"Will has said a lot of things about you, Mackenzie. My advice for you is this – talk to him about the ring. He ripped up the receipt for a reason. Talk to him about it."
"That's your advice? Talk to him about it?"
"It is my professional opinion that you two don't talk – really talk - to each other nearly enough. Have a conversation with him. One where you say what you're feeling, instead of trying to guess at what he's feeling."
"You've been almost no help."
Jack smiled. That's what they all said.
Four Days Later…
Will hated Wednesdays. When he was a child he couldn't comprehend the idea of the d in the word. Now he couldn't comprehend the idea of it at all. Hump Day. That's what people called it, right? If you could get past Wednesday, the rest of the week was a piece of cake. But first you had to get through Wednesday. Will hated Wednesday.
So it was on a Wednesday night at 1 AM that Will found himself half asleep on his sofa with a glass of scotch in his hand, watching one of those old black and white movies – he couldn't remember which one, they all managed to make him fall asleep anyway.
Nothing was missing. Nothing… except for her. She was always missing, it seemed. She'd been missing for four years. He should probably talk to her about everything soon.
Yeah, he'd been hurt and pissed when she hadn't even hinted at the voicemail. Obviously he had told her not to say anything about anything if she didn't feel the same way, but seriously? He thought she would have made a small effort to make sure he was doing alright after she'd non-verbally non-anything rejected him. And obviously bringing Bryan in had been in retaliation.
God he could be a real prick sometimes. He should probably talk to her about everything soon. Soon. Maybe on Friday, after work. Or maybe Saturday – give her night off? Should he wait until next week?
Why was he hesitating? Why couldn't he just…
And then, uninvited as it was, he heard Habib's voice in the back of his head. You're afraid she'll reject you again.
Well, shit. What if she did? What if she didn't want this? What if the flirting lately had just been her being nice?
In his mind's eye he saw Habib smile and shake his head slightly.
His ears, however, heard the elevator doors open right into his apartment, and he knew exactly who it was. He couldn't decide if he regretted giving her the elevator pass code to his apartment or not. Too late now, he thought.
He pushed himself up off the sofa and set his drink down, "Ms. McHale, what brings you here so early on this fine Thursday morning?" Thursdays he liked. He walked toward the elevator, and saw a soaking wet Mackenzie McHale standing in his entryway. "Mac?"
"I'm wet."
"Well, yeah. Did you walk here?"
She nodded. "I need to speak with you about something."
"Oh, got it," he said as if it all made perfect sense, "I was wondering why you'd walk all the way here in the rain, but obviously the phone lines are down because – oh wait. They're not." He gave her a pointed look.
"It's important." He got the distinct feeling that this was more than important.
Will walked towards her, guiding her through the apartment to his bedroom. "Stay," he said, rummaging around in his drawers. He pulled out an old sweatshirt and a pair of leggings she'd left that he'd never gotten rid of.
She looked at the leggings suspiciously. "These are mine?"
He shrugged and walked out, not sure anything he said would sound the way he wanted it to.
He was making her tea when she walked into the kitchen, looking small and adorable and so incredibly sexy at the same time. How does she do it? he thought. Surely one can't look cute and sexy at the same time? But the evidence was standing right in front of him wringing her hands together in apparent nervousness.
Will was about to make some quip or other when – "I know about the ring."
Will was… confused to say the least. "I know you know about the ring, Mac. I showed you the ring."
She was shaking her head now, looking at her toes. "No I mean…" she trailed off. What was she doing?
"You mean what?" Shit. He'd been found out.
"I mean, I saw the receipt in the bin. I know you didn't get it for me all those years ago," she looked up, almost scared.
Will sighed and hung his head.
"Well aren't you going to say anything?!" she demanded. She always demanded, except for when she didn't. It was one of the things he loved about her. When he didn't say anything she went on, "I went and saw Doctor Habib, and he –"
"Wait. What?! You went and saw –" he was stalking towards her now – "You went and saw my shrink?! Jesus Mac! Why didn't you just pull my medical records and upload them to the internet!"
"He didn't break confidentiality, Will! He'd never do that! You know that…"
He huffed in response. Yeah he did fucking know that. "So then… what exactly did the two of you talk about?"
"He said… Well, you see he said…" god this was frustrating.
"What, Mac? What did he say?" Will was getting impatient.
"Okay," she said clearly, standing up straight and looking him straight in the eye. "Okay. I'm going to say something, and you will not interrupt me."
"I won't?"
"No. You will stay silent until I am finished, then you may say your piece." Will let out a loud sigh but let her continue. "I've apologized more times than I can count,"
"Mac –"
"No! Shut up – you promised," she glared at him; he rolled his eyes but signaled for her to continue. "Cheating with Bryan hurt me just as much as it did you. I know that may be hard for you to see, seeing as I was the one to really fuck things up, but it's true. I hurt you, Will, and that hurt me. But I also hurt myself, because cheating on you took you from me. I meant it when I said that I was in love with you – that I really, truly realized it after I'd made that god-awful mistake. I don't know if you've ever believed that, but you should," she paused for a moment, gathering herself. Mac walked over to the kitchen island and leant against it, wringing her hands together again. "I've said sorry, but I won't anymore. Because I've spent the last four years feeling sorry for me and you and I can't do it anymore. I'm off the hook, Will. I forgive myself," she sad with a sad smile. "I don't expect you to forgive me just like that – you know me better – but I just wanted you to know that I've forgiven myself," she looked up through her eyelashes, "So, yeah."
He stood there, not really sure what to do with his hands or his arms or his body. "I thought you came here because of the ring?"
"Oh, yes! Yes!" how had she almost forgotten about that? She started waving her arms around in the way she did when she was angry or excited or a little bit of both. "I came here to tell you, Billy, that I've forgiven myself. The past is behind us! I declare it so!"
"You declare it so?" Will asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Still not finished!"
"By all means, continue."
"The past is behind us, and so you will stop making me feel like shit even if you haven't forgiven me," she said with a huff and a pointed finger.
"Because you've forgiven you?" he was mocking her a little now, and she knew it.
"Yeah," she got silent, and the air turned somber. "I may have forgiven myself, but that doesn't mean it doesn't still hurt. So don't ever pull a stunt like that again."
"I assume we're back to the ring?"
"You knew how that would crush me," he looked guilty, "You know it's especially crushing now that I know that you probably just sent someone down to pick up any old ring so you could jerk me around, and now you're gonna keep it? For what?! For some other woman?!" she raised her voice, "You didn't even pick it out yourself! And you think it'll work for –"
"For you." Mac almost didn't hear him.
"What?" she stared at him with her big eyes, confusion stamped into the wrinkles between her pinched eyebrows.
"I got it for you," he moved closer to her, pushing into her personal space just enough. "I put on my baseball cap and sunglasses and I went down to Tiffany and I picked out the ring myself. I picked out the one I thought you might like." She couldn't tear her eyes from his. "The talk show deal was never real – I didn't lie about that."
"But you wanted to make me feel bad…" he nodded.
"So then…" she paused, not sure whether to bring this up, but, like Will, had Habib's voice in the back of her head telling her they really needed to hash their shit out. "Did you ever have any intention of marrying me?"
At this Will gave her a small smile and a half-laugh, "Of course, Mackenzie."
"Why didn't you already have a ring?" she asked, enunciating each syllable in the way Will loved.
He shrugged, "There was no rush. It was you and me. A ring wasn't gonna change that. Yeah, I would have proposed at some point, but I'd already planned on spending the rest of my life with you, so…" he sighed.
The beginnings of tears were making their way to the corners of her eyes. "So… I really did fuck everything up."
Will shook his head, "You're missing the point, Kenz."
"Oh?" she said, voice thick with tears, "and what's that?"
"I kept the goddamn ring."
She looked up quickly. "You tore up the receipt." He nodded and started making his way to the bedroom. "Will?" she called, following behind. He was rummaging through his drawers, "What are you…?" then he pulled out the box. The box she knew contained the ring. "…doing?"
Don't get too excited. Or do. But I betcha you don't know what's gonna happen next. I hardly know what's gonna happen next...
I may or may not be without internet for the next week and a half, so updates will most likely be few and far between. But never fear, I shan't abandon my post - Will and Mac will be together, and this story will come to an end. How? No idea. But it will, eventually. (I declare it) :)
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