A/N: Thanks for all the continued feedback. Logan has lousy timing, huh? ;) Ah well, it'll get figured out in the end. For now, lets have the fall-out from the two-person party, also known as the morning after the night before!

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 16

Veronica could really do with being anywhere but here, but needs must and she didn't exactly have a choice. It was for a case that she was standing on the doorstep of Dick Casablancas house, and quite honestly, she knew she was going to have to get used to being around the guy. Not only was he Logan's best bud still, but he and Mac sure were getting close of late. Besides, for all the bad Dick had done, Veronica knew she was going to have to learn to let it go. She had done so with Logan and so many other people in her life. With Dick at least she could reasonably believe that he did not know what harm he caused sometimes, he was just a thoughtless jerk.

It was weird that Veronica had to ring the bell twice before anybody answered. Obviously Dick wasn't going to come running in his current condition, but she kind of figured Mac would be up at 'em by ten a.m. As a rule, she was pretty good about being a morning person, unless she was up all of the night before getting her hack on. Maybe that was the issue, or maybe Dick had a bad night. Suddenly Veronica felt bad for being impatient, and ever more so when she saw the state of Mac.

"Wow, you look horrible," she said perhaps a little too honestly.

Mac winced terribly as the sunshine fell on her face. The day was too bright, her head too big, and the world too loud. Man, it had been a long time since she felt this awful, and she knew at least ninety percent of it was a combination of too many beers and not enough preparation. On the odd occasion when she had got into the realms of drunk before, Mac had ensured she also downed enough water before she went to sleep and started the new day promptly with a fried breakfast and aspirin. Everything went to hell when you weren't ready for a heavy night, or for the dumbass things you might do in the presence of Dick Casablancas.

"Yesterday was Dick's birthday," she muttered, gesturing for Veronica to come inside. "There may have been beer."

"For him too?" asked Veronica curiously. "I mean, with the meds..."

"No, none for him. Lots for me apparently," said Mac with a wry smile, running a hand back through hair that stuck up at all angles. "Please remind me never to drink again?"

Veronica nodded and smiled. She had been in this position herself a few times, and it was never fun. Of course, Veronica's smile faded fast as she followed Mac to the kitchen and her mind hit the various possibilities that came with crazy drunkenness.

"Mac? How drunk were you last night?" she checked, one eyebrow quirked.

In her hungover state, it took her friend a minute to realise what that question meant. Unfortunately, she didn't have the right to look quite as shocked by it as she might have, and Veronica couldn't help but notice.

"I don't wanna talk about it," she muttered, throwing two aspirin in her mouth and chugging a large amount of water from a bottle.

"Okay, consider me butting out," declared Veronica, hands raised in mock surrender.

She pulled herself up onto a stool by the breakfast bar and concentrated on the matter at hand. She was here for a purpose and it wasn't to ask Mac about any drunken fumble she may have had with Dick. Of course, asking her about Dick's previous transgressions with other woman, one of which he may have got pregnant, really didn't appeal with Mac in this state, most especially if she and Dick were getting closer than ever just recently.

"I kissed him," she said all out of the blue.

Veronica stared, wide-eyed at her friend.

"Okay," she replied after a beat. "Just one kiss?"

"Isn't that bad enough?" asked Mac, flopping onto the stool opposite her friend and allowing her forehead to hit the worktop. "Oh God, I'm an idiot."

"Not an idiot," Veronica assured her, lightly ruffling the back of her hair. "A drunken fool, maybe, but who hasn't been there?" she said with a good natured smile that Mac only saw with one eye as she twisted her head to look up. "What did Dick say?"

"Nothing. One minute I'm kissing him, the next the phone rang. Logan wishing him happy birthday."

Veronica nodded, silently letting out an inward sigh of relief. Maybe that was wrong, maybe she should be less judgemental about the possibility of Mac and Dick as a couple, but that wasn't even the problem really. If they fell in love and wanted to be together, well, it'd be very weird but Veronica would learn to adjust, she was sure. The problem was that Dick wasn't the fall in love type, he was very distinctly the love 'em and leave 'em type, even if those he was leaving were potentially pregnant apparently. The last thing Veronica wanted for her good friend Mac was the kind of guy who would treat a woman like trash that way.

"You guys talk after that?" she asked gently.

Mac pulled herself up off the counter, running both hands over her face and back through her hair that was getting more crazy all the time.

"Not really," she admitted. "I was cleaning up all the birthday stuff, then I helped Dick back to his room. He never said anything about the kiss, just thanked me for the party and that was that."

Veronica wasn't sure what to say for the best. A part of her wanted to be sympathetic and kind, not even mention what she really came over here for since it was probably only going to cause Mac further pain. On the other hand, Veronica had always lived by the fact that honesty was the best policy in these kind of things. They were never going to crack the case of Dick's attack if she didn't push forward with what she knew. Besides, Mac should have all the information if anything really was going to happen with her and Dick in the future. Now seemed like a horrible time to bring it up, but maybe it was better to have all the badness at once, get it over with, and then recover fully after.

"I wish I knew what the right thing was to say right now," she admitted with a sigh.

"Veronica, I don't even know what I would want you to say," admitted Mac, finding a weak smile. "But I'm guessing you had some work-related thing for me to do, so shoot. I'm not saying I'll get to it for a few hours, but just as soon as I can hold my head up without help, I'm there."

Veronica nodded in understanding and reached into her purse to grab her notebook. She turned to the page she had scribbled notes on during and after her conversation with Wallace. Her stomach twisted when she read the details again. There was no way to dress this up, she was just going to have to tell Mac the truth of the rumours that were going around and hope she didn't take it too badly.

"Um, so Wallace called me yesterday. He overheard some talk in the Teacher's Lounge... about Dick."

"About the attack?" asked Mac, suddenly just a little more awake.

"No, not exactly," Veronica admitted, shaking her head. "But it may lead us to a person or people who would have a motive for giving Dick those injuries of his."

"Nothing could justify that, Veronica," said Mac definitely. "They could've killed him. Dick is a lot of things, but he didn't deserve that."

"I know," she agreed. "I never said they were justified, only that they might've had a motive," she confirmed, before going on with the information she had gained. "It seems there's a woman named Lucy who recently gave birth to a child, and rumour has it that the father could be her boyfriend, Darryl, or..."

"Or it could be Dick," Mac finished for her, when Veronica seemed reluctant to do so.

She didn't even have to see her friend nod her head to know it was true, it was the only ending to the sentence that made sense. Mac sat there a moment in silence. Of course Dick could be a father. He was just that guy, the one who slept with anybody and everybody, to hell with the consequences. Of course he would knock up a woman and walk away, either not knowing or not caring what he had done.

Mac swallowed hard but it didn't work. The bile rose up in her throat way too fast and she was up from the stool and running before Veronica could hardly blink.

Veronica winced as she heard Mac throwing up spectacularly in the nearest bathroom. As much as the booze had caused her to feel that bad, there was no way hearing of Dick's antics had helped any. There was no way in hell Veronica could ask Mac to play go between on this one. She was just going to have to put her best foot forward and ask Dick for herself what had happened with Lucy. With a little luck he might even remember her last name and then Veronica would stand more chance of finding out what happened the night of the attack. How all this tied to Missy and Adam, she had no idea, but somehow it all had to be connected. These things usually were, no matter how unlikely it seemed.

Heading for the stairs, Veronica ran up, realising at the top that she had no idea which room was Dick's own. Following the sound of the TV seemed to be a good idea and it didn't fail her. The door was partially open and through the gap she could see Dick reclining on his bed, his good arm behind his head on the pillows.

"Knock, knock?" she said, pushing the door wider. "Hey Dick. How're you doing?"

"Ronnie? Wow, you're maybe the last person I expected to visit... ever!" he declared, using the remote to turn the TV to mute. "What's up?"

"Not much. Heard you had a birthday yesterday. Belated happy returns," she told him with a smile as fake as anything ever had been.

"Thanks," he replied, nodding once. "You see Macky on your way in?" he checked.

"She's feeling a little sick right now," Veronica explained, deciding not to elaborate any further than that. "Did you need anything? Your pills or water or whatever?"

"You wanna help me?" he checked, one eyebrow raised.

"Dick, we may not be buds or anything, but even I'm not going to stand here watching you writhe in pain from injuries you sustained in an attack," she said definitely. "Maybe a few years ago I would've, but we're all adults now, right?"

He looked confused. Veronica was used to that kind of expression from Dick, but this was just a little different to usual. She wondered what he was thinking but quite honestly was too afraid to ask. She waited until he admitted that he could use some water and the bottle of pain meds he was supposed to take first thing in the morning, pointing Veronica towards the print out on the nightstand. She smiled at the sight of a colour coded chart that had to be Mac's handiwork and wasted no time in getting Dick what he needed. Just as soon as he was done taking his pills, she pressed forward with the matter at hand.

"So, I might just have a lead on the attack. You remember a woman named Lucy? She would have been a conquest of yours around nine months ago?"

"Nine months?" Dick echoed, frowning hard. "Woah, you're not sayin'..."

"Yep, I'm sayin'," Veronica confirmed. "There's a chance you're a father, Dick. Which from the look on your face, I'm guessing you didn't know?"

Dick only shook his head and continued to look blown away. Veronica might have felt sorry for him, if he wasn't such an ass. Besides, if he really had gotten this Lucy pregnant that was his own fault, his responsibility that he was going to have to stand up to. Veronica could only have so much sympathy for Dick. Right now, she felt more sorry for Mac than anybody else.

Mac didn't dare leave the bathroom for at least a half hour. Every time she intended to move away from the toilet, her stomach flipped over again and threatened another bout of heaving. Eventually, when she was sure that no amount of retching was going to bring forth anything else, because there was just nothing left to give, Mac washed her hands and face, and finally moved on wobbly legs back to the kitchen.

It took a moment to recall that Veronica had been here and to wonder where she had gone. Mac turned too fast to look towards the stairs, assuming Veronica must be up there with Dick. She barely had time to worry about what was being said when her friend came hurrying down to join her again.

"Hey. How're you feeling?"

"Better, and worse," said Mac shakily.

"Yeah, hangovers are fun that way, huh?" said Veronica with a knowing smile. "I talked to Dick about the latest lead. I figured it might be easier than asking you to do it right now."

"Thanks," she muttered, swallowing hard. "What did he say?"

"Not much. Confirmed some details, that's all. The rest is up to my super-sleuthing skills, as always."

Mac smiled at the way she phrased it, but her insides still felt like they had been through the ringer, and the thought of talking to Dick about anything, least of all the events of last night and/or this morning just made it all worse. Unfortunately, Mac knew she couldn't even get back to her room without passing by Dick. Besides, he needed her, it was why she was here. Even as Veronica was confirming she had given Dick his pain meds whilst she was up there, he would be looking for breakfast, help to the bathroom, company in general. She couldn't abandon him now, it wouldn't be fair.

"Hey, you want me to stay a while?" asked Veronica , her hand at Mac's shoulder. "I can work from here for a couple of hours whilst you sleep or whatever you need to do?" she offered.

"No, honestly, I'll be fine," Mac told her, shaking her head very carefully and yet she still wound up regretting it anyway. "I think I feel better for the... releasing of stuff," she admitted awkwardly. "The aspirin will kick in and I'll shower when the room stops moving by itself. I'll be fine," she promised, forcing a smile.

"Okay, but you call me if you need anything, you hear me, Q?" said Veronica definitely.

"Understood, Bond." Mac smiled more genuinely that time, as she went with her friend to the front door.

When Veronica was gone, Mac took a moment to breathe, hands practically holding her head on whilst she got her bearings. Dick needed her, she had just said as much to Veronica, and she would be here for him, as promised. That didn't mean she was looking forward to whatever conversation came next. It was going to be a very long day.

To Be Continued...