VM fic: Preordained 1/3 (Logan/Veronica) R
Title: Preordained 1/3
Author: love_is_epic
Rating: R
Characters: Logan/Veronica, Duncan, various ensemble
Word count: 2229
Disclaimer: Right. Like if they were mine, I’d be writing fanfic. I’d be writing a movie, baby, and making darn sure they made it! : )
Warnings: Harsh language and sexual situations
Spoilers: All of season one.
Summary: Written for vmfic_gameon’s “Free-for-all” Challenge and more specifically for annie_oakley’s prompt: L/V, AU where they don't meet until after college. I think that pretty much says it all ; )
(author’s notes under the cut)
A/N:I’m always waiting until the last minute, which has resulted in this one being in three separate parts. I know… you all already hate me because I’m giving you another WIP. But this one is all mapped out AND about 75% done. Hopefully that will translate into quick posts : )
I cannot go on without giving cred to the most awesome scarlett2u for the super quick beta, for giving me the best ideas, and for holding my hand while I tried to freak out over this. She’s got mad skills, ‘yo ; ) Thank you! And thanks to ALL of you who continue to read and comment on my stories despite how crappy I am in the updating department.
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Her eyes scanned the manila file folder laying open on the table in front of her. She leaned forward, the flats of her hands pressed against the cool metal. She’d already been over the file multiple times on the plane, but she had to be prepared. The suspect had a reputation for being sly and manipulative, and Veronica would not have him getting the upper hand in her first interview of the case.
Veronica had grown up in Neptune, California - the little coastal town where dark undercurrents flowed deep and far more went on that met the eye, the town where Lilly Kane, daughter of software billionaire Jake Kane had been murdered. Veronica had moved away when she was eleven, way before she could discover its sordid secrets and unsavory past.
The locale didn’t fool her now, though. Uncovering the skeletons in her own family’s closet while investigating the circumstances surrounding her mother’s death had laid the false glitter bare; the seedy underbelly of Neptune proved to be dangerous, even those it held of most esteem. Little did Veronica know that she’d only touched the surface of what lie underneath.
Lilly Kane had been her best friend then, the pair finding themselves inseparable beginning with Veronica’s second day of kindergarten, when Lilly had chased a bully away. Duncan Kane, Lilly’s brother, had been Veronica’s first boyfriend. Love at first sight, clichéd as they came. He’d kissed her on the cheek one day under the weeping willow and Veronica just knew it’d be forever. It had been paradise while it lasted, but as Veronica later came to realize, nothing ever stayed that way for long.
One day out of the blue, at their home at the end of a sleepy cul-de-sac, her father had sat her down and announced that the Mars family would be moving to Chicago immediately. The date was August 17th - she remembered because it was exactly two weeks before her birthday and exactly two weeks after she’d had her appendix removed. He’d told her that he’d gotten a great job offer that he simply couldn’t refuse. She and Lilly had begged and pleaded for Veronica to stay and then cried profusely for days when her father wouldn’t budge.
A mere eleven days later, Veronica found herself enrolled in a new school in a new town, desperate for her friends and boyfriend back home. Those first few weeks she’d called Lilly and Duncan every day, only to have the housekeeper tell her neither Miss Kane nor young Mr. Kane was at home. She’d thought they were angry with her for moving - or worse, had only pretended to be her friend, only pretended to like her. It was only years later, amidst exposing her mother’s shameful affairs, that Veronica finally found out why the Kane children had never taken her phone calls or returned any of her emails.
Even though Veronica hadn’t spoken to Lilly or Duncan since the day she had left Neptune, the older girl’s death hit her hard. Until then, she’d been holding out hope that maybe one day Lilly would call her out of the blue, beg her forgiveness and they could go back to their former closer-than-sisters friendship. When her dad had told her the horrible news, Veronica knew life would never be the same again. She didn’t know how right she had been.
Twelve years after the gruesome murder, when the FBI received an anonymous letter claiming the author knew Abel Koontz didn’t really kill Lilly Kane, Veronica had begged and pleaded, calling in every favor she’d accrued in her short time at the Bureau, to be put on the case. Of course she left out the fact that she knew the victim, stating instead that she had lived in Neptune when she was younger and was well suited for the case, being familiar with its geography and sociological structure. In the end, she’d gotten it. It wasn’t protocol to have such a young agent on a high profile case, but Veronica deduced that her superiors probably believed the note to be no more than a crazy hoax.
Three weeks later she found herself in the small yet surprisingly well-equipped Sheriff’s station of Neptune, a place where her father had once ruled the roost. It was so long ago now, but Veronica could still picture him behind his desk, attempting to look busy when she brought him his lunch on the occasional Saturday afternoon.
She shook her head, trying to rid herself of any thoughts not related to the task before her. The trip down memory lane would have to wait for another time. She closed the file and scooted back into the padded chair. Showtime.
She pressed the buzzer on the wall behind her, signaling for the deputy on duty.
“Send him in, Deputy Sachs.”
A moment later the deputy entered the room, escorting a tall, handsome man into the interrogation room. His hair was brown with a bit of blond. His eyes, also brown, were dark and broody. He was well dressed in a navy blue v-neck sweater and khaki pants, his sleeves pulled down low over his hands. Even through the sweater, Veronica could tell he worked out, his muscles peeking out as he pulled out the chair and sat across from her. He had movie star roots, no doubt, and she could definitely see what all those women he was rumored to philander with saw in him.
Eyes on the prize, Mars.
“Mr. Echolls. Thank you for coming in today and speaking with me.”
“It’s not like I had much of a choice,” he muttered.
“You had a choice, Mr. Echolls. It was just in your best interest to come to me instead of me having to go out and find you.”
“Logan.”
“Excuse me?” she asked, confused.
“Call me Logan.”
“I prefer ‘Mr. Echolls’. I’d rather keep this professional if it’s all the same to you.”
“No,” he stated firmly. “It’s not all the same. Call me Logan or I walk right back out that door and it’ll take days to find me. Mr. Echolls is my father and I prefer to not be reminded of that.”
The dark looked that passed over his face and flashed in his eyes made her pause, considering. There was something about his tone and expression that betrayed more than just typical father/son animosity. She made a mental note to investigate that more thoroughly later.
“Very well, Logan. We’ll do it your way.”
“Good. Good,” he responded, the dark look in his eyes suddenly replaced by swirling lust. “You’ll like it my way, Agent Mars - I promise. They always do.” A smirk appeared on his face, and despite the highly inappropriate remark, Veronica found herself not completely unaffected by his charm.
She thought it best to ignore the slight flush of her cheeks his comment had spawned and the slight curl in her belly his heady gaze unfurled. Veronica had done her homework on him, knew what made him tick, or so she thought. She would move right into the hard questions - things he didn’t know she knew. Maybe that would throw him off balance, keeping her in control.
“You lied about your alibi on the day Lilly Kane was killed. Why?”
“Wow. I’m impressed.” If he was surprised by her knowledge he didn’t show it. “Breaking out the big guns already? You must want to get rid of me quickly. And just when we were just getting to know each other.”
“Logan. Please. Just answer the question.”
He looked up at the ceiling, slouching in his seat, and blew out a puff of air. He seemed to be resigned to telling her the truth, despite the lack of any proof of whether or not she was bluffing.
“I came back from Mexico early to break up with her. She’d been….” He broke off before gathering the resolve to continue. “There was another guy. She’d been cheating on me. I went to go see her at the car wash to tell her it was over.”
“Did you talk to her?”
“No. I sat in my car and watched her for a little while before writing her a note telling her that I knew we were finished for good. I put it in her car with a shot glass I had bought her on the trip.”
“You broke up with her in the note?” she asked, unable to keep the slight incredulousness out of her voice.
“Yes. I was a pansy ass who couldn’t even be man enough to break up with Lilly Kane in person. There,” he bit back, throwing his hands wildly in the air. “Is that what you wanted to hear? Happy now?”
“Logan - I can assure you - nothing about this case makes me happy. Let’s please continue.”
“Yeah. Let’s.”
“How did you know Lilly was cheating on you?”
Logan pulled himself up in his chair, looking down at the table. He drew small shapes on the metal surface with his fingers, apparently unable to look her in the eyes anymore. “I just knew. Lilly was hardly discreet with her boy toys.”
“There was more than one?” she asked, surprised. Despite her zest for life - even at such a young age, the Lilly that Veronica knew would have never been like that.
“Yeah. She cheated on me a bunch of times. When we were on one of our breaks, she’d even rub it my face,” he admitted bitterly.
“Were you angry at her for humiliating you like that?”
“Yes. She was a bitch and I was stupidly wrapped around her little finger!”
“Were you angry at her for cheating on you?”
“What kind of question is that?! Of course I was angry. Wouldn’t you be?!”
Veronica ignored his question and went in for the kill. “Angry enough to kill her?”
Logan jumped from his chair suddenly, sending it flying backwards. He banged his fist against the table, startling Veronica. She was aware that he had a reputation for a quick temper, one of the reasons he was her number one suspect, but it caught her off guard, nonetheless.
“NO! I didn’t fucking kill Lilly! I loved her! She may have been a cheating bitch, but I loved her,” He paused, dropping backward against the wall before continuing softly. “I loved Lilly. I’ll always love Lilly.”
Veronica’s heart clenched as she noticed his eyes beginning to well with tears, the emotion clear in his whole demeanor. She knew a little something about loving Lilly Kane and she knew more than her share about cheating. She really wanted to believe him, but love could do powerful things to a person, things both good and bad. She couldn’t let her empathy get in the way of her investigation. The case was already personal - she didn’t need to make it even more so.
She continued on, her tone soft, attempting to placate Logan. His emotions were already all over the charts, a fact she noted in her little black book.
“You said you left her a shot glass. What did it look like? Did it say anything?”
“’I got baked in Ensenada.’ It was clear, with green writing, I think,” he answered thoughtfully.
“What time did you see Lilly at the car wash? And what time did you leave?”
“I don’t know. I’m guessing it was around three in the afternoon. I stayed for about thirty minutes. I left the note in her car and left.”
Logan was still leaning against the wall, his head tilted back against the concrete.
“No one at the car wash saw you?”
“No. I don’t guess so. At least no one said if they did.”
“When you left, where did you go?”
“I went to the beach - Black’s Beach - and got wasted - a liter of tequila I’d brought back from Mexico. Poetic, don’t you think?”
Veronica didn’t answer him, not that he really expected her to. She did however, jot a few more things down in her notebook
“Yes, well…thank you for talking to me, Mr. - I mean, Logan. Please don’t leave town. I’m sure I’ll be in touch.”
“Undoubtedly.”
Veronica fished out the file folder for her next interview, but still he stayed, unmoving.
“You may go, Logan. We’re finished here for today,” she stated, thinking maybe he was confused.
She was met with his silence, still having not moved a muscle.
“Logan…are you all right?” she asked, the unmasked concern evident.
He gazed up at her then and he looked so lost, so much like a little boy that Veronica had a hard time suppressing the pang of sympathy she had for him. They stared at each other for a long moment. He seemed to be studying her, looking for something deep within. It was unnerving yet electrifying at the same time.
Just as she was about to ask again, he fled the room, leaving her confused and, much to her horror, wanting. She had known it before simply in theory. Now, for her, it was reality: Logan Echolls was dashing, derisive and seemingly complicated. Veronica let out a whoosh of air, allowed the pent-up feelings he’d invoked earlier wash over her. This was going to be nothing if not dangerous.
To be continued…
Comments are the icing on the cake… oh heck, they’re the whole cake, too. So pretty please?
Author: love_is_epic
Rating: R
Characters: Logan/Veronica, Duncan, various ensemble
Word count: 2229
Disclaimer: Right. Like if they were mine, I’d be writing fanfic. I’d be writing a movie, baby, and making darn sure they made it! : )
Warnings: Harsh language and sexual situations
Spoilers: All of season one.
Summary: Written for vmfic_gameon’s “Free-for-all” Challenge and more specifically for annie_oakley’s prompt: L/V, AU where they don't meet until after college. I think that pretty much says it all ; )
(author’s notes under the cut)
A/N:I’m always waiting until the last minute, which has resulted in this one being in three separate parts. I know… you all already hate me because I’m giving you another WIP. But this one is all mapped out AND about 75% done. Hopefully that will translate into quick posts : )
I cannot go on without giving cred to the most awesome scarlett2u for the super quick beta, for giving me the best ideas, and for holding my hand while I tried to freak out over this. She’s got mad skills, ‘yo ; ) Thank you! And thanks to ALL of you who continue to read and comment on my stories despite how crappy I am in the updating department.
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***
Her eyes scanned the manila file folder laying open on the table in front of her. She leaned forward, the flats of her hands pressed against the cool metal. She’d already been over the file multiple times on the plane, but she had to be prepared. The suspect had a reputation for being sly and manipulative, and Veronica would not have him getting the upper hand in her first interview of the case.
Veronica had grown up in Neptune, California - the little coastal town where dark undercurrents flowed deep and far more went on that met the eye, the town where Lilly Kane, daughter of software billionaire Jake Kane had been murdered. Veronica had moved away when she was eleven, way before she could discover its sordid secrets and unsavory past.
The locale didn’t fool her now, though. Uncovering the skeletons in her own family’s closet while investigating the circumstances surrounding her mother’s death had laid the false glitter bare; the seedy underbelly of Neptune proved to be dangerous, even those it held of most esteem. Little did Veronica know that she’d only touched the surface of what lie underneath.
Lilly Kane had been her best friend then, the pair finding themselves inseparable beginning with Veronica’s second day of kindergarten, when Lilly had chased a bully away. Duncan Kane, Lilly’s brother, had been Veronica’s first boyfriend. Love at first sight, clichéd as they came. He’d kissed her on the cheek one day under the weeping willow and Veronica just knew it’d be forever. It had been paradise while it lasted, but as Veronica later came to realize, nothing ever stayed that way for long.
One day out of the blue, at their home at the end of a sleepy cul-de-sac, her father had sat her down and announced that the Mars family would be moving to Chicago immediately. The date was August 17th - she remembered because it was exactly two weeks before her birthday and exactly two weeks after she’d had her appendix removed. He’d told her that he’d gotten a great job offer that he simply couldn’t refuse. She and Lilly had begged and pleaded for Veronica to stay and then cried profusely for days when her father wouldn’t budge.
A mere eleven days later, Veronica found herself enrolled in a new school in a new town, desperate for her friends and boyfriend back home. Those first few weeks she’d called Lilly and Duncan every day, only to have the housekeeper tell her neither Miss Kane nor young Mr. Kane was at home. She’d thought they were angry with her for moving - or worse, had only pretended to be her friend, only pretended to like her. It was only years later, amidst exposing her mother’s shameful affairs, that Veronica finally found out why the Kane children had never taken her phone calls or returned any of her emails.
Even though Veronica hadn’t spoken to Lilly or Duncan since the day she had left Neptune, the older girl’s death hit her hard. Until then, she’d been holding out hope that maybe one day Lilly would call her out of the blue, beg her forgiveness and they could go back to their former closer-than-sisters friendship. When her dad had told her the horrible news, Veronica knew life would never be the same again. She didn’t know how right she had been.
Twelve years after the gruesome murder, when the FBI received an anonymous letter claiming the author knew Abel Koontz didn’t really kill Lilly Kane, Veronica had begged and pleaded, calling in every favor she’d accrued in her short time at the Bureau, to be put on the case. Of course she left out the fact that she knew the victim, stating instead that she had lived in Neptune when she was younger and was well suited for the case, being familiar with its geography and sociological structure. In the end, she’d gotten it. It wasn’t protocol to have such a young agent on a high profile case, but Veronica deduced that her superiors probably believed the note to be no more than a crazy hoax.
Three weeks later she found herself in the small yet surprisingly well-equipped Sheriff’s station of Neptune, a place where her father had once ruled the roost. It was so long ago now, but Veronica could still picture him behind his desk, attempting to look busy when she brought him his lunch on the occasional Saturday afternoon.
She shook her head, trying to rid herself of any thoughts not related to the task before her. The trip down memory lane would have to wait for another time. She closed the file and scooted back into the padded chair. Showtime.
She pressed the buzzer on the wall behind her, signaling for the deputy on duty.
“Send him in, Deputy Sachs.”
A moment later the deputy entered the room, escorting a tall, handsome man into the interrogation room. His hair was brown with a bit of blond. His eyes, also brown, were dark and broody. He was well dressed in a navy blue v-neck sweater and khaki pants, his sleeves pulled down low over his hands. Even through the sweater, Veronica could tell he worked out, his muscles peeking out as he pulled out the chair and sat across from her. He had movie star roots, no doubt, and she could definitely see what all those women he was rumored to philander with saw in him.
Eyes on the prize, Mars.
“Mr. Echolls. Thank you for coming in today and speaking with me.”
“It’s not like I had much of a choice,” he muttered.
“You had a choice, Mr. Echolls. It was just in your best interest to come to me instead of me having to go out and find you.”
“Logan.”
“Excuse me?” she asked, confused.
“Call me Logan.”
“I prefer ‘Mr. Echolls’. I’d rather keep this professional if it’s all the same to you.”
“No,” he stated firmly. “It’s not all the same. Call me Logan or I walk right back out that door and it’ll take days to find me. Mr. Echolls is my father and I prefer to not be reminded of that.”
The dark looked that passed over his face and flashed in his eyes made her pause, considering. There was something about his tone and expression that betrayed more than just typical father/son animosity. She made a mental note to investigate that more thoroughly later.
“Very well, Logan. We’ll do it your way.”
“Good. Good,” he responded, the dark look in his eyes suddenly replaced by swirling lust. “You’ll like it my way, Agent Mars - I promise. They always do.” A smirk appeared on his face, and despite the highly inappropriate remark, Veronica found herself not completely unaffected by his charm.
She thought it best to ignore the slight flush of her cheeks his comment had spawned and the slight curl in her belly his heady gaze unfurled. Veronica had done her homework on him, knew what made him tick, or so she thought. She would move right into the hard questions - things he didn’t know she knew. Maybe that would throw him off balance, keeping her in control.
“You lied about your alibi on the day Lilly Kane was killed. Why?”
“Wow. I’m impressed.” If he was surprised by her knowledge he didn’t show it. “Breaking out the big guns already? You must want to get rid of me quickly. And just when we were just getting to know each other.”
“Logan. Please. Just answer the question.”
He looked up at the ceiling, slouching in his seat, and blew out a puff of air. He seemed to be resigned to telling her the truth, despite the lack of any proof of whether or not she was bluffing.
“I came back from Mexico early to break up with her. She’d been….” He broke off before gathering the resolve to continue. “There was another guy. She’d been cheating on me. I went to go see her at the car wash to tell her it was over.”
“Did you talk to her?”
“No. I sat in my car and watched her for a little while before writing her a note telling her that I knew we were finished for good. I put it in her car with a shot glass I had bought her on the trip.”
“You broke up with her in the note?” she asked, unable to keep the slight incredulousness out of her voice.
“Yes. I was a pansy ass who couldn’t even be man enough to break up with Lilly Kane in person. There,” he bit back, throwing his hands wildly in the air. “Is that what you wanted to hear? Happy now?”
“Logan - I can assure you - nothing about this case makes me happy. Let’s please continue.”
“Yeah. Let’s.”
“How did you know Lilly was cheating on you?”
Logan pulled himself up in his chair, looking down at the table. He drew small shapes on the metal surface with his fingers, apparently unable to look her in the eyes anymore. “I just knew. Lilly was hardly discreet with her boy toys.”
“There was more than one?” she asked, surprised. Despite her zest for life - even at such a young age, the Lilly that Veronica knew would have never been like that.
“Yeah. She cheated on me a bunch of times. When we were on one of our breaks, she’d even rub it my face,” he admitted bitterly.
“Were you angry at her for humiliating you like that?”
“Yes. She was a bitch and I was stupidly wrapped around her little finger!”
“Were you angry at her for cheating on you?”
“What kind of question is that?! Of course I was angry. Wouldn’t you be?!”
Veronica ignored his question and went in for the kill. “Angry enough to kill her?”
Logan jumped from his chair suddenly, sending it flying backwards. He banged his fist against the table, startling Veronica. She was aware that he had a reputation for a quick temper, one of the reasons he was her number one suspect, but it caught her off guard, nonetheless.
“NO! I didn’t fucking kill Lilly! I loved her! She may have been a cheating bitch, but I loved her,” He paused, dropping backward against the wall before continuing softly. “I loved Lilly. I’ll always love Lilly.”
Veronica’s heart clenched as she noticed his eyes beginning to well with tears, the emotion clear in his whole demeanor. She knew a little something about loving Lilly Kane and she knew more than her share about cheating. She really wanted to believe him, but love could do powerful things to a person, things both good and bad. She couldn’t let her empathy get in the way of her investigation. The case was already personal - she didn’t need to make it even more so.
She continued on, her tone soft, attempting to placate Logan. His emotions were already all over the charts, a fact she noted in her little black book.
“You said you left her a shot glass. What did it look like? Did it say anything?”
“’I got baked in Ensenada.’ It was clear, with green writing, I think,” he answered thoughtfully.
“What time did you see Lilly at the car wash? And what time did you leave?”
“I don’t know. I’m guessing it was around three in the afternoon. I stayed for about thirty minutes. I left the note in her car and left.”
Logan was still leaning against the wall, his head tilted back against the concrete.
“No one at the car wash saw you?”
“No. I don’t guess so. At least no one said if they did.”
“When you left, where did you go?”
“I went to the beach - Black’s Beach - and got wasted - a liter of tequila I’d brought back from Mexico. Poetic, don’t you think?”
Veronica didn’t answer him, not that he really expected her to. She did however, jot a few more things down in her notebook
“Yes, well…thank you for talking to me, Mr. - I mean, Logan. Please don’t leave town. I’m sure I’ll be in touch.”
“Undoubtedly.”
Veronica fished out the file folder for her next interview, but still he stayed, unmoving.
“You may go, Logan. We’re finished here for today,” she stated, thinking maybe he was confused.
She was met with his silence, still having not moved a muscle.
“Logan…are you all right?” she asked, the unmasked concern evident.
He gazed up at her then and he looked so lost, so much like a little boy that Veronica had a hard time suppressing the pang of sympathy she had for him. They stared at each other for a long moment. He seemed to be studying her, looking for something deep within. It was unnerving yet electrifying at the same time.
Just as she was about to ask again, he fled the room, leaving her confused and, much to her horror, wanting. She had known it before simply in theory. Now, for her, it was reality: Logan Echolls was dashing, derisive and seemingly complicated. Veronica let out a whoosh of air, allowed the pent-up feelings he’d invoked earlier wash over her. This was going to be nothing if not dangerous.
To be continued…
Comments are the icing on the cake… oh heck, they’re the whole cake, too. So pretty please?