A/N: Thanx all for the fab reviews - loves the support! Here comes a little more MaDi relationship development...

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 9

"Seriously, Dick, are you even trying?" asked Logan as he bested his opponent on the games console one more time.

It was almost as if the lights were on but no-one was home with his best bud today. It was true that people might describe Dick that way on any given day of the week, but this was different. The blond was rarely quiet or thoughtful, even since he found out he got Mac pregnant and all. It seemed to Logan there must be something major on his mind, since Dick was never usually so easily beaten over and over at any of the computer games he loved to play.

"Huh?" he said as he glanced from the screen he'd barely been seeing anyway to look at Logan from his place sat against the base of the couch, "Sorry, dude, my brain is just like Wander City" he sighed, dropping his controller to the carpet, "It's just... Y'know when chicks cry, and how uncool that is?" he said, at which Logan nodded his agreement, "Man, when Mac was crying all over me, I felt like really bad, and I wanted to help her out, y'know make her feel better, but I dunno 'cause she's not like other babes I went out with" he shrugged, apparently at a loss.

Logan couldn't help but smile, not at the fact Mac had apparently been so upset, or because Dick was struggling so much with this, but at the fact his friend really seemed to care. Women had always been Dick's specialist subject, so he said, and yet Logan knew that the only girls that went near the blond with a ten foot pole were just bimbos and gold diggers. He never had a real girlfriend, since Madison 'the Bitch' Sinclair hardly counted. There was never a nice girl for Dick, never someone sensible and serious, because he never seemed to want that, and yet he'd found it in his little brother's ex and he hadn't a clue how to deal.

"I keep thinking maybe I could buy her something" the surfer mused, "Y'know, like jewellery, right? 'Cause all chicks like that stuff, but Mac's not... she's kinda not like other girls"

"Yeah, you really might wanna re-think the gift anyway" his friend pointed out as he shut off the games console and leant back into the couch cushions, explaining his words when Dick looked up at him strangely, "You never went out with her, Dick, you just slept with her. If you have sex with a woman and then pay her, what does that make her?" he asked, waiting for the penny to drop, which eventually it did.

"Woah, Mac is so not a hooker" he said definitely, looking almost angry that Logan had even made the point.

"Exactly, so you don't treat her like one" his friend smoothed over that fast, "I dunno, why don't you ask her out, y'know like a date, see how that goes?" he suggested, feeling a little odd giving dating advice when his own love life read like a Greek tragedy.

"Maybe" Dick considered, "Only last time we went out that ended in drunken sex" he realised with a frown that was all too soon a grin, "Actually..."

"Not really what I meant, Dick" Logan rolled his eyes at the never-ending lengths to which his friends horniness stretched, "but hey, at least you can't get her pregnant again" he said, slapping him on the shoulder as he got up from his seat and walked towards his room.

"Yeah, well" the blond countered as he scrambled to his feet and followed on behind, "I don't want her having twins or anything, so that is a no" he reasoned.

Logan turned around fast with wide eyes and a lesson for Dick on the birds and bees ready to fall from his mouth, then promptly changed his mind. There was really no point right now in explaining that having sex with a pregnant woman would not make twins somehow. It was probably more important for him to stick to sage dating advice in the absence of Veronica. She was the one who would bounce Dick's head off the pavement if he screwed up with Mac, and without her here to keep things on an even keel, Logan figured it fell to him to try and keep anything unfixable happening between the future parents.

"Dick" he said, getting the wandering guy's attention, "Mac can't get drunk if she's pregnant, that's a bad idea" he pointed out, "So, why don't you take her out to dinner, stick to soda, and I dunno, man, just try for charming?" he suggested, hoping that was enough good advice for one day as he felt quite exhausted by it all.

Logan went into his room, letting the door click shut behind him, hoping rather than believing that Dick would be a gentleman if and when he decided to take Mac out. He was a good guy deep down, of course he was, but not all that bright and entirely thoughtless at times. These were never good things around a smart, pregnant woman.

"Charming?" Dick echoed the word with a frown, "I could do charming" he considered then, shrugging his shoulders, and headed off to his own room to make plans for a dinner date that would charm and cheer Miss Cindy Mackenzie more than she ever had been before.

Dick felt a little odd as he turned the next corner that led into Mac's street, so much so in fact that he pulled the car over well before he reached her house and let out a breath he hardly knew he'd been holding. This was, without question, the most serious situation he ever found himself in the whole of his life. Getting a girl pregnant would have been complicated enough, but getting Mac pregnant was a whole other ball-game.

She wasn't his usual type, that much was clear, she was also his brother's ex and that still felt kind of wrong when he thought on it too much. She didn't want an abortion or adoption either, she wanted to raise this baby, their baby, as best she could, and Dick had made some kind of sub-conscious decision to help her with that.

Big Dick would throw money at situations to deal with them or just make them go away, and Dick Jr knew he could do the same. It was what he had planned to do at first but somewhere between Ronnie yelling at him and today, he had realised he wasn't just going to do this because he had to.

Mac was a good person, way better than Dick himself could ever be, he was sure, and he meant what he said to Logan about wanting to cheer her up. It kind of broke his heart when she'd come over and cried all over him. Now he had a plan to make her happier, and yet now he was here, within a block of her home, and he felt kind of stupid for even showing up,

Mac was so cool, and so intelligent and all, Dick couldn't think of one reason why a girl like her would want to actually go on a date with a guy like him. She wasn't all about looks and cash, the two things that he always counted on when it came to picking up chicks. She would want someone brainy and sweet and charming... Yeah, he could do charming, or so Dick thought, and yet now he was here he was seriously starting to doubt himself somehow. Unfortunately, there was no time to consider bolting before he was seen. As fate would have it, Mac was not at her house where he was headed, but walking down the street right towards his car.

With a frown that he hoped was just confusion and not deep distress or disappointment at his being here, Dick watched Mac approach and rolled down his window to lean out and talk to her.

"Hey babe" he greeted her, trying to be cool.

"Hey, Dick" she replied uncertainly, glancing back the way she had come as if worried someone might see her talking to him, "Um, what are you doing here?" she asked, realising immediately after the question left her lips that it probably sounded a little more harsh than she intended - Dick didn't seem to notice.

"I was just in the neighbourhood" he lied, "And I was thinking... you wanna go someplace? Like to eat or whatever?" he asked, almost looking as if he was nervous about saying the words out loud.

Mac wasn't entirely sure what to make of the question. In a different situation, she might've assumed he was asking her out on a date. In fact, in the days before their one night of passion that had resulted in her pregnancy, she would have taken his words as the in-road to a practical joke. Dick Casablancas was the kind of guy that asked girls if they were busy tonight, and when told no, just laughed and said he wasn't surprised.

Things were so different now. So far removed from their high school days when they barely knew each other, and what they did know they didn't care for. Now they were the future parents of the same unborn child, and the oddest kind of friends somehow. It was as if Dick was the only person Mac could really talk to these days, and vice versa. The idea of spending time with him was surprisingly appealing, and yet the fact he even asked her to go to dinner, a request sounding so very much like the offer of a date, still had Mac's head spinning.

"Earth to Mackenzie?" the blond said then, waving a hand in front of her face, "You still in there?" he joked with a crooked smile as she visibly shook herself out of a daze.

"Uh, yeah" she reacted suddenly, glancing up to meet his eyes, "Yes, I mean, I'm here, and yes, I could eat" she agreed, finding a smile.

"Cool" nodded Dick as opened up the passenger side door for her, "I know this great place, classy but you don't have to dress up or anything so... it'll be cool" he grinned as she got into the car and pulled on her seat-belt.

"Great" Mac nodded and smiled, though inside she was thinking just how strange this was.

Shouldn't the dinner date come before the sex and the pregnancy?

By the time Dick pulled the car up outside the fancy restaurant, Mac already knew this was a bad idea. The fact that she was pretty sure this place cost the equivalent of half a months wages for her Dad just for two people to eat only added to Mac's list of reasons not to stay here right now. Dick seemed oblivious as he shut off the engine and rambled on a little more about the delicacies the restaurant had to offer. He didn't seem to notice that between his fast driving and talking, he was making poor Mac turn green and for fear of actually throwing up all over the leather interiors, she hadn't yet managed to open her mouth and tell him. Now the car was stationary and she could get some air from opening the car door, she found her voice.

"Dick!" she interrupted him abruptly, causing him to look over at her with surprise, "Important points" she stated, swallowing hard, "Number one, your driving is awful and has made me nauseous. Number two, I'm a vegetarian so all your talk of steak and lobster and all is not only lost on me, but also not helping with the nausea" she pointed out, glad now that at least the need to vomit was subsiding, "Number three, I am not dressed for this place and would probably be too embarrassed to ever eat here" she told him honestly, feeling just a little bad for snapping at him like this as his expression showed both sadness and guilt.

"Sorry" he mumbled, not entirely used to having to apologise for things, and yet with Mac it felt like the only thing he did lately, "I hate Logan" he then complained out of nowhere and Mac looked at him strangely, wondering where that came from, "I totally wanted to do something cool, y'know, to make you happier or whatever? Logan said I should take you out someplace nice. Yeah, that's going real well so far" he rolled his eyes, slamming his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.

If anything, he had made Mac feel worse right now, as guilt crept further into her heart. She hadn't realised quite how hard Dick was trying to be nice to her, and she really didn't get why he would, but it was so sweet. He didn't have a lot of experience in the area of really treating women well. Picking up chicks and bedding them, that he could do blind-folded with his hands tied behind his back, and he probably had, though that particular train of thought led Mac nowhere good! He was doing his best, that was the point, and she was shooting him down. It seemed wrong somewhere, even though it wasn't really her fault that he'd screwed up either.

"Y'know what I'd really like to eat?" she said in the awkward silence that seemed to have settled over the two of them, "Popcorn, raisinettes, and gummy bears" she smiled as he looked her way, "You wanna take me to the movies, Dick?" she asked, overly-sweetly on purpose, as if she was a shy young thing and not the girl he recently knocked up after a one night stand.

Dick couldn't help but laugh at her funny expression and tone, sure that was what she expected him to do. The movies worked for him, and if it was going to make Mac happy, well, that was the point of the whole evening!

"Sure" he nodded, reaching to put the key back in the ignition, only to feel Mac's hand on his arm stopping him.

"Walking is better" she said carefully, and though he still didn't seem to get it, he agreed and got out of the car.

"We don't have to see a chick flick, right?" he asked, making a face like he'd just been asked to eat worms.

"Seriously, Dick?" Mac rolled her eyes as they both rounded the car and started walking together, "Do I look like the chick flick type to you?"

"Oh my God!" Mac howled with laughter, bent double with the force of it as she and Dick walked home from the movie theatre, "Please stop, I can't breathe" she complained, sure that his impressions of the characters from the lame movie they'd just seen would be the end of her.

Dick seemed equally as amused by himself, and by the fact Mac was finding him so funny. The movie really had been hilarious, not because it was a comedy, but because it was just so lame. The special effects and CGI were beyond obvious, the contrived romance between the hero and heroine was awkward at best, and the action sequences were about as impressive as watching two kids with sticks pretending they were in Star Wars!

Of course, it didn't matter to Dick that he paid out cash on two tickets to the lamest movie of all time. What really mattered was that this evening could be firmly marked down as 'objective achieved' because Mac was not only smiling but laughing long and loud. She'd eaten her weight in popcorn and other snacks, and thoroughly enjoyed herself it seemed. That was all he cared about right now as they walked back to her house together, a little later than maybe they should've been, and much, much louder.

"It's official" he yelled to the neighbourhood, "Lightning Heart is the lamest. movie. ever!" he emphasised, shouting through cupped hands that Mac was sure amplified his voice for miles.

"Ssshh!" she urged him, almost collapsing onto him in another fit of giggles as they stumbled up onto the porch together and finally reached her door.

Mac landed with a bump, her back against the wall, and Dick's hands grabbed her waist when he thought she was going to fall. A shiver ran through Mac then, all trace of laughter gone in an instant. Dick's eyes had locked onto hers now and she half-expected he was going to lean in closer and kiss her. It was strange that she didn't feel the need to push him away or run, but Mac didn't think about it much. In fact she was so apparently hypnotised right now, as Dick seemed to be too, that they hardly realised the front door was opening until they had company.

"Cindy Mackenzie, are you drunk?" her mother asked crossly as she appeared, clearly having heard the yelling and overly loud laughter from before.

Though she was talking to an awkward looking Mac, her glare seemed to be mostly aimed at Dick.

"Hey, that is not cool, Mrs M" he said definitely, "There is no way I'd buy Mac a drink in her condition..." he stopped short of saying anymore, watching Mrs Mackenzie's eyes grow ridiculously wide as he realised what he'd just said, "Oops?"

To Be Continued...