"Billy!" Mac shouted and rushed around the desk, ignoring the exclamations coming through her headset and pushing past Sloan who was standing at her own chair, shock on her face.
By the time she made it to his side Will was blinking slowly and holding up a hand, "I'm fine...I'm fine...just...needed to...not be up...anymore...I guess..."
Mackenzie choked back a sob of relief hearing him speak and forced her voice not to quiver, instead coming out harsher than she intended, "You just couldn't stand up? You're not fine, Billy. Don't tell me you're fine. I don't want to hear that again."
He had squeezed his eyes shut but rocked his head in her direction and pried them open, taking in her distraught face, "Mac..." he started but she cut him off.
"Don't. Just...Just be still, okay?" She placed her hand on his chest and her words drifted off to more of a plea than an order.
"Kenz, what can I do?" Mac turned to look up at Sloan who was looking as scared as she felt.
Mac tried to put on a reassuring smile for her friend, "Sure, can you find something he can use as a pillow? And find Jim?"
"I'm here!" Shouted a frantic Jim, bursting through the studio door and rounding the other side of the desk.
Mac breathed out in relief. After she had been stabbed in Islamabad Jim had coped by taking every field medical course he could find and while she had teased him about his new found passion for emergency medicine she had found it endearing and comforting and now she could not be more grateful.
"What's going on?"
"I'm fine!" Will insisted again to which Mac just applied more pressure as if keeping him from moving would make him stop talking.
Jim breathed out a sigh of relief, "So he's concious. That's good. Will, you can hear me?"
"Yes, hence my previously telling you that I'm fine." Will grumbled.
"Well you collapsed and in the past 2 years and 8 months I've known you I haven't observed that to be normal behavior for you so how about we assume you're not exactly fine?" Jim replied, still breathing away his own panic and carefully loosening Will's tie and collar before placing his fingers on Will's neck, searching for his pulse.
Will just grumbled to himself but didn't complain when Sloan returned with Neal's sweater which she handed to Mac who folded it and gently placed it behind Will's head.
Jim sighed, "Your pulse is really too fast right now. It's as if you were just running a marathon, not just sitting at a desk. Did you just get light headed or did you actually loose conciousness?"
"I don't know."
Jim grimaced, "Can you tell me what you remember?"
Will sighed, "I went to stand up but I felt dizzy and the corners of my vision got a little dusty so I decided it was better to sit back down and I don't know if I missed the chair or what but next thing I know I was on the ground and Mac was yelling at me."
"For good reason." Mac defended herself.
Jim nodded, "Okay it sounds like you did loose conciousness even if it was just for a few seconds."
Mac swallowed, "Should we be calling 911?"
"Please don't..." Whined Will.
"Shut up, you don't have a say in this." She snapped at him, looking to Jim for direction.
Jim bit the inside of his cheek, "I don't think so. He's concious and lucid and it doesn't seem like he hurt himself further."
Will sighed, "Thank god."
"But..." Jim cut in, "He should probably still go in to get checked by a doctor. I understand with the lights and everything this wasn't the best envioroment for someone with a concussion but it's been almost 24 hours. He should be getting better, not worse. I wish we had a blood pressure cuff."
Mac's eyes went wide and her hand went from pressing on Will's chest to clenching his shirt.
"Jim...he...his...the way he got hit, it was right on the temple and he broke the little bone there and the doctor said that sometimes that ruptures the blood vessel underneath and it can lead to a brain bleed and that he needs to keep his blood pressure low because that could exacerbate...Jim...?"
She was unable to keep the shake out of her voice and she bit her lip as she stared at her senior producer.
Jim gave her a small smile and reached out a hand to lay on her arm. "Okay. Okay Mac."
He returned his attention to Will who was in the process of slowly blinking his eyes open again. He turned his head to look around Jim and catch Mackenzie's eye, "Mac...Mackenzie..." He raised his hand and covered hers still on his chest, prying it off of his shirt and replacing the material by threading his fingers through her own. "Mac. It's okay. I'm sorry I scared you. I'm sorry. It's okay. Remember the Doc said it would get worse before it gets better just because I've had so many before? It's not an anyeurism, I would know and I probably would be able to talk to you right now. It's okay."
Mac nodded and swallowed deeply, "Shut up and listen to Jim." She said in a soft voice.
Will spared another moment of eye contact with her before nodding and turning his attention to Jim who gave him a small smile.
"Good to see you open your eyes. How's the light?"
Will smirked, "The shadow of the desk is helping."
Jim nodded, "Yeah. I need you to do me a favor though and follow my finger. If you start to get naseous or dizzy let me know."
Will grimaced but did as he was told, following Jim's finger as he moved it left and right, up and down. Jim then leaned in closer and if it weren't for the death grip Mackenzie had on his hand he would have been tempted to make a joke but he settled for remaining silent and letting Jim check his pupil dilation.
Jim finally sat back and looked up at Mackenzie. "I think he's right. I don't see or hear any evidence that there is anything more serious going on than some very severe concussion symptoms." He turned his attention to Will, "If you've had enough concussions to warrent this kind of reaction I would have thought you'd know better what your limits are. You need to be careful."
Will shrugged, "I haven't had one in 30 years. But don't worry, I don't think Ms. McHale here is going to be allowing me to get away with much of anything now."
"You're damn right I won't!" She replied, her fear finally transforming into anger, "We're going back to the hospital and Dr. Harr and then if you're lucky enough that he doesn't admit you, you're going home and you're not going to so much as move unless I give you permission and you sure as hell are not coming back here for the rest of the week. Do you hear me?"
Will winced, "Yes. Very clearly. You're yelling very loudly, very close to me."
She glared at him and shook her head. "Douchebag."
He gave her an innocent smile which she did not return although she did give his hand a little squeeze.
"Okay," She looked around at the crowd which had gathered around the desk. She smiled comfortingly at all the concerned faces of the staff. "Thank you everyone but he's going to be okay. We're going to get him checked out and then we'll see you all on Monday. Jim will be in charge of the rundowns for the next two days and Charlie will work out who will anchor the broadcasts. But for now thank you for your concern but you should all feel free to go home for the evening."
She looked back down at Will who had closed his eyes again, "Your staff is worried about you."
He opened his eyes again and sighed, "Thanks guys." He raised his free hand in a parting wave to the staff who mostly dispersed with a chorus of "Feel better." and "See you Monday."
Jim, Mac, Sloan, Don and Elliot were all who remained in the studio. Feeling much more calm and reassured Mac untwined her fingers from Will's and gave him a pat on the chest, "Come on now. Time to get up. At least this time we should be at the hospital before midnight. Just try not to puke on my shoes again."
Will let out an amused snort but made no move to sit up.
"Will..." Mac sighed and looked to the others in the room for assistance.
"Here we go..." Elliot stepped in, tucked his hands under Will's arms and carefully pulled him to a sitting position.
"Whoa..." Will grumbled when he was leaning against Elliot's legs.
"Careful now and get your bearings. Next step is standing up and I have to be on air in less than an hour so I don't need your vomitting on me either." warned the younger anchor.
"Don't worry about it. Don't think I have anything left in me." Will mumbled.
"Good then. Here we go." Elliot pulled Will the rest of the way to standing and immediatly moved to drape Will's arm over his shoulder.
Will squeezed his eyes shut, and wobbled slightly but found his balance soon enough and squinted at Elliot. "How the hell did you get so strong?"
Elliot smirked, "Kids. You wouldn't believe how heavy a 5 year old can make herself when she doesn't want to be picked up." He turned them so they were no longer facing the bright studio lights and were headed out the studio door. "Come on, I'll get you to your office so you can change before Mac takes you home."
"Thanks." Will mumbled.
"No problem brother, come on." He guided him out the door.
20 minutes later Mac was pacing in Will's office, waiting for him to exit the bathroom. She was cursing herself for agreeing to allow him to change before she and Jim escorted him to the hospital for the second time in 24 hours.
Impatiently she knocked on the door. "Will, if you aren't out here in the next 2 minutes I'm coming in there!"
"Come on in." She almost missed the quiet invitation. Her heart sped up and she burst into the small room to find him sitting on the closed lid of the toilet holding his jeans in his hand. He had changed into his t-shirt and flannel but had nothing but his socks and boxers on his legs.
She stepped fully into the room and closed the door behind her. "What's going on?"
He looked up at her with such a forelorn look that she couldn't keep the pity off her face.
"I can't put my pants on. Every time I bend over I get dizzy again." He mumbled, turning and looking down as he spoke.
Mac relaxed the tension from her shoulders. "How'd you get your dress pants off?"
He indicated the pool of black material in the corner. "I just kicked them off. It wasn't until it was too late that I realized I was going to have a problem."
She nodded, "Okay, give me those."
She took the jeans from his hands and held them open as he stepped in to them and then she pulled them up until he was able to grab them and pull them the rest of the way up.
"Thank you." He muttered, still looking down as he fastened the pants.
She smiled softly at him. "It's nothing. I'm glad you asked. What would you have done if I hadn't knocked?"
He shurgged, "I'm creative. Would have thought of something eventually...or just fall asleep on the toilet."
She smirked at him and she was relieved to find him smiling back, breaking some of the tension.
"Come on, sit down again and I'll help you get your shoes on."
He sighed but did as he was told. "I hate feeling like I'm 3 years old."
She shrugged as she bent over to help him slip on his shoes, "Things could be a lot worse." She tried to stifle the sudden memory of him collapsing and the absolute fear that had assaulted her.
"Mac?" He interuppted her thoughts tenderly.
She looked up to seem him staring intently at her. "What?"
"I..." He trailed off, eyes tracing her face.
"Will? What?" She sat back on her heels and placed a hand on his knee.
He licked his lips, "I...I'm really sorry is all. I don't understand how I could have been so stupid and I know I've put you and Charlie and everyone through a lot of stress and I'm really sorry. I don't ...I don't deserve yo...I don't deserve for you to be so kind to me right now."
Mackenzie let out a sad sigh. "It's okay and yes you do. Every now and then everyone needs and deserves someone to take care of them. It's okay to not be the protector for once in your life."
She finished tying his shoe and then stood up, placing her hands on his shoulders. "You're not fine right now but you're going to be soon and I'm happy to be here until you are." She bit her lip for a second before seeming to come to a desicion and she leaned in to place a brief and gentle kiss to the side of his head, right above his temple.
"Come on. Jim is waiting with a cab downstairs."
She held out her hand and waited until he grasped it and pulled himself up. To her surpise he twisted his palm in hers and didn't let go as she led him out his office and down to the waiting cab.
