Dedicated to all of the writers who have kept this fandom alive for the past ten (well, almost) years. You guys are epic.
Spoilers: Non-movie compliant, but spoilers for everything. Including bits of the movie that I have appropriated.
Disclaimer: I don't own Veronica Mars (or anything else). No infringement is intended. Please don't sue. I'm broke as fuck.
Reunification
1. Prologue
Hearst College Cafeteria
Neptune, California
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
11:37 a.m.
A hushed murmur emanated from the group of students standing around in shock, jaws gaping open, whispering to one another as they glanced warily at the bloody, battered body lying on the floor of Hearst's cafeteria. Gory Sorokin tried his hardest to ignore that whispers as he twitched and groaned on the ground, spitting a mouthful of blood at one of the gawkers as he tried to regain some semblance of his surroundings.
He moved gingerly, trying to sit up, feeling his ribs aching from where that matershchina had kicked them. He braced one hand on the ground and lifted himself up off the floor before having to catch himself from falling once more, coughing loudly and spitting another gob of blood on the ground as the murmurs from the onlookers finally started piercing his hazy senses.
He sneered at the collection of college students, trying to maintain some veneer of intimidation, trying to make sure that everybody on this kakashka campus knew that he was still Gory Fucking Sorokin and that he was still better than these krest'yanin.
Campus security burst through the crowd of spectators, looking around wildly, trying to ascertain what had happened.
"What's going on here? Who did this?" shouted the head security person on scene.
"Uh, I dunno man. I was just getting some lunch when I heard a scuffle and bam, this dude was beating the shit out of this other dude and it was like blammo and shit. Dude got fuuuuuuuuuucked up, man." muttered one of the gathered students, eyes shifting about as he carefully pushed a small glassine bag deeper into his pocket, hoping that the security guard would be too distracted by the tableau of violence to notice the pungent smell of weed emanating off of him.
"Sir," the campus security guard said, cataloguing the unlucky stoner's face in his mind, as he helped the injured student to his feet, "do you require assistance? Do you know what happened here?"
"Nyet", he spat. "Mne ne nuzhno svoy grebanyy pomoshch'. Eto ublyudok i yego malen'kaya suka . YA sobirayus' nayti ikh. YA sobirayus' zastavit' ikh zaplatit' za eto oskorbleniye. YA zastavlyu ikh zaplatit'. Nikto ne stavit svoi ruki na menya . Nikto . Oni chertovski mertv. Oba iz nikh. Teper' otvali na vash master , krest'yanina. YA ne nuzhna vasha pomoshch'."
("No. I do not need your fucking help. That motherfucker and his little bitch. I'm going to find them. I'm going to make them pay for this insult. I will make them pay. Nobody puts their hands on me. Nobody. They're fucking dead. Both of them. Now fuck off back to your master, peasant. I don't need your help.")
"Sir… I don't know what you're saying." stated the security guard, as he tried desperately to maintain control of the situation. He took a step back as Gory struggled to his feet, flinching at the rage and hate he saw in the beaten student's eyes when Gory turned his glare towards him.
"I said no. I don't need your help. I'm leaving."
Gory struggled to the exit of the cafeteria, limping slowly towards the door, smiling softly to himself at the thoughts of revenge playing through his mind. Oh yes. He would make them pay. Especially the little blonde. Her he would most definitely enjoy making pay.
Neptune Grand Hotel
Penthouse Suite
Neptune, California
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
12:42 p.m.
Veronica Mars stood outside of Logan Echolls' hotel room door, pacing back and forth, trying to muster the courage to knock. She had left the cafeteria in a daze having watched her ex-boyfriend pummel that sick fuck Gory Sorokin into the ground. And, worst of all, she hadn't been ashamed of Logan's actions… or afraid… no, she'd been a little turned on at the sight of her ex as he pounded his fist into Gory's face repeatedly.
The difference between Logan and Piz had never been made more explicit than this afternoon as Piz had tried to pull her away from confronting a group of sniggering upperclassmen who had seen their "sex tape", stating that karma would get them… Veronica, however, was not the kind of girl to believe in karma. Karma worked too slowly for her. Sometimes, what karma needed, was a kick in the ass and that's what she was there to provide.
So when Logan had nodded in understanding that Gory was untouchable, and then proceeded to ignore her warning and kick the everloving shit out of him, she had finally come to the realization that as fucked up as he was… as fucked up as they were… he was the only one that would actually understand her.
Piz was nice. And for some girl, she was sure that he'd make a lovely boyfriend.
But she wasn't just "some girl" and as she had reached down and retrieved her pen from Gory's torn shirt pocket, she had finally come to terms with that fact. More importantly, it seemed, Piz had finally come to terms with that fact as well.
She had stared after Logan as he walked out of the cafeteria, eyes locked on his lean form before she managed to catch herself; glancing guiltily over at Piz, she caught the disappointment and resignation on his face.
"Don't say it, Veronica. I saw the look on your face. You get off on this." He had railed at her.
"You know that? It's like a drug to you. He's like a drug to you. I hope you can figure out what you want before it kills you, because I know it's not me, and I'm not going to pretend that it is. I thought that if I could get you to go out with me, you'd see that life doesn't have to be all… violence and intensity."
He sighed, and shrugged his shoulders, an air of finality about him as he gestured towards her. "Apparently I was wrong, and I'm not going to stick around to watch him destroy you another time. I'll see you around." And he, too, walked out of the cafeteria. Obstinately in the opposite direction that Logan had gone, even though his next class happened to be through that same door.
Surprisingly, being dumped by Piz made her feel… almost relieved. Now she wouldn't have to pretend anymore. Now she wouldn't have to hurt him by breaking up with him, or hurt him worse by staying with him. Now she was free to finally try to figure out how to be herself again after these past few months of trying to suppress her inner Veronica-ness.
Sure, she still helped people when they needed it, but ever since the Madison revelation and the last breakup with Logan, things had felt… muddled. Hazy. Wrong. And now, standing here, outside Logan's door, she felt like things were finally starting to become right again.
"Okay Veronica. You've stalled long enough. Time to put up or shut up. Get back up on that horse. Other motivational sayings. You can do this. It's just Logan. He's not that scary."
"I'm not?" came from a voice behind her in the hall.
Veronica whirled around, losing her balance and stumbling back against the closed door, breathing heavily as she caught sight of Logan leaning against the hallway wall.
"God DAMN that boy can lean." She thought as she let her eyes wander up and down his body, lingering on his bruised and bloody knuckles.
"Well, now that we've established that I'm not that scary… were you ever planning on knocking?"
"Uh. Yeah. Knocking. That was definitely on my to-do list. Hey… where did you come from? Why are you not in your room?"
He quirked one eyebrow, and tried – unsuccessfully – to suppress a smirk. "Where did I come from? Did… you miss that class back in high school? See, Veronica, when a mommy and a daddy love each other veeeeeery much, sometimes they get together and have some special hugging, and…"
Veronica walked up and clasped her hand over Logan's mouth to keep him from talking any more. "Ha ha, funnypants. I just meant that I've been waiting here for a while and didn't even notice that you weren't home, so… I'm sorry. I know I don't have a ton of right to pry. I can't help it." She shrugged, "it's who I am."
"Mrphwem murgle phem." He mumbled into the palm of her hand. "Merpha lbrlf armph lnardy."
She just sighed and dropped her hand. "In English, please?"
"I was down in the gym. Excuse me, the, ah," he stood up straighter and adopted the snooty tone of the receptionist who had corrected him on the "official" name, "motivational fitness and therapeutic spa area. Still had some, you know, aggression that needed to be worked out. I'm surprised you didn't hear the elevator ding when I came back up, I've been standing here for a good five minutes now, just waiting to see if you'd notice."
"Yeah, uh, I was… kind of lost in my head, there. Sorry. Anyway, um, now that you're here, can I come in? I just… wanted to talk to you."
Logan just glanced at her purse before reaching into his workout pants and pulling out his card key. "You know, you still have a key. There's a reason I never asked for it back."
"Yeah, you figured that my not having a key wouldn't exactly stop me if I needed to get into your room, so why bother, right?"
He just let out a soft laugh as he opened the door, ushering Veronica into the suite. "Yeah, okay. I suppose that makes two reasons I never asked for it back. So. Not to be blunt, Veronica, but why are you here? The last time I saw you, you were making it pretty clear that I was out of your life forever."
Veronica dropped her messenger bag onto the couch and walked into the kitchen, grabbing a bottle of water out of the fridge before turning back to Logan. "No, the last time you saw me, I'm pretty sure that I was making it clear that you're definitely not out of my life. I know I wasn't the only one getting eye-fucked in the middle of the cafeteria, Logan. I was giving as good as I was getting. The problem is, Piz happened to notice that as well."
"Ahhh Piz. I meant it, you know. The apology. Someone always has to pay, that's the code we live by, Veronica. It wasn't jealousy…" He caught her look of disbelief and amended himself, "It wasn't just jealousy. I thought he taped you. You know what I did with Lilly's tapes. Do you really expect that I wouldn't overreact to that thought of you having a tape out there too?"
She shot him a look and took a sip of her water. "I… can understand that. Appreciate it, even. It doesn't mean you were right to do what you did… but. I can accept that you were trying to do the right thing… at least our fucked up version of the right thing, anyway."
She took a deep breath, this would be the hard part. But, just like him, she knew how important it was to try and do the right thing, and being more open and honest, especially with him, was step number one. "I do know that my all-access pass to Pizneyland has been cancelled. Seems that I'm too much of a drug addict for him." She shrugged and sighed softly "the weird thing is, I'm not that upset about it. I'm more upset that I'm not more upset. Is that weird?"
"A drug addict? I've never seen you take a drug in your life. Jesus, Veronica. You won't even take aspirin unless you absolutely have to. Child of an addict here too, remember?"
"Oh Logan. You adorable dumbass. You're my drug. I tried to deny it these past few months, tried to be with a nice guy, a normal guy, a guy who most girls would kill to be with… and it was like pulling out teeth. I was bored and unfulfilled. It's not who I am, and it's time that I accept that fact and stop fighting it. I've cost my father so much by fighting it. I've cost you, and Mac, and Wallace. All by trying to fight who I am." She winced at the memory of how much she had been ignoring her two best friends lately and knew that those were two more relationships she was going to have work hard on to repair.
"And it's not fair to any of you, or to me. I'm never going to be normal, and I think I'm okay with that. Or that I can be okay with it. Because I've decided that normal is boring, and that I'm going to be awesome instead. And, hopefully, there's still a chance for us to be awesome. Together. After I patch things up with dad. Well. Maybe before. At least once. Maybe twice. You know, if you want…"
"Veronica. You're rambling." Logan reached out and rested his hands on her shoulders, trying to get her to focus. "I have no idea what the hell you're talking about. And I take exception to dumbass. Adorable I'm okay with, though."
Veronica stopped and took a breath, slowly looking up to stare into Logan's eyes, realizing in an instant how much of a mistake that was if she actually wanted to be able to form a coherent thought and turned around, leaning back against his chest.
"I need to take some time to get my head on straight, and to make amends with dad, but I was hoping… maybe… before I go to Virginia… that we might be able to get together and talk. About us. And about being an us. Really being an us this time. I'm not saying it'll be perfect, and I'm not saying that we won't screw it up again, but Logan…" She worried her lower lip between her teeth, hesitating just a moment, but long enough to make Logan whether or not she was actually going to say it.
"I love you. I know I've never said that before, but I need you to know that. And I want to do what I can to make it work this time. Even," she gave an exaggerated shudder, "if that means talking, which hasn't exactly been our strong suit in the past..." she looked up at him then, a cheeky half-grin on her face. "And then maybe we can do some not talking and…"
"Veronica." Logan interrupted her, turning her back around to be able to look at her face, reaching one hand up to cup her cheek, lightly running his finger across her soft skin. "I'm leaving. Neptune. I talked to the new Dean and got my transcripts. I'm transferring. I need… I need some time. I need to figure out who I am, without being Logan Echolls – Son of Hollywood. I need to figure out who just plain Logan Echolls is, and who just plain Logan Echolls wants to be."
"But… you can figure that out here. With me. In Neptune. Where you live."
He rested his forehead against hers and sighed. "I can't, Veronica. Here I'm part of LoganandVeronica. And I love that. I do. But I need to figure out who Logan is when he's not part of LoganandVeronica. I came to Hearst to be with you, not because I felt any real desire to be here. I stayed in Neptune to be with you, not because I have a ton of connection here. I need to get away and just… be."
Veronica felt her eyes welling up and a lump forming in her throat. "No… there's plenty for you here, Logan. What about Dick? And Mac? That website thing you're doing with her?"
Logan wrapped his arms around Veronica, holding her close as she started to shudder, hearing her sniffling against his chest as he tried to comfort her. "Well, first off, I'm going to ignore the fact that you're pretending to care about Dick, though I do give you points for managing to get that whole sentence out without gagging."
"Thank you. It was hard. I think I should get extra credit."
"Duly noted. And second, gradeyourass is a website. One that doesn't require my immediate presence to function, so I can still keep in contact with our Miss Mackenzie from wherever I end up and keep it going just fine. And you're skipping the question you really want to ask."
She forced herself to raise her head and look up at him, feeling hot tears streaking down her cheeks as she pressed herself as close to his lean body as she could. "What about me? What about us? What are we going to do, Logan? Is there still going to be an us? Are you leaving to get away from me? I don't… what does this mean, Logan?"
"Veronica. I promise, I'm not doing this to be mean to you, or to punish you. I have no interest in getting away from you. I'm not leaving because of you. I'm leaving for me. I've been… coasting. For years. And I need to figure out how to stop just existing and actually live. I promise you, Veronica, I'm not leaving you. No matter where I end up, I'll make sure there's a way for you to get a hold of me. Even if I have to set up a bunch of wood piles on top of buildings and have you light them when you have need."
Veronica sniffled and buried her head against Logan's chest. "The beacons of Neptune are lit. Veronica calls for aid."
Logan laughed and hugged her tightly. "And Logan shall answer. Now see, aren't you glad I made you watch all twelve hours of the Lord of the Rings with me? You learned something!"
"Yeah, you giant dork, I learned that Viggo is hot as hell."
"Oh Veronica… I actually knew that going into the movies. So I'm one up on you. Advantage, Echolls."
Veronica pulled back out of Logan's embrace, biting her lip to try and control her emotions, wrapping her arms around herself tightly. "So what happens now. When are you leaving? I go to Virginia in a week… will you be around when I go?"
"I will. I'm going to figure out where I'm going and when you get back…"
Veronica nodded, not wanting to hear him say it. "So. We have a week."
"Veronica… I don't know if I can do that and still be able to leave."
"Yeah, well. We have this week. And I'm going to take as much advantage of it as I can. If that means you don't think you can leave… bonus points for me. But I know what this is, Logan. And I know what it isn't. And I'm going to give you as much of me to remember as I can."
Veronica started walking towards Logan's bedroom door, silently stripping off her shirt and dropping it to the floor, shimmying her jeans off as well, leaving a trail of clothes behind her.
"Are you coming, Logan? Or am I going to have to start without you?"
Logan inhaled deeply at that visual, eyes darkening at the images it elicited. "God help me, bobcat, don't you dare start without me." He shucked his shirt off as well and followed her into his bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him.