I just wanted to once again thank everyone who had taken the time to read and review this story. I have really enjoyed writing it. I feel honoured at the lovely comments I have received and welcome more if you have the time.

Last Chapter - Present Day.

The pair had managed to walk for about five minutes away from Mars Investigations before Dick had reached out for her hand and pulled her into a kiss. Mac felt powerless to stop him. She didn't want to stop him.

His embrace was slow and gentle and he seemed to be savouring the experience in order to commit it to memory. It took Mac's breath away. She wanted to stay like that forever. But he eventually pulled away in order to speak to her.

"So are you like Veronica's receptionist now?" he asked and Mac pulled her face. Why did everyone assume she was the receptionist at Mars Investigations. She was one of the least customer friendly people she knew.

"You seriously think working for a PI is the best use of your skills Mac?. You're so much better than that" He said 'PI' like it was some kind of dirty word.

"First of all I'm not the receptionist I am the researcher, the tech support, and secondly my fancy skills and college degree got me a swanky job at Kane Software and it was boring as hell. At least with Veronica I get to try some 'diverse' work". she said. Diverse actually meaning slightly illegal.

Mac wondered why Dick was suddenly so concerned with where she was working.

"And what part of being undercover in a caterers uniform is tech support? Do you know what that sleazy manager tried to do to Veronica? That could have been you" he argued thinking back to the night at The Halimede.

Mac was taken aback by his argument. Maybe wasn't bothered so much about were she was working but more about her safety.

"That was just a one-off Dick. I'll be mostly behind a desk back at the office" she assured him.

Dick's hand reached up to her neck, his fingers filtering through her short hair and he pulled her to him again. Mac rose to her tip toes in order to get closer to him. Whenever he touched her she reacted, this was something more than just attraction. She could feel a real connection between them, but right now they needed to talk, not make out in the middle of the street. With a jolt of willpower Mac pushed herself away from him.

"Why did you never call me after Veronica left for Stanford?" she said fast and painful, just like ripping off a band-aid.

"What?" Dick asked still slightly dazed from the taste of her lips.

"The night at the Neptune Grand, I thought it meant something. Why did you never contact me" she asked again

Dick stood back then, his brow furrowed as he processed her question.

"Please don't tell me the reason you haven't called me back was payback for something I did a decade ago" he cried

"No!…. well maybe just a little bit" Mac admitted and saw annoyance register in Dick's face.

"Jeez Mac, I spent the last four days going crazy thinking I had done something wrong, I thought I pushed you into it at the hotel, I thought I'd upset you". His words a little louder than before.

"Yeah, well add another 9 years to that 4 days and maybe you'll have some idea of how I feel". she quietly submitted.

She saw Dick's pained expression, and wondered if he was starting to realise the effects his inactions that night have had on her.

"Was I just supposed to be another quick lay that didn't even get that far?" she asked but quickly realised from the hurt look in his eyes that wasn't the case.

"Maybe you were ashamed to admit you liked me to your friends. I hardly fit in to the tan line and fake boob groupies that populate your world". she snarled

"You can't throw that one at me when you haven't exactly gone running off telling Ronnie and Wallace all about me" he argued back and Mac looked away sheepishly from her hypocritical comment

"So just tell me why? Why didn't you call me?" she said hearing an almost begging tone to her words.

Dick leaned back against the car bringing his hands to his face, hiding his eyes for what seemed like the longest time. It looked like he was desperately trying to find an excuse not to come clean but in the end he could only find the truth on his lips. He looked at her and took a deep breath

"You remember that dude you used to date? The really nerdy one with the glasses?" he eventually said

"Max!" she confirmed then raced to a conclusion.

"You didn't contact me because you felt guilty that I had a boyfriend?" she asked, then heard Dick nearly choke at the absurdity of her surmise.

"God No!" he quickly announced.

"Half the girls I slept with had boyfriends, Hell some of them even had husbands, that was sooo not something I was bothered about". Dick said.

Mac rolled her eyes at his lack of morality, while he tried to get back to his point.

"You dumped that Max kid, because he decided to jack in his studying and just slack off for a while" Dick implied and Mac nodded to confirm that yes, it had been the reason they broke up.

"So why would you think it was a good idea to start seeing me, who made an art form from slacking off. Max was a pretty smart kid, at some point he was going to get back in the game and earn his college degree. I didn't have his intelligence to fall back on somewhere down the line Mac. I was pretty much, what you saw, is all you got".

Mac was a little annoyed that he took this decision upon himself.

"Didn't I get to have a say in any of this. Didn't I get the chance to decide who I wanted to date?" she argued back.

"Maybe, but who was gonna get left with a broken heart when you quickly realised the mistake you'd made?" he replied almost as a mumble.

They had never gotten the chance to talk about their feelings for each other. She knew that for her, Dick was lodged deep in her heart. If he hadn't been then she could have just walked away all those years ago and never given it a second thought.

It was only now from hearing him talk that she starting to realise just how much she meant to him. He really did like her. That bird of hope was back perching happily on her soul.

All this talk had been of the past. But life have moved on, they were adults now, living their own lives, making their own decisions. Mac looked at the man next to her and plucked up the courage to ask him out.

"So how about now, what's stopping us from trying now?" she blurted out, a lump forming in her throat from nerves.

Dick leaned down and kissed her again, his lips pressed hard against hers but barely moved. She felt a chill in her stomach when she realised that it felt like a farewell kiss.

"You have no idea how much I like you Mac, but nothing's changed. I'm still a slacker. I really don't have it in me to make something of myself. I'm kind of happy just being who I am" he conceded and saw confusion in Mac's expression.

She couldn't quite understand why he was saying he would never make something of himself. He already had. After the charity event at The Halimede Mac had done a bit of digging and discovered he did that kind of thing two or three times a year, helping different organisations each time. He was a regular philanthropist . He organised everything and paid for the parties himself.

She tried to argue her case that he was doing great things but he couldn't seem to hear what she was saying.

"I'm not doing anything great Mac, All I do for those charities is throw a party, I been doing that for years, it really isn't a stretch. And the deaf kids at the beach, I'm down there already on my board so I just give them a few tips on how not to kill themselves. It's no big deal".

"I am as I have always been Mac, only good at drinking, surfing and partying".

Mac's mouth dropped open, he really, really couldn't see the good he was doing. She wanted to argue more but the words wouldn't come, and she knew what it meant for them.

"So are you honestly saying that even though you really like me, there's no future for us?" she asked praying that she had it all wrong.

Dick took hold of her hand for a moment letting his fingers thread through hers. He studied her hand and ran his thumb over her knuckles before lifting his eyes to meet hers.

"I'm saying I can't stop you throwing your life away working at that PI firm but I can make sure you don't throw your life away on me". he said absolutely resolute.

He slowly untangled his fingers from her and when the last contact was gone Mac felt utterly bereft. She felt tears start to well in her eyes but she wasn't about to let him see and she quickly turned away from him.

"I'll see you around then" she managed to get out of her mouth without crying and then quickly walked back towards work, leaving him there in the street. Mac thought she heard him call her name, but what was the point in turning back when he didn't want to be with her.

Veronica was in her bedroom, lap top open on top of the bed sheets and she sat cross-legged in eager anticipation of her latest Skype with Logan. She found her self happily staring into a blank screen just waiting.

The front door opened and shut loudly and within a few moments Keith had stuck his head around her bedroom door.

"Hey sweetie, can I ask you a quick question? He asked looking pensive while waiting on her reply. Veronica scanned her watch, she didn't want to interrupt her 'Logan' time but saw there was still a few minutes to waste so nodded her head.

"Is there something going on between Mac and the Casablancas kid?" he asked and Veronica nearly burst out laughing at the idea

"I highly doubt it, you couldn't get two people more opposite, Why do you ask?"

"Well, he came by the office today and there was definitely an atmosphere in the room and he had that look" Keith replied and then stepped away from the door while making space to remove his jacket and shoes.

"What look?" Veronica asked genuinely clueless to what he meant.

Keith stopped changing for a minute and stuck his head back around the door.

"You know, the look Logan gets when he looks at you" he answered making it clear to Veronica there was no mistaking what he had witnessed back at the office.

Veronica's mind began to work overtime, the little detective cogs clanking around her head trying to find clues that would confirm her dad's suspicions.

The computer screen in front of her came to life revealing the face of her 2nd favourite man and she pushed the Mac thing temporarily to the back of her mind.

Veronica felt tears forming at the sight of Logan on screen, she never realised just how much she missed him until she saw his face. They exchanged usual witty banter, made some comment to make her heart melt but even with broken feed and delays Logan could tell something was bothering her.

"What's going on?" he asked

"I'm really sorry Logan, my dad just gave me some weird information." Logan played along and asked her about it.

"Dad said he thought something might be going on between Mac and Dick." Even saying it out loud sounded wrong, but Logan didn't seemed shocked at all.

"Ahh Dick's secret crush, he's had a thing for Mac since like forever." Logan announced as though it wasn't giant news

"What, how did I not know that?" Veronica replied more to herself than to anyone else

"Well sweetie, I do believe that's why they call it a 'secret' crush"

"How long is forever?" she asked starting to make an evidence map in her head

"I'm not sure, but I know the reason he was always late for physics was because he took the long route past the IT suite just in hope of getting a quick glimpse of her"

Veronica's mouth fell open and the new revelations.

"Oh and I interrupted them making out once" he added thinking back to the night at the penthouse.

A shudder went down her spine at the thought of her good friend, the bright intelligent girl getting it on with the big blonde dud. She remembered the time in high school when Dick decided to stick a firework in his ass cheeks and set light to it. How could Mac be tempted by that?

She shook the images from her head. This time was supposed to be hers and Logan's and she wanted nothing more that to concentrate on just spending that short time with him.

After a week in the office with Mac, Veronica couldn't take it anymore. Her friend was acting differently, something was bothering her but she seem reluctant to admit it and instead had taken up snarling at people and just generally being a bit of a bitch.

The petite blond sat down in front of Mac and demanded she told her what was going on. Veronica suspected it had something to do with Dick but didn't feel it was her place to ask. In truth Veronica thought that if she didn't ask about it that it couldn't be true.

For a good few minutes Mac tried to deny something was wrong, but Veronica continued to press for information. In the end Mac gave in

"I made out with Dick Cassablancas" she said and Veronica tried not to react to the news but ended up blinking uncontrollably.

"Ok" was all Veronica could manage to say

"It was the night we were at the Halimede…..oh and also once a few years ago" Mac said

"Ok" Veronica said again not quite understanding why this had put her in such a bad mood recently.

"Did he hurt you or something Mac, because I have Mr Sparky all charged up and ready to go…" Veronica offered

"No..No" Mac laughed a little at Veronica's loyalty or maybe it was just an excuse to cause Dick pain.

"I just feel stupid. We had a talk and he told me he doesn't want to be with me, but I had already kind of fallen in love with him, so it's just going to take a bit of time to get over" Mac couldn't bring herself to look at Veronica who she was sure would be disappointed in her.

Veronica stood up and walked around to where Mac was sat. Her stomach flipped with that familiar feeling of heartache. She knew it all too well. She wrapped her arms around her friend and just gave her a hug.

Veronica Mars had never really been very good at keeping out of other people's business, so that's why she found herself outside Dick's beach house at one in the morning hammering her fist against the glass door waiting for him to answer.

After speaking to Mac earlier in the day, Veronica had been trying to piece it all together. Why would Dick push Mac away after Logan had said that he'd had a crush on her for years? Also her Dad had confirmed that Dick had the look of love when he saw him in the office and the fact that Dick had made out with her twice. Dick didn't generally do repeat business.

With all this information Veronica decided she couldn't wait till morning, the guy needed interrogating straight away.

Eventually after pounding on the door for what seemed like forever, a sleepy looking surfer dude shuffled into sight and opened up.

"What the hell do you want Veronica?" he angrily asked

She stepped across the threshold walking passed him into the house.

"You and me are going to have a chat about Cindy Mackenzie" she said

Dick automatically started to move his hands protectively over his groin area whilst staring down at the very angry looking pee wee PI. He was suddenly very awake.

They stood in the kitchen with the counter as a barrier between them.

"How could you not want to be with someone who is as cool and awesome as Mac?" Veronica asked not quite believing she was trying to encourage this guy to actually date her friend.

"I wouldn't exactly say I don't want to be…." he was cut off

"How when you've liked someone for years can you push them away?"

How do you know how long?… Oh wait, Logan told you? That boy seriously needs to re-read the bro code. Dick said with irritation

Veronica interrogated him for a while longer, her questions constant like a yapping terrier. In the end Dick just exploded

"I pushed her away because I don't want to get hurt" he yelled out into the air.

Veronica stilled at the sudden outburst and waited for him to elaborate.

"I don't have the strength Logan has". Veronica wasn't quite sure what her boyfriend had to do with anything but she stayed quiet.

"Logan amazes me how he's managed to cope with all the crap that has been thrown his way over the years. Lily, his parents, being accused of murder, twice. But he just picks himself up and keeps going. That takes such strength"

He paused to look at Veronica to make sure she was paying attention

"So when I see that same guy, totally crushed after breaking up with you, I know that pain must be off the chart".

He walked closer to Veronica trying to stress the importance of what he was trying to say.

"When Mac inevitably dumps me, I don't have Logan's strength to get through it. It would ruin me. And ruined by definition can't be repaired.

Crap! Veronica thought, that was some deep thinking for such an uncomplicated dude. How did he keep managing to make it hard for her to hate him at the moment, but she knew exactly where he was coming from with his emotion. Hadn't she done the same thing by running away to Stanford? Denying the love she felt in order to save herself from greater heartache further down the line.

"Why do you think Logan and me are back together if the heartbreak was so bad?" She rhetorically asked

"It's because being together is so amazing that it's worth the risk Dick. You have never been the guy who denies himself. You have always said whatever you want and went after anything you like. It's been one of your least attractive qualities so why stop now. If you don't want to experience the heartache down the line then you will just had to make the effort to not screw it up".

Dick sat back against the counter and thought hard about what Veronica had said. She had almost made the whole thing sound like a challenge and Dick never backed away from a dare.

He nodded starting to feel revved up from Veronica's pep talk. The bottom line was, he was in love with Cindy Mackenzie and it was becoming harder and harder to be away from her.

"Ok. I'll beg her for a second chance, but I need you to get something that belongs to me first"

It had been the longest seven days of his life. Dick stood in his house surrounded by party goers swallowing down gulp full's of beer just praying that Veronica could manage to persuade Mac to come to his party.

It was a week ago since he had the night-time chat with Veronica and decided to win Mac back. This party would be his opportunity. Everyone he knew was at the house, all the old 09ers plus his new friends. It was a bikini party and the grill was being lit in the deck outside. It was pretty much everything Mac was going to hate but that was the point, if he did manage to get her to consider going out with him, he needed to be sure she knew what she was getting into. This, all around him was his life.

Taking another beer from the fridge he heard someone else arrive through the door and prayed it was her. His heart leaped a little when he saw that it was indeed her together with Ronnie.

She wore a t-shirt that hung over one shoulder and some shorts. Mac had twice as many clothes on as anyone else at the party but she was still way more sexy than any other girl in the room.

The pair walked past him further into the house and he watched Veronica tell her something and then the couple split up heading in different directions. Dick kept his distance but tracked her with his eyes all across the house. Veronica caught up with him for a few minutes.

"Right, it wasn't easy to get her here but she thinks we are on a case. I told her to go and mingle and listen out for anyone talking about the 'Superbowl party' . I told her it was a code word for a possible smuggling ring" she said smiling at her own deviousness.

"Hey" Veronica grabbed hold of Dick before he had time to go off and talk to Mac

"You remember the day I ran the car over your surf board" Dick nodded, how could he forget it. The board was brand new and totally awesome.

"Well if you hurt Mac again, I'll do the same to your legs" Veronica promised

Dick nodded that he understood but really didn't need the threat. He was very aware of the lengths Veronica would go to in order to protect her friends.

He found Mac milling around by the kitchen and went over to her. It felt just like that night at the reunion. Nerves were building in his stomach and he had no idea what to say to her.

"Hey, do you ever feel like we are living that movie Final Destination?" he said causing them to quickly glance around the room at their dwindling school friends.

How many had died over the years starting with Lily Kane. Gia Goodman being the latest to be missing from the group. There was a moment when they looked at each other and once again their minds fell on Cassidy.

Crap, Dick thought, he was right back to his smooth moves.

"Look, I'm a little bit busy Dick so I'll have to get going" Mac tried to say but Dick held on to her arm stopping her from leaving him.

His head had given up on thinking of convincing arguments to give him a second chance, he was desperate and just went straight to begging.

"I'm so sorry that I pushed you away Mac. I was just so scared to take that step forward with you" he said and he felt her stop trying to pull away.

"I've had a crush on you since Mr Kennedy's study Hall" he felt his heart rise in this throat as he tried to get the next words out

"I've been in love with you since the night you dragged me out of the gutter behind the Neptune Grand"

That had got her undivided attention now, her eyes grew wide taking in the information.

"You…you like me even when I was dating Cassidy" Mac said shocked at his level of admiration for her. Then they both realised how long it had been since either had heard Beaver's name said out loud.

"It was hard for me to see you both together and I still hate him for the pain he caused you after what he did" Dick replied.

Mac reached up and brushed her hand across his cheek letting it fall and rest on his shoulder.

"You are an idiot for waiting so long to tell me how you felt" she said and Dick could tell from her warm expression that he had succeeded in getting his second chance.

He pointed around to the people in the room busily dancing and drinking and just being involved in their own lives.

"This is who I am Mac, are you sure you want to take this on?"

"Dick, I have known you for twenty years. If this was enough to put me off, I would have walked away a long time ago" she replied

Dick couldn't help but release a smile that filled his face.

"Hey so you told Veronica about us, does that mean you're not ashamed of me anymore" he asked moving slightly closer to her. Mac shrugged her shoulders looking around the room at all Dick's friends

"I don't know, are you ashamed of me?" she asked and he answered by roughly lifting her on to the kitchen counter, slamming his mouth against hers. God, how he had missed the taste of her lips. It was amazing.

The pretty graphic PDA had started to turn heads at the party and he heard Madison make some crude comment. Madison's reaction just seemed to spur Mac on for some reason and Dick gestured his feelings to his high school girlfriend by showing her his middle finger, any verbal retort was not worth detaching himself from the feel of Mac's lips.

He started to move his mouth across her jaw towards her neck then felt Mac strongly force him to stop.

"No, Don't do that, not here" she begged knowing her own strong reaction when Dick found that spot on her neck.

That was a problem easily solved. He lifted her down from the counter and walked her straight through the house to his bedroom. Once inside Dick locked the door and pushed a chair against it. The chair may have been excessive but he had his reasons. He pointed to it and explained

"I swear if we get interrupted again I'm going to kill the guy" he said and caused her to blush recalling the last two attempts they had.

"You know this is supposed to be a bikini party?" Dick said standing just a little in front of her eyeing the t-shirt and shorts.

"I know it is, I'm wearing one" she replied

"Show me" Dick demanded and Mac nervously pulled her top over her head and unbuttoning her shorts so they dropped to the floor, revealing an electric blue bikini. His eyes were glued to her form as she stood in front of him. Her chest heaved through anticipation and he knew she was waiting for him to say something.

"Something's just not right" he said as though the vision of her displeased him. He turned around and pulled something out of a drawer behind him and threw it over to Mac.

"Put that on" he ordered and Mac found herself pulling on a very threadbare t-shirt with the slogan 'I have the right to arm bears' written across it. It was so worn Dick could see her bikini underneath.

He owned that T-shirt and anything found inside it belonged to him.

"Mine!" he almost growled at her seeing her wearing his clothes and knowing that she'd been wearing it for years.

"How did you get this?" she asked looking puzzled. He shook his head refusing to reveal the information. It had been the favour he had asked Veronica for the week earlier.

"Does it look better on me than the bikini?" Mac asked shyly and when Dick nodded she did something that caused him to lose all control.

Mac pulled the string on her bikini top and bottoms letting them fall to the floor. Until she was just standing in the T-shirt, his shirt that was now touching every part of her body.

He almost dived on her, bringing Mac down to the bed and exploring underneath the shirt that held no more barriers.

Mac found a second to ask him a question

"How many girls have you kissed since the night at the Halimede?"

"It was a terrible question to ask at that moment in time but it made him think and he was shocked by his own discovery. He looked down at Mac who lay underneath him, her face flushed from their need to be together.

"None, you were my last kiss Mac" he replied and felt a wave of emotion pour through his body.

"Cindy Mackenzie, you are my last kiss girl" he told her then leaned down and set about showing her exactly what that meant.