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“Hey.” Maggie says down the phone to Jim at the other end. “You know how we were supposed to go to visit your parents this Christmas.” Maggie says getting right to the chase.
“Yeah.”
“Well… None of the DC anchors want to work on Christmas because it’s Christmas and they’d much rather be do Christmas-y things on Christmas. So-”
“Marnie said, hey Maggie because you’re young and don’t have a family can you anchor on Christmas day?”
“Well, words to that effect.”
“And you said yes.”
“Yeah, and I know it was supposed to be our first Christmas together and your mom was-”
“Maggie.”
“And I don’t want her to hate me.”
“Yeah?”
“She’ll understand.” Jim says with a small pride filled smile on his face.
“Good.” Maggie says still grinning a little from the anticipation of it all.
“Congradulations.”
“Thanks.”
-
“Mommy, Auntie Maggie is behind daddy’s desk!” Charlotte exclaims from in front of the television.
“Is she?” Mac asks her over excited daughter, maybe letting her have that much chocolate was a bad idea.
“Yes!” And she’s got your clothes on!”
“Has she?” Mac asks looking up at the TV screen and seeing Maggie wearing the suit that she made her keep after her Boston coverage.
“Is Maggie on?” Will asks walking into the living room wearing a ‘kiss the chef ’ apron.
“ummhmm.” Mac confirms with a nod of her head.
“How’s she doing?”
“She’s really good!” Charlotte smiles.
“Is she?” Will asks playfully.
“She’s definitely hitting the target.” Mac says agreeing with Charlotte.
“There’s nothing like great teachers kindle natural talent.”
“It’s a shame she only had one of those.” Mac smiles as Will wraps his arm around her.
-
“Everybody mini McMcMcMac’s on.” Leona calls grabbing the remote and switching the television on as Becca and Nancy follow her towards the TV.
“You know what would be a great idea?” Becca asks placing the joint between her lips. “We should try and get a tweet on.” She says looking at the tasteful scroll of tweets at the bottom of the screen most of which are wishing people a merry Christmas.
“That, we should do that.” Nancy agrees.
“Where’s my phone?” Lee asks looking through her pockets.
“My pocket.” Becca replies without moving.
“Well can I have it?”
“Yes, yes you can.” Becca says still not moving her hands.
“Becca!”
“Here it is.” Becca replies handing Leona the phone. “I’m going to write something about Mini MacMcMc doing my cable news station proud.”
“You don’t own it any more.” Nancy says gently.
“Not yet, but soon.” Leona replies with a menacing look in her eyes.
“You’re going to buy back ACN?” Nancy asks.
“Soon, very soon.” She takes a beat. “I should include that in the tweet.”
“As your lawyer I should advise you against that, but as your undefined companion, I am fully behind you doing that.” Becca says
“It’s up!” Leona calls a few minutes later pausing the television to capture the end of the tweet. “Ooo someone’s calling me.” She says looking at her phone light up on the coffee table. “It’s my stupid son, do you know where he is this year? Skiing with his fiancee’s family. His finance, 38 years old and he’s finally- “
“Answer the phone.” Becca says interrupting her.
“Reese.” Leona says putting the phone to her ear.
“What the hell did you just tweet?” Reese yells on the other end loud enough for the majority of New York to hear.
-
“She looks good.” Sloan states resting her head against her husband’s shoulder.
“Mmm.” Don agrees, (but not too readily) as he glances down at his very pregnant wife.
“Seriously, is it something she’s done with her hair?”
“I think she’s wearing a lighter shade of lipstick.”
“That’s it.” Sloan replies.
“Remember when she first started at ACN?”
“No.”
“Really, she started about a month after you?”
“Hey, the first I remember of her she was making out with you behind the control room.”
“Ah.”
“That was when I came back to ask you for coffee.”
“What?”
“After you became EP of Right Now and we had that conversation, I was about to go home but then I turned around to ask you out for coffee but then I saw you making out with Maggie.”
“I-”
“But you know what? If you hadn’t gone out with Maggie and 16 other things hadn’t happened in exactly the right order; then I doubt I’d be sitting here with a human inside me and my head on your shoulder watching my friend anchor her first show.”
“I reckon you might be.” Don says looking at her like she’s all the stars in the sky. “Some magnetism or force of nature would have shoved us together in another way. Trust me, it’s pretty solid science.”
“Oh is it really?” Sloan says biting her lip.
“Yeah, it’s physics and psychology and possibly biology, definitely chemistry.”
“Considering that neither of us are made of metal, I have to say my theory has a little more weight to it.”
“You’re ignoring the fact that I am secretly Iron Man.”
“Iron Man himself isn’t made of metal-” She starts about to go full comic book nerd on him before he kisses her.
“Your lack of knowledge on comic book characters is terrifying.” She says pulling away briefly before locking lips with him again.
-
Text: Neal, your Internet friends are disgusting, terrible, horrific people who should be exiled to an island somewhere far, far away from civilisation.
Text: Merry Christmas, Jim! You do realize that not all of the people on the Internet are my friends don’t you?
Text: Somewhere in the back of my mind, I do but you are still the most obvious person to blame.
Text: I’m still not exactly clear what you’re blaming me for.
Text: ACNhotblonde is trending on twitter.
Text: They talking about Maggie?
Text: Well I think so, considering the hashtag is full of screenshots of her.
Text: You do realize that none of that was my fault?
Text: Rationally, yes. Yes I do know it isn’t your fault and that you can’t stop it. But I am still asking you to.
Text: I’ll see what I can do (and by that I mean I’m pretending to do something).
Text: I appreciate your honesty.
-
“Hey, good show!” Jim says as he meets Maggie by the elevators.
“You think so?”
“Yeah. Definitely. Absolutely. You were on fire out there.” Jim says still slightly overwhelmed.
“I’m glad you think so.” She smiles linking her hand in his as they step into the elevator.