"McHale," She stuck her hand out, with a massive grin across her face, "MacKenzie McHale, I am your new EP."

"Ha. Very funny joke— the interns go talk to--" William McAvoy had yet to look up over his newspaper as he sat at his desk.

"Well if you could stop being a massive pile of douche for just a moment— I am your new EP or rather you're my new anchor as I was here before you." MacKenzie pulled her hand back. Will looked up at her, finally catching her face turn into a scowl. His heart rate increased, and he felt the hairs on his arms stand to attention. "Welcome to News Night." MacKenzie turned and walked out of his office.

Oh, he was gonna hear about this interaction later. But maybe… maybe he wanted to. Will watched her strut out of his office in her towering red bottoms and perfect-fit black pencil skirt. Her legs went on for days. And that accent— she was British?

…………………………..

"Good show." MacKenzie walked up to Will and followed him into his office.

"Yeah? You're pretty good, Kenz— I underestimated you." Will leaned against the front of his desk.

"Mac, not Kenz, and definitely not Kenzie." She interrupted. MacKenzie stood close to him, for what reason she wasn't sure. She felt drawn to him despite his awful attitude. It was like a moth to a flame.

"As I was going to say— you're young and a woman and British—" Will smirked. He didn't believe that she was less than capable anymore— he felt that way this morning before the 11am meeting, but 2 minutes into the meeting he saw how she had her staff whipped into shape. She certainly knew how to be a damn good journalist.

"I'm not British." Defensive.

"The accent could have fooled me." Will laughed— her accent was hot? He thought like a teenage boy.

"I was born here. I'm an American. My father is a British diplomat."

"Ah—"

"Oh for fucks sake, Billy. You're not going to do this are you? I'll get you fired— this is my show." Mac snapped.

"Do what?"

"The 'you got this job because of your father' bullshit." MacKenzie had dealt with this her whole career, and normally her skills would blow them away. But she was bothered more than normal. She didn't like that he would see her that way.

"I wasn't going to do that."

"I am damn good at my job. I could put a monkey in your seat and produce a good show, Billy!"

"Yes, I am sure you could."

"Don't you forget it." She smoothed down her skirt and caught his eye as he followed her hands brush against her legs. "Good, now that that is out of the way…" MacKenzie took a deep breath. Her next question certainly wasn't going to be professional, but she was just out of a relationship. Will was very attractive and he had a reputation of being quite the playboy, so no strings attached. And his attitude— she could have fun with that. "You're going to take me out for a drink, Billy."

"I am? Miss McHale… are you sure?" His eyes wandered up and down her body again.

"I don't think it was a question, McAvoy."

"Sure, Kenz. I'll take you out for a drink."

"It's not Kenz!"

"I'm not a Billy."

…………………………….

"You're definitely more than tipsy, Kenz." Will laughed as they both stumbled out of the bar.

"Hardly," Her British accent came out a lot stronger after a few drinks. MacKenzie took off her shoes and held them in one hand. "If I was more than tipsy I would have you up against a wall."

He grabbed MacKenzie's hand and pulled her into the alleyway next to the bar, and pushed her back against the brick. "Like this?" Will whispered, his mouth barely an inch from hers. Their eyes locked. Will had one hand intertwined with hers and the other holding him up against the wall. Mac moved her free hand up to cup his cheek.

"Not quite-" MacKenzie ran her thumb over his bottom lip. "I would have you trapped. I think of myself more as the dominant one."

"You're very cute, Sweetheart." Will smiled. Without her heels on he was significantly taller than MacKenzie and he definitely had a fair amount of weight on her.

"How about you stop patronizing me and just fucking kiss me already?"

That's when Will lost it. MacKenzie McHale had his heart whether she wanted it or not. Everything about her was just— magnetic.

"Absolutely not, Mac." He laughed and pushed himself away from her.

Her bottom lip immediately stuck out, and she started protesting, "Why the hell not! Where are you going?" He still had a strong grip on her hand pulling her back out to the main sidewalk.

"I don't intend on just kissing you tonight and once I start I don't think I'll be able to stop." Will said, staring right into her eyes. Like the rest of the world didn't exist at that moment.

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"You know what I mean, right?"

"I'm tipsy, McAvoy, not dumb. I would like to—" MacKenzie stopped, have sex? Fuck? Neither felt right at this moment. Instead of trying to finish her sentence, she grabbed his face with her free hand and held him in place as she kissed him. Hard.

"Fuck, Kenz." He growled as he pulled back after a long moment.

"Yeah, Billy?" She brushed her fingertips over her lips as they still tingled.

"I have to get you home, now." Will hailed a taxi and gave his address.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket on the ride, Sleeping with Will McAvoy? Desperate, Mac?

…………………….

Somehow, despite being run ragged with work, MacKenzie was balancing having a budding relationship with Will and sleeping with Brian. Will and MacKenzie never made anything official; although, they did see each other every single day. Between work and going out— Will never thought to make anything exclusive, while Mac knew of his reputation, so to her sleeping with Brian was just… sleeping with Brian, nothing more and nothing less. And as far as she knew, Will was doing the same. At least, that's how she was justifying it.

But on month four, Will said three little words that sent her into a spiral. She knew at that point she had let things go on for too long, and sent Brian a very clear fuck you once and for all. It still took MacKenzie a few weeks to say "I love you" back, but she had to make sure Brian fucking Brenner was far, far in the distance. She couldn't fuck with Will— he was so damn sweet. Nothing at all like what she had expected, and she didn't want to break his heart.

………………………………….

20 months later:

"I talked to your dad last night, Kenz." Will said as he grabbed a banana off of the bunch in his bare feet in their kitchen.

She looked up from her Sunday morning crossword, "Oh?"

"We had a long talk." He peeled back the peel and took a big bite.

"Oh?" MacKenzie felt her heart rate quicken. Their two year anniversary was coming up— well his two year. MacKenzie couldn't count it that way— she wasn't exactly faithful for a full two years. And Will didn't exactly know.

"Yup."

"About?" She stood up.

"Nothing special," he eyes twinkled as he gave her his I-know-something-you-don't smile.

"Your eyes are giving you away," MacKenzie started to back away from him, panicked. "It's something. Tell me."

"Nope." He reached for her hand. She pulled back quickly—

"I slept with Brian for the first 4 months of our relationship and never told you." She blurted. Her hands immediately came up to cover her mouth.

The smile on his face was immediately replaced by something dark. "Get out," He growled.

"Please let me explain! I didn't know that I loved you until I slept with him."

"Oh fuck you, MacKenzie," Will turned away from her.

"Billy, please! It was only at first!" MacKenzie took a step towards him, "We had never defined our relationship, and Brian had just broken up with me a few days before we went out for the first time… It was dumb—"

"Four months, MacKenzie? You're trying to tell me that it was an 'oops' for four months?" He turned back around to face her. His eyes were red, like he was fighting back tears. "What made you stop? We moved in together after 6 months!"

"You told me you loved me, and I slept with him one more time."

"Fuck you."

"Billy, I didn't know—"

"You didn't know? Kenzie, I think I loved you from the moment you walked into my office. How didn't you know?"

"I just didn't, Will!"

"Pack your things."

"Can't we work this out?"

"Why don't you ask Brian to work it out," he spat.

……………………………..

He had expected her to walk through the newsroom doors the following morning. He had bought flowers. Not that that would fix them, but it was a start. He had overreacted, sure, but it was Will and MacKenzie. At this point, you didn't have one without the other. The show was perfect, solidly number two with potential to take over number one. They had a great team. Their ability to fight over work and not let their emotions get in the way— all of it couldn't be thrown away that quickly. Or could it?

Will had stayed in a hotel that night, so he had missed MacKenzie moving all of her things out of their apartment. He had missed her giving her resignation. Missed her calling CNN and asking if they had anything available for her. Missed as she accepted an assignment in the Middle East, in a war zone.