Fic: Risk Factor (Veronica/Logan) PG-13 - Chapter 1
Title: Risk Factor - Chapter 1: Appendage
Author: cynicismplus1 aka Ella
Characters/Pairings: Veronica, Logan, and all of your favorite (and some not so favorite) Marsverse characters.
Rating: PG-13.
Spoilers: Everything. It’s all fair game.
Word Count: This chapter is 5842 words. Part A of this chapter is 1356 words.
Summary: Not long into the FBI Veronica gets assigned to a case that may just change her life.
Disclaimer: Don't own 'em. Sometimes wish I did, though.
A/N: LJ hates me and would only let me post in small amounts. Hence the need for a bajillion sections. Lucky for you guys I've linked them to each other. Well, I attempted to...
Chapter Title: Appendage
Friday 25 February 2011 - House of Leesa McMahon - McMahon’s Rest, Montara, CA - 7:30am
The first thing Leesa McMahon notices when she wakes up is that the weather is unusually cool for the California coast, even in winter. Trying not to wake her three month old baby, Leesa pads into the kitchen to fix herself some breakfast. As the kettle starts to boil she hears a loud crash coming from the living room. She glances at the clock on the stove and is hit with a rush of panic. Her parents aren’t supposed to be arriving for another six hours. Grabbing a kitchen knife from the utensil draw, she makes her way to the living room. That’s when she hears the giggle.
She places the knife on the bureau, sighs in relief and walks into the room. Sitting underneath the end table is her five year old son Lucas. Surrounding Lucas is an entire shelves worth of Leesa’s CDs.
“Luke, honey.” Leesa approaches her son and scoops him out from under the table. “What has mommy told you about scaring her like that? You nearly gave me a heart attack.”
Lucas grabs the collar of his mom’s shirt and buries his face in it, masking his giggles. “‘m sorry mommy.”
Leesa smiles, dropping a kiss on her son’s forehead and placing him back down on the floor. Grabbing the knife in her right hand, and her son’s hand in her left, she heads back into the kitchen. Lucas climbs up into his seat and sits down at the table, while his mother fixes him breakfast.
While her son starts eating his cereal, Leesa puts on her work boots and hauls a large bag of dog food from the pantry to the sliding glass doors separating the kitchen from the backyard. Lucas drops his spoon on the floor and jumps out of his chair. “Mommy! Can I help feed the puppies?”
“Sure, sweetie.” Leesa opens the door and Lucas bolts out past her and heads straight for the dog pen. Keeping one eye on her son, Leesa lifts the dog food and makes her way over to Lucas.
“Mommy! It’s open!” The joyous cries of her son brings a smile to her face, even if the news he was shouting doesn’t. If the gate to the dog pen was open, chances were that Tess was loose again. And that was never a good sign. Tess was forever escaping the pen and gallivanting around town, rummaging through the neighbors garbage cans.
Walking into the dog pen, Leesa locks the gate behind her before pouring food into the dog bowls. Four wriggly puppies waddle over to the bowl and begin to munch. Leesa smiles at their tails wagging. She stops smiling as soon as she hears her son’s voice.
“No! Tess, no! Put it down, Tess. Put. It. Down.” Lucas’ voice is coming from inside the dog shelter. “Naughty! Naughty! Naughty! Tess!”
Frowning, Leesa follows her son’s bellowing and sees him squatting down in front of Tess, attempting to pull something out of her mouth. Relief washes over Leesa as she realizes that Tess isn’t shredding someone else’s trash. That relief disappears the second she sees what Tess and Lucas are fighting over.
Clutched in her son’s small hands is a finger. A finger connected to the arm on which Tess is currently chewing.
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Friday 25 February 2011 - Apartment of Veronica Mars, Los Angeles, CA - 8:00pm
“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon.” Veronica mutters as she searches through her travel bag for her keys. Through the door, she can hear the phone ringing, and with a quick glance at her watch she knows it’s her father for their scheduled call. She can’t miss this one. She missed the last.
Of course. I’ve had the most annoying day possible but by all means God, hide my keys so I miss another call from my dad.
Upon giving up the search, Veronica pulls her lock picks from her bag and goes to work on her lock. It takes all of thirty seconds before she’s through the door and running towards the kitchen where the phone is.
Or not. Perfect!
The phone’s not on the receiver. Groaning in frustration, she flies into the lounge area trying to locate the phone by following the ringing. She’s just flung the cushions off the couch when the ringing stops and her father’s voice fills the house.
“You ever hear the one about the idiot Sheriff and his band of loser flunkies?” Keith’s voice rings out loud and clear, a chuckle evident in his voice. “Long story short the idiot Sheriff screws up a case and the ADA asks the slick, handsome and brilliant PI for assistance. Pack your stereo kid, Daddy’s going back to work.”
Veronica stares at the machine, a grin splitting across her face. She shakes her head at her dad’s jovial statement and continues searching for the phone.
“Anyway, I’m heading out to do some surveillance and wanted to catch you beforehand. I’ll talk to you later, honey. And hey, who’s your daddy?”
Ugh. I hate it when he says that.
She spots the phone peeking out from under the television cabinet and dives across the room. As soon as she pushes the talk button and starts to blurt out a witty retort, she hears dial tone. Keith’s hung up. She missed the call. Again.
Veronica throws her travel bag down on the cushion-less couch, hits the redial button on the handset and stalks into the kitchen. Grabbing a frozen container of macaroni and cheese, she sighs as her dad’s voice politely asks her to leave a message.
“Hey pops.” She places the frozen meal in the microwave and makes a mental note to get groceries in the morning. “Sorry I missed your call but I swear the circumstances where completely out of my control. I mean I know I’ve been a pest in the past but all the gods were against me today. My flight was delayed three hours, I had to sit next to a screaming child, the cab driver kept hitting on me, and then I had to climb twelve flights of stairs because the elevator’s out of service. Anyway, enough about me. Congratulations on the new case. Or, commiserations, you know, depending on how you look at it. I’m about to indulge myself with a typical Veronica-esque gourmet meal and head off to bed. I’ll hear from you on Saturday. Stay safe, love you.”
As she disconnects the call, the microwave informs her that her dinner is ready. Placing her iPod in the speakers, she grabs her meal and plops herself onto the couch. It’s been a long day and she deserves some quiet time.
Ever since she graduated from Hearst and was picked up by the FBI her life has been one non-stop episode of CSI. Of course, Veronica’s happier than she’s been in a long time. She’s surrounded herself by loving friends and family, and has the job of her dreams. The only regret she has is that to get to this place she lost three of her greatest friends to dire circumstances, and the others to other parts of the world.
She stretches out on the couch and kicks off her shoes. The trip to Seattle had taken a lot out of her and it wasn’t even work-related. She’d flown over to visit her best friend and his fiancé in order to give them a belated engagement gift and celebrate with them. Of course, their engagement was to be kept on the down-low in case the press caught a whiff and started publishing various stories about the two. She missed him. A lot. But he was happy now and that was all she could have ever asked for.
As the iPod starts playing Beth Waters’ Blue & White, a loud beeping is heard from her cell phone. It’s a reminder. Sighing, she glances at the clock and tries to figure out what the time is in Australia.
Scooping a mouthful of solid cheese into her mouth, Veronica picks up her phone and dials one of her oldest friends.
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Part 2 of 3:
cynicismplus1.livejournal.com/1209.html