Chapter 12

Will awakes to an instant of contentment before his stiff neck andf pounding headache ensures that his past becomes his present and he recognises a wave of nausea welling-up causing him to head for his bathroom swiftly. He hasn't drunk so much since... oh yeah, the last time he split with Mackenzie.

Oh how he hates her for fooling him so...and hates himself even more because he was so sure that she was trustworthy!

He washes his face and grips the basin until he is certain his head has stopped spinning sufficiently that he won't vomit before he makes his way back to his bed. There's a note on his table from Nina, timed at 9.30 am saying she has to go to a lunch so is off to her place to get ready. She's added an x beside her name.

Will's clock shows 3.45. He's slept the day away and he craves coffee, tons of it. Oceans. He feels incredibly bad and his neck isn't getting any less painful with moving about either so he crosses the bedroom to start the coffee

Reaching for the coffee maker, Will stops short, seeing Mac's key fob with the distinctive safe key, on the counter. He knows immediately Mac has been back while Nina was there.

That's why the keys have been deposited beside his caffeine machine. It's what she would have done so that Nina would not notice them. If she had come when he was alone she would have left the keys on the hall stand as always, or even maybe woken him to talk.

Oh! I missed her is his immediate reaction ashis heart rate speeds up. But as his brain catches up it changes to Well too bad,I don't want to hear a load of excuses. I'm never getting embroiled in her life ever again.

Ever... Still!

Will can't wait for coffee before hurriedly checking the safe with a sinking heart. Finding she has left the ring and the jewels he feels even more angry at her. Any normal person would keep gifts given over several years at the very least he thinks. Only Mac would return hundreds of thousands of dollars of carefully selected adornments because of their high value. They're hers. How can she show such high moral standards in this yet cheat on him?

He begins to close the door when he has another thought and picks up the top container with its worn curling gold edging. He flips the lid to see her most precious- not most valuable- item has also been surrendered. Mac had told him how precious this item had been to her during her spell in the Middle East. How she was so attached to it because it was the last thing that connected them when they were apart.

Well, it seems she's taken him at his word. She's not going to be back. Well good! Damn Mackenzie. Damn her to hell.

"Hair of the dog it is" he said aloud reaching into the cupboard for a glass.

Monday starts in a haze with his alarm blaring insistently. Will drank himself to sleep on Sunday and added some pills for good measure. But he'd started early, around four pm. so by eight in the morning he begins to surface

He struggles through the shower with the same headache as yesterday and no prospect of using booze as an aesthetic. He wants Mac. He craves her. He's annoyed with himself about his weakness for a woman who has no loyalty to him. He knows it was wrong to use Nina on Saturday but at least he had learned his loneliness was unaffected by the presence or absence of Nina Howard. He resigns himself to feeling lousy all day and knows he'll make others suffer too. That's all on you Mac he thinks bitterly.

Will staggers off to work earlier than usual to resolve his working situation. Mac - he can't work with her and there's a wedding to be cancelled.

Shit, he is not looking at a good day.

Hunched in his tan leather coat and grasping his briefcase as if his life depends on it, his arrival at work is less than a pleasure.

He can see the lights on in Mac's office as he brushes through the doors to the newsroom. He assumes she is in there.

Hopefully she'll avoid me until I can get her relieved of her duties

Then his gaze slips across the staff in the bullpen, who all studiously ignore him, avoiding his gaze. Typical, Mac's got to them first and they're on her side. Great! totally expected.

Though a small voice reminds him that Mac usually encourages the staff not to get involved in their rows and wants them to look up to him. Respect him even. Guess all that's finished too….good riddance!

Will storms across to his office, forcing the door to open more quickly than the laws of physics allow. It bangs back into his knee in silent protest. Everything's against him AND IT IS NOT HIS FAULT…MAC WAS THE WRONG-DOER HERE. SHE'S THE BETRAYER his inner voice screams

Will could have wept, but he won't, he'll never shed tears again over a cheating, two-timing woman who's made him a world class laughing-stock. Fuck Mackenzie McHale. Just Fuck

As he stands in his doorway rubbing his knee, a sombre faced Charlie lifts himself out of Will's chair and walks around the desk towards him.

"You look terrible son," he says "Wanna tell me about it?"

"No, not really" Will growls... there's silence for half a minute before he continues, "Mac's been cheating with Brian again Charlie and I've finished with her." He states it baldly, refusing to let his voice crack and glaring at his boss.

"Are you certain Will? It hardly seems like something Mac would do, especially in the circumstances" Charlie says softly and moves to pat his shoulder. "Why do you think this is true?"

"Oh Charlie," Will mutters ,his resolve to stay unemotional collapsing " I wouldn't believe it either, but I saw her….on Saturday morning…with my own eyes"

As Charlie opens his mouth to respond, a cacophony of noise and shouting erupts in the bullpen. Turning towards the sound Will takes in a sharp breath as he watches Brian Brenner powering across the bull pen directly towards his office waving a magazine and shouting his name.

Standing his ground at his door, Will glares at Brian who stops inches from the tall anchor.

"Brian, how unexpected, I guess Mac invited you in this time, for I certainly didn't. Go visit with her, don't waste my time" and Will begins to turn away haughtily

But Brian grabs his arm and pulls him back to face him.

"I came for you, you douche bag" Brian says loud and clear. "You are one of the most miserable human beings I've ever met. And I am going to sue you and your lying gossip girlfriend"

"Perhaps we should move this inside if there's going to be a discussion" Charlie says dragging an open-mouthed Will into his own office. "They have work to do" he says nodding towards the staff.

"Delighted" Brian agrees through gritted teeth. He is clearly furious and spoiling for a fight if only verbally. He follows Will into the room and stalks across to the guest chair on the other side near the window, but he doesn't sit.

Will's door is swinging shut as Jim slips in with Mac and Maggie on his heels, attracted by the commotion. And because Will now has his back to the door, Will's body shields Mac from Brian's gaze too. They are both too intent on posturing…or Will is anyway.

"You have something to say I believe " Will begins

"You. total. creep." Brian all but shouts "why did you do it to her of all people? How could you be so cruel to the person who tried her hardest to help you, protect you, make you great?"

"Shut your mouth" Will says quietly "You have no idea about my relationship with Mackenzie "

"That might have been true if you hadn't invited me to a month long, ring-side seat at your relationship" Brian replies "An experience I could have done without. I've been trying to get over Mac for years and being with her again just set off all the old aches …..you don't know how lucky you are to be the one she loves."

Will doesn't reply, he can hardly breathe. What is Brian saying? What rubbish is this?

"Now you've broken her heart again, you unkind monster. This article about Mac and me is pure hogwash. We've not met for years except for the time I spent with NewsNight and, for the record, the piece I wrote was my reaction to seeing a person I cared deeply about being treated with abject cruelty."

He pauses for a gulp of air and glares at Will who still says nothing before continuing..

"And now your miserable trick of cancelling her wedding by text…it… it's monstrous - great for you, the celebrity who wants public notoriety at any cost but unendingly hurtful for Mac for the rest of her life as it pops up in the press and becomes her heritage, outshining her Peabody's and everything else." he takes another breath, shaking with emotion he says more quietly

"How could you McAvoy?" the statement hangs in the air as Will processes the attack

"What article is hogwash?" is Will's first response said in a moderate, controlled voice

"Nina's garbage about Mac cheating on you with me, recently. In this… People Magazine out this morning" Brian says as he waves the offending magazine in Will's face

"I know nothing about …. Nina's not written anything for People as far as I know and certainly nothing about me" Will responds in clipped tones

"She writes as Matthew Mann in People, it's her pseudonym." Brian explained "Everyone knows it's her. My friend, Pete, who works there, tipped me off when Nina called it in late Saturday. Nina told him she posted the story to limit the damage that using a text to cancel your wedding would do to you. Apparently she was attempting to 'let McAvoy's audience understand how badly he had been treated' to justify the text."

"I have no knowledge of an article or a text" Will repeats, quietly furious but inwardly feeling anxiety curling in the pit of his stomach. "May I read this?" he points to the magazine, which Brian passes over.

Leaning against his desk, Will speed reads the article, turning white with anger. It tells of Mac's previous cheating, then gives details of her current assignations; being seen in the elevator, leaving the building and getting into a cab. Nina has written it to suggest these were separate incidents, implying they are examples of many others. Will is presented as honourable, blameless and out manoeuvred by an ambitious, deceitful co-worker. Brian hardly features except for his past associations with Mac and the recent Greater Fool article. Again it is left to the reader to conclude that somehow Mackenzie managed to foist Brian onto Will rather than the reverse. Nina finishes with a few comments about Mac's recklessness and unreliability as a field producer in a war zone. More than a hatchet job, Nina has annihilated Mac's reputation. Will is confused.

"What the fuck" bursts explosively from Wills mouth "What is happening here? This must be some malevolent joke. What are you trying to pull Brenner? Having articles printed for pay back…a get even website or something?"

Then Will reads the insert within the article with the offending text message from Scott's agency that reads: UNSAVE THIS DATE, WE'RE NOT GETTING HITCHED. PRESENTS WILL BE RETURNED. DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE with his agents name and his and Mac's names attached and a tiny broken heart over his surname.

Will is now seething with anger and sweating with fear simultaneously. This must be a joke. How did this happen…how did he not know about all this…..and …how is Mac feeling? His thoughts turn to her and how she must feel with this obviously poisonous assault from Nina of all people.

While Will reads, Charlie, who is already familiar with both the article and text in question, steps up and speaks quietly to Brian.

"You seem very fond of Mac young man" he says carefully " to come in here to her defence so to speak. What do you want and why do you want it?"

Brian looks at Charlie sadly. "I guess I'll always be in love with her. I knew almost at once, after I walked out on her that first time, that I'd made a huge mistake. I've tried to replace her but that's no easy thing. I did beg her to try again just after she started to go on dates with him, indicating Will. We saw each other a couple of times but for reasons defying understanding she chose this guy here who turns out to be a cruel moron." He shrugs and continues as Will looks up from the article

"When I was asked by Will to write about NewsNight, I thought it was Mac influencing him to ask for me. I hoped she wanted to see me after all these years, especially as I knew she was not involved with Will personally. The tabloids have their uses. But when I came, things here were toxic. Mac was struggling with Will to keep up the standards and to deflect his nasty comments." He looks straight at Will whose eyes quickly drop to look at the floor

"And I missed Mac all over again." He says thoughtfully " Till then I'd thought I was over her" he pauses

"But, at least I met Sally in accounts here on the tenth floor. She has been a fan of NewsNight for years and idolises Mackenzie who she sees around the building from time to time. Sally has almost identical build and colouring to Mac so she knows she'll look great in the same sort of outfits Mac wears. She isn't the same but sometimes it's nice to have a Mac look alike beside me and …well she's very nice"

"And what did you hope to achieve coming here today?" Charlie askes carefully

"I don't know. I was so mad for Mac. She never deserved this. She really is the best person to have on your side so someone has to take hers. I'll testify that we haven't been meeting and she can get compensation for reputational damages from People Magazine." He says running out of steam in the face of Charlie's gentle questioning. It seems Brian's knight errant phase is beginning to fade.

"Just to confirm," Charlie nudges Will who is blindly staring at the magazine in his hand "Just to confirm, you have a girlfriend, a woman friend who looks and dresses like Mackenzie. Were you here on Saturday by any chance?"

"umm Late morning, yeah, we came to sign off some accounts that came in over night"

"Ahhah one mystery solved then" Charlie mutters to himself

Will's feels ill. He still has a hangover, his head is spinning and he thinks he's going to be sick. He can't get the story straight in his head.

How had the wedding been cancelled by a text?

How was there an article based on apparently untrue things he had told Nina only 36 hours ago?

And how did Nina know about the text because he sure didn't? In fact given his terrible weekend he hadn't noticed not receiving any texts or calls at all on Sunday.

He pulls out his phone. It's switched off. He hasn't done that either. He turns it on, pausing while it reboots.

Just then, Jennifer taps on the door. Poking her head in she says "Excuse me Will, but there's a woman here asking for Mr Brenner. What shall I tell her? Name's Sally"

"Ask her to wait, we'll be done in a moment" Will says looking across the bullpen at a woman who could be Mac, talking to Gary, her back to Will's office. As Jennifer approaches her with Will's message she pivots bringing her face into view. Definitely not Mac.

Turning to Brian, Will looks at him with cold eyes. "It seems you are owed an apology" he says flatly "I have no idea how this article came to publication or how come this text was sent. Neither were commissioned by me and this is the first I've heard about them" he pauses before continuing

"But I do have to apologise to you for using you to hurt Mackenzie. It clearly made an unwanted impact on you both and was a horrible thing to do. I'm…. sorry."

Not knowing what to say to that, Brian blusters "Well…ok…I think…I'm done here" collecting his magazine from the desk. Just as he starts to leave, Mac steps out from behind Jim as he passes through Will's door with Maggie close behind.

"Brian, can you spare me a few moments in my office please" she says in a soft voice

"Oh! Yeah sure" Brian smiles on seeing Mac "Sure" he repeats as she leans forward to grab his arm, curling her fingers round his wrist while exiting the room, gently towing Brian behind her towards her office.

Will stares at the two of them for a few seconds but as he starts to follow, Charlie catches his sleeve and holds him back

"Leave them, son, they clearly need to talk" he says "And us? We need a drink" and he reaches into Will's cupboard for glasses and a bottle of malt.

"What just happened Charlie?" Will whispers leaning on his desk, his eyes fixed on Mac's office, watching for shadows on her blinds. "Did I see this Sally and think it was Mac?"

"It would seem so" Charlie answers

"But I know there's something going on Charlie, Mac was ecstatic when she came home on Saturday, I'm sure she was out with somebody"

"Well, I may be able to help you with that Will. I know who she was with. Did you ask her?"

"I did not" Will sighs "I screamed that she'd slept with Brian and I now conclude that her surprised agreement referred to her long dead past indiscretion. So who was she with then?"

Charlie's face lights up with a genuine smile "Me, and we had a wonderful time having lunch and searching for wedding gifts for you. Mac bought the bridesmaids gifts too. She was the happiest I'd ever seen her"

Will turns his head to look directly at his boss, a smile lighting his face for the first time in two days. He has double confirmation that she wasn't with Brian. She hasn't been two-timing. In fact she's done nothing wrong….at all…..again it's all him and his mistakes. He'll fix this…..

His eyes swing back to her office and the realization that Brian is now with her and has all but confessed his love in front of her. While he has dumped Mac and….

Fuck

He perches on the corner of his desk and waits, as though Mac's meeting with Brian is somehow critical, a deal breaking kind of importance.

Charlie senses Will's thoughts and decides to start preparing him for his future.

The news division's director is not in the slightest concerned that Mac will suddenly fall into Brian's arms. But a distraught Mackenzie was in his office awaiting his arrival this morning, clutching People Magazine, with her resignation from NewsNight and her action plan for getting through the week officially required as her minimum notice. Trying to keep her emotions in check she shakily described the events on her homecoming on Saturday afternoon. She explained that Will did not want to see her again. Ever. She also informed him that his anchor was back with Nina.

Mac and Charlie had briefly discussed the wedding cancelling texts that had been received by everyone involved – their guests including their entire staff, the caterers, three florists and several gown designers. They had all been notified by text on Saturday night, a truly spectacular way of breaking the news to the bride and her family. Mac suggested maybe Nina had some part in the texted cancellation but had to acknowledge Will being capable of it all on his own. The article about Mackenzie's meetings with Brian had hardly figured – Mac had only read it this morning and was merely relieved when Charlie didn't give it any credence and assured her that no one who knew her would either. That was definitely all Nina, Charlie was convinced.

And Charlie Skinner is a realist. Will is sleeping with Nina...Mac would not lie and she could not be expected to stay around Will given those circumstances.

So finally he had agreed the redistribution of her work and asked Jim to step up with support from Don until she can be replaced. Mac is keen to get out of the work space as soon as possible so she intends to have implemented her plans by the end of the day. Jim will take her role for the show and Will needn't have her in his ear. She'll support Jim by phone and email to Friday.

Throughout their planning, Mac keeps her emotions in check. In some way it's easier this time knowing she has no choice but to move on from Will.

Actually she feels nothing, empty, hollow, detached from her surroundings. Charlie can sense the change in her, the scales have tipped. She has given up on a life with Will and who can possibly blame her. He had thrown her out.

"Mac won't be going with Brian you know, Will" Charlie begins

"Hmmmm" the response Will gives when he isn't listening

"But she won't be staying here either. You told….you broke off your engagement and asked her not to be around you Will. Mac relayed your instructions to me word for word. I believe she reports accurately. I'm her boss and I have arranged for her to work remotely through Friday. Then she's gone."

Charlie waits for a reaction but Will is concentrating on Mac's office and her door opens at exactly that moment.

They both watch as Brian walks out, followed by Mac. He holds out his hand to her and she takes it with a sad smile that matches Brian's own. Then she drops his hand and drags Brian into a warm, brief hug and kisses his cheek tenderly. It is evidently a parting of friends who care for each other- but not the start of a romantic relationship, not on Mac's side anyway. Brian pauses for just an instant too long, revealing his sadness as he stares at his past life and then turning, he pastes a smile onto his face and walks towards Gary who is in deep discussion with Sally. She smiles and stands as Brian approaches and walk out together arm in arm.

Will flies to his door and strides across the bullpen before Charlie can head him off. He knocks on Mac's door and puts his head inside just as she is pulling a file towards her from her position seated behind her desk. Stepping purposefully into her office, he closes the door and starts across the small room.

Mac holds up her hand, palm towards him "Please don't Will. I'm desperately short of time and just….don't"

Will pauses, not surprised but he keeps speaking anyway "I've come to apologise. I made a mistake, lots of mistakes actually, please hear me out" he starts firmly, after all she heard Brian and she knows what happened….he'd been an ass so what's new? She's forgiven him before for being one…many times over….so she could again …

He's holding on to that

Mac looks up wearily, but her eyes focus on a place somewhere over his right shoulder "I know you're talking to me Will, but I can't hear your meaning right now" she replies briskly "I've not slept and it's all I can do to get the show out and pack up my things in a few short hours so I'll be grateful if you leave me to it."

"Mac please, just listen. You don't have to go any…." he tries again, stepping closer

But she shifts her head away and put her other palm up to join the first. She still doesn't look him in the eyes.

"Later Will when I'm through with this set of reports for HR" she cuts in crisply "I'll come find you"

He looks at her, so different to how she had been in her office last Friday, the glowing woman of Saturday replaced by a brittle, wary Mackenzie.

I did this

Now she looks sad, pale with exhaustion and utterly defeated. Will knows her so well, sees the signals of her tightly wound emotions, like she might shatter into tiny pieces. Her fragility only makes her more beautiful in his eyes. He needs to hold her, reassure her, say he's sorry, that she's everything to him. He's desperate to expunge the last 48 hours more than anything right now but he's not sure how to ensure that happens.

He knows she's blameless and he's broken his promises...not to hurt her , to always love her, to marry her.

She's not my fiancé and that's all on me.

So he stutters over another apology and leaves her office as she's requested. As usual he can't refuse her request. He's trying to do as she asks...always his default position.