A/N: I left this fic a little longer than I meant to. I have another fic on a deadline that I've been working on a lot lately, but this one has not been abandoned, promise! I appreciate all the reviews; you lovely peops are what keep me coming back! :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 8

Mac felt decidedly strange right now, a weird kind of comfortable and awkward at the same time that she just couldn't make sense of. Here she was in Dick Casablanca's bedroom at the Grand, his arms holding her close to his chest and rocking her gently back and forth. She'd stopped crying a few minutes ago, no tears left for now, and yet she was in no hurry to move.

It was true that she and Dick had been closer than this before, just once but that was all it took. She was carrying his child and they certainly ought to be able to at least sit in the same room together, and yet she hadn't ever envisaged this being them. Mac wasn't sure she'd ever thought about her and Dick being anything to each other in a long time. Yes, she knew they were going to be parents to the same child, but she'd assumed he couldn't be all that interested or would perhaps give her some cash and leave her be for the most part. She never for a moment thought they could be so much as friends, but right now he was certainly being just exactly what she needed - quite literally a shoulder to cry on.

"You feeling better now?" he asked her, on realising her sobbing had ceased.

"I don't know" she sniffled, "A little, I guess, thanks" she forced a watery smile as she looked up at him, his arms still firmly around her body, "This wasn't exactly... I mean, I didn't come here to cry all over you" she explained, feeling the heat rise in her cheeks as he gazed down at her.

"It's cool" he shrugged, "No biggy" he assured her, releasing his grip on her when it was clear she wanted to move.

Dick felt strangely cold when Mac's body was gone from his arms and he wondered if there was more to that than just random contact with some chick. He didn't dwell too long on that thought though, it wasn't the way he worked.

"I feel so dumb" sighed Mac, wiping her eyes and then pushing her hair out of her face in the same movement.

"Hey, I know how that feels" Dick smiled, bumping her shoulder with his own, glad to see her expression shift to match his own - it was never cool when chick's cried.

"It just feels like everything is messed up right now, in my head, y'know?" she tried to explain, though for someone usually so good with words she was struggling immensely.

"Kinda crazy" the blond beside her agreed with a single nod, "but y'know you wanna talk or hang out or whatever, like if home gets rough or awkward, I'm here" he offered without ever really looking at her.

Mac thought it was almost cute how seemingly shy Dick was being right now. This was certainly a side of him she'd never seen, and when compared to the night they spent together, the one that had led to them making this child, well, he certainly had been anything but shy then!

"Thanks, I..." she began, only to stop and frown when she realised Dick was currently holding her cell in his hand.

She hadn't really thought about the fact she'd put it down when she came in, but clearly he'd noticed and scooped it up. Before she had a chance to ask what he was doing, he handed it back to her with a smile.

"There you go" he told her, flicking his fringe out of his eyes, "Now it's Emergency Dick enabled" he winked, and though Mac knew he must mean he had simply given her his number, the way he said it made her both giggle and blush thanks to the innuendo.

"You want me to...?" she asked, gesturing to his own phone that sat on the nightstand, just a little surprised when he handed it over to let her enter her name and number.

Perhaps all this should have happened before they slept together; the number swapping, the flirty banter, and so forth. Still, both Mac and Dick were getting used to the fact that things rarely ran in the order or way they really ought to in their lives. Maybe it was the effect of Neptune or something, since all their friends seemed to be similarly afflicted.

"It's weird" Dick noted, as Mac put his cell back in his hand, "I have so many babes numbers in this thing, and I've... y'know, 'been with' so many of them" he air quoted, "Out of all those girls, you were the one I got pregnant" he said, like he'd only just realised it or something.

"I think it was probably more the lack of protection to blame" said Mac with a wry smile, "and less the cosmos aligning to throw us together"

"Yeah" Dick was inclined to agree, but soon looked pensive again as another thought hit him, "but you're not the first girl I forgot with..."

"Dick" Mac interrupted him, her eyes now closed despite the fact such a move had no effect on her ears, of course, "I kinda don't want to hear about the girls you've slept with before" she admitted, peering out of one eye when he didn't immediately say anything else.

"Sorry" he said awkwardly with a gesture of surrender.

It was clear he really hadn't meant to offend and was feeling just as uncomfortable as she was. He didn't know how to handle this situation any better than Mac and she ought to realise that. Finding things to talk about was never going to be easy, and that included the one thing that connected them, their unborn child. Dick hated the silence of not talking though and so wracked his brain for a new topic that maybe they could try.

"What about the guys you dated?" he asked Mac, "I mean, there was the anti-cruelty to animals guy and then that geeky dude... What happened to them?" he wanted to know.

Mac wondered if she really wanted to tell him about this but figured she may as well. It wasn't as if anything awful had happened, as if she had done anything wrong. Besides, she had no-one else to talk to about these things, especially with Veronica away, and the truth of the matter was she and Dick really ought to try and know each other better on some real levels, rather than just the physical one.

"Well, Bronson was great" she tried to explain as she pulled herself up to get more comfortable, her back against the headboard now as she looked over at Dick, lying back on the bottom of the bed, propped on his elbows, "but we didn't have much in common, and Max... well, I thought we had a lot in common" she admitted, "Kinda seemed not so much after a while. We just... we wanted different things" she shrugged.

Thinking about it now, Mac realised she was getting very different things out of life to what she expected since her and Dick's night of passion that had led to her pregnancy. Still, she felt her life could go somewhere good, compared to Max's own career path that seemed pointless to her.

"I guess it doesn't matter how similar two people seem" she sighed then, "They can end up being different"

"Well, you and me are like way, way different" said Dick thoughtfully, "So, doesn't that mean we should end up working out perfectly?"

Mac wasn't really sure how to respond to that, and the blond's eyes locking onto her own really wasn't helping at all. She knew the two of them had slept together once, that they were having a baby, and would probably be in each others lives one way or another for a good long while now. What she hadn't seriously considered was that she and Dick would ever be more than some awkward kind of friends. An image flashed through her mind of a wedding and subsequent marriage with Dick Casablancas, and the idea was so ridiculous she just bust up laughing.

"Wow" said the surfer as he stared at Mac in her fit of hysterics, not really sure how else to react.

Truth be told, it kind of stung that she would laugh like that, so hard and loud, at the very idea of them getting together. It wasn't like she hadn't gone willingly with him that one night they had together. Sure, they were both drunk and all, but she was here now, taking comfort in his arms and his words. It wasn't as if Dick himself had really thought about them being a couple either, and what he'd said about the possibility of them being perfect for each other was meant as a semi-joke at the very least. Still, he hadn't thought it was quite so funny, and it actually hurt to realise she was so amused.

For her part, Mac honestly hadn't meant to react quite so overly much. Just as soon as she saw shock and hurt register on Dick's face, she felt doubly bad about her laughter. Of course the two of them really did seem like a crazy couple, but perhaps she shouldn't be quite so mean as to continue laughing in his face about it.

"I'm sorry" she said, much more soberly as he stared at the blankets on the bed and distinctly not at her, "Honestly, Dick, I didn't mean to offend you or anything" she swore as he glanced up to meet her eyes, "but c'mon, you're not exactly 'my type'" she air-quoted, since she knew herself it was a dumb sort of a phrase anyway, "And I am a billion miles away from yours" she pointed out, with little to no embarrassment about it, "We're just not the obvious pairing" she shrugged, knowing it was true.

"Is anybody?" asked Dick, before having a thought, "Except for Logan and Ronnie" he rolled his eyes as he dropped onto his back and stared up at the ceiling, "Seriously? Those who just need locking in a room together til they figure this thing out"

"You see it too?" Mac checked, moving around on the bed and closer just so she could see the face of the person she was talking too, "I mean, I don't care if they yell, scream, tear lumps out of each other, or... y'know, the other thing" she said with a look, "Just so long as they figure things out and get back together already"

"Agreed" said Dick, offering her a hand for a high-five which Mac accepted without a moments pause, before dropping onto her back beside him.

They lay there a few moments in strangely comfortable silence. Maybe it was just easier to talk about something and somebody else for a while. Perhaps they just needed to do this right now, be friends in some strange way, get used to each other's company. Nobody could say they would ever be any more than that, but they had to have some kind of relationship if they were going to have this baby together, and that seemed pretty much set in stone at this point.

Of course it soon occurred to the both of them that they were lying next to each other on a bed and what that could potentially lead to. Within ten seconds of that thought hitting, Mac was sat bolt up right, with Dick just a moment or two behind her.

"I should go" she declared, getting up and reaching for her purse.

"Okay" said the blond, now on his feet, shifting awkwardly, "Um, but y'know" he said, pushing his hair out his face for something else to do, "if you wanna hang out again sometime..."

"Yeah" Mac replied a little too fast, cutting off the question before it had even been asked, "I mean, yes, that would be cool, maybe, sometimes" she smiled, a little unsure as to how exactly they were supposed to part ways.

Last time, when they were here after the doctor's appointment, she had kissed him, on the cheek but it was still a kiss. Now she was stuck here wondering whether he was expecting her to do it again, or if she wanted to. He had been really nice to her today and comforting and all, but on the other hand she didn't want him to get the wrong idea. After all, just because they were having this baby together, it didn't mean they were a couple or anything.

"It's weird" he said too suddenly, making Mac wonder if the guy could actually read her thoughts, but she doubted it somehow, "It's like I can talk to you" Dick considered, "better than anybody else... even Logan" he frowned a little, clearly confused by the realisation.

Mac found herself smiling as she thought how cute he looked when he got all bemused, which happened a lot to be fair. She couldn't deny that she understood his confusion this time though. If anyone had told her just a few weeks ago that Dick would fast become her confidante and chief comforter, she would've laughed in their face, but now she knew better.

Since she had no real way to explain herself and was mindful of saying the wrong thing here, Mac went on instinct alone. She stepped in closer to Dick and put her arms around him, feeling the strangest warm glow inside when he returned the action and hugged her for a few seconds.

"Bye, Dick" she said then as she hurried from his sight, leaving the blond staring after her, still confused but smiling nonetheless.

To Be Continued...