CHAPTER 16: New Beginnings

Disclaimer: I don't own VM if I did then Logan and Veronica wouldn't have broken up at all along with Lilly and Cassidy would still be alive.

*Thoughts are in italics*

-Dick's Point of View-
It has been a week since I have been able to talk to Mac. After I pulled the kiss on her the night we had Cassidy admitted to the hospital she had ran off and she has been avoiding my phone calls all week. Hopefully that changes when she comes to see Cassie today. Everything was going okay with Cassidy, the tomorrow afternoon I had a meeting with his doctor and she was going to give me her guess at when Cassidy could be released into the outpatient program. With Cassidy being gone had been really hard on Cassie, but she was also seeing a therapist three times a week for the next month. That had been what Cassidy's doctor had suggested for both me and Cassidy. We also had family sessions with Cassidy and the therapist.
"Hey Dick it's just me are you in there?" I hear Logan yelling from the front door of course the one time I don't want to move from the couch he wouldn't just let himself in. I had been kind of avoiding going out of the house. Really all that we did do was sit in the house and think. It was the quietest week in the Casablancas. I guess Logan got tired of waiting for me to get the door because the next thing I hear is his key in the door.
"Dude I know that you guys are upset but this isn't like either you or Cassie." I hear him tell me as he looks around to see me on the couch by myself drinking a soda. "Monica called me. She was worried about you two. She said that you haven't left the house unless it was to go to appoints and meetings for Cassidy.
"That would be right." I tell him as I get up off the couch to go get another soda from the kitchen.
"Where is Cassie?" he asks me as he sits down onto the couch.
"She's worse than me. She comes out of her room to go to appointments and get a days' worth of food. She hasn't spoken more than maybe 20 words to me away from the therapist since that night. She did mumble something about Mac coming over today." I tell him as I give him a worried look. He knew what was going on. I had to tell him about the kiss situation because I needed someone to talk to about it.
"How is that going to go?" he asks me, knowing that I am ultimately really nervous about it.
"She hasn't spoken to me since the kiss. But you know she has to go past me to get to Cassie so hopefully that will be the highlight of the day" I tell him as I look at my watch. "Actually not to be a jackass but her should be here any minute so do you think you could…." I ask him not finishing my sentence and actually saying that I was going to kick my best friend out in hopes of a girl talking to me.
"No I totally get it. I will see you later. Good Luck with your talk with Mac." He tells me as he leaves. I only have to wait for about another 20 minutes before I heard a soft knock on the door. I know its Mac and I have no problem answering the door this time.
"Hey Mackie." I tell her as I pull open the door. I notice that she seems really different
"Hi Dick. I am just here to see Cassie." She says as she tries to slip past me.
"I think we need to talk before." I tell her as I step in front of her.
"Dick I can't have my heart messed with right now. In case you have forgotten you little brother left me naked with nothing but a towel a week ago so he could go attempt suicide." She tells me. As upset as she is I can still sense a little bit of her sarcastic tone.
"I am not trying to mess with your heart Mac, but we need to talk about something." I tell her as I pull her toward the couch. "I know that the kiss threw you for a loop last week but I also want you to know that it wasn't something that I did out of the blue. I mean I hadn't planned on it happening just like that but I have known I wanted to do it since we got that stupid assignment weeks ago." I tell her I have never been good at reading people but I was trying my hardest to understand what she was thinking. I guess I soon got my response when she was kissing me 30 seconds later.
As she pulled away from me she told me. "Dick I think I have secretly had a crush on you since I was 12." As I went to go back to kiss her because I was so happy to hear this she continues "but despite that a week ago I was about to lose my virginity to your little brother and rather than that happening I was emotionally wrecked when I was left in that room like that."
"I understand Mackie. I wasn't exactly my plans either. But I have spent the last couple of months taking cold showers and constantly reminding myself that you were my little brother's girl. "I tell her. "Do you understand?"
"I understand that I think we should give our relationship a try," she tells me as she sees me start to smile she continues "But never the less you have all been put through an emotional roller coaster ride and I think that for the time being, or at least until Cassidy is in a better place that we don't tell anyone."
"Dating on the Down Low. My my Mackie who would have ever thought you to be so sneaky, I know I never did." I tell her kind of shocked.
"Yeah well I guess when Logan and Veronica were dating the end of junior year and wanted no one to know he told her secrets are hot." She tells me but quickly "but some secrets ruin lives to."
"I think that we will be okay." I tell her as we hear Cassie's door open we quickly pull apart. As she heads towards the stairs she looks back at me and winks. When she starts up the stairs she says "It was good talking to you Dick."

-Cassie's Point of View-
I know they think that they are being quiet and I know that Dick thinks that I can't hear them. That I have put myself into a hole ever sense Cassidy's incident but I know what's going on. Like I know that an only a couple of hours after Cassidy attempted suicide that Dick and Mac were kiss. This happened right after we admitted him. I couldn't bear to tell Cassidy that his girlfriend and brother were making out only a couple of minutes after he had been admitted to the hospital. Or like a few minutes ago when Logan was here and Dick and him were talking about Dick's feelings toward Mac. But I have never wanted to deck my brother more than I just heard him declare his love to Mac. Cassidy loved her and I thought that she had loved him. But considering he had only been a way for one week and she was already making out with her boyfriend's older brother I guess I was wrong. I quickly move my door more to break them apart. What pisses me off even more is when Mac heads toward the stairs and pulls this 'It was good talking to you Dick' yeah like talking was the high light of that encounter. I meet Mac at the top of the stairs. I can tell just by the look on her face that she is guilty of something, but I play a long anyway.
"Hey Mac attack. What are you up too?" I ask her as she walks into my bedroom. I don't know if I was more upset with her or Dick for the Kiss that happened outside the hospital last Friday night but I had been doing a pretty good job at avoiding both of them. "I guess nothing really new has happened. So how was Cassidy doing the last time you went to see him?" She asked me
well I know that he misses you. He asked me the other day if I would have you come to the hospital to see hm.
"I don't know if I am exactly ready for that yet Cassie." She tells me. I know that she is just avoiding going because of what is going on with Dick.
"You know what Mac, I was going to just play stupid and pretend that I don't know what's going on between you and Dick, but I heard you two talking just now. I am assumed to call you a friend. You and Cassidy were together only week ago. I know that he is messed up. But he is my brother and the fact that you are moving on so quickly and with my other brother makes me want to gag. So I think rather than you sit here and try to justify your actions to me. You should go and see Cassidy. At least break up with him properly before you give it up to Dick. You owe Cassidy that much, don't you think..." I know that I have shocked her by my sudden outburst but I really don't care.
"I am sorry." She says before she gets up off of my bed and leaves. But when I don't hear her going down the stairs a couple minutes later I have to go investigate where she went. Low and be holding I walked to the end of the hall and she is lying on Cassidy's bed crying. What a BITCH! Before I can make into the room to tell her off some more I push open the door more to find her and Dick lying there together.
_ -Mac's Point of view-
I can't believe that I have been such an awful friend to Cassie and an even worse girlfriend to Cassidy. As soon as I leave Cassie's room I run straight into Cassidy's. I guess Dick was having the same thought because when I got into the room I saw Dick sitting in the Chair in the corner of the room
"Oh sorry, I will just go." I say as I start to back outside the room.
"No Mac, I think that if we are ever going to have a relationship that we need to get a few things out into the open."
"Oh yeah like what?" I ask him as I continue on with my original plan.
"Well first off we really need to talk to Cassidy about this. I know that his words won't affect my desist ion but I want to be with you but I do think that we need to go tell him. Maybe together?" He suggested.
"I agree. But when are we going to go. Besides are they even allowing non-family members to see him yet?" She asked me.
"Tomorrow is the first day he will be allowed. You know that I am so sorry for everything that I did to cause this mess….. Right?" he asked me as he pulled me toward him.
"I know. But you know that none of this is your fault." I tell him.
"But I feel like it is. We will go tomorrow together." He tells me. "Well if you want to."
"I think that is a good idea." I tell him. I was starting to feel a little bit better. At least we had a plan.

-Cassidy's Point of View-
As crazy as it sounds I can't believe that it's already been a week since that awful night. My doctor tells me that today will probably be a busy day. It's the first day I will be permitted visitors outside of Cassie and Dick. My hopes for the day that maybe Veronica will be by. But most of all I hope to see Mac. My therapist keeps telling me the best thing would be if I could talk to Veronica. She tells me that the majority of my problems lay with the Rape. She tells me that I need to get past.
"Cassidy you have a visitor." I hear the nurse come into the room interrupt my journal writing. "Would you like to see her?" I automatically think that it's Mac. Who else could it be? It's only 8 in the morning.
"Yes please." I tell her as I put my journal back into the drawer in my night stand.
"Hey Cassidy." I guess I was wrong. It wasn't Mac, its Veronica. "How are you?" she asks as she slowly walks in.
"What are doing here." I ask her without even really thinking. "I mean how you are?" I ask her. I had to think about what my therapist keeps me telling me. I have to not be off the wall with people. I needed to be open with them.
"I am doing well." Dick was telling me that you had asked to see me." She tells me.
"Yeah. Um my therapist told me that the key to my recovery was to talk to you about the rape." I tell her. "I mean I know we talked about it that night…." I trail off. Despite how much I had accepted in the last week I was still having issues with the actual night.
"So what are we supposed to talk about exactly?" she asks me.
"Well according to the therapist she said that I needed to relive the night step by step." I saw her cringe. "I am sorry Ronnie."
"I know that it's something that you need to do Cassidy." She tells me as she sits down in the chair on the far side of the room. I know that she is having reservations about this, but I also know that she would do it if she really believed that she was going to be helping me. I knew that not every patient had their own private rooms. I knew that it was because of my dad's money that I was rooming alone. That and because Dick and instated upon it. "Tell me what happened Cassidy."
"It started out like any other 09er party that was held. Dick and everyone getting plastered and me trying to fit in." I start to tell her. "I don't know why you were so out of it or anything like that all I know is around 12 Dick and Logan found you out by the pool nearly passed out. They decided that they wanted to take you to one of the empty rooms. I was with them the whole time. I knew that you were out of it. But when Dick started giving me a hard time about being a virgin…" I trailed off. "When he was giving me crap about being shy around girls he told me that this was perfect. You know that I listen to Dick far too much. I know that I can't blame it on him and Logan but after I listened to them and thought back to everything that I had ever known about sex and my personal experiences with what Woody did to me and I guess I found a way to justify taking advantage of you the way I did." I tell her. "I know now that it was wrong. And I am sorry. Actually I knew that it was wrong as soon as I left the room."
"I understand it Cassidy. I know that you are sorry. I think that now that I know what I know I can accept your apology." She told me. She stayed and talked to me for about another 20 minutes before she mumbled something about a case and left.
So here I am sitting in my room. I am going to be happy to let the therapist know that I have cleared the air with Veronica. Now only if Mac would show up. This one was for me. I needed to be able to talk to her about why I did what I did to her. I have to let her know that I am sorry and just pray that she forgives me. I sit in my room for about another 30 minutes after Ronnie left before there is another knock at my door.
"Hey bro how are you feeling?" Dick said as he came through the door.
"I am doing well. Ronnie was here this morning, but I still haven't seen Mac yet." I tell him. "Have you seen here the last couple of days? I had asked Cassie to ask Mac to come by today, Maybe she forgot."

-Mac's Point of View-
"Okay Mac Attack what's the plan here?" he asked me as we pulled into the parking lot at the hospital.
"Well I think that maybe you should go in first, see what his mood is like, and see if he seems to be able to handle the news." I tell Dick.
"Okay I think I can do that. How long are you going to wait before you come into the room? How are you going to know if it's safe to tell him or not?" he asks me.
"Well I will wait like 5 minutes. And when I come into the room if it seems like a good idea to tell him then pull a chair up next to you and offer me a seat. When I sit down if it's a go pat me on the leg. If you think it's better to wait then just keep your hands to yourself. As we make our way to Cassidy's room. Dick gives me a quick peck on the check and walks into the room. Okay Mac don't worry everything is going to be okay. Dick might not be the brightest crayon in the box but I know that he will do what is best for Cassidy. Okay there is a minute that went by. How exactly am I going to go in there and break Cassidy's heart? Maybe it isn't such a good idea to tell him while he's in the hospital. Change of plans Dick I am coming in.
"Knock Knock." I am to the door before I know what hits me. As I walk in the door I see Cassidy's face light up. Okay Mac maybe it's a good idea to wait.
"Mackie you came." I hear Cassidy say as he starts to get off of the bed. I can tell that Dick is confused by my early entrance when he gives me a lost look while Cassidy is giving me a hug. I just kind of shake my head at him that we can't tell Cassidy now. Dick and I stick around for about 45 minutes the entire time Cassidy is smiling and won't let go of me. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea for me to date Dick so soon after Cassidy had attempted suicide. When we left the hospital, we went together, but we didn't know that our secret was about to be exposed.

-Cassie's Point of View-
"Hey Big Brother." I tell Cassidy as I walk into his hospital room. He looks happier than I have seen him in weeks. "How has your day been?"
"Great. I cleared the air with Ronnie, and then Dick and Mac happened to get here around the same time so I got to visit both of them to. Now my favorite person is here. It couldn't get any better."
No but it's going to get a lot worse. "So what did Mac and Dick have to say when they were here?" I ask him hoping maybe that he is just happy to see Mac happy.
"Not much really, they told me about what they had done all week and then Mac told me that she had decided that she was going to move in with Ronnie and Lilly next year instead of getting a dorm on campus." He is still too happy.
"Cassidy there is something that you should know." I tell him hoping that he will take it better than I am thinking he will.
"What's up Cassie? Did you and Wallace have a fight?" of course he is more worried about Wallace and I
"No Wallace and I didn't get in a fight. But I don't know if I should tell you this or not." I tell him.
"Now you are scaring me Cassie. What's up?" he asks me.
"I caught Mac and Dick making out on the couch yesterday afternoon. This was followed by them deciding to date, but to keep it secret." I blurt out. I watch as Cassidy's face drops from joyed to depressed in about five seconds. "You okay Cassidy?"
"Yeah I guess." That's the last words he spoke before he rolled over in his bed and started to cry. I lean over kiss him on the forehead and walk out of the room, knowing that I had personally ruined some of the progress that he had made.

AN: Sorry it has taken so long to get the next chapter up. I had some writers block and needed to do some thinking about how to approach the Mac and Dick relationship. Hopefully this chapter isn't a letdown. Four more Chapters and this story is done. I haven't gotten much response on this story. So I might wait a while before I start the sequel. Hope you enjoyed Chapter 16 –LazzyMae