Author's Note: Still working the kinks out in my writing. For some reason I find it much easier to write what's going on in Will's head than anything else. Believe me, I'm not trying to make my stories into constant Will McAvoy internal dialogue, it just seems to happen accidentally. I promise I'm working on more Mackenzie point of view and the two of them interacting. As always, I don't own The Newsroom.
After relaying her vital information to the paramedics, Will watched them load Mac into the ambulance. Jim would go with her. Lonny had none too gently reminded Will that he was still in danger. He would be traveling to the hospital under his bodyguard's watchful eye. Will had seen that look in Lonny's eyes before, there was no point in arguing with the man, so Will climbed into the back of the black Escalade and was soon joined by a subdued Charlie.
Will could barely remain seated once he arrived at St. Vincent's emergency room. He paced, he sighed, he gave Jim dirty looks as if he was somehow responsible for their current lack of information.
Finally, a doctor appeared looking for the family of Mackenzie McHale. Will, Jim and Charlie stood to meet him.
"You're family?" the doctor questioned.
"As close as you're going to get anytime soon" Will responded. "I called her parents in London. They're trying to get here, but no guarantees. "
"Well, good enough for now I suppose" the doctor replied. "Ms. McHale appears to be suffering from streptococcus pneumonia. We've had to intubate her for the time being. Her oxygen level was far too low. She seized because of her fever. We have her on a heavy course of antibiotics, which we're hoping will turn this around pretty quickly and keep her from going septic. This can be a common complication of untreated infections for those who have had splenectomies. She must have been warned about this after the surgery? She is always supposed to see a doctor at the first signs of fever or infection. This had to have been going on for more than a week by now."
"Well doc, her splenectomy was done in a war zone, then she was transferred to Germany and then to New York. Some instructions might have gotten lost in the shuffle" Jim responded.
"Yeah, that and she's the most stubborn workaholic alive" Will muttered under his breath.
"Like she's the only one" Jim said quietly. Will tried to ignore that, but gave Jim another dirty look just for good measure.
"Well, whatever the reason, she's going to have to learn to be more careful. The spleen is responsible for generating a good deal of the components of one's immune system. She doesn't have one anymore. That means she will always have a weakened immune system. Fifteen hour workdays, lack of a balanced diet and ignoring infections in their early stages will not bode well for Ms. McHale. I suggest she come to grips with that fact before this happens again. And it will happen again if she keeps this up. Make sure she understands that." Finished with his lecture the doctor finally gave them more information on Mac.
"She'll probably be intubated for the next 24 hours or so while we drain fluid from her lungs and let the antibiotics do their job. From there on she'll be on oxygen and nebulizer treatments to help clear her breathing passages. She'll probably be here three to four days assuming everything improves steadily. She'll be sent home with antibiotics and a nebulizer and inhaler. No work for at least a week. I'd prefer she be exposed to as few people as possible during that time. The last thing she'll need is to pick up another infection so soon. Any questions?"
Will, Jim and Charlie just stood staring at the doctor.
"Well then, she's in room 512. One visitor at a time for now." And with that the doctor left the three of them standing in the waiting room.
"I'll go call the office and fill everyone in. I'm sure they're all ready to storm in here if someone doesn't call soon" Jim informed Will and Charlie and headed outside to use his cell phone.
"I'll let you head in to see her first. Do you want me to call her parents again?" Charlie asked Will.
"No, I'll do it. I told John and Catherine I'd call as soon as I knew something, but just give me a minute with her. By the time they find a flight Mac will probably be awake and threatening them with bodily harm if they cross the pond just to watch her cough and blow her nose for a week" Will responded, comforting himself with a mental picture of Mackenzie healthy and back to her old self, daring anyone to try and take care of her. Will headed down the hall toward Mackenzie's room.
It always amazed him how still she could be when asleep. Of course right now the pneumonia and the drugs probably had a lot to do with it, but even during an average night Mac's frenetic energy suddenly disappeared once asleep. She would curl into a ball pressed against his side and he swore she never moved once during the night. Did she still sleep like that, he wondered? Or would her habits have changed in the last few years? He stopped himself from going down that path. He didn't want to think about her curled into someone else's side.
When they first started sleeping together he had thought she was afraid to wake him. After all, they spent most nights at his place. It was bigger and closer to the office. Maybe she felt like an intruder and feared disturbing his sleep in his own home. But as time wore on he realized she really did sleep like that. It was as if Mackenzie literally expended every last ounce of her energy during the day and once she found sleep her body finally stilled, reveling in the few hours it had to do nothing. Because during her waking hours Mac never did nothing.
Oh great, now he couldn't form a sentence without waxing poetic on Mackenzie and using a double negative. What the hell had she done to him? Brought some life back into him and kicked his ass into gear, his brain responded…though his inner monologue seemed to have a clipped British accent these days.
"Damn it Mac, what the hell were you thinking?" Will asked her silent form. She was thinking get the story Will. She's always thinking get the story, his brain told him.
"Well you're not getting the story for a couple weeks ok? You're resting and you're getting better, and from here on out you're taking better care of yourself and if I have to move in with you to see that happen well…we'll just have to talk about that when you wake up. We have to talk about a lot of things when you wake up Mac. Like how badly we both are doing at being apart from each other. We may have a lot of issues to work through to be together, but obviously we need to do that before one of us neglects ourselves to death." He finished his speech and stared at her unmoving form. He was not used to not getting an argument from Mackenzie. Hell, he wasn't even really used to being able to finish a sentence without being interrupted by Mackenzie. She seemed so much smaller when she was asleep. All her yelling and passionate speech-making sometimes made him forget that she was a good six inches shorter than him and probably a few pounds underweight.
"Ok, you can wake up anytime now Mac. I promise I won't hit you with a magazine" he teased. Though part of him wanted to hit her with something and knock some sense into her. Of course, if he did knock some sense into her maybe she would finally give up on them. Give up on beating her head against the brick wall that was Will McAvoy and go try to find someone a little less prickly and a lot easier to be with. Ok, so no hitting some sense into her.
"You're not doing this again Mackenzie McHale. You are not leaving me. So get that through your thick skull." And with that, Will settled in to watch her sleep.
