Without the bustle of the Newsroom and surrounded by the familiar comfort of New York, Will's exhaustion crept up on him at an alarming pace.

When they arrived at his apartment he excused himself into his room to change. 10 minutes later that's where Nina found him, passed out on top of the covers still in his jeans. She managed to wake him up long enough so he could change and get properly under the covers but it was obvious that her plans of food and conversation would have to wait. He grumbled an apology into his pillow as she kissed his forehead and gathered her things to return to her own apartment for the evening.

The next morning he woke slowly and naturally. He looked at the clock, surprised to see it nearing 9 am. He flopped back in the bed reviewing everything from the previous day. He could not understand Mackenzie's reaction the evening before.

He eventually gave up on trying, pulled himself together and made his way into the office. He scanned the room looking for signs of Mac before remembering she was holed up in a preliminary Red Team meeting with half the staff for most the day. The room seemed empty and he sighed, disappearing into his office.

He looked over the initial run down pitches that someone had dropped on his desk. With Mac in meetings all day he had the primary responsibility of culling the potential stories and settling the order for the later blocks. He found himself struggling over what was normally a fairly straightforward task; he spent far too much time debating the merits of individual stories. He just wished he knew he was making the right decisions.

Glancing back out to the bull pen to be sure Mackenzie wasn't around he picked up the phone and dialed Harvey at the polling center.

He spent the rest of the day trying not to feel guilty and convincing himself it was the right thing to do. He tried to be overly conciliatory to Mac but she didn't seem to notice, preoccupied with some last minute trip she and Charlie had to take to Maryland the next morning. He tried to ignore the sting of her lack of attention but was ultimately thankful that she rushed out after the broadcast so she didn't need to see Nina who had yet again arrived to the newsroom to meet Will.

This time he had worn his typical button down, sweater and slacks so he readily agreed to take her out to a nice restaurant for drinks and the late night menu. As they waited for the elevators an overly jubilant Sloan came up to them and threw her arms around Will's neck in a tight hug.

"Such a great show tonight, Will! I really enjoyed our segment together. And you know, you looked great in that suit; Both Mac and I were just talking the other day about how good you look in the charcoal suits." She looked around his shoulder as if seeing Nina for the first time, "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hold you up. Well, have a great evening. 1:30 tomorrow to prep for tomorrow night's segment?"

Completely befuddled by the economists' behavior Will just nodded mutely. Then, because he wasn't blind nor dead, he watched as Sloan sashayed back towards her office with what he swore was an extra swing to her hips.

Turning to see Nina staring at him with raised eyebrows he tried his best to shrug nonchalantly, "It was a really good economics segment tonight."

She said nothing as he escorted her out of the building. He took her to Essex House but they barely spoke over their $200 a plate dinner. Hardly 40 min after arriving they were declining dessert and drinks, instead taking the car service back to Will's apartment.

They had barely stepped over the threshold when she spoke, "Will, we've been together for nearly 6 months."

He stopped where he was in the entry hall and turned around to face her. Confusion and wariness flashed across his face, "We have..." he agreed slowly.

She walked up to him and twined her fingers into his, "When are you going to let me in?"

He furrowed his brow, "What are you talking about?"

She kissed him on the cheek and continued into the kitchen, "I have been trying to be here for you Will but you block me out. This was hard enough knowing what I know about your history with Mac but..."

He held up his hands, "Hey, I told you that's over..."

She nodded, "I know. But you have to understand why I have my doubts. Then you're silent all weekend, if I hadn't called on Friday would you ever have told me where you were going for the weekend? Then Sloan, who is obviously someone you're close to, tells me that she didn't even know you were dating anyone. All of that makes me wonder how invested you really are here."

He sighed and rolled his eyes, "Don't read into Sloan, she and I don't have that kind of relationship. Charlie knows, Mac knows. That's all that matters when it comes to who knows about my personal life." He wisely chose not to admit they only each found out Friday night when she had called.

She sighed and stroked his arm before resting her palm against his cheek, "We haven't talked about your Dad."

He leaned into her touch, "It's complicated."

She pushed herself closer, "I want to be there for you. Let me in Will."

He took a deep breath but simply could not find the will to have that conversation with her. Instead he leaned down and touched his lips to hers. She dropped her purse on the floor and twined her arms around his neck, deepening the kiss.

It was just after 4 am when he woke himself up with a start. He wasn't sure what had woken him but his heart was pounding. He reached for his nightstand, disgusted when he realized he was out of cigarettes. He lay back down, looking at the red light on his blackberry. His fingers twitched to call Mac.

He couldn't help it, calling her in the middle of the night with some excuse or pretense had become his default action when he woke feeling unsettled. He looked over his shoulder at Nina and knew he shouldn't. Letting out a long sigh he also had to admit he wasn't sure how well a call would be received by Mackenzie given her behavior toward him the past 2 days.

He laced his fingers together and tucked his hands behind his head as he stared up at the ceiling. Unknowingly Nina's comments that evening had reopened all the thoughts that had been bothering him since he and Charlie talked on the way to the airport on Friday.

They had been together for nearly 6 months. Why wasn't he opening up to her? Why did he feel uncomfortable when she showed up in the newsroom? Why hadn't he told anyone he was dating? He played back the memory of standing in the hall with Shelley Whats-her-name from OWS.

"I'm not smug. I'm having a crisis of confidence."
"That's a pretty startling admission."
"I don't that many people to talk to."
"That's ironic."
"I know.
"You're not married?"
"No."
"Girlfriend?"
"...Well...No."
"What was the well?"
"Mmm."

Why hadn't he said yes? He banged his head violently against his hands still clasped on his pillows because as loathe as he was to admit it he knew why.

When Shelley had asked if he had a girlfriend he had immediately thought of Mac even though he and Nina had been seeing each other nightly for two weeks by that time. Shelley's question wasn't concerned about his sex life, it had been a question about if he had anyone he could talk to and connect with...and that was Mac. Whom he wasn't with...not really.

He sighed and closed his eyes. Even now, after all this time with Nina nothing had changed; he was using two women to fill the single role in his life.

Nina wasn't just about the sex, in addition to filling that part of the relationship she was the one who could tell him without inhibition that he was loved. Who he could come home with at the end of the day and share a bottle of wine without pretext or pretense. She saved him from feeling lonely when the work day was over.

But at the same time Mac was his partner, the woman who knew him better than anyone and who challenged him to be a better man and cared more about his life than her own. Who he could be honest with and banter with and debate with on a level that others just didn't have the ability to touch. The moments when she let her guard down and handed him an honest compliment he took it to heart; he believed her and felt he earned the labels intelligent, generous, charming and sexy. He had known Sloan was playing some unknown game with him that night but he didn't want to admit how much he dwelled on her comment that she and Mac thought he looked good in charcoal suits.

It wasn't that Nina didn't tell him those things it was just too easy to get her to say them. She was still a little star struck, the way she was on New Years when she realized that Will McAvoy had crossed the room to talk to her. She told him he was smart and handsome because she thought that's what he wanted to hear. The affirmation was nice but it never made his stomach flip they way it would when Mac would look at him with unmasked affection and offer a sincere, 'You did good tonight.' on her way out of the office.

He pulled his hands apart and scrubbed them over his face. So what? He and Mac were back to a place he never thought they could be. He actually trusted her again and relied on her and appreciated her friendship. But that didn't mean anything; he felt the same for Charlie. They were just good friends.

He sighed, they were friends and no matter what his fucking subconscious wanted from him, it was time to stop treating her like his work wife. He didn't care how much she had apologized, it wasn't his fault they weren't ever going to be able to be together again. And even if he wanted to...not that he did...she obviously had no interest. She wouldn't even let him tell her how much he appreciated her help over the weekend. It was clear he had been right all along; she had moved on and it was only her lingering guilt that made her act in ways that had left him wondering.

She had no interest in him and he had no desire to return to that chapter in his life only to be rejected by the woman who already betrayed him so there was only one thing to do; Nina was right, he needed to bring her in and start looking to her as his partner and confidant.

Emboldened, he rolled over and tapped Nina on the shoulder until she began to stir.

"Will? What time is it?" Confusion and concern crossed her face and Will realized with surprise that in all their time together Will had never woken her in the middle of the night for a chat.

"Sorry, but I wanted to talk to you about something." He shifted so he was on his side, faces aligned.

Still fighting off sleep she couldn't manage anything more intelligible than an "Okay..."

He bit his tongue to fight through a moment of hesitation, "You're right. I haven't let you in and I hope you can appreciate why that's hard for me."

Nina opened her mouth to speak but he shushed her.

"I'm sorry about that and I'd like to work to remedy that. I'm not going to get into the whole deal with my dad and this past weekend because I'd just rather not think about that now but there is something...It's not overly deep or emotional but it is really important to me."

Curious, Nina nodded, "Of course, what is it?"

He flopped on to his back, "The show."

Nina gave a half laugh half sigh next to him. He propped himself up on his elbow again, "I'm serious. I'm not talking about content or anything like that, I'm talking about me. I don't feel like I'm engaging with the audience the way I should. I can't talk about this with people at work because they think I'm belittling the work they do but I'm really not. I'm just...worried about the audience perception is all."

Nina's face grew serious and she nodded slowly while he spoke."Well, I think you do a great job but maybe tomorrow..." she looked over his shoulder at the clock, "I mean tonight...we can DVR the show and then go over it together; from an audience perspective?"

He gave her a small smile and nodded, "That would be great." He paused before he spoke, "I also had a dial group run on last night's show. I'll get the results in the morning. May be I could send them to you too?"

"You ran a dial group? Mackenzie must not have liked that."

He tried not to look guilty, "She doesn't know I did it."

Nina raised her eyebrows, "Wow."

He shrugged, "I told you I couldn't talk to people about it."

She smiled happily, "Well I'm glad you told me. I'd be more than happy to do what ever you need to help you feel better about your show."

She idly stroked his chest and he smiled, pulling her close to him. As she contentedly fell back asleep tucked into his shoulder he continued to tell himself he was doing good thing.