A/N: Hello all! So, I may be in the minority here, but I loved 2.08. Probably my favourite episode of the season. And this fic sprung to mind almost immediately after I finished watching it. It just took me a while to actually write it down. I was determined to get it done before the finale tonight though, and I just made it. It takes place immediately following 2.08. I hope you enjoy.

Stand

xxx

Mac was about thirty seconds away from blowing a gasket.

How dare she?

How dare she come on their show and rip apart Will like that? Like he was some partisan hack who was nothing but a political agenda?

"And how do you, as a republican, explain and support a Democratic president who purports to speak for everyday Americans but then..."

Mac had thought she was better than that. She'd thought that after what had happened on the Romney campaign that Taylor would have a little more sympathy for a Republican who criticized what was going on in his own party.

Instead the woman was showing her true colours and laying into Will like he was an empty suit with a big microphone.

"There was an article written about you about a year ago which accused you of being irrelevant and obsolete..."

Mac clenched her hands until her nails bit into her palms. This was a news program. A news program! They were supposed to at least maintain a modicum of balance and informed discussion. Taylor had supposedly understood that. She wasn't supposed to make Will a target; Mac wasn't sure for what (maybe hypocrisy, maybe something else). She didn't care what the reason or it was. Watching was making Mac nauseous. Her heart was racing and her mind was whirling and everything was spiraling out of control. She couldn't find her voice. She could only grit her teeth and try and mutter into the microphone to Elliot and Sloan to try and bring things back on topic. Will was surprisingly resistant to do so and the others were having even less success.

Then, Taylor changed tactics, suggesting that Will was feigning belief in a political ideology for cynical reasons.

"And are you saying that that your own recent willingness to acknowledge your own Republicanism isn't its own kind of blanket armour, protecting you to a certain extent from attacks from the right that a left wing journalist would have been subject to?"

Mac's breath caught. Had she just? Will had hardly been free from attacks from the right. Or the left. Or the centre. Or really just about anyone at this point. She watched as he turned and made that very point to the woman on his right with a sardonic little smile on his face that sent a chill through Mac's bones.

She thought even Taylor may have faltered slightly.

Well, good. If Mac had been capable of making some kind of rational reply to the woman, she would have. But after her week, that was well beyond her right now. As it was, the urge to jump through the monitor and physically drag Taylor out of the studio was almost overwhelming.

The headache Mac had been trying to ignore for hours now pushed itself into the forefront. She glanced at the clock. Two minutes. Two minutes until they could go for a commercial break.

Two minutes and then the rest of the show and then she'd be gone.

But she still had to hold it together for the two minutes.

"Could we bring it back to the election coverage please?" she asked the panel desperately, hoping against hope that Sloan or Elliot would finally jump in.

No such luck.

"You make an interesting point Will. I'd just like to take it a little further. If everyone's attacking you, it's got to make you wonder who you're speaking for. We're sitting here watching democracy at work. If we were electing newscasters tonight instead of politicians, do you think you'd still be sitting in that chair?"

Sometimes you could actually feel the moment when you just snapped.

Mac felt it happen, but she didn't care.

She didn't care about anything anymore.

"Get me Taylor!" she hissed to Herb.

"Uh, we can't," he started to explain.

"Just do it!" she snapped.

He flipped a switch on the control room. "Okay Ms. Warren. You listen to me, and you listen to me very carefully," Mac hissed, her voice low and dangerous. "I get what you're doing; I understand why you're doing it. Some days I might have even be able to look at it objectively and acknowledge the value of it, at least from your perspective. But today is not one of those days. This is a news program and we report the news. Or we try to. We may not always do the best job. And we may have fucked it up recently, but don't you dare try and blame that on him. This shit you're trying to pull stops now, or you won't be sitting at that desk when we come back from the break. Will McAvoy is one of the good guys. He's one of the best. And he's a fucking good broadcaster. If things went badly two months ago, it's because we let him down. And yes, in the past he has had the gall to criticize Republican politicians, sometimes even the Republican candidate, even though he's a Republican himself. Funny thing, he's also criticized Democrats when necessary, including our current President. Because that is what we try and do here. And if you have a problem with that, you can take it up with me, and we will have that discussion off of the air. But you will not fuck with Will in the middle of my election coverage, do you understand me?"

The expression on Taylor's face told Mac she had.

Then Sloan's face caught her eye.

And Mac's world fell apart just a little bit more.

She closed her eyes. "That wasn't just Taylor."

"We couldn't get you just Taylor," Herb explained. "I tried to tell you. We can get you just Will, and we can get you just Elliot, but we didn't have time to isolate the other two mics before the broadcast started. To talk to Sloan or Taylor, you have to talk to the entire panel."

Mac didn't open her eyes. "Fifteen seconds. Wrap for commercial," she murmured, relieved that Elliot at least had enough presence of mind to do just that.

She couldn't open her eyes to see his (or anyone else's) reactions.

Then she ripped off the headset, handed it to Don with muttered instructions to cover for her, and flew from the room.

Turns out she might not even make it through the show after all.

xxx

Will stood up and unclipped his mic, turning towards a still shell-shocked Taylor. "Sorry I put you in the middle of that. It was my fault. We'll fix it after the break, I promise."

Then without waiting for her to reply he stood. "I may need you to cover for me if I'm not back by the end of the next break," he murmured to Elliot.

"Don't worry about it," Elliot replied. "I can always wander around the decision desk pointlessly again if I need to."

Will smiled slightly. "Thanks."

"Will?" Sloan said softly. "Get her back."

He nodded once, mentally thanking his lucky stars that Sloan didn't know about the supposed firing. He'd very deliberately not told anyone.

He slipped out of the studio without another word and went in search of his producer.

They needed to talk.

xxx

He found her right where he'd expected her to, leaning against the wall with her eyes closed in the corner of an edit bay, one that no one used unless they were absolutely desperate because it had the oldest equipment in the building and was frustratingly slow. Mostly, people just used it if they needed a minute to themselves.

Will suspected the woman using it now might need more than one.

He couldn't help noticing that she looked even more frighteningly tired in the semi-darkness. His heart lurched in his chest at the bags under her eyes.

"Well, I think that went well," he said slightly as he shut the door behind him.

"Will..." she pleaded, though he wasn't entirely sure what she was asking for. If it was for him to leave, she was going to be disappointed.

He decided to try to keep it light, even smiling slightly at her, though she couldn't see it. "So you don't think I'm an entirely terrible human being then?"

She opened her eyes, and the pain in them went straight through him. "Will... please."

He steeled himself against the waver in her voice. No matter how much practice he'd had ignoring it over the years, it always got to him. The struggle made his tone harsher than he'd intended. "No! I think this is something I'd like to get straight once and for all, Mackenzie. Which is it? Am I one of the good guys, or am I the guy you expect to punish you because I can?"

He watched her eyes flutter closed again as she dropped her chin to her chest, slumping even farther down against the wall. "It doesn't matter."

He strode over to her, angry with her again for about a million reasons. How could she possibly think that? "Like hell it doesn't."

She just shook her head. "It doesn't."

Will took a breath and tried to calm down, reminding himself that while he was hurt, she was fucking breakable right now. "I think it does."

"Good for you," she muttered.

The defeat in her voice made him panic. She wasn't allowed to give up. She was Mac. She didn't do that. She'd only done it once before, and it had been the other tragedy of his life. He couldn't deal with that again. He grabbed her elbows. He'd hold her up himself if he had to.

He fought her despair with fire. "Do you really want to leave the show?" he demanded. "Because if you want to..."

She interrupted him this time, her voice firm for the first time since he'd stepped in the room. "I need to leave the show."

Will shook his head furiously. "Leona wouldn't accept our resignations. Why should yours be the exception?"

Mac finally opened her eyes. He wasn't surprised to see tears in them.

"Because it's my fault!" she choked out. "It's all my fault!"

Will stared at her. He'd suspected it, on some level maybe he'd even known that she'd probably felt it. Mac always shouldered more responsibility (and more guilt) than was strictly necessary. But for some reason he was still surprised. "How the fuck is it all your fault?"

And just as they had earlier with Taylor, the words spilled out of her. "I let Jim go! I brought in Jerry Dantana. I helped him with the story! I asked leading questions. I didn't notice the problem with the footage. I set up the Red Teams. I ignored Don's warning that, whether it was true or not, this story would cause bigger problems for Americans overseas. I ignored Jim's gut. I trusted the wrong things, the wrong people. I'm the god damn executive producer. It's my job to catch these things before they happen and I failed. I failed..." She started to slide down the wall.

But Will slid his hands further under her elbows and hauled her back up. "We all failed, Mackenzie! All of us! But mostly Jerry fucking Dantana. We all saw the footage and the evidence and we all believed it. You and me and Charlie and the lawyers who vetted the story and everyone else at the Red Team meetings. And don't try and tell me that you, and you alone, convinced me. I had a source of my own, remember?"

There was less than a foot between them, but Mac refused to meet his eyes, staring firmly at the floor. Or maybe it was his chest, or maybe she had her eyes closed again. "But you trusted me," she whispered desperately. "I did this to you."

Will dropped his head against hers. "Look at me, Mackenzie," he whispered, lifting his head and waiting for her to do the same. It took her a moment, but she managed it eventually.

"I trusted you," he said. "And I trusted Charlie. And I trusted my source. And I trusted the Newsroom. And yes, maybe I did trust you the most. But I trusted your judgement of the facts. I trusted your read on things. At no time was I trusting that you'd be able to magically know that a senior producer had doctored footage. God, I never liked Dantana and even I never suspected that. I trusted you, Mackenzie. I trusted my EP. And I still do."

Mac bit her lip to stifle a sob. "Don't do this."

Will frowned, dropping his hands from her elbows. "Do what?"

She shut her eyes again. "Don't be... you."

That stumped him. Maybe she really did hate him. "I don't know what that means."

"Don't you see?" Mac asked desperately. "I have to go! You have to let me. You have to stop being wonderful."

Will felt like shouting his relief. For the first time, he felt optimistic about the outcome of the evening. "Why are you so sure you have to go?"

He watched a fire grow behind her eyes. She finally straightened up slightly, trying to fight. "If I stay I'm going to destroy you! I'm practically your fucking kryptonite Will! At least Superman had the sense to try and stay away. Though god knows you tried for a while too. When I came back, I thought that maybe... But I just made everything worse. I need to go! Don't you see?" she asked desperately. "Don't you see? It doesn't matter what I want."

"Mac," Will said, his voice low, placing a hand on either side of her against the wall. "Are you telling me that you... That you said those things to... That the only reason you said them was to... provoke me into firing you, because you thought it would be better for me?"

She put her hands on his shoulders, holding his eyes, her expression almost wild in its sincerity. "They're going to drag you through the mud at this trial, Billy! They're going to do it to all of us, but especially you! They'll talk about Brian, about what I did to you, about Afghanistan, about the two of us, about... It's going to be terrible."

The shock was still running through him. Will tried to sort out his thoughts. He'd thought something like this was a possibility, that she'd been particularly cruel to try and goad him, but... His tone turned angry. "And you thought it would be better if I had to go through it alone?"

"You'll have Charlie, and Sloan and the rest of the newsroom," Mac assured him earnestly. "You wouldn't be alone."

Will shook his head violently. Somehow she actually believed that. He didn't give a damn about the rest of them right now. And anyway, soon it wouldn't have made any difference. "I wouldn't have the newsroom very long."

Now it was her turn to grab his arms. "Don't say that Billy. If Leona doesn't fire you before midnight, she probably isn't going to."

He shook his head. "No, I mean I wouldn't have their support for very long. I mean, if they knew I'd even contemplated firing you..."

Mac's face turned stubborn. "I'll tell them I made you do it."

Will laughed, though it wasn't funny. "Even if they believed that, I'm screwed if I go back into that studio without you tonight."

Mac started shaking her head, obviously still intent on denying her role in anything. "Oh you are not! And of course I'm going to go back into the studio tonight. You didn't honestly think I'd just abandon you all in the middle of the show? You didn't really..."

"You're trying to abandon us in the middle of Genoa," Will snapped back.

Mac recoiled like she'd he'd smacked her. "I'm trying to do what's best for the show. For everyone."

"It's not what's best for the show!" he hissed. It couldn't be. He refused to allow that.

Mac's eyes filled with tears again. "Will..."

Will interrupted her. "I can't do this show without you."

She blinked at him in surprise. "Of course you can."

"I can't," Will insisted, reaching up to brush away the tear that had spilled out the corner of her eye. "And you're delusional if you think otherwise."

He watched her face soften again. "Will..."

"No!" he snapped. "Even if I didn't immediately slide back into old habits without you to push me, and that's a big if Mackenzie, I would eventually. Because I wouldn't care. And I wouldn't care who I was disappointing."

Her breath caught. "Will..."

"Do you really think I'm that terrible a person, Mac?" he asked desperately. "When you said... In your office... Do you really hate me that much?"

He watched her tears overflow again. She'd been on the verge of crying for weeks; maybe she just needed to let it out. Maybe he wasn't the one who'd been on the verge of exploding.

"You need to fire me," she said softly.

He barely resisted the urge to shake her, his voice taut and frustrated. "Answer the god damn question Mackenzie." When he'd really thought that she hated him that much, nothing else had mattered. Then, after what she'd said to Taylor he'd thought, maybe...

Mac shut her eyes again and gave up. "I think you have the capacity to be cruel, and sometimes you are. But I think you're mostly wonderful, even though you never seem to notice it. And I think you're probably the best man I've ever known."

Will let his own eyes close as he dropped his head onto her shoulder, a painful joy suffusing through him, he tightened his grip. "You're my closest friend and most trusted partner," he said softly, his heart breaking when he heard her cry out. He should have given her the words every day. He should have made sure that she knew. Now he'd just have to say them again and again now until they sunk into her skin. "You're my closest friend and most trusted partner, Mackenzie," he said again. "My most trusted partner. Always. Always and always and always. That will never change." Then he lifted his head. "And I didn't fire you."

Her eyes popped open and she started to object.

He cut her off. "I didn't fire you. The whole second half of the conversation in your office earlier? It didn't happen. None of it. I'll swear it under oath if I have to."

"You fired me, Will," she reminded him. "I'm not coming into work tomorrow.."

"Then I'll get Leona to sue you for breach of contract. She will too. She threatened to do it to Charlie and me, and she apparently likes you now McMac. I told you, I didn't fire you. And you have no one to say otherwise!"

She stared at him in shock. "Because you told me not to tell anyone!"

Will found himself smirking triumphantly. Even at the height of his anger, he'd known he'd almost certainly want a way out.

"I'll deny the accusation to my dying day, Mackenzie," he said seriously. "Given the amount of mess we're in, do you really want to add to it with internal squabbling?"

Mac tried a different tack. "It would be bad for Jerry's case if someone else got fired."

"That's Leona's decision," Will said. "If she fires Charlie and I, I promise, I'll fire you too. We all go, Mac, or none of us."

She was still staring at him like he'd lost his mind (though for the first time in weeks he finally felt like he'd found it). "So we're like some sort of seriously messed up Three Musketeers?"

"Something like that," Will agreed. He took her hands, and looked right into her eyes. "Stand with us, Mackenzie."

She shook her head softly. "I don't know if I can."

He reached a hand up to cup her cheek. He knew the last two months had been hell for her, but he promised himself he'd make sure the next ones weren't like them. "You can. And if you can't, I'll be there."

She leaned into his touch. "I'm so tired."

He knew she was. Everyone knew she was. "You need to sleep."

Her voice broke. "I can't."

"Call me, and I'll talk you through it." Will urged. God only knew, she'd been there for him each and every night he'd needed a sympathetic ear for over two years now. It was time he repaid the favour.

"Why? So you don't sleep either?" Mac asked sarcastically. "It would be better for you if I left."

"It wouldn't," he assured her again.

She sent him her saddest smile, and Will wondered if he'd ever see her happy again. "Billy, I know you think that, probably because of some misguided sense of loyalty..."

"Not misguided loyalty," He argued. "Fact. I need you."

"Will..."

And Will realised it was time to tell her all of it. "Yours is the only opinion that matters, Mackenzie."

That shut her up.

"God knows, that fact drives me absolutely crazy and some days it completely infuriates me, but it's true. Sometimes I try and pretend that it isn't, or I have doubts and I get confused. Half the time it's half the reason you frustrate me. Because in the end, you're the one who matter, yours is the only opinion that I give a damn about. And if you leave..." He shook his head. When she'd told him she was expecting nothing but punishment, but cruelty, she'd broken him. Then, she'd yelled at Jordan and she'd put him back together. "When you said... when I thought..."

"Billy..."

Her eyes were shining now, and Will pushed his advantage. "I can't let you give up, Kenz. Now it's my turn to light a fire under your ass."

To his relief, he thought he saw a quirk of a smile in the corner of her mouth. He took her into his arms, relieved when she didn't put up a fight.

"I'll probably destroy you in the end," she whispered again.

He shook his head. "It'll destroy me more if you leave," he whispered back.

He felt her burrow ever so slightly closer. "I didn't know that."

"Now you do."

"You did fire me though," she reminded him.

He almost laughed. "I didn't."

"Will..."

And he felt his heart sink to his shoes, another possibility occurring to him. "Do you not want to be my EP anymore? Do you not like it?" he whispered into her ear. "Is it too hard?"

She shook her head against his. "I love being your EP."

Will shut his eyes, the force of the relief overwhelming him a little. "I love that you're my EP."

She made another little choking sound, and Will wrapped his arms around her more tightly.

"You didn't fire me?" she asked hesitantly.

And Will nearly slumped in relief, except that he was afraid that if he did they'd both fall to the floor. "Never."

Mac stood up, wiping her eyes. After a second, they widened in panic as she seemed to remember herself. "Oh god, the show."

Will was quick to reassure. "Elliot's covering."

She stared at him. "With what?"

He smirked. "Decision desk footage."

He thought he saw a twinkle of light in her eyes as she rolled them at him. "Because that was such a success last time."

Will pretended to consider it. "I don't know, it could be a running thing, introduce a little levity into the election coverage."

Now she was almost definitely smiling. "At Elliot's expense?"

"Better him than me," Will said truthfully.

Mac started to smile. Then she remembered something else. "Crap, Taylor."

"I'll fix it," Will assured her.

"Will..."

He squeezed her hand. "I'll ask her if she wants to finish the argument with a few well-placed barbs, or reach some sort of compromise and make up on air, bonding over our shared political values."

After a second, Mac seemed to accept that. "She'll pick the second option."

"I know," he agreed. "It's better PR. For both of us."

"I guess we could use all the good PR we can get," Mack admitted.

Will was so relieved that she was finally looking a little bit more like herself that he pushed it a little farther. "And who knows, maybe the scent of scandal all over us will make our election coverage ratings higher."

"Great," she said dryly, but there was no defeat in her voice this time.

He slid a hand to the small of her back and turned her towards the door. "Come on, Mac. We need to get back."

Just before they stepped into the hallway, she looked up at him. "Hey Will?"

"Yeah?"

He watched her bite her lip, and glance down. "You're not a terrible director of morale."

He felt himself smiling. "I hope you know, I'm handing the job back to you tomorrow."

She glanced back up, her eyes clear. "I know."

"Just so we're clear," Will added.

"We are," she added.

He nodded, happy to leave things there. For now. "Then let's do our show."

xxx

Mac couldn't help feeling pleased when Will walked her back to the control room before turning towards the studio with a final squeeze of her elbow.

She squared her shoulders and slipped inside, smiling as she heard Don assuring Elliot that Decision Desk: Segment 2.0 hadn't been as terrible as it had sounded in his head. She walked up behind the younger producer and placed a hand on his shoulder.

His eyes were surprised when he turned, surprised and a little bit concerned.

She smiled softly and saw his relief.

"Thank you," she whispered

Don sent her a half smile back. "Anytime, Mac."

She nodded before turning to Herb. "How long before the next segment?"

"Just over two minutes thirty," he replied.

"Get me graphics, I want to see them," she ordered, pleased when her control room leapt into action.

She glanced around. This was exactly where she belonged. How could she have forgotten that?

Mac busied herself with her headset while Will took his place at the desk. She ran through the election graphics, and touched base with Don, Kendra and Joey while Will had a word with Taylor. Then she slipped her headset back on, ignoring the curious expressions on Sloan and Elliot's faces at Will's sudden return.

"Okay, listen up guys," she said, smiling to herself when four faces snapped towards her. "We've got about two-thirty before the next segment. I'm going to start by cutting to Will for an update on some of the confirmed races. Elliot, thanks for covering with the tour of the decision desk."

"Of course, Mac," he said immediately, cutting off her thanks. "Don't even mention it."

She nodded to herself, biting her lip when she felt Don squeeze her elbow. "Sloan," she called.

Her friend looked up. "Stop rambling about things if I've forgotten the details?" she guessed.

Mac grinned. "Yup."

"Sure thing, Kenz," Sloan replied easily, ignoring Elliot's chuckling.

Mac took a breath. "Taylor..."

The other woman cut her off. "Mackenzie, I'd like to apologize for my conduct earlier. I went too far."

"No, I'd like to apologize," Mac told her. "It's been a stressful day. Let's just fix it and move on, okay?"

"Sure," Taylor told her, relaxing visibly. Mac heard Jim walk in behind her. She shot him a smile before turning her attention back to the panel.

"Anyway, I think we both know who's to blame for what happened," Mac added. "Will."

"I'm not going to apologize," Will told her, flipping through his notes in front of him.

She smirked. "Did I ask you to?"

"No," he admitted easily.

"Just try not to screw up my show," she replied.

He raised his eyes to the camera. "Our show."

Mac bit her lip. "Our show," she agreed softly, feeling Don place a hand on one shoulder. "No mistakes."

"I heard Charlie's threats," he said dryly. "I have no desire to jump in the river and start swimming."

Mac felt the giggles bubble through her. She ignored the surprise on everyone else's faces. "In that suit?" she teased. "I think not. Just try not to fuck up."

"Yes ma'am," Will murmured easily.

Mac felt Jim move to stand on her other said, his fingers brushing against her elbow, Don still on her other side. She swallowed the lump in her throat. Her boys, her team, her show. "Ten seconds back," she said. "Get ready. And good show."

"Good show, Mackenzie," Will murmured as the countdown started.

She watched the camera pan forward, just as she had a million times before, and for the first time in a week, in her control room with her newsroom standing by, Mac felt right.

And she knew she would stand with them until the end. Whatever happened tomorrow, they would face it together. She couldn't believe she'd forgotten that.

Fresh tears pricking in her eyes, she turned her attention to the man who'd reminded her.

It was time for them to do the news.

"Good evening, this is Will McAvoy with Atlantis Cable News. If you're just tuning in, we're midway through our election coverage..."

xxx

The end

A/N2: So, it's occurred to me, that this need not be a one-shot. It's probably going to depend what happens in the finale in a few hours. And whether there's any interest. (Also, whether people are fine with it going AU, I guess.)

Anyway, hope you liked it!