The scene at the beach of Season 3 - Episode 19, with the slight alterations...
There will be more of a romantic relationship to develop between Mac and Dick but I thought I would stay true to the characters (as true as I could be) and not let it go too fast. I'm really not sure where I'm going with this story but read and review. Hope you enjoy! :)
Rated M for possible future scenes..
They are all gathered round the small beach fire, Logan, Dick and Mac on one side and Veronica, Piz and Wallace on the other. "So Veronica, you looking forward to your internship at the the FBI?" Mac asked, she knew how excited Veronica was so she liked to remind her from time to time.
"Absolutely I can't wait, some time away from Neptune, who wouldn't want that?' Veronica finished, noticing Piz' disheartened look and added "Of course I'll miss all you guys" and put her arm around her boyfriend, it brought a smile to his face.
"Aww we'll miss you too Ronnie!" Dick took the emotion out of the conversation by blowing Veronica a kiss in a mock tone.
"Not you Dick". Veronica added as quick as she could. They both started laughing, sure they had they're problems but they could always have a laugh together, dating Logan meant that Veronica had to always put up with Dick anyway, she had started getting used to him in a way.
"Honestly, we might be too busy getting stoned and playing Halo to notice" Logan joked and high-fived Dick. Of course he would miss Veronica but their new description of friends meant it wouldn't be the best idea for her to know that.
"Oh, the joys. What will I do without being passed the sweaty joypad after Dick's finished playing?"
"Pure concentration is what I call it" Dick retorted.
"Pure disgusting is better description. Besides when do you ever focus on anything long enough to start sweating", just as she saw the gleam in Dick's eyes, knowing full well what he was going to say, she interrupted before he could start - "Don't answer that!".
There was a few laughs and giggles. Conversation carried on just as Mac excused herself, "I'm gonna get some more wood guys, fire's running low".
"Hey Mac, wait up!" Dick shouted, realizing this was his best opportunity to get the conversation he wanted to have with her out of the way whilst the whole group were relaxed."I know you and me haven't always been like best buds but wanna know why?" Dick can feel that this conversation is going to be awkward, so figures it's best to cut straight to the point.
"Not really" Mac replies, still slightly irritated remembering some of the stuff he has said to her in the past.
Dick ignores the blatant 'I don't want to talk to you' tone in her voice and carries on otherwise he will never get this out. "Because you were both so smart, you and Beav, and I could tell you know? That you thought I was an idiot." The look on Mac's face seems to confirm it. "So I figured my best bet was to, you know how the best defence is a good offence so I thought...". Dick stops their slow pace short and turns to her, attempting to be serious but there's only so much serious that Dick Casablancas can get to. He touches her shoulder to try and get it across. "The way I treated you and Beav was totally uncool and I'm totally sorry for all of those things I said".
Mac realizes that this may be the first apology Dick has ever said in his life so decides to put him out of his misery "Yeah, okay. I accept it."
"That's cool. You're so cool." He smiles at her. "I get it now, what my brother saw in you". He probably shouldn't have let that slip out.
Mac begins to feel uncomfortable with the mentioning of Cassidy, the last time they had spoke about him, Dick said that Cassidy had only used her as a beard and never really cared about her. Mac starts the slow pace off again "Yeah.." was all that she could think "Dick, why are you saying all of this now?".
"I guess because my Dad's back in town. I started thinking about all the people he screwed over, then about all the people I screwed over. I'll never get the chance to make it up to Beav and I guess you were pretty high on the list too so.."
Mac contemplated over that, was Dick Casablancas truly remorseful? Huh, who would have thought it? They walked a few more steps whilst she was mulling things over in her head. Dick was still focused on the conversation he had planned, it wasn't over yet but he wasn't looking forward to the next part. Sure, he could mention his brother in passing as his brother but talking about him in the other perspective still hurt.. "And I'm sorry".
"Yeah, it's okay, like I said. I accept it" Mac seems slightly confused, isn't he just going over the same thing here? But she can tell there's is something different to him, a sadness in his voice that starts to make her take him more seriously.
"No..." Dick takes a deep sigh in. "I'm sorry for what he did to you... Logan told me. The hotel room? The shower curtain". "Oh." Mac feels incredibly uncomfortable. "What he did, it was disgusting. That wasn't the Cassidy I knew". Dick may have never been close to Cindy but when he pictured the scene in his head as he had so many times, often in his dreams recreating the night his brother killed himself over and over again. He always felt truly sick when he saw how Beaver left her there for hours. Mac wasn't the type of girl to have slept with all of Neptune High so it must have wrecked her for Beaver to take everything from her and leave her with nothing. It made him sick to think about it. "I don't know why he did that -"
"Like you said I was just his cover. I suppose people don't care about their covers" she said it so simply, like that was all there was to it that it truly hit Dick how much she was affected by what happened as well as he was.
"No, Mac. Never listen to me. You were more than that to him"
"Yeah.."
"I know you were." Dick can see the damage his careless words have done, he tries to think of a way he can set it straight and reassure her when it clicks into his mind.
"You know how?" he started laughing at some distant memory. "Beav used to talk in his sleep, I bullied him for it a lot. I can't say I could tell what he was saying often but sometimes it would come through - clear as day 'Cindy Mckenzie' and when it did, he always smiled in his sleep".
Mac was shocked, she didn't quite know what to say. For one she didn't think she'd ever heard Dick say her full name so maybe the story was true maybe he had heard her name from Cassidy. "Thank you Dick". She smiled, knowing that information only confused her more about who Cassidy truly was but in her mind there were two separate answers to that question, there was the Cassidy that she knew. The one who had that sweet boyish smile, who was bullied too often by his older brother and awful at teaching Maths but who was really smart and kind and who she really cared about and who was bringing a sad smile to her face even whilst she was thinking about him. Then there was the other answer that she didn't like to think of too often and now was not one of those times.
They had finally reached the wood they were supposed to be bringing back, they must have been walking slower than they thought. With the nice memory of Cassidy lingering in the air, the conversation changed so they were more relaxed around one another. Dick seemed happy that Mac was accepting his apology, he knew it was the right thing to do and in a way it felt like paying respects to his brother to be getting along with the girl that meant so much to him.
They had a couple pieces each and were on their way back "So what's in store for the surfer dude this summer?"
"Answered your own question there Mackster."
"Surfing. All summer?"
"What else does a rich handsome guy such as myself have to do?" Dick said flicking his hair in collision with the joke. "Plus, seeing my Dad, I guess he wants to hang out for a while before getting jailed up". Swiftly changing the subject "And you Mac-Attack, computer nerd of Neptune. Your summer?"
"Boredom. Working here and there with IT jobs. Veronica isn't going to be around and Parker's going home over the summer so I'll be pretty lonered".
"You should come and hang out with me and Logan". Neither Mac nor Dick expected that sentence to come out of his mouth but they seemed to be getting along pretty well, it was comforting talking about Cassidy together and Dick did still feel like getting along with her was a respect to his brother.
"Yeah, sure. We should sort that out sometime" Mac shrugs nonchalantly.
They had reached back to the beach fire, throwing their logs onto the fire and joining back into the group conversation, both feeling fairly positive about the way their conversation went and dare they say considering actually being friends with one another and not just acquaintances?