Work Text:
There are things that no one told MacKenzie.
No one told her how exhausting it would be, having a baby and a high level job.
Her maternity leave comes to an abrupt end when Charlotte is only five weeks old. Pruitt calls her daily, and she finally packs a diaper bag, calls a car, and shows up in the office, baby Charlie bundled in her arms.
Will's surprised when his wife and daughter appear, his jaw tightening as he snarls, "Pruitt." Mac doesn't answer, but places the baby in his arms and promises she'll be right back (this is a strategic move for many reasons. But mostly because Will can't strangle Lucas Pruitt with his arms full. Pruitt had taken to calling at all hours of the day and night, waking Mac and the baby, and causing Will to design various punishments in his head.)
Forty minutes and a couple of crises averted later, Mac comes to recollect her daughter, slipping into her husband's office. Will doesn't even notice her enter, he's so engrossed in the baby (she's been alive for five weeks, but Mac will still catch him looking at Charlotte in stunned disbelief. He'll brush a reverent finger over her tiny cheeks, count her tiny fingers and toes, and then realize MacKenzie is watching and glance up her, a look of marvel on his face).
Mac clears her throat and his face softens into a smile.
"Everything okay?" He asks. She hums an answer, making her way towards the two of them. He hands the baby to her and then tugs her gently onto his lap, resting his forehead against her shoulder blade. She brushes a kiss to Charlotte's downy head.
"Pruitt's out of line. You two talked, extensively, about this. You were supposed to have more time than this," Will's voice is soft, which only surprises her slightly. Since Charlotte was born, everything is softer, including, and maybe especially, Will.
"We knew that my getting a full maternity leave was a pipe dream," Mac says. Don was covering her office for her, but he was stretched thin, and he tried to call less than Pruitt, but he was calling pretty regularly too. It was not a restful time, it was not the post baby bliss she thought it would be.
That was another thing no one told her about. No one warned her that she would be on the edge of tears constantly. That when the baby wouldn't stop crying, and Will was at work, and her phone wouldn't stop ringing, she would want to just lock herself away in her closet with her hands over her ears as tears streamed down her face.
Will doesn't say anything, instead he reaches around her to run his hand over the top of Charlotte's head and presses a kiss to MacKenzie's back.
"I think I'm going to come back to work," Mac says gently. "I'll bring Charlotte with me. I'm the boss, I can do that." She cracks a smile in his direction, tilting her head and looking so adorable that he can't help himself, he tangles his hand in her hair and kisses her hard.
"Whatever you want to do," he tells her. "I'm behind whatever decision you make."
She nods, her attention on Charlotte, asleep in her arms. She runs a finger down Charlotte's tiny nose, and leans down and drinks in the scent of her daughter.
She wouldn't be able to leave Charlotte. Not all day, not yet, but she can put a bassinet in the corner of her office and when Charlie gets a little bigger they can look into hiring a nanny to help Mac out. (She doesn’t think bringing a baby to board meetings will go over well, although when she mentioned this to Leona, Leona had shrugged and said, “Fuck them. I used to bring Reese all the time.” But Mac feels like she’s holding onto this job with just her fingertips, and she doesn’t want to rock the boat. She’ll get a nanny to watch Charlie and to help them out.
Not yet, though. Pruitt can deal with her bringing her daughter to meetings with her for the time being. Particularly since she is supposed to have a few more weeks at the very least.)
"You staying for awhile today?" Will asks and she climbs carefully to her feet.
"I think so. We're here, aren't we?" The baby's eyes blink open, and Mac shifts her so that Will can see her little face.
"Hi, sweet pea," Will's voice softens. It's a voice Mac has only ever heard him use with Charlotte, and it makes her love her husband even more.
No one told her she would fall more in love with Will every day.
Will is just as amazing of a father as she thought he would be. He keeps saying that she’s a natural, but she feels so totally incompetent and out of her element most of the time. She feels like crying all of the time.
Absolutely no one told her it would be this hard.
But it's worth it, it is.
She thinks it might be better after she goes back to work. She's good at her job. She was nervous, really nervous that she would let everyone down when she first started. Charlie's shoes were big shoes to fill, and she still had her doubts about her ability to lead the ship while fighting a constant battle with Pruitt.
But she's good at it. She knows how to handle Pruitt (she’d like to think it’s due to her years of experience handling Will), she’s managed to protect Will’s show and Elliott’s show, and has even been successful in convincing Pruitt to drop some of his more asinine ideas.
At home there are times when she’s feeling overwhelmed with the baby and she hasn’t spoken to another adult in hours and it’s not awful, except that it’s awful. It might be good to be at the office where she knows she’s doing a good job (and when Charlotte isn’t crying, and Mac has gotten a little more sleep, and Will is there watching her feed Charlie with an utterly besotted look on his face, she thinks they might just be okay at this. They might even actually be great).
“Mind watching her while I run to HR to deal with a few things?” Mac asks, even though she knows what the answer is going to be.
“Of fucking course,” Will replies and she uses her free hand to swat him on the side of the head.
“Language, Will!” She admonishes. She’s trying to be better at it too. Charlotte is a ways off from speaking, but she figures it’s going to take both of them a while to be able to phase the word “fuck” out of their vocabulary.
“Sorry, Jesus,” he mutters, reaching for the baby, who Mac hands over after brushing a kiss to the top of Charlotte’s head.
“I’ll be back in a little while,” Mac tells him, leaning down to give him a kiss.
“Take your time,” he tells her, and she’s already been dismissed, she can tell. His attention is on the baby, and Mac would be annoyed if she wasn’t so damn happy. He looks up as she crosses the room, and gives her a gentle smile. “We’ll be right here.”