pulling up a chair and setting it down next to his father. It was a tight squeeze on the dock with the three chairs sitting in a row, but they somehow managed it.
The three sat in silence, casting their lines and reeling them in, enjoying the quiet. Mac, however, wasn't the type to keep silent for too long, proving once again that twin brothers were never exactly the same.
"I used to go fishing with my grandfather when I was younger," he said, as he cast his line back into the pond. "I learned a lot from that old man. Before he left, that is."
"What about your father?" Tom asked.
"My father loved to fish as well as the next man," Mac responded. "But it was my grandfather who always seemed to have the time to take me out on the lake."
"Did your father treat you well?" Tom asked with an intensity that caused both Jack and Mac to stare at him.
"Yeah," Mac finally said, his emotions firmly tucked behind a mask that Jack had been accused of wearing way too much. Jack tried, but couldn't determine if Mac was mad or what. "He was a great father," Mac added with a great deal of enthusiasm. "He loved me and my mother very much."
"Good," Tom said with relief. "I have to admit I had worried about that over the years."
Mac didn't respond, he just sat there casting out his line again and reeling it back in. He was definitely angry, Jack decided, as he watched Mac reel the line back in. He kept his silence though, hoping things wouldn't deteriorate between the three of them - or at least between Mac and his father. Jack knew from experience how that would turn out.
Silence has been known to heal scarred emotions, and this time was no exception. Apparently Mac used the silence to think through their words and come to the realization that Tom O'Neill meant no disrespect toward the man who had raised one of his sons. He had just worried about that son, based on a preconception that most people harbored when it came to men raising a son from a wife's liaison with another man. It was common knowledge that most men would hate the child.
"My father was a free-spirited man," Mac told them. "My grandfather used to compare him to the hippies, although my father never really joined up with that group of people. But he believed in the 'make love, not war' issues and I think that is why he accepted me for who I was, an innocent child who had no say so in who fathered me. He was a good man," he continued, his features finally softening as he thought about his father, "And I loved him dearly."
"For what it's worth," Tom said, "I am glad that you and your mother had him there with you."
"Yeah, me too," Mac agreed, as he turned toward the water and threw his line back out into it.
"So," Tom said as he reeled his line in, "What do you do for a living Mac?"
"He was a spy," Jack jumped in with a half truth, hoping to ease some of the tension between them.
"I was not a spy," Mac declared defensively. "I just went in and got people out of whatever predicament they found themselves in."
"Did you have to sneak in to get those people out of 'whatever predicament they found themselves in'?" Jack asked in an effort to prove his point.
"If it was just a matter of walking in and taking them home, they wouldn't have needed me," Mac said in exasperation.
"He had to sneak in," Jack nodded conspiratorially to his father. "He was a spy."
"I was not a spy," Mac insisted, as he glared at Jack. "Other people did the spying, I just took the information they gave me and went in to get the job done."
"At the risk of getting yourself killed," Jack continued with a grin.
"Okay, I get the idea," Tom said to put a stop to the bickering. "I feel like I'm at a tennis match. You know, the ones they show on TV. All those people with their heads going back and forth, it's a wonder they don't get headaches."
"You watch those things?" Jack asked in surprise, as he wondered just what his father had been up to all those years.
"Hell no!" his father answered empathetically. "The second wife did. Never did see what all the fuss was about."
"Not much action going on," Mac agreed, staring at Jack with a puzzled look. Jack had been thinking about the beating he got because of his step-mother and the anger must have showed in his features.
His father noticed it as well, "Hockey was always my sport," he said in an obvious attempt at changing the subject. "I used to play when I was a kid."
"Taught me everything I know," Jack said, as he pushed the memories aside. No use rehashing the old stuff.
"I was pretty good at it myself," Mac said smugly. "Just one more thing we have in common."
"What other things do you have in common?" Tom asked.
"We both fell into the same line of work, even if my job was outside the military," Mac replied. "Most of my work was highly classified and I know for a fact that Jack's whole career was deemed highly classified." This was said with a smirk sent toward Jack, who squelched a desire to wipe that smirk off his twin's face.
"You don't know anything," Jack snarled. "I have a whole file of information on this guy," he told his father. "I'll send it to you when I get back."
"A General and a spy," Tom said, grinning at Jack. "Who would have thought it?"
"Oh for crying out loud," Mac groused, causing Jack to stare at Mac in surprise. "For the last time, I wasn't a spy." Both Jack and his father were staring at Mac with huge grins on their faces and Mac finally figured out that they were both kidding around. He smiled back at them and went back to the task of reeling in his line.
"You should ask him how he put his scientific degree to work on rescuing those people," Jack said to his father. "I'm sure he'll be more than happy to tell you all about setting up a laptop computer to 'rig' a phone trace, using a car battery to set off a distraction for the bad guys and defusing bombs with paper clips."
"Paper clips," Mac repeated. "Between you and Lanie... You know, I can always tell him about using chocolate bars to stop a toxic leak," Mac added spitefully.
"Chocolate?" Jack asked, suddenly wishing he hadn't brought this subject up. His thoughts went back to a conversation he'd had with Carter the day after Mac got back from the Alpha site. She had been impressed with Mac's knowledge of wormhole physics and how he was able to temporarily fix a generator using some duct tape and a few odds and ends that were lying around. Jack had immediately went in search of the requisition for the new part needed to permanently fix that generator just so that he could put an expedite stamp on it.
"Chocolate?" Tom asked his long-lost son. "Really?" Jack could see pride swelling in his father's eyes and he had to smile. His father had not only gained another son, but he had someone else to brag about to his friends, if he had any, that is.
"Really," Mac responded humbly, as he turned back to stare out at the pond.
The three men sat in silence again and Jack realized that there was a feeling of contentment among them. It was nice sitting there with his father and his brother, fishing in a pond that hadn't spawned a fish in God knows how many years, and relaxing as they listened to the occasional splash when their bobbers hit the water. Jack was suddenly glad that he had a houseful of people because it meant that his family was slowly, but surely bonding together. He wished that his mother and Charlie could be there, along with Mac's parents, and if he was honest with himself, Sara. But he knew that time moved on no matter what, taking relationships and tragedies right along with it and he'll just be grateful for whatever he could get.
For now, he had his father and his twin brother sitting on the dock at his cabin. All three of them had a lot of catching up to do and a whole week to do it. Things could get very interesting, Jack thought, as he cast his line toward the water. Very interesting.
Fin