Final Gift for evie_0
This is for evie_0 as a part of vm_santa
Fan Fiction
Title: The Road Not Taken
Author: Chosenfire
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN. All recognizable characters and situations belong to their respective owners and I make no profit off of playing with them.
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Veronica Mars
Characters/Pairings: Logan/Veronica, Keith, Duncan
Warnings: future fic, character death (not Logan or Veronica)
Word Count: 2,250
Spoilers: post Series
Summary: It’s been five years and Veronica has finally come back to Neptune but she’s not the only one. What could bring her and Logan back to the town they left and each other?
Author’s Notes: This is a LoVe Future Fic and since I have yet to see how the series ends (I haven’t got around to it) I am going to off the few elements I saw in the season that I liked so it may be a bit AU. Also, any legal, technical detail is made up on the spot.
Beta’d by blue_icy_rose
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost
~*~
People changed. Timed past and with each tick of the clock things were suppose to move and change until they were almost unrecognizable. Children grew up and became adults, adults grew weary and became old and the elderly eventually grew tired of life’s burdens and died.
People changed.
They were supposed to.
But sometimes they didn’t.
It had been five years since Veronica had left Neptune, five years since she had transferred colleges, five years since she had last saw Logan (three since she had last spoke to them but she had been drunk and it didn’t count that they had been on the phone for 2 hours straight and she had passed out with the phone pressed against her ear).
It had been five years and in that five years Veronica had changed. Her appearance was still very much the same, was different. Her life, her job, she was different now. She had her own apartment. She paid all her bills. She even had a cat. He was old, fat and a fluffy white cat named Pinky and he liked to sleep on her sofa, her chair, her bed, and even on the toilet seat.
She had a job too, with the FBI. She was Agent Mars and she now carried a gun instead of a taser (though she still had the taser and kept it close by) and followed orders (for the most part). She had her own set of handcuffs and a badge with her name on it and everything. She was twenty-three and she had only gone on a handful of dates, most of them with guys she worked with, and she felt she had finally broken free of the tragedy that was Veronica Mars at Neptune High.
She had changed but he hadn’t. Logan hadn’t changed. Not to her and not in her heart. She still recognized him. That half smile, a twist of the lips that was both affectionate and wry. The edge of torment that sometimes flashed in his eyes. The way he said her name each vowel a benediction and a curse.
Logan had been the greatest antagonist she had ever had and the one person she had loved so much it had hurt. She had known him for years. He was reckless and sarcastic, confident, and vulnerable. He was his own rainbow and contradicting emotions and she had almost destroyed him, on more than one occasion.
He was supposed to have changed. He looked the part. Gone were the button down shirts and frosted brown tips she had known. He wore clothes that she knew were designer, thanks to once being a part of Neptune High’s social elite. His hair was lightly styled to look tousled in a way that definitely wasn’t teenage boy and was all man.
He had changed. She knew it. He had a job too, responsibilities, employees, he had grown up just like she had. Except apparently neither of them hadn’t because now that she was back in the same room with him for the first time in five years she felt like she was standing on the balcony again at the Camelot.
It was like a sucker punch.
It was why she hadn’t wanted to come back.
Logan would always be
He stood across from her at Mars Investigation hands buried in his designer pockets and eyes reflecting his internal battle “So you made it in the FBI?” his voice was cautious, guarded, and he looked like he was ready to bolt at any moment.
She felt the same way.
She forced a smile “Yup, I’m now chasing down the bad guys with a shiny badge to back me up.” Her stomach tightened “So, you’re directing movies?”
Logan’s lips twisted into a self-deprecating grin “Yeah, well, it’s the family business.” He shook his head muttering “They’re not blockbusters, mostly Independent Films, with meaning and a message of some sort.”
“Good.” Veronica nodded “I’m glad, for you.”
Logan shook his head his grin slipping into a smirk “Well if this isn’t awkward, us making small talk about work, can we chat about the weather?”
“Sorry.” Veronica shrugged “It’s just…it’s been a long time.”
“And whose fault is that?” Logan bit out unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice.
“Logan, I had to leave, I had to…”
“Good you’re both here.” Keith Mars exited his office. He had done his time as Neptune’s sheriff. Now he was back to what he did best, Mars Investigation was once again booming. “We have a lot to talk about.” He gave Veronica a quick hug before ushering them over to the two chairs in front of the desk that used to be Veronica’s.
They shared an uneasy look as they sat down beside each other and Logan was the first to talk his voice halting. “What couldn’t wait till after the funeral?” He was blunt as always blurting out the one topic they had been avoiding.
The reason why they were both back in Neptune.
The death of Duncan Kane.
Two years ago Duncan had come back.
~*~
Lily was three when Duncan got the news that he could come home. Clarence Weidman had been working tirelessly for years to make it happen, to make it safe for Duncan to bring his daughter back to the United States, back home.
No one would be able to take her from him.
They were safe.
Neptune hadn’t changed. Not even a little bit. There was still the complete separation between the haves and the have not’s. Everyone being separated by their zip codes and parents bank accounts. Keith Mars second tenure as Sheriff hadn’t been able to change that.
Still, it was home.
“Duncan.” He stood swiftly as Keith Mars came into the room still feeling like he was sixteen and facing his girlfriend’s stern father. Mr. Mars had always had that affect on him. He was twenty-three now, a single father, and he had done things that were darker on the shades of grey than he like to think of.
“Hi, Mr. Mars.” he ducked his head slightly a smile playing on his lips. “I just want to thank you, for helping, for…everything.” Apparently it had been Keith Mars that had managed to turn things around for him. He had gotten the Manning’s to back off. He had gotten the kidnapping charges dropped.
Because Duncan had been 18 and Lily was legally his meaning there was no way he could have kidnapped his own daughter. He had just taken her out of the country to deal with the loss of her mother. It had been his parents money that had made sure it read like that.
From what he knew both Logan and Veronica had left. Each pursuing their own careers on opposite sides of the United States. Logan as a film director in California and Veronica as an FBI Agent in New York. He had gotten in contact with both of them and was comforted with the fact that while they weren’t exactly happy they were content.
They had made it out of this place alive, and neither had understood why he had wanted to come back. This was where he had meet Meg, this was where Lily had been, this was where he had lost them both.
He would always be pulled back.
~*~
Duncan had died in a car accident. He had been living at home with his mom and he had left Lily with her when he had ran out to get groceries because he had wanted to teach Lily that you could do things for yourself. If he had been going to pick up a toy for Lily she would have felt guilty as she got older, if he was doing something that related to Veronica, or Logan, or one of his parents they would have felt responsible.
But he was just buying food. The person in the other car hadn’t even been drunk or tired, she had been a middle aged mom whose van had blindsided Duncan’s car at a turn. It had been an accident. Keith had stressed that to Veronica when he had told her. It wasn’t a conspiracy, it had been an accident that had killed two parents.
Veronica had cashed in the vacation time she had been storing the past few years. Logan had been in between projects so instead of accepting the next offer he had gotten he had booked his flight back to Neptune.
The funeral was set for tomorrow.
Neither of them planned on wearing black.
“No,” Keith sighed pulling out a stack of papers and sorting through it until he found two envelopes “it can’t.” He handed one to Veronica and the other to Logan “Duncan wrote these a year ago, he didn’t want there to be any confusion on what he wanted if anything happened to him. He asked me to make sure of the best possible outcome for Lily if he died.”
“What about Lily?” Veronica shoot out immediately turning open the envelope in her hand noticing it hadn’t even been sealed. She pulled out the folded letter glancing quickly at Logan whose envelope still rested in his hands. He wasn’t even curious to see what was in it.
Seeing her probing eyes on him Logan spoke up before her father could “It’s about who gets custody of Lily, DK wouldn’t exactly want mommy dearest or his dad to raise her and I’m pretty sure Meg’s parents are out of the question.” He turned back to Keith for confirmation.
The older Mars nodded pulled out two sets of papers and passing each of them one. “Neither of you get custody of Lily, Duncan wanted you both to share custody of her. To raise her together.”
“What?” Veronica’s eyes flew to the letter in her lip the words she read confirming what her Dad had told them. Duncan had been worried that his parents or Meg’s would get a hold of Lily. He didn’t think it was fair to make Veronica or Logan single parents with the jobs they had but he believed they both could do it. He wanted them both to raise his daughter.
“But we can’t.” Veronica looked from her father’s sympathetic eyes to Logan who looked determined. “We can’t.” she reiterated loudly “You live in California, I live in New York. That’s beyond long distance.”
“Last month you told me they were thinking about transferring you to another office,” Keith said softly “you told me you might be moving back to this area.”
“Yeah, but…”
“Is it the thought of being with me that repulsive to you?” Logan drew out softly his eyes staring intensely into hers as the smirk on his lips tightened “It must be the reason why you left, New York must have been as far as you could get huh?”
“This isn’t about that.” Veronica gritted out fire flashing in her eyes “I left because I had to, because it was the best thing for me. It had nothing to do with you.”
“Bullshit.” Logan ground out and both of them forgot about Veronica’s dad still being in the room. They were out of their seats letters on the desk facing off against each other. “I love you, you knew that and you still left.”
“I couldn’t stay,” Veronica yelled back at him “because I would just hurt you again, and again, and again. I didn’t trust myself. So I left.”
“You could have trusted me Veronica.” his voice softened as he moved closer to her. “Instead I spent three years wondering if you were okay, if you, had moved on.” He reached up a hand to ghost his fingers across the side of her face lifting it up till her eyes locked with his “You called me remember, you told me why you left. I just want to know why you couldn’t come back?” his voice was thick with emotion.
She shook her head blinking tears out of her eyes “I couldn’t, I just…couldn’t. I wasn’t ready.”
“What about now?” he asked her thumb wiping away a stray tear “Duncan’s gone and he left us Lily, she needs us Veronica, she needs you,” he looked down his voice soft “I need you.”
She took a deep breath closing her eyes and leaning into his touch. It was a big decision. It would change her entire life. She knew how to do it, it would be easy for her to get a transfer, after her last couple of cases she had earned the right to go wherever she wanted to. Her apartment was small and Pinky wouldn’t mind a change, new furniture to claw up.
She wanted her heart to stop hurting; she wanted the void she had been living with the last couple of years to go away. Mostly, though, she wanted Logan back in her life, his smile, his warmth, his passion.
And she wanted Lily to be safe, she wanted Duncan’s daughter to grow up loved and to know that her parents had loved her. Veronica had seen Lily twice since Duncan had come back to the states. Both times Duncan had brought the girl to her and Veronica had loved her.
Veronica opened her eyes and her heart beat wildly in her chest as she breathed out “Okay.”
She was ready for a change.
END
Fan Video
This took me longer than I thought it would but I was determined to get it done. The song is Hallelujah, the Jeff Buckley version and it has long been a favorite of mine. I hope you enjoy this and I wish you a late Merry Christmas and a very Happy new Year.
Fan Fiction
Title: The Road Not Taken
Author: Chosenfire
Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN. All recognizable characters and situations belong to their respective owners and I make no profit off of playing with them.
Rating: PG-13
Fandom: Veronica Mars
Characters/Pairings: Logan/Veronica, Keith, Duncan
Warnings: future fic, character death (not Logan or Veronica)
Word Count: 2,250
Spoilers: post Series
Summary: It’s been five years and Veronica has finally come back to Neptune but she’s not the only one. What could bring her and Logan back to the town they left and each other?
Author’s Notes: This is a LoVe Future Fic and since I have yet to see how the series ends (I haven’t got around to it) I am going to off the few elements I saw in the season that I liked so it may be a bit AU. Also, any legal, technical detail is made up on the spot.
Beta’d by blue_icy_rose
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
-"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost
~*~
People changed. Timed past and with each tick of the clock things were suppose to move and change until they were almost unrecognizable. Children grew up and became adults, adults grew weary and became old and the elderly eventually grew tired of life’s burdens and died.
People changed.
They were supposed to.
But sometimes they didn’t.
It had been five years since Veronica had left Neptune, five years since she had transferred colleges, five years since she had last saw Logan (three since she had last spoke to them but she had been drunk and it didn’t count that they had been on the phone for 2 hours straight and she had passed out with the phone pressed against her ear).
It had been five years and in that five years Veronica had changed. Her appearance was still very much the same, was different. Her life, her job, she was different now. She had her own apartment. She paid all her bills. She even had a cat. He was old, fat and a fluffy white cat named Pinky and he liked to sleep on her sofa, her chair, her bed, and even on the toilet seat.
She had a job too, with the FBI. She was Agent Mars and she now carried a gun instead of a taser (though she still had the taser and kept it close by) and followed orders (for the most part). She had her own set of handcuffs and a badge with her name on it and everything. She was twenty-three and she had only gone on a handful of dates, most of them with guys she worked with, and she felt she had finally broken free of the tragedy that was Veronica Mars at Neptune High.
She had changed but he hadn’t. Logan hadn’t changed. Not to her and not in her heart. She still recognized him. That half smile, a twist of the lips that was both affectionate and wry. The edge of torment that sometimes flashed in his eyes. The way he said her name each vowel a benediction and a curse.
Logan had been the greatest antagonist she had ever had and the one person she had loved so much it had hurt. She had known him for years. He was reckless and sarcastic, confident, and vulnerable. He was his own rainbow and contradicting emotions and she had almost destroyed him, on more than one occasion.
He was supposed to have changed. He looked the part. Gone were the button down shirts and frosted brown tips she had known. He wore clothes that she knew were designer, thanks to once being a part of Neptune High’s social elite. His hair was lightly styled to look tousled in a way that definitely wasn’t teenage boy and was all man.
He had changed. She knew it. He had a job too, responsibilities, employees, he had grown up just like she had. Except apparently neither of them hadn’t because now that she was back in the same room with him for the first time in five years she felt like she was standing on the balcony again at the Camelot.
It was like a sucker punch.
It was why she hadn’t wanted to come back.
Logan would always be
He stood across from her at Mars Investigation hands buried in his designer pockets and eyes reflecting his internal battle “So you made it in the FBI?” his voice was cautious, guarded, and he looked like he was ready to bolt at any moment.
She felt the same way.
She forced a smile “Yup, I’m now chasing down the bad guys with a shiny badge to back me up.” Her stomach tightened “So, you’re directing movies?”
Logan’s lips twisted into a self-deprecating grin “Yeah, well, it’s the family business.” He shook his head muttering “They’re not blockbusters, mostly Independent Films, with meaning and a message of some sort.”
“Good.” Veronica nodded “I’m glad, for you.”
Logan shook his head his grin slipping into a smirk “Well if this isn’t awkward, us making small talk about work, can we chat about the weather?”
“Sorry.” Veronica shrugged “It’s just…it’s been a long time.”
“And whose fault is that?” Logan bit out unable to keep the bitterness out of his voice.
“Logan, I had to leave, I had to…”
“Good you’re both here.” Keith Mars exited his office. He had done his time as Neptune’s sheriff. Now he was back to what he did best, Mars Investigation was once again booming. “We have a lot to talk about.” He gave Veronica a quick hug before ushering them over to the two chairs in front of the desk that used to be Veronica’s.
They shared an uneasy look as they sat down beside each other and Logan was the first to talk his voice halting. “What couldn’t wait till after the funeral?” He was blunt as always blurting out the one topic they had been avoiding.
The reason why they were both back in Neptune.
The death of Duncan Kane.
Two years ago Duncan had come back.
~*~
Lily was three when Duncan got the news that he could come home. Clarence Weidman had been working tirelessly for years to make it happen, to make it safe for Duncan to bring his daughter back to the United States, back home.
No one would be able to take her from him.
They were safe.
Neptune hadn’t changed. Not even a little bit. There was still the complete separation between the haves and the have not’s. Everyone being separated by their zip codes and parents bank accounts. Keith Mars second tenure as Sheriff hadn’t been able to change that.
Still, it was home.
“Duncan.” He stood swiftly as Keith Mars came into the room still feeling like he was sixteen and facing his girlfriend’s stern father. Mr. Mars had always had that affect on him. He was twenty-three now, a single father, and he had done things that were darker on the shades of grey than he like to think of.
“Hi, Mr. Mars.” he ducked his head slightly a smile playing on his lips. “I just want to thank you, for helping, for…everything.” Apparently it had been Keith Mars that had managed to turn things around for him. He had gotten the Manning’s to back off. He had gotten the kidnapping charges dropped.
Because Duncan had been 18 and Lily was legally his meaning there was no way he could have kidnapped his own daughter. He had just taken her out of the country to deal with the loss of her mother. It had been his parents money that had made sure it read like that.
From what he knew both Logan and Veronica had left. Each pursuing their own careers on opposite sides of the United States. Logan as a film director in California and Veronica as an FBI Agent in New York. He had gotten in contact with both of them and was comforted with the fact that while they weren’t exactly happy they were content.
They had made it out of this place alive, and neither had understood why he had wanted to come back. This was where he had meet Meg, this was where Lily had been, this was where he had lost them both.
He would always be pulled back.
~*~
Duncan had died in a car accident. He had been living at home with his mom and he had left Lily with her when he had ran out to get groceries because he had wanted to teach Lily that you could do things for yourself. If he had been going to pick up a toy for Lily she would have felt guilty as she got older, if he was doing something that related to Veronica, or Logan, or one of his parents they would have felt responsible.
But he was just buying food. The person in the other car hadn’t even been drunk or tired, she had been a middle aged mom whose van had blindsided Duncan’s car at a turn. It had been an accident. Keith had stressed that to Veronica when he had told her. It wasn’t a conspiracy, it had been an accident that had killed two parents.
Veronica had cashed in the vacation time she had been storing the past few years. Logan had been in between projects so instead of accepting the next offer he had gotten he had booked his flight back to Neptune.
The funeral was set for tomorrow.
Neither of them planned on wearing black.
“No,” Keith sighed pulling out a stack of papers and sorting through it until he found two envelopes “it can’t.” He handed one to Veronica and the other to Logan “Duncan wrote these a year ago, he didn’t want there to be any confusion on what he wanted if anything happened to him. He asked me to make sure of the best possible outcome for Lily if he died.”
“What about Lily?” Veronica shoot out immediately turning open the envelope in her hand noticing it hadn’t even been sealed. She pulled out the folded letter glancing quickly at Logan whose envelope still rested in his hands. He wasn’t even curious to see what was in it.
Seeing her probing eyes on him Logan spoke up before her father could “It’s about who gets custody of Lily, DK wouldn’t exactly want mommy dearest or his dad to raise her and I’m pretty sure Meg’s parents are out of the question.” He turned back to Keith for confirmation.
The older Mars nodded pulled out two sets of papers and passing each of them one. “Neither of you get custody of Lily, Duncan wanted you both to share custody of her. To raise her together.”
“What?” Veronica’s eyes flew to the letter in her lip the words she read confirming what her Dad had told them. Duncan had been worried that his parents or Meg’s would get a hold of Lily. He didn’t think it was fair to make Veronica or Logan single parents with the jobs they had but he believed they both could do it. He wanted them both to raise his daughter.
“But we can’t.” Veronica looked from her father’s sympathetic eyes to Logan who looked determined. “We can’t.” she reiterated loudly “You live in California, I live in New York. That’s beyond long distance.”
“Last month you told me they were thinking about transferring you to another office,” Keith said softly “you told me you might be moving back to this area.”
“Yeah, but…”
“Is it the thought of being with me that repulsive to you?” Logan drew out softly his eyes staring intensely into hers as the smirk on his lips tightened “It must be the reason why you left, New York must have been as far as you could get huh?”
“This isn’t about that.” Veronica gritted out fire flashing in her eyes “I left because I had to, because it was the best thing for me. It had nothing to do with you.”
“Bullshit.” Logan ground out and both of them forgot about Veronica’s dad still being in the room. They were out of their seats letters on the desk facing off against each other. “I love you, you knew that and you still left.”
“I couldn’t stay,” Veronica yelled back at him “because I would just hurt you again, and again, and again. I didn’t trust myself. So I left.”
“You could have trusted me Veronica.” his voice softened as he moved closer to her. “Instead I spent three years wondering if you were okay, if you, had moved on.” He reached up a hand to ghost his fingers across the side of her face lifting it up till her eyes locked with his “You called me remember, you told me why you left. I just want to know why you couldn’t come back?” his voice was thick with emotion.
She shook her head blinking tears out of her eyes “I couldn’t, I just…couldn’t. I wasn’t ready.”
“What about now?” he asked her thumb wiping away a stray tear “Duncan’s gone and he left us Lily, she needs us Veronica, she needs you,” he looked down his voice soft “I need you.”
She took a deep breath closing her eyes and leaning into his touch. It was a big decision. It would change her entire life. She knew how to do it, it would be easy for her to get a transfer, after her last couple of cases she had earned the right to go wherever she wanted to. Her apartment was small and Pinky wouldn’t mind a change, new furniture to claw up.
She wanted her heart to stop hurting; she wanted the void she had been living with the last couple of years to go away. Mostly, though, she wanted Logan back in her life, his smile, his warmth, his passion.
And she wanted Lily to be safe, she wanted Duncan’s daughter to grow up loved and to know that her parents had loved her. Veronica had seen Lily twice since Duncan had come back to the states. Both times Duncan had brought the girl to her and Veronica had loved her.
Veronica opened her eyes and her heart beat wildly in her chest as she breathed out “Okay.”
She was ready for a change.
END
Fan Video
This took me longer than I thought it would but I was determined to get it done. The song is Hallelujah, the Jeff Buckley version and it has long been a favorite of mine. I hope you enjoy this and I wish you a late Merry Christmas and a very Happy new Year.
Click to view