Before you go - Lewis Capaldi

Veronica entered the bedroom quietly carrying a freshly brewed mug of ginger tea from room service. One of the few benefits to not owning his own kitchen was that Logan's penthouse in the Neptune Grand came with all the amenities of hotel room services which catered for almost every occasion and possible need, which included pregnant guests and pregnancy sickness.

"One of the worst things about growing a human in your body? Is the smell super powers, if I never have to smell ginger again after this... I will be so happy." Mac sniffed as she sat up gratefully on the bed and took the mug. She didnt mention that it had also been a huge give away that when Veronica spent the nights with Logan that both of them shared the same Mallowmazing shower gel scent.

Parker had told Veronica about the twin revelation after the recent scans but gazing down her friends slender frame, the only visible signs of being with child was the slight paleness of her skin, the exhausted look in her expression and a gentle swell beginning to form if her shirt angled a certain way. It reminded her of the first few months her neighbour Sarah had lived upstairs in their apartment building, the first few months had been terrible but had mostly settled down by the second trimester. Veronica wasn't sure how that would work with multiple occupants though.

She wouldnt be able to hide the evidence for much longer.

Mac glanced at the small folder in Veronica's other hand. She recognized it, the same envelope those legal files Dick had couriered over to her dorm room the morning after their argument. She pursed her lips and Veronica gave her a sympathetic smile before placing it on the dresser and sitting down beside her instead. It wasnt the first time Veronica had witnessed her mental destruction at the hands of a Casablancas guy in her life and she swallowed a large gulp of the ginger tea to chase the reminders of that night with Cassidy away.

A bedroom in the Neptune Grand was a delightful hellscape.

That was part of the reason she was here right now and not at home, staying with Logan meant she didnt have to look at the disappointment on her parents faces, or hear her father's words that nothing good ever comes out of getting into bed with a Casablancas. She had learned during the summer that her parents lost a lot of money from the court settlement against the hospital in an early Casablancas investment share which was operating under a shell corporation in his second wifes maiden name.

The idea that the Casablancas men had been screwing up her life since before Pre-K shouldnt have surprised her at this point. The Mackenzie familiy fortune had been lost to the kind of Boiler Room style ponzi schemes which floundered when sold off to unsuspecting buyers and had built the Casablancas Enterprises Empire. Her parents had struggled but made it work, Mac didnt have the strength right now to face them after they'd spent so much of their savings on the therapist during the summer to stop her panic attacks. Ironic that one of the bedrooms in the Neptune Grand, the centre of her nightmares was now a bolthole to hide from her crumbling life. Just like the bedroom she had shared with Cassidy, this room had been scrubbed clean as though Dick and all those hot steamy nights together had never existed. his stuff was gone and his presence was only felt on her skin like a whole body hangover.

"The MacKenzie Dossier?" Mac asked.

Veronica nodded but didnt offer up anything more. She was at a loss for words, her friend had been through enough today and needed rest, despite all her own desire to go find Dick, Acting Dean Ashwood and hash this outso she used some of her fathers expertise, sometimes the answer wasn't about offering up pearls of wisdom, it was being present, it was showing up and not leaving when things got hard. She knew from the cathartic afternoon in Wallace's room when she finally told someone about her rape: how important it was to be allowed to unburden at your own pace.

Logan should have been the one in here, he'd know what to say or how to make it better but he'd gone to the dorms to pick up a box of Mac's thing's, the rest Wallace, Parker and Piz were temporarily storing in the boys room until she had a chance to investigate the student ethics and they could launch an appeal.

He'd made a quip about Veronica being the only woman he wanted to see wearing his t-shirt to bed but she suspected after giving him the highlights of everything Cliff had gleened from the legal threats and Mac's recent expulsion from Hearst that her boyfriend needed time to cool down and gather his before he went off and confronted his injured friend. Conversations about parents made Logan uncomfortable since the loss of his own Veronica had noticed, perhaps that's why he had been so insistent on making sure no lost soul felt they were alone.

That night on the roof when she thought Cassidy had killed her dad, Logan had been the lighthouse which kept her from getting lost in that storm.

"Do you know Virginian opossum gestate for only twelve days? If I was an opossum this would all be over by now." Mac said placing the mug on the nightstand. "I have to tell my parents that I know... and I'm so scared they are going to wash their hands of me after all this. Another Casablancas? What the hell had I been thinking?" Mac said quietly as tears began to stream down her face.

Mac stood up and gestured towards the phone which began to buzz again.

"He's been calling all day..."

Without missing a beat Veronica pulled her into a hug. She understood the fears went deeper than just finding out about a teen pregnancy, being switched with Madison at birth and the weight of that secret had been a burden Mac felt she'd made peace with... now it was a pothole that the Mackenzie family wouldnt be able to dodge for much longer.

"I promised Parker I'd be there for her and now I'm practically homeless. My brother moved into my room and my grandpa sold his house.. what am I going to do.. raise two babies living in the RV on their lawn? They are going to hate me. I ruined my entire future and they gave up so much..." she cried wrapping her arms around her petite blond friend.

"You're getting this upset over a guy who called himself the 'Mac Daddy' in court documents?" Veronica quipped soothingly.

Sure most of the papers would have been thrown out for the sheer amount of nonsense but the threat of stripping Mac of her maternal rights couldn't be ignored.

"I can't talk to him right now... I dont know what to think or how to feel, its like the world just feels like my brain is going to imploded, some masochistic part of me keeps reminding me that I wouldn't even be alive if not for him. I'm just so tired, V." Mac sniffled breaking her hold and walking around the room huffing in increasing panicked breaths.

"I want him here and I want to never see him ever again. God, it was never supposed to be HIM... We were never supposed to end up together and I don't want to have to wake up tomorrow and have to explain this to parents... tosee that look on their faces when I tell them I'm having his baby... babies..." Mac amended with a gulp.

"I'm having freaking twins and I still can't even keep plants alive... my brother gave me a Twilight cactus for my dorm room and I still managed to kill it... how can someone kill cactus.. those things are like the desert cockroach of weeds and yet somehow... thats how much of a dumpster fire my life is right now and if it wasnt already a trainwrec... it feels like I am rushing on this speeding train and theres a gap in the bridge and the controls arent working and this isnt the hollow deck... I cant just log out and I really just want to change my username and go off grid for a year until this is all over but I can't." she said pacing the floor. 'It feels like my whole life is getting ready to detonate and I hate him... I hate him and I miss him... and I just want to talk to him but I'm scare if I do right now I'll be too angry and I wont be able to take it back... and I can't hack the answers because the universe has written all the answers on clay tablets and punch cards." Veronica swallowed as Mac's gray gaze locked with hers. "I just don't know what to do..."