Disclaimer: I don't own Veronica Mars, or any of these characters. But how cool would that be?

He hadn't counted on this. If he had only known it would happen, everything would be different. But forgetting about everything else would be impossible, and he was too far into it to turn back now. He wished he could. For her sake. And now, at the edge, the only thing going through his mind is how he couldn't make her happy.

He didn't know how it happened. Just one day, there she was, and all of a sudden Cassidy Casablancas had a girlfriend. An older girlfriend, at that. That was automatic respect from the other junior guys. Years of being called Beaver, teased by Dick, Dick's friends, and, even his own father, even that couldn't keep him down anymore. He finally felt happy to be alive. And it was all because of Cindy Mackenzie. Mac, to her friends. He knew she was perfect as soon as he met her. After all, she was one of the only girls at Neptune High with at least half a brain. And she was cool. Really cool. He knew he could really be himself around her, a feat that had not yet been accomplished with anyone else.

"So, Mac. What's going on with you lately?" Veronica asked. "You seem so happy…it's all very 'Brady Bunch'."

"Remember when Marsha met Davy Jones?" Mac asked. "It's like that." She smiled.

"Ah ha! I knew it. I should get paid more for this; I really am an excellent detective. So, who is he?"

Mac rolled her eyes. "Don't you know, Sherlock?" Veronica waited for an answer. "Yes, well, I wouldn't pay you more than a dollar for your investigating services, you're horrible. You can't even figure out the Romeo to my Juliet. The Tristan to my Isolde. The Jack to my Rose. The…"

Veronica cut her off. "The David Cassidy, if you will, to every teenaged girl in the seventies?"

Mac raised her eyebrows, clearly impressed. "You're a better detective that I gave you credit for."

"Yes, well, to be quite honest, Beaver already told me." She shrugged.

"He doesn't like to be called that, you know." Mac told her.

"Sorry, you're right. Old habits die hard." Veronica replied.

"Actually, I don't mind. Just don't call him that to his face. It seems to upset him." Mac smiled.

"Yes, I wonder why." Veronica remarked sarcastically.

Mac giggled and twirled her blue streak of hair around her index finger. "Is my giddy girlish behavior weirding you out?"

"A little. But don't worry. I'm so the same way. You know, smiling all the time, giggling, doodling hearts and writing 'Mrs. Duncan Kane' all over my homework. We all do it."

"Is he coming back?" Mac was referring to Duncan's recent departure to who knows where, after kidnapping his and his dead ex-girlfriend's baby. Veronica's expression quickly changed from cheerful to sad. "I'm sorry." Mac apologized. "I didn't mean to pry. It's none of my business."

"It's okay. He's not. But don't worry about me. I'm fine, really. It needed to be done. Meg's parents are crazy. I wouldn't want her raised that way." She shrugged and shook her head.

"What did he name her?"

"Lilly." Veronica smiled.

"I should've known." Mac replied as she opened her laptop, and quickly closed it again when she remembered her desktop background was remarkably similar to Veronica's homework doodles. Just…minus the Duncan part.

"Dude. What is up?" Dick asked in his usual surfer dude speak, pushing his shaggy blond hair out of his eyes.

"I don't know man. Can't explain it." Cassidy grinned and looked at the floor.

"All's I know is you're way weird. I mean, I've always known you were weird, but this is, like, major weird." Dick was never one for deep conversations. His vocabulary was pretty much limited to chicks, surfing, and video games. "It's freaking me out, man. You're even kicking my ass at this." He motioned towards the television at the game they were playing.

"Dick, don't try to think too hard, you'll hurt yourself." Logan Echolls said as he plopped down on the couch after returning from getting a soda from the kitchen. "It's pretty clear to me, that our precious Beaver has a…what do you call it? Oh yeah, a girlfriend. Sorry. It's been so long, I forgot what they were called."

"Whoa. Dude, you were totally plowing my step-mom." Dick remarked.

"Yeah, well. It wasn't exactly a long-term romance." Logan replied, shrugging.

"So the Beav's got a woman, huh?" Dick asked, rubbing his fist into Cassidy's hair. "It's about time, little bro! I was starting to get worried about you. I mean, I totally gave you the chance to nail Ronnie at Shelly's party, and when you passed that up, I started to wonder if you might be queer bait. But I had faith in you all along."

Cassidy's face fell.

"Who is she?" Logan asked.

"None of you business. I don't want to talk about it." Cassidy said, throwing down his controller and leaving the room. He headed upstairs and slammed his door behind him.

"Dude. What a girl." Dick laughed.