A/N: So, this one's a bit shorter, because I thought it was pretty well contained as is, and also because if not, it wouldn't go up for a while, and when it did, it would be insanely long. Even for me. So here it is, enjoy. I'm a fan of this one.

Chapter 11

xxx

At their next therapy session, Habib decided to be proactive. Just confront things head on instead of waiting for Will to broach the topic. It was always the same topic these days anyway, so why not.

Instead of dissuading him, Will's appearance of quiet frustration when he walked in the office only encouraged Jack in his plan. The anchor looked like he just needed a poke. Although, for civility's sake, he did exchange greetings and wait for the anchor to at least sit down before jumping in. "So, how are things going with Mackenzie?"

Jack's simple question resulted in something of a miniature explosion from the man sitting opposite him.

"Mackenzie!" Will growled. "Why is that all anyone ever wants to talk about? Things are going just fine. Everything's under control. Or it would be, if everyone would just leave me alone. Has no one heard about taking their time, or moving a little slowly in this day and age. But no! We've become a culture all about instantaneous gratification. Nothing is worth waiting for. Everything has to be now now now! Let me tell you something..."

Jack knew he had to act fast if he didn't want to listen to a ten minute (minimum) rant on the decline of American culture in the technology age. "What happened?" he asked softly.

The question pulled Will up short. "What?'

"I asked you a simple question, and you nearly bit my head off," Habib explained. "What happened? Did something happen with Mackenzie?"

"No," Will replied honestly.

Habib leaned forward. If something hadn't happened with Mackenzie then... "Is that a problem?"

"No," Will said quickly. He sighed. "Yes. Maybe."

Jack smiled softly. He'd expected some of Will's frustrations to come to a head at some point, but he had to admit, he'd expected it to take a little longer. "What happened Will?"

Will glanced away. "It's all Charlie's fault."

"Okay," Habib agreed easily. That actually made more sense, a third party giving him a push. After all, Will resisted change more stubbornly than most people Jack had worked with, and Mackenzie, as far as he could tell, was unlikely to push too hard unless she had some indication that she would get somewhere. And the woman was probably more than a little gun shy at this point. Jack wondered exactly what Charlie Skinner had done.

"He called me into his office on Monday morning," Will explained. "I foolishly thought it was going to be about work."

"I wasn't," Habib assumed.

"No," Will explained. It certainly hadn't been.

xxx

Charlie Skinner was going to do something that, despite appearances, he really didn't like doing all that much.

He was going to meddle in his employees' personal lives.

Sure, he'd played the puppet master before, but he usually tried to keep it in the realm of the professional. It was part of his job as head of the news division to manage his staff, after all. When it came to the personal, things got a little dicier.

He talked to his staff about their personal lives casually of course; he took an interest. A polite interest usually, but an interest nonetheless. Except when it came to Will. Will was special. He'd known the man for years now. Will had potential. He was often blinded by his own fears, but it was there. Charlie just wanted to see the man use it.

He'd made a good start recently with the show, but he still had a ways to go.

Charlie had been waiting for Will to figure it out on his own (he knew the situation was delicate and painful for the news anchor), but enough was enough.

Will had been dancing around for way too long now. He'd had his chance to deal with things his way. Now it was time for a new approach. Because one of these days Mackenzie McHale was going to meet another man who wasn't an asshole, and Will would probably regret it for the rest of his life.

It wasn't what Charlie wanted for the anchor.

But that wasn't the only reason Charlie had decided a bit of a nudge was in order.

A few days earlier, Will had come into work with a killer headache. After ending up on the wrong end of the anchor's crankiness himself, Charlie had decided to just leave him well enough alone. It wasn't his job to play nursemaid, and Will could be a complete bastard when he was sick.

Still, Charlie wasn't completely heartless. Later in the day, he'd gone to make sure Will was okay only to find that it was already being taken care of. He'd found Mackenzie ensconced in the anchor's office, stretched out on his couch with a stack of files. The two of them didn't appear to be making conversation, but she was there, a silent comfort. Charlie had left without interrupting them, knowing immediately that he wasn't needed.

Even apart from that instance (and that alone had been telling), he'd been hearing rumours lately, rumours about the face of Atlantis Cable News and his executive producer. Rumours of meetings that ended in smiles and maybe even laughter, of coffee cups filled exactly right left on each other's desks, of private lunches, of sparring matches where both participants seemed to be having entirely too much fun to actually be angry at each other.

It made Charlie wonder what in the hell Will thought he was doing (and why the hell Mackenzie wasn't pushing him to do it faster).

So now he was going to meddle. Just a little. For everybody's sake (and sanity).

He looked up when he heard a knock on his door. "Come in," Charlie called.

"Hey Charlie," Will said as he walked into the office. "How's it going?"

"Can't complain," Charlie said, gesturing to the chair in front of his desk. "I'm healthy, well reasonably. My family's healthy. Ratings are holding, no complaints from the fourteenth floor."

"Good," Will replied. "You wanted to see me?"

"I did," Charlie agreed.

"About the show?" Will hoped, starting to get suspicious.

Charlie paused. "It certainly could affect the show..."

"Charlie..." Will warned, definitely suspicious now.

But Charlie held firm. "I want to talk to you about Mackenzie."

"What about Mackenzie?" Will asked, a hint of warning in his voice. Then an idea struck him. "Because her contract's up this year?"

Charlie waved a hand. "No, I assume that if need be you'll simply beg her to stay."

"Charlie..." Will sighed.

"Well, you would if you knew what's good for you," Charlie added.

"I don't have to beg," Will said in exasperation.

That got Charlie's attention and temporarily distracted him from his goal. "Oh, you've talked about this already, have you?"

"We have," Will admitted.

"But neither of you felt the need to mention anything to me?" Charlie asked, his eyes twinkling.

"We've got months until she goes into contract negotiations!" Will snapped. "And I guess we both just assumed you'd be okay with having Mac around for another three years."

Charlie leaned back in his chair, considering what he'd just heard. Three years. The two of them were making plans, permanent plans, to be together, at least professionally. What in the hell did they think they were doing? Pushing that particular piece of information to the back of his mind, Charlie turned his attention back to the man sitting opposite him. "Of course I'm okay with it! I guess I just assumed you'd be too stupid to realize what a good thing you had. I'm thrilled to discover that you're smarter than that."

"Charlie..." Will said wearily, suddenly certain he knew exactly where this conversation was going.

"So, it sounds like Mackenzie's going to be around for a little while," Charlie continued. "Provided the three of us manage not to get fired, of course."

"Of course," Will agreed.

"And it sounds like professionally the two of you are doing quite well," Charlie observed.

"We are," Will replied. "But we've been doing pretty well professionally for a while now, so why don't you just get to the real reason you called me in here."

Charlie watched the other man across from him for a moment before acknowledging the point. They both knew what the conversation was going to be about now. "What about personally?"

"What about personally, what?" Will asked.

"What about your personal relationship with Mackenzie?" Charlie pushed.

Will paused. He tried to avoid the question, even though he was pretty sure it was going to be futile. "We're friends. I'd like to think we're working on a friendship."

"Now who's dicking around?" Charlie asked.

Will's eyes turned hard. "Charlie..."

But Charlie was in no mood to deal with his crap. Not today. "Are you still in love with her?"

Will gripped the arms of the chair. "That's none of your business."

"I'll take that as a yes," Charlie said. He'd guessed as much. "And she's still in love with you?"

Will's glare turned murderous. "How in the hell should I know?" he snapped. "You'd have to ask Mackenzie that."

The anchor's answer made Charlie pause. Because unlike Will's earlier evasions, that answer seemed genuine. Will was actually uncertain. And with that, Charlie softened, but only a little. "Maybe I will," he said quietly. Probably not. He was pretty sure he knew the answer, even if Will seemed to have turned into an unperceptive idiot.

"Great!" Will replied. "Then she can be the one who has to sit through this interrogation instead of me."

"I'm not done," Charlie said, when the anchor looked like he was about to get up.

"Of course you're not," Will muttered, standing up and wandering over to the window, wondering why he hadn't just stormed out of the office five minutes ago.

"You ever planning on doing anything about it?" Charlie asked, staying where he was, sitting behind his desk.

"It's not that easy!" Will snapped. What did Charlie think he'd been doing all this time? He had some nerve calling him in here and trying to play matchmaker. Old man had been happily married for decades. He had no idea what he was talking about. "I'm so sick of people trying to tell me how to fix this... Like it's not a big deal."

"I didn't say it was easy," Charlie pointed out. "But I don't think it's as hard as you're making it out to be either."

"How would you know?" Will growled.

"Well, I have been in a relationship before," Charlie pointed out. "And don't tell me that it's not the same. No two relationships are, but none of them are easy, no matter how they look."

To Charlie's surprise, Will collapsed back into the chair. "Look Charlie, it's not that I don't appreciate what you're..."

"No, you listen to me William McAvoy," Charlie replied. "I've been on this planet longer than you have, and I've seen my fair over the years, both good and bad. And I've seen you and Mackenzie. You two are good together. When you're together sometimes, the two of you, you just light up."

The pain Will felt in his chest was entirely expected. "Charlie..."

"I mean, it's more obvious with her than you..." Charlie admitted. Will was a curmudgeonly sort, played everything closer to the vest, harder to read. But Charlie had learned a little over the years. And when it came to Mackenzie, well, sometimes Will's feelings were written all over his face in spite of himself.

"Because she's nuts," Will muttered.

Charlie ignored the interjection. "But sometimes, when you're in a room together, it's like you can't take your eyes off of her."

"Because she's usually talking," Will muttered again.

Charlie resisted the urge to toss his paperweight at the man. "For all that you call her crazy, I sometimes think that it's when she's at her craziest that she gets you the most. Because it's also when she's at her closest to genius."

"Look you know I think she's brilliant," Will replied.

"She has vision," Charlie corrected gently. "For the world, for the show, maybe even for you."

Will stood up again, absolutely unable to sit still. He spun around, trying to gather his thoughts. "She couldn't be practical if the world was ending," he replied eventually.

Charlie shrugged. "That's why she needs you."

That caused Will to freeze in his almost frenetic pacing. "She doesn't... I mean..."

"You ground her," Charlie replied. "I've seen it a million times in the rundown meetings. She tries to pull us all up into the stars, and you pull back and make sure it's actually going to be possible."

Will paused. "I already said that we work well professionally. It's why I want her as my EP."

"You don't want her for any more than that?" Charlie asked slyly.

Will gritted his teeth. "Charlie..."

"She misses you Will," Charlie said softly. "You're always watching her, but sometimes I wonder if you're actually seeing anything."

Will resisted the urge to walk across the room and punch the other man, sitting there smugly behind his desk. What did Charlie know about Mackenzie or how she felt? What did he know about what Will was trying to do about it? What did Charlie know at all? Will already spent an hour a week in therapy, with his actual therapist. He didn't need this from his boss as well. So he reverted to sarcasm. "Oh yes, she's certainly been pining away."

"She needs you Will," Charlie said gently.

The idea both frightened and thrilled Will. Although he wasn't sure it was true. Charlie didn't know Mac like he did. The woman was tough, and stubborn and above all else, independent. "Mac doesn't need anybody."

Not to survive, no," Charlie admitted. "I'll give you that. The woman can live without you. But she needs you to create something better than that. And you sure as hell need her.

Will denied it reflexively. "I don't…"

Charlie raised an elegant eyebrow.

"I don't," he insisted. "I managed to get along just fine for three years while..."

Now it was Charlie's turn to be sarcastic. "Yes, that was quite a good show, wasn't it?"

"That's not fair," Will snapped.

But Charlie wasn't done. "You were really very engaged in it weren't you?"

Okay, fine. He'd gotten the point. Now he just wanted to leave. "Charlie..."

Charlie was determined to make sure Will got the message. "And when was the last time you thought you were doing a worthwhile show before she came back?"

Will started to answer, sure that he'd have a ready example to cite. Only to come up empty. He dropped back into the chair in a daze. "Fuck."

With that, Charlie was pretty sure he'd made his point, but he needed to be sure. "Besides, you were very happy over those three years as well, weren't you? You certainly haven't been looking noticeably happier lately either."

Well, of course he'd been happier lately, Will thought. He'd been trying to... Will dropped his head into his hands. "Fucking hell."

"About time you got your head out of your ass," Charlie observed cheerfully.

Will just glared. "I hate you."

"No you don't," Charlie replied, completely unconcerned. "You're not the only one who's affable my friend, even if I don't have the focus group data to prove it. You'll thank me later."

"Yeah, we'll see about that," Will muttered. "I'm assuming you didn't really have a reason to call me up here."

"Oh, I had a reason..." Charlie assured him.

Will ignored that. He stood up. "So I assume I can go now."

"Suit yourself," Charlie replied, grinning widely. It seemed his meddling had been even more successful than he'd hoped. Although, he suspected he couldn't take all the credit. Will had probably already been at least halfway there, and just hadn't put it all together yet.

"Fuck." Will muttered, before beginning to swear more loudly as he left the office. "Fuck, fuck, fuck..."

Only to meet a very surprised looking Mac on the other side of the door.

"You okay, Will?" she asked. She'd been about to knock, when he'd opened the door literally cursing.

"I'm fine," he assured her, none too thrilled about the distractions looking at her seemed to be creating, or the little voice in his head wondering what would happen if he just kissed her, right here in the hallway. Luckily a second voice reminded him that it would make Charlie way too smug, and make the old man think he knew something. "I'm fine," he said again instead.

"Yeah, you sound it," Mac said dryly, smirking up at him.

Will just stared at the little upwards turn of the corners of her mouth. How bad could Charlie's smugness be, really?

Mac softened when he didn't answer right away, realizing something might actually be wrong. "Hey, I was just…. Is there anything I can do?"

"No!" Will insisted far too loudly. "I just... I've got to go."

Mac watched him go, a little hurt (even though she told herself the rejection she was feeling was ridiculous). She was shocked when he turned back towards her at the end of the hallway. "Sorry. I really do have a... thing to get to. Thank you though."

"You're welcome," she called after him, deciding she couldn't possibly be expected to keep track of every crazy thing Will decided to do. As long as it didn't screw up their show. "Let me know if you need me," she added for good measure. Then she stepped into Charlie's office. "What was that about?"

"I decided it was time to give him a metaphorical whack upside the head about something," Charlie told her with a smile, as he stood up and walked towards her.

"He doesn't seem to be taking it well," Mac observed dryly, glancing back down the hallway.

"He will, eventually," Charlie assured her.

Mac's eyes narrowed, still watching the hallway Will had disappeared down. "Should I be worried?"

"Nope," Charlie replied.

His tone got Mac's attention. She turned to face her boss, nameless suspicions brewing. "Charlie..."

"Don't worry about it, Mackenzie," he said, patting her on the arm.

Mac decided she probably didn't want to know. "You needed to see me?"

"I did?" Charlie asked feigning confusion.

"You left me a message to drop by your office around this time," Mac reminded him.

He had done that. Back when he'd figured that he might need to go at this particular problem from both directions. After the meeting he'd just had with Will though, Charlie wondered if perhaps that might be a bit overkill. He could always revisit things with Mackenzie later, if necessary. Anyway, he'd also figured that being confronted with Mac might shake a few screws loose in Will's head (which it certainly had). So bringing her up here had been well worth it, even if it was no longer necessary. To allay her suspicions, Charlie fell back on charm. "You know my dear, I can't remember why I called you in here. I'm sorry. Must be my age catching up to me."

Mackenzie smiled. "Nonsense, you're younger than all of us at heart. You'll outlive us all."

"Oh, I hope not," Charlie said. "I'm sorry to bother you."

"It's no problem," Mackenzie assured him. "If you remember what you wanted to speak to me about, just give me a call, maybe leave a more detailed message."

"You got it," Charlie promised her, watching as she left. After his meeting with Will, he was fairly certain a meeting with Mac wouldn't be necessary.

Still, another little push couldn't hurt. Just a small one. "Hey!" he called after her.

She spun back to face him.

"Keep an eye on our boy, would you?" Charlie asked. "He looked a little shaken. Might need someone to look after him a little tonight."

Mac smiled. "I'm on it."

"I'll bet you are," Charlie murmured.

xxx

"And then what happened?" Habib asked when Will trailed off in his story.

"I went to grab an early lunch," Will admitted. "I needed to get out of there for a while. I knew Mackenzie would be waiting for me as soon as I got back, which she was, wanting to make sure I was okay."

"You don't want her to be concerned about you?" Jack asked, somewhat facetiously.

"No!" Will glared, not appreciating the question. "Of course I want her to be concerned about me. Of course I want..."

"You want what, Will?" Habib pressed.

Will ignored the question for the time being. "She did drop by my office when I got back," he murmured. "With her clipboard because she was on her way to talk to Sampat about a story, her head half in the show. But she still stopped by to check in."

"She cares about you," Habib reminded him, deciding to just let Will steer the conversation. "Of course she did. That's what friends do."

"Yeah," Will agreed. Actually, she hadn't just checked in on him. There'd been a little more to it than that. Mac had been persistent in her concern. She'd just known something was wrong. Or she's seen through his evasions. Or maybe, just maybe, he'd wanted her, just her, just for a minute. So after assuring her (for the tenth time) that he was fine, he'd asked her not to read too much into something, to just take it for what it was, because he really was fine, but he just... Well, there was one thing she could do.

Mac had agreed immediately of course, without even asking what he had in mind. And then, he'd stood up and wrapped his arms around her. He'd just wanted to hold her. Just for a minute. After a few seconds he'd released her and told her he'd see her at the rundown meeting with a smile. Maybe it was because his smile actually felt genuine, but Mackenzie seemed to believe him. Either way, she'd left his office with nothing more than a note from Jim about the latest Congressional scandal.

Not that Will was going to tell Habib about it. That was a detail his psychiatrist didn't need to dissect. It was his and Mac's alone.

Instead, Will steered the conversation back to Charlie and his meddling, and the real problem. "I just... it was so much easier when it was just the two of us, just us, just me and Mac, spending a bit of time together."

"But now that someone's called you on it," Habib surmised.

"I just didn't want it to get complicated yet," Will admitted.

"It was always complicated," Jack pointed out.

"Yeah," Will agreed. "But I just wanted a little bit longer to..."

"How much longer?" Jack interrupted.

Will paused. "I don't know."

"I think that may have been Charlie's point," Habib replied.

"Yeah," Will sighed. "Interfering old man."

"He had good intentions," Jack pointed out. "And based on your reaction, I have to say it probably wasn't the worst thing in the world."

"Yeah, it's always great to have it shoved down your throat that you were essentially miserable for three years," Will snapped. "Miserable and pandering to the lowest common denominator."

But Jack was well used to Will's moods by now. "Will..."

"What?"

Jack just shrugged. "I always thought you knew you were pandering."

As intended, that made Will smile. "Yeah."

"Okay."

"Charlie was only the start though," Will admitted.

That got Jack's attention. He'd been wondering how to circle around to what Will was feeling as a result of the conversation. He hadn't expected a second act. "How so?"

Will paused. "Well, after my little chat with Charlie, I... well, I guess you could say I paid a bit more attention to Mackenzie."

That would take some doing, Habib thought but didn't say. "In what way?"

Will shrugged. "I watched her I guess. Trying to see if she was... I don't know, happy."

Trying to see if maybe she was in love with him as Charlie had suggested, if Habib had to guess. Because Will certainly couldn't just ask the woman that. Far better to surreptitiously watch her for what had probably been days. "And was she?"

"I don't know," Will admitted. "I think she was sometimes. We went out to dinner one night, and she seemed fine. Pretty much normal. And in the newsroom she was her usual energetic self. But I got used to watching her eyes, checking in."

"And?" Habib prompted when Will trailed off.

"And then, a few days later, I saw something," Will admitted. "Something different."

Habib rose his eyebrows. Will honestly wasn't about to tell him that he'd concluded Mackenzie was in love with him from her eyes, was he? "What changed?"

To his surprise, Will almost smiled. "Well, first we had a visitor in the newsroom..."

Xxx

TBC

A/N: I know it's a bit cliffhangery, but it was either this or the chapter is insanely long and goes up in a week. I thought this was better.