A/N: Y'all seem pleased with the Mac/Dick developments and Veronica's cracking of the case, which makes me happy - thanks for the feedback, peops :)

(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapter 1)

Chapter 22

Veronica stood on the doorstep to Dick's place and felt strange. She knew he was less than likely to answer the door. It was almost definitely going to be Mac, but her mind flashed back to when she first came back to Neptune, when she came to see Logan and got faced with Dick, shirtless with a beer in hand, making unscrupulous comments about her character. Veronica knew he had changed more recently. Last she saw him, Dick was strangely subdued. Life and death experiences affected people in different ways. What happened to Dick might just have changed him for the better. Veronica didn't like to think it, but maybe it was worth him getting attacked to make such a positive change. Certainly Mac seemed to like the new Dick a whole lot better than the old one, though Veronica wondered how much of their connection had to do with change, and how much was just them finally having a chance to talk to each other about everything that only the two of them could really understand, particularly when it came to Cassidy.

Shaking her head, Veronica brought her mind back to the present and what she was actually here for her. She rang the bell and didn't have to wait long before Mac appeared, smiling widely.

"Good morning, Little Miss Sunshine," said Veronica with a smirk she couldn't help. "Wow, it's almost like you slept with a hanger in your mouth."

"What? It's a crime to be happy now?"

Veronica rolled her eyes at the use of the word crime, clearly used to get to her as a P.I. She followed Mac into the house and through to the kitchen where she was cleaning up breakfast dishes from the seem of things. It struck Veronica how very domestic the whole thing was, and then it hit her.

"Did something happen?" she checked. "With you and Dick, I mean?"

Mac took a moment to finish straightening things in the cupboard then closed the door and turned to face her friend again. She leaned back on the counter and bit her lip.

"Damn your deductive skills," she muttered. "Um, yeah. Me and Dick... Well, there was some kissing, and... and why do I feel like a teenager making confessions to her mother right now?" she said, a hand to her forehead. "I feel ridiculous!"

"Mac, c'mon," said Veronica, dumping her bag on the counter. "I'm not here to judge you. You're a grown woman and Dick is... well, over the age of consent anyway," she said eventually. "What you guys choose to do is nobody's business but yours."

Mac knew she was right but that didn't make her feel better. This was awkward, more than awkward. Mac had a hard time explaining to Dick how and why she liked him. Having this conversation with Veronica was even tougher. After all, she had her own reasons to hate the guy and knew Mac did too. It was kind of a crazy situation, but Mac couldn't help how she felt.

"We've talked a lot since I moved in here. A lot," Mac emphasised. "And I don't mean this to sound like I'm ragging on your or Wallace or anyone else, but I can really talk to Dick, about all kinds of stuff that nobody else could ever get."

"Cassidy," said Veronica in understanding, trying not to look like she just chewed on something poisonous and bitter. "I guess I understand that."

"It's not just that though. It was a big part of it for a while, and then I had to tell him about Madison. That was a weird conversation," she said with a burst of laughter she couldn't control. "I don't know, Veronica, it just seems like the more we talk, the more in common we have. His parents weren't there for him. Mine were great but we both know they're not my real mom and dad. That and everything else... I don't know."

"You keep saying that, but I think you do know," said Veronica with a knowing smile. "C'mon, Mac, you think I don't get it? You think of all the guys in the world I would've chosen Logan to love if I had a choice? Hell, no! I mean, I am completely in love with him, you know that, because I can't help it, but we're so lucky to be where we are right now. We could not have had a tougher time, and you know that better than most. I would've loved to be able to feel that much for Piz or Leo, some guy with no baggage, no complicated history. That's not how love works."

Mac opened her mouth and closed it again. She knew for a fact that what Veronica said was very true. It would've been easier on her to date someone easy to be with, and Mac could say the same, but when love came calling, you just didn't have a choice but to roll the punches.

Stepping in closer, Mac leaned across the counter to whisper to Veronica, eyes flitting to the hall and stairs before she began.

"We haven't exactly said the words, because hey, that'd be nuts, right? But there was an implication, on both sides."

"On both sides?" Veronica checked. "Dick said-"

"Dick didn't exactly say it in the traditional sense, but yeah, implications."

"Wow!" Veronica looked understandably surprised and yet when she thought on it a moment, the shock subsided pretty fast. "Y'know, if anybody was going to make Dick Casablancas fall in love, I can imagine it'd be you, Cindy Mackenzie."

Mac wasn't sure what the reasoning would be on that. Maybe because she was at least a little attractive to Dick's brother at one time. Maybe Veronica was just paying a compliment in general, but Mac didn't get a chance to ask. Footfalls on the stairs certainly got Veronica's attention if not her own immediately, and then there was Dick.

"Ronnie!" he said when he spotted her. "What's up?"

"You, apparently," she replied, rolling her eyes when Dick immediately frowned and looked down at his lower anatomy. "Up out of bed, Casablancas!" she amended. "Geez!"

She looked at Mac who bit her lip to keep from laughing.

"What?" she asked eventually. "I never said he was a genius!"

"Hey, I told you, if we're gonna do this dating thing, you're the brains," he reminded Mac. "I'm the looks. 'Cept you're the looks too." He frowned and looked at Veronica. "Mac's the brains, we're both hot."

"Okay then," she replied, nodding her head. "Um, I'm actually here with more serious news. Case breakthrough type news," she confirmed, turning and reaching into her bag.

"You know what happened to Dick?" asked Mac as he wandered over to stand beside her.

Veronica glanced up and noticed Dick's arm around Mac's waist as they stood together waiting for her to reveal all. She suspected a little more than kissing went on last night. Plus what Mac said had to be true, this was a love thing, however wacky that sounded when spoken of in the same sentence as 'relationship' and 'Dick Casablancas'.

"Er, yeah. I think I know what happened," she said, pulling out the recorder containing Adam's confession, and then a whole pile of documents and pictures.

She laid out the chain of events and the major players, explaining how she came to her conclusions, then played the recording that proved all she was saying. By the time she was done, Dick had sat down on a stool and Mac had her arm around his shoulders. They really did look an awful lot like a happy couple (with less emphasis on the happy in this moment). Veronica wished she felt more comfortable with that.

"Darryl Marone," said Dick after a long silence.

"Yup," Veronica replied, popping the p. "For what it's worth, Dick, I'm sorry. Even the evidence I've got here, it probably wouldn't be enough to make anything stick to him. Maybe Adam, but the other two-"

"It's fine," he interrupted, literally waving away her concern. "You did what you do, Ronnie, and you did it good. Thanks," he said, glancing up at her and forcing a smile.

She managed a smile back and a nod of her head. It was actually pretty easy to feel sorry for the guy right now. This whole attack thing was bad, really bad. Dick could've been killed, and Veronica knew he was well aware of that. It was never cool to know that somebody was out there in the world that would happily knock seven bells out of you and leave you for dead. Veronica had been there and done that. She wouldn't wish it on anyone, not even Dick.

"So, we can't go to the sheriff with this?" asked Mac. "I mean, I know he's pretty useless..."

"Ha!" The sound escaped from Veronica's throat before she could do anything to stop it. "Sorry, but no, I don't think even a decent sheriff would be able to make a worthwhile case based on this kind of evidence," she said, shaking her head. "I could maybe get a confession out of Darryl and that might-"

"No," said Dick so suddenly he almost made both women physically jump. "You've done enough," he told Veronica, getting up from the stool and walking away.

Mac called his name but Dick didn't stop, just headed for the stairs and kept on going. Veronica wasn't sure what to think or really what to do. She would rather not involve herself in this situation any further, but at the same time, running out on a friend in need (meaning Mac more than Dick) didn't seem right either.

"I should go after him," said Mac, moving to do just that. "I'm sorry, Veronica."

"Nothing to be sorry for. I can stay if you want, or get out of your hair if that's easier?" she tried.

The look on Mac's face said it all and Veronica smiled, shoving her things back in her bag.

"If you need me..."

"Thanks, Veronica," said Mac with a smile before she ran up the stairs after Dick.

She headed straight for his room, unsure whether he would've locked himself in there or be smashing the place up in anger and frustration by now. Mac might even have been prepared for tears. She wasn't ready for the calmness she found.

Dick was stood out on the balcony, hands braced on the rail, tension obvious throughout his whole body as he stared out at the ocean, large waves crashing up onto the sand. It would've been a great day for surfing.

Mac stepped out into the morning light and laid one careful hand on Dick's shoulder.

"Hey," she greeted him. "You okay?"

"Yeah. No. I don't know," Dick admitted. "My life is kind of a mess, y'know? 'Cept for the part where you're here," he said with a smile as he glanced her way.

Mac blushed and set her eyes on the view. "Well, I like being here. Got no plans on being anywhere else for a while. As long as you need me anyway."

"Is it weird that I can't think about not needing you right now?" he asked, though there was no pause in which she might answer him. "I mean, my whole life it's pretty much just been me - you know how it is with my family - and there was Logan, but that's kinda different. He always had other people too, like his mom when he was growing up, and then Lilly and Duncan, Veronica. I don't know, I never had a person I didn't know how to be without, but now I think about when you leave and... and I don't know how to handle it."

It was probably the longest, most serious speech she had heard him make that wasn't yelled in a fight. They talked a lot but Dick spoke briefly on anything that wasn't funny or pointless. He meant all of this, Mac was sure on that, even if he couldn't look at her when he said it. Nobody could meet Dick Casablancas and mistake him for a shy person, but he had real problems when it came to facing his own feelings.

"For what it's worth, I know what you mean," said Mac, leaning in closer until her head was resting against his shoulder.

There was a long moment when neither spoke, just stared out across the ocean as if they hoped some kind of divine inspiration would come. It didn't.

"What are we going to do now?" she asked after a while. "About Darryl Marone. He can't get away with what he did."

Dick let out a long sigh.

"He had reasons."

Mac's eyes widened at that comment, her head coming up from his shoulder and staring until Dick finally met her gaze.

"C'mon, Macky. You know he did. I messed around with his sister in high school. My brother is the reason Betina is dead. I slept with his fiancee and... and her kid might be mine," he listed, looking particualrly bothered by the last point - Mac knew why.

"Dick, you're not a saint. I'm well aware," she reminded him. "But nothing gives that asshole the right to do what he did. You could've died in that alley!" she said forcefully, mostly in an attempt to keep the emotion from taking her voice away entirely.

More than once she had woken from nightmares of that night when she found Dick beaten and bloody behind the 09er. Mac wasn't exactly squeamish, but getting to know Dick well, getting to like him as much as she had, it made it so much worse to think about not only what had been, but also what might've been.

"Maybe somebody should tell him that," Dick considered, squinting against the light that suddenly came too bright, before turning all his attention to Mac. "You think you can work your computer mojo and get this guy's address?"

"Sure." Mac nodded. "We're going over there?" she checked.

Dick smiled wide and she couldn't understand why. It was because she just naturally added herself to his situation without even thinking about it. Dick had never known anybody willing to do that for him, except maybe Logan, and that was different, that was a bro thing.

"Y'know what, Mackenzie?" he said, putting his arms around her. "You're pretty damn amazing."

Mac had no answer for that. She just kissed him.

To Be Continued...