(Aron Wright - Look After You)

"He was so angry," Mac sobbed, her grief-stricken face hidden behind a waterfall of mahogany as she explained to her roommate Parker what had gone down with her boyfriend Dick Casablancas this afternoon. "He threatened to get my scholarship pulled."

"Please tell me you slapped the shit out of him," Parker said as she sat on the edge of her bed rubbing her back. "It's empty threats…he can't do that, can he?"

Her petite roommate just shrugged, barely registering the comforting gesture. She honestly didn't know how much leverage Dick Casablancas could have over her partial scholarship. She hadn't grown up with his big fancy house or his multimillion dollar trust fund. The thought of calling her dad and asking about their medical insurance had frightened her without the added stress of a possessive lover she hadn't even told her parents yet.

"I won't be wiped out of my baby's life" Mac swore, her bullet-grey eyes glimmered with determination.

"Of course you won't. Commander Waterford can go screw himself!" Parker agreed and Mac felt her heart catapult around her chest. "There's only so much that having money can accomplish."

Money and the right connections could get you away with murder. Mac thought recalling Aaron Echolls satisfied smirk after he'd walked free from court even though he'd brutally killed teenage socialite Lily Kane.

"I just don't know what he is thinking" Mac said quietly resting her forehead in her hands.

Yes you do, he thinks you are a whore and that you set out to trap him, she thought bitterly. Mac looked miserably around her bedroom and every corner felt like a crime scene, how many hours had they spent in here together? How many different ways had he kissed and marked her, branding her as his? She thought even if they weren't exactly at the love part yet, that at least they'd had mutual trust.

Seems they'd had neither.

Just a carnal appreciation for hot sex that drove them both into delirium and right into this mess.

"I know what I'm thinking… that arsenic is too easy to trace," Parker sniped angrily as there was a knock at the door.

The image of Dick was split in two inside her head, in one he hovered above her, his body delving into hers, peppering her with kisses and those blue eyes drowning every doubt she'd ever had about getting involved with Cassidy's brother, and the other was that cold wall of ice he put up as he read that letter then turned on her.

The pathetic hopeful ache that wanted it to be Dick as Parker opened the door crumbled when she stood aside and Wallace came in, still wearing his basketball uniform, followed by Amira.

Wallace raked his brown eyes over the slender girl in her oversized Care Bear pyjamas sitting on the small dorm bed. She looked sickly and pale under the artificial lights and her quiet vulnerability made him want to find Dick Casablanca's and drive his fist into him repeatedly. It reminded him too closely of the scene during senior year when they'd found her wrapped in nothing but a bedsheet in a hotel room after Cassidy Casablancas had threatened her with a gun. His hands curled into fists as Amira approached in a soft voice, sitting down beside her.

"Hey" she offered, giving her a weak smile and accepting a small bag of snacks.

"Nothing like a crisis bringing people together" Amira said awkwardly.

He hated seeing Mac like this. This was a quiet violence that men did to women and girls almost every day. They could turn and walk away but they left their marks behind, on that soft their skin and in the bodies they had coveted so badly… and in their remnants was often cradled in motherly arms holding the children caught in the crossfire.

His mother had always taught him that a real man takes care of his responsibilities. He should claim his family. They didn't offer many words, but experience had taught Wallace, sometimes you there was nothing you could say, but you could always serve the body in times of crisis, and now hers was a vessel for two. Yes, she carried Dick's flesh and blood, but Mac was flesh and blood too and that 09er asshole should be taking care of her instead of having her worried in her condition.

How any man could punish or abandon a woman when it took two of them to get into this predicament?

"I thought you at the game?" Parker asked.

"I switched over after the second half," Wallace shrugged and she nodded before closing the door.

Piz would be coming along soon having made some comment about vitamins and ginger tea to help with her nausea and that's what made him appreciate what a good guy his roommate was, there was no name calling, no judgement. Just a guy stepping up to be responsible to help a distressed girl in trouble.

Wallace would be finding the time to have a conversation with his former classmate about how to treat women. That he was sacrificing something good for a boyhood trauma.

"Father of the freaking year," Amira muttered in disgust after Parker finished giving them a recap of the incident in the computer lab, the more they heard, the more it appalled him. Tears welled in Mac's eyes and she quickly took a deep breath. Tension streaked through him and the muscles in his jaw almost snapped to keep from cursing.

"I don't wanna talk about it" Mac choked out, tugging the sleeve of her shirt down over the bruising on her wrist.

"What exactly did he say?" Piz asked before he gave him an imperceptible shake of his head to let it go.

"Well I have plenty to say, I'd like to give Mr Casablanca's a piece of my mind" Parker said passing over the dip.

The fear and uncertainty of what was going through Dick's mind tonight and what was going to happen after her ultrasound tomorrow made Mac clutch the pillow against her stomach tighter.

"Are you alright?" Amira asked Mac as she closed her eyes, a sickening wave of weakness rolling through her stomach.

"Yeah, it's just nausea. It passes" she assured her quickly.

Was there just too much ugly emotional baggage between them now? Would Dick ever forgive her?

Would she ever be able to forgive the harsh things he had spewed at her tonight?

Why had he been so upset when he first came over tonight? It all tumbled around in her thoughts like an overworked washing machine giving her a headache.

Wallace barely said anything, just wrapped a big arm around his petite friend while they piled onto the available chairs to watch The Goonies. Words right now were useless, and Veronica was out at Vinnie Van Lowe's chasing down a lead on Dean Odells murder case, on Weevil's murder case. He'd agreed with Logan to let him handle it, apparently there was more going on with Dick but he wasn't clued in yet on all the details.

He smirked a little at the thought of Weevil finding out what Dick had done tonight, did Hearst even have a big enough flagpole?

"What?" Piz said arching an eyebrow and Mac's questioning grey eyes met his.

"Remember the first time I met Veronica?" he answered with a lopsided grin and she gave him an amused tearful laugh.

"We are not tying Dick naked to a flagpole" she scolded him.

"Why not?" Parker protested. "It's the first good idea I've heard all night."

Logan sprung up quickly as he heard the sound of the penthouse door open. He'd been worried sick and Madison had been less than co-operative in handing over her password for her old Find My Dick app she'd installed on her ex-boyfriends phone. He held his tongue as his dishevelled roommate came in, he'd obviously been drinking and his outward mien said he was itching for a confrontation. He'd been gone for hours and the run down from Wallace earlier told him more or less what to anticipate.

Tossing his coat on the chair he looked Logan expectantly in the eye. He'd spent several hours at a fraternity party on campus and in the morning he would be arranging a discreet security detail to keep tabs on his cunning little lover. Even now he couldn't fathom how easily she had sucked him in. The scent of her still on his skin made him itch to hold her, to seek her out and nuzzle his face in the curve of her neck.

But he wouldn't...Because Love could warp your mind, it was nothing but a placebo.

"Did you know?" Dick asked point-blank.

The silence that greeted his question was all the answer he needed. Hanging his head like he'd been waiting by the gallows. Sometimes if Logan's words didn't say it, his face usually did.

Of course his best friend would have been drawn into this web, she was an effective little spider. Fuck my life.

"You were supposed to have my back" he said with a bitter laugh and turned to go to his room.

"I do, but sometimes you don't know when to get out of your own way." Logan retorted.

"Unless you are likely to get a positive DNA result in this paternity test. This is none of your business, its between me and her." Dick told him firmly slamming his bedroom door. No doubt Veronica would be putting him firmly in the crosshairs of her cornflower blues after she wrapped up her latest case.

Inviting Logan into this would be like offering up his throat to a wolf. Madison might have been all fake laugh, fake boobs and no calories… but she'd been honest, not like his so-called friend who'd omitted some crucial information on more than one occasion.

Newsflash: People always find out! Especially if you are dating Nancy Drew.

Tomorrow he was booking into his own suite, maybe start looking for some off beach real estate so he could avoid seeing his dad.

(Aron Wright - Look After You)

"He was so angry," Mac sobbed, her grief-stricken face hidden behind a waterfall of mahogany as she explained to her roommate Parker what had gone down with her boyfriend Dick Casablancas this afternoon. "He threatened to get my scholarship pulled."

"Please tell me you slapped the shit out of him," Parker said as she sat on the edge of her bed rubbing her back. "It's empty threats…he can't do that, can he?"

Her petite roommate just shrugged, barely registering the comforting gesture. She honestly didn't know how much leverage Dick Casablancas could have over her partial scholarship. She hadn't grown up with his big fancy house or his multimillion dollar trust fund. The thought of calling her dad and asking about their medical insurance had frightened her without the added stress of a possessive lover she hadn't even told her parents yet.

"I won't be wiped out of my baby's life" Mac swore, her bullet-grey eyes glimmered with determination.

"Of course you won't. Commander Waterford can go screw himself!" Parker agreed and Mac felt her heart catapult around her chest. "There's only so much that having money can accomplish."

Money and the right connections could get you away with murder. Mac thought recalling Aaron Echolls satisfied smirk after he'd walked free from court even though he'd brutally killed teenage socialite Lily Kane.

"I just don't know what he is thinking" Mac said quietly resting her forehead in her hands.

Yes you do, he thinks you are a whore and that you set out to trap him, she thought bitterly. Mac looked miserably around her bedroom and every corner felt like a crime scene, how many hours had they spent in here together? How many different ways had he kissed and marked her, branding her as his? She thought even if they weren't exactly at the love part yet, that at least they'd had mutual trust.

Seems they'd had neither.

Just a carnal appreciation for hot sex that drove them both into delirium and right into this mess.

"I know what I'm thinking… that arsenic is too easy to trace," Parker sniped angrily as there was a knock at the door.

The image of Dick was split in two inside her head, in one he hovered above her, his body delving into hers, peppering her with kisses and those blue eyes drowning every doubt she'd ever had about getting involved with Cassidy's brother, and the other was that cold wall of ice he put up as he read that letter then turned on her.

The pathetic hopeful ache that wanted it to be Dick as Parker opened the door crumbled when she stood aside and Wallace came in, still wearing his basketball uniform, followed by Amira.

Wallace raked his brown eyes over the slender girl in her oversized Care Bear pyjamas sitting on the small dorm bed. She looked sickly and pale under the artificial lights and her quiet vulnerability made him want to find Dick Casablanca's and drive his fist into him repeatedly. It reminded him too closely of the scene during senior year when they'd found her wrapped in nothing but a bedsheet in a hotel room after Cassidy Casablancas had threatened her with a gun. His hands curled into fists as Amira approached in a soft voice, sitting down beside her.

"Hey" she offered, giving her a weak smile and accepting a small bag of snacks.

"Nothing like a crisis bringing people together" Amira said awkwardly.

He hated seeing Mac like this. This was a quiet violence that men did to women and girls almost every day. They could turn and walk away but they left their marks behind, on that soft their skin and in the bodies they had coveted so badly… and in their remnants was often cradled in motherly arms holding the children caught in the crossfire.

His mother had always taught him that a real man takes care of his responsibilities. He should claim his family. They didn't offer many words, but experience had taught Wallace, sometimes you there was nothing you could say, but you could always serve the body in times of crisis, and now hers was a vessel for two. Yes, she carried Dick's flesh and blood, but Mac was flesh and blood too and that 09er asshole should be taking care of her instead of having her worried in her condition.

How any man could punish or abandon a woman when it took two of them to get into this predicament?

"I thought you at the game?" Parker asked.

"I switched over after the second half," Wallace shrugged and she nodded before closing the door.

Piz would be coming along soon having made some comment about vitamins and ginger tea to help with her nausea and that's what made him appreciate what a good guy his roommate was, there was no name calling, no judgement. Just a guy stepping up to be responsible to help a distressed girl in trouble.

Wallace would be finding the time to have a conversation with his former classmate about how to treat women. That he was sacrificing something good for a boyhood trauma.

"Father of the freaking year," Amira muttered in disgust after Parker finished giving them a recap of the incident in the computer lab, the more they heard, the more it appalled him. Tears welled in Mac's eyes and she quickly took a deep breath. Tension streaked through him and the muscles in his jaw almost snapped to keep from cursing.

"I don't wanna talk about it" Mac choked out, tugging the sleeve of her shirt down over the bruising on her wrist.

"What exactly did he say?" Piz asked before he gave him an imperceptible shake of his head to let it go.

"Well I have plenty to say, I'd like to give Mr Casablanca's a piece of my mind" Parker said passing over the dip.

The fear and uncertainty of what was going through Dick's mind tonight and what was going to happen after her ultrasound tomorrow made Mac clutch the pillow against her stomach tighter.

"Are you alright?" Amira asked Mac as she closed her eyes, a sickening wave of weakness rolling through her stomach.

"Yeah, it's just nausea. It passes" she assured her quickly.

Was there just too much ugly emotional baggage between them now? Would Dick ever forgive her?

Would she ever be able to forgive the harsh things he had spewed at her tonight?

Why had he been so upset when he first came over tonight? It all tumbled around in her thoughts like an overworked washing machine giving her a headache.

Wallace barely said anything, just wrapped a big arm around his petite friend while they piled onto the available chairs to watch The Goonies. Words right now were useless, and Veronica was out at Vinnie Van Lowe's chasing down a lead on Dean Odells murder case, on Weevil's murder case. He'd agreed with Logan to let him handle it, apparently there was more going on with Dick but he wasn't clued in yet on all the details.

He smirked a little at the thought of Weevil finding out what Dick had done tonight, did Hearst even have a big enough flagpole?

"What?" Piz said arching an eyebrow and Mac's questioning grey eyes met his.

"Remember the first time I met Veronica?" he answered with a lopsided grin and she gave him an amused tearful laugh.

"We are not tying Dick naked to a flagpole" she scolded him.

"Why not?" Parker protested. "It's the first good idea I've heard all night."

Logan sprung up quickly as he heard the sound of the penthouse door open. He'd been worried sick and Madison had been less than co-operative in handing over her password for her old Find My Dick app she'd installed on her ex-boyfriends phone. He held his tongue as his dishevelled roommate came in, he'd obviously been drinking and his outward mien said he was itching for a confrontation. He'd been gone for hours and the run down from Wallace earlier told him more or less what to anticipate.

Tossing his coat on the chair he looked Logan expectantly in the eye. He'd spent several hours at a fraternity party on campus and in the morning he would be arranging a discreet security detail to keep tabs on his cunning little lover. Even now he couldn't fathom how easily she had sucked him in. The scent of her still on his skin made him itch to hold her, to seek her out and nuzzle his face in the curve of her neck.

But he wouldn't...Because Love could warp your mind, it was nothing but a placebo.

"Did you know?" Dick asked point-blank.

The silence that greeted his question was all the answer he needed. Hanging his head like he'd been waiting by the gallows. Sometimes if Logan's words didn't say it, his face usually did.

Of course his best friend would have been drawn into this web, she was an effective little spider. Fuck my life.

"You were supposed to have my back" he said with a bitter laugh and turned to go to his room.

"I do, but sometimes you don't know when to get out of your own way." Logan retorted.

"Unless you are likely to get a positive DNA result in this paternity test. This is none of your business, its between me and her." Dick told him firmly slamming his bedroom door. No doubt Veronica would be putting him firmly in the crosshairs of her cornflower blues after she wrapped up her latest case.

Inviting Logan into this would be like offering up his throat to a wolf. Madison might have been all fake laugh, fake boobs and no calories… but she'd been honest, not like his so-called friend who'd omitted some crucial information on more than one occasion.

Newsflash: People always find out! Especially if you are dating Nancy Drew.

Build himself a place he'd only recently realized he'd never had before... a home.

A dark, hungry part of his soul wanted to go and find Mac

Then he'd check in with the firm he had hired to run a background check on his baby momma, even now he was desperately sniffing for control like a dog desperate for a bone.

Tomorrow he was booking into his own suite, maybe start looking for some off beach real estate so he could avoid seeing his dad.