Okay! Last chapter...let's see what happens :)

"I had to call in a favor to get this plane here," Matty said as she observed her three employees walking out of the hospital. Jack and Riley were on either side of MacGyver, helping their temporarily blind friend towards the car that would take them to their plane ride home. The doctors hadn't really wanted to let Mac go yet, but Matty had shown up and taken over care of her agent.

"I'm surprised you came yourself, Matty," Jack commented.

"Yeah, because after what happened here, I'm going to trust you with a plane?" Matty sounded cross, but her agents knew that she didn't really mean it...mostly.

"I let you go for three days and this is what happens?" their boss continued, shaking her head in amazement.

"Three days—Wait. Is today Christmas?" Mac asked. He hadn't realized how much time had passed since they'd gotten that first video of Atar.

"That's usually what people consider the twenty-fifth of December, yes," Matty quipped.

"Give the kid a break," Jack defended. "He's had a tough go of it lately."

"I mean, I'm just glad I got all my shopping done before now," Mac added with a smirk, knowing Jack would know exactly what he was talking about.

"I dunno what you're talking about," Jack replied with a sniff, though he made a face at his partner since the kid couldn't see. Mac knew the older man though, and his smirk widened.

"I know you're making a face Jack."

"No I'm not," came the petulant reply.

"Would you two stop it?" Matty ordered, not willing to deal with the bickering for the next fifteen hours. "I'll drug one of you myself if I have to to keep you quiet," she threatened. None of the agents doubted their boss's word, so Jack and Mac wisely quit their fighting.

"Hey, do we know how Aadela and Atar are doing?" Mac asked.

Riley looked backwards towards the entrance of the hospital. "Why don't you ask them yourself?"

The hacker and Jack turned around, making MacGyver turn with them and face the two Afghan people who had just come out of the hospital. Atar had a bandage around his head and his arm was in a sling, but he was still grinning as he limped alongside his aunt.

"You weren't going to leave without saying goodbye, were you?" Aadela asked, though Mac could hear the lightness in her voice.

"Blame these guys," Mac replied snarkily, gesturing his head towards Jack, Riley, and Matty. "I have to do what they say."

"Is that so?" Jack asked, a mischievous glint in his eye.

"Anything within reason," the blond quickly amended.

"You're no fun," Jack griped quietly, but MacGyver ignored him. He couldn't see his two Afghan friends, but he turned in what he assumed was their general direction.

"You guys gonna be okay?"

Aadela looked at her nephew, reaching up and gently ruffling his hair. Jack watched the exchange with interest. The height difference between the two was rather funny, actually. Aadela was almost a head and a half shorter than her nephew, but she still managed to reach the top of his head to mess his hair up. "We will be," Aadela finally answered. The Afghan woman moved forward and placed her hand on Mac's cheek, and the blond smiled at the touch. "You be safe now," she cautioned. "Make sure you rest and let yourself heal."

"Oh don't worry," Mac replied. "With these guys watching me, there's no way they're going to let me do anything crazy or stupid. Except maybe Jack; he might wanna try something crazy."

Aadela gave the accused friend a stern look. Jack held up his hands innocently. "Hey!" he defended. "I'm not gonna do anything like that!"

"Make sure you don't, or I'll come to America and knock some sense into you myself," Aadela threatened. Jack didn't doubt the woman.

"Cross my heart," he promised, miming the motion over the left side of his chest. Aadela's eyes narrowed, but everyone knew it was just in good fun, mostly. Atar moved forward towards the blond.

"Thank you for coming for me, Mr. MacGyver," he said.

"Hey, it's no problem," Mac assured the kid. He held out his hand, which Atar took, and they shook hands firmly. Once her nephew had stepped away, Aadela went up on her tiptoes and gave Mac a gentle hug, placing a quick kiss on his cheek as well.

"Thank you, again," she whispered in his ear. "Thank you for bringing my boy back to me."

"Mac, we need to go," Matty gently reminded her employee. The blond nodded, quickly finishing his hug with Aadela.

"I'll do better to keep in touch this time," he promised before Jack and Riley turned and helped him towards the car.

"Yeah, maybe you guys'll have to come to the States sometime," Jack suggested after he'd gotten Mac loaded into the car.

"Maybe," Aadela agreed.

Jack climbed into the car but rolled down the window as the door was shut. Jack and Riley looked out the window while Mac turned his head in the general direction he knew the small family was in, and they all waved. Aadela and Atar waved back and continued waving until the car drove off, at which point Aadela turned to her nephew and the two of them walked back into the hospital.

0-0-0

Once they got back to California, Matty had a team of agents waiting on the ground, and they immediately whisked Mac off to the Phoenix medical center. Jack wanted to follow them, but Matty stopped him, ordering him and Riley to go get themselves checked out, seeing as how they'd been near the explosion as well.

Jack had protested, but Matty, with her evil glare, won their argument. It took a few hours for the doctors to reluctantly allow Jack to leave their care, but as soon as he could, he went looking for his partner. He finally found the kid reclining in one of the medical center beds, though the bandages covering his eyes had been changed. The older agent didn't know if MacGyver was asleep or not, but his question was answered when Mac turned his head as if he'd sensed his partner's presence.

"Jack?"

"Hey," Jack greeted as he moved further into the room, grabbing a chair and sitting himself next to Mac's bed. "Wanna hear some good news?"

"Always?" Mac replied, though he sounded confused.

"I just heard from one of my military buddies over in Afghanistan, and they've got Habib locked up again. He's not gonna be bothering anybody else for the rest of his life."

"Yeah, unless he escapes again." Mac sighed, and Jack's mouth slanted a little at his partner.

"Oh ye of little faith," he chided.

"He got out once, Jack," MacGyver reminded his friend. "If his motivation is strong enough, he'll find a way to get out again."

"First of all, my buddy says that they've got him in solitary confinement with no contact from the outside world at all. Unless it's an inside job, he's not getting out. Second, if he did get out again, we'd deal with it, just like we did this time. We need to take this one day at a time."

MacGyver was going to argue more, but he decided against it, at least for the moment. He leaned back against his pillows and sighed. Jack knew his partner was going to obsess over the 'what-if's' if he didn't distract him, so the older man decided to bring up an older topic of discussion.

"Hey, did you ever decide on what your dream mission would be? It can be as nerdy as your little nerd heart desires."

MacGyver chuckled. He knew what his friend was doing, and he appreciated it. The blond crossed his arms and rubbed his chin as he thought about his answer.

"I think I'd have to say...hmmm. There's always been something that I've wanted to try with a copper wire, a toothbrush, and a rubber hose, so if I could find a mission where I could use that trick, I'd definitely call that my dream mission."

"While that's cool and all, and definitely nerdy, come on man," Jack replied. "You don't have a dream scenario that you'd wanna do?"

"Not really," Mac said with a shrug. "What we do every day, saving lives...that's the best mission that I could think of, and there's honestly no one else I'd rather do it with. Yeah, James Bond would be cool to work with, but he's no Jack Dalton."

Jack couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face. After a few moments, he patted Mac's leg. "Back atcha, dude. Right back atcha."

"Hello, I'd like to order a cheese pizza with a side of extra cheese for my story please."

So...there's the end! What did you guys think?

I honestly don't know when I'll be out with another story. If anyone has any prompts they'd like to see happen, let me know and I'll see what I can do :)