Rob Thomas owns everything. This is my first story so I would appreciate feed back. Also, if anyone wants to pre-read this stuff, I would be grateful. Thanks!
Reunion
Veronica entered her studio and let out a sigh. Her studio usually gave her a great sense of peace, but, then again, she usually was completely in control in her studio. Today she was going to have to deal with some twit from Vanity Fair who would undoubtedly have endless opinions about what outfits and what poses and what shadowing Veronica should use for this shoot. She absolutely hated doing celebrity shoots for magazines. She was asked often enough, though, her work being just famous enough for the artsy, glitzy crowd to feel superior for having discovered such a great talent before anyone else.
Of course, Veronica's work, mostly consisting of landscapes and candid shots of strangers, had had a cult following for years. But, when she first moved to London at the age of 22, she had started out as a photographer's assistant at a rather glamorous magazine. As such, she had gained quite the reputation as a portrait photographer in a small, well-to-do circle, and she had done portraits fairly steadily in her early years as a way to pay the bills. Her first portrait for a private party had actually been of the daughter of the editor of Vanity Fair. She had done more for other of the elite in London after that. Now that what she thought of as her real photography had caught the eye of a few famous buyers and she had become more well-known, she was practically hounded by the more upscale magazines to put her portrait skills to work.
Over half the time, she told the magazines no. This particular request, however, was hard to turn down. For one thing, the editor had called her personally, reminding her of the long ago portrait she had done of her daughter and how, for all intents and purposes, that job had allowed Veronica to continue to pursue the work she really loved while making money doing portrait work for the wealthy. For another, this shoot was for an accompanying article about an upcoming movie that had really caught her attention. From what she had gleaned from the packet sent to her to prepare her for the shoot, this movie was a smart, witty take on the California teenage scene with a dark, twisty secret to make it all interesting. Although she didn't know the entire story (apparently the details where being well-hidden to preserve the shock, twist-ending) the entire thing struck a chord with her, reminding her of her own teenaged years spent in California.
If she was totally honest with herself, there was also the fact that Logan Echolls was one of the actors involved in the movie. He apparently played the grown up counter-part of one of the teenagers - the movie being split between flashbacks and the characters' future lives. Of course, Veronica absolutely did not want to see Logan, not after so much pain and so much time, but she couldn't help but be drawn by the idea of him. So, when she was politely asked (badgered, forced, whatever) to do a shoot of Logan's co-star, Alyssa Edwards, she had said yes. The yes coming only after she had been assured, with perplexed looks from the aide brokering this deal, that Logan Echolls would be no where near London when this shoot took place.
"Stuart, I'm so sorry I'm late! There was some huge to-do going on in my neighborhood and it made it impossible to get to the metro," Jane, Veronica's assistant, called breathlessly as she rushed through the door, carrying two large messenger bags and a smaller camera bag.
Veronica's head snapped up as she was abruptly pulled from her reverie. She mentally kicked herself at the half second it took her to respond to the name Stuart. She hadn't gone by Veronica Mars for six years, changing her name to Stuart Reynolds in an attempt to remain hidden and anonymous. The thoughts of Logan that this job brought front and center in her mind had been dragging her more and more into thoughts of her past. Sometimes it was easy to forget that she was a completely different person now and didn't want anything to do with Veronica, the weak, abandoned, unwanted girl from California. She had completely changed her life and she was happy now. She didn't want to be pulled back into some of the most painful, tumultuous times of her life.
"No problems, Jane," Veronica brushed off Jane's worries. "No one from Vanity Fair is showing up for another hour or so. I just wanted a little time to get everything set up and find my Zen before things get hectic. You know how these things can go." Jane had been Veronica's assistant for a couple of years and had been present for exactly three celebrity photo shoots. Jane found it all to be incredibly exciting but understood that her boss had much different feelings.
"Can you believe that we get to meet Alyssa Edwards?" Jane gushed, her fan girl never far from the surface. "She is so beautiful. I would kill to have hair like that, so dark and long and shiny. How do you think she gets it to look like that?"
"She gets it to look like that through a combination of wonderful genetics, very talented beauticians, and the best products money can buy," Veronica stated flatly, unimpressed. "Trust me, you're hair would probably be twice as gorgeous if you had access to everything she does." Veronica couldn't help but smile at her assistant's exuberance. Jane hadn't become immune to all of the beauty and glamour that movie stars had to carry around as part of their jobs. Veronica, having spent much time at Logan's house in her early teen years, with both Lynn and Aaron, knew that the beauty and glamour was, more times than not, nothing more than a well polished costume, donned for the public. The truth that lurked underneath was not always so pretty.
"Do you think that she'll talk about Logan Echolls? Have you heard the rumor that they're an item now?" Jane sounded slightly disappointed. She had an enormous crush on one Logan Echolls and was beside herself that she was going to get to meet someone who had worked so closely with him. She couldn't help, however, but be a little crushed that some other girl was with him, now matter how remote the possibility that Jane herself would meet him and that he would fall madly in love.
Veronica looked down at the camera and tripod she was adjusting and swallowed, "No, I hadn't heard. I don't usually follow the tabloids." She tried hard to suppress the feelings of jealousy that came unbidden at the mention of Logan's love life.
"Oh, right. I guess you don't really have time for silly stuff like that," Jane brushed off Veronica's embarrassing lack of knowledge as to celebrity goings on.
"I guess it would be nice for him to finally find someone to settle down with, " she went on grudgingly. "He just seems so tragic with that awful woman Hannah leaving him and that horrible custody battle. What kind of woman would try to completely cut off contact between father and son? Especially when the father is someone wonderful like Logan Echolls?"
Veronica swallowed again, looking away from Jane. "You know you don't have to keep on calling him by both his first and his last name, right? As a matter of fact, maybe you should start practicing calling Alyssa Edwards just Alyssa. It might be a little awkward if you fan girled out in front of her."
Veronica paused for a second, debating whether to put her other thoughts into words before finally pushing forward, "And remember that sometimes people have reasons that we don't know about. That woman might have thought she was protecting her child." The words were quiet and delivered to the far corner of the room, over Jane's right shoulder.
Jane's cheeks flushed as she looked down at her shoes, "Right, of course, I'm sorry, forget I said anything…"
Before Veronica could try to dissipate the awkwardness that had descended on the room, voices drifting in from the hallway caught both women's attention.
"Oh, they're early," Jane commented, relieved at the distraction.
Veronica, however, was frozen, all of the color draining from her face. She could pick out the voices of three females so far, but it was the one male voice that made her heart first stop and then speed as if it would burst. She was still standing with her back to the door when Jane answered their knock. She busied herself by fiddling with a light diffuser as the assistant from Vanity Fair that she had been dealing with introduced Jane to the group. When the aide, Stacy she remembered, introduced no other than Logan Echolls to Jane and Veronica heard a little squeal followed by a heartbreakingly familiar chuckle, a cold sweat formed at her hairline.
"Stuart…Stuart," Stacy called, trying to get Veronica to come meet Logan and Alyssa. Veronica slowly turned, a tremor running through her hands that she couldn't control and the undeniable look of fear in her eyes.
"Oh my god, I'm such a fan…" Alyssa began to gush. She was cut off by Logan's quite voice.
"Veronica" he almost whispered, the one word filled with wonder and tentative hope.
Veronica unwillingly raised her eyes to meet Logan's. Before she could form words, Logan was across the room and had wrapped her in bone crushing hug, burying his face into her hair.
"Veronica? Veronica!" his words were sounding a little hysterical with a tinge of tears. "Oh my god, Veronica! I can't believe it's you! I looked everywhere for you. I thought you were dead." All of this was delivered into Veronica's hair while he rocked her back and forth in his arms. He seemed to be completely oblivious to Veronica's stiff posture or the gaping group of women standing on the far side of the room.
He finally released Veronica and held her at arms length, staring into her face expectantly.
"Hello, Logan," Veronica managed to choke out weekly.
"Stuart…Stuart, what's going on," Jane asked, worried by her mentor's pallid face and shiny, panicky eyes.
Veronica, grateful for the distraction from Logan's intense stare, broke away from his grasp and walked around him towards an aghast looking Stacy, a stunned Alyssa and Jane, and a woman with a gleeful expression slowly stretching across her face. Veronica could only assume that the final woman was the writer assigned to the article and her mind was, at this very moment, threading this unexpected twist into her narrative.
"Stacy, I was specifically promised that Logan Echolls would not be present at this shoot!" Veronica bit out a little more sharply than she intended.
"Oh, I hope it's not a problem," Stacy stammered, trying to sound as innocent as possible. "It turned out he was in town visiting Alyssa and we just couldn't pass up the opportunity to have both of them in the shoot for the article…" Stacy seemed to wilt slightly under Veronica's death glare.
In the mean time, Alyssa hurried towards Logan, whose original stunned expression had began to show signs of confusion and hurt at Veronica's words.
"Logan, what's going on? Do you know her? Why are you calling her Veronica?" Alyssa asked as quietly as she could. Logan continued staring at Veronica, anger beginning to enter the mix of emotions on his face. "Logan, that woman's name is Stuart Reynolds. You've seen some of her work at my apartment. I don't know who you think she is but I doubt you know her…" her voice trailed off when Logan leveled his gaze, now more dominated by anger rather than any other emotion, at her.
"Veronica!" Logan barked toward the group of women who were still arguing in quite hisses near the door of the studio. "Veronica, look at me!"
Veronica once again turned toward Logan, her heart hammering in her throat and hot tears stinging her eyes, threatening to well up at any second. She flinched when she saw the anger of his gaze directed towards her. She hadn't seen his gaze so intense with hatred since high school.
"Where have you been?" his voice was now low and demanding. "I haven't seen you in six years. You apparently decided to go abroad senior year without telling me and then you just dropped off the face of the earth? Now you're going by Stuart Reynolds and you're some kind of famous photographer with a cult following? What the hell, Veronica!" The last question was yelled, with extra emphases on her name.
Veronica flinched again at his angry words. "Calm down, Logan," she said as soothingly as she could. "There might be a few things we need…"
"A few things?" Logan spit out disbelievingly. "There may be a few things that what…that I might want to know, that I have questions about? How about a few things that I have a right to know!"
Veronica's tempter flared at his words. "You don't have a right to know anything about me! We weren't even talking when I decided to leave. You had made the decision not to be a part of my life anymore so you lost the right to know anything about me!"
"Bullshit!" Logan was now yelling at the top of his lungs. Alyssa was looking at him with a horrified expression on her face, never having seen him lose his temper to this extent. Stacy, Jane and the writer were exchanging worried glances behind Veronica's back. "We lived together for three years! We were together for six! I think that earns me the right to know when you're going to skip town! " Logan's words were now accompanied by emphatic hand gestures, one pulling through is hair while the other punctuated certain words by stabbing at the air.
Veronica heard Jane gasp to her right, but did not look over. Her vision was beginning to tinge with red as her own anger rose. The bitterness and hurt that she had worked so hard to overcome were flooding back into her psyche, overwhelming her and making her feel like the hurt and desperate girl she had been at twenty-two.
"No one knew where you were," Logan continued more quietly, losing some of his steam. "Wallace and Mac were just as clueless as me. Your dad…you didn't even tell me he was sick and then I find out that he died?" Logan couldn't hide the deep pain at the mention of Keith's death. "Needless to say, he couldn't pass along any information about your whereabouts," a bitter, choked laugh escaped him. Logan looked at Veronica with his own tears welling in his eyes. "I looked for you for years. I hired PI's, I tried all of the tricks you had taught me, Wallace and Mac helped me… I couldn't find any trace of you. I…I thought you were dead." The last part is barely a choked whisper.
"Ok," Stacy's voice breaks the following silence. "It's obvious that you two have some history that you might need to sort out." She cleared her throat trying to ignore what a huge understatement that probably was. "Why don't the rest of us go get some breakfast and leave you two to talk. Just remember, Stuart," she said, using Veronica's new name and giving her a pointed look, "we need to get this photo shoot done by the end of the day tomorrow. Alyssa has a very busy schedule and this is the only time we could get the two of you in the same place." No matter what was going on between Logan Echolls and this woman, who's real name was apparently Veronica, Stacy had a job to get done and she wouldn't let someone else's drama derail her.
Finished with her speech and satisfied she had made her point that work could not be compromised by whatever soap opera was unfolding, she hustled the other women out of the room. Alyssa looked like she was going to protest, glancing uneasily between Logan and Veronica, both of their faces seething with emotion, but followed the other women out of the door without much hesitation.
Before she left, a wide-eyed Jane touched Veronica's sleeve. "Are you going to be all right? Do you want me to stay?" she all but whispered, casting a furtive glance at Logan.
"No…no, I'll be fine," Veronica tried to assure her, swallowing thickly and doing little to convince Jane that anything at all was fine.
A moment later, Logan and Veronica were left alone in the studio, staring at each other for the first time in six years.