Note from Loth:
A special thanks to my beta-reader and editor for all her efforts and loss of sleep from all-night IM brainstorming sessions. She made this story rock!
Thank you, 'Beth!

Also a note of thanks to Rockatteer, who put me up to this in the first place, by issuing a challenge to write a story about Pete and Andy Colsen begin the same person... it's taken me just short of a year to do it... but I'm finally done! *faints*

The Rainmakers
Epilogue: Clearing Skies

Pete was in his office reading over the daily chatter reports when his office door swung open. MacGyver leaned in and knocked on the panel of the door.

“Come on in, Mac... you’re already in!” Pete said, chuckling good-naturedly.

MacGyver sauntered into his office. His tanned face was plastered with an easy grin. He tossed Pete a wave and slouched into the chair in front of Pete’s desk. “Hiya, Pete!”

“MacGyver, I’m glad to see you. You look like you’ve been enjoying your time off.”

“Yep! I’m proud to announce that the Western Division of the United States Three Man Out Basketball Championship is safely at home in L.A. Unfortunately,” MacGyver sighed and threw up his hands, “the Junior champion holds the trophy.”

“Reggie cleaned your clock, eh Mac?” Pete laughed.

Mac nodded. “That boy is lightning in tennis shoes! He danced circles around me and Gant... but we gave him a run for his title.” Mac stretched his arms over his head, then laid them comfortably across the back of the chair. “So... what’s cooking? I got your message that you were looking for me. The Director doesn’t have another assignment for me, does he?” he added hopefully. Two weeks of sunbathing and basketball with his Little Brother was fun, but the restlessness was starting to wake up in MacGyver’s adventurous heart.

“No. No...” Pete said apologetically, “I just wanted to get my umbrella back from you.”

MacGyver’s forehead wrinkled as he frowned. “Umbrella? What – ?” The look on his face changed to comprehension. “Oh! That umbrella! Shoot, Pete... I left it back at the Observatory! Why didn’t you say that you wanted it? Which reminds me – would it kill you to give me messages that are a trifle less cryptic? I ‘bout busted a synapse tryin’ to figure out what an umbrella was supposed to mean to me until I got to the Kiva and saw you there. As ‘Andy Colsen’!” Mac chuckled.

“Hey. I was on assignment.” Pete grinned. “What do you want... an engraved invitation?”

“It’d be nice,” MacGyver said dryly, but with a smile.

“I’ll bear that in mind next time,” Pete said. He gestured to the newspaper spread on the corner of his desk “I see that our friend Karl Steubens is having a bad week. Can you believe his own partner, that British fellow Marlow, called a press conference and announced that the Rainmakers project was a complete fraud? They’re drumming Stuebens out of the ranks of respected scientists. He’s being forced to retire.”

MacGyver appeared politely interested, but Pete could see that the news wasn't really a surprise to him. “Who’d’a thought?” he said, with a distracted air. “After all that trouble we went through in New Mexico!”

“Yeah.” Pete was watching MacGyver, who after a moment of staring at the window shades met Pete’s gaze briefly. Don’t ask, he seemed to be saying silently. You don’t really want to know.

“Yeah,” Pete said again. Change the subject. “Look – I’ve got this to go through – what do you say to having lunch early?” Pete glanced at his wristwatch. “I can finish this when we get back.”

MacGyver pushed himself out of his chair energetically. “Great! You’re buying, right? I know this fantastic little place... makes the best falafel you’ve ever had...”

“What the heck is a ‘fla’waffle’?” Pete asked, as he stood up and shrugged into his jacket. “If I’m buying, let’s have a cheeseburger.”

MacGyver laughed lightly. “Pete! You’ve traveled all over the world... but you never stop to get a taste of the culture! What did you eat when you were in Egypt?”

“Anything that didn’t smell like a camel,” Pete said, shoving MacGyver gently toward the door.

“Philistine,” MacGyver sighed. “I’ll teach you about culture someday.”

They walked down to the lobby of the building together, taking turns ribbing each other. As MacGyver stepped out of the atrium, the darkish sky overhead gave a threatening rumble of thunder and the clouds released their watery burden.

MacGyver stared upward in disbelief as the rain began to fall, quickly dampening his hair and the shoulders of his jacket. Pete, who had not stepped out yet, stayed in the doorway and laughed at his friend.

“You knew this was going to happen, didn’t you?” MacGyver said accusingly.

Pete just grinned and brought out the new umbrella he’d bought that morning, and had kept hidden under his jacket. He popped it open and stood under it, holding it so that it shielded MacGyver from getting any wetter. “Me? No. Who’d’a thought?”


-Fin!

Many thanks to all for reading and commenting! This has been a great ride! I'm looking forward to the next MacGyver adventure I'll get to share with you all!
-Loth

Wonderful story!

I like it a lot and if I may say so myself, it was hundreds of times better than the episode! Kuddos for you, Loth. Ah! So Rock challenged you. Awesome. I most thank Rock too, then.

In another note: heh, I'm VERY happy Barbara stayed with Steubens. Much better than the episode. Oh well, this is one of the many benefits of written stories, all the tille plotholes get prime time to be filled out.

*sends yummy cheesecake to Loth*

Thanks!

Ooo... cheesecake! Yum...

Awesome Loth, from start to finish. I loved the way you wrapped up the loose ends. And having the project discredited through fraud is perfect. Scientists will tolerate many things, but not fraud.

Well done! Can't wait to see what you cooking on the back burner.

Thanks, Grrl! I am so glad that you found the story entertaining.

It was nice to work with an outline--meaning the Pilot episode--for a change!

The very best tool a fanfic writer can use to make their story a good one is the imagination and memories of the folks reading the story!

I just assemble the words... the Reader provides the magic!

Congrats Lothi on an excellent story!
I enjoyed your story even more than the series Pilot. You put so much detail work in. All I can say is WOW!
Thanks for all your hard work, you are much appreciated!

Thank you very much, Kyrian

Wonderful story, Loth! You really know how to get inside of Mac and Pete's minds -- very well done! Maybe you should tackle all the episodes like this...

Hope to see more soon!

Ahhh! NO! nononono... * runs away *



j/k! Thanks, Bander! Before I do that, I think I'll turn my (mostly) undivided attention to a certain unfinished fic ....

Yes, please!!

And Lothi is exaggerating. It was never more than half the night!