For once in her life, Mackenzie was glad that Will wasn't going to anchor News Night on Monday. They had told everybody that he had the flu so, in order for that to be credible, he had to also stay Monday at home. She appreciated the extra time she had before facing him: she really needed it. What happened on Sunday had been both confusing and unexpected: waking up, naked, in Will's arms for the first time in five years had scared her. The feeling had been so overwhelming that she had gotten up and left before he woke up. She wasn't sure what to say to him, or how to act after what had happened. Was he really working on forgiving her? Did he really mean what he said? Or his words were just spoken out of gratefulness? Or even worse, pity? Were they back together?
Her mind wouldn't stop. She was staring at the open newspaper in front of her, highlighter in hand, deep in her thoughts, when Sloan walked into her office and plopped down in one of the chairs before Mac's desk.
"Charlie just told me I'm subbing for Will tonight. I though Elliot would be at eight and me at ten, not that I would have to anchor News Night!" Sloan quickly said.
Mac raised her head, startled. "What?" She asked her friend.
"Are you alright?" Sloan replied after seeing the lost look on Mac's face.
"Yeah, just tired." Mac told her. "What were you saying?"
"I'm your anchor for tonight." She repeated.
"I know." Mac smiled. "Are you ready? I run a very tight show." She asked Sloan, messing with her.
"It'll be fun!"
Tuesday and Wednesday had been two taut days at the News Night newsroom. The tension between Mac and Will hadn't gone unnoticed to anyone working there. They had been civil, speaking only when it was strictly necessary, walking on eggshells around each other. While Mac was pretty bewildered about everything, Will was feeling a bit hurt that she had left without saying anything or even leaving a note.
Finally, Thursday afternoon, after the last rundown meeting, Will decided that enough was enough. Determined, he left his office and stormed into Mackenzie's office without knocking. "We have to talk about what happened Sunday night."
"What happened Sunday night?" Will heard Sloan ask. He looked around but he didn't see her.
"Where the hell are you?" He said out loud. Instead of answering, Mac turned her computer screen. Will saw Sloan happily waving at him from her office at Columbia.
"We'll talk later." Mac told her.
"Wait! Don't leave me like this! I wanna know-" Mac ended the Skype call before Sloan could finish the sentence and returned her screen to its position.
"You're gonna get so much shit for that." Will said, trying to lighten the mood.
"I'll manage." Mac replied before inviting him to sit down. "I'm sorry for leaving like I did but I needed time to think." She told him before he could say anything.
"Do you regret it?"
"Do you?" She quickly asked back.
"I don't." Will firmly said. "But you do." He guessed.
"I'm not sure, Will. Everything was pretty unexpected and went too fast. I think we weren't ready to take that step. There are so many things that we have to talk about, so many words still unsaid ..." She took a moment to take a deep breath. "It's not that easy."
"I know it's not, Mackenzie. But it can be, right?" Will said, slightly smiling, repeating the words she had written on that pad more than a year ago. He understood her fears, he really did. He even shared some of them, but he was willing to work together with her to overcome them.
Mac returned the smile, touched. She just nodded in agreement. Will stood up and went around her desk. He sat down on its edge, in front of her, and gently grabbed her chin to raise her head. "We have a show to do. Let me take you out for dinner afterwards and we'll talk."
"Tomorrow, ok? Then we won't have to worry if it gets late."
"Tomorrow it is."
They stared at each other for a few seconds. Then, out of the blue, Will grabbed her hand and made her stand up before he pulled her into a tight hug. Mac immediately relaxed into his arms, enjoying the closeness of their bodies. Will softly caressed her hair while Mac hid her face in the space between his neck and his shoulder.
"Don't keep things from me, please." Will whispered. "Don't run away again."
Mac closed her eyes, trying to hold the tears at bay. "I won't."
Will gently released her from the embrace but kept his hands on her waist. Mac opened her eyes and smiled sadly at him. Will leant to give her a quick peck on the lips. "I'm gonna get ready." He told her.
He tenderly squeezed her shoulders and left. Mac let herself fall down on her chair and sighed deeply. Tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll tell him about the threats. She thought.
That night, the show went smoothly, as it hadn't in a long time. After finishing some things in the control room, Mac returned to her office, more than ready to go home. She opened her door and found Mike standing there, waiting.
"We have to talk." He said as soon as she set a foot into the room.
"What are you doing up here?" She asked him, slightly pissed.
"McAvoy left ten minutes ago, don't worry."
Mac dropped her things on her desk and sat down on her chair. "What's going on?"
"I talked to Detective Johnson today. As you know, we've been intercepting everything you receive from that guy." When she nodded, he continued. "Where are not sure why, but the nature of the notes and deliveries has changed in the last few days."
"Changed how?" Mac asked him, concerned.
"At first, we thought that the perp was angry about the American Taliban broadcast; the time was right and his notes suggested that. Stalkers usually become attached to the object of their actions, we noticed that when his notes and gifts turned from angry to somewhat romantic, for a lack of a better word. He's obsessed with you, Mac, he wants to gain your attention. I'm sure he knows you have protection, but he hasn't decreased his efforts to make you notice him."
"Why the hell are you telling me this? I don't want to know!" She angrily exclaimed.
"Something changed, ok? He's pissed and we don't know why. His last note tells us he's becoming more dangerous. He had it delivered with this." He told her before handing her an envelope she hadn't noticed before. Mac carefully opened it and gasped when she saw what was inside. "Do you recognize this?" Mike asked her.
"It's the picture he took from my flat." Mac softly said. "Why is my head blacked out? Why did he scratch Will's face?" She took another look at the picture before leaving it on her desk. "What did the note say?"
"Mine." Mike simply replied.
"Oh God." Mac said, her hand flying to cover her mouth.
"He's getting sloppier: he left a fingerprint this time. NYPD is running it to see if they can identify him."
"Ok. So, what now?" Mac said, resigned.
"Now, I take you home. We're working on it, we'll get him." Mike assured her.
Mike stopped the car at a red light, a few blocks from the AWN building. Mackenzie was being overly quiet during the way to her apartment and it concerned him. He knew he had scared her with the news about the perp but he also knew he had to tell her.
Suddenly, something hit them from behind and the car jerked forward, crashing into the car before them. He heard the loud noise of pieces getting broken and the yelp of surprise from the woman sitting on his right. Mike quickly unfastened his seat belt and jumped out of his car, just in time to see a black car speeding away. He looked at the plate and made a mental note. He saw the driver of the other vehicle also getting out so he took out his cell and called 911 while he went to check on Mac. He explained what had happened to the operator and, before he hung up, sirens could already be heard approaching them.
He looked at Mac and began to check for injuries. He noticed that she had her hand on her neck and that her face had a painful expression. "Don't move." He told her when he saw she was about to unfasten her seatbelt. He leant over to do it for her. "What hurts?" He asked, concerned but remaining very calm.
"My neck." Mac said, her voice barely a whisper.
"Did you hit your head?"
"I don't think so." She replied.
"Help is on the way. I'm gonna check the other driver. Don't move, ok? Stay inside the car until the ambulance gets here."
He didn't wait for an answer before he walked away. He was relieved once he learnt that the other driver was fine. A police car arrived along with an ambulance. He quickly directed the paramedics to Mac after assuring them that he and the other man were alright. He explained what he knew to the responding officers, glancing every few seconds to his car, trying to see what they were doing to Mac.
Meanwhile, two paramedics approached Mac. While the man began preparing the equipment, the woman spoke to Mac. "Hi, dear. My name's Alex and this guy over here is Derek. Does your neck hurt?" Alex asked her after a quick observation, carefully taking away Mac's hand from its place on her neck.
"Yeah." Mac simply said.
"Ok. Anything else?"
"Not yet." She half-joked.
"Can you tell me your name, dear?"
"Mackenzie."
"Well, Mackenzie, I'm gonna ask you a couple of questions and then I'll check your neck. While I do that, Derek is going to ask you more questions to fill the paperwork. Once we're done, we'll stabilize you and get you to the Presbyterian ER so they can do some X-rays and give you a nice dose of painkillers. How does that sound?"
"Pretty good, except for the ER part." Mac replied, distracted as she looked down at the pulse oximeter that it had just been placed on her finger.
"I know, everybody says that." Alex said, smiling kindly at her. "Can you move your head?"
"Yes, but it hurts."
"Numbness? Dizziness? Blurred vision? Tiredness?"
"I'm always tired." Mac told her, laughing softly but immediately regretting it when the action caused more pain on her neck.
"Not a good idea right now, dear." Alex said.
"I'm a bit dizzy."
"Ok." She replied. "Derek, get ready the brace and the stretcher and find the man that was with her, please." She told the younger man.
Alex carefully placed her fingers on Mac's neck, first checking her pulse and then gently palpating the area. Mac hissed in pain a couple of times and sent the other woman a murderous look. Just as Alex was finishing, Mike appeared behind her along with Derek.
"How is she?" Mike asked the paramedic.
"Are you her husband?" Alex said, gladly accepting the neck brace Derek had handed her.
"Private security." He replied.
"Wow. You must be a very important girl." She continued, removing Mac's necklace before placing the brace around her neck and fastening it with Derek's help. "Can you move your hands and feet?" Mac showed her that she could. "Very well. We'll check your blood pressure and then move you to the stretcher, ok?"
Alex let Derek do the job while she took Mike aside for a minute. "I think she just has whiplash but we need to get her to ER to do a CT scan or a MRI to rule out other injuries. You should call her emergency contact, she'll need someone to stay with her when she's discharged." At his slightly panicked look, Alex smiled and squeezed his arm. "Don't worry, we'll ask her."
They returned to Mackenzie's side. Mike went to talk to her while Derek shared his notes with Alex. "No trouble breathing. Saturation at 96%. Pulse, 83. BP 95/60."
"Ok. We'll need an IV line and a bag of fluids." She told him. "Is everything ready?"
"Yeah."
With the help of the ambulance driver and Mike, they transferred Mac from the car seat to the stretcher. Once she was secured, they moved her to the waiting ambulance. Mike followed her closely and climbed into the ambulance before they could stop him. Alex and Derek got in after him and closed the doors.
"Sit there-" Alex told Mike, pointing to a narrow bench at the end of the ambulance. "And try to not get in the way."
"Yes ma'am." Mike replied.
"Warren!" She yelled to the driver. "Let's go! And drive carefully!"
While Alex grabbed the supplies she needed, Derek sat next to Mac to fill the rest of the paperwork.
"Mackenzie, I need to ask you some more questions."
"Fine." She replied.
"Last name?"
"McHale."
"Age?"
"You shouldn't ask that to a lady. It's rude." Mac told him very seriously. Derek, unsure, turned to look at Alex who simply grinned. Then, he heard Mike snort.
"She's messing with you." Mike clarified.
"Sorry." Mac said even if she didn't really mean it. "Thirty-seven."
"Allergies?"
"Nothing that I know of."
"Previous spinal injuries?"
"None."
"Is there something on your medical record we should know about?"
"Stab wound, 2009, right lumbar region, they had to remove a few inches of my small intestine. Occasional panic attacks; the medication is in my purse."
"Any other medication?" He asked after checking her purse.
"Birth-control pills."
"Alright." Derek said, smiling down at her. "It's a short ride; we'll be there in no time."
When the ambulance arrived at New York Presbyterian ER, two doctors and a nurse were already waiting for them. The rear door opened and the paramedics quickly got out before they slowly descended the stretcher.
"Female, 37. Car accident with possible cervical injury. Pulse 85. BP was 95/60, went up to 110/65 after we put an IV with fluids. Sat 96%. Glasgow 15. Airway is clear. Complains of neck pain, no numbness. Some dizziness present. Motor and sensory functions preserved." Alex explained while handing the record to one of the doctors.
"Box 3." The older doctor ordered and they began moving.
"Mackenzie." The other doctor said after checking her name on the chart. "I'm Dr. Kim. We're going to take a look at your neck now. Tell us immediately if you begin to feel any numbness, blurred vision or you have any difficulties breathing, ok?"
"Ok." Mac simply replied, feeling a bit scared at all the fuss around her.
"Mac." Mike called her while walking very fast to be able to be right next to her. "Who's your emergency contact?"
"Oh, shit." Mac murmured.
"What?" Mike asked, very concerned.
"It's Will."