A/N: All you lovely readers, you make me grin every time I update - thanks, all :) Now, Veronica goes to dinner at the Navarro house, with interesting results, and Mac & Dick continue to connect!

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 9

"Hey, V," said Weevil with a grin, as he opened the front door and found her there. "Always good to see ya," he added, pulling her into a hug.

Veronica never hesitated in hugging him back, even though his wife and daughter were watching. She and Eli had been buddies for so long, always having each other's back. Though they flirted some times, there was never anything like that between them, and there never would be. They were just the kind of friends that were the hugging kind of close. Veronica didn't have many friends like that, so she made the most of them.

"Always good to be invited to a place where the meal is home-cooked and the company isn't my own," she told Weevil as he encouraged her into the house. "Hey, Val. Hi, Jade. Thanks again for inviting me over," she told Weevil's wife, handing over a bottle of wine.

"You are more than welcome, Veronica," Jade assured her, leading her through the house. "Dinner will be just a few minutes, but I know Valentina has been just dying to show you a certain dolls house."

The little girl was bouncing in place with the anticipation of showing off her newest and most wonderful toy. Veronica smiled at the enthusiasm, she couldn't help it.

"A doll's house?" she checked, eyes deliberately wide.

"It ain't no pony, but it oughta be impressive enough," said Weevil with a wink.

Veronica was still smiling as she was practically dragged from the room by Valentina to go see the dolls house. She didn't notice that anything had fallen out of her bag on the way, but Jade did.

Jade stooped to pick up the item from the carpet and placed it on the corner of the coffee table.

"Can't have a woman losing her best lipstick," she said, before walking through to the kitchen to check on dinner.

Weevil followed her, hands stuffed in his pockets. He leaned on the door jamb and watched her working. Sometimes he couldn't quite believe this was his life. From more than humble beginnings, he had got to this, not the biggest, fanciest house in the 'hood, but decent enough. He had a loving wife, a gorgeous and talented daughter. Sure, he was spending some time with a crowd Jade didn't approve of, but as he told her several times, he was being safe. Besides, she knew what he was when she married him, he never hid his past or his less-than-straight-laced friends at all.

Having Veronica around again tended to make Weevil nostalgic. What he sometimes thought of as the good old days in high school soon brought him back to thinking of the less-than-great times. Losing Felix, going to jail, blowing out his knee, working like a dog. The last one was still true, but at least he was doing it for more than just scraps now.

"You're doing it again," said Jade, turning to face him. "Your head isn't here anymore."

"It's plenty here," he promised, taking his hands from his pockets to wrap his arms around her waist and pull her close. "Believe me, if you ain't heard it enough before, I'll say it again. Here is the only place I want to be. The past... I had my high points, but my present and my future, everything I have with you and Valentina? It's everything I want, always."

"It better be," she said with a smile, because she didn't really disbelieve it.

They were kissing like teens in love when Veronica and Valentina came bursting through the door. V covered the child's eyes with one hand and her own with the other.

"Please, we're both too young to see that kind of thing!"

Valentina giggled.

Weevil just rolled his eyes as he parted from his wife and dinner was duly served.

They talked about anything and eveything whilst they ate, though with little ears present, they were all mindful of staying on kid friendly topics. Veronica did enjoy having a real conversation with people of her own age that didn't revolve around cases and all. Still, talk of her work was bound to come up when Weevil mentioned that he ran into Mac the other day.

"She said Casablancas took a real pounding," he mentioned to Veronica. "As much as it'd be easy for me to say a guy like that had it comin', she seemed pretty sure he didn't. I didn't know they were buddies these days."

"Yeah, buddies might be stretching it," said Veronica. "But somebody sure meant business. I highly doubt even Dick deserved what he got that night. Mac is just being helpful, it's kind of what she does. There really isn't anybody else with Dick's family gone and Logan away still."

Her eyes betrayed her then, and she knew it. Weevil knew it too, because suddenly Veronica was very interested in her empty plate and the table. Logan being gone was hard on Dick, but it was a million times harder on V. He reached out a hand to cover hers a second or two.

"He'll be back, V," he told her definitely. "Guys like that, they always come back, whether you want 'em to or not," he said with a smirk.

Veronica couldn't help but smile too.

"I know," she agreed, nodding her head. "He's worried about Dick too, though the doctors seem pretty sure he'll be fine, he just needs time to heal. As for what exacly happened, that one is quite the mystery."

Valentina asked to be excused from the table now the meal was over and was allowed to go. She hopped down from her seat and asked Veronica if she wanted to come play. She looked torn between being dragged away by the adorable child and staying longer to talk with her friend and his wife.

"Baby, Veronica came here to see your daddy and me as well as you," said Jade. "How about you run along and play a while and then Veronica will come see you soon, okay?"

"Okay," said Valentina with a nod of her head, and then she was gone in a flurry of hair ribbons and laughter.

"She's just perfect," said Veronica, watching her go. "How is she so perfect?"

"She's my kid," said Weevil modestly.

"Exactly, it's so unlikely," she teased him as mercilessly as she ever had.

Jade only laughed and began clearing the table. Both Veronica and Weevil moved to assist but she shook her head.

"No, now come on. You two always have lots to talk about, old school days and everything. I can handle a few dishes, now go relax."

Weevil and Veronica dared not do anything but what they were told and moved through to the living room, taking a seat at either end of the couch. It was then Veronica spotted her lipstick on the table.

"Yeah, Jade noticed you dropped that," Weevil told her. "What? It has special sentimental value?" he asked then, wondering why Veronica was making such a big deal of looking the small cylinder over before putting it back into her purse.

"No, obviously not," she confirmed. "I was just thinking. I found a lipstick at a crime scene. It might just be a coincidence but I never heard of it and when I Googled the brand, nothing came up."

"Hey, babe?" Weevil called to Jade who came through to see what was up, a plate in one hand and the dishtowel in the other. "I ain't no expert in make up, V," he told her. "But Jade here, she knows her stuff. Trained beautician and all."

"Oh, yeah," said Veronica, turning her attention to Jade. "You ever hear of a lipstick brand named 'Estella DiSanto'?"

"Man, that takes me back," said Jade, sitting down heavily into the armchair. "Well, that is nothin' I heard of when I was working. We're going right on back to my high school days. Estella was a rip-off brand, all the colours and style of Estee Lauder, Dior, YSL, but for nickels and dimes compared to the price of the big brands," she explained. "Far as I know, they were around for a year or so, and then the makers got busted in a warehouse the next county over."

Veronica frowned at the explanation she received. A lipstick tube from an off-brand made at least ten years ago, that seemed highly suspicious. Even the most thrifty woman would have used up her tube or just thrown it away by now. Even the least organised woman in the world would have sorted through the contents her purse in all that amount of time, surely.

"V?" Weevil prompted when she continued to stare unseeing at the opposite wall for too long. "Hey, Earth to Mars!"

"Yeah, that one never gets old," she said, meeting his eyes then. "I'm fine, and thank you, Jade," she added turning to her. "You might just have helped me out a lot with a case I'm working on."

"Any time," said Jade, shrugging her shoulders, since she really didn't know what it was she had done, and knew Veronica could give her no details.

As much as Veronica was enjoying tonight, the food and the company, she had to also be grateful for the lead in her case. Maybe it was nothing, but when she got out of the Navarros house tonight, she was going to have to go straight to the office and make a closer inspection of a very strange lipstick.

Mac stepped out from under the shower and wrapped herself in a thick, warm towel. There were definite perks to living with Dick Casablancas, one of which was the stunning amenities his home was filled with. The power shower with at least six settings was a wonderful thing, never running suddenly cold when a neighbour flushed the toilet or turned on a tap, and having the ability to make a person feel brand new just from standing under it. Though she had come here equipped with her own linens and towels, Mac also loved the thick Egyptian cotton bath sheets she had found in the closet and was entirely eager to make use of them when Dick said she could.

"This is the life," she said to herself as she towel dried her hair in front of the mirror.

It wasn't going to last forever, of course, and Mac intended to make the most of her situation for as long as she was in it. First and foremost she was here to take care of Dick, but he really wasn't so needy. She had to bring him food and drinks, make sure he took his tablets, and get him back and forth to the bathroom when needed. Other than that, her time in the house was spent working as she usually would, or actually having fun with Dick.

Mac laughed when she realised how she had phrased that in her head. Still, it was true enough. Lying around playing computer games with Dick was actually fun. They had no really deep conversations, just split a pizza and kicked each others butts in everything from Halo to Mario Party, but fun was genuinely had. Mac found a smile came to her lips just thinking about it. Of all the people in the world she could imagine becoming friends with, Dick Casablancas sure wasn't one of them, and yet.

Padding through from the bathroom to her bedroom, Mac was just about to slip out of her towel and into her nightwear when she heard yelling.

"Mac!" Dick called loudly. "Hey, Mac!"

In a sudden panic that something terrible had happpened, Mac refastened her towel and bolted out the door. Down the hall way to the next room, Mac came bursting into Dick's room, worrying all the more when she realised he was not in the bed where she expected to find him. Instead he was sat in a chair by the doors that led out onto the balcony.

"Mac Attack!" Dick greeted her with a grin.

He had taken to calling her that when she showed her mettle in Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and the like. Mac almost thought it was cute at the time, but right now she was in too much of a state to realise he had even used his newfound nickname for her.

"Dick, what the hell?!" she asked him, pushing her damp hair back off her forehead.

"Dude! You were in the shower?" he checked. "You totally should have put on some clothes... Which I can't believe I just said to a woman. Those drugs they gave me at the hospital are seriously screwing me up," he continued to mutter even as his eyes returned to the view. "Mac, seriously, you gotta see this!" he pointed into the distance.

Holding her towel as tightly as she could, Mac picked her way across the room, and came to stand by Dick's chair. Following his finger out into the horizon, she realised what all the fuss was about. The sun was setting on the water, every colour of the rainbow showing itself in both the sky above and the ocean below. It was stunning, beyond stunning, it was genuinely breath-taking.

"Wow," she said without even realising she had spoken.

"Exactly," said Dick definitely. "I mostly got this place for the view, and the closeness to the surf, but man, this is just the best part ever."

Mac was amazed. The sunset was impressive enough, and despite how Dick had put her into a panic with his yelling before, she couldn't really be mad at him for bringing her here to see such a beautiful scene. What perhaps astounded her even more than the view, was Dick himself. He was so shallow most of the time, so crass and ridiculous, and yet here he was waxing lyrical on the beauty of a sunset, on the natural beauty of the world.

"What?" he asked when he realised Mac was now staring more at him than at the view.

"You have layers," she said, more to herself than to him, before shaking her head and continuing more definitely. "Who are you and what did you do with Dick Casablancas?" she asked with a smirk she couldn't help.

"Babe, you want Dick all you gotta do is ask," he leered at her, suddenly apparently very interested in what she was hiding under the towel.

Mac laughed because she couldn't do anything else and moved swiftly away from the chair he was sitting in.

"There he is," she said, still smiling uncontrollably as she made her way back across the room. "I'm going to get dressed. If you're so smart, get yourself back to the bed in the next five minutes and prepare to have your ass kicked at Mario Kart one more time!"

Dick was grinning as she left his room in a hurry, flashing bare skin as she went and probably not even realising. The sunset was beautiful, that was true, but Cindy Mackenzie was no less amazing in her own very special way.

To Be Continued...