So. Well. I thought I was finished.
This is like the ‘bonus scenes’ they sometimes add at the very end of the movie credits, for the tenacious few – like me – who actually sit and watch it all. Nothing here is going to further the plot, which has been concluded, after all. Just for fun.
After all, one of the running themes in this story was seeing how many of the first-season inconsistencies I could rationalise, explain, or accommodate . . . and there was one that had remained untouched.
I could not, however, think of any excuse as to why southern California suddenly starts to look like British Columbia, so I didn’t make any attempt at that. Besides, that doesn’t happen until after the second season. Maybe they just got a lot of rain that summer.
Enjoy!
Beth
------------------------------------
Phoenix RisingChapter 10 & 3/4“
NO, Mac.
No way. End of discussion.”
MacGyver stood in the middle of Jason’s new San Francisco condo, arms akimbo, grinning unapologetically. “Aw, c’mon. Whatever happened to being open-minded?”
“
You’re the one who told me not to let my brains fall out! And if you show up to
my handfasting in
that shirt,
somebody’s brains are gonna be served up on a platter for the potluck, and it ain’t gonna be mine!” Jason glared at Mac. “You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? Just to get at me?”
Mac laughed and shrugged. “Just tryin’ to get you to relax. I can’t do it by getting you drunk, after all, and that’s supposed to be the traditional method.”
“Well, you could . . . ” Jason muttered.
“I
won’t. Same difference.”
“Well, threatening me with that shirt is not relaxing, okay? A shirt that ugly
has to be bad luck.”
“Oh, so now you believe in plain ordinary luck?”
“After everything I’ve seen you pull off, I’ve got to,” Jason murmured. “But – luckily enough! – Gina had a hunch that you might pull something like this.” He produced a package from underneath a sofa cushion and tossed it to Mac. “Present for you – from both of us, kind of, but mostly from Gina.”
MacGyver pulled off the wrapping expecting the worst, and broke out into a broad grin when he held up the contents: a short-sleeved, open-collared cotton shirt in bright sky blue, a colour guaranteed to make any DXS ops coordinator froth at the mouth. It was spattered with cartoonish figures in red and yellow of rocket ships and explosions, and large white and yellow letters reading “BANG” and “BOOM”. The shirt wasn’t merely ‘conspicuous’ or even ‘attention-grabbing’: it was strident.
Mac loved it on sight.
“Gina found it at one of the downtown boutiques – she’s got five new clients already thanks to Ruth, and now that she doesn’t have to commute across the Gate, she’s got more time to stir up customers.” Gina ran her own business, doing window dressing design for high-end shops. “So what’s she doing? Getting more exclusive. You wouldn’t believe how much an ordinary shirt costs in the place where she scored that one. Not that she paid for it. She never pays for clothes. I think she permitted them to give it to her.”
Mac had unbuttoned and shed the flowered shirt he’d worn to bait Jason, and was standing in his khaki slacks checking his new acquisition for pins as Jason talked. He realised he’d been grinning too hard to say thanks.
“Well, hell, it’s the least I can do after everything you’ve done . . . and if you expect me to believe that you had nothing to do with our getting this condo, you can think again. I may not be a genius – ” Mac would have interrupted, but Jason gave him no opening. “ – but I’m not naïve. I
know just how tight housing is in San Francisco . . . I mean,
look at this place. I can walk to the embassy from here, and Gina’s an easy transit hop from her clients.”
Mac couldn’t help feeling a true sense of smugness, looking around the condo. Ruth Collins hadn’t been kidding when she said she believed in incentives. When Pete had told her about the informal ‘bonus’ system he and MacGyver had developed over the years, she’d been delighted with the idea and had insisted on adopting the same practice immediately. Her insidious network of contacts had scored the condo for Jason and Gina, which had eliminated one of the obstacles to their marriage.
MacGyver was still wondering about some of the other obstacles. “Um, Jason . . . did you ever hear from Karen? Is she gonna be there?”
Jason shrugged. “Nothing final, but that’s final enough. I had to be honest with her, Mac – I told her our father was coming.”
Mac blinked at him. “Karen told me you were the only family she had left.”
“Did she? Well, you can’t blame her for not counting Dad – he and Mom got divorced when we were in our teens, and she took it pretty personally. After Mom died, she kind of pretended he didn’t exist either. Actually, so did I – it wasn’t till after I got back from Czechoslovakia that I got back in touch with him.”
“Good for you.”
“Good for Baba, really. She made me do it; gave me a really awful scolding. But I’m glad now. So how’s the new job working out?”
MacGyver’s face became incandescent. “Aw, it’s terrific.
Man. Where do I begin? I just wrapped up three weeks of marine habitat studies down in Monterey – we’re assessing the status of the Marine Gardens park there, you know, and – ” he was about to launch into a more detailed description when he saw Jason’s eyes showing signs of glazing. Instead, he broke off with a sheepish look. “Anyway, I had to take a break in the middle of that for a field test of your embassy security.”
Jason stared at him. “That was
you?”
Mac shrugged and nodded.
“Do you know how badly you freaked out the ambassador?” Jason demanded. “Since your little visit, they’ve added so many new security protocols, it takes me three times as long just to get in and out of the building!”
Mac shrugged again. “Well, just between you and me, I’ve seen birdfeeders that were harder to get into.”
Jason shook his head and glanced at the clock. “C’mon, hotshot. We need to get going.” He studied Mac thoughtfully. “You know, I had my doubts when Gina brought that shirt home, but it’s okay. But what happened to your hair? It looks lighter than it used to be.”
Mac pulled one of the longer strands around so he could peer at it. “Beats me. You remember when Baba had me use that dye to darken my hair, when she took me to Baranyev’s house that first time? Afterwards, she gave me some other stuff to get rid of the dye, but I swear it made everything way lighter than before.”
Jasion shrugged. “Well, you know what they say – if you stay in California long enough, sooner or later you’ll turn into a blonde. Now you just need to get a red sports car.
"No way!" Mac shook his head, laughing. "Not a chance."
~ game over ~
So that's where he got that thing! What a great shirt!
.. Ahem...(runs to get a bath towel to drool on) 
