A Rock and a Hard Place Part III
By
The negotiations were going to take place at City Hall, a room had been set aside, it had a dark wooden table and a cart full of refreshments. There were 5 chairs, three along the top of the table and one on either side of it. MacGyver, Gillian and Min all walked into the room. The threesome had dressed up nicely for this, MacGyver had on a pair of black dress pants and a dark blue button down shirt, he had a dark sport coat over it. Gillian had on a long black skirt and a white silk shirt, she had put her hair up in a French twist. Min had borrowed some clothes from Gillian, she had on a short dark grey skirt and a light grey silk shirt, she had left her hair down.
“Well this is it.” MacGyver took off his sport coat and hung it on the back of the center chair at the head of the table. He reached into his pocket and clipped his Phoenix Foundation badge to his left breast pocket.
Gillian saw him and set down her folder full of papers. “Oh my badge.” She put it on her pocket and turned it over so her photo could be seen.
Min was watching them. “Slight problem here guys, I don’t work for the Phoenix Foundation, aren’t they going to wonder who I am and what I’m doing here?”
MacGyver reached into his pants pocket and took out another badge. “Problem solved.” He handed it to her and Min looked at it. It had her photo on it and her name, it stated that she was a Operative Consultant Level 5. She creased her brow. “But I don’t work for Phoenix.”
Mac nodded his head. “You do now, you are representing the Phoenix Foundation.”
“What is an Operative Consultant?”
The couple looked at each other and MacGyver laughed. “Well, I’m an Operative and you are here to consult me that makes you are an Operative Consultant.”
Min sighed and pinned the badge to her shirt pocket. “And I suppose level 5 means I’m important.”
Mac pulled out his chair and sat down. “Yeah, I thought it was a nice touch.”
At exactly 9 am, the doors opened and in walked Donald Tate, the City representative. The threesome stood up and MacGyver cleared his throat. “Mr. Tate?”
The older man with the salt and pepper hair and a navy blue suit turned towards him and nodded. “Yes, I assume you are Mr. MacGyver from the Phoenix Foundation?”
“Yes Sir I am.” They both shook hands and he turned to the two women on either side of him. “This is my assistant Gillian MacGyver.” He turned towards Min. “And Min Gage, she is a consultant in this matter.”
Donald Tate gave them a slight bow and extended his hand. “Ladies, a pleasure.”
They both shook it and he went over to the cart and poured himself a cup of coffee and sat down on the right side of the table. The doors once again opened and Robert Bishop walked in, the brown haired man with the graying sides and a black suit looked at his counterpart drinking coffee, he frowned at him. He turned to the three people and stretched out his hand.
“Robert Bishop, Union representative, Mr. MacGyver?”
MacGyver shook his hand. “Yes, good of you to come today.”
Bishop looked at the shook Min’s hand. “Robert Bishop.”
The dark haired woman gave him a slight smile. “Min Gage.”
“Very nice to meet you.”
He walked over to Gillian and shook her hand. “Robert Bishop.”
“Gillian MacGyver.”
“A pleasure to meet you all.”
He sat down on the left side of the table and stared at his counterpart. “Mr. Tate.”
Donald gave him a nod of his head. “Good to see you Mr. Bishop.”
MacGyver nodded, at least they were being civil to each other, for now. The two women on either side of him sat down yet he remained standing.
“We all know why we are here today, my associates and I have been going over the 4 contracts that Mr. Bishop and his fellow Union members came up with, my first question to both of you is, what’s the problem? All of the contracts were more than fair.”
Donald Tate raised an eyebrow. “Well Mr. MacGyver you certainly cut right to the heart of the matter don’t you?”
“Yes Sir I do, I didn’t come here to play games with both of you, this city is in trouble right now because the two of you can’t seem to agree on what color the sky is.”
Tate sighed. “There is no way we can give the LAFD what they want, the raise is way too high and the benefits are already very good.”
Bishop scoffed. “The lowest we went on the raise is 5 % and as for the benefits, the families of the firemen and paramedics have to fork out a lot of money for doctor visits and prescriptions, we don’t want them to have to pay anything. And it is not only that but the life insurance is too low, these are high risks jobs, they can easily leave the house and never come back.”
“The benefits are for 10 thousand dollars, that is more than fair.”
Min turned towards MacGyver and touched his arm, he leaned down and she whispered something in his ear, he listened to what she said, he nodded and straightened up.
“Excuse me Gentlemen but it has also been brought to my attention that there is no vision or dental insurance either.” He turned to Tate. “And 10 thousand dollars is not much at all Mr. Tate, not if there are things like mortgages and young children to consider.”
MacGyver finally sat down and Bishop nodded. “Mr. MacGyver is right Tate, that is nothing, most of the firemen are married and have children, how will that measly amount provide for them?”
Gillian opened the folder and took out a copy of the first contract, it also had the retirement plan mentioned in it and she showed it to her husband. He took the paper and nodded.
“Gentlemen what about the retirement plan?”
Tate shrugged. “What about it?”
Bishop shook his head. “Is that what you call it? I call it an embarrassment.”
“What’s wrong with it?”
“Tate it calls for the firemen to only get 25 % of their salary paid for the rest of their lives, that’s sad.”
MacGyver looked over the paper. “That is rather low Mr. Tate, most retirement plans pay at least 50 %.”
The older man took off his glasses and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Oh give me a break, 50 %? That’s outrageous.”
Mac got up from his chair and walked around the table. “No I don’t think so.” He sat down on the edge of the table and looked at the City representative. “Let me see if I get the gist of things here Mr. Tate. You want the firemen and paramedics to go out everyday and save lives while putting theirs at considerable risk yet have to pay high prices for their medical care and get very little money if God forbid something does happen to them and then if they do make it to retirement, you want them to get barely get enough to live on for years of dedicated service.”
Tate cleared his throat. “Well, yeah.”
Bishop lifted his head high and crossed his arms over his chest, he was glad that someone other than himself had finally pointed that out. “Thank you very much Mr. MacGyver.”
Mac got up from the table and shook his head. “No wonder they went on strike.” He stood in front of Robert Bishop. “And you Mr. Bishop, you want the city to totally pay for everything with no compromise?”
Bishop uncrossed his arms. “Well…yeah.”
Mac also shook his head at him. “No wonder the city rejected it.”
He sat back down between his two counterparts. “Gentlemen, that is the problem right there, the two of you are so busy being outraged and angry at each other you forgot that this is not about either one of you, it’s about the firemen and the paramedics, who are out there right now breaking their backs because the two of you can’t work this out. There is another issue here that I want to address to the both of you, the firing of the striking firemen.”
Tate shook his head. “No, that is not even an issue, they walked away they are fired, it’s that simple.”
“No Sir, I’m afraid it isn’t that simple and what about the men that didn’t walk away?”
“That was their decision.”
Min leaned forward towards MacGyver, she whispered in his ear. He nodded and cleared his throat. “So they are not going to get compensated is that right?”
“Why should they? The LAFD is on strike, technically there is no Fire Department.”
“Yeah but what choice did you leave them Tate? If they left they are jobless, if they stay they get no money, I know for a fact that more than half of the firemen and paramedics in this city left, the other half are still working because their conscience wouldn’t allow them to leave the city without emergency services.”
Bishop shook his head. “I encouraged them to leave and go home.”
MacGyver sighed. “They aren’t about to do that Bishop, they care about other people’s lives as much as their own. They aren’t about to take the chance of people dying just because the two of you can’t see eye to eye. Would you want to live with that?”
Tate got up from the table and went to the cart, he refilled his coffee. “The City Council told me to tell the firemen if they left they were voluntarily terminated.”
“Well the City Council instructed me to wipe the slate clean and start again and that’s what I am going to do.” Gillian stood up and passed out copies of the first contract to both Tate and Bishop, her husband already had a copy, she handed one to Min.
“We are going to start with the first contract, my assistant will be taking notes, we are going to go over every contract until we settle this.”
Bishop got up from the table and got himself a cup of coffee and a sweet roll, he took off his black blazer and put it on the back of his chair. “All right, were do we start?”
MacGyver picked up the contract and looked at it. “The medical insurance, according to this, the firemen have to pay a copay whenever they see a doctor.”
“That’s right they do.”
“How much is it?”
Bishop’s eyebrows went up. “Uhh, I don’t know.”
Min touched Mac on the shoulder, he turned towards her and she whispered in his ear.
“The copay is 25 dollars for an office visit and not to mention the 25 for prescriptions.” He looked at Tate. “Mr. Tate? Don’t you think that 50 dollars is a bit high?”
The older man shrugged. “Well, maybe.”
Gillian wrote down the information and also what she thought was more reasonable, she casually lifted her notepad and showed it to Min. The dark haired woman nodded and nudged Mac, he looked at what his wife had written down. “Mr. Tate how you would feel about 15 for office visits and 10 per prescription?”
Tate thought about it, that was half the amount but it wasn’t that bad. “That’s fine with me.”
Mac turned his attention to Bishop. “Mr. Bishop?”
The brown haired man nodded. “That’s acceptable.”
MacGyver smiled. “See there you go, you two finally agree on something.”
Gillian crossed that off of the list and whispered to her husband as she took out copies of the second contract, this one focused on the life insurance. She gave everyone a copy of it and sat back down.
“Okay, now let’s talk about the life insurance pay out.” Mac looked at both men. “Don’t you think that firemen need more then 10 thousand if something were to happen to them?”
Tate sighed. “How much do you think would be adequate?”
MacGyver cleared his throat. “50 thousand.”
The City representative’s eyes got wide. “That’s 5 times the amount.”
Min cleared her throat and MacGyver turned towards her, she cupped her hand to his ear and whispered in it. When she was done saying her peace she casually sat back in her seat.
“Mr. Tate, are you married?”
Donald Tate adjusted his tie. “Yes Mr. MacGyver I am.”
He nodded. “So am I and so are a lot of people, especially in the LAFD, wouldn’t you want your family to be well provided for in case something did happen to you?”
The older man nodded. “Yes I would.”
“Do you honestly think that 10 thousand dollars would do that?”
Tate looked across the table at Bishop, both of his eyebrows were up. “Answer the question Tate.”
The City representative closed his eyes briefly, he knew full well that it wouldn’t. “All right, it wouldn’t.”
MacGyver nodded. “Good, so 50 thousand then?”
The older man reluctantly nodded. “Yes, and the addition of the vision and dental insurance as well.”
“Good, that’s what I thought, after all, firemen need to see if you expect them to do their jobs.” MacGyver smiled at his wife as she crossed that off of their list, things were actually starting to progress, the firemen had won three victories, it was a small start but a good one.
The City Hall building had a nice cafeteria, they had stopped for lunch and the three of them were huddled in a corner table going over the last two contracts, these dealt with the life insurance and the raise. MacGyver was eating a club sandwich, he had a sip of his ice tea. “I have to hand it to those two, they are pretty stubborn.”
Gillian had ordered a Cobb salad, she nodded. “Yeah I know, is it any wonder all this mess started in the first place?”
Min was playing with her salad, she was thinking about her husband, Mac saw her. “Min?”
She didn’t hear him, he said her name again and she flinched. “Oh sorry, my mind was somewhere else.”
“Yeah I think I know where.”
She finally stopped playing with her lunch and started eating it. “Do you think things are going good?”
Gillian wiped her mouth with a napkin. “Actually I do, we only have a few issues left to cover and then it’ll be over.”
Min sighed. “I’m so glad to hear you say that.”
The only man at the table pushed his tray aside. “Let’s not start throwing confetti just yet, those two mules are really going to dig their heels in, the last issues are also the ones that caused the strike in the first place, especially the raise.” Mac took Gillian’s notepad and flipped it to a blank page, he took out a pen. “That’s what I wanted to ask you Min, this is personal and totally none of my business and I know that but I have to ask, what does Johnny make?”
Min wiped her mouth. “It’s okay, I know you are asking for a good reason. Since he is both a fireman and a paramedic he gets a little more. He brings home 1150 dollars a paycheck after taxes.”
He wrote that down on the pad. “So he brings home 2300 a month which works about to 27600 a year, that sound about right?”
Min nodded. “Yeah, it’s supposed to be 30 actually but with taxes and all.”
“Do you know what a regular fireman brings home?”
“I think Johnny said they make 24000 a year, that’s fresh out of the academy.”
MacGyver put his pen in his mouth briefly. “According to the current retirement plan he would make about 7500 dollars a year.” He shook his head. “That is terrible, to go from 30 grand to 7500? No one could afford to retire on that.”
Gillian nodded. “Yeah that is pretty bad.”
“We have to convince Tate to go with the standard 50 %, at least that is livable, it isn’t champagne and caviar but its burger and fries at least.”
Min finished her salad and pushed her tray aside. “What about the raise?”
MacGyver sighed. “That is the big one, Bishop’s last contract he submitted to the City Council and Tate called for a 10 % raise, I honestly don’t think that Tate would go for that.”
“So what do you plan to ask for?”
“5 %.” He did the math on what that would mean to Johnny’s salary. “It would raise his salary from 30 to 31500, which would mean 162.50 more a month. How does that sound to you Min?”
“Well they definitely deserve something, I mean 162 bucks isn’t a lot but it’s decent, I think the 5 % is fine.”
MacGyver turned towards his wife. “Gill?”
The redheaded woman nodded. “That’s a good amount, and Min is right, they do deserve something.”
The break for lunch was over and the 5 people were back in the meeting room. MacGyver stood up and addressed the two men.
“Gentlemen I take it your lunch was good and you are ready to get back to business.”
Bishop gave him a nod. “Yeah, it was fine.”
Tate also nodded. “It was good, thank you.”
“Good.”
Gillian stood up and gave everyone a copy of the third contract.
MacGyver scooted out of his chair and walked around the table. “You see before you is contract number 3, this is the one that addresses the issue of the retirement plan. As I said earlier, I think that the 25% that the firemen have now is too low, I propose it be raised to 50%.”
Tate crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t think so, the 25 is more than adequate.”
Bishop scoffed. “It is not and you know that.”
Mac stretched out his hand towards his wife and Gillian stood up, she handed him her notepad. He flipped up the page cleared his throat. “According to our calculations, a fireman/paramedic brings home less than 30000 a year, 25% of that would be 7500 dollars.” He lowered the pad and looked at the city representative sideways. “7500 dollars Mr. Tate, you spend more than that on your suits alone.”
Min pressed her lips together and lowered her head, she was trying so hard not to laugh. She looked over at Gillian, she too had a slight grin in her face.
Robert Bishop didn’t try to hide his laughter, he let it out. “That is a very good point Mr. MacGyver.”
Donald Tate cleared his throat. “30 %.”
Mac shook his head. “That’s 9000, 50%.”
“40 %.”
MacGyver sat down on the edge of the table near the City representative. “12000, no that isn’t good enough, you couldn’t live on that little why should they. I want 50%.”
Tate sighed and shook his head. “All right, 50%.”
Bishop slapped the table, he was happy. “Yes! All right!”
MacGyver smiled and got off of the table, he gave his wife a nod and she stood up and passed out the last contract.
He sat back down between the two women. “Okay Gentlemen, this is going to be double jeopardy here, the first issue I want to talk to you about is the firing of the striking firemen. I think they should be allowed to return to their stations.”
Donald Tate looked at the negotiator. “I thought we had this settled.”
“No, we talked about it but nothing was decided, I want to do that now. First off, are they terminated, before the three of us were brought into this the answer was yes. The City Council has put this in our hands, so I’m asking you Mr. Tate, do they get to return to their jobs or do they lose them because they took a stand?”
The two women turned towards the older man, along with the Robert Bishop, Tate was silent. MacGyver sat back in his chair. “Come on Mr. Tate, don’t tell me you never took a stand against something you didn’t think was fair.”
Donald sighed. “I would be lying to you Mr. MacGyver if I said I have never gone against something.”
Mac nodded. “Then you can understand how anger and frustration can sometimes lead a person to do irrational and illogical things.”
The brown haired looked at his counterpart. “Tate, you know as well as I do that sometimes your temper can get in the way of your judgment. I think we know that better than anyone, if we had been able to keep ours in check the firemen wouldn’t have walked off to begin with.”
Min was watching him, she had her fingers crossed under the table, she was hoping the words that were being spoken to him were getting through his obviously thick skull.
Donald Tate took his glasses off of his face and rubbed his eyes. “All right, they can come back to their jobs.”
MacGyver smiled. “Good, one issue left, and I think you both know what that is, the Fire Department getting a raise.”
Robert Bishop looked at the negotiator. “I propose the LAFD get a 10% raise.”
“All right.” Mac turned his head towards Donald Tate. “Mr. Tate?”
Tate raised an eyebrow. “That is an awful lot, 10 %.”
Min licked her lips and turned towards MacGyver, she cupped her hand to his ear and whispered some things into it. He nodded and she turned forward again.
“My counterpart brings up an excellent point Mr. Tate, the job has a lot of hazards to it, should this not be a factor in your decision? And what about the men that are both firemen and paramedics, that is twice the duty and twice the risk.”
Bishop also nodded. “The young lady makes a point Tate, those men do risk a lot and they do it on a daily basis, they haven’t had a raise in at least 5 years. The last 4 times I proposed it to the city it was rejected.”
MacGyver didn’t think that Tate was even going to discuss the 10% he was going to propose 5% but since things were going so well he decided to keep his mouth shut and see if they could persuade the City representative to go for the 10. “Mr. Tate, I do believe the ball is in your court.”
Tate sighed. “If I agree to the 10% Bishop then it will be at least two years before the City Council will even entertain the idea of another raise for the LAFD.”
Three sets of eyes turned towards the Union representative, Bishop had a little smirk on his face. “So if I push for 10% you won’t talk raise for at least another two years?”
Donald Tate gave him a nod. “Yes, exactly.”
Bishop swallowed hard and cleared his throat, he stood up and stuck out his hand. “Done.”
MacGyver closed his eyes and sighed, he stood up. “Mr. Tate, most gentlemen seal deals with handshakes, do it quick before he changes his mind.”
Donald Tate stood up and shook the Union representative’s hand. “Done.”
They both started smiling as they shook hands, MacGyver was very happy. “You both will receive the contracts first thing this evening, we will hold the press conference and announce the agreement has been reached, see you both back here at 5 pm.”
The two men broke the handshake and shook MacGyver’s hand. “5 pm Mr. MacGyver see you then.”
Mac gave the two gentlemen a nod. “5 pm, Have a good day Gentlemen.”
Tate smiled at the two women. “A pleasure ladies, good day.”
Bishop was ecstatic, he put his coat back on. “I can’t believe we pulled that off.” He looked at the three people. “Thank you so much, the firemen will be grateful to you as well.” He started to leave and MacGyver called out to him, the Union representative turned around.
“The next time you have to deal with the city Bishop, trying looking at things through the eyes of the men you represent, it’ll give you a whole new perspective.”
Robert Bishop gave Mac a smile and a nod. “I’ll try that, see you in a little while.”
He walked out of the room and as soon as the double doors closed, Gillian got up and hugged her husband. “Oh my God Mac we did it!”
Mac sighed and hugged his wife. “Yeah we did. Man that was tough.”
Min was overjoyed, as soon as they let go of each other she turned MacGyver towards her and hugged him. “I knew bringing you in on this was right thing to do, it’s over now and Johnny will be coming home, thank you.”
MacGyver patted her back. “Hey now I couldn’t have done anything without the two of you, you both kept me on the right track.”
Johnny was lying on his bunk with his arm slung over his eyes, he heard the phone ring and Chet poked his head into the bunkhouse. “Gage, phone.”
“Who is it?”
“Who else would be calling you?”
Johnny uncovered his eyes. “Min?”
“Yeah.”
He got out of bed fast and ran into the kitchen, the rest of the men were playing poker, he took the phone from Chet. “Min?”
“Yeah it’s me.”
He smiled. “How’s it going?”
Min started laughing. “Baby its over! Turn on the TV in two hours and you will see Donald Tate and Robert Bishop signing the new contract!”
Johnny’s face bloomed into a huge grin. “You’re kidding?”
“No Honey I’m not!”
He started laughing. “Hold on a second.”
“Okay, go ahead and tell the rest of the guys.”
Johnny covered the phone and looked at the rest of the men, they were watching him. He smiled at all of them. “It’s over! The strike is over!”
The rest of 51 were overjoyed, they took all of their playing cards and tossed them in the air. All of these questions started flying at Johnny.
“The raise?”
“Are the firemen that left fired?”
“The insurance?”
Johnny put the phone back to his ear. “Min what about the raise?”
“10 % Johnny, you guys get your 10%.”
The paramedic was still grinning. “We got the 10?”
Chet started yelling. “Johnny you tell that wife of yours I owe her a big kiss!”
“Ha! Stand in line Chet.” He put the phone back to his ear. “And the men that went on strike?”
“They’ll be back on the job as soon as the ink is dry. The insurance copayments got lowered, the life insurance pay out got raised to 50000, the vision and dental got added, you all got pretty much everything you wanted.”
Johnny sighed and leaned back against the brick wall. “I’m so glad Min, you tell Mac I owe him a steak and lobster dinner for this.”
“I will Baby, I’ll be at the station as soon as the press conference is over.”
Johnny kissed the phone. “I’ll be waiting.”
“I’ll see you soon Honey, bye.”
“Bye.” He hung up the phone and looked at his partner, Roy was smiling.
“It’s over Johnny, we’re going home!”
“I know, it’s great isn’t it?”
The two paramedics were laughing as they hugged each other and kept their arms slung over their shoulders. Both men were happy, exhausted and totally relieved.
The 6 men of Station 51 were all huddled around the television, they saw Min, Gillian and MacGyver standing around the table. Johnny smiled when he saw his wife.
“There’s Min.”
MacGyver had two contracts in his hands and he set them down on both sides of the tables. The doors opened and the two representatives came in and sat down where they had been earlier. Bishop was to Mac’s left, Tate to his right.
“Gentlemen, you know why you have come back here this evening. You both have agreed to all of the terms outlined in this contract.” He leaned forward and pointed to a line. “Mr. Bishop, you sign here.”
Robert Bishop picked up the long black pen and signed his name, he set the pen down.
“Thank you.”
MacGyver turned to the City Representative. “Mr. Tate, you sign here.” He pointed out the line and Donald Tate picked up his long black pen and signed his name.
“Thank you Mr. Tate.”
Mac picked up both contracts and checked to make sure everything was in order, he fanned them to make sure the ink was dry and put them in a black briefcase, he closed it and locked it.
“Gentlemen, thank you for coming, have a good evening.”
The two men got up and walked out of the room, Mac turned towards the camera.
“It is over now LAFD, you got what you wanted, all of you that left your stations can go back now, your jobs are waiting for you. For those of you that stayed you will be getting paid for the 4 days of nonstop shift work. I talked to Chief Forrester and you all have also been given the next 4 days off. Chief Forrester also asked me to give a special message directly to the one station that stuck together.” He smiled. “Station 51, you are very dedicated to your city and your profession and deserve not only his thanks, but the city of Los Angeles’ as well, good job guys. Take the next 4 days off and rest, I think you’ve earned it.”
Mac looked at the press. “Now if all will excuse us, this press conference is over.”
MacGyver picked up the briefcase and offered both of his arms to his female counterparts. Both Min and Gillian took his arms and the threesome walked out of the room.
The news station people covering the press conference didn’t even get a chance to ask any questions of the three negotiators, they were gone that fast.
MacGyver pulled up his black Corvette along the street of the red brick stationhouse, he honked the horn and got out, he moved his seat up and offered Min his hand, she got out and went running up the driveway.
“Johnny?”
The big white door slowly opened and Min saw her husband standing there, she ran up to him and hugged him hard. She closed her eyes and held him tightly to her. Johnny had his arms around her waist and buried his head in her shoulder. He sighed and closed his eyes, it felt so good to hold his wife.
MacGyver and Gillian were standing there watching them, he had his arm slung over his wife’s shoulders, he had a smile on his face. “Look at those two mushies Gill, disgusting ain’t it?”
Gillian sighed. “Yeah please, this is a public place!”
Roy came out to see why he heard a horn blow. He saw his friend; he walked up to MacGyver and slapped him on the back. “Hey MacGyver.”
“Hi Roy, how do you feel?”
“Fantastic, A shift is coming in right now at 6 and we are all out of here.”
MacGyver smiled. “Good, I’m glad you don’t have to wait until the morning to go home.”
Roy shook his hand. “Thanks for settling things, we really appreciate it.”
“No problem, I’m glad I could help.”
Roy smiled at him and went back inside.
Johnny and Min finally let go of each other, Min touched her husband’s face. “You get to come home at 6?”
The paramedic nodded. “Yeah, A shift is coming in so we can leave.”
“I’m glad.”
Johnny touched his forehead to his wife’s. “As soon as the 4 days is up I’m putting in for a two week vacation, I want to take you and Evan somewhere nice.”
“You don’t have to do that Johnny.”
“No, I want to.” He gave his wife a kiss.
Mac winked at his wife. “Oh please, get a room!”
The couple turned towards him and Johnny looked angry, he walked up to his friend. “Get a room? Is that what you think I should do?”
Mac nodded, he face growing serious. “Yeah! Got a problem with that?”
“Yeah I got a problem with that!”
“So what are you going to do about it?”
The two men were standing nose to nose and Johnny smiled widely and stuck out his hand. “Shake your hand.”
Mac started laughing and shook his friend’s hand. “Boy you firemen are tough!”
Johnny shook his head, his face breaking out into a grin. “Thanks Mac, like I told Min, I owe you a steak and lobster dinner for this.”
“Nah, you don’t.”
“No I do, Friday night, how does that sound?”
MacGyver smiled. “Okay, call the house on Thursday night and we’ll figure out where.”
Johnny nodded and slapped his friend’s shoulder. “I will.”
It was only 8 o’clock but the Gage house was dark and quiet. The only sound came from the master bedroom; it was filled with the sounds of deep, restful sleep. Min was lying with her head on her husband’s chest, Johnny had his arm around her shoulders. Evan was lying in the crook of his father’s left arm, the little baby was snuggled against his father’s chest. Johnny opened his eyes and hugged both of them a little tighter to him. He sighed and a small smile came to his lips, he closed his eyes and went back to sleep.