Disclaimer: I don't own Veronica Mars, but I watch it every night.

Another late night partying...it was starting to get a little old for Dick. But at least he knew that after high school, the parties just got better. It wasn't like he was leaving Neptune anyway, though. He didn't like to go far from home, so being at the Neptune Grand was still going to happen. It was just going to be without a bunch of his friends that were ready to fly out of Neptune over the summer.

"Hey Dick!" Josh called over, a cup of beer in his hand. Dick turned his head around and immediately regretted it when the room spun.

"Dude!" he yelled when Josh stumbled over the carpet, spilling his beer on Dick's knee. "These are freakin' new pants!" He jumped up from the couch he was sitting on and glared at Josh. "What the hell did you want to say to me?"

"Where's your brother?" Josh asked.

"How the hell should I know?" Dick replied angrily. "He's probably in a room with that chick, 'getting busy'" He added exaggerated quotes to the last words. Dick's anger was forgotten as he and Josh laughed, imagining Beaver with a girl. Any girl would suffice, really, but that chick and Beaver were so awkward with each other it was hilarious.

"Hey Madison!" Dick yelled, crossing over the room to his ex-girlfriend. "Wanna go to a room and hook up?"

"Hm," Madison said, "On a scale of one to ten? About a NO" she said, her voice dripping with disgust. She turned around and walked out of the room. In pure Dick fashion, he tilted his head and watched her back - or, slightly lower than that (he had to admit it was pretty fine) - and in pure Madison fashion, she turned her head around and glared.

"Right back atcha babe!" Dick howled, giving Madison the double thumbs up. He turned to the keg in the room and got a red plastic cup, filling it to the brim with some strong beer. He took a swig and howled again, suddenly feeling elated.

"Man, this stuff is AWESOME!" he shouted to Nate who looked like he was passed out behind the couch. Nate lifted his head a few inches off of the ground, mumbled something incoherent and put his head back down.

After ten or so - or was it twenty or so? - more beers, Dick was officially hammered. And really tired too. The last thing he remembered was kicking Austin Mathers off the couch and falling asleep on his stomach, splayed out on the couch.

The sounds of "Don't Cha?" filled the now quiet room as Dick's cell phone started ringing.

"Shit", he muttered, being jolted awake by the Pussycat Dolls. He fumbled around for a minute while trying to remember where he had put his phone until he finally found it in his back pocket.

"Veronica Mars" read the screen. Dick almost didn't pick it up. What the hell was Ronnie doing calling him in the middle of the night? Everyone had left; even Nate had managed to get a ride.

"Ronnie? What the hell?" he said, his voice seeming too loud and hurting his head.

"Dick?" The wasn't the Veronica Dick knew. The Veronica he knew was sassy and always had a good comeback line. This one sounded like she had been crying. "Dick, it's Cassidy."

"Who?" Dick asked, momentarily forgetting his own brother. "Oh, Beaver!"

"He, he, he -" Veronica didn't finish.

"What? What did he do this time? Or, who did he do?" Dick laughed at his own joke as he began to wake up.

"Dick he's dead." Veronica blurted out with a sob.

"What?"

"He jumped off the roof and he's dead."

"Oh my god. When?"

"About ten minutes ago. Dick, I'm so sorry."

"Were you there?"

"What?"

"When he jumped, were you there?"

"I...yes"

"Why didn't you stop him?"

"Dick, I couldn't...he just did it."

"Bitch."

Dick slammed the phone shut. Gone? Gone wasn't a word in Dick's vocabulary. He always had what he wanted; it was the advantage of being a rich boy. But Beaver was his only family, the only person Dick actually cared about. And he was gone. Every bad thing Dick had ever done to Beaver - and there were a lot of things - he wished he could take back. Dick couldn't breathe. Beaver was dead. And Dick was all alone, hung-over, in a hotel room in the Neptune Grand. He was pathetic.

Dick cried.