A/N so thanks again for the follows, favs, and most of all, comments/reviews. Thanks for taking this ride with me! Enjoy.

Chapter 21

Earlier he had watched Veronica unlock the cases when they had loaded their things into the back of the SUV at the airport, verifying that they hadn't been tampered with. Now he pulled the two cases up from the back and unzipped one. He pulled out a small pink semi-auto pistol. "Pink? Really? Which one of you claims this little beaut?" He took out the clip and filled it with the bullets that were packed along with it. He then set the clip and gun back into zippered case. Turning to the other case, he unzipped it and did the same to the other gun, a black replica of the pink one. "Enquiring minds want to know, come on, ladies, no need to be modest." Setting the gun back in its case, he grinned up at the women glaring back at him in the front seats, "Let me guess…Ronnie, I just can't see you as pretty in pink. The black one must be yours."

Putting out her hand towards him, Veronica bent her fingers back and forth in a 'give that to me' motion. "Hand them over, Dickster. I'm not sure I trust you with firearms. And does it really matter whose is whose?"

He couldn't hold back his smirk, however, when he handed the cases up and Veronica handed the pink one to Mac. "Pink, Mac? I never would have guessed."

Taking the case from Veronicas, Mac stuck her tongue out at him and replied, "Gift from my Dad, Dick. I didn't pick it out and I don't have an extra couple hundred to replace it. So pink it is." Placing it on the floorboard, she changed the subject, saying, "Hand up our boots. It's as good a time as ever to put them on."

After a few minutes of jostling around in the back, going through bags and putting things back in their places, all three of them had changed their footwear for more appropriate trail-wear. Putting the car back into drive, Veronica started down the road. "According to Dad's information, the association's gate is about eight miles down this highway off to the right. The key card should open the gate and then we have to wind our way up the mountain road all the way to the top, their cabin is the furthest cabin up the road."

Dick sat on the edge of the middle of the backseat, leaned in between the two of them, his arms propped against the arm rests. The whole way up the canyon he had been becoming increasingly concerned that neither Veronica nor Mac really knew what they might be up against. He had been relieved last night when Keith had told him they were bringing handguns. At least they weren't being completely naive in thinking that this Mark fellow would leave quietly with them.

And Madison, well, from what he knew of her, she wouldn't go quietly, either, not with Veronica Mars. And not with him, either. Definitely not with him. They hadn't exactly become bitter enemies, but after the incident between Logan and her, Dick had taken the high road and ended it once and for all. They hadn't talked in years, besides the five minutes when he had had to take his nametag from her at the reunion. But their last real encounter in college had been a knock-out drag-out fight, one that hadn't ended well. They had both walked away angry. He had basically accused her of using Logan to get back at him, when Logan had been at a low and lonely point during one of his many break-ups with Veronica. She hadn't denied it, only rubbing in his face how liquor made men susceptible to rash decisions that they couldn't undo. The evil glint in her eye when she talked about the collapse of Logan's relationship with Veronica made him completely sick. As if she wanted Logan all to herself, and Dick was just a stepping stone to get to him. It hadn't worked out too well on Madison's end, nonetheless. Logan couldn't stomach her any more than Dick could. She had tried to put herself in Logan's way the next few years at Hearst after Veronica had left, but whenever she would come around, Logan would get a glazed over expression on his face, as if he were equaling her to losing Veronica.

Dick had dropped any thought of pursuing her right after one of those first meetings, and had come to her to end it 'officially'. That was when she had told him that alcohol was a girl's best friend when it came to getting men to do what a girl wanted. She confirmed that she had taken advantage of Logan's 'broken heart'. That she had let him think she was Veronica in his drunken-haze and had fucked him blind before Logan realized just how much he was fucked. Then she had dropped the bomb-shell: she had been hoping to become impregnated by that little encounter. Then she would have been tied to Logan forever. It was in that moment that Dick had realized how shallow Madison had become; thinking that forcing a relationship on someone would make them love her or something. He had called her names, she had cried, admitting she was desperate for real affection, and he was unable to tell her he felt anything more than disgust toward her at that moment. She called him names, flinging out that he was the skank for sleeping with anything that moved at Hearst. He hadn't denied that, because to deny the truth was pointless. There may have been a lamp or two flung in his general direction as he stomped out of her apartment. That was the last time he had really talked to her, if you could consider a screaming match talking.

So that was why he knew that if Madison had chosen to come here with Mark, she would be kicking and screaming as they dragged her out of there. He wondered about heading back to the nearest town and buying some rope to hogtie her with. That might be the only way they would be able to get her out of there, even if she was 'kidnapped' by this guy. They might have to kidnap her themselves; it probably would go easier if they did.

The terrain was interesting here to him. He had been to Aspen a number of times but never to Park City, and he wasn't even sure if this could even be considered Park City any way. The last ski lift they had passed was more than thirty minutes ago, and he was pretty sure ski lifts were the definition of Park City. This seemed more like small town living, nice homesteads and little houses of those who worked hard for a living. As they began up the canyon, getting closer to where the Tennison's cabin sat, he could see nice summer cabins, gradually getting larger as they got further from the last town, nestled into the thickening forest, dirt roads breaking off randomly off each side of the two lane highway they were on.

Mac was consulting the written directions that Keith had sent, along with a map. Every few minutes, she would look out the window, silent, obviously enjoying the scenery of the mountainside. The canyon suddenly opened up into a valley, where cows were pasturing in wide grassy meadows.

"In about three miles, we'll cross the river on the highway and we'll need to take the immediate right," Mac informed Veronica. "According to the directions, the gate should be right there."

"The key card is in my wallet, grab it out." Veronica, concentrating on her driving, asked Dick. "It's back there behind my seat."

On the floor board, Dick found Veronica's black leather bag, opened it, found the wallet and handed the whole thing up to Mac. "Not opening that can of worms," he told her as their hands grazed one another's. "She'll just blame me for taking the one dollar she has left in there." Their eyes locked on each other and he winked at her. "What do you say to a soak together when this is all done?"

"TMI, people," Veronica called out, disgust in her voice. "I really don't need visions of the two of you doing…anything together."

"Hey, you're welcome to join us, Ronnie. It might just relax your weary soul." Dick said, amused. "In fact, maybe when this is all over I can treat the two of you to a spa week. I can see the tension in both of you…you could just melt it away in a mud bath."

"Tell you what, Dick. If you're buying, I just might consider it. I'll rack your bill way up. But I don't know about a week. Maybe more like weekend. I'm saving my weeks up for your roommate's return." Veronica slowed down as she crossed a bridge, signaling and turning right off of the highway and onto a gravel road. "I can't make Dad man the office by himself for that long."

"Oh, but Ronnie," Dick heard himself start to whine. He cleared his throat, "Keith has manned that thing for years. You deserve a little vay-cay, don'cha? Come on, I meant it when I said I'll treat." He grinned at her reflection in the rear-view mirror. "I bet Logan would want you to do it, too. Loosen ya up real fine for his return." Quirking his eyebrows, he went on, "The boy would love how flexible it'd make you."

"Shut up, Dick," both Veronica and Mac said in unison. Grabbing the key card out of Mac's outstretched hand Veronica rolled down her window and swiped it in the supplied machine. As she waited for the gate to rise, she met Dick's eye again in the mirror. "You're not selling yourself well. But we'll talk about this later. Right now, it's go time."

Driving past the gate, the dirt road led to an open field set against a mountainside filled with quaking aspens and pine trees. They were open and vulnerable to anyone that might be looking. Up on the hillside, there random spots where cabins sat, peeking through the landscape. No other vehicles were around, but there were cows, grazing next to the field, no fence to keep them contained. Veronica slowed the car down as she crept past them on the road. Both of her passengers had become quiet, staring up at the hillside, each pondering their own thoughts. Finally, Veronica got through the pasture and began creeping up the road that led up the mountainside.

The deeper into the wood they drove, the antsier Mac became. Her heart was beginning to thump loudly out of her chest and she felt a bit light-headed. The mountainside road was eerily similar to the one that Dick had been driving on in her dream that morning. Premonitions were something she had never really believed in, but this was a situation that it was difficult to ignore. The most comforting difference between reality and her dream was that all three of them were here together, and that Dick wasn't the driver.

Trying to keep her mind off of her bad feeling, Mac consulted the plot of the mountainside that Keith had sent with them. She followed the road with her finger up to where the cabin was marked. The road that led to it was a loop with private driveways that teed off of the main road. There were a number of cabins not far from the Tennison's. The plan was to park nearby and walk over, through the woods. Once there, they would be able to scope out whether anyone was at the cabin without the threat of scaring the inhabitants of the cabin off or worse.

They were crawling up the road, barely even going twenty miles per hour. The road bent this way and that as it gradually made its way up. She could see they hadn't even made it halfway up their ascent. None of the cabins they had passed thus far seemed to have occupants; there were no cars in any of the drives. The further up, the further the private driveways became, vehicles less visible if they were there. Craning her neck at each drive, Mac double-checked her suspicion that they were most likely the only people on the mountain besides whoever might be at the Tennison cabin.

Finally, they pulled up on the top loop of the road. She could feel the expectancy in the air. All three of them were intensely looking out of their respective windows. Consulting the map one last time, Mac told Veronica, "I think you should turn up the next drive. It shows a maintenance road, and the Tennison's place isn't very far from here. We can walk from there." Veronica did just that, turning slowly up a rutted out road. "We really think Madison would tolerate this type of living for more than an hour? This seems pretty desolate," Mac commented, bracing herself against the door as the car jostled around. "I pictured her running off to an area of the world that had men clad in only loin cloths, fanning her with over-sized leaves."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures, I suppose," Veronica muttered under her breath and then said louder, "Hold on, this is getting rockier."

"Somehow, I'm betting-ow!" Dick exclaimed, his head hitting the top of the car, "Sheesh, not joking about the rocky road ahead!" Regaining his position in the middle of the back seat, he tried again, "Somehow, I'm betting that the Tennison's place is little more kept up than this let's on."

There was a pull off where a large water tank sat. Veronica passed it and then backed into it, positioning the SUV back down the road. "I really hope we don't need a quick getaway. Hopefully it's only Madison here right now."

Mac could hear the uncertainty in her friend's voice, as if Veronica was finally realizing just how dangerous this 'mission' might become. Mac herself was becoming even more anxious as the road became more familiar.

Turning off the ignition, Veronica stared out the window. "Ok, this is what I'm thinking. I think you two should go down together down the main loop that leads to the cabin. I'll go around above where the cabin sits with my camera." Taking an earpiece that had a tiny microphone attached to it from her bag, she said, "Does your phone have service?" When Mac nodded, Veronica continued, "Use that app to connect and we'll keep in contact that way. You can be my look out if there are any cars or if anything looks suspicious. How many cabins are we from theirs?"

"There are three and then theirs." Mac handed her the map and pointed out where they were sitting. "You don't think anyone will be suspicious that we're walking down the road just randomly?"

"If they don't know about all three of us being together, the better our advantage. I think seeing three of us up hill of the cabin will be more trouble than two lovers on a leisurely stroll."

Mac's eyes involuntarily bounced back to where Dick sat in the back seat. He sat soberly listening to them both, face set in a serious expression. He didn't seem fazed by Veronica's suggestion. The only comment he made was to Veronica, saying, "If you insist on splitting us up, you have to take your gun, Ronnie. Don't make me tell Logan bad news."

"You men and your threats. Always about the phone calls you would have to make, not about my actual well-being," Veronica whined. "The gun goes with. The same goes for you two. Mac needs to carry." She unzipped her gun's case and took out both the clip and the gun. She slid the clip into place. "If it's just Madison there, that shouldn't be too much of a threat. If Mark's there, I'll just sit and wait. I won't go in. But if no one's there, I'm going in. I'll place a bug somewhere, too, so we can listen in later."

The plan agreed, they separated, Veronica taking the map with her as Mac and Dick took a quick picture of it on Mac's phone and set off. Both Veronica and Mac put their guns in the band of their jeans, loaded and ready. Mac wasn't completely comfortable or surprised that Veronica wanted to separate but figured that Veronica had more experience with these types of investigations and therefore did not feel as if she had the right to argue.

The service road was rough; seemingly used rarely, but the main gravel road well-maintained. The further up the mountain they had driven, the taller and newer the cabins seemed to get. It seemed only natural that the road leading to them would be in good shape. The map had shown four cabins on the top loop, the Tennison's the last and the largest. Then the loop dropped back down around to meet the bottom part of the road; they had seen the fork of it as they had made their way up.

Now, of course, they were on foot. Mac was keeping her nerves to herself but her mind was back to the odd dream that she had the night before. It was distressing how familiar it all seemed. The woods had a sweet pine and flowery smell, warm and fresh. The insects were minimal and the heat had diminished the denser the woods had become. They turned onto the main road, Mac keeping her eyes on it to avoid a misstep as much as possible, keeping her mind on their mission and not her emotions.

"You're awful quiet," Dick commented quietly as he kept in step with her.

"Well, you are, too, truth be told," she told him. Taking her phone from her pocket, she dialed Veronica through a special spy app that she herself had designed and waited until her friend answered. She then left it in her hand, pressing the speaker option so that she could hear anything Veronica said or any trouble she might get in. Through the phone, she could hear the snapping of twigs and the crunching of Veronica's boots in the woods. It was probable that Veronica could hear the same on her side of the phone. Because she was concentrating on her screen, Mac accidentally tripped on a large rock jutting out of the road.

A hand was out catching her, Dick's fingers wrapped around her bicep, pulling her up against him. She found her footing as her body pushed against his, her face inches from his. Her breath caught from the look of worry in his eye, the concern she saw there. Mac could have sworn she saw him dip down closer to her, his mouth hovering close to hers, almost kissing her. He must have changed his mind, though, because he set her lightly away from him, turning them both toward the road again. "Ya all right?"

Breathless, Mac continued on beside him, clutching tightly to the phone in her hand, acutely aware that Veronica could hear everything they were saying. She began to look around, counting the driveways as they went. There were three left until the Tennison's. The cabins were set far off the road, up long driveways, but she could see the cabins in the setting, large and looming.

"I still think that Madison and this place don't mix. Even if it turns out this cabin is more like the Taj Mahal. This is more up my family's alley than the Sinclair's," Mac observed, listening to the birds chirping and the wind blowing through the trees. It could have been classified as peaceful if they weren't planning on a little B and E.

Dick's hand sneaked over to take hers, entwining their fingers together. She still held her phone in the other hand. "What does your family have to do with this?" He asked softly as they began down the main road and past the first of the three driveways they needed to pass before they reached their destination.

Aware of what she had just said, Mac awkwardly hedged, "Oh, I don't know, I just meant, I mean…well, this is just something I could see us doing, you know, my family? My parents would love this stuff. Unlike what I picture the Sinclair's ever doing, they're more of the Villas in Tuscany type. I don't know, I think I was just thinking about how much my brother would love this, the great outdoors and all."

Looking sideways at her, Dick grinned slyly. "And what about you? Are you Villas in Tuscany or the great outdoors?"

She felt her lips quirk up in a smile. "Oh, Villas in Tuscany, for sure." She paused. "Although I don't have a lot of real-world experience to tell you for sure, I think I can safely say more that than this."

Squeezing her fingers, Dick purposely bumped his elbow into her arm. "Maybe I can help with that real-life experience."

They passed the next driveway. "Real-life, like right now? This experience tells me I would prefer a margarita on the sandy white beaches of the Caribbean."

Dick stopped abruptly, holding his hand up to stop her. "Shh…do you hear that?"

Mac did. It was the sound of a door slamming and a vehicle starting. They both looked at each other in alarm. Motioning for her to come with him, Dick pulled her off of the road and into the woods, hiding within it, keeping down low as they found a huge pine that would hide both of them underneath. Mac put her phone to her ear and said into it, "I sure hope you can hear me, V, there is somebody leaving."

Mac's voice came through, loud and clear, as Veronica lifted her camera to her eye, zoomed in and took a clear shot of the man getting into his truck and pulling away from the cabin. Snapping a few more pictures, Veronica set the camera down on a felled tree she was using as cover.

It was a few moments later before Veronica answered Mac, whispering back, "I actually found a path that took me straight here. I'm above the cabin now. Someone here is leaving, a man; he just got in his vehicle. And it's not Mark Tennison. I got a picture of the car, but try to get the license plate if he drives by you."

It wasn't long after when Mac, obvious disappointment and relief in her voice, said, "He went down the right of way, the other side of the loop. Can you tell if anyone else is at the cabin?"

Creeping closer to the back of the cabin, Veronica was listening to every little noise, hoping to hear any evidence of human presence. "I don't hear anything or see anyone."

The 'cabin' was a good three stories tall. Approaching it from the back, it was apparent that the structure had been built into the mountainside. She sidled up to a back window and cautiously peered through it. The lights were off, but that didn't mean much, considering the fact that there were two other stories she needed to check out. She moved slowly to the next window, she peeked her head slowly around the edge. No one was in this portion of the house. Veronica felt for the front door's key that was in the breast pocket of her jacket. Feeling it, she continued her way around the corner of the house.

"I'm going in. I'm all but positive that no one else is here. I'll knock on the door and if someone comes, I'll just say…I don't know what I'll say, but I'll come up with something. If you don't hear from me in thirty minutes, come find me," With that, she took the ear piece from her ear and put into the pocket she had just taken the key from, ignoring the protests and words of caution she knew Mac was uttering.

Resolute, Veronica stood up and walked around to the front of the cabin. She had a strong suspicion that no one was there. A little disappointed that it looked as if Madison was not in fact there, she knocked confidently on the door. She waited for a good five minutes, listening intently for any movement from within. Hearing nothing, she took the key out and unlocked the door. She had put her camera back in her bag, which she had pulled across her, the bag portion at her hip. She opened the flap to pull out plastic gloves that she carried standard with her and slipped them on.

This place was more a like a summer mansion. The front door opened to a wide hallway with a staircase to the right that led both up and downstairs. The windows she had looked into were into this floor, so she chose to go upstairs first. Quietly she stole up the stairs flinching at every creak, waiting for someone to jump out at her. On her way up, she pulled out her gun, keeping it close to her chest, finger next to the trigger. Finally, she reached the last step, and she softly stepped up to it, look around the wall and into a loft-type bedroom. No one was there waiting for her. She lowered her gun, but kept it close to her side. Tip-toeing across the room, she looked under the three beds that were there, finding nothing.

Opening the closet door, she found it filled with a few jackets hanging on the rod and a duffle bag on the ground. Carefully unzipped the zipper and looked inside it. It was filled with women's jeans and shirts, underwear and socks. Pulling her camera out, she took a quick shot of the bag and what was inside. She zipped it back up and quietly went back down the stairs to the next floor.

It was on that floor that she found what she was looking for. Down the hallway from the front door was a study that had a large desk next to a window overlooking the mountain side. She didn't take any time to appreciate the view, instead sitting directly in the large leather chair behind the desk, opening each drawer one by one.

The third drawer was filled with what she had been hoping to find. Again she took out her camera to take photographic evidence of bank statements for both the Ten and ThinSlimNow. It was enough proof that her dad would need, but she knew he wanted more, perhaps the passwords they assumed Madison had taken. She kept digging.

Opening the next two drawers on the other side of the desk, she found nothing. But the bottom drawer was locked, a sign that it contained something of value. Veronica opened the center drawer to see if perhaps there was a key for it and found a gun, a silencer screwed to the end of it. Swallowing, she gingerly picked it up, careful to not touch the trigger. Dropping the clip, she saw it was completely loaded. Emptying the bullets into the inside of her bag, she then replaced the clip and set it back into the drawer, noting the absence of the key for the bottom drawer.

Sitting back against the leather back of the chair, Veronica's eyes skimmed across the room, thinking. "Now, if I were a key, where would I hide?" she mused out loud. Pushing the chair away from the desk, she dropped down and looked up under the desk, to see if the key was taped or nailed there. Nothing there.

Standing back up, Veronica crossed over to a file cabinet and opened it, thankful it wasn't locked. Inside were more files. She grabbed the first one and looked in. Skimming the words, she could see that it was a bank account for someone named Benjamin Marcus McDougal. She noted with unease that the bank was the First Trust Bank of San Diego. Flipping through to the last page, Veronica was shocked to see the amount of money had risen more than half a million dollars in less than a month's time.

Placing the file out, she quickly took a picture of each page and then put it back into the cabinet. Taking the next file out, she noted that it was again information regarding a bank account, but this time the account was for a Patrick M. McDougal. She flipped through that file with a growing feeling of dread, seeing the total in this account hadn't quite risen over half a million in a month, but close. It also was through the First Trust Bank of San Diego. Taking her camera, she took pictures of that file as well.

Feeling a bit dubious, she fingered the entire top drawer filled with like files. Slamming it shut, she opened the next drawer down and found it filled with folders marked in a filing system that was definitely not alphabetical. Unsure of what she should do, she pulled out three more folders and photographed the statements within them. She then opened the bottom drawer, expecting to find more files, but instead found a lock box, the key sticking out in invitation from the lock. She opened it, happy to find a key that looked like it just might fit in the bottom drawer of the desk.

Returning to the desk, she stuck the key into the drawer's lock and it fit perfectly, turning easily. She pulled the drawer open and sucked in a breath of shock. In the midst of the drawer were vials of something liquid, many of them. Alongside that were three more guns of various size, small enough to fit into a deep desk drawer. Whatever this guy was into, it didn't look safe. She took her camera out and again began snapping shots.

Under the pine tree, they waited. At first, they were silent, but eventually, Dick began to talk. He just started talking and talking, filling up the void that Veronica had left by choosing to disconnect. It was like he had verbal diarrhea, he talked so much. About his foundation, about the Water Dog, about what time of the year and day was best to surf. It helped.

Things so banal and off topic that Mac actually started to listen the more he spoke. She laughed at his funny comments, let him hold her hand lightly, let him sit close to her while they huddled under the tree together. She left the phone next to her, right side up so she could see if and when Veronica chose to contact them.

Mac liked listening to the rise and fall of his voice as he started in on a humorous story about a customer looking for a surfboard for his tea-cup sized-dog. The guy had come into the Water Dog thinking it was a specialty pet store meant for water-loving-dogs. She liked the way he talked with his hands, every time he emphasized a word or made a point, he would gesture wildly with them to make the story seem more relevant. She suspected Dick himself wasn't even aware of how much he used his hands to talk. It was endearing and cute, completely Dick-like. She recalled how he'd always had that habit, even back in school, when she thought she barely noticed him.

"So tell me more about your fam, Mackie. You already know all about mine, no need to dig up those old bones," she heard him request through her thoughts. "Tell me why your bro would like this place."

Shaking herself from her reverie, she glanced sideways at him. He was successfully keeping her mind off of what might be going on up at the cabin. "We'll give her ten more minutes and then I'm heading up."

He nodded somberly, seemingly accepting her decision. "Your fam?" he prodded.

"Uh…" looking out across the road, Mac searched for how to explain her family. "They're your traditional down-home family."

"Down home? In Neptune?" he asked skeptically.

She laughed in consensus. "Yeah, right, as if there is such a thing there. But really, we are pretty all-American at the Mackenzie residence."

"All-American how? Apple pie and baseball?"

"Close. More like Sunday barbeques and apple pie," she told him with a self-conscious smile. "Ry is the only one who played baseball. The fam is more into hiking in Yosemite than baseball games, though. That's why my bro would like it here."

"That sounds…normal. Maybe a little too normal for Neptune. I get it though. A cabin in the woods, right? Prime hiking country for an adventure seeker." They stared at each other for a few minutes until he cleared his throat, humorously asking, "So what's the deep, dark secret there?" Again, there was a large amount of gesticulating with his hands. "Any 'normal' family I've ever known always has some kind of hidden defect that only rears its ugly head once every twenty or so years for public consumption."

Her smile faded and she dropped their eye contact. Even though he was obviously joking, it hit a cord with her. He had no idea how perceptive he was actually being. She sighed dramatically, trying to hide her how ill-at-ease she felt. "Well, Dick, you've hit the fifteenth year. We've got five more years till it hits the public market. You'll just have to wait along with everybody else."

He hooted with laughter. "Point taken. That or else I might just have to get in good with your fam. Maybe they'll tell me."

"Maybe there's nothing to tell."

"The only people in this world who don't have secrets are The Brady Bunch. And even then, I bet Mr. Brady had some disturbing dark secret, like that he secretly enjoyed pornos of women humping horses or some shit like that. There's always a secret to tell."

Grimacing, she shook her head and laughed at his weird depiction. "Where do you come up with this stuff? Please tell me you don't secretly enjoy pornos of women having sex with animals."

He put his hands in the air as if to hold off her judgment. "Hey, I just read this book, that's all. The main dude found these creepy old-time pics of just that, and my first thought when I read it, was, hey, that sounds like some of the shit that goes on in Neptune."

"You? Read a book?" She gaped at him mockingly.

"I know, I know. Who am I and where is the Dickster? Don't tell Ronnie, she'd never believe I read anything other than Archie's."

They sat in silence for a moment, and then she felt a smile growing. "So," she said slowly, "let me get this straight. You want to know if my dad likes Zoophilia?"

He burst out laughing. "That's too good."

She didn't let it go at that, laughing while saying, "No, really, Dick. You think my Dad is into Bestiality?"

He widened his eyes in mock horror. "Actually, now I'm worried you're into it. I didn't even know the scientific terms, girl."

"Oh, Dick," she told him, shaking her head in pseudo-sympathy, "How little you know about me."

"Well, all bets are off if you own a large barnyard animal," he informed her, "Not interested in a threesome like that."

It was her turn to burst out laughing. "Oh, you're just so traditional, Dick. Where's your sense of adventure?"

"As boring as traditional may seem, I kind of like the way it sounds," Dick told her, all trace of humor gone from his voice as he stared at her. "I like my lady to myself. And I think that's as traditional as I can get."

Squirming under his intense gaze, Mac quipped, "You're just saying that to soften me up. Before you know it, you'll be asking me to meet you out back with one of those blind strippers."

He shrugged, giving in to her refusal at seriousness. "Perhaps. Or maybe I'm the one that owns a sheep. Only time will tell."

Glancing down at the phone, Mac frowned. "I've given her enough time. Let's go."

A/N: the special app that Mac designed is completely fictional but I wanted a way for them to communicate. Sorry if it's far-fetched. I ran into troubles with that part, but I wouldn't be surprised if there is, as they say, an app for that. Also, there is no way that they would have cell-service, but I didn't want them to be spending a whole ton of time setting up a radio system. I am aware of the kinks, but they didn't use it enough for me to go back and adjust for it. Please just go with it. Moving on with the story at this point is a good thing :)I plan to post the next chapter Thursday at the latest. Thanks again!