The Truth Always Comes Out
By
Misha
Disclaimer- I don't own anything to do with "Veronica Mars", I really wish I did, but I don't. It belongs to Rob Thomas and the UPN. I'm not making any money off of this, so please don't sue me.
Author's Notes- This is another answer to the "5 points challenge". It's five ways Veronica could have learnt about her doubtful paternity. It's done in the first person, because that was how it wanted to be written. It's a little weird, but I think it works. That's all for now, enjoy!
Pairings- Lianne/Jake, Duncan/Veronica.
Summery- AU. Five ways Veronica could have learnt about her mother and Jake Kane...
Rating- PG-13
Spoilers- The whole first season, I guess.
I. The Right Thing
"Veronica, we need to talk."
Lianne's been debating this all day, since Veronica had come home bursting with excitement over the fact that Duncan had asked her out.
A part of her wants to just let it be. After all, they're only kids, how serious can it be? So what would the harm be in letting them go out a few times and having it die out on its own? Besides, they didn't know for sure.
Yet, even though Lianne tries to tell herself these things, she remembers her own high school romance and knows that she has to stop whatever there is between Duncan and Veronica before it even starts and there's only one way to do that.
Veronica looks up from her homework. "Sure. What is it?"
Lianne takes a deep breath. She can do this, she has to do this. "Veronica, you can't date Duncan."
"What?" Veronica says in disbelief. "Why not?"
She can't believe what she's hearing. She's had a crush on Duncan forever, of course she was going to go out with him!
"Because he's your half-brother." Lianne tells her.
Veronica stills and turns white, staring at her mother with huge eyes. "No." She whispers. "No. You're lying." She had to be lying. She had to be.
"I'm sorry, baby." Lianne whispers reaching out to touch Veronica, but Veronica coils back.
She doesn't want her mother touching her. Not now. Duncan is her brother. She wants to throw up. She's barely listening as her mother tells her that there might be a chance that he's not and that they can have blood tests done if she'd like.
"No." She answers, because she doesn't want to know. She can't date Duncan now, not even if the tests proved they aren't related, she just couldn't. And she doesn't want to know if Jake Kane really is her father, she wants to believe it's Keith Mars and she can do that as long as there's no piece of paper telling her otherwise.
Veronica'll break it off with Duncan in the morning, come up with some excuse or another, she'll spend a month avoiding both him and Lilly, but slowly things will go back to normal.
Except, she'll never think of her mother the same way again.
II. Eavesdropping
Veronica disentangles herself from Duncan's arms and gets up off his bed. They were in the midst of a "study session" in his room. She was actually supposed to be studying with Lilly in Lilly's room while Duncan and Logan studied, but what were the odds of that?
"I'll be right back." She promises, laughingly moving away as he tries to pull her back into his arms. She heads for the door and walks down the hallway towards the bathroom. Once she's done, she remembers that she left her bag downstairs and decides to go get it. She might decide to do some studying, after all.
She passes Mr. Kane's study and is surprised to hear voices. When did Duncan's parents get home? she wonders, planning on warning Duncan and Lilly when she gets back upstairs. Suddenly, she hears her name being mentioned and she freezes in front of the door.
"Jake, you can't let it go on." Duncan's mother is saying. "Duncan has to be told before he and Veronica... Well before things go to far."
"Celeste..." Jake says with a sigh, as if this is an argument they have had many times.
"Jake, open your eyes, if we don't interfere now, it's going to be too late. Jake, it's incest!"
Veronica sucks in a deep breath. What? How?
"Celeste, I'm sure you're overreacting." Jake says warily.
"Am I?" Celeste demands angrily. "Just like I was overreacting all those times I suspected there was something going on between you and Lianne? Well, like Father, like son. You can't resist the mother and Duncan can't resist the daughter. If we don't do something now, it's going to be too late and Duncan's going to sleep with her! His own sister!"
Veronica thinks she's going to throw up. Jake Kane and her mother? She's Duncan's sister! How is it possible? She knows she must have heard wrong, yet...
She didn't. Duncan was her brother.
Veronica isn't sure what to do, but somehow she makes it back upstairs and tells Duncan she has to go home. The next day she breaks up with him, without giving him a reason, she also starts to avoid him and Lilly. She just can't see them, because seeing them means facing the truth.
Two weeks later, Lilly is murdered and her father, Keith, goes after Jake.
Veronica wonders if she's the reason and doesn't want to stick around to find out, so she gets in a car with her mother and they leave Neptune behind them for good, after all there's nothing keeping either one of them there.
Not anymore.
III. An Answer
"Why Duncan?" Veronica demands, having finally cornered Duncan. She isn't just going to let him walk away and pretend that she had never existed. She needs answers and she is going to get them.
Duncan won't meet her gaze. "Veronica, just let it go, okay?"
"No, not okay." She says flatly. "Duncan, I deserve an answer."
He continues to look away for a long time and then finally he meets her gaze and something in it makes her stomach flip over. Suddenly, she's not so sure she wants to know, but at the same time she has to.
"You're my sister! That's why!" Duncan shouts at her.
Veronica barely hears him. "What!"
"You. Are. My. Sister." Duncan repeats, drawing out every word. "Turns out my dad and your mom..." Duncan trails off, but that's okay.
Veronica doesn't need any more information. Slowly, the pieces of the puzzle are all falling into place. Why it was always her dad, not her mom, who picked her up at the Kanes; why Celeste hates her so much; all the times she caught Jake Kane staring at her. It makes sense now. A horrible, awful kind of sense.
Duncan's her brother. God. Her brother. The thought makes her want to puke.
She looks up at him and sees the same emotions on his face. Things that used to be good are now so, so bad.
Duncan reaches out, as if to comfort her, and then thinks better of it. "So now you know." He says quietly.
"So now I know." Veronica agrees, silently thinking that this was one of those things she rather not know. But of course, she had to do know.
"I want blood tests." Veronica tells him quietly. "I have to know for sure."
Duncan nods and Veronica starts wondering how she could have blood tests done without either of their parents finding out. She finds the name of a lab and she has the samples sent there, her blood and Duncan's. Because she needs to know.
But by the time the results come back, it doesn't really matter anymore. Because everything's gone to Hell in a hand basket. Lily's dead, Keith Mars has lost his job, and Veronica's mom is gone.
The truth can't change any of those things. Can't give her life back and she's not sure she really wants to know, after all.
IV. Secrets
"So what's this big secret, Lilly?" Veronica asks after the car wash.
She's unable to resist and corners her best friend as they're leaving. Lilly pauses, wondering which of her two secrets to reveal. She decides to go with the one that will have the bigger impact on Veronica.
"You're my sister." Lilly says gleefully.
"What?" Veronica asks, unable to believe her ears. "You have to be kidding."
"Nope." Lilly tells her. "Turns out Daddy got around--you're a Kane, Veronica."
Veronica thinks that she's going to throw up. If Lilly's her sister, then that means... Oh, God. Duncan's her brother. Her brother.
"Oh, God." Veronica says, throwing up right there on the Kane lawn. "Oh, God."
Her mind flashes to all those special, beautiful private moments, the ones that were now so sick and wrong. Her brother...
"It's not like you and Duncan did anything." Lilly said, rolling her eyes. "I mean, you're both so virginal..."
They were virgins, yes, but... God. There were things they had done... Things she hadn't even told Lilly about... Things that were so wrong now.
"I have to go." Veronica mutters, unable to stand it any longer.
"It's a good thing Veronica." Lilly tells her.
Veronica doesn't say anything, she just rushes away.
It's the last time she'll ever talk to Lillly.
In the weeks after Lilly's murder, she'll replay the conversation in her head over and over. It'll colour how she feels about her mother, but she'll still escape with Lianne, because she can't stay in Neptune.
She'll never forget what Lilly told her, but she'll never speak of it, either. She'll spend the rest of her life running from what she heard, just like she ran from Neptune.
V. Morning After
Veronica opens her eyes.
Where am I? She wonders, sitting up. She freezes when she realizes that she isn't alone and then relaxes when she sees that it's Duncan in the bed beside her.
He stirs and then sits up, looking panicked. "Oh, God." He whispers, sounding horrified. "What did I do?"
"Duncan?" Veronica asks, staring at him in disbelief. Was it really that bad that they... She always wanted it to be Duncan and now it was. "What's wrong?"
"I slept with you!" Duncan yells out, holding his face in his hands. "Oh, my god, I slept with you."
"It was consensual wasn't it?" Veronica asks, unable to believe otherwise. Sure, she didn't remember any of it, but it Duncan. Of course it was consensual.
"Of course it was." Duncan says passionately. "I'd never..."
"I know." She says softly. "So what's the problem?"
That was the part she didn't get, why this was wrong?
"The problem is, you're my sister!" He screams.
She stares at him. "What? No, that's not possible."
She has to be hearing him wrong. She has to be.
"You are." He tells her softly. "My dad... Your mom... They... You're the result. My mom told me."
His words are shattering. One more illusion gone.
"No." Veronica tells him. "It's not true." She looks at him, going with her gut. "Do you have proof?" She asks. "A blood test or something?"
"No, but my mother..." Duncan beings her.
"I want a blood test." Veronica tells him firmly. "You're not my brother. I know it. You can't be."
Duncan looks hopeful, as if it might really be a bad dream after all.
A month later, they learn for sure that there's no blood between them, that they're love isn't wrong. Yet, even as she kisses Duncan in celebration, Veronica can't help but think it's cold comfort, because she might have Duncan back, but she's lost her innocence...
The End