A/N: Seriously, guys? 41 reviews on two chapters? I just know I'm going to epically fail in living up to what's expected of me with this fic, but hey, I'm going to give it my best shot anyway. Thanks to all - your encouraging comments really make me grin :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 3

When Dick woke up the next time, he felt a little clearer and in somewhat less pain. The bed was not his own, but he vaguely recalled being told he was in the hospital, that made sense, given the bandages and the beeping machine beside the too-solid bed. The vague after-effects of a headache lingered when he turned to see what the sound was that came from the other side of the bed. The light snoring was emanating from maybe the last woman he expected to be sat there.

Mac and Dick were never friends. They hung out a little in college, purely because his best friend was dating her best friend, but before that, in high school, things were just ugly between them. Mac had been Beav's one and only girlfriend, and as such, Dick chose to treat Mac like dirt. Sometimes he thought about it and regretted it so much. He told her once, back in Freshman year at Hearst, that he understood what his brother saw in her, that he was sorry for how he treated them both. That much had been true, and from that day on, he and Mac could at least be civil to each other when they were in mixed company. It didn't really change anything. The phrase 'indifferent acquaintances' came to mind, though Dick had no idea where he would've heard such a thing before.

Dick guessed maybe Mac could feel herself being watched because all of a sudden her eyes popped open and she was very much awake.

"Hey," she said, dropping her legs down out of the chair she had been curled up into.

"Hey," Dick tried to answer, though it came out hoarse and strained.

Mac reacted on automatic, reaching for the cup of water on the nightstand and offering it to the patient so he could take a few sips.

"Damn!" he declared then. "Did I get hit by a truck?"

"Er, no. No trucks," Mac assured him. "Somebody attacked you, left you in an alley to bleed. You remember?"

Dick's forehead crinkled up as he tried hard to remember. The club was clear, the drinks, the girls. There was a hazy time right around when he decided to head home, and then nothing but darkness. Slowly, he shook his aching head.

"I got nothing," he admitted, glancing at Mac. "Were you there?"

"After, not before," she explained, suddenly feeling very awkward now that Dick was awake and fully aware.

He didn't seem to remember speaking to her in the alley, or even coming to earlier in the morning here at the hospital. Their conversation was probably caught somewhere in the fog of painkillers and the knock on the head Dick received. Mac decided not to worry too much about it.

"I feel weird," he said then.

Mac took that as her cue to move. "Um, I should probably go get a nurse," she said as she got up. She went for the door, but never made it through as Dick called her name. Mac turned to look at him, braced for whatever he might say next.

Somehow she always expected an insult with Dick, or at best a misguided pass. She only ever saw him look genuine once, and that was years ago. Plus it was followed by one of those misguided passes.

"Thanks," he said simply. "Seriously, thanks."

Mac only nodded in response, found a half smile, and then went off on her mission to find a nurse.

"So, what's the latest, kid?" asked Keith, leaning back in the chair across the desk from Veronica.

He looked somewhat like his old self now, the more obvious injuries from the car crash having healed. Still, Veronica knew her father was far from well. The cane at his side gave him away, as did the almost constant wincing when he moved just the wrong way. There was a fair distance to travel yet before he was fully healed and ready to return to work. Convincing Keith of that was more of a full-time job for Veronica than even their caseload.

"Seriously?" she asked with a look. "You want me to involve you in cases? You're not up to that yet, Pops," she reminded him, shoving papers into a folder and getting up to put it in the filing cabinet.

"Hey, I taught you everything I know," he argued.

"And I'm more than grateful," his daughter assured him. "But this isn't about your talents as a PI, and you know it. This is about your physical wellbeing. I need you to be better before you go throwing yourself back into this dangerous game we call a job."

She meant it very seriously. So much of what Veronica and Keith said to each other was in jest, just playful father-daughter banter. Moments like this were in stark contrast to that, almost too serious, painfully so. She was sat on the front edge of the desk now, her hand on Keith's shoulder, the one that didn't actually give him any pain.

"I know, honey," he promised, his hand atop hers, and he flinched even making that minor movement. "I just... I'm not used to sitting on my behind all day. Don't get me wrong, I have huge respect for Judge Judy, and laughing at the crap they sell on those infomercials takes up a good part of the day, but staying home alone, doing this recuperation thing? It's beyond boring," he explained. "C'mon, Veronica, throw the old man a bone. Just tell me about something that's actually interesting, something that might require me to use my brain for thirty seconds?"

It was silly really. Veronica told her father plenty about the cases she was working on each night at dinner. Often not the details or names, because that would mean he could try and help out without her knowing. She had to prevent that until he was fully fit again. It was way too painful to think of him doing something stupid before he was healed and getting hurt worse. She couldn't stand that.

Of course, she knew he wasn't here just asking about cases on the off-chance. She had been called out in the night by a desperate Mac on a case that hadn't even seemed like a case to begin with. Veronica had gone to see what was up with Dick out of worry for Mac and loyalty to Logan. The guy was her boyfriend's BFF and that had to mean something, especially with Logan far away in the Middle East, fighting for truth, justice, and the American way.

"Mac thinks maybe the attack on Dick Casablancas wasn't a cut-and-dry mugging," she confessed at last. "She has a theory there's more to it."

Keith took in what Veronica said and mulled it over in his mind.

"Crimes aren't always what they seem at first glance," he agreed, stating a fact he and his daughter both knew only too well from past experience. "His wallet was gone?"

Veronica nodded.

"And his cell. If it wasn't a mugging, somebody wanted it to look as if it were, that's for sure."

"Does Mac have any particular reason for suspecting further foul play?" asked Keith.

"I don't know exactly," she said, getting up from the edge of the desk to walk back to her seat. "We didn't get to talk much at the hospital. By the way, if they call the house, I'm Dick's sister."

"Of course you are," Keith smirked and rolled his eyes at the same time. "And Mac?"

"Fiancé," she confirmed. "Not sure she was all that happy with it, but then who would be?"

"Dick Casablancas is an acquired taste from what I remember of the kid," he said thoughtfully. "Still, he's had it pretty rough, I guess. Sadie leaving, Richard Senior and his business problems, all the trouble with Kendall."

"Not to mention his brother," said Veronica coldly.

She knew her dad was avoiding mentioning Cassidy to save her from the thought of him, but it was simply impossible to recall all Dick's problems without thinking of the little brother everybody called Beaver. Even now it was hard to quantify it in her mind, to link together the cute little boy she had once known with the monster she had met on the roof of the Neptune Grand more than ten years ago now. The same boy who had been too shy to hardly look at a girl as a young teen was also a murderer, a rapist, and ultimately a suicide. Veronica couldn't really be sorry he was dead, but trying to see it from Dick's point of view, even from Mac's perspective, she could understand why so much pain was felt after that night.

"Dick's no saint," she said after too long a pause, "but you should've seen him, Dad. Somebody meant business when they attacked him last night, and honestly, I'd be surprised if they needed to inflict that much damage just to take what they wanted. Knowing Dick, especially when he drinks, not to mention when he self-medicates, it would've been easy enough to get his cell and wallet from his pocket without him hardly noticing what happened, especially if there was a female available to make the lift," she said seriously.

Keith was sure Veronica was right, but he took no comfort in it. If Dick had been attacked by someone for some other nefarious reason, that could mean vendettas, and things getting particularly ugly. As much as he understood Veronica's need to do this kind of work, Keith wasn't sure he would ever like it, not for a second.

"Veronica..." he began, but her phone buzzing on the desk took her attention.

"Well," she said as she read the text from Mac, "according to this, our victim is back in the land of the living," she told her father. "I guess the best way to know exactly what happened is to get my info straight from the source. Honestly though, I was kind of hoping to scope out the crime scene before I did the interview," she said, more to herself than to Keith as she grabbed her keys and jacket to leave.

Keith's hand shot out to grab her arm when she moved by him. Veronica stopped and looked down at him with a questioning gaze.

"Be careful, honey," he urged her. "I know, I know, you're fine and I'm crazy for caring, but please, be careful."

He meant it, Veronica didn't doubt that. As much as she had been doing this kind of thing, off and on since she was fifteen, she knew her dad still worried. She worried for him too, and rightfully so. His 'accident' a few months back sure was a wake up call about how dangerous their job could be sometimes, but quite honestly, that only made Veronica want to do it all the more. There was so much injustice in her home town. Neptune needed to be cleaned up, and the Sherriff and his flunkies sure weren't going to get the job done. It was up to people like Veronica and Keith to make it happen. It was their duty, and Veronica would not give in.

"I'm always careful," she reminded Keith with a smile, planting a kiss on his bald head. "Now come on, I'll save you the cab fare home by dropping you off on the way to the hospital."

To Be Continued...