A/N: Thanks for all the reviewage, folks. And now, the other half of Dick's birthday :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 15

Dick wasn't sure what was going on, but he did know that Mac was doing something special for his birthday. He sat in his room for two hours or more whilst she ran around downstairs doing whatever she was doing, leaving Dick to wonder exactly what was in the planning.

His frame of reference for birthday celebrations was pretty small. Dick recalled a couple of parties when he was a kid, before his mom split. All PB&J and ice-cream, cakes, balloons and a hired magician when he was really small, and then a day out at Magic Mountain just as soon as he was tall enough to go.

Later in life, parties had involved drinking until he almost passed out, dancing in the dark, and taking at least one woman if not more home to his bed.

Dick couldn't imagine what Mac's idea of a birthday celebration was going to be, especially when there was really only two of them to take part in it.

The immediate thought that came to mind as to what a man and a woman might do together for fun was firmly pushed out of Dick's head the second it appeared. Mac was not that kind of chick. Not that he thought she was all virginal or anything. He knew way better than that, but she sure wasn't the kind to sleep with a guy just for kicks. Dick actually thought he liked her better for not being that way, and yet it would be a lie to say he never thought about her as a woman he wouldn't mind getting closer to.

Just when his thoughts began to wander back into dangerous territory, Mac had come to fetch him from his room. Dick was supported as far as the stairs and then sat down at the top so he could bump his way down on his butt.

At the bottom of the steps, Mac helped him back onto his feet, their arms wrapping around each other as naturally as breathing after going through a similar routine so many times in the past days and weeks.

"Okay, now close your eyes."

"If I do am I gonna lose my pants?"

"In your dreams, dude!"

She tried not to laugh because his attempts at humour really shouldn't be funny. Unfortunately, the more time Mac spent with Dick, the funnier he seemed to be. He also seemed to be developing a sweet side and was growing on her in a way that Mac ought to be uncomfortable with. Strangely, this was maybe the most comfortable of uncomfortable feelings she had ever had in her life, as she assisted a hobbling Dick into the main living room. when she had him stood exactly where she wanted him, she instructed him to open his eyes.

"Happy Birthday, Dick," she said, as he took in the scene before him.

She had dragged the table further into the centre of the room and it was covered in all Dick's favourite snacks as if they were expecting twenty people to help them eat it. In the centre was an enormous cake, haphazardly iced with 'Happy Birthday' and his name. The candles were only two in number, but in the shapes of the figures 2 and 9. There were a few balloons tied to the chairs and the doors that led out onto the deck. A banner above that also wished him a happy birthday. Dick was stunned.

"Dude, this is like... You did all this for me?" he checked, looking down at Mac who was curled into his side still, by necessity as he might fall down without her support.

"You're the only Dick I know," she countered, the double-entendre not lost on either of them.

Mac hardly dare look at him, knowing full well that he was staring now. She dared to meet his eyes for all of a second, sharing a smile before she looked back at the party set up. She opened her mouth to say they should sit down and get to eating already, given the sheer volume of food, but all words stuck in her throat when she felt Dick's arm tighten around her shoulders.

"You are so cool," he told her, in that soft tone so rarely heard from him, and then there was a kiss dropped lightly on the top of her head.

Mac tried not to squirm or shy away. Honestly, she didn't want to cause offence and it was sweet that he was so grateful, but she just wasn't used to it. Affection was fine, but this was Dick Casablancas. As friendly as they had become over the last few weeks, she really wasn't ready for this kind of thing.

"Um, we should eat some of this food," she said, encouraging him to move with her towards the table. "And I have drinks - non-alcoholic for the invalid, obviously - and music all ready to go."

She deposited Dick in a chair and continued running around like a crazy person. Mac was hardly aware that he was just staring at her as she moved around the room, in and out the door, thinking aloud as far as he could tell. When he said she was cool, it really didn't cover even half of what he meant to tell her. Mac was amazing, incredible, beyond a good friend, that was for sure. This was the biggest surprise and the best kind of party he could have hoped for on a birthday that he expected to be nothing but boredom and pain.

"Mac?" he called for her attention, but she didn't stop moving.

"I have to go bring down the Playstation," she told him, rushing toward the stairs. "I told you to practice. Now you get to see if you can win at the old age of twenty nine," she told him with a grin.

Dick almost laughed at her enthusiasm, but at the same time, there was a broken little boy inside of him that wanted to cry. He didn't deserve all this. It was almost too much.

Veronica was cueing up the next episode on the TiVo whilst her dad took a bathroom break when suddenly her cell started to ring in her purse. If it had been anyone else she would have shut off the phone and ignored them, just for today, but when she fished her cell from her bag, it was Wallace's name on the screen. She had to answer.

"Hey, Wallace," she greeted him. "Everything okay?"

"Yes and no, V," he told her, sounding just a little too serious.

Immediately, Veronica was on high alert.

"I heard something at the school today. Thought I should let you know."

"Colour me intrigued," she said, gesturing to Keith as he re-entered the room to let him know she would just be a minute.

"Well, there was some gossip in the Teacher's Lounge. I don't normally be listenin' in when it's all who slept with who and everything, but I heard Dick's name come up," Wallace explained. "One person told another that Lucy had her baby last week, and then there was all this talk about who the father was, Dick Casablancas or Darryl somebody."

"You sure they said Lucy?" asked Veronica, grabbing a pen and paper and noting down the facts. "Not Missy?"

"No, it was definitely Lucy, no last name though," confirmed Wallace. "Darryl had a last name but I missed it, sorry."

"No, that's great, Wallace. Could be really helpful. Thank you so much," she told him.

They ended their call within a minute and Veronica turned to Keith, explaining what information she had just gained.

"Well, that might narrow the field when you talk to Dick about his recent liaisons."

"Not so much recent apparently," said Veronica with a knowing look. "Around nine months ago, I'm guessing."

"You think a guy like that will remember who he slept with so long ago?" asked Keith sceptically. "From what I've heard about young Richard, he enjoys the pleasures of a lot of women's company on a fairly regular basis."

"It's in his best interest to try to remember," said Veronica, shrugging her shoulders. "Right now, this is just about the only lead we have."

Mac drank down the last of her beer and put the bottle on the table with a little more force than she meant to. She leaned back heavily on the lounger and breathed the fresh sea air.

"I could get used to this," she declared, the position of her head meaning she seemed to be talking more to the moon than to Dick.

"Pretty sweet, huh?" he agreed, from his place on the next lounger over.

They had spent hours playing video games, eating their way through so much party food it was probably a crime, and watching a couple of Marvel movies before they were just beat. Mac had moved the party out onto the deck so they could get some air and some sun for as long as it lasted. They sat in weirdly comfortable silence for the most part, a little music in the background as they drank their way through some beers (the non-alcoholic kind for Dick but not for Mac) and just 'chillaxed' as Dick liked to say.

Mac had to admit she had really enjoyed herself, and couldn't really blame the beer for the good time that was had. Sure, it was taking the edge off her nerves after a brief moment of freaking out when Dick got serious on her before, but she was pretty sure she would have enjoyed today even without the buzz of the booze.

"One day I'd love to have a house like this," she said, staring out at the ocean. "Or at least a place where I could enjoy this kind of view every day. It's as beautiful now as it is by day."

"It is cool, and so great when you can see the waves getting good. It's a straight run down the beach into the water with my board," he explained with a light in his eyes that Mac loved to see. "I miss the surf, man. It's probably the worst part about all this," he said, gesturing to his injuries with the bottle in his free hand.

"Yeah, that has to suck," said Mac thoughtfully, wondering how she would feel if for some reason she couldn't use her computer for a while or something.

"But hey, flipside. If I didn't get all beat up, you wouldn't be here, and we wouldn't have had this kick ass birthday party," said Dick with a grin that was just infectious. "To silver linings, right?" he said, pushing his beer bottle her way as if to toast.

Mac picked up her empty and clinked it against Dick's own. She looked to the pack for another beer and was mildly concerned to find there were no more.

"Oops?" she giggled when she realised what she had done. "Wow. It's a long time since I downed a six pack in one afternoon."

"Dude, you can really drink, for a chick," Dick told her, at which Mac only laughed all the more.

Whether it was his expression when he said it, or the weirdness of him calling her both dude and chick in the same sentence that caused it, Mac really couldn't have said. Truth was, Dick was just funny, and Mac was just happy... and a little drunk. Maybe tipsy would be a more accurate descriptor, but Mac couldn't be bothered to figure it out right now.

"You wanna talk surprises about people? You're really a lot nicer person than the world thinks, Dick Casablancas," she told him without a moment's thought.

She turned to look at him with the biggest smile on her face, but he got the idea that she wasn't joking. Mac was serious enough in her statement, but she was a little off kilter thanks to the booze. It was weird, because even Dick felt a little buzzed, and he knew damn well all four bottles he had gotten through were distinctly lacking in alcohol. The crappy taste was enough to convince him of that, but he did appreciate that Mac had done her best for him.

"I'm not so nice," he told her, perhaps more seriously than he meant to.

"Well, you're certainly not the complete ass I always thought you were," she said definitely, smiling almost too much. "You have a nice ass though."

She laughed when she said it, clamping her hand over her mouth like she was afraid what other things might come spilling out if she didn't physically hold them back. She was muttering something like 'Oh my God, did I really just say that?' but Dick couldn't make out the exact wording through her hands over her face and the laughter.

It was nice to hear her laugh like that, to see her so happy. Dick knew he had caused her pain in the years gone by, that Madison and Beaver and so many others had given Mac reasons to cry. It was so incredible when she laughed, like watching the fireworks on the fourth of July. Dick wasn't exactly a poetic guy, but it was all he could think of as he sat there watching her just cracking up and being beautiful.

"What?" she asked when she caught him staring, leaning perhaps a little too far into his personal space.

There was no way Dick was going to tell her what he was really thinking. That would be way too dangerous.

"You're drunk, Mackenzie," he said instead, leaning over the arm of his lounger towards her without hardly even noticing he was doing it.

"You're drunk!" she countered. "Except for the part where you're not 'cause that's not alcohol," she realised aloud.

She met his eyes then and got a little lost in the blueness of them. Mac could see the ocean in those eyes, and a strange mixture of deep sadness and incredible light that was almost unbearable to keep staring into, and yet impossible to look away from. Her hand came up of its own volition, moving Dick's blond hair away from those eyes she was slowly getting lost in. Usually she stopped herself from doing stuff like this. Right now, she had completely forgotten why.

"What are you doing?" he asked, moving his head just slightly though not enough to really dislodge her fingers from his hair.

"I like your hair," she told him, looking just a little giddy. "I like... being here with you."

The admission came as much of a surprise to Mac as it did to Dick, but the next move here seemed pretty obvious from both sides. It wouldn't take much for one of them to move just enough for their lips to meet. One sweet kiss that could lead anywhere. No sooner had contact been made than the ringing of Dick's cell phone broke the moment completely, before anything more could actually occur.

"Logan?" said Dick in confusion, knowing this specific ringtone had been assigned to his best bud.

He moved away from Mac, reaching for his cell and accepting the call.

"Dude!" he declared happily on realising he was right. "Logan, man, I was so not expecting you to call!"

Mac sunk back into her seat and covered her face with her hands for a second. It was so sweet that Logan called to presumably wish Dick a happy birthday, she considered, and yet her brain was running a mile a minute right over the top of that thought with a whole bunch of jumbled wonderings about what almost just happened between her and Dick.

"Very, very bad," she muttered, scrambling to her feet, feeling suddenly sober.

There was a lot of clean up to do before she went to bed, and now seemed like a good time to start on it. Mac was sure Dick wouldn't notice her leave the deck for a good long while. Right now, she would rather be ignored than face up to what she had almost allowed to happen.

To Be Continued...