Chapter 3

After a restless night Mac went to work early Friday morning, curious if Will would say anything about what had happened the evening before. She herself had hardly slept at all, but tossed around in her bed and pondered over the events at the bar.

She still didn't quite understand Will's intention, but she had a feeling that somehow he was looking for something different, something that would maybe help with a new start. What she didn't know, however, was why he introduced himself as Duncan.

She had been absolutely confused when he had shown up at her table and had only focused on not messing up, which was especially difficult because she didn't know what exactly Will had been expecting from her. Now she was waiting for him to come in to work.

After returning from a meeting with graphics she was out in the bullpen, talking to Jim, but apparently not as focused as usual. When he noticed her eyes falling on the entrance for the umptiest time, not answering his question, he finally asked. „Are you alright, Mac?"

„What?" She turned her head. „Yes, yes, of course."

„You're sure? You seem to be distracted, are you waiting for someone?"

„No, I'm right here." Mac deliberately turned her back to the door. „When do you think you'll have an answer from the governor's office?"

„I'm hoping in time for the pitch meeting. I think we…" Jim stopped when Will entered the room, and Mac turned around again. He strolled towards his office, wishing the staff a good morning and then looked at his EP, nodding in her direction „Mac."

„Will." It took her a moment, her gaze following him, but then she concentrated on Jim again to finish their conversation. Of course Will wouldn't say anything when others were around.

Once they had settled the last details for the pitch meeting she went back to her office, only to stop dead in her tracks on entering. A huge, beautiful flower arrangement was sitting on her desk - a mix of white and apricot lilies, some of her favourite flowers.

Her heart suddenly beat faster and she slowly walked towards it, not being able to explain her hesitancy. She was certain she knew who had sent it and admired the delicate blossom, when her eyes deteced a small envelope hidden between them. For a sweet moment she prolonged the feeling of being so obviously courted, but then she couldn't resist anymore and opened it to read the words

„I had a lovely evening. Thanks, D."

A wide smile spread across her face and she felt a warm tingling run through her body, but before she could consider what this meant, she heard somebody open the door.

„A little birdie has told me that there's been an interesting delivery?" Sloan, of course. Mac didn't answer, but when her friend got a look at Mac's desk she squealed. „Kenzie! Those are beautiful!"

Mac blushed heavily and didn't react quickly enough to prevent Sloan from snagging the card from her hand.

„Whose D.?" Suddenly her eyes grew big. „Not Don, right?"

Sloan's expression would have been funny if Mac hadn't known about the tentative relationship between Don and Sloan. She had to nip any misunderstanding right in the bud and sighed. „The flowers are from somebody I met the other night. So no, not Don."

„Really?" The economist excitedly leaned forward. „Do tell!"

„There is nothing to tell. We've got to talk at a bar and it was a nice evening."

„Oh… What bar? And are you going to meet him again?"

Blushing even more Mac gently touched one of the white petals. „Tomorrow."

„That is so great, it's time you finally got out of your doghouse!" Sloan actually grinned. „So who is it?"

If that was even possible Mac would say that her friend sounded even more excited than herself, but sure as hell she would not let her in on whatever game Will was playing. „I won't tell you that, bad luck, Murphy's law, take your pick."

„Oh, come on, Mac! You know that I have to live my life through others…" Sloan pouted, but then raised her eyebrows when a thought occured to her. „You must really like him, when you are seeing him again, hm?"

Mac smiled bashfully and looked at the flowers again, shrugging. „He seems to be nice."

„So do you want me to join you and sit nearby to keep an eye on you?" Sloan sounded almost eager, but Mac didn't even have to think about it, her head coming up.

„Definitely not! I am not going to play your Saturday night entertainment." She smirked. „Why don't you ask Don out on a date?"

Shooting her an warning glare Sloan crossed her arms before her chest. „This is not about me, so tell me."

„No." Mac walked around her desk and sat down. „Do you already know how many minutes you'll need tonight?"

For a moment Sloand tried to stare the answer out of her friend, but finally she relented . „Five minutes at least… This isn't over, you know?"

Mac sighed while she watched Sloan leaving the room. Didn't she know it...

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She didn't see Will again until the pitch meeting, where he appeared a few minutes late and dropped into his seat. When he didn't say anything, this time she acknowledged his presence with a simple „Will", only to get another „Mac" in return.

They started the meeting with a follow up on the script he had shown her at the bar about a couple of weeks ago, demanding to see the memorandum on drone use and other counterterrorism policies of the administration, followed by compiling a list of possible guests to be booked by Kendra.

The rest of the time Will was mostly quiet, and it continued like that for the rest of the day. He acted completely normal, as if nothing unusual had happened, and it was starting to drive Mac crazy. What the hell was she supposed to make of all this?

She couldn't wait for the last show of the week to end, to be able to go home and think everything through some more. When Will handed off to Washington she sighed with relief and quickly left the control room to get her things.

Successfully avoiding to run into her anchor on the way out, she stepped onto the elevator, politely smiling at the other people inside. On the way down she suddenly thought that maybe she could go to Hang Chew's; maybe ‚Duncan' would show up again, but then she shook her head. They had a date tomorrow night, and she didn't think that Will would deviate from his plan.

Once at home, though, sitting on the couch with a glass of red in her hand, her mind went into a completely different direction. What if Will didn't show up tomorrow?

Okay, he had sent the flowers, but otherwise hadn't given her any indication that he remembered what had happened the night before, not even a smile in an unobserved moment, let alone had he addressed the date directly. What if he'd had a blackout or, even worse, had simply been playing with her?

Mac shook her head. No, he wouldn't do that. He had seemed sincere, and even though she didn't know his end game… They had gotten so much closer during the last months and were past the time where he deliberately hurt her.

She sighed.
Patience had never been her strong suit, but this time she didn't have a choice but to wait.

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The following night she slept better, though the bottle of wine she had emptied by herself might have contributed to that. When she woke up the next morning her thoughts immediately returned to the looming date, and a definite nervousness pooled in the pit of her stomach. How was she supposed to get through the day?

In the end she decided to go for a workout at the ACN gym, which was mostly empty, seeing that it was a weekend day. She ran her usual eight miles on the treadmill and then exercised another half hour on the elliptical, before ending her training on the bench.

Wiping the sweat of her face with a towel she decided that she was still a little anxious, but powering herself out had somewhat eased that feeling, and she felt prepared to take on the rest of the day.

When she got home it was early afternoon, and she spent the next couple of hours going through her beauty regiment, before sitting down with some papers she had brought from work. Her attempt to distract herself was mostly futile, though, and her thoughts went back to Will again and again.

Finally it was time to get ready.
Following a sudden inspiration she had suggested to meet ‚Duncan' at the restaurant, so that he would not read her first name on the door bell and could keep thinking of her as Morgan. Even if she still didn't know anything about his plan – by God, she hoped he had one – she knew it was important to him, and she didn't have any problem to go along with it for now.

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Except for the workout Will's day had been similar to Mac's. Instead he had spent a lot of time on his terrace, looking up into the sky with his cigarettes nearby and trying to bring some order into his thoughts.

He knew that Mac had been confused at work the day before, but he intentionally had mentioned neither the evening before nor tonight's date, to not destroy the illusion of going out with a stranger. But he had noticed that Mac had enjoyed the flowers he had sent her on a whim and was glad that he had done it.

During the course of the day he had wondered several times why he hadn't asked her out for Friday night, instead of waiting another day with no idea how to pass the time until then, but it had been done and he had to stick with it.

He was tempted to work out a script for the evening, like he did every night for his show, but then decided to play it by ear. Not knowing how ‚Morgan' would react to anything he might say, he couldn't risk to be flustered if her answers didn't follow anything he had worked out beforehand.

Finally it was time to go and he called a cab.

When he arrived at the restaurant his date was already sitting at the bar, wearing a cleverly cut dress that revealed the full length of her legs, and he took a moment to calm himself down. After a couple of deep breaths he walked over to her and sat down beside her.

„Hello, Morgan."