A/N: Sorry for the delay!

While writing this chapter I realized I had messed up the timeline of the story. I've changed a couple of things in the first chapter but nothing really important. To put everything in the proper context, this chapter is set 7 weeks after "The Greater Fool", 6 weeks since the events in chapter 1.

Thank you very much for reading and for your lovely comments! :)

Charlie paced up and down the front entrance of the Presbyterian ER.

When he had received the call, twenty minutes ago, his heart had stopped. He recalled Michael's voice, trying to sound calm and reassuring, but his mind had only registered three words: car, accident and Mackenzie. He had been out of the door and hailing a cab by the time his conversation with Mike had ended. He got to the hospital a few minutes after them and found Mike waiting for him. The bodyguard explained, in more detail, what had happened and assured him that Mackenzie was fine (or as fine as she could be after a fucking car accident). The doctors were working on Mac but they allowed him to spend a couple of minutes with her. She bombarded him with questions that he calmly answered: yes, Will had been reached; yes, he had spoken with him; no, he wasn't pissed, he was worried; yes, he was on his way. Mac had made him promise that he would wait for Will outside so, there he was, waiting for hurricane McAvoy to arrive.

Charlie heard Will before he saw him. "Charlie!" He yelled, almost running towards him with Lonny right behind him.

"She's fine." Charlie told him, once again, as he had done at least fifteen times, over the phone, in the last ten minutes.

"What the hell happened?" Will asked him, out of breath.

"A car hit hers from behind." He replied, leaving the rest of the details for later.

"Was she in a cab?" Will asked again. Charlie looked at Lonny, slightly panicked. Will caught the look between them and glared at his boss and friend. "What? What do you two know that I don't?"

"Will, I'll explain later, ok? Now you have to calm down before you go inside."

"I don't need to calm the fuck down, Charlie!" Will yelled. "I need to know what the hell is going on so start talking before I begin punching people and, I swear to God, the first one WILL BE FOR YOU!"

They were attracting the glares of the few people around them. Charlie, wanting to avoid a scene and the consequent article on Page Six, grabbed Will by his sweater and dragged him to a secluded corner.

"Listen to me, William Duncan McAvoy!" Charlie angrily hissed. "You'll calm the fuck down because I say so! The woman lying on a bed inside is like a daughter to me. She's in pain, with a fucking brace on her neck, fucking scared and, God knows why, asking for you. They have to take her to a MRI but they can't. You know why? Because she refuses to sign the fucking consent until she sees you, because she knows you won't be alright until you see that she's alright. She's there, in fucking ER, thinking more about you than herself. So you'll calm the fuck down or I'll be the one throwing punches at you until you are!"

"I'll hold him down while you do it." Lonny muttered.

Will took a deep breath and decided to ignore Lonny's remark. He rubbed his eyes while trying to compose himself. Once he was sure he was calm enough, he opened his eyes and looked at Charlie. "Where is she?"

"Trauma 3." Charlie simply replied.

Without another word, Will left them and walked inside. With the help of a very young-looking nurse, he found the exam room where Mackenzie was. He stopped in front of the windows, looking at the sight before him: a doctor was talking to Mac while two nurses worked around them. He was about to enter the room when the doctor saw him and signaled him to wait outside. A few seconds later, the doctor joined him in the hall.

"I'm Dr. Kim." He introduced himself.

"Will McAvoy." He said.

"Mackenzie's condition is stable. She's conscious, alert and cooperative. We did a full neurological exam and everything seems to be fine but, to stay on the safe side and rule out other possible complications, we want to do a MRI." The doctor explained to Will. "She hasn't signed the consent, yet. I'll let you spend a few minutes with her and, please, make sure she signs the paperwork." He said, handing Will an iPad.

"Thank you, Doctor." Will told him.

Dr. Kim kindly smiled at him and left. Will took a deep breath, calming himself down once again, before he carefully opened the door. He let the nurses leave the room before he got in. Nothing could had prepared him for the sight of Mackenzie laying on an hospital bed. The brace around her neck looked enormous in comparison to her small frame. She had her eyes closed, her face showing the emotional roller coaster she was feeling. They had changed her clothes for a white gown and a white sheet covered her legs. Will could see the wires going from under the gown to the machine that steadily beeped along her heartbeat. She also had a pressure cuff around her right arm and a pulse oximeter attached to her right index finger.

Will walked to the bed, slowly, trying to not scare her. He left the iPad on the bed before he took her hand and gently squeezed. Then, he leant down to kiss her forehead while he carefully tucked her hair behind her ear. "Hey." He softly said when Mac opened her eyes. "If you didn't want to have dinner with me tomorrow night you could just have said so. There was no need to scare me to death." He teased her, masking his own feelings for her sake.

Mac lightly laughed at his joke but quickly regretted it. "Don't make me laugh. It hurts."

"Didn't they give you something for the pain?" Will asked.

"They couldn't, not yet. They will, after the MRI, if everything turns to be fine."

"An MRI they can't do because you haven't signed the paperwork." He reminded her.

"I wanted to see you first." Mac shyly admitted. "Give me that." She said, pointing to the iPad on the bed. Will supported it for her and she quickly signed it. He left it on the bed and returned his attention to her. It wasn't hard for Mac to notice the fear showing in his eyes and it concerned her. "I'm fine." She tried to reassure him while she squeezed his hand.

"I know." Will replied, not at all convinced of that fact. "I didn't know I was your emergency contact." He told her, desperately wanting to change the subject.

"I never changed it." Mac said, almost laughing after seeing the confused look on his face. "I didn't think about it before I left to Peshawar. But, after the stabbing, I signed a temporary permission for Jim to act as my next of kind during my stay at Landstuhl so they wouldn't bother you. When I came back to DC, and then to New York, I decided to leave things as they were."

"I would have come." He said. "To Germany. If I had known. Charlie told me when everything was already over."

"I know." Mac replied. "Thanks." She told him before closing her eyes and sighing deeply.

Will gave her another gently squeeze and leant down to gently kiss her hair. Instead of straightening up, he rested his forehead onto hers, their noses touching. Mac opened her eyes and looked directly into his ones. "Don't scare me like this, Mackenzie. I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you."

Her eyes moistened at his words and a lump formed on her throat. She stared at his eyes, looking for something that would indicate her that he had only said those words to make her feel better, but she didn't find anything. She raised her hand and caressed his cheek. She was about to move her hand when Will grabbed it and held it close to their heads. "I'm sorry, Billy." Mac softly replied.

Carefully, his lips found hers and they shared a short chaste kiss. Mac smiled against his lips before kissing him again. A knock on the door interrupted them. Will quickly leant back, without releasing her hands, and said a quick "Come in." The doctor opened the door and stepped inside.

"Ready?" He asked.

"Yes." Mac replied while Will handed him the iPad with the signed consent.

"Perfect." Dr. Kim smiled at them. "It'll take about half an hour. You can wait in the waiting room. We'll get you once she's back." He told Will.

Out of the blue, Mac forcefully grabbed Will's hand. "Oh my God."

"What? What's wrong?" Will quickly asked her.

"I know what changed." She told him. Will looked at her, confused as hell. Then, she remembered she hadn't told him about the stalker. "Fuck." She muttered. "Will, I need you to do something for me."

"Anything."

"There's a man waiting with Charlie, his name is Michael. You have to tell him that you stayed with me last Sunday." Mac said. She knew the timing was very bad, Will would certainly get mad at her, but she needed Mike to know; the fucking creep must had been watching her building and he must had seen Will leaving Monday morning. Everything made sense.

"Mac! What the fuck?" He asked her. "Who the hell is Michael?"

"Charlie will explain." She assured him. "Will." Mac called him, tugging his hand to make him lean closer. "Charlie is going to tell you what has been going on, that's what I wanted to talk about during dinner tomorrow. I don't want you to worry even if I'm pretty sure you'll do. I know you'll be furious but, please, nothing is Charlie's fault, ok? It was my decision to keep you in the dark, I didn't want to bother anyone, especially you. Just remember that I … care about you and that I'm sorry."

"You're scaring me, Mackenzie." He told her.

"We'll talk when I come back." She promised.

Dr. Kim, once their exchange was over, kindly asked Will to leave the room. Will complied, reluctantly. He walked the distance to the waiting room deep in his thoughts. What the hell did Mackenzie mean? He wasn't blind, he had noticed that something had been bothering her for the last couple of weeks. He trusted her, he was sure she would tell him when the time was right. Yet, he had imagined it was something that had to do with a story; her face and words just a minute ago had made him question that thought.

A hand on his shoulder returned his mind back to Earth; he had walked into the waiting room without realizing it. Charlie saw the distraught look Will was carrying so he squeezed his shoulder. "How's our girl?"

"She's fine. They took her to do the MRI." Will replied without looking at him. A few seconds later, he turned around. "Charlie, who the hell is Michael?"

"It's me." A male voice said from behind them. Will turned and saw Lonny and another man approaching them. "Michael Tyler, Blue North Security." Mike told Will, extending his hand. Will shook it before looking at Lonny, still confused. "I'm Ms. McHale's bodyguard."

"Ok." Will said, feeling a bit defeated. "This is what we're going to do. First, Mr. Tyler, Mackenzie asked me to tell you that I spent last Sunday night at her apartment." In a completely different situation, Will would have bursted out laughing at the expression on Charlie's face when he heard those words. "I think you three have some explaining to do but, first, I'm going to step outside and get some fresh air." Without waiting for a reply, Will turned around and left the room.

Lonny waited a minute before going after him. It didn't take him long to find him: he had returned to the quiet corner, right next to the ER door. His back was resting on the wall and, to Lonny, it seemed that the wall was holding all his weight.

"You have a no smoking sign just above your head." Lonny told him.

"I don't give a fuck." Will simply replied before taking a long drag of his cigarette.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah."

Lonny positioned himself right next to him, blocking the view so nobody could see Will. They stood there, in silence, for a few minutes while Will smoked his cigarette. Once he was done, he threw it to the floor and stubbed it with his shoe.

"Lonny, in your line of work, do you have someone..." Will stopped for a moment to clear his thoughts. "You know, that person you would trust with your life?"

"I do." Lonny told him.

"I want him or her on Mackenzie. I don't care if I have to pay for it, and I still don't know what the hell is going on, but if Mac needs protection I want her to have the best. I trust you."

"That's Michael." He replied. "That's why I asked for him when Ms. McHale finally accepted to have protection."

"Thank you." Will sincerely told him.

"You're welcome." Lonny replied, smiling.

Will took a deep breath and, then, told Lonny he was going back inside. They arrived to the waiting room to find Mike sitting alone.

"Mr. Skinner went to get some coffee." Mike explained before Will could ask.

Lonny sat next to him while Will paced in front of them. After a couple of minutes, Will suddenly halted and turned to look at Mike, sizing him up. Mike simply raised his eyebrow at him but didn't say a word. Thankfully, Charlie walked into the room and broke the staring contest. He handed Will a coffee and remained next to him.

After taking a deep breath and a long sip of coffee, Charlie began to talk. "A week after the American Taliban broadcast someone broke into Mac's apartment. NYPD was there when she got home. Whoever it was trashed her living room and took a picture Mac had of the two of you. Detective Johnson, the one in charge of this case, thought it had something to do with the broadcast as Mac had told him she had written the script with you. He also left a threatening note. She spent a few nights at the Plaza, thinking it was an one time thing, but she received another note while she was there. That's when I called Lonny."

"We recommended that she get protection but she refused it. Mr. Skinner convinced her to use the car service." Lonny explained. "She continued to receive random notes and a few gifts like flowers or chocolate, both at the office and at home. Then, it was strange phone calls in the middle of the night. NYPD is investigating it but we opened our own investigation. We couldn't find anything, this guy is smart."

"Something happened that made Mac change her mind about protection." Will thought out loud.

"Mac was having lunch with Sloan when she received and email with a picture of them, taken a few minutes earlier. Sloan, who had been told about everything barely thirty minutes before, quickly called Detective Johnson and me." Charlie explained. "I called Lonny and he picked them up and escorted them to my office. We finally convinced Mac to accept the protection: the guy was escalating and she didn't feel safe, even if she tried to hide it."

"I've been Ms. McHale's shadow from day one: wherever she goes, I go." Mike intervened. "I've been intercepting everything that guy is sending and studying it. I think everything began as a revenge for that broadcast, he threatened her a few times, but the tone in his notes and gifts changed as days went by. It's not unusual for these people to grow attached to their victims. He's showing some degree of obsession. We're looking for a man, late twenties, with great abilities but with an unstable job that gives him all the time he wants to dedicate to Ms. McHale." Mike stopped to let Will assimilate the information. When Will nodded, he continued. "He's been incredibly careful to not leave evidence behind, until this week. Yesterday morning, we intercepted a note that made us think he's becoming angry. I didn't know why until you told me you spent Sunday night at Ms. McHale apartment; he must have seen you leave Monday morning. In his mind, from what we gathered, you're stepping in the middle of their relationship."

"She's been having a fucking stalker following her for the last month and a half and I'm only hearing about it now." Will said, glaring at the three of them.

"Would you excuse us for a moment?" Charlie asked Lonny and Mike.

"We'll be right outside." Lonny told him.

Charlie waited until they left the room before gently grabbing Will's arm and making him sit down in one of the secluded chairs of the waiting room, away from prying eyes. Will rested his elbows on his knees and hid his face between his hands. Charlie let him alone for a couple of minutes, sitting patiently next to him.

"I know you would never betray her confidence but you could have tipped me off or something." Will said, raising his head to look at Charlie.

"She didn't want to bother anyone. She told me because she absolutely had to, Will." Charlie replied.

"She told Sloan." Will spat, a bit hurt that Mac had chosen Sloan over him.

"Sloan's her best friend. She noticed something was off and nagged Mac until she confessed." Charlie explained. "Are you telling me you didn't notice anything?"

"I did!" Will exclaimed, outraged. "And I asked her about it! She told me it was because of the 9/11 broadcast!" He took a deep breath. "Why didn't Mac trust me?" He asked, lowering his voice.

"She does, more than she should." Charlie muttered.

"What the fuck are you implying, Charlie?" Will asked, angry after hearing Charlie's words.

"You've been a jackass lately." He replied. "First, you brought Brian to write that damn article on 2.0. You could have picked anyone yet, you chose him."

"It wasn't my finest move." Will admitted.

"You did it to hurt her and don't try to deny it." Charlie warned him when he saw Will was about to interrupt him. "Then, she found you bleeding on your bathroom and spent a whole week by your side. And what did you do? You were a fucking jerk."

"I apologized for that." Will said, defensive.

"You want a medal?" Charlie sarcastically asked. Ignoring Will's indignant look, he continued. "You told her you'd left a message while you were high. You realized she didn't hear it and your whole world seemed to change. I don't know what the fuck did you say that day but I can imagine. Instead of telling her, you've been playing with her feelings every time she asks. Then, out of the blue, you tell me you spent Sunday night with her. And you have to ask why she didn't tell you?"

"Fuck, Charlie. You don't have to explain it to me. I know, ok?" Will told him, defeated.

"Then, what the fuck are you doing?"

"I don't know." Will admitted. "But I'm trying, ok? I'm working on it."

"You're trying but you're also hurting Mackenzie along the way."

"Do you think I don't know that?" Will said, closing his eyes. "We're taking things slowly this time. We don't want to rush anything."

"Well, you're doing a great job." Charlie replied. Will noticed his sarcastic tone and, despite himself, smiled.

"What happened on Sunday..." He paused for a moment. "I didn't plan it. I didn't go to her apartment with the idea of ... You know." Will explained. "It just happened." He continued. "It made me realize how much I want this to go well. Mackenzie deserves to be forgiven. I think I have, but I can't be sure yet. What I know for sure is that I've never stopped..." He fumbled, not ready to say the word out loud. "Habid says that's why I've been acting tike this because, even after everything, I never stopped and I didn't want to admit it. I've been fighting against my feelings."

"Does she know that?" Charlie asked, too astonished to say anything more.

"Not yet."

"Well, don't wait too much. You've lost enough time." Charlie suggested.

After that, they waited in silence until a nurse came to get Will. Will invited Charlie to go with him and, closely followed by Lonny and Mike, they walked to the exam room where Mac was. Will knocked on the door and another nurse opened it. They quietly stepped inside and waited for them to finish. Once he was done, Dr. Kim turned to speak to them.

"The MRI turned out clear, nothing is broken. She has a mild sprain, though. It'll be pretty normal if she has neck pain and stiffness for a few days. Headaches are also usual. If she begins experimenting neurological signs, such as muscle weakness or sensory deficits, bring her back immediately. I'll give her a prescription of anti-inflamatories and a painkiller, as well as a muscle relaxant for her to take for the first 48 hours. Tomorrow, first thing, make an appointment with a physical therapist to begin treatment on Monday; we need to prevent what we call whiplash syndrome. I want her to wear a cervical collar until she sees the PT, but no more than three hours a day. Starting tomorrow, encourage her to gently move her head to avoid stiffness." The doctor ended. Then, he saw the panicked look on Will's face and he smiled kindly at him. "I explained everything to Mackenzie, but don't worry, I'll write it down on the discharge papers."

"Why is she asleep?" Charlie asked.

"We've given her an IV dose of painkillers that knocked her out. Once the bag is empty-" Dr. Kim said, pointing to the IV bag connected to Mac's arm. "We'll wake her up and you can take her home. If you have any doubts, don't hesitate to call."

"Thank you, Doctor." Will told him.

The Doctor helped the nurse change the collar on Mackenzie's neck for the softer one she would take home and then, both he and the nurse left the room. Will took the empty chair next to the bed while Charlie stood behind him, his back resting on the wall. They spent the next ten minutes in silence, both observing Mac's sleeping form. The relief of knowing that her injuries weren't too serious was pretty obvious. A knock on the door startled them, and Mac, who opened her eyes and looked at them, confused. Charlie stepped outside to talk with Lonny and Mike while Will got up to be closer to Mackenzie.

"Hey, sleepyhead." Will softly told her.

"Billy?" Mac said, her eyes more focused than they were a few seconds ago.

"How are you feeling?" He asked.

"Sleepy." She answered. "Charlie told you?"

"He did." Will simply replied.

"Are you mad at me?"

"A little bit." He told her, trying not to look as angry as he felt.

"I'm sorry." Mac sincerely said.

"I know. We'll talk later, ok? When you aren't high in painkillers."

"Don't let me leave any voicemail messages." She told him and Will wasn't sure if she was teasing him or not.

"Close your eyes." Will said, ignoring her remark. "I'll wake you up when they discharge you."

Mac grabbed one of his hands and squeezed it. Without letting it go, she sighed deeply and closed her eyes. Will, with his other hand, pulled the chair closer and, after tucking her hair behind her ear, he gently kissed her forehead and sat down on the chair to wait.