Author's Note: I think I may have taken two prompts from Lilacmermaid over on LiveJournal. Mainly, I'm borrowing the when Mac is at her most upset, the only way she can sleep is spooned up behind Will, her face buried in the back of his neck prompt. But I guess I'm also mixing in the whole their physical relationship has changed prompt a little too. Thanks for the inspiration. Oh and of course The Newsroom still doesn't belong to me.

Will knew when they got back together things would be different. They couldn't just pick up where they left off. Well, in all honesty, who would want to pick up where they left off? He distinctly remembers screaming a few off color phrases at her and then going silent. Willing her to leave the apartment before he did anything he would regret. He had always feared becoming his father's son. He had avoided that for 40 odd years, and he wasn't going to let Mackenzie cheating on him change that. He left the apartment before he let that happen, thank God. He didn't see her or speak to her again for over three years.

When she returned he was stunned to say the least. Sure, he was damn shocked that she was there, but that wasn't the stunning part. He was stunned that he still felt something for her. Something besides hate. He wasn't quite sure what at the time, but there was something there in the general vicinity of his heart that was telling him to listen to her.

And listen to her he did. Revamped an entire show because he listened to her. Went after Leona Lansing's friends because he listened to her. Got a few more death threats because he listened to her. Fell in love with her again because whenever he listened to her it was his downfall. She had this way of getting him riled up and excited about anything she talked about. Her unyieldingly optimistic view of how journalism could save the world sucked him in every time. It didn't hurt that it all rolled off her tongue in the most beautiful, lilting accent he had ever heard. And it also didn't hurt that he'd always had a thing for tall brunettes with long legs. Let's face it, the whole package. That's what Mackenzie McHale was for him. Always had been, always would be.

So now, here they were. It had taken nearly two years for them to work through all their shit and get to this point. They were officially back together. As in, dating for four months, living together for the last two weeks, and had informed human resources and signed all the necessary documents. They couldn't get more official unless they got married, which he sometimes secretly longed for, but was sometimes terrified to rock the boat. But hey, he had her here with him. In his bed at night, and together at work everyday. What more could he ask for?

Ok, there was one more thing he could ask for. A little guidance on the issue of sleeping with the woman you once knew like a book, but who now has a serious problem with spooning and certain sexual positions. Not always, just occasionally. And that's where the confusion lies for Will.

Things could be going so well for a few days or a couple of weeks and then bam, in the middle of the night he gets an elbow to the ribs when he reaches around Mackenzie's waist to pull her against him. And she has some bony little elbows. If this didn't stop soon he was going to be doing the nightly news from the orthopedic ward of the hospital.

He was getting desperate. He hadn't really seen all that much of Dr. Habib since he and Mac had worked things out. The man had helped them through a lot. He and Mackenzie had even struggled through several sessions together in order to mend their broken relationship. Will respected the man and owed him some gratitude, but he just couldn't imagine talking to Doogie Houser, M.D. about getting the crap kicked out of him in bed with Mackenzie. Had it come to this?

Two weeks later Will had that question answered for him when Mackenzie gave him a black eye at about 2:30 in the morning. What he had done, he had no idea.

"Damn it Mac, what the hell?!" he roared from his side of the bed.

"Will…what's wrong?" came the sleepy voice next to him.

"I have to be on the air in about fifteen hours…probably just in time for my eye to be swollen shut" he replied.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about you socking me in the eye, that's what I'm talking about!"

He heard more than saw the lamp being switched on from Mackenzie's side of the bed, as he was still holding his hand over his face.

"I did that?" Mackenzie asked meekly.

"Yeah, you did that Mackenzie…and it's not the first time, so maybe we could try to figure out why you're repeatedly beating the shit out of me in your sleep? I'm starting to think your subconscious didn't really want us back together." Will left the room in search of an icepack in hopes of being presentable for work by 8pm tonight. Either make-up was going to have to do one hell of a job or Elliot would be filling in for him tonight.

As he stood next to the refrigerator holding some frozen peas to his eye, Mac appeared near the bar.

"I'm sorry" she said quietly.

"I know you are" he replied walking toward her and pulling her into his side. "But we have to figure out why you're doing this before the next TMI cover story is about our abusive relationship."

"There is no TMI anymore" Mackenzie whispered.

"That's not the point and you know it Mac."

"I know…I honestly have no idea what happened. You have to believe me Will. There's nothing else in this world I wanted more than another chance with you and I got it. You can't possibly believe I have some deep seated need to run you off now?" She had begun pacing the length of the kitchen as she said this.

"No, I don't think that Mackenzie, but I think that whatever is going on needs to be dealt with or we are seriously going to have to consider separate bedrooms."

"Well then, get me to the shrink as soon as possible. We've wasted too much time and waded through too much crap to end up sleeping apart now."

"Is that what you think you need Mac? If that's it I'm right there with you, if you want me to be. Or I'll be here at home waiting for you if you need to do this by yourself?" As he said this he caught her hands in his and stopped her pacing.

"I don't have the first clue what I need Will…until tonight I had no idea I was abusing my significant other on a regular basis."

"Semi-regular" he replied.

"What do you mean semi-regular?"

"You can go for days or weeks without so much as a tap and then suddenly my night seems like a professional wrestling match. I've been trying to figure out a pattern. At first I thought it was just when you were over tired."

"I'm always over tired" Mackenzie replied.

"Yeah aren't we all. But no Mac, not just a really long day or week, but exhaustion. But then it happened once after we'd been away all weekend in the Hamptons. You'd slept like a baby for two days, then I got an elbow to the ribs on Sunday night. I honestly can't figure out what the hell set you off."

"Why didn't you tell me this before Billy?"

"I don't know…things were going so well. We'd worked so hard to put everything back together. Hell, if anyone ever told me I'd be doing couples counseling before we were technically even a couple again I would have laughed in their face and told them that was about as likely as me voting for Michelle Bachman for President."

"Ok, I get the point. But apparently I've been doing this for months now. Were you going to start sneaking out of the bedroom at night to sleep on the couch and then sneak back in before I woke in the morning?"

"I don't know Mac. I don't know what I was planning. I guess I was hoping this would go away or that I'd figure out what was causing it. I'm not trying to bring up a sore subject here, but am I the only person this has happened with?"

"Are you asking me if I regularly kick the asses of all the men I sleep with or if I only enjoy kicking your ass?"

"Diplomatic as ever Ms. McHale" Will replied. "I know you didn't previously enjoy beating me in my sleep. So I guess I'm asking if this is a new thing in the last five years?"

"I didn't really sleep with anyone that often since you Will."

"Look Mac, I'm not asking you to detail every sexual encounter for me, I'm just asking …" he trailed off.

"I know what you're asking Billy. And I'm telling you that, while yes I did have sex with Brian while you and I were together, and yes I had sex with Wade when he and I dated, I haven't actually spent an entire night with anyone since you and I were together. So I can't really compare experiences for you."

"What?" he asked slightly shocked.

"I may have spent a few hours in bed with Wade if we didn't get to one of our apartments until quite late, but I'm fairly certain I haven't spent more than four hours in a bed with someone since you and I split. And I don't seem to recall him leaving my place with a black eye."

"Ok, then it is just me. Well, this didn't use to happen, Mac. So either you still have some unresolved issues with what happened between us or…" he stopped abruptly. He could suddenly see her sitting in the sunroom of their rented house in the Hamptons as clearly as if they were still there. It had been their first real vacation together since they had reconciled. They had had a wonderful extended weekend together sailing, walking the beach, eating at all the wonderful little seaside restaurants and spending long lazy afternoons together. He didn't think either one of them had felt so relaxed in five years. It was exactly what they needed. That was why he had been so surprised when Mackenzie kicked him in the shin in the middle of the night. Had he not woken up and stopped her next blow he likely would have been rendered impotent by her left foot as it headed straight for his groin. He hadn't expected her to have this issue here. Like he had told her just moments ago, the previous couple of times something like this had happened Mackenzie had been exhausted. He had just assumed her overly tired subconscious hadn't quite caught up with the fact that they were back together again. Perhaps occasionally she was still startled that someone was in the bed with her and she lashed out. He had hoped it would pass, but that weekend and the incident tonight were showing him that was unlikely.

But his mind sent him back to that picture of her in the sunroom. He had been making dinner for them in the kitchen. It was going to be awhile. He was making sauce and bread from scratch, so Mackenzie settled into the large overstuffed chair in the sunroom intent on catching up with every newspaper, magazine and 60 Minutes episode she had missed over the last few years. Things she hadn't seen while in Pakistan and things she had missed while working herself to death preparing their own shows. While most journalists try their best to keep up with other journalists work, a lot of things can fall by the wayside when you're working fifteen hour days and trying to build a new relationship with your old boyfriend. And that's when the first stirrings of realization hit Will. He could remember coming into the sunroom at one point to offer her some wine and she had been staring at the television screen blankly watching a 60 Minutes interview from more than a year ago. It was the Lara Logan interview. The one detailing the attack on the female journalist while covering the uprising in Egypt. Now that Will thought back on it, so much of what Mackenzie had read or watched that day had probably had to do with the Arab Spring and with the goings on in the Middle East. God, how could he have been so stupid, so blind? If he thought back to the other times Mackenzie had lashed out they had probably been working on a story about the Middle East or an attack on a journalist or a westerner caught in the warzone.

"Or what Billy?" Mackenzie asked, snapping him back to the present.

"Nothing Mac. Ok, not nothing. I think maybe I have an idea. Just let me roll it around in my head for a bit before I stick my foot in my mouth ok?" he asked her.

"Ok, but Will? Promise me we'll work this out, whatever it is?" Mackenzie asked him uncertainly. He hated that she could still feel so unsure of their future together. He pulled her to him and tucked her head under his chin.

"Of course we will. We didn't come this far to split up because you become the Tasmanian Devil when you fall asleep. We'll deal with it Mac, I promise."

Continue? I sort of had a plan for further chapters but got kind of caught up in this one. Is it worth it?