Here chapter 7 and the next one should follow shortly.

A M-rated version can again be found on AO3

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Something To Talk About

Mac and Will had both quickly fallen asleep after their love making. and when she stirred for the first time the next morning Will's bedroom was already bathed in bright sunshine. He was spooning her, his arm slung around her waist, and she couldn't help but smile when she remembered the night before.

It had been mind-blowing, and although she knew that this weekend bore the chance of much hurt when they finally sat down to talk, she was glad that she had gotten over her doubts the day before already.

Not only had it just been... well, worth it, definitely, but she had wanted to give Will this proof of her trust in him, in them. He had been so patient with her, endured her mixed signals like riling him up and then stopping him, even snapping at him without any reason, that she didn't want to make him – and herself -wait any longer. Their impending talk was important and necessary, she knew that, but she was certain that nothing said would change that they were both in. They knew the topics that had to be dealt with, the facts were clear. Now they only had to get to why everything had happened, what had been their motivation.

Mac carefully turned around underneath Will's arm to face him. He looked younger in his sleep, his blonde hair tousled and his features relaxed. Just like the days before she was grateful that she got to be here next to him, to not only be part of his professional but also his personal life again, and she wasn't sure this feeling would ever completely disappear.

She couldn't resist and carefully stroked back some of the stray hair, before she let her hand trail down, softly running it over his shoulder and arm so that it came to rest between them. With a silent sigh she snuggled into his chest and closed her eyes. Another hour of sleep surely wouldn't hurt.

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When she woke up again, more like two hours later, Will was awake. He had brought a little space between them to be able to look at her, and when she opened her eyes she was greeted by his soft smile.

"Mornin', Beautiful."

"Morning, Handsome." Mac almost purred and stretched her body. "It's Saturday."

"It is. You can sleep as long as you want." Will caught her hand when her arm came down and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.

"I'm good. I was awake earlier and managed to get anouther..." she glanced at the alarm on the nightstand behind him. "...couple of hours." For the first time in weeks, if not months, Mac felt thoroughly rested, and although she didn't intend to get up yet, she was wide awake.

"You're really good? No regrets about last night?" Will seemed worried, but Mac immediately reassured him with a wide smile.

"Definitely not." Moving closer she lightly ran her fingers up to his neck and pulled him towards her. "It was wonderful." She kissed him. "And I really want to do it again."

The next kiss lasted longer and Will couldn't help but let his own hand cup her firm ass. Starting out slowly the kiss quickly heated up and only when they both were moaning into each other, Will reluctantly pulled back to remind her. "That's good to hear, but we wanted to talk today."

"I know..." Mac pressed a kiss to his chin and then looked at him. "But we are in, right? We are both in."

"Yes, of course." he smiled. "That's why it's important that we talk."

"Mmh... I know... But... I feel like... Maybe we should... you know... get it out of our system first?" Mac expectantly bit her lip while her hand slowly travelled down his chest.

Will's eyes darkened even further and he smirked while mumbling against her lips. "As if that could ever happen..."

Mac pulled back a little and grinned. "I'd say it's time for you to collect your interest."

"Oh God..." Her words alone let Will groan and she giggled while following the way of her hands. She lingered over his chest, teasing his sensitive nipples, while further south she felt another part of his body rise to attention. It gave her a satisfying feeling of power to see that he was still reacting to her as strongly as in the past, and she let out a contented sigh signalling just that.

When Will groaned again she looked up and grinned. "Like it?"

"Do you even have to ask?" His breathing had already gotten heavier, and by the time she moved even lower he was starting to pant. Mac took her time to place a row of kisses onto his stomach, enjoying the feeling if his twitching muscles , before she followed the smattering of hair that led further down.

Will had been dreaming about this for so long, conjuring up memories like this whenever his yearning for MacKenzie had boverwhelmed him, that he knew he wouldn't last long. He could already feel a tingling in his spine, but Mac obviously still knew him very well and eased off just that little bit, that allowed him to hang onto his last bit of control.

However, his reprieve only lasted a short moment, then she intensified her ministrations again. Mac didn't let off until he was completely spent, and only then she moved up to lie next to Will with a satisfied grin.

Giggling she leaned into him and nestled her face into his neck, placing soothing kisses on his skin. "I trust... the service... was to your... satisfaction?"

Instead of answering a few seconds later Will moved up onto his elbow and looked down at her. "It was amazing... Thank you."
Then he looked down her naked body and a lazy smile showed on his face. Mac realized his intention immediately and protested weakly. "You don't need to... That was for you, Billy."

"Oh believe me, this is still part of your interest payment," Will assured her, smirking. "You know how much I love to watch you come."

Mac blushed adorably, but she didn't say anything else. Instead she relaxed into the pillows and waited for him to take action, after all it wasn't like what she had done before had left herself unaffected.

When Will leaned in to touch her lips she sighed and looped her arms around his neck. After he'd had the chance to worship her body last night, his kisses quickly got a little harder and rougher, and she loved every moment of it.

It was true, he enjoyed nothing more than watching his MacKenzie in ecstasy, and they way she was splayed out right now was the perfect picture of a, no, the woman in his bed.

It took her a quite some time to catch her breath afterwards, and when she finally came back to reality she was tucked into Will's side, covered by a warm blanket.

"Fuck..."

Will chuckled at her reaction, but when she didn't say anything else he followed up. "Penny for your thoughts..."

"I was so right..." Mac looked up at him and sighed dreamily.

"About what?"

"About sex being like a good bottle of wine, don't you think?"

"I'm gonna start collecting wine right now." He smiled and pressed a light kiss to her nose. "We should get up soon or we won't make it out of bed all day."

Mac sighed. "Okay, let's take a shower, get some coffee and then talk."

"Got it out of your system?" Will smirked while using her previous words and was rewarded with a playful slap.

"Shut it..." Her grin ruined the desired effect, so she threw her arms around his neck and kissed him hard. "For that I'm taking a shower now while you can start the coffee..."

He pouted, but admitted that it was probably a good idea for them to cool it down a little before sitting down for their conversation. The conversation he wanted to have but dreaded at the same time, so after another kiss to her lips he moved away from her and got up to go into the kitchen.

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After they both had their shower as well as a quiet breakfast they sat down on the couch in the living room, both agreeing that they should avoid the intimacy of their bed for this.

They placed their coffee on the table in front of them and faced each other, their bodies not touching but still within arms length. Mac grimaced. "Are we doing this all in the wrong order? I mean, talking about having kids before anything else?"

"You've just said we are both in, right?" When she nodded he went on. "I can assure you that nothing that will be said here today will drive me away. I meant it two and a half years ago when I said 'I'm in' and I mean it now. I'm in, Mac... So no, there is no right or wrong order and there are not right or wrong answers."

He saw her relax, so he took her hand and took a deep breath.

"Okay, let me start with saying this: Except for the one thing you did wrong you did everything right; I realised that the other night. Everything else was on me and I don't know why I didn't see that before. I'm really, really sorry."

Mac reassuringly squeezed his hand. "We both made mistakes, Billy, it wasn't all on you. We just... we should try not to get into a blame game, both of us have things to apologize for."

"Okay then..." He smiled nervously. "How do you want to do it? We could check off a list or take turns with questions or...?"

"You made a list?" Mac actually sounded a little impressed.

"I wasn't speaking literally, Honey. No, I didn't make a list, but of course I know what I want to talk about."

"Okay..." she breathed in deeply. "Let's take turns then. You start."

Mac was prepared for Will's first question being the big one about her cheating on him, but was surprised when he spoke.

"Your scar..."

Giving him a weak smile she unconsciously put her free hand where the scar was hidden by her shirt. "I appreciate you not mentioning it last night."

"I'd heard rumours..."

"I didn't want to be the story. If it hadn't been me but any other person, nobody would have even bothered to learn the victim's name, not to speak of broadcasting it on prime time news."

"But you are alright? No long term damage?" Will shortly looked down and softly let his finger run over her shirt where he knew the scar was, when she gave him a comforting smile and shook her head. "Does it still hurt?"

"No." She paused and thought about her answer for a moment. "Not physically, at least."

"What do you mean?"

Again she didn't reply immediately, but then continued tentatively. "The memories don't just disappear... I do still have the occasional nightmare... It got a lot better, but when I'm stressed or feeling particularly vulnerable, it sometimes happens again."

Will remained quiet and his face took on an expression of self-loathing. "So... Another thing to blame me for, seeing my behaviour towards you over the past two and a half years."

"No, Billy. I've just said it got better. And when it does happen, it's mainly when we cover violent stories from the Middle East that involved civilians or journalists." She edged a little closer and softly stroked his hair.

"Mainly." Will repeated the word, sounding bitter.

"Please don't blame yourself. I don't. And except for a couple of nights during the Genoa research I haven't had a nightmare in a long time."

"I'm so sorry, Mac. For everything." Will looked absolutely contrite and sad, so Mac quickly took his hand.

"I'm fine, really. I've seen a therapist for a while after my return and she's helped a lot."

"I'm glad about that..." Will paused and thought for a second. "Is that why you made me see Abe again? Well, Jack now? Not just because I couldn't sleep, but to get my head out of my ass?"

"No, I did that because you were an idiot to stop going in the first place." Mac winked, but pressed his fingers reassuringly. "Did Jack help you?"

"Yeah, he did" he admitted. "Once I was prepared to listen to what he had to say."

" As long as it got you here..." She smiled. "I'm glad."

"Me, too." Will returned her smile. "Okay, your turn. That is if it's okay for you to talk about your time in the Middle East another time? I really want to hear about it, but I think for now we should talk about other things, don't you?"

Turning serious again Mac nodded and then looked down at her hands, gathering her thoughts. "The ring."

He was confused. "We've talked about the ring. Is there anything else you want to know about it?"

"The price... You didn't say how much it cost, but I know enough about diamonds to..." She met his eyes. "Why, Will?"

Will sighed. "I wanted you to like it. I had told myself it was just so it would hurt you even more, but that's not true." He gave her a sad smile. "I knew that I would never buy a ring for any other woman. I really wanted it to be yours, so I chose one I knew you would like."

She sadly shook her head. "I should have known when you showed it to me. You've made good money when we were together, but not that much." She laughed bitterly. "And what person in its right mind would have a ring in the office drawer – in another city – three years after the break-up?"

"I wasn't in my right mind, you know that. I'm sorry, Hon..." Her obvious pain helped him make the next suggestion. " Listen, I don't want you to think about this every time you look at your hand. If you want to, we can go to Tiffany's right now and get you another ring. Just say the word."

Mac remained quiet for a while, intensely studying the piece of jewellery on her finger, Will was holding his breath, but when she finally looked up, she smiled. "No, I love it. It's perfect. And once we've settled all this, it will only remind me of how strong we are and that nothing can keep us apart."

Will sighed with relief. "Okay... Anything else about the ring?"

Mac shook her and was just about to ask another question, when she remembered that it was his turn and murmered "Sorry."

"What is it?" He smiled encouragingly and let a finger trail over her hand before catching her pinky with his to not lose the contact. "Go ahead."

She blushed. "I was just thinking... Yesterday you've said you don't have any condoms here,.. Not even just in case...?" Her voice trailed of, but clearly displayed her curiosity.

"I threw the last ones out..." Will hesitated but then went on. "I didn't need them anymore."

Mac's breath hitched. "Does that mean...?"

"I haven't just randomly dated in a long time, Mac." His answer was stated as a simple fact. "No use in trying to get you out of my mind when my thoughts always were with you... And in the spirit of full disclosure... The dates didn't end up in the bedroom very often..."

"The neurosurgeon?"

Will shook his head.

"And I always thought you'd just got better at avoiding page six." Smiling Max leaned in to press a soft kiss to his lips, but then she bit her lip. "If that is true... Nina. What about Nina?"

His face took on a slightly embarassed look. „She isn't the devil, you know? She did have some good sides."

Before Mac could stop herself the words were out of her mouth. „In bed?"

Will knew that the answer would hurt her, but he had promised to be honest. „I can't deny that sex was part of our relationship. But..." He saw the pain in her eyes though she surely had to have known that they hadn't been in a purely platonic relationship for six months.

„Mac, listen: There wasn't a single moment during that time where I thought that I would be spending the rest of my life with her. It was a distraction, it was company and..." He quickly took her hand. „...yeah... it was another way to get to you. I'm sorry."

She swallowed hard, trying not to dwell on the last sentence, even though at that point she had thought that he had overcome his need to punish her. "So... You just used her?"

"No, I..." he stopped and reconsidered. "Yeah, I guess in a way I did... But she knew what she was getting into. She knew that I was in love with you."

Mac was confused. "You told her?"

Will took her hand and his voice was soft. "No, I told you. Remember? She'd heard the voicemail message I left for you..."

She gasped at the logical conclusion of what his message had contained and looked at him with wide eyes. "You said...? Will, how the fuck am I supposed to remember? You've never told me what that fucking message said!"

Will paled in shock. She was right, he had never given her an answer, always pretended to not remember... Fuckfuckfuckingfuck! "Oh my God..., you are right... Fuck! Again, I'm so sorry, Mac."

His voice was pleading now, but Mac remained quiet and looked at their fingers. Of course she'd had her suspicions about the content of the voicemail message, but right now she couldn't focus on the time they had lost because she had never received it. Suddenly she abruptly stood up and moved away a couple of steps.

"So... You...You knew that you were in love with me, but you still wanted to punish me? You knew that she knew you are in love with me, and still you chose her to exert that punishment?"

She closed her eyes for a moment, and when she opened them again they were full of pain and her voice trembled. "Not only did you choose her, even though you claim you were in love with me. No, you chose her although you knew that she was the reason I never got the message in the first place. You chose her and wouldn't even tell me what the message said? That is..."

"Honey, I..." Will had also gotten up and laid his hands on her shoulders, but she immediately shook them off, retreating another step.

"Don't touch me right now, Will."