(Stand by you - Rachel Platten)

"This town is a powder keg," Veronica commented quietly to Mac as they strode along the waterfront with Backup, shifting uncomfortably at the eyeballing she was getting from some tattooed bikers sitting on a nearby bench.

Goons on Patrol…

"I feel like my brain is a powder keg," Mac offered, narrowly dodging a girl in booty shorts and roller blades.

What was this LA?

Veronica shifted her focus back to her friend feeling guilty. Parker had mentioned that Mac went home while she'd been with Logan at Weevils funeral to see her parents.

"Sorry about your computer…" Veronica said, it was still being held down at the station as evidence, she just hoped her dad would look the other way if she needed to help Mac erase any history of her Hacktivist hobbies before the DA tech department got hold of it. "How did this afternoon go?"

"About as well as a 2 in a bunch of 1s and 0s" Mac sighed.

"Sure… because how else would you get to be a 10?" Veronica quipped.

"I skimmed over the part about the Tim incident…" Mac said, thankfully Sheriff Mars had kept the worst of the details from her parents and younger brother. She looked out over the glimmering water, inhaling the soul-soothing salty air. It felt so good to be outside.

"By incident you mean the part where he tried to kill you and shot your boyfriend?" Veronica offered her blue eyes full of sympathy, adjusting her stance when Backup tugged forwards to the silver dish of water beside Luigi's Vegan Taco truck.

"They think I just provided some computer stuff for your dad, they don't know I was there during the actual shooting." Mac explained finally pointing at the second option on the menu before handing over $15 dollars for her Solano Sub and grabbing two bottled waters from the fridge.

"Between the pleading from my brother to move back home. The second amendment arguments vs guns on campus dad got into with Grandpa MacKenzie and my Mom was so worried about the new owner at her job… I just couldn't add more to their troubles." Mac said handing one of them to Veronica.

They didn't know she was hiding a truth bomb that was set to go off in 6 or 7 short months and derail her life… little lies spiral into big balls of evil… telling her parents about the baby, meant telling them about knowing about the swap with Madison…

"And drinking doesn't solve anything…" Veronica quipped watching her friend chug half the bottle.

"Ha! Don't even joke about that. Loony Lola has a list of dos and don'ts.. pretty sure alcohol is the trigger that would make her go all Aunt Lola on me," Mac replied taking a seat near her on the picnic tables nearby.

"Under his eye," Veronica joked feeding some of her turkey sandwich to Backup.

"I just hope this doesn't end up like that time my mom tried that Ayahuasca tea. Is my life ever going to stop feeling like a tellanovella?" Mac lamented. "Fine.. its somewhere between Tellanovella and the back seat of a car at Prom…"

"When the lead star jumps ship for a Netflix original?" Veronica suggested.

"I feel like I'm trapped in Jane the Virgin minus the charismatic voice over," Mac said casting a longing glance towards the menu again. Pregnancy cravings suck… "My nightmare reality show fit for a princess."

"Speaking of reality TV princesses, do you remember Caitlin Ford?" Veronica asked patting Backup who panted heavily resting beside her leg.

Mac frowned. "Blonde, missing the basic sensitivity chip, scallywagged to Pam High in Junior year?"

"Logan's ex" Veronica nodded.

After Chardo went down for identity theft and credit card fraud, the willowy blonde had been blacklisted by most of her former 09er friends, after Logan had broken up with her. Veronica was a little ashamed to admit she'd not given Caitlin and her pink Vespa much of an afterthought.

Not since she stabbed all of her friends in the back... now she was just one more dead blonde in Neptune.

"Wasn't she on that reality TV show Beach Squad?" Mac asked. "I think she was on the Buzzfeed Non-fluencers list."

Veronica said sombrely. "She's the Olenia Heights Jane Doe."

"That's its own show?" Mac asked.

"The body in the dumpster. My dad's making an announcement this afternoon." Veronica explained.

"Oh god." Mac gasped. Even after all this time hearing about the loss of her peers was still a shock. The students in her graduating class had grown closer after the bus crash claimed the lives of several of their friends during senior year.

Fast Times at Neptune High...

"Yeah," Veronica agreed.

"Please tell me Logan isn't a suspect!" Mac pleaded.

"No-not this time" Veronica promised. The drive with Logan back to her apartment after that talk with Hector had been so awkward. PCHers offering up that information so freely was unusual in a club that encouraged pacts of silence and secrecy between its members. She still hadn't decided if they'd passed it along out of loyalty to Weevil or if there was some ulterior motive. Logan had made his excuses and gone back to the hotel withdrawing into that contemplative dark mood. She wished she could find out how he was feeling, but he wasn't ready to talk about it.

"Good, I guess even this tellanovella had to get some new super-villains," Mac sighed opening her yoghurt.

"If they wear an eye-patch it would make my job so much easier." Veronica smiled wishing that the criminal element in Neptune weren't a twisted, high-tech multiverse of felons.

"Blaming the ex-boyfriend always sounded like lazy police work to me" Mac commented before savouring a mouthful of creamy apricot yoghurt.

"Yet sadly 7 out of 10 homicide female victims are killed by an intimate partner," Veronica said sadly.

Or in Caitlin's case organised it from the comfort of his San Quentin prison cell. Chardo Navarro might never have shown must interest in College, but he'd most likely received quite the alternative education during his time there. That was the problem with petty thugs, take your eye off them long enough and their aspirations caused a lot of carnage while they fought it out to become the next Underworld Kingpin.

"How chivalrous" she swallowed dryly.

"Speaking of chivalry. Wallace wanted to know if you would like him to come with you later since Parkers got that with the fundraiser at Lilith House." Veronica asked taking a bite of her sandwich as Backup begged with soft brown eyes.

"He's offering to be my Dick buffer?" Mac deadpanned arching a brow.

Choking slightly on her sandwich Veronica started laughing. "I'll just tell him you got that Dick handled all on your own then huh?"

"Really want an honest answer?" Mac giggled.

"And there goes my appetite..." Veronica sighed as Backup perked up his ears and licked his lips when she offered him the rest of her sandwich and Mac laughed harder.

The world was chaotic and constantly being attacked from all sides and told that the sky was falling was why it was important to remember how brilliant the blue could be or the hypervigilance for disaster could cause someone to burn out.

Sooner or later Mac would have to brave those more unpleasant discussions about her parentage and eventually get information from her birth mother. There would probably also be some disciplinary meetings with the Hearst administration because of her recent hack-tivities and the shooting on campus. But for now, she was glad to be alive and spending time with Veronica who had set aside the detective work for now to just breathe and enjoy some sunshine.

Just taking a minute to breathe.

It was a privilege the dead troubling the petite blondes thoughts no longer had.