Chapter Text
Mac gets the call on one of his rare days off. Jack and Cage are helping Matty with a top secret mission that apparently doesn’t require Mac’s expertise. Riley is visiting her mom and Bozer is busy working on his movie.
Mac’s in the middle of working on his ventilator project. He still hasn’t found the right motor to compress the soda bottle ventilator bag. In addition, all the parts he uses need to be cheap and readily accessible all over the world or else it’ll be a useless design that hospitals can’t build…
Mac’s phone rings, startling him out of his thoughts. He looks at the number, and does a double take. Why is an exclusive private school calling him? Tentatively, he picks up the phone.
“Hello?”
“Hello, is this Mr. MacGyver?”
“Yes?”
“I’m calling to inform you that your nephew Cassian Dastmalchian has come down with the flu, and needs to be picked up. We couldn’t get into contact with his father, Dennis Dastmalchian, so we’re calling you.”
Mac nearly drops his phone in shock. There’s a lot to unpack there. Although Mac doesn't recognize the last name Dastmalchian, there’s no mistaking Cassian and Dennis.Which brings Mac to the second point; Murdoc had listed him as Cassian’s secondary contact? Mac faintly remembers Murdoc saying something to the effect of, “Cassian considers you his uncle,” before he escaped in his prison transfer, but Mac didn’t think Murdoc had actually meant it. Or that he would designate him as one of Cassian’s emergency contacts.
“Hello? Mr. MacGyver are you still there?”
The secretary’s voice brings Mac out of his thoughts. He stumbles over his answer. “Uh, yea I’m still here.” Mac makes a quick decision. If he gets Cassian from school, he might be able to lure Murdoc to his house and safely bring him under custody. After all, Mac knows that Murdoc doesn’t want Cassian to know about his other life as a psychopathic hitman, so the chances of Murdoc physically and violently resisting arrest are quite low. “I’ll pick up Cassian. Just one thing though - where is your school located?”
Cassian’s exclusive private school ends up being a surprising mere thirty minute drive away from Mac’s house. During the drive, Mac vaguely wonders if Murdoc was taunting them by staying so close to the Phoenix. Another reason pops up in Mac’s mind. What if Murdoc had chosen that specific school because it was so close to Mac’s home, so that Mac, his apparent emergency contact could (relatively) quickly get him should something happen?
The theory isn’t that far out there. Mac knows the lengths Murdoc has gone to protect his son from his other life, and how much he tries to give Cassian a healthy upbringing.
In between theorizing and driving, Mac tries to call his team. The call goes straight to voicemail for Matty, Jack and Cage, which isn’t entirely unexpected. Top secret missions usually either take them out of the country, or into restricted regions in the USA that don’t allow communication with the outside world. Bozer and Riley’s cell phones ring and ring and ring until they go to voicemail. Mac leaves a message on each, telling them to call them as soon as they see this. Mac doesn’t want to specify that he’s picking up Cassian over the phone; he knows that as Murdoc’s son Cassian is a target and that name-dropping him over a recorded message is risky.
By the time Mac reaches the school, none of his team members have called him back. Mac sends a final text message, closes his home and takes a breath. It suddenly occurs to him that this might be a trap, laid by Murdoc, and Mac swears.
It would’ve been nice to have some back up.
Mac parks his car across the street and walks into the school. The possibility of this being a trap immediately diminishes. There are plenty of children’s drawings stuck on the walls, and Mac is pretty sure he can hear two teachers droning on in their classrooms. Or at least, if it’s a trap is a highly sophisticated one.
Immediately the secretary spots him. “Hello sir, can I help you?”
“I’m here to pick up Cassian?”
“Mr. MacGyver?” The secretary guesses.
“Yep, that’s me.”
The secretary nods and pulls out a clipboard and pen. “In order to take him out of school, I need you to fill out this sheet. I’ll go get Cassian from the nurses’ office.”
Mac takes the clipboard and pen, takes a seat and starts filling it out. From what he can remember of the sign-out sheets at his school, it's pretty similar. It asks for MacGyver’s contact info, reason for taking Cassian out of school, time and date. By the time that the secretary returns with Cassian, Mac has filled out the sheet.
To Mac’s surprise and relief, Cassian recognizes him on sight. “Uncle MacGyver?”
Mac freezes on the spot. Firstly because what the hell. Mac had assumed that Murdoc was just trying to get under his skin with the Uncle MacGyver thing but here Cassian is, holding the secretary’s hand and clutching his stomach calling him Uncle MacGyver.
Second of all… Mac doesn’t really want to admit it but there’s just something about the way Cassian says Uncle MacGyver. It’s sweet and domestic and everything that Murdoc isn’t. Mac’s heart melts.
Mac crouches down so that he’s at the same level as Cassian. “Hey buddy. I heard you had a tummy ache?”
Cassian nods miserably. “I think it was the yogurt. I left it outside the fridge for too long before eating it.”
The secretary looks at MacGyver. “By too long he means a week.”
Mac winces. “That sounds pretty rough buddy. I’ll tell you what, why don’t you come home with me and we’ll work on making your stomach feel better.”
Cassian nods, lets go of the secretary’s hand and goes to stand next to Mac. Mac passes the clipboard and pen to the secretary and with a wave they leave the school. Mac guides Cassian to his car, but as soon as they reach the road Cassian stops walking.
Mac turns around to look at him. “What’s wrong?”
Cassian bites his lip. “My dad says that I shouldn’t cross the road without holding someone’s hand.”
Mac practically feels his brain freeze.
What?
Murdoc said what?
Mac can’t process this. The psychopathic hitman, Murdoc, tells his son not to cross the road without holding an adult’s hand?!
Is this sweet innocent child really Murdoc’s son?
Cassian looks up at Mac with an innocent, hopeful look on his face, and Mac feels his brain turning to mush. He manages to reply, “Oh yea, my mistake,” before Cassian takes his hand and crosses the street with him.
Mac is glad that there’s no cars in the street. Given how shocked he is, he’s pretty sure that he wouldn’t have noticed until he was already flying through the air after getting hit.
Thankfully Mac manages to shake off the shock when he gets in his car. He doesn’t have a booster seat for Cassian so he quickly macgyver’s one using a plastic box, a few pillows and a blanket. It’s passable and should hold up in the unlikely event of an accident.
Cassian certainly doesn’t mind watching Mac make it. In fact, Cassian looks excited and says, “My dad talks all about you doing this! Wow!”
Which Mac laughs at because yeah, he already knew that. Also it's not an unpopular reaction to seeing him work.
The drive back is pretty silent. Cassian spends most of the time with his eyes half closed holding his stomach. Mac wants to ask Cassian questions about his dad, but it somehow doesn’t seem right, exploiting a child to gain info on his father, even if his father is a psychotic hitman.
At one point, Cassian turns to Mac and says, “I-have you managed to get in contact with my dad?”
Mac shakes his head no, and feels bad. He doesn’t even have Murdoc’s number on him (it’s at the phoenix). However… “I’m sure your dad knows you’re with me. The school called him a couple times, and when he calls them back they’ll tell him you’re with me.”
Cassian pouts. “Dad always makes special soup when I’m sick. It’s really good. It makes me feel better.”
Awww… coming from Cassian, it’s cute. Adding Murdoc to the picture, making soup, that Mac feels like his brain is splitting in half. Rocket science, he can handle. Murdoc the psychopathic killer, being domestic and making soup for his sick son? Mac’s brain isn’t equipped to handle that.
At this point, Mac decides to separate Murdoc into two different people: Murdoc the father, and Murdoc the psychopathic killer, in order so that his brain doesn’t split in half trying to keep up.
Mac glances at Cassian in the mirror. “I’ll tell you what. I have some soup at home, maybe you can try helping me make it like how your dad does?”
Cassian nods, appeased.
In the end, Cassian falls asleep in the backseat. Mac ends up picking him up and placing him on his couch with a pillow and blanket. Mac checks his forehead for a fever, and while he’s a little warm it’s not nearly high enough to be concerned about.
Mac checks his windows and the parts of his neighbourhood he can see from his house. There’s no suspicious cars, trucks or vans; no sight of Murdoc. Mac’s team isn’t picking up either, despite the increasing number of messages he’s leaving.
Well, Mac refuses to be a sitting duck. He gets a bit of wire, string and empty cans and macgyvers a rudimentary alarm system around the house. If Murdoc attempts to break in, Mac will hear it.
He has half a mind to create some non-lethal weapon to use against Murdoc, but the sight of Cassian peacefully snoozing on his couch, clenching the blanket in one hand and the pillow in the other stops him. There’s no way that he could use any weapon on Cassian’s dad without breaking Cassian’s heart.
There’s nothing to do but wait.
Mac tinkers with his ventilator project, and makes a breakthrough. It’s not perfect, Mac will still have to do some tinkering around with it but it’s progress.
The sky grows dark, and Mac checks all the tripwires he set up. None of them have been activated, so Mac Mac sits in his arm chair and waits, anxiously drumming his fingers on his chair. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Cassian shiver, and checks his forehead. Mac gently lays a hand on Cassian’s forehead, it’s slightly cool. Mac raises the temperature in the room and then settles back down in the armchair, wondering what’s keeping Murdoc back.
Perhaps it’s the warm temperature of the room, or maybe it’s the soft sound of Cassian breathing, or the comfort of the arm chair, but Mac slips away into unconsciousness.