Chapter Twenty-Four

Mac and Wallace left the Mars residence shortly after Veronica and Logan did. Again, they were in Wallace's Camaro with him driving and her in the passenger seat. Thanks to Mac's rather intimate connection with the Sinclair family, having been switched at birth with Madison and all, the pair knew exactly where they were headed and were on their way in no time.

"Does Madison know we're coming?" Wallace asked as he pulled out onto the PCH, headed the opposite direction from Logan and Veronica a short time earlier.

"Not a chance," Mac scoffed, "If she knew, she'd make sure she was gone," she paused and looked at him dramatically, "or worse."

Wallace chuckled and reached over to squeeze Mac's hand, "You know we probably don't even have to go visit her, right? All we need are your mad computer skills to hack whatever needs to be hacked to get the list of reunion attendees."

"I know," Mac grinned mischievously, "But we haven't had any alone time since Veronica got back," she pouted, "I'm missing me some Wallace love!"

Shaking his head while grinning broadly, Wallace waited till they hit a stoplight and then leaned over to kiss her soundly. She dramatically swooned when he released her lips to go back to driving. "Why, Mr. Fennel! A clandestine romance seems to suit you well! You'd better be careful cause a girl could get used to this," Mac declared as she leaned back in the seat and pretended to fan herself with her hand.

"That ain't clandestine romance, baby! That's the Fennel charm," Wallace smirked with pride.

"The Fennel charm mixed with the Mackenzie wit," Mac shook her head and grinned, "What will the world think of next?"

As they continued along, Wallace turned to Mac and asked, "So, Q. How long we gonna keep us a secret from Bond?"

"I don't know..." Mac responded hesitantly, "I mean, it's not like I don't want her to know. But if she does know, she's gonna have an opinion and it's gonna be a very verbal one."

"And?" Wallace prompted, wanting to get to the heart of Mac's reluctance.

"Well...it's been nice to get to know each other without her," she paused, "And, well...I mean...I don't know! I guess just, nobody ever even thought about us getting together. We were always 'just' her sidekicks. Now we're something without her." It took a few more moments but finally Mac asked in a rush, "Do you think she'll be jealous?"

"Say what now?!" Wallace asked, almost swerving and hitting the breaks because her words surprised him so completely. He recovered nicely and then asked, "What makes you think that, Fly Girl?"

"I don't know," Mac said doubtfully, sounding frustrated and a bit shy at the same time, "She's used to having us both to herself when she's around. She's gonna have to get used to there being an 'us' and knowing that 'we' won't always be available to her."

"She's gonna understand, Mac-Attack," Wallace insisted, checking the GPS to be sure not to miss their turn off.

"Are you sure?" Mac asked, sounding very insecure about the whole thing.

"Positive," Wallace returned, confident enough for the both of them.

When they pulled into Madison Sinclair's driveway and came to a stop, Mac leaned over and gave Wallace a tight squeeze. "Thanks, Wally-Pop," she said with a grin.

"Oh don't you even!" he shook his head, grinning and tickling her at the same time.

She squealed and finally managed to get the door of the car open, jumping out and smoothing her outfit. "This is sooo not going to work if Madison sees your antics through the window!" she declares self-righteously.

"Oh-ho!" Wallace exclaimed, taking her words as a challenge. He sprinted around the car and caught her around the waist, pulling her in for another sound kiss. Satisfied, he let her go and said, "Now you can talk about my antics. What you saw in the car? That was foreplay!"

Mac blushed and rolled her eyes, hurrying up the drive, hoping again that Madison hadn't caught sight of them and she was worrying for nothing.

Ringing the doorbell, Mac waited anxiously while Wallace caught up to her and stood to the other side of the door so that he and Mac looked less together than they actually were.

Moments later, they heard the sharp tip-tap of high-heeled shoes on hardwood floors and then an impatient, "Who is it?"

"Cindy Mackenzie and Wallace Fennel," Mac called, "Your mom gave us your info and told us it would be ok to stop over?"

The door opened in time for them to see Madison roll her eyes, nearly snorting derisively. "Yeah, so she said," Madison replied snidely, "But what she didn't say was why you two lowlifes were wanting to bother me in the first place. What? Didn't get enough of me at the reunion?"

Wallace's jaw clenched and his fists balled at his sides but Mac spoke before he could ruin their chance of getting her to talk. "We need the list of RSVPs for the reunion," Mac hurried on before Madison could tell them to get lost, adding quickly, "I'm sure you've heard about Carrie Bishop and Logan. Sheriff Lamb is going after Logan hardcore. He needs our help."

Madison waffled briefly, then gave a brisk nod, "Alright. But only to help Logan. This has nothing to do with either of you." She turned back into the house, leaving Wallace and Mac looking back and forth at each other, then returned before they could decide whether to follow her or not. "Here," she said brusquely as she shoved an envelope toward Mac, "This has all the RSVPs and the disk with the original invites is in there as well."

"Thanks," Mac said, her tone showing her surprise at the cooperation.

Wallace saw that Madison was about to turn and shut the door on them so he spoke up before they lost their opportunity, saying, "Hey. You don't know who Carrie Bishop left with the night of the reunion, do you?"

Madison stalled in the doorway, looking between the two before saying carelessly, "Last I saw her she was with Logan. But she wasn't exactly someone I was keeping an eye on."

"Ok, thanks," Wallace said sincerely as he and Mac turned to head back to his car.

Unexpectedly, Madison called out to them, saying, "Hey wait. I may not have seen her that night. But I do know she was cheating on poor Logan. And not with just anyone, either." At this point, it was obvious that Madison was enjoying this juicy bit of gossip. "Whenever Logan was too busy to go to an event with her or just didn't want to attend, she'd take Dick in his place." She stopped to let that sink in before adding with a casual shrug, "There's no way that she and Dick weren't doing it when Logan wasn't around."

Neither Wallace nor Mac knew quite how to respond to that. They both shuffled uncomfortably before Mac said, "Uhhh, thanks, Madison. We'll definitely keep that in mind." Then, without thinking, she took Wallace's hand and headed back to the car.

Observant as always, Madison saw and a self-satisfied, pretentious jeer crossed her lips. She couldn't wait to find just the right moment to bring out that little nugget to use against them.