And...we're back...to our regular programming.

Veronica heard Mac's keys drop onto her desk and made her way into the lobby. "Hey, Q. All ready for another week of mayhem and deceit?"

"I thought your dad told you to stop prank calling Vinnie Van Lowe."

Veronica shrugged. "You can't think he meant that."

"Maybe not," Mac admitted.

"I did," Keith bellowed from his office.

Veronica wrinkled her nose and gave Mac a tiny headshake.

"Okay, then," Veronica said, "ignoring the VVL issue for now, I think we need to do some kind of background investigation on Maggie's ex."

"What?" Mac asked, her voice steeped with skepticism. "Why? He came around once and we're probably never going to see him again. Why do we need his background?"

"Why'd he show up in the first place? He and Maggie had broken up before she died. Why is he coming around to see an ex-girlfriend's kid who he never liked? Seems fishy to me. And we don't know that he won't come around again. I just think having a little knowledge is a good thing."

Mac rolled her eyes. "Oh. A little knowledge is what you're looking for. Uh huh." She sat in her chair and tucked her bag into her drawer. "Anyway, didn't you hear him say they got back together a couple days before she died?"

"What? No."

"Maybe it was when you were on your walk. Yeah, they not only got back together, they started talking about getting married. He got all teary when he was talking about it."

Veronica's mouth twisted in distaste. "He says they were back together? Cole didn't know anything about them getting back together."

"Because no one's ever re-kindled a relationship and kept quiet about it," Keith said sarcastically as he appeared in his doorway, and Mac slapped her hand over her mouth, in an unsuccessful attempt to keep the guffaw from bursting out of her.

"Yeah, that's super funny," Veronica replied dryly.

"I'm just saying that they might have decided to stay quiet for a while, until they were sure things were going to work out," Keith said. "And you don't need a background on Nathan Wills, since I assume that's who you're talking about. He's a fine, upstanding citizen. On paper at least. That's the extent of my knowledge."

"Why do you have any knowledge?" Veronica asked. "Why do you even know this guy's name? We only met him on Saturday."

"I am not at liberty to discuss the specifics of how I came to be in possession of this information. Just trust me. Don't waste your time."

Veronica turned to Mac. "Someone already hired him to check on the guy."

"No duh," Mac replied and Keith snorted a laugh.

Veronica sighed and turned back to her dad. "So, the question is, was it Dick, or Mrs. Tierney? And what prompted it?"

"I am not at liberty to—"

"Yeah, yeah, save the speech for someone who cares. Mac, can you pull up an accounts payable listing for the last month...actually, the last two months. I wanna see our list of clients. That's not confidential within the firm." She smirked at her father, feeling superior.

"Don't waste your time there either, Mac. This was a little work between friends. There's no record in the AP system. Actually, the usual fee was donated to Balboa County's Youth Outreach program in Mars Investigations' name. I put the receipt on your desk for the tax file. Did you see it?" Mac nodded, smiling.

"It's gotta be Mrs. Tierney," Veronica said emphatically. "Work between friends? That can't mean Dick. And a donation when you're already getting free services? That's definitely not Dick."

Keith shrugged noncommittally. "You know him better than I do, honey."

"Uh uh." Both Marses turned to look at Mac. "My money's on Dick. Don't you remember that day, Veronica, when he was in the office and they both refused to tell us why? And I'm pretty sure that Youth Outreach is Dick's charity of choice. They got him on the phone one day when we were working on Cole's paternity investigation and I heard him donate $2500 for some bowling event. He seemed to know the person who called him and the last thing he said was 'let me know if you're short, I'll make up the difference'. Nope, Dick initiated this investigation and the boss here comped him the work." She looked at Keith expectantly. "So? How'd I do?"

He nodded with a smile. "Pretty good analysis. We may make an investigator out of you yet."

"What was Dick worried about?" Veronica asked.

"I am not at liberty—" Keith began, then he stopped and raised his eyebrows at her. "Actually, it's fine. At this point, there's no reason not to. When Nathan sent a birthday card to Cole, Dick noticed that Cole's reaction was a little out of the norm. He got concerned about whether Cole had a reason to dislike Nathan and Logan sent him to me."

"Logan sent him to you?" Veronica exploded. "Why not to me?"

"Or me?" Mac interjected. "Didn't I do a good enough job with the research into the Tierneys?"

"They were trying to be considerate of your feelings. Both of you." Keith gave them a serious look. "Do not hassle either of them about coming to me." He looked sternly at Veronica. "I mean it, Veronica."

Veronica tapped her fingers against her lips. "Dick was worried about something like what happened to Cassidy." She saw Mac jerk back in her chair at her words, her eyes squeezing shut. "And he didn't want any reminders for Mac about his brother. And Logan probably thought the same thing about me." She looked sympathetically at her friend. "You okay?"

Mac's eyes opened and they were shiny. "Yeah, I'm fine." She turned to look at Keith. "There was nothing to support Dick's concerns. Right? You said Nathan was an upstanding citizen."

"There's nothing that I could find in a routine background check that gave me reason to be concerned. That's what I told Dick. There are never any guarantees but if Cole doesn't care for the man, I think it was something less..."

"Horrifying," Veronica supplied her choice of word for him. "From what Cole said to me on Saturday, he didn't think that Nathan was good enough for his mom and it sounded like Nathan was kinda disrespectful of her parenting choices. As far as Cole knew, they were broken up and Maggie was sad but she knew it was for the best."

"I told Dick that I thought there was a good chance that it was something like that. Children of single parents don't always appreciate it when their parent finds a partner."

Veronica laughed bitterly. "I certainly resembled that remark after you became a single parent." She looked at Keith; her brow furrowing. "You can't blame me for your lack of dates now though. When was the last time you went out with anyone?"

"Not really your concern, daughter," he said.

"I think Wallace's mom's still single," she said in a teasing voice and was relieved when Mac smiled at her.

"You and Alicia didn't exactly mesh," Keith reminded her and she shook her finger at him.

"I don't plan to date her. Logan doesn't like to share. And of the girlfriends you had when I lived here, she was the best." He rolled his eyes. "If you recall, I got her to come sit with you in the hospital the night Aaron was arrested. We were practically besties."

"If I want to date, I will, okay? So lay off." He drummed his fingers on Mac's desk, then turned to walk back to his office.

"Okay, fine. So, about Nathan."

He turned back toward her. "Not satisfied with the clean paper trail?"

She shrugged. "Well...I guess if you are, then I probably am. I just..." She grimaced. "Pony really hated him."

Mac nodded. "Yeah, that was weird. She went a little nuts on him. I've never seen her get like that. But, he was an unexpected person in a place where she usually feels safe. I don't know about dogs but with people, that can be startling enough to cause a weird reaction."

Keith looked back and forth between them. "Are you suggesting that Pony is some kind of bad guy detector? If that's the case, I should take her down to the station and let Marcia use her to sniff out which of the remaining deputies are crooked."

"Dad, don't make fun. We were just mentioning what an unexpected reaction she had. You know how she is. She'd probably let a burglar make off with Logan's big screen if the guy would just scratch her belly for a bit before he left. She really went off on Nathan. He thought she was going to attack him and I wasn't terribly sure that he was wrong."

"Tell you what. Nathan came back clean. This time, I'll look at Maggie."

"What will that show?" Mac asked.

"Well, if Maggie was having trouble with Nathan, or anyone, she might have gone in and talked to a police officer," Keith said, coming back to lean against Mac's desk. "Sometimes people come in to the police department to ask questions about how to handle a situation. If they don't give any names, there wouldn't be any record in a search for Nathan. But there might be a report of the conversation under her name. We won't know for sure who she was talking about if we do find something but it gives us someplace to start at least."

Mac nodded thoughtfully and looked at Veronica. "Sounds like a good idea, Bond. If there's nothing, then we'll just agree that Pony just jumped to some erroneous conclusions and overreacted on Saturday. Okay?"

"Like mother, like daughter," Keith stage whispered and Mac giggled. Veronica sneered at them.

"You guys are like a comedy act. You could probably take that show on the road." Mac's giggles deepened to a full laugh. "So, anyway, yes, I'll check into Maggie."

"No, it's fine. I started this, I'll finish. I'll let you know what I find," Keith said, pushing himself away from the desk and heading for his office again.

"Thanks, Dad," Veronica called as she watched him go back to his office. When his door closed, she looked at Mac. "Okay then. Handled."

"Yeah," Mac agreed. "You know, it's pretty impressive, what Dick did. I didn't realize that he'd turned into such a dad."

"I did," Veronica said, "although it's sometimes hard to remember. I'm also very pleasantly surprised that he thought to keep you out of the investigation he wanted to do." She widened her eyes and raised her eyebrows. "It's official. Cole is the best thing that ever happened to Dick Casablancas."

"I think we all agree on that," Mac said and she turned toward her monitors, powering up the screens.

Mac was deep into a mess of financial transactions, trying to sort down to the original source of the money, when the bell over the door sounded and a tall man entered the office. He was handsome in the bland fashion of so many of the 09ers and he was also vaguely familiar. Mac was about to greet him when Veronica bounced out of her office.

"Casey!" she cried, greeting him with a hug. The name was the trigger Mac needed: Casey Gant, a year ahead of them at Neptune High and definitely an 09er. She glanced at the calendar and noticed for the first time that Casey Gant was the name of Veronica's 10:30 AM appointment.

Casey took a step back from Veronica, with his hands still resting on her arms as he smiled down at her. "This is a much warmer welcome that I had been expecting. How are you, Veronica?"

"I'm good," she answered. "It was a really pleasant surprise when I saw your name on my appointments for today. It's been a really long time. How've you been?" She turned out of Casey's grasp and walked toward her office. Before they went inside, she stopped and looked at Mac, who was watching them with amusement. "Mac, did you know Casey?"

"No, we never met. Of course I knew OF Casey Gant but..."

"Well, now you've met. Mac, this is Casey Gant, would-be hippie and publishing magnate. And Casey, this is Mac MacKenzie. Another Neptune High refugee. She's our resident computer guru and all-around know-it-all."

"That's impossible," Mac said with a smirk as she rose from her desk and stretched her hand toward Casey. "You're the one who knows it all."

Casey laughed and shook Mac's hand. "Great to meet you, Mac. If Veronica's calling you a know-it-all, you must be. I'm pretty sure she doesn't say that about very many people."

"She's just trying to butter me up so when she locks herself out of her computer later, I'll get her back in." They both laughed as Veronica rolled her eyes. "I am intrigued by the would-be hippie description. She calls me a hippie sometimes when she's griping about my vegan food. Is this the same thing?"

"No, she's just making fun of the way we got to know each other. I started hanging out with a commune in my senior year at Neptune High. My parents were convinced it was a cult—"

"It wasn't," Veronica interjected.

"No, it really wasn't but they were concerned I might let someone other than them influence what I did with the family fortune. It all mostly worked out in the end." He smiled warmly at Veronica.

"I don't think you really made an appointment to talk about old times," she said. "Shall we?" She gestured to her office.

"Sure. Nice to meet you, Mac. Hope we run into each other again." Veronica led him into her office and closed the door.

wenty-five minutes later, Veronica had the details of Casey's case and an initial plan of attack.

"As soon as we find something out, we'll let you know," she said as she led him back into the lobby.

"Sounds good. And tomorrow night?"

"Absolutely. Dinner tomorrow. Logan will be excited to see you."

"It'll be fun but..." Casey looked at Mac who was engrossed in her work. "Hey, Mac?" She looked up. "Any chance you're available tomorrow night to go to dinner with me and Logan and Veronica? You'll be keeping me from feeling like a third wheel. Four's company, three's awkward."

"Yeah, Mac, come with us," Veronica said. "It'll be fun. Just dinner and catching up."

"I don't know. I don't want to horn in."

"No, come on. We'll have fun. You don't have a date or something already, do you?" Casey looked down at her with a hopeful smile.

"No, no date. Sure, I'll come. Thanks for including me."

"Awesome," Casey said. "I guess I'll see you ladies tomorrow. Let me know if you find anything on my missing author." With a quick wave, he left the office.

"He's got a missing author?" Mac asked.

"He does." Veronica leaned against Mac's desk, waving a sheet of paper in her hand. "This guy's had a very successful series of mysteries under a pseudonym and he's developing a new series. Gant Publishing is trying to keep him but another publishing house is trying to outbid them. Casey thought they had a deal and then the guy disappeared."

"He doesn't suspect foul play, does he? Just maybe a little corporate intrigue?"

Veronica nodded. "No, he doesn't think anything bad has happened to the guy. He's just wants to know if the guy went AWOL on his own or if the other publishing house has whisked him off somewhere to court him." She plunked the sheet of paper she'd been clutching in front of Mac. "Got time to hunt down credit cards?" she asked.

"Sure." Mac smoothed the paper against the desk. "If this guy is using his own cards wherever he is, we'll know before too long."

"Good. I knew this part would be pretty easy." Veronica pushed upright and headed to her office. "Thanks for the help, Q."

Logan sighed as the phone continued to ring. He was not looking forward to this conversation.

"Hey! Where are you?" Veronica's breathless voice echoed through the phone. "I thought you'd be home by now."

"Yeah, I did too, but things haven't gone as planned today. It'll probably be after midnight before I get home."

"Midnight?" Veronica's disappointment came through the line clearly.

"And that isn't all."

"Uh oh."

"Yeah, we're working so late because it's all hands on deck while we get ready to get underway."

"Wait. What?"

"Mid cycle mini deployment. It's a readiness exercise. How ready are we to ship out in the event of a crisis. It's only two weeks but we leave in three days." Logan ran his hand over the top of his head. The silence on the other end of the phone was deafening. "Veronica? Are you there?"

"Yeah, I'm here. But you're not."

"I know and I am so sorry about that. It's only a couple weeks though. Then I'll be back and, barring an actual crisis, I'll be in your hair for another eight months or so before...you know, an actual deployment."

There was a gasp on the other end of the line. "Eight months? That's all."

"Yeah, 'fraid so. Look, I've gotta go. I'll be home as soon as I can get there. I love you."

"I love you too."

She knew she was expressing her feelings to dead air and thumbed the disconnect button. Logan was leaving for two weeks in three days and if those three days were anything like today, he would hardly be here before he was gone. "It's not fair," she mumbled to the empty apartment.

She went into the kitchen and got Pony her dinner, then walked into the living room, curling into the corner of the couch. This was completely unexpected news. Eight months until his next full deployment was not new information but she deliberately didn't count the months to see how long she could keep him until February rolled around again. That was just a target anyway; Logan's next cruise could be anytime, although they usually had a rough idea and the actual dates would be known closer to a month in advance.

Veronica settled farther down into the couch, her head resting on the arm as she hugged a throw pillow tightly against her chest. Pony came out of the kitchen and walked over to sit next to the couch. Veronica unwrapped one arm from around the pillow and rubbed her knuckles behind the dog's ear.

"Just gonna be you and me for a while again," she said. "What kinda trouble do you think we can get into without Daddy around?"

Pony whined when she heard the word 'Daddy'.

"Yep, he's taking off again. Not for very long this time. Next time will be longer." She sat up again and patted the cushion next to her. Pony jumped up immediately and licked Veronica's face.

"Ugh, no, no licking, I'm not that sad." She put her arm around the dog and cuddled into her. "All right. We need a plan." She thought about what she had scheduled over the next couple of weeks. Maybe she'd get lucky and Casey's author would turn out to be being held captive against his will someplace. That would be a good distraction. "Oh, ugh, it's the holiday weekend too. More time to hang around here without him. Stupid Navy."

Pony licked her arm this time and Veronica laughed. "It's rough when your main forms of communication involve slobber, huh, girl?" Pony yipped in response. "That was how Dick used to be too, so maybe there's hope for you." She leaned her head against the dog's and sighed. "I'm getting this out of my system before he gets home tonight. This mopey thing is not the way Veronica Mars acts."

She ruffled her fingers down the dog's side, then, Pony suddenly jerked away from her and leapt off the couch. Veronica stared after her with a frown, then there was a pounding on the door. Veronica stood up and headed that direction, noting that Pony was already there, jumping around excitedly. She opened the door and shook her head.

"I gave at the office," she said to the pair at the door.

"Gave what, Ronnie?" Dick asked. "No one wants anything from ya. We're here to cheer you up." He nodded, looking very serious. Veronica looked down at Cole who was crouched next to Pony, letting her lick his face.

Veronica shuddered and looked back at Dick. "Why exactly do I need cheering up?"

"Come on, you don't hafta be brave with us. Logan called and told us about this last minute cruise thingie, which sucks by the way, and wanted us to come over and take you to get some dinner so you wouldn't be alone." Dick paused. "Not sure if we've gotta feed you every night he's gone but he definitely said tonight. So come on, Rons, let's go."

"All right. I'll go. No reason to just stay here." She looked down at Pony. "Where are we going?"

"Wherever you want."

"Okay, we're going to Amy's. Then we can sit outside so Pony can come too." She turned back to grab the leash and a sweater.

"I think the point was to get you dinner so you didn't just eat ice cream," Dick said doubtfully but Veronica shook her head.

"No, Logan knows that dessert for dinner is a perfectly viable nutritional option."

Dick continued to look dubious. "I'm pretty sure it's not."

"She's a grown-up, Dad. If she wants ice cream for dinner, then let her have it." Cole held his hand out and Veronica gave him the leash.

"Listen to your son, Dick. He's wise beyond his years."

A couple hours later, Dick and Veronica sat on Amy's patio, Pony under the table, and Cole inside leaning on the counter talking to his friend Callie.

"We can't have ice cream every night," Dick said. "It's not healthy. You can't tell me it is."

"Don't worry, you're not going to have to take care of me every day for the next two weeks. It was nice of you guys to come out but I am an adult. I can get along by myself, I promise."

"I know that. I just also know how much it sucks when he leaves," Dick said with a sigh. "Stupid Navy."

Veronica laughed. "I said the same thing to Pony right before you guys came by. But he loves it, so the rest of us just have to suck it up."

"Well, this weekend, party at my house. All three days, straight through even, if you want. We can cheer each other up. Invite Wally and Mac-a-roni and whoever else you know." He looked at her quizzically. "Do you know anyone else?"

She laughed again. "I know lots of people. That isn't the right question. It's whether I want to spend time with anyone else. And usually, the answer is no." She considered for a minute. "Do you ever see Casey Gant anymore?"

"Not for quite a while. Why?"

"Mac and I are having dinner with him tomorrow. Logan was supposed to come but I'm guessing he'll be tied up in readiness prep. Should I invite him to come to your house this weekend?"

Dick looked at her with his eyebrows drawn together in suspicion. "Was it a double date? Are he and Mac..."

"They met for the first time today. He just asked her to come along so he wasn't a third wheel with me and Logan. I don't know what he thought was going to happen. We disappear under the table during dinner?"

"That's probably not impossible."

She scoffed. "Yeah, it is pretty much impossible." She leaned toward the table, planting her elbow and resting her chin in her hand. "Why are you asking about Mac and Casey anyway?"

"No reason," he said. His lack of eye contact made him look evasive and she fought her amusement. "Just curious, Ronnie. You, of all people, certainly know that feeling."

"I'll give you that." They grinned at each other, then looked up when Cole and Callie walked up and sat down.

"Hey Dad, Callie's shift is over, do you think we can give her a ride home? It'll save her mom having to come get her."

"Sure, why not," Dick replied. Cole grinned and the girl pulled out her phone and started to text. "You about ready, Rons?"

"Yeah, it's getting chilly out here, even with the sweater." She looked at Cole. "Don't you have a sweatshirt or something? I'd think you'd be freezing in just that tee shirt."

"I looked for my hoodie before we came to your house but I couldn't find it," Cole answered. "I'm fine. I don't get cold that easy."

"Well I do and looking at you is making me shiver." She reached down to unloop the leash from the table leg. "Come on, Pony, time to go home."

Dick drove Callie home first and Cole got out to walk with her to her door.

"Is this like a date?" Veronica asked, looking down the front walk where the pair had disappeared. The front door was out of view.

"You and me? No." Dick smirked at her. "Oohhhh...you meant Cole and Callie. I have no idea. I've given him all the lectures, and he usually says, 'yeah, Dad, I know', and then he's talking about a different girl every day it seems like. I just keep telling him that he can talk to me about anything, and if he's not comfortable with that, we've got Logan, and you, and Mac, and even your dad. He's like Super Dad."

"Speaking of my super dad...he didn't exactly tell us on purpose but...Mac and I know about the background check that you had him do on Nathan."

The amusement on Dick's face fell away. "I didn't want you guys being bothered with that."

"I know, and I really appreciate that you even considered that. You really surprised me, Dick."

"Why'd he tell you? He said he wouldn't."

Veronica wrinkled her nose and huffed a sigh. "Well, I wasn't really sure about the guy, Nathan I mean, so I came in this morning planning to do some checks on him. Dad told us not to and then he had to tell us why. That surprised me too, Dick. I'm not sure how long it's gonna take before I just accept that you really are a good dad and stop being shocked every time I see more evidence of it." She chuckled. "That probably sounds insulting but you've got to realize, I had never pictured you as a parent before Cole turned up."

"You and me both, sister." He raised his hand and she high-fived him with a laugh. "Okay, I'm going against your dad's advice here. Hope I don't die regretting it." He took a deep breath. "I never really saw you as a parent either before Cole. Now I'm constantly after your boy to knock you up."

"What?" Veronica shouted.

"Yeah, we missed the little kid stages with Cole. To get all that stuff, it's gonna have to be a kid you squeeze out." He drew his hand across his brow in an exaggerated movement. "Phew. Got it out and you haven't killed me. Excellent."

"Not yet I haven't. Give me a minute. What does my dad have to do with this?"

"Oh, I told him that I've been telling Logan that he needs to get you pregnant—"

"You said that to my dad?" she shrieked.

"—and he said I should probably mind my own business." Dick nodded knowingly at her. "He didn't get mad. He was cool about it. I'm pretty sure he's looking for grandkids here pretty soon too."

"I can't believe you talked to my dad about me getting pregnant."

"Yeah, no big. I told you he was Super Dad. What Super Dad doesn't want to be a Super Grandpa?"

Veronica's hands flew up into her hair as she banged the back of her head against the headrest. "I cannot believe you."

"What?" The back door opened then and Cole climbed in.

"Sorry that took so long. I was meeting her mom and dad." He buckled his seatbelt and Dick pulled away from the house.

"Don't you think Logan and Veronica should have a kid?" Dick asked and Veronica banged her head back again.

"I think that's kinda up to them," Cole answered.

"Thank you!" Veronica said emphatically.

"But it'll be fun once it happens." He leaned forward to look earnestly at Veronica. "It'd be great if you could try and do it before I leave for college."

Veronica was sleeping restlessly so when the mattress shifted and a body scooted up behind her, she immediately rolled over into Logan's arms. He pulled her snugly against him and buried his face in her neck.

"I am so sorry," he whispered into her skin.

"Don't be. It's your job. I don't want you feeling bad about it." She moved her head enough to kiss his temple and then shifted a little more to nibble on his ear. "Come on, quit hiding."

He pulled back and looked at her. His sad eyes made her frown.

"Really, Logan, I mean it. We're gonna be fine, like we were the last time. This is your job. My job has been known to be somewhat demanding at times and that can mean that we don't always get to do what we want. It's called adulting, Logan. Get over it."

"It's not just feeling bad for leaving you here, it's about having to be away from you too. I hate that."

"I'm not a fan," she agreed. "But it is what it is. We're gonna be fine." She stretched up and brushed her lips against his and he tightened his arms around her as they kissed. When she pulled away, he looked more relaxed.

"I expected you to be more upset," he said, running his hand over her back. "You sounded kinda bad on the phone."

Yeah, I'm sorry. You caught me so off-guard. Pony and I may have pouted for a while—" he chuckled "—but then your rescue squad showed up and I stopped wallowing. Thanks for sending the assist."

"Anytime. I didn't want you to be alone." He kissed her again. "Did you make them eat ice cream for dinner?"

"How'd you know?" she demanded, laughing. He laughed back at her and kissed her neck.

"If you were pouting, Amy's seems like a likely destination." He rolled onto his back and pulled her with him. She settled against his chest and he continued to run his hands along her back in lengthening strokes until his hands cupped her ass. "So, it's pretty late. I should probably let you go back to sleep."

Veronica rolled her eyes at him. "Unless you want to see some serious pouting over the next three days, Lieutenant, I suggest that you put that ridiculous thought right out of your head. If you're gonna leave me for two weeks, you need to do your very best when you are here to burn into my brain exactly what I've got to look forward to once you come home to me again."

The tender look on his face transformed into a lascivious grin. "Aye aye, ma'am. Brain burning, coming right up."