The characters you recognize are not mine and I thank Mr. Sorkin for letting me play with them.

Rated because although I don't curse as heavily as they do in the show but there are some "adult" words.

This starts immediately after the broadcast in 2x5.

I hope you enjoy, thank you for reading.

Will's phone was to his ear the moment he left the desk and made a bee line to his office. He knew Mackenzie would be close behind but he hoped he could make it to the sanctuary and relative privacy of his office before he embarrassed himself further.

"I didn't expect you to call so soon." Caroline's voice was quiet on the other end of the line.

"I told you I'd call back as soon as the show was over. It's over now." Will could hear his sister's sigh on the other end of the line.

"I know, we watched. It's what they had on in the waiting room."

Will closed his eyes and hung his head. "Just now? Why are you still in the waiting room?"

"Believe it or not William, when someone dies they don't just let you walk out the door with the body. There's paperwork and waiting for things to be processed and figuring out what to do next and whatever other bullshit. I don't know, Mark's here now, I've let him take over because I was going to smack the next person who gave me something to sign." Will slumped down into his chair.

"I'm sorry Caroline. You shouldn't have to deal with all of that."

"Really? I shouldn't? Who should then? Because somebody was going to have to and I was the only one here."

"Jesus, I..." His office door opened and he jerked around, unsurprised to see Mackenzie standing in the doorway. He pointed to the phone against his ear and hoped she'd back out but of course he could never count on her to do what he wanted and instead she stepped in fully, shutting the door behind her and sitting in one of the empty chairs. Giving her a momentary glare he turned his attention back to his phone.

"I'm sorry. Okay? What do you want from me right now? I'm sorry I'm in New York and you live in Waverly. I'm sorry that this happened now and not sometime when I was there. I'm sorry this happened at all! Damnit Caroline! I'm sorry." He balanced his elbows on his knees and tried to forget that Mackenzie was observing him from across the desk.

Caroline sighed, "No Will, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap, it's just...it's just not easy, you know?"

"Yeah..." he breathed into the phone.

There was a long pause before Caroline's voice came back, "How are you doing?"

Will sat back in his chair and shrugged despite knowing his sister couldn't see him, "Fine."

There was another audible sigh, "No you're not."

"Caroline..." Will put on his best casual voice but she cut him off.

"No. I saw the broadcast William. I saw you freeze. You can't lie to me. I know it's complicated, I know you may not be certain about what's in your head right now but don't think you can get away with lying to me."

He rolled his eyes but could not come up with a sufficient response so he remained silent.

Caroline broke the silence, "I was surprised you called. You know, before. On his phone."

Will closed his eyes and leaned back, "I told you, I was trying to leave a message for him."

"Yeah, that would have been nice. It was just surprising is all."

Without thought Will opened his eyes looked over at Mackenzie. "I had a little prodding." He conceded.

"Mackenzie?"

Will was thankful for the neutrality in Caroline's tone. His sister had reacted with unexpected vitriol when Will had mentioned how Mac was back in his life. She had relaxed a bit over the past 2 years as Will himself came to begrudgingly accept and appreciate Mackenzie again but Caroline still seemed obstinately unwilling to yield her dislike for his EP.

"Yeah. Of course." Will confirmed.

"I wish she would stop meddling in places she doesn't belong. I don't understand why she can't understand what a professional boundary is." Caroline snapped.

This time it was Will's turn to sigh. "You just said it would have been nice."

"Yeah, nice of you to call him only if that's what you really wanted to do. She doesn't need to be pushing you to do anything, especially when it comes to stuff with Dad. She doesn't know William. She may think she does but she can't possibly understand, nobody can and I can't believe you're willing to let her keep pushing you around still. One of these days you'll realize how toxic it is and it's all going to fall to pieces and you're going to have no one around to help you put it back together again."

Will shook his head, "Are we back to me being in New York again? I thought we resolved this 2 whole minutes ago."

Caroline was quiet, "I just worry about you, Big Brother. And I miss you. Everything is better when you're around."

Will rubbed the back of his neck. "And I'm sorry I'm not. But I will be. I'll be on a plane first thing tomorrow morning."

"What about your show? The funeral won't be for a couple of days."

Will smirked, "Tomorrow is Saturday. I don't have to be here on weekends. If we have the funeral by Monday morning I can be back in time for Monday night's broadcast."

"Yeah, okay. Text me your flight info and one of us will come pick you up."

"Don't worry about it, I'll rent a car. I'll be at the farm by noon."

"Okay." Came his sister's tired reply.

"Love you, tell Mark the same and I'll see you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow."

Will grimaced when the call came to an end. He considered for a moment pretending to extend the call so that maybe eventually Mackenzie would leave the room and he could get by without being smothered by her overwhelming empathy.

He caught her looking steadfast at him and canned the idea.

"You know you don't need to worry about being back in time for Monday's broadcast." She said immediately as he brought the phone away from his ear. "Or any broadcast next week. You should take whatever time you want without thinking about work."

Will didn't say anything but he smiled sadly at Mackenzie. He couldn't agree with his sister; despite his best efforts Mackenzie McHale would always be something special to him. Even if he wasn't willing to give voice to what his pot addled mind was willing to say he had become comfortable with admitting that Mac was his best friend. Yet, despite the warm feelings he had toward her and how he disagreed with his sister's objections, he did agree that she just couldn't understand.

"I don't want to take any time. The weekend will be enough." He replied, leveling her with the same unaffected stare he gave her right before the end of the broadcast.

Speaking of which...

"What in God's name was that about?!" Charlie came barging into the room.

Will remained his seat and watched with detached amusement when Mac jumped up and stood between Charlie and the desk.

"Charlie, please, it's okay..." she started and Will smirked while vaguely wondering how she was going to handle this.

"It's okay? 35 seconds of dead prime time air followed by a cryptic statement is okay from the network's top anchor? If that's your definition of OK than I suggest you buy yourself a dictionary!"

Will stood up, intent on saving Mackenzie from herself and the awkwardness she was sure to create.

"Charlie, I'm sorry, I just froze for a minute because I just..." he stopped. The words weren't there, all his mind could conjure was the image his Dad showing him how to throw a proper pitch. He shook his head, "It just..." he looked at Charlie's not so patiently waiting face begin to slide into concern and Mackenzie's fixed look of empathy and he could hear his father asking him why he wouldn't be coming home for Christmas again last year. He swallowed away the memory, "I'm sorry, it's just that my..."

Why couldn't he say it? He was able to say it a few minutes ago to Mac. His eyes locked with her's and the tears she was triumphantly holding at bay.

He saw the image of his Dad, near tears at his mother's funeral. Heard the pride in his voice when he called to tell him Mark had a professorship at a local college. The smirk on his face when he met Mackenzie years ago and for once in his life, nodded his approval. Will felt as if had just been sucker-punched and was finding it difficult to breath. He let out a cough that sounded closer to a sob and looked away in shame as he dropped back into his chair. Why was it suddenly so hard to even think it?

Other images cropped up, images of times that had never happened; He and his Dad sitting on the porch and talking about why he had acted the way he had during Will's youth...Putting his broad hand on Will's shoulder and apologizing...talking about what he thought of the show, that he didn't think Will was wasting his life...Coming to Will's wedding in that same old tweed suite of his...Will introducing him to New York...Introducing him to his child...

Mackenzie was crouched in front of him in an instant, her hand on his arm grounded him and pulled him away from the slide show of 'what ifs' and 'will nevers' that had begun playing in fast forward through his mind.

"It's okay Billy. Cry or scream or blank out if you need to. It's okay. It really is. What ever you need to do or say...Charlie and I aren't going to judge you, we're just here for you."

Charlie tentatively stepped forward and in a softer voice than Will had imagined he could use, "Will. What's happened? Please tell me."

Will looked up with red, dry eyes and looked from Mackenzie to Charlie. The closest to family he had in a thousand mile radius and he found himself profoundly overwhelmed. It seemed like a long time before he could fully pull himself from his reflections and manage to choke out, "My dad died during the broadcast tonight."

Charlie stepped back with the revelation and Will focused on breathing steady. He felt Charlie's hand land solidly on his shoulder and give a comforting squeeze. "Do you want a drink?"

Will laughed harshly and met Charlie's eyes with his most cynical gaze,

"I wouldn't know how to drink it. Would I be sipping in mourning or tossing it back in celebration?"

Charlie blinked and hung his head at the comment and the office again fell silent.

Mackenzie broke the stillness, "I don't see why you shouldn't do both."

Will met her eyes for a long moment before a small, sad smile grew on his face. Perhaps she understood more than he thought.