Hello everyone! Thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews that you have given me. I have several things planned to come, but here is a quick chapter I put together.

DalWriter: I view Wallace as the holder of everyone's secrets. I think about how he kept a lot of Veronica and feel like he would do the same for Mac. I absolutely love his character. I haven't read MLP's Life Extraordinary, but now I'm going too.

Chapter 11

Veronica, Logan, Wallace, and Dick all went to the sandwich shop a couple of blocks away. Once they all had their food and found a table, they began to formulate a plan.

"Ronnie. Where do you think Duncan is keeping Mac? It sounded like they were on a boat when I spoke to her." Dick fidgeted with his drink.

"I honestly don't know where Duncan is. I know he was in Australia at one point, but I don't think that's where he is now." Veronica took a sip of her coffee. "I also don't think we should look for her."

Dick narrowed his eyes. "What?"

"I think it would be more productive if we help solve whatever she was investigating. Then she can come home."

Logan put a hand on Dick's shoulder. "I agree."

"I want to know she's safe." Dick put his head in his hands. "Fine. What do we need to do?"

"First off. I need to talk to Jake Kane." Veronica noticed all three men giving her hard stares. "It will be too much if all of us go."

"You aren't going alone Veronica. This is Jake Kane you're talking about." Logan looked angry.

"I agree V. When it comes to you, I don't think it's safe for you to be alone with him." Wallace sounded worried.

"Oh fellas. You're so protective. Jake Kane and I go way back."

Logan opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Wallace. "Yeah. All the way back to before you were born."

Veronica quickly punched Wallace. "Shut up."

"So you want me to spill Mac's secrets, but keep my mouth shut about yours. Hypocrite." Wallace and Veronica were in a stare down.

Logan looked lost. "Wait, I'm confused."

Dick sat back watching this exchange. He wondered if they would ever stop getting side tracked by their own issues and focus on Mac. He felt frustrated. "Could you just spill Ronnie's shit, so we can focus on more important issues?"

Logan put a hand on Veronica's. "Just tell me."

Veronica turned her head to look at Logan. "You know how Duncan broke up with me before Lilly was killed, but didn't tell anyone why?"

Logan nodded.

"Well, Celeste told him that I was his sister. That Jake Kane was my father."

Dick began to choke on the bite of this sandwich, while Logan rubbed his hand through his hair.

"But you dated Duncan later?" Logan was confused again.

"Yeah. My dad did a paternity test. Jake Kane isn't my father. My dad is my real dad. My mom dated Jake in high school before Celeste and then they had an affair for years. The possibility was there."

Dick coughed. "So why would he hate you, if he thought you were his kid?"

Veronica looked over at Dick. "Because of what I did later. I helped Duncan kidnap his daughter and flee the country. Then…" Veronica looked over at Wallace.

"Then." Wallace grabbed her hand. "Veronica, Mac, and I pissed off The Castle, which Jake Kane is the head of. That's part of why Jake hired Mac to work for him."

Veronica turned back to Logan. "Why don't you come with me to the Kane's?"

Logan nodded. He and Veronica stood up and left the sandwich shop. They told Wallace and Dick that they would contact them afterwards to meet up and share the information.

Wallace and Dick sat silently for a while.

"Dick. You said you had a thing for Mac back in college. Is that why you tried to kiss her on the beach at the end of our freshman year?" Wallace was smiling at Dick.

"Oh shit. You saw that?"

Wallace laughed. "Nope. But I wish I had. You told her not to tell Logan, you didn't say anything about me."

"Do you really keep their secrets?"

"Sure do. Both of those girls need someone who they can trust to confide in." Wallace shook his head. "The things I know." He visible shivered. "Yikes."

"So what can you tell me about Mac? Obviously I know you won't tell me anything she told you in confidence, but give me something."

Wallace leaned on the table. "Well, she is very complex. After everything happened with Cassidy, Mac was messed up. She was scared of guys basically." He paused to take a bite of his sandwich. "She dated Bronson in college because he was safe, but Mac never truly let her guard down. Then there was Max who cheated on her with a hooker. There were a couple of other guys that didn't last long, before she met Zach."

"Zach." There was disgust in Dick's voice. "I saw some of the police report. What happened when you got there?"

"Well." Wallace rubbed his face with both hands. "The door was unlocked, so I went right in. I figured she was expecting me. I heard noise from the bedroom." Wallace looked at Dick. "Are you sure you want to hear this?"

Dick nodded.

"When I got there Zach had his hands around her throat and she was unconscious. I threw him off of her and just started wailing on him. When I saw him go limp, I raced to Mac. She was bloody and bruised. I called 911. Her pulse was very faint and when the paramedics got there they pushed me out of the way. I police officer held me back." Wallace felt tears sting his eyes. "I followed them to the hospital and heard the paramedics tell the doctors that she flatlined in the ambulance. I stood outside the emergency room watching them take her away. I truly thought she was going to die." Wallace stood up. "Let's go for a walk. I need to move."

The two men left the sandwich shop and walked back towards their cars.

"When she woke up, Mac couldn't speak. She looked broken both physically and mentally. When she could finally talk again, she pretended the whole thing didn't happen."

"Did you try to talk to her about it?"

Wallace started laughing. "Have you met Mac? That girl is first runner up behind Veronica for being able to avoid conversations they don't want."

"Yeah. She literally ran away from a conversation with me by having Ronnie pick her up."

"That sounds about right."

"So why did you set her up on the horrible date?"

Wallace laughed. "Because she was scared to date. She was afraid of having another bad guy. So I gave her a bad guy that was basically harmless. I knew she wouldn't like him, but the point was to make her face her fears."

"That makes sense I guess."

"Look Dick. I have to say, I'm not sure exactly how I feel about you and Mac." Wallace stopped in front of his car. "But I'm willing to be open minded. She's a strong woman who can take care of herself, trust me I've seen her take self-defense classes and learn to shoot guns since everything happened, but she's also very fragile. If you hurt her, so help me…" Wallace shook his head.

"Well then, I guess I'll have to do everything I can to not hurt her."

They shook hands and Wallace got into his car. "Good talk Dick."

Veronica and Logan arrived at the Kane residence. Veronica had prepared Logan in the car about staying quite and letting her do all the talking. She knocked on the door.

Jake Kane opened the door and didn't appear surprised to see Veronica standing there. "Good evening. Won't you please come in?"

They entered the house and followed Jake into his office. "Veronica, it's been what tens years since you broke into this office?"

"That sounds about right. I love the new décor." She smiled at him.

"What can I do for you Ms. Mars? It's awfully late for a social call."

"Well, you see, I would like my friend back."

"It's for her own safety."

"Yeah. I'm not entirely sure I believe that. So, how about this? You tell me what's going on and I will investigate and try to make everything better so Mac can come home." Veronica moved over to a chair and sat down. "I'm listening."

Mac laid in the bed feeling the movements of the boat. She kept thinking about Dick and her friends. She knew they must be scared for her, but she also prayed they didn't try to find her.

If she could just get a message to Jake Kane about Travis, maybe Weidman could investigate. Duncan wants to stay out of sight for a few days, but he also said they would head down the coast. Maybe she could talk him into docking briefly so she could send a message.

Mac was exhausted but she couldn't get her mind to stop working to allow her sleep. She thought about Dick and they way she felt around him. Why after three years of avoiding all men, had Dick been able to make her fall in love with him so fast? Mac had always been attracted to the blonde surfer and even had a crush on him freshman year of high school.

Smelling the salty air made her miss Dick even more. After tossing and turning for what felt like hours, Mac finally fell into a restless sleep.

When Mac awoke, she came out of the bedroom in the pajama pants and t-shirt she had found the night before. Duncan was in the kitchen and wearing the same clothes from the day before. He was cutting up fruit while frying bacon on the stove.

"Breakfast is ready." He handed her a bowl of fruit and a cup of coffee. Before plating up the bacon for himself and grabbing his fruit and coffee. "Did you sleep okay?"

"No."

"Was the bed not comfortable?"

Mac looked at him like he had just grown a pair of horns. "The bed was fine. I have people trying to kill me, so sleeping is a little hard to do."

"Yeah, I guess it would be." Duncan took her coffee. "Well, I'm going to be driving us up the coast for a few hours. Why don't you eat something and then try to go back to sleep?"

Mac felt defeated. "That's a good idea."

"But first, I want to jump in the shower." Duncan stood up and went into the bedroom.

She finished her fruit and waited until Duncan came out of the bedroom. Mac realized he looked well rested and freshly clean. She knew she wasn't going to get any sleep, at least not until she was home safely and with Dick. Mac felt jealous of Duncan being able to adapt so easily to a life of the run.

"The bedroom is all yours. Try and get some sleep. You need your rest when I find us a place to stop. I want to send a message to Weidman about that Travis guy." Duncan looked concerned. "The quicker we catch the person doing this, the quicker you can go home." He gave her a smile.

Mac stood up and went back into the bedroom and crawled into the bed. Once the boat was moving Mac allowed herself to relax and fall into a dreamless sleep.