Disclaimer: I do not own The Newsroom

CHAPTER 2: Getting to Know You

Lonny came knocking on his door at around noon. "You ready?" Lonny asked.

"Yes, just let me put on my coat." Will went into the hallway and knocked on Kate's door.

"Come in" Kate said.

"I'm going now, I'll be back at around 10, hopefully 9:30. We'll have a late dinner." Will said

"Ok, Billy. Have a good day." Kate smiled.

"You too." He closed the door and stepped into his living room.

"And your coat?" Lonny asked.

"It's August I don't need a coat" Will replied.

Lonny rolled his eyes and opened the entrance door. They got into the elevator and went down to the parking lot.

Upon arriving to Will's car "What the fuck?!" Will yelled dropping his briefcase on the floor. The car had been sprayed with red paint, the windows were broken and on the hood it had written 'RINO'. "I really thought they had better security here!"

Lonny was now on his cellphone talking to some sort of supervisor as far as Will could tell.

They both got on the elevator again and Will opened his apartment.

Lonny started pacing in the living room "OK, we'll wait here until the company sends a car, it'll be a half an hour at least but we have to make sure to- "

"Kate!" Will called.

"You got a woman in here?" Lonny asked searching around the room.

"Kate!" Will ignored Lonny

"Man, how do you get these women, seriously?"

Kate finally came into the living room.

"Where did you park? I'm afraid I'm going to have to use your car." Will said.

"You're going to take the lady's car? Real classy" Lonny mocked him.

"Why, what happened?" Kate asked worried

"My car broke down" Will lied "Where did you park yours?"

"I left it around the corner, who are you?" Kate looked at Lonny.

"He's my bodyguard" Will answered

"Lonny Church, nice to meet you." Lonny held his hand out.

"Kate McAvoy" she said shaking his hand.

Lonny looked at her with wide eyes, then at Will.

"She's my sister for Christ's sake!" Will snapped.

Kate started laughing still holding Lonny's hand "Oh God, no I'm not his wife!" She said shaking her head.

Lonny calmed down. Kate let go of his hand and took her purse form the kitchen table.

"Here" she gave her car keys to Will. When she was close she said in his ear "Why do you have a bodyguard?"

"Long story, tell you over dinner?" Will asked.

"You better" Kate said.

Lonny and Will got into Kate's car, and they finally made it to the ACN building.

As Will walked into the newsroom, Mackenzie spotted him immediately and she followed him into his office.

"Why are you so late? I was expecting you an hour ago!" She said walking in.

"Jesus, I just got here, give me a minute, would ya?" Will said sitting behind his desk.

"What happened?" Mackenzie asked.

"It's none of your business, Mac"

"It is my business when the managing editor and anchor of the show arrives late!" Mac countered.

Will took out a cigarette, buying time.

"Will, why are you so late? And why won't you tell me why?" Mac put her hands on her hips.

"It's a family matter, ok?" Will said, trying to be as vague as possible.

"What family matter? All your family lives far from New York!" Mackenzie emphasized.

"Mac, do you really want to know so badly?" Will lit up his cigarette.

"Yes!" Mac sighed.

"My sister left her husband, there now you know" Will finally answered.

"Your sister? Which one?" Mac asked

"George, Mac. My brother George left her husband" Will said.

"Well you do have two sisters, Will" Mac said matter-of-factly

"Yes, but only one's married!" Will yelled.

"Kate!" Mac said in realization. "Wait… Kate left Mike?" Mackenzie asked in disbelief "That's not possible" she said waving it off.

"It is, and it happened" Will said smoking his cigarette.

"You're talking about Mike, the perfect husband?" Mackenzie asked incredulous.

"Yes Mike" Will said exhaling the smoke "The nicest guy ever turned out to be a cheating scumbag" Will said looking directly at Mac.

Mackenzie's eyes went wide

"He had an affair?" she asked, crossing her arms and looking at her feet.

"From what she told me he slept with a co-worker" Will sighed.

"This must be so hard on Kate; they've been together, what? 30 years" Mac estimated.

"Around that number" Will agreed

"So… you talked on the phone all morning? Is that why you're so late?"

"No, she came to my apartment" Will stated

"What?! Did she drive there?"

"Yes" Will said.

"From Boston? That's a 4 hour drive Will" Mac stressed.

"I know"

"I guess she really left him" Mac sighed.

"Yes, apparently intolerance to cheating comes in our blood"

A silence passed between them.

"I can't believe you just said that" Mac said stunned. "Why do you have to make everything about us? We're talking about Kate"

"I really didn't mean to say it, I was thinking it, but I wasn't going to say it" Will disclosed.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Mac asked.

"No" Will said.

"Of course not." Mac breathed "Look, Reese asked for a meeting this morning, we're getting budget cuts and I have to fire someone today" She started to leave

"Who you're going to fire?" Will asked

"I don't know yet" Mac said as she left his office.

"The Federal Reserve offered incredible low interest rates for two more years- an unprecedented step to arrest the alarming decline of the stock market and the economy. Wall Street roared its approval and finished a wild day with a 429-point gain". Sloan ended her news segment

"Thank you Miss Sabbith, Terry Smith is coming up next with the Capitol Report. This is News Night. I'm Will McAvoy. Good Night."

"Good show everybody" Mackenzie called to the control room.

As everyone was leaving Mac turned to Joey "Joey I need you to stay behind, I have something that I need to talk to you about"

This felt so awful, Mac felt her chest constricting, she wasn't cut out for this kind of job, she just couldn't do it. She hated Reese for putting her in this position.

Everyone had left the room and it was now only Joey and her.

Her mind was going a mile a minute and she felt her heartbeat speeding up.

"Joey" She said taking a deep breath.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you that-" Oh God, she could see in his face that he knew what she was going to say "I'm so sorry, Joey. The show's getting budget cuts and I—I'm so sorry…" She couldn't even say it; she couldn't say the words to him. She at least owed him some clarity- she had to be able to say the words "We're going to have to let you go, you're being fired."

"I'm so sorry you had to go through that Kenzie, Reese's an ass and we all know it." Sloan reached out to her friend. "Hey, I'm sure that with the recommendation you gave him, he'll find a job in no time. Come on, drink up" She said handing her a beer.

"Tomorrow I have to tell Jennifer- the new intern, that she's been promoted to Graphics Producer" Mac said taking a gulp of her beer.

"You're giving it to her? Does she even know how to make graphics?"

"I'll have to teach her—did you know that's how I started in this? I was a graphics producer!"

"Yes I know Kenzie." Sloan said.

"If you could have seen his face" Mac drank some more

"Ok, we need to change the subject now" Sloan insisted "That couldn't have been the only thing that happened to you today, right?"

"Why did you have to remind me?!" Mackenzie slapped Sloan's shoulder.

"I'm sorry! I didn't know you had such a crappy day!" Sloan said reclining on her seat.

"Will" Mac stuttered.

"Here we go" Sloan rolled her eyes. "What happened this time, did he refuse to tell you the rest of the voicemail? Again."

"No, is not that. You know how he came late for work today."

"No, I don't. I don't actually watch his every move."

"Well, he arrived late for work today, Sloan! His sister left her husband and now she's staying with him. The point is that Mike cheated on her-"

"Who's Mike?" Sloan asked in confusion

Her husband—now, he's explaining this to me—"

"Explaining or you coaxed it out?" Sloan raised her eyebrow.

"I coaxed it out—we're talking about his sister and her cheating husband and he turns the conversation about us!"

"To punish you…" Sloan finished.

"Yes! Again, I mean I know I deserve it-"

"You don't deserve it Kenzie! It's been 4 years- the man needs to get over himself! He loves you and he keeps punishing you and I just don't get it!"

"He doesn't love me" Mac said dismissively

"Yes he does"

"No, he doesn't"

"Yes, he does. That's what makes this so sick!"

"How do you know?"

Well it's like that movie said, or was it a book? Whatever, the point is that the opposite of love is not hate it's indifference. And Will is anything but indifferent to you.

"That was Elie Weisel" Mac said.

"Who?"

"That quote" Mac sighed "is not from a movie or a book is from holocaust survivor Elie Weisel, he wrote it in a US News & World report"

Sloan reached out to take Mac's hand. "I'm going to ask again. Why can't it be fixed?"

"I don't know" Mac said.

"Do you know how lucky you are that the man you love actually loves you back?!"

"I'm sorry Sloan, I don't know what to tell you." Mackenzie said holding onto her friend.

"I don't understand, why can't you fix it?"

"I can't fix it; I was the one that ruined it in the first place." Mac said sighing. "I did the worst thing that I could have done to him, knowing it was the worst thing and I did it anyway" Mackenzie quoted.

"What do you mean knowing?" Sloan asked "What you did was really bad, but it was so long ago, he's being unreasonable." Sloan insisted.

"I know it was the worst thing because he told me."

"What do you mean he told you?"

"He told me that cheating was the worst thing a woman could do to him."

"He said that? Why would he say that?"

"Because I asked him." Mac said.

"You asked? God, you two do belong together. "Why would you ask a thing like that?"

"It was a game, on our first date." Mac explained.

"Some game." Sloan said.

Will was staring at her so intently that it was making her skin itch. She reached for her wine glass and drank generously from it. It burned going down her throat. From working with him every day, she knew she needed to put distance between them. Every time he touched her, she felt unsettled, flustered, and giddy. It was too much to deal with while she tried to produce the best news show she could.

When she had set the glass down, Will took her hand and began playing with her fingers. Mac decided that she would have to act now or she would lose her nerve. Looking directly at him, she fired her opening ammo.

"If I am to date you, things will have to change. I've enjoyed our little banter at the office, but I'm not going to be some girl on the side. I deserve more than that."

He looked surprised at her outburst, but he still kept caressing her hand, so she removed it, placing both of her hands in her lap.

"And we move slowly." Mac stated.

"I always took you for the dominating type. I like it." Will said.

She gave him a stern glance.

"So, Mac, what is it that you suggest we do to entertain ourselves?" Will asked.

"I was hoping to get to know you better, so I thought we would just talk." Mac said. "You can ask me any question you like, about anything, and I will answer, but only if you will answer the same question, and you have to answer truthfully." Mac explained.

"And what about you?" Will asked.

"I would like for the same rules to apply for me. But, if there's a question you don't want to answer, you don't have to. But you only get to do this three times."

"And why do I get a pass?" Will asked

"I have nothing to hide." Mac announced.

"And you think I do?"

"I know your reputation, Mr. McAvoy."

"Then why are you here?"

She stared at him pointedly, and for a second she felt as if she were looking right through him. "I don't believe everything I hear."

Refocusing on the task at hand, he said, "I will only skip a question if you do."

She raised her chin obstinately, and her eyes sparkled dangerously. "I won't."

"Then I won't either. How will we know if we're saying the truth? Will asked.

"We will just have to trust each other." Her eyes looked at him searchingly, and her voice softened as she asked him, "I can trust you, right?"

And before he could come up with some clever evasive remark, the words "I have no intention of lying to you, Mac," tumbled out of his mouth. For a brief moment, Mac thought she saw something like sincerity soften his face, but then it disappeared behind the cavalier grin which covered his face as he spoke his next words. "At least not tonight."

"Good."

The waiter chose that instant to bring their main course. The smell of the chicken nearly made her mouth water. Much to his amusement, she dug in with gusto. "This is delicious. Maybe next time I'll allow you to choose the food again."

"So you'll let me take you out a second time?"

"If you want." Mac said taking a bite of her chicken.

Will decided it was time for the inquisition to begin. "So, Mac, what's your favorite color?"

She blinked in surprise. "That's your first question?"

"Yes, color please."

"Green. You?" Mac asked

"Blue. Do you have any hobbies?" Will asked.

"Reading, watching movies. The usual. You?" Mac asked

"I play the guitar." He added a wink for emphasis.

"I'd like to hear that sometime" Mackenzie smiled.

"You will. And I do occasionally read." Will said drinking some of his wine.

Have you ever been in love?" Mackenzie asked.

"Once or twice; when I was younger. As you can see, it had no lasting effect. You?"

She leaned over the table, placing her chin in one of her hands. "I have never been in love. Where did you grow up?" Mac asked

"In a little town outside Nebraska. Where did you grow up?"

"All over the place really, I was born here but my father's work made us travel, we spent almost a year in South Africa, then some months in Australia and Canada, and my mum had a house in the West End of London—I mean not the West End, but West London, Notting Hill, where we used to spend our summers and Christmas." Mac rambled.

"So you're a posh girl." Will smiled taking a bite of his steak.

"Yeah well, I suppose you can say that". Mac allowed

"You were born here?" Will said drinking more wine

"Yes, is that so hard to believe?"

Will swallowed as fast as he could "So, you're American?"

"Yes, I thought you knew that". Mac said frowning.

"No I didn't, I just thought you were a very well informed British woman".

"All this time and you didn't know I was from here?" Mac asked incredulous.

"No, I just thought you had lived here for a very long time. Your accent- how was I supposed to know?"

"I don't know, I just thought everybody knew". Mac said eating some of her salad

"Now everybody knows" Will smiled.

"Any siblings?" Will asked

"No, only child. You?"

"I have two sisters and one brother".

"Wow, full house! that must have been fun". Mac smiled raising her glass of wine.

"Yeah, some of the time". Mackenzie could see that his eyes went somber.

Ok, most embarrassing moment in the last year? Mac tried to lighten the mood

"Well that's easy, when I asked you out last week." Will said avoiding her eyes.

"What? That doesn't count, nothing embarrassing happened; you asked I said yes, end of story".

"Well you obviously didn't notice but I was actually very nervous" Will said

You thought I was going to say no?

"I didn't know what you were going to say! You just broke up with that guy and I've always wanted to ask you out but I didn't know if it was the right time and I—I was really nervous" Will started rambling

"Really?" Mackenzie asked.

"Yes." Will said

"I still think it doesn't count, Will. Nothing embarrassing happened."

"Well, why don't you answer first and that way I get more time to come up with mine."

"Ok, McAvoy but you better come up with something, I'm not going to be the only one with a story" Mackenzie said. "This happened to me about two weeks ago I think. I went to this bar and they have a glass door to step out onto the porch. I didn't realize the door was shut, and walked straight into it!"

Will started laughing.

The worst part was that I was stone cold sober, but the bartender refused to believe me and cut me off before my first beer." Mackenzie finished

Will laughed harder and Mackenzie joined him.

"Ok enough, now you have to tell an embarrassing story, William"

"Fine. Well this isn't recent, but I took tap-dancing lessons when I was 11."

Mackenzie started laughing "You wanted to learn tap?"

"Not really, my sister Kate was afraid of going alone to her classes so I accompanied her." Will explained.

"Oh what a good brother" Mac smiled.

"Yeah I guess. The shoes were killing me, that I remember." Mackenzie started laughing again.

"Do you remember any steps?" Mac was dying to know

"Oh no, I'm not drunk enough to do that"

"Will" Mackenzie gave him her best puppy dog eyes.

"No, I'm not going to dance. Stop looking at me like that, it's not gonna happen." Will said shaking his head.

"Please" Mackenzie leaned over the table

"No, I really don't want to. Please stop looking at me like that."

"Very well, McAvoy, no dancing tonight." She reclined back in her seat.

"Ok next question, worst college experience?" Will asked eating more of his steak.

"Well I would have to say that my first day was pretty horrible, I didn't know anyone, it rained and I didn't have an umbrella, I only got to two of my classes because I kept getting lost, I was not prepared at all". She laughed "How about you?"

"I corrected my Criminal Law professor, big mistake—I barely passed that class"

"Ouch. How about best experience?" Mac asked

"Getting to live away from my house" Will said

"That bad?"

"Yeah, but that's a story for another time, not a first date." Will said drinking from his glass.

"Ok, fair enough. My best experience would have to be just the classes, getting to finally study something I wanted to learn, you know?"

Mac leaned over resting her hands on the table and looked straight into his eyes "Are you a Republican?"

"Yes" Will confirmed.

"I knew there had to be something wrong with you" Mac said shaking her head

"You're a liberal of course" Will reclined in his chair

"Always have been" Mac smiled

"This relationship is doomed, why even start with this gigantic obstacle?" Will said sarcastically.

"Because you could end up with something beautiful" Mac said serious. "My parents are on opposite ends of the political spectrum. For 40 years they've cancel out each other's votes, but they have a great marriage".

"How'd they manage that?" Will asked.

"They found something they cared about more passionately… than politics" Mac said.

"What was that?"

"Me" Mac smiled. "Have you ever had your heart broken?" Mackenzie dared to ask.

"My first serious girlfriend cheated on me with my roommate, how's that?" Will said

"Oh you caught them, didn't you?"

"Yes, in my bed to be precise"

"Oh that must have been horrible"

"It was, that's actually the worst thing a woman can do to me, I can't stand it". Will said drinking his wine. "How about you?"

"Well you know that I dated Brian for a long time—he dumped me. Although I'm not sure if my heart broke, I think it did" Mac said airily.

"If you're not sure, then it didn't break; you will definitely know when that happens."

"When?" Mac asked frightened.

"If it happens" Will reassured her

"Ok, that makes sense." Mac said brightly

"He was right about that" Mackenzie sighed "I knew with complete certainty and without a doubt when my heart broke" Mac took another gulp of her beer. "And the worst part is that I did it by myself and not only did I broke my own, I ripped out his". Mac cried

"Oh Kenzie, how can he forgive you if you don't forgive yourself?" Sloan said to her friend.

"I don't think I can" Mackenzie wept.

Well, I had a lot of fun writing this chapter hope you like it. I'm going on a trip this week so I'll update next week hopefully. Any thoughts and comments are greatly appreciated.