"Nine."
Nine bridesmaids? What the fuck does she think this is; an extended production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers? Jesus! I mean, I love the woman, but isn't nine a bit excessive? I realise she's been waiting a large part of her adult life for this moment, but I can't think of nine men that I would want to be my groomsmen and I'm starting to think that this is just some unwritten female rule; the number of bridesmaids must outnumber that of groomsmen. Or this is some sort of ritual test to make sure that the groom is fully prepared to handle all of the bride's friends after marriage. Either way, I don't see why Charlie can't just fetch the women one-by-one and ferry them down the aisle – he's the only man I truly want by my side on this occasion anyway.
Shock flits across Mac's face and I see her attention is diverted. I've been stuck on the wedding details, so I'm slow to catch on until I see her face paling at the sight of whatever has just occurred onscreen. Beside me, Mac is furiously dialling the control-room extension from my phone, her face pinched with a look of concentration that I'm very familiar with; we're about to see some real news, real soon. Shit.
Rushing into the Newsroom, Mac immediately begins co-ordinating with the staff, already scrambling to piece together what's going on in Boston. I scan the monitors for any more information, listening to Mac's exchanges with the staff as I do. Onscreen, Neal points out an "energy wave" that knocks a runner off his feet, and suddenly Kenzie's gone; there's a story to report. Bridesmaids, dresses and my (stunning) lack of friends to act as groomsmen can wait – we've got an explosion to cover.
"Jenna!"
"No people have been around for billions of years."
Sitting like this, eating dinner and just being together is the whole reason I asked Kenzie to marry me in the first place. I missed this. Sure, I'd prefer it if we had actual chairs instead of upturned pails (and a table wouldn't go amiss either), but I love this. Watching the news and eating greasy Chinese with Mac, the promise of a night together before us.
As soon as I make my Bible comment, I see Mac's nose crinkle, as it does when she giggles out of surprise rather than nervousness. Smiling lightly, I enjoy the way the soft lighting from the centre candles emphasises the shadows in her laugh. She's mine now, even if it means that I have to give up the foods I most enjoy. She's worth it. Laughing internally, I enjoy that I can still surprise her with an audacious comment even though we've known each other for so long.
Conversation settles away from MSG, and I remark optimistically about the state of our show. A solid B+ for the second day of reporting: not bad, coming from Charlie. As usual, Mac tries to outshine me by mentioning some higher-text that she probably read for fun at Cambridge – Euripides- and suddenly she's making an allegory out of our show in the same way that she did before our first broadcast together. Seeing the way she analyses everything – creates parallel upon parallel of our situation and the text she's referencing reminds me of why I fell in love with her to begin with. Her intelligence. I fell in love, first and foremost, with her intelligence and wit. The rest sort of just followed.
Mac's ringtone breaks our discussion as Maggie calls to check in. I sit silently as Mac weighs in on Maggie's decision to pursue an independent story, enamoured by the fact that despite all the crap Maggie dealt with last year, Mac is still willing to put her on a reasonable leash and allow her to run with this story (as far as her leash allows). At heart, Kenzie is not only a good reporter, but a good leader. Waiting until her conversation is over, Mac turns back to me with a comment about Euripides again, and this time I'm ready with a snarky comment (all in good fun, of course) on hand:
"I completely understood the story the first time."
Hey guys! I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and if you did, please leave a review! I decided that since Season 3 is now over (and there was so much to explore from the Will/Mac angle) I'd like to update It's Quixotic? with Season 3's episodes :) I hope you'll enjoy reading them :D