Hey ya'll sorry for the delay. It's taken me a while, I know, but I've finally started back on this story. I don't know how the updates will go as far as regularity is concerned, but I'll try not to let them slip too far in between everything else that I'm doing. Also, my website has been updated. I've added a whole new page and I've also posted up responses to your reviews for the last chapter. So, if you want to see what I have to say, then check it out. The link's in my bio!

-Pammi

Chapter Twelve:

Mackenzie sat with her feet up on the desk of her home office. It had been the first time that night that she had decided to catch a breather. She looked at the ominous stack of paperwork that sat so innocently before her and sighed in forlorn agony at the thought of having to complete all of it by next Monday. Mac looked over at the calendar for today's date: Friday, October 8, 2004.

Think happy thoughts. Think happy thoughts. Mackenzie forced herself not to think of the current problem. She was taking a much needed, and much deserved break. She lowered her feet from her desk and sat up, straightening her back to pop the stiff joints of her vertebrae. Ahhh...she reveled in the feel of all the kinks loosening up, even it was just slightly.

She was about to get up and leave for some coffee when her cell phone went off with Cingular's version of 'Get Low,' by Lil Jon and the Eastside Boys. It was something that John had downloaded for her from the internet. He had programmed it to his number, so that meant it was him calling her-which ultimately made Mackenzie's spirits rise. "John?" Her voice displayed a good portion of her happiness to hear from him--albeit, much to her chagrin. He wasn't supposed to know how much this new job was killing her.

"Hey baby," John breathed into the phone. He was making his way from the autograph signing he had just been involved in, "Miss me, huh?"

He could sense her rolling her eyes, and if he could see her, he'd have found that he was correct, "Me? Miss you? Are you out of your mind?"

"Aw, c'mon, Mac...not even a little?" He let out a sigh as he got in his car and started the ignition, "Guess that means you don't want me to catch that red eye I was headed to..."

"WHAT?!?!" Mac nearly jumped out of her chair. "You're coming here tonight? I thought you were going to wait until tomorrow!"

"I was but there's nothing to do here, and I miss you. But...if you want to be a mean-ass about it, then I guess I don't need to come at all...," he teased, as he switched the phone over to his other ear and turned onto the freeway, heading toward the airport.

"Please come, John. I really do miss you. It's been a hell of a week and we've scarcely even seen each other since I got this job-"

"Calm down," he quieted her, "You'll never have to beg me to come, you know that."

"John! We've only done that once. We haven't been able to make out in a month-not that it's due to lack of trying," Mackenzie remembered with great detail, all the lengths in which they had tried to appease themselves in the small moments they'd seen each other during the past month. All attempts had been ungracefully interrupted as well. While in the rental car parked in the arena parking lot, Jackie had walked by and rapped on the window, winking as she walked away, and ultimately ruining the mood.

Then, there was that time in his dressing room the Tuesday before last, but that had been interrupted by Stephanie's light tapping, just as John was about to pull Mac's shirt off. Mac shook her head, trying to force the memories of his intense passion-filled eyes, his warm hands on her skin, and the feel of his breath on her neck as he fingered that tiny mound of pleasure between her thighs-

John interrupted her thoughts, curious for the reason her end of the phone went silent, "Mac?"

She snapped out of her fantasy, Damnation. I try to get it out of my head, only to have it return ten times as bad. "I'm here. I just spaced out. Sorry."

John smirked as he pulled into the parking lot of the air port, "Were you thinking about all the naughty things I'm going to do to you when I see you?"

How the hell... Mac blushed as she lied, "No! I was thinking about...about how I was going to get all this damn paperwork done. That's all. Well, that and how I'm ever going to get to the gym this week. I haven't worked out more than fives times since I got hired onto Raw." Surprisingly though, Mac had been busy enough to keep the weight off, and she had managed to stay with her diet.

"Yah. Sure you were," John let the sarcasm flow freely into his words. "Anyway, I'm headed toward the entrance of the airport right now. I've got my bags and I'll probably be onboard in an hour or so."

"Okay...um...do you know how to get here?" Mac wasn't sure if she gave him good enough directions.

"You already told me the directions like six times, babe. I'll find my way." John started into the building.

"Okay, sorry," Mac smiled, "You can call me when you get here if you want. I'm sure I'll probably still be up, but you never know."

"Okay, I will," John assured.

"Oh, and be careful. It's supposed to rain really bad here tonight. Just make sure you drive safely from the airport..."

"Yes, mother," John sighed.

"That's not funny," Mackenzie sounded un-amused, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. She rather enjoyed the jargon that passed between them on such a regular basis.

John laughed at her annoyed tone, "Yah it is. Anyway, I gotta go. It's about to be my turn at the desk. I'll call you as soon as my feet touch the ground, okay?"

"Okay," Mackenzie smiled, "See you in a few hours."

"Yup. Bye, baby."

"Bye," They both hung up. Mackenzie let out a sigh as she made her way back to her desk. She no longer desired coffee, but she found herself turning back toward the kitchen anyway. She had approximately four and half hours to finish all of this godforsaken work before John got there, and that fact alone made coffee a necessity.

XXX Three and Half Hours Later XXX

Mackenzie drained her umpteenth cup of coffee. She only had one more folder to check, and then she'd be able to pick up around the house a little bit. Hell, she'd even have time for a long, hot bath before John arrived if she pushed. She looked out the window of her Virginia home and watched another bolt of lightening flash in the sky.

She silently prayed that John's flight got there safely and that he didn't drive like a maniac in the storm, as he was sometimes known for having a heavy foot. She turned her attention back to the remaining folder and breathed a sigh of relief as she opened it up. She opened up her Microsoft Word program on her computer and started typing up the document.

Somehow, tables and graphs found their way into the equation. Mackenzie could think of several ways to insert a graph into just about anything. She would use this one to show and separate the different ideas for each product. One side for Smackdown, and one for Raw. She'd include a comparison of the ratings, and then make suggestions under each section, numbering them as she went.

Before she knew it, thirty minutes had passed and she was printing out her final draft. Yawning, she placed the last folder into her briefcase and shut off her overhead lamp. Shutting the door, she headed across the hall to the bathroom. Taking one look in the mirror, she decided she looked just like a plane wreck. Plane wreck... she repeated in her mind, worried, once again, about John flying in this crappy weather.

Mackenzie shook her head, "No. No. You will not think like that. He'll be fine. Quit acting like an old woman." She decided to take the bath first, not only to calm her nerves, but to wash off the stink of agitated sweat from all the stupid paper work she had just completed. Yes, she would take a bath and everything would be alright.

Meanwhile

John's plane touched down around ten after eleven. He had left at seven, so he figured that wasn't too bad, considering there was a stop in New York. (A/N: I actually researched this flight information, so NO ONE can find contradiction!! BAhahaah!) This meant he'd be early getting to Mac's house. He'd never seen her house before, so he considered this a new step in their relationship.

When they had stayed in Virginia before, Mackenzie didn't even mention having her own place there. She had taken them to her mother's house for a visit, but they hadn't stayed there. They'd stayed in a hotel in Virginia Beach. John wasn't certain for her reasons in not inviting him over, but he figured she probably hadn't known him long enough to have him over. Or, he could just be drawing too much into it. He had pretty insisted on accompanying her to her mother's that night, then he had Mac-knapped her to the beach.

John reached the desk, intent on getting a rental, and noticed that perhaps he wouldn't be so early in getting to Mac's place as he had once thought. Picking up his cell phone, he dialed her number. Surprisingly enough, it wasn't out of service in the storm. It rang six times before he heard a muffled, "hello," come from the other end.

"Mac?" John asked, having never heard her sound so tired before. "Are you okay?"

Mac yawned, "Yah, I'm fine. You caught me while I was in the bath?"

Red lights went off in John's mind, "A bath, huh? Are there bubbles?"

Mac giggled, "Of course. A girl can't have a bath without bubbles."

"But they can have them without their boyfriends?" he teased.

Mackenzie's throat went dry. Oh how'd she'd love for him to accompany her, "Yes. Yes they can." she managed.

"Damn..." John's thoughts were going in a bad direction for having to stand in line; They were going South. He cleared his head and his throat, "There's a hell of a line here. I was just calling because: One, you told me to, and Two, I might be a little late."

Mackenzie frowned on her end, "I could come and get you, you know. It's not that far, and it sure as hell beats having to worry about whether or not you get here in one piece."

John shook his head, "I don't think I want you out in this mess, Mac. Why don't you do what you women do best-clean-and I'll be there as soon as I can."

Mac guffawed, "Clean-"

"I'll talk to you later," he refused to let her get in an argument, or grill him for his comments.

"Why you little-"

"Bye."

Mackenzie heard the click and growled. That's fine. I'll just make him sorry when he gets here. Without another thought about it, Mackenzie started cleaning. Not because he told her to, she reasoned, but because she had already planned to do so hours ago. She wouldn't admit that he was right about it helping to get her mind off of things.

It was about an hour later when John turned onto Mackenzie's street and looked for house number twelve twenty-four. It was the third one down on the left with a little sidewalk leading up to the stony porch. He couldn't call the porch or the siding of the house brick, for it was a montage of different stones cemented together, skirting around the bottom of the white, two story house. It wasn't a large home, but it big enough, though, to make John wonder at how one person could live there and not get lonely.

He parked behind Mac's Blazer and headed for the door, leaving all his crap in the car. He just wanted to see her. John didn't know what to call the urge that prompted the need to be near her within him. He'd had girlfriends before, but spending time with them seemed like something required. When he was with Mackenzie, however, it was just wanting to be near her; to see her; to hold her while he talked to her. God, how he wanted to touch her.

He hated how much distance her new job put between them, but he loved that it made her happy. She always seemed so happy to tell him that she was ahead on all of her paperwork and how much Stephanie and Vince listened to her ideas. He only hoped that he could make her as happy as her work seemed to make her. He figured that since papers and careers can't hug and kiss their pursuer, he had the one up.

Knocking softly on the door, John listened as soft, quick paces made their way to the door. Mackenzie checked the peep hole before answering the door, he was sure of it, so he flashed his best shit eating grin at her. He heard her chuckle behind the door.

Mac unlocked her door and opened it up. They both stood there for what would seem like an eternity, but in truth was less than a minute, looking at one another as the rain fell. The first thing she noticed about him was the absence of his hat. Water just rolled from the tips of his hair in tiny beads. His normal throwback, was replaced with a black t shirt, and it clung to his form like white on rice. She needn't look at anything else, for her throat was already constricting and she felt herself swallow.

John's reaction to her was similar. She looked so damn cute all disheveled like she was. She obviously hadn't bothered to comb her hair after her bath, and John could smell the scent of Lavender radiating from her. Clad in a pair of Bugs Bunny boxers and a Mickey Mouse t shirt, she had never appealed to him more. Unconfined by her work attire and basking in the obvious comfort her home provided her, Mackenzie seemed like a queen, regardless of her clothing.

Getting over the initial shock, Mackenzie practically flew into his arms, commencing a lingering kiss that started on her porch and ended on her living room floor. Mac was sprawled atop him, fully clothed mind you, and gazing down into his grinning blue eyes, "You're late."

"I know it," he admitted before making his best puppy dog eyes, "Forgive me?"

"So long as you're not dead..." she smiled as she forced herself to stand, "C'mon, I'll give you the tour." John followed her as she showed him the various rooms of the house. Down stairs there was a Kitchen, not too small, but not obscenely large. It was full of women things-pots, pans, a table, and so forth-all of which were one of three colors: yellow, black, or green. Her place mats for the table, her curtains, her hand towels that draped from the cabinets-almost everything-was covered in sunflowers.

As they moved to the downstairs bathroom, adjacent to the stairs, John noticed that it was decorated in Cherubs. There were little pictures of angels with naked little butts hanging on all walls surrounding the toilet. There was a toothbrush holder, a soap dispenser, and even a light switch panel with tiny cherubs. John shook his head, "I get the impression that someone here likes to decorate in themes..."

Mackenzie blushed at her own girliness, "It's true..." she admitted, "I finished paying off the loan for this house a couple months before I met you. I would have had you over sooner, but I wanted all my decorating to be done before I had anyone over. Well, except mom, of course. She doesn't wait for invitations," she laughed a little at the memory of her mom barging in every time she got the chance.

"So...are all the rooms done in different themes?" John asked.

"Well no, not the living room or the den," she pointed out as she led him up the stairs, "If you can remember when we stumbled in there earlier, both rooms are full of a bunch of comfy looking stuff. The furniture matches for each room, but that's not really a theme. Not to me, anyway."

John nodded as he observed the pictures that hung diagonally down the wall of the stairwell. There was one of Mac with her mother, one of her with a man he could only assume to be her father, and several more of Mac when she was younger, holding awards and others where she was posing for glamour shots with a friend. Those were his favorite, he decided, because he knew she probably didn't willfully submit to having them taken.

"Here we are," she gestured toward another bathroom. This one designed in huge purple flowers and off-white vines. "This is one of my favorite patterns."

"I feel like I'm taking a tour of a museum," he teased.

Mac rolled her eyes, "I'm proud of my house, besides, I don't get to show off my decorative talent very often. My most frequent visitor is mom." She turned down the hall and led him into her office.

John followed into the dimly lit room, "So this is where the magic happens, eh?"

"Depends on which magic you're referring to," she cocked a suggestive eyebrow.

John let his sexiest smile tease the corners of his lips as he approached her with casual steps, "Oh, I think you know..." he was inches from her face, his breath warm on her lips. Mackenzie thought she was going to unravel at the seams. She felt his arm brush past her and the slight contact of it brushing against her hip sent tremors up and down her spine.

She could have sworn he was going to kiss her as his eyes reflected the need, but instead he pulled back and held up a folder. "WWE magic."

Mac felt her face burning as she grabbed the folder and used it to whack him over the head, "You're a shameless flirt, John Cena."

"I know, baby, but it's so much fun," he pulled her to him, "Besides, what's the harm in flirting with the prettiest girl I know?" Mackenzie would have argued that matter, and John knew it. That's why he cut her off with a kiss that started in the middle of her office and ended on her desk.

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OMG. I'm so sorry that this took so long. I'm so busy these days. You guys are great for waiting, please review, even though I know I don't deserve it. Besides, this chapter is a bit boring. Hopefully the next one will be better whenever I can get to it.

Later,

Pammi