A/N: And here we go, the second half of this little section. It's not quite done, but mostly, and I realized I can't finish it in this chapter. Anyway, I like this one. I feel like it explains (in a really convoluted way) one half of why I really like the two of them as a couple. (The other half should come later, if I do this right.) Anyway, I hope you like it! Thanks to everyone who's reviewed. I haven't had time to reply to them all yet. I also probably won't have time for another chapter this week, so I hope you enjoy this one.

xxx

Chapter 5

xxx

Previously on The Newsroom...

"What can I do?" he asked softly, looking desperately at the woman next o him. "Tell me what I can do."

The question made her smile. Her fingers tightened reflexively around her mug. He was such a good man. His question gave her that little extra bit of courage, told her that maybe he really wouldn't mind. She let herself shift the extra few inches until she was leaning against his shoulder, pleased when his arm dropped around her waist.

"This," she murmured, taking a sip of her tea and closing her eyes. It had been so long since she'd let anyone hold her when she was upset. "You can do this."

xxx

Will found himself stroking her hip with one hand as he sipped his tea with the other. He glanced down at the woman leaning against his side. Mac was cradling her cup with both hands like she was trying to absorb its warmth as possible. Her eyes were still shut, but she actually looked calm for the first time in hours.

Will wondered how long it would last.

He was surprised when at least a minute passed and she still hadn't moved, not even to sip her tea.

He was about to suggest moving to the couch when she spoke.

"You know, you don't have to stand here with me if you don't want to," Mac murmured, realizing that she couldn't realistically expect to monopolize Will's entire evening.

Will resisted the urge to poke her. "Does it feel like I mind standing here?"

Mac regretfully lifted her head off his shoulder and looked up at him. "No, but it's enough that you've offered me a spare room..."

"So you wouldn't have to be alone and worried," Will reminded her slowly. "If I planned on shoving you in my spare room, shutting the door, and leaving you to your own devices, I may as well have dropped you off at your own apartment. At least then you'd have your own stuff around you."

"You made me tea," Mac reminded him tentatively.

Will rolled his eyes. Yeah, he was a prince for making her boiling her some water and pouring it into then out of a pot. "Oh well then, clearly it's time for the spare room for you."

"Will..." she said with half a laugh.

"How about we compromise and try the couch instead?" he suggested with a hint of a smile of his own.

Mac frowned. "How is that a compromise?"

"Well, you seem to think that I don't want to stand with you in the kitchen," Will reminded her. "That would not be standing in the kitchen. "

"Actually, I said that you don't have to stand with me in the kitchen," Mac replied.

"What's the difference?" WIll asked.

Mac found she was far too mixed up to figure that out. She groaned.

Will took the opportunity to guide her to the coach. Truthfully, it had been a pretty long day and he wouldn't mind sitting down.

He decided to give her a little bit of space and sat down on the opposite end of the couch from her.

"So what happened, Mackenzie?" he asked gently, suddenly realizing that he didn't even know the whole story. All he'd heard was her somewhat disjointed version in the bar.

She sighed, curling her legs underneath herself. "My Dad was having chest pains, severe chest pains, so he went to the hospital last night."

"They were worried about a heart attack?" Will asked.

Mac nodded, taking a sip of her tea. It should be cool enough to drink by now. "Particularly with his history. I mean, it's been a concern in the past. The doctors managed to head it off, or I don't know, get it under control somehow."

"Well, that sounds good," Will said, angling himself towards her.

"That's what my parents are saying at least. In between assuring me not to worry. But if it's really no big deal, why is he still in the hospital?" she demanded.

Will tried to soothe. He knew she knew it all already, but it might help to hear it from someone else. "They probably just want to keep him there for observation for a day or so, just to make sure things stay under control."

"That's exactly what my mother said," Mackenzie grumbled. "That and they just want to check a couple of things out."

Will leaned forward. "With your father's history, it's not an entirely implausible answer, Mac."

"I know!" Mac growled in frustration.

"Okay."

He watched as her eyes lost their fire and turned sad. "But what if it turns into something?" she asked.

"Then right now he's in the place where he'll get the best care possible," Will reminded her (reminding himself not to shift closer, not to crowd her).

"Stop being so reasonable," Mac muttered, taking a drink of her tea. He'd always done this. When she was upset and her brain was whirling so fast it felt like she'd never be able stop it, Will would simply point out the practicalities, calmly, quietly, rationally, forcing her to acknowledge them.

"No," Will replied calmly.

She tried to glare at him, but it didn't quite work. "Then stop trying to make me feel better."

"No."

Mac thought she saw a bit of a smile that time. God she'd missed him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Will replied, pleased to see she was looking a bit calmer again. Sometimes when she got that wild look in her eyes, well, that look could be dangerous. To anyone around her, but mostly to Mac herself. And it made Will want to soothe her a little, particularly when the cause was something like this. He took a sip of his tea instead.

Mac bit her lip. "Will?"

"Yes?"

"What if they're lying to me because they don't want me to worry, or because my Dad doesn't want to look weak or something?" Her parents were always telling her not to worry, downplaying everything. Now Mac was worried that they might not tell her if they really did need her.

Will considered the question. "What if it's really worse than they're telling you, you mean?"

"Yeah."

Will found that unlikely. Her parents were lovely people, and they were probably trying to reduce their only daughter's worry. Still, Will highly doubted they'd go so far as to lie to her to that degree. "Do you really think they'd lie to you about something this serious?"

"Yes. No. I don't know," Mac admitted.

Well, she'd certainly covered all of the bases. "Good answer."

That Mac her glare. "Now see here, Mister. I'm willing to admit that I might not be in the most rational mood right now..."

Will looked incredulous. "Might?"

"But my Dad's..." Mac trailed off before she had to say it. Her voice was already catching as it was. "And he doesn't want me there."

Will frowned, shifting a little closer. "When did he say that?"

"He told me not to come," Mac replied. "I offered. More than once. And he said that I didn't need to."

Will sighed. They were quite a pair, father and daughter. Both of them probably trying to bend over backwards, trying to make things easier for the other one. "Need isn't the same as want, Mackenzie."

Mac was silent.

"Why don't you go out there anyway?" Will asked.

Mac paused. "You think?"

He nodded. "Take a long weekend. Go, see your Dad. I assume your parents are still in Virginia?" Will continued after Mac confirmed. "That's not that far. You could easily get there and back over a weekend, even without taking a couple of extra days."

She had been thinking about doing just that, but with the show, and with her parents trying to dissuade her. "I..."

"You'll feel better once you see him," Will reminded her gently.

Mac leaned back against the couch. "I don't know." But even she knew she wanted him to convince her.

"Think about it," Will coaxed, well aware that she just needed a little push. "I bet you could fly out tomorrow morning. Or, if you prefer, you can take the train."

"You think?" Mac wondered. She had always liked the train. Flying was usually faster, but the train was so much less hassle. You really didn't have to do anything other than get on it and sit. Maybe she should consider going down for a few days.

"It'll be easy. You could get your ticket right now. There's this wonderful thing that they have now called the internet." Will replied. "Sampat's been telling me all about it."

Mac laughed. "When he's not talking about Bigfoot."

"Hey, that wasn't a bad presentation, in the end, "Will told her.

"You know," Mac replied. "I never actually saw it."

"I'm sure he'd be more than happy to share it with you," Will assured her.

"I'm sure he would," Mac said dryly. "I'll be back in a minute," she said, heading to the washroom.

Will watched her go, wondering why the stubborn woman wouldn't just take what she wanted. It was ridiculously obvious what that was.

That was when he got an idea.

xxx

Will was on his computer when Mac got back.

"What're you doing?" she asked. "Did something happen?"

"There's no breaking news," he assured her with a couple clicks of his mouth.

"So what..."

"I'm buying you a train ticket for tomorrow morning," Will informed her calmly, mentally bracing himself for the argument.

"Will!" Mac snapped. Sure, that was pretty much what she'd decided to do in the washroom, but she'd been going to do it. Herself. He didn't need...

Will looked up at her. "It's a good idea. It'll work out perfectly, you can..."

"No, Will!" Mac interrupted. "You can't just..."

"Sure I can." He hit a few keys with a flourish. "In fact I just did."

Mac gaped at him in shock. "Will!"

"It's not like I flew you first class or anything..." Will grumbled, justifying his choice. "I figure you'd object to that, call it overly extravagant or something."

"Yes, I would have!" Mac replied. "And I'm objecting to this." She wasn't sure why she was suddenly so shaky. He wasn't supposed to do things like this for her. He wasn't supposed to...

"Why?" Will asked, doing his best to appear calm.

Mac took a deep breath. "I can't accept..."

"Yes, you can," Will insisted. It really wasn't that big a deal. Why was she making it a big deal. If she'd just smiled and said thank you then they wouldn't have to... do this.

Mac felt tears pricking in her eyes again. "Will..."

"Oh what?" he asked, reverting to sarcasm rather than really explain himself. "Like the price of the ticket's really gonna set me back."

She knew that. "That's not the point!"

"Please," Will pleaded softly.

It was his tone that stopped her. "What?"

"Please let me do this for you. It's..."

Mac's voice gentled. "It's what?"

"It's the only thing I can do!" Will snapped.

Mac looked as shocked as he felt.

"Please, just take the damn train ticket Mackenzie," Will said, lowering his voice.

xxx

"What did you mean when you said it was the only thing you could do?" Habib asked, interrupting the story for the first time in almost fifteen minutes.

The question jolted Will out of himself. Truthfully, he'd almost forgotten his psychiatrist was even there. He'd been lost in the memory.

Will shifted in his chair. "Well, what else am I going to do?" he asked.

Habib resisted the urge to roll his eyes "It sounds like you sat with Mackenzie all evening when she was upset. You let her stay in your home. You made her tea. I'm guessing breakfast too."

"That was more of a joint effort," Will muttered. "Though I guess it was my food."

"That's not nothing, Will," Habib pointed out.

"I guess, but I can't..." Will trailed off.

"You can't what?" Habib asked.

"Nevermind," Will muttered.

"You can't magically fix Mac's father's heart problem?" Habib guessed.

Will laughed a little cynically. He supposed he couldn't do that either. "I definitely can't do that."

There were a lot of things he couldn't do anymore. Even just as Mac's friend, because of the goddamn mess from five years ago.

There were a lot of things he no longer had.

He'd known all along that he could only buy the single ticket.

"Anyway," he said changing the subject. "The train ticket itself was almost a moot point. Mac was determined to be difficult."

xxx

Will thought he'd actually won the argument, until she started coming at him from another direction. "You know, it's going to be a really quick trip."

Will didn't see why that was such a big problem. "So take another few days."

"I can't!" Mac insisted.

"Why not?" Will asked calmly.

"Well, there's the show..." Mac started to say.

Will interrupted her. "Which can't possibly function without you for a few days, or god forbid, even a week. Jim will completely fall apart. I'll forget what news even is. You'll probably come back to find Reese Lansing in charge."

Mac was forced to admit that she was being a little ridiculous. "Well, maybe Don."

"Actually, Don wouldn't be so bad," Will replied, pretending to consider it.

"Do you want to discuss youtube videos on air again?" Mac asked him.

Will stopped pretending to consider rehiring his former EP. "No. But he might not bring that back."

"Not in three days anyway," Mac replied sensibly.

"Which pretty much proves my point," Will told her.

Mac sighed, really not sure why she was arguing, why she so often felt the need to argue with him. Like she was trying to prove something. "Will..."

"Tell you what?" Will asked, a flash of inspiration suddenly striking him. "Why don't we call Charlie? Ask him his opinion."

Mac winced. "Will..."

"Yeah! It'll be great!" Will replied, really warming to the idea. He could just imagine how that would go. "We'll call him up. You can do it, or I can, if you don't want to. I can see it now. Hi Charlie, it's Will. Sorry to call you too late, but Mac's just found out that her father's having heart problems and is in the hospital. I don't think it's life-threatening, but she's thinking about going for a couple of days and... Actually, you know what? This is irrelevant, because I don't even think I'd make to that sentence in the explnanation, because Charlie'd have already yelled: What the hell are you calling me for! Tell her to get her ass to Virginia! And take as much time as she wants. Take a week! I don't want to see her stick so much as a toe in the newsroom next week! Tell her to go be with her family! Nobody calls their parents anymore..." Will paused. "And that's when I imagine the conversation would devolve into something slightly louder and less coherent."

Mac was trying not to laugh. "Will..."

But Will wasn't done. "Then, when he was done talking about ungrateful children, Charlie would go off on some rant about how everyone around ACN seems to think that everything will fall apart if they disappear for a few days, when really he can replace all of us in about sixty seconds."

Mac raised an eyebrow. "I am not that easy to replace."

"No, you're right. It'd probably take us an hour to find another you," Will conceded.

"You'd never find another me," Mac assured him.

Will didn't bother taking the time to agree with her aloud. They both knew it was true, and it was beside the point. "Seriously, you want to call Charlie, see what he says? He'll probably be a little more sympathetic if you make the call, but..."

"No," Mac admitted quickly.

"What?" Will asked.

She sighed. "I'll call him in the morning."

For a second, Will wasn't sure he'd heard correctly. "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I said I'd call him in the morning," Mac repeated more loudly. "When I tell him I'm going to need a couple of days off next week."

Well, there was only one conclusion to be made from that. "Because you admit that I'm right."

"I didn't say that," Mac denied stubbornly.

Will shrugged. "It was implied."

"Only because you implied it," Mac insisted.

Will considered her point. "Actually, I pretty much stated it outright."

"Yeah."

"Yeah."

"They told me not to come," Mac reminded him again. And that still stung a little.

Will set his laptop down carefully, walked over to her and put a comforting hand on her arm. "Because they were trying to make things easier for you, not because your Dad doesn't want to see you."

"I'm still going to have to listen to my mother nag about how I didn't need to go all the way down there for a little twinge in Dad's chest," Mac grumbled. Her mother, god bless her, drove her crazy sometimes. "That's what she'll call it, a twinge. And it won't matter how many tubes my Dad's hooked up to when I arrive, a twinge it shall remain. And she'll sound very reasonable about it all, and..."

"And since when do you listen to mere reason?" Will asked her.

Mac paused; her eyes lit up. "That's a good point. Now why didn't I..."

"You'd have realized sooner," Will assured her. "But you're a bit distracted right now."

Mac could only agree. It was nice having him around to notice these things. "I am."

"Yup."

"My parents are the ones being idiots about this." Mac said in realization..

Will barely caught himself from saying that they weren't the only ones. "Uh, sure?"

"No, you're right," Mac said, sounding more cheerful. "I should go there."

"That's why I bought you the ticket," Will agreed.

"I'll pay you back," Mac replied reflexively.

Will shook his head. He didn't want her money. In fact, in this case, he really didn't want her money. And he wouldn't be taking it, no matter what she said. He was damn well doing this one thing for her. "No you won't."

"Will!"

"We can talk about it when you get back," he told her, trying to at least delay the argument. If he was lucky, it could be delayed indefinitely.

"Fine."

He smiled, recognizing that tone in her voice. Well, he could be stubborn too. "Do you want some more tea?" he asked, changing the subject.

Mac noticed her empty mug on an end table. She should probably get some sleep, but she wasn't quite ready yet. "I'd love some."

Will grabbed both mugs and headed back to the kitchen.

"Will?" she called.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"You didn't have to do this," Mac started.

Will tried to interrupt, but she stopped him.

"You didn't have to do this," she said more loudly. "But thank you. Thank you, Billy."

Will walked back towards her and handed her a full mug of tea. "You're welcome, Mackenzie."

"I mean it," she said, smiling at him slightly over her mug.

"I didn't think you should be alone," he replied, trying to blow it off. "That seemed... unnecessary."

Mac smiled. "Well thank you for providing your company," she told him. "I couldn't have done better."

Will admitted he liked the sound of that. He took a sip of his tea.

xxx

"And so, the two of you drank some tea, and then she slept in your spare bedroom?" Habib guessed.

"That's pretty much it," Will agreed.

"And you made breakfast," Habib continued.

"She took care of the coffee, I made some of my favours egg, bacon and cheese sandwiches," Will confirmed.

"And what was that like?" Habib asked.

"Apparently there's quite a few calories in a sandwich with both bacon and cheese," Will said lightly.

Habib chuckled. "You don't say."

"At least, according to Mac," Will replied.

"And how did you feel about sharing your space with Mackenzie again?" Habib asked.

Will glared. "Oh come on, it wasn't even twelve hours. And most of the time we were sleeping, in separate rooms."

"Will..."

"Okay, it was a little strange at times. But mostly it wasn't too bad. I didn't mind having her there." Actually, once Mac had calmed down, it had been almost nice. They'd sat in his living room, drinking tea and talking for a little while, until she got tired. Then he'd suggested sleep. They'd eaten breakfast, and she'd left. That was all.

Okay, she'd given him a hug first, and he'd asked her to call when she arrived with an update.

But that was really all.

"Things weren't painful for you?" Habib asked.

Will scowled. "Alright, I may, may have had some kind of a... thing. Right when I went to bed. But it went away, because I am an adult, and not a teenage girl."

Habib didn't bother pointing out that many teenage girls were more emotionally together than Will seemed to be right now.

"Anyway," Will said. "I spoke to Mac later on Saturday. Her train was a bit delayed, but otherwise she seemed fine. She'd spoken to her father. It sounds like her mother was telling the truth. He was doing a lot better. Of course, Mac sounded a lot better too, since she'd seen him."

"Sometimes people need to see things for themselves," Habib murmured. He certainly understood that.

"Yeah," Will said.

"So, what's it been like in the newsroom without her?" Habib asked curiously.

"It's been different," Will said slowly. "There isn't anyone running around constantly yelling at people to make sure they're telling the story in the best way that they can and demanding to know why something is or isn't newsworthy."

"Backsliding into old habits?" Habib, jokingly.

Will shook his head. "Not quite. Mac would fly back early and kill us all. Between me and Jim, I guess we're doing a decent job trying to keep the level of earnest idealism above the national average, for all that it doesn't come naturally to either of us."

Habib hid his smile. "Everyone's picking up the slack."

Will nodded. "It's a pretty good group, I guess. And even we can handle a couple of days without our EP"

To be honest, the doc wasn't far off. Will had found himself piping up in the rundown meeting demanding people look harder, that they really critically examine the facts and make sure that the story was balanced. He'd studiously ignored Don's comments about it once he realized what was going on.

Will didn't care what Don thought anyway. He'd lost his relationship with Mac's parents when he lost her, and he understood that. He understood that it wasn't his place to be there for Mac any more than he had been that night in his apartment. But it was his job to make damn sure that her newsroom was still waiting for her when she got back. And it was going to be exactly as she'd left it.

Okay, apparently Jim had spilled coffee or something, and now there was a small stain. But other than that...

"Did you hear from Mac about last night's show?" Dr. Habib asked, interrupting Will's thoughts.

"Hm?" Will asked. "Oh, yeah. Of course I did. She called me almost as soon as it was done. Well, actually, I think she called Jim first."

"Then she talked to you?" Habib asked.

Will nodded. It hadn't been a particularly long conversation, but she'd called.

xxx

He knew as soon as the phone rang that it was going to be her.

"Hey," he said grabbing his phone.

"Hey," she replied. "I saw the show."

"I figured," he replied. "How's your Dad."

"He's doing better. They're sending him home tomorrow morning as long as nothing changes," Mac told him.

Will smiled. "That's great Mackenzie."

"Yeah," she whispered. "I think I'll stick around for the day and come back on Wednesday. Maybe come back in time to catch the show from the newsroom."

"You could take the week, you know," he replied.

"Dad has everything he needs right now," she assured him. "I think he finds the constant company tiring. I'll come back for a week when he's feeling a little better."

Will smiled. "Sounds good."

"He asked after you," she said softly.

Will swallowed. "What did you tell him?"

"I told him you were keeping out of trouble," Mac replied. "Well, actually I told him I was keeping you out of trouble."

"Bet he loved that," Will said.

"He did," Mac said cheerfully. "Now tell me about the show."

"You saw it," Will replied. "It was fine. We started the portraits of the members of Congress."

"I saw. They're going well," Mac replied. "Probably a good week to do it too."

"A few minor snags," Will added. "But then there always are. Jim handled them."

"He knows what he's doing," Mac replied.

"You trained him well."

"Thank you. I see I didn't have to worry about you capitulating to the ratings in my absence," Mac observed.

"In one day?" Will asked.

"You never know," she murmured.

"Hey!" Will replied. "The only time I capitulate to the ratings is when we lose half our audience. And I think that's fair."

"Actually," Mac said, her voice taking on a singsong quality. "Jim seemed to indicate that you'd almost swung the other way. He said it was like you were trying to make up for a certain someone not being there to keep you in line."

Will winced. He'd have to have a word with Jim about the best way to deal with the Mac situation. Because the way Will figured, the two of them should probably stick together if they wanted to get through this. He decided to try plausible deniability. "I don't know what you were talking about."

"I think you do," Mac said. "Jim said something about a rousing speech on the subject of coming together to fill the enormous hole left by my absence from the newsroom."

"I did not say enormous," Will replied. "I may have mentioned the possibility of a few very tiny hiccups."

"You rallied the troops around the cause!" Mac said gleefully. "You fought the good fight, Billy!" And she was so pleased and proud she felt like she was going to burst.

"Oh, I wasn't that bad," Will grumbled.

"Jim said you mentioned the three I's," Mac shot back.

Alright, he was definitely going to have to have a word with Jim. "It may have slipped out."

To Will's delight, she laughed. "Billy, are you trying to take care of my newsroom for me?"

"It's my newsroom too," he grumbled.

He heard Mac's voice soften into affection. "Billy..."

He sighed. "I just didn't want you to worry about it while you're gone."

"Jim can take care of things," she reminded him, hugging herself, trying not to smile too wide. "He's good at his job."

"I know that. I just wanted to... do something," Will admitted.

To his surprise, Mac didn't tell him that he didn't have to. "Thank you."

"Anyway, you don't have to worry about us covering whatever Jennifer Aniston's doing that seems to get her so consistently on the cover of all the tabloids," Will assured her lightly.

"I wasn't worried," she assured him sounding... happy.

"Okay," Will said simply.

"And thank you for the flowers."

xxx

Habib interrupted. "The flowers? You sent her father flowers?"

"I sent her father a bottle of whiskey," Will corrected. "The newsroom sent flowers. I think Jim organized it."

"So why was she thanking you?" Habib asked.

"How would I know why Mackenzie does anything?" Will asked.

Dr. Habib just looked at him.

Will sighed. "Okay, I may have had a little to do with it."

xxx

Just after noon on Monday, when everyone was busy prepping for their first show without Mac, Will stopped by Jim's desk. He handed the senior producer a slip of paper with an address on it.

Jim took it, a question in his eyes.

"It's the address of Mac's Dad's hospital room," Will told him, offering no explanation of how he'd gotten hold of that information

Jim looked at the paper again, obviously not knowing why he was being given said information.

Will sighed. "Don't you think, it would be nice if Mr. McHale got something from the newsroom his daughter runs?"

He saw something click in Jim's brain immediately. "Yeah, I thought about that. I was wondering if we should send it to her parents house, or..."

Will shook his head. No one would be at her parents house to get them for most of the day. And the point was to send them to Mac's father.

Jim nodded. "Right. Got it. Do you want to..."

Will shook his head. "I didn't have anything to do with this. This came from..."

"From the people Mac's been training for two years," Jim filled in. "From the newsroom."

Will nodded.

"I'm on it," Jim assured him.

"It was your idea," Will replied, turning back to his office.

"Hey, have you talked to her today?" Jim called after him.

Will turned. "Yeah," he admitted. "Just for a minute. She called to check in. She sounded... better."

Jim nodded. "Yeah, I called last night."

Will glared. Mac had enough on her plate without worrying about...

Jim held up his hands. "Not to talk about work, though she tried. Just to tell her not to worry, because I'd, well, we'd take care of everything."

Will nodded; he sometimes forgot how close Jim and Mac actually were. Of course the younger man had called her to promise that he'd take care of everything. Will could understand that. "Okay."

"Okay." Jim held up the piece of paper. "And I'll get on this."

This time Will was able to make it back to his office without interruption.

xxx

"It sounds like you managed to do a quite a lot for Mackenzie, for someone who thinks he did nothing," Habib observed

"I told Jim to send flowers," Will replied.

"Yes, you did," Habib replied. "That was very thoughtful."

"Jim's a good senior producer, but he'd have never thought of that. He forgot when Valentines day was one year." Will added. "And I knew Mac would like it."

"It sounds like she did,' Dr. Habib agreed. It also sounded like Mac had seen right through him.

"But I couldn't..." Will paused.

Habib leaned forward. They'd been circling around this for a while now, and he was going to press this time. "Couldn't what?"

"I couldn't call Mac's father and tell him that I hope he feels better soon, and that I'm sure he will. I couldn't tell him that he needed to get back on his feet, because the world probably needs a few people like him around still, even if his thoughts on foreign policy are more than a little suspect. I couldn't go see him in the hospital. I couldn't sit with Mac on the train. I couldn't tell her father that all he needed to do right now was worry about getting better. That he didn't have to worry about his daughter, that I'd stop her from actually self-combusting in concern. I couldn't do any of that," Will exploded.

"Will," Habib said softly.

"I just wanted to tell him that Mac has lots of friends in New York, that... that people will support her," Will muttered.

"You wanted to look after her," Habib said softly.

"Yes," Will muttered, staring at the ground.

"To protect her," Habib clarified.

Will avoided his eyes.

"You want to be able to protect Mackenzie," Habib repeated. It was a common theme with Will, feeling like he had to protect those he loved.

"Mackenzie doesn't need my protection," Will muttered. And even if she did, she sure as hell wouldn't want it. "The woman's tough, underneath all her well, being nuts."

"She might like it though," Habib suggested. "Sometimes. It sounds like she liked it on the weekend."

Will didn't answer. After all, she'd been pretty screwed up over the weekend, and she'd still put up a decent fight, mostly born out of sheer stubbornness, but still.

"It's okay to care about Mackenzie, Will," Habib assured him.

"I know that!" Will demanded.

"Do you?" Habib asked.

"Yes," Will assured the other man. "It's just, sometimes when she's there. It's complicated."

"Yes it is," Habib agreed. "That's life. But it can't always be complicated."

"No," Will replied. "I guess it's not."

"Will?" Habib asked. "How did you feel about Mac spending the night at your place."

He sighed. "I didn't want to protect her," he muttered.

Habib frowned. "What?"

"I didn't want to protect her," Will repeated. "Okay, I guess I did. But that wasn't... That wasn't why..."

"Will?"

"I wanted to take care of her," Will said softly. So softly Habib almost didn't hear it.

Habib shut his eyes briefly. He should have known. "That's normal too," Jack assured the man sitting across from him. However this ended up, he knew Will was always going to care about Mackenzie, on some level."

"It was nice," Will said. "Having someone there."

"When was the last time you had someone to take care of?" Habib asked.

Will just stared at him.

"Ah," Habib replied. He'd suspected as much. He knew Will had gone on dates in the last five years, and there'd been a short-lived relationship that hadn't lasted. But it didn't surprise Jack in the least that there'd been no one significant in half a decade.

Will was lost in his own thoughts again. His mind jumped from surreptitiously organizing flower arrangements from other people to trying to ensure there was nothing for her to worry about in the newsroom to... To Mackenzie's head drooping on his shoulder when she finally gave in to exhaustion on his couch and he had to send her to bed.

He really hadn't minded having her in his apartment at all.

It'd been so long since he had someone to take care of, even if only for a little while.

xxx

TBC