Author's Note: Just a short fill-in written during a very long, boring meeting...
The Proposal, Part 2
"Will?" MacKenzie asked. For the moment they had stopped kissing but remained in a tight embrace, her head resting against his chest.
"Yeah…." He replied lazily, making no attempt to move from their current position.
"Am I dreaming?"
He kissed the top of her head. "No, Dulcinea… not anymore. This is real and forever."
She pulled back to look in his face, dimly lit by the bright lights of the studio. "You're sure?"
"I love you," he told her.
"But how?" she pressed. "All the anger, the resentment even today? How could suddenly…."
"It's not sudden," he interrupted, stepping back to see her more clearly. "I've never stopped loving you."
"Billy?"
He could see the uncertainty in her eyes. "You really don't believe me?"
"I want to… because not for a minute these past six years have I stopped loving you. I just…."
"The voicemail."
"Huh?"
"The message that got hacked—the one you pestered me about for months. What I said was, 'Listen, I swear I'm not saying this because I'm high. And if the answer is no then just do me a favor and don't call me back or bring it up or anything. But I have to tell you, I mean after tonight, I really want to tell you that I've never stopped loving you.'"
"What?"
"It's true."
MacKenzie was stunned but she could also read in his eyes that it was true. Nina lied. Of course, she lied, MacKenzie chided herself. The woman wanted Will for herself. But she couldn't think about that right now. She could only focus on the truth and why she was only learning about it now. "Why didn't you say?" She stopped as another thought came to her. "Did you regret it and want to take it back?"
"No." He adamantly shook his head. "When I didn't hear back from you, I thought… I figured…."
"That I didn't feel the same."
He nodded.
She thought of the few months following the Bin Laden broadcast and about all of his choices she could not understand at the time, but that now were crystal clear. "And Brian, and the booze and anti-depressants. It was all because you were hurting because of me," she said.
He nodded again.
Softly she touched the side of his face. "I am so sorry. I would never—not for a minute…."
"I know that now, but at the time, I didn't."
Thinking about what he had endured because she never got the message, enraged her. "You almost died. I'm going to kill Nina and Reese."
He smiled. She was in Mama Bear mode and right now he was her cub. It was a cherished spot to be in, particularly when so often in the recent past, including earlier tonight, he had been the enemy—the threat. "Thank you for that," he told her.
"Seriously, I'm going to…"
"MacKenzie, what happened is not all their fault. It's mine. I didn't have the guts to tell you face-to-face, or sober, for that matter. And that's what you deserve." He paused and took a deep breath before continuing, "I'm glad you didn't hear it."
"What?"
"You were right. I was a douchebag. And it's taken me far too long to figure it out. But I promise you, I will never do that again." He went to cup her face with his hands and realized that they were still occupied. "Here," he told her, "hold these for a minute." He handed her the blue Tiffany box and the velvet ring box.
"What am I supposed?"
"Just put them back together. Then I'll take them back. I can't do what I need to do without both hands."
"Okay." She quickly put the black box back in the blue one.
"Thank you." He took the boxes back and returned them to his jacket pocket while at the same time kissing her hard on the mouth. "Now, Mackenzie McHale soon to be McAvoy, there is something else we need to do." He held up the ring he was still holding in his right hand for her inspection. Then he dropped to one knee, took her left hand in both of his, and tenderly slipped the ring on her finger, only breaking eye contact with her for a fraction of a second. Neither said anything. Words were inadequate to the moment and completely unnecessary.
After a time, MacKenzie's eyes drifted to her new prize. It was even more exquisite than she remembered. "It fits perfectly," she told him as he joined his hand with hers, interlocking their fingers together.
"Of course, it does. It was made for you."
She was puzzled. "Scott's assistant knew my size?"
"I lied about that, too," he confessed. "I chose it—size, design, everything. Scott's assistant just picked it up. And I kept it because even then I wanted it to be real—wanted us to be real."
"I love it and I love you."
They kissed once more; only this time it was a kiss that sealed a promise—and a dream. Then their hunger, for each other and for the time they had lost, got the better of them and again their kissing became something else entirely.
"Billy," MacKenzie interrupted after a time, "we're still on the air."
Will groaned but then stepped back from her again. "Let's go tell everyone."
"Now?" She looked at her watch. "We have less than three minutes."
"Right now," he insisted. "You're not getting away from me again. Oh, and you're not fired, and I'm not resigning. Neither is Charlie or anyone else."
"Will…" The reality of the Dantana drama again came crashing in around her.
He took her by the shoulders and said with complete conviction, "Mac, we are not giving in. Dantana has no honor—no integrity. But we do. We are going to hold our heads high and keep doing our show the way it should be done. Because except for the things we—not just you but all of us—did wrong, we did everything right. And that has to count for something." He paused for a moment to let his words sink in and then added with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, "So are you in or are you out?"
Mac felt the burden of Genoa melt away and she laughed for what felt like the first time. He truly had become the Director of Morale. Then with a matching twinkle in her own eyes she told him, "I'm in."