Title: For the Sake of a Friend, (Logan/Veronica, Meg/Weevil), PG-13, 27/30
Title: For the Sake of a Friend, (Logan/Veronica, Meg/Weevil), PG-13, 27/30
Author: jacedesbff
Pairing/Character: Logan/Veronica, Meg/Weevil, ensemble
Word Count: 7,496
Rating: PG-13 for mild language and sexual situations
Summary: AU from the Pilot; this chapter takes place during “M.A.D.”
Spoilers: Familiarity with Season 1 required.
Disclaimer: Rob Thomas owns all.
All previous chapters may be found at my LJ.
A/N: Okay, at this point we’re going to start deviating more and more from canon. Through most of this episode, we shadow what happened in Season 1, but given the alternate series of events in this universe, “A Trip to the Dentist” would not have happened. So…stick around for the next chapter’s set-up. My ongoing thanks to my most wondermous beta, candlewaxdreams, who really wanted to know if there wasn’t some other way that I could end this chapter. I told her no. Then I asked her to beta it. Moving on! Episode dialogue as always courtesy of Inigo Montoya’s online transcripts.
X-posted all over creation. At the end of this chapter, you KNOW you have to comment! It’s a moral imperative. :-p
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.
Dad-
Found out who our stalker is. Logan stayed to help keep an eye on things. Be careful what you say. We’re being watched.
-V
He looked into Veronica’s room to find his daughter and her protector fully clothed, asleep on top of the covers.
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.
To be continued…
Author: jacedesbff
Pairing/Character: Logan/Veronica, Meg/Weevil, ensemble
Word Count: 7,496
Rating: PG-13 for mild language and sexual situations
Summary: AU from the Pilot; this chapter takes place during “M.A.D.”
Spoilers: Familiarity with Season 1 required.
Disclaimer: Rob Thomas owns all.
All previous chapters may be found at my LJ.
A/N: Okay, at this point we’re going to start deviating more and more from canon. Through most of this episode, we shadow what happened in Season 1, but given the alternate series of events in this universe, “A Trip to the Dentist” would not have happened. So…stick around for the next chapter’s set-up. My ongoing thanks to my most wondermous beta, candlewaxdreams, who really wanted to know if there wasn’t some other way that I could end this chapter. I told her no. Then I asked her to beta it. Moving on! Episode dialogue as always courtesy of Inigo Montoya’s online transcripts.
X-posted all over creation. At the end of this chapter, you KNOW you have to comment! It’s a moral imperative. :-p
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.
Dad-
Found out who our stalker is. Logan stayed to help keep an eye on things. Be careful what you say. We’re being watched.
-V
He looked into Veronica’s room to find his daughter and her protector fully clothed, asleep on top of the covers.
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.
To be continued…