Veronica Kane
I tried to rework on it a bit. I hope you like it more this way.
Veronica Mars… Veronica Kane… In less than 6 hours, she had gone from being Veronica Mars, daughter of the sheriff to being Veronica Kane, bastard daughter of Jake Kane.
How did that happen?
Well, everyone knew now how her mother had been having an affair with Jake Kane for years and how she, Veronica, was the illegitimate child of said Jake Kane. At least the ones that had been present at Jake Kane's birthday party knew, meaning everyone that mattered in Neptune.
Her mother was long gone, she had abandoned her family 3 years ago, and Keith had told his only daughter the possibility of her not being a Mars about a week ago, after having found some suspicious papers in Leanne's left over boxes. Veronica had shared the news with her best friend Lilly and had taken paternity tests.
The results had arrived in the mail shortly before Veronica left for the party so she waited until she was at the Kane's to open the envelope with Lilly and Duncan, her best friends. She was nervous, her hands were shaking and she was afraid to see her life change radically but she managed to find enough control to open the letter and to read the results out loud.
"I... I'm a Kane... I'm not a Mars..." Veronica said in a quiet voice, not seeing that Jake Kane was walking in the room to tell them it was time to join the party.
Celeste had been right behind her husband, planning on asking Duncan to come with her so she could introduce him to suitable girls he could date that she approved off when she heard what Veronica said and saw her husband freeze.
She yelled out loud: "Leanne's daughter is yours?!"
Of course Keith was there as well, coming to see if Veronica was alright and heard it. He rushed toward Veronica, worried as to what her reaction to this news would be just as the teenage girl was saying:
"This won't change the fact that Keith Mars is my father Misses Kane. I just wanted to know if Duncan, Lilly and I were related, that's all. The last thing I want is to intrude in your life and family. I respect you too much for that. A mother that doesn't run away from her children is to be respected…"
As she listened to her reply, Celeste understood that this 15 years old blond girl probably hated Leanne as much as she did and that she was suffering from being abandoned by her mother at an age a girl needs her mother the most.
Then, the rest happened very fast and would replay in slow motion on Veronica's mind for several years, haunting her nightmares.
Neither Keith nor Jake had the time to say anything else, not that Jake had much to say since he was still in shock at the news he had just been told.
There was a loud crash coming from around the front door and when they turned to see what was happening, they saw a red haired woman rushing toward them, yelling at Jake how much of a bastard he was for not wanting to have an affair with her when she told him several times she loved him and for breaking her heart. Keith knew her, he had arrested her several times for stalking and she always managed to get out on technicalities. Her brother was a great lawyer and he seemed to love taking her out of jail when she would be better cared for in a mental institution. For a moment, Keith wondered how she managed to get by all the security that had been placed around the Kane's property.
The woman pointed a gun at the billionaire and fired, a clod smile on her face and a dead look in her eyes. Keith looked at Veronica for a second and saw how frightened she was all of the sudden. He ran in front of the biological father of his daughter, taking the bullet in his place. If he wasn't here on duty, 'to serve and protect' was still his motto.
It seemed to veronica that Keith Mars fell on the floor in slow motion while Lilly and Duncan hugged her, trying to prevent her from looking at the bloody scene.
At this point, all the guests had come around, curious about what all the noise was about. Veronica was crying, in a last breath, Keith said:
"I'll always be proud of you sweetie, give Jake a chance. Don't let your mother near you again. Celeste, please, take Veronica away, I don't want her to see that." The woman smiled and took Veronica in her arms, knowing that it wouldn't be long until she was a part of the Kane family and that she needed to accept the girl. It would be her own personal victory against Leanne.
Now Veronica was crying in the arms of her biological father, with the support of his entire family while waiting for the ambulance guys to tell them if Keith survived or not even if she knew he wouldn't, she felt it in her heart, he was long gone. She was sandwiched between Jake and Lilly, Duncan was making sure the guest left after giving their statements to the police with his mother's help.
One of the EMT's walked in the room she was waiting in and she looked up, fearing the worst:
"I'm sorry miss, your father… It was too late… He died. We tried to revive him but the bullet did too many damages."
Veronica broke in tears. She was on her knees on the floor, crying even harder than before, feeling like her word had ended. Lilly ran to her side and said:
"Come on Veronica, Keith wouldn't have wanted to see you like that."
"It doesn't matter anymore! My mother is an alcoholic that hit me and left one day without saying a word. My father is dead and now I don't have anybody left. I'm all alone now..." Veronica was sure that Celeste hated her and she thought that living with her biological father was not an option.
"You have us." Celeste said, before adding "Listen, I know I didn't act very nicely with you, but Leanne have hurt you even more than she did me… I'm sorry for my behavior. I shouldn't have punished you for your mothers mistakes. You are welcome here. You have a family."
Then, seeing Veronica calming down a bit, Celeste turned toward Jake and added:
"You should make the proper arrangements for your daughter Jake."
6 hours.
Really, it doesn't take much to change a life.
Keith's body was taken away and the Kane's were trying to distract Veronica from her pain. Jake had asked a maid to prepare a room near Lilly's for Veronica. They would work on something more permanent later.
"Thanks mister Kane." Veronica nodded, no smile on her face.
"Veronica, please, at least call me Jake…"
"Okay… I can't believe it… When I think that Lilly wanted me to date Duncan…" Veronica looked pale at that moment.
"That was only if you weren't my biological sister, this way you could have became my sister in law." Lilly explained, her tone as dark as Veronica's mood was.
That made Veronica chuckle, especially since Duncan made a comment about how Lilly decided who he should date, then he said that he was going to use the bathroom, if Lilly agreed with that fact. Also Veronica was sure that she heard him whisper "Meg" at some point in his mumbling.
It was getting late and Veronica was exhausted. She went to the room that would be hers from now on and slipped into bed. She knew that the next day would be long. She needed to arrange Keith's funeral, then fill in the papers that would make her officially a Kane. She briefly wondered who would take over as Sheriff and hoped it would be someone good that wouldn't ruin all of her father's hard work.
Two days later, it was her father's funeral. A lot of people were there but it didn't surprise Veronica one bit. her father was well loved all over town. He had been a great sheriff and even the local criminals respected him and had come to say goodbye. The Kane's of course came to support their new member. The entire sheriff's department was there to say goodbye to its beloved member. The Echolls came too.
Veronica had always thought that Logan had a thing for Lilly, but she didn't know that he was flirting with Lilly only because he thought she would date Duncan and that she was the one he truly wanted to be with. Now that she was a Kane, it changed everything for him. He looked at her, crying, looking so broken while her father's coffin was buried and he wanted to hold her tight in his arms, he wanted to tell her that he was there for her, that he loved her more than he could love anybody else… But she was between Lilly and her newly discovered step-mother and seemed well cared for. Everyone was surprise to see how nice Celeste was with Veronica because they had seen how Celeste acted before the tragedy, but the ones who knew her and the entire story understood that it was because she could get back at Leanne and hurt her in getting the girl's love. Or maybe it was because Leanne had hurt both of them a lot and they had bonded over it…
Veronica hadn't been surprised to see that Leanne hadn't come. The woman had to have heard, Keith's death made it big in the news, mainly because it had happened in Jake Kane's house. No matter where she lived now, Leanne had to have heard the news of Keith's passing, she just didn't care enough to come or even to call r send a little note to her daughter.
.
The next morning, everyone got up for breakfast around the same time.
"Lilly, could you find some time to drive me to the hair dresser please?" Veronica asked her best friend/sister in a quiet voice.
"Sure, why?" Lilly asked her.
"I don't want to look like that… I… I can't… It's not me… Never was…. My so called mother liked it so I kept them long to please her but… I need a change… Please..." Veronica now had tears in her eyes, everyone could see them and they didn't comment on it.
They understood that veronica was going through a hard time and needed their presence, their love. She had the right to be overly emotional considering what she was going through.
"No problems. We'll leave as soon as you are ready to go." Lilly answered, smiling softly.
None of the girl saw the exchange of looks between Celeste and Jake. When they both seemed to agree, after several minutes of silent conversation, Jake talked:
"Veronica, before you go, come find me in my office, I'll give you a credit card. Duncan and Lilly both have one and God knows you'll be more responsible with it than Lilly is"
"That's for sure" Duncan replied with humor, earning a fake glare from his big sister.
"You don't have to..." Veronica protested politely.
"We want to Veronica, don't worry about it." Celeste and Jake replied at the same time.
"Okay then. Thanks!"
"Good! Lilly and you will go shopping too. And don't come back before 5PM! I want you to have a little distraction, you deserve it. Plus, I heard at the office that shopping helped with grief." Jake told her before leaving the table, followed shortly by Veronica.
Veronica dressed herself with a pretty black dress than stopped at her knees. She looked very pretty in it. Classy, bad-ass and innocent at the same time.
"Duncan, do you want to come with us?" Veronica asked her brother as they were about to leave.
He didn't seem to be up to a day of shopping with his two sisters but he felt very protective over his new found little sister these days, probably because of her pain.
"Sure, why not, I mean, how bad can it be?" He shrugged his shoulders, standing up and joining them.
"Great, you'll buy a little gift for Meg too then."
He didn't know why Veronica wanted him to buy Meg a gift as her birthday was still months away, but he knew he would end up buying something if the two girls decided on it.
.
The day had been exhausting!
It had started slowly by veronica getting her hair cut but then it had been one store after the other and Duncan had never realised how big the Mall really was. He swore that he would never go with them again. But then he saw the smile on Veronica's face reaching her eyes for the first time since Keith's death, and he knew he would join his sisters again as soon as they'd ask him, just to keep the tears out of her eyes.
They came into the living room where Jake and Celeste were playing cards. Veronica came to them, hugged them and gave them each a bag.
"Veronica, you didn't have to, you were going shopping for you not for us." Celeste smiled.
"I know, but you two did a lot for me these last days and I needed to find a way to thank you for everything… It's not much but…"
"It's great Veronica! Thank you!" Jake said after opening his bag.
Celeste smiled after seeing her own gift.
"Great, now you're going to make us look bad V!" Lilly joked.
Duncan left soon after that, he had a date with Meg and a gift to give her… He had been right, Veronica bugged him until he bought something, knowing he really liked Meg and needed to make a great first impression.
Jake and Celeste watched as their two kids got along with Veronica. Off course they were friends before, but it was nice to see that they still had the same connection knowing that she was their stepsister.
Jake was also glad that Celeste accepted Veronica, it made his life much easier. Then again, Veronica was very hard not to like, especially when she did that head tilt of hers.
Here you go, I hope you'll like this rewrite. It isn't much but I corrected some mistakes and added a bit to it.
Give me a small review?
I love all of my readers.
Lorelei Candice Black
