A/N: This chapter just kept growing and now its kinda epic. Here's hoping you all enjoy it! Many thanx to all the fab reviewers - as ever, you make me very happy! :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 24

Mac woke up to the strange feeling of being hit from the inside. It took her a moment to get her bearings and realise that the baby had woken up before her this morning and was currently trying kick his or her way out of there. It wasn't the first time it had happened, but it was actually the first when her boyfriend had been close by.

"Dick!" she called to him, jostling his shoulder, "Dick, wake up!" she tried again, shoving him harder.

He was a heavy sleeper, there was no denying it, and it seemed to take forever to rouse him. When yelling and shoving got her nowhere, Mac employed different tactics. She leaned down to put her lips on his, kissing him awake. It always worked, to the point where she actually wondered if he did it on purpose, waiting for her to try this way to bring him round. Then she figured that as much as she loved Dick, he really wasn't smart enough to be so deceitful.

"Hmm, Macky" he murmured against her lips, pulling her closer, clearly thinking he was getting lucky.

"Dick, I didn't wake you up for sex" she giggled as she tried to get away from his roaming hands, however good they could make her feel, "It's the baby"

"What?" he was awake then and stupidly fast, sitting up and looking panicked,

"What's wrong?" he asked worriedly, and Mac almost felt bad for not better explaining.

"Nothing's wrong" she assured him, taking a hold of Dick's hand then and placing it on her expanding belly, "Feel that?" she asked, watching his face as the baby kicked out.

"Woah" he reacted with surprise, going so far as to take his hand away a moment, then putting it right back, "That's crazy!" he declared, as Mac laughed.

"Tell me about it" she replied, "It's a lot crazier when that's happening on the inside of you, trust me"

A very dirty comment about things moving inside of her came to Dick's mind, but he didn't say it. A year ago, even six months ago, he had little to no self-control when it came to a good burn or a filthy joke. These days he knew when to hold his tongue and when it was okay to go that far. With Mac, he tried hard to be the best version of himself, especially in these sweet baby-related moments.

It was so weird how close they had gotten. Sometimes when Dick got thoughtful, which was more often than most people might think, he wondered how life might've been different if he and Mac had got together sooner. He wondered about a world where Beav never existed, or where he was less screwed up. In the end, Dick always came out strangely glad that all their lives had gone as they had. Sure, he missed his brother and hated what had happened with Cassidy, but the silver lining to a very black cloud was this happy ending for him with Mac and their baby.

Dick never could have imagined this picture, himself with a girlfriend he truly loved and a child on the way, living in their own apartment, and both of them attending college. They'd lasted a month of living together without any problems, not counting the mini-argument on the night of their housewarming party. Dick never did ask Mac what that was all about. She seemed fine the next day and he put it all down to her pregnant lady hormones and Madison being the bitch everyone always said she was.

By now, that little spat was all but forgotten and things between Dick and Mac were better every day as they learned more about each other that they never knew before, and bonded over their unborn child. This was one of the beautiful moments that neither of them would trade for the world.

"Hmm, that's it" said Mac, "Baby must be tired now, all down kicking the crap outta Mommy" she joked before moving as if to get up.

"Hey, just 'cause baby's done havin' fun, doesn't mean we have to" said Dick, waggling his eyebrows and making his meaning clear as his hand slid down off Mac's stomach and disappeared under the covers.

"We shouldn't..." she tried to protest, but almost forgot how when he touched her and moved in for another kiss, "Seriously, Dick" she squirmed beneath him only making things harder... literally!

"Don't be a party pooper, Macky" he urged her, continuing his assault on her senses, but she meant what she said and soon made it clear.

"Dick, we're not having sex" she told him firmly with that look only women could conjure at such a momnt.

It was the expression that meant 'don't mess with me or else' and Dick knew better than to continue to argue when his Mac was wearing said look. Sure, he was disappointed, but he gave up and let her out of bed then. Apparently he wasn't going to be allowed to sleep either as he tried to turn over and suddenly found himself without covers.

"Hey!" he protested, even as Mac laughed at him.

"I'm going to college" she said with a smile he couldn't resist, "We both have classes today and you need to get up" she told him, "And I don't mean it that way" she confirmed, putting a finger to his lips to stop the dirty comment that was about to slip out.

Carefully getting herself out of bed, Mac threw on a robe, and padded out of the bedroom towards the bathroom. She would love nothing better than to spend the day in bed with the man she loved, alternating between sleeping and making love for hours on end. The reality was, if she was going to get any qualifications, she needed to attend school as much as she could. It would be tough enough when she was too big to even make it onto campus, and after when there would be the baby to cope with. Things were only going to get harder, and whilst Mac could kid herself she was still a normal student for now, she knew the reality of the situation. Once the time came for her to give up actually attending lectures and all, Mac had plans to use the Internet and Skype to her best advantage. She was so lucky that at least one of her professors was a feminist and proud. Ms Anderson was all for her best student getting her education any way she could and bringing up a baby at the same time if that was what she wanted. Mac was so grateful for all the help her teacher was willing to give, she almost cried all over poor Ms Anderson the moment she was nice to her about it all.

Dick was just as helpful and kind, and Mac couldn't love him more right now. There was a giddy smile on her face, she noticed, as she caught sight of herself in the bathroom mirror. She was ridiculously happy, despite the way her life had turned into the complete opposite of what she imagined. If things had gone as she planned, she would be living in a dorm, possibly with Parker still, studying hard and looking to a future with a nice sensible geeky type boyfriend, a high paying job, and all. Instead, she was in a medium sized apartment, living with Dick Casablancas, the surfer dude dumb blond brother of her dead ex, six months pregnant with his child, and yet still grinning. Sometimes life threw you a curve ball, and whilst it had the potential to smack you in the face, you could also get lucky and score a home run. Mac wasn't sure how to take the fact she was thinking of her life in sports metaphors as she stepped into the shower and under the flow of soothing warm water. Maybe it was just one more change in her that she didn't understand but didn't mind at all anyway.

"Hey, Macky?" her boyfriend suddenly called from the door.

"No, thanks, Dick" she yelled back, raising her voice over the noise of the rushing water, "I can scrub my own back" she told him, smiling in spite of her negative reponses to what she was sure he was about to suggest.

"I totally wasn't going to say that" he answered, a complete lie she was sure, but she let it go, "I was gonna ask if you wanted a ride to school, I mean, I don't have a class til later but I can totally take you" he offered.

Mac smiled at how sweet he was being, sticking her head out from around the shower curtain and finding he was peering around the bathroom door in much the same way.

"Thanks, but it's fine" she told him, "Veronica is coming to pick me up, she has a lecture this morning too" she explained, "but you can start on breakfast if you wanna be helpful?" she suggested, "I'm starved"

"Whatever the lady wants" he told her, hurrying over to kiss her lips, "What'll it be, babe?"

Mac thought for a moment and then smiled.

"Would you be totally grossed out if I said bacon and eggs with chocolate sauce?" she asked him.

Dick made a face that suggested he was entirely grossed out by that idea, but he tried his best to hide it a second later and said that whatever she wanted she could have. He ran into the room to spare her another kiss before he walked away backwards, taking a good long look at her wet naked body inside the shower. Yes, he was torturing himself when she'd already said she had no time for fun this morning, but man, that view never got old.

By the time Mac got home from college, she was more than a little tired and kind of worried too. Dick had said he had a class in the afternoon, and she knew it was true since Logan had showed up saying the self same thing. He looked as surprised as Mac when he came out of class and had to tell her that his BFF was a no show. Of course he also told Mac not to worry, it wasn't exactly the first time Dick had bailed, though to be fair he had really been making more of an effort since he and Mac got serious. He knew education mattered to her, and he wanted to be at least as smart as he could, since she was so intelligent. It seemed weird to both her and Logan that he would blow off school that way, especially without telling either of them.

Veronica did her best to calm her friend's fears. She also put her date with Logan on hold long enough to drive Mac home again that afternoon.

"I'm sure it's nothing" the blonde insisted as she pulled up the car outside the apartment building, "He probably just fell asleep in front of the TV or whatever" she shrugged, "It happens"

"I know" Mac agreed, "but it's just so weird. He offered to drive me in and he knew he had a class this afternoon. He was even talking about studying" she sighed.

"Dick voluntarily studying?" Veronica's eyes were wide as she said those words,

"Maybe something is wrong with him" she joked, laughing lightly and glad to see her friend smile then.

"Ha ha" she said flatly as she levered herself out of the car and picked up her bag, "Thanks for the ride, Veronica. I'll see you tomorrow"

"Call me if you need me" her friend told her seriously before driving away.

Mac couldn't understand what she would need help with. After all, there was bound to be a logical explanation for Dick not showing up to class. Maybe he had fallen asleep or just got distracted and lost track of time. Not everything had badness at its root, even though things in Neptune did tend that way at times. It was still somewhat of a relief to Mac when she let herself into the apartment and found Dick was actually there, laid out on the couch, with a beer in his hand.

"Hey" she greeted him with a smile, "I was worried when you..." she stopped short of finishing her sentence, the happy expression on her face falling into distress when she got a proper look at the living room.

The picture that used to hang on the opposite wall was on the floor with the glass smashed. Two vases from the mantle were also in pieces, and a side table upturned in its usual spot. The rug was in a heap on one side of the floor, and from here Mac could easily count at least two thirds of a twelve pack strewn all around.

"Hey, Macky" Dick slurred and wobbled as he got himself up from the couch and faced her, "What's up, baby doll?" he asked, reaching out to her.

Mac instinctively backed up away from him.

"What happened to you?" she asked, first crossly given his behaviour and then looking a little less angry as she reached out to the cut on the side of his head.

"Meh, that's nothing" he knocked hr hand away, "Just had a little run in with the furniture is all" he laughed away her concern, "Must've moved or somethin', I dunno..." he muttered some as he dropped back down onto the couch cushions.

Mac watched as he tried to drink some more from the can in his and but found it empty. Tossing the crumpled metal onto the ground with others, he reached down for another, and came up with what appeared to be the last beer, since it had all twelve plastic rings attached to it that would've held its friends in the beginning of this drinking binge.

"Dick, you're starting to scare me now" admitted Mac, glancing back at the door and wondering if getting out of here might not be a bad move.

She didn't want to run away. They were a couple and they loved each other, and she would hope that after these past few months and all that had happened, Dick wouldn't just be drunk and wrecking their home for no reason like this. If he was in trouble, if he was upset, she wanted to be there for him, but at the same time she had her own safety and the baby to think about. Mac had seen first hand how out of control Dick could be in this kind of state and she wasn't lying when she said he was starting to give her cause for fear.

"Oh, I'm scary?" he laughed at that, though there was no humour in it, "Yeah, you dated my brother who raped and murdered people. I can see how I'm the scary one" he said nastily.

Mac felt tears well in her eyes at that but fought to keep them at bay. No way was he going to do this to her. It was the drink talking, she knew it was, and she was not going to let it get to her.

"Stop it" she warned him, "Just stop it, Dick, before you make this any worse than it already is"

"Worse than what, Mac?" he asked, getting up so suddenly that she flinched away, "Worse than my brother being what he was? Worse than the way me and my asshole father treated him?" he asked, his voice becoming strangled with emotion as he threw a piece of paper towards her, and finally let waiting tears tumble down his cheeks unchecked.

Mac frowned as she fumbled with the paper, a letter with a form attached, she soon realised. With wide eyes she skimmed the words written on both pieces of paper and then looked up at Dick again.

"Your father" she said in barely more than a whisper, "He wants you to visit him in jail" she realised.

"Like I owe that bastard anything!" Dick yelled angrily, though the pain evident in his tone and eyes, in the way the tears wouldn't stop coming, it proved he cared more for his Dad than he wanted her to believe.

Mac honestly didn't know what to say to him. She loved Dick like she never loved anybody. God only knew how they had come this far but it had happened, and they were happy, though to look at them now no-one would ever know it. Only his family had the power to break him like this, the brother who's death he still blamed himself for, at least in part, and the father that treated neither boy properly before abandoning both for his own financial gain. Anything she said to try and make him feel better was going to be pointless and cliched. Still, Mac had to try. There was nothing else to do and no-one else to turn to for either of them.

"Maybe..." she began, quiet and careful as she watched Dick drag the back of his hand across his damp face, "Maybe you should see him, just to find out what he wants"

"No!" Dick argued immediately, "Why should I?" he asked angrily, sitting himself back down on the couch with a thud, downing half the can of beer in record time.

"Because he's still your father, Dick" Mac explained calmly, "and he loves you"

"Shut up!" he bellowed at that, throwing the can he was holding at the far wall and watching as it hit with a thump, sliding down to the ground and making even more mess.

Mac tried to keep calm, to keep breathing evenly. Dick wouldn't hurt her, she trusted him enough to believe he never would. The can had been thrown away from her, not at her, and so far he showed no signs of being any real kind of violent. She was scared, that much she would admit, just because Dick was being so out of control, but she couldn't abandon him right now, she had to try to help him.

"I know what it's like to hate your parents, Dick" she told him carefully, "I know how it feels to wish you never had to deal with them again..."

"How?" he asked, turning angry flashing eyes on her then, "Your folks are fine. They barely even care you got knocked up and everything. They still love you. They would never abandon you, not ever" he told her, bitter and twisted about it, Mac could see.

"Sure, Sam and Natalie would never do that" she agreed, swallowing hard and fighting her own tears as she continued, "but... they're not my parents, Dick" she admitted aloud.

It was the first time she ever told anyone her secret. Veronica knew because she had been the one to discover the truth, but Mac had never had to say those words to anyone. Doing so now brought on a flood of tears, the like of which even Mac hadn't expected. The confession certainly seemed to get Dick's full attention. It wasn't exactly that she was telling him this to shift focus, she had been intending for the truth to come out before long anyway. Now just seemed like as good a time as any, when they were on the subject of parental dysfunction. Mac needed Dick to know he wasn't alone, that he wasn't the only one suffering with a Mom and Dad that were far from ideal. This was the best way to explain it.

"What, like... you're adopted?" he asked, with apparent confusion.

Dick wasn't the brightest button at the best of times, but this had come way out of left field, and he was so drunk and caught up in his own crap. He couldn't see another explanation for what Mac was telling him, and he also wondered how he had never known about this before.

"Kind of" she agreed, sniffing hard, trying her best to be calm and reasonable but finding this so much more emotional than she ever thought she could, "It's more complicated than that" she admitted as she walked around the back of the couch and sat herself down at the opposite end from Dick, "I, er... Back in High School, when Veronica was digging up dirt on parents, she did a little research for me" she explained, "She found out... She found... I was switched at birth, Dick" she admitted fast, like ripping off a band aid because it had to be easier than hanging this out, "With Madison Sinclair"

To say Dick was shocked by those words would have been understatement of the century. He wanted to say something, but no words came to mind. He wanted to laugh at how crazy it seemed, and cry for Mac because she looked so broken by what she had been forced to admit.

It made no sense. Mac and Madison? Switched at birth? Dick was sober in a second as his mind raced a mile a minute. This explained things, properly explained the fight and upset at their party a month ago. It made so many things he couldn't figure suddenly become clear.

"See? I do know what it's like when you don't know your parents. When your Mom and Dad aren't there" she told him in the silence that followed, "I will never know my real parents, because it has to be a secret that they're even mine" she cried.

Dick was an ass. That realisation was clearer than anything as he looked at the state of the room around him and then back at his sobbing pregnant girlfriend. Sure, his Dad was still an asshole, and it still made him mad that Dick Snr would presume his son still loved him enough to want to go visit him in jail. The big picture mattered more though. Mac and the baby were so much more important. This new life he was building didn't have to be ruined because of his old world, not unless he wanted it to be, and he so didn't want that.

"Babe, I... I'm sorry" he said, apologising for at least eight things at once as he reached out to Mac, glad when she gave him the chance to hold her.

They didn't talk for a long while, she just sobbed into his chest and he held on tight to her, contemplating what had happened here. The state of the place, he could hardly believe he'd done all that and yet hardly noticed. The cut on his head was starting to throb like a bitch now he thought on it, and he was going to regret all the booze so much in the morning, perhaps even more than he was regretting it now. The worst of everything was Mac crying. Girls in tears was never a good thing, he hated it, but nothing was as bad as his sweet Macky being so upset. He saw now why she didn't want him just to toss his remaining family aside, and although he probably wouldn't change his mind about visiting his Dad, he at least vowed there and then not get out of control about it ever again.

"Hey" he said when Mac finally stopped crying so hard, "Hey, y'know what this means right" he said, putting a finger under her chin and getting her to look at him properly.

"That I'm a cry baby, and you live up to your name sometimes?" she asked, only half-joking.

"Besides that" he rolled his eyes before focusing solely on her face again and wiping away her tears with his thumbs, "You and Madison got the wrong parentals. If things were the right way around, I'd've dated you from the start" he smiled.

Mac wasn't sure how to take that. It was the dumbest thing she ever heard. There was really nothing to suggest that if the Sinclairs had raised her and the Mackenzies had Madison, that she and Dick would have become an item any sooner or even at all. It was scientifically inaccurate and almost impossible to know for sure. On the other hand, the sentiment was kind of beautiful, and all he was really trying to do was make her feel better. To see him smiling down at her now, having heard his apology and being held in his arms, well, it was all working.

"I love you" she told him, sincere as she ever said anything.

"Not half so much as I love you" he replied easily, planting a kiss on her lips.

This wouldn't be their only fight, but they were going to be okay in the long run.

To Be Continued...