[MacsChick]

Mac opens up, and Jack and Pete have a plan to reach him again...


Jungle Paradise Part Eight
Rated: PG

Neither Pete nor Jack was willing to completely give up on their relationship with MacGyver. After a few days of letting him cool off, they both decided to visit separately to check up on him. Knocking on his door, they were either greeted by silence and what appeared to be an empty house boat or they saw MacGyver inside, his back turned towards them as he continued to busy himself with his own projects, an obvious and deliberate rebuff. He refused to acknowledge their presence, not turning to look at them once. Eventually, they had to leave, but they would always return, persistent despite his rejection of them. It hurt, but both of them felt that they had to try, figuring he would break down his barriers at some point and let them back in to his life. One night, the knocking at his door seemed ceaseless, and MacGyver finally did crack, but merely out of annoyance rather than a desire to mend things between himself and his so-called friends.

“Don’t you guys ever quit?” He asked, angrily scrubbing a hand through his unruly hair. He turned his head to look at the door. “I said, I don’t want to see you!” He shouted. “How many times do I have to say it until it’s clear to you? Go away!”

The knocking continued, and MacGyver bolted up, storming towards the door to answer it. If they wouldn’t accept his refusal vocally, maybe they would if he yelled at them in person and then slammed the door in their faces. They would get the message then, he hoped. Then again, they were a little slow on the uptake. Yanking open the door, almost pulling it off its hinges with the force of it, snarling, he glared fiercely at the person on the other side, expecting it to be either Pete or Jack. When he saw the surprised woman standing there instead, he immediately softened his expression, feeling humbled for acting like a surly wretch.

“I…I’m sorry,” he said, feeling his cheeks burn with embarrassment. “I was…expecting someone else.”

“Is this an inconvenient time?” The woman asked.

Her name was Laura, one of MacGyver’s newest neighbors on the marina. She was an attractive woman with long, auburn hair and green eyes. He knew she was a psychiatrist and had been avoiding seeing her much because of it, even though he secretly had a crush on her and they had been on friendly terms since they met. He just didn’t want to feel obligated to launch into a description of his problems around her, knowing that by nature of her profession she had to be inquisitive about his personality. The thought of sharing intimate details of his life with any woman made him uncomfortable, let alone a woman who was a psychiatrist. As he stared at her that evening, the soft glow of his porch light accenting her face and giving it a lovely golden tint, he decided that he needed to talk to someone and unburden himself more than ever, tired of suffering in his self-imposed loneliness and bottling his emotions. If he could release his anger to someone who didn’t know him that well, someone who didn’t have any biases, he figured it might make him feel less isolated and abandoned. He needed a friend more than anything, since his closest friends had done nothing but disappoint him.

“No, of course not,” he said. “Come in.”

Laura smiled and entered his house boat, looking around it. “Impressive,” she said. “I always wondered what this place looked like inside.”

MacGyver grinned shyly. “Really? You think this place is impressive?” He asked. “That’s usually not the first word people use to describe it.”

“Oh, yeah? What do most people call it?”

“Uh…rustic, to use a polite term.”

“Well, I like it. It suits you.”

“Thanks. Listen, would you like something to drink? I could make us some tea.”

“I’d like that.”

“Go ahead and have a seat. Make yourself comfortable.”

As MacGyver busied himself in the kitchen, pouring water into his tea kettle and setting it on the burner, Laura watched him. She could tell he had been ill, looking thinner and paler than he had the last time she saw him walking around the marina, his movements a little less sturdy and agile than they had been before. She could also tell he was bitter about something, not only from the hardened, angry expression he had greeted her with at the door but also his retreat inside his house boat, rarely going outside since he had returned from wherever he had been. He had cocooned himself in a place where he knew he would be secure and undisturbed by the world, creating his own exile. Two men had been at his door for days, but he wouldn’t admit them. From what she had observed about MacGyver so far since getting to know him, she knew he was a loner, but lately he had taken that concept to the extreme. Something traumatic had to have happened to him to cause such a dramatic change in his behavior. She tried not to notice, and she knew that she shouldn’t pry, but she couldn’t ignore it.

“So, what brings you here this time of night?” MacGyver asked, staring at the kettle.

Laura shook her head. “I’m sorry. I should go,” she said.

MacGyver looked up at her. “Why? You just got here,” he said.

“I know, but I know how private you are, and this really isn’t my business. You aren’t a patient of mine, after all, and I should just…forget it,” she slumped back into the sofa, defeated.

“What are you talking about?” MacGyver asked.

The tea kettle whistled, and he turned off the burner, pouring the steaming hot water into two mugs and adding tea bags to them. He approached her, setting the mugs down on the coffee table and sitting across from her.

“Come on,” he said. “Tell me what’s on your mind.” He smiled. “Sorry, I guess that’s what you’re supposed to say to me, being a psychiatrist and all.”

“You don’t have to tell me anything if you don’t feel like it,” Laura said. “It’s just that I…noticed lately that something’s been bothering you.” She sighed. “This is a mistake.” She started to get up, but MacGyver reached out and pressed her thigh gently, trying to encourage her to sit again.

“No, it’s all right,” he said. “I’ve been alone for days, stewing in my own self-pity.” He shrugged. “I could probably use someone to talk to.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want you to think that I’m trying to give you therapy or anything. You seem…how should I put this…uneasy around me because of what I do for a living.”

MacGyver smiled. “For not knowing me too long, it sounds like you already have me figured out pretty well,” he said. He sighed and placed his hand gently on her leg again. “It’s all right, Laura. I know you’re just here because you care. You’ll be an understanding person who will listen, and that’s all I need right now. If I were in your office, it might be a different story. I for sure wouldn’t be as open. But, since we’re just two neighbors in a relaxed environment, I trust you.”

Laura smiled slightly. “I wasn’t expecting that response,” she said.

“Well, I’m an unexpected guy sometimes.”

Laura gingerly picked up her mug of tea, mindful of how hot it still was. “So, do you want to tell me what happened? I’ve been worried about you, you know. You look like you’ve been sick. Is that what’s wrong?” She asked, blowing on the water.

“That’s part of it,” MacGyver said.

He began telling her the whole story, from Jack Dalton taking him unwillingly to the Amazon rainforest, the crash landing, his contracting malaria and almost dying, his recovery, and the way his two friends had been fighting about the outcome of the excursion ever since. At first, he thought it would be difficult to tell anyone else his story, feeling a little hesitant to offer details, but as he continued, he grew angrier and more passionate as he recounted the events. Soon, he couldn’t stop himself, the words flowing from him freely, including several curse words and invectives hurled at Jack and Pete as if they were present in the room and could hear his insults. The whole time he spoke, Laura listened intently and with compassion, making mental notes to herself the way she did with her patients, but she was also listening as a friend, wanting to help him.

“So, you’re upset with both of them,” she said after he finished. “I assume the two men you mentioned are the same men that have been coming over here trying to make contact with you again.”

“Yeah, that’s them,” he said, anger in his voice. “They won’t leave me alone, even though I’ve asked them to repeatedly.”

“You want them to leave you alone because of what happened to you? You feel they’re responsible?”

“Well, they are, aren’t they? Look, Jack Dalton is what you would call a pathological liar. He never asks me if I want to do something. He just assumes I’ll do it. He put me at risk because I was unprepared for his trip. I didn’t even know there was going to be a trip. And Pete, well, he thinks he’s superior to Jack because he doesn’t have to con me into doing things for him, but he also endangers my life. Don’t you see? Neither of them treats me like a friend. They treat me like someone who can do something to make their lives better without considering my stake in the deal.”

“But…Pete is your boss, isn’t he? Don’t you have to do what he asks you to?”

MacGyver scoffed. “Not anymore I don’t,” he said. “I worked for him on a freelance basis. I don’t have to do anything for him if I don’t want to.”

Laura raised an eyebrow. “Then why did you do anything for him in the past?” She asked. “I mean, he didn’t force you to take on dangerous jobs.”

For the first time, MacGyver felt caught off guard by one of her questions. “That’s true,” he said. “Maybe I did those things for him because I felt I was making a difference. The same thing could be said about helping Jack all those times. I felt I could steer him toward the right path and save him from his greed.”

“That sounds like a noble thing to do to me,” Laura said. “You were just being a loyal friend.”

“Yeah, and they took advantage of my loyalty. I’m just too trusting for my own good.”

Laura set her mug back down on the coffee table. “Have you ever heard the expression, ‘You don’t get to choose your friends—they choose you?’” She asked.

“Yeah,” MacGyver snorted. “Some luck I have, huh?”

Laura shook her head. “I think you’re looking at this all wrong,” she said. “While it was unfortunate what happened to you, Jack did bring you home alive, risking his own life in the process. I don’t call that selfish. Sure, he sounds like he has areas where he could improve, but it also sounds like he cares for you, deeply. The same thing goes for Pete. That’s why they were arguing so intensely—they both care about you, and they want you to know it. They don’t want to lose you as a friend—not because of what you can do for them, but because of the kind of person you are. You help them, and they depend on you for guidance. You’re a positive force in their lives.”

MacGyver stared at his untouched mug of tea, which by now had grown flat and cold. He thought about the time when Jack saved his life when he was diving and cut his air hose. He thought about when Pete fought desperately to find him when he was buried in an avalanche. They did need him, and not just because of what he could do. They loved him as a friend. Laura was right.

“I guess I never thought of it that way before,” he said. He looked up at her. “So…what? Are you suggesting I should forgive them?”

“Yes, I am,” Laura said. “I’m not saying it’s easy, but you should try.”

“How can I forgive them if they won’t speak to each other and they act like little children?”

“Well, that’s where it’s difficult. You don’t need that kind of division between your friends. Somehow, they’re probably going to have to forgive each other before you can forgive them.”

***

“Dalton, how the hell did you get in here?” Pete asked as he watched Jack barge into his office.

“Oh, I just used some of my indefatigable charm,” Jack said, grinning and playing with a golf tee he found on Pete’s desk, twirling it around in his thick fingers.

Not amused, Pete picked up the phone, and Jack noticed him.

“Hey Pete, what are you doing?” He asked.

“What does it look like I’m doing? I’m calling security and having you hauled out of here!”

Jack threw up his hands in surrender, losing the golf tee in the process. “Wait! I don’t think that’s such a good idea,” he said.

Pete frowned. “Tell me why it isn’t,” he said. “It sounds like a perfectly fine idea to me.” He prepared to dial.

“Pete, we have to talk,” Jack said, stopping him in mid-dial. “I’m serious this time.”

Sighing loudly, Pete slammed the receiver back down in its cradle. “Fine,” he said. “This had better be good, Dalton. Make it quick.”

“It’s about MacGyver,” Jack said.

“What about him?”

“I was…just wondering if you’ve had the chance to talk to him lately.”

Pete looked down absently at his desk. “No, he won’t see me,” he said. He looked back up at Jack, his eyes bloodshot and worn, more from worry over MacGyver than any stress of his job. “What about you?”

Jack shrugged. “No such luck,” he said.

“So? What do you want me to do about it? I can’t change Mac’s mind for him.”

“I know, but…”

“But what?”

“Well, I’ve been thinking. Mac’s mad at us for fighting while he was sick, right?”

“That’s part of it, but that’s certainly not all of it, and I think you know what I mean,” Pete said, boring his intense eyes into Jack.

“Yeah, I know,” Jack said. “I should never have taken him on that trip. It was unfair to him. He should have known what he was getting into. I’m sorry.”

“You should be apologizing to him.”

“I have…he just won’t accept it.”

“What do you want me to do about that?”

Jack sighed. “I think we should call a truce, you and me,” he said.

“What do you mean?”

“Look Pete, I know how you feel about me, and maybe you’re right. I’m not the best friend MacGyver’s ever had—but I am still his friend, and so are you. I think we need to stop fighting and come together to help MacGyver. He needs to know that we’re both there for him.”

“You want me to forgive you after what happened?” Pete asked, laughing slightly, incredulous.

Jack dropped his head. “Yes Pete, I do,” he said quietly.

“Well Jack, I don’t know what to say.”

“I’m not saying you have to like me. I just want you to come with me to MacGyver’s house boat so that we can try to talk to him together, that’s all. I think it might help heal him if he saw that we weren’t fighting anymore.”

Pete spun around in his swivel chair and stood, his back facing Jack as he stared out the window. He rocked back and forth on the balls of his feet, considering what Jack was offering.

“I can’t believe I’m about to say this,” he said. “I’ve never agreed with you on anything, Jack, but I think you’re right about this. It’s a good idea. If it will bring Mac back to us, then yes…let’s do it.”

To be continued…

[trtlsoup]

Excellent!

[tandt14]

This is my first time reading. All I can say is.....WOW!!! What emotion! This is a great story! Keep up the good work!

[MacsChick]

Thank you!