And here, ladies and gentlemen is the promised next chapter. Btw, this is dedicated to Broodyleytons who kept me writing both through her awesome comments and amazing stories. If you have some time go check out her story 'A New kind of Love Story'. Seriously good stuff. Just don't forget to read this one as well!!

Disclaimer - All characters and places belong to the amazingly cool people who came up with Veronica Mars and made all of our lives a little more interesting.

Two weeks. That was the running count in Dick's head. The count of how long it had been since Mac had been normal. He'd seen many different sides to her over the years. He'd seen her in her weakest moments and her proudest ones, but he'd never seen her like this. She was completely and totally focused on the case, obsessed even. All she did all day was sit at her laptop and go over notes, or when she ventured out it was to check out leads. Not even Veronica could get her to take a break.

Much to his disdain Veronica had taught Mac how to use all the surveillance equipment, and given her tips on stakeouts and questioning suspects. Her excuse was that she understood how Mac felt, and the only way to get their friend back to normal was to let her deal with this. But she wasn't Veronica, she hadn't been doing this for years. If you asked Dick it wasn't safe for her to be out there trying to figure out who'd blown up a fucking police station! He was constantly worried about her, even now when he was supposed to be paying attention to what his companies' financial advisor was saying. The man had been going on about a deal with another company for ever, and Dick hadn't heard a word of it.

"Mr. Casablancas? Sir?"

The voice startled Dick out of his thoughts. "Yes Rowling?"

"I asked if you would go ahead and approve the deal with Mr. Hodges company."

Dick shook his head in an attempt to snap back into reality. "Right, Hodges company. I thought we decided that his proposal wasn't firm enough."

"He sent a new one."

"Put it on my desk, I'll read it later." Stupid people and their stupid business proposals. Dick's company was the largest investment firm in Neptune, everyone bowed to his hold over the retail market, but that also meant that everyone wanted a piece of it. Hodges was the newest in a long list of people who wanted to buy into his success. That stroked his ego more then a little, but at the moment he was too worried about Mac to care.

Thank God it was nearing five o'clock, and soon he'd be able to head over to Mac's house and check up on her. He didn't know how Logan survived feeling like this all the time. Dick was a very traditional guy, in his mind the men were supposed to do the dangerous stuff and protect the women. Not the other way around. The memory of when he'd suggested that to Mac ran through his mind, making him shiver. There was no way he was going to bring that up again.

He gathered his things quickly after Rowling left, and headed out to his car. This whole 9 to 5 job thing wasn't anything like what he expected to be doing with the rest of his life, but he was good at it and it was productive. Plus, Mac always told him how proud of him she was whenever he made a particularly good deal, and that made all the hard work worthwhile. Even if he did have to where a suit all day. Though he had to admit, he looked good.

When he arrived at Mac's apartment he let himself in. She was sitting at the kitchen table in front of her laptop, typing furiously. The bags under her eyes had grown, and from the looks of it she was in the same set of sweatpants and t-shirt as she'd been in yesterday. No new leads then. Looking at her broke his heart a little. He'd promised himself back when they first became friends, after dealing with all the broken pieces Cassidy had left them, that he'd never let her be hurt like this again. His fist started to curl. When he found whoever made his Mac feel this way he was going to…wait. His Mac? When did he started thinking of her that way?

But if he was perfectly honest with himself he knew that he'd been thinking of her that way for a long time, even years. Starting back when they helped heal each other, and then when they became best friends, up to when they started becoming each other's dates for everything. All of that lead up to the realization he was having right now, that he felt something more then just friendship for his best friend. The realization made him pause and take a deep breath. Great, that wasn't going to make things any easier. In some ways though, the realization made him feel like the he was on top of the world. He was in love, or something like it, with Cindy Mackenzie, the smartest, most beautiful, funniest, and kindest girl in the entire world. Figures it would take all this shit happening to make him realize it.

"Are you going to stand there all day?"

Trying not to smile too broadly Dick walked over to her. He wouldn't bring any of this up now, not when she was so focused on the case. But someday he would. And when he did he hoped to dear God she felt the same way. Until then he had to be subtle. Not exactly his strong suit. "What can I say, your computer skills always mesmerize me."

No reaction. She merely gestured to the screen where she was typing things under the Fitzpatrick's name in the case file. "We have a whole lot of evidence showing that they could have done it, but nothing suggesting that they actually did. Or why."

"The why is easy," Dick said sitting in the chair next to her, his hand tingling with the urge to touch her shoulder. He'd done it all the time before, why not now? Because now it meant something completely different. So he shoved his hands into his suit pockets. "They were getting tired of Sheriff Mars being on their case all the time. What better way to get back at him then by blowing up his base of operations."

"That doesn't make any long term since though. Why make the sheriff more focused on you just to get a little revenge?"

Dick shrugged. "Maybe they didn't think about it that way. Maybe they just got really angry and did it before anyone could point out what a stupid idea it was. I mean, what other suspects do we have?"

"Well, not only do we have a large criminal underbelly in Neptune that all hate the Sheriff's department, but Sheriff Mars has a long list of personal enemies he's managed to accumulate over the years."

They both sat in silence for a few seconds. Dick was weighing his options. He could, A, continue discussing the case with her for a while, in which time he would have to continually realize that his new realization made things a little more uncomfortable, and then order then both some takeout and attempt to get her to play halo. Or B, drag her outside to the beach or a food place of some sort right now, where he could distract himself from the fluttering in his stomach. Patience had never been his strong suit.

"Enough thinking for today Sherlock. Jump in the shower then get dressed, we're going out."

Mac stared at him like he was insane. Even that stare brought a smile to his face. God, was she beautiful. And God he hadn't even come to terms with the fact that he was in love with his best friend and he already couldn't control himself. "I have work to do Dick."

"No, you have work you think you have to do." He reached over and tugged her out of the chair, the simple touch of her hands in his making his heart pound harder. He swallowed nervously. "What you really have to do is stop being a recluse and get out into the real world for one afternoon."

The softening of her eyes told him she was going to concede any second now. All that was left to convince her was his patented puppy dog expression. "Please?"

She sighed and tugged her hands out of his grasp. "Give me five minutes."

As he watched her walk away he realized that keeping these new found feelings hidden was going to be a hell of a lot harder then he thought. Damn hormones, weren't they supposed to go away when you got out of your teenage years? A little voice in his head laughed at him as he tried to get a hold of himself. And you thought this was going to be easy…

So much for that idea.

All it took was a look in the mirror to convince Mac that maybe Dick's idea of a shower was a good idea. She looked terrible. Not only were there bags under her eyes, but her hair was a birds nest. She looked like she hadn't slept in days. Which was true. Every time she closed her eyes Leo was there. Never blaming her, never intentionally making her feel guilty, but that's how she felt when she woke up, startled and crying, from the insistent nightmares.

That's why she hadn't stopped working on the case for the last two weeks. Her actual work was falling behind, and she had the feeling she would be getting a call from one of the companies she was working for any day now, telling her she'd lost the job. Despite that she couldn't bring herself to care about anything other then finding who blew up the station. Nigh and day she sat in front of her laptop, or in her car in front of the River Stix, or watching surveillance from the camera she'd managed to sneak inside the bar. And yet there was nothing.

She knew that Dick was worried about her. The look in his eyes every time he looked her way broke her heart a little bit. She didn't want to make him worried, or cause him any sort of pain at all. But he had to understand that she had to solve this case. Nothing else mattered, not even the way her heart jumped every time he came into the room. Like today, when he spent a good five minutes staring at her. She wished that she could understand what that look meant, because in her heart she wanted to think that it meant he felt some semblance of what she felt for her. Her brain on the other hand, was telling her that there was no way, and that she should concentrate on what she could control. So she listened to her brain.

The shower did her some good, and when she was finished tugging a brush through her hair and putting clean clothes on she felt a million times better. A look in the mirror confirmed it. She no longer looked like the living dead.

"Almost ready?" Dick was leaning against her doorframe, smiling crookedly at her. That smile always took her breath away. The man really didn't realize how incredible he looked in a suit, his hair now short because that was more 'business-like'. It reminded her of why they would never work. A guy that handsome deserved to be with a girl that turned heads for more then the fact that her hair had some purple in it.

"I guess so."

He led her outside and to his car, a small black one that he drove to work because it was more professional then his bright green jeep. Still, it had the Dick tough with a sticker on the inside glove compartment that said 'Look inside for emergency condoms'. His sense of humor still confused her.

"Where are we going?" She realized he'd never mentioned that part.

"I figured we could stop by and pick Logan and Ronnie up and then head over to Java Hutt, we haven't all spent time together in a while."

Mac smiled softly at the gentle reproach in his tone. He was reminding her why they hadn't all hung out in a while, and the reminder was well deserved. The case had consumed her so completely that she'd even let her friendships suffer because of it. But that didn't mean she was going to back off at all, only that she had to set aside some time to spend with the others. Dick could always be counted on to get her back on track when she was doing something stupid.

The silence between them as they drove to the Hutt was a different kind of silence then they'd ever had. Mac was biting her tongue, attempting to keep herself from alerting Dick to the new range of feelings she was experiencing. Like the way her hand felt like it was on fire after he touched it in reassurance. Or how much she wanted to reach over and sweep the stray bangs off his forehead. She kept her eyes on the road in front of them though, only watching him through the corner of her eyes. The air around them was thick. She'd spent more hours in this car with him then she could count, why was she feeling this way now? Why was it just now that she wanted to lean over and kiss that serious look off his face?

She gripped her purse tightly and took a deep breath. She could do this, it was Dick for goodness sakes. Though the problem really was that he was Dick, no other guy could inspire this sort of reaction in her. He was just so perfect sitting there right beside her. Like an angel. She thought back to the time they'd spent together the summer after their freshman year at Hearst, when they'd both finally dealt with Cassidy's death. She dozed off out of exhaustion right before her strongest memory of that time took over.

It had been a hot summer night when they'd finally figured out that they needed each other's help to get through everything. Mac was sitting on the roof at the Grand when she came to that realization. She came there sometimes to think. To remember. She thought about the person Cassidy had been, the person he really never was. If she was honest with herself the thing that hurt her the most was the fact that she'd apparently never truly known the real Cassidy. Tears started to trickle down her cheeks like they always did when she remembered. When she heard footsteps on the roof behind her she wiped them off furiously, expecting them to belong to Veronica, who always came to check on her when she was like this.

Instead they belonged to Dick Casablancas, who back then was still about 75 asshole. Spending time with his Dad was beginning to straighten him out though. He told Mac later that it was because he was trying to become anyone but his Father. He had looked so torn apart that night dressed in a raggedy old sweatshirt and jeans and looking like he hadn't slept in days. Silently he'd sat down beside Mac on the roof and tucked his knees up to his chest.

"I come here a lot you know." His voice was much softer then she'd ever heard it.

"Me too." She'd admitted, pulling her knees up as well. They sat there like that for a while, each floating in their own thoughts and memories.

It was Dick who had spoken first. "You know, he was happier when he was with you then anytime I'd ever seen him."

Mac didn't know what to say to that, so she kept quiet. After a moment he continued. "When we were really little, before that bastard did whatever he did to him, he was a lot louder. He even fought back against me a lot. When he stopped I didn't think anything of it, I just figured he'd finally given up and admitted I was better. Our father told me that he was suppose to respond that way. He told me to keep letting Cassidy know I was superior. 'It's the only way to get ahead in life' he told me."

His face was filled with more pain at that moment then anyone she'd ever seen in her entire life. Before she even knew what she was doing she closed in the distance between them and put a hand softly on his back. For a few seconds they just sat there like that, she slowly drew circles on his back and he closed his eyes and swallowed in an attempt not to cry.

"But then you came along, and he started becoming the Cassidy I remembered again. I think if it wasn't for everything with that bastard Woody, and how screwed up he got after that, I think he could have really loved you."

"Don't say that," Mac's throat closed up and she felt the tears build, "I don't want to think of it like that. I should have seen it all when we were together, I should have fixed it somehow. It shouldn't have to be like this, me wondering whether or not he could have loved me. I should have fixed things so he would have."

It was Dick's turn to comfort her. "If anyone's to blame it's me. I constantly tore him down, I didn't help protect him from anything, I just ripped into him time after time again."

"He respected you for that." Mac looked Dick in the eyes for the first time. "He told me that he wished he was more creative so he could come up with things to make fun of you about."

That made Dick smile, "Oh, he could be pretty creative when he wanted to."

It was then that she made the promise to keep that smile on Dick's face. It was that moment that sent them down the path they were still on right now. But as she watched her dream-self lean to rest her head on Dick's shoulder the scene changed. The Grand became the Police Station, and Dick became Leo. He smiled at me.

"Not everything can be as perfect as that Mac. If you want something, go after it. You never know how much time you have left."

And then for the millionth time Mac watched him die.

She woke up to Dick shaking her. He was looking at her with concern, and she realized that there were tears on her cheeks. Hastily she reached up to wipe them off. She didn't want him to worry about her. Before she'd finished though he reached out to stop her hands, and finished wiping the tears away himself. She felt her heart pause, and her breathing became shallow as she looked him in the eyes. There was something there, something that made her heart start beating sporadically. Their faces were so close, just inches apart. It would be easy for her to tilt her face up just a little and catch his mouth in a kiss. But she was frozen, even as he leaned in to close the distance between them. Up until the point when his lips caught hers in the softest, most sensual kiss she'd ever received.

Then she reached up behind his head and pulled him towards her, ignoring the thousand thoughts in her head that were telling her this was a bad idea, and instead concentrating on the orchestra and fireworks that were confirming her current belief that this was the best thing that had ever happened to her. She gasped when his tongue sought entrance to her mouth, and her arms tangled into his hair as his reached around to pull her closer. She'd never felt this…alive.

She didn't know how long it was before they broke apart, both breathing heavily and staring at each other in wonder. She cleared her throat. "I…wow."

The only answer she received was a grin before he yanked her back in again, only to be interrupted by the docile tones of 'My Humps'. Logan's ring tone, a joke no one but the two of them understood. Dick growled in frustration before answering it.

"What?!"

As he proceeded to talk briskly with Logan, something about Logan running late, Mac took the opportunity to straighten herself out. Though that was her new favorite way to be woken up she still needed time to process everything. She had just been kissed by Dick Casablancas. Her best friend and the brother of the guy who'd previously gotten closest to her heart. And now all she wanted to do was rip the phone out of his hand, break it in some creative way, and get back to kissing him. Taking a shaky breath she fought down that urge and attempted to get back to rational thinking. She knew she loved him, so kissing him was a logical next step. Except she still didn't know how he felt.

"Okay, see you in five." Dick shut his phone closed and looked at her. "He'll be here in a few minutes."

Mac nodded. Words weren't exactly proving to be her strong suit at the moment. Beside her Dick cleared his throat uncomfortably. The silence stretched to the point of being awkward before Mac took a deep breath and turned to him, determined to clear things up. At the same time Dick turned towards her and they both started to speak.

"Look.." She started just as Dick said the same thing. They both laughed, clearing the air a bit. She held up a hand for him to let her go first. "First of all, that was amazing."

Dick grinned cockily. "Of course."

"But," She said, rolling her eyes at him. "This is me. I can't just let a kiss be a kiss. I have to know what it means."

"I know." They knew each other's personalities well enough at this point for him to know that she needed answers, and for her to know that he probably didn't have many. So his next comment surprised her. "Would it answer your question if I told you it means everything?"

Without her mind telling it to, her body leaned forwards toward him. "I suppose it would if I knew what everything meant."

His voice softened along with hers as he leaned forward too, "It means that I've wanted to do that for a long time, even though I just figured out that I wanted to. It means that I want to be able to do it in the future. It means…it means that I want it to mean everything to you as well."

She'd never seen emotions as strong as those that were reflected in his eyes. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "It meant everything to me too."

This time she was the one to start the kiss, and the one to deepen it. He moaned against her mouth as she ran her hands down his chest. Though this was only the second kiss they'd shared it felt like they'd been doing this for all of eternity. She loved the taste of mint gum and coffee that lingered on her lips even after they'd pulled apart. He leaned his forehead against hers for a long second, before another cell phone ring interrupted them. This time it was hers, letting her know that Veronica wanted to talk to her. As much as she didn't want to pull apart from him, in the back of her mind she knew it could be about the case, so she groaned and answered it.

"Yeah?"

"Hey Mac. I've got some interesting dialogue here from the Fitzpatricks. I'm guessing you'll want to hear it."

That made Mac sit up straight. "Where are you?"

"My apartment. I was about to leave for the Hutt when it came through. Can you get here?"

"Be there in ten." Mac shut off her phone and turned to Dick. "We have to get to V's. She has a lead."

He nodded, but before he put the car in gear he turned to look at her. "We'll talk about this later?"

The corners of her mouth tilted up as she reached over and squeezed his hand in assurance. They would most certainly talk later. Right after they figured out whether this lead would help them figure out who turned all their lives upside down.

So there you go. Sorry to leave it off at a sort-of cliff hanger. I promise to update asap! And so begins the MaDi relationship. I was a bit nervous writing that part, so let me know what you think! I apologize for the lack of LoVe, or any Veronica or Logan for that matter, but they'll be back next time. Along with a character we haven't seen yet, but all love. Stay tuned, and remember that there's a little button right below this that you can press to make my day a million times better!