Physically and Mentally Exhausted Ch. 7


It was a long meeting. Well actually, it was exactly the same length as all their other 2 o'clock briefings – it merely felt longer because a certain journalist was watching the News Night Crew, and especially their two leaders, with extra care.

After what seemed like an age to Mackenzie, they were finally at the last minute or so of the D Block session and as Jim took up the conversation Brian got up, closing the lid on his Biro and leaned in to speak to her. She caught Will looking sharply at him, as she nodded at Brian's request.

She looked at her ex carefully, before she said, "Sure. You need to work around the broadcast though. I don't want them distracted when they need to focus."

"Fine." He replied, staring back at her with an equal intensity. She couldn't tell exactly what was going through his mind, but she had the distinct impression that Brian was not finished tormenting her yet. She realised that Jim had stopped speaking, and that everyone was looking at them curiously.

"Well everybody, it's Brian's last day with us tomorrow before he goes off to actually write this thing and he's just looking for a last word from everyone, so at some point during the rest of today or tomorrow he'll stop you for a few minutes. But that's all for now, we'll meet back here at 6 for the rundown."

"I thought I'd start off with you." Brian whispered in her ear. She stiffened, slightly repulsed by the fact that she could feel him standing so close to her that their knees knocked against each other slightly. She composed herself whilst packing up her notepad and shot him a cold look.

"Okay. What's your question?" He smirked slightly.

"Can we do this in your office?" She was seething, she knew he was just trying to intimidate her and make her feel small; but she wasn't going to let him. She forced a sweet smile back onto her face before nodding.

"Of course. I'll meet you in there; I just have to speak to Will for a second."

A small frown crossed Brian's face as she said this, but he nodded slowly as she turned off into the bullpen and towards Will's office. Will was heading over there himself, and out of the corner of his eye saw her coming. He held the door open for her so that she could pass in front of him, shooting a warning look at Brian across the room.

"You okay?" He asked immediately as the door closed behind him.

"He's just being –" Mac sighed and plonked herself down angrily on the edge of his desk as she tried to rub the frustration out of her eyes. "He's just trying to wind me up and I'm getting tired of having to fight him off."

Will's eyes softened as she looked up at him, stressed, and far less like the laidback, happy Mackenzie he had woken up with that morning. He ditched his papers on his table and walked over to her, holding her upper arms and gently rubbing circles into them with his thumbs, trying to sooth her.

"He's a pain in the ass, and you know I'm unspeakably sorry that I brought him here?" She looked up into his eyes, an amused smile suddenly pulling at her face. She bit her bottom lip in one of her trademark smiles and pulled one of her hands which had holding the edge of the desk, up to fiddle with the bottom of his tie.

"Charlie says he thinks you're an asshole for bringing him here." Will laughed and pulled her to him, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead. She snuggled into him, thinking that this feeling would never get old – that she would never get used to being with him like this again.

"At least tomorrow is his last day." His spoke softly into her hair. "We won't really have to see him again after that."

Mac made a relieved sound into his collarbone as he said this, tightening her arms around his waist and leaning up on her toes slightly. Holding her now, he could feel how tense she had become even in these few short hours, and felt a renewed hatred for Brian along with another pang of guilt as he pulled back so he could see her face.

Cupping her cheek in his hand, he leaned in and gently pressed his lips to hers. She kissed him back immediately and he felt her relax and melt into him within seconds, making sure that he affirmed his arm around her waist so that she could fall forwards slightly. It was very lazy and slow as she allowed herself to get lost in Will for a few moments before she had to go back and face Brian; though she could happily have stayed there for a lot longer and just let Brian wait until she felt good and ready to go and bring him down a few pegs.

To her dismay, however, Will slowly pulled back from her a couple of minutes later, and rested his forehead on hers, still holding her close. He ran his thumb along her nose making her giggle, and then kissed the tip of it, smiling.

"Tell you what, you go back out there and deal with Brian, and tonight we'll grab a Chinese and some wine, go back to yours or mine and have a good long bitching session about self-interested assholes." Mackenzie laughed, and smiled up at him.

"Okay. Sounds like a plan."

"Good." He kissed her once more before leaning across her and grabbing her notepad from the desk behind her. He handed it to her like a knight would receive a sword before going off to fight to the death.

"Your mission, should you choose to accept it…" Mac grinned, taking the pad. "Go show him who's boss, Boss." He winked at her, and she walked back out into the bullpen with a lot more confidence that she had when she had gone in. She even had a smile on her face.

"You guys need anything?" She asked Jim and Neal, who were starting to work on a small story. The both shook their heads and turned back to their work, although a few curious looks were thrown her way by people who clearly thought she looked far too happy for someone who was about to have it out with Brian.

She strode into her office, dumping her notes on her desk, and sat down shooting a quick glance over her emails before turning back to Brian, who was seated opposite her.

"So," Resting her elbows on her desk she scrutinised him, hoping to make him feel a little bit uncomfortable. "What do you want to ask?"

Brian was clearly confused, obviously having noticed the change in her demeanour and being able to sense that she was less pliable for him than before; but he soon managed to get his arrogance back.

"Well I wanted to start off by asking about yesterday." He told her, making her freeze for a moment as she thought for one terrified second that he was actually talking about her and Will, before she realised that actually quite a lot had happened yesterday.

"You mean the debate?"

"Well, rather the lack thereof." Oh how she wanted to get a mop and wipe that smug, arrogant smirk off his face. She tried not to let him play on her vulnerabilities.

"Obviously it's a bit of a knock, but I think after last night we got a lot of our spirit back. So we pulled ourselves back up again, I think we can be proud of that."

"So if anyone asks, how would you explain your little diversion from being the 'media elite' to being the usual scummy, ratings-chasing cable networks that the majority of the population are more than happy to watch?" Mac narrowed her eyes, fighting the urge to kick him and crossed her arms defensively.

"Why don't you just remember the reason the RNC came to us? Because we are considered a strong, impartial news outlet. They chose to see us, not the other way around, Brian. And my reply to whichever clueless, dim-witted fool asked me that question would be that we diverted from our usual methodology because we hoped that by doing so we would actually manage to make a greater good come out of it by changing the debates."

Brian laughed mirthlessly, "Mac, Seriously – if you honestly thought for one second that you were ever going to win over those guys by demonstrating that debate format, then you're crazier than I thought!"

"I think if other people had seen what we were trying to do, and how quickly the RNC turned it down – and why! – then the RNC would get a lot of stick for being cowards and not allowing the people a proper, decent chance to vet a possible president. Don't give me that bullshit you said yesterday about Will being the star – you're many things Brian, but you're not an idiot, so don't act like one!

"You know as well as I do that debates are so biased towards fairness and avoiding hot potatoes that we never properly vet candidates. If we did, we would probably never have ended up with an imbecile like Bush in the highest office in the land. Seriously – if people had seen his last press conference before they had voted for him, the democrats would have won with a landslide."

She had started off talking in a very quiet voice, but by the end she was doing nothing of the sort; Brian actually looked quite taken aback by her outburst. She looked her over, appraisingly,

"You really believe in all this shit, huh?"

She snapped up to look at him. "Why should call something a lie if we know it's a lie. If you don't it just makes you look like an idiot, and a coward; and no one should be scared of speaking the truth."

"The truth can be a terrible thing, Mac."

"People have the right to know the facts, Brian. We work for them, not for the government."

"I work for me!" He said exasperatedly.

"Well I don't." She said simply, leaning back in her chair and looking stubbornly back at him. Something he had said yesterday sparked in her mind, and she smirked suddenly. "So – all that stuff you were saying yesterday about how you would never have abandoned your ratings for Casey Anthony and blah, blah, blah – were you just lying then to piss me off, or what? Impress me?"

Brian clearly hadn't been expecting that; in fact she'd be willing to bet that he had forgotten that he had said it. Her smirk widened as he clearly tried to come up with an excuse, but realising he was caught, he leaned forward, invading her personal space.

"Frankly Mac, after the complete debacle of a newsroom that I've seen here this week, I feel absolutely no need to try and impress you. You are clearly unhappy and over-worked, so when you said I was 'jealous' yesterday, I actually have no idea what you were talking about."

Mac stared at him. "Well, if that's the impression you've got of me then I can't wait to read the fantasy you're going to write for New York magazine." It was like a tennis match with the two of them going back and forward, trying to get one up on each other. "This is the job I've always dreamed of doing, and I'm getting to do it with the only anchor I would want to do it with. I have a team who is as dedicated to the show as Charlie, Will and I are, and yes we lost a battle this week, but it doesn't mean we're going to stop –"

"Do you know how pathetic you are, hanging around here with a guy you're clearly still pining after and who clearly hates your guts?" Brian cut in swiftly.

"For the last time, you know absolutely nothing about my personal life and you know nothing about Will and I, so you should really stop talking about things you don't understand." There was a quiet fury about her now, and she actually just wanted to run screaming from the room and get back to Will and the others, away from this bastard who, despite whatever his original intentions were, was now clearly on a mission to torment her as much as possible.

"Mac according to you, I am a fairly big part of the whole you-and-Will saga, so –"

"You were, Brian. You were a part of my life – please get that into your head, because frankly I'm sick of telling you! Will and I have both made mistakes where you're concerned but please don't think that you can screw us over by writing a take-down piece because I can assure you it won't work."

She was standing up now, one fist clenched at her side, the other pointing at Brian warningly. Brian also stood up, picking up his things, the smug smile back on his face.

"Whatever, Mac. We both know – scratch that, everyone knows why Will brought me here. He could have had anyone, but he chose me. Does that really spell out 'Happily Ever After' to you?"

Leaving her fuming behind her desk, he smirked at her shaking his head, and exited the room.


Okay, I appreciate how long it has been since I last updated this piece! But my life has been insane this last month. I'm typing this from a whole new country which is now my home for the year, which is all very scary, and I'm not even actually posting it from my new "home" because it has no internet as of yet. Anyways, I think I mentioned this in my other update, so I'll shut up and let you get on reading the story.

Update for In the Bleak Midwinter up tomorrow/Monday probably.