Leona Lansing was a damn smart woman. She was ruthless – it's how she'd gotten to where she was now. And lately she'd been in it for the wrong reasons. And Charlie Skinner had to be the one to make her realize it. Charlie Skinner. The man wore bow ties for Christ's sake.

But he'd been right, much as Leona hated to admit it. The news was far too sensitive to ratings these days, to staying "relevant," whatever the hell that meant.

After the American Taliban broadcast, she made the decision to stop butting into their show. To Charlie's show, to Will's show, to Mac's show. Because most of the time, they did it the right way. The way it was supposed to be done. And she hadn't seen that in far too long. Of course, the blackmailing of her son helped.

Her secretary, a young, timid little thing named Indigo (when she'd started hiring people who's parents clearly didn't care for their child's future she didn't know or want to think about), buzzed her to let her know that her expected visitor had arrived.

Leona looked up from her computer screen. "Ms. McHale, what a surprise."

Mackenzie gave her an are-you-shitting-me look. "You emailed me, Leona. A very cryptic email, I might add."

"Yes… sit down, won't you?" Leona said, standing herself. "Can I get you anything? A cup of tea, perhaps?"

"You can tell me why I'm here," Mackenzie replied, sitting. Leona followed suit.

"Do you know what was in the envelope, Ms. McHale?"

"What envelope?"

"The envelope that Charlie claimed held records of phone hacking ordered by Reese. Do you know what was in that envelope?"

Mackenzie looked puzzled. She'd thought that she'd been called up to be yelled at. That they'd done something so out of line that Leona Lansing herself was going to dole out the punishment. "No. I don't. Why?" Leona lifted up a piece of paper from her desk and handed it over to Mackenzie. "This is a recipe for beef stew," Mac said, wondering what the fuck was going on.

"Yes."

"This… this is what was in the envelope?"

"You mean to tell me you weren't part of that little scheme Charlie and Will pulled off?"

Mac just sat there, not sure how to answer but feeling like she might be under attack. "It doesn't change the facts, Leona – Reese did hack into people's phones. Illegally, I might add." Mackenzie didn't say anything, instead she placed the paper on the edge of Leona's desk.

Leona still didn't say anything, and Mackenzie had never been a fan of awkward silences, although god knew she'd had her fair share. "He admitted it! On tape! We have your son on tape admitting to phone hacking! Don't tell me I'm here so that you can persuade me this was all a mistake?"

Leona laughed at this, tilting her head back slightly. "No, no, of course not."

"So then…" Mackenzie looked perplexed once again, "why am I here?"

Leona took a breath, paused. Two months ago she probably wouldn't have done this. Two months ago all she was concerned about were rating and who'd she'd have to do business with in Washington. Two months ago she would have gone to the likes of Nina Howard. That's what Reese had done, after all. Like mother, like son. But now was not two months ago, or even one month ago.

"I have the voicemail."

Mac stopped. She stopped breathing. She stopped moving. She stopped thinking. For just a fraction of a second. Then her mind was going a hundred miles an hour, and there were too many questions. The one at the forefront of her mind was will I get to listen to it?

"Oh?"

"Well, you know, after our little discussion I thought I'd better check up on what Reese had been working on, as all good mothers do."

"And bosses."

"Yes. And bosses."

"So then, you've listened to all the hackings?"

"I have."

"And you're telling me this."

"I am."

"Why?"

"Because I'm going soft."

Mac gave her a quizzical look, "I'm afraid I don't understand."

"You should have heard it," Leona sighed. When had she become a fucking romantic? "He left it for you, you should have heard it."

Mac slowly nodded her head, "You're going soft…"

Leona tilted her head forward in affirmation.

There was a pregnant silence in the room. Mac didn't know what to say. Was Leona going to give her a copy so she could listen for herself? Or did she just get called up here so that Leona could inform her that she should have heard a voicemail because it had been left on her machine and that's all thanks so much for coming up twenty floors? Was this all some –

"I think you still love him."

Mac sat up a little straighter, "Excuse me?"

"Oh come on – let's not do the "we're just friends" dance. I'm too old to hear that shit," Leona sighed, twisting her watch around her wrist. "I think you're in love with him – still, or again – I don't really give a shit. But you are."

Mac didn't say anything.

Leona smiled. "You should hear the message." And in that moment Leona Lansing found herself becoming Charlie Skinner, the meddlesome son-of-a-bitch.


Will sighed, picking up his phone to call Lonny. The day was over. Time to go back to that place he inhabited. The place he had inhabited with Mackenzie.

Fuck. He couldn't get her out of his head. She consumed his thoughts and it was goddamn annoying. Get out, get out, get out. Will wondered what would happen if he banged his head against the window enough times. Would the image of Mackenzie's face vanish from his brain? Did he want it to?

That was really the big question. Did he really want to stop thinking about her? He'd been going to Habib regularly. Okay – semi-regularly, but the point remained that he was trying, really trying to get himself to forgive her.

If he were completely honest with himself (which he almost never was), he'd been trying to forgive her since a week after she'd confessed four years ago. Because life for Will without Mackenzie was like… something bad.

One hundred thousand dollars in therapy and that's what he'd been able to come up with so far. . . something bad.

After he'd gotten out of the hospital for his overdose he'd compared her to his oxygen mask (it had seemed appropriate somehow). Itchy and annoying and so very vital. She was literally his oxygen – his lifeline. That realization, combined with the knowledge that she didn't not love him, she had just never gotten the voicemail, made Will try extra hard to try to forgive her.

Habib thought it was admirable. He thought it was admirable and that it wouldn't do Will jack-shit. He'd told Will as much – that the forgiving wouldn't come because he'd tried really hard, closed his eyes and made a wish. It would come when all the trying stopped. It would be a moment of clarity.

Will thought that was a load of crap and plowed ahead with his "recovery."

And then Will found himself thinking of Mackenzie on a swing.

Mac squealed, spinning faster and faster, the chain unwinding. Will was right next to her doing the same thing.

"This is outrageous! We're adults in a children's park, we shouldn't be…" Mac trailed off, not quite how to define what they were doing.

"Having fun at a playground on a Friday night?"

"Well it is almost ten," Mac smirked, "Ideal pedophile time, wouldn't you say?" Will burst out laughing, grabbing her by the waist and dragging her onto his lap. She rested her head on his shoulder, wrapping her arms around him.

They'd been going out for five months now. Four and a half months ago Will knew he'd found the woman he was going to spend the rest of his life with.

She shifted, locking onto his eyes. "I love you, you know."

Will smiled. She hadn't said it very much, or at all really. But he'd known. Three months ago he'd known. He wasn't sure if she'd realized it then, but he'd seen it in the way that only he could see her.

"I know," he replied softly. And then teasingly, "I'm still not sure about you, though."

"Oh?" she was grinning.

"Yeah," he sighed, "I'd say my feelings are lukewarm at best."

Will chuckled to himself, remembering that she'd spent the rest of the evening trying to goad an "I love you" out of him, even though he'd professed his love for her on many an occasion beforehand.

And then it hit will in just the way Habib had said it would. My feelings are lukewarm at best.

His feelings weren't lukewarm at best. They were fucking – he just – he… loved her. He loved her in a simple, undemanding way. Loving her was like being on a swing. Freeing. And he really needed to fucking jump off it and find her, because the seat next to him was empty.


Mackenzie was determined not to let the tears that were pooling in the corners of her eyes fall. Not in front of her boss's boss. Not in front of Leona Lansing.

"Shit," she managed to choke out after a minute.

Leona had leaned back in her chair, and was now playing with her glasses. "Yeah."


TBC

So hopefully you all are satisfied with the length of this one. Oh yeah, and the content. :)

Reviews are lovely and amazing.