Title: The Steps (2?)

Author: Kayla

Rating: R

Word Count:

Character/Pairing: Dick/Veronica, Cassidy/Mac.

Spoilers: Through 2x18 (I Am God)

Summary: Step One: Stop being an asshat to her. Step Two: Ask Logan how he ever got her to date him. Step Three: Get her to say your name without disgust.

A/N: None.

Tuesday:

7:16am:

"Wanna get out of here?" you ask and you curse yourself for that being the first thing you thought of to stop her.

She looks at you like you've just suggested a murdering spree.

She leans against your car and smirks.

"Dick, did you eat the mystery meat for lunch yesterday? You do know that's not good for you, right? I mean, it has serious side effects."

"You wound me Ronnie. I can play nice too you know," you say.

"Yeah, well, it must have gotten lost somewhere in between trying to drug Madison and fucking everything that walks," she says, but she stills smiling and you're laughing and this is just to fucking weird. And how the hell does she know about you trying to drug Madison? That was like forever ago. That should be off your record by now.

"People change Veronica. Beav is giving me lessons on how to be like him," you joke. And it really would seem that way wouldn't it? I mean, you mumbling? Fixing Veronica's car? Being nice? The list goes on. Maybe you should wear a nametag that says 'Hi, I'm Veronica's Bitch' tomorrow because this girl is fucking with your skills.

"Seriously Dick, what's going on?" she asks.

What's going on? 'Well, I seem to be obsessed with you. Does that answer work for you. No? Me either'

"Just wanted to hang out, that's all," you say. And dammit, she really is fucking with your skills.

"Still not buying i—"

You know exactly what she was going to say. Of course she was going to turn you down. You don't think you've ever been more thankful for the ring of a cell phone. She holds out her finger to say 'hold on' and picks up her phone

"Hello," she says.

"What? Mac, slow down."

Damn, you wish you could hear the other end. Mac? Wait…isn't that Beav's computer worshipping girlfriend?

"Oh shit. Are you two okay?"

Now you're really curious. You two? Was she cheating on Beav?

"No I don't have his number, but he's standing right here. We're on our way. Hang in the Mac," she says and hangs up.

"What's going on?" you ask

"Mac and Cassidy got into a car accident. She's freaking. We got to go. There's at Neptune Memorial."

It's way to fucking early for this. You were just trying to sweet talk Veronica Mars and now your brother's in the hospital with that geeky red-streaked computer whore. You're about to get into your car and drive when you think; maybe you should open the door for Veronica. Hell no. She is not doing this to you. You are not opening her door. If not, then why the hell are you walking over there? Shit, you gave in. You opened the door. Dammit and now she's laughing at you. Minus 10 points for Dick.

7:26am:

You're sitting in the waiting room trying to get the nurse's attention but she keeps waving you off and running to some room. Fuck this. Your brother may or may not be dead right now and you can't even get some bitch's attention.

"Hold on," Veronica says. And she's up, went somewhere, fuck you don't know.

You put your head in your hands and start to mumble nothings. Fucking mumbling again. But you should even be worrying about that now. Beaver's in the hospital. You're pretty sure if he lives you won't try to kill him anymore.

Veronica comes back with nurse in tow and you wonder how the hell she does it. You couldn't get the nurse to listen even if you yelled 'fire'.

"Mr. Casablanca's, your brother is fine. He has some damage to the spinal cord due to excessive pressure," she's still talking but you drowned her out. She said he was fine in the first sentence, now she's just saying a bunch of shit you don't know the meaning to.

"Can I see my brother now?" you ask

"Sure. Room 204, but family only Mr. Casablanca's," and she looks at Veronica. "Is she family?"

You see her digging in her purse while nurse lady is talking but you're not quite sure what she's doing until she opens her mouth

"Yes, I'm Mrs. Casablanca's," and she waves her ring in front of the nurse and the nurse smiles and walks off.

"Mrs. Casablanca's, huh? Always knew you wanted m—"

"Shut up Dick," she says and she grabs your arm and drags you to Beaver's room.

9:07am:

"Veronica, you can leave," you say. Damn, that sounded like you wanted her to. "I mean, if you want. You've done more than enough," and who the fuck says stuff like that. Damn, you kind of hate yourself right now. You sound stupid when you try to be nice. You will never get Veronica Mars.

"It's okay Dick, I want to see how Beaver is doing after he gets out of surgery. I'm going to go see if they released Mac yet, okay?"

Her voice is gentle, like if she talks to loud she might break you. You hate that. You hate that it takes your brother being in the hospital for her to say your name like that. You hate that you fucked it up. All these years, you called her a bitch. When Lilly was alive, you thought she was pretty cool. I mean, Lilly, Lilly was a slut. But she was fun. And Veronica, she was fun too. But she wasn't a slut. You knew Veronica would have never fucked Logan's dad or any of those other guys you saw Lilly leave parties with. Veronica was loyal. Sometimes you wish you would have been loyal to Veronica. Maybe now you wouldn't sound so stupid every time you opened your mouth. Maybe now Veronica would be holding onto you for comfort.

Instead, she's checking on Mac.

But you can't take back what you did because that's life, right? And you can't fucking say your sorry because who would buy that. You'll just have to show her. Do whatever it fucking takes. And it will take a lot. Dammit, you really wish you knew how Logan did it sometimes. Did he become such a soft ass when he was around Veronica?

10:46am:

Beaver is still in surgery and Veronica is still sitting next to you.

"Why are you here, Veronica? Is it for Beaver?" you ask, and where the hell did that come from? The words just poured out of your mouth. Of course she's here for Beaver.

"Dick, don't think this changes anything. I still think you're…well, you. But Beaver's in the hospital and so is Mac and you just fixed my car…temporary truce?"

"Yeah," you say, because that's the best you can get right now.