Title: The Fire of Life

Rating: K

Summary: post-season three... Its Veronica's sophmore year at Hearst and things are going to be much different this time around. Aren't they? LoVe

Spoilers: All three seasons.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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Veronica sat on the beach, her fingers idly drawing random patterns in the sand. All around her, horny guys and girls in bikinis celebrated the first party of Hearst's new year. They danced and drank near a bonfire, while she sat a few feet away on a random blanket.

She REALLY did not want to be here. There were very few people at the party that she recognized, and those conversations had quickly come to a standstill when she could not remember any of their names. Most of the people who actually spoke to her were guys who happened to remember her face from last year's infamous video, hoping for an easy lay. After telling them all off, and quite a few threats with her taser, she retreated to an isolated area of the beach.

The only reason she was even here was because Wallace had asked her to come, saying that they needed to spend some quality BFF time together. Between her FBI internship and Wallace's work with Invisible Children, they had not seen each other in months. He promised that they could catch up on old times. Except, at the moment, he was off talking to a few of his friends from the basketball team and Veronica was alone, pulling stray threads off the fraying edge of the blanket.

Another reason she and Wallace had not seen each other since school started was because she did not exactly feel comfortable going to his dorm anymore. Not when he was still roommates with Piz. When she and Piz had broken up over the summer, it had been amicable enough of a split that they agreed to remain friends. Still, it got awkward enough when they were in the same room that even Piz could not think of something to say. So now they had taken to avoiding each other.

Veronica sighed and looked out into the mass of people. Her eyes managed to somehow lock onto another's and it took her a moment to recognize who had just joined the party. Parker's eyes narrowed slightly and she made a show of flipping her hair as she turned away.

College seemed to be getting more like high school every day. Not only did she now have a perpetual rumor going around about the magnitude of her sluttiness, she also has a whole new class of former friends who now hate her. She tried to explain to Parker before last year ended that she did not want Logan anymore, but the girl refused to believe her and blamed Veronica for the demise of her and Logan's relationship.

Veronica turned her gaze to the bonfire in order to avoid the angry glares coming from Parker's direction. She stared beyond the hazy smoke that surrounded the small area, to the orange and yellow fire as it danced in the slight breeze. Her eyes trailed down to where the flames were licking the large wooden logs at the base of the bonfire. In her mind, she could recall a quote she had once read in a cheesy love novel that Lilly had leant her. "Love is the fire of life," was what the heroine had said after the knight in shining armor saved her from the burning castle. At the time, Veronica had giggled and said it was one of the cutest things she had ever read. Now, all she could think was how similar all of her disastrous relationships were to fire.

Her first love, the one she shared with Duncan, had been like a flame a top a candle. Safe within its controlled environment, the love could have burned forever. Unfortunately, it had been smothered by outer forces. Then she was left all alone. Spending her time staring at a charred wick, her mind had romanticized the warmth and soft glow it had emitted. Suddenly, and without warning, their flame had been relit. Though, it was not how she remembered. Its glow was dulled by the wax walls that protected it and the heat barely warmed her. So she inched her fingers beyond the surrounding wax and closer to the flame. But she accidently pushed them too far and extinguished the flame with her fingertips. She was once again left alone, with nothing but ashes on her hands.

Logan's love, on the other hand, had been and still was a roaring fire. An all-consuming inferno that would continue to rage until it swallowed the whole world. It had sparked accidently and spread far too quickly. From the beginning, she was frightened by the intensity of it all. Her fingers had immediately been singed and she pulled them back, petrified of how far it would go. That is, until the burns had healed and the pain was forgotten. Then she grew curious again, and the next time she thrust even more of herself into the searing love. Veronica and Logan were stuck in a vicious cycle. One that she knew would continue until she was devoured, body and soul.

With Piz, though, it had not yet been love. It was still something newly created, with nothing to base itself upon. Like a flame burning a path down a match. The one that took a couple of strikes to set alight. One with potential that needed to be nurtured and protected from the wind, or it could never be more than just a tiny flame with a short life span. Their flame had constantly flickered in the wind, and she was never sure if it would set a fire or just blow out with the breeze. In reality, they had reached their make or break point, and their potential just sizzled out.

Veronica was drawn out of her thoughts by the sound of somebody coming up behind her. "It's about time you came back, Papa Bear. I was getting so lonely with no one to partake in all this debauchery with," she said, without turning around.

"Papa Bear?" The disembodied voice questioned. She felt her heart drop as she realized it was most definitely not Wallace. "That's a new one. Can I give you nickname too? What about Sweet cheeks? Or maybe one that has to do with your awesome bo…"

"Go away, Dick," she growled, reaching her hand into her bag to grab her taser.

Ignoring her, he plopped down on the blanket beside her. "Wow, you're no fun at all. When was the last time you got laid?"

She scrunched her nose as she inched away from the overwhelming scent of alcohol that enveloped her. "Jeez, how much have you had to drink?"

He stared up at the sky, the beer in his hand spilling out onto the blanket. "Dunno. Like four or five or…. A LOT more." He turned back to her. "I'm drinking for two now, you know."

She gasped in mock horror. "And you're drinking? While knocked up?"

"No," he shook his head, too drunk to understand her sarcasm. "I meant for Logan."

"You're drinking for Logan?"

"Yeah," he sighed despondently. "Logan's too busy with like homework or something."

"So now you have to do the party circuit without your drinking buddy?" she sarcastically asked. Veronica actually felt slightly bad when Dick gave her a dejected nod.

"It's even worse than when you broke up with him last year. At least then he still came out every once in awhile to, you know, hang with hot chicks. Yesterday, I met these two really easy, hot sorority pledges and he went to class instead of coming with us. I mean I was totally cool with it because, like I said, they were really easy and they were completely willing to do a mina.. mena.. a threesome." Veronica rolled her eyes as Dick paused to chug the rest of his beer. When he was done, he threw down the empty bottle and leaned closer to her. "So, what's the odds of you and me hooking up?"

She shook her head, exasperated. "Do we really need to go through this again?"

"Just trying to help…" he slurred as he fell down onto the sand. Veronica gazed down at his passed out form and then dropped her head into her hands. FRAK. In her head, she quickly weighed her options. She could leave him here, unconscious in the sand. It was not like he had not done it to her before. Or… she could call the one person who actually cared about Dick's well being.

She pulled out her cell phone and stared at his number. They had not spoken since he beat up Gory in the cafeteria. After that display of what she knew he considered heroism, she came to the decision that she needed to stick by her original declaration that he needed to be out of her life for good. It would be the best for both of them.

But she still loved him. Still missed him. And now all the arguments that she had been using to keep him away were completely useless. Whenever she saw him in the cafeteria or outside of class, she had to continuously remind herself that he would never change so that she would not go up and just kiss him in the middle of campus.

Mac, though, had been subtly hinting that Logan was becoming more focused. Apparently, the two had become friends when they worked on some website together. And now Dick was telling her that he was choosing class over alcohol and girls.

Veronica could not help but wonder that maybe, IF they got back together this time, then maybe this time things would be different.

She took a deep breath and pressed the call button, preparing to once again throw herself in the flames' path.

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A/N: So I just got back from a three day college orientation (Hooray for higher education!) and I wanted to write something to kind of get back in the swing of things. Please review!