At Mac’s House, the next day…

I woke up on the couch at Mac’s house. Bozer and Desi are asleep on the floor. Mac isn’t there. Desi yawns, stretches out her arms and raises an eyebrow at me. 

“Nanobot nightmares?” She asks me. “Y’know that they’re gone, right?”

I turn to look at her. “I know,”

Desi adjusts her sleeping bag and gets ready to lie back down but I speak before she has the chance to. 

“Hey uh, do you know where Mac is?”

Desi turns to look at his empty sleeping bag. “Nah, might’ve gone on a run,”

I check my watch. 4:57am. “This early? I dunno,”

Desi shrugs and falls back to her pillow. I sigh and after taking a quick look around the living room, I get up and go out the back door to the porch. There he was. Sitting on the bench in front of the crackling outdoor fireplace. He stares at his hands for a while, and then turns to look at me. 

“Hey Riles,” He greets me with a soft but sad smile. 

“Hey Mac. What's going on?”

Mac hesitates for a moment. 

“I can’t stop thinking about yesterday,” He expresses, half confused and half thinking deeply, trying to understand. 

“I know. Neither can I,” I respond, looking deeply into his blue eyes. He stares at me for a split second but then snaps out of it. 

“I mean, I almost died trying to get the Nanobots out of me. Thank god that they’re gone now. Were free Riley,” He starts. “And how we all almost quit the Phoenix. I can’t believe we did that,”

Mac scoots closer to me slightly to lean in for a hug but Desi and Bozer walk out the door. Desi sits on the other side of Mac and gives him a quick kiss on the forehead and he smiles happily at her while grabbing her hand and squeezing it tight. 

Bozer motions for me to follow him into the kitchen. I jump up and sit on the counter top and look at him. 

“What is it Boze?”

“Did you tell him?”

I sigh and frown deeply. “Tell him what?” I pretend to act dumb.

“Did you tell Mac that you secretly still have feelings for him and that watching him and Desi together like this is hard on you?”

I look down at my toe-nails that were painted dead black. I wiggle my toes slightly and look back up at Bozer. “Boze I-”

“Look, you need to tell him. He doesn’t know you still have feelings for him. You need to tell him Riley. Stop torturing yourself,” he interrupts. 

I jump off of the counter top and pull back the curtains covering the window that lets me see the deck. Mac and Desi are smiling and laughing. Mac looks into her eyes more loving than I've ever seen. I know that Bozer is right, but I can’t ruin their relationship. I can’t. I just can’t. 

Three days later - In the phoenix elevator…

Me and Desi stand in awkward silence in the elevator. I check my phone and see that it's seven in the morning. Matty called us in early for an important meeting. She didn’t say what for, but I could tell that it was urgent. Before shutting off my phone, I get a notification.  “Macgyver has sent you three unread texts - four minutes ago,” Rang the tiny voice of Siri. I click on the notification. 

Hey Riles, Matty has extreme news to tell us.

Hurryyy

She isn’t in the best mood - He texted. I quickly respond. 

Yeh, sry. The elevator is slow today - I sent with a laughing emoji. Mac replies with an identical laughing emoji and I laugh quietly trying to enjoy myself but Desi leans over my shoulder. 

“Who’s the lucky man?” She asks with a smirk. I quickly shove my phone into the back pocket of my leather pants. 

“It's just Mac texting me. There is no “lucky man” Desi”

Her cheeks immediately turn a dark shade of pink as she swallows the lump in her throat. Before Desi has a chance to say anything, the elevator comes to a halt and the doors open, allowing us to see Mac standing there smiling. Desi runs into his arms. 

“Hey baby, what does Matty want?” She looks up to him and he kisses her temple lightly. 

“Hasn’t told me. I haven’t gone into the war room yet,”

Mac slides his arm around her waist and they walk towards the war room laughing. I slowly follow them and walk into the dead silent war room. Matty had the most serious look on her face that I have ever seen. She taps the glass to make it non see - through once all of us sit down. 

“ So, as all of you know, the phoenix foundation is now a non governmental organization, Which means a significant change in all of your lives. Because the government isn’t assisting us anymore, the chance of mission success is significantly lower. I’m worried about you guys. Which is why I have made the decision to order you all to take the summer off. Go loosen up. Go have fun!” Matty exclaims. The rest of us all look at each other in disbelief. 

“Are you sure Matty?” I ask her. She nods.

“Everybody, go enjoy your summer!” Matty finishes. All of us cheer as we pile out of the room.

Later that day, at Mac’s house…

Me and Mac sit on the couch and watch a movie while munching on buttery popcorn. We both sit awkwardly on different ends of the couch. I reach for the remote and pause the movie. 

“Hey Mac?” I ask him while looking deeply into his blue eyes. 

“Yeah?”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Always,” He grins. I take a deep breath. 

“Are you and Desi... well... dating?” I look down at my hands to avoid eye contact. 

“What? How is that even a question? No. Why would we be? Why did you think that?” He stutters.   

“W-ell I mean-” 

“Riley, me and Desi, we just… we wouldn’t work. We’re friends all right? That's all we are,” 

He reassures me. Mac grabs my hand and squeezes it. I look up at him. He puts his other hand on my chin and brushes my curly hair out of the way of my brown eyes. 

“But you and I, we’re family,”

I look deeper into his eyes. “Mac there's something I have to tell you,”

His eyes widen as he looks at me with pure curiosity. “Riles, whatever it is, I’m here for you. Okay?”

“Mac the truth is…” I wait and look into his face making sure that I am okay with doing this. “I- well… its-”

“It's what?” He asks impatiently. Mac lets go of my hand. 

“I have something to do. Yup, definitely. That's what. I have to go,” I lied. 

“Riley what could possibly be more important than movie night?” Mac asks jokingly. 

“Its um, the cat I’m babysitting needs to be fed,” I lie again. 

“What? What cat?” You never said anything about a cat,” He tells me confusingly. I stand up and quickly brush the popcorn crumbs off of the couch where I was sitting. I grab my hoodie and start to walk away but Mac jumps up and grabs my arm. 

“Riles please don’t go. That couldn’t possibly be what you wanted to tell me. Please Riley, you can tell me anything,” 

I sit back down. “Mac I still have feelings for you,” I mutter. 

“What?”

“I STILL HAVE FEELINGS FOR YOU MAC! OKAY?! IS THAT WHAT YOU WANTED ME TO SAY?!” I scream. 

“Riley, please calm down. We can talk this out. You know what? Stay the night. It's a long walk to your new apartment just please stay,” 

I stand up and walk to the door. “Mac, you know I can’t. I need to let go of these feelings for you. They can’t just linger around me all day. I can’t just torture myself like that. I thought that denying my feelings would make them go away but they're still here. I need to go. I have to leave Mac.,” I cry. Mac tries to use his thumb to wipe my tears but I back away. 

“Wait but for how long Riley?”

“I’m not sure. Until I figure everything out I guess,” I try hard to let everything out without crying anymore but I can’t help it. A salty stream of fresh tears runs down my cheek and lands on my plaid shirt. 

“Are you gonna stay at your apartment? You shoudn’t be alone there and torture yourself there Riles. We can talk this through, don't just shut everyone out! You can’t leave, Riley!” He shouts angrily. He reaches for my arm but I flinch and my hand lands on the door handle. 

“I have to, Mac! And I’m torturing myself by just being here! There isn’t a difference!”

“Riley you don’t have to do this, please,” He grabs my arm and I try to back away but I’m so close to the door that there is nowhere for me to go. 

“Mac I need to. I need the time to figure everything out,” I argue. 

“Riley please just talk to me, we can figure this out together,”

I push Mac away. “I don’t owe you an explanation of my life just because we work together Mac!” I yell. And then it hit me. That same line I had said on the same day I had discovered my feelings for Mac. My mind fell back to that day. 

Karlsruhe, Germany, in the basement of the building where the bomb is…

Mac was adjusting the ropes holding up the bomb and he turned to look at me. 

“Talking keeps my hands busy. Plus, if this thing blows up in our faces, I wanna make sure I get to the bottom of this secret you're hiding,” Mac grins. “You don’t smile like that when you're on the phone with your dad. I’ve caught you doing it a few times since we’ve been back but I figured if things got serious, you would let me know who the lucky man was,”

He looks at me waiting for me to speak. “So, do you think things will get serious?” He asks after a few seconds of silence from my mouth. 

I stare at him for a moment. “We’ve been living together for six months now,” I finally answer.

“Surprise,” I laugh nervously. Mac’s face filled with complete disbelief. 

“Six months? I mean, why would you uh, lie about that?”

I try to defend myself. “Lie is a bit of a strong word, don't you think? It's not like you've rushed to tell me why you and Desi broke up,”

“That’s different”

“Okay well we don’t owe each other explanations about our private lives just because we work together,” I regretted my words right after I said them. 

Present time, where we left off at

Mac’s face was full of complete disbelief and confusion and I could tell that his mind went straight back to that day in Germany as well. 

“Riley, we're family. We don’t just work together. Don’t shut us out,” His words were like sharp knives cutting through my throat. I knew what I needed to do. Tears rushed out of my eyes as I reached down to my boots and pulled it out. 

I held the gun up to Mac’s head. His eyes widened as he slowly backed away about a foot, letting go of my arm. He froze still. 

“Riley? What are you doing? Is that gun loaded?”

I tried hard to speak clearly but my voice trembled as I spoke. “Mac, don’t make me do this,” I move the gun closer towards him. He puts his hands in the air. 

“Riles, please. Just listen to me, we can talk this through,” His voice trembled with fear. My finger slowly pushed the trigger down but before it went all the way down the gun fell out of my hands. Mac reached for it and grabbed it. I fell to the ground. 

“Mac I- I’m sorry I don’t know what I was doing,” My voice rattled. Tears poured out. Mac reached for his phone. 

“Mac, please don’t call Matty. I don’t know what I was thinking. I- I almost shot you. If Matty knew she would lock me up in a cell. Please Mac. Please forgive me. I wasn’t thinking straight!” I cry. 

“No Riley! You weren’t thinking at all!” His face turned red with anger. 

“Mac please don’t call her,” But it was too late. 

Hey Blondie? What’s wrong? I could hear her voice from the phone. 

“Matty don’t freak out, but can you get an interrogation room at the phoenix ready for me?” Mac replies. 

Why? Matty asked. 

“It doesn’t matter. I need to talk to someone, but I’m not sure if I can trust them yet,” He answered. 

Macgyver I thought I told you to take the summer off! Matty yells. 

“I know Matty and I’m sorry! Just please do it!” Mac yelled. Matty hangs up. Mac walks over to me and helps me get up. 

“Get in the car please, I’ll be right there,” He instructs. I walk outside and get into the passenger's seat. 

In the phoenix interrogation room…

Mac slides a glass of water onto my side of the table. He didn’t put handcuffs on me. That's a good sign I think to myself. He trusts me. 

“Riley, where did you get that gun?” Mac asks me politely. 

“I had it in my boot ever since we found out about the government just in case,” I answer. 

“Good. Now, were you planning on trying to shoot me before you even arrived at my house?”

“Of course not Mac. I was drunk. Bozer, Desi and us went out for drinks to celebrate having the summer off before I went to your house, remember?” 

“Right,” He answered. Then he grabs my hand and holds it tight. I don’t flinch this time. He looks into my eyes. “Riley I trust you. I know you didn’t mean anything by it. You were drunk. I understand that. But we can’t let anyone else know because they could hurt you or lock you up-” 

There was a knock at the door and Matty walked in. 

“Riley?! Riley is who you need to talk to?! What happened?!” She shouted. Out of the corner of my eye I saw handcuffs in her hand and I knew that just because I worked for her wouldn’t mean that she would let me go. She goes behind me and puts them around my hands. 

“Matty wait, I can explain,” Mac tries. 

“Let's talk outside Macgyver,” Matty answers. Another tear runs down my cheek as they walk out of the door. I can just barely hear them.

“Macgyver, what is going on?” She asks him impatiently. 

“Riley was drunk and pointed a gun at me. That’s all, okay? Please don’t hurt her or-” 

“What?! I knew it! I knew we could never trust her! She was in jail! That's where she belongs!” Matty yells.

“Matty no!” Mac tries. But she doesn’t listen. Matty comes bursting into the interrogation room and makes me stand up. 

“Riley Davis you are under arrest for attempting the murder of Angus Macgyver,” Matty says with a dead serious look on her face while escorting me out of the room and into a cell. She slams the door shut and locks it. I can hear Mac yelling at her but I wish I could tell him to stop. He’s only going to make it worse. And Matty’s right. I did try to shoot him, even if I was drunk and I didn’t mean to. 

The next morning...

There was a loud knocking at the door and Bozer came rushing in my cell. He gave me a huge hug but backed away afterwards. 

“Is it true?” He asked me. 

“Is what true, Boze?”

“Did you really point a gun at Mac?”

I look at him and my heart stops. My mind is filled with guilt. “Yes,” I mutter. Bozer frowns. 

“I know you didn’t mean it,” He tells me. 

“Thanks Boze,” I smile. “Is Matty going to let me go?”

“Mac is talking to her right now. She’s gone soft. We think she’ll let you go soon,”

“We?”

“Yup. Desi trusts you too. So does Russ and of course Mac does,”

“Desi trusts me?”

“I guess. Her and Mac got into a fight right before you went to Mac's last night. She hates his guts. Not yours,” Bozer laughs. I laugh along with him. There was another knock at the door. I turn to see Mac running into my cell with a key for my handcuffs. 

“Matty’s letting me go?” I ask him excitedly. 

“Nope, which means I need to get you out of here fast,” he tells me concerningly. 

“What?!-” I yell but Matty runs into the cell with the rest of us. 

“Hand over those keys Blondie,” She says to Mac but he puts them behind his back. 

“Matty, will you just listen to me for one second?!” Mac yells. “I trust Riley. So does Bozer, and Russ, and Desi. You don’t have to trust Riley, Matty… trust us. We know she didn’t mean it. And maybe she had a past. But everyone has a past. She went to jail but for a good reason. Just let her go. Please Matty,” 

Without saying another word, Matty smiles and leaves the room. 

“I- Think that's a YES!” Bozer yells. “I’ll go tell Desi!” And he runs out of the room. Mac smiles at me and takes off my handcuffs. 

“Do you forgive me?” I ask Mac as a tear runs down my cheek. 

“Of course I do,” He replies with a smile while wiping my tears. Mac wraps his arms around me and hugs me. After the hug, he grabs my hand and looks deep into my eyes. “Riley- I love you”

My head shoots up and my heart stops. My brain tries to process his words. 

“I love you too Mac,” I tell him. He leans in and brushes my hair out of the way of my lips and gives me a quick kiss. 

“Will you be my girlfriend?”

“But Desi-”

“Desi hates me,” Mac laughs. 

“Well then I guess-” I look at him deeply. “Yes,”

Two and a half crazy years later- In the backyard of Mr and Mrs. Macgyver’s house…

Mac flips the burgers on the grill while the neighbourhood kids play in the inflatable pool. The whole phoenix crew and some new friends of mine and Mac’s were invited over for a barbecue. I tap my wine glass with my fork to get everybody’s attention. They all turn to look at me. 

“So as you all know, the last two and a half years have been absolutely crazy. From Desi’s ex husband being alive and them getting back together, to me and Mac getting married. But I have even crazier news to share. It's not just going to be two of us living in this house anymore,”

I say excitedly. Mac’s expression turns big and bold as his eyebrows shoot up. 

“I’m pregnant with a baby boy everybody!” I shout. 

The End