The harsh, fast click of her heels against the floor of the bullpen should have been his first clue that MacKenzie was pissed as hell. Will chose to ignore it and continue on reading the newspaper— hoping that she would cool off in her own office, but the hard and fast opening of his office door that would have softly closed on its own was slammed shut. And, there she was standing, arms crossed at her chest, about to yell at him.
He still had the New York Times open and covering his face. She stared stacks of reports on his desk, three unfinished cups of old coffee, and a multitude of other unorganized materials. He was confused as to why she hadn't started yelling. But, he wasn't going to give up the cover of the paper. He wasn't even reading it at this point. It had simply become a safety blanket, protecting him from MacKenzie's wrath.
They hadn't been getting along much at all lately. Will couldn't stand it— he wanted to get back to their friendly banter, but alas, he had fucked up and started seeing Nina again. And then stopped seeing Nina again— his desire to civilize and not pander to invisible friends got in the way. But as far as MacKenzie knew Nina was in his apartment waiting for him to return home. MacKenzie hated Nina. Will reasoned that this time had hurt Mac more than before because they had made progress since she stayed at his bedside after he fell down the rabbit hole after he thought that she had rejected him and found himself at the hospital. He was dumb to go back to Nina, but she was easier than Mac. MacKenzie came with all this… baggage.
MacKenzie cleared her throat—
Right… she was still there. Will had gotten lost in his own world again. He, begrudgingly, folded up the newspaper and looked up at her hovering over his desk. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. She came in here. She can take the lead.
MacKenzie, pissed as hell, because he just wouldn't dump out of the segment— took a deep breath. Will watched her face intently as he watched her slip from anger to sadness?
"I shouldn't have kept going on that segment and I apologize."
MacKenzie ignored him.
"Do you remember the first time that you told me you loved me?" She didn't sound nervous, but her body language screamed otherwise. Will thought she was going to rub a hole through her hand.
Interesting. Where did this come from? "While I think it would be easier for me to say no, I don't. That would be lying and I'm not going to do that to you. Although, I would love to know why this is what you decided to ask." He stared down her hands hoping that he could will her to stop the incessant rubbing.
"I didn't say it back."
Will didn't need that reminder. He had waited longer than he had wanted to because he was afraid of scaring her off. But he knew it from the second he saw her. She still looked at him like a deer in the headlights after. "No, Mac, you didn't. I think it took you two weeks to say it."
She smiled, but it didn't reach her eyes.
"Why do you ask, MacKenzie?" Bringing it back to the original topic.
"It was a Tuesday. We had an awful show— you were unfocused, and then when I told you to dump out of that segment you yanked the earpiece out. I forced us to go to a commercial. It was my first time having a show go that poorly," she started to explain. He watched her intently, but didn't move to say or do anything. "We went home— my apartment I think." MacKenzie paused, "It was definitely my apartment because I didn't invite you back— you just followed. We had been dating for 4 months."
"You threatened to throw a shoe at my head if I ever did that again on air."
"Yes, exactly" MacKenzie smiled this time it made it to her eyes, but she looked like she might start crying at any moment. "You just said okay. And then—"
"Then, because of how passionate you were about our show and how incredible you looked, even pissed as hell," Will smirked at the memory, she was hot when she got angry, before getting serious and looking deeply into her beautiful brown eyes, "I said I love you, MacKenzie McHale."
Instead of responding, MacKenzie stepped out of her red bottoms, a not super pointy pair, and leaned over to grab one. Then, swiftly and before Will could realize what it was that she was doing— threw it at him. But, MacKenzie's aim left much to be desired, so it hit the wall above his left shoulder.
"If I say dump out of it, DUMP OUT OF IT."
