Old Acquaintances

13. November 2012

When they were approaching ACN they could already see another pack of reporters standing outside the building, and when Will felt Mac tense beside him he asked Dave, his driver, to take them around the block once more.

He noticed his fiancée's questioning look, but simply took out his phone and speed dialed his boss. „Charlie? We've just been ambushed by reporters outside my apartment, and there are more at the office. Could you please tell security to clear the entrance, so that we can get inside?"

He listened for a moment before thanking him and then hung up. „He'll send them out right now."

When they arrived at the front entrance again, though, the reporters still crowded the sidewalk, but one of the ACN security officers was waiting already and waved for them to stop. When their driver partially lowered the window on the driver's side he leaned down and spoke after checking he had the right car. „Mr. Skinner asks you to go straight down to the garage, level 4."

Dave nodded and closed the window again, before he slowly pulled away from the curb. Mac sighed in relief and Will squeezed her hand. „That's even better."

Once they were on the allocated parking level the car stopped in front of the elevators and Dave got out to open Mac's door. While they thanked him Charlie stepped out of the elevator. „Are you guys alright? What the fuck happened?"

„Yeah, we're good. Thanks for this..." Will gestured around. „.Good call."

„Fucking paparazzi!" He followed the couple back onto the elevator, „I tell you, if I see one of our guys out there!"

„Yeah, they better not be. But as I told Mac already, it was to be expected after last night. I'll take care of it."

„Let's go to my office. Mac, are you alright?"

Weakly smiling at him she pushed the button for the 25th floor. „I'm fine. I have a meeting, but you can have Will for a while."

Charlie nodded and they rode up in silence. Will put his arm around Mac's shoulder until the elevator stopped, when she stepped out with a kiss to his cheek. „See you later."

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The rundown meeting had already started when Will joined his team, so Mac had to rely on his reassuring smile as he sat down. Sensing that she was upset he followed her afterwards and closed her office door behind them.

„So, what did you and Charlie talk about?" She walked around her desk and sat down with a sigh. She still hadn't completely recovered from this morning's ambush, although she knew that it came with the territory, namely dating, or in this case marrying a celebrity. There was a reason that she had chosen a career behind the camera, even if she had done some reporting from the Middle East.

„He suggested moving the show to rural Alaska, what do you think about that?" Will's try to lighten the mood was met with a deep frown, a clear sign that Mac wasn't up for any jokes. „What is it, Hon?"

„Take a look at this." She signaled for him to step around her desk and moved her chair to the side so that he could see the screen without craning his neck. When he did he saw a familiar face and swore.

„Fuck! What did she have to say?" He was looking at Nina Howard's daily column titled „Taking Back a Cheat - Does He Have No Self-respect?"

While he started to read Mac shrugged as if she didn't care, but he could tell that she was shaken and hurt. „Oh, the usual. Somehow she manages to insinuate that your cheating ex cleverly conned you into marrying her, while at the same time calling you a pathetic, spineless whimp for taking me back. Once a cheat, always a cheat, you know. Not in those exact words, but... I assume you didn't part on good terms?"

Will turned his head to look at her and stretched out his hand, speaking softly. „Hey..."

He was mad as hell at Nina, but he surely wouldn't give her the satisfaction of letting this lead to a fight with Mac. When she grabbed his hand he pulled her up into a tight embrace. „I admit I could have handled our breakup better, but I didn't think..."

Mac looked up at him and tiredly shook her head. „You didn't really think that she would ignore this opportunity to get back at you, did you? At us, probably."

He opened his mouth, ready to defend his earlier assessment of his ex's character, but then he decided that Mac held all cards in her hand; after all Nina had just shown her true self. Again. His mission to civilize had failed miserably.

„Do you want me to call her?" He didn't wait for her reply. „I will call her."

„You can't, Will. You would only give her more ammunition to use in tomorrow's column."

„No, I think I can..." He was interrupted by the ringing of his phone, and after a quick look at the display he shrugged apologetically. „Sorry, I have to take this. Hello?"

Mac stepped back and forced a smile. „Saved by the cell."

Will frowned at her, but then concentrated on the call. „Yeah, that's right. Tell him to come up to Ms. McHale's office... Thanks."

When he hung up Mac curiously asked „Who was that?"

„That was part of the plan Charlie and I talked about. You'll see in a minute."

Sighing Mac sat down again. „I'm really not in the mood for games, Will."

„It's not a game," Will assured her. „Just a little surprise."

„I'm not in the mood for surprises, either. This morning has definitely brought enough of that."

He reached out his hand and cupped her cheek, his thumb gently caressing her skin, while Mac closed her eyes and relaxed into this gesture for a moment. „I'm sorry that I made the situation worse with my dating choices."

„I know." Mac attempted a smile. „And it's not... I mean, my relationship with Wade could have also ended in a public desaster. Shit happens, we just have to get through it somehow."

Before Will could say anything there was a knock and the door opened, and when Mac opened her eyes she saw a familiar figure standing in the doorway. „Lonny?"

Her gaze wandered back and forth between him and Will. „This is your surprise?"

When he nodded she smiled and squeezed his hand. „That was a great idea. It's good to see you, Lonny."

„You, too. I'm disappointed, though, to hear I'm too late. You really should have given me a chance."

„As I said back then: You would probably crush me. This one..." Mac laughed and winked at Lonny, while pointing at Will. „...will have to do.

She gave him a genuine smile which he returned. „Congratulations. If he ever gives you any trouble, let me know."

„Thanks, but I think I can handle him."

„Hey, I'm right here, guys!" Will tried to sound offended, but was glad that Mac didn't seem to oppose the idea of a bodyguard. „Let's go to my office to talk about the details, Lonny. I'll see you later, Honey."

His fiancée had just sat down again and watched the two men leave her office, when her cell phone rang. After checking the caller ID she answered with a smile. „Molly! Hang on a second." She covered the phone with her hand and called after Will, who turned around when he heard his name. „Don't you call her, it'll only make things worse."

After a moment he nodded and was rewarded with a relieved smile, before Mac concentrated on her phone again. „Sorry, Molly. How are you doing?"

„Honestly?" Her long-time friend didn't sound particularly happy. „I'm a little pissed to learn about your engagement through the media. After all it was my couch you crashed on for weeks after you two broke up. How long has this been in the making?"

„I'm sorry, Molly, I really am, but except for the staff here hardly anybody knew. We barely got around to let our families know. It just happened last week, and we've been incredibly busy since then." Mac realised she sounded defensive, probably because she knew that Molly was right. They had been friends since their childhood and she had been there for her when she had needed her support the most. She really should have at least dropped her a line, but had to admit that she hadn't even thought about it. „I'd say we should meet for lunch today, but I guess right now isn't a good time. We've been accosted by those damn papparazi this morning already... Why don't you come to my office; we could order in and catch up?"

„I'd love to, but we are in the midst of a case right now." Molly regretted. „Maybe later this week?"

Mac agreed and they chatted for another couple of minutes, before her friend was needed by one of her colleagues. „I'm really happy for you, Mac. I know that you've never given up hope, and you really deserve this. I can't promise that I won't kick Will's ass the next time I'll see him, though... He's really taken his time!"

Mac laughed out loud while she waved Jim to come into her office, who had been lingering at the door, waiting for her to finish up. „You're not the first one to say that, myself included! Talk to you later."

She hung up and focused her attention on her young protegé. „What do you need, Jim?"

„Egypt is negotiating a cease fire between Israel and the Palestinian that looks promising. Both Israel and Hamas have praised the efforts, but the latter has also launched about a hundred rockets into Israel so far only today. Who do you want us to line up for the show?"

She only thought about it for a second. „Did you try Israeli ambassador Oren?"

Jim nodded. „He would be available for a pre-taping at six. David, our Jerusalem correspondant, will be on live tonight, but we haven't found a spokesperson for the Palestinian side so far."

Getting up Mac nodded, already going through the possible contacts in her head. „I'll talk to Kendra. Confirm the ambassador and ask Jenna to let Will, wardrobe and make-up know about the pre-taping. Controls needs to be ready and Will should meet me here in an hour to go through the questions."

She followed Jim outside into the bullpen, ignoring the ringing phone in her hand this time. It was another call from a gossip reporter, who wanted a comment on her engagement. She had ignored these calls all day and didn't intend to start speaking to anybody now. Apparently that was the downside of being well linked within the journalistic community; everybody and anybody seemed to have her number.

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::.

After the show there was still some media presence outside of ACN and also Will's building (Mac assumed that they were probably waiting at her place as well), but Lonny had talked to all relevant people and had secured permission to use the underground garage at both places, so that they didn't need to run the gauntlet as they had in the morning.

When Lonny dropped them off they made plans for him to pick them up the following morning and then settled down for the night. After the usual late snack they relaxed on the couch after their stressful day.

While Will zapped through the channels until a Broadway documentary caught his attention, Mac lay down with her head in his lap and closed her eyes. Letting his fingers run through her hair they both were silent, until she sighed.

„Did you also get so many calls from our so-called colleagues today?"

„Mmh... You, too?"

„Don't ask." After a moment's hesitation she decided to go on. „Even Brian..."

„That fucking asshole still has your number?" Will tensed and couldn't quite hide the jealousy he felt in his tone, so Mac quickly tried to appease him.

„Of course not." Then she reconsidered. „Well, maybe he has, but I have blocked his number on my phone, so I wouldn't know. He wrote an e-mail to my ACN account."

„What did he want?" His voice still sounded harsh, even to his own ears, and he softly trailed his fingers along her arm to show her that he wasn't angry with her.

„I have no idea, I didn't open it."

„Good." Will knew that he was irrational, but he didn't want Brian to have any part in their life anymore, not even a simple 'How are you' encounter at the local grocery store. Then he grinned. „Maybe he wanted to congratulate you."

Mac snorted. „You don't believe that, do you?"

When she turned her head to look up at him she saw that he smiled. „No, not really. Does it matter?"

„Not to me." She returned his smile. „You know what, though?"

„What?"

„There's a silver lining to all of this." Mac sounded very sure, even a little happy, while Will was confused.

„And what would that be?"

„Nobody from our team has talked to the press." She sounded unbelievably proud, and it occured to Will that she was right. „We didn't even have to tell them not to, they just did. That's a damn fine group of journalists we have there."

He leaned down to place a kiss on her forehead. „And that comes all down to you. I remember when you brought them in. I thought they came right out of pre-school back then, but you really taught them a lot."

„Oh, they learned a lot from you, too. Once you were in." She added the last remark with a smirk.

„You'll never let me hear the end of that, right?"

„Nope." She grinned. „But if you take me to bed now, I will shut up for tonight."