Disclaimer: Veronica Mars and all recognizable characters are the intellectual property of Rob Thomas.
Thirteen:
She rolls her eyes as she opens the door and then glares at him as she snaps, "Haven't we already had the discussion about the help coming in through the back?"
"Yeah, but you ain't paying me, chica," Weevil says and mouths a kiss at her, a smirk playing with his lips as her nostrils flare and she steps back so he can enter.
"So, tell me, why are you here, if A: I'm not paying you and B: Cassidy and his little girlfriend aren't here?" she asks.
He shrugs as he looks at her. "Maybe because I got a piece of information that you could do something about. Look, I came straight over after I left Mac with Dick at the apartment. I didn't even stop to visit V, because I believe your boys might have a better edge at dealing with this little problem I noticed today."
She gives him a look that is a cross between incredulous and what the hell, and he shakes his head. "The Fitzpatricks, I'm handing them a bone, all right? Look I hate coming here for this, because well spicks and micks don't get along, but this is about Mac. So anyway I joined her for her little lunch date at school with Cassidy, and yeah everyone was staring. That didn't exactly throw me until I noticed someone who was real interested in the action, Epsy Machado."
"Okay, so some little gang banger is watching them, along with the rest of the school. Your point?" Kendall says, impatience coloring her voice.
"Epsy Machado is Tony Rawley's cousin. You know the leader of the Sharks in L.A. Something's up if he's watchin' em that close, and I noticed he made a phone call while we were eating lunch. My guess is Tony knows about Mac and the baby now, and he's like any heartless hunter. He goes for the weak spots first. If he can't get to you because of your tie in with the Fitzpatricks, he'll go for the next best thing, as he sees it. He'll go for the knocked up girlfriend."
Before Kendall can respond the door is opening again and Liam Fitzpatrick is slipping into the house. "Hey Kendall, what's with the car… Shit. Who the fuck let you in Weevil? You know what we do to little border crossin' spicks like you?"
Weevil snorts and is readying himself for a fight when Kendall steps in between them and fixes Liam with a glare. "Now isn't the time for macho man bullshit, we can dance to the YMCA song later. He's the guy playing bodyguard/babysitter with our investment and the knocked up computer geek. He's also got something interesting to tell us about Itsy Bitsy or whatever."
"Itsy Bitsy?" Liam asks in confusion.
"Epsy Machado," Weevil clarifies with an eye roll, and suddenly he has Liam's attention.
Cassidy is rudely awakened when a hand comes flying out of nowhere and drops heavily across his face. He groans as he slowly opens his eyes and carefully turns over to see Mac lying on her back, one arm flung across her eyes and the other now on his side as he's moved it away from his face. She moans and looks green for a moment before she springs from the bed and makes a mad waddling dash for the bathroom.
He bites his lip to keep from laughing, because it's funny how she looks when she's running, but he remembers when Dick laughed, and then ended up with another black eye thanks to Mac. A few minutes later she waddles back into the bedroom and plops down on the bed. He sits up and wraps his arms around her, his hands on her stomach as the baby moves inside of her and against his palms, and he smiles and kisses her neck.
She moans again, and says, "I'm never mixing vegetable sushi, wasabi, curry and lime sherbet ice-cream ever again. Oh God! NEVER!"
He can't help the chuckle as he replies, "I tried to stop you, and even Dick told you that combination looked lethal."
He's glad he can't see the glare on her face as the baby gives a particularly strong kick against his palm and Mac winces, as she says, "I have this strange premonition that I'm going to end up being a soccer mom, I mean, she never stops kicking, and ow, those are my kidneys! Let me up I have to pee AGAIN!"
"Didn't you just go?" Cassidy asks incredulously, but he reluctantly lets her go as she does her little waddle dash to the bathroom again.
Cassidy sighs. It's five-thirty am, he could have gotten another thirty minutes sleep before he had to start getting ready for school. It is Wednesday, and then it hits him. February the fourteenth, Valentine's Day. It's been brewing in the back of his mind, but he hasn't really made any plans.
While Mac is still in the bathroom he grabs up his cell phone and gives Dick a call.
There is a growl as the line is picked up. "She better be having the baby, or Dude, someone had better have died! Do you know what fucking time it is?"
Cassidy rolls his eyes. "I need a favor."
"You called for a favor?"
"Yes, dumb ass. I need you to go out and pick up an order at the florists, and get some ice cream; the kind Cindy likes, and get some of that warming massage oil you're always going on about too. Think you can swing by in a few hours with all that?"
"Does this mean you're skipping school?" Dick asks suspiciously.
Cassidy sighs. "Yes, but you aren't staying to hang out. It's Valentine's Day and it's going to be a special day for Cindy. It's getting rough on her and she needs a day for her. So you bring what I ask and then you haul ass. No video games, chick flicks, chocolate ice cream, comments on her weight."
"Dude, I'm never talking weight with a chick ever again, not even that new personal trainer at the gym. It's better for everyone involved to just clam up on weight issues. Gah! Chicks are so freakin touchy with their whores and their moans."
"Hormones, not moaning whores Dick," Cassidy says with a shake of his head.
"Same difference dude, all chicks have the same shit when they're on the rag or pregnant, whores or nuns, they're all bitches when they hop on the female rage, man-hating bandwagon, seriously."
"Yeah," Cassidy says to appease his brother. "Now how about you just do what I ask? See you in a while. Later man."
"Sure, and I'll throw in the donuts for free. She still like those strawberry éclair thingies?"
Cassidy smiles. "Yeah, Dick, she does. Thanks, and pick me up a chocolate one."
"You know it bro. Later."
Cassidy hits the end button and looks up as Mac re-enters their bedroom, her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "And who was that?"
"Just checking in on Dick to see if he made it home in one piece after that little raver he went to last night with Logan. You know how he likes to party," he replies.
Mac winces. "Please tell me he left the beer hog at home this time."
"Would it be Dick at a party without the hog?"
Mac actually laughs as Cassidy pats a spot next to him on the bed and she sits on the mattress and sighs, her hands tracing over the outline of her stomach, the baby's fluttering movements starting to quiet down now.
"I'll be glad when all of this is over and I can hold her. I mean, it's amazing feeling her inside of me, but when she starts kicking my kidneys like she's scoring a field goal I know I'll be glad to just have her out and leave you with most of the diaper duty while I catch up on the sleep I've missed because I have to pee every five minutes."
Suddenly she yawns and looks at him sleepily. "Hey, it's still early. We can get some more sleep before you have to start getting ready for school."
"And who says I'm going to school today? I'm going to spend Valentine's Day with you, not Pan High's equivalent of Neptune High's dearly beloved Mr. Wu," Cassidy says with a smirk.
She groans, but doesn't protest as she replies, "But I'm supposed to be the positive influence. Dick is the little horned devil part of your conscience that pokes a red pitchfork at your ear and tells you to do stupid things."
Cassidy bursts out laughing as the image of Dick that Mac is conjuring up fills his mind, and soon she's laughing with him, until she freezes and makes another mad waddle toward the bathroom.
Will sighs as he looks in the mirror and wonders what it would be like to have someone special to spend the day with. Will knows that Cassidy is probably at home spending a nice romantic Valentine's Day with Mac, getting all cuddly and bonding over pickles and ice cream. He rolls his eyes as he's reminded once again why he hates Valentine's Day so much.
Still Mac is a sweet heart, and Cassidy is in love with her. Will's little crush doesn't matter, and Cassidy is a really good friend, although there are times where Will has noticed he'll just zone off, and when he comes back there is a sad, dark look in his eyes, like he's hiding something huge. Will allows him his secrets though, because sometimes secrets are better left as just that, secrets.
He quickly washes his hands as he decides he'll grill Cassidy for all the romantic details tomorrow. He shifts the strap of his book bag further up his shoulder when he's suddenly grabbed and thrown against the tile wall. He must really be zoning out if someone can just sneak up on him like that. At first he suspects it's the usual jock assholes ready to give him a little shake up since it's obvious that Cass isn't at school.
Will's eyes widen as he's facing three guys, one of them is Epsy Machado, with his dark complected skin, dark eyes, and curly dark hair, and the other two are a couple of roughneck gang bangers. The one with the greasy dark hair and black knit cap is Pipes, and the one with the bad acne and the sneer is Roddy.
Will swallows thickly and knows that this will be worse than anything the jocks have ever done to him. He braces himself as a fist lands in his stomach and he doubles over. Soon all three of them are on top of him and he's cowering trying to protect as much of himself as possible. Punches land in his side, and he feels a sharp, burning pain in his arm as a bone snaps, and then that same burning flare of pain in his sides.
He feels a steel toe boot catch him at the small of his back, and his cheek is ripped open as a fist with a ring glides across it brutally. His eyes widen as something rips inside of his chest and he's gasping for breath and feels like he's choking from the inside out, drowning. His lungs and throat are burning and his breaths are harsh and shallow and soon he's coughing up blood, and then his world goes black as he's shoved and kicked against a wall and his head hits the pale green tile harshly.
Jack Abrams, Pan High's golden boy has got to piss like a freaking racehorse. He finally gets the teacher to acknowledge him and soon he's jogging out of class and toward the nearest bathroom. Once he's inside the urge to piss is gone as his eyes widen and he stares down in shocked horror at the boy huddled in the corner of the bathroom between the sinks and a urinal, broken and covered in blood, barely breathing, and unconscious.
"Oh God," escapes his parted lips as he quickly reaches into his cell phone and dials 911. He tells the operator where he is and then he runs out of the bathroom.
He sees Amy Searling, with mousy brown hair and black-rimmed glasses, a true nerd if ever he saw one. He yells out for her to go get the principal, tells her that someone is hurt real bad in the boy's bathroom and he's already called an ambulance. She runs down the hall to do as he's asked her, and then he goes back into the bathroom, takes off his letterman's jack and puts it over the boy in the corner, because the boy is trembling, shaking badly.
Jack feels bile rise in his throat as he realizes who the boy is. The blood spattered blond hair has green highlights in it. He gets up and rushes into the nearest stall where he empties out the contents of his stomach. He's seen pretty messed up shit out on a game field. He's even picked on Will before, but he would never do anything like this, and he doesn't know anyone else who would do this.
With the way Will looks, it's a wonder the boy is still alive, and suddenly Jack is sick to his stomach with fear, and with disgust at himself for every horrible thing he's ever done to this boy. Because, sure, Will might be different, he might be gay, but no one deserves whatever happened to him. Will looks like he could be dying, and Jack is scared, because he's never seen anyone hurt so bad, and he doesn't want to be the person that watches Will die.
He steps out of the stall as he hears the doors of the bathroom open and Mr. Rutledge enters the bathroom and sees first Will and then him.
"Mr. Abrams, I demand to know what's going on here. What happened, and you called for a paramedic, yes?"
Jack nods. "Yeah, I called for an ambulance. I'm not really sure what happened to Will. I just really had to piss and I walked in and I saw him and then I made the call and they said they were on their way and I saw Amy and sent her to get you. I stayed because… Well no one should be alone when they're that bad off. I haven't moved him or touched him. I mean I put my jacket over him, but he was shaking, like he was cold or something. Who would do this, Mr. Rutledge? Who?" Jack asks with tears in his eyes, and it is then that he notices the moisture between his legs, and with a flush he realizes he's pissed his pants.
Mr. Rutledge, taking sympathy on the boy, looks at him and says, "Go home, get changed, and come back. The sheriff will want to question you. When the ambulance gets here I'll take care of everything. Okay?"
Jack nods, and with one last look at Will he leaves the bathroom, jogs down the hall, across the school parking lot, and as he finally puts the key into the ignition of his dark blue '94 model Ford truck, he closes his eyes for a moment, and sees Will, broken and bloody, in his mind again. He makes a little choked sound before he puts the truck in gear and pulls out of the school parking lot. He'll never be mean or cruel to Will again if Will survives. He swears it. He'll even take up for the guy, because he owes it to him, and if… No. When Will gets better he'll apologize. That will be the first thing on his list when he hears that Will has woken up.
She sighs and throws her head back as a moan escapes her parted lips, and his slick fingers thread between her toes as he rubs and kneads the tender flesh and muscles of her feet. She lets out a sigh of contentment as he moves on to her other foot, and hums at the simple pleasure that is a good foot rub, especially when she can't even bend down to tie her shoe these days.
"Oh you are the greatest man on the planet. You just don't know how good that feels," she moans, and Cassidy has a goofy grin on his face as he replies, "Wow, Cindy, since when have you had a foot fetish. Wait until I work my way up, and start on your back."
In between another moan she says, "For now, stick with the feet. They haven't felt this good since before I was pregnant, and where on earth did you get that warming massage oil?"
He grins. "Dick brought that over along with a few other things I sent him to get."
"So that was who was at the door this morning? Isn't that a little early for him? And how did you get him to leave?" she asks.
Cassidy chuckles. "I told him to remember that Weevil is on my payroll, and I wanted to spend a nice romantic day with you, without interruptions."
He stops his ministrations to her feet, slowly crawls up her body, places a gentle kiss on her lips and brings his oil slickened hands to her bare belly and presses a kiss against the skin to the left of her belly button. She runs her fingers through his hair, and lets out a sigh.
"You're amazing, you know that," she whispers.
He looks up at her, emotions swimming in his eyes as he lifts himself up and kisses her again, the kiss growing more heated as she responds, and her hands slip up his abdomen and along his chest. He pulls back from her lips, and smiles as she protests, until he presses kisses along her throat, and then he groans as his cell phone rings. Damn Dick to hell.
"Don't answer it," Mac moans in disappointment, but Cassidy can't help himself.
He looks at the number on the phone, and wonders why Will would be calling him. He flips the phone open, and his eyes widened and he freezes as a somewhat familiar voice reaches his ear through the receiver.
"Hey, Cassidy, look man, this is Jack Abrams, and I'm sorry to call you like this, but I thought you should know. Your boy, Will, he… Look I… He's here at the hospital, and he's not doing so well. I thought you should know."
"What happened?" he asks, as he tries to control his breathing, and Mac notices the change in him and puts a comforting hand on his shoulder and squeezes it.
"I don't really know, man," Jack says. "I just really had to piss and I found him all beat up in the bathroom. The doctors say it's a good thing I found him when I did. They said something about going into shock and a punctured lung, and he hasn't woken up once since he was brought in. His parents are on their way, and I figured since you're his friend you might want to know, you know?"
"Yeah," Cassidy manages softly. "Hey, I'm on my way, right now. Are you going to stick around for awhile?"
"Yeah man, I'm not going anywhere. I kind of owe it to him, for all the shit I've pulled. Man I'm so sorry. I mean no one deserves what was done to him. Shit, I thought he was dead when I found him," Jack says and Cassidy is surprised by the hitch in his voice, but he can't drudge up too much sympathy for the jock.
"Hey, save the apology for when he wakes up, I'm not as forgiving as him, and I'm not the one you need to say you're sorry to," Cassidy snaps, and then he flips his phone closed, and lets out his breath in a rush.
"Cass?" Mac asks, her voice soft with concern. "What's wrong?"
"It's Will. He's at the hospital. I… Shit, I just…"
"All right, let's just get dressed real quick and then we'll go, okay?" she replies.
He nods and then they begin to pull on their clothes. He goes into the bathroom to wash up a little before they leave. It isn't long before they are pulling up in the hospital's parking lot. The drive to the hospital is a blur actually.
Soon they find themselves in a waiting room, where they notice an older man and woman, the man has thinning brown hair and bright blue eyes and the woman has blonde hair and soft brown eyes that are bloodshot from crying. Jack Abrams is also in the waiting room. He's tall, and nervous, and prowling around the waiting room, pacing a hole in the floor and running a shaking hand through his dark hair.
Mac takes a seat in one of the chairs, and Cassidy approaches Jack and grabs him squarely by the shoulders, looks him straight in the eye and snaps, "You are going to sit down right now before you make me and my fiancée dizzy. I really don't need her dizzy in her condition, and you aren't helping anyone by constantly pacing. I've been here all of two seconds and you've already gotten on my nerves."
Jack gives a nod and follows Cassidy, who takes a seat next to Mac. Jack sits down in the chair next to Cassidy, and leans forward, his elbows on his knees, and his hands in his hair. He's mostly concentrating on breathing and trying to forget seeing Will all broken and bloody earlier.
It isn't long before the man and woman notice Cassidy and Mac and approach them. The man is the first to speak.
"Hello," he ventures, and then with a sigh asks, "I'm just curious as to how you know my son. I'm assuming you are the one that Jack, here, called."
Cassidy clears his throat and stands, because he wants to appear on the same level as Mr. Harpner. "I'm a friend of his. I'm Cassidy Banks."
"You're Cassidy?" the woman asks, and looks from him to Mac, and her eyes widen. "We had no idea. We thought… It's just with the way he talked about you… He never mentioned that you were…"
Mac picks up on where Mrs. Harpner is going. "Hello, I'm Cindy Mackenzie, and I'm Cassidy's fiancée, and a friend of Will's too. I don't know if he's mentioned me as much as Cass, but he visits us a lot. I'm really sorry about what's happened to him."
Mrs. Harpner is about to say something else when Mr. Harpner takes her hand, gives it a squeeze and says, "You've said enough Dina, please."
"Tom, I just… I want, need to talk. My baby is lying on a gurney hooked up to all kinds of machines and he could be dying. He was drowning in his own blood when they found him, and if talking helps me, then DAMMIT, let me talk," she snaps.
Mac, Cassidy, and Jack wince at her harshly spoken words. Cassidy resumes his seat next to Mac, Dina Harpner pulls up a chair to sit across from them, and Tom rolls his eyes, and sucks in a deep breath before he leaves the waiting room with the intent to find some really strong coffee.
"You have to forgive him," Dina says, her voice less edgy as she looks from Cassidy to Mac and then back to Cassidy. "He's still adjusting to Will's preferences. He only just came out last summer, but a mother usually can tell those things, you know. Things have been a little strained between him and Tom. So when are you expecting?"
Cassidy clears his throat, and Mac takes up the iniative. "I'm due in mid-March."
"And have you decided on a name yet?" Dina asks.
"No, actually. We're still discussing it. My brother has come up with a few suggestions, but after Cindy threatened to strangle him he stopped," Cassidy says with a small chuckle that ends in a strangled sort of sound as he wonders if it's appropriate to laugh in front of his friend's mother, with said friend currently in the limbo of a hospital bed torn between life and death.
Before this awkward charade of a conversation can continue a girl enters the waiting room. She has long blonde hair, and she looks a lot like Will. It looks like she's run straight from her car to this point as she's breathing hard, and her eyes are wide as she crosses the room and drops next to the chair where Dina Harpner is sitting. Her arms wrap around the woman's shoulders as she trembles and in a soft voice asks, "Mom, how is he? I came as soon as I heard. The RA just told me and I think I broke a few traffic laws to get her. He'll be okay, right? Willy, he'll be okay?"
"I don't know sweetie," Dina replies, as she pulls her daughter closer.
A moment later the girl is pulling back from her mother's arms and looking at the three other people in the room. Her eyes widen at the sight of Jack Abrams, she remembers how he always picked on Will, and she's even more surprised by the pregnant girl and the boy with the blue highlights in his hair.
"Oh my God, you must be Cassidy. Will talks about you all the time. I swear he has to be in love with you or something. I can't blame him. You're kind of cute," she says, and then she furrows her brow in confusion at Mac. "I'm not sure who you are though, but a friend of Will's is a friend of mine. Hi, I'm Sarah Harpner."
"Hi," Mac replies awkwardly. "I'm Cindy Mackenzie, I usually go by Mac."
Sarah's mouth falls open. "Oh! You're Veronica's friend. She's in my criminology course. Wow, it's such a small world. So how do you know my brother?"
"He visits us a lot after school and I visit Pan High during lunch sometimes, and bring enough for everyone," Mac replies.
"And why would you do that, and oh my God, that ring is gorgeous!" Sarah says as she notices Mac's hand.
Cassidy drops his arm across Mac's shoulder, and when he notices Mac wince and rub her stomach he quickly puts his hand over hers, and it finally dawns on Sarah.
"Wow, I didn't realize, it's just with the way Will talks about you, I thought… How about you forget I said anything?" she says, and blushes.
A few moments later Dina asks to see Sarah in the hallway and Mac and Cassidy are left alone in the room with Jack Abrams.
"Wow, this is kind of awkward," Cassidy says.
"If it helps, I kind of suspected he liked you, but he values your friendship and he knows that you're with me," Mac replies.
At that comment Jack sighs, and lets out an indiscernible grunt before he leans back and lets his head rest against the wall and tears trail from the corners of his eyes.
"Okay, what's with you? I'm the pregnant one, I should be the one in the truly messed up emotional state," Mac says.
Jack slowly turns to look at them and sighs. "It's just. Look, I was always on his case because… I… If the guys knew…"
Cassidy and Mac's eyes widen as Cassidy says, "So you mean that you… You like Will?"
A strangled sort of laugh escapes Jack's parted lips. "Somethin' like that. And he likes you. That's why I was so hard on your case too, until I realized you had a knocked up girlfriend."
"You're lucky you're crying, because I can get very offended being referred to as knocked up," Mac growls warningly.
Before anyone can say anything a doctor walks into the waiting room, and seeing that they are the only ones in the room, he approaches them. Once he establishes that they are friends of Will's he tells them that he's stable, and currently medicated. A few minutes later Will's parents and sister return to the waiting room and the doctor passes the news onto them. Will's parents are disappointed when the doctor adamantly states that there are to be no visitors until the next evening when they are more certain about his condition.
While the doctor goes over more details of Will's condition with the Harpners, Cassidy asks Jack to look after Mac for a few minutes. He walks out of the hospital and once he's in the parking lot he makes a phone call. Liam Fitzpatrick picks up on the third ring.
"Liam, this is Cassidy. Something's happened to a friend of mine, and it might have to do with the Sharks. Weevil mentioned something to me a week ago about Ellison Machado, and maybe you should look into it, because next time it could be Cindy…"
"No prob, Cass, you just keep those figures working like you do, and it'll be taken care of. Machado, right? You must mean little ol' Epsy."
Cassidy says yes, and then closes his phone at the sound of the click on the other line. He goes back into the hospital and to the waiting room to sit with Mac, Jack, and the Harpners.
Liam chuckles as he pulls the blade of the knife away from the pock marked Roddy. He wipes the blood off on Roddy's blood and piss stained jeans, as his cousin Danny lands a harsh punch at Pipes, who spits up some blood and a tooth and gives a nod to confirm what Roddy has just told them.
A moment later Liam is punching a number into his phone, and a nasty grin spreads across his face as Weevil picks up on the line.
"Yeah, Weevil," he says and pauses before he rolls his eyes and barks out, "Cut the shit, I got a tip for you. Looks like you were right about Epsy. I got it on good authority that he's at the Shapiro place. He's either gettin' laid by some slut or scoring a hit, I don't know. Pick him up and we'll give his bones a little rattle."
"And what makes you think I want anything to do with that?" Weevil asks.
Liam snorts. "Cassidy is paying you to care. I mean these punks got one of his little friends from school, who knows, maybe the little computer geek is next. So you in? If you ain't let me know so I can send a couple of my guys after him, otherwise you get the honor of bringing him down to the Styx."
Weevil gives a mental groan, not happy with this development. If it were just about the pay he'd say shove the job, but there is Mac to consider, and if they're going after Cassidy's friends, then it's logical to think that Mac is next. With a heavy sigh he says, "Fine, I'm in, but we don't just rough him up, we bury him. I don't care about the consequences, and he ain't gonna look pretty for the funeral."
"Wow, something we can agree on," Liam replies, and then there is a click and Weevil hits the end button on his cell phone before he tosses it to the floorboard of his car and heads toward the Shapiro place. He's got some trash to deliver.
"Looks like we have our distraction, Bone Daddy," Tony says with a grin, and Bones knows it's big, because Tony only calls him Bone Daddy on special occasions.
"So what's the job?" Bones asks.
Tony chuckles. "This is personal. Epsy took care of one of Casey's little buddies. Put the kid in the hospital in ICU, and sounds like the kid will be there for a while. This could give us an opportunity to snatch Casey's little girlfriend."
"But isn't she knocked up?" Bones asks in confusion.
"That makes her all the more valuable," Tony replies.
Bones takes in a breath, and doesn't like the sound of kidnapping a pregnant girl, because pregnant women are difficult in the best of situations, a kidnapped pregnant woman is asking for trouble. "So when do we leave boss?"
Tony smiles, that cold, predatory smile of his. "Tonight, Bones. We're heading to Neptune tonight. The sooner we leave the sooner our opportunity arrives."
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