Fic: For the Sake of a Friend, (Logan/Veronica), PG-13, 12/?
Title: For the Sake of a Friend, (Logan/Veronica), PG-13, 12/?
Author: jacedesbff
Pairing/Character: Logan/Veronica, ensemble
Word Count: approx. 4,811
Rating: PG-13; adult situations
Summary: AU from the Pilot; this chapter is through “You Think You Know Somebody”
Spoilers: Familiarity with Season 1 required.
Disclaimer: Rob Thomas owns all.
Previous Chapters: Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11
A/N: Yet another interesting chapter to write. We’re having thunder and lightning in our neck of the woods tonight, so while I read this to Merc4, she didn’t have a chance to get on the computer and beta it. All mistakes are therefore MY fault and not hers. Have no fear, she’ll get online as soon as possible and chide me about all of my grammatical failings! I would have stayed off of the Internet, too, but I couldn’t let rowanlove live in misery any longer than necessary. :-)
Thank you so much to everyone who has commented-you inspire me to keep going! Episode dialogue taken from Inigo Montoya’s online transcripts. Xposted.
Prologue
“You did what?”
“I invited Troy to come to come to Tijuana with Luke and me.”
“And you did this why?”
“Why not? He’s a cool guy.”
“Why not? Maybe because he’s dating your girlfriend? Maybe because you have a pathological hatred of him? Seriously, what were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that your father and I are both going to be out of town and I didn’t want my girlfriend’s fake boyfriend to use that opportunity to try to get his fake girlfriend to have real sex with him.”
Pause.
“Okay, then. Have fun in T.J.”
“Thank you.”
End Prologue
*
Logan had a serious hangover. Tequila would do that to you. He had been determined to out drink Troy-boy and while he had succeeded, he had been paying the price ever since. It was a dubious win.
At the moment, he and Troy were sitting in the car waiting for Luke to get back with his drugs. Logan wasn’t sure if Troy knew that’s what was going on and he didn’t really care. Right now all that concerned him was not dry heaving his small intestines onto the seat in front of him.
“What time is it?” The question penetrated the haze of his misery and managed to make it out of his mouth.
Troy checked his watch. “Um…around eleven.”
“Crap.” Logan pulled his cell phone off of his belt and hit speed dial.
Veronica answered, “Having fun yet?”
Logan suppressed a gag. “Hey, Mom, sorry it’s so late. I forgot to set the TiVo. Will you tape Leno for me?”
“Exactly how drunk are you?”
Why was he dating a private investigator?
“Thanks, Mom. I appreciate it.”
“People with hangovers deserve to be made fun of. You had a drinking contest with him, didn’t you?” Veronica snorted in a very unladylike manner. “Did you at least win?”
“Absolutely. I promise we’ll drive safe.”
“Of course you did. I’ll let you get back to your dry heaving.”
Seriously. How did she know this stuff?
“See ya tomorrow, Mom.”
“I love you. Enjoy your hangover.”
“Love you, too.”
Veronica laughed as she hung up the phone.
Troy looked at Logan as Luke finally approached the car, “Dude, who is on Leno that you have to call your mom from Mexico to have her TiVo it?”
“I have no idea, but I’m pretty sure she was hot.” And with that, Logan returned to huddling miserably in the corner.
Luke rejoined them and the bantering began, Logan making reference to a Mexican hooker his traveling companions thought he had hooked up with. He was so lying. In truth, Logan had gone into the back of the cantina because it was expected of him and because he wanted to get away from Troy. There he had imbibed massive quantities of alcohol which led to him throwing up repeatedly. It was convenient, of course, that neither Luke nor Troy had seen this.
Troy ignored what Logan said and paid attention only to the gagging. “Whoa! What'd I tell you about drool on the leather? Dad's very strict about the car.” Luke laughed and Logan groaned. “He's the only one allowed to dry heave in it. All right. Have we had our fill of Tijuana?”
Simultaneously, Luke said yes and Logan said no. Logan was determined to outlast Troy, hung over or not hung over.
As they made it through the border checkpoint, Logan’s gagging subsided and he started to feel better, so much so that stopping for food on the U.S. side of the border didn’t like sound a death sentence.
And he definitely felt well enough to be entertained by the disappearance of Troy’s father’s car.
“Maybe it's like Brigadoon. If you come back in a hundred years, it'll be right back in this spot.” Neither Troy nor Luke shared his amusement.
Logan’s happy place went away, however, when Troy called Veronica to come pick them up. His bad mood only intensified when Veronica pulled up and started flirting with Troy. That frustration helped feed his particularly obnoxious interaction with his girlfriend as they drove back to Neptune and he was forced listen to Veronica and Troy lament Troy’s imminent departure to Catholic school. Logan wasn’t sure what they were so upset about-it sounded like a good idea to him.
When Veronica pulled up to Logan’s Xterra, he finally felt like they had a moment as she teased him by gunning her car engine as he passed in front of the LeBaron. He hated sharing her.
As Veronica drove away with Troy, Luke distracted Logan from his murderous intentions by asking to crash in the Echolls’ pool house. Luke’s drugs had obviously been stolen along with the car, Logan realized. Bummer.
*
Logan was in his room asleep when his cell phone woke him up. He didn’t even have a chance to say hello before Veronica launched into a tirade.
“My dad is dating Ms. James. Ms James!”
“What? Who?”
He woke up more fully as Veronica detailed the phone message from their school counselor that she had intercepted. Not much was required of Logan as he listened to Veronica rant about how her father was dating someone when he hadn’t even tried to find her mother. Logan made comments when Veronica seemed to need them, but his mind kept wandering.
Veronica had called him. When she needed someone to be there for her, she had called him. He was actually happy that he had been woken up by his girlfriend calling to vent about her day. Troy might be the last person left in her car, but Logan was the first one on her list. Logan trusted Veronica implicitly, but that wasn’t the point. He still had to watch her with another guy. As he listened to his girlfriend go on some more about how her dad should have told her the truth about his dinner date, the thought on Logan’s mind was that he really was first with her.
Veronica apologized for waking him up and said she had to go. As he fell back to sleep, Logan smiled. She had called him first.
*
When Logan saw Veronica the next morning at school, however, she looked unhappy. She had been fine by the time they had talked the night before, so something else must have happened. He would have to pull her into their office after lunch.
“Hey, man,” Luke said as he sat down with his cafeteria tray next to Logan.
“Dude, why are you eating that crap? We just ordered Chinese.”
Luke ignored the question. “The steroids were in the piñata in Troy’s car. I just asked Veronica Mars to help me find them.” At the look on Logan’s face, Luke defended himself. “Have you ever seen Hank Zigmund? That guy will kill me. Literally. I had to get help from someone and everyone says that Veronica’s really good at that stuff-like in a weird way.”
“What did you tell her?”
“What?” Luke leaned towards Logan and lowered his voice. “About the drugs? What do you think I told her? That I bought them for Hank and that the guy’s gonna break my legs if I don’t deliver them.”
“No,” Logan spoke very slowly. “What did you tell her about what Troy and I knew?”
Luke looked askance at Logan. What did that matter? “I told her that you knew and Troy didn’t. I mean, Troy knew, but I didn’t want him to get in trouble with his girlfriend.”
Logan spent the rest of the school day going out of his way to avoid his now even-more-pissed-off girlfriend. After school, he hung out at Duncan’s place. He couldn’t avoid Veronica forever, though, and when he got home at about 9:30, Veronica was sitting on his bed doing homework.
“Hey, big boy,” she said, shutting her literature book. “Been at the gym?”
Logan stood up straight. He was never one to back away from a fight, even if it was with one of the few people who had the ability to scare the hell out of him.
“It wasn’t like that.”
“Oh, yeah? What was it like? You were just along for the ride. You know, the one where you transported illegal narcotics across international borders?! What were you thinking?!” she yelled.
“I was thinking that a buddy of mine needed help! That’s what friends do!” He yelled right back.
“Friends don’t let friends drive drunk, Logan. They don’t help each other violate international law!”
“Luke said he had to take a trip to Mexico to pick up some stuff and he wanted some company. It wasn’t a big deal.” Logan threw his stuff on the floor and stalked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.
He should have known better than to think that would stop Veronica Mars.
She opened the door as he was doing his business.
“Veronica!” he shouted. There were some things your girlfriend didn’t need to watch, no matter how much you loved her.
“Did you even stop to think about me?” she asked in that quiet tone he had come recognize as Veronica at her most dangerous.
How was he supposed to finish up with Veronica watching? Whatever. She was the one who had walked in on him.
“What are you talking about?” he asked as he washed his hands.
“What if you had been arrested?” Logan walked past her and back into his bedroom as she continued. “Maybe imprisonment in a Mexican jail doesn’t scare you, but it scares me. Do you have any idea what they’re like? What could happen to you? You and my dad are all that I have! If you don’t care about yourself, at least care about me!”
She had his attention. “Veronica, we were fine. I’m here, see? Nothing happened.”
“But it could have. Don’t you get it? Why don’t you understand how much I need you?” And with that she stormed out of his room, slamming the door behind her.
Veronica was so mad at him when she left that Logan debated as to whether or not he should call her at 11:00, but they hadn’t missed a night in almost a year and he wasn’t going to break tradition now.
He was afraid that she wouldn’t pick up, but she answered on the first ring.
“I wasn’t sure you’d call.”
“So you’re speaking to me?”
“No.” There was a pause. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow. I love you, Veronica.”
She sighed. “I know. But I need you to act like it.” And she hung up the phone.
*
The next day, Veronica actually approached him at his locker in full view of the world. Given the situation, however, it would have seemed strange if she hadn’t, her having a reputation as a good detective and all.
“Time for a chat?” she opened.
Life would be much simpler if he didn’t have to figure out the hidden meaning in every sentence that passed between the two of them.
”Well, you’d think if hell froze over, maybe it'd be on the news.”
”I just wanna hear more about the steroids you bought last weekend.”
That one? Not so much subtext.
Okay, time to remind her that he had not, in fact, purchased narcotics. ”You mean the steroids Luke bought. Wow! You suck at this Nancy Drew stuff. You should get a new hobby.” Where was Duncan when you needed him? This would go so far towards keeping Veronica’s ex convinced that the she and Logan hated each other.
”So you knew he was doing it.”
As Logan gave a suitably obnoxious response, Troy walked up behind him. So Logan had a choice-keep arguing with his girlfriend or leave her alone with her fake boyfriend. Hello, rock, meet hard place. Like he really had a choice. “Hmm, I guess we're done here, Officer. What up, T?” Touch my girlfriend and I’ll kill you.
He gave Veronica a significant look as he walked away. He heard Veronica dismiss his presence to Troy as she kissed him in greeting. He literally felt his blood boil as he ducked into the janitor’s closet.
Moments later, Veronica passed by the slightly cracked door alone, Troy having gone into his classroom. Logan pulled her into the closet with him, shutting the door and leaving them in darkness.
“I thought we weren’t meeting in here anymore,” she said as Logan pushed her up against the wall and put his arms on either side of her head.
“And I thought you weren’t speaking to me.” He leaned in and breathed the words into her ear. He knew what her buttons were.
Judging by the increased rate of her breathing, even her being mad at him couldn’t stop her from responding to him.
“You scared me, Logan.”
“I’m sorry. You know I would never do that to you on purpose.” He trailed one finger lightly down her arm, feeling the goose bumps spring up as he did so.
“But do you know how to make sure that it doesn’t happen again?” She clutched at his arms; he couldn’t tell whether it was in excitement or frustration. Maybe it was both.
“What do you mean?” He ran his finger back up her arm, keeping that the only place where he was touching her.
“Don’t do things that could get you hurt, or in trouble, or taken away. Don’t just think about the moment. Think about me. Please.” There was a note of desperation in Veronica’s voice that Logan hadn’t heard since before Shelley’s party, before she had changed. “I need you to remember me when you’re making decisions. I know that’s a lot to ask. I know it is, but I need you to do that. For me. Can you do that?”
Logan ran his fingers through her hair, tangling them together and bringing his forehead to hers. He couldn’t lie to her, but he couldn’t let her down, either. “I’m not perfect, Veronica.” He felt her tense beneath him. “But I will try. I promise you that I will try my very hardest to be a better person for you.” Veronica’s hands moved to his head and she pulled him down for a hard kiss.
Logan worried sometimes that he loved her too much, that his feelings for her went too far. Words like the ones that she had just spoken might scare some guys, but to him it meant that she loved him as much as he loved her. And he would do anything to keep that. He would do anything for her.
They came up for air, his fingers still wrapped in her hair, her arms around him, and they took a moment to simply be together, to savor each other’s presence, feel, smell, touch.
“I’m going to be late for Bio,” Veronica said with more than a trace of reluctance in her voice.
“Calculus,” inserted Logan and he kissed her again, lightly this time.
“This Troy thing,” she said tentatively, “it’s just a distraction. It’s not real.”
“I know,” he ceded. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
“I’d worry if you did,” she said, and he could hear the smile in her voice. She kissed him again and sighed as he pulled away, his hand moving to take hers.
Veronica opened the door and discreetly looked both ways down the hall before moving to exit, her hand slowly leaving Logan’s. He followed a few seconds behind her, moving in the other direction.
Duncan watched the two of them exit the closet from his post around the corner. He didn't see why everyone made such a big deal about him trying to kill himself. He'd been dead for a year, anyway. First he lost Veronica, then Lilly, then Logan and Veronica (he got to lose her twice). His mind usually consisted of nothing more than white noise. The only reason he had to get out of bed was watching. Watching Logan and Veronica. To see what happened next.
So he watched his best friend and the girl he loved move out of his sight. And he stayed silent. After all, he wanted to see what happened next.
*
“So how was the rest of your day?”
“Well, Ms. James broke my mom’s favorite bowl, Weevil took me to the family chop shop, and I scared the crap out of a bunch of elementary school kids trying to have a birthday party. You?”
Logan laughed. “Nothing that can compare to all that. You holding up okay?”
“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “Can you come over tomorrow night? I need your help with something.”
“I’ll be there,” he assured her as she had known that he would.
*
“Do you think she’ll call you?” Not that Veronica would know the answer, but Logan still had to ask as he helped her affix labels on the envelopes.
“I hope so,” Veronica answered, sounding resigned. “I want to know who sent her those pictures. Why would someone do that? Why her? Why me?”
As she copied down another address, Logan leaned over and kissed her on the cheek as he took another stack of envelopes.
An hour later they were done, but neither of them was ready for Logan to leave, so they sat down to watch Office Space, a movie which the two of them had recently discovered was hilarious. Once they got comfortable, sleep won out over the trials of the cubicle bound until about 3:30 a.m. when Logan woke up with a start.
“Veronica?” he said softly. “Veronica.” The girl in his arms stirred and snuggled in closer to him. “Veronica, you have to go to bed. We have school tomorrow.”
“What time is it?” she muttered.
Logan looked at the clock on the VCR. “About 3:30.”
Veronica groaned and then suddenly sat up. “Where’s my dad?” She jumped up and was heading for the phone when Logan stopped her.
“Um, Veronica?”
She stopped. “What?”
“He’s-“ he hesitated.
“What? Do you know something?” Veronica said in a rush, anxious to find out where her dad was.
“He’s probably with Ms. James.”
Veronica visibly deflated.
“Oh. Right.”
Logan stood up stiffly. “I’m sorry, Veronica.”
“Don’t be. He has a right to be happy, doesn’t he? It’s just…hard, I guess.”
Logan walked over to the petite blonde and took her in his arms, wishing that he could make all of her problems go away.
He kissed her on the top of her head. “I’d better go. We don’t want your dad coming home to find me still here.”
“Ever heard that expression about glass houses? I’m not sure he’d be able to say anything,” Veronica said as she held on tighter as Logan tried to step away from her.
Logan laughed. “I’m not sure that your dad would see it that way.”
Veronica dropped her head to Logan’s chest and smiled. “Probably not.” She leaned up and kissed him again. “Drive safe.”
“I will. Call me if you need anything. And don’t worry-your dad will be home any minute.”
“He’d better be.”
Logan left as Veronica waited for her dad.
*
The next day, Wallace watched as Troy and Veronica sat together at lunch. Veronica looked worried while Troy acted like he didn’t have a care in the world.
What was up with that guy?
Wallace’s feelings towards Veronica, while in no way romantic, were complicated. She was his closest friend in Neptune and an awesome person, so he had her back, which meant that he wanted to make sure that Troy treated her right. Wallace also looked at Veronica as something of a sister, which meant that he wanted to make sure that Troy didn’t break her heart. And while he couldn’t put his finger on it, something didn’t seem quite right about Troy. He wasn’t like Logan Echolls, full-fledged psychotic jackass, but Wallace wasn’t quite buying Troy as perfect-boyfriend-guy, either.
Wallace nonchalantly wandered over to where his friend and her boyfriend were sitting in time to hear Troy lament being sent off to Catholic school. That’s it. It was time to call him on it.
“I don't get something. Why are your parents sending you off to prison school in Albuquerque? Seriously. What's wrong with a good old-fashioned grounding?”
Troy gave him a condescending look. “I'll get them to call you. Get some parenting advice.”
Whatever.
“Happy to help.” But as he walked away, Wallace had the feeling that something was off. He just wish he knew what it was.
*
Duncan sat in a chair in the empty office across the hall from Mars Investigations. Through the walls, he could hear Veronica and her father arguing passionately about something, but he couldn’t tell what they were saying.
He was going to have to do something about that.
*
That night Logan made an unannounced visit to Veronica’s apartment.
“Veronica!” Keith called from the front door, his voice lacking its usual bounce. “There’s a gang member here to see you.”
“Which one?” asked Veronica as she came out of her room.
“The one who didn’t leave until 3:30 this morning,” said her dad as he walked past her into his room and shut the door.
Logan and Veronica looked at each other and shrugged, no clue as to how the man knew these things.
Veronica crossed to the tall young man as he took off his sunglasses and hoodie, welcoming him more cordially than her father had done, immediately sensing that something was wrong.
“What?” she asked, stepping back and looking up at him.
“You know I trust you, right?” he looked her in the eye.
“Yeah…” she said, sensing that this was not going in a good direction.
“But I don’t trust Troy.”
“We’ve established that,” she affirmed, not breaking eye contact.
“So I made some calls.” Logan stepped past her, moving further into the apartment.
“What kind of calls?”
“To people who used to go to school with Troy in Boston and Hartford.” Logan took a deep breath and turned around. “It’s not good.”
Veronica sighed. While she didn’t like Troy, she had wanted to believe that he was a decent guy. “Tell me.”
Logan proceeded to spin a saga of drugs, sex, and a spoiled rich kid who thought his money gave him the right to do whatever he wanted, whenever he felt like it, to whomever got in his way. Troy made some of Neptune’s finest look like first graders trying to sell cupcakes laced with ground-up caffeine pills. This guy was way out of Neptune’s league.
When Logan finished, they sat on the couch together, both lost in thought.
“I can’t believe I let him get close to you.”
“What?” Veronica started from her reverie.
“Deep down I respected him-for seeing past the rumors to who you really were. I thought he deserved you. I should have found out all of this weeks ago. I never should have let him get anywhere near you.”
Veronica rested her head on Logan’s shoulder. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
Logan took her hand in his. “I feel like I let you down.”
“Never,” his girlfriend answered. “I should have known better than to believe that anyone besides you or my dad could be trusted.”
Keith stood out of sight in the doorway to his bedroom, having heard Logan’s colorful tale of Troy’s true nature. He thought about everything that his daughter had been through and everything that she was still doing to protect the people around her. As Veronica’s father, it should have been him that found out the truth about the Vandergraff boy. It shouldn’t have had to fall to Logan to expose that kid for who he really was.
How do fathers do it? he wondered. How do men learn to let other men love their little girls?
Logan was obviously working out, but Troy was every father’s nightmare. And Logan had taken a lot of work to get where he was. But it looked like Keith was going to have to give Logan a little more respect. His daughter’s boyfriend had earned it. And Keith was going to have to be a more conscientious father.
*
Logan observed from down the hall as Veronica confronted Troy the next morning. The night before he and Veronica had pieced together what had really happened and had gone on a late night road trip to set in motion their plan to set things right.
After school when Veronica went to meet Hank, Logan pretended to read brochures at the reception desk. While he had ultimate respect for Backup’s abilities, Logan wasn’t about to let Veronica walk up to that hopped-up ‘roid rager without her boyfriend behind her.
After they finished setting up both Troy and Hank, Logan went home to allow Veronica time to celebrate her dad’s birthday with the man. He had the feeling that the two of them needed some daddy-daughter time.
*
Later, Veronica drove the Mazda to Logan’s house, her mind on what her father had done. She knew that he liked her school counselor and that the only reason he had broken up with her was Veronica’s inability to deal with the relationship. She felt horrible, but she couldn’t bring herself to give up on her parents’ marriage. Not yet.
As she walked through the Echolls’ mansion on the way to Logan’s room, she stopped in the kitchen.
“Mrs. Navarro, are you okay?” she asked as she put her hand on the shoulder of Weevil’s grandmother, who looked like she was about to start crying in the middle of doing the dishes.
A sob escaped the older woman’s mouth. “It’s my oldest daughter, Maria. She lives in L.A. and she just got checked into the hospital. The doctors are afraid it might be cancer. I want to go up to be with her, but Eli has food poisoning and can barely get out of bed and I don’t want the little ones to see their aunt so sick in the hospital. There’s no one that I can leave them with for more than a few hours…” Her voice trailed off as she turned her attention back to the dishes and tried to hold back her tears.
Finally, thought Veronica. Someone I can help.
Veronica pulled out her cell phone and looked up a number.
Mrs. Navarro looked up as Veronica began explaining the situation to the person on the other end of the line.
“You’re sure you don’t mind? I know it’s not in your usual part of town…I should have known you wouldn’t care… Thanks, Meg.” Veronica gave her friend the Navarro’s address and hung up.
“All taken care of. Meg is an experienced babysitter and probably the kindest and most responsible person on the planet, not just in Neptune. Go see your daughter, Mrs. Navarro. She needs you. Meg will take care of the kids. I’ll even finish the dishes for you.”
“You’re an angel!” cried Weevil’s grandmother, pulling Veronica in for a big hug.
Veronica smiled as the housekeeper got her things together and rushed out the back door, eager to get to her ailing daughter.
“Is there anything you can’t do?”
Veronica turned around to see Logan leaning against the other side of the bar.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said as she turned to finish the dishes as promised. There wasn’t much left to do besides rinse off some pots and pans and turn on the dishwasher.
“You foil drug dealers of all ages, save the leg bones of teenagers, keep babysitters employed, help old ladies take care of their sick children, and you love me. I mean, really, Veronica, Wonder Woman has nothing on you.”
Veronica didn’t say anything as she wiped off a pot. Logan walked up next to her and picked up a pan and a towel to dry it with. Veronica raised her eyebrows at him.
“What? I will have you know that this is not the first time I have washed dishes.”
Veronica put her hands on her hips and looked at him in disbelief.
“Trina bet me twenty bucks that I couldn’t get the dishwasher to work. I won.” He gave her his trademark grin as he put the last pan away.
Veronica laughed as she got out a dishwasher pellet, put it in the appliance and started it up. Then she turned to look at him.
“Betcha twenty bucks I can keep my clothes on longer than you can.”
“You win,” he said with a grin as he chased her into his room.
Because she forgot her messenger bag in the kitchen, Veronica didn’t hear her cell phone ring. She was with someone who loved her, though, and he held her when she got her mom’s message.
To be continued.
Author: jacedesbff
Pairing/Character: Logan/Veronica, ensemble
Word Count: approx. 4,811
Rating: PG-13; adult situations
Summary: AU from the Pilot; this chapter is through “You Think You Know Somebody”
Spoilers: Familiarity with Season 1 required.
Disclaimer: Rob Thomas owns all.
Previous Chapters: Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11
A/N: Yet another interesting chapter to write. We’re having thunder and lightning in our neck of the woods tonight, so while I read this to Merc4, she didn’t have a chance to get on the computer and beta it. All mistakes are therefore MY fault and not hers. Have no fear, she’ll get online as soon as possible and chide me about all of my grammatical failings! I would have stayed off of the Internet, too, but I couldn’t let rowanlove live in misery any longer than necessary. :-)
Thank you so much to everyone who has commented-you inspire me to keep going! Episode dialogue taken from Inigo Montoya’s online transcripts. Xposted.
Prologue
“You did what?”
“I invited Troy to come to come to Tijuana with Luke and me.”
“And you did this why?”
“Why not? He’s a cool guy.”
“Why not? Maybe because he’s dating your girlfriend? Maybe because you have a pathological hatred of him? Seriously, what were you thinking?”
“I was thinking that your father and I are both going to be out of town and I didn’t want my girlfriend’s fake boyfriend to use that opportunity to try to get his fake girlfriend to have real sex with him.”
Pause.
“Okay, then. Have fun in T.J.”
“Thank you.”
End Prologue
*
Logan had a serious hangover. Tequila would do that to you. He had been determined to out drink Troy-boy and while he had succeeded, he had been paying the price ever since. It was a dubious win.
At the moment, he and Troy were sitting in the car waiting for Luke to get back with his drugs. Logan wasn’t sure if Troy knew that’s what was going on and he didn’t really care. Right now all that concerned him was not dry heaving his small intestines onto the seat in front of him.
“What time is it?” The question penetrated the haze of his misery and managed to make it out of his mouth.
Troy checked his watch. “Um…around eleven.”
“Crap.” Logan pulled his cell phone off of his belt and hit speed dial.
Veronica answered, “Having fun yet?”
Logan suppressed a gag. “Hey, Mom, sorry it’s so late. I forgot to set the TiVo. Will you tape Leno for me?”
“Exactly how drunk are you?”
Why was he dating a private investigator?
“Thanks, Mom. I appreciate it.”
“People with hangovers deserve to be made fun of. You had a drinking contest with him, didn’t you?” Veronica snorted in a very unladylike manner. “Did you at least win?”
“Absolutely. I promise we’ll drive safe.”
“Of course you did. I’ll let you get back to your dry heaving.”
Seriously. How did she know this stuff?
“See ya tomorrow, Mom.”
“I love you. Enjoy your hangover.”
“Love you, too.”
Veronica laughed as she hung up the phone.
Troy looked at Logan as Luke finally approached the car, “Dude, who is on Leno that you have to call your mom from Mexico to have her TiVo it?”
“I have no idea, but I’m pretty sure she was hot.” And with that, Logan returned to huddling miserably in the corner.
Luke rejoined them and the bantering began, Logan making reference to a Mexican hooker his traveling companions thought he had hooked up with. He was so lying. In truth, Logan had gone into the back of the cantina because it was expected of him and because he wanted to get away from Troy. There he had imbibed massive quantities of alcohol which led to him throwing up repeatedly. It was convenient, of course, that neither Luke nor Troy had seen this.
Troy ignored what Logan said and paid attention only to the gagging. “Whoa! What'd I tell you about drool on the leather? Dad's very strict about the car.” Luke laughed and Logan groaned. “He's the only one allowed to dry heave in it. All right. Have we had our fill of Tijuana?”
Simultaneously, Luke said yes and Logan said no. Logan was determined to outlast Troy, hung over or not hung over.
As they made it through the border checkpoint, Logan’s gagging subsided and he started to feel better, so much so that stopping for food on the U.S. side of the border didn’t like sound a death sentence.
And he definitely felt well enough to be entertained by the disappearance of Troy’s father’s car.
“Maybe it's like Brigadoon. If you come back in a hundred years, it'll be right back in this spot.” Neither Troy nor Luke shared his amusement.
Logan’s happy place went away, however, when Troy called Veronica to come pick them up. His bad mood only intensified when Veronica pulled up and started flirting with Troy. That frustration helped feed his particularly obnoxious interaction with his girlfriend as they drove back to Neptune and he was forced listen to Veronica and Troy lament Troy’s imminent departure to Catholic school. Logan wasn’t sure what they were so upset about-it sounded like a good idea to him.
When Veronica pulled up to Logan’s Xterra, he finally felt like they had a moment as she teased him by gunning her car engine as he passed in front of the LeBaron. He hated sharing her.
As Veronica drove away with Troy, Luke distracted Logan from his murderous intentions by asking to crash in the Echolls’ pool house. Luke’s drugs had obviously been stolen along with the car, Logan realized. Bummer.
*
Logan was in his room asleep when his cell phone woke him up. He didn’t even have a chance to say hello before Veronica launched into a tirade.
“My dad is dating Ms. James. Ms James!”
“What? Who?”
He woke up more fully as Veronica detailed the phone message from their school counselor that she had intercepted. Not much was required of Logan as he listened to Veronica rant about how her father was dating someone when he hadn’t even tried to find her mother. Logan made comments when Veronica seemed to need them, but his mind kept wandering.
Veronica had called him. When she needed someone to be there for her, she had called him. He was actually happy that he had been woken up by his girlfriend calling to vent about her day. Troy might be the last person left in her car, but Logan was the first one on her list. Logan trusted Veronica implicitly, but that wasn’t the point. He still had to watch her with another guy. As he listened to his girlfriend go on some more about how her dad should have told her the truth about his dinner date, the thought on Logan’s mind was that he really was first with her.
Veronica apologized for waking him up and said she had to go. As he fell back to sleep, Logan smiled. She had called him first.
*
When Logan saw Veronica the next morning at school, however, she looked unhappy. She had been fine by the time they had talked the night before, so something else must have happened. He would have to pull her into their office after lunch.
“Hey, man,” Luke said as he sat down with his cafeteria tray next to Logan.
“Dude, why are you eating that crap? We just ordered Chinese.”
Luke ignored the question. “The steroids were in the piñata in Troy’s car. I just asked Veronica Mars to help me find them.” At the look on Logan’s face, Luke defended himself. “Have you ever seen Hank Zigmund? That guy will kill me. Literally. I had to get help from someone and everyone says that Veronica’s really good at that stuff-like in a weird way.”
“What did you tell her?”
“What?” Luke leaned towards Logan and lowered his voice. “About the drugs? What do you think I told her? That I bought them for Hank and that the guy’s gonna break my legs if I don’t deliver them.”
“No,” Logan spoke very slowly. “What did you tell her about what Troy and I knew?”
Luke looked askance at Logan. What did that matter? “I told her that you knew and Troy didn’t. I mean, Troy knew, but I didn’t want him to get in trouble with his girlfriend.”
Logan spent the rest of the school day going out of his way to avoid his now even-more-pissed-off girlfriend. After school, he hung out at Duncan’s place. He couldn’t avoid Veronica forever, though, and when he got home at about 9:30, Veronica was sitting on his bed doing homework.
“Hey, big boy,” she said, shutting her literature book. “Been at the gym?”
Logan stood up straight. He was never one to back away from a fight, even if it was with one of the few people who had the ability to scare the hell out of him.
“It wasn’t like that.”
“Oh, yeah? What was it like? You were just along for the ride. You know, the one where you transported illegal narcotics across international borders?! What were you thinking?!” she yelled.
“I was thinking that a buddy of mine needed help! That’s what friends do!” He yelled right back.
“Friends don’t let friends drive drunk, Logan. They don’t help each other violate international law!”
“Luke said he had to take a trip to Mexico to pick up some stuff and he wanted some company. It wasn’t a big deal.” Logan threw his stuff on the floor and stalked into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.
He should have known better than to think that would stop Veronica Mars.
She opened the door as he was doing his business.
“Veronica!” he shouted. There were some things your girlfriend didn’t need to watch, no matter how much you loved her.
“Did you even stop to think about me?” she asked in that quiet tone he had come recognize as Veronica at her most dangerous.
How was he supposed to finish up with Veronica watching? Whatever. She was the one who had walked in on him.
“What are you talking about?” he asked as he washed his hands.
“What if you had been arrested?” Logan walked past her and back into his bedroom as she continued. “Maybe imprisonment in a Mexican jail doesn’t scare you, but it scares me. Do you have any idea what they’re like? What could happen to you? You and my dad are all that I have! If you don’t care about yourself, at least care about me!”
She had his attention. “Veronica, we were fine. I’m here, see? Nothing happened.”
“But it could have. Don’t you get it? Why don’t you understand how much I need you?” And with that she stormed out of his room, slamming the door behind her.
Veronica was so mad at him when she left that Logan debated as to whether or not he should call her at 11:00, but they hadn’t missed a night in almost a year and he wasn’t going to break tradition now.
He was afraid that she wouldn’t pick up, but she answered on the first ring.
“I wasn’t sure you’d call.”
“So you’re speaking to me?”
“No.” There was a pause. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“See you tomorrow. I love you, Veronica.”
She sighed. “I know. But I need you to act like it.” And she hung up the phone.
*
The next day, Veronica actually approached him at his locker in full view of the world. Given the situation, however, it would have seemed strange if she hadn’t, her having a reputation as a good detective and all.
“Time for a chat?” she opened.
Life would be much simpler if he didn’t have to figure out the hidden meaning in every sentence that passed between the two of them.
”Well, you’d think if hell froze over, maybe it'd be on the news.”
”I just wanna hear more about the steroids you bought last weekend.”
That one? Not so much subtext.
Okay, time to remind her that he had not, in fact, purchased narcotics. ”You mean the steroids Luke bought. Wow! You suck at this Nancy Drew stuff. You should get a new hobby.” Where was Duncan when you needed him? This would go so far towards keeping Veronica’s ex convinced that the she and Logan hated each other.
”So you knew he was doing it.”
As Logan gave a suitably obnoxious response, Troy walked up behind him. So Logan had a choice-keep arguing with his girlfriend or leave her alone with her fake boyfriend. Hello, rock, meet hard place. Like he really had a choice. “Hmm, I guess we're done here, Officer. What up, T?” Touch my girlfriend and I’ll kill you.
He gave Veronica a significant look as he walked away. He heard Veronica dismiss his presence to Troy as she kissed him in greeting. He literally felt his blood boil as he ducked into the janitor’s closet.
Moments later, Veronica passed by the slightly cracked door alone, Troy having gone into his classroom. Logan pulled her into the closet with him, shutting the door and leaving them in darkness.
“I thought we weren’t meeting in here anymore,” she said as Logan pushed her up against the wall and put his arms on either side of her head.
“And I thought you weren’t speaking to me.” He leaned in and breathed the words into her ear. He knew what her buttons were.
Judging by the increased rate of her breathing, even her being mad at him couldn’t stop her from responding to him.
“You scared me, Logan.”
“I’m sorry. You know I would never do that to you on purpose.” He trailed one finger lightly down her arm, feeling the goose bumps spring up as he did so.
“But do you know how to make sure that it doesn’t happen again?” She clutched at his arms; he couldn’t tell whether it was in excitement or frustration. Maybe it was both.
“What do you mean?” He ran his finger back up her arm, keeping that the only place where he was touching her.
“Don’t do things that could get you hurt, or in trouble, or taken away. Don’t just think about the moment. Think about me. Please.” There was a note of desperation in Veronica’s voice that Logan hadn’t heard since before Shelley’s party, before she had changed. “I need you to remember me when you’re making decisions. I know that’s a lot to ask. I know it is, but I need you to do that. For me. Can you do that?”
Logan ran his fingers through her hair, tangling them together and bringing his forehead to hers. He couldn’t lie to her, but he couldn’t let her down, either. “I’m not perfect, Veronica.” He felt her tense beneath him. “But I will try. I promise you that I will try my very hardest to be a better person for you.” Veronica’s hands moved to his head and she pulled him down for a hard kiss.
Logan worried sometimes that he loved her too much, that his feelings for her went too far. Words like the ones that she had just spoken might scare some guys, but to him it meant that she loved him as much as he loved her. And he would do anything to keep that. He would do anything for her.
They came up for air, his fingers still wrapped in her hair, her arms around him, and they took a moment to simply be together, to savor each other’s presence, feel, smell, touch.
“I’m going to be late for Bio,” Veronica said with more than a trace of reluctance in her voice.
“Calculus,” inserted Logan and he kissed her again, lightly this time.
“This Troy thing,” she said tentatively, “it’s just a distraction. It’s not real.”
“I know,” he ceded. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”
“I’d worry if you did,” she said, and he could hear the smile in her voice. She kissed him again and sighed as he pulled away, his hand moving to take hers.
Veronica opened the door and discreetly looked both ways down the hall before moving to exit, her hand slowly leaving Logan’s. He followed a few seconds behind her, moving in the other direction.
Duncan watched the two of them exit the closet from his post around the corner. He didn't see why everyone made such a big deal about him trying to kill himself. He'd been dead for a year, anyway. First he lost Veronica, then Lilly, then Logan and Veronica (he got to lose her twice). His mind usually consisted of nothing more than white noise. The only reason he had to get out of bed was watching. Watching Logan and Veronica. To see what happened next.
So he watched his best friend and the girl he loved move out of his sight. And he stayed silent. After all, he wanted to see what happened next.
*
“So how was the rest of your day?”
“Well, Ms. James broke my mom’s favorite bowl, Weevil took me to the family chop shop, and I scared the crap out of a bunch of elementary school kids trying to have a birthday party. You?”
Logan laughed. “Nothing that can compare to all that. You holding up okay?”
“I don’t know,” she answered honestly. “Can you come over tomorrow night? I need your help with something.”
“I’ll be there,” he assured her as she had known that he would.
*
“Do you think she’ll call you?” Not that Veronica would know the answer, but Logan still had to ask as he helped her affix labels on the envelopes.
“I hope so,” Veronica answered, sounding resigned. “I want to know who sent her those pictures. Why would someone do that? Why her? Why me?”
As she copied down another address, Logan leaned over and kissed her on the cheek as he took another stack of envelopes.
An hour later they were done, but neither of them was ready for Logan to leave, so they sat down to watch Office Space, a movie which the two of them had recently discovered was hilarious. Once they got comfortable, sleep won out over the trials of the cubicle bound until about 3:30 a.m. when Logan woke up with a start.
“Veronica?” he said softly. “Veronica.” The girl in his arms stirred and snuggled in closer to him. “Veronica, you have to go to bed. We have school tomorrow.”
“What time is it?” she muttered.
Logan looked at the clock on the VCR. “About 3:30.”
Veronica groaned and then suddenly sat up. “Where’s my dad?” She jumped up and was heading for the phone when Logan stopped her.
“Um, Veronica?”
She stopped. “What?”
“He’s-“ he hesitated.
“What? Do you know something?” Veronica said in a rush, anxious to find out where her dad was.
“He’s probably with Ms. James.”
Veronica visibly deflated.
“Oh. Right.”
Logan stood up stiffly. “I’m sorry, Veronica.”
“Don’t be. He has a right to be happy, doesn’t he? It’s just…hard, I guess.”
Logan walked over to the petite blonde and took her in his arms, wishing that he could make all of her problems go away.
He kissed her on the top of her head. “I’d better go. We don’t want your dad coming home to find me still here.”
“Ever heard that expression about glass houses? I’m not sure he’d be able to say anything,” Veronica said as she held on tighter as Logan tried to step away from her.
Logan laughed. “I’m not sure that your dad would see it that way.”
Veronica dropped her head to Logan’s chest and smiled. “Probably not.” She leaned up and kissed him again. “Drive safe.”
“I will. Call me if you need anything. And don’t worry-your dad will be home any minute.”
“He’d better be.”
Logan left as Veronica waited for her dad.
*
The next day, Wallace watched as Troy and Veronica sat together at lunch. Veronica looked worried while Troy acted like he didn’t have a care in the world.
What was up with that guy?
Wallace’s feelings towards Veronica, while in no way romantic, were complicated. She was his closest friend in Neptune and an awesome person, so he had her back, which meant that he wanted to make sure that Troy treated her right. Wallace also looked at Veronica as something of a sister, which meant that he wanted to make sure that Troy didn’t break her heart. And while he couldn’t put his finger on it, something didn’t seem quite right about Troy. He wasn’t like Logan Echolls, full-fledged psychotic jackass, but Wallace wasn’t quite buying Troy as perfect-boyfriend-guy, either.
Wallace nonchalantly wandered over to where his friend and her boyfriend were sitting in time to hear Troy lament being sent off to Catholic school. That’s it. It was time to call him on it.
“I don't get something. Why are your parents sending you off to prison school in Albuquerque? Seriously. What's wrong with a good old-fashioned grounding?”
Troy gave him a condescending look. “I'll get them to call you. Get some parenting advice.”
Whatever.
“Happy to help.” But as he walked away, Wallace had the feeling that something was off. He just wish he knew what it was.
*
Duncan sat in a chair in the empty office across the hall from Mars Investigations. Through the walls, he could hear Veronica and her father arguing passionately about something, but he couldn’t tell what they were saying.
He was going to have to do something about that.
*
That night Logan made an unannounced visit to Veronica’s apartment.
“Veronica!” Keith called from the front door, his voice lacking its usual bounce. “There’s a gang member here to see you.”
“Which one?” asked Veronica as she came out of her room.
“The one who didn’t leave until 3:30 this morning,” said her dad as he walked past her into his room and shut the door.
Logan and Veronica looked at each other and shrugged, no clue as to how the man knew these things.
Veronica crossed to the tall young man as he took off his sunglasses and hoodie, welcoming him more cordially than her father had done, immediately sensing that something was wrong.
“What?” she asked, stepping back and looking up at him.
“You know I trust you, right?” he looked her in the eye.
“Yeah…” she said, sensing that this was not going in a good direction.
“But I don’t trust Troy.”
“We’ve established that,” she affirmed, not breaking eye contact.
“So I made some calls.” Logan stepped past her, moving further into the apartment.
“What kind of calls?”
“To people who used to go to school with Troy in Boston and Hartford.” Logan took a deep breath and turned around. “It’s not good.”
Veronica sighed. While she didn’t like Troy, she had wanted to believe that he was a decent guy. “Tell me.”
Logan proceeded to spin a saga of drugs, sex, and a spoiled rich kid who thought his money gave him the right to do whatever he wanted, whenever he felt like it, to whomever got in his way. Troy made some of Neptune’s finest look like first graders trying to sell cupcakes laced with ground-up caffeine pills. This guy was way out of Neptune’s league.
When Logan finished, they sat on the couch together, both lost in thought.
“I can’t believe I let him get close to you.”
“What?” Veronica started from her reverie.
“Deep down I respected him-for seeing past the rumors to who you really were. I thought he deserved you. I should have found out all of this weeks ago. I never should have let him get anywhere near you.”
Veronica rested her head on Logan’s shoulder. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
Logan took her hand in his. “I feel like I let you down.”
“Never,” his girlfriend answered. “I should have known better than to believe that anyone besides you or my dad could be trusted.”
Keith stood out of sight in the doorway to his bedroom, having heard Logan’s colorful tale of Troy’s true nature. He thought about everything that his daughter had been through and everything that she was still doing to protect the people around her. As Veronica’s father, it should have been him that found out the truth about the Vandergraff boy. It shouldn’t have had to fall to Logan to expose that kid for who he really was.
How do fathers do it? he wondered. How do men learn to let other men love their little girls?
Logan was obviously working out, but Troy was every father’s nightmare. And Logan had taken a lot of work to get where he was. But it looked like Keith was going to have to give Logan a little more respect. His daughter’s boyfriend had earned it. And Keith was going to have to be a more conscientious father.
*
Logan observed from down the hall as Veronica confronted Troy the next morning. The night before he and Veronica had pieced together what had really happened and had gone on a late night road trip to set in motion their plan to set things right.
After school when Veronica went to meet Hank, Logan pretended to read brochures at the reception desk. While he had ultimate respect for Backup’s abilities, Logan wasn’t about to let Veronica walk up to that hopped-up ‘roid rager without her boyfriend behind her.
After they finished setting up both Troy and Hank, Logan went home to allow Veronica time to celebrate her dad’s birthday with the man. He had the feeling that the two of them needed some daddy-daughter time.
*
Later, Veronica drove the Mazda to Logan’s house, her mind on what her father had done. She knew that he liked her school counselor and that the only reason he had broken up with her was Veronica’s inability to deal with the relationship. She felt horrible, but she couldn’t bring herself to give up on her parents’ marriage. Not yet.
As she walked through the Echolls’ mansion on the way to Logan’s room, she stopped in the kitchen.
“Mrs. Navarro, are you okay?” she asked as she put her hand on the shoulder of Weevil’s grandmother, who looked like she was about to start crying in the middle of doing the dishes.
A sob escaped the older woman’s mouth. “It’s my oldest daughter, Maria. She lives in L.A. and she just got checked into the hospital. The doctors are afraid it might be cancer. I want to go up to be with her, but Eli has food poisoning and can barely get out of bed and I don’t want the little ones to see their aunt so sick in the hospital. There’s no one that I can leave them with for more than a few hours…” Her voice trailed off as she turned her attention back to the dishes and tried to hold back her tears.
Finally, thought Veronica. Someone I can help.
Veronica pulled out her cell phone and looked up a number.
Mrs. Navarro looked up as Veronica began explaining the situation to the person on the other end of the line.
“You’re sure you don’t mind? I know it’s not in your usual part of town…I should have known you wouldn’t care… Thanks, Meg.” Veronica gave her friend the Navarro’s address and hung up.
“All taken care of. Meg is an experienced babysitter and probably the kindest and most responsible person on the planet, not just in Neptune. Go see your daughter, Mrs. Navarro. She needs you. Meg will take care of the kids. I’ll even finish the dishes for you.”
“You’re an angel!” cried Weevil’s grandmother, pulling Veronica in for a big hug.
Veronica smiled as the housekeeper got her things together and rushed out the back door, eager to get to her ailing daughter.
“Is there anything you can’t do?”
Veronica turned around to see Logan leaning against the other side of the bar.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she said as she turned to finish the dishes as promised. There wasn’t much left to do besides rinse off some pots and pans and turn on the dishwasher.
“You foil drug dealers of all ages, save the leg bones of teenagers, keep babysitters employed, help old ladies take care of their sick children, and you love me. I mean, really, Veronica, Wonder Woman has nothing on you.”
Veronica didn’t say anything as she wiped off a pot. Logan walked up next to her and picked up a pan and a towel to dry it with. Veronica raised her eyebrows at him.
“What? I will have you know that this is not the first time I have washed dishes.”
Veronica put her hands on her hips and looked at him in disbelief.
“Trina bet me twenty bucks that I couldn’t get the dishwasher to work. I won.” He gave her his trademark grin as he put the last pan away.
Veronica laughed as she got out a dishwasher pellet, put it in the appliance and started it up. Then she turned to look at him.
“Betcha twenty bucks I can keep my clothes on longer than you can.”
“You win,” he said with a grin as he chased her into his room.
Because she forgot her messenger bag in the kitchen, Veronica didn’t hear her cell phone ring. She was with someone who loved her, though, and he held her when she got her mom’s message.
To be continued.