The morning pitch meeting was breaking up and Mac was walking out with Will. They were chatting and all was going well with the show. They were gaining new viewers and seemingly making a difference.

"I'll see you later," Mac said, going into her office. Will continued on to his office. Mac grabbed her purse and left the newsroom not telling anyone where she was going.

Will walked over to Mac's office to see if she wanted to grab some lunch a few minutes later, but she'd disappeared. "I saw her leave a few minutes ago," Jim said to Will.

"Thanks." Will went back to his office, figured out what he wanted for lunch and grabbed his replacement bodyguard as Lonny was off today.

They walked to a little restaurant that Will liked by Columbus Circle. The restaurant was busy so Will waited at the bar to place his order. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Mackenzie. She was having lunch with a guy who looked familiar to him. He kept going over mutual friends and nothing came up. He heard Mac laugh and saw her grab this guy's hand. When Will heard the guy speak he knew exactly who he was. He was in the CNN Talent Management Group. He'd tried to get Will to go to CNN a while back. What was Mac doing talking to him? Was she dating him, they looked awfully cozy and she did keep touching him. Or was she looking for a new job, or both?

Will placed his order and watched them until his order was ready. He couldn't decide if he was hurt or mad, or both. Fuck her. He grabbed his food and left with his bodyguard.

Later in the afternoon they were all meeting in the conference room to talk about the evening's broadcast. Mac was happy and joking around with the staff. She asked Will if he wanted to talk about a story that Jim was pitching and he flatly said, "no."

"Come on, Will."

"I said no."

"What if we," she started and he cut her off.

"Do you not understand fucking English, Mac? I said no," he yelled and walked out of the meeting.

Mac continued on with the rest of the group, but she was definitely more subdued now.

Usually after a blow up Will would apologize and they'd move on and his apologies generally came quickly, but he hadn't approached her and the final meeting before the broadcast was about to start.

Will showed up as she was starting the meeting, dropping his notebook on the table. It was clear to everyone there that he didn't want to be in this meeting. He wouldn't answer in more than one word answers and wouldn't give any guidance to any of the producers. When Mac finally said thank you to everyone in the meeting he was the first out of his chair and didn't say anything to her.

Mac walked to his office and he wasn't there. Charlie was walking toward Will's office, looking for him, too.

"Do you know where he is," Charlie asked her.

"I was going to ask you. Do you know why he's so pissed off?"

"That's why I'm looking for him. I'm not sure what's happened but I need to get it fixed."

"If I see him before the broadcast I'll send him your way," Mac said.

He came into the studio with about five minutes before airtime and put in his earpiece.

"Will," he heard in his ear.

"What," he replied harshly.

"Are you all right?"

"Just great."

The broadcast went well but as soon as they were clear Will was out of the chair and in his private bathroom changing. He quickly left the building so he wouldn't have to hear about her plans for the night, or listen to her talk about why he was such a bastard today.

He avoided her phone calls, finally turning his phone off.

Mac called Charlie to let him know that she hadn't been able to talk to him to find out what was wrong and that he'd left immediately after the show.

"I'll find him first thing tomorrow, Mac. Don't worry about it, I'll take care of the problem."

Mac went home and couldn't stop thinking about Will and his very strange behavior. She didn't sleep much as she was too wound up about Will and his problem.

The next morning Mac was waiting for Will to come into the office. Once he was in his office she called Charlie to let him know Will was here. She wanted to know what was going on with Will. She left her office and walked over to his where Charlie was currently talking with Will.

"What," he demanded from Mac.

"I was just coming to say good morning."

"Leave me alone," he said essentially dismissing her.

Charlie had never seen them act this way. It was unprofessional and it was not them. He'd had enough.

"Both of you come with me, now," Charlie said.

Charlie took them upstairs to a conference room. "Go on in," he said. Mac walked in first and then Will. "You will be spending as long as it takes to work out whatever is going on with the two of you. Give me your phones," he said holding out his hand. "This door is going to be locked leaving you two to work it out. I'll be back to check on your progress.

It was an empty conference room with no furniture. There was a wall of glass and a built in refrigerator in the room.

Will was pacing back and forth along the wall. She could see him getting madder and madder, yet she had no idea why he was mad. "Will," she started.

He reeled around and looked at her.

"Sorry," she said and walked to the doorway, checking to see if it was truly locked. It was, Charlie had locked them in a room together to work out whatever the problem was, but the bigger problem was that she had no idea what the original problem was and Will wasn't willing to share.

Mac leaned against the wall and watched him pace. "Charlie's not going to let us out until we talk."

He paced back toward her, "so now you want to talk," he said gruffly.

"What the fuck, Will? Is it me, what have I done?"

He laughed cynically and paced to the window and back. "Tell me about lunch yesterday?"

"What about it, I went out."

"So either you're dating again, or you're job hunting, which is it," he demanded and was in her space. She turned to walk away from him and he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back in front of him, against the wall. He had her hand bent backwards and against the wall. "No, tell me."

She tried to pull away and he tightened his grip on her wrist. "Tell me," he yelled.

"You're hurting my arm," she said calmly but he didn't hear her, or he wasn't processing what she said. He had her pinned to the wall, not letting her move.

He was heavier and taller, there was no way she was going to be able to get away from him and he was scaring her.

She whimpered and looked up at him and said, "Billy." He finally saw how he'd frightened her and he immediately let her go and stepped back. She walked over to the wall of windows and looked out.

"Mac," he started but now it was her turn to be mad.

"Sit your ass down," she said pointing to the other side of the room. They were both against the glass wall, Will on the floor and Mac moving around, holding her arm to herself.

"Did I hurt you," he asked.

"Fuck, Will."

"You should press charges."

"Because that is exactly what we need. No this stays between you and me." She leaned her head back against the wall and slid down so she was sitting across from him, with her knees propped up in front of herself. She rested her arm on her legs.

He could see her crying. He wasn't sure if it was because she was hurt, physically or emotionally. He got up and looked in the refrigerator to see if there was any ice. There wasn't, but there was a cold soda, which was better than nothing. He took the soda and placed it within her reach and went back to sit across from her. "Hold that against your arm, it will help some."

She placed the soda against her arm and winced. He was getting up and she said, "sit your ass back down."

He was doing exactly as she asked. He hated to see how much damaged he'd done to her and to them.

"Mac," he started to say when she interrupted him.

"Shut up, just sit there and let me think."

He was playing by her rules now. She adjusted the soda can on her wrist, trying to ease the hurt. She closed her eyes and he saw the tears on her cheeks. He started hitting his head against the wall.

"Stop." When he didn't stop she said, "Will, I know this was an aberration."

"Doesn't make it any less abhorrent."

"Come sit next to me," she said. He got up and sat next to her, making sure not to touch her. He didn't want to cause her any more pain or discomfort, or scare her. That was what was causing him the most pain right now, her being scared of him.

"May I see how your wrist is doing," he asked.

She moved the soda can and he saw the marks his fingers made on her wrist and how it was swelling. "Do you need to go to the emergency room?"

She shook her head and put the can back on, covering the bruises. "It's swollen and bruised. There's nothing broken."

He desperately wanted to touch her and hold her, but he couldn't, he wouldn't.

"What was this about," she asked.

"I saw you with the guy from the CNN Talent Group at lunch yesterday."

"So," she replied.

"Are you dating him?"

"I'm not sure how it's any of your concern who I date, or don't date."

"I thought we had an unspoken agreement."

She looked at him and said, "you're going to have to explain that one to me."

"If you're dating, you aren't waiting on me to get my act together."

"How was I supposed to know this?"

He shrugged his shoulder. "Or you're job hunting. Either way you're leaving me."

"So instead of asking me about my lunch yesterday, you've been a bastard toward me and our entire staff, and Charlie, for twenty four hours."

"Are you job hunting?"

"We've got to settle this, Will. Either you want me or you don't want me. I can work with you, I can be your partner and your friend and nothing romantic ever happen again between us, or we decide we want to work on us and we talk about everything. I can't keep doing this."

"How can I just be your partner when I love you so much?"

"Is that why you've been angry, you think I'm leaving you, one way or another?"

He nodded.

"My lunch yesterday was with my cousin, Jason. Yes, he works for CNN's Talent Group, but he's not recruiting me. We were catching up on family gossip. I'm where I want to be and I'm not going anywhere. You have no reason to be jealous of anyone. I'm not dating and I haven't dated anyone since Wade."

"I'm so sorry about your arm. I never thought I'd hurt you."

"This was an aberration, not who you are. You fight with words, not your hands."

"You have every right to hate me and never want to see me ever again."

"But I don't."

"You have no idea how bad I feel."

She smiled at him, "trust me, I do," she said and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Touché. Why aren't you madder at me?"

"You will do a better job beating yourself up over this than I ever would. I'm really not mad, I'm more hurt."

"Emotionally?"

She nodded against his shoulder.

"I'm sorry."

"I know."

"But that doesn't make it any better, does it, Mac?"

"You scared me today. I know that's not you, but nonetheless you had me against a wall with my arm bent backwards and you wouldn't let go. Am I scared of you generally speaking? No, I'm not. Today was just fucked up."

"I swear to you that will never happen again. If I have a question, I'm coming to you to talk about the issue, whatever it is, Mac."

"Good."

"As long as you want to hear me."

"I want you, Will, in every sense of the word. I want to be your partner and your lover and your best friend. But you've got to let me in in order for any of those things to happen," she said and held out her uninjured hand to him.

He immediately laced their fingers together and squeezed. "I want you, too, Mac. We need to start with a clean slate. I have no room to question you any more about Brian."

"A truly clean slate? Nothing gets brought back up in a few months?"

"Truly clean," he said. "May I hold you?"

She moved on to his lap and laid her head on his shoulder. He took the soda can and held it against her arm for her. He could really see the bruising starting to color. "I'm so sorry, Mac," he said kissing her temple.

"Clean slate. We're done with this, we move on."

"I think Dr. Habib and I are going to be talking about this for a while."

"Do something for me?"

"Anything."

"Forgive yourself for this. I don't want this getting in our way. You don't have to ask to touch me, or hold me."

"I promise to try but I think I won't be getting the image of you scared out of my brain anytime soon."

"As long as you know that I'm okay and we're okay."

He nodded.

They heard the door being unlocked and Charlie walked in to them sitting on the floor, her on his lap. "Are you all right, Mac? What happened?"

"Nothing, I'm fine, Charlie," she said but didn't move to get out of Will's arms.

"Are you letting us out," Will asked.

Charlie could tell Will was calm and whatever had been wrong was now right, or on the way to being made right. "We've got one more show to do this week and it won't produce itself. Come on."

Will helped Mac stand and got up himself. He had his arm around her waist. "Let's get some ice for your arm," he said to her.

They made their way downstairs. She went to the kitchen for some ice and he went into his office.

She was prepping for their mid afternoon meeting in the conference room when he walked in and sat next to her. "You okay?"

She nodded and finished writing in her notebook. When she looked at him she could tell he was still beating himself up. "Are you?"

"Getting there. I want a couple of minutes to talk to the staff, okay?"

"Sure. They should be in here in a few minutes."

Jim walked in and saw Will in his seat, "I can come back," he offered.

"No, sit," Will said getting out of his chair and moving down to his normal seat.

"Thanks."

The remainder of the staff came in, along with Charlie.

"Before we get started Will wanted to speak to you all, Will," Mac said.

"I owe each of you an apology. My behavior yesterday and today were unacceptable. I apologize. Know that I care about your ideas and want to help you with them as I can. You can always come to me. I apologize."

Jim said, "thanks," and everyone else echoed him.

"Thank you, Will," Mac said. "Now let's go around and tell me where we are with our stories."

Will listened intently, giving feedback and guidance as necessary. It was probably one of their most productive meetings in a while. Mac saw Charlie smile at Will and nod his head.

The staff and Will filed out of the conference room after their meeting leaving Charlie and Mac alone. He came to sit in the chair next to her. "Are you all right?"

"I'll be glad when this day is done, Charlie."

"Not too much longer, kid. Do you need to talk about what happened to your arm?"

She thought about it for a minute and said, "As long as this stays between us."

Charlie nodded his head, agreeing with her request.

"I had lunch yesterday with my cousin, Jason. Jason works for CNN's Talent Group. Evidently Will saw us having lunch."

"He assumed you were leaving him, one way or another and he couldn't deal with the idea you were leaving him."

"Exactly. Anyway when you locked us in the room he was being a bastard and I tried to get him to talk, but he didn't want to and he accused me of leaving and was in my face," she said wiping a tear from her cheek, "I started to walk away from him and he grabbed my arm and held me against the wall. He was furious. I'm not sure I've ever seen him that angry. He was hurting me and I finally called him Billy and got through to him and he let me go and backed off."

"Is the ice helping?"

"Some."

"You know how sorry he's going to be about this incident and ashamed. He loves you more than anything, Mac and this was just fucked up. He'd never hurt you, you know that, right?"

"He scared me today, Charlie," she said wiping her tears away again.

Charlie took her hand and asked, "are you two okay now?"

"Yes, but I'm sure we're not done talking about what happened. He let it go too easily. I fully expect him to show up at the brownstone later tonight."

"Do you want to see him? I can find things for him to do."

"I need today to be over with so I can go home and regroup and try to get the image of him holding me against a wall in anger out of my head."

"I'm sorry that happened. Do you want me to talk to him?"

"You can see how he is and see if he brings it up, he may not."

Charlie smiled at her. "Okay, he's going to tell you," she said returning his smile.

"I'm sorry you got hurt. I'd never intentionally put you in that situation."

"I know that, Charlie. This is in no way is your fault."

"Thanks. I'm going to go talk to Will. If you need anything, and I mean anything, you let me know, okay?"

"Thanks, Charlie."

He left the conference room and walked into Will's office and sat down. Will was up staring out his window. He knew Charlie had been talking to Mac. "I scared her today."

"I heard."

"Is she all right?"

"She will be. You made Mac cry today, that should tell you all you need to know. Mackenzie, crying in the conference room."

"I fucked up today, more than normal."

"How are you going to fix it," Charlie asked.

"It would be easier if she'd yell or something, but she's not. She's hurt, physically and emotionally."

"Do you want to fix this?"

Will spun around quickly, "of course. I love Mac, you know that, I need to fix this as soon as possible."

"You need to see it from her perspective, not just your own and your need to fix the situation to get yourselves back to normal."

"I need her to talk to me, really tell me what she is feeling, not what she thinks I want or need to hear, but the whole story."

"That's what is going to take work," Charlie said getting up. "Make sure you do fix this," he said and walked out.

The show went off without any problems and Will came to Mac's office to say good night. He knocked on her door.

When she looked up he could tell how tired she was, "good show."

"Thanks, you, too."

"Did you need something?"

"I just came to say good night."

"Thanks," she said gathering her things. He left her doorway and was back in his office when she actually left. All she wanted to do was to go home and soak in hot water and forget today.

She made her way to the brownstone and saw that her Christmas tree had been delivered. She put her things down in the entryway and went to look at the tree. It was about seven feet tall and very full. She checked to see if the tree needed water but it didn't. She always purchased a tree that could be replanted later.

She wanted a hot bath and a glass of wine. She poured her wine and went up to the master bedroom suite and into the bathroom. She started running water in the huge tub and began undressing. She relaxed in the tub and thought about all that had happened today. She decided she wasn't scared of Will, but that his actions hurt her more than she realized.

When she was done with her bath she put on a pair of yoga pants with a long sleeve t-shirt and went down to find the decorations for the tree. She put on the lights and the ribbon and a large star at the top. It looked very nice. That's when she heard the doorbell ring.

Will was standing on her stoop when she opened the door. "Hi," he said.

"Hi, come on in."

He was looking around. "May I take your coat?"

He took his coat off and gave it to her. He was dressed in jeans and a button down. She hung his coat next to hers. "Come on in," she said leading him into the living room.

"Nice," he said looking at the tree.

"I was just finishing up with it for the night."

"If you're tired, I can go," he offered.

She shook her head. "I knew I'd see you at some point tonight. It's fine." She sat in a chair across from the sofa, where he sat down.

"It looks different in here."

He hadn't been to the brownstone in a long time, years probably, at least not since she'd been at News Night.

"Sir David had it remodeled a while back. You want the tour?"

"Sure," he said getting up.

She showed him all the changes that had been made and took him into the kitchen. There were professional stainless steel appliances throughout with a refrigerator that had a frosted glass door. He could see no food inside.

"Have any of these ever been used?"

"The refrigerator when I have leftovers."

"This is a gorgeous kitchen, Mac." She took him upstairs and showed him how the bedrooms had been remodeled so that now every room had an en suite bathroom.

"The entire third floor is the master bedroom suite," she explained.

He could see her in here. There was a king size bed, a sitting area and a huge wardrobe area full of cabinets and drawers all done in a lighter colored wood. "Are all of these full," he asked smiling at her.

"Nowhere close," she replied and led him into the bathroom. There was a separate shower done with pebbles and no door and a huge tub. He smiled knowing she loved a bath.

"Is there still a rooftop deck," he asked.

"There is, come on," she said and led him up to the deck. She had a great view of the park. There were tiny lights everywhere and a fireplace had been put up here since he was last here.

"I love this brownstone," he said. "I always have."

"Me, too." She shivered and he saw she was cold.

"Let's go back inside where you'll be warm."

They went back to the living room where she turned on the fireplace. "At least the one of the terrace uses real wood," she said.

"Gas is easy, but you don't get the smell of the wood."

She was standing in front of the fire and he was sitting on the sofa watching her. "Can we talk," he asked.

She nodded.

"Will you sit with me?"

She sat down on the sofa next to him and turned, tucking her leg under herself, keeping space between them.

He moved so he was mirroring her position. With his fingers he gently tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear. "I love you, Mac."

"I love you, too."

"I hurt you today and that's killing me. How is your arm?"

"It's okay," she said shrugging her shoulder.

"How are you, emotionally?"

She didn't respond and he said, "please tell me."

"I'm a mess," she whispered, and swiped at the tear that was coming from her eye.

"Can I do anything," he offered.

"I need to sleep and that may help some. I didn't sleep well last night."

"Why?"

"Worried about you and what was going on."

"Mac…."

"Whether we are dating or not, that doesn't mean I stop caring, Will."

"I'm sorry."

"I know, it's okay."

He wiped the tear from her cheek. "What else is going on in that beautiful head of yours?"

She shook her head.

"It's okay," he said. "When you're ready. You know you can tell me anything, right? Even if it's about me."

"Yes," she said laying her head against the back of the sofa.

"How about I go and let you get some sleep and we'll talk some more tomorrow."

She didn't want him to leave. She just wanted to be with him and work out what she was feeling.

"Will you stay," she asked quietly.

"As long as you want, sweetheart."

They sat there on the sofa together, not talking for a while, just sitting together, not touching. He saw her yawn and asked, "do you want to go to bed? I can sleep in one of the guest rooms."

"You can sleep where ever you are comfortable," she said getting off the sofa and held her hand out to him, which he immediately took. "Where would you like to sleep?"

"With you, if that's all right with you."

"It is," she said and led them upstairs. "I'll lay out an extra toothbrush for you," she said going into the bathroom.

When she returned he had turned down the bed.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. I'll be right back," he said going into the bathroom. When he returned she as already in bed. He had taken off his clothes and came out in a t-shirt and his boxers. He slid into bed and turned on his side so he could watch her.

"Are you okay with me in here," he asked.

She turned onto her side so she was facing him. "I want you here. I need you here to help me sort all of this out in my head."

"Do you want to talk," he asked her.

"Not right now. I just want to lie here with you, is that all right?"

"Yes. Whatever you need, I'm here, Mac."

She scooted over so she could lay her head on his chest and he brought his arm up and around her, holding her close.

"I've missed sleeping with you," she said quietly.

"Are we okay, Mac?"

She lifted herself up so she could look at him. "We will be," she said and leaned down to gently kiss him. When she started to pull away, he placed his hand on the back of her head and pulled her to himself, kissing her gently and letting go.

"I love you, Mac. You challenge me, you argue with me, you love me and you show me every day how much you care."

"Billy," she said, lifting herself up again. "I do love you, so much."

His hand was playing with her hair. "Come on, lay down and let me hold you. I'll be right here, I'm not going anywhere."

She nodded and rested back against his chest. When she woke many hours later she was still on his chest and his arm was still around her. Her leg was tangled with his. She lifted her head and he said, "good morning, sleepy head."

She mumbled, "good morning," and laid her head back down. "What time is it?"

"Almost eight."

She untangled herself from him and sat up. He was smiling at her. "You okay," he asked.

She nodded and said, "right back," and walked to the bathroom. She was back a couple of minutes later.

"My turn," he said smiling at her as she climbed back in bed and lay on her stomach.

When he got back into bed he lay close to her and rubbed her back. "Nice," she mumbled into her pillow. He kissed the back of her head and turned on his side so he could continue to rub her back.

"Will you take a bath with me?"

"Love to," he said.

She turned her head toward him and said, "I need the intimacy with you."

"Want me to start the bath?"

"I'll do it," she said and got out of bed.

"I'll be right there."

He would do anything to get them past this hurdle of yesterday and if she needed to be close to him, the intimacy as she said, he'd do it for her. He pulled off his t-shirt and walked into the bathroom. She was watching the water run into the tub. "You're father may have remodeled, but this tub is all you, am I right?"

She smiled at him. "I did pick it out. It's not like they are ever here. They prefer the Oxford house. I didn't care about the remodel except for the bathtub. I shopped for a long time before I found this one."

"How do you want to do this," he asked, tucking her hair behind her ear.

"You in back, me in front," she said, stood up and pulled off her shirt and sleep pants.

He pulled his boxers off and stepped into the tub and sat back. She followed him into the tub and leaned back against his chest, his arms coming around her to rest on her stomach.

"Nice," he said as she settled against him.

Her head was resting on his shoulder. She made a contented noise and pulled his head around to her and kissed him. "Thank you," she said after the pulled back.

"You're welcome."

"Can we talk about yesterday," she asked.

"Sure."

She turned so she could see him. "Before we go any further with this conversation know that I desperately love you and am in love with you and only you. There is no one else for me, it's you, Billy."

"I love you and I'm in love with you, I don't think that's ever stopped."

"Yesterday scared me. My emotions last night were all over the place. I feel much better after getting some sleep. Some of that is because of you, you were here, you didn't push and you let me be with you without any strings."

"I scared myself yesterday along with you. I'd never felt that before, never."

"We have very strong emotions when it comes to each other, we always have, and that's not bad, we just need to know to keep them in check. We need to hold each other accountable and not let each other get away with anything."

"Agreed."

"I need to know that when you're feeling whatever, you know you can come talk to me about it, whatever it is that's bothering you."

"I know I can talk to you about anything but knowing and doing are very different. We've lived separate lives for a while and that's going to take some getting used to, Mac."

"I know it won't be easy but nothing worth it ever is, you know that as well as I do."

"I want us, Mac, desperately. I love you. All I can promise you is that I will try my hardest."

"You've got me, Billy. Yesterday was an aberration, we both know that, right?"

He nodded. "I need you to forgive yourself, for me."

"I'll work on it, okay? It's going to take a while for me to get over scaring you. I'll talk to Habib about it, too."

"Okay." She turned so she was resting against his chest again.

They lay together in the tub until the water started to cool off. She lifted herself off of him and turned around so that she was straddling his hips, resting against his thighs. "What are you doing," he asked with his eyes closed.

She was touching his face very gently. He opened his eyes and saw her staring at him. "Hey gorgeous."

She leaned into him and kissed him. Not the gentle kisses from before; these were the kisses of a lover.

"Mackenzie," he moaned when she pulled back. His hands were in her hair. "What do you want to happen?"

"I want us to make love. I want to feel you inside of me."

"I want that, too, Mac. I love you," he said easing her away from him so he could stand up. He got out of the bath and held hid hand out to her to help her out. He grabbed a towel and dried her off, paying especially close attention to her breasts, and then quickly dried himself off. He took her hands and led her back out to the bedroom.

She was lying on the bed and he sat beside her, his hand on her stomach. "Do you want me to wear a condom?"

"No."

He moved between her legs and rested against her, keeping most of his weight on his elbows. They were lazily kissing and stroking one another. They were in no hurry. He kissed his way down to her breast and suckled. She arched herself into him.

"Like that," he asked smiling.

She turned them over and sat up on his thighs. She took his erection in her hand and stroked him. "God, I love you, Mac."

"I love you, too," she said easing herself onto his shaft. They made love quietly, learning what the other liked best, listening to moans and feeling their reaction. When they were finished she was lying on his chest panting and he was holding her close.

"I've missed that," she said.

"Me, too. It feels so right with you, Mac."

Her stomach growled and he laughed. "Are you hungry?"

"Some, we could order take out," she suggested.

"We could use your under utilized kitchen," he teased.

"There's no food here now, but I'll have it stocked and you can work your magic any time you want, how about that?"

"I'd love to. So, for now, do you want me to run get lunch? Is that deli still around the corner?"

"It is, that sounds great."

"Okay," he said rolling her off of himself. He quickly dressed and said, "right back."

He was back in about twenty minutes. She had dressed and sat the table with a bottle of red wine breathing. He rang the doorbell to be let back inside.

She greeted him with a kiss. "Remind me to give you a key later."

"Thanks."

They chatted comfortably over lunch and talked for the rest of the afternoon catching up on each other's personal life. They knew it wouldn't always be easy but as long as they could talk it out, they would work it out..