A/N: There are so many scenes I could write for this story, but I'm at a point where I've done all I want to do right now. One day, maybe there will be a sequel to 'If It Wasn't For You', but this is the last deleted scene. Thanks to all for the support throughout :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

10. Mac tells T.J. her adoption story

during the time lapse between Chapters 33 & 34

"Y'know, I really do appreciate the help, Logan," said Mac with a genuine smile.

"Hey, my rich friends are your rich friends... or website client types, whatever," he shrugged with a grin of his own.

This was a really good opportunity, but Mac knew she never could've got it off the ground without Logan's input. He was giving her some great recommendations and real assistance in starting her business of handling celebrity websites, through which they could connect with their adoring public.

They were just about done with their meeting, and Mac was shutting off her tablet when T.J. appeared in the doorway. She had come over early to get her studying done in peace before dinner with both her parents, but now she clearly had a problem.

"What's up, T.J.?" asked Logan, looking overly worried somehow.

"I left my bio book at home," she sighed. "I tried calling Mom to see if she could bring it over when she comes, but it went to voicemail. I'm guessing she's still working yet," she explained.

"Okay," Logan drew out the word as he checked his watch. "Let me just move a couple of meetings around and I'll give you a ride over"

"It's okay, I can take her," Mac offered easily.

She couldn't help the big smile on her face at the way Logan was willing to alter his plans, probably with some pretty important people, just to help his daughter out. Still, it would be dumb to let him go to so much trouble when she was right there and willing to be of assistance.

"You sure you don't mind, Mac?" asked Logan. "It'd mean you going back and forth..."

"Hey, she's my niece," his friend told him definitely, even though there was no blood bond between them. "It's really no problem, I swear."

"And this is why Aunt Mac is the coolest," T.J. smiled widely as the older woman grabbed up her purse and got up to leave. "Well, one of many, many reasons."

"Stop creeping, T.J., you already got the ride," Mac chuckled as she ushered the teen out of the door.

They went out to the car both smiling, and yet in silence. It occurred to T.J. that this was the first time she had been alone with her Aunt Mac since this whole situation presented itself, and she found out about Logan being her real father. She was all aware that Mac knew the secret and kept it from her too, but she had long since got over the fact. She couldn't blame Mac, Wallace, or Grandpa Keith. She wasn't entirely sure she could blame Veronica and Leo anymore, it just wasn't worth it.

"So, how you holding up, kiddo?" asked Mac once they were moving.

She had used the same nickname for Teresa Jane since she was tiny and even at sixteen it didn't occur to her to mind that she was still being referred to like a child. It was as cool a name for her as Mac was for the woman whose real name was Cindy.

"Pretty good, I guess," T.J. shrugged. "Y'know, Logan's cool, and Mom is so happy with him," she smiled, the expression wavering just a little as she stared out of the window at Neptune rushing by. "Sometimes... it's still weird," she admitted then.

Mac understood what she meant more than anyone and they both knew it, though T.J. did not know the whole truth about that particular adoption. If she asked, Mac knew she would tell her. She wondered if today might be the day and was proven right within minutes.

"Does it still feel weird to you? Knowing you're adopted?" asked T.J. looking over at her aunt.

Mac gripped the steering wheel just a little tighter for a few moments, and then righted herself. She wanted to tell T.J. everything. It couldn't hurt, after all, she trusted the girl she had been there for since before she was born, and she loved her like the niece she saw her as. It was still a tough story though, and always would be.

"Let's wait 'til we're inside, and then we'll talk, okay?" she said with a brave smile.

They were only a couple of streets away, and it wasn't long before she pulled onto the drive at Veronica's home. Mac and T.J. went inside, and immediately the teen ran to fetch her book. Mac was sat on the couch when she came back down and T.J. was duly invited to join her.

"Okay, I'm gonna tell you this from the beginning, because I want you to know about it now," said Mac, mostly looking down at her own hands in her lap, but occasionally meeting T.J.'s inquisitive gaze. "It didn't matter before. You were so young and... and you had no idea about your own situation. Now you do, maybe hearing what I went through, what I live with, it'll help," she smiled bravely. "When I was sixteen, your Mom looked into my family. I asked her to, because I always thought I was adopted. Then when the real truth came out, well, that was a shock worthy of finding out your Dad is not your Dad but your best friend's crush, the movie star," she smiled almost nervously at the weirdness of what she just had to say, and at the seriousness of what came next. "I wasn't just adopted, T.J. I... I was switched at birth."

Shock registered on the teen's face, her eyes going so wide as to swallow up her whole face. Mac never saw such surprise from a girl she always thought was unshakeable, given the things she knew of the work Veronica and Leo both did. Mac was sure T.J. didn't speak for fully five minutes though there was every chance it wasn't half that long. Eventually, after trying three times to form words, she managed to ask her next question.

"So, um, do you know who you were switched with?" she asked, doubting the very next second if she should've done so, but the words were already said now.

"A girl I went to school with actually," Mac nodded. "Her name is Madison Sinclair."

"The bitch monster from hell?" T.J. asked outright, clearly having heard tales from Veronica.

Mac tried not to react with the laughter she felt rising in her throat but it was hard.

"That would be her," she nodded. "She's your Uncle Dick's ex too."

T.J. shook her head, trying to take all this in. She simply had no idea all of this had happened. All she knew was Aunt Mac was adopted, she always assumed because her real parents were dead or just couldn't take care of her. It never once crossed her mind that she was with the wrong parents by mistake, and that there was another woman out there in the exact same predicament. Madison Sinclair, of all people. T.J. knew what an awful person she was too, and she had the parents that Mac should've gotten. It all seemed so wrong, except for one part.

"Well, I guess it proves one thing," she said eventually, finding a real smile for her aunt who herself looked curious. "You and Uncle Dick, you were destined. If he dated Madison, he clearly always should've been dating you, because you would've been her and she would've been you, in a perfect world."

Mac felt she went crossed eyed trying to follow all of that, but she kind of saw T.J.'s point in the end. It was flawed logic, but it was a sweet thing to say. A silver lining T.J. had been determined to find to a dark cloud. It proved that she loved her Aunt Mac an awful lot, and that meant the world.

"Maybe you're right," she smiled, her hand to T.J.'s arm. "It's a sweet thought anyway."

There was an odd moment of silent pause then before T.J. looked seriously at her aunt.

"So, does it always feel weird?" she asked, not sure she really wanted the answer, but knowing at least it would be a honest one when she did get it.

"Yes and no," Mac admitted. "But hey, at least you have both your real parents now, and one more extra who loves you as if he were," she pointed out, patting T.J's knee. "You're the lucky one really."

T.J. felt bad then. All the pouting and whining she'd done, and yes, she did have her reasons, but Mac had suffered so much more in some ways. She still didn't have her real family to turn to. That just seemed so wrong when she was such a cool person.

"I'm sorry, Aunt Mac," said T.J., looking genuinely hurt on her behalf.

"Hey, it's not your fault," she assured her, forcing a smile. "And it's okay, really. The parents that raised me, they love me a lot; my non-biological brother has actually turned from a monster to an upstanding citizen, and I have the best family around me, even if they're not blood," she said, feeling just a little tearful talking about.

T.J. didn't even think about it, she just leant over and wrapped her arm around her favourite aunt, almost squeezing the life out of her. Mac didn't complain at all, just hugged her back and loved knowing how much this non-blood family of hers really did care.

"C'mon, let's get you back now," she said eventually, patting T.J.'s back as they pulled apart. "Before your Dad thinks you've been kidnapped... again," she smirked.

T.J. laughed at the bad joke, then got up to leave. She said something about wanting to get her other jacket and dodged back up the stairs before Mac could hardly blink. When she was finally alone, she noticed the one lone tear that had escaped down her cheek and hastily wiped it away. It wasn't the loss of her real parents that made her cry, not even having to explain her so-called sad situation to T.J. It was mostly because she was happy with the way her life turned out. Sure, it might've been nice to grow up priveleged like Madison, but she could just as easily have turned out as nasty as her if that had happened. As her life was, as many ups and downs as it contained, Mac liked the person she had turned out to be. She hoped that T.J. realised in time that she was genuinely lucky. There was no way for her to be the exact same Teresa Jane they knew and loved if she had been raised any differently. She would learn to appreciate that, Mac knew, because she was a really good person, an integral part of this strange Neptune-based family of non-blood related friends that loved each other like some really families never even managed. Yeah, T.J. would be just fine, because Mac certainly was right now.

End of Scene