A/N: Wrote this in April but never posted it because... Y'know, I'm not even sure why! lol Anyway, this is set in the present day... or more accurately, the Summer of 2015. That means it's happening a few weeks/months after the latest Veronica Mars novel and eight years after the end of Gilmore Girls. It is a seperate world of its own, unconnected to any of my previous fics for either fandom.
Disclaimers: All recognisable characters from Gilmore Girls belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and other folks that aren't me. All recognisable characters from Veronica Mars belong to Rob Thomas and other folks that aren't me.
Life's A Beach
Veronica watched Pony run in and out of the surf and smiled a little. It felt good to be happy, even momentarily, because the feeling was fleeting these last few weeks. Things were on the up and up in Neptune since the new Sheriff was installed, and things were going well enough for Mars Investigations. Veronica's life was pretty good in relative terms, she had a hundred and one reasons to be happy, except one - she missed Logan.
It felt wrong to selfishly miss him when there was every chance he was coming home before long, but on the other hand she knew he may never come home at all. She had been there at Logan's side for the funeral of his friend and fellow officer. Things went wrong sometimes and people just didn't come back. Veronica wanted to have faith, but life seemed determined to prove she was a fool for doing so.
Pony barked loudly and scampered about, daring the waves to splash at her, which they did every time. She was happy here at least, not so mopey as she was at home where she missed Logan too. It made sense to Veronica that the beach would be the most comforting place to be, since she associated it so much with Logan. Maybe she was wrong, because so far every thought of him here just made her want to give in and cry.
Veronica blinked hard to keep the tears away and to better see what Pony was doing now. She seemed to have something in her mouth, something bright and colourful. Veronica got up and dusted the sand off her butt to go and see what she had found, lest it be something dangerous. She was only mildly surprised to find her dog had liberated a Frisbee from somewhere.
"Where'd you get this, girl?" she asked, fussing the dog as she removed the Frisbee from Pony's mouth. "You find it in the water?"
"That would be mine," said a voice behind her and Veronica turned sharply to see a man there that she didn't recognise at first.
He was taller than her, but then most people were, dark hair above dark glasses that hid his eyes. There was something vaguely familiar about the way he was standing there in a T-shirt and black jeans, a memory in her head that was very vague at first, as she wondered who would ever wear such clothes to the beach. When he took off his shades and stared as hard at her as she was staring at him, Veronica's mind found the answer it had been digging for.
"I know you," he said and she smiled.
"Yes, we definitely met before," she nodded, moving up the beach towards him with Pony in tow. "Holden Caulfield," she greeted him with the name she herself had given him that day.
"Nancy Drew," he countered with a wide smile as he realised why she was familiar.
Jess could hardly believe the weird coincidence of it all. Of all the people on all the beaches, to stumble across Veronica again after so long.
"It has to have been, what? Ten years?" she asked, her mind reeling also.
"Almost, I guess," he considered. "It was definitely a long time ago."
It was strange to recall that day so many years ago. A lot had happened since, but Jess' focus then had been all that had gone before. Summer was coming around fast and Jimmy and Sasha invited him down to Venice Beach to visit. Jess wasn't so sure he wanted to do it or could even spare the time at first, but hearing from Luke that Rory had received a marriage proposal put his head into a spin. The blond dick from Yale had wanted to tie Rory down, and as much as Luke seemed to think it wasn't going to happen, Jess couldn't put his faith in Rory to make good choices anymore, not back then, not after everything. He itched to do something stupid, like go to Stars Hollow and beg her one more time to run away with him.
In the end, Jess had decided to fly cross country to the furthest point away from Rory that was still in the US. He couldn't tell Jimmy or Sasha what was wrong with him and one particular blazing row had led him to catch a bus down the coast just to get away. He had landed up here, in Neptune, walking on the beach in his dark clothes and an even darker mood. It was here he had stumbled upon Veronica, literally in fact, tripping over her legs as she sat out on the sand, lost in thought. He smiled at the odd memory as it came back into his head.
"At least you're looking where you're going this time," she smiled, clearly having the same thoughts as Jess.
"I'm not sure either of us had much idea where we were headed when we met," he recalled, meaning so much more than it seemed.
"True dat," she nodded easily,
Veronica remembered that day so well. It was the one of many that followed on from Logan's punching out Gory Sorokin in the Hearst College food court. She had known then that life was about to change again, that it had to or she was going to end up in a very vicious and dangerous cycle.
The beach was a good place to come and think, away from well-meaning family and friends, away from studying and cases to solve. Veronica had to clear her head and figure out a way forward, somewhere between Piz, Logan, her dad, Hearst, and all. As it turned out, the choices she needed to make were not so easy to figure out alone. It took a complete stranger to straighten her out.
"Y'know, I should really be thanking you?" said Jess then, running his hand back through his hair like a nervous gesture, but Veronica recognised it as something done when he was just feeling awkward. "I mean, I'd like to think I'd've got to where I am now on my own steam eventually, but I don't know," he shook his head.
"You went back to the woman you loved," she said with a smirk she couldn't help. "Rory, right?"
"Right," he agreed, amazed that she recalled the details and it showed on his face.
"Good with names, and faces," said Veronica, pointing a thumb back into her own chest. "Not so good with relationships always, although I got there in the end too."
"I didn't like to ask," Jess shrugged. "I mean, you're back here, and alone... kind of," he smiled as Veronica's dog ran circles around the two of them.
"Yeah, I'm back," she agreed, watching Pony go nuts as usual. "The time away was what I needed though, even if it was just to show me what I was missing by not being here. I doubt that makes sense-"
"It does," Jess assured her. "Like I told you before, I spent the whole two years I was in Stars Hollow trying to get out, and then anywhere else I went just felt like too far away."
"I was gone nine years from Neptune," sighed Veronica. "I never thought I'd want to come back, and now? Leaving would tear me in half. My family is here, all the friends that really matter, and... well, Logan is gone right now, but he'll be back."
"It worked out for you two," said Jess with a look, an almost too clever smirk that Veronica should have been offended by, but she couldn't be.
"Yeah, I know what you're thinking," she smiled in spite of herself. "For what it's worth, yes, you were right. No amount of running put Logan out of my head, not really, but you were also right that getting out of this place for a while was the right thing."
"And you were so right in encouraging me to go back to Rory," he admitted. "I should definitely thank you for that."
"Maybe," Veronica considered. "Or maybe it was one of those fate and destiny things that we met and set each other on the right path."
Jess smirked, knowing as cynical as she was Veronica should never believe that for a second. He shouldn't either, and yet it certainly seemed as if their meeting that day had been designed to put them back on course.
"So, your guy is...?" he started to ask.
"In the Middle East," she explained. "Navy pilot."
"Wow," Jess reacted with evident surprise. "Well, I'm all for the boys fighting for the red, white, and blue. It straighten him out? The forces, I mean?"
"It did," Veronica agreed. "We're finally both in the same place at the same time, figuratively, emotionally," she clarified. "And you and Rory...?" she began to ask, just as their conversation was interrupted by someone Veronica could only assume was Rory herself.
"Jess?" she called from further up the beach, a baby on her hip and another little one beside her, hanging onto her jacket. "Did you find the Frisbee?"
"Right here," he called back, waving the item aloft, before turning back to Veronica a moment. "Sorry, I should really get going, but it was good seeing you, Veronica. I'm glad things worked out, and I'd give you good odds that your guy will come back to you, no matter what. Pretty sure he wouldn't dare do anything else," he winked.
"You have a beautiful family, Jess," she said, shielding her eyes from the sun to get a better look at the attractive brunette and her little ones. "Don't screw up."
"Never," he promised before turning to walk away.
Veronica watched him go with a smile on her face that was much more genuine than before. Everything had worked out for Jess, a guy that had seemed so determined that fate or God or whatever was out there had a complete downer on him and was sure his life would suck, always. Convincing him to take a chance on going back into his past, reconnecting with the love of his life, it hadn't come easy to a girl of nineteen who was then realising the best thing she could do for her own sanity was to walk away from all that she ever knew. It had worked out though, for both of them. That gave Veronica hope. Sitting here moping about Logan wasn't helping her or him or anyone else. She should look to the future now, to the day when she had exactly what Jess had, a partner she loved and maybe some kids too. That might be nice.
"For now, it's just you and me, sweetie," she said, leaning down to scratch all around Pony's ears as she jumped for attention. "Time to go home, yes?"
She was refastening Pony's leash when she heard her name called at distance and looked up with surprise to see Jess, with Rory and the kids at his side, trying to get her attention.
"What?" she called back in confusion.
"You want to come join us for lunch?" he checked.
Veronica meant to refuse, until Rory yelled out next.
"Apparently I have a lot to thank you for," she said with a blinding smile that Veronica could see clearly even at this range.
Maybe it would be okay to enjoy herself with old and new friends for a little bit, she considered. It was better than being alone with her own thoughts, getting depressed and overdramatic.
"What do you say, Pony?" she asked the puppy who was already trying to bound in the general direction of Jess' family. "Yeah, I agree. Let's go," she grinned.
They ran up the beach and were welcomed by Rory and Jess, plus the kids who thought Pony was the best thing ever. This day had definitely been vastly improved by a random meeting on the beach, just as it had once before, a long time ago.
The End