Sins of the Daughter Ch. 2

Hello everyone! I've been away on London for a few days with no access to internet due to the ridiculously high cost of Wi-Fi at Travelodge hotels! Anyway, I did some scribbles on the train, so I'm typing them up now – this is the first :)

Will stared at her. "Your father?"

"Yeah," she looked anxiously at him whilst he frowned at her, puzzled.

"Why wouldn't we have him on?" He asked after a moment. Mackenzie was taken aback, feeling slightly foolish.

"I – well – no reason except…I just…wanted to make sure that you were okay with it first." Will was staring at her blankly and she sighed, frustrated at his clear blindness to the obvious, "I know – he said that he hadn't heard from you since…"

Realisation dawned on Will's face as his mouth formed a round "o", "Oh. Right, yeah. That's not because – I mean –"

"It wasn't him, it was me?" Mac filled in awkwardly. Will nodded, shrugging apologetically.

"Pretty much, yeah."

Mac folded her arms in on herself, feeling as awkward as Will looked. "You don't look like you want him here." Will frowned at her.

"It'll be a bit weird, but I'm sure we'll get over it." She smiled meekly. "So that's okay, we can just –"

"Mac, it won't be weird. I'm sure he'll understand why I never –"

"Yeah, I'm sure he will." Mackenzie muttered under her breath.

"Sorry?" She groaned inwardly, cursing herself for needing to speak; knowing that she would have to explain this to him at some point, so it may as well be now.

"I didn't tell him." She blurted out, exhaling a deep breath. She looked anxiously at him once more, desperately hoping he would understand and they could get this over with, certain that Will would disapprove. He just looked confused.

"You didn't tell him…?"

Slumping down into the seat by Will's desk, Mac rubbed her forehead in her hand, "You were like the son he never had! I couldn't tell him." She looked up almost pleadingly at him. Finally understanding what she was getting at, Will looked (as she had expected) disappointedly at her, before a flash of anger crossed his face.

"So he doesn't know?"

She looked incredulously at him, nearly laughing, "Will the whole Eastern Seaboard and beyond knows what I did." She saw the expectant look on his face and sighed, continuing, "He found out – he found out when AWN morning did that segment on us and Wade –"

"Mac!"

"I know, okay? You think that's how I wanted him to find out?"

"I don't think you did want him to find out." Will accused, and she had the grace to blush.

"You don't think I already feel shitty about it? He called me up demanding to know if it was – if it –" She fiddled with her hands in her lap. "I've never heard him sound so disappointed before. Ever."

A rueful smile appeared on her face, "I didn't mean it would be weird for you. You, I'm sure he'd love to see…"

Will's expression softened as he watched her face fall, certain that he knew exactly what mental diatribe she was currently giving herself. He walked over and perched on the desk next to her as she continued to avoid his gaze and stare at her hands. Reaching over he squeezed her shoulder comfortingly; she immediately found her head tilting of its own accord to lean on his hand, which he twisted so that it cupped her face, running his thumb across her cheek.

"Mac," he spoke softly, "You've spent the last eighteen months – or four and a half years, I guess – kicking yourself for this Mac. I'm the only one you needed to apologise to…And I think you can stop now." That got her attention. Her head snapped up as she tried to work out how far she could take that statement; how much she could read into it – but he knew she would never ask. He knew that Mac saw it as part of her punishment to let him make any first moves.

He could see the desperate confusion behind her eyes, but decided he would tease her for a little bit longer. Giving her a mysterious smile, he pulled her upwards and into his arms.

With no hesitation she wrapped her arms around his neck and waist and buried her face into the hollow at the base of neck, causing him to smile widely as he breathed in her perfume and shampoo. "Don't worry about your Dad," He spoke softly into her shoulder, the hand that had been holding her face now playing with her hair, "I won't let him give you a hard time. Well…not too much of a hard time, anyway."

He could feel her grinning into his shoulder as she gave him a playful slap, making him hug her tighter. Neither of them was quite sure what exactly was happening – only that they liked it.

"Uh, Mac? Did you say – oh – sorry?" Jim caught sight of them as he poked his head round the door and quickly retraced his steps back out the door to leave them to their moment. Mac, however, pulled away from Will, shooting a smile at him and turned to Jim.

"What can I do for you James?" Jim looked between them before responding.

"Well – I guess I was just going to ask if we had a decision yet as to who was going to lead the Syria-UN segment?"

Mac looked back at Will who nodded reassuringly, a hand still resting just above her hip. "Yeah, we do," he told Jim, "We want you to book a Sir Michael Leicester. Mac will give you the number."

Jim looked slightly befuddled, holding a copy of the list he had given to Mackenzie in his hands. "Okay." He said slowly, finally backing out of the room.

Will looked back at the woman standing in his arms as he heard her take a deep breath, "You're his first born child, Mac. He'll always love you, whatever you do." She responded by letting her head fall against his chest as he wrapped his arms around her once more.

To be continued shortly...