Fic: For the Sake of a Friend, (Logan/Veronica, Meg/Weevil), PG-13, 19/?
Title: For the Sake of a Friend, (Logan/Veronica, Meg/Weevil), PG-13, 19/?
Author: jacedesbff
Pairing/Character: Logan/Veronica, Meg/Weevil, ensemble
Word Count: 7,279
Rating: PG-13 for mild language and sexual situations, although the Spanish curse words found within are pretty much rated R if I understood correctly. (There is also an excellent chance that the grammar on those is atrocious. My apologies for that. I speak English and a little French and the characters using those words would not be likely to swear in French.) *laughs*
Summary: AU from the Pilot; this chapter takes place during “Silence of the Lamb”
Spoilers: Familiarity with Season 1 required.
Disclaimer: Rob Thomas owns all.
All previous chapters may be found at my LJ.
A/N: So b/w vacation and this chapter’s highly unexpected length, this took longer than I expected. :-) But it’s long and was very fun to write! Hugs and kisses to my beta candlewaxdreams. I am SO grateful for her help and support. And how cool is that icon? A million hugs and a big shout-out to janeart for making it by special request. She is too cool for words. :-) (Anyone else who wants to make one will get a big, giant cookie!)
X-posted. Thank you to everyone for your ongoing feedback. Mercedes and I have a blast discussing it at great length. And the polls are open at 5thingsthat for the most recent challenge-please stop by and check out this round’s submissions!
As Logan watched Veronica walk across the quad with Wallace, he was reminded of the fact that he was Lloyd Dobbler.
A few weeks before Christmas vacation, Veronica had had a crappy day, so Logan told her that she could pick whatever movie she wanted and he would watch it with her. She had chosen Say Anything, a movie Logan had never before considered watching. Based on the summary on the back, Logan figured that most of his enjoyment would come from making fun of it as he held his girlfriend on the couch, but something strange had happened. As the movie unfolded and Logan had gotten to know the characters, he started to identify with Lloyd.
Asking out the girl that he thought was above him. Taking her to the party and everyone being impressed that Lloyd was with Diane. Pointing out glass for her to walk around. And the speech. Lloyd’s speech about his ambitions.
“I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that.”
For the first time, Logan knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life, and that speech was it. That is exactly what he wanted to do with the rest of his time on earth. The speech cemented his realization-Lloyd was Logan with less money.
You had to understand. Logan had been stunned when Lilly went out with him. Lilly Kane had chosen Logan Echolls to be her boyfriend. Of course, he was aware that Lilly went out with him in large part because he was Aaron Echolls’ son, but still. The most gorgeous and vivacious, if shallow and vapid, hottie in school had chosen him. He finally had status of his own, notoriety that he didn’t inherit. Logan was dating Lilly Kane.
And that was nothing compared to how he felt about his relationship with Veronica.
Veronica didn’t like him because his father was famous. Veronica liked him-she loved him-for him. Like Lloyd, Logan felt that he was loved by a girl that was way above him. Yeah, the 09ers made her life hell, but they did it with fear in their hearts, because she was Veronica Mars. This was the girl that got Logan busted for a bong that wasn’t his; she found missing cars and had guys sent off to boarding school; she worked for her dad, the former sheriff who was now a private detective; she had done “something”, as yet undefined, to Dick Casablancas’ car after he had insulted her in class; she tricked Kimmie Lassiter into confessing to stalking Meg Manning on camera and then made sure the whole school saw it. She was a teenage superhero who walked the halls of their school.
And she loved Logan Echolls.
When Lloyd told his friends that Diane made him like himself, Logan’s heart stopped. He wanted to rewind the DVD and listen to it again. He didn’t, because he couldn’t figure out how to maintain any semblance of dignity in front of Veronica at the same time, but he knew that he was stopping at the store on the way home and he was going to buy this movie and that then he was going to watch that scene repeatedly. Because that was how Veronica made him feel. Logan’s girlfriend made him like himself; she made him feel like he could accomplish things. He had never been able to put it into words before and now he didn’t have to because Lloyd had done it for him.
When Diane dumped Lloyd, Logan got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. Everything the character did is what Logan would have done. He would have called and called; he would have asked for the letter back; he would have played the song outside the window. All of it. And yes, he would have written that letter in the first place. In fact, he was almost jealous of a fictional character, because the words in that letter were Logan’s words. They were his feelings. When Diane and Lloyd got together at the end of the movie, Logan almost got choked up because he would be more than happy if that’s how his and Veronica’s story went. Fortunately for his continued inclusion in the guy club, he was able to stave off an embarrassing show of tears.
So as Logan watched Veronica walk across the quad with Wallace Fennell, he wanted to rip someone’s head off, because he was Lloyd Dobbler and no one knew. Veronica Mars, possibly the most well-known and feared girl at Neptune High School, was in love with him and no one knew about it. Logan was desperate to love Veronica in public. He adored her and he wanted everyone to see him show it. Not in a skeezy, PDA kind of way, although that wouldn’t suck, but to show everyone how she deserved to be treated and in the process shut them all up.
The time he and Veronica had spent with Meg and Weevil had been a blast, but it had an inevitable and unfortunate side effect. Yes, Logan got to live his dream. Then he got to come back to school and have it ripped away.
So, yeah, Logan was in a bad mood.
“Hey, Logan, you want to go down to TJ this weekend?” asked Dick.
“Do you ever think about anything besides getting high and scoring with strangers?” Logan shot back.
“Um, no,” said Dick, a bit nonplussed by Logan’s harsh tone.
“Whatever, man. Let’s go.” Logan got up and headed inside, tired of watching other people get to talk to his girlfriend in public when he couldn’t.
Looked like lunch for the 09er crowd was over.
*
Wallace watched as Jackson Douglas hit up Veronica for help. The hypocrisy of 09ers never failed to amaze Wallace. They talked about Veronica like she was the biggest skank on the planet until they wanted her to do something for them, and then it was all, “Hey, I hear that you do things for people.” Uh-huh.
It bothered Wallace that more people didn’t take the time to get to know Veronica. He had stopped counting the number of times that he had defended her reputation. Freshmen, seniors, it didn’t matter-everyone used Veronica as a slutty punch line. Wallace had long ago figured out the perfect way to shut them up, though. He simply threatened to pass the comment along, thereby putting the offending party on Veronica’s radar-shut ‘em without fail.
Wallace wished that Veronica had more time to hang out, but he had also accepted long ago that Veronica was one of the busiest people he knew. If she wasn’t working for her father, she was keeping her GPA up or solving cases for other students. Since basketball season had started, it hadn’t been as big of a deal that the person he considered to be his best friend was hardly ever available to hang out, but he did still sometimes wish that Veronica wasn’t quite so busy.
Wallace rolled his eyes as Veronica explained the phenomenon that was Madison Sinclair’s birthday. Neptune High was a very strange place.
*
As Veronica walked to class with Wallace, she saw Logan leaning against the wall next to the janitor’s closet, one leg hiked up, the other on the floor. She told Wallace that she had to take care of something and that she’d see him later.
She bent down and pretended to look through her bag while the hall cleared. Logan slipped inside the janitor’s closet. Shortly after, Veronica followed.
Before the door even closed behind her, Logan pulled her into his arms and held on as tightly as he could. Knowing exactly where this was coming from, Veronica returned the hold. The two of them leaned against the wall inhaling each other’s scent, each of them wishing that they didn’t have to steal their time together.
Veronica had felt Logan’s eyes on her all through lunch. She knew when he left, she knew he was upset and she knew why.
She reached up and put her hands on either side of his face.
“We’re going to find a way to change things. We can do this.”
Logan buried his face in her hair.
“All the love in my heart.”
Veronica clung to him even tighter. How had she gotten so lucky?
They reluctantly let go of each other.
Time to face the world again.
*
After both Logan and Veronica had left the janitor’s closet and headed to their respective classes, a third person emerged from the tiny room.
Duncan had left lunch early and waited, hiding under a large tarp that smelled like urine. He knew that his friends wouldn’t be able to stop themselves from seeing each other after lunch today. He also knew that they were more likely to meet in the janitor’s closet than in the bathroom because they wouldn’t really be talking, they would just be “touching base”. He wasn’t sure if the two of them realized that they had unwritten rules about which hiding places they used and when. It didn’t matter. He knew.
He knew everything.
*
Meg was at her locker after school when the three of them came up to her. They were girls, so they couldn’t be PCHers and there really weren’t enough of them to form a gang of their own, but in truth all they lacked was a name. They were still a gang.
Esmerelda stood on Meg’s right, pushing the blond girl’s locker door against the wall. Esmerelda was the de facto leader of the non-gang. She wore too much make-up and too-tight clothes that usually included some sort of bustier. If you looked closely into Esmerelda’s eyes, you realized that there wasn’t anything that she wouldn’t do. Girls gave her a wide berth in the hallway and boys kept their comments about how skanky she looked to themselves.
Meg struggled to keep her knees from trembling as Esmerelda spoke.
“Mercedes, this is the girl, right?”
“Oh, yeah,” answered the shorter, stockier girl. Mercedes wasn’t quite as garish as Esmerelda, but she never wore shirts with sleeves-ever-and with good reason. Any guy at Neptune would have paid money to have Mercedes’ arms and shoulders. The girl was cut. She seriously looked like she could bench press a truck.
“Her little white bread car has been parked in front of Weevil’s house every night this week.”
As Mercedes drawled out her words, she pushed her braids over Meg’s left shoulder and the 09er was proud of herself for not flinching.
She felt hot breath on the top of her ear.
Oh, crap. Of course Cissy was there. Mercedes and Esmerelda never went anywhere without Cissy.
Francisca “Cissy” Pena was the biggest girl at Neptune, easily weighing in at over 300 lbs. She was also stunningly beautiful with thick black hair, a knack for applying make-up in the most attractive manner possible and the ability to choose surprisingly flattering clothes. Too bad no one at Neptune had ever seen her smile and only a few more had heard her speak. All told, Cissy presented a very strange package to the world.
Yes, Meg was being cornered by Neptune High’s resident Latina girl gang. Most of the Hispanic girls at their school were perfectly nice people. These three were not.
Meg shoved some books into her backpack that she didn’t really need, just to give herself something to do.
“Your point?” she asked curtly. She was afraid to turn around.
“Our point,” answered Esmerelda, “is that you’re not welcome in our neighborhood.”
“Maybe not by you,” Meg opened up a notebook and checked to make sure that all of her papers were there. Well, she pretended to check. It’s not like she could actually think about anything besides surviving the next five minutes.
“Our opinions are the ones you should care about,” Mercedes practically purred.
Screw this, Meg told herself. She had figured that she would have to face these three at some point; she just hadn’t thought it would be this soon. She shoved her backpack into her locker and turned around.
“Too bad I care more about Letty Navarro.”
“Like hell you do, madre,” Mercedes whipped her braids back. “The only thing you care about is Weevil. Échate un casquete.”
Meg had no idea what Mercedes had just said, but she had no doubt that it was very bad and probably very dirty.
“Why don’t you have the courage to insult me in a language I understand?” Meg used a forceful tone to belie the fact that her insides were Jell-o.
Mercedes repeated what she had said in English, causing Meg to blush to the tips of her roots.
At that moment Kylee, Brooke and Kate, three of the snottiest 09er cheerleaders to have ever walked the halls at Neptune, appeared behind Cissy. The only people Meg would have been happier to have on her side in this situation were Veronica Mars or Madison Sinclair.
It never occurred to Meg that Weevil could help. This was girl world.
“Are these skanks bothering you, Meg?” demanded Brooke, the tallest girl on the squad and the only girl at Neptune taller than the silent Cissy.
“Who are you calling skank, puta?” asked Esmerelda in a tone that would have frightened anyone else.
These girls weren’t anyone else.
“Would you look at that, Brooke?” interjected Kate. “She knows how to insult us in her native language. That’s so cute! Maybe someday she’ll master English and actually graduate.”
Cissy looked down at Kate, who stood at a whopping five foot nothing. Kate showed no indication of caring.
Sensing the road down which this was going, Meg spoke up.
“Mrs. Navarro’s daughter is fighting cancer. She needs someone to help when she can’t be there. Unless one of you wants to volunteer to help the kids with their homework, clean house, do laundry and read bedtime stories, I’m going to have to ask you to leave. I’m not going to stop helping one of the sweetest women I’ve ever met just because you don’t like me.”
The two factions faced off in light of Meg’s declaration, neither willing to budge.
Meg yanked her bookbag out of her locker and grabbed the door which Esmerelda had finally stepped away from, slamming it shut. The sudden noise seemed to signal the end of the confrontation.
“This isn’t over, polla,” said the furious Esmerelda. “You better watch your back.” She pointed at Meg as she and her followers turned to walk away.
“We’ll be right behind her,” countered Kylee, “so you better be prepared when you get there.”
Esmerelda made a shooting motion with her pointed finger and the 09ers could hear Mercedes’ laughter echo down the hall. Cissy never had made a sound.
“Meg, there is no way that you can go to that neighborhood again.” Now that they were alone, Brooke immediately started in on her friend. “Have you ever been in gym class with Mercedes? The guys pick her first for touch football. She can, like, lift VW bugs by herself.”
“Thank you so much for stepping in,” Meg said sincerely. “That was insane. But I meant what I said. Letty Navarro is the sweetest woman I’ve ever met and I’m not going to stop helping her because those three don’t like it. I won’t let them win.” Meg knew how to play her friends.
As the other cheerleaders walked her to her car, Meg tried to figure out how to explain this to Eli. She knew that she had to, but she couldn’t imagine the conversation being a fun one.
*
Mac liked originality-she liked things that were new and fresh and unusual, all of which were in short supply at Neptune High. She actually didn’t think that her hair color was all that unusual. She did it because it was different in comparison. The problem was that there wasn’t much to compare it to.
Which is why Mac liked Veronica Mars. The slight blonde had gone from being Duncan Kane’s arm candy to being Neptune’s resident whore to being “Veronica Mars”, the teenage super spy-detective that found lost fathers, busted e-mail criminals, solved thefts and generally did things that simultaneously impressed the hell and scared the crap out of the other students at the school. Now that was original.
Mac wanted to get to know Veronica better, an all-around first in her high school experience, and when she heard the blonde detective wisely taking 09ers for their cash, she saw the perfect opportunity to do so. During Advanced Programming, a class she didn’t need but which looked good on her transcript, Mac used Visual Basic to build a representative graphic design for the ultimate money-making website.
After going to Veronica’s office and pitching it to her, Mac understood the modern-day Nancy Drew’s reluctance to take on even more in her life, but she was more grateful that she had been able to ask Veronica to help her out personally. Veronica was willing to look into Mac’s own background and at no charge.
As Mac left Mars Investigations, she decided that Veronica could best be compared to a breath of fresh air. In the recycled and stuffy atmosphere that permeated the halls of Neptune, Veronica was a cleansing gust of wind and Mac hoped that she did indeed get to know her better.
*
Veronica called Logan and asked him if he could meet her in the basement of the local newspaper where back issues were still kept on microfiche. Such was the state of their lives that they could only spend time together in the privacy of their own homes or in the bowels of forgotten buildings. Veronica rolled her eyes as she made her way down the stairs. Whatever. She wanted to spend time with her boyfriend.
Logan popped out in front of her as she opened the door to the records room and Veronica jumped in surprise.
As Logan pulled her into his arms, he crowed, “I get a cookie. I made the great Veronica Mars jump!”
“You wish,” she said as she pushed him away. “No cookies for you! And no kiss, either,” she tossed over her shoulder as she headed for the microfiche files.
“Come on, Veronica,” whined Logan as he followed her and put his arms around her, making it very difficult for her to look through the files for the appropriate newspaper issues. “It’s been, like, 48 hours since we kissed last. I’m going into withdrawal.”
Without turning around, Veronica commented as she started pulling packs of microfiche. “And here I thought you liked me for my mind.” Before Logan could protest, she continued. “And it has not been 48 hours. You are so exaggerating.”
At Logan’s pitiful sigh, she turned around and smiled at him. “For your information, it’s been exactly 42 hours and…” she checked her watch, “…six minutes.” She reached up and planted a kiss on her boyfriend’s lips. “Happy?”
Logan’s grin was huge. And gorgeous. “Oh, yeah,” he said and he pushed her up against the file cabinet, closing the drawer she had just rifled through.
Veronica smiled inwardly as Logan kissed her well and thoroughly. That talk she had had with him about how much she loved kissing him had been one of the most fruitful discussions she had ever held with anyone. Seriously. Ever.
When they came up for air, she reminded Logan that she really did need his help searching through the newspaper’s files. Logan sighed and pulled back.
“Alriiiight,” he drawled, looking like a sad little puppy whose favorite toy had been taken away. Veronica laughed.
“I promise if we find what we’re looking for, I will give you the best kind of payment a girl can offer.”
*
After Veronica left, Mac sat frozen on her bed. Her parents weren’t her parents. Honestly, she wasn’t all that surprised. But switched at birth? With Madison Sinclair? Well, at least it was original. Yeah, that was it. Being the victim of a baby swap had to be one of the most original things that Mac had ever heard of.
She wanted to know more about the wealth that she should have been born into, which desire finally motivated her to move. She called up the Sinclairs on her computer. She quickly learned that Madison’s father was the COO at Kane Software. He and Jake Kane had worked together at Microsoft before Jake left to start his own business and Robert Sinclair had followed him. He had subsequently acquired a wealth second only to Jake Kane’s when the company went public. Since that time, Hillary Sinclair had joined the boards of several charitable organizations, most of them with Celeste Kane, and apparently spent a lot of her time serving the community.
Mac sighed. Not only would she love to get to know these people, they were completely wasted on Madison.
*
Duncan had invited Logan over to his house to play video games after school. Everything was ready to go.
“Hey dude! You comin’ or what?!” called Logan from where he was sprawled in front of the widescreen plasma TV.
“I’ll be right there!” Duncan yelled back.
He walked into the living room jingling his keys. Before he sat down, though, he flashed the red laser pointer directly into his eyes.
As Logan turned to give the other controller to his friend, Duncan flew into a rage. He ripped the cushions off of the couch and then went at Logan, who started yelling for help. Celeste came running in from the other room and tried to grab her son from behind, but Duncan was too strong and threw her off like an annoying mosquito. Logan body-tackled his friend as Duncan lurched towards the plasma screen and let fly a stream of cuss words that would have made a sailor blush.
“Lucia! Lucia!” Celeste screamed. “Get the syringe!”
Logan finally had Duncan pinned on the living room floor, although the curse words continued to spew forth. Unfortunately, the stockier boy was kicking and thrashing so hard that Logan barely managed to keep hold of him.
As the Kanes’ housekeeper came running into the living room with a hypodermic needle, Celeste practically ripped it out of the woman’s hand. She squirted a little out of the end to get rid of any air bubbles and jammed it into her son’s arm. Within seconds, Duncan calmed down, his breathing slowed, and his eyes closed.
Celeste and Logan sat back, both of them emotionally and physically exhausted. Lucia made a quiet exit.
“What were you two doing?” demanded Celeste in a quiet but angry voice.
“Nothing,” answered Logan in shock. He couldn’t take his eyes off of his now sleeping friend. “Nothing, I swear. We were gonna play Madden, and he just lost it.”
There was a pause.
“Thank you, Logan.” The young man looked up, surprised by Celeste’s sudden change in tone. In an instant, she had switched to being her usual matter-of-fact and clinical self. “You should probably go so Duncan can get some rest. I’ll make sure he sees the doctor about this. I know you’ll keep this incident to yourself.” She looked at Logan pointedly. He nodded more out of reflex than anything else.
What the hell?
Celeste continued to look at him expectantly. Logan scrambled to his feet and headed for the door.
Just when it seemed like things were getting better.
*
Veronica went to the police station to take her dad his dinner. The deputy manning the phones was young and seemed relatively naïve. Veronica had been feeling guilty lately because she didn’t feel that she and Logan had been doing enough to find Lilly’s real killer. So much had been crowding their lives that avenging Lilly’s murderer had fallen from the forefront of their thoughts. This new deputy, though, seemed to be attracted to Veronica, which could prove useful.
That night during their ritual phone call, Veronica promised her boyfriend that she would only flirt a little bit and that she would spend as little time with Deputy Leo as possible.
“Whatever,” replied Logan.
“Whatever? That’s what you have to say? Whatever. This from the guy who almost attacked Casey Gant just for taking me to the hospital with him? Try again, Logan.” Better to deal with it now.
A long sigh issued from the receiver. “What do you want me to say? We know that Abel Koontz didn’t kill Lilly and we need to find out who did. You’re right that this is the best way to do it. You’re always saying that I need to show you that I trust you.” Logan took another deep breath. “I have to start somewhere. Why not here? You’re not gonna kiss this guy, right? You’re going to flirt with him, Weevil will distract him, and you’ll swipe the CrimeStoppers tape. Isn’t that the plan?”
“That’s it,” she affirmed.
“I don’t have to like it, but I do have to stop being jealous all the time. Consider this a first step.” Logan stopped and there was a sudden silence.
“I love you, Logan.”
“Do me a favor and remember that when you’re flirting with the guy in the uniform.”
“Promise.”
Veronica had a feeling that she was missing something, though. Whether detective’s or womens’ intuition, something wasn’t right.
“Logan, what’s wrong? What’s really wrong?”
Silence answered her.
“Logan?” A note of serious worry entered her voice.
“It’s Duncan.”
*
Leo had the following night off, which worked out well since Mac wanted to go to Madison’s birthday party. Veronica wasn’t happy about it, but she couldn’t let Mac go alone so she grabbed Wallace and off the three of them went.
As soon as they were inside, Mac went in one direction and Wallace went in the other, leaving Veronica alone in the middle of the entrance hall to be eyed by a very displeased Madison Sinclair. To her relief, a friendly face separated itself from the crowd.
“Meg!” Veronica exclaimed in relief as Meg grabbed her hand and pulled her into a quiet corner. “Thanks for the rescue.”
“Any time,” answered Meg with a smile before hesitantly inquiring. “What are you doing here?”
“Not exactly my usual scene, is it?”
“Not really.”
Veronica rolled her eyes and looked back in the direction from which they had come. “I’m sort of on a case. Someone needed to look into something and I’m here as backup. How’m I doing?” she smiled.
“I’d hire you in a minute,” laughed Meg.
“Hey, what’s this I hear about you needing to hire a bodyguard?” Veronica suddenly asserted. She went on to explain that she had overheard some 09ers in AP English discussing Esmerelda and Mercedes’ verbal assault on Meg. “I didn’t get all of the details and I didn’t really trust their version, anyway, but it didn’t sound good.”
Meg rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t that bad. They accused me in a couple different languages of wanting to, um, have sex with Weevil.” She coughed discreetly. “They may not have used those exact words.”
Veronica casually looked around to make sure that no one was in earshot. “Did you tell Eli about it?” Even if anyone could hear, very few people at the school knew Weevil’s real name.
“Yes,” sighed Meg. “I didn’t want him to hear about it from someone else.” She looked at the floor. “I told him that there was nothing he could do and that I would handle it.” She looked back up and a firm expression took over her features. “He wanted to do something and I said that would only make it worse. I made it clear that he needed to stay out of it.”
“Do you think he will?”
“I don’t know.” Meg shook her head. “I mean, honestly, I knew that eventually we would have to deal with each other’s friends. Not that those girls are his friends, but you know what I mean.” Veronica nodded. “I told him I have to stand up for myself or they’ll just keep coming after me.” She smiled. “That he understood.”
Veronica checked her watch. “Oh, wow. I’m sorry, Meg, but I need to go check…” she indicated behind her.
“No problem. Give me a call this weekend.”
“Absolutely.” And with that, Veronica went off to find Mac.
After she and Mac were summarily told off and thrown out by Queen Bitch of the Universe, they found Wallace hitting on a sophomore and dragged him back out to Mac’s VW bug, where they again made him ride in the back.
“How come I have to ride in the backseat of the smallest car this side of the Mini Cooper?” Wallace complained. “I’m a basketball player, remember? Veronica’s the short one.”
“I like to think of it as vertically challenged,” Veronica reminded him. “And I get carsick in the back.”
“Uh-huh,” grumped Wallace, clearly not convinced.
Veronica turned her attention to her blue-haired friend. “How are you holding up?”
“I’ll be okay,” said Mac morosely as she pulled out of their parking space on the side of the well-kept street and drove away. But Veronica noticed the look of longing in Mac’s eyes as they drove past one beautiful home after another. She wished that there was something she could do, but some things people had to work out for themselves.
*
The plan to “borrow” the CrimeStopper recording went perfectly. Veronica brought Leo pizza, noting that she couldn’t stay but that she didn’t want him to go hungry. Weevil came and distracted the young deputy, providing Veronica the opening that she needed to get into the evidence room and get the CD. She then said her goodbyes to Leo and met up with Weevil outside the station.
“Thanks, Weevil.”
“No problem. Anything going on besides stealing from the local sheriff’s department?”
Veronica gave the young man a tired smile.
“The usual. You?”
Weevil crossed his arms and grimaced. “I gotta tell ya, I would really like to see my girlfriend outside of my house one of these days.”
Veronica nodded. “And not have her car parked outside your house?”
“That, too,” grimaced Weevil. “Meg said she talked to you about Esmerelda?”
Veronica nodded. “She’s right, you know. You can’t get involved. It really is a girl thing.”
Weevil rolled his eyes. “Just another reason why I want to see her somewhere other than my neighborhood. You know, do something together besides watch TV.”
Veronica leaned back against her car. “Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to act like normal couples? You know, do things together that you like doing? Logan wants to teach me how to surf, but we’re always afraid that if we spend that much time at a beach someone will recognize us. Surfing is a small world.”
Weevil started to say something and then stopped.
“What?” prompted the small blonde.
“Nothing…you just gave me an idea, that’s all.”
“I did?”
“Yeah. Thanks, Vee!” And with that, Weevil bumped fists with Veronica and got on his bike, leaving her very confused as to what had just happened.
*
The next morning Meg told her parents that she was going to the beach with some friends and then drove to everyone’s favorite rest stop to meet Eli. Her boyfriend had called her the night before and told her to meet him there and to dress warm. He declined to tell her what the plan was, however, so she had to be somewhat creative in coming up with her outfit. Truthfully, Meg was so excited to do something-anything-different that she really didn’t care what it was. She had picked up on the excitement in Eli's voice and she couldn’t wait to find out what had him so keyed up.
Weevil was waiting at the rest stop when Meg got there. He offered her his spare helmet and they were off. Meg loved riding behind her boyfriend on his motorcycle. They had only gotten to do it a few times, but she loved putting her arms around Eli and feeling the wind blow across her face and through her hair. The only thing she didn’t like about riding Eli's bike with him is that they didn’t get to do it enough. She was definitely glad for the suggestion to dress warm, as even in California the winter wind was brisk, especially when felt from the seat of a motorcycle.
She was puzzled, though, forty-five minutes later when they pulled into the parking lot of a large county fairground. Weevil stopped in the middle of the huge sheet of empty asphalt and parked the motorcycle. As he got off of the bike and helped Meg do the same, she expressed her confusion simply by raising her eyebrows.
“You’re probably wondering why we’re in a parking lot,” said Weevil with that half-smile that Meg thought (but would never tell him) was adorable.
“Why, yes, I am,” grinned Meg in return.
“You,” Weevil pointed to her, “are going to learn to ride this,” and he pointed to his motorcycle.
Meg’s jaw dropped. “No way!”
“If you’re cool with that,” Weevil said in a manner that indicated he was okay either way, but he was watching her response very closely. He was offering to share something with her that was very important to him and he was trying not to show how nervous he was about it.
Meg started jumping up and down, squealing like the cheerleader that she was and she literally threw herself onto Weevil in her enthusiasm. She wasn’t looking to join the Hell’s Angels, but she was thrilled to learn how to drive her boyfriend’s most prized possession.
Weevil couldn’t do anything but laugh at his girlfriend’s reaction.
“Alright, you ready?” he asked when she calmed down a bit.
Without another word, she straddled his bike and flipped her hair, striking a pose and sending him a fetching smile. Weevil grinned back at her. This was going to be even more fun than he had hoped for.
They started simple. Weevil showed Meg how to properly straddle a motorcycle, what the three-point position was, correct riding posture and where all of the brake and acceleration grips and pedals were. Then it was time to practice braking.
As Weevil explained to Meg, before you can start, you have to learn how to stop. And the best way to do that was to put the bike in neutral and then have the teacher push the bike while the student practiced different ways of braking, which is exactly what they did. Weevil covered both the front and the rear brakes with his very eager student and eventually Meg even got to turn on the motorcycle.
When Weevil told Meg that it was time to break for lunch, Meg was disappointed that her first lesson was over.
“Can I drive us to lunch?”
“Let’s have a few more lessons before we put you on the highway, girl.”
Meg laughed and moved closer to Weevil, putting her arms around his neck.
“So what, you think you’re gonna change my mind?”
“No,” she said, moving closer to him. “I think I’m going to tell you how much I love that you did this.” She reached up and kissed him. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Weevil responded as he pulled Meg closer into his arms for another kiss.
All in all, it was a great day out of the house.
*
Veronica and Logan were making out on his bed when her cell phone rang.
“Don’t answer it,” he complained as she pulled away.
“It could be my dad,” Veronica laughed as Logan ran his hand over her stomach in a way that he knew perfectly well that she loved. “See!” she said and as she swatted his hand away and waved her caller I.D. in his general direction.
“Hey, Dad. What’s up?”
As Logan could only hear Veronica’s end of the conversation, he had a hard time following what was going on. He caught on quickly, though, when Veronica handed him the phone.
When Keith was done, Logan handed the phone back to Veronica.
“Be careful, Dad. Love you.” She shut her phone and turned to Logan as she rolled her eyes. “So it’s your job to make sure I’m safe, huh?”
Logan pulled Veronica into his arms. “See, that’s why your dad talked to me. He knew I would take it more seriously than you do.”
“What are you talking about?” Veronica turned around to look at Logan. “I take this very seriously!”
Pushing her back down, Logan clarified. “You laugh it off, Veronica. That’s what you do. So your dad and I worry enough for all three of us.” He kissed the top of her head.
Veronica sighed and sank deeper into her boyfriend’s embrace. While she did think that the men in her life worried too much, she couldn’t deny that she felt safe in Logan’s arms. She settled into those arms and focused her worry on her father, out there on the search for a serial killer, knowing that she, at least, was safe.
*
Mac had already finished packing. It wasn’t hard-some books, her laptop, a toothbrush. She had plenty of time left to call Veronica and ask her to come over and listen to the CrimeStopper CD that she had been working on for her friend. She wanted to give Veronica a chance to listen to it before the Mackenzie clan headed out for the great unknown.
The Mackenzies. Mom and Dad. As Mac waited for Veronica to get there, she reflected on her familial circumstances. Not that she had thought about much else besides her parents and what it meant to be family since learning of the Great Baby Swap.
At first it had been the money that her mind kept going back to. Mac had felt cheated out of her rightful inheritance, the life that she should have led. The fact was, though, that she didn’t like 09ers much, not because they had money and she didn’t (although that didn’t help), but because as a whole they were rude and hateful. Then she had met her biological mother and sister and she had felt cheated out of the relationships that she should have had with them. (She hadn’t met Robert Sinclair, but she was willing to bet that he was a nice guy.)
It had eventually sunk in, though, that if she and Madison had never been switched, if the most original thing *ever* had never occurred, then she would never have had the parents that she had now. They weren’t her biological parents, but they loved her so much that when given the choice, they had chosen to keep her. When she was six and broke her arm, her dad had held her all the way to the hospital. When she had stayed up all night working on her Great Wall of China project in 7th grade, her mother had been there every minute. And while she had on occasion given serious thought to selling her brother to wandering gypsies to pay for college, she would have held a knife to anyone outside of her family who tried to do the same.
Basically, Mac wasn’t sure how to balance missing the family she should have had with loving the one that she did have. How did you do that?
The doorbell rang. She could spend time contemplating this further on their trip. It’s not like the issue was going to go away.
*
As Veronica pulled away from the curb in front of Mac’s house, she saw Hillary Sinclair sitting in the car across the street and knew immediately that the woman had met and recognized her friend. This situation didn’t have any winners, did it?
As Veronica switched cars and drove to Logan’s house, she thought about how she knew Mac’s most personal secret, but in some ways, Mac didn’t know Veronica at all. As a private detective, it was Veronica’s job to investigate the most personal aspects of people’s lives, but Mac wasn’t a client, she was a friend. And right now, Veronica felt very guilty about the balance of that friendship.
Was this ever going to get easier?
*
Usually Veronica loved driving with Logan. They talked about everything, anything, and forgot about how no one was supposed to know that they were driving together. But Logan had been closed off since Duncan’s…episode. Veronica had tried to get Logan to talk about it, but he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, put anything into words.
“Have you heard anything since the pictures went over?” Logan’s words, after such a long (and unusual) silence, startled Veronica. After she had found her mother’s safety deposit box and its disturbing contents, Logan had come up with the idea of sending matching pictures to Clarence Wiedman. The two of them had taken pictures of Kane Software’s head of security, Photoshopped in sniper crosshairs and had then sent the pictures to him.
“No.” Not that they had expected anything. It wasn’t like they had a bug in the man’s office.
Silence once again reigned, this time broken by Veronica.
“I went to the sheriff’s station.”
“What for? I thought your dad was done there.”
“He is. I wanted to thank Leo for saving his life.”
“Oh. How’d it go?” The complete lack of rancor or jealousy in Logan’s voice was unusual to the point of being disturbing.
“He’s been suspended for a week. When I took the CrimeStopper recording during his shift, I forgot to lock the evidence room and he took the fall.”
Logan looked at her briefly before returning his eyes to the road. “Did he blame you?”
Veronica turned her gaze out the passenger window. “Yeah. He did. And he was right.”
After another twenty awkward minutes, the pair arrived at St. Francis Medical Center in Santa Barbara, for which occasion they were wearing matching fuchsia scrubs. Logan had informed Veronica that St. Francis was home to files from two separate emergency room visits that had taken place about six years apart from each other.
“These have to be the ugliest scrubs yet,” Veronica commented as they headed inside. Even in his current mood Logan had to smile at that because, well, it was true.
Forty-five minutes later they got back into the Xterra, now in possession of medical records that detailed both the time that Aaron had broken Logan’s finger after his son had pointed at a famous actress on set and the time when Aaron had dislocated his son’s jaw after the 12-year-old Logan had mouthed off to his father.
Veronica looked up when Logan didn’t immediately start the car. Her boyfriend was staring at the file propped up against the steering wheel.
“I’ve never seen Duncan like that before. The look in his eyes...” Logan paused. “He threw off his mom like she wasn’t even there. I didn’t just push him to the floor-I had to body tackle him.” He looked at Veronica. “That look.” He looked back at the file holding his medical records. “I know that look, Veronica. He would have done anything.”
Veronica raised her hand and rested it on Logan’s cheek. Logan closed his eyes as his face seemed to melt into Veronica’s hand.
“He would have done anything. And I’m not sure he would have known that he was doing it.”
To be continued…
A/N: As a note, I rode a motorcycle once. Years ago. With my psycho ex-boyfriend. Credit for all details goes to this website , b/c I know absolutely nothing about the subject. *laughs*
Author: jacedesbff
Pairing/Character: Logan/Veronica, Meg/Weevil, ensemble
Word Count: 7,279
Rating: PG-13 for mild language and sexual situations, although the Spanish curse words found within are pretty much rated R if I understood correctly. (There is also an excellent chance that the grammar on those is atrocious. My apologies for that. I speak English and a little French and the characters using those words would not be likely to swear in French.) *laughs*
Summary: AU from the Pilot; this chapter takes place during “Silence of the Lamb”
Spoilers: Familiarity with Season 1 required.
Disclaimer: Rob Thomas owns all.
All previous chapters may be found at my LJ.
A/N: So b/w vacation and this chapter’s highly unexpected length, this took longer than I expected. :-) But it’s long and was very fun to write! Hugs and kisses to my beta candlewaxdreams. I am SO grateful for her help and support. And how cool is that icon? A million hugs and a big shout-out to janeart for making it by special request. She is too cool for words. :-) (Anyone else who wants to make one will get a big, giant cookie!)
X-posted. Thank you to everyone for your ongoing feedback. Mercedes and I have a blast discussing it at great length. And the polls are open at 5thingsthat for the most recent challenge-please stop by and check out this round’s submissions!
As Logan watched Veronica walk across the quad with Wallace, he was reminded of the fact that he was Lloyd Dobbler.
A few weeks before Christmas vacation, Veronica had had a crappy day, so Logan told her that she could pick whatever movie she wanted and he would watch it with her. She had chosen Say Anything, a movie Logan had never before considered watching. Based on the summary on the back, Logan figured that most of his enjoyment would come from making fun of it as he held his girlfriend on the couch, but something strange had happened. As the movie unfolded and Logan had gotten to know the characters, he started to identify with Lloyd.
Asking out the girl that he thought was above him. Taking her to the party and everyone being impressed that Lloyd was with Diane. Pointing out glass for her to walk around. And the speech. Lloyd’s speech about his ambitions.
“I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that.”
For the first time, Logan knew exactly what he wanted to do with his life, and that speech was it. That is exactly what he wanted to do with the rest of his time on earth. The speech cemented his realization-Lloyd was Logan with less money.
You had to understand. Logan had been stunned when Lilly went out with him. Lilly Kane had chosen Logan Echolls to be her boyfriend. Of course, he was aware that Lilly went out with him in large part because he was Aaron Echolls’ son, but still. The most gorgeous and vivacious, if shallow and vapid, hottie in school had chosen him. He finally had status of his own, notoriety that he didn’t inherit. Logan was dating Lilly Kane.
And that was nothing compared to how he felt about his relationship with Veronica.
Veronica didn’t like him because his father was famous. Veronica liked him-she loved him-for him. Like Lloyd, Logan felt that he was loved by a girl that was way above him. Yeah, the 09ers made her life hell, but they did it with fear in their hearts, because she was Veronica Mars. This was the girl that got Logan busted for a bong that wasn’t his; she found missing cars and had guys sent off to boarding school; she worked for her dad, the former sheriff who was now a private detective; she had done “something”, as yet undefined, to Dick Casablancas’ car after he had insulted her in class; she tricked Kimmie Lassiter into confessing to stalking Meg Manning on camera and then made sure the whole school saw it. She was a teenage superhero who walked the halls of their school.
And she loved Logan Echolls.
When Lloyd told his friends that Diane made him like himself, Logan’s heart stopped. He wanted to rewind the DVD and listen to it again. He didn’t, because he couldn’t figure out how to maintain any semblance of dignity in front of Veronica at the same time, but he knew that he was stopping at the store on the way home and he was going to buy this movie and that then he was going to watch that scene repeatedly. Because that was how Veronica made him feel. Logan’s girlfriend made him like himself; she made him feel like he could accomplish things. He had never been able to put it into words before and now he didn’t have to because Lloyd had done it for him.
When Diane dumped Lloyd, Logan got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. Everything the character did is what Logan would have done. He would have called and called; he would have asked for the letter back; he would have played the song outside the window. All of it. And yes, he would have written that letter in the first place. In fact, he was almost jealous of a fictional character, because the words in that letter were Logan’s words. They were his feelings. When Diane and Lloyd got together at the end of the movie, Logan almost got choked up because he would be more than happy if that’s how his and Veronica’s story went. Fortunately for his continued inclusion in the guy club, he was able to stave off an embarrassing show of tears.
So as Logan watched Veronica walk across the quad with Wallace Fennell, he wanted to rip someone’s head off, because he was Lloyd Dobbler and no one knew. Veronica Mars, possibly the most well-known and feared girl at Neptune High School, was in love with him and no one knew about it. Logan was desperate to love Veronica in public. He adored her and he wanted everyone to see him show it. Not in a skeezy, PDA kind of way, although that wouldn’t suck, but to show everyone how she deserved to be treated and in the process shut them all up.
The time he and Veronica had spent with Meg and Weevil had been a blast, but it had an inevitable and unfortunate side effect. Yes, Logan got to live his dream. Then he got to come back to school and have it ripped away.
So, yeah, Logan was in a bad mood.
“Hey, Logan, you want to go down to TJ this weekend?” asked Dick.
“Do you ever think about anything besides getting high and scoring with strangers?” Logan shot back.
“Um, no,” said Dick, a bit nonplussed by Logan’s harsh tone.
“Whatever, man. Let’s go.” Logan got up and headed inside, tired of watching other people get to talk to his girlfriend in public when he couldn’t.
Looked like lunch for the 09er crowd was over.
*
Wallace watched as Jackson Douglas hit up Veronica for help. The hypocrisy of 09ers never failed to amaze Wallace. They talked about Veronica like she was the biggest skank on the planet until they wanted her to do something for them, and then it was all, “Hey, I hear that you do things for people.” Uh-huh.
It bothered Wallace that more people didn’t take the time to get to know Veronica. He had stopped counting the number of times that he had defended her reputation. Freshmen, seniors, it didn’t matter-everyone used Veronica as a slutty punch line. Wallace had long ago figured out the perfect way to shut them up, though. He simply threatened to pass the comment along, thereby putting the offending party on Veronica’s radar-shut ‘em without fail.
Wallace wished that Veronica had more time to hang out, but he had also accepted long ago that Veronica was one of the busiest people he knew. If she wasn’t working for her father, she was keeping her GPA up or solving cases for other students. Since basketball season had started, it hadn’t been as big of a deal that the person he considered to be his best friend was hardly ever available to hang out, but he did still sometimes wish that Veronica wasn’t quite so busy.
Wallace rolled his eyes as Veronica explained the phenomenon that was Madison Sinclair’s birthday. Neptune High was a very strange place.
*
As Veronica walked to class with Wallace, she saw Logan leaning against the wall next to the janitor’s closet, one leg hiked up, the other on the floor. She told Wallace that she had to take care of something and that she’d see him later.
She bent down and pretended to look through her bag while the hall cleared. Logan slipped inside the janitor’s closet. Shortly after, Veronica followed.
Before the door even closed behind her, Logan pulled her into his arms and held on as tightly as he could. Knowing exactly where this was coming from, Veronica returned the hold. The two of them leaned against the wall inhaling each other’s scent, each of them wishing that they didn’t have to steal their time together.
Veronica had felt Logan’s eyes on her all through lunch. She knew when he left, she knew he was upset and she knew why.
She reached up and put her hands on either side of his face.
“We’re going to find a way to change things. We can do this.”
Logan buried his face in her hair.
“All the love in my heart.”
Veronica clung to him even tighter. How had she gotten so lucky?
They reluctantly let go of each other.
Time to face the world again.
*
After both Logan and Veronica had left the janitor’s closet and headed to their respective classes, a third person emerged from the tiny room.
Duncan had left lunch early and waited, hiding under a large tarp that smelled like urine. He knew that his friends wouldn’t be able to stop themselves from seeing each other after lunch today. He also knew that they were more likely to meet in the janitor’s closet than in the bathroom because they wouldn’t really be talking, they would just be “touching base”. He wasn’t sure if the two of them realized that they had unwritten rules about which hiding places they used and when. It didn’t matter. He knew.
He knew everything.
*
Meg was at her locker after school when the three of them came up to her. They were girls, so they couldn’t be PCHers and there really weren’t enough of them to form a gang of their own, but in truth all they lacked was a name. They were still a gang.
Esmerelda stood on Meg’s right, pushing the blond girl’s locker door against the wall. Esmerelda was the de facto leader of the non-gang. She wore too much make-up and too-tight clothes that usually included some sort of bustier. If you looked closely into Esmerelda’s eyes, you realized that there wasn’t anything that she wouldn’t do. Girls gave her a wide berth in the hallway and boys kept their comments about how skanky she looked to themselves.
Meg struggled to keep her knees from trembling as Esmerelda spoke.
“Mercedes, this is the girl, right?”
“Oh, yeah,” answered the shorter, stockier girl. Mercedes wasn’t quite as garish as Esmerelda, but she never wore shirts with sleeves-ever-and with good reason. Any guy at Neptune would have paid money to have Mercedes’ arms and shoulders. The girl was cut. She seriously looked like she could bench press a truck.
“Her little white bread car has been parked in front of Weevil’s house every night this week.”
As Mercedes drawled out her words, she pushed her braids over Meg’s left shoulder and the 09er was proud of herself for not flinching.
She felt hot breath on the top of her ear.
Oh, crap. Of course Cissy was there. Mercedes and Esmerelda never went anywhere without Cissy.
Francisca “Cissy” Pena was the biggest girl at Neptune, easily weighing in at over 300 lbs. She was also stunningly beautiful with thick black hair, a knack for applying make-up in the most attractive manner possible and the ability to choose surprisingly flattering clothes. Too bad no one at Neptune had ever seen her smile and only a few more had heard her speak. All told, Cissy presented a very strange package to the world.
Yes, Meg was being cornered by Neptune High’s resident Latina girl gang. Most of the Hispanic girls at their school were perfectly nice people. These three were not.
Meg shoved some books into her backpack that she didn’t really need, just to give herself something to do.
“Your point?” she asked curtly. She was afraid to turn around.
“Our point,” answered Esmerelda, “is that you’re not welcome in our neighborhood.”
“Maybe not by you,” Meg opened up a notebook and checked to make sure that all of her papers were there. Well, she pretended to check. It’s not like she could actually think about anything besides surviving the next five minutes.
“Our opinions are the ones you should care about,” Mercedes practically purred.
Screw this, Meg told herself. She had figured that she would have to face these three at some point; she just hadn’t thought it would be this soon. She shoved her backpack into her locker and turned around.
“Too bad I care more about Letty Navarro.”
“Like hell you do, madre,” Mercedes whipped her braids back. “The only thing you care about is Weevil. Échate un casquete.”
Meg had no idea what Mercedes had just said, but she had no doubt that it was very bad and probably very dirty.
“Why don’t you have the courage to insult me in a language I understand?” Meg used a forceful tone to belie the fact that her insides were Jell-o.
Mercedes repeated what she had said in English, causing Meg to blush to the tips of her roots.
At that moment Kylee, Brooke and Kate, three of the snottiest 09er cheerleaders to have ever walked the halls at Neptune, appeared behind Cissy. The only people Meg would have been happier to have on her side in this situation were Veronica Mars or Madison Sinclair.
It never occurred to Meg that Weevil could help. This was girl world.
“Are these skanks bothering you, Meg?” demanded Brooke, the tallest girl on the squad and the only girl at Neptune taller than the silent Cissy.
“Who are you calling skank, puta?” asked Esmerelda in a tone that would have frightened anyone else.
These girls weren’t anyone else.
“Would you look at that, Brooke?” interjected Kate. “She knows how to insult us in her native language. That’s so cute! Maybe someday she’ll master English and actually graduate.”
Cissy looked down at Kate, who stood at a whopping five foot nothing. Kate showed no indication of caring.
Sensing the road down which this was going, Meg spoke up.
“Mrs. Navarro’s daughter is fighting cancer. She needs someone to help when she can’t be there. Unless one of you wants to volunteer to help the kids with their homework, clean house, do laundry and read bedtime stories, I’m going to have to ask you to leave. I’m not going to stop helping one of the sweetest women I’ve ever met just because you don’t like me.”
The two factions faced off in light of Meg’s declaration, neither willing to budge.
Meg yanked her bookbag out of her locker and grabbed the door which Esmerelda had finally stepped away from, slamming it shut. The sudden noise seemed to signal the end of the confrontation.
“This isn’t over, polla,” said the furious Esmerelda. “You better watch your back.” She pointed at Meg as she and her followers turned to walk away.
“We’ll be right behind her,” countered Kylee, “so you better be prepared when you get there.”
Esmerelda made a shooting motion with her pointed finger and the 09ers could hear Mercedes’ laughter echo down the hall. Cissy never had made a sound.
“Meg, there is no way that you can go to that neighborhood again.” Now that they were alone, Brooke immediately started in on her friend. “Have you ever been in gym class with Mercedes? The guys pick her first for touch football. She can, like, lift VW bugs by herself.”
“Thank you so much for stepping in,” Meg said sincerely. “That was insane. But I meant what I said. Letty Navarro is the sweetest woman I’ve ever met and I’m not going to stop helping her because those three don’t like it. I won’t let them win.” Meg knew how to play her friends.
As the other cheerleaders walked her to her car, Meg tried to figure out how to explain this to Eli. She knew that she had to, but she couldn’t imagine the conversation being a fun one.
*
Mac liked originality-she liked things that were new and fresh and unusual, all of which were in short supply at Neptune High. She actually didn’t think that her hair color was all that unusual. She did it because it was different in comparison. The problem was that there wasn’t much to compare it to.
Which is why Mac liked Veronica Mars. The slight blonde had gone from being Duncan Kane’s arm candy to being Neptune’s resident whore to being “Veronica Mars”, the teenage super spy-detective that found lost fathers, busted e-mail criminals, solved thefts and generally did things that simultaneously impressed the hell and scared the crap out of the other students at the school. Now that was original.
Mac wanted to get to know Veronica better, an all-around first in her high school experience, and when she heard the blonde detective wisely taking 09ers for their cash, she saw the perfect opportunity to do so. During Advanced Programming, a class she didn’t need but which looked good on her transcript, Mac used Visual Basic to build a representative graphic design for the ultimate money-making website.
After going to Veronica’s office and pitching it to her, Mac understood the modern-day Nancy Drew’s reluctance to take on even more in her life, but she was more grateful that she had been able to ask Veronica to help her out personally. Veronica was willing to look into Mac’s own background and at no charge.
As Mac left Mars Investigations, she decided that Veronica could best be compared to a breath of fresh air. In the recycled and stuffy atmosphere that permeated the halls of Neptune, Veronica was a cleansing gust of wind and Mac hoped that she did indeed get to know her better.
*
Veronica called Logan and asked him if he could meet her in the basement of the local newspaper where back issues were still kept on microfiche. Such was the state of their lives that they could only spend time together in the privacy of their own homes or in the bowels of forgotten buildings. Veronica rolled her eyes as she made her way down the stairs. Whatever. She wanted to spend time with her boyfriend.
Logan popped out in front of her as she opened the door to the records room and Veronica jumped in surprise.
As Logan pulled her into his arms, he crowed, “I get a cookie. I made the great Veronica Mars jump!”
“You wish,” she said as she pushed him away. “No cookies for you! And no kiss, either,” she tossed over her shoulder as she headed for the microfiche files.
“Come on, Veronica,” whined Logan as he followed her and put his arms around her, making it very difficult for her to look through the files for the appropriate newspaper issues. “It’s been, like, 48 hours since we kissed last. I’m going into withdrawal.”
Without turning around, Veronica commented as she started pulling packs of microfiche. “And here I thought you liked me for my mind.” Before Logan could protest, she continued. “And it has not been 48 hours. You are so exaggerating.”
At Logan’s pitiful sigh, she turned around and smiled at him. “For your information, it’s been exactly 42 hours and…” she checked her watch, “…six minutes.” She reached up and planted a kiss on her boyfriend’s lips. “Happy?”
Logan’s grin was huge. And gorgeous. “Oh, yeah,” he said and he pushed her up against the file cabinet, closing the drawer she had just rifled through.
Veronica smiled inwardly as Logan kissed her well and thoroughly. That talk she had had with him about how much she loved kissing him had been one of the most fruitful discussions she had ever held with anyone. Seriously. Ever.
When they came up for air, she reminded Logan that she really did need his help searching through the newspaper’s files. Logan sighed and pulled back.
“Alriiiight,” he drawled, looking like a sad little puppy whose favorite toy had been taken away. Veronica laughed.
“I promise if we find what we’re looking for, I will give you the best kind of payment a girl can offer.”
*
After Veronica left, Mac sat frozen on her bed. Her parents weren’t her parents. Honestly, she wasn’t all that surprised. But switched at birth? With Madison Sinclair? Well, at least it was original. Yeah, that was it. Being the victim of a baby swap had to be one of the most original things that Mac had ever heard of.
She wanted to know more about the wealth that she should have been born into, which desire finally motivated her to move. She called up the Sinclairs on her computer. She quickly learned that Madison’s father was the COO at Kane Software. He and Jake Kane had worked together at Microsoft before Jake left to start his own business and Robert Sinclair had followed him. He had subsequently acquired a wealth second only to Jake Kane’s when the company went public. Since that time, Hillary Sinclair had joined the boards of several charitable organizations, most of them with Celeste Kane, and apparently spent a lot of her time serving the community.
Mac sighed. Not only would she love to get to know these people, they were completely wasted on Madison.
*
Duncan had invited Logan over to his house to play video games after school. Everything was ready to go.
“Hey dude! You comin’ or what?!” called Logan from where he was sprawled in front of the widescreen plasma TV.
“I’ll be right there!” Duncan yelled back.
He walked into the living room jingling his keys. Before he sat down, though, he flashed the red laser pointer directly into his eyes.
As Logan turned to give the other controller to his friend, Duncan flew into a rage. He ripped the cushions off of the couch and then went at Logan, who started yelling for help. Celeste came running in from the other room and tried to grab her son from behind, but Duncan was too strong and threw her off like an annoying mosquito. Logan body-tackled his friend as Duncan lurched towards the plasma screen and let fly a stream of cuss words that would have made a sailor blush.
“Lucia! Lucia!” Celeste screamed. “Get the syringe!”
Logan finally had Duncan pinned on the living room floor, although the curse words continued to spew forth. Unfortunately, the stockier boy was kicking and thrashing so hard that Logan barely managed to keep hold of him.
As the Kanes’ housekeeper came running into the living room with a hypodermic needle, Celeste practically ripped it out of the woman’s hand. She squirted a little out of the end to get rid of any air bubbles and jammed it into her son’s arm. Within seconds, Duncan calmed down, his breathing slowed, and his eyes closed.
Celeste and Logan sat back, both of them emotionally and physically exhausted. Lucia made a quiet exit.
“What were you two doing?” demanded Celeste in a quiet but angry voice.
“Nothing,” answered Logan in shock. He couldn’t take his eyes off of his now sleeping friend. “Nothing, I swear. We were gonna play Madden, and he just lost it.”
There was a pause.
“Thank you, Logan.” The young man looked up, surprised by Celeste’s sudden change in tone. In an instant, she had switched to being her usual matter-of-fact and clinical self. “You should probably go so Duncan can get some rest. I’ll make sure he sees the doctor about this. I know you’ll keep this incident to yourself.” She looked at Logan pointedly. He nodded more out of reflex than anything else.
What the hell?
Celeste continued to look at him expectantly. Logan scrambled to his feet and headed for the door.
Just when it seemed like things were getting better.
*
Veronica went to the police station to take her dad his dinner. The deputy manning the phones was young and seemed relatively naïve. Veronica had been feeling guilty lately because she didn’t feel that she and Logan had been doing enough to find Lilly’s real killer. So much had been crowding their lives that avenging Lilly’s murderer had fallen from the forefront of their thoughts. This new deputy, though, seemed to be attracted to Veronica, which could prove useful.
That night during their ritual phone call, Veronica promised her boyfriend that she would only flirt a little bit and that she would spend as little time with Deputy Leo as possible.
“Whatever,” replied Logan.
“Whatever? That’s what you have to say? Whatever. This from the guy who almost attacked Casey Gant just for taking me to the hospital with him? Try again, Logan.” Better to deal with it now.
A long sigh issued from the receiver. “What do you want me to say? We know that Abel Koontz didn’t kill Lilly and we need to find out who did. You’re right that this is the best way to do it. You’re always saying that I need to show you that I trust you.” Logan took another deep breath. “I have to start somewhere. Why not here? You’re not gonna kiss this guy, right? You’re going to flirt with him, Weevil will distract him, and you’ll swipe the CrimeStoppers tape. Isn’t that the plan?”
“That’s it,” she affirmed.
“I don’t have to like it, but I do have to stop being jealous all the time. Consider this a first step.” Logan stopped and there was a sudden silence.
“I love you, Logan.”
“Do me a favor and remember that when you’re flirting with the guy in the uniform.”
“Promise.”
Veronica had a feeling that she was missing something, though. Whether detective’s or womens’ intuition, something wasn’t right.
“Logan, what’s wrong? What’s really wrong?”
Silence answered her.
“Logan?” A note of serious worry entered her voice.
“It’s Duncan.”
*
Leo had the following night off, which worked out well since Mac wanted to go to Madison’s birthday party. Veronica wasn’t happy about it, but she couldn’t let Mac go alone so she grabbed Wallace and off the three of them went.
As soon as they were inside, Mac went in one direction and Wallace went in the other, leaving Veronica alone in the middle of the entrance hall to be eyed by a very displeased Madison Sinclair. To her relief, a friendly face separated itself from the crowd.
“Meg!” Veronica exclaimed in relief as Meg grabbed her hand and pulled her into a quiet corner. “Thanks for the rescue.”
“Any time,” answered Meg with a smile before hesitantly inquiring. “What are you doing here?”
“Not exactly my usual scene, is it?”
“Not really.”
Veronica rolled her eyes and looked back in the direction from which they had come. “I’m sort of on a case. Someone needed to look into something and I’m here as backup. How’m I doing?” she smiled.
“I’d hire you in a minute,” laughed Meg.
“Hey, what’s this I hear about you needing to hire a bodyguard?” Veronica suddenly asserted. She went on to explain that she had overheard some 09ers in AP English discussing Esmerelda and Mercedes’ verbal assault on Meg. “I didn’t get all of the details and I didn’t really trust their version, anyway, but it didn’t sound good.”
Meg rolled her eyes. “It wasn’t that bad. They accused me in a couple different languages of wanting to, um, have sex with Weevil.” She coughed discreetly. “They may not have used those exact words.”
Veronica casually looked around to make sure that no one was in earshot. “Did you tell Eli about it?” Even if anyone could hear, very few people at the school knew Weevil’s real name.
“Yes,” sighed Meg. “I didn’t want him to hear about it from someone else.” She looked at the floor. “I told him that there was nothing he could do and that I would handle it.” She looked back up and a firm expression took over her features. “He wanted to do something and I said that would only make it worse. I made it clear that he needed to stay out of it.”
“Do you think he will?”
“I don’t know.” Meg shook her head. “I mean, honestly, I knew that eventually we would have to deal with each other’s friends. Not that those girls are his friends, but you know what I mean.” Veronica nodded. “I told him I have to stand up for myself or they’ll just keep coming after me.” She smiled. “That he understood.”
Veronica checked her watch. “Oh, wow. I’m sorry, Meg, but I need to go check…” she indicated behind her.
“No problem. Give me a call this weekend.”
“Absolutely.” And with that, Veronica went off to find Mac.
After she and Mac were summarily told off and thrown out by Queen Bitch of the Universe, they found Wallace hitting on a sophomore and dragged him back out to Mac’s VW bug, where they again made him ride in the back.
“How come I have to ride in the backseat of the smallest car this side of the Mini Cooper?” Wallace complained. “I’m a basketball player, remember? Veronica’s the short one.”
“I like to think of it as vertically challenged,” Veronica reminded him. “And I get carsick in the back.”
“Uh-huh,” grumped Wallace, clearly not convinced.
Veronica turned her attention to her blue-haired friend. “How are you holding up?”
“I’ll be okay,” said Mac morosely as she pulled out of their parking space on the side of the well-kept street and drove away. But Veronica noticed the look of longing in Mac’s eyes as they drove past one beautiful home after another. She wished that there was something she could do, but some things people had to work out for themselves.
*
The plan to “borrow” the CrimeStopper recording went perfectly. Veronica brought Leo pizza, noting that she couldn’t stay but that she didn’t want him to go hungry. Weevil came and distracted the young deputy, providing Veronica the opening that she needed to get into the evidence room and get the CD. She then said her goodbyes to Leo and met up with Weevil outside the station.
“Thanks, Weevil.”
“No problem. Anything going on besides stealing from the local sheriff’s department?”
Veronica gave the young man a tired smile.
“The usual. You?”
Weevil crossed his arms and grimaced. “I gotta tell ya, I would really like to see my girlfriend outside of my house one of these days.”
Veronica nodded. “And not have her car parked outside your house?”
“That, too,” grimaced Weevil. “Meg said she talked to you about Esmerelda?”
Veronica nodded. “She’s right, you know. You can’t get involved. It really is a girl thing.”
Weevil rolled his eyes. “Just another reason why I want to see her somewhere other than my neighborhood. You know, do something together besides watch TV.”
Veronica leaned back against her car. “Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to act like normal couples? You know, do things together that you like doing? Logan wants to teach me how to surf, but we’re always afraid that if we spend that much time at a beach someone will recognize us. Surfing is a small world.”
Weevil started to say something and then stopped.
“What?” prompted the small blonde.
“Nothing…you just gave me an idea, that’s all.”
“I did?”
“Yeah. Thanks, Vee!” And with that, Weevil bumped fists with Veronica and got on his bike, leaving her very confused as to what had just happened.
*
The next morning Meg told her parents that she was going to the beach with some friends and then drove to everyone’s favorite rest stop to meet Eli. Her boyfriend had called her the night before and told her to meet him there and to dress warm. He declined to tell her what the plan was, however, so she had to be somewhat creative in coming up with her outfit. Truthfully, Meg was so excited to do something-anything-different that she really didn’t care what it was. She had picked up on the excitement in Eli's voice and she couldn’t wait to find out what had him so keyed up.
Weevil was waiting at the rest stop when Meg got there. He offered her his spare helmet and they were off. Meg loved riding behind her boyfriend on his motorcycle. They had only gotten to do it a few times, but she loved putting her arms around Eli and feeling the wind blow across her face and through her hair. The only thing she didn’t like about riding Eli's bike with him is that they didn’t get to do it enough. She was definitely glad for the suggestion to dress warm, as even in California the winter wind was brisk, especially when felt from the seat of a motorcycle.
She was puzzled, though, forty-five minutes later when they pulled into the parking lot of a large county fairground. Weevil stopped in the middle of the huge sheet of empty asphalt and parked the motorcycle. As he got off of the bike and helped Meg do the same, she expressed her confusion simply by raising her eyebrows.
“You’re probably wondering why we’re in a parking lot,” said Weevil with that half-smile that Meg thought (but would never tell him) was adorable.
“Why, yes, I am,” grinned Meg in return.
“You,” Weevil pointed to her, “are going to learn to ride this,” and he pointed to his motorcycle.
Meg’s jaw dropped. “No way!”
“If you’re cool with that,” Weevil said in a manner that indicated he was okay either way, but he was watching her response very closely. He was offering to share something with her that was very important to him and he was trying not to show how nervous he was about it.
Meg started jumping up and down, squealing like the cheerleader that she was and she literally threw herself onto Weevil in her enthusiasm. She wasn’t looking to join the Hell’s Angels, but she was thrilled to learn how to drive her boyfriend’s most prized possession.
Weevil couldn’t do anything but laugh at his girlfriend’s reaction.
“Alright, you ready?” he asked when she calmed down a bit.
Without another word, she straddled his bike and flipped her hair, striking a pose and sending him a fetching smile. Weevil grinned back at her. This was going to be even more fun than he had hoped for.
They started simple. Weevil showed Meg how to properly straddle a motorcycle, what the three-point position was, correct riding posture and where all of the brake and acceleration grips and pedals were. Then it was time to practice braking.
As Weevil explained to Meg, before you can start, you have to learn how to stop. And the best way to do that was to put the bike in neutral and then have the teacher push the bike while the student practiced different ways of braking, which is exactly what they did. Weevil covered both the front and the rear brakes with his very eager student and eventually Meg even got to turn on the motorcycle.
When Weevil told Meg that it was time to break for lunch, Meg was disappointed that her first lesson was over.
“Can I drive us to lunch?”
“Let’s have a few more lessons before we put you on the highway, girl.”
Meg laughed and moved closer to Weevil, putting her arms around his neck.
“So what, you think you’re gonna change my mind?”
“No,” she said, moving closer to him. “I think I’m going to tell you how much I love that you did this.” She reached up and kissed him. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” Weevil responded as he pulled Meg closer into his arms for another kiss.
All in all, it was a great day out of the house.
*
Veronica and Logan were making out on his bed when her cell phone rang.
“Don’t answer it,” he complained as she pulled away.
“It could be my dad,” Veronica laughed as Logan ran his hand over her stomach in a way that he knew perfectly well that she loved. “See!” she said and as she swatted his hand away and waved her caller I.D. in his general direction.
“Hey, Dad. What’s up?”
As Logan could only hear Veronica’s end of the conversation, he had a hard time following what was going on. He caught on quickly, though, when Veronica handed him the phone.
When Keith was done, Logan handed the phone back to Veronica.
“Be careful, Dad. Love you.” She shut her phone and turned to Logan as she rolled her eyes. “So it’s your job to make sure I’m safe, huh?”
Logan pulled Veronica into his arms. “See, that’s why your dad talked to me. He knew I would take it more seriously than you do.”
“What are you talking about?” Veronica turned around to look at Logan. “I take this very seriously!”
Pushing her back down, Logan clarified. “You laugh it off, Veronica. That’s what you do. So your dad and I worry enough for all three of us.” He kissed the top of her head.
Veronica sighed and sank deeper into her boyfriend’s embrace. While she did think that the men in her life worried too much, she couldn’t deny that she felt safe in Logan’s arms. She settled into those arms and focused her worry on her father, out there on the search for a serial killer, knowing that she, at least, was safe.
*
Mac had already finished packing. It wasn’t hard-some books, her laptop, a toothbrush. She had plenty of time left to call Veronica and ask her to come over and listen to the CrimeStopper CD that she had been working on for her friend. She wanted to give Veronica a chance to listen to it before the Mackenzie clan headed out for the great unknown.
The Mackenzies. Mom and Dad. As Mac waited for Veronica to get there, she reflected on her familial circumstances. Not that she had thought about much else besides her parents and what it meant to be family since learning of the Great Baby Swap.
At first it had been the money that her mind kept going back to. Mac had felt cheated out of her rightful inheritance, the life that she should have led. The fact was, though, that she didn’t like 09ers much, not because they had money and she didn’t (although that didn’t help), but because as a whole they were rude and hateful. Then she had met her biological mother and sister and she had felt cheated out of the relationships that she should have had with them. (She hadn’t met Robert Sinclair, but she was willing to bet that he was a nice guy.)
It had eventually sunk in, though, that if she and Madison had never been switched, if the most original thing *ever* had never occurred, then she would never have had the parents that she had now. They weren’t her biological parents, but they loved her so much that when given the choice, they had chosen to keep her. When she was six and broke her arm, her dad had held her all the way to the hospital. When she had stayed up all night working on her Great Wall of China project in 7th grade, her mother had been there every minute. And while she had on occasion given serious thought to selling her brother to wandering gypsies to pay for college, she would have held a knife to anyone outside of her family who tried to do the same.
Basically, Mac wasn’t sure how to balance missing the family she should have had with loving the one that she did have. How did you do that?
The doorbell rang. She could spend time contemplating this further on their trip. It’s not like the issue was going to go away.
*
As Veronica pulled away from the curb in front of Mac’s house, she saw Hillary Sinclair sitting in the car across the street and knew immediately that the woman had met and recognized her friend. This situation didn’t have any winners, did it?
As Veronica switched cars and drove to Logan’s house, she thought about how she knew Mac’s most personal secret, but in some ways, Mac didn’t know Veronica at all. As a private detective, it was Veronica’s job to investigate the most personal aspects of people’s lives, but Mac wasn’t a client, she was a friend. And right now, Veronica felt very guilty about the balance of that friendship.
Was this ever going to get easier?
*
Usually Veronica loved driving with Logan. They talked about everything, anything, and forgot about how no one was supposed to know that they were driving together. But Logan had been closed off since Duncan’s…episode. Veronica had tried to get Logan to talk about it, but he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, put anything into words.
“Have you heard anything since the pictures went over?” Logan’s words, after such a long (and unusual) silence, startled Veronica. After she had found her mother’s safety deposit box and its disturbing contents, Logan had come up with the idea of sending matching pictures to Clarence Wiedman. The two of them had taken pictures of Kane Software’s head of security, Photoshopped in sniper crosshairs and had then sent the pictures to him.
“No.” Not that they had expected anything. It wasn’t like they had a bug in the man’s office.
Silence once again reigned, this time broken by Veronica.
“I went to the sheriff’s station.”
“What for? I thought your dad was done there.”
“He is. I wanted to thank Leo for saving his life.”
“Oh. How’d it go?” The complete lack of rancor or jealousy in Logan’s voice was unusual to the point of being disturbing.
“He’s been suspended for a week. When I took the CrimeStopper recording during his shift, I forgot to lock the evidence room and he took the fall.”
Logan looked at her briefly before returning his eyes to the road. “Did he blame you?”
Veronica turned her gaze out the passenger window. “Yeah. He did. And he was right.”
After another twenty awkward minutes, the pair arrived at St. Francis Medical Center in Santa Barbara, for which occasion they were wearing matching fuchsia scrubs. Logan had informed Veronica that St. Francis was home to files from two separate emergency room visits that had taken place about six years apart from each other.
“These have to be the ugliest scrubs yet,” Veronica commented as they headed inside. Even in his current mood Logan had to smile at that because, well, it was true.
Forty-five minutes later they got back into the Xterra, now in possession of medical records that detailed both the time that Aaron had broken Logan’s finger after his son had pointed at a famous actress on set and the time when Aaron had dislocated his son’s jaw after the 12-year-old Logan had mouthed off to his father.
Veronica looked up when Logan didn’t immediately start the car. Her boyfriend was staring at the file propped up against the steering wheel.
“I’ve never seen Duncan like that before. The look in his eyes...” Logan paused. “He threw off his mom like she wasn’t even there. I didn’t just push him to the floor-I had to body tackle him.” He looked at Veronica. “That look.” He looked back at the file holding his medical records. “I know that look, Veronica. He would have done anything.”
Veronica raised her hand and rested it on Logan’s cheek. Logan closed his eyes as his face seemed to melt into Veronica’s hand.
“He would have done anything. And I’m not sure he would have known that he was doing it.”
To be continued…
A/N: As a note, I rode a motorcycle once. Years ago. With my psycho ex-boyfriend. Credit for all details goes to this website , b/c I know absolutely nothing about the subject. *laughs*