Don't Leave, Please

A Terrible Tragedy

Cathy was typing away on her computer, she stopped and turned it off. She took off her covers and walked out of her room. She found Mac outside on the deck.

"Hey." Cathy said quietly as she walked up to him.

Mac didn't say anything.

"Thank you, for protecting me, once again." Cathy laughed quietly.

Mac still didn't say anything.

"Mac, what's wrong?"

Mac sighed. He turned to face Cathy. His left eye was swollen and bruised.

"Oh my god," Cathy gently grabbed Mac's face and inspected the black eye. "Why haven't you done anything about this?"

"I don't know." Mac's eyes wandered towards Cathy's.

Cathy felt her stomach flip. She let go of Mac's face and ran inside. She came back out onto the deck with an ice pack in her hand.

"This should stop it from swelling anymore." Cathy handed Mac the ice pack.

"Thanks." Mac said as he placed it on his eye.

The two stood there in awkward silence.

"I should probably go to bed." Cathy said as she made her way towards the sliding glass door, "Goodnight Mac."

"Night Cathy."

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"Hey!" Jack said as he walked into Mac's house, "is Mac not up yet?"

Cathy smiled.

"Surprisingly, no."

Just then, Mac sat up on the couch and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"I slept in?" Mac asked.

"Yup." Both Jack and Cathy said in unison.

"Is today another free day?" Cathy asked Jack.

"It would appear so, we haven't gotten anything in a while."

"I'll take as many free days as I can get." Cathy smiled.

Mac smiled and Jack chuckled.

"What?" Cathy looked at the two.

"Nothing." The two said in unison.

📎📎📎

"Would you rather, die for everyone, or have everyone die for you?" Jack asked as he placed the card down onto the table.

"Die for everyone." Riley said.

Cathy walked into the room with a box in her arms.

"You guys are playing 'would you rather?'"

"Yeah, it's a fun game." Riley rolled her eyes playfully.

Cathy giggled and walked towards the garage.

"Mac, I got all the stuff you asked for."

Mac poked his head out from the side of his strange invention.

"Great, just set it on the table over there."

Cathy walked towards the work table and set the box down. Her eyes wandered over towards a watch that was lying underneath a magnifying glass.

"Hey, Mac, what's this?"

"It's my dads," Mac said as he grabbed something out of the box, "I really don't want to talk about it now."

"Ok." Cathy said quietly.

Suddenly her phone began to ring.

Cathy grabbed her phone out of her pocket and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Hi," a woman replied, but she didn't seem happy, The woman sounded, sad. "Am I speaking to Cathy Kane?"

"Yes." Cathy said.

"I have some bad news to share with you." The woman said.

"What is it?" Cathy asked.

"Well," The woman started, "it's about your mother."

Cathy's heart began to beat faster.

"What about my mom?" Cathy seemed like she knew what was going to come next.

"She was reported missing about a few days ago," The Woman said, "police found her in her car, dead."

Cathy's heart seemed to stop.

"I'm sorry," Cathy's voice wavered, "What did you say?"

"Your mother has died, Cathy, I'm so sorry."

Cathy let out a shaky sigh.

"Thank you for calling me." Then Cathy hung up.

Cathy let the tears fall from her eyes onto the floor. She didn't care who saw her cry. She didn't care at all.

"Hey Cathy," Mac started, "could you grab me..." he stopped as he saw tears falling down her cheeks. "Cathy what's wrong?"

Cathy looked up at Mac. The color in her skin had drained out of her.

"My moms dead." Cathy said flatly. Her eyes began to sting, then she began to sob uncontrollably.

Mac came up to her and held her in his arms.

"She's gone Mac." Cathy sobbed. "I can't take back the words I said to her."

"She knew you didn't mean to say that." Mac said as he rubbed Cathy's back.

Cathy didn't say anything else. She continued to cry into Mac's shirt.

📎📎📎

Cathy walked back inside and passed Jack and Riley. The two noticed her red puffy eyes.

"What's wrong Cathy?" Jack asked.

"She's gone." Is all Cathy said before she walked into Mac's room and closed the door. Muffled sobs could be heard.

Mac walked back inside and closed the garage door behind him.

"Mac," Jack started, "what happened?"

"Cathy's mom just passed away." Mac replied.

"Oh my god." Riley put her hand over her mouth. She slowly stood up and walked towards Mac's room, she opened the door and stepped in. Then, she closed the door behind her.

"She's broken Jack." Mac said.

"You can fix her," Mac softly smiled up at his best friend, "after all, you are MacGyver, you know how to fix everything."

Mac smiled slightly and sat down next to Jack.

"She may need you more now than ever."

Mac looked at Jack.

"And I'll be there for her." Mac replied.