"10-4 Rampart."

Johnny hung up the phone and got everything he needed to start the IV out of the drug box; he took out the glass bottle and set it down on the bed.

Gillian was rubbing her husband's hand. "Still hurt?"

Mac nodded. "Every time I move or breathe."

"Don't worry Mac; the morphine will give you some relief."

Johnny moved closer to his friend. Gillian had to let go of his hand, the paramedic turned his arm over and started looking for a vein. "You got good veins, this should be no problem."

Mac smiled. "Good veins? That's something you don't hear everyday."

Johnny found one near the bend in his arm; he took out an alcohol swab and rubbed it on that area. He tore open the package with the needle. "You're going to feel a stick."

MacGyver shook his head. "I'd rather feel a thousand sticks then what I'm feeling right now."

Roy nodded. "Hurts doesn't it? Your appendix has no known function but when it goes bad it's pretty painful. Don't worry you'll be all right."

Johnny sunk the needle into his arm; he set the IV up and secured it with tape. "There that wasn't so bad was it?" He took out a syringe and added the 5 mg of morphine to it.

MacGyver shook his head again. "Didn't even feel it."

The morphine started to kick in right away and he closed his eyes as the sound of a siren got louder.

Gillian was outside of exam room 3. She was pacing, no one had come out to talk to her yet. She was very tempted to go inside and see what was going on with her husband. Finally the door opened, Mac was on a table and was being wheeled down the corridor. Dr. Brackett came out; his hands were in his white coat pocket.

"Where is he going?"

The doctor sighed. "Surgery, he's very sick Gillian we're going to do a laparoscopy and take out his appendix."

The young woman sighed. "I was right."

Kel looked at her. "You were? Are you a nurse?"

"Not officially, but I have a bachelor's in nursing." She cleared her throat. "Dr. Brackett I have a strange request."

The dark haired doctor nodded. "Go ahead."

"Can I be in the operating room?"

He opened his mouth and she put up her hand. "Please, I promise I won't interfere." Kel didn't looked convinced. "All the two of us have are each other."

"He's got no family?"

Gillian shook her head. "And neither do I, please."

Kel sighed. "All right, I'll tell Dr. Holloway she's going to have an unofficial nurse in there with her."

Gillian smiled and kissed the doctor on the cheek. "Thank you."

"You're very welcome."

The unofficial nurse was dressed from head to food in the standard green scrubs. Her long hair was tucked into a surgical cap and her mask was around her neck; it wasn't tied around her face yet.

Mac had been put in white hospital pants; he had a cap over his head too. Because of the morphine he had been given he kept going in and out of consciousness.

"Gillian…"

She was sitting on a stool beside him, her turned towards him and saw that his eyes were open. They looked glassy, she touched his forehead. "Yeah I'm here."

He was having a hard time keeping his eyes open. "Where are we?"

"Rampart."

"My appendix?"

"Yeah Mac, they're getting ready to take it out."

Mac squinted his eyes at his wife. "Why are you dressed like a celery stalk?"

Gillian laughed; he was talking funny because of the morphine. "We're in the operating room Mac; I have to dress like this because I'm going to stay."

"You're going to stay with me?"

She nodded and he looked very relieved. "Oh good."

The anesthesiologist was named Dr. Hill, she had long blonde hair, she cleared her throat. "Mrs. MacGyver, we're ready to begin."

Gillian's heart was racing, she was scared but she didn't want her husband to know that, she nodded at her and leaned close to her husband. "They're ready Mac; it's time for you to go to sleep now."

Mac gave his wife a small smile. "Can I have a kiss before I go?"

"You know you can." She gave him a small kiss and touched his head. "Go to sleep now Sweetie, you'll be better soon."

"Okay."

Gillian lifted her mask over her face and tied it behind her head.

Dr. Hill had a large syringe; she inserted it into Mac's IV tubing and started injecting the anesthesia. "Don't worry he'll be fine."

MacGyver opened his eyes. He looked at his wife; he got a very warm feeling that started in his arm. "That's warm, are they doing something to me IV?"

That was the last thing he said, he closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Gillian was rubbing her husband's hand; she was watching what was going on. She couldn't see much because of the drape, all she saw was the short woman with the red hair and round glasses that was the surgeon and her nurse.

Dr. Hill was standing behind Gillian she had put an airway tube down Mac's throat to keep him well ventilated. He had been hooked up to heart monitor, white electrode pads were all over his chest and his sides. There was a blood pressure cuff around his arm; he was hooked to an automatic blood pressure machine that took his pressure every few minutes. Dr. Holloway looked at Dr. Hill.

"How's he doing?"

The very pretty blond woman nodded. "Pressure and pulse are stable, he's doing fine."

"Good, I've almost got it."

Dr. Hill put her hand on Gillian's shoulder and she jumped. "Easy Mrs. MacGyver."

"Sorry, I'm a little tense, call me Gillian please."

The anesthesiologist smiled and stuck out her hand and Gillian shook it. "Jenna." She looked down at her patient. "He's doing really well."

"I know." Gillian took that cap off of his head and smoothed his hair back.

"How long have you two been married?"

"7 months."

Jenna smiled. "Newlyweds huh, he's cute, you make a nice couple."

It was hard to see behind her mask but Gillian's face had a look of pride on it. "His inside is more handsome than his outside, he's an absolute doll."

Dr. Holloway piped up. "Not from where I'm standing, his insides don't look so good, especially that appendix. Strange little organ, the appendix, you don't need it for anything but it if goes bad it can kill you, odd isn't it? His looks pretty bad, any longer and he would have been pushing up daisies."

Gillian sighed, that was the last thing she needed to hear. "Yeah and no one even knows why it decides to go bad."

"Another odd thing about it." She was finishing up; she put in the last stitch and sighed. "There, I just added my initials."

Gillian had never met a doctor with her sense of humor; she shook her head and started to laugh.

The young woman was sitting in a very uncomfortable chair; she was in the recovery room with Mac. They had taken that white tube out of his mouth and had put an oxygen mask over his face. It was now a little after 3 am; she had put her head down on the railing and had fallen asleep.

MacGyver felt something cold on his face, he slowly opened his eyes and saw fog. He reached up and touched his mouth, he felt the plastic mask and he pulled it off of his face. He looked around, he wasn't sure where he was, he lifted his head and saw a lot of red hair; it had to be his wife. He reached over with his left hand and touched her hair.

"Gillian…"

The young woman put her head up fast. "Yeah I'm awake."

She looked at her husband and saw his eyes were open, she smiled widely. "Hi."

Mac put his head back down. "Where are we?"

"Recovery room, how do you feel?"

"Sleepy, my throat is sore."

She leaned over him. "That's from the tube. You look much better, you aren't so pale anymore." She touched his face and kissed him, she was very glad he was awake, she sighed out of relief.

Mac yawned and rubbed his face, he felt groggy. "What time is it?"

"I think it's around 3, do you remember much about the last couple of hours?"

"Something about celery."

Gillian started laughing; he looked at her and creased his brow. "What?"

"We were in the operating room you were flying pretty high because of the morphine. I was in my green scrubs and you asked me why I was dressed like a celery stalk."

MacGyver started to laugh a little.

"Uh uh, no laughing, you'll rip your stitches." Dr. Holloway was in the doorway; she walked over to the couple and stuck out her hand to MacGyver. "Regina Holloway, we hadn't been properly introduced; the only thing I officially met was your appendix."

Mac shook her hand as best he could with all of the stuff hooked up to him. "MacGyver."

"Yeah I know, so how are you feeling?"

"Groggy."

"That's normal, it'll wear off soon."

She walked over to him and lifted the sheet; she saw the bandage was still in place. "Any pain?"

"I don't know, I don't feel anything right now."

"Give it some time."

"How long do I have to stay?"

Regina sighed. "Well normally I would be sending you home right now but because of the condition of your appendix I'd like to keep you here for a while."

MacGyver swallowed hard. "Bad?"

"Well, I could tell you how bad but I think it would scare you. Let's just say you have an excellent sense of timing. I'm going to go arrange for you to be put in a room; I'll come back in the morning and see how you are doing. If everything is going okay we'll talk about some rules you'll have to follow and then we'll send you home."

"Okay, thanks Dr. Holloway."

Regina smiled. "No problem."

She gave Gillian a nod and left the room.

MacGyver and Gillian were in a private room, Dr. Brackett had gotten the young woman permission to stay with her husband, it was well past visiting hours. MacGyver had been taken off of everything except his IV in his right arm; both he and his wife were asleep.

Gillian had her chair very close to his bed; she had her head down his chest. It was now 6 am and it was breakfast time, Dixie McCall came into the room with a tray. She saw Gillian and gently touched her on the shoulder. She gasped and sat straight up; she saw the nurse and rubbed her eyes.

"Hi Dixie, what time is it?"

"6." She set the breakfast down on the nearby tray. "How's he doing?"

"Good, Regina said he's going to be just fine."

The older woman touched her hair. "How about you? How are you doing?"

"Tired."

"Why don't you go home and go to bed for a while?"

Gillian shook her head. "No, I'm going to stay with him."

The RN nodded. "Okay, I'll be back in a while to get the tray."

"Thanks Dixie."

Dixie nodded and left the room.

Gillian brought the tray over to the bed; she reached out and touched her husband on the shoulder. "Mac."

His eyes slowly opened. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, its breakfast time and you need to eat."

The mention of food got his attention. "Did you say breakfast?"

"Yeah." She pressed the button on the side of the bed, it started to rise so he could sit up and eat. "Hungry?"

"Starving." She rolled the tray close to him and he lifted it. There was eggs, sausage, hash browns and a biscuit on a plate, there was a small container of orange juice, a container of apple juice and a carton of milk. He picked up the biscuit and started eating it. He closed his eyes and sighed. "That's really good."

"You must be hungry if you think hospital food is good."

"Right now I'd eat a truck if I could get my hands on one."

Gillian started laughing and touched his face. "Well Mac you weren't eating very much over the last couple of days and now that you're feeling better it's catching up with you."

He finished his biscuit and opened his milk. He sipped it, he didn't want to eat too fast. "Did you sleep any?"

"Some, how do you feel? Any pain?"

"A little bit, feels like I got punched in the stomach." He finished his milk and picked up his fork and took a bite of his eggs.

"Don't eat the plate now." Regina was back; she walked into the room and looked at her patient. "How are we feeling this morning MacGyver?"

"Good, really hungry."

She laughed. "Let me guess, appetite was non existent right? It's a good sign. I came to check on your stitches."

He put the lid back on his breakfast and moved the tray aside. "Okay."

Gillian moved back and Regina walked over, she pressed the button on the bed so it would go flat. She lifted the sheet back some and touched the waist band of his pants. "I have to pull them down a little; I'm not being fresh or anything."

Mac gave her a nod. "Yeah I know."

"Just checking." She pulled them down a little and looked at the bandage; she gently peeled off the tape and removed the gauze. There were two small holes on his side; they were so little they only had one stitch in each of them. "They look good, no redness, no puffiness, want to see?"

"Sure."

She took a compact out of her pocket and put it over them; she moved the mirror towards him. "See them?"

MacGyver looked in the reflection and saw two small cuts. "That's it? I thought I was going to have a long cut?"

Regina shook her head. "Nope. There is one more I have to check." She pulled his pants down a little more and looked at his belly button. There was a slightly bigger incision there, it required three stitches. "See here is the other one." She showed him the reflection. "Right in your belly button." She closed her compact. "I did a laparoscopy, it looks like a tube but there is a camera on it, we go inside and take a peek. Then we put in two more tubes and simply suck the bad organ out. It's a lot easier than the big long cut and it has a faster recovery time." She adjusted his pants and pulled the sheet back over him.

"How long?"

Regina nodded. "Okay, let's talk about that."

Gillian started to get up. "Do you want my chair Regina?"

The surgeon shook her head. "No Gillian I'm fine. There are some rules you are going to have to follow MacGyver as soon as I let you go home."

MacGyver nodded. "Okay."

"Rule number one is no heavy lifting, 10 pounds is your limit, if it's heavier than that don't even bother. Rule number two is no strenuous activity, if you want to exercise go for a walk, anything else is too much right now." She cleared her throat. "That also includes the marital kind."

"For how long?"

She closed her eyes briefly; she knew this was going to go over like a lead balloon. "4 to 6 weeks."

MacGyver's eyes got big. "4 to 6 weeks?"

Regina nodded. "I know that's a lot and I'm sorry but you have to recover. There can't be any kind of strain, or pull or pressure of any kind in this area MacGyver, you could tear something or give yourself a hernia."

He leaned his head back against the pillow and covered his eyes. "4 to 6 weeks."

"Hey it could be worse, if we had done the surgery the old fashioned way it would have been two or even three times that."

Gillian shook her head, that was a long time but then again she wanted her husband to recover. "Don't worry Regina; he'll follow your rules. I'll see to that personally."