It was about an hour before the last rundown meeting and most of the staff was out for their usual late lunch break.
Will was up in Charlie's office to speak about some of the promotional appearances he was contractually obligated to be available for during the next months, while Mac was talking to Gary. They were discussing how to best tackle the segment on the one-year anniversary of Obamacare for the B-block they had already agreed upon during the morning meeting, when out of the corner of her eye she noticed some commotion near the entrance of the newsroom.
Turning that way she saw Tamara talking to an apparently very agitated man of whom she could only see the back. He was definitely standing in Tamara's personal space, throwing his arms in the air, and while she seemingly tried to talk him down, not being able to move back any further, Mac got the impression that he was working himself up even more.
She apologized to Gary, who was preoccupied checking soundbites for his segement, oblivious to his surroundings, and quickly walked over to see if Tamara needed any assistence. Approaching the couple she could hear that the man was talking too loudly and that the words coming out of his mouth were slightly slurred as if he was drunk.
Mac saw relief in Tamara's face when she noticed her approaching and quickly stepped up to her. „Excuse me, my name is MacKenzie McHale, Executive Producer of Newsnight. Can I help you?"
Hearing those words the man turned around so that he was now facing her, his back showing to the door. Seeing his face Mac gasped. This man was undoubtedly an older version of Will; the same built, shade of hair, eye color and and equally strong chin. „Mr... McAvoy?"
With a hideous smile he now conveyed his full attention to her, and she could easily smell the alcohol on him. „ MacKenzie McHale..." He pointed a finger at her. „So you're the damn bitch that turned my son in a liberal socialist who forgot where he's coming from."
„Excuse me?" Mac was stunned. She had heard many things about John McAvoy during her time with Will, but she would never have expected him to be so outright blunt and insulting.
„Don't get cute with me, little hosebag, you know what I mean. I need to talk to him, where is he?"
Mac took a deep breath, not intending to make a scene right here in the bullpen. She knew it would be difficult enough for Will to see his father so unexpectedly, even if he wasn't making an absolute ass of himself in front of his son's staff.
„Will is in a meeting, I don't know when he'll be back. Why don't you give me the name and phone number of your hotel and he can call you?"
She saw John McAvoy's face turn red, his nostrils flaring, and knew she had given the wrong answer, but she didn't care. She had to protect Will and their show and she knew that this was definitely not the right time for him to meet his father.
„Don't lie to me, you cocky witch, you just don't want me to talk to him. Where is he?"
Mac saw Tamara slowly moving to her desk and taking the phone into her hand. Good, hopefully she was calling security. Narrowing her eyes she didn't even think about backing down.
„Mind your words, please. You're not not in a Nebraskan bar where you're behaviour might be acceptable. Will actually is in a meeting with his boss, but even if he wasn't I wouldn't let him talk to you right before our show."
Hearing her publicly scolding him McAvoy's face turned into a very unbecoming shade of crimson red. „Don't you dare talk to me like that, you dickish slut!" Closing the distance between them he then raised his hand to her throat so quickly that she didn't see it coming, started to choke her and screamed „Where the hell is this rotten excuse of a son?"
Not believing what was happening Mac froze for a second, but then she grabbed Will's father's wrist and tried to pull his hand away, alas to no avail. On the contrary, his grip deliberately tightened, and he was already starting to slightly lift her up off her feet, raising his other fist threatening to hit her in the face. His fingers now clutched her neck so hard that she could not get a word out, frantically tried to breathe and her eyes started to bulge.
Mac was desperately hoping that security would hurry up or some of the staffers would notice and come to her aid, but she knew that Jim was in a meeting with graphics, Neil had the day off and Gary was probably still absorbed in his work, listening to tea party commentary on Obamacare with his headphones on and not noticing anything that was happening out of his sight.
Praying that Tamara would find some object heavy enough to hit her attacker over the head with hard enough for him to let go off her, or to at least have the presence of mind to get Gary, she felt her lungs burning from the lack of air and started to feel dizzy, colored dots dancing in front of her eyes.
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For an endless second Tamara was just standing there, not believing what was happening right in front of her. This couldn't be – Will's father showing up drunk and attacking Mac right here in front of her?
Finally she was able shake off her horror, managed to slip aside to call security and just wanted to start screaming and somehow try to pull this man off of Mac, when she noticed Will and Lonny enter the newsroom and quickly called out to them.
Will immediately saw that Mac was in trouble, being attacked by a strange man who had his back turned to him.
„What the fuck...?" With two long strides he reached them and pulled the stranger away from Mac who tumbled backwards, promptly raising her hand to cover her throat and fighting for air. With a swift move Will turned the man around to demand an explanation and froze. „Dad?"
John McAvoy swayed a little on his unsteady legs when he looked at his son. „William! I was just showing this conniving fluzie what a..." Seeing the furious look appearing on Will's face he suddenly turned sober enough to stop talking and tried to take a step back.
His son however held onto his arm and just started to swing his fist to knock him out of his shoes when he heard Mac coughing and puffing behind him. Instantaneously his attention turned to her, and he barely took the time to shove his father towards Lonny. „Take him to my office and wait for me. Don't let him out of your sight and don't let him touch anything."
With a grim expression on his face Lonny nodded and dragged the older man, whose attitude seemed to falter at Will's reaction, towards the glass front of offices.
Will didn't even waste a further second on him but turned to Mac who was still trying to breathe properly. He quickly closed the short distance between them and carefully took her face into his hands.
„Mac... MacKenzie, are you okay?" With a concerned look his eyes roamed over her flushed skin, the teary eyes and her throat, where the first bruises already began to show.
Mac coughed again. Not being able to speak yet she only nodded and closed her eyes.
„Let's go to your office. Tamara, you okay?" The young woman just gave him a nervous and relieved smile. „Good. Give us a moment. And ask Jim to start the rundown without us if need be." Will carefully led Mac to her office and made her sit down on the couch she had recently acquired, before quickly getting her a glass of water.
„Here, drink this, but slowly." He gently held the glass to her lips and helped her to take a few sips. Putting it down on the table he sat down next to her and pulled her into his arms.
„I'm sorry, honey, I'm so sorry. I don't know what he wants, but I'm so sorry I wasn't here. You're gonna be fine..." He tenderly swayed her from left to right and placed her head securely under his chin, stroking her hair and whispering sweet words until he felt her relax and breathe more evenly.
Finally he put his hands on Mac's shoulders and pushed her back a little to look into her eyes, flinching when he noticed the tiny blood vessels that had ruptured because of the pressure his father had exercised on her throat. „My God, you need a doctor, Mac. We have to get you checked out. I'll take you to..."
He stopped when he saw Mac shake her head. She was not about to let Will know how scared and helpless she had felt during those long seconds his father had been choking her, and she wouldn't blow the whole scene up even more by making it official. The whole incident itself would burden and hurt him enough.
„No, I'm fine." she rasped hardly understandable, which caused another coughing fit. Reaching for the glass she swallowed more water, which seemed to help a little, though her voice still remained terribly hoarse. „I can't go to a doctor, they'd want to know what happened."
„Exactly, we have to get the injuries recorded if you want to press charges against that bastard."
„I am not reporting your father to the police!" Mac vehemently shook her head again, coughing some more.
„Of course you are. You cannot let him get away with that!"
„Will, I can't lodge a complaint against him. He's your father, the tabloids would have a field day with that. And... he's your father!"
„I don't care. What he just did to you is exactly what he's done his whole life – To my mother, my sisters, me... I'm not watching him do this anymore, especially not to people that I lo... care about..."
Mac was so caught up in trying to clear her throat that she missed this almost-slip of his tongue. „I'm okay, my throat's just a little sore."
„What if your vocal cords are affected? You need your voice to do your job!"
„It's gonna be... cough... fine, Will!"
Will finally gave in and grumbled „Okay, but I'll keep an eye on you. If it's not getting better I'll take you to see a doctor..." Mac nodded, leaned back on the couch and closed her eyes. Taking the opportunity to just look at her the tenseness in his eyes made way for an overwhelming tenderness and his face softened at the sight of Mac in front of him.
Will would have never thought that his father would find a way to hurt MacKenzie. He had deliberately never taken her home to Nebraska, and as he had told her about his father's drinking, the violent tendencies and their broken childhood she had always understood. He couldn't believe that he had shown up here, in New York, and just continued where he'd left off more than thirty years ago before he had stood up to him for the first time.
Without giving it a second thought Will lifted his hand and carefully pushed a strand of hair behind Mac's ear, causing her to startle and unbelievingly open her eyes, which in return made him give her an affectionate smile. „I'm going to ask Tamara to bring you some camomile tea for your throat, and then I'll go talk to that bastard. Will you be alright?"
Mac wrinkled her nose at the mentioning of camomile tea, which she hated and normaly only drank when she was feeling really sick and couldn't taste anything anyway, but nodded her consent. „Take your time, we can do the rundown without you."
„I'll be there, this won't take long. But still... let Jim do the talking. And Mac... I'll make sure that he'll never come here again, okay?"
She gave him a grateful smile. „Thanks, Billy."
With a last squeeze to her hand Will got up, and after quickly talking to Tamara and asking the security guards who had arrived in the meantime to wait, he went over to his office. Taking a deep breath he opened the door and found Lonny guarding it, his eyes fixed on John McAvoy who had sunk down in a chair.
When the older man heard the door open he looked up and seeing the look of utter contempt on his son's face he seemed to cringe. If the situation hadn't been so serious Will would almost had laughed. He had always known that his father was a coward, only bold when fueled by alcohol.
Looking at his petty figure he thought back to all the times in the past his father had hurt, insulted and belittled him, and he knew this was it.
„Honor thy father", that's what he had learnded from an early age on, and despite his father's behaviour he had never been able to ignore this commandment and break with him completely. But enough was enough. A father who wanted to be honored by his family had to honor this family in return, or he didn't deserve anything from them. He would never again let his father get to him, he was through with him. And he knew he wouldn't miss him at all.
„Consider yourself lucky that Mackenzie has decided to not press charges against you. If it were up to me the police would already be here and you'd stay behind bars for a long time, seeing it would be fucking strike number three..."
John seemed to shrink. Now that he was coming down from the alcohol high he was on, he was nothing more than a miserable son of a bitch, and all tough talk had evaporated into thin air. Taking a step towards his father Will continued.
„However, I'll have you know that I will talk to my boss and have you banned on entering AWM, also my apartment building. If you ever show up again we will press charges, do you fucking get that? Don't you ever dare come close to me or any of my staff again. Same if I ever hear anything from Mary or Vic. If you don't leave them and their kids alone, I will come for you. Do. you. get. that?"
By now Will was practically hovering over John McAvoy, his voice cold as ice and determined.
„I will take sworn statements from everybody who has witnessed your stunt just now, starting with Mac and Lonny here. He's my bodyguard, by the way, who will shred you to pieces if I tell him to..."
Will knew that Lonny knew he wasn't serious, but saw him play along by straightening himself up and starting to flex his muscles, at which his father flinched and leaned a little further in the opposite direction. Even if Lonny sometimes thought his protectee was a bastard, he had taken a liking to Mac and would do anything to keep her safe as long as it didn't interfere with the job he was paid for.
Finally John McAvoy managed to sit up a little more, the last of the alcohol in his blood making him go for a final punch. „You little pussy..." he hissed. „No real man would let a woman boss him around. Look what she's done to you. On your show you're taking apart the only persons who care about us people and this country and want to make it great again. You're embarrassing the shit out of me, I can't even go to my bar anymore without getting weird looks and people insulting me. Man the fuck up and tell this bitch to go to hell..."
Will had heard enough. He grabbed his father by his collar and pulled him out of his chair. „Get. Out. And don't forget: If you ever come near me, my family or my staff again..."
With this he shoved him out of the office and waved the two security guards to come closer. „Please take this man downstairs and make sure that he will never enter this building or linger outside again. I will clear it with Mr. Skinner."
„Will do, Mr. McAvoy." Taking John McAvoy in between them, each holding on to one of his arms, they turned around and walked towards the elevators.
Will followed them with his eyes and knew, that this was probably the last time that he had seen and talked to his father, but he didn't regret a thing. He had his family his father had never been a real part of anyway, and he had his friends, with MacKenzie and Charlie leading the way. He was old enough to know what was right for him and he would not let this petty creature continue to ruin his life.
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Though Will hadn't really had the time to properly work on his script the show that evening went fine.
Jim did most of the talking and gave him the routine stuff like how many seconds until a break, but Mac still had to butt in every once in a while for specific instructions. Everytime Will heard her still croaking voice in his ear he had to put up all his willpower to not show his feelings which Mac thankfully noticed, so she tried to only talk to him while he wasn't on camera.
Afterwards Will followed Mac to her office, bringing her another cup of tea, and sat down next to her on the couch.
„How are you doing?"
„Better, thanks. Today was just crazy..." Mac shook her head and looked at him for a moment, biting her lower lip. „Say... Am I mistaken or did you call me 'honey' earlier?"
Will's breath hitched and he blinked several times before giving her a sheepish smile. „Force of habit..."
„Of course." What else should it have been, it wasn't like he still had romantic feelings for her. Or did he?
She averted her eyes the same moment Will took her hand. „It felt good though..."
Quickly looking up again she saw a tender smile on his face, and with her heart skipping a beat and her mind going into an imaginative overdrive she carefully returned it.
Maybe something good would come out of this day after all.