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Getting to US Chapter 2
"Jim can you cover for me today please?"
"Of course. Is something wrong?"
" I'm just feeling under the weather. It's probably just a cold coming on. Nothing to worry about. It's a straightforwardline up tonight. The ramp up of the Romney campaign in the A block. Call me if there's breaking news, or if you need anything. OK?
"Sure, of course. Feel better."
There was a lightness to Will's step as he walked into the room carrying two steaming hot drinks. He would start this day off on the right foot. No fighting today. And when they all left for Hang Chew's he would join them for a change. Mackenzie would be there and he would to sit beside her and be nicer to her. That was the plan.
When Jim took Mac's seat and called the pitch meeting to order Will looked stunned.
"Where is she?"
" Mackenzie is off today. Just needs to rest and maybe fight off a cold, so let's begin."
Mackenzie did not do this, Will thought to himself. The only time he remembered her ever going home was on threat of death- from him. She would hack her way through a broadcast, coughing in his ear before she would stay home and miss producing their show. Something was up. He excused himself from the meeting and went to his office to call her.
" This is Mackenzie. Please leave a message after the beep"…
Voice mail? She's home , supposedly sick and she's on voice mail? Even if her phone was on vibrate she would have seen that it was him calling. He needed Sloan. Something was up. Will knocked on the glass of the conference room and signaled for Sloan to join him.
"What's up?"
" Mackenzie isn't here."
"Gee Will. You noticed it too?"
"Don't be a smart ass Sloan. She never misses a show. Something could be wrong with her and I can't go over to her place because I have a network lunch thing that Charlie and I have to go to in 10 mins. I tried calling her but she's on voice mail . You should go over there right now. "
" Mackenzie is taking a day off and you want me to go to her apartment after she's been away for less than two hours, to check on her? Haven't you ever heard of privacy?
" Privacy is not a word that applies to us. Hell she practically lived at the hospital . She bought me new pj's and probably changed me into them while I was sleeping. She grilled my dates and would have come with us if she could have. She snoops in my office, interrogates me when I go out to buy a pack of Gum, and now she's called in – supposedly sick- and I have to know why. Is that so hard to understand"?
Will was losing patience with Sloan and it was clear as he reached for his jacket, that he was not kidding around.
"Come on, we'll drop you off at the corner of Columbus and West 57th. It's on our way. Get your coat…now!
Sloan grabbed her things and ran after Will as he stormed out the door.
" Is Miss Sabbath joining us ?" Charlie wondered when he saw Sloan trailing behind. Will held the car door for Sloan and assured Charlie that they were just dropping her off a few blocks from Mac's apartment.
" Mackenize has taken a day off to deal with a cold or something and Will is freaking out and making me go over to her place and check up on her."
Charlie's eyebrows went up in amusement. Maybe Mackenzie was finally wisening up. Maybe the sexy, confident lady that he had hired years ago was coming back to life. It's about time Will Macvoy had his chain rattled. This dance had gone on long enough. It was time she made him sweat a little !
"Well give her a hug from me" Charlie called out as Sloan stepped out of the car winking at Charlie as she slid by him. Lonny sat in the front seat, catching Charlie's eye in the rear view mirror, grinning.
Will and Charlie were lunching with one of the network's biggest advertisers. Reese would be there of course, but he would go out of his way to avoid having to talk to them. Hopefully he would stay embarrassed forever.
Will was quiet through lunch. He was pre-occupied and Charlie could not help but feel pleased. The ride back to the studio was quiet. Charlie decided to take pity on Will and not tease him. Let this play out, he thought. Mac was no dummy.
"Mac, it's Sloan. Open up ! "
" Sloan, what are you doing here?" Mac, still in her robe, her eyes puffy, was surprised to see her friend at the door.
" Will sent me here to check up on you. He's freaking out because you missed the pitch meeting and then you didn't answer your phone. He would be here himself except that he had to go to some business thing with Charlie, so they dropped me off. What's up Kenzie?
" I'm just worn out and I need some time to think. Will can act all concerned when I take a day off, but when I'm working my tail off and going home alone every night while he whines and dines and god knows what else , he doesn't worry about me one bit."
Mackenzie was about as fed up as Sloan had ever seen her.
" I'm not a Robot. I need a life outside the office that includes a man to love me and someone to spend my down time with. I want a partner and Will knows that. After all we've been through this past year he's still….'processing'….saying that we may have a "chance together"…. telling his therapist a lot more then he ever tells me. At this rate we'll all be dead before Will makes a move ! "
"So what are you going to do about it Mackenzie? Want to know what I would do?"
" Why not? With your people skills and human knowledge, I can hardly wait to hear this…" Mac grinned at her friend with affection. Sloan was trying and that was nice.
" I would give him a dose of his own medicine. The guy loves you. You'd have to be deaf ,dumb, and blind not to notice that. You know he told Maggie that all those babes he trailed under your nose last year were just a distraction. He said he needed " the team from Inception to get the image of you and Brian out of his mind. Can you believe that? Cute ha? "
"He said that? "
"Yeah, so here's what I think. You need a team from Inception to help you get over Mr Macvoy. You need to be distracted too."
" I tried that. Wade, remember? Look how that turned out."
"That's because you were trying to have a relationship with a bad guy. .I'm just talking about dating – that's all. A nice string of great looking men waiting for you in the newsroom every night. Try that for awhile !"
" And where would I find these men? And anyway, I'm not copying Will's bad behavior having men standing around in a newsroom waiting for me. "
" Ok so have them wait in your office. Don't worry about finding them Kenzie. We'll put the word out and you will have them lining up ! You're gorgeous and brilliant. This will not be a problem, believe me."
Mac laughed, as Sloan's Blackberry buzzed in Sloan's purse.
" Speak of he devil. It's Will. I'm not answering him now."
A min later there was a beep signaling a text message.
" It's Will…of course : HOW IS SHE? CALL ME ASAP. See what I mean? You need to do this now, while he's wondering what's up. "
" It's not my style. I'm not going to play that game. It's sophomoric ! "
" Look what you're dealing with. The man acts like a spoiled child half the time. At least let him think you're dating. Be mysterious. Let's go shopping on Saturday, get you all ready, mani, pedi, hair, the works. You get yourself feeling frisky and sexy and I promise you, Will will go crazy wondering what's up with you and hopefully think the worst. "
"Shopping and some TLC I could use. I would love to spend Saturday with you. At least that's something to look forward to. Thanks ."
"Ok- it's a date. I'm heading back to the studio before Will has heart failure. I'm telling him that you are just resting quietly, no big deal. You stay silent. No more pouring out your heart, prompting him, enabling him to be an ass and get away with it. You just keep your distance and work on feeling great and getting out there. OK? Promise? "
" Promise."
Mackenzie hugged her friend and watched her step into the elevator and gaze down at her Blackberry. She was feeling better already.
Sloan entered the newsroom and waited for the sound of Will's voice to bellow from his office. Maggie reached her first.
" Will said that you should go straight to his office as soon as you got back."
" Hey Will, how was lunch?" Sloan leaned against his door frame, calm as a cucumber.
" Fine, now tell me what happened. Why didn't you answer your phone?"
"Nothing happened. Mackenzie is fighting off a cold, just a little tired that's all. She knows that Jim can handle the show and it's good for him to have a chance to do that on his own from time to time. I didn't answer my phone because we were talking. Get a grip Will ! "
"Are you telling me everything? You talked for an hour and there is nothing more to this ?"
"Nothing except you being neurotic. Anyway it's Friday and Mac wants to rest up for the week-end so she can be at her best."
"At her best for what ?"
" I don't know, we didn't get into it. Ask her if you're so curious !" With that Sloan turned on her heels, leaving Will to figure this out for himself.
The show went off without a hitch. Jim was a good young producer. Mac had trained him well and he could handle it. Of course it wasn't the same for Will. Mac in his ear was almost like Mac in his bed. Ok maybe not... but it was all he had right now and it was better then nothing.
He would go home and call her from the car and see how she was feeling. Maybe she needed something. He could drop over with take out for her. Chicken soup for her cold. That could work.
" Hi Mac. Feeling better?"
" Much, thanks for asking."
" Do you need anything?"
" Nope, but thanks"
"Well…. we missed you tonight "
" I watched the show. It was fine. Nothing I would have done differently. No cause to miss me Will."
" I meant…..Sloan said you were resting up for the week-end. Big plans?"
" Since when do we talk about our week-ends? I haven't heard about yours for the past year. Nothing has changed on that front. "
"It hasn't?" I thought...
"No it hasn't. You are not in the hospital, so I don't have any reason to sit by your bed or see you out of the office for that matter. I am not sick or needing anything so you don't have any reason to come over here. We don't need to work this week-end so you don't have any reason to see me until Monday- or call me. Nothing has changed Will. Nothing personal. We have a good working relationship now and that's great. Nothing more that I know of."
Will was silent
" Will are you still there?"
" Yup. I'm just thinking. Do you suppose we could talk about this over dinner some time? "
" No we can't. I don't want to talk about our "issues" or what happened in the past or how you haven't forgiven me, or any of that stuff . I'm sick of it. That's why you have Abe. Have dinner with him. I am not your shrink ! "
Will was stunned into silence.
"Bye Will"
She hung up. She actually hung up. What the hell did he do wrong this time?
Ok…maybe he didn't ask her out properly. He could do that. He did it with other women all the time - before when he was dating. He hadn't been on a date for months. Too much work trying to make polite conversation with women who bored him to death. But when he wanted to he could be really charming. If Mac wanted to be courted, he could do that. He could do that better than anyone! Just watch and see how good I am at this….he thought.
He called again…
" Mackenzie, will you please have dinner with me? "
" And do what?"
" Like a date Mackenzie. Is that a word you are familiar with? It's when two people go out to a restaurant and order drinks and food and make conversation and get to know each other. Do you suppose we could do that? "
"Yes, I suppose so."
"Thank-you! Saturday night?"
" Sorry Will, I'm busy this Saturday, maybe next week or the week after that. I'll see what nights I have free and you do the same. Ok? "
" I will call you in a hour , after you've had time look at your dance card. Didn't realize it was so full! Does that suit you Madame Social Butterfly?
" Almost" Mac said sweetly, smiling to herself. "Make it two hours. I have a Yoga class in 10 mins. Bye for now."
Jesus, she was not going to make this easy. But then when had Mac ever been easy. He looked at his watch. Two hours. He would call her then.