A/N: I realized I posted the first copy of Chapter One, there were changed made that you might want to go back and read. Thank you to the three people who reviewed the story, I enjoyed reading your comments. This is the last chapter with Dick unconscious but you get the set up for the rest of the story. Also warning to those who read my stories, I like very long chapters, this one is over 8500 hundred words. Oh and that little box at the bottom to leave me message, I love it when I get them, so please don't hesitate and I also don't object to character criticism if a character is OCC, let me know.
Chapter Two
The Feelings that go Deepest are those that are the hardest to express – Unknown
While Veronica rushed to greet and console Logan in the waiting room, a confounded Keith was meeting with the hospital administrator four floors up in the suite of offices reserved for the staff that dealt with the ultra rich. "I am just as confused as you are. I barely know this young man."
"All I know is that a letter was faxed to us from the law firm that Mr Casablancas uses stating that you were to have Mr. Casablancas' POA and that they were sending a letter over to you by courier." the uptight man behind the desk said.
Shaking his head as he read the offered fax, Keith could do nothing more than agree to sign the paperwork. "Thank you. We were able to administer immediate life saving care, and thanks to your signature we can begin to bring him out of his unconscious state but it looks like we might at some point need to consider admitting this young man to a treatment center. Right now he is being transferred to the fifth floor medical wing."
"I want to speak to my daughter and a few of his friends, find out what they know about this." Keith said as he walked out and took the elevator up a floor to where a somber Logan was holding tightly onto his teenage daughter. "Guys, we have to speak for a few minutes."
Logan and Veronica followed the former sheriff into a small private room and were told what the fax said. "Logan, this just said K Mars, then lists my address and phone number, could you please tell me what is going on?"
Logan sank down into the chair behind him then looked up at Veronica's dad. "I really don't know. I am as shocked as you are. When I called Dick's lawyer, I totally expected to be told he didn't have a Power of Attorney prepared. Dick isn't the most organized person on the planet."
"Where are Dick's parents?" he asked the young man trying to understand why he was given this much power of someone he barely knew.
"His father is on the run like you know, but I doubt that Dick would want him here. He uh, he didn't want his parents here for the funeral either. His mom showed up and it was ugly. She took charge, tried to ban me from attending, banned just about everyone else. Though I doubt Dick even knew that." Logan's eyes were on Veronica, worried about how she would feel to know he had attempted to attend her rapist's funeral.
"And of course even after banning you, she more than likely didn't bother trying to support Dick other than visiting with the attorney, did she?" Veronica asked in disgust. While there was no way she would have gone if she had been here, she did understand that Logan and Dick had been friends for years and that the blond more than likely had had no one else he could rely on.
"Honey?" Keith could tell that his daughter knew the dynamics better than he did. "What is going on here folks?
"Dick's parents are a mess dad, I mean seriously messed up." she said with a sigh. "His dad keeps marrying women younger and younger, my guess the next one will be even younger than Dick and his mom the only time I met her. She makes Celeste Kane seem warm and fuzzy."
"Still, why me?" he asked as he sat down watching the two young people. "I don't think I have spent much time talking to Richard, except when I was sheriff and having to arrest him for driving incidents, public intoxication and fights."
With a sigh, Logan looked at Veronica's dad and then said "Maybe it is because you are the most normal of any of our parents. I am sure that his attorney wouldn't let him name me or one of our friends, his own parents wouldn't bother coming unless they were making a show of things for the press. It is one of Dick's more sensible choices."
Keith looked at them and said "I signed the paperwork for the surgery, but the doctor seems to think that Dick was trying to commit suicide by drinking all of this alcohol."
"Numbing the pain." said Logan, his mind on his recent past. Looking at Veronica's dad, knowing what he was about to admit would more than likely get him banned from being around his daughter for a while, he told the truth, knowing that he had to help Dick.
"I should know, Dick and I have spent the last three years doing so. It helped me deal with Aaron and while Dick Sr isn't abusive physically like Aaron, he was a shitty dad and used to always be telling Dick not to do this, not to do that, that he had to grow up and become a man."
"That doesn't sound too off from what most parents do, Logan." said Keith gently then he saw what was being hidden in Logan's eyes and said "Except there is more you aren't telling me, isn't there? You're talking emotional and mental abuse."
"Do you know why Dick Sr treated his younger son so badly?" Logan asked. "Because Cassidy defied him and showed he had brains. Dick isn't as stupid as he acts sometimes, he learned young that no one can be as smart or as athletic as his dad. Even the oversexed idiot bit, yeah, he is a teenage boy, but in truth its just how he tries to gain his father's approval. He learned when he was about twelve that his father would tune him out if he wasn't a carbon copy of Big Dick. Mean, nasty and opinionated."
~!~
Mac just wanted to escape the well meaning relatives, if one more person tried to comfort her or tell her that she did nothing wrong, she was going to stand in the middle of the Mackenzie family reunion and scream that she wasn't their dear sweet Cindy, that in fact she was only the child swapped out and that her parents had taken her home by mistake.
Backing away from yet another great aunt who felt the need to tell her that it was a shame that her only boyfriend had been a creep but that the solution was to get back on the bike and ride again. Mac staggered to the small tent and reached in to grab her lap top. Muttering at her brother Ryan she was going to find wi-fi, no matter what it took, she quickly shlepped off towards the state park headquarters.
Sitting under a huge red wood tree, she smirked when she realized she could hack in and steal wi-fi from the California State Parks department. "Ah, civilization."
Typing in her email address, checking the very thing that had driven her to join her parents on this family vacation from hell, Mac quickly deleted messages from anyone other than those she knew personally from Neptune High. Veronica's had been photos of post cards from various art museums across New York City with the promise of talking when they met. Then one had included a note stating that she was collecting the cards for Mac.
Seeing one from Wallace that said Open me now, she quickly double clicked and had a laugh when she saw the picture he had posted of himself and his brother in Chicago holding signs saying SOS to Bond and Q. Reading his message, grateful for the jokes, the daily commentary on their trip and even a mention of Veronica, Mac had to run her fingers across the smiley face he had sent her.
Hitting reply, Mac answered his missive then went to tip toe through the online tabloids, the very things that had driven their family out of town a month early for their family vacation.
The headlines it seemed had moved on from the salacious details of how Cassidy Casablancas had been the victim of Woody Goodman the owner of a major league baseball team and the former coach of his childhood baseball team. How he had killed innocent people to protect his secret, how he had attacked one of his female classmate.
Every single detail, every single piece of family dirt was being dragged up about all involved oddly enough except what had happened when she was a baby. Mac had long loved Anderson Cooper and Nancy Grace, right up into it was her life being talked about, gossiped about.
The worst had been the offer from Star Magazine. A million dollars to tell her side of the story; it seems the whole world was curious about the classmate who had driven Cassidy over the edge, at least in part due to that bitch Madison Sinclair. She could still see the article in which the blond had claimed that Cassidy was a victim of herself and Veronica. That had been one of the early items but as the truth had come out, Madison who that horrible night had been ALL over the news, had seen the tide turn and she had quickly been called a liar.
Seeing the blurb about the settlements, Mac looked at the accompanying pictures and found herself feeling sick, not only for herself but for Veronica. There were class photos of the two of them on either side of a picture of Dick, Logan, Duncan and Cassidy. She'd had to laugh because the one part of Madison's story that had stuck was that the articles still listed her not as Cassidy's girlfriend, but as Dick's.
When she saw the highlighted side bar listing the other tragic events from their little town, she wanted to scream as they also dragged up Felix Coombs murder and Logan's trial, Duncan's being on the run, and Lily Kane's murder at the hands of actor Aaron Echolls. That Dick Casablancas had been a land speculator whose business interest had blown up in his face. That his young wife, Kendall, was now missing and thought fled to Mexico.
Snapping her lid down, Mac stood, wanting to forget, wanting to do nothing more than wallow in being in fricken nature. Walking back to her family, she quickly went to get her swim suit and left for the small beach. Once there, after swimming for a good while, she sat on the rocky beach and contemplated how she was going to survive until she could leave for college in the fall.
Veronica sat with Logan, her head resting on his shoulder as they watched Dick sleeping. The blond's skin was sallow, not its usually bronze color and his hair looked lank as the machines released a steady beep that let them know he was getting better. "Logan?"
"Hon." Lifting his head, Logan looked at the beautiful pixie resting in his arms. "Sugarplum?"
With a laugh that didn't quite sound real, she asked "Why did he do it? Was he really drinking away the pain or did he...?"
"I don't know." Logan admitted painfully. "There were so many bottles laying around when I got there that weren't there the day before. I am sure that bitch of a mother of his caused some of his pain, but still, even for Dick, this is more than he ever drinks."
"I know." Veronica looked down at the generic hospital tile trying to wrap her mind around all that had gone down, even almost three weeks later then at Logan. She could still see the look on Dick's face when he saw his brother, when he heard what he had done.
No one would be normal after something like that, but Dick had been a total revelation as he had stood there, watching them take his brother's body away and after how callously Lamb had filled him in on everything. The blond had looked at Veronica then at Mac with such pain in his eyes, even now Veronica could feel it herself. "Its why I am worried."
Pressing a light kiss to her lips, Logan said softly "When I lost my mom, when the truth about my dad, at the worst part of it, I had you to pull me back. Dick doesn't listen to me when he gets like this. Think back to the very worst you have ever seen Dick and I guarantee it was after a visit or a canceled visit from his mom or a fight with his dad."
Entering the room, Keith wordlessly handed over to Logan the handwritten note from Dick. The courier had just arrived and after reading it, Keith felt for the young man.
Reading it out loud, Logan found that the words reminded him so much of the man in the bed, he couldn't help looking at him. "Dude, my lawyer said I have to have someone responsible in case I end up all permanently asleep or something. He said to pick an adult over thirty and uh, someone who I thought would not like rip me off or something. You were the only person who came to mind. Sheriff Mars, sorry dude to lay this all on you but you were the only name I could come up with. Just uh, make sure that they don't keep the Dickster like a vegetable okay? Have Veronica pull the plug, don't let Logan do it, okay? He would feel all icky and stuff and get all emo on me where as Ronnie would do it in a heartbeat then taser my ass for upsetting Logan that way."
Veronica couldn't help it, she laughed because there was no doubt that Dick wrote that letter. No one else could be so irrelevant about such a serious subject and yet so heartbreaking.
Logan couldn't help joining her because while it would surprise most, but Dick had the utmost respect for Veronica, maybe fear of her was a better description.
"I have to admit, when I first read it, that was my response as well." said Keith looking at the boy in the bed."Logan, the doctor said he will be fine, that he will wake up soon. They are concerned because there is already slight damage done to his liver. Dick is going to have to be sat down and have a real long conversation about stopping drinking. If he doesn't, he is going to start having major health problems."
Nodding that he understood, Logan said "With his father on the run, and now, I hate to say it but I doubt his mother will return, I am all he has, sir. I can tell him not to do it, but he will blow it off."
"Would it help if I talked to him?" Keith asked.
Looking up, Logan said "In truth, not really. I don't think Dick will listen to anyone. And now with what is going on with Cassidy, I don't think he will care."
"Okay. Veronica I have a meeting with the Town council, Lamb is out as Sheriff. This latest mess combined with the last few years, has proven that he isn't capable of doing the job."
"So they want you back as Sheriff?" she asked.
"That can want it all they want, I am not accepting the job on a permanent basis." Keith stated. "Logan, the authorities are going to want to speak to Dick. They are concerned about his living conditions."
"Why would it matter. I mean, I am younger than he is, I live by myself plus he is over eighteen." Logan pointed out.
"Dad, I will explain." said Veronica then watching him go, looked at Logan and laid out the fears regarding Dick. "Dad when he was Sheriff had to do several of these interviews and inspections. Mainly just make sure that it is clean, that it is organized and that no vice is laying around. So in other words, hide his porn crap."
Logan looked at Veronica then said "Uh, babe, unlike what you would believe, Dickie uh, doesn't really look at that shit. Maybe if he did, he wouldn't be such a horndog."
Seeing her surprise, he chuckled then pressing a kiss to her lips asked. "I uh, should go take care of that now, before your dad decides to step in."
"Want company?" she asked she asked as she reached to hold his hand. Veronica knew it was going to be hard for Logan not to feel guilty at not doing more for Dick.
"I always want you with me." he said then with intense and exploratory look he said "I have to go to the house, though, Ronnie. Cassidy's house.
"Its fine." she said after a moment. Thinking on it, Veronica said "While I might not like Dick, he has been there for you. I know you are going to want to be there for him. And right now, that means dealing with this. So where you go, I go."
"Aw how sweet, young love." snarled the sarcastic blond in the doorway holding a bouquet of flowers. "Or should I say young gold digger now chasing after her latest vulnerable rich man."
"What do you want, Madison." asked Logan. "We both know that Dick doesn't want you here, I don't want you here. Veronica doesn't want you here. What is it going to take for you to get the message?"
"Dick needs me." she said as she flounced into the room and sat down the flowers on the table with a disgusted moue. Looking at her ex, she reminded herself why she was there and sucked it up before going over to check on Dick. "Oh, my poor sweet, Dickie."
"Madison; he can't hear you, you are wasting your breath." Logan stated. Watching as she pretended to fuss over Dick, Logan couldn't help warning her. "Madison, get out."
When she ignored Logan, he went to the doorway and was grateful to see Keith Mars down the hallway clearly speaking to that attorney friend of his. Calling out to the man, he was relieved when the former sheriff walked back their way.
"What is he doing here?" she asked the disgust clear in her voice when she saw the short paunchy father of her pathetic classmate.
"Mr. Mars, a few days ago, Dick kicked Madison out of his house, we came home and she was naked in his bed. Dick called to try and get a restraining order keeping her away but Lamb refused to take the paperwork. Is it possible for you to get her banned from this room." Logan asked in a cold tone.
"Yes, it is possible. Ms Sinclair, I would like you to leave this room." he said looking at the blond who had been all over the news blaming his daughter and poor Cindy Mackenzie for what Cassidy had done. "And if you refuse to do so, I will have you banned from this room and the entire hospital as long as Mr. Casablancas is a patient."
"You can't do that, we are getting married." she said hotly as she moved over next to Dick and with a smug grin said "I am his fiancee, I am here to take care of his needs. All of his needs."
"More like all his money." muttered Logan before watching as Keith Mars gently reached for Madison's arm and escorted the shocked blond out of the room.
"Now, that is a surprise, Ms Sinclair. I spoke to your parents yesterday, they didn't mention a thing about you getting married. They did come to me in my capacity as a private investigator to find just what you have been up to this past year, something about credit card theftand money disappearing from their bank account unauthorized. Now I never got a chance to speak to you about it, so why don't we speak about that now."
Madison freed her arm, looked at Keith Mars and wanted to tell him to mind his own business, but she could see that he knew what she had been up to and didn't want to go to jail. Looking one more time at Dickie who she had thought she could get to do what she wanted, after all she had always done so before, then decided to wait without a fuss elsewhere, not wanting to draw attention to herself. But in the end, she would get what she wanted from Dick, she always did.
When she had left, Logan saw that Veronica was looking at her father rather oddly and asked what was going on.
"Dad, since when do you reveal so much information about a client?"
"Oh, I didn't. I haven't spoken to the Sinclairs in almost a year, and that was a social occasion." he said with a wink then looking at Dick then at Logan said "There were rumors about that young woman then and now, well if they are true, she might think that marrying Mr Casablancas or tricking him into marriage would solve a lot of her problems."
"We need to keep her out of his room." Logan said. "Actually we should keep the whole lot of them out. Luke, Casey, most of the girls, right now, I think if one of them were to say the wrong thing, Dick just might lose it."
"So we want to keep 09ers out of Dick's room, right?" asked Veronica with a smirk. "I know just the person for the job. Dad, what about your new assistant?"
"New assistant?" Asked Logan.
"Since my daughter refuses to leave things alone, I have decided to arrange for some security,besides Backup." Keith said with a smirk well aware that his daughter hadn't had a chance to tell Logan who he had hired. "Honey, do you want to tell Logan all about your own personal security guard."
"More like my pit bull." she said folding her arms and glaring at her dad.
"Wait, I thought Backup was the pit bull." said Logan with a chuckle at the look of annoyance on Veronica's face.
"I hired Eli Navarro." said Keith expecting Logan to be furious instead he heard the younger man chuckling out loud. Seeing Veronica's exasperation when Logan said that he thought that was a great idea, he couldn't resist. "I couldn't just leave him hanging for Lamb's stupidity."
Looking between Veronica and her dad, Logan got that he was missing something.
"Turns out, Lamb in his determination to finally win out over my dad, had planted evidence against Weevil. Its why he arrested him during graduation." she said. "We were in New York when Saks called to tell dad the news. However, in order for him to be let go, he had to have a steady job and a place to live. His grandmother of course took him in again but no place wanted to give him a chance to work there, since he couldn't work for his uncle at the garage anymore."
"And since I got a hefty little bonus for hauling in Woody, I hired Eli to do the jobs, I don't want my daughter to be doing." Keith said with a smug grin.
Veronica had no objections to the young man working for him, but had objected when she heard that the young man and himself had mentioned one of his responsibilities was to protect my daughter.
When Weevil arrived at the hospital, he quickly sought out his boss, his ears ringing from the lecture he had gotten from his grandmother about dressing appropriately for his new job. When he had protested and told her that Sheriff, er Mr Mars had told him to dress like he normally would, she had sniffed at the idea of his wearing jeans and a t-shirt to work.
"What's up, Veronica?" he asked when he saw the blond pixie. "Let me guess, you found a treasure map and we have to go dig up half of Neptune to find your pirate bounty? Or you already managed to find a new mystery, in the what, less than twenty four hours you have been home."
"Hey, its more like not even six." she protested. "No, nothing like that. My dad didn't tell you? Its about Dick Casablancas, he's a patient here, and he wants to keep out the less than desirable elements of society, so you get to spend the day calling security to kick out any 09ners who show up."
Logan saw the smirk as he walked back down the hallway after handing Mr Mars the list of people who might be a problem for Dick and couldn't resist. "Uh, Ronnie you did tell your pit bull that I can still go in the room."
"Ah, the arrogance of Logan Echolls, sorry pretty boy but unless Mr Mars specifically tells me you can go in, like Ronnie said, all 09ners are banned." he said crossing his arms and standing in front of the surfer boys' room. "What happened, Casablancas forget that when surfing you are supposed to be on your feet, not your head?"
~!~
Keith wished he felt a sense of satisfaction about Don Lamb being fired but he couldn't help thinking that even if Lily Kane's death and murder investigation couldn't have been prevented, the subsequent mess might have been if Lamb hadn't been working for the police department.
Heading back to the apartment, he drove past the Nepture Grand and couldn't help thinking about the latest nightmare inducing case for his daughter. What Cassidy Casablancas had done was unthinkable to most people, but to that boy who was twisted first by his terrible family environment then having to hide the secret of what Woody had done to him, had turned that boy into a horrifying human being.
Yet, when he had heard the news, the excuses for the Casablancas kid, Keith had no sympathy, not after what he had done to Veronica. The victims were who he sympathized with and Keith was beginning to get that Richard and Betina Casablancas were a huge part of the problem.
Arriving at the apartment complex, he heard his name being called and saw Alicia waving at him. Waiting for her to catch up, they then walked into the apartment together.
"When did you get back?" he asked as he hugged the woman.
"Today, Wallace and Darryl are at the beach after finding excuses not to unpack just yet." she said with a soft laugh. "So... how are things?"
"Well my daughter is healing, I may never recover from the news. Oh, and I just had the pleasure of telling the county planner that no, I won't step in to fix the mess that was made by putting Don Lamb in as Sheriff, so all in all, not a bad day." he said with a wide grin then he said "There is one odd thing, though. Dick Casablancas collapsed at his house last night. Got a call from his attorney, turns out the kid listed me as his Power of Attorney."
"Why?" Alicia asked. That wasn't a name she knew very well through her son, except for him to mention he was a real pain the the ass and a surfer pal of Logan Echolls. Then she recalled he was the brother of the other boy.
"Here, read." With that Keith handed her the letter that the kid had written. "I spoke to his family attorney, Dick wrote that about a week ago. No, not because he was suicidal, but because he had gone to the attorney, worried about what would happen to his estate and him if he were to be incapacitated in some way."
"This boy?" she asked holding up the note that barely made any sense.
"Yes, and the even odder thing, the attorney's shock at the idea of Dick even knowing what the word incapacitated meant. Even the Echolls kid seemed surprised to know that the kid thought that far in advance."
"What are you going to do, Keith." she asked as she sat there taking in how relaxed and almost zenlike her on and off boyfriend looked.
"I spoke to his doctors, they said he will come out of this in a few days. I spoke to Veronica and Logan then did some checking around but I really want to speak to Richard and check out his living conditions before I make up my mind."
"Do you think he has a problem with drinking?" she asked.
"I am not sure, do I think he drinks yeah, that much I know, but whether or not he is an alcoholic, I don't know." he said then went on to explain. "Echolls said that the day we left he went to see Dick; that he was sober until his mother arrived. Echolls did say that its a coping mechanism for Dick though, so after doing some sleuthing I am going to decide. I might sit down and have a talk with the kid, but right now... I am still gathering intelligence."
Weevil saw the blond bitch coming his way and took pleasure in informing her that she was not getting into the hospital room. "Who do you think you are, do you know who I am?"
"Me?" Weevil asked pointing to himself. "Who do I think I am? Really, you really want to ask me that. Well I am Eli Javier Navarro, personal assistant to one Keith Mars, private detective. I am here working."
"As if." sneered Madison. "Now either you let me in that room or I report you to the hospital as a drug thief or worse."
"But I didn't answer your question yet." he said as politely as he could. "Now I believe the second part was do I know who you are? The answer to that is yes, I know who you are. You are Madison Sinclair, the blond whose parents decided that instead of attending UCLA this fall, well you will be working. At Sac N Pac, is it?"
Seeing her face slowly turning puce, he sneered "Oh, and you are the girl so stupid to be screwing Don Lamb at the wrong time."
When she stood there, her mouth open and closing like a gold fish eating food pellets, Eli hit the button he had been given and when security arrived, he said as hoity-toity as he could. "This is Ms Sinclair, she is to be kept from Mr Casablancas on the order of my boss. I do believe that Judge Wains signed a restraining order because there is a belief that she a danger to his health."
When Madison's excuses were ignored by the security guard, she sneered at Weevil and then flipped him off as she was pulled down the hallway to the elevator. "You are going to pay for this, do you hear me?"
"Uh Fred, maybe you should take her up to seven, she might need some time in the Psych ward." said Eli as he bowed to the uptight back stabbing bitch that was now screaming she was perfectly sane.
Logan helped Veronica get into his Xterra, admiring the legs showing through the flirty light blue sun dress. "Logan stop droolling over my legs." Veronica said as she laughed when he ran his hand up said legs. "Come here."
When he leaned in, she slowly deepened the welcome home kiss. His arms were pulling her out of the SUV so that he could hold her close when Mac's ring was heard.
"Bond."
"Oh thank god. I am so grateful to hear your voice. I swear, Veronica if you don't find a way for me to escape this family vacation, I am going to hack the CIA. The FBI, heck Walmart if it will get me away from my family. Please, save me."
"Q, what is going on, you sound... uh... well frantic."
"Mars, if you want me to help you with a single bit of electronic tomfoolery GET ME OUT OF HERE!" Hearing Mac tell someone that she would be right with them, Veronica was looking at Logan and trying not to laugh as they heard Mac muttering about cows.
"Tell me how to rescue you and I will be right there. Superhero costume in hand." she said when she heard Mac back on the line.
"I don't know, have your dad call my parents and tell them it is an emergency. Tell them my house burnt down. Hell burn my house down. I mean Logan did the community center right, have him burn my house down." she said when someone entering the cabin.
Turning to see her cousin offering her yet another damn burger Mac put her hands over the mouth piece of her phone and said "Mars, tell Logan if he doesn't rescue me, I will give all of his money to PETA and announce he is joining a monastery."
By that point, Logan wasn't sure whether or not to take her seriously but he wasn't going to take any chances. "How far away are you, Mac."
"A hours drive, we are up close to the mountains. Thank you, Logan, you are saving me from a fate no vegan should ever suffer."
"Well after this I definitely want my decoder ring and to be taught the secret hand shake. We have something to take care of but we will be on our way to get you and back to civilization by nightfall."
"Thank you, you have no idea." Mac said before hanging up the phone and slipping outside only to hear yet another person offer her a burger. "No thank you, Aunt Terry."
Finding her parents, she winced as she said it but soon had them convinced that Veronica needed her, that they were going to be propping each other up to get well. She even agreed to spend time with the woman from the Victims Help Hotline if they would let her go.
When her father said yes, Mac hugged her parents and promised they wouldn't regret it.
"Now are you sure your friend Veronica won't mind you staying with her until we return at the end of the month."
At the Casablancas residence, Logan asked Veronica to clear up the game room and handed her a duffel bag. "I will take care of the upstairs. "Anything you think we should remove, there is a maid who comes in this afternoon let her handle the bottles. Also, he destroyed his brother's room, I think I should leave that alone."
"Yeah, if it what lead to the incident, leave it." she said as she went to the game room and checked the cushions and under the furniture.
Surprisingly all she found were books. Lifting one, curious as to what Dick would be reading while drinking, Veronica saw that it was his brother's diaries.
Seeing the dates, she quickly tossed them in the duffel bag and was relatively surpised to find really nothing that had to be removed... except the blow up doll. After double checking the whole room and making sure that she had hit the entire list of hiding spots that Logan knew about, she decided to deal with the sex doll.
Going to the kitchen and finding a pair of latex gloves she
heard Logan returning from upstairs. "Logan, are you okay."
"Yeah, its just there is something we are going to have to talk about. I uh, I am not sure what it means or really what I just found and I might need to talk to Dick first, but we really might need to talk about it."
Then realizing who he was talking to, he saw her eyes narrowing and her head tilting and he just walked over and pressed a kiss on her lips. "Nothing sinister, Sugarpuss, but I think that Dick had a crush on someone very surprising."
"Please tell me it isn't you?" she said trying to lighten the atmosphere.
"She's a girl." he said then looking at her said "And to be honest, I would be less shocked if his secret crush was you. Now what is up with the gloves?"
"I found Dick's sex doll." she said with a disgusted expression on her face.
"You found Madison?" he asked with a smirk. "How did she get into the house, I will say this, that girl is determined."
"No, I am talking the kind that you blow up with hot air." she said shuddering even as she handed him the gloves. "Here, you deal with her."
"Wait!" he said his eyes dancing as he pulled her back into the game room. Looking at the doll, he tossed down the gloves and went to let the air out.
"If you touch that without wearing gloves, I swear we will not being intimate with each other until you have been checked out by a doctor and scrubbed raw with bleach, maybe industrial strength bleach." She ordered.
Laughing, Logan let the air out then with a smirk said "Dick bought that to fuck with his mother after she called him a degenerate the other day because she found him uh, never mind, but he was in the shower and she walked right in."
Getting EXACTLY what Dick had been doing, she said "Are you sure that thing is clean."
"Yeah, Dick is a dick but to resort to a doll, not in this lifetime." he said. "I know he has gone long periods without. Speaking of that, we should get out of here, because at some point, I would like to end the famine."
"Seriously, Logan. End the famine?" she asked as she looked at him. "How romantic."
"I can do romance, just wait, I will show you. I am the of romance, the prince of hotness; the royal sultan of swing." he said as he picked up the duffel from upstairs and placed Miss Betty under the same arm while his other hand reached for Veronica.
Once in the car, Veronica couldn't help thinking out loud. "I am so glad we are done. I know that is Dick's home, but I never want to visit here again. Thank you, Logan."
Seeing how he was looking quietly at her, she said "I needed to come here, needed to face this but in the end, it didn't bother me to be inside as long as I didn't think of Cassidy."
Two hours later after rescuing an eternally grateful Mac, they were on their way back to Neptune. The two girls talking about their plans and why Mac had been so desperate to escape.
"I fled Neptune to get away from it all but it was worse camping. I mean the entire family tiptoed around everything or were so solicitous I wanted to scream out the truth about my parentage."
Veronica's eyes went wide at that announcement while Logan frowned, he hadn't realized Mac was adopted though it explained a lot including why she didn't look a thing like her family.
"Anyhow, I am sorry to cut into your welcome back home romantic time." Mac was saying as she blushed. "Logan, thanks ago."
"No problem." he said then explained that they hadn't gotten to romantic time just yet. "Dick is in the hospital so we have been helping deal with his issues."
When Mac went silent, Veronica glared at Logan, surprised he would bring up Dick thereby bringing up memories of Cassidy.
After about twenty miles, Mac asked. "How is he doing? I wanted to attend the services, but I just... I just couldn't."
"He understands, Mac." Veronica was looking at Logan, getting that Dick and he had discussed Mac.
"Still, I mean, I just..." When she went silence again, Logan wasn't sure what to say but then she began to speak again. "Its hard to explain but to me, its like he was two separate people when it happened. Now its becoming clear that I really didn't know Beaver or Cassidy at all. Things we talked about, things he said to me, looking back there are things that don't add up."
"You didn't know." Veronica said fiercely when she saw Mac wipe away a tear. "He did this, don't you feel guilty."
Reaching up to grasp the hand reaching for hers, Mac said "I am getting there, its partly why I had to come home. I couldn't keep hiding. Not anymore. Though, Madison had better stay far, far away from me. If I see her, she is going to be wishing she hadn't spread all those lies."
"I do have to agree with that one, I was a bit surprised to hear you were dating Dick, there Mac. I mean, I would have thought my best male friend would have told me if he was dating a hottie like you." Logan said with just the right amount of irony.
"Hey, if I ever get amnesia and end up dating Dick, he would be so impossibly self satisfied that I would expect the whole world would know it." said Mac with her nose in the air, but she ended up ruining it by looking at Veronica and bursting out laughing.
"Ronnie, what is it? C'mon tell your daddy what has you so freaked?" asked Logan his mind still on what he had found in Dick's bedroom.
"Right now, I don't know what is freaking me out more, the idea of Mac and Dick or you calling yourself my daddy." she said her eyes wide in shock as she looked at Logan.
"Hey, I have one question." Logan said.
"What?" Veronica asked as she pretended to throw up.
"Whose your daddy?" he asked with a wiggle of his eye brows.
"Okay. NEVER! DO! THAT! AGAIN!" Veronica said as she heard echos of her dad asking her that all the time. "And I think that I need to go visit Ms James, after those comments."
Arriving at the Mars apartment, they greeted Wallace and his brother who had come to join the family for dinner.
"Hey lend a hand and grab Mac's bags from the back." Logan called out as they all walked up to her apartment. Inside, Wallace dumped what he had carried then went to rejoin everyone in the main part of the apartment.
Groaning when his mother said they were on their way home, he was protesting not getting any Veronica time only to be told that Keith and Logan were heading out and that Keith had work for Veronica and Mac to be doing.
"Okay, okay but tomorrow, Mars, you are mine." Wallace said and behind him, Logan was pantomiming something similar.
When all but the two girls had left the apartment, Mac was begging for a hot shower and a hair dryer to Veronica's amusement. An hour later the two girls had done the background checks her father had wanted and were on the floor in Veronica's room, looking through post cards and guidebook from the New York City trip.
Meanwhile Logan had listened to what her father had to say then said "Mr Mars, I think I might have found something tonight, I will explain when we get to the house."
Arriving at the Casablancas mansion, he quickly showed him the rooms. "The police had his room taped up for days. Yesterday was the first day that Dick could enter."
Taking in the destruction from the doorway, the detective said "This is actually healthy for him to be doing."
"In Dick's room, Logan packed up the clothes that Keith had suggested bringing to Dick at the hospital while Keith looked over what Logan had pointed out.
"I found them when I found Dick. I shoved them under the bed at the time." Logan said tense as he paced back and forth.
Keith didn't open the letters, just looked through those already opened then at the lunch box. Finding the ribbons in every single color hue of the rainbow, he looked up at the other boy and asked. "Do you have any idea who CM is?"
"No." Logan said. "I didn't move to Neptune until we were all 12, but the part that worries me is that they stopped for several years and just began again this year. And uh, I found this."
Handing over the box with the velvet bag inside, he saw Keith's shock at the expensive pendant and receipt inside. "Rather expensive gift for Dick to buy and not give to anyone."
"Logan, whoever this person is, this is who can get through to Dick. We have to find out who she is and why Dick never told you about her." Keith said.
Lifting the My Little Pony lunch box, he couldn't resist saying "Veronica had one of these, but hers was pink."
"I really doubt that Dick's parents bought it for him." Logan said with a smug grin. "What do you think?"
"I don't know, Logan, but I am getting a better picture of your friend. I made plans to speak to his mother, but Alicia showed me something in the paper during lunch. His mother put in a legal announcement stating she is no longer responsible in any way for one Richard Casablancas Jr."
"Not a surprise. Should we bring this stuff with us?" Logan asked.
Keith pulled out an evidence bag and gently placed everything inside. "I am going to put on gloves and go through it to see what I can find. Hopefully we can get some answers."
"What about Dick? I mean, he is going to wake up soon." Logan said. "Do I not tell him what I found?"
"Not right now, at least for a few days." Keith said as he turned off the lights as they left. Driving towards home, after making sure Logan went to the hotel, Keith saw the girls were still up.
Watching as they were curled up on the sofa, watching some show about witches and ate from the same ice cream tub, he said "I know that this is not a good subject right now. But I need some information about Dick Casablancas. From when he was young."
"We went to the same elementary school." Mac offered up. "I don't know where Cassidy went, but Dick went to the same school as me."
"I thought you went to that school for advanced K thru 5." Veronica said. "How would Dick have gone. I mean, I remember hearing that Caitlin's parents went ballistic when their son was rejected. I know that money doesn't matter and only brains do."
Mac looked at the two Mars, then said "Its weird but Dick did really good in school. When we went to Middle School is when his grades began to fall, and he started acting the idiot, but Ronnie, he is in our classes at school, remember?"
"I guess I thought his parents got him into those classes." she said surprised.
Shrugging, Mac said "I don't know about now, but Dick did pretty good in school even if he was strange."
"Strange how?" asked Keith.
"Well..." Thinking back on it, Mac culled her memories then said "He used to be the last person to leave class at the end of the day. He was also very secretive about his book bag. And you know how talkative he is now and how he is a bit of a jerk."
"Yes." Veronica answered.
"Back then, he was talkative but he was more..." Restless, Mac stood then moved to one of the dining room table chairs. "More circumspect, more polite, I guess. The only thing that isn't different is his dislike for me. He would get all upset when we would get paired for classwork."
Thanking Mac for the help, Keith went off to bed and the girls to Veronica's room. "You have been awfully quiet since telling my dad about Dick, are you okay?"
"I'm dealing." Mac said as she sank down on the sleeping blanket. "Its more, I was remembering school back there. Dick was so nice, so quiet, I mean he used to blush and stutter when we shared responsibility for Oscar. Sometimes its hard to believe he became the jerk he is now."
Veronica saw Mac was pensive as they got ready for bed, then once she had fallen asleep, Veronica called Logan.
"Hello sexy."
"Ah, my fan club is calling." Logan said then asked Veronica when they could spent time together the next day.
"I am not sure, as the President of the Logan Echolls Jackass fan club, I might be busy creating a new scrapbook of the newest and bestest memories of my crush." she said as she leaned back against her pillows.
"Other than when I am meeting your dad, I will be at the hospital, so why don't you stop up." he suggested as he got comfortable in bed. "Maybe we can find a broom closet or something."
Making plans, Veronica sat there listening to him breath. "Logan, why is my dad asking about Dick's school history?"
"Turns out we might have someone who can reach him. Your dad wants to give it a try. He is a pretty good guy, your dad. I mean, he could have said he wasn't going to get involved or just signed for the hospital to give Dick the drugs he needed, but he is really stepping up and taking care of things."
Hearing the slightly jealous tone, Veronica confessed. "I have always, always known that my dad wasn't perfect but he is a good dad."
"A good person." Logan said his mind on his own dad and he felt his heart twisting at the painful memories. "Night Ronnie, I love you."
"I love you too." she replied as she began to drift of to sleep, grateful for her dad.
TBC