A/N – Thanks for all the feedback so far! Sorry there's not as much LoVe as people would like at the beginning of this story, but there will eventually be more. I know I'm horrible about the slow teasing build up in this story! At least I'm giving you a really long chapter this time, so there's that. And lots of surprises in this one I'd say too. Please be sure to leave a review and let me know what you think!
Disclaimer: All original VM characters belong to Rob Thomas.
Chapter 10
Veronica woke up in the morning still just as confused about everything in her life as she had been the night before. Here she had a really great guy who seemed to be genuinely interested in her and she got mad when he said she didn't really seem to be Logan's type. Why did it bother me so much whether or not Brandon thought I was Logan's type? She was still lying in bed staring at the ceiling in her dad's guest room as she pondered that question. She let out a deep breath and crossed her arm over her face to block out the light. Of course she knew deep down one of the reasons why that bothered her. Because we were supposed to be epic and if that had been true, it shouldn't seem so unlikely that we could have been together. She finally pushed herself off the bed and headed toward the shower. She still couldn't help but wonder how much Logan had heard about what happened at dinner. And now I'm back to being confused. Had he called Norris and asked how the dinner went, or had Norris called and updated Logan on his own? Did it really even matter, Veronica?
Given Logan wasn't working, she decided on her way to the station to just push all thoughts of him out of her mind for the day. She stopped off and picked up a coffee and scone for herself on the way there. Since her dad had stayed over at Alicia's, she hadn't bothered making breakfast at the house and left a little early for work so she could stop off at the Hut. She was just climbing out of her car at the station when she heard a familiar voice call her name. She turned with a friendly smile in the direction the greeting had come from, instantly recognizing it.
"Deputy Sacks," Veronica replied warmly. "I was wondering when we'd cross paths."
Jerry smiled and nodded. "Yeah, Leo told me you were back and I must say I was a little surprised you decided to join our team, although I was glad to hear you had." He gave her a knowing smile. "Better having you working with us than against us."
Veronica knew from her dad that Sacks had been one of the deputies that had worked with Leo to take down Vinnie after he'd won the election. Even though he'd made some questionable moves over the years, she knew deep down Sacks was a decent guy. She'd wondered if she'd run into him on her first day, but he'd had the day off. "Yeah, who would have thought all those years ago that we'd end up working together on the same team?"
Jerry chuckled as they walked into the station together. Norris was already at his desk as she walked over and took a seat at hers. Jerry gave her a quick head nod as he walked a bit farther back in the station and took a seat at his own desk.
"Morning," Norris said almost tentatively.
"Morning," she replied back as she turned her attention to slowly inspecting the desk drawers. Don't forget, no thoughts or questions about Logan today. No interrogation to find out why he seemed to know things didn't go well at Cho's. So let's see what Bridges did to our desk. The first two drawers were completely empty, but the third still had some stuff left in it. It looked like it was mostly empty candy wrappers and some half eaten power bars. Yuck. "Cleaning supplies?" she asked as she looked up at Norris. He pointed toward a cabinet and she went over and found some cleaner and paper towels. She pulled the drawer out and dumped its contents into the trash and then used the cleaner and paper towels to clean all three out. She glanced up at Norris and noticed he was watching her with a curious expression. She quirked an eyebrow at him.
"Thanks for coming to dinner with us last night," he said with a small smile. "I really had a great time. I'm sure its no secret that I really like Mac."
Veronica laughed and shook her head. "Yeah, if that was supposed to be a secret, well… you haven't done a very good job at keeping it."
Norris chuckled. "Yeah, probably as good a job as Brandon has done about being interested in you."
Veronica let out a small sigh. "Yeah… Well after last night, I wouldn't be surprised if he's had second thoughts on that now." She took a deep breath. "Honestly though, I just want to get settled back here in Neptune again. I didn't come back looking to jump into a relationship with anyone." Liar… okay well anyone who isn't Logan. "I hope I didn't give him the wrong impression at some point."
Norris gave her an understanding smile. "Yeah, that's understandable. It's got to be a bit strange coming back after all this time. I'm sure a lot of things are different now." He paused a moment before he continued. "Don't worry about last night at all. Brandon felt a bit like an idiot later with how he reacted to you being an ex of Logan's"
Well he did act like a bit of an idiot. So much for staying away from the topic of Logan today. She shrugged in reply. "It just caught me a bit off guard I guess. I just didn't see why it seemed so unlikely that we would have been together."
Norris shrugged and looked down at his desk. "Yeah, I don't know," he replied softly.
Don't know versus don't want to say? I'm sure it's the latter from that reaction Norris. She doubted she'd get him to spill anything about Logan though so decided not even to go down that path again with him.
"So, going to join us for bowling tonight?" Norris asked as he glanced back up at her, perhaps wanting to change the topic of conversation.
Veronica shrugged. She was starting to feel just the slightest bit overwhelmed by it all. Pool, pizza, and now bowling. This was certainly quite a lot more socializing than she ever did in San Francisco. She was never one for lots of group activities even before she left and she'd gotten even worse in the years since then. Not to mention facing Brandon so soon after the incident at dinner the night before was not something she was looking forward to. And then of course there's the fact that Logan's not going to be there either since he's in LA with Bex. "I'm not sure. I might just sit this one out but maybe I'll come next week."
Norris nodded, looking slightly disappointed, and went back to looking at papers on his desk. Leo appeared in his doorway a moment later and asked the two of them to come into his office. He gestured for them to take a seat in front of his desk as he closed the door behind them.
"I just got a call from Mr. McDade at McDade Marketing. He believes one of his employees is embezzling money from the company, but doesn't know who's doing it. I was thinking with your experience in the fraud unit in San Francisco, this would be the perfect case for you," Leo explained as he looked at Veronica.
Veronica shot Norris a quick look. "Todd McCade?" she asked looking back at Leo.
"No," he looked down at the paper on his desk. "Mr. Tom McCade." Veronica nodded in reply. She knew that Tom was Todd's father. Back in her 09er days, Todd would frequently be on the fringes of her main group of friends, so they would interact from time to time. Given they'd had classes together on and off from the time she started first grade, they'd also occasionally end up in alphabetical lines together. She'd seen him around Hearst a few times before she left for Stanford as well and had heard he was majoring in marketing so he could go to work for his dad's firm. It was probably unlikely he was actually running it already since he would have only graduated the year before as well. Logan and Todd hadn't ever been particularly close, but she thought he had been better friends with Dick. "I told them I'd be sending two deputies over to talk with them. Sacks and Burns are on duty this morning too, so they should be able to handle calls as they come in, but keep your phones on in case we need any extra help." Leo handed Veronica a slip of paper with the address to the company as the two of them stood up and headed out of his office.
They spent a better part of the morning at the marketing firm talking first with Tom McCade and then with other employees. Tom's main accountant had determined that at least $400,000 had been stolen, but he hadn't been able to determine who had taken it. Of course Tom was extremely anxious to recover the stolen funds and seek justice against the culprit. Tom had approved giving Veronica full access to their computer systems so she would have a better chance of determining who was skimming off the company profits. She was actually excited to get a case that would allow her to use some of the skills she'd learned working for the fraud unit in San Francisco. Although given the marketing company was quite large and employed nearly 100 people, she realized it may take a while to uncover who was actually committing the crime.
Todd had indeed started working for his father after he graduated from Hearst and of course immediately recognized Veronica and Norris when they stopped in to talk with him. They briefly reminisced about some of their time at Neptune High, before discussing the case at hand. Todd volunteered his time to help them in any way that he could. She was a little suspicious of his motives though, because if he was guilty he could just want to point her in the wrong direction. She knew she could check into him first and if she didn't find anything suspicious with his bank accounts, that she should be able to trust him for the most part. She knew having someone with inside information could be helpful, and given his family's wealth she suspected he probably already had a sizeable trust fund and wouldn't need to skim money off his father in that way. The company's systems were set up to allow remote access, so after spending the morning at the firm, she decided to relocate back to the sheriff's office to do some more digging. Norris let her know that he was happy to help in any way he could, but admitted this was not his area of expertise.
She spent the afternoon tracing through various accounting records while she had Norris work on pulling financial records for all of the employees and doing background checks as well. It turned out she was right about Todd. He had a very impressive trust fund that he already had access too and they didn't find anything suspicious with his accounts at all, so using him as an inside source shouldn't cause any issues. She was pretty absorbed in looking at her screen when she heard a light knocking on her desk. She looked up to see Sebastian standing there smiling down at her.
"Hey, I didn't want to startle you. You looked pretty captivated by whatever you're looking at there," he said with the same charming smile that he'd had the day before.
"Hi," she replied as she gave him a friendly smile. "Are you here to see a client again?"
"Actually…" he paused a moment and leaned a little closer to her. "I was here to see if I could talk you into having lunch with me again."
She glanced past him and saw Norris giving her a curious look. "You are persistent, aren't you?" she replied in an almost flippant tone.
"I find it's a helpful trait to have as a lawyer," he replied back, unfazed by her response. He gave her a sly smile. "I have lots of other equally valuable traits as well."
She'd meant to ask her dad about Sebastian since he'd said they'd worked together, but of course hadn't had a chance to yet. She wasn't sure how much to go by Logan's reaction to him and wanted to get another opinion of him before she decided to form her own. Logan of course hadn't been a fan of lawyers even back when he was younger, so she wasn't surprised at all that he wouldn't like the guy. Not to mention, Sebastian seemed to be almost as charismatic as Logan could be and she couldn't help but wonder how much he just saw him as a threat in general. She glanced at the time on her phone. It was 1:00 and she hadn't actually had a chance to have lunch yet. "I'm not sure what our plans are for lunch." She glanced over at Norris and he just shrugged in reply.
"If you wanted to take a break, that's fine. I brought some left over pizza for my lunch, so wasn't planning to go out."
"So?" Sebastian asked with a hopeful smile. "What do you say? We can grab a quick bite to eat at the deli across the street."
Veronica smiled and nodded in reply. She was actually starting to get really hungry and didn't think a casual lunch could do any harm. It's not like it's a dinner date with the guy anyway. "Alright, but I have my cell phone Norris, so if anything comes up, just call me and I'll be right back over."
Norris nodded and gave her a half smile. She got the impression he wasn't a big fan of Sebastian either, but he wasn't as overt about it as Logan had been. She grabbed her phone and her bag and followed him toward the door. He stopped and held it open for her giving her a smile that she was sure he used to win over jurors on a regular basis as she walked past him out into the warm breeze. She'd noticed the day before when he'd gone to the back with Logan that he was probably 5 inches shorter than Logan, making him only about 6 inches taller than she was. Once they were out of the station in the sunshine, she also noticed how green his eyes actually were. He had dark hair that was obviously professionally trimmed and he clearly knew how to work with it and put in the effort to style it meticulously. She couldn't quite ignore the fact that he looked very much like the actor Jenson Ackles, other than the height difference of course. So yeah, despite Logan's warning about him possibly being a slimy lawyer, he was still extremely hot. Oh Veronica, you certainly have a weakness for handsome dark haired slightly bad guys don't you.
They placed their orders at the counter, with him insisting on paying even though she briefly suggested she get her own, and then they went and took a seat at one of the tables in a corner. He carried the tray with their sandwiches while she offered to carry their drinks.
"Thanks for joining me," he said as they were organizing their food on the table. "I was worried Echolls was going to have you completely turned against me by now. He doesn't like me much."
Veronica chuckled a bit nervously. "Well I think he doesn't like lawyers in general, so I wouldn't take it too personally."
Sebastian laughed a bit louder and shook his head. "Oh no, I'm pretty sure it's personal." Veronica quirked her eyebrow in a 'do continue' sort of way, and he nodded before he started to talk again. "I guess it's been almost two years now, but one of the cases I was working on resulted in him getting suspended for a couple months and since then I'd say things have remained pretty strained at best."
So much for staying off the topic of Logan today. First Norris this morning, now Sebastian. Maybe you should just change the topic Veronica. Ask what law school he went to… where he grew up… does he have any hobbies… pets? "What happened?" Damn it.
Sebastian's smile changed slightly, apparently more than happy to share his side of the story with her. "Just your typical excessive force incident." Veronica tried not to react externally to his response. "This guy I was hired to represent was arrested for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend, and Echolls was the arresting officer. The woman never pressed charges, but my client did."
"Oh," Veronica said looking down at her food as a worrisome feeling coursed through her body. Unfortunately she knew that part of Logan. She had wondered when she first heard he was a deputy whether he'd changed enough to keep that part of himself under control. At least two years ago, apparently not. If it had been something that frequently happened though, she would imagine he would have been permanently let go, so he must have gotten better at controlling it. She could imagine that he may have had to go to counseling when he was suspended as well.
"Look Veronica," Sebastian continued in a slightly lower tone, perhaps sensing her unease. He reached over and gently put is hand on top of hers. His touch was surprising calming though, compared to what she would have expected. He gently rested it on her own while he looked intently at her with a softer expression than he'd had a moment before. "I really do try to avoid cases where I have to defend some of the total garbage in this town, but I don't always get a say in the matter. It's my job though to be sure every one of our clients gets fair representation. I'm not the one that caused Echolls to do what he did, I just had to follow my legal duty and report it though."
Veronica gave him a half smile and nodded. "Did it go to trial?"
Sebastian shook his head. "No my client settled with Echolls getting suspended for two months. There may not have been enough evidence for it to turn out in his favor anyway and the Sheriff worked out a deal with the DA." Sebastian let out a huff of air as he pulled his hand away to grab for his iced tea. "Okay, talking about Echolls was not what I had in mind for spending time with you. So tell me where you were working before you came back to town. I knew Keith had a daughter, but I never heard exactly what you were doing."
Veronica nodded and let out her own deep breath. "I was working with a fraud unit up with the San Francisco PD for the past year after graduating from Stanford."
Sebastian's smile became larger again. "I tried to get into Stanford law school, but had to settle for Berkeley. I actually grew up in San Mateo. Not quite as nice year round weather as we have down here though. That's one thing I definitely don't miss living down here now... the fog… the rain."
"Well Berkeley's still a pretty great law school. And yeah, the weather up there isn't quite as nice as down here, but it wasn't so bad."
They spent the rest of lunch talking about her time in the Bay Area and various places they'd both been to there. Getting off the topics of Logan and Sebastian being a lawyer definitely improved their dynamic and she found herself actually really enjoying the rest of their short lunch break. It was almost refreshing to talk to someone who had lived in both locations as well and could relate to some of the cultural differences and idiocies she'd noticed during her four years there. She quickly realized that they had a lot of the same likes and dislikes and that he was definitely a bit more snarky than she'd realized in their brief interaction at the station the day before.
He walked with her across the street back toward the station, but stopped as they neared the steps up to the building. "I'd better get back to my office. Thanks again for agreeing to have lunch with me. I'd love to do it again sometime."
Veronica nodded and gave him a genuine smile. "Yeah, thanks and I'd like that too."
He flashed a smile back at her and nodded as he gave her a little wave and walked toward the parking lot. She was actually surprised that he hadn't pressed her for a second date or even to get her phone number. He'd come across so charismatic and forward the day before when they'd first met that she'd been expecting him to push for a commitment for a second date before they parted ways. It was actually really nice to not have to deal with that pressure though.
She headed inside and gave Norris a small smile as she walked by him. "How was lunch?" he asked as she sat down at her desk.
"It was nice. Sebastian grew up in the Bay Area, so we mostly talked about that," she explained as she logged into her laptop and got back to work on the embezzlement case. He nodded in reply, but she could easily tell he really didn't care for Sebastian either. She wondered if he didn't like him because of Logan's suspension. Well you've already shot your idea of not talking about Logan at all today to hell, so might as well ask some questions to see what else you can learn now. "Were you and Logan ever partners?" she asked as she looked back up at him after a few minutes of staring at her screen.
Norris gave her a knowing smile and nodded. "Yeah, we were paired up with a couple of more senior deputies when we first started, but then we ended up partnering up after that. It's just been the last 6 months or so that Leo started pairing us up with some of the newer deputies."
Veronica knew how close a lot of partners ended up getting. She wasn't terribly surprised that he'd be protective of Logan's secrets due to that and that he'd want to look out for him too. That's enough information for now. If I want Norris to trust me too, I certainly can't push him to betray Logan's confidence. She really was here to do her job and the fact that Logan was also a deputy was just coincidental. She'd decided this was something she wanted to do before she even knew he was here, so she certainly didn't want to mess anything up because of her unresolved feelings for him. She gave Norris a quick nod and then turned back to her laptop again.
It was getting late in the afternoon when she got a text from Mac asking what her plans were for the evening. She wondered if Norris had mentioned bowling to her after Veronica left Cho's and if she was actually fishing for an invite to come along. Veronica felt a little guilty about not going if Mac was thinking she'd tag along to hang out with Norris, but she also felt like she needed a break from all the guys that had suddenly popped into her life. It would also be nice to have some girl only time and maybe she'd get a bit more back story on everyone to make things a little easier on herself. She decided if Mac really did want to go and hang out with Norris, she could just do it on her own, or suggest it and since she hadn't, Veronica wouldn't read anything else into the question. They ended up making plans to have dinner together when they were both off work. Veronica's shift was earlier than the day before, so she was going to be off at 5:00 which lined up well for when Mac would be off work too.
She spent the rest of the afternoon working on the embezzlement case, going over the records that Norris had pulled together for her in addition to going through more of their computer records. She had just started looking through a stack of background checks when Norris commented that it was already 5:00.
"I'm just going to finish up a few more of these," she told him as he was standing up and putting his jacket on. Mac was working until 5:30, so she thought she'd just stay another thirty minutes before she left as well. "Have fun bowling tonight and good luck."
Norris nodded in return. "Thanks, have a good evening yourself." He paused a moment before he continued. "And if you talk to Mac, tell her I said hi." Veronica felt a shot of guilt pass through her, but nodded and said goodbye as he headed toward the door.
She returned to what she was reading after he left. She was in the middle of organizing all the files when Leo came out of his office a short while later. "So you're coming bowling tonight right?" he asked with a tone that seemed more of a directive than just him being inquisitive.
"Actually I wasn't planning on it," she replied with a tentative smile.
"Jane was really looking forward to seeing you. At least stop by and say hi to her for me." The expression on his face reminded her of when her dad was giving her ultimatums that she really didn't have any choice but to accept.
Veronica let out a deep sigh. She was actually a little surprised Jane wanted to see her, although she wasn't the one who caused the breakup with her and Wallace either. "I'll try to stop by with Mac after we have dinner."
Leo smiled broadly and nodded. "Great. See you later then."
Yeah, like I have a choice. She smiled back and gave him a little wave as he continued out of the station to the back parking lot.
Mac picked her up at her dad's house at 6:00 and they headed to a newer restaurant in town that had gotten great reviews for both their vegan and non-vegan dishes. Mac had called ahead and made a reservation for them, but their table wasn't quite ready yet, so they wandered into the bar area to have a drink while they waited. Veronica immediately caught sight of a very familiar tattoo, but couldn't quite tell who Weevil had his arm around in the dimly lit booth.
"Hey, I see Weevil over there. I'm just going to go say hi," she announced as she hopped off her bar stool. "I'll be right back."
Mac nodded in reply as she took another drink of her scotch.
"Hey there," Veronica said when she was close enough so he'd hear her. Unfortunately the pair had just leaned in to kiss right before she spoke, and they both seemed to freeze and then turn in her direction.
Veronica took in a surprised gasp of air as she saw Wanda Varner staring back at her. She suddenly wasn't so surprised about why Weevil had been a bit sketchy at her birthday party. He'd likely been aware of their little fallout in high school, which was probably why he hadn't mentioned Wanda to her. Suddenly she had a flashback to Wanda asking her about Lilly and Weevil, back before she realized there actually had been something between them. She hadn't thought much about it at the time, but wondered now if even back then, if Wanda had been interested in him.
"Veronica," Wanda said with an almost bitchy smile. "Eli mentioned you were back in town. I suppose it was only a matter of time before our paths crossed." She moved her left hand that was located under the table likely on Weevil's thigh, to place it on top of the table, revealing an engagement ring on her finger.
Veronica's eyes widened in surprise and she glanced at Weevil. "Well, congratulations are in order I see."
Weevil ducked his head slightly and nodded before looking back up at her. "Yeah, we haven't told a lot of people yet. I haven't even told your dad yet."
"Well I'll leave that dubious honor to you," she said with a grim smile.
Weevil's lips quirked up into a half smile and he shook his head slightly. He glanced over her shoulder, likely to see who she was there with.
"No Echolls tonight?" Weevil asked with a smirk. "I figured with you back in town, the two of you crashing back together was inevitable. Especially now that you're working together." Wanda quirked an eyebrow as well and gave Weevil a sly smile.
Veronica narrowed her eyes at him. "We're just friends now," she explained with a firm tone. Mac walked over at that moment and placed a hand on Veronica's shoulder.
"Our table's ready if you are," she said with a friendly smile. "Hey Wanda… Eli." Veronica couldn't help but notice she didn't seem terribly surprised at who was at the table with Weevil. She also couldn't help but notice she called him Eli either.
"Have a nice night you two," Veronica said as cheerily as she could before she turned and followed Mac to their table.
"Did you know they were engaged?" Veronica asked as they sat down at the table.
Mac grimaced slightly and nodded. "Yeah, Wanda works in the PR department where I work and we run into each other from time to time. I actually just bumped into her this morning though and saw the ring."
Veronica let out a small sigh and nodded. "So what other deep dark secrets are you hiding from me Ms. Mackenzie?"
Mac shrugged and gave her an apologetic look. "I'm not intentionally keeping anything from you if that's what you're thinking. I didn't know that you hadn't heard the two of them were an item. I figured your dad may have mentioned it. They've been together about a year now I think. So honestly, I'm really not trying to keep anything from you on purpose."
Fine, let's test that. "Okay if that's the case, what exactly did Brendan mean last night when he said he didn't think I was Logan's type?" Mac bit nervously on her lip and gave Veronica a concerned look before Veronica continued on. "What sort of women has Logan been dating while I've been gone besides just Bex because it seemed to be more of a comment about women he'd dated in general than just a comparison to her. And the way Brandon looked at you makes me think you had a pretty good idea about what he was talking about."
"I don't know all the women Logan's dated," Mac started to protest slightly. "Are you sure you even want to know? Maybe it's better to just let things be." Veronica gave her an unbelieving look and scoffed slightly. "Right… Veronica Mars, letting something be… what was I thinking?" Mac replied as she rolled her eyes. Veronica smiled and nodded, waiting for her to continue.
When she didn't though, Veronica thought she should prompt her again. "Brandon made it sound like there were other women besides Bex who weren't very nice."
Mac shrugged. "Well he may have been generalizing on the definition of nice…" Veronica's look became slightly puzzled at that and she shook her head obviously not understanding what that meant. "Okay, so I do know one of the women he was dating before Bex was a stripper, so perhaps he meant 'nice' as in 'pure' in that case. I think she was actually a nice stripper though and not a witch like Bex is."
Veronica's eyes opened a bit wider. Is that really that surprising, Veronica? Logan didn't always have the best judgment in women in the past either. Kendall Casablancas was definitely proof of that. "And…" she prompted Mac since she seemed to have gone silent again, and she doubted it was just one other woman that Brandon was referring to.
"Then there was Molly," Mac replied with a grimaced expression as she fidgeted with her hands.
"Molly?" Veronica asked, not exactly sure who Molly was and then it hit her. "Molly Fitzpatrick?" she asked with her eyes opened even wider than before. Mac cringed and nodded. "Oh my God! Did he have a fucking death wish?" Veronica blurted out, and then covered her mouth with her hand realizing what she'd said. She took a deep breath and shook her head. "Sorry. I just…" She wasn't really sure how to react to that. "What was he thinking though?"
Mac shrugged in reply. "Yeah, a deputy dating a Fitzpatrick wasn't exactly smart on either of their parts. I wouldn't say it was 'dating' like go out for fancy dinners and discuss moving in together 'dating' though. But word gets around you know? And I think it actually started before he became a deputy."
Veronica sat there absorbing what Mac had just told her as the waitress came over to take their drink order. She decided she'd better focus on the menu to figure out what she wanted to eat before the waitress returned with the drinks. Logan and Molly Fitzpatrick? Given the whole fallout over Felix, she would never in a million years have expected that to happen. Although she also would never have expected Weevil to be with Wanda either. And if it started before he became a deputy, did that mean it was right after I left or even before that? I wonder if it was after I left him that stupid letter. Did the issue that happened last week at the River Stix have to do with Molly?
After the waitress left Mac gave her a compassionate look. "I'm sorry Veronica. Maybe it was better not knowing?"
Veronica shrugged in reply. "Yeah. Well thanks anyway. I'm the one who made you tell me, so don't feel bad." She narrowed her eyes again at Mac which seemed to make her a bit nervous. "Any other big surprises I should know about? You didn't hook up with anyone questionable while I was away did you?" Mac laughed and shook her head.
"No, you know Max and I dated on and off and then there were a few other guys at Hearst, but no one that you would have known. More guys in my computer science classes and no one from Neptune High."
Veronica nodded then another thought struck her. "How about Wallace? He seemed to be avoiding that topic the other night too."
Mac slumped down a bit and shrugged.
"You know you really don't hold up well under interrogation Mac," Veronica replied with a laugh.
"Yeah," she replied with a small smile. "Good thing I was only Q and not out in the field like you."
"So, who's Wallace dating that he doesn't want me to know about?" Veronica asked getting her back on point, before she let out a slight gasp. "Please tell me it's not Jackie again?"
Mac smiled and shook her head. "No not that bad." She took a deep breath and cringed a bit before she continued. "They aren't like an official couple and have really only started dating each other in the last month or so, whenever they are both in town. She has a job that takes her out of town a lot too, just like Wallace, which is actually how they ran across each other. I mean they literally bumped into each other on a flight back to San Diego from Seattle. Like he was trying to put his bag in the overhead bin and she bumped right into him while she was looking for her seat. And then they turned out to be sitting next to each other and spent the entire flight getting to know each other. It's a bit romantic really if you think about it."
"Spill already," Veronica blurted out, growing impatient with the waiting.
"Amira Krimani," Mac replied hesitantly.
"Oh… wow…" Veronica was almost as speechless about that as all the other unusual pairings she'd just learned about. Amira was gorgeous though, and she could easily imagine Wallace being totally smitten with her. Amira also wasn't terribly happy with Veronica when she was helping her parents with the graffiti problem at their restaurant, though in the end she didn't think they parted on terrible terms. Although she didn't stop her dad from finding out about the college boyfriend he didn't approve of either. She wondered if Wallace was keeping it a secret from her because it was still new, or if he was worried about how the two of them would react to each other.
The waitress returned with their drinks and they gave her their dinner orders. After she walked off Mac gave her a concerned look. "You doing okay there Bond?"
Veronica nodded. "Any other bombshells you haven't dropped yet?"
Mac thought about and slowly shook her head. "I don't think so."
Veronica nodded in reply and then remembered what she'd forgotten to tell Mac. "Oh, I forgot to mention when you picked me up…" Veronica started to explain. "Leo sort of demanded that I stop by the bowling alley tonight and at least make an appearance. He said Jane really wanted to say hi. If you don't want to go, I can drive back over, but I thought you might like a chance to see Norris again."
Mac couldn't seem to help letting a small smile form on her lips. "Yeah, sure… No problem."
Veronica smiled back and nodded. "Yeah, somehow I didn't think you'd actually mind."
A/N – Thought I'd share a little trivia about the McDade's. I was trying to figure out someone random from the show to have own the marketing firm and came across Todd McDade. His name is called a few names before Veronica's when they graduate from Neptune High in episode 2X22. Mandy was also baby sitting for a Ryder McDade in episode 1X19, in an 09er neighborhood, so I'm going to assume Ryder was Todd's little brother. Todd McDade's name also shows up in the email list for the people that Dick forwarded Veronica's video on to in episode 3x20 with a Hearst email account.
And I did mention at the very beginning that I had planned on some unusual pairings in this story. So now that you've seen more of those, I'd love to hear other opinions on all of them. Let me know what you thought of the ones uncovered in this chapter.