A/N: Thanks for all the reviews, follows, and & favorites. Glad so many people are still enjoying this story, hope that
trend continues into this update & beyond. Thank you to my wonderful beta, cainc3! Enjoy...

Obligatory Disclaimer-Nope, I still don't own anything in the VM universe, that's all Rob Thomas' domain, thanks to
him for letting me play though. I also don't own any brands or product placement herein either.

Chapter 4—Cruising

Leaving Veronica in the kitchen to finish her breakfast, Mac grabbed her coffee cup and excused herself. There was only an hour to kill before it was time to leave for the boat trip, and most of the other housemates had already gone back to their rooms to get ready.

Once back in her bedroom, Mac spotted her cell on the dresser where she'd left it. Briefly debating calling Dick for the Logan side of the story—especially the Navy bit of Veronica's cryptic comment last night—she quickly vetoed that idea, deciding to save the gossip session for later. He was probably still asleep or maybe surfing, hopefully with mopey Logan. She took one last swig of her lukewarm coffee and set it down on the chest of drawers.

After taking a towel from the second drawer of the bureau, and grabbing a swim suit from her bag, Mac entered the en suite bathroom and shed her clothes so she could take a quick shower.

When she was finished showering and dressing, approximately ten minutes later, she came back into the room to discover that Veronica was sitting crossed legged on the lower bunk drinking her coffee. She had Mac's laptop on the bed beside her but it was unopened since she obviously didn't know the requisite password to enter, nor did she possess much in the way of hacker genes.

"I'll tell you what you want to know, you just have to ask. My life is an open book," Mac teased, pointing to her computer. She was dressed, but her hair was turbaned in the big, fluffy, blue towel.

"As much as I'm enjoying wearing your clothes, I was hoping we could track the whereabouts of my suitcase, but your damn computer has more armed guards than the president."

"One can't be too careful," Mac explained, plopping down next to Veronica and scooping up her computer. She raised the cover and turned it on, toggling through the log on info. With the wireless card she'd had the foresight to pack, Mac logged on to the internet. She took the proffered tracking sheet from Vee's outstretched hands, quickly discovering the suitcase was still officially listed as MIA—missing in action.

"Looks like you get to walk in my shoes a little longer. It'll turn up soon I'm sure, far as I know suitcases aren't able to get up and plot an escape on their own," Mac reassured her friend as she shut down her laptop. "Do you want to borrow a swimsuit to wear under your clothes?"

"You mean your clothes. No, no thank you. I'll skip the swimming and just stay on the boat."

"Party pooper."

"Yup, and proud of it. I'm sure Logan would get that engraved on my tomb." Veronica shut down though before Mac could ask for elaboration. She decided to let her friend keep that wall up.

Stowing the computer back on the dresser top, Mac grabbed her cell and fired off a quick text to Dick.

You awake babe? I'm about to set sail on the pontoon boat. I'll call you for the gossip when I get back. Love you. Hang Ten dude!

"Aw," Veronica said in a mocking tone, "it's been twenty minutes, time to text Dick."

"Yup, that's right," Mac affirmed not rising to the bait.

Mac tossed the phone on her bed, and retrieving a lightweight jacket from her bag, she headed upstairs to help Mia and Paige gather supplies for their outing. They were having a picnic lunch on the boat and there was an endless selection of beverages, of the alcoholic variety, to wash down the food. Mia had filled a couple water bottles with vodka to spike the lemonade; the bottles were clearly labeled so no one would mix up the real bottled water with the hard stuff.

"It's a mom-habit, what can I say?" Mia justified upon seeing Mac's smirk. "I didn't want anyone to have to drink plain water when they're craving that vodka taste." She shrugged.

At 10 AM, on the dot, the entire gang trekked out to the dock behind the lake house and piled into the boat. Somehow, like a really big jigsaw puzzle, Paige, Mia and Mac had been able to stow away all the coolers and boxes and still leave enough room for everyone to stretch out on the big boat.

Paige sat behind the controls; Mia took a seat beside her in a navigator capacity while the rest of the girls filled the bench seats that outlined the boat's perimeter.

After a shaky, lurching start, Paige got her boat driving bearings. She eased off the throttle, and the boat began to pick up speed, as much as was possible in a pontoon boat at least. It did seem to be making an effort to be a speed pontoon.

Mac's dad had always called them the watercraft version of the mini-van. Fun Time Motors, where Sam had been a salesman for the past fifteen years, sold a fleet of Star Tracker brand Pontoon boats. She had always climbed aboard one of the models on the showroom floor to hide and read a book when her dad had taken her with him to work on Saturdays the summer she turned ten. Ryan was just a toddler then. She loved helping her dad at the store; it was a nice break from her hyper, screaming, messy, baby brother, and gave her mom a little bit of a break, because Ryan was still of the age where she could stick him in a high chair, give him a snack and get a few things done.

Mac's stroll through her childhood memorie,s back to the time where she didn't know she wasn't a biological Mackenzie, was interrupted by Parker throwing a frozen drink pouch at her. It hit her in the chest.

"What the hell, Lee/Piznarski," Mac shrieked. "It's customary to yell incoming when you lob a drink at someone."

"It's also customary to say thank you," Parker said grinning. "Plus you didn't lose an eye, or you know sustain any bodily trauma, so take your adult juice box, and get hammered like the rest of us."

"If this were golf you'd yell 'Fore,'" Mia interjected.

"Four?" Cee-Cee asked.

"Yes, fore, but not the number four," Mia replied. "My dad was an avid golfer, and my husband hits the links from time to time, too. They tried to teach me, but it was an epic fail."

"Why not just scream duck?" Cee-Cee inquired.

"Maybe it has something to do with the fact that golf courses have a lot of ponds where ducks and geese live and it would be confusing otherwise," Veronica theorized.

"Well, fore means look ahead, so that's probably part of the reason they yell it on a golf course," Mac added. "Fore-Caddy, so no one knocked out the poor guy tasked with carrying their heavy-as-hell golf bags." She tore open the frozen Sangria pouch Parker had beamed her with. "Thanks," she added to Parker, remembering her manners.

"Of course my Mac-a-pedia would have her own ideas," Veronica said. Parker laughed at the use of the nickname they both bestowed on Mac when she was launching into some kind of history of blah blah blah rant.

Parker continued on her quest to make sure everyone had a frozen pouch of alcoholic beverage, the so-called adult juice box. Everyone else managed to catch theirs; making Mac the only one rubbing her bruised chest from the earlier drink injury.

Mac took a sip and all but sighed out loud from sheer enjoyment. She leaned her head back against the bench and looked up at the cloudy, overcast sky. The sun had been playing hide and seek, but there was way more hiding than seeking currently. There were several other boats out on the lake though, Mac noticed, mainly sleek speed boats, and even a couple long, narrow houseboats.

As Mac took in the natural beauty around her and counted the passing boats, the rest of the girls were chatting about all the huge lake houses peeking out from the tree line dotting the shore. The houses were all big cedar and glass monstrosities with decks that could hold her entire apartment with room to spare.

"I'll take that one," Parker said pointing to a sprawling wooden A-frame house on her left.

"What about you Mac?" Hadley asked, leaning forward. She was sitting in between Parker and Amy on the other side of the boat.

"What about me?"

"Which lake house would you want if a Genie in a bottle promised you one of these, free and clear? "

"None of them," she said quickly, and honestly. "Besides, nothing here is in my price range."

"Oh you're no fun," Parker interjected. "Play along, we're just day dreaming. Besides, remember, we're talking a genie wish here, not reality."

Before Mac could say anything though Hadley interrupted. "Actually, Dick could buy you any house you wanted along here."

Veronica looked over at Mac to gage her friend's reaction, but she just shrugged. This was hardly the first vaguely critical remark against Dick that Hadley had made in less than 24 hours. Then looking at Hadley she reiterated "None of these places are my style."

"Yeah, all these lake shacks are too small for Mac-Attack," Veronica teased, running interference for her bestie. She rolled her eyes, telepathing her annoyance at Hadley on Mac's behest.

Mac grinned at Veronica in appreciation for the solidarity. "That's right; I need a place that I can spread out in. An entire wing for my computers would be nice," she played along.

"Oh, you're both computer geeks?" Cee-Cee asked, she pointed to the shirt Veronica was wearing as evidence to why she was classifying her as a computer guru, too.

"Me?" Veronica asked incredulously, arching a brow. Then she looked down and saw which of Mac's shirts she was wearing. "Oh, no, this is Mac's shirt."

"Bi chick?" Paige asked.

"Binary, as in binary code," Mac explained. "The n-a-r-y are just in small letters, so you can barely read them. Dick bought it for me; he liked the geek pun mixed with a double entendre."

Hadley nodded knowingly. "That does not surprise me; of course not much about your boyfriend surprises me." She leaned forward in her seat so she could open one of the coolers at her feet. She selected another frozen alcohol pouch and set to work opening it. She didn't appear to notice the glare Mac gifted her with.

"Oh, thanks for clearing that up, I was thinking maybe Veronica was considering doing a little experimenting, perhaps in law school," Parker teased, shifting the conversation away from Dick. Her smile got bigger as Veronica's expression darkened.

"Ix-nay on the law school topic," Veronica whispered in Mac's ear. "I told you to keep quiet about that."

"Sorry," Mac whispered back contritely. "I don't speak Pig Latin by the way. I'm vegan, it's against my ethics."

Veronica reached over and lightly punched her friend. It was a conciliatory gesture.

The air gradually got warmer as the morning wore on and they continued their northerly trajectory around the perimeter of Lake Tahoe. The day was still mostly overcast, but the sun would peek out from behind the clouds every so often, causing a shimmer on the blue-green water.

Mac took off her jacket and placed it beside her on the bench seat. Then she reached into the cooler to grab two more Sangria pouches, one for herself and another for Veronica.

Mac listened as conversation went on around her. She noticed Veronica had gone quiet, as well. Her eavesdropping, however, was rudely interrupted by a flock of Canadian Geese squawking loudly as they flew overhead in a large V formation. There must have been ten of them. Mac was relieved no one had been hit by incoming bird shit; they were pretty indiscriminate where they relieved themselves. Except for the houses dotting the shoreline in regular intervals, this particular part of the lake had a thick canopy of trees outlining the shoreline. The further north on the lake they journeyed, the further apart the houses got. There was also less boat traffic on this part of the lake, as well.

Up ahead, approximately a quarter mile or so, Mac noticed what looked like a little inlet. Evidently Paige, their driver, saw the same thing and seemed to be slightly altering the course of the boat so they'd come up upon it.

A few minutes later the boat headed expertly into the large natural inlet, there were rocky outcroppings lining the perimeter, and beyond the cliffs lay a forest. Picking a spot that was far away from the rocks, and all the inherent danger, that that posed, Paige killed the motor. Mia got up and walked to the aft of the boat and slowly dropped anchor.

Their activities director, Paige, announced that they were stopping for about an hour and a half to eat lunch, take a swim, and whatever else they felt like. A majority of the girls made quick work of shedding their clothes down to their swimming attire and jumped into the cool inviting lake water.

Hadley came up behind Parker, who was hesitating at the edge of the boat, and nudged her in, before jumping in herself. Parker could be heard shrieking in indignation.

Soon just Mac, Veronica and a couple other ladies were left on the boat.

"How about making a break for it, swimming to shore and walking home? Think they'd notice anyone was missing?" Veronica said quietly to Mac.

She hadn't spoken quietly enough though because Amy, one of the fellow stragglers, who was on Veronica's other side smiled and whispered back "Take me with you."

"Sure, the more rebels the merrier."

"Swim? You don't have a suit on, remember? Don't you wish you borrowed one of mine?" Mac couldn't pass up the opportunity to remind Veronica.

"I'll skinny dip then, or just swim fully clothed. Those silly little logistics, I don't let those keep me from my goals."

Mac bit her lip, but didn't try to prevent the knowing smirk that broke through. "Truer words have never been said, pal."

A few feet off to the side of the boat Mac could hear someone, probably Parker, organizing a game of Marco Polo. Two more of the boat dwellers jumped in the water as well, leaving just Mac, Veronica and Amy behind. The three of them continued to chat, comparing Denver and Neptune. Before long Cee-Cee joined them back on the boat, followed closely behind by Mia, Azure, Hadley and so on as Parker Marco-Polo'ed her way through all the girls. After tagging her final victim—her sister—Parker climbed up into the boat, tired and out of breath.

After drying off, Mia got to work unpacking the pre-assembled sandwiches she and Paige had made earlier that morning. Mac was pleasantly surprised that she had a couple vegan selections to choose from. Opting for the southwest spiced black bean wrap, she eagerly opened the baggie, removing the sandwich and taking a big, enthusiastic bite. Veronica wasn't any daintier about tucking into her roast beef and horseradish on ciabatta.

As everyone ate their lunch, conversation was sparse. Being out on the water had made everyone hungry. Mac grinned as Veronica reached back into the cooler hoping to find another roast beef sandwich. Unfortunately those were all gone so she settled for a turkey and Swiss on rye.

After wolfing down her own cheese sandwich, Paige lifted the anchor up and started the boat again and continued on their trek while the rest of the ladies finished eating.

Veronica popped the last bite of her second sandwich then wiped a few errant crumbs from her face. Mac caught her eye and just shook her head, as if to say I still have no clue where you put all that food.

"Sure you got enough to eat there, Mars?"

"For now, I guess," she said, and then mockingly gave a big sigh.

The sun, which earlier had made a few half-hearted attempts to peek out from behind the cloud cover had given up on the idea, and it was back to gray and dreary. Another gaggle of geese flew in formation above their heads, also squawking amongst themselves.

After everyone was done eating, conversation picked right back up. Inevitably talk turned to guys and relationship statuses. Veronica's facial expression closed off, and Mac knew she was getting ready to go mentally underground. She wanted to follow her friend, but respected her privacy too much to do it.

Paige and Mia started launching into marital advice, though Paige, as a newlywed, came across a little more 1950s hausfrau than Mia, who as the token "old woman" having been married seven years already, was a little more jaded in her advice. It was entertaining to listen to them contradict one another. A few of the single ladies then started in on the dangers of being in the dreaded "friend zone," which was essentially a dating waste land. Cee-Cee especially had a lot to say on that subject.

It didn't escape Mac's notice that Hadley liked to steer conversations back to herself and her agenda whenever possible. She didn't remember thinking negative thoughts of her in high school, but that seemed like such a long time ago, which it kind of was. Hadley kept saying "Jeff this," and "Jeff that," and really Mac didn't know or care about this Jeff who was obviously the center of her universe until she mentioned his job as Front Desk day shift manager at the Neptune Grand. At that point Mac was fairly certain she knew who the guy in question was. She risked a glance at Vee, and saw that she interrupted her brood enough to follow that conversation and was undoubtedly thinking the same thing Mac was—Hadley was dating…

"Ratner," Veronica said, directing the comment to Hadley.

Mac looked over to gage Hadley's reaction; her attention was momentarily splintered though when a red speed boat flew by. She turned back around in time to see Hadley's nod of affirmation before she quickly changed the subject.

Mac was wholly unsurprised when the conversation circled around to Dick, thanks to Hadley's careful machinations. She outlined briefly how they got together. About halfway through the story Mac looked up briefly and noticed Hadley's brown eyes locked in on her. There was something a little unsettling about her unwavering gaze. Mac, though she hated any sign of weakness, broke the locked gaze staring contest first.

Finally the subject was successfully changed and Mac noticed that Hadley didn't have much to say if the subject wasn't focused on Ratner or Dick.

A few minutes later Hadley got up and made her way to one of the drink coolers. She grabbed another "adult juice boxes," which were so popular on their boat. However, instead of going straight back to her seat, Hadley stopped to whisper something in Cee-Cee's ear. Mac wasn't close enough to eavesdrop though.

The boat suddenly started rocking as they crossed over a wake caused by a speed boat that had traversed in front of them a couple minutes beforehand. Cee-Cee, who was seated to the right of the gate closing off the entry way of the boat, reached out to grab Hadley as she suddenly pitched forward, but wasn't quick enough. Amy, who was still seated next to Veronica on the other side of the boat, ran forward, to help but it was too late. Hadley had time for one small scream before toppling over.

A rescue team was quickly assembled; Amy and Cee-Cee set to work grabbing one of the standard rescue flotation rings attached to a long, frayed yellow rope from where it was stowed under the storage bench in the aft.

As soon as she realized what was going on, Paige immediately stopped the boat, not even bothering to drop anchor.

Veronica and Mac hurried over to assist Amy and Cee-Cee in throwing over the rescue ring.

"Maybe we should just leave her in," Veronica whispered to Mac, in an only half-way joking tone.

"The motto for this weekend is no man left behind," Azure said, evidently having heard the joke meant for Mac's ears only.

"No woman left behind," Parker corrected.

Veronica scowled at that mention, rolling her eyes at Mac, it sounded too military-esque for her liking.

In a show of teamwork, everyone worked together and before long they'd succeeded in getting Hadley up and over the railing of the boat. She was shivering, her long brown hair matted up, but she seemed otherwise unhurt. Mac remembered seeing a large quilted duvet that Mia had packed, probably to picnic on, so she retrieved it and threw it on the still shivering Hadley.

After a couple of minutes, when the adrenaline spikes had all regulated, Paige decided it was time to get started back on their cruise. She made her way back to the driver's seat, sitting back behind the wheel. She leaned in and turned the key in the ignition.

Nothing happened.

She made a few more attempts, then let forth a string of curse words. She shrugged one shoulder at the concerned glance Parker shot her.

Mac was close enough to the driver's seat that she could easily hear the frustration creeping in Paige's tone as she kept trying to get the ignition to turn. It was to no avail. She had just comforted herself with the thought that at least it wasn't raining when she felt the first raindrop fall on her head.

…TBC

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