Remember WENN and it's characters are copyright Rupert Holmes, Howard Meltzer prods, and AMC. No infringement is intended. Story is mine. :-)

This story takes place during the overnight period in Mr. & Mrs. Singer, when Mackie takes Hilary home. This isn't the Mackie/Hilary story I've got in the works.. this one just kinda happened. :-)

Friendly Comforts

By Michele Savage (3/00)

Mackie cast a worried glance at his passenger. Hilary hadn't said a word since they left the station, just stared out at the passing road. She was in shock--heck, they all were. What was Jeff thinking?

He pulled into the driveway of the house he shared with an elderly couple. He stopped the car and got out. "Hilary you-" He stopped speaking when he noticed Hilary hadn't bothered to get out of the car.

He opened her car door and bent to her level. The emptiness he saw in her face scared him. He'd never seen her so lifeless. "Hilary, hon, you coming?" Silence. He reached in and squeezed an arm between her back and the seat, "Come on, Hilary. The house is much more comfortable than the car."

He walked with her leaning against him to his entrance at the back of the house. Mackie opened the door and led her in. "I know it isn't much but it's home," he said cheerfully. Still no sound from Hilary. He walked with her to the couch and helped her sit. "Would you like some tea? Coffee maybe?"

Her lifeless staring was beginning to scare him. "Damn you Jeff, remind me to kill you next time I see you," he thought. He went back into the kitchenette and poured two glasses of ice tea. He offered one glass to Hilary who took it and drank as if she were on automatic.

"I can turn on the radio," Mackie offered, and walked to his Philco to switch it on. That was a mistake. Betty had apparently thrown on some "reruns" to compensate for the downhill state that day had gone. Amazon Andy was playing. The moment Hilary recognized Jeff's voice she began to softly cry. Mackie turned off the radio as soon as he heard Jeff's voice. "I'm sorry, Hil--"

She was huddled in the corner of the couch, nearly curled in a ball and sobbing now very heavily. He rushed to her, "it's okay. I'm here. You cry it out."

She buried her face into his shoulder and cried until she had no tears left. She finally sat with a rather undignified sniffle and looked at Mackie. "Oh, Mackie, what am I going to do?" She took the handkerchief that he offered and blew her nose.

"Why did this happen?" she asked, trying to make her head understand what her heart could not. "What did I do wrong?"

"I don't know, hon, I didn't see anything wrong." Mackie told her trying himself to understand it. "Jeff never gave any indication that you weren't the only woman in his life." It made no sense, Mackie thought. Yeah they fought like cats and dogs, but he'd never seen any emotion but love for Hilary in Jeff's eyes.

Frankly, he'd always been rather jealous of their relationship. It had been the most stable one he'd ever known. He stood, "Are you hungry? I can rustle us up some grub."

"I don't think I can eat. My stomach is too... I can't eat."

"Okay," Mackie said. "Suit yourself, pardner," he continued the 'western" voice as he walked into the kitchen. He found enough ingredients for two sandwiches, thinking he'd make enough for Hilary anyway. In case she was hungry.

He walked back into the living room and saw she had taken her shoes off and was walking around the house, looking it over.

"So, you approve?" he asked with a smile in his voice.

She turned, fingered away a stray tear, and replied, "It's comfortable. I like it."

Mackie smiled, "Well, the Jackson's live in the front half. That wall there is the divider. I pay them rent and take care of the yard work and they don't complain about me living here."

He was glad to hear her laugh, even if it was a weak one. "Sure you don't want a sandwich?" he offered again.

She sat again on the couch, "Okay, if it will make you happy." She took the sandwich from him and curled lengthways back up on the couch to eat it. "This is good ham. It tastes fresh" She asked.

"It is." He answered, "from Mrs. Jackson's hog farm. They share the meat from a kill with me." He suddenly realized he wasn't talking to 'one of the guys'. "Er, I'm sorry."

"Fresh from the butcher, eh?" Hilary replied with a smile, "Mmm, my favorite. There's nothing like truly fresh meat."

Mackie gave her a surprised look.

She glanced at him, "My mother's family raised cows. We always had fresh meat when I was a little girl."

"Really?" Mackie said surprised.

"Yes, really." She took a deep breath, "I remember begging my father once when I was about seven to go with grandfather to take some of the cows to be butchered. Of course Daddy said no countless times. Mother even objected too." She shrugged, "I wanted to know where all the meat came from."

She smiled at the memory, "so I snuck into the trailer and nearly got trampled on the trip to the slaughterhouse." She laughed, "Grandfather was furious at me when he saw me. And to teach me a lesson, he let me watch as they slaughtered all the cows that I had just been riding with." She sighed, "Mackie, I cried for weeks and refused to eat meat for several years."

Mackie smiled, "Some lesson, huh?"

Hilary smiled wanly and wrapped her arms around her knees, "I guess. It taught me that everything that came into my life was somehow temporary. I felt as if I had sentenced those poor cows to death, just because I wanted to ride along."

She fell silent for several long moments, then quietly spoke, "I never thought Jeffrey would be temporary." She took a deep breath, "I should never have let myself get in too deep with him; and without fail, just like every other thing in my life, he left. Temporary." She lay her head on her knees, "I guess I'm just one of those people who can't keep happiness."

Mackie moved to sit in front of her to her, "Hilary, don't say that. You have your friends. You have me. I'm not going away."

"Thank you Mackie," she leaned into the warm embrace he offered. "Why can't I stop loving Jeffrey," she asked beginning to cry again. "Do you know, he's the only man I married that I ever truly loved."

"I didn't know that." Mackie replied, wanting to keep her talking.

She nodded against his shoulder, "The other's were ... well, career moves." She laughed bitterly, "Stupid ones at that." She sat as a thought occurred to her. "I was a career move." Her tears began fresh again, "I was just a stepping stone for him."

Mackie took a deep breath, "Hilary that's ridiculous. If Jeff was going to marry someone for his career, he'd have chosen someone who was more widely known."

Hilary's shoulder's dropped and she glared at Mackie, "Thanks a lot."

"I..I didn't mean it like that Hil," Mackie quickly tried to correct his blunder, "I meant.."

"I know what you meant." She stood and walked to the wall she'd been looking at previously, "it's just hard to admit to myself that I'm not... my career isn't what it used to be."

"Or what it ought to be." Mackie walked behind Hilary, "You going to be okay?" He noticed she shrugged subtly, then changed the subject.

Hilary pointed to a picture of a man and a woman on the wall, "Your parents?"

"Yeah."

She sighed, "they look happy." She bowed her head and wiped away another tear. "I've got to stop this!" she snapped, angry at herself for crying.

"You've got to let it out, Hilary." Mackie urged as she stalked past him and sat back onto the couch.

"You have a deck of cards?" She suddenly asked.

"Sure," he walked to his kitchen and pulled the box of cards out of his "junk" drawer. He handed the cards to Hilary and sat, wondering what she was up to.

She opened the box, shuffled the cards and smiled, "Gin?"

A slow smile spread across Mackie's face, "Only for money."

"You're on."

They played for several hours before Mackie finally gave in. "Okay, you have $50 bucks, I know when I'm lost." He smiled as Hilary sat back onto the couch with a smugly satisfied grin.

"Where did you learn to play like that?" Mackie asked her.

"My father." Hilary said with a yawn. She stood, "I should go home." Her eyes clouded for a moment and she sat with a heavy sigh. "I don't want to go home."

"You can sleep in my bed." Mackie offered.

Hilary raised an eyebrow, "Mackie Bloom!"

He reddened slightly, "I'll sleep on the couch."

She stood and smiled. Dropping a kiss on his forehead, Hilary said, "Thank you Mackie. For being a friend."

He smiled, "You just get some sleep."

Hilary sighed, "Yes, tomorrow is as good a time as any to contemplate," she made a grand sweeping gesture, "life." She moved to the doorway of the room Mackie had pointed out to her, "goodnight, Mackie."

"Goodnight,Hilary."

The End