I have been asked to add to this story so here goes...I hope you enjoy it
"You are not staying at Fox, Mac. Please, hear this now, non-negotiable. I need you back in my ear" pleads a very insistent, slightly inebriated Will.
They are lying on her bed, naked, a sheet draped haphazardly over Mac's left leg and billowing out across her bedroom floor. Will's interjecting his diatribe by dropping wet kisses along Mac's collar bone. He hopes it's distracting her from counter- arguments.
A few short hours ago they were dining at Valentino's and now here he is, reacquainting himself with Mackenzie's neck and her lips and…and.. all of her…in her apartment (he hasn't cleared his of Nina's effects yet and it seemed prudent not to take Mac there until all evidence has been erased). And Mackenzie has said she'll marry him. It's overpoweringly awesome. Mac is overpoweringly awesome, and Will's brain has turned to mush- or maybe he wouldn't have brought up the subject of FOX at this precise point.
"I'm your fiancé, Will not your E…P eee", her breath hitches and she squeaks as he sucks at the pulse point at the base of her neck. "I'm staying at FOX." She continues breathlessly. "In the three weeks I've been there… I've produced an excellent daily… programme for FOX News at 9.00 pm …..and I'm certain they'll ….want it to be the model for a more cohesive news strategy across the country. They have a complete news mish-mash at present"
"Mmmm" Will replies, finding he's more interested in what he's doing than what she's saying at that instant.
"I will raise…..uhhh… the standard of FOX …oooh…..news through leadership and example and…mmmm.. and honest…..ouch…. and ethical reporting," she chants breathlessly, between responses to Will's lips, in a manner reminiscent of a certain speech involving Don Quixote and donkeys.
"Good luck with that" Will comments wryly, his lips never leaving her skin, knowing the mottled history and purpose of 'news' within the FOX network.
He lifts his head very slightly. "But I need you, Mac…. I miss you… I want you back at ACN with me" he wheedles as he plants kisses between her breasts before covering her left nipple with his mouth.
"Truthfully, I've been your EP for the last two and a half years ….and look how much better we've…. got on since I…. left" Mac gasps, waving her left hand under his nose, as he moves his mouth to assault her right breast.
Then her brow furrows. "Actually, I hadn't thought of it in that way before, but it's true" she mutters somewhat breathlessly.
She pauses to restructure her thoughts.
"Will, did my leaving ACN make you….have something to do wi…" she takes his head between her hands, unhitching his lips in the process, and looks him in the eyes "Did missing me in your ear have anything to do with your proposal?" she asks anxiously, her voice dropping to a whisper
"Well, honestly… no, well… yes, but no…not like it seems." Will prevaricates, giving himself time to think. "Of course I missed you at work. You are simply the best EP there is. But, it's much more than that. I've missed you every moment we've been apart….. every moment," he stresses firmly "not just at work and trust me, I was in love with you long before you left for Fox…even when you'd left the first time…I ...I…I never stopped loving you" Will blurts it out in a rush…there…he's said it!
To his surprise Mac looks horrified and a little angry. Releasing her hold on his head, her response is immediate. She gives him a piercing look as hurt flashes across her face
"Please don't try to soft soap me Will. You've hated me for years. I've lived with your feelings towards me; been right here for the past thirty months remember? …..I know!" her words come out shaky and barely audible, her gaze lowers and she seems less confident than she had only moments before hand.
"Oh Mac, honey" Will takes her chin between his thumb and fore finger and tilts her face upwards seeking her eyes. "I never hated you, I was angry and hurt…. unreasonable and totally self-destructive… which meant I destroyed your happiness as well as my own. But I never stopped being in love with you….truly. It was what the voicemail message was all about," he says and leans forward attempting to plant a kiss on her lips.
But Mac draws back "Wait…. what are you saying? I know what the message you wouldn't repeat is all about. Nina told me," she says firmly. "It's cruel to mess with me about it." She pauses for an instant, putting all the loose ends that had puzzled her together really fast.
Her expression softens as she considers how rejected Will would have felt if he'd had no reaction from her after telling her he loved her still. How hurt he would have been.
"But Will, I didn't know you'd left that voicemail until August, remember?" she says thoughtfully as her understanding of the Brian article and her miserable summer falls into place.
"And anyway when have I ever not replied when you've messaged me? I know how that feels….." she trails off with a dejected air, remembering her deep despondency and frustration over the multiple unacknowledged messages, emails and calls she'd made to Will after their breakup.
"Stop right there Mac, what did Nina tell you?" he ploughs on disregarding his inner guidance.
"That the message was a thank you for doing a great job that night" Mac whispers
"Spectacular is the term I used. But what else did she-" he starts
"Nothing important Will, I don't even recall it now" Mac cuts in
"That b…..Nina didn't tell you everything " he says determinedly, finally having found the courage he'd lacked for so many months he was ready to express his love for her, desperate to in fact "I said I loved you…never stopped" Will looks hopefully at her
His words are met with complete silence. Motionless, Mac digests his revelation this second time, hesitant as to how to respond.
She takes several slow breaths before answering, selecting her words with care
"As I just said, you've known since August that I never got to hear the message, Will. If your voicemail did say you loved me, then was the time to let me know. So, if you really expressed your love for me in May but couldn't repeat that sentiment in August, I'd have to presume you'd changed your mind about loving me by that time," she says gently, pausing for a moment for her logic to sink in.
"And then you started dating Nina, the person who had actually heard your message, so your story about always loving me just doesn't hang together, Will. You were never a mindless flirt"
"Until I was" he interrupts gravely
"Yeah" she nods, visions of his string of women flitting through her head
"But you love …you ..loved Nina, you must have… at least for a while. You were with her almost every night for six months Will. And you asked her to share your home. That's not nothing"
He watches Mac's gaze fill with compassion
"You must miss her so much, even if you're mad with her because she ended it when she thought you were seeing Slone behind her back." she says, quickly looking away to hide the tears that so often spring unbidden into her eyes at the thought of Will with Nina.
Will's cornered….damned if he tells the truth about his relationship with Nina and yet unwilling to lie to her again. Especially as he's now sure Mac loves him….. still loves him…has always loved him…...never stopped. So he says nothing, but places his hands on her shoulders and tugs her towards him as he slants his mouth across hers and embarks on his Plan B: to kiss her senseless.
Ten minutes later and well into his mission, Mac surfaces for air.
"About the Fox job" she pants into his collarbone. "My initial contract is for 3 months (she hadn't committed to the 6 months they wanted). I'll review it then" she says and shudders as Will erases all thoughts of employment from her head.
Later, as she lies beside a peacefully sleeping Will, Mac can't stop her brain whirring.
The voicemail message. She had originally assumed it to have been something along the lines he was now suggesting. It made sense of his unexpectedly stony attitude through the summer and the use of Brian Brenner to write his Camelot article.
But she'd long since accepted Nina's version as gospel.
She was accustomed to Will trying to hurt her so she could equally attribute his fuss about forgetting the message as a mean tease. That made sense too, unfortunately.
And why would Nina date a man who she'd heard profess his love to someone else? Nina's a beautiful, desirable woman. Will must have denied any love for her, to entice Nina into his life.
The possibility of him telling Nina his love note for her was a mistake or a joke made her wince.
Helping Will through this was going to be even harder than she thought.