Will's embarrassment on the Morning Show hits him hard. He had not been prepared to be made to look so foolish. But it did not change his resolve. It had hurt his show a little but mainly it was a strike against Mac's control.

That morning, in the green room where she was waiting for him with supportive sympathy, on an impulse Will asks Nina to move in with him officially. Another strike against his EP. After all, though he doesn't love Nina, she keeps him from feeling lonely much of the time. And she doesn't demand more than he can give. Maybe he can settle for that and love will grow later.

Nina seems to sense his turmoil and does not mention that he never says he loves her or that this is unexpected; she readily agrees to move in.

At 10.20am Will slinks into the first pitch meeting and takes his usual seat at the end of the table. Mac is on her feet in front of the white board drawing lines through the list of options that have been generated and labelling others with letters A-E.

"Jim, please take the governor's bill and speech for the A Block; Maggie can you follow up the story on drug smuggling in the Florida Keys?" Mac asks

"Neal, you asked to pitch?" she continues turning towards the News Night blogger

"Yeah, Mac. Great, well, there's a new game that is being offered for free on the web and it seems to have addictive properties. Thousands of school students are missing class and significant amounts of money are changing hands. Its…it's like heroine without the needle and you're going to want to get it out to parents that they should stop their children playing it." Neal rushes through his presentation

"Where did you get your information Neal? And is there an official source, a government agency or a medical association who backs your claim?"

"Well, so far I seem to be among the first to have noticed the impact by looking across the country and putting many tweets and posts together and accumulating them"

"That's a 'no' then" Mac summarises

"Well, ummm sort of but-"

"It's a no until you have more to-" she starts but is cut off by Will

"I think we should run with it …..in the C block. Good human interest story. We base it on all the small pieces of information that are available. Good work Neal" Will says

Mac's head shoots up and she looks in silence at Will. "No Neal, please continue work on the Mayoral elections we discussed earlier" she says firmly

"I think Neal's story has potential. I am the managing editor so I decide what goes on air" Will states calmly and firmly. "Neal, please do as I say"

"Hey you guys" Neal looks from Will to Mac and back uncomfortably. "When Will joined this meeting I was concerned that I might become involved in a personal power struggle between you two, but I can see now that my fears were groundless." He looks helplessly at each of them in turn and holds his hands palm upwards as he shrugs. "Just let me know please" he says "E-mail maybe?"

"Will, may I have a word in my office please" Mac says with all the dignity she can muster "Now?"

"Not finished with this meeting yet Mac, let's do this later. Please go on"

Mac takes a deep breath and considers continuing but decides against it. With Will in this mood who knows what he will challenge.

"Meetings over, see you at 12.00" Mac instructs and the staff leave. Mac turns on her heel and makes for her office. She's shaking. She can tell something significant has happened between her and Will's fragile working friendship but has no clue as to what she's done now.

Charlie had phoned her that morning and told her about Will having asked Nina to move in. How in Hell he knows these things is a mystery! A wave of misery engulfs her. .Don had been right then when he'd suggested she started dating; time for her to move on too, professionally as well.

Later that morning, Don sidled in to see her and gave her a more colourful description of that morning's TV events. All the staff know by now that their anchor had been shown up on Morning TV. Was this the reason he was being so unreasonable? Was it somehow to do with him moving closer to Nina?

Mac didn't know any more…..she didn't know Will anymore might be a more accurate description of her predicament. And it struck her that Will was trying to push her away so that he and Nina could get closer still- marry even.

This was it then, the end of any chance of them. Will had stopped their night phone calls months ago and she missed them so much she ached sometimes. Now he was taking the next step with Nina and he was cutting her out of his life even more….maybe Nina had told him to….

When Will hadn't come to see her in the ten minutes following the rundown meeting Mac decides to just let it go and get on with her work. The show won't produce itself. And she has to be ahead of herself today because she has an appointment at 4.30 that will use up at least 60minutes of her precious time as the show takes shape. She will call in to her agent on the way so that he can start putting out feelers for her.

Will sits in his room and wonders how to take back more control from Mac; it's the only way he can think of to protect himself from his emotional reaction to the knowledge that she's dating. He can't think straight at all, oscillating between panicky shallow breathing and a fearful twisting pain in his guts. He throws back 2 double scotches in quick succession. He can't stop thinking about her being on the dating circuit; she'll be snapped up instantly, perhaps she has been already...Hell! Any man would chase her, and if she's free there'll be a line out the door…the image that conjures reminds him of the Rudy stunt Mac pulled for him and immediately he remembers the feel of her within his arms as he hugged her close; her warm breath on his neck.

Damn! He should have said something then, right then.

His thoughts go back to May 1st when he had finally revealed his feelings to Mac in a voicemail. She'd made no response so he'd eventually resolved to live,(or die), without her. He had been so angry that he had brought in Brian and so depressed he'd allowed the article into publication even though he could have vetoed its contents. Still it had hurt Mac, everything that hurt him, had hurt Mac. He felt sick and sad and angry at himself. But being full of self pity he was angry at Mac too.

Serve her right for cheating on him, all this is her fault because they would have been married with kids now if it hadn't been for her.

Now he has Nina for company and that's down to Mac too Will thinks in his untethered thought process.

Will is called to Charlie's office just before noon.

"Will," Charlie greets "Join me?" he holds up a tumbler with three fingers of Jameson's

"Not sure I should Charlie, already made a start downstairs"

"Don't be a pussy, this is good stuff and I hear you made a change to your living arrangements this morning, Congratulations"

"Ahh! Yes that is so and thank you" Will replies with a slight smile of acknowledgement.

"Good that you are settling down at last, a man should not be alone"

"Yeah! Well, it's only living together Charlie, we're not getting hitched-"

"Time for that down that line; though I never realised you'd lost interest in Mac." Charlie goes on. "Sorry to say I'd put Nina down as a phase" he pauses "Will she be putting her place on the market? I expect she'll want to redecorate your apartment or maybe want you to move."

Will is uncomfortable with this line of questioning- he hasn't given any of these questions a thought never mind discussed them with Nina.

"Too soon to say about this practical stuff Charlie, we're going to play it by ear" Will tells his boss. But he knows it sounds lame and un-thought through…. which is probably because it hasn't been...well...you know... thought through.

Will's chat with Charlie has at least given Mac a chance to get through her staff meeting unhampered by a managing editor who is trying to disrupt her authority as much as possible. He arrives back just as everyone is dispersing. Mac heaves a sigh of relief. She needed to get things in order so that her absence at the 4.00 pm meeting will not be catastrophic. Jim can handle it.

Will makes for his office and closes the door. He goes over the questions Charlie asked. Suddenly his living with Nina is becoming real. He has to include her and tell her his whereabouts. He has to ask her opinion on his clothes and his life and she'll want to meet his family and …and…always be there. And she'll want to take him to meet her family and at some point she might want a ring. Will gets a strong visceral reaction to that thought. Thoughts of rings bring visions of Mac staring at the Tiffany jewel with a defeated look on her face. Will can't shake them off. The ring in his office drawer belongs to a person who has been front and centre for almost a decade. He finds he doesn't want it any other way.

Mac disappears in the late afternoon. Will and she have not spoken about the events in the 10.00 meeting. Indeed, they have not spoken at all and now Will is getting jumpy. She should come and see him so that he can tell her about Nina and see her reaction.

But, will she mind what he does if she's moved on? Maybe my being with Nina will make Mac feel better about seeing someone else. It might make her more comfortable that I will be happy without her. Would she be more or less concerned about me if I was alone? Fuck, moving Nina in might actually encourage Mac to find new partners. He can't bear to think she might come to give her love and care to someone else. He can't begin to go there. He wont.

Confused as to how best to get the reaction he wants from Mac, Will finally admits to himself that living with Nina is a terrifying proposition and definitely is not what he wants at all. Asking Nina to move in had been a kneejerk reaction. He actually would like less not more time with the gossip columnist; having now given it some real consideration: of that he is completely certain. But for the moment he will have to go ahead with his choice. He can't dump Nina out of the blue. He has manners and she has done nothing to deserve it.

Shit

Mac stumbles into the newsroom, literally, at 5.30pm, tripping over the pile of shopping bags deposited inside the bullpen doors. Nina has been elated all day and decided to celebrate by going on a spending spree including buying Will a cashmere sweater. She has called in to give it to him and to ensure that all the important people (Mac) were aware of their change of relationship status. Nina did not intend to gloat- but she knew Will might not tell Mac and clarity could save a lot of embarrassing misunderstandings for everyone.

Dusting herself off, Mac makes her way to the studio to check on the technical issues that can arise when doing live broadcasts. Jim is already there and appraises Mac about Nina's visit.

"How'd it go at Reynard's" he asks

"Harrowing" she says quietly "there are no heirs so the property will go to the crown"

"They can do that?" he asks surprised

"They can and they do. Taxes must be paid"

"Never had that problem Mac, don't earn enough to owe much"

"Nina still here?" she continues

"I've not seen her leave"

"Must be waiting to see me then to make sure she has staked her claim" Mac says with a wry smile "Best get it over with, I've no time to lose today"

Mac makes her way to Will's office knowing pretty much what to expect. She's not disappointed

Will is seated on his sofa and Nina has positioned herself on his knee. That he does not look completely ecstatic is not lost on Nina. But she knows this first time of seeing Mac will be the hardest and takes pity on Will. After all she has the prize so she can be magnanimous in victory.

Mac is ready. She has pasted her false smile, the one she uses to hide her hurt, across her face and can look at them together without flinching….at least outwardly.

Will is ready with his anchor façade and can look at Mac knowing she is now seeing other men and maybe has a boyfriend. After all he has had a girlfriend for 6 months. He should be ok that she has someone too he keeps telling himself (but somehow forgetting seconds later).

Fine.

Neither can actually talk though, so Nina has free range

"Mac, Hi there, wondered where you'd gone. Didn't know you could take time off just before a broadcast. Do you like Will's new sweater? I think it's his colour, don't you?" she takes a breath and then goes on when no one cuts in. "We are going to get some decorating done in that man cave he calls home now that we are sharing it….such a chore to have the decorators in don't you find?"

Will watches Mac closely through Nina's display of ownership. His stomach clenches at Mac's expression. He knows that she is covering her hurt. He knows how she looks when he has hit out verbally at her and she is absorbing the pain. In that instant he wants to silence Nina and protect Mac from any more humiliation at her hands. But he can't. He has given Nina the right to claim him and that allows her to lord it over Mac.

Shit, he feels bad!

Mac nods and finally manages to say something, "Sorry Nina but I am so rushed. You're right about not leaving before air. Will should fire me….he can you know….at the end of every week"

Maybe he will now he's with Nina

"Good to catch up" Mac adds and then she's gone

Shit again, why had she told Nina about the contract, Will thinks, Nina might pressure me to do it and I never ever will.

Nina left soon after so that the show could proceed without interruption. The staff breathed a sigh of relief. They could only imagine how volatile the newsroom could become if Nina, Mac and Will decided to have a' frank discussion'.

But actually they saw no fireworks that night.

Mac spoke calmly into Will's ear and he did almost everything she asked. The only instruction he didn't comply with came at the end of the broadcast when he signed off and Mac said quietly "Have a good night, Will" before she hurriedly left the studio.