Disclaimer: Veronica Mars and all recognizable characters are the intellectual property of Rob Thomas.
Three:
Mac sets down one of the three bags of groceries she's carrying, and fumbles with the key Cassidy gave her earlier. She opens the door of his apartment, and goes inside. She puts down the two grocery bags and the over night bag previously slung on her shoulder, and is about to retrieve the third bag when she hears a familiar voice at the door and winces.
"Hey, Cass, man, you skipping your first day. Talk about cool, dude, but I gotta ask, what's with all the health food, and soymilk, ick…" the voice pauses as its owner looks up and his blue eyes widen as he looks at the girl in the kitchen. "Ghost world?"
"Dick," she responds.
He sets the bag down on the counter a little more harshly than is necessary and Mac takes out the soy milk and puts it in the fridge, all the while feeling Dick's glare on her. She is unsure of his temperament, because what she's seen of him, he's always been laid back, and she's never seen him angry, and Cassidy never talked much about any fights with Dick, although there was that time at the school carnival when Dick had slammed Cassidy down on the hood of a car after a pretty awesome prank. She really hopes he isn't that mad seeing her here.
"Mind telling me what you're doing here?" Dick asks sharply, and his tone surprises her as well as him.
She turns around and faces him. "I have a key."
"And how did you get it? What, you think you can just come in here and get all up in his life like you did my brother? Look at what happened to Beaver! Why can't you and that fucking bitch, Ronnie just stay the hell away? He's not doing anything!" Dick says, and he's breathing heavily and Mac isn't quite sure of what to say, because she realizes that he doesn't know that Cassidy is Beaver.
"His name is Cassidy, and I have just as much right to be here as you do. Look he's going to be home soon, so why not just hang out or whatever till he gets here and interrogate him all you want, because I don't have to tell you anything, but remember this, when you broke down at the funeral I was the one holding you, and I was the one that drove you home. You could be nicer you know. I did love your brother, I still do, and I really don't care what you think about me."
"Yeah, whatever," he says with a grunt and then he goes into the living room, and a few moments later Mac can hear the Mortal Kombat theme music fill the apartment as Dick settles in to play video games.
Mac is relieved that for the time being Dick seems to be willing to ignore her. She finishes putting away the groceries she's bought, and then she retreats to Cassidy's room, and Dick's animosity isn't lost on her as he gives her a grunt that's more like a snarl as she passes by him.
In Cassidy's room she peruses his bookshelf, a smile on her face, as their tastes in books are so similar. She lets her fingers roam over the spines of the books and then she pauses when she notices the book that is lying on the bedside table. She picks it up and shakes her head. He would read The Count of Monte Cristo. She looks at the spine of the book and knows that it is a well-used and probably beloved book. She checks to see where he's at, and smiles at the fact that he's marked his place with an index card of all things.
She takes the book with her as she goes into the living room. She steps across the various wires and gaming console, and settles into the simple plush chair next to the couch where Dick is growling at her for having cost him a life for passing in front of the television. She rolls her eyes and begins to read: On the 24th of February, 1815…
He sighs as he hefts the two grocery bags in his arms and wonders why he's gone all out when he only intended to buy some ice cream and soymilk, but at the thought of Mac in his apartment, he can't help it. He pauses as he puts the key in the lock, because he hears the sounds of Mortal Kombat being played on his X-Box and he's pretty sure that Mac isn't the one playing.
He takes in a deep breath as he pushes open the door and his eyes widen as Mac marks her place in a book, and Dick hits the pause button on his game and looks up at him with a look that demands an explanation and pronto.
Mac gets up and takes the bags from him and goes into the kitchen. She doesn't want to be caught in the middle of the tension that is evident between the two. She notices from the kitchen that Cassidy is nervous, as he fidgets, his hands fumbling with his collar before he shoves them in his pockets and slumps his shoulders forward the way he used to when he was shy or nervous and was trying to hide it and failing miserably.
"Dude, stop it," Dick snaps, and Cassidy takes a step back like he's been hit.
Dick stands up from the couch and glares at Cassidy, getting in his face, and poking him in the chest with his finger, his anger and pain evident. "Look man, it's been cool hanging out with you and all, but you're not my brother, and you need to stop acting like him. I mean dude, you're suddenly Beaver on your first day of school and macking on his girlfriend. That's not cool! None of this is fucking cool. I mean I like being your friend and now you're just trying to replace my brother! I'm so not fucking cool with that, because he's gone and I'm trying so hard to deal with that and now you're trying to be him! Are you trying to like drive me crazy, because I'm simple, you drive me crazy and I'm not coming back, so fucking stop! Right now!"
Cassidy is stunned at Dick's anger and the pain he sees in his brother's eyes, and he can't take the charade anymore. Hell, Mac, already knows, why not tell his brother? He takes a deep breath, and does something that he's never really done before. He shoves Dick away from him, and stunned by the sudden movement Dick lands on his ass and looks up at Cassidy with a hurt expression on his face.
"I've always hated you calling me that," Cassidy grounds at, and then shakes his head at the bewildered expression on Dick's face. "Beaver. I'm not fucking Beaver. My name is Cassidy, why did you insist on calling me that? I never had any respect, and hell I'm pretty sure that people wouldn't have known I was your brother except for the fact that you dragged my ass along to almost every single party and happening event in Neptune once I was fifteen. Man you treated me like total shit, and I sucked it up, and I took care of you when you were hung over. I cleaned you up after you puked up your guts in the toilet, I drove you home, carted your ass to bed. I got you aspirin and water in the morning when you were groaning about never drinking again. When you were sick who was bringing you medicine, drinks, soup? What the fuck have you ever done for me Dick? You suddenly miss me when I gone? What do you miss? Pushing me around, having someone make sure you don't drown in your own puke, having me be your own personal fucking maid? You never even suspected what I went through, and when your friends came around I'd get left behind and forgotten until I either had to go pick your drunk ass up or practically drag you to bed."
Dick's mouth is opening and closing like a fish out of water. Suddenly he shakes his head, and realizes just what an idiot he is. "Shit," he says, and then he's on his feet and his arms are around his brother, and Cassidy swears that Dick is trying to crush him to death in his arms. Then Dick gets him in a half Nelson and gives him the noogie of a lifetime.
When Dick finally lets him go, Cassidy runs his hands through his hair and then Dick's fist comes flying out of nowhere and he is sprawled out on the floor on his back, his hand grasping at his swelling jaw and he's looking up in bewilderment at Dick.
"What the fuck was that for?" he snaps at his older brother as he watches Dick shake his fist out.
"Dude, you had me thinking you were fucking dead for over three months. You kinda had that coming," Dick replies and then he offers his hand to help Cassidy up.
"Fine, so are we cool now, and don't ever call me Beaver again," Cassidy replies as Dick pulls him to his feet.
"Okay, Cass, now explain to me how you're here and not dead, because, dude, I saw the body, and like there was a funeral and everything, and like use little words," Dick says, and Cassidy can't help the smile that plays with his mouth as the two of them sit down on the couch together to catch up.
When Cassidy is done explaining, Dick swears that he won't tell. Cassidy can't help shaking his head when Dick gives an in depth explanation for this, well as in depth as Dick can get.
"Dude, if I told Logan he'd tell Ronnie and Ronnie is total rich dude kryptonite, and like our step mom, Kendall, helped you? Man what did you get over on her?"
Before Cassidy can reply he hears a crash from the kitchen and rushes in to investigate. He sees a frying pan on the floor with some kind of stir-fry spilled everywhere and Mac is sucking on her finger.
"Shit, what happened?" he asks as he rushes toward her and takes her hand to look at her finger where she's burned it.
"I guess I got distracted when you guys mentioned Veronica. I was in here cooking so I wouldn't interrupt the whole brother rebonding thing," she replies.
"Well sit down, I'll take care of this and we'll order out. Maybe Chinese, I'll tell them to hold back on the cat, or we could order a veggie pizza, whatever you want," he says as he frets over her and Dick shakes his head from the doorway.
"Man, you're still hung up on Ghost World. It's not like she's going to break, Cass. It's just a little burn," Dick says casually, and he's stunned when Cassidy turns a glare on him.
"It could have been more serious than that! Can I help it if I'm worried about the girl I love who's carrying my baby?" he grinds out, and then his eyes widen as Mac sucks in a breath and he realizes what he's just said and to whom he has said it to.
"Woah," Dick says, and stumbles toward the nearest chair, which is situated across from Mac. He looks from her to his little brother and then back to her, shakes his head, and says, "Woah," again.
"That could have gone so much better," Mac says as she drops the dishes in the sink, glad that Dick is finally gone.
She shudders as she recalls all of Dick's questions and eyebrow wiggling innuendo at the news that he's going to be an uncle. Cassidy is watching her as he closes the pizza box and makes room for it in the fridge among all the groceries that Mac bought earlier. He's noticed her overnight bag in his bedroom, but he's unsure of how to broach the subject, unsure of what it means, so he goes with humor.
"So does this mean we won't be getting him to baby-sit?" Cassidy's voice is light, and he succeeds with his ploy as Mac gives him a sidelong glance and replies, "Do you really have to ask?"
He shrugs and laughs, a deep laugh that just kind of bubbles up out of him and he notices how Mac perks up and the big smile that he loves so much about her lights up her face. "What?"
She reaches out for his hand and he gives it to her, and she gives it a squeeze as she says, "It's just so great to hear you laughing again. I've always liked your laugh, and I haven't heard it nearly enough."
"Check, laugh more often," he replies with a big smile and then he ducks his head as his cheeks bloom with color and his eyes shift to the floor.
She snorts with a little laughter of her own. "Some things really never change. Now tell me how your day went. Swirlies, noogies? Any good wedgies to speak of?"
"Surprisingly no," he replies with a small grin. "It started looking like I was in for a senior year at Pan High like the last three years I've endured at Neptune. Then this asshole football player just walked by me and shoved me into the locker and I got so pissed. So I shoved him back and put my hand over his throat, told him to leave me the fuck alone, and then at lunch he asked me to sit with him and his buddies, and it's cool. I like having respect."
"Wow," Mac says. "At least you're standing up for yourself, though maybe less violence in the future."
"I was getting weird looks all day, and just to ease your mind, I didn't sit with jockstrap boy. I saw this guy sitting by himself at a lunch table, he was all short but lanky, with blonde hair and green highlights, and he kind of reminded me of you and me, and so I walked over to him to see if he'd tell me to fuck off, ignore me, or maybe talk to me," Cassidy says. "He looked up at me, gave me a nod, and then told me that people were kind of wary of me because I shoved the quarterback into a set of lockers and looked like the dead kid from Neptune High that blew up a bus and a plane. Then he told me his name, Will Harpner, and he said he liked my hair."
"I like your hair too. The blue is nice. So I guess that means you missed me."
"And you don't miss a beat, do you Cindy," he says with a smile and drops a kiss to her temple, but he still notices the wheels turning in her head, and asks, "What is it?"
"The bus and the plane. We'll have to talk about it some time to get back to making things right between us," she says softly and closes her eyes when he winces.
He nods slowly. "I know, but not right now. Let's just let things go as they are, and we'll get into it when I'm ready to face it. Look I know it was stupid and I was wrong, and I never meant for things to get so out of hand, for all those people to get hurt. You can't imagine how sorry I really am, but I can't talk about it, not in detail. Not yet."
"Okay, but remember, we will have to talk about it eventually."
"I know," he whispers, and drops another kiss on her temple, and then he tugs on her hand until she stands up. They end up in his living room, watching some old sitcom rerun, and talking about his classes.
Veronica is staring at the screen of her laptop, still feeling guilty over giving Mac the address to the silent partner of the Phoenix Land Trust. Maybe she should have warned Mac before sending the girl off to confront those issues. Cassidy Banks, as he is calling himself, looks too much like Beaver for it all to be some huge coincidence, especially considering that they both had the same first name.
She shakes her head, and mentally scolds herself for her conspiracy theories, but she can't shake the fact that it's still a little too convenient. Kendall's long lost son coming out of the woodwork, looking exactly like Beaver and having the same name. It's too much for her comfort.
Still she saw Beaver jump, saw the body before they stuffed it, like a broken doll, into the body bag, and she was at his funeral. Her brain is telling her that Cassidy Casablancas is dead, but her gut is saying otherwise, and she may have just sent her friend into a lion's den of all things truly screwed up, and Mac so doesn't need this, not now, not ever.
She moves her finger across the little mouse pad on her laptop and the screensaver, an old picture of her and Lilly disappears in a flash and she's staring at the website that provides pretty good background checks. Her fingers glide across the screen as she types in the name: Priscilla Banks.
A moment later she is taken to a screen. She scrolls down and her eyes widen as she scrolls to the bottom and finds a name at the bottom of the screen, with a little blurb of information.
Banks, Casey (changed to Banks, Cassidy, 1990)
Born April 9, 1989
Swallowing thickly, Veronica enters a new search and her eyes widen as she reads over the information she discovers.
He lived with an aunt, Phoebe Hawkins in Dallas, Texas for a couple of years, and then he was handed off to an uncle in Phoenix, Arizona when he was four. There's not much after that except for an arrest in Seattle for driving without a license, and he was brought in for suspicion of possession in LA a little over ten months ago.
She is surprised that his story is panning out the way he told it. She can hardly believe that Kendall Casablancas, also known as Priscilla Banks actually gave birth, but the record of the kid she had is right there on the computer screen in front of her. She does a few more searches on the net in other places, but she can't find anything more recent on Cassidy Banks than when he was brought in for possession in LA, but the charges had been dropped, though there wasn't an explanation as to why.
She closes the screen on the laptop, and looks up with a start when she hears a knock against the door. She plasters a smile on her face as Logan strides into Mars Investigations, and her smile becomes genuine as he shifts his gaze to the stained glass windows for a moment and winces. He then turns his full attention to her and says, "So tiny blonde one, what are you up to?"
"Who me? Do I look like I'm up to something?" she asks with an innocent smile on her face as she bats her eyelashes at him.
He chuckles and lifts an eyebrow at her. "That only works on the masses Mars, now are you going to spill, or will I have to tickle it out of you?"
"Depends, are you bringing out the handcuffs and the feather this time?" she asks in a sugary tone.
"I won't use the handcuffs unless you relent and tell me now," he threatens.
"Fine," she says with a pout and then continues on a more serious note. "This guy who's claiming to be Kendall's long lost kid. There is something off with him, and I just gave Mac his address."
"What?" he asks in bewilderment. "You gave Ghost World his address. Are you out of your mind? She dated Beaver and that guy is a dead ringer for him!"
"I know, and don't call her that. Her name is Mac," she says. "She wanted to know who was responsible for Kendall offering her the job working on the Phoenix Land Trust website. It turns out that it's Kendall's kid. I didn't even warn her about what he looked like. God she's going to kill me the next time she sees me. I mean I told her she probably shouldn't go, but like that would have stopped her."
"Trouble sure knows how to find you, Sugarpuss," Logan says, and she gets up, walks over to him, and wraps her arms around his waist. He wraps his arms around her in turn and holds her, just because she looks like she needs to be held.
"So what are you not telling me?" he asks.
She sighs as she pulls back from his embrace, and looks up at him, still surprised that she can't get anything by him. "I ran a background check on him, and his story adds up, about the places where he's lived, and Kendall did have a kid, a son on April 9th, 1989. So he's about Beaver's age. Although, his original name was Casey Banks, it was changed a year later, but I don't know why."
"That's kind of weird," Logan replies. "Why change his name after a year?"
"My thoughts exactly," Veronica answers and then returns to her chair behind her desk while Logan takes a seat in one of the chairs across from her.
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