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Chapter Text

Two days after Lilly died, Duncan tried to kill himself. Fortunately for him, Logan and Veronica stopped by the house to see how he was doing and found him about five minutes after he washed down eighteen of his mother’s Percocet with a bottle of Merlot. After getting Duncan to admit what he had done, his friends rushed him to the hospital where he had his stomach pumped. In his altered state Duncan begged Veronica to leave, screaming that he couldn’t be around her. Celeste arrived as Duncan was ranting and insisted that her son’s ex leave immediately.

Shortly thereafter, Veronica’s dad brought in Jake Kane for questioning in the murder of his daughter and Keith and Veronica were shunned by the town. After all, Jake hadn’t just lost his daughter, he almost lost his son, and here was Keith Mars coming to make things worse. If it hadn’t already been established that Veronica would be staying away from Duncan—who had dumped her, after all—her being ostracized by the entire town cemented it.

Of course that meant that Veronica lost all of her friends, acquaintances and any sense of belonging at her high school. As she sat in the quad during lunch at the beginning of her junior year, everywhere the blonde looked she saw evidence of her fallen social status. The worst of course were the 09ers, notably Logan Echolls. When he saw her looking in Duncan’s direction, Logan sat down on his best friend’s lap and started rubbing his chest suggestively. The rest of the 09ers laughed in appreciation at Logan’s rapier wit, going out of their way to let Veronica know that the show was for her benefit.

Duncan, per usual, showed no expression at the emotional evisceration of his first love. Since his sister’s death and his own attempt to follow her into the sweet hereafter, Duncan had spiraled into a pit of depression. He rarely if ever showed emotion and his friends and family lived on constant suicide watch.

Veronica sighed. Her best friend bludgeoned poolside, her ex-boyfriend teetering on the edge of death, and everyone in school convinced that she was an evil whore. How was this her existence?

She dumped her lunch tray in the trash and headed to AP English. Halfway down the hall a hand shot out of the janitor’s closet and pulled her into the darkness of the solvent-filled room.

Strong hands pushed her up against the wall and soft lips started working their way down her neck. She dropped her messenger bag on the floor and wrapped her arms around the shadow now kissing her pulse point. As he raised her heart rate, the young man who was pinning her to the wall murmured against her neck.

“Veronica...” as he said her name a low sound escaped her throat. He continued, “I can’t handle the look on your face. I can’t do this.”

As she tangled her hands in his hair and tried to breathe, she managed to murmur, “We have to do it this way. You know that.”

His lips stilled and he sighed in exasperation, leaning his forehead against hers.

“I know,” he whispered. “But I hate it. I hate it.” His voice was filled with self-recrimination and pain. He stepped back to look at her and for the first time she could see his expression. The look on Logan’s face was as devastating to her as her earlier expression in the quad had been to him.

She took his face in her hands. Gently stroking his cheek with her thumb, she said softly, “If Duncan knew that we were seeing each other…” Logan pressed his lips to her forehead and nodded.

Duncan was minutes away from killing himself at any given moment and both Logan and Veronica knew it. The news that his best friend and his ex-girlfriend were in love was one of the events almost guaranteed to put the final nail in Duncan’s coffin. The couple decided the previous year to keep their relationship to themselves in an effort to keep Duncan alive and well. They had hoped to be able to come out of the closet, so to speak, as soon as Duncan showed signs of improvement. Unfortunately that day seemed no closer now than it had last October. So Logan and Veronica continued to sneak around in broom closets and trips to Catalina, anywhere that they knew Duncan and the other 09ers would not be likely to see them.

They learned their lesson early. About a month after Lilly died, Dick and Cassidy Casablancas walked in on Logan and Veronica making out against the wall in his living room. As his friends had foregone knocking and simply walked into his house, Logan and Veronica had had time to unlock lips, but didn't have time to walk away from each other.

Proving that he was much faster on his feet than people gave him credit for, Logan had said in a deadly whisper, “If you ever come here again looking for absolution, I will make sure that you are never able to show your face in this town again.” He then leaned in closer and finished, “Now get the hell out of my house before I have to have it fumigated.”

Veronica had left in a hurry; Dick and Beaver had been none the wiser; and thus had begun the calculated isolation of Veronica Mars. Unfortunately, neither Logan nor Veronica had realized the extent to which the students at Neptune High needed an outlet for their anger over Lilly’s death. Veronica’s lynching at the hands of the 09er population had quickly taken on a life of its own, forcing Logan to not just avoid his girlfriend in public but to taunt and humiliate her.

Every night he would hold her as she cried and every day he would break everything he spent the previous night fixing. They both wanted to stop the cycle but felt powerless to do so. For reasons beyond understanding, Duncan’s anxiety calmed in the face of Veronica’s being shunned. Veronica imagined that knowing she was separated from him not just physically but socially was a salve to the deep wounds in his soul. Logan and Veronica needed each other too much—they loved each other too much—to stay away from each other. Duncan needed for her to be ostracized too much for them to let anyone know.

In the janitor’s closet, Logan kissed her one more time and they clung to each other in silent defiance. Then with matching sighs, they separated. Veronica picked up her bag and carefully opened the door to the hallway. It was almost deserted. With one last look behind her, she cautiously exited the tiny room, taking the comfort of Logan’s touch with her. It was all the armor she had to protect herself from the torture that had become her every day life at Neptune High.

Logan exited moments later and headed in the other direction, as always caught between gratitude at the presence of such a wonderful woman in his life and self-loathing for making her life miserable.

Welcome to Neptune.

The Beginning…

Chapter Text

As Veronica slid into her seat and Mrs. Murphy started pontificating about Pope’s Essay on Man, the tired blonde debated her choices. She could pay attention or she could think about Logan. Wow, that one was sure to keep her up at night. As she put her head down on her desk, her mind drifted back to how she and Logan became a couple in private but not in public.

Homecoming last year had been perfect, the dance against which all other dances would forever pale in comparison, after which her life had gone immediately downhill. That Monday Duncan started acting like he didn’t know her name. On Tuesday Lilly told her that she should give up on Duncan and find someone better. At the time, she couldn’t imagine it getting any worse. Silly her, she thought as Mrs. Murphy droned on in the background.

Desperate to talk to someone who might listen and understand, she had gone to Logan’s house after school on Tuesday. Between Sunday morning and Tuesday afternoon, the word “normal” had ceased to apply in her life, so even though seeking out Logan as a shoulder to cry on wasn’t normal for her, it made sense at the time. To her relief, Logan proved a good listener. He hadn’t said much—after all, what could he say—but he held her while her heart broke.

That afternoon permanently altered the nature of their relationship. Veronica knew better than most people that Logan had surprising depth of character. She had seen the way that he looked at Lilly when he knew that Lilly wasn’t looking. The fact that he both saw beyond Lilly’s facade and knew better than to let Lilly know it spoke volumes about the level of his insights into the people that he loved.

As Veronica went to bed on that long ago Tuesday she realized that she had experienced that insight personally for the first time. Logan didn't give her platitudes like her mother had—he didn't tell her that everything was going to be okay or that it would be all be better. Duncan seemed to have shut down overnight and Logan knew it—things weren’t going to improve any time soon. Neither did Logan take Lilly’s stance and tell Veronica to forget it and move on. He recognized that Veronica simply wasn’t capable of that. As her mind finally slowed down and let her sleep, Veronica realized that Logan had been the one thing that she needed—he had been there.

Wednesday morning Veronica’s mother woke her up to the news that Logan was downstairs ready to take her to school. He had already called Lilly to tell her that he would pick up Veronica so as to avoid any further awkward reshufflings of their until-now-standard carpool. Logan took her to school and throughout the day when she passed him in the hall, he stopped to say hello and see how she was doing. Veronica thought that she saw him more than she normally would have, but she was having a hard time focusing, so she wasn’t quite sure. He called her at about ten o’clock that night to make sure that she was doing okay as she got ready to go to bed and Veronica slept better knowing that someone cared.

The downhill slalom resumed Thursday on the way to school when Veronica remembered that the science book she had been looking for all week long was in Lilly’s bedroom. She and Logan took a quick detour to the Kane house, intending to run in and run out. Instead they went around the side of the house to investigate the suspicious noises drifting through the still morning air. They turned the corner to find Lilly having passionate sex with the Kanes’ pool boy.

Logan made a noise like someone had punched him in the stomach and he would have fallen had not Veronica put her arms out to steady him. Lilly looked up at that moment and saw them there, Veronica holding Logan. And Lilly smiled. Logan had been as devastated by that smile as he had been by the act that preceded it.

None of them made it to school that day. While Lilly lounged around the pool, Veronica spent the day holding Logan while his heart broke.

After his initial reaction, Logan’s next impulse was to rush forward and beat the guy on top of Lilly to a bloody pulp. Veronica felt as his body tensed under her hands and realized what was coming. Rather than let the scene get violent, she literally dragged Logan back to the front of the house and into his car, leaving Lilly without a word. Veronica got Logan to get into the passenger seat and she drove them back to his house.

Unlike Veronica, Logan didn’t want to talk. He didn’t want to admit that he needed anyone there at all. In the car he vented his frustration on the window, the dash, the door. As soon as they got pulled into his driveway he went inside, poured himself a drink, and then smashed the glass against the wall before he could take a single sip. Logan then let out a tortured cry that sounded like it came from a primitive age before man had mastered speech and fell to his knees on the kitchen floor.

Veronica rushed into the kitchen and knelt beside Logan as he cried. She took him into her arms and rocked him back and forth. When his sobs finally subsided, Veronica faintly heard what sounded like words.

“What?” she asked gently.

“How?” she heard him say. “How could she do that? Why?”

Veronica didn’t have an answer. She had always known that Lilly wasn’t as…faithful as most girlfriends, but in her mind it hadn’t seemed so bad, so raw. Seeing it, though… Veronica knew that things weren’t going to be the same anymore. They couldn’t be. Maybe if Logan hadn’t been with her, maybe if she hadn’t seen exactly what it did to him, maybe if she hadn’t seen Lilly’s reaction, maybe… But there were no maybes. And she had no words of comfort for him.

Logan pushed himself up off of the floor and Veronica rose with him.

The bell rang, pulling Veronica out of the past and into the ever-so-lovely present. She moved to her last class, ignoring the standard sideways glances of her fellow students as she did so. As she sat down in her math class, Veronica tuned out the world and retreated back into memory.

She had been able to stop Logan from beating up the pool boy, but she hadn’t had a prayer of preventing him from getting plastered. There wasn’t a chance that she was going to leave him alone, though, so Veronica stayed and watched as he threw back drink after drink; she played video games with him; and when she finally left that night she reminded him that she needed a ride to school the next day.

Veronica waited on pins and needles Friday morning. She was terrified that if Logan spent the day alone he would do something stupid, either to himself, Lilly, or the pool boy. The relief that she felt when she saw Logan’s yellow Xterra appear in her driveway was almost incalculable. Logan didn’t say much on the drive to school and Veronica wondered if there was any good place for Logan to be that day.

After he parked, Logan sat motionless for a few seconds and Veronica’s hand stilled on the door.

He took a breath.

“Thank you,” he said, and he turned his face to look at her.

Veronica reached out and touched Logan’s face with her hand.

“I’m so sorry, Logan.” How could she express to him what she felt? How could she make him feel better?

He looked back down, unsure what to do in the face of genuine compassion from someone who cared about him.

“Game on,” he said.

Veronica shyly held her books as she and Logan walked into the school together. She felt like some line had been crossed, a line that she didn’t really understand, and she wasn’t quite sure what to do about it.

Logan told her he would see her later as he headed off to his locker. As Veronica stepped up to hers, Lilly ran up behind her.

“Good morning, Veronica! Did you have a good day yesterday?” her best friend asked sunnily.

Veronica’s hand fell from her locker and she ran away from Lilly and into the girls’ bathroom where she raced into a stall and threw up. She sat down on the dirty tile and stared into space. How could Lilly be so cheerful? How could she act like nothing had changed? Who was this girl that she thought she knew?

Tears streamed down her face as Veronica tried to wrap her mind around the explosion that was her life. Unable to face such an examination at that particular moment, Veronica pushed herself up off of the floor, flushed the toilet, washed her mouth out at the sink, opened the door to the bathroom and ran straight into Duncan Kane.

For an instant Duncan looked stricken at the sight of his recently-dumped girlfriend, an expression that was almost as quickly replaced by a mask of indifference. As he walked away from Veronica without a word, she remained frozen in place, the bathroom door still being held open in her hand. She wasn’t surprised to see him, though. Rather, she was stunned to realize that she hadn’t given Duncan truly significant thought since the previous morning.

If someone had told Veronica at 7 a.m. on Thursday that by 7 a.m. on Friday Duncan would have been pushed to the back of her brain, she would have slapped them for trivializing what she was going through. But the impossible had happened, and now—seeing him again—Veronica wasn’t sure what to think.

Everywhere that Veronica went that day she kept an eye out for Logan. As it so happened, Lilly was doing the same thing towards Veronica. Logan was much more receptive to his stalker than Veronica was to hers. Whenever Veronica saw Lilly coming, she headed in the other direction. She wasn’t up for a confrontation with her friend, at least not until she figured out what to say.

The dismissal bell rang and Veronica gathered up her books, once again drawn back to reality. Tonight was her night to do homework. She didn’t have any stakeouts and Logan was hanging out with his friends.

As she lay down to bed that night, she thought about the grand finale to that fateful week’s events. After school on Friday she was supposed to go to a car wash to help raise money for the pep squad, but she didn't want to see Lilly, so she blew it off and went home with Logan instead. He had been planning on going to Mexico with Dick and Beaver, but at Veronica’s request Logan agreed to spend the weekend with her instead. She didn't exactly have to twist his arm.

And so it was that the two of them were together when they found out that Lilly was dead. They rushed to the Kane house where they saw Lilly’s body on the edge of the pool. It seemed impossible that the vivacious girl who had caused so much heartache with her poolside activities the day before was now lying lifeless near the exact same spot.

Veronica retreated from memory and returned to the present.

She turned in her bed to look at the clock. It was eleven.

Her cell phone rang and Veronica answered it without looking at the caller I.D.

“Did you have fun?” she asked, a smile in her voice. This was her favorite daily ritual.

“I can’t tell you how much,” said Logan, an answering smile in his tone. “Of course I would have had more fun if you were there.”

Veronica laughed and the two of them discussed the day’s events.

Every night at eleven o’clock, no matter where they were or what they were doing, one of them called the other. On occasion the nature of the people around them and the clandestine status of their relationship led to wildly inventive and bizarre conversations (for instance, the time that Veronica had acted in front of a cheating husband as though Logan was the wife’s divorce lawyer or the time that Logan had acted like Veronica was an escort calling to give him phone sex.)

Sometimes the call lasted seconds, sometimes it lasted hours. But in a relationship where an amount of uncertainty was inherent, their nightly calls provided one of their greatest sources of comfort and stability.

Both Veronica and Logan were exhausted and tonight’s call lasted only about ten minutes. That was all they needed, though, and having finished their nightly ritual they both fell asleep.

Chapter Text

As the California sun cut through the morning, Veronica wished once again that she lived in Cambodia, Ireland, the South Bronx, or some other place less combative than Neptune. But no. Here in the sunny kingdom by the sea, one could arrive to school in the morning to find a young man taped naked to the flag pole. There were even spectators enjoying the carnage.

To the idiot taking a picture with Naked Boy, Veronica said, “Move.”

Jerkface looked away from his phone and started to say, “Who died and made you quee—“ but cut off when Veronica popped her small switchblade.

“You ARE a freak.”

Yeah, she was crushed. And he was smart enough to make a quick exit.

As she began to cut down the victim of today’s hostilities, Veronica commented casually, “You’re new here, huh. Welcome to Neptune High.”

The school bell rang and the crowd started to melt away. Veronica mocked with enthusiasm as they left.

“Go Pirates!”

*

Veronica was sitting at the lunch table contemplating the state of her universe when Formerly Naked, Now Clothed Guy walked up and set his tray down at her table.

“You okay?” he asked.

“What?” Looked like the state of the universe would have to wait.

“You look, I don’t know, hypnotized.”

“Did I say you could sit here?” She preferred to contemplate her navel in private, thank you very much.

New Guy started to pack up his stuff and leave when it occurred to Veronica that she was being the kind of person that she hated.

“Wait a minute. Of course you can sit here. Sit wherever you want.”

New Guy sat back down.

“That-that was cool, what you did, cutting me off of that pole.”

“Well…” she began.

A heavily tattooed biker walked up behind Veronica. Ah, she thought. Weevil. She had been expecting this ever since she cut the kid down this morning. Weevil headed straight for the new kid.

“My bitch. Weren’t you supposed to wait for me at the flagpole? I’m not sure I could have made that any clearer.”

Weevil sat down right next to New Guy—Veronica still hadn’t learned his name. The rest of Weevil’s gang crowded around, as well.

”Okay, I get it, a’right. Very funny.”

“Yeah,” Weevil replied.

New kid tried to laugh off the situation. “I guess we’re even now. Right?”

Oh, man, this kid needed help.

“You get what boy? You get that you’re a dead man walking, is that what you get?”

Time to step in. “Leave him alone.”

Weevil turned his attention to Veronica, moving to stand over her.

”Sister, the only time I care what a woman has to say is when she’s riding my big old hog but even then it’s not so much words—just a bunch of oohs and aahs, you know?”

Oh, please. She grew up around cops—bring it on.

“So it’s big, huh?”

“Legendary.”

“Well let’s see it. I mean if it’s as big as you say, I’ll be your girlfriend.” She acted breathless and girly. “We could go to prom together.”

Her refusal to be intimidated surprised him. He laughed and looked at his fellow bikers.

“What? What seems to be the problem? I’m on a schedule here, vato.”

One of Weevil’s cronies, Felix, answered her, offended on his leader’s behalf. “Dude, Weevil. Don’t let blondie talk to you like that!”

Veronica continued, “Sounds like your buddy here wants to see it too.”

“Ah, hell, I’ll show you mine.” Felix made as though to take off his pants and regale Veronica with his equipment, but Weevil put out an arm to stop him.

At that moment, Vice Principal Clemmons walked up on the scene.

”Felix Toombs. What on God’s green earth is going on here? All right gentlemen, move it along. Veronica, why does trouble follow you around?”

Veronica gave the administrator a bland smile as he moved the bikers on, Felix aiming a dirty look at the new kid as he left.

Once again alone, Veronica asked her table mate, “So what did you do?”

“What?”

“Why are you a dead man walking?”

New Guy, whose name turned out to be Wallace, proceeded to tell Veronica the previous night’s tale of his shift at the Sac-n-Pac, which ultimately resulted in his incurring the lasting wrath of both the PCHers and the local sheriff’s department. As one who had incurred the lasting wrath of many, Veronica couldn’t help but feel a kinship with Wallace.

As they headed off for their afternoon classes, Veronica looked over Wallace’s schedule and told him what to expect from his teachers that year. As they headed their separate ways, Veronica wondered if she might have just made a friend. What a novel idea.

*

When she got home that afternoon, Logan was waiting in her apartment. He had parked in an alley down the street per usual and the two of them took the Love Machine to Dog Beach to walk Backup. The Love Machine—as it was being referred to today—was a nondescript blue Ford van. It was also referred to as the Sex Wagon, the Mystery Machine, The Love Bug, the Pimpmobile, and the Saturday Night Special—it depended on the day.

Logan had bought the van from a used car dealership in Riverside after Veronica had been threatened by a would-be mugger one night while on stakeout. Prior to that Logan hadn’t gone on stakeout with her due to the risk of them being seen together. Veronica had thwarted the thug-in-training with her stun gun, but Logan had been incredibly shaken by the thought of her being hurt. He had then insisted on being able to accompany her on her more dangerous stakeouts, so he bought the Blue Bomber to enable him to do so.

While the outside was nothing special—matte navy blue with dark tinted porthole windows on both sides—the inside would put the crew of Pimp My Ride to shame. Logan had told his father why he was getting the van and Aaron, who approved of Veronica, had provided considerable funding for Logan’s “improvement project”. The Mansion-on-Wheels had a twin size bed that folded up into the wall, which was upholstered (yes, upholstered) in padded blue suede. It had thick shag carpet and two leather captain’s chairs each poised in perfect position in front of the porthole windows to make taking pictures of cheating spouses more comfortable. It also had a fully stocked refrigerator, a TV, a DVD player and a laptop station complete with wireless Internet, among other things.

Veronica had not been amused when Logan drove it over to her house.

“What the hell is this?”

“P.I. heaven.”

“So what, my car isn’t good enough?”

“It’s fine—for you. But I can’t go with you in it. And we can hardly do stakeouts in my car.”

“Not unless we cover it in a giant tarp and hide underneath.” She paused. “Why are you doing this, Logan?”

“I can’t lose you, Veronica.”

“You’re not going to lose me.”

“Tell that to your mugger!”

“I did—with my taser! I’m not going anywhere!”

“Tell that to Lilly!!”

There was a pause.

“What?”

Nothing.

“What are you talking about?”

Silence.

“Logan?” Veronica looked at Logan as her brain caught up with his feelings. Tears sprang to her eyes and she blinked hard. “Did you have to put in a mini-bar?”

“It was a moral imperative.”

So the van stayed. When Logan and Veronica got to the beach, Veronica let out Backup on a long leash to do his business. She sat in the open door to the van while Logan sat behind the closed door. Sometimes they drove to beaches far enough way that they could walk together, sometimes she came alone, but recently they had been doing it this way a lot.

As Veronica watched Backup play in the sand, she and Logan discussed the morning’s rescue.

“Veronica, you have such a hero complex.”

“You’re just jealous.”

“Of what? The naked guy tied to the flagpole? Please. I look so much better naked.”

Veronica laughed. Then she saw a familiar face.

“Speaking of whom…” She nodded at Wallace, who was flying a model airplane farther down the beach and had just seen her, as well.

Logan sighed from his hidden position and leaned back against the door.

Veronica took his hand in hers, careful not to look at him.

“How’s Duncan’s arm?”

“Celeste wants to fly him up to Sacramento to see some big-time orthopedic surgeon.” He played with Veronica’s hand and she leaned her head against the door jamb.

After a summer spent away from Neptune in which they were able to openly be a couple, the two of them had been ready to come clean to the residents of Neptune about their relationship. That plan had unfortunately been thwarted when Logan tried to tell Duncan, who Veronica and Logan both agreed should be told first. He had been a passenger in Duncan’s Beemer at the time and before he could get out a complete sentence on the subject, the car had swerved off the road and hit a tree. Logan had suffered minor cuts and bruises thanks to his airbag, but Duncan’s arm had been broken in three places and he was going to require a few operations to return to full health.

Pursuant to the car accident, Logan and Veronica had reluctantly concluded that Duncan wasn’t ready for the news and they had resumed the clandestine relationship of the previous year.

After she dropped Logan off at his car and Backup at home, Veronica went into the office where she had a very exciting afternoon. She accepted a case from Cliff, her all-time favorite lawyer; she observed her father meeting with Celeste Kane—gasp!—and decided to start tailing Jake as soon as her father got the call to chase down a bail jumper. Keith being the smart man that he was, of course, was sure to tell her to take the boys with her when she tailed the billionaire.

Veronica took her father’s advice and called Logan to let him know about the stakeout. Reversing the routine from earlier in the day, she picked up Backup from her apartment and Logan from his alley and they all headed for the Camelot in the Covert Ops Command Center.

Over the previous semester, the two of them had come to enjoy going on stakeouts together. In a way, it was one of the few times they got to be a normal couple. A normal couple that spied on low-lifes and criminals, of course, but at least they got to spend time with each other and talk about normal things. It had been very difficult at first for Veronica to convince Logan that time spent in the C.O.C.C. (the van’s moniker when being used for stakeouts) was not time designated for make-out sessions and illicit love trysts. Her boyfriend had had a very difficult time with this until the time that she had almost missed a crucial photo because of Logan’s naughty hands. As a result, Veronica had threatened to forbid him from coming on stakeouts anymore unless he learned to behave. They were very good now about waiting to make out until after Veronica got the necessary pictures.

Veronica was slapping Logan away from her neck, which he was trying to nibble, when they heard the sounds of approaching motorcycles. There was only one group that made such a racket in Neptune and they had undoubtedly been looking for Veronica to discuss their meeting earlier in the day.

Veronica and Logan both stilled in the back of the van.

“Well, this can’t be good.” The bikers knew her van as they had passed her numerous times in various parts of Neptune while she was on stakeout.

She moved to part the curtains separating the back of the van from the front.

“Stay in the back, Logan. Backup and I can handle this.”

Logan looked very unhappy but he didn’t argue. The stakes of their discretion hadn’t changed in the past five minutes.

As Veronica moved to the front seat, Weevil pulled up and gestured for her to roll down her window.

”Car trouble, miss?”

”Yeah, as a matter of fact. I think it might be a loose belt. but if you wouldn’t mind checking under the hood…”

One of the bikers, a particularly scary-looking young man, moved towards her car.

“Hey Weevil, who gets the first danc—“

Backup jumped out of the window from the passenger floor, jaws fastening onto the biker’s arm and bringing him down.

The scary-looking biker yelled, “Get him off me! Get him off me, get him off me!”

Felix came around from the front of the van, threatening, “Girl, you best call off your dog.”

Veronica tasered him in the middle of his chest and Felix went down. Weevil was not impressed with the state of his fighting force.

Veronica called out, “Backup! Chill!” at which point Backup let go of the now-wiser biker.

Veronica knew that she had to end this soon or Logan was going to come charging out of the van. If he really felt that she was in danger, Logan would put her life above Duncan’s.

To Weevil, she said, “ I’ll tell you what. We’ll call it a draw.”

“Baby, come on, it’s too late for that,” the gang leader scoffed.

She could compromise. “Here’s the deal. Leave that kid at school alone for a week and I’ll make sure your boys walk.”

“Why you care so much for that skinny negro, anyway? Things I heard about you, he must really lay the pipe right, huh.”

"Yeah, that’s it.”

At that moment, Felix clawed his way back up to Veronica’s open window and she reminded him of the charged taser.

Weevil broke up the impending rematch. “All right, all right, all right. Felix, we get it, you’re a badass, okay. But for once don’t be stupid.”

Felix backed off, somewhat grateful.

”Not bad advice,” Veronica commented.

”All right, one week. After that, we come for you, your boy and your little dog too.”

Cute.

Backup growled and Veronica calmed him, “Backup, be cool.”

Weevil, of course, had to get in the last word. “You get lonely out here remember, Weevil love you long time.”

Veronica sighed and scratched Backup’s head as the biker gang drove off into the night.

“Good boy.”

“I think I deserve some praise, too,” said a voice from the back.

Veronica moved back through the curtain to the section of the van where her boyfriend had restrained himself from attacking the bikers threatening his girlfriend. She found Logan sitting on the edge of the left captain’s chair, gripping the arms so tightly that he was making permanent indentations in them.

She edged her way into his lap, removing his arms from the chair and putting them around herself. She forced him to sit back as she rested her head against his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his neck.

They sat there in each other’s arms as she waited for the tension to leave his body. She actually didn’t run into trouble very often when she was on stakeout and on the two occasions that she had, she had been able to handle the situation without Logan having to become involved. It was destructive to his soul, though, to have to sit quietly in the back to see if the situation became dire enough for him to step in. Logan was not quiet. Or patient. Or subtle. And to have to be all of those in order to serve both of his closest friends was akin to both physical and emotional torture for Logan.

Having gotten the pictures that she needed prior to the PCHers arrival, the two of them left not long after Logan was able to calm down. When they got to Xterra Alley, Logan chose to end the evening on a lighter note as they kissed good night.

“So…” his lips moved against Veronica’s, “…you think you’re going to be able to hide your boyfriend from your new best friend?”

“Why, Logan Echolls,” she murmured, as she distracted him by running her hands over his biceps (they were a particularly sensitive spot for him when touched in just the right way). “Is that a challenge?”

“Um…” Logan seemed to be having a difficult time concentrating. “What? Oh, yeah. I think it might be.” He pulled her closer to him and their kissing intensified.

“Well, then,” and she pulled away from him and reached over him, opening his door. “Let the games begin.”

Logan looked like he’d been hit over the head with a sledgehammer.

“Huh?” Talk about dazed and confused.

“You issued a challenge. I accepted. See you tomorrow.” She gave him a big smile.

He leaned back against the passenger seat and took a deep breath as he slowed down his blood pressure. He turned his face to her and an evil grin spread across his face.

“You know this is war, right?”

“I certainly hope so.”

Logan leaned across the center console and kissed Veronica’s earlobe, her sensitive spot. Then he got out of the van and into his own car.

Veronica smiled as he drove off and she continued to the block to her apartment complex. As she locked the van and walked to her apartment, Weevil’s comment flashed across her mind.

“Why you care so much for that skinny negro, anyway? Things I heard about you, he must really lay the pipe right, huh.”

Quite the reputation she had, wasn’t it? But that was a long story, and she was too tired to even think about it right this minute. As she made her way through the darkened apartment and into her bedroom, she chose instead to have Logan’s romantic attentions be the last picture to run across the backs of her eyes.

Oh, this challenge was going to be fun.

Chapter Text

Veronica raced up the stairs and into her bedroom without saying hello to her mother. She fell on her bed and cried harder than she had ever thought possible.

Celeste Kane had ordered Veronica out of the hospital without a second thought. Logan had been instantly torn between staying with his dying friend and helping the distraught object of Celeste’s vitriolic hatred, which made Veronica feel even worse. She had managed to drive herself home and had just enough energy left to make it up to her room.

Her mom called her up to her to come to both lunch and dinner, but Veronica didn’t answer either summons. She couldn’t handle the company of other people and even if she could, Celeste and Duncan didn’t seem to think that she was worthy of it in the first place.

She stayed unmoving on her bed for the rest of the day, unable to sleep, eat or talk to anyone. Maybe she would have been able to talk to her father, but he was pulling 18-hour days on the Kane case and Lianne didn’t call him to let him know that something seemed to be wrong with their daughter.

At about 8:00 that night, her mom knocked on her door. Veronica didn’t answer.

“Veronica, honey, someone’s here to see you,” her mom called.

Lianne opened the door and Logan stepped in. Veronica heard her mom say something softly to him, but she couldn’t hear what it was, nor did she care. She rolled onto her other side, away from the door and the young man intruding on her world.

She felt Logan sit down next to her on the bed.

“Duncan’s going to be okay,” he said quietly. “He’s on suicide watch, but the doctors think he’ll be able to go home in a few days. Jake and Celeste are going to put him in therapy.”

Veronica said nothing. When no one had contacted her, she had figured that was the case.

“I wanted to call you earlier, but there was never a chance. Celeste kept crying and Jake lost it. It was pretty bad.”

Tears once again streamed sideways down Veronica’s face onto her pillow.

“Talk to me, Veronica.” Logan sounded…Veronica wasn’t sure what he sounded like. How was she supposed to know? “What do you want me to say?” she asked dully.

She felt him move to face her. “Come on, Veronica, I wanted to come by earlier, but I couldn’t. I wanted to call and let you know what was going on, but I couldn’t…I just…couldn’t.” He abruptly stopped as though all of his words had run out.

“I know.” Only her lips moved. The rest of her remained motionless.

“Is it Celeste? You know how she is—“

She cut him off. “It’s not Celeste.”

Logan sighed, defeated. “Your mom says you’ve been up here all day. Is it because no one…I…didn’t call to tell you how Duncan was doing?” No answer. “What is it, Veronica?”

“What difference does it make?” Her voice was expressionless.

Logan had reached the end of his tolerance. He grabbed this strange new Veronica and pulled her up to face him. Her head fell listlessly to the side and she didn’t make eye contact with him.

“It matters to me! It matters to your parents! I can’t lose anyone else, Veronica—please! Please!” His words finally penetrated Veronica’s stupor and she looked up into his eyes as tears flooded her own.

“He would rather die than see me,” she sobbed. “Why am I so horrible? What’s wrong with me?”

She collapsed in his arms and Logan felt his own heart break on her behalf.

“Nothing’s wrong with you, Veronica. Nothing.” He held her tightly and rocked her as she continued to weep uncontrollably. He continued to murmur words of comfort as her tears ebbed and subsided.

At that moment, as her tears eased and Logan held Veronica in his arms, he wanted nothing more than to kiss away her pain. When he realized what he was thinking, he was horror struck by how inappropriate the impulse was, even for him. Lilly had just been murdered; Duncan was in the hospital after trying to commit suicide. He was comforting his dead girlfriend’s best friend who was also his best friend’s ex-girlfriend. He instantly decided to chalk it up to the intense emotions of the moment and shake it off.

Logan lay down on the bed and held Veronica until she fell asleep. At about 9:30, he gently covered her with a blanket and left her room. As he moved quietly through the house towards the front door, he was startled to hear Keith’s voice.

“Thank you for coming over, Logan.”

Logan nodded. He never knew what to say to Veronica’s father, who seemed to not suck at the calling of fatherhood.

He changed the subject. “Are you going to catch Lilly’s killer, Sheriff?”

“We’re doing our best.” Keith’s voice matched the exhaustion in his eyes. He rubbed the bridge of his nose with his fingers. “How is Veronica doing with all of this?”

Logan hesitated. He didn’t usually confide in adults, so he decided to stick with the obvious. “Between Lilly and Duncan, she’s having a rough time.”

“I’m glad you’re here for her.” Keith looked up at the young man who his daughter was turning to. “How are you doing?”

Logan didn’t know how to answer—again, adults didn’t usually show genuine interest in his welfare. He looked around trying to find something else to focus on. Where was Lianne? It was only 9:30. He said as much to Keith.

Keith’s demeanor altered subtly. “She’s upstairs with a headache.”

Logan recognized both the demeanor and the answer immediately—Lianne was an alcoholic. He hadn’t known. He felt a sudden kinship with Keith and Veronica. Having a loved one who was an alcoholic was like being in a club that no one wanted to pay the dues to join. One of the benefits, though, was the ability to recognize the signs inherent in other members. He was surprised that he had never seen them in Veronica.

Not having anything else to say, or at least anything that he was willing to discuss, Logan said goodbye and left, leaving Keith alone on the couch.

*

Lianne wanted Veronica to stay home on Monday, her entire world having been tossed in the air and scattered to the winds. Lianne wasn’t the world’s most commanding presence, but she loved her daughter and she tried her best to convince Veronica to take a few days off. But Veronica didn’t want a repeat of the previous day so she insisted on going to school, which turned out to be a very big mistake.

None of the people that she thought were her friends would talk to her. Everyone seemed sorry that her best friend had died, but Duncan had spent the previous week avoiding Veronica and then had had gone out and tried to kill himself. Didn’t that mean that the 09ers as a group should avoid her, too? The collective was having a hard time figuring out how to react to the situation without a leader to tell them what to do. Lilly was dead, Duncan was in the hospital, and Logan wasn’t at school because he was at the hospital with Duncan. So the 09ers were adrift without a rudder and Veronica was alone.

Right after lunch a rumor started running down the halls of Neptune High that Keith Mars had brought Jake and Celeste Kane into the sheriff’s office to be questioned in their daughter’s murder, not as parents, but as suspects. The reaction of the student body, in particular of the 09ers, was immediate and not in Veronica’s favor. She watched as her former friends went from looking at her with uncertainty to casting hateful glances her way. When the final bell rang, Veronica practically raced to her car, unable to leave fast enough.

She went home feeling lost. Her house provided no comfort; school gave her no escape; her support system no longer existed. The devastating feeling of being utterly alone that had first appeared at school returned as she raced into her room, sliding down the door as soon as she shut it behind her. She didn’t recognize these feelings. She didn’t know what to do them. She felt like someone had shoved her in a dryer and turned it on—she was being suffocated at the same time that her body and soul were being battered.

She couldn’t call Lilly to complain about her hellacious day because Lilly was dead. Even if she wasn’t, would Veronica want to call her? This was the same girl that she and Logan had caught with the pool boy last Thursday.

Logan. She could talk to Logan. She pulled her purse to her and pulled out her cell phone, which had a pink exterior covered in white daisies—Lilly had hated it. She speed dialed Logan, but there was no answer so she left a message for him to call her.

As she sat on the floor in front of her door, her life in ruins around her, Veronica pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. Who would help her? What was she supposed to do? Where was she supposed to go? She had misplaced her life and there didn’t seem to be any directions to tell her how to get it back.

*

Logan Echolls was famous for his temper. Even for him, though, this was something else entirely. He wasn’t sure that he had ever been this angry in his life and considering the life that he had led that was saying a lot. His Xterra screeched to a halt in front of the Mars’ standard issue California tract home. He shot out of his car and let the inhabitants know he wanted in. It could hardly be called a knock. It was 11:30 at night, definitely past the hour when most visitors call and well into the hours considered rude. He banged on the door again.

“Who’s there?” Logan heard Keith Mars’ voice call out. Good. Exactly who he wanted to see.

“LOGAN!” he bellowed in response and hit the door one more time for good measure.

Logan heard the sound of locks tumbling and the door opened to reveal Keith standing in his uniform pants and white undershirt, holding a gun in his hand. Logical response for a cop.

“What the hell are you doing?!” demanded Keith.

“I could ask the same thing of you,” Logan bit out as he shouldered his way into the house. “I just spent the day with Duncan because his parents were dragged down to the police station. Hasn’t this family been through enough? Who do you think you are?!”

Jake had put on a great face for the cameras, but when he got back to the hospital at about 9:30 that night, Logan had had to watch the head of the Kane household fall apart all over again. Celeste was practically catatonic and Duncan was a complete disaster. Honestly, Logan would like to have left, but how could he? Duncan was still on suicide watch and his parents weren’t in any condition to watch him. He had waited until Duncan was in a deep drugged sleep before he dared to consider leaving. Once he had, he had headed straight for the Mars house.

Logan had started to trust Keith, trust that he was a good cop and a good man—and then this. As if Jake or Celeste could or would hurt Lilly. She drove them crazy. They were disappointed in her. They wanted to send her off to boarding school. They didn’t want to kill her. How could Keith think that Jake, the man that Logan could only wish that he had had as a father, was possible of killing Lilly? How?

“You dragged Jake and Celeste out of the their dying son’s hospital room to accuse them of killing their daughter! How could you do that?!” That one he seemed to want an answer to—the silence that followed seemed to echo through the house.

Keith’s voice was heavy. “You know I can’t comment on an ongoing investigation.”

“That’s crap!” Logan moved as though he were going to push Keith, but he stopped himself at the last second. “Go to hell,” he said with finality. He turned to make what was sure to be a dramatic exit when he froze. There at the bottom of the stairs, frozen in horror, was Veronica. The instant that Logan saw Veronica’s face, he was hit by a powerful sense of déjà vu. He had seen that face before—when he looked at himself in the mirror after one of his father’s “lectures”.

He only had a moment to register this, though, as Veronica turned and bolted for the door.

*

At the end of Veronica’s street was a sad little excuse for an orchard. For whatever reason, when her subdivision had been built the developers had left a couple dozen pathetic little orange trees. They were for the most part runty and probably diseased, but to Veronica they were beautiful, a calm bit of nature in the ever-expanding urban sprawl that was southern California. No one but Veronica ever went there—it was her special place.

Instinctively she raced there now. She didn’t have on any shoes, just her thin p.j.’s., but she didn’t notice as she ran down the sidewalk, desperate to get away from what she had just witnessed. Her mind was like a supernova—no details, just a blinding explosion. She couldn’t rationalize what had just happened. She couldn’t identify what she was feeling. She just knew that she couldn’t be in that house anymore, couldn’t be in the same room with him.

Veronica reached the trees and rushed to her favorite spot, a small clearing in the middle of the tiny orange grove. When she got there, she clutched one of the trees as though her life depended on it. She wanted to cry, but all that came out was something akin to hysterical breathing, small little breaths that made her fear whether or not she would ever be able to breathe normally again. A strong pair of arms went around her and she screamed.

She hadn’t heard Logan come into the orchard behind her—her breathing had masked the sound of his approach, which had slowed to a walk once he saw her enter the small stand of trees at the end of her street.

Logan’s anger at Keith had burned so brightly that when he had burst into the Mars’ home, the thought that Veronica would hear him had been obscured. Only when he saw her standing there, looking as though she had been physically abused, did he realize that he should have thought of her much sooner.

As he put his arms around her, she jolted and tried to fight his embrace, but he held on to her. As he lowered the two of them to the ground he felt the frenzied gasps issuing from her small frame. He started stroking her hair and whispering words of comfort and apology.

“I’m so sorry, Veronica. I’m so sorry. I never meant to hurt you. You didn’t see the Kanes today—it was awful. I’m so sorry that I hurt you.”

Veronica’s breathing slowed and while she didn’t exactly relax, she didn’t feel quite as stiff in his arms.

When she spoke, the words seem to be choking in her throat. “I lost Lilly, Duncan, all of my friends. I can’t give up my family, too, Logan. I can’t.”

“I know,” he whispered into her hair. “I know.”

“But you hate him. You hate him for what he did today, and I can’t—I can’t hate him. I can’t do that.”

“I’m so sorry that I hurt you, Veronica, especially when all I want to do is protect you.”

This time Logan didn’t fight the urge. He leaned down and pressed his lips to Veronica’s, intent on kissing away her hurt. He meant for it to be conciliatory, an apology, and it first it was. But in the blink of eye the kiss morphed from gentle and kind to powerful and overwhelming.

Logan was stunned. He had always thought of Veronica as cute and sweet and cotton candy. This explosion was none of those things—it was passion and intensity and burning flames. It was definitely not sweet. His tongue swept into her mouth as though he could devour her and she matched him moment for moment. As she did so, his inner vision of Veronica flipped upside down and twisted inside-out. He tried to remember why this was a bad idea, but for the life of him he couldn't do it.

Veronica was flying. It was like she had had a weight sitting on her for an eternity and suddenly it was gone. This was unlike anything that she had ever experienced. It was primal and needy and it felt as though a tidal wave was crashing around and over her, threatening to drag her into the abyss any second. This was nothing like making out with Duncan—with him, no matter how out of control their kissing might have seemed, she had always felt like she was in safe hands--she had always known where the net was. That did not apply to Logan. This was jumping off a cliff not knowing if there were rocks or water at the bottom or even if there was a bottom at all. Being with Duncan was lighting a match in a room full of fire extinguishers. This was lighting a match in a fireworks factory.

As her fingers clutched at his hair, Veronica wondered what Lilly would think if she knew this was happening. As Logan bent her head back and continued to explore her mouth, the thought crossed Veronica’s mind that Lilly probably did know and was most likely yelling something like, “About time you got kissed right, Veronica Mars!”

She turned to angle herself more closely to Logan’s body, the two of them still caught up in the unexpected detonation of chemistry and emotion. He in turn lowered her to the ground and covered her body with his.

He sat up, disengaging his mouth from her.

“What?” she asked dazedly. She grasped at him, desperate to resume what he had so abruptly stopped.

“No,” he said in just as much of a daze, “not like this.”

Veronica felt as though she had been stricken. He didn’t like it? He didn’t like her? He didn’t want to be with her?

Logan saw the look on her face and reached down to quickly kiss away her frown. When he leaned back up he reassured her, “No, no, that was amazing. Trust me. It’s just…” he stroked her cheek and tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear, “I would love to be your first, Veronica.” She smiled, and despite what they had just done, blushed to the roots of her blond hair. “But I want it to be special—not in the middle of an orange grove where any of your neighbors could walk past.”

Veronica couldn’t restrain a giggle. Her emotions had all flooded to the surface and she couldn’t hold anything back. The thought of losing her virginity in the middle of a bunch of runty orange trees suddenly struck her as being hysterically funny. Her giggles continued and Logan’s laughter joined her own.

When her giggling fit finally began to subside, Logan helped her up and put his arms around her, bringing her to face him.

“This is probably wrong or a bad idea or something like that,” he said, and he bent down to kiss her again, “but I don’t care. I mean, are you okay with that?”

In answer, Veronica bit at his lower lip and made him kiss her fully once more. She was surprised at her own forwardness. She smiled against his lips—-that didn’t mean that she didn’t like it.

Logan leaned his forehead against hers when they were forced to come up for air.

“I’d better get you home. I want to be able to see you again and if I don’t get you back soon, your dad’ll probably ground you and beat the hell out of me.”

“He does own a gun,” reminded Veronica as the two of them exited the orange grove together.

“Then we’ll have to do this somewhere more private next time,” he whispered into her ear.

She couldn’t wait.

Chapter Text

As Veronica sat down at her usual solitary lunch table, she glanced over at the 09er table. Most people thought it was Duncan that drew her eye. The idea, of course, was for Duncan to think that, too. But it wasn’t her first love that always caught Veronica’s eye. Logan felt her glance and looked over just as briefly before turning away. Glancing away was such a habit for both of them that they had joked privately that if their relationship ever went public they would miss each other’s lips if they tried to kiss.

Only five people knew the nature of Logan and Veronica’s relationship, including their parents. The first to find out, of course, had been her father. He had been waiting for them when she and Logan returned from the orange grove that first night and the sight of the two of them holding hands as they walked into the house had been—you know—kind of a giveaway.

Keith hadn’t said anything at first. He raised an eyebrow at Logan, who had the decency to look embarrassed. Logan looked at his feet, but he didn’t let go of Veronica’s hand.

“Are you two sure about this?” Keith asked them.

Veronica looked at Logan and put her free hand on his arm. Logan looked at her and Veronica nodded to her father.

Keith nodded in return before his look became grave.

“How is Duncan going to take this?”

The teenagers looked at each other again before Veronica turned back to her dad.

“He’s not.”

Keith’s brow furrowed and Logan took a deep breath.

“Duncan can’t handle anything right now, least of all…” he held up his and Veronica’s entwined hands.

Veronica continued, “So we’re going to keep this between us. For now.”

Keith considered this for a moment before nodding. “That’s probably for the best.” Then he looked hard at the boy on his daughter’s arm. “Logan, I’m only going to say this once and then we’re going to move on.” Logan’s face froze—Keith was using his ‘cop voice’. “If you ever hurt my daughter, when I’m done with you, you’ll wish you had never been born.” He looked Logan directly in the eye. “Are we clear?”

Logan relaxed. Despite popular opinion, he believed in monogamy; he certainly wasn’t going to hit Veronica. While there were other ways to hurt people, he was pretty sure that those were the two that Keith would respond to with force. Logan knew where he stood.

“I wouldn’t expect anything less,” he said calmly.

“Now that we understand each other,” confirmed Keith, and the two men exchanged one of those “guy” looks that left Veronica certain that she had just missed something. “Alright, Veronica, you need to go to bed. Logan, I’m guessing we’ll be seeing you tomorrow.”

Veronica jumped in before Logan could move. “Dad, I can’t—I can’t go back to school tomorrow. Today was too…hard. I need some time…” She didn’t want to tell her dad the specifics of why her day had been so bad, but Keith was an intelligent man.

“Okay, honey,” Keith assured her. “Why don’t we plan on you taking a few days off?”

Logan felt Veronica’s hands relax against him. What had today been like for her? He had been at the hospital all day and then had come straight here. He cringed inwardly at what must have happened to Veronica when it got around school that Keith had brought the Kanes in for questioning.

“Can Veronica come over to my place tomorrow so she doesn’t have to be here alone?” he asked the older man.

Keith smiled. “I think that’ll be okay. You’ll need to explain the situation to your parents so they can help you be discreet. I agree that it’s important that Duncan not know about this right now.”

“Will do,” affirmed Logan.

“Alright, you two. Veronica—bed. Logan—home.” He smiled at the two of them and headed upstairs, leaving his daughter and her boyfriend alone, his way of showing them that he approved of their relationship.

Logan turned to Veronica. “I’m going to go see Duncan in the morning. I think they’re going to keep him in the hospital another day. Why don’t you take a cab over to my place at around ten?”

“A cab?” she questioned.

“Trust me,” he leaned down and gave her a soft kiss. “I have a plan.”

Veronica giggled. “Should I be worried?”

“Probably,” he said and he kissed her again.

Veronica was quickly growing addicted to the feel of Logan’s lips. She didn’t want him to go and she certainly didn’t want him to stop kissing her, but she knew that they both needed to respect her dad’s trust. Reluctantly, they broke apart and Logan went home.

As she went to sleep that night, the taste of Logan’s lips still on her own, she wondered what the next day would be like. Would he regret what they had done? Would he be happy? She and Logan had always been casual friends. This was new territory. She tried to remember her earlier excitement as she went to sleep, to have faith in this new discovery, but deep down she was afraid it would go as horribly wrong as everything else recently had.

Wallace sat down at her table, jerking her out of her reverie.

As she looked up in surprise, she saw her new friend shaking his head.

“Girl, you should hear what people say about you.”

She had expected him to say that yesterday. The gossip mill was running a little slow this week.

“So then what are you doing sitting here?”

”I like this table.”

”It’s the same as every other table out here.”

“Don’t let the advertising fool you—this is by far the best one out here. What do you suppose this is made of? Oak?”

Veronica sighed. Enough banter—the situation was what it was. “Look, if people are saying such awful things…”

Wallace cut her off. “Well, I figure I’ve got a choice. I can either hang out with the punks who laughed at me, took pictures of me while I was taped to that flagpole, or I can hang out with the chick who cut me down.”

Veronica grinned. How enchanting—a high school student with a mind of his own.

”So you want to get the PCH Bike Club off your ass?”

Wallace laughed and Veronica smiled. She had a friend of her very own.

As she went through the rest of her classes, though, Wallace’s comment kept running through her mind.

Girl, you should hear what people say about you.

Even after her dad accused Jake Kane of collusion in Lilly’s murder, Veronica’s life hadn’t immediately been like that.

The day after the events in the orange grove, Veronica had taken a cab over to Logan’s house, for which he had insisted on paying, and they had told his mom what was going on. Logan had asked Lynn to fill Aaron in—Logan’s father was in L.A. doing voiceover work for the day. Veronica sensed that Logan didn’t want to tell Aaron himself, but she wasn’t sure why.

Logan had taken his mother aside for a few minutes and then he and Veronica had gone outside where a car and driver were waiting for them. All Veronica could get out of Logan was that the driver was from his parents’ exclusive car service, which paid their drivers very well to keep all of their customers’ secrets. Every time she tried to get more out of him, Logan kissed her. Eventually she kept doing it just so that they could keep making out, which led to them laughing so hard that they couldn’t make out anyway.

Either way, by the time they had arrived at their destination, Veronica was completely clueless as to where they were. She was then very confused when they came to a halt in the middle of a fairly skanky neighborhood. As she got out of the car, she looked around the neighborhood and at the prominent sign that read “Ontario A-OK Used Cars”.

She looked at Logan in disbelief. “We drove all the way to Ontario to go to a used car dealership?”

“Going to one in Neptune would defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it?” Logan had turned back to the driver and given him a large tip, asking him to wait until after they had purchased a car to leave.

“You’re going to buy a car,” stated Veronica, bemused.

Logan didn’t answer her directly, merely raising his eyebrows as if to say, “Duh.”

Veronica didn’t say anything else as she watched Logan go to town on the oily used car salesman who came running up to the couple who had just gotten out of a chauffeur-driven Lincoln Towncar. Logan proceeded to spin a tall tale about the desperate circumstances which led his brother the chauffeur to drive Logan and his pregnant girlfriend to the nearest used car dealership. (Veronica figured it was a good thing that the Towncar was parked in such a way that the salesman couldn’t tell that the driver was clearly of Hispanic descent.) She barely managed to conceal her laughter, turning it instead into little sniffles in subtle support of Logan’s charade. She also began patting her stomach at regular intervals.

Her boyfriend continued to explain to the nonplussed salesman, who introduced himself as Lyle Kitchens, that his and Veronica’s only chance in life was to buy a car that would get them to Snowflake, Arizona, where her family lived—there was a job there for him, but only if he had a car. Did Lyle have anything that would work for the poor young couple, now using their last few pennies to buy the car that would ensure their future? By this point, tears were starting to squeeze out of Veronica’s eyes as she strained not to fall over laughing.

Lyle went into sales mode, not completely taken in by Logan’s sob story, but not recognizing the young man as the son of Hollywood royalty, either. Veronica’s tears, sniffles and stomach patting didn’t hurt. He and Logan haggled back and forth for some time before finally settling on a relatively reasonable price for a dark green 1994 Mazda 626. Once all of the numbers had been settled and the paperwork had been filled out, Lyle had been less than pleased when Logan pulled out his mother’s black AmEx to settle the bill. His entire demeanor changed and he angrily pulled the credit card through the sad little machine on his desk. Lyle’s manner improved a bit, however, when Logan slid a $100 bill across the desk—amazing the power that Benjamin had to cheer people up.

As Logan and Veronica got into their “new” car and the chauffeur finally drove off in the Lincoln, Lyle had reached in to shake Logan’s hand and there had been a mutual “no hard feelings” exchange, during which Veronica was pretty sure some more money exchanged hands. As they drove off, Veronica smacked Logan on the arm, prompting him to cop an innocent expression.

“What? I could hardly drive over to your place every day in my car.”

“Ontario?” she asked blandly.

“We didn’t run into anyone we know, did we?”

He then took her to dinner at a tacky run-down children’s restaurant/mini-golf palace ruled by a Rocky & Bullwinkle theme. Veronica thought the place was kind of creepy, what with images of the cartoon moose painted on the ground, staring at them from overhead, and emblazoned upon the golf balls, but it was obvious that Logan liked it and the two of them had a great time as they went through a pizza and played a round of golf. As they laughed and talked their way across eighteen holes, Veronica realized that first of all, there was no awkwardness. They had known each other long enough that they basically skipped the awkward exposition phase that marked the beginning of most relationships and instead got to move on to the more interesting stage of getting comfortable around one another. They kept finding excuses to touch hands and arms, invade each others’ personal space, and otherwise engage in “new couple” activities.

She also became conscious of the fact that this place held special meaning for Logan, which led her to believe that he hadn’t chosen Ontario at random. At one point he mentioned that his sixth birthday party had been held at Bullwinkle’s. Veronica casually asked him some questions about it which Logan had just as casually answered. She realized, though, that coming here had in no way been a casual choice for Logan. Bullwinkle’s was the source of one of Logan’s happiest childhood memories, and he was sharing it with her.

As they turned in their golf clubs and went inside for dessert, Veronica asked how long it had been since Logan had been to this restaurant. When he told her that the last time had been on his birthday, she had to blink back tears lest Logan see them. He was sharing something with her that he had never shared with anyone—a happy place in his heart that he clearly cherished. He trusted her with it.

As they held hands following dessert, talking about everything and nothing, Veronica said softly, “I think Lilly would like this. You know, not if she were alive,” she smiled at that. “But given the circumstances, I think she would approve. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah,” he had said as the pad of his thumb rubbed her palm. “I think you’re right.”

That night as she went to sleep, Veronica did so without any worries.

Things had gone well for about three weeks, even when the two of them went back to school the following Monday. Duncan went back, too, surprising everyone who thought his parents would make him take more time off, but he mentioned offhandedly to Logan that constantly being around his parents was more depressing than anything school could throw at him, so head back he did. Veronica was universally shunned by her former friends, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, thanks mostly to Logan’s subtle influence.

Now that the leaders of the pack had returned, the hive mind of the 09ers had an example to follow. Duncan pretended that Veronica didn’t exist, so Logan did the same—it was Duncan they were doing this for, after all. Logan even went so far as to tell Madison Sinclair to shut the hell up when she started to go off on Veronica around the lunch table one day. Madison looked stunned as Logan noted curtly that Veronica had lost her best friend, too.

“But her dad…” protested Madison.

“Drop it,” stated Logan flatly and that was that.

And so it remained until the day that the video of Lilly’s crime scene leaked. Near the end of the day, to her horror Veronica came across some boys watching the footage in the library. She raced out of the library past an equally distraught Logan. The instant school was over, disregarding all of the routines they had established over the past few weeks, Veronica raced over to Logan’s house.

She ran in to find him slumped on the floor next to the front door, tears streaming down his face. He stood when he saw her and the two of them held each other, her back to the wall, their foreheads together. An indeterminate amount of time passed before either of them moved, at which point Logan kissed Veronica’s temple, followed by a chaste kiss which quickly turned almost violent in its intensity. It was as though they were using the physical contact to remind themselves that they were alive and to chase away the images of death they had been forced to relive. At that exact moment the doorknob had turned and Dick and Beaver burst in.

Recognizing Veronica’s car in the driveway, they skipped knocking and so barely missed finding the couple passionately entangled. They were still against the wall, however, and apologizing with his eyes, which the intruders couldn’t see, Logan had covered for the two of them.

In a low but audible whisper, he said, “If you ever come here again looking for absolution, I will make sure that you are never able to show your face in this town again.” He leaned in closer and delivered the final blow. “Now get the hell out of my house before I have to have it fumigated.”

To the catcalls of the Casablancas brothers, Veronica had run out in tears. It took Logan most of the afternoon and evening to get rid of his uninvited guests, who had come over to console him through the application of copious amounts of alcohol and video games. By the time he went up to his room and called Veronica, it was 11:00. He was too drunk to drive and too miserable to do anything but repeat over and over again how sorry he was. Ultimately he had just listened while she cried softly, which was the best thing he could have done, anyway. And so began their nightly 11:00 tradition, whether on the phone or in person, the time when they were always there for each other. The timing could not have been better, because it was at that point that school became a living hell for Veronica.

Having been given permission—in their minds—to target Veronica, the 09ers went at it with a zeal that was almost frightening. Dick in particular led the charge as he reveled in telling everyone how Veronica had begged Logan for forgiveness and Logan had slammed her to the ground like a professional wrestler. Not only could Logan do nothing to stop it, on the occasions when he didn’t join in, it only made the situation worse. What’s wrong, Logan? Did she say something? He must be thinking of Lilly—Veronica is such a whore. Duncan, of course, lived on in silence.

Veronica found dead fish in her locker; all four of her tires flat; crushed Cheetos in her backpack; graffiti on her locker informing the world of what a slut she was; spitballs in her hair; rotten eggs crushed in her seat when she arrived to a class; pictures with her head Photoshopped onto Pamela Anderson’s body, Roseanne Arnold’s body, and into shots from porno movies.

It was during this time period that her home life imploded, as well.

Lianne had always been a relatively heavy drinker, but since Lilly’s death her drinking had spiraled into full-blown alcoholism. She was often too far gone to make dinner, leaving Veronica and Keith to fend for themselves. She stopped doing housework. The only conversations she had with Keith were arguments and most of her exchanges with Veronica were semi-coherent. Veronica wasn’t sure why her best friend’s death had affected her mother so strongly, but it had.

A few weeks after the tape leaked, the voters of Balboa County held an emergency recall election and Sheriff Mars became Keith Mars, private citizen. Veronica got the worst of it on both sides. At school she was the subject of even further derision and ridicule. At home the fights between her parents escalated, and when they had to move out of their home and into an apartment, Lianne just kept on going. She vanished over the Neptune city line leaving her daughter devastated.

The only things holding Veronica together were Keith and Logan. Her father used what little savings he had to rent an office downtown and set up a private investigation business while Veronica went to work for him, answering phones and setting up the filing system. At least she had a place where she felt needed—her dad acted tough, but the truth was that he needed her to be there, not just as an office manager (although he most certainly needed that), but because he needed her. Veronica and Keith’s relationship grew exponentially in the weeks after her mother left as she and her father built a new family on the ashes of their old one.

And then there was Logan. Along with being there for her emotionally, he started telling her ahead of time what the 09ers were planning next whenever possible. This helped to make their harassment of her seem juvenile instead of hateful—if you know that someone is going to fill your locker with flour, wear white and make a comment about wishing you had your Easy Bake Oven. Their abuse still hurt, but having the inside edge on her tormentors was more than a minor emotional victory.

She and Logan called each other every night and whenever possible he came over to see her. She was sure that most of her neighbors thought she was dating a gang banger. Logan always came over dressed in a hoodie and sunglasses—regardless of the time of day—wearing baggy jeans and a baseball cap slouched on underneath the hood to complete the outfit. If nothing else, he looked like he belonged in her neighborhood, although not necessarily with her.

So she rebuilt her life one piece at a time. They were small gains, to be sure, and on occasion she felt like she was having phantom limb pains—like amputees—when her heart remembered her mother, but she was trying.

And then came Shelley’s party.

Veronica had attended the previous year’s party with Lilly; hearing about its impending return made her ache for her friend. She decided to attend, to show the 09ers that they hadn’t beaten her, that she could hold her head up in front of them and not be ashamed. She didn’t tell Logan because she knew he would try to convince her not to go. It probably wasn’t the smartest idea she had ever had, but she felt like it was a necessary one in order for her to be able to keep looking at herself in the mirror every morning.

When she arrived the party was already in full swing, kegs flowing, clothes shedding. As she walked across the living room, making her way through lip-locked couples (including Duncan and Shelley Pomeroy), someone passed her a plastic cup. She started to take a drink when a strong hand snatched it from her fingers.

“What the—“ Couldn’t she even have a—

Her thought was cut off as she looked into Logan’s eyes.

“What the hell are you doing here?” he demanded as he dragged her out onto the pool deck. Everyone they passed snickered, assuming that he was telling her off for daring to show her face at their party. They were right, of course, they just had the reason wrong.

Veronica stared back at him, a steely glint in her eye.

“I’m tired of being the victim,” she stated in a low tone. “I wanted—I needed to come here.” Her gaze altered and her eyes pleaded with him. “Don’t you understand?”

He visibly sagged. He did understand why she was here; he also knew how stupid it was.

“Fine. Whatever. But don’t drink anything. At all. Not even water.”

“Why not?” she gave him a strange look.

He sighed. “Some of us scored some Liquid X in Tijuana last weekend.” The look on her face instantly transformed to pure I’m-your-girlfriend-and-I’m-going-to-kick-your-ass. “Yell at me later, okay?” he ground out. “In the meantime— Don’t. Drink. Anything.” He emphasized his words by grabbing her, almost shaking her. Veronica was shocked by the level of fear in Logan’s eyes. What in the hell did he think was going to happen to her?

Overreact much?

“Fine,” she told him archly. “May I go now?”

“Who am I to stand in your way?” She looked at him when he said this, but his expression was inscrutable.

She wandered around the pool, looking at all of the people she used to call friends. None of them spoke to her; in fact, no one looked at her at all—she might as well have been transparent. She went back inside the house, but it was the same. Sometime during her conversation with Logan, the 09ers seemed to have reached a group consensus to treat her as though she didn’t exist. Somehow this new method of social punishment was more painful than anything else they had done to her, maybe because it marginalized her very existence. After thirty minutes of it, Veronica couldn’t take it anymore; neither could she leave without feeling like they had won. She told herself she was compromising by slipping into an empty bedroom.

As she lay down on the bed, tears fell onto the pillow. She could hardly call this showing them that they hadn’t beaten her. The door opened and she sat up, dashing the tears from her eyes as she did so.

“I saw you come in here,” said Logan.

Veronica didn’t say anything as fresh tears slipped down her cheeks.

“I’m so sorry, Veronica.”

“Well, I’m tired of it!”

Logan came to a halt, surprised by the harsh tone in his girlfriend’s voice.

“I’m tired of being the victim, damn it!” Veronica stood up and started pacing. “I’m tired of sitting by while they torment me or act like I’m invisible!”

“Veronica—“

“Don’t you get it?” she cut him off. ”I’m tired of life happening to me instead of going out there and living it myself. This is stupid! Even before all of this happened—“ she waved her arms in the direction of the party, “—Lilly made all of the decisions. Where we went, what we did. And I let her! I let everyone else decide my life and I’m tired of it! I’m done!”

Silence followed this tirade, filled only by the sound of Veronica’s heavy breathing.

Veronica finally moved. She crossed to Logan and put her hands on his chest, feeling his heart beat through the fabric of his shirt.

“It’s time for me to start making my own decisions.” She looked up at Logan and he knew exactly what she meant.

“Veronica—“ he began uncertainly.

“Logan,” she said gently but firmly, “wouldn’t you say this is inevitable?” He didn’t respond. “And you have protection, right?” He looked away and she put her hand on his face and turned him back to look at her. “Then why don’t we let me be the one to say that it’s time? That I’m ready? That I want my first time to be with you, that I want it to be special? I want you, Logan. And I know you want me.” She reached up and kissed him. And Logan was lost.

Logan hadn’t been a virgin when he slept with Lilly for the first time, but she had been responsible for his figuring out how to do it well. And he was determined to use all of that knowledge to make Veronica’s first time as beautiful as she deserved for it to be. He set about doing so in earnest.

The most serious conversation that Lilly and Veronica ever had was about what Veronica should expect when she finally lost her virginity. Basically Lilly had told her best friend to set her expectations low. However, now that the decision had been made, Logan took charge and Veronica quickly realized that Lilly’s lecture had been given with the belief that Veronica’s first time would be with Duncan and it didn’t apply here. She quickly came to the conclusion that their talk would have gone much differently had Lilly known that the guy involved was going to be Logan.

The experience was nothing like what she had been led to believe it would be. It was not awkward, uncomfortable or disappointing and it certainly wasn’t quick. Logan took his time, exploring what seemed like every part of her, encouraging her to explore him in return. Veronica had no idea that foreplay could be so amazing. And the rest of it…

If the noises that Veronica was making were any kind of indication, Logan knew that she was enjoying it exactly as much as he had hoped that she would.

Afterward as they lay there taking in what had just happened, the only word that came to mind was “perfect”.

“Wow,” she said in awe. “And I mean, wow.”

Logan laughed. Lying on his side next to her, he tenderly smoothed a lock of hair back from her face.

Suddenly, Veronica blew out a huge breath and with great enthusiasm said, “Let’s do that again!”

Through his laughter, Logan told her, “I think you may be a little sore.”

“Oh…” Veronica’s voice dripped with disappointment.

“But…” Logan continued, “…there are other things we could do that can be just as much fun...” His voice trailed off as his gaze lowered.

“Oh, really?” Veronica wasn’t sure whether she should be really excited or really nervous. As Logan’s mouth blazed a trail downward, she exclaimed in a rather shocked voice, “What…what are you doing?! Oh, wow!” And again with the noises. Veronica stopped being shocked and just went with the moment.

As they fell asleep, her back against his front, his arms around her, Veronica had a flash of insight that told her this wasn’t normal. This wasn’t the first time that most girls got to have. As her eyes closed and her mind drifted, she felt safe, loved and completely at peace for the first time in a very long while. For Logan’s part, it was the first time in weeks that his sleep wasn’t haunted by dreams.

When Veronica woke up the next morning the first thing she noticed were Logan’s arms around her. Then she was surprised that Logan was the first thing she noticed given that she wasn’t wearing any clothes. She smiled and pulled Logan’s arms tighter around her.

“You’re awake,” said a voice behind her ear.

Veronica smiled as she turned to face him. “What are you doing up? I thought you didn’t believe in waking up before noon on the weekend unless the surf was up.”

“The surf is up,” he said suggestively as he moved his leg over hers.

“I’ve created a monster!” she laughed.

“Cookie monster!” Logan growled. “Cookie monster want cookie!” He lowered his lips to hers and hungrily kissed her.

Veronica’s laugh under his lips turned to ardor. Logan pulled back.

“I don’t want to hide anymore,” he said as he looked into her eyes.

“What?”

“I know that we’ve kept quiet for Duncan, but I’m done. I can’t sleep with you at night and hate you during the day. I won’t do that to you. I want everyone to know how we feel. We can talk to Duncan first—he should hear it from us. Is that—is that okay with you?”

Veronica smiled and nodded. “I think that’s a good decision.” She reached up and kissed him.

Logan’s phone rang.

Veronica’s eyes slid to the phone, but Logan ignored it.

The ringing stopped and their kissing intensified.

The phone started ringing again and the two of them sighed. Logan reached for the phone.

“Celeste?” he said surprised as he looked at the caller I.D. He flipped it open as he sat up. “Hello?”

Veronica could only listen to Logan’s end of the conversation, which didn’t sound like it was going well. He hung up and sat immobile on the edge of the bed.

“Logan?” she asked, placing her hand on his back. When he didn’t answer, her tone became more insistent. “Logan?”

“It’s Duncan,” he said in a vacant tone. “He tried to kill himself.”

Chapter Text

Veronica paced her room as she waited for Logan’s call. As soon as he hung up with Celeste, he had gotten dressed, kissed Veronica goodbye and left for the hospital, promising as he did so that he would let her know what was going on as soon as possible. That had been three hours ago. While she paced, Veronica’s mind reviewed the momentous events of the previous evening. She had set out to prove to the 09ers that they hadn’t beaten her and had ended up proving to herself that she could take control of her life and make her own decisions.

Most people’s “first time” was a landmark event, but it had been so much more than that for Veronica. She had made a choice and followed through. For the first time that she could remember, she hadn’t been acted upon—she had acted. Of course, it hadn’t hurt that the experience had been fantastic. Veronica smiled to herself as she remembered Logan’s kiss goodbye that morning. That kiss, as much as anything else, had made her feel special, loved—cared for.

Her cell phone rang and Veronica flipped it open before the first musical trill had finished.

“What happened?!”

She heard the tension in Logan’s voice immediately. It also sounded like he was trying to keep his voice down.

“Duncan tried to slit his wrists.”

“Are you serious?”

Logan sighed. “Yes. I’m in front of the hospital. You can’t use cell phones inside.” The rest of his words came out in a rush, as though if they stayed inside they would poison him. “Celeste went in to check on him this morning and he was in the bathroom with the hot water running. He had cut one wrist and was working on the other one.” Veronica gasped. “The first cut wasn’t as deep as it…could have been, I guess, but it was bad enough. They called the ambulance and here we are.” Logan sighed. “He’s going to be fine, but Jake and Celeste are talking about putting him in a private hospital for awhile. A few weeks or something—I don’t know.”

Logan finally paused and Veronica took the opportunity to comment. “Do they have any idea what brought this on? I thought he was doing better.”

Silence answered her question.

“Logan?” No response. “What is it?” What else was going on here? “Logan?” Her voice became increasingly urgent.

When he finally spoke, Logan’s voice was even more tense than it had been when she first answered the phone. “When I got here, I asked Duncan what was wrong. You know, why did he do this?” His voice halted.

“And?” she urged anxiously.

He sighed. “He heard us last night.”

“He what?” Surely she hadn’t heard correctly.

“He heard us. Everyone did.”

“Everyone heard what?” He couldn’t mean what she thought he meant. Not really.

“Everyone heard us last night. In the bedroom.”

“Everyone heard us…having sex.” It wasn’t a question.

“Yeah.” There was a heavy pause. “Before I called you, I called Dick to find out what happened.” Another break. “Madison saw you go into the bedroom. When she passed by later, she…heard us…and she called everyone…to come listen at the door.”

Veronica tried to sit down, but she missed her bed and hit the floor instead. She didn’t even notice.

“Veronica?” It was her turn to go silent. “Veronica, please.” No answer. “Are you okay? Are you still there?”

“I’m here.” Her voice was empty.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

“I should have known.”

“How?” Veronica’s voice again showed signs of life. “This is not your fault. Do you hear me? It’s their fault. Wait a minute.” Something occurred to her. “What about you? What are they saying about you?”

“They don’t know.” He hesitated. “That it was me.”

Veronica took a sharp intake of breath. “Madison saw me go in, but she didn’t see who came in after me.”

“Yeah.” Logan sounded much older than his years. “And Cassidy thought I left with some girl, so everyone thought I was gone.”

“Who do they think it was?” she asked.

“They don’t know, and no one’s claiming responsibility.” She heard him take a deep breath as if to steady himself. “It gets worse.”

A jolt of genuine hatred ran down Veronica’s spine.

“Just say it.”

“They’re saying there was more than one guy.”

“What?” Veronica bit the word out.

“Madison’s telling everyone that no one will admit it was them because…well, she’s just saying that no one will admit it was them.” Logan’s voice trailed off.

“She’s saying that no one wants to admit that they went slumming.” She filled in the blanks.

Logan’s silence was answer enough.

“Riiiiiight.” She pondered this. “Okay, I have a question. What does this have to do with Duncan? I mean, he broke up with me. I know that he broke up with me because I was there.” The anger that was building in Veronica needed an outlet and it suddenly surged towards her ex-boyfriend. Whether this was where it belonged or not was irrelevant. The anger was there and Duncan was convenient. “Why does he get to care who I sleep with or how many people are there? Seriously, Logan. Why would my sex life affect Duncan like that?”

“Because he still loves you,” her boyfriend said quietly.

Veronica was momentarily taken aback. “He what? No. He. Broke up. With me.” She punctuated her words. “He cannot still be in love with me.”

“I got the idea that Celeste made him break up with you,” said Logan as though every word were being dragged out of him. “They didn’t get into why.”

“Well, that’s just too bad, isn’t it?” shot back Veronica. This revelation simply fanned the flames of her anger. “I loved Duncan. I did. But whatever his reason for breaking up with me, he did, and I moved on. I went and fell in love with someone else, so he’s just screwed, isn’t he? I mean, it’s not like I’m going to get back together with him. This is so stupid. I can’t believe this is my life.” Her anger momentarily spent, Veronica took a breath and realized that Logan wasn’t responding. “Logan?”

“You don’t want to get back together with him?”

“What? No. Why would—“ she cut herself off. “Logan, did you think that when I found out about Duncan that I would want to get back together with him?”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Well, you’re an idiot.” Veronica made a noise of exasperation. “I mean that. You are an idiot. Do you think that I slept with you because Duncan wasn’t available? Do you?” This was not a rhetorical question.

“No?”

“Do you love me?”

The question caught Logan by surprise, but it only took him a heartbeat to recover.

“Yes.”

“Then you’re just going to have to trust that I love you, too. Moron.”

Logan laughed, the tension melting out of his voice. “I can’t believe that you told me you loved me and called me a moron in the same breath.”

“I can’t believe you thought I would stop loving you because Duncan turned out to be a suicidal idiot who broke up with me because his mother told him to.”

“The women I love haven’t exactly been incredibly reliable.” Logan’s voice was so vulnerable that Veronica’s heart hurt for him and tears sprang to her eyes. She took a steadying breath. There was something that he obviously needed to know.

“Alright, Logan, I’m going to say this and I want you to pay close attention. Are you paying attention?”

“Close attention.” Logan was many things—stupid wasn’t one of them.

“Good. One of the few serious conversations I ever had with Lilly was about losing my virginity and it scared the hell out of me. Last night was nothing like what she described. The only thing she got right was that it hurt and even that didn’t seem like nearly as big of a deal as she made it out to be. Last night was perfect and that was because of you—you made my first time better than anyone’s ever has a right to be. And I don’t love you because it was perfect; it was perfect because I love you—and because you love me. And that’s the end of it. Got it?”

“Got it.” Logan’s voice sounded strange, choked.

“Good.” There was another silence as they listened to each other breathe. Veronica finally broke it.

“Now, about Duncan.”

“Yeah.”

“So he really tried to kill himself because he heard me having sex.” She wasn’t angry anymore—she was just tired.

“Yeah.” As was he.

“He’s definitely not ready to hear that it was you, then.”

“Not even close.”

They sat in silence as they both thought about the ramifications of Duncan’s precarious state of mind.

“I don’t want to be responsible for my best friend killing himself. I can’t be.”

“Me neither,” she affirmed.

Logan’s breath hitched. “The things they’re saying about last night. They’re bad.”

Veronica knew what Logan was trying to say. Most of the 09ers at Neptune had listened as Veronica had lost her virginity—purportedly to multiple people—and were undoubtedly sharing the details with the rest of the known universe at that very moment. Veronica’s reputation would be in shambles—unless Logan came forward, quite possibly driving Duncan to suicide in the process. It was a simple choice really.

“I’m prepared to live with that,” she said firmly.

Sitting on a bench in front of Neptune Memorial Hospital, Logan closed his eyes. How could he purposefully allow someone he loved so much to be hurt so badly?

How could he not?

“I’m going to let you get back to Duncan,” said his girlfriend.

“Right.” He looked at his watch. The Kanes were going to think he’d taken up smoking or something. “I love you, Veronica. I need you to hear me say that. I’m in love with you.”

“I love you, too, Logan.”

When they hung up, Logan went back up to Duncan’s room, wondering why the universe had suddenly decided to allow such a perfect woman into his life.

Veronica’s phone slid out of her hand. She grabbed the nearest figurine, a small clown holding three balloons that was perched on her nightstand, and threw it against her bedroom wall, shattering it into a million pieces.

Chapter Text

Veronica knew that she was probably supposed to be angry. But she wasn’t. Her head was too filled with white noise to register anything normal like emotion.

After she smashed the clown figurine, Veronica went to the storage closet in the hallway where she and her dad had put some of the leftover boxes from the move. She pulled out one of the big plastic Wal-Mart tubs and dumped the contents on the hallway floor. Her dad never had to know.

This was because Keith was in Sacramento chasing down a bail jumper. The two of them had quickly discovered that if a private investigator was good at finding missing lowlifes, the private investigator in question could generate a fairly steady source of income. Since it turned out that Keith was very good at tracking down the criminal element, he was now spending a lot of time so occupied, including tonight. Keith never had to see the mess that Veronica was making.

She put the now-empty tub in the middle of her bedroom floor and picked up a mother-daughter Precious Moments figurine that her mother had given her on her fifth birthday. She looked from the painted ceramic statue in her hand to the others placed carefully around her room. She had been collecting figurines her entire life. Birthdays, Christmases, congratulations gifts—her friends and family members had been contributing to her collection every year since she was born. She had cute little animals, cute little kids, cute little outdoor scenes—basically if it was cute and little, she had it.

Using every bit of her might, Veronica hurled the Precious Moments statue into the tub, instantly destroying it. She blindly started grabbing other figures, violently throwing each one into the large container where the broken fragments mixed together in a haze of white grit and powder.

Veronica had destroyed almost every ornament in the room before the snow in her head finally began to lift. She blinked her eyes and the world swam back into focus. As she looked at the cloud of white dust that hung over her room she became conscious of what she had just done. She wasn’t sure, but she thought that she might have just had a rage blackout. She looked down at her hands to find herself holding one of the two statues that had survived this uncharacteristic outburst and a giggle escaped her lips.

Lilly had hated Veronica’s collection and steadfastly refused to add to it up until the day she arrived home from Hawaii with two very garish Polynesian dancer dolls. The frightfully tacky man and woman were as far from “cutesy” as was humanly possible and were therefore, in Lilly’s opinion, an acceptable gift. Veronica set the male doll down next to its paramour (Lilly’s word, not hers). It was too ugly to die.

While her blind fury had passed, Veronica’s anger wasn’t done being spent. Turning her back on the bucket of porcelain shards, Veronica went into the kitchen and took out several garbage bags. She took them back into her room and started pulling clothes off of the hangers in her closet and throwing them into the bags. She opened her drawers and pulled out more items of clothing, then she started on her shoes. By the time she was finished, everything in her wardrobe that could possibly qualify as cutesy, virginal, precious, sweet and/or innocent had been shoved into a trash bag.

Veronica carried the bags filled with her former life out to her car, locked up the apartment, and headed out of Neptune to complete her errands. First she took the clothes and shoes to the Salvation Army. Then she drove to a vintage shopping district far enough away from home to ensure that she was unlikely to run into anyone she knew. There she used all of the money that she had saved over the past year to buy a new wardrobe. Between the allowance that she had been given before her family’s change in fortune and what her father had paid her in the past few months, she had a considerable amount of money to spend on her new image.

When she returned home that evening she had several bags full of reasonably priced outfits—all reflecting an inner self that she hadn’t known existed. More importantly, though, she came home feeling empowered. Before Lilly’s death, Veronica had rarely gone shopping alone as Lilly would invariably criticize whatever her best friend chose for herself. It was simpler to let Lilly come along and pick things out, so Veronica got into the habit of only shopping when her best friend was available. She hadn’t been shopping since October because it made her miss her friend so much. Today had been important in more ways than one.

She made a few more important stops between shopping and home, at which point she gathered up all of her bags and headed into her apartment complex. As she opened the door and dropped her bags, her cell phone rang. She knew it wasn’t her dad, as he had called to check in with her about a half an hour ago. He expected to be gone one more night and wanted to make sure that she was okay. She told him about Duncan, although she left out the part about the reputed catalyst for his attempted suicide being the loss of her virginity. Somehow she didn’t think that her dad would appreciate that part of the story. He had told her to take care and call immediately if she needed anything.

She smiled when she saw the caller I.D.

“Hello,” she said in a better tone of voice than she had used all day.

“Need some help?” breathed a voice that sent shivers down her spine and the voice wasn’t just on the phone.

Having not yet closed the door to the apartment, Veronica turned around to find her boyfriend standing behind her.

Cell phones forgotten, Logan lifted her off the ground in a steamy kiss.

Talk about turn your frown upside down.

“I like the hair,” he said as they finally broke up apart and moved inside. She leaned into him as he fell back against the closed door.

“I needed a change.” She smiled as she ran her fingers through her much shorter hair. He caught her hand and kissed her palm, once again sending shivers down her back.

“What’s in the bags?” he asked with a smile.

“I could tell you, but then I’d have to—“

And the mood was broken.

They both sighed and she laid her head against his chest while he rested his chin on top of her head.

“How is Duncan?” she asked softly.

“Alive,” he sighed as he ran his fingers through her newly-shorn hair.

She mentally shook herself as she pulled back from Logan’s embrace.

“So, you ready to be put to work?”

He leered at her, readily following her change in attitude. “It depends. Can you afford me?”

“Like you would turn down any price I offered,” she snarked back.

He raised an eyebrow as she led him back to her room.

Logan was stunned when they reached it. A layer of fine white powder coated one of those ubiquitous blue Wal-Mart buckets and the surrounding floor. On the other side of the room, there was a mark on the wall where another porcelain figure—were those plastic balloons?—had been shattered outside of the box where the rest of Veronica’s infamous menagerie apparently now resided. In pieces.

What the hell?

He looked down at the petite blonde, concern etched across his face.

Veronica looked back at him, her eyes shuttered. “Can you help me clean up?”

Logan knew with a flash of insight that she wasn’t just asking about her room.

He smiled at her. “Where do you want me to start?”

*

Logan went home at about 5 a.m. The two of them spent about an hour cleaning up Veronica’s room and the apartment hallway. Then Logan helped her completely rearrange the furniture in her room. Later she modeled all of her new outfits for him, which he was only willing to do if she changed clothes in front of him. While this made her blush furiously, she agreed to it when her boyfriend wryly pointed out that he had already seen her as naked as was humanly possible—why was she being shy about her bra and panties?

As she was finishing up the fashion show, her dad called to make sure that she got home alright. When she told him that Logan was there, her dad asked to speak to the young man, to whom Veronica somewhat reluctantly handed the phone. The end of the conversation that Veronica heard consisted primarily of Logan saying “yes, sir” a lot, so she didn’t get much of a sense of the content until her boyfriend hung up and told her that Keith wanted Logan to spend the night. Veronica’s eyebrows shot up so high that Logan laughed.

“He made me promise to be a gentleman. I believe that deadly weapons might have been mentioned.” Veronica’s look softened to simple surprise. “He said that he didn’t want you to be alone tonight, with Duncan and everything…”

True to his word, Logan was a gentleman. He held Veronica while they slept and they both did their best to forget what school was going to be like the next day, just as they had both assiduously avoided any discussion of the situation at school all evening long. Logan then left early the next morning to go home and change. Normally they wouldn’t have school at this time of year, but the holidays fell on odd days so schools in Balboa County were to be open the Monday and Tuesday before vacation—just long enough to provide the 09ers time to eviscerate Veronica while the memories of Shelley’s party were still nice and fresh.

*

No one spoke to Veronica as she made her way to her locker that morning. When she got there, she realized why. Painted in huge red letters across the bank of lockers where hers was located were the words, “LET’S DO THAT AGAIN!”

Before she left for school, Veronica had decided to hold her head high and prove that she wasn’t intimidated by the rich losers at Neptune High. She had gotten rid of every pink skirt that she had, cut her hair, and reorganized her bedroom along with her self-perception.

Last week this desecration of the best night of her life would have sent her racing to the bathroom in tears. This week it made her want to race to the bathroom in tears, but she didn’t. She ignored the graffiti, walked up to her locker, opened it, took out her books and moved on to her first class.

As she walked down the hall, Veronica felt like she was in the middle of one of those naked dreams where everybody stares at you. It was small consolation to know that while everyone really was staring at her, at least she wasn’t naked. Apparently the 09ers talked to people outside of their group often enough to spread gossip this juicy.

Wherever she went that day, people moaned, groaned, whimpered, grunted and cried out “Let’s do that again!” A few of her teachers looked around for the source of the strange noises during class, but of course no one was actually caught.

Soon after lunch, the height of Veronica’s feeling as though she were on display in a porn shop window, it finally occurred to her how to handle the situation. As she did so, she told herself that in the future she would go with her instincts sooner and not have to plan these things out. For now, though, she took a deep breath, imagined Logan holding her hand, and waited for Dick to pass her in the hallway near her locker.

It had to be Dick. That was part of the plan.

It didn’t take long. Sure enough, Dick, Logan and several 09er boys conveniently walked past her right before the last class of the day. As she knew he would, Dick said loudly as they passed, “Shelley’s party ruled—let’s do that again!”

Veronica spun around. “Hoping for more pointers, Dick?”

Dick stopped in his tracks, almost leading to an 09er pile-up in the middle of the hall.

“Did you say something, Ronnie?” he demanded defensively. “I thought you only moaned.”

“And I thought you only listened,” she countered.

Dick was momentarily taken aback. This wasn’t the Veronica he knew. A crowd began to gather around the expensively dressed young men and the tiny target of their ire. This would entertain the entire student body all vacation long.

“Come on, Dick, you keep saying you want to do it again. I mean, if you want tips on how to last longer in bed, all you have to do is ask. I mean, I have standards—I won’t show you myself, but I can tell you what to do.”

“Who the hell—“ Dick began.

“I was at the party, remember?” Veronica cut him off. “I mean, your girlfriend wouldn’t give you the time of day. And Madison—you know, your girlfriend—was the one who got everybody to come listen at the door—that’s what I’ve heard, anyway. All I can figure is that she wanted you to pick up some helpful hints—why else would she listen to someone else having sex when she could be off doing it herself? Wow. Sounds like you just don’t satisfy, Dick. It’s okay, though—you must have learned lots!” She turned to Madison who had joined the crowd around them. “All better now, Madison?”

Veronica stopped and looked from Madison to Dick expectantly.

“At least Dick admits it when he sleeps with me,” said Madison pointedly. “That’s more than I can say for you.”

“He doesn’t want to be mobbed, Madison!” Veronica explained. “You know, the guy that I was with. Believe it or not, there was only one guy in there with me. You had to tell everybody that there were what—two or three? I guess it was the only way you could explain it, given your own experience. Anyway, if people knew who this guy was, he’d be hounded by girls wanting a real man. Dick doesn’t have to worry about that, of course, so you can be open about your sad little sex life and Dick can live on unmolested.” She continued as both Dick and Madison tried to jump in.

“Take Logan, for instance.” The turn in conversation confused everyone and heads swung around to look at the nonplussed object of Veronica’s comment. “I heard today that he wasn’t there, right? That totally supports my theory. I mean, you should have heard Lilly talk—she said Logan was like the Energizer bunny—he could go for hours!” She turned to Logan, whose face was a mask of shock. “I have to warn you, Logan, this may mean that Madison will attack you after school, but I have to go on what Lilly said.” She turned back to Dick. “So Logan wasn’t there and you were. I’d say that speaks volumes.”

She opened up her next statements to the entire crowd. “So if any of the rest of you need any tips, you don’t need to whisper. It’s okay if your sex lives suck. I certainly won’t loan out my Energizer bunny, but I’ll see what I can do.”

Vice Principal Clemmons chose that moment to call out loudly, “What’s going on here?” He pushed his way into the middle of the crowd of students. “Dick Casablancas. Why am I not surprised? And, I’m sorry—what’s your name?” He looked at the girl clearly at the center of this little gathering.

“Veronica Mars,” she answered calmly.

“Come with me, Miss Mars, Mr. Casablancas,” said the administrator in his gravelly voice.

This looks like the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Veronica thought to herself as she followed Mr. Clemmons down the hallway. As she passed Logan, she had to look away. If she looked at him right now, she would lose it right there in the middle of the hall. Compassion—even from someone who couldn’t show it—would be the end of her.

As Logan watched Veronica being led away by Mr. Clemmons (not something one saw every day), he was pretty sure that he had never been more turned on in his entire life. By anyone.

*

The Present

As Veronica sat in the Blue Bomber across the street from the Seventh Veil she realized that she was wearing the same blue jean mini skirt that she had worn the Monday after Shelley’s party. That day held mixed emotions for Veronica. She had been treated like the great whore of all the earth, but she had stood up for herself for the first time. It was also the day that she and Logan almost got caught making out in the janitor’s closet by—gasp!—a janitor. The experience of hiding under a tarp in the corner of the closet had been the impetus for the creation of the infamous “Out of Order” sign that then became a standard fixture on the girls’ bathroom door.

Veronica noted the time—11:00—and smiled. Time to call Logan. Taking pictures of sleazy cops hitting up strippers for free services was not considered to be high-risk, so Logan was spending some quality time with Dick and Cassidy at Chez Casablancas. As she hit speed dial, she pictured the mansion’s living room in her mind—with the most recent Mrs. Casablancas having been recently divorced, the seaside palace had become a bachelor pad extraordinaire. Logan picked up on the first ring.

“Destiny, you know I don’t pay when you call me. I mean, I know I’m good, but…”

Ooh…time to play! She loved it when he had an audience.

“Are you in the living room?” she asked him.

“You know it.” His voice became sultry.

“Is there a copy of Maxim on the coffee table?” she asked in a straightforward tone.

“Is there ever not?” The contrast in their tones of their voices alone was enough to win them both Emmy nominations.

“Is there a scantily clad woman on the cover?”

“Define ‘scantily clad’,” he returned.

“Okay,” and her tone suddenly matched his. “I want you to take a deep breath.” She paused. “I’m not kidding. Take a deep breath, Logan.” Like he could resist her when she sounded like that. She heard him do as requested. “Alright. Now I want you to picture me in that outfit. I’m in your bedroom, lying on your bed, and I’m in a really good mood. I even get out of bed to make sure you see every angle of my outfit. ” She didn’t have to tell Logan to breathe heavily now—he had it on his own. “Do you have that image in your head?”

She took his incoherent grunt to mean yes.

Her voice returned to normal. “Great. See you tomorrow—love you!” And she hung up.

It took her several minutes to stop laughing and calm down enough so that she could go back to watching for cop cars in front of the strip club.

About fifteen minutes after that there was a sudden noise at the back door of the van that scared the crap out of her, followed immediately by Logan throwing himself into the back, slamming the door behind him. She was about to snark at him for sneaking up on her, but he grabbed her and proceeded to kiss her senseless.

She retained enough coherence to ask, “Where did you park?” She should have seen him arrive.

As he kissed his way down her neck, he answered, “A block over. I hope you got the money shot, ‘cause you’re going to be occupied for awhile.”

Money shot? Oh, yeah…surveillance…Cliff…right… “Um…a few minutes ago.”

“That’s convenient,” he said as he hit the release button for the bed stored in the wall and proceeded to describe to her in detail exactly what the model on the cover of Maxim had been wearing.

You know what they say about playing with matches.

*

The next morning as Veronica got ready for school, she smiled as she remembered the previous evening’s parting conversation with Logan.

“So where’s this war you promised? You’re such a slacker,” he chided her with a kiss.

“Famous last words, Mr. Echolls. Famous last words.”

That was all the warning he got before the end of first period. Veronica got Wallace out of Home Ec. (not hard to do) and dragged him towards the hallway near Logan’s locker.

“Let’s go,” she urged her new friend. When this was done, Wallace would have no doubt as to her and Logan’s mutual “animosity.”

“Hey, FloJo, slow your ass down,” Wallace managed to get out as Veronica pulled him along.

Veronica paused at the top of the stairs that led to the hall and held Wallace back to observe Logan, whose locker was about to be searched by Vice Principal Clemmons and a sheriff’s deputy. Logan opened the locker and stepped back.

”There you go,” he said, secure in his innocence.

Ah, how quickly they forget.

Inside the locker, a bong in the form of a cherub was clearly visible. Clemmons reached for it.

”Well, what’s this Logan?” asked the administrator. “This would appear to be a device they use to smoke marijuana.”

”That’s exactly what it looks like,” chimed in Deputy Sacks.

”Back to the office. Come on.”

Veronica watched comprehension dawn on Logan’s face as he looked around for signs of her. He knew there was no way that she would miss this.

Students stared in amazement as they filled the hallway and witnessed Logan’s arrest, who finally saw her standing at the corner of the hall with Wallace.

“It was you?“ he demanded.

Oh, yeah, Wallace was convinced.

Veronica affected a ‘who me?’ expression. Logan laughed and then his face turned serious. Veronica was very proud of him—he was playing this beautifully.

”Listen, I know it was you. This isn’t over, okay?”

She exaggerated a yawn.

Clemmons pulled Logan’s attention back with, “Hey.”

Logan grinned but was still pointing, now closer to Veronica and Wallace.

”You’re so cute and innocent.” She managed not to stick her tongue out at him. “Listen, I’ll get you for this.”

Clemmons pushed Logan along. “Let’s go.”

Logan ignored the vice principal as his eyes remained on Veronica. The war was on and he fully intended to return fire. “I will.”

Impatient now, Clemmons said in his “administrator” voice, “Come on, let’s go.”

Corny, who had made the bong for Veronica, had been watching and as Logan headed down the hall, still looking back at Veronica, the stoner congratulated Veronica.

”Eeee, solid.” The student body at large did not care for Logan Echolls.

Wallace was impressed. “You’re right, that was funny.”

“Meet me at my car after school. Let’s see if you’ve done your part.” As fun as it was to mess with Logan, there was work to be done.

That afternoon, she had Wallace help her destroy the bong in a fire, thereby enabling one of her dad’s friends in the fire department to switch the incriminating Sac ‘N Pac video with the one that she had made of the Seventh Veil paying for their liquor license.

After Wallace went home, Veronica went to court and watched Lamb have his ass handed to him on a platter when the video that he expected to show the delinquent PCHers instead showed his deputy getting serviced.

Love you, too, Lamb!

*

Logan felt bad. Dick had come to the sheriff’s department to make sure his friend was okay (really he was there because Dick liked to be where the action was, but that was beside the point.) He had arrived right about the same time that Aaron had and therefore had heard Aaron ground Logan from his car. So when Dick called late that afternoon to find out how they were going to retaliate against Miss Mars, Logan didn’t have an out. Everyone had seen his performance in the hallway and Dick knew that Logan had been punished (he knew part of it, anyway). Which is why Logan was now in Justin Crassen’s mom’s SUV on the way to Dog Beach to “teach that skanky-ass chick a lesson”, as Dick had so eloquently put it.

Logan sighed. Sometimes he hated his life.

At least the sheriff’s department had called to say that the evidence in the case had been destroyed so they had to drop the charges. Leave it to Veronica to have him arrested and cleared on the same day. She went to war, but she knew how to pull her punches so that no one got permanently hurt. Was he the only one that knew what a marshmallow she really was?

When they pulled up, Veronica was working the controls of the new guy’s model airplane. Logan got out of the truck, Dick, Justin and Bobby right behind him. Dick handed Logan a tire iron and Logan assumed a comfortable position on the hood of Veronica’s LeBaron, finally catching his girlfriend’s attention.

“Hey, Veronica Mars.” He jumped off the car. Had to make this good or neither Dick nor Wallace would buy it. “Do you know what your little joke cost me?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure you won’t be getting your bong back.”

Somehow Logan didn’t think that Dick would understand why comments like that made him want to rip Veronica’s clothes off in broad daylight.

Logan redirected his sexual tension and swung the crowbar at Veronica’s car, taking out a headlight in the process. Veronica flinched, a feeling that he echoed internally. Externally he grinned and twirled the crowbar.

”Wrong answer. Would you care to guess again?”

“Clearly your sense of humor.”

He took out the other headlight, careful to only damage things that could be easily repaired.

”Nope. You’re usually so good at pop quizzes. No, the correct answer is my car. That’s right. My daddy took my T-Bird away. And you know what I won’t be having? Fun, fun, fun.”

The 09ers at his back were egging him on; Wallace looked horrified.

Smirking, he moved to stand directly in front of Veronica, the crowbar resting on the back of his neck. Veronica’s eyes distracted him and he didn’t immediately register the motorcycles pulling up onto the scene until Bobby said something.

“Um, Logan?”

Logan turned around as Weevil and the PCHers got off of their bikes. This was what one referred to as “plans going awry.” Damage control time.

Logan headed for Weevil as the gang leader got off of his bike.

And Weevil was in such fine form, too. “What do we have here? Vandalism? No, no, no. Only vandalism that happens in this town goes through me.”

“Listen man, I don’t have a problem with you.” Logan had never admitted it to anyone, but he respected Eli Navarro. He had noticed—even if no one else understood—that Weevil kept his gang members in check, in general preventing them from doing more than acting menacing.

”That’s where you’re wrong.”

It would seem the respect was not mutual. Not surprising.

They stared at each other and Weevil took the crowbar from Logan.

Everyone turned when one of Weevil’s lackeys called out from Justin’s car, “Hey, yo. Is this O-Town any good? I mean my little sister likes it but, you know, she likes ponies and juice boxes too.”

The bikers laughed and Logan sized them up, weighing the chances of everyone—Veronica included—getting out of this situation safely.

Attuned to her as he was, he heard the quick exchange between her and Wallace.

”I suddenly feel like I’m in a scene from ‘The Outsiders’,” said Wallace.

“Be cool, Sodapop.”

This was not an appropriate time to laugh. Damn Veronica Mars.

Weevil headed for the SUV with Logan’s crowbar.

Someone besides Logan finally spoke up.

“Hey that’s not his car, that’s my mom’s car.” Justin’s mom was a hard-core ball buster.

“She can bill me,” deadpanned Weevil and with that the gang leader hit the SUV in the middle of the hood, hard. So much for “easily repaired”.

Weevil continued, taking out a headlight and banging up the hood some more. Everyone present watched in silence, the 09ers in dread, the bikers in glee.

When he stopped, Weevil said, “That’s it.”

He handed the crowbar back to Justin, who had a look on his face that held more fear of his mother than it did of Weevil, who continued, ”Head for the hills. I’m not gonna say it twice.”

The rest of the 09ers headed for the SUV as Weevil pointed to Logan and stopped him. “Except for you. You, say you’re sorry.”

Ah, hell, no.

Logan laughed. “Rub a lamp.” He winked and smirked at the gang leader, who punched the 09er, sending him to his knees. As he went down, Logan saw the look of horror on Veronica’s face.

The biker continued. “I said, say you’re sorry.”

Logan got back up and faced the biker again. Suddenly Weevil was just a kid—he didn’t begin to compare to what Logan had experienced.

Logan informed Weevil of this very deliberately. “Kiss my ass.”

In response, Weevil threw a punch to Logan’s face, sending the taller boy down again. He heard Weevil laugh, but Logan got up, blood coming from his nose. He kept the look of defiance on his face. Logan knew better than to apologize—that just made it worse.

“Now…” the biker began.

Veronica couldn’t handle it anymore.

“Let him go.”

“Are you sure? I could do this for a while.” Weevil looked slightly disappointed.

“I don’t want his apology,” she assured him.

She watched Logan wipe the blood from his nose and groan.

Her boyfriend headed for the SUV, stumbling slightly. As Logan approached the car, Bobby stepped forward to help him.

“Let’s go man, come on. Are you all right?”

Why was he friends with these people?

“I hope you guys are comfortable.”

Logan heard the PCHers laughing as Justin pulled the car out of the beach parking lot.

*

As Veronica got her car fixed, she thought about the journey that she and Logan had taken over the past year. After two very eventful days in school, the pair of them had managed to have a fairly low-key Christmas vacation. The semester that followed had been a roller coaster of emotions—the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows. While in private she and Logan had fallen even more in love with each other, in public their split had grown more and more bitter. They went through several difficult periods and on more than one occasion they had almost broken up, but neither of them could ever bring themselves to end it.

Even so, they may not have made it had it not been for one of Lynn Echolls’ rare returns to work. The summer in between her son’s sophomore and junior years, Logan’s mom accepted a supporting role in a film scheduled to shoot in the Romanian wilderness. Had it been Aaron, Logan would never have considered going. Had his daughter’s semester not been a living hell, Keith would never have considered letting Veronica go. As it was, they both went and it was nothing short of magical.

They had been able to spend two months away from Neptune, away from just about everything in the civilized world (including easy access to hot water and fully functional indoor plumbing, both of which led to some interesting situations). While Lynn did very little work but managed to look very busy, Logan and Veronica spent their time wandering through countryside that looked like a Merchant-Ivory set gone wild. They swam in lakes, walked through woods, made love anywhere and everywhere, and learned how to love each other.

A couple of times, both of them felt like they had stepped through the looking glass into an alternate world. On those occasions when they got a little weirded out by the absence of civilization, they hitchhiked a ride to Budapest on the studio jet and did some sightseeing and hanging out. Spending money and having real bathtubs worked wonders. Both times they returned to the middle of nowhere a little more appreciative of both what they had in the moment and what existed outside of it.

Before Romania, Logan had never taken much time to be introspective and he found the experience daunting but addictive. With Veronica’s influence to help him navigate the experience, he started drinking less and opening up more. Veronica had never realized that she could experience the world in such a way and she found herself discovering what was out there through and with Logan.

They learned things about each other and told each other things that neither of them had ever considered telling anyone else. Veronica found herself telling Logan the intimate details of her mother’s descent into alcoholism and how she continued to hold herself responsible. Being the son of an alcoholic himself, Logan’s insights were then invaluable for Veronica.

On one lazy afternoon that was particularly idyllic and “Room with a View”-like, as the two of them lay on top of a blanket in the middle of a field of tall grass, Veronica got up the courage to ask Logan about some of his scars. Veronica had been a cop’s daughter her entire life and she had known for some time that “childhood accidents” did not explain some of the marks on her boyfriend’s body. Hesitantly, Logan admitted that his father had beaten him on a fairly regularly basis until right after his tenth birthday. Shortly thereafter, Aaron had gone too far and put his son in the hospital overnight with a severe concussion, prompting Lynn to finally put her foot down. She told her husband that either he stopped beating their son and get some counseling or she would leave him and take Logan with her. Logan told Veronica that things had gotten better after that and while Aaron still had a temper, he hadn’t hit his son anymore.

Veronica had held Logan as he told her his story and they had fallen asleep in the middle of the field. When they woke up, they returned to the filming location and hadn’t talked about Logan’s treatment at his father’s hand since. But Veronica felt closer to Logan for having been able to talk to him about it and she admired him more as a person for continuing on in the face of such hidden pain.

After a semester of stolen moments, blockaded bathrooms, public hatred and tension-filled declarations of love, Romania had been a revelation. Neither of them wanted to go back to Neptune at the end of the summer, but they both understood why it was necessary. Nevertheless, had it not been for Keith, they both acknowledged to themselves (if not openly to each other) that they might very well have tried to find some way to remain in the Eastern European countryside, never to return to southern California.

But the real world did exist and they did return. They didn’t want to hide anymore, though, and the day after they got back Logan made plans with Duncan to go to a Padres game. On the way there, Logan brought up the subject of Veronica, but before he had a chance to so much as hint as to the reason for bringing her up, Duncan’s BMW ran off the road and into a tree, knocking Logan unconscious and breaking Duncan’s arm in three places.

Logan and Veronica had reluctantly agreed that for whatever reason, Duncan could not (or would not) handle anything related to his former girlfriend, so they reluctantly decided to keep their relationship clandestine. Unfortunately, while their summer in Romania had been amazing, it also made it almost physically painful to put their relationship back in the closet. Every wound was more painful and every public disagreement more difficult to live with. While Duncan had been in counseling, though, Celeste told Logan that her son continued to teeter on the edge of mental health; so Veronica and Logan endured the situation as it was, both of them constantly looking for a way to end the hiding, both of them coming up empty.

As Veronica paid for the repairs done to her car by Logan’s crowbar, she laughed. In April, she had gotten into a very strange situation that entailed a drunk albino, a busted radiator hose and her getting stranded in Twenty-Nine Palms, California without a dime to get home. After coming to her rescue, Logan had insisted on providing her a no-limit black AmEx in her own name should such a situation ever arise again. Veronica had fought him on it, insisting that she would never use it. Logan had fired back that if she didn’t at least keep it in case of emergencies, he would tell Keith the detailed version of how she came to be stranded in a desert town populated almost entirely by U.S. Marines.

Veronica had taken the card.

Until now she had never had cause to use it. She recognized that Logan hadn’t damaged anything difficult to fix just as she knew that he would cop to the fact that while she had set him up to be arrested, she had also destroyed the evidence against him. He still got to pay for the repairs, though.

After driving home to switch out her LeBaron for the Mazda, she drove over to Logan’s home where she used her passcard to gain access to the palatial estate. Lynn had long ago insisted that Veronica stop knocking and had provided her son’s girlfriend with a key to the house. Veronica had very warm feelings for her boyfriend’s mom. She understood perfectly well that having an alcoholic for a parent didn’t mean that you didn’t—or shouldn’t—love them.

Veronica let herself into the house and walked back to Logan’s room. She was pretty sure that his parents were home, but she didn’t hear them moving around. Well, it had been a rough day. When she walked into Logan’s room, she heard the water running in his bathroom. She crossed his room to find her boyfriend wearing only his pajama bottoms, standing in front of the mirror applying Neosporin to a cut on his nose.

“I’m so sorry, Logan. I swear I felt every hit along with you.”

Logan froze when he heard his girlfriend open the bathroom door wider. He had known that she would come over, but he had expected her to call first. He thought he would have time to get ready—he would never have let her walk in on him like this.

“Let me see,” Veronica said as she crossed the large bathroom to look at his wounds more closely. Just as he had feared, though, it was not his face or the bruise on his stomach that she looked at. It was the marks on his back.

Involuntarily he flinched as her fingers gently traced the fresh welts on his back and he heard her soft intake of breath as comprehension flooded her sharp mind.

“He didn’t stop when you were ten,” she practically breathed the words.

The only thing Logan had never been fully honest about with Veronica was his father’s continued abuse. He hadn’t lied to her about it—he just hadn’t told her the rest of the story. His father refused to get therapy and hadn’t stopped beating up his only son and instead of following through on her threat, his mom had descended into a bottle. The fact that he hadn’t come clean with Veronica hung over Logan like a cloud, but he couldn’t bring himself to tell her the full extent of what went on. It was a private shame and it had been unbearable to him that she know that he still suffered under it. He knew her well enough to know that she wouldn’t judge him, but he was terrified that he would think less of himself.

Without a word, Veronica took the Neosporin tube out of his hand and began applying it to his back. Logan couldn’t reach most of the areas she tended to and he hadn’t asked anyone for help since he was ten and his teacher failed to report the abuse he had told her about. He watched Veronica in the mirror, but she had eyes only for the task at hand. His gaze swept over the curves of her face, the tilt of her head and he wondered what was going to happen next. Was she going to be mad because he had lied to her about his father having stopped this years ago? Would she start crying? Would she ask him to go to the police?

Those were just a few of the thousands of reasons that he had created over the months to justify why he hadn’t told her the whole truth. He couldn’t think of a single reaction that she could have that would be palatable to him.

After Veronica finished applying the healing salve to Logan’s battered back, she took him by the hand and led him to the bed in the adjacent room. As he watched, she took off her shirt, pants and bra and put on one of his t-shirts. Still no words had passed between them since her moment of realization.

She crossed over to him and pulled his arms around her. Even though he was sitting and she was standing, she wasn’t that far above him and it was easy for their lips to meet. Veronica had told him once that she loved the feel of his lips and that thought came unbidden to his mind as her lips teased the edges of his.

Before it got too intense, Veronica pulled him up and turned down the covers. She got in bed first and gently tugged his hand to follow her. Their favorite sleeping position was her back to his front and as she settled herself in, pulling his arms tight around her, he wondered how she had done it.

How had Veronica found the perfect way to handle the truth of his abuse? How had she done it without wounding his pride or making it worse or any of the other scenarios he had envisioned? As Logan drifted off to sleep, Veronica held tightly in his arms, the last thought that crossed his mind was that if he had anything to do about it, he and Veronica were going to spend the rest of their lives together.

It took Veronica much longer to fall asleep and as she lay awake holding just as tightly to Logan as he was to her, only one thought went through her mind, playing on a continuous loop:

She was going to destroy Aaron Echolls.

Chapter Text

Veronica Mars was in a happy place.

Now, for some people that wouldn’t be a big deal, but Veronica’s best friend had been murdered and the wrong man was in prison for it. Her ex-boyfriend had tried to kill himself twice in a four-month span and she and the boy she was in love with now couldn’t tell anyone because if they did her ex might make a third attempt. Oh, yeah, and this new love was her ex-love’s best friend and the first time they had slept together, which was her first time ever, every 09er in school had listened at the door. Her boyfriend’s mother was an alcoholic and his father beat him. Her own alcoholic mother had abandoned her husband and child—this taking place shortly after her father had been driven from the office of sheriff after trying to find the person who had really killed her best friend.

But despite all of this, Veronica was in a happy place.

Why? Because she and Logan’s sex life was fantastic and afterglow is a truly beautiful thing.

She lazily rubbed her leg against Logan’s thigh as she lay in his arms and he gently stroked his fingertips up and down her spine. If she had had any energy left, she might have been aroused, but this time his touch just made her feel special. Loved.

He rubbed his lips back and forth across her forehead and said, “I have to pretend to have a girlfriend.”

The words didn’t immediately sink in. And then…

Wait a minute. Where was her happy place going? What was happening to her sated state of being?

“What did you just say?” She had been enjoying that glow, thank you very much.

Logan sighed as Veronica leaned back to get a good look at his face.

“There’s this girl—Caitlin Ford—her dad is a congressman. She went on some fact-finding trip to Hungary with him this summer and she saw us together.” An incoherent sound came out of Veronica’s mouth. “Yeah, I know.” The whole point of them going to Romania and visiting Budapest was to spend time together without the risk of running into people from Neptune.

Veronica was confused. “And for this you have to date her?” What the hell?

Logan ran a hand through his hair. “Well, Caitlin, as it turns out, is a lesbian.” Veronica’s eyebrows raised—where was this going? “And her dad, the very rich conservative senator, will cut her off without a penny if he finds out she’s gay.” He sighed. “She’s usually strung some guy along to keep her dad from figuring it out, but now I guess she’s in love.”

“And her girlfriend doesn’t want her to have a boyfriend,” finished Veronica as she dropped back onto his chest.

“Logan said you were smart,” said an indolent voice from the door.

Veronica sat up, pulling the sheet over her chest as she did so. Standing at the entrance to Logan’s room was a skanky-looking blond clad only in a barely-there teddy and a tall brunette.

In her most condescending tone of voice, Veronica commented, “You must be Caitlin Ford.”

Equally snotty, the blond responded, “I hope you don’t mind me borrowing your boyfriend. That way we all get to stay happily in the closet.” Her message was clear—she would keep their secret if they helped her keep hers.

“And what exactly will this entail?” demanded Veronica. There was no way she was letting this girl—lesbian or not—touch the parts of her boyfriend that only she got to touch!

The buxom brunette spoke up. “Nothing big,” she said pointedly, aiming her comment at Caitlin, who rolled her eyes. “Hand holding, hello and goodbye kisses. Nothing past first base.” Veronica had the feeling that this wasn’t the first time the brunette had given her girlfriend these instructions.

“This is Tara,” inserted Caitlin, “the love of my life.” She kissed her girlfriend in a conciliatory manner.

“Right,” commented Veronica as she rolled her eyes. She had a hard time believing that Caitlin knew the difference between lust and love. “And why are you just showing up in school now? I haven’t seen you around.”

“We just got back from Europe,” drawled Neptune’s newest 09er. “I enrolled on Friday. And Tara and I decided we spent too much time apart this summer, so we want to step things up, but Daddy gets worried if I don’t have a boyfriend. He’s very old-fashioned that way.”

“And no girlfriend of mine is going to have a boyfriend on the side,” said Tara firmly. Veronica took a second look at the girl hanging on Caitlin. She wasn’t nearly as vapid as the blond—what in the world was she doing with someone like Caitlin? There was no accounting for taste.

Logan finally spoke up from where he was propped on the headboard. “Caitlin saw you at school and asked Madison about you. Then she met me and proposed this…compromise…” Logan snuck a glance at Veronica and looked just as quickly away.

“It’s perfect, you know?” simpered Caitlin. “I mean, you don’t want Duncan to die and I don’t want Daddy to kill me, so everyone wins.”

Logan, Caitlin and Tara all looked expectantly at Veronica. She returned each gaze separately as she realized that she was the deal breaker—everyone else was already on board. Logan’s expression was apologetic, Tara’s was hopeful and Caitlin’s was calculating. Veronica sighed.

“Fine. Whatever.” She paused significantly. “But I’m going to say this and I’m only going to say it once—if you go too far with Logan, I won’t start by outing you. I’m going to put Tara on speed dial. She will be the first call that I make. Got it?”

‘No problem,” whispered Caitlin in a girly voice as she turned and initiated a steamy kiss with Tara. Veronica rolled her eyes and turned her head to Logan, who had that expression that guys get on their faces when they see two hot girls (any two girls, really) making out.

She hit him on the shoulder and he snapped to attention, calling out as he did so, “Caitlin, Veronica and I need to be—“ his voice cracked, “—alone.” If looks could kill, he would have withered underneath Veronica’s death glare.

Reluctantly, Caitlin and Tara broke apart, although they were still draped all over each other.

“Oh, yeah, and we’ll need to use your place, too. I mean, people will think I’m over here, anyway, and Tara and I can hardly go to my house.”

“And what’s wrong with Caitlin’s?” Veronica asked. She didn’t really think it was an option, but she wanted the whole story.

“I’m a freshman at Hearst,” explained Tara. “There are people there who would recognize Caitlin because of her dad. We have to be discreet.”

“Fine. Logan and I really do need some alone time now,” reasserted Veronica pointedly.

“See you later, Logan. Veronica,” Caitlin smiled sugar-sweet as she and Tara exited. Veronica hadn’t known that it was possible to make a sultry exit. Give me a break.

As soon as the girls shut the door behind them, Veronica rounded on Logan.

“You waited on purpose until after we had sex to tell me that, didn’t you?”

“Well, yeah!” Logan was many things—stupid wasn’t one of them. “What, like you’re mad that I got you into your happy place?”

Veronica hit him in the shoulder again and Logan affected great pain.

“And here I thought you were just feeling especially in the mood.” Veronica raised an eyebrow at her boyfriend, “You were totally turned on, weren’t you? By the two of them.” If she were standing, she would have been tapping her foot.

If he said no, Veronica would know he was lying. If he said yes, she would kick his ass—both out of the bed and literally. But she wasn’t really mad, she was…

“I love you, Veronica.”

“Oh, don’t try that—“

“No, really.” He sat up fully and pulled her to him. “I’m so sorry that we have to do this—that I have to kiss her in public instead of you.” Veronica wilted against him and tears leaked down her cheeks.

Through her tears, she whispered, “I want to hold your hand. I want to give you hello and goodbye kisses. I want to keep the PDA below second base.”

Everything that he wanted to give her, everything that he wanted to be for her, he had to be behind closed doors and every word that fell from Veronica’s lips broke Logan’s heart a little more.

Logan took a deep breath. “Veronica, all guys like to see two women kiss—it’s something about seeing all those curves all in the same place.” He felt her laugh softly in his arms and his pulse quickened. Such a small thing to mean so much. “There are always going to be women that I see that turn me on, that make me want them, but I want—I want you to know that I will always want you more.”

Veronica looked up at Logan, her face wet with tears, and she moved her lips towards his and slowly melded them together. He felt like she was trying to crawl into him, that if she could, she would become a part of him, and he let her. He welcomed her in and encouraged her. Logan rolled them over so that he was on top of her and Veronica’s leg slid up around the back of his thigh. This wasn’t about sex. It was about closeness. And for the first time in his life, Logan felt truly close to someone.

When Logan and Veronica fell asleep, they were so tightly wrapped together it was hard to tell where one of them stopped and the other one began.

Chapter Text

Logan felt like he was in a permanent state of nausea. Dick and his other friends kept going on about how hot Caitlin was. Not only did Logan not get it, he despised everything about the girl. He couldn’t stand her breath. He hated her perfume. He didn’t like the colors that she wore. Every single thing about Caitlin Ford drove him up the wall, but he had to act like he was head over heels in love with her. His life sucked and all the sand and alcohol in the world wasn’t going to change that.

Duncan walked up to where Logan was “canoodling” with his new squeeze. He was accompanied by a stereotypically good-looking product of wealth. Introductions were made and references established right before the PCHers showed up.

Prior to being beaten at the hands of Eli Navarro, Logan hadn’t had anything against the leader of Neptune’s own biker gang. In fact, given that Letty Navarro was the only person outside of his and Veronica’s parents that knew the true nature of their relationship, he had been feeling kindly disposed towards Weevil by virtue of association. Keeping Logan’s housekeeper in the loop had been a matter of necessity—she would have found out, anyway—and she had kept their secret faithfully. But Weevil and his buddies invading their beach party, particularly so soon after the ass-kicking, was not something to overlook.

He and Weevil faced off and Logan used the opportunity to rub Weevil’s face in the fact that the gang member’s grandmother was the Echolls family maid. The 09er knew that given what he owed the woman, doing so made him an even bigger jerk than it would have anyway, but it was the best weapon he had against Weevil. And the gang member’s recent attempt to impersonate Aaron Echolls was extremely fresh in Logan’s memory.

Just as Logan was inciting his troops to exploit their greater numbers, the police arrived and broke up the showdown. As Logan and his friends fled the scene, the thought crossed Logan’s mind that he hoped Veronica didn’t hear the details of his confrontation with the PCHer—his girlfriend adored Mrs. Navarro.

*

Veronica didn’t tell Logan that she was going over to Weevil’s house to look for clues. She couldn’t blame her boyfriend for hating Weevil, but she couldn’t let Mrs. Navarro go to jail, either. Not only had the housekeeper kept her and Logan’s secret, she had also been a surrogate grandmother-figure to Veronica ever since Lianne left town. Veronica was more than willing to go to Weevil’s run-down neighborhood at night if it meant finding information that would free Letty Navarro.

Weevil, of course, wasn’t happy with her stopping by. When she pointed out that his reputation had earned him a visit, he responded in kind.

“My reputation? Oh, well, then I guess what everybody says about you is true, too, huh? That you—you like it a little freaky, don’t you? That you spy on Duncan Kane. That you send him pictures of yourself. Be honest, Veronica. You think you’re this big outsider, but push comes to shove, you’re still one of them. You still think like one of them. Take off. I don’t want you around here.”

Veronica stood frozen as Weevil went back into his grandmother-less home. Every time she thought she had grown accustomed to her reputation, it came back to stare her in the face and remind her how ugly it really was.

She drove back to her neighborhood and exchanged her LeBaron for the Mazda before heading over to Logan’s house. When she got there, she went straight to his room where Logan was—of all things—doing homework.

“Remind me how I’m going to use geometry in my future life of privilege,” he remarked as she walked in.

Veronica could no longer hold back the tears and Logan did a double-take as he realized that something was wrong. He pushed his books aside as Veronica lay down on his bed and put her head in his lap. Logan didn’t ask what was wrong—this wasn’t the first time this had happened. He just sat there stroking the head of the girl he loved, letting her know that she wasn’t alone as her hurt and frustration poured down her cheeks.

There was nothing else either of them could do.

*

A few days later, Logan and Caitlin walked past Veronica in the hall, holding hands and smiling at each other. They were Neptune’s new “it” couple and all anyone could talk about—the new girl whose father was a congressman had met Logan Echolls in Eastern Europe, starting a torrid affair and helping to mend his wounded heart. Veronica rolled her eyes.

Gag me with a spoon.

As she headed towards the counselor’s office, she fought the overwhelming urge to jump on top of a table in the courtyard and scream at the top of her lungs, “SHE’S A LESBIAN! HE LOVES ME!”

She did not walk into the counselor’s office in a good mood and she walked out in a mood even more foul. Journalism. The one class that Logan, Caitlin and Duncan were all in.

Hi. My name is Veronica Mars and I’ll be the star of your soap opera today.

*

Caitlin was getting ready to go to the gym to conduct an interview, a reprieve which Logan was wildly anticipating, when Veronica walked in. Logan looked up in surprise and his eyes darted to Duncan, who was engrossed in the newspaper’s computer program and hadn’t yet noticed his ex’s entrance.

Logan watched as Veronica verbally decimated Ms. Dent. Oh, yeah. That’s my girlfriend, he thought. He flinched inwardly, though, as the teacher led Veronica over to Duncan’s cubicle and assigned them to work together on the Bodie Chang article. Most people, including Duncan, would assume that Veronica didn’t want to drive with her ex because he was her ex—would that it were that simple. Break-up drama would be much easier to handle than the complexity of the real situation. The fact was that avoiding Duncan simply made Veronica’s life easier.

“I would never let Tara hang out with her ex,” said Caitlin in his ear. “I mean, you don’t want to run the risk of old sparks reigniting, you know?”

What was Caitlin still doing here? Hadn’t she run off to the gym or hell or somewhere else better suited for her? Logan asked her as much.

“What, you don’t like hearing the obvious? Whatever. You say that you two are doing all of this so that Duncan won’t hurt himself. Maybe you’re really doing it so that Duncan won’t steal her back. I mean, he can’t fight someone if he doesn’t know there’s competition, right?”

“Don’t you have interviews to conduct?” he fired back. “Maybe you could do an article about the hidden gay population at Neptune. I’m sure you could figure out who to talk to.”

Caitlin gave Logan a snotty look as she bent down to give him a kiss goodbye. Then she gathered up her things and told the teacher that she was leaving to conduct interviews, leaving Logan in stunned frustration.

About ten minutes before class ended, Veronica asked if she could use the restroom, aiming a throwaway look in Logan’s direction. He took the hint and a few minutes later they were barricaded in the girls’ restroom together. After a few moments spent greeting each other, Logan tore his lips away from hers to ask what she was doing in Journalism.

“The guidance counselor said I lacked focus,” she replied as she scooted into a more comfortable position on the counter, Logan settling in to stand between her legs.

“If she only knew,” he commented as he stole another kiss.

She pushed him back. “Look, I need your help. I had Wallace get Weevil’s attendance records and there’s no way he could have used those credit cards. He was in auto shop when most of the charges were made and there’s no computer connection in there.”

Logan sighed. “You know this is the guy who beat me up. In front of you. Right?”

Veronica returned his sigh with a reminder. “And he’s Letty’s grandson.”

“Can’t I just be a jerk, Veronica? Do you have to choose this situation—Weevil—to ask me to be a nice guy?”

Veronica gave her boyfriend a look.

“It’s a good thing I love you,” she said. Logan smiled and rested his forehead against Veronica’s as she continued. “We need to figure out who really did this.”

“Alright,” he acquiesced, albeit reluctantly. “I can’t get together tonight—plans with Duncan. How about tomorrow after your special outing with Duncan?”

Hearing the tone in Logan’s voice, Veronica tilted her head and looked into his eyes. “Oh, my goodness. You’re jealous,” she said in awe. She couldn’t believe it.

Logan had the grace to look embarrassed. He broke their eye contact and looked down.

“We’d better get back to class,” he muttered.

Veronica reached down and captured Logan’s lips with her own, hoping to show him without words that he didn’t have anything to worry about.

Logan lifted her off of the counter, their lips still connected. They separated and headed back to class.

That night Wallace came over to Veronica’s and the two of them bounced ideas back and forth while they did homework. Wallace left right before eleven, leaving Veronica alone to take Logan’s nightly phone call, a large part of which was taken up discussing ways to not be found out in Journalism.

Who said her life was a soap opera?

*

The next day as Logan, Caitlin and Veronica sat in Journalism, they waited until Duncan was working at a nearly table and then they went into action. Logan and Caitlin made inappropriate remarks about Mrs. Navarro’s arrest which led to Veronica throwing out the obvious charge that Logan was actually responsible. It got truly interesting, though, when Logan went off-script.

“Tell the truth Veronica. Did you just sign up for newspaper so you could be around Duncan?”

Oh, bring it on.

“No. I’m here so I can be closer to you.”

Hey, they found amusement where they could. Logan gave her one of his patented smiles and Veronica went back to work.

*

Logan walked out to his car that afternoon to find Veronica crouched beside a flat tire. Screw this. He had to say something.

“Bummer.” Anyone listening would think he was mocking her. She would know that he wanted to help. She looked irritated and shook her head, a signal to others that she hated Logan, an indicator to him that he shouldn’t offer to help.

He turned away and offered a “good job” sign to Dick. Being a jerk came so naturally.

As he walked up to his friends, he turned to see the new guy, Troy Vandergraff, crouched down next to Veronica, obviously offering his assistance. Logan tried to look away, but he couldn’t. His eyes stayed glued on Veronica and the boy seeking her attentions.

Caitlin’s arrival on a pink Vespa broke his trance. Caitlin, of course, immediately saw what had occupied his attention and made some comments meant to be overhead by the loitering 09ers. Then she leaned in closer and said just for Logan’s ears, “Looks like Duncan’s not your only competition.”

At that moment, Duncan joined the twosome at Veronica’s car. Obviously Duncan was playing the gentleman, because immediately thereafter Veronica left with him while Troy finished replacing the tire.

Logan struggled against the jealousy that was clawing at his insides—that had to be the reason why he called Duncan three times that afternoon. First Logan caught his friend in the car on the way there, then he found him trying to interview Bodie Chang, and finally he called right after Duncan had been pulled over by the police because of an outstanding parking ticket. At that point Duncan was a little irritated and asked his best friend to stop calling. Knowing that Veronica would be home soon, Logan got into his car.

His wait in Veronica’s room turned out to be longer than Logan expected. He guessed that she and her dad had stopped off somewhere—maybe gotten something to eat. About forty-five minutes later than anticipated, Keith and Veronica entered their apartment. Logan heard them say goodnight right before Veronica entered her room. When she saw him, her eyes widened. Logan put his finger to his lips and turned Veronica’s stereo on, low enough not to attract attention but high enough to cover low conversation.

Before she could step further into her room, Logan pushed his girlfriend up against the door while his finger trailed down her cheek.

“Logan, what are you doing?!” Veronica whispered, trying to keep her voice down.

“Did you and your dad stop to eat?” he asked as he looked into her eyes.

Her breath hitched. “Um, no, we had to stop by the—by the Neptune Grand. One of the credit cards was used there.”

“Yeah?” Logan breathed in her ear. “Did you find anything out?”

He was barely touching her, but something about his presence made it impossible for her to concentrate. “Caitlin…Caitlin…” her voice drifted off.

“Caitlin?” he encouraged.

“She signed for room service on the credit card.”

“Hmmm…” Logan whispered into her ear, “I wonder what that’s about.”

“We’ll have to figure it out.” She drew in another short breath as he breathed against her ear. “What are you doing?”

“I would think that was pretty clear.”

Veronica made a noise in the back of her throat that could have been happy or frustrated—-it was hard to tell.

“Troy wants you.” It wasn’t a question. The only part of Logan touching her was his finger, still barely making shapes on her face.

“Troy?” His girlfriend still couldn't focus. “The new guy, the tire? So?”

“And Duncan is still in love with you.”

“Um…uh-huh…”

“Lilly used to flirt with other guys to hurt me.”

“I would never do that.”

“I know.” And he meant it. “But it’s still hard for me to see you with other guys.”

Veronica looked at him, the intensity in his eyes creating an intimacy deeper than anything she could immediately think of. “You don’t—I love—“

“I know,” he said again. “You love me and you would never cheat on me. I trust you. I really do. And you have to be able to talk to other guys, that’s just how it is. But...”

“But what?”

“It’s still hard for me. I saw Troy at your car today and I wanted to hurt him.”

“Logan…”

“And then you left with Duncan.”

“Logan…”

“So what do I do? You have to be able to talk to other guys, right?” Veronica nodded, stunned by the closeness of this moment. “And it kills me to have to watch you, even though I trust you.” He cupped her face in his hands. “It occurred to me that I could handle it better if I knew that when they’re looking at you, you were thinking of me. When some other guy touches you, even brushes your hand, you’re thinking of me. Right now. Touching you, being with you. If I know that you’re thinking of me, even when you’re with them, I can do this.”

“This?”

Logan smiled into her ear. “Keep our relationship private.”

Veronica drank in his eyes. “That would be a good thing.”

“Yes, it would,” Logan agreed and he swept Veronica up in his arms, carrying her to her bed. “It’s hard for me to love you this much.”

“I know,” she smiled up at him and rested her hand against his cheek.

Logan tucked her into bed and gave her a gentle kiss goodnight.

“We can talk about the credit card thing tomorrow.”

Veronica looked momentarily confused and then she laughed quietly. Only Logan could distract her so effectively. “Meet me in my office at 9:15.”

“I love you, Veronica.”

“I love you, too.”

And Logan quietly left the apartment.

*

The next morning during their bathroom meeting, Logan and Veronica reached some important conclusions. On the day in question, Caitlin’s girlfriend had been in Sacramento attending her brother’s wedding, so Caitlin had obviously been at the hotel with someone else. After he and Caitlin got home the night of the beach party, Logan had overheard a huge fight between the two women. He hadn’t been all that interested, but it was his impression that it had something to do with Tara’s ex-girlfriend. Before they left, Logan and Veronica decided that the next step was identifying who the vapid blond had been with at the hotel.

As Veronica sat at her usual lunch table with Wallace that afternoon, Troy walked up and sat down with them, inviting her to a party at his house. Right after he left, Logan walked by, taking the opportunity to flash his fingers at her. Veronica blushed from the tips of her toes all the way up to the roots of her hair.

How could the other people in the courtyard not see? How could they miss the connection between her and Logan? How did every person within a ten foot radius not feel the electricity radiating between the two of them? She looked over at Wallace, but his head was buried in his History book as he crammed for a quiz. How could he concentrate when Veronica felt like Logan had shot her with a visible bolt of energy? Couldn’t everyone feel it?

Veronica’s blush finally started to fade and she gathered up her books. She didn’t want to have to explain her current state to Wallace. She made her excuses and headed to the Journalism room to check on the phone records from the Neptune Grand.

Logan sat with Duncan as he watched Troy talk to Caitlin. Was the guy who had been hitting on Veronica also Caitlin’s mystery man? Logan knew that kid was bad news.

Logan turned to Duncan, “Hey, this kid Troy, how long have you known him?”

“Oh, a few years. His family has the slip next to ours down at the marina. They usually come in August—stay the month. They move around a lot, you know, wherever his dad has a project. Hey, I’m going to get a burrito. Want something?”

Logan, still focused on Troy, glanced briefly at Duncan and shook his head.

“Nothing.”

“Well, you are in charge of your girlfriend’s purse,” and Duncan handed the pink handbag to Logan as he got up to leave.

As Veronica worked on the hotel phone records, Logan used Caitlin’s cell phone and the two of them simultaneously came to the conclusion that Caitlin’s hotel buddy was Chardo, Weevil’s cousin and Letty Navarro’s other grandson. As Logan hung up the phone he received a text message from Veronica.

Meet me in the RR.

Logan practically bounced into the girls’ restroom, he was so excited. Veronica was checking the stalls for occupants.

“I don’t have to date her anymore!”

“What? How did you figure it out?”

“Her cell phone.”

“Right. I used the hotel phone records.”

“What do you think Caitlin was doing with this guy? I mean, she’s a lesbian.”

Veronica looked at him thoughtfully. “Yeah, but she and Tara had a fight, right? And Caitlin has a history of dating guys to throw off her father. That would have made Tara crazier than anything else ever could.”

Logan nodded. “Sounds about right. You know I’m going to have to get my boys to take care of Chardo.”

“Your boys? Did you just call them your boys? You are such a guy.” She smiled and Logan pulled her in for a kiss.

“Hey, in this case the guy code means that I don’t have to date Uberskank anymore.”

“Yeah, just make sure that you don’t hurt him.”

“You’re no fun,” pouted Logan.

“Oh, now you know that’s not true.”

Logan laughed and they kissed again.

“Alright,” she said as they broke apart. “I’m going to go talk to Mrs. Navarro.”

“Yeah, you can’t procrastinate getting Weevil out of jail, after all.”

Veronica laughed as she exited the bathroom.

While she went and explained the situation to Weevil and Chardo’s grandmother and arranged for Weevil’s release, Logan got his friends together. At about the same time he headed out to find Chardo, the newly-freed Weevil left on the same errand with the PCHers. The final result was that Chardo, the 09ers, and the PCHers all arrived at Caitlin’s house one after another.

Logan watched as Weevil pulled up and he addressed his comments toward the gang leader, “Well, I guess this is what they call inevitable, huh? Hey look, we’ve got home court advantage.”

Weevil answered simply, “Let’s talk.”

Logan and Weevil moved away from the group to speak privately.

“Weevil—“ Logan began, but the other young man cut him off.

“I know you’re in love with Veronica.”

Logan’s jaw literally dropped in surprise.

“You shouldn’t let your girlfriend park her surveillance van at your house if you don’t want observant people to connect the dots,” Weevil answered Logan’s unvoiced question. “So don’t pretend that you care about Chardo and Caitlin. You don’t give a rat’s ass about either of ‘em.” Logan struggled to hold back a smile. Who knew that Weevil was both observant and perceptive?

“So why haven’t you told anyone about me and Veronica?” he interjected.

“I asked my grandmother about it. She told me what you two are doing for Duncan. I respect that. So let me handle Chardo.”

Logan sighed.

“It’s not like you care,” Weevil stated flatly. “Don’t worry. I’ll keep your secret.”

“You better.” And Logan turned and walked back to the waiting crowd of angry young men.

“Let him go,” he said to Dick.

“Logan!” replied the blond, who had been looking forward to a fight.

“I said let him go. Come on.”

And Logan led the rest of the 09ers back to their cars, happily turning his back on Caitlin Ford.

*

That night, Veronica went over to Logan’s and the two of them had a talk with Caitlin, who had come over to her fake ex-boyfriend’s house to pick up her things.

“Tara called me,” Veronica told her.

“What?” Caitlin had been trying to act cool and aloof, but that caught her attention.

“She said she sent you an e-mail telling you not to call her anymore. She said if you don’t stop, she’s going to call your mom. She said she won’t go to your dad—just your mom. But she wants you to leave her alone.”

Caitlin sank down, defeated. “I just wanted to get back at her for talking to Julie, her ex-girlfriend. She promised me that they hadn’t been in contact with each other, but I saw her e-mail.”

“So you cheated on her with a guy?” interjected Logan. He continued as Caitlin started to defend herself. “Whatever. All I know is that I don’t have to date you anymore. You might want to transfer to a private school—you won’t find yourself welcome around here anymore.” And he left.

“Goodbye, Caitlin,” said Veronica, and she left to go with Logan to his room.

Before Veronica left that night, she and Logan discussed the new information Veronica had found out about Lilly’s case which the two of them had been tracking together. They both knew that this new evidence meant that none of the Kanes, including Duncan, had an alibi any longer.

They kissed goodbye and Veronica went home.

*

The next day after school, Logan watched Veronica as she sat with Troy and Wallace and observed Caitlin’s snubbing at the hands of the other 09ers.

Did she have any friends that weren’t male? Logan wondered, fighting back the usual stab of jealousy. He watched as Veronica and the two boys got up to leave. As they walked away, Veronica looked back and the connection between the two of them was instant.

Logan smiled. She might be going with them, but she was thinking about him.

Chapter Text

As Veronica walked across the courtyard a guy bumped into her, knocking her books to the ground. Logan, who was passing by with Duncan, stopped and helped her pick up her things and neither he nor Veronica missed the shadow that passed over Duncan’s face as the latter viewed this interaction.

“This has to get better,” Veronica told Logan on the phone that night. “It can’t go on like this.”

“You’re preaching to the choir.” He sounded as tired as he was exasperated.

Veronica started to say something, but paused.

“What?” Logan encouraged, interpreting her reticence correctly.

“What if,” she started slowly, “I went out on a couple of dates with someone—you know, other than you.” She rushed on, fearing the inevitable blow-up on the other end of the line. “Just to see how Duncan handled it. If we can get him used to me dating in general, we can work up to telling him that I’m dating you.”

Silence answered her.

“Logan?”

Still no answer and worry started to bubble in her brain. She had known that Logan wouldn’t be happy, but they had do something…

“Logan, please.”

He finally answered, his voice tight. “I’m counting to ten. Slowly. I’m up to seven.”

As the line went quiet again, Veronica lay down on the bed and put her hand over her eyes. The feeling that she and Logan literally held someone’s life in their hands was too much—no one deserved that kind of responsibility, least of all two high school juniors.

She waited for Logan to break the silence.

“I don’t know if I can share you, Veronica.”

What was she supposed to say to that?

“I know you had to share me with Caitlin, but I don’t think I can handle it. Not after Lilly.”

Veronica took a deep breath. They were both scarred by their previous relationships—her issues involved trusting that Logan wasn’t going to wake up one day and act like she didn’t exist. At the same time... “Do you have a better idea? Seriously, Logan, I’m open to ideas. But we can’t keep living like this. You know I would never cheat on you. Ever. You have to know that. But we need to get Duncan used to the idea of me moving on. Do you think he’s ready to hear about me moving on with you?” She paused and when she continued her voice was lower, defeated. “Do you?”

“No,” he said quietly.

“It just needs to be long enough to gauge Duncan’s reaction.”

In a low tone, Logan reiterated, “I don’t want to share you.”

“And I don’t want to be shared. I want you all to myself, and this is the only way I can think of getting any closer to that.”

Logan knew that Veronica was right, which didn’t do anything to help.

As they ended their conversation, Veronica reminded Logan how much she loved him.

“There’s only you.”

After he hung up the phone, Logan vented his anger on the items covering his nightstand, sending his lamp and alarm clock flying, the clock breaking open and spilling out its electronic components.

No one came to check on the cause of the disturbance.

*

As Veronica went to sleep that night, she worked to think about anything except having to “date” someone under Logan’s nose. Unlike Lilly, who would have found the situation amusing, Veronica thought it would give her an ulcer. Knowing the depth of Logan’s hurt over what Lilly had done to him, Veronica could barely stomach the idea of doing anything that would remind him of his previous girlfriend’s actions. At the same time, she wanted desperately to move on with her life—with their lives—without killing Duncan in the process.

When she rolled onto her side and forced her mind elsewhere, her thoughts settled on Aaron Echolls. She and Logan had not discussed the truth of Logan’s abuse since its disclosure. Veronica knew instinctively that Logan would shun any discussion on the subject and she cared about him too much to push the issue.

She was still formulating the plan on how to take care of Aaron, but in the meantime, she was gathering as much solid evidence as she could. Not all of her methods had been exactly legal, but as she didn’t plan on taking the information to the authorities it didn’t really matter. While she hadn’t quite finalized in her mind how she was going to accomplish her goal, she did know that by the time she was done, Logan’s father would never lay a hand on him again.

*

Logan watched from his locker as Veronica walked up to Troy and said, “Let’s go out.”

Logan felt like he was being physically hit in the stomach as Troy replied with enthusiasm, “Finally! The girl comes to her senses.”

Troy saw her. Troy saw Veronica. And nothing scared Logan more than a nice guy who saw his girlfriend for who she really was. Because if Veronica had a nice guy, why would she want him, the physically and emotionally scarred son of two-bit hack actors?

Duncan interrupted Logan’s reverie and after greeting his best friend with some small talk about Shelley Pomroy, Logan realized he needed to start getting some mileage out of the torture that was watching another guy flirt with Veronica.

“Hey, have you noticed that the new kid in town has been all over your trailer-park ex?

Duncan tried to deflect the question. “Let it be, Logan.”

Pressing the point, Logan continued, “Okay, nowhere man, you be the fool on the hill. See if I care.” He was distracted, though, by Duncan’s suddenly pale, sweaty face. “Dude, you don’t look so hot.” This was not the kind of reaction he had been hoping for.

Duncan motioned for Logan to hang on, dropped his bag, and sprinted for the bathroom as Logan’s gaze slid back to Veronica and Troy.

Damnit.

He picked up Duncan’s bag and started reviewing his friend’s history homework as he continued to discreetly keep an eye on his girlfriend. As Duncan came out of the bathroom, Logan returned the notebook to Duncan’s bag (the guy wasn’t always cool with sharing his answers).

He looked closely at his best friend and made a conscious effort not to show how much the answer to the next question meant to him. “You okay?”

“Never better.”

This could be good.

“Okay.”

At that moment, the two young men were interrupted by the sight of Veronica dragging some freshman into the girls’ bathroom.

Logan, of course, knew exactly who the kid was and why Veronica was talking to him, but he couldn’t let Duncan know that.

He laughed and said, “That girl is seriously whack.” He tried to judge Duncan’s expression, but was unable to.

As he and Duncan walked to class, Logan tallied the score in his head. Throwing up: bad. “Never better”: good. Somehow he didn’t find that encouraging.

*

Friday night as Troy and Veronica sat down to dinner, Logan watched from a shadowy booth in the corner. While he and Veronica hadn’t openly discussed it, she knew that Logan intended to show up at the restaurant. It wasn’t a sign of distrust, rather it was his way of coping with the situation. He knew it shouldn’t be so hard for him. It’s not like Veronica was cheating on him, or that she ever would. But over the few days that had passed since Veronica had set up her date with Troy, Logan had developed a terrible fear that she was going to end up leaving him. And the longer he went without being able to shake the fear, the more it gnawed at him, ravaging his insides like a parasite.

As he watched Troy and Veronica make their way through dinner, laughing and talking, the feeling grew until finally Logan couldn’t take it anymore and he got up to leave. At the same moment, Veronica rose from her seat and headed his way. He had been planning on leaving, maybe writing Veronica a letter, but instead she steered him into the unisex handicapped restroom and locked the door.

Neither of them said anything as Veronica looked at Logan and Logan looked at the floor.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“What do you mean?” His voice sounded empty.

“I’ve been watching you. You don’t look angry. You don’t look mad. You look—I don’t know—but it’s not good. And then you just got up to leave.”

“How do you know I wasn’t on my way to the bathroom?”

“Give me a break. I think I know you better than that.”

“You should be with him,” said Logan, not looking at her.

“What?” Of all the answers he could have given her that was not one that had crossed Veronica’s mind. Logan didn’t answer, he just continued to avoid eye contact. “Logan. What do you mean I should be with him? What are you talking about?”

“You should be with him, that’s all,” Logan reiterated as he tried to head for the door to get out of the small room.

Veronica stood in front of the door, effectively blocking his exit. “Not until you tell me what’s going on.”

“Your date’s waiting,” Logan said listlessly.

“Like I care!” demanded Veronica. She felt like she was standing in front of a total stranger. The Logan she knew would never act like this—he would never push her into the arms of another guy. He would fight, yell, scream, throw lamps and obscenities, but he would never just…roll over and give up.

She put her hands on each side of Logan’s face and compelled him to look at her. She was stunned by the vacant expression on his face. What was going on?! Panic was starting to well up in Veronica’s chest, like a rising tide that she could physically feel coming to the surface. Tears threatened to spill out of her eyes and she blinked them back. She had to think. She had to focus. She couldn’t give in to the overwhelming crush of despair trying to overpower her.

“Logan, I love you. Don’t you understand that? The only reason I am here with Troy tonight is so that you and I can be together—out in the open. Do you get that? Really?”

Logan blinked and tried to look away, but Veronica kept her hands on his face and refused to budge. As he was forced to look at her, she saw tears shimmer on his bottom lashes.

He finally spoke and his voice at last held a hint of emotion, although she couldn’t put her finger on which one. “He deserves you.”

Veronica wanted to recoil in shock, but she was afraid if she let go of Logan’s face he would never really look at her again. So as she carefully let out her next question, she kept her hands on his face and began rubbing his cheekbones with the pads of her thumbs.

“What do you mean he deserves me?”

Her thumbs were now wiping tears off of his face as they fell unheeded from his eyes.

“Logan?” she prompted when he didn’t answer.

Logan slumped to the floor, Veronica following him to her knees and her hands from his face. When they were both on their knees facing each other, her small hands returned to frame his face as he softly explained.

“He sees you—he sees how beautiful you are. How smart. The real you, the one that no one looks for anymore. He sees it.”

“But so do you,” the tears that had been threatening her own eyes finally knocked themselves loose and trailed down her face. Why was he so defeated? “So do you.”

“But he deserves you!” Logan finally sounded like himself again, angry and insistent.

“So do you!” she cried back with equal strength.

“No I don’t!” And with that, Logan yanked his face out of her hands and stood up, crossing the small available space to put as much distance between them as possible. He put his hands on the white linoleum tile wall and kept his back to the tiny blond still kneeling on the bathroom floor. “I don’t deserve you,” he continued so softly that she barely heard him. “You should be with someone who’s worthy of you.”

“What?!” Veronica managed to choke out. Her thoughts were frantic. Where had this come from? Why was he saying this? Was he trying to break up with her? Why would he push her away like this? How could he possibly think that he didn’t deserve her, that he wasn’t worthy—

“You should be with someone who’s whole,” Logan said as he turned and slid down the wall, coming to rest on the floor, his eyes distant.

Veronica sat paralyzed on the floor as her mind continued to race. Then with an abruptness that was frightening, she was battered by a wave of comprehension, and it suddenly made absolute sense. It made so much sense it was terrifying. And she wouldn’t—she couldn’t let him go on like this.

“I never understood why you stayed with Lilly,” she said, breaking the silence.

Logan looked up in surprise. Where had that come from?

“I mean, she was Lilly, so for a long time I just took for granted that you stayed with her because, well, you know—she was Lilly.” Logan continued to look at her, still sitting back on her feet as she knelt on the floor. For the first time since they had entered the bathroom, though, her eyes were no longer on him. She was staring into space, lost in memory and understanding. “But after we started dating, especially after we starting having sex, I couldn’t understand why you had put up with Lilly sleeping with other guys. I mean, sex changes things. It’s a commitment, or it should be. And why—why would you stay with someone who would betray you like that? I understood less after we started dating than I did before. Until now.” She looked back at him and their eyes locked. “You didn’t think you deserved anything better, did you?” She could tell that Logan wanted to look away, but this time instead of using her hands, she used her eyes to prevent him from doing so. “You think that what your father—“ her voice choked, but she forced herself to continue, “—did to you makes you broken, unworthy. Don’t you?” She stopped and Logan sensed that she was waiting for an answer, but his only response was to finally look away.

Veronica crossed the short distance between them on her knees, coming to rest on the floor in front of him, in between his legs. She entwined their hands as she poured out her heart.

“You know how you see me—as special, as more than the sum of my parts? That’s how I see you. You are everything to me. I don’t want Troy. I don’t want Duncan. Everyone is broken, Logan. Every single one of us. The point is to find someone who sees past our flaws, who sees us how we’re supposed to be, how we can be. I know that you see me that way. How could you not know that that’s how I see you? I’m so sorry—I can’t believe you didn’t know.”

Logan raised his right hand, still joined to her left, and rested his fingers on her cheek as tears flowed down both of their faces.

Veronica leaned in to kiss him and like so many of their connections, what started out gently quickly turned fierce, both of them expressing physically what Veronica had been communicating verbally. Somehow Veronica ended up on Logan’s lap as he clutched her hair in his hands, tilting her head to get better access to her mouth, her jaw, her neck. Veronica suddenly stopped and grabbed her purse off of the floor, leaving Logan breathless and perplexed.

She grabbed her cell phone out of her bag and hit redial.

“Troy? I am so sorry to have to duck out in the middle of dinner, but my dad called. He was waiting outside to pick me up so I could help him with an emergency case. I am so sorry. I’ll talk to you tomorrow, okay?” Pause. “I will. Bye.”

She slammed her phone shut and returned her attention to Logan.

“You will always be first,” she said as she leaned in to pick up where they had left off.

Chapter Text

Logan and Veronica sat tangled on the bathroom floor, foreheads touching.

Veronica broke the silence. “Don’t ever do that to me again.” Her voice wasn’t angry or hurt, it was just final. “Don’t ever do that to me again,” she repeated as her hands gripped Logan’s arms.

She felt Logan’s head nod against hers. Veronica could handle Logan’s temper. She had a year’s worth of practice and his intensity was part of what made him who he was. Apathetic, defeated Logan, ready to give up on life? Not only was she not okay with that guy, she knew that Logan wasn’t okay with him, either.

They stayed entwined for several minutes before finally moving to get up. As they helped each other straighten out their clothing and fix their hair, they used every movement, every gesture, as an excuse to graze hands and elbows, to brush a piece of exposed skin. Each touch was a reminder that they were there for each other, they were together. They had survived the last year, the last hour, and they were still going. Every touch spoke an hour’s worth of words.

As she left the restaurant with Logan, Veronica called her dad, who was in Atlanta due to the tenacity of a particularly imaginative bail jumper. Unless the van was needed for surveillance or other clandestine P.I. work, Logan drove the McMansion (his latest nickname for the blue Ford van) while Veronica used the Mazda as her alternate ride of choice. As Logan had been going for discretion when keeping his girlfriend under surveillance, the McMansion in question was in the parking lot right next to Veronica’s LeBaron. As she climbed in on the passenger side of the van, Veronica promised Keith that she would call him if she needed anything.

She and Logan held hands and said little as Logan drove them north on the Pacific Coast Highway. An indeterminate amount of time later—it could have been an hour, it could have been three—Logan pulled over at a roadside overlook and parked. Wordlessly, they climbed into the luxury backend of the vehicle, lowered the bed and lay down together.

Cradled in Logan’s arms, Veronica said softly, “Talk to me,” and as though he had simply been waiting for the prompt, Logan began speaking.

When he was ten, Logan had accidentally chipped his father’s People’s Choice Award. Aaron had beaten him so badly that Logan had ended up in the hospital overnight with a concussion and four fractured fingers—two on each hand. When he returned to school covered in suspicious bruises, his teacher had taken him out of the classroom and kindly asked him what had happened. Logan liked Mrs. Nelson. He had trusted her. In her early 40’s and very maternal, Mrs. Nelson fit the picture that Logan had always had in his head of what a mother was supposed to look and act like. Responding to the compassion in her voice, Logan had taken a step into the darkness and answered simply, “My dad hit me.”

Logan had been terrified to go home that day. He waited on pins and needles for the police to bang on the door. He had seen his dad’s movies and he knew that the cops were going to come and handcuff his father, who would protest his innocence as he was dragged away. But nothing happened—no cops arrived, no doors were broken down. Nothing.

For two days Logan jumped at every unexpected sound, both at school and at work, and then on the third day, with no explanation, he was transferred to another teacher’s class. When he got home his father was waiting for him. Aaron informed Logan that if he ever again told anyone what went on in the privacy of their home, Aaron would put Lynn in the hospital. It was the only time that Logan’s father had ever threatened his mother and Logan knew that it was his fault. The lesson wasn’t lost on him.

A few days later, the cowed ten-year-old overheard his new teacher talking to another adult about Mrs. Nelson. Apparently Mr. Nelson had a serious heart condition and the medical bills had been piling up. Things were okay now, though, because a long-overdue insurance check had just come in and all of their bills had been paid. That lesson hadn’t been lost on Logan, either.

Logan hadn’t said a word about his abuse to anyone since. Until Veronica.

Veronica didn’t say anything as Logan shared himself with her. She just listened, aching along with him.

When they woke up the next morning, still on the side of the highway, Logan drove them back to her apartment, where the two of them stayed in all day Saturday, watching movies like South Park and Easy Rider. Keith called to say that the case was taking longer than expected and that he hoped to be back on Monday, so Logan stayed over Saturday night, making the day one of the most enjoyable that they had had since their return from Romania.

Logan wasn’t used to this kind of intimacy. Even after a year with Veronica he wasn’t used to someone knowing him this well and caring this much. It had never occurred to him that Lilly would allow it, so he had never bothered to try. But now he had it—that connection with someone, the kind that people write songs about, the kind that changes your life—he had it. And if you have it you can lose it. Which is why he had tried to walk away when he saw Veronica with Troy.

Deep down he had assumed that once he and Veronica got to that magical place there would be nowhere else to go. He was so damaged. How could anyone really love someone when they saw how cracked that person’s foundation was? He had seen Troy with Veronica and he had known that Troy couldn’t be like that—Troy couldn’t be broken like he was. The other boy deserved to have Veronica make that connection with him in a way that Logan never would.

So he tried to run, and Veronica had stopped him. She had figured out why he had run and by some miracle, she had loved him even more for it. Was there something wrong with her? Who loves someone as flawed as Logan Echolls?

Veronica Mars.

Veronica, who—once she came out from behind the shadow cast by Lilly Kane—was strong, opinionated, feisty, sassy and stunningly beautiful. As much as her words had meant to him, the need in Veronica’s voice had meant more. Veronica Mars, sleuthing super-chick, needed Logan Echolls, professional screw-up. She needed him. And if that was true, if she saw in him what could be instead of only what was, maybe what he saw wasn’t all that was there. Maybe there really was more. Maybe.

For her part, Veronica knew that Logan’s wounds weren’t scratches. They were deep, scary hurts and there was no quick fix for them. But time heals all wounds, right? With enough time and love, could Logan heal his wounds? She couldn’t do it for him, even though she desperately wished that she could. She could be there for him, though. She could hold his hand when it hurt, change the bandages, sit vigil at his bedside.

Veronica had read somewhere that love was a choice—that you couldn’t choose who you were attracted to or who came into your life, but you could choose how deeply you let yourself fall in love with someone. Veronica looked at Logan and she knew that she had made her choice. He was hers and she was his and the choice had been made. Heaven help them both.

*

Before he left late Sunday night, Logan told Veronica to fix things with Troy at school on Monday. Veronica simply stared at him, unsure of whether or not she wanted to go through with their earlier plan. Logan assured her that it was the right thing to do and that he would be okay. Wanting more than ever to end their public charade, Veronica agreed.

The next day after lunch, Veronica found a note from Logan in her locker informing her that he had arranged for Duncan and the rest of their friends to meet at the bleachers by the lacrosse field after school. Veronica took the hint and shortly after the final bell rang she caught up to Troy as he headed for the bleachers. As they neared the practice field she could see Logan, Duncan and several other 09er lackeys standing at the edge of the bleachers, Duncan’s sling clearly visible in the California sunshine.

She turned to Troy. “I think I might have given you the wrong impression. I had a really great time. I just—”

Troy interjected, “It’s just that you need more, and you know you get to fill in the blank here, a—time, b—space…”

With a barely discernable glance toward Logan and Duncan, Veronica stopped Troy’s explanation with a kiss. It wasn’t a showstopper, just a simple meeting of the lips, sweet and straightforward and it was interrupted by a loud crash.

Breaking off the kiss to see what had happened, Troy and Veronica saw Duncan lying in a heap half-on and half-off of the mats underneath the spot where he had been standing moments before. His head was bleeding and his hurt arm and sling were at odd angles. Logan raced down the stairs to join Veronica as she sped over to check Duncan’s condition.

As they did so, Dick called from above, “Hey, Duncan, open your mouth. This’ll help!” And the blond surfer emptied his hip flask in the general direction of the ground.

Rolling her eyes in irritation, Veronica looked to Troy and Logan to help her move their injured friend, who looked unsure as to whether his head or arm needed more attention.

She turned her attention to Logan.

“Do you have your truck with you?”

“Yeah,” he replied, accompanied by a questioning look.

“But you’re drunk. Fine. Duncan needs to lie down so we can take him to the emergency room. I’ll drive your car. It has more room than mine.” Logan looked appropriately displeased. As far as most of the world knew, no one drove his Xterra. No one. As it so happened, Veronica had driven it on a number of occasions, but since Troy and Duncan weren’t supposed to know that, Logan threw in some muttered comments as they made their way to the parking lot.

Troy spoke up. “Death defying stunts. Gushing head wound.” Duncan laughed as Logan raised an eyebrow and Veronica looked even more irritated. “You’re the man, brother.”

The three healthy teenagers moved Logan’s backseat so that Duncan would have more room to lie down as the injured boy pointed out that he had almost stuck the landing.

“Most people awaiting major surgery know better than to try,” said Veronica sternly as she settled Duncan into place. “Logan, sit back here with him so he doesn’t move around.” Troy looked amused by Veronica’s bossy tone and told her he’d call her later, sending her off with a quick kiss.

As Veronica pulled out of the parking lot, a tension-filled silence fell upon the car.

“Make sure you hold the towel tight,” she instructed as she navigated Neptune’s afternoon traffic.

“Hey, do you see me backseat driving?” complained Logan. “I’m not that drunk. I think I can handle putting pressure on a head wound.”

“If you guys hadn’t been drinking in the first place, this wouldn’t have happened at all.” Logan knew that Veronica was both putting on an act and irritated that he had gotten drunk in the middle of the afternoon. He rolled his eyes. Women.

Duncan spoke up from his prone position on the truck floor. “Remember how things used to be?”

There was a loaded pause. Then Logan and Veronica spoke at the same time.

“No.”

Logan called Jake and Celeste on the drive over and as Duncan got settled into an examination room, his father arrived, dismissing both Logan and Veronica. As they walked out, Veronica made sure that Duncan heard her say in a less-than-pleased tone that she needed a ride back to her car.

Once again, Veronica drove.

“He’s been different the last few days,” said Logan.

“Yeah, he’s seemed more…awake, almost,” she agreed.

There was a pause as they both avoided pointing out the obvious.

Logan sighed. “The kiss made him jump.”

“Yeah,” Veronica answered heavily as her hands tightened on the wheel. “Come over to my house?”

Logan nodded. He wasn’t drunk anymore. Just drained.

As they sat in her room doing homework that night, her dad knocked on her door to inform his daughter that she had a visitor. His description of the late night caller as being “white male, pint-sized, desperate and not having a good day” made both Logan and Veronica smile.

Logan waited in Veronica’s room while she went and talked to Justin on the front porch. Logan heard Veronica and her dad talking after she came back inside and then Veronica returned to her room. Closing up her books, she told him that the next afternoon she had to drive to San Diego to look for the kid’s deadbeat dad. After assessing that the situation was not inherently dangerous, Logan agreed that it was best that Veronica go alone while he stayed behind and spent some time with the sure-to-be-recovering Duncan.

The next day after Veronica got back and reported to Justin, her head again filled with thoughts of Logan. She had had time to think about it during her trip in San Diego and she finally acknowledged that she had enough evidence to give Logan the power to take back control of his life. She was nervous though—would he recognize why she had done it? Would he realize that she had done it without violating his trust? Would he be interested in using what she had found?

Her attention was redirected the next day, though, when she and Justin learned the truth about his long-absent father. In helping Justin come to terms with the situation he and his father faced, Veronica was reminded of the gaping hole in her own heart that was her mother. As soon as she dropped Justin off, she called Logan and asked if he would drive with her to Arizona the next day after school. Logan immediately agreed and they made the necessary plans to meet at a rest stop about thirty miles outside of Neptune.

The following afternoon, as Veronica parked her car and got into Logan’s Xterra, she knew that it was time.

As they pulled onto the highway, Veronica began with, “Logan, I didn’t look at the files.”

“What?”

“I didn’t read them. The files.”

Logan gave her a sharp look. “I’m not going to like where this is going, am I?”

Veronica returned his gaze honestly. “Probably not. But remember, I didn’t look at them. They’re not my business. They’re yours. I just wanted to—I had to—get them so that you could decide whether or not to use them.”

Logan looked at her expectantly and Veronica explained.

Over the past two weeks, she had made four clandestine trips to southern California hospitals. Given the populous nature of the state, those were only a few of the ones within an hour’s drive of Neptune, but she had started with what she felt were the obvious ones. Prior to each trip, she had gone online to find out their hours of operation and to look up pictures of recent hospital events and/or current staff pictures, from which she found out what style scrubs their nurses wore. For each hospital, she then took a trip to UniWorld, one of the largest medical outfitting warehouses on the west coast, which just happened to be located about half an hour outside of Neptune.

Visiting each hospital and conducting clandestine searches for medical records documenting Logan’s trips to emergency rooms had been ridiculously simple. As long as Veronica hung a stethoscope around her neck, had on the right color scrubs and wore either a lanyard or a backwards clipped-on badge (depending on what the staff in the online pictures had sported), no one took any notice of her. She was just another nurse going about her business. At two of the hospitals the doors to the Records Room had been unlocked and she had easily picked the lock at a third. Only the last one had had an electronic keycard entry that she couldn’t bypass.

Veronica had chosen this direct method because while it was more time consuming, it was in fact easier than breaking into a hospital’s online records. Aside from the fact that she didn’t have the technological know-how for that level of hacking, sleuthing in person left less of a trail. Perhaps surprisingly, it was also less-expected in today’s distanced computer era. The biggest problem Veronica had faced had been finding the consumable time in the first place. Between time spent with her dad, Logan, Wallace, homework, stakeouts and office work, Veronica’s schedule was packed tight. She had ended up making her trips when Logan was with friends and her dad was in town to answer the phones.

Each of the files that she had found had been extremely thin; Aaron and Lynn did not appear to have ever taken their son to the same emergency room twice. Having a child “accident prone” enough to require multiple trips to the same ER would lead most competent doctors to contact child services. And being who they were, Logan’s parents were going to be remembered for their trips to the hospital, making the risk of discovery even greater. Out of respect for Logan’s privacy and the trust which he had in her, Veronica had been scrupulous about not looking at anything she found. In fact, she was assuming that they held records of ER visits. She didn’t think it was a very big leap of faith, though.

At each location, Veronica had made a copy for herself, a copy for the hospital and had taken pains to replace the originals. She then misfiled the back-up copy under “L” instead of “E”. In this manner she was preparing for the likely possibility that if Logan ever chose to confront Aaron with evidence of his abuse, Logan’s father would be less able to eradicate the documents detailing his son’s injuries.

When Veronica finished, the car suddenly seemed unnaturally silent. She looked at Logan, who was staring straight ahead, his expression unreadable.

“Logan, I couldn’t do nothing. I couldn’t. You have almost two years left at home and I’m so afraid that one day he’ll go too far. That you’ll be—“ her voice cracked and she looked out the side window. “It’s your life and it’s your choice.” She looked back at him. “No matter what you decide, I want you to know that I will be there for you. If you don’t use this, if you do—it doesn’t matter. I don’t expect you to go to the press. I don’t want you to. I know what they’re like. I just—it’s just that—“ she struggled to find the words. “The public hates people who hurt children. They hate it. Adultery, homosexuality, drug abuse, abortion, alcoholism, shoplifting, even murder—America will forgive famous people for just about anything. Except for hurting children. Just think of Joan Crawford—I mean, the woman won an Oscar but all anyone remembers is Mommy Dearest.” Veronica was babbling now, but this had all been building up and she had to get it out. “If you threaten to go public with what he’s done, I think…I think he’ll stop.”

She stopped again and sat silently, working valiantly not to cry. This wasn’t about her. It was about the boy sitting next to her.

He finally spoke. “You didn’t read them?”

“Not one word.”

“What hospitals did you go to?”

The question surprised her and she listed all of the hospitals she had visited. Each was of average size relative to the rest of the state. She figured that if Aaron had any intelligence at all, he would have avoided both the very large and the very small, going instead for the medium and nondescript.

“Well, let’s see,” Logan said. “Tri-City Medical Center. I was twelve and didn’t come in fast enough when I was called. Six stitches on my calf. Scripps Memorial. I had my radio on too loud when he was trying to have a conversation with his publicist in L.A. He beat me so hard that I started peeing blood. I almost had to have surgery, but they cleared up the infection with antibiotics. Children's Hospital. Broken elbow because I broke my mom’s Lalique vase.” He paused and looked at the girl in the passenger seat. “I would have told you if you had asked.”

“I know,” she said, unable to hold back the tears anymore. “I wanted you to know that we could get proof. That even though you couldn’t speak for yourself then, these records can speak for you now. The people who should have helped didn’t—your teachers, the doctors, the nurses, your mom. They should have been there for you and they weren’t. Now it’s your choice.”

“And you didn’t read them.”

Veronica shook her head. “And if you want to destroy them, you can. If you don’t want me to find anymore, I won’t. But if you want to keep going, I will be with you every step of the way for that, too.”

“I’m…” he paused and started again. “I don’t think I’m ready to use these yet.” She nodded. “But—I know where else we would need to go. If we did.” His hands tightened on the wheel. Veronica could tell that he was going to give it some thought and she had the feeling that eventually he might tell her where those places were. She reached her hand out and trailed her fingers over his face, her touch feather light. Logan looked at her as she did so.

“Thank you for not reading them.”

As far as Lianne went, the trip to Arizona was useless, but once they got back to Neptune and Veronica closed her eyes to go to sleep in the early hours of the following morning, she did so with a peaceful heart.

Chapter Text

Sunday night found Logan and Veronica together on the couch watching TV. As Lilly Rush interrogated a suspect, Logan had to comment.

“That is one hot detective.”

“You are such a guy,” noted Veronica.

“What? I have a thing for hot blonde crime stoppers.” He leaned forward to look at his girlfriend’s face. “Didn’t we agree that this was the perfect compromise? Cop procedural,” and he pointed to himself. “Emo!chick show,” and he pointed her.

“Uh-huh,” she said with a look. “I think the reasoning was the other way around.” At that, Logan made a defensive noise. She kissed his upturned face and maneuvered herself up off the couch as Cold Case went to commercial. “You totally know that skeezer coach molested those kids. They totally did it. Want a drink?”

“Whiskey sour,” Logan answered with a straight face. “And yes, I agree that the coach is a pervert, but that does not mean that the guys in his swim class killed him. They’re totally the victims,”

“Uh-huh,” laughed Veronica. “Would you like a Coke?” she asked pointedly.

“Not the same,” he sighed back.

With a laugh, Veronica went about getting out a glass, ice and some Skist.

“Oh, yeah. Logan,” she started. Something about her tone of voice made his look up. “Last night on our golf outing, Troy apologized for booking a room at the Four Seasons. Seems my dad found out he had one reserved for Homecoming night. Any idea how my dad found that out?”

She finished pouring her drink, but rather than heading back over to the couch, she leaned against the counter and aimed a penetrating glance at her boyfriend, who did his best to look innocent.

“Your dad’s a detective, Vee. I would think it would be pretty obvious.”

“Yeah, but so am I, remember?”

Logan looked back at the TV. “Show’s back on.”

“So being a detective and all, I ask myself why my dad thought to call a hotel in L.A. I mean, the normal place to start would be the Neptune Grand, the 09er getaway of choice.”

Logan took a good look at Veronica’s face, checking to see how angry she was. What he saw made him relax a fraction—she was amused, not upset.

She continued, “My dad doesn’t have any reason to distrust Troy. Not yet, anyway. He wouldn’t have called the Four Seasons unless someone gave him a heads up.”

Logan affected an innocent air.

“Logan,” Veronica warned.

“I like your dad,” Logan said as he pretended to turn his attention back to the TV where it appeared that a former military cadet was insisting upon his innocence . “He takes very good care of his little girl. Thorough guy.”

“Logan,” her tone held an even stronger warning.

“The guy was talking about how he was going to impress you after the dance,” Logan admitted with a roll of his eyes. “I may have said something to your dad. It wasn’t like I could deck the guy for making the moves on my girlfriend, which is what I wanted to do.” He crossed his arms, never looking away from the television.

Veronica crossed the living room to Logan, where she set her drink down, uncrossed Logan’s arms and resettled them around herself as she lay down with him. They were asleep in the same position when Keith arrived home a few hours later.

Setting his bags down as quietly as possible, Veronica’s father collapsed wearily into a chair and looked at his daughter lying secure in the arms of Logan Echolls. Keith wondered sometimes if he was doing the right thing, letting Veronica and Logan get as close as they were. He knew they were sleeping together, but in the classic dilemma of all parents, there wasn’t much he could do about it. The best thing he could do was to maintain a close relationship with both Veronica and her boyfriend and hope that he therefore know about any difficulties they encountered.

He also felt a lot of guilt for the misery which was his daughter’s life. Logan was one of the few good things that Veronica had and the boy demonstrably adored her. Keith rubbed his face. He hoped that he was doing the right thing by his daughter. While he didn’t want to disturb them, he didn’t want Logan’s parents to worry about him, either. Not that they would, but Keith didn’t want to be responsible for the possibility.

He went over to the sleeping teenagers and gently put his hand on Logan’s shoulder.

“Logan,” he said in a low voice. “Logan, you have to get home.” The young man blinked as he woke up. His first glance was to the girl in his arms.

“I don’t want to wake her up,” Logan murmured as he maneuvered his arms underneath Veronica so that he could lift the tiny pixie.

“I’m surprised that we haven’t already,” remarked Keith as Logan worked to more fully wake up so that he could carry Veronica to her bed. Logan didn’t comment as he hoisted Veronica in his arms and took her the short distance to her room.

The fact was that Veronica was usually a very light sleeper, but the two of them had discovered that when she fell asleep with Logan, nothing woke her up. She slept like the dead. He liked to tease her that it was because she felt safe when he was there. She laughed and said she’d had to learn to sleep that hard in order to survive his snoring. Logan figured his theory was more likely.
Logan wasn’t in a hurry for Keith to know how often he and Veronica fell asleep together, though, so he wisely said nothing as he deposited his girlfriend in bed and tucked her in.

As Logan got his things together he asked Keith how his trip went.

“Oh, you know. Chased down the bad guy, made rent money.”

Logan smiled and headed out the door.

*

The next day Logan took on Duncan’s task of putting together a memorial video for Lilly. As he sat down to go through the videos in the Journalism room, it was like a dark cloud descended over him. He skipped two classes as he began combing through old videos looking for the least nauseating moments. The monotony was only broken when Veronica stopped by, drawn into the room by the sound of Lilly’s childhood laughter.

He looked up when she entered and then turned his attention back to the computer lest anyone see them talking to each other. When he noticed that she was still there, he said, “What part of my ignoring you makes you think you’re welcome?” Even if no one was directly watching them, caustic behavior was expected when in public.

“What are you doing?”

“Assembling the world’s most boring memorial video,” and he detailed the abysmal contents of each available tape.

“It’s Lilly as a long-distance commercial.”

“Memories both misty and water-colored.”

Veronica stood there for a moment, lost in the same memories as the boy pretending to hate her, then she mentally shook herself and returned to class.

Her eleven o’clock phone call with Logan that night reflected their heavy emotions.

“Hey, Veronica.”

“Hey, Logan.”

The phone line filled with the words that neither of them could say.

“I love you, Logan.”

“I love you, too.”

Neither of them hung up, instead listening to each other’s breathing as they fell asleep.

*

The next morning Veronica woke up early and got out the keepsake box that she kept under her bed. As she pulled out what she was looking for, she wondered what their lives would be like if Lilly hadn’t died. Would she and Logan have still gotten together? Logan had been so in love with Lilly—would he have been able to stay away from her? Even after catching her in the act? How would things have progressed differently if Lilly hadn’t died the day after they had walked up on her? Did it matter? Regardless, she had things to do.

Making an almost unheard of trip to Logan’s house in her own car, Veronica took a detour at the Echolls’ house on the way to school.

Knowing that she would be waking him up, she walked into his room. Sure enough, Logan was still tangled in his sheets, his left arm over his eyes, his right arm flung wide. She sat down on the edge of his bed and reached down to kiss him. As his arm moved from his face to come around her shoulders to pull her in tighter, she laughed.

“I thought you were asleep.”

“Please tell me you came over for some wake-up sex,” his lips moved against hers.

“While that’s very tempting, I have a quiz in first period I can’t miss.”

“Come on, Veronica. Pretty please,” he wheedled as he pulled her across himself and rolled on top of her. He started kissing his way down her collarbone and Veronica’s willpower wavered.

“Logan, really,” she said as she bit her lip and unsuccessfully tried to suppress a moan. “I can’t miss this quiz.”

Logan sighed and stopped his attentions to the disappointment of both of them.

“So if this isn’t a booty call, why are you here at…” he looked over at his new alarm clock. “…this insane hour of the morning?”

“I brought you something,”

Logan’s hand slid up her hip. “I’ll bet you did.”

“You’re such a perv,” said Veronica and she pushed herself out from underneath her boyfriend, reaching for her purse.

Logan leaned back against the headboard as Veronica sat up and pulled out a mini video cassette.

“This is for the memorial video.”

“What is it?” Logan examined the tape that Veronica handed to him.

“It’s not a ballet recital,” said Veronica as she leaned back into her boyfriend’s arms.

They lay motionless for a few minutes before Veronica finally sat up. She paused as Logan rested his head between her shoulder blades.

“I prefer it like this,” he said softly.

She pulled Logan’s arms around herself one last time as she leaned into him.

“We won’t have to pretend forever.”

“I have to believe that,” he returned and he headed for the shower as Veronica left for school.

As Logan stood under the hot spray, he thought about Homecoming. He couldn’t bring himself to go. He and Veronica had decided that she needed to go with Troy in an effort to continue Duncan’s inoculation against Veronica’s love life and to maintain the illusion to Wallace that Veronica didn’t already have a boyfriend. Logan was planning on getting completely plastered as he remembered his last truly happy memory with his first love, his best friend, and Old Veronica (as he categorized her in his mind). He also hoped that liquor would dull the knowledge that Veronica would be spending her evening with some other guy.

Would he still be with Veronica if Lilly were alive, he wondered. He tried not to dwell on things like that too often. He and Veronica were together and that’s all that mattered, but at times like this—Homecoming, October 3 right around the corner, he couldn’t help but contemplate. Would Veronica have been able to fall in love with him if Lilly had always been looking over her shoulder? Would she have really chosen him over her best friend? Did it matter?

Logan leaned against the wall of the shower as the questions washed over him like water from the showerhead. He had to get to school. He got out of the shower and moved on with his day.

*

The night before Homecoming, most of the school attended the dedication of the Lilly Kane Memorial fountain. Veronica wandered through the crowd taking pictures, which took her mind off of the hideous line-up of performances and tributes that Celeste had arranged. In Lilly’s honor, Veronica was strongly tempted to rip off her clothes and streak the crowd, but she really wanted to graduate, so she kept her shirt on.

But then Logan’s video was shown and Veronica realized that she didn’t have to streak. Logan had taken care of the Lilly presence for her. She and Logan gave each other a rare meaningful public look when it was over.

Her boyfriend was perfect.

The next night as she got ready for Homecoming, memories of the previous year threatened to overwhelm Veronica, but she fought them off as she straightened out her midnight blue spaghetti-strap dress in the mirror. She could do this.

She made it through the evening without crying or stripping down naked, so she figured that she was doing pretty well. After Troy got her home at a very reasonable hour, she changed and got into the Mazda. She and Logan hadn’t arranged it ahead of time, but she knew exactly where to find him.

Sure enough, when Veronica pulled into the parking lot, there was the screaming yellow SUV. She walked down to the beach and stood in front of Logan, who was sitting in the sand, watching the waves come in and out.

“Nice dress,” he said.

Veronica looked down at her strapless red satin mini-dress.

“You’re the first person to see it.”

She turned around to see Logan’s surprised expression.

“I saved the best for you. I wore a different dress to the dance.” She smiled at him. “I want you know something.” She turned her head back toward the ocean as she continued. The moonlight shone on the water and from Logan’s point of view Veronica appeared to have a silver white aura surrounding her. “I’ve been thinking about something a lot lately and…” she took a deep breath. “If I had to choose—between you and Lilly, you know, if she were still alive, I’d choose you.” She turned back around. “You win, Logan. I can’t live without you. I miss Lilly, but you I can’t live without.”

The light behind her was so bright that when she turned to him, Logan couldn’t immediately see her features. He stood up and took her hands in his.

“It was over between us, you know,” he said as he turned her around so that her face was in the light and he could see her clearly. “Me and Lilly. As soon as I saw her by the pool, it was over. I was never going to go back to her. And I’m not with you because she’s gone. I’m with you because you’re the one I love. Even if Lilly were still alive, you’re the person I want to be with.”

As Logan put his arms around Veronica, he expected her to return suit, but instead of reaching her arms forward, she put her arms behind her back and pulled down her zipper.

At Logan’s questioning look, Veronica slipped off her dress and laughed as she turned around and headed for the water. Logan smiled.

Time to check one off the “I never” list.

From his vantage point in the parking lot, Duncan watched as Logan joined Veronica for a skinny dip in the ocean.

They never knew he was there.

Chapter Text

Prologue

“You did what?”

“I invited Troy to come to come to Tijuana with Luke and me.”

“And you did this why?”

“Why not? He’s a cool guy.”

“Why not? Maybe because he’s dating your girlfriend? Maybe because you have a pathological hatred of him? Seriously, what were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that your father and I are both going to be out of town and I didn’t want my girlfriend’s fake boyfriend to use that opportunity to try to get his fake girlfriend to have real sex with him.”

Pause.

“Okay, then. Have fun in T.J.”

“Thank you.”

End Prologue

*

Logan had a serious hangover. Tequila would do that to you. He had been determined to out drink Troy-boy and while he had succeeded, he had been paying the price ever since. It was a dubious win.

At the moment, he and Troy were sitting in the car waiting for Luke to get back with his drugs. Logan wasn’t sure if Troy knew that’s what was going on and he didn’t really care. Right now all that concerned him was not dry heaving his small intestines onto the seat in front of him.

“What time is it?” The question penetrated the haze of his misery and managed to make it out of his mouth.

Troy checked his watch. “Um…around eleven.”

“Crap.” Logan pulled his cell phone off of his belt and hit speed dial.

Veronica answered, “Having fun yet?”

Logan suppressed a gag. “Hey, Mom, sorry it’s so late. I forgot to set the TiVo. Will you tape Leno for me?”

“Exactly how drunk are you?”

Why was he dating a private investigator?

“Thanks, Mom. I appreciate it.”

“People with hangovers deserve to be made fun of. You had a drinking contest with him, didn’t you?” Veronica snorted in a very unladylike manner. “Did you at least win?”

“Absolutely. I promise we’ll drive safe.”

“Of course you did. I’ll let you get back to your dry heaving.”

Seriously. How did she know this stuff?

“See ya tomorrow, Mom.”

“I love you. Enjoy your hangover.”

“Love you, too.”

Veronica laughed as she hung up the phone.

Troy looked at Logan as Luke finally approached the car, “Dude, who is on Leno that you have to call your mom from Mexico to have her TiVo it?”

“I have no idea, but I’m pretty sure she was hot.” And with that, Logan returned to huddling miserably in the corner.

Luke rejoined them and the bantering began, Logan making reference to a Mexican hooker his traveling companions thought he had hooked up with. He was so lying. In truth, Logan had gone into the back of the cantina because it was expected of him and because he wanted to get away from Troy. There he had imbibed massive quantities of alcohol which led to him throwing up repeatedly. It was convenient, of course, that neither Luke nor Troy had seen this.

Troy ignored what Logan said and paid attention only to the gagging. “Whoa! What'd I tell you about drool on the leather? Dad's very strict about the car.” Luke laughed and Logan groaned. “He's the only one allowed to dry heave in it. All right. Have we had our fill of Tijuana?”

Simultaneously, Luke said yes and Logan said no. Logan was determined to outlast Troy, hung over or not hung over.

As they made it through the border checkpoint, Logan’s gagging subsided and he started to feel better, so much so that stopping for food on the U.S. side of the border didn’t like sound a death sentence.

And he definitely felt well enough to be entertained by the disappearance of Troy’s father’s car.

“Maybe it's like Brigadoon. If you come back in a hundred years, it'll be right back in this spot.” Neither Troy nor Luke shared his amusement.

Logan’s happy place went away, however, when Troy called Veronica to come pick them up. His bad mood only intensified when Veronica pulled up and started flirting with Troy. That frustration helped feed his particularly obnoxious interaction with his girlfriend as they drove back to Neptune and he was forced listen to Veronica and Troy lament Troy’s imminent departure to Catholic school. Logan wasn’t sure what they were so upset about—it sounded like a good idea to him.

When Veronica pulled up to Logan’s Xterra, he finally felt like they had a moment as she teased him by gunning her car engine as he passed in front of the LeBaron. He hated sharing her.

As Veronica drove away with Troy, Luke distracted Logan from his murderous intentions by asking to crash in the Echolls’ pool house. Luke’s drugs had obviously been stolen along with the car, Logan realized. Bummer.

*

Logan was in his room asleep when his cell phone woke him up. He didn’t even have a chance to say hello before Veronica launched into a tirade.

“My dad is dating Ms. James. Ms James!”

“What? Who?”

He woke up more fully as Veronica detailed the phone message from their school counselor that she had intercepted. Not much was required of Logan as he listened to Veronica rant about how her father was dating someone when he hadn’t even tried to find her mother. Logan made comments when Veronica seemed to need them, but his mind kept wandering.

Veronica had called him. When she needed someone to be there for her, she had called him. He was actually happy that he had been woken up by his girlfriend calling to vent about her day. Troy might be the last person left in her car, but Logan was the first one on her list. Logan trusted Veronica implicitly, but that wasn’t the point. He still had to watch her with another guy. As he listened to his girlfriend go on some more about how her dad should have told her the truth about his dinner date, the thought on Logan’s mind was that he really was first with her.

Veronica apologized for waking him up and said she had to go. As he fell back to sleep, Logan smiled. She had called him first.

*

When Logan saw Veronica the next morning at school, however, she looked unhappy. She had been fine by the time they had talked the night before, so something else must have happened. He would have to pull her into their office after lunch.

“Hey, man,” Luke said as he sat down with his cafeteria tray next to Logan.

“Dude, why are you eating that crap? We just ordered Chinese.”

Luke ignored the question. “The steroids were in the piñata in Troy’s car. I just asked Veronica Mars to help me find them.” At the look on Logan’s face, Luke defended himself. “Have you ever seen Hank Zigmund? That guy will kill me. Literally. I had to get help from someone and everyone says that Veronica’s really good at that stuff—like in a weird way.”

“What did you tell her?”

“What?” Luke leaned towards Logan and lowered his voice. “About the drugs? What do you think I told her? That I bought them for Hank and that the guy’s gonna break my legs if I don’t deliver them.”

“No,” Logan spoke very slowly. “What did you tell her about what Troy and I knew?”

Luke looked askance at Logan. What did that matter? “I told her that you knew and Troy didn’t. I mean, Troy knew, but I didn’t want him to get in trouble with his girlfriend.”

Logan spent the rest of the school day going out of his way to avoid his now even-more-pissed-off girlfriend. After school, he hung out at Duncan’s place. He couldn’t avoid Veronica forever, though, and when he got home at about 9:30, Veronica was sitting on his bed doing homework.

“Hey, big boy,” she said, shutting her literature book. “Been at the gym?”

Logan stood up straight. He was never one to back away from a fight, even if it was with one of the few people who had the ability to scare the hell out of him.

“It wasn’t like that.”

“Oh, yeah? What was it like? You were just along for the ride. You know, the one where you transported illegal narcotics across international borders?! What were you thinking?!” she yelled.

“I was thinking that a buddy of mine needed help! That’s what friends do!” He yelled right back.

“Friends don’t let friends drive drunk, Logan. They don’t help each other violate international law!”

“Luke said he had to take a trip to Mexico to pick up some stuff and he wanted some company. It wasn’t a big deal.” Logan threw his stuff on the floor and stalked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

He should have known better than to think that would stop Veronica Mars.

She opened the door as he was doing his business.

“Veronica!” he shouted. There were some things your girlfriend didn’t need to watch, no matter how much you loved her.

“Did you even stop to think about me?” she asked in that quiet tone he had come recognize as Veronica at her most dangerous.

How was he supposed to finish up with Veronica watching? Whatever. She was the one who had walked in on him.

“What are you talking about?” he asked as he washed his hands.

“What if you had been arrested?” Logan walked past her and back into his bedroom as she continued. “Maybe imprisonment in a Mexican jail doesn’t scare you, but it scares me. Do you have any idea what they’re like? What could happen to you? You and my dad are all that I have! If you don’t care about yourself, at least care about me!”

She had his attention. “Veronica, we were fine. I’m here, see? Nothing happened.”

“But it could have. Don’t you get it? Why don’t you understand how much I need you?” And with that she stormed out of his room, slamming the door behind her.

Veronica was so mad at him when she left that Logan debated as to whether or not he should call her at 11:00, but they hadn’t missed a night in almost a year and he wasn’t going to break tradition now.

He was afraid that she wouldn’t pick up, but she answered on the first ring.

“I wasn’t sure you’d call.”

“So you’re speaking to me?”

“No.” There was a pause. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow. I love you, Veronica.”

She sighed. “I know. But I need you to act like it.” And she hung up the phone.

*

The next day, Veronica actually approached him at his locker in full view of the world. Given the situation, however, it would have seemed strange if she hadn’t, her having a reputation as a good detective and all.

“Time for a chat?” she opened.

Life would be much simpler if he didn’t have to figure out the hidden meaning in every sentence that passed between the two of them.

”Well, you’d think if hell froze over, maybe it'd be on the news.”

”I just wanna hear more about the steroids you bought last weekend.”

That one? Not so much subtext.

Okay, time to remind her that he had not, in fact, purchased narcotics. ”You mean the steroids Luke bought. Wow! You suck at this Nancy Drew stuff. You should get a new hobby.” Where was Duncan when you needed him? This would go so far towards keeping Veronica’s ex convinced that the she and Logan hated each other.

”So you knew he was doing it.”

As Logan gave a suitably obnoxious response, Troy walked up behind him. So Logan had a choice—keep arguing with his girlfriend or leave her alone with her fake boyfriend. Hello, rock, meet hard place. Like he really had a choice. “Hmm, I guess we're done here, Officer. What up, T?” Touch my girlfriend and I’ll kill you.

He gave Veronica a significant look as he walked away. He heard Veronica dismiss his presence to Troy as she kissed him in greeting. He literally felt his blood boil as he ducked into the janitor’s closet.

Moments later, Veronica passed by the slightly cracked door alone, Troy having gone into his classroom. Logan pulled her into the closet with him, shutting the door and leaving them in darkness.

“I thought we weren’t meeting in here anymore,” she said as Logan pushed her up against the wall and put his arms on either side of her head.

“And I thought you weren’t speaking to me.” He leaned in and breathed the words into her ear. He knew what her buttons were.

Judging by the increased rate of her breathing, even her being mad at him couldn’t stop her from responding to him.

“You scared me, Logan.”

“I’m sorry. You know I would never do that to you on purpose.” He trailed one finger lightly down her arm, feeling the goose bumps spring up as he did so.

“But do you know how to make sure that it doesn’t happen again?” She clutched at his arms; he couldn’t tell whether it was in excitement or frustration. Maybe it was both.

“What do you mean?” He ran his finger back up her arm, keeping that the only place where he was touching her.

“Don’t do things that could get you hurt, or in trouble, or taken away. Don’t just think about the moment. Think about me. Please.” There was a note of desperation in Veronica’s voice that Logan hadn’t heard since before Shelley’s party, before she had changed. “I need you to remember me when you’re making decisions. I know that’s a lot to ask. I know it is, but I need you to do that. For me. Can you do that?”

Logan ran his fingers through her hair, tangling them together and bringing his forehead to hers. He couldn’t lie to her, but he couldn’t let her down, either. “I’m not perfect, Veronica.” He felt her tense beneath him. “But I will try. I promise you that I will try my very hardest to be a better person for you.” Veronica’s hands moved to his head and she pulled him down for a hard kiss.

Logan worried sometimes that he loved her too much, that his feelings for her went too far. Words like the ones that she had just spoken might scare some guys, but to him it meant that she loved him as much as he loved her. And he would do anything to keep that. He would do anything for her.

They came up for air, his fingers still wrapped in her hair, her arms around him, and they took a moment to simply be together, to savor each other’s presence, feel, smell, touch.

“I’m going to be late for Bio,” Veronica said with more than a trace of reluctance in her voice.

“Calculus,” inserted Logan and he kissed her again, lightly this time.

“This Troy thing,” she said tentatively, “it’s just a distraction. It’s not real.”

“I know,” he ceded. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“I’d worry if you did,” she said, and he could hear the smile in her voice. She kissed him again and sighed as he pulled away, his hand moving to take hers.

Veronica opened the door and discreetly looked both ways down the hall before moving to exit, her hand slowly leaving Logan’s. He followed a few seconds behind her, moving in the other direction.

Duncan watched the two of them exit the closet from his post around the corner. He didn't see why everyone made such a big deal about him trying to kill himself. He'd been dead for a year, anyway. First he lost Veronica, then Lilly, then Logan and Veronica (he got to lose her twice). His mind usually consisted of nothing more than white noise. The only reason he had to get out of bed was watching. Watching Logan and Veronica. To see what happened next.

So he watched his best friend and the girl he loved move out of his sight. And he stayed silent. After all, he wanted to see what happened next.

*

“So how was the rest of your day?”

“Well, Ms. James broke my mom’s favorite bowl, Weevil took me to the family chop shop, and I scared the crap out of a bunch of elementary school kids trying to have a birthday party. You?”

Logan laughed. “Nothing that can compare to all that. You holding up okay?”

“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “Can you come over tomorrow night? I need your help with something.”

“I’ll be there,” he assured her as she had known that he would.

*

“Do you think she’ll call you?” Not that Veronica would know the answer, but Logan still had to ask as he helped her affix labels on the envelopes.

“I hope so,” Veronica answered, sounding resigned. “I want to know who sent her those pictures. Why would someone do that? Why her? Why me?”

As she copied down another address, Logan leaned over and kissed her on the cheek as he took another stack of envelopes.

An hour later they were done, but neither of them was ready for Logan to leave, so they sat down to watch Office Space, a movie which the two of them had recently discovered was hilarious. Once they got comfortable, sleep won out over the trials of the cubicle bound until about 3:30 a.m. when Logan woke up with a start.

“Veronica?” he said softly. “Veronica.” The girl in his arms stirred and snuggled in closer to him. “Veronica, you have to go to bed. We have school tomorrow.”

“What time is it?” she muttered.

Logan looked at the clock on the VCR. “About 3:30.”

Veronica groaned and then suddenly sat up. “Where’s my dad?” She jumped up and was heading for the phone when Logan stopped her.

“Um, Veronica?”

She stopped. “What?”

“He’s—“ he hesitated.

“What? Do you know something?” Veronica said in a rush, anxious to find out where her dad was.

“He’s probably with Ms. James.”

Veronica visibly deflated.

“Oh. Right.”

Logan stood up stiffly. “I’m sorry, Veronica.”

“Don’t be. He has a right to be happy, doesn’t he? It’s just…hard, I guess.”

Logan walked over to the petite blonde and took her in his arms, wishing that he could make all of her problems go away.

He kissed her on the top of her head. “I’d better go. We don’t want your dad coming home to find me still here.”

“Ever heard that expression about glass houses? I’m not sure he’d be able to say anything,” Veronica said as she held on tighter as Logan tried to step away from her.

Logan laughed. “I’m not sure that your dad would see it that way.”

Veronica dropped her head to Logan’s chest and smiled. “Probably not.” She leaned up and kissed him again. “Drive safe.”

“I will. Call me if you need anything. And don’t worry—your dad will be home any minute.”

“He’d better be.”

Logan left as Veronica waited for her dad.

*

The next day, Wallace watched as Troy and Veronica sat together at lunch. Veronica looked worried while Troy acted like he didn’t have a care in the world.

What was up with that guy?

Wallace’s feelings towards Veronica, while in no way romantic, were complicated. She was his closest friend in Neptune and an awesome person, so he had her back, which meant that he wanted to make sure that Troy treated her right. Wallace also looked at Veronica as something of a sister, which meant that he wanted to make sure that Troy didn’t break her heart. And while he couldn’t put his finger on it, something didn’t seem quite right about Troy. He wasn’t like Logan Echolls, full-fledged psychotic jackass, but Wallace wasn’t quite buying Troy as perfect-boyfriend-guy, either.

Wallace nonchalantly wandered over to where his friend and her boyfriend were sitting in time to hear Troy lament being sent off to Catholic school. That’s it. It was time to call him on it.

“I don't get something. Why are your parents sending you off to prison school in Albuquerque? Seriously. What's wrong with a good old-fashioned grounding?”

Troy gave him a condescending look. “I'll get them to call you. Get some parenting advice.”

Whatever.

“Happy to help.” But as he walked away, Wallace had the feeling that something was off. He just wish he knew what it was.

*

Duncan sat in a chair in the empty office across the hall from Mars Investigations. Through the walls, he could hear Veronica and her father arguing passionately about something, but he couldn’t tell what they were saying.

He was going to have to do something about that.

*

That night Logan made an unannounced visit to Veronica’s apartment.

“Veronica!” Keith called from the front door, his voice lacking its usual bounce. “There’s a gang member here to see you.”

“Which one?” asked Veronica as she came out of her room.

“The one who didn’t leave until 3:30 this morning,” said her dad as he walked past her into his room and shut the door.

Logan and Veronica looked at each other and shrugged, no clue as to how the man knew these things.

Veronica crossed to the tall young man as he took off his sunglasses and hoodie, welcoming him more cordially than her father had done, immediately sensing that something was wrong.

“What?” she asked, stepping back and looking up at him.

“You know I trust you, right?” he looked her in the eye.

“Yeah…” she said, sensing that this was not going in a good direction.

“But I don’t trust Troy.”

“We’ve established that,” she affirmed, not breaking eye contact.

“So I made some calls.” Logan stepped past her, moving further into the apartment.

“What kind of calls?”

“To people who used to go to school with Troy in Boston and Hartford.” Logan took a deep breath and turned around. “It’s not good.”

Veronica sighed. While she didn’t like Troy, she had wanted to believe that he was a decent guy. “Tell me.”

Logan proceeded to spin a saga of drugs, sex, and a spoiled rich kid who thought his money gave him the right to do whatever he wanted, whenever he felt like it, to whomever got in his way. Troy made some of Neptune’s finest look like first graders trying to sell cupcakes laced with ground-up caffeine pills. This guy was way out of Neptune’s league.

When Logan finished, they sat on the couch together, both lost in thought.

“I can’t believe I let him get close to you.”

“What?” Veronica started from her reverie.

“Deep down I respected him—for seeing past the rumors to who you really were. I thought he deserved you. I should have found out all of this weeks ago. I never should have let him get anywhere near you.”

Veronica rested her head on Logan’s shoulder. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

Logan took her hand in his. “I feel like I let you down.”

“Never,” his girlfriend answered. “I should have known better than to believe that anyone besides you or my dad could be trusted.”

Keith stood out of sight in the doorway to his bedroom, having heard Logan’s colorful tale of Troy’s true nature. He thought about everything that his daughter had been through and everything that she was still doing to protect the people around her. As Veronica’s father, it should have been him that found out the truth about the Vandergraff boy. It shouldn’t have had to fall to Logan to expose that kid for who he really was.

How do fathers do it? he wondered. How do men learn to let other men love their little girls?

Logan was obviously working out, but Troy was every father’s nightmare. And Logan had taken a lot of work to get where he was. But it looked like Keith was going to have to give Logan a little more respect. His daughter’s boyfriend had earned it. And Keith was going to have to be a more conscientious father.

*

Logan observed from down the hall as Veronica confronted Troy the next morning. The night before he and Veronica had pieced together what had really happened and had gone on a late night road trip to set in motion their plan to set things right.

After school when Veronica went to meet Hank, Logan pretended to read brochures at the reception desk. While he had ultimate respect for Backup’s abilities, Logan wasn’t about to let Veronica walk up to that hopped-up ‘roid rager without her boyfriend behind her.

After they finished setting up both Troy and Hank, Logan went home to allow Veronica time to celebrate her dad’s birthday with the man. He had the feeling that the two of them needed some daddy-daughter time.

*

Later, Veronica drove the Mazda to Logan’s house, her mind on what her father had done. She knew that he liked her school counselor and that the only reason he had broken up with her was Veronica’s inability to deal with the relationship. She felt horrible, but she couldn’t bring herself to give up on her parents’ marriage. Not yet.

As she walked through the Echolls’ mansion on the way to Logan’s room, she stopped in the kitchen.

“Mrs. Navarro, are you okay?” she asked as she put her hand on the shoulder of Weevil’s grandmother, who looked like she was about to start crying in the middle of doing the dishes.

A sob escaped the older woman’s mouth. “It’s my oldest daughter, Maria. She lives in L.A. and she just got checked into the hospital. The doctors are afraid it might be cancer. I want to go up to be with her, but Eli has food poisoning and can barely get out of bed and I don’t want the little ones to see their aunt so sick in the hospital. There’s no one that I can leave them with for more than a few hours…” Her voice trailed off as she turned her attention back to the dishes and tried to hold back her tears.

Finally, thought Veronica. Someone I can help.

Veronica pulled out her cell phone and looked up a number.

Mrs. Navarro looked up as Veronica began explaining the situation to the person on the other end of the line.

“You’re sure you don’t mind? I know it’s not in your usual part of town…I should have known you wouldn’t care… Thanks, Meg.” Veronica gave her friend the Navarro’s address and hung up.

“All taken care of. Meg is an experienced babysitter and probably the kindest and most responsible person on the planet, not just in Neptune. Go see your daughter, Mrs. Navarro. She needs you. Meg will take care of the kids. I’ll even finish the dishes for you.”

“You’re an angel!” cried Weevil’s grandmother, pulling Veronica in for a big hug.

Veronica smiled as the housekeeper got her things together and rushed out the back door, eager to get to her ailing daughter.

“Is there anything you can’t do?”

Veronica turned around to see Logan leaning against the other side of the bar.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said as she turned to finish the dishes as promised. There wasn’t much left to do besides rinse off some pots and pans and turn on the dishwasher.

“You foil drug dealers of all ages, save the leg bones of teenagers, keep babysitters employed, help old ladies take care of their sick children, and you love me. I mean, really, Veronica, Wonder Woman has nothing on you.”

Veronica didn’t say anything as she wiped off a pot. Logan walked up next to her and picked up a pan and a towel to dry it with. Veronica raised her eyebrows at him.

“What? I will have you know that this is not the first time I have washed dishes.”

Veronica put her hands on her hips and looked at him in disbelief.

“Trina bet me twenty bucks that I couldn’t get the dishwasher to work. I won.” He gave her his trademark grin as he put the last pan away.

Veronica laughed as she got out a dishwasher pellet, put it in the appliance and started it up. Then she turned to look at him.

“Betcha twenty bucks I can keep my clothes on longer than you can.”

“You win,” he said with a grin as he chased her into his room.

Because she forgot her messenger bag in the kitchen, Veronica didn’t hear her cell phone ring. She was with someone who loved her, though, and he held her when she got her mom’s message.

Chapter Text

Prologue

Making out was a lost art, or so Veronica had told Logan about a week earlier. She had commented to him that while she enjoyed every aspect of their physical relationship, she missed making out with him. It was like they were always skipping ahead, which was a shame, him being such an awesome kisser and all. Since that conversation, Logan had been making up for lost time.

Over the last week, they had made out in every girls’ bathroom in the school, all three janitors’ closets, the auditorium spotlight cove, the principal’s office (courtesy of Veronica’s key), and the outside P.E. storage building where Logan had dragged Veronica when she was supposed to be taking pictures of lacrosse practice for the newspaper. And that was just at school.

There was also her office, his house, her apartment, all four vehicles, and for old times’ sake they even made a special trip to the teeny little orange grove at the end of Veronica’s old street where it had all started.

It had been a very enjoyable week.

Well, it had been an enjoyable week for Logan and Veronica. It kinda sucked for Duncan. He had to watch his best friend and ex-girlfriend stick their tongues down each other’s throats what seemed like every time he turned around. Of course, he didn’t really have to watch, but he couldn’t help himself. Logan and Veronica’s relationship was the only thing that he had been able to focus on in over a year.

But this weird constant making out thing? He had to do something about that.

End Prologue

*

“Lots of excitement at school today, huh?”

Veronica was looking at pictures of Lilly as she and Logan began their nightly phone call.

“You mean the threatened end of Pirate Points? Yeah, I’d call that exciting,” there was an edge to Logan’s voice.

“What are you all up in arms about? You’re not going to lose any points,” laughed Veronica.

“No, but all of my friends will and then I’ll have to eat school lunches. No thanks,” grumped Logan.

“Well, then, why don’t you run for Student Council president?” she snarked back.

“Hold on while I run downstairs and see if hell has frozen over.” There was a miniscule pause. “Nope. Guess I won’t be running.” Veronica laughed as Logan continued. “A year ago I would have gone and nominated Duncan without telling him, but now…”

Veronica sighed. “Who knows how he’d react?”

“Exactly,” replied Logan. “Which is why I’m so irritated. Duncan would blow that Wanda chick out of the water, but no. He has to be all tortured and angst-ridden.”

“Ah, the inconvenience.”

Duncan’s angst being what essentially defined their lives, it helped to joke about it on occasion.

Veronica changed the subject. “Hey, what are you doing this weekend?”

“Nothing really. Dick and Beav are getting some stuff together, but I begged off, so I’m sure you and I can find something to occupy our time.”

“What, you don’t want to hang out with your posse?”

“Sure, but I promised you that I would try to be a better person, and while I’m not going to—“ Logan cleared his throat “—prevent them from having their fun, I am choosing not to participate.”

“You got out of hanging with your friends because they’re doing something sleazy?” Veronica said, a note of disbelief in her voice.

“Why, yes, Miss Mars, I believe I did.”

“I think I’m going to cry. And reward you very handsomely this weekend. All weekend long. Repeatedly.”

“See? I knew there was a reason I kept my promise.” Veronica could hear the smile in Logan’s voice. He would never admit it, but she knew that he was proud of himself for thinking about her when a decision had arisen to be made.

“Okay, I have to get going. Maybe I’ll get on the Internet and start researching ways to say thank you.” Veronica’s voice held lots of promise.

“I can’t wait. I wish my dad was working on a movie this week. I’d go down to the set and hit some grips up for ideas. Those guys have the best suggestions.”

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear you say that.”

Logan laughed. “See you tomorrow.”

“My little studmuffin,” she said as she hung up.

*

The next day as she arrived in Journalism, Veronica was in a ridiculously good mood. She wished that there was someone she could talk to about the recent upswing in Logan’s decision-making process. As it was, there was all of this happiness swirling around inside of her and no one to share it with. Who was she supposed to tell—Weevil?

She took her seat in front of Logan and Duncan as the morning announcements came on. The disenfranchised among the class clapped and cheered for Wanda’s commercial, only to be silenced by the next one.

Aaron Echolls’ voice was heard saying, “Logan Echolls.” Logan’s name appeared superimposed over an American flag while patriotic music piped out of the speaker.

Aaron continued, “A natural leader.”

Veronica looked at Logan, who looked like he had been punched in the stomach. Duncan was watching passively.

His father detailed Logan’s accomplishments as pictures of Logan in various pursuits popped up.

”Winner of the Southern California All-American Surfing Invitational.” If Veronica did say so herself, the picture of Logan on the beach in a surfing Speedo holding a surfboard was smokin’ hot.

Good choice to appeal to the female voters of Neptune High.

“Contributing writer of the Neptune Navigator.” Oh, look, Veronica thought, there I am. She was standing next to Logan as he appeared to be working very collaboratively in the Journalism room on something of the utmost importance.

“What in the holy hell?” Logan finally managed to spit out. He looked at Veronica, who widened her eyes and shrugged her shoulders in confusion. His eyes slowly turned to Duncan, who continued to look at the TV monitor.

“My son,” and the current picture of Logan with a couple of friends faded to reveal Aaron Echolls sitting on the steps of his trailer. “Hi. I’m Aaron Echolls and no father could be prouder. Logan Echolls for Student Body President.”

Veronica looked back at Logan, who looked like he desperately wanted to break something.

“That’s my boy,” said Duncan, smiling at Logan as the rest of the class congratulated the tall brunette and wished him luck.

“Vote for Wanda!” called Logan as Ms. Dent put the names of the candidates on the board. “Seriously,” Logan gave Veronica a significant look. “Vote for Wanda.”

Veronica looked down at her ballot. Interestingly enough, she thought that Logan would make a great president. She also knew that he really and truly did not want the job. She blackened “B” indicating her vote for Wanda. If Logan could think about her when he made decisions, she could return the favor.

*

“Please tell me you didn’t vote for me.”

“I didn’t vote for you.”

“I knew there was a reason I loved you.”

“Although I think you’d make a great president.”

“Hell, no! Not only having to show up for meetings, but then to have to, like, be in charge?”

“Oh, come on, I would totally help you. You know, give you ideas. Like why don’t you give Pirate Points to everyone, not just jocks and student council people? Let drama geeks and people good at auto shop in on the pirate booty.”

“Heh. You know you lost my interest like five minutes ago, right?”

Veronica laughed. “So did Duncan do this?”

“Yes, he did, proving that he is indeed suffering from a psychotic behavior disorder. He said he knew that he couldn’t handle it, but that I could. Whatever.”

“I tried to get you alone today to talk to you about it…” Veronica’s voice trailed off.

“But I was surrounded by well-wishers and campaign groupies all day,” her boyfriend finished.

“It was because of that picture of you in a Speedo. That’s okay, I see how you remember the people who helped get you to where you are. Left behind, abandoned, forgotten,” Veronica’s voice was plaintive and sad.

“Oh, let’s see. Run my tongue across the roof of your mouth or listen to Madison Sinclair talk about what color the balloons should be at Prom. Hmmm…let’s think about which one Logan wanted to be doing during lunch today.”

Veronica laughed. “I want you to know that the only reason I didn’t vote for you is because I love you. I really do think you’d do well, but I know even more how much you didn’t want it.”

“Uh-huh. Let’s talk about something else, please.”

Veronica’s mood changed as a sudden sigh escaped her.

“What is it?” Logan asked, sensing the shift.

“I saw Lilly again.”

Logan didn’t say anything. Veronica had told him about how sometimes she felt like Lilly was there, talking to her. They both knew that it wasn’t a sign of encroaching dementia, but rather evidence of Veronica missing her best friend. It was still hard, though, as each of them constantly struggled to find peace with Lilly’s death and the surrounding events. They had been working on finding the real killer in an effort to aid the healing process.

The election forgotten, they talked about what Veronica had been looking into recently and when they finally hung up, it was with a promise to find some time together the next day.

*

As she sat with Wallace in the quad the next day waiting to hear the outcome of the election, Veronica pondered the fact that Duncan had nominated Logan for president. This was the first thing that her ex-boyfriend had done in almost a year that showed awareness of the world around him. Even though he said he wasn’t capable of doing the job himself, could this mean that he might be getting better?

Mr. Clemmons’ voice came over the speaker and began announcing the winners of the election. Wanda was surrounded by friends anxiously holding her hand as they awaited the news. The tension was the same at the 09er table.

“And it gives me, um, great pleasure to announce the 2004-2005 SCA President: Logan Echolls.”

There were some cheers and a lot of boos as Dick Casablancas jumped up on a table and yelled, “That’s how it’s done!”

For his part, Logan looked like he was ready to chew up some nails and spit them out.

A few minutes later, though, as Logan made his way across the quad, he pretended to thank everyone. While using what had to be the snarkiest voice known the man, he shook the hands of the students least likely to have voted for him as he said things like “Thank you for your support”, “Couldn’t have done it without you”, and “Here’s to a great year!” He extended a hand to Veronica and assured her that he appreciated her vote. As he did so, she felt him slip a piece of paper between them. As he walked off, Dick announcing his friend’s approach like a town crier, Veronica opened the note.

“Work your magic and get me the hell out of this.” Veronica smiled. Talk about a story.

*

After getting Ms. Dent to help her bypass Ms. Donaldson, it didn’t take Veronica long to figure out that Madison Sinclair had rigged the election. Logan was so grateful that he disguised himself and came over to thank her that night in person. After giving her an ecstatic greeting, Logan made Veronica promise that she would do everything in her power to make sure that he didn’t get elected.

As she led him back to her room, Veronica commented, “Only you would ask your girlfriend to help make sure that you don’t get elected Student Council president.”

“It’s insane that I have to bother at all and I can’t believe we couldn’t find time again at school today,” said Logan as he closed the door behind them and pulled Veronica in for an intense kiss.

“Why do you think I’m really helping you to lose,” asked Veronica when they came up for air. “Wanda just left. We made posters. I really like kissing you and I do not appreciate not being able to do it during daylight hours.”

Conversation stopped again as they resumed their exploration of the lost arts, Logan backing Veronica up against her bed as they did so. As they fell on top of her comforter, Veronica voiced her thoughts from earlier that day about Duncan taking notice of the world around him.

“I hope so,” sighed Logan as he lay back against Veronica’s pillows, pulling her across his chest. “At this point I want nothing more than to be able to walk up to you in the middle of the quad and kiss you so hard you can’t stand up.”

“Well, until that time comes, I guess this will have to do.” Veronica smiled and brushed her lips across his, taking the time to savor the softness of his mouth. That was the end of talking for awhile.

Veronica’s dad knocked on her bedroom door later offering a late night snack. After they ate, they returned to Veronica’s bedroom where conversation returned to talk of Lilly. They spent some time looking at crime scene photos. Then in a conscious effort to get back to a happy place, they returned to making out. When Logan finally went home, it was almost midnight. While they both went to sleep tired, at least they were happy.

*

Veronica arrived at school the next day to find Wanda’s campaign posters defaced. As she made her way to Journalism, Veronica knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Logan not only wouldn’t have done it, but that he would probably beat the snot out of whomever had done it if he knew who it was. Nevertheless, she took the opportunity upon arriving to class to accuse him of being responsible. A little snarkage in front of Duncan was always encouraged. They had both noticed that doing so seemed to perk him up.

A few minutes into class, Veronica noticed Logan looking intently at a video on the Internet and she saw his face turn pale. As the video ended and Logan sat back, Veronica raised her hand and asked Ms. Dent if she could use the restroom. As she knew he would, Logan joined her shortly thereafter.

“What’s wrong?” she asked as soon as he walked in behind her, “You look like you saw a ghost.”

“There’s a video of me at a bum fight on The Smoking Gun.”

Veronica shook her head as though dislodging cobwebs. “What?” She struggled for words. “What?”

Logan took a deep breath and explained. “Remember Dick and Beaver and the sleaze and how I didn’t go?” Veronica nodded. “Dick organized a bunch of bum fights.” At Veronica’s raised eyebrows, he hurried on. “I know, I know. I went to the first one last week and realized that in order to keep my promise to you,” he nodded at her, “I needed to not to go anymore. I mean, I’ve been around while Dick got some guys to participate, but I haven’t gone to any of the other…actual events. I told you I wasn’t perfect, remember? I went to one, but I didn’t go after that.” He laced his hands together on top of his head and leaned angrily against the bathroom counter. “The video is from that first fight and of course I look like a raging jackass. They’re also saying I organized the thing. I wasn’t even at the other ones, but no one’s gonna care. A video says a thousand words, right?” His arms dropped and he pushed off of the counter, sending himself across the room in frustration.

“Can’t you tell people that Dick organized it?” prompted Veronica. At Logan’s look she sighed. “Of course not. He’s your friend.” She crossed over to him and put her hands on either side of his face. “You did the best you could, Logan. I know you did.”

He put his hands around her wrists as his shoulders visibly relaxed. Veronica realized that he had been worried that she would be mad at him for going to that first fight. But he was right—he wasn’t perfect, and she didn’t expect him to be. He really had done the best he could. A thought occurred to her.

“Logan,” she began, her hands still on his face, “how is—what is your dad going to do when he finds out about this?”

Logan’s shoulders tensed again and he let go of Veronica, stepping away from her hands. His face became a blank mask.

“I don’t know. I—“ he paused. “I don’t know.”

Veronica once again closed the distance between them and put her arms around his waist, resting her head on his chest.

“Hey, at least this should make everyone hate me so much that they’ll vote for Wanda, right?” Logan tried to joke. Veronica just tightened her arms around him, not responding.

Logan called her that evening after he got home, much earlier than usual, to assure Veronica that everything was fine and to tell her about his father’s plans for them to go to the homeless shelter the next day. She wasn’t completely convinced and tried to get him to let her come over, but Logan was vehement in his insistence that it was best for her to stay away when his dad was in a mood like this. So Veronica remained at her apartment.

*

As Veronica stared at her ballot in Journalism class, she thought about what Weevil had just told her about Wanda. On the one hand there was a lying narc who wanted nothing more than to add an impressive line on her high school transcript. On the other was a young man who had been beaten down, physically and emotionally, by the people who were supposed to love him the most. Logan didn’t believe that he had any right to be Student Council president. Veronica knew better.

In addition, on her way into class, Veronica had overheard Dick regaling a crowd of 09ers with the tale of how he was the one that had organized the bum fights, but how Logan had taken the rap for him. Dick was telling people to remember when they voted that Logan was the kind of guy who had your back. Veronica knew that Dick’s information combined with Wanda’s narc status and Logan’s Speedo picture meant that there was a good chance that Logan might actually win.

She marked the letter for her boyfriend’s name. Whether he believed in himself or not, she did.

*

That night Veronica and her dad finally discussed their parallel investigations of Lilly’s murder. It was a relief to be open with him about what she and Logan had been doing. As they finished reviewing the tape sent by the TV station, the real news came on and Keith and Veronica watched as Logan announced his father’s generous donation of $100,000 to the local food bank. It was possible that no one else in America recognized the look on Aaron’s face for what it was, but Veronica did.

She told her dad that she needed to go see Logan and, promising to be back at a somewhat decent hour, she rushed out of the house. She kept looking at her watch, cursing the fact that it had been hours since the scene shown on the news was filmed. She knew instinctively that Logan’s announcement had not been Aaron’s idea and she didn’t have to make much of a leap to figure out how Logan’s father would have responded.

Veronica pulled into the Echolls’ estate by way of the servants’ entrance to mask her arrival. Like many 09er families, the Echolls took little notice of the comings and goings of their household staff beyond confirming their hours worked. Veronica ran behind the house toward Logan’s room. She came to a halt when she reached the pool and saw Logan sitting motionless at the edge, his knees pulled up to his arm pits, his arms positioned around his shins.

As she slowly crossed the deck towards the boy she loved, Veronica took in every detail of his current state. He was wearing an unbuttoned short-sleeve shirt, which fluttered gently in the evening breeze. He had on khaki shorts and from what she could tell his legs looked to be unharmed. There were tear streaks down his cheeks, although he didn’t seem to be crying now. Her throat tightened. The marks were probably on his back.

Veronica knew that Logan wouldn’t want to feel like she was “looking” at him, so when she sat down, she situated herself so that her back was to his front. Without a word, she leaned back into him and pulled his arms around her, holding him tightly as she did so.

They sat there for untold minutes, neither of them saying anything. When Logan finally broke the silence, it wasn’t what Veronica had expected.

“You saved him $400,000.” His voice sounded cracked, like his throat was filled with glass.

“What?”

“When I was standing there and the film crews were all taping this joke of a public apology, I almost told them that my dad wanted to donate half a million dollars. And this picture of you went through my head and a hundred thousand came out instead.” A bitter laugh, more of a bark, issued from Logan’s mouth. “He should thank you.” He took a shuddering breath. “I don’t deserve for you to be here. This is my own fault. If I hadn’t said what I did, he wouldn’t have—“

Veronica twisted in Logan’s arms to face him. “This is not your fault,” she cut him off vehemently as tears finally forced their way down her face. “You deserved to be grounded or have your car taken away or—something.” She turned around all the way so that she was facing Logan and her hands began tracing the lines on his face, Logan closing his eyes as she did so. She kept her voice low as she continued. “What your father did was wrong. It was wrong and it was not your fault. I just wish you would let me help you.” The last sentences sounded blurred as her voice choked with tears.

Logan lowered his forehead to hers, his arms still tightly wrapped around her. “Oceanside Memorial Hospital. That’s where we need to go next.”

Veronica held Logan in her arms as the two lovers sat on the side of the Echolls’ family pool.

As he went through the next few days, the feel of Veronica’s arms around him never really left. When he overheard Veronica tell Wanda that she hadn’t voted for her; when he led his first Student Council meeting and announced that Pirate Points would be extended to everyone; when he ate dinner with his father looking on; when he and Veronica found his long-forgotten hospital file. Logan took Veronica’s embrace with him everywhere. Some of the time it even overrode the feel of his father’s belt.

*

With the money he made from the sale of the video to The Smoking Gun, Duncan purchased a rifle mike off of the Internet. While it looked like a shotgun, what a rifle mike did was enable the user to hear individual voices through windows and/or from up to a mile away. It didn’t work through bricks and masonry, but Duncan would still be much better equipped to listen in on Veronica and Logan’s lives.

As soon as it arrived, Duncan began reading the instructions for his new toy.

Chapter Text

Veronica walked through her apartment complex on her way to the laundry room. Man, she missed having a house with a washer and dryer. She missed having a house in general, but she especially missed it when she got to parade her dirty laundry in front of her neighbors each week.

When she got to the laundry room, her upstairs neighbor Sarah was in the process of folding her clean clothes.

“Hi, neighbor,” Veronica greeted the pretty redhead.

“Oh, hey, Veronica,” Sarah replied. She appeared to be fighting tears. Veronica was about to comment when Sarah continued. “I saw Lucas come by last night.”

Logan wasn’t quite as famous as his parents, but he wasn’t completely unknown, either. When neighbors had asked about the thug-like young man that visited apartment 110 at odd hours of the day and night, Veronica told them that his name was Lucas and that he was actually a very nice guy when you got to know him.

“Yeah, we were working on a Chemistry report,” Veronica prevaricated.

“Sure you were,” Sarah’s voice hitched as she again seemed to choke back tears.

“Are you okay?” Veronica had to ask.

While Sarah insisted she was fine, it wasn’t quite true and Veronica ended up agreeing to take her neighbor to see the doctor before school the next morning. Veronica felt great empathy for Sarah, whose life seemed impossibly dismal—pregnant, living in their apartment complex, living with a guy that could be described as obnoxious at best. The only bright spot that Veronica could see was Killer, the oddly-named chihuahua that Sarah carried with her everywhere.

Veronica was therefore distracted during school the next day after Sarah was a no-show for the ride to the doctor. She wanted to talk to Logan about it, but lunch or immediately following was the easiest time for them to hook up, and her boyfriend had to head up a meeting about the Winter Carnival. When Logan had told Veronica about it the night before, she had laughed so hard that she started hyperventilating. Logan had not been amused.

She stayed after school to work on the yearbook pictures for Ms. Dent, the most puzzling one of course being the one of her mom and Duncan’s dad. It was on her way out of the school, though, that her day took an even more surprising turn. Hearing Logan’s voice coming from Mr. Daniels’ room, she took a detour to find out why in the world Logan would be in his English teacher’s room forty-five minutes after school let out. Cautious as ever, she didn’t say anything until she saw that the only person in the room with Logan was…Weevil? And they were playing cards?

“Logan?” she said in a tone dripping with disbelief. “You and Weevil decide that Vegas was too far? No, you wanted to spend some quality time playing poker for extra credit, right?” She stood expectantly in the doorway, waiting for an explanation.

Logan looked guiltily at Weevil, then back at his girlfriend.

“We, um, got detention.”

Veronica’s facial muscles immediately contorted to convey her displeasure—the one eyebrow raised, the squinty eyes, the pursed lips.

“How do they do that?” Logan leaned towards Weevil without turning his head.

Tilting his own head to the side, Weevil replied, “I don’t know. I think their mothers teach them on the first day of kindergarten.”

Logan nodded at the PCHer’s wise observation and Veronica looked like she was trying to decide whose head to rip off first when her boyfriend put up his hands in surrender.

“Really, it was no big deal. Daniels ‘hitched a pissy’ over nothing. You know how he is.”
“Yeah, and I know how you are, too.”

Weevil leaned back in his chair. “This is unusual for you two, isn’t it?”

Logan and Veronica’s heads swiveled to aim matching blank stares at the biker.

Huh? The unspoken question was clear.

“Getting to act like you’re a couple. You know, not having to pretend that you hate each other,” Weevil explained.

Logan slumped down in his seat and Veronica sighed.

“Hey, I didn’t mean to depress you. I’m just saying,” Weevil finished somewhat lamely.

Veronica looked up and down the hall. “Speaking of which, I better go. Wouldn’t want someone to see me giving you the ‘evil girlfriend’ eye,” which she once again aimed at Logan. “I’ll talk to you tonight. Later, Weevil.”

Veronica turned and left.

“Dude, thanks for the save,” Logan put up his hand for a high five.

“Bros before hos, man,” Weevil observed as he slapped Logan’s hand. “Speaking of which,” continued the young man as he picked his poker hand back up, “what’s up with your pal Duncan?” –

“You mean my best friend who was shipped off to the looney bin? Oops, I mean to a cousin in Baltimore?” said Logan in a grim voice as he looked at his own cards. “Celeste really needs to come up with a better lie about where her son is.” He sighed, real emotion leaking through the snark. There was no point in sugarcoating the situation to Weevil, the only person their own age who knew of the lengths to which Logan and Veronica had gone to protect their friend. “His mom found out that Duncan had been surfing suicide websites on his laptop, so she sent him back for more treatment, or whatever they’re calling it now.”

Logan laid down two cards.

“I’m sorry, man. That’s rough,” Weevil said as he dealt the replacement cards to Logan. “He doesn’t know about you two, does he?”

“I don’t think so. I mean, he was researching suicide as opposed to doing it. He also hasn’t tried to kill me, which I think would be the other alternative.”

Weevil just nodded. The guy code did not usually approve of dating your best friend’s ex.

Idle chat subsided and the two young men were still playing poker when Mr. Daniels returned, breaking up the party and assigning each of them another week’s detention.

*

Veronica and Logan’s phone call that night was long and meandering, covering a wide range of topics, never seeming to stop on any one thing for very long.

---

“So you think the thump was what? A body falling?”

“It was a bad sound!”

“The thump was sinister?”

“Why doesn’t anyone take me seriously?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I take your sinister thump very seriously.”

---

“Another week’s worth of detention?! Logan!”

“What? You saw what we were doing. It’s not like we were selling state secrets to Osama bin Laden. The guy freaked out over nothing.”

“And your parents—they’re going to think it’s nothing?”

“Detention doesn’t even show up on their radar. They don’t get interested until I’m at least suspended.”

There was a heavy sigh on the other end of the line.

---

“Your mom and Duncan’s dad? Celeste couldn’t have liked that.”

“She didn’t go to Neptune. I’m not sure how she and Jake met.”

“Sounds like he knew your mom first, though.”

“Apparently.”

---

“So what did you and Weevil talk about?”

“He asked what I knew about Duncan.”

“What did you say?”

“That he’d been searching suicide websites and that Celeste freaked and shipped him off to the nuthouse.”

“Yeah, I don’t think anyone’s buying the cousin in Baltimore story.”

“I’m pretty sure he’s going to have surgery on his arm while he’s gone. She should have gone with that.”

---

“Logan, you cannot possibly be saying you prefer The Fisher King to the The Big Lebowski. Where did I go wrong?”

“You remember that you’re dating me in secret, right? It’s your own fault.”

“What?”

“It made sense in my head.”

---

“It was totally not cool of him to fail me. It was not my fault!!”

“You were talking, right?”

“Ye—“

“During a test?”

“Ye—“

“But it’s not your fault?”

“Why are you so upset?”

“Because you’re incredibly intelligent and it’s like you try to hide it!”

“I’m trying to hide my intelligence because I got a zero on a test for telling Weevil not to cheat off my paper?”

“You’re trying to hide it because you act like you can’t do the work at school, when the truth is you’re one of the smartest people there. You can do the work in your classes with your eyes closed, but you act like you don’t care.” Pause. “Logan?” Pause. “Are you there?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m here. It’s just…no one’s ever told me they thought I was one of the smartest people at school. It caught me by surprise.”

“Well, you are. And it frustrates me that no one else gets to see that.”

---

“Veronica, you need to be careful when you look for this girl.”

“I’m always careful.”

“You really wanna go there?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Veronica…”

“Fine. I’ll be careful. You have fun in detention.”

“I can barely contain my enthusiasm.”

“Uh-huh. I’m going to go to sleep now. You know, so that I can matriculate tomorrow.”

“You’re using SAT words again.”

“You understand them.”

“That’s not the point.”

“That’s exactly my point. I love you. Talk to you tomorrow?”

“You know it. Love you, too.”

*

Veronica did not tell Logan about her visit inside Andre and Sarah’s apartment the next day. Somehow she didn’t think he would approve. Instead, the next night Logan regaled her with the details involved in washing Mr. Daniel’s car. Veronica told him he had it coming for playing poker during detention.

*

Logan thought washing Daniels’ car was bad, but the man had managed to top himself. This wasn’t detention. It was psychological warfare. So when Weevil offered not only a way to get even with the English Nazi, but questioned Logan’s manhood in the process, Logan didn’t hesitate.

“Never underestimate the size of my cojones.”

As he and Weevil got the blowtorches out of the school auto shop, it did run through Logan’s mind that Veronica was not going to be happy. Then he remembered who his companion in crime was and he decided that he could defend himself by pointing out that he had been expanding his cultural horizons by taking the opportunity to bond with his girlfriend’s favorite gang member.

*
Veronica’s mind was on Sarah as she got out of her car the next morning. The car wrapped around the flagpole diverted her attention, however, and she stopped in her tracks. She wasn’t sure whether she was furious with Logan or proud of him for his ingenuity. She was seriously torn. At least she knew why their conversation the night before had been so short. He had either been in the middle of causing trouble, getting ready to cause trouble, or avoiding mention of the fact that he had just gotten into trouble.

She bit back a laugh. Not perfect, huh? She was looking forward to watching Logan squirm as he explained his actions.

Before she could get her boyfriend alone, though, Weevil was hauled in and accused of the crime. As she looked for an opportunity to pull Logan aside during lunch, she watched his reaction as Dick detailed Weevil’s refusal to give up his partner. It was odd that seeing a stricken look cross Logan’s face reminded her how much she loved him.

As Logan went to throw away his lunch, Veronica gave him the eye and a few minutes later they were in the bathroom together.

“Feeling guilty, are we?” she asked him as he put his hands behind his head and started pacing.

“I’m going to fix this.”

“I know,” Veronica said simply.

Logan stopped and lowered his hands. “You do?”

“I saw the look on your face.” At his questioning look, Veronica explained. “In the quad—when Dick told you that Weevil wouldn’t give you up.” Logan looked at the floor and Veronica ducked her head to catch his eye. “You’re a good guy, Logan. You don’t do the right thing just because of me.” Logan looked away again. “So what are you going to do?”

Logan’s usual smirk had magically reappeared on his face as he raised his head to look at her. “Put my dad’s fame and fortune to good use.”

Veronica couldn’t help but smile at him in return.

*

As the PCHers left Encore of Neptune that afternoon, Weevil stopped to talk with Veronica.

“Thanks, Weevil,” Veronica began.

“Anytime,” the biker stated. “Clemmons called. He wants me to come in tomorrow morning. Any idea what that’s about?”

Veronica smiled. “Nothing specific, but I look forward to hearing about it.”

*

The next afternoon as Logan and Weevil began their punishment of painting over graffiti, Logan spotted the red heart tattoo with the name “Lilly” behind the biker’s shoulder. Before he even had time to process what he was seeing, Logan started laughing.

“What?” Weevil gave Logan a strange look.

“I hope you make enough money from your illegal activities to afford tattoo removal.”

“What the hell are you talkin’ about?”

Logan dipped his paint roller in the paint. “You didn’t think you were special to her, did you?” He looked at Weevil and stopped. “You did, didn’t you? Dude, Lilly’s only requirement for sleeping with a guy was that he be breathing.”

“This from the guy who supposedly loved her more than anyone else,” said Weevil derisively.

“Doesn’t mean she loved me back,” Logan threw in Weevil’s face. “Do you know what Veronica and I walked in on Lilly doing the day before she died? Screwing the pool boy poolside. And do you know what she did when she saw us? She smiled, man. She smiled.” Logan lifted his paint roller to the wall. “Yeah, I loved her, but that doesn’t mean she deserved it. You might want to think about that,” he said with finality as he began painting the wall.

Weevil stood motionless for a moment before taking up his own paint roller.

*

Instead of calling that night, Logan headed over to visit Veronica in person. He needed to see her, to hold her in his arms. He certainly didn’t expect to find her apartment complex swarming with cops and paramedics.

“Veronica!” he started yelling as he ran towards her apartment. Most people might not automatically assume that their girlfriend was involved, but most people weren’t dating Veronica Mars. “Veronica!” he shouted again.

The relief he felt when he saw Veronica running towards him was indescribable.

“Logan!” she called as she threw herself into his arms, clinging to him for dear life.

See? He knew she was involved.

“What happened?” he asked into her hair.

“Sarah’s stepfather. He raped her and got her pregnant. She almost shot him, but my dad shot the guy instead.”

“What?” Logan exclaimed as he pulled back and looked at Veronica’s face.

“Her stepdad was about to pistol-whip Sarah. My dad stopped him.”

Logan pulled Veronica back into his arms where she buried her face in his neck.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” she said.

“How’s your dad?” he asked.

“He’s talking to the sheriff’s deputies. Wrapping some things up,” her voice still muffled as her face was now buried in his chest.

“Is Sarah okay?”

“Yeah,” said Veronica. “The paramedics took her to the hospital to make sure the baby’s okay after all the trauma.”

“Good.” Logan rubbed his chin against Veronica’s hair. “Come on, let’s get you inside.”

Veronica nodded and Logan led her inside, grateful that the girl he loved was safe and glad that for once he had the opportunity to be there for her.

Chapter Text

“Yes?! You’ve done that?! I’m not even sure what that is!”

Logan rolled his eyes as Veronica leaned in to get a closer look at the computer.

“Seriously, how often have you done that?!”

*

Meg watched as Veronica held her head high and crossed the quad in nothing but a cheerleading uniform. Despite her friend’s brave words, Meg knew that Veronica had to be hurt and embarrassed. Maybe she was naïve, but Meg didn’t understand why people continued to be so cruel to Veronica. Then again Meg was a “look on the bright side” kind of girl and thought that taunting people was stupid in the first place.

She watched Logan Echolls’ eyes follow Veronica as the shorter girl headed for her LeBaron. The worst of the 09er offenders was staring at Veronica like she was a roast pig on a spit and he was a hungry Tongan. Like he had any right to look at her like that—like anyone did.

As Meg sat down next to Cole, she swallowed back the tiny bit of throw-up that the look on Logan’s face brought up into her throat.

Pervert.

Her attention was redirected by the topic being discussed. It figures that they would be sitting around discussing a purity test, of all things. At least it gave her wonderful boyfriend a chance to prove how wonderful he was.

Big surprise that Logan gave them a hard time as soon as Cole kissed her. That jerk wouldn’t know genuine emotion if it walked up and slapped him in the face. Meg had met Cole at her parents’ church. She didn’t think of it as her church—her parents were all passionate about it, but Meg failed to be impressed. Any belief system that not only justified, but encouraged parents to take the kind of disciplinary measures that her parents used wasn’t one that she was willing to claim as her own. Cole, though, while he had a firm set of values, wasn’t radical like a lot of people at that church and Meg liked him.

As he walked her to Physics after lunch, Meg kissed him goodbye.

“Thanks for being you,” she said.

“See you after school,” he replied, kissing her nose. Meg smiled as she sat down in her class. Life couldn’t be all bad if she had a guy like Cole, right?

A few minutes later Mrs. Wolfgang assigned Logan Echolls to be her partner on the project that was worth 30 percent of their grade. What was that she had been thinking about life not being all bad?

She had no idea.

*

“I think taking this in front of you was a bad idea. Maybe we should find something else to occupy our time,” Logan gave Veronica a lecherous smirk.

“You wish, pal. Scroll down.”

“Are you going to keep getting freaked out?”

“I don’t know. What else have you done?” She paused and looked at him. “And don’t get all pure all of a sudden. I will totally know if you’re lying.”

Logan sighed and Veronica pointed back to the computer screen, to which Logan returned his gaze somewhat reluctantly. He couldn’t say no to her, even if he had a feeling it was going to get him in trouble.

*

When Meg got to school the next morning, it was to find a large red “48” painted on her locker.

What?

Meg was looking at her locker in bewilderment when Cole came running up carrying a piece of paper. She turned to ask him if he knew what in the world the number 48 was doing on her locker when he cut her off.

“I can’t believe you lied to me like that.”

“What?” Meg felt lost.

“I saved myself for you. I thought you loved me and all along you were having sex with, what—“ he shook the paper at her, “—anything that moved, it sounds like.” His hateful tone reminded her of her father’s when he was in one of his moods. She had never imagined that Cole could sound like that.

“I’ve never had sex, Cole.” She leaned in closer to him. “I’m a virgin. You know that.”

He pushed her away with the hand holding the paper. “Oh, yeah? That’s not what your purity test says!”

“My what?” She hadn’t taken the purity test.

“Your secret’s out, Meg. Or should I call you Megalicious? Judging by your score—“ he banged on her locker, “—you taste all kinds of good to the men in your life. Except for me, of course.”

Meg was torn between anger and hurt as tears sprang to her eyes. To hide her confusion, she pulled a tissue out of her purse and started rubbing at the 48, which did nothing but give her something to focus on as Cole enumerated her sins.

She tried to defend herself, but the boy who she had thought loved and trusted her blew her off, finally storming away in a huff.

Veronica walked up and Meg dared to hope that at least someone would believe her. After all, Meg had never really believed the things that people said about Veronica. Surely she would understand what Meg was going through, right?

Not only did Veronica believe her, but the teenage detective offered to find out who had taken the test in her name and bring them to justice.

Maybe there were a few good people left in the world.

Unfortunately that sentiment was sorely tested over the course of the day. People whom for years Meg had thought of as her friends were pointing at her and whispering, refusing to talk to her. She went through the school day in a haze. She tried to imagine an impenetrable bubble around herself, one that the hateful looks and under-the-breath comments just bounced off of, never reaching her. It wasn’t entirely successful, but it helped.

Her dad spent an hour that evening raging about how he was going to find out who did it. He was going to have someone charged with libel. He was going to slap them with punitive damages. He was going to hire a hit man. Meg hadn’t seen her dad worked up that much in some time. In an odd way it was reassuring, though. Her father’s temper was finally working to one of his daughters’ benefit, not to mention the fact that he believed her story.

*

“Hey! I’ve done that one! With you, of course, but still.”

-

Logan was almost finished with the test when Veronica sat back and finally voiced the question that she could no longer hold back.

“Do I bore you? You know, as far as sex goes? Because…I mean, we haven’t… I haven’t…” she waved indistinctly at the computer screen. Logan turned to look at her and Veronica blushed but continued. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t…but do I?”

*

Meg went to school the next morning determined to hold her head up high, but the abuse from the school’s general population was even worse than the day before. Meg had never really thought about the power that the 09ers held at Neptune. She wasn’t interested in it so she had never worried about it. She was quickly realizing, though, that if one stepped on the wrong side of the 09ers, one became the target not only of them, but of the entire school. After all, better to be in accord with them than to be the new target.

Being humiliated on closed circuit television for the entire student body to see would have been the lowlight of her day had it not been for the musical auditions after school. In the end, that won the prize. She had been working for weeks to prepare, but the vicious behavior of the students in the audience finally breached her protective bubble. Standing on the stage feeling naked for everyone to see, Meg finally broke down and ran from the stage.

As she drove home, she thought back to the three people her own age who had showed the new school pariah any measure of kindness that day. Veronica, of course, hadn’t been a surprise and her continued support and attentive ear meant more to Meg than she would ever be able to express. The other two had not been as expected.

The first was Eli Navarro. As Meg walked to class after the morning news fiasco, it seemed like everyone she passed was staring at her—and not because she had worn one of her favorite outfits, and then Eli’s face had appeared. Meg didn’t really know the gang leader very well. She had been babysitting for his grandmother on a somewhat steady basis for the past few months, but Mrs. Navarro only called her when her grandson wasn’t available, so Meg usually only saw Eli as he was leaving or coming home. Their conversations were mostly limited to “hello” and “goodbye”.

But as she made her way down the hall, struggling to keep her bubble intact, Eli (which is what his grandmother called him and how Meg had come to think of him) nodded at her and smiled. Meg reflexively smiled in return. Did Eli “Weevil” Navarro believe that she wasn’t a whore? His smile hadn’t been the lecherous grin of a Dick Casablancas or the evil smirk of a Madison Sinclair. It had been…supportive, encouraging. Mrs. Navarro’s glowing talk of her grandson had always struck Meg as a little naïve. Not that she and Eli had spoken so much as three words to each other in as many years, but even Meg knew who and what he was. Maybe she hadn’t looked closely enough.

The other person was an even bigger surprise. Meg sat alone during lunch as no one seemed interested in having her sit with them and if Veronica made it outside Meg didn’t see her. Even though she sat on the other side of the quad from them, it was impossible for Meg to miss the 09ers reveling in her fall from grace. Logan and Cole were leading the charge, of course, although Dick was holding his own quite well.

Meg walked alone to Physics, where her heart fell even further through the floor. She had forgotten that she was going to have to work all class long with Logan. It was like being told that she had to jump into a six foot deep pit filled with scorpions. But the bell came and went and Logan was nowhere to be seen. Come to think of it, Logan was late to Physics a lot. The teacher had even written him up for it, not that it did any good. Logan did whatever he wanted. Sure enough, the good-looking young man sauntered in about ten minutes after the bell had rung and handed Mrs. Wolfgang a late pass and Meg, who had relished those ten minutes, still had 45 to face in the den of scorpions.

So it had been disconcerting to say the least when Logan had been pleasant, cordial even, during those 45 minutes. He hadn’t made any snarky remarks; he hadn’t given her any sly looks; he had been perfectly…nice. Meg found herself more wary than if he had been his usual self. That she had expected; that she knew how to handle. This was just—weird.

Near the end of the class period Logan mentioned that the two of them would need to get together after school to work on their project and Meg had a jolt of understanding. He was charming her so that she would have sex with him. He just wanted to get her alone. Duh. She tensed up as he gathered up his books.

Logan looked up and saw the change in the pretty blonde.

“We can meet here,” he hastened to tell her. “We can work in the library—before or after school. Whatever. I would say during lunch, but I usually have…um…student council…” Logan’s voice trailed off as though he was embarrassed to have to remind her that he was student council president.

Meg looked up, her eyes wide. Was Logan trying to make her feel better? Had he sensed her discomfort and tried to…um…help her? She stared at him as the bell rang. Where was Logan and what had someone done with him?

Right before he left the classroom, Logan put his hand on Meg’s shoulder and squeezed it in a comforting manner. If she hadn’t known him like she thought she did, Meg would have identified the look in his eyes as compassion.

First Eli and then Logan all in one day. Seriously, what was happening to her universe?

After the disastrous musical audition Meg headed home in her Honda Accord. Her parents didn’t believe in “spoiling” their kids, but they also believed in looking good to the neighbors. It wouldn’t do to have their daughters hitching a ride to school, but that didn’t mean they had to get her a Lexus.

Meg got home and walked up the stairs to her room, exhausted after the long day. Her bedroom door was open and she could see her parents standing in the middle of the destruction that used to be her room. Meg’s insides fell to the floor. She should have known.

“Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth!” Her father immediately launched into a towering temper, waving around sheets of papers.

Stephano’s letters.

“Oh, Meg, how could you?” her mother sobbed.

The knot in Meg’s stomach had become as solid as a rock and seemed to be expanding to fill her entire body.

“Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird!” her father raged on. “For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her!”

There was no defending herself. Her parents had passed judgment. All that awaited was her punishment. Meg knew what was coming.

As the door to the hidden closet enclosed her in a darkness so complete that she could not see her hand in front of her face, Meg’s mind drifted back to how her family had sunk to this point. She heard the lock fix on the other side of the tiny room and she pulled her knees up to her chin, wrapping her arms around her legs.

Her parents hadn’t always been like this. They had been religious, yes, but not like this. And her dad had always had a temper, but he used to yell things that Meg imagined other parents did, not quotations from the Bible. At the very least he hadn’t thought of his rage as religiously justified. That was before Lizzie had entered puberty.

Meg sighed. Her own adolescence had in no way prepared her parents for Lizzie. Meg liked My Little Pony; Lizzie liked blue eye shadow. Meg did her homework; Lizzie did her swim coach. Meg joined the French Club; Lizzie joined the Insane Klown Posse fan club. The Mannings had been at their wits end. They sent Lizzie to therapy. They sent the whole family to counseling. They read every book they could get their hands on. They grounded Lizzie. They yelled at her. They took away every privilege that existed. Nothing had worked to their satisfaction. Until they found this fundamentalist group that believed in ruling your children through “the letter of God’s law”.

Meg wasn’t sure if that really existed, but the church they joined harbored no such doubts. It was then that the Mannings had turned the crawl space in the wall into the Punishment Room. And forget that wimpy time out theory of one minute for every year of age. In the Manning household it was one hour for every year of age. So when Lizzie was twelve and came home with a pierced belly button, she spent twelve hours in the Punishment Room and when her dad opened the door and Lizzie hadn’t yet removed the belly button ring, he shut her in for twelve more. The next time her dad opened the door, the ring was gone.

Grace had only been three when all of this started and didn’t remember anything different. All the youngest Manning knew was that if she didn’t finish her chores she got to spend time in the Punishment Room. After Lizzie, the Mannings weren’t taking any chances. Up until now, though, Meg had never been a recipient of her parents’ version of tough love. After all, she was the good girl. Maybe that’s why she had never done anything about it.

Meg’s back was starting to hurt and she stood up. She couldn’t move side to side and there wasn’t really anywhere to go front to back. She turned around and raised the hard wooden chair over her head. Through some rather acrobatic maneuvering she managed to get it over her head and to set it down on the other side of her. She sat down on the corner of the floor, her back up against the wall. That was marginally better.

Meg was horrified that she hadn’t done something about this sooner. Her parents had lost all ability to reason. As the oldest child, the responsibility to protect her sisters now fell to her. It was time to start being the older sister that they needed her to be.

Over the course of the sixteen hours that Meg spent in the tiny wall space, during which she checked her lighted watch repeatedly so that she would be able to move the chair back before her parents came to get her, Meg came to several conclusions.

She turned eighteen in a little over a year and when she did, she was going to be ready to go to Children and Family Services and demand custody of her sisters—both of them. Until then she would take every babysitting job she could get and save enough money to be able to move all three of them to their aunt’s house is Seattle.

She was going to re-examine her relationships with the other students at her school. The three most disliked students in school—Veronica Mars, Eli Navarro and Logan Echolls (while the 09ers loved Logan, the rest of the school hated him)—had been the only individuals not to treat her like the harlot of Babylon over the past few days. Obviously Meg needed to reevaluate how she judged the people around her.

And Logan Echolls was obsessed with Veronica Mars. While Meg had taken special notice of it when he stared at Veronica in the cheerleading uniform, she had realized after that Logan watched her all the time. He was always sneaking glances at Meg’s friend, constantly making sure that no one was looking at him before he took time to stare at her. While Meg was feeling more kindly disposed towards Logan after his kindness during class, she felt a greater loyalty to Veronica. She wanted to make sure that her friend knew about her greatest tormenter’s stalker-like ways, although as far as she could tell no one else knew. Who would think to look?

*

“Are you kidding?”

“No. Come on, Logan. Look at the things you’ve done. Yes, I can figure out who you did most of them with, but still—I don’t have even a fraction of the experience that you do. Aren’t you—I don’t know—bored?” Veronica couldn’t bring herself to look at Logan and she aimed her gaze at the floor.

Logan looked at Veronica in shock. Did she really not know? How could she not know?

“Veronica?” It was a question. “Veronica?” he said again, prompting her to raise her head. “You—you don’t understand.” He sighed and took Veronica’s hands in his. Now he was the one looking down. “Lilly and I—we didn’t have anything else. Our relationship was built on sex, at least for her, and I knew that. I mean, I got it. Being imaginative, that was what we did. If we weren’t, we wouldn’t have had anything else.” His voice sounded sad. “But you,” and he finally looked up again, “you and I… I didn’t know that sex was supposed to express how you felt, not be all that you felt.” His eyes went back to the floor. “Don’t get me wrong. I’m a teenage boy. I liked it. But—what we have is so much better.” He laughed uncomfortably. “I am so getting thrown out of the guys’ club for this.”

Veronica leaned forward and captured his lips with hers, effectively ending the conversation.

*

When Meg’s parents let her out of the Punishment Room exactly sixteen hours after shutting her in, her room was once again spotless. Of course. Thanks, Mom.

Having missed the school day, Meg crawled into bed and went to sleep. It’s not like she had gotten any actual rest the previous night. She was sure that Lizzie had explained her absence to Veronica, who she was supposed to have met for lunch. Meg had covered for her sister on similar occasions several times.

So she wasn’t surprised when Veronica stopped by and her friend’s words really did help her. The next morning she got up for school feeling better about herself, feeling like she had come to some important decisions in her life. She put on another one of her favorite outfits and reconstructed her bubble.

Bring it on.

She went into work mode as soon as she got to school, gathering together tapes for the morning broadcast and focusing on school as opposed to her personal life.

Which improved rapidly as soon as Veronica’s tape aired. Meg hadn’t known that Pam hated Veronica and blamed her for Duncan’s mental instability, but she had certainly known that Veronica didn’t really earn a 14 on the purity test. That probably explained the e-mail that Dick had supposedly received from Veronica, as well. Even in her outcast state Meg had heard about that one. Hardly. And Meg had thought that Kimmy was her friend. Who was the whore of Babylon now?

All day long people kept coming up to her and apologizing. Too little, too late in Meg’s opinion, but she was nice enough to them—it wasn’t in her nature to be otherwise.

After school Veronica came up to talk to her and Meg got a chance to say thank you from the bottom of her heart. As she started to leave, she paused and turned back around.

“You do have friends, Veronica.” Her friend smiled and started to walk away, but Meg went on. “Um, Veronica? Look, I’m not sure if you know, but Logan Echolls—he kind of stares at you a lot.” Veronica stared at her, obviously not comprehending. “I mean, not in a sleazy kind of way, but it’s a little strange. I just…wanted to let you know. So you could be aware.”

Veronica’s trance broke and she nodded with a smile.

“Thanks, Meg.”

*

Logan and Veronica lay in her bed wrapped together under the sheets. He was lightly running his hand up and down her arm.

“So I guess no boredom, huh?” Veronica said with a light laugh.

Logan leaned back with a contemplative look on his face. “Veronica, think about it. As long as it didn’t involve pain, animals or other people, is there anything that I could ask you to do that you wouldn’t at least be willing to discuss, even if we didn’t end up doing it?”

Veronica sat up on one elbow and looked intently into her boyfriend’s eyes. After a thoughtful moment, she said slowly, “No, there’s not. And you wouldn’t ask me in the first place if you thought it would make me uncomfortable.”

“No,” he answered. “I wouldn’t.” He reached up and placed a kiss on her lips.

“I love you, Logan.”

“I love you back.”

*Note: Biblical quotations taken from Revelations chapters 17 and 18.

Chapter Text

Smooth was the word to describe Eli “Weevil” Navarro. He was confident, moved easily through his world in a way that seemed almost magical to others and if you rubbed him the wrong way, things got ugly fast. Translation: smooth. Not that Weevil would have thought of himself that way. Heavens, no.

Weevil thought of himself as a survivor. He had lived through being born to a 15-year-old mother who ran away from home two years later leaving him in the care of his grandmother. He endured growing up on the poor side of town where drug deals gone wrong, gang shoot-outs and S.W.A.T. team raids were the norm and a quiet day was the exception. He joined a gang and became the leader of that gang because that was the best way to survive, never mind that the sources of chaos in his neighborhood went down noticeably after he took over. From Weevil’s point of view, he did what had to be done. To others he just looked smooth.

Lately, though, things had been rough for the young man. The source of the troubles was his ill-conceived relationship with the late Lilly Kane. Looking back, Weevil had finally come to realize that he had completely misjudged the spirited blonde. He thought that he had meant something to her and he had clung to that belief even after she died. He had missed her, but he had been doing alright until Logan Echolls had seen his tattoo during their detention together.

Weevil had conflicting feelings about the leader of the 09ers. He had never understood what Lilly saw in the obnoxious pretty boy, nor did he understand why she kept going back to him, cutting a piece out of Weevil’s heart every time she did so. As far as he could tell, Logan had nothing to recommend him beyond money and a famous daddy. What was the big deal?

Then a few months ago, Weevil had figured out that Logan and Veronica Mars, a person for whom he had more than a modicum of respect, had been dating for almost a year. He had then learned from his grandmother that they kept it secret because they feared that if they went public Duncan would kill himself, which seemed a genuine fear for them to have. Duncan had tried to kill himself at least two times that the general public knew of.

Weevil’s point of view on Logan Echolls had drastically changed as he started sizing up the other guy’s actions in light of that revelation. The loathing that Logan showed Veronica wasn’t privileged hatred—it was meant to both keep his best friend alive and to hide how much he loved the object of both his and his best friend’s affections. (Because everyone and their dog at Neptune High knew perfectly well that Duncan had never gotten over the tiny blonde.) Weevil respected that kind of sacrifice.

He just didn’t expect it to come from Logan Echolls.

After Logan and Veronica found out that the young gang leader had deduced their secret, they stopped hiding in front of him. Weevil had witnessed a side of Logan that he hadn’t known existed and that went a long way towards explaining why Lilly had been so seemingly hung up on the guy. Not that Weevil liked to give Logan any credit at all, but the guy really did treat Veronica like she deserved to be treated. When they weren’t in public, anyway.

Which is a large part of why Logan’s reaction to Weevil’s tattoo had thrown him for such a loop: he had seen that Logan knew what love was.

They were just getting going on painting the wall. Logan barely glanced at the heart tattoo with Lilly’s name on it before he started laughing.

“What?” Weevil gave Logan a strange look.

“I hope you make enough money from your illegal activities to afford tattoo removal.”

“What the hell are you talkin’ about?”

Logan dipped his paint roller in the paint. “You didn’t think you were special to her, did you?” He looked at Weevil and stopped. “You did, didn’t you? Dude, Lilly’s only requirement for sleeping with a guy was that he be breathing.”

“This from the guy who supposedly loved her more than anyone else,” said Weevil derisively.

“Doesn’t mean she loved me back,” Logan threw in Weevil’s face. “Do you know what Veronica and I walked in on Lilly doing the day before she died? Screwing the pool boy poolside. And do you know what she did when she saw us? She smiled, man. She smiled.” Logan lifted his paint roller to the wall. “Yeah, I loved her, but that doesn’t mean she deserved it. You might want to think about that,” he said with finality as he began painting the wall.

Nothing in Weevil’s life seemed to go as smoothly after that. He second-guessed his decisions as a leader. He questioned whether or not he was a good enough grandson and uncle. His grades wavered. The bottom line was that Weevil didn’t trust his judgment anymore. And he didn’t know how to fix it.

*

Meg had had an interesting two weeks. When Kimmie Lassiter had posted fake purity test results for her (apparent) arch-nemesis, people who for years Meg had thought of as friends had turned on her like hyenas on a fallen caribou. That had been the week before. When Kimmie’s duplicity had been revealed in grand fashion by Veronica Mars those same charming carnivores had come bounding back like no feeding frenzy had ever taken place. But Meg hadn’t forgotten.

She remembered quite well that people she had cheered with since the sixth grade had looked at her like she was a slut. Please. Meg was naïve, not stupid. She knew perfectly well who the sluts at Neptune were. She simply chose to be friends with them (and in several cases cheer with them) anyway. So fine. She would still cheer with them. She would even be nice to them, because to be otherwise wouldn’t be her, but she no longer considered them to be her friends. She no longer confided in them and she no longer looked at them with respect.

Which was too bad—the confiding part—because everyone was desperate to get details about Cole’s campaign to win her back over. Her “friends” asked her about it constantly, which questions Meg answered only in generalities and with brush-offs. Those poor girls—they were so frustrated. Cole had sent Meg flowers, written shudderingly bad love poetry, hired a mariachi band to sing on the quad during lunch—the list went on. Meg, however, was interested neither in Cole’s desperation nor in her “friends’” frantic curiosity.

What Meg was interested in was Eli “Weevil” Navarro.

During that horrible week, exactly three people had been nice to her. Veronica Mars she had expected. Veronica was and always had been a good, genuine person. Logan Echolls, on the other hand, had come out of nowhere, especially since at first he loudly trash-talked her at lunch. Then in Physics when they worked together on their pairs project, he had been downright nice. Nice to a degree that she had seen from him, um, never, much less when he had the perfect setting in which to make her life miserable. But there you had it—Logan Echolls had made her feel better. Weird. Not that she completely trusted him yet, but still, he had been a welcome presence for one hour each day.

The third person had been Eli. Meg had been babysitting for Letty Navarro for a few months now. Mrs. Navarro’s daughter, Eli’s aunt, had been diagnosed with cancer and Eli couldn’t always be there to watch the kids when his grandmother went to L.A. to be with Maria. Veronica had put the Echolls’ housekeeper in touch with Meg who had since become a somewhat regular presence in the Navarro household.

She and Eli actually hadn’t interacted much during that time as Meg only came over when Eli couldn’t be there. They usually saw each other only in passing, exchanging simple “hellos” and “goodbyes”. So Meg had been surprised by Weevil’s unspoken support during the purity test debacle.

She had been walking down the hall trying not to look as defeated and uncomfortable as she felt when Weevil’s face had materialized out of the sea of derision. He had smiled and nodded at her. That was it—a smile and a nod. But they had transformed Meg’s opinion of the young man.

It was funny—Letty Navarro worshipped her grandson. In that woman’s eyes, “Eli” could no wrong. It was she who called him Eli as opposed to Weevil. Letty said the name with such love that it was hard to imagine him not being the perfect person that she obviously thought him to be. But Meg still had the knowledge in the back of her mind that Eli’s alter ego was Weevil, the leader of a gang who taped new kids naked to the flagpole.

So Meg had two warring versions of the guy in her head—Eli vs. Weevil—but she didn’t form an independent opinion of him until that day in the hall. He had certainly heard the rumors—who hadn’t? And he had gone out of his way in a subtle but firm manner to let Meg know he supported her. There wasn’t anything about that small gesture that hadn’t touched Meg.

If he had come up and openly acknowledged her in any way, it would have been interpreted as proof that the results of the test were accurate. So he had been subtle. But he could obviously tell that everyone believed them and he had chosen not to even though she had never said more than hi and bye to him. Meg had gone from having conflicting pictures of him in her head to having a very firm personal opinion. From then on, she thought of him only as Eli.

When things had settled down and life had gone back to what Meg used to think of as being normal, Veronica, Logan and Eli were the only three people who hadn’t had to backtrack. They had proven themselves beyond a doubt to be Meg’s friends.

And Meg had developed a teensy bit of an obsessive crush on the leader of the PCHer motorcycle gang.

It was kind of fun actually, having a clandestine crush. Meg found out Eli’s class schedule and started taking new routes to her own classes in order to pass him in the halls. On the occasions when he wasn’t talking to someone or otherwise distracted, he always acknowledged her in a friendly, but not overfriendly, way. She watched him at lunch with his fellow gang members. She saw how the girls at Neptune—both secretly and openly—drooled over the tattooed, bald, totally ripped young gang leader. It was a total bad boy thing. Meg considered herself to be one of the more subtle oglers, thank you very much.

Meg knew that Eli would never be interested in somebody like her. Not only was she an 09er, but she was a cheerleader, a virgin, sweet, kind and in no way the kind of girl that he would ever go for. That didn’t stop her from developing a rampaging crush, though. And wondering what those muscles would feel like up close and personal.

So when her babysitting clients had started calling to reschedule cancelled appointments, it had been both easy and a pleasure to inform them that she was already booked for the weekend. Neptune’s older 09ers were even quicker to judge than the younger set and had pretty much universally cut off her services in the immediate wake of her fall from grace. Letty, of course, had done no such thing. The older woman wanted to spend all weekend with her daughter and had called Meg to ask if the young girl could handle the “day shift” while Eli took nights. Meg had instantly agreed. Now she just had to figure out how to keep Eli from running out the door as soon as she got there.

Did she really expect anything to happen? No, but a girl can dream.

*

Weevil’s grandmother had already left when Meg pulled up in her Accord. Carlos was playing video games in the living room, Cecilia was in her room and Weevil was making something to eat before he headed out for the night. He didn’t have any major plans for the evening, just hanging out. While he didn’t mind watching the kids when his grandma wasn’t there, he wasn’t complaining about not having to stay in the house all weekend, either.

Meg knocked on the front door and Weevil yelled for Carlos to answer it. Grumbling like he had been asked to give his PS2 away to his most hated enemy, Carlos stomped over to let Meg in and Weevil listened to them greet each other from the other room.

“Hey, Carlos! I interrupted your game, didn’t I?”

“Yeah,” Carlos answered in a sullen tone.

“You know what’s coming, don’t you? You know what I have to do!” Weevil peeked around the corner to see Meg grab Carlos and tickle him mercilessly while the 10-year-old squealed like a little girl.

Weevil liked Meg—she was okay. Before she had started watching his niece and nephew he hadn’t thought much of her one way or another beyond the fact that she looked hot in a cheerleading uniform. But Carlos and Cecilia liked Meg and as far as Weevil could tell, they more or less behaved for her, which was no small miracle. More than anything, Weevil trusted the kids’ intuition and if they were cool with Meg, he was cool with Meg.

Weevil ducked back into the kitchen to finish making his sandwich. As he did so, he saw Cecilia shuffle her way into the front room. That wasn’t like his niece, who was usually a cute little ball of energy, but she had seemed a little down this afternoon, which Weevil had chalked up to his grandmother’s repeated absences.

Carlos and Cecilia had the same mother, Weevil’s aunt, but two different fathers. Their mother had died in a car accident when Carlos was three and Cecilia was one, so it was hard for the two of them to handle their aunt’s illness and the grandmother’s absences at the same time. Letty was firmly of the opinion, though, that Maria wasn’t strong enough to handle two rambunctious children. She also felt that it would be incredibly difficult on Carlos and Cecilia to travel back and forth to L.A. to be around someone who, while doing well, was so fundamentally ill.

So Weevil wasn’t surprised that Cecilia was having a hard time. If anything, he was surprised that it had taken Cecilia so long to show obvious signs. He was about to take a bite of his dinner when he heard Cecilia start crying in the other room. He dropped his sandwich and rushed into the other room to find Meg standing there holding Cecilia. His niece’s head looked like dead weight on the blonde girl’s shoulder.

Meg looked up when Weevil came through the archway.

“I need you to get a thermometer. I think she’s running a fever.”

Meg’s voice was firm and calm and it never occurred to Weevil to question her. He simply did as he was asked.

Weevil appeared calm as he prepared the thermometer and brought it to Meg, now seated on the couch holding Cecilia in her arms. He looked like he had it together when he went over to Carlos and turned the TV down. All in all, Weevil acted like a possible fever was no big deal, but as he watched Meg rock Cecilia back and forth and check for a temperature, his stomach was in knots. Little problems in their family had a way of becoming big ones.

“One hundred point three,” said Meg, snapping Weevil out of his trance. “Will you go get a wet washcloth, please? We can put it on her forehead and it’ll help her feel better.”

As Weevil turned to leave, he saw Cecilia move out of the corner of his eye and he turned in time to see her lean over and throw up on the living room floor.

“It’s okay, sweetie,” whispered Meg as she brushed Cecilia’s hair out of her eyes. The little girl was starting to cry. “Eli, will you get the washcloth? We still need it. Carlos,” whose controller lay limp in his hands, was staring at his sister, who had her head buried in Meg’s chest. ”I need you to get me a towel and the biggest bowl you can find and bring them to your room, okay?” As she gave out her instructions, Meg gathered the sick eight-year-old in her arms and stood up.

Following the lead of the composed young woman, Weevil and Carlos went about their assigned tasks. Instead of carrying Cecilia straight to her bedroom as Weevil had expected, Meg first took the little girl into the kitchen and set her on the countertop. As he wet a washcloth in the bathroom, he heard Meg instruct his niece to rinse out her mouth with cool tap water to help get the taste of her mouth.

As he approached the pair with the washcloth, Meg asked Cecilia if they needed to stop by the restroom. The girl shook her head against Meg’s chest. Weevil followed Meg into the kids’ room as the older girl put Cecilia in bed and tucked her in. Meg took the washcloth and wiped it all over the scared little girl’s face, talking to her in a soothing tone as she did so.

“You probably have a stomach flu, okay, sweetie? Nothing to be afraid of. See what Carlos is bringing in? We’re going to put this bowl on the floor on top of a big towel, so if you need to throw up again, all you have to do is lean over. Uncle Eli got you this washcloth and we’re going to keep an eye on it to make sure that it stays cold on your forehead. Carlos, where are your walkie-talkies? The ones you got for your birthday?” Carlos looked uncertain at the request. “I need you to get them out for me so that we can put one in here with Cecilia and I can keep the other one.” She turned back to the little girl in the bed. “That way you can call me the minute you need me, okay?” Cecilia tried to smile, but the tears glistening in her eyes told a different story.

“I’m not going anywhere yet,” Meg reassured her and Weevil couldn’t tear his eyes off of their blonde savior. Who was this girl? How had she known exactly what to do and say and how to keep them all from completely freaking out? Why had he thought that she was just another 09er princess? Had he ever really looked at her?

“We’re going to keep the lights low in here because I’ll bet bright lights hurt your head right now, don’t they?” Cecilia nodded. “And loud sounds hurt it, too, huh?” Cecilia nodded again as tears streamed down her face. Meg took the washcloth off of Cecilia’s forehead and wiped her cheeks. She turned to Weevil.

“Will you go get another washcloth and put it in a bowl so that she’ll have a cold one waiting when this one gets warm?” Weevil stared at the young woman for a moment, unable to move, before belatedly nodding and heading to fill the request. As he left, he heard her give Carlos more to-do’s. “I need you to turn off all of the lights except for that desk lamp. We don’t want it to be too dark, just enough so that it doesn’t hurt her eyes. Thank you for your help, Carlos. You’ve been a big help. Don’t worry, Cecilia, everyone’s going to take good care of you.”

As Weevil filled his assignment, he marveled at what Meg had done. She had taken a moment that would have sent him into crisis mode and made everyone feel safe. He had never seen anyone do that before except for his grandmother and, frankly, he was impressed.

When he came back into the room carrying two Tupperware containers, one filled with water and the other holding two dry washcloths, Meg was singing a soft lullaby in the now dimly lit bedroom. Carlos was listening awkwardly by the door while Cecilia held Meg’s hand and listened to her soothing voice. Weevil stood by Carlos until the song was over and then he moved to put the containers on the stand next to Cecilia’s bed.

“Thank you, Eli,” Meg smiled up at him and Weevil felt his heart constrict. Whoa. What? “I’m going to go make you some soup, okay, sweetheart?” She leaned back down to Cecilia and gave the little girl a kiss on the forehead. “You’ve got your walkie-talkie and I’m going to leave the door open, so if you need anything, I want you call me right away.” She turned to the two boys in the room.

“Let’s go, gentlemen. We have some things to do.”

Meg took Carlos and Weevil into the kitchen and put them to work. Carlos heated up some Campbell’s Chicken Noodle soup in the microwave while Meg put together a prettily decorated arrangement on one of Letty’s clear plastic platters. The young woman made a place setting complete with a small cup of apple juice and then added a glass with some flowers taken out of the potted plants on the window sill. Weevil was nonplussed. The blonde cheerleader had taken everyday items and arranged them in a way that his niece would love. It was exactly what the little girl needed right now—it would make her feel special.

While all of this was going on, Meg asked Weevil (calling him Eli again) to cook some grilled cheese sandwiches for her, himself and Carlos. Right as she did so, his phone rang and a horrified look crossed her face.

“Oh, I’m so sorry. You have plans tonight. It’s okay. Carlos and I—“ Weevil cut her off.

“You and Carlos need me more tonight. Don’t worry about it.” He took the call in the other room and told Felix that his niece was sick and he would call him tomorrow to update him. Then he went back into the kitchen to make some grilled cheese, one of the few meals that he could make with complete confidence, as it so happened.

The rest of the evening went more smoothly than Weevil would have imagined possible. Meg had him and Carlos deliver Cecilia dinner while Meg cleaned up the throw up in the living room. Weevil offered to do it, but Meg refused. Instead she threatened him and his nephew within an inch of their lives if they weren’t “calm and kind”, as she put it, when they took dinner into Cecilia.

“She doesn’t feel well and her grandmother isn’t here. I’ll be in as soon as I finish cleaning this up. You two need to take good care of her, got it?” Like either of them dared oppose her.

It didn’t take long for Cecilia to fall asleep. After their own dinner, Meg allowed Carlos to keep playing video games as long as he kept the sound off while she went in to clean the kitchen. Next, she got Carlos to take a bath—quietly—and then she put him to bed with the solemn responsibility of letting her and Weevil know immediately if Cecilia needed anything.

Seriously, Weevil was in awe. He didn’t truly get walloped over the head, though, until right before they left the kids’ room. Meg went over to check on Cecilia and noticed that the little girl’s favorite stuffed animal was missing.

“Where’s Elmo?” she asked Weevil softly, who shook his head. He had seen the red Muppet earlier, but he was now nowhere to be seen. “She’ll be upset if she wakes up and Elmo isn’t there,” whispered Meg as she started looking around the bed for the missing toy. The move came suddenly as Meg saw Cecilia’s favorite doll stuck on the other side of the little girl between the wall and the twin bed.

As Weevil watched, Meg leaned far over to retrieve Elmo. As she did, her fashionably low-riding jeans dipped lower and the triangle of a black satin thong was momentarily revealed before Meg sat back up and tucked the doll into Cecilia’s arms.

Weevil swallowed hard. Meg Manning wore a thong?

Weevil felt like crossing himself. Where had these feelings come from? At the beginning of the night Meg had been a nice enough girl who his niece and nephew liked. Then he found out she was Florence Nightingale for the pediatric generation and he had gained a measure of real respect for her. Now she was kicking his blood pressure into gear like no one had in a very long time and respect was the farthest thing from his mind.

Meg stood up and gestured for Weevil to leave with her quietly to go into the other room, leaving the door open a crack so that they could hear either of the kids if they needed to.

The kitchen clean, Meg went into the living room and turned off the TV which was still silently showing animated characters fighting evil. She started straightening up.

As Weevil watched her, he was finally able to ask what he couldn’t when the kids were awake.

In a low voice, he questioned, “Is she really going to be alright?”

Meg looked up from the toys she had gathered off the floor in surprise. “Most likely it really is just a stomach virus. Did you think it was something else?”

Weevil was embarrassed. He didn’t want to seem like some sort of wuss who didn’t know anything, but what was he supposed to think?

Meg deposited the toys in the toy box in the corner and walked over to Weevil. She put her hand on his arm.

“It looks scary, and we’ll have to keep an eye on her tonight and tomorrow, but hopefully it’s just a 24-hour thing. If her fever gets any higher or she can’t keep anything down, then we’ll get worried, okay?”

At Meg’s touch all Weevil could manage was a nod. Come on, he told himself, this is Meg.

Done with the living room, Meg headed for the tiny laundry room off of the kitchen and started separating the dirty clothes.

“What are you doing?” asked Weevil in the doorway from the kitchen.

Meg gave him a strange look. “The laundry.”

The situation with Cecilia had pushed Meg’s crush out of the front of her mind, insomuch that she hadn’t spent the night trying to impress the guy she had a thing for. The realization suddenly hit her, though, that she was now in a very confined space with the tattooed, bald, totally ripped gang leader who had just spent all evening helping her take care of a sick little girl. Yes, his hotness factor had tripled. And the hairs on the back of her neck were abruptly standing on end.

Weevil took a step closer, making the space seem that much smaller. His presence was more than physical.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Because it needs to be done,” Meg managed to choke out.

Weevil had to know. “You’re here to watch the kids, not do laundry.”

A spark flew into Meg’s eyes. “So what, because my parents have money, I can’t do what needs to be done?”

“What do you mean?” Weevil liked that spark and he moved closer to get a better look at it. He was surprised that Meg didn’t move away.

“Your grandmother spends her life serving people. She cleans other people’s houses during the day and then comes back to her home and takes care of all of you at night. When Maria got sick, her only concern was how to take care of all of you and her at the same time.” Meg swallowed hard as Weevil’s presence threatened to overwhelm her. “The least I can do is make sure that she has fewer loads of laundry to do when she gets home.”

Weevil closed the tiny gap and pulled Meg into his arms, bringing her lips to his as he did so.

Neither of them was prepared for the almost palpable electricity that sparked at their touch. Meg felt herself melting into Weevil’s embrace. She had never experienced anything remotely like this. As his lips rubbed against hers, the rest of time stopped and all she could think of was him.

Weevil was stunned. He hadn’t meant to kiss Meg, not really. And he definitely hadn’t expected this. He pulled back and though their lips separated, their eyes remained locked.

Weevil half-expected Meg to slap him. Meg was terrified that Weevil was going to apologize. Instead what they saw in each other’s eyes was a mirror—desire, attraction, fear.

“Eli,” Meg murmured as Weevil pulled her to him again. This time her lips parted and Weevil’s tongue slipped inside her mouth.

While for the life of her Meg couldn’t conjure up the picture of another boy in her head as a comparison, through her haze of passion she knew that she had never been kissed like this before. She sank into it, opening her mouth fully to the onslaught of Eli’s attentions.

Weevil pulled back, tugging on her bottom lip as he did so.

“Why do you call me that?” he breathed.

“What?” Meg wasn’t thinking incredibly clearly.

“Eli.”

“That’s your name,” she said as her breath mingled with his.

“Most people call me Weevil,” he said as his mouth moved across her face to whisper in her ear.

“I think of you as Eli,” Meg’s hands moved up the front of his chest to circle around his neck, her fingers lingering on the back of his smooth head. So totally better than she had imagined.

“This could be complicated,” he said softly into her ear.

“Works for me,” Meg answered as she took the initiative and pressed her lips to his. And Weevil’s world slid back into place.

It wouldn’t be until later that Weevil would recognize that night as the turning point, the moment when he went back to trusting himself.

Right now he was a little busy.

Chapter Text

Veronica was sitting on her waterbed, supposedly reading “Lord of the Flies” for AP English, but in reality watching Logan desperately try to finish his half of the Physics project he was doing with Meg. Veronica liked to do that—watch him when he didn’t know she was looking. His laptop had acquired some kind of virus and Word wouldn’t open, which was disastrous as the pairs’ project was due Monday after lunch. He didn’t want to use his parents’ computers or maybe he just wanted an excuse to spend Sunday night at Veronica’s. Either way he had been on her computer since 7 p.m., muttering to himself and throwing out the occasional cuss word to the masses.

When he had arrived four hours ago, Veronica had given him hell for not only waiting until the very last possible moment to finish, but for spending the previous evening playing poker in his pool house. She knew this, of course, because he had spent the afternoon regaling her with the tale of the stolen $5,000 and Weevil’s resultant ire. After informing him that of course she would help him figure out what happened, she had asked about his project, at which point he had mumbled something about “almost being done” and had hastily gotten off of the phone.

So here he was, having not used Word in so long that he hadn’t even known it was corrupted. Almost done. Uh-huh… He had refused anything that wasn’t caffeinated or high in protein since he had taken a seat at her desk, his irritation at everything in the world—the project for existing, the money for disappearing, his father for breathing, his girlfriend for being bitchy—driving him to focus solely on the task at hand.

Veronica sighed. She wasn’t being fair and she knew it. As boyfriends went, he had gone far above and beyond the call of duty over the past few weeks. She recapped in her mind.

First there was the whole “Jake Kane might be Veronica’s father” thing. Hey, at least they knew now what Celeste had told Duncan that made him break up with Veronica, right? Yeah, that made them feel much better. No wonder Duncan was so screwed up. Logan had said exactly the right thing when he reminded Veronica that he had spent lots of time around both Jake Kane and Keith Mars when they were in “father mode” and that he could unequivocally say that she had gotten the better end of the deal.

Then there had been the fiasco with the Moon Calf Collective. Veronica blushed just thinking about it. Neither Logan nor her father had wanted her snooping around on their property—her dad because it might be dangerous, Logan because Casey Gant would be there. In the end, her dad had yelled at her for going to the compound and Logan had gone all tight-lipped when he found out that Veronica had gone to the hospital with Casey.

Logan had openly been looking for a reason to start a fight with Casey until Reverend Moon-in-training had been “deprogrammed” and gone back to being an 09er butthead who treated Veronica like a non-entity. So Logan had backed off and Veronica remembered very clearly the conversation that had followed.

“So you’re no longer looking to knock Casey’s teeth down his throat?”

“He was leaning.”

“Uh-huh. Anyway, why shouldn’t he?”

“Because you’re in love with me.”

“He didn’t know that. Besides, is that really the issue? These guys—not just Casey—they don’t know what’s up. That’s why you have to trust me.”

“As a matter of fact, I do trust you, but I still hate them for looking at my girlfriend that way.”

“And what way is that?”

“Like they’re looking to see who she really is.”

“And that’s bad?”

Logan paused. “You’re special, Veronica. Any guy that really takes the time to look at you will see that. I’d rather fight them off early.”

How does a girl argue with that? She doesn’t.

Tap, tap, tap. Logan continued to type out his paper.

And Duncan’s return—couldn’t overlook that. While Veronica was no longer directly involved with the guy, the fact was that keeping him alive defined her and Logan’s relationship, so she tended to be pretty diligent about keeping up with his comings and goings. Long story short, Logan belonged in the BFF Hall of Fame. He hung out with Duncan; he played video games with him; he helped his best friend arrange to catch up on his schoolwork; he kept Duncan busy by involving him in student council (that one wasn’t completely selfless—Logan put Duncan in charge of things that he didn’t want to do himself). Celeste was ready to build a shrine to her son’s best friend and Duncan was doing well under Logan’s attentions.

That had even been his excuse for having the poker game—because “it would be good for Duncan.” Uh-huh It was interesting to note, though, that Veronica didn’t think that Duncan came back from “Baltimore” all that changed. Except for the new cast on his arm, he was pretty much the same. The added attention from his best friend seemed to having a bigger influence on him than anything else.

Veronica paused in her trip down memory lane and stared at the ceiling as her mind went back to the issue that had been the hardest to deal with. The question of who her father was had become a constant parasite at the back of her mind, never fully out of sight, always eating away at her. She hadn’t told Logan how all-consuming her fear had become because she felt guilty. Her dad was amazing, the top prize in the father lottery. How could she complain to Logan of all people?

Fortunately for her, Logan called her on it.

One Thursday night, Logan turned off the television in the middle of C.S.I., prompting Veronica to look up in surprise.

“What did you do that for?”

“That’s all your gonna say? What did you do that for?”

“Um, yeah?”

“Right. You love this show. You are insane about this show. You look up the gadgets from this show on the Internet and speculate about how you could use them to crack cases at work. You go on ad nauseum about how hot the guys are. You watch every single version of this show and you have every season of every version in your queue on Blockbuster.com.”

Veronica shrugged her shoulders. “And?”

“And this is a new episode of the original C.S.I., which you loudly insist is still the best one. So I just turned it off and all you said was What did you do that for? I should be minus an arm right now.” He paused and looked at her significantly. “I’m your boyfriend, Veronica. Let me be there for you. Tell me what’s wrong.”

Independent of her own accord, tears sprang from Veronica’s eyes and words tumbled from her mouth in a torrent. She hadn’t realized how much she wanted to talk to him about what was bothering her until that instant. Logan was always there for her and it was like she no longer knew how to deal with the horror that was often her life without his help. She wasn’t completely sure if that was a good thing or not, but knowing how much he loved her and she loved him, she usually chose to look at it as a good thing.

“What if my dad’s not my dad? What if Jake Kane got my mother pregnant? I’m…I…I don’t know. I just don’t know.” Veronica leaned forward and put her head in her hands as she started to cry. “I feel disloyal to my dad just wondering. I mean, he’s, like, the best dad ever. And you…” Her voice, already muffled, trailed off to be replaced by the sound of crying.

Logan started rubbing circles on her back. “My dad being a jackass has nothing to do with this. Let me help you,” he said firmly, and Veronica twisted on the couch so that she was lying on her side, her head in Logan’s lap. He picked up a small pillow and put it under her head while she continued to cry, his hand never stopping its soothing motion on her back.

“What do you want to do?” he asked as her crying subsided.

She idly stroked the crease in the knee of his jeans with her thumb as she answered. “I got my dad to give me a sample of his blood—don’t ask—and I sent it off to be tested against mine. I got the results yesterday, but I can’t decide whether to open them or not.” Her voice was a mixture of tough chick and little girl lost, a combination that not many people besides her father and Logan ever got to see.

“What difference will it make?” asked Logan.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m not being dismissive, I promise. I’m really asking. If Keith’s not your father, will it change anything for you?”

“You mean would I stop calling him dad? Would I move in with the Kanes? Would I sue Jake Kane for millions of dollars?”

“Yes. To all of that.”

Veronica sighed and her hand stilled on Logan’s knee. “Dad will always be my dad—end of story, and I would never leave him.”

“And the money? Does it make a difference?”

Veronica sat up and looked into Logan’s eyes. “No. I mean, money would be nice…” her eyes took on an unfocused look as she thought about the ramifications of her blood line, “but nothing would be worth having someone tell me that my father is not my father.”

“Sounds like you already have your answer,” said Logan.

Veronica jumped up and ran to her room.

“What are you doing?” called Logan.

“What needs to be done,” she answered as she went into her dad’s room holding a tan envelope. Logan heard the sound of the paper shredder and smiled. That’s my girl.

Veronica came back, a content expression on her face. She sat down on the couch next to Logan, tucking her legs under herself and snuggling into his side.

“It scares me sometimes,” she said softly as he reached for the remote.

“What does?” Logan’s hand paused.

“How much I need you.”

Logan leaned over and pressed his lips into her hair. “If I could get you to understand how much I love you and need you then you’d know that there is nothing for you to be afraid of.” He leaned back and looked at her. “Whatever God is up there in the heavens, I’m just grateful to him—or her or them as the case may be—” he smiled, “for the fact that you need me back.”

Veronica reached up and brushed a feather-light kiss across Logan’s lips before settling firmly into his side.

“Alright,” he said with a flourish as he turned the TV back on, “let’s see if we can catch up on what we missed.”

Veronica sighed. “It won’t be the same.”

Logan laughed and the two of them returned to watching TV together.

Back in the present, Veronica smiled. Logan was a really, really good boyfriend. Procrastinating writing a paper just wasn’t all that big of a deal and she needed to do something to show him that she supported him.

She put her book on the nightstand and got up to stand behind Logan where she started massaging his shoulders. He took a shuddering breath and sat back.

“I thought you were mad at me.”

“I got over it.”

Logan rolled his head around as he tried to relieve the tension and Veronica continued to work her hands over his tense muscles.

“You? Just got over it.” He sounded as skeptical as she would expect for him to sound and she laughed. Removing her hands from his shoulders, she swung her leg around, instantly straddling his lap.

“Impressive,” her boyfriend said as Veronica got comfortable, “but as you pointed out when I got here, I have a ton of stuff to do and very little time.” He flushed—it seemed to him that Veronica’s maneuverings more closely resembled a lap dance than they did situating herself.

“You’re going to be up all night, right?”

Logan squeezed his eyes shut, trying to keep his composure. “Yes…” he drawled. This seemed like odd activity if a lecture about the evils of procrastination was to follow.

“Well, I figure that taking a few minutes off would do you some good. You know, give you a second wind,” she explained as she trailed hot kisses down the side of his neck.

Logan swallowed hard. “I don’t have much time, though. Are you sure…”

“I’m sure we can use our time wisely,” Veronica bit his ear lobe. “I’m trying to be supportive. You wouldn’t want me to be an unsupportive girlfriend, now would you?”

Logan might have answered had his willpower not chosen that moment to completely cave.

True to Veronica’s promise, when Logan sat back down to the computer forty-five minutes later he felt much refreshed. He took one last look at Veronica now asleep on her waterbed before reluctantly turning his attention back to his paper. One last extraneous thought went through his head.

It’s a good thing Keith’s out of town.

*

The next morning got started off with a bang for Veronica, who woke up to the smell of coffee before her alarm went off. She opened her eyes when her bed moved underneath her. Logan had taken a seat on the edge of her waterbed and was holding a cup of coffee for her.

“Lots of milk and sugar,” he explained as she noted the rather manic smile splashed across his face.

“You didn’t get any sleep at all, did you?”

“No, but I got laid, so it’s okay.”

Veronica laughed as she sat up and took the coffee mug, giving Logan a quick kiss of gratitude.

“All done?” she asked as she waved at the computer and took a quick sip of the steaming beverage.

“Almost,” he said. At her raised eyebrow, he hurried to reassure her. “Seriously. All I have left is some formatting stuff and to print it out. I’ll be there by second period at the latest.”

Veronica simply crooked her eyebrow higher.

“I promise!” he insisted, eliciting a not-convinced look from his girlfriend.

“I’m going to go take a shower,” she said as she got up, pushing him back towards her desk as she did so.

“But I want to come with you.” He flashed her his best puppy dog eyes.

“And if you had finished your paper, I would have let you,” she threw enticingly over her shoulder.

Logan let out a loud groan of frustration as his girlfriend firmly shut the bathroom door behind her. If he could have he would have slugged the computer, but that would defeat the purpose. With a deep sigh, he resumed his Physics-imposed drudgery.

*

The first thing that Veronica witnessed upon arriving at school was a confrontation between Weevil and Duncan—something about a stolen laptop. Normally she tried to give her ex a wide berth, but knowing that Logan wasn’t there to back Duncan up, Veronica approached the frustrated young man to see if there was anything she could do to help.

It turned out that Weevil was indeed on the warpath. Veronica had already told Logan that she would help out, so that wasn’t an issue. She was going to have a little talk with Weevil, though, about stealing from people known to make suicide attempts.

As third period ended and she headed to lunch, she realized that she hadn’t seen Logan yet. She had been preoccupied by the whole poker game/computer/Duncan’s journal thing and she hadn’t been paying close attention, but she always knew when her boyfriend was in close proximity. It was a thing.

As she put her books in her locker and headed for the quad, she took the long way hoping that she would pass Logan in the hall. Instead Meg Manning came running up to her and pulled her into an abandoned classroom.

“Meg? What’s wrong?!” Veronica asked, concerned. Meg looked frantic.

“Where’s Logan?” demanded the blonde girl.

Veronica stared at her, dumbfounded.

“Where’s Logan?!” Meg repeated, her voice rising. She looked around, reassuring herself that the room was empty.

“How would I know?” The confusion in Veronica’s voice was real. Why would Meg be asking her about Logan?

“Veronica, I know about you and Logan.” Veronica’s eyebrows practically shot through her hairline.

“What?” she sputtered. “What do you think you know?” Good job, Mars. Act indignant.

“He’s not here, Veronica. We have to give our presentation in 25 minutes and Logan isn’t here. I’ve called his cell, his house—nothing.” Meg’s voice was growing increasingly panicked. “Everything goes to voice mail. If he doesn’t get here with his half of the project, we’ll both fail. I know you two are dating. Please tell me you know where he is!”

Without a word, Veronica pulled her cell phone out of her bag and pressed speed dial for her own home phone number. After three rings, someone picked up on the other end.

“Hello?” answered Logan, sounding half-asleep. “Holy— Is that the time?!” The phone slammed down in Veronica’s ear and she closed her cell phone.

“He’s on his way,” she said calmly.

“Thank you! Thank you so much!” Meg threw her arms around Veronica in a bear hug. “I have to put the finishing touches on our visual aids.” At the look on her friend’s face, Meg’s enthusiasm faltered. “I guess you’re wondering how I know about you and Logan, huh?”

“The question did cross my mind,” Veronica deadpanned.

“It’s, um, kind of a long story,” Meg prevaricated. “Can I explain after class? Please?”

Veronica sighed. Was this really her life?

“Fine. But understand that I expect the full and complete story as soon as Physics is over. Got it?”

“I promise!” Meg assured her and, with a quick parting hug, she ran out of the room.

Veronica stood looking at the door close behind her friend.

What had just happened?

*

All through lunch and AP English, Veronica ran through possibilities in her mind. Maybe when she was helping Meg, her friend had seen Veronica sneaking around with Logan. But only Meg? Wouldn’t someone else have seen, too? Had she overheard the two of them on the phone? Had she come over to Veronica’s apartment and seen Logan coming or going?

But none of those explanations made sense. First of all, Meg wasn’t the clandestine sort—she would have asked Veronica if she had seen something strange. In fact, she had. Meg had told Veronica that Logan looked at her a lot, but she had never said anything else about it.

Veronica sighed. She and Logan were pretty careful to talk in code on their cell phones if there was so much as a hint that someone else was around. This wasn’t their first day at the barbecue. Which is exactly why no one watching Logan approach his girlfriend’s apartment would ever recognize him—he didn’t look remotely like himself.

There was one other thing, though, that negated any possibility that involved Meg figuring it out on her own. Being a detective and all, Veronica had clearly noticed that when Meg’s voice had gotten louder, the other girl had looked around to make sure no one was listening. Meg didn’t just know that Veronica and Logan were dating. She knew that they were dating in secret. And the only way she could know that was if someone familiar with the situation had explained it to her.

Obviously neither Keith nor the Echolls had done so, which left Mrs. Navarro and Weevil. Veronica had recommended Meg as a babysitter to Mrs. Navarro months ago, and she knew that Meg had been babysitting for them fairly steadily ever since. Maria Navarro’s cancer had turned out to be one of the less scary kinds as far as cancer went, but Mrs. Navarro still went to L.A. as often as possible to be with her daughter. Maria was doing very well, Veronica reminded herself. But why would the older woman tell Meg the details of Logan and Veronica’s relationship? It made no sense.

What about Weevil? Veronica almost laughed out loud, which would have been very off-putting to the people around her considering that she was sitting in the middle of AP English. The image in her head of Weevil explaining the ins and outs of Veronica and Logan’s bizarre love story to Meg was extremely entertaining, though. The mental picture of that particular pair carrying on a conversation of any kind was peculiar enough without adding in serious content.

Veronica shook her head. There were only five people who knew what was going on and one of them had clearly explained it to Meg. Of those five, the most likely suspect was Letty Navarro and even that was very difficult to comprehend.

When the bell finally rang, Veronica practically leapt out of her seat, racing out of the room and down the hall to stand outside of the Physics classroom. She would throw Meg over her shoulder and carry her to the bathroom if she had to, but she wanted answers.

Through the window in the door, she could see Logan giving Meg one of those sideways hugs. Well, good, glad it went well. Who told you about us?

Veronica was not going to be distracted.

Logan saw her through the window and Veronica knew that he expected to be the one dragged in the girls’ bathroom, but he was going to be disappointed. Veronica went into the classroom and walked up to Meg. She noticed as she did so that the teacher had left along with the rest of the students and that no new students were entering. This was obviously Ms. Nadason’s planning period. Even better.

Veronica stood there watching as Logan and Meg gathered up all of their things, both of them doing so as slowly as possible. Once Veronica saw the door shut behind the last exiting student, she turned to Meg.

“Looks like it went well.”

“Thank you so much, Veronica. We couldn’t have done it without you.”

Logan looked at Meg somewhat confused. You just wait, thought Veronica.

“So, how did you know about me and Logan?” She was well past beating around the bush. Veronica had worked herself up so much that she was almost to beating-out-a-confession territory.

Meg took a huge breath as Logan stared first at Veronica and then at Meg in complete and utter shock.

“Yeah,” Veronica aimed at Logan while continuing to look at Meg, who was now playing with her hair and looking anywhere but at other two people in the room. “Meg came to me when she couldn’t find you. She said that she knew about us and did I know where you were? She promised to give me the whole story after class. So, Meg?”

There was a loaded silence while both Veronica and Logan looked expectantly at Meg, who seemed to be trying to figure out how to begin.

“I know that someone told you about us. You didn’t just figure it out.” At Meg’s expression, Veronica elaborated. “You seem to know not just that we’re dating, but that we’re doing it in secret. We—“ and she indicated herself and her boyfriend, “—are probably the juiciest gossip that Neptune’s ever seen. Even you would have told someone unless you already knew why we’ve been keeping this whole thing quiet, which apparently you did. So who told you? There aren’t that many people who know.” As Meg continued to struggle for words, Veronica tried to help her out. “Was it Mrs. Navarro? I know you’ve been babysitting for her.”

“Mrs. Navarro?!” Logan asked indignantly. Veronica shrugged in frustration.

“You’re not the juiciest gossip at Neptune,” Meg finally spoke.

“What?” snapped Logan, still reeling from the possibility of his housekeeper having betrayed him.

Meg blushed furiously and Veronica’s mouth fell open.

“No fricking way!” she gaped.

“What?” insisted Logan.

“You and Weevil?!” Veronica’s voice was incredulous.

Logan was thunderstruck.

“Veronica,” he spoke slowly. “Are you suggesting that Eli “Weevil” Navarro, leader of Neptune’s only biker gang, and Meg “Snow White” Manning, clean-cut 09er cheerleader, are going out?” Disbelief dripped from every word.

“Like you two are any less surprising?” inserted Meg.

“Veronica and I have been together for over a year. It doesn’t seem unusual anymore,” shot back Logan.

“Well it does to the rest of us.”

“Time out!” called Veronica. “Meg. You and Weevil. Explain, please.”

Meg sat down. After shooting quick glances at each other, Logan and Veronica followed suit.

“It’s not like it’s even that complicated of a story, really,” began Meg. “More just—two people being at the right place at the right time.”

Meg went on to explain that when she had been ostracized during the purity test scandal, Eli (as Meg referred to him) had been one of the only people that had acknowledged her in a positive way. That consideration had permanently altered how Meg saw the gang leader.

“I mean, I thought he was just a juvenile delinquent and that his grandmother was insane for thinking that he was the greatest thing since sliced bread.”

After that, she continued, the next time she had gone over to the Navarros’ to babysit, she had gone out of her way to talk to Eli. He had been on his way out when she got there, but once he and Meg started talking, he had ended up calling his friends and telling them that he couldn’t make it. He and Meg had talked for seven hours. She had come back over the next day and they had spent the day together in his house.

“We knew that we couldn’t go outside,” Meg elaborated, “because his friends would give him a hard time for hanging out with an 09er and we couldn’t go anywhere that my friends would see us, so we just stayed in. And it kind of grew from there. Veronica, you have to believe me, he is the kindest, most wonderful guy that I have ever known. He loves his nieces and nephews, he’s got the most gentle soul…”

“He’s the leader of a gang,” added Veronica with a concerned expression on her face.

Meg snapped out of her reverie. “People think Logan’s a jerk, too. Are you telling me there isn’t more to him, either?”

Veronica smiled in response. Point to Meg.

“So you and Weevil are keeping this quiet because both the PCHers and the 09ers would freak out if they found out?” questioned Logan.

Meg looked at the floor, hesitating for the first time since she began her monologue.

“What is it?” encouraged Veronica.

She looked up. “No. I mean, his gang is bound to find out sooner or later, but Eli says that they’ll deal. No, it’s…” her voice trailed off.

“I—you guys don’t know much about my parents,” Meg tried again. “They’re…not the people you think they are.” She took a deep breath. “If they knew that Eli and I were seeing each other, they would have him killed.” She looked both Logan and Veronica full in the face. “They would hire someone and they would have him killed. Honestly, I’m not sure what they would do to me, but it wouldn’t be good.” She bit her lip. “You two keep quiet to keep Duncan from killing himself. Eli and I are keeping quiet to keep my parents from killing him.”

Chapter Text

Weevil was standing at his usual lunch table, but only part of his attention was on his friends’ everyday banter. The rest of it was on Meg Manning.

After Lilly, Weevil had sworn that he would never again get involved with someone who wasn’t his own kind—he wasn’t some 09er entertainment package. Not that he was in a big hurry to get his heart stomped on again by any girl, 09er or otherwise, but Meg…there was something about her that he couldn’t turn away from.

She wasn’t like most of the girls he knew—hard on the outside, soft on the inside, toughened by life, determined to prove that they could take on anything. She wasn’t Lilly, who had been hard through and through. No, Meg might seem soft on the outside, but she had a core of inner steel and Weevil had never met anyone like her.

He could identify the exact moment that he had realized Meg was different. It was that first night when they had talked non-stop for hours. The question came up—what would you do if your significant other cheated on you? Weevil wasn’t looking just for what Meg said, but how she said it. There were certain mistakes he wasn’t going to make again no matter how “special” the girl seemed.

“Are we sleeping together? When he cheats on me?” Meg asked as she finished rinsing off the last plate from dinner.

“Does it matter?”

“Yes.” Meg turned around and leaned back against the sink.

“Okay, then, yeah.”

“And I find out that he’s cheated on me.”

“So what do you do?”

“I know for sure that he did it, right?”

“Yeah.”

Meg smiled. “I’d take him somewhere romantic, private.” Weevil’s brow had furrowed, but he hadn’t interrupted. “I’d tell him that I loved him, because I never would have slept with him in the first place if I didn’t. I would kiss him. I would undress him.” Meg’s voice was steady and sure. “And then I’d cut his penis.” Weevil’s Coke shot out of his nose. “I wouldn’t cut it off. I’d just make sure that he had to get stitches. You know, so that any woman he ever slept with in the future would know that he couldn’t be trusted. Think of it as a scarlet letter.”

Weevil never looked at Meg the same way again.

*

Logan watched as Meg walked out of the Physics classroom with one of Veronica’s tardy slips. Had that really just happened?

He turned to Veronica and said it out loud. “Did that really just happen?”

Veronica’s eyes were wide and she was shaking her head. “I’m not sure yet.” She looked at Logan. “That felt like a cross between Punk’d and The Twilight Zone.”

Logan nodded in agreement. Ready to move the subject back to marginally saner things, he asked, “How was the rest of your day?”

“Oh, yeah! Weevil stole Duncan’s laptop.”

“He did what?!”

“Yeah, and Duncan informed me that he’s been keeping his journal on his laptop for the past three years—his very detailed journal.” She gave Logan a pointed look.

“Great, just great,” said Logan. “So do I have to fight you over who gets to kick Weevil’s ass?”

“Oh, I so win. I’m investigating the poker game, remember?”

“How does that mean that you win?”

“The laptop is related to the poker game.”

Logan walked over and pulled Veronica into his arms. “How come you always get to win?”

“How long have we been going out now? A year? Haven’t you learned by now that I always win?”

Logan brushed his lips against hers. “I must have missed that memo.”

“It probably came while you were playing poker,” she laughed as he kissed her neck. “Come on, lover boy, we have to get to class before Ms. Nadason comes back and finds us canoodling in her room. The teachers gossip as much as the students do, you know.”

“Have you been wiretapping the teacher’s lounge again?” he asked as he let go of Veronica and they gathered up their things.

“Wiretapping is when you listen in on phone conversations,” she said in a “duh” voice. “Bugging is when you eavesdrop on an entire room.”

“They teach you that in private detective school?”

“Learned it on my daddy’s knee,” said Veronica as she looked out the window of the door into the hallway. “Coast is clear.”

Logan snuck in one more kiss to his girlfriend’s neck before she exited the classroom. He followed her about 30 seconds later.

In the storage closet next door to the Physics room, Duncan disassembled his rifle mike into innocuous-looking pieces. As long as he brought them in and out of the school a few sections at a time, they looked like the kind of electronics that any high schooler might have.

Meg and Weevil, huh? That might prove useful.

*

Weevil and his friends were shooting craps and killing time in Ms. Mills’ room after school when Veronica walked in. Normally Weevil liked Veronica, but despite her outcast status he still associated her with the 09ers and he really wasn’t in the mood to deal with any more 09er girls at the moment.

‘”Hey,” Veronica said and she tilted her head to one side.

See? Working her wiles on men. 09er. He had to laugh.

“There you go with that head-tilt thing. You know, you think you're all badass but whenever you need something it's all…” he tilted his head in imitation, "hey."

“Just be glad I don't flip my hair. I'd own you.”

Okay, 09er with attitude.

”So what can I do for you?”

“You can not steal from suicidal teenagers and let me handle this poker thing.”

Weevil rolled his eyes.

“Seriously. Why risk it? Give Duncan back his computer. Let me handle this.”

“You all act like Duncan’s gonna break. I figured he’d like to be treated like everyone else for a change. He was there, Veronica, just like everyone else.”

“I'm just trying to help.”

”In what alternate universe does it look like I need your help?”
Veronica glared at Weevil. “People aren’t always what they seem.”

Huh? Where had that come from? Weevil gave her the appropriate expression.

“Duncan seems stable. You seem evil. But you guys know Meg Manning, right?”

Weevil looked at his friends, working hard to cover the panic that instantly rose up at the sound of Meg’s name.

“She seemed like a slut during that whole purity test thing, remember? Turns out, though, that she really is Snow White. I mention this because everyone in school saw that broadcast, so you guys know that not everyone is what they seem.”

Weevil fixed Veronica with a look to match her own and something unspoken passed between them. Meg told. He was sure Meg told. He was going to have to have a talk with his new girlfriend.

At Weevil’s determined look, Veronica threw up her hands in frustration and turned to leave.

“Of course, if I get my five grand, some of those guys will stop losing their stuff.”

“Why were you even there?”

“I hear about a five thousand dollar card game played by idiots, I'm interested.”

He then told her a story that proved that he and Logan would act like five-year-olds whenever they were afforded the chance.

“He though I was just some dumb Mexican he could take for his cash.”

“Who do you think did it? Did Logan do it?” Veronica tried to keep the edge out of her voice.

“Well, I know for a fact that nobody left the house with the money. He could've hidden it anywhere and he had an opportunity.” Weevil couldn’t go easy on Logan just because Veronica was dating him. The other PCHers were right there and Weevil had to keep up appearances, although he doubted he was winning any brownie points with Veronica. He was crushed.

Because Weevil’s friends were in the room, Veronica restrained herself from causing Weevil bodily harm as he told her the story of Logan’s friends ogling Lynn. What would Weevil do if his friends drooled over his mother? He’d beat them bloody, is what he’d do. Because Lynn was famous, though, Logan was supposed to sit there and smile while it happened to his mom. Veronica was angry at Weevil and hurt for Logan and she couldn’t show any of it.

“Duncan was at the window?” she managed to bite out.

“Everybody but Logan was.”

“You're sure?” She knew that Weevil didn’t really suspect Logan of taking the money—he knew perfectly well that Veronica would make Logan’s life a living hell if he pulled something like that.

“I wasn't taking notes, but yeah. The money was in that house, somewhere. I would've torn the place apart if I didn't think he'd call the cops.”

Veronica sighed. Why couldn’t this just be easy?

*

Logan was standing in the quad surrounded by his usual cadre of 09er followers, sharing the details of Saturday night’s festivities.

“That's what he decides to steal? What's he going to do with a Fabergé egg?” asked Sean.

“Two words, man. Huevos. Rancheros.” Being the resident psychotic jackass of Neptune High was like a mask that Logan had learned to take on and off at will. Some days it seemed like work, others it wasn’t such a big deal. Today he was fairly incensed about the stolen $5,000 so his obnoxious persona was providing a welcome outlet.

He didn’t notice that Duncan didn’t join in the laughter with everyone else.

“Hey, this is what I get for trying to be nice.” Logan finally sat down next to his best friend.
“Is that so?” Duncan asked as he pushed himself up from the table and walked away.

Logan got up and followed him.

“You got something to say to me, you say it.”

“Did you take the money?”

Logan couldn’t believe it. Did Duncan seriously think he would do that?
“You were so drunk, you wouldn't know if Kris Kringle walked in and took the money.” He had been bending over backwards for Duncan and this is the thanks he got?

“When did you get like this? It's like you've been going over to the dark side, bit by bit, so slowly that I didn't notice when you morphed into a full-fledged jackass.”

“Then I'm a jackass?”

“Yeah, and I'm over it.” And with that, Duncan turned and walked away.

Logan called after his friend. “So what, are we breaking up now? Huh? You want your best friend charm back?”

Oh, man, Veronica was gonna kill him.

A smile graced Duncan’s face as he walked away.

This was so much fun.

*

Weevil parked his motorcycle and went in the house. Meg had been coming over every afternoon to help with his niece and nephews. She was cleaning up the remains of an afternoon snack as he entered the kitchen. That was one of the things that had proven to him that Meg wasn’t a typical 09er princess—she wasn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. She did dishes, she wiped noses, she actually participated in the world around her.

But her skills as a homemaker weren’t the object of his attention right now.

Without a word of preamble, Weevil demanded, “Did you tell Veronica Mars about us?”

“Hello to you, too,” she said, walking over and kissing him in greeting before returning to clearing off the table.

“Meg,” he said in a tone that indicated he wasn’t going to be distracted.

“Logan overslept and almost missed our Physics presentation. It was worth 30 percent of our grade. I had to ask Veronica where he was—turns out he fell asleep at her apartment.” She smiled at him as she got out the broom. “He made it just in time.”

“And now Veronica knows.”

“Our presentation went very well, thanks for asking.” She pulled out the dustpan. “Would you hold this for me, please?”

Weevil rolled his eyes and bent down so that Meg could sweep the crumbs off of the floor into the dustpan, which she then took from him and emptied into the trash can under the sink.

“Meg,” he said again in frustration.

She put up the broom and turned to look at him. “First of all, she’s Veronica. How long do you think we would have been able to hide it from her?”

Weevil wanted to pout, but he had a feeling he would lose all credibility as a macho gang leader if he did, so he chose to simply stay silent.

“Second, you know her secret, right? What’s so bad about her knowing yours?”

“You could have told me,” he finally said.

“When? When you were throwing dice after school?”

“Craps, Meg. It’s called craps,” he clarified as he sat down in a kitchen chair, defeated.

“Whatever,” she waved away the explanation and took a seat on his lap, putting her arms around his neck. “I didn’t have any way to tell you, and Veronica and Logan can keep a secret.”

“Logan knows, too?!” Weevil pulled back to get a good look at his girlfriend’s face.

Meg didn’t bother to reply. She just looked at him, leading him to exhale a resigned sigh.

“I don’t like sneaking around,” he complained as Meg rested her head on his shoulder. “We’re not doing anything wrong.”

“No, we’re not,” murmured Meg as she settled herself comfortably into Weevil’s arms. She loved the sense of security that she felt when he held her.

“I’m not gonna hide this forever,” he said as he tightened his arms around her.

Meg nodded her head against his chest. “I know.”

She wished that she could get her boyfriend to understand how dangerous the situation really was. As things stood, she had told him enough that he understood the inherent jeopardy they faced in pursuing a relationship, but she hadn’t given him all of the details. She knew that if she told Eli everything that her parents had done that he would take matters into his own hands.

So Meg walked a tightrope—telling her boyfriend enough to keep him safe while at the same time keeping enough held back to keep him safe. Maybe it was selfish, but Meg wanted Eli in her life, she wanted his arms around her. She ran her fingers up and down his arm. She hadn’t known she needed him until she had him and now she couldn’t let him go.

They sat there holding each other until a small voice called from the other room.

“Meg! Carlos won’t let me play X-Box!”

“Will, too! It’s my turn!” called Carlos.

Meg laughed. “I have to go referee.” She pulled away and looked at Weevil.

“We’re gonna have to talk about this some more.”

Meg restrained herself from pointing out that it was the girl who was supposed to say things like that. She had a feeling that Eli wouldn’t appreciate the joke.

“I don’t want to keep you secret, Eli. I just want to keep you safe.”

“And I know there are things you’re not telling me.”

“Meg!” Cecilia called again from the other room.

Meg kissed Weevil and reluctantly got up.

*

As her father had sent her on official business, when Veronica pulled into the Echolls’ driveway that afternoon she got to do so in her own car. She dropped off the papers for Lynn and headed around back.

She walked into the pool house to find Logan playing video games, the space surrounding him looking like it had been tossed by the DEA.

“Come on!” he yelled at the TV screen.

“I love the smell of testosterone in the morning,” Veronica said with a smirk.
“This is why I suggested attack dogs. But no, my mother wanted an alpaca.”

“And the alpaca hasn’t had a decent night’s sleep since.” She walked over and gave Logan a kiss on the cheek from behind.

Logan dropped his controller and grabbed Veronica as she leaned down, pulling her into his lap for a deeper kiss.

“Oh, yeah?” he said in between kisses. “Why is that?”

“Hey, if you need me to draw you a roadmap, you’re not doing it right.”

Logan started tickling his girlfriend, who shrieked in response.

“Oh, yeah?! Oh, yeah?!” his hands were all over the squirming ball of blonde wriggling in his arms.

Veronica managed to slide her hands under Logan’s shirt and started working her hands over his abs in a manner that instantly stopped his tickling.

“Um, Veronica?”

“Yes, Logan?”

“What are you doing? Ohhhh…really, hon, what are…”

“You’re not tickling me any more, are you?”

Logan didn’t bother to answer as his lips trailed down the side of her jaw towards her shoulder.

Now that she had him in a good mood, Veronica went in for the kill.

“I need you to get me in to see Connor Larkin.”

Logan’s exploration of Veronica’s neck came to a screeching halt.

“What?”

She leaned back and flashed Logan a big smile. “I need to talk to him about the poker game. He was there, remember?”

Her smile failed to have the desired effect as Logan’s mood soured instantly. “You just want to see him because he’s Connor Larkin.”

“Logan, am I draped all over you or Connor Larkin?”

Logan rolled his eyes as Veronica ran her fingers lightly down his neck.

“Look at me,” she said firmly. Logan looked off to the side. “Logan,” she rested her hand on his shoulder. “Look at me.”

He turned his face to hers. Because of her position on his lap, the eye contact was incredibly intimate.

“We can’t go through this every time.”

Logan leaned his forehead against hers. “I know. I just—“ he couldn’t go on.

Veronica put her hands on both sides of Logan’s face. “I know that you trust me, Logan. Now I need you to have faith in yourself. You have to believe that you are worthy of being loved.” Logan closed his eyes and Veronica clenched her fists on his temples. “I love you, Logan, and I believe in you and I’m not going anywhere.”

*

Two hours later, having gotten the information they needed from Connor, Logan and Veronica headed for Sean’s house. Logan parked his Xterra at the bottom of the estate’s very long driveway and Veronica trudged to the top.

When she came back down, she told Logan what had just happened.

“His dad answered the door—in a suit?” Logan cocked an eyebrow.

“Exactly. I just have one more person to talk to.”

“You gonna tell me what’s going on in that head of yours?”

“And ruin the surprise? Are you kidding?”

“You think you’re smarter than me, don’t you?”

“Just cuter.”

*

After talking to Sean the next morning, Veronica went to find Weevil.

“Meet me in the quad at lunch.”

“And why would I do that?”

“Because I know who has your money.”

Weevil laughed. “Of course you do.”

*

After she “blackmailed” Logan into agreeing to let her play poker with him and his friends, Veronica pulled Meg aside.

“Come with me.”

“What?”

“To the poker game. Come with me.”

Meg smiled. “Why?”

“Because it’ll be fun. And funny.”

Meg laughed. “It’s a date.”

*

When Veronica and Meg showed up at Logan’s pool house, the rest of the players were already there.

“I hope you don’t mind me bringing Meg. I didn’t want to be sole owner of estrogen in the room.”

There was minimal reaction from the rest of the people present with the exception of Weevil, who looked a bit put-out. Veronica simply raised a questioning eyebrow at her friend. What?

Veronica then proceeded to outline what had happened at the previous game.

She proved that Duncan had only been pretending to be drunk by taking a swig from his bottle of faux Jack Daniels. She informed everyone that Connor was going to the bathroom to lose weight, not to get high. And she got particular enjoyment out of saying that Logan “looked like an evildoer and smelled like an evildoer” but wasn’t one, as evidenced by the ransacking that he had given his pool house. Then she told everyone how Sean, the poor son of the butler, not the rich son of 09ers, had stolen the money by going dumpster diving.

The gentlemen were impressed.

Weevil dragged Sean out through the sliding glass door and Veronica took the fake 09er’s seat while Meg pulled up a chair behind her.

“Mind if I deal first?” Veronica asked, at which point she took the cards and showed off the skills that she had honed during years of hanging out at the sheriff’s department.

“Oh, yeah,” said Meg behind her, echoing the sentiments of every person present. Veronica gave her partner in estrogen a high-five.

A few hours later, all six of them were playing, Meg having joined in, and Veronica raked in yet another huge pot.

“A little impressed, aren’t you?” she asked with a smirk.

Connor spoke up, “You must be really unlucky in love.”

Veronica choked back a laugh, Logan rolled his eyes, Duncan looked irritated, Weevil looked down with a grimace, and Meg chanted softly, Go Veronica! Go Veronica!

Having clearly had enough, Logan broke into the cheerleader’s celebratory mantra with, “Okay. I say we take a little break. Let the cosmos realign, because obviously something's up.”

Veronica once again tried not to smile as Weevil added that he could use something to eat, prompting another eye roll from Logan as everyone got up from the table.

*

Veronica, Weevil and Meg were sampling the buffet table when Veronica excused herself to follow after Jake Kane.

“You just had to come, didn’t you?” Weevil asked Meg, although there was a smile in his voice.

“Veronica invited me. It would have been rude to say no.”

“Admit it. You just wanted to spend some time with me outside of my house.”

“That, too,” Meg smiled at him and they both relaxed for the moment, reveling in the set of circumstances that temporarily allowed them the luxury of being together in a room full of 09er adults.

On the other side of the room, Logan and Duncan were standing by the bar.

Time to let Logan off the hook.

“So…I, uh, you know.”

“Yeah,” answered Logan in typical guy fashion.

“Sorry about the whole…”

“I've done plenty of other things,” admitted Logan.

Why, yes, you have, my friend.

Outwardly, though, Duncan laughed with his best friend.

“So, we’re cool,” he added, half in question, half in assurance.

“Yeah,” answered Logan.

That’s what you think, Duncan thought to himself as he turned to the bartender and Logan looked around. Duncan didn’t hesitate for a moment to assume that his friend was looking for Veronica. He restrained himself from laying Logan out with one punch. Why ruin his fun?

Under the pretense of getting everyone back together to continue the poker game, Logan made his way through the crowd looking for his girlfriend. Where had she disappeared to? As his eyes swept the crowd, he saw a waitress in a Santa hat arguing with his father. What had the man done now?

As though in a slow-motion nightmare, Logan watched as the waitress swung back her arm and punched his father in the stomach right before Keith Mars tackled her to the ground. It wasn’t until the woman was out of the way that Logan saw the blood on the front of his father’s shirt and realized that she had gone after his father with more than her fist.

Good for her. The thought crossed Logan’s mind before he could censor it and a wave of guilt swept over him as he pulled out his cell phone to call 911. He shouldn’t be rooting for the woman who had just stabbed his father, should he?

As he tried to explain the situation to the 911 operator, he felt a hand on the small of his back. Without even looking he knew it was Veronica. Of course she was there. She was always there when he needed her.

*

There was a knock on Veronica’s door.

“Veronica!” her dad called. “Your date’s here!”

“Funny, Dad!” she yelled back. She was still putting her earrings on when she walked out of her bedroom and into the living room. “Hey, Weevil. Don’t worry—he’ll go easy on you since it’s our first date. He doesn’t get the truth serum out until the second one.”

“Hey, if Logan survived, I’m sure I’ll pass with flying colors.”

Both Veronica and her father laughed.

“You guys have fun.”

“See ya later, Dad.”

“Sheriff,” Weevil nodded.

As they got into the Mazda, Weevil commented, “So. It’s been an interesting week.”

“That’s one way of putting it,” Veronica responded as she pulled out into the street.

“I hear that Logan’s dad is okay. Word is that no major organs were hurt. Guess he got lucky.”

“Yeah,” Veronica confirmed.

“Must be an 09er thing. You know if it was someone poor they would’ve died at the scene.”

“Cynical much?” Veronica asked with a half-grin.

Weevil just raised his eyebrows.

“Alright, Eli,” Veronica began.

“This can’t be good.” Weevil sat up straighter in his seat.

“Yeah, well, normally this would happen as a matter of course, but because you and Meg are flying under the radar, you haven’t gotten this speech yet.”

“And what speech is that?”

“The one where your girlfriend’s friends make sure that you know they have her back.”

“That speech—right. You want to make sure that I’m not gonna hurt Meg.”

Veronica took a deep breath and looked over at Weevil before returning her eyes to the road.

“Logan told me about your tattoo.”

Weevil went completely still.

“I’m not saying that what Lilly did was right,” Veronica continued, “but she was a big girl. You two had whatever you had.”

“Then why bring it up?” Weevil’s voice was tight.

“She was my best friend, Weevil, so I know what she was like. She was dangerous, exciting. It sounds like…I just want to make sure that you’re not with Meg for the same reasons. She told us about her parents.”

Weevil’s eyes narrowed. “Duncan was rich. Are you with Logan because he is, too?”

Veronica shot him a look. “Point taken. It’s just that—Meg was the only 09er at that school brave enough to stay my friend. I know that she’s a lot tougher than she looks and I’m guessing that you know it, too. Even so, she’s still…” She paused, trying to figure out how to say what it was that she wanted to say. “She’s my friend, Weevil. I just want to make sure that she’s going to be okay.”

“I like her, okay?” defended Weevil. “I like her a lot. Are you happy? I’m not with Meg because she reminds of Lilly, or because she doesn’t. I’m with her because I like her.” Weevil leaned against the door, irritation radiating in palpable waves off of his body.

Veronica smiled and put her hand on his shoulder. “Thank you for letting me be her friend.”

“Uh-huh. Are we there yet?” Weevil changed the subject.

Veronica laughed. “Almost. Why, are you that eager for our double date to get started?”

“Remind me how I got talked into this?”

“Well, since I wasn’t there I can’t say for sure, but I’m guessing that Meg used her feminine wiles on you.”

Weevil had the grace to look embarrassed. He rubbed his hand on the back of his neck and commented, “I’ll bet that Logan would say the same thing.”

“Something like that,” agreed Veronica as she pulled off the highway and into a rest stop off of the Pacific Coast Highway, parking next to a garish yellow SUV.

She turned off her car and she and Weevil got out as Logan and Meg exited the Xterra.

Logan took Veronica’s hand and walked her around to the passenger door while Meg and Weevil greeted each other at the rear of the driver’s side.

“You two are such good sports,” Veronica assured Logan.

“Yeah, well, I expect to be well compensated,” he muttered.

“It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s gotta do it,” Veronica said with a smile as Logan helped her into the truck.

“I still can’t believe I let you talk to me into this,” Weevil said with a roll of his eyes.

“And here I thought you’d do anything to make to happy,” Meg said with a grin.

Weevil sighed. What was it about this girl’s smile that made his stomach drop like that? He held out his hand to help her into the truck.

Logan came around and he and Weevil exchanged identical glances as they climbed into the car.

As the Xterra pulled out of the rest stop and onto the highway, heading away from Neptune, none of its occupants took notice of the rented Ford Focus that pulled out shortly after them and followed them down the highway. Even if they had, all they would have seen was a young man in a baseball cap and sunglasses driving down the PCH on a sunny Saturday. Even if they had seen the cast on his arm, none of them would have seen the rifle mike sitting on the passenger seat, aimed forward in the perfect position to pick up any conversations taking place in the car ahead.

No, the four teenagers in the yellow Xterra were oblivious to the young man following them, listening in on their every word. They enjoyed the afternoon, the two young men doing so in spite of themselves. And they did so unaware that their every move was being watched.

Chapter Text

As Duncan watched his pill dissolve in the pool of water lying in the bottom of the sink, he thought about the only two things that were important to him: how he wanted to feel and how in order to do that, things needed to not change.

After Lilly died, Duncan had lived in a sea of white noise made up of indistinct sounds and people—until he had learned about Logan and Veronica, that is. When he found out that his best friend and the love of his life had become a couple, Duncan experienced a virtual explosion of emotion—hatred, loathing, anger, betrayal, bitterness, jealousy. Sensations that most people took for granted had flooded through Duncan, and for the first time in so long, he had felt. From that time through to the present, Logan and Veronica had become the only source of feeling and emotion available to the troubled young man.

As he now had only the one well available from which to draw normal human emotions, Duncan had quickly learned to do whatever he could to wring every drop of feeling possible out of that well. He manipulated, he lied, he cajoled, he spied, and everything that he did was designed to create and encourage events and situations that would generate more sensations within himself. This worked quite well for him, if not so well for Logan and Veronica.

Equally important was maintaining the status quo. Duncan had learned how to handle the current state of affairs and he didn’t like to so much as contemplate changing things. He liked that Veronica and Logan were sneaking around trying to hide their relationship from him. It was amusing. It was in fact the only source of amusement in his life; therefore, he didn’t want it to go away. He liked watching them sneak around at school. He enjoyed pushing Logan and Veronica’s buttons and watching them jump around as a result—it was for that reason that he had staged his “fight” with Logan about the poker money. He knew perfectly well that Logan didn’t do it, but he knew that if Logan thought that Duncan was mad at him, lots of interesting conversations would result and Duncan liked listening to those.

Pursuant to this, Duncan had become extremely adept at identifying when Logan and Veronica were on the verge of “coming clean”. He could tell when circumstances were aligning in such a way that his friends began to believe that they could make that change (in no small part because he listened to most of their conversations using his rifle mike.) This was why he was now watching his pill dissolve in the sink.

The entrance of Meg and Weevil into the picture had again triggered discussion of Logan and Veronica taking their relationship public, which Duncan simply wasn’t having.

Everything was going to be fine, though. He had a plan.

*

As Meg sat in the lounger next to Logan’s pool applying sunscreen lotion she fretted over how to broach the subject that was weighing on her mind. She and Veronica had been spending more time together lately, mainly because they suddenly had so much in common. As far as Meg knew, no one besides herself and Veronica was hiding a secret boyfriend and there was a definite liberation in hanging out with someone who not only knew your secret, but who understood it.

With the start of Christmas vacation, she and Veronica had found themselves doing more things together than they normally would have. And while it had taken considerable maneuvering, they had even managed to organize today—two days after Christmas all four of them had made excuses to their friends that would allow them to spend the day together at Logan’s pool. Let’s hear it for year-round sun, thought Meg.

In preparation for the big day, she and Veronica had gone swimsuit shopping at Old Navy, which was still selling swimwear in December because, hey, it was southern California. Meg liked the one that she had chosen—a pink bikini that was surprisingly modest considering that it was a bikini. Meg knew that if you asked just about anyone at Neptune High, they would describe her as naïve, and she was willing to acknowledge that as being true. It irritated her, though, when people confused being naïve with being stupid, which Meg was not.

Meg had been well aware that Veronica was steering her away from anything that could be described with the words “string” or “thong”. Meg knew Veronica well enough to know that her friend wasn’t worried about Logan’s eyes straying. That thought almost made Meg laugh out loud—while she wasn’t embarrassed by her body, she considered Veronica to be better-proportioned; hence, Logan didn’t need to go looking elsewhere in the first place. In addition to that, Meg was fairly certain that Veronica would destroy Logan’s life. Since there was no reason for Veronica to think that Meg needed to hide her figure from Eli, that left—who? While Meg would undoubtedly wear her new bikini out in public eventually, the thought behind the shopping trip in question had been this get-together on this day. Who else was going to be there?

Back to that whole not-being-stupid thing. That left Aaron Echolls as the person whom Veronica did not want to ogle Meg in a revealing swimsuit. Meg wasn’t quite sure what to make of that. She knew Aaron for his movies and for being Logan’s dad and because she tended to get a little tongue-tied around him, but that was about it. So Meg filed the information away in her mind as she truly had no idea what to do with it.

Meg was procrastinating and she knew it.

“Veronica, would you mind putting sunblock on my back?”

“Sure,” said her friend, turning to sit on the side of her own lounge chair.

As Veronica poured the lotion into her hand and Meg was able to turn the other way, she finally got up the courage to ask her question.

“Veronica, you and Logan are having sex, right?”

-

Veronica was out of practice being friends with other girls. Her circle of loved ones, small though it was, consisted solely of males—her dad, Wallace and Logan. She had a feeling that Mac could be a friend, but she was reluctant to add someone else into her life to whom she would have to lie all the time. She already felt bad enough about Wallace.

The addition of Meg and Weevil into their lives had been a surprisingly welcome one. Veronica not only liked them both individually and as a couple, she loved watching Logan get to be himself in a social situation. Around the other 09ers he had to keep up his jerkwad leader-of-the-pack act while his girlfriend watched from afar. With Meg and Weevil, though, Logan was entertaining, relaxed, fun to be around. Veronica loved watching Logan up close around their new favorite couple—so much so that she was even willing to get used to having a female friend again.

She hadn’t hated going shopping with Meg, it was just weird hanging out with a girl. And she was completely taken aback by Meg’s question. Wallace didn’t ask that kind of thing.

“What?” Veronica was so surprised that she squirted almost half the bottle of sunblock into her hand.

“I’m sorry,” said Meg, half turning her head around to Veronica. “I know that’s a personal question, and I didn’t mean to shock you or anything. I just…I need to talk to somebody and I don’t have anyone else.”

Veronica tensed. “Has Weevil been pressuring you?”

“No!” Meg’s quick answer reassured Veronica and the shorter girl took a moment to scrape some of the lotion back into the bottle before she started putting it on her friend’s back.

“Eli would never! It’s just…I…” Meg took a deep breath and looked down at her feet as Veronica applied the sunscreen. “When I was going out with Cole, we talked about sleeping together, but it never seemed like the right time.” Her voice drifted off.

“And now?” Veronica prompted.

Meg moved her head so that she could see Veronica fully for the first time since she had brought up the subject.

“I want to rip his clothes off, Veronica. I mean, have you ever seen his pecs? I never really thought about “pecs” before, but come on! His chest—I mean, I don’t ever want him to wear a shirt! He came in from working on his bike a few weeks ago and he wasn’t wearing a shirt and I’ve spilled things on him twice since then on purpose just so that I could watch him take his shirt off.” Meg jerked back around, embarrassed by her admission.

“What am I supposed to do? I don’t know if I’m really ready to sleep with him or if it’s just my hormones taking over.”

“Give me your hand,” said Veronica.

Meg turned around confused and Veronica wiped the rest of the sunscreen onto her friend’s hand. “Cover me.” She paused. “All Logan has to do is walk into a room and I’m ready to go at him,” Veronica said as Meg started applying the sunblock. “It wasn’t always like that, but it got that way pretty fast.” She paused. “You know about Shelley Pomeroy’s party, right?”

Glad that Veronica couldn’t see her blush, Meg answered. “Yeah, I left early, but I, um, heard about it.” As had the rest of Neptune High.

“That was the first time Logan and I ever slept together.” Veronica had never told that to anyone. The only ones who knew were her and Logan.

“Wow.” Meg’s comment covered a lot of territory.

“Yeah.”

“And now?”

Veronica laughed. “Anytime, anywhere, as often as possible.”

Meg joined in the laughter.

“Listen, Meg,” Veronica turned around, “even though it became world news afterwards, it was still the right time. You’ll know when it’s right. And just so you know, Logan’s arms beat Weevil’s pecs any day.”

“You wish!” insisted Meg.

-

Weevil couldn’t believe that he was going to spend the day with 09ers. Willingly. Okay, technically Veronica wasn’t an 09er, but the line was pretty thin. Despite himself, he had had a good time when the four of them hung out last time. The bottom line, if he was being honest with himself, is that he was irritated on principle and not because he wasn’t looking forward to hanging out with Logan and Veronica. Stronger than his irritation, though, was his desire to spend time with Meg outside of his house.

Unlike their friends, Meg and Weevil couldn’t hang out at Meg’s or in a pimped-out van or go on stakeouts together. He and his girlfriend were in effect housebound. Weevil had no intention of staying hidden forever, but even if Meg’s parents didn’t try to have him killed, he knew for certain that they would make his and Meg’s lives hell when they found out their daughter was dating a Latino gang member. He wasn’t worried about himself. He didn’t want to bring that down on Meg.

Damn, he was gone on that girl. She was nothing like anyone that he had ever dated before. She was kind, compassionate, sensitive and a whole bunch of other things that didn’t usually run in Weevil’s circles. He loved being with her. He liked getting to know her. That was a new experience for him.

He remembered what it had been like with Lilly—every moment stolen and intense, crackling with a sexual tension that was always relieved as quickly as possible. It wasn’t like that with Meg. It wasn’t that he wasn’t attracted to Meg, quite the opposite. It’s just that there was more to it than attraction. He was having a good time getting to know her. He and Lilly hadn’t exactly spent a lot of time talking. Even so, he had fallen hard for the vibrant young girl. Lilly had been gone for over a year when he met Meg, but Weevil had just begun moving on, helped along in large part by Logan’s reaction to his tattoo.

Meg had worked her way into his heart much faster than Weevil had expected. While he would like nothing more than to sleep with her, he didn’t want to push things. He wanted it to be when Meg was ready. He wasn’t used to waiting like this, but he would do more than that for Meg.

As he drove his motorcycle up the Echolls’ service entrance, he thought about how he hadn’t told his fellow gang members about Meg yet. He knew that if he did it carefully, they would be fine, but he had to do it in just the right way at just the right time. As that set of circumstances had yet to present itself, he continued to enjoy Meg’s company by himself.

Weevil parked his bike and entered the house through the kitchen door. His grandmother had the day off, so the kitchen was deserted. As he came in the back way, Logan entered through the front.

“You could have used the front door, you know,” commented the 09er king.

“What, and use the back door tomorrow when I pick up my grandmother? Wouldn’t wanna get confused.”

“Come on, man,” invited Logan, choosing not to comment on Weevil’s observation.

When they reached the glass French doors that led out to the pool, both young men stopped at the sight that greeted them. Veronica was slathering sunblock on Meg’s back. Both Logan and Weevil stared in silence as Veronica finished and Meg swiveled around to return the favor.

Weevil made a choking sound, forcing Logan to tear his attention away from the show on the other side of the pool.

Ah. Right.

“Bathroom’s second door on the left,” Logan said in an understanding voice. They had all been there.

Grunting in acknowledgement, Weevil turned away from the doors.

-

Every minute that Logan spent with Dick and Beaver was a minute he wanted to be somewhere else, but he couldn’t abandon them completely without good reason. Duncan had spent almost the entire vacation with his parents in Napa, leaving Logan with no excuse to avoid his other friends. In order to free up this afternoon, he had to tell them that he was helping his parents pack up and leave for Aspen where his father would finish out his recovery, never mind the fact that they had actually left a day early.

Logan rolled his eyes. Christmas day had been nothing more than a photo op at his house: pictures of the wounded action hero convalescing, surrounded by his loving family. The hypocrisy of it was like ants crawling through Logan’s bloodstream—watching his mother smile for the cameras mere days after her husband’s indiscretions had been publicly aired. It was more than he could handle. He had stayed for the shortest amount of time that he could possibly get away with and then he had left for Veronica’s apartment, where he had spent the rest of the holiday with Veronica and Keith. It had ended up being the best Christmas that he could remember. It was certainly the first one in many years that didn’t end up with him drunk and passed out.

He walked into his house to find Weevil coming in through the kitchen. Seeing the sense in Weevil’s comment about which door to use, but unable to come up with a suitable reply, he simply pointed out that it was time to join their better halves. He wasn’t prepared to find their girlfriends slathering each other in lotion, though, and the sight stopped him in his tracks.

After sending Weevil off to deal with his, um, problem, Logan headed outside.

“Hey, Veronica! Meg,” he said as he crossed to the other side of the pool. “Veronica, can I talk to you in the pool house for a minute? Excuse us, Meg.” It wasn’t that he didn’t have Weevil’s issue; he just didn’t have to fix it on his own.

Meg smiled as Logan and Veronica disappeared into the pool house. Even she wasn’t that naïve.

She sat enjoying the sun, opening her eyes only when she heard the French doors open. She watched as Eli came around the pool and sat down on Veronica’s recently vacated lounge chair.

“Where are El and Vee?” he asked.

Meg laughed as she answered. “They’re—“ she coughed, “—talking in the pool house.”

Weevil smiled and moved to sit next to her.

“Well, isn’t that thoughtful of them?”

“Oh, yeah, it was very thoughtful.”

Weevil leaned over and pulled Meg into a kiss.

“See?” he asked as he sat back. “Thoughtful.”

Meg smiled as she reached her lips back up to his.

After a moment she asked him a question, her lips still touching his. “Do you want to sleep with me?”

“What?!” Weevil shot back in surprise.

Meg flushed up to her hairline. “I’m sorry, I didn’t…“ she took in a shuddering breath. “I just—we’ve never talked about it and I wondered—I mean, do you want me?”

Weevil ran his hand through Meg’s long hair. He closed his eyes briefly before answering her. “Meg, I promise you that you do not ever have to worry about me wanting you.” Meg turned an even deeper shade of red. “I just didn’t want to push you to do anything you’re not ready for.”

Catching his hand in hers, Meg tried to explain. “I know that I…want…you. I’m just not sure if I’m ready or not yet. Doesn’t that mean that I’m not?”

The eyes that Meg turned to the young man at her side were so trusting that Weevil felt his heart constrict. He would do anything to keep this girl safe and whole.

“We’ll know, baby. We’ll know.”

Logan and Veronica chose that moment to exit the pool house.

“That was quick,” Weevil observed as he sat up.

Logan gave him a dirty look and Veronica just smiled.

“Logan was admiring my new swimsuit. It’s his favorite color,” she indicated her predominately orange outfit embellished with brown and pink.

“I think it would look better wet, though.” With that, Logan scooped up his girlfriend and unceremoniously tossed her into the pool. Veronica, though—being Veronica—clung to him so tightly that Logan went in with her.

As Weevil laughed at the sputtering couple, Meg stood up and threw herself onto her boyfriend, landing both of them in the pool, too.

A few minutes later, Veronica was up on Logan’s shoulders and Meg was up on Weevil’s. While Logan had a few inches on Weevil, Meg’s additional height evened the couples out, so the game of chicken that ensued was fairly evenly matched. After five drawn-out matches, resulting in two wins for each couple, one tie in which all four of them toppled together and two thoroughly pleased young men, the four of them played Marco Polo and had an impromptu diving contest that consisted of whose cannonball could make the biggest splash, which Weevil won.

Tired after all of the water frolicking, Logan ordered pizza and got beers for himself and Weevil, Skist and Diet Coke for Veronica and Meg, respectively, and the four of them sat around one of the deck tables talking. Having put some light clothing over their swimsuits to ward off the light breeze that came in as the sun set, the four of them settled in as the pizza arrived and they sat down to eat.

Neither Logan nor Veronica had missed the similarities between the current situation and previous occasions back when Lilly was alive and Duncan wasn’t suicidal. That connection was both good and bad. Good because those had been good times; bad because those memories were now forever tainted.

In an effort to stave off what would be a truly painful association, Veronica proposed a game of Two Truths and a Lie, pre-empting a suggestion of Truth or Dare.

“Okay, sugar plum, but you have to go first,” said Logan with a quick kiss.

“Bring it on,” Veronica smiled. “But you don’t get to vote,” she pointed to Logan, who rolled his eyes. “Oh, and everything we say here stays here.” Everyone nodded their heads with varying degrees of “duh” on their faces. “First, when I was ten I saw a man cut his finger off in a meat slicer. Second, I once destroyed thousands of dollars worth of ceramic figurines during a rage blackout. And third, I once walked in on two teachers—who shall remain nameless—having sex in the teachers’ lounge.” She smiled as her three listeners sat in stunned silence. “So which one’s the lie?”

“Why can’t I vote?” asked Logan. “I only know about one of those. I want to vote.”

“Fine,” said Veronica with a sigh. “But you vote last.”

Logan sat back looking pleased.

“I repeat. Which one’s the lie?”

Ultimately Veronica fooled both Meg and Weevil, but not Logan. As Logan put it, there was no way that Veronica would not have told him about teachers doing the rumpy-pumpy in the teachers’ lounge.

“The rumpy-pumpy?” asked Meg with a raised eyebrow.

“That’s what Roger Ebert calls it,” explained Veronica. “He has this thing about Roger Ebert.”

“What? The man won a Pulitzer,” defended her boyfriend.

“Uh-huh.” Veronica smiled. “Suggestion, though,” and she looked at Meg and Weevil, “read his online reviews and skip the TV show. All he does is repeat what he already wrote. And he writes it better.”

“So who’s the guy with nine fingers?” asked Weevil, who had thought that was the lie.

“This guy in the meat section at the grocery store. I haven’t been able to eat red meat since.”

“Hence the veggie pizza,” added Logan.

“And you really destroyed all of those figurines?” asked Meg in a sad voice.

“Her entire room was covered in dust,” answered Logan. “That was the one I knew about.”

It turned out that Logan had been kissed by a very drunk Drew Barrymore when he was nine and hit on by a supposedly straight member of a boy band when he was 14, but that he had not gone joyriding in a golf cart on the Universal Studios backlot.

Meg had once worn nothing under her spanky pants at a football game and had accidentally set fire to her family’s cat, but had not gone streaking with the rest of the cheerleaders at cheer camp the summer before 8th grade (much to the boys’ disappointment).

And finally, Weevil had been stabbed (in a fight) and poisoned (with antifreeze by his sister), but had never been shot.

When all was said and done, Logan was the clear winner, as no one guessed his lie to be a lie. Meg, on the other hand, fooled no one, in spite of how inviting her lie was.

“I can’t believe that you were hit on by a member of Boy Zone but you didn’t toodle around in a golf cart. I mean, come on, which one is more likely?” pouted Veronica.

“And that’s how they play the game.”

“Okay,” interrupted Meg. “If you became a stripper, what would your name be?”

“Thinking of going into the trade?” asked her boyfriend, one eyebrow raised.

“I like to be prepared,” she said with a laugh. “Your first name is the name of your first pet and your last name is the street you grew up on. My stage name would be Cookie Diamond, thank you very much. See? Now I’m prepared.”

Through the laughter, Meg was able to prompt Veronica to go next.

“Twinkles Belmar.” At Logan’s choked guffaw, Veronica shrugged innocently. “What? When I was four, my dad brought home a stray dog—it was this weird little poodle mix that was so ugly it was cute. I had just learned Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and I insisted that’s what we had to name her. We had her for two years before she ran out into the street and got hit by a car.”

“Awwww,” said Meg, genuinely sad for the long-gone Twinkles.

“But now you have Back-up,” said Logan in a cute little boy voice, and he kissed Veronica on the head.

“Always take Back-up,” affirmed Veronica.

“Logan?” asked Meg.

At Logan’s hesitation, Weevil got involved.

“Come on, man, how bad can it be?”

“What’s yours?” insisted Logan to the other boy.

Weevil sighed. “Otis Norkey,” he admitted, which answer sent the rest of the table into peals of laughter.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. My grandmother loved that dog,” Weevil brushed off the response. “You’re up, Echolls.”

“Fine.” Logan gave a dramatic sigh. “Mr. McFrogs-a-Lot Twilight.”

The resultant laughter was a sight to behold. Veronica laughed so hard that she started to hyperventilate. Weevil choked on his drink and Meg had to pound his back while snickering so hard herself that she had to grab a napkin to blow her nose.

“What?!” demanded Logan. “My parents wouldn’t let me get a cat or a dog so when I found a frog in our garden, I brought him inside and kept him as a pet!”

Veronica tried to comment, but she was laughing so hard that she couldn’t. Tears were streaming down her face.

“I was seven,” grumped Logan.

“And what happened to Mr. McFrogs-a-Lot?” asked Meg, sending everyone into fresh fits of laughter.

“He died in his sleep a few months later and was given a quiet burial at sea.” As Logan finished, he put his hand to his heart.

When the laughter finally died down, Veronica pointed out how late it was getting. All of them had made the appropriate excuses to family and friends and weren’t expected home that night. As they cleaned up, Logan told Meg and Weevil that the pool house was all theirs and after saying their good nights, he and Veronica went up to his room.

-

Duncan had expended so much anger throughout the course of the day that most of the grass around his lookout post had been pulled up, leaving him surrounded by bare earth. He stoked the flames of envy and anger, letting them shoot through every one of his pores.

He couldn’t wait to make every one of their lives miserable.

*

“That was fun,” said Veronica as she got undressed to get into the shower. Her hair was stiff and tacky from a day spent in the pool.

“Yeah, it was,” agreed Logan as he joined his girlfriend under the water. They were both too tired to do anything besides wash each other, but that was still a very pleasant end to their day.

As the two of them got under the covers and drifted off to sleep, Veronica’s back pressed against Logan’s front, Veronica reflected on how it shouldn’t have to seem like a luxury to enjoy her boyfriend’s company in the presence of other people. She pulled Logan’s arms tighter around herself and smiled. Everyone deserved to get to know him like this.

*

The two couples were only able to get together one more time during the holiday, a lunch at a diner about an hour and a half north of Neptune, but their time together had been quality over quantity for everyone concerned.

Meg got to see Weevil in a mode other than uncle or gang leader. Weevil learned that he could enjoy spending time with Meg’s “people”. Logan reveled in being able to love Veronica in front of other people. And Veronica loved watching up close as other people got to know the real Logan.

None of them knew that they were enjoying the calm before the storm, not that they would have changed anything even if they had.

Chapter Text

As Logan watched Veronica walk across the quad with Wallace, he was reminded of the fact that he was Lloyd Dobbler.

A few weeks before Christmas vacation, Veronica had had a crappy day, so Logan told her that she could pick whatever movie she wanted and he would watch it with her. She had chosen Say Anything, a movie Logan had never before considered watching. Based on the summary on the back, Logan figured that most of his enjoyment would come from making fun of it as he held his girlfriend on the couch, but something strange had happened. As the movie unfolded and Logan had gotten to know the characters, he started to identify with Lloyd.

Asking out the girl that he thought was above him. Taking her to the party and everyone being impressed that Lloyd was with Diane. Pointing out glass for her to walk around. And the speech. Lloyd’s speech about his ambitions.

“I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that.”

For the first time, Logan knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life, and that speech was it. That is exactly what he wanted to do with the rest of his time on earth. The speech cemented his realization—Lloyd was Logan with less money.

You had to understand. Logan had been stunned when Lilly went out with him. Lilly Kane had chosen Logan Echolls to be her boyfriend. Of course, he was aware that Lilly went out with him in large part because he was Aaron Echolls’ son, but still. The most gorgeous and vivacious, if shallow and vapid, hottie in school had chosen him. He finally had status of his own, notoriety that he didn’t inherit. Logan was dating Lilly Kane.

And that was nothing compared to how he felt about his relationship with Veronica.

Veronica didn’t like him because his father was famous. Veronica liked him—she loved him—for him. Like Lloyd, Logan felt that he was loved by a girl that was way above him. Yeah, the 09ers made her life hell, but they did it with fear in their hearts, because she was Veronica Mars. This was the girl that got Logan busted for a bong that wasn’t his; she found missing cars and had guys sent off to boarding school; she worked for her dad, the former sheriff who was now a private detective; she had done “something”, as yet undefined, to Dick Casablancas’ car after he had insulted her in class; she tricked Kimmie Lassiter into confessing to stalking Meg Manning on camera and then made sure the whole school saw it. She was a teenage superhero who walked the halls of their school.

And she loved Logan Echolls.

When Lloyd told his friends that Diane made him like himself, Logan’s heart stopped. He wanted to rewind the DVD and listen to it again. He didn’t, because he couldn’t figure out how to maintain any semblance of dignity in front of Veronica at the same time, but he knew that he was stopping at the store on the way home and he was going to buy this movie and that then he was going to watch that scene repeatedly. Because that was how Veronica made him feel. Logan’s girlfriend made him like himself; she made him feel like he could accomplish things. He had never been able to put it into words before and now he didn’t have to because Lloyd had done it for him.

When Diane dumped Lloyd, Logan got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. Everything the character did is what Logan would have done. He would have called and called; he would have asked for the letter back; he would have played the song outside the window. All of it. And yes, he would have written that letter in the first place. In fact, he was almost jealous of a fictional character, because the words in that letter were Logan’s words. They were his feelings. When Diane and Lloyd got together at the end of the movie, Logan almost got choked up because he would be more than happy if that’s how his and Veronica’s story went. Fortunately for his continued inclusion in the guy club, he was able to stave off an embarrassing show of tears.

So as Logan watched Veronica walk across the quad with Wallace Fennell, he wanted to rip someone’s head off, because he was Lloyd Dobbler and no one knew. Veronica Mars, possibly the most well-known and feared girl at Neptune High School, was in love with him and no one knew about it. Logan was desperate to love Veronica in public. He adored her and he wanted everyone to see him show it. Not in a skeezy, PDA kind of way, although that wouldn’t suck, but to show everyone how she deserved to be treated and in the process shut them all up.

The time he and Veronica had spent with Meg and Weevil had been a blast, but it had an inevitable and unfortunate side effect. Yes, Logan got to live his dream. Then he got to come back to school and have it ripped away.

So, yeah, Logan was in a bad mood.

“Hey, Logan, you want to go down to TJ this weekend?” asked Dick.

“Do you ever think about anything besides getting high and scoring with strangers?” Logan shot back.

“Um, no,” said Dick, a bit nonplussed by Logan’s harsh tone.

“Whatever, man. Let’s go.” Logan got up and headed inside, tired of watching other people get to talk to his girlfriend in public when he couldn’t.

Looked like lunch for the 09er crowd was over.

*

Wallace watched as Jackson Douglas hit up Veronica for help. The hypocrisy of 09ers never failed to amaze Wallace. They talked about Veronica like she was the biggest skank on the planet until they wanted her to do something for them, and then it was all, “Hey, I hear that you do things for people.” Uh-huh.

It bothered Wallace that more people didn’t take the time to get to know Veronica. He had stopped counting the number of times that he had defended her reputation. Freshmen, seniors, it didn’t matter—everyone used Veronica as a slutty punch line. Wallace had long ago figured out the perfect way to shut them up, though. He simply threatened to pass the comment along, thereby putting the offending party on Veronica’s radar—shut ‘em without fail.

Wallace wished that Veronica had more time to hang out, but he had also accepted long ago that Veronica was one of the busiest people he knew. If she wasn’t working for her father, she was keeping her GPA up or solving cases for other students. Since basketball season had started, it hadn’t been as big of a deal that the person he considered to be his best friend was hardly ever available to hang out, but he did still sometimes wish that Veronica wasn’t quite so busy.

Wallace rolled his eyes as Veronica explained the phenomenon that was Madison Sinclair’s birthday. Neptune High was a very strange place.

*

As Veronica walked to class with Wallace, she saw Logan leaning against the wall next to the janitor’s closet, one leg hiked up, the other on the floor. She told Wallace that she had to take care of something and that she’d see him later.

She bent down and pretended to look through her bag while the hall cleared. Logan slipped inside the janitor’s closet. Shortly after, Veronica followed.

Before the door even closed behind her, Logan pulled her into his arms and held on as tightly as he could. Knowing exactly where this was coming from, Veronica returned the hold. The two of them leaned against the wall inhaling each other’s scent, each of them wishing that they didn’t have to steal their time together.

Veronica had felt Logan’s eyes on her all through lunch. She knew when he left, she knew he was upset and she knew why.

She reached up and put her hands on either side of his face.

“We’re going to find a way to change things. We can do this.”

Logan buried his face in her hair.

“All the love in my heart.”

Veronica clung to him even tighter. How had she gotten so lucky?

They reluctantly let go of each other.

Time to face the world again.

*

After both Logan and Veronica had left the janitor’s closet and headed to their respective classes, a third person emerged from the tiny room.

Duncan had left lunch early and waited, hiding under a large tarp that smelled like urine. He knew that his friends wouldn’t be able to stop themselves from seeing each other after lunch today. He also knew that they were more likely to meet in the janitor’s closet than in the bathroom because they wouldn’t really be talking, they would just be “touching base”. He wasn’t sure if the two of them realized that they had unwritten rules about which hiding places they used and when. It didn’t matter. He knew.

He knew everything.

*

Meg was at her locker after school when the three of them came up to her. They were girls, so they couldn’t be PCHers and there really weren’t enough of them to form a gang of their own, but in truth all they lacked was a name. They were still a gang.

Esmerelda stood on Meg’s right, pushing the blond girl’s locker door against the wall. Esmerelda was the de facto leader of the non-gang. She wore too much make-up and too-tight clothes that usually included some sort of bustier. If you looked closely into Esmerelda’s eyes, you realized that there wasn’t anything that she wouldn’t do. Girls gave her a wide berth in the hallway and boys kept their comments about how skanky she looked to themselves.

Meg struggled to keep her knees from trembling as Esmerelda spoke.

“Mercedes, this is the girl, right?”

“Oh, yeah,” answered the shorter, stockier girl. Mercedes wasn’t quite as garish as Esmerelda, but she never wore shirts with sleeves—ever—and with good reason. Any guy at Neptune would have paid money to have Mercedes’ arms and shoulders. The girl was cut. She seriously looked like she could bench press a truck.

“Her little white bread car has been parked in front of Weevil’s house every night this week.”

As Mercedes drawled out her words, she pushed her braids over Meg’s left shoulder and the 09er was proud of herself for not flinching.

She felt hot breath on the top of her ear.

Oh, crap. Of course Cissy was there. Mercedes and Esmerelda never went anywhere without Cissy.

Francisca “Cissy” Pena was the biggest girl at Neptune, easily weighing in at over 300 lbs. She was also stunningly beautiful with thick black hair, a knack for applying make-up in the most attractive manner possible and the ability to choose surprisingly flattering clothes. Too bad no one at Neptune had ever seen her smile and only a few more had heard her speak. All told, Cissy presented a very strange package to the world.

Yes, Meg was being cornered by Neptune High’s resident Latina girl gang. Most of the Hispanic girls at their school were perfectly nice people. These three were not.

Meg shoved some books into her backpack that she didn’t really need, just to give herself something to do.

“Your point?” she asked curtly. She was afraid to turn around.

“Our point,” answered Esmerelda, “is that you’re not welcome in our neighborhood.”

“Maybe not by you,” Meg opened up a notebook and checked to make sure that all of her papers were there. Well, she pretended to check. It’s not like she could actually think about anything besides surviving the next five minutes.

“Our opinions are the ones you should care about,” Mercedes practically purred.

Screw this, Meg told herself. She had figured that she would have to face these three at some point; she just hadn’t thought it would be this soon. She shoved her backpack into her locker and turned around.

“Too bad I care more about Letty Navarro.”

“Like hell you do, madre,” Mercedes whipped her braids back. “The only thing you care about is Weevil. Échate un casquete.”

Meg had no idea what Mercedes had just said, but she had no doubt that it was very bad and probably very dirty.

“Why don’t you have the courage to insult me in a language I understand?” Meg used a forceful tone to belie the fact that her insides were Jell-o.

Mercedes repeated what she had said in English, causing Meg to blush to the tips of her roots.

At that moment Kylee, Brooke and Kate, three of the snottiest 09er cheerleaders to have ever walked the halls at Neptune, appeared behind Cissy. The only people Meg would have been happier to have on her side in this situation were Veronica Mars or Madison Sinclair.

It never occurred to Meg that Weevil could help. This was girl world.

“Are these skanks bothering you, Meg?” demanded Brooke, the tallest girl on the squad and the only girl at Neptune taller than the silent Cissy.

“Who are you calling skank, puta?” asked Esmerelda in a tone that would have frightened anyone else.

These girls weren’t anyone else.

“Would you look at that, Brooke?” interjected Kate. “She knows how to insult us in her native language. That’s so cute! Maybe someday she’ll master English and actually graduate.”

Cissy looked down at Kate, who stood at a whopping five foot nothing. Kate showed no indication of caring.

Sensing the road down which this was going, Meg spoke up.

“Mrs. Navarro’s daughter is fighting cancer. She needs someone to help when she can’t be there. Unless one of you wants to volunteer to help the kids with their homework, clean house, do laundry and read bedtime stories, I’m going to have to ask you to leave. I’m not going to stop helping one of the sweetest women I’ve ever met just because you don’t like me.”

The two factions faced off in light of Meg’s declaration, neither willing to budge.

Meg yanked her bookbag out of her locker and grabbed the door which Esmerelda had finally stepped away from, slamming it shut. The sudden noise seemed to signal the end of the confrontation.

“This isn’t over, polla,” said the furious Esmerelda. “You better watch your back.” She pointed at Meg as she and her followers turned to walk away.

“We’ll be right behind her,” countered Kylee, “so you better be prepared when you get there.”

Esmerelda made a shooting motion with her pointed finger and the 09ers could hear Mercedes’ laughter echo down the hall. Cissy never had made a sound.

“Meg, there is no way that you can go to that neighborhood again.” Now that they were alone, Brooke immediately started in on her friend. “Have you ever been in gym class with Mercedes? The guys pick her first for touch football. She can, like, lift VW bugs by herself.”

“Thank you so much for stepping in,” Meg said sincerely. “That was insane. But I meant what I said. Letty Navarro is the sweetest woman I’ve ever met and I’m not going to stop helping her because those three don’t like it. I won’t let them win.” Meg knew how to play her friends.

As the other cheerleaders walked her to her car, Meg tried to figure out how to explain this to Eli. She knew that she had to, but she couldn’t imagine the conversation being a fun one.

*

Mac liked originality—she liked things that were new and fresh and unusual, all of which were in short supply at Neptune High. She actually didn’t think that her hair color was all that unusual. She did it because it was different in comparison. The problem was that there wasn’t much to compare it to.

Which is why Mac liked Veronica Mars. The slight blonde had gone from being Duncan Kane’s arm candy to being Neptune’s resident whore to being “Veronica Mars”, the teenage super spy-detective that found lost fathers, busted e-mail criminals, solved thefts and generally did things that simultaneously impressed the hell and scared the crap out of the other students at the school. Now that was original.

Mac wanted to get to know Veronica better, an all-around first in her high school experience, and when she heard the blonde detective wisely taking 09ers for their cash, she saw the perfect opportunity to do so. During Advanced Programming, a class she didn’t need but which looked good on her transcript, Mac used Visual Basic to build a representative graphic design for the ultimate money-making website.

After going to Veronica’s office and pitching it to her, Mac understood the modern-day Nancy Drew’s reluctance to take on even more in her life, but she was more grateful that she had been able to ask Veronica to help her out personally. Veronica was willing to look into Mac’s own background and at no charge.

As Mac left Mars Investigations, she decided that Veronica could best be compared to a breath of fresh air. In the recycled and stuffy atmosphere that permeated the halls of Neptune, Veronica was a cleansing gust of wind and Mac hoped that she did indeed get to know her better.

*

Veronica called Logan and asked him if he could meet her in the basement of the local newspaper where back issues were still kept on microfiche. Such was the state of their lives that they could only spend time together in the privacy of their own homes or in the bowels of forgotten buildings. Veronica rolled her eyes as she made her way down the stairs. Whatever. She wanted to spend time with her boyfriend.

Logan popped out in front of her as she opened the door to the records room and Veronica jumped in surprise.

As Logan pulled her into his arms, he crowed, “I get a cookie. I made the great Veronica Mars jump!”

“You wish,” she said as she pushed him away. “No cookies for you! And no kiss, either,” she tossed over her shoulder as she headed for the microfiche files.

“Come on, Veronica,” whined Logan as he followed her and put his arms around her, making it very difficult for her to look through the files for the appropriate newspaper issues. “It’s been, like, 48 hours since we kissed last. I’m going into withdrawal.”

Without turning around, Veronica commented as she started pulling packs of microfiche. “And here I thought you liked me for my mind.” Before Logan could protest, she continued. “And it has not been 48 hours. You are so exaggerating.”

At Logan’s pitiful sigh, she turned around and smiled at him. “For your information, it’s been exactly 42 hours and…” she checked her watch, “…six minutes.” She reached up and planted a kiss on her boyfriend’s lips. “Happy?”

Logan’s grin was huge. And gorgeous. “Oh, yeah,” he said and he pushed her up against the file cabinet, closing the drawer she had just rifled through.

Veronica smiled inwardly as Logan kissed her well and thoroughly. That talk she had had with him about how much she loved kissing him had been one of the most fruitful discussions she had ever held with anyone. Seriously. Ever.

When they came up for air, she reminded Logan that she really did need his help searching through the newspaper’s files. Logan sighed and pulled back.

“Alriiiight,” he drawled, looking like a sad little puppy whose favorite toy had been taken away. Veronica laughed.

“I promise if we find what we’re looking for, I will give you the best kind of payment a girl can offer.”

*

After Veronica left, Mac sat frozen on her bed. Her parents weren’t her parents. Honestly, she wasn’t all that surprised. But switched at birth? With Madison Sinclair? Well, at least it was original. Yeah, that was it. Being the victim of a baby swap had to be one of the most original things that Mac had ever heard of.

She wanted to know more about the wealth that she should have been born into, which desire finally motivated her to move. She called up the Sinclairs on her computer. She quickly learned that Madison’s father was the COO at Kane Software. He and Jake Kane had worked together at Microsoft before Jake left to start his own business and Robert Sinclair had followed him. He had subsequently acquired a wealth second only to Jake Kane’s when the company went public. Since that time, Hillary Sinclair had joined the boards of several charitable organizations, most of them with Celeste Kane, and apparently spent a lot of her time serving the community.

Mac sighed. Not only would she love to get to know these people, they were completely wasted on Madison.

*

Duncan had invited Logan over to his house to play video games after school. Everything was ready to go.

“Hey dude! You comin’ or what?!” called Logan from where he was sprawled in front of the widescreen plasma TV.

“I’ll be right there!” Duncan yelled back.

He walked into the living room jingling his keys. Before he sat down, though, he flashed the red laser pointer directly into his eyes.

As Logan turned to give the other controller to his friend, Duncan flew into a rage. He ripped the cushions off of the couch and then went at Logan, who started yelling for help. Celeste came running in from the other room and tried to grab her son from behind, but Duncan was too strong and threw her off like an annoying mosquito. Logan body-tackled his friend as Duncan lurched towards the plasma screen and let fly a stream of cuss words that would have made a sailor blush.

“Lucia! Lucia!” Celeste screamed. “Get the syringe!”

Logan finally had Duncan pinned on the living room floor, although the curse words continued to spew forth. Unfortunately, the stockier boy was kicking and thrashing so hard that Logan barely managed to keep hold of him.

As the Kanes’ housekeeper came running into the living room with a hypodermic needle, Celeste practically ripped it out of the woman’s hand. She squirted a little out of the end to get rid of any air bubbles and jammed it into her son’s arm. Within seconds, Duncan calmed down, his breathing slowed, and his eyes closed.

Celeste and Logan sat back, both of them emotionally and physically exhausted. Lucia made a quiet exit.

“What were you two doing?” demanded Celeste in a quiet but angry voice.

“Nothing,” answered Logan in shock. He couldn’t take his eyes off of his now sleeping friend. “Nothing, I swear. We were gonna play Madden, and he just lost it.”

There was a pause.

“Thank you, Logan.” The young man looked up, surprised by Celeste’s sudden change in tone. In an instant, she had switched to being her usual matter-of-fact and clinical self. “You should probably go so Duncan can get some rest. I’ll make sure he sees the doctor about this. I know you’ll keep this incident to yourself.” She looked at Logan pointedly. He nodded more out of reflex than anything else.

What the hell?

Celeste continued to look at him expectantly. Logan scrambled to his feet and headed for the door.

Just when it seemed like things were getting better.

*

Veronica went to the police station to take her dad his dinner. The deputy manning the phones was young and seemed relatively naïve. Veronica had been feeling guilty lately because she didn’t feel that she and Logan had been doing enough to find Lilly’s real killer. So much had been crowding their lives that avenging Lilly’s murderer had fallen from the forefront of their thoughts. This new deputy, though, seemed to be attracted to Veronica, which could prove useful.

That night during their ritual phone call, Veronica promised her boyfriend that she would only flirt a little bit and that she would spend as little time with Deputy Leo as possible.

“Whatever,” replied Logan.

“Whatever? That’s what you have to say? Whatever. This from the guy who almost attacked Casey Gant just for taking me to the hospital with him? Try again, Logan.” Better to deal with it now.

A long sigh issued from the receiver. “What do you want me to say? We know that Abel Koontz didn’t kill Lilly and we need to find out who did. You’re right that this is the best way to do it. You’re always saying that I need to show you that I trust you.” Logan took another deep breath. “I have to start somewhere. Why not here? You’re not gonna kiss this guy, right? You’re going to flirt with him, Weevil will distract him, and you’ll swipe the CrimeStoppers tape. Isn’t that the plan?”

“That’s it,” she affirmed.

“I don’t have to like it, but I do have to stop being jealous all the time. Consider this a first step.” Logan stopped and there was a sudden silence.

“I love you, Logan.”

“Do me a favor and remember that when you’re flirting with the guy in the uniform.”

“Promise.”

Veronica had a feeling that she was missing something, though. Whether detective’s or womens’ intuition, something wasn’t right.

“Logan, what’s wrong? What’s really wrong?”

Silence answered her.

“Logan?” A note of serious worry entered her voice.

“It’s Duncan.”

*
Leo had the following night off, which worked out well since Mac wanted to go to Madison’s birthday party. Veronica wasn’t happy about it, but she couldn’t let Mac go alone so she grabbed Wallace and off the three of them went.

As soon as they were inside, Mac went in one direction and Wallace went in the other, leaving Veronica alone in the middle of the entrance hall to be eyed by a very displeased Madison Sinclair. To her relief, a friendly face separated itself from the crowd.

“Meg!” Veronica exclaimed in relief as Meg grabbed her hand and pulled her into a quiet corner. “Thanks for the rescue.”

“Any time,” answered Meg with a smile before hesitantly inquiring. “What are you doing here?”

“Not exactly my usual scene, is it?”

“Not really.”

Veronica rolled her eyes and looked back in the direction from which they had come. “I’m sort of on a case. Someone needed to look into something and I’m here as backup. How’m I doing?” she smiled.

“I’d hire you in a minute,” laughed Meg.

“Hey, what’s this I hear about you needing to hire a bodyguard?” Veronica suddenly asserted. She went on to explain that she had overheard some 09ers in AP English discussing Esmerelda and Mercedes’ verbal assault on Meg. “I didn’t get all of the details and I didn’t really trust their version, anyway, but it didn’t sound good.”

Meg rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t that bad. They accused me in a couple different languages of wanting to, um, have sex with Weevil.” She coughed discreetly. “They may not have used those exact words.”

Veronica casually looked around to make sure that no one was in earshot. “Did you tell Eli about it?” Even if anyone could hear, very few people at the school knew Weevil’s real name.

“Yes,” sighed Meg. “I didn’t want him to hear about it from someone else.” She looked at the floor. “I told him that there was nothing he could do and that I would handle it.” She looked back up and a firm expression took over her features. “He wanted to do something and I said that would only make it worse. I made it clear that he needed to stay out of it.”

“Do you think he will?”

“I don’t know.” Meg shook her head. “I mean, honestly, I knew that eventually we would have to deal with each other’s friends. Not that those girls are his friends, but you know what I mean.” Veronica nodded. “I told him I have to stand up for myself or they’ll just keep coming after me.” She smiled. “That he understood.”

Veronica checked her watch. “Oh, wow. I’m sorry, Meg, but I need to go check…” she indicated behind her.

“No problem. Give me a call this weekend.”

“Absolutely.” And with that, Veronica went off to find Mac.

After she and Mac were summarily told off and thrown out by Queen Bitch of the Universe, they found Wallace hitting on a sophomore and dragged him back out to Mac’s VW bug, where they again made him ride in the back.

“How come I have to ride in the backseat of the smallest car this side of the Mini Cooper?” Wallace complained. “I’m a basketball player, remember? Veronica’s the short one.”

“I like to think of it as vertically challenged,” Veronica reminded him. “And I get carsick in the back.”

“Uh-huh,” grumped Wallace, clearly not convinced.

Veronica turned her attention to her blue-haired friend. “How are you holding up?”

“I’ll be okay,” said Mac morosely as she pulled out of their parking space on the side of the well-kept street and drove away. But Veronica noticed the look of longing in Mac’s eyes as they drove past one beautiful home after another. She wished that there was something she could do, but some things people had to work out for themselves.

*

The plan to “borrow” the CrimeStopper recording went perfectly. Veronica brought Leo pizza, noting that she couldn’t stay but that she didn’t want him to go hungry. Weevil came and distracted the young deputy, providing Veronica the opening that she needed to get into the evidence room and get the CD. She then said her goodbyes to Leo and met up with Weevil outside the station.

“Thanks, Weevil.”

“No problem. Anything going on besides stealing from the local sheriff’s department?”

Veronica gave the young man a tired smile.

“The usual. You?”

Weevil crossed his arms and grimaced. “I gotta tell ya, I would really like to see my girlfriend outside of my house one of these days.”

Veronica nodded. “And not have her car parked outside your house?”

“That, too,” grimaced Weevil. “Meg said she talked to you about Esmerelda?”

Veronica nodded. “She’s right, you know. You can’t get involved. It really is a girl thing.”

Weevil rolled his eyes. “Just another reason why I want to see her somewhere other than my neighborhood. You know, do something together besides watch TV.”

Veronica leaned back against her car. “Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to act like normal couples? You know, do things together that you like doing? Logan wants to teach me how to surf, but we’re always afraid that if we spend that much time at a beach someone will recognize us. Surfing is a small world.”

Weevil started to say something and then stopped.

“What?” prompted the small blonde.

“Nothing…you just gave me an idea, that’s all.”

“I did?”

“Yeah. Thanks, Vee!” And with that, Weevil bumped fists with Veronica and got on his bike, leaving her very confused as to what had just happened.

*

The next morning Meg told her parents that she was going to the beach with some friends and then drove to everyone’s favorite rest stop to meet Eli. Her boyfriend had called her the night before and told her to meet him there and to dress warm. He declined to tell her what the plan was, however, so she had to be somewhat creative in coming up with her outfit. Truthfully, Meg was so excited to do something—anything—different that she really didn’t care what it was. She had picked up on the excitement in Eli's voice and she couldn’t wait to find out what had him so keyed up.

Weevil was waiting at the rest stop when Meg got there. He offered her his spare helmet and they were off. Meg loved riding behind her boyfriend on his motorcycle. They had only gotten to do it a few times, but she loved putting her arms around Eli and feeling the wind blow across her face and through her hair. The only thing she didn’t like about riding Eli's bike with him is that they didn’t get to do it enough. She was definitely glad for the suggestion to dress warm, as even in California the winter wind was brisk, especially when felt from the seat of a motorcycle.

She was puzzled, though, forty-five minutes later when they pulled into the parking lot of a large county fairground. Weevil stopped in the middle of the huge sheet of empty asphalt and parked the motorcycle. As he got off of the bike and helped Meg do the same, she expressed her confusion simply by raising her eyebrows.

“You’re probably wondering why we’re in a parking lot,” said Weevil with that half-smile that Meg thought (but would never tell him) was adorable.

“Why, yes, I am,” grinned Meg in return.

“You,” Weevil pointed to her, “are going to learn to ride this,” and he pointed to his motorcycle.

Meg’s jaw dropped. “No way!”

“If you’re cool with that,” Weevil said in a manner that indicated he was okay either way, but he was watching her response very closely. He was offering to share something with her that was very important to him and he was trying not to show how nervous he was about it.

Meg started jumping up and down, squealing like the cheerleader that she was and she literally threw herself onto Weevil in her enthusiasm. She wasn’t looking to join the Hell’s Angels, but she was thrilled to learn how to drive her boyfriend’s most prized possession.

Weevil couldn’t do anything but laugh at his girlfriend’s reaction.

“Alright, you ready?” he asked when she calmed down a bit.

Without another word, she straddled his bike and flipped her hair, striking a pose and sending him a fetching smile. Weevil grinned back at her. This was going to be even more fun than he had hoped for.

They started simple. Weevil showed Meg how to properly straddle a motorcycle, what the three-point position was, correct riding posture and where all of the brake and acceleration grips and pedals were. Then it was time to practice braking.

As Weevil explained to Meg, before you can start, you have to learn how to stop. And the best way to do that was to put the bike in neutral and then have the teacher push the bike while the student practiced different ways of braking, which is exactly what they did. Weevil covered both the front and the rear brakes with his very eager student and eventually Meg even got to turn on the motorcycle.

When Weevil told Meg that it was time to break for lunch, Meg was disappointed that her first lesson was over.

“Can I drive us to lunch?”

“Let’s have a few more lessons before we put you on the highway, girl.”

Meg laughed and moved closer to Weevil, putting her arms around his neck.

“So what, you think you’re gonna change my mind?”

“No,” she said, moving closer to him. “I think I’m going to tell you how much I love that you did this.” She reached up and kissed him. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Weevil responded as he pulled Meg closer into his arms for another kiss.

All in all, it was a great day out of the house.

*

Veronica and Logan were making out on his bed when her cell phone rang.

“Don’t answer it,” he complained as she pulled away.

“It could be my dad,” Veronica laughed as Logan ran his hand over her stomach in a way that he knew perfectly well that she loved. “See!” she said and as she swatted his hand away and waved her caller I.D. in his general direction.

“Hey, Dad. What’s up?”

As Logan could only hear Veronica’s end of the conversation, he had a hard time following what was going on. He caught on quickly, though, when Veronica handed him the phone.

When Keith was done, Logan handed the phone back to Veronica.

“Be careful, Dad. Love you.” She shut her phone and turned to Logan as she rolled her eyes. “So it’s your job to make sure I’m safe, huh?”

Logan pulled Veronica into his arms. “See, that’s why your dad talked to me. He knew I would take it more seriously than you do.”

“What are you talking about?” Veronica turned around to look at Logan. “I take this very seriously!”

Pushing her back down, Logan clarified. “You laugh it off, Veronica. That’s what you do. So your dad and I worry enough for all three of us.” He kissed the top of her head.

Veronica sighed and sank deeper into her boyfriend’s embrace. While she did think that the men in her life worried too much, she couldn’t deny that she felt safe in Logan’s arms. She settled into those arms and focused her worry on her father, out there on the search for a serial killer, knowing that she, at least, was safe.

*

Mac had already finished packing. It wasn’t hard—some books, her laptop, a toothbrush. She had plenty of time left to call Veronica and ask her to come over and listen to the CrimeStopper CD that she had been working on for her friend. She wanted to give Veronica a chance to listen to it before the Mackenzie clan headed out for the great unknown.

The Mackenzies. Mom and Dad. As Mac waited for Veronica to get there, she reflected on her familial circumstances. Not that she had thought about much else besides her parents and what it meant to be family since learning of the Great Baby Swap.

At first it had been the money that her mind kept going back to. Mac had felt cheated out of her rightful inheritance, the life that she should have led. The fact was, though, that she didn’t like 09ers much, not because they had money and she didn’t (although that didn’t help), but because as a whole they were rude and hateful. Then she had met her biological mother and sister and she had felt cheated out of the relationships that she should have had with them. (She hadn’t met Robert Sinclair, but she was willing to bet that he was a nice guy.)

It had eventually sunk in, though, that if she and Madison had never been switched, if the most original thing *ever* had never occurred, then she would never have had the parents that she had now. They weren’t her biological parents, but they loved her so much that when given the choice, they had chosen to keep her. When she was six and broke her arm, her dad had held her all the way to the hospital. When she had stayed up all night working on her Great Wall of China project in 7th grade, her mother had been there every minute. And while she had on occasion given serious thought to selling her brother to wandering gypsies to pay for college, she would have held a knife to anyone outside of her family who tried to do the same.

Basically, Mac wasn’t sure how to balance missing the family she should have had with loving the one that she did have. How did you do that?

The doorbell rang. She could spend time contemplating this further on their trip. It’s not like the issue was going to go away.

*

As Veronica pulled away from the curb in front of Mac’s house, she saw Hillary Sinclair sitting in the car across the street and knew immediately that the woman had met and recognized her friend. This situation didn’t have any winners, did it?

As Veronica switched cars and drove to Logan’s house, she thought about how she knew Mac’s most personal secret, but in some ways, Mac didn’t know Veronica at all. As a private detective, it was Veronica’s job to investigate the most personal aspects of people’s lives, but Mac wasn’t a client, she was a friend. And right now, Veronica felt very guilty about the balance of that friendship.

Was this ever going to get easier?

*
Usually Veronica loved driving with Logan. They talked about everything, anything, and forgot about how no one was supposed to know that they were driving together. But Logan had been closed off since Duncan’s…episode. Veronica had tried to get Logan to talk about it, but he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, put anything into words.

“Have you heard anything since the pictures went over?” Logan’s words, after such a long (and unusual) silence, startled Veronica. After she had found her mother’s safety deposit box and its disturbing contents, Logan had come up with the idea of sending matching pictures to Clarence Wiedman. The two of them had taken pictures of Kane Software’s head of security, Photoshopped in sniper crosshairs and had then sent the pictures to him.

“No.” Not that they had expected anything. It wasn’t like they had a bug in the man’s office.

Silence once again reigned, this time broken by Veronica.

“I went to the sheriff’s station.”

“What for? I thought your dad was done there.”

“He is. I wanted to thank Leo for saving his life.”

“Oh. How’d it go?” The complete lack of rancor or jealousy in Logan’s voice was unusual to the point of being disturbing.

“He’s been suspended for a week. When I took the CrimeStopper recording during his shift, I forgot to lock the evidence room and he took the fall.”

Logan looked at her briefly before returning his eyes to the road. “Did he blame you?”

Veronica turned her gaze out the passenger window. “Yeah. He did. And he was right.”

After another twenty awkward minutes, the pair arrived at St. Francis Medical Center in Santa Barbara, for which occasion they were wearing matching fuchsia scrubs. Logan had informed Veronica that St. Francis was home to files from two separate emergency room visits that had taken place about six years apart from each other.

“These have to be the ugliest scrubs yet,” Veronica commented as they headed inside. Even in his current mood Logan had to smile at that because, well, it was true.

Forty-five minutes later they got back into the Xterra, now in possession of medical records that detailed both the time that Aaron had broken Logan’s finger after his son had pointed at a famous actress on set and the time when Aaron had dislocated his son’s jaw after the 12-year-old Logan had mouthed off to his father.

Veronica looked up when Logan didn’t immediately start the car. Her boyfriend was staring at the file propped up against the steering wheel.

“I’ve never seen Duncan like that before. The look in his eyes...” Logan paused. “He threw off his mom like she wasn’t even there. I didn’t just push him to the floor—I had to body tackle him.” He looked at Veronica. “That look.” He looked back at the file holding his medical records. “I know that look, Veronica. He would have done anything.”

Veronica raised her hand and rested it on Logan’s cheek. Logan closed his eyes as his face seemed to melt into Veronica’s hand.

“He would have done anything. And I’m not sure he would have known that he was doing it.”

Chapter Text

Veronica missed Romania. She and Logan didn’t talk about it very often, but it was an integral part of their relationship’s foundation. In a way, it was kind of like triple layer chocolate cheesecake—delicious and wonderful, but too rich to have for breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. As Veronica sat in her dark, stuffy car, though, she thought of Romania—not the country specifically, but what her and Logan’s time there had meant.

Things had been simpler when they had been there—no Duncan, no sneaking around, no abusive father, no murder investigation—nothing but the two of them and a wild countryside. She contrasted that with what had happened in the past week. A guy at school had fallen into a coma and Veronica had randomly taken the fall for it. She had been hauled out of school and into the sheriff’s office. The real fault lay with—no lie—a secret-freaking-society that skulked the halls of Neptune High. Duncan had lost his mind and attacked Logan. She and Logan had hung out some more (in secret, of course) with Neptune’s other covert couple, Meg and Weevil. Meg had been threatened by Neptune’s resident girl gang. And Veronica had bugged the school counselor’s office to aid herself and Logan in their ongoing search for Lilly’s real killer.

The cherry on top? Twenty minutes earlier, Mr. Clemmons had come into Rebecca James’ office and informed the counselor that Logan Echolls had gotten into a fight with Hector Garcia.

Yes, Veronica missed Romania.

Weevil’s voice issued from her car stereo. Veronica had figured that Ms. James would interview him, but only Logan and Wallace knew that Veronica was listening from her makeshift tent in the school parking lot. Eavesdropping while Weevil talked about a relationship that she already knew about would only feel like a betrayal of their friendship. Veronica turned down her stereo.

She hoped that Logan would be able to come out to the car after he finished getting in trouble. Logan Echolls was royalty at Neptune, and everyone loved to see royalty fall. As long as Veronica was around to brush his hand in the hallway, pull him into the bathroom, exchange a quick glance, as long as she was there, Logan could withstand the ridicule. But not only had she not been there today, it was because she had been charged with a felony. Veronica couldn’t even pretend to be surprised that Logan had gotten into a fight.

She looked down at her watch. Lunchtime. She text-messaged Rick and within a few minutes he was inside her car. His story was so fantastic, it had to be true. Towards the end, though, she finally had enough.

“I want their names.”

Rick looked unhappy, but he gave them up. ”Harry Diddon, Steve Argo, Matt Barron, Peter Kirkland. I heard they were going to invite Duncan Kane, but the guy’s a headcase, so they didn’t.”

As soon as Rick left, Veronica began working on a plan to clear her name.

*

Wallace hadn’t had any luck finding out how to get a fake I.D., but he did have a front row seat for the fight between Logan Echolls and Hector Garcia. He figured that Veronica would get a kick out of a recap and that she might also appreciate a visit in her lonely blue hideout.

He walked up to the shrouded convertible, looked around to make sure that no one was watching and slipped under the tarp.

“Surpri—“ His voice cut off at the sight of a shirtless Logan Echolls sitting in the passenger seat of the LeBaron. He was straddled by Veronica, skirt hiked up around her waist. And—had he really just seen that?!—Logan’s pants were around his ankles.

As the tarp fell down behind the intruder, all three teenagers stared in shock. Wallace was the first to speak, the words tumbling out of his mouth uncensored.

“I defended you. I defended you when they called you a whore. Looks like I was on the wrong side of the argument.”

Veronica’s gasp chased him as Wallace scrambled out from under the tarp and raced blindly for the school.

*

Veronica had moved back to the driver’s seat of the car, making only cursory attempts to fix her clothes. As she curled up against the door, Logan finished putting his clothes on. Neither of them had spoken since Wallace’s declaration, but Veronica knew that as hurt as she was by what Wallace had said, Logan was angrier.

“Don’t hurt him,” Veronica pled softly as Logan opened the passenger side door. She couldn’t manage more.

Logan didn’t answer as he disappeared under the tarp.

*

Running full-out, Logan caught up to Wallace just as the shorter boy was walking into his English class. He grabbed Wallace’s arm.

“Get the hell away from me,” Wallace demanded in a loud voice that caught the attention of everyone around them. Logan didn’t say a word as he dragged Wallace down the hall towards the boys’ restroom.

“I mean it, man! Take your hands off me!” Wallace started to really work at fighting off the silent 09er, but Logan’s grip was like steel as he dragged Veronica’s best friend into the bathroom.

“What the hell is wrong with you?!” yelled Wallace as Logan shoved the wooden stopper under the door. “What, because Veronica services you, you think I—“

Logan’s fist cut Wallace off mid-sentence, landing the stockier boy sprawled inelegantly on the bathroom floor.

“Don’t you ever talk about her that way!” Those were the first words that Logan had spoken since grabbing Wallace’s arm. Unknown to Wallace, they were in fact the first words out of Logan’s mouth since Wallace had found them in the car.

“Why?” Wallace mumbled from the floor as he wiped the blood off of his face. He pulled himself up against the wall and his voice got stronger. “From the day I got here, people at this school have been telling me that Veronica was a slut. I stood up for her! Did you? No! You were too busy bashing in her headlights! And now she’s banging you in the parking lot! What am I supposed to think?”

Logan hit the paper towel dispenser, making a new dent in it. “You’re supposed to think that she’s your friend! And that what she was doing was a reflection of the Veronica that you know and not the one that the idiots at this school tell you exists!” There was a note of hatred in Logan’s voice. “She said you were her friend. Some friend you turned out to be.”

“This coming from you.” Wallace struggled into a standing position. “You’re saying this wasn’t a one-time thing then, right? That you and Veronica have sex in her car on a regular basis? I thought of her as my best friend! I would think that my best friend would have told me if she was having sex with you. You’d think so, right?” he moved in towards Logan and looked the other boy up and down. “Unless she had something to be ashamed of.”

“Veronica and I have been dating for almost a year and a half,” said Logan in a very dangerous voice. “And we haven’t told anyone besides our parents and my housekeeper. We have to sneak around like criminals and I have to treat her like she’s trash. Why do you think I do that? Why do you think we sneak around like that?” There was a pause. “Think about it! Veronica says you’re a smart guy. Why would we do all that?”

Comprehension slowly flooded Wallace’s countenance. “Duncan Kane,” the name escaped his lips.

“You’re a regular Albert Einstein,” affirmed Logan. “Care to elaborate?” he asked in a derisive tone. “What is it about my best friend, Veronica’s ex-boyfriend, that would make us live like this?”

Wallace didn’t say anything. He just leaned back against the bathroom wall as shame washed over him.

“She couldn’t tell you when she met you because she didn’t know you,” Logan clarified angrily. “She wasn’t willing to risk Duncan’s life on a guy she hardly knew. And then…” he paused. “How was she supposed to tell you, man? How was she supposed to go from ‘Logan is the spawn of evil’ to ‘Logan is the love of my life’?!”

Wallace stood up straight and he and Logan looked each other in the eye.

“She lied to me.”

“You called her a whore.”

This time, Logan didn’t move to stop Wallace from leaving.

*

Duncan was as happy as was possible for him. Veronica had been suspended. Logan was running around defending his mother’s dubious honor. And now Wallace had discovered their big bad secret. Duncan hadn’t been listening in on Veronica when Wallace found them because he couldn’t exactly have his rifle mike out and pointed during lunch, but he knew what was going on.

His parents had been monitoring Duncan’s every movement since his seizure so he couldn’t skip class to assemble or disassemble his rifle mike. Sadly this left him relying on his five senses and his ability to track his subjects. Duncan hadn’t needed a listening device to watch people come and go from the covered car. Wallace’s fleeing figure followed closely by Logan’s run had told everything that Duncan needed to know.

Then he had simply stood outside and listened through the door to Wallace and Logan’s little bathroom get-together. As soon as he heard his name come up, Duncan knew the conversation was reaching an end and he had gone late to class, giving some excuse about throwing up in the bathroom. That always got him sympathy.

He wouldn’t watch them so closely if their lives weren’t so unbelievably entertaining.

*

Veronica kept going back and forth between feeling really, really guilty for having lied to Wallace and loathing him for calling her a whore. She hadn’t spent the past year building herself up to crumble just because someone called her a nasty name. Wallace wasn’t anyone, though. He was the only new person in the past year that she had let in through her defenses and at the first opportunity, he had turned on her. But what else was he was supposed to think? He had caught her having sex with Logan Echolls, of all people.

There was a knock on the door. She looked through the window to find Wallace, hands shoved in his pockets, standing on her sad little excuse of a porch. She opened the door with an expectant expression.

“What?” Veronica recognized that her question could be interpreted a host of different ways.

“Can I come in?”

Veronica stepped back from the doorway and allowed the guy who she had thought was her friend into her apartment. As he walked past her, Wallace started explaining.

“From the day I came to this school, people told me you were a tramp. I told them they didn’t really know you. Those same people said that Logan Echolls could have any girl at this school with a snap of his fingers.” He turned to face Veronica who was still at the door. “I laughed when they said that because I knew that he couldn’t have you. He could have any other girl in school, but he couldn’t have you.”

“He wasn’t having anyone else,” said Veronica. “Just me.”

“Unless he wanted to die,” Wallace acknowledged and Veronica choked back an unexpected laugh.

“This afternoon—it just came out, Vee, and I’m sorry I said it. I’m sorry I didn’t stop to ask you what was going on, but in my defense I had just caught you having sex in the middle of the school day with Logan Echolls, the guy you told me was Neptune High’s obligatory psychotic jackass. What was I supposed to think? I mean that literally—what was I supposed to think, Veronica?”

Veronica’s breath hitched and the words came. “I—we’ve been lying for so long, I don’t know how to tell the truth about it at this point. I’ve never done it. I wanted to tell you. I did. And it wasn’t even just about your knowing that I had a boyfriend. I wanted you to get to see Logan for who he really was and not as the jackass that everybody thinks he is—the guy that I tell everybody he is. I hate it! I hate it! And I’m tired of it! I’m tired of living my life for somebody else. Did you know that every time we start to think about “coming out”, something new happens with Duncan?” The words were flooding out of Veronica’s mouth in an unstoppable wave.

“You know about Shelley Pomeroy’s party, right? That was the first time that Logan and I slept together. It was my first time ever, and not only did half the school listen in, but it made Duncan try to kill himself! We went away—Logan and I—for the summer, and when we got back, Duncan crashed his car and ended up with his arm in a sling for six months. Then he got sent off to some private hospital and last week he had some sort of psycho rage blackout. I’ve been dying to tell you, Wallace. I have. But every time I so much as thought about telling you or anyone else, something terrible happened!”

Veronica paused to breathe and sat down in defeat.

“You really love him, don’t you?” asked Wallace thoughtfully.

“Yes. I really do.” Veronica looked him straight in the eye as she answered.

“And he loves you back?”

“You have no idea how much.”

Wallace nodded slowly and moved to sit next to Veronica on the couch. He put his hand on her knee.

“I’m sorry, Veronica. For everything.”

Veronica put her head on Wallace’s shoulder.

“Thank you,” she said softly.

They were interrupted by a knock on the door.

Veronica raised her head and smiled. “That’s probably my boyfriend.” At Wallace’s raised eyebrows, Veronica smiled even wider. “You just wait.”

She crossed the room and opened the door to reveal Logan in all of his street thug glory.

“Vee! You didn’t tell me Marshall Mathers was coming by!” exclaimed Wallace, now standing.

“Funny, P. Diddy,” Logan said as he crossed the threshold, kissed Veronica hello and started removing his disguise accoutrements. As he took off his hat, sunglasses and hoodie, he clarified. “Or should I call you Usher? He’s the one who cheated on his girlfriend, right?”

“Diddy has better clothes,” remarked Wallace with a dirty look.

“But Usher has better abs.” Veronica had to throw in her two cents.

“I can hire a personal trainer, too, when I get Diddy’s money.”

The banter helped to lighten the mood, but once it was over the three of them stood there, unsure and uncomfortable with the new dynamic.

“Logan, Wallace and I—we’re cool. Right?” She looked to Wallace for assurance. When he nodded, she turned back to Logan, going back and forth between the two of them.

“So are you two gonna play nice?” asked Veronica.

Logan and Wallace looked at each other and Veronica watched as something unspoken passed between them. It’s that guy thing again.

Logan smiled. “I believe that you owe me some time alone with my girlfriend, Diddy.”

“You think so, Marshall,” Wallace came back. As he headed for the door, he bumped Veronica’s shoulder with his own. “You know I expect the full story next time I see you, right?”

Veronica grinned at him. “You’re cool, Wallace.”

As the door closed behind her friend, Veronica turned to Logan still smiling.

“That went so much better than I expected.”

Logan pulled Veronica in for a close kiss.

When he pulled away he told her, “I’ll be right back,” and he headed into the bathroom.

As Logan looked at himself in the mirror before leaving the restroom, he reflected on how the day’s events were likely to affect his sex life. Veronica’s dad was out of town and the two of them usually used such opportunities to go at it. As a teenage boy, he didn’t want to have to stop having sex on a regular basis, but there was really much more to it than that. While the physical aspect wasn’t the only part of his and Veronica’s relationship, it was one that brought them both a great deal of comfort and he had come to depend on it as something that helped him to cope with the constant stresses that he faced every day.

Logan couldn’t imagine Veronica being all in the mood, though, after her best friend had so recently walked in on them. He wasn’t sure how long it would take, but he knew that he would follow her lead. He nodded at himself in the mirror and opened the door of the restroom to the sight of Veronica stark naked. His mind almost noted that she was leaning against the door of her bedroom, but really, nothing was registering except for the fact that his girlfriend was standing naked in front of him.

“Wow, you are really wearing way too many clothes,” she pointed out.

Logan had never gotten his clothes off so fast in his life.

*

Within an hour of arriving at school, Duncan was livid. His dad had dragged him to a minor league baseball game the previous night—all part of his parents’ new plan to never leave him alone. While Duncan’s machinations had kept Logan and Veronica in the closet, they had also sent his parents into wildly overprotective mode. Every night was a new adventure in family togetherness. In addition, his parents had taken to checking in on him every few hours at night when he was supposed to be asleep. All in all, it made sneaking out to spy on his prey very difficult.

Duncan had known when he was at the game last night that he was missing important developments. He hadn’t expected for Logan and Wallace to have become bffs overnight, though. Veronica’s partner in crime had come in near the end of Journalism to deliver Logan’s summons from Ms. James. As Veronica’s boys had walked out of the classroom together, Logan and Wallace did this little hand bump thing and Duncan overheard them calling each other “Marshall” and “Diddy”. Seriously, what the hell had he missed last night?

This overbearing parent thing had to end. It was not acceptable for him to be out of the loop.

*

The bell for second period rang right before Logan was called into Ms. James’ office. As Logan opened the door to the counselor’s office, he rolled his eyes. If he hadn’t been so tired and stressed, he might have been up to putting on quite a show, but he was tired and he was stressed and frankly, he didn’t want to talk about his relationship with Lilly. He had other things to worry about.

“Thanks for getting me out of a calculus test, Becky.”

“It’s Ms. James, please.” She paused and looked at her notes. “You and Lilly had been together off and on since junior high, right?”

“The week she died would have been our second anniversary.”

“And at the time of her murder?”

“We were off. Permanently.” Logan’s tone did not invite further discussion.

“Why were you broken up?” the counselor probed, anyway.

Logan gave the counselor a jaded look. “The day before she died I caught her screwing the pool boy. It put a damper on the relationship.”

“How did that make you feel?”

Logan sat up straighter. “What do you mean, how did it make me feel? Lilly and I had been going out for two years and do you know what she did when I caught her servicing the pool boy? Did she look embarrassed? Did she apologize? Did she tell me that she was sorry, that she really loved me? No. She smiled—like I should be amused by her extracurricular love life. How do you think I felt? Like my entire life was a joke.”

“And since then? How have you made peace with who she was in light of her death?”

“I found out what real love is, is how I made peace. I fell in love with someone who genuinely loves me back. I don’t—“ Logan couldn’t believe he was going on like this. Maybe, though, these were things that he had been wanting to tell Veronica, but couldn’t vocalize directly to her. Maybe this was the only way he could share these things. “I don’t regret the time I had with Lilly and I’ve accepted who she was, but I wouldn’t have been able to do that if I hadn’t found someone real, you know? Lilly…Lilly was like the brightest star in the sky, but even she doesn’t compare to real love. That’s like the sun—it overpowers everything.” Logan looked Ms. James in the eye. “I’m sorry that Lilly died, but our relationship was already over. And I wouldn’t trade what I have now for anything.”

--

Out in her car, tears streamed down Veronica’s cheeks. She hadn’t realized that she needed to hear those words until they came out of Logan’s mouth. As close as she and her boyfriend were, there had always been a tiny sliver of doubt in the back of her mind—did she really compare to vibrant, effervescent Lilly who outshone everything else in the heavens?

Question answered.

*

Duncan threw a tantrum that afternoon when his mom arrived to pick him up. He told her that she and his father weren’t going to be able to watch him every moment for the rest of his life. At some point they were going to have to trust him. His mother, of course, had countered with his suicide attempts and lapse in taking his meds. Duncan told her that he could never show her that he had learned his lesson unless his parents gave him some space. She agreed to let him go out that night only, as long as she knew where he was and who he was with and he made it back on a strict curfew. Even then, Duncan spent half the night looking over his shoulder to see if his parents were tailing him.

Nothing breeds paranoia like being an active stalker.

Which is why Duncan was able to follow Veronica that night as she tailed the Tritons. Duncan didn’t give a rat’s ass about the Tritons—he just wanted to know what was going on. He watched, hiding his presence, as Wallace and Logan backed Veronica up at the karaoke bar—Wallace openly, Logan in the back of the room. He listened as Veronica sang “One Way or Another”, which he found to be amusing on several levels. On some level he noted the fact that she was actually very good, but really what he cared about was what she was singing to accomplish.

Not that Duncan had strong feelings about Veronica staying in or getting out of trouble, he just wanted to watch it unfold. He needed to see it unfold. That’s what had been so excruciating about the previous night—he hadn’t gotten to experience the events along with Logan and Veronica and Wallace. Those were moments he would never get back.

When he got home that night to bear the scrutiny of his parents, Duncan did so with mixed emotions. He was relieved that he had been able to watch the night’s events, but he was still uneasy that he had missed the previous night. Ah, well. He’d just have to work harder to catch up.

*

Meg loved being in love. As she walked down the hall, she barely registered friends passing, teachers talking. Her head was full of thoughts of Eli, which was much more enjoyable than thinking about anything else in her life. Not that her life sucked or anything, it’s just that Eli was the best part.

Someone bumped into her.

“Excuse me,” she said, not looking to see who it was as she kept walking.

“Hey, puta! Watch where you’re going!” said Esmerelda as she again knocked Meg’s shoulder, this time with her hand instead.

Meg wasn’t in the mood for this. For a week now, Esmerelda, Mercedes and Cissy had been shooting her dirty looks every time they passed her, every time they saw her in class. The only allies the girls had in school were the PCHers, who didn’t join in the bullying because Weevil had made it clear that Meg’s assistance to his family was not cause for ridicule. It was the only thing he had been able to do, but it had been helpful. It meant that the three girls were on their own in their abuse of the cheerleader, which was plenty to handle on its own.

And Meg was tired of it.

She dropped her books on the floor and faced off against Esmerelda, who today was clad in a tight black leather bustier that looked like it would be more at home on a hooker than a high school student.

“What’s your problem?” Meg demanded.

“What’s my problem?” repeated Esmerelda as she shoved her face into Meg’s, clearly trying to intimidate the blonde girl, who admirably did not step back. “My problem is that you’re still coming to our neighborhood trying to get with our men. We told you to stay away, blondie.”

“Why is that?” Meg countered. “Are you afraid that all a girl has to do is be blonde and she’ll steal the guy you want? You don’t think much of yourself, do you?” Not a stellar comeback, but Meg was proud of herself.

Esmerelda shoved her up against the lockers and Meg heard someone yell “Fight!”

Despite popular opinion, Meg knew that cheerleading was a sport and after six years she was quite good at it. She collapsed onto the floor (a move from last year’s competition routine, thank you very much) and tackled Esmerelda’s knees, sending the other girl to the floor. A chorus of “oooohs” sounded in the background.

The two girls simultaneously went for each other’s hair and the next thing Meg knew, she was rolling around on the floor with the leader of Neptune’s girl gang, legs tangled, elbows smacking the floor, shrieks issuing.

Strong hands grabbed Meg’s waist, pulling her off of her adversary. She couldn’t see who had her, but she recognized her freshman Algebra teacher as the man taking a hold of Esmerelda.

“Chinga tu madre!” yelled the Latino girl. “You just try coming to our neighborhood again! I’ll kill you!”

“Maybe if you stopped dressing like such a slut you wouldn’t have to worry about people coming in and stealing your men!” Meg shouted right back as she struggled in her captor’s arms. “They don’t want to go where everyone’s gone before!”

“Who you calling slut, puta?!” Esmerelda tried to break free of Mr. Caldwell’s grip to no avail.

“That’s enough,” said a firm voice above Meg’s head. Mr. Clemmons. That made sense.

Mr. Clemmons and Mr. Caldwell dragged the still-struggling girls down the hall towards the office, breaking up the multitude of spectators as they did so.

This was going to be fun to explain to her parents.

*

Veronica listened in as Duncan’s session with Ms. James began.

“You missed our last three appointments.”

“I'm sorry. I've been buried. Thanks for waiting around for me.”

“Your mom called and told me what happened. How you stopped taking your medicine. Duncan, you have to consider the safety of both yourself and the other people around you. Taking your medication is an essential part of maintaining your health.”

Veronica sat up straighter.

“Well, I’m back on it now, so it’s not an issue anymore,” said Duncan.

“Are you sure there’s not—“

“All better.” Duncan cut her off.

There was a pause.

“How are you doing, Duncan? Really?”

Duncan launched into some long-winded, nonsensical story about Lilly’s facial expressions as Veronica sat in her car and pondered the significance of her ex-boyfriend’s mysterious medication.

Nothing else of major interest came out of listening in on Duncan’s interview. He was on anti-depressants (shocker), he missed Lilly, he was in a weird place in his life. Duh.

For a year Veronica had walked on eggshells around Duncan Kane and that road had just about run its course. Veronica wasn’t sure where the next path would lead, but she had a feeling that it was about time to find out.

*

Meg’s parents took the call into the principal’s office much better than she had expected. It helped that an entire hallway full of witnesses backed up Meg’s contention that the attack had been unprovoked and started by Esmerelda. And Meg knew her parents well enough to sell the incident as “here I am serving the needy in our community and look how the evil forces in the world try to stop me”. After that little song and dance, her parents went so far as to forbid her from discontinuing her service to the Navarro family.

Score one for Snow White, thought Meg as she headed up to her room. She had still gotten one day of in-school suspension for fighting, but it was a slap on the wrist compared to the three days of out-of-school suspension that Esmerelda earned.

Meg opened her door to find Lizzie sitting on her bed.

“What’s up?” Meg asked as she took off her earrings.

“I went along with that total line of crap you fed Mom and Dad.”

“What line?”

“Give me a break, Meg. I’ve been at this a lot longer than you have.”

Meg gave her sister a look. “What are you talking about?”

Lizzie laughed. “Okay, you’re better than I expected, I’ll give you that. I’m still the best, though. And you are lying through your teeth, Meglet!”

“You’re dreaming! I have homework to do, Lizzie. I can’t do that while you’re in here accusing me of…what are you accusing me of, exactly?”

Meg gave her sister a penetrating look. “Never play a player, Meg-a-licious. I’m gonna figure this out.”

Meg rolled her eyes as her sister exited. Despite her protestations, though, Meg was nervous. Lizzie was really good at digging up dirt. Not that she minded her sister knowing about Eli—she was almost sure that Lizzie would never tell their parents. She wasn’t as positive, though, about what Lizzie would do with the information outside of that restriction.

Meg checked her watch. Eli was still with his friends. She’d call him later and talk to him about it. Maybe she should ask Lizzie to help her out. That might prove helpful and she would be able to head her sister off at the pass, so to speak.

She wanted to get Eli’s opinion first, though.

*

That afternoon and evening Duncan watched with glee as Veronica was locked in her trunk and later freed by Logan and Wallace. Interestingly enough, Duncan had told his own parents that he was with Logan and he knew that if asked, Logan would back him up. That’s what friends did, after all.

Having heard Veronica discuss the plan with her posse, Duncan also knew about the elaborate events scheduled for the following day, which events he followed with relish. It was a lot of fun to watch Veronica manipulate the system to prove her innocence.

Duncan again wondered if Veronica and Logan knew how interesting their lives were. They certainly made his own life worth living.

*

Veronica was allowing herself to enjoy a well-earned sense of accomplishment. Proving her innocence was wonderful. But being able to humiliate Lamb in the process? That was priceless.

The knock at the door surprised her. Wallace had basketball practice and Logan had that meeting with his parents.

So why was Logan standing at her door? And what—she knew that look.

“What’s wrong?” Veronica didn’t know what it was, but she knew it was something. She led her boyfriend over to the couch where he collapsed onto her lap.

Fifteen minutes later, having described in halting sentences the scene with his parents in the middle of the hallway, Logan fell silent. His and Veronica’s left hands entwined and they ran their fingers up and down each others palms. Veronica hadn’t said much as Logan opened himself up to her. She had really just focused on being there for him.

Logan looked up into the eyes of the girl who loved him. “Promise me.”

The fingers of her right hand trailed across his forehead. “Anything.”

“Promise me that we’ll never be like that.”

Veronica sensed that the words came from deep within Logan’s soul. Taking his face in both of her hands, she lowered her face and pressed her lips to his in a kiss filled with all of the emotion that she possessed. Logan’s hands glided up to meld with Veronica’s face and he returned her kiss with matching intensity.

--

When Keith got home at around six, it was to find his daughter and her boyfriend asleep in each others’ arms on the couch. Keith liked Logan. He felt that their relationship was intense beyond their age, but after the hell that Veronica had been through over the past year, Keith couldn’t deny her the greatest source of solace and support that she had found. Logan had gone above and beyond the call of a teenage boyfriend and Keith knew it. He even respected it. He just worried because—well, probably because that was his job.

“Hey, you two ready for some dinner?” Keith’s voice woke up the pair on the sofa. Always a little unsure of how much PDA they could get away with in front of Veronica’s father, the two sat up so that they were blearily holding hands instead of being twisted around each other.

As Keith started pulling out pints of ice cream and various toppings—clearly it was going to be dessert for dinner night—he aimed at Veronica, “Why don’t you turn on the TV so we can see what’s going on in the world?”

His daughter picked up the remote and turned on the TV.

“—Echolls’ Viper was found abandoned on the Coronado Bridge. Again, the concern is that the film star and wife of action hero Aaron Echolls may have jumped to her death.”

Logan leapt for his cell phone, lying on the coffee table.

“Damn! No charge!”

Veronica’s was already in her hand. Logan grabbed it and dialed his father’s cell phone.

Keith and Veronica only heard the one end of their conversation.

“Dad! ... The battery’s dead. I heard it on the news—is what they said right?! ... Are they sure— … But— …”

The phone slid from Logan’s hand into his lap. Veronica picked it up and held it up to her ear.

“Aaron?...Yes, we’ll keep him here …Call us at this number, okay?” She closed her phone and pulled a numb Logan into her arms.

Keith felt helpless. What could he possibly say?

Veronica didn’t say anything, either. She simply held Logan as his world fell apart.

Chapter Text

Logan stayed at Veronica’s apartment for three days after his mother’s apparent suicide. The press was camped outside of his family’s mansion and Aaron agreed that it would be better if Logan avoided the entire scene. Since the Xterra was in its usual dark alley and no one knew that Logan was dating Veronica, he already had the perfect hiding place.

Logan slept on the couch, Veronica slept in her room and Keith slept with his door open. Veronica’s father agreed that Logan’s extended stay was necessary; he also wasn’t going to have anything going on right under his nose.

Veronica watched as Logan lost touch with the world around him. As they watched movies and played games, there were moments when his eyes lost focus, when it seemed that he was looking at something no one else could see. Those moments made Veronica’s heart hurt. She found, though, that the sound of her voice brought him back. When the veil slipped over his eyes, Veronica could put her hand on Logan and start talking as though everything was normal and the mist would lift and he would come back to her.

Late Sunday night, Keith, Logan and Veronica drove the van over to Logan’s house. The memorial service and open house were planned for the next day and Logan needed to be there. While most delivery vans didn’t make house calls at two in the morning, vans had been in and out of the Echolls residence all afternoon and evening in preparation for the following day’s events. As a result, the few journalists still camped around the wrought iron gate took little notice of the nondescript blue Ford and its driver, a balding, middle-aged man. When the same van and driver left twenty minutes later, it confirmed what most of the reporters had assumed anyway.

*

“Veronica! How is everything?! How’s Logan?! I’ve been trying to call you!” Wallace didn’t even wait for his best friend to say hello when he answered his cell phone on the way to school Monday morning.

“I know. I’m sorry things have been so busy and I haven’t been able to talk.” Veronica continued, cutting off Wallace’s next attempt to throw out questions. “Listen, I have a big favor to ask.”

Wallace didn’t hesitate. “Go for it.”

“My dad got into it with a bail jumper on Friday night and threw out his back. He had to go to the clinic on Saturday and get painkillers.”

“Is he okay?”

“Oh, yeah,” assured Veronica quickly. “He’s going to be fine. He just strained his back, but—well, he’s on pretty heavy medication and we can’t really afford for him not to work, not that he’d stop, anyway—“

“It’s okay, Vee. You don’t have to explain. Do you need me to help out your dad?”

Veronica let out a deep breath. “That’s exactly what I need. He won’t admit that he’s hurt, so he’s likely to overdo it. I’m afraid that he’ll hurt himself more, but I can’t leave. I need to be here.”

“I’m all over it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Don’t give it another thought. I’ll go over as soon as school gets out.”

“Thank you so much. I don’t even know what to say.”

“Just say that’s what friends do. You go worry about Marshall, okay? I got your back.”

Wallace could hear the smile in Veronica’s voice. “Thanks, Wallace.”

They said their goodbyes and Wallace walked into the school building, determined to do whatever he could to help his friends.

*

Logan spent the morning trying to act cool and unaffected by the goings-on at his house. To an outsider he looked like a teenager angrily covering up the pain he felt over his mother’s death. Veronica was guiltily relieved that she didn’t have to watch Logan perpetrate fraud upon friends and servants alike—watching Logan implode was almost physically painful for her. As things stood, however, she couldn’t be out and about when so many new people were around, so Logan’s girlfriend spent the day in the pool house.

Veronica had brought several of her school books, magazines and other things to keep her busy in anticipation of the time that she knew she would spending alone. She was trying to focus on her Journalism assignment when Logan burst through the door to the living area. All of the shades were tightly drawn and he was instantly afforded privacy with his girlfriend.

“I hate him!”

Veronica dropped her notebook and sat up. “Tell me.”

“He treated her like an afterthought for fifteen years and now he’s acting like he lost the love of his life!”

“What happened?”

Logan scoffed. “Does it matter? He’s putting on a performance, like it’s all about him! It’s like he flipped through his limited acting repertoire to the section on Showing Grief for a Loved One. Apparently it has instructions on how to tell stories about happier times. And let’s not forget the paragraph on “How to Whitewash Over How You Really Beat Up Your Kid to Make it Sound Like Your Son is the Bad Guy”. Yeah, that’s key.” Logan angrily looked around as though searching for something to hit.

“Logan,” Veronica said firmly but gently. “Logan,” she repeated a little louder when at first he didn’t turn to her. He finally looked her way and she patted the empty area of the couch next to her. He slowly crossed the room and sat down next to his girlfriend.

Veronica took Logan’s hand in hers and nestled into his side, not saying anything. She knew that any words she could share would be trite and unhelpful. Instead, she just sat there, rubbing his palm with her thumb. Logan closed his eyes and held her even more tightly to him.

When Logan was ready, he stood up, prepared now to continue with the day. Because she was stuck in the pool house, Veronica didn’t see the dust-up with the law-breaking member of the paparazzi, but Letty told her about it. Weevil’s grandmother told her that the only thing keeping Logan from breaking apart was Veronica and for the young girl to let her know if there was anything the older woman could do to help. Veronica told her she would, not sure if she would be able to follow through on such a promise, but knowing that it would help Letty sleep that night.

Veronica took out her AP English book and pretended to skim it while she waited for Logan and Aaron to get home from the memorial service. Unable to concentrate on anything, the time went by very slowly.

*

Wallace was sitting in Veronica’s usual spot behind the desk when Keith walked into the office.

“Wallace,” Keith said in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“Veronica called and asked me to come fill in for her while she’s with Logan.”

As he slowly crossed the outer room to his office, Keith rolled his eyes. “My daughter called and asked you to come babysit me because she doesn’t think I’ll take care of myself without her here.”

“Is she wrong?”

Keith raised an eyebrow and didn’t answer.

“That’s what I thought. Did you take your medication?”

“Shouldn’t you be doing your homework or something? You know, instead of nagging me?” Keith asked, a faint smile in his voice.

Wallace held up a bottle of pills. “Veronica text messaged me. These were sitting on your kitchen counter.”

Veronica’s father struggled to hold back another eye roll when he was distracted by a back spasm.

“You should use a heating pad,” suggested Wallace. “That’s what my mom makes me do when I hurt myself playing basketball.”

Keith rolled his eyes, took the pills from Wallace and moved painfully into his office.

As the door shut behind Keith, the outside door opened and Wallace looked up. The instant he recognized Bone Hamilton, the young man lost all power of speech.

“Hey, I’m looking for Keith Mars.”

Wallace tried to form words, but couldn’t do it, so he pointed to Keith’s door instead.

Bone gave him a strange look and Wallace managed to choke out, “Mr. Mars!”

“Yeah?” Keith called from the other room and Bone charged out of the reception area and into Keith’s inner sanctum.

Wallace was in shock. Bone Hamilton had just spoken to him. Bone Hamilton.

Twenty minutes later the young man had finally begun to regain his composure when Bone and Keith came out of the office and Wallace once again lost his voice.

“I’ll keep you updated,” said Keith as he shook the other man’s hand.

“You do that,” said Bone firmly as he walked out. As soon as he was out of sight, Wallace regained the power of speech.

“Do you know who that was?” He turned to Keith. “That was Bone Hamilton. Do you know who he is?”

“He’s the guy who just hired us to find his daughter,” the older man told him. “I was going to look him up the computer. Why, what can you tell me about him?”

Wallace gave Keith one of those looks that told Keith he was getting old. “Drive-by Records,” the young man said as though only idiots wouldn’t have that information at their fingertips. Keith stared blankly at Wallace, who continued his explanation as though speaking to someone who rode the short bus. “Reported to have held a man out of a window in order to get him to sign a contract. Twice jailed and emerged stronger each time.” This was all news to Keith. “The gangster rap impresario against whom all gangster rap impresarios measure themselves.”

“Okay, then,” said Keith. “The jail time explains why he didn’t want to go the police.”

Wallace scoffed. Duh.

“I’m going to go ask around their neighborhood, see what I can find out.” Keith headed for the door.

“Not by yourself, you’re not,” Wallace exclaimed as he jumped up and followed Keith.

“What?” the other man stopped in surprise.

“I told Veronica I was going to take care of you. I plan to do that, which means that if you’re going over to Bone’s neighborhood, I’m driving.”

“Wallace, I know your mother. She taught you to respect your elders. I am your elder. And I am going to go do some recon. Alone.”

Wallace gave Keith a somewhat-amused look. “You’re right, Mr. Mars. My mom did teach me respect.” Keith smiled in relief. “And Veronica taught me fear.” The smile vanished. “Fear wins.”

Keith sighed and Wallace put his hand out for the car keys.

*

Veronica fell asleep on the bed in the pool house after Logan and Aaron left for the memorial service. She woke up when she heard the caterer yelling at his crew that the guests were about to arrive. She went into the bathroom and fixed her hair and make-up. She might not be able to walk around at the funeral, but she wanted to give Lynn the respect of looking appropriate for the occasion.

Within minutes of hearing a series of cars park in the driveway, the glass door to the pool house slid open and Logan walked in. He had his sunglasses on, but Veronica didn’t need to see his eyes to know that Logan had been crying. As he slipped the door closed behind him, Veronica walked over and took his hand, leading him to the bed. She hadn’t planned on seducing him, but as she pulled him down to sit next to her, she sensed that Logan was adrift. Instead of his eyes losing focus this time, it was his spirit that had lost its grip on the world around him.

Veronica reached up and took off Logan’s sunglasses, revealing his bloodshot, blotchy eyes. Her fingertips trailed over his forehead and then moved down to remove his tie.

“Come back to me, my love,” she said softly as she unbuttoned his shirt. Logan blinked and for a moment his eyes focused in on the girl he loved. She didn’t normally use endearments, but she needed him to feel her. Veronica needed him to know that he wasn’t alone.

She stood up and began to undress. As she softly told Logan how much she loved him, tears once again fell down his face and he took comfort in the arms of the one person that he had left in the world.

*

Veronica helped Logan redress and wash off his face in preparation for rejoining the masses. She watched as he reassembled the mask that he showed to the world. In a matter of minutes, he went from being a grief-wracked teenage son to the snark-ridden rebel too cool for anything as mainstream as a funeral.

He didn’t look at her as he left the pool house and re-entered his parents’ world. Veronica wasn’t hurt, though. Lynn and Aaron’s universe didn’t allow for weakness. She had given Logan what he needed. When he had nothing and no one else, Veronica had been Logan’s home and her strength walked out the door with him as surely as if she had been holding his hand.

*

Duncan watched as Logan emerged from the Echolls’ pool house. Logan’s best friend was not having an easy time of it. He had expected to enjoy the funeral, but instead Duncan was struggling to find his emotional footing.

Duncan told himself that he watched Logan and Veronica because they were “entertaining”. The truth, though, whether or not he was capable of admitting it to himself or not, was that they were his emotional generators. He could call it whatever he wanted, but the only thing that made him feel were the lives of his former girlfriend and her boyfriend, his own best friend. The problem here was that subconsciously Duncan knew that. And even Duncan, as lost as he was to reality, couldn’t quite convince himself that a funeral was entertaining.

So what was it? If it wasn’t entertaining, what was this experience? On top of that, Duncan didn’t especially like the emotions that this occasion was bringing about. The last funeral he had been to was his sister’s, an event that he hadn’t consciously revisited since it happened. Lilly’s death was always in the back of Duncan’s mind, but he never let it come to the forefront. If it ever threatened to make its way up, he immediately focused harder on Logan and Veronica. Anything but letting his mind focus on his sister being gone.

He watched Logan make his way through the crowd, being hatefully sincere to the bloodsuckers attending the funeral and Duncan felt lost. He wanted things to go back to normal. He wanted to go back to listening in on Logan and Veronica stressing about whether or not he was going to kill himself. He didn’t want to think about dead family members.

Without excusing himself to his friend, Duncan walked out of the house to his car and drove away. He would tell Logan next time he talked to him that it was just too hard for him to be at another funeral.

Never mind that it was the truth.

*

Logan was on auto-pilot. He knew that the idiots at the funeral expected him to play the distraught son, so he did. He just did it in the way that he wanted to. He didn’t take pleasure in his actions. He took refuge.

Over the past few days, Logan had been awash in emotions. Anger, guilt, grief, sorrow—it was too much to process. Sometimes he could no longer handle the multitude of emotions that were so tangible he felt like he could put out his hand and hold them and he would feel himself starting to drown. It was then that he would hear Veronica’s voice. Every time he started to lose touch, she was there, pulling him back from the edge of the same cliff that had taken his mother.

Despite the fact that Veronica had been his girlfriend for going on a year and half, Logan was still surprised that she was there. That wasn’t what the women in his life did. Didn’t she get that? Didn’t she know that she was doing it wrong?

Logan saw his dad standing outside with his agent. Leave it to his father to talk shop at his wife’s funeral. It was as though a grenade went off in Logan’s lungs, spewing white-hot shrapnel made of anger and bitterness through every molecule of his body. After venting some of that anger on his father and the idiot standing next to him, Logan turned and raced towards the pool house, needing Veronica at that moment more than he had ever needed anyone in his entire life.

*

Veronica was curled up on a recliner in the living area of the pool house when she heard Logan crash through the sliding glass door. She had been in that spot since her boyfriend had made his exit earlier, unable to focus on anything but concern and worry for him. As she ran into the bedroom, Logan exploded.

“He’s working on a business deal! A business deal! It’s her funeral! What kind of bastard does that?!”

Veronica pulled herself up short. She had been waiting for this—every volcano had to release its poison eventually. She sat down on the bed and watched as Logan paced angrily.

“She had a career, you know, and she loved it.” Veronica tilted her head and listened as Logan began talking. She listened for an hour as Logan paced and talked, sharing with Veronica the story of his mother’s life as seen through the eyes of her son.

Lynn Lester had been beautiful and vivacious, making up in personality for what she lacked in talent. People loved to be around her and she had that sparkle up on the screen that put patrons in the seats and made movie executives hire her. When she and Aaron had started dating, it was a match made in Entertainment Tonight heaven. The Action Hero and The Action Babe date! Marry! Have a baby! And she still makes movies for her adoring public! Which is when everything had changed.

Aaron hadn’t wanted his wife to go back to work after Logan was born. He kept telling Lynn that their son needed her at home. Logan was too young to understanding what the arguments were about, but he was old enough to remember that his parents had fought. After a five-year hiatus, Lynn’s return to the silver screen as the big baddie in a stock action film had been a well-heralded event and unfortunately for her, it made $50 million more than her husband’s last film.

A few weekends later, Aaron hit Logan for the first time. When Lynn tried to intervene, Aaron told her that if she was home where she was supposed to be, she wouldn’t have such a badly behaved son and he wouldn’t be forced to discipline him, now would he? A few days later when Lynn had begun talks for another film, Aaron put Logan in the hospital and told the ER that the boy had fallen off of his swing set. Logan’s mother had caught on. She had her agents cut off discussions and had announced that she was going back to being a full-time mom.

Not strong enough to stand up to her domineering husband, Lynn had retreated into something of a half-hearted existence made possible by alcohol, prescription medication and “acceptable” Hollywood-wife activities like throwing elaborate Christmas parties. It was her son’s opinion that his father had broken his mother’s spirit as surely as he had broken his son’s bones. On rare occasions Lynn had returned to work, usually when the money was too good for even Aaron to pass up, but those times simply served to remind Lynn of the life that was lost to her.

As Logan shared the story of his mother’s domination at his father’s hands, Veronica’s heart ached for him. She hadn’t understood the depth of responsibility that Logan felt for his mother’s life. How could she have? Veronica wanted desperately to say something to make it better, to tell Logan that everything was going to be okay, but she sensed that platitudes were the worst thing she could do right now. Instead, when Logan finally stopped wearing tracks in the carpet and sank down next to her on the bed, she took his hand in hers and just held it.

“You’re still here,” stated Logan.

Veronica looked up confused. “Um, yeah.”

“Every time I turned around, every time I needed you, you’ve been there.”

Ah.

“Of course.”

“There’s no of course,” sniped Logan. “That’s not how it goes. Don’t you get that?” He turned to look at Veronica. “I love you—-I trust you more than anyone I’ve ever known in my entire life. Even then—-even then—-I’ve still been afraid in the back of my head that you wouldn’t be here the next time I needed you.” Veronica started to say something, but Logan cut her off. “Why would you want to be with someone who felt that way? You deserve to be with someone who believes in you.”

A soft smile stole over Veronica’s features. “You believe in me. You just don’t trust your history. I’d be surprised if you felt any other way.” Logan sighed and turned away. Veronica stroked the hand that she was still holding. “I’m not going anywhere, Logan. That’s just how it’s gonna be.”

Logan reached over and pulled his girlfriend into his lap, cradling her in his arms.

“I couldn’t have made it through this without you,” he whispered into her hair.

“I will always be there for you, Logan. Always.”

Logan and Veronica sat entwined for a long time, drinking each other in.

*

Wallace was exhausted. How did Veronica keep up with her life? First he had driven Keith to Bone’s neighborhood where he had convinced Keith to canvas the area alone after pointing out that his presence would probably lead people to expect a basketball fundraiser request. Then he had gone with the private investigator to meet the rap mogul’s former lawyer.

The next day after receiving some interview tips from Keith, he had talked with some of Yolanda’s friends as well as her brother. It was weird how accurate Keith’s advice had been—Wallace had totally been able to tell when that girl Gabrielle was lying. Later he and Keith had gone to a club in L.A. where Keith had interviewed the doorman and Wallace had pulled valet records, both irritating and impressing Veronica’s father.

That was less surprising, though, than Wallace’s unexpected turn as a “concierge” for Dime Bag and his posse, but Wallace hadn’t had any choice. He wasn’t even sure what a concierge was or if he had used the term correctly, but with Dime Bag headed for another room, what Keith was doing was going to be useless. So Wallace had jumped in and pretended to be a hotel employee in order to bug the room of a rapper whose album he owned. Once again, Keith Mars had been both irritated and impressed. Hey, as long as the man didn’t rat on him to his mother, Wallace was fine with whatever reaction the P.I. felt like having.

Life with the Mars family was never dull.

Wallace was most proud of himself, though, for figuring out what was going on at the “ransom” drop-off. Oh, yeah, he could be a private eye. If he could stay awake.

As Wallace drifted off to sleep, grateful beyond measure that the mystery was solved and that Yolanda was happily married, he hoped that Logan was okay and that Veronica would be returning to school. Seriously, he did not have the energy to follow in that girl’s footsteps.

*

Veronica had spoken with her father a little earlier and they had agreed that it was time for her to return to school. A doctor friend owed Cliff a favor, so Veronica would have a medical note excusing her long absence from school, but the time had come for her to go back to the real world. When she told Logan, he agreed and said that he would return as well.

After the funeral, the two of them had spent the next few days hanging around with each other, playing games, sitting by the pool, doing homework. Well, Veronica had done homework. Logan had watched her do homework. More than anything, though, Veronica had just been there.

That night at about 2 a.m. , Veronica woke to find herself alone in the bed. She turned over and saw Logan standing in the entrance to the sliding door, looking out over the sparkling blue water of the pool. Crossing to him, she stood behind him and put her arms around his waist, resting her head between his shoulder blades. Tomorrow morning they would return to school, but tonight she just wanted to hold him.

“You know Mom's dad fought in the Korean War?”

Surprised by the unexpected comment, Veronica shook her head.

“He got this lighter in Seoul.” Logan held up the object in his hand for Veronica to see. She stepped around him and he pulled her into his arms, placing the lighter in her hand as he did so. “He held onto it even when he was captured. He and his buddies escaped and he had it engraved.”

Veronica held up the lighter and the engraved words shimmered in the light from the pool.

She turned in Logan’s arms to look at him, the lighter still clutched in her hand.

Logan’s eyes were haunted. “She hated all this, she hated him.” His eyes left Veronica’s and he looked off into the distance. “They didn't find a body because she's not dead.”

Logan reached down and took Veronica’s hand in his, opening it up to once again reveal the lighter.

“She just escaped. And I need you to help me find her.”

Chapter Text

“Veronica, I need your help.”

It occurred to Veronica that she could make a lot of money if she got $5 every time someone said those words to her. She could never point that out to Meg of all people, though, so she said the next best thing.

“What can I do for you?”

Meg looked around the quad which was full of students laughing and eating lunch to make sure that no one was within earshot.

In a heavy tone decidedly at odds with the rest of the students, Meg asked, “Can you help me with something after school?”

“I have to work, but I can do it after that. Can I call you when I get off?” Veronica didn’t ask what Meg wanted, as she sensed that her friend was uncomfortable talking about it in such a public setting.

“That would be great. Thanks.” Meg looked down at her food, as yet untouched. She took a breath as though preparing to share something important, but at that moment Wallace plunked his tray down and Meg blew out the air in her lungs without saying a word.

“Hey, Meg,” said the new arrival. “Check you out, braving the scorn of the masses to sit at the Table of Doom.”

Meg smiled weakly. “Anytime. Um, I have to go.” Meg grabbed her things and left the table.

“Was it something I said?” asked Wallace, as he and Veronica watched Meg throw away her uneaten lunch and head inside.

Veronica’s expression was concerned as she continued to stare in Meg’s direction even after the other girl was no longer in sight.

“No. I’m not sure what’s wrong, but I don’t think it has anything to do with either of us.”

Veronica shook her head as though clearing out the cobwebs and turned her full attention to Wallace, who proceeded to regale her with the in-depth account of his adventures with her father.

Veronica was truly interested in hearing Wallace’s story, but she still had to fight the urge to keep looking back in the direction of Meg’s exit. She didn’t know what was wrong, but Veronica had the feeling that whatever it was, it wasn’t good.

*

Stunned by the events in history class, Veronica was about to go up and talk to Mr. Rooks when she was distracted by the sight of Logan and Duncan walking down the hall in deep conversation. She knew exactly what their topic of conversation was.

As much as she wanted to help her history teacher, she couldn’t take on a new case right now, not with her full attention already occupied with the search for Lynn. She also had a very strong feeling that whatever Meg needed was going to take what little energy she had left.

“You okay?” Wallace walked up next to her and the two of them exited the room, leaving a shaken Mr. Rooks behind them.

“I guess,” said Veronica. “I wish that I had time to help Mr. Rooks, but I can’t right now.”

“Logan’s mom,” noted Wallace.

“Exactly.” It was nice having a friend who knew her that well.

“Tell you what, why don’t I get Carrie’s permanent file and we can look it over?”

Veronica stopped in the middle of the hall, causing a mini-traffic jam behind her and her friend.

She blinked as though trying to refocus on the boy in front of her. Wallace grabbed her arm and pulled Veronica to the side of the hall and out of the flow of traffic.

“Wallace Fennel, do my ears deceive me or did you just volunteer to commit a clandestine act?”

Wallace gave Veronica a look.

“It’s caught you, hasn’t it?” Veronica asked rhetorically. “The sleuthing bug. I should have known it was in your genes.” A huge grin plastered itself on her face.

Wallace rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I’m just helping out a friend. And a teacher—I like Mr. Rooks, too, you know.”

Veronica laughed and the two of them resumed their walk to their next class. “You say that now. You just wait!”

*

Logan watched Duncan’s reaction closely. He wasn’t going to back down, but he knew that it was important to monitor his best friend’s state of mind.

“That’s cool, man,” replied Duncan. “I mean, it’s your mom. You’ve got to do what you can, right?”

His friend seemed sincere and Logan let out a relieved breath, trying not to be too obvious about it.

Logan couldn’t handle sneaking around to ask Veronica about his mom’s case and it had occurred to him that this was the perfect excuse for him and Veronica to be able to talk in public without giving away their relationship. He had broached the subject with his girlfriend during the previous night’s 11:00 call and she had agreed.

And it appeared to have gone off without a hitch.

“Let me know how it goes, man,” assured Duncan.

“Will do. And thanks for taking over the ‘80s dance for me. Dude, I am not in a place to mess with that right now.”

“No problem,” said Duncan, who was actually a little irritated about doing anything that would take time away from watching Logan and Veronica. At the same time he had to keep up appearances, so he had actually volunteered to head up the dance committee. “It’s the least I could do.” The two of them reached the end of the hallway where they had to split up and head for different classes. “Catch you after school.”

Logan nodded and headed to class. That had gone well.

Duncan watched Logan walk away. He had to find a way to use this dance thing to his advantage. Possibilities started running through his mind as Duncan headed to class.

*

Logan caught up with Veronica on the quad. Without any conscious thought, Veronica’s stomach plummeted and she thought she was going to throw up.

Logan can’t talk to me in public!

Seeing the look in her eyes, Logan said softly, “It’s cool.”

Relief flooded Veronica. She hadn’t realized how ingrained her avoidance of Logan had become. How sad was that?

They discussed the text message that Veronica had received telling her about the supposed witness’s appointment with the police that afternoon and Veronica agreed that Logan could come. She gave the stipulation, though, that he let Cliff do the talking and that Logan himself stay out of it. Logan agreed and they made plans to meet at the sheriff’s department. He would have preferred to pick her up, but they figured it was best to take baby steps at first.

As he walked away from Veronica to find Duncan, Logan realized that he felt better at that moment than he had since hearing the news of his mother’s death. Who knew that talking to his girlfriend in public would be so therapeutic?

*

When Keith told Veronica that he had been hired by the Bishops to investigate Mr. Rooks, she felt her heart freeze. Seriously, she couldn’t deal with this right now. With her father against him, she didn’t know if her history teacher would stand a chance.

She managed to croak out, “Dad, please.”

Her father looked up in surprise. “What is it, honey?”

Tears welled up in Veronica’s eyes and she fought them back. She was just emotionally exhausted. It shouldn’t be this hard.

“Mr. Rooks is one of the best teachers I’ve ever had. If I didn’t have so much going on—“ her breath hitched, “—I would help him myself, but I can’t. I just can’t.”

Keith’s eyes widened in alarm as he saw his resilient daughter start to dissolve. He knew how much strain she was under and it had been killing him to watch her go through it.

He crossed to his daughter and pulled her into his arms.

“I know, honey. I know,” he reassured her as he stroked her hair.

Veronica pulled away and looked up at her father.

“Can you—will you—“ she struggled to find the right words. “Could you treat this like a police investigation instead of a private investigation? You know,” she clarified at her father’s questioning expression, “look at it with an open mind instead of automatically trying to prove his guilt? Could you act like a sheriff instead of a private investigator?”

“Sure, honey,” Keith said as he pulled Veronica back into his arms. The last thing he had expected was a reasonable request. Filling it was the least he could for his beautiful little girl, her shoulders aching as she tried to carry the burdens of everyone around her.

“At least then I would be able to sleep tonight.” Veronica’s voice was muffled against her father’s chest and he pulled her in tighter.

He would do anything for his daughter.

*

Veronica and Logan had taken separate cars to the police station, so after Logan tore out of the parking lot in his Xterra, Veronica leaned against the wall of the building and slumped to the ground, unable to walk to her car.

How could she watch him go through this? Veronica wondered if it was more difficult to go through something this horrible yourself or to love someone who was going through something this horrible. Right at that moment, she couldn’t have said.

The image ran through Veronica’s mind of Susan and Carrie making fun of her in the bathroom and she started to giggle. Since she was already crying, this led to her doing that weird crying/laughing thing that makes anyone who does it look like they should be committed, which just made her laugh and cry harder.

Idiotic teenage girls. That’s what was going through her mind as the boy she loved with all of her heart dealt with the loss of his mother—idiotic teenage girls. The giggles subsided and the only sounds still issuing from Veronica were wracking sobs.

*

Meg hung up her cell phone. Veronica was her on her way over. Had she been more herself Meg would have noticed that Veronica’s voice sounded odd, thick. As it was, she couldn’t focus on anything intelligently, least of all the nuances of her friend’s vocal patterns.

Was this really happening? How could this happen? They had been so careful. Could she really be pregnant? What was she going to do? What were they going to do?

Right now all Meg could do was wait for Veronica to get there and hold her hand while Meg took the pregnancy test she had bought two days earlier. Meg had finally come to the conclusion that she couldn’t do it on her own. Two days of staring at the box that she couldn’t open had led her to admit that she needed help.

Meg had thought about asking Eli to do it, but it didn’t seem like the right time yet. So she had asked Veronica.

So Meg sat in her room. And she waited.

*

Veronica sat on her bed staring at the wall as she thought about how much she had changed over the past year and a half. Old Veronica would have never made it through today. As it was, the events were choppy in her head.

She knew that Meg was having a bad day, but she hadn’t been anywhere near prepared for the reason.

-

”Hi, Veronica!” Meg ran out the front door and jumped into Veronica’s car before Veronica even had time to turn off the ignition.

As soon as the car door was shut, she explained in a low tone, “We need to do this at your house or—it doesn’t really matter. It just can’t be here.”

It wasn’t until Veronica parked in front of her apartment that Meg pulled out the pregnancy test and Veronica learned what was going on.

-

Then there was her conversation with her dad.

-

”I’ve been looking at this objectively, honey, and so far it’s not good.”

Veronica sighed. The look in her dad’s eyes was compassionate. Even though the Bishops had hired him, Veronica knew that right now Keith Mars would do just about anything to make her smile. Obviously this news wasn’t going to do that.

-

Veronica looked at the cracks in the paint on her wall. Maybe they should ask the landlord for a new paint job. Right. And they were going to have working hot water, too.

A damaging diary? Credit card corroboration?

The saddest thing was that at any other time, either Meg’s predicament or the soap opera with Rooks would deserve its own little chapter in the ongoing serial that was Veronica’s life. Given the current situation with Logan and his mother, though, they both barely claimed a paragraph.

Veronica could still feel the dirt under her palms, the rough brick against her back as she sat defeated in front of the sheriff’s station. The smell of dry earth had mixed with that of urban sprawl to make Veronica feel like she was suffocating.

And the horrific scene at the coffee bar with the crazed Lynn Echolls fan.

“Damnit!” she yelled, her attention once again back in the present. It was a good thing her dad was out doing surveillance on another case.

Difficult situations didn’t make her fall apart. She wasn’t that person anymore. And here she was, teetering on the brink.

Veronica had a sudden desire to go out and buy a ceramic figurine just so that she could smash it against some peeling paint.

Her cell phone rang. She didn’t even say hello.

“Is it just me or are you tired of being a victim?” she demanded.

“Hell, yeah,” affirmed Logan loudly, whatever he had been planning on saying forgotten.

“So we know that Duncan is on some sort of medication, but we don’t know what it is, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Given our relationship, I think that Duncan would be suspicious if I asked him who his doctor was. So I have a plan.”

“The world makes sense yet again.”

“You need to go through Celeste Kane’s files. You know Duncan’s medical records will be there. And it’s totally normal for you to be over at their house.”

“I love you.” It was not a sweet and fluffy declaration of love. It was a “screw you” to the rest of the world.

“Damn straight.”

“Do I get to wear camo?” For the first time in weeks Logan sounded like himself again.

“Only if I get to dress you in chaps, too.”

“Oh, the possibilities…” Logan’s voice trailed off and Veronica knew exactly where his mind was going. Same place hers was.

They talked for a few more minutes, cutting off the conversation a little sooner than normal. It was almost as though they were both afraid that if they talked too long the relaxed mood would pop like a soap bubble and they would have to face the real world again.

So they said their goodbyes and separately went straight to bed, each of them desperate to hold on to the long-lost feeling of normalcy.

Not that it worked.

*

Logan’s attempt to go right to sleep didn’t proceed quite as well as he would have liked. He kept hearing Maleficent’s voice in his head over and over again.

“If you’d like, sure.”

The evil gold digger was selling out his mother to the highest bidder. She didn’t care that Lynn Echolls was someone’s mother. She neither knew nor cared that even though Lynn was an alcoholic, she had still held her son in her arms as the pain medication wore off, assuring him that it would be okay, that he would be okay.

No, all Maleficent thought about was her next excursion to the dollar store, not a young man who couldn’t go near his mother’s dressing room anymore because the lingering smell of her perfume brought him instantly to tears.

Logan missed his mom. He missed Duncan, for that matter. Duncan had been different after Lilly died, but something about Lynn’s death seemed to have sent him down a new pathway. And this one didn’t seem to include his best friend.

The memory of crashing into Weevil as he raced out of the coffee shop popped into his mind. There weren’t many people that Logan could actually talk to. Veronica, of course. But Logan would have loved to have hung out with another guy—that whole male bonding thing. For years, Duncan had filled that need. So who was Logan supposed to turn to now? Dick?

Logan laughed. The sound echoed in the darkness of his room. Dick liked to talk about video games and naked women and that was about it. He definitely wasn’t going to let Logan casually shed pieces of angst by making comments about his mom’s death. That took a real friend. And Logan didn’t have many of those.

The young man knew that part of it had to do with his strong personality—he intimidated a lot of people. It didn’t help in that regard that his father was Aaron Echolls. Another reason for his lack of close relationships was the ongoing abuse he suffered at the hands of his father. If Logan got close to someone, that was just one more person who might see through his façade.

So any real friend that Logan could have needed to be a secure personality who wasn’t intimidated or impressed by fame and fortune and who wouldn’t ask questions if Logan showed up in the middle of the night with a black eye. There weren’t many people that fit the bill. Duncan, in fact, had been the sole candidate to pass the test.

Again that image of Weevil appeared in his head.

Yeah, the gang leader might fit the bill, but how did the leader of the 09ers go about establishing a personal friendship with the leader of the Latino motorcycle gang? Their girlfriends had brought them together and Logan had sensed that he and Weevil could be good friends given the right circumstances.

But as Logan drifted to sleep, he wondered if that magical set of circumstances would ever come together.

He wouldn’t know until the next morning how beneficial his conversation with Veronica had been. It turned out to be the first morning since his mother died that he didn’t wake up with a pillow damp with tears.

*

Veronica loved Italian food. Keith loved Veronica. Therefore Keith was actually cooking, as in he had turned on the stove, boiled water, visited the spice cabinet—the whole nine yards. He knew that it was a weak attempt, that nothing was going to soften this blow, but he couldn’t help it. Keith desperately wanted to do whatever he could do to shield his daughter from yet another let-down by an adult in her life. He had a feeling that it wasn’t going to work.

He heard the front door open.

“Is that lasagna I smell?”

See? Did Keith Mars know his daughter or what?

“Keith Mars' secret recipe.”

A look appeared on Veronica’s face that did not bode well for her father.

“You double the cheese. Your secret is out. You're making salad? I know pity cooking when I see it. There must be more bad news.”

There were times when Keith wished that his daughter wasn’t quite so intelligent.

“Maybe we should wait 'til after dinner, huh?”

“Spill it. I promise I won't let it ruin my appetite.”

You say that now.

Keith sighed. “Rooks was fired from his last job at a private school. His file is sealed, but the complaint came from the parents of two girls.”

Veronica felt like a rug had been pulled out from under her. She opened her mouth to reply to her father, but the words stuck in her throat.

“Veronica—“ her dad started to say something else, but she forced herself to cut him off.

“I have to—I’ll be right back. Let me know when dinner’s ready. It smells great,” she added distractedly.

She crossed the tiny apartment to her bedroom where she couldn’t help slamming the door behind her.

Screw this. Veronica wasn’t going to let down yet another guy in her life. Duncan, her dad, Logan—every man she ever cared about had his life torn apart and all Veronica could do was stand by and let it happen. She wanted to scream loud enough that blood vessels in her throat would burst. But she didn’t. The neighbors would probably call the police.

She was powerless to help Logan and it was killing her. But she could help Mr. Rooks.

She opened her door and went back into the kitchen.

“I want to see Carrie’s journal.”

She watched her father’s face fall. “You know I can’t let you.”

“There better be dessert.”

Game on.

*

When Veronica came back later that night covered in ink, she was stunned. Her dad had known that she would try to get the journal. He had known when he told her that she wouldn’t be able to stand idly by and watch someone else that she cared about be hurt.

In the back of her mind, it meant a lot to her that her dad thought so highly of her. On the other hand, she really just wanted to karate chop him in the throat.

She wasn’t surprised that her dad ultimately gave her the information she needed. She had known that he would put her above his clients. She was still irritated, though, as she got ready for bed still covered in ink spots that she couldn’t quite scrub off.

When she and Logan talked that night, he just laughed at her.

“Want me to come over and give you a sponge bath, my little ink blotter?”

Was she supposed to be happy that her boyfriend was sounding more like himself or climb through the phone lines and smack him for being a smartass? Decisions, decisions…

“Have you gone through Celeste’s things yet?”

“No, I’m going over to their house on Friday to hang out and I’ll end up staying over. I’ll go look around in the wee hours of the morning.”

It was easier to talk about rummaging through friends’ private files than about how each of them was really doing.

In the end, they did something that they hadn’t done in awhile, but which they each enjoyed. They went to bed with the phone line open, lulled to sleep by the sound of each other’s breathing.

*

After Lilly, Weevil decided that he would never let himself be that vulnerable to a girl again. When he and Meg first started going out, he knew that she felt stronger about him than he did about her, so he figured it was okay to go on seeing her. Even after they slept together for the first time in Logan’s pool house, Weevil convinced himself that it meant more to her than it did to him.

He put her first when they had sex because she was so new at it—he wanted her to have a good experience. He didn’t do it because he was in love with her or anything. He had been spending less time with his friends and more time with Meg because he didn’t want her to be alone with the kids all the time. It wasn’t because he wanted to be with her as much as possible.

That’s what he told himself.

And he had believed himself up until a few days ago.

That’s when Meg had started avoiding him. Out of the blue she stopped coming over to his house as often. His calls to her cell phone went to voice mail. And he had no idea why.

It wasn’t until Meg was no longer there that Weevil realized how much he had come to need her. How much he had come to love her. He hadn’t felt this desperate since Lilly and he couldn’t believe that he had let it happen, but he had.

Meg was coming down the hall headed towards her math class. There weren’t very many people left in the hall, so Weevil was able to take a page from Veronica’s book. He stepped forward and pulled Meg by the arm into the girls’ bathroom.

He felt her tense under his hand and she pulled away as soon as they were alone. She clutched her books to her chest and leaned against the wall, not looking at him.

“What’s goin’ on, Meg?” Weevil demanded. “Why are you doin’ this?”

Meg shook her head and he saw a tear work its way down her cheek.

What was going on?

He grabbed Meg’s arms and her books crashed to the floor.

“Talk to me!” he yelled.

“I think I’m pregnant,” Meg choked out the words as the tears started to flow freely.

Without letting go of her, Weevil froze. “What?” Meg didn’t repeat her declaration. “Why—why didn’t you tell me?”

Meg looked away again. Her lips moved but no words came out.

“Why?”

“I was afraid.” The words were whispered as Meg went limp. She slid down the wall to sit on the grimy floor. Weevil followed and pulled her into his arms, where Meg started to sob openly.

Weevil had never seen Meg this helpless before. Contrary to popular belief, she was so strong, so capable. This wasn’t like her.

“You’ve never told me you loved me,” the words were so soft, he could barely hear them through the sounds of her crying. “I didn’t want you to feel obligated.”

Weevil’s heart constricted. He had done this to her. His determination not to love anyone had broken the one girl who had ever really given him her heart.

“I love you, Meg,” he said into her ear.

Meg pulled back in his arms to look at him. That spark that he loved had returned in an instant. It was watery, but it was there.

“Don’t say that if you don’t mean it.” The shakiness of her words should have diminished her command’s power, but in fact only heightened it.

“I should have told you sooner, but I didn’t want to admit it. It never should have taken me this long.” Weevil pulled Meg in closer to him. “You’ll never have to wonder again.” He paused. “Have you taken a pregnancy test?”

Meg laughed weakly in his arms. “I had Veronica come over and I took both of the tests in the box.” Her voice skipped. “One was negative and the other was positive.” She couldn’t see Weevil’s face constrict in confusion, but she knew what he was thinking. “I looked it up on the Internet. It doesn’t happen often, but it’s not unheard of. I have an appointment at the free clinic in San Bernardino on Monday. Veronica’s going with me.”

“No, she’s not,” said Weevil. Meg looked up at him surprised. “I am.” Weevil wiped the tears off of his girlfriend’s cheeks and continued to hold her.

Weevil meant what he said. Meg was never going to wonder about his feelings again. Lilly had died knowing that Weevil loved her. He’d be damned if Meg didn’t get to live knowing the same thing. It was time to step up and be a man.

Especially if his girlfriend was pregnant.

*

Veronica knew that she should be in a better mood than she was. She had talked to Rooks and learned of his plan to overthrow small private schools, she had learned the supposed details of his love life from Carrie, and she had put together that Carrie’s prowess in track disproved the supposed evidence of an affair in San Diego. Furthermore, in the morning Weevil had told her that there was a kid who might have information about Logan’s mom and in the afternoon Meg had told Veronica that her services would no longer be needed on Monday, as Weevil would be taking Meg to the clinic for her pregnancy test. He had even told Meg that he loved her. About time.

She should have been happy. Things were moving. Things were getting done. Weevil had gotten his head out of his sphincter. All of these things were good, but Veronica couldn’t quite bring herself to believe. She was afraid that things would crumble like they always did. Rooks wasn’t cleared, Meg’s diagnosis was unclear and Logan still had to break into Celeste Kane’s files.

Veronica was terrified that the way their luck was going, something terrible would go wrong.

She sighed. Time would tell.

*

“Wait a minute, back up. Why is Meg going to a free clinic? In San Bernardino?” Veronica had just informed Logan that she didn’t have to leave Neptune after school on Monday.

“I didn’t mention that?”

“Undoubtedly you were too busy talking about Brad and Jen.”

“Uh-huh. I think I didn’t want to worry you.”

“Thanks for sparing me the agony. I assume the only reason people in Neptune go to clinics in other cities is for pregnancy tests, right?”

“Correct. I held her hand while she took two separate pregnancy tests.”

“Then why is she going to the clinic? She need some special vitamins?”

“One test was positive, one test was negative.”

“Come again.”

“I was there. I swear that it happened.”

“That sucks on so many levels.”

“At least she finally told Weevil.”

“How did he handle it?”

“He told her that he loved her.”

“Good for him.”

“What would you do if I told you I was pregnant?”

“After I sobered up?”

Veronica laughed. “Seriously, what would you do?”

“Hold your hair back from your face while you had morning sickness, I guess. I mean, that’s what you’d need, right?” There was no response. “Veronica? Did I say something wrong?”

Veronica voice sounded constricted. “No, you didn’t say anything wrong at all.”

*

After the school board meeting, Veronica met up with Logan and he drove her over to Rooks’ house. He parked under some shadows one house down and waited for Veronica to reemerge. When she did he could tell by the set of her shoulders that she wasn’t happy. Logan knew his girlfriend really well.

Veronica climbed into the Mystery Machine and slammed the door.

Logan looked intently at his girlfriend.

“What’s wrong?”

“He did it,” Veronica said angrily. In a very Logan-like move, Veronica slammed her hand against the front dash.

*

As Logan waited to make sure that Duncan and his parents were good and asleep, he reflected on how mature it had been of him not to tear Rooks limb from limb. He supposed he would have to be content with the fact that Rooks would never be a teacher again.

He looked over at the alarm clock. Three thirty in the morning. If the Kanes weren’t sound asleep, they were never going to be. Logan got up and padded silently through the house. He knew the Kane house almost as well as he knew his own. Over the years he had spent considerable time there. Unfortunately for this specific enterprise, the room with which Logan was least familiar was the office.

After he slipped into the room, Logan pulled out the flashlight that Veronica had packed for him. Ah, the benefits of having a sexy P.I. for a girlfriend. He moved across the office to the desk and started going through the drawers. After a fruitless search, he sighed distractedly and swept the flashlight around the room and that’s when he saw it—the safe discreetly set in the wall to the right of the desk.

Veronica had prepared him for this possibility. Logan flipped through the day-by-day calendar to Duncan’s birthday.

“No kidding,” he whispered to himself. There was the combination. Honestly, Logan hadn’t believed Veronica. That showed him.

As he entered the combination, Logan was grateful again to Veronica for distracting him from all the other crap in his life.

The safe door swung open to reveal a much bigger compartment than Logan expected. He shone the flashlight into the container to reveal a few stacks of cash, what looked like jewelry boxes and…several files.

Logan took out the files. Sure enough, there was “DK Medical”. He was about to put the rest back when another title caught his eye—“AK Medical”. Who was AK? Logan opened the file. It was all that he could do not to drop everything in his hands.

Keeping the two files in question, he put everything else back the way he found it and shut the safe. Stopping at the desk calendar to make sure he left it on the previous day’s date, he left the Kane family office.

Veronica wasn’t going to believe this.

*

Fortunately for Logan and Veronica but unfortunately for him, one of Duncan’s teacher’s—the one he had after lunch—had called his parents to discuss his frequent tardies to her class. As a result, Celeste and Jake had gone back to full-watchdog mode in regards to their son. He had been spending a lot more time at home and a lot less time obsessively eavesdropping. He also had to take his medicine now. All of it.

Some of the many side effects of the cornucopia of prescription drugs that Duncan took, along with lethargy, were heavy sleep and nightmares. This night was no different.

Weird lights, loud sounds, distorted images of places and people ran across the inside of Duncan’s eyelids as he slept. He never saw anyone distinctly, instead sensing that everyone around him was in pain and that it was all his fault. Despite his struggles to wake himself and escape the troubled landscape of his dreams, Duncan was powerless.

Duncan Kane, who had been trailing Logan and Veronica’s every move for a good long time, was completely unaware that his best friend had just broken into his family safe. His subconscious had too strong of a hold on him.

*

Logan and Veronica were looking up Duncan’s medicines in the Journalism lab the next day when the object of their investigation walked up behind them. Veronica instantly Alt+Tabbed over to a Google screen showing the results of a search for car rental companies.

“How’s the investigation going?” Duncan asked innocently.

Logan slumped into a sitting position on the table next to Veronica.

“Okay, I guess.” He didn’t have to work hard to sound defeated.

“We’re still trying,” Veronica reassured him.

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help, okay?” Logan and Veronica gave each other a look as Duncan walked away.

“I think that’s the nicest thing he’s said to me in a year,” remarked Veronica as she tabbed back over the screen explaining the condition that was Type 4 Epilepsy. She switched topics.

“You had no idea?”

“No,” Logan answered thoughtfully as he pulled his chair back up and slid it next to Veronica’s. “But it explains a lot. That seizure for one thing.”

“Yeah.” Having read everything on that page, Veronica went back to WebMD and did a search for Abel’s condition. She and Logan were still trying to wrap their heads around that little piece of information.

It was clear now that the Kanes knew who really killed their daughter and that they had gone to a lot of trouble to provide a fall guy. It looked like their task now was to find out who Jake and Celeste were covering for.

*

Per Weevil’s phone call, Logan and Veronica had arrived at the A/V lab to meet with the kid claiming to have proof of Lynn’s death. After seeing the evidence, Logan had stumbled from the room, Veronica close behind.

She gently took his hand, not caring who saw them. “I’m sorry, Logan.”

“So am I,” he answered softly.

Her cell phone went off and she let go of Logan’s hand as she pulled it out.

Flipping it open, she called out to her boyfriend, “Logan!”

He turned around.

Veronica couldn’t keep the excitement out of her voice as she said, “Your mom’s missing credit card was just used!”

There was always hope.

*

Saturday afternoon, Logan and Veronica went together to visit Abel Koontz.

*

Monday afternoon, Weevil and Meg walked into the free clinic in San Bernardino. As they filled out the required paperwork, Meg tried not to giggle. She knew that they had to be presenting a strange picture to other, predominately Hispanic, patrons in the waiting room—tattooed Latino thug holding the hand of the blond princess. Indeed they were getting some very strange looks.

Weevil couldn’t have cared less. He was exactly where he was supposed to be and he didn’t give a rat’s ass what anyone else thought of them.

“Ms. Manning?” An efficient-looking nurse called from the door that obviously led to the examination rooms.

Weevil squeezed his girlfriend’s hand. The two of them got up and followed the nurse into the back.

Chapter Text

Lizzie slept like a rock, which is why she hadn’t noticed earlier. On Saturday morning, though, she didn’t get home until four. She had long since learned that the best way to sneak in and out of the house was to use the trellis behind the garage and scale the roof to her bedroom. Therefore, in the wee hours of Saturday morning as Lizzie stole across the roof, she passed Meg’s bathroom window just as her sister was crouching over the toilet and the light bulb finally went off over her head.

By the time Lizzie walked into the bathroom Meg was slumped against the bathtub looking pale and uncomfortable. Lizzie wet a washcloth and sat down next to her sister, wiping the cold compress across Meg’s face.

“Does Weevil know?” she asked firmly but quietly. Wouldn’t do to wake the parents.

Meg looked at her in tired surprise.

“I told you I’d figure it out,” Lizzie reminded her, unable to completely keep the smug tone out of her voice. Meg huffed. “So does he know?” Lizzie persisted.

Meg sighed, covering her face with the wet washcloth as she nodded her head. “He went with me to the clinic.”

“What are you guys gonna do?”

Meg scrubbed at her face before balling the small cloth tightly in her hands. “He wants to get married.”

“And you?”

“I do, too.”

Lizzie looked at her sister in frustration.

“Then what’s the hold up? Why are you still here?”

Meg’s eyes welled up with tears. “I’m afraid of what they’ll do to him.”

She didn’t have to elaborate. Lizzie knew perfectly well who they were.

“That’s a lame excuse,” was her reply.

Meg looked up, angry. “Oh, so you don’t think they would ask Burt Garmon to step in and take care of it?” She made air quotes. Burt Garmon was a former Navy SEAL who went to church with the Mannings and calling him creepy would be an understatement.

“Of course they might. They probably will. But you’re just delaying it. What are you gonna do? Wear baggy clothes until you have the baby and then hide it in the punishment room?” Trying to keep her volume down, Lizzie’s voice came out as a hiss. “Come on, Meg. Procrastinating is just going to make it worse.”

Meg started to cry in earnest and Lizzie relented, pulling her sister’s head down to her shoulder.

“Does anyone else know?”

“Veronica and—Veronica,” Meg told her sister through her tears.

Damn, was there anything that girl didn’t know?

“Well, now you’ve got me, too, and with both me and Veronica helping, we’re gonna figure this out, okay?”

Meg nodded against her younger sister’s shoulder. A lot of people didn’t understand the two sisters’ relationship. It seemed like the two of them were either arguing or ignoring each other with no in-between. Meg knew, though, that when push came to shove there wasn’t anything that the two of them wouldn’t do for each other.

As Lizzie helped her sister back to her room, her mind did flip-flops. No way had she ever thought that Meg would be the one to turn up pregnant. Didn’t Meg know that Lizzie was supposed to be the problem child?

Their parents, of course, were none the wiser to their daughters’ early morning activities. For now.

*

It gave Veronica a serious high to have Logan thank her in public. It didn’t last nearly as long as she would have liked, though. Less than a minute after Logan headed off down the hall, Duncan walked up behind her.

“You know, if I didn’t know better, I’d swear I just saw my best friend,” he pointed after Logan, “ask you,” he gestured towards Veronica, “to Total Eclipse of the Heart.”

Veronica’s face froze.

It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay. I’m helping Logan find his mom. It’s okay.

“No, no one’s asked. But I’m pining away by the phone waiting for that special boy to call.”

Good cover. Good cover. He couldn’t tell. It’s all right.

“Hmmm…you never know,” Duncan teased.

To Veronica’s intense relief, at that exact moment Meg walked up and interrupted them.

“Hey, Veronica, can I talk to you for a minute?”

Veronica made her excuses and moved with Meg out of Duncan ’s hearing.

Duncan smiled to himself. He just couldn’t resist.

*

“I have a problem.”

Veronica raised her eyebrows.

“A new one,” Meg clarified.

Veronica smiled gently.

“What’s wrong?”

Meg sighed. “Someone’s sending me text messages and love notes.”

“What?”

“Yeah. I can’t do this right now, Veronica. I just can’t. I’m barely hanging on as it is. I can’t explain to some guy that I can’t date him because I’m already pregnant by my secret boyfriend.” There was a note of hysteria in Meg’s voice that, while completely understandable, freaked Veronica out more than a little.

“It’s okay, Meg,” she reassured her friend. “I’ll take care of it.” Meg had been doing pretty well since her pregnancy had been confirmed. In fact, Veronica had almost been waiting for Meg to break down and the moment had apparently arrived. “Just tell me what happened.”

Taking a deep breath, Meg told Veronica what had happened so far. Reassuring Meg once again that she would handle the situation, Veronica headed towards her car determined to do this one thing for Meg and Weevil. There was so little she could do to help her friends, but this? This she could do.

Her recent spate of prank calls fell to the back of Veronica’s mind as more pressing matters came to the forefront.

*

That night as Logan and Wallace hung out at her apartment, Veronica asked her boys for help.

“Wallace, you’re on the basketball team, right?”

“You obviously haven’t seen us play. I am the basketball team.”

Logan laughed. “You go, Diddy.”

Veronica continued. “I need you to help me find out who’s stalking Meg.”

“Someone’s stalking Meg?” interjected Logan. “Dude, Weevil’s gonna freak.”

“Why would he care?” asked Wallace, looking back and forth from Logan to Veronica.

Logan turned to his girlfriend. “He doesn’t know?”

“No, he’s pretty frickin’ clueless,” retorted Wallace.

Veronica sighed. “Um, Meg and Weevil are dating.”

Wallace once again looked from one friend to another. “Are you kiddin’ me?”

“No,” answered Logan, and he turned to Veronica. “Would you like to tell him the rest, honey?”

“Let me guess. Madison Sinclair is dating Corny, right?” Wallace’s voice was caught somewhere between amused and irritated. His partial smile faded, though, as he saw the serious looks on his friends’ faces. “What?”

There was a pause and then Veronica clarified the situation. “Meg’s pregnant.”

Wallace stared at his best friend as he processed this information.

“And now she has a stalker?”

Veronica nodded and Wallace automatically returned the gesture. “Just let me know what you need me to do.”

Later after Wallace left, Logan and Veronica lay on her couch, her back to his front.

“There’s a lot going on right now,” said Logan as he ran his hand through Veronica’s hair.

She nodded and intertwined her fingers with his.

“No matter what happens, I’m here for you. I want you to know that.”

Veronica rolled over so that she was facing Logan. She trailed her fingers over the planes of his face.

“I love you so much,” she said softly.

Logan looked into her eyes. “We can do this.”

When Keith got home late that night, his daughter was asleep in Logan’s arms. Keith gently shook Logan awake so that the boy could go home. As Veronica sleepily kissed her boyfriend goodbye and went to her bedroom, Keith once again wondered how a father was supposed to handle this sort of thing.

Obviously when the instruction manuals were being handed out, he had been off on some case.

*

Weevil called Meg’s cell phone during lunch.

“Hey,” she answered, getting up from her table and walking out of earshot of her friends.

“What’s with the flowers?”

“Some weirdo sent them,” Meg tried to calm her boyfriend. “Veronica’s looking into it. You know she’ll figure it out.”

“This guy better hope that she does, because if I find him first, I’m gonna put him in the hospital.”

*

Veronica had just spent ten minutes convincing Catarina Linova that Mars Investigations could not take her case when Wallace stormed in.

“About this secret mission.”

“What’cha got?”

“A reputation as a jock-sniffer. You can be your own FF. I’m retired. Permanently.”

“Nice try, Wallace. It’s in your blood now.”

Wallace collapsed on the sofa. “Just shoot me.”

*

Friday night Keith got a call for a bail jumper in Seattle and Veronica got word that Lynn’s credit card had been used at the Sunset Regent. So Keith headed off to Washington and Veronica headed off to the store.

“Please promise me that if we ever get married, this—“ Logan gestured towards the craft store that seemed to have exploded on his bedroom floor, “—will not be involved.”

“Why, Logan Echolls,” Veronica batted her eyelashes at him, “are you making plans?”

“Not if this is gonna be the result,” Logan deadpanned, looking in consternation at the bridal magazines, cut-out pictures, glue, scissors, ribbon and lace that were smothering his carpet.

“Why don’t you tell me a little more about these plans?” Veronica smiled invitingly as she turned her full attention to her boyfriend. In her heart, she knew that this was the quiet before the storm. Veronica had a feeling that their pending trip to the hotel would settle once and for all what had happened to Logan’s mother and regardless of the outcome, events were about to hit the fan. Right now, tonight, though, was a different story.

Logan’s trademark smirk spread across his face.

“Well, I could tell you or I could show you.”

“What are you waiting for?”

In an instant Logan was off of his bed and his lips were on Veronica’s. Heedless of the paper and supplies scattered about, Veronica gave herself up to his attentions. Logan’s lips left hers and he went to sit behind her.

“What are you doing?”

“Your shoulders are all tense from two hours of sitting on the floor,” her boyfriend murmured in her ear as he started massaging her shoulders.

There were sprints and there were marathons. This was going to be a marathon.

*

Logan rolled over the next morning when he woke up. He gained another measure of consciousness when he heard the sound of the shower coming from his bathroom and realized he was in bed alone. The alarm read 9:36 a.m. Definitely too early for a Saturday morning.

Without truly sitting up, Logan leaned against his pillows and scrubbed his hands through his hair. The girl he loved was naked in the next room. And she loved him. And they had made love for hours the night before. Life was good.

He and Veronica had teased each other about “plans”, but the truth was that Logan had thought about their future together. It didn’t take the product of a screwed-up home to recognize a good thing when it came along. He hadn’t gone out and bought a ring or anything, but Logan was already planning on doing everything that he could to make sure that he and Veronica spent the rest of their lives together.

He had even wondered on occasion if they might not have children, which was huge. Because of his background Logan had always assumed that he would never have kids; he didn’t want to run the risk of doing to them what his father had done to him. Over the past year and half, though, he had begun to trust himself with Veronica. He wasn’t ready to have children right now, a fact brought home by Weevil’s impending fatherhood, but he had come far enough to know that he might be someday, and that was more than he had ever known before.

The water in the other room turned off. A few minutes later, Veronica emerged from the bathroom in a cloud of steam wrapped only in a towel and Logan immediately lost all higher-level brain function.

“Have I woken up or is this still part of the awesome dream I was having?”

“You had the energy to dream? Logan, we shaved at least ten points off my purity test score last night. How could you possibly have enough energy to have an erotic dream?”

“What can I say? You inspire me.” Logan’s grin was infectious and Veronica couldn’t help but smile in return.

“You are such a letch!”

“Come over here and I’ll show you what a letch I am,” he said in invitation.

“I just took a shower!” she protested, prompting Logan to raise his eyebrows in challenge.

Never one to have her moxie questioned, Veronica dropped her towel and crawled underneath the covers.

“Um, yeah, okay, well, that’s one way for you to—“ Logan’s voice choked off.

The bedroom door opened and Aaron called out, “Logan! I made breakfast! Why don’t—“

Chaos erupted.

Veronica screamed as she shot up so quickly that she got caught in the bedding and fell off the bed.

“Dad!” Logan yelled as he sat up exposed in all of his glory and Veronica tried to cover herself amidst the bedlam on the floor.

“Oh, my—! I’m sorry! I didn’t know—!” Aaron tried to apologize as he simultaneously dropped to the floor to pick up the pieces of the shattered glass of orange juice now at his feet. He kept trying to avert his eyes but they kept straying from the glass on the carpet to the bizarre picture in front of him.

“We’ll get it, Dad!” Logan roared as he jumped up and grabbed his boxers off of the floor.

“Yeah, yeah, okay.” Aaron, blushing harder than any action hero ever had a right to, finally gave it up as a bad job and scrambled out of the doorway, slamming it closed behind him.

Veronica sat up from her huddled position on the floor, looking very much like an Eskimo baby wrapped up against the bitter winter cold. Logan looked over at her as he hopped around the room trying to get his boxers on. He lost his balance and tumbled onto the bed, shorts half-on and half-off.

The two of them looked at each other. After a moment of stunned silence, they started laughing so hard that within minutes they were struggling for breath.

*

Meg and Weevil were both working to realign their expectations for the future around the fact that the two of them were going to have a child together before either of them turned eighteen. Weevil wanted to take care of Meg and she wanted to let him; she also didn’t want to give up her independence. Weevil wanted to get married, as did Meg; on the other hand, she was terrified of what her parents would do if they did.

They rarely had time alone together. The kids were always at the Navarro house and it took so much effort to see each other elsewhere that most of their time was spent there. Not being alone.

School wasn’t much better, as Esmerelda and her minions had not decreased their persecution of Meg. They simply tried to make it more subtle so as to avoid angering Weevil. They mistakenly believed it was working.

One Friday night, though, shortly after their fateful visit to the free clinic, the stars aligned and the fates smiled down on the star-crossed couple, sending Letty to L.A. and Carlos and Maria to spend the night at friends’ houses.

Given the circumstances, it was really no wonder that when Meg and Weevil finally had the house to themselves, they ended up having a wild, passionate, up-against-the-wall kinda night. Which was the best thing they possibly could have done.

First of all, it was a revelation to them both. Weevil’s respect for Meg’s many talents reached new heights and Meg finally felt like Weevil’s equal in the bedroom, having been concerned for some time about her comparative lack of experience in that area. It reminded them why they were a couple in the first place and why all of this was worth the effort.

It also opened the door for some much-needed conversation.

“You gotta stop worrying about your parents.”

Meg sighed as she trailed her fingers down Weevil’s chest. “Lizzie said the same thing.”

“Speaking of Lizzie.”

Weevil’s chest vibrated lightly under Meg’s fingers as he laughed at the sight of her apprehensive expression.

“She came up to me in the hall and gave me a list of states where minors can get married as long as they can prove that they’re pregnant.” Meg looked up at him. “Without their parents’ permission.”

Meg sat up. “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“And?” There was more to this, Meg was sure.

“I looked it up. The nearest one is Georgia.”

Meg didn’t respond as the wheels in her head went into overdrive.

Weevil took a deep breath. He wasn’t use to feeling like this. Nervous.

“Do you want to marry me?” He tried to sound as nonchalant as possible. They had already discussed getting married, but this information made it a real possibility. Hop in a car, drive to Georgia , come back married.

Do you want to marry me?

What if she said no? What if she only wanted to marry him when there really wasn’t any chance that they could actually do it? What would she say now that it was an achievable goal?

Yes, Weevil wanted to do the right thing, but he had come to realize that he really did want to marry this girl. He loved Meg and the thought of her having his baby and being his wife didn’t fill him with dread. Maybe he was being naïve, not something he was normally accused of, but Weevil was holding out hope that he and Meg could make it work. He wanted to take responsibility for his family; he wanted to do what the other men in his family had not. And he wanted to do it with Meg.

“Meg?” he prompted, the barest note of uncertainly creeping into his voice and across his eyes as Meg looked at him without answering.

Meg’s hand drifted up to Weevil’s cheek, trailing the lightest of touches down his face, across his collarbone, stopping over his heart.

“Mine is yours forever,” she said as she lowered her lips to his.

Weevil devoured her, pouring as much of himself into her as he possibly could. She was his, body and soul and that was the end of it.

*

Logan and Veronica had a very productive day, despite their frequent lapses into fits of giggles. Logan, of course, being a guy, didn’t exactly giggle, but it could easily have been mistaken for such. The morning’s bizarre events set a light tone for a day that should have been filled with heavy anticipation. It lasted as Logan went out to the kitchen, fully clothed, to get them some breakfast. It stayed while Veronica finished up her wedding “scrapbook”. It got them through a visit to Manny’s Flowers and their very strange conversation with the biker florist who ran the place.

It left the instant they walked through the doors of the Sunset Regent Hotel.

As Logan and Veronica stepped through the doors of the wanna-be opulent foyer, reality came crashing down around them.

Veronica put her arm through Logan’s and gripped his arm tightly.

“I’ve got it, okay, hon?” Veronica whispered in his ear.

Logan’s muscles were like marble under Veronica’s fingers.

The pompous British concierge greeted them coolly.

“May I help you?”

“You may. My fiancé and I are looking for a honeymoon suite.”

The desk clerk showed them the hotel’s bargain basement suites in the most officious manner possible.

Veronica giggled so perkily that Logan actually did a double take as his girlfriend opened her ever-so-frightening wedding album and pulled a certain Black AmEx card out of a frilly pocket glued to the inside cover. She also flashed the huge faux diamond engagement ring that they had picked up at the drugstore.

“Here’s a little bit more what I had in mind,” Veronica said as she set the credit card on the counter and started flipping pages.

Logan choked down a laugh at the look on the desk clerk’s face.

“She’s a keeper,” Logan assured the stunned little man with a shrug, who hurried to pull out some nicer pictures. “My little sugarpuss,” he added, pinching Veronica’s cheek.

“These are our luxury suites.”

Veronica flipped through the file and chose the suite that the credit card company had indicated was being charged to Lynn’s account.

The concierge smarmily extolled the virtues of the Princess Suite, his gaze occasionally sliding to the AmEx card still lying next to Veronica’s floral masterpiece.

“Ah, yummy,” responded Veronica. As Logan struggled to respond on any kind of intelligible level, his girlfriend continued. “Let’s take a look, hon.”

“I apologize, but the suite’s currently occupied.” The clerk looked a bit alarmed at having to tell the owner of a Black AmEx something she didn’t want to hear.

“Like literally occupied?” asked Veronica. “Because we could just poke our heads in.”

The concierge wouldn’t budge.

Veronica huffed angrily and snatched up the magic credit card along with her scrapbook, pulling Logan after her and towards the couches in the lobby.

“All right, stay put. I’m gonna go to talk to the maintenance guys,” Veronica explained as she started looking around, already in overdrive.

“No, I think I can handle it from here.”

Veronica looked up in alarm. “No, I can get them to unlock the service elevator and we can just—“

“Naw, I’ve got a better idea. I’ll just sit right here.” Logan sat down on a couch from which he would have a perfect view of the elevator. “Until my mother walks out of that elevator.”

A surge of adrenaline shot through Veronica in response to this declaration. She couldn’t let Logan do this; she couldn’t watch him immerse himself in pain. She wouldn’t.

“What do you say we smoke her out?” Logan looked up in surprise as Veronica pulled out her cell phone and dialed. “I’d like to report my card lost. My name is Lynn Lester.”

Fifteen minutes later, Logan and Veronica were sitting on one of the fluffy couches clenching each other’s hands when the elevator dinged and opened.

Veronica put her other hand on top of their entwined hands and Logan looked up to see a woman in a black coat, hat and sunglasses exit the elevator and cross to the reception desk.

“That’s her,” Logan said as he stood up. “Mom?”

He rushed towards the woman, who turned around and removed her sunglasses, revealing herself to be Trina.

“Oh, hey, Logan . Did you just call me Mom? You okay? You know Mom’s gone, right?”

“Wow.” One word communicated Logan’s irritation. “You’re supposed to be in Australia .”

“Yeah, well, that didn’t work out.” She looked around her brother’s form. “Veronica, hey!”

Veronica raised an eyebrow as she put her hand through Logan’s arm. “Hello, Trina.”

“So, is the whole brat pack here? What is this, like, prom night? You guys get a room here for some after-party?” Trina noted Veronica’s body language and arm placement on Logan . “Oh, hey. Oh. I've been kinda outta the loop lately. Are you two—“

Logan cut her off. “Stop! You shut up. You're wearing Mom's clothes, you're wearing Mom's hat!”

“She was your mom, my step-mom. The lady who liked to parade though the house in a string bikini, whenever I had a boy over.”

“Yeah, well to be fair when didn't you have a boy over.”

“Oh, you…”

Veronica watched as Trina leaned forward to slap Logan playfully, who blocked it with his hand.

“Dad could've used you there,” he blurted out.

Veronica’s stomach twisted.

Trina laughed. “So now you're worried about Dad's welfare. Isn't he the big bad wolf?” Logan tensed under Veronica’s arm and she was glad that she couldn’t see her boyfriend’s face. She couldn’t bear to see Logan’s reaction to Trina’s casual taunt about his abuse. “Cigarette burns and broken noses. Oh, the stories you used to tell.”

Veronica couldn’t take it any more. She pushed her way around the boy she loved and went after his sister.

“And you never helped him. Wow, I was always disappointed that I didn’t have a big sister.” Veronica got in Trina’s face. “I’m suddenly grateful that I’m an only child.”

Trina could give as good as she got. “So, Veronica, does Duncan know that his best friend is dating his ex-girlfriend?”

“Like you would ever talk to someone outside of Hollywood long enough to find out.” Veronica turned her back on Trina Echolls. “Let’s go, Logan.”

The younger Echolls was staring at his sister and made no move to follow Veronica.

Trina pulled herself together and perked up. “Well, I’ll catch up with you two lovebirds soon. I have to jet. Toodles.”

Veronica led her boyfriend away from the front desk as Trina left the hotel.

As they neared the couches, Logan crumpled under Veronica’s arms.

“She’s gone. She’s really gone.”

Logan folded himself into Veronica as his world fell apart and as she held him, the only thing holding Veronica together was Logan’s need for her.

As Logan repeated his mantra, a vise tightened around Veronica’s heart and she was only able to breathe for him.

*

Veronica didn’t remember getting Logan home. She didn’t take him to his house, she took him to hers, but she couldn’t stay. The two of them had decided weeks ago that no matter what, they would go to Duncan’s dance. It was the first thing that their friend had put any effort into in over a year and they had to be there.

As Veronica gently undressed him and tucked him into her bed, Logan made no indication that he knew what city he was in, much less that the ‘80s dance was that night. She knew, though, that once Logan rejoined the human race it would only torture him further if neither of them had gone to support Duncan.

Veronica also knew that if Logan didn’t have a drink within arm’s length he would leave her apartment to go get one, so she left a bottle of vodka on her nightstand.

It was the right thing to do.

-

Veronica drove over to Meg’s house in a haze. She knew that her friend didn’t want to go to the dance, but Lizzie had convinced Meg that not going would attract more attention, so Meg and Veronica had made plans to go together.

Neither of them said much as they got ready, each lost in thought. Veronica hadn’t been able to figure out who Meg’s secret admirer/stalker was and Meg’s only hope was that the guy would take rejection well.

The two of them arrived at the dance looking like they had passed through a time machine. Once they walked in, though, neither of them was sure what to do.

-

Caz walked over to Duncan, who was watching his ex come into the dance with Meg.

“Dude,” said Caz. “Why is she late? I mean, you’d think that she’d want to find out who her secret admirer is, right?” Duncan didn’t respond. “ Duncan! I did everything you said. You think she’s ready for me to tell her?”

The shorter boy finally looked at Caz. “Frickin’ chill. I’ll let you know when it’s time.”

“Oh, yeah, okay,” agreed Caz with a bouncy nod of his head.

Duncan almost waited until he had fully turned away before he rolled his eyes.

-

“You okay?” asked Veronica.

“Are you?” returned Meg.

They gave each other weak, knowing smiles.

Meg looked out over the dance and Veronica watched as her friend’s expression transformed itself. Only one thing would do that. Veronica’s trained eyes swept the crowd for Weevil.

Nothing.

She turned to Meg in confusion. “Is he here?”

“Yes,” Meg said, her face radiant.

“Where?”

Meg headed off, seemingly forgetting to answer.

Veronica watched as Meg crossed the dance floor and disappeared inside a walking polka dot shower curtain and she laughed.

You go, Weevil.

-

“It’s time, man.”

Caz turned around from spiking the punch bowl to see Duncan standing at his side.

“What?”

“She just went into that shower curtain. Go get ‘em, tiger.”

Caz took a swig from his flask before he put it back in his jacket pocket.

“Bring it on!”

-

Weevil had not wanted to go to the dance, but he was even less willing to let Meg go through the night alone. As the mother of his child melted into his arms, her head against his chest, Weevil forgot that he was at a school dance and just enjoyed the moment.

The shower curtain flew open.

“Meg! Your Prince Charming’s—“ Caz cut off mid-sentence as he saw whose arms were around Meg. “What the hell?! Who do you think you are?!”

“What does that mean?” demanded Weevil as the people around them stopped dancing and turned to see what was going on.

“It means that she’s here with me! And guys like you don’t get to touch girls like her.”

Weevil threw off his costume and laid out Caz with one punch.

“Eli!” screamed Meg as she moved to hold him back. “Eli, don’t! Please!”

Weevil acquiesced to his girlfriend’s hands and backed off as everyone at the dance stared at them.

“Come on, Meg,” Caz said from the floor. “I’m your secret admirer. You came here to meet me.”

“No, I didn’t. I came here with my boyfriend,” said Meg firmly.

“Weevil?” demanded Caz, staggering to his feet. “You’re dating him?” He grabbed Meg’s arm as he stumbled forward.

Weevil shoved Caz off of his girlfriend and into the crowd, which was the only thing that kept him from falling for a second time.

“You touch her again and I will end you,” growled the gang leader.

Caz pushed himself away from the hands steadying him and was about to do something else stupid when Veronica stepped in.

“You guys go,” she said to Meg and Weevil. A pin drop could have been heard in the crowded gym as the song ended and nothing replaced it. All eyes were focused on the drama unfolding center court.

“Eli,” Meg said, soft and intense as she squeezed her boyfriend’s hand. “Please.”

Weevil looked Caz up and down with a look of deep disdain. “Stay away from my girlfriend.”

He turned to Meg and a path appeared through the crowd as the couple made their way out of the gym.

Duncan smiled as Veronica followed them out.

-

“Where are you two gonna go?” asked Veronica as she walked Meg and Weevil into the parking lot.

The couple looked at each other.

“Georgia,” answered Weevil.

“You’re gonna need better transportation than that,” Veronica said with a smile as she indicated Weevil’s motorcycle. Meg had told her about Georgia’s marriage laws.

“Are you dissin’ my ride, Mars?” demanded Weevil as Meg swallowed her own laughter.

“Never,” assured Veronica, as she pulled her key ring out of her purse. “Here,” she said as she pulled off two keys. “Take the van.”

“Veronica,” began Meg.

“Don’t even,” said Veronica. “It’s a motel on wheels. Get all the money you need in cash before you leave Neptune. Don’t leave any kind of an electronic trail—no credit cards or ATMs after you leave the city, turn your cell phones off when you’re not using them. Got it?”

Weevil smiled. “You know so much, huh?”

“Take a couple of forms of I.D. each—your driver’s licenses, Social Security cards, passports, birth certificates if you have them.”

Both Meg and Weevil nodded.

“And Meg?” Veronica smiled. “Change clothes first.”

Both Meg and Weevil laughed as they climbed onto Weevil’s bike.

Veronica watched her friends ride away before she headed back inside. All she wanted to do was make sure that everything was okay, say her goodbyes to Duncan and head home to take care of Logan.

As she headed down the hall, the crimped blonde heard someone’s voice over the music.

What now?

Seconds later she broke into a run as she recognized Logan’s voice.

Logan was staggering on the edges of the crowd, drunk and half-clothed. Okay, technically, he was dressed like Tom Cruise in Risky Business, but what it boiled down to was Veronica’s boyfriend running around the school in his underwear while plastered.

“Come on, everyone! Let’s Wang Chung tonight!” In addition to his actions being socially unacceptable in general, it was a slow song, so Logan’s actions were particularly unwelcome. “Wang Chung or I’ll kick your ass!”

Duncan be damned.

“Come on, Logan,” Veronica said as she moved forward, took Logan’s arm and tried to get him to follow her. “Come on.”

“Veronica Mars!” Logan called in that loud, obnoxious way particular to people who get sloppy drunk in public. “I’m not allowed to talk to you! You know the rules!”

Veronica put her hands on each side of Logan’s face and pulled it down so that his eyes were looking at hers.

“Come with me or I will make your life a living hell.”

Logan’s eyes swam in her gaze. “You can be very persuasive, you know?”

“Yeah,” Veronica sighed as she put her arm around Logan’s waist.

Logan chose the exact moment that Veronica got them to the hallway exit door to pull another random drunk guy thing.

“Annoy, tiny blonde one! Annoy like the wind!”

Veronica rolled her eyes and nodded to the people around them who had turned to see what was going on.

“Chatty drunk,” she prevaricated with a laugh. She then proceeded to haul her much taller, much heavier boyfriend down the hall and out to her car. Given the night’s events, Veronica didn’t have the energy to check and see if Duncan had noticed them. Undoubtedly he had.

“You took the Mazda, didn’t you?” she said in a low voice as Logan leaned heavily against her. “You better not have hurt my car, pal.”

As the couple made their way to the LeBaron, Duncan watched from the shadows.

Best. Dance. Ever.

*

For the first time, someone had answered when Veronica called back the heavy breather. Faced with both the possibility of finally finding her mother and the responsibility of taking care of Logan, Veronica had combined the two. After cleaning up both herself and Logan, she had called the airport and made flight reservations to Barstow.

Logan had slept through the entire flight, but once they got into the car and onto the highway, consciousness returned to him, albeit slowly.

Finally, he asked, “Where are we going?”

“Someone’s been calling my cell phone and hanging up. For like a week now, and no one ever answered when I called back.” Veronica looked over at her boyfriend, who seemed to be sitting up and seeing the world for the first time in 24 hours.

“And now?”

“Someone answered.” Veronica took a deep breath. “My mom’s in Barstow.”

There was a pause and then Logan said, “I’m so sorry.”

“What? Why?”

“You should have been able to tell me about those calls. I should have been there for you, but I—“

“Don’t even,” Veronica cut him off. “And I mean that. Don’t.” She reached out and rubbed her thumb over the side of Logan’s face. “You’re here now, right?”

Logan took her hand in his. “Yes, I am.”

When they pulled up to the Sage Brush Cantina, the two of them got out, Logan walking around to Veronica and taking her hand as they went inside together.

It took a minute for their eyes to adjust to the darkness of the smoky bar. Within moments, though, Veronica started and, letting go of Logan, ran across the room to where her mother was sitting at the bar.

“Mom!” she cried, touching her mother, not believing that she was really there.

It took Lianne a moment to notice her daughter and then all she could do was protest Veronica’s presence.

“No, no.”

Veronica reassured her mother, telling her that they knew who was doing it, that Lianne was safe now. Just as she said this, she looked over to the corner of the bar, drawing Logan’s gaze to the same spot.

Clarence Wiedman.

Before Veronica could say a word, Logan took off after him as the head of Kane Security disappeared into the shadows.

“Logan! No!”

Chapter Text

Classes might as well have been cancelled on Monday, because nothing got done and no one learned anything. The only topic of conversation—among students and teachers—was Meg and Weevil.

Specifically, everyone was talking about the show that the most unexpected couple ever to walk the halls of Neptune High School put on with Caz at the dance on Saturday. That’s just where conversations started, though. From there they inevitably moved to speculation about how long the leader of the PCH biker gang and Snow White the Pure and Perfect Cheerleader had been going out. And of course since everyone knew that Veronica had walked the couple out of the dance, dares and challenges were leveled at friends and enemies trying to get someone to ask Veronica what she knew.

The bloody frenzy only increased when neither Meg nor Weevil showed up for school on Monday.

Had they eloped? Run away together? Gone off to have their secret love child? Signed a pact with the devil? Stayed home to watch soap operas?

By Tuesday morning, everyone knew that Meg’s parents had filed a missing person’s report with the police, that the police refused to issue an Amber Alert because Meg was seventeen and that those same police also refused to issue a warrant for Weevil’s arrest because Meg was actually a few months older than Weevil.

Wallace was bombarded with questions because he was Veronica’s best friend and the school populace was much too afraid of Veronica to ask her directly, dares be damned. Wallace pled ignorance and told the student body to go to the source. In the end, the only person to actually ask Veronica what she knew was Mac, to whom Veronica said she couldn’t say anything.

Esmerelda and Mercedes went to town on Meg, talking about how they had told everyone that the perky blonde was a mega-slut from the beginning and why hadn’t anyone listened to them? Esmerelda, especially, took great pleasure in loudly reminding everyone that she had been right for saying that Meg was coming down to their neighborhood trying to steal their men. Given that Esmerelda’s only real friends were Mercedes, Cissy and some of the PCHers, most of the kids at Neptune remained unimpressed by the chola’s rantings. That didn’t mean that they didn’t soak up everything that she said, trying to catch some word of truth in the angry girl’s declarations. Regardless of the source, everyone was desperate for fresh dirt on the blonde cheerleader cum gang lord’s doxy.

Lizzie refused to talk to anyone, although she did announce to the entire student body at lunch that her sister had a right to see whomever she chose and that Weevil treated Meg better than anyone else that Meg had ever dated. With that, she aimed a pointed look at Cole and made a grand exit out of the quad.

The upside to all of this was that Logan’s drunken episode ran a distant second in the gossip mill and dropped off of the radar entirely within a few days. That little incident had been standard Logan Echolls.

Eli “Weevil” Navarro and Meg Manning? There was nothing standard about that.

One of the juiciest tidbits that did not make the gossip circuit at Neptune High was that when the Mannings tried to hire Keith Mars to find their daughter, he turned them down. Having foreseen that this might happen, Veronica had already spoken to her father and begged him not to take the job if it was offered. Keith had been reluctant to acquiesce.

“How much have I asked you for this year, Dad?” Veronica asked with tears in her eyes.

Keith couldn’t answer.

“They’re my friends and they’re not doing anything wrong. Please.”

She had then enlightened her father as to the true nature of the Mannings’ parenting skills. While Meg had never gone into detail about her home life, Logan had once made the observation to Veronica that it takes one to know one, and that, in his opinion, Meg’s parents were abusing their children.

Veronica didn’t know details, but she had figured out enough to convince her father that the Mannings were not good people and working for them would be doing the world a disservice. So when Meg’s parents came knocking, Keith told them that he was bogged down on three other cases and wouldn’t be able to help them. The Mannings then went to Vinnie VanLowe, who had been trailing Veronica ever since. Apparently the oily bohunk had decided that if anyone knew where Meg and Weevil were, Veronica did, and his primary method of tracking down the missing Romeo and Juliet was to shadow his rival.

Not that it did him any good.

Veronica watched the fervor with detached disinterest. There was nothing that she could do for Meg and Weevil now besides keep quiet. Plus which, she had faith in her friends. No, Veronica’s mind was still occupied by what had happened in Barstow and the events that had followed.

*

For a second, the darkness was so complete that Logan lost all sense of up and down, backwards and forwards. When he burst into the light he was disoriented and didn’t have time to gather his wits before a dark arm clotheslined him in the throat.

The next thing Logan knew, Veronica was kneeling at his side.

“Logan! Are you okay?! Logan!” The fear in his girlfriend’s voice made Logan focus.

“Your mom,” he croaked. “Don’t let her get away.”

“Logan!” Veronica cried in frustration.

“Go,” he growled again. “I’m fine. Winded.” Logan pushed the tiny blonde away. He knew that if they left Lianne alone for too long, there was a good chance that Veronica’s mom would bolt and he couldn’t live with that.

By the time Logan made it back into the bar, Veronica had her mom at a booth and was plying the older woman with coffee. Logan felt a heavy gloom settle around him as he ordered hot tea with honey from the bartender. While not his usual request, it would make his throat feel better.

The gloom came from watching the yearning visibly seeping through Veronica’s every pore. The girl Logan loved had only lived with a true alcoholic for a few months before her mom had disappeared; Logan’s mom had basted herself in alcohol for years. Logan would give his right arm to spare Veronica the pain of learning what it really meant to have an alcoholic mother. Broken promises and slurred confessions were just the beginning.

He stirred his tea and crossed the bar to stand watch at the front door. It was doubtful that Wiedman would return, but he might have some sleazebag hanging around on his behalf, so Logan intended to watch for suspicious-looking characters. He noted their dismal surroundings. Okay, more suspicious-looking than usual. He really wanted to kick someone’s ass or at least get bloody in the attempt.

Logan got to the door and took up his post. He heard Veronica’s voice rising and he turned around in time to see Lianne push her way past her daughter to get to the bar. Logan shoved open the door to the cantina. As the door swung shut behind him, he punched the outside wall.

-

When they got back to Neptune, Logan and Veronica tore her room apart looking for the bug that Wiedman must have planted. When Veronica found it, Logan raised his swollen hand and opened his mouth to swear. Veronica put her hand over his mouth to stop him. Without saying a word, she communicated to him that they could use this to their advantage.

Logan restrained himself from hitting another wall.

*

Logan watched from his locker as Veronica and Wallace made their way down the hall together, guys slapping Wallace’s back and girls shooting him “come hither” looks. He tried not to stare as Wallace pulled out his spirit box and reveled in the taste of his fresh snickerdoodles.

“Hey, man, you got any homework in Calculus?” Duncan came up behind him.

Logan couldn’t stop the first thought that came unbidden into his mind, which was that he would rather watch Wallace and Veronica than hang out with his boring-as-toast best friend. That thought was immediately replaced by a feeling of self-loathing. How could he think that about Duncan? The two of them had been best friends since kindergarten.

The tall young man sighed.

“Dude, I have no idea. That would require me to pay attention. Like that’s gonna happen.”

Duncan smiled. It wasn’t a laugh, but at least it was a response.

-

Near the end of lunch, Logan ducked his friends and headed for the girls’ bathroom.

When he walked in, he grabbed Veronica and lifted her off the ground as he kissed her.

“Somebody’s in a good mood,” noted his flushed girlfriend when he finally put her down.

“Just glad to be with you finally,” said Logan as he brushed a stray piece of hair out of Veronica’s eyes. “It looked like you and Wallace had fun at practice.”

Veronica heard the almost wistful note in Logan’s voice.

“I have an idea.” She had a way to cheer him up.

Logan raised an eyebrow.

Veronica grinned. “Don’t worry. It’s a good one.”

“Why doesn’t that make me feel any better?” snarked Logan.

“Mr. Clemmons wants me to find out who kidnapped Polly.” Logan again raised his eyebrow. “What? He knows that I…” her voice trailed off as she searched for the words.

“Do things for people?” Logan filled in.

Veronica gave him a look. “Yes.” She went on. “So I’m going to go undercover at Pan. Anyway, I was thinking, why don’t you come, too? You know, be the protective boyfriend watching out for his girlfriend when she starts a new school?” She wrapped her arms around Logan’s neck with an inviting smile, but her boyfriend pulled back to look at her.

“Veronica, you do realize that I’m not just well-known here in Neptune, right? People at Pan will recognize me.”

Veronica shrugged off his concern. “So? They won’t know who I am. If word gets back to Neptune that you’re seeing a girl over there, what difference does it make?” Logan contemplated her words. “Even if Duncan did hear about it, you could tell him that you were checking out some girl at Pan.”

Logan pulled Veronica back close into his arms. “You know I totally love you, right?”

“Well, yeah!”

Their lips joined and the rest of the world disappeared, if only for a moment.

Duncan made it to his next class before the bell rang.

*

Logan watched from the edge of the cafeteria as the “goat” was delivered to the students of Pan High and he tried not to laugh. This looked like a good time for him to pop in.

“Hey, hon!” Logan called as he walked up behind Veronica and wrapped his arms around her.

In the middle of the cafeteria.

Oh, yeah. Check it out.

“Logan!” Veronica answered happily, turning to him with a perky face that Logan didn’t recognize.

She planted a kiss on his lips and hugged him, whispering quickly in his ear, “Call me Betty.”

“Dude, aren’t you Logan Echolls?” asked Richie.

“Yeah. Hey, man, I’m sorry about that,” Logan gestured over his shoulder to where the pile of raw meat was still parked in the middle of the cafeteria. “Money does not breed class.”

After taking a moment to size up Logan’s sincerity, Richie slowly nodded, “That’s what I’ve been saying.”

“My mom was the make-up assistant on Logan’s dad’s last film,” invented Veronica. She and Logan had spent their time on the drive over talking about the search for Lilly’s killer and had neglected to come up with how they were supposed to know each other.

“Do your buddies at Neptune know you’re dating a girl from the wrong side of the tracks?” asked Zeke, obviously not quite as ready to forgive Logan for the sin of being from Neptune High.

“Like I care,” replied Logan casually. He leaned back against one of the cafeteria tables and pulled Veronica to stand between his legs. She faced out, her hands on Logan’s knees.

“I know, I totally thought Aaron Echolls’ son would be this total jerk, right? Turns out he’s a really nice guy!” Veronica’s voice was so sunny the Pan High crowd had to smile in response. Score one for the blonde.

-

Instead of heading back to school, Logan and Veronica drove to the Sheriff’s station. Once they got there, the two of them headed straight for Leo’s desk.

The young deputy leaned back in his chair. “So I’m guessing I have you two to thank for the miraculous Echolls Scholarship, right?”

Logan and Veronica shared a look.

“And what do you want in return?”

Logan took a deep breath. “Lilly was the first girl I ever loved.”

Veronica looked Leo in the eye. “She was my best friend.”

“We need the interrogation tapes from the initial investigation.” Logan was both earnest and urgent.

“Please, Leo.” Veronica was just as sincere.

The young deputy sighed. These two teenagers had arranged for Aaron Echolls to pay for Leo’s sister’s private education. Leo had applied for the school, hoping against hope that he would find a way to afford it, but his search had been fruitless. Then out of the blue Aaron Echolls’ lawyers had called. The action hero was establishing a scholarship to the school for the relatives of law enforcement professionals. All Leo had to do was the attendant publicity.

Interrogation tapes didn’t seem like that much to ask for in return.

Logan and Veronica visibly relaxed at the capitulation in Leo’s eyes.

-

Duncan followed Logan and Veronica from Pan High to the Sheriff’s station and back to Veronica’s apartment and he knew he was in trouble. Right now they were focused on finding Lilly’s killer, but it was only a matter of time before Romeo and Juliet realized how much they liked holding hands in the cafeteria.

Duncan needed a plan.

*

After the following day’s events at Pan, Veronica and Logan headed for Rest Stop 15, where Logan proceeded to strong arm Wilson.

Logan put the smaller boy in a half-Nelson. “Hey there, stranger. Looking for love in all the wrong places?”

“Who, me?” stammered the terrified freshman. “I’m no one.”

“Where’s the bird, Wilson? Please, give me a reason to hit the guy who tried to scam my girlfriend and steal my parrot.”

“What parrot?” asked Wilson as he pushed at Logan’s arm.

“You want to think about that answer, little man?” The taller boy shook the kid under his arm. Logan’s unresolved anger and frustration suddenly coalesced into his arm and he knew he was being too rough on the guy.

He released Wilson.

The nerd bent over and coughed as he choked out the words, “Look, I know what you’re talking about, but I didn’t take the parrot, I swear.”

Logan took a menacing step towards the hunched young man. “I’ve had a rough couple of days, kid.”

“That’s not Neptune’s mascot in the photo.” Wilson stood up weakly. “It’s from a pet store, okay? I heard that somebody took the mascot. E-everybody was making such a big deal out of it. Look, they all thought it was so cool.”

“Wait a minute. You went to a pet store and took a picture of yourself with a parrot so people would think you were cool?”

Wilson gave Logan a sad little smile. “Yeah, all right?”

“That is this close,” Logan held up his thumb and finger together, “this close to taking a hot cousin to your prom.” He gave Wilson a hard look. “Go home. Get outta here.”

Wilson tore out of Rest Stop 15 like the hounds of hell were on his tail and Veronica came out from behind a car.

“Well, that just sucked.”

“If it’s any consolation, I hate myself.”

“Since I can’t bring myself to hate you, does that mean I have to hate myself twice as much?”

Veronica laughed and looked at the rest of the people milling around the rest stop.

“We probably can’t hang out together here for too long. You know it’ll get back to everyone.”

Everyone, thought Logan, was getting really old.

“Yeah,” he answered grumpily. “I’ll go.”

Veronica let out a sigh as Logan got into his Xterra and drove away.

Her attention was diverted by the sound of what sounded like Thumper conducting some kind of transaction with a truck that had just pulled in.

Now, what was that about?

-

Leo and Logan showed up at Mars Investigations at about the same time. Leo to drop off the tapes, Logan under the auspices of his mother’s “unresolved” case.

Veronica had the two of them explain what she had just seen at the rest stop.

*

At lunch the next day, Veronica followed Wallace out to the parking lot. Her best friend was acting very strangely.

Wallace stopped and turned to Veronica.

“Why are you following me?”

“You say following; I say taking a walk with a friend. I wondered where you were going with the potato chips, the apple and the raisins.”

“I forgot about that third eye. Veronica, there’s nothing for you to see here.” Wallace tried to get her to leave as he approached an older model van in the parking lot.

There wasn’t a chance that was going to happen.

Wallace knew Veronica wasn’t going to go away; he opened the back door to the van with a reluctant sigh.

“Dude, where have you—“ Logan froze at the sight of his girlfriend. “Veronica. Baby,” he said in a tone clearly meant to calm her down.

“Don’t ‘baby’ me, you freak.” Veronica took in the sight of the disaster created in the back of the van by the Pan High goat. “What have the two of you done?”

“It was Jack’s idea!” Wallace asserted. “I asked Logan to help me out.”

“And Marshall here, being such a great friend, agreed to help you,” Veronica said derisively.

“Come on, Veronica, haven’t you ever heard of school pride?” Logan grabbed the goat’s leash as the horned monster tried to make a break for it.

Veronica rolled her eyes in disgust. “That’s why you agreed to go to Pan with me, isn’t it? You wanted to see the meat delivered.” If looks could kill…

“No, no, no!” A look of genuine alarm flickered across Logan’s face. “I wanted to be with you! You know, in public!” His face relaxed and he smiled. “Seeing the meat delivered was totally a bonus.”

“Uh-huh.” His girlfriend wasn’t impressed, but at least her voice no longer sounded truly angry. She turned to leave.

“Where are you going?” demanded Wallace, sounding panicked.

“Back to lunch. Good luck with that,” she pointed to the goat. Veronica smiled as she walked back to the quad, leaving Logan and Wallace to deal with the fruits of their labors. She had to go talk to Arianna.

And to think. I was afraid that they wouldn’t get along.

*

That evening Logan took the splitter he had bought over to Veronica’s apartment. They wanted to listen to the interrogation tapes together, but they had to have a headphone splitter in order to do so.

Veronica was less than welcoming.

“Shouldn’t you be somewhere watching Willie the Ram?” she asked as he entered the living room.

“Come on, baby. Wallace asked for my help.”

“You know you only call me baby when you’re in trouble, right?”

Logan smiled. “I’ll have to remember to start using it more often. You know, to throw you off.”

Veronica tilted her head and smirked.

“See? There’s the smile I know and love.”

Veronica sighed. Why couldn’t she stay angry with him?

“All right. You got the splitter?”

Logan spread his arms wide in an aren’t-I-perfect? gesture.

He got out the bag from Best Buy and Veronica unplugged the earphones from her iPod.

“Have you been listening without me?” Logan demanded, realizing that she had already downloaded the CDs.

“What? I was irritated with you!”

“Uh-huh.” It was Logan’s turn to be irritated.

“How about I tell you what you missed?”

As the two of them got the iPod set up for dual listening, Veronica detailed what she had learned so far. Both of them had felt better lately for having gotten on the trail of Lilly’s killer again and they immediately started listening to the rest of the CDs.

When Wallace knocked on the door, it was to find his two closest friends listening to music and making snickerdoodles.

I have great friends.

*

Veronica walked up to Thumper in the quad the next day during lunch.

“How’s our feathered friend?”

“Excuse me?” Thumper copped an attitude.

“You took the parrot, didn’t you? You’re taking even money bets on a team everyone thinks will win. Why would you do that unless you knew that Wallace, our best player, wouldn’t play?”

“Listen, blondie, Weevil may think you’re more than a pretty face, but I don’t. And Weevil isn’t here. So unless you have some news on where he is, screw off before I do decide to take an interest in you.”

“I’m shaking in fear.”

“You better.” Thumper started to stand up.

“Never mind. I’m leaving.”

Veronica walked back into the school.

*

Wallace and Logan were sitting on the floor against a bank of lockers.

“This just sucks,” said Wallace.

“That it does.”

“Coach called me into his office and said I should play. All the guys want me to play. But my playing isn’t really a big deal. Jack’s good. He was a starter last year.”

“What do you want to do?” Veronica asked as she walked up on the two boys.

“You know I want to play. But on the other hand, it ain’t worth Polly’s life. I can’t do it. I can’t play.”

“Would it cheer you up if I brought back the goat?”

Wallace smiled and looked at Logan, who also smiled, before turning back to Veronica. “Yeah, it would.”

Duncan watched from around a corner as the three friends left for their various destinations. Things were not going in a manner of which he approved—Logan and Veronica were relaxing their guard in public. He was going to have to keep a closer eye on things. Of course, that would be easier if his mother hadn’t hired him a life coach. Between his parents’ new insistence on “family time” and Jonathan the Peppy Life Coach, Duncan’s primary emotion lately had been frustration at not being able to spend more time watching his quarry.

He milked it for everything it was worth.

*

Veronica found Mac and asked for her help in decoding the assassination tape, which lead to identifying Jack as the bad guy. When Veronica showed up at the big game with Polly and the Pan High goat, it was bittersweet. While Wallace could now play, which was awesome, Veronica wanted nothing more than to watch the game with her boyfriend. She wanted to yell like an idiot with Logan beside her doing the same.

As the teams ran into the gym, the fans joined them and the halls emptied. Veronica’s eyes connected with Logan’s. He was leaning against the wall just beyond the doors Wallace and his team had gone through moments before. Her boyfriend jerked his head for her to follow him. Wordlessly, Veronica did so.

Within moments, Veronica knew where they were going. It was brilliant and Veronica couldn’t believe that she hadn’t thought of it before. High above the gym, there was a relatively small-sized weight room. The window that looked over the basketball court had a big one-way mirror, allowing a coach to look down on his players, but preventing anyone in the gym from seeing back in. That’s what it was supposed to do. In reality, it shielded randy couples from the prying eyes of anyone on the playing floor below.

A few years earlier, the administration had changed the locks so that master keys no longer opened the door. They had spent a few extra dollars and made the door supposedly “pick proof” and given it a unique key. Which Logan had correctly assumed that Veronica would have.

They still hadn’t said anything when Veronica opened the door. As soon as they went through, Logan swung his girlfriend around and pinned her against the wall.

“Hey, baby,” he breathed into her ear.

“Are you in trouble?” she managed to ask.

His only answer was a low chuckle as he leaned back to look at her.

She sighed. “The game.”

“Yeah,” he answered with a smile.

The two of them crossed to the window that overlooked the basketball court. The room wasn’t soundproof, so they didn’t cheer wildly, but they were together and after the game they dazzled Wallace with detailed recountings of his awesome moves.

Duncan felt relief seep through his veins. Logan and Veronica had hidden together in the weight room. Jake had come to watch the game with his son—hello, overprotective—so Duncan couldn’t follow the young couple, but he knew where they had gone. The two of them hiding—that’s how things were supposed to be.

*

As Veronica looked up the name Amelia deLongpre on the computer, Logan looked over her shoulder. The two of them had just had a conversation with Keith designed to manipulate Clarence Wiedman into giving them a name. Courtesy of the bugged plant that Wallace had delivered to the head of Kane Security, it had worked perfectly.

“I’m tired of hiding,” Veronica said. They couldn’t sit there in silence. It would make anyone listening to them suspicious.

“Yeah, I know. Me, too.”

On the computer, Veronica clicked on the link to Koontz’s mother’s obituary.

“I’m not sure how much longer we should keep doing it.” The two of them read the computer screen.

Logan sighed and kissed his girlfriend on the cheek.

“I’ll be right back.”

Veronica stared at the computer screen, but she wasn’t thinking about Abel Koontz and his daughter.

-

”Veronica, let me do this.”

“Logan, she’s my mom.”

“Yeah, and you did everything for mine. Let me do this for yours.”

Veronica put away her checkbook and let Logan pay for her mother’s rehab.

-

Logan walked back in and Veronica shook herself out of her reverie.

“Come on, let’s go get some dinner,” she said to Logan, taking his hand and crossing into the kitchen.

*

Over 3,500 miles away, Eli Navarro carried his wife over the threshold of their suite at the Comfort Inn in Conyers, Georgia. Meg Manning was now Meg Navarro.

*

The next evening after Logan and Veronica picked up Amelia and took her to a hotel, Veronica put her foot down.

“I’m paying for the hotel, Logan.”

“Veronica…” Logan sounded aggrieved.

“I may not have much money, but I’m not destitute. Don’t argue with me on this.” Veronica didn’t usually make much about the difference between their family’s financial situations and Logan knew better than to push the issue. He put up his hands in a fending-off gesture.

Veronica blew a burst of air out of her nose.

Once Amelia was safely in the hotel, Logan and Veronica headed back to their respective homes.

*

After Logan had paid for her mother’s rehab, Veronica had felt a sudden urge to declare her independence to herself. She loved Logan more than she had ever thought possible, but she needed to know that she could take care of her own business. That was undoubtedly why she agreed to help Sabrina Fuller. Veronica didn’t really have the time, but feeling a burning need to resume her sleuthing ways, even though logically she knew she had nothing to prove, she took the job.

She cornered Caz at lunch. Veronica was actually looking forward to talking to him, as she had yet to forgive him for his part in what had happened at the ‘80s dance.

“Caz! How’re ya doing?” The blocky young man immediately adopted a defensive posture. “I hear Meg’s not the only girl spurning your unwelcome advances.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” answered Caz belligerently as he jammed sports equipment into his SUV.

“You just can’t catch a break, can you? Meg chooses Weevil. Sabrina chooses anyone but you.” Veronica tilted her head and drilled her gaze into Caz’s empty skull. What an idiot, she thought to herself. She launched into a list of what had happened to Sabrina.

“Wa-wa-wait. She said I did this?” Of course Caz was going to deny it. Protestations of flinging himself off of buildings aside, Veronica remained unimpressed. She rolled her eyes and walked away.

She had more productive things to do than stand there and listen to this moron.

*

Veronica and Logan visited Amelia every evening while they waited for the settlement information to get there from her mother. When they weren’t doing that, Logan helped Veronica try to figure out who was stalking Sabrina.

-

Logan called Veronica’s cell to let her know that a beat-up old truck seemed to be casing Sabrina’s house. At Veronica’s request, Logan slammed his car to a halt in front of the truck and jumped out, Veronica and her client running to join them.

“Caz!” yelled Sabrina as Logan tried to look not suspicious.

Caz explained his presence and now it was Logan’s turn. Fortunately Sabrina was too tired and Caz was too busy groveling to his ex-girlfriend to question Logan’s weak excuse of “being in the neighborhood”. The best thing to come out of the experience was telling the story to Wallace the next morning.

“And no one asked what Marshall was really doing dogging Caz’s gardener’s truck in the middle of the night?”

Veronica explained through her laughter, “He said that the truck looked suspicious.”

“An ’02 truck on an ‘09er street at midnight? No wonder they didn’t catch on. Geez, Veronica! How did this girl get such a high GPA in the first place?”

That only made Veronica laugh harder.

*

Veronica was miserable. She hadn’t been to the Kane house since Lilly had died. This would be difficult if she wasn’t hiding a huge part of her life from Duncan. Given that she was, though, the official Kane Scholarship dinner was a big old ball of uncomfortable wrapped in a fluffy coat of misery.

As the night rolled on, Veronica couldn’t help herself. She drifted out to the pool deck.

“You okay?”

Veronica jumped. She hadn’t heard Duncan sneak up behind her.

He was standing with his hands in his pockets, staring at the spot where Lilly had died.

“So, who are you hiding from?”

Veronica couldn’t shake the full-on creepy vibe she was getting from her ex.

“No, really, I was just…”

“Relax. I come here sometimes, too. To think about her. My parents talked about selling the house at first, but I asked them not to. It’s peaceful. When I’m here, I feel like she’s still with me. Come on inside. We don’t bite.”

Veronica nodded awkwardly and walked past Duncan into his house.

Behind her, Duncan smiled.

*

After the dinner, Veronica drove straight to Logan’s house without taking the time to switch cars. She wasn’t in the mood to go to any effort to protect Duncan.

Veronica was off-kilter when she knocked on Logan’s bedroom door before immediately walking in. Logan looked up from his video game, surprised.

“What are you doing here? I thought you were at the Kane’s…” his voice trailed off when he saw the look on Veronica’s face. “What’s wrong, baby?” Veronica gave her boyfriend a weak smile as he stood up and walked over to her, but she didn’t answer.

“Really, Veronica,” he put his hands on each side of her face. “What’s going on?”

She looked into Logan’s eyes. “It’s Duncan. I think he knows.”

Logan moved back to get a better look at his girlfriend. “What?” he asked, stunned. “Since when?”

Veronica hesitated. “I don’t know. It’s just…” she sighed and moved in closer to Logan, resting her head on his chest. “I went out to the pool while I was there. It’s like I was drawn there.” Logan rested his chin on Veronica’s head as he stroked her hair and she paused in her story.

Logan leaned back and looked at her again. “What happened?”

She struggled to find the words. “He…was going on about how he goes out there all the time and I got this—I don’t know—weird feeling. Honestly. I think he knows.”

Logan took a deep breath and he and Veronica moved back into each other again. It wasn’t like Duncan had said anything, but Veronica’s instincts were good ones.

They held each other as they contemplated what that meant.

*

Logan followed Veronica home. They were both feeling very off. Logan didn’t want Veronica going home alone and she didn’t argue, which was telling in and of itself.

Veronica kept her car in idle at the end of the alley while she waited for Logan to park his Xterra. After she squeezed her own car into the only opening near her apartment, Logan walked his girlfriend inside. And into the apartment of a very angry Keith Mars.

“I expected better of you, Logan,” the older man bit out angrily as the couple walked through the door.

Caught off guard, Logan and Veronica looked at each other startled.

“Mr. Mars?” Logan was suddenly glad that he was holding Veronica’s hand.

“Dad!” Veronica felt the slight added pressure on her hand. What was her father doing?

“Guess who stopped by today?”

“If you say Josh Hartnett, I’m gonna be so bummed.” It was a weak attempt to lighten the situation and it didn’t work.

“Clarence Wiedman,” Keith stated ominously. “He's the head of security for Kane Software. And for an hour after he left I sat here wondering. What did I stumble on that has them so rattled that they'd send over their top guy?” Veronica sank down onto the sofa and Logan followed, a twisted knot settling in the pit of his stomach. “I wasn't sure what it was but I was proud. Clearly I was making them nervous. Then it occurred to me. I didn't stumble on anything. I haven't touched the case in months. Nope, I'm not scaring the Kanes. My seventeen-year-old daughter is. She and her boyfriend, who swore to me that he would always keep her safe. Good work on that one,” he turned his angry gaze to the silent young man. “Do you have any idea how dangerous this guy is?” Keith was using his scary cop voice.

“Clarence Weidman is looking for Abel Koontz’s daughter,” Veronica explained quickly.

Logan remained silent as he stared at his and Veronica’s hands, intertwined.

“Of course, she changed her name,” noted Veronica’s father. “She’s the one getting the payoff. And you know where Amelia is. What do you two think you’re doing, putting yourselves in danger like this?”

Logan finally looked up. “We’re protecting her so that the Kanes can’t get to her and cover up the money trail.”

“And you’re going to keep Veronica from Clarence Weidman? Ex-Marine? FBI? What, with all of your covert training, right? Understand me. That family will do anything to make that evidence go away.”

Veronica broke in. “She’s willing to help us, Dad. She's already agreed to turn over the phony patent documents, that's as much of a smoking gun as we're gonna find.”

“That girl must really love her old man if she’s trading three million bucks for three months of his life.”

Logan and Veronica looked at each other and Veronica turned back to her father. “You know about Abel—“

“Stomach cancer? All right, you two. New game, new rules.” Keith sat down on the coffee table in front of the two teenagers. “I told you a long time ago to drop this case—

Both Logan and Veronica started to protest.

“I know,” interrupted Keith. “Just listen. You have to promise me that you'll be more careful. That means no more surprise visits from Clarence Wiedman. I just can't make myself more clear.” He aimed another irritated glance at Logan, who nodded curtly.

“We promise,” affirmed Veronica.

Keith took a deep breath and explained his theory on how Clarence Weidman had helped the Kanes. After he did so, Keith told the couple that he was going out for some air.

Logan and Veronica sat on the couch. Whether they were frozen by Keith’s anger or his story was up for debate.

“What was he talking about?”

Logan sighed. He didn’t ask to ask her to clarify.

“Your dad and I…”

Veronica raised her eyebrows and Logan rolled his eyes.

Yeah, I know… He knew his girlfriend very well.

“Around the time school started…” Logan cleared his throat. “We hadn’t been back from Romania all that long. Your dad asked me if you and I were still looking for Lilly’s killer. He made me promise that no matter what, I would keep you safe. He made me promise,” Logan repeated softly.

“Logan,” Veronica reached up and turned his face to her, although he still didn’t look into her eyes. “You do keep me safe. You have.” On the one hand, she wanted to rip her boyfriend’s arms off for being so macho and overprotective, but her need to soothe the tortured look on his face overshadowed her irritation. She rubbed the tips of her fingers over Logan’s face as though trying to smooth away the self-doubt she saw there. He was so quick to revert to that.

“I need you. Don’t give out on me now, okay? I can’t do this without you.” That caught his attention and Logan looked up. “Please, Logan.”

Their eye contact was so intense, each of them had to fight the urge to look away. Finally, Logan nodded.

-

After saying goodbye to Veronica, Logan walked outside. As expected, Keith was waiting for him by the sad little pool that the apartment complex boasted.

The younger man shoved his fists deep in his pockets.

“I’m sorry I let you down,” he said softly.

Keith, his own hands in his pockets, shook his head. “I never should have asked that of you, Logan. It’s my responsibility to keep my daughter safe, not yours.”

“I love her, too,” said Logan. “That makes me responsible. You didn’t have to ask.”

“Like Veronica would ever let anyone else really take responsibility for her.”

Logan laughed at that and Keith joined in.

“We’re just going to have to do our best,” finished Keith. “And Logan, you have to promise me that you’ll be more careful where the Kanes are concerned. I know Duncan’s your best friend, but that family will go to any extreme to keep their secrets.”

Logan nodded. He and Keith said their good nights and Logan slowly walked back to his car. He had gotten so caught up—in his mom’s death, in finding Lilly’s killer—that he had forgotten the most important woman in his life. It was a mistake that he wouldn’t make again.

*

Veronica called Logan on her way home after Hamilton gave up the scholarship. She was decrying the evils of selfish 09er school board presidents when her call waiting beeped and she put Logan on hold.

When she came back, it was with the news that Amelia had called and the papers had arrived. Veronica then called her dad and the three of them went to Amelia’s hotel, only to be given a frosty reception by Clarence Wiedman.

After that, they drove to Keith’s office where Veronica’s father finally told Lilly’s best friends about the night that the vibrant girl had died.

Looking at his daughter, Keith explained, “Honey, it was a soccer uniform I found in the dryer.”

*

It was almost eleven when Logan got home and he called Veronica as soon as he got to his room.

“Do you think he did it?” Veronica asked what they were both thinking.

“I don’t know,” said Logan with a deep sigh. “I don’t know, but I’m done hiding.”

“What?” He could hear Veronica’s surprise over the phone.

“Duncan may be a ticking time bomb. Maybe he killed Lilly in a blind range. I don’t know. But I do know that he’s responsible for his own life. And we need to be able to live ours.”

“Is this about what my dad said the other night?”

“Maybe. But I love you and that makes me responsible for you.”

“And I’m responsible for you,” added Veronica softly.

“We can’t be responsible for Duncan anymore.”

“I know.”

Outside Logan’s window, Duncan’s hands tightened on his rifle mike.

Fine. If it had to end, it would end. But it was going to happen on his terms, not theirs.

Chapter Text

Logan usually went into jackass mode at lunch. This afternoon, though, he was quiet as he sat at the 09er table in the quad. His “friends” were in usual form. Dick was making fun of someone; Madison was provoking her boyfriend as he made fun of someone; Duncan was staring blankly into space. Logan was the only one not acting like himself. He was busy wondering how these people’s attitudes toward him were going to change once he and Veronica went public.

It was a question of when, not if. Having made the decision to come out, Logan and his girlfriend were working on how best to do so. The simplest thing, of course, would be to just walk down the halls of school holding hands. Right. It was only simple on the surface. Maybe the two of them had been hiding for so long that coming out had assumed importance beyond what it probably deserved. Except that there was still Duncan’s reaction to consider, so maybe the importance was justified.

Neither Logan nor Veronica wanted Duncan to find out about them through the rumor mill. They wanted to tell him themselves; they were just looking for the right opening. Or maybe they were just so used to hiding that the thought of not hiding anymore was as scary as the thought of staying under for another day. Who knew at this point?

In the meantime, Logan wondered how these people who called themselves his friends were going to change towards him once they found out that Veronica Mars was the love of his life. He genuinely didn’t care if these people ever spoke to him again. He was curious, though. Regardless of their reaction, what the 09ers would never understand was that a choice between them and Veronica was no decision at all.

And it was only a matter of time now.

*

Veronica was amazed that the furor hadn’t died down. She was usually right about these things, but in this case she hadn’t even been close. The longer Weevil and Meg remained gone, the more the fascination with them grew. Instead of out of sight/out of mind, the two were gaining a weird cult status in the minds of the students at Neptune High.

Meg’s friends on the cheerleading squad didn’t have enough related stories, so they had started making them up. Veronica had recently heard about how Meg would disappear during cheerleading practice and return with messed-up hair while Weevil watched from afar. Oh, and at least three people had walked in on them having sex in various places around the school—and that was only during school hours. That didn’t include all of the people who had caught them in flagrante at the 80s dance.

Veronica was amused. If Meg and Weevil had been going at it as much as the rumor mill claimed, Veronica didn’t think either of them would have been able to stay awake during school. All they would have been able to do was sleep.

Veronica also couldn’t help but wonder how long she and Logan would be news. Undoubtedly they would be fodder for the gossip mill. Her question was for how long and how intense the fervor would be. She wondered if she should feel competitive. After all, Weevil and Meg had only been dating for a few months. She and Logan had been going out for a year and a half. Please. They had gone to Europe together. All their friends had done was drive cross-country. As if that compared.

Veronica smiled to herself. From across the quad, Logan caught her eye.

Not long now.

*

Meg was sitting by the window in her and Weevil’s hotel room, looking out on the Wal-Mart parking lot. Cars came and went, people walked in and out, living their lives, running their errands. Meg wondered what was going on in those people’s lives. Were they in love? In trouble? Happy? Heartbroken? Desperate? Doing the weekly grocery shopping? What?

Why did the world keep on turning? Shouldn’t the upheaval in her life affect the universe around her? Six months ago she had been dating a shallow jock, had been a virgin and was college-bound. Now she was in love with a gang leader, pregnant by him and had just married him. Yet the world just kept turning.

Meg’s thoughts had been moving towards the future a lot. Everyone had their talents and one of Meg’s greatest was the ability to care for children. Which was why she wasn’t as upset about the whole college thing as she probably should have been. She didn’t look at raising happy, well-adjusted children as a waste of her life. While she wished that she could have done more before she got married and settled down, the situation was what it was and she didn’t think it was a tragedy.

Weevil’s breath hitched and Meg looked over at the bed. Her husband. Eli was her husband. She smiled.

As she stared at him, Meg couldn’t exactly say that the man in the hotel bed looked peaceful in his sleep. She wasn’t sure that anyone could ever describe Eli as “peaceful”. He did look relaxed, though. Watching him sleeping was like seeing a snapshot of what his life could have been if he had been born under different circumstances.

Meg didn’t need to go to college, but she wanted her husband to. He was so intelligent and driven. She wanted to help him achieve whatever goal he set his mind to. She wasn’t sure how to do that in a way that would help him do what he wanted to do as opposed to doing what she wanted him to do. She was determined to figure out this whole marriage thing.

“What are you doing over there?”

Eli’s voice pulled Meg out of her reverie and she smiled. Her husband had rolled onto his side and was looking at her, probably in much the same way that she had been recently thinking about him.

“Just thinking.”

“Oh, yeah?” he asked as she crossed the short distance to sit down next to him. “Was I starring in this little daydream?”

Meg draped herself across Eli’s strong torso. “You might have had a small role.”

“A small role?” Weevil grabbed Meg and rolled them so that she was now under him and she giggled.

“Okay, so it might have been a slightly bigger part.”

“Slightly?” Weevil prodded, using more than his words to encourage her.

Meg swallowed hard and leaned her head back allowing Weevil better access to her neck. “I give up. It was huge. Bigger than anyone could ever imagine.”

“That’s what I thought,” concluded Weevil before giving the column of her neck his full attention.

Not everything about marriage was going to take adjusting to.

*

Logan was laughing so hard that he actually fell against the bathroom counter and had to grab it to keep from hitting the floor.

“It’s not funny!” Veronica demanded, not amused.

“You’ll be like the Bradys! You know, if the mom had been black and the dad had a little less hair. Will you two share a connecting bathroom? Oh, please, tell me you’re gonna share a bathroom!”

All of the ways that Veronica could impale her boyfriend raced across her mind. Seeing the look of death on his girlfriend’s face, Logan tried to swallow his laughter, without much success.

“Oh, come on, honey,” Logan had recently taken to using terms of endearment, perhaps trying out substitutions for “baby”.

Uh-huh.

“At least your dad is happy, right?” Logan’s voice was as sincere as his stifled laughter would allow.

Veronica rolled her eyes and tried to ignore the logic that Logan of all people was trying to inject into the situation. Not that Logan didn’t often provide good advice, but come on. It was the principle of the thing.

Affecting defeat, Veronica wrapped her arms around her boyfriend and laid her forehead on his chest. Logan laughed as Veronica shook her head from side to side in disbelief.

“Between this and the bomb threats, we’re never going to figure out how to tell Duncan. You know that, right?” Veronica raised her head to look directly at her boyfriend.

“What?” Logan hadn’t heard the intricacies yet of the fire drills that were really bomb threats. Veronica’s first order of business after lunch had been the details of Keith and Alicia’s love lives.

Now she took the opportunity to explain to Logan what she had been doing that morning. The young man shook his head as the bell rang.

The two of them kissed and headed off to their respective classes, each of them secure in the knowledge that they wouldn’t have to sneak around like this much longer.

For once Duncan wasn’t listening at the door. He was off making sure they wouldn’t have to hide anymore too.

*

Logan called Veronica at 11:00 that night.

“I saw you coming out of Clemmons’ office today with Ms. Stafford. It didn’t look like it went well.”

“That’s one way of putting it.”

“What’s going on?”

“What?”

“Give me a break, Veronica. Something’s wrong and Clemmons being pissed at you wouldn’t do it.”

“That obvious?” Veronica sighed. “Wallace and Alicia came over tonight.”

“Okay?” Logan prompted.

There was another pause. “So I told him that when my mom gets out of rehab, she’s coming home.”

“And he wasn’t happy with that?” Logan’s voice was uncertain, as though he didn’t quite know how to phrase the question.

“It’s not like either of us is thrilled about our parents dating.” Logan could envision the look on Veronica’s face as she tried to explain. “But he doesn’t want his mom to be just, you know, a place holder.”

Logan knew exactly what Veronica was saying, but he didn’t know how to respond. He understood why Veronica would want her parents to get back together. At the same time, he couldn’t really tell his girlfriend that her father would be better off with the drunk who had abandoned them. Logan couldn’t lie to her like that. Neither could he break Veronica’s heart by pointing out the truth, either. So he said nothing. It was probably a lie of omission, but he couldn’t figure out what else to do.

“I feel like pond scum,” Veronica stated, breaking the uncomfortable silence. “He called me his best friend and everything.”

Logan smiled. “Well, he is your best friend. After me, of course.”

Veronica laughed, her first of the evening. “Of course.” The subject had effectively changed. “You know, I was just thinking the other day that it’s a good thing you two get along.”

“Me and Diddy?” Logan came back. “What’s not to love?”

“I missed you tonight.”

The sudden change in conversation surprised Logan.

“Yeah, well, I would have loved to have been there, trust me.” Logan had spent the evening hanging out with Duncan and Dick.

“Not much longer.”

“Yeah. Speaking of which…” Logan left the statement hanging. They still hadn’t come up with a way to break the news to Duncan.

“Let’s just get it over with. Why don’t we sit him down this weekend?”

“Somewhere public,” Logan added.

Veronica laughed. “Definitely.”

They talked for a little while longer, touching on subjects from how weird the new guy Ben was, to how they would be able to hold hands in the halls on Monday.

*

Between Ben’s comments in class the next day and Pete’s tale of animal cruelty, Veronica had a very bad feeling about the new guy. While she didn’t really feel that she had the time to take on a case, she wasn’t about to let the school get blown up, so she followed Ben after classes let out.

As she followed him to the Camelot, she thought about how glad she was that she and Wallace seemed to be okay. She didn’t know what she would do without her friend.

As Veronica took pictures of Ben piling fertilizer into his car, her phone rang.

“Hello?” she answered throatily.

“Any plans tonight, beautiful?” asked Logan and Veronica could hear the smile in his voice.

“I was supposed to hook up with this really hot guy and we were going to…well, I’m sure you don’t want to hear the dirty details.”

“No, no, it’s okay. I can handle it. Tell me the dirty details.”

“There’s no point, really. I mean, the guy, like, drove off with his other girlfriend, because, you know, she’s pregnant? But it’s okay. I know he’ll come back to me.”

Logan couldn’t help but laugh.

“As if that guy could even compare,” he pointed out.

“Oh, alright. You have better arms by, like, a mile, but—“ Veronica’s statement was cut off when Ben burst into her car. She dropped her phone, leaving the line open.

Logan heard the phone clatter and heard his girlfriend ask someone, “What do you think you’re doing?”

Logan’s grip on the phone tightened so much that the hard plastic bent under his fingers.

“Let’s go for a ride,” a male voice said.

I’ll kill him. Come on, Veronica. Tell me where you are.

“Make a left at the next stop,” the man’s voice instructed.

“Where are we going?” asked Veronica.

Logan didn’t remember standing up, but he was already halfway to his truck when the guy replied.

“Well, you should know. You must have followed me there.”

“The Camelot?”

Logan jumped in his car and tore out of the school parking lot. He kept his phone on as he broke every speed limit on the way to the skeazy motel. He didn’t hang up the phone until he parked his car and saw Ben dragging Veronica up the stairs to the second floor. He raced for the other stairs.

He’s dead.

As he approached them from the opposite side of the upper walkway, Logan heard Ben say something about people dying. He missed most of it, though, because as soon as he turned the corner, Logan’s fist landed on the side of the kidnapper’s face. Ben went down and Veronica was thrown forward; Logan didn’t see Ben’s wallet fly across the ground.

Logan grabbed the fallen boy off of the ground and hit him again. As he was going in for a third strike, he heard Veronica say, “Logan, stop.” His hand froze in midair.

His girlfriend was holding a wallet with a badge in it.

“He’s a federal agent.”

Logan pushed himself up off the freshly-outted narc, pushing the bleeding guy back against the pavement as he did so.

“You didn’t think to mention that while you were kidnapping my girlfriend?” Logan demanded, caution forgotten as he confronted Ben, who was struggling to stand.

Ben’s head flew up and he looked from Logan to Veronica. “Wait, what? You two—“ he pointed from one to the other. “You’re a couple?” Seeing the looks on their faces, the interest disappeared from his face. “Right. Um, let’s talk in my room.”

The shorter boy walked around Veronica and into the room at the end of the second floor.

Ignoring him, Veronica crossed instead to Logan and put her arms around him in a tight hug.

“I knew you’d come,” she whispered in his ear.

From the time that he had heard the phone drop out of Veronica’s hands until that moment, Logan had been running on adrenaline. But in that instant, as he stood there touching Veronica’s face, smoothing her hair back, stroking her cheek, the wave of terror that had been held at bay crashed over him and Logan turned their tight hug into a crushing embrace.

As Veronica felt Logan’s heart beating like a cornered animal against her chest, she knew that he was on the edge. She understood him well enough to know that there weren’t any levels on which this experience hadn’t shaken him. Slowly looking at Logan as she pulled away, she took his hand in hers and they silently went into the ATF agent’s motel room together.

Ben walked out of the bathroom holding a towel to his busted lip. Logan’s hand was instinctively flexing—whether because it hurt or because he wanted to hit the man again was up for debate.

Still holding Logan’s other hand Veronica asked, “You’re undercover at Neptune High?”

Ben looked at Logan. “Is it all right if your—if he goes outside? I’d like to talk to you.”

It seemed to Veronica that she could feel the air in the room tense up at the request. She knew that she had to talk to Ben. If there really was a threat to detonate a bomb in the school, there was no way she would be able to live with herself if she didn’t do something about it. Logan couldn’t be in the room, though. Veronica was afraid he would end up in jail if she didn’t get her boyfriend out of there.

As if confirming her thoughts, Logan practically growled out, “Dream on, Jump Street. I’m not leaving you alone with her.”

Ben’s facial muscles tightened and Veronica turned to Logan. She laced her fingers through his and looked him in the eye, “Please.”

His jaw still clenched, Logan gave Ben a deadly serious look. “I’ll be right outside.”

Logan let go of Veronica’s hand, giving her a significant look as he walked out, leaving the door slightly cracked. Only that look on his girlfriend’s face could have gotten him to leave. He pulled his cell phone out of the pocket he had shoved it in only minutes earlier.

-

By the time Veronica came out of the room ten minutes later, Logan was ready to go kamikaze on the door and drag her out of there. Even though the door wasn’t really closed, Logan needed Veronica to be with him, not some overzealous government drug boy.

Closing the door behind her, Veronica walked the short distance to Logan and leaned forward as though to put her arms around him.

“Let’s go,” he said, taking her hand instead and pulling her behind him.

“What?” she asked, completely confused.

“I called down to the office while you were with Johnny Depp and had them bring up a key. I need you right now.” Logan gave his girlfriend an intense look as he inserted a plastic key card into a door about halfway down the balcony.

Without so much as a word, Veronica jumped onto her boyfriend before he even got the door open. With her legs wrapped around Logan’s waist, he managed to push the door open with his backside as he and Veronica devoured each other. As the door shut behind them, they didn’t quite make it to the bed. It was okay, they didn’t need one.

-

Several hours later, Veronica stirred to life. The first thing she felt was the rise and fall of Logan’s chest under her arm.

As she lay there half-asleep, the thought occurred to Veronica that Logan was special. Not that she hadn’t known that before, but not every guy would come running to her aid on the basis of a half-heard cell phone conversation. Duncan would most likely have called the police and then hurried over to the Camelot. Then he would have speed-dialed his dad on the way and asked for instructions. One thing was certain—Veronica would have been in Ben’s motel room before Duncan ever got there.

Not for a minute, though, had it occurred to Veronica that Logan wouldn’t be there for her. The object of her affection stirred beside her, unconsciously pulling Veronica closer to him. As Veronica drifted back to sleep, she had one of those moments of pure contentment.

-

As the two of them got dressed, Veronica told Logan about her conversation with Ben and explained why she had to leave Logan’s bed to go over to Norris’s house. Fortunately as they got dressed, the two of them took every opportunity possible to touch each other—nothing passionate, just fingertips brushing and lingering—and Logan decided to find the whole thing amusing as opposed to jealousy-inspiring.

“As long as he doesn’t get the full-service package, I’ll survive.” Logan put his arms around Veronica from behind as she opened the door. She laughed girlishly as he breathed in her ear.

“Take away all my fun,” she teased him.

The two of them walked to their cars hands entwined and drove off in their separate directions.

*

The next morning when Veronica arrived at school, she was in a panic. She tried to warn Norris before Ben got to him, but she was too late.

Veronica stormed into Journalism, intent on getting Ms. Stafford to let her publish the truth, but she was thwarted when the morning announcements started. One of Ms. Stafford’s quirks (and every teacher had them) was the morning news broadcast. Even in Journalism where the class structure was pretty free-form, they all had to pretend to be interested in the latest bake sale. Ms. Stafford refused to speak to anyone while the news was on.

It wouldn’t have mattered, anyway, as the former pep squad teacher wasn’t in the room yet. Regardless, the class at least quieted down. The one time Ms. Stafford had walked in during announcements and no one had been paying attention, she had blown a gasket. No one wanted to sit through that particular lecture again.

Out of the corner of her eye, Veronica saw that Logan was sitting in front of a computer, probably working on something for student council. Her boyfriend continued to surprise everyone by not sucking in his role as student body president. Veronica wasn’t surprised in the least.

In Meg’s absence, Kimmie still hadn’t gotten the anchor job. Some sophomore that Veronica didn’t know was going on about lacrosse try-outs when another picture broke onto the screen. The first thing that shot into Veronica’s mind was the Polly assassination tape. To her horror, though, she realized that this was infinitely worse.

Veronica called out, “Logan!”

Logan turned around to see an outdoor shot of the Camelot Motel on the TV screen. Veronica was coming out of what Logan knew to be Ben’s room. He watched, paralyzed, as the video of yesterday’s events quickly unfolded. The camera had gotten a great angle and the entire event was crisp and clear. Yesterday’s Logan took Veronica’s hand and pulled her to a door in the middle of the balcony. When yesterday’s Veronica jumped him, the camera wobbled. It then pulled away to show Logan pushing the door open with his backside.

Veronica watched in horror as the scene onscreen sped up and five hours elapsed in ten seconds, the time clock in the bottom right hand corner helpfully showing the passage of time. The camera didn’t waver as the shadows lengthened and night fell over the Camelot. Veronica watched herself come out of the hotel, Logan’s arms wrapped around her as he whispered something in her ear.

The tape abruptly cut off and the unknown sophomore reappeared on the screen as the Journalism class watched, enraptured. There was a moment of deep silence.

Then all hell broke loose.

Logan jumped up and ran to Veronica, who shot out of her chair to meet him. Class members were shouting out questions, everyone’s voices overlapping, but Veronica and Logan were only interested in one reaction.

Duncan’s bellow silenced the rest of the class.

“How long?!”

Veronica and Logan looked at each other.

“HOW LONG?!” Duncan yelled.

Logan looked into his best friend’s eyes as he held Veronica’s hand. The rest of the class waited on baited breath.

“A year and a half.”

There was a collective gasp.

“A year and a half?!” echoed Duncan. “My best friend has been lying to me for a year and a half?! Why?!”

Logan was reminded forcibly of the scene in the Kane’s living room. Is that where this was going?

“We were going to tell you this weekend,” Veronica finally spoke. “We didn’t want to hurt you.”

“So you’ve been sneaking around for a year and a half, but you were going to tell me this weekend?” Duncan asked scathingly and he turned his gaze back to Logan. “Or maybe you’re just saying that because you just got caught screwing your girlfriend like a whore in some cheap hotel.”

Logan let go of Veronica’s hand and decked his best friend.

Ms. Stafford chose that moment to come into the room.

“What is going on?” she demanded, sensing immediately that something was wrong, which is exactly what she expected. She had clearly seen the broadcast.

Duncan straightened up, holding his hand to his jaw.

“Nothing,” he said and he looked at the couple in front of him, Veronica still holding back Logan who was ready to inflict more damage. “Nothing at all.” With that, Duncan turned and walked out of the classroom.

As soon as Duncan made it through the door Ms. Stafford turned around.

“What just happened?” She pointed her remarks towards Logan, who was again holding hands with Veronica.

“Nothing,” he said flatly.

The teacher widened her attention to include the entire class.

“Anyone?” she prompted.

There were mumbled nothing’s and head shakes.

Ms. Stafford was furious. “Let’s get on task, people!” she barked before turning on her heel and heading to her desk.

Logan squeezed Veronica’s hand and the two of them moved past the other people in the class to a computer in the corner of the room. As they sat down, they heard Ms. Stafford calling the front office from her class phone to report that a student had left the room without permission.

For the first time since the video had broken into the announcements, Logan and Veronica were alone.

“Who?” Logan strangled out.

“I’ll find them,” Veronica stated in a harsh whisper.

They were keeping their voices down because the rest of the class wasn’t even trying to hide their attempts to eavesdrop.

A freshman office aide walked into the classroom.

“Ms. Stafford, Mr. Clemmons wants to see Logan Echolls and Veronica Mars in his office.”

Veronica was surprised the room didn’t blow up, the sparks were so strong.

Ms. Stafford turned to the couple. “Logan, Veronica.” She indicated that they should follow the aide.

The two of them stood up, taking each other’s hands again. They crossed the room and walked out the door.

As they walked down the hall, the freshman aide following behind them, Logan and Veronica were silent. Still in shock at the morning’s events, it seemed that the focus of their world had narrowed down to their clasped hands.

They sat down to talk to Mr. Clemmons in a fog.

“Neither of you knows who might have made that tape?” the vice principal reiterated.

The school registrar poked her head in the door.

“We still can’t find him, Mr. Clemmons.”

Veronica perked up as the door shut.

“Duncan? Does she mean Duncan?”

Logan looked intensely at his girlfriend. He knew that voice.

Clemmons shook his head. He had long since learned that there was no point trying to keep things from the school’s most intrepid junior.

“Duncan Kane hasn’t been seen since he left the Journalism room,” Clemmons admitted.

“Do you need anything else?” Veronica asked as she started to stand up.

“Yeah, next time we can bring the party mix,” added Logan. Clemmons just rolled his eyes.

“We’re done here. You can go back to class.”

The halls were empty, but Logan and Veronica went into the girls’ bathroom out of habit. As soon as they knew they were alone, Logan pulled Veronica into his arms and they just held each other.

“We can do this.” Logan broke the silence.

“Yes, we can,” Veronica answered softly but firmly.

They headed back to the Journalism room. There were only a few more minutes left of first period, but they needed to get their things. Conversation died down as soon as they walked in the door. Veronica handed their pass to Ms. Stafford right before the bell rang. Many of their classmates hung back as though not willing to walk away from such a real-life soap opera. Logan and Veronica ignored them as they gathered up their things and headed out the door.

Their hands were tightly intertwined as the two of them made their way toward Veronica’s next class. It was like the parting of the Red Sea. Every person in the hall moved out of the way to let the couple pass as they simultaneously turned to stare.

Just as they approached the door to Veronica’s classroom, Dick came running up.

“Dude, does this mean you’re the Energizer Bunny? Or is this a new reality show called My Skank?”

Dick had never completely forgiven Veronica for publicly dressing him down over his sexual inadequacies.

“Why don’t you just evaporate?” Logan said coldly. “In fact,” and he raised his voice to include everyone in the hallway desperately trying to catch the conversation. “Let me make sure that everyone gets this. If you have a problem with Veronica, you’re pretty much dead to me. Any questions?”

Without waiting to take notice of anyone’s reactions, including Dick’s, Logan turned to his girlfriend and kissed her on the lips.

“I’ll be back to walk you to your next class,” he told her.

Veronica smiled and reached up to kiss him one more time.

“I’ll be here,” she said, purposefully not looking back at Dick before going into her class. Logan picking her up from class was key. He was the one with popularity power; therefore, his coming to meet her instead of the other way around would establish that they were a couple and that Logan didn’t look at Veronica as a passing conquest.

Bring it on, thought Veronica as she headed for her seat at the back of the room. It was going to be an interesting day.

-

Never had Veronica been more right. The tale of Duncan and Logan’s fight flew around the school faster than a sexually transmitted disease. It only took slightly longer for the news of Duncan’s disappearance to make the rounds. As the day wore on, kids whispered and pointed whenever they saw Veronica and smiled weakly and nodded whenever Logan went by. It was clear that the student body wasn’t quite sure how to respond. Veronica was a well-established tramp, but Logan was the 09er king and no one was quite brave enough to alienate him. And he had clearly established his position on the matter both clearly and publicly.

Lunch was especially entertaining. Veronica sat at her usual solitary table. She hadn’t had a chance yet to talk with Wallace and she was dying to hear what his morning had been like. Logan reached the table first, though. Sliding in next to her, he reached down to kiss her hello. Without any conscious effort, the touch turned intense in the space of a few heartbeats. Veronica heard the sounds of the lunch crowd fade in the background.

When they broke apart, Veronica realized that it hadn’t been Logan’s magnetism that overrode the sounds of the crowd. It was the crowd’s fascination with their PDA. Every pair of eyes in the sunny courtyard was trained on her and her boyfriend and no one was making a sound.

Veronica leaned up and whispered in Logan’s ear. “I just want them to think I’m saying something incredibly dirty to you.”

He laughed and kissed her hungrily again.

“Oh, please, don’t you two have a hotel room for that?”

Wallace’s voice broke the couple apart.

Laughing, Logan explained, “The Camelot rents by the hour. What, do you think I keep them on retainer?”

“Hey, from what I’ve heard,” Wallace settled in at the table, “you two practically live there.”

“Oh, yeah?” Veronica ignored her food and focused on her friend. “What else have you heard?”

Mac walked up. “It can’t be any better than what I’ve heard.” She sat down at the table.

“Logan, Mac; Mac, Logan,” Veronica introduced them.

To Mac’s surprise, Logan extended his hand. “I’ve been looking forward to meeting you,” he said as he shook her hand.

“You have?” she couldn’t help but sound as taken aback as she was.

Logan laughed. “I see our evil plan worked,” he told Veronica as he kissed the top of her head and started taking food off of her untouched plate. Crisis or no crisis, he was hungry.

“What evil plan?” asked Mac, genuinely curious at the strange turn the conversation was taking.

Veronica explained as Logan proceeded to empty her tray. “Even though we were dating, Logan kept acting like a psychotic jackass so that no one would figure us out.”

Everyone at the table turned their eyes to the 09er who was currently trying to shove as much of a corn dog in his mouth in one bite as he could.

“Was fun,” he said in a muffled voice around the food, eliciting a laugh from everyone.

“So what have you heard?” Wallace aimed the question at Mac.

“That Logan and Veronica have been dating for a year and a half but they hid it from everyone because they were afraid that Duncan would kill himself if he found out.”

Wallace, Logan and Veronica all looked at each other in astonishment, Logan struggling to swallow the huge amount of food in his mouth without choking.

“What?” asked Mac. “What’s the real story?”

“That is the real story,” answered Veronica. “It’s just—I’ve never heard of the gossip mill getting it right.”

Wallace was shaking his head in amazement and Logan was downing Veronica’s chocolate milk. Once he finally cleared his mouth, he nodded.

“I’m impressed.”

As Logan was saying this, Dick walked up and clapped his friend on the back, almost causing Logan to spit out the second drink of milk that he had just taken.

“See you in Science,” the blond said, and he mimed playing cymbals as he headed over to the 09er table.

“I’m afraid to ask,” said Wallace.

“Logan’s the Energizer Bunny,” said Veronica and her boyfriend rolled his eyes.

“There’s no peace. I’ve been getting booty calls all day. I tried to explain that I have a girlfriend, but they won’t listen.”

This is not what Mac had expected of Logan Echolls. Through her laughter, she asked Veronica, “Is he always like this?”

“Yes,” both Veronica and Wallace replied promptly.

“What?” asked Logan innocently.

“I’m surprised they haven’t come over,” Wallace indicated the 09ers, all of whom were pointing to and obviously talking about the new couple.

Logan shrugged. He seriously didn’t care. More than anything else this year, all he had wanted to do was have lunch with his girlfriend. Now it was here and it was every bit as good as he had hoped. He had figured out a long time ago that her friends were better than his. He didn’t care if those people ever darkened his doorstep again.

“They’ll come around,” stated Veronica. “They’re like that. Hey, have any of you seen Duncan? No one’s seen him since he stormed out of Journalism.”

“Is it true that you knocked out three of his teeth? Way to defend your woman’s honor, Marshall!” Wallace held up his palm and he and Logan high-fived.

“He was outta line,” said Logan darkly, but his face lightened almost instantly. “I just gave him a bruise, though. Sadly, I did not knock out any teeth.”

Talk turned to Duncan’s possible whereabouts and reactions. No one thought that he was likely to commit suicide, but there was no shortage of suggestions.

After lunch, Logan walked Veronica to her next class and he was there after each of her classes the rest of the day, ready to escort her to her next room. The two of them cleared a path down whatever hall they went and Wallace informed them that evening that everyone was bombarding him with requests for information.

“The only thing I would tell them is that Logan helped me steal the goat. You know, give our boy Marshall some more street cred.”

“Didn’t hurt yours, either, I’m betting,” laughed Veronica.

“Hey, me hanging out with the 09er king? You better believe it!”

Veronica was happy because Logan had just arrived at her apartment not dressed like the Unabomber. Life was good. As she was hanging up with Wallace Logan’s cell phone rang. It was quickly obvious that it was not good news.

“What?” she asked when he ended the conversation.

“That was Celeste.” He paused and a shadow crossed over his face. “Duncan’s gone.”

Veronica waited.

“He left a suicide note.”

*

The attitude of the students in school the next day had shifted considerably. Logan and Veronica were still given a wide berth in the hallways, but it was no longer out of shock. The student body had concluded that Logan and Veronica had as good as killed Duncan Kane.

Everyone knew that Duncan had left a note saying that he couldn’t live his life alone and that he didn’t want his parents to have to clean up the mess. And he was gone. Of course he was dead. What else were they supposed to think? And of course it was Logan and Veronica’s fault

The same people sat with Logan and Veronica at lunch, but the mood wasn’t light this time. Several people had accused Wallace of being best friends with a murderer and Mac had heard a rumor that Logan and Veronica knew where Duncan’s body was, but had refused to divulge the location to the Kanes.

Instead of looking in open curiosity, today the 09ers were looking at the new couple’s table with contempt and hate. When Dick passed by, he “accidentally” bumped into Logan and only Veronica’s restraining arm kept Logan from attacking his former friend.

“Now isn’t the time,” she told him urgently. Logan looked rebellious, so Veronica continued. “I’ve been through this, remember?” At her words, Logan stopped pulling against her grasp, but Veronica could tell that her boyfriend was far from appeased. She knew it wouldn’t be long before they got to him.

They were like that.

-

No one but Ms. Stafford spoke to them that night as the Journalism class prepared the newest edition of the Navigator. Normally everyone would have been impressed by Veronica’s story, but they were too busy hating her to give her any credit.

The fact is that the only thing people love more than a king is to see a king fall. And the vultures had come home to roost.

*

The next morning in Journalism, Logan and Veronica were sitting in the middle of the room looking over the new edition of the newspaper together. They had decided during the previous night’s 11:00 call that neither of them had ever lived their lives for the students of Neptune High and they weren’t going to start now. That meant no hiding in corners or looking ashamed of their relationship. Logan, especially, wasn’t ready to relinquish his high spirits over the fact that he and Veronica were out in the open, even in light of Duncan’s supposed suicide.

That was the other thing they had spent a lot of time discussing the previous evening. Duncan hadn’t left a body and until the two of them saw one, neither Logan nor Veronica was going to believe that the troubled boy was really dead. Call it a hunch, but they both felt that the whole situation was only simple on the surface.

Ms. Stafford came in and announced that because of the Navigator’s story the charges against Norris had been dropped. The class couldn’t help but cheer. The teacher then added that she was leaving, in essence being fired for publishing the story.

The class was silent for a moment after Ms. Stafford left and then an unidentified voice called out, “So does getting Norris released balance out getting Ms. Stafford fired and making Duncan kill himself?”

“I think so,” answered Logan, looking only at Veronica. “What do you think, honey?”

The rest of the class returned to their activities while Logan and Veronica just looked at each other. They were in this together.

*

At the same moment that Logan and Veronica were enduring the hatred of the students at Neptune, the high school’s other most notorious couple was rolling back into town.

“You ready to face the music?” asked Weevil as he parked Veronica’s van in front of her apartment complex.

“Bring it on,” said Meg, reaching over to kiss her husband.

Bring it on indeed.

Chapter Text

Meg’s parents were already seated when she and Weevil walked into the busy Neptune restaurant. With nothing to do but talk on their cross-country excursion, Meg had finally told Weevil the full extent of her parents’ disciplinary procedures. As a result, when they got home and Meg pointed out that the two of them had to talk to her parents, Weevil had insisted on a public meeting place.

Meg’s father stood up when he saw his daughter, barely sparing Weevil a glance. Her mom rose slowly, as though in shock.

“Where have you been?!” Stuart Manning demanded, grabbing his daughter and checking her over for blood or wounds.

“Why didn’t you call?” her mother asked in a choked voice as she pulled her daughter in for a hug. “Are you okay? We’ve been so worried!”

“And why are we here?” Mr. Manning asked in an incredulous voice, indicating the Applebee’s in the middle of Neptune’s illustrious Pacific Vista Mall.

“Mom, Dad,” Meg finally got a word in. She gestured to Weevil and introduced him as though it was something she did every day. “This is Eli Navarro, my husband.”

The rest of the patrons faded away as the four of them stared at each other.

“Your what?” Mr. Manning’s voice was deadly.

“Her husband,” Weevil said in a tone of finality.

“You disappear for two weeks and come back married to some thug from the barrio?” Stuart Manning’s voice was rising.

“Who’s the thug? Me or the guy who locks his daughter in a closet for sixteen hours at a time?” Weevil matched Mr. Manning’s volume and upped it a notch.

“Who do you think you are?” Meg’s father was almost yelling.

The rest of the restaurant crashed in around them as Weevil yelled back.

“I’m the man who’s gonna make sure that you never spend a minute alone with your grandchildren!”

A plate shattered in the background. Meg put her arm on Weevil’s and stood up straight.

“I have pictures.” Three heads turned to look at her. “If you give us any trouble, I’ll show them—to everyone. Goodbye, Mom. Goodbye, Dad.” She started to turn away.

Rose Manning started to cry and Stuart reached out to grab his daughter. Weevil stepped in front of Meg and looked her father in the eye.

“You will never lay a hand on her again.” Weevil might have stood there forever had not Meg tugged on his arm with her own. He looked at Meg and then back at her parents. “Nice to meet you,” he spit out.

The Mannings could only stare as their daughter walked out of Applebee’s on the arm of a gang leader. Neither Meg nor Weevil looked back.

None of them were naïve enough to think this was the last time they’d be seeing each other.

*

Across town at Neptune High, Logan could barely contain his anticipation. He had been on the edge of his seat all morning. Yeah, yeah, he knew that he was supposed to be unhappy. Everyone hated him; Duncan might be dead; everywhere he and Veronica went there were whispers. Whatever. He hadn’t cared about public opinion before and he certainly didn’t care now. In fact, it was time to enjoy being Veronica’s boyfriend—publicly.

He had been planning this for months. It probably wasn’t all that big of a deal, but the gesture had taken on exaggerated importance in his mind because he had had so long to think about it. As long as he and Veronica had been sneaking around, all he could do was imagine how it would be. And finally, today was the perfect day to carry it out. Pretty soon everyone in town would know that Meg and Weevil were back and in a round-about way, Logan thought that his planned actions might deflect some of the unwanted attention away from his friends—or maybe not. Meg and Weevil returning to Neptune pregnant and wedded would be tough for anyone to beat.

Regardless, today was the day.

As soon as the bell for lunch rang, Logan hurried to his car and got out his portable stereo. He carried it to a table in the middle of the quad and climbed up to stand on top of it. He turned on the sound at full blast and held it over his head. Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes” drowned out every other sound in the quad.

Everyone turned to see what was going on. Veronica, just emerging from the lunch line—as Logan had known she would be—handed her tray to Wallace and crossed to the center table. She didn’t remember getting there, but suddenly she was standing next to Logan on the table top.

Logan set down the stereo, still playing at full volume, and pulled Veronica into a heated kiss. They couldn’t help it—the students in the quad hooted and hollered and called out in raucous encouragement and support. Murderers or not, Logan and Veronica had flair.

*

Veronica was still on cloud nine later that afternoon as she saw a girl with very unfortunate hair taping up signs, one of which was taped to her back. Veronica couldn’t help it—she went over and took off the sign.

After a few words of thanks, Hair Girl asked, “You’re Veronica, right? You find things for people?”

Veronica prevaricated, not wanting to break the heart of someone so obviously desperate. “Yeah, but I’m really swamped right now. Seriously, I can’t even begin to describe…” her voice trailed off as Hair Girl’s face registered her disappointment.

“It’s okay,” the tall girl said and she turned to go back to posting her sad little signs.

Veronica couldn’t bear to disappoint someone like that on a day that was going so well.

“But maybe one of my associates can help you.”

The girl turned back around.

“You have associates?” Her voice was so hopeful Veronica could barely stand it.

“Oh, yeah. Next thing you know, we’ll be a franchise.”

Hair Girl didn’t get the joke. Moving on.

“What’s your name?”

“Mandy. Mandy Sparks.”

“Give me your number. I’ll get back to you, okay?”

*

“So what, we go away for a couple of weeks and you start farming out work to basketball players?” Weevil was amused. He and Meg had met up with Logan and Veronica at Mars Investigations. Veronica was helping Weevil catch up on the math that he had missed and Logan was working with Meg on Physics. Any little bit to prepare them for their first day back would help.

“What? Wallace has a knack.”

“Is that what you’re calling it?” Logan chimed in.

“Laugh it up, fuzzball,” snarked Veronica right back.

“Glad to know you were paying attention during that Star Wars marathon,” Logan observed with a smile.

“Don’t you have Physics to do?” Veronica pointed to the notes that Meg was copying as the other girl tried not to dissolve into laughter.

Logan looked down at Meg’s paper. “She’s copying it perfectly. See what a great tutor I am?”

“What about Duncan?” Meg asked as she looked up from her note-taking.

The good mood flew out the window, leaving behind a great, big pile of awkward.

“Wrong thing to say. Sorry,” Meg said apologetically.

Veronica sighed and looked at Logan. “No, it’s okay. It’s just…”

“It’s just that everyone thinks that Veronica and I drove my best friend—her ex-boyfriend—to suicide,” finished Logan.

Meg and Weevil glanced at each other, uncertain as to what to say.

“We’re not even sure that’s he’s dead,” said Veronica.

“No body?” asked Weevil.

“Nothing,” answered Veronica. “And the note didn’t say that he was going to kill himself, just that he was alone now.”

“Sounds cryptic,” observed Meg.

“It was.” Logan was not amused. “They’re searching for anything that will tell them where he is.”

Veronica’s voice was final when she concluded, “And I promise you that I will find out who made that tape.” They had told their friends about the great morning announcement “outing”.

At that moment, Keith walked in, effectively ending the evening.

*

“Hello, Logan.” Celeste Kane was in the Echolls’ living room when Logan got home. “Your housekeeper let me in.”

“My dad’s at a glass-blowing lesson,” Logan explained, not sure what else to say.

“Do you think Duncan killed himself?”

So much for beating around the bush.

Logan answered her just as bluntly. “No.”

Celeste sank down onto a couch and there was a strained silence.

“His father is calling in the FBI to try to track him down. I just…wanted to find out what you thought. I know that you two had a falling out over that…girl…”

“Veronica,” Logan said coldly. Celeste had almost had his support.

Realizing that she had offended the boy who knew her son best, Celeste backtracked.

“We need your help, Logan. You have to help us find our son.” She stood up as emotion almost made its way into her cold eyes.

Logan took a breath to steady himself. He nodded. Of course he would help.

“Thank you, Logan.” Celeste seemed to be searching for something specific to say, which apparently eluded her. “Thank you,” she repeated. “I’ll show myself out.”

Logan ran his hands through his hair as he watched Duncan’s mom leave his house. He almost felt sorry for the woman. He wasn’t going to let her talk crap about the girl he loved, though, no matter how sorry he felt for her.

*

Wallace came running up to Veronica the next morning.

“Did you hear about Weevil?”

Veronica looked at her friend strangely. “He’s back. I’m the one who told you, remember?” Her voice trailed off as she waited for Wallace’s news.

Her best friend stopped and pulled Veronica aside. “You really haven’t heard?”

“No, I really haven’t heard.”

Wallace sighed. If circumstances were different, this would be entertaining news. As it was…

“Weevil’s in jail.”

Veronica’s voice was flat. “What?”

“He was arrested for breaking into the Kane’s house last night. They’re saying they caught him in Lilly’s bedroom.”

Veronica looked around suddenly. “Where’s Meg? Have you seen her?”

“No one knows. She hasn’t shown up today and no one’s heard from her.”

Veronica checked her watch. “I have to go find Meg. You’ve got that Mandy girl, right?”

Wallace nodded. Just doing his part. He watched his friend hurry down the hall and out to the parking lot. It was going to be a long day.

*

Veronica found Meg at the Navarro house. Just as Weevil’s arrest might have been funny in another time and place, finding Meg sitting in the dark with a bowl of ice cream and a saucer of pickle slices might have been entertaining, too, had her husband not been languishing in jail.

Veronica sat down next to her friend, not opening any curtains or turning on the light. Even so, she was pretty sure that Meg’s eyes were red and puffy.

“Have you been to see him?” she asked gently without any preliminaries.

Meg shook her head. “He said he doesn’t want me to come. He doesn’t want me to see him like that.”

“What happened?” Veronica asked. She tried to keep her voice calm, but it was a fight.

“All I know is he broke into the Kane’s house and they arrested him for trespassing.” A sob escaped before Meg could stifle her cries. “I know my parents are going to try to take our baby, Veronica. What are we going to do? What is a judge going to think when he hears that this happened while I was still pregnant?”

Sidestepping the question, Veronica asked, “Do you know what he was doing there?”

Again, Meg shook her head. “I don’t know, but I trust him, Veronica, I do. I know he wouldn’t have been there without a good reason. I know it. But I’m scared. I can’t do this without him. I know I’m supposed to be all I-am-woman-hear-me-roar, but I need him here. I need him here with me.” Meg dropped her head onto Veronica’s shoulders. “I need him.” Meg couldn’t hold back her tears any longer and she sobbed as Veronica held her.

“I’ll take care of it, Meg, I promise. It’s going to be okay.”

*

“Mind telling me what the hell you’re doing in here?”

Weevil sat up and looked at his visitor.

“I can explain.”

“I certainly hope so, since I just spent the last hour telling your pregnant wife that I would take care of this disaster.” Veronica’s voice was harsh as all of the anger and resentment that she had held back in front of Meg came pouring out at Weevil.

The young man sighed and leaned forward, resting his head in his hands.

“You said they were searching the house for clues about Duncan,” he looked up at Veronica. “The counselor didn’t have all the letters I wrote to Lilly. I didn’t want anything coming out that would embarrass Meg.”

“Good job.”

“Yeah, thanks for pointing that out.” Weevil rubbed his face with his hands. “You gotta help me, Vee. I swear I did this for her.” His tone was as sincere as he could make it and Veronica sighed, her anger melting away to expose her resignation.

She really was going to have to get him out of this, wasn’t she?

“Let me see what I can do,” she said tiredly. Weevil nodded in understanding. The two of them had always seen eye-to-eye.

*

Having already missed most of the school day, Veronica didn’t return to Neptune High. Not having any immediate plans for securing Weevil’s release, Veronica instead tackled her other problem—finding out who had made the tape of her and Logan at the Camelot.

The motel clerk hardly blinked when she told him she needed surveillance video. Veronica guessed it was a pretty standard request for the guy. He told her that the Camelot respected its guests’ right to privacy, at which Veronica rolled her eyes, but he directed her to the convenience store next door. It turned out that the shop-n-rob, as Veronica called them, had an outside camera that picked up parts of the Camelot parking lot and the road in front of it. For $50, the shop-n-rob clerk searched out the tape from the night in question and Veronica was on her way.

By the time she got home and transferred the video to DVD, school had let out and, having received her text message, Logan came over to help her scrutinize the footage.

“There you are,” he pointed out when Veronica’s LeBaron passed through the bottom left corner of the screen.

“Followed almost immediately by the white horse,” noted Veronica on the Xterra’s appearance. Logan smiled as they both waited to see if someone followed them in, but no other cars pulled into the driveway.

“Okay, let’s try something different,” murmured Veronica as she zoomed in on the portion of the street visible in range.

She and Logan watched the tape again. They knew that the perpetrator of the surveillance footage had ended the tape when they left the Camelot, so the two of them tried to find any cars that went east around the time they had arrived and then west soon after they left.

Amazingly, one did.

A dark-colored late model Ford Focus with a green “E” Enterprise sticker on the back bumper drove by exactly on cue. It wasn’t much to go on, but it was more than they had had that morning. Kissing Veronica goodbye, Logan told her that he had to get home. The lawyer was due to be there to read his mother’s will in 45 minutes.

“Do you want me to come with you?” asked Veronica.

“You don’t have to do that,” Logan said with another kiss to her temple.

“I know,” she said, “but I want to.”

Logan knew that it probably wasn’t that good of an idea to have someone outside the family at the will reading, but he wanted her there. Plain and simple, Logan wanted Veronica sitting next to him holding his hand when his mother’s will was read.

So that’s exactly what she did. As the lawyer read out the words that signaled the legal end of Lynn Echolls’ life, Veronica held Logan’s hand under the table.

Logan heard what the lawyer said, but none of it really processed. His mom had cut off his dad, not that it would matter to Aaron…she left Logan all of her worldly possessions…Trina got nothing. All he could focus on was Veronica’s hand. If he listened, if he tried to make sense of what the lawyer was saying, he would have to accept other things, too. Things that he didn’t want to think about. So he didn’t. Logan’s mind didn’t move past Veronica’s hand in his.

He looked up with a start. The lawyer was finished and everyone was leaving. Aaron and Trina said something about where they were going, but Logan didn’t care enough to listen to the details. He felt a tug on his hand and stood up as Veronica pulled him up, down the hall, and into his room. Still not having said a word, she took her shoes off and sat down on his bed. She pulled him down beside her and Logan took off his own shoes automatically.

The two of them fell asleep fully clothed on top of the covers.

-

When he woke up a little after 10:00 that night, Logan had a weird taste in his mouth. Doing his best not to wake Veronica, he got up to go brush his teeth. Standing there with his toothbrush in his hand, it was almost like he could hear something *pop* in his head and without even thinking about it, Logan slammed his left fist into the mirror and let out a cry of rage.

“Why didn’t you think about me?! I need you!”

Veronica’s hands appeared, pushing his now-damaged left hand under the faucet. Looking down at her, Logan saw the angry look on Veronica’s face. He sensed that it wasn’t aimed at him, but he didn’t comprehend its source.

Leaving Logan’s hand under the water and pulling out the first aid kit that she knew her boyfriend kept under the sink, Veronica slammed it down on the bathroom counter and started taking out supplies.

“The one time I needed my mom more than any other time in my life, she took off. She left us. When I found her, she was drunk in a bar. She was helping me by getting drunk in some rat-infested bar.” Veronica’s hands spasmed as she forced herself to calm down enough to tend to Logan’s wounds. “And your dad…” her voice trailed off. “This is a great first aid kit. Well-stocked, everything you could ever need. Always good to be prepared, right?”

She stared at Logan’s hand, now bandaged but quickly purpling up from the force of his blow to the mirror. The next thing she knew, Logan’s lips were on hers kissing her roughly. Veronica returned his kiss with equal force and passion. Backed up against the countertop, Veronica hitched up onto it, wrapping her legs around Logan’s waist.

There’s more than one way to heal.

*

Saturday afternoon after he got back from animal control with Mandy, Wallace called Veronica.

“You are a legend, girl.”

“All the cool kids think so.”

“No, seriously. So Mandy and I went to talk to the dogcatcher, right? As soon as he found out I was working for you? All he could talk about was how cool you were, how you almost got expelled for planting a spy cam in the teacher’s lounge but you got off because you had so much dirt the faculty was afraid to piss you off. You been holding out on me?!”

“Hey, for the right price, you, too, can watch teachers whine about their students. So what happened, did the guy know where Mandy’s dog was?”

“He said he didn’t, but I gave him my number and he said he’d keep an eye out.”

“Did you believe him?”

“So being a detective means I should never believe anyone?”

“Pretty much.”

Wallace laughed. “I’m not sure. We’ll have to see if the guy calls.”

“You’re doing awesome, Wallace. Really, thank you.”

“Not everyone can be as much of a saint as me.” It was Veronica’s turn to laugh. “Any luck finding your stalker?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. I’m on my way to Enterprise Rent-a-Car right now. We think the person responsible followed us in a rental.”

“Good luck. Let me know what you find out.”

“You, too.”

“You got it, girl.”

*

Weevil was out of jail on bail. Following his return home, he and Meg had decided to wait until Monday to return to school. This turned out to be especially wise since the trauma of the incident seemed to have triggered Meg’s hormones. Weevil’s head was spinning—one minute Meg was all over him, the next she was crying and the next she was angry at him for “scaring her like that”. Then she would start crying for getting angry at him.

Weevil pulled his grandmother aside. Letty Navarro had welcomed Meg into the house with open arms. When her grandson had come back from Georgia married, Letty’s only comment to Weevil was that he had gotten lucky and he better treat Meg right or he’d have his grandmother to deal with. It was with this in mind that Weevil sought her counsel on how to deal with his new wife’s mood swings.

“Tell her how beautiful she is.”

Weevil rolled his eyes. “Come on, Grandma—“

“I’m completely serious, Eli. Meg is already starting to show, right?” At four months along, Meg’s stomach was much smaller than normal, but she was still starting to get one. “That’s the first thing. She’s seeing that she’s pregnant now. It’s not just about feeling fat. It’s about seeing the proof that she really is going to have a baby. And your arrest. M’ijo, that terrified her. Meg depends on you. She needs you to help her through this, and for a little while, she was afraid that you wouldn’t be here to do that.”

“But—“

“No ‘buts’, Eli! And don’t forget that you were arrested breaking into that girl’s house.” Letty Navarro never referred to Lilly Kane by name. “Meg is afraid that she doesn’t compare. Especially now that she’s pregnant. No one said this was going to be easy, m’ijo,” and his grandmother put her hand on Weevil’s cheek. “But I know that you can do it. You’re a good man and you love this girl. Make sure she knows that.”

*

While Veronica charmed the agent at Enterprise on the other side of Neptune, Logan spent the morning playing video games and ignoring the pain in his hand. He wasn’t surprised that Trina hit him up for money. The amount was a little more than he expected, but considering that it was Trina, he figured he shouldn’t be surprised.

Veronica called him on her way out of the car rental agency.

“We have a name.”

“How do you do these things?” Logan heard his girlfriend take a breath and he cut her off. “Never mind. I don’t want to know.” Veronica laughed. “So what’s our little stalker’s name?”

“Brian Camp. Mean anything to you?”

“Brian Camp?! Are you serious? Brian?! Really?”

“You have no idea, do you?”

“Never heard of him.”

“Why do I put up with you?”

“Need I direct your mind to last night?”

“I’m in a public place, Logan!” Veronica was desperately grateful that no one was around as she climbed into her car. Her face flamed up instantly at the reminder of the wild night the two of them had had.

Logan’s answering laugh was all male. “Ah, the memories.”

Veronica couldn’t even pretend to tease him. Her boy had every right to be proud.

“I’m gonna go now.” Time to exit with at least a little dignity intact.

Logan laughed again. “Call me later.”

“Love you,” Veronica couldn’t keep the smile out of her voice.

“Always,” he answered and they hung up.

*

That night when Veronica called Logan, her voice was full of frustration.

“I want to come over.”

“Didn’t your dad come back this morning?”

“That’s why I’m not coming over.”

“So what have you found out?

“Brian Camp didn’t exist until six months ago. Then he acquired some credit cards, made some very strange purchases on eBay and rented a series of cars from Enterprise.”

“But before that…”

“Nothing,” Veronica finished for him.

“Glad to know we merit a spanking new person for our stalker. I mean, wouldn’t want to have it be someone who’s been walking around for a few years. Only fresh people for us!”

“In a strange place tonight, are we?”

Logan laughed low in his throat, sending chills up Veronica’s spine. She had to get off the phone or she was going to run over to her boyfriend’s house and strip naked before she could stop herself.

“I have to get going,” she said, her voice a little too high-pitched.

“You okay?” There was still an edge of laughter in Logan’s voice.

“I’m fine. I just have a couple of other things to do with this whole Brian Camp thing. I think I’m gonna need Mac’s help and she won’t be back in town until Monday.”

“Sounds good. You still spending the day with your dad tomorrow?”

“Yeah,” said Veronica, glad for the change in topic. “We’re doing the daddy/daughter bonding thing.”

“Talk to you tomorrow night, then?”

“Definitely. What do you have going on tomorrow?”

“Ending world hunger, negotiating world peace.”

“Busy day. Have with fun with that,” Veronica smiled.

They said their goodbyes and hung up. Veronica tried to go to sleep, but the mental picture of Logan naked that she couldn’t get out of her head kept her awake for a good long while.

*

Both tired and unsatisfied, Veronica had on her cranky pants when she got to school. So when Lenny prank-called Mandy and she finally had an outlet, the guy caught the full force of Veronica’s anger.

“You prank call, Mandy?” she demanded, getting in the 09er’s face.

Lenny put on a tough face. “What if I did?”

“Well, I want to congratulate you.” She held out her hand. “Shake your hand.” She shook his hand energetically. “Congratulations! You've been named the world's biggest cockroach. This award is given in recognition of your unparalleled lack of decency and humanity. Bravo! You're gonna die friendless and alone.” Veronica turned to walk away.

The boys backing him up and the kids enjoying the show reacted with appreciation and Lenny tried to defend himself.

“Hey, everybody knows you’re the biggest—“

Veronica swung back. “Shut up! If I want you to speak, I'll wave a snausage over your nose. If you use Mandy again to try to convince yourself that you're not a loser, I will ruin your life—got it?” When Lenny didn’t answer, she yelled at him. “You got it?”

Lenny crumbled. “Okay, geez.”

Mandy looked at Veronica in awe. “I can’t believe you did that.”

“I can't believe that you didn't. If you want people to leave you alone, Mandy, or better yet, treat you with respect, demand it. Make them.”

Before she could get out any more, someone took her hand and started pulling. She jerked around to see Logan, who wasn’t looking at her as he dragged her off. They must have made a strange picture judging by the stares they were getting from everyone they passed. Her boyfriend didn’t even slow down when the bell rang.

Before Veronica could collect her thoughts enough to ask where they were going, they reached the girls’ restroom and Logan hauled her in. Before the door even shut behind them, he pushed her up against the wall and kissed her hungrily.

“That is such a turn on,” he groaned against her lips. “I wanted to rip your clothes off in the middle of the hall.”

Working her hands up under Logan’s shirt as her right leg raised up to circle his waist, Veronica managed to get out, “I’ve been thinking about you all weekend.”

Logan swung Veronica around so that she was leaning against the bathroom counter as their passion increased.

“Lenny didn’t have a chance. Someone should have told him what you’re like when you’re horny.”

“You complaining?”

Logan didn’t answer as he continued his assault on her senses.

“Did you put up the sign?” The thought surfaced through the haze of Veronica’s hormone-crazed mind.

“No,” he growled.

Veronica made a noise in the back of her throat.

Logan picked her up, his girlfriend’s legs wrapped around his waist, and carried her into the far stall, shutting it behind them.

No more than thirty seconds later, two girls came laughing into the bathroom. When they left a few minutes later, they were none the wiser to the activities going on in the last stall.

By the time that Logan and Veronica finally made it to Journalism, Veronica was in a much better mood.

*

Mac came up to Veronica in the lunch line.

“You called, oh great one?”

“Yeah,” Veronica said with a smile as they walked through the line together. “If I tell you when and where some online transactions were made, can you identify the IP address and find out the location the transactions originated from?”

“Why, yes, I can. And what requires such stealth and subterfuge?”

“Logan’s and my stalker.” Veronica noticed a few kids in the line visibly perk up when she mentioned her boyfriend’s name.

Get a life.

“I’m on it.”

As they entered the quad, Mac looked around.

“I thought you said Meg and Weevil were coming back today. I haven’t seen them or heard anything and you know it would be all over school if they were back.”

“You’re right,” Veronica eyed the quad. “I’ve been so distracted this morning, I didn’t think to look.”

“Oh, yeah, you had a busy morning, didn’t you?”

Veronica was surprised. “What?”

“Oh, like anyone in school hasn’t heard that you told off Lenny Sofer and then Logan dragged you into the bathroom. Veronica, you two are the only thing in this school that people talk about more than Meg and Weevil.”

“Meg and Weevil can’t be too popular if no one knows where Weevil spent part of the weekend,” observed Veronica.

“Why? Where was he?” Mac looked at her friend in expectation.

“Hey, if Celeste Kane isn’t spreading the news, neither am I,” Veronica evaded.

Mac looked unappeased as the two of them reached their table and Logan reached up to kiss Veronica hello.

“Have you heard about what we did in the bathroom this morning?” asked Logan innocently. “I’ve heard that it was very inventive.”

“Yeah,” affirmed Wallace. “I’ve heard that, like, seven people walked in on you two going at it.”

“Gossip is poison, people,” Veronica told them sternly as she struggled in vain not to blush. “Don’t pass it on.” She pulled out her cell phone and pointedly turned away from her tablemates who were laughing at her consternation.

“Who’re ya callin’?” asked Wallace.

“Meg and Weevil,” explained Mac. “They were supposed to be here today, right?”

“Yeah, they were,” commented Logan.

With her back to her friends as the phone rang, Veronica was instead looking at all of the people in the quad who were staring at them. They really were the center of attention. In fact, even her turning around seemed to be news, judging by the amount of pointing it was inspiring. She rolled her eyes and waited for Meg to pick up.

“Vee?” answered a male voice.

“Weevil?” She had called Meg’s phone, but it couldn’t be considered all that odd for a girl’s husband to answer her phone. “Where are you guys?”

She heard Weevil sigh. “We’re at the hospital.”

“What?!” Veronica demanded, causing all of her friends to quiet immediately and turn to her. She shushed them preemptively with a wave of her hand. “Why? Is it Meg?”

“Yeah,” Weevil said heavily. “She started throwing up last night. She couldn’t keep anything down, so I had to bring her into the ER. They admitted her and put her on IV fluids while they stabilized her.”

“Oh, no. Is she okay?” Veronica couldn’t keep the worry out of her voice, and her friends, hearing only her end of the conversation, were becoming more concerned by the second.

“We think so. The doctor thinks it’s just an electrolyte imbalance or something like that. It’s not hard to treat, just scary as hell.”

“No kidding. Can we come by after school?”

“Give me a call and I’ll let you know how she’s feeling. She’s only been asleep for a couple of hours. She didn’t get any sleep last night.”

“Did you?”

“I’ll be fine.”

“Weevil, you have to take care—“

He cut her off. “I’ll be fine.”

It was Veronica’s turn to sigh. “Just let us know when we can come see you, okay?”

“No problem.”

They hung up and Veronica explained the situation to her captive audience.

-

Weevil closed his cell phone and leaned back against the wall, resting his head on the cool plaster. The last sixteen hours had been some of the worst of his life. First Meg was nauseous, then she started throwing up and then she couldn’t stop—she couldn’t drink anything, she couldn’t keep down any food. Weevil had borrowed his grandmother’s car, Letty staying at home with the kids, and taken his wife to the hospital.

The ER had admitted Meg immediately, which was a double-edged sword. She got immediate care, but it only went that way because she was so sick. She had been fairly out of it and Weevil had handled everything. It wasn’t until Meg was safely sleeping in a room, tied up to monitors and IVs, that Weevil had admitted to himself the undercurrent of sheer terror that had been present ever since he had put Meg in the car.

Weevil didn’t just love his wife. He needed her. He wanted her. And now he knew in a very up-close-and-personal way that he couldn’t live without her. The thought that something could have happened to Meg almost incapacitated him. All he could think about was that he had complained to his grandmother about how moody Meg had been and he didn’t want that to be the last thing he had ever thought about her.

Meg loved him. She trusted him. She had given herself to him without holding anything back. Her feelings were unconditional and absolute. And it wasn’t until he almost lost her that Weevil realized that his own feelings weren’t. He thought that he had dealt with all of his history, but the past few hours had shown him that he still had farther to go.

Weevil pushed himself away from the wall and turned to go back into Meg’s room. The handwritten name under the room number read “Meg Navarro”. That said it all.

*

Meg was still sleeping when school let out, so after giving Mac the computer times and addresses, Veronica went back to the Camelot to talk to people at nearby businesses who might have seen something that could help.

She had no luck until she went into the church across the street, of all places, where she hit pay dirt. The Church of the Holy Resurrection didn’t look like much. To begin with, the denomination was unclear—Veronica wasn’t quite sure if it was a very small Catholic church or a very small offshoot of the Catholic Church. Either way, when she walked in, she was immediately enveloped in the quiet silence associated with cathedrals, even though the place had the tiniest sanctuary she had ever seen.

A Hispanic man who appeared to be in his thirties and was wearing a priest’s collar looked up as the door closed behind Veronica, shutting out the sunlight. The priest was holding some papers near the candle altars and as far as Veronica could tell, the two of them were the only ones there.

“Hi,” greeted Veronica.

“Hello. Can I help you?” The priest had a Latino accent, but Veronica couldn’t place it.

“I hope so.” She crossed to stand a little closer to him. “My name is Veronica Mars. Someone has been stalking me and my boyfriend. Last Thursday they videotaped us at the Camelot and aired the video in public.”

The priest’s eyes widened.

“I know that the person who did it was probably male, wearing a Dodgers’ cap and driving a dark-colored Ford Focus. I don’t suppose there’s any chance that you saw him?”

“Last Thursday around 8:30?” asked the priest.

Veronica tilted her head. “The tape ended at 7:00. I’m not sure what he did after that. It could have been him.”

The priest gestured for Veronica to sit in a pew with him. As they sat down, he introduced himself.

“My name is Father Perez. The church lets me operate this small site to serve the people in this community. I have to warn you up front that I am very bad with descriptions.” He smiled warmly and Veronica couldn’t help but return it. “We’ve been robbed a few times and I’m never able to tell the police what the thieves looked like, only what was going on in their hearts.” Veronica looked at Father Perez questioningly. He smiled in return. “Some people notice eye color, shirt size—I see the weight that a person is carrying and miss everything else.” Veronica was intrigued. She had never heard anything quite like this before.

“Last Thursday at about 8:30, a young man came in—I remember him because he seemed deeply troubled. He had the Dodgers’ hat on that you mentioned.” His voice lowered and he told her almost conspiratorially, “I like the Dodgers, you see, so I noticed.”

“Was he wearing sunglasses?” asked Veronica.

“Not that I remember,” noted the priest. “I might have noticed, since that would be unusual at night, but I can’t say for sure.”

Well, okay, then. “You said he seemed troubled?” she prompted him.

“Yes. He bore a great weight. What it was I do not know, but it was almost visible it was so great. He didn’t want to talk, he simply sat alone until I closed up at 10:30, at which time he left without a word. I stay open late, you see, as so many members of the community work primarily at night.”

That was one way of putting it.

Veronica wasn’t quite sure what to say. An hour and a half after she and Logan had left the Camelot, a guy in a Dodgers’ cap, who might or might not have been wearing sunglasses, had camped out inside The Church of the Holy Resurrection for two hours. Had he been pondering his sins? Cursing the evils of fornication? Planning his grocery list?

“Why do you think he came in here?”

Father Perez leaned back against the pew and looked thoughtful. “He seemed to be looking for a respite, a break from the weight that he was carrying. I could be wrong. He said very little. But I think he was hoping for some help in carrying his burdens.”

“Did he find it? Help?” Veronica looked intently at the religious man with the odd gifts of observation.

He sighed. “I do not think so. If anything, he seemed more burdened when he left than he did when he arrived. Whatever it is he is searching for, I do not believe he found it here.”

So no help on who the guy was, but some interesting insights as to his motivations. Sort of.

Veronica thanked the priest for his help.

Father Perez smiled. “You were very honest with me. I do not think that is something that you do very often—be that open with people.” Veronica tried not to react. “Such a turn deserves another. I would have helped you, anyway,” his smile spread to his eyes, “but I might not have told you quite so much about a stranger’s burdens had you not been so honest yourself.”

Veronica looked down. Being accused of honesty was definitely something she wasn’t used to.

“This man, Veronica,” and she looked up at the sound of her name. “He is troubled. I would advise you to be careful.”

Veronica nodded and stood up. “Thank you, Father Perez. Really.”

“Please stop by again sometime. Let me know how your search goes.”

Veronica nodded again and stepped back out into the blazing sunshine, a shock after the comforting dark of the chapel.

Checking her watch, Veronica realized that she was late to work. She hurried to her car.

-

Veronica had just gone into her father’s office to check the day’s mail when an unwelcome face appeared in the doorway.

“How could you do this to my son?” Celeste Kane demanded.

“Excuse me?” Veronica was taken aback.

“Every time something has happened to Duncan, you have been the catalyst. You have to tell me where he is. You have to know something. You always do.”

Veronica was stunned. And fed up.

“Why don’t I tell you what I didn’t do? I didn’t tell Duncan that his mother threatened to kill me. I didn’t tell him that his mother drove my mother out of town.”

Celeste took a step inside the office. “I know you think I hate you, but I don’t. We’re talking about my son’s life here. If you know anything that could help us figure out what’s going on here, you have to tell me.”

Celeste kept advancing and looked as though she wanted to shake the information out of Veronica, when the front door opened. Celeste stopped moving forward but kept talking.

“You used to care about Duncan. Don’t you feel any responsibility to help him?”

Veronica felt like she had been punched in the stomach. As her father walked in and pushed his way past Celeste to stand next to his daughter, Veronica unleashed her words on Duncan’s mother.

“Logan and I hid our relationship from the world for a year and a half because we were afraid that if everyone knew about us, Duncan would hurt himself. Don’t you dare say that I don’t feel responsibility for your son. The responsibility I feel for him has defined my world for a year and a half! And you know what? I’m done! It’s time for him to take responsibility for his own life! I didn’t do anything and just for the record, I don’t think he’s dead! So why don’t you go find him instead of attacking me?”

The room seemed to have gotten smaller as everyone stared at each other.

Keith broke the silence. “You need to leave now, and don’t come near my daughter again.”

“You don’t scare me, Keith. If you were such a great detective, you would have seen what was going on right underneath your nose.” Celeste turned on her heel and walked out.

Veronica followed after the departing woman. Celeste wasn’t the only person who needed something.

“Wait,” she said as Celeste reached the door. Duncan’s mother turned around, a disdainful look on her face.

“I’ll help you find Duncan if you drop the charges against Weevil.”

“You want the intruder caught in Lilly's bedroom released. I'm sure I should be surprised but I'm not.”

“Nothing was stolen, nothing was damaged and Weevil has more important things to deal with right now. I might have an idea where Duncan went. That's my offer.”

Celeste looked at Veronica for a moment and then walked out without a word.

-

As Veronica walked Backup down Dog Beach, she thought about the promise—and bluff—that she had just made. She had no idea where Duncan was, but she agreed with Logan that their troubled friend wasn’t dead. While she was ready to smack Duncan for being an idiot, she also wanted him found.

As she passed by the notice board on the beach, Veronica saw an inordinately high number of lost dog signs posted there. An idea popped into her mind and—grateful for the chance to think about something else besides Duncan—she took out her cell phone and speed-dialed Wallace.

*

Weevil and Meg’s news exploded overnight. Someone had a sister that was a nurse at the hospital, a couple of other people had relatives in the hospital and another student’s mom worked for the sheriff’s department. The next morning at school, all anyone could talk about was Meg’s last name being listed as Navarro, her sudden appearance in a hospital after weeks of being missing, and Weevil’s stint in the Balboa County Jail. It was the first time since the Camelot sex tape (as it was called) had aired that the talk in the hallways focused on something besides Duncan, Veronica and Logan.

Veronica heard snatches of conversation as she headed to her locker.

“—she had a nervous breakdown and they had to hospitalize—“

“—gang leader beat her—“

“—dragged her off to Mexico for a quickie—“

“—he was trying to steal money from the Kanes to buy—“

“—going to blackmail Jake Kane—“

“—he got her pregnant and now—“

Sounded like the students at Neptune High had branded Weevil as the bad guy.

Knowing as she did that Meg was doing much better and was expected to leave the hospital that afternoon, Veronica allowed herself to be amused. It might not be so funny when Meg and Weevil returned, but the variety of rumors overheard on one stretch of hall really was awe-inspiring.

Logan was waiting for her when she got to her locker. After a kiss hello, Veronica leaned back and looked up at her boyfriend.

“What’s wrong?”

His face darkened even more. “Last night after we hung up, Trina came home. Her boyfriend beat her up because she owes him money.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah.”

Veronica well knew that Logan and Trina didn’t have the closest of sibling relationships, which was immaterial. He would never stand for anyone hurting his sister, period.

“Do you know who he is?”

“She wouldn’t tell me.” Logan wasn’t happy.

Veronica took charge. “Okay, after school, we’re going over to the office and we’ll find out who this guy is. Sound good?”

Logan looked intensely into Veronica’s eyes as his fingers unconsciously moved up to graze the side of her face. “I love you.”

Veronica reached up and they kissed again, drawing looks from students on their way to class.

“Get a room. Come on, I know you have one.” Wallace’s voice interrupted them and they pulled apart, smiling.

Logan moved to stand behind Veronica, his arms around her.

“You gotta watch the jealousy, Diddy. It’s poison, remember?”

“Uh-huh—I thought that was gossip. No one said anything about jealousy. Mind if I borrow my best friend for a minute? I need to talk to her about this whole dognapping thing.”

“See you at lunch?” Veronica smiled at her boyfriend.

“Out in public and everything,” he answered with a matching grin.

*

Mac got a kick out of watching Logan and Veronica together. First of all, there was that whole originality thing. What could be more original than two of the most high-profile people in the school carrying on a clandestine relationship for over a year and a half in order to keep their suicidal friend from ending his life? Not much.

It was also the first time that Mac had been on the inside of something being gossiped about. People who had never looked past her hair color were now finding excuses to talk to her in the hopes that she would say something about Logan, Veronica, Meg or Weevil. In the public’s mind, of course, anyone who had the inside track on one couple automatically knew about the other, the two couples being best friends and all. Mac found the whole thing to be wildly entertaining.

She also liked how Logan treated Veronica. Who would have guessed that Logan Echolls was, like, the world’s greatest boyfriend? Or that he would want to be friends with the blue-haired computer freak? Not the blue-haired computer freak in question, that’s for sure.

As she approached the lunch table where her friends were sitting, she wondered if they knew the impact that Logan’s “I-am-Lloyd-Dobler” tabletop stereo escapade had had on the couple’s public image. Seriously, the guy must have taken lessons from his parents’ publicists. Before the grand gesture, Logan and Veronica had been scorned as the couple that drove Duncan Kane to suicide. Now the perception was swinging the other direction as people talked about how the two of them had done everything they could to protect their friend and that the real bad guy was the person who had recorded and leaked the Camelot sex tape.

Fame was so fickle.

Mac wasn’t going to tell Logan and Veronica all of that, though. While she knew that her friends would find it amusing, they had more important things to think about.

Speaking of which, it was time to report to Veronica on her search for the location of those IP addresses. It was turning out to be much harder than Mac had anticipated. While the person masquerading as Brian Camp wasn’t coming across as a computer genius, he wasn’t an idiot, either. All of the IP addresses he used were encrypted, and he had used other methods to cover his trail as best as an amateur could. Mac could break the codes; it was just taking more time than she had planned. She was confident that she would have it finished by the next day, which was frustrating, since she had thought that she would have been the day before.

“Hey, Mac!” Logan said as Mac put down her tray. “How are things in the land of bytes and floppies?”

Logan Echolls was turning out to be a good friend. Wonders never ceased.

*

Veronica and Logan had gotten to the Echolls’ mansion as quickly as they could. Veronica, however, was not at all prepared for what they walked in on. Aaron was standing over Dylan Goran, belt in hand, and Trina’s boyfriend was lying battered and bleeding on the pool deck.

Veronica was on autopilot as she and Logan made sure Dylan got into his car and drove away. As the two of them walked back towards Logan’s car, though, she had to start taking deep breaths of air.

“What’s wrong?” Logan put his arms around her and realized that he was having to hold her up. “Veronica, what’s wrong?” he asked more urgently.

His girlfriend found that she couldn’t speak. Tears clogged her throat and sobs started to wrack her body. Logan pulled Veronica close into his chest as she sobbed, still unclear as to the cause of her anguish.

When her cries finally began to subside, Logan tilted her head back gently so that he could see her face. “Baby, what is it?”

Tears slipped down her cheeks as Veronica took a deep breath and whispered, “All I could picture was him doing that to you.”

Logan clutched her to his chest as Veronica’s tears soaked through his shirt.

*

After the emotional upheaval of the night, Veronica slept like a rock.

The next morning she picked Wallace up for school and he told her about his adventures saving beloved family pets from the world of high-priced dognapping. Veronica was suitably impressed and told her friend so. She even commented that they were going to have to find a way for him to start making some money at this whole detective thing, which pleased Wallace to no end.

Near the end of the day, Meg called Veronica saying that she was leaving the hospital and invited her friend to come see her. Before Veronica left, Mac told her to come back by the school afterwards, by which point Mac expected to have solved the mystery.

Meg was effusive in her praise and gratitude, which Veronica brushed aside with questions about her friend’s welfare. Weevil’s feelings were evident in how he doted on his wife, making sure that anything she could possibly need was within arm’s length.

Veronica was still in a good mood from seeing her friends doing so well when she got back to the high school. That mood evaporated after she met with Mac. On her way home, she sent Logan a text message asking him to come over to her apartment as soon as possible. As soon as she walked in the door, Veronica turned on her computer and waited for Logan to get there, pacing all the while.

“What—“ Logan started to ask as she opened the door. Veronica pressed her lips to his to quiet him and pulled him back to her room. Instead of leading him to the bed, though, Veronica indicated for Logan to sit down at her computer desk. MS Word was open on her laptop and Veronica gestured for her boyfriend to read what was written on it.

Typed in large, bold letters were the instructions:

Chapter Text

Duncan’s life was nearing perfection. He heard the music start in Veronica’s bedroom and he laughed. He had been worried that Mac had figured out who he was and had passed the information on to Veronica. After all, it was only a matter of time before he was found out—this was Veronica Mars.

But if Veronica and Logan were doing the rumpy-pumpy within five minutes of the boy hitting the door, Veronica could hardly have just found out that Duncan was their stalker.

-

Logan was clicking between windows on Veronica’s laptop as his girlfriend turned on some music. According to the shady website she had up, a rifle mike wasn’t much good against background noise. He turned around to look at Veronica and his eyes spoke volumes.

Veronica looked up at him from where she was sitting on the floor. The window was high enough that sitting there would help mask their voices. Logan joined her.

“How long?” he whispered into her ear.

Veronica shrugged as she took Logan’s hand. She turned to his bent head and whispered, “The alias has been around since at least October, but he could have been watching since before then.”

“How did he find out?”

Their voices were hoarse as they whispered in the lowest voices possible.

“And how much has he been listening to?” added Veronica, her hand tightening on Logan’s.

-

Duncan was positioned to listen through the windows in the Mars’ living room. The window in Veronica’s room was too high to listen through without going to extraordinary lengths. He could do it if he really needed to, but that wasn’t the case here. Duncan had heard Veronica and Logan have sex plenty of times; he hardly needed to hear it again. Anyway, he was tired and hungry.

One of the best things about being “missing” is that when he wanted to go to bed, he could go to bed. If he wanted to stay up, though, he could do that instead. When he wanted to eat, he could eat. No matter what he felt like doing, he got to act on it—or not—right away. It was a heady feeling for someone who had been as smothered as Duncan had been for the past year.

Finally, he had enough money to get anything that he needed and no one was ever going to find out where he was staying.

Really. Life was good.

He started up the rental car picked up from a different agency with a new alias and pulled out of his observation post.

-

“So all this time we were trying to protect him, he was playing us.” Logan’s words weren’t a question.

Veronica put her head on Logan’s shoulder and closed her eyes. She wasn’t going to sleep, she was shutting out the world.

Logan pulled his girlfriend into his lap, cradling her in his arms. He wanted to protect her so badly. He never imagined that he would have to shield her from a guy he had trusted for years.

“What do we do now?” he murmured into her hair.

Indeed.

-

When Keith got home, the living room was empty except for a note.

Keith leaned against the door and sighed.

What now?

*

A few miles away, Meg Navarro was still awake. Annie Klingman, Lizzie’s best friend, thought it was awesome that Meg was married to a gang leader. Since the Mannings had wisely refused to buy Lizzie a car, and had further forbidden either of their children to see their oldest daughter, Annie was more than willing to drive her best friend to the ghetto to visit Meg. While the Mannings thought their daughter was spending Friday night with her best friend, in reality, Lizzie was with her sister, who at this exact moment was crying.

“Gracie hates me?”

“I’m so sorry, Meg. Mom and Dad told her that you betrayed the family and that you’re dead to us. You know how Gracie is. She doesn’t know that it used to be different. She thinks that the things they do—she thinks they’re okay.”

Tears trailed down Meg’s cheeks. She had to change the subject.

“Are they—have they talked about doing anything? You know…to me and Eli.”

Lizzie sighed as she tucked the blanket that she was clutching around herself. “At first, yeah. At first they wanted to file a P.I.N.S. petition—a Person In Need of Supervision. They had a lawyer who told them that they had a good chance—you know, Weevil being in a gang, the two of you running off to get married.” A smile spread across Lizzie’s face. “But then you told them about the pictures. That’s the only reason they didn’t go after you when he got arrested.”

Meg nodded. She had figured as much. She glanced at the clock on the wall.

“What time will Annie be here to pick you up tomorrow?”

Lizzie laughed. “It’s Saturday, so it definitely won’t be earlier than noon.” Meg giggled in understanding. Annie was not known as an early-riser. Neither was Lizzie for that matter.

“You’re coming back to school on Monday, right?”

“Yeah. Eli wanted to make sure that I was really feeling better before I went back.” The first thing the sisters had discussed when Lizzie got to the Navarro house was Meg’s health, which was excellent after her visit to the hospital.

“What are you guys gonna do for a car? I can’t see Weevil letting you ride on the back of his motorcycle. Not now.”

“Hardly,” laughed Meg. “Actually, he’s selling his motorcycle.”

“What?” Lizzie was stunned. Weevil Navarro was inextricably tied in the minds of the public with his hog. “You’re kidding, right?”

“No,” Meg couldn’t get rid of her smile. “He’s selling it to buy Logan and Veronica’s Mazda. He says a family needs a family car.”

That explains the smile, thought Lizzie.

“Isn’t it gonna be kind of hard to run with a biker gang if your man doesn’t have a bike?”

Meg’s expression turned more serious. “When Eli took over the PCHers, he instituted a new rule: if any guy had a baby or a baby on the way, he had to retire. You know, he told the guys they had to keep their priorities straight.”

“Weevil stepped down?” Lizzie was still in a state of shock.

“Yes, he did,” Meg stated in a tone of finality. “And it’s all worked out. He’s gonna work 20 to 30 hours a week at his uncle’s auto shop until he graduates and then he’ll be full time.”

“Wow,” was Lizzie’s response. “This—this is for real, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. It takes a little while to sink in, doesn’t it?”

“Who took over the PCHers?” Lizzie couldn’t help it. This was huge.

Meg smiled. “Felix, Eli’s best friend. He says they’re in good hands. I guess it was between Felix and Thumper. They did…whatever gang members do…and Felix got it. Eli said it was better that way.”

“Wow,” Lizzie said again. “And they’re okay with him being married to you and all?”

Meg laughed. “Lizzie, he knocked up an ‘09er and got her to marry him. He’s their hero.”

Lizzie couldn’t help but laugh in response.

“I’ve missed you,” said Meg.

“Same,” smiled Lizzie.

*

Meg shook her head in amazement as Veronica fixed the hose in the convertible’s engine.

“Those are some skills, Veronica. I have to ask, though. Are you sure you want to sell the Mazda?”

Veronica smiled wryly as she closed her hood. “What, and say goodbye to my beloved LeBaron? Let us hear no such blasphemy!”

Meg’s laugh was cut short. “We have an audience.” She pointed to Dick, Beaver and some other ‘09ers, who were watching with smirks on their faces.

“Lessons every Friday at ten!” called out Veronica and she held up her hand in the universal signal for a phone. “Call me!”

Meg laughed as she got back into the car and Veronica pulled into a parking space.

“Welcome back to Neptune,” said Veronica with a snarky smile.

-

“You know we don’t have to meet in the bathroom anymore, right? People know about us,” Veronica said against Logan’s lips.

Her boyfriend’s mouth stayed against hers as he answered. “Yeah, but it’s tradition. There are memories…”

A giggle escaped Veronica’s lips to be swallowed by Logan. As he lifted her up and set her on the counter, their lips finally broke apart and they rested their foreheads together.

“So what was Carmen doing in here?”

Veronica leaned back, her arms staying looped around Logan’s neck. She blew out a breath.

“She tried to break up with her boyfriend. You know Tad, right?” Logan nodded. “He showed her a video that he’d made of her when she was wasted and said he’d show it to everyone if she went through with it.”

“What a jerk.”

“Exactly.”

“You gonna help her?”

Veronica sighed. “I said I would. I know we’re busy, but I just couldn’t…”

Logan gave her a quick kiss. “You don’t have to explain. I’m glad you’re gonna help her.”

Veronica looked around. “You realize that he can’t hear us in here. We can talk about…”

Logan tightened his grip around Veronica’s waist. “I—yeah. I know he can’t—I’m just… I can’t believe he listened to us for six months and still—“ He seemed unable to finish a sentence. “He heard us, Veronica. He heard us talk about why we were keeping quiet and he just let us. How could he—this is Duncan!” Logan finally let go of Veronica and practically threw himself across the room. The outburst seemed to come out of nowhere, but Veronica knew better. Duncan was never far from either of their minds.

“We’re going to figure this out, Logan. We will.” Her hands gripped the sides of the counter underneath her.

Logan hit the wall with his hand. Veronica jumped down and crossed to him, pulling his hands into hers. Logan moved their hands up to rest against her face.

“I love you so much. All I want is to keep you safe. I feel like I let you down.”

Veronica gripped his hands and spoke fiercely. “Never, Logan. Never. Duncan let us both down. You and I? We did everything that we could. That’s not what keeps me up at night.”

*

Vice Principal Clemmons wasn’t nearly as unaware as the student body thought he was. As it so happened, he prided himself on being pretty up-to-date on school gossip. He didn’t brag about it to the students, of course—there was nothing worse than an administrator who thought he was “hip”. Rather he used it to know the ebb-and-flow of the school. Who was with whom; who was arguing; where a fight was likely to break out. He managed to do a decent job of keeping up with the pulse of the school.

Often he found out information by listening in the halls. It also paid off to listen to teachers gossiping, bring the school secretary home-baked goods on a regular basis, and pay attention to the latest scrawl in the bathroom. That wasn’t to say he wasn’t ever blind-sided. He had been as taken by surprise as the rest of the school by the news that Logan Echolls and Veronica Mars were an item. After all, who in their right minds would have seen that one coming? Or Meg Manning and Eli “Weevil” Navarro—Clemmons would have said the proverbial pigs were more likely to fly.

But there they were. And here she was. First thing this morning, the school registrar had informed Clemmons that Meg Manning was in the front office with a marriage certificate requesting that her last name be changed on all of her records. In addition, Miss Manning—er, Mrs. Navarro—wanted it clear that her parents no longer had a right to request access to her files. Ms. Schneider, the registrar, had no problems with the name change—it wasn’t a usual request, but it was nevertheless legal. Her concern was about the closing-off of Mrs.—oh, he just couldn’t think of her that way—of Meg’s files.

Students at Neptune didn’t run out and get married on a regular basis, and Mr. Clemmons wasn’t sure what the legal ramifications were. Knowing the gossip in the school like he did, though, he knew that Meg was good friends with Veronica Mars. And he had a feeling that if he got into an argument about this murky legal area, Miss Mars would somehow become involved. So he suggested a compromise to the girl waiting patiently in the registrar’s office.

“Miss—Mrs. Navarro.” He would get used to it. Sure, he would.

“Mr. Clemmons. Did Ms. Schneider talk to you about my situation?”

Still standing, he explained. “Yes, she did. Why don’t we compromise for now? We will flag your records so that if anyone besides yourself requests to see them, we will call you to the front office before handing them over. That way, we can deal with the situation on an as-needed basis.”

Meg considered the administrator and seemed to come to an internal decision before nodding. “So no one will be given my files without my being notified first?”

“Correct.”

“Thank you, Mr. Clemmons. I think that will work out well.” Meg stood up and gathered her things. “Thank you again,” she said and exited the room.

To the non-surprise of Mr. Clemmons, Veronica Mars passed Meg in the doorway to the front office as the newly married girl was leaving. After briefly talking to Meg, Veronica came in to hand the school secretary something. Clemmons wasn’t fooled. The teeny teen titan might claim to be delivering something for a teacher, but that girl was really just making sure that her friend had gotten what she wanted.

Clemmons closed his eyes for a moment. Veronica Mars was going to be the early retirement of him.

*

Meg felt like an exotic fish in a huge glass display. All morning long, students stared at her as though they had never before seen a creature such as herself. She was strongly tempted to make fish-faces at them.

She had expected her fellow cheerleaders to bombard her as soon as she walked onto the school grounds. They had certainly flooded her with e-mails during her absence. But no one spoke to her until after first period.

They were ‘09ers. Maybe they had to caucus about how to handle their former Virgin Queen.

Kylee, Brooke and Kate came running up to her, their questions overlapping.

“Meg!”

“Did you really have a nervous breakdown?!”

“Where have you been?”

“We hear you got married!”

“Are you parents suing to have the marriage annulled?”

“Is it true he forced you to marry him?”

After the morning-long silence, the sudden barrage of questions hit Meg like a truck and she could do no more than stare at her friends.

People thought Eli had forced her to get married?

Meg realized she was fighting back tears.

Stupid hormones.

“We didn’t mean to upset you!”

“Is it that bad?”

The words burst of Meg’s mouth.

“It is not bad! It’s wonderful! I married him because I wanted to! Eli didn’t make me do anything! How could you think that?!”

Just as she thought she really would burst into tears, a comforting hand settled into the small of her back.

“Ladies, if you don’t mind,” Weevil said, and he subtly pulled/pushed his wife down the hall and away from the prying cheerleaders.

As soon as he pulled her into a deserted alcove, Meg started to cry.

“I don’t know why I’m crying!” she exclaimed.

Weevil pulled her into his arms, his hand stroking her hair.

“You’re beautiful, you know,” he said softly.

Meg pulled back in surprise.

“What?” she sniffled.

“I thought you might wanna hear that.”

She gave him a strange look and Weevil managed to look slightly embarrassed.

“Okay, my grandma said you might wanna hear that, but it’s still true. You are beautiful,” and he smiled at her.

Meg rested her head on her husband’s chest and listened to his heart beat.

“Thank you,” she said. “I did need to hear it.”

While passers-by couldn’t hear what the couple was saying, the visual aspects of the story spread like wildfire throughout the school.

This all happened in the first hour and a half of school. The couple was well on their way to becoming a living legend. And no one even knew about the baby yet.

*

Veronica sat in study hall, having carried out the rest of the bump-and-bait that she and Wallace had pulled off. What a team.

Now, of course, she had nothing to do but sit and ponder.

Her knee-jerk reaction to Duncan’s duplicity had been to get her own rifle, not of the microphone variety, and hunt the boy down. Skeazy cockroach. Given her deep loathing of the police, however, she had acknowledged to herself that murder was probably a less-than-acceptable option. One thing was for sure, though. She was done feeling sorry for Duncan Kane.

His sister had died. And? So had her best friend. She only stalked people when she got paid to do so. Was she supposed to be filled with compassion for Duncan because he lost his girlfriend? Perhaps had he been honest with said girlfriend, they could have worked it out together. Since that time, Veronica had learned what a healthy relationship was supposed to be like. In retrospect, she had little sympathy for how Duncan had handled their break-up.

Veronica huffed, looked around to make sure no one was watching her carry on this internal conversation complete with huffing, then returned to pondering.

She had felt great responsibility to help prevent Duncan from committing suicide. Yeah, well, he had obviously found a new outlet and Veronica was working very hard to convince herself that it was a more acceptable one than Duncan killing himself.

He was stalking them. Yes, sports fans, she and Logan had a stalker. One who bought things from shady dealers on the Internet, skulked around in rental cars, and faked his own suicide.

Feeling any responsibility? Not so much.

Duncan had made his choice. He had declared war, with her and Logan on the other side.

The bell rang and she got up to find Logan waiting outside the door to the classroom.

“What do your teachers think of you cutting out of all of your classes early?”

“I told them the truth.”

Veronica was so surprised she stopped in the middle of the hall. Logan immediately pulled her aside.

She finally stammered out, “You what?”

“Yeah. I heard Ms. Nadason talking about us with Ms. Boritz, right? So I went up—“

“You interrupted their gossip session?” Veronica’s voice was a combination of unbelieving and amused.

Logan continued like she hadn’t spoken. “—and said that I agreed with what they were saying. Ms. Nadason was saying how great it was that we were going against people’s expectations and being true to who we were and Ms. Boritz was saying that it was so nice to see kids standing up for themselves. I said they were right and that I needed to leave class about five minutes early so that I could walk you to your next class. They both thought it was, like, romantic or whatever.” Veronica was still standing there with her mouth open. “I guess they told all my other teachers, because none of them have said a word when I walk out early. Mr. Pinson even reminded me once. Cool, huh?”

Veronica simply stared at him.

“What?” he asked innocently.

She raised her eyebrows.

Logan maintained his angelic expression.

“Teachers gossip as much as the rest of us do. I have no problems using that to our advantage.”

Veronica laughed and gave Logan a quick kiss. He turned it into a longer one. They broke apart at the sound of a wolf whistle.

Shifting his forehead to rest against hers, Logan said with a laugh, “Some people need to get a life.”

Veronica leaned back and said, “You know that was a teacher, right?”

Logan laughed and, taking her hand, pulled her back into the flow of hall traffic.

*

When Meg got home that afternoon, she went straight to bed. It had been a very long day. It was Letty’s early day, so the kids were taken care of. Weevil headed over to his uncle’s shop. As he kissed his wife goodbye and headed out the door, Weevil wondered if every day at school was going to be that intense. He certainly hoped not. His own life was stressful enough.

*

Logan walked into the office as Veronica and Keith were discussing the bounty the Kanes had put out on Duncan.

“So Celeste listened to us,” noted Logan as he touched the small of Veronica’s back in lieu of a kiss. Keith was pretty cool with his daughter’s relationship, but Logan tried not to push his luck.

Veronica smiled up at Logan and leaned back as he stood behind her.

“Anything is better than believing that your child is dead,” said Keith.

Veronica nodded and said, “Oh, Dad, someone called earlier that I need to talk to you about.” She shut the door to his office, revealing a seven-foot-tall piece of plywood that had been hidden by the open door. She moved it in front of Keith’s door. She had been running late that morning and had only been able to throw out the bare bones of Duncan’s duplicity.

“I’m covering the window,” she explained at her dad’s perplexed expression.

“And this is necessary why?” Keith asked.

“So that bounty boy can’t hear us,” answered Logan.

“What?” Keith’s eyebrows shot up to where his hairline would have been had he been in possession of one.

“I told you Duncan’s been stalking us,” started Veronica and Keith nodded, still trying to take it in. She took a breath. “Obviously he didn’t die. He just got rid of distractions.” She pointed to the plywood. “That’s so his rifle mike can’t pick up what we’re saying.”

“His what?” asked her father, incredulously.

“His stalking toy of choice,” said Logan bitterly. His entire body looked tense, as though he was holding anger in every molecule of his body.

“Duncan Kane got a hold of a rifle mike so he could spy on the two of you more efficiently?” A tangle of emotions dripped from every word—shock, disbelief, a desire to laugh, anger. Keith was obviously as conflicted as his daughter and her boyfriend. “Wait a minute, isn’t he going to realize something’s up when he can’t hear us anymore?” He nodded at the plywood muffling their voices from detection.

“You know, I really don’t care,” spit out Logan.

Veronica sighed. “We haven’t really decided what to do yet. I won’t be protecting him anymore, that’s for sure.” Logan snorted and Veronica went on. “He’s made his choice. If he’s strong enough to go around stalking us, Duncan’s strong enough to be on his own.”

-

Logan was still at the office when Carmen got there. After Veronica made introductions—Carmen was a little tongue-tied in front of the tall ‘09er—they got down to business. Logan, of course, whined playfully when Veronica wouldn’t let him watch the video. Carmen’s cheeks flushed scarlet as Veronica gave Logan a death glare. He simply smiled and put up his hands to ward off her gaze.

-

As the door closed behind Carmen, Logan turned from his perch on the front of the desk to look at his girlfriend.

“And I thought I had pent-up anger.”

“She trusted him,” said Veronica, anger lacing her own tone, “and he betrayed her in the worst possible way. He taped that over a year ago. He wanted to make sure that he had insurance if she ever tried to leave him. What kind of sick, twisted person would do that?”

Logan was silent for a moment. “One that’s terrified of losing the woman he loves.”

Veronica raised one eyebrow. “Is there something I should know, Logan?”

He laughed. “Hardly. I’m not excusing what he did. Trust me. I agree with you—what he did was the worst kind of betrayal. On every level. I just…” he hesitated. “I understand why he did it.” He didn’t look away, but kept his gaze on Veronica. “The guy knew he wasn’t good enough for Carmen, so he made sure he could make her stay with him when she finally figured that out.”

Veronica was struck by the depth of Logan’s words. “I thought—not anymore… You can’t—you don’t—you don’t still feel that way, do you?”

Logan finally looked away, saying nothing.

Veronica stood up and walked around the desk to stand between Logan’s legs. She put her hands on his face and turned it to hers.

“After everything we’ve been through, everything we’ve done for each other, both of us, how can you think that? How could you ever think you’re not good enough for me?” Tears glistened on her eyelashes.

Logan shrugged, unable to express his feelings in words. He continued to look down, unable to look into Veronica’s eyes.

The tiny blonde stroked the cheek of the boy she loved. Veronica couldn’t speak. She knew where this came from. She knew that what Aaron had done to Logan over the years had wounded his psyche. She wished to the depths of her spirit that she could mend him, but how could she do that? What did she say? How did she fight sixteen years of abuse?

Veronica leaned her forehead against Logan’s and her fingers slid through his hair. Almost unwittingly, his hands did the same to hers.

How did she heal his soul?

She poured out hers.

“I need you, Logan. I need you on the phone. I need you in my life. I need you to know how much I need you, because then you’ll know that I could never live without you. I’m not too good for you. I’m good because of you.”

Logan’s mouth found hers in a gentle brush, skin against skin. His lips rubbed back and forth, the friction between them building.

“Please, Logan,” Veronica’s breath thrummed over his slightly parted lips. “Please.” She couldn’t put words to her plea.

But Logan understood. He knew that Veronica needed him. He did. It’s just that…sometimes he couldn’t figure out why. Most of the time he was able to convince himself that it was okay, that they were okay, but other times… It was those other times that haunted Logan. And it was times like this, when she was in his arms, when she was sharing herself with him, that made Logan strong enough to survive the other times. Times like these made times like those fewer and farther between.

For now, Logan lost himself in her smell, in her hair and he let the rest of the world fade away.

Across the hall in the abandoned office that their stalker had rented, Duncan rolled his eyes. When the mushy twins were done drooling over each other, maybe they would talk some more about him. Duncan loved it when they talked about him.

*

There was no way to tell what Duncan had heard Veronica talk about with Keith. For all they knew, Duncan had heard every gritty detail regarding their squirrelly entertainment lawyer. It was entirely possible that Stalker Boy had become quite educated on how to hide from detection. So Veronica enlisted Mac’s willing help.

In the meantime, Veronica couldn’t get Carmen and Tad out of her mind. It was quickly becoming inextricably intertwined in her head that if Carmen could get rid of Tad, she and Logan could get rid of Duncan. She had some bizarre mental block, though, on what exactly they could do to get rid of him. And she was paralyzed by doubt as far as how to go out and find him. That wasn’t like her. Finding him should be a snap, it would be a snap—if she would just smack her inner moppet or whatever and catch a clue.

Veronica always knew what to do. She always had a plan. Carmen might be with Tad right now, but it wouldn’t be for long. Because Veronica had a plan. A good plan, a foolproof plan. For someone else. So why didn’t she have one for herself?

-

Logan pulled into Weevil’s uncle’s place to pick up Veronica. The two of them hadn’t talked any further about his recurring lack of self-worth and Logan was unreasonably grateful. He didn’t feel like that all of the time, and he was glad that Veronica didn’t have the need to bring it up when it wasn’t an issue.

As he got out of the car, he heard Veronica say something to Weevil about cutting the father-to-be in on the profit from finding Duncan.

“You have a lead?” he said by way of greeting.

“Weevil heard something about Duncan buying a beat-up old car.”

“Huh.” Logan had to restrain himself from saying more—like why did Duncan need a car when he rented them all over town? But he didn’t. Duncan could be listening, after all. Logan’s fist involuntarily clenched. He really wanted to beat the crap out of his former best friend. Really, really, really wanted to beat the crap out of him.

He took a deep breath.

“How’s the wife?” he changed the subject.

Weevil grinned from ear to ear and Logan choked back a laugh. Who would have thought the big, bad gang leader would be tamed by the sweet, virginal cheerleader. Wait. They were in an auto shop, right? Was John Travolta about to jump out and start singing “Greased Lightning”? He couldn’t help it. As Weevil started talking about Meg, Logan started laughing.

“What?” Weevil demanded.

“It’s not you,” Logan choked out as laughter consumed him and tears welled up in his eyes.

“Logan?” Veronica asked, a confused look on her face.

That just made Logan laugh harder. He bent over and had to crouch down. Tears were now streaming down his face as he laughed so hard that his stomach started to hurt. In his mind, all Logan could focus on were the lyrics, Greased Lightning! Go Greased Lightning!, and all he could do was laugh.

Distantly, he heard Veronica tell Weevil that they’d been under a lot of strain lately.

“Apparently,” remarked the tattooed young man, and Logan tried to breathe.

He put a hand on the ground to steady himself. He took big, gasping breaths and Weevil stepped forward to clap him on the back, which sent Logan into another fit of laughter. Weevil and Veronica were staring at him like he had lost his mind, and maybe he had. The laughter finally subsided and Logan was finally able to breathe again.

He pushed himself up off the ground and took some big gulps of air. Veronica and Weevil had expectant looks on their faces and Logan affected an innocent expression.

“What?”

His friends gave each other a look. Logan just smiled and focused on breathing.

Veronica put her arm through his and said to Weevil, “Thanks for the tip. I’ll let you know if the Impala pans out.”

Weevil, looking intensely curious, nodded and headed back to work. Veronica pulled her boyfriend behind her and headed them to the car.

“Logan?” Veronica asked as he put on his seatbelt. “Are you sure you’re okay to drive?” She was clearly still amused. “Are you at least going to tell me what was so funny?”

Logan just started humming Greased Lightning as he pulled away from the curb.

-

“So are we becoming more normal yet?” Veronica asked as she and Logan fell onto the couch together.

“I don’t know. I haven’t bought you a bear yet that says ‘I Wuv U Beary Much’.”

“What do you mean bought? I expect my bear to be won by some sort of display of ring-tossing ability.”

Logan laughed as he leaned towards the love of his life. “We’re way hotter than normal, though.” His kiss pushed Veronica down onto the couch. His hand was snaking under her shirt when the two of them heard a cough.

They shot up to see Aaron standing in the kitchen holding a grocery bag and blushing madly.

The last time Aaron had walked in on them flashed through everyone’s minds. Logan jumped up and Veronica tried to melt into the couch as Aaron babbled on about salmon and corn chips and backed out of the room.

Logan snorted and looked at the mortified blonde on the couch. “It could have been worse, right?”

“Oh, yeah. I could have been naked under the covers.”

Logan snorted again and Veronica joined in.

“Come on,” he said. “I’ll take you home.”

“What, you don’t want to have your dad take me home?”

“And take the fun out of his peeping?” They headed outside.

“You think your dad is turning into a Peeping Tom on us?” That was a new one.

“Quality over quantity. I guarantee you our sex life is better than his.”

Veronica paused as she was about to climb into the SUV. “Are you saying we need to have sex more often?”

Logan smiled. “I’m always willing to say that.” He walked to the driver’s side and got in. “No, I’m saying that our sex life rocks and his is shallow and empty.”

“Logan Echolls, are you saying that sex is better when you love somebody?”

“Hell, yeah.”

“You know you’re gonna get thrown out of the guy club for this, right?”

“I’ll manage,” Logan said as he leaned over and gently kissed Veronica.

On the hill overlooking the Echolls’ mansion, Duncan rolled his eyes and tried not to gag. These two were unbelievable.

He was hungry. He was gonna go eat. Because he could do that. Whenever he wanted to.

Sometimes—not often, but sometimes—Duncan would spy on people other than Logan and Veronica. When Ozzy and Harriet got to be too much for him, Duncan would listen in on other people in Neptune. He always returned to the objects of his obsession—he couldn’t help it, but his time spent elsewhere wasn’t completely wasted. It was Neptune, after all.

Maybe he’d go listen to some other people for a while after he ate. He could go back to Logan and Veronica in the morning refreshed and ready to go.

-

After they got back to her apartment, Logan and Veronica went into her room and sat on the floor. In addition to being an almost impossible place from which to be spied on, they had also covered the window with plywood. The curtains hid the plywood from view.

“So you have everything planned for the boardwalk tomorrow?” asked Logan as he picked up a piece of pizza out of the box they had gotten on their way home.

“All set,” said Veronica as she made her way through her own slice.

“And Seth will help?”

Veronica smiled. “Oh, yeah. He practically hugged me in excitement.”

“Good thing he’s gay,” noted Logan and Veronica laughed. “So. We’ve been skirting around an issue.”

Veronica leaned back against her bed. “Yeah…I know.”

“So what do we do now?”

“I don’t know.”

“Veronica Mars, did you just whine?”

“No.”

“Yes, you did. You whined. You totally whined. I’m gonna write this down. Where’s some paper?” He pretended to look around.

His girlfriend turned up her nose and focused on her food.

“So no plan.” He was serious now.

Veronica shrugged. “It’s like I have this mental block or something. I mean, we need to find him first, obviously. Beyond that, though…” She shook herself and looked up with a determined glint shining in her eye. “I promise you—I’ll figure it out and you and I—“ she gestured to the two of them, “—will take care of him.”

“Yes, we will.” Logan put down his food and leaned towards Veronica with a suspicious gleam in his eye. “So. Your dad’s out of town, right?”

“Yeah?”

Logan nibbled at her ear.

“You did say that we needed to have more sex, right?”

“That’s not what I said,” Veronica laughed as she arched her neck to provide him better access.

“It was close.”

There wasn’t any more talking for a while.

*

Keith was down in Tijuana. Veronica had told him that she didn’t think Duncan was really there and Keith had agreed, but he said he said to try. Not that it was all bad. If he was in Mexico, he couldn’t be canoodling with Alicia. And Logan had gotten to spend the night.

Carmen left after getting Tad to make incredibly damning statements on the phone and Veronica was writing Seth’s lines out for him. Logan was at his house, doing that rare thing of actually studying for a test.

Veronica wanted to find Duncan. More than she wanted food. More than she wanted water. Okay, not more than she wanted Logan, but still. She wanted to find him and then she wanted to make his life miserable. Veronica had decided months ago that no one was ever going to take advantage of her again. She chose her life’s path, not someone else. And Duncan was trying to take that away.

She wasn’t going to let him. She was going to find him and then she was going to make him wish his family had never heard of Neptune, California.

*

“How did it go?”

Veronica was sitting on a bench in the quad when Logan walked up.

“As well as can be expected.”

“What’s wrong?” He sat down next to her. “You did a good thing here.”

Veronica leaned her head against her boyfriend’s shoulder. “I know.” She leaned up and whispered into his ear. “Can he hear us here? At school? In the quad?”

Logan slid his fingers through hers. “We can do this, Veronica. We can. You can do this.”

Meg walked up. “You okay, Veronica?”

The shorter blonde sat up and forced a smile. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. Just having a rough day.”

“Come join us for lunch?” Meg invited, inclining her head towards their standard lunch table where Mac was already sitting.

Veronica and Logan looked at each other and nodded.

Life went on.

-

“You picked up my car? Are you trying to make up for something I should know about?”

Logan smiled as Veronica climbed onto the hood of the car to sit next to him.

“Maybe I’m just depositing in my forgiveness bank for future withdrawals.”

“That’s my boy. Always thinking ahead.” She leaned over and kissed him.

“So you’re going to meet me at my dad’s boat tomorrow.”

“I am?”

“Yeah,” Logan’s voice was confident.

“And why is that?”

“Because we’re gonna drive out on the water, all by ourselves, away from everyone and everybody…”

Veronica couldn’t tear her eyes off of her boyfriend. Really, he couldn’t be that perfect. She was sure of it. Maybe. She kissed him. Hard.

Logan pulled back and sighed. “There’s one other thing, Veronica.” He brushed a hair off the side of her face.

“What?”

“My dad—he saw something in the paper this morning.” He paused. “About your mom.”

-

Veronica was exhausted when she went to bed that night. Her dad was clearly happy with Alicia, but her mom was in rehab. Lianne was coming home soon. And her dad had started divorce proceedings without telling his daughter. Keith had apologized, but he was still planning on ending his marriage. What was Veronica supposed to do?

And then there was Tad, who had gone ahead and sent out the video. Carmen had foregone revenge, but Veronica wasn’t so forgiving. From the beginning, Tad’s sleaziness and Duncan’s spying had been tied together in Veronica’s mind. Thanks to Tad being a vengeful troll, the kernel of retribution had crystallized in Veronica’s psyche. There would be no more second-guessing. Her feelings of anger and betrayal towards Duncan had solidified and she was ready to take him down.

After her and Logan’s trip to Catalina. For one day, the craziness that was their life was going to be forgotten. All she and Logan had talked about on the phone that night was their getaway. She was more excited about it than she had been about anything in a very long time.

The sound of the waves to come lulled Veronica to sleep.

*

The day was everything that Veronica and Logan so desperately needed it to be.

It had started out beautifully, with Tad tied to the flagpole in front of the school. Then Veronica had gone to the marina and she and Logan spent the day on the water.

Logan had outdone himself. There was fresh fruit, cheese, crackers, champagne, a selection of bottled waters, and an economy-sized box of condoms. Nothing went to waste.

After they docked early that evening, happy and refreshed, they had spent a good long time procrastinating the end of the day, neither of them ready to go back to real life.

When Veronica got home, she and her dad talked some more about Lianne before moving on and discussing Keith’s fruitless search in Mexico. They agreed to be open about Keith’s plans about his marriage and that Duncan’s alleged trip had been a red herring.

Mac had sent Veronica an e-mail about an Argentinean passport ordered off of eBay, but Veronica was of the opinion that that was a red herring, too. Regardless, Keith knew that they needed the $50,000 and decided to go ahead and follow the lead.

Veronica was in bed waiting for Logan’s nightly phone call when she glanced at her clock. 11:03. It was Logan’s night to call and he was never late. Never. It was a thing with them. They always called on time. She picked up the phone and dialed his number. She was not going to let their 17-month calling streak end.

No one answered.

11:06.

Veronica called the Echolls’ home line.

No answer.

Veronica fought down panic. They never missed a call. What the hell was going on?

Still in her pajamas, Veronica grabbed her keys and purse and sprinted out of her apartment to her car. Breaking every speed limit on the way, she raced to Logan’s house. As she pulled up, her phone rang.

“Logan?!” she demanded, barely glancing at the caller I.D.

She heard breathing and some incoherent sounds, but nothing more.

“Logan?!” she cried as she let herself into the Echolls’ home and ran to her boyfriend’s room.

His door was closed and she opened it so hard it crashed against the wall. The lamp on Logan’s bedside table was in pieces on the floor and shards of his dresser mirror lay nearby. In the far corner of the room, covered in shadows, the boy she loved lay in a bloody heap.

Before she could blink, Veronica was at his side. Logan was holding his cell phone limply in his hand. It fell to the floor as she gathered him into her arms.

There was a cut surrounded by a huge bruise on Logan’s left temple, his mouth was bloody, and his breath was raspy. His right hand was bleeding and his fingers were crooked unnaturally. His left shoulder was lying at an odd angle—it looked dislocated. It seemed like there was blood everywhere.

“Logan, no. No! Please be okay! Please! What happened? Talk to me.”

“I didn’t tell…” Logan’s voice was soft and Veronica had to put her ear in front of his mouth to hear him. He was having trouble speaking. “…my dad…the boat…”

Her tears fell on his face and mingled with his blood.

“Oh, Logan, I’m so sorry. I have to call an ambulance.” She flipped her phone closed to end the still-open call with Logan’s cell. As she was about to reopen it, Logan’s bloody hand closed on hers.

“You…take me…can’t be found…here…please…”

Veronica choked back a sob. “Please, Logan, let me—“

“No.” His voice was the strongest it had been so far.

Veronica wanted to tear Aaron Echolls’ throat out.

“Come on,” she conceded, even as it scraped her heart to do so. She tenderly helped her love sit up.

She was taking Logan to the emergency room and she was going to get him the medical attention he needed.

Then she was going to take away everything that Aaron Echolls valued in the world. And she was going to enjoy it.

Chapter Text

Veronica drove to the hospital with her heart in her throat. She could barely swallow, her adrenaline was rushing so fast that she could hardly catch her breath, and when she screeched to a halt in front of the ER doors, she couldn’t for the life of her recall a single traffic light or stop sign.

Logan had been silent throughout the wild trip. Veronica had grabbed a pillow and a throw blanket out of his room on the way to the car. Wrapped up in them, Logan didn’t even seem conscious once he sank into the LeBaron’s passenger seat and Veronica had caught more glances of her battered boyfriend than she had of the road.

Turning on her emergency blinkers, Veronica helped Logan—who fortunately was conscious—out of her car and in through the sliding doors.

“We need help!” she cried loudly as they went in. Luckily, it was apparently slow for a Friday night in the Neptune ER and a nurse came running almost immediately with a wheelchair.

Veronica tried to follow, but the admit secretary stopped her, insisting that someone provide Logan’s information and fill out his admission papers. Veronica brushed the woman off, grabbing the clipboard that the woman was waving and taking off down the hall in the direction that Logan had been pushed.

She found him surrounded by medical personnel in a curtained-off area, already hooked up to frighteningly beeping machines that looked like something off of ER.

“How is he? What’s wrong?” Her demands might have held more weight had she not sounded like she was about to burst into tears any minute, which she was.

“What happened?!” yelled the doctor who seemed to be in charge.

“I think he was in a bar fight.” The lie rolled off of Veronica’s tongue without conscious thought or effort. What the hell? “He called me and managed to get out an address downtown. That’s all I know.” Seriously, where had that come from?

“I need a liter of O negative, stat!” yelled a woman. “He’s going into shock!”

“Logan! It’s okay, I’m here!” shouted Veronica over the din of medical jargon and electronic shrieking.

“Miss, we’re going to have to ask you to get out of the way,” said a nurse firmly as she pushed Veronica to the other side of the curtain.

“But—“ Veronica started to argue, but the nurse looked her in the eye.

“Let us do our jobs.”

The young woman’s shoulders sagged and she backed off. The nurse disappeared behind the curtains.

Veronica turned to see that she was in the center aisle of a large ER. She realized for the first time that she was still holding the admit secretary’s clipboard. All her mind could process, though, were the horrifying sounds and words coming from Logan’s team of doctors. Veronica blindly stumbled to the other side of the room and slid down the wall. She pulled her knees to her chest and finally allowed the tears to cascade down her face.

This let loose the floodgates and for the next several minutes, all Veronica could do was cry—the hard, wracking sobs of the desperate and terrified.

A nurse slid open the curtain to Logan’s examination area and Veronica’s bright red, puffy eyes looked up to see what was happening. The older woman looked over to the crumpled figure and turned to say something to someone still hidden by the curtain. A doctor who looked much too young for Veronica’s tastes emerged and crossed to her. As he went to crouch down, he turned back to the nurse.

“Anna, will you please get 10 cc’s of Valium and a wet washcloth for—“ he looked questioningly at the girl on the floor.

“Veronica,” she filled in, her voice shaky and weak.

Was that her voice? Why did her voice sound like that?

The doctor’s voice was calming and strong. “Veronica, I want you to sit up here,” he gestured to the examination bed to her left, “so I can take a look at you.”

“Why?” she asked blankly. “How’s Logan?”

“Come on,” he took her hand and pulled her up. “I’ll tell you about Logan once you’re up on the bed.”

“Okay,” she said numbly, climbing up onto the bed as the nurse returned with a syringe and a washcloth. “What’s that for?” she demanded, strength returning to her voice as she pulled away from the nurse and the needle. She noted that the medical-type people were leaving Logan’s curtained-off bed and she sat up, suddenly frantic. “What about Logan?! Why are they leaving?!”

The doctor nodded to the nurse, who took Veronica’s arm and gave her the shot. Despite herself, Veronica became more relaxed, finally lying back against the pillows on the bed. She turned beseeching eyes towards the doctor. “Logan?”

“He’s going to be fine.” Veronica felt herself relax even more. “He has a concussion and we’re sending him up for an MRI. We’re also going to get x-rays of his shoulder, hand and ribs. You saw his left shoulder, which is dislocated and there’s his hand—he has a few broken fingers. It also sounds like he might have a few broken ribs from the way he’s breathing.” He kept on in that calm, steady voice. “We’ve stabilized his blood pressure, though, and he didn’t lose as much blood as it looks like. One of his teeth was knocked loose—between that and the cut on his forehead—well, you have to realize that head wounds bleed more than most.” The chemically calm blonde nodded as though she understood. “He’s going to be okay, Veronica. We’re going to check everything out and get him bandaged up, but things look good. It’s just a lot at once. You said it was a bar fight?”

Secure in the knowledge that Logan was going to be okay, coming down off of the adrenaline high and aided by Valium, Veronica was starting to fade into unconsciousness.

“Uh, yeah…” she said, as she fought sleep to answer his question. “I think so…”

“That must have been some fight,” noted the doctor with a skeptical look. “I’d like to see the other guy.”

“So would I,” said Veronica, and with that last truth, she fell asleep.

-

The world started to fade in and Veronica heard a faraway voice say, “Your daughter was in mild shock. We gave her a light sedative.”

Her dad’s voice asked the question that she herself was struggling to form in her mind. “And Logan?”

Veronica desperately fought off the pull of sleep to hear the answer.

“Normally we wouldn’t tell anyone outside the family, but since the only person Mr. Echolls keeps calling for is your daughter and we haven’t been able to get a hold of his father…” There was a pause before the voice continued. “His MRI came up clean. He has a mild concussion, but he’ll be okay in a day or two. He’ll also have to see an oral surgeon about his molar—it took a pretty hard blow.”

Yet another reason to rip Aaron’s face off. The voice was continuing to catalogue her lover’s many wounds, but sleep was already carrying Veronica off to oblivion.

-

When she woke again, the clock on the wall read 7:03. She presumed it was a.m., hoping against hope that she hadn’t slept for over 36 hours. She looked around. Apparently she was still in the Neptune General ER. Where was Logan?! Suddenly frantic, she sat up to find someone who could help her.

“Veronica?” her dad had been sleeping in a chair next to her hospital bed.

“Dad! How’s Logan?”

“He’s fine, honey,” Keith pushed her back down. “They kept him overnight for observation. He’s in a room right outside the ER. The doctor said you were in pretty rough shape last night.” He looked carefully into his daughter’s eyes. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

Veronica couldn’t help but flinch. She was mortified by her actions the previous evening.

“I’m fine, Dad. Really. Right now I just need to go see Logan.”

Keith sighed. He had expected as much. “Come on,” and he helped his daughter off of the gurney. Veronica moved stiffly, having slept on a foam mat excuse for a mattress all night. Her dad led her down the main ER hall to a glassed-off private room.

“Logan!” Veronica said as she rushed to his side. Logan’s eyes fluttered open. There was a bandage covering his left temple. In addition, the young man’s face was puffy, particularly the left side, which was a mosaic of unattractive colors—the bruises looking even worse this morning. His left arm was strapped to his chest, encased in a sling. The pinky and ring fingers on his right hand were pinned together in a green and silver splint, and the rest of his fingers and the back of that palm were nasty shades of red, purple and green. All in all, Logan looked like he’d been on the losing end of the very bad far fight that Veronica falsely claimed had injured him.

If only that were the case.

“What’s this I hear about you getting tranked last night?” he asked in a muffled voice as a slight smile crossed his bruised features, replaced almost as quickly by an expression of pain.

“Sorry,” he said, “hurts to smile.”

Her heart literally ached.

“Do we know when you get to go home?” asked Veronica, aiming the question at both Logan and her dad.

“The doctor should be here pretty soon to check up on him. Nothing needs long-term care, so if things look okay, he should be able to go home later this morning.”

Veronica’s shoulders sagged and she let out a sigh of relief. Logan’s right hand moved from its bed of pillows to check the bandage on his head.

“In the meantime, I’m going to go see if I can get us some breakfast,” Keith told them. “I was awake all night, unlike the two of you, which means I, at least, am starving. Either of you want anything?” Both of the teenagers shook their heads no and with a kiss to Veronica’s forehead, Keith headed out the door in search of sustenance.

As the door shut behind him, the curtain-covered glass once again gave Logan and Veronica at least the illusion of privacy. Veronica pulled up a rolling stool to sit next to the boy she loved.

She took his right hand in hers. “How are you really doing?”

Logan’s eyes moved to stare at the ceiling.

“I’ll live,” he muttered.

“What happened?” she asked softly and Logan sighed.

The door opened behind her.

“That was quick. Is there a burrito stand in the—” she said as she turned around, only to stop mid-sentence at the sight of Aaron Echolls entering Logan’s hospital room.

“I’m sorry I didn’t come earlier—“

“Get out.” Veronica cut him off.

“I was in L.A.—“

“If you don’t get out, I will start yelling so loudly that every person in the ER and a five-mile radius will come running. Then I will keep yelling about how Logan really ended up like this. I told the doctors that he got into a bar fight. I did that because I love Logan, not because I give a rat’s ass about you. And I will NOT put up with the hypocrisy of you waltzing in here like it isn’t your fault in the first place!” Veronica’s voice got louder throughout the speech and as she reached the last of her breath, Aaron put his hands up in a placating gesture to quiet her.

“GET OUT!” Veronica screamed, and Aaron, not being nearly as stupid as his movies might imply, exited the room without a backward glance.

Veronica was breathing heavily when she turned to look at Logan, frozen in his hospital bed.

“I’m sorry if that was over the line—“ she started.

Logan grabbed her hand to silence her.

“It’s been a long time since somebody loved me enough to stand up to him. Don’t apologize, okay?”

Veronica practically threw herself over her boyfriend’s bruised and trussed-up body, wary of hurting his left shoulder or the cracked ribs.

“I was so scared,” her tears wet Logan’s ugly blue-and-white-patterned gown as it muffled her words against his chest. “I saw you…I was so scared.”

“Shhh,” he whispered into her hair as his three good fingers gently stroked her head. “I’m all right. It’s gonna be okay.”

Veronica hitched herself up onto the bed to lie next to him, trying not to jostle him too badly as she did so. “It’s not okay, Logan. It’s not. This is not okay.”

Logan sighed, her head rising in tandem on his chest. “I’m going to make him pay. I won’t ask you for your help. I know he’s your dad and you have to love him or—whatever, but I don’t care. He’s going to pay for this, okay? I don’t want to go sneaking around behind your back, but I have to do this.”

She raised her head from Logan’s now-damp torso. He looked at her, at a loss for words, before soundlessly nodding his head.

The door opened and Veronica jumped off of the bed to stand beside her boyfriend, wiping her eyes quickly as she did so. The young-looking doctor from the night before closed the door behind him.

“Hello, Mr. Echolls. I’m Dr. Lake. We met last night, but I doubt you remember the introduction.” Dr. Lake crossed to stand on the other side of Logan’s bed.

“Not really,” said Logan dryly.

“I remember!” Veronica said perkily. Both Logan and the doctor gave her odd looks. “Hey, I got drugs, too,” she added sheepishly.

The doctor turned his eyes back to the patient as said patient gave Veronica one last look that clearly said, Overcompensating much?

“You’re just about ready to go, but there are a few things we need to go over first,” the doctor went on as though Veronica had not just given her best sorority-girl cheerleader impression.

“Let me have it,” said Logan. “I’m ready to get back on the dance floor.”

Veronica held his damaged right hand and tried not to roll her eyes.

“You have a concussion. For the next 24 hours, you need to have someone around at all times when you’re sleeping. They need to wake you up every hour so that you don’t fall into too deep of a sleep.” Logan and Veronica both nodded.

“You have two breaks in your pinky finger and one in your ring finger. Make sure you don’t get the splint wet, and after you get out of the shower, you’ll need to have someone put it back on, because you won’t have full use of your left arm for seven to ten days. You’ll need to see an orthopedic specialist to determine what exactly the course of treatment will be for that. The MRI we took tells us that as things go, the damage to the muscles around your shoulder joint is relatively minor. Still, you have to be careful or it could easily get worse.” Dr. Lake pointed to the sling strapping down Logan’s left arm. “Keep that still,” he said firmly and he looked at Veronica. “I’m holding you responsible for making sure he doesn’t go bouncing that around. We’ll see you back here in a week to take the stitches out of your forehead.”

“How many?” Logan asked. In answer to Veronica’s silent question, he added, “I’m keeping a running total.”

“Three,” answered the doctor. “It was a small cut. My guess is the person you fought with wears a ring.”

Logan raised his eyebrows in a vague non-answer.

The doctor went on, giving them the lowdown on the injuries to Logan’s ribs. Apparently the tall teenager had to keep his torso taped up and wouldn’t be participating in any sports—including surfing—for the foreseeable future.

“One thing that you have to do in the next day or two is visit an oral surgeon. Your back molar is loose and your gums are heavily bruised—it needs to be looked at as soon as possible. There’s a list of surgeons that we recommend at the nurse’s station. And…that’s pretty much it,” summed up the doctor. “The details are all in your exit papers, but I needed to go over them with you first. Any questions before we let you go?”

Logan and Veronica shook their heads. They were going to be making a lot of trips to dentists and doctors, but it’s not like anything that the doctor had said was unexpected. In fact, it was really better than they had expected. Dr. Lake headed for the door. He got to it, but turned back around, crossing to stand by the side of Logan’s bed.

“I’m not from Neptune,” Dr. Lake began haltingly, and Veronica and Logan looked at each other.

Um, okay?

“I grew up in Seattle. My dad is chief of surgery at a major hospital. If you knew anything about medicine, you’d know who he was. He is to the medical community what your dad is to everyone else.” The young doctor stared at the wall over Logan’s head. “So all of the trips to emergency rooms that we made when I was growing up, my dad would just chat up the doctors on-call and no one ever questioned the excuses he gave for…whatever was wrong with me. That was when we went, of course. The man was a world-renowned surgeon. A lot of things he just fixed on his own.” Logan and Veronica were silent, transfixed by the unexpected tale.

“The first time he ever said he was proud of me was when I got accepted into medical school. Three years later I told him I was going into trauma medicine and he hit me. I was 25 years old and my father hit me because he thought having his son be a lowly ER doc would be an embarrassment to the family.” He looked directly at Logan for the first time since he had turned away from the door. “That was eight years ago and I haven’t spoken to him since. It took me 25 years, but I finally had enough. He’s never seen his grandson and I can’t imagine that he ever will.” He looked away again. “I wonder sometimes, if even one of those ER doctors had said something, would my life have been different? It’s one of the reasons I went into this field.” His gaze again fell on the boy in the hospital bed.

“Look, Logan, I saw your x-rays. I know this isn’t your first visit to an emergency room and I get why you had your girlfriend tell everyone that you got hurt in a bar fight. I get it—and I’m not going to report anything. Technically there’s nothing to report, right? But someday, you might need someone to testify for you—about what really happened here, about what your x-rays mean—and if that day ever comes, I want you to know that you can call me. Not that you ever will, but the offer is still there.” Dr. Lake took out his card and handed it to Veronica.

Dr. Robert Lake, M.D.

“Maybe if someone had offered something as simple as that…” He shook himself. “But who knows? The past is the past, right? I want you to know, though—the best thing I ever did was marry my wife. Any progress I’ve made in the last eight years is because of her. So—“ and he looked at Veronica, “—I think you’re already in better shape than I was at your age. You guys call me if you need anything, okay?” Veronica and Logan nodded dumbly.

The doctor turned and exited the room.

“Wow,” said Logan.

“Did that really just happen?” asked Veronica.

“I think it did,” said Logan, not even trying to hide his awe.

Any further discussion was curtailed by the sudden arrival of Keith Mars, carrying a breakfast burrito.

“All right, you two! Ready to blow this taco stand?” he called out with his usual gusto.

Logan and Veronica just smiled.

*

It took a good bit of maneuvering to get Logan to the Mars’ apartment and to then make him comfortable. It wasn’t just the doctor’s orders that had them doing their best to keep Logan’s arm flush against his chest—any time his arm moved in the slightest bit, he grimaced in pain. In the end, they ended up moving the hurt teenager at the speed of an anemic snail.

Once they got Logan inside, the couch was out of the question, so Keith gave up his bed to the invalid and took the couch himself. Veronica was willing to give up her room, but Keith quickly established that that simply wasn’t going to happen. At least he said it with a smile.

It was never a consideration to take Logan back to his own home and Aaron was neither contacted nor consulted about his son’s recuperation. Keith and Veronica had long since discussed Logan’s desire to keep his abuse out of the press, where it would surely end up were it to ever be reported to the police.

By the time everything was arranged and ordered, Logan settled as comfortably as was humanly possible and then medicated against the pain resulting from all the jostling, it was dinner time. Keith and Veronica had a subdued meal around the island in the middle of their kitchen, both of them emotionally and physically exhausted from the day’s exertions.

-

Logan didn’t sleep much that night. He was in too much pain to fall asleep, even with the Percocet taking the edge off. On the rare occasions when he did start to nod off, that’s usually when Veronica or Keith came in to make sure that their patient wasn’t sleeping too deeply.

Memories danced in Logan’s brain to offbeat music with no tune, following no pattern and making little sense, and Logan hurt too much to try to make sense of the threads of events gone by. All he could do was sit there while the thoughts and recollections danced around him.

Lying on the floor of his room, he just wanted the pain to go away... All he could picture beyond the stabs of agony and the ceaseless throbbing was Veronica…he was supposed to call her. He had to call her... Where was his phone? He couldn’t move his left arm to get to it. Why not his right arm? Why didn’t he think of that one first? Had he dialed Veronica’s number? He wasn’t sure…but then she was there, crying…

…she couldn’t call the ambulance…no…they couldn’t find him here, not like this, the press would eat it up, no…

He knew hospital smells. He was seven years old the first time...it was the third time he’d been hurt, the first visit to an ER, though… How could his dad do this to him? He hadn’t meant to color on the wall. The surgical needle with the ugly blue thread both terrified and fascinated him…

…he saw it again when he was nine…it wasn’t his arm this time, though, it was on the back of his head.

“Will I have a scar, Doc?”

“Only if you join the military and get an ugly haircut.”

There went his military career.

…he could hear Veronica yelling to him that she was there. So many things hurt…it wasn’t usually this bad…but Veronica was here, so things would be okay, wouldn’t they…

…his father’s foot was coming down on his hand…

“Logan?”

He flinched, making his left shoulder throb and ache anew. The only male around with a deep voice was his father.

“Logan, it’s Keith.”

Come on, Echolls. No one was ever gonna think that Aaron Echolls and Keith Mars sounded alike.

His eyes fluttered open.

“What time is it?” he asked, trying to focus his attention on Veronica’s father. The pull of the past was incredibly strong.

“About two. How are you holding up?”

Logan sighed and looked at the older man’s nightstand on which sat his prescriptions and a glass of water.

“Probably time for another one of those.”

“What hurts the most?”

Logan was momentarily nonplussed. No one ever asked things like that.

“Uh, I guess my shoulder,” he gestured to his strapped-down left arm.

Keith had already gotten a pill out and helped the pain-soaked teenager wash it down with the water.

Logan couldn’t help but wish that he had an Absolut chaser, but he was willing to take a non-abusive father figure in exchange for the alcohol.

“Thanks, Mr. Mars.”

Keith put his hand on Logan’s good shoulder. The three of them had quickly discovered that any time Logan’s left side was jostled, great pain resulted, so his two visitors did their best to stay on the right side of the bed.

“I’m happy to be able to help, Logan. Don’t give it another thought,” and with that, Keith went back to the living room and Logan again slipped into memory.

”Don’t give it another thought.” How was he supposed to do that? A father figure that he wasn’t afraid would hit him? That helped him and expected nothing in return?

And the doctor. He had been right. Logan was never going to call him, but just to have something like that offered… In all of his visits to all of the hospitals, no one had ever done that… Even his teacher… And the doctor understood. He had been through the same thing. Unbelievable…someone actually understood what it was like…

…it had to be his fault, though…Aaron doing this much damage this time…how could it not be?

“GET OUT!”…Aaron’s eyes…he knew that he had gone too far this time…his father knew that he had stepped over the line…

Veronica hadn’t seen the look…she had been so angry…the realization had been there, though…first when he saw how badly his son was injured and then when Veronica had gone all postal on him…

…his dad had gone too far and he knew it…

…the foot was coming down, down, down towards his hand…

Logan was ready to wake up from the nightmare that wouldn’t end.

-

Across the hall, Veronica looked forward to every ring of her alarm. Every time she closed her eyes, the image of Logan crumpled on his bedroom floor planted itself on the movie screen of her mind. The worst, though, came after her 3:00 wake-up visit.

Logan was tired and in pain and it was all that Veronica could do not to break down crying in front of him. She had already cried more in the past 24 hours than she had in the past year, but the events of the previous day had been more deeply terrifying than anything she could have imagined.

When Veronica went back to bed after this visit, her dream was different. This time, it wasn’t Logan’s bloody face alone that stormed through Veronica’s dreamscape. Superimposed over the face of the man she loved was that of the girl she had called best friend for three years. Until her subconscious matched Lilly’s blood-soaked visage to Logan’s, Veronica had been able to ignore the deepest-seated reason for her terror. Her subconscious knew, though, and some things couldn’t be ignored.

Veronica shot up, flinging out of sleep, soaked in sweat with her heart tripping at the speed of a hummingbird. Knowing that Logan was having as much trouble sleeping as she was, Veronica crept out of bed and into her father’s room.

She pulled back the covers and slid between the sheets on Logan’s right side. As Logan’s arm came around her, she thought she heard him whisper her name. She snuggled in closer, carefully sliding her arm over his tightly-taped chest.

For the first time that night, each of them fell into a dreamless, restful sleep.

*

The first visitor showed up shortly before lunch. Keith escorted Wallace into the convalescent’s room. Logan raised an eyebrow at Veronica, lying on the bed next to him.

“What? He called this morning and I thought he might want to join us for lunch.”

“Uh-huh,” Logan said, unconvinced. He turned to Wallace, unable to hide his smile. “Hey, Diddy, how’re you doin’?”

“Better than you,” Wallace deadpanned, and Keith, Logan and Veronica laughed.

“You guys want anything special with lunch?” Keith asked as he headed for the kitchen.

Veronica looked at both of the boys, who shook their heads.

“Thanks, Dad.”

Veronica’s dad smiled and left the room.

Wallace stood at the end of the bed.

“Seriously, Logan, what happened?” he asked, incredulous.

Veronica took a breath, but Logan continued on as if nothing was amiss.

“I was having a drink at a bar, some guy recognized me and starting talking crap about my mom—big shock, right? Turns out he had friends.” Logan gestured towards his many bandages. “Fortunately I don’t remember most of it.”

“Dude, that blows,” observed his friend.

“He’ll be staying out of bars now, won’t he?” Veronica put her arm around Logan and kissed him on the cheek.

“Yes, dear,” he responded with the air of one repeating something for the umpteenth time.

“So what are you two watching?” asked Wallace as he pulled up a chair next to the bed. Logan and Veronica had paused a movie on Keith’s TV when Wallace came in.

Veronica turned to look at Logan, who managed to look embarrassed.

“What?” Wallace looked from one to the other. “Marshall got you two watching porn again?”

Veronica snorted. “Hardly.”

Logan rolled his eyes. “I like it, okay?! What’s the big deal?”

“I wouldn’t know, would I?” Wallace pointed out dryly.

Logan gave Wallace a look. “Say Anything. You know, John Cusack holding the boom box on Ione Skye’s lawn? We’re watching Say Anything.”

“And you recommended this?” Wallace had the beginning of a smile on his face, which he quickly wiped away. “Cool. Did I miss anything?” Their friend settled into the chair and faced the TV.

Veronica wanted to crawl over Logan and give her best friend a big, smooshy hug.

Keith brought the three of them sandwiches and tomato soup and they ate quietly as Diane Cort fell in love with Lloyd Dobler.

After the movie ended, Wallace got up, saying he had to get home to help with Sunday dinner.

“Mom has a thing about it.”

“And Logan needs a nap.”

Her boyfriend, not wanting to admit how sore his shoulder—along with everything else—was, let Veronica’s comment slide with a tired roll of the eyes.

Sure enough, shortly after Wallace left and moments after he took a Percocet, Logan was out cold.

Veronica went into the living room, kissed her sleeping dad on the forehead and went to take a nap of her own.

-

Keith woke up to a knock on the door. Trying to wake himself more fully as he shuffled across the room, he opened the door to Neptune’s strangest pairing: Weevil and Meg Navarro, the latter of whom was carrying a plastic-wrapped plate.

“Eli, Meg,” Keith blinked and stepped back to allow them in.

As the couple crossed the threshold, Meg explained their presence.

“Wallace called and told us what happened. He said that Logan and Veronica might appreciate some visitors.”

Keith checked his watch. Logan had been asleep for about three hours. It was probably a good time to wake everyone up. Inviting the Navarros to have a seat, Veronica’s dad went into his own room to find, once again, his daughter sleeping in Logan’s arms.

Keith sighed as he moved to stand over the slumbering couple. Logan had physical scars, but Veronica’s were just as real. He wished heartily that he could take away both of their pain, but he could no more easily mend his daughter’s wounds than he could repair her boyfriend’s broken bones.

“Logan, Veronica,” he said softly. Neither of them moved and Keith furrowed his brow—Veronica was sleeping through something? Anything? Veronica was the world’s lightest sleeper, which is why Back-up didn’t sleep in her room.

Something to ponder.

He called more loudly. “Logan. Veronica.”

The couple stirred and Logan blinked his eyes.

“Mr. Mars?” he asked sleepily.

“You have visitors.”

Logan gently shook Veronica, asleep in his arms. “Veronica, somebody’s here.”

“Who?” she murmured.

“Eli and Meg,” filled in Keith.

“What time is it?” asked Logan.

Keith checked his watch again. “About 6:30.”

“Okay, send ‘em in,” said Logan, struggling to sit up.

Veronica shot up, fully awake. “Careful!” And she put her hands behind Logan to help him get situated.

Leaving his daughter to help their invalid patient, Keith went into the other room to send in the young married couple.

Weevil was looking decidedly uncomfortable as he and Meg entered the bedroom a few moments later. Clearly, coming over had not been his idea.

The two of them didn’t stay long. Meg delivered the cookies; Weevil looked uncomfortable; well-wishes were exchanged. Saying they didn’t want to tire Logan out, Meg and Weevil were headed for the door when they ran into Mac, who was raising her hand to knock on the entrance.

“Let me guess,” said Keith, who was standing behind Meg, “Wallace called you.”

*

As Veronica went to sleep that night, she reviewed in her mind everything that they had to do the next day. She was skipping school and she and Logan were going to both an orthopedic specialist and an orthodontic surgeon. She was reasonably confident that those two things would wipe out Logan’s strength for the day—and quite possibly her own—and they would sleep the rest of Monday.

In the back of her mind, Veronica hoped that such mundane thoughts as making a list of things to do would stave off nightmares of crumpled bodies, but it was a faint hope.

-

“Logan was pretty banged up,” said Meg as she walked back into the bedroom after washing her face in preparation for bed.

Weevil was already under the covers, waiting for his wife to join him. “Yeah, somebody got him pretty good.”

“You call that good?” Meg asked with a smirk as she climbed into bed.

“Someone’s feeling feisty,” Weevil said as he immediately pulled Meg into his arms and pressed his lips to hers.

Meg rolled them so that she was on top and sat up, straddling her husband.

“You have a problem with feisty?”

“Hell, no,” answered her husband as Meg leaned down to capture his lips in hers.

Feisty was fine and dandy.

-

Wallace was finishing up the supper dishes when Alicia hung up the phone.

“Is everything all right?” he asked his mom.

“Yeah, Keith says Logan’s asleep and he and Veronica will be going to the doctor tomorrow. It sounds like everything’s under control. He also said that Meg, Weevil and Mac all came by.” She gave her son a significant look.

“What?” Wallace affected innocence.

His mom began drying the dishes that her son had washed.

“I’m just wondering why you called your friends to go visit Logan. You had a reason, right?”

Wallace sighed as he picked up a dirty plate.

“The ‘09ers deserted Logan when they found out that he was dating Veronica. I wanted him to know that he still has friends, that’s all.” Wallace tried to sound nonchalant, but it was obvious that this was important to him.

Alicia dried her hands and leaned over, giving her son a kiss on the forehead.

“You’re a good man, Wallace Fennel.”

-

Mac was lying in the dark quiet of her room, staring at the ceiling. When she was in third grade, her best friend had been a girl named Camille Stanley. Camille was the only person Mac had ever met who was more reserved and quiet than she was, and the two of them had bonded over their shared status as outsiders at recess.

Her friendship with Camille had opened up a new world for Mac. Now in possession of a best friend, Mac was introduced to overnight sleepovers, ghost stories told under blankets with only a flashlight to scare away the monsters, inside jokes used to exclude others during class and a host of other things that she had seen before but never experienced.

She had gradually noticed, though, that all of their sleepovers were at the Mackenzie house. No matter how much she asked, Camille always had some reason why they couldn’t stay the night at her friend’s house. And there were other things.

Even in warm weather, Camille invariably wore long sleeves. When other students bragged about their parents and what they did, Camille sat silent. All Mac was able to learn was that the quiet brunette’s parents were still married and she had an older sister who went to the middle school. That was it. Camille never volunteered information about her family. And as time went on, Mac’s friend found more and more reasons to spend the night, until by Christmastime, Camille was spending almost every weekend at the Mackenzies.

Mac had known that something was wrong, but she was only eight, so it had taken her a little while to clue in to what it was. Camille had missed the first three days of school after the Christmas holiday, which Mac found to be weird as Camille had spent most of the vacation at Mac’s house. Mac tried to call her friend repeatedly, but the number was “no longer in service”. Finally, she worked herself up into such a frenzy that her mom agreed to take her to Camille’s house to check on her friend.

Camille answered the door wearing a tattered, dirty tank top, short-shorts and a black eye. It was the first time Mac had ever seen her friend without three-quarter or full-length sleeves and it was instantly apparent why. Camille’s arms were covered in bruises and half-healed cuts and burns.

“Who’s at the door?!” a male voice bellowed, the words not fully enunciated.

Mac could see behind Camille into the Stanley’s living room. The shouter, who Mac was guessing was Mr. Stanley, was sitting on the family couch wearing grungy underwear and a ratty wife-beater.

“Who is it, Camille?!” the unkempt man yelled again. “Don’t make me come over there!”

Camille flinched and looked urgently at Mac.

“You have to go,” her friend whispered intensely, already shutting the door.

“You haven’t been in school. I wanted to make sure you were okay,” she tried to explain as Camille shooed her away.

“I’m fine. You have to go.” The words barely made it out of Camille’s mouth before the door shut in Mac’s face.

That was the last time Mac ever saw her best friend. Mac’s mom had called the police to report suspected abuse, but the house was deserted by the time a social worker got there early the following week. Only eight years old, Mac had been wracked with guilt about letting her very first best-friend-ever down. She desperately tried to figure out what she could have done differently, how she could have helped her friend. As she got older, she came to understand that there was nothing she could have done, but she never fully rid herself of the guilt she felt over Camille’s disappearance.

To help herself over the years, she had learned as much as she could about child abuse: the parents and people who committed it, the children who endured it, the laws that governed it, the signs and a host of other things. She had done it slowly and steadily, avoiding immersing herself in it all at once, telling herself that she just wanted to be aware, to be knowledgeable.

And still she had failed. Again.

She had never picked up on the fact that Logan was a victim of abuse, not until she saw him lying in Keith Mars’ bed, bandaged and bruised. She knew it when he gave her that crap story about a bar fight, when Veronica blinked back tears as she lied for her boyfriend, when Logan winced in pain when his left shoulder was jostled. Mac wasn’t even sure how she knew, but she did.

Aaron Echolls, heroic action star, was an abusive parent. And Logan Echolls, obligatory psychotic jackass, was an abused child.

Mac rolled onto her side and her tears slipped down her face and onto her pillow, wetting it through.

Chapter Text

The next day was a full one. First was the orthopedic specialist, who looked over the MRI pictures and told Logan how lucky he was that nothing had been torn.

“Oh, yeah, I’m feelin’ real lucky,” muttered Logan.

The doctor gave him a typed-out set of instructions that detailed how to rebuild strength in his shoulder over the next week and a half. He also gave them the name of a good physical therapist, should Logan need extra help.

Then came the real fun. The orthodontic surgeon informed them that the blow to Logan’s jaw had effectively killed his left rear bottom molar. This came as a surprise to Logan, who hadn’t experienced much pain in that area, certainly nothing compared to his shoulder, which had turned out to not be that big of a deal.

“Teeth can die?” Veronica asked the dentist, trying to grasp the situation.

“Yes, ma’am,” Dr. Abbott said in his Southern drawl. “It’s like pulling out your hair by the root. Once you do that, the hair stops growing and dies. While your teeth don’t grow, per se, the root still has to be plugged in for it to stay alive. Logan’s molar got uprooted, so to speak, and when that happened, the tooth died.”

“So what now?” Logan sounded resigned. The Southern doctor’s accent and politeness was kind of creeping him out. He had no doubt that the dentist was capable—Logan just wasn’t used to anyone being that…polite.

“We’re going to remove the dead tooth and put in a permanent replacement. You can’t have a gaping hole in the back of your mouth, son.”

“So I’m not going to be toothless.” It was less of a question than a statement.

Dr. Abbott laughed. “No, you’re not gonna be toothless.”

“What’s the catch?” asked Veronica.

The doctor looked at her, apparently surprised.

Veronica gave him a smirk. “There’s always a catch.”

“Well, you know how you said your tooth hasn’t been hurtin’?” The doctor aimed his comment at Logan, who nodded. “It will now.”

“Great. Just great,” muttered Logan.

-

Logan jerked awake when the car stopped.

“Are we home?” he mumbled. The left side of his mouth was still numb from the anesthesia, but it was one of those numbnesses that spoke loudly of the pain to come.

“No. I need to run up to the office for a minute. I’ll be right back. I promise.” Veronica leaned over and kissed her boyfriend’s temple. Logan would have responded, but he had fallen back asleep before Veronica closed the car door.

-

He jerked back awake the next time the car stopped.

“Are we home?”

“Yeah. Hold on. I’m coming around.”

Logan fought to climb up through the fog to full consciousness. Even so, he remembered very little about their walk to her apartment. Seriously, he hadn’t expected dental surgery to wipe him out so hard.

When he finally came to, the sky behind the bedroom curtain was dark and Veronica was in a chair next to the bed working on her laptop.

He started to speak, but only a moan came out.

“Logan?” The laptop disappeared from view and Veronica’s hand was stroking his hair.

“Ow…” was all he was able to communicate.

“Well, at least we know Dr. Abbott’s not a liar.”

Veronica picked up a washcloth out of a bowl of cold water next to the bed. She wrung out the excess water and gently placed the cloth against Logan’s swollen jaw.

Logan waved his right hand in the direction of Veronica’s computer. It was clear that he was changing the subject. He took over holding the washcloth on his face and Veronica picked up her computer. She scooted onto the bed so that Logan could see the screen. She tabbed over to Microsoft Word.

“This,” she pointed to the document, “is a list of all of the women that your father told my father that he had slept with.” She paused for Logan’s reaction, but her boyfriend just rolled his eyes. Hardly surprising. “These names,” she scrolled down, “are the women that the tabloids, gossip columns and celebrity news say that he’s had affairs with.”

Logan waved his hand up and down.

“Yeah, it’s a long list.”

Logan snorted and then looked at Veronica expectantly.

“Ah, the purpose to this list? Well, I’ve been putting together contact information for all of these women. Would you like to watch now as I put my plan into action?” She looked over at her boyfriend. His expression clearly read, That would be a yes. “Good.”

Veronica picked up a cell phone from the night stand. “This,” she held up the phone, “is an untraceable, pre-paid cell phone. That’s key.” Logan continued to watch her, amused.

Veronica looked at her computer and dialed a number.

“Hello, may I speak with Candice Kilmartin?” Pause. “This is Jennifer Sparks with the Department of Health.” Pause. “Yes. Mrs. Kilmartin, I’m sorry to have to inform you that you may have been exposed to a sexually-transmitted disease.” Pause. “I’m afraid so. A recently diagnosed individual listed you as a sexual partner. We’re calling to inform you that you should be tested as soon as possible.” Pause. “No, I’m sorry, the name of the infected individual is strictly confidential.” Pause. “No, I’m sorry. I can’t be more specific as to the nature of the sexually-transmitted disease. That is also considered to be confidential information.” Pause, and then Veronica appeared to be cutting off the person on the other end of the line. “Mrs. Kilmartin, we would like to recommend that you get tested as soon as possible. We wish you a safe and healthy future.” And with that, Veronica snapped the phone shut.

She turned to Logan and smiled. She was actually afraid that Logan would be mad or uncomfortable. While Veronica wasn’t identifying Aaron as the partner in question, the hope was that people would talk and that the common thread—Aaron Echolls, action hero extraordinaire—would be identified, if only by rumor and conjecture, which is what fueled Hollywood, anyway. She held her breath as she waited for Logan’s reaction.

Unable to talk, Logan pantomimed his response, which Veronica translated.

He pointed to himself.

“I.”

He drew a heart over his left breast.

“Love.” Veronica couldn’t help but smile.

He pointed to her.

“You.”

He spread out his good arm wide and moved his left arm the small fraction that he could.

“THIIIIIIS MUCH.” Veronica’s grin threatened to crack her face in half.

Logan’s hand moved up to cup Veronica’s face and he nodded. He also grimaced and pointed to his cheek.

“Well, stop trying to smile, you idiot!” Veronica put the washcloth back up to the side of his face. “I’ve got more phone calls to make!”

*

On Tuesday, Veronica went back to school. The stares and whispers weren’t anything that she wasn’t used to, especially since she was still too focused on getting home to take care of Logan to pay more than passing notice to the attention of Neptune High’s masses.

She did enjoy lunch with her friends, all of whom were genuinely concerned about Logan. Mac, in particular, wanted to know if there was anything she could do to help. Veronica promised to call her if she needed anything.

She got home that afternoon to find that Logan had regained the power of speech—slow speech, but audible communication nonetheless.

“Your dad got a bail jumper,” he told her as she came in and kissed him softly.

“I assume you mean he got a case, not that he already caught him,” snarked Veronica.

“Smart-ass.”

“And here I thought you loved me for my mind. Are you saying that it’s actually because you think my ass is smart?” Veronica ran her lips down the side of her boyfriend’s neck.

“Veronica Mars, are you trying to cheapen my virtue?” asked Logan as he carefully tilted his head to give her the best possible angle for her explorations.

“Are you suggesting you have virtue left to cheapen?” Veronica leaned back as Logan laughed. “This might take a little maneuvering.”

“I’m sure we can figure something out,” Logan assured her, reaching forward to pull her closer to himself.

“Oh, no,” she pushed him back down. “You’re going to have to let me take the lead on this one.”

“Oh, the agony,” Logan lamented with his trademark grin.

“You have no idea.”

-

Veronica was still wrapped around him when Logan woke up. He bent his head to breathe in the smell of her shampoo, one of his favorite scents.

It had been a week of firsts for him. The first time Aaron had ever beaten him that badly. The first time someone outside of his family had dealt with injuries inflicted upon him by his father, much less been the one to take him to the emergency room. And the way he’d been pampered since then? Usually after his wounds were patched up, Logan was left to his own devices. Aaron never let Lynn “baby him”, saying that Logan had to deal with the “consequences of his actions”.

In the Mars home, though, Logan felt…loved. Cared for. How sad was it that that was a first? And then there were the phone calls. Veronica had spent two hours on the phone yesterday, calling almost twenty women to warn them about getting tested for STDs. The way Logan saw it, those women needed the heads-up. He doubted that his father was a stickler for safe sex.

Veronica had told him that she was going to take down his father and she was doing it. His mom had caved. His teacher had used the revelation of his dad’s abuse to her own benefit. His older sister had feigned ignorance. Doctors had looked the other way. All of the people who should have helped him hadn’t. Every resource put in place by biology or society had let him down.

Until Veronica. And Keith. His 17-year-old girlfriend was taking on herself the responsibility of righting the wrongs that had been perpetrated upon him for years. Logan wasn’t sure how to react. Contrary to Veronica’s worry, he felt no need or drive to protect his abuser. Logan was fine with anything that Veronica wanted to do, up to and including sneaking in to light the man’s bed on fire. His reticence came from a fear of a shift in their relationship. This was too much. How could he ever pay Veronica back for bringing down The Great Aaron Echolls? How was he supposed to do that?

Veronica stirred and Logan’s attention moved back to the small blonde lying in his arms.

“Hey, beautiful,” he said by way of greeting.

“Hey, yourself.” She leaned up to kiss him. “That was fun.”

“You can cheapen my virtue any time you want,” he assured her and Veronica laughed.

Logan took as deep of a breath as his ribs would let him. “What you did yesterday—with the calls…” His voice drifted off. He hated…but he had to ask…

Veronica’s blood suddenly felt icy in her veins. “Look, Logan, I—“

“I’m not angry, Veronica! Trust me, I’m not…angry.” He looked down. “How am I—how do I say thank you for something like this? How do I pay you back?”

Veronica’s jaw dropped. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah, I’m serious! There’s no way—I mean, come on, Veronica.”

She stared at the boy she loved with all of her heart. “Logan.” He didn’t look up. “Logan?” she said more insistently, and he raised his eyes to hers. “What would you do? If it was me. What would you do to the person that hurt me like this?”

Logan didn’t hesitate. “I’d kill them.”

“Would you expect anything in return?”

“Of course not, but—“

“There’s no ‘but’, Logan. We’re partners. I love you, you love me, we’re in this together. Aaron hurt you, and I’m going to do worse than kill him. I’m going to take away everything that he thinks is important. And you don’t owe me anything. That’s just how it is.”

The eye contact between them was so intense, Veronica felt like she and Logan were going to merge together and become one person. Then one of them blinked and the moment was gone, but the connection was still there.

“Logan…” Veronica had to ask him something.

“Yeah?” he tenderly moved a piece of hair off of her face.

“I know what I’m going to do next—to Aaron…”

“Yeah?” he prodded her.

“I’m gonna need Mac’s help.” She said it quickly, afraid of his reaction, hating to disturb the peace between them, but knowing that she couldn’t do what needed to be done without talking to Logan first.

“And…you’re going to have to tell her…?” Logan’s question drifted off.

“No!” Veronica reassured him. “No. It’s just…she’s smart. She’ll probably…figure it out. You know, you’re like this, I go ask her to help me hack into your father’s computer…”

Logan didn’t need a roadmap. He could see where she was going.

“I gotcha.” He thought about what Veronica was asking. “This plan of yours—it’ll hurt him?”

“Yeah.”

He looked her in the eye again.

“Badly?”

“Yeah,” she said even more firmly.

“Then do what you have to do, Veronica. I trust you.”

*

Mac answered the knock on the door to find Veronica standing on her doorstep.

“Veronica,” she couldn’t hide her surprise.

“Can I come in?” asked the petite blonde.

“Of course.” Mac stepped back to let her friend in. “Let’s go to my room.”

“Who’s there, Cindy?” Mac’s mom called.

“It’s Veronica! We’re going to my room!” She turned to whisper to Veronica. “Quick, before we get accosted with cookies and juice!”

Laughing, the two of them barricade themselves in Mac’s inner sanctum.

“I need your help,” Veronica began.

“Anything. You know that.”

Veronica took a deep breath. “I have to go over to Logan’s house to pick up some things for him and while I’m there, I want you to log on to Aaron Echolls’ computer and see if there’s anything on it that shouldn’t be there.”

“Like what?”

“Like anything that’ll help me destroy his life and make his existence miserable.”

Mac blinked. “Yeah, I can do that.”

“All right. Can you go right now?”

“Sure. I’ll let my mom know we’re heading out.”

They didn’t discuss anything of universal importance on the drive to the wealthiest neighborhood in town. Veronica shared the user name and password that Logan had given her and when they got to the Echolls mansion she parked in the back near the servants’ entrance.

“If Aaron comes home, he won’t notice my car back here. The servants here might as well be invisible. Come on, I’ll take you up to the office.”

At no point had Mac asked Veronica why Aaron Echolls was soon to have his life ruined. It was pretty clear that her friend had figured out what really happened to Logan long before Veronica showed up on the Mackenzies’ front porch. Veronica was willing to leave it at that.

After she got Mac settled into the “office”, Veronica went to Logan’s room and gathered up some clothes and personal items. Then she began combing the house.

Veronica had insisted Mac use gloves while trawling through Aaron’s computer and she did the same thing herself. As her goal was to find out if anything in the house could get Aaron arrested, it would therefore follow that the police might eventually sweep it for prints. Veronica didn’t want her or Mac’s fingerprints showing up where they didn’t belong.

She was methodical, going through the house room by room. She checked her boyfriend’s room first and it was clean. She and Logan had discussed the possibility of Aaron hiding incriminating material in his son’s room, for no other reason than because he could. True to Logan’s word, there hadn’t even been any porno magazines, and she left his vent alone. Logan was entitled to any few remaining secrets that he might have.

She moved to the various storage closets, but she didn’t have high expectations for those—too much activity on the staff’s part for Aaron to try to hide anything there. She took special care in Aaron’s bedroom. Logan had told her that all of Lynn’s effects had been cleared out a week after his mother’s death, and the room was a little spartan.

Veronica checked all of the nooks and crannies that any room would have. She checked the corners where the walls met the carpet to see if anything was loose.

Nothing.

She checked all of the boxes in the closet, looked for hidden compartments and gave the room as thorough a once-over as she could without leaving any trace of her presence.

And she came up with nothing to show for her efforts.

“Damn it.”

She checked her watch. She had worked quickly and had gotten through everything in about an hour. She went to the office to check on Mac.

“Hey, Mac.”

“Hey, Veronica.”

“Whatcha found?”

Mac leaned back. “Aaron doesn’t know jack about computers, but someone who does installed his software. He has a program that erases all traces of any site that he goes to.”

“So no one can tell where he’s gone on the Internet.”

“Exactly. And he has another program installed that masks his IP address, so no matter where he goes—“

“—no one can tell that it’s him,” Veronica finished the blue-haired genius’s sentence.

“Right again.”

“So what can we do? To find out where he’s going,” pushed Veronica.

“Because if he’s trying this hard to cover his tracks…”

“He has to have something to hide.” Veronica stared at the computer. She wanted to know where the putrid scum that was Aaron Echolls was going in cyberspace. “So. What can you do?”

Before Mac could answer, the office’s dark window lit up with car headlights. Veronica ran over and looked down.

“Aaron’s back,” she said tensely. “Shut down the computer.”

Mac was already on it and the two of them rushed back to Logan’s room. Several minutes passed, though, and there were still no sounds downstairs.

Veronica looked out Logan’s window to check the pool area.

“There are lights on in the pool house.”

“The pool house?” Mac joined her. “Why would he go there?” The answer came to her the minute the words left her mouth. “Oh. Okay, then.”

“At least we know where he’ll be for the next few minutes,” said Veronica disdainfully. “How about we fix his computer and get outta Dodge?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

Mac proceeded to disable the special software on Aaron’s computer while outwardly making it appear as though it was working. According to the computer wizard, it wasn’t hard to do.

“All we have to do is come back in a few days and we should have a pretty good picture of what he’s doing.”

“And I’ll check out the pool house,” concluded Veronica.

-

“I can’t thank you enough, Mac.”

Veronica had just pulled up to the curb in front of Mac’s house.

Mac looked at her hands. “I know why he doesn’t want it to go public. But Aaron should still have to pay.” She didn’t elaborate and she didn’t have to. “I’m with you every step of the way.”

Veronica leaned over and gave her friend a hug.

“Thank you,” her voice was muffled against Mac’s blue hair.

“Call me,” said Mac as she got out of the car.

Veronica nodded and drove off into the night.

-

“What did I tell you? No Playboys.”

“It’s because you have me, isn’t it?” Veronica seductively started to unbutton her shirt, to the delight of the young man lounging on her living room sofa.

“Absolutely.”

Veronica stopped and Logan shook his head as if to clear away the fog in his brain.

“Um, Veronica?”

“I have to get into that pool house.”

Logan stared at the blonde ball of energy standing in front of him.

“Only if I come with you.”

“Logan—“ Veronica immediately started to protest.

“I’ve been a model patient.”

Veronica couldn’t argue with that. No man was supposed to be that good when he was sick.

“But I’m perfectly capable of moving around now. I was worried sick the entire time you were gone. My father has a temper, Veronica. You know that. What if he had caught you and Mac? You told him off on Saturday, remember?” Logan shook his head. “I’m sorry. I can’t handle you going back there alone. Besides, it’ll look better if I go with you. I don’t have to stay. We can just say that we have to pick up some more stuff and then leave.”

The light bulb turned on over Veronica’s head. Logan had been a good patient because he didn’t want to go home. As long as he was doing everything they told him to, Veronica and Keith were less likely to send him back to his cold, loveless mansion. But he was worried enough about Veronica going back there alone to risk just such exile.

Veronica nodded jerkily. She had to set his mind at ease, though.

“You know you can stay here as long as you like, right?”

Logan put out his arms and pulled her to him. He didn’t have full mobility in his left arm yet, but he was doing the exercises the doctor had given him, and it was getting better. He buried his face in her chest and Veronica snaked her fingers through his hair.

“I love you, Logan Echolls.”

“I love you back, Veronica Mars.”

*

They weren’t able to go to the house on Wednesday because Logan had to make an emergency trip back to the dentist. He woke up in the middle of the night in terrible pain. Fortunately Keith had gotten back from St. Louis not long before and was still awake when Logan awoke in a cold sweat, holding his jaw in agony.

The three of them rushed back to the emergency room, where they were told that an air pocket had formed around Logan’s new tooth. The ER doctor—a woman, not Dr. Lake—gave him some topical medicine for the pain and sent them home with orders to get to Dr. Abbott’s office the minute he opened his doors.

They did so and the dentist, amidst sincerest condolences and apologies, inserted a needle to withdraw the air from the infected area and used another needle to medicate the tooth.

“When an air pocket develops, the raw nerves are exposed, which is what hurts so much. It has to be fixed as quickly as possible or it’ll get infected,” Dr. Abbott explained in his slow drawl as he worked his magic on Logan’s mouth. “It’s not necessarily a common occurrence, but it’s not uncommon, either. There you go—all better.” The dentist put down the needle. “That nasty-tasting stuff the ER doc gave you is actually the best thing to put on it. I’ll give you a prescription for some extra pain killers just in case, though.” He turned his attention to Veronica. “All right, little lady, I’m gonna to leave it to you to make sure that Logan here doesn’t talk today. We need to give his mouth time to heal.”

“Yes, sir,” said Veronica. One automatically felt it appropriate to use the word “sir” when addressing Dr. Abbott. “Can he eat anything?”

“Broth only,” replied the dentist with a stern glance at Logan. “He should be ready to go back on simple solids tomorrow.”

Logan looked put-out.

“Don’t worry, Dr. Abbott. I’ll make sure he behaves himself,” Veronica assured the dentist sternly, noting the less-than-pleased look on her boyfriend’s face.

“We both will,” added Keith, who had come in from the lobby area where he had been waiting for his daughter and his new ward.

After they got Logan home, everyone went to bed, having been awake since three in the morning. Logan had been in too much pain to sleep after they got back from the ER and Keith and Veronica had been too concerned to leave him alone.

Veronica had text messaged their friends from the dentist’s office, and after she woke up that afternoon, she texted them again to let them know that everything was okay. She and Keith spent the afternoon and evening fussing over Logan and all three of them slept hard that evening.

Thursday dawned bright and sunny. Keith went back to work, but Veronica didn’t want to leave Logan alone, so she stayed home.

By that afternoon, Logan claimed to be fine and started pushing for the two of them to head over to his house, Veronica agreeing mainly because she was so desperate to search the pool house.

The house was empty except for servants when they got there, Veronica once again parking in the back.

“He’s probably off schmoozing his agent,” Logan muttered.

It didn’t take but a minute to find what they were looking for in the pool house. The entertainment center was locked, but Veronica picked it in under a minute, and hidden behind what was clearly a false panel was a stack of video tapes, all thoughtfully labeled with names and dates.

Veronica gasped.

“What?” Logan’s head whipped around.

Veronica pulled out a tape and showed it to him. It was labeled “Logan & Veronica” and bore the date of Lynn’s funeral.

Neither Logan nor Veronica seemed able to speak.

Logan made a strangled noise, pulling Veronica’s attention away from the tape in her hand to the stack in front of them. She followed Logan’s gaze to a trio of tapes with Lilly’s name on them. They were dated shortly before the vivacious girl’s untimely death.

“That’s statutory rape,” was the only thing Veronica could think to say.

“So’s this one,” Logan said bitterly, pulling out a tape from the previous year labeled “Madison”. “She would have been fifteen.”

“We’ve got him,” said Veronica.

-

Four hours later, the FBI descended on Aaron Echolls’ palatial estate in Neptune, California, confiscating dozens of illegally-made sex tapes, including several that featured underage girls. They also found evidence on his laptop that in the previous 48 hours, the action star had visited several porn sites devoted to teenage girls.

They arrested Logan’s father in the middle of a Hollywood power meeting, charging him with statutory rape, child pornography, and a host of other charges related to his videotaping fetish and penchant for young teenage girls.

The press had a field day.

“AARON ECHOLLS AND HIS POOL HOUSE OF LOVE”

“AARON ECHOLLS’ DEN OF INIQUITY”

“FAME TODAY: HOW FAR WILL IT GO?”

“ACTION STAR CHARGED AS PEDOPHILE”

Regardless of the final outcome, Aaron’s life as he had known it was over.

*

Duncan was listening to Logan and Veronica watch the news. Aaron was a bad guy, Duncan would give them that. But since this whole thing with Logan’s dad had started, Logan and Veronica hadn’t talked about Duncan once, and the troubled young man was not okay with that. He liked it when Logan and Veronica were focused on him, not some two-bit Hollywood action hero. Pedophile or not.

They had forgotten all about him, and that left Duncan feeling cold and empty.

*

“Aaron Echolls was arrested yesterday in Los Angeles on charges of statutory rape, child pornography—“

Veronica turned off the TV and burrowed into Logan’s side.

“I’m so sorry, Logan.” She wasn’t referring to his father being arrested.

“Me, too.” Neither was he.

The tape of the two of them was sitting on the coffee table. They hadn’t been able to watch it, but they had taken it with them so it wouldn’t be found by the FBI.

Without warning, Veronica got up and went into the kitchen.

“What?” asked Logan.

She didn’t answer, pulling a meat tenderizer out of a drawer. Logan watched as Veronica put the video tape on the carpet and knelt in front of it. She gestured for him to join her.

Logan got off to couch to kneel next to his girlfriend. He wrapped his hand around hers and together the two of them smashed the tape into miniscule pieces.

*

They were asleep on the couch when there was a knock on the door. Veronica, as per usual when she was sleeping with Logan, didn’t hear it. Logan gently laid her down and got up to answer the knock.

At the sight of the person on the other side, Logan turned around.

“Veronica,” he called. “Veronica!” he called more loudly when she didn’t stir.

The blonde on the couch opened her eyes sleepily.

“Your mom is here.”

Chapter Text

Veronica was cooking dinner with her mother in the kitchen and Logan was flat on his back in Veronica’s bed listening to them through the wall. He couldn’t remember the last time Veronica had been this happy, this—light. Had it been before Lilly died? Homecoming. That last one when the four of them had been together. Today’s Veronica reminded him of that Veronica.

Too bad it was temporary. Logan sighed and put an arm over his eyes.

She was so observant; Veronica usually saw everything. But Logan had a lifetime of watching an alcoholic, and all Veronica saw was her long-lost and deeply-missed mother.

Logan’s eyes, on the other hand, saw the twitch in Lianne’s fingers when she picked up her “water” bottle. His memory felt her facial features ever-so-subtly relax when she took a measured sip. His bruised soul saw the longing in her eyes when the bottle was on the other side of the room.

He couldn’t tell Veronica. She was too aware, too smart, to miss it for long, mother or not. And Logan couldn’t bring himself to put that weight back on Veronica’s shoulders, at least not right away. He loved his girlfriend too much to deny her a few days of happiness. Veronica needed to build some good memories while she could.

He turned his mind to other things, like how so far he had been able to evade telling Veronica what had happened the night he had ended up in the hospital. Fate kept intervening to spare him—often painfully, but still. Logan had made it a week without having to come clean to his curious, investigative, pushy girlfriend. That was undoubtedly a record. But he knew Veronica well enough to know that she needed to know, to understand, what could have brought Aaron to beat him so badly.

He had been so hurt…and there had been the initial recovery and doctors visits and dentist visits and STD phone calls and naughty computers and even naughtier video tapes…and every time Veronica got that look on her face—that look—the I’m-about-to-ask-you-something-you-don’t-want-to-tell-me look, something else had always popped up. Like her mother. And Logan had been spared again. He had a sneaking feeling, though, that his time was about to run out.

What was he supposed to say? That the worst beating of his life was his own fault? Yeah, yeah, he knew that his father shouldn’t have hit him, it was wrong for anyone to hit their child. But there were rules. There were rules, and Logan had broken them. The fact, pure and simple, of that night, was that the severity of his beating had been his own fault.

“Are you still lying down?” Veronica asked cheerily as she stepped inside the room, pulling him from his morose recriminations.

“Flat on my back as ordered, Miss Mars,” he snarked. “Are you going to climb on top now to reward me?”

Veronica was looking for something on her desk. “No bouncing around, remember? If I didn’t know you better, maybe I’d believe that any kind of playing around wouldn’t involve movement,” she pulled out a stack of pictures and turned to look at her boyfriend, “but after a year and a half, I don’t believe it for a minute.”

Logan put his hand to his heart as Veronica leaned down to kiss him.

“I’m wounded,” he smiled against her lips.

“I told Mom about Romania,” she waved the pictures. “I’ll bring dinner soon, okay?”

Logan smiled at her, knowing he wasn’t going to get anywhere. He watched as she left, trying to imprint the picture of her looking so happy onto his psyche. He wanted to be able to remember it when it was gone.

*

Lianne had left that morning to pick up some things she had stored at a friend’s house in Barstow, and Keith had gone into the office to work on some invoicing. Logan figured the guy just needed some space. Not everyone in the Mars family was happy about Lianne’s return.

Veronica was sitting on the floor next to Logan, holding his right hand as it dangled over the edge of the bed on which he was still laying.

“I can’t believe my mom is home.”

“Yeah,” Logan tried not to dampen her enthusiasm.

“Hey, did you remember that tonight was supposed to be Celeste Kane’s big party for the governor?” Any loss of the Kanes was a win for the Marses.

“Really?” Logan asked and then turned his head as a thought occurred to him. “Wait a minute. I think I heard about that. The Terminator here in Neptune and everything.”

“Yeah,” Veronica said, lazily stroking Logan’s hand. “She cancelled it. Said it was in bad taste while Duncan’s situation was still up in the air.”

Logan snorted and there was a lull in the conversation until Veronica asked, “How’s your chest?”

Logan sighed.

Thursday night had been very strange with four people and three beds. In the end, Keith had made the final call on the arrangements—Veronica in her own bed, Lianne on the couch, and Logan and Keith in Keith’s bed together.

That hadn’t been awkward at all. Lying in the bed that he and his girlfriend had recently had sex in with the father of said girlfriend. There was an experience that Logan was in a big hurry to repeat. Not.

At about 3 a.m., Logan woke up with excruciating pain in his chest. Keith had woken up along with him and insisted that they take him to the hospital.

The doctor at the ER—a woman, not Dr. Lake—had taken an x-ray and determined that one of Logan’s ribs was rubbing against his lung sac, causing an inflammation. All of the non-medical personnel present had struggled mightily not to laugh at the fact that Logan’s “lung sac” was inflamed, but the doctor hadn’t batted an eyelash. She gave the miserable young man some anti-inflammatories and ordered Logan to stay flat on his back for at least 48 hours in order to get the swelling down. She also told them that for the next week, Logan had to tape his chest up very carefully whenever he went out and that overall, he needed to move slowly and avoid unnecessary movement.

Which is why he had been lying flat on Veronica’s bed all weekend. Logan’s chest couldn’t take the constant movement of sharing a bed with someone else, so they had rearranged the sleeping accommodations (to Logan’s great relief) and Veronica had bunked down on Keith’s bed with her mother and Keith had taken the couch.

Sharing a room gave Veronica some time to reconnect with her mom, but the longer Lianne stayed, the more uncomfortable she seemed. All in all, Logan had the feeling that the woman wasn’t quite sure what to think of what her family had become in her absence.

When her mother walked out on her family, Veronica’s life had been in shambles. Lianne’s daughter had been a lost little girl, and now she had returned to find a daughter possessed of an inner strength. Veronica had found herself, had learned how to carve out a place for herself in the world, and she had done it without her mother. As far as what she thought of Logan—well, it was quite clear that he was a big part of who Veronica had become; therefore, Logan was an integral part of what Lianne was struggling to comprehend.

It had been an interesting weekend.

“Logan, is your chest okay?” repeated Veronica, reminding Logan that there had been a question in there somewhere.

“Yeah, sorry. It’s better, I guess.”

Veronica continued to stroke Logan’s hand, still draped over her shoulder. “So you’ll be back at school on what—Wednesday?”

Logan’s arm stilled under her touch.

“I’m going back tomorrow,” he said.

Veronica turned around to kneel by the bed.

“Logan, come on! Seriously, I know we’ve teased about your inflamed lung sac—“ they couldn’t help it, they smiled—“but this isn’t a joke. You could puncture a lung if you’re not careful.” Her tone was full of worry and concern.

Logan laced his fingers back through hers, his eyes staring at the ceiling. “I have to go back, Veronica. If I don’t, everyone will think it has to do with my father’s arrest. I have to be there tomorrow or I’ll never be able to go back.”

Hearing the logic in his words, Veronica sank onto the floor, pulling his arm back over her shoulder. Logan was right. If he didn’t show up to Neptune High School on Monday, it would be seen as a sign of weakness. And the vultures at Neptune preyed on the weak.

Veronica tried to change the subject.

“Aaron’s out on bail.”

Logan smiled. “One million dollars, house arrest and an ankle bracelet. You know, saying that just doesn’t get old.”

Veronica laughed. “What happened that night?”

Logan felt like he had been slammed into a brick wall. He literally lost his breath.

“I’m sorry!” Veronica stumbled over her words. “I—I didn’t mean for it come out like that, I swear. Forget that I asked. Really—“

“No, it’s all right. I knew—“ Logan took a deep breath and gently pressed his free hand to his bandages as something in his chest moved painfully. “I knew you would ask, and it’s okay. You’ve earned an explanation.”

“I’m sorry, Logan, it’s just—it’s never—he never—“

“Yeah.” Logan closed his eyes, reliving that night yet again.

-

He had driven home from the marina wrapped in a big, fluffy cloud of happy. It had been the perfect day, one of the best he had ever had.

He saw his dad’s car in the driveway when he pulled in, but it didn’t register all that fully. Aaron had been going back and forth to L.A. over the past few weeks. The whole “I’m a family man, not an actor” thing had lasted exactly as long as Logan had expected it to last, which is to say, long enough for Aaron to get bored and attention-hungry.

The living room was dark when he entered, but he sensed that someone was there. That was when Logan knew that he was in trouble. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. The only time Aaron Echolls ever waited for his son to walk in the door was when Logan had done something wrong.

“I went to the marina today.”

The hairs on Logan’s arms joined those on the back of his neck and a shiver of fear ran down his spine.

“I was going to take Harvey out for a ride, but guess what? My boat wasn’t there.”

“I tried to get a hold of you, but you didn’t answer—“

Aaron cut off Logan’s explanation. “I looked like an idiot.” He stood up to face his son.

At that moment, something that Veronica had said to him flashed through Logan’s mind. You deserved to be grounded or have your car taken away.

Couldn’t they work this out like a normal family? Did his father have to beat him?

Aaron moved to slap Logan, who blocked the shot.

Time stood still.

There were rules. Take your punishment like a man. Accept the consequences of your actions. Logan knew these rules. He knew how to survive his father’s brand of punishment. And he knew as soon as he put his arm up that he had broken the rules and that now…now all bets were off.

Already defeated, despite having just stood up to his father for the first time in his life, Logan turned to go to his room. Aaron grabbed his left arm so hard that Logan felt his shoulder pop out of its socket. Not a word had passed between them.

Logan looked his father in the eye as Aaron’s viselike grip choked off the flow of blood to his elbow. Aaron slapped his son across the face with such force that Logan, already off-balance because of the pain in his left shoulder, fell against the coffee table, knocking his left temple sharply against the corner.

That’s gonna leave a mark, Logan thought through a haze of pain.

Aaron still hadn’t said anything. This wasn’t good. His father liked to pontificate. Silence was bad.

Logan tried to get up, feeling a burning need to get to his room. He had to get his room. If he could get there, everything would be okay. His head was swimming.

He managed to get up and Aaron shoved him, sending Logan reeling down the hallway in the direction of his room. His momentum was stopped by the wall. Fortunately his right side banged against it and not his left.

Logan desperately tried to feel his way to his door. He was almost there when Aaron grabbed him from behind—again by the left arm—and dropped a right hook that felt like a sledgehammer against his son’s jaw. The force of the blow sent Logan stumbling through his bedroom door. He staggered against the end of his bed and fell on the floor, finally crying out as both of his arms instinctively tried to stop his fall.

As he lay on the floor, left arm to his chest, right arm sprawled out at an angle to stabilize him, Logan tried to catch his breath.

He saw his father’s foot coming down, down, down. Aaron’s hiking boot—what a joke, his father had never hiked a day in his life—stomped on the two right fingers of his son’s outstretched hand. With barely a breath in-between, Logan felt the same heavy-tred boot connect with his ribs and he felt, rather than heard, something crack.

He heard his father’s intake of breath and knew that Aaron was finally trying to get himself under control. Did that mean it would end? It seemed too much to hope for. It wasn’t until he heard his bedroom door slam that Logan let out a gasp of relief.

Veronica…he needed Veronica…

And then magically she was there…

-

Veronica was curled around Logan’s arm, her body wrapped around it as she leaned against the bed. Logan didn’t have to see her face to know that she was crying.

He didn’t want her pity. He didn’t want her telling him that it wasn’t his fault. He knew the rules. He knew them and he had broken them. Yes, his father had broken them, too. He had gone too far, but still. Logan didn’t want Veronica telling him why what Aaron had done was wrong.

She didn’t, though. Veronica didn’t offer up any platitudes, she didn’t tell him it was going to be okay. Breaking the trend of the last two days, his girlfriend crawled up into bed with him. Logan scooted over, making room for her on top of the covers. Doing so wasn’t the best feeling in the world, but he was so grateful to have her next to him, he didn’t care.

Veronica settled into the crook of his good shoulder and reached her hand up to cradle his face.

Logan reached down to press his face to the top of her head.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” she whispered.

Her hand dropped to clutch the front of his shirt.

“Don’t ever leave me,” her voice was rough, as though it were being dragged over sandpaper.

“Never.”

When Keith found them asleep on top of the covers, he put a light blanket over them, but left them where they there. Logan was hardly in any physical condition to get in trouble, and Keith couldn’t bear to break them up. Someone in the house deserved to be with the person they loved.

Logan and Veronica slept secure in each other’s arms, and in doing so, almost chased away each other’s nightmares.

*

Weevil turned off the TV, on which the news had been detailing the status of Aaron Echolls’ arrest, when Meg came into the bedroom after putting the kids down.

“Can you believe they let that letch out on bail? If that was a Mexican, he’d be in general-pop right now,” he pointed out as he watched his wife get all of her things out for the next day.

It was amazing to him that when women said it was time to go to bed, it meant that you still had about half an hour to do whatever. When he said it was time for bed, he meant it. Not so with his wife and grandmother.

Meg opened their closet and pulled out a simple sleeveless dress made of some sort of stretchy material. Weevil raised his eyebrows, curious. The dress was pretty and all, but it emphasized Meg’s growing tummy. Weevil liked it, of course, as he and his wife had discovered that the more pregnant-looking Meg became, the more turned-on he became. But for school?

“Well, you know I’ll like it.” Meg grinned at her husband’s suggestive tone. “But won’t that let everyone know that we’re in the family way? I thought we were playing it low-key.”

Meg shrugged. “Yeah, but—“ she waved at the now-dark television, “—I think that Logan might appreciate having some attention pointed somewhere else.” She took off her comfy t-shirt and slipped the dress on. She looked over at Weevil, whose pulse started to race at the sight of Meg’s pregnancy outlined in the light blue fabric.

It was a thing. Who knew?

Meg looked in the mirror and ran her hands over her tummy. “Wouldn’t you think I’d be bigger at four and a half months?” She looked coyly over her shoulder. She knew perfectly well what she was doing to her husband.

“If you want to be able to wear that tomorrow, you better take it off,” growled Weevil as he beckoned her to come to bed.

“Why, Eli Navarro, are you suggesting that I get naked in front of you?” Meg asked in mock horror.

“As often as possible, woman,” he ground out.

Teasing him, Meg stood in front of the mirror and turned sideways, meaning that she was now in profile to Weevil.

“Do you think this makes me look fat?” she pretended to pout.

Weevil was ready to kill her. The room wasn’t very big, so he reached over and pulled his wife into his lap, where she sprawled inelegantly across his chest.

“Is that a no? Or just an it-doesn’t-matter-because-I-think-you’re-hot?” Meg asked with a wicked smile.

Weevil’s response was to roll himself over his wife and begin kissing her hungrily.

Question answered.

*

Veronica woke early on Monday morning, but she didn’t get immediately out of bed. Still snuggled up to Logan, the anger and frustration that she felt over Aaron’s evil treatment of his son swirled around her brain, bumping and scraping like a cat caught in a cage.

She had already done everything to Aaron that she could. She had taken him down; she had ruined his career. Yet here she was, mad about it all over again. She needed to focus her energy, her resources, on something productive. She needed an outlet for her anger.

Duncan.

Neither Veronica nor Logan had given much thought to their stalker in the past week. In a way, they had unwittingly been served a reality check. What was really important? Abusive parents or whacko ex-friends? No contest. But Veronica didn’t fool herself. The situation with Duncan could easily become critical, especially given the troubled young man’s erratic and unpredictable behavior.

Therefore, now was obviously the time to take some action. It was time to call an end to this whole Duncan-stalking thing. Until now, Veronica had been paralyzed with indecision about how to handle Duncan, not a position that she was in the least bit used to. Apparently all she had needed was some motivation.

Because now she knew exactly what to do.

*

Mac had an impressive list of accomplishments, not that many people knew it. When it came time to apply to colleges, Cynthia Mackenzie’s application was going to be sitting on top. Top five in her class (high enough to be worthy of note, low enough to avoid speaking at graduation), awards from various impressive-sounding organizations (mostly for computer projects of one sort or the other), teacher and administrator accolades (noting both the experiential—she did very well on her projects, and the practical—she saved the school’s computer system from the Evil Overlord virus). The list went on.

Yeah, Mac’s resume would kick ass, but her proudest achievement would never hit the pages of a college application. In fact, no one but Veronica and Logan knew anything about it. As Mac watched Logan completely manipulate the politics of Neptune High School to his advantage, she considered the greatest accomplishment in her 17 years to be the part she had played in bringing a child abuser to his knees.

Mac had been a witness in the hallway the last time Logan returned to school after his family’s dirty laundry was aired in public. She had seen Logan lose control and as she had searched the Internet ceaselessly over the past few days, she had been terrified about there being a repeat performance on Monday. Turns out she needn’t have worried.

Monday morning dawned and Logan arrived at school with Veronica. Due to the Technicolor bruising on the hot brunette’s face and hand, the splint on the broken fingers of his right hand, the left arm in a sling, and his slow walk (due to reported broken ribs), the lanky, former 09er king would have been the focus of scrutiny regardless of his father’s arrest. When that was added, though…well, it was one of those days where classes might as well have been suspended entirely.

Logan played it beautifully. He made it clear in a voice that could easily be overheard to just the right people at just the right times that his injuries had been sustained protecting his mother’s good name and that his father wouldn’t have earned a broken fingernail, much less two fingers’ bones.

Then, shortly after some 09er girls were overheard ragging on the “Echolls men”, Logan was overheard discussing the fact that more than one 09er female could be seen on the already-infamous tapes found in Aaron’s private porn collection. Nothing further was heard from the vindictive rich girls.

Logan continued to show up outside each of Veronica’s classes, ready to walk her to her next class. He appeared completely at ease with himself, despite the rampant rumors and whispers. And that aloofness only served to increase his mystique. Exponentially, in fact.

Mac believed, and felt no need whatsoever to let anyone know, that she had been a part of giving Logan his self-confidence back. She didn’t need to point it out to Veronica, and she wouldn’t dream of saying anything to Logan. But Mac knew what Aaron being arrested had done for her friend, and she had been a part of that.

Put that on a college application.

-

Meg’s plan worked perfectly. Once Logan had manipulated everyone into behaving how he wanted, the Navarros’ impending parenthood quickly became more interesting than the Echolls family drama.

Veronica could only laugh at the snippets of conversation she heard as she walked out to her car to meet Logan that afternoon.

— “Oh, yeah, that’s totally how he got her to marry him!”

— “How far along did you hear she is?”

— “You knock a girl like that up, you have to marry her.”

— “That is gonna be one good-looking baby.”

-

Veronica was in an awesome mood by the time she and Logan got home. Logan had more than survived his first day back; he had triumphed over it. Her mom was home. She had a plan to get rid of Duncan. Life was good.

Logan was too tired and sore to do anything but head straight to bed, so Veronica got him settled and then went to the kitchen to get him some water to wash down his pain medication. She grabbed her mother’s full water bottle out of the refrigerator and poured some of it into a glass before pouring a second one for herself.

As she headed back to her bedroom, Veronica took a sip of her water and spat it back out. Both glasses slipped from her hands, bouncing on the carpet where they spilled their contents.

Without knowing how she had gotten there, Veronica found herself standing at the side of Logan’s sickbed.

“You knew, didn’t you?” she heard the words issue from her mouth.

Logan didn’t ask what had happened. “You were so happy. I couldn’t take that away from you.” He dry-mouthed the pills that he was holding and extended his arm for Veronica to join him on the bed.

“I’ll make your ribs hurt,” she said absently, though not really seeing anything around her.

Logan ignored her weak protest and pulled Veronica down to lie beside him.

Unbidden, Veronica’s mind went back to the day that Celeste threw her out of her son’s hospital room following Duncan’s suicide attempt. No one had been able to comfort her until Logan had gotten there. From then until now, he had been there for her. Logan and her father, that’s all she had. Not even her mom. Logan and Keith.

It was okay that they were all she had. They were all she needed.

-

When Lianne got home that evening, it was to find her bags packed in the front room. She couldn’t even pretend to be surprised. In truth, she was more than a little relieved. There was no longer a place for her in Keith and Veronica’s lives.

Veronica appeared in the hallway, Logan flanking her back.

Tears ran down her cheeks as Veronica got out what she had to say. “We bet on you, Mom, and we lost. It’s time for you to go now.”

“I’m so sorry—“ Lianne struggled to find the right thing, the words that would tell her daughter how genuine her intentions had been.

“Just go, Mom.” Veronica couldn’t take it anymore and fled to her room. Lianne could hear her sobs through the door.

She and Logan made brief eye contact. Tears sprang to Lianne’s eyes. This boy who loved her daughter, he understood. He would take care of her little girl. And Keith—he would always be there. Veronica wouldn’t be alone.

Unable to look into Logan’s eyes any longer, Lianne picked up her things, trying to convince herself as she walked out the door that her absence wouldn’t leave a hole in her daughter’s life, not really.

It didn’t work, but Lianne still shut the door behind herself.

*

Logan woke himself up around 2:30 that morning. He had found that if he got up for a little while during the night and moved around, he wasn’t as sore in the mornings. Resting over the weekend had done his ribs the good the doctor intended, but Monday had set him back a couple of notches.

He opened his eyes to the light of a laptop.

“Veronica?” he asked groggily as he tried to rub the sleep from his eyes.

The dark shadow backlit by the laptop turned to look at him.

“Logan? What are you doing up?”

The boy on the bed sat up slowly.

“Stretching so it doesn’t hurt so much in the morning. What are you doing up?”

“Studying the layout of downtown Neptune.”

Logan knew that tone of voice. “And you had to do this at two in the morning?”

“Couldn’t sleep.”

Logan swung around to sit on the edge of the bed, holding his side as he did so.

“What’s going on, Veronica?”

The shadow didn’t answer.

“Baby, come on,” Logan said softly.

Two o’clock in the morning had its own rhythms.

Veronica took a deep breath.

“I’m tired of being a victim. I won’t let him watch us anymore.”

Logan stood up and moved to pull Veronica into his arms.

“Getting rid of Duncan won’t make you miss your mom any less,” he said softly.

“I have to take control of something, Logan…I have to.”

“I know that, too, baby.”

*

Veronica was awakened by the tantalizing aroma of bacon. She had told her father about Lianne the previous evening. Saying little, her father had insisted that Veronica sleep in his bed and he had taken the couch. Now it smelled like Keith was using breakfast to cheer up his little girl. Yeah, Veronica was cool with that.

As Keith and Veronica were finishing up their bacon and eggs, Logan shuffled slowly into the kitchen.

“Morning,” he said groggily. “Why didn’t you get me up?”

“Because I don’t want you to go to school today. Don’t worry. I saved you some bacon.” His girlfriend flashed a big smile. “Hey, that’s a big sacrifice for me.”

“You don’t have to worry. I’m not going anywhere. Everyone at school saw me yesterday. I made my point.”

“Good,” said Keith as he gathered up the breakfast dishes. “You need to rest those ribs some more.”

Logan rolled his eyes, but he wasn’t copping an attitude. The smile he was trying to hide proved that Logan didn’t mind having an adult care about his welfare.

Veronica pulled out a chair for her boyfriend.

“I’m not an invalid,” he told her as he carefully sat down.

“Uh-huh,” she kissed his forehead and then looked up at her dad. “I have some errands to run after school, so I’ll be into the office a little late. Will that be a problem?”

Keith was gathering up his things to head out. “Take your time, honey. Husbands’ll still be cheating on their wives when you get there.”

“See you later,” called Logan as Veronica and Keith headed for the door. Behind her father’s back, Veronica blew her boyfriend a kiss.

-

After she pulled out of the Neptune High parking lot, Veronica headed for the small city’s downtown area. She stopped by the bank and the post office before picking up a mocha latte at the Starbucks rip-off, Java the Hut.

When she walked into Mars Investigations, Logan was waiting for her on the couch.

“Logan! What are you doing out of bed?!”

“I was bored,” he answered her cry, flashing her his trademark grin.

“Come with me,” she said icily, opening the door to her dad’s office.

She closed the door behind her boyfriend and moved the piece of plywood in front of it. Ignoring Keith’s raised eyebrows, Veronica turned to Logan eagerly.

“Did you get it?” She was so excited she couldn’t stand still, almost bouncing on the balls of her feet.

“Perfectly. Like you had any doubts!” Logan exulted, his grin so wide that his fading bruises stretched from one side of his face to the other.

“I’m afraid to ask,” Keith remarked as he sat back and waited for the two young people to share their accomplishment with him.

Logan handed Veronica a digital camera and the fiery blonde ran around the desk to hook up the device to her father’s computer. As she did so, she explained.

“So the bounty on Duncan says that his parents will pay $50,000 for either his body or proof of life, right?” Keith nodded, suspicious. “Yeah, well, Duncan follows us everywhere, so last night I went online and pulled up pictures of downtown Neptune. Did you know that if you want to see into the First Bank of Neptune or the post office, the best place to stand is the entrance to the California Credit Union?”

Keith couldn’t contain his smile as his daughter pulled up the pictures on his computer.

“And you might remember, being such an observant investigator, that right above the entrance to the California Credit Union is a sign that—“

“Shows the date and time,” Keith couldn’t restrain himself.

“Wouldja look at that?” Logan said behind both of them. The digital image that filled the computer screen was of Duncan, standing under a sign that clearly showed a date and time not an hour past. “Am I good or what?” Veronica shot him a look. “At following your directions, honey,” he amended, and his girlfriend smiled as she returned to the computer screen.

There were several more pictures, one of which captured Duncan standing next to a newspaper stand boldly displaying the day’s headlines.

Keith pushed back from the desk. “I think we need to pay a visit to Jake Kane’s lawyer. What do you say?”

“I need to do one thing first,” Veronica said, unplugging the camera.

She walked to the door and moved the board. Keith and Logan appeared in the opening behind her as Veronica stood in the middle of the front office. The two men exchanged confused glances.

“Hi, Duncan,” Veronica said cheerfully. “I wanted to let you know that we’re on our way to see your parents’ attorney with proof that you’re alive. Fifty thousand dollars will cover a lot of tuition. Have fun doing whatever it is you spend your time doing—while you can, anyway, since I’m betting that within a few hours Clarence Weidman will be all over your ass.” She turned to face Logan and Keith. “Ready to go?”

Keith blinked. “What?” He threw a look at Logan and mentally shook himself. “Yeah. Yeah, we’re good. Logan?”

“Absolutely. Let’s go,” said the younger man.

“See ya, Duncan!” Logan called as the three of them headed into the corridor, unaware that the object of their words was seething behind the wall right in front of them.

*

“That’s awesome!” Logan grabbed Veronica and pulled her into a hug. “I’d swing you around…” his voice trailed off as he smiled.

“How often do I hear that excuse?” Veronica teased. “’I’d pick you up to celebrate your dad being your dad, but my broken ribs might irritate my lung sac’? Please! If I’ve heard it once, I’ve heard it a thousand times!”

Logan laughed and ran his hands through his girlfriend’s hair. “I’m so happy for you, muffin.”

Veronica pulled back. “Muffin? Muffin?! How much Percocet have you had today?”

“Sugar muffin?” Logan grinned and leaned in for a kiss.

“I’m gonna go walk Back-up,” Veronica pushed him away with an uncharacteristic giggle. “I want to be here when Dad gets back from the attorney’s office.”

“You in a hurry to get that check, honey dove? I thought you were gonna use it for tuition.”

“Uh, Logan?” Veronica stood up from putting on Back-up’s leash. “Stick to ‘baby’.”

“Whatever you say, peaches.”

Veronica’s laugh followed her out the door.

An hour later when he and Keith found Back-up wandering alone on the beach, leash trailing behind him, the only thing Logan could think about was the sound of Veronica’s laughter and how much he wanted to hear it right at that moment.

But Veronica wasn’t on the beach. And neither was her laughter.

Chapter Text

Veronica blinked when the blindfold was taken off. Late afternoon sunlight was coming through the window, shining directly into her face, and she had to turn her eyes away from it. Once her vision adjusted, she looked up to find Duncan sitting on the edge of a bed in what looked like a hotel suite. For a moment they just stared at each other—Duncan on the bed and Veronica duct-taped to a chair.

Her ex-boyfriend had walked up behind her on the beach. He showed her the gun that was in his pocket, and then he pointed it at Backup. Backup. Duncan had threatened to shoot her dog if Veronica cried out for help.

Duncan made Veronica give him her shoulder bag, and then he had taken Backup’s leash and led them both to a rental car, where he calmly told Veronica to get in. Then he let go of Backup’s leash and they drove off. Soon after they pulled out, Duncan had stopped behind a grocery store and blindfolded Veronica, telling her that he didn’t want her to be able to identify where they were going.

Veronica hadn’t said much—she was too incensed to form actual words. While she didn’t think that Duncan would shoot her, she did think he would have shot her dog, and right now she wanted to shoot him. She wanted to throw Duncan on the ground and kick him in the throat. In the meantime, she literally couldn’t seem to get any words out.

They had driven around in silence for what seemed like hours, but it might have been only thirty minutes. Hampered by the blindfold, time became relative, and by the time they finally stopped, Veronica had no idea where they were. Duncan had pulled a couple of u-turns, taken detours, crap like that. It meant that he was trying to make sure that Veronica couldn’t tell where they were going, and that was probably a good thing—it meant that Super Stalker was planning on letting her go after he was done doing…whatever it is he planned on doing.

Still, all she really wanted to do was kick Duncan’s ass.

After they parked, her kidnapper led her through what Veronica would have sworn were some woods. Not big ones, but still. In Neptune? They reached a building and went inside, where Duncan led her through a room and sat her down in a chair. Which is when they started to have a problem.

Duncan put Veronica’s right hand on the arm of a chair and she felt tape being placed on her wrist. She jumped up and shoved Duncan. As she reached up to take off her blindfold, Duncan slapped her hard across the face and Veronica froze.

Before she had time to process the fact that the boy who had once been sweet, kind, and innocent had just hit her, Duncan Kane leaned down to her ear and said in a calm, low tone, “I don’t want to hurt you, Veronica, but I will. Sit down.”

Realizing that Duncan had the advantage, Veronica sank down and allowed the stranger in front of her to tape her to a chair.

And here they were—staring at each other. Without warning, Duncan shot up off of the bed and started pacing. Then he completely lost it and started screaming at the top of his lungs.

“How could you do it?! How could you?”

Veronica blinked, stunned. There was a pause.

Oh, he really wanted her to answer.

“How could I what?”

“Cut me off, Veronica! You and Logan were all I had! You went and told my parents! It was just luck that no one caught us at the beach.” His tone was harsh and bitter. “I have to be able to watch, don’t you understand?! And now people are looking for me and I can’t—I can’t. How could you do that to me?”

Veronica stared at Duncan, completely taken aback by this bizarre monologue.

Honesty was the best policy?

“You’ve been following us, Duncan, listening in on our private conversations…on our lives. How could you have thought we’d be okay with that?”

“You weren’t supposed to know about it,” answered Duncan harshly. “I wasn’t hurting anyone. What difference did it make?!”

Veronica felt like she was talking to someone who rode the short bus. “You were invading our privacy. Our lives are not reality TV, here for your enjoyment.” She refrained from adding duh at the end. The boy was mentally unhinged.

“But I need you! I need to watch the two of you,” Duncan’s voice contained an intensity that Veronica didn’t understand.

“Why, Duncan? Why do you need us so much?”

The lost little boy looked her in the eye, an almost visible glaze having fallen over his own. “I don’t have anything else.”

-

As soon as they had found Backup and Veronica’s phone sans their owner on the beach, Keith had called the FBI. Kidnappings were federal and Lamb was an ass; Logan thought it was a stroke of brilliance.

The terrified teenager had been ready to run off unchecked to hunt down Duncan, but Keith put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and simply said, “Wait.” The strength in Keith’s voice caught Logan and held him in place, at least momentarily.

Upon hearing the circumstances, the FBI arrived at the Mars apartment much faster than Logan had expected. The prime suspects for Veronica’s disappearance were Aaron and Duncan. Logan knew that this wasn’t his father’s style, so he watched in barely disguised disdain as the two FBI agents—two middle-aged men not even close to being as good-looking as the actors on Without a Trace—called the Neptune police to verify that Aaron had been under surveillance at the time of the kidnapping and couldn’t have committed the crime.

While there was nothing solid saying that Aaron hadn’t at least orchestrated Veronica’s disappearance, the agents cautiously agreed with Keith and Logan’s assertion that Jake and Celeste Kane’s emotionally distraught son was the most likely suspect. Jake and Celeste were contacted, but having only conclusively learned the day before that their son was still alive, they had no useful information to provide the searchers. Jake wanted to come over, but the agent in charge convinced him that being at home in case Duncan called would be of greater help.

Logan couldn’t force himself to sit still any longer than he already had. With a quick goodbye to Keith, he grabbed his keys and started driving around Neptune, stopping at every place he could think of that Duncan might go.

-

A chill went up Veronica’s spine. “What do you mean you don’t have anything else?”

Duncan’s gaze was focused on something that only he could see. “I don’t feel anything, not anymore. I mean, I used to, like normal people... But ever since Lilly died, I haven’t…it’s like I’m empty. And then I found out about you and Logan, and I finally felt. I don’t even remember what I felt, just that…I was finally alive…” His voice trailed off.

“How long have you known?” Veronica prompted, trying to keep her kidnapper talking.

Duncan turned his head to her and Veronica realized that he had temporarily forgotten her presence.

What the hell was going on?

-

As he stared out his bedroom window, Cassidy contemplated the best course of action. Priority number one: no one else learn his secret. Priority number two: do not let a situation develop in which anyone would be likely to learn his secret.

Letting Duncan stay in the pool house hadn’t been that big of a deal. Apparently the guy had been going around listening in on the secrets of Neptune’s elite, and Cassidy talked in his sleep. It had been a straightforward arrangement—Casablancas the younger would help hide Duncan in the family pool house and Duncan wouldn’t tell anyone what demons haunted Cassidy in his sleep.

It had been a mutually beneficial set-up and Cassidy had let it go because it was obvious that Duncan wasn’t talking to anyone ever, let alone sharing secrets. He kept a close eye on things, of course, as it was also clear that Duncan was a mentally unstable moron, of which tonight was the ultimate proof.

Right before dusk that evening, Duncan Kane had led a blindfolded Veronica Mars through the landscaped trees at the back of the Casablancas’ property and into the pool house, leaving Cassidy to try and figure out how in the world to deal with the situation.

What a pain in the ass.

-

Logan had visited the Kane residence, the Camelot Motel, Lilly’s grave, the beach where the four of them had spent Homecoming, and the Neptune Grand. He had even stopped by the small Catholic church Veronica had told him about, but the priest had seen neither Duncan nor Veronica. Logan was running out of places to look, not that he was going to stop. He was frantic, and he could no more stop looking for Veronica than he could stop breathing.

He turned his truck in the direction of the Coronado Bridge.

-

“How long have you known?” Veronica repeated.

“Since Shelley Pomeroy’s party,” replied Duncan absently, still focused on being “alive”, apparently.

“Since when?!” Veronica’s mouth literally dropped open. He had known for a year and a half?!

Her razor sharp tone of voice almost pulled her ex-boyfriend back into reality. Duncan looked at Veronica and his eyes weren’t quite as glazed over as they had been a few minutes earlier. “I saw Logan go into the bedroom, but I didn’t think anything of it. Then Madison called everyone to come listen and for the first time since Lilly…I felt.” He knelt at her side and the gleam in Duncan’s eyes became frightening. “I had to have more of it—the only thing that made me feel anything—anything at all—was watching the two of you, so I had to watch you all the time. That’s why I started following you. I found out all about Romania, the Love Wagon, Meg and Weevil…and it made me feel.” He stared off into space once more. “I wish I could have followed you to Romania, but my parents wanted to stay in the States. I couldn’t convince them…” His head snapped back up and he looked at his ex.

The young man trailed his fingers down Veronica’s face, and the normally tough blonde had to choke down the intense urge to vomit. Duncan had shadowed them since six weeks after Lilly died. The boy she had thought of as a friend had long since lost his grip on reality. This wasn’t Duncan anymore, and this… person… whoever or whatever her friend had become… was no longer following the rules and morals that had been instilled in him by his parents and society.

Veronica wasn’t sure if that was the definition of clinically insane or sociopathic or something else entirely, but whatever it was, that’s what her and Logan’s former friend had become, and she realized now that there was literally no telling what this foreigner holding her captive might do.

-

It was possible that Duncan might kill his ex-girlfriend. It wasn’t the possibility of Veronica’s death that bothered Cassidy, although he didn’t particularly want her to die. No, his issue was with the inquiry that would follow. People would want to know why Duncan had been hiding in the Casablancas pool house; they would want to know how he had been able to come and go without being found out. Whatever. Cassidy didn’t want that level of intensity—the level that only a murder investigation would bring.

He was going to have to do something about this.

-

The FBI was calling up cell phone records, searching car rental databases and finding in minutes what might have taken Keith hours. What they didn’t know, of course, was that even though they were doing it faster, they were only repeating what Veronica had done weeks earlier. And it didn’t matter, anyway, because knowing Duncan’s aliases wasn’t going to tell them where he was now. Not that they knew that.

-

“Why couldn’t you feel? After Lilly died?” Veronica tried to distract Duncan.

She might as well not have said anything.

“How did you find out? About me following you?” he asked.

The question caught Veronica by surprise and she blinked before admitting, “The Camelot tape.”

“I knew it wouldn’t take long,” nodded Duncan. “It was you after all.”

Why had he ignored her question?

That was the real story—wasn’t it? Why he had stopped feeling.

-

Madison was in Dick’s bedroom, but she had left her purse in the living room. Cassidy went downstairs and got out his brother’s girlfriend’s cell phone. If he was going to keep Duncan from killing Veronica, he probably had to hurry.

-

Logan ended up pulling into the parking lot at Dog Beach. He was pacing angrily on the sand, feeling more powerless than ever before in his life, when his cell phone beeped.

“Veronica—“ he said out loud as he lunged for his cell phone.

He didn’t recognize the number, but that was irrelevant.

Dncn has V @ Dik’s pul hse

Logan took off running for his truck.

-

“Why did you stop feeling when Lilly died?” pushed Veronica.

Duncan didn’t answer and Veronica could see that scary film slipping back over his countenance, so she hastily redirected her questions.

“Why did you stay at the Catholic church for so long? After you shot the Camelot tape?”

Duncan shook his head and looked back at her. “What?”

“Father Perez said that you sat in the sanctuary for hours. Why? Why didn’t you go back to following us after you shot the tape?”

Duncan’s brow furrowed. “I didn’t sit in there for hours. I stopped in for a couple of minutes.”

Veronica stared at him. “You were there all night, Duncan. For hours. Don’t you remember?”

Dazed, Duncan shook his head.

“You really don’t remember?” Veronica paused. She and Logan had once cared for Duncan so much that they had arranged their lives around him for a year and a half. Had he completely undone that with his psychotic behavior? Had he?

She wasn’t sure.

“What happened to you, Duncan? How did you end up here?”

-

Why had he taken Veronica to Dick’s house, of all places? Logan had called his former lackey, but Dick wasn’t answering. He swore loudly as he raced down the streets of Neptune.

“PICK UP!!”

He didn’t have Beaver’s number—or Madison’s, who was probably the reason Dick wasn’t picking up his cell phone in the first place.

Logan’s yellow Xterra raced through the streets of Neptune, frantic to reach its goal.

-

Duncan shrugged. “I don’t know.” He blinked. “You two put all of that stuff for my parents—you know, the pictures of the bank and stuff—you put that together when you were in your room, didn’t you?” He looked intently at Veronica.

“What?” asked Veronica, trying desperately to keep up with the random threads of Duncan’s conversation. “Yeah, we figured out it was harder for you to hear us in there. My turn. Why did you try to kill yourself after you heard us together at Shelley’s party?”

Duncan’s smile didn’t reach his eyes. “I didn’t. I just wanted to keep the two of you from going public.”

Veronica stared at her ex for a few moments, astounded. “You faked a suicide attempt to keep Logan and me in the closet?” Duncan giggled. Literally. He giggled. “And the first one? Was that faked, too?” She and Logan hadn’t been dating back then. What purpose would that have served?

Duncan’s giggles faded instantly. “No.”

“Why, then? Why did you try to kill yourself after Lilly died?”

For a moment, the only sound in the room was Duncan’s shallow breathing.

And then, “I don’t know.”

“Duncan!” The front door in the next room banged open as Logan yelled at his friend.

Duncan swung his gun up and shot in the direction of the door, which was in clear view of the bedroom.

“LOGAN!” the cry wrenched from the depths of Veronica’s soul and dragged across her throat like rocks over gravel. “What did you do?!” she screamed at Duncan as she struggled to get free of her bonds.

Logan had leapt to the right of the door. Only his legs could be seen through the doorway. They weren’t moving.

“I did it again,” murmured Duncan to himself, the gun slipping from his hand onto the floor.

“You have to see if he’s okay!” Veronica desperately urged the boy in front of her.

“I didn’t remember until just now. It was one of my rages. I didn’t mean…and I did it again…” his voice trailed off as he looked at Logan’s unmoving form in the doorway. “How could I—“

“Duncan,” Veronica struggled to keep her voice steady as she tried to reach the troubled boy. “We don’t know that Logan’s really hurt. You need to go see how he is. Duncan, please…” she pleaded.

“Why didn’t they let me die?”

“Duncan, please. Please—look! Duncan, look! He’s moving! You have to go help him!”

“I shouldn’t…they shouldn’t…”

Veronica’s attention was focused on Logan’s legs, which were trying to move into a position from which they could push him up.

“Logan?!” she called. “He dropped the gun! Are you okay?!”

Logan pulled himself up using the door frame. His left arm was dangling and his right arm was pressed to his chest. He seemed to have essentially reinjured everything that had healed up over the past few weeks.

“Veronica?” he called in a pain-soaked voice. It was obvious that he was moving against great physical odds.

“Logan! Come here! Duncan’s…” Veronica looked over at her first love, who was now staring into space silently. “Not a threat anymore. Are you okay?!”

Logan moved as quickly as he could through the living room and into the bedroom.

“You mean besides feeling incredibly stupid for not sneaking in the back way?” Veronica gave a short burst of semi-hysterical laughter at Logan’s self-deprecation. “It’s nothing I haven’t gotten used to.”

That comment pushed Veronica over the edge into tears. “I was so scared,” she sobbed as Logan finally reached her and began kissing every inch of her face. “I was so afraid that he had hit you.”

“No,” Logan murmured against her cheek as his hands started to work on removing her bindings. “He missed by a mile, but when I hit the ground I blacked out for a second. Seriously, Veronica, I’m sorry. It never occurred to me that he would have a gun. Stupid, I know…”

Her hands finally loose, Veronica grabbed her boyfriend and started checking him all over, assuring herself that he was okay.

“No, no, no, it’s okay. He wasn’t the same person anymore, Logan,” she rushed to explain. “He’s known about us since Shelley’s party!” she blurted out as she continued her thorough cataloguing of his wounds.

“What?” demanded Logan.

Since he had entered the room, all Logan had cared about was making sure that Veronica was okay, taking care of her, getting her bindings off. Now he turned his attention to his former best friend. Duncan hadn’t said a word since before Logan had entered the small bungalow. Now the troubled youth was standing in the middle of the bedroom, staring blankly at the wall.

Logan had been ready to ream out his friend, but he changed his tone upon sensing that something was deeply wrong.

Putting his hand on his friend’s arm, Logan said softly, “Duncan?” When there was no answer, he spoke the name again, louder this time. “Duncan.”

“Something’s wrong, Logan. This isn’t right.”

“I agree. We have to call your dad, the FBI—“

“Dad called the FBI? Oh, wait—of course he did. Lamb’s an ass.” Veronica shook herself, going into get-it-done mode. “All right, let’s get someone here to take care of both him and you.”

“Wait,” a voice said from the doorway.

Logan and Veronica turned to find Cassidy Casablancas standing on the threshold of the pool house bedroom.

Veronica turned to her boyfriend. “Where are we?” At Logan’s surprised look, she explained, “He made me wear a blindfold.”

“This is my pool house,” said Cassidy. “Well, my dad’s pool house, but still. Look, it’s my fault that Duncan was here, but I swear I had no idea that he was going to hurt anyone, honest.”

“Why did you let him stay here in the first place?” Veronica couldn’t keep the bitterness out of her voice.

“You aren’t the only people he listened to,” explained Cassidy without rancor. “Duncan heard my mom hit me when she came by for visitation. He threatened to tell everyone if I didn’t let him stay here. Please, you of all people,” he nodded at Logan. “He told me about your dad. Please. I sent you the text message from Madison’s phone when I realized what was going on. I knew you’d believe an anonymous text message faster than you’d believe me.” He took a breath and Logan nodded. That was actually true. “I don’t want anyone to know about my mom. She doesn’t do it all the time. Please.”

Logan and Veronica looked at each other. It didn’t seem right that anyone else should suffer because of Duncan’s sociopathic behavior. The two of them came to an unspoken agreement and Logan nodded at Dick’s little brother.

“All right, man. We’ll make something up.”

Relief spread across Cassidy’s face.

“Thank you, really. I’ll tell them that the gunshot drew me out here.”

“Where’s Dick?” asked Veronica.

“He and Madison are up in his room. They have the music up pretty loud.” As Cassidy answered, the sound of a siren in the distance caught all of their attention. “Guess somebody else heard it, though.” Cassidy noticed the object of their troubles still staring at the wall. “What’s up with him?”

“Good question,” answered Veronica.

As cell phones were taken out and parents called and police arrived and the night became truly insane, all Cassidy could feel was relief and satisfaction. Logan and Veronica were such saps. They had believed his lie, and judging by Duncan’s condition, the only other person who knew the truth wasn’t going to be correcting anyone anytime soon.

Cassidy’s secret was safe and life was good.

Although not so much for Duncan.

-

If the Casablancas’ pool house had been a circus, the emergency room was a circus that had been set on fire.

People were running everywhere. The police set up a cordon between the entrance to the ER and the ever-growing crowd of paparazzi in the parking lot. The FBI agents were trying to interview Veronica while Keith told them to hold their questions until later. A loud team of doctors was working on Logan and a terrifyingly quiet team was working on Duncan. Then Jake and Celeste Kane raced in and things got interesting.

“Duncan!” Jake yelled, searching for his son.

“Duncan!” Celeste called, her voice shrill with worry.

No one immediately answered them and Celeste tried to raise her voice above the din of those already present, demanding for someone to tell her where her son was. Keith finally took over, calling Duncan’s frantic parents and pointing out the doctors surrounding their only remaining child.

Everyone except for the medical personnel working on Logan got suddenly quieter, as the majority of eyes in the ER turned to catch the power couple’s first look at their catatonic son. While a few people had prurient, envious looks, most of the faces held compassion and pity. There was nothing that could prepare either of these people for what they were about to see.

“Duncan?” Celeste said gently, pushing her way in-between two nurses.

“Son?” Jake asked as he did the same.

Duncan was lying on a gurney, staring at the ceiling.

“Duncan?” Jake prodded, more urgently this time. It was clear that something wasn’t right.

“What’s wrong?” Celeste grabbed the arm of the nurse standing next to her. “What’s wrong with our son?!”

It was the doctor standing across from her that answered. “We don’t know. I’m sorry. Apparently he became catatonic at the scene. We’re trying to ascertain the cause right now. If you’ll please step back, we’re doing the best that we can.”

Jake put his arms around his wife’s shoulders and worked to steer her away from the motionless figure on the gurney. As he did so, he brought both himself and his wife directly into Veronica’s line of sight.

“You did this,” said Celeste, the instant she saw her son’s ex-girlfriend. “You did this, didn’t you?! What did you do to him?!” She pulled out of her husband’s grasp and moved on the tiny teenager.

“What did I do?!” Veronica yelled right back, pushing aside her father, who had instantly stepped in to protect his little girl. “This is your fault! You knew that he killed Lilly and you hid it! You hid it from him. You hid it from the world, and when Duncan buried that memory, he lost himself along with it! You got him the help that you wanted instead of the help that he needed and this is what it did to him!” she pointed at the knot of people behind the angry woman.

Celeste opened her mouth to speak, but no sound came out.

“He’s been following Logan and me for a year and a half. Did you know that? He’s been stalking us because it was the only way that he could feel. That’s what he told me. He said the only way he could feel real human emotions was to watch our every move.” Veronica took a deep breath as she unloaded on the woman in front of her.

Out of her line of sight, Logan had pushed away the doctors working on him and was watching his girlfriend, ready to jump in if she needed him. All eyes in the emergency room were now focused on Veronica and Celeste.

“He didn’t remember why he tried to kill himself the first time. And the second time? He didn’t. He wanted to keep me and Logan from going public, so he faked it. He did all of that because you made him bury the memory of an accident. An ACCIDENT!” Veronica yelled. “So don’t barge in here acting like this is my fault! You did this! You have no one but yourself to blame and we all have to live with it!”

The room went silent and there was a beat. Then a doctor near Logan called out that they needed to get him up to MRI and the moment was gone. Life returned to the ER as Celeste broke down in her husband’s arms and Veronica broke down in her father’s.

Logan pushed away his medical team and tried to get to Veronica, but Dr. Lake pushed him back down and said, “Stay down. I’ll get you over there.” Nodding to the nurses who unlocked the wheels, the doctor pushed Logan over to his girlfriend, who was now being held up almost completely by her father.

“Veronica,” Logan said, reaching up his good hand to stroke his love’s arm.

“Logan!” Veronica yelped, leaning down to wrap her arms around him. “What are you doing over here?! You were over there,” she said wildly.

“You needed me,” he whispered into her ear. “It’s okay, Veronica. They needed to know.”

Veronica’s tears wet the pillow under Logan’s head as her hands clutched at his shirt.

“I’m sorry, Veronica, we need to take him upstairs and get a look at that shoulder,” Dr. Lake said kindly but firmly.

Veronica leaned back up, tears still streaming from her eyes. She nodded as she stepped back to lean against Keith.

Taking control of Logan’s gurney once more, Dr. Lake kept up a running monologue as he pushed Logan away from his tearful girlfriend.

“I spent all that time patching you back together and you have to go and wreck it all by being the hero. Some thanks I get. Kids these days, I tell you…”

Veronica laughed, her tears finally staunched by Dr. Lake’s insightful misdirection.

“I’m so sorry, honey,” said Keith as he pulled her in close.

“For what?” asked Veronica with a hiccup.

“Not making the world a more perfect place for you.”

His daughter laughed into his chest as she hiccupped again.

“Couldn’t you have done that one little thing, Dad? I mean, really.”

Keith leaned back to look at his daughter, and he brushed her hair away from her face. “It’s okay, Veronica. You did good tonight. With all of it.”

Looking across the ER to Duncan’s gurney, which was also being transported to some other part of the hospital, the distraught Kanes trailing in its wake, Veronica asked her father, “What’s going to happen to them? To Duncan?”

“I don’t know, honey.” He blew out a breath. “Why don’t we find out what’s going on with Logan and give Wallace and Mac a call, let them know what’s going on.”

“They might already know,” noted Veronica, looking warily at the popping flashbulbs visible through the sliding entrance doors across the room.

“Then let’s call and tell them what really happened,” amended Keith and Veronica smiled at her dad.

Logan and Keith. They were all the family she needed.

-

Logan was admitted to the hospital for observation. The doctors were concerned that he had finally succeeded in puncturing his lung sac and they wanted to make sure that the young man’s actual lung wasn’t going to collapse.

Veronica stayed with Logan for several hours after he was moved up to his room, by which time all of their friends had stopped by to make sure both that Logan was okay and that he knew he had a support system there for him. Shortly after one in the morning, Keith insisted that Veronica leave a sleeping Logan and go back to their apartment to sleep in a bed. Grudgingly, his daughter agreed to do so, with the understanding that she would return first thing in the morning.

So it was that Logan was left alone in his hospital room, but when he woke up at around 4 a.m., it was to find Dr. Lake sitting at his bedside.

“Shouldn’t you be down in the ER?” he asked as he struggled to sit up.

“Don’t,” said the doctor, pushing Logan back down and he smiled. “I’m not arrogant enough to think that the ER can’t get along without me. Don’t worry—they’ll call me if they need anything.”

“Hey, man, I’m just giving you a hard time,” Logan grinned as much as he could through the pain and the sleep. “Actually, I have something I wanna talk to you about.”

“Go for it,” answered the doctor, settling back into his chair.

“When I first came in like this,” Logan gestured to his injuries with his mobile hand. “This happened because…” his voice trailed off and his eyes lost focus.

Dr. Lake sat quietly as the younger boy collected his thoughts.

“It was my fault.”

Instead of contradicting him, as many listeners might have, the young doctor asked, “What do you mean?”

“I blocked his shot. I had screwed up again and he went to hit me. And suddenly it seemed like such a stupid thing for him to do—you know, couldn’t he just ground me or something like most parents?” Logan took a deep breath. “My arm just came up. I don’t even remember thinking about it first—it just…” his voice trailed off again, and this time he seemed to have truly lost the rest of his words.

“He lost it, didn’t he?” filled in the man at his side.

“Dr. Lake—“

“Bobby.”

“Bobby,” Logan corrected. “It wasn’t like any time before. He didn’t stop. He…didn’t stop. After I made it to my room I fell down and he kicked me and stomped on my hand. All I could do was pray for it be over. And it was my fault, man. No one gets that. I broke the rules—I knew them and broke them. It was my fault.”

The doctor leaned forward.

“Just once, I wish I’d stood up to him. You know, that last time—when I walked out, that was closest I ever came. And I don’t regret it—I just wish…”

“That you’d done more?” Logan’s words were halfway between a question and a statement.

“Yeah.”

“Even if he’d put you in the hospital.”

Lake looked Logan in the eye. “Yeah, I know the rules. And I wish I’d broken ‘em. Just once.”

Logan sat for a minute before dashing the tears now visible on his face. “Thanks.”

“It’s a small club, Logan. We have to have each other’s backs.”

-

Duncan was standing in a white room that reminded him of that movie, The Matrix. He was surrounded by shards of broken glass. He knelt down and picked one of them up. The long, thin piece was like a window into a memory. He watched as he and Lilly played hide and seek—Lilly was eight and he was seven, and she kept rigging the game so that she always got to hide. Duncan smiled. His sister had been so much fun. He sat down and watched the memory a second time and when it was over, he set it down and picked up another shard.

In the new one, Celeste was introducing him to his life coach. Duncan threw it so that it was out of reach. In the next one he picked up, he watched himself at the championship basketball game. Logan and Veronica were up in the weight room and the Duncan in the memory was having a good time knowing that they were up there hiding their secret from him.

It took some time, but after a bit of trial and error, Duncan was able to arrange things so that all the shards around him were good memories. He got it to the point where as long as he stayed where he was and didn’t get up, his entire life was there for him to see. All the best parts—right there in front of him.

If he moved, though, if he tried to travel through the window shards to whatever lay beyond, he would have to face every memory in between—he would have to face them and he would have to deal with them. So Duncan got comfortable. And he walked through his memories—games with Lilly, time spent with his friends, spying on Logan and Veronica. He watched his memories, and then he watched them again.

Duncan lived in his good memories, the bad ones far away. Forever safe.

Forever lost to everyone else.

*

The next time Logan woke up, it was again to find a welcome visitor at his bedside.

“Peaches!” he greeted sleepily.

“I seem to recall recommending that you to stick to ‘baby’,” smiled Veronica as she leaned down to give her boyfriend a good-morning kiss.

“But ‘peaches’ is so much more fun,” Logan grinned up at her, using his right hand to pull his girl back down for a longer hello.

Coming up for air, Veronica laughed. “You’re in a good mood. Those must be some pretty fantastic drugs.”

Logan grinned—one of the genuine ones that had been so rare of late—and Veronica was struck by how truly happy her boyfriend looked.

Where had this come from?

As though he had heard her, Logan answered. “You’re safe, Duncan’s finally getting help, and morphine drips are fantastic.” Logan ran his three good fingers through Veronica’s hair as she maneuvered herself to sit next to him on the bed. “You’re here,” he looked at her with an almost wondrous expression on his face.

Veronica’s brow creased and Logan’s smile gentled.

“When we couldn’t find you…” Veronica nodded, suddenly understanding where his train of thought had gone off to. The kidnapping seemed so long ago. “All I could think of was what if I never got to hear your laugh again?”

“My laugh?” asked Veronica and without meaning to she did exactly that.

Logan’s smile went from ear to ear. “That’s the one.” He made a low sound in the back of his throat that rubbed against something deep in Veronica. “Your laugh, your smile. I just—I just want to look at you, that’s all.”

Veronica was suddenly reminded of how much she and Logan had been through, how much they had done together, and here they were, together—in public—so entwined in each other lives that it was hard to tell where one of them ended and the other one began.

“Wow. It really happens, doesn’t it?” she stroked Logan’s cheek.

Her boyfriend lightly ran his fingers over hers. “What’s that?”

Veronica smiled. “Someone can meet the love of their life at sixteen.”

Logan’s hand stilled. “I wouldn’t know.”

Veronica’s smile didn’t waiver, but she did raise an eyebrow at his response.

“I met the love of my life when I was 12,” the love in his eyes shone bright. “I didn’t realize she was the love of my life until I was 15, though.”

“And now?” Veronica heard her voice crack the teeniest little bit.

“Now I can’t imagine life without her.”

Tears shimmered on the edge of Veronica’s lashes. She reached down so that their eyes were only inches apart and a tear slipped off onto her boyfriend’s cheek.

“All the love in my heart,” she whispered.

“Hey,” the air from Logan’s lips brushed across hers. “That’s supposed to be my line.”

When Keith walked into the hospital room not much later, Veronica was asleep in Logan’s arms. Her original protector smiled gently and quietly backed out of the room.

The two of them would be safe together. They always were.

Chapter Text

The doctors let Logan go home the following morning under strict orders to take better care of himself.

That same morning, Jake and Celeste transferred Duncan to a hospital upstate where their son could be tested by specialists. There had been no change in Duncan’s condition and his parents were desperately hoping that they could find someone who could help them reach their lost child, hoping against hope that the doctors in Neptune were wrong and that his state was only temporary.

Everyone agreed that Logan was not going to return home. Long-term, though, it wasn’t feasible for Logan to live on his girlfriend’s couch. The solution came a week after he got out of the hospital in the form of Alicia and Wallace’s guest house. Alicia’s need for a tenant and Logan’s need for a positive home environment coincided perfectly.

Veronica went with Logan to the Echolls mansion to help him pack up his things. Seeing as how Aaron was under house arrest, it was inevitable that a father-son reunion would come to pass.

“Logan,” Aaron said from the hallway door.

“I was wondering when the welcome wagon was going to come by,” Logan quipped to his girlfriend, who stepped out of the closet holding a travel bag full of clothes.

“What, no muffins?” asked Veronica.

“I’ve missed you, son,” said Aaron, putting on a pitiful face.

Veronica snorted back a laugh and Logan shot a knowing smile her direction as he put t-shirts and pajamas into a suitcase.

He glanced back at his father. “The feeling has not been mutual.”

Aaron’s eyes flashed. “What are you doing?” He surveyed the packing going on. “It’s time for you to come home, Logan.”

“I don’t think so,” the teenager kept packing.

“Oh, really? And how do you think you’re going to pay for this little flight from the home fires? Are you gonna get a job?” The action star’s voice dripped with contempt.

“Hell, no,” Logan laughed. “You’re going to pay for it.”

Aaron scoffed. “And why would I do that?”

“Because if you don’t, we’ll make sure the entire world knows that you make Joan Crawford look like Mother of the Year,” answered Veronica.

“What?” asked Logan’s father in disbelief.

“We have copies of every emergency room visit that Logan ever made because of you over the past ten years,” Veronica explained. “And a doctor who’ll testify that Logan’s x-rays and MRI are proof of long-term abuse. Trust me, when we’re done, you’ll long for the day when this whole sex tape thing was all you had to deal with.”

Aaron’s face was hard. “Logan would never go public.”

“Yes, he would,” stated his son flatly. “I always knew that no one would believe me, but that’s not the case anymore, is it? I think the American public would believe just about anything about you, even the truth.”

His father took a menacing step towards Logan.

“Please,” said Logan. “Please hit me. I’m sure you could do some more damage.” He waved his sling. “Maybe kill another tooth? I mean, did you even know that teeth can die?”

“Apparently if your psychotic father hits you hard enough, they can,” inserted Veronica.

Aaron’s fists clenched.

“I’m waiting,” goaded Logan, and Aaron froze, suddenly looking around the room.

“There are two,” affirmed Veronica.

“Two cameras taping the two of you extorting money from me? I thought you were smarter than that, Veronica.”

“Like anyone would care,” replied Logan calmly. “I would trot out my many scars, show my full-body x-ray, subpoena some doctors, and the next thing you know, they’d be making a movie about you called “Daddie Dearest”.”

“No one remembers that Joan Crawford won an Oscar, do they?” Veronica asked Logan. “They just remember that she beat the hell out of her kids. Funny thing about America. I mean, people in this country can forgive R. Kelly for marrying a 14-year-old, but they do not forgive people who beat their kids.”

Aaron’s face was frozen in anger.

“Ten thousand dollars a month,” instructed Logan. “You pay, I’ll stay quiet about being your punching bag. Either way—you and I? We’re done.”

“You won’t live under my roof, but you’ll take my money.”

“Hell, yeah,” Logan stood up straight and faced his father. “Do you need anything else? Because we have a lot to do here,” he indicated himself and Veronica.

“This isn’t over,” growled Aaron.

“Yes, it is,” Veronica shot back, not in the least bit intimidated. “You’re gonna do jail time for all the teenage girls you violated, but the world might still forgive you. We go public with this? You’re done for good.” She stepped over to her boyfriend, who put his hand on her back.

“You want to go now,” Logan told his father, whose hands were clenched so tight his nails were cutting into his hands.

Without another word, the defeated action hero turned on his heel and left his son’s room.

Veronica waited until the door shut behind Aaron Echolls before turning to her boyfriend and throwing her arms around him.

Returning her embrace for all he was worth, Logan could hardly breathe for what they had just done. Who would have thought even a year ago that he would ever have been able to do this? Him?

He held tightly to the girl in his arms as she buried her face in his chest.

They were in this together.

*

“Eli!” The door to the small home banged open as Meg’s excitement made it into the door ahead of her ever-growing belly. “Eli!”

The Mazda was in the driveway, and Meg knew that her husband was most likely in the house.

“Yes, dear?” called Weevil, amused by his wife’s grand entrance.

“You have to see this!” yelled Meg as she raced into the kitchen waving a stack of papers.

“What?” Weevil tried not to laugh at the peppy blonde, knowing that there was only so far he could tease his pregnant wife.

“Look!” Meg pushed him into a kitchen chair and sat on his lap. She was so animated, though, that despite the fact she was holding the papers aloft, Weevil was no closer to knowing what they were than he had been when she had walked in the door.

“Hold still!” Weevil laughed as he kissed Meg and put his hands on her shoulders to calm her enough so that he could take the papers from her.

Finally able to take a close look at them, Weevil’s eyes widened in confusion. “Orange County Deputy Training Initiative? What is this?”

Meg jumped up to kneel in front of her husband, taking his hands in hers. “I know it’s probably something you’ve never thought of, but I think you would be so good at this, Eli, really. It’s a new program where Orange County takes young men with juvenile records, but strong leadership qualities, and trains them on how to be sheriff’s deputies. Please don’t dismiss it automatically, okay? Please, for me, just look it over.”

Any response that Weevil might automatically have had to this preposterous suggestion was buried under his wife’s torrential enthusiasm. Who was this girl and why in the world did she believe in him so much? Weevil had no idea what he thought of the whole him-as-a-cop thing, but he would rather die than dim the light in Meg’s eyes.

“Okay, okay!” he laughed, pulling his wife back into his lap. “Tell me about this program that you’re so excited about.”

Meg threw her arms around her husband and kissed him fiercely. “You won’t believe this!” she pulled away just as quickly and started enumerating the reasons that Orange County’s new program was perfect for her husband.

With someone who believed in him like Meg did, what choice did he have?

*

Mac had just e-mailed Logan several sites to help him with his hospital homebound assignments. Her friend’s doctors had ordered him to spend the rest of the school year completing his classes from home, stating that his body’s condition was too fragile to stand up to the rigors of daily high school life. Much to his teacher’s initial skepticism and eventual amusement, Logan’s grades had dramatically increased.

His scores and homework had improved so much that at first the teachers at Neptune High had suspected Logan of cheating, which suspicions Logan had put to rest by going in to school to take his tests and then acing them. Apparently sitting at home with nothing to do had led Logan to actually do his work. The faculty rolled their eyes at the fact that Logan was actually pretty smart when he chose to be.

Veronica had privately told Mac that Logan had been doing better on every level since he had severed ties with his father. Mac hadn’t asked how Logan was getting the money that he still seemed to have. It was her sincerest wish that he and Veronica had figured out a way to make Aaron give his son a fortune.

Mac continued to comb the Internet every day for updates on Aaron’s legal issues. The experts were saying that given the amount of evidence against him the actor was unlikely to get out of jail time completely. That being said, it wasn’t expected to be more than a year or two, after which the great Aaron Echolls would be out on bail.

In the meantime, the Hollywood community had been noticeably absent in defending their fallen comrade. Mac couldn’t help but wonder how quick they would be to forgive the proven money-maker when he got out of jail.

As long as he left Logan alone, she was willing to follow her friends’ lead. But Camille’s memory had long fingers, and Mac intended to make sure that Aaron never hurt anyone again. She considered it to be all the better that the man had no idea she existed.

Mac turned off her computer. She was taking Veronica shopping for a new DVD burner. Like she would ever let her friend make such an important purchase on her own.

Friends had to have each other’s backs.

*

“So Jake checked Duncan into a private care facility,” Veronica sighed.

Logan reached out to take her hand. “What else did Wallace have to say?” he changed the subject. The two of them had been working on helping each other deal with what had happened to Duncan. Not that it would be quick or easy, but they were committed to getting through it together.

Veronica had just gotten off the phone with her best friend, who was holding down the fort while the two of them, Keith, and Alicia were on vacation. It wasn’t hard for Logan to redirect the conversation.

“He gave me crap again for leaving him with his little brother while my boyfriend flew us all out to Hawaii.”

Logan smiled and reached over to kiss the girl he loved.

“What?” he laughed. “It was the only way I could get you out of Neptune again without having a warrant issued for my arrest.”

Putting on her best Southern accent, Veronica batted her eyes and asked, “Why, sir, are you trying to compromise my virtue?”

“I’d like to think I’m doing more than trying,” Logan laughed as he pulled his love out of her lounge chair to lie on top of him on his.

Veronica leaned above her randy boyfriend. “You do realize that we really did bring my dad with us on this trip, right? He could walk out any minute and any chance you have of compromising my virtue would forever be, you know—compromised.”

Logan smiled at the angel above him. “Right before I came out here, your dad was making the moves on Alicia—not a sight I am soon to forget, by the way—so I would hope that we have a little time to ourselves.”

Veronica laughed and started to lower herself. With a move that Veronica hadn’t known was within the realm of human capability, Logan flipped them over so that he was on top—without either of them ever being in danger of falling off the lounger.

“Impressive,” Veronica ran her fingers over Logan’s bare chest and arms.

“I miss Duncan and Lilly,” Logan brushed a hair out of her eyes. “I want you to know that.” Veronica nodded, wondering where this was going. “But I wouldn’t trade this—the life we’ve built—for anything. You—me—this is everything.”

The sun created a halo behind Logan’s head and Veronica ran her hand through his sun-kissed hair.

“Father Perez says that you and I complete each other.”

Logan laughed.

“I know,” smiled Veronica. “Who knew that priests watched Jerry Maguire? But he’s right. We do.”

“Who am I to argue with a priest?” Logan kissed her.

“I love you,” Veronica murmured against his lips as her arms snaked around him.

Logan responded in kind. “Every minute of every day.”

Fin