(A/N: I'm gonna go with Ryan being 17 while Mac is 25. Shoutout to Bondopoulos for pointing me in the right direction! Also, happy Valentine's Day to all you lovelies out there. Big hugs from me to you!)
Mac blinked and stepped just over the threshold. "Dick, why are you in the hospital?"
The blonde boy shrugged. "Car accident." He said it like it wasn't that big of a deal, and Mac narrowed her eyes at him slightly. He didn't look too terribly banged up – there were a few cuts on his face and arms, but nothing major.
"What happened?" She moved closer to him, still studying him for what he might be leaving out.
Dick shrugged again. "Some asshole in a truck hit me and I flipped." He seemed calmer than she expected, but Mac came to the conclusion that he was probably on some kind of drug for pain.
"You flipped… like, you got mad, or…?"
He gave a half laugh, and then winced like Ryan had earlier. "No," he said finally, shaking his head. "The Liberty rolled over. Truck drove off," he paused for a second and looked at her. "It wasn't my fault."
Mac blinked. She'd gotten to know Dick a little bit better through her friendship with Logan, but she had never seen him this serious. Maybe it was because he was in the hospital, clearly in some kind of pain, and also sober, but it really seemed like he wanted her to believe him. She nodded, unable to say anything. Before she got a chance to come up with something, Molly brushed into the room.
"Hey Mac. You know Dick, too?" She smiled kindly at them both before crossing the room to one of the many machines in the room.
"Too?" Dick looked confused. "Uh, Mac? Why are you here?"
She grinned. "Ryan's got a concussion." At the blank look on Dick's face, she continued. "My little brother. He's right down the hall." She shrugged. "Shouldn't be for much longer…"
Dick's eyes snapped up. "Logan's out of town, isn't he?"
Mac nodded, wondering for a second what prompted that segue, before it hit her as well. "Oh. You don't have a ride out of here, do you?"
Dick rolled his eyes and shook his head. "The jeep is totaled. Sucks. I liked that one."
Mac suppressed an eye roll herself. He was as laid-back as ever; the sincere look gone from his face now that they had an audience. Molly was still doing something, but Dick wasn't paying attention. Mac studied him as he shrugged and closed his eyes, leaning back on the pillows behind him. She made a mental note to see if Molly or one of the other nurses would tell her how strong Dick's pain medication was. Molly was a pretty redhead, and Mac hadn't seen him pass up the chance to flirt since… well, since…
"I'll take you home," she blurted, trying to stop the onslaught of memories that always came when she even thought about graduation. "I mean, if you want me to."
Dick opened his eyes, and Mac saw Molly hide a smile. She was fairly sure that the nurse had no idea what the history between the two of them was, which left Mac briefly wondering what it was that Molly was thinking. The thought didn't linger long, because Dick shrugged again.
"That'd be cool," he said, closing his eyes again. "If you're okay with it."
Mac nodded before realizing that he couldn't see her. "Yeah, it's fine. I don't mind." She took a breath. "I'm, um, going to go check on Ryan. He's probably going to get out before you, so I'll come back here after?"
It wasn't really supposed to be a question, but Dick nodded, not opening his eyes. Molly grinned at her, and told Dick that she'd be back in a bit with a doctor. They walked out together, and Molly motioned for Mac to follow her to the nurse's station.
"So I'm not exactly supposed to do this, but he doesn't have any family listed and we didn't call the emergency contact… I just wanted someone to know because I'm pretty sure he won't remember." Molly shrugged. "He's pretty drugged right now."
Mac laughed. "I guessed that. He's… nicer than usual."
"So you two are friends?" Molly put down a few of the files she had in her hands.
Mac winced. "Not quite," she said, thinking quickly. "His best friend is dating my best friend."
Molly nodded. "Fair enough. Anyway, I guess he kind of mentioned it, but he was in a rollover accident yesterday. The other driver fled the scene, but there were witnesses and one of them called an ambulance. He's got some broken ribs, one of which we were concerned about. I don't really want to scare you," Molly paused and looked at Mac before continuing. "He's got several closed splinter fractures, which don't pose a threat to his heart or lungs, but one of them is a jagged open fracture. It's not even close to as bad as it could be, so we'll release him today, but he's going to need to take it easy for the next several weeks at least." Mac nodded, and the nurse continued. "He also got tossed around a bit, so he's dealing with whiplash and bruising right now, but neither of those things are very serious." Molly paused again. "Does he live with anyone?"
Mac nodded slowly. "Logan lives with him, but he's out of town right now. Is it… Can he be alone?"
Molly nodded, and Mac let out a sigh of relief. The nurse laughed and explained that Dick would be fine by himself, but he wouldn't be able to do everyday things for at least the first week. After that, he'd still need to spend the majority of his time in bed, but it would be a little easier and safer for him to move around. Mac nodded, absorbing it all. She agreed with the nurse; Dick wouldn't have remembered all of this information.
Molly was just finishing up when Mac's dad exited the elevator. He grinned at his daughter, and Molly walked with them to Ryan's room. Mac snuck a glance into Dick's room as they passed by, but his eyes were still closed. Mac snuck a glance into Dick's room as they passed by, but his eyes were still closed. Mac caught herself hoping that he wasn't in as much pain as she guessed he was. Broken ribs had to hurt, and they rendered him unable to do the one thing that she knew he enjoyed most – surf. She shook her head, clearing the thoughts. It wasn't her job to entertain him, she remembered.
It was maybe an hour or so before Ryan was officially good to go. He spent the time talking excitedly to his dad about Mac staying for dinner, causing both of them to laugh at Ryan's excitement. Mac guessed that it was more about getting out of the hospital and the promise of pizza than it was her hanging out at home, but she didn't say anything.
She followed them out of Ryan's room, but stopped just past the door. "I'll see you guys at home in a little bit," Mac said as Ryan and her dad started towards the elevator. Ryan nodded, but her dad looked at her curiously. She gave him a half shrug. "A friend of Logan's is here also and doesn't have a way home. I'm just going to give him a ride. It's not going to take too long."
Her dad nodded and gave her a smile, clearly proud that she was being a good friend. That was the thing about her parents, Mac had learned over the years. They wanted their kids to grow up to be good people, even if that meant being late for family time. Mac was grateful for the example they set for her and Ryan; she'd seen how much worse it was when parents didn't care. She told her brother that she'd call him when she left the hospital so that he could order the pizza, and she'd pick it up on her way home. That earned a grin from him and a laugh from her dad before they waved and headed towards the elevator.
Mac waited until she couldn't see them anymore and leaned against the wall outside the room her brother had just vacated before pressing the button to call her best friend. It wasn't like she needed V's permission – or Logan's, for that matter – to be nice to Dick, but time had taught her that it was best to give Veronica information as soon as possible, and Logan was pretty much the only family that Dick had. She knew that, at some point, they would find out what happened, and they were less likely to come home early if Mac assured them that everything was fine.
Veronica answered on the third ring. "Q!"
"Hey, Bond," Mac replied with a smile. "How's it going?"
"It's really nice," Veronica's voice said through the phone. "It's gorgeous and not Neptune, so that's always a plus."
Mac laughed. "Glad to hear it. Is Logan around?"
"Yeah, he's on the balcony," Veronica replied. Mac knew that Veronica's silent question was whether she should go join him or move to where he couldn't hear her reaction.
"Can you put him on speaker? It's nothing bad," she said with a grin. "Well, nothing too bad," she amended quickly.
"Sure, hang on," came the reply, and Mac heard her open a sliding door. "Okay, Mac, you've got us both."
"Hey, Mac." This time, it was Logan's voice that came through the speaker on her phone.
"Hi, Logan. I just wanted you both to know that Dick was in a car accident. He's okay, mostly, but his Jeep is totaled so I'm going to give him a ride home." Mac smiled at a passing nurse before continuing. "And his cell phone is smashed, which is why I'm passing the news along."
"Uh, Mac?" Veronica sounded concerned. "How do you know this?"
Mac laughed and explained how she ran across Dick. The two lovebirds asked a few more questions, and Mac told them everything she knew, which admittedly wasn't much beyond what Molly had told her. Ever the investigator, Veronica wanted to know about the accident, but Mac deferred, telling her she'd have to get that information from her dad. She ended up promising to have Dick call Logan when he got back to his house.
She hung up and stared at her phone for a minute before walking down the hall and stepping into Dick's room. He was awake, so Mac sat down next to him. "Hey, question. Why didn't the hospital call Logan and let him know you were here?"
Dick looked surprised by the question, and then a little sheepish. "I told them not to. I figured that I'd call him, you know, so he didn't have to hear it from some random hospital nurse, but then I found out that my phone was gone and it was too late to change my mind by then." He sighed. "And I forgot that him and Ronnie were off being a couple and that he wouldn't be around anyway, so I wasn't gonna tell him until they got back, so that Logan wouldn't think about coming home early." Dick shrugged and looked away. "No reason to upset Ronnie for nothing."
Mac was a little stunned by the amount of words that had just come out of Dick's mouth, and that none of them had been rude. She shook it off, realizing that Dick was now fiddling with the edge of the sheet.
"Hey, it's not nothing. You were in an accident. Friends care about that stuff," she paused for a second. "Logan wants you to call him when you get home." Dick looked up at her and she gave him a small smile. "Even V sounded concerned until she knew you were okay. And then she sounded pissed about someone getting away with hitting you."
Dick's eyes were a little wider than before, and Mac could only imagine what he was thinking. It wasn't often that Veronica's anger was directed at someone because of Dick; the far more likely scenario was that her anger was directed at Dick. If he didn't look so confused, Mac would have laughed. Instead, she took pity on him and smiled.
"So, the nurse sent your prescription to the pharmacy, which means it should be there by the time you get released. They'll probably tell you this before you leave, but you're going to need to stay in bed for a while. One of your ribs is a little worse than the others, and you could really hurt yourself if you're not careful. So just, you know, take it easy."
Dick grinned. "I can stay in bed all day," he said with an exaggerated wink. Mac rolled her eyes, but couldn't keep from laughing. It was actually a relief; the weird, serious Dick from earlier wasn't normal. She didn't know what it was that pulled him out of the funk he had been in, but she was grateful for it.
/
It took a while longer before the doctors felt comfortable releasing Dick. They wanted to make sure he was awake enough to comprehend what they told him about medication and alcohol and staying in bed. Mac hid a smile when they mentioned the last part, but Dick glanced at her and caught it anyway. She tried not to think about how strange it was that she basically had an inside joke with Dick Casablancas. She focused on first the doctor's words, and then the nurse's, as they outlined the next couple weeks for Dick. Mac sent a quick text to Logan when the nurse said that Dick would need an x-ray in a few weeks, hoping that he'd remember if Dick didn't. It was then that she remembered he was without a cell phone. She waited until they were alone for a moment before bringing it up.
"Hey, Dick? You have a home phone, right? He nodded, and Mac did, too. She wasn't sure if he'd thought it through yet.
"I was kind of thinking that maybe they'd send me a new cell," he said, back to his usual carefree attitude. "Or maybe I'll go get one when Logan gets back." He shrugged. "It's not a huge deal."
She looked at him for a minute before sighing. That was something she still hadn't gotten used to yet. She wasn't rich by any means, but she was getting there. Her company did well and she was good at spending less than she made. Still, the thought of being so relaxed about things like a new cell phone or car still didn't really sit well with her. She drove the same Beetle she'd gotten in high school, and even though it was getting close to time for a new one, the idea made her a little anxious.
"I mean," Dick said, speaking up again. "Usually I use it for takeout or parties. I can't go to parties and I have a laptop and a landline for takeout. I've got video games for the rest of the time. The cell phone can wait."
Mac shrugged. "Whatever you say."
Molly walked back in with a grin and a clipboard. "All we need are a few more signatures, and you two can get out of here." She handed the clipboard to Dick, who started signing, and turned to Mac. "If anything happens in the next 24 hours, let us know, but otherwise, we'll see him in three weeks."
Mac blinked. "I'm, uh… okay…" She turned her attention from the nurse to Dick, who kept his eyes trained on the clipboard in front of him. She narrowed her eyes at him before turning back to the nurse with a smile. "Sure thing. Thanks for being so great today."
Molly grinned, took the clipboard from Dick, and waved as she left the room. Mac watched her leave before turning to Dick.
"Why did she tell me those things?" Mac asked as Dick started the obviously painful process of getting out of bed.
Dick sighed, but Mac assumed that it was more out of pain than at her question. "I told her that Logan was out of town and that she should add you as my emergency contact." He looked up at her, and she swore she saw a hint of uncertainty in his eyes. "Just, you know, until Logan gets back. In case I fall down the stairs and end up back at the hospital."
Mac rolled her eyes but grinned. "Dick, don't fall down the stairs." She shook her head as he started towards the door. "Because seriously, I don't want your housekeeper to find you in a pile."
Dick stopped moving for a second before glancing at her and nodding. She tried not to read too much into what she had just said, or what he might think she was implying. She didn't want Logan to lose another person, was all.
Except, it wasn't all, because as she walked down the hallway next to him and got into the elevator, she had to admit – only to herself, but admit nevertheless – that she didn't really want to lose another person, either.
(A/N: Thanks to everyone that showed some love to the first chapter! (: It really means a lot to me and definitely is motivation to keep writing.)
