We’re Having a Conversation, Pt. 5/5 (Wallace, Logan, Veronica, other characters) R
Title: We’re Having a Conversation, Pt. 5/5
Author: celtic_flicka
Pairing/Character: Wallace, Logan, Veronica, other characters
Word Count: 3,802
Rating: R (language)
Summary: Wallace takes on Veronica...
Spoilers: Through 3.20
Disclaimer: I am in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of Veronica Mars. No copyright infringement is intended.
Notes: This is AU for most of 3.20: The Bitch is Back. Thanks to all the readers who commented on Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4. Special thanks to annie_oakley, who caught a continuity error in the timing of Keith becoming acting Sheriff (a small change was made to Part 4 that doesn’t affect the overall plot). Feedback is much appreciated!
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Wallace knew Veronica’s schedule almost as well as his own, so he knew she was working in the library or at class the rest of the day. He didn’t want to approach her in public-she’d already had more than her share of unwanted public attention in the last week, plus he didn’t want her to be able to storm off. So that night, Wallace drove to the offices of Mars Investigations.
With Mr. Mars working as acting sheriff, his P.I. work was on hold, so Veronica was there by herself. She’s worried about me, when she’s always working at night with the front door unlocked? Someday one of those cheating spouses that she’s caught in the act is going to come back here and…he tried to shake off the thoughts that always plagued him when Veronica worked late. He needed to focus on what he needed to say now.
Wallace walked through the office door and stood in the entryway. Veronica looked up from her paperwork.
“Wallace,” she said with a fake, tight smile. “How can I help you? Are you tracking a serial killer? Maybe an international hit man?”
“Maybe you can look through my phone and find out.” He walked into the office, holding his phone out to her. “This time, I’ll just hand it over so you don’t have to wait until I turn my back.”
“I had to know what you were up to,” Veronica said.
“You couldn’t ask instead of spying on me?”
“You were trying to keep it from me,” she retorted. “If I asked what you and Logan were doing, you wouldn’t have told me.”
“OK, that’s probably true,” Wallace said. “But if I had told you, you would have gotten mad anyway! We were violating the rules that you dictated for us, which apparently is a very serious offense.”
She folded her arms defensively.
“Don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about,” he said loudly. “You have all these little rules in your head about how you want people to act, and then when they don’t follow them, you decide that they’ve let you down and you get all pissy. We’re human beings with free will-we’re not always going to follow the Law of Veronica!”
“I do not get pissy,” she said with a sneer.
“You do! I’ve always gone along with what you wanted, either because I agreed with you or because I just didn’t want to rock the boat, but the one time I broke your unwritten rules, you got mad and stormed off on me! How long until Mac breaks a rule and you write her off too? And God knows, being punished for breaking your rules has become a way of life for Logan.”
“Do not bring Logan into this!” Veronica said through gritted teeth, her voice rising. “He slept with Madison Sinclair. That is unforgivable.”
“Oh, that is a bullshit excuse and you know it!” Wallace shouted. “You were broken up when that happened! What does it matter?”
She looked down at her desk for a moment and then back at Wallace. “It matters because she’s the one who gave me the drugged drink at Shelly Pomroy’s party,” she said quietly.
“But she didn’t know that,” Wallace said, more gently. He sat down in the chair across from her as she gave him a look. “She did spit in your drink-which is so gross-but Madison isn’t really responsible for what happened to you at that party. You know that.”
Veronica leaned back in her chair, her arms still folded.
“And I will give you that she’s a total skank, so I understand you wanting to place some blame on her,” Wallace continued, “but is your grudge against her worth losing the love of your life?”
She opened her mouth to protest, but Wallace cut her off.
“You know I’m right,” he said. “I’ve been the spectator to this thing for two years, and I’m not blind. You’re completely in love with him, but you just can’t let yourself admit it. I bet you’ve never even told him you love him.” She drew in a sharp breath, but Wallace pretended not to notice. “You know what I think?”
“What?” Veronica said, more calmly.
“I think that when you guys got back together after Christmas break, you got mad at yourself for wanting him back so badly, so you were just waiting for any excuse to end it again,” Wallace said, proud of that little insight. “That way, you wouldn’t have to admit to yourself that Veronica Mars might actually need someone.”
Veronica started as though he’d slapped her in the face.
Wallace panicked. He thought they were getting somewhere, but now he’d obviously hit a nerve. “Look,” he said softly, leaning toward her. “I get why you don’t want to need anyone, I do. But you have to let people in sometimes. Remember at the end of junior year, when you came over to my house and told me about all that shit that had been going on all year?”
She nodded slightly.
“I felt terrible that you’d had to go through all that. But I felt even worse about the fact that you didn’t tell me about it sooner,” Wallace continued. “You were going through, like, one of the worst times in your life, and I wasn’t able to help you because you wouldn’t let me in. I could have made it easier, even just a little bit, if you would have just let me help you.”
“I couldn’t tell anyone,” she replied.
“Yes, you could. If you really trusted me, you could. But after everything we’ve been through, I don’t think you really trust me. Veronica, you’re my best friend-you’re like the sister I never had. If you can’t trust me, who can you?”
Her face softened, and Wallace hoped he was getting through to her.
“You’ve got friends who are willing to do absolutely anything for you,” he continued. “Me, Mac, Logan-we’ve all put our asses on the line for you, over and over again, but you keep us at arm’s length.”
“What are you talking about?” Veronica’s voice was more even, but her posture was still defensive.
“You’ve made sure that the people closest to you never get close to each other,” Wallace explained. “Mac and Logan and I barely knew each other at all until recently. Does that make any sense? I really like Mac, but I didn’t know that until we started meeting for lunch this semester. And how is it that your best girlfriend didn’t know your boyfriend until he started dating someone else?”
Tears glistened in the corners of Veronica’s eyes as she looked away from him.
“When you and Logan were dating, you knew I didn’t like him very much, but you still didn’t make an effort for us to get to know each other,” he added. “You were OK with your best friend hating your boyfriend because that meant you still had some control over both of us.”
Wallace scooted his chair closer to her.
“I’m just saying-I think you have a hard time letting yourself need people, but it ends up hurting those of us who need you,” he finished.
Veronica turned her head back toward Wallace. She stared at him for a few seconds, her eyes still wet. He leaned back in his chair.
“Well,” she began, “thank you so much for that insightful psychoanalysis. You’ve really figured me out. I’m so glad we had this little chat.”
Wallace was stunned. “Hey-don’t be like that!”
“No, really, I feel so much better,” she said, her voice full of venom. “This has been so enlightening. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have work to do.” She got up from her desk and stalked into Keith’s office, slamming the door behind her and locking it. Wallace went toward the door.
“Come on, Veronica, open up,” he said. He thought he heard her crying, but he wasn’t sure. “Talk to me, girl. I love you and I can’t stand for things to be this way between us. Come on…”
But after fifteen minutes of pleading with a locked door, Wallace gave up and went back to his car.
* * *
Wallace spent the following day trying to “accidentally” bump into Veronica, hoping that they’d be able to patch things up after she’d had a chance to think about what he said and sleep on it. But after waiting outside her criminology class and her English class, and later dropping by the library during her usual shift, he realized she hadn’t come to school that day. He called Mac, Max, and even Parker-who was still a little mad at Veronica-but nobody had seen her.
He felt sick all day. That evening, he sat alone at the food court, picking at his dinner, when Logan approached.
“All by yourself?”
“Yeah, Veronica’s avoiding me, I think,” Wallace replied, dropping his fork on the tray.
“Still mad about our little caper, huh?”
“Nah, it’s more than that,” Wallace said. “I went to her office last night to talk to her about the whole thing, and I ended up telling her that I think she’s afraid to let people in.”
“Oooooohh,” Logan said knowingly. “Let me guess: It didn’t go well?”
“That’s an understatement,” Wallace responded. “I knew that she would attack if she felt threatened, so I tried not to go at her too hard-I really did. But apparently, I managed to touch on some sore spots.”
“She’s got a lot of them,” Logan said. “You’ve got to be careful.”
“I thought I was, but I guess the issue was more of a minefield than I thought,” Wallace said sadly. “Hey, you’ve got more experience with pissing Veronica off than I do. How long until she cools off?”
Logan laughed. “Um, never? Seriously, I’m not the guy to ask, since she’s barely spoken to me in months. But maybe it will be different with you.”
“I hope so.” Wallace sighed as Logan dropped his jacket and backpack on one of the chairs at his table. “Anyway, I talked to Max and he’s up for the movie tomorrow night. If you come by my room at 7, we can go get Max and then head out.”
“OK, but isn’t your roommate going to be less than thrilled to see me?”
“Piz is leaving tomorrow morning to visit some friends at UCLA, so he’s not going to be around this weekend,” Wallace explained.
“That’s good. I apologized a few days ago, but if I were him, I still wouldn’t want to see me.”
“Hey, I gave you a pretty good beatdown, and you’re still hanging around,” Wallace smirked.
“Ah, don’t flatter yourself-it wasn’t that good of a beatdown,” Logan slapped Wallace on the shoulder. “I’m going to get some food. You need anything?”
“No, but don’t get the meatloaf,” Wallace said, making a face at his plate.
* * *
After an uneventful Friday, Wallace was checking e-mail in his room when there was a knock at the door.
“You’re early? I’ll alert the media-” he began, stopping when he saw his best friend standing on the other side of the door. “Um, hi,” he said.
“I’m, uh, early to pick up Mac so, you know, I thought I’d stop by and, um…” She blinked hard a few times, her forehead crinkled, and she started to cry.
“Oh! Come in, come in,” Wallace said hurriedly, knowing she’d be even more upset if anyone else saw her break down like that. She stepped inside, turning toward him with her arms wrapped around her own waist.
“I do need you, Wallace,” she blurted out. “And I do trust you. I really do. It’s just hard for me…”
“Come here,” Wallace said, reaching out to Veronica and pulling her in for a hug. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. That’s not what I was trying to do.”
“I know,” she snuffled against his shoulder. “But you were right. I don’t let people in, and I’m too controlling, and I don’t allow myself to need anyone, and it’s screwing up my relationships.”
“Wait a minute, I didn’t say it like that,” Wallace protested.
“No, but it’s the truth,” Veronica replied. “And it’s not the first time someone I love has told me that, in so many words.” A new wave of tears came spilling out.
“Hey, hey, it’s OK,” Wallace said, rubbing her back comfortingly. It made his chest tighten to see her like this.
“No, it’s not,” she said, standing up straight and wiping the tears from under her eyes with her fingers. “I don’t want you to ever feel like I don’t love you. You’re my BFF.” She choked out a little laugh. “But I hope you can be patient with me.”
“I’ve been patient with you this long, haven’t I?” Wallace joked, handing her a tissue.
Veronica giggled a little as she dabbed at her eyes. “”Tonight I’m going to talk to Mac about getting a group together to go bowling next weekend. It’s about time my friends got to know each other, I think. Are you in?”
“Sure, yeah!” he said brightly. “Seriously though, this is a two-way street, so I’m going to make an effort too. Let’s make a vow to be more patient with each other, and if one of us gets pissed off, we can say so without fear of repercussion.”
“OK,” Veronica agreed, wiping her nose. “So can we talk about that green striped shirt of yours that I hate?”
Wallace grinned. “No, that shirt is off-limits. Leave the innocent shirt out of this.”
Veronica smiled broadly, then put a hand on her forehead, warm from crying. “Are we good? Because I think that’s all the emoting I can take for one night. I’ve gotta ease into these things.”
Wallace grinned. “Yeah, we’re good.” He plunked himself back down into his desk chair.
Veronica threw out the tissue and opened the mini-fridge. “Is this yours or Piz’s?” she asked, holding up a can of soda.
“Mine-you can take it,” he said, watching as she held the cold can to her cheek. “So what are you and the lovely Miss Mackenzie up to this evening?”
She switched the can to the other cheek, then sat down on his bed. “The film department is showing this Danish movie we both wanted to see. You want to come?”
“Subtitles? No, thanks,” he said. “Anyway, I’ve got plans. I’m going to see that new horror movie with Max…and Logan.”
“Oh!” She seemed surprised, but then tried to act casual. “So…you guys are hanging out now?”
“Sort of, I guess. He’s an OK guy-not who I thought he was. Definitely not the same guy who smashed your headlights during my first week in Neptune.”
“That’s true,” she said thoughtfully. “But wait: Didn’t you beat him up, like, two weeks ago? I saw the damage myself.”
“Yeah, well, he’s the forgiving type,” Wallace said, a little pointedly. “And we kind of got to know each other while we were helping out a friend. You might have heard.”
She smiled. “I’ve heard. Actually, when I saw the story on the news, I was pissed that you guys put yourself in danger like that-but seeing Sacks shoving Gorya Sorokin into the back of a squad car? That was pretty great.”
“Wasn’t it? I can see why you get off on this detective stuff. That was a major rush.”
“I know,” she said with a big grin. “You have to tell me: How did you make that happen? Max said that Mr. Kane was involved, but that you guys didn’t give him any details.” She popped open her soda can and crossed her legs on the bed, waiting to hear the story.
Wallace shook his head in mock disgust. “We didn’t tell him because we thought we were keeping him out of trouble. I guess we didn’t understand the extent of Mac’s interrogation skills.”
Veronica smiled broadly. “He’s so crazy about her, he was helpless. It’s pretty sweet, actually.”
“Whatever, I’m totally giving him shit tonight.”
“You can try, but he’ll be the first one to admit that Mac’s got him whipped,” Veronica laughed. “Although getting him to track the e-mail was a smart move.”
“Well, we sort of got that idea from you.”
“From me?”
“Whenever we weren’t sure what to do next, we asked ourselves, ‘What would Veronica do?’” Wallace explained. “We even had a little abbreviation for it: WWVD. It was sort of a team motto. We might have t-shirts made.”
“Aw, you’re gonna make me blush,” she said jokingly, although she was really blushing. “So, come on, what did you guys say to Mr. Kane to get him to help you?”
“I can’t take any credit for that part-that was all Logan,” Wallace said. “He threatened him by telling him that you were on the case, and you’d be surprised at how well that got his attention.”
“Eeeeexcellent,” Veronica said, tapping her fingertips together like a cartoon villain. “What else? That couldn’t have been it. I’m not that scary.”
“Yes, you are!” Wallace said. “But I think the rest is for Logan to tell you.”
Her face fell. “We’re not telling each other much lately.”
Wallace nodded.
“I think you were right about what you said,” she said softly. “I was waiting to push him away. But I don’t know if I can fix it this time-I really went nuclear on him.”
Wallace sighed. I shouldn’t say anything. There is a guy code. He said not to say anything so I really shouldn’t… He looked at Veronica sitting across from him, studying her soda can sadly. But there’s also a best friend code, and I think that has to trump the guy code in this case. He took a deep breath, hoped this was the right move, and blurted it out.
“Whatever-he’s still so in love with you,” he said, trying to sound matter-of-fact about it.
“Wallace, I don’t think so,” Veronica said. “Not after what I-”
Wallace scoffed. “You know what he did to Piz when he first found out about the video.” He held his hands up in a placating gesture. “I know, it was insane and he should have used his brain before his fists, but isn’t it obvious why he did that?”
“Well…” She gave a little shrug.
“We went after the goddamned Russian mob, Veronica! Logan didn’t do that as a favor to me. And what he said to Jake Kane…” Wallace grew very serious. “That took a lot out of him. He wouldn’t have done that for just anyone. He couldn’t have.”
“Really?” she asked tentatively.
“Really. Just promise me you’ll at least talk to him,” Wallace said. “If you still love Logan, you have to try and put yourself out there. I want what’s best for you, so if you want him, you need to take a chance. And honestly, I want what’s best for him too, and I think that’s probably you.”
“You are a good friend, Wallace,” Veronica said, leaning across the space between them to give him a quick embrace. “And speaking of friends, Mac’s waiting for me. I’d better go.”
“Promise me…”
“OK, I promise. First thing tomorrow.”
“Good.” She leaned over to throw away her soda can, while Wallace stepped toward the door to open it for her.
He found Logan was standing in the hallway, fist raised as though he were about to knock on the door.
“Um, hey,” he said, his eyes darting between Wallace and Veronica.
“Hey,” she said with a soft smile.
“I was just…Wallace and I were going to…” Logan pointed behind him with his thumb, indicating that they were going out.
“Yeah, I know, I just stopped by for a minute,” Veronica replied. “I’m meeting Mac.”
“Come on in,” Wallace said, stepping out of the doorway.
As Logan walked in, his eyes down, Veronica glanced across the room at Wallace, her eyes wide. Wallace raised his eyebrows at her in a gesture that said, Go ahead.
“So, listen, I just wanted to thank you-both of you-for what you did for me,” she said, looking around awkwardly, as Logan tugged nervously at his sleeves. “I know why you did it, and, well, um, just thanks for looking out for me.”
“Yeah, well, someone’s got to do it, you know?” Logan said. He smiled a tiny bit, glancing up at her and catching her eyes. The two stared at each other meaningfully for a moment, until Veronica broke the spell.
“Well, I’d better…”
“Yeah.”
Wallace sighed. “No! You two need to talk, and it might as well be now.” He picked up his jacket and walked backward toward the doorway. “I’ll make your excuses to Max and Mac. You stay here and talk to each other, because as of now, I am officially out of this conversation.” He backed out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Wallace took a few steps down the hall, then stopped. OK, I’m not completely out of this conversation. If one of my friends-either one of them-is about to get their heart crushed, I should be there for them.
He returned to the door and paused outside to see if he could hear how things were going. Their voices were low, so he couldn’t make out any words, but he figured the fact that they weren’t yelling was probably a good thing. Maybe. Damn it, I just need to know if everything’s all right so I can leave. He put his ear to the door.
BAM! Wallace jumped back as something crashed against the door. Oh hell-she’s throwing things! I’m going in before they wreck the place. This was a bad idea. As he put his hand on the doorknob, he heard voices just inside.
“Oh, Logan…”
“God, Veronica…”
Wallace recoiled from the door.
“Babe, I missed you so much.”
“Oooohhhh…”
Ooookay, I guess the talking part is over…Wallace wasn’t sure if he was glad or horrified-glad for his friends, horrified at what they were doing in his room. Gah. They’d better leave before they…Wallace shuddered. She was like a sister to him so he didn’t want to think about that. He backed down the hall quickly, before he heard anything else.
When he got far enough away, he took out his phone and dialed. “Hey Mac, you want to catch that horror movie with me and Max tonight?...No, Veronica’s not going to be able to make it….Come meet me in the lobby and I’ll tell you on the walk over to Max’s dorm…Don’t worry, it’s good news…”
* * *
What happened after Wallace left? On to the epilogue...
Thanks for reading!
Edited to add: Since I posted this, I've discovered that someone else has indeed created a "WWVD?" t-shirt!