Hello, all!
I'm super new to The Newsroom fandom but Mackenzie and Will just refuse to leave me alone. So, here is some shameless fluff!
Enjoy!
Dru
Mackenzie McHale couldn't help but feel like she had the best seat to one of the most tragic shows on earth. The funeral procession of an NYPD officer killed in the line of duty crawled steadily along the streets just outside the ACN building. Row after row of police vehicles passed underneath them, lights flashing, a grim reminder of why they were doing this. They had been preparing for over a week now; the procession was expected to create rolling street closures for miles. It was supposed to be Mackenzie's first actual "vacation" since starting with ACN (if she could consider 4 days away from the office to catch up on sleep and kidnap Sloan between broadcasts as a vacation, which she absolutely could). She was instead helping Will with the on-going live coverage of the procession. At commercial break 3, nearly everyone had broken away to stare out of the now rain splattered windows. Fitting, Mackenzie thought.
They only had a few minutes. She watched Neal lean an arm against the window, resting his forehead in the crook of his elbow as he stared down at the flashing mob beneath him in silence. People lined the rain soaked streets clutching American flags. Sloan, squished between Maggie and an intern, caught Mackenzie's gaze for a fleeting second and gave her a small wave which Mackenzie returned. Cold fingers curling around her wrist broke her out of the clouding thoughts that had been dominating all morning. She turned her body only slightly, met with a sturdy chest. A navy blue tie and a pressed suit. Her eyes were swimming by the time she met his.
"We're on in 40 seconds."
The coverage had gone well. They were able to turn it over to local affiliates after about 45 more minutes on the air, having begun nearly 3 hours earlier. Mackenzie went home without saying goodbye to anyone, mesmerized by the rain as it left trails along the window of the taxi she had flagged. She knew that, despite how truly awful the death of this NYPD officer was, it couldn't have been the entire brunt of the nagging sadness settling over her. It reminded her of her distressful time overseas, it made her question if she was living the life she wanted. She knew she'd get over it, she always did, but it still just sucked to be feeling so down.
Somehow, she scraped together her last bit of energy to step out of her shoes, climbing underneath the cold sheets with the rest of her clothes on.
Mackenzie's dreams were a mess of unsettling images she couldn't piece together, and she was super glad when it was key in the lock that woke her up and not Will coming in to the bedroom. In her current state she's sure she'd mistake him for an intruder, further ruining her already pretty destroyed day. She pretended to still be asleep anyway, her back to her bedroom door. She heard padding out in the hallway, followed by the door creaking open and then the soft click as it shut. Will got about as far as she did, kicking out of his shoes before crawling in to bed behind her, strong arms falling easily around her waist. He nestled his face against the back of her neck and breathed. Mackenzie bit her lip, chills shooting through every inch of her. Despite herself, she turned over in his arms, met with exhausted eyes before an uncoordinated kiss landed against the bridge of her nose.
"What time is it?" Mackenzie murmured in the dark. Will didn't answer and pretty soon the reality of the day (her life) caught up to her and tears, messy and wet, began to streak her cheeks. Will seemed to be a little startled by her emotion, but he soon had her top half cradled close to him, waiting for new tears to appear so he could kiss them away. He studied her so carefully, face only inches from hers, and finally a few muffled bits of laughter made their way through his barrage of gentle attention.
"Hey," he finally greeted softly. Mackenzie smiled.
"Hello there, Will."
He didn't question her tears, instead, bumped his nose against hers and dove in to the first warm kiss pressed against her mouth before murmuring "What can I make you for dinner?" Mackenzie let her head fall against Will's chest, grinning in to his now completely wrinkled button up. A warmth was coiling in her tummy and it was hard not to try to wriggle herself even closer to him.
"You don't have to cook," Mackenzie said, running her hands along his back, draping a leg lazily across one of his. She was excited Will had begun to look at her like he had before. Gentle and intent and captive. His hips moved slightly against her as he gave an exaggerated huff.
"I want to. You go take a shower."
Anticipation was the new word Mackenzie assigned to the slow rise of giddiness through her chest. Rain still pitter-pattered outside, Will's hand, warm and huge, anchored to her hip.
"Oooor...," she sing-songed, letting a hand play through his hair. "We can take a shower and I'll just order take-out."
Despite Will's usually persistent inclination to debate with her, he currently couldn't think of any argument he wanted to make.
A grin slowly crept across his lips.
Men and showers.
Will had fallen in love with Mackenzie's the moment he had first seen it nearly 3 months ago. It was a dark marble, the tub portion nearly twice the size as his, as she used that more than the actual shower part. He turned on the faucet and watched as Mackenzie slowly undressed, feeling his eyes on her as she shimmied out of her pantyhose. Once they were both under the warm spray, Mackenzie was quick to find her place against Will's chest again, nuzzling his chin in gentle encouragement for his mouth. It had taken a little while for them to ease back in to this; being intimate, even just seeing each other naked. Mackenzie had initially been too mortified to show Will the scar across her belly she had received while on assignment, but the night that followed did a lot to calm her nerves. Will had worshipped every inch of her body, making sure she understood how much she still meant to him, how much of a non-issue this particular worry had been.
Will felt a lot like an impulsive teenager now. They had the history, they were working through it. Mackenzie giggled the entire way down as Will eased her body to rest in the middle of the huge vast of her tub.
"Now what anchorman?" she challenged, her hands on his shoulders as the shower waterfall-ed around them. He kissed a trail down her neck, biting gently as her eyes fell shut.
"I don't know," he growled, mouth at her bellybutton. "Isn't that your job?"
Mackenzie laughed, reveling in the feeling of her fingers tugging in Will's wet hair as he continued his descent. The rest was just a blur of tongue and panting and fingers just barely brushing against the sweet spot Will had committed to memory long ago, before Mackenzie was whimpery and begging, fingers now clutching against Will's scalp.
"Come on, Mac," Will took his turn to challenge, brushing his thumb over her bundle of nerves, continuing to draw his fingers rhythmically in and out of her center as Mackenzie slowly started to quiver beneath him.
"Harder," she instructed, breathless, her hips following mindlessly in time with him. Will couldn't hate himself too much for giving in to her so easily, especially when he felt his own body quake as Mackenzie came, his name harsh on her lips as she pulsed warmly around him. The shower was just beginning to falter from hot to luke warm and cold wasn't too far behind, but Mackenzie couldn't see herself moving any time soon. Flashes of white lit up her eyelids as she blinked. Will was panting above her, a perfectly arrogant grin on his face. Mackenzie reached for his hip as he pulled her in to a sitting position.
"Did you come already?"
It came out accusatory, but, more like they were back in the newsroom, her headphones on, accusing him of saying something on air he hadn't okayed with her first. The image made him laugh. "What?"
"You," Will answered simply.
The two of them dressed separately. Mackenzie waited for Will on her bed, just beginning to flip through an opinion column she had brought home with her when he reappeared in her doorway, his sweats and Knick's shirt flecked with water from his tousled hair.
"I ordered Chinese," he said crawling up next to her, balancing on his elbow. Mackenzie let the column fall to her lap.
"Will! I said I'd order dinner...,"
He was waving her off long before she could even finish her sentence, glancing at the papers in Mackenzie's lap. A startled yelp left his lips as he felt his elbow being knocked unceremoniously out from underneath him. Mackenzie hovered over him, pinning his shoulders to the bed.
"What was that for?!" Will grumbled, unable to keep a grin off his face as Mackenzie glowered at him. Her hair was wet and sweet smelling from the shower.
"You don't listen!" Mackenzie yelled. "You'd think that for once in your life...,"
Will tugged at Mackenzie's arms until she slowly submitted to him, her chest flush against his, mouths soon again joined in a frenzy. After a healthy dose of making out (if Will hadn't felt enough like a teenager before, he certainly did now) Mackenzie rolled off of him to reclaim her column. Will settled for resting his head against her belly, making soft noises of approval as she scratched his head and combed through his hair.
They ate dinner in Mackenzie's bed over re-runs of Antiques Roadshow, having passed two local stations playing their earlier coverage of the funeral procession on loop.
Mackenzie let Will cuddle her for a while before she took over and made love to him, a feeling of accomplishment coming with the well earned Fucking hell, Mackenzie that was gasped in to her neck.
Maybe, Mac thought, her vacation could be salvaged after all.
