Fic: Twist of Fate 12/? (Veronica/Weevil) (rated nc-17 overall)
TITLE: Twist of Fate 12/?
AUTHOR: 38gnihsurc
PAIRING: Duncan/Veronica, Weevil/Veronica
RATING: en.sea.xvii (NC-17) overall
WORD COUNT: 2926
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anyone. I'm just having a little fun. I'll put the characters back when I'm finished, I promise.
SPOILERS: AU; although general seasons 1 and 2 knowledge applies.
NOTES: I had a thought while I was watching old episodes and making caps: what if Veronica had been on the bus? So, much of this is going to be AU. I apologise in advance ;)
Veronica and Eli were quietly talking and occasionally kissing in the Neptune High parking lot, when Logan came up to them and clapped his hands.
"All set to go, buddy?" Logan asked.
She glared at him. "Are we carpooling?"
"Why not?" he asked. "Unless you wanna drive your rust bucket."
"Hey, no insulting my LeBaron," she protested, patting the hood of her car. "She gets me where I need to go." She sighed and pushed away from the car. "Okay, let's carpool," she agreed.
"See you later, Weevil," Logan said, his tone of voice sharp. He gave the other guy a mock-salute. "I'll take good care of your girl while we're working together."
Veronica punched Logan in the shoulder. "Knock it off," she growled. She turned to Eli and cupped his face in her hands. "I'll call you later... okay?"
"You better, V," he whispered, before kissing her.
She smiled and stole one more kiss before Logan grabbed her upper arm.
"Hey!"
"Alright, no more face sucking, you two... I think I'm gonna vomit," he said.
Veronica rolled her eyes and waved at Eli as Logan dragged her off towards his SUV.
&&&&
"So, here's what you'll be responsible for," Logan told her as they walked up the stairs to the floor on which Woody Goodman's office was situation, "clerical duties. I'll handle the personnel changes."
"As long as let me watch while you fire the sheriff, I'm okay with clerical duties," Veronica told him, smiling, as they headed into the outer office.
The secretary was on the phone when they entered. She smiled, made eye contact with them, and gestured for them to wait a minute while she finished the call.
"You must be Logan Echolls and Veronica Mars," she said once she hung up the phone, "our contest winners?"
"That's us," Veronica said quietly, with a polite smile.
She beamed at them. "Well, I'm Beverly, Mr. Goodman's assistant. Hold on, and I'll bring him out," she told them.
Once the willowy woman left the outer office, Logan looked down at Veronica. "Um... you've got a..."
"What?" she asked, looking up at him.
He reached down and pointed at a spot on her neck. "Weevil's a biter, hmm?"
"Omigod," Veronica breathed, before quickly letting her hair down from its elastic, so it would cover the mark Eli left on her skin.
Logan snorted quietly, as Beverly and Woody Goodman stepped into the outer office. "Mr. Goodman," the assistant said, still smiling brightly, "Veronica Mars and Logan Echolls."
"Veronica," Woody said, smiling and shaking her hand. "Nice to see you again."
"Nice to see you again, too, sir," she said, smiling back at him.
"And Logan... Aaron's son, right?" he said, while shaking Logan's hand. "Great essays, you two. Very powerful stuff."
"Well, it came from the heart," Logan said, eliciting an eye roll from Veronica.
Woody laughed and then turned to his assistant who had picked up the phone.
"Cancel that last request I made," he insisted.
She frowned and put the phone down.
"Alright then," Woody said, rubbing his hands together. "First things first, let's make it official. Bev, you got that bible handy?"
She wordlessly handed him a bible.
"Logan, you can go first," he said, "so put your left hand on this please."
Logan made a dramatic show of putting his hand down upon the bible, then snatching it back, and shaking it in a show of pain.
"Ow! Augh, that burns."
Veronica snorted and rolled her eyes.
Logan smiled. "Just kidding," he said, before putting his hand back onto the bible.
"I, Logan Echolls do solemnly swear to faithfully execute the office of honourary deputy commissioner of Balboa County, California," Woody said, with the intention of having Logan agree to the statement.
"I do."
Woody smiled. "Veronica? You're next."
Veronica smiled back at him and put her hand down on the bible. Logan leaned in. "Wow... you really do like pain. You sure that doesn't burn too badly?"
The next sound Logan made was a soft 'oomph' as Veronica's elbow connected soundly with his gut.
After she agreed to faithfully execute the office of the fake job she had for a week, Logan cleared his throat.
"Now, if you'll excuse us, we have something important to do," he told Woody, as he put his arm around Veronica's shoulders and started to turn her towards the door.
"Where are you two going?"
Logan and Veronica shared a smirk before turning to look at the man in front of them.
"We're going to fire the Sheriff," Logan said calmly. "Veronica'll hold the fort down until her dad can close up his shop and move his pens and stapler back over here."
Both Woody and Bev started to laugh.
"Let's save personnel changes 'til after you've warmed up a bit," Woody suggested. "Now, I'm sure you're both aware that I've introduced a bill proposing the incorporation of Neptune---"
"I'm glad you brought it up," Logan interjected. "I'm backing the plan. In fact, I'm throwing my considerable weight behind it. I say we take it a step further and erect a wall around Neptune proper---" he paused and pointed his finger in a downwards direction over Veronica's head "---keep the riffraff out."
Veronica brought her elbow into Logan's gut again.
Woody chuckled. "Thanks for the suggestion... right now, we just need this mail separated into pro- and anti-incorporation piles."
"Yippee," Veronica said quietly, before smiling at Woody.
&&&&
"Thanks for giving me a lift, Eli," Veronica said with a smile as he pulled into the parking lot. "Logan said he was gonna be late, so---"
"I'll come by and look at your car later," he told her. "Your dad'll be home, right?"
Veronica turned and looked at him as he put the car in park, in one of the vacant slots. "You want to see my dad?"
Eli shrugged. "Sure... why not?"
"He... he doesn't know we're... you know..."
"My grandmother doesn't know, either," Eli pointed out. "And I'm not exactly gonna knock on your door and tell your dad that you've seen all of my tattoos."
Veronica blushed. "Well... that's a good plan you've got there," she murmured.
"I'm a thinker," he said, tapping his finger against his scalp.
She chuckled and leaned over the seat to kiss him. "If you want to risk being alone with my dad," she murmured before pulling away completely, "I admire that... and I'll reward you handsomely if you can fix my car."
"Hmmm..." he replied, "handsomely, huh?"
"Very handsomely," she purred.
"Well, in that case..."
She laughed quietly as he kissed her again.
"See you later?"
"You get off at six, right?"
She nodded. "Right."
"And then... maybe you'll get off again at seven," he suggested, smirking.
She grinned. "So, now, that's all I'm gonna be thinking about while I'm working."
"Good."
She laughed, kissed him again, and then got out of the car, waving as she backed up towards the building.
Eli blew her a kiss as he pulled out of the parking slot; she blushed and ducked inside the government building.
When she arrived in the office, Beverly was at her desk but Woody was nowhere to be seen.
"You can go into Mr. Goodman's office, Veronica," the assistant said with another one of her bright smiles. "I believe he's meeting with your father right now, at his office, but he left some more incorporation mail for you to sort through."
"Great..." she turned and started to walk into the inner office. "Oh, Logan'll be late. I think he had a doctor's appointment or something."
"No problem," the assistant said, sounding distracted as she resumed her previous activities, whatever they were.
Veronica ducked inside Woody's office and dropped her bag down in front of the table which held yet another crate of mail, and then resigned herself to working.
She sorted five letters, and then was interrupted by the computer's "you've got mail" announcement.
She debated over whether or not she should sneak a peak at Woody's e-mail---just to see if he did anything intriguing or disgusting in his spare time---for about five seconds, and then she dropped the mail and rushed over to Woody's desk.
Both intriguing and disgusting were to be found in his e-mail inbox. There were a few weird, nonsensical letters, which only confused Veronica; there was one e-mail with the subject heading "Kill Incorporation or Else," and after seeing that there was a sound attachment, she decided to just send the thing to her personal e-mail account instead of listening to it and having Beverly discover that she was snooping around Woody's computer.
A few quick keystrokes after the forwarded message was sent, and all of the e-mails she flipped through were returned to their unread status. She stood up and returned to sorting her mail.
The rest of the afternoon was uneventful. Logan showed up thirty minutes before the end of their shift and tortured her until she was counting the seconds before she could run out of the building and hop into Eli's car.
When she went outside, she didn't see Eli's car. Instead, she saw her car, with Eli sitting in the front seat.
She bounded across the parking lot and shot him a grin as she hopped into the passenger seat.
"Hey, lover," she greeted him.
"Hey," he said, before stealing a kiss.
"Where are you taking me?"
"Straight home," he said, looking a little disappointed. "The sheriff expects you home."
"Lamb?"
"Your dad."
Veronica pouted. "He's not the sheriff anymore."
"But he still carries a gun," Eli pointed out.
She smiled a little. "Sorry..."
"He invited me to dinner."
"Oh. I'm really sorry."
"It'll be hard to sit there, in the kitchen where I put you up on the counter and---"
Veronica put her fingers over his mouth. "Don't finish that sentence. It'll be bad enough that you're thinking it. But if we're both thinking it..."
"Maybe I should duck out."
She sighed and shook her head. "No... he definitely knows something's up between us. We should just... suck it up."
"Oh... yeah?"
"If you don't mind being late for your first class of the day," she suggested, "I'll make it up to you... in the girls' bathroom at school..."
"Deal."
She grinned and kissed his cheek. He put the car into gear and pulled out of the parking lot. "So, here are the rules---I'm gonna give them to you now, so you have some time to memorise them---" she was interrupted by Eli's quiet laugh "---firstly, no snide remarks laced with sexual innuendo; secondly, no making dirty eyes at me because then I'll start making dirty eyes back, and then my dad will figure everything out, and then we are sooo in trouble; thirdly, no alluding to touching any part of my body that does not have fingers."
"Any others?"
"Be polite and offer to do the dishes?"
He chuckled. "Yeah, yeah..."
"You two haven't hung out much since I got back from the hospital, anyway," she said quietly. "Maybe he missed you."
"Uh... I doubt it."
Veronica smiled and took his hand, threading her fingers through his. "Well, I appreciate you going through with this," she murmured.
"It's okay," he assured her.
&&&&
Dinner had been awkward and it ended with nothing more than a chaste hug and kiss to her cheek, leaving her frustrated and wanting time alone with her boyfriend.
"So, you and Eli Navarro," Keith said once Eli had been gone for more than five minutes. "Didn't I tell you not to date the local criminal element?"
"No, you told me not to smarten up the local criminal element," she corrected him. "And besides, he's not so criminal anymore."
Keith shot her his signature, fatherly stare. She shot her daughterly stare back at him. He caved after a minute and sighed. "Well, he has been good to you... I'll admit that," he conceded.
"Yes, he has. And he still is. So, if you could not make a bit deal out of this, I'd love you forever," she told him with a sweet smile on her lips and a slightly teasing down in her voice.
He smiled. "Okay. But only because I saw him nearly break down when the doctors didn't think you'd wake up," he said quietly.
"He did?"
"He didn't take your coma very well," Keith admitted.
"He wasn't the only one."
"Don't I know it," he agreed, before hugging her.
She leaned up and kissed his cheek. "Thank you," she murmured. "I know he's not the fortune-five-hundred man you envision me marrying, but right now, he makes me happy."
"You're right, he isn't."
"He makes me happy," she repeated.
Keith nodded. "I know. I'll let it slide for now. But I want you to be careful."
She smiled. "I will."
She kissed his cheek again, and then left the kitchen. She had almost forgotten about the e-mail she had sent herself, but her father called out from the kitchen to tell her he was leaving to meet with Woody at his office.
"Okay... see you later, right?" Veronica called back.
"You bet," he promised, before leaving their apartment.
She picked up her cell phone and called Eli as she logged into her inbox and downloaded her mail.
"How'd it go?" he asked quietly, after they finished with pleasantries.
"Well," Veronica replied, "not too bad. I don't think he's going to rent a church out any time soon, but it's not like we're exactly... there yet, so, I think it went okay."
"He didn't lock you up in a tower somewhere?"
"If he did, I'd throw down my hair," she murmured.
Eli chuckled quietly. "Alright... so what're you up to now?"
"Downloading e-mail that I stole from the mayor," she admitted, her index finger twitching in anticipation over her laptop's trackpad. Eli laughed again, the amused sound tickling her ear. "Predictable, huh?"
"The fact that you're not predictable is what's predictable, V," he told her, still sounding very amused with her antics. "I never know what's gonna come out of your mouth."
She grinned. The e-mail finished downloading and she double-clicked on it. "Well, I hope you don't find my inscrutability too much of a turn off," she said quietly.
"Never. Keeps me on my toes, V."
She smiled, but didn't say anything. She was busy reading the header information attached to the e-mail.
The sender's address was 22679088@cyberbolt.com. There was no way she could guess who the sender was by looking at the address.
"You deep in thought over there?"
"Um... sort of," she murmured. "This e-mail address isn't giving me anything to go on."
"And your eyebrows are drawn down and your lips are doing that pouty thing," he commented quietly.
She smiled again. "You like that face?"
"I like what it does to your lips," he said quietly.
Veronica laughed quietly. "God, I wish you were here..."
"Tomorrow morning, remember?"
She shivered and got as far as the time-date-stamp (May 10th at 11:40 PM) on the e-mail before she had to close her eyes.
"I... I remember," she replied quietly. "I have tardy slips and everything."
"Good."
She opened her eyes and looked at the window open on her computer. "So... you wanna find out what's in the e-mail marked 'Kill incorporation or else,' Eli?" she asked quietly.
"The 'or else' is supposed to be threatening, right?"
"Right..." she replied, her voice trailing off as she studied the audio file. "Okay, here goes nothing---let's see what this whackjob's punching back with."
Eli chuckled and then fell silent, waiting for Veronica to speak again.
She clicked on the audio file; Quicktime started to play it. At first, she heard background audio, people speaking in French. Then, there were clearer English voices.
"We have to tell people what Woody did to the three of us. It's gonna come out someday. A couple of the Sharks had to know about it---they'll come forward. Things like this don't stay secret."
"Damn right," another voice said.
"Woody's a pervert. He's sick! What he did to us is wrong! We were just kids---"
Veronica hit the space bar on her keyboard, pausing the sound file. She felt the blood draining out of her face, her heart clenching in her chest, her hands shaking slightly.
"V?"
"I... I... he..."
"Veronica!"
She swallowed hard and blinked. "I... this is so much bigger than I thought it would be," she mumbled.
"Are you okay?" Eli asked.
She nodded before she spoke. "Y-yeah... I..." she trailed off, not wanting to tell him what was in the file until she could make sense of it herself. "I'm okay," she assured him. "Very surprised. I need to go call my dad."
"Back-up's there with you, right?"
She smiled a little. "Yeah... Dad left him here for me."
"Good."
"You're such a... well, you are a mother hen," she teased.
"Sticks and stones, V."
"I'll see you tomorrow, alright?" she said quietly.
"Yeah," he agreed, "you sure you're okay?"
"I will be when I see you tomorrow," she assured him, smiling a little.
"Okay. If you need anything tonight, gimme a call," he offered before hanging up the phone.
Veronica promised she would and ended the call. She set her phone down and replayed the audio file. Each time she heard them discuss how Woody abused them, her stomach tightened in distress; she whimpered and closed her laptop, before taking it into the living room, where she waited patiently for her father to come home.
TBC...
AUTHOR: 38gnihsurc
PAIRING: Duncan/Veronica, Weevil/Veronica
RATING: en.sea.xvii (NC-17) overall
WORD COUNT: 2926
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anyone. I'm just having a little fun. I'll put the characters back when I'm finished, I promise.
SPOILERS: AU; although general seasons 1 and 2 knowledge applies.
NOTES: I had a thought while I was watching old episodes and making caps: what if Veronica had been on the bus? So, much of this is going to be AU. I apologise in advance ;)
Veronica and Eli were quietly talking and occasionally kissing in the Neptune High parking lot, when Logan came up to them and clapped his hands.
"All set to go, buddy?" Logan asked.
She glared at him. "Are we carpooling?"
"Why not?" he asked. "Unless you wanna drive your rust bucket."
"Hey, no insulting my LeBaron," she protested, patting the hood of her car. "She gets me where I need to go." She sighed and pushed away from the car. "Okay, let's carpool," she agreed.
"See you later, Weevil," Logan said, his tone of voice sharp. He gave the other guy a mock-salute. "I'll take good care of your girl while we're working together."
Veronica punched Logan in the shoulder. "Knock it off," she growled. She turned to Eli and cupped his face in her hands. "I'll call you later... okay?"
"You better, V," he whispered, before kissing her.
She smiled and stole one more kiss before Logan grabbed her upper arm.
"Hey!"
"Alright, no more face sucking, you two... I think I'm gonna vomit," he said.
Veronica rolled her eyes and waved at Eli as Logan dragged her off towards his SUV.
&&&&
"So, here's what you'll be responsible for," Logan told her as they walked up the stairs to the floor on which Woody Goodman's office was situation, "clerical duties. I'll handle the personnel changes."
"As long as let me watch while you fire the sheriff, I'm okay with clerical duties," Veronica told him, smiling, as they headed into the outer office.
The secretary was on the phone when they entered. She smiled, made eye contact with them, and gestured for them to wait a minute while she finished the call.
"You must be Logan Echolls and Veronica Mars," she said once she hung up the phone, "our contest winners?"
"That's us," Veronica said quietly, with a polite smile.
She beamed at them. "Well, I'm Beverly, Mr. Goodman's assistant. Hold on, and I'll bring him out," she told them.
Once the willowy woman left the outer office, Logan looked down at Veronica. "Um... you've got a..."
"What?" she asked, looking up at him.
He reached down and pointed at a spot on her neck. "Weevil's a biter, hmm?"
"Omigod," Veronica breathed, before quickly letting her hair down from its elastic, so it would cover the mark Eli left on her skin.
Logan snorted quietly, as Beverly and Woody Goodman stepped into the outer office. "Mr. Goodman," the assistant said, still smiling brightly, "Veronica Mars and Logan Echolls."
"Veronica," Woody said, smiling and shaking her hand. "Nice to see you again."
"Nice to see you again, too, sir," she said, smiling back at him.
"And Logan... Aaron's son, right?" he said, while shaking Logan's hand. "Great essays, you two. Very powerful stuff."
"Well, it came from the heart," Logan said, eliciting an eye roll from Veronica.
Woody laughed and then turned to his assistant who had picked up the phone.
"Cancel that last request I made," he insisted.
She frowned and put the phone down.
"Alright then," Woody said, rubbing his hands together. "First things first, let's make it official. Bev, you got that bible handy?"
She wordlessly handed him a bible.
"Logan, you can go first," he said, "so put your left hand on this please."
Logan made a dramatic show of putting his hand down upon the bible, then snatching it back, and shaking it in a show of pain.
"Ow! Augh, that burns."
Veronica snorted and rolled her eyes.
Logan smiled. "Just kidding," he said, before putting his hand back onto the bible.
"I, Logan Echolls do solemnly swear to faithfully execute the office of honourary deputy commissioner of Balboa County, California," Woody said, with the intention of having Logan agree to the statement.
"I do."
Woody smiled. "Veronica? You're next."
Veronica smiled back at him and put her hand down on the bible. Logan leaned in. "Wow... you really do like pain. You sure that doesn't burn too badly?"
The next sound Logan made was a soft 'oomph' as Veronica's elbow connected soundly with his gut.
After she agreed to faithfully execute the office of the fake job she had for a week, Logan cleared his throat.
"Now, if you'll excuse us, we have something important to do," he told Woody, as he put his arm around Veronica's shoulders and started to turn her towards the door.
"Where are you two going?"
Logan and Veronica shared a smirk before turning to look at the man in front of them.
"We're going to fire the Sheriff," Logan said calmly. "Veronica'll hold the fort down until her dad can close up his shop and move his pens and stapler back over here."
Both Woody and Bev started to laugh.
"Let's save personnel changes 'til after you've warmed up a bit," Woody suggested. "Now, I'm sure you're both aware that I've introduced a bill proposing the incorporation of Neptune---"
"I'm glad you brought it up," Logan interjected. "I'm backing the plan. In fact, I'm throwing my considerable weight behind it. I say we take it a step further and erect a wall around Neptune proper---" he paused and pointed his finger in a downwards direction over Veronica's head "---keep the riffraff out."
Veronica brought her elbow into Logan's gut again.
Woody chuckled. "Thanks for the suggestion... right now, we just need this mail separated into pro- and anti-incorporation piles."
"Yippee," Veronica said quietly, before smiling at Woody.
&&&&
"Thanks for giving me a lift, Eli," Veronica said with a smile as he pulled into the parking lot. "Logan said he was gonna be late, so---"
"I'll come by and look at your car later," he told her. "Your dad'll be home, right?"
Veronica turned and looked at him as he put the car in park, in one of the vacant slots. "You want to see my dad?"
Eli shrugged. "Sure... why not?"
"He... he doesn't know we're... you know..."
"My grandmother doesn't know, either," Eli pointed out. "And I'm not exactly gonna knock on your door and tell your dad that you've seen all of my tattoos."
Veronica blushed. "Well... that's a good plan you've got there," she murmured.
"I'm a thinker," he said, tapping his finger against his scalp.
She chuckled and leaned over the seat to kiss him. "If you want to risk being alone with my dad," she murmured before pulling away completely, "I admire that... and I'll reward you handsomely if you can fix my car."
"Hmmm..." he replied, "handsomely, huh?"
"Very handsomely," she purred.
"Well, in that case..."
She laughed quietly as he kissed her again.
"See you later?"
"You get off at six, right?"
She nodded. "Right."
"And then... maybe you'll get off again at seven," he suggested, smirking.
She grinned. "So, now, that's all I'm gonna be thinking about while I'm working."
"Good."
She laughed, kissed him again, and then got out of the car, waving as she backed up towards the building.
Eli blew her a kiss as he pulled out of the parking slot; she blushed and ducked inside the government building.
When she arrived in the office, Beverly was at her desk but Woody was nowhere to be seen.
"You can go into Mr. Goodman's office, Veronica," the assistant said with another one of her bright smiles. "I believe he's meeting with your father right now, at his office, but he left some more incorporation mail for you to sort through."
"Great..." she turned and started to walk into the inner office. "Oh, Logan'll be late. I think he had a doctor's appointment or something."
"No problem," the assistant said, sounding distracted as she resumed her previous activities, whatever they were.
Veronica ducked inside Woody's office and dropped her bag down in front of the table which held yet another crate of mail, and then resigned herself to working.
She sorted five letters, and then was interrupted by the computer's "you've got mail" announcement.
She debated over whether or not she should sneak a peak at Woody's e-mail---just to see if he did anything intriguing or disgusting in his spare time---for about five seconds, and then she dropped the mail and rushed over to Woody's desk.
Both intriguing and disgusting were to be found in his e-mail inbox. There were a few weird, nonsensical letters, which only confused Veronica; there was one e-mail with the subject heading "Kill Incorporation or Else," and after seeing that there was a sound attachment, she decided to just send the thing to her personal e-mail account instead of listening to it and having Beverly discover that she was snooping around Woody's computer.
A few quick keystrokes after the forwarded message was sent, and all of the e-mails she flipped through were returned to their unread status. She stood up and returned to sorting her mail.
The rest of the afternoon was uneventful. Logan showed up thirty minutes before the end of their shift and tortured her until she was counting the seconds before she could run out of the building and hop into Eli's car.
When she went outside, she didn't see Eli's car. Instead, she saw her car, with Eli sitting in the front seat.
She bounded across the parking lot and shot him a grin as she hopped into the passenger seat.
"Hey, lover," she greeted him.
"Hey," he said, before stealing a kiss.
"Where are you taking me?"
"Straight home," he said, looking a little disappointed. "The sheriff expects you home."
"Lamb?"
"Your dad."
Veronica pouted. "He's not the sheriff anymore."
"But he still carries a gun," Eli pointed out.
She smiled a little. "Sorry..."
"He invited me to dinner."
"Oh. I'm really sorry."
"It'll be hard to sit there, in the kitchen where I put you up on the counter and---"
Veronica put her fingers over his mouth. "Don't finish that sentence. It'll be bad enough that you're thinking it. But if we're both thinking it..."
"Maybe I should duck out."
She sighed and shook her head. "No... he definitely knows something's up between us. We should just... suck it up."
"Oh... yeah?"
"If you don't mind being late for your first class of the day," she suggested, "I'll make it up to you... in the girls' bathroom at school..."
"Deal."
She grinned and kissed his cheek. He put the car into gear and pulled out of the parking lot. "So, here are the rules---I'm gonna give them to you now, so you have some time to memorise them---" she was interrupted by Eli's quiet laugh "---firstly, no snide remarks laced with sexual innuendo; secondly, no making dirty eyes at me because then I'll start making dirty eyes back, and then my dad will figure everything out, and then we are sooo in trouble; thirdly, no alluding to touching any part of my body that does not have fingers."
"Any others?"
"Be polite and offer to do the dishes?"
He chuckled. "Yeah, yeah..."
"You two haven't hung out much since I got back from the hospital, anyway," she said quietly. "Maybe he missed you."
"Uh... I doubt it."
Veronica smiled and took his hand, threading her fingers through his. "Well, I appreciate you going through with this," she murmured.
"It's okay," he assured her.
&&&&
Dinner had been awkward and it ended with nothing more than a chaste hug and kiss to her cheek, leaving her frustrated and wanting time alone with her boyfriend.
"So, you and Eli Navarro," Keith said once Eli had been gone for more than five minutes. "Didn't I tell you not to date the local criminal element?"
"No, you told me not to smarten up the local criminal element," she corrected him. "And besides, he's not so criminal anymore."
Keith shot her his signature, fatherly stare. She shot her daughterly stare back at him. He caved after a minute and sighed. "Well, he has been good to you... I'll admit that," he conceded.
"Yes, he has. And he still is. So, if you could not make a bit deal out of this, I'd love you forever," she told him with a sweet smile on her lips and a slightly teasing down in her voice.
He smiled. "Okay. But only because I saw him nearly break down when the doctors didn't think you'd wake up," he said quietly.
"He did?"
"He didn't take your coma very well," Keith admitted.
"He wasn't the only one."
"Don't I know it," he agreed, before hugging her.
She leaned up and kissed his cheek. "Thank you," she murmured. "I know he's not the fortune-five-hundred man you envision me marrying, but right now, he makes me happy."
"You're right, he isn't."
"He makes me happy," she repeated.
Keith nodded. "I know. I'll let it slide for now. But I want you to be careful."
She smiled. "I will."
She kissed his cheek again, and then left the kitchen. She had almost forgotten about the e-mail she had sent herself, but her father called out from the kitchen to tell her he was leaving to meet with Woody at his office.
"Okay... see you later, right?" Veronica called back.
"You bet," he promised, before leaving their apartment.
She picked up her cell phone and called Eli as she logged into her inbox and downloaded her mail.
"How'd it go?" he asked quietly, after they finished with pleasantries.
"Well," Veronica replied, "not too bad. I don't think he's going to rent a church out any time soon, but it's not like we're exactly... there yet, so, I think it went okay."
"He didn't lock you up in a tower somewhere?"
"If he did, I'd throw down my hair," she murmured.
Eli chuckled quietly. "Alright... so what're you up to now?"
"Downloading e-mail that I stole from the mayor," she admitted, her index finger twitching in anticipation over her laptop's trackpad. Eli laughed again, the amused sound tickling her ear. "Predictable, huh?"
"The fact that you're not predictable is what's predictable, V," he told her, still sounding very amused with her antics. "I never know what's gonna come out of your mouth."
She grinned. The e-mail finished downloading and she double-clicked on it. "Well, I hope you don't find my inscrutability too much of a turn off," she said quietly.
"Never. Keeps me on my toes, V."
She smiled, but didn't say anything. She was busy reading the header information attached to the e-mail.
The sender's address was 22679088@cyberbolt.com. There was no way she could guess who the sender was by looking at the address.
"You deep in thought over there?"
"Um... sort of," she murmured. "This e-mail address isn't giving me anything to go on."
"And your eyebrows are drawn down and your lips are doing that pouty thing," he commented quietly.
She smiled again. "You like that face?"
"I like what it does to your lips," he said quietly.
Veronica laughed quietly. "God, I wish you were here..."
"Tomorrow morning, remember?"
She shivered and got as far as the time-date-stamp (May 10th at 11:40 PM) on the e-mail before she had to close her eyes.
"I... I remember," she replied quietly. "I have tardy slips and everything."
"Good."
She opened her eyes and looked at the window open on her computer. "So... you wanna find out what's in the e-mail marked 'Kill incorporation or else,' Eli?" she asked quietly.
"The 'or else' is supposed to be threatening, right?"
"Right..." she replied, her voice trailing off as she studied the audio file. "Okay, here goes nothing---let's see what this whackjob's punching back with."
Eli chuckled and then fell silent, waiting for Veronica to speak again.
She clicked on the audio file; Quicktime started to play it. At first, she heard background audio, people speaking in French. Then, there were clearer English voices.
"We have to tell people what Woody did to the three of us. It's gonna come out someday. A couple of the Sharks had to know about it---they'll come forward. Things like this don't stay secret."
"Damn right," another voice said.
"Woody's a pervert. He's sick! What he did to us is wrong! We were just kids---"
Veronica hit the space bar on her keyboard, pausing the sound file. She felt the blood draining out of her face, her heart clenching in her chest, her hands shaking slightly.
"V?"
"I... I... he..."
"Veronica!"
She swallowed hard and blinked. "I... this is so much bigger than I thought it would be," she mumbled.
"Are you okay?" Eli asked.
She nodded before she spoke. "Y-yeah... I..." she trailed off, not wanting to tell him what was in the file until she could make sense of it herself. "I'm okay," she assured him. "Very surprised. I need to go call my dad."
"Back-up's there with you, right?"
She smiled a little. "Yeah... Dad left him here for me."
"Good."
"You're such a... well, you are a mother hen," she teased.
"Sticks and stones, V."
"I'll see you tomorrow, alright?" she said quietly.
"Yeah," he agreed, "you sure you're okay?"
"I will be when I see you tomorrow," she assured him, smiling a little.
"Okay. If you need anything tonight, gimme a call," he offered before hanging up the phone.
Veronica promised she would and ended the call. She set her phone down and replayed the audio file. Each time she heard them discuss how Woody abused them, her stomach tightened in distress; she whimpered and closed her laptop, before taking it into the living room, where she waited patiently for her father to come home.
TBC...