A/N: I was sure I already uploaded this chapter... Apparently not then! Thanx for the continued reviewage. Now, time for V to do what she does best and tell it like it is...

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 4

Veronica was fuming with anger as she stormed into the Neptune Grand like a woman on a mission. She could not be more mad if it was she herself who had been every kind of screwed-over by an undeserving man. Mac had called her just the day before, bawling her heart out and explaining between sobs what a complete jackass Dick had been when she told him what had come out of their one and only night together.

It was what they'd both expected and yet Veronica couldn't stand the idea of her friend being treated so badly by Dick. She had little in the way of family herself, just her Dad these days, and her friends had become the rest of what she needed - brothers in Wallace and Weevil, a sister in Mac. They stood up for her and Veronica would be damned if she wasn't going to do the same right now. She made excuses about a sick relative to the FBI, caught the next flight out, and headed straight to the hotel without even stopping by her home or Mac's place.

Rapping on the door, she barged in just the second it was opened, without a thought for whether it was Dick or Logan, or anyone else on the other side. Veronica was just a little relieved to find it was the guy she'd come to see and was mindful to shove him into his own room before she began yelling at him.

"Hey, easy, Mars!" he told her as she slammed the door closed behind them, "I like it rough as the next guy" he smirked suggestively then, "but you gotta..."

"Do not even try that with me, Dick" she warned him, pointing a stern finger his way, "You make one disgusting comment and I swear to God I'll make sure you have none of the equipment you need to ever get another girl in the condition you've put Mac in!" she told him, his face dropping immediately at the sound of those words.

"Oh" he said, eyes going to the floor, "She told you" he added pointlessly, pushing his hair back out of his face for something else to do.

"Yes, she told me" Veronica confirmed, expecting him to say more, but when he didn't she prompted him to do so, "What are you going to do about this?"

"I don't know" shrugged Dick, dropping down to sit on the edge of his bed.

"Inspirational answer, Spicoli!" Veronica practically exploded, "Did your surfboard hit you on the head this morning?"

"Dude, what do you want from me?" he asked, with as emphatic arm gestures as she was using right now.

"For once in your life, I want you to man up, Dick!" the little blonde told him, getting in his face which he had inadvertently made easier for her when he took a seat, "This is not some random girl you picked up at the beach" she reminded him, her voice dropping to a more reasonable level as she tried to make him see the seriousness of this that she risked losing in amongst a shouting contest, "This is Mac. You remember Mac? Dated your brother? Was hurt as much by his death as you..."

"Don't talk about that!" Dick was on his feet in a second at the very mention of Cassidy and what had become of him, "You don't know anything!" he yelled, as Veronica subconsciously backed up a step.

Still, she wasn't so intimidated as to run away scared. She came to say her piece for Mac's sake and that was what she was going to do, whether Dick liked it or not. He had to see he had a responsibility here, he just had to.

"I know that you and Mac made a mistake" she told him, "though I personally think hers was bigger than yours" she couldn't resist the dig in amongst the serious words she needed to get out, "but you have to be an adult about this, Dick"

"Like you have any right to talk about being an adult" he shook his head, not willing to stand here in his own room and take such a dressing down from a girl that had plenty of her own problems, "Check yourself, Mars" he snapped at her, "I know it was pretty scuzzy what Logan did, sleeping with Madison and all, but you dating Piznarski to get back at him?" he challenged her, "That was low"

"I did not..." Veronica immediately started to argue, indignation in her tone and features both, but Dick wouldn't hear a word.

"Yeah, you did" he insisted, "You and Logan do the whole star-crossed Romeo and Juliet crap too well, man, and it's getting old!" he told her crossly, damned if he was going to let her have the moral high ground in all this, "You used Piz to get over Logan" he told her definitely, "Hell, when it started out you used him to get over Duncan, and don't even tell me I'm wrong" he threw in fast the moment he saw her lips twitch to argue, "I know I act dumb sometimes, but I'm not blind" he assurred her, his rant apparently over as he retook his seat on the edge of the bed and looked up at her, "We're all users, Ronnie, even you"

Veronica had a hundred things in her head she wanted to say and yet not a single one seemed appropriate. She hated to admit it, but on some levels at least, Dick was right. Everyone used other people sometimes, it was just the way things worked. It was almost impossible to be the kind of saint who never once did anything for their own gain at the risk of hurting someone else. She wasn't exempt, she knew that, but it didn't make any real difference. She was flawed, hell, wasn't everybody? The fact remained that Dick had responsibilities he needed to take care of, and she was not going to let him wriggle out of that, no matter what.

"Maybe that's true, maybe" she admitted, "but it doesn't change the fact that you need to be responsible right now" she reminded him, "Mac is in pieces over this, she doesn't know what she's going to do"

"And you think I do?" scoffed Dick, though there was no humour in his tone as he chuckled, "You think I planned for this to happen? God, why are you even here, this has nothing to do with you" he said, as if he'd only just now realised it.

On his feet again by now, Dick put his hands to Veronica's shoulders and turned her around. He opened up the door and practically shoved her out.

"Hey!" she complained, though she went semi-willingly, given how pointless her visit here was already turning out to be.

"Figure out your own screwed up relationships, Mars" Dick advised her, before she could say anymore, "and let me deal with mine my own way" he said firmly, slamming the door in her face even as she opened her mouth to argue some more.

Veronica considered slamming on the door, demanding to be let back in, but there was little or no point and she knew it. Mad as she was at Dick, he was right when he implied this was all really none of her business. The trouble was Mac was in no fit state to have this out with him. With emotions and hormones flying around, she'd cried more in the past few days than she had her whole life before from what she told Veronica. It seemed she may have inadvertently made this situation even worse and given Mac one more thing to sob over.

"Yeah, that went well" she said to herself, sarcasm evident as she turned away from the closed door.

"You do have a way with people, Mars" said a voice and she suddenly realised that Dick had never actually been alone here.

"Logan" she found a vague smile coming to her lips as she looked across at him, framed in his own bedroom doorway.

For the longest moment neither moved or spoke. It was weeks since they'd seen each other, and on some levels that felt like a lifetime, in others barely a moment. She hadn't said goodbye before she left for her internship, though she hadn't been half so mad at him as last they stood here in this suite, her yelling about their friendship being over forever. He just had to come seek her out in the food court and apologise some more, proving his stupidity and his worth as a friend all at the same time as he beat Gory Sorokin to the ground in spite of the other guy's connections.

Veronica recalled a moment similar to this when her eyes met Logan's own and they shared a smile. It was the last time she'd seen him before she left, and now here they were again. Shaking herself free of too many memories, she was about to leave when Logan spoke.

"So, kinda hard not to overhear" he gestured towards his friend's room as he crossed to the couch and sat down, "Dick and Mac, huh? Who woulda thought?" he shrugged, the bigger question in his eyes now, almost daring her to sit with him.

"Definitely not me" she shook her head, the movement matching her verbal answer, but also making him see she wasn't staying as she very deliberately moved around towards the door.

"She okay?" Logan called behind her, not Mac's best friend or even close, but a decent enough human being at least to care if she was coping, "I know she must be stressed out and everything but..."

"She'll survive" replied Veronica with a nod and a genuine smile at his thoughtfulness at least, "We all have to find a way to do that, no matter what happens" she said, serious again in a second as she turned to the door and reached for the latch to make her escape that was already overdue.

"Veronica..." said Logan somewhere behind her and she hoped she was right that he was still on the couch and not close enough to touch her.

"What?" she asked as she glanced back over her shoulder to see him a distance away still, albeit on his feet now.

"It's... It was good to see you" he said with a smile, hands in his pockets as he seemed awkward even saying those few words.

Veronica could have replied back in kind but honestly the words wouldn't come. She hadn't allowed herself to think too much about how she would deal if she came face to face with Logan today. It was a high possibility but her mind had been so focused on helping Mac figure things out with Dick, she really hadn't entirely processed how she would cope with seeing her ex again. She managed only a smile in his general direction before she was gone.

Logan watched her go and sighed. Well, it was an improvement because she hadn't torn him a new one just for existing. Honestly, he couldn't let himself dwell too much on his situation with Veronica. Apparently his best friend needed him right now, and he had to be there. After all, nobody else was going to help.

Knocking on the bedroom door across the way, Logan barely flinched as Dick yelled at Veronica to go away again before realising his mistake when he turned around sharply.

"I swear to God, Ronnie... Oh, hey" he tried to force a smile but it came out wrong somehow.

"Hey, man" said Logan as he walked around and parked himself on the edge of the desk across from where Dick sat on his bed with his head in his hands again now, "So, you and Mac?" he checked, "How'd that happen?"

"I don't know, dude" the blond surfer shook his head, pushing his hair out of his face with one hand as he looked up at his buddy, "I think there was dancing, I know there was tequila" he sighed, "It wasn't supposed to happen, I mean, Mac is hot, obviously, but... I don't know" he shrugged, apparently completely at a loss, "I just felt like she got it, y'know? She totally got how I was feelin' that night... one year since he jumped" he finished even quieter than he'd begun and Logan visibly flinched as he was forced to recall the night when Cassidy Casablancas had thrown himself from the roof of this very hotel, he and Veronica forced to watch the end as it came.

Now wasn't the time to dwell on that either though, as Dick looked close to tears. He was feeling bad about so much lately, all kinds of nasty tricks he'd played on his brother and all. Just when he was slowly beginning to deal, this came flying in from nowhere and brought his world crashing down around his ears a second time.

"Part of me feels worse now" he explained too quietly for Dick's usual voice, "like I betrayed his memory by being with the only girl he ever..." he made some random gesture with his hand before running the same hand over his face and sighing, "Then I think, why not?" he shrugged, "'Cause he didn't really want her anyway, not really, right?"

Dick looked to Logan as if for confirmation, but honestly his friend didn't know how to give it either way.

"Don't beat yourself up, Dick" he advised, "It doesn't help, okay, take it from a guy who knows" he told him sagely, feeling just a little odd being the guy to figure out the mess for somebody else for a change, "Y'know, right now, I'm thinking you should really talk to Mac" he suggested, moving to come sit next to Dick, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"And say what?" the blond scoffed, "'Sorry I got you knocked up?'"

"Might be a start" considered Logan with a half a smile as he got back onto his feet with plans to leave Dick alone to his solitary contemplation.

There was only so much advice he could give, a limit to the amount of positive points he would be able to find in such a situation. It seemed more sensible right now to leave Dick be and wait til he actually wanted to talk.

"Wanna hear the dumbest thing?" he said from his place sat on the bed still, craning his neck to see Logan who was already half way out the door, "Mostly, I'm not sorry, I mean, it sucks she got pregnant, but that night, man, I'll admit its kinda fuzzy but woah, that was one hot and heavy encounter" he said with a knowing look.

Logan couldn't hide the smirk that came to his lips.

"Yeah" he nodded, "maybe don't mention that when you go talk to Mac" he said, his one last piece of advice before he left, closing the door behind him.

To Be Continued...