A/N: I know this chapter is a little bit short so nobody needs to tell me. It is what it is, folks, and I hope you like it anyway. Thanks for the reviewage on the previous chapter - always appreciated :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 17

Dick was kind of lost in thought since Veronica's visit. It was so crazy, thinking that he might be a father. Of course there was always a possibility, he knew that. Sex made babies, he listened enough in biology class in high school to know how it all worked, but he was always careful, always sure to double-bag before he went in. It was basic safety precautions, not just so he didn't have random women getting pregnant with kids he didn't want, but also so he didn't catch anything awful. Dick may not be the smartest guy in the world but safe sex was too important not to have your head in the game.

"Hey."

A small voice by the door barely sounded like Mac but Dick knew it couldn't be anybody else. He turned to see her hovering there, looking the same as always and yet somehow different. The thought of her lips on his over-rode everything in Dick's head for a moment, and then his talk with Ronnie came back fast, like a huge wave rising up and washing every other thought out of his mind.

"I'm guessin' Ronnie told you."

"About Lucy?" Mac checked. "Yeah, she did."

She was still on the threshold, not even putting one foot into his room. Dick didn't know what to do with that. It wasn't as if Mac didn't know his rep. She knew damn well that he slept with a whole lot of women and it never mattered before. They didn't really talk about it much, but she knew. They were friends in spite of that and everything was cool. Now it seemed different, way too different, and Dick didn't like that at all.

"You okay?" he checked, enquiring more about her health than anything else.

Mac smiled slightly, finding the question too ridiculous for words, and all the answers in her head right now even more so. No, she wasn't okay, she was so far from okay she could scream, though she knew all that would achieve was making her head hurt all the more.

The hangover was making her feel much less than okay. Knowing she kissed Dick last night and neither of them dare mention it was not okay. Having the information that he might be the father of a baby he seemingly knew nothing about was a mile away from okay with Mac. To explain any of it seemed impossible right now.

"I'll be fine," she told him, just because it was the easiest answer it give. "Er, you need anything?"

"Might be cool if you actually came into the room to talk to me," he replied immediately.

Mac tried not to squirm, took a deep breath and wandered into the bedroom. She hovered by the bed like she was considering sitting down and then changed her mind, heading for the chair on the other side of the bed. Somehow sharing space on the bed with Dick would be too much right now, in more ways than one.

"What gives, Mac?" he asked as she lowered herself into the chair and immediately rubbed her aching forehead. "Yesterday..."

"Yesterday was your birthday, and we had a little too much fun," she told him perhaps a little too sharply. "At least, I did, so you're going to have to deal with the fact that I'm not exactly feeling like myself this morning, okay, Dick?"

She was being snappy and it hurt her head as much as it hurt his feelings, Mac was sure. She didn't even have to look at his face to know he was stung by her words and tone, but the kicked puppy look was still there when she did dare to glance up.

"You're crabby after you drink," he said sourly. "Which is weird because you're a really happy drunk. Friendly too."

"Dick, don't," she told him, getting up fast from the chair and immediately regretting it when the world swam horribly before her eyes. "I just... If you don't need any help with anything right now, I'm gonna go."

She made for the door but barely made it half way before he yelled to her.

"Hey, you kissed me, not the other way around!"

Mac stopped in her tracks, taking a very deep breath and letting it out slow. It didn't really help.

"I know that," she said, her back still facing him, though she made no further attempt to get out of the door. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry," he urged her, trying to reach for her sleeve but failing to make it. "Just be you, Macky. Be cool like you were before."

"I can't be cool right now!" she told him crossly, turning to face him and once again regretting the swift movement. "Dick, nothing is cool right now, don't you get that? I made an idiot out of myself last night, I feel like crap this morning, and you... you might be a father, for crying out loud. Doesn't any of this mean a damn thing to you?!"

The yelling made her throat strain and her head pound horribly, but Mac couldn't help it. She wanted to laugh and she wanted to cry at the same time, more so the latter if she were honest, though she couldn't entirely explain why.

This was insane. Dick had a history with women, a big long history with more women than she had probably ever met in her own life. It should be no surprise to Mac that one of these many women might have given birth to Dick's child, so why it felt like a knife through her heart when she heard it, she couldn't explain. Shewould love to blame the hangover, too much booze and a moment of stupidity when she threw herself at Dick. It would make life that much easier if Mac had an excuse for all of this, but she didn't. The only real reason she could come up with for caring this much was just because she really did care this much. It hurt, and was way too much to deal with right now.

"You think I don't care?" he asked her, looking like he was feeling almost as much pain as Mac right now, though somehow she doubted that were possible. "You think it doesn't even bother me that I might've got Lucy pregnant? That I might have a kid out there? Well, it does, Mac. It bothers me a lot!" he yelled back at her.

"I'm amazed you remember her name," she shot back cruelly, not even sure why she was being so mean, so honest maybe.

"Yeah, well, sometimes I don't," said Dick harshly. "That's what you wanna hear, right? That all those things people say about me are true? That I'm this big man-whore that can't even remember all the chicks he's banged? Well, yeah, sometimes I don't remember, and do you know what? Mostly I don't even care."

Mac turned to walk away, not wanting to hear anymore, but Dick wasn't letting go until he was done.

"You wanna know why I live my life this way, Mac? Because I'll tell you. People hear the name Dick Casablancas, and they think, what a dumabass. Well, maybe they're right, maybe I am dumb. No good in school, no good for anything, except two things - surfing and sex. That's it, Mac, that is the only two things anybody ever said I was good at, so yeah, I get a damn lot of practice, and I don't care who knows about it. No matter what you think about me, I don't lie to women. They sleep with me, they know that's all it is. Lucy knew it, same as all the rest. I don't know if I knocked her up, but it is not all my fault if I did!"

Mac knew he had a point, but she also knew she couldn't stand to have any more of this conversation right now. Her eyes had filled up with tears somewhere in the middle of Dick's shouted speech, spilling out down her cheeks before she had a chance to even try and stop them. She didn't want to know this, really didn't want to hear it, but her feet were stuck to the spot and wouldn't allow her to leave.

"I don't expect you to get it, being a brain and all," he said then, much quieter than the rest of his angry ranting. "But when you're short on praise, you stick to what you're good at. Besides, when I drink, and women are all over me, it... it's not just about feeling like I'm worth something. It blanks out everything else too, all the stuff it hurts too much to think about."

Mac bit her lip as a sob broke free of her throat. It was horrible to stand here and listen to this, just awful. She was so mad at Dick and for things that she had no right to be angry about, he was right on that. She did understand what he was saying, as much as she didn't want to. Trying to block out the world, things you didn't want to think about or deal with, she did that too. Not in the same ways as Dick tried to do it, but it all came back to the same point.

Maybe Mac should've told Dick she got it, maybe tried to apologise for being so judgemental, but right now she didn't have the words. Hurrying from his room to her own, she threw herself face first onto the bed and just gave in to the tears for a while. It was all Mac could think to do for now. Everything else would have to wait until later.

It was amazing to Veronica that Dick could remember the last name of a woman he slept with nine months ago, but it seemed that maybe Lucy was a little more memorable than some others had been. They spent a whole weekend holed up together in a hotel, for reasons Veronica had insisted she didn't want to hear about. All she needed was the lovely lady's last name, and that she now had.

Sitting down in front of her computer, she typed in 'Lucy Laos' and hit search. The PI database brought up her name, address, and other such details, a few minor traffic infractions, and that was all. Seemed Lucy wasn't really a bad girl, just potentially a little slutty, Veronica thought.

Switching to Google, she typed in the name again, followed by Darryl, the name of the other potential father. Immediately an engagement announcement came up in the results and Veronica smiled as she hit the link. It seemed that before the liaison with Dick, Lucy had been due to wed her boyfriend, Darryl Marone. Veronica made a note of that name too, and then went back to the search results. A frown took over her features when she spotted a link to an article about an incident she knew too much about already. The bus crash that had killed a half dozen Neptune High students so many years before, the one Dick's own brother had caused.

"Betina?" she said, realising the article she was now reading was a tribute from that girls' brother when she tragically died. "Betina Marone?" she gasped.

It seemed Dick's potential love rival was none other than his ex-squeeze's brother. It was quite the tenuous link, especially after all these years, but maybe one more reason to dislike Dick was enough to send Darryl into a violent rage. Certainly sleeping with his fiancee would do it.

"And we have a winner," said Veronica, writing quickly on her notepad.

Dick Casablancas case, Prime suspect: Darryl Marone.

To Be Continued...