hey guys, sorry it took me so incredibly long to get this chapter out. The first semester of college kind of took over my life. I hope you guys enjoy this!! Don't forget, reviews are a writer's crack!!
And as always I own nothing...it's depressing.
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The ride to Veronica's apartment was quick, but tense. Dick shot a look over at Mac. Her face was tight with stress and curiosity. He knew she was busy going through what she knew about the case, desperately trying to figure out what had been said that would catch Veronica's interest. She was back to the determined Mac she'd been the last few weeks. Dick sighed, he'd just kissed the girl of his dreams and now they were back to trying to catch bad guys. Hopefully their lives wouldn't always be like this.
Thinking of kissing Mac made him grin. He'd imagined kissing the small dark-haired girl beside him many times since they became friends. He couldn't help it, he was a guy. Actually doing it , however, was even more amazing. And terrifying. And mind-blowing. It wasn't even completely the physical aspect of kissing her, it was the knowledge that she'd kissed him back, which meant that she must feel something like what he felt. He fought the urge to punch his fist in the air like he would have when he was younger. Mac might not appreciate that.
He turned his attention back to his best friend when they reached Veronica's apartment and Mars Investigations. "Mac. We're here." The look of concentration on her face was adorable, but it scared him. He was afraid he might lose his Mac, the one he just kissed, to the completely obsessed Mac that did nothing but concentrate on the case. He didn't think he could deal with that after just taking the leap.
Something in her smile reassured him though, and she reached over and squeezed his hand. "Let's see what Veronica has for us."
They walked quickly up the stairs and knocked on Veronica's door. She opened it with a serious look on her face. "Come on in guys. Logan's on his way."
Veronica's laptop was sitting out on the table. Mac walked over to it and sat down, obviously eager to hear the recording.
"Go ahead and listen." the blond PI told her.
Unwilling to let her get whisked away into the mystery without him, Dick crossed over and leaned on the table behind her, giving her shoulder a reassuring squeeze. She didn't have to go through this alone. She nodded at him with a smile and turned on the recording.
"Who's up for a game of pool?" The loud voice was unrecognizable.
"Liam." A quiet voice closer to the bug came through.
"I managed to isolate these voices." Veronica explained.
The next voice was obviously Liam Fitzpatrick's. "What?"
"We just got a call from the dealer. He says the payment is late."
"Late? I sent it over with Danny an hour ago." He was angry.
"Don't look at me. You're the one who decided to buy weapons from a crazy rich guy."
The next thing that came over the recording was a loud thump, and a yell of surprise. Liam seemed to have tired of that conversation. Veronica turned the bug off.
Beside him Mac was tensed up. The Fitzpatrick's were purchasing weapons from some arms dealer. That didn't prove they blew up the station, but suddenly it made it much more likely. What they needed now was to figure out what kind of weapons they bought and when. Damn, Dick thought. He'd been hanging around with Ronnie too often, he was starting to think like her.
"How are we going to figure out what they purchased?" Mac's voice surprised him. It was perfectly calm and controlled.
Veronica sat down in the chair across from her and thought about that for a second. "The first thing we're going to do is turn this recording over to my father. He's working with the sheriff's department in the next county to figure out who did this. They have more resources then we do."
At that moment Logan opened the door and walked in. He nodded at Dick and Mac before walking up to Veronica. "What did you find?"
They listened through the recording again. This time Dick watched Mac's face the entire time. It was a mask of pure concentration, but when Liam mentioned the weapons a darkness swept over her eyes. He knew that look. Years ago she used to get it whenever Cassidy was mentioned. Feeling a protective surge for his best friend he wrapped an arm around her shoulders. She leaned into him gratefully. The action wasn't any different this time then the millions of times they'd done it over the years, but at the same time it was. This time both of them knew that the offer of comfort was more then one best friend to another. She looked up at him intensely, and his heart stopped a little.
Suddenly Logan stood up. "Good then. We'll drop that off by Sheriff Mar's place on the way to the Hutt."
Three pairs of eyes stared at him. His dismissal of the tape shocked all of them. Dick was the first to recover. "That sounds like a good plan. You want to drive all in one car, save on gas? I can drop you guys back by here when we're done."
"Sounds good. Ready to go Veronica? Mac?"
The two women were staring at them like they were insane. "We just found a recording saying that the Fitzpatrick's probably bought illegal weapons recently and you want to go get coffee?" Mac asked incredulously.
Logan just smiled at her. "Veronica said that you guys were going to give the tape to her Dad, and all of us need a break. We're just as capable of discussing it in the car on the way there as we are discussing it right here in Veronica's kitchen."
"He has a point." The shorter, blonder of the two females conceded. "Come on Mac, I know how much you love the coffee cake there."
For a second Dick thought she would argue the point further, or just plain refuse to go, but after a moment she just shook her head and stood up. When she passed Dick she smiled up at him to show she was alright. He grinned down at her and reached a hand up to wipe the hair out of her eyes and then paused. He didn't know where they were right now, and what he was allowed to do. Not knowing things scared him. Life was much easier when he knew exactly where things stood. If she noticed his hesitation she didn't acknowledge it. After a slight pause both of them followed Veronica and Logan outside.
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Most nights the Hutt was fairly crowded, whether it was with people doing Karaoke, or just the normal coffee crowd. That night however, it was on the empty side. Logan and Dick went to find them a table as Veronica and Mac went to the restroom. Usually they avoided the stereotypical female bathroom gatherings, but something on Mac's face had obviously clued Veronica in that something had changed. And as everyone knew, resistance was futile with Veronica Mars.
"So." Veronica started as the stood in front of the oversized mirrors that public restrooms always had. "What's new with you?"
Mac took the bait, "Will I've become a recluse, probably lost most of my current clients, and made out with my best friend, who I think I may be in love with."
"Well, that happens to me at least once a week." Veronica snarked.
"Yeah. It's really no big deal."
"Except that it is."
"Except that it may change the course of our existence." Mac conceded. "And I feel stupid, because I should feel concerned about the case, and the fact that the we have our first big lead. Instead I'm so worried about what to do about Dick. I'm such a girl."
Veronica shrugged her shoulders. "You do have breasts."
Mac pretended to look down in surprise. "Oh, that's what those are?"
Both of them stood in relative silence for a second.
"But you're happy?" Veronica asked.
"More then a little." She couldn't keep the small smile from creeping up on her face.
"All I can say then is took you two long enough. Logan and I had a bet going. I won. He thought it would be at least another year."
Instead of letting anything show on her face Mac merrily smiled at her friend. "Well Dick and I have a bit of a bet going on too. Just hold out on Logan another 2 months and I'll win."
She left Veronica behind her chuckling and exited the bathroom to find the guys. They were sitting in a corner both. From the look on Dick's face her expression was bordering on scary. "you're dead later." She told Logan
He was unfazed. "I see Veronica told you about our bet."
"Of course. Ask her about ours."
Internally she laughed at the look on his face. Score one for Mac. Beside his friend, Dick was trying to hold in his laughter, his dancing eyes staring up at her. She felt her heart jump a little. God, it was amazing how he had the ability to do that to her. She smiled at him. They really needed to talk about everything later. She had questions, and she knew he did too.
"So, I'm thinking a nice slice of coffee cake. Chocolate Avalanche Dick?" She asked as she sat down, pretending nothing happened.
"You know me too well."
The waiter came by and took their orders, leaving the four friends to the rather uncomfortable silence that followed. Because of Dick and Logan's continuous discussion of everything other then the case they'd managed to avoid the apocalyptic discussion so far. Though Mac was slightly frustrated by that she also saw why they did it. No matter how much they discussed what they heard on the tapes it wasn't going to change anything, the more effective option would be to wait until Sheriff Mars got back to them with results. Or if he didn't tell them and Veronica accidentally 'stumbled' onto them.
Dick was the first to start normal conversation. "So I had this really funny meeting at work last week."
"Overly annoying business man or stupid associate?" Logan quipped.
"Actually it was this really rich chick who thought she could run a business. She kind of reminded me of Kendal in a way."
Veronica's eyes narrowed. Five years and she still was slightly jealous of the older woman. "So her brain size was not in proportional with her bra size?"
"Exactly. The funniest thing was that she wouldn't listen to anything I said. She didn't seem to understand that fact that I'm not going to invest in a company that I don't think is well run."
"Someone didn't listen to you Dick? That's a shock." He glared at Veronica, who kept an innocent look on her face.
"Fine then oh so sarcastic one. How's business over at Tiny Nosy Blonde Girl Inc?"
A thoughtful look fell over Veronica's face. "Not so great actually. You think it would speed up with the Sheriff's office out of commission for the time being, but it's like there's actually been a lull."
"It could be that people are afraid." Mac pointed out.
"It could be. But why would they be afraid to look into their husband or wife's affairs? That's usually the kind of business I pick up. It's doubtful they would stop looking into that because of the station. More then likely it's just one of those rare instances where people are being less suspicious then normal."
The waiter came by and dropped of their assortment of food and drinks. For a moment they all munched happily. Mac took a bite of her coffee cake and smiled contently. "I'm convinced that as long as this coffee cake stays this delicious the world is at least a little bit okay."
Logan smiled across the table from her and lifted his drink in salute. "I concur. Here's to good cake."
Beside him Dick lifted his. "And good drinks!"
They all laughed and tapped mugs softly. Mac smiled at Logan across the table. She'd always liked him, he was thoughtful and protective, and incredibly funny. Over the past few years she'd seen him grow from the passionate young man he'd been, who constantly got into fights over Veronica, to a successful, grounded man. Not only did he run his own non-profit organization, but he was working on a master's degree in social work. He was everything those close to him knew he could be, and he was amazing friend.
"Whatever happened with the whole Madison thing Veronica?" Dick asked after a second.
"Got the money shot. Her and Hodges going hot and heavy. Disgusting, but revenge is always a good feeling." Veronica's grin was feral, and incredibly scary.
"I shudder to think what it would be like for you to release all the anger holed up in that tiny body of yours." Logan said, and Mac agreed. That would be a scary sight.
Dick nodded furiously. "The world would explode."
"Or at least burst into flames. An explosion is too quick." Mac nodded.
"Personally," Logan interjected, "I think she'd just start picking off those people she hates. It's a long list, that would keep her occupied for a while."
"I am here you know?" Veronica stated, amused.
"We know. That's why we're talking about you as if you aren't. Much more interesting that way."
Veronica glared at her best female friend and lifted her glass. "I would watch out if you want to avoid being on that list of people I hate."
Mac just grinned. "How'd you deal with Madison anyways?"
"Well," if it was possible Veronica's look got even more disturbing. "I might have not only given a copy of the picture to Mrs. Hodges, but 'accidentally' dropped one in front of Madison's boyfriend's house. And then left another copy with Hodges' secretary, saying it was from Madison as a little 'incentive to continue their relationship'."
The other three stared at her for a second, before Dick started laughing. "Your brain most be a really scary place."
"It is. Which is why you shouldn't mess with me."
"Hey," Dick held his hands up in mock surrender. "I learned not to do that a long time ago."
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After a couple of hours of relaxed conversation, Veronica needed to head to a stake out, and since they all had to drive back to her apartment together they decided to call it a night. Mac and Dick said goodbye to Veronica and Logan in the parking lot, and headed towards Mac's place. With the absence of Logan and Veronica, Dick was slowly getting more and more nervous. They hadn't had any time alone since their little kissing adventure. On the seat beside him Mac was staring out of the window in apparent concentration. Why after 3 years of being best friends were things so incredibly awkward now?
He knew the drive to her apartment was only ten minutes, but it felt like an hour. The time stretched on forever. All he could think about was the girl beside him. She was so perfect, and he wanted whatever this was to work. The only thing to do now was talk about it, but he was having an incredibly hard time getting the words out. He parked the car and they went inside, Mac automatically going straight to her laptop and looking at it for any updates. Dick pulled out two cups and poured them each some water. He perched on the edge of the table to watched her.
"This is ridiculous." Mac said suddenly. "We've been friends for 4 years, and I can't remember the last time we had an awkward silence like this."
Dick looked up at her quickly. She was right. "We should probably talk about the, you know."
"Yeah."
He moved around to sit next to her in the chair. "I meant it when I said it meant everything. Mac," He began, turning towards her and locking eyes. "You mean everything to me. You've meant everything since we first really met on the roof of the Grand. You've been my best friend, my protector, my moral compass, my encouragement. You're who I strive to be good enough for. I don't know why it took me so long to realize that you're not only my best friend, but the girl I want to be with."
Her eyes were bright as she stared up at him, and he felt a strange calm come over. It was to soon to tell her that he loved her, but he could let her know that he wanted to be with her. He reached up and touched her cheek lightly. "I think I've been falling for you for a long time."
"Good." Mac said, reaching up to cover his hand with hers. "Because I've been falling for you too."
When he leaned down to capture his lips this time he was vaguely aware of the cheering in the back of his mind. Her lips were pure heaven. She moaned underneath him and reached her arms up to wrap around his neck. Dick had kissed a million girls, but none of them had tasted as good as Mac did at that moment. After a moment the chairs they were sitting in became uncomfortable, soDick reached down and picked her up. He walked to the living room and sat them down on the couch.
"Dick." Mac gasped.
"Hmm?" He was concentrating on running his hands through her soft hair. It was purple this week, and he decided that purple was his new favorite color.
"We're not going to get much talking done if we keep this up." She choked the words out as his lips left her mouth and trailed down her neck.
It took a moment for the words to register, but after they did he pulled himself off of her. Though it took a great deal of effort. "Talk. Right."
"What is this going to mean? You know, for us?"
"I guess that depends on what you want it to mean." He found it was easier to concentrate on talking when he sat up and moved away from her. His mind was running over a million things he wanted to do to her at that particular moment. Images of her in a bikini were making their way mockingly through his mind.
Mac sat crossed legged on the other side of the couch from him. "I mean, are we dating? That just seems a bit weird after being friends for so long."
"Well I'm done with the whole friends with benefits thing. That's just not my MO anymore."
"I know." She reassured him.
"What if we take things slow. I'll take you out properly, and we can see where things go from there. But I'll warn you." His eyes flashed with emotion as he leaned towards her. "If we start this I don't think I'll ever be able to let you go."
Her eyes echoed his. "That's fine by me."
Mac slid over next to him and he wrapped his arm around her as they leaned back. He'd held her like this before. The difference was that now he could say that the women in his arms was his. By this point with any other girl his hand would already be making its way slowly up her shirt and towards the bra, but he hesitated. She was beautiful, and he could feel himself start to react to the desire he felt, but he wanted to do things right with her. He didn't want to rush into things and end up screwing up. So he settled with resting his hand lightly on her hip and drawing circles on the skin there. Mac smiled lazily up at him.
"This should feel weird right?" She asked after a second. "It should feel awkward or something."
"No. The fact that it feels so right means that this is good." Dick said confidently.
Mac leaned up and kissed him softly, taking time to drag her lips slowly from one edge of his lips to the other. He smiled against her. "Not weird at all."
"What do we tell Logan and Veronica?"
"Well," She said with a smile, "I'm sure they'll tell us they saw it coming."
"You're probably right."
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"I knew you guys would figure it out sooner or later!"
Mac grinned as she heard Veronica's excited squeal through the phone. She sent a thumbs up towards Dick as he walked in. He grinned back, and turned so she could see the phone he was on. They were informing both of their best friends at the same time. Knowing Logan and Veronica that meant they would talk it over and decide how best to spy on them to see how the relationship was progressing. Or at least, Veronica would scheme and Logan would attempt to stop it before following along.
"Yeah, well." Mac said into the phone while walking up to her boyfriend. It felt good to be able to call him that. "What can I say. He's kind of amazing." When Dick's face lit up she winked at him, "If not extremely arrogant. Actually I have no idea why I'm dating him."
"He's there isn't he." Veronica asked dryly. "One day and you guys are already unbearably cute."
Dick closed his phone and wrapped his arms around Mac. Before she could respond to Veronica he took the phone out of her hands and spoke into it. "Hey, I've got to demonstrate to Mac why she's dating me, so we'll talk to you later."
Mac held back a laugh. "You probably just scarred her for life."
"She'll get over it."
He leaned in to kiss her softly. Once his lips left hers he leaned his forehead against her and smiled. "Hey."
"Hey." She answered, her voice coming out in a whisper.
The next time he kissed her it was passionate. His lips devoured hers, making her brain turn to mush. Damn him, she thought, 5 seconds and he managed to render her completely incoherent. A minute later she found she didn't care, and threw her arms around him to pull him closer. She could do this forever. As he ended the kiss she moaned in aversion. God, why did time have to exist?
"Have I reminded you why you keep me around." Dick's eyes danced in amusement.
"I don't know, I think I might need further demonstration."
"Can't keep your self off of me? That happens to all the girls. But if I'm not much mistaken we have somewhere to be."
Mac looked at the clock on her cell phone. He was right, they were supposed to meet Sheriff Mars in 20 minutes. "Fine, but then I expect a illustration later."
He leaned down and kissed her nose. "I think we can squeeze that in. Right between poker with the boys and my daily cigar."
"Well if you smoke your joint while playing poker we could get down to it faster." Mac said, going along with his joke.
"That's bad taste, but I'll see what I can do."
"Okay then pretty boy, let's go." She grabbed his arm and started out the door.
Sheriff Mars was meeting them at Mars Investigations. He'd listened to the tape of Liam Fitzpatrick and had some ideas. At first he'd been furious to hear that they'd been pursuing the case on their own, but with the new shortage in deputies he'd finally agreed that he could use the help. As long as they went to him before taking any actions and didn't do anything stupid. Mac had agreed to the terms easily. She wasn't Veronica. As much as she wanted to be the one to figure out who the bastards were who killed Leo she wasn't the charge in and kick ass kind of person. She would do the behind the scenes work and then let Sheriff Mars bring them in.
They were only a few minutes late by the time they reached the office. Dick still wasn't too happy that Mac was working on the case, and he was obviously upset that Sheriff Mars was condoning it. In typical male fashion he'd insisted on tagging along to meet the Sheriff. She could tell he was still upset as they walked up the stairs. Smiling softly she reached down to grab his hand. This was a new step for them, but after a second he squeezed her hand back and the frustration on his face smoothed out. When they entered the office they heard Sheriff Mars haggard voice greet them. It was a big change from his normally boisterous greeting.
"Mac, Mr. Casablancas." He still refused after all these years to call the younger man Dick.
"Hey Mr. Mars," Mac said back softly, she'd spent a lot of time at the Mars house over the years. "How are you?"
"As well as can be expected after the station blew up under my watch. Luckily for me the mayor decided a special recall election was not necessary. Though I think that's just because no one wanted to run."
Dick grinned. "Missing Lamb now?"
The glare he received was well deserved. "Not so much. Anyways, let's step into my office and go over what we know. You brought your case file?" This question was directed at Mac.
"Of course." They walked into the office. On his desk, Mr. Mars had a large box full of files. Mac shook her head as she looked at them. "After all that time I took to give you more hard drive space on your computer and you still keep these paper files?"
"You never know when you need a back up. These are the only case files that escaped the explosion. That means thousands of closed and open case files were destroyed."
"That could have been a motive." Dick said thoughtfully. "Someone may have wanted to destroy the files. Or get rid of evidence."
The Sheriff nodded. "We've thought of that, and it's a definite possibility. It also gives the Fitzpatrick's a motive. There was a rather extensive amount of open case files we were trying to connect back to them."
"But why now?" Mac asked. "Why would they all of a sudden decide to destroy the files? And why use such an attention grabbing method as an explosion?"
"Those are the questions we need to answer. And we need to keep an open mind. Just because the Fitzpatrick's had the ability to pull this off doesn't mean they did. I've found over the years the answer is usually the least obvious one."
Mac set her laptop on the desk and opened her case file. In it were all the people connected to the Sheriff Station, and all possible suspects that they'd thought of. The largest section was the Fitzpatricks, with the newest addition being the sound bite from Liam Fitzpatrick. She also had a folder with a list of all known Fitzpatricks, and frequent customers in the River Stix, plus alibis. Her research was extensive, and Sheriff Mars seemed impressed by it.
"I wish some of my deputies were this thorough."
She took the compliment with a nod. "I want to catch whoever did this."
"You were close with Leo D'Amato weren't you?"
"Yes." Mac said, her eyes hardening. "I helped him out with anything that involved technology. He was really bad at it."
Beside her Dick began to stiffen. She knew that he was jealous at her connection with the now deceased deputy, and the amount of fervor his death inspired in her to catch the person behind this. Reaching towards him she ran her hand down his arm and grabbed his hand again. She wanted to let him know that he had nothing to worry about. Leo was her friend, nothing more. They had this bickering, sibling type relationship.
"That's why you want to catch whoever did this." Though it was phrased as a question, Mac knew it wasn't.
"The reason I want to catch whoever did this is because they killed people who are, were, important to me and the people I love."
"That's a good enough reason for me. Now our next step is going to be to figure out who the Fitzpatrick bought weapons from and how much. Keep listening in for clues, and get Veronica to talk to Weevil."
Mac nodded, she felt a weight lift off her shoulders now that she had a specific job to do. She wasn't an organizer like Veronica was; she did best when she knew exactly what she was supposed to be doing. "Sounds good. I'll work on it."
Beside her Dick frowned, but then squeezed her hand and smiled. "Mac doesn't do anything without me. I'll do the footwork."
Her heart leaped. As much as she hated to admit it, his involvement meant a lot to her. "I'll call you as soon as we know anything."
Sheriff Mars let them out, and as she walked to the car hand in hand with Dick she had two feelings. One was that she never wanted to let go of the man next to her. And the other was that they were closer and closer to figuring this thing out. But when the exited the building and stepped outside they saw their car blown up and flaming, a clear sign that they should stay away from whatever they were about to learn. Which only made Mac want to figure it out m